Summary
The storytelling ofElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtreegives the Tarnished information in pieces, then leaves it to them to put everything together in order to form an idea of events that happened in both the Lands Between and the Land of Shadow. As a result, parallels between events are often not fully realized until the Tarnished has finished their journey and looks back on the characters, their backgrounds, and motivations. Then, with the help of hindsight, missed connections become clear.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Elden Ring: The Shadow of the Erdtree and Elden Ring’s stories.]
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Much of Elden Ring’s content can be found exclusively at night, as many enemies and bosses do not roam the Lands Between during the day.
Looking at the goal of Miquella’s journey alone already shows a parallel to Marika’s past, before the Land of Shadow was sealed off from the Lands Between. Like his mother, Miquella seeks to ascend to godhood in order to bring about his desired changes, hoping that his ideals will be able to start an Age of Compassion and avoid the mistakes that Marika made during her reign. However, the parallels don’t end there. Instead, that’s the surface of the parallels that exist between Miquella and Marika, and it should have made the twist about him obvious in hindsight.
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Miquella & Saint Trina Mirror Marika & Radagon
No Other Demigods Have Known Split Identities
In the same way that Marika and Radagon share a single soul but are able to occupy two separate bodies with different personalities and goals,Miquella and St. Trina are the same soul that’s split into two personalitiesand can be separated into two bodies. This is hinted at inElden Ring, but then it’s confirmed inShadow of the Erdtreewhen Miquella abandons his love. Among all the demigods, only Miquella is shown to have a split identity, like Marika, and even their personalities are mirrored, with Miquella being similar to Radagon and taking direct action, while St. Trina wishes to help others like Marika.
Both pairs are split into a male and female identity, andMarika and St. Trina seem to have similar reputations among the people who worship them. Just like Marika’s ability to heal, St. Trina also seems capable of healing. They both want to help the people around them, but the way they go about doing so can be misguided or simply not feasible for the results they’re looking for. For her family and the people of the Lands Between, Marika seals away Destined Death. Then, when the Elden Ring proves to be a prison, she shatters it, knowing that she’ll be punished.
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Meanwhile, St. Trina understands that godhood would be a prison for Miquella, perhaps from her knowledge of Marika. Although Marika knows she’ll be punished for shattering the Elden Ring, she goes through with it because that was the best option she had at the time, even if she may have been influenced by grief. In the same way,St. Trina asks the Tarnished to kill Miquella, knowing that his death will result in her own death. However, she believes that this is the best course of action to save Miquella, even if that means sacrificing herself in the process.
Miquella’s Betrayal Is Similar To Marika
He Uses Others And Abandons Them
InShadow of the Erdtree, it becomes obvious that Miquella uses the people around him and then abandons them in much the same way that Marika does. He uses Mohg, Radahn, andMalenia, Blade of Miquellato get closer to godhood,believing that what he’s doing is for their benefit, whether they agree with that or not. It’s similar to Marika usingMessmer the Impalerto exterminate the Hornsent but sealing him in the Land of Shadow for his own good, though he feels betrayed by her decisions. With this in mind, it should’ve been obvious that Miquella would end up as part of the final boss in the DLC, like Marika in the base game.
The parallels between Miquella and Marika were masterfully done, and in both cases, it’s easy to see that they may have had good intentions behind their actions, but their plans had misguided choices that resulted in disasters. Still, the evidence and set-up should’ve made it obvious that Miquella would be at least partially a villain, even if he wanted an Age of Compassion, and he’d be seen in the final fight like Marika is seen before Radagon takes over to fight. However, in both cases, the Tarnished is the one who frees both Marika and Miquella from the prison of godhood inElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
