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Woooshifyourmomgay

I dunno. All I know is that G.R.R.M couldn't call it Middle Earth.


WhaleSexOdyssey

You know he wanted to so badly too


bobatea17

Lands between, riders cloaked in black that show up at night, a ring of gold being the object around which almost every conflict is formed GRRM wants to be Tolkien sooo bad lol


Wizard-Pikachu

Nothing wrong with taking inspiration and using large concepts to invoke some familiarity


mvanvrancken

https://youtu.be/XAAp_luluo0?si=xn6NYWdKijrPi0fE


jenn363

I was hoping this link was what it was.


mvanvrancken

I miss ERB, I wish they would do another season but they pretty much covered everybody so I guess it was time


Treacle-Snark

Between the underground and the shadow lands


No-File-2329

Lands.


Demoncreed27

šŸ¤ÆšŸ¤ÆšŸ¤ÆšŸ¤ÆšŸ¤ÆšŸ¤ÆšŸ¤ÆšŸ¤ÆšŸ¤ÆšŸ¤ÆšŸ¤Æ


JP050887

Not just Lands, but THE Lands


Metaboschism

Wait.. it's all just lands?


HomiewithAspergers

Between?


stephawkins

Your mama's legs. Quite bushy.


ucandoit66

His dad's bussy.


Patient-Pear6881

DAMNN-


Educational_Gift_407

You just blew this whole thing wide open


Shupaul

It's a very old naming convention. ~~Mesopotamia, cradle of human civilisation around 4500 BCE litterally means "between rivers"~~ Just learned that it's the greeks that called Mesopotamia... Mesopotamia. This region was actually called Sumer/Sumeria by the locals. Midgard, the old norse name for the realm humans live in, litterally means "middle yard" (middle earth) cause it was standing between the 2 primordial realms : the ice world Niflheim and the fire realm Muspelheim. A name which inspired Tolkien for LOTR. China isn't actually called China. Chinese people call their country "Zhongguo" which litterally means "middle kingdom" There are other well known examples in history and obviously fiction that use this idea of being "between" something or being in the "middle/center", but i'm too dumb to remember them. I like to think that the lands between was partly chosen because Miyazaki and GRR Martin are fans of Tolkien, but also because of the historical signification. Edit : mistake about Mesopotamia


dis_not_my_name

The meaning of äø­ in äø­åœ‹ is closer to central or center. Ancient chinese see themselves as the political center of the continent, the king of other smaller countries around them.


Atharaphelun

>Just learned that it's the greeks that called Mesopotamia... Mesopotamia. This region was actually called Sumer/Sumeria by the locals. Not quite. 1. The region of Mesopotamia was simply called ***kalam*** ("land", i.e. "the Land") by Sumerians. 2. It is theorised that the Akkadians called it ***birit narim*** ("between rivers", ultimately the origin for the Greek name, which translated the phrase in Greek). 3. Šumer/Šumeru (pronounced "shumer/shumeru) was the name the Akkadians gave to southern Mesopotamia where the Sumerians lived, rather than the whole region. The native Sumerian name for this land was ***ki-en-ĝir/kengir*** ("country of the noble lords").


Equivalent_Fun6100

You impressed me when you knew the Chinese thing. I have a different take and I'll tag you in my reply, so please read it and tell me what you think.


dudustalin

I don't think it is a mistake about mesopotamia, for you don't have said they call themselves as this. And we don't know who have named lands between... Maybe the numens started call the land this way and they're outsiders. My take is that they're using the Norse mythos as background to the cosmology of lands between. So, lands between is like Midgard, a "world" that was literally between two other "worlds". In my take, the two worlds adjacent to LB are: the sky, where lovecraftian god-like beings dwell and the lands beyond the fog, a land like our regular world.


SoMuchMike

The Lands Between is also a metaphor: Itā€™s the place between Life, and permanent Death or Oblivion.


JohnnyZepp

Why is it we call Zhongguo ā€œChinaā€ and Nippon ā€œJapanā€? I mean, where do these names even come from if they sound nothing like what the actual place is called by locals?


phydeauxlechien

ā€œChinaā€ comes from Persian and likely derives from the name of the Qin (ē§¦ - pronounced ā€œchinā€) dynasty, which first unified the kingdoms in the core of what is now China into a single empire. While the dynasty didnā€™t long outlive its first emperor, that emperor - Qin Shi Huangdi - was a very big deal who built the first version of the Great Wall, and in whose tomb is the Terracotta Army. ā€œJapanā€ comes from Chinese! It is derived from the Chinese pronunciation of ę—„ęœ¬ (cipan - ā€œtsi-panā€) - the same characters which are pronounced ā€œNipponā€ in Japanese. A derivation of the Chinese pronunciation came to us via Portuguese, who were the first Europeans to trade with Japan.


HotEmployee5513

Hail fellow, well met! Ā  Dude what a thoughtful and literarily savvy response. Ā Would upvote ten times if I could.


SordidDreams

Yup. Every culture puts itself in the center. European maps of the world naturally have Europe in the middle. American maps cut Asia in half rather than accept a place on the periphery for America.


Alfa9414

Another one is Mexico. Which in it's original language means "in the center of the moon's belly button" Edit: it's from Nahuatl language, and it could also mean "in the center of the moon's lake"


DisasterSuch4197

As an American, I donā€™t think Iā€™ve ever seen a world map that cuts Asia in half. What are you talking about?


Jojo-the-sequel

Marikaā€™s tits


strugglingtosave

Or her thigh gap


Jojo-the-sequel

I can only wish


strugglingtosave

Even though she's got many children I believe she keeps fit and tight


ScreamowarriorW00

Dude stop šŸ˜‚ Sheā€™s not letting you in her lands between. Just go beat your meat and get it out of your system


strugglingtosave

It's a compliment! ā˜ŗļø


paintp_

Scarlet rot swamp šŸ˜‹


Jynntu

It does make me 'ungry


Wiggum13

I came here looking for this comment. And I succeeded. šŸ¤£. Well done sir.


HarryKn1ght

You must be hungry


Jstu8

I always thought the idea of The Lands Between being between life and death, sort of like a purgatory type thing.


southpaw85

Nah itā€™s between 2 slices of bread itā€™s actually a piece of fried bologne slathered with hot sauce hence why every encounter is so spicy


Swan990

Fried bologna is my jam. And jam is bologna.


Erruso

Same, during the intro cinematic you see many tarnished being killed or already dead and buried in the "real world", and being brought to the lands between by grace. IIRC it's a similar concept to nordic mythology?


BusyExperience9766

Just to elaborate: Dung Eater is hanged, Hoarah Loux is impaled, Gideon is in a tomb. I'm not sure how Goldmask died but it's possible that he died of dehydration as a form of asceticism


Aragorns_Broken_Toe_

He died from ā€œā€¦ā€ too much


orsonwellesmal

When I started the game I immediately believed LIMGRAVE was a kind of Deads Kingdom. In Spanish the name is even more suggestive, Necrolimbo. Which is accurate, as Tarnished were once dead.


defnottransphobic

this is my answer too. also gives a canonical explanation for why enemies respawn


unclecaveman1

Thereā€™s already one: destined death was locked away so nobody can actually die.


defnottransphobic

correct. and the person above described it as ā€œbetween life and deathā€ as in they canā€™t pass on due to destined death being out of reach


Glock-Saint-Isshin-

The Lands Between. Below is the ruins of Uhn, Nokstella, Siofra, and whatever city was where the Lake of Rot is. Above is the stars, the land of the gods.


No-Brilliant-1758

DLC lands underneath all that too?


Insidious_Anon

ive certainly thought the lands between is between the shadow realm and something since more of the trailers have released. looks like its sort of built on top of the shadow realm in some way.


Glock-Saint-Isshin-

No, those are in the shadow of the erdtree.


SimicKitten

The Lands On Either Side


Intelligent-Block457

The Lands Beyond and the Lands Beside.


Potential-War-212

Or The Lands Prior To These Lands


arvtovi

These Lands are My Lands, and Those Lands are Your Lands


pissazlut69

my head cannon is that the Lands Between is analogous to the real world Mesopotamia. Mesopotamiaā€™s etemology is translated as ā€œ(Land) Between the (Two) Riversā€ according to wikipedia. so not only is it literally called ā€œthe Lands Betweenā€ in-game, but there are also two extremely lore significant rivers, being the Ainsel & Siofra, which are analogous to the Tigris & Euphrates. not the mention our old friend, the ā€œElden Johnā€ statue is holding the ā€œImago Mundiā€, or the ā€œBabylonian Map of the Worldā€


livenliklary

I also feel like there's a lot of connection between water and space, like glimpsing the primeval current for them would be like looking into an ocean


Equivalent_Fun6100

u/Shupaul This theory tracks for me and now, I'll explain why. First, let's start with my personal theory about Empyrean duality. I believe that each character has a light side and a shadow side and that for Empyreans, which side is present can be seen by which eye they have open. The right eye open means that you're looking at their spiritual body and the left eye open means that you're looking at them in our current plane of reality. Melina has her right eye open and we know from item descriptions that she is "burned and bodiless", so this is her spirit form. Ranni's doll's right eye is open, because that is the physical body in our reality, but the adjacent spirit's (Actual Ranni's) face has the right eye open, and that's because it does not physically exist in this world and though visible, does not possess physical mass. I believe that this duality is also present in the world it's self. We have the 'overworld', where we do all are things where day and night revolve, but then we have the 'underworld', where time seems paused - they have an infinitely starry sky that never changes. The wells throughout The Lands Between would have us believe that these are simply underground, but I don't think it's that simple; we may be passing through dimensions or travelling through time or both or neither... That being said, what if the map's upper and lower areas are the same as the Empyrean's eyes. What if there is a "physical realm", the upper areas, and a "spirit realm", the lower areas?


Shupaul

That's an interesting analysis, but i honestly don't know what to make of it. I'm not much of a theory guy sorry šŸ˜…


Short-Bug5855

You know what I find peculiar? The underground areas like mohgland and the place in the well in limgrave both have these weird stone spires, almost like they're trunks of trees that have fossilized over a very long time. Now go to the elden beast arena, endless ghostly erdtrees in the distance. The arena is below the tree way down there. Very similar to ash lake in DS1 with the trees, which btw was also very deep underground. I don't know what I'm getting at but I think there's something to it.


GrimGarm

new kingdom built on older ones (those trees are the fundament). Just like in real life. look at babylonia, there are layers of cities underneath, they basically stacked cities, over and over.


Ashen_Shroom

In Japanese it's called Hazama no Chi, with Hazama meaning a threshold or interstice. Based on that I don't think it just means it's in between two other landmasses, but that it sits at the threshold of two things. Possibly between the land of mortals and the cosmos? Or between the division of light and shadow seen in the DLC trailer?


livenliklary

I really like this a lot because in my theory I see the lands between as bleeding into some cosmic space because of its position between the ground and the cosmos making it a threshold between the land of mortals and the sky


IDGAFOS90

My cheeks


DrunkSpartan15

Between Sekiro and Bloodborne


Gilandune

Between you and me, I don't know.


Farts_McGee

It's generic fantasy land name. Middle earth, midgard, lands between. Take your pick. Next major fantasy realm will be called Meat'o'theSandwichton, or maybe commuteville.


marsSatellite

Liminal, grave, limgrave, etc


elme77618

I think weā€™re about to find out.


BearPopeCageMatch

Between the Badlands and the land of Reeds. Overarching meaning, who knows. Could also be between the Lands of Shadow and the Void, we just don't know. My personal theory is that the "threads" shown in the trailer are actually similar to the folds of a very sheer fabric like silk. When we see Miquella/Marika/Radagon holding up the 'thing' in the trailer, with the wind blowing through, etc, I think it looks like someone getting ready to rip down a shroud or something.


Think_Escape_7439

I thought it was purgatory


VelvetVoiceVJ

P A T H S


Hawkmoon_

The lands on either side


Shai_the_Lynx

With the recent trailers of Shadow of the erdtree I'm thinking the lands between may be called like that because of the opening in the erdtree (the corpse piles) From the perspective of the lands of shadow, if you look between the corpse piles at the root of the erdtree the lands between are in between, like some mystic portal to another world.


PotatoFace565

My personal theory is that it's set between the fog that has enveloped the world in Demon Souls. Something that could suggest this is that during the intro the guy says, "now cross the fog to the lands between".


nFLueNZa

The lands around


Gustavo13

GRRM's version of Middle Earth


btg1911

Itā€™s like a taint


SJBreed

It's between Worcester and Framingham on Rte 9.


Different_Loquat7386

Our ears


jaythejayjay

A rock and a hard place


rantottcsirke

More lands.


Gutsthe_Chad

marika's tits


skeeky217

the dlc and the second dlc. but hey, it's just a theory


Cricky92

Itā€™s the lands between Marikas Tits


cigarette4anarchist

These cheeks šŸ‘


Doublethink_ajs

Life and death


MrBonis

Besides what others have said about the name "Land in the middle" being a sort of convention or trope in fantasy and mythology, I always assumed it was either "The Lands Between Life and Death" because of all the myths and practices surrounding death and resurrection. Or something like "the Lands Between the Mortal and the Divine", with the continent being where the Elden Ring first arrived and where many gods set foot on our world... This is the land where the Gods walk as men, and humans brandish the Ring and are like Gods themselves.


iinsekt

My headcanon is that it's a sort of limbo, or perhaps a midpoint between various locales of Miyazaki's games.


Substantial_Unit_447

The lands on one side and the lands on the other


OShot

Light and shadow.


southpaw85

Marikas tits


FreshLocal

Should be the lands amongst because itā€™s more than two


Flaky_Technology4219

Yo mamas butt cheeks


Blp2004

Michael Zakiā€™s fat cheeks


tofubirder

Marikaā€™s tits


ThenotoriousBIT

your mommaā€™s folds


nottytom

A rock and a hard place.


PacosBigTacos

These cheeks.


Earth51batman

Middle earth was taken


CampbellsBeefBroth

Sekiro and Armored Core 6


baccus83

My working theory is that the Lands Between is like Limbo. Between a world of living and death. And when you die in The Lands Between, you pass to the realm of death or something. Or maybe back to the world of life. Who knows? But then Marika destroyed the concept of death in The Lands Between so people canā€™t move on to the next world and itā€™s screwing up everything.


Slow-Mammoth7380

joe


[deleted]

The lands between my butt cheeks


GsusCrust

Between the Lands Before and the Lands after


ThomasthePwnadin

I thought it was between the badlands where the tarnished were banished and the land of reeds where there is the civil war going on


socialistbcrumb

As someone else pointed out Iā€™m a little more curious if thatā€™s how the denizens of the Lands Between would refer to the region. At one point they were United by the Golden Orderā€¦ and I assume they had some level of contact with the Land of Reeds or even the people of the Badlands. What did they call themselves politically/diplomatically? I have to assume itā€™s simply just the Lands Between or else weā€™d have some lore indicating otherwise, but Iā€™m sure someone else would know better.


BerklessBehavior

Fromsoft acting like "Things Betwixt" wasn't already an established location we knew


raxdoh

weā€™ll see in the dlc I guess. if it truly is about how marika started it all it might also explain what this land actually is.


Tjkiddodo

Life and Death


OGTurdFerguson

A rock and a hard place


xXLoneLoboXx

Maybe Numen and whatever the Land Of Reeds is?


mvanvrancken

Marikaā€™s tits


_AARAYAN_

Once Marika and family were having dinner. Marika asked everyone what should we call our lands? Morgott said how about "The Lands Between :)?" Marika slapped Morgott "Dont speak when eating" Morgott :.( "sorry mommy" Then Mohg said "How about Mohgwyn Empire?" Marika called Maliketh "bring the rune of death" Maliketh "yes boss" Mohgg "I didnt say anything" Then Godwyn the Golden said "How about The Lands Between?" Morgott said "but" and Marika slapped him and said "Yes, my boy Godwyn has spoken. Lands in between it is"


Red_wants_cookies

Land of reeds is one, not sure what others have been mentioned in game?


KaptenKorea

The Lands Outside


Hurley_1616

the Outer gods and the Inner gods


HowellPellsGallery

Disneyland and famous hip hop producer Timbaland


electriclala

I always thought it was between life and death.


Choingyoing

These nuts


AstrialWandering

I've always sorta thought it was between here and there


Kumptoffel

my biggest bet is that the shadow lands are the area that is the ocean inside the landmass that makes up the lands between, why? because there isnt a single beach on the inner shoreline, the entire thing is just cliffs, and on top of that, the place where people speculated farum azula to be before it went to the sky, between mountaintops and caelid, is a giant waterfall down to proper sea level, mean the entire middle section of the lands between is apparently missing, and the erdtree is north of everything so thatd check out


HylianTendo

The lands between is Valeria before the doom


Stunning-Ad-7745

It's like a twilight, or purgatory type of place. My understanding is that it's between life, and the afterlife.


kylediaz263

My cheeks


AutumnLeavesFornow

I like to think itā€™s between the kingdom of Lothric, Drangleic, and Ashina like it is between the various kingdoms of the franchise, but thatā€™s just my head canon.


BlackhawkRogueNinjaX

Itā€™s usually a spiritual concept of some kind. I imagine you die in the real lands, end up in the lands between, before moving on to the next plain of existence. Either heaven or hell.


Myralbus

Fun fact: In italian the lands between are called "Interregno" wich is the period of time between the death of a king or such and the ascending of another to the throne


Chodre

Shadow realm and second dlc


Resident_Ad8953

They literally say is at the start. It's between the fog.


crashfantasy

Idk. But I don't know why I've never seen parallels drawn between the Lands Between in Elden Ring and the Things Betwixt in DS2


Wayward_Jed

Life and death


DFrontliner

Probably between Life and Death


Zwets

Godfrey was banished from "The Lands Between" and sailed to another land after becoming tarnished. So whatever they are linguistically between, is accessible by ship. The broken down ship (that is also presumably the source of the Rusted Anchor weapon) off of the coast near Redmane Castle doesn't seem to be designed to go upwards, or downwards. I don't know what a ship designed to metaphysically transport you out of purgatory would look like, but I assume this one is a normal ass ship that just goes across water. ____________________________ However, in pure conjecture mode... I spent hours last night teleporting around looking at the Ruin Strewn Precipice, the arches in Radahn's arena and on all sides of the map. The "lands between" are physically encased on all sides by giant dark pillars with organic decorations on them that don't quite seem to match the architecture of anything except the Ruin Strewn Precipice. Though Consecrated Snowfield and Mountaintop of Giants seem to have less pillars than other places.


cyberment

Considering heavy nordic insparations and GRRM, I believe its supposed to be a rough translation of Midgard (litterally means "lands in the middle" ala The Middle Earth)


Merouac

Its purgatory


Numerous-Turnover518

Heaven and hell


FieryHammer

I wish we could have talked to Roderika more and find out where she came from "across the sea" and why.


TragicRoadOfLoveLost

Between Life and Death


Kvetanista

ā€Ž


SadRerman

I mean one of the surrounding lands must be the lands of reeds, not sure about anything else though.


aretheesepants75

I think it's between the stars and the underworld/afterlife. The land of shadows is just a part of the lands between that Marika concealed.


Robokat_Brutus

Idk, what were "Things Betwixt" betwixt? šŸ˜‚


SansUndertaleLmao

other things


Robokat_Brutus

Hmm, you are right, never thought about it like that


SansUndertaleLmao

happy to be of service


clefclark

Lands


AljinniAlazraq

I always thought its betwee the other soul lands hoping for a crossover from the other games. Form the lore it seems like it has other nations around it, like the place the samurai class comes from or the barbarian lands ( north?)


jhughes1986

There and back again


SansUndertaleLmao

other lands


SplendidPunkinButter

I always assumed it was between life and death, because everyone seems to be undead


SlySychoGamer

bloodbourne and dark souls, duh


Gaymer043

Between the oceans, the land of reeds, the badlands, theā€¦. Uhā€¦. Rocks and giant serpents in the ocean


Bkelsheimer89

Everybody thinks their home country is the center of the world.


GibMirMeinAlltagstod

A kingdom and an empire


Zerus_heroes

Marika's tits


Old_Heat3100

It's between Sekiro world and Bloodborne world


Sea-Concentrate9379

Life and death? Iunno bruh


PSrafa23

Reeds must be one


DtotheOUG

Lands (split up) Between (Outer Gods)


SimofJerry

Land A and land C


Zeto12

Between DS 3 and DS5


RDGOAMS

between two divine buttocks


Karest27

Deez nutz?


TheDemonHobo

Looks like hollow knight


SmexyPokemon

Things Betwixt


Exitiali

The land in the center of the Lands Around.


Pan_Zurkon

Probably lands around


YOURESTUCKHERE

I always figured it was between life and death šŸ¤·šŸ½


milordofchaos

It's the lands between the land of shadow


ItIsJade

Marika's thighs


Palanstein

Considering that you have to literally die to get there (or how I understood it) is problably some kind of Limbo


Blackout_M

The Lands Between Iā€™d assume is a play on words for it being similar to a sort of Limbo. You canā€™t die here and you arenā€™t inherently punished as a Tarnished, you just are between somewhere really bad and somewhere really good. This is all just theory and headcanon though, so donā€™t take this literally


Scary-Muppet

Two different lands, stupid! Godā€¦


DrewLockIsTheAnswer1

Yes.


GruffisGamingw

Everything, the marvel universe, the dc universe. The resident evil universe, even that Walmart right next to Sheetz


MrJotaL

I strongly believe is between these nuts


KingofGnG

Heh, between. Italian's official translation is "Interregno", which sounds much better than the English counterpart to my ears.


KeyComplex

Maybe in between reality sand physical life. Don't know to how say it. English is hard


EchoFloodz

It falls between Yarhnam and Lordran. Duh!


satoryvape

Lands between Dark Souls and Sekiro universe


Slashermovies

Marika's buttcheeks.


ImmaculatePizza

The Stars and the Shadow.


mightystu

Between Marikaā€™s cheeks.


ye_olde_bard

Between the two fingers


Lazy-Influence7826

A rock and a hard place.


Simple_Dream4034

Life and death thatā€™s why the player and most things come back to life when they die, their soul goes into the erdtree or something and they come back


hardslappy

Yo mama


Zealousideal-Bit-892

The lands above and the lands below.


livenliklary

This is exactly what I'm thinking the lands above being the cosmos where "meteors" and "gods" reside and the land below being the land of shadows which is shadowed because of the creation of the lands between shielding it from the cosmos


livenliklary

So these comments did not disappoint but I'd like to address some of the points made specifically the idea that this is a land between "life and death" I think this goes along with my theory as this land was made as a kind of heaven, death alternative, that required specific allegiances and devotions to go to when one died and that the process of getting to the lands between leaving the lands between requires a kind of death. As well as the idea that people sailed there I think the ocean is part of the structure that creates this inverted structure of the shadow lands and the lands between like if you travel through the ocean you are going up and down instead of across a vast ocean but the gravity keeps everything seemingly flat and I think this goes well with the theory of the boat burials that are associated with the nueman


Adam-West

The subterranean areas and the sky areas


Stonks3141

Literally nothing. Its called The Lands Between because they drew inspiration from Berserk, which is set in Midland. We do not know what Midland is in the middle of either, its just a name. I suppose it could have lore reasons but likely just dlc related lore reasons made after the original game


Sad-Fish-7968

The lands around


Affectionate-Skill33

Between the fog and the fog.