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slavonicrhapsody · 9 months

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a closer look at the weapons of Mt. Gelmir

Do you ever get possessed by the uncontrollable urge to catalogue every weapon related to Mt. Gelmir, overanalyze both their visual design and their purpose, and then arrange them in a rough timeline reflecting Mt. Gelmir’s history? Because I do! There might be something wrong with me. Anyway, I ended up grouping the weapons into three main eras: the ancient cult of the great serpent, the Inquisition era under Praetor Rykard, and Rykard’s war of blasphemy against the Erdtree. This analysis became ungodly long, so I’ve put everything under a read more:

CULT OF THE GREAT SERPENT

Long before Rykard took up residence on Mt. Gelmir, the volcano was inhabited by a civilization who worshipped the Great Serpent: they practiced pagan hexes of poison and magma, and offered up blood sacrifices to their Serpent God. The weapons associated with this civilization can be identified by the following characteristics: an association with pagan magic and ritual sacrifice, dull-colored metal or wood material, and serpent imagery.

Serpent God’s Curved Sword

“Curved sword fashioned in the image of an ancient serpent deity and tool of a forgotten religion practiced on Mt. Gelmir. Formerly used to offer up sacrifices, this sword restores HP upon slaying an enemy.”

This weapon helps establish the distinct visual style of the serpent cult, since the cult is specifically referenced in the description.

Serpent Bow and Arrows

“Malformed bow in the shape of a pair of poisonous snakes. Imbues arrows with poison through pagan magic, revealing its true worth when used with poison-infused arrows. Used by assassins known as the Formless Serpents.”

“Arrow carved to resemble a flying snake. Used in tandem with the Serpent Bow. Loyal minions of the Formless Serpents, their fangs are daubed with deadly poison.”

Who are the formless serpents? Who the hell knows. But what tells me that these weapons are from the same era as the serpent cult is both the style and the mention of “pagan magic,” which brings to mind the ancient magma “hexes” that Rykard eventually rediscovered. We find the bow in the Caelid Abandoned Cave, among a hoard of ruined abductor virgins… this seems to be a case of Rykard utilizing the weapons of the serpent cult in tandem with his own modern inventions.

Serpentbone Blade

“Sinister katana modeled after a serpent bone. The densely packed row of spines that jut away from the cutting edge are coated in a lethal poison.”

A quest reward from Tanith, which implies that Volcano Manor has many of these serpent cult weapons stashed away somewhere. This weapon is likely infused with the same poison-imbuing pagan magic as the serpent bow. Notice how the hilt is decorated with coiling serpents in a dull metal color.

Devourer’s Scepter

“Scepter in the shape of a serpent devouring the world. This weapon will one day become the very symbol of the Lord of Blasphemy. A vision of the future briefly seen by Rykard in his final moments before being devoured by the great serpent.”

I believe this weapon was crafted by the serpent cult as a premonition or a prophecy of their god that they had glimpsed, which Rykard himself glimpsed in his final moments. The description says the weapon “will one day become” his symbol, implying that it had existed long before him. We also know that this weapon can’t have been made after Rykard was devoured because, since we know that Tanith was “the only human to remain by his side when he became the serpent of blasphemy,” the only ones who could’ve created the weapon are the man-serpents — and as we’ll later see, the three weapons we know they created have a uniform design that’s entirely different from the Devourer’s Scepter. Lastly, the serpent depicted on the weapon does not have Rykard’s face, while his personal sigil does depict both his and the serpent’s head.

INQUISITION ERA

Now, we skip forward in time to the weapons created under Rykard’s tenure as Praetor, during which he enforced a brutal inquisition involving the imprisonment and torture of people most likely presumed to be heretics (ironically, this inquisition in the name of the Golden Order was itself physically built upon a hotbed of ancient heresy). We can distinguish the newer weapons from the ones of the serpent cult based on a few factors: they were made to be instruments of torture, they are decorated with loopy flourishes, and there should be no serpent imagery — I don’t believe that an Inquisition of the Golden Order would be using weapons decorated with snake imagery due to their society’s view of the serpent as a “traitor to the Erdtree,” especially because the previous heretical denizens of the volcano had been crafting weapons in the serpent’s image.

Inquisitor’s Girandole

“Instrument of torture used on nobles behind the curtain at the Volcano Manor of Mt. Gelmir. Its numerous spikes pierce the flesh, then singe the wounds with flame. The smell of burnt blood induces despair in the victim. A candlestick conceived by a thorough mind.”

Unfortunately, this is really the only example of a purely inquisition-era weapon in the game, but it is immediately noteworthy that there is no snake imagery here whatsoever. The loops and flourishes are consistent with other design work we see throughout Volcano Manor, such as on the mechanized metal bridge:

Ghiza’s Wheel

“Great iron wheel lined with flesh-flaying blades. Device of torture used by Inquisitor Ghiza. As the wheel spins it causes severe pain and blood loss. The design was adopted for use as the iconic weapon wielded by Iron Virgins.”

We know that Ghiza’s Wheel was created as a weapon of the inquisition. The wheel itself is also decorated with a loopy design, but the handle is interestingly covered in golden snakes. However, the description also reads that the design of the wheel was “adopted for use” on the iron virgins: the handle of the wheel matches the gold coiling snakes of the abductor virgins, so I propose that the special handle was added later on, when the iron virgins were likely created as machines of war for Rykard’s blasphemous crusade. Perhaps Ghiza worked on them too, and made adjustments to his wheel’s design himself?

WAR OF BLASPHEMY

When Rykard declared his treason against the Golden Order and the Erdtree, it’s likely he embraced the serpent as a symbol of his blasphemous intentions. For this reason, I theorize that Rykard only started actively using serpent imagery after his treason, which is also why we don’t see serpent imagery in the architecture and design of Volcano Manor itself.

Abductor Virgins

Looking at the abductor virgins, we see serpents throughout the design mixed with intricate swirls and flourishes, which in my opinion places their creation after Rykard's treason. We also don’t know for sure if they were created before or after Rykard fed himself to the great serpent, but I’m inclined to believe it was before: The iron maiden is a notorious real-world torture device, so it would make the most sense if Rykard’s own torturers had a hand in its creation, and we know that they had abandoned him after his devouring. It's also possible that they were altered after the fact by the man-serpents, however.

Magma Weapons of the Man-Serpents

After Rykard’s devouring and the subsequent birth of the man-serpents, we have a new subset of weapons that appear — all of these weapons make use of Rykard’s innovations in magma sorcery based on the old hexes of Mt. Gelmir. They are all made of filigreed gold and embedded with glintstone, and are created and wielded by the man-serpents.

Magma Blade

“Curved sword with a blade fashioned from the lava of Mt. Gelmir. An armament of the man-serpents, impossible for a human to have made.”

This description implies that this trio of magic weapons must have been created by the man-serpents, which makes sense as we know that Tanith was the only human left on the Volcano Manor’s staff. The man-serpents are clearly capable of forging complicated weapons.

Gelmir Glintstone Staff

“Staff with a forked tip, embedded with red glintstones. Enhances lava sorceries. The Man-Serpents of Mt. Gelmir draw from faith in addition to intelligence to enhance the potency of their sorcery.”

Again, this description identifies this as a weapon of the man-serpents, and tells us that they are adept sorcerers who have followed in Rykard’s footsteps. The design references a serpent’s forked tongue.

Magma Whip Candlestick

“This ritual implement is a three pronged candlestick with solid flames formed of the magma of Mt. Gelmir.”

Volcano Manor sure loves its candles!

Man-Serpent’s Shield

“Small copper dome-shaped roundshield carried by the man-serpents of Mt. Gelmir. Said to have been tempered in lava, it boasts great resistance to fire.”

This one isn’t technically a weapon, but it’s still worth examining. Notice the embedded gems and the bright gold snake imagery, consistent with other weapon designs of this era.

CONCLUSION

The art in this game is extremely deliberately designed, and it can tell the story beyond what just the words on the screen say. Many of the specific details are my own conjecture, but I think it’s quite clear that these weapons are consciously designed with similar features in order to place them within the game’s world and history.

#elden ring #elden ring lore #rykard #rykard lord of blasphemy #btw I didn’t include the blasphemous blade because I think it’s possible that rykard brought it with him to mt. gelmir #as opposed to creating it there #also let me know if I missed any weapons! there are so many

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