Bonfireside Chat 308: Specimen Storehouse (Part 1)
Added 2024-11-17 20:23:57 +0000 UTCAfter clearing Shadow Keep proper, we find ourselves in a tower dedicated to the study and preservation of living beings touched by the Crucible. This is… unexpected in the home of someone leading a genocide against the Hornsent. But as we climb, we learn more about Messmer, and also discover the horrifying truth of Miquella’s plans.
Comments
Messmer does seem to be a very odd inversion almost of Lady Maria
Goldie
2024-11-20 22:36:16 +0000 UTCI always got an impression that The Lands Between was a sort of Valhalla in the universe that warriors end up in from other lands (Badlands, Reeds, etc), but is also a place you can just sort of go to somehow?
Griffin Post
2024-11-20 15:38:06 +0000 UTCThe storehouse is probably my favorite part of the DLC. From is so much better at doing focused, Demon's Souls type levels than massive sprawling worlds. I also loved the abyssal woods in my first playthrough but that also plays like a linear level imo.
Victor
2024-11-20 00:39:38 +0000 UTCMy immediate thought when seeing the Storehouse was of the Research Hall from the Old Hunters, though I’m actually glad that it’s not as horrifically bleak as that setting, in part for variety. At least they’re not running experiments actively on the Hornsent
Lucas West
2024-11-19 16:14:38 +0000 UTCAm I the only one who thought the humanoid crucible figure was deliberately Christlike in appearance? He looks to be almost crusified and his horn growths could easily be seen as a crown of thorns. That and the inclusion of a holy related talisman makes me think it was pretty deliberate. I don't think it has any lore implications I was just surprised it was not commented on.
MeltyHam
2024-11-19 04:36:19 +0000 UTCThe Specimen Storehouse's "library" is full of stone tablets like the ones that are piled up in Marika's bedchamber in Leyndell. Is this evidence that she took them with her when she left the Land of Shadow, or that the invaders took them into the Land of Shadow? If you are going to have a bunch of fire knights hanging out in your library, it makes sense that you would want most of your books to be made of stone. (I think some of the books in the Specimen Storehouse are normal books too, though.) But nobody should be throwing around fire in Marika's bedchamber with the Erdtree right outside. So, it would make more sense to me if they come from a place where people expect more fire to be around, and that Marika "imported" them.
Micah Tillman
2024-11-19 03:06:06 +0000 UTCtotally serious lore analysis: those big ants drop numen runes, maybe Miquella is part bug on his mothers side
wesley
2024-11-18 06:12:23 +0000 UTCwait we see Miquella with 4 arms… did he have 6 to begin with?
wesley
2024-11-18 06:08:02 +0000 UTCAs a history major, I adore the Specimen Storehouse. It feels clean and maintained in a way Seath's, Aldia's, Lothric's libraries don't. I always feel bad killing the shadow librarians if they aren't hostile to me. It feels like a genuinely somewhat peaceful place.
superkeaton
2024-11-18 02:06:00 +0000 UTCThe description on one of Jerren's items actually says that he made a vow with Radahn about the honorable death, so it seems pretty accurate that Jerren is more clued in to what he wants than Freyja is here. Also, I assumed Miquella got his 4 arms after discarding his arms dextral and sinistral, from the becoming a god thing. Kind of drew a parallel with Ranni: she gets 4 arms after she discards her body, as well. I think he has two arms in the Haligtree statues?
corvidnoah
2024-11-18 01:59:39 +0000 UTCAlso, I only made the connection listening to this episode today between learning Miquella's plans and where we learn Miquella's plans. The shell without a soul, that desecration of flesh, the cadavers of the storehouse- Miquella was carrying on a legacy of violence before he even reached the divine gate. Shadow of the Erdtree drives home the point of "ascension demands blood" and so of course the violation of autonomy exists there, especially (repeating myself here) in that colonial context & Marika as a conqueror, even when it also exists for her & Miquella (and Malenia and Ranni). There's a lot about SotE that has made me look back at Ranni, who I already liked greatly, and how her sacrifices differed. To me she strove outwards- Miquella, like Marika, would entomb himself. I'm sounding real harsh on Miquella here, but I actually ended up liking him 200 times more after the dlc. Really really love his tragedy.
Goldie
2024-11-18 01:01:08 +0000 UTCTo me, the specimen storehouse evoked the horror of museums within the colonial context, esp how the ruins are given more thought than the people. It felt honestly quite evocative of the fishing hamlet & the sordid history of byrgenwerth in that realm of academic violence- who is slaughtered and who is preserved, etc. For this reason, and the seemingly endless floors, I really liked the storehouse- it felt appropriately grotesque. Could not stop thinking about how say there were giant horned elk-horse-beasts which roamed the world once, and either no more at all or tragically diminished.
Goldie
2024-11-18 00:40:23 +0000 UTCNo one should have that many specimens.
Richard Cochnar
2024-11-17 20:32:26 +0000 UTC
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