Miquella & Cult Psychology (with A Troubled Maker)

I've been waiting for an episode to drop 😩 Sophie always has the takes that I either agree with or chang my perspective on lore or writing in general

This was a lot of fun in the patreon, the pixel art make it even better. Troubled Maker is funny

This is one of the best episodes I've seen in a long time 🙂 I really hope you can get her back on here more often. The way she explained vectors of indoctrination and control for cults and the different ways the followers of miquella came under his influence was pretty eye opening. I knew there were cult like elements to the followers, but now I would be surprised if they weren't directly written to portray the different aspects of cult indoctrination.

This was the nicest I’ve ever seen dorothy zbornak be

Being on the show and contributing meant so much to me! I hope people enjoyed it and that I can continue to contribute in other ways. Thank you Sophie and Sin for allowing a portion of the absurd amount of research I've done to be made available. I was INCREDIBLY nervous but if ya'll will have me I'd love to continue adding to the conversation.

I am optimistic of the presence of dragons!

You didn't put a link to Dorothy Zbornak's channel in the description, Sophie the huge liar, greatest anime betrayal, the spell is broken, Kind Sophie's dignity is gone. what should we do? Must we be sad forever?

Another great podcast episode!!

What strikes me the most about this whole "Cult of Miquella“, was that there are and were A LOT of people on the ER reddit, that we’re absolutely part of that cult as well.

They didn’t want to beliehe Miquella wasn’t the innocent savior of TLB and still defended him after all we learnt throughout the DLC.

Talk about his charm being effective!

thank you for making this, i once ran into someone who argued that miquella was kind and ignored when i brought up how the haligtree soldier ashes mentioned the soldiers not being aware they would die/explode out of pure manipulation. "Spirits of common soldiers who carry the sacred light. When weakened, they explode to deliver a last-ditch attack.
This was the bitter revelation discovered by the desperate soldiers who awaited the return of their lord to the rotted Haligtree. May the flash of our deaths guide Miquella's return."

The idea that the soldiers think miquella is blessing them, only to "bitter"ly discover they are actually suicide bombers is terrifying. Miquella really saw many around him as tools

Another great conversation

I am genuinely shocked that Sophie still thinks Marika and Radagon were always completely separate entities that merged later.

We have the Preceptors who wore masks with the mouth covered by the cross thatch pattern of Radagon's great rune on the scar and sore seals, that blocks the erdtree, and Raya Lucaria, because Radagon wanted them to keep his and Rennala's affairs private. Like he had a secret, while married to Rennala, that he didn't want the Preceptors attending them to talk about.

We have the Radagon Icon, about how he learned Sorcery and Incantations to become complete. Almost like, for some reason, he didn't think he was complete already.

We have the question of why he, a "mere champion" became Elden Lord, followed by the fact that he has a secret, as if that secret might be the reason he was chosen.

We also have the questions of how a mere champion, if he was so unimportant, could give the amber egg and great rune of the unborn to Rennala, when they were meant to be part of the Elden Ring. As well as how and why he has his own great rune, the cross thatch diamond pattern that is everywhere, the same way as Marika's cross with the upturned crescent.

The secret was discovered by a sculptor. And the secret is that he's Marika.

We have narrative parallels in a few places. The D Brothers, who have two bodies, two minds, and one soul. And who were accepted by the Golden Order when nobody else would, which is considered strange, because the Golden Order is usually so intolerant of differences, like artificial people and animal people and the undead.

We have Millicent, who is apparently the "dignity" split off from Malenia, her Empyrean mother.

We have St. Trina, who is evidently the "love" split off from Miquella, her empyrean other self.

And let's not even get into the cut Asimi mimic tear stuff.

I feel like the preponderance of evidence and just. Logic. Is that Radagon is a being that was split off from Marika, at some point. Yes, he "has yet to become me" because they're still separate personalities.

I, too, am a fan of the Golden Girls.

miquellas journey being symbolic of troubled youth is quite a heartbreaking way to view it

I haven't listened to this yet but I'm excited to: I just finished reading a book about the Manson Family. I don't think Miquella is Charles Manson, but the kept thinking about the people who now chalk up Mohg's, Radhan's, and the rest's action to being brainwashed or mind controlled--would they have considered the Tate murderers less culpable for their actions just because their latent tendencies were given a vector to action by an individual with an extremely high level of natural charisma?

St trina was miquels “maybe we should sleep on it” half, but he refuses to go to bedtime haha

It’s not a 100% fit, but Miquella’s "Age of Compassion“ stikes me as something the Templars in Assassin’s Creed would want!

Or as the main character of Black Flag put it:

"'You would see all of mankind corralled into a neatly furnished prison, safe and sober, yet dulled beyond reason and sapped of all spirit!“

thank you for this perfectly timed video

I think when miquella's rune was in the elden ring, it was responsable to make everyone follow blindly the golden order

Algorithm feeding comment

I think Radagon embodies the way a religion becomes a cult, introducing Fundementalism into the Golden Order and refusing to allow a successor to end his "perfect order" as that wou!d be admitting his blind devotion was wrong. As Fat Brett pointed out, Radagon could have dropped the the Hammer into Morgott's hands and been assured that there will be almost no change in the Golden Order's nature but Radahon's ego didn't let him.

am autistic and likely bpd. def have struggled with black and white thinking.

information about cults has always resonated with me because i do feel like an alienated lone gun looking for a cause. and i do feel a bit easily led.

i made a facebook for college in the later half of the 2010s and got a bit deep into the online left and all the pitfalls and rabit holes that entails.

read stuff like the vampire castle and how online left is cultlike and disengaged.

some years later i am in uni now and having a community of people roughly my age i can interact with really helps. especially autistic friends who have interests other than communism/ anararchism.

i still try to keep things like this in mind so me and my friends can engage in our socio-political beliefs in healthy ways but my brain is smol :3

One thing, Radagon was Marika before he became Elden Lord.
He ordered his servants to cover their faces to not see him, also he sewed his own clothes, so no one saw him in private.

It makes sense that the unconscious part of Miquella is the wiser part, the collective unconscious knows all.