Preface One of the benefits to Director Hidetaka Miyazaki expanding his formula for Demon’s and Dark Souls to an open world is the exponential potential for environmental storytelling. While many of the new details offer only vague insights into the general area, the wars impressed me with just how much we can pinpoint over a […]
Preface Up until this point, my analysis of Marika and Godfrey has been rather bullish. Even when fate wasn’t necessarily on their side, the pair still came out on top in the end, with relatively meager impediments. Whatever their personal drama, history had looked kindly on their efforts to build and maintain a kingdom. Not […]
Preface Of all the demigods, Godrick is easily my favorite. Although I hold no particular love for incompetent villains, the Grafted oozes so much personality worthy of his most memorable design. It is a certain awfulness that I don’t think I will ever tire of. You almost want to cheer for this underdog, single-mindedly fighting […]
Preface Rarely are “the good times” the most interesting part of a story, and Elden Ring is no different. Much of this period in the setting’s backstory is simply stacking the building blocks to be knocked down by subsequent events. What little conflict can be mined is narratively flaccid, with hardly many tantalizing secrets to […]
Even if beckoned by the guidance of grace, war between the Erdtree kingdom and the fire giants was inevitable. The description for Fire’s Deadly Sin explains how burning the Erdtree is, naturally, the first cardinal sin — what greater sin is there than to destroy the divinity which your kingdom was built around? For Godfrey […]
Preface Thanks to the sheer scope of Elden Ring, it has become easier than ever for FromSoftware to hide its history in plain sight. So many crucial events go unmentioned, and none are as consequential as those establishing Marika and Godfrey as queen and king. But while the written narrative might have little to say […]
Preface When first compiling my, very lengthy, analysis for Godfrey, I was amazed to discover just how much I kept coming back to characters and events largely unrelated to him. Despite him and Marika defining the world order, the Elden Lord’s rise and subsequent reign were very much informed by what came before. If not […]
Preface We all love our heroes, but there is something inherently macabre about that dynamic. In a certain sense, heroism leeches off others’ suffering, profiting from their need to be saved. What does that mean then for those who aspire to become heroes, to seek fame for showing strength and valor? Elden Ring‘s director Hidetaka […]
The Fire Monks are supposed to keep watch from their mountaintop, and yet we find them in Liurnia. With camps to both the east and west, the warrior monks lead the guilty briar sorcerers in patrols around their area. They have even brought burning slugs and flame chariots, the latter used in clashes with the […]
Kaiden is the homeland of the mercenaries we see mostly roaming through Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula. And while we do not find even ruins of a settlement by that name, we shouldn’t expect to. Like barbarians down on Altus Plateau, the Kaiden appear to be a hardy warrior culture; their helmet even bears similarity […]
Lokey Lore 