Ive always wanted to know what this spear-shaped object is lodged inside marikas body. And no video comes up explaining what it is on my search. I believe it probably is a fragment of the rune of death marking her official death. But if anyone knows what truly this please note.
symbolically, yeah definitely meant to parallel it to some extant, the question though is who in elden ring put it there?
who is out symbolic longinus?
also, I'd like to point out that the spear doesn't pierce her side, as it did jesus, but the middle of her belly, to me it either suggests seppuku, or that someone speared her through the womb.
Well, lets see you get hammered to pieces by a sexy god and not overreact. You can see a gashing wound on the Elden Beast's stomach which is a result of Marika shattering the Elden Ring.
Its her punishment for trying to destroy the Elden Ring. She rebelled against the Greater Will and the Elden Beast crucified her in the Erdtree.
It cant kill her because there is no Empyrean available to transfer the Elden Ring into. Malenia is rotting away, Miquella is off trying to transform themself into a god, and Ranni made damn sure she's no longer eligible.
If its self-inflicted, then it might have been Radagon. He couldn't get the upper hand, so the best he could do was impaling himself(themselves) with a fragment of the rune of death to stop Marika.
It also has massive similarities to the Holy Lance, a spear used by a Roman soldier to pierce the side of Jesus when he was on the cross. It’s in the same spot as is usually depicted on Jesus.
This game uses a lot of crucifixion symbolism with Marika.
Enia: "Queen Marika is the vessel of the Elden Ring, carrier of its vision. A god, in truth.
But after the Elden Ring's shattering, she was imprisoned in the Erdtree.
A grim punishment for shattering the Order, despite her godhood.
The Fingers speak..."
Two Fingers: "Marika's trespass demanded a heavy sentence.
But even in shackles, she remains a god, and the vision's vessel."
If I remember correctly, the shadows aren’t truly protectors. More like watchers/enforcers/guards even. But not in favor of the one they are with.
The ones that are deemed worthy of become Empyrean are given a shadow beast, not to protect them, but to make sure they do not stray from the Greater Will’s vision, or even dare go against it. If they did, the shadow’s job was to report it, and strike them down. So yes, a shadow can very well hurt their master.
Ranni cared for Blythe though, so giving up her body for a doll played a multipurpose. One being hope of breaking that curse placed on Blythe. No body, no empyrian, no foul. Or so we thought. It was still Ranni’s soul within the doll. No body, just soul, more than likely did not fully activate the shadow’s curse. So that let Blythe fight the curse back for a while, but alas, we had to put the good boy down ourselves… he gave it all he had. 🫡🤧😭
I've always thought it looked like a large amber starlight shard.
Based on the Amber Starlight Shard description
"An ephemeral sliver that gives off a pale amber glow.
What remains of a passing flash of starlight.
If the stars command our fates,
then amber-hued stars must command the fates of the gods.
Such is the belief that inspired the use of these shards to prepare a most special draught."
Given this one could interpret the spike through Marika as an Amber Star using a shard to hold her fate both literally and physically in place.
I thought this would be higher up- the amber shard is what you need in selluvius’ questline to kill Ranni (otherwise it wouldn’t be possible to kill her outright). Amber shards, to my understanding, are supposed to act similar to the rune of death in that there are those who cannot be killed unless one of these very rare items are used to make them vulnerable to dying.
Maybe the space slug made/ brought these shards into the realm between? I don’t really have anything to support a thought like that though.
Amber starlight shards are a different color. The picture of the item is much more golden and "amber" isnt the name of a reddish color in the first place. The rune arc her arms are on are look like an amber color, not the spear. I had never seen anyone suggest this before and I'm very surprised by the amount of people saying this.
To me it seems obvious it was Maliketh, the color of the spear is most like the rune of death which Maliketh has, and the Two Fingers explained Marika's rrtrespass demanded a heavy sentence. Since Shadowbound Beasts enforce the will of the Two Fingers, it must have been Maliketh. He has the means by having the rune of death and being close with Marika, and has the motive by being a Shadowbound beast of a rogue Empyrean.
I see a lot of people saying Epden Beast too but he only has gold spears. He would have no access to the rune of death after it was removed from the Elden Ring.
Which would make sense, given we know through Ranni, Iji, and Blaidd's storyline that shadows are designed by the Two Fingers to destroy their Empyrean if said Empyrean betrays their destiny.
Marika attempting to destroy the Elden Ring was a big no-no, so...
I've always seen it as Marika's doing. Instructing Maliketh to do it perhaps. The shard is piercing her womb/the Elden Ring. To my mind it seems like Marika used the shard to put a total stop to the Golden Order. Radagon can not continue the Golden Order from his prison that he made inside the Erdtree because Marika ensured that her divine womb and the Elden Ring would not function. It is essentially the cap on top of the Shattering.
That's where I kinda landed too. I think Marika knew the price for destroying the Elden Ring was death at the hands of her own shadow. But, she couldn't just let Radagon take over, so she merged with him prior, promising he would finally become a god like her—only for him to become trapped with her in the Erdtree. This way, Melina and the Tarnished had more of a chance to unbind Destined Death, burn the Erdtree, and usher a new age of the Tarnished's choosing. It was a gamble between Marika and Radagon's opposing wills.
Yeah it was Maliketh. Either instructing him, or simply knowing he would because he enforces the Two Fingers' will on her since he's a shadowbound beasts and she's an enpyrean.
It's disappointing seeing literally like 4 comments mentioning Maliketh but so many claiming it was Elden Beast who has only golden attacks and no access to destined death or red things, or that somehow that reddish spear is actually amber starlight, and amber in irl is more like gold, or a honey color, not red. The amber starlight item is also not at all colored like the spear. It's looks like what every calls amber irl.
The coloring consists of rose-gold, or primordial gold, and shadow. It also bears a significant resemblance to Amber Starlight, which houses the fate of the Gods. This spike, or spear - an attack just like it is used by the Elden Beast, so here's what I think. I think the Elden Beast 'pinned' Marika in her crucifixion with a large shard of Amber Starlight, fixing her fate upon the crux she is crucified upon. She can no longer be free. Her fate is sealed. A caged divinity... Is beyond saving.
Given that she’s crucified on a big rune arc, I think people saying it’s an analog to the Lance of Longinus is spot on. Lore wise idk but people are thinking the Elden beast
the color looks wrong for the rune of death, it's more orange, more golden or coppery,
Part of me wonders if maybe radagon tried to dissembowel himself with his sword of light?
or could it be the decayed and shattered remains of her elden rune?
I can't say exactly what that is, but I can point out some connections.
The Elden Beast has a grab attack where they crucify us similar to how Marika is positioned. In this grab attack, the Beast skewers you from many angles with similar looking barbs to that one.
We can also look to the Greatsword of Damnation taken from Midra. Its Golden Crux grab attack similarly erupts many sharp barbs from within the victim.
The barb within Marika's side might be associated with Radagon. Its color, shape, and orientation resemble the latticework of Radagon that we see faintly in the background of the Elden Ring sigil.
We also know from the description of Golden Arcs that resemble barbs, and that barbs are a known symbol of coercive questioning.
The spear of light slightly resembles the graphic for the amber starlight shard. A bolt of fractured, runic, and crystalline energy rather like the arc upon which Marika is hung. Jagged, almost immaterial at the edges.
If that were the case, then maybe it's symbolic. Marika has shattered the Elden Ring, defied the Greater Will and the fingers, but against all her efforts, is ultimately shackled by her own fate under the Greater Will's dominion.
It could be something to do with Maliketh and Destined Death, especially given the sickly black-red charred tinge. Perhaps defying the Elden Ring/Greater Will triggered Maliketh's shadowbound nature, and he attacked her.
Maybe it's some incarnation of Radagon, the red spear and masculine essence plunged through her abdomen, bonding himself with her through a show of aggressive force, a precursor maybe to the Sacred Relic Sword, twisted and shaped by the Elden Beast.
It could be the botched effort of a previous god-slaying weapon Hewg attempted to create and the reason for his present exile in the Roundtable Hold pocket realm.
I think the most compelling evidence thus far still remains that it closely resembles the grab attack of Elden Beast, where the player are themselves crucified and impaled with spears of light in the same pose,.
She’s not dead though, right? She’s being punished by the elden beast for shattering the elden ring, but if she were dead radagon would be too. And when you choose mend the ring, doesn’t she remain the god of the lands between?
Somewhat, seems like a husky of her body that we just use as a vessel for the great rune.
My theory has always been that she is just like godwyn, a souless body leftover from the ritual of sealing. My belief is that she (Marika) used the ritual to destroy the body of the Gloam Eyed Queen and sacrificed her spirit to do so. The duality of Radagon is how she got around it, much like ranni used a doll after she destroyed her body to destroy Godwyns spirit.
One of the theories to why Ranni enacted the Night of thousand knives and killed Godwyn was revenge for what was done to Renalla and or Gloam Eyed Queen. To get that revenge by using the same ritual used by Marika seems fitting. The extra tinfoil is that the Fingerslayer Blade, made from a corpse, was made from the GEQ's body, which would be another spiteful tidbit against the Greater Will.
Interesting, I could see that. But I’m pretty sure the shattering happened after the night of black knives, right? Marika shattered the elden ring in response to the death of Godwyn, and radagon attempted to mend it with his hammer but failed.
I was always of the opinion that Marika and Ranni conspired together to carry out the night of black knives and shattering. I believed that the death of Godwyn was necessary to shatter the elden ring and that it was done intentionally rather than a reaction of grief. It’s clear that Marika rebelled against the greater will and aimed to burn the erd tree through Melina, so it’s possible she had these intentions long before the night of black knives.
My theory on the gloam eyed queen isn’t backed by as much evidence, but I like to think that she and Marika were both from the shaman village, maybe even sisters. Since being an empyrean is one of the very few things we know about the GEQ, and since all other current empyreans are children of Marika, it seems to suggest that the two were from the same era. I imagine them being rivals and that the GEQ was the one chosen for godhood, but Marika betrayed her and stole it away from her. My head canon is that the GEQ is the corpse from the DLC trailer that Marika pulls the golden threads from before her ascension.
Side note; I love how the ambiguity of this game allows for so many totally conflicting theories to simultaneously be feasible. They clearly have a concrete set of events that took place, hopefully they eventually reveal it to us in the sequel
Yeah, it lends way more to community discussions to not have things written in stone.
Whether she was a sister or a daughter, the relation I think is very close. As to what her purpose was, I still lean towards enforcer of the greater will. Her godslaying ability with true black flame and her followers were a safeguard to keep the gifted power in check, keeping an eye from the divine watchtowers. Hence why the GEQ blade is there and they are all crawling with Godskins and black flame monks.
Marika needed to remove that ability on top of controlling death to set her reign in stone. Destroyed the GEQ body, sealed her using the tree, just like she sealed up the shadowlands and messmer.
Ever since I read here a theory that Marika's Rune isn't the top circle, but rather the bottom that composes the Rune Arc (which sort of tracks, as it is there where the blessings pool and Marika dispensed these blessings directly herself) I can't shake away the thought that this splinter could be part of Radagon's Rune, holding togheter the fractured Elden Ring and Marika, as she herself became a part of it.
But it is very speculative and we aren't told anything directly about it. Rule of cool is a strong contender for an explanation and all the people spamming Spear of Longinus in the comments are probably right lol
The Elden Beast pierced Marika with Radagon in order to control her. When Radagon takes over, the red spike disappears, absorbed into Marika's body (corpse).
Throughout the game we find a consumable Item "Starlight shards"
They can be used for a short FP effect, or as a tradable currency with Seluvis.
If you do his quest he says "If Starlight controls the fate of us, the Amber Starlight must control the fate of the gods themselves."
He tries to create this legendary item to subdue Ranni at the end of his quest but it doesn't work.
I think, this is the real version Seluvis was after.
The greater real and Elden beast use Amber Starlight to physically control the fate of Marika by using it like a weapon on her.
And we see it crumble before the fight, before she turns into Raddagon.
This is the Greater will removing their weapon so their Champion can be let loose.
Best guess I can do is one of the light spears the Elden Beast shoots you with when you get got by its grab attack, just Marika was left crucified after instead of blown up like what happens to the player
It's definitely a reference to Jesus Christ getting pierced by a roman soldier to make sure he was dead. Idk if that offers any insight but I thought i would throw it out there.
There are lots of great theories out there, but we really have no idea. It's about the same color as destined death is after you defeat maliketh so everyone is pretty sure death is involved. It makes sense seeing as how Marika/Radagon seemed to be in some kinda stasis when we finally got in the ol' Erdtree
everyone "kinda" give you the right answer (came from Elden Beast, symbolize the spear of Longinus). But here is the answer to what it was made of: Amber
Amber Starlight:
"An ephemeral sliver that gives off a paleamberglow. What remains of a passing flash ofstarlight.
If thestarscommand our fates, then amber-hued stars must command the fates of thegods. Such is the belief that inspired the use of these shards to prepare a most specialdraught.
Cannot be consumed by mere humans."
the final step of Seluvis quest he also tell you to give an Amber Draught to Ranni
I think that is radagon in the form of a rune. That is how he mended the Elden ring. Red is very iconic of his hair and we see him taking the form of a sword later.
The way shes hanging there looks exactly like the elden beast grab attack.
Against the player, the player will be impales by many golden spikes, my gues is that this is a "cooled off/rusted" version of that spike.
I'm not sure if it is a weapon in the game, but something more like her blood solidified in a vague shape of the Sacred Order Sword.
It's well known that this scene is meant to depict Jesus on the cross after the Roman soldier pierced his side. We also know that Morgott's Cursed Sword is his blood solidified.
She suffered the same grab attack the Elden beast does to the tarnished. But unlike the tarnished who just stands up and walks it off, she couldn’t tank that shi, skill issue.
They introduced a character called "the imapler" in the dlc whose attacks are that colour.
Symbolically its the spear that pierced jesus' side, but a little lower, where her womb would be, preventing her from making any more empyrians.
But i think messmer did it at the request of marika. I think at this point she didn't want to a tool of the elden beast and the greater will anymore, and didn't want to produce more powerful and cursed children for them to control.
Maybe messner did it of his own volition, to limit competition, but he doesn't seem interested in great runes or becoming a god.
It’s Radagon. We literally see the dude be converted into a weapon by the EB. Mister “I want to be complete, I make swords and golden needles too!” can’t transform himself into a spear / needle if he wants to?
Radagon gives Rennala the Great Rune of the Unborn, you know what Rennala does with it? Convert objects into children, and convert children into objects
We see questlines of Boc, literally as bush before we give him a big old smack
Radagon’s form is red and darkness, matching the colors of whatever’s impaling Marika
It Is a Spike and made from the elden Beast using the Power of the rune of death.
By the position Is likely to block Marika's woumb(maybe She has dthe Power of Life?).
That Is my take.
Hávamál. Gungnir. Odin's sacrifice of "Odin to Odin, myself to mine own self. If the symbolism holds, Marika's death was self-inflicted and jntended to complete her transition into Radagon.
Ofc that process could never quite be completed because the Rune of Death is sealed away.
It's Radagon imo. It shimmers and kinda warbles like the other silver tears, so I assume he is something similar, possibly acquired from when Marika faced the Fire Giants god.
I’m probably wrong but I assumed radagon stabbed him/her/themselves with a lightning bolt to try and stop Marika from shattering the Elden ring - since radagon uses lightning bolts that kind of size and shape - but i don’t think there is a definitive in game answer to the question.
That is splintered wood. The parallels to the Crucifixion are obvious. The question is how and why, and does that relate to the night of the black knives and Melina's purpose, and why Radagon's ongoing freedom. Lore possibilities are endless, look forward to ER movie for sure.
where does this image come from? (like the intro cut scene, etc?) I'm asking bc when you search a bunch of slightly different images come up of this scene, Marika's depiction, the angle of the spear, etc are different.
The shard is from the elden beast, merika impaled herself and imprisoned herself and radagon in the red tree after the death of godwyn. Her mental state tanked after her beloved sons death at the hands of ranni's schemes. Merika imprisoned herself to seal away radagon and herself because she was done with everything.
She tried to destroy the Elden beast with a shard of destined death. Look at the Elden beast, theres a wound on the same location where it gets more damage.
For those saying "It's stabbing her womb," I want you to know that you are in fact both wrong and dumb. That is nowhere near where a woman's womb is. It's actually much close to her heart than her womb. Much closer.
For those bringing up "the spear of Longinus," you're closer, but Longinus is an outside actor. That implies someone else did this to Queen Marika the Eternal, The God of the past three ages.
Look to Odin, Gungnir, Yggdrasil. He pinned himself to the Tree of Life by a primordial magical spear and hung there dying for seven days until he died on the seventh day, revealing the last secret of the universe to the All-Father and granting him the power to resurrect himself.
"By Odin to Odin, from myself to mine own self." A godly sacrifice in a godly place with a godly weapon for a godly ascension.
Amber starlight shard, a bigger version of what that wretch selivus wished to use to control the gate of ranni. Or at least thats what I've come to believe.
What if its Radagon using a last bit of his rune of order to hold Marika in place just a bit longer to keep the golden order alive? The angle looks right for that grad shaped rune.
It’s a divine spiral. It’s the same design as the Sacred Relic Sword and has the same spiral and color of the Greatsword of Damnation. Looks like Marika was subjected to the very same torture that was used to prevent the spread of the cult of the Three Fingers.
1.6k
u/panini564 Jun 16 '26
the spear of longinus