Following the announcement of its Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, the Elden Ring community has become rife with speculation regarding what the DLC will end up containing. Through analysis of the already extensive lore of the base game on top of all the information provided by SotE's reveal trailer, there are already many theories regarding what connections the expansion's Land of Shadow might have to existing concepts within The Lands Between. With Messmer the Impaler introduced as the face of the DLC, details regarding the implications of his design and allusions to historical figures could hold the key to predicting his major significance to the upcoming expanded story of Elden Ring.