Is Shadow of the Erdtree the Elden Ring Miquella DLC we've wanted all along?

gamesradar.com:

Last week, Elden Ring celebrated its first birthday. Here at GamesRadar+, we marked the occasion by looking back at our 12 favorite features in the Lands Between; while the game's publisher Bandai Namco celebrated with a livestream event which, to the dismay of many players, did not deliver an anniversary DLC announcement. Fast forward three days, however, and official Elden Ring DLC has now been confirmed. 

At this stage, here is what we know: its name. Shadow of the Erdtree is the name of the upcoming expansion that's "currently in development". What we don't know with regards to the single image teased on the game's official Twitter feed is, well, pretty much everything else. And so now we speculate. What will the story focus on? When does it take place? Is it a direct follow-up to the base game, or does it unfold on a new timeline? Why is there so much fog rolling around the place, and who is that on the back of Torrent? 

Read on for our best guesses on all of that and more, but before we do let's first address that last point: it's Miquella, right?

I'm 300 hours into Elden Ring and have only now discovered its version of Dark Souls' worst area

In our Elden Ring DLC wishlist last year, we pondered how it'd be cool for future content to let us visit new areas that explore existing lore. Miquella fits that bill pretty perfectly. Because of all the key players in Elden Ring's speculative lore, Miquella remains unseen and unheard – playing a central role in the overarching narrative (being Malenia's twin brother, and all), but being resigned to background character status. 

By giving us Miquella's Haligtree as an optional, fiercely challenging and tricky to unlock area at the end of the base game, we're already