This video discusses the lore of Elden Ring, focusing on outer gods, empyreans, and tarnished characters. The speaker analyzes the roles and relationships between these entities within the game's narrative, particularly exploring the motivations of outer gods and the significance of empyreans as vessels.
The speaker doesn't explicitly lay out a fully formed, mechanically detailed metaphysical system for Elden Ring's world. Instead, they offer interpretations and theories based on the game's narrative elements. To understand the posited metaphysical concepts, we need to piece together the speaker's observations:
1. Outer Gods: These entities are presented as fundamentally unknowable and mysterious. Their motivations are unclear, but they seem interested in influencing the human world, possibly through worship or other means. The speaker suggests their identities are less important than their effects on the mortal realm. There's no clear explanation of how they mechanically function, only that their influence is felt through events and phenomena within the Lands Between.
2. The Greater Will: This is a specific outer god, described as Marika's god. The speaker challenges the assumption that the Greater Will and Marika's god are identical, suggesting Marika may have a separate, perhaps even deceptive, relationship with the true Greater Will. The Greater Will's influence seems tied to the Erdtree and the bestowing of immortality (or a form of it). Again, the mechanism remains unexplained; it's an influence rather than a defined force.
3. Empyreans: These are vessels, physically chosen hosts for outer gods. The speaker suggests a process of selection by the Two Fingers, primarily from the children of existing vessels. This implies a sort of hereditary lineage linked to the gods' influence. Becoming an Empyrean grants power and potential for rulership, but the metaphysical process of becoming a vessel is not detailed. It's presented as a selection and a transformation rather than a clearly defined process.
4. Demigods: These are the children of existing vessels who are not selected as empyreans. They inherit godlike power but lack the political legitimacy of empyreans, making them vulnerable. This suggests a metaphysical hierarchy tied to the selection process for Empyreans. The curse associated with demigods may refer to their inherent power being coveted and their eventual fate as sources of power for others.
5. The Elden Ring: This functions as a symbol of power and authority, directly connected to the Greater Will. Its shattering is a major plot point, and while its exact metaphysical function isn't described in the speaker's comments, it is strongly tied to the rule and order of the Lands Between.
6. The Life Cycle: The speaker suggests the Greater Will has a life cycle, possibly involving the creation of new vessels (empyreans) through reproduction. This implies a cyclical process of power transfer and renewal tied to the lineage of vessels, although the mechanics of this cycle are not explicitly explained.
7. Mortals and Tarnished: Mortals can serve gods and gain power, possibly even becoming Lords. The Tarnished are presented as having an opportunity to prove themselves and potentially assume a significant role in this system, suggesting mortals can participate in the metaphysical processes though the means are not explained.
In summary, the speaker presents a complex but incomplete metaphysical framework. It is a system built on influence, selection, and cyclical processes, but lacks detailed explanations of the mechanics behind the forces at work. The emphasis is on the unknowable nature of the outer gods and the consequences of their actions on the mortal world. The speaker focuses more on the implications of these concepts for the narrative rather than creating a coherent, mechanistic model.
