Vi will become You

Duchess is best with dextrous weapons, but is even better with anything magic and thus can reasonably use any magic item (even if it's massive and cumbersome, she's moderately effective with them); she just *prefers* small weapons. Scholar isn't actually very good with any weapons in his old age, but he's secretly still good at magic (he has a B in INT and i really wish people acknowledged it the same as Duchess having a B in DEX) and the rest of his knowledge has gotten tied up in the arcane/lost arts. His actual preference of weapon is anything that is blood, poison, cold or magic; Duchess actually prefers small weapons because they are better at causing status effects, not because she can't wield a very heavy weapon.

Duchess has the eye color associated with a witch, and Scholar's eyes are the same color. Nobody else in the Roundtable has the exact same color eyes, unless you count Wylder, who apparently looks like Duchess, but is a man, and thus might actually look like a young Scholar.

This ultimately would make the "Priestess" a man, and as we know from Ymir, male mothers are not unheard of- especially, as it seems, when it comes to Carians. Scholar is not directly a Carian, but he went to a school that was directly influenced by the teachings of Heirodas, the seldom-spoke-of, travelling conspectus- given even more freedom to wander than the Haima conspectus.

Duchess is very quick to drop her act as the Priestess so she can throw off the white overgarments and reveal her very modern, 1800s opera attire (which is a man's opera attire btw). Scholar wears white overgarments by default, and has similarly intricate cloth garments. The Priestess also looks like a Firekeeper from Dark Souls. Scholar's garments have red bits throughout, including knots at the end of the sleeves that arguably look like flames

Duchess and Scholar's abilities depend on the same concept of looking at the past to tie things together, but they operate differently and rely on different relics, but otherwise operate on the same principles.

For all i can tell, Scholar could ironically be blind for the fact he wears a monocle, and Duchess has a mask over her eyes. What matters is they still know where to go and where to aim meaning they can still probably sense spirits, which everything would contain. he presumably sees by looking at the souls of everything, as well as using the monocle to read into past events.

Scholar is a stealth trans man. that is my canon and i will not be swayed from it.

p.s: Is this "transvestigating" someone? No, not really. I also mean this with all due respect, in that i'm happy to perceive him as a trans man. He is a fictional man in a fictional world whose entire existence is to be analyzed by the observer, and that's all i did; He isn't exactly your real life bro Trevor from across town.

basically, queelign was a noncomformist regarding identity and sexuality, which let those around him take advantage of his insecurities, causing him to become who we meet in the shadow realm; utterly obsessed with marika blessing him, which also "queerly aligned" him with messmer's conquest, as in the classical definition which had less positive connotations via reclamation; the alignment is anomalous or even willfully shortsighted, and questionable at best.

Alchemist, Artist, Arborist, Architect

Twins of a Third, and Their Tree and Its Roots.

Crush Our Eyes in Your Palms; Let Us finally seek Truth blindly.

Depth begets Breadth, Stagnation begets Fouling.

Vitreolum crusts the Heart of a Pyrophosphate Soul.

I will Burn, Here and Now

I and the Forever Moon-Beasts of In-Between

so like

hear me out

duchess is the scholar

the traditionally masculine opera attire, the shield belt over the waistline, the full mask covering the face, the hairstyle choice where the bangs just moved to the other side of the face.. and in duchess' darkness form, you see their eyes are the same color as well. their face is the exact same shape but scholar is just obviously older

the three sisters also refer to the staple foods of the Anishinaabe- supported somewhat by the fact that Melina's name is very close to the greek word for Millet, which supposedly would be a substitute for corn.

Ensis > "of" or "from"

Mensis > simply, "of M" (Mensis theirself, Manus, Moon, Marika, Melina, Malenia, etc.)

Menses > "Month," and historically used to describe the time of a month when people with uteruses typically shed their uterine lining. derives from "Mēnē" which means Moon

P. Cubensis > Magic Mushroom, known for sending people on instrospective journeys; used in many cultures for spiritual purposes or to seek understanding beyond words

Psilocybe Cubensis is a subcategory of "Hymenogaster," in which cubensis was separated from the rest of the family for being psychoactive; Marika was a shaman, of which her village was separated and likely segregated from the hornsent and the residents of Bonny village.

Cu= Copper

Cú= Hound

Eochaid= "Horse," symbolic of defense, associated with threes. also quietly references the radioactive decay symbol, as in, light decay

Cube= 6 faced, 3D object made of Squares

4-point-star/Square= Lily/Spirit Container

a Cube when looking directly at a diagonal axis becomes a hexagon, split into 6 equal triangles meeting at a seventh point which represents 0

the map appears to have anboffset focus, depicting the anglenof incidence of a cosmological object that has fallen to earth. this is where radahn is looking towaed the sky in the trailer.

Psilocybin = naturally occuring psychedelic compound

psilocybe = "bare head" > two possible takes: hair and horns are symbols of pride and being bald is a trait only seen on Patches, Thops, and Dane. Mensis's brain was removed and the "bare head" is not merely baldness, but an unbound mind.

the Moon Caryll Rune is unlocked in Bloodborne by gesturing "Make Contact" at the brain of mensis while it's trapped senseless in complete darkness

Tarnished Associated Numbers 0(black hole/convergence) 1(lord) 2(twins, reflections, binaries borne of comparison) 3(eochaid/three sisters/causality, regression and inherent decay) 4(spirit containers, lily flowers, 4-pointed stars) 6(the towers/hexes, black box) 7(luck, death) =23 [it is way too funny that this is lebron james' jersey number]

5, (5 fingers, hamsa hand) 8 and 9 (radagon/marika)

23-5-8-9=1

the caprine when separated from their inception, their god, and the universe, remains a lord, even if of nothing. the functions remain whether god died or never existed. that is the greater will.

you approach.. you find the spell and- after a brief scuffle with a bloodhound knight,- you may exit the prison tower and notice that, just beyond the closest cliff, is a curious branch, jutting out from the tree. it's like an invitation that, "with a careful leap, one could begin climbing the tree.."

sure enough, you can.

a bit of precarious platforming on torrent-back and we can reach the top. we see similar imagery like a perspective illusion, now separated and staggered at an angle as if to depict a sort of flow or progression

we begin to see this pattern everywhere. this peculiar angle which seems to signify something quite important

the spear in marika's womb, the crossbow of light held by fulghor, the ray of light coming in and hitting the moon model in the debate parlor.. even the statues hide this very similar angle of incidence

the bronze serpent hides on the blue festive cape (see cape on my character in the top-of-tree image) it reveals itself further when you mirror the primal elden ring on its vertical axis

in the full map, we see two lambdas; symbols representing decay. between leyndell and the pit where farum azula likely resided, is a path perfectly between the giant's crucible and the chapel of anticipation, which represents the journey of the tarnished.

the smaller lambda shows the path in which the tarnished would have had to flow from the chapel, to the pit they wake up in. this signifies the tarnished is beyond fate, as they flowed exactly where intended, beyond the grasp of the stars as radahn holds them back.. you still arrive as expected

to further indicate proof, distance between the white lines between the center cloud, the one formed between the divine towers of liurnia and limgrave, and the on formed on the central crossing point of the lambda are equidistant.

you as the tarnished are the cause to all affect; you represent a black hole.

This started when someone on the Smoughtown Discord had mentioned the possibility of Marika's village being a family of Dryads (Credit to Mangolovers for this observation). I went on, further claiming that they were likely inspired by the Hesperides; Greek Dryads of The Golden Evening. in Roman texts, they're noted to be the daughters of Hesperus. In other sources they're said to be the daughters of Atlas. (completely aside but possibly useful info: Atlas is claimed to have invented the "Celestial Sphere" which supported their understanding of being "fixed upon a starry sphere.")

Hesperus is the "Evening Star," or the planet Venus as seen in the evening, and the brother of Atlas. Hesperus was often confused with his brother Eosphorus, aka Phosphorus, the "Morning Star," because they were both represented by the same planet. Phosphorus translates to mean "bearer of light." (this phrase also translates to "Lucifer," which is also known for giving the gift/curse of knowledge to humans)

In the Ruins of Rauh, we begin to find Spirit Calculi. A Calculus in the biological sense, is a stone, like say, a kidney stone. The Spirit Calculus is noted to smell bad and give off a white light. The stench is supposedly a sign of a strong spiritual presence.

Kidney stones are compound crystalline masses typically comprised of calcium-phosphate; Phosphate just being an ion of Phosphorus.

Phosphorus, in Alchemy, is the element that can harness Light itself. I imagine a crystal stone of calcium-phosphate would be much more controlled and manageable as a substance than pure phosphorus, which would just combust upon contact with air.

Following this line of reason, I believe the Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword (or the Amogus as i lovingly call it) is not Obsidian as ine might expect, but a massive chunk of Iron-Nickel Meteorite that contained veins of Schreibersite.

Schreibersite is a rare earth mineral that's currently understood to be an original source for life on earth, and the precursor to "Pyrophosphate" which is a key ingredient in the production of ATP; a chemical considered key in the existence of life. (Pyrophosphate as a name could also be superficially broken down into "fire-light-spark" as well, which i feel is appropriate)

The Amogus was a weapon of very old gods, who perhaps recognized the power and usefulness of Schreibersite..

Or perhaps, It's possible that these old gods were borne of the meteor itself, and veins of Schreibersite created concentrations of Pyrophosphate which coursed across their bodies?

Consider, the wild life-giving power of the Crucible's source traces back to Rauh, and the first Crucible Knight is there to make that clear. I believe new life borne of the Crucible, began to try and imitate the old gods which granted them life. The Rauh would learn to extract this lifegiving power from their own bodies as they began to learn/realize ways in which their bodies contained remnants of the source of their gods' power; from harvesting bones, to possibly contracting/passing kidney stones as a manner of ritual practice.

This information and the stories revolving around Rauh civilization have been nearly completely lost to time, even if the original ideas were expanded upon and simply lost their roots, or accidentally rediscovered through other means-- There's already a hermit we meet in game, who has rediscovered forbidden magic all on his own, wielding copper heads on a stick as a flail.. who's to say that harnessing lost magic doesn't come to the odd person serendipitously or through deep independent research like this?

but allow me to go even further, just to solidify some aspect of this idea from within the game

While doing a bit of the usual, initial perusing of wikipedia pages as one does.. i noted something deeply peculiar; a poignant phrase with its own little section: "Hesperus is Phosphorus"

The Alchemist wanders around behind the chrysalid; as per the usual, he appears to be rambling in a fragmented manner

"painters with oil, soot and rust, speaking in silence with hands and eyes.. of an age preceding these lands, left unspoken."

he stops at the edge of a short, broken bridge that appears to connect to nowhere within sight

"serpents.. serpents are a product of Order and yet, shunned. inherent to Order itself, timeless edifices of life cast away in the name of Purity. the scales of an Old Lord, able to twist the intangible.. the rules within yet remain constant to the bounds of nature. Stories told speak of an Old Dragon which Godfrey did not slay and yet they're lost to time.. spare some peculiar golden scalestones. Perception of the Old Lord is both living and a spirit"

The Alchemist continues to ponder, pulling countless symbols and messages from within:

He puts his shield on his back and studies the details of the Regalia of Eochaid he's both used as a weapon and researched as an artifact. He remembers that his own weaponry is one of the things of the Lands Between that he's found the least information about. He slowly paces back toward Miquella's cocoon, fist against his mask, he tries to gather his seemingly fragmented and random thoughts, one last time;

"Causality, Chaos, Serpents, Order... this sword.. Every action eventually leads to another; we are simply beasts that predict the predictable...... so, ah... is it that Miquella..?"

a long pause fills the air, The Alchemist's posture loosens slightly. his head slumped forward, the Alchemist takes to a seated position on his knees. with both hands, he reaches up to Miquella. He lets out a deep sigh; eventually cut through by the sound of his own wild rambling-- only there is a quietness to it now; a gentle crackling in his voice, a somber tone rings true;

"may the current take me, to what feels like the first.. and yet another of many times before... to bask in the light from the shadows; where one may seek oneself.. cast me, to become my reflection.. may I become the incident this world begs itself for. may I be the chance, and the change that the very void forespoke"

For the first time he's ever known, his thoughts begin to escape him. The Alchemist begins to doze off.