Mohg - Blog Posts
Draw Mohg and Morgott in hades artstyle
There's some delicious irony in the fact that the omen twins are probably the most accomplished and successful demigods in the family despite having all the odds stacked against them.
Morgott
is the ruling king of Leyndell
has one of the most powerful armies in the lands between, only really being beaten out by Miquella's haligtree forces and Messmer's crusade army
has successfully guarded the capital from both the redmanes and volcano manor invasions and chased Godrick and Godefroy from its walls
is a master of holy magic, being able to project himself across the lands, seal multiple pathways to dangerous artefacts (the giants forge and the 3 fingers) and cast a myriad of holy weapon spells which he all likely had to self teach.
Mohg
is the lord of a budding dynasty
had some of the most loyal followers out of all of the demigods, despite his Omen heritage, which he wore openly and proudly
had such loyal followers that even after the dynasty's collapse, a small handful were still willing to fight a god to the death to do right by him
is a master of blood magic
can also project illusions of himself
somehow learned of a way to access the sealed away land of shadow, an ability so exclusive to him that Miquella had to use him to gain access to it.
has gained the favour of a fucking outer god! a feat that no other basic demigod was capable of
all of which was also probably self taught due to growing up in isolation in the sewers.
These two absolutely amaze me. They had everything stacked against them and were still able to forge a place for themselves in the lands between.
My take on the promised consort.
I believe that Radahn held the stars in place when Ranni began fearing her fate. She never wanted to become a puppet to the two fingers, and Radahn knowing this attempted to hold off her destiny for as long as possible. Though he likely knew that it would be an inevitability. The only other two living empyreans were cursed afterall.
There was no way that Miquella or Malenia would be able to take Marika’s place, the two fingers weren’t even the slightest bit interested in either of them. Malenia was already claimed by the God of Rot and Miquella was perpetually in a state of adolescence. Ranni seems to be the only one who was ever actively bothered by her fingers and I believe this is because they had an intense desire for her to be the next god, assuming Miquella and Malenia as lost causes due to their curse.
I think this is when Miquella came to Radahn with a proposition. He will be seeking godhood. Even if the two fingers had no interest in him, even if the world thought him too small and frail to ascend, he was going to find a way, no matter the consequences. He was determined to become the next God and lead the world into an era of abundance and peace. To fix the mistakes of the past.
He only had one simple request.
“Promise me, you’ll be my consort.”
If Miquella were to ascend then Ranni would be free of her duty. She’d be able to live in peace knowing that she’d never have to be controlled by another's will. She wouldn’t have to become a god, she wouldn’t have to succeed queen Marika. And to top it all off, Radahn would get to play the role of his hero Godfrey. Ushering in a new era alongside a new god.
It was perfect.
That was, until the night of the black knives. The night the world was thrown into chaos. The night that the first demigods fell. And the night that he lost his sister.
Radahn likely wouldn’t have known about Ranni’s plot and would have thought her dead alongside the other victims of the night. Ranni was gone, and with her, so too was Radahns need for Miquella’s age.
I believe Radahn, fueled by grief, rage and the mad taint of his greatrune, denounced Miquella and struck out on his own as a warrior of the shattering. He didn’t need peace, he didn’t need Miquella. All he wanted was to fight. All he wanted now was endless war.
Maybe that would be enough to dull the pain of his loss? Not only the loss of his sibling and father, but also the loss of his purpose.
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Now picture Miquella. Making the final preparations to begin his ascension. Only there’s one problem. His consort has abandoned him at the very last moment. As it turns out, it seems Radahn never really cared for Miquella or his visions for a new age, he was only really in it for his own gain.
Imagine how devastated Miquella would be. Knowing that yet another one of his plans had fallen apart at the finish line. That the person he trusted to rule alongside him didn’t even hesitate to abandon him when it was no longer convenient for him.
His ascension to godhood would never happen. He would never be able to heal his sister. He would never be able to bring forth an age of compassion. He would never be able to right the wrongs of the past.
He had failed again.
Now imagine how furious this would make his people. How angry his followers and his sister would be to see Miquella rejected at such a pivotal moment. To see him mourning a consortship and an age that would never come to pass.
Is there really any wonder that they chose to march towards Caelid and deliver the promised consort by force?
The quiet tragedy of shadow of the erdtree is playing through the DLC, encountering cross after cross along your journey and slowly coming to the haunting realisation that Miquella, the person you’ve been tailing throughout the entirety of the DLC, the creator of the Haligtree and protector of its denizens, the most fearsome and kind demigod of them all… Is long dead.
He’s not at the divine gates seeking godhood. Not really. The person known as Miquella is buried at the base of each and every cross in the land. Survived only by a few select ailing entities. St. Trina, slowly wilting at the bottom of the world, The Scadutree avatar who inherited his greatrune, and Miquella the Kind at the very peak of Enir-Ilim.
He not only abandoned his flesh, but went so far as to fracture his very soul. His doubts, his fear, his love. All abandoned in an attempt to fashion a perfect god. To right the wrongs of his mother and people and finally bring the world peace.
His flesh, his power, his birthright, his fate, his fear, his doubts, his love… after leaving all that behind, how much of what’s left is actually Miquella?
Miquella may have hurt many people in his quest for godhood, but he himself was never spared from that very same pain. He may have stripped Radahn and Mohg of their dignity and sense of self to fashion into the perfect consort, but he was just as willing to do the same to himself to fashion into the perfect god.
I just realised that this idea also tracks with their remembrance. The remembrance we receive from beating them isn’t “remembrance of the promised consort” or “remembrance of the kind” it's “remembrance of a god and a lord” it’s Radahn(Mohg) and Miquella together, as one.
It’s the only remembrance in the entire game that names multiple beings in its title, and to my knowledge, the only one that grants items related to different characters.
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This is sort of an unrelated thought but It’s also worth mentioning that in its description it refers to its owner as “Radahn, consort of Miquella” as if it were one being it was related to, despite it clearly being two. Which reminds me of how Godfrey is in some capacity, Serosh and Hoarah Loux together as one. Neither is ultimately more or less important in making up “Godfrey” as the other. Which could also further explain the striking similarities between Godfrey and Consort of Miquella.
Thinking about how Miquella and Radahn as a single boss are the perfect representation of all 3 demigod sibling groups.
Miquella - Marika & Radagon
Radahn - Rennala & Radagon
Mohg - Marika & Godfrey
Not only that but they also represent all 3 magic types.
Faith - Miquella’s holy magic
Intelligence - Radahn’s gravity magic
Arcane - Mohg’s bloodflame magic
The 3 of them converge into one being. Mohg’s body, Radahn’s soul and Miquella’s mind all working in perfect harmony. To become one.
Thinking about how Miquella and Radahn as a single boss are the perfect representation of all 3 demigod sibling groups.
Miquella - Marika & Radagon
Radahn - Rennala & Radagon
Mohg - Marika & Godfrey
Not only that but they also represent all 3 magic types.
Faith - Miquella’s holy magic
Intelligence - Radahn’s gravity magic
Arcane - Mohg’s bloodflame magic
The 3 of them converge into one being. Mohg’s body, Radahn’s soul and Miquella’s mind all working in perfect harmony. To become one.
I don't think a game has ever made me feel as physically ill as elden ring did when I found out about how Miquella was using Mohg.
I always had a sneaking suspicion that Mohg's obsession with Miquella had something to do with his charming ability, but never really had much more than a hunch to go off of.
Finding out that that hunch was not only correct, but also how much deeper the rabbit hole went made me feel genuinely sick. He didn’t just charm Mohg, he somehow used him to gain access to the land of shadow, abandoned him and then stole his still warm corpse to desecrate into an entirely different form to house the soul of the consort he actually wanted.
Mohg doesn’t even get a footnote in his little “thank you” speech at the gate of divinity. To him, we were more impactful in his plans coming to fruition for inadvertently delivering Radahn’s soul to him than the person who got him into the land of shadow in the first place. The person who died to become the vessel of his king consort.
I don't know why this part of the game specifically had me feeling so disgusted, it's not really something I can explain. There's just something about this character that was put on such a high pedestal by the world around him, and who has received unconditional love throughout his entire life, weaponizing that very same love against someone that probably struggled with it for most of his life and used it to manipulate, take advantage of and isolate him.
And then when one of his knights comes looking for justice, for the freedom of his master, Miquella just charms him too, burying his memories of his devotion to his lord and stealing him for his own followers.
He stripped Mohg of absolutely everything and used him for his own gain until the very end and beyond. For me, Miquella’s age of compassion died the moment he decided doing that was acceptable.
desperate to do a Mohg deep dive after all the DLC content on him. There's just... so much.
Ansbach's entire demeanour seems completely backwards compared to modern Mohgwyn loyalists we know of. He holds Mohg is such incredibly high regard, and is probably one of, if not the most respectful warrior in a fromsoft game. Were the other pureblood knights like this? What happened to them? Why is Ansbach the only one left?
What could Mohg have been like to install such loyalty and respect in one of his followers, to the point where they'd face a newly born god just to do right in his name?
What caused Ansbach to decide to challenge Miquella in the first place? What tipped him off that Mohg was being used? How long were they interacting before this happened?
Was the Mohgwyn Dynasty always a vicious murder cult? was their once more to the group before Mohg's charming? If there wasn't, why didn't Miquella use his bewitchment of Mohg to stop it? Did he indorse Mohg's actions? Did he incite them.
"Miquella being alone in Caelid post battle of Aionia doesn't make any sense timeline wise"
Have people forgotten that half of this family can astral project?
Shadow of the Erdtree spoilers
It just occurred to me that if Miquella wanted Mohg to stop his murder cult shenanigans then it was fully in his power to make that happen, as we see with his influence over Leda. So that just begs the question of why he wouldn't stop him.
It definitely wasn't a boundary thing as Miquella's been shown time and time again to not care less about how the opposite party feels when it comes to bewitchment.
I also doubt it was solely to get Mohg killed for his corpse either, because Mohg already had a massive target on his back just by proxy being a shardbearer. There was no need for him to continue the blood cult thing so violently for someone to come after him.
So why would Miquella allow Mohg to continue ravaging the lands between? He's one of the most powerful figure heads in the game and definitely has some of, if not the most followers aswell. Varre, Nerijus, all of the sanguine nobles, Anastasia and Eleanora all travel the lands between causing Chaos and Miquella does nothing. It's almost like he wants this to happen.
It gets me thinking about Eleanora and Yura... How despite being a proud knight she renounced everything for seemingly no reason, to become a bloodthirsty killer. How she devoted herself to Mohg despite holding the very item capable of countering him, as if she actively opposed him at some point. How she seemed almost bewitched by bloodlust. How the festering finger the killers have seemingly has a hold on them, to the point where Yura believes slicing it off would be enough to free her. As if her actions are no longer her own, and haven't been for a long, long time.
...
Maybe Miquella didn't want Mohg to stop.
Maybe he helped him continue for as long as possible.
The stronger the body, the stronger his consort would be when he returns.
Like raising a pig for the slaughter.
It's absolutely heart breaking.
something else that I can't stop thinking about is how good Ansbach is despite being a follower of the Mohgwyn dynasty. Throughout the entire base game, all of Mohg followers are so cruel and twisted. All they care for is shedding blood, no matter who's it might be. But Ansbach is different. He's kind, and loyal and forgiving. And seeing someone like that hold Mohg in such high regards… It just makes me wonder what he and his dynasty might have been like before Miquella sunk his claws into Mohg's heart.
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This isn't even touching upon the fact that Radahn himself almost definitely rejected Miquella's request to be his consort. The dude's a golden order loyalist that thrives on the battle ground. I don't see him suddenly siding with Miquella to make the world a "gentler place." Especially since him and Malenia got into such a violent battle during the shattering. And how there's no record anywhere in the game about the connection between Miquella and Radahn.
Because it's entirely one sided.
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I feel so incredibly bad for everyone Miquella used his powers to manipulate. They all deserved better.
Mohg deserves an apology
Knowing that he was used and manipulated all along hurts, but the fact that his corpse was violated and disrespected in such a way actually makes me want to vomit. Mohg didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to be bewitched he didn't deserve to be fed pretty lies that made him go mad he didn't deserve to be used as fodder for the tarnished and he didn't deserve to treated like this in death. It makes me so sad. At least morgott had a choice, at least morgott died in his father's arms. Mohg gets nothing. Nothing but desecrated and disrespected. The only one who fought for his honor was ansbach. the amount of pain he must have felt knowing his beloved lord and master was used as a puppet for so long, only to be desecrated and used to feed miquellas selfish wish. Miquella was never once a victim. Mohg was the victim all along. And we don't even get a fitting consolation prize after avenging him.
Do you know how grossed out I am. I was like wait why does radahn have horns on his arms and then the realization hits me because it's mohgs body they used. Miquella used mohgs dead body as the vessel for radahn. And you kill them both. In the end I guess radahn got what he wanted he wanted to be related to Godfrey. Just sucks he had to violate mohgs body to do that.
One thing I’ve been thinking about recently that I just cannot get out of my head is why Marika shattered the elden ring? I mean, it’s all well and good to just say “Oh it’s because she was driven mad by the death of Godwyn of course” but I just don’t think that’s quite right. Not only does it feel weird to assume the shattering was just some spur of the moment decision done in an emotional outburst when it was very clearly planned in quite a lot of detail but it also doesn’t really add up with the timeline since Godfrey was presumably sent out of the lands between long before Godwyn died and that seems to be a massive part of what Marika’s plan was.
I think I’ve come up with a semi possible alternative reason as to what could have driven Marika to destroy her own order.
Ok hear me out here.
What if she instead betrayed her order because of what happened to her omen children? I mean, think about it. They are still her children after all and she had to abandon both of them as infants to a life of hell because the greater will (or the golden order, could be both) doesn’t like Omens.
We know that the GW was a pretty controlling (and rather petty) god when it was in power so it definitely had the ability and motive to strong arm Marika into doing things she wouldn’t want to. Even if she did want to keep the twins with her, what choice would she have had with that sort of being looming over her head 24/7?
Imagine how much that would destroy your faith in a system. Her own children, subjected to a life of pain and ridicule because of the way they were born all because her god (or society) says so.
I find it hard to believe that she wouldn’t at least have some conflicted feelings over the whole ordeal.
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I think the biggest evidence I have here is the fact that the omen twins were not only gifted greatrunes upon the rings shattering (something only granted to Marika’s offspring) but Morgott was even ‘given grace’, which is something Marika has a lot of control over.
Even after being born omens and being abandoned early on in their lives Marika still considered them enough of her kin to be given a chance in the shattering race. Now you could argue that them getting their greatrunes was just a happy accident but I really don’t think the same could be said about Morgott being grace given. That seems like a very conscious decision.
We can even see that Godfrey himself had some sense of fondness (or at least respect) for Morgott from the way he holds and speaks to him in his opening boss cutscene, is it really so out of the question that Marika may have felt the same?
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TLDR
What if Marika having to abandon her Omen children because of the greater will and golden order was the catalyst that began her plot to shatter the ring and end her own order?
Star Theory: Elden Ring outer gods and the 'nature of the universe'
(I'm feeling particularly neurotic so you're suffering with me)
SO, in case you aren't aware, which is entirely possible i barely knew of it before, but stars have life cycles! Which is weird, right? And the fact that it's never brought up in Elden Ring despite the fact there's this sense that Markia and everyone is supposed to be old as hell? And there's an entire academy dedicated to learning of the stars?
Well, dear reader, do I have the explanation for you! This will be long winded, so bear with me! And if there's someone who's already done this, you should probably listen to them instead!
first and foremost, stars are made up of conflicting forces, gravity pushing in, heat pushing out. But, to keep things more poetic, and in line with the whole fantasy aspect of elden ring, let's call it the Devouring aspect and the Creation aspect. Gravity creates pressure, trying to devour itself, but creates it's own feed to feast upon. Easy to follow?
As such, everything exists in perpetuity, creating itself and living in cycles? Or more importantly, every action has its equal opposite reaction. Life begets death, so on so forth. So everything lives in duality, having one part of itself necessary to oppose to creat more of it.
now, that's just how a star works, but there's more than one type of star, and thus life cycles.
this is a more rudimentary visual, but it gets the point across, alright?
Quick to start, let's cover backstory (or at least what I assume the backstory is) of the One Great, Greater Will, and what not for a quick understanding. But keep the visual in mind!
First, we can safely (?) assume that the One Great from Hyetta's dialog is likely in reference to the big bang in some capacity, so that's the beginning of the universe covered. One Greats dead, created everything, blah blah blah.
Next! As said in something about the glinstone sorcerer Azur(?) he witnessed the Greater Will's death, where it likely then became a Black Hole (the mass death of stars around it?) [Comet Azur and the Primeval Current is likely in reference to the nature of the expanding universe, akin to how water spreads out from a droplet of water, just on a mass scale i guess, given it almosg looks like rushing water to me]
Wverything after that and during when the Greater Will was up and running? no idea, not really important for my argument anyways.
So where does that leave Metyr and Elden Beast? Well, Metyr has the Neutron star attack, and given that she's the prodigal daughter of a dead god, it seems like she witnessed at least some of the death maybe? Or is at least aware of the 'end' of gods in something capacity, maybe. Elden Beast however seem more like stabilized core of a star given its veins of gold, and given that the Greater Will was a God of Order, it makes sense that at least one of them seems somewhat stable. (Sorry Metyr)
On to the outer gods and the necessity of duality!
As you can see, there are multiple forms of stars! Red and Yellow as main focal, with maybe othefs?
So! Let's start with the obvious,
The Blood Star- red? Check. Small or large? Eh. Formless Mother? What?
As I said about duality, and stars, one begets the other. The Devouring agent and the Creation agent.
Specifically, let's take a quick detour through religious inspiration. And I'm gonna make this quick.
*There is this belief that a whole being is made up two people, one masculine one feminine. Greeks had it in the creation mythos of man, and there's probably a Buddah or two that have the same shtick, unfortunately I'm not overly familiar with that game, but you get my point.
And in some eastern beliefs, i believe Taoism, there is a dichotomy between the masculine and feminine. One physical and other spiritual, repectively*
Point is, if stars can represent outer gods, and a whole being is made up of two. Than it's likey that Devouring agent and Creation agent have their respective gods conjoined into one star but still separate identities! (So Marika and Radagon?)
-The easiest outer gods to apply this logic to are the ones I mentioned up top, The Blood Star and Formless Mother. Both deal in blood, one masculine and demanding sacrifice of blood in the physical, with the whole history of blind prisoners. while the Formless Mother 'asks' for blood with 'promises' of something in return, a bargain like upping Mohgs wings to a latger size, and has a more creation aspect given the Mother moniker. As well as 'gifting' her blood to people, such as Mohg, and a piece of her flesh in the DLC blood fiends cult cave place that they apparently ate. Perharps, some kind of desire to be devoured in the sense of missing a whole part of the self where life is born from death? Through the pressure of the star then creating heat?
-Next would be: The Rot! I think that with the whole Lake of Rot being a more red-red color, it was defeated by the blind swordsman(? right?) when it was in its masculine phase, and then switched over into the more feminine side, trying to spread it's influence through any means necessary as a dying star! Thus taking on a more pinker color through Romina's bud, being 'born anew' by it in some capacity and also seemingly taking nest in feminine figures, Romina and Melania! (Also through Milicent being 'born' of Melania through odd means?)
-The Twin Birds would likely be a blue star in some capacity, likely quite large given that they represent death and all that. However, that's as far as I can get really. And death has its whole thing going on with Godwyn as well and I just don't wanna touch it.
-The Fell God and The God Devoring Serphant (Not the Abyssal Serphant) are kind of intertwined due to proximity, and the giants forge having serphants on it. As well as Rykard and Eiglay being in a volcano, as opposed to the giants forge being on a mountain top surrounded by snow. Life, Death. Fire, Ice. Duality, ya know?
-The Abyssal Serphant likely exists in duality to the One Great rather than something more simple, which is why it snake imagery slips into everything despite everything being born of the One Great. Abyssal Serphant devours, the One Great, creates. Not specifically a star, but it's good to get it out of the way now real quick. But will show up later! And it's similar to Dark Souls!
-The Frenzied Flame, the big doozey. You know how I said everything exists in duality? Well, what better way for duality to exist then for duality to be dual in itself? If you want 2, you can't just have the single number, you need two! So why not 2 and 3? Confused yet? Duality needs duality to be duality. As such, Order is Chaos. That easy.
-The Greater Will and The Frenzied Flame, are two sides of the same coin. Creating order, the other wanting to burn it all down. A microcosm of the One Great and The Abyssal Serphant pretty much. The first wanting to continually exist in perpetuity creating, the other a harbinger of the end itself. Heat death of the universe pretty much, i guess.
-The moons?
I don't wanna talk about the moons. In our guiding stars very own lordly words, Count Ymir, they are simply the closest celestial bodies. (I'm lying)
Okay so what's up with tem? Are they gods? No? Then what are they? If they are gods, then why isn't there a god of the Lands Between? It's a terrestrial body isn't it? If the moon is like greek myth, the titan Selene, where is Gaia?
Well, that's where Marika (and Radagon) come in. So, as we learned in the DLC, a god requires a lord, and when we finish the main game, unless we choose Ranni's ending, we become Marika's consort. So, perhaps it's something similar to such? The necessity of duality?
-My leading theory, with everything else already explained, is that maybe the Greater Will was an outer god, killed Placidsaxes god? In some way? And then needed some kind of 'vessel' to keep the lands intact and in order. Thus, Marika. The chosen Empyrian. (The Gloam Eyed Queen is likely another Abyssal Serphant coming up through the cracks of creation, in opposition to the One Great/Greater Will 'lineage'? It's another microcosm)
-But then Radagon? How? well, if a god requires two forces acting against each other, makes sense that he's the masculine force to Marikas feminine and spiritual, whole shaman thing, side. Thus creating a whole god, but yet only one i regarded as a god, with Radagon yet to become her; in that famous line Melina tells us.
-But then Ranni? And Miquella? Well, Miquella got his consort, and divested himself of his femininity; when it likely made him a true god in the first place or at least the empyrian in the lead to godship, but we kill him so who knows.
And Ranni is backed by the moon. And I don't wanna talk about the stupid moons and her four arms. She divested herself of her flesh anyways, so who knows!
-The shadow bound beasts aren't even really fleshed out, Miquella doesn't seem to have one, so I'm not sure where they stand in all this. Maybe they really are just failsafes and Miquella didn't need one because he wasn't going in a drastic direction according to the Greater Will (technically Metyr but whatevs)
yeah and I think that's it. thanks for reading!