In the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen the Elden Ring developer FromSoftware dropping a few teases here and there about its upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. However, the studio has given us our best look yet at the DLC since it was first revealed.
Elden Ring’s upcoming DLC has been a long time coming and anticipated due to FromSoftware’s proven track record with DLCs in its other games, such as Dark Souls. However, one of the most striking aspects of the latest trailer was the revelation of a war much deadlier than The Shattering. This has led to many players in the community questioning why the game’s director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, hid such a crucial piece of the lore, which changes everything we know about the upcoming Elden Ring DLC.
Why Did Hidetaka Miyazaki Hide Messmer’s Attack on The Lands Between?
Elden Ring‘s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is just around the corner, and FromSoftware has just given us a brand-new story trailer to prepare us for our adventure into the Land of the Shadow.
The stunning trailer showcases the upcoming DLC’s main antagonist, Messmer the Impaler, in his fiery glory as he sacks the Land of Shadow. That’s not all; we also get glimpses of some new horrifying features, a shot of Tarnished in unique armor sets, and snippets featuring what looks to be both Miqella and Marika in certain historical moments.
One of the most unexpected revelations in the trailer was that Messmer also waged war on The Lands Between. While it’s likely that this happened before The Shattering, it’s surprising that we have absolutely no mention of this war in the base game.
If Miyazaki had been planning something this huge for a DLC that changes the lore of the first game, he should’ve revealed it ages ago. The studio had no reason to wait until the DLC’s reveal to give us such banger news that there was a war even deadlier than The Shattering in Elden Ring’s universe.
Messmer’s wrath on The Lands Between needs a proper explanation because his attack would’ve also dragged the Demigods. If he’s still alive, that means even Demigods couldn’t take him down, proving his incredible strength. It took Marika banishing him and his army to end his activities.
FromSoft Itself Needs Help Understanding Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Mind
It’s not the first time we’ve seen Hidetaka Miyazaki hiding crucial pieces of lore in his games. He has quite a history of doing so and wants to avoid spoon-feeding everything to the players. The game director believes that players can gather all the inputs and put the story together. However, it’s not only gamers who need help understanding Miyazaki’s mind; even FromSoftware developers don’t have a shred of an idea of what’s going on in his mind!
Miyazaki and Masaaki Yamagi, one of the former producers at FromSoftware, talked about Bloodborne in the Drained Blood interview with Future Press. At one point, the interviewer brought up how Vicar Amelia’s post-fight cutscene in the game can leave a lot for players to imagine. Although Miyazki agreed that gamers can imagine a lot from what’s going on in the scene, Yamagiwa revealed that he had absolutely no idea what was happening.
Miyazaki wasn’t surprised and said most of the studio would’ve agreed with Yamagiwa then. Only after viewing a video that explained the game’s story easily did one of the developers say they could finally understand what was happening in the story.
