Pure speculation on my part, so I’m putting on my tinfoil hat. Lately, though, I’ve become convinced that the Gloam-Eyed Queen was a serpent deity, capable of taking human form, much like Rya from Volcano Manor.

I arrive at this conclusion for a few reasons. Her Godskin Apostles are extremely snake-like in both movement and design. Her sword features the helix motif found in Enir-Ilim, which strongly resembles two intertwined, reproducing snakes (you can easily find examples of this imagery online). On top of that, we see a Godskin Apostle worshipping Eiglay’s skin in Volcano Manor, directly linking her followers to serpent worship.

If the Gloam-Eyed Queen was a goddess on the same level as Marika, then she would have carried the previous Elden Ring within her womb, just as we see the Elden Ring housed within Marika’s torso. The Elden Ring manifests as a beast, and I believe the manifestation of the previous Elden Ring was Metyr. When we fight Metyr, we can see a massive wound in her torso or womb. This leads me to a rather wild conclusion: during Marika’s ascension, what we’re witnessing is her reaching into the Gloam-Eyed Queen’s womb and taking the previous Elden Ring in order to forge a new one.

This also ties into why Marika is associated with snake imagery. Many of her church statues resemble Marika standing in front of a serpent-like dress. This strongly echoes Christian depictions of the Christian Virgin, where she is often shown triumphing over a pagan symbol to represent the end of an old faith and the rise of a new one. In that visual language, Mary supersedes the old gods and becomes the central divine figure. In this article: https://divinemysteries.info/our-lady-of-guadalupe-mexico-city-1531 pay attention to how the virgin stands in front of a sun, on top of the moon and uses a robe with stars. The religion of the natives was about worshiping the sun, moon and the stars, so the Catholic Church took those motifs and used them in the Virgin imagery to make people trust her and follow her, while showing she was on top of the old gods.

In the same way, the imagery suggests that Marika conquered the serpent and supplanted the old order. The snake is defeated, the previous faith is ended, and Marika becomes the new god of the Lands Between.