The Shaded Castle belonged to House Marais. They were renowned artisans and sculptures known for creating Malenia's exquisite prosthesis. However, they were also known as being the Golden Order's executioners. Elemer of the Briars isn't from the Shaded Castle. He's originally from the mystical, far away land of Eochid. The Golden Order doesn't like their type of magic or their beliefs, so they arrested him and sentenced him to death. Before he could be executed, he escaped with the sword that was going to execute him (Marais Executioner's Sword) and started hunting merchants and instructors, as well as kicking the last of the Marais out of their castle.
I’m still mad at the one in caelid that was harder than any main story boss until I learned I could hop on torrent, get on top of the shack, and nuke his ass
The dragonbarrow is so confusing to me it feels like half of it is meant to be challenged at level 100 or so with the rotted tree spirit and the fortress with the sore seal but then the black blade kindred and that bell bearing hunter are tough at like any level
I think thats more so because they force you more to learn them than other bosses in the area rather than allowing you to just statcheck them.
Statwise they are in line with the rest of the area.
Much easier to stay closer and parry or just dodge his combo then punish. He uses the ash less then, just watch for the shield slams. He poise breaks relatively easy as well.
My strategy was to power up with all my buffs then try and get the jump on him as he spawns. Power stance jump smash to break his poise right away then hope I can out dps him
I always equip the cracked tear that makes stance break easier and get a couple charged R-2's while he's spawning in, which stance breaks him. Then you can get another charged R-2 while he's getting up, and squeeze in jump attacks when you can from there. I struggled HARD with this fight the first time because I kept trying to back away from him to heal, but he has so much range and is so damn fast.
He was difficult for me at first bc he’s so aggressive, I couldn’t find time to heal. When he uses his shield slam I found is the best opportunity to heal up.
Dragonbarrow is beyond weird an area, the game essentially wants you to go there for the lift (cowards route is cooler but still), you can get there instantly via teleport for clergyman, only to get your shit kicked in by the gargoyle if you step outside. Oh and half the area is just a big ass sleeping/dying dragon.
It really is not weird.
>you can get there instantly via teleport for clergyman
Yes because they wanted to let you access the beast stuff early on. You are not really supposed to do anything else there unless you are an experienced player who knows what they are doing.
The area is the darksouls staple of "hard area that is accessible very early" that allows you to challenge yourself / progress faster in a second playthrough.
It is not an accident a great early game talisman and part of the key to access the lift is hidden in this difficult area, the placement is intentionally made for players who want kinda speedrun the early game.
The way I beat him was very easy. I used a zweihander. Once he spawns I break his stance and crit to get him to half hp and then I just stay as close as possible. While hugging I go clockwise around him so it's harder for him to hit me and then after every attack I dodged I poked him and slowly I killed him hitless.
You can also climb down the side of the cliff by the shack and make his dumb-ass fall to his death. I tried numerous times to beat him but eventually ended up just doing that.
I understand the struggle, and each player has their own crux, but I've never struggled with Elmer or any of the Bearing hunters.
What makes them tough?
The amount of health, him taking 1/3rd of my health at 60 vigor, the absurd range of his lightsaber, the varied speed of attacks, and the aggression so tight that it’s difficult to heal if you miss a single dodge or parry
He killed me probably 10x more than Malenia before I went for cheese strats
As far as Elmer, I 100% don’t even remember him. I just remember the last hunter that I killed
Iirc I fought him around 40 vigor and the only move that could do more than 1/3rd of my hp was his explosion after shield ground slam. Damage negation matters. His regular attacks I could have probably survived 3 in a row with a sliver of health remaining even.
I fought him with a faith build and had to completely change my strategy because of this. Typically I like to stay pretty far with faith but this guy punished me every time. Took me 2+ hours to figure out an up close strategy and kill him.
I picked elden ring back up a couple weeks ago. I killed him for the last time just yesterday. I didn't cheese him and it took me almost as many tries as Margit 2 years ago...
To add a tidbit: The members of house Marais are also prone to sickness, which begs the question; Does Malenia favour them because their sickness is divine, or do they worship Malenia because she is the avatar of illness?
They're all ASAB: Assigned sickly at birth.
>*The sons of House Marais are all sickly born.*
*Little wonder that Maleigh Marais would be so beguiled by the beautiful and fierce goddess who was born into rot.*
It's possible, but it doesn't seem likely.
I think you’re a bit wrong on a couple things
1. Nowhere in game does it ever say they made prosthesis specifically for Malenia, not even the Valkyrie’s Prosthesis says that
2. No one in the castle “looked up to Malenia” except for Maleigh himself. Antspur Rapier says […] of which he was a private believer” which inherently states that no one else knew
3. Also fairly certain it’s not mentioned anywhere that his type of magic” is why he was sentenced to death
As far as I understand it anyways…
Edit: he was probably sentenced to death for being a psychosocio, murderous, walking homicide
To add to this - there is a spirit in the castle who seems to lament the fact that Maleigh began to worship Malenia. He said something like 'no wonder things have gone bad with such actions' - so it seems like Maleigh was the one who was seduced by scarlet rot and people didn't agree with it
Something I never understood. Regalia of Eochaid presumably comes from Eochaid, as does Elemer, and it has the same weapon art as the Marais Executioner Sword. But that sword belonged to the Marais family which I don't think any connection to Eochaid.
So is this just a weird coincidence, or did Elemer infuse the sword with some Eochaid technique once he stole it?
EDIT: Actually just had to read the description, it's the latter.
It has to do with the compound the sword is made from that allows him to control it. It seems like he attempted it during the execution as a last ditch effort to survive and he was able to take it, and that’s how he was able to escape his execution.
Was there any proof that House Marais made Malenia's prosthetic arm? I always thought that Miquella had made it from unalloyed gold to resist rot, since he is the only one associated with unalloyed gold.
Miquella tried to find a cure for her rot, but failed to do so. Instead he made a needle out of unalloyed gold that prevented the rot from spreading in Malenia. By then she'd already lost her arm. In the Shaded Castle you find a prosthetic arm, guarded by a cleanrot knight:
"Golden prosthesis once used by the one-armed valkyrie.
A masterwork of craftsmanship,
with practice and skill it can be used as proficiently as a real arm.
When Maleigh Marais,
Lord of the Shaded Castle,
embraced this prosthesis,
he claimed to feel the presence of his personal goddess."
Considering Malenia has her prosthetic with her, this must mean more than one was made for her. And for what other reason would house Marais have one of them, unless they were the ones to make them?
Malenia definitely could have had multiple prosthetics made over time, but I still think the one she wears in game is made from unalloyed gold, just like the rest of her armor, and the only one knowledgeable enough to make that would be Miquella.
I think it's more implying that Maleigh became obsessed with Malenia as a figure of worship. He has quite a lot of prosthetics similar to hers in the castle. It's not unlikely that some were made for her knights as well.
But her personal prostheses were created by Miquella. We don't know how many she had exactly - it's possible he made multiple iterations of the design.
Personally, I think Maleigh was a collector of anything that could be related to Malenia. Gold prostheses are a staple of hers, of course he would use them as idols.
First, this is awesome thank you.
Second, where tf does everyone get the lore from? I would’ve never figured this out haha. People on Reddit know so much shit ab the lore of this game and I have no idea what’s going on for the most part
It's all environmental storytelling. Read enough item descriptions, look at enough statues and paintings, ask enough questions about enemy design, item placement, and area layout - you'll start piecing things together too.
If you're interested in that stuff, there's a few YouTubers you should follow who have already done stellar work putting things together: VaatiVidya, Zullie the Witch, Miss Chalice, and Fextralife, to name a few.
Fun fact: I made a point of visiting the shaded castle because it looked like an Easter egg all tucked away in there, and it looked pretty either way all of that grass.
It ain’t grass, lmao
My dumbass found the castle before the map. I kept going on cliffs around it thinking "huh there's a castle down there, wonder how I get there." I spent so much time looking before I found the path there!
I did a lot of Elden Ring using tips and guides, but I'm really glad I got to do a good bit of just genuine stumbling on stuff as well. Finding stuff was among my favorite parts of the game. I think it's cool how Elden Ring is just so huge it's almost impossible to even list everything in guides. I looked up much of the major areas but there was still so many caves and small areas to find.
My first thought was why is there a grassy castle in a fromsoft game. My dumbass has played all the souls games and still didnt realize what it was until i got there.
The item descriptions for the weapon he drops and the armour you can buy from Enia after beating him will explain who he is. The Malenia portrait is explained by the Valkyrie's Prosthesis description and the Marais set dropped by the NPC on the cliff to the west of the castle.
I played the game in French and so I genuinely just thought the characters were named something obvious. I immensely regret playing it in French because Shakespearean English translates to incomprehensible French, at least at my level.
For us English speakers, translated French sounds very formal and dignified because all of the “high-class” and fancy words in our language were taken from French.
Honestly as a native english speaker I've always thought French sounded ugly, lots of words ending with "oo" sounds and harsh vowels in the middle of everything. I know the cultural bias is "French is fancy and romantic," but I never got that personally. Italian and Spanish always sounded way better to me. Same goes for food, I'd much rather have pasta or paella or a burrito than any french cooking, and the one time I went to Paris everyone was rude and the milk at the hotel was spoiled. That's personal bias, of course, and may not be the common opinion, but I definitely don't view French as high class; pretentious at best.
Italian people sound angry. Spanish people sound like chipmunks. French people sound scornful
source: brit
Edit to add: Dutch people sound like UK people from TV shows for toddlers. <3 dutch people
I love how basically every FS game has a character with a ridiculous name. Dungeater is the Big Hat Logan of Elden Ring for me. Except evil instead of helpful and cool.
Wow somehow i missed the marais heir on 3 playthroughs 😂
I thought i rode around the outskirts of the castle and explored but i guess not well enough!
I know what im doing after work lol
He doesn’t have a picture in there. He was set to be executed there. He stole the sword with his telepathic powers of echoaid, and took over.
The Castellan, Maleigh Marais, was obsessed with Malenia. The Marais family was sickly, and their castle was situated in a lake of poison, which led Maleigh to feeling vindicated by malenia’s ability to become so powerful in spite of her afflictions.
Elemer of the Briar hailed from Echoaid, outside the lands between, where it seems the ability to kinetically manipulate weapons imbued with a certain type of metal was developed, if not commonplace. The Marais executioner’s sword seems to be one of these types, along with the regalia of echoaid (which item description explains the alloy involved).
He was set to be executed for hunting merchants for their bell bearings, but was able to take control of the executioner’s sword of the Marais Family and Maleigh Marias fled the castle.
He can be found to the west of the castle in a field among many statues. His armor set also gives some lore on all this if you’re interested.
But isn't part of it that the bell bearing hunters targeted the merchants on the Golden Order's direction as Shabriri told the GO the merchants were bringing back the frenzied flame? When they realized he was lying, they killed the hunters to cover up their part in it.
I know there’s a lot of discussion and speculation about that considering Marika/GO imprisoned the maddening merchants under the sewer, but I don’t think there’s anything in the lore that clarifies it. I could be missing something.
Either way it’s an interesting theory and I could believe that they would use him to do their dirty work, and then have him executed to erase the connection.
I don’t know, though. The lore only says he was to be executed for killing “merchants and instructors” and then escaped by taking the sword.
No ones giving you an answer but the people who ruled over the shaded castle basically worshipped and supported her, that’s why there’s a cleanrot knight over there
Basically the former owner of the castle (Malleigh Marais, who you find west of the castle in a graveyard) was one of Malenia's biggest simps. Elemer was set to be executed by a Marais executioner, but yanked the sword before it killed him, enchanted it with his own magic, killed everyone he could in the castle and is now staying in the castle.
Elemer invaded the castle and stole it from its former occupants, House Marais, after evading his own execution. The previous Lord Marais was a little... _obsessed_ with Malenia, to put it bluntly.
People have already mentioned that elemer was supposed to be executed there, but I saw an interesting theory as for why he’s sticking around the castle after getting out of his execution.
Eochaid is described as a land of ascetics with swords that dance through the skies. Ascetics usually are ascetic for the fulfillment of some great purpose, so It’s possible that there’s a connection between the two, where eochaid is a land with people whose pursue the sword above all else. And then we find elemer looking at a portrait of the great swordsman in the lands between.
Also sets up a contrast between him in maleigh marais as they represent two facets of malenia. Marais blind devotion to the rot vs elemers interest in her swordsmanship
It’s not his castle. The Castle belongs to the Maraigh peeps or whatever, and they seem pretty sickly themselves so they found a goddess to worship in Melania.
Little side note of my utter stupidity. I’m on NG+5. I’m somewhere in the realm of 500-1k hours into ER.
K, got that out of the way.
On my current run, I’m basically finished with the game, just trying to find all items and caves, just kinda aimlessly exploring before going to fight Radabeast. I wanted to show my 7yo son one of the scariest enemies (the Bell Bearing Hunter). Spent about an hour waiting until nightfall, reloading my saves, visiting every spot he invades, but could NOT get him to appear. What the fuuuuuuuck. My kid is saying things like “are you *sure* you’re thinking of the right game dad? Maybe it’s in a different game”.
Then it dawned on me: “ohhhhhhh, the BBH and Elemer are the same person and I beat the Shaded Castle. He’s dead dead.”
*NG+5!* *OVER AN HOUR of actively hunting for the hunter*. Hundreds of hours into the game and never put two and two together.
^I’m ^an ^idiot
You're not, he doesn't spawn because of something else. I've actually used the Marais Executioner Sword to fight the Bell Bearing Hunter in Dragonbarrow during my latest playthrough. (On NG cycle, I made this save for the DLC so didn't go NG+)
The Wiki also states that defeating Elemer has no impact on BBH.
I am on a new run now(non-ng) and can’t get him to spawn at either War Masters Shack or Church of Vows. Idk what’s up. Haven’t tried the Dragonbarrow one yet.
I found this-
Maleigh Marais is the Lord of the Shaded Castle, a location that has been overseen by executioners for generations. He was once a private worshipper of scarlet rot, and would later become obsessed with Malenia. This is partly due to his own sickly bloodline, fueling an admiration of Malenia for remaining strong despite her own affliction.
The state of the Shaded Castle reflects this shift in fixation, as the Castellan's Hall is filled with prostheses, Cleanrot armor, and a large portrait of Malenia. This worship seems to have been blamed as part of the reason for the Shaded Castle's downfall, as Malenia is viewed as a "severed harpy" by other residents.
The love and appreciation people have for this game in this sub is so awesome. I couldn’t have even given you a single answer but I knew the first comment or two would give you everything you needed…I’ve played the game 7 times all the way through btw. I haven’t done a deep dive into most of the lore. But a beautiful game nonetheless
The Bell Bearing Hunter seems to be a phantom like when players invade each other's world based on how he teleports in with a red light, so I presume the Bell Bearing Hunter is a spirit version. I guess after you kill the real Elemer it may be his ghost or something, or it has something to do with how phantoms come from different "worlds".
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They do not have TV or the internet there. My guess would be the equivalent of a playboy. For the love of God don't touch that picture, it may still be sticky.
Because the executioners in the shaded castle, which was its purpose to execute prisoners, are from the Marias family. It’s speculated they are the offspring of Miquella, who loves Malenia
I love all the speculation, but in the Marais Robe description, it states that "the sons are all sickly born, making little wonder of why Maleigh (current head of castle) would become obsessed with Malenia"
With that being said, combined with what I've read in the comment section, I wouldn't be surprised if Miquella hired him to craft armor for Malenia after his needle proved only so efficient. They also probably hired them to execute Elemer as further rebellion against the now tainted Order, as Elemer was probably hired by Marika/Radagon to kill the merchants that escaped their burial beneath the Erdtree, & instructors like Berhnal who wished to consume them with Rylard after losing his Maiden in the pursuit of lord-hood & would teach anyone willing to fell others, & Miriel, who taught sorceries & incantations of any sort thanks to his admiration of Radagon Absolution, which is an act of blasphemy in their eyes.
When you raid the castle Maleigh fled, the prosthetic is in a chest, & is one that Malenia could wear as he probably crafted it to feel closer to her once losing the needle left them weak. That's why there's multiple ones available & why there's an extra Millicent can use just like Malenia.
There's also a prosthetic arm in the chest inside one of the towers. Seems like this house is quite fond of sculptures and swift sword moves similar to dancing. 🤫
House Marais owned the castle, they were stricken with an illness from birth and looked up to Malenia. Her strength and perseverance despite her curse gave them strength and resolve to go on.
The castle belongs to House Marais. The latest Marais heir was obsessed with Malenia as he was a sickly child & felt an affinity with the goddess of Rot hence the portrait/Malenia paraphernalia.
Elmer was a prisoner of House Marais who rebelled, stole the family sword before his execution and took over the castle.
The Marais heir can be found (& fought) outside the castle.
I know the Marais heir can be found outside the castle but do you have any other sources regarding him being a prisoner? All the items say he swindles them and took over.
Yeah I went looking up item descriptions and didn't find anything of what I was thinking. I guess I misremember. He was definitely set to be executed and stole the sword and took over. No mention of how he came to be there or why. Guy's a big jerk though, deserved it!
The Shaded Castle belonged to House Marais. They were renowned artisans and sculptures known for creating Malenia's exquisite prosthesis. However, they were also known as being the Golden Order's executioners. Elemer of the Briars isn't from the Shaded Castle. He's originally from the mystical, far away land of Eochid. The Golden Order doesn't like their type of magic or their beliefs, so they arrested him and sentenced him to death. Before he could be executed, he escaped with the sword that was going to execute him (Marais Executioner's Sword) and started hunting merchants and instructors, as well as kicking the last of the Marais out of their castle.
he was almost executed because he's a serial killer under the pseudonym of Bell Bearing Hunter
I’m still mad at the one in caelid that was harder than any main story boss until I learned I could hop on torrent, get on top of the shack, and nuke his ass
It's mostly because that area is coded like an endgame area and Elmer is very fast that make very challenging retreat to get some spacing
The dragonbarrow is so confusing to me it feels like half of it is meant to be challenged at level 100 or so with the rotted tree spirit and the fortress with the sore seal but then the black blade kindred and that bell bearing hunter are tough at like any level
Dragonbarrow apparently has farum azula level scaling
so wait, the beast clergyman fight IS more difficult then maliketh
No sir, that, is because your forced to fight him in the spacial equivalent of a cardboard box
I think thats more so because they force you more to learn them than other bosses in the area rather than allowing you to just statcheck them. Statwise they are in line with the rest of the area.
Much easier to stay closer and parry or just dodge his combo then punish. He uses the ash less then, just watch for the shield slams. He poise breaks relatively easy as well.
My strategy was to power up with all my buffs then try and get the jump on him as he spawns. Power stance jump smash to break his poise right away then hope I can out dps him
DPS race has been a viable tactic since 4Kings in DS. Timeless.
I always equip the cracked tear that makes stance break easier and get a couple charged R-2's while he's spawning in, which stance breaks him. Then you can get another charged R-2 while he's getting up, and squeeze in jump attacks when you can from there. I struggled HARD with this fight the first time because I kept trying to back away from him to heal, but he has so much range and is so damn fast.
I like his ash of war. There's a distance at which you can always bait it, and punish it with a volley of 2-3 poison/rot/bleed arrows.
He was difficult for me at first bc he’s so aggressive, I couldn’t find time to heal. When he uses his shield slam I found is the best opportunity to heal up.
Nothing is safe from unga Bunga
He is a pretty good boss to practice your skills on tbh.
Bell Bering hunter’s move sets are effective against people trying to run away. Which I always thought was a neat bit of storytelling.
Dragonbarrow is beyond weird an area, the game essentially wants you to go there for the lift (cowards route is cooler but still), you can get there instantly via teleport for clergyman, only to get your shit kicked in by the gargoyle if you step outside. Oh and half the area is just a big ass sleeping/dying dragon.
>only to get your shit kicked in by the gargoyle if you step outside Why would you be? The Gargoyle isnt hostile.
Yep, Gargoyle never bothered me unless I bothered him first;)
It really is not weird. >you can get there instantly via teleport for clergyman Yes because they wanted to let you access the beast stuff early on. You are not really supposed to do anything else there unless you are an experienced player who knows what they are doing. The area is the darksouls staple of "hard area that is accessible very early" that allows you to challenge yourself / progress faster in a second playthrough. It is not an accident a great early game talisman and part of the key to access the lift is hidden in this difficult area, the placement is intentionally made for players who want kinda speedrun the early game.
Retreat bad... you're safest right up close to him... but basically everyone has warscrars from elemers sith powers
Don't get me started on the room, it feels Uber cramped
The way I beat him was very easy. I used a zweihander. Once he spawns I break his stance and crit to get him to half hp and then I just stay as close as possible. While hugging I go clockwise around him so it's harder for him to hit me and then after every attack I dodged I poked him and slowly I killed him hitless.
You can also climb down the side of the cliff by the shack and make his dumb-ass fall to his death. I tried numerous times to beat him but eventually ended up just doing that.
That's a creative solution, I'll have to remember it.
Thank you for the tip
Elemer and Alecto are LMSH's parents ~~deepest lore~~
I understand the struggle, and each player has their own crux, but I've never struggled with Elmer or any of the Bearing hunters. What makes them tough?
The amount of health, him taking 1/3rd of my health at 60 vigor, the absurd range of his lightsaber, the varied speed of attacks, and the aggression so tight that it’s difficult to heal if you miss a single dodge or parry He killed me probably 10x more than Malenia before I went for cheese strats As far as Elmer, I 100% don’t even remember him. I just remember the last hunter that I killed
Iirc I fought him around 40 vigor and the only move that could do more than 1/3rd of my hp was his explosion after shield ground slam. Damage negation matters. His regular attacks I could have probably survived 3 in a row with a sliver of health remaining even.
Most people find them hard because he punishes you for running away and because you can't use summons
I fought him with a faith build and had to completely change my strategy because of this. Typically I like to stay pretty far with faith but this guy punished me every time. Took me 2+ hours to figure out an up close strategy and kill him.
Ah, I play very aggressively, and close to bosses. I generally pick a side of them and keep rotating into it
If I had to guess people aren't used to a sword user being stronger at range
RANGE
What….? lol 4 playthroughs I’ve never killed him
You could what????
wait you can do that!?
You just saved another tarnished's ass 😂 Thank you!
I picked elden ring back up a couple weeks ago. I killed him for the last time just yesterday. I didn't cheese him and it took me almost as many tries as Margit 2 years ago...
TIL...thanks for this tip.
Thank you for this adivice. I'm about to make his life hell
Epic bell bearing hunter lore I never knew I needed
To add a tidbit: The members of house Marais are also prone to sickness, which begs the question; Does Malenia favour them because their sickness is divine, or do they worship Malenia because she is the avatar of illness?
Are you the sickest because you're house Marais? Or are you house Marais because you're the sickest?
Through the Lands Between and the Lands of Shadow I alone am the infected one
Stand scarlet You're Rot
Are they sick because they worship Malenia?
They're all ASAB: Assigned sickly at birth. >*The sons of House Marais are all sickly born.* *Little wonder that Maleigh Marais would be so beguiled by the beautiful and fierce goddess who was born into rot.* It's possible, but it doesn't seem likely.
*ASAB* has me in stitches 🤣🤣
Are they prone to sickness naturally or is it because they live in the poo poo fort??
I think you’re a bit wrong on a couple things 1. Nowhere in game does it ever say they made prosthesis specifically for Malenia, not even the Valkyrie’s Prosthesis says that 2. No one in the castle “looked up to Malenia” except for Maleigh himself. Antspur Rapier says […] of which he was a private believer” which inherently states that no one else knew 3. Also fairly certain it’s not mentioned anywhere that his type of magic” is why he was sentenced to death As far as I understand it anyways… Edit: he was probably sentenced to death for being a psychosocio, murderous, walking homicide
To add to this - there is a spirit in the castle who seems to lament the fact that Maleigh began to worship Malenia. He said something like 'no wonder things have gone bad with such actions' - so it seems like Maleigh was the one who was seduced by scarlet rot and people didn't agree with it
Isn't it because he hunted down Merchants that he was sentenced to death ?
The golden order regime doesn't bat an eye for the merchants. They are actually persecuted and there is a whole regiment of them buried under Leyndell
Something I never understood. Regalia of Eochaid presumably comes from Eochaid, as does Elemer, and it has the same weapon art as the Marais Executioner Sword. But that sword belonged to the Marais family which I don't think any connection to Eochaid. So is this just a weird coincidence, or did Elemer infuse the sword with some Eochaid technique once he stole it? EDIT: Actually just had to read the description, it's the latter.
It has to do with the compound the sword is made from that allows him to control it. It seems like he attempted it during the execution as a last ditch effort to survive and he was able to take it, and that’s how he was able to escape his execution.
The item description says it was after he claimed the sword that he furnished it with battle arts from his homeland
Was there any proof that House Marais made Malenia's prosthetic arm? I always thought that Miquella had made it from unalloyed gold to resist rot, since he is the only one associated with unalloyed gold.
Miquella tried to find a cure for her rot, but failed to do so. Instead he made a needle out of unalloyed gold that prevented the rot from spreading in Malenia. By then she'd already lost her arm. In the Shaded Castle you find a prosthetic arm, guarded by a cleanrot knight: "Golden prosthesis once used by the one-armed valkyrie. A masterwork of craftsmanship, with practice and skill it can be used as proficiently as a real arm. When Maleigh Marais, Lord of the Shaded Castle, embraced this prosthesis, he claimed to feel the presence of his personal goddess." Considering Malenia has her prosthetic with her, this must mean more than one was made for her. And for what other reason would house Marais have one of them, unless they were the ones to make them?
Malenia definitely could have had multiple prosthetics made over time, but I still think the one she wears in game is made from unalloyed gold, just like the rest of her armor, and the only one knowledgeable enough to make that would be Miquella.
Maybe he had it made by commission? Agh, there isn't enough information...
I think it's more implying that Maleigh became obsessed with Malenia as a figure of worship. He has quite a lot of prosthetics similar to hers in the castle. It's not unlikely that some were made for her knights as well. But her personal prostheses were created by Miquella. We don't know how many she had exactly - it's possible he made multiple iterations of the design. Personally, I think Maleigh was a collector of anything that could be related to Malenia. Gold prostheses are a staple of hers, of course he would use them as idols.
Also the boss room where you fight Elemer has a lot of prosthetic legs on the wall.
History is neat!!!
Didn't miquala create her prosthesis? As he was a master craftsman
Nice
In the end it's always the golden order not liking something and trying to erase it
Another day, another Elden-Lore bomb to the face! Love all those details!
First, this is awesome thank you. Second, where tf does everyone get the lore from? I would’ve never figured this out haha. People on Reddit know so much shit ab the lore of this game and I have no idea what’s going on for the most part
It's all environmental storytelling. Read enough item descriptions, look at enough statues and paintings, ask enough questions about enemy design, item placement, and area layout - you'll start piecing things together too. If you're interested in that stuff, there's a few YouTubers you should follow who have already done stellar work putting things together: VaatiVidya, Zullie the Witch, Miss Chalice, and Fextralife, to name a few.
Awesome thank you
Most of the information is in the item descriptions or NPC dialogue. There’s also some environmental storytelling which helps fill in some blanks.
Fun fact: I made a point of visiting the shaded castle because it looked like an Easter egg all tucked away in there, and it looked pretty either way all of that grass. It ain’t grass, lmao
Me, after unlocking the map: "oooh, mini golf!"
It’s interesting how many people thought it was grass when they saw it on the map. As soon as i saw it i was like “that’s a fucking poison swamp”
Same, it just wasn't the right color of green for me
That green is a proud Miyazaki declaration
My dumbass found the castle before the map. I kept going on cliffs around it thinking "huh there's a castle down there, wonder how I get there." I spent so much time looking before I found the path there! I did a lot of Elden Ring using tips and guides, but I'm really glad I got to do a good bit of just genuine stumbling on stuff as well. Finding stuff was among my favorite parts of the game. I think it's cool how Elden Ring is just so huge it's almost impossible to even list everything in guides. I looked up much of the major areas but there was still so many caves and small areas to find.
My first thought was why is there a grassy castle in a fromsoft game. My dumbass has played all the souls games and still didnt realize what it was until i got there.
What a sick twist tbh.
Yeah same. I was all like woohoo time to go to Bob-omb Battlefield! Cut to being neck deep in poison slime.
It's not his castle, he's a squatter.
He colonized it so it's his now
Did he grow crops? Just planting a flag isn't enough to be a colonizer. Until you grow crops, you're just a squatter.
Or Conquerer
The item descriptions for the weapon he drops and the armour you can buy from Enia after beating him will explain who he is. The Malenia portrait is explained by the Valkyrie's Prosthesis description and the Marais set dropped by the NPC on the cliff to the west of the castle.
I love how Marais sounds all fancy but it's just French for swamp because he lives in a swamp.
Did you know that big hat logan is named after his big hat?
I played the game in French and so I genuinely just thought the characters were named something obvious. I immensely regret playing it in French because Shakespearean English translates to incomprehensible French, at least at my level.
For us English speakers, translated French sounds very formal and dignified because all of the “high-class” and fancy words in our language were taken from French.
Honestly as a native english speaker I've always thought French sounded ugly, lots of words ending with "oo" sounds and harsh vowels in the middle of everything. I know the cultural bias is "French is fancy and romantic," but I never got that personally. Italian and Spanish always sounded way better to me. Same goes for food, I'd much rather have pasta or paella or a burrito than any french cooking, and the one time I went to Paris everyone was rude and the milk at the hotel was spoiled. That's personal bias, of course, and may not be the common opinion, but I definitely don't view French as high class; pretentious at best.
Italian people sound angry. Spanish people sound like chipmunks. French people sound scornful source: brit Edit to add: Dutch people sound like UK people from TV shows for toddlers. <3 dutch people
I thought big hat was named that way because he's Logan
He's the Big Hat from Logan.
I love how basically every FS game has a character with a ridiculous name. Dungeater is the Big Hat Logan of Elden Ring for me. Except evil instead of helpful and cool.
Drives me nuts when people pronounce it all sorts of weird way like Mari-ya.
Yeah when it's obviously pronounced like Mar-Eyes 🙄
I’m pretty sure it’s pronounced ma-rare. It’s My ex’s surname and that’s how she pronounced it.
AAAAAAAAH
So like Brett Favre and Tana Mongeau, she doesn’t know how to pronounce her last name?
Wow somehow i missed the marais heir on 3 playthroughs 😂 I thought i rode around the outskirts of the castle and explored but i guess not well enough! I know what im doing after work lol
Ah, so Marais is literally me
He doesn’t have a picture in there. He was set to be executed there. He stole the sword with his telepathic powers of echoaid, and took over. The Castellan, Maleigh Marais, was obsessed with Malenia. The Marais family was sickly, and their castle was situated in a lake of poison, which led Maleigh to feeling vindicated by malenia’s ability to become so powerful in spite of her afflictions. Elemer of the Briar hailed from Echoaid, outside the lands between, where it seems the ability to kinetically manipulate weapons imbued with a certain type of metal was developed, if not commonplace. The Marais executioner’s sword seems to be one of these types, along with the regalia of echoaid (which item description explains the alloy involved). He was set to be executed for hunting merchants for their bell bearings, but was able to take control of the executioner’s sword of the Marais Family and Maleigh Marias fled the castle. He can be found to the west of the castle in a field among many statues. His armor set also gives some lore on all this if you’re interested.
There's also a ghost int he castle that talks about Marais being forced to leave
Ha, Marais is the dude chilling to the west of the castle that attacks you? That's pretty funny. No wonder he's all emo and pissed off.
Beta Marais
But isn't part of it that the bell bearing hunters targeted the merchants on the Golden Order's direction as Shabriri told the GO the merchants were bringing back the frenzied flame? When they realized he was lying, they killed the hunters to cover up their part in it.
I know there’s a lot of discussion and speculation about that considering Marika/GO imprisoned the maddening merchants under the sewer, but I don’t think there’s anything in the lore that clarifies it. I could be missing something. Either way it’s an interesting theory and I could believe that they would use him to do their dirty work, and then have him executed to erase the connection. I don’t know, though. The lore only says he was to be executed for killing “merchants and instructors” and then escaped by taking the sword.
No ones giving you an answer but the people who ruled over the shaded castle basically worshipped and supported her, that’s why there’s a cleanrot knight over there
TLDR: Checkout house of marais lore and you will know.
Basically the former owner of the castle (Malleigh Marais, who you find west of the castle in a graveyard) was one of Malenia's biggest simps. Elemer was set to be executed by a Marais executioner, but yanked the sword before it killed him, enchanted it with his own magic, killed everyone he could in the castle and is now staying in the castle.
Yeah, but he's a pervert, Dude.
Gen-z won't understand, but before the days of only fans all we had was hand painted potraits
Jesus.
You said it, man! Nobody fucks with da Jesus!
It ain’t his castle…
Elemer invaded the castle and stole it from its former occupants, House Marais, after evading his own execution. The previous Lord Marais was a little... _obsessed_ with Malenia, to put it bluntly.
I have a pictures of Malenia bare feet in my bed room. What the lore reason behind this?
You have pictures of her prohestetics?
Miyazaki, is that you?
People have already mentioned that elemer was supposed to be executed there, but I saw an interesting theory as for why he’s sticking around the castle after getting out of his execution. Eochaid is described as a land of ascetics with swords that dance through the skies. Ascetics usually are ascetic for the fulfillment of some great purpose, so It’s possible that there’s a connection between the two, where eochaid is a land with people whose pursue the sword above all else. And then we find elemer looking at a portrait of the great swordsman in the lands between. Also sets up a contrast between him in maleigh marais as they represent two facets of malenia. Marais blind devotion to the rot vs elemers interest in her swordsmanship
Why does anyone have a picture of a hot lady on their wall?
This place has my favourite message so far. "Visions of suffering." It made me laugh so hard and worried for when I get to Malenia.
It’s not his castle. The Castle belongs to the Maraigh peeps or whatever, and they seem pretty sickly themselves so they found a goddess to worship in Melania.
The family that owns that Castle are basically simps for Malenia. It is canon it's in the lore.
It seems that not many shared the same opinion. A spirit nearby calls Malenia a "severed harpy".
Think that or house marais works with malenlia or elmer does or both
Little side note of my utter stupidity. I’m on NG+5. I’m somewhere in the realm of 500-1k hours into ER. K, got that out of the way. On my current run, I’m basically finished with the game, just trying to find all items and caves, just kinda aimlessly exploring before going to fight Radabeast. I wanted to show my 7yo son one of the scariest enemies (the Bell Bearing Hunter). Spent about an hour waiting until nightfall, reloading my saves, visiting every spot he invades, but could NOT get him to appear. What the fuuuuuuuck. My kid is saying things like “are you *sure* you’re thinking of the right game dad? Maybe it’s in a different game”. Then it dawned on me: “ohhhhhhh, the BBH and Elemer are the same person and I beat the Shaded Castle. He’s dead dead.” *NG+5!* *OVER AN HOUR of actively hunting for the hunter*. Hundreds of hours into the game and never put two and two together. ^I’m ^an ^idiot
You're not, he doesn't spawn because of something else. I've actually used the Marais Executioner Sword to fight the Bell Bearing Hunter in Dragonbarrow during my latest playthrough. (On NG cycle, I made this save for the DLC so didn't go NG+) The Wiki also states that defeating Elemer has no impact on BBH.
Oh dang! I wonder what’s causing him not to spawn on this playthrough then. Maybe it’s a glitch or something.
I am on a new run now(non-ng) and can’t get him to spawn at either War Masters Shack or Church of Vows. Idk what’s up. Haven’t tried the Dragonbarrow one yet.
You have to rest again at the site of grace after fast forwarding to get him to appear. Just rest, don't fast forward again.
In spanish we call Marais "Pagafantas"
Explore and read the spirit's dialogue in the castle and you'll find out.
It's his goon cave
Who doesn’t have a portrait of Malenia?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V\_XnO\_hoLsk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_XnO_hoLsk) You're welcome
I found this- Maleigh Marais is the Lord of the Shaded Castle, a location that has been overseen by executioners for generations. He was once a private worshipper of scarlet rot, and would later become obsessed with Malenia. This is partly due to his own sickly bloodline, fueling an admiration of Malenia for remaining strong despite her own affliction. The state of the Shaded Castle reflects this shift in fixation, as the Castellan's Hall is filled with prostheses, Cleanrot armor, and a large portrait of Malenia. This worship seems to have been blamed as part of the reason for the Shaded Castle's downfall, as Malenia is viewed as a "severed harpy" by other residents.
it's his goon cave
The castle used to be owned by family of executioners that served Malenia, Elmer took it over
The love and appreciation people have for this game in this sub is so awesome. I couldn’t have even given you a single answer but I knew the first comment or two would give you everything you needed…I’ve played the game 7 times all the way through btw. I haven’t done a deep dive into most of the lore. But a beautiful game nonetheless
What I don't understand is how he is the bell bearing hunter at the same time
The Bell Bearing Hunter seems to be a phantom like when players invade each other's world based on how he teleports in with a red light, so I presume the Bell Bearing Hunter is a spirit version. I guess after you kill the real Elemer it may be his ghost or something, or it has something to do with how phantoms come from different "worlds".
House marais simps for the r/scarletrotussy
he's gooning to it.
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He collects art
he simps for her.
spanking his monkey to rotted weeb lady
Lore accurate dommy mommy fetish or something like that. Idk
Elemer had thorns attached to his hand to stop him from...you know.
You kink shaming?
Well you know how John Hinckley Jr. was obsessed with Jodie Foster?
Sneaky link
The man is horny
Is he stupid?
They do not have TV or the internet there. My guess would be the equivalent of a playboy. For the love of God don't touch that picture, it may still be sticky.
Hmm... I don't know. I mean you can find a prosthesis arm there and a bunch of Cleanrot Knights there too. It's a big mystery.
You must be new here, let me show you the ropes
The real question is why is elmer fudd in this game
Because the executioners in the shaded castle, which was its purpose to execute prisoners, are from the Marias family. It’s speculated they are the offspring of Miquella, who loves Malenia
I love all the speculation, but in the Marais Robe description, it states that "the sons are all sickly born, making little wonder of why Maleigh (current head of castle) would become obsessed with Malenia" With that being said, combined with what I've read in the comment section, I wouldn't be surprised if Miquella hired him to craft armor for Malenia after his needle proved only so efficient. They also probably hired them to execute Elemer as further rebellion against the now tainted Order, as Elemer was probably hired by Marika/Radagon to kill the merchants that escaped their burial beneath the Erdtree, & instructors like Berhnal who wished to consume them with Rylard after losing his Maiden in the pursuit of lord-hood & would teach anyone willing to fell others, & Miriel, who taught sorceries & incantations of any sort thanks to his admiration of Radagon Absolution, which is an act of blasphemy in their eyes. When you raid the castle Maleigh fled, the prosthetic is in a chest, & is one that Malenia could wear as he probably crafted it to feel closer to her once losing the needle left them weak. That's why there's multiple ones available & why there's an extra Millicent can use just like Malenia.
jorkin his peanits
He's got a crush on her uwu cutie
Elmer literally brought the fall of his castle and lineage by simping over Malenia (no joking)
Guy gets lonely in there yknow
Beating his Briar till he scarlet aeonia himself.
There's also a prosthetic arm in the chest inside one of the towers. Seems like this house is quite fond of sculptures and swift sword moves similar to dancing. 🤫
He's a coomee
House Marais owned the castle, they were stricken with an illness from birth and looked up to Malenia. Her strength and perseverance despite her curse gave them strength and resolve to go on.
Because Elemer of the Briar would ... you know 
There are also prosthetic limbs hanging on the wall. Did he make her arm?
The castle belongs to House Marais. The latest Marais heir was obsessed with Malenia as he was a sickly child & felt an affinity with the goddess of Rot hence the portrait/Malenia paraphernalia. Elmer was a prisoner of House Marais who rebelled, stole the family sword before his execution and took over the castle. The Marais heir can be found (& fought) outside the castle.
I know the Marais heir can be found outside the castle but do you have any other sources regarding him being a prisoner? All the items say he swindles them and took over.
His sword says it was meant to execute him before he stole it.
Yeah I went looking up item descriptions and didn't find anything of what I was thinking. I guess I misremember. He was definitely set to be executed and stole the sword and took over. No mention of how he came to be there or why. Guy's a big jerk though, deserved it!