>>22917751My theory is that their conflict was entirely over the stars. Miquella and Malenia are empyreans, just as Ranni is. Ranni's ending is the only one that actually requires Radahn's death, her fate / power is tied to the stars. So if holding back the stars completely fucks with the power of 1 empyrean, it stands to reason that it would fuck with the power of the other empyreans. Most importantly, Miquella. Miquella went into his cocoon to grow the haligtree and fix his curse. It got fucked when Mohg abducted him but I think that was just the nail in the coffin, things were already going off the rails before then.
At Castle Sol there's a ghost that apologizes to Miquella stating that their eclipse wasn't enough for the Haligtree to grow, so there's a clear connection between the Haligtree's growth and the movement of the cosmos. And it indicates that issues weren't just arising when Mohg cut Miquella out of the tree, it was before then.
Anyways, I think that Radahn conquering and subjugating the stars fucked up Miquella's power while he was trying to grow the Haligtree and himself. This caused Malenia to lead an undefeated campaign tearing across the continent from one end to the other. The sole objective was to get Radahn to release the stars, that's why they didn't give a shit about Stormveil or Godrick.
And Radahn absolutely would not let the stars loose--consider the fact that aside from his companionship with Leonard the ONE thing he did even in madness was hold back the stars. That's how dedicated he was to doing so.
Also note that Miquella gaining his full power was the only possible way Malenia could be "cured" of the Scarlet Rot which explains why she let it bloom as a last resort, if Radahn wouldn't free the stars then the bloom would be inevitable.
That's one theory. My other theory is if Miquella was abducted before Malenia's campaign, then her campaign was attempting to rescue him. Then think about the fact that Mohg's palace and Miquella's whereabouts are basically DIRECTLY underneath the battlefield in Caelid.
