people are currently freaking out over the elden ring lore book and what it has to say about promised consort Radahn, and I'd just like to point out that despite being an official piece of merchandise, they aren't exactly accurate to the source material.
Like, the very same set of lore books says that Malenia narrowly won the battle of Aionia (despite the game making it abundantly clear that no one won that fight), that Godfrey's banishment and war march happened after the shattering began (which is literally impossible) and that Romina "created the scarlet rot" (do I even have to say anything?).
Have some Madeline bc yes
How are you really going to be so terrible at your job as supreme god that your vassal successfully planned to overthrow you and betrayed you right under your nose and one of her possible replacements went to some seriously extreme lengths just to get away from you?
Wouldn’t be surprised if the GW abandoned the lands between out of embarrassment tbh. The other outer gods are never going to let it live this down. The formless mother has a very loyal pawn and the rot god has wormed its way back into the system. What does the GW have again? Two problem children that wont listen to it?
Oh what Radagon? Radagon's probably it's self insert it made/possessed to try and looks slightly less pathetic /hj
Thinking about how Kayaba and Kirito's character arcs mirror each other really well in SAOA.
Kayaba, despite trying his best to help the people he trapped in the game and to be a good person, eventually fell into nihilism and hatred for humanity, spiralling to the point where he’ll directly murder innocent people for no reason other than feeling like it.
While Kirito tries his absolute best to be a cold, nihilistic horrible person but eventually breaks when his genuinely good qualities get forced to the surface by the people around him. Despite his best efforts he is, deep down, a good person who wants to do the right thing.
They both start and end the series on opposite sides of the same spectrum.
I think something that makes this scenario even more painful is that the explosion was caused by a bullet hitting a container of shadows own energy/power. I can't imagine how that must have made him feel.
OK I've seen some people be worried so I do wanna clarify something about Sonic Movie 3:
they DO make it clear that the military was trying to kill Maria
the change from it being a direct shot to an explosion was probably to keep the rating low, but they WERE pointing guns at that 12yo
walters said "those are children" and the soldier responded "we have our orders"
they WERE killing that 12yo whether it was via bullet or boom
just bc the bullet missed doesnt mean it wasnt aimed for her and shadow
it was clear that the military killed maria.
shadow never mentioned this to sonic tho which i think he should've bc it's gonna be a jolt for sonic in movie like 7 when shadow's like "did i never mention the military executed my sister" and sonic's like "they did WHAT"
also ummm.... Maybe St. Trina? The area has the general color scheme of the sleep effect in Elden Ring, they're surrounded by Trina's Lilly's and the character in shot seems like they could be sleeping. They're also about the right size to be an alter ego of Miquella with the right hair along side it.
I always find it particularly funny when people say that Ranni is just manipulating the player and that she’s using them as a means to a much more nefarious secret end, because if you actually pay attention to the game and character then one thing becomes abundantly clear.
Ranni literally cannot lie to save her life.
No seriously, she’s a cunning mastermind but she is a fucking terrible liar. When a random tarnished comes looking for her and accuses her of the assassination of Godwyn, she just goes “yeah? And what of it?” as if she’s not admitting to being the one behind the biggest act of heresy in known history. That's not something you should just say to people, least of all a tarnished!
You get her alone with you and within seconds she’s rambling about her plan, her past, her family, her friends that she adores with all of her heart, how you’re actually a lot like them, nevermind forget that last part please-
Sorry to burst the bubble of all the nihilist theorists out there that really want age of stars to secretly be a bad ending but if Ranni was planning anything nefarious with her godhood then I’m willing to bet that she wouldn’t be able to keep quiet about it until the end of her questline.
Y’know after thinking about it for a while, I think Rykard's involvement in the night of the black knives could run a little deeper than just being a co conspirator. What if he was the person who actually did the deed?
Not on Godwyn mind you, we already know that was all the black knife assassins handy work. But there is one other corpse that is left unaccounted for.
What if he was the one who killed Ranni and carved the cursemark into her back?
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I know there’s no evidence in game that says anything about this but… it had to have been someone right? Someone other than Ranni I mean. She’s metal as fuck, but it would have been incredibly hard to carve such a specific symbol into her own back. Especially since failure would mean certain death.
And I also don’t think it would have been some random black knife assassin either. It’s certainly possible but looking at everything revolving them, their alliance seemed shaky at best, and they may not have even known about Ranni's half of the plot to begin with. No, I don't think she would have trusted them to do it. But I do believe she’d trust Rykard. They were already in on this together, and assuming he wasn’t part of the heist itself then there’s only really one other role he could have played in the event.
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And going off of purely in game mechanics, he definitely has the stats to wield a black knife blade. If you compare the stat requirements for the black knife and Rykards own blasphemous blade, then they match up pretty well. He would be able to use one.
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And then we've got Ranni's body itself, which is burnt beyond recognition. Which is strange for a black knife killing, since they have no inherent fire damage, and while they do seem to have some sort of burning affect, it's never as bad as how scorched Ranni's corpse is. We never see this sort of damage done by a black knife again.
This leads me to believe that Ranni's body may have been burnt after the fact. Possibly as one final middle finger to the Two Fingers and the GW for trying to control her fate. One last 'fuck you' by desecrating the holy flesh they bestowed upon her.
And who do we know that has access to fire powers? Or more specifically Magma powers?
Rykard. The lord of blasphemy himself.
Your honour, I rest my case.
I'm not sure what the general concensus on the "Melina is the Gloam-Eyed Queen" theory is here, but I think it would be pretty cool considering that Melina helped our tarnished to grow and become the death of the gods, much like the GEQ did for her apostles.
Even while stripped of her power, her memories and her very body she was still unwavering in her own convictions. Even if she didn't fully remember what they were for a lot of her journey with us.
There is one more thing I’d like to add to this theory.
In the chapel of anticipation, if you’re skilled enough to strike down the grafted Scion, you can actually avoid being killed by it and chucked over the side of the island. Now why is this important?
Because if you do manage to do this, then you can progress slightly further into the area, where a lone set of butterflies will likely lead you to your fall, where things continue as normal.
Specifically a set of Nascent butterflies.
The butterfly that represents Miquella and by extension, St. Trina.
Right there at the start of our journey.
To guide us towards Torrent.
To guide us towards Trina.
Thinking about how St. Trina only talks to the player tarnished despite Thiollier's undying loyalty to her.
Thinking about how before traveling with Melina, Torrent belonged to Miquella (and by extension, also Trina)
Thinking about how at some point Torrent was sent out in search of a new master
Thinking about how Ranni's doll body requires her to sleep
Thinking about how St. Trina can visit people in their dreams
Thinking about how “torrent’s former master” asked Ranni to deliver the spirit tuning bell to whoever he chose to serve next
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Did St. Trina put everything in motion? Was she the one who set Torrent out on his search for a new master? Was she the one who asked Ranni to give us the spirit tuning bell? Could it have been one final, desperate plea to find anyone capable of stopping her other half before it was too late for him? Does St. Trina only commune with us because she knows that we're the one who Torrent chose as his new master? Is that why this character, that we never meet before now seemingly has full faith in requesting our aid? because her trusted steed was the one to bring us to her? From the very moment Torrent found us washed up in the lands between, were we destined to find our way to Miquella's/St. Trina's path?
thinking long and hard about Godwyn and Fortissax's friendship like
>the dragons begin a war with the golden order
>Godwyn and Fortissax become “good friends” which brings an era of peace between the golden order and the dragons
>Godwyn goes on to begin the golden lineage with a completely unmentioned partner
>dragons are known to take the form of humans and even have relations with them, as seen with Vyke and Fortissax's sister Lanssax
>One of Godwyn’s many descendants is Godrick, who refers to the dragon in his arena as “kindred one”
>While Godwyn was the first demigod to fall during the night of the black knives, it’s implied that many others followed at the hands of the assassins. Due to the rest of the known descendants of Marika being alive, and no one else having a child pre-shattering it can be inferred that Godwyn's bloodline was specifically targeted for some reason. Since those are the only other demigods that existed at the time.
>Godwyn is assassinated and because him and Fortissax are such “Good friends” Fortissax proceeds to enter godwyns mind and spends decades, possibly centuries attempting to fight off the deathblight from within him, eventually succumbing to it themselves but still unwilling to abandon their “good friend” regardless.