15 Remarkable Secrets in Elden Ring!

It's so impressive how deep the Elden Ring rabbit hole goes Between the cut content and the little lore threads, there's just endless things to learn Thanks for unravelling this stuff!

Another detail about the unique Omen and nobles potentially aligned with Fia and Godwyn: they're positioned almost directly on top of Godwyn's underground location. If you look at the map and view both the underground and the overworld, you can see that the death root infected minor Erdtree is directly above where Godwyn is buried far below.

12:52 this shot of Ruinous Ghostflame and Fortissax pulling out the lightning has probably been one of the hardest things I've seen

That "burial crow" looks suspiciously like a pigeon to me. Kinda sad they left out Kali's quest since it makes it easier to find the area where the Three Fingers is located. Then again, that could be why they left it out as it's somewhat of a "secret" ending.

I appreciate the shout Vaati🙏 can’t wait to see all the secrets and hidden mysteries of the DLC

Dude i've been freaking out over the flying skeletons for a year now. Had zero clue as to why but for me it always happened with that one curved sword skeleton near the merchant shack outside leyndell. Actually spit my drink 1st time i saw it

Interesting with the Quella stuff!

The graves representing Miquella's rune and having a section of the circle removed is actually quite compelling as a reference to Miquella's eternal youth - the natural process of his life has been disrupted and broken, changing the flow of the rune from a continuous loop to a rebounding crescent.

Vaati! I'm certain some people already know of this, but you might not. The crucible knights' names Ordovis and Siluria are direct inspirations from Ages of the very Earth as a planet itself. (As in, pulled from soil samples) Specifically these two names have been pulled from the Paleozolic era, where there are 7 smaller eras: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian and Permian. Maybe, just maybe, the other 14 of the unnamed Crucible Knights of Godfrey were also named after ages of the earth?

16:55 If Miquella was born for Radagon to gift him those Royal Knights, doesn't that mean that Radagon was separated from Rennalla at the time?

So in regards to the Flying Abyssal Skeletons and the group of Deathbed Apostles by the minor Erdtree, if you toggle your map, you might see why the presence of Death is so strong there. That entire area is directly above Deeproot, so the presence of Godwyn is really seeped into Leyndell.

Guys, have you noticed the Table at the roundtable hold? It has 10 swords and 1 axe. 10 are the exact same amount of tarnished that appeared in the roundtable during the game: D, Fia, Hosllow, Rogier, Gideon, Nephelli, Dung Eater, Roderika, The Royal Remains Guy and Gold Mask's translator. Maybe the axe represents Our Tarnished or Horah Loux? The axe also points toward the two fingers of the table.

Do you think maybe a big reason that the Caria and Haligtree connections were removed was because of timeline shenanigans? Like, how could Radagon still be gifting things on Caria’s behalf to his own son Miquella, when to sire Miquella he must have already left Rennala?

9:40 I made a whole conspiracy about this when this when the DLC was announced that looks at Miquella’s possible influence in the current existing story. For example, judging from Turtle Pope’s dialogue, we know that Radagon left Rennala to become second Elden Lord after his union with Queen Marika but before he left, he bequeathed the Amber Egg that she is found cradling when we meet her in-game. Miriel claims she was left heartbroken because of his departure, but what if there is more to the story? What if instead of heartbroken, she’s actually bewitched? Let’s look at some details on the Amber egg: We are given dialogue from Gideon that the egg contains a Great Rune, and further progression into the game reveals it to be the The Rune of the Unborn. The rune is not revealed to be associated with any god in particular, much like the Rune of Death, but there are some interesting implications on it. Mohgs Great rune reads - “Mohg and Morgott are twin brothers, and their Great Runes are naturally similar.” Judging from that item description, the Rune with the most similarity to it is Malenia’s, who was Miquella’s twin. If this egg does contain the Great Rune of Miquella, possibly his soul too, then an explanation for the shape of the rune could be his curse - the “eternal childhood” - and possibly why the juveniles are imperfected and stuck as children. This brings me to my theory. Rennala is overly attached to it, calling it her little “culver”. We know from the Bewitching Branch that Miquella had the ability to compel love and affection and if we look close, we can see traces of it inside the egg, particularly the white buds before they hatch. We know anything that’s mixed with the blood or essence of Miquella tends to stay in a premature “infant” form, hence the Haligtree being stuck as a baby version of the Erdtree and now the buds inside the egg. Another thing to point out is the empty bird cages found all over the Raya Academy. I always wondered what the purpose of these were but then it dawned on me, there is an item in the game called “The Slumbering Egg” and it’s a crafting material needed to create items in the game that alleviate sleep. This makes me think the members of the Academy were trying to awaken Rennala from her “deep slumber” as Ranni says and at the same time, explain why the Knights of the Cuckoo marched against the Carian manor since they must’ve found out what Ranni is doing. So why would Ranni keep Rennala in her current state and attempt to possibly reincarnate Miquella? One theory is it’s because Miquella was in fact Ranni’s secret mentor, the Snowy Crone, and Torrent is the key to prove it, specifically his Whistle. The spectral steed whistle is made of a delicate “goldwork”, not just gold, mirroring the Item Description on the Unalloyed Needle. I didn’t think much of it at first but after seeing the flame of frenzy ending, I’ve speculated that the material is Unalloyed Gold. This is backed by the fact that the whistle is still intact after the flame of frenzy is unleashed. Gold only reacts to heat by melting and the fact that it’s burning in the ending is bizarre and means it could be rejecting the flame. We know that Miquella’s needle is made from the same stock and has the properties to ward away the effects of the flame of frenzy and rot, which both originate from outer gods. Torrent is also partial to the Frozen Raisins which are made exclusively from the Mountaintops with his mane being pale blonde like Miquella’s but that could just be a coincidence since Radahn’s horse has red hair. Or if you really want to go unhinged, Ranni may in fact be Miquella reincarnated. Miquella is thought to have an alter ego named St.Trina who’s going gender is open to interpretation(The double helix can be seen in Miquella’s needle which depicts the symbol for mercury(Roman God), who represents intersex people). In fact, the item description in the Sword of St. Trina states that he could’ve been a boy or girl. St. Trina is heavily tied to sleep and it can’t be a coincidence that Ranni enters a deep slumber at the same time as Rogier after you get close to retrieving her curse mark. During her first appearance in the Church of Elleh, the merchant and the donkey are also both asleep and the fog that covers the area can be seen on the Trina Lily and envelops all of Liurnia. Also, the juveniles in Rennala’s fight sing about sleep and St. Trina’s torch portrays the figure with one eye (Ranni always keeps one eye open). Something interesting about Blaidd is that his breastplate portrays two twins with a tree between, possibly being Miquella, Malenia and the Haligtree, and the double helix from Miquella’s needle can be seen in his Royal Greatsword. Blaidd could very well solve the mystery of their Shadow since they were born at the same time, being twins. His breastplate also tells us he always hated the cold but it never snows in Liurnia? I think the fact that Ranni discarded her flesh is the reason Blaidd has been able to help Ranni wage war against the Greater Will, right up to the point where Ranni murders her Two Fingers, going mad at the end of the questline because Ranni(Miquella) is in our pocket as a miniature doll. Speaking of Unalloyed Gold, the Mask of Confidence in particular could hint towards this secret. The gold threads could be unalloyed to hide Miquella’s(Ranni) secret from the Greater Will. This would also explain Malenia’s confrontation with Radahn. In her ending, She embraces Marika(her true mother) and vows to finish what they started which is to not be influenced by the Greater Will/Outer Gods anymore before creating a massive waygate into the Dark Moon(also explains why all the way gates smaller than our tarnished, since they were meant for a child). Finally, Ranni does sound like a child and she looks exactly like her doll which I believe is fashioned after Miquella. If you look at the statues of Miquella, he’s always depicted with his head much larger than his body which is a trait associated with infants and explaining why the “Greathood” found on the Mountaintops and the Snowy Crone Hat is meant for someone with a larger typical sized head which also sets a theme with the Glinstone Crowns, preceptor hats. Etc. Also, It only snows inside of Miquella’s husk in all of the Haligtree, further associating Miquella with the cold. I know there’s Miquella’s “body” in Mohg’s palace but I believe the it’s nothing but a husk since we don’t get a Great Rune. It’s likely he bewitched Mohg, Rennala, Seluvis, Gideon, Malenia etc. Even the player(why else would our character give her a wedding ring that clearly states “don’t give this to me”). “Oh? A dogged fellow aren’t we? Or is it thy habit to merely talk to dolls?” We know Radagon had a close relationship with Miquella so maybe the purpose of him bequeathing the egg to Rennala is to protect him from the Greater Will since Miquella seemed to have abandoned fundamentalism and the Golden Orders favor. Melina is hard to figure out but she does put us to sleep on top of the cauldron which could link her somehow as well.

I'd always wondered why there were so many cocoons/eggs scattered around the Haligtree's fortifications, especially considering how the area is devoid of insect-like creatures that might've spawned them (unless you count the Revenants, which has implications that should never be explored). Props to that commenter for noticing that some of them are shaped like hunched over, first-generation Ablinaurics

(9:32) About Miquella's Great Rune: I believe that the "Great Rune of the Unborn" is actually Miquella's great rune. The name itself is definitely a nod to Miquella at least, but the shape of the rune also follows the trend of sibling's great runes looking alike (Rykard's and Radahn's, Morgott's and Mohg's, and Malenia's and "Miquella's"). I was honestly so sure that everybody saw this that I've always considered it canon, and just thought that no lore videos mention it because it's so obvious... but maybe not hehe :'D

There are actually TWO friendly dogs in Leyndell!! The other one is found on the street with the Erdtree Avatar. If you walk around that area, there are two dogs eating a corpse with an item (as well as another dog around the corner). One of the eating dogs (I believe the right one) is also completely friendly! He won’t aggro even if you smack him. I love him with all my heart :)

4:17 - I remember reaching the merchant shack in Altus while being chased by some skeletons who rose from a nearby graveyard. I had a lot of runes on hand, but thought: "hey, these guys are easy to deal with. I'll defeat them, then sit on the site of grace". Then the skeletons started running a space program. Luckily I managed to recover my runes later on.

Hey Vaati, in the DLC theories video you mentioned "shadows" possibly being the animals gifted to Ranni and Marika - it stands to reason that if it holds true, Torrent is also one of these shadow animals, only for Miquella. Though its FromSoft so it could be a whole bunch of different meanings cobbled together.

i only just realised that miquella/quella comes from the word "quell" - to subdue or silence. also i knew there was something weird about that death omen and his crew. it's almost directly above the corpse of godwyn. also noteworthy, the only other minor erdtree above this area is the one in the forest in altus, also surrounded by death spewing creatures, the wormfaces.