Elden Ring’s DLC has players enter the Realm of Shadow, a hidden landmass with many new areas, bosses, and secrets to discover. Like in the base game, there is a giant tree that you can see from nearly anywhere in the overworld, but instead of emitting a golden glow, it is a dark and gloomy sight.
With a name like “Shadow of the Erdtree,” this tree and the original golden one are clearly related, but how so? A lot of players are confused about where exactly the DLC takes place, how we even get there, and what it means to the story as a whole that the place exists.
Spoilers For Shadow Of The Erdtree!
What Is The Realm Of Shadow?
The Realm of Shadow is a landmass hidden away from the rest of the Lands Between, but it was originally a part of it. If you look at the world map for the base game and the DLC, you’ll notice that the DLC map fits quite nicely in the middle of the base game, especially if you align the position of each Erdtree.
Of course, it isn’t a perfect fit, but storywise, this is where the landmass used to be. The areas on the north of the DLC are the ones that fit the best, while in the south, we see the arena of Bayle the Dread covering an area of Caelid, the same area where Farum Azula used to be.
Who Created The Realm Of Shadow?
The areas you can explore in the Realm of Shadow are mostly related to the origins of Marika and her ascension to godhood. She lived in the Shaman Village and, like her peers, was tormented by the Hornsent, but she weaved her way to the upper echelons of society until she gained access to the Divine Gateway.
Like many things in Marika’s life, we are missing many details as to how she gained the trust of the Hornsent. We do know she gained her divinity through seduction and betrayal.
Once she attained godhood, her first action was to seal away all records of her life, including the Shaman Village, the Hornsent, and even the Divine Gateway. She sealed this in the Realm of Shadow, a parallel dimension hidden away in the literal Shadow of the Erdtree.
She left her son, Messmer, in charge of this Realm, but that would mean that all records of him would also be forever lost. Messmer’s red hair indicates that he’s likely the son of Marika and Radagon, and due to the timeline of events, he might be Marika’s eldest son.
Messmer’s mission was to purge the Hornsent, burning all their settlements to the ground and making sure that none of them could escape the Realm of Shadow. This Realm was also used to hide away unwanted things, like the Dread Dragon Bayle and Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame.
How Do We Enter The Realm Of Shadow?
A confusing point for many players is exactly how we end up in the Realm of Shadow. Killing Mohg and Radahn is only required for story reasons, but to enter, all we do is take Miquella’s hand— a drained, corpse-like hand, but a hand nonetheless.
So the real question is: how did Miquella enter the Realm of Shadow?He allowed Mohg to kidnap him, even magically charmed him so it would come to pass. Therefore, we can assume that the state Miquella ends up in is required to enter that Realm.
A Realm Of Death
One popular theory is that Miquella needed to die in order to enter the Realm of Shadow. His state while in the cocoon is more like a cadaver than anything alive, and the DLC is filled with all sorts of ghostly graves, signaling that this might be one of the many places things go to after they die.
This is further emphasized by the Suppressing Pillar in the DLC, with a monument reading, “All manner of Death wash up here, only to be suppressed.” This would point to this Realm being one of Death, hence why being dead might be required to access it.
That same monument, however, also reads “The very center of the Lands Between,” meaning that it isn’t talking about the Realm of Shadow but the game world as a whole. That makes sense since all Tarnished (NPC or players) end up in the Lands Between after dying, so “Death” can’t be the real requirement.
A Realm Of Nightmares
Since the Realm of Shadow hides Marika's past traumas, it might be related to things that induce fear rather than a simple place to hide things. This theme permeates the entire DLC, including not only the story of Marika but also the previously mentioned Bayle and Lord of Frenzy.
This means that what Miquella needed was not dying but suffering enough to enter a nightmarish state. And he certainly suffered at the hands of Mohg, being constantly drained of blood and used as a vessel for the Formless Mother, an Outer God related to blood and flames.
We can imagine that suffering alone isn’t enough to enter the Realm of Shadow, but Miquella has a special connection to dreams thanks to his other half, St. Trina. She’s the patron of sleep, meaning that her suffering can easily be translated into nightmares.
If this is the case, it is still odd that Miquella left his body in Mohg’s arena while also discarding it in the Realm of Shadow. He might have needed to both die and suffer from nightmares, making the corpse we find only the discarded husk of Miquella, something oddly similar to what Ranni did when she killed her body with the Cursemark of Death.
