FromSoftware’s action role-playing game (RPG) “Elden Ring,” directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment on February 25, 2022, is nothing short of an amazing and breathtaking game. The intense cinematics along with the stunning environments of the game create a perfect harmony that often leads players to spend 40 to 70 hours playing it. The lore of the game is nothing short of spectacular as the characters interact in extraordinary ways.
With how much there is to the story of “Elden Ring,” here is a brief run-through of the main story of the base game. Note that some questions are answered in the downloadable content (DLC) for the game, but this is only the story of the base game!
The story begins with one out of the roughly six Outer Gods, named the Greater Will, sending the Golden Star to the Lands Between. The Golden Star contains the Elden Beast, a beast that serves as a vessel for the Greater Will. Since the beast is a representation of the Greater Will, it serves as the Elden Ring in its quest to keep order in the Lands Between.
The Elden Ring itself is made up of runes that keep order within the lands. These runes were dispersed and taken by Gods and Demigods throughout the game such as Mogh, Morgott, and Malenia. The Elden Ring is contained within the colossal sized Erdtree, which is set roughly in the center of the Lands Between. The Erdtree’s origins are parasitic, as it had taken over a tree that already existed: the Great Tree. Usurping the Great Tree’s powers, the Erdtree took over the Lands Between and all living creatures that were already there. The Greater Will did not think the Erdtree was enough for its immense power, so it sought out a messenger for its hymes. It prompted the Two Fingers to wriggle and spell out its prophecies, which are interpreted by Finger Readers. These prophecy interpreters are spread out throughout the Lands Between and are interactive to the player, becoming key sources to the lore. The Erdtree and Fingers both act as envoys for the Greater Will, but are still not enough. The Greater Will then sought out something more powerful, a god, to fill this hole: Marika, the Eternal.
Marika’s origins are ambiguous, but we know she is from the Numen race. Numens come from outside the Lands Between and are rumored to come from another world. Marika was chosen by the Fingers to become a candidate for godhood. To aid Marika in her quest to become a god, she was given a shadow. Shadows are wolves that are bound to her by the Two Fingers in order to provide support to her. They are completely loyal to their person and are unable to stray away from them. Sometime within Marika’s reign, she plucked the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring and tasked her shadow, Maliketh, to guard the rune. In this action, Marika had shielded all of the Lands Between from death, but gave all the power of death to Maliketh at her will. It was at this moment, when the Rune of Death was taken from the Elden Ring, that Marika’s Golden Order had taken over the Lands Between. Queen Marika went to war with the Storm Lord, the Giants, the Ancient Dragons, and the Carian royalty in order to save her Golden Order from those with the power to take it over.
To aid her in keeping the Golden Order, Queen Marika sought a husband, or consort, to enforce her reign. This consort would be known as the Elden Lord. She chose Hoarah Loux, the Lord of the Battlefield, to take on this task. In being Lord, he had to suppress his war-like desires and acquired the help of a beast named Serosh to help him stay on track. In acquiring Serosh, Hoarah Loux became Demigod Godfrey, the first Elden Lord and consort of Queen Marika. The pair eventually had three children together. These children were the first Demigods of “Elden Ring” and are known as the Golden Lineage. One child is Godwyn the Golden while the others are the felled omen twins: Morgott, the Omen King, and Mogh, the Lord of Blood.
As the factions of the Lands Between slowly fell, it was the Carian Knights of the House of the Moon that held their ground from the Golden Order. There were less than 20 knights, but they withstood two wars with no victors. The immensely strong Carian Knights were chosen by the Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon. Lord Radagon, leader of the Golden Warriors fell in love with Lady Rennala as war spurred from the Golden Order against the Carian Knights. The two merged their houses and Lord Radagon cleansed himself from any agressions he had to fully embed his love into Lady Rennala. This pair also had three children: Lunar Princess Ranni, Radahn, and Rykard.
Queen Marika started to have doubts about the Golden Order after the convergence of the two houses. She started searching for the true intentions of the Greater Will and broke bonds to further understand them. With her withering belief in the Golden Order, Queen Marika let her husband, Godfrey, go after relentless fights with the Giants and the Storm Lord. Godfrey and his descendants were exiled outside the Lands Between only to come back stronger, but shunned.
It was once Godfrey was exiled that Lord Radagon left Lady Rennala to pursue Queen Marika and become the second Elden Lord. Lord Radagon’s intentions for leaving Lady Rennala are unknown, but the events that are brought about are contradicting. After usurping the title of King, Radagon’s three children were given the title of Demigods. Queen Rennala was left devastated, her heart was ripped to shreds, and civil war started raging in her country of Liurnia. Lunar Princess Ranni took it upon herself to steal a fragment of the Rune of Death from Maliketh under the guise of war. Maliketh saw this as a loss and bound the rune into his flesh in order to prevent any more power from being stolen. Unfortunately, it was too late because the stolen fragment was used the night it was stolen to kill Marika’s son, Godwyn the Golden. This night became known as the cataclysmic Night of the Black Knives.
The first death of a Demigod served as a catalyst to the shattering of the Elden Ring and started a war known as the Shattering. The death of her son led Queen Marika to shatter the Elden Ring herself. King Radagon attempted to repair the ring, but nothing would work. This is when it is strikingly revealed that Queen Marika is King Radagon; they are one. We know that they were two separate people before the Shattering, but Melina (a woman who aids the player in their journey) reveals that they merged into one after the war.
Queen Marika eventually was imprisoned within the Erdtree for shattering the Elden Ring but still remained a god for the Lands Between. The converged pair of Radagon and Marika had their own children: Miquella the Kind and Malenia, Blade of Miquella. Even though they were children of a god, they were born cursed. Miquella was cursed with eternal childhood and Melania was cursed with the Scarlett Rot. The two were notable candidates for succeeding the Greater Will’s powers, but all participants in the war of the Shattering tried their hardest to become the chosen one. Many in the war also tried to obtain pieces of the shattered Elden Ring to become the next Elden Lord, a goal the player seeks to achieve as a previously exiled tarnished.
There is so much more lore to “Elden Ring,” but I hope the main story is enough to convince people to play. For those who already have played the game, FromSoftware is producing and releasing a standalone action-multiplayer game, “Elden Ring Nightreign,” on May 29, 2025. The game will take place within the universe of “Elden Ring,” but it will have players fend off enemies and bosses of the night!
