Elden Ring

Elden Ring takes place in the Lands Between, a fictional landmass ruled over by several demigods. It was previously ruled over by the immortal Queen Marika, who acted as keeper of the Elden Ring, a powerful force that manifested as the physical concept of order. When Marika eventually shattered the Elden Ring and disappeared, her demigod children began warring over pieces of the Ring in an event called the Shattering. Each demigod possesses a shard of the Ring called a Great Rune, which corrupts them with power. In the game, the player character is a Tarnished, one of a group of exiles from the Lands Between who are summoned back after the Shattering. As one of the Tarnished, the player must traverse the realm to repair the Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord.

Early on in their journey to repair the Elden Ring, the Tarnished encounters a maiden named Melina. As the Tarnished is maidenless, Melina offers to act as their maiden, granting them the ability to turn runes into strength, as well as giving the Tarnished their steed Torrent. She does this under the condition that the Tarnished brings her to the Erdtree, the home of the Elden Ring. Melina later takes the Tarnished to the Roundtable Hold, a gathering place for other Tarnished seeking to repair the Elden Ring. The Hold's benefactor, the Two Fingers, instructs the Tarnished to collect the Great Runes and bring them to the Erdtree, where they can be used to repair the Elden Ring.

The Tarnished proceeds to journey into the Lands Between, investigating its various locales and defeating the demigods. They soon recover enough Great Runes so that the Two Fingers allows them to battle Morgott the Grace-Given, the demigod guarding the Erdtree. As he dies, Morgott claims that the Erdtree will not allow anyone to enter it, making the Elden Ring irreparable. The Tarnished confirms this when they approach the Erdtree and find the interior blocked by a wall of thorns. Melina then arrives and advises that they journey to find the Flame of Ruin, which they can use to set the Erdtree on fire and burn away the thorns. The Tarnished is then free to journey towards the Flame of Ruin, or can search for a way to harness the equally powerful Frenzied Flame.

Upon obtaining the Flame of Ruin, if the Tarnished did not gain the power of the Frenzied Flame, then Melina will take the Flame of Ruin and sacrifice herself to set the Erdtree on fire. If the Tarnished gained the power of the Frenzied Flame, then Melina will abandon the Tarnished, forcing them to use the Frenzied Flame to set the Erdtree on fire. Regardless, the Tarnished is transported to the ruined city of Farum Azula while the Erdtree burns. After defeating Maliketh the Black Blade and using his Rune of Death to fuel the fire, the Tarnished is returned to the foot of the scorched Erdtree. Inside, they fight Radagon, Queen Marika's consort cohabitating her body, as well as the guardian of the tree, the Elden Beast. After both are vanquished, the Tarnished gains access to Marika's shattered corpse, which contains the remains of the Elden Ring. Depending on the Tarnished's actions throughout the game, six different endings can then be achieved, ranging from the Tarnished becoming the Elden Lord, to allowing the Elden Ring to be destroyed by Ranni the Witch, or using the Frenzied Flame to destroy the Lands Between.

## **Terminology**

#### **The Tarnished:**

Tarnished who have proven themselves are allowed to enter the Roundtable Hold, a hidden place of refuge where violence between Tarnished is forbidden. A rare few Tarnished are chosen to be sponsored by a Finger Maiden, a human representative of the Two Fingers, granting them the power to convert Runes into strength and setting them on the path to become the new Elden Lord by seizing the Great Runes from the demigods and restoring the Elden Ring.

Most Tarnished can perceive grace only faintly, and lose sight of it altogether after arriving in the Lands Between, leaving them directionless and without hope. Some of these Tarnished fall prey to a form of corruption called cessblood and become Bloody Fingers, frenzied killers who obsessively hunt their fellow Tarnished and revel in their blood.

Since the Shattering, an age has passed in stagnation; no demigod was able to claim the mantle of Elden Lord, and no Tarnished was able to defeat any of the demigods. This changed with the arrival of a certain Tarnished of no renown.

#### **Shard Bearerer:**

Warped by the powers of the Elden Ring, the Demigods are the children of Marika and her consorts that pack a huge amount of lore behind them. The Shattering is to blame for the now warped appearance and sheer strength of the Shardbearers.

The Night of the Black Knives is the event that saw Godwyn the Golden slain by Black Knife assassins. With a perished soul, Godwyn’s near-lifeless body still remains in The Land Between corrupting the lands and summoning the dead.

List of Shard Bearers:

* Godrick the Grafted

* Malenia, Blade of Miquella

* Mohg, Lord of Blood

* Morgott, the Omen King

* Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon

* Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy

* Starscourge Radahn

#### **The Elden Ring**

The Ring itself exists within Queen Marika's own body and is the physical manifestation of the Golden Order. It is made from many Great Runes, each possessing the power to influence the integral "aspects" which make reality within the Lands Between, these "aspects" may vary from each rune and can be anything ranging from "Death" to even "Order". Every Great Rune has a different shape and when all of them are arranged together to form the Elden Ring its shape is very similar to a Triquetra. The lower arc of the Elden Ring acts as a basin in which its blessings pool, while the upper arc is said to be the seal of Queen Marika. The crosshatch pattern visible in many depictions of the Elden Ring is the seal of Radagon.

Outside of it's "ringlike" form which is mostly commonly seen today, the Elden Ring also possesses a original living form that is called the Elden Beast. It only reveals itself when the Golden Order is threatened.

#### **Erdtree:**

The Erdtree towers over the mountains and hills of the Lands Between and can be seen from almost anywhere. As the physical representation of the Elden Ring, the tree may change its color or shape depending on factors that affect the Elden Ring

The Elden Throne is where the entrance to the Erdtree can be found, and where the final boss battles take place. The entrance is protected by a thick layer of thorns, which can be removed with the sacrifice of Melina at the Mountaintops of Giants, or with the use of the Frenzied Flame granted by the Three Fingers.

After the death of Godwyn and his subsequent entombment at the roots of the Erdtree, the roots themselves became corrupted and started infecting its victims with the "Curse of Those Who Live in Death".

Several smaller Minor Erdtrees also grow across the land, each of which is protected by an Erdtree Avatar.

#### **The Lands Between:**

The Lands Between is a vast domain ruled by Queen Marika the Eternal and the setting of Elden Ring. It is blessed by the Elden Ring and the Erdtree, and so too are many of the people throughout the lands. The constituent lands include six vast areas each ruled by a demigod figure.

Following the Shattering, those Tarnished exiled from the lands are beckoned by "blessed guidance" to return.

Shattering: The Shattering is a complex series of events that were triggered by the destruction of the Elden Ring.

The Night of Black Knives was the prelude to the shattering.

The first event was the breaking of the Elden Ring itself. The Ring was broken by Queen Marika the Eternal after the death of her son Godwyn. By destroying the Elden Ring, which acted as a connection to both the Greater Will and the Golden Order, the Greater Will's influence on the Lands Between was greatly diminished. Radagon, masculine aspect of and King-consort to the Queen, simultaneously attempted to repair the ring as it shattered, but failed. Soon after the shattering, Marika was imprisoned inside the Erdtree as a form of punishment for her betrayal. However, Marika was still kept as a vessel for the Elden Ring, with Radagon conjoined in her body.

As the Elden Ring was destroyed, so was the Erdtree's blessings and its connection to the Greater Will. No longer able - or perhaps willing - to interact with the Lands Between, the Greater Will abandoned the Lands. With the Great Runes scattered and the Greater Will gone, war broke out between the Demigod children of Marika and Radagon. Their struggle for possession of the Great Runes resulted in great bloodshed between the many opposing forces that took part in the war.

After an untold number of years, finally the Tarnished, are beckoned by their once lost Grace, rising from the grave. to restore the Elden Ring, leading to the events of the game.

#### **Golden Order:**

The Golden Order is the largest set of beliefs on the Lands Between. It was originaly brought by the many Two Fingers who preached of the Greater Wills blessings and the new order to come. The four largerst symbols of this faith are the Elden Ring, the Erdtree, the Greater Will and Queen Marika the Eternal.

The movement follows two major principles. Those two being that of Regression in which: "Regression is the pull of meaning; that all things yearn eternally to converge." And that of Casuality, in which: "Causality is the pull between meanings; it is the connections that form the relationships of all things."

## Page Contributor (s)

* Foriaa
* DcDoesPhysics

### Calculation Contributor (s)

* DcDoesPhysics
* Foriaa

## Power of the Verse

* Attack Potency and Durability
* Speed

## **Characters**

### **Gods**

**Elden Beast****Radagon of the Golden Order**
### **Legends**

**Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon****Maliketh, the Black Blade****Dragonlord Placidusax****Fire Giant****Astel Naturalborn of the Void**
### Demigods

**Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy****Ranni the Witch****Malenia, Blade of Miquella, Goddess of Rot****Godrick the Grafted****Starscourge Radahn****Godfrey, First Elden Lord**