An Elden Ring Time Travel Theory

Mind blowing fact i realised : While watching vaati's new video about miquella Is that we know all albinaurics were trying to find the haligtree They travelled to the consecrated snowfield for that But then...something happened...and when we reached there ..there were no albinaurics just misbegottens...and shit Vaati never touches on this fact But the reason why albinaurics never made it was because they were following miquella in their dreams.... And that was the path that was leading them however..those brain dead mfs Were so into this dream walking that when mohg kidnapped miquella the pantheon just kept walking towards the mohgwyn palace and this is the reason we find so many of them there Miquella really wanted to help them So he charmed them to come to his safe haven in their dreams but himself got abducted and the brain dead albinaurics followed. They then reached there and thought mogh was miquella's consort because it was infact the place miquella was. And boy o boy... they started worshipping the lord of blood instead which is plain sad We even see the followers of mohg (the enemies at rose church preaching to the red albinaurics making it more likely that they were swayed from their original path)

I think its less then time 'travel' and more about concurrent timelines playing out simultaneously. Vyke is busy being the protag in his story, while being the herald of frenzied flames in ours

Couple holes in this theory are 1. The roundtable hold we go to is explained as outside of time and space, so like a pocket dimension and it's based off the Lyndell hold that was used long ago. It is set on fire cause the Erdtree is creating the pocket space 2. Ranni's body has red hair all of raddagon's kids had red hair melena has light brown hair. 3. They are the only two characters that acknowledge torrent so it's not out of the question to say Torrent just has an amazing judge of character and that's well known. 4. Ranni literally says "oh I just used my teacher's name to test your metal" you had to seek her out to learn her true name. But it's super interesting, I think Ranni and melena are half sisters not the same person

I really feel like the secret of The Lands Between is right in the name. I think its cosmic bc the geology of the game feels like tectonic forces converging from multiple worlds into a schelling point for various species and outer gods. Marika and the Numen are literally described as being from another world.

I will say that Ranni did have a reason to rid herself of her empyrean flesh. Her mini doll form states that "i would not be controlled by that thing." Which means that empyreans are essentially just managers and the 2 fingers are CEO's that tell them what to do. The baleful shadows are the enforcers of the rules given to them, which is why one is sent to hunt us down on our way to the lake of rot. I think Renna is the name of Ranni's mentor, and probably had a tower alongside ranni's as she taught her cold sorceries. It makes sense that Rennala would let a gifted sorcerer teach her daughter, seeing that she herself would be too busy teaching at the academy and probably didnt have time to teach her daughter herself. Adula was probably a friend or pet of renna, who was left behind to protect ranni. Melina has a preference for incantations over sorcery so i do believe that her and ranni did come from the same being. Radagon's incants require a high amount of both faith and sorcery to use, so it isnt crazy to assume that those two attributes were maybe split into two seperate beings.

This is a cool idea! But I have sort of suspected that the “lands between” are in fact a sort of Mount Olympus or Asgard of whatever world Elden Ring takes place in. This would explain why the “continent” is actually relatively small but has a wealth of culture variation. And each region is the dwelling place of one of the demigods. The more I think about this theory the more I am convinced by it. The whole conflict of these demigod’s story is very similar to some of the civil wars that have taken place in mythologies past.

I actually think that Renna was the name of the snow witch who Ranni takes on the visage of in her doll. Renna would just be an alias given their history. Who Renna would be to Ranni beyond that, I don’t know. But I could see Melina being the younger version of Ranni.

I have thought for a long time that The Lands Between are between dimensional time lines. The other tarnished spectral forms we see as we travel the lands are those found in other dimensions. Journey 2, 3 ,4 etc are our attempts to fix other dimensions.

It seems to me that no character really knows Melina exist. You make your accord with her and Varre still calls you maidenless (and if you go to the Hold before getting a great rune, he doesn't understand you how did you get there). If she was a demigod (as this video and one from Vaati about Miquella both theorize), wouldn't there be any trace of her existence known? A picture in a castle, a statue, a graveyard of swords from her destroyed army? Wouldn't Morgott be completely outraged to see her fight alongside you? Wouldn't she also have a throne in Leyndell? If she was a demigod, it would be a very odd notion for all the demigods to mutually agree to pretend she never existed while waging total war on each other. Edit: I also really dislike the 'time is convoluted' cop-out that became common from Miyazaki's works. GRRM once stated in an interview that he was hired to write the lore, and that the game would take place about 5000 years after that, and that somewhat works better than 'timelines are mixed again oh no'. If that timeframe was kept true by FROM, then you have 5000 years of total war between realms, which would explain the destroyed buildings, all the while no one truly dies (by the combined factors of: no Erdtree burials happen anymore, Godwyn's presence is slowly spreading and reviving corpses, and the rune of death kept away by Maliketh). The only thing that doesn't really work in that timeframe is the wounded Black Knife you find in Limgrave - has she been hurt and hiding for so long?

Loved how you tied it the Gloam-Eyed Queen part! Ranni/Melina’s lore has always been my favorite of Elden Ring

I think Time is definitely at play, mentioned by NPCs and of course evidenced by Farum Azula. Either themes are repeating or at certain points we are actually watching the beginning and ending of plot lines while missing the middle (The Shattering War itself)

I swear to god I had the exact same theory and called it "the fracture theory" I even started to write a script about it. About how reality is fractured from the point of the shattering of the elden ring. Creating alternate beings from one being and changing their history even. Thats why there is so many twins and alternate egos. And 2 people in one. For example ranni has Melina, Morgott has Mohg, Marina has Radagon, Melania has Miqeulla, Gurranq with Maliketh, Darion with D, Miquellas alter ego st.Trina. it just keeps going. That's why we have to mend the elden ring by killing every one to take their runes and mend the fracture. But this an impossible mountain to climb. The shattering broke time and reality itself and the only way to fix it is to acknowledge this fact and walk foward from this point instead of trying to fix it. Holy shit I'm so surprised I wasn't alone in thinking like this. Love this channel and please keep surprising me! Mind is blown because you read my mind words for word. It's crazy.

Very nice theory, but I do have to point something out about the Greatrunes. We already have Miquella's Greatrune, the Greatrune of the unborn, it has the exact same shape as Malenia's Greatrune just like how Morgott and Mohg who are siblings have the same shaped Greatrune and Radahn and Rykard same thing. It also fits very nicely with Miquella's theme of youth and rebirth (see the albernaurics in cocoons at the haligtree). And about Ranni's Greatrune, I would love to see it in DLC, but there are some evidence that it's plastered on the moon itself, look for three or four arcs connected by a line on the bottom left side of the moon, you should bve able to see it.

My favorite part was when margit traveled forward in time to show off how much of a ninja turtle he used to be

Okay, I had a little trouble following some of that, I will admit... But to back up your point about the connection between minor Erdtrees and other worlds, it was immediately after the Shattering that the Erdtree sent its golden seeds "scattering across the various lands, as if life itself knew that its end has come." Maybe each seed created (or at least connected) a timeline, and scattering them was a defense mechanism to increase the chances that in at least one of these worlds, the Elden Ring could be reforged Also, I like the idea that Melina's eye tattoo is a seal keeping a dark power locked up within her, like Destined Death is sealed inside Maliketh, except that she has no ability to release it even if she wants to. And only the Frenzied Flame with its power to break down all the divisions of the world can shatter the seal and give her access to her hidden power. If so, it would make sense that she is the only person in the world, other than the carrier of the Frenzied Flame, that can relight the forge of the giants. She has an equally powerful flame inside her as well

Maybe Ranni is the part that is Radagon’s daughter, Renna is Rennala’s daughter, and Melina is Marika’s daughter.

It’s an interesting theory altogether. It would explain why certain enemies exist and why other don’t. The Godskins and Black Flame Monks are scattered with no main base of operations, you’d think if Gloam Eyed Queen had so much power, she would have a castle or place of her own at least in ruins or disarray in the time you play. I do agree with the general concept that it could be a time loop, though I’m not so certain on the relationships of Ranni, Renna, and Melina. I would need a few stronger bridges before I crossed that gap. But all in all, well done to you and Pixel. Really enjoyed the video.

This is fantastic and has helped me fully form ideas I’ve had Thank you!

I love this so much. A great take on an awesome story! Interesting and elegant delivery. Thank you for your time creating this channel

This is an amazing theory and great video! Thank you!!