Recurring symbol at Castle Sol and Farum Azula

[Facetable]

*Spoilers ahead*
Update/short version: There appears to be a pattern throughout the game of 8 things surrounding one larger thing.

So far we’ve noticed it with:
- A recurring ring pattern symbol at Castle Sol, Farum Azula, and Greyroll’s bridge

-Fire giant/Fell god eye pupils

-Marika/Radagon and their 8 children

-Elden Beast (8 wings + rest of body)
______________________
So I just went to grab the AD somber at that one gazebo in farum azula noticed that there's a symbol there that is also present on the rooftop of Castle Sol

Farum Azula
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934596545

Castle Sol
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934596577

It looks like its a bunch of rings linked together, or maybe a sun/flower.

Also another thing, the eye/Fell god inside the fire giant may also be referencing this pattern as main pupil+surrounding pupils seems to make a similar pattern (8 rings surrounding one ring, 8 pupils surrounding one pupil)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934602367

Anyone know if this symbol pops up anywhere else? Or have any guesses as to what it might be referencing?

[Citizen of Zozo]

Good eye. (No pun intended.) It could mean nothing... but as you say, it could be reference to the Fell God. We know basically nothing about that entity except that it presumably ruled over the Fire Giants and Trolls.
Who knows what ancient alliances or understandings could have existed between the giants and the dragons? Impossible to know. It's not something I expected to ever get more information on.

Castle Sol seems to have forces occupying it dedicated to Miquella/Godwyn, but I have doubts that they were always the masters of that castle. The Fire Monks are the faction that is *supposed* to be in that region, acting as guardians of the Flame of Ruin. They could have easily lost control of the castle at some point. Possibly when they committed their forces to Liurnia in order to hunt down the thief of fire, Adan.
If that's the case, then Fell God imagery makes perfect sense at Castle Sol. The ghost knights can hang up all the eclipse banners they want, they still didn't build that castle.

[Facetable]

Originally posted by Citizen of Zozo:

Good eye. (No pun intended.) It could mean nothing... but as you say, it could be reference to the Fell God. We know basically nothing about that entity except that it presumably ruled over the Fire Giants and Trolls.
Who knows what ancient alliances or understandings could have existed between the giants and the dragons? Impossible to know. It's not something I expected to ever get more information on.

Castle Sol seems to have forces occupying it dedicated to Miquella/Godwyn, but I have doubts that they were always the masters of that castle. The Fire Monks are the faction that is *supposed* to be in that region, acting as guardians of the Flame of Ruin. They could have easily lost control of the castle at some point. Possibly when they committed their forces to Liurnia in order to hunt down the thief of fire, Adan.
If that's the case, then Fell God imagery makes perfect sense at Castle Sol. The ghost knights can hang up all the eclipse banners they want, they still didn't build that castle.

Interesting, if its possible Castle Sol was there long before, I wonder if its related to the Sun Realm

There's a shield in the game (Sun Realm Shield) that talks about how long ago there was an empire known as the Seat of the Sun. Given that the Castle's name is straight up referencing the sun it seems possible that it could have some relation

Also one thing that just occurred to me is that while the Sun Realm Shield can drop several locations in the overworld... one of those locations is from undead wearing red sun capes on the cliff just above Castle Sol... and another is from undead beastmen near the dragon temple lift grace in Farum Azula

(Red sun cape undead do show up in other places though. Ex: in between summonwater and saintsbridge)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934620186

Unfortunately, that's about where my pattern recognition stops at the moment. Really interesting stuff though, hope the DLC expands on it

[Sabaithal]

Faraam Azula is ancient, older than Leyndell and the Erdtree I suspect. We know if has obvious significance to dragons, but there is some to suggest that the Gloam-Eyed-Queen resided there at some point as well.

The rune of death, which was separated from the Elden Ring BEFORE the shattering was present here, and still is when the player shows up (Maliketh has it). That leads me to believe there is likely a connection between Faraam Azula and the current Elden Ring.

[Facetable]

Ok kinda an update/speculation but I just realized something

There are 7 great runes that we can acquire in the game:
Godrick’s
Rennala’s
Radahn’s
Rykard’s
Morgott’s
Mohg’s
Malenia’s

I’m not entirely sure what the 8th ring would be in this scenario (maybe it was lost with Godwin’s death and/or is one of the mending runes?) but when considering this there was an idea that came to mind

We can see that the Elden Ring appeared to have a different form once upon a time given the depiction in the Maliketh fight room. So what if the recurring symbol here is a depiction of what the Elden Ring once was?

This feels way more speculative than the other stuff, but I kept looping on it after realizing how close the number of great runes (rings) that we find in game is to the pattern

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by Facetable:

I’m not entirely sure what the 8th ring would be in this scenario (maybe it was lost with Godwin’s death and/or is one of the mending runes?) but when considering this there was an idea that came to mind

We can see that the Elden Ring appeared to have a different form once upon a time given the depiction in the Maliketh fight room. So what if the recurring symbol here is a depiction of what the Elden Ring once was?

That's one of the major theories. The thing is there isn't enough backing it up to say anything with certainty.

We know there was a time before the Erdtree, the crucible used to be a thing, and the Elden Ring was said to be sent from the greater will...but sent from where? Faraam azula, and the rune of death being separate prior to the shattering implies the Elden Ring may have in fact been reshaped instead of just "created".

[Citizen of Zozo]

Originally posted by Facetable:

Ok kinda an update/speculation but I just realized something

There are 7 great tunes that we can acquire in the game:
Godrick’s
Rennala’s
Radahn’s
Rykard’s
Morgott’s
Mohg’s
Malenia’s

I’m not entirely sure what the 8th ring would be in this scenario (maybe it was lost with Godwin’s death and/or is one of the mending runes?) but when considering this there was an idea that came to mind

We can see that the Elden Ring appeared to have a different form once upon a time given the depiction in the Maliketh fight room. So what if the recurring symbol here is a depiction of what the Elden Ring once was?

This feels way more speculative than the other stuff, but I kept looping on it after realizing how close the number of great runes (rings) that we find in game is to the pattern

The Elden Ring is, as far as I can tell, a Sephiroth Tree. A multi-layered symbol that is supposed to represent the 'body of the universe' in alchemy. I only say this because of all the inspiration clearly drawn from alchemy and mysticism by Fromsoft throughout the game. Am I correct in this? I have no idea. Haha. I could be.
We only obtain 7 runes in-game, but there are supposed to be 10 runes in a complete Sephiroth Tree. What a surprise (it's not a surprise) that they are separated into groups of three... with one final rune standing alone. Just like the three groups of three children of Radagon/Marika.

Kether: Supreme Crown, Initial Will

Chochma: Wisdom, Seed of all Things

Bina: Intelligence, Upper Matrix
_
Chessed: Love, Mercy, Goodness

Gebura: Severity, Punitive Power

Tiphereth: Generosity, Splendour, Beauty
_
Nezach: Constant Endurance, Victory

Hod: Magnificence, Majesty

Jesod: Ground of all Procreative Powers
_
Malkuth: Kingdom, the Dwelling of God in Creation.

We are missing Ranni's rune (which she presumably cast aside), Maliketh's rune of death, and... Melina's rune?

[rkmugen]

One construction company for the entire Lands Between. Now THAT is a successful monopoly, as i've ever seen. lol.

[Don Lobo]

The same motif is used in the Greyoll's bridge:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934926942

I only know 'cause I make note of it like 3 days ago. Don't really know how to connect the dots though haha

[lashed1]

Originally posted by Facetable:

Ok kinda an update/speculation but I just realized something

There are 7 great tunes that we can acquire in the game:
Godrick’s
Rennala’s
Radahn’s
Rykard’s
Morgott’s
Mohg’s
Malenia’s

I’m not entirely sure what the 8th ring would be in this scenario (maybe it was lost with Godwin’s death and/or is one of the mending runes?) but when considering this there was an idea that came to mind

We can see that the Elden Ring appeared to have a different form once upon a time given the depiction in the Maliketh fight room. So what if the recurring symbol here is a depiction of what the Elden Ring once was?

This feels way more speculative than the other stuff, but I kept looping on it after realizing how close the number of great runes (rings) that we find in game is to the pattern

Miquella

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by Citizen of Zozo:

We are missing Ranni's rune (which she presumably cast aside), Maliketh's rune of death, and... Melina's rune?

All three are connected to the Rune of Death. Of which currently Maliketh possesses. Ranni once possessed a fragment of it, stolen from maliketh, though I don't know if she ever possessed the entire thing or not.

As for Melina...look it up, its complicated. She either possessed the rune of death, or she was able to call upon its power without needing to possess it, I'm not clear on which.

[Facetable]

Originally posted by Don Lobo:

The same motif is used in the Greyoll's bridge:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934926942

I only know 'cause I make note of it like 3 days ago. Don't really know how to connect the dots though haha

Oh cool there’s more of them

This seems to tie in with the Farum Azula one. as the bestial sanctum+surrounding ruins are all of the same construction as Farum Azula

Given that the bridge is named after Greyroll herself plus the other one in farum azula, it seems to imply that the symbol has some connection to the ancient dragons and/or can at least be dated back to them (possibly even earlier?)

[Sabaithal]

It should be noted that 8-ringed symbol does somewhat resemble the sun. Of which the sun is technically a "star" but is much closer to the world than the others, there is a physical sun in the game in fact.

Considering there is a giant glowing tree (even at night) in the middle of the map, yet there is an actual sun with a proper model in the sky I sincerely doubt that was just coincidence.

[Facetable]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

It should be noted that 8-ringed symbol does somewhat resemble the sun. Of which the sun is technically a "star" but is much closer to the world than the others, there is a physical sun in the game in fact.

Considering there is a giant glowing tree (even at night) in the middle of the map, yet there is an actual sun with a proper model in the sky I sincerely doubt that was just coincidence.

YES this, definitely this

The fact that the devs included a sun in a game that obviously does not need one is kinda screams that the sun has more significance than just a day/night cycle

Also just occurred to me: While there's plenty of places where we can see the sun... we can't actually see the sun in Farum Azula. There are rays of what look like sunlight, but they seem to have no source or the source is blocked by the clouds

More speculation here but: Wonder if the sun not being visible has anything to do with the god that left Placidusax

[1337schall]

this is a great thread. thanks for sharing your findings!

[Citizen of Zozo]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Originally posted by Citizen of Zozo:

We are missing Ranni's rune (which she presumably cast aside), Maliketh's rune of death, and... Melina's rune?

All three are connected to the Rune of Death. Of which currently Maliketh possesses. Ranni once possessed a fragment of it, stolen from maliketh, though I don't know if she ever possessed the entire thing or not.

As for Melina...look it up, its complicated. She either possessed the rune of death, or she was able to call upon its power without needing to possess it, I'm not clear on which.

Hm. I'm not ready to abandon the 10 rune theory just yet. Miquella could have a rune? Godwyn might even have one. There may even be an unclaimed rune that found its way somewhere. Still, the 8 rune theory has just as much chance of being true.

The 'great rune' of death seems to be splintered into so many pieces that we do not receive it from Maliketh when we defeat him. I wonder if Fromsoft will do anything with that in the future.

EDIT: I was watching someone fight Elden Beast and I realized... Elden Beast has 8 wings. Then again it also has a tail and a head. So it could STILL be 8 or 10! Argh!