Summary

• The first trailer for Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC introduced a new character called Messmer the Impaler.
• Messmer may be Miquella and Malenia's brother, a third child of Marika and Radagon.
• There's also a possibility that Messmer is an alter ego of Miquella, as there are strong connections between the latter and his mother, Marika.

A full year after it was first announced, the DLC expansion for Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, has finally had more information revealed alongside a trailer. The highly anticipated DLC was announced in February 2023, a year after Elden Ring's release, but its reveal was accompanied by only a single image. As was the case with the base game before it, speculation over Shadow of the Erdtree has run rampant, but new details have shed light on a central figure known as Messmer the Impaler, who seems to have a close relationship to Miquella.

Now that inside the strange egg in Mohgwyn Palace throughout the entirety of the base game. Other than Miquella, the most prominent character – and perhaps the primary antagonist – is Messmer the Impaler. Messmer did not appear in the base game, nor is he ever mentioned in dialog, item descriptions, or otherwise. A handful of clues, however, indicate he may have a connection to Miquella, and by extension, many other major Elden Ring characters.

Messmer The Impaler May Be Miquella & Malenia's Brother

Another Child Of Marika & Radagon

The most readily apparent connection to Miquella comes from Messmer's voice lines in the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay trailer (via Queen Marika the Eternal, who has beckoned the Tarnished back to the Lands Between after stripping them of their Grace in order for one to ascend the throne of the Elden Lord, i.e. sanctioning the lordship of one who is bereft of light. This referring to the Tarnished is also corroborated by later dia the trailer, where an unknown voice says, "Those stripped of the Grace of Gold shall all meet death in the embrace of Messmer's flame."

Marika being Messmer the Impaler's mother immediately makes him at least a half-brother to Miquella and Malenia, the twin children of Marika and Radagon. However, Elden Ring heavily implies that Marika and Radagon are the same person, and Radagon also had three known children with Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, matriarch of the Carian Royals, and heistress of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Radagon and Rennala's children are Rykard, Radahn, and Ranni, all three of whom bear Radagon's striking red hair, just like Messmer. There is also a lesser chance that Messmer is part of the Elden Ring's Golden Lineage, the dynasty that sprouted from Marika and her first consort, Godfrey, First Elden Lord.

Ranni's appearance in-game does not have red hair because it is not her original body, but a doll modeled after her mentor, known only as the Snow Witch. Ranni's body is presumed to be the charred remains atop the Divine Tower of Liurnia, which has red hair.

Godfrey and Marika's known children include Godwyn the Golden – the Empyrean murdered during the Night of the Black Knives which kick-started set up to return in Shadow of the Erdtree – and the Omen twins, Morgott and Mohg. The latter Omen twin kidnapped Miquella, his half-brother, and took him to Mohgwyn Palace. None of the Golden Lineage is known to have red hair, though; Marika, Godfrey, and Godwyn all have golden locks – perhaps paled through the generations, resulting in impotent Godrick the Grafted's white hair – Morgott has silvery hair, and Mohg has none.

Aside from Messmer's bright red hair, it's his name that is the strongest indication of him being Miquella's brother, another child of Marika and Radagon in Elden Ring's complicated family tree. Immediate families have strong correlations between their names in Elden Ring: Rykard, Radahn, and Ranni; Godfrey and Godwyn (and even Godrick); Miquella, Malenia, and potentially Messmer. Of course, it can't be overlooked that Morgott and Mohg's names also begin with the letter M, but they are outliers as Omen, and were banished from the public eye to the Subterranean Shunning Grounds underneath Leyndell, Royal Capital. Messmer does not appear to bear the horns of an Omen, however, and is most likely a heretofore undisclosed sibling of Miquella and Malenia.

Although there is very little ing evidence so far, Messmer also fits neatly into a theory that links Miquella and Malenia to butterflies. Malenia, as the Goddess of Rot, is directly tied to the Aeonian Butterfly, whose item description reads, "According to myth, these butterflies were once the wings of the Goddess of Rot herself." The Nascent Butterfly, which "appears as if it's just emerged from its cocoon for its entire life," is thought to be closely connected to Miquella, who was cursed from birth with a perpetually youthful body, and remains in a cocoon throughout the game. Elden Ring has a third butterfly, however: the Smoldering Butterfly.

The Smoldering Butterfly has long been the crux of a theory that claims Melina (another name starting with M), the Tarnished's closest ally, is secretly another child of Marika. The key bit of the Smoldering Butterfly's item description mentions it "serves as the kindling for a number of items." Melina is the kindling of sorts needed to burn the Erdtree. However, "Messmer's flame" mentioned in the trailer, when considered alongside the above evidence, makes a compelling argument that he is the missing third child of Marika and Radagon, and the person potentially associated with the Smoldering Butterfly, not Melina.

Messmer Could Also Be Miquella's Alter Ego

Potentially Yet Another Name For St. Trina

Although it seems less likely, especially given Messmer appears to refer to Miquella in the Shadow of the Erdtree trailer as "Kind Miquella," it's also a possibility that Messmer is actually Miquella himself. Elden Ring already has a notable fascination with duality. Marika and Radagon are one and the same, every Empyrean has a Shadow, and Miquella is even suspected of having another identity already: St. Trina. This theory is mainly derived from the two both being heavily associated with sleep; Miquella is in an unshakable slumber, and items referencing St. Trina all inflict the game's sleep status effect.

Messmer as an alter ego of Miquella also draws compelling parallels to their (or his) mother, Marika. It was under Marika's rule that the Age of the Erdtree flourished, nurtured by the Elden Ring which lay within. Miquella similarly attempted to grow a holy tree, a second Erdtree that became known as the Haligtree. Marika, who manifests as Radagon of the Golden Order at the end of Elden Ring, appears to be sealed inside the Erdtree, just as Miquella attempted to do within the Haligtree, before he was abducted by Mohg. The blonde Marika has a redheaded alter ego, Radagon, and the blonde Miquella might also have a redheaded alter ego, Messmer.

The evidence is much thinner than purporting Messmer as Miquella's brother, but the Land of Shadow as something of a mirror to the Lands Between – complete with its own central tree – lends further credence to Shadow of the Erdtree embracing Elden Ring's theme of duality. Concrete answers likely won't come until the DLC is released, and even then, the game's notoriously obtuse lore may not divulge specifics, only leading to more theories. Regardless, Messmer the Impaler appears to be Shadow of the Erdtree's central figure alongside Miquella, and practically all of Elden Ring's most prominent characters have a tangible connection to Marika.

Source: Bandai Namco Europe/YouTube