The Forgotten Ritual of the Catacombs | Elden Ring Archaeology Ep. 22
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
- Elden Ring Lore: Who built the catacombs of the Lands Between? What is Erdtree burial really about? Join us as we answer these and other mysteries by some old fashioned Tarnished Archaeology in the Lands Between.
Sponsored by Atlas VPN Summer Deal: get.atlasvpn.com/TarnishedArc...
#eldenring #eldenringlore #catacombs #tarnishedarchaeologist
Gameplay footage/music credit: Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Bandai Namco and FromSoftware.
References: @SinclairLore @Sophie's Old Shame Bloodborne up close original: • Video
Bloodborne Up Close REBORN: • Bloodborne Up Close [R...
Music and audio samples:
Music samples:
Seikilos Epitaph*, YK band; Dies irae (Songe d'une nuit du sabbat), Hector Berlioz; Ljós Detta, @Alex Roe; Eld Ve, @Alex Roe; The Night Unfurls, @Ryan Amon, SIE Sound Team
Video/Footage
Halicarnassus, Tomasz M; Cuneiform tablets, ABC Science; Bamiyan, Afghanistan, David Fox; Greco-persian battle, Fall of Civilizations; Punjabi village, Stunning Punjab; Triremes, Troy (2004),Warner Bros. Pictures; Varanasi, National Geographic; Kalima, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Paramount Pictures; 300 (2006) Warner Bros. Pictures.
Death and burial of ordinary romans. Discovering Greek & Roman Cities. @discoveringgreekromancitie9286, CZcams
HBO, Rome 2005-2007
Images:
Seikilos stele, National Museum of Denmark
Herodotus, Library of Congress; Amiternum-relief
Jane Masséglia; Dead Cities, Syria, Charles Fred & James Gordon
Pyre of Caesar, Hulton Archive.
The Crypt of the Popes, Catacomb of Callixtus. Dnalor 01
Bronze container of ancient cremated human remains. Nabokov at English Wikipedia
An electric cremator in Austria Georg Lippitsch
(Germany) An open ash capsule showing the remains of the dead Norbert Hüttisch, Karlsruhe
*Note: The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving song, complete with lyrics and musical annotation from the 1st c. CE. Check out its full story! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilo... The song here is performed by the @YK band using instruments recreated to model instruments contemporary to the epitaph. Check out their other ancient music:
/ @ykband
Contents of the Video
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00:00 Intro
01:12 Death in the Lands Between
09:42 Atlas VPN
11:00 Chapter 1: And the Roots Call to You
16:45 Chapter 2: To Burn Death
27:09 Conclusion - Hry
This video is sponsored by Atlas VPN's Summer Deal.
Check it out at get.atlasvpn.com/TarnishedArchaeologist
I can’t help but notice some striking similarities between Scylla and Charybdis (from Greek mythology) in relation to the bestial sanctuary and the vortex/whirlpool next to it. I then stumbled upon a photo of The Rock of Scilla, Calabria, which bares a striking resemblance to the edge of the colosseums in Elden Ring. I was wondering what your thoughts on that might be?
Personally I can’t tell if it’s alluding to something more, if it’s just inspired by such mythology.
Also I love you channel, gives me a lot more insight on one of my all time favorites games and I truly appreciate all the hard work you put into your videos.
Much love
- Q
unrelated to this vid but have u noticed that the farum azula gold covered skeletons that are lying down on the ground and on the "tables"(at least in the beguinning parts) are of herbivores and not carnivores while the ones cuffed to the pilars are carnivores?? any thoughts on that?
Do you have a Discord or redit?
WAKE UP BABE NEW TARNISHED ARCHEOLOGIST VIDEO
ARISE, OH BABE! YE ASLEEP, WHO YET WAKE. THE CALL OF TARNISHED ARCHAEOLOGIST SPEAKS TO US ALL!
ARISE, YE WHO DOESN'T EXIST, WHO IS LIVETH ONLY IN MY MIND, WHOS TOUCH IS OF'ETH MY PALM
FUCK YEA BUD
Thnx bby
I'm awake I'm awake fuck
Let me just say I love the naturalistic education that comes in these videos. The flow isn't broken to explain achaeological terms or perspectives, but I still find myself understanding through context. Excellent work.
You’re the #1 Elden Ring CZcamsr when it comes to small details.
Small details always make up big pictures, much respect for you!
aggreeeddd....
Number one in general really
@@WeWillAlwaysHaveVALISyou don’t play souls games otherwise you wouldn’t be saying that
@Ghost-rv3ru ? I've been playing since Demons Souls and I'd rank TA either #1 or right near the top
smoughtown and quelaag do great content too, and as far as im aware these guys all keep in touch and share knowledge too, so making a competition out of it is rather fruitless imo
I just finished the first 5 mins of this video and i had forgotten i wasnt there to learn about funeral rights in our world and this was a video on elden ring
i honestly think if you did a video on a topic unrelated to it i'd still be really glued to it
(i am a fan of archeology though so maybe i'm an outlier)
but still i'm so happy this channel exists, thank you
I second this
THAT IS NOT ON THE ROAD TO BECOMING ELDEN LORD
@@okname5335 Heresy is not native to the world; it is but a contrivance. All things can be conjoined.
Looks like you weren't around to learn to spell "rites", either.
@@hyliadreamer look i love too things in this world voluntari typoes and involutnary types
You’re able to extract so much information that I’m not sure what’s more impressive, your analysis or the fact that they were able to build such an ecosystem of culture hidden in the game world. Fromsoft gameplay is unmatched, but the way they tell a story through community discovery and support this kind of content is what makes them truly incredible imo
Hello? Fallout exists too. But fromsoft and Bethesda definitely put the most love into their projects.
@@YamaXI Bethesda, the company that thinks that people can run a diner in the post-apocalypse, but not even bother to clear out the literal skeletons in the booths from over 100 years ago? They don't even come close to touching Fromsoft's world-building.
Historian and translator Tom Holland? Imagine being a devoted scholar and then having your legacy get overshadowed on Google by a hot guy who put on a spider suit
That just sounds like the world's sense of humor, to be honest.
Can we just appreciate how much real world history TA teaches us on top of the Elden Ring lore? I've never come across a channel that actually makes me feel like I come out of it smarter for learning about a video game's world development.
Also, I should know better than to click on a "part one" that came out earlier today... part two can't come soon enough.
Elden Ring came out about a year after I got worryingly into Bronze and Iron Age history was a transcendental experience and these videos are immensely gratifying, because i wasnt sure if i was imagining the similarities or not.
3:46 That's the most devious griddy I've ever seen.
Another Tarnished Archeologist banger, as always.
I want to bring up: Erdtree burial was reserved for those who "deserved" it, such as heroes or nobles. It could be that some form of cremation is still practiced to this day, which can possibly explain Spirit "Ashes". I don't really believe the previous though, since fire is seen as so heretical in the Erdtree belief.
Edit: I really need to finish the video before I comment lmao
I can't shake the thought that someone ordered a song as a remembrance of his deceased wife and 2200 years later we remember her. Not to mention the fact that the passing of around seventy generations between then and now validates these beautiful lyrics.
I believe that the deaths poker is actually designed to stoke and turn the burning bones, not remove them unconsumed from the fire (like a traditional poker). As the ghostflame torch description states that ghostflame is produced by burning the bones themselves.
One of these descriptions is mistranslated and it seems more likely that it is that of the poker. I would greatly appreciate it if you could get a second opinion on the japanese description for both.
Ghostflame Torch says 仲間の骨を燃やし, specifying that they burned their comrades bones.
Deaths Poker says 遺体の燃えがらを掻き出すという, that the birds rake out corpse embers/cinders/burnt residue.
But the poker is only describing what the birds do, it doesn't call out the poker itself. So you're likely correct that the birds used the poker to stoke and turn the burning bones.
However, I'd like to put forth another theory based on an alternate definition of ember, "Slowly dying or fading emotions, memories, ideas, or responses still capable of being revived."
Perhaps the birds were raking out the remembrances and/or souls of the dead while burning the bones. Perhaps those two actions are one in the same, which is why it produced a cold ghostflame.
@@Deadgye Thank you so much! That is a very cool and crucial detail.
The description is incidentally talking about how the birds collect something from the fire to be reused or reborn, not necessarily describing the function of the poker itself!
It seems that I was correct to some degree.
So we basically have several funeral practices:
1. Beastmen practices excarnation in style of Zoroastrian tower of silence, combined with Varna burial practice.
2. And then ghostflame cremation of deathbird and the catacombs, with tightly packed tombstone on the surface probably for burying the severed finger. Given the burial watchdog breathe fire, able to use glintstone magic, and affected by crystal darts just like Golems, this suggests that this burial watchdog related or at the same time where Giants/ancient giants and astrologers thrives and live peacefully together
3. Sarcophagi burial, in catacombs or in the surface
4. Erdtree burial and subsequent use of Jars
5. Sarcophagi and spaces inhumation of Haligtree
6. Skeleton in boat, on watery section of Stormveil castle
7. Remember the eternal cities, you can transport between three cities using sarcophagus that can even ascend through waterfall, and in some sections, red ants seemingly eating and collecting dead bodies from wooden casket seemingly carried by river flow to their domain
One thing to note in the opening, you see the corpse of Gideon Ofnir, submerged between ears and several eyes, overlookes by creature, seemingly imps. Does that mean they also manage his revival and sendoff to real world in Lands Between?
I am exceedingly impressed at FromSoftware's level of detail and real world history being reiterated in Elden Ring's mythos but I am even *more* in awe in how TA manages to unveil this layer of Elden Ring's narrative. Truly representative of Miyazaki's love for the Occult. So much story hidden in plain sight but isn't realized unless someone unveils it for others. So glad to be following this channel!
I've been wanting to give you - and your accomplices, if you have any - a compliment. Not a native ENG speaker so if my choice of words seems funny, that's the reason. But here goes: your channel, and the way you present information as well as how you conduct yourself, has not only gotten me extremely interested in the world of Elden Ring, but also surprised at the level of depth involved in creative world design that started before the game was in full production. It's fantastic to realize that there are far more layers to the story that I realized, meaningful layers even, and that some things which seem out of place aren't always explained with "don't think about it too much, it's just a game" rhetoric (even if that sometimes probably is the case). As a huge bonus, I've learned something about our history and customs as well, and I thank you for that.
All of these observations and theories you put out there are so much more meaningful than just reading item descriptions out loud or coming up with a timeline of events like an accountant, without meaning or passion. Even if you were wrong about something, or even if you were wrong about most things, you still get my imagination going. Because of your work I have even more respect for the little details FromSoft puts in its games, and that childish spark of curiosity just lights up. You clearly care about what you're doing, you're clearly interested in all of this yourself. Same kind of energy, in a way, as another youtuber Bob the Hollow. The way he presents his lore videos is amazing too, you can sense there is a personal investment and curiosity there.
But I have a question about this video in particular. Forgive me if I'm dumb and I missed something you said, but what do you think was the reason for the original builders of the catacombs to build them around the roots, if there was no erdtree burial? Why is the presence of the roots necessary, let alone a huge chamber dedicated to them? Might it be a "it's just a game" situation, where it was just more economical for FromSoft to have more story elements packed into certain locations, or do you think it (the presence of the roots) plays an integral part to pre-erdtree death rituals?
Until TA can take the time to answer this, I can offer some speculation.
There is a lot of evidence and allegory to support that the Elden Beast, the Elden Ring, and the Erdtree are all, on some level, the same thing.
The evidence also points to the Erdtree being made from a fusion of the Elden Ring and the remains of the Great Tree. This gives us a hints at the predatory, or even sinister, nature of the Outer God the Golden Order ultimately serves.
To bring it back around to your question, tree related plant life often probes for resources with it's roots. When they encounter something of significant value, say the runes that make up a person, they reinforce growth in that area of the root system and swell in size and strength.
I imagine the answer to your question is t that hey weren't. They probably started as close to a traditional catacomb gets for this world. But the roots eventually found them, and the bodies/runes were so nourishing that they became a feature of them in later years.
"Might it be a "it's just a game" situation, where it was just more economical for FromSoft to have more story elements packed into certain locations" ??
As much as it is a very well rooted (ba dum tsss) world element, it's also a "just a game" situation. I'm a believer of game's archaeological evidence but I'm not a child to believe in fairy-tales about the impeccable FromSoft game design. Simply put - "Get f^cking real, will ya?" ER is a marvel as much as it is a sell-out, it's most saddening and impressive that it accomplished to be both.
(Also non-English speaker, hope I don't come off as rude. Although I am ;) 😁
A Smoughtown AND a Tarnished Archiologist IN THE SAME WEEK?! Elden ring lore people are eating good can’t wait to watch this one man!
This channel was the push I needed to really get myself to explore Elden Ring (my first time playing a Fromsoft game)! I just wanted to see it all for myself. This is such an interesting channel 👏
When did you start exploring? I know you said this channel helped push you to do it but when did you start doing that? 🤔 I still find myself noticing details all the time. But yeah, I started looking harder after this channel started to publish its works 💖✨
I always thought the winged scyth was in reference to the cleanrot Knights because they have those white things hanging down that look like moth wings. Also in the Haligtree (for example in the prayer room) there are statues of little angles everywhere so that could be a connection.
Malenia does have the winged depiction in winged sword talisman, and millicent get's to be transformed into a Valkyrie should you plant her.
its very possible Miquella believes in whatever pagan religion the white-winged maidens originate from (assuming its not the deathbird religion because they just dont really fit there).
After all, one of the greatest mysteries in Elden Ring is what EXACTLY Miquella believes in; he quite randomly implements Carian icons in his work, he uses a new form of reincarnation through cocoons, he clearly has rejected or reformed a lot of Golden Order/Erdtree beliefs, etc etc.
And then theres the dlc concept art's ruined churches that share the same double helix stonework found on trina's torch, which might imply that Miquella/Trina himself is being worshipped too
I think the winged scythe belongs to an older level of strata (as tarnished archelogist would put it) than the time of Malenia and the Haligtree. Wings in general are a part of a lot of death religions in elden ring, like on the Mausoleum Knight gear. Most likely Miquella is borrowing/appropriating a lot of elements from earlier strata to support his Haligtree faction's claim as the erdtree's successor
@@ethanwashington6789 From what I've been able to work out, Miquella has a male body but most likely a female soul, which is why he appears in dreams as St. Trina as (possibly) a woman. The goal of the Haligtree is a sort of magical switcheroo to take his sister Malena's place and become the next God (because otherwise Malenia's rot will turn the lands between into more Caelid). This gets interrupted by Mohg, who keeps seeing St. Trina in his dreams and becoming obsessed with them, and then somehow kidnapps Miquella to start his own faction around him as the Formless Mother.
(there's a lot of gender stuff around Miquella so I'm kind of playing fast and loose with pronouns)
I only just started the video, but that long shot of the statue at the beginning made my jaw drop because I realized it might be fucking grace. Not Golden Order grace, but probably something along the lines of the deathbirds, similar to the ambient red grace in the mountain of the Giants
Exactly!
great video as always and always love to hear a Sinclair lore shout out. but I realllly hope you okayed it with Sophie before using her dead name.
Yeahh, I felt the same. I don't think it was intended harmfully even if it wasn't cleared first, but I'd be much more comfortable if it was
@@ElodieCunningham I don't think it's usually intended harmfully but such is the nuance of empathy.
@@georgerolandallen very much agreed
Cringe
@@bennygohome4576OK boomer
22:06 Wouldn't that rather mean that there's ash that actually returns to the Erdtree?
For example, the term Unpicked Fruit implies that there are other fruits that were picked up, otherwise there would be no need to create a specific term.
Ashes contain immortal essence (aka spirits), which is precisely what the Erdtree feeds on.
What if cremation is actually necessary for Erdtree Burial?
A cool thought - but I think that the bodies twined in the roots are clearly unburnt, so it can’t be a requirement. “Ash unreturned” could simply be drawing the comparison to other forms of corpse that are returned.
I interpret it as its *possible* for ash to be used for erdtree burial, like scattering it around the roots or on top of the groups of bodies- but not necessary. Perhaps some in the Lands Between are disturbed by the visual of their corpse getting absorbed like that.
So the way I see it, the spirit ashes dont have their magic power just because they're ash, but specifically because they're ash that hasnt been scattered on the roots. After all, why would anyone return the ash of a stormhawk or rotten stray to the erdtree?
This also could explain why we find Oleg in a burial chamber despite being ash. He's been cremated and prepared for burial- but for one reason or another, his ash hasnt been absorbed and the player can use it. Perhaps the Ulcerated Tree Spirit made it impossible for undertakers. Or perhaps the shattering stopped the process of absorption. Whatever the case, I believe Oleg and others in similar situations like Lhutel didnt have their cremation and erdtree burial as seperate processes across two different lives. If they did, both deaths would be of completely different people.
"...Thus the historian and translator TOM HOLLAND (??)" lol a web of surprises
It wasn't untill watching this channel that I started really looking at/thinking about the architecture within Elden Ring. Shortly after, I too noticed the seeming contradiction of having all the places for storing bodies in the catacombs, despite the prevalence of Erdtree burial. Couldn't figure it out though, so I'm glad you're covering this!!
Dude, awesome video as always!
I'd take one point though, both Lhutel and Oleg EARN an Erdtree burial rather than actually HAVING one... this actually goes back to your serpent video pointing out how Lithuanian kings converted while still practicing 'pagan' rituals.
This kinda makes sense if you consider the idea of someone like Oleg, if compared as a crusading night as an allegory for their essentially transitioning to mercenaries, earning Erdtree burial but rejecting it would make a lot of sense.
It would be a bit like the Varangian secretly arranging a Scandinavian funeral rite, perhaps even tolerated given the politics of the era
I can't believe you started this video with the song of Seikilos.
I had to stop to write this.
Hóson zêis phainou...
You are incredible ❤️
I really appreciate your separation of the different practices, especially your connection between the deathbirds and the catacombs via cremation. That’s a really excellent catch.
I’m still not sure the Minor Erdtrees have to be post-Shattering, because there’s a Minor Erdtree Church built before the Shattering (since Marika spoke there). I stand by my theory that they’re clonal sprouts from the root network.
This would upset the jar timeline a bit.
In his timeline the shattering is followed by radagons rise. So the words in the Minor Erdtree church are likely radagons, and there's actually plenty of clues that point to this. The voice doesn't speak with the authority or phrasings associated with marika, golden centipedes are found by the church, and are also found by radagon statues. The golden order seal can be found there which is ties to radagon's golden order principia.
@@swordierre9341 I think the idea that Marika’s spoken words there are Radagon’s still contradicts the way Marika and Radagon have remained within the tree and the impenetrable thorns; Marika imprisoned, Radagon trying and failing to repair the Elden Ring.
@@WanderedIn Alternatively, the Elden Ring has been shattered more than once throughout history. There have been cycles of great tree destruction and regrowth, so it is not unlikely there have been accompanying cycles of shattering and repair of the Elden Ring. This would explain why depictions of the Ring change across the different historical stratum; the Ring was shattered, but then rebuilt into that form.
@@MutantHeadcrab I think that’s a significant step too far - we have textual references to the uniqueness of the Shattering across the game, and the previous changes in the Ring are easily explained by events like Marika’s creation of the Golden Order by removing the Rune of Death. The golden seeds are said to have been impossible to imagine, and Marika as something God itself intended to be ‘Eternal’ is crucial to the thematic point that what ‘should have been’ eternal cannot be. If the cycle is shattering after shattering, then the story is muddled; the moment of breaking the cycle would not really suggest the possibility of real change (or real despair, or the restoration of the cycle).
Also, it seems to require the God of the Age to betray the Elden Ring to shatter it, since it was Marika alone who did it, in the end. Let us give her credit for originality, in attempting suicide by cosmic destruction.
I felt something i havent felt in a long time, a pang of genuine guilt, when Jarburg was shown.
Damn, man! You as consistently teach me about the real world as you do the lands between. Positively titillated by that reference to the twin birds in Farum Azula. Great video!
Thanks!
Last night I finished a full rewatch of all the episodes. Perfect timing
I always name my character "Samsara" in From software games because I die so many times before achieving moksha.
Some thoughts:
The Romans also used wedding rings to link one spouse to another spouse via a finger which, they believed, had a nerve that went directly to the heart.
Deathbed companions are similar to the alchemical belief in ancient China and Japan that an older man sleeping chastely beside a young maiden might restore life to the older/dying man. There is also the story of Abishag in the Torah where Abishag would lay in bed with elderly David to keep him warm and restore his energy. When Fia embraces us she remarks that we are "very warm." And what does she do? She takes part of our life, perhaps using it in the hope of imparting it to Godwyn's corpse.
Elden Stars states that the Elden Ring would eventually become the Erdtree, yet Life existed before the Erdtree (as evidenced by the ancient burials, ghostflames, etc.) so does that mean the Greater Will coopted Life by using the Elden Ring? Did Life exist in the Lands Between before the Greater Will asserted itself? Is Gold really essential to Life or is it like the phantasms in Bloodborne, augmenting Life for its own purposes?
The Egyptians are the ones who discovered that nerve, actually.
The Elden Ring may be the ‘root’ or the Golden Order, but that does not mean that’s all it’s been. Farum Azula suggests the ER predates it.
@@jannafrancis7452 but is Farum Azula the oldest part of the Lands Between? The tombs all around the LB may be older. There may have even been a time before the Crucible, perhaps a time when the Crystallians and the Onyx/Alabaster Lords existed, born in the Primeval Current. After all, "primeval" literally translates to "first age".
Dude! Great timing of the Dies Irae theme in reference to the funerary rites of ancient cultures!
This is the only channel that consistently blows my mind with each video
I love how in all your videos, when you communicate things that are new to me, my response is rarely a mind-blowing "wow, that unbelievable, what a twist!" but more often a "oh, that actually makes a lot of sense, and is really cool".
If only my social studies teacher could’ve mixed elden ring with real world events I might have paid this much attention.
I always eagerly anticipate the next Tarnished Archaeologist video and I am a huge fan of the channel. I am currently working on a TTRPG system based on Elden Ring, and one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of that process has been trying to assemble a timeline of the world and enrich my personal understanding of its lore and factions so that I can serve as an effective worldbuilder and GM. In this way, your channel, in addition to Smoughtown, have been absolutely essential to my note-taking and research, and I want to thank you for the quality work you consistently put out. I don't always fully agree with a handful of your conclusions, but I wanted to let you know that I would not be able to continue with this project of mine without your excellent and informative content! I eagerly anticipate the next video, because the connection between the Twinbird and Farum Azula is a question I have been grappling with for some time.
However, I do have two questions that I hope you can take the time to answer. 1) If everyone is technically "born" of the Erdtree by virtue of Marika's and the Erdtree's grace, then how/why are Godwyn, Mohg, Morgott, and the rest of the Golden Lineage considered to be specifically Marika and Godfrey's children? I am not sure if that is something you ever touched on in your Erdtree births videos.
And 2) I'm still wrestling with the idea that you and Kosmos have put forward that the Gloam-Eyed Queen was in fact the previous god before Marika and therefore the god consort of Placidusax. If that is the case, then that means the ancient dragon empire would have spanned all the way back to the inception of the Great Tree roots up until the ascension of Marika and Godrey during the Crucible crown-sprouting period. That would also have to mean that Placidusax was Elden Lord and the GEQ was god during all of the other ancient empires you have discussed in other videos, such as the Ancient Dynasty, the Numan Eternal Empire, and the Saint-and-Tree empire that directly preceded the Crucible, and yet to my knowledge we see little if any dragon iconography within those strata. While there are certainly huge connections between specifically Stormveil and the ancient dragons/beastmen, I find it hard to believe that Placidusax was Elden Lord and the GEQ god during all of those different eras and dominant cultures. Instead, it seems more likely that the ancient dragon culture fell prior to the emergence of the Ancient Dynasty and the Great Tree, the fled god of Placidusax is unrelated to the GEQ, and that she was instead perhaps a rival Empyrean claimant during the Crucible era. What would you say to that?
Yes! 🙌🏿 came for knowledge, stayed for cool intro music!
I wonder if Miyazaki and RR Martin are like “wow, why didn’t we think of that?!” Excellent work as always 🤝
Writing truly is just putting something down, something else down and then going
Huh this middle thing seems cool and it feels like it works
And you slot it in and then bam. A whole system has evolved.
of course if you dont think about it or try to link bits together at all it falls apart-
But I doubt they were thinking of it THAT deeply. It seems to be a constant with writers
@@elvingearmasterirma7241 I do think that TA is great with his videos but i have to admit i think he is reading into alot of stuff a bit deeper than the world building and story writers really intended at times.
Yes and no 💯 they do, fricking Zaki and Martin. Eh.
Miyazaki surely thinks more about the lore than about the game, he probably has this all figured out.
Martin probably only wrote the names of characters so he must be scratching his head.
😂
I've learned so much history from just being an Elden Ring fan
History mixed with myth. Just like the notion that From can make an open and cohesive game world 😉
Still, good for us (channels like the Tarnished Archaeologist) 👍
Cliffhanger ending has me itching for the next episode.
I’ll never go through another catacomb the same way again now lol
I always thought the boats in the boat burial sight looked more like Owl pellets than actual boats. I love both interpretations but the idea that those are the droppings of either the ulcerated tree spirit or death birds is just lovely
Again, I'm without the knowledge base to add to the discussion on top of what you and others have said, but I'm nevertheless flabbergasted by just how much there is to learn in your content. The best I can offer is my like, subscription, comment, and most of all, my appreciation in what you all are doing with this channel. Thank you.
Hadn't considered the implication that we can see the guidance of the Rosus statues. That is, the statues are meant to guide lost spirits and possibly any wandering undead.
Maybe it's just our connection to grace that allows us to see things like the guidance of grace, of Rosus and the Erdtree itself. But it could be saying something about what it means to be tarnished. Obviously tarnished had to die to return to the Lands Between. But the Lands Between seem to have their own system of life and death. So why would we still be tuned into that upon arrival? We should be "alive" by the standards of the realm, right? Maybe there are other aspects of being tarnished we're not explicitly aware of?
Trotting through the richly-detailed cities of Sanctuary, listening to your epoch--can recommend, 10/10
It makes so much sense that you would be a fan of Bloodbourne up close. I watched their videos some time ago and felt like Elden Ring would greatly benefit from someone taking a similar look at it. Thank you for taking up that mantle.
I will be very impressed if there is a lore explanation for the extremely dangerous unstoppable catacomb horse car
Finally, the second most important question I've had since turning the game on!
My partner and I love your videos! This kind of in depth look at the games details is so fascinating.
We've been watching all the content we can find about the various psychopomps of Elden Ring and how they seem to represent the Lands Between's history of death and burial culture. One thing we've noticed that no one seems to have addressed yet is that our lad Rosus, the guide towards the modern (public access) Erdtree Roots in the Catacombs, strongly resembles the countenance, form, and posture of the Deathbirds of ancient pre-Erdtree death customs.
We just thought it was a cool little detail that, like many other cool little details in this lore, probably isn't an accident! Just another piece to the huge puzzle, it really seems like Rosus was designed to appeal to an ancient sensibility regarding trustworthy shepherds of the dead and dying.
Amazing video, I aswell found the caskets and urns strange, thanks for unearthing this mystery! I think the culture that built the catacombs could be the giants, the crystal dart affects their creations all, that's to say golems, imps and watchdogs. And it makes sense that a fire god would want a funeral of flames. I think farum azula use the icon of the deathrite bird for the same reason as the raven assassins, that culture was so prominent that the birds became icons of death for following cultures.
Another bit of ghostfire is the skeletons around hermit merchant's shack in Altus Plateau can vomit ghostfire, and they have the rarest shield in the game, sun realm shield and it's seen better days. But as the deathrite bird seems modeled after the phoenix, well a sun god isn't out of place as their master.
I don't know about the giants. Crystal darts seem associated with the crystalians who seem largely confined to the Sellia/ Raya Lucaria empire. We don't see crystalians in the mountaintops. Otherwise it'd be a shoe-in. What is the connection between crystalians and the astrologers, anyway? Perhaps the crystalians were made by astrologers of a later age.
@@Xandros999 We do know the astrologers lived with the giants, as per night and fire sword: "Astrologers, who preceded the sorcerers, established themselves in mountaintops that nearly touched the sky, and considered the Fire Giants their neighbors." and to quote the crystal dart "Long ago, it is said that a golem crafter employed a similar crystal tool."
Man that Tom Holland. Actor and an accomplished scholar, he can really do it all
Getting two Tarnished Archologist vids in such quick succession, it's not even my birthday yet :D
I just want to say thanks for the great content and thanks for putting part # in the title. Too many youtubers these days just do clickbait titles and you can't tell what's part of a series or not nor in what order.
These videos highlight the absolute genius of the writers and developers of the game and their clue dropping to the sheer brilliance of the lore hunters to decipher it! honestly mindblowing stuff
You know, I just realised, I like your content so much I'm willing to sit here through the promotion without skipping over it...
The glory of the tarnished archaeologist work has not ceased.
As a suggestion for a future opening song I bring you a niche norwegian folksong called "Heiemo og Nykkjen" by Kirsten Bråten Berg, it has a great mood which would fit perfectly as one of your opening songs for a future eerie topic.
I've defended Herodotus so many times I'll just rewrite what I usually do here quickly. He was writing down what people told him, not specifically what was 100% verifiably true in most cases. I think it's way cooler we have those stories than strictly exactly what happened, Herodotus is exactly what I hope an ancient "historian" would have been. He had some real history, some half true history, and some not true history. All of it immensely valuable and all of it incredibly interesting. I respect his travels, his skill, his dedication, and the man himself.
Thanks for another great video.
Agreed!
Thank you so much for including English subtitles! We all appreciate the time and effort it takes❤
And there are people that says that Elden Ring has no story and that the lore is poor... The history, the plethora of cultures, the world itself is as rich and vast as it can get; a truly achievement of human imagination and creation. The thing is that the game doesn't spoon feed anything on the player and that's why people disqualify the rich narrative of the game. The history is there, ready to be discovered to those interested in dissect the archeology of the world of Elden Ring and at the same time people who are not interested on such "trivial" details, can have a blast thru the game only understanding the little lore they can get from a handful of cutscenes.
I always learn something new with your videos, not only about Elden Ring, but about humanity itself as the inspiration behind this amazing game. Thanks!
It always struck me as odd that "Death" is always capitalised like its a proper noun.
Makes you wonder about "Those who live *in* Death." 👀
I always found interesting how life triws to adapt to fill the niche left for the ridance of death as maybe the case with the living jars and for example in caelid after the bloom with the rune of death removed and life unable to die being corrupted and twisted by the scarlet rot just couldn't afford the luxury of an agonizing death but had to twist itself to live alongside the rot and even incorporating it into their lives somewhat similar to Chernobyl wildlife adapting to the radiation irradiated exclusion zone
The Lands Between must reek. You're approach is fascinating, love the videos.
Many thanks!
4:15 The SHADE on Indiana Jones is glorious 😂
You guys knock it out of the park every single time.
Thank you. I appreciate the time you take to make this possible. A historian gamer = gold.
this is so useful for writing (i just write silly oc stories set in elden ring) but seriously these videos are so helpful! thank you!!!
A welcome breakdown. Since very early the Lands Between have reminded me of the Necropolis Litharege from Neil Gaiman's Sandman.
I think there is a lot more to the Living Jars than you give them credit for. It is perhaps possible that the Erdtree repurposed them, if that is in fact the Erdtree Seal, but the tradition of the jar burial seems to be something much older and connected to the coliseums. The seal is the most easily changed component of the jar. Perhaps it is true that the Minor Erdtrees were more recently grown from seed, but it really does seem that the jars were associated with earlier trees that stood on those spots and were cut down.
Seeing as alot of the same jars are broken and empty around minor erdtrees, chances are they are used to transport corpses and maybe even compost them for use by the trees.
If there was ever a video I needed it's this one. ER www as my first foray in Souls games so the death concept never made sense to me like it did to veterans of the series. Just kind of rolled with it.
Wow I was just binge watching your videos and see a new one came out, what a treat :"D
Fantastically detail-oriented work as always!
Over the past week I binged all your videos, this is the first one I'm catching on premiere, so I'm excited. I'm belling for your content now, man, it's just too good. Each one is a profound learning experience. I need more more more! MORE! Always! Forever!
Amazing as always, thank you for the incredible amount of quality content. Your channel makes me happy
Fascinating. Really excellent work.
These videos are amazing--love the analysis, the storytelling in the narrative flow, and the tie-ins to real-life historical practices. Thanks for putting these out and can't wait to continue watching!
19:42 - An interesting cultural point about the practices of contemporary Western cremation: we seem largely comfortable with "bad things" happening as long as they largely occur out of sight. I doubt many today would enjoy watching their loved ones' cremated bones be crushed up. A lot of people would probably even object to it if they were intimately involved in the process. This is similar to a lot of other things in contemporary society. Agriculture and food production come to mind, where people love eating meat but are extremely grossed out and uncomfortable with most of the practices that go into producing it. Other consumer goods have the same issue. Most people would be disturbed by the labor that goes into making their products.
What these all have in common is an extreme alienation from production. If one does not wish to think about how their food is made, they never have to engage with it. You can buy your meats, vegetables, and other snacks pre sorted, washed, and packaged nicely for sale. In the same way, we aren't actually involved in much of our practical funerary rites. People plan the events and give speeches but do not deal with the bodies or burials themselves. As such, the appearance of the end result matters more than what goes into "producing" it. There is little spiritual significance to cremation. Some religious practices insist on whole body burial, but that's more tradition than a spiritual belief that preserving the body is important to the enduring soul or whatever.
To get back on the subject of Elden Ring, it's surprising that the age of the Ghostflame bothered with building catacombs. The invocation of birds as being the bearers of the Ghostflame seems very linked with carrion bird or consumption based funerary practices. Afaik, funerary practices like these are most common in cultures with low attachment to physical objects of remembrance and/or low attachment to physicality in general. If Death Birds are the ones "administering" death, and which bear the Ghostflame used for cremation - how would the ashes end up in pots which are then kept in catacombs for safe keeping and visitation?
The best explanation that I can think of is that perpetual animation of the body is the norm in the Lands Between. Perhaps the only way to prevent someone from going on to "live in death" as a sort of dark souls-esque hollow is to invoke a greater power for destruction of the soul. The Ghostflame is described as being cold, which might mean that it is not as good at burning flesh as it is at burning souls. The implication being that the Ghostflame is collected by people from the Death Birds and then used for Ghostflame cremation to prevent eternal animation.
Erdtree burial, as well, is the process of returning the soul to the Erdtree to remain in the cycle moreso than it is a way to deal with corpses.
I dunno, though. Could be way off base!
About to be on a plane for 5.5 hours had to make sure I downloaded this one thanks Tarnished Archeologist 🙏
Thank you so much for the videos, i have been rewatching all from oldest to newest and i totally fell in love with all of them, almost feels like counting the days 🤣 i am dying to watch the following, keep up with excellent work!
I love your content. I got a good laugh out of the captions at 24:09 though. I'm picturing the family ceremonially mounting the finger for a week.
In the midst of anticipation, Tarnished Archaeologist strikes with a new video.
First off, I would like to say your movies are absolutely astonishing. I watch them constantly and on repeat. Do you have any other videos or work we can view? Much love and keep up the amazing work!
Had to watch this one a couple of times to realize of of the implications of what you've described here. It also answers a question I have had for some time, why are the all of the Deathbirds grievously injured and why are they all weak to holy, something that hurts those who live in death, people who were created after the creation of the golden order.
When the death's poke item says they raked the ashes of the dead in their kilns, it make me wonder where their kilns where and I'm starting to think they were in the catacombs and that the golden order evicted the death birds with holy weapons which made especially to harm them. This may explain the original need for the creation of holy weapons.
This may also be why the death birds are all so horribly injured and/or why all of them are just randomly roaming around the world.
always the best from this channel
16:03 just noticed the incense burners similar to the ones in the opening cut scene ‘Arise, ye Tarnished’ …
I can't express how much joy seeing one of these videos brings me.
Your videos are always so informative and interesting. I appreciate immense time and efforts you spend making these videos. Great job ❤
Stunning and wonderful as always
your openings are just otherworldly man. i really love your videos, thank you for making them
Wish it was so simple to shine bright and never be sad.
That opening song. It always brings a tear to my eye.
Beautiful stuff.
One of the things that struck me as odd was the number of stone sarcophagi 'fields' found in the open world if the ideal form of burial was the rather more grisly Erdtree burial. I'd wondered if it was perhaps a punishment, being both above ground and isolated in stone they would be as far removed from the Erdtree's roots as possible, but the adornment on the stone suggested more care than scorn.
Vaati (or someone) had an idea that the crucifixes in Limgrave may have played a similar role, a punishment explicitly designed to prevent Erdtree burial. An interesting thought.
Oh my god I'm so early- AND IM SO HAPPY :D Thanks for another upload so soon! I love listening to these on my way home from work. Makes it so much more fun.
All hits no misses… Tarnished Archeologist is on a serious roll
Amazing work as always from the best ER content creator out there! Wish I could contribute to the speculation about the lore but this is all I got 😂
You my friend are no tarnished. You’re a lord, nay a god!
Yet another great video! However, like a few others here, I don't see how the idea that the catacombs are pre-Erdtree - otherwise convincingly argued here - squares with the root resin description mentioned: "The roots of the Greattree were once linked to those of the Erdtree, or so they say, and it is for this reason catacombs are built around Greattree roots". I can't parse this any other way than the reason for the placement of the catacombs being this link to the Erdtree via the Greattree roots, i.e. for Erdtree burial. What am I missing? Looking forward to part 2!
No lie a video from you is just what I needed today, bless you and all who see it.
So happy I found this channel. What incredible work. It’s almost like Elden Ring is a reimagining if our own history. So excited for the DLC and more analysis videos of whatever it adds to the story. Thanks for this amazing content. It’s so detailed it’s like attending a University lecture. There should be irl classes on this subject.
Damn. Aside from the absolute informative blast that the video is - as usual - one cannot overlook the artistic sensitivity to open the video with that song. These vids really are work of art.
Thanks!
Please consider showing us the world of Bloodborne through your eyes. I just know you'd be able to give us groundbreaking insight. I think you would really enjoy it, too (if you haven't played it yet).