OneElden Ringfan has upped the brightness and tweaked the colours ofthe new DLC key artand found that it resembles two trees wrapped around each other—not the previously assumed singular Erdtree. This has blossomed into countless theories, with some believing it to be the Haligree suffocating the Erdtree, while others think it’s a dream world.
One of the best theories comes from u/Sketch99 who commented onthe postthat they believe the art depicts The Land of the Dead. Their theory goes thatGodfrey’s corpsehas not only infected The Lands Between, but the afterlife, and it’ll be up to us to put him down once again—Miquella is herebecause of a prayer they made, possibly the one mentioned in the Golden Epitaph great sword, “O brother, lord brother, please die a true death.”
RELATED:The Elden Ring DLC Needs To Add A Pause Button
This ties into the two trees because u/Sketch99 believes the one with golden sap dripping from it to be the Helphen, a Lampwood that guides the dead as mentioned in Helphen’s Steeple Greatsword. As for the decaying, charred tree we see, that is possibly a result of Godwyn’s death-blight corruption. Miquella is able to then traverse The Land of the Dead because he is in a corpse-like state in his cocoon.
This is, again, entirely speculative, and nothing has been confirmed as of writing. All we know is the name of the DLC, with the key art giving us our only look at it so far. But if we know anything about Elden Ring fans, they’re an imaginative bunch of fantasy detectives who will scour item descriptions for scraps of information, and now they have the perfect opportunity to use it.
One theory posited by u/Popsicle_LordofDeath is based on Mohg, and Miquella’s cocoon which we find after the fight. They believe that the DLC will start after we beat Mohg, integrating it into the base game rather than serving as an epilogue or continuation. The idea goes that we’ll enter Miquella’s dream and find Mohg’s vision of the Haligtree taking over the Erdtree coming true, thanks to Mohg corrupting Miquella.
FromSoftware has toyed with dreams before inBloodborne, with its DLC even starting us off in the Hunter’s Nightmare. And given that Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 both explored the past in their DLC, revisiting old ideas isn’t off the table—we could very well enter a dreamland in Elden Ring, especially if Miquella is the focus.
However, a theory from u/ButterscotchFrosty45 throws aside dreams and even a second tree, arguing that this might be a giant death blight thorn that simply resembles one, emerging from the ground next to it and wrapping around the Erdtree.
One commonality across most of these theories is that the two trees are in the midst of a fight. What that means for The Lands Between isn’t clear, but it certainly lends itself to the DLC’s name - Shadow of the Erdtree. The focus is clear whatever you think, and perhaps we’ll end up picking a side all over again - Haligree or Erdtree?
Next:I’m So Glad Netflix Isn’t Going Live Action With Pokemon Concierge
