"Divine Invocation" Seems To Be A Big Clue

One thing that was mentioned in the DLC that was previously unknown in the base game is "Divine Invocation". Specifically, it means to channel a divine spirit within you.

The Hornsent seem to consider this a deeply holy act, and it also appears to be facilitated by having horns in the first place. This is probably why the Hornsent consider themselves above others at least on a spiritual level, since they (biologically) have the means to make contact with outside spirits. The "Sculpted Keepers" and the "Horned Warriors" seem to be the main example of this act.

There are also seems to be a hierarchy. In order of lower to higher, it is:

• Horned Warriors: These warriors are Hornsent that wear a helmet of tangled horns (the horns look like part of the helm rather than their head). By doing this, they invoke divine incantations by making contact with spirits, if only briefly.
  • Divine Bird Warriors: These were the first kind of what is now the modern Horned Warriors. They also appear to have originated from Rauh (which might be how the Hornsent learned of the practice in the first place). They are mentioned to be indifferent and Cruel though ... keep that in mind.
• Divine Beast Warrior: These are the elite among the Horned Warriors. They wear an exceptional mask that allows them to channel the full rage of the spirits (i.e. storms). You seem them only in Enir-Ilim. Reading their chest armor also reveals the next (and top) of the hierarchy.
• Sculpted Keepers: These are beast warriors that show the highest capacity of divine invocation, and hence, are granted the honor of the lion dance.

The bottom of the hierarchy isn't mentioned, but I am leaning to it being what I am calling the "Horned Pupil", these are essentially young Hornsent that are brought to the tower to undergo some sort of long ritual that allows them to become warriors.

These are what I call \"Horned Pupils\", there is tons of them in Belurat.

So there is a type of religious practice here. Young Hornsent come to the tower, rise up the rank of the horned warriors, and become Sculpted Keeper and win prize! Right?

Well, there seems to be a very dark aspect to this, one that you would know, if you attack the Grandam while wearing the divine beast head. There is a bunch of important things here, so I will list them all (all of this happens only after fighting the Dancing Lion).

Attack her, but stop before killing her and then talk to her again:

Sculpted Keeper, art thou now becalmed?
Worry not, thy deeds were not thine own.

Keep Attacking:

Feast upon these aged bones sacred beast!
Wolf down ev'ry crumb, and wax fully wroth!

Kill her after killing Messmer:

O sacred beast ...
< ... another line, similar to above ... skipping this>
In exchange for this woman's life ...
Release the Sculpted Keeper from thy rage. I ask thee at my last, O sacred beast.

This paints a very dire picture.

• Notice the distinction of who she is addressing. At times, the Sculpted Keeper (i.e. the poor folk channeling the beast), and at times the "sacred beast", the divine spirit making itself known.
• Notice how she would submit her own life, if she can think that the beast is doing this in response to their prayer to curse Marika and get revenge on Messmer.
• Finally, after Messmer is already dead, she asks the beast with her dying wish to release the keeper ...

In brief, it is a possession, not really an invocation.

To perform divine invocation means to open up your mortal body for a spirit to take control, and the higher your rank in the hierarchy, the less control you will have.

The Hornsent in general are the most extreme version of a monastic adage, to separate ones desires from your life in service of piety, but here it is taken to the point where your own will can be lost! This is to the point that the Sculpted Keeper that we fight during the lion dance does not even seem to be alive prior to the possession by the beast, they were a truly empty vessel just for a spirit to enter.

This also mirrors the practice we see in Rauh, with the Rauh Burrow. In particular, the idea is to get a piece of stone, imbue it with spirituality and wait for other spirits to come an nestle within. The practice at the tower is the extreme conclusion of this, turn people into stone and let them be possessed by a spirit.

Being of stone is the main thing that runs through the whole hierarchy above, all horned warriors, regardless of status, seem to be made of stone (you can see this very clearly in this BonfireVN video)

All that I mentioned above I think is pretty concrete, but now, I will move on to something that is speculation.

It turns out, there is another person, made also of stone, that is also channeling a beast within her. Marika!Marika (and by extension Radagon) are also made of stone.

Essentially a broken, moving statue. Take note of the ghostly presence within it.

This is made clear not just by their character design, but also sound design (when Marika falls from the rune arc, the sound is much like a piece of stone falling down. When Radagon reaches out for Marika's hammer, the sound is also very stone like).

You can also see this clearly in the announcement trailer, where Marika fractures like a piece of stone the more she shatters the Elden Ring, not to mention her remains in the end of the game are called Fractured Marika.

There is another aspect to this as well, in particular, in how the Elden Beast is integrated into her body. With what Marika did at the gate of divinity, and how close she must have been to the Hornsent before so that she would be a traitor, I am starting to think that she was NOT a jar saint, instead she was a Sculpted Keeper, and eventually possessed by the Elden Beast.

This also matches much better with the Japanese name for "Shaman", i.e. Shinto maidens that commune with spirits.

This also to me, solves a niggle that I had with Marika's story, specifically, why would the Hornsent even let her into Belurat when they were hunting her kind, and probably knew that she had a grudge against them?

I think the answer is that they thought none of Marika would be left when she became a god, only the Elden Beast, a truly deadly mistake ...

Marika seems to have kept at least part of her personality after possession, and this is probably when she decided to exterminate the Hornsent, but she seems to have gradually succumbed to the beast as time went on.

Marika, the person, is always synonymous with motherhood and kindness (her incantation is literarily "Kindness of Gold, without the Order"), but she seems to have gradually grown indifferent and Cruel as time went on (remember the Bird Warriors!).

Her abandonment of Messmer, while motivated by the desire to protect the Erdtree, seems to have been only possible by her slowly losing parts of herself (remember for example Marika's Blessing, and how she stopped making them after some time).

The more I think about this, the more it appears that the words that Saint Trina says to you about "Godhood would be Miquela's prison" and "A caged divinity, is beyond saving" were extremely literal; To become a god, is to lose all of your own will so that a divine spirit can inhabit your body.