[Spoilers] Erdtree is meant to face cataclysms - in other words: Erdtree burned in the past and game tells it all the time
Hello there!
Huge spoilers ahead!
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"Behold. The Erdtree yet stands. Tall and unwavering, mindless of the scorch of the flame of ruin. Hahah, hahah... Then, we are yet Golden Ones." ~ Spirit dude from Ashen Capital
Following screen is a nice way to begin:
together with the Golden Seed description:
>"When the Elden Ring was shattered, these seeds flew from the Erdtree, scattering across the various lands, as if life itself knew that its end has come."
So, in the game we can find golden seeds next to small illusory trees and their description directly says that the shattering of the Elden Ring is their origin. They are not physical trees but phantom illusions pointing at the location where a seed fell.
Ok. Now we know that in the Lands Between there is a huge glowing tree, which once dropped seeds across the world and these seeds are yet to grow, cool.
So where did Minor Erdtrees came from? And I don't have in mind these golden trees growing in few churches across the game like this one in Capital Outskirts, these seem younger than those bigger, scattered randomly in the Lands Between.
Minor Erdtrees have one origin: the first fire of the Erdtree.
Someone set the Erdtree afire long before the shattering of the Elden Ring and here is what I gathered about it:
Let's start with something already mentioned many times by other players. The painting in the Volcano Manor. Erdtree in flames, pretty self-explanatory. There is a chance, however, that it is not connected to event that happened but is a blasphemy against the Erdtree and rather wish than proof of a fire.
NPCs know too much. Enia, Melina and Gideon posses specific knowledge about (First) Cardinal Sin - which is burning the Erdtree. They tell us how to do it - using the Flame of Ruin. They know where to find it - atop of the snowy mountain. And probably the most important - they somehow know this method is effective. Not god slaying black flame, not blood flame, not ghost flame or some other flame - but the flame of giants. The only way to know it is by test. (Frenzied Flame doesn't work either - after obtaining power frenzy from three fingers we still msut go atop of the mountain to rekindle flame of ruin)
Additional thing worth mentioning I will explain with some of Enia's lines:
>"Heavens forbid... That is not the domain of mere men."
and
>"You must find kindling. (...)
But special kindling is required to reignite the flame.
For the flame to burn the Erdtree, a sacrifice is needed.
Of one who envisions the flame."
This is very, very precise description of requirements. Also, not a single: maybe, perhaps, probably, try etc. is used by those NPCs. Pure certainty. How can they be so sure if this happens for the first time?
Next - Leyndell is covered in ash or dust the entire time. Screens above are taken before burning the Erdtree by Melina and Tarnished.
Now this thing. On the left side we can see this scar on golden, glowing husk. On the right side, screenshot of standard ending (Age of Fracture). There are two things to focus on:
- As the game ends, the Erdtree no longer burns. We can't tell if it's alive or not, but what we clearly see is that flames only damaged it, not destroyed completely.
- Colors of bark and scar equalized. This may suggest that the scar is what's left or didn't yet recover from previous fire.
And finally this. Fire, if not too strong, can help trees survive instead of destroying them. It can cleanse them from parasites, it separates younger trees from old sections of a forest and, as we can see above, some trees need fire to scatter seed.
Here, I would like to go back to the first image.
- Erdtree - the origin
- Minor Erdtrees - born from seeds dropped after first fire
- Illusory Trees - mark seeds scattered after shattering
- New wave - will probably drop some time after final cut-scene.
Conclusion of this post:
Erdtree was set ablaze in the past and it not only survived, it could even make it an advantage. Not even Miyazaki can convince me otherwise.
Thanks for your attention.