The Eternal Cities / Other Under-Ground Areas

If we follow the Erdtree to its roots, we find the Nameless Eternal City, one of three known Eternal Cities, all of which are deep underground. This area, the Deeproot Depths, features the source of both the Ainsel and Siofra Rivers around which the other two Eternal Cities are based. There are certainly many questions regarding the Eternal Cities. Questions surrounding Nokstella’s moon, their actions towards the Greater Will, their subsequent banishment and destruction, and even their potential involvement with the Black Knives, to name a few. So let’s see if the world itself can shed some light. First of all is the state each city is in. Nokstella and Nokron are certainly in a sort of limbo, and there is rubble and dead ends throughout, but for the most part they are in surprisingly decent condition. Especially considering the state of other places we have seen. All the ruins in the overworld, the Academy Gate-Town, Farum Azula and a number of other places show much worse signs of wear than these Eternal Cities.

This is strange given “Astel leveled the Eternal City” after “the Nox invoked the ire of the Greater Will”. However, here, as well as in almost all items that make reference to the Eternal City, they reference them as just that. The Eternal City… which is strange given we know there are at least three separate Eternal Cities. Furthermore, the only Eternal city we see that has any level of destruction that would warrant such a description is the Nameless Eternal City. Its buildings are sparse and broken. “Nameless” is certainly telling though. It is not forgotten, or ancient like the Uhl ruins, it is Nameless. This is deliberate, a wiping of records. Like the Firstborn Son in Dark Souls 1, later called the Nameless King. This is also the only Eternal City that lacks its starry sky, which we can see is present in both the other Eternal Cities, as well as in Astel’s arena. After all, Astel “destroyed an Eternal City and took away their sky.” If we assume that only one Eternal City was destroyed by Astel, what exactly happened with the other two? We know the “lost black moon … of Nokstella was the guide of countless stars.” Additionally, the Nox “were banished deep underground” by the Greater Will. These would certainly suggest that they were banished from the surface to the underground, which severed their ties to the moon and stars and as such they “live under a false night sky”. But when we visit Nokron or Nokstella, in addition to the surprising condition of what remains, it is clear that the cities are, in fact, suited for these underground river regions. They have channels that control the water flow, including an aqueduct, and the buildings seem to fit the shape of the earth around them. Which begs the question, how is a full city even banished? Especially to locations which are otherwise impossible to reach, accept for a highly secret path through the capital.

The Nameless Eternal City, though destroyed, is still surrounded by water features. We have a large waterfall that floods the city itself, followed by a huge curved waterfall that produces the Ainsel River, and on the other side is another large waterfall that makes the Siofra River. However, if we track the Ainsel’s water movement to its source, it seems to originate from this very shallow and calm pool above the city. Even if there is some gap the water is coming up through, the rate of flow is certainly strange. It’s almost as if the water is expanding as it travels! And we see the same with the Siofra source. To add to the oddities is the white cloudiness of the water here. This can be seen while at an angle, indicating the white particles are suspended in the water, not that the ground beneath is white.Water is in many places in the game, but we only ever see three types of colouration - poisoned water, scarlet rot water, and this white water. And, whatever the cause is of the white color, by the time the Ainsel and Siofra are established it is gone.