The Lands Between have a rich history since its inception. From the formation of the gods and their inception, to the shattering of the Elden Ring and how it affected the land itself. While we discussed the significance of the Greater Will and the Outer Gods, as well as their possible natures and actions, what happened during this great falling out of the gods within the Lands Between and Elden Ring itself? Well, while it may not be much to speak of, the little information we have helped to clear up a multitude of mysteries through logistic speculation. What happened during this time was none other than the God Hunts. More specifically, the God Hunts in their earliest stages and methods, when the Godskins were first conceived and exploring in ways to interfere with the meddling of the Outer Gods. While looked upon as possible villains, if we take a look at my first theory, context suggests they are actually in line with the Greater Will's authority and goals. However, there's a group that actively and openly claims they're the true purveyors of the Greater Will's authority, a group that was developed as society became more "sophisticated": The Golden Order. This is a well known organization within the Lands Between, as well as the game itself. These people claim to be within the Greater Will's good graces, and claim to be its champions. However, given the context within the game, in their actions and the Greater Will's design, the Golden Order is likely akin to the Catholic Church: a group of people who hijacked the teachings of the supreme power for their own selfish ends. But I can tell you're going to ask what brought me to these conclusions. Well, that's what we're going to discuss today: The significancies of the Golden Order and the Godskins, the earliest methods of the God Hunts, how the Godskins are the Greater Will's greatest allies, and how the Golden Order is actually reviled by it. Now, I should remind you that a lot of these findings are mostly logistic speculation based on the theories of others, but keep in mind these are rooted in as much logic as possible to provide the best answers. So please, don't take my word as absolute in this, but don't disregard it either. Lastly, I recommend you read the first part of my theory , as it will provide quite a bit of context for this one. With that said, let's begin our discussion.

To begin, let's talk about Queen Marika. I understand this is coming out of left field, but Marika is a most essential piece to this puzzle. The Queen Marika is a mysterious woman, with many a mystery surrounding her: where did she come from, who is she really, why is her face obscured throughout the game, why DID she destroy the Elden Ring? These questions and many more ring throughout the minds of the curious who seek to uncover the lore of the Lands Between. But one theorist, The Ashen Hollow, gave an interesting answer to who Marika REALLY is. While he didn't want to disprove whether Ranni or Malenia held this identity, he made too many good points that actively do just that, and presented a strong argument that Marika was the Empyrean known as the "Gloam-Eyed Queen". The Gloam-Eyed Queen was said to be the leader of the Godskins in their God Hunts, and utilized Destined Death as their primary tool for hunting the gods. However, she was assuredly defeated by the Golden Order at the hands of Maliketh the Black Blade, Marika's Shadowbound Beast. How could Marika be the Gloam-Eyed Queen and yet be hurt by one of her allies? Well, Shadowbound Beasts are essentially the servants of the Empyreans, who are created with similar traits as their masters, essentially a "shadow" of themselves as described by Smoughtown in his Shadowbound Beast video. But when their masters commit an egregious sin against the Greater Will, the Shadowbound Beast hunts their master. Given the series of events presented in Elden Ring, Maliketh likely started hounding Marika when she made the decision to shatter the Elden Ring, but as to why she did it will be discussed when we talk about the Golden Order. So, with that said, it is possible for Marika to be the Gloam-Eyed Queen in this context, and it would make sense for the Golden Order to twist history in a sense to where Marika and the Gloam-Eyed Queen were separate entities and tell history in a different light. The Ashen Hollow also speaks of other connections as to how Marika and the Gloam-Eyed Queen are one in the same. For instance, he speaks of how gloam is not necessarily referred to as a concept of night, but rather a concept of twilight, or dusk, and that it's more associated with the color purple. Given Ranni's eyes are more blue and associated with night rather than dusk or twilight, she can be ruled out as a candidate, as well as Malenia since her ties to the "scarlet" rot and the color orange are too strong to be associated with "dusk". But there is one appearance where a purple eye appears in-game: the beast eye Maliketh keeps on him. This eye has a purple color to it, and is somewhat colored in stone. Its item description states it has claw marks upon its surface, as this would indicate that it was violently plucked from its socket. The only other character amongst the cast who's face is not only constantly obscured, but is also stone AND missing an eye is Queen Marika herself. What's more, the Gloam-Eyed Queen was one of the earliest Empyreans, and Marika is the only other named Empyrean that we know that could come from that time. With this in mind, we can safely assume Marika is the Gloam-Eyed Queen, which also makes her the mother of the Godskins, as the Gloam-Eyed Queen personally "rears" them (they're artificially created) to raise them as godhunters. It's possible that the Albinaurics are the infantile stage of the Godskins, but more research would need to be done to make that connection, but since Marika is likely a human Empyrean and the Albinaurics WERE man-made, the possibility is still there. Not to mention, given the Nox want to mimic the Greater Will in order to counter it, it would be likely they'd mimic its servants as well, since they had to get the idea for their liquid silver homunculi from somewhere. However, while The Ashen Hollow makes the Gloam-Eyed Queen out to be the enemy of even the Greater Will, stating she disguised herself as harmless to get close to the Elden Ring, context indicates that the Greater Will came to the Gloam-Eyed Queen because she was a necessity to its goals. It is likely that, due to the falling out of the gods, that Marika started the God Hunts, and used more creative methods to hunt them and their venerators to extinction for their meddling in mortal affairs. The Greater Will likely saw how well they do their job and, needing a new generation of gods to uphold the natural order, as well as someone to protect the now vulnerable Elden Ring, made Marika, the Gloam-Eyed Queen, Empyrean and the keeper of the Elden Ring when it planted the Erdtree. As a result, the Greater Will gave Marika the ultimate god hunting tool: the black flames of Destined Death, which helped the God Hunts go into full swing. But then what DID the Godskins use as a means to hunt the gods before? Well, we'd have to talk about Smoughtown's dragon analysis again.

In his Elden Ring video on dragon lore, Smoughtown stated that life went through ages akin to what humans went through: stone>iron>bronze>etc. While he compares it too much to real life, he does make good points which help indicate the constant development of society as the gods fell and the God Hunts began. When the first god fell (likely the Formless Mother given her possible luciferian contexts with the blood red star and a grace mimicking tree in the afterlife giving off a red light), this is likely where the meddling began. As the gods fell overtime, likely with the third god, the first Godskins were possibly conceived, and began a more rough method of god hunting by killing off their worshippers and apostles, this is likely the aforementioned "iron age" of Elden Ring where old yet effective methods and tools were developed as mentioned by Smoughtown. Then, when the last of the gods fell (the dragon god), the God Hunts were picking up speed and strength around this time. This age of dragons were, as what Smoughtown would put it, the "bronze age" of the Lands Between, where the value of precious metals were recognized as indicated by the unalloyed gold jewelry and trappings buried with the bodies of their owners in Farum Azula. However, given the God Hunts were likely around at this time, the value of unalloyed gold was more than just its rarity and beauty. As stated in-game, and rediscovered by Miquella, brother of Malenia, unalloyed gold had properties that interfered with the meddling of the Outer Gods. Given the Greater Will's close associations with gold, unalloyed gold is likely considered something as incredibly pure and sacred, essentially the Greater Will's essence in its purest form. So pure and sacred in fact that it can interfere with those who rebel against it. Seeing this, the Godskins likely took this rare metal, and fashioned the first armor and weaponry that could hurt the gods (given the golden adornments found on their equipment), and used it to chase away the Outer God of Dragons and severely injure its most loyal servant. This is yet another reason why the Godskins would likely ally with the Greater Will, because without unalloyed gold being closely associated with the Greater Will, they couldn't have brought the God Hunts to the success it had at the time. Then, for a time, the Godskins helped to keep the peace and brought about a new golden age with Destined Death as their ultimate weapon. But then. . .society got "sophisticated", which is not always a good thing, it usually brings about an intense growth of hubris. This was most likely when the Golden Order started to develop.

The Golden Order, as we know them, is one of the more recent organizations that developed as society expanded and grew. It was supposedly an organization that claimed itself to be venerators of the Greater Will and its authority, but in contextual analysis, they were a tyrannical group of religious dogma. How the Golden Order came to be was that it was likely founded by Marika and the First Elden Lord, Godfrey. However, it is likely the order was founded by someone who gave Marika and Godfrey the idea to do so, and this particular person was given a strong leadership position within the order for the idea. Then, like how Constantine founded the Catholic Church, this POI (person of interest) started to take the original teachings and laws of the Greater Will, and began to twist them and add new laws and teachings that would solidify their power, starting with the removal of Destined Death from the Elden Ring. The reason as to why the Greater Will didn't interfere with this was this wasn't technically a violation of the natural order, as Destined Death wasn't destroyed, but removed, yet it was still quite the sin against it. Soon after came the tainting of unalloyed gold with the discovery and usage of gold alloys. To the Greater Will, this was most likely a symbolic beginning to the tainting of its authority by this Order. Eventually, they would convince people to worship the Erdtree as a god itself, even though the Erdtree as a temple, in all honesty, was easily replaceable by the Greater Will's design, since Miquella was allowed to take an Erdtree sapling and grow the Hiligtree without negative repercussions. Then came the discrimination of the crucible races, as well as the man-made races, from the grace of the Erdtree. You see, the Great One was, as confirmed by lore, the origin of all life. As the Erdtree was, by design, meant to feed off of the life force from the dead to power the Elden Beast, this was likely the Greater Will's way to returning all life to that sense of oneness and peace. The Golden Order likely knew of this and, in their arrogance, decided that only the pure were allowed this grace and peace, and began their campaign of discrimination. But, given the sheer size of the Erdtree, and that trees have longer roots than expected, its roots likely spread throughout the Lands Between and the Greater Will's grace was accessed by all. That's when the Golden Order resorted to their more cruel methods of hunting the discriminated and torturing them to death. As a result, they become wraiths in when they die in this tormented state, just as the ghostflame caused the torment of the soul as it burned from fire outside of destined death. As the Erdtree feeds off of peaceful life force, this not only successfully discriminates these beings in this life, but in the next as well, such as is the monstrous cruelty of the Golden Order. Keep in mind, all this talk of grace by the Golden Order is not the Greater Will's grace, since the Greater Will's grace is made available to all. As the Golden Order gained power through their machinations, they made it so THEY'RE the only ones who can define grace. This is not only highlighted with the basic logic as presented throughout this paragraph, but also by the player character. It is said that the tarnished, as said by the Golden Order of course, are those without grace, that they're disillusioned with the Greater Will's authority. Yet it was that same grace that brought our character back to the Lands Between and guided them to restore the Elden Ring. With all this in mind, it is a foregone conclusion that the Golden Order is incredibly dishonest. But how did the Golden Order managed to not get punished by the Greater Will, and why did Marika go along with this if she knew it was wrong? For this, we need to look into the history of both, side by side.

It is stated by Smoughtown that Marika came from another world. If this was the case, it would make sense for her to be easily tricked by the Golden Order. This is mainly because the two fingers were once a whole hand, as I briefly went over in my last theory. Not to mention it is likely these two hands (there are two canonical two fingers in game thus far) have been messengers of the Greater Will's commands since the dawn of Elden Ring's likely creation story, and were once understandable but as of recently need interpreters due to lost traditions. This is where the Finger Maidens (likely once known as Hand Maidens, it makes sense) come in, since they're the only ones thus far that can actually interpret the messages of the Greater Will from the hands. It is possible that, since the Golden Order now have access to Destined Death upon removal, and that the hands are individual entities from the Greater Will's body, weapons in hand they slew the Hand Maidens cut the thumb, index and middle fingers from the ring and pinky fingers. Why they chose this method against the Hands is interesting when you understand the implication of the fingers themselves. The ring and pinky fingers are known for holding, usually not known for doing much outside of matrimony and sophistication. The thumb, index and middle fingers are more known as fingers of action, they're known for helping us to grab things, to pick things up, to write, draw, scratch and eat. But more specifically, pointing, for when you point at someone with these fingers, you're implicating them of something, more specifically in the form of accusation. Given the implications of the Greater Will having heavy ties to fire, it was these three specific fingers of the Hands that had the ability to cast judgement by fire through the power of the Greater Will itself. The Golden Order more than likely did this with the intent of destroying these three fingers to ensure they get away with their schemes scot free, but while one was successfully killed (the three belonging to Ranni's two fingers), the other managed to escape to the north where the Fire Giants resided. But with both Hands purged of their ability to judge, they replaced the Hand Maidens with Finger Maidens to spin lies (with the exception of the one we meet in game who was likely once a Hand Maiden herself), making it easy to trick Marika into thinking the Greater Will wanted a change to the system. This was also likely where the Nox got the idea that the Greater Will could be killed and started utilizing the power of Destined Death themselves once Ranni stole half of it from Malekith. Once the Frenzied Flame prophecies began popping up with the walking dead, the Golden Order's grip of power was starting to slip, but thanks to the prophets they then knew the location of the three fingers, and had Marika declare war on the Fire Giants and their "God of Fire". As stated in my last theory, Marika more than likely brought Destined Death with her as a means to hunt this Fire God. Once she saw Destined Death wouldn't work on this Fire God, she would quickly realize this "Fire God" was the Greater Will, and soon started becoming disillusioned with the Golden Order. After Godfrey's divorce and banishment, Marika's Remarriage, and the Night of the Black Knives, Marika likely saw that the only way for this madness to end was to have the Greater Will itself to interfere, and the only way to do that was to disrupt the natural order. More than likely she confided this into her Shadowbound Beast, Malekith, but given his nature, and the likely fact he also bought into the Golden Order's propaganda and is more loyal to them than Marika, they had their big fight (essentially Maliketh's battle with the Gloam-Eyed Queen). Then, when Marika had her chance, she shattered the Elden Ring as Malekith came in for his final blow as she was punished by the Greater Will for her sin. As she wasn't obliterated on the spot, it's a definite outcome that the Greater Will saw the desperation in her act and allowed her to continue her duties under stricter conditions. Upon this revelation, years later, Malekith soon realized his mistakes, and asked Marika (metaphorically) if what he's doing is what it means to sin (the consumption of deathroot and the prevention of Destined Death's restoration to the natural order).

In conclusion, the significancies of the the Golden Order and the Godskins were likely not what we originally thought. The Godskins were quite resourceful before Destined Death was used as their weapon of choice, and that Marika was more than what she seemed. The machinations of the Golden Order were more cruel than we realized, and their actions sparked the further delusions of another faction. Lastly, Marika was willing to sacrifice everything she had and was for the sake of her children, loved ones, and those she sought to protect. So, that's my theory on Elden Ring, perhaps next time I should go into how Gold Mask's formula doesn't really work, but I don't see much of an analysis coming from that since it's just basic observation. Thank you so much for taking your time to read this, I hope you enjoyed my analysis of Elden Ring's lore, have a wonderful day.