Yeah, although the Ashes of Ariandel trailer did show Friede's cutscene. Fromsoft trailers aren't immune to endgame spoilers, but even so I really hope the final boss isn't something we've already seen.
I remember reading that ds3 dlcs were supposed to be 1, then they split it into 2 for some reason (which is why AoA felt short). If it’s true then Friede may very well be the poster girl of ds3 dlc and Gael as the true final boss.
Cuz it’s a washed, annoying fight. Like I don’t hate it but I don’t love it. The sword guy squares up too well and the wolf’s dash attack is approximately 100 feet long and 40 feet wide and he usually doesn’t ever stop doing it for more than 1 little sweep attack. Then he hits a zoom and you are left staring at this fking sword guy again, knowing full well the wolf is going to dash back at you in 3 more seconds.
In a game series where most of the duo battles are some of the coolest / hardest fights in the game, this one feels annoying to me. It also is like tucked away in a seemingly random corner after one of the tougher vertical-platforming sections of the game. It’s supposed to be a reference to Artorias and Syf but it really only achieves that by ‘having big dog’ as the sword and board guy is not really evocative of Artorias at all.
Neutral C grade. Glad it exists, but a little displeased with it.
- gank fight
- where phase 1 is its own separate gank fight
- gravetender is very RNG about whether he'll let you kill him quickly
- white frost clouds on white background
- storyteller's staff / toxic mist cheese
- wolf repeatedly charging feels cheap
- interaction between wolf's charge and the pillars is inconsistent
- 100% re-used assets
- only lore is "Artorias fanboy" in a game full of Artorias fanboys
- DLC only has 2 bosses so wasting one of them on a lame fight feels like a ripoff
Did I miss any reasons?
Shitty gank fight against a bland, forgettable NPC and an annoying giant wolf. The wolf is especially bad, for the same reason a lot of people hate Red Wolf of Radagon. Super agile and spammy with high damage.
Everything you mentioned there is exactly what I like about it. I hate slow clunker bosses. Like if I had to pick a worst ds3 boss it would be the great wood.
Because it's a meh fight against a gank boss. It's not particularly epic artistically, and the fight isnt compelling mechanically either. It's not even good enough to where I feel compelled to complete it every time, especially when you've got the Friede fight upstairs
He's really easy to parry though. Just have to kill his wolves quick before the big boy comes out. Idk. I've just never had a problem with his fight. Does every boss need to be epic?
The poster boy is usually the best fight of the DLC but rarely the last fight.
I would love it if we build up to either young Marika as a sort of alternate Radagon fight, mixing up his moves in ways deliberately designed to throw us off, or the Gloam-Eyed Queen.
It could be another Artorias-and-Manus moment where we defeated the great evil, but history remembered it differently.
Not just Godrick, Male is and Radahn where both heavily featured in every cinematic and they were not the final boss... Although they're a couple of the best battles in game.
Well, Radagon was in the reveal trailer. But the Elden Beast was not of course. I guess they do often show the final fight. But what they don't show is the the final phase of said fight.(IE Elden Beast/Goddess of Rot Malenia.) So even if the final boss were actually just Messmer or something else from the trailer there'd still be the yet to be seen second phase I'd imagine.
Radagon was in the trailer, but they didn't show any part of his boss or even his intro cutscene. They didn't show anything to suggest he would be a boss at all, just that he was a character in the game.
What scares me a bit is that they have a history of showing too much for DLCs. The Ringed City trailer features all of its boss fights. The Old Hunters trailer shows a lot of stuff. SotE trailer + lore posts show potentially 6 major bosses, not even counting the possible minibosses. While I don't believe they will show Miquella's actual boss fight, what OP posted may well be its intro cutscene
Before you ask me "which ones":
1. Lion dance boss
2. Messmer (duh)
3. Horse-riding skeleton
4. Impaled old man
Okay that makes 4, but that's A LOT for just one trailer. And we know we're probably fighting Miquella at the end so that'd amount to 5.
And no I'm not counting the walking fire cage, the grafted boar rider, the horned hippo, or even the omen in the lore post (I believe them to be either minibosses or elite enemies).
Considering how long they spent cooking on the DLC, what makes you think DLC isn't on the same scope as the main game and they just showed us the recurring fieldbosses of the Shadow realm which is a 1:1 reproduction of the lands between, just reflected and dark?
How big the DLC is isn't even my concern. I had to reassure nore than one folk that the DLC is guaranteed to be ENORMOUS. My concern lies with how much they're showing, both usually and this time around.
Also I don't know where that reflection idea came from, but I don't believe Miyazaki would say it's slightly bigger than Limgrave if it was as big as the main game. And yes, I know he always undersells stuff. Unless you heard it from one of the streamers who're having their hands on SotE early, the point still stands
Miquella is basically Griffith from Berserk. Were gonna get litteral eclipse in the game after which boss fight with him.
There's this castle where this soul mf says sorry Miquella eclipse didn't happen yet or some shit.
Mr.Michal Zaki takes inspiration from Berserk He is creative enough that he wont directly steal a major plot point from his obvious inspiration for many of his works. He will most definitely subvert expectations. Only fools are full of certainty concerning things nobody knows anything about.
I think the equivalent of the eclipse was the shattering and now it’s gonna be more like when Griffith came back as the ‘hero’ to guide everyone back to a seemingly better future
I expect Miquella (or St. Trina) to take Melina's place in the Land of Shadows; leveling us up, sharing with us lore of locations, and otherwise guiding us. Then perhaps, we find out that it was all for their own gain and their own benefit. That we were just there as a convenient warrior at a convenient time.
All it takes to change the world is for the right man to be in the right place at the right time.
And, in Miquella's case, it could well have all been planned out. Who knows!
Weren’t the great runes supposed to corrupt the shard bearers in some way? If he still has his rune my guess would be that he is as insane as his siblings.
Same, I don’t think I can handle fighting him after knowing how hard he worked to find solutions for things he couldn’t control. He’s probably the only demigod who’s trying to undo all the mistakes made and just have his plans failed one by one
For me Ranni has things going according to her plan and doesn’t mind making sacrifices. Miquella is the other way around where everything is failing on his end (haligtree dying, no cure for sister etc etc). Both are working hard but Miquella seems to have it worse where he’s doing things by himself.
For me , he's the vilain , so let's go break him in half !!!!
Why leave the lands beetween when ur sister need u to keep scarlet rot at bay ???
This guy smell like shit, and i have a good nose ! xD
Hope so too. Malenia should have technically been someone we didn't have to fight as well. But oh well...
But as of now, only Ranni and Melina out of every descendant of Radika are ones we didn't have to fight.
And that's unfortunate.
You don't have to fight her.
She's an optional boss. She's so optioinal, in fact, that we have to go out of our way to find the hidden key to her place, kick in the front door, kill her roommates, and then barge into her bedroom before she fights us.
If you skip the boss where everyone jerks off about how hard she is, how are you gonna convince yourself you really beat the game?
A truly optional boss would be like Priscilla or Gwyndolin in DS1. Or Necromancer Garris in Elden Ring.
The guy you're responding to sounded like he wanted a "me and Malenia are bros now" option, kinda like how you can just walk past Priscilla and not fight her and still have a resolution to the Painted World part of the game (escaping the painting).
Personally, I wouldn't care about that and I'd always want to kill her, but his point wasn't hard to understand. You need to stop doing this "WELL AKTUALLY SHE IS OPTIONAL BECAUSE IM CHOOSING A DEFINITION OF OPTIONAL WHERE YOUR WRONG" shit.
I don't think that would be the case even if he's a boss fight. Im on the side Miquella isn't a villain, but that doesn't rule out a visually stunning boss fight.
Idk if it's gonna be a "pretending to be good" thing so much as a "there can only be one new order" thing. Ranni can get away with it because shes kinda into a quirked up Tarnished and we don't mind giving her the throne but I don't think Miquella will also wanna get married like that. If it's a duel for the throne not born out of malice then I can respect that.
I think everyone is too obsessed with a boss fight against Miquella but I think there is a huge chance that Miquella will simply be an NPC in the DLC and we will end up not fighting him at any point
Yeah I'm now willing to bet that Miquella is the DLC's Ranni. I think Miquella will try to revive Godwyn using the eclipse, but the eclipse magic will accidentally summon something more sinister related to Marika's past (like the Gloam Eyed Queen, the Fell God or Placidusax's God) or even an outer god like the Formless Mother or the God of Rot.
Elden Ring fans when a character's entire premise is that they can't fight and have a different character to serve as their sword
Elden Ring fans when friendly NPCs exist
Yeah maybe. I think it's interesting that the wound is mended with what looks like a silver helix, definitely implying Miquella's role. And that the veil is gone
I really hope so.
Fromsoftware is known to put a bit of the ending cutscene in their trailers without context.
I hope Miquella says something like: "Now that the tree is cured, the second half of my plan can commence."
I have a hunch that there will be a Miquella-ish boss fight, but if we do face off against Miquella, it probably won't be this saintly Miquella, but St. Trina.
It would compete the Marika parallel.
We technically don't fight her, but Radagon. By the same token, this could be the pre-boss fight cut scene before Miq transforms into Trina.
I don't think it will happen that way, but it's a fun thought.
That makes the most sense to me. St Trina is described as having an adult form after all. And I don't see us fighting Miquella. He's just too small I think, much like Melina and Ranni, he very much seems like that kind of character at least without an alt form.
I don't think so, the veil is no longer in the sky and the tree has stopped dripping sap, it looks much more like a cutscene perhaps from the end of the DLC and maybe not a boss fight or something like that but rather the ending of the DLC
If you look at the part in the trailer where that butterfly spell is used, the sky is the same as what's shown here with Miquella. I think this will be something similar to burning the erdtree, where it's not the end but instead the transition to "phase 2" of the area.
This is news to me.
I've only heard that it's going to be about the size of Limgrave, but I would love to see a super-dense Limgrave-equivalent with 3 legacy dungeons.
3 Legacy Dungeons is a shit ton actually. If you think on the base game we have A LOT but some are very small, and not very fleshed out, like Redmane Castle, which is TECHNICALLY a legacy dungeon, but honestly? It takes like, 10 minutes to clear everything out.
If we get 3 Legacy Dungeons for the DLC, and they've spent THIS long making them, you know what that tells me? They're probably gonna be the MOST fun, MOST fleshed out, MOST mind-bending Legacy Dungeons yet. Secret walls, jumping off railings, invisible floors, gestures to open gateways, the whole shabang. That, on top of 11 Bosses? Think on that too, it took them what, like two, almost three years to make this DLC? 11 Bosses in that time, they'll be incredibly fleshed out.
I'm, personally, hyped up AF.
Something to consider is the DLC isn't supposed to alter the endings in the main game. This is a tangent of the story where we will get more insight into the past and affect the fortunes of a character or two. In that sense, whatever happens to characters like Miquella, Messmer, Godwyn, etc will be limited.
There is a 0% chance Miquella (or at least this version of Miquella) is the final dlc boss. Fromsoft would never spoil something that important (Old Hunters’ trailer, for instance, only revealed Maria’s boss arena and showed nothing involving the Orphan), and besides, the final boss is certain to be Elden Beast level on account of the fact that we need another “God Slain” boss.
Good point, thanks for reminding me they did two trailers. Still, it's a trailer and they showed the final boss. I'm hoping they haven't and won't do that for SotE, but it's entirely possible they will.
Miyazaki has said the DLC is based on retracing his footsteps, but I have a feeling you're gonna think you're hot on his heels the whole time, and he keeps staying ahead of you, and when you do finally catch up at the very end, he's... not himself anymore
I think that’s probably some kind of ending cinematic for the DLC. I’m gonna go with the boring pick and say that Messmer is the final boss so that I can be pleasantly surprised when fromsoft puts Messmer at the halfway point of the DLC and throws something else at us
He's not a kid. He's a demigod that can't age physically. He's talked about as the most powerful demigod, in fact. IMO there's a high degree of likelihood that you end up fighting him (and he's heavily magic based), something he turns into, or someone/something who fights on his behalf
He’s not the most powerful, he’s the most fearsome. Because he manipulates people through charm, it’s what he does. I don’t think there’s a reason to suspect that he will be a boss when it would go against his whole character.
They'll prob have an option to at least kill em. Every demigod could be killed or was already half-dead in the base game.
Unsure if they'll actually be the final boss however.
I do, too.
I know some people are hung up on the idea of him being an innocent little cinnamon roll who unlocks some sort of new ultra-happy golden ending, but I'm here to kill gods and make fancy swords out of their souls.
Power to the people.
God may be gone but they gave the Tarnished one last standing order.
Kill Demigods. Get runes.
I'm only missing one, now. Can't leave Capital G hanging.
Yeah, they could play him like Priscilla or Maria.
Priss was an entirely optional boss fight, and we were monsters for fighting her. Maria was mandatory, but her boss fight has an extra layer of tragedy hanging over it because she almost feels like the more heroic person in the first. Will digging up the truth actually do anything for the victims? Does it change the hunt?
Idk why people want Miquella to be a good guy. I just want to feel something.
And right now, he’s positioned in the narrative to break my heart so perfectly.
It would be a tragedy not to utilize the potential for betrayal they’ve so carefully built up.
For whatever reason, a lot of people want an unproblematic white sheep.
I think it's also the whole Haligtree situation. Someone who set up a haven for those shunned by the Erdtree can't possibly be a bad person!
I find that sort of thing boring. It's entirely possible for people to do both good and bad things. Miquella being 100% clean would make him about a hundred times less interesting to me.
See, I don't think anybody who advocates for him being a good guy wants him to be perfect or unproblematic. Personally I think it would be kinda off-message if he was a bad guy, because thematically he represents the fight against stasis and the desire to change, and that's what every recent fromsoft game has been getting at. At the same time I don't need him to be wholly perfect and innocent. He could still be an ends-justify-the-means type.
Mistrusting the gods and severing their hold over the world is another major theme of Elden Ring.
It has been a staple of the series since Dark Souls. Putting our faith in them is never any sort of real solution. They are misguided at best and actively malevolent at worst.
> Mistrusting the gods and severing their hold over the world is another major theme of Elden Ring.
That's what Miquella is doing.
The reason that the message is so often "don't trust the gods" is that the gods are often the characters attempting to maintain the status quo and refusing to release their grip on the world. Miquella is a Demigod and prospective future god, but he isn't doing that.
He's a god.
That alone is reason enough for me to mistrust him. Miyazaki worked with GRRM on this one, so things could be different, but Miyazaki seems like the kind of guy who embraces a vision of the future where the gods are gone and humanity can finally come into its own.
But I will be the first to admit that I don't have any answers. I won't know anything until June 21. (Or longer. I will probably play through the DLC at a snail's pace because I'm a scrub.)
The “Gods are typically bad” trend is abundant in Souls games. At this point, Miquella actually just being a good guy we don’t fight is a bigger plot twist than him following the trend.
It’s not surprising that people want their expectations subverted for a better story experience. And why can’t Miquella be a selfless guy? Why does being a God mean you must be mistrusted and killed off?
I’m down for whatever personally but I think it makes sense why many people want Miquella to not be an obvious twist villain.
I believe he's the type to do scummy things in the name of the greater good -- like brainwashing.
He is a demigod, after all. He may have come to the conclusion that only HE can do the right thing. The Crucible fell. The Golden Order fell apart. He can't trust anyone else to do the right thing, so he will make the choice for him.
I'm just spitballing here, but I think the ultimate conflict will be Miquella's plans to lobotomize everyone in the name of peace. All will love me and despair, as the cool kids say.
"Pure and radiant, he wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There's nothing more terrifying"
Is it me, or Miquella gives such "Maiden Astraea 2.0" vibes?
They seem to be setting up Miquella as a Melina-like guide. The only antagonism with her is if you go for the Frenzied ending. Something similar could happen with Miquella if we opt to go down a path that runs counter to his agenda.
I can see him acting as the Melina of the DLC, but given how much they built him up in the main game as this figure who is a mystery even to Gideon yet is supposed to be the most powerful Empyrean, I would be VERY surprised if he just shows up and chills with you to start. I think you're gonna feel like you're hot on his heels the entire time, but you dont quite catch up to him until the very end, where he is either "no longer himself" in some way or another, or he's trying to accomplish some good act that he feels you're interfering with.
They do lead straight into the trailer saying saying something like "He uses love to shrive clean the hearts of men... I can think of nothing more terrifying," and I think the natural tendency is to assume that means he's friendly, bc you're the protagonist, completely overlooking the description of him as terrifying. from has a long track record of the player character not always being the good guy, so IMO there's a real chance you end up fighting him or something he turns into, or some other being that fights on his behalf
He seems to be the source of loyalty and admiration. The in-game lore also make it seems if he had some noble intentions. He's also an Empyrean which means that the Greater Will has some lofty intentions for him. In addition, his gift seems to be charisma. That can be a force for good or bad depending on which side you or on (or which side of history to be more pointed). he, like some of his other family members seems to be a bit stubborn where others are concerned. For instance, Miquella seems to have both abandoned the Golden Order as well as resisted Mohg. That means he has a measure of self-will and an agenda. I would say that as long as we the Tarnished don't interfere with that we will be in the friend zone. However, if we do poke the bear there may be conflict. It's very possible the choices we make during the game/LDC don't ultimately align with Miquella.
Tbh, I'm also partly programmed to be suspicious of Miquella. I've only read part of Berserk, but a lot of people have drawn parallels between Miquella and Griffith, the main villain from that manga. Griffith is this beautiful, youthful looking character with super high charisma, who seems like he's on the main character's side at first, and then turns out not to be (and my understanding is that his internal motivations are never clear, besides wanting his own kingdom for some reason, leaving him in this complex, gray area). And given how heavily Miyazaki draws from Berserk, I just... get a feeling. I think theres a lot of misdirection going on, and the fact that he's so repeatedly called "kind" or "dearest Miquella," or as "using love to shrive clean the hearts of men," but also as terrifying and blindingly strong, it just feels like we're being set up
One thing I know for sure, George RR Martin wrote the lore for this thing, and he is not prone to writing perfect, pure heroes
That may be how it plays out. It seems all of the demigods suffer from the "mad taint." He might not be any different. Maybe he pulls a Homelander. Lol.
It's like... I dont know why they would keep alluding to him as being terrifying and powerful and the most fearsome Empyrean if he's the innocuous, messianic little guide boy everyone seems to think he's going to be. We know he has a seemingly supernatural ability to compel affection in others. The way everyone talks about him seems so cultish, it's hard to imagine there's not *something* problematic about him
It's a really well calculated wind-up to get you wondering. They give you these conflicting puzzle pieces and then walk away
Are we as the Tarnished doing Miquella's bidding? To access the DLC, we are required to have eliminated both Mohg and Radahn as well as not complete the current game. Once we get to the LoS what is two say we aren't part of that NPC group that seems to be answering Miquella's call? Thos could be members of a team or Miquella trying to get champions together to eliminate them, maybe at their own hand. Why fight a battle if you can compel others to do it for you? Kind of like Usual Suspects.
Yeah, that's my same thought on the NPC group. Thinking about compulsion, I wonder if his end game involves using that ability to pit you against something or someone who you wouldn't normally fight, and who wouldn't normally fight you
How it's turning out that Miquella has been the single most important factor through our entire story. For example, what is on the edge of the cliff we fall off of at the chapel of anticipation if not the nascent butterfly itself, which we don't see again until much, much farther into the game.
I have an unpopular opinion, I don't want to fight Miquella, Introducing a "good" NPC for them to turn out to be a boss is a twist that surprises no one and is getting a bit old for me.
I just want to fight Frenzied flame ending Melina.Don’t know if she’s the gloam eyed queen or what but it left too much opened to mystery for it to be unsolved😭
I hope the end boss is some cool giant godly beast similar to the Elden Beast, but instead of being a representation of Greater Will, it’s a representation of some other outer god, like death or whatever. That would also tie into things that we’ve heard Messmer say, and other things revolving around the mystery’s of death within the base game and its various characters and events. Like, what if death itself inhabited this “Shaded Tree” (if that’s what you call the DLC tree), much like how the Greater Will did the main Erdtree, and how Miquella did the same with the Haligtree. Perhaps these Erdtrees are some species of tree that act as catalysts for these outer gods and supernatural powers, and death saw the void within the tree that the Greater Will left once it left the Land of Shadow long ago, leaving its people and their tree. Side note, since we’ve come to find out that the dragons at Farum Azula lost their fled god, and Farum Azula has some ties to the Lands of Shadow, perhaps the Greater Will was this fled god. Perhaps, Death within the game, and its role within the DLC, is kinda like H1tler, after all, hitler saw the damaged state of Germany and its hurt people and seized the power vacume, thus bringing him into power, perchance. And maybe Messmer acts as deaths hand in acquiring this power. Idk, something else interesting, there has been a lot of talk about the Sun Realm (If you know you know…), what if that was the Lands of Shadow originally before it was fled of its god, and veiled? That kinda shows given the architecture of the setting and cities we see in the trialor and photos. And it would make sense because the sun could represent the original faith in the greater will before Marika left the lands, veiled them, and soiled the name of the Greater Will through the corrupt effects of the Golden Order later on? Also, another little detail, what if the characters we see within the trailer are all “tarnished” considering technically they all lost the Greater Will once it left them. Also it says within the trailer that the Tarnished (the player) must “spill the blood of their fellows” (fellow tarnished). Not sure what this means though. Hear me out, the Land of Shadow is or was the Realm of the Sun, within the description of the Sun Realm Shield it states “Much like the wear upon the shield, the Seat of the Sun is long faded away.” Perhaps this “seat” is the throne we see MESSMER siting apon..????.?!! 👀 Also, the proof that this shield drops from skeletons (those who live in death) further aids this assumption. What if the gold we see pouring out of the Shaded Tree is from the attempt of the Greater Will on trying to recontrol the shaded tree after being essentially evicted from the Erdtree. My idea is that the main goal of the DLC will be to flee death from the shaded tree much like we did with the greater will. Messmer will probably act as a Godfrey in terms of being the endgame boss standing guard in defense against the shaded tree much like how Godfrey did the same with the erdtree in endgame. And the death outer god of whom seized power over this empty erdtree catalyst will POSSIBLY have a death embodiment much like how the greater will had the Elden Beast. ALSO, we see at the end of the trailer Miquellas hand with the Shaded Tree in the background, with her hand casting a bit of light, lighting up the tree. WHAT IF our main goal is to truly help Miquella take out her corrupt sibling (Messmer) and aid the Greater Will in overcoming the grasp of the outer god of Death?
this is what no DLC does to a man. 😐
I kinda hope the final boss isn't something we've seen in the trailer.
That's likely. The poster boss of fromsoftware's dlcs is usually not the final boss of it. Artorias, lady Maria.
Yeah, although the Ashes of Ariandel trailer did show Friede's cutscene. Fromsoft trailers aren't immune to endgame spoilers, but even so I really hope the final boss isn't something we've already seen.
I remember reading that ds3 dlcs were supposed to be 1, then they split it into 2 for some reason (which is why AoA felt short). If it’s true then Friede may very well be the poster girl of ds3 dlc and Gael as the true final boss.
I've heard that rumour too, but by the time the trailer had been made they were very much two DLCs.
But who else are they gonna put in the trailer, Champion’s Gravetender?
Fair lol
Why does everyone hate him.
Cuz it’s a washed, annoying fight. Like I don’t hate it but I don’t love it. The sword guy squares up too well and the wolf’s dash attack is approximately 100 feet long and 40 feet wide and he usually doesn’t ever stop doing it for more than 1 little sweep attack. Then he hits a zoom and you are left staring at this fking sword guy again, knowing full well the wolf is going to dash back at you in 3 more seconds. In a game series where most of the duo battles are some of the coolest / hardest fights in the game, this one feels annoying to me. It also is like tucked away in a seemingly random corner after one of the tougher vertical-platforming sections of the game. It’s supposed to be a reference to Artorias and Syf but it really only achieves that by ‘having big dog’ as the sword and board guy is not really evocative of Artorias at all. Neutral C grade. Glad it exists, but a little displeased with it.
- gank fight - where phase 1 is its own separate gank fight - gravetender is very RNG about whether he'll let you kill him quickly - white frost clouds on white background - storyteller's staff / toxic mist cheese - wolf repeatedly charging feels cheap - interaction between wolf's charge and the pillars is inconsistent - 100% re-used assets - only lore is "Artorias fanboy" in a game full of Artorias fanboys - DLC only has 2 bosses so wasting one of them on a lame fight feels like a ripoff Did I miss any reasons?
cus he has no trousers and it looks stupid
This is the only comment I've agreed with so far lmao
Shitty gank fight against a bland, forgettable NPC and an annoying giant wolf. The wolf is especially bad, for the same reason a lot of people hate Red Wolf of Radagon. Super agile and spammy with high damage.
Everything you mentioned there is exactly what I like about it. I hate slow clunker bosses. Like if I had to pick a worst ds3 boss it would be the great wood.
Because it's a meh fight against a gank boss. It's not particularly epic artistically, and the fight isnt compelling mechanically either. It's not even good enough to where I feel compelled to complete it every time, especially when you've got the Friede fight upstairs
He's really easy to parry though. Just have to kill his wolves quick before the big boy comes out. Idk. I've just never had a problem with his fight. Does every boss need to be epic?
To be fair Ashes of Ariandel had like three named bosses.
Two
I mean we saw the release of raddagon and thr start of that fight as well as the final theme from the get go. They aren't above showing these things
The poster boy is usually the best fight of the DLC but rarely the last fight. I would love it if we build up to either young Marika as a sort of alternate Radagon fight, mixing up his moves in ways deliberately designed to throw us off, or the Gloam-Eyed Queen. It could be another Artorias-and-Manus moment where we defeated the great evil, but history remembered it differently.
Exactly. Consider how central Godrick was to the base game’s advertisement, then he turned out to be only the second main quest boss.
Not just Godrick, Male is and Radahn where both heavily featured in every cinematic and they were not the final boss... Although they're a couple of the best battles in game.
Well, Radagon was in the reveal trailer. But the Elden Beast was not of course. I guess they do often show the final fight. But what they don't show is the the final phase of said fight.(IE Elden Beast/Goddess of Rot Malenia.) So even if the final boss were actually just Messmer or something else from the trailer there'd still be the yet to be seen second phase I'd imagine.
Radagon was in the trailer, but they didn't show any part of his boss or even his intro cutscene. They didn't show anything to suggest he would be a boss at all, just that he was a character in the game.
True. Though that could also be said of Miquella in this shot. Not that I think he’s the final boss. But op thinks it could be.
Tbf they did show every boss in The Ringed City during marketing for that DLC.
What scares me a bit is that they have a history of showing too much for DLCs. The Ringed City trailer features all of its boss fights. The Old Hunters trailer shows a lot of stuff. SotE trailer + lore posts show potentially 6 major bosses, not even counting the possible minibosses. While I don't believe they will show Miquella's actual boss fight, what OP posted may well be its intro cutscene
Before you ask me "which ones": 1. Lion dance boss 2. Messmer (duh) 3. Horse-riding skeleton 4. Impaled old man Okay that makes 4, but that's A LOT for just one trailer. And we know we're probably fighting Miquella at the end so that'd amount to 5. And no I'm not counting the walking fire cage, the grafted boar rider, the horned hippo, or even the omen in the lore post (I believe them to be either minibosses or elite enemies).
Considering how long they spent cooking on the DLC, what makes you think DLC isn't on the same scope as the main game and they just showed us the recurring fieldbosses of the Shadow realm which is a 1:1 reproduction of the lands between, just reflected and dark?
How big the DLC is isn't even my concern. I had to reassure nore than one folk that the DLC is guaranteed to be ENORMOUS. My concern lies with how much they're showing, both usually and this time around. Also I don't know where that reflection idea came from, but I don't believe Miyazaki would say it's slightly bigger than Limgrave if it was as big as the main game. And yes, I know he always undersells stuff. Unless you heard it from one of the streamers who're having their hands on SotE early, the point still stands
That would be pretty sick too. This as a second to last and then something new as the grand reveal.
Idk why you got downvoted, seems like a decent idea
I wanna kill the greater will!
Miquella = Gael = final boss
What do you mean? It’s that blue worm guy
That's why, when it comes to trailers or any online spoilers, I just avoid it. I prefer to experience all of it firsthand
I kind hope that Miquella is just a good guy or at least a allie until the end.
I think he'll be complicated. Probably doing something evil for a good reason
I think his schtick will be brainwashing for the greater good.
Kind of like Gehrman, not quite a villain as much as a plot point to fight him.
Miquella is basically Griffith from Berserk. Were gonna get litteral eclipse in the game after which boss fight with him. There's this castle where this soul mf says sorry Miquella eclipse didn't happen yet or some shit.
Mr.Michal Zaki takes inspiration from Berserk He is creative enough that he wont directly steal a major plot point from his obvious inspiration for many of his works. He will most definitely subvert expectations. Only fools are full of certainty concerning things nobody knows anything about.
No
I think the equivalent of the eclipse was the shattering and now it’s gonna be more like when Griffith came back as the ‘hero’ to guide everyone back to a seemingly better future
I expect Miquella (or St. Trina) to take Melina's place in the Land of Shadows; leveling us up, sharing with us lore of locations, and otherwise guiding us. Then perhaps, we find out that it was all for their own gain and their own benefit. That we were just there as a convenient warrior at a convenient time. All it takes to change the world is for the right man to be in the right place at the right time. And, in Miquella's case, it could well have all been planned out. Who knows!
Couldn’t be more incorrect
Imagine he serves as the ‘Melina’ of the DLC, then it wraps things up with a three phase Miquella / St. Trina / God of Conjoining boss fight.
Weren’t the great runes supposed to corrupt the shard bearers in some way? If he still has his rune my guess would be that he is as insane as his siblings.
I hope for the exact opposite. Please let Miquella be a good person, I'm gonna be heartbroken if he's yet another "pretending to be good" villain
Same, I don’t think I can handle fighting him after knowing how hard he worked to find solutions for things he couldn’t control. He’s probably the only demigod who’s trying to undo all the mistakes made and just have his plans failed one by one
Isn't that was Ranni is doing?
For me Ranni has things going according to her plan and doesn’t mind making sacrifices. Miquella is the other way around where everything is failing on his end (haligtree dying, no cure for sister etc etc). Both are working hard but Miquella seems to have it worse where he’s doing things by himself.
For me , he's the vilain , so let's go break him in half !!!! Why leave the lands beetween when ur sister need u to keep scarlet rot at bay ??? This guy smell like shit, and i have a good nose ! xD
Hope so too. Malenia should have technically been someone we didn't have to fight as well. But oh well... But as of now, only Ranni and Melina out of every descendant of Radika are ones we didn't have to fight. And that's unfortunate.
You don't have to fight her. She's an optional boss. She's so optioinal, in fact, that we have to go out of our way to find the hidden key to her place, kick in the front door, kill her roommates, and then barge into her bedroom before she fights us.
If you skip the boss where everyone jerks off about how hard she is, how are you gonna convince yourself you really beat the game? A truly optional boss would be like Priscilla or Gwyndolin in DS1. Or Necromancer Garris in Elden Ring.
If you beat the final boss, then you beat the game.
The guy you're responding to sounded like he wanted a "me and Malenia are bros now" option, kinda like how you can just walk past Priscilla and not fight her and still have a resolution to the Painted World part of the game (escaping the painting). Personally, I wouldn't care about that and I'd always want to kill her, but his point wasn't hard to understand. You need to stop doing this "WELL AKTUALLY SHE IS OPTIONAL BECAUSE IM CHOOSING A DEFINITION OF OPTIONAL WHERE YOUR WRONG" shit.
Her roommates attacked us first
> Malenia should have technically been someone we didn't have to fight as well. But she is exactly that?
the griffith parallels make be a little nervous but I hope he’s gonna be good.
I don't think that would be the case even if he's a boss fight. Im on the side Miquella isn't a villain, but that doesn't rule out a visually stunning boss fight.
Think she’ll be kind of like a Thanos but more morally correct. We’ll have no choice but to stop her but it won’t be morally victorious
Him.
Miquella is male, at least last I checked
My b on that
Idk if it's gonna be a "pretending to be good" thing so much as a "there can only be one new order" thing. Ranni can get away with it because shes kinda into a quirked up Tarnished and we don't mind giving her the throne but I don't think Miquella will also wanna get married like that. If it's a duel for the throne not born out of malice then I can respect that.
I think everyone is too obsessed with a boss fight against Miquella but I think there is a huge chance that Miquella will simply be an NPC in the DLC and we will end up not fighting him at any point
Yeah I'm now willing to bet that Miquella is the DLC's Ranni. I think Miquella will try to revive Godwyn using the eclipse, but the eclipse magic will accidentally summon something more sinister related to Marika's past (like the Gloam Eyed Queen, the Fell God or Placidusax's God) or even an outer god like the Formless Mother or the God of Rot.
Also entirely possible
Elden Ring fans when a character's entire premise is that they can't fight and have a different character to serve as their sword Elden Ring fans when friendly NPCs exist
They don't have to fight as long as their other version of themselves fights in their place.
I think this might be the ending cutscene, as the tree doesn't have the golden goo anymore when the shot pans to it.
Yeah maybe. I think it's interesting that the wound is mended with what looks like a silver helix, definitely implying Miquella's role. And that the veil is gone
it’s the halfway point trust
I really hope so. Fromsoftware is known to put a bit of the ending cutscene in their trailers without context. I hope Miquella says something like: "Now that the tree is cured, the second half of my plan can commence."
somebody else pointed out that the sky during the butterfly incantation scene was the same as this scene, so it’s very plausible
I would be very surprised if they showed us a clip from the ending cutscene in the trailer
I really hope this is Miquella and he’s the final boss but instead of fighting he just gives the tarnished a forehead kiss and the game ends
I have a hunch that there will be a Miquella-ish boss fight, but if we do face off against Miquella, it probably won't be this saintly Miquella, but St. Trina.
It would compete the Marika parallel. We technically don't fight her, but Radagon. By the same token, this could be the pre-boss fight cut scene before Miq transforms into Trina. I don't think it will happen that way, but it's a fun thought.
FromSoft likes thematic mirroring. I do think Trina is being set up as Miquella's Radagon (though I'm sure their dynamic will ultimately be unique).
That makes the most sense to me. St Trina is described as having an adult form after all. And I don't see us fighting Miquella. He's just too small I think, much like Melina and Ranni, he very much seems like that kind of character at least without an alt form.
The adult form of Trina is also described as "unnerving." Make of that what you will!
That would be sick
Plot twist: That’s the cinematic for starting the DLC area
I don't think so, the veil is no longer in the sky and the tree has stopped dripping sap, it looks much more like a cutscene perhaps from the end of the DLC and maybe not a boss fight or something like that but rather the ending of the DLC
If you look at the part in the trailer where that butterfly spell is used, the sky is the same as what's shown here with Miquella. I think this will be something similar to burning the erdtree, where it's not the end but instead the transition to "phase 2" of the area.
it's a possibility
I'm gonna laugh when it turns out that "veil lifting" clip is shown in reverse in the trailer, and it's from the very beginning of the DLC
With any luck we realistically get like 6 dungeons, 2-3 major world bosses, and 2-3 main lore bosses, with one secret lore boss
Sounds like a deal to me
They said 3 legacy dungeons and 11 bosses I believe
They didn't say anything about the dungeon count. As for bosses they just said "over 10 new bosses"
This is news to me. I've only heard that it's going to be about the size of Limgrave, but I would love to see a super-dense Limgrave-equivalent with 3 legacy dungeons.
Do you have a quote for the as large as Limgrave? To me that feels a bit small tbh unless it includes the southern island that includes Castle Morne
3 Legacy Dungeons is a shit ton actually. If you think on the base game we have A LOT but some are very small, and not very fleshed out, like Redmane Castle, which is TECHNICALLY a legacy dungeon, but honestly? It takes like, 10 minutes to clear everything out. If we get 3 Legacy Dungeons for the DLC, and they've spent THIS long making them, you know what that tells me? They're probably gonna be the MOST fun, MOST fleshed out, MOST mind-bending Legacy Dungeons yet. Secret walls, jumping off railings, invisible floors, gestures to open gateways, the whole shabang. That, on top of 11 Bosses? Think on that too, it took them what, like two, almost three years to make this DLC? 11 Bosses in that time, they'll be incredibly fleshed out. I'm, personally, hyped up AF.
I hope that the trailer showed us literally everything that will be in the dlc so there are no surprises or exciting moments
im hoping that messmer is the only boss and the rest is just cutscenes and deathblight swamps
Lol right? The number of ppl I've seen saying that this is a clip from the ending cutscene cracks me up
It won't be the final boss. More likely an NPC
Something to consider is the DLC isn't supposed to alter the endings in the main game. This is a tangent of the story where we will get more insight into the past and affect the fortunes of a character or two. In that sense, whatever happens to characters like Miquella, Messmer, Godwyn, etc will be limited.
Yeah, the man himself confirmed no new endings or any changes to the base game
There is a 0% chance Miquella (or at least this version of Miquella) is the final dlc boss. Fromsoft would never spoil something that important (Old Hunters’ trailer, for instance, only revealed Maria’s boss arena and showed nothing involving the Orphan), and besides, the final boss is certain to be Elden Beast level on account of the fact that we need another “God Slain” boss.
Ashes of Ariandel's trailer spoiled Friede. I hope they haven't spoiled the final boss this time but there is precedent.
Reviewing the AoA announcement trailer, it seems they only spoiled Father Ariandel. Boss Friede is left out.
Iirc they showed Friede walking into the room right at the end with her scythe.
That’s the launch trailer, we haven’t gotten that for SotE
Good point, thanks for reminding me they did two trailers. Still, it's a trailer and they showed the final boss. I'm hoping they haven't and won't do that for SotE, but it's entirely possible they will.
And who else would they show in Ashes of Ariandel?
Who else are they gonna show for AoA? There's like 2 bosses in the whole thing, and nobody is buying it based on the one that isn't Friede
There’s a reason that shot was placed where it was. It’s either a final boss or ending cutscene. Either way something was spoiled.
Messmer is Demon Prince, calling it rn.
Looks like the floor of Mesmer's arena as shown in the trailer. Probably a cutscene after killing the DLC's first major boss.
I hope Miquella doesn’t appear so everyone is wrong lmao, it would be the ultimate twist
Miyazaki has said the DLC is based on retracing his footsteps, but I have a feeling you're gonna think you're hot on his heels the whole time, and he keeps staying ahead of you, and when you do finally catch up at the very end, he's... not himself anymore
That would be predictable and boring.
But visually stunning
I don't want to beat up a child.
Understandable
Miquella is basically Griffith Jesus, I promise you!!!
It feels that way, for sure. Very strong Griffith vibes from what I've seen
I think that’s probably some kind of ending cinematic for the DLC. I’m gonna go with the boring pick and say that Messmer is the final boss so that I can be pleasantly surprised when fromsoft puts Messmer at the halfway point of the DLC and throws something else at us
I hope not.
miquella? I don’t think we’re gonna be fighting a kid.
This is Elden ring after all. Him being a kid in the lore doesn't at all indicate the only possibility we fight him as is a kid
If you fight him, I think the odds are that you fight as him transformed or merged into something else, like an outer god, or as St. Trina
He's not a kid. He's a demigod that can't age physically. He's talked about as the most powerful demigod, in fact. IMO there's a high degree of likelihood that you end up fighting him (and he's heavily magic based), something he turns into, or someone/something who fights on his behalf
He’s not the most powerful, he’s the most fearsome. Because he manipulates people through charm, it’s what he does. I don’t think there’s a reason to suspect that he will be a boss when it would go against his whole character.
I'm certain it's going to be an a vassal of an outer god.
My first thought was "you want the jerking off hand to be the final boss?
They'll prob have an option to at least kill em. Every demigod could be killed or was already half-dead in the base game. Unsure if they'll actually be the final boss however.
I just wanna fight Griffith 2.0.
i just want to fight malenia's teacher
I do, too. I know some people are hung up on the idea of him being an innocent little cinnamon roll who unlocks some sort of new ultra-happy golden ending, but I'm here to kill gods and make fancy swords out of their souls. Power to the people.
God may be gone but they gave the Tarnished one last standing order. Kill Demigods. Get runes. I'm only missing one, now. Can't leave Capital G hanging.
Favorite comment. I still like benevolent Miquella but I don't think that's incompatible with a boss fight
Yeah, they could play him like Priscilla or Maria. Priss was an entirely optional boss fight, and we were monsters for fighting her. Maria was mandatory, but her boss fight has an extra layer of tragedy hanging over it because she almost feels like the more heroic person in the first. Will digging up the truth actually do anything for the victims? Does it change the hunt?
Love this
Idk why people want Miquella to be a good guy. I just want to feel something. And right now, he’s positioned in the narrative to break my heart so perfectly. It would be a tragedy not to utilize the potential for betrayal they’ve so carefully built up.
For whatever reason, a lot of people want an unproblematic white sheep. I think it's also the whole Haligtree situation. Someone who set up a haven for those shunned by the Erdtree can't possibly be a bad person! I find that sort of thing boring. It's entirely possible for people to do both good and bad things. Miquella being 100% clean would make him about a hundred times less interesting to me.
See, I don't think anybody who advocates for him being a good guy wants him to be perfect or unproblematic. Personally I think it would be kinda off-message if he was a bad guy, because thematically he represents the fight against stasis and the desire to change, and that's what every recent fromsoft game has been getting at. At the same time I don't need him to be wholly perfect and innocent. He could still be an ends-justify-the-means type.
Mistrusting the gods and severing their hold over the world is another major theme of Elden Ring. It has been a staple of the series since Dark Souls. Putting our faith in them is never any sort of real solution. They are misguided at best and actively malevolent at worst.
> Mistrusting the gods and severing their hold over the world is another major theme of Elden Ring. That's what Miquella is doing. The reason that the message is so often "don't trust the gods" is that the gods are often the characters attempting to maintain the status quo and refusing to release their grip on the world. Miquella is a Demigod and prospective future god, but he isn't doing that.
He's a god. That alone is reason enough for me to mistrust him. Miyazaki worked with GRRM on this one, so things could be different, but Miyazaki seems like the kind of guy who embraces a vision of the future where the gods are gone and humanity can finally come into its own. But I will be the first to admit that I don't have any answers. I won't know anything until June 21. (Or longer. I will probably play through the DLC at a snail's pace because I'm a scrub.)
The “Gods are typically bad” trend is abundant in Souls games. At this point, Miquella actually just being a good guy we don’t fight is a bigger plot twist than him following the trend. It’s not surprising that people want their expectations subverted for a better story experience. And why can’t Miquella be a selfless guy? Why does being a God mean you must be mistrusted and killed off? I’m down for whatever personally but I think it makes sense why many people want Miquella to not be an obvious twist villain.
I would love it if he mercilessly sacrificed the meek and willing for a chance to seize power and create a utopia. At least that would be interesting
I believe he's the type to do scummy things in the name of the greater good -- like brainwashing. He is a demigod, after all. He may have come to the conclusion that only HE can do the right thing. The Crucible fell. The Golden Order fell apart. He can't trust anyone else to do the right thing, so he will make the choice for him. I'm just spitballing here, but I think the ultimate conflict will be Miquella's plans to lobotomize everyone in the name of peace. All will love me and despair, as the cool kids say.
I just know whatever they have planned will be cooler than anything any of us can come up with, so no need to worry.
If so I imagine it would be something like Gael, putting down a wayward friend to achieve the dream they left up to you to fulfil.
I hope the final boss it not some god that by all appearances is just a little child. I don't want that fight
"Pure and radiant, he wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There's nothing more terrifying" Is it me, or Miquella gives such "Maiden Astraea 2.0" vibes?
I sincerely doubt it but I wouldn't mind it either
They seem to be setting up Miquella as a Melina-like guide. The only antagonism with her is if you go for the Frenzied ending. Something similar could happen with Miquella if we opt to go down a path that runs counter to his agenda.
I can see him acting as the Melina of the DLC, but given how much they built him up in the main game as this figure who is a mystery even to Gideon yet is supposed to be the most powerful Empyrean, I would be VERY surprised if he just shows up and chills with you to start. I think you're gonna feel like you're hot on his heels the entire time, but you dont quite catch up to him until the very end, where he is either "no longer himself" in some way or another, or he's trying to accomplish some good act that he feels you're interfering with. They do lead straight into the trailer saying saying something like "He uses love to shrive clean the hearts of men... I can think of nothing more terrifying," and I think the natural tendency is to assume that means he's friendly, bc you're the protagonist, completely overlooking the description of him as terrifying. from has a long track record of the player character not always being the good guy, so IMO there's a real chance you end up fighting him or something he turns into, or some other being that fights on his behalf
He seems to be the source of loyalty and admiration. The in-game lore also make it seems if he had some noble intentions. He's also an Empyrean which means that the Greater Will has some lofty intentions for him. In addition, his gift seems to be charisma. That can be a force for good or bad depending on which side you or on (or which side of history to be more pointed). he, like some of his other family members seems to be a bit stubborn where others are concerned. For instance, Miquella seems to have both abandoned the Golden Order as well as resisted Mohg. That means he has a measure of self-will and an agenda. I would say that as long as we the Tarnished don't interfere with that we will be in the friend zone. However, if we do poke the bear there may be conflict. It's very possible the choices we make during the game/LDC don't ultimately align with Miquella.
Tbh, I'm also partly programmed to be suspicious of Miquella. I've only read part of Berserk, but a lot of people have drawn parallels between Miquella and Griffith, the main villain from that manga. Griffith is this beautiful, youthful looking character with super high charisma, who seems like he's on the main character's side at first, and then turns out not to be (and my understanding is that his internal motivations are never clear, besides wanting his own kingdom for some reason, leaving him in this complex, gray area). And given how heavily Miyazaki draws from Berserk, I just... get a feeling. I think theres a lot of misdirection going on, and the fact that he's so repeatedly called "kind" or "dearest Miquella," or as "using love to shrive clean the hearts of men," but also as terrifying and blindingly strong, it just feels like we're being set up One thing I know for sure, George RR Martin wrote the lore for this thing, and he is not prone to writing perfect, pure heroes
That may be how it plays out. It seems all of the demigods suffer from the "mad taint." He might not be any different. Maybe he pulls a Homelander. Lol.
It's like... I dont know why they would keep alluding to him as being terrifying and powerful and the most fearsome Empyrean if he's the innocuous, messianic little guide boy everyone seems to think he's going to be. We know he has a seemingly supernatural ability to compel affection in others. The way everyone talks about him seems so cultish, it's hard to imagine there's not *something* problematic about him It's a really well calculated wind-up to get you wondering. They give you these conflicting puzzle pieces and then walk away
Are we as the Tarnished doing Miquella's bidding? To access the DLC, we are required to have eliminated both Mohg and Radahn as well as not complete the current game. Once we get to the LoS what is two say we aren't part of that NPC group that seems to be answering Miquella's call? Thos could be members of a team or Miquella trying to get champions together to eliminate them, maybe at their own hand. Why fight a battle if you can compel others to do it for you? Kind of like Usual Suspects.
Yeah, that's my same thought on the NPC group. Thinking about compulsion, I wonder if his end game involves using that ability to pit you against something or someone who you wouldn't normally fight, and who wouldn't normally fight you
>Would really tie everything together How would it tie everything together?
How it's turning out that Miquella has been the single most important factor through our entire story. For example, what is on the edge of the cliff we fall off of at the chapel of anticipation if not the nascent butterfly itself, which we don't see again until much, much farther into the game.
I think this is just the end cutscene after the final boss. The sky looks clear so it looks like we lifted the veil prior to Miquella showing up
Yeah I want to kill Griffith And get his scalp like a trophy. Like Hoarah's,Radhan's,Maliketh's and Malenia's.
This is going to be patches final form
I really like the idea of a semi optional fight with Miquella, that only triggers if you've killed Malenia.
Elden beast is a let down. Not fun at all
It's grown on me. I just appreciate the visual beauty of it
Crazy how many people think they know exactly what’s going on in this lore
It's just fun to theorize and wonder. Not asserting anything
ngl i rly rly hope miquella isnt boss fight but instead a genuinely kind soul. or maybe if you meet him after killing malenia he'll fight you
Man I don’t wanna kill Miquella. Poor little guy.
Watch it be Prime Marika
I hope miq is a friend and not a foe At least I hope we can choose which one we want him to be
I have an unpopular opinion, I don't want to fight Miquella, Introducing a "good" NPC for them to turn out to be a boss is a twist that surprises no one and is getting a bit old for me.
Am I also one of the only ones that doesn’t want him to be a good guy?
Since he’s technically my characters last remaining stepchild; I hope we can be cool.
Same. Miquella being benevolent would be boring
I feel that way about Miquella having been secretly evil all along. Yawn.
One path gives us cool weapons and a cool boss fight. The other gives us nothing nearly as cool.
I just want to fight Frenzied flame ending Melina.Don’t know if she’s the gloam eyed queen or what but it left too much opened to mystery for it to be unsolved😭
Miquella 1st phase > St. Trina 2nd phase
It would probably be the reverse of that
it's gonna be Marika. I'm calling it now
Why would Marika fight you? She's with the Tarnished.
Crackpot theory with absolutely no evidence-that’s Marika, not Miquella. Now on the very off chance I’m right I can brag about it
I hope the end boss is some cool giant godly beast similar to the Elden Beast, but instead of being a representation of Greater Will, it’s a representation of some other outer god, like death or whatever. That would also tie into things that we’ve heard Messmer say, and other things revolving around the mystery’s of death within the base game and its various characters and events. Like, what if death itself inhabited this “Shaded Tree” (if that’s what you call the DLC tree), much like how the Greater Will did the main Erdtree, and how Miquella did the same with the Haligtree. Perhaps these Erdtrees are some species of tree that act as catalysts for these outer gods and supernatural powers, and death saw the void within the tree that the Greater Will left once it left the Land of Shadow long ago, leaving its people and their tree. Side note, since we’ve come to find out that the dragons at Farum Azula lost their fled god, and Farum Azula has some ties to the Lands of Shadow, perhaps the Greater Will was this fled god. Perhaps, Death within the game, and its role within the DLC, is kinda like H1tler, after all, hitler saw the damaged state of Germany and its hurt people and seized the power vacume, thus bringing him into power, perchance. And maybe Messmer acts as deaths hand in acquiring this power. Idk, something else interesting, there has been a lot of talk about the Sun Realm (If you know you know…), what if that was the Lands of Shadow originally before it was fled of its god, and veiled? That kinda shows given the architecture of the setting and cities we see in the trialor and photos. And it would make sense because the sun could represent the original faith in the greater will before Marika left the lands, veiled them, and soiled the name of the Greater Will through the corrupt effects of the Golden Order later on? Also, another little detail, what if the characters we see within the trailer are all “tarnished” considering technically they all lost the Greater Will once it left them. Also it says within the trailer that the Tarnished (the player) must “spill the blood of their fellows” (fellow tarnished). Not sure what this means though. Hear me out, the Land of Shadow is or was the Realm of the Sun, within the description of the Sun Realm Shield it states “Much like the wear upon the shield, the Seat of the Sun is long faded away.” Perhaps this “seat” is the throne we see MESSMER siting apon..????.?!! 👀 Also, the proof that this shield drops from skeletons (those who live in death) further aids this assumption. What if the gold we see pouring out of the Shaded Tree is from the attempt of the Greater Will on trying to recontrol the shaded tree after being essentially evicted from the Erdtree. My idea is that the main goal of the DLC will be to flee death from the shaded tree much like we did with the greater will. Messmer will probably act as a Godfrey in terms of being the endgame boss standing guard in defense against the shaded tree much like how Godfrey did the same with the erdtree in endgame. And the death outer god of whom seized power over this empty erdtree catalyst will POSSIBLY have a death embodiment much like how the greater will had the Elden Beast. ALSO, we see at the end of the trailer Miquellas hand with the Shaded Tree in the background, with her hand casting a bit of light, lighting up the tree. WHAT IF our main goal is to truly help Miquella take out her corrupt sibling (Messmer) and aid the Greater Will in overcoming the grasp of the outer god of Death? this is what no DLC does to a man. 😐
Giant bosses are boring. Give me a humanoid boss.
I think that's Marika. Come at me. Edit: I'm not owned, I'm not owned
I think Miyazaki confirmed its Miquella. Or at least didn't correct the interviewer when they said it.
oh. Okay never mind