The long wait is almost over. In early March, nearly a year after FromSoftware announced an upcoming expansion for their award-winning game Elden Ring, a gameplay trailer dropped to reveal a June release date for the DLC.
Fans rejoiced at the announcement, and as they always do when FromSoftware releases new content, they dove into analysis mode. FromSoftware games, namely the Dark Souls trilogy and offshoots with similar mechanics, always include plenty of esoteric lore and hidden details. Elden Ring proved no different when it hit shelves in February 2022. It is an enormous open-world game with countless intersecting story threads, where worldbuilding presents itself at every turn.
With the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC now confirmed and our first real look at new content, fans and theorists have gone to work discovering as much they can from the three-minute trailer. Lest you think this a fool’s errand, literally thousands of threads online and videos dissecting the trailer frame-by-frame already exist only three weeks since its debut.
Confirmation on Miquella’s Cocoon
The first and most solid fan theory seemingly confirmed by the trailer pertains to the DLC’s access point. Since Elden Ring came out, fans have suspected that any subsequent content will feature Miquella. Miquella is a demi-god and powerful relative of several bosses, important but mostly absent in the game’s story.
Towards the end of the game, players may find a cocoon supposedly bearing Miquella’s dormant body. His half brother, Mohg, kidnapped him as part of a play for power, and now Miquella lies comatose in his sibling’s palace. The cocoon itself sits at the edge of a precipice accessible following the Mohg boss fight, standing out from its surroundings but not interactable for the player.
Connections to Past Games
Features like this have often been access points for DLC in previous FromSoftware games. In Dark Souls 3, players started the Ashes of Ariandel DLC by talking to a character named Gael, who crouched prostrate in front of an altar in a chapel. Gael of course wouldn’t be present in the game if the player didn’t have the DLC installed. But the altar remains regardless, and pictures figures of importance in the DLC area.
Even before Ashes of Ariandel came out, players speculated online about the importance of this altar and exactly who it depicted. Similarly, FromSoftware’s Bloodborne requires players to die at the hands of a mysterious eldritch horror located in one of the game’s central areas. The monster would always be there, but served no purpose before the DLC came out. Except, of course, to kill you if you weren’t paying attention.
For its similarities to previous DLC access points and the significance of Miquella in the story, many assumed the DLC would start by interacting with this cocoon. The cocoon’s presence at the beginning of the new trailer seems to confirm this, and the voiceover line at the end of the trailer, “touch the withered arm and travel to the realm of shadow,” suggests outright that the cocoon will serve as the jumping off point for the new content.
Speculation on Messmer
But much else surrounding the trailer is less concrete, purely the speculation of theorists operating with a limited set of clues. Messmer, a lead figure in the trailer, is drawing a particularly large amount of conversation in the fandom.
Messmer is introduced emerging from the shadows wreathed in red snakes and harnessing an enormous flame. Voiceover in the trailer suggests he seeks to kill the player character, from the line “those stripped of grace of gold shall all meet death in the embrace of Messmer’s flame.” The player is a Tarnished, a group established as lacking grace, so this seems to refer to us. Beyond this, and his apparent title of “the Impaler,” there isn’t any official word on who exactly Messmer is.
That hasn’t stopped creators from examining each facet of his appearance and each word of his revealed dialogue for clues to his identity. The most prominent theory as of now is that Messmer is a secret child of the goddess Marika. She created the Erdtree in the base game and bestowed light upon the Lands Between, and acts as a main antagonist for the Tarnished.
This theory arose from a line Messmer has in the trailer, asking “Mother, wouldst thou truly lordship sanction, in one so bereft of light?” Marika has previously appointed others to the rank of Elden Lord. The player character seeks that very power, so this seems to be Messmer asking Marika why she would grant a Tarnished lordship.
Radagon and Messmer
In addition, Messmer possesses the red hair and gray skin of Radagon, Marika’s consort (and also another version of Marika, it’s complicated). Marika and Radagon had at least two other children, Malenia and the aforementioned Miquella. And Radagon had several other children beforehand with another character, Rennala.
Almost all bear similar physical characteristics to their father. Red hair in particular symbolizes Radagon’s influence. If Messmer is a child of Radagon and Marika, it would put him on the same level of importance as Miquella and Malenia as an Empyrean, essentially a demigod.
Other theories look closely at the abilities Messmer seems to possess and what they could imply. In the brief moments he is visible on screen, Messmer is accompanied by serpents and wielding a dark red flame similar to those used by the fire giants. Both giants and serpents are blasphemous in the eyes of Marika and the Erdtree, usually working with the Marika’s enemies.
In addition, some believe the yellow eyes peering out behind Messmer’s helmet are dragon eyes. These slit yellow eyes act as characteristics of warriors who use dragon sorcery, another profane tool of the Erdtree’s enemies.
If Messmer truly is an amalgamation of all these blasphemous powers and abilities, it would be a point of conflict with his status as an Empyrean and child of Marika. (A reason why he exists only in this shadow realm, perhaps?)
Glimpses Into New Stories
Messmer presents a plethora of visual hints and word choices to analyze. Other figures in the trailer are only present for a handful of frames. This golden husk, for instance, is only seen for two seconds on screen, trying to pull a golden stake out from his body. This gnarly sight may simply hint at Messmer’s job as the Impaler.
Alternatively, it may be part of a cutscene introducing the golden figure as a boss. His appearance and golden vestments are reminiscent of Goldmask, a key NPC and fellow Tarnished in the main game. If this similarity is intentional, this might be an ally we can work alongside to defeat Messmer.
The Butterfly Theory
As far-fetched as that may sound based only on a few frames, some theorists have gone even farther in their suppositions. A short clip of a Tarnished casting a spell which seems to include butterfly animations has been connected to the idea of Messmer being an Empyrean.
Malenia and Miquella, two other Empyreans, each have butterflies associated with them in the base game. This could hint at a new one being present in the DLC to pair with Messmer. This detail has reignited old theories about another NPC in the base game, Melina, a woman who shows up to provide guidance and aid to the player.
Many suspect she might be an Empyrean as well, or otherwise a spiritual version of Ranni, another Empyrean who shed her mortal body long ago.
There are three kinds of butterflies in the base game, two of which have obvious connections to Malenia and Miquella (the Aeonian and Nascent butterflies respectively). A third, called the Smouldering Butterfly, appears to have connections to Melina. This is because (spoilers) Melina’s fate is to burn as she destroys the Erdtree.
But now it might be that Messmer is a better fit for this flaming butterfly, and Melina’s is the one which has yet to be introduced. Could this mean Melina has a large role to play in the DLC, or were old theories about her off base?
You can see how this kind of theorizing can easily get out of hand. Still, crazier theories about other FromSoftware games have popped up in the past, and even occasionally proven right. All we can do for now is wait for the DLC to come out in the June. In the meantime, we can be entertained by this community’s commitment to seeking out premature answers.
