A Brief Elden Ring Lore Doc

By Tetracube

As with any Lore Document or video or random comment, this is all to be taken with a grain of
salt. I guarantee that I’m wrong about several things, I just don’t know which things they are. I’ve
tried to source things when I can, things that are unsourced are usually from the most obvious
source, ex. information about an NPC taken from their armor. I’ve also enabled comments so
you can tell me what I’m wrong about (or just provide information that I’ve missed).

History of the World 2

Prehistory 2
Age of the Erdtree (Godfrey) 3
Age of the Erdtree (Radagon) 6
Night of the Black Knives 7
The Shattering 8
The Tarnished 10
Endings 11
The Eternal Cities 13

Outer Gods 16
The Greater Will 18
Frenzied Flame God 20
Rot God 21
The Formless Mother 22
The Fell God (?) 23
Deathbird God 24
Speculated Outer Gods 27

Gods and Demigods 28

Queen Marika the Eternal 29
Godfrey, First Elden Lord / Horah Loux, Warrior 29
Radagon of the Golden Order 31
Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon 32
Godwyn the Golden 33
Godrick the Grafted 33
Morgott, the Omen King 34
Mohg, Lord of Blood 35
Starscourge Radahn 36
Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy 37
Ranni the Witch 38
 Miquella the Unalloyed 41
Malenia, Blade of Miquella 43
Melina, the Kindling Maiden 44
The Soulless Demigods 46
Maliketh, the Black Blade 47
A Theory on Radagon and Ranni 48

Other Characters 48

Creatures, Races, and Factions 78

Unanswered Questions 93

History of the World

“It is merely a cycle.

Stand before the Elden Ring. Become the Elden Lord.” 1

Prehistory

“All that there is came from the One Great. Then came fractures, and births, and souls. But the
Greater Will made a mistake. Torment, despair, affliction... every sin, every curse. Every one,
born of the mistake. And so, what was borrowed must be returned. Melt it all away, with the
yellow chaos flame. Until all is One again.” 2

This is the origin of the world, according to the Three Fingers. The One Great is mentioned
nowhere else, leaving us to speculate on what exactly it was. The primordial state of the world,
or of the universe, or an originator god, or a fusion of outer gods, or something else entirely.

The Elden Ring came long after the creation of the

world;3 the mistake referenced here is not the
same as the flaw in the Golden Order. Rather, it
was a mistake embedded within creation itself.

In the beginning of this world, there was the

Greattree (the “primordial form of the Erdtree”),

1
Memory of Grace
2
Hyetta dialogue
3
Gowry dialogue
and its Crucible, which resembled Siluria’s Tree (a great spear weapon). A crucible, in
metallurgy, is a container used to heat substances to extreme temperatures, and here, that
“metal” was primordial gold, a substance “close in nature to life itself.”4 This was the primordial
ooze of the world of Elden Ring. It may have been the sap of the Greattree, oozing down into
the crucible at its base.5

It is not said how life first emerged from the crucible. Likely either naturally, or through forging by
the Greater Will.

Primordial gold was red-tinted,6 implying the presence of impurity (namely copper). These
impurities took the form of horns (some of which resemble antlers, but are in fact horns), wings,
tails, and a sort of fire breath ability. At the beginning, these things were not seen as “impurities”,
but rather signifiers of the divine. But as time went on, they became increasingly viewed as
primitive, and disdained as such.7

You may have recognized the “impurities” as being the traits of dragons, and indeed it seems
the ancient dragons were among the first forms of life. They lived under an unnamed god
appointed by the Greater Will, and that god’s Elden Lord, Placidusax.8 Farum Azula was built, a
floating mausoleum in the sky, to enshrine a dragon of some particular importance (Likely the
dragon whose skull we see in the dragon temple, a massive dragon similar to Greyoll and
Gransax). From the beginning, Farum Azula was already slowly crumbling.9

The floating mausoleum is also home to Stormhawks and the wind-using knight enemies we
find in Stormveil Castle. We can imagine the great storm that once raged over Stormveil10 may
have had something to do with Farum Azula.

Age of the Erdtree (Godfrey)

Then, the Greater Will saw fit to impose a new Order upon the world. The Elden Beast, which
would become the Elden Ring, was sent to the world on a star. The Erdtree began to grow out
of primordial gold,11 replacing its “primordial form”, the Greattree. The trunk of the Greattree we
see in Deeproot Depths is not beneath the Erdtree, as we can see from the map, so it seems
the Erdtree cannibalized and replaced it (as opposed to the Greattree simply becoming the
Erdtree).

4
Ordovis’s Greatsword
5
The game refers to sap as “dew” (Blessed Dew Talisman) and “tears”. A dewdrop was the origin of the
Albinaurics (Albinauric Shield).
6
Ordovis's Greatsword
7
Crucible Talismans
8
The term “Elden” refers to things related to the Greater Will
9
Azula Beastman Ashes
10
The Stormhawk King
11
Gilded Greatshield
“Erdtree” means something like “world tree”, or “native tree,” or “tree of the earth.”

Marika, a Numen, was appointed the new god, and she created the Golden Order by removing
the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring12. This was the beginning of the Age of the Erdtree, also
known as the Age of the Elden Ring.13 The beginning of this age was a time of plenty, when the
Erdtree “flourished with abundance”. It did not last long.14

In this time, “everything” was opposed to the Erdtree and the new order,15 and it fell to Marika to
conquer the world and bring about the new age. She founded the Erdtree capital of Leyndell.
Anticipating war, she found Godfrey, a warrior of unnatural strength, and took him as her
consort, whereupon he took the beast Serosh upon his back to “suppress the ceaseless lust for
battle that raged within.”16 He was likely known as Horah Loux before becoming Godfrey, but it’s
never stated. They had at least three children: Godwyn, Morgott, and Mohg. Godfrey’s
descendents were known as the Golden Lineage.17 Morgott and Mohg, the omen twins, were
born deep underground, where they were imprisoned.

The giants’ forge, burning with the Flame of Ruin, had the power to burn the Erdtree, and as
such it was a threat to the new order. Thus began the War against the Giants. The lesser giants
(trolls) sided with the Erdtree against the Fire Giants,18 and so too did the warriors of Zamor, the
giants’ mortal enemies.19

The war ended in the near destruction of the Fire Giant race and the (supposed) death of their
One-Eyed God.20 Marika was unable to extinguish the flame, and so a surviving Fire Giant was
cursed to defend it,21 and the Fire Monks were established to keep it contained.

Later, or earlier, or simultaneously, a group of Ancient Dragons led by Gransax attacked

Leyndell. The attack failed, Gransax was killed, and his petrified corpse still lies above Leyndell
by the time of the game. The ancient dragon Fortissax was defeated by Godwyn the Golden,
who befriended Fortissax and its sister Lansseax (Fortissax is never assigned a gender).22

This began the war against the Ancient Dragons, again resulting in a decisive victory for Marika.
The dragon god fled (or did it flee long before?), and Dragonlord Placidusax, heavily wounded,
awaited its return in the storm beyond time.23 It’s mentioned that Godfrey faced “the Storm Lord”

12
Enia dialogue
13
Gowry dialogue
14
Blessed Dew Talisman, Erdtree Heal/Blessing of the Erdtree
15
Protection of the Erdtree
16
Godfrey Icon
17
Godrick and Morgott’s Great Runes
18
Troll’s Golden Sword
19
Zamor Armor Set
20
One Eyed Shield
21
Remembrance of the Fire Giant
22
Various Ancient Dragon Cult incantations
23
Remembrance of the Dragonlord
alone;24 this was very likely Placidusax. Perhaps it was a title he took after he could no longer
be called an Elden Lord.

The Elden Beast’s sword is made from the remains of a god, which may have been the dragon
god. If true, it would imply the dragon god was guilty of some transgression against the Greater
Will. The transgression may have been the attack on Leyndell (and thus, the Erdtree), by the
dragon god not wanting to cede power to its replacement, Marika. Or it could be a different
crime, one which caused the Greater Will to send the Elden Beast in the first place.

After the war, and with the help of Fortissax and Lansseax, the ancient dragon cult was
established in the capital. It was believed that “The worship of the ancient dragons does not
conflict with belief in the Erdtree”,25 and thus the cult was permitted and even encouraged. This
is the reason the Leyndell Knights use lightning.

Godwyn may have had children with one of the dragons. Lansseax, and likely Fortissax as well,
had the ability to transform into a human.26 Godrick refers to his dead dragon as “kindred” and
“a trueborn heir”, strongly implying a familial relation. The existence of the Draconians, “the
people of the ancient dragons,” also implies interbreeding is possible.

There was yet another war in this time, the First Liurnian War.27 Marika succeeded in conquering
the rest of the Lands Between, but her invasion of Liurnia was repelled by the Carians, owing to
their use of sorcery and the Carian Knights- champions who numbered less than twenty.28

At some unknown time during this area (likely very early), the Empyrean known as the
Dusk/Gloam-Eyed Queen (I am told this is a translation error and the two are one and the
same) somehow came into possession of the Rune of Death, and with it she conjured the
God-Slaying Black Flame and founded the Godskin Apostles.

Empyreans are sometimes given a “shadow” by the two fingers, a half-wolf creature created to
serve them. Marika’s was Maliketh, the Black Blade. On her behalf, Maliketh faced the
Dusk-Eyed Queen in battle, defeated her, and sealed away the Rune of Death, AKA Destined
Death. This was the sole use she had for him.29

With the Rune of Death sealed, no longer did anyone die a true death. Instead, the dead rose
as ghosts, or zombie-men, or what have you. To most, the Erdtree would call to them after their
death, and they would follow the guidance of Rosus (a sort of psychopomp saint) to the
catacombs (if they weren’t just buried there).30 The catacombs were built around Greattree

24
Elden Lord Set
25
Gravel Stone Seal
26
Lansseax’s Glaive
27
Barrier of Gold
28
Carian Knight’s Sword
29
Remembrance of the Black Blade
30
Rosus’s Axe
roots, said to be once connected to the roots of the Erdtree,31 and the dead who heard the call
would follow these roots to the Erdtree and be eventually reborn.

Certain souls were excluded from this, and left to rot after their deaths. Omens likely were, in
this era, due to the curse upon their very souls. The list would grow, as time went on.

Age of the Erdtree (Radagon)

Marika launched a second attack on Liurnia, again attempting to conquer it. Radagon first
emerged as the leader of this offensive, arriving from Leyndell at “the head of a great golden
host”32 and beginning the Second Liurnian War.

The war did not last. Radagon did not possess the lust for battle that Godfrey did. Instead, after
meeting the Carian Queen Rennala in battle, he “repented his territorial aggressions” and the
two were wed in the Church of Vows, bringing an end to the conflict between “the houses of the
Moon and Erdtree”, as Miriel puts it. They had at least three children together: Radahn, Rykard,
and Ranni. Ranni was born an Empyrean, somehow, and as such she received Blaidd, her loyal
shadow.

It was at this time that Marika stripped Godfrey and his warriors of the golden hue of their eyes,
turning them into the Tarnished. She banished them from the Lands Between, to the faraway
Badlands, so that they might “grow strong in the face of death.” The long, bloody migration of
the Tarnished to the Badlands was called the Long March of the Tarnished. At the end of the
march, Godfrey “divested himself of kingship” and took the name Horah Loux once more.33

We get very little information on the Badlands. They must have been extremely dangerous- they
posed a threat even to Godfrey/Horah Loux and ultimately defeated him. Over time, the
Tarnished would spread to the other parts of the world.

The Long March was part of a long play on Marika’s part to prepare the Tarnished for the
post-Shattering world to come, when they were called back to the Lands Between.34

Radagon left Rennala and returned to Leyndell, where he became king consort to Marika and
second Elden Lord. Radagon leaving Rennala and Marika choosing him as Elden Lord were
both viewed as highly unusual decisions.35 Radagon’s parting gift to Rennala was the amber
egg, containing the Great Rune of the Unborn.

31
Root Resin
32
Miriel dialogue
33
Remembrance of Horah Loux
34
Melina dialogue at the Third Church of Marika, and the Church of Pilgrimage
35
Miriel
The three Carian children became demigod stepchildren of Marika, and each went their
separate ways. Radahn and Rykard left Liurnia, though they seem to have remained on good
terms with their family.

Rennala lost it, which was seen as a sign of weakness. The academy and their Knights of the
Cuckoo rose up and began a civil war in Liurnia. Despite having prepared for the academy’s
betrayal,36 the Carians were taken off guard. Rennala was locked in the Grand Library, and the
rest of the Carians were pushed back to Caria Manor, where they conjured enchanted traps to
protect themselves.

The Knights of the Cuckoo “were given free rein by the academy to wage war as they pleased,
and they were infamous for their rapacious ways.”37 The Cuckoos seem to have been
essentially fascists,38 perhaps appropriately given their name is the origin of the word “Cuck”.
They became enemies of the Albinaurics39, who they viewed as having “defiled blood,” and the
conflict that ensued is left to our imaginations. At least they used artificial puppets instead of
making them out of people.

Radagon was not the same person as Marika, initially40. But the two were fused into the same
body. The probable reason for this was so Marika could produce Empyrean children, which she
did, in the twins Miquella and Malenia. Both were cursed, Malenia with rot and Miquella with
eternal childhood (the game enjoys saying Miquella did things “in his youth” which could
describe any point in his life).

Miquella was up to a lot during this time, see his section later in this document.

Night of the Black Knives

The three Empyreans, Miquella, Malenia, and Ranni, had each been chosen by their own two
fingers “as a candidate to succeed Queen Marika, to become the new god of the coming age.”41
If Miquella or Malenia received shadows, we never see or hear about them.

Ranni was having none of this, and refused to acquiesce to the two fingers. Blaidd followed suit,
swearing his allegiance to Ranni alone. To truly free herself from the influence of the Greater
Will, Ranni devised a plan to cast aside her Empyrean flesh using Destined Death, and become
the spirit inhabiting a doll we eventually see her as. On the Night of the Black Knives, she
somehow stole a fragment of Destined Death from Maliketh. With this, she imbued the Black

36
Carian Retaliation
37
Raya Lucaria Soldier Ashes
38
Albinauric Pot
39
Albinauric Shield
40
Melina dialogue at the Queen’s Bedchamber
41
Ranni dialogue
Knives’ daggers with the power of Death, and slew her own body. Ranni will outright admit to
this if questioned about it (as part of Rogier’s questline).

But this was only half of the Night of the Black Knives. Ranni only admits to stealing the Rune of
Death and imbuing the daggers with its power. She had a co-conspirator, Marika herself. It was
Marika who was connected with the Black Knives, who were themselves Numen women.42 As
the one who tasked him with guarding it in the first place, she would’ve known how to steal the
Rune of Death from Maliketh, and it is stated by the Remembrance of the Black Blade that she
betrayed him. It seems she didn’t want Maliketh to know.

Marika had her son, Godwyn the Golden, assassinated. Given Marika’s nature as a 4d
chessmaster, the assassination was probably a deliberate ploy to turn him into the “Prince of
Death” that he became. “It is said” that he was buried at the roots of the Erdtree, but in fact he
was buried in the roots of the Greattree. From the roots, the Death inside him spread across the
Lands Between, sprouting in the form of Deathroot.43 This is why Deathroot is often found in
catacombs.

Fortissax, Godwyn’s “companion”, fought against his transformation into the Prince of Death, but
ultimately lost and was corrupted, becoming the Lichdragon we fight it as.44 As for why Godwyn
looks like a weird mermaid thing, your guess is as good as mine.

It would seem the Rune of Death has the unique ability to kill one-half of a person while leaving
the other half alive- either the body, or the soul. Ranni, with her body slain, became a sort of
living ghost, whereas the body of Godwyn, with his soul perished, grew like a tumor.

The Blasphemous Claw, dropped by Recusant Bernahl when he invades you in Farum Azula,
has an interesting bit about this, but I don’t know what to make of it:

“On the night of the dire plot, Ranni rewarded Praetor Rykard with these traces. Should the
coming trespass one day transpire, they would serve as a last-resort foil, allowing Rykard to
challenge Maliketh the Black Blade, the black beast of Destined Death.”

The Shattering

Marika, now certain of the flaws in the Golden Order, shattered the Elden Ring, and bestowed
the largest shards upon those of her children who weren’t sacrificed for being failures, including
Mohg and Morgott, as well as the slumbering Miquella. Because Godwyn was killed, his rune
was passed down to his descendant, Godrick. Countless smaller fragments (rune arcs) were

42
Black Knife set. Also, the Black Knife Assassin outside her bedchamber is an obvious hint.
43
Deathroot
44
Remembrance of the Lichdragon
also scattered. As only three45 great runes are required to mend the Elden Ring, it seems most
parts of the ring are somewhat redundant.

Radagon attempted to mend the Elden Ring, unsuccessfully.46 For her transgression, the Two
Fingers or some other vassal of the Greater Will had Marika crucified within the Erdtree.

Nonetheless, she remained the vessel for the Elden Ring (if only because there were no
suitable successors), and thus the fingers sought a new Elden Lord from among the demigods
instead.47 This began the Shattering. A war over who got to marry their own mother.

Radahn (and possibly others?) laid siege to the Erdtree capital in a battle known as the First
Defense of Leyndell.48 He is shown in the opening cinematic beneath Morgott, who is attempting
to impale him with his staff. Morgott’s army delivered weaponized perfumes onto the invaders,
using the big arrow-like things found all over the battlefield. Despite Radahn’s renown as “the
mightiest demigod of them all,” the siege was unsuccessful. Radahn and whoever else
participated was pushed back.

Morgott, now the Veiled Monarch of Leyndell and noted hater of the ambitious, would
immediately begin hunting anyone with ambitions of lordship. In his alternate identity, Margit the
Fell Omen, he also commanded the Night’s Cavalry to this end.49

Godrick the Golden, and his father/son/brother/??? Godefroy the Grafted (note: Godefroy is a
real boss, not a joke character) immediately fled the capital. Most of the army was killed or
captured,50 including Godefroy, who was captured.51 Godrick eventually reached Stormveil,
where he suffered humiliations at the hands of both Radahn and Malenia, but nonetheless held
on to his castle and Great Rune (if only out of some kind of pity from Malenia).

Morgott’s army then attacked Rykard at Mt. Gelmir, resulting in the “most appalling”52 battle of
the war. Rykard successfully repelled the attack, at great cost. By the time of the game, the
mountain is still strewn with corpses, and the few, miserable survivors of the Leyndell troops. It
may have been this that caused Rykard to lose his mind and feed himself to the God-Devouring
Serpent within the volcano.

45
Possibly only two. Allegedly, you can reach Leyndell with only Radahn’s rune by using the coffin in
Siofra Aqueduct to reach Deeproot Depths, and from there using the portal near Fia’s location to enter the
capital. I haven’t been able to confirm this.
46
Marika’s Hammer
47
Enia dialogue
48
Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff Ashes, again
49
Night’s Cavalry Armor
50
Godrick Soldier Ashes
51
Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff Ashes
52
Gideon Ofnir dialogue
With every other shardbearer crushed or not participating, the only two remaining combatants
were Radahn and Malenia. Malenia attacked Radahn’s stronghold of Caelid, resulting in the
largest, bloodiest battle of the war, known as the Battle of Aeonia.

Malenia eventually resorted to the nuclear option. She bloomed into a scarlet flower,53 calling
upon the scarlet rot within her.54 Caelid became a rot-blighted wasteland. Malenia fell into a
deep slumber, and survived only due to the efforts of Cleanrot Knight Finlay, who
single-handedly dragged her back to the Haligtree.55

Radahn lost his mind to the rot, and his commander Witch-Hunter Jerren remained in Redmane
castle in hopes of one day delivering the mindless Radahn an honorable death. The survivors of
Radahn’s army also remained in Caelid, still fighting off the scarlet rot with fire. The scarlet
flower left by Malenia may have been burned by them.

Malenia still considered herself undefeated after this.

Prior to this, Caelid was also home to a large number of dragons. Greyoll and the other
surviving dragons nested on the northern plateau of the region, which was still mostly
untouched by the rot. It became known as the Dragonbarrow.56

The battle seems to have marked the end of the Shattering. Radahn and Rykard lost their
minds, Malenia and Miquella were each in a coma (the latter since before the war even began),
Godrick was cowering in Stormveil, and Mohg and Ranni were mostly uninvolved (though,
Malenia leaving for Caelid may have provided Mohg the opportunity to steal Miquella). None of
their armies were in fighting shape.

Perhaps Morgott could be considered the victor, as he sought to prevent anyone from claiming
the title of Elden Lord, and in the end, nobody did.

By this time, the Erdtree accepted not a single soul. All were forsaken, most likely because of
the shattering of the Golden Order.

The Tarnished

The Two Fingers were furious, and so was the Greater Will when the information eventually
reached it. They renounced the demigods. And so the Tarnished were called upon to produce
the new Elden Lord, and the Roundtable Hold was founded. Why is it an extradimensional copy
of a manor in Leyndell? Other than an obvious Bloodborne reference (it even catches fire later),

53
Gowry dialogue
54
Scarlet Aeonia
55
Cleanrot Knight Finlay Ashes
56
Map (Dragonbarrow)
they couldn’t have used the real manor, lest the Tarnished be immediately exterminated by
Morgott and his armies. But the Two Fingers would’ve been quite difficult to move out of there,
so extradimensional copy it was. Or more accurately, that’s just one possible explanation.

The Tarnished were not all called at the same time. By the time of the game, they have been
around for many years, and in that time have not successfully procured a single great rune.
Perhaps in part because the Fell Omen is still hunting them down. The number of Tarnished
called to the Lands Between has dwindled to almost none.

Rykard and Tanith established the Volcano Manor, to hunt down Tarnished heroes and feed
them to the serpent, so that they could join its “family”.57 Even the manor’s own champions, the
Recusants, were eventually fed to it. Mohg has the Bloody Fingers, a similar group of Tarnished
who hunt their own kind, as he believes this will aid Miquella’s rise to godhood. Both of these
groups, and any other Tarnished who strayed from grace, were in turn hunted by the assassins
of the Roundtable Hold.

We are the first to arrive in many years, into the Chapel of Anticipation. Here, we find a dead
finger maiden, and the Tarnished’s Wizened Finger on her corpse. Could she be our maiden?
Maybe. Souls games always keep information pertaining to the player character muddled and
ambiguous. And so, our own character’s backstory is left up to our imagination. How you arrived
in the chapel, and who this maiden was (if your character knew her at all), the game wants you
to decide.

We then find Melina, and Torrent. Torrent “chooses us” (again, up to your imagination why)
leading Melina to believe there may be something to us as well.

The Two Fingers sees promise in us after we claim a Great Rune, seemingly being the only
Tarnished to ever claim one. After claiming a second Great Rune, the Fingers and many of the
Roundtable Hold are certain we will become Elden Lord.

We reach the Erdtree, which denies us, just as it has everyone else. So we go to the
Mountaintops of the Giants, burn the Erdtree, defeat Maliketh, unbind the Rune of Death
(seemingly necessary to complete the burning of the Erdtree, and probably also to kill the god
within).

Godfrey/Horah Loux finally returns to reclaim his title. He loses, we beat Radagon and the Elden
Beast (and thus Marika), and then we have a choice to make.

Endings

57
Rykard’s Rancor
In the Age of Fracture, we put the Elden Ring back together in the same way it was before
(albeit missing a lot of pieces and at least two Great Runes, but this doesn’t seem to matter to
any of the endings). The immediate problem has been solved, the Elden Ring mended. But we
haven’t fixed the flaws in the Golden Order, whatever they happened to be, and so decline and
fracture is inevitable.

In the Age of the Duskborn, we fix the Elden Ring using the Mending Rune of the
Death-Prince, “embedding the principle of life within Death into Order.” “The Golden Order was
created by confining Destined Death. Thus, this new Order will be one of Death restored.” Fia
says this will “stay the persecution of Those Who Live in Death.”

This ending is the most ambiguous one, but the gray fog surrounding us portends a dark age to
come. Rogier tells us that Those Who Live in Death are souls that committed no offense, but
came upon a flaw in the Golden Order. Nonetheless, in death they are little more than mindless
ghost skeletons. Fia is the only sane one we meet. But perhaps the mending rune also fixes
this?

The Blessing of Despair is more straightforward. A rare incidence in a Souls game of an

ending that’s objectively bad. You mend the Elden Ring using something that grew out of the
defiled flesh of a serial killer who eats poop. More specifically, you embed the Omen curse
within the Golden Order.

The curse afflicts one’s very soul; the Dung Eater was only able to curse souls posthumously.
The Omens, previously barred from it, can now return to the Erdtree, and this includes those
who the Dung Eater inflicted with the Omen curse after their deaths. They will be reborn Omens,
and their children and their children’s children will be inflicted with the curse at birth. The Dung
Eater also believes this will give rise to defilers like himself, spreading the curse in his stead,
until all has been defiled.

The Age of Order is brought about through the Mending Rune of Perfect Order, the life’s work
of the Noble Goldmask.58 Goldmask believes the imperfection in the Golden Order is “the
instability of ideology”, the fault of “the fickleness of the gods no better than men.”

Corhyn tells us “The Golden Order is founded on the principle that Marika is the one true god.”
To Corhyn, questioning Marika, or the Golden Order, is anathema. Already this is a
contradiction, because Marika herself questioned the Golden Order (and shattered it). And so
Corhyn is in the place occupied by lowercase-f fundamentalists, where absolute faith has
overtaken their ability to reason, and mutually exclusive beliefs begin to co-exist within their
minds. The Erdtree is perfect. The Erdtree is burning.

Goldmask is a capital-F Fundamentalist, an institution in the world of Elden Ring which is in

many ways the opposite of fundamentalism. The Golden Order is, as Corhyn says, founded
upon the principle that Marika is the one true god. But Marika is imperfect, and therefore so too
58
Radiant Gold Mask
is the Golden Order itself. What Goldmask’s Mending Rune of Perfect Order seeks to do is
remove the fickle gods (namely Marika, and any potential successors) from the equation, and
thus will the Golden Order be perfected.

But there is a problem. The Golden Order was created by the Greater Will, and the Greater Will
is not a perfect being, either. And so the perfection Goldmask seeks is impossible.

However, this doesn’t mean the new Golden Order, mended with Goldmask’s mending rune,
isn’t an improvement over what came before. Golden Light surrounds us in this ending,
portending a coming golden age.

The Lord of Frenzied Flame end seems pretty bad. We ally with the outer god of Frenzied
Flame and destroy the Erdtree, and so begins our work of melting the world away, incinerating
all that divides and distinguishes.

The Frenzied Flame did not impose itself upon the world, it was called by those who were
suffering, with death being their only release. We become the Lord of Chaos that they have
awaited for so long. We will end suffering by bringing about death, using the yellow chaos flame.

We become a Lord seemingly without a consort, it seems that the Frenzied Flame “hijacks”
Marika to become its new, dormant inner god so that we can become her consort and therefore
a Lord. This would explain why it is necessary for us to defeat Marika/Radagon/Elden Beast
before becoming Lord of Frenzied Flame.

If Melina is still alive, she’s not happy, and vows to deliver us Destined Death.

Our last ending is the Age of the Stars, Ranni’s ending. Allegedly somewhat mistranslated, but
the English version still gets across the general idea. Ranni, too, believes the gods are fickle
and fallible, including her family, herself, and the Greater Will. But unlike Goldmask, she seeks
to replace the Golden Order entirely. Under her new order, there will be no greater force in the
world to guide, or dictate, how anyone would live. And so begins an age of uncertainty.

Ranni’s new order is obscured from all by the “chill night”. She takes Marika’s place and
ascends to godhood, and as her consort, we become the Lord of Night. But Ranni being a god
means there is no place for herself in her new order, and so she leaves for space. She believes
“the solitude beyond the night is better mine alone,”59, but by becoming her eternal consort, we
declare our intent to follow her, and so she brings us along.

If Ranni does indeed serve an outer god (which may be necessary for her ascendence), she
believes it to be of similar mind.

59
Dark Moon Ring
The Nox, in their underground cities, have long awaited the coming of the Age of Stars, and
their Lord of Night. With the severing of the Greater Will’s influence, they (or what’s left of them)
can finally return to the surface.60

The Eternal Cities

This all happened separately from the events above ground, so it gets its own section.

As previously mentioned, the Numen are descended from inhabitants of another world. “Numen”
in Latin means something similar to “Divinity”, referencing that Marika is one of them. The Black
Knives, themselves Numen61, were “scions of the Eternal City,”62 “scion” meaning descendant.
The eternal cities are inhabited by the Nox, a cold-blooded race.63 Putting all this together leads
us to the obvious theory that the Nox are the inhabitants of the other world that the Numen are
descended from.

At some point in the distant past, the Nox upset the Greater Will, leading to their banishment
underground.64 This likely had something to do with the Fingerslayer Blade:

“The hidden treasure of the Eternal City of Nokron; a blade said to have been born of a corpse.

This blood-drenched fetish is proof of the high treason committed by the Eternal City and
symbolizes its downfall.

Cannot be wielded by those without a fate, but is said to be able to harm the Greater Will and its
vassals.”

Ranni later has us retrieve the blade, and uses it to kill her own Two Fingers.

There are small remains of their civilization left on the surface from this time, in the Uld Palace
Ruins in Liurnia and the Chair-Crypt in Sellia (guarded by two Nox). Perhaps they served a
different outer god, namely the hypothesized moon god involved in Rennala and Ranni’s stories.

Underground, they built at least three “eternal cities”, each with an artificial night sky. Nokstella,
Nokron, and the Nameless Eternal City in Deeproot Depths. But the Nameless Eternal City was
attacked and destroyed by Astel, the malformed star, who stole their sky.65 The stolen sky can
be found in its boss arena, separated from Nokstella by the Lake of Rot.

60
Any Nox armor piece
61
Black Knife Armor
62
Dialogue with Rogier
63
Nightmaiden & Swordstress Puppets
64
Any Nox armor piece
65
Remembrance of the Naturalborn
The eternal cities were ruled by a “dynasty.”66 The game often refers to all three Eternal Cities
as “the eternal city,” so it’s unclear if each had its own dynasty or a single dynasty ruled all.
Their society seems to have been matriarchal; the “highest clerical rank” is “nightmaiden,” and
there are Night Maiden enemies we fight in the eternal cities. The Night Maiden’s Mist spell was
created by “the maiden” of Nokron.

The head of the dynasty/dynasties may have been the enormous skeleton women atop the
chair-crypts of Nokron and Nokstella. There is no information about them, as far as I’m aware.
They may have been Empyreans, gods, demigods, giants, or some other type of being entirely.

Once, a Black Moon hung in the artificial sky above Nokstella. But the Black Moon was lost, or
destroyed.67 Astel is a possible culprit- we see two Malformed Star enemies in the Ainsel River,
outside Nokstella, which look nearly identical to Astel. Sorcerers would later claim the shards of
the Black Moon and fashion them into Memory Stones.

The priests of the Eternal Cities (who would later degenerate into the Claymen) searched for
prophetic revelations within their oracular bubbles.68 With these bubbles, they prophesied the
arrival of their Lord of Night. The Lord of Night would herald the beginning of the Age of the
Stars,69 and their return to the surface, freed of the Greater Will.

In the rest of the game, gold is the essence of life. Perhaps primordial life was smithed from the
primordial gold- smithing was considered divine in ancient times, after all.70 But the Nox, in their
eternal cities, worked with silver. There are multiple possibilities for why this could be:
1) The Nox came from a world where life was silver-based, not gold-based. As such, silver
is what they already had or knew how to work with.
2) Gold was unavailable deep underground, and so the Nox had to work with silver, an
inferior metal.
3) It simply wasn’t possible for them to forge artificial life out of Gold. Perhaps this can only
be done by divinity.

Whatever the reason, the Nox were constantly attempting to forge artificial life out of silver, in an
attempt to forge their Lord of Night.71 A true Lord is consort to an Empyrean,72 so it would seem
they had an Empyrean in mind already, or expected to receive one.

Their Lord of Night is you, in Ranni’s ending. But Ranni was born long after their downfall, and
never intended to have a consort, so it’s unlikely that it was her the Nox were forging a Lord for.

66
Clayman Ashes
67
Moon of Nokstella
68
Clayman Ashes, again
69
Any Nox armor piece
70
Troll’s Hammer
71
Mimic Tear Ashes
72
Dark Moon Ring
Marika is a possibility. Earlier, I speculate that she may have sought another
Empyrean as her consort, and thus created Radagon. If she was indeed
searching for such a being, it’s not out of the question that she could’ve
called upon the Nox to create one, especially given her connections with
them.

Marika was descended from the Nox, and it’s not out of the question that
Marika had Empyrean siblings. It could’ve been one such sibling. Or the
Nox simply expected an Empyrean to arrive, as per the prophecy. Or they
sought a way to make a Lord without a God.

Nokron and Nokstella are littered with their attempts to forge life. There
were of course the Silver Tears and the Mimic Tears. The bizarre petrified
beings found littered around the cities were likely failed attempts- all of them
seem to be in the middle of emerging from a tear. The Nox apparently
thought they made excellent decorations, a few of them are even mounted
on pedestals.

And then there were the Albinaurics. We don’t actually know if the
Albinaurics were made by the Nox (there is evidence, but it’s cut content-
specifically, dialogue from Thops), but we do know they are lifeforms made
by human hands73 (raising the question, are Nox human?). Specifically, they
were made from a “primordial drop of dew”.74 As established earlier, the
game uses the words “sap”, “dew”, and “tear” interchangeably, so this
dewdrop was probably molten silver or gold. “Albin” means “white”, “auric”
means “gold”, and white gold is an alloy of silver and gold, thus it follows
that the Albinaurics were created through a mixture of silver and gold.

The frog-like Albinaurics are “second-generation” and often described as “young”.75 The more
human ones are never given a generation. I’m of the opinion that the first-generation Albinaurics
are the Silver Tears and the human ones are third-generation, as it seems the human-like
Albinaurics are more complete, closer to the ultimate goal of forging a Lord.

The human-like Albinaurics cannot walk due to their bad legs. The legs would be the last part of
them to form from a silver tear, like a printer that runs out of ink mid-print. Oddly, the old
Albinaurics have a sort of phantom legs.

We can see the story of the Nox on the torch pillars in Siofra/Nokron, but each image is harder
to interpret than the last. The first image depicts what appears to be ships, signifying their arrival
in this world. The second depicts them living on the surface. The third, I presume to be their
banishment to the underground. The fourth depicts… what could be an empty throne, signifying

73
Albinauric Bloodclot
74
Albinauric Shield
75
Ripple Blade, Ripple Crescent Axe
the wait for the Lord of Night yet to come? And the fifth, I don’t know. Perhaps a vision of the
future.

Though there are still Nox in the Eternal Cities, their civilization fell long ago, before even the
time of the Erdtree.76

Outer Gods
The world the game takes place on is one of many,77 and presiding over these many worlds are
the outer gods, formless78 entities of great power. But despite this power, the outer gods have
difficulty influencing the world directly. To their followers, the outer gods are a guiding voice that
has trouble reaching them, and a source of power that can be called upon.

Some are extremely distant. The Greater Will takes hundreds or thousands of years to respond
to communication from the Two Fingers. Why does it take so long? Most likely, the Greater
Will’s domain is huge, and by the time of the game it is lightyears away from the Lands
Between. Not only that, but only the Two Fingers can speak with it, and the fingers in turn can
only convey information by wriggling, which requires finger reader maidens to interpret.

This is not so for some others. For instance, the Formless Mother, who Mohg is able to stand
before in person79. It seems “she” can communicate with him to some degree, as well.
Nonetheless, she has little ability to influence the world on her own.

Because of this limitation, the outer gods all have need of followers, or proxies. The ideal proxy
is an Empyrean, a being such as Marika that an outer god can raise to inner godhood (I’ll refer
to non-outer gods as “inner gods” to avoid confusion). It would seem such beings are extremely
difficult to find, let alone raise to godhood. The Two Fingers considered Miquella, Malenia, and
Ranni as candidates to succeed Marika80, but seemingly found them nonviable. When Marika
smashes the Elden Ring, effectively the greatest possible offense against the Greater Will, she
is still not replaced.

A child of a single inner god is an Empyrean. This is how Miquella and Malenia were born, from
the fusion of Marika and Radagon. It is the only way to produce an Empyrean that we know of,
but there may be others.

76
Map (Siofra/Ainsel River)
77
Numen are descended from inhabitants of another world. In the final boss arena, we see many other
Erdtrees, created on other worlds by the Greater Will.
78
None are ever described as having an appearance, unless the One-Eyed God was an outer god
79
Bloodboon
80
Ranni dialogue
An Empyrean born in this way, or perhaps in any way, is born cursed; Miquella with eternal
childhood, and Malenia with scarlet rot.81 Malenia’s scarlet rot is tied to the outer god of Rot,
whose divine essence is sealed in the Lake of Rot82. So it follows that Miquella’s curse, too, may
be the result of an outer god’s influence. And it is known that the influence of outer gods is
present within Empyreans, whether they wish it or not- this is what drives Ranni to cast aside
her own flesh. Perhaps Miquella and Malenia were “poached” from the Greater Will by other
outer gods.

How exactly an Empyrean can be raised to inner godhood may be dependent on the outer god.
Malenia becomes, or will become, a goddess after the scarlet flower blooms three times.83 Mohg
believes that Miquella will ascend to godhood if he offers enough blood to his cocoon.84 Ranni,
in her ending, appears to ascend by replacing Marika.

Inner gods can’t be killed by normal means. Some kind of time manipulation allows for the
creation of a god-slaying weapon.85 I don’t know why this is.

The consort of an Empyrean is known as a “Lord,”86 and presumably receives some measure of
the outer god’s power through the Empyrean. It is not necessary for an Empyrean to have a
Lord. The term is used for some entities that are clearly not Empyrean consorts (the Onyx and
Alabaster Lords, or Kenneth, for example), so it’s not always an indicator of Empyrean
consortship.

Several gods/lords are associated with “Orders,” systems that govern life and death. The
Golden Order is the prominent Order, but there are others. The only one given a name is the
Order of Rot, the “cycle of decay and rebirth,”87 symbolized by the Aeonian butterflies that make
up the Goddess of Rot’s wings. Ranni envisions an Order that presumably comes to pass in her
ending. The Deathbird God deals with life arisen from death, most likely tied to some
unmentioned Order. If life requires an Order to exist, then there must have been a precursor
Order to the Golden Order- possibly the order of the Deathbird God, as they held dominion over
death rites before the Golden Order.88

Blindness is associated with a sort of connection to the outer gods. The finger reader maidens
have no eyes. The Blood Star, believed to be associated with the Formless Mother, was
discovered by “the guilty, their eyes gouged by thorns.”89 The Flame of Frenzy came to Shabriri

81
Remembrance of the Rot Goddess
82
Map (Lake of Rot)
83
Scarlet Aeonia
84
Remembrance of the Blood Lord, Lord of Blood’s Exultation
85
You don’t need a +25 weapon to kill Radagon/Elden Beast, but that’s what the ancient dragon smithing
stones’ descriptions say, so ???
86
Dark Moon Ring
87
Gowry dialogue
88
Many of the Deathbird/Ghostflame items
89
Briars of Punishment
when his eyes were gouged. Hyetta, who is blind, is able to follow a distant light to the Three
Fingers. And it was the Blind Swordsman who sealed away the essence of the outer god of Rot.

Many of the outer gods have a type of fire and/or a celestial body associated with them.

The Greater Will

Inner Gods: Placidusax’s consort god, Marika

Elden Lords: Placidusax, Godfrey, Radagon, the Player in the four “normal” endings
Vassals: The Two Fingers, the Elden Beast
Followers: Too many to list
Notable Followers: Too many to list
Flame: The golden flame breath used by the Elden Beast, Placidusax, and the Ulcerated Tree
Spirits
Star: Star bearing the Elden Beast

A creator god, if not the creator god.

Things related to the Greater Will are designated by the term “Elden”. This outer god is
entwined with history itself, and as such that section covers most information about it.

The Greater Will is known to be extremely distant, with the Two Fingers requiring hundreds or
thousands of years to communicate with it.90 If the many Erdtrees we see in the final battle are
indeed the Erdtrees of other worlds, we can imagine its domain is unfathomably huge.

This distance is the reason the Greater Will requires so many entities to control the world in its
stead. The Two Fingers, a god, and a lord. Even these were not enough, and so the Greater
Will sent the Elden Ring. Rarely is the Greater Will worshiped directly, instead, most follow its
proxy, Queen Marika. The Two Fingers have a following, as well.91

The Elden Beast supposedly arrived on a star sent by the Greater Will.92 We know there are
creatures that live in stars,93 and sometimes these creatures are described as stars
themselves,94 so it would seem these creatures are the stars’ “essence”, so to speak. The stars
hold some measure of control over fate, and so too does the Elden Ring.95

90
Enia dialogue
91
Two Fingers Heirloom
92
Elden Stars
93
Sellen dialogue
94
Astel
95
Lord’s Rune
Specifically, the Elden Ring defines the Golden Order, a set of rules that run the world,
seemingly by manipulating fate. Fundamentalists, scholars of the Golden Order,96 describe it
through two rules.

1) Regression. “Regression is the pull of meaning; that all things yearn eternally to
converge.”97
2) Causality. “Causality is the pull between meanings; it is the connections that form the
relationships of all things.”98

These are not fundamental laws of the universe; the world functioned before the Golden Order,
and continues to after its shattering, albeit in slow decline. One thing that the Law of Regression
may govern is the return of souls to the Erdtree; this could be why it bars entry to all after the
shattering of the Elden Ring.

It seems the Two Fingers each choose an Empyrean. Ranni, Miquella, Malenia,99 and the
Dusk-Eyed Queen100 were each chosen by different Fingers. We know of 7 Two Fingers: 5 dead
ones atop the Divine Towers, the relocated Fingers of Liurnia (which is active and opposing
Ranni until she kills it), and of course the one in Roundtable Hold.

We potentially have the identities of the six Empyreans tied to the six Divine Towers- Marika,
Radagon, Ranni, Miquella, Malenia, and the Dusk-Eyed Queen. But we don’t know for sure that
Radagon was an Empyrean, and the Dusk-Eyed Queen’s Fingers may have later chosen a
different Empyrean, or themselves been replaced. We also don’t know if the Two Fingers of
Roundtable Hold chose an Empyrean, or if it was an exception.

Ranni’s is obviously the Liurnian one, Malenia’s is probably the Isolated Divine Tower (the one
we take her Great Rune to), and the Dusk-Eyed Queen’s is probably the Caelid one (as it
contains her followers and sword). This leaves Limgrave, East Altus, and West Altus.

Frenzied Flame God

Inner Gods: Ancient Frenzy god

Lord of Frenzied Flame: The player, in the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending
Vassals: The Three Fingers
Followers: The Merchants, and others with extremely miserable lives
Notable Followers: Shabriri, Hyetta, Vyke, Edgar
Flame: The Flame of Frenzy

96
Golden Order Seal
97
Law of Regression
98
Law of Causality
99
Ranni Dialogue
100
Black Flame Ritual
Perhaps the Greater Will’s opposite. The Greater Will creates, but the Frenzied Flame God
destroys. The Two Fingers are the middle and ring fingers, but the Three Fingers are the index
finger, pinky, and thumb. This outer god also seems similarly distant, with the Three Fingers
being the only known connection to it (and at no point in the game is the god ever contacted).

The Frenzied Flame God once possessed an inner god of its own, but this god died long ago,
and was entombed underground with the Three Fingers (who may have chosen them, as the
Two Fingers do for the Greater Will). With no finger readers, the Three Fingers was somehow
able to convey its message by imprinting fingerprints on stone.101 “It is said” that the flame
originated from Shabriri, “the most reviled man in all history.”102 Perhaps he was the one to read
the fingerprints. Or it could be that the flame was blamed on him to obscure its true origins.

Item descriptions give seemingly conflicting accounts of the merchants, and their burial
underground. It is claimed that they were buried “after being accused of heretical beliefs”, where
they “chanted a curse of despair, and summoned the flame of frenzy.”103 But it’s also said they
were “entombed in the earth so as to bury the maddening disease that followed them.”104 The
Frenzied Flame is also described as a “blight.”105 A spirit in Liurnia in the Purified Ruins (one of
Hyetta’s locations) says “Come out, one and all, from the darkness underground. And let us
offer unto the maiden our eyes.” The Site of Grace by the Three Fingers is the Frenzied Flame
Proscription, “proscription” meaning something similar to “condemnation.”

So it would seem the merchants, already afflicted with the Frenzied Flame, were buried beneath
the capital, where they summoned even more Frenzied Flame in some way. It’s likely the
Frenzied Flame Proscription is the tomb of the ancient god, but this isn’t certain. If it isn’t (or the
previous Three Fingers had died), they may have summoned another Three Fingers.

Hyetta looks identical to Irina, the woman in the Weeping Peninsula concerned about her father,
Edgar, who remains at Castle Morne. As part of this questline, she is killed by the Misbegotten,
setting Edgar on a path of revenge. We later find him in the Revenger’s Shack, where he
invades us, himself afflicted with the Flame of Frenzy.

Hyetta does not appear until Irina dies. At first, this may seem to imply she possessed Irina’s
body, similar to how Shabriri possesses Yura’s. But Hyetta doesn’t seem to think she’s
possessed anyone, or even have much knowledge of the Frenzied Flame. Furthermore, if we go
back to Irina’s spot, her corpse is still there.

“My eyesight has been weak since birth, you see.” –Irina, Hyetta

101
Fingerprint Stone Shield
102
Howl of Shabriri
103
Nomadic Merchant’s Set
104
Nomad Ashes
105
Shabriri’s Woe
A similar thing happens with Festering Fingerprint Vyke. He invades us near the Frenzied Flame
Village, but we later find him in an Evergaol on the Mountaintops of the Giants under the title
Roundtable Knight Vyke. In the Evergaol, he possesses no Frenzied Flame powers whatsoever,
but he does drop the Fingerprint Set.

“No other Tarnished was closer to the throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke. But without
announcement, Vyke traveled far below the capital, and was scorched by the flame of frenzy.

Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with the suggestion?”

It happens a third time, with the copy of Mohg made to defend the Frenzied Flame Proscription.

This strange power of body-duplication may also be what allows us to survive burning ourselves
in the Forge of the Giants.

Rot God

Inner Gods: Ancient Rot goddess, Malenia

Followers: Kindred of Rot, AKA Pests
Notable Followers: Gowry, Millicent’s sisters(?)
Flame: None, but the scarlet rot replaces flame in those afflicted

A simple god. The Rot God is all about scarlet rot, and spreading it. Its servants, the pests,
spawn in rot-afflicted lands.

Long ago, the Rot God’s “divine essence” was sealed in the Lake of Rot106 by the blind
swordsman and his “flowing blade”.107 It once had an inner Goddess of Rot,108 and perhaps it
was through defeating her that the swordsman was able to seal it. This divine essence must
have been something physical, as the Scorpion’s Stinger was crafted out of it.

Malenia would become the new Goddess of Rot after the scarlet flower bloomed three times,109
each time allowing the rot to overtake her a little bit more. She is sometimes referred to as a
“goddess,” even before the events of the game.110 We know she has used it twice in
desperation- once against Radahn, and again against the Player. When she uses it in her boss
fight, is it the third time, or only the second?

106
Map (Lake of Rot)
107
Blue Dancer Charm
108
Aeonian Butterfly
109
Scarlet Aeonia
110
Marias Robe, Antspur Rapier
Malenia had at least five daughters in the Swamp of Aeonia, though probably not born through
natural means and therefore unknown to her. Most likely, they were born when her scarlet flower
bloomed in the swamp. The five we know of are raised by Gowry in hopes that they will one day
bloom into “scarlet valkyries.” In the end, only Millicent shows the potential. If we kill her, the
despair of betrayal will transform into a smaller scarlet flower, from which she will one day
emerge as a scarlet valkyrie.

There is another scarlet flower, similar in size to Millicent’s, in a room near Malenia’s. At its
base, we find clothing identical to Millicent’s (and Melina’s), the implication being this is another
daughter of Malenia’s who blossomed into a valkyrie. We never meet her. It’s possible that she
owned the Valkyrie’s Prosthesis at one point.

The Formless Mother

Inner Gods: None, but she intends to raise Miquella into one
Lord of Blood: Mohg
Followers: The Bloody Fingers, the Sanguine Nobles, and the second-generation Albinaurics
found near the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum.
Notable Followers: White Mask Varré, the Dung Eater (though he may not know it)
Flame: Bloodflame (or “accursed blood”)
Star: The Blood Star

Outer god of all things accursed and defiled, especially when those things are related to blood.
Progenitor of the Omen curse.111 One of only two outer gods given a name. She is also known
as the “Mother of Truth”.

Obviously, Mohg follows her. She is the god of the “wretched mire” he was born into, and came
to love.112 His sacred spear is used as an instrument of communion with her.

Miquella was loved by many, and would intentionally “compel” this affection.113 This may have
backfired on him. Mohg became obsessed with the young Empyrean and stole him, cocoon and
all, from the Haligtree. Drenching the cocoon with blood, he believes, will eventually awaken
Miquella as a god. Mohg declared himself to be Miquella’s consort, making himself a Lord.114

111
Her accursed blood is the same blood that flows through the veins of the omens and is used as a
weapon by some, even Morgott, who is clearly not a follower. Also hinted at with the Great Stars: “A
blood-stained star is an ill omen”
112
Mohg’s Great Rune
113
Bewitching Branch
114
Remembrance of the Blood Lord, Lord of Blood’s Exultation
Mohg wishes to recreate the dynasty115 of the eternal cities, but under the rulership/divinity of
himself, Miquella, and the Formless Mother. He views the previous dynasty as presiding over an
era of greatness. In truth, the Nox wanted nothing more than to escape from the underground.

The Dung Eater also does the Formless Mother’s work by spreading her curse. Whether he
knowingly works for her, we are not told.

Thorn sorceries have to do with “the Blood Star,”116 visible only to the blind and believed to be
the star of the Formless Mother (every special “star” is associated with an outer god). But the
users of thorn sorceries don’t seem to serve her.

The Fell God (?)

Inner God: The One-Eyed God (?)

Followers: The Fire Giants, the Fire Monks (kind of)
Flame: The Flame of Ruin

The inner/outer status of this god is a mystery. Three possibilities:

1. It is an inner god (implying a relation to an unmentioned outer god). No outer god is
known to have any sort of form or appearance, as the One-Eyed God does. Nor can one
be slain, as Marika is “believed to” have done to this god. We also know Empyreans are
often born cursed or deformed, and the god’s single eye is described as “malformed.”117
2. It is an outer god. The Fell God still lurks within the giants, and their fire incantations.118
During the fight against the Fire Giant, it sacrifices its foot to this god, awakening the
power within the face on its chest- a power which may be the Fell God itself. All inner
gods we know of are corporeal beings, who would not be able to do such a thing.
3. The Fell God is the outer god, the One-Eyed God is the inner god. Never are they
mentioned being the same entity. The Fell God lines up with what we know of outer
gods, and the One-Eyed God matches what we know of inner gods. The one counter to
this theory I can think of is that the Fell God seemingly awakens as the cyclops face on
the Fire Giant’s chest.

The giants lived long ago. Early astrologers, predecessors of sorcerers, “considered the fire
giants their neighbors.”119 And then of course, their forge represented a threat to the Erdtree, so
Marika and her armies attacked and slew most of them, including (allegedly) their One-Eyed
God.

115
Clayman Ashes
116
Briars of Punishment
117
One-Eyed Shield
118
Flame of the Fell God
119
Sword of Night and Flame
But Marika could not extinguish the flame, so the Fire Giant, one of the survivors of their race
(perhaps the only one), was cursed to forever guard it. But the Fire Giants had already been
cursed to forever defend the flame,120 so it seems all that changed for him was that all his
friends were now dead.

The trolls were known as “lesser giants,” and they sided with Marika during the war.121 They all
have grotesque holes in their chests, and after meeting the Fire Giant, we can hazard a guess
as to why- the missing part is where the one-eyed face would’ve been. Were they born without
it, signifying their “lesser” status, or was it removed in order to sever their link to their god?

Also for the purpose of containing the Flame of Ruin, the Fire Monks were established. They
both revered and feared the flame, using its power both on their enemies and themselves. Fire
incantations that do not burn the caster are considered forbidden by the Fire Monks.122 This
self-flagellant ideology also drives them to use Thorn Sorceries.

“Taboos transform into lasting obsessions by virtue of the fear that they inspire.”123

The Blackflame Monks, “enthralled by the god-slaying black flame,” are former Fire Monks
turned traitor. Their armor notes that “the seduction of a taboo is never easily spurned.” This
would imply that the God-Slaying Black Flame is enemy to the Flame of Ruin in some way.

Deathbird God

Followers: Deathbirds, Mausoleum Knights, Ancestral Followers, Those Who Live in Death
(except for Deathbirds, it’s unknown if any of these groups know they’re following this god)
Notable Followers: The Twinbird, the Prince of Death (if he can be said to “follow” anything)
Flame: Ghostflame
Star: The sun, in eclipse

Outer god of all things related to death, and life within death. But ostensibly an enemy of
Destined Death, which destroys life within death (despite also being a source of power for such
creatures).

Its flame, Ghostflame, is a freezing white and black flame created in some way involving burning
the bones of the dead.124 It seems Ghostflame burns for an extremely long time (if not
indefinitely), as it still burns in countless underground ruins throughout the Lands Between.

120
Burn, O Flame!
121
Troll’s Golden Sword
122
Flame, Grant Me Strength
123
Fire Monk Armor
124
Ghostflame Torch
The Deathbirds serve this outer god, and the Twinbird, the two-headed mother of the
Deathbirds, is an “envoy” to it.125 Before the Erdtree, the Deathbirds were keepers of
Ghostflame, which was used to burn the dead in the ancient “death hexes,”126 rituals performed
by the Deathbirds.127 The ashes of the dead would then be raked from the cremation kilns,
seemingly a source of power for the Deathbirds.128 They had human followers as well; priests
were allowed to become their guardians and participate in these rituals through something
called the “Rite of Death”.129

Ancestral followers, whose faith is based around life grown from death130, are followers of this
god as well.

What are the ancestral followers? Their horns (the antler-like things on the shamans are also
horns) are headbands, they do not grow from the followers themselves. So it would seem they
are merely big humans, or human-like. It’s unclear if the ancestral followers were a part of the
Eternal Cities themselves, or just moved in after their downfall.

They “eschew letters and metalworking,”131 preferring a primitive existence. Recall that, in the
world of Elden Ring, metalworking is used to forge life itself. Buds and sproutings grow from the
corpses of the “ancestor” creatures. Thus does new life grow from death, rather than metal.
What do these buds grow into, though? That is a mystery, but the spectral creatures found near
the Hallowhorn Grounds probably have something to do with it. (The spectral fungi around many
ghosts may be a similar “life within death” related to this god)

The Winged Greathorn, a boss weapon from the Remembrance of the Regal Ancestor, is an
axe resembling the wings of a Death Rite Bird. “In the ancestral spirit-worshiping faith, these are
considered envoys' wings, made to reap the lives of beings which experience no sprouting.”
“Envoy” is also the term used to describe the Twinbird.

The ancestral followers are also found on the surface, in the Uhl palace ruins, surrounded by
three Walking Mausoleums (For some reason, the followers here direct their worship dance at
the Minor Erdtree nearby). The architecture of the Walking Mausoleums is of Nox origin,
interestingly. They may have been followers of this god, which would point towards it being
Ranni’s theorized moon god. But I’m not confident about this.

Speaking of which, the headless Mausoleum Knights who guard the Walking Mausoleums are
also associated with this god. These knights willingly behead themselves, and curse themselves
with ornaments resembling the wings of a Deathbird on their armor, so that they may protect

125
Twinbird Kite Shield
126
Ancient Death Rancor
127
Explosive Ghostflame
128
Ancient Death Rancor
129
Death Ritual Spear
130
Remembrance of the Regal Ancestor, Ancestral Spirit’s Horn
131
Ancestral Follower Ashes
their soulless demigod masters until their resurrection.132 The image on their Eclipse Crest
Greatshields depicts the eclipsed sun, “the protective star of soulless demigods,” and it aids
them by “keeping Destined Death at bay.”

In Castle Sol, an attempt was made to resurrect one such demigod. The castle’s inhabitants,
believing it would appease Miquella, prayed to the sun to allow itself to be eclipsed, but in
vain.133 Also in Castle Sol, we find the Eclipse Shotel. This weapon’s skill sets it ablaze with “the
Prince of Death’s flames.” The flames are not ghostflame, but resemble the gaseous death
blight.

The concept of rebirth within the shadow of a solar eclipse (an umbra) is also found in Rennala’s
boss fight, where her reborn juvenile scholars chant “Sleep tight, bound tight, by Mother’s
amber. Sleep tight, find life, in Mother’s umbra.”

Rennala is associated with a “Full Moon” of some kind. But a moon eclipsing the sun would be a
new moon, or a Dark moon. The Dark Moon is associated with her daughter, Ranni. It’s likely
this was the Black Moon of Nokstella. Under the Black Moon, silver tears were reborn time and
time again in an attempt to forge life. Specifically, to forge the Lord of Night, who would bring
about the Age of the Stars.134

And then there are Those Who Live in Death, who constantly burn with Ghostflame. Fia is the
only one of them we can speak with, though having not died herself, she’s more of a
representative of them. She does not indicate any awareness of this outer god, or anything
beyond the scope of Those Who Live in Death.

The Prince of Death, though little more than Godwyn’s inanimate corpse, is their supposed
master. Power drawn from him resembles a sort of thorned roots. Although their outer god
keeps Destined Death at bay, it’s also a source of power for Those Who Live in Death, in the
form of Deathroot, and the Prince of Death himself.

If Godwyn’s assassination was indeed a plan by Marika to turn him into the Prince of Death (and
it seems likely- why else bury him at the Greattree’s roots?), we’re left to speculate why.
Perhaps he is the force that allows the Tarnished to return from death, though there is little to
support this theory.

One last thing ostensibly associated with this outer god is Helphen’s Steeple, a weapon dropped
by the Tibia Mariner near Castle Sol:

“Greatsword patterned after the black steeple of the Helphen, the lampwood which guides the
dead of the spirit world.

132
Mausoleum Knight Armor
133
Ghosts in Castle Sol
134
Explained in the history section
The lamplight is similar to grace in appearance, only it is said that it can only be seen by those
who met their death in battle.”

This seems like a significant part of the setting, but alas, we are given no other information
about this “spirit world,” or the Helphen, or the lamplight.

Speculated Outer Gods

Moon God(s): In Ranni’s ending, she seemingly ascends to godhood, replacing Marika and
making us into the long-awaited Lord of Night. Becoming an inner god requires the influence of
an outer god. Given the rest of her quest, it’s probably safe to assume she isn’t leeching power
from the Greater Will, so this must be a different god.

It could be the Death God, as mentioned in its section, but I don’t find this theory to be
particularly likely. The only thing linking them is the Dark Moon/Eclipse (and I guess ghostflame
in the Eternal Cities, but it’s used in many underground areas). Ranni believes in minimizing the
influence of the outer gods upon the world, so for her to follow an outer god, it must be one of
similar mind. So, it follows that there would be very little evidence of such a god’s existence.

This god is associated with the Dark Moon. Rennala, unlike her daughter, draws power from the
Full Moon. It could be that the Full Moon and the Dark Moon represent twin outer gods, given
the prevalence of twins in the setting. Or they could just be the same god.

God of Slumber: Malenia’s rot was the influence of the outer god of Rot. Thus it follows that
Miquella’s curse of eternal childhood was the influence of a different outer god. Though he
doesn’t seem to be a fan of his own curse, he embraces the influence of this god, especially in
his St. Trina persona.135 Like most others, it has its own unique flame, the Fires of Slumber seen
in St. Trina’s Sword and Torch.

Also, sleeping for a very long time certainly seems like the method an outer god of slumber
would use to raise someone to inner godhood.

Destined Death God: Destined Death is a powerful supernatural influence. The mysterious
Dusk/Gloam-Eyed Queen, who drew from its power, was an Empyrean. And it has its own type
of flame, the God-Slaying Black Flame. After the confinement of Destined Death, the Godskin
Apostles were reduced to using an inferior version of the flame. Gurranq/Maliketh still uses the
flame at its true power, signified by its red tint.

The Oracle: The entity followed by the Oracle Envoys, and presumably related to the claymen’s
oracular bubble sorceries. There is very little information to go on regarding the oracle, whatever
it is. It could be an outer god or something else entirely.
135
See Miquella’s section under Characters
Ensha’s God: Not the “edge, lord” who attacks us in Roundtable Hold, but the ancient lord he is
named after. “It is said that the bones belong to an ancient lord - the soulless king. The lord of
the lost and desperate, who was known as Ensha.”136 If Ensha was indeed a true Lord, it was
likely under an outer god already on this list.

Gods and Demigods

Queen Marika the Eternal

136
Royal Remains Set
The supreme chessmaster. Marika is the Numen Empyrean chosen to be a god by the Greater
Will. After her ascension, she and her first consort Godfrey conquered most of the Lands
Between, if not the world, in the name of the Erdtree.

But with the end of the early time of abundance, and the supposed perfection of the Erdtree
disproven (in part from the existence of the Minor Erdtrees),137 Marika began to harbor doubts
about the golden order.138 This began her master plan, whatever it was. Godfrey and his
warriors were sent to the Badlands, so that they could “grow strong in the face of death” for
when they were called back to the Lands Between.139

Her actions after this are inscrutable.

Marika shattered the Elden Ring and distributed its Great Runes among her children. For this,
she (and thus Radagon and the Elden Ring) was imprisoned and crucified within the Erdtree.
The Elden Ring/Golden Order could not be mended because it was inside the Erdtree, which
could not be entered because of the shattering of the Elden Ring/Golden Order.

Gideon Ofnir believes she wishes for the Tarnished to “continue to struggle, unto eternity,” but
it’s Marika who guides Melina to burn the Erdtree so we can become Elden Lord. It’s also known
that Marika enlisted Hewg to smith a weapon capable of slaying herself.

She is sorrowful after the disappearance of Miquella,140 indicating that it probably wasn’t part of
her plan. Miquella is a shardbearer, so this would’ve likely been after she was imprisoned.

The Elden Beast is the Elden Ring, which is the Golden Order, which is Marika herself, who is
also Radagon. Don’t think too hard about it.

Godfrey, First Elden Lord / Horah Loux, Warrior

Ultimate badass of the Lands Between. Once a simple (albeit extremely bloodthirsty) warrior,
Marika made him her consort (probably) after witnessing his superhuman strength. “In the days
of the past, a crown was warranted with strength,“ after all. It was then that he took Serosh upon
his back to “suppress the ceaseless lust for battle that raged within”.141 It’s likely but never stated
that he took the name Godfrey here, and was formerly known as Horah Loux.

137
Crimson/Cerulean Seed Talismans
138
Melina dialogue at the Minor Erdtree Church
139
Melina dialogue at the Church of Pilgrimage
140
Gideon Ofnir dialogue
141
Godfrey Icon
Godfrey was himself a demigod.142 It’s possible he was a descendant of some other god, but
most likely he attained demigod status from his relationship to Marika (similar to how her
stepchildren did).

Godfrey and Marika had (at least) three children: Godwyn the Golden, and the Omen twins,
Morgott and Mohg. Judging from his dialogue, Godfrey seemed to care for the twins (or at least
Morgott) more than Marika ever did.

Godfrey’s line, known as the Golden Lineage, seems to have been plagued with misfortune. The
Omen twins, the death of Godwyn, and its supposed end in Godrick, most pathetic of the
demigods.

Godfrey proved his worth by decisively defeating the giants and the dragons. He “faced the
Storm Lord”143 (likely Placidusax) alone. “And then, there came a moment. When his last worthy
enemy fell. And it was then, as the story is told, that the hue of Lord Godfrey's eyes faded.“
Although, he never defeated the Liurnians. Either he wasn’t part of that war for some reason, or
he somehow lost.

Of course, the actual reason the hue of his eyes faded was because Marika turned him and his
warriors into the Tarnished. The people of the Lands Between don’t seem to have ever
questioned this, and viewed the Tarnished as lesser, as they did to all who would not return to
the Erdtree upon death. This discrimination followed them even outside the Lands Between.

The Tarnished were banished to the far-away Badlands by Marika, and their migration became
known as the Long March of the Tarnished. Godfrey broke his axe in a battle during the march.
At its end, he “divested himself of kingship” and took the name Horah Loux once more.144 But he
kept Serosh, so he never truly returned to the bloodthirsty warrior he once was. Perhaps
because of this, he was eventually defeated and killed.

But he is reawakened by grace, eventually. At the end of the game, he finally returns to reclaim
the title of Elden Lord, and fights us for it. This would make him the last Tarnished to return to
the Lands Between, at least before the new age. Had he returned before us, he probably
would’ve succeeded- but what new age would he have brought about? (Probably the Age of
Fracture)

It’s possible he was able to return at long last because we put down his golden shade. Notably,
the shade takes the form of Godfrey when he was Elden Lord, before he became Tarnished (it
has an unbroken axe).

142
Godrick’s Great Rune
143
Elden Lord Set
144
Remembrance of Horah Loux
In the battle, he kills Serosh, enabling him to truly return to the bloodthirsty warrior he once was,
so long ago. He believes “a crown is warranted with strength,” and when we defeat him, he
believes we’ve earned the metaphorical crown.

Apparently bald- his hair is actually part of his crown.

Radagon of the Golden Order

“O Radagon, leal hound of the Golden Order. Thou'rt yet to become me, thou'rt yet to become a
god. Let us both be shattered, mine other half.”145

A very mysterious character, it seems only Marika and Radagon himself knew who he truly was.

It is known he is from Leyndell, and he arrived in Liurnia at “the head of a great golden host”146
at the beginning of the Second Liurnian War. No information on Radagon exists from before this
time, as far as I know.

Met Rennala in battle, repented his aggressions in the Church of Vows and married her, had (at
least) three children, and then left Rennala with the amber egg containing the Great Rune of the
Unborn and returned to Leyndell to become Marika’s consort and second Elden Lord.

Radagon then became Marika, somehow. As far as we can tell, this means they both inhabited
the same body, but remained distinct personalities within it. This allowed Marika to bear
Empyrean children.

One way the “fusion” may have happened is through one or both of them using Destined Death
to sever their souls from their bodies, and then merging together in the same body in the same
way Ranni inhabits her doll.

When Marika shattered the Elden Ring, Radagon attempted to repair it, to no avail.147 Marika
wants to die by our hand, it is Radagon who takes control of the body to fight us.

The brains to Godfrey’s brawn, in a sense. He studied sorceries in Liurnia, and incantations in
Leyndell, aspiring to be complete.148 His Red Wolf/Wolves(?) may have been his Empyrean
shadow(s). Despite being well known for his red hair, he despised it. It is heavily implied that this
red hair had something to do with the giants, who themselves all have red hair.149

145
Melina dialogue at the Queen’s Bedchamber
146
Miriel dialogue
147
Marika’s Hammer
148
Radagon Icon
149
Giant’s Red Braid
Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon

The Carian queen, and probably the most powerful sorcerer to ever live, though herself a mere
human. When she was a young astronomer, Rennala “met the Full Moon.”150 It’s not clear what
this entails, though the popular theory is that she made contact with some sort of lunar outer
god. The encounter bestowed her with lunar magic, and later, she would use this magic to
“charm the academy” and become its leader.

She is very old- as an astrologer, she predated sorcerers themselves, and likely lived alongside
the Fire Giants on the mountaintops.151 The game often references the Carian royal family, as
something with a long and storied history- during which it only had one monarch, Rennala.

Rennala was probably already Queen during the First Liurnian War, during which Marika
attempted and failed to conquer Liurnia. She and her knights must have been truly powerful to
repel the same force that defeated the Fire Giants and the Ancient Dragons.

At some point, she invoked an old oath sworn by the trolls, and thus did trolls join the ranks of
the Carian knights.152 The Albinauric Loretta would also join the Carian knights. (Another
Albinauric was the Carian servant Pidia, who maintained their human puppets- a rather dark
skeleton in the Carians’ closet.)

She was definitely Queen during the Second Liurnian War, when she met Radagon in battle.
The two eloped and were married, bringing an end to the war. They had (at least) three children-
Radahn, Rykard, and Ranni. It was Rennala who guided the young Ranni to her “Dark Moon.”

Radagon left her for Marika, leaving the amber egg containing the Great Rune of the Unborn as
a parting gift. Rennala lost her mind, the Academy rebelled and locked her in the library, and
Ranni put up a trap to protect her that conjured a magical copy of Rennala in her prime. In the
library, she used the egg to constantly rebirth some unfortunate juvenile scholars, who were
reborn so many times that they degenerated and became dependent on the process.153

This may have happened when the children were fairly young. Radahn learned magic from an
Alabaster Lord in Sellia, and Ranni learned it from an old crone she found in the woods. A bit
odd for the children of the world’s most powerful sorcerer- unless she was already insane at the
time.

There were once multiple Carian princesses, but by the time of the game Ranni is the only
surviving one.154 This would imply one of two things- either Rennala had children with someone

150
Stargazer Heirloom
151
Sword of Night and Flame
152
Troll Knight’s Sword
153
Juvenile Scholar Set
154
Carian Filigreed Crest
else before Radagon, or more likely, the other princesses were some of the soulless demigods
sacrificed by Marika.

Godwyn the Golden

“Scion of the Golden Bough.” It’s not known when he was born in relation to his siblings, but with
Morgott and Mohg hidden from the world and any other possible siblings being deemed failures
by Marika, Godwyn is effectively remembered as the first of her children.

Godwyn was a champion of the battle in Leyndell at the advent of the war against the dragons,
when he defeated Fortissax and subsequently befriended Fortissax and its sister Lansseax. As
previously mentioned, one of these dragons was likely his consort.

Assassinated during the Night of the Black Knives at the behest of Marika herself; his soul
perished, but his body remained and became Prince of Death (still an inanimate corpse,
though). He was buried at the base of the Greattree in Deeproot Depths, where the Death inside
him spread through its roots. When we find him, his body has inexplicably transformed into a
bizarre giant fish creature.

Even stranger is the duplicate of his corpse at the bottom of Stormveil Castle, which infects
Rogier with Death. Though the corpse here looks like just a head, there’s actually a body behind
it which is mostly buried in the rock. Rogier says it is a “sacred relic” of the Night of the Black
Knives during which Godwyn was murdered. He does not outright state that it is the corpse of
Godwyn- but for it to be someone else’s corpse might be even more odd.

As with all things Marika, her motivation for this is unknown, but it’s very probable that
transforming him into the Prince of Death was her intention.

Godrick the Grafted

Descendent of Godwyn, who inherited his Great Rune. A foul, decrepit, and probably inbred
man. Godrick, his troops, and his… relative, Godefroy, fled their home in Leyndell when the
Shattering broke out. Godrick himself escaped by “hiding amongst the womenfolk.”

Godrick, pursued by Radahn, eventually took shelter in Stormveil, which he claimed by

defeating its stormhawk lord.155 By this time, so many of his troops had been lost that Godrick
was forced to fill his ranks with exiles, mercenaries, banished knights, and grafted warhawks.
Here he would remain, believing he would one day return to his home in the Erdtree capital. He

155
Warhawk Ashes
at one point also insulted Malenia, resulting in his swift defeat, but he was spared when he
“licked her boots.”

"Honestly, Godrick’s no more than a jumped up country bumpkin. Lord? Don’t make me laugh.
First he hid himself amongst the womenfolk to flee the capital, then hid from Radahn in that
castle… Then he insulted Malenia, lost to her in battle, only to lick her boots rather than die like
a man. Has he no shame, the big girl’s blouse? And to think, he’s the blood of Godfrey! Last of
the golden lineage, though you almost wouldn’t know it to look at him. I almost feel sorry for the
chap the more I think of it."156

Godrick began grafting at Stormveil, adding limbs to his own grotesque body and producing
more Grafted Scions. When the Tarnished arrived, he hunted them down for grafting parts. This
was the fate of Roderika’s men. Godrick considers the Tarnished “lowly,” despite his idolization
of Godfrey.

His… relative, Godefroy (who looks and sounds exactly the same as him) was captured by
Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff and imprisoned in the Golden Lineage Evergaol. Godrick at
around the same time was hiding among “the womenfolk” to escape, something he wouldn’t
have been able to do as the grafted abomination he is when we fight him. So it would seem
Godefroy was grafting long before Godrick was. Perhaps he was Godrick’s father, or older
brother? He is not a demigod, only a “great enemy”- either his demigod status was stripped from
him, or he never was one.

We find a Grafted Scion at Mt. Gelmir, on the path to Volcano Manor, which raises the possibility
that Godrick or Godefroy tried to flee to Rykard. Rykard’s own condition is very similar to
grafting- extra appendages, extra fingers, all taken from the corpses of champions. Perhaps he
was the originator of it, and/or an ally of Godrick/Godefroy. Though he certainly would’ve fed
either of them to the serpent without a second thought.

Morgott, the Omen King

Twin brother of Mohg. The two were born to Marika and Godfrey and locked underground
because of their curse,157 bound with special magic shackles.158 They eventually escaped (or
were set free?), of course.

Morgott, somehow, became King of Leyndell. He was probably able to do this using his Great
Rune, which proved his lineage and rightful claim to the throne. The title “King” implies he was
successor to his mother, who was Queen, and he took the throne after her imprisonment; but he

156
Kenneth Haight dialogue
157
Regal Omen Bairn
158
Margit’s Shackle, Mohg’s Shackle
may have already been King by the Night of the Black Knives or before.159 Notably, the Elden
Ring was shattered long after the birth of Morgott and his brother, so Marika or someone else
had to have given the twins their Great Runes.

“Though born one of the graceless Omen, Morgott took it upon himself to become the Erdtree's
protector.

He loved not in return, for he was never loved, but nevertheless, love it he did.”160

Morgott hid himself and his curse from his subjects, becoming known as the Veiled Monarch.161
“Grace-Given Lord” was another title of his. Omens were hated by the people, an opinion
Morgott himself shared. His brother probably didn’t help. Morgott sealed away his own accursed
blood in his cursed sword, which was itself disguised as a staff.

As King, Morgott commanded the armies of the Erdtree Capital, and in his alternate identity
Margit the Fell, he commanded the Night’s Cavalry and probably others. He slaughtered
countless “great warriors, knights, and champions,”162 and anyone with ambitions of Lordship or
anything else Erdtree-related.163 He protected Leyndell during the Shattering, and after the war
ended and the Tarnished were called, he began hunting them down as well. Perhaps he is the
reason no Tarnished have yet succeeded at obtaining a single Great Rune. He apparently at
one point lost control of the Night’s Cavalry, as they no longer follow him.

It’s hard to notice, but in his second fight he appears out of a random peasant enemy, and the
peasant’s corpse drops when he is defeated. Also strange is how he ceases to be an Omen
when defeated for the third and final time, during his final moments. I can think of no explanation
for this.

Mohg, Lord of Blood

Twin brother of Morgott, though neither of them ever mentions the other. While Morgott rejected
his curse, Mohg embraced it. He remained underground after escaping his imprisonment, and
came to idolize the ancient dynasty of the Eternal Cities.

Somehow, Mohg managed to contact the Formless Mother, progenitor of the Omen curse.164 He
moved to the eastern part of Nokron and turned it into the “Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum,”
effectively just surrounding it with a swamp of festering blood and excrement, and creatures that
would live in such a place.
159
Sentry’s Torch
160
Remembrance of the Omen King
161
Gideon Ofnir dialogue
162
Night’s Cavalry Set
163
Fell Omen Cloak
164
See the Formless Mother under Outer Gods
The Formless Mother needed an Empyrean to raise to godhood, so Mohg kidnapped Miquella
from the Haligtree. He likely did this when Malenia and her troops had left, during the
Shattering. Marika was distraught over this. Mohg declared Miquella his consort, thereby
making himself a Lord.165

Thus began the prelude to the “Mohgwyn Dynasty,” which Mohg viewed as a revival of the
dynasty of the Eternal Cities. The followers of his dynasty included:
● The Sanguine Nobles, elites of the dynasty who were promised nobility upon its rise.
Like Mohg, they possess the ability to emerge from pools of blood.
● The White Masks, former war surgeons who Mohg abducted to serve him. Of them, only
Varre was able to “tame the accursed blood.”166
● The Bloody Fingers, Tarnished who hunt other Tarnished in the name of the dynasty,
seemingly for no reason except bloodshed for bloodshed’s sake.
● A bunch of Second-Generation Albinaurics. How he got them to follow him isn’t said,
perhaps they were already there and he took over by force.

Mohg believes his dynasty will truly begin when Miquella awakens.

Strangely, it includes no Omens other than Mohg himself.

Starscourge Radahn

Son of Radagon and Rennala, also known as General Radahn and the Red Lion General. He
looked up to both his father Radagon, and Godfrey, First Elden Lord- his helm features
Radagon’s red hair, and his armor depicts the “golden lion,” symbolizing both Godfrey and
Serosh. He commanded the Redmane warriors of Caelid, and was known as the strongest
demigod of them all during the Shattering.

"I was born a champion's cub. Now I am the Lord of the Battlefield's lion."167

Radahn, after becoming a demigod, began to grow larger and heavier. He eventually became
too large to ride his beloved, scrawny horse Leonard. Rather than abandon Leonard, he learned
gravity magic in Sellia, Town of Sorcery, in order to make himself light enough to ride his horse
once more.168 Here, he studied under “an Alabaster Lord with skin of stone.”169 Such was his
mastery of gravity magic that he was able to challenge the stars- and win, earning him the title

165
Gideon Ofnir dialogue
166
War Surgeon’s Set
167
Radahn’s Redmane Helm
168
Remembrance of the Starscourge
169
Gravity Well, Rock Sling
of “Starscourge.” The stars control the fate of the Carian royal family,170 and thus the fate of
Radahn himself- this is perhaps the reason he challenged them.

This all happened in his youth.171

Eventually came the Battle of Aeonia and Malenia’s scarlet rot, sealing his fate. His brain (and
legs) rotted away, and he wandered Caelid devouring corpses and howling at the sky. Yet even
in this state, he was able to hold back the stars, as well as retain his mastery of battle and
defeat all who challenged him.

Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy

Son of Radagon and Rennala. Formerly Praetor Rykard.

Led a company of brutal inquisitors and was “reviled for his serpentine demeanor” according to
Gideon, who may or may not have been making a pun. Rykard for whatever reason turned on
the Erdtree and committed “the grave sin of blasphemy.”172 Blasphemy, typically, is speaking out
against a god or holy thing. Many characters speak against the Golden Order, though, so his
crime probably carried more weight than that, and likely had something to do with the great
serpent he eventually fed himself to.

After turning to blasphemy, he shaved his curly mustache and left for Mt. Gelmir, where the
God-Devouring Serpent (itself a “traitor to the Erdtree”173) dwelt. When the Shattering broke out,
Morgott’s troops attacked the mountain, but were repelled by Rykard- at the cost of most of his
army, which can be found hanged nearly everywhere on the volcano.

Praetor Rykard’s men were inquisitors, torturers, executioners, and all-around terrible people.
Often they would kill, torture, and take, without any particular reason. But when Rykard gave
himself to the serpent, it was too much, even for them. Every last one of his remaining men
turned on him.174

Rykard’s men searched for a way to kill him, and found it in the Serpent-Hunter, an ancient
weapon created to kill “an immortal great serpent,” probably referring to the God-Devouring
Serpent itself. The weapon was left in the great serpent’s chamber, awaiting the arrival of
anyone who could use it to kill the serpent, and Rykard.

170
Sellen dialogue
171
Starscourge Greatsword
172
Gideon Ofnir dialogue, again
173
Duelist Helm
174
Gelmir Knight Armor
Rykard found his consort, Tanith, when she was working as a dancer in a foreign land, and she
was the only person to remain loyal to him after he was devoured by the serpent.175 He and
Tanith established the Volcano Manor, to slay Tarnished who would serve the Erdtree, but also
to feed people to the great serpent, indiscriminately.

The real Rykard had already died upon being consumed by the serpent.176

He had some unknown role in the Night of the Black Knives.177

Ranni the Witch

Daughter of Rennala and Radagon, Carian princess, and demigod stepchild of Marika.
Puzzlingly, Ranni is an Empyrean. If we knew why, it would probably answer a lot of questions.

At a young age, Rennala guided her to a “Dark Moon,” which may have been the Black Moon of
Nokstella- similar to how Rennala herself once beheld a “Full Moon.”

“The moon was encountered by a young Ranni, led by the hand of her mother, Rennala. What
she beheld was cold, dark and veiled in occult mystery.”178

Ranni had a “secret” mentor, an old crone who specialized in cold sorceries.179 She taught the
young Ranni to fear the Dark Moon.180

Along with Miquella and Malenia, she was chosen by a particular Two Fingers as a possible
candidate to replace Marika. She was very young, if not an infant, when this happened,181 and it
was at this time she was given her loyal shadow, Blaidd.

Ranni co-conspired with Marika182 to bring about the Night of the Black Knives. She did this to
sever her spirit from her body with the power of Destined Death, ending any control the Two
Fingers had over her. She left her body atop the Divine Tower of Liurnia, and her spirit
possessed a four-armed doll modeled after her old witch mentor.

Ranni’s own Two Fingers is located not atop the tower, but beneath the Cathedral of Manus
Celes, and is the only known Two Fingers other than the ones in Roundtable Hold to still be
alive at the start of the game.

175
Consort’s Set
176
Devourer’s Scepter
177
Blasphemous Claw
178
Ranni’s Dark Moon
179
Snow Witch Set
180
Various Snow Witch sorceries
181
Iji dialogue
182
See the Knight of the Black Knives section
Ranni has a number of loyal followers, and less than loyal followers. Blaidd, Iji, and Seluvis are
the ones we meet in her tower. The glintstone dragon Adula “was bested by Ranni, and
subsequently swore a knightly oath to her Dark Moon.”183 Jerren, despite the title “witch-hunter,”
served the Carian royals, almost certainly including (and especially) Ranni, before he was sent
to serve as guest commander for Radahn. He remains close with Iji and on friendly terms with
Ranni. Blaidd is hunting down Bloodhound Knight Darriwil in the beginning of the game, calling
him a “traitor,” implying he served Ranni and betrayed her.

While her siblings Radahn and Rykard took after their father, Ranni took after her mother. She is
very loyal to Rennala, and has placed some sort of spell over the Grand Library to protect her.
Ranni never reacts to our actions in Raya Lucaria, so it would seem the voice we hear is a
recording of sorts.

It seems Ranni was also on friendly terms with her brothers Radahn or Rykard; she allows
Jerren to be sent to serve Radahn, and apparently let Rykard in on the Night of the Black
Knives, in some unknown way.184 Given her opinion on gods and the Golden Order, she
probably approved of Rykard’s turn to blasphemy, at least before he took it too far. We can
imagine she doesn’t talk to either of them anymore, given the state that they’re in.

In fact, she never speaks ill of any of her extended family, only of the Two Fingers and Greater
Will. While it seems like she should resent Radagon, there’s no indication that she does.

She also has some unknown history with Torrent, and Torrent’s former master, a “nameless
Tarnished.”185 The Spirit-Calling Bell and Lone Wolf Ashes were entrusted to her by this
Tarnished. Torrent himself may also have been. We never learn this person’s fate, or why they
entrusted these things to Ranni. Later, she says it pleases her to see Torrent “hale and hearty.”

Ranni first appears in an easily-missable encounter at the beginning of the game, under the
pseudonym “Renna” (a shortening of “Rennala”), where, upon identifying us as Torrent’s new
master, gives us the Spirit-Calling Bell and Lone Wolf Ashes.

“I'd heard tell of a Tarnished hurtling about atop a spectral steed. And upon looking into the
matter, the talk, I surmise, is of thee. Thou'rt possessed of the power, no? To call forth the
spectral steed named Torrent.”

She might’ve actually told on herself here, because she still appears if you’ve never called
Torrent. If this is the case, the only way she could’ve known is through Melina. But it could just
be a case of ludonarrative dissonance.

183
Adula’s Moonblade
184
Blasphemous Claw
185
Lone Wolf Ashes
She doesn’t appear again until we meet her at her tower, when we either just wander in or are
sent there by Rogier. If questioned about her involvement in the Knight of the Black Knives, she
immediately admits it. Her admission, though, is carefully worded to include only the parts she
orchestrated, while also implying she was the sole conspirator.

If we are there on behalf of Rogier and ask to serve her, she immediately realizes our scheme
but doesn’t particularly care. Either way, we enter her service, and we’re off in search of Nokron.
As an optional part of the quest, we can talk to Blaidd, who tells us to ask Seluvis, who tells us
to ask Sellen. Sellen is not thrilled to hear the name Seluvis again, but she tells us we have to
kill Radahn (which is to her benefit as well, though she acts as if it isn’t).

The fate of the Carian royal family, including both Ranni and Radahn, is for whatever reason
guided by the stars. It is perhaps for this reason that Radahn conquered them. Unfortunately he
has lost his mind due to the scarlet rot, thus keeping Ranni’s fate in stasis, and so we have to
kill him.

The Radahn Festival is run by Jerren, who as mentioned before is on good terms with Ranni
and close with Iji. Blaidd also assists us in the fight. After Radahn’s death, a shooting star blows
a hole in the Mistwood for some inscrutable fate-related reason, leading directly to Nokron,
where we can retrieve Fingerslayer Blade. Ranni rewards us for this with the Carian Inverted
Statue, whether we actually wanted it or not. Actually using it is part of Fia’s quest.

At this point, we find Seluvis ostensibly dead. His position implies he was inhabiting a puppet, or
was himself a puppet, and the spirit inside him has left. His own second puppet (the one
resembling Sellen in his lab) is not possessed, so it would seem he didn’t have the chance to
flee to it before he was killed. In any case, we never see him again.

This is where it gets… odd. Regardless of whether we go to her corpse atop the Liurnian Divine
Tower, Ranni is gone from her Rise. In her place is a Site of Grace pointing at the nearby
Renna’s Rise, now open, and containing a Waygate to the Ainsel River Main at its top.

We immediately find a Ranni Doll in a coffin, and speaking to it at the nearby Site of Grace
reveals that it is, unsurprisingly, inhabited by Ranni herself. Ranni is infuriated, saying she
“hadn't expected any soul to recognize me in this guise,” despite the fact that the doll looks
exactly like her (“From head to toe, every detail is perfect.”). It even has her spectral face.

Ranni says we’ve “sullied her name” in some way, and that she “cannot allow thee thy
freedoms,” and we must “perform for [her] a service, as recompense.” How did we “sully her
name?” The only way I can think of is by spreading word of her involvement in the Night of the
Black Knives, but this is unlikely given a) she freely admits it when we ask her and b) she still
says this even if we never discover her involvement.

After this bizarre and inexplicable encounter, she seemingly forgets whatever it was she was
angry about. We find and eliminate the Baleful Shadow, the last of a group of assassins that
look nearly identical to Blaidd, who were created by Ranni’s Two Fingers to hunt her down.
Apparently these shadows prevented her from facing the Two Fingers, and with them dead, she
leaves the miniature doll and goes to kill her Two Fingers with the Fingerslayer Blade.

Ranni leaves us with the key to the chest in the Grand Library, containing her Dark Moon Ring.

“Ring depicting a leaden full moon. Symbolic of a cold oath, the ring is supposed to be given by
Lunar Princess Ranni to her consort.

Ranni is an Empyrean, meaning her consort would by rights earn the title of lord.

A warning is engraved within; ‘Whoever thou mayest be, take not the ring from this place, the
solitude beyond the night is better mine alone.’”

We find her usual doll, inanimate and without her clothes, beneath the Cathedral of Manus
Celes, by the corpse of her recently-dead Two Fingers. These initially resemble Three Fingers
more than anything, but it seems the “thumb” is actually some sort of melted flesh, as is the
weird bit of chair-flesh that her doll is sitting on.

Putting the ring on her finger summons her spirit (and clothing) into the doll once more. Despite
having given us the key to the chest containing the ring, she seems to have not expected us to
become her consort. She goes to the night sky, to follow her “Dark Path of the Empyrean.”

She leaves behind for us a Dark Moon Greatsword (a recurring item in Souls games, usually
known as the Moonlight Greatsword, which is the name of its skill). Bestowing a Moon
Greatsword upon one’s spouse is a Carian tradition; Rennala gave Radagon one as well.
Presumably that one was called the Full Moon Greatsword, but Radagon later turned it into the
Golden Order Greatsword.

Ranni is next seen in her ending, where she replaces Marika as god, and then takes us to
space with her.

We never see Ranni’s eye open, but given her involvement in the Night of the Black Knives, it
stands to reason she has some trace of Death within her, and therefore it looks like Melina’s. As
for the mark beneath her eye, though, I have no idea.

Miquella the Unalloyed

Miquella and Malenia are both described as “prodigies''. Malenia was a master of combat, but
Miquella was a multitalented genius. Basically the Leonardo Da Vinci of the Lands Between.
He is seen carried by Mohg in the opening cinematic, where he has blonde hair, not having
inherited his Radagon’s red hair as most of his other children did.

For a time, he went under the alias of St. Trina186, spreading the teachings of sleep187. Why he
did this is a mystery. But if Empyrean curses are in fact the influence of outer gods, then
Miquella’s is an outer god of slumber. Most of the outer gods are associated with a strange type
of fire, and Miquella’s theoretical god has one as well- the fires of slumber conjured by the
sword and torch of St. Trina. Miquella doesn’t reject this god as Malenia does with hers, but he
does detest his curse of eternal childhood.

“St. Trina is an enigmatic figure. Some say she is a comely young girl, others are sure he is a
boy. The only certainty is that their appearance was as sudden as their disappearance.”188

Miquella created the Haligtree, an attempt to grow a second Erdtree, watered with his own
blood189. To many- misbegotten, Albinaurics, humans who were simply unfortunate- the
Haligtree became a symbol of hope, that they would no longer be rejected by the Erdtree or cast
out by its zealous adherents. These people swore fealty to Miquella and came to dwell in
Elphael, the brace of the Haligtree. Miquella was beloved by many to the point of becoming a
messianic figure.

“Who is it that Miquella shall bless, if not the low and the meek?”190

(He also knew a bit of mind control.191)

In an attempt to cure Malenia of her scarlet rot, Miquella learned Golden Order
Fundamentalism. Golden Order Fundamentalism is actually the opposite of “fundamentalism” as
we understand it in real life; it is “scholarship in all but name”192. Miquella naturally excelled at
fundamentalism. He created the incantations Discus of Light, Triple Rings of Light, and
Radagon’s Rings of Light, all as gifts to his father. Also using the knowledge of fundamentalism,
he invented the pulley bow and the pulley crossbow, and probably many other things.

But Miquella found no solution to the scarlet rot problem in Golden Order Fundamentalism, and
so he abandoned it. Instead, he discovered a way to purify gold, the essence of life, creating
Unalloyed Gold.193

186
Cut content spells this out explicitly, but content remaining in the game still implies it heavily. Miquella’s
Lily is nearly identical to St. Trina’s. St. Trina being depicted in adult form is “somewhat unnerving”,
according to St. Trina’s torch. And both are associated with sleep.
187
St. Trina’s Arrow
188
Sword of St. Trina
189
Haligtree Crest Surcoat
190
Sacred Crown Helm
191
Bewitching Branch
192
Golden Order Seal
193
Radagon’s Rings of Light
The nature of Unalloyed Gold is unclear. Unlike most other “gold” in the game, it actually is used
as a metal, and quite frequently- even found on the helms of his foot soldiers. Theoretically, it
could’ve been used to forge life, but it seems Miquella never attempted this. Is it possible for life
to exist with no impurities?

Malenia’s prosthetics are also made of Unalloyed Gold, and her sword is built into her prosthetic
arm- indicating they were obviously made by Miquella. Perhaps the nature of Unalloyed Gold as
the pure essence of life is what allowed her to control the prosthetics so precisely.

Whatever other uses Miquella found for it were probably incidental, as the true purpose of it was
to craft his Unalloyed Gold Needles. These needles would have the ability to ward off outer
gods, freeing Malenia of her curse.

Miquella almost finished the needles. They only worked within Dragonlord Placidusax’s storm
beyond time, in Farum Azula. But before he could correct this problem (or, in an attempt to
correct it), Miquella saw fit to enter a deep hibernation within a cocoon, embedded within the
Haligtree. His followers, and Malenia, awaited his return ever since.

But Miquella was stolen away from the Haligtree by Mohg, who had escaped his confinement
and made contact with the Formless Mother. As an Empyrean, Miquella was a candidate for the
Formless Mother to raise to godhood. Mohg, too, sought to raise Miquella to godhood, and
declared himself Miquella’s consort.194 A consort to an Empyrean is given the title of Lord,195 and
thus Mohg named himself the Lord of Blood.

Miquella, even in his slumber, still attempts to water the Haligtree with his blood. We see this
happen at the beginning of the fight against Mohg.

Without Miquella, the Haligtree grew deformed, and afflicted by scarlet rot. And thus it failed to
become an Erdtree, and the dreams of those who devoted themselves to it became
impossible.196

Did Miquella himself believe in these dreams, or was he taking advantage of these unfortunate
souls? We don’t know.

Miquella has yet to awaken by the end of the game- but he probably will, eventually, and who
can say what will happen when he does?

Malenia, Blade of Miquella

194
Remembrance of the Blood Lord
195
Dark Moon Ring
196
Haligtree Crest Greatshield, and Gideon Ofnir dialogue
Twin sister of Miquella and “goddess” of scarlet rot. Born cursed with rot, from the influence of
the outer god of rot. Her mentor was the Blind Swordsman, who had sealed the very same outer
god beneath the Lake of Rot, and under his guidance she “gained wings of unparalleled
strength.”197

She fought against the rot within her and believed completely that Miquella would one day find a
cure. While he wasn’t able to complete his needles before entering his slumber, he did make her
Unalloyed Gold prosthetics, including the arm that her blade is built into. A previous version of
the arm without the inbuilt blade found its way into the possession of Maleigh Marais, somehow.

Malenia was a major player in the Shattering. At some point she defeated Godrick (probably
without much difficulty), but after he “licked her boots”198 she for some reason saw fit to spare
him and leave him with his Great Rune.

And then came the Battle of Aeonia, when Malenia, faced with impending loss to Radahn (or at
least a perpetual stalemate), bloomed into a scarlet flower. This infected the whole of Caelid
with scarlet rot, and brought her one step closer to her fate as Goddess of Rot that she had
resisted for so long. She also fell into a deep slumber, and was single-handedly carried back to
the Haligtree by Cleanrot Knight Finlay.199

Malenia, with no idea what happened to Miquella, awaited his return ever since. It’s unknown if
she ever even woke up prior to her battle. Had Miquella been awake for the Shattering, the two
of them would’ve certainly won.

Malenia would become a true goddess upon the third bloom of the scarlet flower.200 When it
blooms in the fight, is it the third time, or only the second?201

Melina, the Kindling Maiden

“Your seamster, Boc... I see him crying, from time to time. I think he misses his mother. He
wants someone to tell him he's beautiful. Does being born of a mother... Mean one behaves in
such a manner?”

Melina is the daughter of Marika. The naming scheme used for Marika’s children would imply
her father is most likely Radagon. Her hair is red-ish, but not the vivid red of Radagon or his
other children who inherited his hair color. This could make her an Empyrean, though she also
may have been born before the two fused into one.
197
Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom
198
Kenneth Haight dialogue
199
Cleanrot Knight Finlay Ashes
200
Scarlet Aeonia
201
In cut dialogue, she says the scarlet bloom will flower again one day. But dialogue is usually cut for a
reason.
Or there could be something else going on entirely. When or how she was born is a mystery, but
she implies that, despite being Marika’s daughter, she was not “born of a mother”. She may not
consider the weird fused being of Marika and Radagon as “a mother”, or perhaps she was
somehow made artificially, as the Albinaurics were.

We can uncover her likely cause of death, though (or mostly-death, she considers herself still
alive despite being a ghost). She says she is “burned and bodiless”. We find her knife, the Blade
of Calling, in an office in Leyndell, near the entrance to the Forbidden Lands, and in an elevator
shaft. We can imagine whoever this was had to make a running leap off a moving lift to reach
their office. The only other item we find in this room is the Official’s Attire, probably belonging to
the official who used the office.

“Grubby blue robe worn by magisterial officials to carry out their grim tasks.

Surveillance, executions, gruesome rituals... The darkest duties drive the wheels of mankind.”

The robe is worn by Inquisitor Ghiza, who invades us in Volcano Manor. It’s also part of the outfit
worn by House Marias, the family of executioners who preside over the Shaded Castle.

So, Melina was executed and burned. Probably at the same time. Perhaps her nature as the
kindling maiden was discovered by someone, and thus she was a threat to the Golden Order,
and it was necessary to not only kill her, but destroy her body as well. Whatever happened to
her, Marika almost certainly intended it.

Her ghostly condition is identical to Ranni’s, except without a doll to use as a vessel. Ranni
severed her soul from her body using Destined Death. We know Melina holds the power of
Death inside herself, specifically in her closed eye, so it follows that someone did this to Melina,
too.

Though it was probably orchestrated by Marika, as for who actually did the deed, Praetor
Rykard is a possible culprit. In this time, before feeding himself to the Serpent, he led men like
Inquisitor Ghiza- the “magisterial officials” mentioned by the Official’s Attire. He also was
involved in the Knight of the Black Knives202 in some mysterious unknown way.

The Blade of Calling is a sort of “light version” of the Black Knife. It looks similar, and has the
skill Blade of Gold, identical to the Black Knife’s Blade of Death, except that it shoots gold
instead of death.

Melina was always intended to serve as kindling for the giants’ forge, this is the purpose
revealed to her by Marika when she returns to the Erdtree. She also may have a second
purpose, as we see in the Frenzied Flame ending. Should the player stray from grace and

202
Blasphemous Claw
become Lord of Frenzied Flame, Melina is to hunt them down and deliver them the Destined
Death that is sealed within her. Although, it’s possible Melina just does this on her own.

In this ending, the gold hue in Melina’s eye has faded, but so too has the mark of the three-toed
bird claw on her other eye, allowing her to open it, and revealing that it is quite dusky/gloamy.
We don’t know exactly what the bird claw stands for, other than a general death symbol, but we
do know that in the Lands Between, having three digits is seen as a bad omen.203 Statues of
Rosus, Usher of Death, also have three toes. (If you were thinking “Deathbird”, they have five
digits.)

Both Ranni and Melina have their left eyes sealed (Ranni’s left eye overlaps with the right eye of
her doll, making it look like her right eye is the one sealed). The similarity is explained by both of
them having their bodies slain by Destined Death, making theories that they are the same
person or two halves of the same whole unlikely. Still, there likely exists a connection between
them- both have the same condition, and both know Torrent, who himself has a similar spectral
condition (but no sealed eye).

The Soulless Demigods

“In Marika's own words. Hear me, Demigods. My children beloved. Make of thyselves that which
ye desire. Be it a Lord. Be it a God. But should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be
forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices…”204

Marika had many more children(/stepchildren) than the demigods we know. Her only command
to her children was that they make something of themselves. She did not care what, but those
who failed to amount to anything were sacrificed. To what end, we don’t know. But the failure of
these demigods to become anything meant they left very little evidence of their existence in the
world. (Still, it’s strange that they would leave virtually none at all)

There are at least seven of these soulless demigods, their corpses contained in the Walking
Mausoleums. It would seem they inspired at least some following, as most are protected by
small armies of mausoleum soldiers, who decapitated themselves to serve their lords in
death.205

Each Mausoleum crashes to the ground and stops moving if we destroy enough of the strange
white skull-barnacles on it, which sometimes kills the nearby mausoleum knights, and
sometimes doesn’t. Some have bells, some do not. There is one in the Weeping Peninsula,
three in eastern Liurnia (all very close together), one by Castle Sol, one in the Consecrated
Snowfield near the Apostate Derelict, and one in Deeproot Depths.

203
Four-Toed Fowl Foot
204
Melina Dialogue at the Capital Outskirts
205
Mausoleum Knight Armor
Despite the very little information we have to go on, we can attempt to figure out a few of them.
The three in Liurnia being so close together may be because they were children of Rennala-
she was the only Queen of Caria, yet there were once multiple princesses.206 Only Ranni
survives, and Marika’s sacrifice of the Soulless Demigods may explain the fate of the other(s).

The one by Castle Sol may have been Commander Niall’s “long-passed master,” who he
remained at the castle to defend. The souls we find in the castle attempted to resurrect them,
believing this would gain them favor with Miquella and enable them to reach the Haligtree. To
this end, they prayed for the sun to allow itself to be eclipsed, so that their demigod could be
reborn in its umbra. It did not work.

“Soulless” may imply they met an end similar to Godwyn- it’s not otherwise unusual for a corpse
to be lacking a soul. We assume the headless corpses within the mausoleums are the Soulless
Demigods themselves; this is likely but not proven. They could be servants, or consorts, or
some sort of grave-robber decoy, with the real demigods buried beneath them.

Maliketh, the Black Blade

Marika’s bestial shadow, whose name means “death of the demigods.”207 Long ago, he defeated
the Dusk/Gloam-Eyed Queen and took the Rune of Death from her.

After this, Marika used him for a singular purpose, to guard Destined Death and ensure it
remained bound forever.208 But a fragment of it was stolen by Ranni the Witch during the Night
of the Black Knives, acting in alliance with Marika.

Maliketh discovered Marika’s deception,209 but never understood her reasons for it. He remained
loyal, as shadows are incapable of treachery.210 After the Night of the Black Knives, he bound
Destined Death inside his own body, so that none could steal it again.211

When Deathroot sprouted, Maliketh allied with the hunters of Those Who Live in Death, and
hunted it down under the guise of Gurranq, Beast Clergyman. In consuming it, he reunites it
with the Rune of Death sealed within his body. He can only truly return to his former strength by
releasing it.

206
Carian Filigreed Crest
207
Various Beast Incantations
208
Remembrance of the Black Blade
209
Marika...why...wouldst thou...gull me? Why...shatter...
210
Iji dialogue
211
Maliketh’s Black Blade
He developed an unbearable hunger for Deathroot that is never sated, even after he consumes
all the Deathroot in the world. Feeding him all the Deathroot before fighting him in Farum Azula
unlocks new dialogue for that fight.

“Forgive me, Marika... The Golden Order... cannot be restored.”

Served by the Gargoyles. He also seems to be affiliated with the Vulgar Militia in some way.
Many of them use the power of Death and Beast Incantations, and some of their members can
be found near his sanctum.

A Theory on Radagon and Ranni

This part is even more speculative than the rest of the document; take it with a whole shaker of
salt.

Radagon was created by Marika. Specifically, he was created by rebirthing the god of the Fire
Giants with the Amber Egg containing the Great Rune of the Unborn. This was done because
Marika needed another Empyrean to “fuse” with. We know Radagon was in fact a god (after
becoming one with Marika), which only an Empyrean can become.

Radagon has red hair, as the giants did, a fact that the game reminds us of often. According to
the Radagon Icon, he despised his red hair, which may have been a “curse” not unlike that of
Miquella and Malenia. (Such a curse indicates the influence of an outer god, a good reason for
Radagon to hate it.)

Radagon kept the egg, for a time. Until he saw fit to create another Empyrean- this was, after
all, his very purpose. And thus Ranni was born, out of the remains of another long-dead
Empyrean- the Dusk/Gloam-Eyed Queen. The egg was bequeathed to Rennala, and Radagon
left to return to Marika.

While Radagon rejected the path of his predecessor, Ranni did not. Though not the monster that
the Queen was, she would follow in her footsteps. She grew to resent the gods, and their
meddling. She rejected the Two Fingers. And she stole the power of Destined Death. All things
that the Queen before her had done.

Ranni, too, is royalty. In her ending, having found a consort and supplanted Queen Marika, she
becomes herself a Queen. And if Ranni’s closed eye contains Destined Death, as Melina’s
does, it would certainly be Dusky/Gloamy.
Other Characters
Adan, Thief of Fire: A (smaller) Fire Prelate, judging from his armor. Stole the Flame of the Fell
God incantation from Chief Guardian Arghanthy. Locked in a Liurnian Evergaol, by the Fire
Monks or someone else. It’s not really clear what was stolen, the knowledge itself or some sort
of written information detailing it. Whatever it was, he drops it on defeat.

Glintstone Dragon Adula: “Adula, a devourer of sorcerers, was bested by Ranni and
subsequently swore a knightly oath to her Dark Moon.”

Adula is still drawn to Ranni even after losing her mind. Like Smarag, her body is corrupted by
glintstone due to a diet consisting mostly of sorcerers.

Flying Dragon Agheel: Namesake of Agheel lake. Agheel is worshiped by the dead who dwell
in the lake, who pray for his flame to grant them a true death.

Albus: An old Albinauric. No secrets lie with him, not a one. Dies after giving us the Haligtree
medallion half.

Alecto, Black Knife Ringleader: Leader of the Black Knives during the eponymous Night of
the Black Knives. Her daughter, Tiche, was one of the Knives who slew him. Tiche was killed
protecting her mother during the escape, but it was for naught, as Alecto was captured
anyway.212

Mad Tongue Alberich: The invader on the lower floor of the Roundtable Hold. “An aloof yet
disturbed heretical sorcerer said to have been driven mad by jeering tongues during his service
to the Roundtable Hold long ago.” He is a user of frost and blood sorceries, and his armor is
embedded with red glintstone, formed from the blood of sacrifices (commonly used for blood
sorceries).

Iron Fist Alexander: A warrior jar from Jarburg, seeking to become a champion. The bodies of
many great warriors comprise his innards. He becomes stuck multiple times on his way to the
Radahn Festival, though he is capable of getting himself unstuck without our help, eventually.

He is cracked in the battle against Radahn, and so he seeks to repair himself in the lava of Mt.
Gelmir, and when that fails, the Forge of the Giants. Unfortunately this also fails, and so he
fights us, to ensure he dies an honorable death. After the fight, he bequeaths to us his innards,
presumably in hopes that they will be passed down to another warrior jar, and then he dies. The
innards can be given to Jar-Bairn.

Blackflame Monk Amon: Spirit ash.

212
Black Knife Tiche Ashes
“Amon swore fealty to the god-slaying black flame, and so became the first fire monk to turn
traitor.

Or perhaps it is better said that he fled from the Giants' Flame—out of cowardice.”

Anastasia, Tarnished-Eater: An “ogress” (ie. female ogre, ogres being the lesser omens we
find throughout the game). Anastasia disguises herself as a finger maiden to lure Tarnished into
her trap, and then eats them.213 Seems like she should be a Bloody Finger, but she is in fact a
Recusant, according to the text that appears when you kill her.

Chief Guardian Arghanthy: Lead guardian of the Guardians’ Garrison and wielder of the
One-Eyed Shield. Adan, Thief of Fire, stole the Flame of the Fell God incantation from him.
Wears a Marias Robe, which is “Customarily worn by the head of House Marais.”

Astel, Naturalborn of the Void/Stars of Darkness: “A malformed star born in the flightless
void far away.” The skull on its head partially masks the single large eye found on most
creatures from space.

Astel destroyed the Nameless Eternal City and stole their sky, found in its boss arena. It’s later
encountered again in Yelough Anix tunnel. Perhaps it occupies multiple bodies. It could be that
the rare Astel-like enemies that hang from the ceiling are in fact Astel itself.

Aurelia: The spirit jellyfish we summon with the Spirit Jellyfish Ashes. In search of her home,
and her twin sister, Aureliette, in the Stargazers’ Ruins. She promised her sister that the two of
them would see the stars when they turned fourteen.

The sisters were once human children. A pair of gravestones east of the ruins reads “Here lie
Aurelia and Aureliette, who never saw the stars.”

Bell Bearing Hunter: See Elemer of the Briar under Bosses.

Knight Bernahl: A Tarnished knight we first meet in the Warmaster’s Shack, who teaches us
ashes of war. Bernahl is a devout follower of the Golden Order, and swore an oath: "See
nothing, hear nothing, doubt nothing, and carry on, along the path set in stone."214 He is
described as “a champion worthy of becoming a Lord.”

Or he was, before his maiden “threw herself into the fire.”215 Was it suicide, or did she give
herself to some force, like the Frenzied Flame?

213
Butchering Knife
214
Beast Champion Helm
215
Beast Champion Set
It seems this happened during the events of the game, prompting Bernahl to rethink his faith
and become a Recusant. Though perhaps he was merely acting when we met him at the shack.

After the death of Rykard and fall of the Volcano Manor, Bernahl remains a Recusant. He
invades us in Crumbling Farum Azula. He drops the Blasphemous Claw- perhaps he intended
to challenge Maliketh himself.

Blackguard Big Boggart: A Tarnished, and a petty thug. When we first find him, he has stolen
Rya’s necklace. If we buy it back instead of fighting him, we can befriend him, and he sells us
boiled “prawn” (actually crayfish). Later he moves to the outer moat of Leyndell and sells us
boiled crab. The game notes that both the crayfish and crab are delicious.

Big Boggart, while in prison, witnessed the Dung Eater kill his friend and defile the corpse. The
experience traumatized him. Boggart himself can be killed by the Dung Eater, if he is present in
the outer moat when the Dung Eater invades us there. He desperately wishes to not be cursed.
We remove a seedbed curse from his body the moment he dies, possibly sparing him from the
curse (as it requires the seedbed curse to grow and the corpse to be defiled).

Blaidd the Half-Wolf: Loyal shadow of Ranni, described as her “stepbrother” (similarly to how
Maliketh, Marika’s shadow, is described as her “half-brother”). He was created when Ranni was
extremely young. Rennala approved of him, and he and Ranni were as siblings to each other.216

Though created to serve her and “incapable of treachery,” his weapon states that “in defiance of
the fate he was born to, Blaidd swore to serve no master but Ranni.” It would seem he was
created to be loyal to the Two Fingers above all else.

Knows Kalé somehow, and apparently spends his free time howling at nothing in Mistwood
Ruins. Perhaps there is a connection between the lupine tendency to howl at the moon and
Ranni’s Dark Moon (or Rennala’s Full Moon).

Blaidd is first met hunting down the Bloodhound Knight Darriwil, who betrayed Ranni in some
way. Someone has already locked Darriwil in an evergaol- apparently treachery is a habit of his.
But this isn’t good enough for Blaidd, who kills him, with our help.

Blaidd later goes to search for Nokron, and then participates in the Radahn Festival. After this,
Iji locks him in the Forlorn Hound evergaol, where we fought Darriwil. We can let him out, but he
eventually escapes on his own.

“Oh, it's you... It's me, Blaidd. Old Iji trapped me here. Told me I'd bring nought but bale to Lady
Ranni. But there's no chance that could happen. I'm part of her being. Her very shadow... I
thought old Iji knew as much... Honestly, I don't know what's going on anymore…”

Iji explains why he locked Blaidd in the Evergaol:

216
Iji dialogue
“The Two Fingers gave Blaidd to Lady Ranni, as a faithful follower. Her very shadow, incapable
of treachery. But if Lady Ranni, as an Empyrean, resists being an instrument of the Two Fingers,
the shadow will go mad, transforming from a follower into a horrid curse. But such is his destiny.
In such matters, Blaidd's own thoughts hold no weight. It pains me so, but he must be
neutralized. For Lady Ranni's sake.”

Iji is unfortunately correct. After Ranni’s quest, Blaidd snaps, and we have to put him down. He
is found at Ranni’s rise, surrounded by the corpses of several Black Knives.

The Blind Swordsman: A mysterious hero. Never encountered in the game.

In ancient times, the Blind Swordsman was bestowed a flowing sword by a “fairy,” garbed in
blue. With this sword, he sealed away the divine essence of the outer god of Rot in the Lake of
Rot,217 and most likely slew its servant, the ancient inner Goddess of Rot218.

The Blind Swordsman would later encounter Malenia, the new Goddess of Rot, and become her
mentor.219 He most likely sought to teach her to suppress the rot within. Under his guidance,
Malenia became a master of the sword.

But he failed, as Malenia eventually succumbed to it and became the new Goddess of Rot.

His fighting style is likened to a dance, and his sword, the Flowing Curved Sword, patterned
after flowing water. He mastered the guard counter, “the art of allowing one's opponent to strike
so as to leave them vulnerable to a well-timed reply.”220 The Blue Cloth set, worn by nomadic
warriors, is also designed to resemble flowing water. The Blind Swordsman is an ideal that such
warriors would aspire to.

The Nox also have weapons described as “flowing,” albeit in a much more literal sense. Also,
the Lake of Rot is also adjacent to the Eternal City of Nokstella. It’s not unlikely that he may
have been Nox or Numen. Also worth noting- as mentioned earlier, blindness is often
associated with outer gods.

We find his sword in one of the big casket-cart things being pulled by two trolls, in the
Consecrated Snowfield. Maybe he’s dead, or maybe he’s still out there somewhere.

Boc the Seamster: A demi-human seamster who misses his mother and possesses an
extremely poor self-image. We initially find Boc turned into a tree. How and why he is a tree is
one of the biggest mysteries of Elden Ring. Boc claims this is the doing of “some clod,” implying
the ability to do so is not even remarkable.

217
Blue Dancer Charm, Map (Lake of Rot)
218
Aeonian Butterfly
219
Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom
220
Curved Sword Talisman
He has, in some way, made enemies of the demi-humans in the Coastal Cave, who took his
sewing kit.

If we give him a larval tear at the end of his quest, he visits Rennala to be rebirthed into a
human, believing himself to be too ugly to be loved. But Rennala’s children are all “frail and
short-lived,”221 and so Boc dies shortly thereafter. Using the “You’re Beautiful” Prattling Pate
results in a much happier ending for him.

Bols, Carian Knight: A troll Carian Knight, captured by the Knights of the Cuckoo and
imprisoned in an Evergaol.

Borealis the Freezing Fog: An ice dragon, returned to their ancient home in the mountaintops
after the defeat of the giants.

Depraved Perfumer Carmaan: Spirit ash.

“Carmaan was a notably formidable perfumer whose strength rivaled that of heroes, and it is
said that he was in search of a secret physick of revivification.”

Brother Corhyn: A devout follower of Marika, the Two Fingers, and the Golden Order. Seeks
out the Noble Goldmask.

With our help, he eventually finds Goldmask, and deciphers how to read his fingers, declaring
himself Goldmask’s scribe. But Goldmask questions the Golden Order, whereas Corhyn refuses
to. This eventually leads him to a crisis of faith. We can offer him Tanith’s Tonic of Forgetfulness,
but he refuses it.

If we don’t try to give Corhyn the tonic, he can be found in Leyndell, Capital of Ash. Here, he
has declared Goldmask to be a madman and left him. But Corhyn is driven mad himself, unable
to reconcile the burning Erdtree and the infallibility of the Golden Order in his mind. If we did try
to give him the tonic, he is instead found at his previous location, the bridge near the
Stargazers’ Ruins. Here he is in a state of delirium, awaiting his master’s return. In either case
he is implied to die soon after.

Crepus: A Tarnished who was once “head confessor” of the Roundtable Hold, and served the
Two Fingers there as leader of the hold’s assassins, who hunted down Tarnished who strayed
from grace. He was utterly silent in his assassinations, and used a crossbow that fired bolts of
scarlet rot.

The D Twins: “The two known as D are inseparable twins.

221
Great Rune of the Unborn
They are of two bodies and two minds, but one single soul. Not once do they stand together; not
one word do they speak to one another.”222

“The inseparable twins found solace in the Golden Order, the only institution not to revile them
as accursed beings.”223

Perhaps their similarity to Marika and Radagon’s condition is what got them into the Golden
Order.

D, Hunter of the Dead, is the one encountered in Summonwater Village. He soon after moves to
Roundtable Hold and sells us two Golden Order incantations. Known to be friends with Rogier,
but while Rogier seeks to save Those Who Live in Death, D and his brother are zealots who
only want to eradicate them. Allied with Gurranq, as their goals align.

Eventually Fia gives you D’s Weathered Dagger. Returning it to him for some reason allows her
to kill him, and flee the Roundtable Hold. You can then pick up his armor.

“[The dagger] is a very precious thing. It must have a special place in the owner's heart.” –Fia

The other twin is D, Beholder of Death.224 He can be found in the Siofra Aqueduct, apparently in
a poor mental state. We can give him his brother’s armor after receiving the Mending Rune of
the Death Prince from Fia, which will cause him to move to Deeproot Depths and avenge his
brother by “killing” Fia, who was already dead. He is implied to die after this.

Bloodhound Knight Darriwil: A man who betrayed Ranni in some unknown way. He was
locked in the Forlorn Hound evergaol, apparently by someone else, as Blaidd has difficulty
finding him. It seems he made a lot of enemies.

Stormhawk Deenh: Spirit ash. A stormhawk, and faithful servant of the Stormhawk King, long
ago.

Dolores the Sleeping Arrow: A Tarnished of the Roundtable Hold and mutual friend of Gideon
and Seluvis, who had a falling out over her. Seluvis has since turned her into a puppet. Probably
a follower of St. Trina- she uses St. Trina’s arrows and “dressed in the style of a man,” for
reasons likely related to St. Trina’s androgynousness.

The Dung Eater: The loathsome man himself, who murdered thousands and defiled their
corpses with the Omen curse. He does the work of the Formless Mother, whether he’s aware of
it or not (he can be summoned for Mohg’s fight in the sewers, interestingly). He defiles only the
weak and defenseless, those who can’t fight back. If we feed him Seluvis’s potion, he meets his

222
Twinned Armor Set
223
Inseparable Sword
224
His name on the map
own end this way, helpless and despairing. An appropriate end for him (and we get a decent
spirit ash out of it).

His sword is made from the spine of the giant Milos, who was “undersized for a giant, and was
viewed as sullied and terribly grotesque.” His armor is made to resemble an omen with its horns
cut off.

“Worn by the Dung Eater, their form is a vision of the landscape of his mind, and of his
appearance as he wished to see it.

The heart of an omen without the body to match; could there be any crueler existence? What
does it matter, then, if the curse claims at all?”

He was hanged, according to the intro cinematic, but brought back by Grace.

In the Lands Between, he works mostly in Leyndell, where we find his body locked away in the
sewers, repeatedly bashing his head into the wall. His spirit in Roundtable Hold is more
cognizant. After we defeat him as an invader, he seems to have somehow captured and tied up
himself, and he’s back in the sewer gaol. We can help him finish his life’s work by stuffing him
full of his own seedbed curses, until a cursed Mending Rune coalesces, which we can then use
on the Elden Ring to defile Order itself.

“The heavy, sun-shaped medallion represents both the guidance he once saw, and the ring to
which it will one day lead.”225

We find a seedbed curse in the Volcano Manor, leaving us to speculate what exactly happened.
It seems unlikely he was a Recusant- the Recusants hunt people who can fight back, and the
Dung Eater wouldn’t have served any master who wasn’t of similar defilement-oriented mind.
We can imagine he was too repulsive even for Rykard to devour.

Another two can be found in Miquella’s Haligtree. The place Gideon Ofnir went to such extreme
lengths to reach, it seems the Dung Eater just walked in, killed and defiled a couple people, and
left.

More on his ending in the endings section.

The Dusk-Eyed Queen: An Empyrean “chosen by the fingers,”226 also known as the
Gloam-Eyed Queen (I am told this is a translation error and the two are one and the same).
After the Rune of Death was removed from the Golden Order upon its creation, she somehow
came into possession of it, and with it she conjured the God-Slaying Black Flame and founded
the Godskin Apostles. Fan theories speculate she is Melina, Ranni, or Marika herself, but there

225
Omen Armor
226
Black Flame Ritual
are a number of problems with all of these theories (I don’t think Ranni or Melina would skin a
baby, for instance). I believe she is her own being, though likely related to Marika in some way.

She was defeated by Maliketh, who took the Rune of Death and sealed it away. With this, she
lost her control over the Godskin Apostles. She may have died outright, but the present tense
used by the godskin swaddling cloth implies she still lives and works with them.

A possible connection with Fia: “The Apostles were all embraced by the Gloam-Eyed Queen,
and the black flame was their armor within.”227

Castellan Edgar/Edgar the Revenger: Father of Irina. Warden and defender of Castle Morne,
as appointed by Godrick, and seemingly the only person with a positive opinion of him. The
castle’s Misbegotten slaves have rebelled, either because of mistreatment, or just because they
went insane like everything else.

Irina is killed by the Misbegotten while Edgar is at the castle, and he sets out on a path of
revenge. He later dies invading us at the Revenger’s Shack, where he uses the Flame of Frenzy
and drops a Shabriri grape.

Interestingly, the grape drops from him if he is killed at any point, though you have to reload the
area. He doesn’t use Frenzied Flame if attacked before the Revenger’s Shack.

It might just be that the grape drops so Hyetta’s questline doesn’t become incompletable,
though this would be a bit odd, because it’s a non-essential questline and there are many others
you can be locked out of (for reasons that aren’t wanton murder).

Decaying Ekzykes: Rotting white dragon who guards the Cathedral of Dragon Communion.
Seeks revenge on those who would eat the hearts of his brethren.

“Ekzykes, Dragon Communion Revenger, did not forget his hatred even as he succumbed to the
scarlet rot.”

Elden Beast: Sent to the world on a golden star by the Greater Will. It became the Elden Ring,
which became part of Marika, who Radagon became. Simple stuff, really. Its body is composed
of the same aether-stuff used by gravity magic and other creatures from space, as well as a sort
of skeleton made up by the golden amber that is the Elden Ring itself.

With the Ring itself shattered, it may be that the Elden Beast we fight is only a fragment of the
complete Ring/Beast.

“It was the vassal beast of the Greater Will and living incarnation of the concept of Order.”

Wields the Sacred Relic Sword:

227
Black Flame’s Protection
“Sword wrought from the remains of a god who should have lived a life eternal.

Thoughts on what the weapon portends are many and varied. Some consider it the mark of a
great sin, or a sign of great devastation. Some think of it as the end of an age, while others; the
beginning.”

Whatever its purpose, the sword’s asymmetrical hilt depicts a skeletal being performing the
Inner Order gesture (D’s twin brother gives us this gesture). Well, kind of- the right hand is
extended, but the left hand is instead pressed against its side.

It’s hard to tell, but the skeleton resembles a dragon’s more than a human’s. The size and
shape of the torso, the elongated fingers, and most obviously the two very long necks which
make up the blade of the sword, intertwined in the manner of Dragonlord Placidusax, all
resemble that of a dragon. So, the god it was made out of was probably Placidusax’s.

The intertwined double-blade also resembles that of the Inseparable Sword (also from D’s twin
brother) and the Godslayer’s Greatsword.

Elemer of the Briar: Also known as the “Bell Bearing Hunter.” Elemer is a murderer of
merchants and instructors, and invades us at the locations of various merchants. He comes
from Eochaid, a land of “proudly solitary ascetics.”

Elemer was once slated for execution at the Shaded Castle. His distinctive thorns were used to
mark him as one who was guilty and sentenced to death. But he escaped. He stole the Marias
Executioner’s Sword and “furnished it with battle skills” from Eochaid. He also incorporated the
thorns into his armor.

Elemer took over the Shaded Castle. It’s unknown if he did this immediately after escaping his
execution, or if he returned to it later.

Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger: Invader at the Second Church of Marika. From the Land of
Reeds. She appears to have been a Drake Knight.

Former lover of Yura, before she became a Bloody Finger. Alas, she is beyond saving, she kills
Yura and we put her down shortly thereafter.

Banished Knight Engvall: Spirit ash. A banished knight, he and Oleg made up the “wings of
the storm.” When the two were invited to serve Morgott, Engvall refused, instead “keeping watch
over a masterless castle for many years, gaining renown as a hero of the fringes.”

Finger Reader Enia: A Finger Reader Maiden, presumably one of some renown, as she is the
one who directly interprets the words of the Two Fingers. Apparently immortal, though like
Hewg, she dies with the Hold. It would seem that Enia realized the fallibility of the Greater Will
and the Two Fingers at some point in her long existence; she encourages us to commit a
cardinal sin and burn the Erdtree, something unthinkable for other Finger Reader Maidens.
Ensha of the Royal Remains: The “Edge, Lord” of Roundtable Hold, and Gideon Ofnir’s
assassin. Gideon has him try to kill us when we find the first half of the Haligtree Medallion.

He is named after “an ancient lord - the soulless king. The lord of the lost and desperate, who
was known as Ensha.” His armor is made of this ancient king’s bones.

Esgar, Priest of Blood: Follower of Mohg, found in the Leyndell Catacombs. We can find his
greathood as a painting reward in the Mountaintops of the Giants, which has an interesting
description:

“Hood far larger than the head it is meant to cover. A burial shroud of sorts for those who
discover, at long last, the truth they sought.

Increases intelligence and faith to the detriment of HP.

‘Yes, surely this is the moon that young Rennala gazed upon.’”

The Fell Twins: Twin omens who trap us in a bizarre dark realm on the bridge to the Divine
Tower of East Altus. One is horned (and helpfully waits for us to finish off its sibling before
attacking), the other is not. Obviously meant to foreshadow Morgott’s twin brother, but
inexplicable beyond that.

Fia, the Deathbed Companion: “I was known as a Deathbed Companion, where I come from.
After I received the warmth and lifely vigor from a number of champions, I lay with the remains
of an exalted noble, to grant him another chance at life. To do so is the purpose of my being. But
before I could bear the noble into new life, I was awakened by the guidance of grace, and
chased from my birthplace.”

Probably a GRRM contribution. It seems Fromsoft backed off from the sexual/necrophile stuff
surrounding her entire character and replaced it with a hug, or sleeping next to a corpse instead
of with it. Probably for the better.

She considers herself one of Those Who Live in Death, and desires to become “mother” and
“guardian” to them. Specifically, she wishes to bear the child of the Prince of Death (formerly
Godwyn); a child who is also Godwyn himself, and also a Mending Rune. The Mending Rune is
what she ultimately produces.

Ironically she seems to be the only one of the Tarnished in the intro to have never died (except
maybe Goldmask?), instead being awakened by grace while she still lived. Why did this get her
chased from her birthplace? Perhaps because it revealed her as Tarnished.

Friend(???) of Rogier and “daughter” of Lionel the Lionhearted, who proclaimed himself her
father after she was already an adult for some reason.
She kills D, a hunter of Those Who Live in Death. It seems D found and retrieved one of the two
Hallowbrands in Summonwater Village. Fia needs both Hallowbrands to produce the Mending
Rune, and D is a threat to her people anyway, so she kills him. It’s unclear how giving him the
Weathered Dagger allows her to do this.

“Finally, it is returned to its rightful place. The stolen hallowbrand, of the exalted noble. And now,
I must bid you goodbye as well. Though I ask you deliver this message to the Roundtable Hold.
I am Fia, Deathbed Companion. Hark, Roundtable. Disturb not the Death of Godwyn, the
exalted. We, who humbly live in Death...Live in waiting, to one day welcome our Lord. What
right does anyone have to object? Our Lord will rise. The Lord of the many, and the meek.”

Her hug bestows the Baldachin’s Blessing on us, the “protection of a hidden temple in the guise
of a bedchamber“ (a baldachin is a ceremonial canopy placed over an altar). It would seem she
also steals some of our “warmth and lifely vigor” with the hug, as the Baldachin’s Blessing being
in our inventory gives us a small max HP debuff.

She is able to summon the spirits of the warriors she has embraced, known as Fia’s
Champions, including Rogier and Lionel.

More on her ending in the endings section.

Cleanrot Knight Finlay: A spirit ash. When Malenia fell comatose after the battle of Aeonia,
Finlay single-handedly brought her back to the Haligtree. She presumably passed from scarlet
rot.

Bloodhound Knight Floh: Spirit ash, known as “the Rabid Stray.” “Floh vowed that there was
only one lord he would ever serve: a true king. And so, the Rabid Stray never found a master.”

The Fire Giant: The only known Fire Giant survivor of the war against the giants. The Fire
Giants had been cursed to forever guard the Flame of Ruin, but were released from their curse
when they all died. Except our unfortunate survivor, who was re-cursed to defend it by Marika.

"O trifling giant, mayest thou tend thy flame for eternity."

His leg was injured at some point, and he supports it with a crude brace. After we break it fully,
he tears it off and burns it to awaken the power of the Fell God within him.

Lichdragon Fortissax: Non-gendered sibling of Lansseax. Fortissax was defeated and

subsequently befriended by Godwyn the Golden during the attack on Leyndell. They and
Lansseax established the Ancient Dragon Cult in the capital.

Fortissax fought against the Death within Godwyn, but failed and became the Lichdragon, a sort
of lingering spirit within his mind or something? It’s not entirely clear.
If female, was very likely consort to Godwyn.

Necromancer Garris: Titular heretical sage of the Sage’s Cave. Garris wields a flail designed
to resemble the heads of his wife and two children, who we can imagine probably met some
terrible fate. He also rediscovered the ancient death hex Rancorcall.

Inquisitor Ghiza: One of Rykards former inquisitors, noted for his iconic wheel weapon, which
he also used as a torture device. The wheel weapons used by the Iron Virgins are based on it.

Along with every other Inquisitor, Ghiza turned on Rykard when he fed himself to the Serpent.
Invades us in the main area of Volcano Manor, just above where Tanith is, probably seeking to
put an end to it.

God-Devouring Serpent: The giant snake of Mt. Gelmir that Rykard fed himself to. Though the
serpent is seemingly the weaker of the two, in truth the real Rykard died when he was
consumed228, and the “Rykard” we fight is just another face of the serpent. It has also devoured
countless others.

There are many “serpents” mentioned, it’s very likely but not entirely certain that these all
reference the same entity. God-Devouring Serpent/great serpent, elder serpent, ancient serpent
deity/serpent-god, Eiglay, and just “the snake.”

There are few accounts of its history, only that “the snake is viewed as a traitor to the
Erdtree,”229 and “it is said that long ago, the elder serpent that dwelled on Mt. Gelmir devoured a
demigod, and the birth of the man-serpents followed.”230 These incidents were perhaps related.
Worship of the “ancient serpent deity” has been long forgotten everywhere else, but is still
practiced by the Man-Serpents of Mt. Gelmir.231

Is the serpent a real god? Its power feels underwhelming for a god, but then again we only have
one other god to measure it against. And we aren’t truly able to kill it, at least according to
Rykard and Tanith (hence “DEMI-GOD SLAIN,” we only slew Rykard and even then only kind
of). If it is a true god, Rykard would be a true Lord.

The Noble Goldmask: A philosopher of sorts, and Golden Order Fundamentalist. Wears a gold
mask “designed to resemble a blazing golden halo” (hence the name, obviously), and minimal
other clothing (though what he does wear is made of solid gold). He only communicates through
the movement of his finger, similar to the two fingers, and requires an interpreter to read it.

228
Devourer’s Scepter
229
Duelist Helm
230
Man-Serpent Ashes
231
Serpent-God’s Curved Sword
All his followers seem to eventually leave him.232 Is this because of his eccentricities, or does his
wisdom contain uncomfortable truths?

It’s hard to tell from the intro cinematic if he died before being awakened by Grace and traveling
to the Lands Between.

I’ve written more about Goldmask and his ending in the endings section.

Gatekeeper Gostoc: An extremely suspicious servant of Godrick, whom Gostoc despises for
“looking down on him.” He once tries to kill us by shutting us in a dark room with a knight.

Gostoc is a simple man, whose only desire is to loot corpses and sell what he finds. Well, that
and stepping on Godrick’s corpse repeatedly.

Cut content implies he was intended to be the son of Godrick, and we could choose him over
Nepheli (and perhaps Kenneth) to become the next ruler of Limgrave. This was presumably cut
because nobody would choose Gostoc.

The Gloam-Eyed Queen: See the Dusk-Eyed Queen.

Gowry: A Kindred of Rot disguised as an old sage. Raised Millicent and her four sisters to turn
them into scarlet valkyries, but in the end only Millicent shows the potential to become one. He
believes it is her fate to follow in the footsteps of her mother, Malenia.

If Millicent removes the needle, Gowry despairs that she, like her mother, has abandoned “we
children of the scarlet rot.”

Gransax: The gigantic petrified dragon above Leyndell. It led (and was killed in) the attack on
the city, which began the war against the dragons.

The Great-Jar: A big pot. We don’t get any information about it, other than it has its own
knights. It could probably annihilate us or anyone else in a fight.

Flying Dragon Greyll: Not to be confused with its mother, Greyoll. Greyll is a dragon who
guards a bridge in the Dragonbarrow.

Greyoll: The gigantic dragon in the Dragonbarrow. Called the “Mother of All Dragons,” though
probably only in a figurative sense (“mother of all x” usually meaning “the biggest x”). She is
immobile, dying of scarlet rot. All she can do is call the lesser dragons nearby to protect her.

Recusant Henricus: An early game invader. He wears the Eye Surcoat, signifying that he is
among the “eyes and ears” of Gideon Ofnir. Later we find an Eye Surcoat that was likely his in

232
Goldmask’s Set
Rykard’s boss arena, implying he was fed to the serpent, like all of the Manor’s champions
eventually are.

The question remains though, was he still loyal to Gideon as a Recusant? If Gideon was allied
with Rykard in some capacity, it could explain all the Albinaurics being tortured in the volcano.

Smithing Master Hewg: A man resembling, but not quite, a Misbegotten. Perhaps a
half-Misbegotten?

Hewg is extremely devout but also terrified of Marika. He has sworn to forge a weapon for her
that can slay a god. Specifically, Marika herself.

Though a prisoner (for reasons unknown), Hewg has no desire to leave the Roundtable Hold.
He says he is “undying.” It would seem this supposed immortality is tied to the Hold; when it
begins to burn, Hewg begins to die. Out of respect for his wishes, Roderika doesn’t make him
leave.

“What use have I for freedom now? I smith weapons to slay a god. I have lived, and will die,
doing so, upon this spot.

Is there any other way?”

Diallos Hoslow: “The tale of House Hoslow is told in blood.” Diallos repeats this quote nearly
every time we speak to him. While meant to imply the tragic and bloodstained history of his
house (as his brother understands it), Diallos, inexperienced with bloodshed, instead takes it to
mean something like “House Hoslow is badass.”

Diallos lives in the shadow of his older and much more accomplished brother, Juno Hoslow, who
“showered him with adoration.” Diallos, by contrast, was “all talk and no trousers.”233

Searches for his lost servant, finds her killed by a Recusant, and sets out to the Volcano Manor
for revenge. His longing to tell the tale of his house in blood makes it easy for Tanith to convince
him to join them instead.

But Diallos soon realizes he’s been duped, and leaves. He finds himself in Jarburg, where he
becomes “potentate” and looks after the jars, until he is killed defending them from a poacher.
Jar-Bairn is the only one he’s able to save, but he, if no one else, looks up to Diallos.

Juno Hoslow: Diallos’s older and much more accomplished brother who “showered him with
adoration.” Described as “a stern, self-possessed man of a few words.”

233
Hoslow’s Helm
Juno received an invitation to the Volcano Manor, but turned it down.234 He is the final target that
Tanith has us assassinate.

Battlemage Hugues: “Haima scholars seek to quell conflict with cannon fire and the gavel, but
Hugues developed a longing for it.”

Locked in the Sellia Evergaol. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to the academy that such
scholars would use their powers for violence.

Hyetta: A blind or nearly blind (three) finger maiden who looks identical to Irina, and appears
after Irina’s death.

Apart from her mysterious nature as a copy of Irina, she has a fairly straightforward quest.
Acolytes of the Frenzied Flame feed her their eyes (“grapes”) to guide her to the Frenzied Flame
Proscription, beneath Leyndell. She initially doesn’t seem to know much about the Frenzied
Flame, but eventually becomes sympathetic to their plight (of “destroy the world”).

Seemingly dies after receiving the words of the Three Fingers.

War Counselor Iji: A friendly troll who serves as the Carian royal blacksmith and “war
counselor.” Close friends with Jerren. One of Ranni’s most loyal servants, and wears a helm
similar to the Nox Mirrorhelm to ward off the intervention of the Greater Will’s vassals.

“And funny thing, his swords were all blunt as stone. But not one of them decayed when faced
with the scarlet rot…”235

Iji, fearing that Blaidd will soon lose his mind, locks him in the Forlorn Hound Evergaol after the
Radahn Festival. But, even after his fears are proven correct, he believes this to have been a
terrible mistake on his part.

“Unthinkable, how could Blaidd… How did he break free from his cell? No, more importantly…
Blaidd became a curse that plagued Lady Ranni, yet in madness, gave himself to her. I’ve made
a grave misjudgement. And I thought myself a capable war counselor… I’ll catch up with you
soon enough, Blaidd. When I do, I only hope you’ll accept my apology.”

The next time we see Iji, he is dead, burning with Black Flame. His body is surrounded by the
corpses of three Black Knife assassins. As per the dialogue above, it seems he was somehow
aware this was about to happen.

Blaidd and Iji were both attacked by Black Knives. Unlike Iji, Blaidd won the fight, but went mad
shortly thereafter. Who would want them dead? It wasn’t Ranni- either of them would’ve died for
her if they had to, yet both of them fought back against their assailants. Nor was it the Two

234
Hoslow’s Set
235
Jerren dialogue
Fingers of the Roundtable Hold or some other vassal of the Greater Will’s- they wouldn’t have
waited until after Ranni already killed her Two Fingers, and the Black Knives wouldn’t have done
dirty work on the Greater Will’s behalf.

A possibility is that the Black Knives themselves needed them dead. They are “Scions of the
Eternal City,” where we took Fingerslayer Blade from. Maybe they were trying to take it back, or
to cover their tracks, or to punish Ranni for taking it.

Iji wears a Mirrorhelm similar to those of the Nox, designed to ward off the intervention of the
Greater Will and its vassals. It states “Iji was afraid. Terrified of his own treachery.”

Inaba, Disciple of Okina: A character summoned multiple times by the snails of Spiritcaller
Cave. Safe to assume he’s from the Land of Reeds (also a disciple of Okina), but we get no
further information about him.

Irina of Morne: Daughter of Edgar. Gives us a letter and then dies, killed by a Misbegotten.
Receiving the letter is required to cause Hyetta to appear.

Old Knight Istavan: Volcano Manor assassination target. All we’re told about him is “Istavan is
one of a few wizened Tarnished who survive to this day.”

Jar-Bairn: “Bairn” meaning “child.” Jar-Bairn is a young jar from Jarburg, who idolizes his uncle
Alexander and wishes to follow his path, to become a warrior jar. He also looks up to Diallos,
who dies defending Jarburg from a poacher.

Jar-Bairn seems to be the only survivor of the poacher’s attack. We bequeath Alexander’s
innards to him. We can only hope he lives up to the example his heroes set for him.

Jarwight: A strange, nameless man who sought to join the innards of Alexander. Instead, he
was turned into a puppet by Seluvis.

“The warrior jar once told the nameless man this:

‘You are not yet ready to join the warriors inside. No, you must apply yourself! Better yourself,
and one day I will return for you.’”

He wears a pot on his head and nothing else, making him look identical to noted Elden Ring
fanbase celebrity Let Me Solo Her. Better himself he did, at least in this imagined fan-canon.

Witch-Hunter Jerren: An “eccentric,” as described by his armor. His beard and mustache are a
part of his mask.

Jerren was once a nomadic knight. He spent time among the Carian royals, including Ranni,
during or prior to the Shattering. During this time, he is implied to have hunted Sellen (an enemy
of the Carians), but failed to kill her because of her immortality, instead imprisoning her in the
Witchbane Ruins.

His title is “Witch-Hunter,” but the only witch he hunts is Sellen. In fact, “witch” is a prestigious
title among the sorcerers of the Lands Between.236 He’s on good terms with Ranni, herself a
witch.

He would then go to Caelid to serve Radahn (himself a Carian royal) as a guest commander.237
Radahn and Jerren “swore an oath of honorable death to one another.”238 After the war ended
and Radahn lost his mind, Jerren remained in Redmane Castle and hosted the Radahn Festival
in hopes of one day delivering Radahn his honorable death.

When asked about Jerren after the Radahn Festival, Iji tells us that “now the time has come to
remind him of an old promise made. With the stars of fate set into motion, a certain sorceress is
dispossessed of her immortality... Finally, we can be rid of a longstanding Carian weed…”

Jerren doesn’t need to be reminded. He immediately gets back to the business of hunting down
Sellen, the Graven Witch. We can choose which of them to help at the end of Sellen’s quest. If
we help Sellen and kill Jerren, we get the message “BLOODY FINGER VANQUISHED.” This is
probably a mistake.

He is close with Iji.

Merchant Kalé: The game’s only named merchant. Apparently on friendly terms with Blaidd.

Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff: Spirit ash. “Earned the hero's honor of Erdtree Burial for the
feat of capturing Godefroy the Grafted.”

Kenneth Haight: Rightful ruler of Limgrave. Somehow, he found a way to pacify and
communicate with the local demi-humans. However, he is driven from his fort by a Stormveil
knight commander who serves Mohg, who kills the demi-human queen, making the
demi-humans go feral.

Not a bad person, but kind of an asshole and obviously full of himself, at first. Dislikes the
Tarnished. Character develops over his very short questline, and the eventual lord he chooses
is Nepheli Loux, a Tarnished.

Ancient Dragon Lansseax: Sister of Fortissax, and became an ally of the Erdtree Capital when
Fortissax did. Here, she took the form of a human priestess and helped found the Ancient
Dragon Cult.239

236
Witch’s Glintstone Crown
237
Eccentric’s Armor
238
Eccentric’s Hood
239
Lansseax’s Glaive
Vyke was her favorite knight.

Latenna the Albinauric: Albinauric archer woman, who set out on a journey from the land of
Miquella’s Haligtree to the Village of the Albinaurics in Liurnia. She seeks to deliver a “birthing
droplet” to her “young yet towering sister” Phillia240 in the Apostate Derelict, which will enable
her to birth more Albinaurics.

The human-like Albinaurics cannot walk, so Latenna and the Albinauric archers like her get
around by riding wolves. Latenna’s wolf was Lobo, but he was killed by Gideon Ofnir along with
the entire Village of the Albinaurics, in an attempt to find one half of the Haligtree medallion.

If summoned near some specific type of wolves (such as those outside the boss arena of Royal
Knight Loretta), Latenna is able to ride them.

Lhutel the Headless: Spirit ash. She “leads the mausoleum soldiers,” it’s unclear if she leads
all of them or just the soldiers of one particular mausoleum (namely the one on the Weeping
Peninsula, where she is found). While refusing to return to the Erdtree after death is normally
considered “unthinkable” and even evil, apparently this was not the case for the defenders of
the walking mausoleums. Lhutel earned an Erdtree burial for her sacrifice.

Lionel the Lionhearted: A strange knight in heavy armor, who declared himself to be Fia’s
father. He is one of her champions. Also a Radahn Festival participant.

Royal Knight Loretta/Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree: An Albinauric who became a Carian
Knight, apparently having judged Liurnia to be the safest place for her people. While Rennala
may have known Loretta was an Albinauric, it was hidden from the people of Liurnia.241

After the Carians fell and Liurnia became (more) unsafe for the Albinaurics, Loretta set off on a
long journey to find a place for her people to live in peace,242 and eventually determined the
Haligtree was their best chance.243 She became a leader among the Haligtree knights.

Nepheli Loux: Adopted daughter of Sir Gideon Ofnir, who he describes as “a mere axe-wielding
barbarian.” Lives her life guided by the principles Gideon instilled in her, despite not believing in
these principles himself (though perhaps he did, at some point).

“Oh, it's you... Well, what do you make of it? What's happened to this village? I witnessed a
sight much the same, in my infancy. The oppression of the weak. Murder and pillage
unchecked. A waking nightmare, made by men.”

240
Latenna says her name if killed
241
Heavily implied by the Silver Mirrorshield
242
Loretta’s Mastery
243
Royal Knight Set
The “nightmare” she once witnessed may have been what orphaned her. Her Stormhawk axes
are described as the “signature weapon of warriors who strive to remain one with the storm,
despite being so far from their place of birth,” and she once kept a hawk (likely a Stormhawk) as
a companion.

She appears to be a fairly young warrior of the Badlands, though an accomplished one- the
Champion’s Headband she wears is “Proof that the wearer has slaughtered countless foes.“
Gideon took her in when she “lost the guidance of grace,” presumably after she was already an
adult or nearly an adult and had already traveled to the Lands Between.

Nepheli comes to question her father after discovering his actions in the Village of the
Albinaurics, leading to her disownment. After this, we can give her the ashes of the Stormhawk
King, an ancient stormhawk who once ruled Stormveil Castle. Nepheli then moves to Stormveil
and becomes its lord (or lady, more accurately), with the approval of Kenneth Haight.

She is most likely a descendant of Godfrey/Horah Loux, obviously given her surname. Kenneth
searches for a “true and stalwart lord of the proper lineage.” He believes that Godrick is the last
of Godfrey’s line, the Golden Lineage. If Nepheli is truly a descendent of Godfrey, and therefore
a part of the lost Golden Lineage of which Kenneth was previously unaware, she would certainly
fit his lineage requirements.

Or perhaps he was fooled by the name, or he simply judged her fit to rule and didn’t care about
her lineage. It’s odd that Kenneth doesn’t remark on it, and also odd that Gideon found no more
use for the only known surviving member of the Golden Lineage beyond as a “mere
axe-wielding barbarian.”

You can give her Seluvis’s potion instead of the Stormhawk King if you’re an asshole, turning
her into a puppet.

“A diamond in the rough, deserving of special care lest its potential be squandered. Nepheli
Loux truly was a warrior.”

Maleigh Marais, Shaded Castle Castellan: Head of House Marias of the Shaded Castle.

House Marias is a family of executioners, of which the sons are all “sickly born.”244 This is what
drove Maleigh to develop an obsession with Malenia, to the point of worshiping her as a
goddess. At some point in the recent past, scarlet rot was “an old legend,” of which Maleigh was
a private believer,245 we can imagine he was captivated by Malenia when she brought it back.
He somehow came into possession of an old prosthesis of (probably) hers, at one point.246

244
Marias Robe
245
Antspur Rapier
246
Valkyrie’s Prosthesis
His obsession with Malenia was, in part, responsible for the downfall of his house and castle.
Also responsible was Elemer of the Briar, a man who escaped his near execution and stole the
Executioner’s Sword of House Marias. Elemer went on to take over the castle, driving Maleigh
out.

Millicent (and her sisters): Malenia had at least five daughters, born in the Swamp of
Aeonia:247 Mary, Maureen, Amy, Pollyanna, and Millicent. They were probably not born through
natural means- unless Malenia gave birth to five different daughters in the middle of a war and
then left them all in a rotting swamp. Here, they were raised by Gowry, a pest in the guise of a
human, who intended for them to blossom into “scarlet valkyries.”

But in the end, only Millicent has the potential to become a scarlet valkyrie. Miquella’s
incomplete unalloyed gold needle is necessary for the process, which resists the scarlet rot to a
degree, so that Millicent doesn’t rot away into nothing before blossoming. By the time we deliver
it to her, she has forgotten Gowry and her sisters entirely.

Millicent resists the call of the scarlet rot, and she seeks to return to Malenia this intangible will
to resist the rot that she abandoned to “meet Radahn’s measure.” With our help, she almost
makes it to Malenia- until she is attacked by her four sisters, brought to the Haligtree by Gowry.
We can continue to help her, and kill her sisters, but upon doing so, she realizes Gowry’s plot
and removes the needle herself, rotting into nothing. Strangely, upon defeating her sisters the
message “BLOODY FINGER VANQUISHED” appears.

But if we kill her (as Gowry begs us to), the “despair of sweet betrayal” is enough to cause her
to let in the Rot. She blossoms into a scarlet flower, like Malenia, from which she will one day
emerge a scarlet valkyrie.248

Interestingly, Millicent wears the same clothing as Melina and uses a weapon similar to Melina’s
Blade of Calling.

She can also be encountered in the Swamp of Aeonia, as an invader. The reason for this is
unknown. As an invader, she still has both of her arms.

Preceptor Miriam: The sorceress who attacks us twice in the Carian Study Hall. Probably
affiliated with the Carians. She uses (and drops) only Carian sorceries.

Miriel, Pastor of Vows: Fan-favorite character turtle pope. Miriel is a gentle old soul, well
versed in sorceries, incantations, history, and religion, and willing to pass down his knowledge.

Bloody Finger Nerijus: Invader in the early game. During the fight, Yura arrives to assist us.

247
Rotten Winged Sword Insignia
248
Millicent’s Prosthesis
Commander Niall: “Commander Niall, veteran of Castle Sol, offered this prosthesis in
exchange for the lives of defeated knights held prisoner. He went on to lead these men as an
army of no nation.”

“Veteran general of Sol,” missing a leg. Whoever he offered his prosthesis to, he eventually took
it back from.

Niall had or took a master at some point, implied to be the Soulless Demigod that Castle Sol
tried to resurrect. The master and everyone else in the castle was killed, possibly slaughtered
by Marika when she deemed fit to sacrifice the demigod. Niall was the sole survivor, and he
remained in the castle, summoning the spirits of the dead to defend his master.

Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing: Tarnished and senior member of the Roundtable Hold. The
Two Fingers have very high expectations for him;249 most likely, he is the Tarnished closest to
becoming Elden Lord, before our arrival.

While he initially seems to be kind of an asshole, in truth, he’s a murderous sociopath.

Gideon is obsessed with Miquella, who is “the one thing that remains a mystery” to him.
Perhaps Miquella’s awakening also represents a threat to his ambitions of becoming Elden
Lord.

Apparently unable to reach Miquella’s Haligtree through any other means, Gideon goes to great
lengths to acquire the Haligtree Medallion. His men destroy the Village of the Albinaurics and
slaughter all the inhabitants in an attempt to find half of it. Gideon is the one who killed Lobo,
Latenna’s wolf companion, in an attempt to extract information about the medallion halves.
Acquiring the first half of the medallion is the trigger for his servant, Ensha, to attack us in the
Roundtable Hold.

Nepheli is his adopted daughter, though he has a low opinion of her. When she finds out what
he did to the Albinauric village and kills his “pawns,” he disowns her. (The pawns probably being
some of his men left in the village, and the Omenkiller if she helped us for that fight)

“Knowledge begins with the recognition of one's ignorance. The realization that the search for
knowledge is unending. But when Gideon glimpsed into the will of Queen Marika, he shuddered
in fear.

At the end that should not be.”250

Gideon comes to oppose a Tarnished taking the throne, and attacks us at the end of the game.
We don’t know when it is he “glimpsed into the will of Queen Marika”. It could’ve been many

249
Enia dialogue
250
All-Knowing Set
years ago, but he may have simply snuck into the Erdtree before us after the wall of thorns was
burned away.

He doesn’t even seem to believe he can win the fight, he only attacks us because he believes
it’s what Marika wants. Gideon doesn’t seem to have been a devout follower of Marika before
this, so it’s likely he has simply lost his mind.

We get little information on him before the events of the game. He died of causes unknown
before being reawakened by grace- perhaps of old age. Maybe he wasn’t always a sociopath,
but was driven mad from his long years in the Lands Between.

“Gideon gained true knowledge after his long exchange with the two Fingers - discovering all
had been broken long ago; that the trembling fingers, bent with age, and the Erdtree itself, were
no exception.”251

Gideon is a rival of Seluvis. While they were once friends, they had a falling out over Dolores
the Sleeping Arrow. Gideon thinks of Seluvis as a “bastard” and “dolly botherer.”

Redmane Knight Ogha: Spirit ash.

“The longest-serving member of the Redmane Knights, Ogha studied techniques to manipulate
gravity alongside Radahn.”

Bloody Finger Okina: Great swordsman of the Land of Reeds, madman, and servant of Mohg.
Also a participant in the Radahn festival. Okina is the one responsible for inflicting Rivers of
Blood upon us, and for that, there can be no forgiveness.

“When Mohg, the Lord of Blood, first felt Okina's sword, and madness, upon his flesh, he had a
proposal to offer Okina: the life of a demon, whose thirst would never go unsated.”

Banished Knight Oleg: Spirit ash. A banished knight, he and Engvall made up the “wings of
the storm.” Morgott invited both of them to serve him, but only Oleg accepted. He slew “a
hundred traitors” at his lord’s behest, earning him an Erdtree Burial.

Commander O’Neil: A commander in the Battle of Aeonia. Unknown if he fought for Malenia or
Radahn. Also unknown if he has any relation to Commander Niall, or if the resemblance is just
asset reuse. He does summon the same enemies as Niall, though (banished knights and
exiles).

“Even after his lord was fled, Commander O'Neil continued to brandish his flag in the
devastation of the rot-eaten field of battle, the sole veteran who remembers that battle with
pride.”

251
Lord’s Divine Fortification
Patches the Untethered: Patches returns once again. If you’re a newcomer to the Souls series,
you might not know him, but he’s a recurring joke character (and in fact the series’s only
recurring character). Appears in Demon’s Souls as Patches the Hyena, Dark Souls 1 as Trusty
Patches, Bloodborne as Patches the Spider (in this incarnation he is actually a spider with a
human head), and Dark Souls 3 as Unbreakable Patches. In all these incarnations he
repeatedly tries to trick us into our death (always at least once by pushing us off a cliff), only to
(poorly) pretend he didn’t, or beg for forgiveness, when we survive.

Patches the Untethered is the most Patches Patches yet, trying to kill us no fewer than five
times. In this incarnation, he is a member of the Volcano Manor, and fascinated by Lady Tanith.

We first find him in Murkwater Cave, where he ambushes and tries to kill us. After returning to
the area after accepting his surrender, he again tries to kill us with a chest containing a
teleportation trap, leading to an area filled with Runebears. We can later find him in Liurnia,
where he advises us that getting caught by the Iron Virgin at the bottom of the academy will
send us to the Erdtree, but it actually sends us to a deathtrap in the Volcano Manor. Attempt #4
happens on Mt. Gelmir, with a path of rainbow stones leading to a cliff that he pushes us off of,
into a chasm of Basilisks and Crabs (the Basilisks also appear in Dark Souls).

We next find him in the manor, where he has us do one of his requests and then probably takes
credit for it. After Rykard’s death, he can be found in the Shaded Castle, where he seems
legitimately concerned about Tanith. He gives us the Dancer’s Castanets to deliver to her. If we
do deliver them, she does not care.

After this, Patches can be found back in Murkwater Cave, having gone back to his very first
trap, where he tries to kill us for the fifth and final time, before realizing who we are and
surrendering, again.

He can also be summoned for Radahn, but will flee immediately.

His armor states “Many admire the wearer of this armor for his chivalrous and forthright spirit.”

Pidia, Carian Servant: An old and creepy Albinauric, allegedly charged with maintaining the
Carians’ human puppets. He is located very close to fellow puppet enthusiast Seluvis, and is
attacked and killed by his own puppets once Seluvis dies. Seluvis’s quest also determines what
he drops.

"Y-you're my puppets! I loved you with all I have!

How could you forget... such bliss?”

The puppets that kill him can spawn with glowing eyes. It’s unclear what causes this, without
further testing. Possibly just random chance.
Dragonlord Placidusax: “The Dragonlord whose seat lies at the heart of the storm beyond time
is said to have been Elden Lord in the age before the Erdtree.

Once his god was fled, the lord continued to await its return.“

Former Elden Lord, consort to Marika’s predecessor (who is not mentioned anywhere else). He
was likely the Storm Lord fought by Godfrey. Placidusax is heavily wounded, missing two
heads252 and part of his tail. His “seat” is surrounded by countless beast graves, for reasons
unknown.

Rileigh the Idle: Volcano Manor target. He is an assassin or former assassin of the Roundtable
Hold.

Roderika, Spirit Tuner: A Tarnished sent away from her homeland to the Lands Between.
Roderika was never called by grace, rather, this was just a way to get rid of her.253 Nonetheless,
her men believed in her and came with her to the Lands Between, where they were all killed and
grafted in Stormveil. She discovers her talent for Spirit Tuning under Hewg’s tutelage.

Came into possession of Aurelia at some point.

Sorcerer Rogier: A Tarnished sorcerer, seeking to uncover the truth behind the Night of the
Black Knives, and save the unfortunate souls of Those Who Live in Death. Has some
relationship with Fia.

Rogier is infected with Death upon making contact with the strange Godwyn head beneath
Stormveil. He is able to determine Ranni was behind the Knight of the Black Knives, and asks
us to retrieve her Cursemark. But he passes before we can return the Cursemark to him.

“Rogier spent his entire life behaving with utter detachment. No one noticed the anger, grief,
regret, or fear that existed along with it.”254

One of Fia’s champions.

Omenkiller Rollo: Spirit ash. Rollo was a famous perfumer of ancient times who “imbibed a
physick to rid himself of emotion, thus enabling him to enact his nightmarish labor, hunting the
Omen.” He became the first Omenkiller.

Rosus, Usher of Death: The figure depicted

on the statues that point the way to the

252
Kind of hard to tell exactly how many he’s missing by just looking at him, but the Old Lord’s Talisman
depicts him with 4
253
Crimson Hood
254
Rogier’s Set
catacombs. A sort of psychopomp saint, said to guide the souls of “those lost in death.”255

On the statues, he is depicted with three bird-like toes, and a fourth… toe-like protrusion, from
his ankle? It’s unknown if this is what he really looked like or just a feature of the statues.

Rya: See Zorayas.

Sorceress Sellen: A sorceress from the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Obsessed with the
“primeval current.” Killed countless sorcerers under the name “the Graven Witch.” She did this in
order to fashion them into graven schools/masses, large orbs made of sorcerers intended to
form the cores of stars.

She takes us on as an “apprentice,” intending to use us as part of a graven school. She puts
this plan on hold when she realizes our usefulness, but intends to bring it back the minute we
outlive said usefulness.

“Oh, one last thing. If you fail to claim your throne, you can always pay me a visit.

Oh, don't fret. Even my dullest pupils will always have a place here.”

Sellen is an enemy of the Carian royal family. She has some history with Seluvis, who “owes her
for the help he gave her when she was expelled from the academy.” She was hunted and
defeated by Witch-Hunter Jerren, but had somehow made herself immortal using the power of
the stars that Radahn had suspended. Unable to die, she was instead imprisoned in the
Witchbane Ruins, until such time that her immortality came to an end and Jerren could return to
finish her off. Unfortunately for Sellen, this immortality also prevents her from escaping by
transferring her primal glintstone to another body.

But her immortality would come to an end if the stars were to resume their cycles, which
requires the death of Radahn. She neglects to mention this if we ask her about Nokron during
Ranni’s quest, instead acting as if she’s trying to help us. Once Radahn is slain and the stars
resume their cycles, she entrusts us with her primal glintstone, and we help her steal one of
Seluvis’s human puppets- that of another witch from the academy- for her new body. (It’s
impossible to tell without looking into the game files, but beneath her crown and clothes, her
new body looks entirely different from her old one)

At the end of her quest, we side with either her or Jerren. If we side with Jerren, she is killed. If
we side with Sellen, Jerren is killed, and Sellen claims “the Queen of Caria is no more.” Rennala
has actually just been moved off to the side behind some bookshelves. Perhaps she possesses
a similar sort of immortality, or Sellen just doesn’t want to invoke Ranni’s wrath.

255
Rosus’s Summons
If we haven’t found Lusat’s body yet, Sellen will await it in the Grand Library. Once reunited with
the bodies of Azur and Lusat(?)256, we find Rennala back in her normal spot and Sellen turned
into a graven school- probably along with Azur, Lusat, and maybe Jerren, who Sellen tells to
“join the school.” She can barely speak and her orb doesn’t float like the others. It doesn’t seem
to have gone as planned for her.

Preceptor Seluvis: A man loathed by all. Seluvis is obsessed with making human puppets. He
is a servant of Ranni, who schemes against her, planning to turn her into the first demigod
puppet. Ranni certainly knows this. Nonetheless, he has his uses (and his plan is doomed to fail
anyway), so she keeps him around.

Seluvis, Gideon Ofnir, and Dolores the Sleeping Arrow were once friends. But Seluvis and
Gideon had a falling out over Dolores and went their separate ways. Seluvis has since turned
Dolores into a puppet. It would seem he had the same personality at this time as he does in the
game, including the puppet obsession; Gideon certainly describes him this way. Seluvis’s rivalry
with Gideon is presumably why Nepheli, Gideon’s adopted daughter, is targeted for
puppetification.

Seluvis has a secret puppet lab near his tower containing his puppets, including the one we give
to Sellen as part of her questline, and Nepheli or the Dung Eater should we give either of them
the potion. It seems the potion magically transports them here somehow, because Seluvis has
no idea if we’re lying to him about who we gave the potion to.

He is located very close to Pidia, fellow puppet obsessive. We aren’t told of any relationship
between them, but Seluvis’s quest determines when Pidia dies and what he drops when he
does.

We find Seluvis dead after delivering the Fingerslayer Blade to Ranni. His corpse is posed like a
puppet. Seluvis having been a puppet all along is no surprise, but it does raise some questions.
It could’ve been that he was being controlled by Pidia the whole time, but he seemingly displays
too much of his own agency for that, and he’s still able to speak. More likely the body he
inhabits is a vessel for his primal glintstone, as with Sellen once we transport her into her new
body. But is Seluvis the name of the possessor, or the possessed?

Near the entrance to the secret room in his lab, containing his personal belongings and the
puppet we eventually implant Sellen’s primal glintstone in, is written “Seluvis’s puppet, do not
touch.” The puppet is not made for Sellen; the Witch’s Glintstone Crown was granted to any
female scholar who “excelled in her studies”, and the robe is a common academy robe. Rather

256
Sellen says “with the bodies of Masters Azur and Lusat returned, the academy can hone the primeval
current,” yet the bodies are still in the same place we find them in. They give their armor sets if we return
to them after completing the quest. Perhaps she meant their primal glintstones? She has some (slightly)
different dialogue if you defeat Jerren before finding Lusat that may shed some light on this, but I haven’t
been able to find it again.
it’s made for Seluvis himself, perhaps to assume a new identity should he need to flee. It’s still
there after we find him dead, so it’s likely he perished along with his puppet.

He has two more puppets that he sells us, Jarwight and Finger Maiden Therolina.

Serosh: The Lord of Beasts, before he became Godfrey’s regent257 and helped him rein in his
bloodlust. He would later become the “aged counselor who guides the golden lineage”258 before
ultimately being betrayed and killed by Godfrey. Serosh may have something to do with the
half-beast shadows of the Empyreans.

Shabriri: “It is said that the man, named Shabriri, had his eyes gouged out as punishment for
the crime of slander, and, with time, the blight of the flame of frenzy came to dwell in the empty
sockets.”259

The “most reviled man in all history,” as he is believed to be the origin of the Frenzied Flame.260
The actual origin is an outer god, but Shabriri is likely responsible for much of its spread.

Possesses the corpse of Yura, allegedly having been given it by him. He attempts to convince
us to take the Flame of Frenzy upon ourselves and become Lord of Frenzied Flame. If nothing
else can be said about the man, at least he’s honest about his intentions.

Named after a Jewish demon of blindness.

“MAY CHAOS! TAKE! THE WORLD!”

Glintstone Dragon Smarag: A dragon who ate so many sorcerers his body became corrupted
by glintstone. Perhaps the map to the glintstone key was a clever trap he laid.

The Stormhawk King: “Ashes of a hawk revered by all others as sovereign back in the days
when Stormveil's winds still raged like no other.

This ancient monarch is proud however, refusing to answer anyone's summons.”

Somehow, Nepheli obtaining its ashes results in her becoming the new monarch of Stormveil.
Perhaps the king chose her.

Lady Tanith: Consort to Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy. Manages the Volcano Manor. Somehow,
acquired a Crucible Knight as a personal guard.

257
Beastclaw Greathammer
258
Golden Beast Crest Shield
259
Shabriri’s Woe
260
Howl of Shabriri
Rykard met Tanith when she was working as a dancer in a foreign land, and she was the only
human not to turn on him when he fed himself to the God-Devouring Serpent. Now, she feeds
him champions. When we kill Rykard, she tries to eat his corpse.

Tanith has a bit of a soft side towards her adopted daughter, Zorayas (AKA Rya), who she
legitimately cares for.

Tanith’s Knight: Tanith’s mute bodyguard, and a Crucible Knight. The Crucible Knights were
servants of Godfrey; how this one ended up bodyguard to Lady Tanith, we have no idea. He is
never mentioned by Tanith (or anyone else) despite standing directly behind her.

Great Wyrm Theodorix: An ancient troll hero of the War Against the Giants, who participated in
Dragon Communion and suffered the fate of all who do such.

Finger Maiden Therolina: The maiden at the Radahn Festival who does not speak, but gives
us the Polite Bow gesture and assists us against Radahn. Later, we discover the reason she
doesn’t speak- she’s a puppet of Seluvis.

Thops the Bluntstone: A self-described “bluntstone” sorcerer of Raya Lucaria, a word meaning
something similar to “moron.” He knows three spells: Glintstone Pebble, the academy’s most
basic spell, as well as Glintstone Arc and Starlight, both granted to sorcerers who “depart from
the academy to embark on journeys.” Thops tells us he had just left the academy when they put
up the seals, during the Shattering.

The academy viewed him as an idiot and sent him off on a journey to get rid of him, immediately
before they put up the seals and locked him out without a key. Thops is quite naive (as seen
with how he doesn’t believe the accusations against Sellen) and may have believed this to be a
mistake. We don’t get an exact timescale on anything in Elden Ring, but the Shattering wasn’t
exactly last week, so it would seem Thops has been trying to get back into the academy for a
very long time. As he says, he can be very patient.

He cannot use our academy glintstone key, as the keys remember their owners and can never
be passed on, and he generously refuses to take ours even if we haven’t used it. But we can
find a second unused key within the academy, enabling him to return at long last.

His life’s work is the spell Thops’s Barrier, which he completes upon his return. After this, he
suffers the same fate as many Souls NPCs. His purpose is completed, and so he dies.

“Future generations will learn. They will know the foolishness of the sneering sorcerers who
ridiculed this theory, little realizing that it was in fact a discovery worthy of a new conspectus of
the academy.”

Torrent: Our loyal spectral steed. We know little of his backstory, or why he has horns (horns on
things that don’t normally have them are typically related to the Crucible). His former master was
a nameless Tarnished, who took wild wolves as hunting companions.261 At some point, the
nameless Tarnished entrusted Ranni the Witch with the wolves and spirit-calling bell, and
possibly with Torrent himself. One way or another, Melina came into possession of Torrent.

Great Horned Tragoth: Radahn Festival participant and Volcano Manor target. Wears the
heaviest armor set in the game (the Bull-Goat set), and wields the heaviest weapon (the
Giant-Crusher), yet is still extremely agile. We can safely assume he possesses extreme
strength.

“Tragoth is a famed knight of assistance. Countless Tarnished, facing adversity in the Lands
Between, have survived thanks only to the Great Horned One's aid.”

Perfumer Tricia: A perfumer who treated Misbegotten, Omens, and others seen as impure.
Other perfumers followed her example; the body of one such perfumer can be found in the
Street of Sages Ruins.

Saint Trina: See Miquella.

Vargram the Raging Wolf: One of the first Tarnished of the Roundtable Hold, who earned his
name from the white wolf pelt on his helm. He is a Volcano Manor assassination target, and
fights alongside Errant Sorcerer Wilhelm.

“According to the old legends, wolves are the shadows of the Empyrean. Vargram aspired to
such a state himself.”

Interestingly, he wields a Godslayer Greatsword, the “sacred sword of the Dusk-Eyed Queen,”
through which he channels God-Slaying Black Flame. It’s very odd for two such swords to exist.

White Mask Varré: Faithful servant of “Luminary Mohg,” and the man who coined the insult
“maidenless.” He is the first NPC we meet, and “guides” us, in hopes that we too will join Mohg’s
dynasty.

If we follow his quest to the end, we can invade him. After “raising” us to be an indiscriminate
killer, it seems he never thought that we would try to kill him: “You seek violence, heedless of my
warning, though you have been raised to a knight of the dynasty?”

“Of the surgeons that were abducted by the Lord of Blood none were able to tame the accursed
blood.

None but Varré, that is; though he was an exception.”262

261
Lone Wolf Ashes
262
War Surgeon’s Set
Festering Fingerprint Vyke/Roundtable Knight Vyke: “No other Tarnished was closer to the
throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke. But without announcement, Vyke traveled far below the
capital, and was scorched by the Flame of Frenzy.

Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with the suggestion?”

Tarnished and former member of the Roundtable Hold. Vyke failed to become Elden Lord, and
he also failed to become Lord of Frenzied Flame. We fight two Vykes, the one who invades us
in front of the Church of Inhibition (“Festering Fingerprint”), and the one in the Lord Contender’s
Evergaol, in the Mountaintops of the Giants (“Roundtable Knight”). Interestingly, the latter
doesn’t use any Frenzied Flame powers, but he does drop the Fingerprint Set.

“Of all the knights, Vyke the Dragonspear was the one Lansseax loved the most.”263

Vyke was once a knight of the Ancient Dragon Cult. Which means one of three things: he was
one of Godfrey’s original warriors and part of the Cult before the warriors became Tarnished, or
the Ancient Dragon Cult still operated after the Shattering, or he somehow was able to remain in
the Lands Between after all other Tarnished had left.

A dead Finger Maiden presumed to be his can be found in the Church of Inhibition, implying he
invaded us to protect her body. She shows no signs of having died in a violent manner. The
implication is that Vyke sought to somehow save or resurrect her with the Frenzied Flame. (She
is named “Vyke’s Maiden” or something similar in the game files. Still, names in the game files
are not confirmation.)

When the Three Fingers bequeaths the Flame of Frenzy to us, it dies. This may imply it didn’t
judge Vyke fit to become the true Lord of Frenzied Flame, or else it would already be dead.
Although it is known that he was “clasped by the burnt Fingers,”264 making him the only
character we know of who took the flame upon himself in this way.

Errant Sorcerer Wilhelm: One of the first Tarnished “to visit” the Roundtable Hold. A nomadic
sorcerer, specializing in Night Sorceries, who “had gone so far as to make contact with the
primeval current.” He was friends with Vargram, but eventually fought him, presumably lost, and
was taken prisoner in the Hold.

Apparently, they reconciled. The duo of Wilhelm and Vargram are an assassination target from
the Volcano Manor.

Bloody Finger Hunter Yura: As described, a hunter of Mohg’s Bloody Fingers. Likely from the
Land of Reeds (not-Japan), as his helmet is based on the straw hats from that land. Apparently
near death, as he believes he “doesn’t have much time left.”

263
Vyke’s Dragonbolt
264
Hyetta dialogue
Once loved a woman by the name of Eleonora, who became a Bloody Finger. Eleonora is also
from the Land of Reeds, perhaps they crossed the sea together. Yura now seeks to kill her,
supposedly. He tells us “don't let your emotions stay your blade,” and to flee from Eleonora if we
see her, which seems more like projection than advice. In fact, he soon after fails to take his
own advice; he finds Eleonora and fights her, but is unable to kill her, and he dies, still believing
she can be saved.

“Eleonora, it seems I am no match for you. But I've learned a thing or two myself, you see. I've
sliced the finger off.

Please, please, Eleonora, yield to the cessblood no longer. Do not stain the immaculacy of your
sword, your flesh, your fire…”

We kill her immediately afterwards.

What he means by “sliced the finger off,” I don’t know. But we find his body once more, atop the
Mountaintops of the Giants, possessed by Shabriri, servant of the Flame of Frenzy. Shabriri
claims that Yura gave his body to him.

Zorayas: AKA Rya. “Scout” for the Volcano Manor, adopted daughter of Lady Tanith, and
secretly a serpent. Rya is the name she uses for her human form.

We first meet her in Liurnia, after her necklace is stolen by Big Boggart, a Tarnished. She asks
us to retrieve her necklace. “Only... He, too, is Tarnished. If you've any qualms confronting your
own, I shall find another…” This kind of setup seems like exactly how a scout for the Volcano
Manor would search for potential recruits, but he really did steal her necklace.

Actually the unwanted child of an abhorrent birthing ritual, the details of which are left up to our
imagination. Upon discovering this, she asks us to kill her. If we report back to Tanith, she gives
us the Tonic of Forgetfulness. If we kill Zorayas, she thanks us. If we leave her, she eventually
leaves on a journey, seeking to carry on her mother’s work. If we give her the tonic, she returns
to the Volcano Manor after Rykard’s death, confused where everyone went.

Regardless of how her quest ends, we receive Daedicar’s Woe from her. The woman it depicts
was likely her real mother.

“It is said that this woman, named Daedica, indulged in every form of adultery and wicked
pleasure imaginable, giving birth to a myriad of grotesque children.”

Creatures, Races, and Factions

Abductor Virgins: Also known as Iron Virgins, an obvious reference to Iron Maidens
(alternatively, it’s possible that the Abductor Virgins are the ones that can abduct you whereas
the normal Iron Virgins merely exist to kill). Machines containing (and possibly operated by)
strange fleshy creatures that grapple you. They wield chain-axe things and spiked wheels, the
latter inspired by Inquisitor Ghiza’s signature weapon. The Iron Virgins are found nearly
everywhere in the game, likely put there after the Shattering to capture Tarnished.

They and their cousins the Flame Chariots may have originated in Liurnia as creations of the
Academy or the Carians. Many destroyed ones can be found there. The Abandoned Cave in
Caelid, for reasons unknown, also contains many destroyed Iron Virgins.

Academy of Raya Lucaria: The school of sorcerers in Liurnia, originators of glintstone sorcery.
Once controlled by Rennala, but rebelled against the Carians when Radagon left her and she
lost her mind. The Knights of the Cuckoo worked for them.

Mad Sorcerers who made contact with the primeval current (known as primeval sorcerers)
would gather together other sorcerers to “fashion into the cores of stars.” Such sorcerers are
reviled by the academy, for obvious reasons.

What is the primeval current? That remains a mystery.

Has a number of schools, known as “conspectuses.” Reveres its most accomplished members,
modeling their distinctive stone and glintstone crowns after these sages (even though three out
of five became their enemies).

● Azur, who founded the Karolos Conspectus, “the oldest of the academy's lineages of
study,” which studies comets. Exiled for being a primeval sorcerer. Found outside the
Hermit Village, crystallized and nearly dead by the time of the game.
● Lusat, who founded the Olivinus Conspectus, which studies meteors. Often depicted as
part of a duo with Azur, it seems the two of them were quite close. Like Azur, he was
exiled for being a primeval sorcerer. Found locked in the hidden Sellia Hideaway, also
crystallized and nearly dead.
● Rennala, the Full Moon Queen. Presumed to be the founder of the Lazuli Conspectus,
which studies Carian sorceries, “a heterodox pursuit that views the moon as equal to the
stars.” The conspectus seems to have continued after the academy turned on Rennala.
● Haima, who founded the Haima Conspectus. Scholars of this conspectus “sought the
power to end conflict.” These scholars, known as battlemages, are the brutes of the
academy; large, can take a beating, and known for the spells Cannon of Haima and
Gavel of Haima, which are essentially brute force in sorcery form.
● Hierodas, not mentioned to have founded any conspectus. His crown is granted to
nomadic scholars.
● The Twinsage Crown depicts both Azur and Lusat. Twinsage Conspectus scholars are
“the elites of the academy.”
 ● The Witch’s Glintstone Crown is granted to witches, a title given to female scholars who
“excelled in their studies.”

The sorcerers of Sellia also wear these crowns, so it would seem that the town is a branch of
theirs, made to study the Night Sorceries of Nokron. Perhaps this too is a conspectus, but if so
we never find a crown for it.

Other notable members include Sellen and Thops.

Alabaster Lords: “A race of ancients with skin of stone who were said to have risen to life when
a meteor struck long ago.”265 Their swords are imbued with gravity magic that allows them to pull
others closer to them. One was mentor to Radahn, whose Starscourge Greatswords have a
similar power.

Albinaurics: A term meaning “white gold,” an alloy of gold and silver.

“Albinaurics are lifeforms made by human hands. Thus, many believe them to live impure lives,
untouched by the Erdtree's grace.”266

Specifically, made from “a drop of primordial dew.” There are two known types of Albinaurics.

1) Second-Generation Albinaurics. The frog-like ones who cartwheel. Cannot speak.

2) The more human-like Albinaurics, whose “generation” is unknown. They cannot walk, the
younger ones rely on wolves to get around. They seek salvation in the land of the
Haligtree. Members include: Latenna, Albus, Pidia, Loretta, and Phillia (the “young yet
towering sister” in the Apostate Derelict).

During or after the Carian civil war, the Academy and their Knights of the Cuckoo made enemies
of the Albinaurics, seeing their blood as “defiled.”

Ancestor Spirits: Giant deer-like creatures covered in horns, central to the faith of the
Ancestral Followers. The horns, presumably, are a vestige of the Primordial Crucible. Their
frontmost horns resemble antlers.

“The ancestral followers believed that the horns of a long-lived beast continue to bud like
antlers, over and over again, until the beast one day becomes an ancestral spirit.”267

“Ancestral spirits exist as a phenomenon beyond the purview of the Erdtree. Life sprouts from
death, as it does from birth. Such is the way of the living.”268

265
Alabaster Lord’s Sword
266
Albinauric Bloodclot
267
Any of the Horn Charms
268
Remembrance of the Regal Ancestor
Ancestral Followers: “Brawny men who eschew letters and metalworking.” Found in
Siofra/Nokron and by the Uld Palace Ruins in Liurnia. They follow a faith based on the concept
of life within Death, explained in the Deathbird God section. Worship the Ancestor Spirits.

Ancient Dragons: The white dragons of Farum Azula, who wield red lightning and once warred
with Leyndell. Their scales are made of gravel stone. Placidusax, Gransax, Fortissax, and
Lansseax were all ancient dragons.

Ancient Dragon Cult/Knights: Knights of Leyndell who worship the Ancient Dragons, a
practice deemed compatible with Erdtree worship. From the Ancient Dragons, they draw the
power of lightning.

Avionette Soldiers: See Marionette Soldiers.

Azula Beastmen: Beastmen chosen by the Ancient Dragons to guard Farum Azula.269 It is
known that “Beasts are drawn to champions, and to lords.”270 Why are so many entombed
there? Perhaps so they can still protect it, even in death.

They were granted intelligence in the distant past.271

“The beastmen have always fired earthenware jars for the express purpose of making shields.

Such are their ways, strange though they are.”

Baleful Shadows: Creatures created to serve as assassins by Ranni’s Two Fingers, specifically
to kill Ranni. Resemble Blaidd, himself a creation of these Two Fingers, so that they can get
close to her.

Banished Knights: “Knights who, whether by misfortune or misdeed, were forced to abandon
their homes.” Sent to the “outskirts” or ”fringes,” a desolate place of bitter winds. “These fierce
warriors were each and all accomplished. Perhaps that is why, despite their territorial losses,
they were still named knights.”

Members include Oleg and Envall, the duo known as the “Wings of the Storm.”

Basilisks: Infamous filth-dwelling enemies from Dark Souls, returned exactly as they were,
except this time their death breath doesn’t curse you after you die to it. Their giant, bulbous
eyes are fake, their actual eyes are small and above their mouths.

Black Blade Kindred: The strongest of the gargoyles, servants of Maliketh.

269
Azula Beastman Ashes
270
Beast Champion Set
271
Cinquedea
Black Knives: A group of mysterious assassins, all Numen women. Their aims and motives are
inscrutable. Best known for the Night of the Black Knives, wherein their knives were imbued with
the stolen power of Destined Death by Ranni. They have ties to Marika herself.

Their heads are invisible, somehow. Perhaps a trick of the armor- or they might just not have
heads at all. Some can become entirely invisible using their Concealing Veils, an ability which
was used by those who took part in the Night of the Black Knives. After that night, the Sentry’s
Torches were developed to nullify this power and prevent such a thing from ever happening
again.

They appear in a number of places, never for any known reason. Three guarding various
catacombs, one in the Sage’s Cave, one by the Queen’s Bedchamber, and several in the Ordina
evergaol. The corpse of one can be found in Ordina, and several more corpses can be found on
the ground by Blaidd and Iji after Ranni’s quest.

Members include the ringleader Alecto and her daughter Tiche.

Blackflame Monks: Traitors to the Fire Monks, who came to serve the Godskin Apostles and
wield their God-Slaying Black Flame.

The monk Amon was the first to turn traitor.

Bloodhound Knights: Strange dog-like knights who never speak. They choose a master, and
typically remain loyal to them for life. Expert hunters and trackers.

Bloody Fingers: Followers of Mohg’s “dynasty,” or really anyone who invades using a bloody
finger item. Killers for killing’s sake.

Carian Knights: Knights of the Carian Royal Family. Numbered less than twenty.272 Skilled with
both sword and sorcery, and all sworn to Rennala’s Full Moon.273

Members include Moongrum, a human, Loretta, an Albinauric who later left for the Haligtree,
and Bols, a troll who was locked in an evergaol (we see a few other nameless troll knights).
Jerren also served alongside them for a time.

Carian Royal Family: Rennala’s family. Their sorceries draw power from the moon. Controlled
the Academy of Raya Lucaria under Rennala, until the academy turned on them.

Includes Rennala, Radagon, Radahn, Rykard, and Ranni.

Celebrants: The old women of Dominula who constantly hold “festivities” which involve skinning
people alive. Ostensibly tied to the Godskin Apostles.

272
Carian Knight’s Sword
273
Carian Greatsword
Cemetery Shades: “Insect-ridden grave keepers.”274 Catacombs bosses who teleport.

Company of the Fallen Hawk: Soldiers once ordered to explore Nokron, who became lost and
degenerated into the short, pale, emaciated beings we find them as. Use ghostflame and
greatshields.

“When the band's last embers were used up in their long search, they began to burn the bones
of their fellows, acquiring the cold ghostflame, but sealing their fate as dwellers of the
underground for all eternity.”275

Claymen: “The warped remains of priests who searched for revelation in service of the ancient
dynasty, they employ two sorceries that produce smaller and larger bubbles.”276

Found in and near Nokron and Nokstella. These creatures still search for “lost oracles” within
their bubbles.

Cleanrot Knights: The loyal knights of Malenia, fully aware that serving her will result in an
eventual death from scarlet rot. They also use some of Miquella’s incantations.

Finlay is the only named one.

Crucible Knights: Old knights of Godfrey, who draw from the power of the Crucible. As the
vestiges of the Crucible became increasingly disdained, so too did the Crucible Knights. Now it
seems they wander, bereft of purpose.

As warriors of Godfrey, are they Tarnished?

Crystalians: Inorganic beings of crystal and originators of crystal sorceries. These ancient
beings possess a faint but intricate intellect, known as the “Wisdom of Stone.” They are allies of
the sorcerers, and “cleave close to the ideals of the primeval current,” whatever that means. Still
vulnerable to the scarlet rot despite their inorganic nature.

Deathbirds/Death Rite Birds: See the Deathbird God section.

Demi-Humans: Ape-like creatures. Semi-intelligent, but become feral after nightfall. The bigger
ones are chiefs and the biggest ones are queens, described as the “mothers” of whole tribes.277
The queens were once given glintstone staves by sorcerers, to “foster peace.”

Boc is the only notable member.

274
Mantis Blade
275
Ghostflame Torch
276
Clayman Ashes
277
Ghost near Fort Haight
Depraved Perfumers: Selfish perfumers who imbibed their own spices, causing them to go
mad. Often found near Omenkillers, former perfumers who also went mad from imbibing such
substances.

Carmaan was a depraved perfumer, who searched for a physick of revivification.

“Depraved perfumers are plainly in league with jar poachers.”278

Draconians: “The stony face of the people of the ancient dragons, among whom life is typically
short.” Only mentioned in character creation, though some NPCs might be Draconians.

Draconic Tree Sentinels: Tree Sentinels who use the power of the ancient dragons. Described
as “misshapen” and “malformed.” They still serve the Erdtree.

“After the great ancient dragon Gransax attacked, the sentinels had an epiphany. The only way
to truly protect the Erdtree was to become dragons themselves”

Dragon-Hearted: Dragon communion partakers.

Dragonkin Soldiers: Creatures created by the Eternal Cities, deep underground. They seem to
be some sort of crossbreed of dragons and trolls.

“Alas, the Dragonkin Soldiers never attained immortality, and perished as decrepit, pale
imitations of their skyborn kin.”

Drake Knights: Knights who “spend their lives pursuing the strength of dragons, for its sublime
beauty and inspiration of awe.” They hunt dragons and participate in Dragon Communion,
cursing them to be eventually transformed into Wyrms. They are designated Drake Knights from
birth, and never speak.

Eleonora is or was a Drake Knight, and seems to be the only one in the game.

Duelists: Brawny men “driven from the colosseum.” The practice of ritual combat died out by
the time of Radagon, perhaps these men are remnants of this time.279 Some of them have taken
up defending the catacombs. Many have been corrupted by scarlet rot.

Erdtree Avatars: The tree-like protectors of the Minor Erdtrees. They wield large ceremonial
staves. Those corrupted by scarlet rot are known as Putrid Avatars, however they still perform
their duties of protecting the Minor Erdtrees, even festering with rot.

278
Ironjar Aromatic
279
Ritual Sword Talisman, Ritual Shield Talisman
Oddly, the design of the rot-corrupted Putrid Staff is different than that of its non-corrupt version,
the Staff of the Avatar.

“The avatars, emerging in the wake of the Elden Ring's shattering, were determined to protect
the withering Erdtree's offspring.”

Erdtree Burial Watchdogs: Constructs created to defend catacombs, like the imps they
command.280 Apparently quite customizable, they come with one head or three heads, a
greatsword or a staff, and attuned to any element.

Grave robbers have apparently stolen the magical pupil from every single one of the
greatswords and not a single one of the staves.

“Though decorated with the watchman's eye, the pupil was taken by graverobbers and is now
hollow, leaving this sword a mere lump of stone.”

Erdtree Guardians: Defenders of the Erdtree and Minor Erdtrees. Combat experts who may be
part tree.281

“In accordance with an ancient pact with the Erdtree, it is said that their deaths led not to
destruction, but instead to renewed, eternal life as guardians.”282

Exiles: Soldiers “sent to the penal colonies,” recognizable by red cloth that covers their head
and armor.

Fallingstar Beasts: Monsters from space that look like solid rock bull-scorpion things. They
grow a single eye upon reaching maturity, like other space creatures.

Fia’s Champions: The spirits of warriors embraced by Fia while they lived, including Rogier
and Lionel, called forth to defend her.

Fingercreepers: The twelve-fingered hand monsters. Apparently evolved from “an ancestor,”283
which is somehow more disturbing than being made artificially. The larger ones used by the
Carians for war or self-defense were given magic rings.

Fire Giants: The race of red-haired giants (of varying sizes) with fire powers that once tended
the Flame of Ruin. They conquered the mountaintops from the Ice Dragons, and built their forge
atop Flame Peak. But the forge was a threat to the Erdtree, and so Marika waged war against
them, and killed most of them. Their Fell God still lives within them, and their incantations.

280
Watchdog’s Staff
281
Guardian Garb (Full Bloom)
282
Guardian Set
283
Ringed Finger
Fire Monks/Flame Guardians: Guardians of the Giants’ flame. Though taught to fear it, many
seem to fall for its “allure.” What’s alluring about a big fire? Perhaps the Fell God it’s associated
with.

Formless Serpents: A group of assassins284 who assassinated people with flying snakes.285
Likely had some relation to the Volcano Manor (in addition to the snake theme, their bow is
found in the Abandoned Cave near ruined Iron Virgins).

Gargoyles: Large beings, seemingly constructs, with their missing parts mended with corpse
wax. They serve Maliketh the Black Blade (even the ones who aren’t Black Blade Kindred).286

Giant Ants: As the name implies. Some are mind-controlled by the Nox to use as mounts,
indicated by their pink glowing eyes. If their rider is knocked off (such as by inflicting sleep), the
pink glow fades and the ant turns on the Nox.

Glintstone Knights: Mentioned only by the Remembrance of the Full Moon Queen. Almost
certainly another name for the Carian Knights.

Godrick Soldiers/Knights: The few of Godrick’s troops that remain after he fled Leyndell. They
use armor and shields boasting of the Golden Lineage of their master, but after his flight from
the capital, they’re more of a mark of shame than anything.

A nameless captain of the knights became a servant of Mohg, and took over Fort Haight.

Godskin Apostles: Ancient followers of the Dusk/Gloam-Eyed Queen with very stretchy flesh.
Most of their outfits and tools are made of human skin. They wield the God-Slaying Black Flame
and hunt the gods. But the true power of the flame was lost to them, after Maliketh defeated the
Queen and sealed away Destined Death. (The true black flame has a red tint to it, seen when it
is used by Maliketh and his kindred, and the Black Knives).

The Godskin Nobles are “the most ancient apostles who are said to have assimilated inhuman
physiology. Not unlike the crucible, the Erdtree in its primordial form.” They have lizard-like tails
and participate in a “god hunt.” It’s unclear if they have ever successfully hunted a god.

Golems: Giant guardians of stone “crafted by a civilization now gone to ruin.”

Grafted Scions: Abominations made from Tarnished parts by Godrick (or Godefroy, probably).
Called a “spider” by Roderika, whose men were killed and made into one. One of them appears
in Mt. Gelmir, for reasons unknown- perhaps Godefroy fled there? They also have child heads
for some reason.

284
Serpent Bow
285
Serpent Arrow
286
They and their weapons are mended with corpse wax, the mark of those who serve Maliketh
Haligtree Soldiers/Knights: Servants of Miquella and his Haligtree, who believe in the dreams
it once represented despite its failure- many are willing to sacrifice themselves for it. Their armor
is decorated with Unalloyed Gold.

Loretta became a high-ranking Knight of the Haligtree after leaving Caria.

Ice Dragons: Dragons chased from the mountaintops by the fire giants, long ago.287 Borealis
the Freezing Fog is one.

Juvenile Scholars: The young scholars repeatedly reborn by Rennala. Their minds and bodies
have become frail, and dependent on rebirthing to survive. Perhaps they were simply
unfortunate enough to be studying in the grand library when the scholars locked the doors.

Kaiden Sellswords: “Hulking, fearless mercenaries” who hail from the settlement of Kaiden in
the mountaintops of the wintry north. Specialized in horseback fighting. Found in Limgrave,
probably hired by Godrick to fill his ranks after the loss of the bulk of his army.

Kindred of Rot: AKA Pests. The children and worshipers of the scarlet rot, rejected by Malenia.
Intelligent creatures with countless hands who wield glaives. Found in Caelid and the Lake of
Rot.

Pest Threads implies they are more of an annoyance than anything. "Do you have an interest in
rot incantations?"

Gowry is the only notable member.

Knights of the Cuckoo: Knights who served the Academy in the Liurnian civil war, and
enemies of the Albinaurics. Use “faux-sorceries” in battle. They were “given free rein by the
academy to wage war as they pleased, and they were infamous for their rapacious ways.”288

The meaning of their name is unknown. Cuckoos are birds known for brood parasitism (though
not all species of cuckoo do it), where mother cuckoos leave their eggs in the nests of other
birds so that the host birds will raise them. They symbolize a number of different things- insanity
or foolishness, springtime, the passage of time, cuckoldry (being the origin of the term), and in
Japan, unrequited love. But none of these things seem to be related to the Knights of the
Cuckoo. Except perhaps insanity or foolishness, but they wouldn’t have named themselves
something that they thought meant “the crazed idiot knights.”

Knights of Zamor: Champions of the town of Zamor in the Mountaintops of the Giants, who
use cold sorceries. Enemies of the Fire Giants “since time immemorial.”

287
Borealis’s Mist
288
Raya Lucaria Soldier Ashes
Land Octopi: Disgusting creatures whose reproductive process involves eating humans. The
bodies of adult land octopi are covered in egg-ovary things, and they have a rare grab attack
which can swallow you whole.

Leyndell Soldiers/Knights: The troops of Leyndell, who fight mostly defensively, to ensure the
walls of the Erdtree capital never fall again. Their knights comprise the members of the Ancient
Dragon Cult, and as such possess lightning powers.

Living Jars: Intelligent jars with arms and legs, who are brought to life from the dead humans
that comprise their innards, and draw strength from them. As with most beings, many have lost
their minds after the Shattering, but the ones from Jarburg remain friendly.

“Though the jars are brought to life by human flesh and blood, they are all rather kindly folk.
Perhaps they were made to be better than their innards.”

Unfortunately, the magical power within them makes them a target for “jar poachers,” one of
whom eventually kills almost all of Jarbug.

Come in small, large, and giant varieties. The Great-Jar is the only known giant jar. It’s not
known if they are made in different sizes, or if they grow larger with age (or stuffing themselves
with corpses)

Notable members include Iron Fist Alexander, Jar-Bairn, and the Great-Jar.

Mad Pumpkin Heads: Enormous, mad soldiers, who were once gladiators. Their distinctive
pumpkin heads prevent them from panicking all the time, but they will still fly into a rampage if
agitated by as much as a gentle breeze.

Like the duelists, perhaps driven out when their colosseums shut down.

Man-Serpents: Descendents and servants of the God-Devouring Serpent after it devoured a

demigod in ages past. Found exclusively in the Volcano Manor. Zorayas is the only one of note.

Marionette Soldiers: Crudely constructed puppets created to serve sorcerers. Malfunction

easily if damaged. The small ones that fly are known as Avionette Soldiers.

Having four arms signifies that something is an artificial puppet.

Magma Wyrms: The ultimate fate of anyone who performs dragon communion.

Mausoleum Soldiers/Knights: Extremely loyal followers of the Soulless Demigods, who

behead and curse themselves so that they can, in death, protect their masters from Destined
Death and other threats, until their resurrection. To do so, they use the power of the outer god of
Deathbirds. Oddly, this is seen as heroic, and can earn them the honor of Erdtree burial.289

Lhutel is the only notable member.

Merchants/Nomads: The nomadic merchants seen throughout the game, who “once thrived as
the Great Caravan.” All are afflicted with the Frenzied Flame, for reasons unknown. Thus they
were eventually rounded up and buried alive under Leyndell, where they conjured more
Frenzied Flame, somehow. Unclear if the ones above ground dodged the initial roundup, or
escaped from their tomb. Paradoxically, the Flame of Frenzy seems to have prevented these
survivors from going mad when nearly everyone else in the Lands Between did. Or perhaps
they truly are mad, in some way.

It’s likely they are blind, the ones that play instruments don’t realize we’re there until we speak
with them.

Kalé is the only notable member.

Mimic Tears: Silver Tears capable of perfect mimicry.

Miners: The humanoid beings found in mines, who created the rock sorceries Shatter Earth and
Rock Blaster, viewed as primitive sorceries by the always sneering sorcerers of the academy.

Miranda Flowers: The hostile flowers found nearly everywhere that spew poison, rot, and other
fun things. “Carnivorous blossoms that feed upon human flesh.”290 They have a bit of lore
attached to Miranda’s Prayer, a cut item.

Misbegotten: Creatures with large mouths, wings, tails, and small horns. A race “held to be a
punishment for making contact with the Crucible.” Treated as slaves, at best. Like most things
that display vestiges of the Crucible, Misbegotten are seen as impure. But they do not seem to
be cursed human babies, as Omens are.

They come in a number of forms- normal ones, flying ones, big ones, and the Leonine
Misbegotten, the largest of all. Except the flying ones, they all have the smaller, lower set of
wings seen on ancient dragons, but lack the larger ones that actually enable them to fly.

Seemingly religious, and can often be found praying to Marika. Their kind are accepted into
Miquella’s Haligtree, where they worship him as well.

Hewg resembles a Misbegotten, but with some significant differences.

289
Lhutel the Headless
290
Miranda Sprout Ashes
Nightfolk: “Few in number, they were said to bleed silver long ago.”291 Likely the product of
interbreeding between humans and Albinaurics or Silver Tears. The Urumi, found in Caria
Manor, is a weapon used by the Nightfolk.

Night’s Cavalry: Knights who ride “funeral steeds.” They once served Margit, the Fell Omen,
and hunted down anyone with ambitions of Lordship.

Northerners: The people of the frigid north, said to be descendents of giants.292

Nox: A cold-blooded race, see the Eternal Cities section.

Numen: The long-lived race of which Marika and the Black Knives are members. Descended
from the Nox- probably. (An alternative explanation could be that the Nox are a type of Numen.)

Omens: Creatures with rotten hearts and grotesque bodies. These unfortunate souls are born
afflicted by the Formless Mother’s curse.293 Impure, being covered in horns- a vestige of the
Crucible. Omen babies usually have their horns removed, killing most of them.294 Hornless
Omens have sores where their horns should be, implying they were traumatically torn out of
their flesh rather than cut (as some of Morgott’s are).

Omens and Misbegotten are both horribly maltreated races. But unlike the Misbegotten, being
an Omen truly is a curse, and one which infects their very souls. They grow horns on every part
of their bodies, their nightmares are haunted by evil spirits, and their blood is the accursed
fire-blood of the Formless Mother. Children born to Omens also receive the curse.

The Erdtree rejects them, and so dead omens become Wraiths, the black and yellow fire-like
substance used by wraith callers and the Omens themselves.

Omens born of Royalty do not have their horns removed, but are instead imprisoned
underground forever, which seems to be the fate of most Omens who survive childhood
regardless. Greater Omens can have other vestiges of the crucible: Morgott has a tail, Mohg
has a pair of wings. Lesser Omens are known as Ogres.

It is implied that Omens are not intrinsically evil, but most become so- how else would such a
being end up?

The Dung Eater is obsessed with Omens, seeing himself as one, and working to spread their
curse. We can imagine the Omen population grows quite rapidly in his ending.

291
Character creation
292
Character creation, again
293
See her section under Outer Gods
294
Regal Omen Bairn
Omenkillers: Large men who hunt the Omens. The first of them, Rollo, “imbibed a physick to rid
himself of emotion, thus enabling him to enact his nightmarish labor.” Those who followed in his
footsteps did as well. They are deranged men of “twisted conscience.” Their masks are modeled
on the “evil spirits” that haunt the nightmares of the Omens.

Onyx Lords: “A race of ancients with skin of stone who were said to have risen to life when a
meteor struck long ago.”

Their backstory is the same as the Alabaster Lords’, who are virtually identical except for the
color of their skin. The gravity magic of the Onyx Lords repels enemies, rather than pulling them
closer as the Alabaster Lords’ swords do.

Oracle Envoys: “It is said that when Oracle Envoys appear, playing their pipes, they do so to
herald the arrival of a new god, or age.”

Strange, unknowable beings versed in sacred arts. They do not have blood, and a faint
whispering can allegedly be heard from their crowns.

Pages: Servants of nobles noted for their sack-like hoods and rapid fire crossbows. Meant to
remain hidden and obscure, both to protect the nobles and to avoid bringing them shame. “One
becomes a page merely by accident of being born into obscurity; nothing is asked of ability,
talent, or volition.”

Perfumers: Once blessed physicians and healers, but their talents were used for war during the
Shattering. Those who used their talents for selfish purposes (and degenerated because of it)
were known as depraved perfumers. Tricia was a notable perfumer.

Pests: See Kindred of Rot.

Ravenmount Assassins: Killers who imitated Deathbirds. The only one we see is a nameless
Bloody Finger, it’s unknown if all of them are.

Raya Lucaria Soldiers/Knights: See Knights of the Cuckoo.

Recusants: A term meaning “a person who refuses to submit to authority.” Members of the
Volcano Manor who hunt their fellow Tarnished, believing this is somehow fighting back against
the Erdtree. In truth they are all fed to the God-Devouring Serpent, eventually.

Red Wolves of Radagon: Big red wolves who use magic and are probably a reference to Sif of
Dark Souls. Also known as “Red Wolves of the Champion.” We get no direct information on
them. They may have been Radagon’s Empyrean shadows, like Maliketh and Blaidd. We know
the Two Fingers can make multiple shadows, as seen with the Baleful Shadows.
Redmane Soldiers/Knights: The knights of Caelid, who served General Radahn. Often said to
have no weaknesses. A few, like their general, even know gravity magic. Most were killed in the
battle against Malenia.

Ogha is the longest-serving and only notable member.

Reedlanders: The people of the Land of Reeds, the Japan of the Elden Ring world. Includes
Yura, Okina, and likely other NPCs.

“The Land of Reeds has long been locked in a miserable civil war, during which time it has
remained alienated from the cultures of its neighbors. Little wonder that the entire nation has
succumbed to blood-soaked madness, or so it is said.“295

Revenants: The horrible many-armed things that scream. The Royal Revenant is the boss
version of them. The smaller ones worship the revenants, and call wraiths using their wraith
calling bells.

I could not find any other information on the revenants. They’re a Sekiro enemy that ended up in
Elden Ring somehow. I truly hate them.

Roundtable Hold Assassins: Old servants of the Two Fingers, who worked in silence from the
shadows and hunted down Tarnished who had strayed from grace. Crepus was their leader.
Raleigh the Idle was a member.

Runebears: Giant bears with no lore.

Sanguine Nobles: Servants of Mohg and equally delusional. Noted for their ability to move
through pools of blood.

“The grand metallic pattern on the shoulder is a signifier of the noble rank they intend to claim
upon the advent of the new dynasty they are working to install.”

Sellian Sorcerers: Sorcerers from Sellia, town of Sorcery, in Caelid. Probably a branch of the
Academy of Raya Lucaria, as they wear the same glintstone crowns. They are masters of Night
Sorcery, based on the sorceries of Nokron. “The Sellian sorcerers were assassins, and it is said
that they often hunted their fellows.”

Though Radahn studied sorcery in Sellia, his mentor was “an Alabaster Lord with skin of stone,”
and he learned Gravity Sorceries rather than Night Sorceries.

Silver Tears: Blob-like creatures, reborn time and time again by the Nox in their attempt to forge
life, and a lord. Includes Mimic Tears. Likely precursors of the Albinaurics.

295
Land of Reeds Helm
Snails: Recurring enemies, actually snake-like creatures with snail-like shells. They come in
crystal shell (spew ice at you), skull shell (roll at you), and spiritcaller (summon things at you)
varieties. The spirit snails of different locations all summon different enemies at you, it would
seem they only summon whatever spirits happen to be nearby.

Spirit Jellyfish: Docile, spectral jellyfish who usually appear in groups. If attacked, they will turn
red for a time and spew poison. When one spirit jellyfish turns red, others nearby do as well.
They are “commonly found floating above sacred ground throughout the Lands Between.”296

Aurelia and her sister Aureliette are spirit jellyfish, who were once human. They died as
children.297 This could be taken to mean that all of the spirit jellyfish are the ghosts of young
children.

The Jellyfish Shield can be found on a corpse by the wreckage of a cart surrounded by some
permanently angered spirit jellyfish. Perhaps this was revenge for making one of them into a
shield.

Starcallers: Weak, uncommon enemies found digging near craters, in search of gravity stones.

Stormhawks: Intelligent birds who inhabit Stormveil and Farum Azula. Peaked long ago, when
“the true storm raged” over Stormveil, and they were ruled by the Stormhawk King. Long after
this, when their power had long since waned, Stormveil Castle was taken by Godrick. The
Stormhawks living there either fled, or were made to serve him, and had blades grafted to their
feet.

It would seem humans lived among them, as Stormveil Castle is obviously not designed solely
for birds.

Those Who Live in Death: Ghostly skeletons, associated with ghostflame. Accounts of their
origins conflict. Items claim they are “the grotesque fate of those who come into contact with
Deathroot.” Rogier says they “happened to touch on a flaw in the Golden Order.” A ghost
outside the Deathtouched Catacombs says they refused the call of the Erdtree.

Whatever they are, it has to do with the Deathbird god, the Prince of Death, Deathroot, and
Destined Death.

Dead souls normally journey to the Erdtree through the Greattree’s roots, now infused with
Death and connected to the Prince of Death himself. Anyone who would follow them risks
making contact with it.

The D twins hunt them down. Fia considers herself one of them, but is not dead, or a skeleton.
The Tibia Mariners seem to be the most powerful among them.

296
Jellyfish Shield
297
Graves east of Stargazers’ Ruins
Three Fingers: Two Fingers but for the Frenzied Flame god. Also known as the Burnt Fingers.
With no Finger Readers, the Three Fingers instead conveys its message via its fingerprints,
somehow.

Tibia Mariners: Skeletons in boats who have Deathroot. D thinks they’re terrifying. They can
summon other skeletons to fight for them, until they are inevitably killed by the Mariner itself.
They can also summon giant skeletons that don’t seem to defend them at all.

Tree Sentinels: Large, mounted knights who serve as defenders of the Erdtree. Implied to be
non-human.

“The living rampart of the Erdtree, the Tree Sentinels are the standard to which all defenders of
the Erdtree aspire.”

Trolls: “Lesser Giants” who sided with the Erdtree in the war against the giants.

Most of the trolls lost their minds,298 (seemingly prior to everyone else losing their minds) for
reasons unknown. By the time of the game, they are used as slave labor in the Lands Between.

Two Fingers: Vassals of the Greater Will. These creatures are the only things that can
communicate with it, and in turn require their own interpreters. Because communicating with the
Greater Will takes so long, they are able to act of their own volition and do whatever it is they
think the Greater Will wants.

Ulcerated Tree Spirits: The most reused boss ever. I’m not aware of any lore on them, though
they do use the golden flame breath of the Greater Will (which is also used by Placidusax and
the Elden Beast). They also have putrid versions. Definitely connected to the Erdtree or
Greattree somehow.

Vulgar Militia: “In the Lands Between, the small were scorned, and so they formed their vulgar
militia as a means to make a living, albeit in ignominy.”

Odd, tiny fighters with little story behind them. They use Beast Incantations and the power of
Death, implying a connection with Gurranq/Maliketh.

Warhawks: “Warhawks” could refer to Stormhawks grafted with blades and made to serve
Godrick, or it may just be another name for Stormhawks in general.

White Masks: War surgeons (“effectively mercy killers”) who Mohg abducted to serve him. Only
Varre was able to “tame the accursed blood.”299

298
Troll’s Golden Sword
299
War Surgeon’s Set
Wormfaces: The aptly-named creatures with worms for faces. They spew Death Blight and can
be found near the one Minor Erdtree in Altus Plateau and in Crumbling Farum Azula. A lone
large wormface can be found on Mt. Gelmir.

Unanswered Questions
We’ll never have all the answers. Sometimes we don’t even have a probable answer. Here’s
some of the biggest mysteries in the latter category:

What does the description of the Memory of Grace mean?

“It is merely a cycle.

Stand before the Elden Ring. Become the Elden Lord.” 300

What is/was The One Great? According to the Three Fingers, “all that there is” came from it.
This is the only time we hear of it.

What is Marika trying to do? It would seem she has some sort of grand plan, having
anticipated the arrival of a Tarnished who would become Elden Lord ever since turning Godfrey
and his warriors into the Tarnished, long ago. She was likely Ranni’s co-conspirator in the Night
of the Black Knives, but to what end?

Her machinations drive the entire game, yet remain a complete mystery. So does her
motivation.

Who is Radagon? Where did he come from? Earlier, I lay out a theory. But I wouldn’t say it’s
an especially likely theory.

Why is Ranni an Empyrean? We know why Miquella and Malenia are, but we get no
information on Ranni. As with Radagon, I’ve laid out a theory. But again, not especially likely.

Who was the Dusk/Gloam-Eyed Queen? The former leader of the Godskin Apostles, who
controlled Destined Death before being defeated by Maliketh. She was “an Empyrean chosen
by the Fingers,” and sought to slay the gods. But who was she? Where did she come from?

Who are the Soulless Demigods? Why were they sacrificed? We know they were children
or stepchildren of Marika, who had them sacrificed after they failed to amount to anything. But
sacrificed to what end? What is the purpose of the Walking Mausoleums that carry them?

300
Memory of Grace
It makes sense that they would leave little record of their existence, but it’s strange that they
would leave virtually none whatsoever.

What is Rennala’s Full Moon, or Ranni’s Dark Moon? Are they both just the phases of the
normal moon? Is Ranni’s the Black Moon of Nokstella? Even if they are, it still leaves their
nature a mystery. Rennala’s sorcerers swear an oath to the Full Moon, as Ranni’s followers do
to the Dark Moon. A popular theory is that they are outer gods.

Why did Miquella put himself in a cocoon? Or more specifically, why did he do it when he
did?

We have several reasons why he could’ve done it. The part that doesn’t add up, though, is that
he did it when he was so near the completion of his Unalloyed Gold Needles. Miquella was very
determined to finish them, having gone to great lengths to cure Malenia of her scarlet rot. So
why did he cocoon himself when they were so close to completion?

And what will happen when he wakes up?

Why is Morgott’s Omen curse seemingly lifted when he dies? This one baffles me.

Has Malenia’s Scarlet Flower bloomed thrice, or only twice? Is she a true goddess in the
second phase of her fight, and if not, is the third bloom yet to come? (I hope not.)

What is the primeval current? It’s a source of great power, but also something that only mad
sorcerers study. Said study involves fusing other sorcerers together into big orbs, to form the
cores of stars. The Carians and/or the academy somehow suppressed it. Azur, Lusat, and
Sellen want to restore it.

What exactly is a star? “Our powers draw upon the powers embedded in glintstone, but what
is the nature of such power? Glintstone is the amber of the cosmos, golden amber contains the
remnants of ancient life and houses its vitality, while Glintstone contains residual life. And thus,
the vitality of the stars. It should not be forgotten that glintstone sorcery is the study of the stars
and the life therein.”301

They guide fate in some mysterious way, are (sometimes?) associated with outer gods, things
live in them, and they enable sorceries. The Elden Beast arrived on a star, but Astel is referred
to as a star in and of itself. That’s all we know.

What’s the purpose of the Divine Towers? They each have a dead Two Fingers atop them,
except the Liurnian one, which is accounted for by Ranni’s quest. All six are arranged in a
perfect circle, and the center of this circle is obscured by fog, and a cloud on the map. From
atop any divine tower, we can see above the fog to the other towers, so we can at least
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Sellen dialogue
ascertain that there is no tower in the center, unless it’s underwater or something. The Two
Fingers of the Roundtable Hold does not have a tower, as far as we know.

What’s the strange person-duplication surrounding the Frenzied Flame? Irina/Hyetta,

Vyke, Mohg, and possibly Yura are all cloned, somehow. For that matter, why does Shabriri
possess Yura? He’s most likely telling the truth, or at least a semi-truth, when he says that Yura
gave him his body- the Lands Between has no shortage of corpses to possess. Perhaps the
Frenzied Flame god is an enemy of the Formless Mother and her servants, the Bloody Fingers.

What happens in the Age of the Duskborn ending? This is the only ending that I still don’t
understand at all. We “embed the principle of life within Death” into the Golden Order. There are
several instances of “life within Death” in the game (associated with an outer god, in fact), but
what does it mean to embed this into Order?

What’s with the gigantic heads in Caelid and the Mountaintops? They’re too big to belong
to the giants, or anything else we know of.

How, why, and by whom was Boc turned into a tree? The biggest mystery of them all.