Carian filigreed crest

Witchbane Ruins
The Witchbane Ruins are guarded by marionette soldiers and a graven mass. They might have been deployed here by the Carians (who wish to kill Sellen once she becomes mortal), but personally I think both types of enemy were placed by Sellen herself, and that the Witchbane Ruins were her original dwelling before relocating her other body (or soul) to the Waypoint Ruins.
Sellen is called the Graven Witch, so she's more likely to employ graven masses than the Carians. There are also stone chests in the ruins, alongside the much more common stone coffins. My guess is that the chests contain bodies for use in a graven mass. The only other places I've seen these chests are in the Gatefront Ruins, which likely contain bodies for Godrick's grafting, and in the Waypoint Ruins, where we know Sellen's activities have not been interrupted.
An additional piece of evidence to consider is the mythological trope of witches living in swamps. This can be seen, for example, in how Quelaag the chaos witch lives in the swamp in Blighttown. It's possible that the Witchbane Ruins were poisoned afterward by her captors, maybe to satisfy their suspicions of her being the Graven Witch; but since swamps are usually where the witches actually live, I like to think that Sellen occupied the Witchbane Ruins before being apprehended.
You can see one of the chests in the upper left.
Some counterarguments would include the following: that the Witchbane Ruins are just more witch-themed in general than the Waypoint Ruins; that putting a swamp in the Waypoint Ruins would spoil the reveal in Sellen's story by making her seem evil from the start; and that Sellen does technically live in Witchbane, since that's where she's held captive.
If we accept the ruins were Sellen's, it would have to be explained why she appears to be guarding herself. I think what happened is that the graven mass and marionettes were originally serving her, but have been repurposed by the Carians (or possibly Jerren) with the aim of keeping her captive. This is just speculation, but I had the idea that the graven masses could be reprogrammed like robots or AI; and we already know that puppets can turn on their masters, as seen in their betrayal of Pidia. Plus, out of anyone, the Carians are most likely to have knowledge of how to control the puppets.
The Witchbane Ruins are found in an area of the Weeping Peninsula called Tombsward. I think this name could be alluding to (in addition to a number of other things) the graven masses, since the term contains the word 'grave'. Witchbane Ruins are a tomb, not only for the dead in the coffins and chests, but also, in the Carians' designs, for Sellen. The ruins are made of stone, which would mean Sellen is entombed in a stony, graven mass, foreshadowing the conclusion of her quest if you choose to protect her from Jerren.
Since the ruins may have been Sellen's, along with the puppets and graven mass, it seems to me that everything in this area betrays her: her home has turned into a prison and tomb, and her subordinates have turned against her. My view is that Sellen is a character whose plans always end up backfiring. I also think this could be an example of characters being imprisoned in their own homes: the Omen live in the sewers, but are also imprisoned there. The Fire Giant is cursed to guard the forge, effectively turning the Mountaintops into a jail for him. And Marika is confined in the Erdtree, right next to her bedchamber.
Sellen has her hands shackled to the wall with colorless crystals, which are probably somber smithing stone. My guess is that this is meant to show how Sellen is powerless. If the glintstone was of a regular variety, perhaps she'd be able to conjure a sorcery and escape. There's also a possibility that the "somber" stone is meant to tie into the general theme of the "Weeping" Peninsula.
Sellen imprisoned in the ruins
One speculative idea I had is that the graven mass might have been inspired by the stone placed in front of Jesus's tomb in the Gospels. This stone is often depicted as round (or in more simplistic representations as a perfect circle), because it's described in the text as being "rolled away". If Witchbane Ruins are a tomb, I think the spherical graven mass could be the stone sealing it: a tombstone—or "headstone".
Now that I'm looking again, Sellen appears to have been bound into a Christlike position; the pose is in turn, of course, similar to Marika's. Sellen even has her hands pierced with metal rods. An additional parallel between Sellen and Christ is the emphasis on betrayal, which in the case of the Gospels was by Jesus's disciples, and by the Jewish authorities. In Sellen's case the betrayers could be pinned as the Carians, the Academy, or Sellen herself.
Another observation on Witchbane Ruins: in the poison you can find a great dragonfly head, which can be used to craft antitoxic items. Sinister Stromboli theorized that Astel might be like one of these great dragonflies, since they have very similar looking mandibles, and because Astel has 6 fingers, which is the same number of claws the ancient dragons have on their hands. Thus, Astel is analogous to a dragon-fly. So given the themes and aesthetics Astel shares with the Primeval Current (fear, stone, darkness, etc.), it makes sense that we'd find this item here.
I don't know why the caged corpses below the ruins are those of Erdtree worshippers. As far as I know, these enemies never use sorceries, and we know it's sorcerers who are targeted as ingredients for graven masses. Noble corpses would make more sense in the theory I'm proposing. On the other hand, I can't think of a reason for the Carians to kill Erdtree worshippers either. Rennala, Queen of the Carians, is still apparently obsessed with Radagon, who represents the house of the Erdtree. If the ruins were not Sellen's home, it's possible the Erdtree worshippers were tortured for the purpose of finding Sellen; but this seems unlikely, because non-sorcerers would be unlikely to know the whereabouts of a sorcerer. Likewise, if Sellen was torturing them for some other reason, this still wouldn't make sense, again because they're non-sorcerers.
Lusat and the Sellia Hideaway
Sellen tells us that Lusat is "imprisoned" in Sellia, but I don't think she is telling the full truth. Sellen seems to let the truth slip when she says to us, after mentioning Sellia: "It wouldn't be too much of a leap to suppose he's still cooped up nearby..." Being "cooped up" connotes something like voluntary isolation, as opposed to forcible imprisonment. In my view, this is what the name "Sellia Hideaway" is communicating; Lusat is hiding, not imprisoned. A counterargument could be that the "hide" part is just tying into Sellian magic, all of which is based on illusion and concealment.
Edit: One definition of the word 'coop' from Merriam-Webster is "jail".
Something I previously took as confirmation of this theory (Lusat hiding) is that the sorcerer in front of Lusat's chamber wears an Olivinus conspectus glintstone crown, and uses an Olivinus conspectus sorcery, Glintstone Stars. As a reminder, the Olivinus conspectus was founded by Lusat, so the scholar who's supposedly guarding him is basically a student of his. On the other hand: the entrance to the Hideaway is guarded by a battlemage using the Gavel of Haima, and Haima was the "adjudicator of the academy." Also, the Sellian evergaol contains another battlemage, Hughes, possibly hinting at a general animosity between the Sellians and battlemages.
Lusat's guard, using Olivinus conspectus attire and sorcery
Nonetheless, I think the Haima scholar guarding the hideaway could himself be a kind of illusion; their placement here gives a different impression than the Olivinus sorcerer in front of Lusat's cell, and I think the latter could be more significant, like it's showing the truth of Lusat's situation behind the illusion of imprisonment.
Sidenotes: (a) Sellen's use of the word 'leap' could have something to do with the spirit spring found next to the Sellia Hideaway; (b) A coop is where chickens and other farm birds are kept. They are sort of like the birds' home, but also a place of confinement. This choice of word could tie into the cuckoo imagery of the Academy, and the Church of the Cuckoo, which is likely associated with the Primeval sorcerers (credit to Lutana). If 'coop' was used for this reason, this could explain away the theory that Lusat's imprisonment is self-imposed.
What do I think Lusat hiding from? There are multiple theories I'd like to explore, but first I'd like to talk about why the Sellia Hideaway might have been chosen as a hideout, apart from it being near Lusat's home town.
It might have to do with the Crystalians. The last part of the descriptions for the crystal sword and spear reads: "The inscrutable Crystalians have but one clear purpose; to safeguard their crystals unto the end." The Sellia Hideaway has what's likely the highest natural concentration of glintstone in the game. It is also of the purple variant, and thus probably associated with gravity; this might make them particularly valuable to the Crystalians, who are close to the Primeval Current, which I think could be gravity. Finally, there are more Crystalians in the Sellia Hideaway than the other caves and tunnels, suggesting it contains something of particularly great worth. (I think we're supposed to ignore how the Crystalians consistently occupy the last place you'd choose when trying to guard something: the boss rooms at the end of the tunnels.)
Thus, in addition to being in his home town, the Sellia Hideaway may have already been well-guarded by the Crystalians, who Lusat may have been allied with as a Primeval sorcerer.
Something to note, and which could be counterevidence for the view that Lusat is hiding, is that you can't warp inside the Sellia Hideaway. This is interesting because it's filled with gravity glintstone, and gravity magic is used in teleportation. But it makes sense if we think of the Sellia Hideaway as a jail.
Before continuing to the next section, I'll preface that the above paragraphs on the Crystalians guarding crystals could fully explain the word 'hideaway', and make it more likely that Lusat is really imprisoned there. On the other hand, I think it would still be odd for Lusat to be guarded by one of his own pupils, in a cave with a large amount of Crystalians, who would easily be able to overcome the one sorcerer if he and Lusat were opposed.
Theories on Lusat's reason for hiding
1): the Carians
Fort Faroth is directly above the Sellia Hideaway, and puppets can be found here. I believe they were placed by Rennala to guard Radagon's soreseal, since you can obtain the right half of the Dectus medallion without even approaching them. It's possible this is meant to suggest they're looking for Lusat, for the same reason they're hunting Sellen. However there's less evidence for Lusat being a Carian, which seems to be part of the reason they were hunting Sellen.
2): Radahn
Lusat might be hiding from Radahn, who resists the stars and holds them in place. This sounds like the opposite of what the Primeval sorcerers want, which is a current of stars, i.e. the stars' movement.
3): the Greater Will
The second theory (this one is much more complicated) is that Lusat is hiding from those who oppose the presence of the Greater Will in the Lands Between. This interpretation draws heavily from Gideon the Half-Knowing's theory that the Stars of Ruin might be the same as those in the Founding Rain of Stars—and that by glimpsing into the Primeval Current, Lusat brought the Stars of Ruin to the Lands Between as the founding glintstone astrologer. This theory of hers seems to implicitly contain the other theory that the Founding Rain of Stars are the same as the Elden Stars, but viewed from different perspectives: heretical and orthodox.
Not too long ago I had a post that commented on the Stars of Ruin, and that I now believe contains central evidence for this line of thought. The post is called "Analyzing the light beams of the Erdtree and Moonlight Altar". In this post, I pointed out that of the ten moon beams viewable from the Moonlight Altar, two of these beams actually contact the altar itself.
two beams on the Moonlight Altar
My theory was that these two outlier beams represent Ranni's Two Fingers striking the altar. Another thing I noticed was that both shards of light contact the altar right next to ruins. The first beam indicates the Moonfolk Ruins, and the second points to the Lunar Estate Ruins. Thus, I compared these moon beams, which also resemble giant starlight shards, to "stars of ruin", noting that this might symbolize Ranni's feelings towards the stars that brought her Two Fingers. This is sort of intriguing because Ranni otherwise has an affinity with the stars; this seems clear enough from the Age of the Stars ending.
If the Stars of Ruin brought the Two Fingers to the Lands Between, and the Stars of Ruin are the Founding Rain of Stars, and the Founding Rain of Stars are the Elden Stars on which the Elden Beast entered the Lands Between, then the Stars of Ruin, and thus Lusat, would be responsible for the Elden Beast, and the transition of power from the hand of the Crucible into the two-fingered grasp of the Greater Will. There are a multitude of factions in the game that opposed this transition: I won't list them all, but some examples are the cult of the Frenzied Flame, Mohgwyn, the Misbegotten, Demi-humans, and so on. As such, in a world where the majority of people want you dead, hiding oneself away is an understandable response.
A different but related view is that Lusat is hiding out of guilt for corrupting the Lands Between, rather than simply trying to survive.
I thought of a counterargument for this theory (Lusat summoning the GW) that went like this: the Founding Rain of Stars was discovered by an astrologer, not a sorcerer. Sinister Stromboli theorized that the reason Rennala is a giant has to do with her being descended from the astrologers. (That she is an astrologer is confirmed by her heirloom.) This is because, he explains, the astrologers lived next to the giants in the Mountaintops, and thus may have had similar traits to the giants themselves. I think he's correct, and this is supported by the other kinds of life in the Mountaintops being giant, such as the various animals, as well as humans like the fire monks and prelates.
If the one who unleashed the Founding Rain of Stars was an astrologer, and thus part-giant, this seems to preclude Lusat from being this astrologer, since Lusat is not a giant. But I realized this isn't a valid objection; this is because the Primeval sorcerers are known to swap bodies using primal glintstones and primal glintstone blades. Therefore, it's possible that the body we see Lusat inhabit is not his original body. He may have originally been a giant astrologer, like Rennala.
A second potential counterargument is that if Lusat regrets unleashing the Founding Rain of Stars, why would he give us a spell which resembles it? The only answer I have to this is that using the spell doesn't have the same cataclysmic effect as the original stellar event that inspired it.
Before concluding this subtopic, I'd like to add a bit more to the second theory on Lusat's imprisonment (that he's hiding from Radahn). The impact site of the star that falls upon defeating Radahn resembles Farum Azula; it's a spiraling cloud of floating rocks. And since Farum Azula drops ruins onto the Lands Between, and is itself a collection of ruins, this could provide support for the view that Radahn opposed Lusat for his efforts toward reviving the Primeval Current, because it would show directly how the movement of the stars leads to ruin.
4): the Primeval Current
Lusat might be hiding from the Primeval Current itself. Lusat seems to have suffered more intensely than Azur as a result of seeing the Current: Azur was left "bewitched and fearful", while Lusat was "shattered". (Then again, the description for Stars of Ruin says "he too was shattered" which all but confirms Azur suffered shattering as well.) More evidence that Lusat fared worse is that he's lying down in his cell, while Azur is meditating. Lusat has his hand over his heart like he's suffering or trying to calm himself; Azur's are in the normal meditative position.
Lusat in his cell
If Lusat had a more frightful encounter with the Primeval Current than Azur, this could explain why he decided to return home and embed himself in the earth, as opposed to Azur who remains on Mt. Gelmir, which, as a mountain and highly elevated area, would be a suitable place for stargazing. Since Lusat goes in the opposite direction, away from the sky and beneath the earth, it's reasonable to think the Primeval Current might be weakened there.
Continuing this line of thought, Kotoy77 recently showed that Azur is levitating off the ground slightly. So not only is he on a mountain, he's actually even higher than this. In terms of elevation he's the exact opposite of Lusat: Azur is using anti-gravity on a mountain, while Lusat descended into the earth, into a cave filled with gravity glintstone.
More evidence for this interpretation is that Lusat's head has turned into a third eye, which represents enlightenment. Azur's head however does not have a third eye, or resemble one. This in turn could be communicating that Lusat was somehow closer to the Primeval Current. Unless it just has to do with Azur not needing a third eye, since what he saw was darkness? (This reminds me of Event Horizon, which is like Hellraiser but in space. An event horizon, you might remember, is part of a black hole.)
5): Sellen
This line of Sellen's, which she says after you find Lusat, stood out to me:
"Who could've guessed. What a place to find Master Lusat... You have my gratitude."
We already know, because Sellen tells us herself, that Sellia is his home. She says, earlier:
"After his expulsion from the academy, I heard that Master Lusat returned to his home. A place called Selllia, in the eastern Caelid Wilds. Thinking about it, I obtained the glintstone key I gave you from a Sellian sorcerer. It wouldn't be too much of a leap to suppose he's still cooped up nearby."
Lusat being cooped up in his own home shouldn't be surprising... as she tells us earlier. Sellen blatantly contradicts herself. It would make more sense if she instead said, "What a place for Master Lusat to be locked up", and maybe this was implied—except she tells us it wouldn't be surprising to find him there after saying he's imprisoned. So she knows he's imprisoned the whole time, and still says that it wouldn't be a great leap to find him there.
While I can't think of a reason for her to lie about this, it might be intended to prompt suspicions in the player. Something I should note is that this seems to oppose my previous theory, that Sellen is also imprisoned in her home (the Witchbane Ruins); if Sellen is also under house arrest, it should be even less noteworthy to her that Lusat is going through something similar. (More on this shortly.)
The reason Lusat would be hiding from Sellen is that he knows she wants to use his body-mind in a graven mass. We aren't given much reason to think Lusat would oppose this practice, since the Primeval sorcerers were known to engage in it. However, it's possible there were ideological differences between Sellen and the other Primeval sorcerers who preceded her. We're never told why Lusat was exiled from Raya Lucaria; he is not explicitly accused of creating graven masses the way Sellen is. Azur's case is different, since his staff is found near a graven mass in Raya Lucaria.
So perhaps Lusat adhered to the Primeval Current, but differed from Sellen and Azur by not promoting the creation of graven masses. (Edit: the fact that the Olivinus glintstone crowns are part of the graven masses does probably suggest he had something to do with them.) Some other possibilities are that (a) Lusat did support their creation, but did not want to become part of one himself; or (b) that Lusat's encounter with the Primeval Current led to a revelation and change in philosophy, either out of moral concern, or fear of the Primeval Current.
Returning to Sellen's own imprisonment and her comment on Lusat: one explanation I had for this is that Sellen might be taunting him. If Sellen knows what it's like to be imprisoned in her home, this might explain why she feigns surprise at Lusat's whereabouts.
More counterevidence for this interpretation is that Lusat's staff is guarded by the Nox priestess and monk. If Lusat is confining himself to the Hideaway, wouldn't he want to be able to leave if he changes his mind? I suppose this might be unnecessary if he and the sorcerer guarding him are allied, but it still seems excessive. On the other hand, I've been contemplating the idea that Lusat may have had such a negative experience with the Primeval Current that he gave up on sorcery altogether, and locked away his staff for this reason.
Both this theory and the third could be true simultaneously; maybe Lusat wants nothing more to do with the Primeval Current, and is hiding from Sellen who wants to literally pull him back into it.
More evidence for the general theory that Lusat is hiding
Miirshroom commented that Sellen's use of the word 'coop' might be referring to chickens specifically, instead of cuckoos as I was thinking. They said this could be because Lusat is coward, i.e. a "chicken."
More recently, I noticed something else: the Olivinus glintstone crown is the one glintstone headpiece that has a frightened expression. The eyebrows are upturned, and the mouth is open; the face looks like it's terrified. This would support the theory that Lusat in particular has a strong association with fear, and that he might be hiding away in terror.
Returning to Witchbane Ruins
There is one other piece of evidence at this location that I'd like to discuss, which I believe supports the theory that Lusat is hiding from Sellen.
As mentioned, Sellen's room contains a number of dead bodies in cages; but there is one corpse that is not in a cage. It's of the scorched variety, i.e. the same you find on the crosses in Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula. On this body you find the spell Ambush Shard. The description reads:
"Launches a projectile from a distance removed from the caster, so as to strike the enemy from behind. This sorcery can be cast repeatedly. The Sellian sorcerers were assassins, and it is said that they often hunted their fellows."
charred body is to the right of the text box
The last part of the description, about the Sellians hunting their own fellows, is present in all of the night sorceries, but I do think the placement of an item with this description in Sellen's prison is important.
Sellen has been theorized to be a Sellian, given the similar spellings. And if the description is true, the Sellians have a pattern of killing each other. So instead of implying an alliance, as we tend to assume when characters are related, the family connection may suggest instead that Sellen and Lusat oppose each other. I'm reminded not only of the demigods and the Shattering, but also of Sekiro, in which Wolf's (adoptive) shinobi family tries to kill him. So the idea occurred to me that the Sellians might be a similarly dysfunctional family of assassins. (The Zoldyck family from Hunter x Hunter also comes to mind... so this seems to be a trope.)
I think the Sellian assassin was sent by Lusat to kill Sellen.
It is potentially significant that the particular Sellian sorcery located here is called Ambush Shard. While prisoners can still be ambushed, I think it could tie into the theory that Sellen lived in these ruins. Also of note is how the spell works: as the description says, it attacks from behind. This suggests betrayal, for one thing; but also, it seems the spell wouldn't work if Sellen was already imprisoned, because Sellen's back is already to the wall. Additionally, Sellen would have no way of defending herself if she was already imprisoned when the assassin ambushed her; so if the assassin was after Sellen, they must have been killed before her imprisonment. Then again, if this is what occurred, it would be foolish for Sellen to stay in the ruins if the assassin knew where to find her; that's a valid objection to this theory.
I suppose if we apply the information about the Sellians killing each other to Lusat's confinement, the possibility opens up that Lusat was imprisoned by the other Sellians, and that Sellen is trying to free him from them. Although the crest on the seal in front of Lusat is the regular glintstone crest with a cross-hatching background (the same one used by Raya Lucaria), it is unlocked using the Sellian Sealbreaker, which actually has a depiction of the Sellian chair crypt on it. This seems to confirm the seal was erected by a Sellian.
https://preview.redd.it/pb0cj31k130b1.jpg?width=763&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=94395a0097eb88a963dafbb1d7eeec6af66bfab6
Actually... this is the only key that is referred to as a sealbreaker in its title, though its description does call it a key. It's possible it's a master key. Also, the word 'breaker' is joined with 'seal', not 'Sellian', so it could be a general sealbreaker or master key that was made in Sellia.
Personally I still think would still be strange for Lusat to be guarded by a sorcerer who is using his own sorceries (Even stranger is Sellen's dialogue, which still seems inexplicable to me.) Unless this is itself a representation of the passive-aggressive relationship Sellians have with each other? Or how Lusat's Primeval sorceries were pacified by Raya Lucaria into glintstone sorceries? There's also the fact that the Olivinus conspectus spells are said to attract sorcerers from Sellia, meaning there's a decent chance this guard is Sellian, which makes it more likely they would betray Lusat.
Updates: 5/17/23
A thought I forgot to include in the section about Lusat hiding from the Primeval Current is that he might be "at war with himself". The Primeval Current is a psychological entity with psychological themes, which is something I discuss at length in my subsequent post on the Primeval Current. Psychological conflicts are often summarized as "man vs. himself". I think Lusat might be trying to hide from the Current, while unaware that what he's running from is inside his own giant, crystal head. He might be a "prisoner" of the "war" that's taking place within his own mind.
On Lusat being more affected by the Primeval Current: Lusat's crystallized head resembles a third eye, which represents enlightenment, and distinguishes him a bit from Azur. If Lusat reached a higher state of enlightenment than Azur, maybe this could explain his more fearful reaction to viewing the Primeval Current. An alternative explanation is that Azur simply didn't need a third eye, since what he saw was complete darkness.
Links and references:
-thumbnail: https://imgur.com/a/1CyEj8B
-Sinister Stromboli's video: https://www.tiktok.com/@sinister_stromboli/video/7127737709224840491
-Kotoy77's post: https://www.reddit.com/Eldenring/comments/12zk25o/i_just_noticed_azur_is_not_sitting_down_he_is/
-My post on the moon beams at the Moonlight Altar: https://www.reddit.com/Eldenring/comments/11i8u3z/analyzing_the_light_beams_of_the_moonlight_alta

I'm trying to create a swordspear build, and I have trouble deciding on an offhand weapon. Usually I just dual wield the same type of weapon, but I hate the halberd dual wield move set. I'm thinking of a claw weapon, but I'm not sure. What weapon goes well with this build for PVE ?
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https://preview.redd.it/fcd9f1jyj6ya1.png?width=1239&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd60b7b782305446066a177ef1188ab30d73a811