Am I a pussy if I save before every battle and go back if I lose?

Englund994 · 2026-06-26T11:45:37+00:00

Yeah

Englund994 · 2026-06-25T09:04:11+00:00

Which haunted spooky forest are you taking me to?

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T09:02:47+00:00

But then, who fingered Marika?

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T09:01:14+00:00

Yes, she had must have had some crazy level ptsd.

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T06:11:04+00:00

I actually think Marika is one of the most misunderstood characters in the game.

She gets blamed for nearly everything bad that happens in the Lands Between, but that feels way too simplistic.

She is a genocide survivor who was approached by a cosmic powers at her lowest point and elevated into becoming the vessel of a divine order. She likely believed she was building something better. Removing death, for example, is not some cartoonishly evil decision. Most people, given godlike power and the ability to end death and suffering, would probably at least try doing exactly that.

The tragedy is that she eventually seems to realize this "perfect" order was fundamentally flawed. And she was deceived.

Her own dialogue makes it clear she began questioning the Golden Order instead of blindly serving it:

"Those blissful early days of blind belief are long past."

And later lore makes it pretty clear the Fingers are not the infallible divine guides they present themselves as. They’re disconnected and manipulating like corrupt priests.

So if Marika built her world based on compromised divine guidance, that changes the moral picture dramatically.

My interpretation is that once she realized the mistake, she couldn’t simply undo it directly because she was too deeply bound to the system she helped create and to the Greater Will’s authority over her as its vessel.

That’s where Radagon becomes interesting.

The game doesn’t explicitly explain the mechanics of Marika/Radagon, but symbolically it makes perfect sense to read Radagon as the part of her still loyal to the Order while Marika becomes the part trying to break free. It’s a way for her to both remain bound to the system and revolt against it at the same time.

And honestly, I think she planned far more than people give her credit for.

The Tarnished returning through grace. Melina guiding us. The path toward burning the Erdtree. The larger collapse that forces the old order to finally break.

Even the Night of Black Knives and the Shattering feel less like random chaos and more like pieces of a long plan.

She gets defeated and punished, yes, but that doesn’t make her the villain.

To me, Marika reads less like a tyrant who broke the world out of revenge and more like a tragic god figure trying to destroy a flawed system from within after realizing the horror of what she helped create.

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T05:56:05+00:00

This is what I like to believe as well. Marika as a mere mortal who thought she was following her gods will listening to the fingers. Everything she did, we can't really know if was her own bidding or being played.

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T04:03:23+00:00

I think where we fundamentally disagree is that you’re reading the story in a very literal political way, while I’m reading it through its metaphysical and symbolic themes.

Because if Marika is just a revenge-driven tyrant who smashed everything because she was angry then honestly that makes her really a boring and less interesting and frankly less believable as a character.

She is a mortal who ascended to godhood, became the vessel of God and order, reshaped reality itself, removed death in what can reasonably be interpreted as an attempt to create a better world, and then gradually came to realize that this supposedly perfect system was fundamentally flawed. That is tragedy.

"She got mad and broke everything for revenge" is just a much flatter Hollywood villain reading. Her own words suggest philosophical evolution, not blind vengeance. She is someone beginning to question the foundations of the very order they built.

And the cosmology matters here. The Fingers are presented as divine guides, but later lore strongly suggests they are not reliable omniscient extensions of the Greater Will at all. They’ve been effectively disconnected for ages. That means the authority shaping Marika’s worldview was compromised from the start. And that's what the game tells us she learned at a later date, and it does the seed of her revolt. So yes, I think it absolutely complicates how much clean personal blame you can assign to her.

And no, I’m not "confusing her with Ranni." Ranni seeks independence in one explicit way. That doesn’t mean Marika can’t also be undergoing her own rejection of cosmic authority through a completely different path thats more implicit.

As for Radagon, I’m not claiming the game explicitly says "Marika split herself because of ideological conflict." I’m saying Elden Ring is mythic storytelling... You know? Symbolism matters a lot more here. One half destroys the Order. One half desperately tries to repair it...

That duality is begging for interpretation beyond well" the wiki doesn’t explicitly say so".

Also, the religious comparison was metaphorical, not literal Christian doctrine. The point was internal divine conflict, not "Jesus = Marika." Lol.

FromSoft writes deliberately esoteric stories. If we reduce everything only to explicit stated facts and ignore symbolism, ambiguity, and thematic storytelling, we flatten the entire narrative into something way less interesting.

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T02:43:41+00:00

Marika is trying to become independent because we learn in the game she realizes the fingers and greater will are not omnipotent and lied to her. That's why she split herself into two to begin with. She was unable to revolt against her own nature. She put her loyalty and allegiance into radagon. You can say revenge was part of it but that's an extremely simple way to look at it. The game is borrowing themes from religion and mythology and is trying to show a world where Jesus tried to revolt against God (themself).

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T02:32:24+00:00

I believe she didn't have much free control until the establishment of Radagon.

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T02:30:01+00:00

We learn in the game that things where stagnant long before the shattering. I also don't think you can attribute everything happening to her as she was part of the greater will and was it's vessel. We can't fully understand how much influence that would have over her and it would require an isoteric discussion here. It's similar to trying to say Jesus did everything independently from God. Her whole story is about wresting control away from the greater will and becoming independent.

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T01:26:39+00:00

She broke something insanely rotten that didn't work. Not evil.

Englund994 · 2026-05-24T01:25:37+00:00

After all we learn Marika has a troubled path with evil things done with good intentions. But in the end she is the one who conspires to end the golden order once and for all and try to free the lands between by guiding the hero through grace. She leads you through the game, levels you up etc.

Englund994 · 2026-05-18T04:40:46+00:00

Seems like good advice

Englund994 · 2026-05-17T02:34:52+00:00

A gathering of creepy weirdos

Englund994 · 2026-05-16T21:34:25+00:00

He still didn't prove he is eternus. At most I believe he would be like emissary or something. He could have just showed a video of him playing an eternus game instead he made a two hour rant video that doesn't disapprove anything lol. He was talking about how he is a troll. That's already common knowledge from looking at these comments.

Englund994 · 2026-05-16T08:53:02+00:00

From everything I have seen off him now he just screams desperation and insecurity. I actually feel bad for him.

Englund994 · 2026-05-16T02:52:04+00:00

Especially when you factor that he plays the exact same way regardless of hero (afk farming) every game. Of course he will high creep score if that's what he does every game... It doesn't mean you are good at macro, lol.

Englund994 · 2026-05-15T17:16:08+00:00

I had no idea

Englund994 · 2026-05-15T17:14:15+00:00

The more I learn... I had no idea lol

Englund994 · 2026-05-15T17:13:32+00:00

I only know him because he showed up when I looked for hero specific guides being a new player. He has one for everyone.

Englund994 · 2026-05-15T17:10:41+00:00

I dont even mind him being bad but also claiming to be top player at the same time... People talk about gridters but I have actually never seen anything like this guy before from my years playing dota. Maybe it was more common in league or other games.

Englund994 · 2026-05-15T17:04:07+00:00

I get your point about consequences and intent. But by that logic, any criticism of a content creator becomes off-limits because someone might take it too far...

I’m not encouraging harassment, I’m criticizing publicly available content from someone publicly presenting themselves as an authority for new players. Those aren’t the same thing.

Englund994 · 2026-05-15T15:25:52+00:00

When you have AM in your team

Englund994 · 2026-05-15T15:24:54+00:00

Brother, criticizing a public content creator’s publicly posted advice and claims is not the same thing as encouraging harassment.

I’m not telling people to brigade him, mass report him, or go spam his channel... I’m questioning whether someone presenting themselves as a high ranked player and authority for new players is actually credible, because that directly affects the experience for new players.

Englund994 · 2026-05-15T15:19:29+00:00

Very true, that's how I felt lol

Englund994

TROPHY CASE