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unalloyed-thoughts · 1 month

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Miquella and Saint Trina: Talking about sleep and duality in Elden Ring.

The lands between is filled with quaint and unique characters, from the giant skeletons to the wraith calling revenants, Many of these characters have little lore to go off of which makes them very compelling to players who can only wonder what their stories are. Out of all of this characters, St. Trina stands out to me, for being a character thats tied to one of the big names in the setting yet so little is known about them. In this post i hope to touch on what i think of this character and the themes that surrounds them.

St. Trina is probably the most enigmatic and intriguing part of Miquella's story line, Described as a misteryous figure that appears in people's dreams, little to nothing is known about them in the current version of the game. Indeed, Trina harbors quite a lot of cut content which we will tackle later. But anyway if one thing is clear about their character is the following: Miquella is St. Trina. The game doesnt explicitly tell you but it drops little hints to help you reach that conclusion throughout the game. the first and most obvious is the lilies, Miquella has lilies tied to his name, and so does st trina, both of this lilies look almost completely identical and its no mere coincidence.

Another connection is the fact that Trina lilies are included in the drop pool of cleanrot knights, warriors that served under Malenia, and by extension, Miquella. After all it makes sense, Trina lilies are an item that dulls the senses, helping you sleep, and Scarlet rot is described as giving its victim terrible nightmares. Yet another connection comes in the form of a Fevor cookbook, Fevor was an individual who was completely obsessed with trina, it is said that he sought her out through his dreams. This cookbook is given to you by gideon after locating Mohgwyn palace, the place Miquella is located, but not only that, This cookbook gives you the recipe to craft the bewitching branch, an item made by Miquella.

Finally, Trina's torch is located in snowfield, an area tied to Miquella. Also, the albinauric archers located there drop trina arrows as part of their loot pool.

So with all that said its pretty clear that Trina and Miquella are the same individual, but in what way? Duality and the capacity to represent multiple aspects is a common theme in elden ring, We see many characters that have some form of alter ego or some deep connection to another character. Empyreans in particular, as stated by miyazaki in one of his interviews, Have the capacity to embody multiple aspects, this is seen most vividly in Marika, who shares her body with Radagon.

So there is a precedent for two completely different characters sharing the same body. So its not strange to see that the most common theory regarding Trina and Miquella is that they are different characters that share a body, after all Miquella's parents are Marika and Radagon, people who share this duality, it would only make sense for the son to share that same atribute with his parents when when we know he is also another character, in the form of Trina, that plus the meaning behind Trina's name, meaning "Triple", additionally it can also mean "pure". So Trina could easily fit as a third character existing in the sphere of the cursed empyrean twins, being the female counterpart to Miquella, much like Radagon is the male counterpart to Marika

Yet i also want to open another possibility, one of Miquella being trina in the most literal way, as in, Trina is nothing more than an alter ego that Miquella used while moonlighting through the lands between in peoples dreams. We see many different characters adopt alter ego's to carry out some duty before being revealed to be someone else, the earliest example is how Ranni introduces herself as Renna until we meet her and she reveals that she is in fact the lunar princess Ranni. Another early example is how morgott disguises himself as Margit, assuming the guise of the fell omen to protect leyndell and slay countless heroes during the shattering.

So we can see that all these characters carry on the theme of adopting multiple personalities and alter ego's to achieve a certain objective, of course these two characters carry out a certain naming scheme that Trina doesnt share, Margit is alot closer to Morgott than Trina is to Miquella name-wise. Yet there is a character whose alter ego has a completely different name, this one being Maliketh.

The first time we encounter Maliketh its through his alter ego, Gurranq, the beast clergy man, who seems to command different individuals to hunt out deathroot and deliver it to him so he can consume it. It isnt until the very end of the game that we learn that Gurranq is in fact Maliketh the black blade, Marika's shadowbound beast. So again, we see someone using a different identity to work on achieving a certain objective. So i think that this could be the case with trina, merely being a second identity used by Miquella to seek out something in the world of dreams, be it aiding those in despair or hunting for secrets. Another piece of evidence that may favour Trina being simply an alter ego is St Trina's sword, which says the following:

St. Trina is an enigmatic figure. Some say she is a comely young girl, others are sure he is a boy. The only certainty is that their appearance was as sudden as their disappearance.

I feel like a lot of people gloss over the Sword description, but i think its pretty important, even tho Fevor's cookbook describes Trina as female, the sword throws us a curve ball and explains how there isnt even a consensous on what this mysterious figure's gender is, only that they are a child (Much like we allready know Miquella is an eternal child) and that they dissappeared rather suddenly much like Miquella has also vanished (this could have happened at multiple times: when miquella encased himself in the cocoon, when he got captured by mohg or when he went into the lands of shadow). Their gender being unknown makes sense, Miquella is a young child with long flowing hair, he is naturally androgynous, so when witnessing his figure in your slumber, it would make sense that you wouldnt be able to tell exactly what or who you are looking at. Also the hilt of the sword depicts trina themselves, a figure with long flowing hair and long robes, much like how Miquella is depicted in statues in the game.

Another thing to consider is what i was saying before about the dual nature empyreans posess, one defining feature about them is how they are at odds with the other aspect they represent: -Ranni is at odds with her empyrean flesh and the fate forced upon her -Malenia is at odds with her rot and battles it throughout her life -Marika is at odds with Radagon, who whishes to perpetuate the golden order while Marika whishes to shatter it. Miquella seems to be the exception to the norm as Trina's and his motivations seem to overlap, particularly in cut content, Trina was much more linked to bringing peace and slumber to those afflicted with frenzy (particularly the merchant's, who would tell you in their cut content, which has been documented and can be found on youtube, that the song they play was once sung to them by Trina) and as we know, the only thing that can supress the flame of frenzy if inherited by the player is Miquella's needle.

In general sleep is shown to be Frenzy's opposite yet at the same time they share something in common.

If frenzy is the violent expression of despair and wish to turn that into a destructive force to bring an end to the world so despair no longer exists, sleep is a way of escaping the despair of the world, avoiding it by hiding in the world of dreams, where there is only peace. Of course not everything is sunshine and rainbows in the world of dreams, as sleep is described as addictive and all ecompassing, compared to a quagmire, it traps you, making you wish you never woke up, after all why would you? its safe in the realm of slumber.

I think the fact that Dreambrew, a drink made by Rhico, a cut NPC, using gathered dream mist is an alcoholic beverage is particularly telling of this. Much like real alcohol, its addictive and it makes you feel good, to the point that you begin to rely on it.

Reeling Rhico is also a particularly interesting cut npc, this charismatic fellow presents himself as a priest of Trina, promising to prepare dreambrew for us if we gather dream mist for him using Trina's orb. This draft of Trina's story forcused more on followers of trina indulging in people's secrets through slumber, which fits Miquella's character, who is described as an intellectual sort, seeking out new knowledge at every turn. Rhico has some pretty neat lines, like this one: "Drink is a wonderful teacher. Imbibe and you will understand; this world's delights, and its futility." More of what i was talking about earlier, through drinking dreambrew and engaging in sleep people feel tired of the real world and seek the quietud of slumber. If we progress Rhico's questline it bring us in the end to Miquella's cocoon, where Rhico reveals that he has been in fact looking for Miquella all this time, and drops us his famous monologue:

"Finally, I have found it!

St. Trina's, no, Lord Miquella's cadaver.

I have partaken of untold secrets.

Such that I might aid you, O Lord.

So please, I hope you can welcome your humble servant Rhico,

Into your dream, the world of your heart.

Indeed, I beg you grant my wish

That when you transcend from empyrean to god, allow me a place by your side." What i find interesting here (besides the entire text, gosh i wish Rhico was still in the game) is how he first talks about Trina but then corrects himself and adresses his master as Miquella, thats who he truly served in the end. he has been indulging in secrets all this time, probably how he found out Trina was Miquella. Trina was just that, a simple alter ego, Miquella was just playing an act in the end. Of course ill say this is all cut content, and could be completely different from the finished product. I just thought it was worth mentioning. So anyway thats about it for now, kind of a messy post. These are just my thoughts and they could be proven wrong by the upcoming dlc. We know that there are gonna be new sleep spells and the trailer showed a very clearly trina coded area with new trina lilies and even a boss of its own, so we are getting some definitive answers and im really looking forward to them!

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