#greater will

So, the Numen. We can choose it as a character preset, which tells us they come from another world, or another land. I say "or another land" because historically, America is referred to as the "New World," but it's not a separate planet. However, translations from the Japanese version of the game suggest that the world they come from is one of spirits, the dead, etc., so it could definitely be a Literal other world.

Marika is (rumored to be) a Numen, as are the Black Knife Assassins that participated in the Night of Black Knives.

If Marika is Numen, then it stands to reason so is Radagon, since they are the same person in the same body. This means their children together, Malenia and Miquella (and now presumably Messmer since he has red hair like Radagon, but Miyazaki said that he's the child of Marika, so unless there's another red-haired hottie running around the Lands Between, Radagon is the father), are also Numen. This also means that other children of Marika/Radagon are half-Numen.

It seems Numen are not a single ethnicity, but a whole race of people, with various different contradicting skin tones and hair colors. The template in the character creator has medium-dark skin and brown hair. Marika has pale skin and golden hair (possibly changed to be gold from the Greater Will's influence) and Radagon has the same skin with fiery red hair. We know from the Giant's Red Braid item description (below) that Radagon was either cursed by the Fire Giants or simply born with red hair. I mean...no item descriptions suggest he was born with it...but if I was born with hair I hated, I would blame it on a curse too. Though, to be fair, it IS the same color as the Fire Giants' hair.

Also the Black Knife Assassins have no physical form, so we can't discern their hair or skin colors.

So skin tone seems like a non-factor, but Hair is much harder to parse, due to half the Numen in the game having fiery hair and pronouns. The game says nothing about Marika's hair changing to gold, so it may have always been that color, leading me to believe that indeed, Numen are just...magic humans from a land far away...she's just blonde.

WELP.

That's all cool, but what is the culture of the Numen like? Well we can see that they have a very strong affinity for women and femininity. Not only is Marika, the most powerful Numen we know, a woman...all of the Black Knives are women. Additionally, if we choose to believe that Malenia and Miquella are Numen, this fact is further evidenced by Malenia's being a strong warrior woman (she is literally a Valkyrie) and Miquella's own complex gender identity. Miquella was (supposedly) born male, but presented as rather feminine/androgynous all his life. While Malenia is a masculine woman and reflects Radagon, Miquella is a feminine boy reflecting Marika. Not to mention that Miquella is ALMOST DEFINITELY Saint Trina, who is exclusively referred to as feminine.

In addition to the stong feminine aspects of Numen society apparent in the overabundance of strong fem-presenting characters, the description of Marika's Hammer suggests that women in Numen society (like Marika) have a role as destroyers and warriors, while men (Radagon) have a role of construction and repair.

"Queen Marika shattered the Elden Ring and Radagon attempted to repair it."

Again, this is just speculation, and the mythological actions of Radagon/Marika are likely motivated by a mutlitude of things (namely, the Greater Will constantly looming over them, the presence of the Elden Beast constantly lurking just under the surface), but I'm making do with what I have.

Also, back to genetics of the Numen again for a second, of all Radagon and Marika's children outside of the ones they had together (Messmer and the Twin Empyreans), most of them seem to inherit Radagon/Marika's hair.

Radagon and Rennala's kids, Radahn, Rykard, and Ranni, (presumably) have red hair. We never actually see Ranni's hair pre-doll form, so I'm assuming it's red lkke her brothers'.

Marika and Godfrey's kids, Godwyn, Mohg, and Morgott, all have either pale hair or no hair (Mohg has no hair visible on account of all the omen horns).

So it seems like the genes of Numen are incredibly dominant, even dominating the gene pool multiple generations after the first. Godwyn's kids, Godrick and Godefroy, have the same hair color as he does. Malenia's "daughters," although not genetically related to her, all seem to have gained her red hair through exposure to her Scarlet Aeonia. This may also be true of the Cleanrot Knights, but they could also have plucked the red hairs from Fire Giants or Leonine Misbegotten and used them as decor for their armor.

Some definitions mixed with speculations:

Elden Ring - Basically the natural laws of the land. Can be edited by the empyrean who chosen to brandish it. The person who brandishes the Elden Ring is a God, chosen by the Greater Will.

Empyrean - A demi-god (or just a being) being chosen as fit to be a God (not a God yet, but are the only ones able to pursue godhood).

Elden Beast - A physical manifestation of the Elden Ring. Landed after Metyr.

Metyr - The messenger and Translator of the Greater Will. “The abandoned Daughter”. Also the mother of the 2 fingers (and the fingercreepers).

The Greater Will - The “Creator” also a “fled God” was most likely the progenitor of all life in this world. It does not dwell on the earth. And has seemingly stopped sending messages to Metyr and her children.

Outer Gods - Other (possibly) cosmic beings working in opposition to the Greater Will (Perhaps competition?) Beings such as: The Frenzied Flame, The Formless Mother, The God of Scarlet Rot, The Nameless god of the twin bird and a few more…Like the Greater Will, these gods require vassals in order to enact their wishes

The Frenzied Flame - The antithesis of The Greater Will, embodies the idea of Chaos and destruction of order, return everything back to primordial soup, possibly paving the way to something new, something unimaginably different.

Two Fingers - Metyr’s children, relay Metyr’s wishes to those who understand them (the Finger readers). Originally thought to be the words of the Greater Will, it is revealed that Metyr hasn’t heard her mother’s voice in eons, and so the instructions that the fingers echo don’t come from the Greater Will.

Three Fingers - The messenger of the Frenzied Flame, also known as the reader-less fingers. It seems they communicate differently to the two fingers. Is it a seperate being to Metyr? Or is it meant to mimic them, similar to how Hyetta and Shabriri mimic Irina and Yura? The Fingerprint shield description states that the reader-less fingers left messages in the form of finger prints…possibly braille?

Finger maidens - members of the Golden order who fulfill the wishes of the Greater will by guiding the tarnished toward becoming Elden Lord. (most tarnished can’t see grace anymore so they actually need the guidance, unlike the player tarnished who could see it from the beginning).

Extra: Vyke and Bernhal’s maidens apparently needed to burn, but as shown with Bernhal’s maiden, her sacrifice was for naught, she couldn’t be kindling for the flames, this was a task that only Melina could enact. Vyke on the other hand, wanting to find another way, turned to the Frenzied Flame, the only other sure fire way to burn the Erdtree…Seems Marika wishes to be freed from the eternal cage of godhood, regardless of how it’s done, weather it’s by Ranni or The Frenzied Flame.

Extra: Hyetta wanted to become a finger maiden, but seemed to attract the attention of people who curse their existence, they would unsolicitedly offer her their eyes which give her a weak glimpse at a “distant flame”. Like Shabriri, I believe the frenzied flame used Irina’s corpse as a puppet in order to guide the tarnished, except they would find that this finger maiden leads not to becoming the Elden Lord, but instead to becoming the Lord of Frenzied flame.

Grace - The guidance of grace and the guidance of the fingers are different things. The Tarnished are those loyal to Godfrey, who in turn was Marika’s loyal Elden lord, the one who enacts her visions. It would make sense that Marika summons the Tarnished back to the lands between to follow HER wishes, not the Greater Will’s. Hence Grace leads our Tarnished to the Lands of the Giants after discovering that the Erdtree has barred its entrance, something the Fingers Freeze up about, as they have no clue what to do now, this wasn’t in their plan…

This links back to Metyr, she doesn’t know what the Greater Will wants anymore and has only been assuming. Everything Enia’s fingers had been saying were just assumptions made by Metyr.

Ultimately, the Tarnished (in my belief) were always Marika’s plan B, her means of escape, of rest, in case her vision of her world backfired. Marika, having gone through so much, almost being a husk by the end, but still being strung up and used as a vessel, wished for her reign to finally end, one last ‘fuck you’ to the Greater Will, the very thing that seduced her with notions of vengeance for her loved ones, only to betray her by turning her into its eternal puppet.

That Placidusax was just the Elden Lord of his time, not a God in the way Marika is deemed one. A dragon was never an Empyrean - but they were originally immortal beings of stone scales. And according to his Remembrance his god “fled.”

The statue in the heart of Farum Azula, where we fight Maliketh, depicts a human figure surrounded by three wolves. One of the key followers/protectors of Placidusax are the Beastmen (albeit now long undead). Who were granted Intelligence by growing a fifth digit. Additionally, the image of what appears to be a more primordial depiction of the Elden Ring behind the statue implies the statue before it is related.

It’s likely this God, much like Marika, began to grow disillusioned with the Greater Will, or whatever other Outer God they were tied to, and wished to be free of them.

Thus, they chose Flight, where Marika chose Fight.

When this God fled, they likely removed all trace of their path, forcing the dragons into a state of confusion. Maybe this was the moment that Bayle the Dread took advantage and began his rebellion against Dragonlord Placidusax. After their battle, with both grievously wounded, one fled to the realm of shadow to lick his wounds, while the other attempted to reach out to their God.