Bonfireside Chat 249: Mt. Gelmir, Sellen's Fate
Added 2023-02-19 15:00:03 +0000 UTCLet's catch up with Sellen, y'all. This is the grand conclusion of the MVP side quest in Elden Ring. Let's take a moment to celebrate it.
Comments
Ah a shame, that crystal ball would make a great centerpiece on stage.
Jochem
2024-08-07 22:02:16 +0000 UTCAh shit man we’ll make sure not to book her as an opening act on our next tour. Thanks for a heads up that she’s sus. - K
Duckfeed.tv
2024-08-07 21:44:51 +0000 UTCThose who study the primeval current kill sorcerers and take their heads to fashion them(themselves?) into monstrosities. It says so on the graven talisman. This isn't innocent looking too deep research. Also the town of Sellia is full of assassins who hunt their own kind (for the primeval current research). Sellen is not just a crazy researcher, she is a mass murdering crazy researcher. All in the games texts and dialogues.
Jochem
2024-08-07 21:40:39 +0000 UTCThat was my read as well. I figured he was a puppetmaster spymaster sort of figure. Like a fantasy CIA agent manipulating a bunch of undercover operatives.
Shane Duquette
2024-07-28 19:40:21 +0000 UTCI think in the Primal Glintstone Blade it says that a Primal Glintstone is created by very specific ritual, and also might've fallen out of practice as it's described being performed by 'old sorcerers' and in the Glintstone Kris mentions an 'ancient ritual'
ben bag
2023-03-09 20:02:18 +0000 UTCI wish this podcast had some sort of visual guide because I never know what they are speaking to anymore. It has been so long since I've played this game. A map and some additional images from the area would be helpful. I know that is not going to happen but it would be cool.
shea dewar
2023-02-28 13:32:20 +0000 UTCJust got struck with the awful mental image of Seluvis changing the Sellen doll in the same way that some guys make More Attractive Female mods.
Sid Menon
2023-02-27 21:19:38 +0000 UTCI love Sellen so, so much. Up there with Lady Maria for me. If I ever actually do any video essay stuff Sellen is my planned entry into the Souls lore saga if only because I think her story is really powerful and runs parallel to the protagonist in a touching way. It doesn't end well, but her pride in you? So good.
JACKAL ALLTRADES
2023-02-26 22:14:06 +0000 UTCNot sure about her mask in kayfabe, but your comment reminded that Sellen has two different sets of face data in-game -- one for her original body and one for her new body.
TC Padgett
2023-02-23 16:26:46 +0000 UTCThe ever-brilliant Zullie the Witch did an NPC sliders video for Elden Ring and it's interesting to note that Sellen's new, puppet body has a slightly different, and perhaps younger, face from her original body.
TC Padgett
2023-02-23 16:25:01 +0000 UTCI lolled hard at that
Charlie Frame
2023-02-23 08:40:20 +0000 UTCThis is one of the first times I've read a "somebody think of the clickbaiters!" argument. While I empathise with the idea that singling out a specific, likely underpaid, content writer would be bad form, I don't think it's wrong to pull up a specific website for peddling low-hanging fruit, or demanding better standards in games journalism in general. I saw that particular headline and article and had a similar reaction to Gary. It is lousy journalism at the end of the day - just poor, inaccurate and casually mysoginistic reporting that wastes everyone's time and brings down the level of discussion. It's not even entertaining or amusing. I'm fed up of seeing it and I don't care if it's aimed at a younger crowd - young people deserve better too! The fact we're at a stage now where we're defending terrible rubbish because it might affect people's jobs is a further indictment of the content creation industry. Instead of defending it, we should be asking for better.
Charlie Frame
2023-02-23 08:33:58 +0000 UTCNot sure if it was mentioned but I assume the reason Raya Lucaria is sunken and covered with glintstones is largely Sellen + Co's doing. No wonder she is so bad and hated by those associated with the academy. Also, could it be that she insists on wearing her mask to cover up the fact her head is turning into rock?
Charlie Frame
2023-02-23 08:04:07 +0000 UTCAhh! I was gone for a couple weeks cause work related bullshit but I’m back!! Got some catching up to do! Last episode I heard was the round table Ranni! So let’s goooo
Mateus Silva
2023-02-23 00:37:51 +0000 UTCWeirdly, there's a glitch way to kill her with the spike armor, but she just respawns :( -GB
Duckfeed.tv
2023-02-22 22:21:57 +0000 UTCOh fuck and that place disables attacking so she's stuck like that forever!
T
2023-02-22 19:32:25 +0000 UTCSee I think the problem is that people are taking writing like Kotaku that is more irreverent and written by younger people for a younger audience and acting like it’s something pernicious. It’s not, it’s just in a style that we’re less comfortable with being older.
Mac Taylor
2023-02-22 02:27:25 +0000 UTCYeah, that was definitely the reference he was going with. I laughed
ChipHand_Z
2023-02-21 22:36:14 +0000 UTCDid Kole do a Hacker the Dog reference near the start of the episode with "we're just innocent men..."? Stunned if so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULT4ZUmnH7g
Oliver Tripp
2023-02-21 22:25:34 +0000 UTCThat "Genius" mentioned in the Pulley Crossbow description is almost certainly referring to Miquella. Putting aside any cut content related to him, based on the in-game descriptions of items like Golden Epitaph and Radagon's Rings of Light, we know Miquella was once a fundamentalist, before he abandoned fundamentalism in favor of Unalloyed Gold. We also know he was a tinkerer & craftsman from his work on Malenia's prosthesis and the Golden Needle (see Gowrey's dialogue praising his expert craftsmanship for details). Not sure why the Crossbow is found on Mt. Gelmir though.
ChipHand_Z
2023-02-21 20:03:29 +0000 UTCThis is all a theory, but I feel like the Primal Glintstone is something that every sorcerer has, rather those who study the primeval current. The Primal Glintstone Blade references “The old sorcerers” using the blade to create Primal Glintstones, implying this is an outdated practice for most sorcerers. It also explains how the process kills the original body, which doesn’t seem to practical given the declining births of the Lands Between. If all sorcerers had this, and it was corrupting them, then why is Rennala not a giant rock of Glintstone? Why do we not see Sorcerers across the lands with Glintstone popping out of their body, or starting to make them look like Lusat or Azur? Why can we and so many others use magic with extreme effectiveness without a primal Glintstone, like Radagon? It doesn’t add up IMO, and seems much more radical of a move to kill your body and turn into a rock that can possess other bodies.
Lucas West
2023-02-20 18:36:42 +0000 UTCKinda agree, I feel like we’ve covered this ground several times over these episodes. Just feels like a completely random tangent to me, more or less unrelated to the rest of the episode
Lucas West
2023-02-20 18:11:28 +0000 UTCIs it controversial to say that the majority of stuff published on Kotaku these days is vapid nonsense? Because that seems undeniably true. Just because the preponderance of clickbait is the fault of shitty corporate overlords doesn’t mean that the clickbait itself isn’t also intellectually bankrupt. Are we supposed to withhold criticism of all the bland and vacuous games writing that shows up on the internet these days? Because that seems like it plays into the hands of the very same corporate hacks you and I both agree are the main source of the problem.
Ryan Bennett
2023-02-20 15:36:43 +0000 UTCsingling out a specific article for "hate" because he thought the premise was bad is not really a thoughtful analysis of an entire website's editorial standards. even if it was, it still ignores the class conditions that create the need for the editorial strategy he hates so much, namely that people's livelihoods rely on quantity of attention, not quality of work. but who cares, right? i'm just some loser who quit digital media because of these exact problems, so this just struck a very tender, very personal nerve for me. but it was foolish to even speak up because it's not like being a sanctimonious bitch online is going to change anything, so i'll just see myself out.
Lucy Diavolo
2023-02-20 14:24:37 +0000 UTCSellen’s quest is my favorite as well, and after you complete it she starts selling one of the very best spells in the game, Shard Spiral. It does damage on hit and then keeps ticking as it goes through the enemy, allowing it to just shred through very large/lengthy enemies. One of my all-time favorite things to kill that no-good bastard Elden Beast with.
Violet Sweet
2023-02-20 13:11:49 +0000 UTCI don’t recall them ever mentioning journalists. The target was always specifically “the website” as a whole, and all the criticism was pretty directly about its editorial standards, which is hardly a failure of class analysis. It’s profoundly disingenuous to imply they went on a reactionary rant about “games journalists” because they commented negatively on a website’s editorial style.
Violet Sweet
2023-02-20 13:02:07 +0000 UTCIs there anything that indicates that Selvius has his puppets for sex?? I didn’t read it that way. I assumed he had his puppets to carry out jobs for him and to go undercover… I mean he has an Omen killer as a puppet! I just can’t see him getting freaky with an Omen killer puppet… and then if he could control a Ranni puppet imagine how much he could achieve by pulling the strings from behind the shadows!! Just the way I interpreted it. Another great show thanks
Mitchell Turner
2023-02-20 08:00:01 +0000 UTCPer lots of people “choosing” the Ranni ending, a lot of that is also easily explainable by her sign at the end of the game being right the hell next to the player character and they interact with that before anything else. I’ve seen a lot of people on Reddit say they used that sign without realizing they would be starting the final cutscene (the same thing happened to me)
Eli Leslie
2023-02-20 06:42:51 +0000 UTCI like how the Grand Library becomes the hangout spot for burned out sorceresses. Even ideological enemies like Sellen and renalla have to get along when the only place they can cope with life is in the big plush room full of books and no windows.
Mortiis
2023-02-20 02:40:03 +0000 UTC'i love nier' - gary butterfield, 2023
anonymous
2023-02-19 22:41:12 +0000 UTCI also thought it was a bit weird to be so defensive about such a silly article and especially as it is appealing to a demographic much younger than the hosts. But I guess I wasn’t as upset about it, but I agree that it felt like a little overkill.
Mac Taylor
2023-02-19 22:37:50 +0000 UTCJust take the L. You're opinion is as wrong as the one you don't like. Everyone is wrong just let it be. No reason to be hateful
Erich Vaupel
2023-02-19 20:19:24 +0000 UTCJerren gives me "mall cop who is also a dj" vibes, and not in any good way.
Angel
2023-02-19 18:12:10 +0000 UTCopinions are opinions, which can often be wrong-headed and ill-informed. if i'm of the opinion that the auto industry is destroying the planet, it would be foolish to blame the people who build the cars before their bosses who have fought any meaninful regulation or reform while disempowering their workers. and for the record, even if your opinion is that i'm just a hater, unlike Gary, i am not the one who ever used the word "hate" because i do not see hate as not an opinion, but a feeling typically reserved for true enemies, not people who i think do poor criticism, even in this case of incredibly wrong-headed and apparently ill-informed media criticism.
Lucy Diavolo
2023-02-19 17:22:20 +0000 UTCHaha idk if you should bash anyone for their opinions. As you are right now. Don't hate on someone because they are their own boss. Opinions are opinions even if you don't agree with them. 👍
Erich Vaupel
2023-02-19 17:00:46 +0000 UTCwow this sucked. the weird rant about a bunch of games journalists in the middle was totally derailing and frankly so upsetting that i couldn't keep listening. you don't have to agree with writers' conclusions or appreciate their style to recognize that digital media is an industry where people's careers live and die by how many clicks they can bait because a bunch of literal overpowered bosses decide on a whim if those writers can make rent next month. i've always really admired the hosts' social politics, so it's especially disappointing to see such a massive failure of class analysis. have a little empathy for media workers. not everyone gets to be their own boss when it comes to covering games.
Lucy Diavolo
2023-02-19 15:57:01 +0000 UTC
