Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree story trailer explained

The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC story trailer left us with more questions than answers, but some things are starting to become clearer. Spoilers for the base game lurk below.

With Elden Ring’s DLC now only a matter of weeks away, the story trailer has given us some more clues as to what’s going on – and it seems to be much more than simply a battle between Miquella and the fiery new villain, Messmer the Impaler.

The trailer seems to suggest that Messmer has always been an important figure in the story of Elden Ring. However, both Shadow of the Erdtree trailers have implied that everything about this figure has been scrubbed from the historical record – and we’re likely about to find out why.

New Elden Lord

Miquella has always been a wild card in the Elden Ring story. After all, if you kill every major boss in the game, then he’s the only demigod child of Marika left alive.

This led many fans to correctly assume he’d play a major role in the DLC. However, many of us believed he’d be a vengeful figure, seeking retribution on the Tarnished for killing his family, while simultaneously attempting to wrestle power from them.

We were led to believe that Miquella had mutated into a twisted, misshapen creature, languishing in a cracked egg in Mohg’s palace, tragically destined to never reach his potential. This is typical grimdark FromSoft storytelling.

Miquella was touted as the best of Marika and Radagon’s children, and a truly benevolent figure who aimed to heal the world and everyone in it. Sadly, his dreams were cut short by the Shattering War and being kidnapped by his ambitious half-brother.

However, the Shadow of the Erdtree story trailer suggests that much of what we know of Miquella’s fate was a ruse, and that he’s still very much working towards healing the world. He’s also trying to save it from being consumed by something worse than Mohg or the other fallen demigods, something locked away by his family – Messmer.

The trailer suggests that the Tarnished may actually be an ally to Miquella, with the “Will you walk with us?” question being the main indicator. It’s also entirely possible that the creature in the egg in Mohg’s Palace is a reborn Messmer rather than Miquella. The claw certainly looks like it could be one of Messmer’s appendages, but this raises the question of where Miquella has been all this time.

Marika’s dark past

While the trailer ramps up the intrigue regarding Miquella and Messmer it also focuses heavily on Marika, the goddess of the Lands Between, whose shattering of the Elden Ring began the story, and the mother of the various demigods. The Shadow of the Erdtree story trailer all but confirms that Messmer is also one of Marika’s children.

Not only is this indicated by Messmer’s design and name (also beginning with an M), but the trailer mentions “The Seduction and the Betrayal”, not to mention an “affair from which Gold arose”. The gold is likely a reference to The Golden Order, the official name of Marika’s dynasty, religion, and overall way of life in the Lands Between.

However, in the trailer, we can see Marika pulling golden strands from a rather suggestive opening, which may be from another defeated godlike figure she has usurped in some way. It’s also worth pointing out that these golden strands can be seen on her hammer much later, once she has seized power and become a goddess. The implication here is that Marika’s power has been taken by force or subterfuge.

Marika has had two consorts in the Elden Ring backstory, each one becoming Elden Lord upon marrying her. The first was Godfrey, who she had her first round of children with, and the second was Radagon, her former general with whom she had more children after Godfrey was no longer of use to her.

The big twist at the end of Elden Ring is that Radagon and Marika are the same person, with Radagon essentially being a male avatar of Marika (and one she’s able to breed with), meaning his children with his first wife are all technically Marika’s demigod offspring too, rather than her adopted step-children.

Messmer: The forgotten son

Our theory is that Messmer is the result of an earlier “affair, seduction, and betrayal” with a previously unknown consort. We suspect that this series of events led to the creation of Messmer, but the character later led some form of revolt against Marika and he was ultimately imprisoned and expunged from the record.

The trailer also says, “And so too was Shadow born”, suggesting that Marika’s affair led to the creation of the Land of Shadow – where the DLC will be set. One guess is that the Land of Shadow is where Messmer is imprisoned or was ravaged by the war seen in the trailer, becoming a lost realm.

The narrator in the trailer says, “What followed was a war unseen. One that could never be put to song. A purge without Grace or honor. The tyranny of Messmer’s flame.” This “flame” could imply that the character has allied himself with those who are loyal to the Frenzied Flame – a faction that wants to bring about the end of the world.

Or he could have allied himself with the Fire Giants, a race who also went to war with Marika during her conquest of the Lands Between. Either action would likely have seen Messmer banished or locked away somewhere, unable to return. Messmer could be motivated by Marika’s earlier betrayal, or he could be the betrayer.

After all, this wouldn’t be the first time Marika had abandoned one of her less-than-perfect children, with Mohg and Morgott also being shunned, but this was due to their deformity from the Omen curse rather than their actions. And that was to two loyal sons, imagine what she’d do to a disloyal one.

Where does Miquella fit in?

Miquella’s plan in the base game of Elden Ring was to find a way to cure his siblings of their various afflictions and create the Haligtree to replace the Erdtree as a safe haven for those unwelcome in Marika’s Golden Order. This always suggested that Miquella wasn’t fully behind Marika, and that he had his own vision for the Lands Between.

As Miquella and Messmer seem to be being pitted against one another in Shadow of the Erdtree, it may be the case that Miquella learned about Marika’s shameful secret involving the “seduction, affair, and betrayal”, which could be the reason why he set out on his own. If the creature in Mohg’s egg is indeed Messmer, then this could have been either his or Marika’s plan to get rid of the fallen demigod.

Whatever the case may be, the DLC will begin after the battle with Mohg, likely involving the creature in the egg in some way. While that creature could be Miquella or Messmer, the story trailer gives us some small insight into what’s happened in the past.

But in true FromSoftware fashion, the whole story will only become clear from in-game storytelling and clues. And even then, this may only be one interpretation.

Until the DLC arrives, here’s everything you need to do to prepare. There’s also a wild fan theory regarding the Sites of Grace to consider, and why we think when it comes to Elden Ring, the best is yet to come.