MrKubol: It was Jarika all along
doug3318: Something no one’s brought up (that I’ve seen):

It’s heavily implied that the spirit tuner at the round table hold, Rodericka, is a Shaman (even of Shaman nobility); she has pale skin and golden hair, and was called to the lands between for an unknown reason, peculiar as she is tarnished and wasn’t guided by grace. She has a natural aptitude for spirit tuning and communing with spirits too.

Her men were all captured and used for Godrick’s grafting (if they’re all Shaman, then the Grafted Scions are possible due to their blood).

She befriends Master Hewg, who is reluctant to help her at first but softens when he notes ‘her eyes remind him of a spirit tuner he was fond of long ago.’

Theory: Rodericka is a relative (Shaman-bloodline) of Marika. She was drawn to the Lands Between because of her connection to Marika’s soul (outside the golden order connection everyone else has). She reminds Master Hewg of Marika herself, someone he once know and entrusted him to make a sword to kill a god (herself); that Master Hewg is an original Hornsent and kept alive by Marika through her grace (which starts to crumble when we burn the Erdtree, thus is mind starts to fade and fail).

It would be poetic too, that Master Hewg and Rodericka become friends / foster family, as the rift between the Hornsent and Queen Marika started this entire thing in the first place. Very similar to the Hoslow <> pot connection which I think is 100% accurate!

Edit: Marika
ALaz502: Marika being the one successful saint is such a crazy/twisted take on the already messed up Divine Child from Sekiro. Monks experimented on a ton of kids killing them all in the procecc until they finally created the Divine Child.
flaflu180399: "I turned myself into a jar Radagon!"
lukasmuller3989: this isnt a perspective I expected for who marika is, but it made a lot of sense while listening and is definitly something to consider in context for the greater picture in the lands between
hoitheguy: So Marika is a philosopher stone like Hohenheim from Full Metal Alchemist
andyknightwarden9746: One glaring issue: The Elden Ring existed before Marika.
gilvanmessem5335: And as some other youtuber said: "Jars are like Crucible." As Marika's womb is a crucible of life.
konigstigerr4518: yeah, i'll integrate this to my belief system
moosiemoose1337: Her bed chamber also resembles the half of a jar and the blanket is shaped in such a way that it looks almost as if it's spilling out of a jar.

It's also interesting that this is where we get the dialog about Marika talking about "Mine other self" or her other half in Radagon.

We're hearing about her other half in a place where we see half a jar with it's innards spilled out.
cerealbox7872: If you look closely in the radagon fight intro cinematic, when he reaches for the hammer, his arm is literally a warrior jar arm. watch the forearm closely next time you fight him!
warpstorm1988: Marika being akin to a jar fits a theory I’m working on that revolves around Radagon; the basis of the theory is that, as per the Secret Rite Scroll, Radagon was the Lord that ushered in Marika’s godhood but she killed him and took his soul to ascend to godhood (the opposite of what Miquella later did). The Lord requires a vessel and I think Marika became Radagon’s vessel in a very literal way. What you say about her becoming a jar fits with that theory; the only part I’m struggling with is how Radagon might relate to that period of time.
Velisatra: Marika didn't just manifest the Elden Ring. She went and met Metyr and made a deal with the Greater Will and they made a plan. She then used the divine gateway, departed, then returned with an army once she'd acquired that power.
quincykunz3481: The jars, and to an extent how the crucible is described, seem very similar to the japanese/chinese sorcerous practice of kodoku, putting insects or spirits into a small container until one of them absorbs the strength of the others.
AlexisMitchell87: I thought something similar when I they accused her of betrayal along with the Numen lore. The Hornsent were creating a god.
emeraldpichu1: I think a lot of the jars were used by the hornsent along with their willing devotees to make the gateway
JesseBenton-ish: I’ve been on a similar line of thinking, I mostly agree. Every faction has its own way of consolidating power, of ascending up the ranks as they grow more powerful, and it’s almost always through sacrifice or grafting. Radahn eats his fallen opponents, the erdtree is powered by the dead and buried being absorbed by the roots, the several jar ceremonies consolidate warriors into greater and greater vessels as they add worthy candidates (you can see Alexander consuming radahn after that battle), Ryker feeds himself to the snake and then feeds on the competing champions he lures to the volcano to consolidate their power with his, Godfrey grafts others to himself to power up, there’s all kinds of blood sacrifices with mohg, the dragons and the dragon cult have their own practice of eating the fallen, and even the tarnished starts from nothing and only climbs the ladder as fallen opponents drop runes, great runes, and get absorbed and level up the tarnished. No matter what, the crucible of life isn’t just survival of the fittest, it’s about adding the fallen onto the victors as well.

“Make of thyselves that which ye desire. Be it a Lord. Be it a God. But should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices.”

Nobody is actually immortal in Eldon ring or even all powerful, they just get really really strong and really really hard to kill as you get further up the ladder. Especially with the rune of death being stolen and disrupting the balance of life and death. That’s my real takeaway from the whole world. Everybody bleeds, everybody can die, and attempting to cheat fate, cheat death, or cheat birth, all these things being done to “pursue order” instead of letting things happen naturally and by chance, that’s the cardinal sin in the game. There’s no infallible greater will, none of the gods actually know better than anybody else, and eternal life would be a prison if anybody did ever achieve it. The whole arms race of trying to become the most powerful or achieve godhood, it’s always a mistake. Nothing should be eternal or all powerful, there needs to be a life and death cycle or the wheels will fall off and doom the entire world. There’s literally piles of bodies reaching up to the heavens and piling up by the eternal cities. By the end of the game, the Eldon lord doesn’t just sit on the throne alone, there’s nobody left to rule over as well.
0987ggggg: I had the same thoughts as soon as it was made clear that Marika's people were capable of melding things together. Great video! I didn't understand why it took like 3 weeks for someone to make a video on this when it is very obvious. Now it makes sense why Empyreans has to come from the lines of Marika/Radagon, and has to be female (Miquella's sex is always made ambiguous).
GreyBandanna: One extra point, though. I haven't finished the video but wanted to say that, aren't the Black Knife Assassins also Numen/Shaman women? They were even employed by none other than Ranni in the assassination of Godwyn. In other words, some shaman women survived and actually made their way out of the Lands of Shadow, grouping together. Strange that they would end up killing one carrying their own blood, isn't it? This is one of the points I least understand from the story.
darsh8964: This was a great video, It really feels
jay3.14: Great video man, warrior blood must truly run in thy veins
VultureXV: All vessels are destined to one day break, but the great Alexander lived like a warrior til his last!

Jul 10 2024

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