Introduction

I don't believe this has been discussed nearly as much as it should be. This revolves around links between Miquella and Godwyn: propositions that shook my perception of certainly Miquella, but also Godwyn, suggesting that there's a lot more to meet the eye with him.

So strap in, because this one goes long, covers a lot of seemingly unrelated things, and DEFINITELY stretches.

First and foremost, what is the link between these two? Who's to say that there even is any link between them outside of being half-brothers? The first clue that got me thinking comes from the name of Mohg's Dynasty, the name of his Mausoleum and Court, and what all his followers refer to.

Mohgwyn.

Mohg

The etymology of this name is interesting, as it seems to draw from 'Mohg', which makes sense, but 'wyn' is a suffix only seen before with Godwyn. You'd think that by joining himself with Miquella, Mohg would name his dynasty something like 'Mohguella', but the suffix 'wyn' is used instead.

The prefix 'wyn' in real life generally refers to 'friend' or other positive meanings like that (Ignoring the fact 'Godwyn' is painfully close to 'Gwyn', theory for another day).

Additionally, the name Miquella, while not directly the same, probably comes from the female name 'Miquela', which means 'Who Is Like God?', for obvious reasons.

Names and naming conventions are some of the most crucial evidence in this game. Nothing is done as an accident. No name is given without knowledge of what the name means, and what it implies.

So... is Mohg simply invoking the name of a powerful Demigod so as to give his dynasty clout and claim? Possibly, but the forming of this dynasty is built upon the union between him and Miquella. And, like traditional marriage, names change. This particular union involves a joining of Mohg and Miquella, of the two in which Miquella would ascend and become the God, and Mohg would become the Elden Lord. So why not use Miquella's actual name?

(For this next part, more theories, discussion, and ESPECIALLY evidence would definitely be greatly appreciated)

The first idea that popped into my mind was that Miquella, for some reason, was linked to the 'wyn' suffix. Some kind of bond between him and Godwyn. Something they share, something they have in common, something that links the two somehow, outside of being simply half-brothers.

So lets compare: Miquella and Godwyn. What do they have in common?

Miquella and Godwyn

They have the same mother: Marika.

And... that's pretty much it.

But what's different about the two?

Godwyn was called 'The Golden', and Miquella was 'The Unalloyed' (Unalloyed Gold being the tarnished version of gold that came from Miquella turning away from the Greater Will).

Godwyn was a great warrior, Miquella was eternally youthful, and physically small; more of a thinker.

Godwyn clearly revered and worshipped the Greater Will, while Miquella couldn't stand it.

So what gives? Why are the two supposedly linked via Mohgwyn's usage of Godwyn's name in place of Miquella? Any friendship between the two would be unlikely given their very divergent beliefs regarding... well, everything.

And yet... we know they were friends. Thanks to a couple things. First, the Golden Epitaph sword, which says "A sword made to commemorate the death of Godwyn the Golden, first of the demigods to die. Infused with the humble prayer of a young boy; "O brother, lord brother, please die a true death."

So clearly, Miquella loved and cared about his brother, enough to pray for him following his death at least. And we know this prayer is sincere, as it's described as 'humble'.

But how do we know this isn't simply ceremonial? This alone doesn't imply a close kinship between Miquella and Godwyn.

Well, d'you know what does? One line of dialogue from a ghost in Castle Sol, way up north in the Mountaintops of the Giants. A line of dialogue that rattled my brain, that shook my core.

Before we talk about that, however, what's up with Castle Sol?

Castle Sol

Likely something to talk about more in a different discussion entirely, Castle Sol is a fortress located in the Mountaintops of the Giants. All throughout, you'll encounter Spectral Banished Knights, and at the very end, Commander Niall. What's interesting is that every enemy here in the Castle is spectral, apart from Niall himself. This is explained in his armour set, the Veteran's set; "Old armor that has seen many battles. Worn by Niall, the veteran general of Sol. Niall was a lone survivor who commanded spirits to defend his long-passed master. This aging general could not die, nor did he have anywhere to fade away."

Niall was a veteran general of Castle Sol = Niall was old, had been through a lot of battles, was in charge of his soldiers, and typically his loyalties lie with Castle Sol. He also has a 'long-passed master'.

But who could this master be...?

Hmm. I wonder what item you find directly after beating Niall. Could it perhaps be half of the Haligtree Medallion? The item that allows access to Miquella's Haligtree? Who then, could Niall's master have been?

Assuming it was Miquella, this draws closer ties to Castle Sol, and under this assumption, understanding Castle Sol because even more important. So let's try to understand.

Progressing through Castle Sol, towards the end, you'll find the Church of the Eclipse. And this is... weird. Because it's never specified what exactly that means. Of course, we should be used to that with Fromsoft games by now. So let's examine other mentions of 'The Eclipse.'

The Eclipse, Part 1

Evidence 1: Eclipse Crest Greatshield: "Metal greatshield painted with a sun in eclipse. Carried by the headless mausoleum knights. The eclipsed sun, drained of color, is the protective star of soulless demigods. It aids the mausoleum knights by keeping Destined Death at bay."

Evidence 2: Eclipse Crest Heater Shield: "The sun in eclipse is said to be the symbol of the Wandering Mausoleum where the soulless demigods slumber."

Both of these belong to Mausoleum Knights: Knights said to be so loyal, that they behead themselves in order to continue to serve their masters in Death. This is told through the item descriptions above, as well as that of Lhutel the Headless Ashes, Mausoleum Soldier Ashes, and the Mausoleum Knight Armour Set.

The Mausoleums in question are the walking stone structures found around the Lands Between with four legs, housing an old, mossy room on top with a bell hanging beneath. From a mechanical standpoint, these exist to allow us to duplicate Remembrances. But this mechanic tells us about the lore as well:

Because the Mausoleums are supposed to be where soulless demigods sleep. The Mausoleum Knights fight to stop Destined Death from corrupting the soulless demigods in their slumber, and so they bear the symbol of the 'Sun in eclipse' on their shields because it is said to be the 'protective star.'

This opens up a much larger discussion on the nature of Destined Death, both in and outside the Lands Between, and about other Gods/Demigods, since Godwyn was apparently the first demigod to die, but there are 7 of these Walking Mausoleums around the Lands Between.

Thankfully, those details aren't the most important to understand. All that is needed to understand from all this are three things.

1. The eclipse is something of a countermeasure to Destined Death.

2: Godwyn's soul was killed on the Night of Black Knives and his body buried in the Deeproot Depths, allowing Death to spread out throughout the Lands Between.

1. The eclipse is a prominent concept in Castle Sol, which we know is heavily linked to Miquella.

Intermission

Phew. Breather.

So far we've discussed Mohg and Miquella, and how things failing to line up there sparked this whole discussion.

Then we looked at Miquella and Godwyn, and why and how these two might even be scarcely linked at all.

And after that, we talked about Castle Sol and it's two branching connections: One, to Miquella via Commander Niall and the Haligtree Medallion, and Two, to Godwyn via the Eclipse and the Mausoleum Knights bearing the eclipse symbol. Yet another connection between the two demigods.

There's one final thing we need to look at before we dive into that one important line of dialogue I keep mentioning.

The Eclipse itself. What the hell is the Eclipse?

The Eclipse, Part 2

Let's begin by understanding real life. This particular eclipse described is a Solar eclipse, where the moon moves in front of the sun, blotting it out almost entirely, leaving only the sun's corona visible around the edge and a black void in the middle.

This exact image is represented on the Eclipse Crest Greatshield: A fiery ring around a black void.

Now, here's where things get tricky. Because we need to talk about the Sun and the Moon. My dilemma is that I really don't want to have to talk about Ranni, but you kinda have to when you bring up the Moon.

Thus comes the question: What are the Sun and the Moon in Elden Ring? Are they:

1: Same as they are in real life. Big ball of fire and big space rock moving around.

Or 2: Something... anything... literally anything to do with the Outer Gods.

The Dark Moon is an Outer God. This we know for sure. But the difficulty lies in knowing if 'Dark Moon', the Outer God, actually has anything to do with the regular moon.

Here's a standard, non-specific explanation for Yes.

The Outer Gods may in fact relate to literally everything in existence. For example, the Greater Will being the literal embodiment of Order, structure, organisation, form, etc. Does this then mean that these kinds of things exist because of the Greater Will?

Can we go a step further and say that things like free will, chaos, disorganisation only exist because of another Outer God, the Frenzied Flame?

Does fire only exist because of the unnamed One-Eyed God of Fire that the Giants worshipped?

I... don't know. I have no idea. This is the kind of thing that is so insane and massive and all-encompassing that I don't even want to try and decipher it.

The point is that the Outer Gods are relevant. At least when it comes to Marika and her family, some of whom we are talking about. So why bring this all up?

Because we're talking about the Eclipse, the all-important symbol of the Mausoleum Knights. And this eclipse is when the moon goes in front of the sun.

Why the hell would one celestial body moving in front of another do anything to ward off Destined Death if they're just big space balls?

Unless they're anything to do with anything vaguely important. Hence why we talk about it.

They might not be Outer Gods. They might have nothing to do with Outer Gods. The moon, in this case, might have nothing to do with Ranni's Dark Moon. Nevertheless, they are clearly important, and powerful.

There's a line of discussion about the Sun relating to/representing the Golden Order and the Greater Will. Others before me have posed good arguments, in terms of symbolism, for Radagon, the Golden Order, the Greater Will, etc., being representative of the Sun in some way.

Speaking of which, let's discuss symbolism.

Symbolism and Imagery

Symbolism is so extremely important when figuring things out like this. Here's a great example. One of the most commonly used words in the entire game: Tarnished.

Tarnished. Unalloyed. Golden. These three. Let's discuss.

Gold, as a metal, is lustrous. It's shiny and beautiful. But gold can lose its lustre. It can be tarnished. Of course, there are ways to clean tarnished gold and make it shiny again.

Gold can also be alloyed. Alloying refers to when multiple metals are combined to make it stronger, or make it more resistant to corrosion. But in doing so, the metals are no longer pure. They are part of a combination with another metal. They've been alloyed. Alternative, unalloyed gold might be weaker, but it is pure.

Everything I just said there refers to real life. Things that a real, normal person could come along and understand because it's real. But it also is perfectly symbolically representative of concepts within Elden Ring. The Gold refers quite obviously to the Golden Order, at the head of which is Marika, who rejected her warriors and took away their Grace, leaving them Tarnished.

Miquella was known as Unalloyed Gold, because he didn't accept the ways of the Golden Order. He remained pure, even if that meant he was weaker because of it.

Do you see what I mean when I emphasise how important it is to understand symbolism?

With this in mind, it's crucial to understand the symbolism behind the Eclipse.

The Sun and the Moon.

The Moon engulfs the Sun, blotting out its light leaving only a fiery ring peeking out from behind a black circle in the middle.

So... what's the symbolism here? What does this mean? How does this tell us what's happening in Elden Ring? What does the imagery of the Eclipse mean?

In this analogy, who, or what is the sun? Who or what is the moon? What is enveloping what?

The Sun, Part 1

Again... I don't know for sure. The best theory I could propose is that the sun represents the Golden Order. I think this makes the most sense based on all the other evidence surrounding the Golden Order referring to everything else about it. I mean, it oozes Sun, right?

Leyndell is 'bathed in rays of gold'.

The Sun Realm Shield depicts "a city crowned by the sun. It has seen better days. Much like the wear upon the shield, the Seat of the Sun is long faded away."

The literal Erdtree itself is glowing like a sun (even though there is an actual sun in the skybox. Yes, it's there, it's very elusive though. It's a bit shy.)

Or maybe 'Sol' is just another Outer God and that's literally all it means.

The Eclipse, Part 3

I think we're finally here. We've covered everything important to know up until now, so here it is.

At Castle Sol, there is a ghost. And it is this ghost that provides such vital evidence for the Miquella and Godwyn theory that it blew my mind when I understood it.

(I kinda forgot that this whole thing was originally about proving Miquella and Godwyn were friends in some way lmao)

"Lord Miquella, forgive me. The sun has not been swallowed. Our prayers were lacking. Your comrade remains soulless... I will never set my eyes upon it now... Your divine Haligtree."

Wow. Right, let's analyse.

"Lord Miquella, forgive me." Pretty simple. Confirming that Miquella was indeed important in some way to the people of Castle Sol. Also implying based on the tone that this person has failed Miquella in some way. Miquella wanted something that this person couldn't achieve.

"I will never set my eyes upon it now... Your divine Haligtree." A worshipper of some kind that wanted to lay eyes upon the Haligtree. A common thing seen in other ghosts that talk about Miquella.

"Our prayers were lacking." They were trying to pray for something, but they blame themself for the fact that whatever they wanted hasn't happened. Note the use of "our", implying that it was multiple, perhaps this was a joint effort of the people of Castle Sol. Who or what were they praying to?

"The sun has not been swallowed." I'm sorry, what? WHAT?! They wanted the sun to be swallowed.

Obviously referring to the eclipse, in which the moon moves in front of the sun, obscuring it, but the way this is phrased makes it seem a lot more than just a black light in the sky.

"Your comrade remains soulless." Bam. There it is. If, after reading everything I've brought up here, your mind doesn't immediately jump to Miquella's 'comrade' being Godwyn, then I don't know how to convince you.

Godwyn is the dead demigod. That's his thing. His soul was killed on the Night of Black Knives. He is the main character that is referred to as 'soulless' throughout the entire game. In fact, I don't think that word is ever used to describe any other specific character besides the unnamed dead demigods in the Mausoleums.

'Comrade.' They were close. But not just because they were family, no no, there's more to it than that.

Miquella was trying to revive Godwyn.

Is that crazy? Am I crazy for saying that?

This ghost's prayers were for the sun to be swallowed, because that's what Miquella wanted. He was their Lord. That's what they were praying for. But why?

"The sun has not been swallowed... Your comrade remains soulless." But it should be understood as saying "The sun has not been swallowed [therefore] Your comrade remains soulless."

'Remains' = He was before, he still is, but they were trying to change that by swallowing the sun.

Wow.

Intermission 2

Breather again please because I don't know about you but I'm working up a sweat.

My initial desire for all of this was to address why Mohg uses Godwyn's suffix instead of Miquella's. My thought was that Godwyn and Miquella must have some connection for their names to seemingly be interchangeable to Mohg, but I think my plan spiralled a bit out of control...

If it turns out to be as simple as "Wyn is just their surname" or something dumb like that, I won't be upset. Because we've come to understand so many other things along the way.

Maybe the real demigod name was the abstract information we deciphered along the way.

But we're still not done. We're nearly there, but we're not quite done just yet. There's still more to discuss.

Sidenote: It should be mentioned how different Miquella and Fia's goals are. (I'm surprised we've gone this long without mentioning Fia)

Fia wishes for Godwyn to be the Prince of Death, to return as an undead, and to govern Death in the new order.

Miquella just wants Godwyn to come back the same way he was before.

The Sun, Part 2

"The sun has not been swallowed [therefore] Your comrade remains soulless."

But why would the sun disappearing bring back Godwyn? What do they have to do with each other?

We know the drill by now, let's investigate.

Godwyn is called 'The Golden'. One would assume this is because of his allegiance to the Golden Order (and it probably is) but there might be more. Some have theorised that Godwyn is linked to the Sun itself.

And this might be true, but I think it's something else entirely.

After he was killed, Godwyn became the Prince of Death. The Mausoleum Knights bear the emblem of the Eclipse to ward off Destined Death, so that the soulless demigods that they are guarding don't come into contact with Destined Death and be brought back.

As we mentioned earlier, the Eclipse wards off Death.

Let me repeat that:

The Sun being swallowed is a countermeasure to Death.

How in God's name does that make any sense at all?

It doesn't, until we start to think of the Sun as more than just a big ball of fire.

There are a couple ways this might go. Here's one of them.

Godwyn the Golden is linked to the Sun, for whatever reason. When his soul was killed, it became one with the sun, or it became the sun, or whatever, and the way to return it to Godwyn to bring him back is by removing the sun, getting it out of the sky and back into Godwyn's body.

Maybe.

That's a possibility. But I don't like it.

Not because it's not a good story, quite the contrary. It's very Fromsoft.

But because there's no evidence for it. That's the thing with these games, you can't just pose something and call it a theory because "it makes sense" or "there's nothing that says otherwise". You need evidence.

And I've looked. Trust me, I've looked. There's nothing to imply that Godwyn is the sun.

Or maybe there is and I missed it. If that's true, then please, for God's sake, let me know and let me rest my weary mind.

"Your comrade remains soulless" is such an important line. Because that's the issue. It's not just bringing Godwyn back to life, it's making his soul exist again.

His soul was killed by knives imbued with a fragment of Destined Death. You can't just stroll up to Maliketh and say "hey, can I have that soul back please?" It was killed.

So then how does Miquella, probably one of the smartest characters in the game, plan on bringing back Godwyn's soul?

Another theory might be that Miquella's prayer for Godwyn to "die a true death" is why he's doing all this. So he can set things right and kill Godwyn properly so he doesn't have to suffer as the Prince of Death.

Hmm...

I suppose an alternative theory is that Sol, the sun, might be where souls go when they die. Like a kind of pseudo-heaven/afterlife for bright shiny souls.

Souls...

Sunlight...

Godwyn's name sounds a lot like Gwyn...

Eclipse Crest Greatshield symbol looks like the darksign...

Ringed City = Elden Ring? Because Rings?

Lord of Hollows blots out the sun AKA Eclipse...?

All along... This whole discussion has lead to this...

ELDEN RING IS A DARK SOULS PREQUEL CONFIRMED!!!

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Conclusion

No. Absolutely not. In all seriousness though, it's probably more likely that Godwyn's soul, when killed, went into the Erdtree via being hewn by Remembrance. Then, 'swallowing the sun', refers to destroying the Erdtree since the Erdtree is synonymous with the Golden Order which might be representative of the Sun. With the Erdtree destroyed/Sun swallowed, we can retrieve Godwyn's Remembrance-d soul, pop it back in his body, and Miquella has his bro back, good as new.

Obviously that's a very slapdash theory, and almost definitely is not correct. Honestly, I'd love to be debunked by something concrete, or for someone to find a piece of evidence I missed that changes absolutely everything.

But the point is... I don't care about all that.

That's not why this all started. I didn't start this to discuss the inner workings of how to bring back dead demigods, or the exact method for blotting out suns, or Destined Death. This started to talk about Miquella and Godwyn, so that's how it will end.

As I claimed, with no evidence at all, way back at the start, Miquella and Godwyn were close. We may never know why, seeing as how different they are as people, but they clearly found some kind of common ground. They liked each other. Miquella cared for Godwyn enough to say a heartfelt prayer after he died. He considered Godwyn his 'comrade.' And most importantly, he'd go so far as to have the sun swallowed in order to return Godwyn's soul back to his body.

Like I say, we may never know the inner workings of their relationship; The how's and the why's, their goals and beliefs. But I think we can safely say that they trusted each other and cared for each other.

So maybe now I can answer the question. Why does the name Mohgwyn use Godwyn's suffix even though Mohg is marrying Miquella and it should really be Mohguella?

The easy answer is that Miquella and Godwyn were close enough to have interchangeable names, if that makes any sense. Maybe since Marika doesn't seem to know surnames exist, these two thought to borrow part of each other's name as a way of showing a connection between the two.

There's never going to be a concrete, definite answer. I knew that going into this. Until an item description appears saying "This is why it's called Mohgwyn", we won't know, no matter how much theorising and discussing.

Which, I suppose, is the beauty of theorising in the first place. That you're going into it, knowing full well that by the end you still won't have a conclusive answer that you can definitely confirm. Because if you did, it wouldn't be a theory. It would just be lore.

So because it's a theory, we can dream all we want.

And for me at least, I like the idea of Miquella and Godwyn being friends.