The boy who never grew up.
An expansion forElden Ringhasfinally been confirmed by FromSoftware.
Or maybe it’s not the Lands Between at all?
Which characters will be the focus of this expansion?
And what’s happened to that tree?
The expansion will be calledShadow of the Erdtree.
Its announcement came with new artwork, depicting a blonde figure riding what gives the impression of Torrent.
The land is desolate and foggy, with ghostly graves littering the ground.
A giant tree stands in the background, corrupted and shrivelled.
So what does this all mean?
Who is the blonde figure?
The artwork prominently shows a blonde figure riding Torrent - how many other horned, goat-horses are there?
So who is Miquella?
He is depicted as a young child with long blonde hair (see header image).
He even intended for the Haligtree to grow into an Erdtree.
Before he could complete his task, he fell into a deep slumber.
Despite this, players find Miquella’s cocoon elsewhere, after defeating Mohg Lord of Blood.
When we see the cocoon, Miquella’s arm is visible: now adult-sized, but unresponsive.
It seems pretty sure from the artwork released that Shadow of the Erdtree will focus on Miquella, then.
But if he’s not sleeping… where is he?
Zooming in much more on the figure on the horse, it’s 100000% Miquella.
Compare the braid around their head with the Haligtree Soldier Helm’s decorative gold braid.pic.twitter.com/obkSAVvveC
Which tree is that?
The other key part of the artwork is the looming tree in the distance.
But if that’s the case, what happened to it?
Why is it corrupt?
The Erdtree isn’t the only tree in the game though.
As mentioned above, Miquella and the Haligtree are - literally - intertwined.
It’s unclear from the artwork if it depicts the Haligtree, but thematically it makes sense.
What’s more, could that golden corruption pouring from the tree be linked to Miquella’s Unalloyed Gold?
Lastly, there’s The Great Tree.
This was a primordial tree that housed a great crucible, generally considered a melting pot of creation.
Could this be the titular shadow of the Erdtree?
Has Miquella been drawn into an eternal slumber?
Or will the player’s Tarnished be drawn into Miquella’s dreams, just like Mohg?
What’s more, dataminerspreviously discovered cut content that implied a dream subquest.
This item would be used to collect Dream Mist from sleeping enemies found around the world.
Could this mechanic be repurposed to enter the dreams of Miquella?
Lastly, there’s the matter of those ghostly gravestones.
But the desolate landscape and sheer number of graves in the artwork perhaps implies some sort of battlefield.
But is this somewhere in The Lands Between?
Or is this an alternate dream realm?
Miquella what did you do?!
Of course, Shadow of the Erdtree could be about something else entirely.
Could Unalloyed Gold provide a new branch of magic?
Will we discover more about everyone’s favourite, Malenia?
Will Miquella suffer a similar fate at the hands of the Tarnished?
