You’re standing in Scadu Altus, looking up. It’s massive. A jagged, twisted braid of stone and spirit-gold that dominates everything. The Shadow of the Tower—or more accurately, the Scadutree—isn't just a backdrop. It is the primary character of FromSoftware’s massive expansion to Elden Ring. Honestly, if you’ve played for more than five minutes, you realize this isn't the glowing, majestic Erdtree from the base game. It’s leaking. It’s broken.
It’s suffocating.
Hidetaka Miyazaki doesn’t do things by accident. When he decided to name the DLC Shadow of the Erdtree, he was leaning into a very literal piece of lore: the land is quite literally cast in the darkness of a "shadow" tree that represents everything Marika wanted to hide from history. It’s basically the basement where the Golden Order threw its trash, its wars, and its genocides. If you're looking for a heroic quest, you're in the wrong zip code. You are walking through a graveyard of ambition.
The Physicality of the Scadutree and its Influence
The scale is hard to wrap your head around until you actually try to reach the foot of it. You can't. Not easily. The Shadow of the Tower acts as a compass, yet it's designed to disorient you. In the base game, the Erdtree was a golden beacon of hope. Here? The Scadutree is a weeping willow of obsidian and gold sap.
It’s crooked.
The two trunks wrap around each other like they’re trying to strangle one another. This visual storytelling is peak FromSoftware. It tells you immediately that the "order" of this world is parasitic. You’ve got the physical tower of Belurat, the Tower Settlement, which reaches toward this shadow, and the Enir-Ilim site where the "divine" actually happens. It’s all about verticality. The higher you go, the worse things get. Usually, in games, height means clarity. In the Shadow Realm, height just means you’re closer to the source of the rot.
Think about the Scadutree Fragments. You need them to survive. Without them, even a stray dog in Gravesite Plain will delete your health bar. This mechanic forces a relationship between the player and the Shadow of the Tower. You aren't just looking at it; you are consuming parts of it to stay alive. It's a predatory relationship. You’re a parasite on a parasitic tree.
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Messmer, Miquella, and the Cruelty of the Veil
Why is it hidden? Why is there a literal veil of physical clouds draped over the Scadutree?
Because Marika is a master of PR.
The Land of Shadow is where the Hornsent lived. These were people who viewed the "crucible"—the primordial soup of life—as sacred. They grew horns, they grew feathers, they were "messy." Marika, in her quest for a "perfect" Golden Order, decided that messiness had to go. So she sent Messmer the Impaler. He didn't just fight a war. He burned the place. He stayed there, eternally, because his mother—Marika—told him to.
He’s still waiting for a text back that’s never coming.
The Shadow of the Tower covers the scars of this crusade. When you look at the Rauh Ruins, you see a civilization that predates even the Erdtree. It’s ancient. It’s crumbling. By veiling this land, Marika effectively deleted an entire era of history. It’s the ultimate gaslighting. If people can’t see the tower, did the tower ever exist? Miquella, ever the optimist (and perhaps the most terrifying character in the lore), comes here to "divest" himself of everything. His flesh. His doubt. His love.
He thinks he can fix the world by becoming a god in the shadow. But as St. Trina tells us—if you can find her at the bottom of a literal purple pit of despair—divinity is a prison. You can’t build a better world on a foundation of corpses, even if you’re using a very tall, very dark tree to hide them.
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The Architecture of Belurat and Enir-Ilim
Let's talk about the actual "Tower" part. Belurat is a masterpiece of level design. It feels lived-in, but in a "everyone here is screaming internally" kind of way. The architecture is a mix of high Gothic and something much more ancient and organic.
You see the statues.
They aren't just art. They represent the Hornsent’s obsession with reaching the divine. They literally piled bodies to try and touch the sky. This is the dark secret of the Shadow of the Tower. The "Gate of Divinity" at the top of Enir-Ilim is built on a mountain of flesh. When you finally reach that peak, the wind is howling, and the visuals shift from the dark grays of the city to a blinding, ethereal white.
It’s beautiful and it’s repulsive.
Most players get stuck on the Lion Dancer boss. It’s a rhythmic, chaotic fight that feels like a dance. That’s because it is a ritual. The Hornsent were trying to call down the storm, call down the gods, all under the shadow of that massive tree. The contrast between the "holy" gold and the "cursed" shadow is blurred here. Is the Scadutree evil? Or is it just the natural state of a tree that hasn't been photoshopped by a goddess?
Why the Shadow Matters for Your Build
If you’re struggling with the DLC, you’re probably ignoring the environmental cues. The Shadow of the Tower dictates the elemental logic of the realm. Everything is susceptible to what it lacks.
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Fire is everywhere because of Messmer, but the Scadutree itself seems to crave a different kind of light.
- Scadutree Fragments are non-negotiable. Don't be a hero. If you see a sparkling pot-head (the shadow enemies, not the players), chase them down.
- Verticality is a lie. Just because you see a path going up doesn't mean it's the right way. Often, the most important lore items—and the path to the Scadutree Base—require you to go down into the ravines.
- The Map is a puzzle. The map of the Land of Shadow is notoriously deceptive. It has layers. You might be standing right on top of a "Shadow of the Tower" icon but be 200 feet above the actual entrance. Look for the spiritsprings.
The Philosophical Weight of the Shadow
There’s a lot of debate in the community. Some people think Miquella is the villain. Others think he’s a tragic figure. But the Shadow of the Tower suggests that the "villain" is actually the concept of the Erdtree itself.
The shadow cannot exist without the light.
By creating the Erdtree, Marika inherently created the Scadutree. You can't have a sun without a shadow. The more "perfect" and "golden" she tried to make her reign, the darker and more "shadowed" the rejected parts of the world became. It’s a closed system. The Scadutree is essentially the "debt" of the Golden Order coming due.
When you fight the final boss—no spoilers, but he’s a handful—you aren't just fighting a guy with a sword. You are fighting the culmination of all the secrets Marika tried to bury under that tower. The weight of it is immense. It’s why the atmosphere feels so heavy the closer you get to the gate.
Actionable Insights for Players
- Prioritize the Rauh Base. Most people skip the lower forested areas. Don't. It provides the best perspective on how the Shadow of the Tower actually connects to the physical world.
- Read the descriptions of the "Remembrance" items. These aren't just flavor text. They explain the relationship between the Scadutree and the Crucible.
- Look for the Crosses. Miquella’s crosses act as a trail of breadcrumbs. They usually offer a brief respite and a Scadutree Fragment, but they also tell the story of a person literally falling apart.
- Respect the Messmer Soldiers. They are far more aggressive than the Leyndell knights from the base game. They’ve been fighting a war in the dark for centuries. They don't have mercy left.
The Shadow of the Tower isn't just a location you visit; it’s the ultimate realization of Elden Ring's themes. It’s about the cost of power. It’s about what happens when you try to hide your mistakes instead of fixing them. By the time you reach the end of the DLC, you realize that the shadow wasn't hiding the truth—the shadow is the truth. The Golden Order was always just a thin layer of paint over a very dark, very twisted reality.
To truly "beat" the DLC, you have to embrace the gloom. You have to understand that in this world, the shadow is the only thing that doesn't lie.