The gilded knight Diallos cutting a lone figure on the bridge to Volcano Manor is where the Hoslow family tragedy begins for the player. But peel away the opulent layers of jeweled armor and you reveal the end of a torturous cycle of ancestral evil and bloody revenge.
The proud warrior ancestry of House Hoslow is extensively chronicled in flavor texts of heirloom armaments handed down generations:
Hoslow‘s Petal Whip
Ancestral weapon tied to the Hoslow family. It is said that Huslow knights valued honor above all else, even in the face of certain death.This valor in confronting impossible odds regardless of personal risk encapsulates the storied Hoslow warrior ethos. One of unflinching courage and devotion to duty protecting both liege and land.
Their family motto further cements duty and retribution as central tenets:
The tale of House Hoslow is told in blood, both a threat and promise to Lanya‘s murderer.But at some point in the war-scarred history of the ancient dynasty, this noble bloodline became bitterly cursed. Their heraldic imagery itself foretells an eternal conflict raging within all Hoslows:
Helm depicting a ferocious clash between a dragon and a lion, symbolizing the never-ending struggle between savage fury and knightly restraint in the Hoslow soul.What led the honorable Hoslows to devolve into murderous recusants driven by serpentine vengeance? Diallos‘ ill-fated quest provides critical clues regarding the multi-generational downfall of his kinsmen into vice and villainy.
Diallos – Disgraced Scion Swept Aside by the Hoslow Prodigy
Born into an era marking the Hoslow clan‘s deterioration from grace, Diallos lacked the conviction and consistency expected of the storied knights. Indecisiveness plagued him even as other descendants like his elder brother Juno Hoslow ascending to prodigious mastery of the hallowed Hoslow weapons.
Juno exceeding his sibling to claim their father Iji Hoslow‘s mantle as dynasty head clearly festered Diallos‘ sense of inferiority and weakness of will:
Juno Hoslow took over headship of House Hoslow from his father upon proving himself the first true master of the family‘s storied armaments. This humiliation was two-pronged – not only did Juno excel where Diallos was mediocre but he also inherited the lordship by right of conquest rather than default succession.
I took over headship of my household by honoring my father‘s wishes. But alas, it was not meant to last. For my younger sibling soon grew to resent me. So Diallos fostered bitterly jealousy towards Juno, even as the Hoslow scion gained acclaim as the realm‘s pre-eminent knighted champion.
Juno Hoslow, knight of fearsome renown.This malignant envy spreading in Diallos‘ soul triggers his disastrous turn towards the Defiling Serpent Rykard and his blasphemous Volcano Manor schemes.
The Volcano Manor Beckons an Anguished Hoslow Gone Astray
Diallos references traversing distant realms in search of his servant Lanya who mysteriously vanished into the night. This anguishing loss leaving his side empty made Diallos susceptible to the serpentine temptations of the Volcano Manor.
Rykard, former Elden Lord contender, allows the ancient storm god serpent to devour him to gain profane power. His Herald Tanith continues operating the Manor as a secret recusant sect plotting against the Golden Order and Greater Will. The sacred Erdtree regime faced growing dissent and rebellion against its decaying rule over the Lands Between:
Hear me, Demigods. My children beloved. Make of thyselves that which ye desire. Be it a Lord. Be it a God. But should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices...
- Queen Marika the EternalAmidst these heretical underground movements aimed at the Erdtree, Diallos arrived at Volcano Manor disillusioned by Lanya‘s loss:
One night, my servant Lanya vanished without a trace. I‘ve searched high and low ever since.
Bereaved and increasingly desperate, he was swayed by the Manor‘s promises of forbidden power and secrets that could possibly unveil Lanya‘s location. Diallos admits that:
I never imagined myself serving any manor. But fate often makes playthings of us...Thisallen knight of a once-valorous lineage was reduced to a vulnerable plaything bowed by vengeful obsessions. We next learn just how far Diallos had fallen under the Manor‘s corrupting influences.
Blood Oath Bound to Execute His Kin – Juno Hoslow
Diallos fully surrenders last vestiges of integrity and conscience for the sake of expediency and ends justifying means:
Alas, mine will be a road of fratricide. But such is the conceit demanded by the code of champion nobility.He kills Juno to access to forbidden Hoslow secrets never revealed during his tenure as House Lord. This also wins Diallos the grudging respect and approval of his Volcano Manor masters like the Recusant Alecto:
I heard what transpired with that pompous whelp, Juno Hoslow. If you intend an audience with our Lord, you had best brace yourself. So Diallos provided the ultimate demonstration of his capability and commitment to the Manor‘s subversive cause by assassinating his own prodigious brother. This conferred the treasonous honor of an audience with the serpentine sovereign devouring seditious gods within the Manor halls.
But eliminating Juno came at the ultimate cost of fratricide and extinguishing House Hoslow‘s final remaining light. The revered Stormhawk Deenh spear symbolizing generations of Hoslow mastery changes hands via murder instead of honorable conquest:
Diallos used this spear to slay his former master, Juno Hoslow.
Juno is ironically memorialized as the last honorable Hoslow who stayed true to knightly codes while achieving prodigious mastery of storied clan armaments:
Juno Hoslow, the Hoslow prodigy and beloved brother, had to die alone far away in the cold mountains. Rather than redeem his bloodline‘s decline, Diallos‘ craven betrayal of his brother cements himself as the nadir of Hoslow corruption. This tragic repetition of jealousy and betrayal reoccurs across eras hinting at larger forces of predetermination governing the realm‘s inhabitants beyond petty free will.
Cyclical Blood Feuds Haunted by Old Familiar Ghosts
Elden Ring and George R.R. Martin‘s mythos both explore the concept of history repeating in endless phenomena cycles bounded by cosmic laws. House Hoslow also manifests through successive generations locked in recurring blood feuds driven by familiar emotional demons each time:
- jealousy of elite family chosen heir apparent
- perceived humiliation of being denied anticipated birthrights
- resentment festering into sworn vengeance
The descriptions of ancestral Hoslow weapons tell fragmented tales suggesting previous versions of this same fratricidal fate:
Petal whip passed down Hoslow family lineage wielded by knights who value valor over life. Implicit tales of tragic sacrifice.
Keen Hoslow whip obtained by slaying family member. Repeatedly used in drawn-out revenge against kinslayer victim. This cyclical pairing of valor bound to duty versus callous betrayal replicating through centuries encapsulates the dual Hoslow legacies – of both honor and horror.
Tragically, Diallos falls prey to the self-destructive thirst for revenge that eternally haunts and ruins his ancestors. This endless blood curse stretching across fading ages likely arises from the semi-immortality granted by Destined Death still being imprisoned.
Without true closure through a complete mortal lifespan, lingering grudges persist alongside souls bound to the Erdtree. Diallos too is unable to ultimately evade the vice-ridden fate encoded into his lineage. His quest across the icy mountain peaks pursuing Lanya instead uncovers that he was always doomed to relive the downfall of elder Hoslows.
Undead Legacies – Questions Haunting Depleted House Hoslow
Elden Ring leaves significant intriguing gaps regarding the unexplored backstory and lore of the now-depleted nobility of House Hoslow. Tantalizing clues prompt speculation regarding what other tragic twists may yet await discovery by intrepid Tarnished:
Pale-skinned Newmen Corpse Assassins – Jealous Hoslow‘s Rune references this mythic band directly associated with death and assassination. Could they have been involved in Juno‘s suspicious distant demise?
Corpses are the focus of soul-obsessed NEWMEN, their skin stretched pale by forbidden studies. Truth of Lady Tanith‘s Motives – To what extent did the serpentine seductress manipulate Diallos versus capitalizing upon his innate darker Hoslow cravings for power via any means? Her shadowy influences in orchestrating Lanya‘s vanishing and Juno‘s assassination remain unclear.
Lanya‘s Ambiguous Fate – With no traces found across the vast Lands Between, numerous grim possibilities arise regarding her abrupt inexplicable disappearance from Castle Morne one ominous night. Kidnapped alongside Lady Trina or a more sinister turn…
Origins of the Defiling Blood Curse – What catalyzed the ordered Hoslow‘s tragic fall from their once-exalted status as honorable warriors wielding storied relics to their current disgraced degradation as treasonous backstabbers?
As is common across FromSoftware lore, these tantalizing gaps provide fertile ground for tireless fan communities to endlessly theorize and piece together fragmented clues towards the hidden truths. The cursed legacy of the extinct Hoslow dynasty persists as one of Elden Ring‘s most compelling mysteries still left unfinished and awaiting further revelations in future content expansions.