The Cleanrot Knights are soldiers that fought alongside Malenia during the Shattering. In doing so, they were infected with Malenia’s Scarlet Rot yet remained loyal nonetheless. The Scarlet Rot is an insidious plague that manifests as a fungal infection, presenting in people as rotting flesh like with Malenia or with growths of fungus for others. The Scarlet Rot is the product of an Outer God named the Sealed God of the Scarlet Rot, who is trapped in the earth but whose poison spreads upwards endlessly.

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In a new video from Zullie the Witch, she takes a closer look a the Cleanrot Knights’ armor and uncovers a secret. The first discovery is that the Cleanrot Knights have insectile wings, hidden among their clothing and armor. This is especially strange, but could convey they’re much further transformed under their armor than their humanoid shape might imply.

The second, and larger discovery that Zullie makes is a network of vine-like branches running through the Cleanrot Knights’ armor and bodies. In some ways, they mirror the thorns of Godwyn, Prince of Death, or even the Giants that the Golden Order impaled with tree saplings. Investigating further, Zullie finds that the files for these vines are named “Cordyceps.” This is a fungus often associated with zombie bugs, infecting and taking over bugs’ bodies.

While Zullie provides further detail regarding the nature of Cordyceps, she doesn’t delve into what it could mean within Elden Ring’s lore. One obvious theory is that the Cleanrot Knights are being controlled by the Scarlet Rot and not by their own decision-making. The question then is whether the Cleanrot Knights have an ulterior motive for supporting Malenia, whether the Sealed God is driving the spread of Scarlet Rot personally even from his jail.

As with so many of Elden Ring’s secrets, players will never fully know the truth. In many ways, FromSoftware may not know what the truth is due to development cycles leading to rewrites, canceled storylines, or just fun ideas that came together purely by accident. The Scarlet Rot is yet another topic FromSoftware could easily make Elden Ring DLC for, but which may be better left mysterious.

Elden Ring is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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