Shadow of The Erdtree (Elden Ring DLC): What we know so far

Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers from the Elden Ring base-game.

Elden Ring, the most refined soulslike developed by From Software yet and game of the year according to The 2022 Game Awards, will be expanding its horizons on June 21st, when our Tarnished protagonist will be able to rise once more, and explore a new area beyond the Lands Between that are already known, in an entirely new area called Shadow of the Erdtree. Here, we will discuss how the story is so far, and what we know about this new expansion.

Marika, Radagon and Their Sons

Throughout the base game, we come into the knowledge that Queen Marika the Eternal, goddess and receptacle of the Elden Ring, in addition to causing the Rupture, a great war whose remains we come upon during our exploration, gets married a second time to a new consort, Radagon of the Golden Order. This union is followed by the birth of two empyrean kids (beings capable of ascending as deities - meaning, becoming new receptacles of the Elden Ring), the twins Miquella (the character most involved with the DLC) and Malenia.

However, Radagon, in essence, was just the male part of Queen Marika, they shared the same form, and therefore were a single being. The twins, born from a single entity, were cursed: Malenia was born with the Scarlet Rot, a very dangerous disease that consumes the life of the one infected, while Miquella was cursed to remain forever in childhood, never to grow up.

Still on the main map, we find the region of Caelid completely destroyed by the scarlet rot, the battlefield where Malenia, Blade of Miquella and Starscourge Radahn battled in the greatest confrontation of the rupture, in which the swordswoman abandoned her pride and released the scarlet rot to balance the clash, bringing ruin and curse to the region

Miquella the Kind

Initially, the empyrean brother followed the Golden Order (a movement led by the Queen, which served political, religious and philosophical purposes), developing enchantments as gifts for his father, Radagon. It is also said that Miquella, although less known for his combat skills than the unbeatable swordswoman Malenia, is still notably the most feared empyrean, loved by many, and possessing supernatural abilities.

However, the fundamentalism of the Golden Order, guided by the Great Will, was not enough to cure his sister's Scarlet Rot, much less her curse. First, he used pure gold to forge golden needles, capable of delaying the progression of the disease, which had already taken one of his sister Malenia's arms, forcing her to use Valkyrie prostheses instead.

Still insufficient, and with other ideas in mind, Miquella nurtured a new tree, hoping it would become a new Erdtree, which would be capable of healing the twins. This tree, grown next to the Elphael Fortress, an area that we can optionally access in the base game and explore where one of the most difficult bosses in the game hides, became known as The Haligtree, or Haligtree.

The Haligtree and Miquella’s Disappearance

From this new reference point, several knights wearing crests of pure gold swore their devotion to Miquella, protecting the tree from invaders while it continued to grow. Among the species who knew of it, the Haligtree came to be seen as a paradise by many, especially those abandoned by Grace, species like the albinaurics who were seen as impure and unworthy of the Great Will, or any being which had been rejected by the fundamentalist society of the Golden Order. Furthermore, the empyrean also blessed the weak and vulnerable.

In his final blossoming process, Miquella merged with the tree so that he could cure his sister's scarlet rot and her curse, entering a deep sleep. This plan was thwarted by Mohg, Lord of Blood, one of his half brothers and also Marika's son, who discovered how to get to the location and kidnapped the cocoon at the base of the tree.

The ominous demigod planned to awaken his brother early, in a temple deep in the Capital of Leyndell, through blood sacrifices to the cocoon, aiming to create a new lineage and ascend as a divine monarch. Miquella remains unresponsive, as he has separated from his physical body and left for the Shadow of the Erdtree, where he can be found by the tarnished protagonist in the expansion's new content.

Without divine energy, the Haligtree began to decay, lacking the strength to maintain itself. Malenia, after returning from her conflict injured, did not find her brother, and so, with no idea where he was, she waited. Her deep wounds and bleeding also contaminated the Tree with her disease, which to date is infested with scarlet rot.

Shadow of the Erdtree

Well, we know that Miquella left for the dark region known as Shadow of the Erdtree, and, according to the trailers, there is a big chance that the empyrean will become the protagonist's guide in the entirely new region, where we can learn about the reasons for that land to exist, as well as its secrets.

We also have a new character introduced, Messmer, the Impaler, who apparently hunts with his army all beings without grace, such as the tarnished ones. The villain evokes principles completely contrary to those of our guide, who protects those who have been deprived. Furthermore, there is a lot of snake symbolism during the trailer, which is considered the sin of blasphemy within the Elden Ring universe, and are related to one of the demigods from the base game, Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy.

The Land of Shadows may correspond to a region sealed by Marika, to complement her search for immortality and exile of the Death Rune.

Given that death has been abolished from the Lands Between, the region may just be the other side of the coin of the Erdtree itself. It’s also said that the expansion will take place within the present period in the story's timeline, as it is directly related to the Erdtree, which is the north of the base game's events.

Among the theories fans have come up with, we have a line at the end of the trailer where Miquella says, “Until we meet again”, which is strange to say the least, given that the protagonist never found this voice in the trailer. The suggestion is that our guide may have guided the Tarnished Lord throughout the base game, without being recognized, disguising himself as Melina, the maiden who grants Runes and power to the protagonist throughout the game, meaning that the demigod was always involved in the protagonist's destiny.

From a technical standpoint, the Shadow of The Erdtree DLC is the only expansion planned so far, it will add, in addition to a new story line, a new area separate from the base game, with new weapons, equipment, spells and skills , as well as enemies and new bosses.

In an interview on the Zhihu network, Hidetaka Miyazaki also gave some exclusive information: the difficulty will be close to the second half of the base game, that is, aimed at players who already understand the mechanics. The difficulty can also be adjusted according to the player's preferences, so the level of the challenge will be chosen by each player, if they are already advanced when accessing the DLC. Finally, he said that they have several categories of new weapons, and that he will not reveal the duration of the DLC because he was called a liar when he said that Elden Ring was about 30 hours of play, and the average player has 60+ hours until finish the main story.

As expected, the expansion brings forth all the elements that immortalized Miyazaki as a legend within the development of soulslike games, and given the proportion in which this project was spoken about, it certainly seems to be another masterpiece.

I can't wait to finally return to the Lands Between, and discover a little more about the fascinating history of Elden Ring, while feeling the adrenaline of facing the new bosses that promise to present the greatest challenges within the game to date.