Miquella
The first trailer for Elden Ring’s enormous expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, has been released and it was as incredible as fans were hoping it would be. While only three minutes long, it delivered a lot, including the reveal of its main villains.
The first and most prominent one is Messmer the Impaler, the figure showed fighting the Tarnished repeatedly and destroying them who I definitely didn’t think was Miquella when I first wrote this. We do not know much Messmer, but here’s what the Elden Ring site says him and his role in the story:
As for our second foe, and likely a final boss not shown, is Miquella, brother of famed brutal boss Malenia. Why wasn’t Miquella in the base game? Well, it’s kind of a long story, but the highlights would be:
Miquella is an Empyrean, being that have the capability to become gods and govern the world, at times doing so through the Elden Ring. Miquella was cursed to forever be young, but created the giant Haligtree (yes that one) so that he grew into an adult and tried and failed to cure the rot from his sister Malenia.
Miquella ended up kidnapped by Mohg, Lord of Blood. Mohg wanted to Miquiella to be a god and tried to share his blood with him to make that happen, but it didn’t work.
“"Wishing to raise Miquella to full godhood, Mohg wished to become his consort, taking the role of monarch. But no matter how much of his bloody bedchamber he tried to share, he received no response from the young Empyrean".
There is also some evidence that he may have the ability to compel others to do his bidding, including to love him:
"The Empyrean Miquella is loved by many . Indeed, he has learned very well how to compel such affection"
During the entire base game of Elden Ring, Miquella was “slumbering.” Now he is uh, not slumbering. There is a lot still to parse, but it’s clear him waking up is going to be very bad for everyone. Especially once he learns his sister has been soloed roughly a million times at this point.
"If he continues his slumber within the cocoon, all will be well..."
Elden Ring
Miquella and Messmer are of course not the only new foe in the expansion. The trailer features a truly wild collection of bad guys, the most notable of which is a giant fire…thing, that appears to be a giant sentient brazier. Or something. There are demented hippos, terrifying robe-wearing wolf-things, guy who pulls a sword out of his skull, it’s a lot.
We also know a release date for the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, June 21, exactly four months from today. Everything else would be wise to clear out of that window, even if it is just an expansion, as it will no doubt be massively played and probably as big as some full game releases, even if we don’t have a full picture of its size yet. It costs $40 which is over half the cost of the base game but I mean, this is FromSoftware. This is Elden Ring. No one’s going to complain that.
While we may get more trailers, I doubt that FromSoft is going to give too much away the story or the places you’ll find. This thing is an auto-seller so there does not need to be much prodding to get players to purchase. It’s bound to be one of the biggest releases of the year, even as an expansion, and like everyone, I cannot wait.
