It looks like he's a Madness-based boss in a way that seems like it's a bit built off of the balance of the Demi-Human Queens going between casting powerful magic and mindless raving fury – which is properly terrifying in the context of Frenzied Madness. While he's holding what seemed at first to be a staff – but rather than a gem at its top it's actually a pale hand, and he only casts Incantation from his free hand. The staff is actually just used like a cudgel rather than being cast away like when the Demi-Human Queens lose their minds. His whole body being covered in goat-like eyes just reminds me of all of
the Frenzied rams in the Abyss in the Shadow Lands, combined with how
the Madding Hand is a right-handed glove that was similarly stitched together from Frenzied flesh & eyes but not WHY that hand iconography was used.
"A glove stitched together from the flayed skin of the victims of a butcherous bloodbath. Afflicts target with madness. Raises attack power when madness is triggered in the vicinity. Forged of an unyielding, black impulse toward revenge fostered in those who were hunted down as heretics by their own brethren, these are the weapons of the utterly downtrodden."
One interesting thing that seems specific to this Nightlord is that, unlike in the Closed Network Test with "Gladius, Beast of Night" where entering the arena kicked off the fight, the players here first negotiate with a shrouded figure known as the "Scale-bearing Merchant" who offers one of several dialogue choices, and upon doing so the "scales" symbol appears over his head (these are the ones shown beside Libra in the original gameplay trailer and throughout the battle).
• I wish to have great strength
• I want resistance to ailments
• I want to hold death at bay
• I refuse to make a deal
It's from there that the merchant's shrouded body distorts & twists into "Libra, Creature of Night" and the fight begins. This initial section reminds me a fair bit of some of the source material that
Elden Ring's mythology draws from when it comes to the madness which are
Lee Tanith's Tales from the Flat Earth series, and various details about the depiction of the Prince of Madness, Chuz. One of his hands always taking particularly fair form, and he keeps his appearance shrouded to avoid inflicting those who gaze upon him with insanity.
The large Goat-eye structures mounted in the gap between his horns remind me a lot of
the Large Inquisitors who also seem to have tangled spheres along their horns, and are found in Midra's Manse as well as in Enir-Ilim. (Chuz' narratives also center heavily around a lot of the Tower of Babel iconography that
Shadow of the Erdtree has throughout Belurat & the Hornsent culture).
Given that the region behind Midra's Manse was left unfinished, it does feel somewhat like Libra was VERY likely conceived as a boss for something beyond that, as Midra was explicitly a
FAILED Lord of Chaos and it very much seemed like we never really got into the deeper heart of what the Hornsent Inquisition was really up to out there.
This is even more supported by
elements of the Map topography. Scorpion River Catacombs are the initial point at which some of the water from Rauh begin flowing down in a long river that cuts through much of the area, and this is the location where a portion of Godwyn's corpse is located, but specifically the one where the Basilisk's murdering gaze is present all throughout them. Rauh's broken bridges are formed over the top of this river, and it continues downstream over the Temple Town Ruins, past the massive pile of corpses of those who committed suicide by leaping off of the platform at the Abandoned Ailing Village, below the Ellac Greatbridge, and continuing underground until it opens up into the field with all of the Giant Lightning Rams, where it cascades into a waterfall –
which empties out behind Midra's Manse.
This is not the only vantage point from which you can see this area of the map. It is also overlooked from the Finger-Weaver's Shack as well as from the wing at the Grand Altar of Dragon Communion, which is because the Abyssal Woods actually wrap around almost the entirety of the perimeter of the Finger Ruins of Rhia, whilst being at a much lower elevation. The Lamprey's faces have a vertical row of multiple eyes emerging from them, and Libra similarly has 4 vertical slits in the middle of his face.
This first Finger Ruins location is where Ymir sends you before granting you the talisman in the form of a wizened hand –
Beloved Stardust a pale
left hand akin to what Libra's staff has atop it.
"A talisman depicting a wizened hand gently gripping a glintstone. Shortens casting speed for sorcery and incantations by the utmost, but increases damage taken. Count Ymir was known for his recitations. "One need only envision the romance of the stars above with adoration for stardust in one's heart to become a great sorcerer. Do so, and you will know love." "
One of the core themes of Madness is that it increases vulnerability & damage received, directly in line with this confluence of Sorcery & Incantations as well as the iconography of the hands. On top of that Metyr is a maternal figure, which is always what the Demi-Humans seek in order to have safety, guidance, and quell their bestial nature like Kenneth Haight speaks about. Originally the red-eyed berserk status and Frenzied Flame were a singular theme, which was differentiated post-1.00 but they still have a lot of thematic overlaps that were focused on even in things like Bayle's Flame Lightning and the insanity borne of consuming his own kind for power – and Jagged Peak is the other border to these Finger Ruins, and overlook to the inaccessible area below.
This space behind Midra's Manse is actually traversable and has collision – but it's blank pointing towards it being a likely unfinished map area, especially with all of the other interconnected themes with the map design that all feed into this location.
I'd be willing to wager that there was an intent for there to be a proper Abyss behind the Manse at one point in parallel to how St. Trina's region is located below ground, as this parallels the ways in which
Lucidity being a sorcery of the Carian Royal Family was used to combat both Sleep & Madness, whilst all other ailments are combatted by Faith. This would also connect to the efforts of the various Sorcerers to teach magic to the Demi-Human Queens.
The eyed embedded in the palms of Libra's hands begin weeping out Madness when he goes into his fury, whereas the rest of the time, he's channeling that energy into his incantations, but all of the Intelligence that would have once existed for him to channel his sorceries would have been utterly lost to the Madness. Even this convergence with those themes is touched upon with the Inquisitors guarding the Abyssal Woods and
the Giant & Golden Arcs incantations having once been Sorceries, and emblematic of
Jori's Barbed Staff-Spear.
"Sorcery of the inquisitors of the tower, wielded as an incantation of the spiral. A swing of the arm releases a procession of golden arcs. Charging enhances potency. The arcs resemble barbs, a known symbol of coercive questioning."
Notably these are the elements that feed into the entryway of the Abyssal Woods coming from the flooding waters of the Shadow Keep passing the Ruins of Unte with the wreckages of the Furnace Golems & Sword of Darkness Ruin, while on the cliff beside them is the flooded area of Manus Metyr, below which lay the Finger Ruins of Miyr and the Finger Birthing Grounds. The river continues leading downstream into the Recluse's River – passing Bonny Village and the Village of Flies giving a similar path of horror as the Scorpion's River, before emptying into that region.
The other drainage into the Abyssal Woods is at the Divided Falls, where the stagnant poison marshes empty out, which seems to be related to drainage from the Ellac River (whose source is the Scorpion River). The stagnant waters around Belurat is where
the Poisoned Hand is located, again echoing the theme with the hand iconography, and the connections between the Tower & Manse, as well as Madness being this sort of downstream culmination of all of the pain, disease, horror, sickness, & torment that the Realm of Shadow was experiencing, which is why I think it's especially noteworthy that the attacks that Libra uses aren't Frenzied Flame,
but rather what appears to be actual liquid inflicting madness.
This is what makes it seems much moreso like it's the source from which that burning pain arises, and that, like with the Flymen, it's got these sort of holy Primordial Crucible properties to it, like with the Giant Rams, and the way how even the height of the goat head itself looks like it's a ritual mask that's warped and attached itself into becoming a part of his body, smothering whatever face used to be below it. Even from behind, you can see this sort of twisting where the fur & eyes all coalesce into his back, while the "clothing" he's wearing seems like it's this uncomfortable fusion of skin into his own flesh – identical to what we see with the Godskin Apostles, and what you'd expect from anything downstream from Bonny Village & the shed snakeskin.
This is all similar to how the Frenzied Flame takes over, emerging as a finger from within the bodies of the decapitated individuals in front of the Manse. It's a sickness that grows and ruins you from the inside. Polluting and transforming you both from without & within. This itself could even start to suggest how something like the Three Fingers came to be as an aberration that needed to be sealed away, but in particular the physicality of Libra bears a significant resemblance to Morgott's body both in size and how his limbs are hairy as well. This may have meant to be another connection to some of the themes with the Omens being buried underground with the Three Fingers, but hard to glean too much more from the design elements here.
At the very least, it seems to have a lot more new little details to offer than Gladius (being like a Cerberus Red Wolf of Radagon), and I'm rather curious how much we'll end up getting of actual lore for any of the Night Lords as a part of the narrative in
Nightreign.
At the very least, it was nice to sort of pre-emptively scratch this itch to dive into the design details of this stuff again, and remind myself that I need to go finish reading the
Tales from the Flat Earth series.
. Mind you that's also because they're both primarily multiplayer titles by the sound of it.
