1ashiv: Shit, I didn't think twice about this nameless thin tower and here we have an entire lore video. Never ceases to amaze me.
chaffylocket1174: A cool theory is that thats the place godfrey shed himself of horaouh loux and and became elden lord. He accepted the sap there and by drinking shed himself of the heritage he had. Him being cheiftan of the highland warroirs, they fought beasts and bears, his horah loux form looks very much like the runebears then conquering serosh, beasts are highly regarded in the land of shadow, he was probably a citizen at the time. Theres also this real life momument ,where this pilot by the name of godfrey flew through. It has like a ceremonial arch. Check out gameplus the alchemist, im just saying whatever i remember from his video
coreyrachar9694: Spend all DLC looking at the thing and when you finally arrive you just walk right past it to a bowl.
calebwebster6371: I think we are supposed to see the bowl as having previously been suspended between the prongs on top of the tower, and having fallen off some time ago. So the tower isn't nameless, Shadow Tree Chalice is the name of the whole tower, not just the bowl, thus the area name. It was built to collect the sap, which produced the fragments. Maybe?
LoganardoDVinci: The exact design of the circular spiral is NOT unique to the crest! It also appears on Messmer's eye, surrounding the golden iris.
alexsanderkrupa: My man gave us a half hour essay on a fucking wall. Truly the Miyazaki way
deadmedowns: I like to think of that monument supporting the gigantic sunflower on the Scadutree before it was cut off and burned. Why else would the Scadutree avatar look like a sunflower?
Nemo12417: Before fully watching the video, I'll note that the tower in question is in almost pristine condition. Other than the Divine Towers, the architecture of Elden Ring's pre Marika past tends to be in some state of ruin. Just look at the architecture of Farum Azula or the Ancient Dynasty for an example. The tower this video is dedicated to, though, doesn't seem to have so much as a scratch, or even plantlife growing on it.
zakaryrichmond396: I literally just finished a video by Game Plus The Alchemist that was released one day ago and it focuses nearly entirely on the concept of that building being a Triumph Arch
mt2r-music: I was so confused when I killed Radahn. I thought the game then sends me to the tower and the chalice at the bottom to get the Miquella cutscene from the trailer but… nothing happened. The way the DLC ended was so disappointing. Especially because it seems so important. It’s the flying Ring City tower all over again.
daffahadziq2096: The banished knight info was a bombshell, didn't even know they were even in the dlc
bhopr3800: I love that the clearest and most important connection between Messmer's army and the Hornsent culture is literally the medieval process of *impalement*... you can't tell me they didn't think this through a million times over
PoyoDesuka: The Scadutree Chalice Tower definetly seems like a symbol of The Erdtree's Bounty. First I saw it from the gravesite plain, it draws the eye straight to the falling sap.
UltraStarWarsFanatic: Something completely unique to the Specimen's Storehouse, particularly the area around the lift, is the bat statues. Bats do tend to hang around Rauh ruins, but their existence (and more importantly, that of the chanting winged dames) isn't acknowledged by anything else in the game.
MorningGloryDancer: This is a great revelation, because it also links back to Miquella and potentially proves Radagon’s paternity to Messmer. For heraldry impaling, the left side of the shield is called the “dexter” side. It is the position of greater honour, and typically holds the paternal arms of the husband (aka baron or masculine) in marital unions. The right side of the shield is called the “sinister” side and shows the family arms of the wife (aka femme or feminine).

Remember when Miquella abandoned his arms dextral and sinestral? I always wondered why those terms were used rather than left and right. But, putting these connections together, he abandoned his dextral arm (masculine, husband/paternal) the flame symbol, on the fourth floor of the specimen storehouse of the shadow keep and his sinestral arm (feminine, wife/maternal) the spiral symbol, in the small room at the top of the Belurat Tower Settlement.

These locations cannot be coincidental. Marika connected to Belurat Tower, sure..the spiral crest on the right being maternal is clear. However, the flame crest on the left would now be interpreted as a paternal sign, meaning Radagon. Was Radagon at one point in the Shadow Keep before it became the Shadow Keep? Was a regal family that used the flame statuettes residing there first? Side note: this is also just more evidence for the theory of Radagon being Messmer’s father. Perhaps Messmer took up dad’s flame crest into his incantations.

But, back to the heraldry: if this is the case, then Messmer does become the Impaler in both senses of the term as you noted, but more appropriately because he would be THE REASON for the impalement. A child being born of two different factions makes for a pretty good reason to establish a union. Messmer the Impaler is quite literally the line going down the middle of the crest that brings the flame and spiral together.

So, if this is the case, were Radagon and Marika separate beings at this early point? Or did Marika split Radagon from herself and set him up in the Shadow Keep’s original castle for this? I have no idea. But, every child born of Marika and Radagon are cursed, and the alliance explains why Messmer’s original army of black knights uses the crucible powers. Your theory makes sense to me.

Hmm, the fact that Messmer calls us a “mongrel intruder” now fits better as well. The word mongrel refers to a person of mixed background or descent, or an indeterminable breed. It would definitely be considered an insult as we have no heraldry to back up our lineage. I guess maybe that’s important to Messmer.

Anyway, I’m just throwing ideas out to see what sticks. You are the lore master; what are your thoughts?
Manuleon42: i think the circled spiral is a sigil of Marikas faction during her collaboration with hornscent, makes sense because it basically looks like a predecessor to the modern elden ring.( aka spiral ring)
nickperri6571: Hawkshaw video shows up at the top of my recommendations, but not in my subscribed tab. Wtf, YouTube? Great video, Hawkshaw!
JoeNeutrino: I love the double meaning of "Messmer the Impaler".
GrandStyles: One interesting thing to note about your initial thought on the function of this tower, if you look around the base wall of the Keep surrounding Gaius' arena, you can actually see massive block structures which looks like massive gates or entrances which were later sequestered away. It supports the theory that at a time people could make pilgrimages to the scadu chalice to share in it's sap, and why people would already know to favor the scadu tree fragments.

Really great find about the secret alliance!!
AFKay: Haven't watched the whole video so I don't know if it will be stated later, but it's worth mentioning that the circular spiral on Messmer's crest does have a clear origin. It appears directly on his sealed eye on its outer rim. Zlofsky's images of Messmer demonstrate this.
Zarith7480: While I agree that there was a period of time where the Erd Tree and Horsent were allies, it is not hard for me to believe that the Hornsent would be willing to call what Marika did a betrayal even if they hadn't been allies/friendly. The Hornsent thought of and treated the numen like slaves; torturing them and stuffing them into jars. Any act of rebellion or disobedience would seem like a betrayal to them.

Sep 11 2024

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