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Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree brings a ton of new stuff to the Lands Between, but one of its side quests should have been incorporated into the main story. It’s not that all the side quests in the DLC are bad, but one in particular is crucial to fully grasping the DLC’s plot. Players will have to take down a tough Remembrance boss to complete this quest, but the story is worth it.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree's story.]
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree tells its story in a way that’s typical of FromSoftware games. Not all the info is clearly spelled out, and players have to dig for answers through optional areas and item descriptions. This particular side quest in Shadow of the Erdtree has a lot of important info that players will want to uncover to fully understand the Dlc.
In the Gravesite Plain, near the Pillar Path Cross Site of Grace, players will encounter an NPC named Thollier. Thollier will tell the Tarnished that he has been led to the Land of Shadow by Miquella. To properly begin Thollier's important quest, players will need to break Miquella's Great Rune. Players will be notified the rune is broken after approaching the Shadow Keep.
Once Miquella's rune is broken, head to the Stone Coffin Fissure and locate St. Trina. The Putrescent Knight guards St. Trina in the Garden of Deep Purple. After defeating the Putrescent Knight and finding St. Trina, return to Thollier and start his questline.
Thollier is super into St. Trina and wants to find her. Once the Tarnished tells him where to go, Thollier will head to the Garden of Deep Purple. Players should follow and continue his quest, which involves drinking St. Trina’s nectar. Even though this quest feels a little on the side and doesn’t seem super important to the main story, it actually has a lot of hidden implications for the Shadow of the Erdtree’s narrative. Though it doesn’t move the main plot forward, it gives important context for the Dlc’s main events.
Throughout the Land of Shadow, players will come across lots of Miquella’s crosses. These are places where Miquella shed a part of himself on his journey to becoming a god. As Soulsborne YouTuber VaatiVidya points out in his Shadow of the Erdtree video, players will encounter two of the most important crosses on their way to find St. Trina.
At one cross, Miquella is said to have abandoned his “doubt and vacillation [or indecision],” and at another, it says he has abandoned his love. While leaving behind doubt might seem like a good thing, it could also make someone more reckless. If Miquella is no longer questioning his decisions, that might mean he's making them too quickly. Add to this that Miquella has ditched his love, and things get even more worrying.
If Miquella becomes a god who makes decisions quickly and doesn't consider love and compassion in those decisions, it's likely he won't be the best god. As players continue through Thollier's quest, they'll get even more reason to question Miquella’s motives, especially when they learn more about Miquella’s other half, St. Trina.
It makes sense to find St. Trina at the place where Miquella left behind his love. Thollier, like others in the Lands Between, praises St. Trina and wants her gift of eternal sleep. It seems that many in the Lands Between welcome St. Trina’s gift as an alternative to their never-ending lives. This, combined with St. Trina seeming to be the embodiment of Miquella’s love, likely means that the Tarnished can trust St. Trina to have good intentions. So, when St. Trina asks the Tarnished to kill Miquella, the player knows there must be a reason.
After drinking St. Trina’s nectar and dying for the fourth time, St. Trina will talk to the player and tell them to stop Miquella before he becomes a god. Even though St. Trina has been cast aside by Miquella, this request isn’t made out of spite, but out of concern for him. St. Trina says that Miquella becoming a god would be his “prison,” and that he would be “beyond saving.” St. Trina will also die if Miquella does, so she doesn't have anything to gain from this request.
Since Miquella is the main villain of Shadow of the Erdtree, getting this insight into his path to godhood and the possible fate that awaits him is pretty important for understanding the main events of the story. Players who miss out on Thollier's quest might be a bit confused about Miquella’s plan and might not fully understand the parts of himself that he gave up to become a god. They might also not have the right motivation to understand why they should care about defeating Miquella.
From a gameplay perspective, players have an easy reason to defeat Miquella: he’s part of Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss fight. But, players who still see him as the kind Miquella might be unsure from a story perspective why he's suddenly the bad guy of the DLC. Even though there are other clues, like the fact that Miquella has brainwashed his followers in the Land of Shadow, players might still have doubts about defeating Miquella who seems to have good intentions.
By following Thollier's quest and talking with St. Trina, the player understands that Miquella becoming a god wouldn't be a good thing for him. The knowledge that Miquella has discarded his more loving half in the form of St. Trina also suggests that he might not be the best kind of god. Combine this info with the idea that Miquella would likely use his mind-controlling powers on a massive scale once becoming a god, and the player now has a good reason to take down Miquella from a narrative standpoint too.
Considering how important Thollier's quest is to understanding Shadow of the Erdtree's overall narrative and its main villain, it feels like it should have been part of the DLC’s main quest. But, it being optional side content does seem more on-brand for FromSoftware. In a game where so much of the story is hidden in item descriptions, players should really be thankful that all this important backstory is even given a full sidequest and voice lines.
Source: VaatiVidya/YouTube