Headscratchers / Elden Ring

Headscratchers for Elden Ring.

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Confused About Queen Marika's identity

• So what's the deal with her and how she has two identities? First, Marika was apparently also Radagon, but Radagon married... himself? Cause he supposedly married Marika, but is also Marika? And Marika apparently left, but Radagon didn't? Basically everything about him/her needs more explanation.
  • The lore text for Melania's Remembrance is: Miquella and Malenia are both the children of a single god. If taken literally, one can assume that they are the same person, since supposedly they are both the children of Marika and Radagon. It's also worth noting that the same flavor text says that because they were born of a single god, they had their individual curses, which I think is supposed to be a play on how children born of incest will have congenital issues. There is also that there's flavor text with the priest turtle about how Radagon invaded 'at the head of a golden host.' It's theoretical, but if they are the same person, it's likely that when ruling the lands between, they were Marika, and when fighting and conquering, they were Radagon.
  • It's probably supposed to be something similar to the holy trinity, where each entity is its own thing, but also part of a single whole, and it's supposed to be contradictory to the human mind. Radagon and Marika are the same being, but at the same time they coexist as different bodies, and thus these two parts can interact with each other in a myriad of ways.
  • Part of the community has speculated the whole world is a huge analogy for alchemy with the Great Will being the alchemist. Marika is the white queen, Radagon is the red king, representing opposite properties (coincidentally, Marika was a priest/spellcaster while Radagon was a warrior) they end up fused by order of the Greater Will to become the Rebis (from the Latin "Res Bina", "Dual/Double Matter"), a hermaphrodite being that represents a perfect union of the spiritual and material and all the complementary opposites. From this Rebis the Golden Order/Greater Will was supposedly making a perfect sucessor like with Malenia and Miquella (though it is not clear if they were conceived before Marika and Radagon fused and nevertheless the twins, as previosuly mentioned, embody the dangers of nobility inbreeding). Part of Marika's narrated lines in the lore imply more on the side that Radagon was a separate being but was ordered to marry and then fuse with her but alas, it is not 100% clear if Radagon was a separate being from the very beginning or an aspect of Marika created to seduce Renala to bring peace and make Liurnia a puppet state. The statue you can transform with the Law of Regression spell states "Radagon is Marika" as well as Golden Mask's finding of them occupying the same place in the cosmology but this could have been findings after they fused. In any case the Greater Will forced them to do as it wanted, expanding its influence until Marika got fed of being his proxy jumpstarting the Shattering with Ranni. Radagon curiosly seemed to be always compliant with anything the Greater Will demanded, maybe they were opposites in will or the Marika half of the being wanted out.
    • There are points of evidence for the shared body situation to at least predate their marriage, and even Marika's first wedding. Radagon's red hair is said to be a curse inflicted on Marika when she defeated the fire giants, way before the Age of the Erdtree. Also, the fact that Radagon is Marika is considered an answer to the mystery of why Radagon left Rennala so promptly. And this part doesn't really matter as much, but Radagon studied both incantations and sorceries, he was no pure warrior at all (that was Godfrey).
    • That they were the same person from the start partially explains some of the mysteries surrounding Radagon. He appears to show up out of nowhere and there's next-to-nothing about him prior to the First Liurnian War. It would also explain why a marriage to Rennala would be advantageous. If he were just a mortal champion, relatively unknown, what purpose would it serve to have him marry the Carian Queen? Political marriages arranged for peace are done between royals, not between a royal and a nobody. It also explains how Radagon possessed a Great Rune that he was able to pluck from the Elden Ring and gift to Rennala — only Marika is known to have done that previously with the Rune of Death and there's no reason Radagon would have been able to do that on his own. Finally, if they were originally separate people, then there would really be no reason to keep them fused and crucify them both as punishment for the destruction of the Elden Ring. They could have been separated and Radagon continues to rule the Golden Order. But despite Radagon's loyalty, he must have always been a part of Marika and thus had to suffer the same fate. It's interesting to note that, after the final battle, Radagon is nowhere to be found; it's just Marika, totally inanimate.
  • To be blunt, Marika is a Numen, not human. They are a race of shape-shifting female warriors, who also make up the ranks of the black knife assassins. Radagon and Marika were always the same person. The question is, just how similar were they? Are they the same, just different sexes? Or were they two different souls inhabiting the same body. Radagon's hammer suggests he tried to fix the Elden Ring after Marika broke it but we honestly can't be sure about anything regarding those two and their motivations at this point. The only thing we know is that Radagon and Marika were always the same being.

The notion of "fate"

• As per the lore text for Miquella's Needle, the needle is crafted to ward away the meddling of outer gods. If used, the player can cheat fate and avoid becoming Lord of Frenzied Flame. Given that the player inherits the frenzied flame from the Three Fingers, does that mean the Three Fingers is equivalent to "fate"? If not, then do the other outer gods or even the Greater Will count as "fate"? Last but not least, does this imply that the "Lord of Frenzied Flame" ending is originally fated to happen, akin to Ragnarök from Norse Mythology?
  • Given that Fate is also used in reference to how stopping the stars also stopped Ranni's fate AND how she had to kill herself to avoid the fate the Two Fingers decided for her, it seems 'Fate' in this universe just means 'A goal you're magically compelled to accomplish by your godly sponsor', be it the Greater Will, The Frenzied Flame or any other similar entities.
  • "Fate" seems to mean "being marked by an outer god's influence" in this world. Just like Marika was bound by the Greater Will, Malenia is bound by the outer god of Rot (which is the purpose Miquela made the needle for to begin with) and your characters gets bound to the outer god of Frenzy when the Three Fingers mark you. This influence is referred to as destiny, but it seems more like being puppeteered by powerful entities. The Carian fate is a little more obscure, it seems to have something to do with the moons and stars (with the outer gods literally coming from outer space), but there's no specific outer god seemingly tied to it.

Ranni's involvement with the Shattering

• I've seen a number of tropers say that Ranni caused the Shattering, which turned out to not be true, and now many are still attributing Godwyn's death to her, but from what I've seen, he was killed by the black knife assassins, who also later go and try to kill Iji, who serves Ranni. It's clear that she had half of the cursemark of death on her body, but said curse mark also destroyed her body, and supposedly Ranni and Godwyn died at the same time. From what I can tell, Ranni has no actual control over the Black Knife assassins if they went to kill someone she held dear as well, so I'm curious what is verifiable about her involvement with Godwyn's death and who actually controls the Black Knife assassins. I'm aware that the Black Knifeprint says it was imbued by the one who stole a fragment of the Death Rune, however the lore on the Black Knife armor states: *The assassins that carried out the deeds of the Night of the Black Knives were all women, and rumored to be Numen who had close ties with Marika herself.* There seems to be conflicting lore information, or else something that we're missing.
  • We are told that Ranni just stole a fragment of the full rune AND Marika supposedly betrayed Maliketh, who's sword is noted to be a shadow of it's former self, so it's possible Marika and/or the Two Fingers (both of whom could be the ones who sent the black knives after Ranni just when her questline reach the point where she's a threat to both) also independently stole another fragment of the rune. The Greater Will / The Two Fingers being behind the plot could also explain why Marika would shatter the Elden Ring herself, as a way to avenge her son.
  • The Greater Will being responsible for the death of Godwyn doesn't make sense because it would be in its best interest to keep Marika happy. I have a suspicion that the Black Knife assassins belong to a third party that has yet to be revealed. Wouldn't be the first time From saved a major lore character for the DLC.
  • To be fair, it wouldn't be the first time in a Fromsoft game that a divine entity just does what it wants with no regard for it's followers and underlings and it probably think it can just punish Marika into submission, which is basically what happens in the default ending where the Tarnished just restore the Elden Ring as it was and become her new consort. Though the Two Fingers have shown they aren't fully aware of what the Golden Order and Greater Will want since they didn't know about the Erdtree rejecting everyone so they might have acted alone under a misguided belief too.
  • Also, it's been shown that the Greater Will and Two Fingers don't seem to be afraid of cutting loose even Elden Lords if it serves their purposes, given how even Godfrey himself was removed from his position and banished as a Tarnished.
  • After reading up some of the lore concerning Goldmask, it seems that the Demigods weren't beholden to the Golden Order the same way typical mortals were. This can be also seen in the fact that Miquella was able to create a needle that defied fate. One can assume this might be the reason why Godfrey became a Tarnished in the first place, the Two Fingers were trying to weed out people who didn't have to completely obey it, but Godfrey was the only Demigod that wasn't in some way directly related to Marika (as the step children Demigods are actually all still related to Radagon, who is tangibly also Marika). They probably couldn't make actual Demigods by blood tarnished, and Marika marrying Radagon/themself might have been a ploy to create beings that could usurp the Golden Order as Empyreans. If the Two Fingers was behind the Night of Black Knives and was trying to rid the world of beings that could defy the Golden Order, and Marika decided to tell them to fuck themselves, a lot of things make sense.
  • During one of her conversations, Ranni explicitly states that the Black Knives work directly under the direction of the Two Fingers, which basically all but confirms that they're responsible for Godwyn's death, assuming she's telling the truth.
  • This source confirms that Ranni stole a fragment of the Rune of Death, and used it to "forge the godslaying black knives through fearsome rite". Since this gave the Black Knife assassins the means of killing Godwyn, she is indirectly responsible for his death, hence the Shattering. To get this dialogue, Rogier's quest must be started before meeting Ranni at Ranni's Rise for the first time. Instead of responding "No particular reason", the player responds, "You must be Ranni the Witch, behind the Night of the Black Knives".
  • Something worthy of consideration, considering where it is. You find the Black Knife armor set near the entrance of the Haligtree, which is guarded by both an invisible black knife assassin **and** accompanying albinaurics. The albinaurics were led there because Loretta led them there to be free of discrimination, and Miquella abandoned the Golden Order because it had no way to save his sister from the Rot. A black knife assassin, multiple possibly depending on what the dead one was trying to accomplish, helping Miquella dirties the water about the shattering quite a lot.

Arriving to Crumbling Farum Azula

• After the Erdtree is being burnt aflame, the player Tarnished somehow ends up in Crumbling Farum Azula for no reason. Did they teleport to there themselves? Did someone teleport them to there? If so, then who, and why?
  • If I recall correctly, the Finger Reader that interprets the Two Finger messages (or might be someone else, maybe Gideon?) tells you that someone who can speak to the flames must go to the forge of the giants to find a path to Destined Death. Either Melina's sacrifice, or your character's connection to the Frenzied Flame is the "speak to the flames" part, and Destined Death (also known as the Rune of Death) is in Farum Azula, so it seems like doing the whole forge thing is a required step to reach Farum Azula. This doesn't quite answer "who" did it, maybe it has to do with Marika's curse on the last giant, and the fact she wanted the Rune of Death to be hidden.
  • There are hints in-universe that fire and Destined Death are interconnected. Both Melina's final speech and the Blade of Calling say "The one who walks alongside flame, shall one day meet the road of Destined Death." The act of using the Giant's Flame (whether burning Melina or yourself) likely carried you toward Destined Death, which just so happened to be in Farum Azula. It's weird, but weirder stuff happens in Fromsoft games, i.e. giant crows and bats inexplicably carrying you around in the first Dark Souls game.
• Related to the above but not worth a separate folder: just what exactly did Melina do to the Tarnished at the Forge (and why)? They take her hand and then seem to be knocked out instantly until they wake up in Farum Azula. My first go, I thought the Tarnished was just being uncharacteristically emotive and showing extreme dejection (which would square with the fact Melina seems to reach out to try to comfort them, but stops and thinks better of well...burning them to death), but in subsequent viewings the Tarnished seems totally insensate.
  • If Melina can grant the Tarnished the ability to turn runes into strength, like she does when she departs when first arriving in Leyndell, perhaps she has other powers in that same vein. She might have temporarily rune level zero'd the Tarnished or something like that to make sure they didn't interfere with her sacrifice if they had second thoughts. As for why she doesn't do this if the Tarnished inherits the Flame of Frenzy, maybe there's an element of consent involved, or at least a willingness to touch her hand.

The other Two Fingers

• Following Ranni's questline to completion reveals that the Two Fingers chose her to be an Empyrean, and created Blaidd to ensure she did not defy their will. The player helps her defy them anyway by fetching the Fingerslayer Blade from Nokron, a weapon which is stated to be capable of killing the Two Fingers. Sure enough, when you reach the end of her quest, you find her body on the mutilated remains of a creature very similar to the Two Fingers, but explicitly not the one in the Roundtable Hold, which is still clearly alive after this event. So then, what were these other Fingers? The game gives the distinct impression that the Two Fingers are a single entity, and that it is our Fingers that Ranni opposes. Yet she has clearly slain an entirely different entity. Is there anything in the game that explains this, or foreshadows the other Fingers in any way, and if not, what are they?
  • Given the presence of dead two fingers at every divine tower other than the one with Ranni's original body the game very clearly shows that there were many of them. The two fingers appear to universally serve the greater will but there are nonetheless many of them, the one in roundtable hold is just the one aiding the tarnished specifically.
  • Adding to this, the fact that there were 3 empyrean, each seemingly chosen by a different instance of the Two Fingers and the existence of the Three Fingers clearly point toward there being multiple of them, making them pretty much expies of the primordial serpents from Dark Souls. Them being a species or just different incarnation of the same being is more ambiguous. The dead Two Fingers at the divine Towers also has many implication when combined with their apparent role in Godwyn's murder.

Dung Eater's Curse

• The seedbed curse states that the curse prevents souls from returning to the Erdtree, but the description of Dung Eater's armor is interesting. "Worn by the Dung Eater, their form is a vision of the landscape of his mind, and of his appearance as he wished to see it.The heart of an Omen without the body to match; could there be a crueler existence? What does it matter, then, if the curse claims it all?" If one looks at the Seedbed Curse icon, it does seem to have omen horns on it. In addition, during Morgott's second phase he mentions being an Omen a curse, and Dung Eater is kept imprisoned where the Omens are generally kept. Could it be that the Seedbed Curse turns people into Omens? Does Dung Eater's Mending Run turn literally everyone into an Omen?
  • It doesn't, if it did, then the Dung Eater would have long become an omen with no need for his armor or hang ups about not being one and his victims would have long rose back as Omens instead of being stuck around him in agony as Roderika described.
  • The curse keeps the souls of the dead from going back to the Erdtree, and as such they apparently reincarnate, and remain cursed in their new life. Maybe this new life has them being born as Omens, but that's not confirmed and the Omens clearly predate Dung Eater's actions, so he can't be responsible for their existence altogether.

Godwyn's body

• How the heck is Godwyn's body in both Stormveil Castle and Deeproot Depths? Initially I thought it was because his body had elongated, mutated and bloated enough that it actually expanded across that distance... but then I noticed that you can see Godwyn's face in Deeproot Depths, and it looks identical to the one in Stormveil. He's shown as having no real consciousness, so how in the world is he in two places at once? It's obvious that he's been in both locations for a long time due to all the growth in Stormveil and the flies around the dragon's body in Deeproot, so it's not as if he was moved by magic.
  • His corpse essentially merged with the roots of the Erdtree itself and essentially infect them with his "death" as it were. Part of that is growing out a copy of his face way out in Stormveil via the roots there.
  • Godwyn is spreading everywhere in the Lands Between, even reaching Farum Azula. His face, particularly his eyes, are sprouting where his Deathroot is taking strongest hold. Likely Stormveil just happens to be one of the earliest places that his Deathroot appeared and began spreading.

Gurranq & Malekith

• I've seen claims on this wiki that Gurranq & Malekith are the same person. Where is this evidenced, other than them having the same character model? Gurranq can still be found alive after defeating Malekith, doesn't this prove they are not the same being?
  • Maliketh's dialogue changes in his battle if you complete Gurranq's questline. Farum Azula is a city outside time per many item descriptions, so Gurranq being alive after you beat Maliketh is pretty meaningless, especially as his questline always ends with him unable to satisfy his hunger and leaving the temple.
  • Gurranq IS Maliketh, his items descriptions for Stone of Gurranq and his Beast Claw say he was originally a much more powerful being whose former name meant the "Death of the Demigods". As said, it is Farum Azula's time space bullshit.

The Black Knife Assassins

• The Black Knife Assassins might be one of the largest enigmas in the lore for Elden Ring. To collate everything we know about them, they are Numaen who had close ties to Marika herself, they perpetrated the Night of Black Knives which resulted in Godwyn's half death, their knives were enchanted by Ranni, the Two Fingers have some form of control over them, and at least one Black Knife is guarding the entrance to the Miquella's Haligtree, who had expressly abandoned the Golden Order entirely. They seem to be incredibly involved with a majority of the major players in the lore in very conflicting ways for a group of NPCs that you largely only know about due to random map encounters and item descriptions.
  • Technically, since Miquella isn't at the Haligtree, it's possible the Black Knife isn't guarding the entrance as much as they are waiting there to kill him if / when he comes back.

Process of becoming Elden Lord

• So if it’s a known part of the system that a maiden needs to burn herself for the Erdtree to allow an Elden Lord to be crowned it gives me several questions:

1. Did Radagan need to burn a maiden? Or does marriage to Marika bypass that?2. If Bernahl made it all the way to the end and his maiden threw herself into the flames, making him turn Recusant, why is the Erdtree not on fire already?3. How are the Two Fingers seemingly unaware of this aspect when maidens seem to understand it instinctively? Aren’t maidens their priests?

• It's not a normal part of the process, it's even a capital sin and it's never been done before. During the normal process, the Erdtree simply doesn't reject you. Also since Bernahl doesn't invade you before Faruum Azula, it's probably just because of the weird nature of time there that you can meet him as a recusant before his Maiden can logically throw herself into the fire. That or Malenia is the only maiden who can burn hard enough to actually burn it down in one go and everyone else has to hope for a 'death of a thousand cuts' type deal.
• I guess that answers some of it, though it is still confusing that it comes as a shock to the two fingers when both Vyke and Bernahl, famous heroic figures, explicitly turned back after learning they had to burn their maiden and burning their maiden respectively. Would word not have spread? Melina seems to fully understand her path ends in being burned, and Bernahl’s seemingly did as well. And I’m confused about the mention of time as for why the Erdtree is untouched, do you mean time in Faram Azula or time in the Lands Between in general that allows you to meet Bernahl post maiden but with an unburnt tree? I thought only Faram Azula was affected by the time warp?
• It doesn't seem like Vyke and Bernahl ever returned to the Roundtable Hold, having forsaken it after abandoning their fates. Regardless, no one at the Roundtable Hold — the Two Fingers included — know that Radagon is permanently blocking access to the Erdtree and that only fire can remove his barrier. Remember, your sole mission before you discover its complications is to gather Great Runes, gain an audience with Queen Marika, and stand before the Elden Ring to become Elden Lord. That this path is interrupted is what shockes everyone at the Hold.
• Faram Azula is affected by a time warp, which would affect Bernhald both once he gets in and when he gets out of it so he can perfectly enter Faram Azula after burning the Erdtree and losing his maiden and come out before anything happened. Combined with the Lands Between having the same concept that appeared in most souls game of each NPC you meet technically having their own 'world' that you 'invade' when you attack, it could explain the whole situation. Also Melina explicitly isn't a Maiden, she's something else seemingly directly connected to Marika, that's why she has a better understand of what she needs to do while an actual Finger Maiden would be fumbling a lot more since they only get vague guidance (which is why so many can die before even meeting their Tarnished).
• Note that you don't need to burn a Maiden to get to Farum Azula. There's at least one portal that can take you directly there from the Four Belfries, and I doubt Alexander had a Maiden to burn or the Banished Knights and Tree Sentinels burned a maiden to get there. There's likely other magical means to reach Farum Azula. Burning Melina or surrendering to the Frenzied Flame was just the route our Tarnished takes to get there.

Fia and D

• How was Fia able to kill D? They were still in the roundtable, which explicitly has a forced nonviolence enchantment that someone even as insane and powerful as Dung Eater could not resist, yet somehow Fia was able to inflict deathblight on D. Was it to do with a black knife (which I assume can still happen even if you yourself don’t give the print to Rogier, given how his quest ends the same regardless)? Given that the weathered dagger says it has a black mark I assume she somehow made it a black knife, but that still doesn’t explain how she was able to kill D with it while in Roundtable.
  • She may have somehow gotten him to commit suicide, or used an indirect method like poisoning as we see her "blessing" lowers your max hp it's clear some things can hurt you
  • It's more of an agreement between Tarnished than an actual inviolate law. Ensha was able to attack you somehow, after all. (Although the state of the Hold when you arrive appears to be more like the Fortified Manor...) Fia simply had to lure D somewhere private so nobody else could see her do the deed and stop her.

Why Does Radagon Try To Stop You?

• Simple question: Why is Radagon trying to stop you from becoming the Elden Lord at the end? His lore specifies that he tried to repair the Elden Ring after Marika shattered it. The process of becoming Elden Lord would involve obviously having to repair it. If anything, it'd make more sense if it was Marika trying to stop you instead. But Radagon's goal and the PC Tarnished's goal would ultimately sync up (Obviously if they're going for the Elden Lord endings). So why the fight?
  • Marika's motivations are ultimately still in the realm of speculation, but it's heavily implied that she wanted the status quo to change somehow: shattering the Ring, and possibly colluding with Ranni (& Rykard?) to kill Godwyn, establishing the Roundtable, the calling of the Tarnished back, ordering Hewg to forge a weapon to kill a god... Some of the more out-there theories hold that she's the one responsible for the guidance of grace: one trail in particular guides you to Castle Morne, which further leads into the Frenzied Flame questline. Radagon on the other hand is noted to be a Golden Order Fundamentalist, even his epithet "...of the Golden Order" implies that he was fully dedicated and loyal to this status quo; perhaps even the Greater Will as a whole, since he's freed as soon you approach him. All endings but the default Age of Fracture alter the Elden Ring and said status quo in different ways, so I think Radagon/the Greater Will simply isn't taking any chances; what with you already carving through several members of the Lands Between's pantheon. Again, hefty speculation disclaimer.
  • The Erdtree bars the Tarnished's entry, the Elden Beast attacks them, and the Greater Will seems uninterested in lending his aid. It could be that Ragadon values the judgement of his superiors above his desire to restore the Elden Ring; they reject you, so he must, too.
  • Another possibility is that, in his own way, Radagon is doing much the same thing as Godfrey. He's challenging your might to see if you are, in fact, worthy of taking the throne as the next Consort. If you can fell him, then you're strong enough to rule the Lands Between. If you cannot, then you are unworthy.
  • It is strongly hinted in Radagon's fight that he is not in control of himself and is being controlled by the Elden Beast. Aside from having the form of the Elden Beast inside his decaying body and his jerky, robotic movements during the fight, when the Elden Beast emerges it turns Radagon's body into the sword it wields, which is very clear-cut symbolism right there.

Millicent's Invasion

• Why does Millicent invade your game? She can do it even before meeting you, and more jarring is the fact that she has both arms while doing it. Millicent's invasion stands out as the only one that is NOT referred to by anyone regardless of when it happens, and is the only character with significance to the plot to do that. Despite this, I highly doubt that the invader version is an alternate universe version because the game goes out of its way to show that npcs who invade you are the same ones who you interact with before/after the invasion (despite the whole "other world" concept shown in invasion text). It would be incredibly jarring if such a plot-significant character is the sole exception to this.
  • She invades you because at that point she’s become a mindless monster due to scarlet rot, but has yet to be incapacitated by amputation. The invasion isn’t anything personal; you just happened to be there. No one mentions it afterwards because she has no memory of the deed and Gowry wouldn’t want to spoil any chance of you helping her bloom by telling you she once tried to kill you.

Giant Creatures

• If scarlet rot is responsible for the giant creatures in Caelid, why do they appear in other regions? The Haligtree explains why they show up in Consecrated Snowfield, but why are the birds in the Moghgwyn Maosoleum?
  • Honestly, the bigger headscratcher is why any part of the Scarlet Rot has politely confined itself to Caelid. The random Scarlet Rot creatures that wandered elsewhere aren't the headscratcher, the headscratcher is why, with countless centuries having past since it began spreading, there are any creatures left that aren't infected.
    • They didn’t merely wander, Mohgwyn is impossible to reach without being kidnapped, invited, or using a teleporter that is probably too advanced for a giant bestial crow. As for why Scarlet Rot isnt actively spreading; the original vassal was sealed beneath the Lake of Rot by the Blind Swordsman in a way that seems to keep it from spreading from there, Malenia is refusing to play the role of the new one, and Radahns men are burning Caelid to cinders over and over again to keep it from getting out. Still my question remains, what on earth are those birds doing in Mohgwyn.
    • I guess the simplest solution is the most plausible one: The giant T-rex dogs and big-headed birds aren't a result of Scarlet Rot, and are in fact just native animals of the Lands Between. The birds in Mohgwyn are very explicitly not affected by Scarlet Rot, but covered in blood cysts as some sort of Blood Magic corruption.
    • As for why the corruption has kept mostly confined, it's flat out stated, and shown in many battlefields, that Radahn's soldiers are still fighting tooth and nails against the Rot, bringing it to a stalemate.
  • There's also the likelihood that the Scarlet Rot has trouble spreading past a certain point. Despite the fact that the Lake of Rot is flowing into a waterfall that should carry it into the region that Astel is inhabiting, that region is completely Rot-free, indicating it weakens and vanishes after reaching some distance from the Lake. Likely it does the same with Caelid, getting less powerful and infectious the further it spreads from the Swamp of Aeonia to the point that a single flaming stone wall is enough to keep it from spreading into Limgrave. The behavior of Radahn's troops indicates they are killing Rot-infested creatures and population centers inside of Caelid rather than burning the landscape itself; presumably as long as you keep killing the living creatures carrying the Rot then it can't spread effectively.

Dead Finger Readers and Dead Fingers

• What is going on with all the finger reader corpses you stumble across between fighting the Phantom Godfrey in the Erdtree Sanctuary and Morgott? We've seen dead fingers at the top of the Divine Towers but we've also seen a number of living and somewhat mad finger readers hanging out around the map wanting to read your fingers in lieu of having their own Two Fingers. There's a single Black Knife Assassin between the two bosses, but nothing to suggest why they were all cut down. Did they all just perish from neglect or do we have to assume whoever commands the assasins had them all cut down for whatever reason?
  • There's some indication that the Finger Readers are artificial and they may have simply "turned off" or become inert, like puppets or golems. The Finger Reader husks in the Roundtable Hold can still be interacted with, as can Enia, even though they are otherwise completely inert and "dead." It's possible that the Finger Readers outside Morgott's throne have nothing to do so went inert and will wake up again if the Two Fingers or Greater Will gave them a new task.
• On a similar note, just why are the two fingers at the top of the Divine Towers(except the Liurnian Tower) all dead? Ranni likely didn't kill them are because presumably only the specific shard bearers had access to each tower) and the "finger slaying dagger" is something you apparently have to find before Ranni can kill hers.
  • It is heavily implied they are victims of the Shattering. Ranni needed a fingerslayer blade as she had cast aside her great rune, but it’s very likely the others were killed by Shardbearers.
  • The way Ranni talks about the Two Fingers makes it seem like they're all connected to a specific demigod. Maybe killing the demigod makes their assigned Two Fingers die and rapidly decompose. And since we can't get to the top of any Divine Tower before killing the demigod it represents without cheating, we never see them alive. Liurnia's tower is the only odd one out, but it's a mystery who that tower is supposed to represent anyways, since the Two Fingers there specifically is NOT Ranni's.
    • It's quite possible that the Two Fingers that Ranni kills was supposed to be up there, and instead it fled to the plateau to hide from her once it realized her plan. You can't get up there to see it until after you've acquired the Finger-Slaying Blade anyway, and by that time it could have relocated if it hadn't already when she discarded her flesh.
  • Maybe the Nox decided to test out their shiny new fingerslayer blade and succeeded in slaying some Two Fingers before the Greater Will smote them.

Rennala's crawling scholars

• Why do Rennala's scholars crawl around on the floor instead of walking? Are they just severely mentally degraded due to their repeated imperfect rebirths? Are their legs deteriorating like those of the Albinaurics? Do they simply have no legs?
  • The first answer seems the most likely: they've been reborn imperfectly so many times that it has removed most of their faculties.
  • Zuille the Witch has an answer: looking in the cutscene version of Renalla's amber egg shows that there are three Juvenile Scholars curled up inside it; if you just look at their models, you can see that their legs are visibly malformed and cut short, if not fused into a sort of mermaid tail (it's kinda hard to tell since they're low-res). So, the second option is true; they really don't have working legs.

Placidusax's heads

• Did Placidusax have four or five heads? There's at least two stumps on him, and the talisman depicts four heads.
  • He had five; there are three neck stumps.