We need to talk about the Elden Ring community's reaction to the Cleansing Crusade (video essay)

Aegon of Astora Review Score 75

Opis

Please see below for timestamps, references, and relevant links.

0:00:00 – Introduction
0:01:40 – A Genocidal Tyrant
0:07:46 – Revelations in the Shadows
0:18:00 – Narrativizing Distant Acts of Violence
0:33:54 – Spirals of Violence in Occupied Palestine
1:11:19 – Spirals of Violence in the Realm of Shadow
1:29:37 – Escaping the Spiral
1:38:45 – Credits

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Please consider making a donation to UNRWA to support the provision of life-saving aid for Palestinians in Gaza: https://donate.unrwa.org/int/en/gaza

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MUSIC:

“Maestro Tlakaelel” by Jesse Gallagher via YouTube Audio Library
“Shaman Village” by Tsukasa Saitoh
“Stone Coffin Fissure” by Tsukasa Saitoh
“Undertow” by Scott Buckley*
“Enir-Ilim” by Shoi Miyazawa
“This Too Shall Pass” by Scott Buckley*

*Released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

NPC dialogue via @StratekYT

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TEXTS CITED:

Albanese, Francesca (2025). From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/a-hrc-59-23-from-economy-of-occupation-to-economy-of-genocide-report-special-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-palestine-2025/

Albanese, Francesca (2025). Gaza Genocide: a collective crime: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/special-rapporteur-report-gaza-genocide-a-collective-crime-20oct25/

Amnesty International (2025).Labour exploitation of migrant workers in Canada: https://amnesty.ca/temporary-foreign-workers-report/

Amnesty International (2025). Confronting the Global Political Economy Enabling Israel’s Genocide, Occupation and Apartheid: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/09/global-political-economy-enabling-israels-genocide-occupation-apartheid/

Battiste, Marie (2013). Decolonizing Education: https://a.co/d/3EDh8Tk

Btselem (2025). Statistics on Palestinians in Israeli custody: https://www.btselem.org/statistics/detainees_and_prisoners

Cook, Jonathan (2012). Israel’s starvation diet for Gaza: https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-starvation-diet-gaza/11810

Coulthard, Glen Sean (2013). For Our Nations to Live, Capitalism Must Die: https://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/for-our-nations-to-live-capitalism-must-die/

Dickson, Courtney & Watson, Bridgette (2021). Remains of 215 children found buried at former B.C. residential school, First Nation says: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tk-eml%C3%BAps-te-secw%C3%A9pemc-215-children-former-kamloops-indian-residential-school-1.6043778

Drop Site News (2025). Biden Officials Admit They Never Pressured Israel for Ceasefire: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/1916889129771577847

El-Kurd, Mohammed (2025). Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal: https://a.co/d/4SKUXoc

Fanon, Frantz (1961). The Wretched of the Earth: https://a.co/d/9HJwaLt

Freire, Paulo (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed: https://a.co/d/h7wRGE0

Graham-Harrison, Emma (2025). The mathematics of starvation: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/31/the-mathematics-of-starvation-how-israel-caused-a-famine-in-gaza

Haskins, Caroline (2024). The Hidden Ties Between Google and Amazon’s Project Nimbus and Israel’s Military: https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-google-project-nimbus-israel-idf/

Khalidi, Rashid (2020). The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine. https://a.co/d/gltfYa8

Mirko (2025). The Seduction and the Betrayal: https://medium.com/@Mirko_LaMi/the-seduction-and-the-betrayal-of-how-marika-betrayed-the-shamans-to-become-a-god-elden-ring-e8d40ad64355

Pappe, Ilan (2014): Israel’s incremental genocide in the Gaza ghetto: https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-incremental-genocide-gaza-ghetto/13562

Said, Edward (1978). Orientalism: https://a.co/d/0kpNCLg

Shariatmadari, David (2019).The people who want their ancestors back from British museums: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/apr/23/theyre-not-property-the-people-who-want-their-ancestors-back-from-british-museums

Tuhiwai-Smith, Linda (1999): Decolonizing Methodologies: https://a.co/d/c99mdTw

Westerman, Frank (2016): “The man stuffed and displayed like a wild animal”: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37344210

United Nations. UN Genocide Convention: https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf

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VIDEOS CITED:
@aljazeeraenglish. “October 7 | Al Jazeera Investigations”: https://youtu.be/_0atzea-mPY

@icaroson. “Messmer's Crusade against the Hornsent was NOT Justified”: https://youtu.be/KNzgSsxR7S4

@revreve. “The Gaza Ghetto Uprising”: https://youtu.be/Pt_1k7nSv1M

For anti-imperialist analysis of Israel-Palestine, I recommend the following YouTube channels: @BadEmpanada, @revreve, @overzealots, @chris_kunzler, and @noahsamsen.

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