I Still Can’t Believe How Elden Ring’s DLC Redeemed Its Most Despicable Character

The story of Souls games is usually not the biggest attraction for most fans of this grueling genre. But I’ve got to say the way that the story was handled in Elden Ring’s DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, kept me hooked. Not only was it actually something you could understand and piece together on your own, but it had some major lore revelations about how the story started.

But the most interesting aspect of the DLC’s story has got to be how Miyazaki and the rest of his team, handled the character of Mohg. In the base game, Mohg is one of the children of Marika. But he’s cast aside by her because he was born with the Omen curse. Most players believed that he was a really bad guy but as it turns out, he was actually a victim of someone even worse, Miquella the Kind. Here’s how.

Miquella Wasn’t So Kind After All

Based on what we were previously told, Mohg stole Miquella from the Haligtree to turn his half-brother into a consort. There are tons of super weird implications regarding this, not the creepiest of which is the fact that Miquella is perpetually stuck as a child because he’s cursed with eternal youth. Miquella is also said to be in a deep slumber from which he wasn’t waking up.

So despite Mohg’s attempts to awaken his to-be consort, it looked like ultimately, he ended up failing. Safe to say, players didn’t really need any more reasons to hate the guy. After all, a guy who forcefully marries his own underage brother is about as evil as you can get. But as it turns out, the Shadow of the Erdtree reveals that it was actually Miquella who had charmed Mohg.

Miquella has the ability to “steal people’s hearts.” And that means that he can essentially charm anyone to become deeply infatuated with him. And so, the demigod purposely charmed Mohg in an effort to steal his remains to honor a vow Radahn made to the Miquella. This was that Radahn’s soul would be brought back into Mohg’s body, allowing Miquella to ascend to Godhood. It’s all super weird, but with George R. R. Martin, that’s to be expected.

This Means Mohg Might Have Been A Chill Guy

When we meet Mohg in-game, he comes across as a complete psycho. But the fact is that this version of the character is under Miquella’s mind control for who knows how long. Mohg and his underground empire are all in a state of ruin, but that can also be a result of Miquella. The only evidence we have of what Mohg and his followers could’ve looked like prior to Miquella’s control is Sir Ansbach.

Ansbach is a new character in Shadow of the Erdtree, and he’s one of the most logical and normal characters we’ve seen in any FromSoftware game. This is a company that has even your allies turn against you in the end for no reason. But despite that, Sir Ansbach supports you till the end, even as you duke it out against Miquella. Ansbach was a part of Mohg’s Pureblood Knights before he got charmed.

These knights no longer exist in the main game, so it’s fair to say much of Mohg’s armies got dynamically changed once Miquella took over. That’d explain the sorry state his followers are in by the team players reach the underground. As a way of avenging Mohg, we do eventually defeat Radahn and Miquella, giving his remains a proper, dignified end. 

This Is A Lot More Nuanced For A FromSoftware Title

I’ve got to say, that this level of complexity is really cool to see in a FromSoftware game. We’ve come a long way from characters like Lord Gwyn, whose entire philosophy was just that he really enjoyed genocide. The fact that the developers were confident enough to let people think Mohg was the bad guy for almost two years before revealing in a DLC that he’s actually the victim in all this was an incredibly unique and fun decision.

Yall gotta fill it
byu/gallaxo inEldenring

Fans have been having a blast with the revelation, coming up with memes and other content on social media. If nothing else, it’s gotten people more engaged in the story and lore of Elden Ring. That’s a pretty big deal for a genre that’s usually been known to have a narrative that’s downright impossible to understand. So while the DLC might have some flaws, story-wise FromSoftware has really nailed it.