Summary
Elden Ringfans have an interesting new theory about the giant, lumiscent Erdtree that towers over every step of our journey through the Lands Between — it was moved.
How you move a tree that big is beyond me, but in a world whereRadahn is able to hold back the stars, it’s not a far-fetched idea. The theory goes that the Erdtree was originally located in the giant gaping hole by the Shaman Village inthe Realm of Shadow, which is interestingly patrolled by two Tree Sentinels.
The Erdtree Might’ve Been Grown In The Shaman Village
When overlaying the two maps, the Erdtree fits next to Queen Marika’s home, the Shaman Village. The common assumption among the community is that before the Realm of Shadow was sealed away, the village would have been at the foot of the Erdtree (explaining Melina’s birth and ties to Queen Marika). That would still place it in Leyndell, but this theory has a different suggestion.
Speaking of the gaping hole,one Reddit user writesthat “It isn’t big enough to fit the Erdtree now, but maybe as a sapling. This hole kind of stands out on the map - mostly we have cliffs that fall into the sea, or deep canyons with land at the bottom. Not neat holes punched all the way through the land mass. It’s as though Marika wanted to remove this whole part of the land, but keep this one very small spot in the Lands Between. I think the presence of the young Erdtree would make a good explanation.”
Fans even point out that the shape of the hole on the map looks like a stump, and that it makes more sense for the Erdtree to have grown here than in the water by Leyndell. Although, there are some gaping holes in the theory other than the one by the Shaman Village that are worth pointing out.
For one, the argument that the Erdtree being fostered on land rather than water making more sense suggested by the top comment might not matter if the Realm of Shadow and Lands Between were once connected, as that would mean the Erdtree still grew on land. Secondly, if this was where the Erdtree originally stood, surely the Scadutree (literally meaning Shadow of the Erdtree) would sprout from here instead?
Another idea is that this is the crater whereMetyr, Mother of Fingersoriginally landed. Although, why the crater is significantly deeper than any of the others carved out by comets and falling stars is unclear, not to mention why the afformentioned Tree Sentinels would guard it. Of course, it could just be a big hole without any deeper meaning, but it’s always fun to speculate when it comes to FromSoftware games.
Elden Ring
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With worldbuilding from Game of Thrones scribe George R.R. Martin and developed by FromSoftware, Elden Ring is a masterpiece in what has become known as the ‘Soulslike’ genre of action role-playing games.
