00:00 So finally, the Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Urd Tree has been announced, and other than
00:05 a name and an obscure image, that's about it.
00:09 Now, instead of spending hours upon hours ruminating and pulling ideas out of absolute
00:14 thin air for who's riding Torrent or what's going on with the Urd Tree, we're instead
00:19 going to focus on some much more tangible leads from data mining and leaks.
00:24 As with any of FromSoftware's previous outings, the most exciting thing about each game's
00:29 DLC is its scope for exploring their source material's lore and narrative.
00:34 Unused Mikkela dialogue was unearthed by data miners not long after launch.
00:37 I'd love to see something that explores Mikkela's story properly.
00:41 The cursed brother of Melania plays a pretty integral role to, well, pretty much everything
00:46 in Elden Ring, yet we actually don't know that much about him.
00:49 Mikkela is now in a permanent slumber, and you can actually find him in Mog's boss
00:53 fight arena, inside an egg-like cocoon with one arm draped out of it.
00:57 It's suggested in the game that it's better for Mikkela to stay asleep, but what'll
01:02 happen if he wakes up?
01:03 That's the real question.
01:06 The PvP Coliseums were previously uncovered by data miners before release last December,
01:11 so there's likely more areas in the vast world to be revealed.
01:14 One that many people have noticed is that if you discover all Elden Ring Divine Tower
01:18 locations, you'll see that they converge perfectly around a central point.
01:22 It's not the Urd Tree, as you might expect, but a section of inaccessible ocean in the
01:27 very middle of the map, one covered and obscured by cloud.
01:31 Seems suspicious.
01:32 Perhaps in the DLC we'll blast that cloud away to reveal a new island.
01:38 A quest for Elden Ring's Vyke, the character who appears on the cover art, was apparently
01:43 cut from the game.
01:44 You'll probably recognise Vyke as the kneeling knight on Elden Ring's front cover.
01:48 He appears only briefly in the final game as an NPC invader and boss who rewards you
01:52 with his unique armour set and spear for defeating him.
01:56 Yet it seems a bit odd that a character with such a small role would appear so prominently
02:02 on the cover art.
02:03 Well, that's because he was originally a much bigger deal, with in-game lore explaining
02:07 that "no other Tarnished was closer to the throne of the Elden Ring than Vyke".
02:12 Elden Ring data miners have since uncovered a cut questline featuring Vyke using some
02:17 unused voice line, making reference to a knight in armour melting inwards.
02:22 Unfortunately, no text or dialogue for Vyke has been discovered, but the quest seemingly
02:27 would have had a few dialogue choices and offered a handful of rewards, ultimately unlocking
02:33 Vyke as a summon in Stormvale Castle to help you fight against one of its bosses.
02:37 It does seem really strange that such a prominent character with so much work put into it was
02:42 cut, so here's hoping future DLCs fill in some of the gaps.
02:48 One of my all-time favourite things about Sekiro Shadows Die Twice is Reflections of
02:52 Strength, a game mode that lets players challenge previously defeated bosses for a rematch.
02:58 Not only does beating a particularly challenging boss more than once do wonders for your ego,
03:03 it also helps players improve on the fundamentals that underpin games like Elden Ring.
03:08 We also have evidence that Melania used to be even harder.
03:15 Not to believe, but dataminers have discovered that Elden Ring's most notorious boss, Melania,
03:21 used to be even more difficult to beat than she already is.
03:24 By analysing and playing through the 1.0 version of Elden Ring, a version that's been untouched
03:29 by patches or changes since the original game, a modder discovered several key differences
03:34 with her attack pattern and abilities, making her significantly more aggressive.
03:39 The most notable change is that version 1.0 Melania uses her old waterfowl move that wasn't
03:44 originally tied to any health loss, and a similar but different attack called Melania
03:49 Blade which could be chained, all the while attacking more aggressively and blocking more
03:54 overall.
03:55 That alone sounds hellish, but the dataminer goes on to detail other variations which include
04:00 slightly different combos and increased use of the dreaded Scarlet Aenea incantation.
04:08 An easy option for From Software would be to add in this harder Melania as a repeat
04:13 boss option for greater loot in the DLC.
04:15 And they could do it with other bosses as well, imagine fighting all of your favourites
04:19 all over again, but with an added twist.
04:23 When it comes to cut content in Elden Ring, there's one character whose dialogue in
04:27 particular makes for an interesting dive into the game's lore, Godfrey.
04:35 YouTuber Sekiro Doobie discovered a selection of cutlines from Godfrey, and there are some
04:40 interesting theories about what these new discoveries all mean.
04:43 The dialogue seems to reinforce the idea that when it comes to the Elden Ring's shattering,
04:47 Marika may have originally had a plan in advance to shatter the ring, which Godfrey knew about
04:52 all along.
04:53 If Godfrey was aware that the Elden Ring would be shattered, then the banishing of the Tarnist
04:57 was actually a plan to remove them from the Fingers/Greater Will's influence.
05:02 The consensus seems to be that Godfrey was initially meant to play an even larger role
05:06 throughout Elden Ring, with a potential storyline that would take place in the past based on
05:11 the lines heard in Sekiro Doobie's video.
05:14 There's nothing concrete here of course, just guesswork reading between the lines,
05:18 but there is a lot to theorise about with some juicy tidbits nestled with Godfrey's
05:23 lost dialogue.
05:24 One of Elden Ring's earliest merchants was originally part of a long-running, tragic
05:29 questline before FromSoftware scrapped it.
05:32 Kalei is the first merchant you stumble across in your adventures in The Lands Between.
05:36 Remember an NPC dressed like Santa Claus?
05:38 That's our guy.
05:39 Aside from selling valuable items and offering some lore tidbits in exchange for chatter,
05:44 you don't really get much else from Kalei as he remains rooted to the spot.
05:48 However, the merchant was once tied to a tragic subplot of the game.
05:52 Speaking to him further would have led to a mention of the Great Caravan, which was
05:56 once home to merchants like Kalei and something he yearns to find.
06:01 Seeking Godric at Stormvale Castle would send Kalei on a quest to find the Great Caravan,
06:06 with certain clues left behind to help you find the merchant's new location each time
06:11 he moved.
06:12 This would have continued until you reach the subterranean shunning grounds beneath
06:15 Lendil.
06:16 This place is eerie enough and is home to the Three Fingers, which relates to one of
06:20 Elden Ring's bad endings, but it's also littered with bodies.
06:25 Some current in-game lore explains the bodies are all the remains of the merchant caravan
06:30 after it was accused of heresy and burned alive, summoning the Flames of Frenzy and
06:35 Despair.
06:36 In Kalei's scrapped quest, he discovers the fate of his people and embraces the flames
06:40 himself.
06:41 A pre-release build of Elden Ring has a quest that lets you craft a dream brew that makes
06:48 NPCs chatty and sleepy.
06:50 Essentially, it gets them drunk.
06:52 Prolific modder Lance MacDonald released a video where they explore an earlier Elden
06:56 Ring build that included content which was ultimately cut from the game and was able
07:00 to uncover a whole questline, NPC and other items which never made it into the final build.
07:05 The quest involves a fully animated and voiced NPC named Jiko who's looking for ingredients
07:10 to make his dream brew, which he explicitly says is a type of alcohol.
07:15 Jiko says the dream brew will convince other NPCs to tell you their deepest, darkest secrets.
07:20 If you agree to help him, Jiko gives you an item called Santrina's Crystal Ball, which
07:24 you use to collect Dense Fog of Sleep from napping creatures.
07:28 Bring the filled vial back to Jiko and he uses it to make his brew, which you can offer
07:33 to NPCs to open up additional lines of dialogue and hidden lore.
07:37 MacDonald brings the dream brew to Merchant Kalei at his shop inside Church of Eleh in
07:41 Limgrave and after Kalei drinks the brew, he falls asleep and has a nightmare about
07:46 eyes being burned by a frenzied flame.
07:48 Jiko then asks for two more vials of dream mist to make more dream brew and it's then
07:53 that MacDonald discovers additional sleeping creatures, suggesting that this questline
07:57 was pretty well formed before it was cut.
08:00 Sure makes you wonder what other stuff was snipped from the final launch version, and
08:03 if any of it is as fun sounding as getting NPCs drunk.
08:08 So what do you think we're going to see in Shadow of the Erd Tree DLC?
08:12 Let us know in the comments below.
08:17 (whooshing)
08:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments