Not too long after the one-year anniversary for Elden Ring, FromSoftware has finally, officially announced new DLC, and it appears to be about Miquella. Shadow of the Erdtree was announced with a simple social media post and a single piece of concept art; as yet, there are no trailers or screen captures of new DLC areas, weapons, or enemies. The image is, however, full of interesting clues regarding what the DLC will be about and where it will take place. The art also heavily suggests Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will be centered around the Demigod Miquella, a character whose story is unfinished in the base game.
In the main, non-DLC story of Elden Ring, the Tarnished protagonist seeks to attain the rank of Elden Lord and usher in a new age by slaying mad Demigods and claiming their Great Runes. Each major Demigod character players fight in the Lands Between has a Great Rune with abilities that match their personality and ambitions, but Miquella - and by extension, his Great Rune - is not among them. Although Miquella is mentioned often and even glimpsed in some form, he remains quite mysterious. Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, however, appears poised to shed light on Miquella's continued role in the Lands Between.
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC Art Shows Miquella Riding Torrent
In the backstory of Elden Ring, Miquella and Malenia were two Demigods born from the second marriage of Queen Marika to King Consort Radagon. Described as "twin prodigies" by Morgott the Omen King, both Miquella and Malenia were each cursed by the touch of two Outer Gods. Malenia, a sword-saint who inherited her father's bright red hair, was afflicted by a Scarlet Rot that slowly devoured her flesh. Miquella, in contrast, was chosen by an un-named deity of abundance and cursed with eternal youthfulness, never being able to mature into an adult. In the present day setting of Elden Ring, a kidnapped Miquella is slowly transforming within a cocoon at the top of Mohgwyn Palace.
In the DLC, players who saw Elden Ring's Miquella inside his egg might just encounter the Demigod in his original, youthful form. The opening cinematic for Elden Ring and various statues found throughout the game world depict Miquella as a pre-adolescent boy with long, golden hair woven into elegant braids. This exact same figure appears in the concept art paired with the official Elden Ring DLC announcement, riding atop a horned horse identical to the spectral steed named Torrent that conveys players throughout the open world portions of the Lands Between. If the steed Miquella's riding is indeed Torrent, this has fascinating implications for the setting of the DLC and suggest players might encounter Miquella face-to-face.
Elden Ring DLC Setting: Miquella May Be In A Dream World Or The Afterlife
During a dream-stealing quest cut from Elden Ring, an NPC who sells Dreambrew eventually discovers that Miquella is the true identity of St. Trina, a mysterious figure associated with crafted items such as Sleep Pots, and weapons like St. Trina's Torch and the Sword of St. Trina. Many Elden Ring lore analysts speculated that St. Trina was a pseudonym Miquella adopted in order to conduct experiments related to the true nature of sleep or dreams. An alternative possibility exists, however, that suggests Miquella could've become St. Trina after being ripped from the Haligtree where they slumbered, kidnapped by the decidedly unholy Mohg, Lord of Blood.
The dark fantasy Lands Between setting of Elden Ring is explicitly a place where a person's soul and body can exist independently of each other. Godwyn the Golden, assassinated during the Night of the Black Knives, only perished in spirit, his half-dead flesh surviving and mutating into a grotesque horror at the heart of the Deeproot Depths. Lunar Princess Ranni, in contrast, used the Rune of Death's power to kill her own flesh, then transplant her soul into an artificial puppet body. Using cremated ash and a Spirit Calling Bell, players themselves can call forth the spirits of long-dead heroes to aid them in battle. This raises a question: where do these spirits come from?
The concept art released for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, full of verdant fields of wheat and ghostly gravestones, suggests an interesting answer to the question above. Specifically, the spirit of Miquella and the other spirits called forth via Ash might be trapped within an afterlife or dream world, a plane of existence parallel to the material world of the Lands Between (maybe even a shadowy mirror of the Lands Between like the Dark World in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past). Separated from his physical body, cocooned within Mohgwyn palace, the spirit of Miquella, riding atop a spectral steed, searches for a way back home to his ailing sister and his Haligtree subjects.
If the strange Elysian Fields-style countryside depicted in the concept art for Elden Ring's under-development DLC is truly a world for spirits, this has interesting implications not just for Miquella's whereabouts, but for the origins of the spectral steed named Torrent that the player's Tarnished relies on. Could this golden expanse of grain be where Torrent resides whenever the player's Tarnished un-summons them? For that matter, who did Torrent belong to before Melina gifted their Spectral Steed Whistle to the player? When Ranni the Witch gives the Tarnished a Spirit Calling Bell, she says, "I was entrusted this, for thee. By Torrent's former master." It's easy to assume Ranni was talking about Melina, but she could have been referring to Miquella instead.
Elden Ring's DLC Art May Be Showing Miquella's Haligtree
Besides showing a youthful Miquella atop Torrent (given little attention in Elden Ring's lore), the concept art for the Elden Ring DLC contains one other notable landmark - a massive, tangled tree in the distance, leaking golden sap. If the DLC area is indeed a spirit world of some kind, this mysterious world tree could be a physical "shadow" of the Erdtree that towers over the Lands Between. At the same time, this twisted, gnarled, leaf-less tree bears a close resemblance to the twisted, leafless, and rotting Haligtree that Miquella nurtured with his blood. The golden sap this tree leaks may even symbolize the power of the un-named Outer God who cursed Miquella with eternal youth and eternal, nourishing abundance.
Source: Bandai Namco Europe/YouTube
