SHIT MAN I think that's what I was thinking of lol, but the symbology behind that could be interesting, I'm gonna look into the inspiration for the shiekah eye
In my opinion It’s a reference to the mark of sacrifice from berserk , the manga that directly inspired Miyazaki and basically every souls game.
If you’ve read berserk, then you’ll know
I agree with Berserk inspiring all Souls games. I mean it’s factual. If he hasn’t outright said it in interviews then it’s still overwhelmingly proven true based on visual evidence alone, let alone the thematic similarities. Pieces of Griffith and Guts and their individual journeys can be found in most significant persons in the games, especially Elden Ring.
BUUUUUT (sorry), I have to disagree that the rune looks like the mark of sacrifice. Sure, it looks like the main inspiration for every Bloodborne rune. I would back you on that. But the only similarities to the foreheads of these goopy girls seems to be that it’s… a rune. It’s got the general x formation but not much else is really registering for me.
No shit they can’t make it an exact copy due to copyright 😂
But saying that it’s not the exact same isint really a counterpoint imo.
Oh fuck, here comes the berserk crowd again
Well, that was their equivalent to the eclipse, lol
To me, it looks a bit like a tree, or, if you prefer, it almost resembles a mix of Marika and Radagons scar and sore seals.
An interesting implication of this could be that Marika and Radagon were once both a product of the jar experiments that separated from each other, like we have seen Miquella discard St Trina and Malenia discard her Valkyries. Thus they both were the "same" person, while also still yet to "become one another".
Marika might be the first, or among the first of the jar saints.
And maybe the corpses we see in the trailer are from people stuffed into jars.
Maybe the threads that she plucks are strands of hair from a saint-in-moulting.
The idea that Marika could somehow be the desired result of whatever "sainthood" means is a great idea. The desired outcome of this bizarre jar stuffing practice is such a mystery
It’s what I think lead to the idea of her act being a “betrayal.” They were cramming people into jars with these special shaman women to try and create a Saint, cutting up criminals and the like as seen from the gaol spirit. I am making a bit of a leap, but I suspect that these Saints were intended to be an object of worship amongst the Hornsent given the title. I also suspect that the Cronenberg monster looking ones are either failures, or incomplete.
I think Marika was the first “success,” as it were, and she became the Saint they desired… Only, she was so traumatized and wounded by the process and the loss of her village that she, quite understandably, used her new position to become a God and put the Hornsent to the torch. I am also betting the Fingers had a hand in this; maybe guiding her to “succeeding” at becoming a Saint so she could get the power she needed for revenge.
We only hear hornsent and Miquella(who heard it from hornsent) talk about betrayal. It's very intentional that there are no Miquella Crosses near Bonny Village, but there's snake skin, showing connection to Messmer.
Miquella is trying to build his new order based on false or missing information and that's one of his numerous follies.
Well miquella is literally walking around the place where it happened, so I wouldn’t say lack of accuracy is his fault.
Bro literally got rid of his capacity for doubt. Kinda makes critical analysis of his own plans difficult.
this is along the lines of what i’ve been thinking. furthermore, i think perhaps the ability to merge with others or shed/discard them (as she does with radagon or as miquella does with his flesh and st trina) is an ability granted by this sainthood.
the specifics of just how marika is radagon have long been a mystery and i feel like this maybe brings us a little closer to a satisfactory answer.
We see that Miquella had to shed Trina as part of his ritual for divine ascension, so I am betting that Marika had to do much the same. Going from there, after she ascended, I suspect she collected her discarded parts and turned them into Radagon, loyal warrior to her new order. If she used the power of the Rune of the Unborn to do so, it would even establish Radagon’s connection as to warrant him being able to give it away as a parting gift to Rennala.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Miquella had similar plans for St. Trina before he ran into a a guy with a big slab of rock and a poke stick.
I don't think Miquella shedding his body was necessary for him to become a god and more of a way for him to remove all aspects or himself that came from the old order for a new beginning. Ranni does something similar by removing her body, the fingers, the greater will and the elden ring and changing all to following the moon.
The dialogue of miquella, even the cut one, is very similar to Ranni's.
Maybe the reason why Marika's Shaman Village had nobody left in it was because she is the product of an entire village worth of Shamans shoved into a jar
could 'saint' just be the hornsent's term for empyrean?
Empyrean is a title given to beings capable of becoming a god, while the pot people are product of hornset's trying to fuse beings via the "crusible". Crusible (not the Primordial Crusible) is a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new. The product of this trial by the hornsents are called "saints". My theory is that the saints could be or would be a part of the hornsents' object of faith similar to Golden Order's Erd Tree.
The hornsents worship the Primordial Crusible - "It was close in nature to life itself, exemplified by its red tint, the color of homeward yearning. The Crucible was where all life was once blended together."
- close in nature to life itself, red tint, and life was once blended together - maybe the Primordial Crucible was consist of meatballs of saints? Afaik, the hornsents believe the more life fused together, the more closer to divinity, is it?
I don't think Marika is a saint, but she's the remaining priestess/shaman of her village. When she ascended to Godhood, she turned the Primodial Crucible into giant golden tree, the Erdtree. Maybe that is why the great roots resins are redish in color?
I think the idea of her being a jar saint is definitely intriguing, with From's common themes of the futility of trying to meddle with the power of gods/dragons it would be fitting for the Hornsent to be destroyed by the product of their life-melding experiment.
It would also cast more tragedy on Marika bathing her old village in gold, not as a lone-survivor but as a product of the massacre.
I'm kinda attracted to the idea that the GEQ was also a part of her at one point that was killed with the aid of the two fingers, who created Maliketh for the task. The idea that she plucks the strands from the saint-corpse of GEQ in the process of becoming a god sounds interesting.
Maybe im just forgetting, but this is the first time ive seen someone imply the Valkyries are split from Melania like Trina and Radagon, and i just think thats really interesting.
Sometimes i really with FromSoft gave answers not just questions
Millicent says this:
"I am of Malenia's blood. But in what capacity I know not.
I could be sister, daughter, or an offshoot...
Whatever the case though, I am certain of a kinship between us."
Right, I kinda assumed the rotkin had gotten ahold of Malenia's blood somehow (Radahn battlesite? Aeonian flower sap? No clue) and created the Valkyries.
That one Sage guy turning into a rotkin on death also had me thinking maybe the Valks were just rotkin made into a person and used Malenias blood, making them kind of her offspring.
It made since to me that theyd want more blooms but couldnt have Malenia so theyd make some false Malenias to try
Considering he still talks to you after he dies, I think he's actually the rot God or an avatar like shabreri.
Thats fair, since he leaves a pest corpse behind, and comes back knowing that you did that.
I took it as him using an illusion to make pests look like him just in case people try to kill him.
Its interesting he gives the possessed his appearance rather than taking on theirs like Shabriri and Hyetta
I know some people suggested it vaguely resembles Radagon's and Marika's scarseal, if both are superimposed. It does vaguely resemble that, indeed, although not perfectly, unfortunately.
To me it looks like the Rune of death superimposed on Marika's rune.
As it doesn't fully match Marika's or Radagon's, there's unfortunately little we can say with certainty and much we can speculate on. For example, others also suggested it looks like Marika's scarseal and the upper half of Radagon's scarseal (which can be somewhat easily "manipulated" because of its symmetrical pattern).
As much as I'd like to get answers on this, I'm unconvinced it's either one (I assume it'd be an identical match otherwise), but I will admit that the forehead symbol of the pot woman is eerily reminiscent of the scarseals. It's also interesting to note that the pot women have their eyes covered, and, as we know by now, eyes (or lack thereof) are thematically very important in Elden Ring.
Not exactly the same, but it reminds me of the symbol on the scales on the back of the Black Knife Assassin armor as well as the relief carved in stone above the entrance to the Erdtree that has the various depictions of trees on it. Don’t know what it means, but those are other symbols that come to mind when I see it.
I’ve spent a long time looking at pretty much every symbol in elden ring, and I don’t think I’ve seen this one anywhere else. A few have slipped by me in the past though.
it reminds me alot of the tree of alchemy, and they mention how well shamans mold with other living things, and they were put into jars. Its all just a big chemistry set!
This theory that Marika is one of these jar experiments is my new head canon. It makes more sense with this theory that a "person" made up of a group of sacrifices would be able to change form into another, especially if that "person" ascended to God hood. Radagon might have been another smushed into a jar with her, maybe a personality from the conglomeration latched onto one of her self made children, aka st trina to miquella
All I see is a crucified lizard!
Wanna start a religion?
Looks like rune of death+Marika's rune (rune of life) + crucible spiral all on top of each other.. cycle of life, death, and divinity = sainthood
It's not related, but it still reminds me mostly of Messmer's spear, specifically the hilt
It's interesting cuz this would definitely predate messmer, but it could be a fun vengeful nod that Marika urged her son to forge his spear in the image of the mark of her oppressed people
Looks like a crucified stick figure.
Stick figure with horns
It looks kind of like an "as above so below" symbol.
Could it be a tree, similar to the one the grandma is embedded into in the Shaman Village? It looks like it could be branches and roots
Laura Palmer?
It's the lucas arts logo.
i think is a mix of Marika and the death rune
The curve is like the curve at the bottom of the Elden Ring, just inverted.
Kinda looks like the pose we find marika in
Looks loke the Eye of St.Trina.
I see Marika's rune and the Rune of Death forming an eye ("third eye"?), with additional markings to make a tree
EWWW
Logically i would think that this would be mocking Marika's rune, her people, but the symbol is a bit too different, and the timeline of events would require some hard thinking, idk
Gideon Olfnir displays this crest on the forehead of his helmet, or one close to it. Like any work of fiction, the third eye crest represents truth or the knowledge of truth (See the legend of zelda).
Speaking of which, the eye of truth is followed by the sheikah, or the shadow race who serve the hylians. There's a parallel to be drawn from them and the roundtable tarniehed who were assassins for the two fingers.
Never underestimate the power of inspiration that's shared between fiction. Hell, the Elden Ring and the Triforce are the same both figuratively and literally (being golden triangles that mend the earth and were brought down from aliens from a distant nebula). They are just about only different by name.
To me it looks like Marika’s rune “)—“and the rune of death “(—“ on top of one and other?
It looks like the upper-middle part of the Elden Ring symbol in Farum Azula.
Looks like Marikas seal. Like what was on Messmer
Looks like a proto erdtree, it’s also vaguely reminiscent of the rune that appears in front of the Cainhurst noble ghosts in bloodborne
It looks a lot like the decorative hilt at the bottom of the spear blade itself of Messmer's Spear. Maybe he used that symbol as a way to mock the Hornsent like the Fell God of Fire visage on the Furnace Golems. Maybe it's a symbol that to them represents life and death and rebirth, as it resembles the life and death runes a bit but fused together.
Looks like someone getting crucified, not on my pc rn but maybe the ppl we see crucified all over tlb?
Nope I’m completely wrong
Would.
I really need to explore more who tf is this woman
It's the faces of the big flesh globs in the gaols
its those thing that jumpscares you from the pot right?
kinda looks like an upside down Erdtree's Favor Talisman
It looks like Marikas rune and the rune of death drawn on top of each other.
I’m quite sure it’s a reference to the mark of sacrifice from berserk .
If you know, you know.
maybe it could be the rune of death, the intertwined pattern maybe it's the rune of Radagon but it's a little different so I don't know
A few people have said its radagons symbol but it like… isnt. Radagons symbol is that trellis.
the only thing discernible in this symbol appears to be the death rune
Thats what id say.
Personally think the other symbol is a crucible symbol or something.
It also looks kinda like an eye….. like a GLOAM EYE!?
Haha kidding. But maybe a relation.
It feels so familiar I can't quite put my finger on it. It's definitely a brand by put there by the hornsent, since the shaman were subjugated, but I feel like it represents more than just a brand of the condemned
The closest thing I can think of is the depiction of St. Trina on St. Trina's torch.
Between the blindfold and the eye like nature of it, I feel like there's probably some sort of tie in with sainthood.
what is the similarity? the pattern of two lines down and up? it doesn't look like much since the ones on the torch are wavy
It a symbol on the forehead with the eyes covered. That's how St. Trina is depicted. Plus the hair pattern sort of is similar. It's not the same but it's the closest to this symbol that I can think of.
Note I'm not saying they're related. Just the first thing that comes to mind in terms of what else looks like this to me.
Full disclosure, I just see the Shiekah eye from The Legend of Zelda.