'Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree': The Betrayal of Miquella the Kind
I abandon here my disgust for Mohg, who did absolutely nothing wrong...
We met him through others first, through stories and the words of those who knew him. His brother deep in a subteranean kingdom, his sister sitting vigil beneath the tree he was stolen from...
We battled Mohg, the Lord of Blood, in front of his cocoon… At the behest of Needle Knight Leda, we touched the hand. warped and aged, and stepped into the Land of Shadow…
Then we met those who knew him best, his followers, who all spoke of him as Tender Miqulla, as Miquella the Kind, with a kind of passion and devotion never seen before. Led by Leda, the Needle Knight, we meet Ansbach, a former servant of Mohg, Sir Moore is a sweet-natured merchant, Redmane Freyja, once a servant of Radahn. All are bound by a love of Miquella and walks in his steps, as you do…
We walked, seeking his Crosses, the places where he left his fears, his flesh, his heart, his love…
As the Tarnished, we walk the Lands of Shadow, following in the footsteps of Kindly Miquella. We feel like we understand him, this last (known) child of Marika, we feel like we know him.
We don’t…
Because Miquella is a liar and a lie, both…
It is only after we venture close to the Shadow Keep that a random note appears on screen:
Somewhere, a Great Rune has broken and so too has a powerful charm.
When we return to Miquella’s band, something has changed.
Needle Knight Leda is her usual self, speaking of Kindly Miquella with love. But the rest are different. All of them seem different, as if an enchantment has been lifted. The sleep pawed from opened eyes…
Then you remember that Miquella was known for his enchantments, for his ability to endear himself to others.
But the most interesting thing is when you go south, past the beautiful Cerulean Coast, down a fissure filled with coffins and past an amalgamation of a knight and his rider, you meet St. Trina…
Miquella’s other self, the Radagon to his Marika…
Clothed in purple haze, surrounded by sleeping animals, St. Trina awaits you.
“Make Miquella stop... Don't turn the poor thing into a god... Godhood would be Miquella's prison. A caged divinity... is beyond saving. You must kill Miquella... Grant him forgiveness.”
St. Trina is, until now, a footnote in the lore of Elden Ring, mentioned often by a specific lily known to aid in sleep. Fans suspected she might be connected to Miquella as they shared many attributes.
But to have it confirmed, to meet her in person… No one expected that.
Even if the rest of the band has woken up, Leda continues to guide you. She aims you in the direction of the Shadow Keep where you find out some interesting lore from Sir Ansbach after you give him the Secret Rite Scroll:
A scroll made of white tree bark.
Few can decipher the scroll,
which describes the secret rite of the divine gateway
said to be found at the tower enshrouded by shadow."A lord will usher in a god's return,
and the lord's soul will require a vessel."
It’s here that you learn the truth about Mohg…
In the main game, we assumed Mohg was the aggressor with his very-canon lust for his younger sibling (heavy on the really nasty side…). He kidnapped Miquella, in his cocoon, and brought it from the Haligtree to the Mohgwyn Palace.
Turns out it was another lie.
Most times, when it comes to games and DLC, you often need to have gotten to a certain point to progress. Normally, this is more about assuming you have the skills at the game and the level needed to not die instantly. Given this is a FromSoft game, you’ll die instantly anyway, so that’s not a problem.
For Shadow of the Erdtree, you needed to have beaten Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood. It also turns out it wasn’t just to make sure you were at a certain point in the game but it’s also FOR THE LORE,
So, in the time since you killed Radahn and Mohg, it turns out the latter’s body disappeared. There’s a reason for that. In his quest for godhead, Miquella needs a body to contain the soul of his consort, Radahn. Mohg is that vessel, which is why he looks like Radahn but sometimes uses aspects of blood magic.
Once you’ve defeated Messmer and gone down into the (absolutely gorgeous/new best rune farm…) Ruins of Rauh to defeat Romina, Saint of the Bud, you can finally break the enchantment hiding Enir-Ilim, a vast spiral area on top of Belurat and an ancient Hornsent religious site, which holds the Gate of Divinity, the place where Marika became a goddess and where Miquella now waits…
After battling through the area, getting to the pinnacle and beating Leda, you come across the Gate. As you step through, Radahn appears at his full power and prime, as the Promised Consort of a new god…
“Tarnished one. Aspiring Lord of the old order. If you have known sin, if you grieve for this world, then yield the path forward to us. To I, Miquella, and my promised consort, Radahn… I promise you. A thousand-year voyage guided by compassion.”
As you watch, Miquella appears, barefoot and floating, to embrace his brother. (He has four arms, like Ranni, for some reason…) He spends the fight floating around Radahn, empowering his brother, even as he begs you to allow him to usher in a new age…
One important item here, during this brutal and final fight, is one you get from defeating a giant sunflower under and behind the Shadow Keep, near the Scadutree Base.
It’s Miquella’s Great Rune, which he discarded on his pilgrimage…
This is a unique item in that, unlike the Runes from the main game, you don’t need to power it up, you just need to equip it and use it, in order to prevent Miquella from enchanting you.
If that happens, and you see a crown on your head, you fall to your knees in worship while ‘Heart Stolen’ appears instead of ‘You Died’.
You still die though…
A Great Rune relinquished by Miquella. Broken and bereft of its bounty, it retains naught but the power to resist charms.
Miquella set off for the tower enshrouded by shadow, abandoning everything—his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his fate. All in an effort to bury the original sin. To embrace the whole of it, and be reborn as a new god.
The fight is brutal, long and taxing. But, as all bosses do, Consort and God eventually fall. As you stand in the empty arena, a cut scene plays which shows Miquella, his long hair obscuring his face as he makes his vow to Radahn.
“Lord Brother. I’m going to be a god. If we honour our part of the vow, promise me you’ll be my consort. I’ll make the world a gentler place.”
Miquella is one of the most dersive characters; beloved by fans… Until the moment he wasn’t.
His intentions might seem good, but he uses power to manipulate and deceive. He uses love like a weapon, stealing the wills of those he meets and forcing them to act against their own inclinations so that he might achieve his goal.
The Miquella we met in the base game was brave and clever, skilled in magic and, even cursed to be an eternal child, moved heaven and earth to help his sister, Malenia, as she succumbed to the Scarlet Rot.
Now, seeing that fight with the Blade of Miquella, all we can wonder is if she loved her brother and fought for him, or if he compelled her to do so. If this was part of his great plan and that he has been secretly moving chess pieces all this time.
To engineer this moment, this divinity, this fight…
He is a lie, and a liar, but his intentions seem good, seem benevolent.
However we are lacking so much information; we only have a partial story. When did Miquella come to this decision? What prompted this? Why choose Radahn and not Malenia, his Blade?
Miquella’s story complete in narrative but we are left wondering how malicious his intention truely were, how singular. Does it make him better than his mother? Than his half-sister and her Age of Stars?
No…
It makes him worse but, as the ashes settle, as his spirit goes wherever dead gods go, sometimes it’s easier to believe a palatable lie than a bitter truth.
Tender Miquella, Kindly Miquella, it just sounds better than Miquella the God, the Deciever, the Enchanter, the God of an Impossible Age…
As Malenia says:
“My brother will keep his promise. He possesses the wisdom, the allure, of a god - he is the most fearsome Empyrean of all.”
And, Sir Ansbach:
“Miquella the Kind...is a monster. Pure and radiant, he wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying.”
Both are right, in their own ways, even as it’s a horrifying idea.