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slavonicrhapsody · 8 months

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Let’s talk about Mt. Gelmir

Mt. Gelmir is one of my favorite locations in the game because of its striking environmental storytelling… the minute you start exploring the slopes of the volcano, you can just FEEL that something awful happened here. The imagery is so potent that I wanted to go through every detail of the region and explore how it supports and expands the story we’re told through dialogue and text. Let’s start with the text on the Mt. Gelmir sword monument:

“The Assault on Volcano Manor

The squalid, the sick, the blasphemous;

A wretched, unending war with no glory”

This dismal description refers to Leyndell’s attack on Praetor Rykard’s forces at Volcano Manor. After the Shattering war broke out, Rykard declared his intention to take up arms against the Erdtree itself: this was not just treason, but blasphemy, marking him as “an enemy, never to be forgiven.” We can conclude that Rykard’s blasphemy was so unacceptable that Leyndell made it a priority to silence him as quickly as possible, sending an army straight to his doorstep. I believe it’s implied that Rykard had the Mt. Gelmir Minor Erdtree burned as his first act of blasphemy; we find the tree destroyed amidst a smoking ruin:

The assault on Volcano Manor, introduced to us by Gideon Ofnir as “the most appalling battle in the entirety of the Shattering,” was the site of some of the most horrific violence in the entire story. Traveling around Mt. Gelmir, we can observe the gruesome aftermath of the battle and the remnants of the armies continuing to struggle — some scattered groups of Leyndell soldiers remain, while the only troops left to Rykard are his marionettes and iron virgins, since his knights have long since deserted him after his hideous transformation. (Side note: I love the detail that Rykard uses marionettes and avionettes, which were “crafted to serve the sorcerers;” it further cements his identity as a sorcerer and his connection to his Liurnian heritage.) Despite having no real soldiers though, Rykard’s grim constructs seem to tear through the remaining soldiers of Leyndell with ease, which we can observe in real time:

The death toll of this conflict cannot be overstated — the slopes of Mt. Gelmir are literally piled high with bodies.

Within a pit of corpses, we can find the spirit of one of Rykard’s men, who says this:

“Lord Rykard… If this putrid field of death is what your blasphemy would bring, then I can no longer abide. No one can.”

These unspeakable horrors are enough to make Rykard’s followers question if the cost of resistance is too high a price. Leyndell’s armies are just as badly affected — stranded on the mountain with no hope of reinforcements, we can observe several soldiers feasting on the bodies of their fallen comrades:

These soldiers have long abandoned any hope of achieving glory, and are little more than mindless husks at this point. Furthermore, if we return to the sword monument, something you’ll notice as you make your way over is that there are several Leyndell soldiers who are affected by the frenzied flame. At the same time, the troll soldier guarding the door to the Manor is also affected by the frenzied flame:

The frenzied flame is affecting soldiers of both sides of the conflict here, which tells me it wasn’t being used as some kind of weapon, but that it took hold independently… I believe that the frenzied flame was embraced by the soldiers here due to the sheer hopelessness of those who have experienced this uniquely horrific battle. The ethos of the Three Fingers is essentially that the world is full of unendurable pain, so it must all be melted away so no one will suffer ever again: “the Greater Will made a mistake. Torment, despair, affliction... every sin, every curse. Every one, born of the mistake. […] Those who gave me grapes howled without words. Saying they wished they were never born. Become their lord. Take their torment, despair. Their affliction. Every sin, every curse. And melt it all away.” (Hyetta)

The soldiers who fought on Mt. Gelmir have experienced untold suffering, the very worst of humanity… it makes perfect sense that such people would be susceptible to the essence of the frenzied flame; to want to burn this tormented world to the ground.

#elden ring #elden ring lore #mt gelmir #rykard #rykard lord of blasphemy #i’ve seen people say before that this battle was a victory for leyndell which is completely insane to me #no one has achieved anything they set out to achieve #rykard never made it past mt gelmir. leyndell never broke volcano manor’s walls.#there are no winners here #only suffering #’a wretched unending war with no glory’

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onceuponaweirdo · 5 months

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There is never a dull moment in the mind of an overthinking overachiever perfectionist procrastinator

#overachiever #overthinking #perfectionist issues #perfectionism #procrastinator #neurodivergent #asd #recovery #my mind is a battle field #there are no winners here #its a 24/7 thing #mental health issues #bpd #autism spectrum disorder #neurodiversity #neurodiverse stuff

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jonlybonlyfromboldlygo · 5 months

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'Clean desk' policy versus adhd issues with object permanence - FIGHT

#there are no winners here #only one loser #and it is me #adhd

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mzannthropy · 3 months

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I've talked about the parallels between L.M. Montgomery's work and Gilmore Girls, and now, on my rewatch, in episode 4.8, Lane talks to Rory about a jug her mother wants to send Dave (who is now in California), she says it's a family jug to be given to the man she would marry.

Turns out it's just an ordinary jug, Mrs Kim made it up when Lane was a child. I think it's hilarious, in view of the Tangled Web Book Club, but there has to be an AU, in which Aunt Becky dies without holding the levee and the clan starts fighting over the jug, until a character who knows the truth, who has been away for a while, comes back to tell them it's just an ordinary jug she bought at a store, and that the original jug of the Darks was broken years ago and the shards were thrown away.

#tangled web bool club #a tangled web #l.m. montgomery #gilmore girls #parallels #lmmblogging #it's a million times funnier that they're fighting over nothing #there are no winners here #mypost

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willowcrowned · 1 year

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whoever wished I would start posting star wars content again I hope you’re happy.

#real monkey’s paw situation #there are no winners here #star wars

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amiracleilluminated · 8 months

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*calmes down their adhd and finally plays bg3 again*

*all the knowledge of act 1 rushes back to them, flaring up adhd, again*

*regret*

#there are no winners here #it's just me and my lust for that fucking druid. fighting in the trenches

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superchat · 8 months

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#Rts fucked up cuz i line the camera up with the skyline and the ground looks tilted #I alighn the camera up with the hills and the sky looks tilted #There are NO winners here

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mrd-gvf · 1 year

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Not Sebastian saying that Sam will challenge him to see who can eat the most soup if it turns out bad after I put Lewis’s shorts in it 💀 good luck with that

#stardew valley #and he’s like sam will win #not this time im afraid #there are no winners here

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bklynmusicnerd · 1 year

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Oh wow, look at Curtis making a move on his ex now that his current has disappointed him.

#general hospital #there are no winners here #i knew they were cocooning jordan for this lol #curtis ashford (loser)#jordan ashford #portia robinson

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alarminglybad · 7 months

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Everyone has been a contestant on this game show at some point

#game shows #gameshow #parenting #there are no winners here #comic #webcomic #alarmingly bad #funny #comic strip #comics #relatable #relatable af #parenting memes

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morebird · 5 months

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Close your eyes and submit.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 fanart #lae'zel #lae'zel of k'liir #bg3 lae'zel #spit in my mouth lae'zel #wait who said that #so here is everyone's favorite gith girlfriend #she was the winner of another “i need to draw more women please pick one” poll

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cremanata · 6 months

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♡ they're the hex girls, and they're gonna put a spell on you ♡

twitter | ig | patreon

#happy halloweeeeeeeeen!!!#the hex girls were the winners for my october fanart poll over on patreon so here they are just in time c:#hex girls #the hex girls #scooby doo #scooby doo fanart #halloween art #halloween fanart #my art

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turtleblogatlast · 1 month

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That middle child feel when you’re the one who successfully gets you and your siblings out of trouble only to immediately get jumped by them afterwards