Summary
Following the release of the official trailer,Elden Ringfans are now a bit more enlightened when it comes to theShadow of the Erdtreeexpansion. Of course, the DLC is still shrouded in mystery, with the trailer itself posing several new questions, but one prominent theory about its setting suggests that FromSoftware may be revisiting a conceptexplored inBloodborne’sOld HuntersDLC.
Shadow of the Erdtreeappears to be taking place in a location that is wholly separate from The Lands Between.Elden Ringdirector Hidetaka Miyazaki has said this much in interviews promoting the expansion, though where exactly this new game map is situated is a bit unclear. That said, cursory analysis of the DLC’s trailer leads to a commonly accepted theory:Shadows of the Erdtreetakes place in an alternate reality of some sort. There is plenty of evidence supporting this idea, and it seems likely that this alternate reality is closely tied to Miquella, and possibly other major characters like Mohg.
Shadows of the Erdtree May Have a Premise Similar to Bloodborne’s Old Hunters DLC
Bloodborne’s Expansion Exists in Dream Space
Dreams play a major role inthe lore ofBloodborne, though they are far more tangible and consequential than one might first expect.Bloodborne’s dream spaces are realms created from the minds of the slumbering gods known as Great Ones, which humans can visit, sometimes getting trapped within them. Such is the case for the game’s DLC area, The Hunter’s Nightmare, which is a sort of prison designed to punish Hunters driven mad by blood ministration.
InBloodborne, “dreams” exist in the minds of the Great Ones, who are so powerful that they can manifest physical spaces through their internal machinations. That said, these dream spaces do not appear to be wholly original, as they often incorporate locations or details from the human world, and The Hunter’s Nightmare is no exception to this:The Old HuntersDLC takes place in a worldthat is a shadowy reflection of Yharnam, shaped by the horrific events that continue to befall the city.
How Shadow of the Erdtree’s Setting Could Reflect The Old Hunter’s
The trailer forShadow of the Erdtreemakes clear references to Miquella, with lines like “touch the withered arm, and travel to the realm of shadow” suggesting that Miquella’s physical body, trapped in a cocoon, will serve as the portal to the DLC area. With this being the case, it seems likely thatShadow of the Erdtree’s map is actually locatedwithin Miquella’s mind, created by it, or otherwise connected to his metaphysical being.
Miyazaki has stated that the entrance to the DLC area will be Miquella’s cocoon, essentially confirming that the “realm of shadow” is connected to the character.
In the base game, Miquella is described as “slumbering” in his cocoon, which he formed after forming his Haligtree in an attempt to cure Malenia and break his own curse of eternal youth. Miquella is an Empyrean, which means that he has the potential to ascend to godhood. Mohg, seizing upon the opportunity to become consort to a future god, stole Miquella from the Haligtree and had his cocoon drenched in the blood of his followers to achieve this end. This process of transforming Miquella into a god is assumed to have failed, but perhaps it didn’t, and Miquella currently has conjuration potential similar to that ofBloodborne’s Great Ones, able to create or access tangible realms from his dreams.
If Miquella’s god-like powers are linked totheShadow of the Erdtreeworld, then players can likely expect the DLC to feature some of its own shadowy reflections, serving as a black mirror to The Lands Between and Miquella’s own past. This premise is reminiscent ofThe Old Hunters, and it will be interesting to see how the concept of alternate or dream-like realities could be handled in the world ofElden Ring.
Elden Ring
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ELDEN RING, developed by FromSoftware, Inc. and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to date. Hidetaka Miyazaki - President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. Known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core and Dark Souls.George R.R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire - A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
