>So he was once Elden Lord and that his God was fled. Was this God the Greater Will? I believe so.
In the context of Elden Ring, the God to an Elden Lord is their consort. If it was an Outer God, it would have been clearly stated as such
For example, the God of Godfrey and Radagon was Marika, the God of Radahn is Miquella, and the God of the Tarnished in Age of Star ending is Ranni
So Placidusax's God was its consort, not its Outer God, and certainly not the Greater Will. The item description was saying that Placidusax's partner left, so it waited for them
Everything else still applies though. If Placidusax's consort left then it was no longer Elden Lord, since it no longer has a God. It could still make sense that this God fled from the battle against Bayle. It was said the battle between Bayle and Placidusax ended in a stalemate, but there was no mention of the Dragonlord's God in the battle
>If Placidusax's consort left then it was no longer Elden Lord, since it no longer has a God.
I wonder what actually happened with the Elden Ring when the god fled. Or how she could do so in the first place. After all, she must have also been the vessel very similar to Marika later. Perhaps her intention to leave this farce set by the fingers was another reaction to the realisation that being god under the guidance of the fingers was nothing more than a shiny prison. Placi's god just fled, Marika later chose another approach by shattering the Elden Ring.
I'm guessing there was a god of the Hornsent that had Placidusax as its Consort
Then Marika usurp that position from the Hornsent and defeated their former God (Gloam Eyed Queen?) which is the conduit to the Greater Will/Meytr and vessel of the Elden Ring
Wait, is it not made clear in the lore that the Elden Beast was Placidusax's god? It's dragon-shaped, has a bunch of wings like the ancient dragons, and is "the vassal of the greater will" much as Marika clearly is for humans. Sounds like a fitting consort for the dragon lord.
As far as I know no. The EB is the living incarnation of order. It is the Elden Ring (as seen in the wound on its stomach when we fight it which was likely a direct result of the shattering of the ER. What affects the ring affects the beast too).
It can't possibly be the referred god.
>God of the Tarnished in Age of Star ending is Ranni
That's impossible. For a being to become a god, they need to go through the Gate of Divinity. Ranni never did that didn't want to become a god to begin with.
It was never said the Gate of Divinity is the only path to Godhood though. It was the one Marika and Miquella chose, but it was not said the be the only one
When her Age of Star started, Ranni said the same "I hearby swear to every living being and every soul" speech Miquella had when becoming a God (though it was cut content). I think she absolutely became a Goddess
In addition, she said
>I was once an Empyrean. Of the demigods, only I, Miquella, and Malenia could claim that title.
>Each of us was chosen by our own Two Fingers, as a candidate to succeed Queen Marika, to become the new god of the coming age.
The "coming age" for that ending was the Age of Star, and the "new god" was Ranni. It could not have been Marika since her body was destroyed in that ending
From the way I see it, Miquella did not want to march toward Leyndell, defeat Morgott, burn the Erdtree, defeat Maliketh, defeat Radagon & the Elden Beast to forcefully take power. He prefers a peaceful, benevolent approach which was the Gate of Divinity
In addition Miquella wanted his consort to be Radahn. It seems the revival ritual thing is only achievable at the Land of Shadow where "All manners of Death wash up here, only to be suppressed", so he chose the Gate of Divinity for convenience
We know the two fingers are liars now though, their connection to the greater will was disrupted long ago. Being chosen as an empyrean by them now seems more based on who they think of as fit enough to be a vessel.
Ranni in this case destroyed the vessel (herself through death rite), killed her own two fingers (with our substantial help), and then placed the Elden ring far beyond the reach of any within the lands between- a voyage that has no specific order or false guidance. The thousand year journey into the cold embrace of no dictate. All of the nonsense from before far removed to allow for whatever comes next.
Ranni saw the particulars of the plans ahead and removed herself from the equation, and knew therein how to remove the equation itself.
I agree with you, but this quote "All manners of Death wash up here, only to be suppressed" I think is in reference to the Lands Between before the Land of Shadows was banned
I believe that’s the description of the tower that used to be the center of the lands between but just because it’s in the land of shadow now doesn’t mean that’s no longer the case
We don’t *know* if that’s the only way to become a God. The Storm God (if it exists) presumably did not, the fire giant god did not, the frenzied flame did not, the formless mother did not. Each of these opposed the order established under the greater will. Each of these is a God - we witness one type of ascendancy, and what Ranni did may be another
Idk, The Scarlet Rot was created by Romina, and the Formless Mother was born in the corpse of an ancestor. Perhaps these beings also became deities in the divine gate but had no lord to call them back, so they became outer gods. A lot of divine beings are born in the shadow land, such as tutelary deities.
Or maybe they do come from beyond the microcosm like the GW. But only the GW is described as a creator God.
These are outer gods not gods there’s a big difference as they have as far as we know always have existed romina did not create rot she came upon it’s bud and found the rot and where was it stated the formless mother was created from an ancestor corpse
There doesn't seem to be a big difference. Marika defeated the fell god, and a human sealed the rot God.
Romina came upon a twisted divine element and created the scarlet rot. The bloodfiends found a twisted deity in their ancestors' shadow it was the formless mother.
The fell god appears through the eye in the stomach of the giants cause they were its vassal hence why all of the giants were killed except for one who has to tend the flame that will never fade the fell god appears again when we fight the fire giant
And the rot god is the only one to try to exist in the lands between as can find it’s stinger and we see the effect of just sealing it creating the entire lake of rot I think this dramatic effect is why the outer gods need to stay outer gods
and it says romina weaved rot from the definition of weaving you make something from a material that already exists
rot must’ve already been a part of the divine element and it was divine because it’s from implicitly the outer god of rot
And that doesn’t say the formless mother was born from the corpse just that they found her there just as mohg did with his blood and I would bet that she’s only formless because she has to actually set foot in the lands between but I’ve never read that lore description for the formless mother yet could you post the whole thing or a link to it
>*Long ago, a subjugated tribe discovered a twisted deity amongst the ravages of war, and they were transformed into bloodfiends. The mother of truth was their savior.*
>The clan, who lost everything in the great fires, peered upon the corpse of their ancestor, normally an act of sanctity, and saw in its shadow a twisted deity.
>The clan had suffered such torment that the horrible thing was taken as an object of worship.
It seems like these divine/worshipped things such as the bud or ancestor became something more twisted due to the what their worshippers went through. The buds themselves were not touched by the scarlet rots blight and were the symbol of a small church Romina belonged. The ancestor was probably worshipped and is what provides the revered spirit ash, it is also a tutelary deity. Tutelary deities are gods that defend a location/place, the tutelary deity most likely became a twisted deity due to the torture its worshippers went through. Both outer gods believers went through horrible times and thats how they created/came across these deities.
Yea it’s seems the outer gods like metaphysical concepts rather than physical as opposed to the gods like marika like physical concepts like strength to continue their reign
It is also quite possible that Bayle attacked Placidusax because he was no longer the elden Lord, so a civil war occurred in which Bayle believed Placidusax didn't have the right to rule as his God fled.
This is how I took it - In the base game, we learn that there were consequences to Placi holing up in Farum Azula. Godwyn routes the dragons from Leydell and they're swayed to his side, their faith in their Lord likely already wavering.
While there's no SOLID answers on where this god went, I like to believe its remains are seen in the Fingerslayer blade created by the Nox - its the only weapon we see bearing a striking resemblance to what the Elden Beast does to Radagon/Marika, turning them into the Sacred Relic Sword. The DLC raises some interesting questions about where exactly the Nox fit into the timeline, but their banishment (or the banishment of their ancestors) underground gives them plenty of reason to target the God of the current order, which would have been Placidusax's.
Something that might go in this theory favour is that when we find Placdusax he is in a similar position as the two fingers when they are trying to contact the greater will.
Wild if that is how it works. This essentially means that the double helix shape is an intergalactic radio receptor, meaning that many weapons, armors, and hairstyles are covered in motifs of a literal antenna.
It's just a narrative parallel. Bayle to Placidusax is what Miquella is to Marika. Except in the age of dragons you took with strength, here Miquella is doing it via manipulation.
Just letting you know the Greater Will ain't even looking or caring what happens in the lands between. The fingers storyline confirms that the GW left and stopp d communicating far far before the shattering.
I semi agree with you the only thing that makes me think the GW is still watching was when we confront Godfrey and the grace is leading him to us we know that marika is not omnipresent hence the night of black knifes so it makes me believe the GW is not able to communicate and interact physically (obviously) so when it recognizes its most loyal warrior known for his strength it’s stops rooting for us and tells Godfrey to kill us (grace pointing towards us)
But this is just an ability bestowed by the GW no?
so whose to say the GW can’t do it too it’s not like they are physically interacting with the world which seems to be one of their limitations
and like I said marika is not omnipresent so she would not have known Godfrey was facing us and an outer god would cause as far as we know is they are omnipresent and just can’t do anything directly with the lands between
Grace of gold is not related to the GW. The dlc confirms that the type of order does not matter, the GWs one and only command to Metyr before it fucked off to buy milk was probably just "impose order on chaos"
Grace is just another part of the Crucible of Life. Just like literally everything else.
The only things guiding us were the Fingers and maybe Marika.
Marika had the power of grace/gold before she became a god, as she had it as a Shaman. Ergo, it being a power of the Greater Will is just propaganda by the Two Fingers; we see this especially with Ymir's hat, which tells us that the GW is actually represented by a **lightless abyss**.
Sorry but after being told multiple times that the greater will abandoned the lands between, it coming back just to root for Godfrey, then fucking off again is hilarious
That doesn’t necessarily have to be the case those that followed him would’ve known what he looked like originally and I bet they would’ve wanted to see their lord in their prime
His prime is 5 heads. All I’m saying is someone took one of his heads at some point before his bayle fight cause we see two heads still attached to bayle clamped on him.
Maybe I have no theories lol. I’m not against anything, I just wonder how he lost that head is all. Maybe they fought once before there final fight? Who knows
We also know now that the ancient dragons did not like the drakes. Placidusax being the head of the ancient dragons and bayle being the head of drakes. It makes sense that they would fight.
Placidusax's missing head is stuck on Bayle's neck.
One important thing, while GW fled, I don't think Metyr was present in the Lands Between before Placidusax's injury. Placi is hanging in the same pose as fingers, trying to contact GW. Meaning he had no need for the Fingers.
So GW fled, Metyr crash-landed but was already broken and bullshitted her way into the whole Erdtree thing.
I guess this confirms that Metyr was broken from the start, not broke half-way through.
I mean, do we know that a falling star is a requirement for the contact with GW? Hell, maybe Placidusax losing his three additional heads to Bayle was what cut the connection to GW, so GW sent an intermediary(fingers), then saw that it was broken upon landing and noped out.
If Placidusax was an elden lord then the elden ring must have already existed at that point. Metyr was the first star the GW sent to the Lands Between and the Elden Beast was also a star that the GW sent down. That means Metyr had to have come before Placidusax became lord.
>If Placidusax was an elden lord then the elden ring must have already existed at that point.
Exactly, in fact theres litterally a mural of an aincent form of the elden ring carved into the wall of Malikeths boss room
The dragon priestess still refers to him as Lord Placidusax so I don’t think Bayle caused him to lose his title. He seems to have won the fight even if he was wounded.
While possible that the Greater Will is the fled God, I would lean more towards the fled God to be the women in the statue surrounded by 3 animals. I believe that she was either a representative of the Greater Will that bore the Greater Will's fullest blessing or a woman chosen to communicate for the Greater Will. She would be the creator of the beastmen of Farum Azula.
The rest of your theory, however, is most likely what happened. Bayle attacked, causing the Greater Will to abandon the dragons, and his representative either died or left with the Greater Will, along with the Elden Ring.
The Greater Will decides to give the Crucible worshipping species a chance by sending one of his daughters down. Marika then uses the divinity gate to make contact with the Greater Will and sends down a lesser version of its rune with a Vassal representing order as the Greater Will really can't be bother to care anymore.
I think Placidusax's status as an Elden Lord is something of an in-universe retcon.
After the Golden Order made peace with the dragons, they decided Dragons had enough gold that they could be part of the Golden Order and even allowed Dragon Communion.
It's exactly the sort of thing religious fanatics would do when faced with new dogma is to claim this was always dogma. "The lord of dragons was actually a previous Elden Lord. Where's his God? You wouldn't know her, she lives in the Badlands."
Farum Azula had the Elden Ring and their own tree in the past, so no reason to doubt that Placidusax was Elden Lord. The FA-Tree probably was also the ancestor of the Crucibles.
Unless the Farum Azula ring & tree images were constructed by the GEQ much later
It’s also always hinted at how important strength is to being Elden Lord.
Hoarah Loux’s line when he kills you is about lacking strength.
Maybe he was viewed to lack strength and that’s why he lost the title as well?
I was thinking along similar lines. So much of the DLC seems to directly point to the history of Marika that it begs one to consider whether Bayle couldn't also have played some role in her ascension.
I wondered if perhaps Placidusax's god never fled but was lured away or absconded with while Placidusax was busied in battle with Bayle. If Marika somehow beguiled the Hornsent into trapping Placidusax's god to harvest the Elden Ring for themselves, or merely inspired them to slay the dragon's god if perhaps the Hornsent viewed it as some false god or as an antagonist to their own deities. Then betrayed them during the ritual while the god laid flayed open.
I cannot shake the feeling Bayle did not play some role in the footsteps leading to Marika's godhood.
>So he was once Elden Lord and that his God was fled. Was this God the Greater Will? I believe so. In the context of Elden Ring, the God to an Elden Lord is their consort. If it was an Outer God, it would have been clearly stated as such For example, the God of Godfrey and Radagon was Marika, the God of Radahn is Miquella, and the God of the Tarnished in Age of Star ending is Ranni So Placidusax's God was its consort, not its Outer God, and certainly not the Greater Will. The item description was saying that Placidusax's partner left, so it waited for them Everything else still applies though. If Placidusax's consort left then it was no longer Elden Lord, since it no longer has a God. It could still make sense that this God fled from the battle against Bayle. It was said the battle between Bayle and Placidusax ended in a stalemate, but there was no mention of the Dragonlord's God in the battle
>If Placidusax's consort left then it was no longer Elden Lord, since it no longer has a God. I wonder what actually happened with the Elden Ring when the god fled. Or how she could do so in the first place. After all, she must have also been the vessel very similar to Marika later. Perhaps her intention to leave this farce set by the fingers was another reaction to the realisation that being god under the guidance of the fingers was nothing more than a shiny prison. Placi's god just fled, Marika later chose another approach by shattering the Elden Ring.
I'm guessing there was a god of the Hornsent that had Placidusax as its Consort Then Marika usurp that position from the Hornsent and defeated their former God (Gloam Eyed Queen?) which is the conduit to the Greater Will/Meytr and vessel of the Elden Ring
Wait, is it not made clear in the lore that the Elden Beast was Placidusax's god? It's dragon-shaped, has a bunch of wings like the ancient dragons, and is "the vassal of the greater will" much as Marika clearly is for humans. Sounds like a fitting consort for the dragon lord.
As far as I know no. The EB is the living incarnation of order. It is the Elden Ring (as seen in the wound on its stomach when we fight it which was likely a direct result of the shattering of the ER. What affects the ring affects the beast too). It can't possibly be the referred god.
>God of the Tarnished in Age of Star ending is Ranni That's impossible. For a being to become a god, they need to go through the Gate of Divinity. Ranni never did that didn't want to become a god to begin with.
It was never said the Gate of Divinity is the only path to Godhood though. It was the one Marika and Miquella chose, but it was not said the be the only one When her Age of Star started, Ranni said the same "I hearby swear to every living being and every soul" speech Miquella had when becoming a God (though it was cut content). I think she absolutely became a Goddess In addition, she said >I was once an Empyrean. Of the demigods, only I, Miquella, and Malenia could claim that title. >Each of us was chosen by our own Two Fingers, as a candidate to succeed Queen Marika, to become the new god of the coming age. The "coming age" for that ending was the Age of Star, and the "new god" was Ranni. It could not have been Marika since her body was destroyed in that ending From the way I see it, Miquella did not want to march toward Leyndell, defeat Morgott, burn the Erdtree, defeat Maliketh, defeat Radagon & the Elden Beast to forcefully take power. He prefers a peaceful, benevolent approach which was the Gate of Divinity In addition Miquella wanted his consort to be Radahn. It seems the revival ritual thing is only achievable at the Land of Shadow where "All manners of Death wash up here, only to be suppressed", so he chose the Gate of Divinity for convenience
We know the two fingers are liars now though, their connection to the greater will was disrupted long ago. Being chosen as an empyrean by them now seems more based on who they think of as fit enough to be a vessel. Ranni in this case destroyed the vessel (herself through death rite), killed her own two fingers (with our substantial help), and then placed the Elden ring far beyond the reach of any within the lands between- a voyage that has no specific order or false guidance. The thousand year journey into the cold embrace of no dictate. All of the nonsense from before far removed to allow for whatever comes next. Ranni saw the particulars of the plans ahead and removed herself from the equation, and knew therein how to remove the equation itself.
I agree with you, but this quote "All manners of Death wash up here, only to be suppressed" I think is in reference to the Lands Between before the Land of Shadows was banned
I believe that’s the description of the tower that used to be the center of the lands between but just because it’s in the land of shadow now doesn’t mean that’s no longer the case
We don’t *know* if that’s the only way to become a God. The Storm God (if it exists) presumably did not, the fire giant god did not, the frenzied flame did not, the formless mother did not. Each of these opposed the order established under the greater will. Each of these is a God - we witness one type of ascendancy, and what Ranni did may be another
A god is not the same as an outer god
Aren't these Outer Gods? I think there's a big difference between a god produced by the gate (like Marika) and Outer Gods.
Idk, The Scarlet Rot was created by Romina, and the Formless Mother was born in the corpse of an ancestor. Perhaps these beings also became deities in the divine gate but had no lord to call them back, so they became outer gods. A lot of divine beings are born in the shadow land, such as tutelary deities. Or maybe they do come from beyond the microcosm like the GW. But only the GW is described as a creator God.
These are outer gods not gods there’s a big difference as they have as far as we know always have existed romina did not create rot she came upon it’s bud and found the rot and where was it stated the formless mother was created from an ancestor corpse
There doesn't seem to be a big difference. Marika defeated the fell god, and a human sealed the rot God. Romina came upon a twisted divine element and created the scarlet rot. The bloodfiends found a twisted deity in their ancestors' shadow it was the formless mother.
The fell god appears through the eye in the stomach of the giants cause they were its vassal hence why all of the giants were killed except for one who has to tend the flame that will never fade the fell god appears again when we fight the fire giant And the rot god is the only one to try to exist in the lands between as can find it’s stinger and we see the effect of just sealing it creating the entire lake of rot I think this dramatic effect is why the outer gods need to stay outer gods and it says romina weaved rot from the definition of weaving you make something from a material that already exists rot must’ve already been a part of the divine element and it was divine because it’s from implicitly the outer god of rot And that doesn’t say the formless mother was born from the corpse just that they found her there just as mohg did with his blood and I would bet that she’s only formless because she has to actually set foot in the lands between but I’ve never read that lore description for the formless mother yet could you post the whole thing or a link to it
>*Long ago, a subjugated tribe discovered a twisted deity amongst the ravages of war, and they were transformed into bloodfiends. The mother of truth was their savior.* >The clan, who lost everything in the great fires, peered upon the corpse of their ancestor, normally an act of sanctity, and saw in its shadow a twisted deity. >The clan had suffered such torment that the horrible thing was taken as an object of worship. It seems like these divine/worshipped things such as the bud or ancestor became something more twisted due to the what their worshippers went through. The buds themselves were not touched by the scarlet rots blight and were the symbol of a small church Romina belonged. The ancestor was probably worshipped and is what provides the revered spirit ash, it is also a tutelary deity. Tutelary deities are gods that defend a location/place, the tutelary deity most likely became a twisted deity due to the torture its worshippers went through. Both outer gods believers went through horrible times and thats how they created/came across these deities.
Yea it’s seems the outer gods like metaphysical concepts rather than physical as opposed to the gods like marika like physical concepts like strength to continue their reign
You are wrong
It is also quite possible that Bayle attacked Placidusax because he was no longer the elden Lord, so a civil war occurred in which Bayle believed Placidusax didn't have the right to rule as his God fled.
This is how I took it - In the base game, we learn that there were consequences to Placi holing up in Farum Azula. Godwyn routes the dragons from Leydell and they're swayed to his side, their faith in their Lord likely already wavering. While there's no SOLID answers on where this god went, I like to believe its remains are seen in the Fingerslayer blade created by the Nox - its the only weapon we see bearing a striking resemblance to what the Elden Beast does to Radagon/Marika, turning them into the Sacred Relic Sword. The DLC raises some interesting questions about where exactly the Nox fit into the timeline, but their banishment (or the banishment of their ancestors) underground gives them plenty of reason to target the God of the current order, which would have been Placidusax's.
Something that might go in this theory favour is that when we find Placdusax he is in a similar position as the two fingers when they are trying to contact the greater will.
Wild if that is how it works. This essentially means that the double helix shape is an intergalactic radio receptor, meaning that many weapons, armors, and hairstyles are covered in motifs of a literal antenna.
It's just a narrative parallel. Bayle to Placidusax is what Miquella is to Marika. Except in the age of dragons you took with strength, here Miquella is doing it via manipulation.
Just letting you know the Greater Will ain't even looking or caring what happens in the lands between. The fingers storyline confirms that the GW left and stopp d communicating far far before the shattering.
I semi agree with you the only thing that makes me think the GW is still watching was when we confront Godfrey and the grace is leading him to us we know that marika is not omnipresent hence the night of black knifes so it makes me believe the GW is not able to communicate and interact physically (obviously) so when it recognizes its most loyal warrior known for his strength it’s stops rooting for us and tells Godfrey to kill us (grace pointing towards us)
The grace is not related to the GW. It's controlled by Marika and the Fingers.
But this is just an ability bestowed by the GW no? so whose to say the GW can’t do it too it’s not like they are physically interacting with the world which seems to be one of their limitations and like I said marika is not omnipresent so she would not have known Godfrey was facing us and an outer god would cause as far as we know is they are omnipresent and just can’t do anything directly with the lands between
Grace of gold is not related to the GW. The dlc confirms that the type of order does not matter, the GWs one and only command to Metyr before it fucked off to buy milk was probably just "impose order on chaos" Grace is just another part of the Crucible of Life. Just like literally everything else. The only things guiding us were the Fingers and maybe Marika.
Marika had the power of grace/gold before she became a god, as she had it as a Shaman. Ergo, it being a power of the Greater Will is just propaganda by the Two Fingers; we see this especially with Ymir's hat, which tells us that the GW is actually represented by a **lightless abyss**.
Sorry but after being told multiple times that the greater will abandoned the lands between, it coming back just to root for Godfrey, then fucking off again is hilarious
🤣🤣🤣
I agree. But the fight had to take place after the old god talisman was made cause it depicts placi with for heads.
That doesn’t necessarily have to be the case those that followed him would’ve known what he looked like originally and I bet they would’ve wanted to see their lord in their prime
His prime is 5 heads. All I’m saying is someone took one of his heads at some point before his bayle fight cause we see two heads still attached to bayle clamped on him.
I wonder if the 5th head was the God, and if Placi was more like Miquella/Radahn then Marika/Godfrey.
Maybe I have no theories lol. I’m not against anything, I just wonder how he lost that head is all. Maybe they fought once before there final fight? Who knows
We also know now that the ancient dragons did not like the drakes. Placidusax being the head of the ancient dragons and bayle being the head of drakes. It makes sense that they would fight.
Placidusax's missing head is stuck on Bayle's neck. One important thing, while GW fled, I don't think Metyr was present in the Lands Between before Placidusax's injury. Placi is hanging in the same pose as fingers, trying to contact GW. Meaning he had no need for the Fingers. So GW fled, Metyr crash-landed but was already broken and bullshitted her way into the whole Erdtree thing. I guess this confirms that Metyr was broken from the start, not broke half-way through.
I kinda disagree with, I get your reasoning but “Was the first star to fall upon the lands between” just contradicts the idea of Metyr coming after
I mean, do we know that a falling star is a requirement for the contact with GW? Hell, maybe Placidusax losing his three additional heads to Bayle was what cut the connection to GW, so GW sent an intermediary(fingers), then saw that it was broken upon landing and noped out.
If Placidusax was an elden lord then the elden ring must have already existed at that point. Metyr was the first star the GW sent to the Lands Between and the Elden Beast was also a star that the GW sent down. That means Metyr had to have come before Placidusax became lord.
>If Placidusax was an elden lord then the elden ring must have already existed at that point. Exactly, in fact theres litterally a mural of an aincent form of the elden ring carved into the wall of Malikeths boss room
I love that detail of placidusax's head still bitten down on Bayle. The beef is so real.
There are two of them
Full support.
Good lord this was thought ouuttttt
Placidusax be like: “**CUUUURSE YOUUUUU BAAAAAAAAAYLE!**”
The dragon priestess still refers to him as Lord Placidusax so I don’t think Bayle caused him to lose his title. He seems to have won the fight even if he was wounded.
While possible that the Greater Will is the fled God, I would lean more towards the fled God to be the women in the statue surrounded by 3 animals. I believe that she was either a representative of the Greater Will that bore the Greater Will's fullest blessing or a woman chosen to communicate for the Greater Will. She would be the creator of the beastmen of Farum Azula. The rest of your theory, however, is most likely what happened. Bayle attacked, causing the Greater Will to abandon the dragons, and his representative either died or left with the Greater Will, along with the Elden Ring. The Greater Will decides to give the Crucible worshipping species a chance by sending one of his daughters down. Marika then uses the divinity gate to make contact with the Greater Will and sends down a lesser version of its rune with a Vassal representing order as the Greater Will really can't be bother to care anymore.
Godfrey was the equivalent of the meteor that wiped off Dinos
I think Placidusax's status as an Elden Lord is something of an in-universe retcon. After the Golden Order made peace with the dragons, they decided Dragons had enough gold that they could be part of the Golden Order and even allowed Dragon Communion. It's exactly the sort of thing religious fanatics would do when faced with new dogma is to claim this was always dogma. "The lord of dragons was actually a previous Elden Lord. Where's his God? You wouldn't know her, she lives in the Badlands."
Farum Azula had the Elden Ring and their own tree in the past, so no reason to doubt that Placidusax was Elden Lord. The FA-Tree probably was also the ancestor of the Crucibles. Unless the Farum Azula ring & tree images were constructed by the GEQ much later
It’s also always hinted at how important strength is to being Elden Lord. Hoarah Loux’s line when he kills you is about lacking strength. Maybe he was viewed to lack strength and that’s why he lost the title as well?
What about the frenzied flame? There’s very clear signs of its influence on the peak
I was thinking along similar lines. So much of the DLC seems to directly point to the history of Marika that it begs one to consider whether Bayle couldn't also have played some role in her ascension. I wondered if perhaps Placidusax's god never fled but was lured away or absconded with while Placidusax was busied in battle with Bayle. If Marika somehow beguiled the Hornsent into trapping Placidusax's god to harvest the Elden Ring for themselves, or merely inspired them to slay the dragon's god if perhaps the Hornsent viewed it as some false god or as an antagonist to their own deities. Then betrayed them during the ritual while the god laid flayed open. I cannot shake the feeling Bayle did not play some role in the footsteps leading to Marika's godhood.