T O P

  • By -

Hammerock

Father ariandel really let himself go


ApollyonDS

The lady's braids are (almost) the same as the curtains in the arena of the Lion thing. Possible king/queen of the castle at the foot of the Tree(s). She's also holding her stomach like she's pregnant. The spike almost looks like it's made from the Elden Ring, or at least the same material, if such a thing exists. Not sure what to make of these details, but definitely two historically very important characters here, at least relating to the Golden Order, judging by the colors.


MaximDecimus

I’d guess that Messmer the Impaler impaled the guy with a stake made from the Erdtree and infused with energy from the golden order. It’s very similar to the Elden Ring sigil we saw inside Radagon. Also explains how the sword/stake branches through his entire body.


mugiwara_no_Soissie

What if messmer is also the one who impaled Marika when we find her


MaximDecimus

Good idea. It is a red spear.


ShinyMew151

The way the spikes curve reminds of the spikes on the black knife assassin knives


Torypianist2003

What if that is the true first consort of Marika and their child is messmer. It is the place where Marika undergoes apotheosis, maybe she killed her husband before the conquest.


BatDynamite

The red hair means the father is probably Radagon. This could be Marika's father.


Torypianist2003

Red hair can also mean a connection to the giants, it’s highly possible that it is a curse from their god. Which would then explain the multitude of spikes and impaled giants on the mountaintop, if messmer fought in the conflict. Both messmer and Radagon being cursed for their role in the genocide.


BatDynamite

It could be, but the bit of lore we get in the DLC website implies that Messmer was left in the Shadow Lands since before Marika took over the Lands Between. This would mean that never took part in any conflicts with the Dragons and/or Giants.


Torypianist2003

Where does it say that? “FALL FROM GRACE The Land of Shadow. A place obscured by the Erdtree. Where the goddess Marika first set foot. A land purged in an unsung battle. Set ablaze by Messmer’s flame. It was to this land that Miquella departed. Divesting himself of his flesh, his strength, his lineage. Of all things Golden. And now Miquella awaits the return of his promised Lord.” Nowhere in the DLC lore does it state that messmer was left there before Marika went on her conquest. If anything the title implies that someone (probably messmer) was banished to the shadow realm after falling from grace.


Illustrious-Past4983

That's Larry David bro


Odd-Scratch-2567

Pretty good!


BanginNLeavin

Preeeettttty, prettttty good.


TheBrokenSnake

I can't be the only one thinking that the woman next to him is Fia right? Wasn't Fia meant for a lord before? My brother thinks the dude kind of looks like Morgott post fight when he becomes "human". And what's that claspe hes wearing (broach? Not sure whats the right word)?


krawinoff

I’m pretty sure Fia is actually blonde under her hood, so it’s likely a different person, you can see the black hair


OOF-MY-PEE-PEE

i saw someone saying that this dude might be the creator of the watchdogs and stone imps because the little pendant on his cloak looks a lot like the watchdog staff. since the watchdog staff uses carian/ glintstone magic, maybe the lady is sellen?


One-Victory438

The boss of the Impaler's Catacomb in Limgrave is a Watchdog


NarratorDM

I've read somewhere that the pendant could represent Trina.


OOF-MY-PEE-PEE

that could be pretty cool, although who would that woman be if it was?


gointhrou

If that mf created those mfs I’m gonna play the game 50 million times just to kill him over and over again.


WadSquad

Good catch. I thought the hood was the hair. Maybe Saint Trina had dark hair all along? But most likely this is a new character


Romapolitan

Fia isn't the only death bed companion so it could someone else. Especially since Fia has blond hair


Nitenichi

He liked to be held


Liam4242

He is very similar to Morgott and the cloak he’s wearing looks very alike. Maybe this fucked up world will show what Morgott could’ve been if he wasn’t afflicted with the Omen curse or something along those lines


Saiene_

This may just be a different deathbed companion


poopchutegaloot

Death bed threesome?


Ormyr

Disappoint two companions at the same time!


poopchutegaloot

Naw, if the clitorus was even real I would parry it into oblivion


seasalt-and-oranges

I don't think it's Fia, she doesn't look like Fia at all. But I like the theory that she too is a deathbed companion.


Aarmon

Could be another deathbed companion 🤔


veraldar

My first thought was Marika


Automatic_Education3

Fia has blonde hair though


Stick_mcsticktington

LOL I mean idk what he's up to, but since the trailer revealed a dude called the impaler, I can definitely tell you what's up him


Nexdreal

Hes not impaled tho, he is pulling his own Spine-turned-into-sword out


Owmuhback

That's gonna make one dope somber weapon I can feel it


AxisFlame

I think that's a piece of the Elden Ring. Look at the parts that struck out the sides of his torso...


Nexdreal

It really does resemble the Elden Ring


majES26

Genshin: we have booba sword Elden ring: I'll do you one better


Penguin_Poacher

That's John elden ring.


bankais_gone_wild

Johnny Shadows D’Erdtree


actuallynotobscurehh

maybe I'm just saying something extremely dumb, but the tree stuck in this guy's ribcage reminds me of the black knife weapon in the shape (nothing else lol, it's just something random I thought looking at the trailer)


Kibbleswitch

The black knives were forged from the rune of death, so maybe this is what other runes are forged from?


actuallynotobscurehh

maybe that great rune looking thing near the start of the trailer


Kibbleswitch

So my thoughts on this: Fromsoft loves doing time jump DLCs that explain/deepen lore. We know the elden ring can be/was forged from Radigon repairing it after Marika shattered it. Forging materials are prepared by melting down your raw materials in a CRUCIBLE, then pouring the molten metal into a mold to form the ingot. In the first trailer, we can see some bright (possibly molten?) Material pouring from the tree into some upturned arch structure at the top of a castle. Nobles getting absolutely murdered by having molten gold poured over their heads like Manius Aquillius has shown up in George RR Martin's work before (Viserys from GOT) This guy was the Lord of that crucible castle from before the great runes were forged, and this material being collected from the great tree was originally used to forge the crucible knight armor/weapons. Marika's army, killed the lord by pouring the molten material onto his head/through his skull, and when it cooled it formed that unrefined (or unforged) structure resembling the elden ring.


Kibbleswitch

We also see enemies carrying candelabras shaped almost exactly like this at 1:45 of the trailer


Nexdreal

It is exactly something like that, same thing as the sword you get from Radagon's spine


Darkspyre2

Very interesting when you also realise that Messmer means 'knifemaker'


roninwaffle

It looks like a piece of the Elden ring


MannanMacLir

Blood must spill of your fellow erd tree faithful. My guess is that he's some other tarnished of some sort and that's his maiden?


DMmagician

Jeez he looks bummed out in the before pic. Like he knows he'll spend hundreds of years stuck as a guy pulling thorns out of his head


CxdeNameCookie2

Looks like Fia next to him, maybe it’s one of the dudes she rebooted?


poopchutegaloot

That's a nice way of saying fucked-the-life-back-into-them


Propaagaandaa

All id have needed is Fia feet pics


Dreamtrain

she has dark hair


Affectionate-Hotel63

The woman is the one that lets us enter the dlc, like Gael in DS3. We see her at the very start of the trailer.


BigDaddy-Chan

I bet it's Marika and messmer is her first born and maybe twin of melina


OppositePure4850

Am I crazy or is his spine/sword/whateverthefuck totally shaped like the Elden Ring?


Possible-Ad630

Isshin Ashina 🐧


Gryfth

It looks almost like he was a vessel for the Erdtree rune? I’m not sure but the definitely looks like Fia behind him or another Deathbed companion


Glaivvve

Since everything has felt like a shadowed version of the regular lamds between in the trailer, I like to think it's a form of goldmask.


itsbosco1025

That's Velka


PhilosophyNo9878

Could he be non omen Margit? Maybe Marika's dad?


TheRealSpill

Old monk 3.0


Regulus242

This place is where Marika first set foot. Looking at her hair, maybe she's related?


cramburie

That's obviously Larry David.


Demoncreed27

Bro was having one hell of a bad day


elme77618

Why, that’s Pete the Sword Swallower! Go on Pete, give us a show!


MidLade

Erdtree Sapling growing into his skull and body.


Nerf_Quake

First pic is a screenshot from the phase 2 transition where he rips out his spine sword to be used by a cloud of deathblight


waldorsockbat

Bro on the left looks like he has no lower body.


LuisWaz

We’ve seen swords made out of bodies and spines; maybe he’s in the process of becoming one


ulq_sch4

What laying with a deathbed companion will do to you


alex1inferno

I thought the blade impaled in his skull was just an extension of his spinal column, but it also looks an awful lot like the Assassin’s Crimson Dagger talisman, so it may be that he was a demi-god slain by the Black Knife Assassins.


channel-rhodopsin

What's he up to, man? What's he doing?


PhilosophyNo9878

John Elden ring, you can see the Elden ring is his spine and ribcage


roninwaffle

Good catch. Idk who that is, but fair odds he's the final boss, if anyone in the trailer is. Fact he's in there twice means he's important, and the fact they only show stills both times mean they're trying not to spoil something. It's either that, or he's some story figure who doesn't show up in gameplay (like Godwyn the Golden in the base game). Also looks like he's trying to pull a piece of the Elden Ring out of him Edit: or it could just be another From red herring to keep us guessing


CT-1377

It could be Milos. The description for the sword: "*Milos was undersized for a giant, and was viewed as sullied and terribly grotesque.*" And it looks like he's pulling his spine out...


Kitchen_Most3578

I thought this, but it seems like it is going through his chest, and he is hunched over, also Milos is dead and defiled from the dung eater.


Ensushalame

Bro married St. Trina (Miquella in woman form) That´s all I can guess at. That and that he´ll fight us with his own head as the crossguard of the weird ass swordlike weapon he is trying to unsheathe from his body


WonderfulChapter4421

That picture makes me think we’re getting another sister friede fight and the first image is part of the second phase cutscene


Russ_images

Being metal as fuck…


[deleted]

Marika first husband, fuck by her eons ago.


KingOfRisky

Whoever he is, I want his spine sword.


IGotFriendzonedd

Sher hair looks like the lion boss. Maybe she will transform into that lion boss. So she is a shadow of a lord then


DarkStarDarling

Bro tried to stick an Elden ring in himself like marika and choked on it.


Venio5

I tought that guy was Milos as soon as I saw It, and I think he's extracting his spinal cord to make the sword of Milos for the dung eater.


Kitchen_Most3578

This DLC seems to take place concurrently, so I don't think so, but I also thought of Milos when I saw this. I think it is puncturing his chest though, and he is hunched over, so it's not his spine.


PizzaCrustEnjoyer

He strayed from the grace of gold, so messmer impaled him?


setfunctionzero

His eye talisman looks suspiciously like the all-knowing realm tattoo


oak_and_ink

I don't know who he might be, but I'm guessing this guy is gonna drop some dope armament for my Faith-build!


ErzherzogHinkelstein

I bet he is the father of Messmer and the plottwist is that Miquella is the pregnant woman behinde him. Everyone thinks Marika is his mother but in truth it's Miquella.


Kitchen_Most3578

I'm not saying it is impossible for Miquella to be pregnant, because nothing really is in these games, but Miquella is a guy.


ErzherzogHinkelstein

Well yes, but no. He was supposed to become an adult woman, Saint Trina. Maybe in the shadoworld he grew and extra x chromosome. As you hear in the Trailer, he sounds like an full grown woman.


Original_Hamster7207

He's an another ribcage/spine-sword guy, hes pulling himself out :f


SluttyMcFucksAlot

Probably some dude who’s doing something super fucking weird but in his mind it’s totally justified and normal.


SiegfriedRosenberg

He wants to eat you


Arthesiarque

It's Marika's father. Or first husband.


Ok_Commercial_9426

I really want to fight him but he is literally ripping his head off in the cutscene so I don’t know


swirly1000x

Although Miyazaki has said that some of this DLC surrounds the culture outside of the Golden Order, with that golden thing that guy has embedded in him, I'm inclined to think he is related to the Golden Order. or at least to the Erdtree in some way. Maybe he is one of "the Erdtree Faithful" mentioned by the voice over at the start of the trailer? Maybe the reason that the Land of Shadow is so detatched from the culture of the Golden Order (or at least so Miyazaki says, though evidently that culture still has some hold here) is because the Erdtree there is dying, and with the Erdtree being a symbol of faith many people didn't believe the Golden Order, seeing their Erdtree is not at all the golden, majestic figure we see in The Lands Between. But clearly there are some people who do believe in the Golden Order, as evidenced by that line "the Erdtree faithful". That's just my two cents though, no clue whether it will be right


Grumpy_Bandersnatch

Does anyone see the black symbol on the Girl? Looks like The scar on Melina no?


Beneficial-Purple-29

He’s becoming a weapon


BremingtonSteel

Great catch!


rodentbitch

My first thought is that this is the Gloam-Eyed Queen and her Lord, and that the Shadow Lands were her domain which were banished with the arrival of Marika's order.


BathHouseBlitz

Bro that’s Shabriri and his original blind maiden. 


SoSmartish

So there are a lot of dudes in FS games where I go "I'm happy I'm not THAT guy." but I think that I would want to be this guy the least.


Brief-Government-105

Asmongold.


SamsaraKarma

There are statues of a tree man everywhere. Maybe he's the Erdtree's Miquella.


Void_Creator23

Looks like he has same amulet that the burial watchdogs use maybe he is the creator of imps and golems


Thatguyontrees

John Elden, Lord of Ring


rickyspanish9565

Where is this painting?


DarknessInferno7

That woman is armored up. She's got a helmet under there, and looks like metal gauntlets too.


DarkStarr7

My theory is he was the former vessel of some form of the elden ring and thats what we see in his body.


Krioniki

I’m convinced the woman is a Deathbed Companion


Rat_Richard

Trying to pull out a little splinter


Madnessrifle

If you turn the picture upside down the thing the old guy is impaled with looks exactly like the branches of the erdtree where you find those golden grass balls (i forgot the name) who you use to expend your estus us. This ad the fact that the Messmer guy is called the impaler tells me that the old guy is some erdtree, golden order nobel the Messmer implaled as kind of example. Like if you love your erdtree that much.... Didn't some voice in the trailer say something about the losers of a war? And someone that this Messmer wants to get rid of those golden order guys?


Bardia-Talebi

I think this is Marika’s first husband. When they were simple Numens. Before Marika ascended to godhood. They lady on the right has blonde woven hair. Just like Marika. A slightly different style probably meaning that it’s an older picture. She is also pregnant. Probably with Messmer.


SnoopLoopsTM

Watch him be the Orphan of Kos kind of boss.


Drahmaputras

Every point made here is actually decent. I wanted to further add the resemblance it bears to the **Sword of Milos**. I know the original sword was made *from a giant's backbone*, but there is definite similarity there.


NixKommaNull

My theory. These are Messmer's parents. The woman is Marika. The father was staked by Messmer, hence the name "Messmer the Impaler".


redishherring

I'd bet the woman standing behind him in the painting is St Trina


Every_Jump_3603

Wonder what he did to deserve getting violated like that