yvaskhmir: I mean, Igon was basically destined to become one of the most famous NPCs, because he easily stands out as the loudest thus far. I can't remember any NPC being this expressive and screaming this much.
alfalldoot6715: One thing I noticed is how Bayle's death animation has him attempt to call upon his lightning once more only to be finished off by it. Considering his crimes against dragonkind, it's a fitting end for him to be killed by the weapon he co-opted against them.
InquisitorBot: seeing him standing on one fully extended leg makes him look funny seeing as how short his body seems to be, unless he just has gamer posture
static4802: Another interesting thing to note is there are supposedly hundreds to thousands of Dragon's Calorbloom in his arena which suggests that, through millenia, legions of Drake Warriors have attempted to hunt down the Dread, only to become prey themselves. Bayle smashed through every single warrior sent to hunt him, that is until he encounters Igon and our Tarnished.
randombot6203: I like to think that the Bayle-Placi fight was what turned Farum Azula into crumbling Farum Azula
Xenos369: Bayle is wild. He took on an Elden Lord and lived to tell the tale for ages. He saw multiple civilizations rise and crumble to dust (including our own). He survived despite the divine edict set by Placidusax to exterminate Bayle and his kin over eons. It took a God Slaying tarnished to finally put him down, and he still dies defiant. Even if you consume his heart, he will take over your soul.
Bayle is a menace, even death isnt enough to quell his rage.
user-rc8dj3wo6x: On a side note, in Jagged peak we can find an interesting crafting material - dragon’s calorbloom. It description says “single flower is said to blossom—only once—from the hearts of dead warriors who often partook of the Dragon Communion.”
One can easily notice that Bayle’s arena is dotted with said flower marking those numerous dragon warriors who fought Bayle and failed.
GODZILLAmonsoon: Man. I didn't realise just how
andreaslois3074: A few noteworthy points:
- Bayle uses flame lightning, which parallels the ice lighting of the dragonkin.
- His wings are produced by lightning and resemble those of Placidusax, potentially meaning that Bayle is casting a spell similar to Placidusax's ruin onto his back.
Twelvebeans: Bless you Bayle! I hereby vow! You will fondly recall this day!
Behold, a true friend of dragons! And I, Igon! Your joy made manifest!
Lonely of heart you might be, sweet dragon but i will banish with love your frigid fears!
With a hail of hugs! With every last drop of my being!
radioactive-78: bayle had basically no wingspan and one leg, still kicked our asses
Mene0: Igon's VA did a stellar job.
Also really cool to see Bayle in detail. Can't really see during the fight
lm7677: Obligatory “CURSE YOU BAYLE” comment thread
Edit: You’re all very bad at coordinating with each other, but you’re having fun so it doesn’t matter
rkmugen: Ahab: "CURSE YOU, WHALE!!!!"
darkwhispersstories47: One of them ended up taking an at least 2k years old nap while the other had to flee to 'Marika Rejects' land so I will say Placy took the W In the end even with two heads down
nowhereman6019: "Oh, lonely death on lonely life! Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! from all your furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole foregone life, and top this one piled comber of my death! Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering drake; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!"
bisectbrain: i had no idea he had the heads on his back. HOW IS HE STILL MORE METAL THAN I THOUGHT??
Deoix9877: is also interesting that all DLC dragons have sustained physical injuries to one degree or another. Kalameet had his left wing pierced by gough's arrow, sinh was pierced through the chest with yorgh's spear, midir's wings were tattered due to the darkness consuming his body and now bayle being by far the most damaged one
bw4708: I had never noticed how he used his tail to ambulate! I love when these videos let me actually get a look at the stuff I’ve been panic rolling away from,
skjoldrodinson408: Bayle was genuinely one of my favorite fights of the DLC. Visually, the transition into his second phase was so incredible to watch unfold, and the music was awesome.
Juria1987: Igon is just the biggest chad, and honestly a key reason people love him is just how had the VA for him went. Amazing work on that guy's part.
Jm-ki4su: he uses his own bones as weapons, just like those armless zombies who attack with their forearm bones in Dead Island
ragnarokandroll2638: “He piled upon the Bayles dark hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Marika down; and then, as if his chest had been a Greatbow, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.”
Drakuma35: CURSE YOU BAYLE
javiers5020: I guess they also reference G. R. R Martin's Balerion the Black Dread and his first rider, Aegon I the Conqueror.
valeriob36: Something I would like to add, Igon and Bayle might share even more traits beside their missing legs. And I'm not referring to their similarly ambitious personalities, as described by the priestess of dragon communion.
During one of his "pain-monologues", Igon describes not just his leg but his arms too "lying in ruin". If we now take him handing us his furled finger as him actually carrying around a severed finger of his, then it seems quite plausable that his hands are "not in great shape" inside his gloves, this would coincide with Bayle's shredded arms/wings (and makes me wonder if he could've still used his bow).
The second, more speculative similarity is based on Bayle's theme.
Igon has these moments where he turns from his usual bombastic, vengeful persona into this broken, fear- and regretful one. I think the somber sections in Bayle's ost might be meant to imply a similar state of mind, where he too regrets what he did. Though whether that would be because of his wounds having ended his ambitions, the persecution of the drakes following his attack or something else, would be impossible to say.
zi-chan-desu: As someone who overall didn’t find a lot of the DLC actually that enjoyable, this was a big highlight for me. I was expecting just another dragon fight that would bore me to tears, but I ended up with a unique design and an unmatched hype man.

I had Bayle at near death so I committed to trying to land a big Wing Stance stab to hopefully finish him off, but while the blow landed, I was completely out of stamina as he reared up and roared, preparing to possibly annihilate me.

But from behind me, I hear him. Igon’s roar of battle as he let loose one more harpoon directly into Bayle’s screaming maw, leading to the miraculous sound of a stance break. Two bottles of soju in that night, I was on the verge of tears regarding how insane that timing was. I finish the fight, and saw my warrior off, howling into the night alongside him at the death of the tyrant.

Bless your heart, Igon. May we all be so lucky to find a friend to cut down our white whales.
hoomanlel5149: Its over Bayle , I depicted the drake warrior and myself as the chad while you as the soyjak.
ddangho914: I saw a pretty interesting theory from the Korean Elden Ring community that claims judging by his distinctively red eyes, Bayle might have been an Ancient Dragon influenced, or even created by the Formless Mother, and the clash between Placidusax was a proxy war between the Formless Mother and the Ancient Golden Order. I personally really like this theory because it kinda gave me a general concept of how the Elden Ring Universe might function. Dragon Communion is basically using the Dragon's power by devouring their hearts, and since Flying Dragons are kin to Bayle, an agent to the Formless Mother, Dragon Communion incantations' main attribute is Arcane, just like Blood incantations. This would also explain why Placidusax's Ruin, despite being similar to a Dragon Communion incantation, doesn't require Aracne; basically Placidusax is aligned with the Greater Will and has no ties with the Formless Mother.
fefino1411: Having played through all of Elden Ring's main game, as well as the dlc, I've never had a "Wow!" moment comparable to the first time I saw Placidusax's golden fire breath turn into dual lazer beams. That has stuck with me as one of the coolest things in fromsoftware history.
kamilmalach6383: Awaiting the Ulysses sidequest
stratis1274: CURSE YOU BAYLE!!!
KaijuRhino: i'm surprised at how little I've seen Bayle and Igon mentioned as a reference to A Song of Ice and Fire, where a dragon named Balerion the Dread was ridden by King Aegon
HeirHeiden: I never even noticed that two of Placidusax’s heads were attached to Bayle’s hide until now. Amazing detail; really adding to the spectacle of Bayle’s character!!
cowhale2488: Man, Elden Ring has the coolest dragons. Like how modern dragons got the name "drake", finally the wyvern-calling can end. The phrase "drake" was in the base game too; the drake knight warrior armor set refers to someone who is said to be a communion hunter
TelosTheStory: We now know where two of Placidusax heads went. But we're still missing one. If they were to make one more DLC I do hope that we'll get an answer.
hollow_blades: I've thought since release that Igon was essentially a fantasy version of Captain Ahab. Cool to know that actually was the inspiration for him.
duncanurquhart5278: from hell's heart i CUUUURRRRSSSE at thee
thedarkgenious7967: you know I'm almost positive that Bayle's summoned wings are a form of Dragon Communion, too.

It's shown by the Sharp Gravel Stones that Bayle's descendants are cannibalistic, feeding on their own dead and the dead ancient dragons, and we know that communion spells can involve more than just a dragon's head for their respective breathes from Dragon Talon.

I'm pretty sure Bayle ate some of his descendants (I'd imagine he'd need a bunch, since the stronger communion spells need multiple hearts) and/or some of the ancient dragons he killed so that he could, but for a moment, regain some of what he lost to Placidusax.


Also while I find Bayle's stature while standing kind of hilarious, it's not as silly if you take into account just how big his wings would actually be when they weren't shredded ruins.
eeeee-bs5ii: I noticed how some item descriptions (I think its some of the gravel-stone and dragon-flesh related items in the jagged peak) hint at older or aged drakes hunting their kin, and baby drakes in dragonbarrow have short horns, don't breathe fire and don't drop dragon hearts, maybe drakes grow the large horn in adulthood so that they can hunt each other for gravel stone, becoming stronger and extending their lifespans, becoming "aged", possibly allowing them to become as large as greyoll, who drops 5 dragon hearts, which could be a final stage where they produce a massive litter to restart the cycle (probably just tinfoil hat monkey brain thoughts but its fun)
nikoleg_mitrofan: BLESS YOU BAYLE!!!!!
sorteinfame: Another physical similarity between Ahab and Igon is the scar on the left part of the face: in the book Ahab is described as having a huge white mark the goes from head to the leg like a lighning strike
dylaxiusmccoy: I've always loved that many of the bosses in these games are past their prime, nearly dead beings who still absolutely kick your ass, leaving you to imagine just how powerful they must have been in their prime, and Bayle might just be my favorite example in the whole souls franchise. Dude is practically a walking corpse, ripped to shreds by a god he nearly killed, and yet he's absolutely ruthless to his last breath. If the tarnished hadn't shown up, you know he would have spent another millennia slaughtering anyone who dared to challenge him.
kevinthedot: An interesting theory about Bayle is that he's somehow blessed by the Crucible. Perhaps he even was born to bring an end to Placidusax' age as Elden Lord, same way we bring an end to Marika's age. He's adorned with many more twisted horns than other dragons and drakes, his heart even described having "horn-like gravelstones", and the wings he sprouts during his second phase are magical wing constructs very similar to the Crucible Incantations.
Gamer3427: Igon is the absolute best. Particularly since he hypes *you*
realQuestion: if dragon scales are "outside time" to some degree, I suppose it follows that the drake's wounds don't heal normally over time either...
aifos5171: Bayle is the Seath the Scaleless of this game: a dragon born different from all the others who attacked his kin full of rage and envy, however this time the rebel was defeated.
I love the parallels between the dragons in elden ring and in dark souls, the fact that they both have stone scales but an opposite relation to the power of lightning is also cool
bardicdragon: CURSED BAYLE
HOLY GRAIL
dragonlordplacidusax9413: He flew too close to the sun. And so he burned.
RazloTPD: Thank you for pointing out the direct comparison that is Cpt Ahab and Moby Dick with Igon and Bayle (It even sounds like Whale)

I love Igon to bits, but his whole schtick is basically just the story of Moby Dick inserted into Elden Ring. I love that about it personally, and I don't see the credit given anywhere near often enough. Even some of Igon's voice lines are directly from Cpt Ahab.

Aug 14 2024

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