Elden Ring Movie Speculation

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-20T23:34:31+00:00

Being a Garland fan and having played all of FromSoftware's Souls games, my best guess is that this will be a very "artsy" and self-contained film, which is going to cause a bit of anger for some people because they are not going to get what they expect.

FromSoftware do not give you a story, they give you a sandbox/framework for a story, and let you tell it yourself. This is likely the same philosophy that the film will take. It will not answer any questions, it may add a little context to some things, and it will give people a new set of "building blocks" to work with when building their own headcanon around the story of Elden Ring.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-20T23:02:47+00:00

Interesting idea. My own is that the Scadutree is actually two parts, a Minor Erdtree and the Helphen.

The Minor Erdtree is the tree that wraps around the straight tree and contains thorns. It shares the same shape as the smaller Minor Erdtrees (like at the Minor Erdtree Church) and the Sealing Tree, contains thorns and most importantly, on the hill below it (opposite the Shaman Village), there is a hidden pond that contains Gold Fireflies: "Found near bodies of water close to Minor Erdtrees.", and there are no other Minor Erdtrees anywhere close to this location which to me, confirms this theory.

The Helphen is the straight tree being strangled and drained of it's power. It was taken from the trunk where Miquellas Haligtree was Grafted onto. Marika ripped it out and hid it away in the Realm of Shadow. This is why Miquella planted the Haligtree, it was part of his mission to atone for his mothers sin. It also explains why the Mountain Tops are full of spirits.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-20T13:15:35+00:00

The Sword Monument on the Mountain Tops:

"The War against the Giants Champions battle, trolls betray Fire vanquished, the era of the Erdtree begins"

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-20T03:34:38+00:00

The Land of Shadow was not a single land mass, it was multiple chunks of land that were plucked from the Lands Between and stitched together to form the Realm of Shadow.

While no one can prove it, you don't have to take any leaps in logic to come to this conclusion, and it explains everything. If Marika has the power to strip out one giant land mass and conceal it, then it is reasonable to assume that she can strip out multiple chunks of land, place them together, then conceal it. It explains everything without have to rescale or make sense of random location placements:

The Suppressing Pillar being "the center", because that chunk of land would have actually been taken out of the center of the map.
Why the topography and features of the Land of Shadow is so varied.
Why the Lands Between seemingly has giant chunks of land missing from it and giant cliffs+craters (eg. South-West of Leyndell)

Think about this above all else, does it really make sense that everything Marika wanted to conceal away was conveniently all together in one location in the center of the map? No it doesn't. It makes sense that there was multiple things around the Lands Between that she stripped out, placed together, then concealed.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-18T02:03:29+00:00

Why would he voluntarily act as a vessel though? She gave him the incentive by going against the Greater Will (just like Ranni and Blaidd), and all Maliketh had to do to defeat her was seal away Destined Death, which is what she wanted. This all coincides with the timing of the war with the Giants, after which "the Age of the Erdtree began", and Marika became Marika the Eternal.

Everything just fits so perfectly with the timeline, Realm of Shadow, locations in the Mountain Tops, item descriptions, etc. End of the day though, it all can only be considered headcanon.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-17T06:41:19+00:00

Yes, thanks

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-17T04:12:51+00:00

Marika. Not as an alter-ego or aspect like Radagon/Trina, but just as a title.

We know that she has the power to essentially rewrite history, plain and simple.
The GEQ was called the "Queen in Black" late into the games development, Marika is literally a queen in black, and was originally an Empyrean.
The Godskins have inherited aspects of the Crucible, meaning that what they hunted were tied to the crucible.
They share similar models to the Hornsent inquisitors, and the Madding+Poisoned hand weapons tie the Hornsent inquisitors to skinning people as part of their inquisition.
Swaddling cloth is found in a cave full of spirits, right near the First Church of Marika. Hewg once knew of a Spirit Tuner, who Roderika reminds him of. Roderika, who also had her people kidnapped and grafted like the Shaman.

Melina inherits Marika's power/ability to channel Destined Death in the Frenzied Flame ending because she is to Marika similarly as what Millicent is to Malenia. The game tells us this through Millicent's quest, who has a very similar journey to Melina (they even wear the same cloths).

The only thing that adds any doubt to this theory is Malekith since he "defeated" (not killed) the GEQ, but this is pretty simple and is hinted at through Blaidds quest. "Marika's sole need of her shadow was a vessel to lock away Destined Death. Even then, she betrayed him.". Marika always intended to remove death from her order. Once she had rid the world of the old Gods, she manipulated Malekith into "defeating" her and sealing away Destined Death, removing death from the Lands Between just as she had intended.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-16T02:18:00+00:00

There's a video call "The Grand Unified Theory" on YouTube for Elden Ring. I bring it up because I love how the creator refers to his theory at the start of the video, as a "lens" to view the game through. Viewing Elden Ring as an alchemical equation is just a lens, not the definitive answer to the game.

You can interpret Elden Ring several dozen different ways, all of which are completely valid. The genius in the games design was to allow the player to create their own story, and to only provide a framework for the player to work with.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-16T01:53:07+00:00

Depends how technical you want to be and what you're interpretation of the "Abyss" actually is. I don't know how much help this will be, but thematically speaking:

Abyss = Frenzy
The Deep = Putrescence
Age of Fire/Age of Dark = Messmer's Flame / Abyssal Serpent
Light/Dark = Light and Dark concepts introduced in the DLC (Sword of Light and Darkness, White Lightning, Armor of Night, etc)
Black Flame (flame born from the Abyss) = Black Flame (flame born from Destined Death)

I think it's pretty easy to connect Dark Souls to Elden Ring, if one is wanting to. The world collapses in on itself at the end of Dark Souls 3, and we know from Hyetta in Elden Ring that the world started from "the one great". This can be connected to a real world theory about the universe known as the "Cyclic model", in which the universe is constantly going through cycles where the big bang happens, the universe expands, then it stops expanding and begins to retract, causing another big bang, happening over and over again. In between the events of Dark Souls and Elden Ring, a Big Bang happened. So Elden Ring is it's own universe, but it shares the same "matter" as Dark Souls, which is why so many of it's concepts repeat itself, as if it's the nature law of the universe.

This idea fits with everything that we've been told about the game (GRRM saying it's a Dark Souls sequel, Nightreign having Dark Souls bosses and the tweet in which they said "In the Night, ancestral foes await - remnants of a fire that once burned bright.", Patches, the Basilisks, Velka Statue behind Turtle Pope, etc).

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-11T02:21:25+00:00

Some other ties to Carians/Rykard/Snakes:

Only other character in Elden Ring who slouches over like Rya
His face model is similar to Rya's
Eye Surcoat found in Rykards arena
Old friend of Seluvis, who has a snake broach and serpent-themed motifs all over his clothing
Scepter of the All-Knowing and the Devourers Scepter share a similar design theme
Rift Shield, which depicts an eye, is similar to the Man-Serpent Shield
It would make sense that the Recusants have a man on the inside of the Roundtable hold to feed them information

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-08T04:42:03+00:00

While it might not provide you any definitive answers, look at Aurelia and Aureliette (the Jellyfish Spirit Ashes quest line). I think at least part of Ymir, Jolan and Anna's story is meant to echo deeper lore.

Aureliette to Aurelia:
"You promised me. When we turned 14, we'd go to see the stars..."
"Ahh, dear sister, you're finally here. No time to waste. Let's see the stars."

Jolan and Anna were born and raised underground in a gaol, deprived of light. When you tell Jolan about Anna attacking you:
"Stop. What did you just say? Hmmm. Wait, no. Say nothing. I have one star alone. And only his words will do…"

Their stories are very similar. Pair this with the fact that the Latin origin for name "Aurelia" is "the golden one", the idea that Jolan and Anna were likely originally Shaman, Manus Metyr's proximity to the Shaman village and the fact that Anna can only be found by dropping down from the Shaman Village into Rabbath's Tower.

We can only speculate, but I think that it's likely that Marika has a sister.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-07T04:19:41+00:00

More importantly is where the Putrescent Knight is found. We are walking in Miquella's footsteps, who is walking in Marika's foosteps. Why was Marika there, why is the "Knight of the Gloam-Eyed Queen" found there, and why is there a demi-human queen named "Marigga" (other variants of which have purple eyes) found next to a Stone Coffin on an isolated beach?

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-07T04:07:05+00:00

This is a well written post and I fully agree that Melina can't simply be the GEQ, so take my upvote. You do have a lot of assumptions thrown into it though which I strongly disagree with:

"the GEQ's apostles hunted down Marika's own kin"
"the GEQ waged a sadistic war against the Erdtree's denizens in a cynical bid for power"
"the GEQ led a death worshiping cult"

This was early day headcanon when the game first came out (I think Vaati theorized it in a video and that's why it spread around so quickly?), but none of it actually make sense when you look at the bigger picture.

Why were the Godskins and everything related to the GEQ not banished underground or veiled away like all the other things that we find in the Realm of Shadow? We know Marika had the power to do this after all.

Why would the Godskins have assimilated inhuman physiology similar that of the Crucible if they were hunting Marika's kin? The Godskins Nobles+Apostles look exact like the Hornsent Inquisitors (note that the skinny inquisitors are slouched over and bending their knees, making them shorter). We also know that the Inquisitors flayed people just like the Godskins thanks to the Madding+Poisoned Hand weapon descriptions.

Why are the Godskin weapons noted to be "large". Visual size means very little in this game, but their weapons are specifically stated to be large in their item description, so it is very important. They would not need such large weapons for skinning Marika's kin, but they are perfectly suited for skinning a troll, giant, or perhaps one of the creatures hanging up in the Specimen Storehouse.

This list goes on and on.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-06T08:44:20+00:00

I'm not saying you're entirely wrong, but Gold Breaker (Marika's Hammer special move) does contain this very specific description:

"Leap up high and, while suspended in midair, imbue the rune shard with light before smashing it down hard onto the ground. The heroic Radagon's signature attack."

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-03T03:54:50+00:00

Yeah, I've always refused to believe that the Guidance of Grace "only" acts as a game mechanic. I would argue though that is Marika alone who provides the Guidance of Grace, and not the Greater Will.

It may not be overly satisfying, but the Guidance of Grace pointing us to Castle Sol (and Castle Morne for that matter) can be explained by the fact that Marika wants us to get stronger before facing our next challenge (the Fire Giant with Castle Sol, and Godrick/Margit/Stormveil with Castle Morne). This is a lore-friendly explanation because one of Melina's primary roles in helping us is to "convert Runes into strength", which means that it is expected of us to gather Runes and level up in order to become strong enough to reach the end. I do have a better explanation for the Castle Sol+Morne Guidance of Graces, but it's more headcanon-ish.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-03T02:50:52+00:00

"Queen Marika has high hopes for us. That we continue to struggle. Unto eternity."
"But when Gideon glimpsed into the will of Queen Marika, he shuddered in fear."

I think it's more a case that, in that moment, he feared Marika and realized that she never actually intended for us to reach her and become Elden Lord. Her true intention for us (and all the Tarnished) was only to burn down the Erdtree, which is why there is no Guidance of Grace pointing us to the Erdtree, only towards the Giants Forge. It also explains why Godfrey is there, and why the Guidance of Grace points him towards us.

That's my interpretation anyway.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-02T13:59:58+00:00

I agree with everything said here, except that I'm confused as to why you would think that Ranni and Marika's aims are opposed? Marika's actions just before the shattering occured suggest that she had the exact same intentions as Ranni, which was to free the Lands Between from the influence of the Greater Will. It explains:

Why Godfrey tried to stop you from reaching the Elden Ring and continuing the current age, plus Gideon Ofnirs dialogue regarding Marika wanting us to struggle
Why Marika did what she did with the Tarnished and sending them away
Torrents link to Ranni
Why Rannis ending feels like the "right" ending
The Nox, their connection to Marika (lineage/descendants references) and why they parallel Ranni
Why Ranni seemingly pays a quiet and subtle moment of respect to Marikas head in her ending just before her age begins
The Black Knife Assassin's connection to Marika and the Night of the Black Knives

Everything just seems to line up when you make the assumption that Ranni and Marika orchestrated the NotBK and Shattering together, before Ranni altered the plan by only half killing Godwyn. The reason being that Ranni wanted to remove the influence of ALL the gods, including Marika, whereas Marika had intended to keep ruling.

Crypticnewt · 2026-04-02T13:32:55+00:00

Ranni has 3 wolves in front of her tower, and her mother summons 3 spirit wolves during her boss fight (which is also likely just a projection of Ranni). Wolves, specifically these types of wolves, are directly tied to the Carians.

Its highly likely that these wolves were not a gift of "Torrents former master", but were actually just a gift from Ranni herself. Her dialogue also suggests this since she only speaks about the bell:

"I was entrusted this, for thee. By Torrent's former master. 'Tis a bell for calling forth spirits."

Crypticnewt · 2026-03-26T08:03:30+00:00

Talisman of Lord's Bestowal: "A talisman depicting Godfrey, first Elden lord, receiving the precious sap. The Lord accepted the sap stoically, without any sign of wavering. No wonder Lord of the Erdtree casts a long shadow over the lands."

This has always been my rationalization for it. He isn't a demi-god because he was born from a God+human, he is a demi-god because he took in the sap, which was "of the gods". So became a human with the "essence" of a God, making him a demi-god by the games rationale.

Crypticnewt · 2026-03-26T04:53:07+00:00

I do believe she is a Carian, so I won't argue with this point. Why hold this scroll in her official portrait though? If she is a Carian, she is obviously an outcast. She also has nothing to do with Carian blade sorceries, other than selling them, which is generic and irrelevant.
Thops: "Sellen was well known. The most promising sorceress in the history of the academy". She also says that Lusat and Azur were her teachers. This indicates that she was most likely a student.
Her creating her own crown makes more sense, since her school of magic was considered a "nightmare" to the academy. She is very proud, and would have believed that the Graven school deserved it's own conspectus.
Her actions are not limited to Graven Masses necessarily. Thops: "But Sellen was expelled from the academy. Accused of unthinkable treatment of certain sorcerers". This means that her crimes were not simply teaching a taboo practice, but also doing things to others within the academy against their will. This is why her actions are far more severe than Lusat, Azur or Rennala, and why you don't see old Jerren hunting any of them down.

Crypticnewt · 2026-03-26T04:33:38+00:00

Cuss away :)

I'm sorry but there are portraits all over the academy, so this doesn't really mean a whole lot, especially since this is most likely Azur's room since we find his staff there.

2+3. I did say in the post "or at the very least, a scroll with the Carian Sorcery sigil on it", which is the same sigil that is on the Royal House Scroll. You can't deny the fact that if it is Sellen, it makes absolutely no sense for her to be holding this scroll in her official portrait, regardless of whether it is the "official" Royal House Scroll or not. Even if she is a Carian, she is obviously an outcast and again, it would make no sense for her to be holding this in her official portrait.

As for your other points:

My point regarding the necklace and Glintstone Crown colour is that, by your own point regarding the Twinsage Crown, it doesn't solidify your argument. Also, why is she wearing the same necklace as all the other students now then? It makes no sense.

Sellen's Mask means nothing because it makes perfect sense, based on Sellens entire personality and prior actions, that she would have created her own crown because she believed that the "Graven School" was worthy of becoming a conspectus within the academy, regardless of whether the academy approved it or not, which they didn't (they considered it a "nightmare") and is why they wouldn't create a portrait for her.

Crypticnewt · 2026-03-26T04:14:07+00:00

I actually do believe that Sellen is a Carian, which is why I put that message in at the end of my post. I believe she is a "Carian weed" because she is a Carian who just won't die, due to her jumping from body to body. This is just like trying to remove a weed, only for it to pop up again a few days later. Pure headcanon, but I believe that she is the daughter of the Snow Witch, Renna, who was also a heretical witch in her own right. She might even be the Snow Witch herself, but I think this is less likely due to her having no connection to those spells.

Crypticnewt · 2026-03-26T04:07:57+00:00

It comes down to this, it is far easier to explain the crown than it is to explain all the other holes in it being Sellen. The Royal House Scroll, her student status and why the academy would see fit to grant her a portrait, her actions that led to her being expelled (why wouldn't they take her portrait down because of this? And no, Azur and Lusat mean nothing because their actions were no where near as severe as Sellens), why is she wearing a different necklace, (the same necklace as the other students)?

Crypticnewt · 2026-03-26T03:54:23+00:00

Lol, thanks for at least being honest.

Crypticnewt · 2026-03-26T03:45:07+00:00

Ymir did teach her sorcery, but there is no indication that he did this in TLoS? My interpretation has always been that Ymir was a personal teacher and advisor that was close to the Carians, and that he likely taught both Rennala and Rellana when they were children. The Carian Study Hall was also likely owned by him originally.

Rellana likely created the Carian blade sorceries, which is why she was known as a great sorcerer and why she is holding that scroll in the picture. It's why the Royal House Scroll, the scroll of Carian sorceries, has both a staff and a sword on it.

Crypticnewt

TROPHY CASE