The Shadow Of The Erdtree Trailer IS HERE!!!

THIS LOOKS AMAZING! Elden Ring is about to experience a whole NEW WAVE OF HYPE as the first reveal/gameplay trailer for The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion officially released today…and it was INSANE!!!

This is what a TRUE gaming studio presents.

After over two full years of waiting for an expansion to the base game, Elden Ring is finally going to be seeing a few more Tarnished warriors roaming around the world for The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC trailer FINALLY released today. And, like I said, it looks INCREDIBLE!

This is what Triple AAA gaming looks like. Elden Ring and The Shadow of the Erdtree.

I’m sorry if I sound like a raging lunatic with this article, but I (along with millions of others) have been waiting for this day for over two years. Well, maybe a little less than that as it did take me three days to beat Malania on top of the countless hours for the base game itself.

Anyway, being serious, the level of hype this trailer for Shadow of the Erdtree announcement has received is astronomical as it not only holds the #1 trending spot on YouTube for the most trending videos ACROSS THE PLATFORM, but the trailer itself has currently racked up 5.2M views in under 8 hours! That’s incredible!

Elden Ring is clearly still one of the most popular and played games today, even though it came out over two years ago and doesn’t feature any “paid content updates” in the form of everyone’s favorite microtransactions, loot boxes, and overpriced DLCs. That really does say something about the state of the gaming world and how a company can be received when it actually puts in the work to do things the right way.

Regardless, the trailer for Shadow of the Erdtree was 3:06 of pure awesomeness for there was dozens of new enemy types, boss fights, and locations displayed.

There were extremely interesting quotes about the Land of the Shadow, the Erdtree, the demigods and Queen Marika, new lore implications, a brand new “mega-boss” that looks like a certain snakey fellow we know (I’ll get more to that in a second), a quick snapshot of what appeared to be Miquella himself and not just a withered arm (though we saw that again too), and even a brand new poisonous swamp.

How wonderful…just kidding. I’m really pumped about the new swamp.

Yet, before I get into the pressing question EVERYONE has after watching the trailer, let me just talk about what appears to be the set up for the DLC. So, according to the video description and an interview Hidetaka Miyazaki did with Eurogamer after the trailer’s release, The Shadow of the Erdtree will be about the Tarnished “touching” Miquella’s withered hand to get transported into the “Land of the Shadow” realm.

Why does the Tarnished touch some creep hand? And what is the “Land of the Shadow”? First, it appears that we need to “touch” Miquella’s hand to enter into the Land of the Shadow. This could be wrong, but it sounds like how the Ashen One in Dark Souls 3 (another legendary game by FromSoftware and Miyazaki…but you all already know the Dark Souls series) entered the Painted World of Ariandel after touching the fragment Gael gave them.

It sounds like (according to the trailer) the Land of the Shadow is the birthplace of Marika or where she first stepped foot in the Lands Between, while also being the very same place where Miquella “divested” his “flesh, strength, and lineage” after his attempted ascension to godhood.

And, as for where the Land of the Shadow is….I’ve got no idea. Well, apart from the entrance point being Miquella’s hand.

Now, to the big question you’ve all been waiting for: WHO IS MESSMER, AND WHAT DOES HE WANT WITH MIQUELLA, THE LAND OF THE SHADOW, AND THE TARNISHED?!?!!?!

And…I don’t know for any of those questions. But I do have a few guesses.

Personally, I think Messmer might have something to do with Praetor Rykard, the Lord of Blasphemy, snakes, and hilarious voices. Obviously, one would be inclined to rationally think that Mohg and the Formless Mother (Mohg’s outer god) would have something to do with Miquella, and that might still be the case. But the trailer and description specifically state that Miquella “divested” his “flesh, strength, and lineage”.

What does Mohg do to Miquella? He steals his body and showers him in the Formless Mother’s blood…but does that really have an affect on a guy who no longer uses his “flesh, strength, and lineage”? It doesn’t sound like it would, which makes me think that all of the snake connections, Messmer’s magic-types, and Messmer’s own appearance leans towards Rykard.

Not only did Messmer have a smaller-looking version of the God-Devouring Serpent situated right next to his flaming-red hair and golden eyes, but he also was using a magic type that looked VERY SIMILAR to Rykard’s Magma sorcery.

Oh, and what other snake and magma-obsessed god-like being had red hair and golden-eyes? RYKARD…for he was the son of Radagon (who had red hair due to the Giant’s curse and golden eyes due to being Marika) and Rennala (a very entuned magic user).

Truthfully, I have no idea how Rykard or something associated with him (or the God-Devouring Serpent) managed to end up in the sealed-off Land of the Shadow, but I think this is the most likely case for an established lore figure (who we already know of) to be the mega boss of this DLC.

I mean, the Land of the Shadow is a very connected place to the gods of Elden Ring, and the God-Devouring Serpent needed to get that nickname from somewhere for Rykard WAS NOT a god when he was devoured? Maybe Messmer is some offspring of Rykard and the snake that of the God-Devouring Serpent? And they’re trying to devour all of the gods and “would-be” gods that pass into the realm to ascend?

I could see how that ends up being a massive issue for someone like Miquella, and especially so if he’s divested himself of his body, strength, and divine lineage.

But, to be honest, I don’t even think my own theory is correct for Miyazaki always manages to come up with something genius that is quite obvious in hindsight. And I’m happy to be proven wrong for The Shadow of the Erdtree is only a few months away with its June 21st, 2024 release date!

Images Source: Featured Image: (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) (ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree | Official Gameplay Reveal Trailer (youtube.com))

In Text Image 1: (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) (ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree | Official Gameplay Reveal Trailer (youtube.com))

In Text Image 2: (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) (ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree | Official Gameplay Reveal Trailer (youtube.com))