After a year since its initial announcement, the DLC expansion for Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, has finally been unveiled with more details and a trailer. The highly anticipated DLC was first revealed in February 2023, a year after the release of Elden Ring, but only a single image accompanied the announcement. Speculation about Shadow of the Erdtree has been widespread, but new information has emerged about a central character named Messmer the Impaler, who appears to have a significant connection to Miquella.
With the release of the trailer for Elden Ring’s DLC, the basic narrative of Shadow of the Erdtree is now known. The expansion will transport players to the Land of Shadow, seemingly summoned by Miquella, who remains inside the peculiar egg in Mohgwyn Palace throughout the base game. Apart from Miquella, the most prominent character, and possibly the primary antagonist, is Messmer the Impaler. Messmer did not make an appearance in the base game, nor was he mentioned in dialogues, item descriptions, or elsewhere. However, a few clues suggest that he may have a connection to Miquella and several other major Elden Ring characters.
The most apparent connection to Miquella comes from Messmer’s voice lines in the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay trailer (via Bandai Namco Europe’s YouTube channel). He says, “Mother, wouldst thou truly Lordship sanction, in one so bereft of light?” It’s not explicit, but Messmer’s mother is most likely Queen Marika the Eternal, who has summoned the Tarnished back to the Lands Between after stripping them of their Grace in order for one to ascend the throne of the Elden Lord, i.e. sanctioning the lordship of one who is bereft of light. This reference to the Tarnished is also supported by later dialogue in the trailer, where an unknown voice says, “Those stripped of the Grace of Gold shall all meet death in the embrace of Messmer’s flame.”
Marika being Messmer the Impaler’s mother immediately makes him at least a half-brother to Miquella and Malenia, the twin children of Marika and Radagon. However, Elden Ring heavily implies that Marika and Radagon are the same person, and Radagon also had three known children with Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, matriarch of the Carian Royals, and headmistress of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Radagon and Rennala’s children are Rykard, Radahn, and Ranni, all three of whom bear Radagon’s striking red hair, just like Messmer. There is also a lesser chance that Messmer is part of the Elden Ring’s Golden Lineage, the dynasty that sprouted from Marika and her first consort, Godfrey, First Elden Lord.
Godfrey and Marika’s known children include Godwyn the Golden – the Empyrean murdered during the Night of the Black Knives which kick-started The Shattering, and a character set up to return in Shadow of the Erdtree – and the Omen twins, Morgott and Mohg. The latter Omen twin kidnapped Miquella, his…
2024-02-22 18:41:04
Article from screenrant.com
