#palestag

Hey tall bug I don't want to interrupt your monologue but I think you should turn around💔

Lost Verdania's biggest characteristic is the great abundance of clovers

Clovers which are the symbol of Ireland

Now, this alone would be a nothingburger, a stretch even, until you factor the Palestag into this

This creature is an obvious spin on the "white stag", which held great significance in many cultures, including Arthurian legend and Celtic mythology

Irish mythology happens to be the best preserved branch of Celtic mythology

What we see with the two princes and the Palestag in Verdania however seems to be more closely inspired by more modern instances of the symbol

Going back to the clovers, there's this

Talking about druids, did you know that during the game's development, Verdania used to be where wormways currently is?

You can still see remnants of this in the similarity of the moss cocoons to the kindanir eggs, or the small white pendras still flying around in moss grotto

The Verdania side of memorium is even on the west side still

this would've put Verdania relatively close to Moss Druid

Which just so happens to know about the old hearts, with Green Prince being the fourth old heart you can obtain

the Palestag

Hehe~

i say this because of gilly's dialogue after you kill karmelita: she laments karmelita's demise because it was her faded strength that allowed hunter's march - and by extension far fields - to hold out against the haunting.

if we think about the verdant areas of pharloom, each can be traced to a god or being of immense power: shellwood to nyleth; wisp thicket to the father of the flame; moss grotto to eva.

we see this in hallownest too, with the white lady to queen's gardens, and unn to greenpath. in fact, as unn fades, queen's gardens start to encroach on her territory.

and i think that in this same vein, the palestag was the power behind verdania

Ever since I finished the Lost Verdania area, I've kept thinking about the Clover Dancers fighting the Palestag, and I think it's interesting that they do seem well suited for fighting her. Their basic attack often puts them on opposite parts of the room, meaning that Palestag's tactic of getting away from you becomes rather difficult when they start to cover both sides of the room, forcing her into the center.

But the center of the room isn't safe either, because that's where the Clover Dancers meet to do their sweeping cyclone.

Their last attack also covers most of the room all at once, sometimes making the entire ground unsafe. That in particular seems like something the Palestag would struggle to avoid.