#wraith meta

Morgott still protects him. Is the only one Morgott tries to protect, not even bothering to help defend Mohg(rather, "using" him as his own attack dog for the proscription under leyndell). During the call-out before Morgott's fight at the elden throne, he calls Godrick by his honorable epithet, "the golden". Yes he's still a traitor in Morgott's eyes, but he still makes the effort to protect him while leaving all the others for dead. This is one of Morgott's two last living links to his father and the last of the golden lineage. Even if his protection of Godrick is less about Godrick himself and more about that connection to Godfrey and the reverence of his lineage, Morgott still chooses to overlook the things Godrick has done wrong and protect that name. The idea that Morgott especially despises Godrick more than the others doesn't hold water for me because of this.

Beyond this, Kenneth says Godrick "fled" the capital while the Mimic's Veil specifies he was "hounded" from Leyndell. There are two very different implications about the circumstances of Godrick's escape here. Taking Kenneth's, it's implying Godrick ran away from the war. Taking the Veil's, Godrick was actively chased away! It's pretty clear Ken Haight has personal beef with Godrick, so of the two, I'm way more inclined to believe his is the one exaggerating the context in order to make Godrick look worse.

But then you've got to ask - from what was Godrick running? Why was he chased away? And I personally think the answer lies in the Golden Lineage Evergaol. Godefroy is said to have been captured by Kristoff during the First Defense of Leyndell. This is the war that a memorial speaks of, saying a "sovereign alliance rots from within", and that there are traces of a bloody conspiracy.

Could it be that Godefroy betrayed the capital in some way, and Godrick was hounded from the city out of fear he'd do the same? Or had he colluded with Godefroy over this? He's already known as the runt and the "diluted" remnants of a once great line, so it's not like the people of Leyndell thought highly of him to begin with. The fact that loads of soldiers fled Leyndell with him indicates there was some schism in the city, with at least some soldiers still seeing his status as the last of Godfrey's line as more important than anything else. The shards of the elden ring are not a factor here - Godrick is *specifically stated* to have inherited his great rune rather than stolen it, so whatever betrayal Morgott believes him to have committed does not have to do with this, and ditto for why he'd be run from the city.

Itd also be firmly into the Shattering by this point - we are at the first siege of the city, so rule of Leyndell from within is not a factor. Morgott is shown in the opening to be defending the capital, so it's fairly likely he's taken the throne by then.

So if Godrick wasn't scrambling for a shard, and the city has a ruler, and Godrick was hounded from it rather than fled from the war out of cowardice as Haight implies, AND we know he was looked down on by the people of Leyndell, and his relative Godefroy betrayed the city during the first siege, it seems most sensible he was chased off not for some crime but guilt by association. This expulsion from his home has clearly stayed with him, as he dies saying that some day they would return to Leyndell.

Of course people's minds can change over time, so it could be argued he at some point became disillusioned with the GO. However, I don't feel there is much good evidence to indicate that. He's hailed to his death as "the Golden", and was mourned so deeply that he was buried at the foot of the Erdtree, an honor reserved only for him. None of the other demigods killed during the Night of the Black Knives, or any subsequent fallout, were treated to such burial rites. To that, some might say, "Well, he just kept his rebellious beliefs a secret, sharing them only with Ranni as they devised their coup together."

But if he was working with Ranni, why did the Assassins themselves have to go to Leyndell to kill him? If Godwyn was in on this plan with Ranni, why chance it being disrupted before it could even begin by forcing the Assassins to come after him in such a tightly guarded place? Wouldn't it be easier to have Godwyn meet with Ranni? There's no reason that would raise any suspicion, being that they are half-siblings, both demigods, and important figureheads within the Golden Order. And it's way simpler to sneak one dude out of a city than it is to sneak x number of assassins into one.

(pics by Zlofsky2nd)

Wormfaces are a weird and mysterious creature that there isn't much info about. In spite of their apparent connection to deathblight, they are not weak to holy damage and are actually moderately resistant to it. So we can safely say they are not TWLID.

The cloths they are robed in resemble a death shroud. They are also only found in two places - near a minor Erdtree on Altus Plateau, and in Farum Azula. The similarities here being, both are places used to inter the dead. Catacombs are placed at minor Erdtrees, as it is an honor to be buried at their roots. Farum Azula is itself an enormous mausoleum. These pieces of info, plus the deathblight-breath the wormfaces spew, gives them a solid association with death.

So if they are dead, and they are up and moving around and attacking us, and they spew deathblight, how do they not count alongside TWLID as undead? An answer could be found in looking at what, exactly, deathblight is. Zullie's video on the condition gives us a closer look at the "thorns" resultant from it.

They are not simply thorns, but incubators for insects. The thorns themselves look like they are covered in worms and/or larvae which would eventually become the flies that are found around blighted bodies.

Living up to their names, wormfaces have, well, faces full of worms, linking them once more to the blight they themselves spew out. Additionally, wormfaces drop golden feces or a sacrificial twig. Worms are decomposers of dead organic material, and their feces are beneficial to the soil. I think that the wormfaces are a result of a parasitism between the blight-produced insects and dead bodies which those insects feed upon.

The bodies are dead, but now infested with these bugs, which give the appearance of a reanimated corpse as they seek more vectors for transmission of the blight. There is a vague possibility that even their internal names, "deracine", from the French verb "déraciner", "to uproot", is a reference to the fact that these bodies buried at the roots of a minor Erdtree have been 'uprooted' from their resting place by this infestation. Beyond this, there is even specification that the male and female wormfaces have a size difference which is in line with that of actual insects:

(Admittedly, it can be risky to use these internal pieces of info to speculate such things, as they weren't intended to ever be seen in the finished product. I simply thought it was neat they could possibly line up with this explanation.)

So why don't these blighted corpses just become TWLID? It could be that the Sacrificial Twigs some wormfaces drop point towards an answer. Sacrificial Twigs are a way to die without losing your runes, that is, one's strength or life force. These are the only enemies in the game capable of dropping them, all others being bought, given as gifts, or found around the map. Perhaps they were buried with them as a way of honoring them, or given by mourners as a parting gift. Who knows? While these twigs don't prevent rune loss when the cause of death is deathblight, it's possible these corpses died of other causes and have actually never been blighted themselves. The blight they spew may simply be a byproduct of the infestation. There's also the fact that deathblight and deathroot are two distinct things, and it is contact with the latter which specifically gives rise to TWLID.

I. A Recap Devin can be found at the Siofra Aqueduct in Nokron, just before the Valiant Gargoyle fight. If you find him before Darian has been killed, he'll be asleep and unresponsive. Once you return to him after Darian's murder, he will be disoriented and awake, and you can hand off the Twinned Set to him. This allows him to be summoned for the Gargoyle fight, and will move him to Deeproot Depths. There, he will show up after the Fortissax fight to deliver a monologue to Godwyn(and Fia's corpse) before disappearing, presumably having killed himself. II. The Silver Twin

The Twinned Set i a piece of armor made specifically for Devin and Darian rather than standard garb of the Hunters. While I've seen claims that the twins' soul is in some way bound to the armor, this assumption falls apart on closer inspection. There are pragmatic concerns about how such an arrangement worked out for a pair of shunned newborns. But there's also the far more straightforward fact that Devin can wake and speak to us before receiving the armor, so long as Darian is dead. He can also jump up and aggro us without having the armor if we killed Darian in Limgrave. So it's fairly clear that their soul is linked to their body rather than their armor, and it is their state of consciousness which allows for movement of the soul between their two bodies. Still, the armor is plenty specific to these twins, displaying two intertwined figures which are worn by one body. The armor is symbolic of their inseparable soul, each half representing one of the two twins. The golden one stands taller, carrying its own weight as well as that of the smaller, silver one which clutches it. While the golden half is modeled as fairly straightforward plate armor, the silver half is made to resemble an unarmored body, dressed in flowing robes instead, and thus, the more vulnerable of the two. Which half is which? A side by side comparison of the twins' skin and hair color may provide some insight.

<-- Darian's skin and hair RGB Devin's skin and hair RGB -->

Darian's is warmer, and just the tiniest bit more saturated. This results in Devin's tones looking cooler and grayer in comparison. Naturally, we can use that as a bit of a reference point to make the claim that Darian is represented by the gold half and Devin by the silver half. This can be supporte further by little tidbits about the characters - Darian is met above ground, beneath the golden light of the Erdtree, while Devin is met in the city of the Nox, who are associated with silver.

But perhaps most interesting are the implications provided by their character traits. As mentioned above, the gold half of the armor exudes strength and stability. It stands on its own two feet and is the main component which the silver half leans on for support. This is reflected in Darian's behavior when compared against Devin's. Darian is stalwart, steady, calm, ready to protect. Devin is, at least in the moment in which we encounter him, more emotionally fragile, broken, delicate, clinging tenaciously to life only long enough to have his revenge against his brother's murderer.

Could this give us any clues about the dynamic between the twins? It's hard to say, given that we don't exactly get to know Devin until after one of, if not the, worst day of his life. Maybe before Darian's death he was just as calm and amicable as Darian. There's reason to think, though, that much like the golden half of the armor, Darian was the one to primarily care for and protect his other half. For one, in spite of being twins, the game makes sure to specify to us that Devin is the younger. This automatically evokes a certain dynamic, the assumption being that the younger sibling may rely on the elder for guidance and protection. Then there is Darian's apparent choice to keep Devin's existence something of a secret, even to a long time traveling companion. Rogier's note tells us that "it seems" Darian has a brother, indicating Devin is someone Rogier hasn't known about until recently. He doesn't even mention him by name in the letter. Darian made a decision to keep Devin a secret, and it could have been to protect him. The protector/protected dynamic is further enhanced by Darian's idle stance which often shows him cradling the head of the silver twin, the bust serving as a reminder of his younger brother who he took it upon himself to care for in a world where no others would.

So where would that leave Devin? It's possible that a pattern of dependence could have emerged, given the nature of their curse. Only one can be awake at a time, and if Darian were to preside over the daytime hours as implied by their 'day/night' duality, this would have left Devin alone in the night. It'd be less likely that he is the one performing necessary daily tasks, as the rest of the world would be asleep at this time. He'd be left to his own devices, and free from obligations typically undertaken during the day which would risk interaction with a populace that was entirely hostile to them. Would Devin have come to see Darian as something of a barrier between himself and this world that hated him?

III. The Golden Order

I've gone over how monumental the acceptance of the Golden Order would've been for this pair of shunned twins in my post on Darian. As a refresher for anyone unaware, what little info we get of the D twins tells us that they were born cursed, sharing a single soul between themselves. As a consequence of this curse, they were rejected by all societies except the Golden Order. That should make it pretty clear as to why the D twins serve the Golden Order with such fervor. They haven't really got any other option. It's also bound to be pretty world-changing for them to be told that they are worthy of acceptance by the empire founded by the goddess of the world herself. Who could possibly be a higher authority on the matter than that? After a lifetime of shunning and rejection, these two pariahs have finally found a place that will let them call it home. But nothing in life is free, right? The pair are put to work, or perhaps volunteered themselves. We can't really know, though there would have been a pretty intriguing implication about this if the original 1.0 text had been preserved for the item description of Devin's clothes, which indicates the twins could have been slaves at some point. At any rate, Darian is specified to now be a Hunter of the Dead, while Devin's role is more ambiguous. It's commonly held that he takes on the same job, which is a fair enough assumption. It could also be possible that he is set to scholarly tasks, given that "fundamentalism is scholarship in all but name". This, in some ways may be corroborated by Devin's use of fundamentalist incantations not used by Darian, who primarily uses beast incantations, as well as the fact that Devin is equipped with the Golden Order seal, which demands a higher INT and FAI stat than the Clawmark seal used by Darian. Regardless of any of that, Devin appears to have been sent on a new mission, something related to but not altogether the same as Darian's weeding of the deathroot. Rogier's letter tells us of Devin's location within Nokron, mentioning, "And it's said he stood before the Prince of Death not far beyond that spot." So Devin has clearly been to the roots of the Erdtree. We know this isn't a place one can just wander into - it's highly sacred, so much so that not even the other demigods slain on the Night of the Black Knives were interred there. It was an honor reserved only for Godwyn. It's a tall order to rationalize a random Tarnished no one like Devin being permitted to go there without invitation, especially not under Morgott's watch. The path through Nokron is wholly inaccessible until Radahn's death, with the Fallen Hawks, who have wandered the city for god knows how long, being unable to find a way out, and Ranni being unable to find a way in. So it's fairly unreasonable to think Devin somehow managed to get into Nokron when no one else could. This leaves only one alternative path, which is taken via Leyndell, and it is certainly not one Devin chose to take on a hunch or a whim for his own interests. IV. Plumbing the Depths of the Order

Beneath Leyndell, we can find the Shunning Grounds of the Omen living within the sewers. Traveling deeper still, we can find the Cathedral of the Forsaken, guarded by an illusion of Mohg. Press on past this, and the way is blocked by a seal placed by Morgott himself. So long as he is alive, the seal remains. What's beyond it is a truly terrible sight, hundreds of anguished nomads crammed into catacombs, driven to utter despair in this inhumane prison beneath the earth. And at the farthest depths of this hell lay the altar of the Three Fingers, vassal of the Frenzied Flame and god of chaos, a threat so dire to existence that Melina all but begs us to reconsider multiple times before we even approach it. It's no walk in the park, that's for sure. But it's also the only other way into the Deeproot Depths prior to Radahn's death, and so it is the one Devin most likely took to reach the Prince of Death. This also means Devin must have had Morgott's express permission to do so. His seal prevents anyone from reaching the illusory wall which allows one passage into the Depths from the Frenzied Flame Proscription. While I won't claim Morgott is the one to have requested Devin to do this, the fact still remains that Morgott must at least be aware it is happening, otherwise, there's no reasonable explanation for Devin getting to Godwyn in the first place. This further strengthens the claim that Devin was not merely wandering or seeking something of his own accord - he was explicitly sent. And I think this assignment broke him.

Let's take a moment to backtrack to the outskirts of Leyndell, and the Minor Erdtree church. In it, we find 4 items, three of which are explicitly linked to Devin. There's a Golden Centipede, associated with hunters of the dead. There's a Golden Order seal, used by Devin. And there's a gesture, Outer Order, which directly mirrors the gesture received from Devin, Inner Order. We get the Outer Order gesture after listening to spoken echos of Marika, which are as follows:

I declare mine intent, to search the depths of the Golden Order. Through understanding of the proper way, our faith, our grace, is increased. Those blissful early days of blind belief are long past. My comrades; why must ye falter?

How is this relevant to Devin? For one, the twins are associated with the ranks of the Hunters, who Goldmasks laments have strayed from proper scholarly fundamentalism to blindly seeking out an absolute evil to oppose. This illustrates how they have strayed even from Marika's own vision of the Order with her call to examine the tenets of the Order and one's own faith in it. The word choice also, whether intentional or not, mirrors Devin's own literal searching of the depths of the Golden Order. To reach Godwyn, he descended beneath the Order's capital, going from this noble, golden city bathed in the warm rays of the Erdtree, down through the sewers where cursed children grew up and now eke out a miserable existence, through an internment camp full of suffering exiles, to finally confronting the greatest failure of Marika's Order and the source of the monstrosities which Devin and his brother are assigned to destroy. Marika says, "Those blissful early days of blind belief are long past," and this becomes true for Devin. He has confronted not one, not two, but three layers of deceit and depravity perpetrated by the Order he has agreed to serve. There is no lie to hide behind, no place for faith in the Order to do what is right, no way to any longer deny the imperfections and cruelty of the Golden Order. And that same Golden Order told you that you were not an abomination. That you were worthy of life, even if the entire rest of the world believes otherwise. The bliss of that acceptance is now stained with the horrific reality. Devin has reached the depths of the Order, and he has found only misery and abuse, decay and brutality. And at its very center, there lay the once golden and perfect son of that Order, the poster child of all its promises of glory, strength, and goodness, now twisted into the very thing the Order has instructed him is responsible for its ills. I do not think Devin merely shrugged his shoulders and got over it. In fact, his vicious diatribe against Godwyn makes it pretty clear how deeply this all impacted him. While he has plenty good reason to despise Fia for murdering his brother, Godwyn would have had no involvement in that, and Devin would know. Devin would have seen the lack of response and the lack of awareness in Godwyn as he removed the cursemark from his corpse. So why blame him for anything to do with Darian's death when it's Fia's plot that necessitated it? He's not condemning Godwyn for Darian's death. He's condemning him for sullying the purity of the Golden Order. In his mind, which has been broken by this one-two punch of witnessing the brutality of the Order followed up by Fia's murder of his brother, he's scrambling to hold on to meaning in a world where he is rapidly forced to face his meaninglessness.

The dialog in question is this:

“Are you acquainted with a man named Rogier? You know, the piteous fellow hiding away on the balcony? He was a formidable spellblade, in times past. Don’t let his easy air deceive you. He was wise beyond his years, stout of heart and clear of mind. No more though. You see him now, ravaged by thorns, muttering and rambling… Like he’s half-dead already. I can’t stomach to watch. Take well the lesson, friend. That’s how you end up, when seduced by Those Who Live in Death. When grace is sullied, it rots people from the inside. Breaks them.”

Darian isn’t talking about the Rogier he knew before their argument and the Rogier he knew after their argument. He’s talking about the Rogier before deathblight and after. The Rogier who is now pitiful and broken, “hiding away on the balcony”, is no longer a formidable spellblade. We know, because he gives us his weapon, admitting his fighting days are behind him. Darian knows Rogier puts up an appeasing mask, “his easy air” and uses it to disarm others. And this isn’t followed by accusations of duplicity or bitterness about that. Darian is not saying “Rogier deceived me with his easy air and actually believed in a foul and horrible cause.” He is saying, “Rogier acts casual and friendly, but his mind is sharp, he’s determined, and he’s more thoughtful than he may let on.” It indicates Darian DID know the real Rogier to some extent, enough to know there’s more to him than the airs he puts on. Then comes that “No more though.” What has changed? We know it isn’t their parting – this happened sometime before we came along, given that we find Darian and Rogier both alone. So is he still stewing over something that probably happened more than a couple weeks ago and is just so eager to trash Rogier he’ll do it to the first stranger who asks about him?

Wouldn’t you know, the very next sentence provides further context about what, in Darian’s opinion, has changed: “You see him now, ravaged by thorns, muttering and rambling…” It’s not the argument and the fallout that makes Darian see Rogier in a new light. It’s Rogier literally dying and rotting away in front of him. Rogier has been struck by deathblight, something both of them are going to be very familiar with the consequences of. Darian is grieving a friend, not shitting on an ex. He’s angry, he’s upset, he’s grieving, his old friend is dying and there are regrets between them. Darian may connect Rogier being blighted with his compassion for Those Who Live in Death, and maybe it’s a little unfair since it could happen to anyone regardless of their perspectives on that. However, he is right that in pursuing his goals, Rogier necessarily must expose himself to a higher risk of becoming infected.

So with the reveal that Miquella was charming Mohg at some point, I've seen a lot about how this vindicates Mohg on the kidnapping(this one at least, as we know he undoubtedly kidnaps the war surgeons). I think it's a hastily declared victory, however, and here's why.

Ansbach tells us that he's a knight of the dynasty, a pureblood knight. He wears the same brooch that Varre gives to us to access Mohgwyn, the Pureblood Knight's medal. Either he was there at the beginning of the Mohgwyn Dynasty, or it existed before he pledged himself to Mohg. That's important since it indicates that the dynasty already existed by the time Mohg is charmed. Mohg has already made himself the Formless Mother's vassal. We can further validate that through the Bloodboon spell received from his Remembrance:

The mother of truth craves wounds. When Mohg stood before her, deep underground, his accursed blood erupted with fire, and besotted with the defilement that he was born into.

This highlights that bloodflame is a result of his encounter with her. Ansbach also uses bloodflame, as evidenced by the incantation he drops on death, "Furious Blade of Ansbach":

Incantation of Ansbach, Pureblood Knight. Produces a bloodflame blade from the side of the hand, then lunges at enemies to cleave through them.

So put that all together, and it is reasonable to believe that Mohg was serving the Formless Mother before being charmed. Otherwise, it's doubtful that Ansbach would know the difference between a charmed and not-charmed Mohg the way he seems to in the DLC. We know from Mohg's remembrance that his goals with his dynasty involved raising Miquella to godhood so that he can rule as a monarch. Of the Empyreans, Miquella easily makes the most sense. Malenia is already claimed by the rot god, and Ranni is presumed dead/missing. (This assumes the kidnapping takes place during the fallout of the Shattering, as indicated by the opening cinematic.) While we know this overlaps with Miquella's own desire to become a god, we also know he was unresponsive to Mohg's plans, and has taken a different route to achieve his goals. It's unlikely he would want the yoke of an outer god like the Formless Mother around his neck, too.

For these reasons, it seems doubtful Miquella necessarily wanted Mohg to kidnap him. Ansbach tells us of what Miquella wants of Mohg:

As if using Lord Mohg to gain entrance to the land of shadow were not enough, he plans to use his corpse as the vessel of his king consort. He has forsaken Lord Mohg's soul. He desires only his empty shell.

What he wants of Mohg is his corpse, and entry into the realm of shadows. While there is no reason for Miquella to be kidnapped to get access to Mohg's corpse(after all, Miquella is in no state to be the one to kill him, so him being there is kind of unnecessary), the other point remains unclear. What is it about Mohg that helps Miquella access the land of shadows? Is it Mohg specifically, or is it the simple fact that Miquella has to work with what he's got? The other point is the nature of Miquella's charm. It isn't total brainwashing. This is evidenced in the NPC followers. Ansbach never professes devotion to Miquella, and rather says he's trying to discern why Miquella is here at all. The Hornsent freely expresses his distaste for Tarnished like us and his compatriots. Leda observes that it's such an eclectic group, they'd have likely been at each others' throats were it not for the charm. And after it breaks, Ansbach can recall his distaste for Miquella, Leda's paranoia ratchets up, and the Hornsent admits Miquella is just an avenue for revenge.

It's very similar to the Bewitching Branch's effects. It isn't that you've brainwashed anyone into taking actions they wouldn't normally take. It isn't that they're all suddenly holding hands and singing Miquella's praises when they weren't before. The Hornsent still despises us and merely tolerates Miquella. Ansbach is still hesitant and doubtful about him. Leda still recognizes all of their differences. The enemy still wants to fight - you've just made it so they don't want to fight you.

They are inextricably intertwined, not separate from each other. There being an 'age of the erdtree' does not necessarily say that, after it ended, marika surrendered power to 'radagon's golden order.' These ages are a simple fact of the progression of time and the notable cultural shifts, not new ownership. The golden order is marika's work and vision, and she has been at its helm throughout its existence until the Shattering and her imprisonment. Even then, she is still nominatively in charge. you are vying to become her consort, not radagon's.

radagon is never shown to usurp marika in some way. if anything, he is her pawn (he literally becomes a tool of the golden order in our boss fight with the elden beast...). he wages war for her in liurnia. he returns to her when she calls, leaving behind all other obligations he has to his family. she calls him her 'leal dog' and notes he is beneath her - not a god, not until she makes it so. he does exactly as she demands in one of her echoes, researching and exploring the depths of the golden order in search of its fundamentals. he is not the cruel and callous leash of the greater will placed upon a helpless, rebellious woman. he is her. he is maybe the only one she can trust at a time when she is beginning to have some kind of reservations about the order she has built, or the power it serves. this ties into the frustrations about the golden order being some traditional, conservative society, which has never made sense to me. one i frequently see is that sex is looked down on or people are purposefully robbed of the desire to have it by marika. it's hard to imagine sex is some scorned taboo when the woman has had god knows how many kids with at least two husbands, rennala and radagon also had kids, and we know by godrick's existence that children are still born under the order for multiple generations. then we have melina outright tell us that births still happen. and sex is clearly still on people's minds: look at mohg's "sharing a bedchamber" with miquella, everything tanith and rykard had going on, fia and rogier, seluvis' pervy self, varre's flirtatious relationship with the PC. the idea that the order/marika has turned everyone sexless is not supported by anything in game(even the cut turtle neck item simply says the urge has 'waned', not disappeared, which could have way more to do with being alive for 1000 years straight than marika turning the horny switch to 'off'). it just feels like another attempt at turning the golden order into a generic christian oppressor, which is way more boring than what it actually is. same goes for the insistence that marika is just a helpless figurehead being controlled by radagon/the greater will and that this is a society where women are to be seen but not heard. marika waged multiple wars to found her order, and had her own vision for the elden ring itself, a world without death. we can even see why she'd design it this way with the background provided by the dlc. women warriors are commonplace in this world, not exceptions, and they achieve the same honors as men in war. the order itself places specifically women in positions of importance within their society/religion - the finger maidens have the important task of providing guidance and strength to tarnished. the finger reader crones interpret the holy words of the two fingers and by extension the greater will, and are found en masse just beside marika's own bedroom and the elden throne itself, not denigrated or seen as 'lesser' but heralded as respected figures. the same goes for caria, which appears to be just as matriarchal a society as the golden order's, never even mentioning kings or princes in their history.

Given his violent but determined nature(he's fought his way to the damned Haligtree!), I wonder if he'd commit suicide in order to escape his cell and continue his quest. He's not just locked in a cell in the sewers, he's tied to a chair, possibly to prevent him from doing just that. (Edit: @izar-tarazed pointed out he was initially free, and actually banging his head against the wall of his cell. So it's possible he did try to die his way out of the cell only to be tied up afterwards). He can't move enough to find a way to die, and he can't starve himself to freedom(if Tarnished require food like normal people, which I assume they do given you can find it in the Hold). So theres a nonzero chance he is actually being force-fed to prevent death by starvation, on top of the already horrific, utter solitary confinement.