It’s Been 2 Years, Yet Elden Ring’s Community Is Still Debating What The Game Is Even about.

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Published 2024-04-11
Elden Ring has been out for over two years, yet there are still countless Elden Ring retrospectives debating the meaning of Elden Ring’s lore and trying to figure out Elden Ring’s story and Elden Ring’s ending.

As I see it Elden Ring is a huge metaphor, using taoist symbolism to ask whether we as society want to return to a god-driven dogmatic essentialist world or want to live with the existential dread that is the logical result of Nietzsche's death of god. The dialectic monism of Radagon and Marika is symbolic of humanity's will to change and the different endings of Elden Ring show different paths for humanity to resolve the tension between nihilism and dogmatism.

And if nothing I just said makes any sense to you, don’t worry, that is why this Elden Ring retrospective is as long as it is.

====== Patreon
Help content like this survive on the platform: www.patreon.com/Ceave

====== Timestamps
00:00:00 - Intro
00:03:05 - The Elden Ring (Philosophical Background)
00:16:27 -Pairs Of Parents (Lore)
00:24:46 - The Lands Between (Game & Gameplay)
00:33:18 - The Death Of Death (Thematic Motifs)
00:58:10 - A Path For Humanity (Endings Discussion)

====== Credits for the Music
Elden Ring OST - “The Final Battle”, “Elden Ring”
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time OST - “Gerudo Valley”

Special Thanks to the British Council Film archive for providing remixable historic footage.
film.britishcouncil.org/resources/film-archive
Additionally the video uses licensed music from productioncrate.com and motionarray.com

All Comments (21)
  • "You know, when society decided to make child labor illegal we took the rune of child labor out of the metaphorical Elden Ring"
  • @NAFProjects
    "Don't worry, that's not the actual final bossfight yet, that's-oh wait no it's the actual final bossfight" Hysterical
  • @mr.wassell7885
    An hour and a half into discussing the game, Ceave says "yeah I like the game." Never change, Ceave
  • @LoudWaffle
    The Elden Beast's sword is also LITERALLY Radagon's corpse. Look closer at the hilt.
  • @snarpking
    🚨 BANGER ALERT 🚨 Ceave has dropped a feature length video on Elden Ring! This is not a drill!
  • Ceave Gaming: With this, Mario is able to make the jump. Hooray! Ceave Perspective: And, so, we are able to understand the duality of religion and nihilism; death and rebirth. Hooray!
  • @sanerin7111
    Ceave Perspective is honestly one of the only YouTubers I have bell notifications on and it's so worth it
  • @gemrazzled
    after probably several hundreds of hours of playing and watching elden ring videos this is somehow the first time ive Ever heard anyone bring up the idea that melina in the frenzy ending is merged w ranni in some sense, which is actually really interesting to think about given their connections dang
  • The Age of The Duskborne Explained: Marika ruled over the Lands between when she withdrawned destined death, After she won Every War. So there is no Wars, There is no Change. With the Golden Order established It can be read as The Current Idea of the World and Order will never die. This is seen as Spirits roam the Lands Between and are lead to the Erdtree to be reborn into the same order as the same person they were. Death does not exists if you are yourself after death and if the world stays the same. When the Mending Rune of Death (Godwyn) is added to Order, they break this idea of constancy. Order will change. The Dead will have a future chosen by themselves. Death is a part of Life and Change is the only constant. Like this, Godwyn witch is soulless can live as a new Body and a New Person. Those that rejected Death and Reincarnation can move foward without needing to start anew. They can have a new start with the experiences they gained and face change however they see fit as long as they to not die.
  • @ludwig8336
    It’s honestly crazy how quickly he can put out those 1,5h masterpieces
  • @WiiBobby
    Oh thank god. Makes me feel less stupid for not knowing.
  • @xanathar8659
    I was literally JUST thinking "I wonder when the next Ceave Perspective upload will be? I'm itching to watch it". Then my notification popped up a couple seconds later
  • @witherschat
    I am really looking forward to watching this (no time right now, so algo-boosting comment for now), but I'd like to say one thing. I find the old title format better. Having a copy-and-pasted title like this is much less memorable than "Bloodborne, Pregnancy, Nietzche, and God", or "Outer Wilds - An Existentialist Masterpiece". I remember the first time I saw "Super Mario Wonder - The Second Best Platformer Ever Made", where the title alone was so catchy I talked to friends about it. (Note that the title doesn't take away from the sheer quality of the videos, which I still avidly watch.)
  • 1) The Greater Will isn't an Outer God. In the original Japanese translation of the text, the term Outer God refers to those gods as being outside of the Golden Order; circumstantial evidence makes it pretty clear that the Greater Will (if it even exists) is very different from the Outer Gods, both substantially and on a power level scale. 2) The ring Melina picks up from the ground in the Frenzied Flame ending is actually Torrent's whistle. That being said, the video is phenomenal, just like all the rest of your work. Keep up the good work, mate, you deserve all the credit you're getting for it!
  • @thomasstone3480
    fwiw the actual philosophy of nihilism, as expressed by someone like camus, is somewhat close to the description of the age of the moon- not a world devoid of meaning, but one in which meaning must come from within, and be created by one's will and one's own actions. meaning that is not a prison but a home, a city, a construct
  • @nautil_us
    I really appreciate the way Ceave talks about philosophy! It's a great balance between "this is a thing some people believe" and "this is not necessarily true but not necessarily false either" and "This Story is (most likely) based on this philosophy, so in the context of this story this philosophy is completely true". Its a much more understandable way (for me) to understand how different philosophies work and how they apply to real life, because you can compare a fictional world to our own and think on where they differ and where they are the same!
  • @SoullessSith
    WHY DOES CEAVE ALWAYS PUT OUT VIDEOS ABOUT GAMES IM IN THE MIDDLE OF PLAYNIG?! I’ve been playing Majoras Mask on and off for 6 months with that video lonely sitting in my watch later for all that time! Elden Ring was my most wanted to play game for foreeeevvvveeer, and I finally got a PC, about 40 hours in and just beat Morgott, and now I have a great reason to speed it the heck up! Love your vids!
  • @JackisaMimic
    Excellent video! This was a great literary analysis of Elden Ring. Thanks for taking the time to put in the philosophical research. I don't really have much to add other than you did a great job and this was a very enjoyable and informative video. "Without order nothing can exist-without chaos nothing can evolve. Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” - Oscar Wilde
  • @regal-27
    I am always amazed at how you are able to discuss complicated and sensitive topics in a respectful and engaging manner. Absolutely loved this video, and it makes me want to play through Elden Ring again so I can solidify some thoughts on where I agree and disagree with you. I think your interpretation of the overall theme is my favorite, very nice work.