We are now basically counting down the days until the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC releases and FromSoftware released a brand new story trailer with tons of new information on top of what we already know.
Shadow of the Erdtree is set to be Elden Ring’s only DLC expansion and will be massive, including tons of new bosses, new weapon categories, and so much more. Today’s story trailer gave us an even deeper glimpse at what we can expect, so let’s take a dive into Shadow of the Erdtree.
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Miquella is the Center of the Story
The trailer starts us off with a narrator telling us about Miquella the Kind, who spoke of the beginning and it shows us a pretty interesting sequence of Miquella pulling something from what looks like a body and then walking through a field of blood. It then pans out to show us Miquella standing in between two giant pillars of what look like bodies in a field of even more bodies and he’s holding up these golden threads. These threads seem to be either a great rune or part of the elden ring itself.
It seems like he is attempting to create a Haligtree to try and fight against Malenia’s scarlet rot. We know that Malenia is Miquella’s twin brother. We also know that in Elden Ring, Miquella is a demigod and an Empyrean, which in the lore of the game, are beings that can become gods. These include Malenia, Queen Marika, Ranni the Witch and the Gloam-Eyed Queen. He and his twin sister were born afflicted, with Malenia having rot in her body and Miquella being a child forever. Malinea considered Miquella the most fearsome Empyrean as well, and we know that he can compel affection from others.
The scene switches to the war that the narrator is mentioning, and we first get to see those wickermen bosses from the first DLC trailer as well as they march through a burning city. There’s a giant army alongside them invading this place and they’re just destroying and killing everything. This battle is the one that takes place just before The Shattering, which is the massive event that kicks off most of the story in Elden Ring.
Messmer is Absolutely Terrifying
We then get to see Messmer the Impaler standing over the battle, aiding in the destruction. It seems like the army attacking is his. We then see that one lion boss from the DLC trailer aiding in the battle against Messmer’s army and it jumps to try and attack Messmer, but it looks like it has failed dramatically at doing that.
We also get to see why they call Messmer the Impaler because after the lion scene, the trailer shows us several groupings of bodies that are impaled basically. Messmer is standing in front of them and he’s wielding his giant weapon. This scene alone is honestly one of the craziest cinematic masterpieces I’ve seen in a long time, and it’s got a very sinister, devilish feel to it that is just complimented perfectly by the soundtrack of this trailer. Honestly, just insane.
That was my reaction throughout most of the trailer to be fair.
The scene then pans from the impaled bodies up to the tree that we saw back in the Shadow of the Erdtree trailer at the beginning. If you remember, the first tree we glimpse in the original trailer was not the same as the Erdtree that we roam around and see in the Elden Ring game, but a different sort of tree. It now seems confirmed that this was the Haligtree that Miquella was trying to put together at the beginning of this new trailer.
Spilling out of this tree is gold, which seems to indicate that the tree maybe was once a sort of Erdtree that got destroyed in the battle before the shattering and that Messmer may have played a role in its destruction.
After this, we find out that Miquella basically abandoned everything and we also get a glimpse at what looks like the lost grace sights, but they do seem different in the new DLC, with a different shape and formation to them.
You are the Promised Lord
Although Miquella has stripped himself of his flesh and golden lineage to travel to the Land of Shadow, the narrator of the trailer reveals that she is a follower of Miquella and they are probably Tarnished as well, as she states that she and the others are not deterred by the impending doom and situation surrounding them. We get a glimpse at several people standing near the sight of grace, with them being recognizable from Elden Ring’s base game.
Now, this new trailer did not feature any gameplay. It was a cinematic trailer that told the story of Miquella, how Messmer destroyed quite a lot, and how you are the promised Lord that the people have been waiting for to arrive in the Land of Shadow.
The DLC is very clearly about Miquella’s story, and Miquella was a bit shrouded in mystery in the base game. We didn’t really get much about him lore-wise, but we should be getting much more information about him and his role in the overall story. I’ll go through a bit of lore here, but I won’t go too in-depth in this video because I don’t want to overwhelm anyone, but these are some pretty important details to know that could add a lot of context to this story trailer.
The Trailer is PACKED With Lore
We know that Miquella initially created the Haligtree to try and become an adult and purge Malenia’s Scarlet Rot, as I mentioned in the beginning of this video. That’s because the Golden order basically couldn’t cure Malenia, so he figured he could help his sister and himself this way. The Haligtree serves as a sort of refuge for those who are not touched by Grace such as the Albinaurics and the Misbegotten. We also know that Messmer is basically the opposite of Miquella in this, and he hunts those who are not touched by grace instead.
Still, before the Haligtree grew to its full potential, Mohg the Lord of Blood, stole Miquella in his cocoon form. Mohg basically wanted Miquella to make him his consort after elevating to godhood. Still, Mohg’s efforts at sharing a ton of blood with Miquella to get this done were futile, because Miquella had actually traveled to the Land of Shadow, so he wasn’t really there. This explains pretty much why the travel point to the DLC in Elden Ring will be at Mohgwyn’s palace, where we find Miquella in his cocoon in the base game, fated to forever remain a child basically.
Now, we don’t really have a total answer to some of these things, but it’s pretty clear that the Tarnished, or you, will be the promised Lord that Miquella is waiting for and it seems like Miquella is planning to ascend to godhood with the Tarnished as his consort, so Miquella will likely not be our enemy, but we never know, because twist villains are always a possibility.
It looks like the Shadow of the Erdtree story will also be taking place in the present and not before the Erdtree existed, as the Land of Shadow is overshadowed by the Erdtree, so it wouldn’t make sense that the Erdtree didn’t exist yet. It would also make sense, since you being the Elden Lord could only occur in the present time, so the DLC having you as the Elden Lord be the promised lord Miquella waits for couldn’t happen in the past. Though, it looks like the past plays a massive influence on the story anyways.
Messmer’s Connection to Miquella…?
I’m curious personally to know how Messmer and Miquella’s stories intertwine and how Messmer is so powerful, even if he is not a confirmed Empyrean like Miquella. He seems to have connection to Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy and Radagon of the Golden Order due to his red hair and the snake he has with him. Is it possible that he is connected to Radahn and Malenia, due to the red hair as well?
What’s interesting is the Blasphemous imagery that accompanies him while still having a sort of connection to the Grace and wanting to purge those who stray from it. It’s possible he can also commune with dragons, which could be lore-wise interesting. What’s also interesting is that Messmer’s left eye is closed, and we know that Melina has the same thing with her eye.
There’s a lot of potential things we can speculate about Messmer, but for now, who he really is and what is real role in the story is are pretty shrouded in mystery, so there’s not much that we know at the end of the day.
Connection to the Base Game
You will supposedly be able to travel between both the Lands Between in Elden Ring’s base game and the Land of Shadow in this new DLC, so we’ll have to wait and see how FromSoftware will integrate them gameplay wise, since the new DLC will have new weapons, new magic, new bosses and more.
As I mentioned in the last Shadow of the Erdtree video I made, the map of the Land of Shadow is supposed to be at least the size of the Limgrave region, which was already massive, so if you haven’t finished the base game yet, you should probably get on that fast. The DLC is also set to be nearly 60GB in size, so it’s a giant game, let’s put it at that.
The trailer itself is about 3 minutes in length, but to be honest, I was left wanting a lot more by the end because I’m probably just overly excited, but seriously, I’m excited. I find this DLC to be very engaging and I’m definitely going to be looking into tons of lore content before I get to playing it because this was a lore-packed trailer for sure.
Release-date wise, this has been known, but just in case you forgot, the DLC releases on June 21–exactly a month from today–and will be $39.99 USD for the base edition. If you’ve never bought Elden Ring before but are interested, you can wait and buy the two games in one bundle together, as you do need the base game to play this DLC. However, I recommend you get a jump start on the game and play it before the DLC, because you’re going to find very quickly that this game is long and packed with content. There is a collector’s edition as well that you can preorder now which includes the DLC, a Messmer the Impaler statue, a box, and a physical version of the artbook. That one is about $249.99 USD.
If you preorder any edition of the DLC, you should get a ring of miquella bonus gesture.
If you want more details on what’s in Shadow of the Erdtree, you can check out my last video where I talked more in-depth about the details that we already know. I’ll put that video link in the description below so you can go and check it out.
I’m personally very excited to see what other information FromSoftware will give us before the DLC. Elden Ring is one of the few games that I consider probably even more than a 10/10, and giving a 10/10 is tough for me because I always find faults with games that I can’t overlook, but there is something magnetic about Elden Ring that I want to keep playing the game without thinking about any other game. It’s amazing how it works like that. There’s something fascinating about the world building and the lore that FromSoftware put together for this game and I can’t wait to see what new lore pieces we’ll get with this new DLC.
Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
