The Elden Ring


	For the video game, seek Elden Ring (game). For other uses, seek Elden Ring (disambiguation).

The Elden Ring (エルデンリング, Eruden Ringu) is a mysterious artifact that defines the world of Elden Ring itself.^[1] It is the source of the Erdtree,^[2] and its various interlocking runes represent and establish Order, the fundamental laws of the world.^[3]

Characteristics[]

The Elden Ring itself is made up of various interlocking shapes, known as runes, which appear as ethereal rings and arches made of light. These runes have power over fundamental concepts that dictate reality in the Lands Between, such as "Death." Under the Golden Order, the runes represent the concepts of order and discipline enforced on the physical world.^[4]

Background[]

Artwork of an ancient version of the Elden Ring at Farum Azula

Long ago, the Greater Will sent a golden star bearing its vassal Elden Beast far across the cosmos to the world of the Lands Between. The beast was the living embodiment of the concept of Order, and later became the Elden Ring.^[5]^[6]

Special beings known as Empyreans are able to become vessels of the Elden Ring, housing it within their bodies to become gods.^[7] The consort of an Empyrean takes the title of Lord,^[8] and the consort of an Empyrean who has become the Elden Ring's vessel is known as an Elden Lord. The vessels can alter the runes that make up the Elden Ring itself, changing the fundamental laws of the world, as Marika did when she removed the Rune of Death and began the Age of the Erdtree.^[9] The Elden Ring has taken different appearances in the past in accordance with the laws of previous ages. The oldest known configuration of the ancient Elden Ring can be found in Crumbling Farum Azula, dating to an age long before the Erdtree when Dragonlord Placidusax reigned as Elden Lord.^[10]

The most recent configuration of the Elden Ring was the Golden Order, founded by its divine vessel, Queen Marika the Eternal, who later remove it from her body and shattered it with her Numen hammer. Despite her other half Radagon's attempts to repair the Ring, many of its shards scattered across the realm, the largest and most powerful of which claimed by Marika's Demigod offspring.^[11] Corrupted by the strength of their newfound Great Runes, the Demigods fought a grueling Shattering War, a crucible from which no Lord arose.

Types of Runes[]

Several of the runes that make up the Elden Ring have particular names. These include:

Runes - Countless tiny fragments of the Elden Ring that spread throughout the Lands Between. These runes can be collected by the Tarnished to gain strength with the help of a Finger Maiden.^[12]
Rune Arc - The lower arches of the Elden Ring act as basins in which its blessings pool.^[13] There appear to be three Rune Arcs in the current configuration of the Elden Ring.
Great Runes - The large circular shapes that make up the central form of the Elden Ring. The Great Runes hold tremendous power, and the Demigods fought over them after the Elden Ring was shattered.
- Anchor Rings - The Great Runes inherited by Godrick the Grafted, and Morgott, the Omen King, are both described as anchor rings. Godrick's Great Rune is the anchor ring found in the center of the Elden Ring.^[14] Morgott's Great Rune is the anchor ring that houses the base of the Elden Ring, and proves both that he is born of the Golden Lineage, and that he is the rightful Lord of Leyndell.^[15]
  - Since Mohg, Lord of Blood is Morgott's twin, his Great Rune is naturally similar to Morgott's,^[16] but it is unknown if his Great Rune can be considered an anchor ring as well.
Elden Runes - Elden Runes are not given a strict definition. The seals of Queen Marika and King Consort Radagon are both described as Elden Runes.^[17]^[18]^[19]^[20] Queen Marika's Elden Rune appears at the bottom of the Elden Ring, as the lower arch where the central vertical line of the Elden Ring ends, and it was said to be where the blessings of the Elden Ring would gather.^[21] Lord Radagon's Elden Rune is the crosshatch lattice pattern visible behind the central rings of the Elden Ring. It is unknown if there is a difference between Great Runes and Elden Runes.
The Rune of Death - Also known as Destined Death,^[22] it was originally a part of the Elden Ring, but was removed by Queen Marika in order to found the Golden Order.^[23]^[9] It governs the deaths of the inhabitants of the Lands Between. The Rune of Death was once harboured within the sword of Queen Marika's shadowbound beast, Maliketh, the Black Blade, until a fragment of the Rune was stolen in the Night of the Black Knives. Maliketh subsequently sealed the rest of the Rune's power within his own flesh in order to prevent Death from being stolen again.^[24] How the Rune of Death should be categorized is unclear: it may be a Great Rune, an Elden Rune, or something else entirely.
Mending Runes - Mending Runes are special runes that are envisioned and gestated by certain people, which can be added to the Elden Ring by the player. Mending runes both repair the Elden Ring and embed new ideas and natural laws into it, and thus into the world itself.^[9]^[25]^[26] It is unknown whether any Mending Runes had ever been added to the Elden Ring prior to the player's journey.

Notes[]

The Elden Beast is the Elden Ring.

Trivia[]

The shape of the Elden Ring may have been inspired by various runes from RuneQuest, which Miyazaki has cited as an inspiration for his games in the past, including Elden Ring.^[27]
- Notably, the Plant Rune, Truth Rune, and possibly the Fertility Rune from RuneQuest.
Cut and removed content suggests that additional Great Runes have proper names.
- The cut versions of the Euporia (Abundance Twinblade, Abundance and Decay Twinblade) reference the "Rune of Abundance" and the "Rune of Decay" in their descriptions, belonging to Miquella and Malenia respectively.
- In the Chinese 1.00 text, the Grafted Blade Greatsword referred to a "Rune of Grafting" (“接肢”的卢恩, Jiē Zhī de Lú'ēn), likely Godrick's Great Rune. The description for Helphen's Steeple, Golden Order Greatsword, and Icon Shield mentioned a "Rune of Life" (生命卢恩, Shēngmìng Lú ēn), and the Korean 1.0 Dark Moon Greatsword refers to a "Rune of Mind" ("정신의 룬, jeongsin-ui lun).
- The Japanese talkmsg files refer to a "Mind Rune" (精神ルーン, Seishin Rūn) and a "Life Rune" (生命ルーン, Seimei Rūn).

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ Hidetaka Miyazaki: "Elden Ring is the name given to a mysterious concept that defines the world itself."
(E3 2019: Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin Present: Elden Ring)
↑ "In the Lands Between ruled by Queen Marika the Eternal, the Elden Ring, the source of the Erdtree, has been shattered."
(Bandai Namco Elden Ring webpage)
↑ Hidetaka Miyazaki: "The rings that you’re looking at in the logo are not so much a representation of those factions, as you put it, but more a representation of the law of the world, the rules and the order."
(Edge, 'Boss Encounter', The Hidetaka Miyazaki Interview)
↑ Hidetaka Miyazaki: "The rings that you’re looking at in the logo are not so much a representation of those factions, as you put it, but more a representation of the law of the world, the rules and the order. This Golden Order is something that the Elden Ring may have once represented, but not directly. It’s more about how you apply those rules and how you enforce them on the physical world and what effects they have on it. So it’s more the influence of these demigods that existed a long time before and how they applied these concepts of order and discipline. That’s what’s being represented by the Elden ring and these overlapping intersecting rings. It gets a little bit more complicated than that, but I’ll leave it there for now [smiles]."
(Edge, 'Boss Encounter', The Hidetaka Miyazaki Interview)
↑ Elden Stars
↑ Elden Remembrance
↑ Finger Reader Enia: "Queen Marika is the vessel of the Elden Ring, carrier of its vision. A god, in truth."
↑ Dark Moon Ring
↑ ^9.0 ^9.1 ^9.2 Mending Rune of the Death-Prince
↑ Remembrance of the Dragonlord
↑ Marika's Hammer
↑ Melina: "I can play the role of maiden. Turning runes into strength. To aid you in your search for the Elden Ring."
↑ Rune Arc
↑ Godrick's Great Rune
↑ Morgott's Great Rune
↑ Mohg's Great Rune
↑ Marika's Scarseal
↑ Marika's Soreseal
↑ Radagon's Scarseal
↑ Radagon's Soreseal
↑ Rune Arc: "It is said that the lower arch of the Elden Ring receive its bounty, and this is a shard of one such arch."
↑ Finger Reader Enia: "The Rune of Death goes by two names; the other is Destined Death."
↑ Finger Reader Enia: "The forbidden shadow, plucked from the Golden Order upon its creation..."
↑ Maliketh's Black Blade
↑ Mending Rune of Perfect Order
↑ Mending Rune of the Fell Curse
↑ Hidetaka Miyazaki: "There have been a lot of different works that influenced the creative process in various ways — The Lord Of The Rings, The Eternal Champion series of novels by Michael Moorcock, aspects of tabletop RPGs such as RuneQuest, etc."
(Edge, 'Boss Encounter', The Hidetaka Miyazaki Interview)

[1] Hidetaka Miyazaki: "Elden Ring is the name given to a mysterious concept that defines the world itself."
(E3 2019: Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin Present: Elden Ring)

[2] "In the Lands Between ruled by Queen Marika the Eternal, the Elden Ring, the source of the Erdtree, has been shattered."
(Bandai Namco Elden Ring webpage)

[:1-3] Hidetaka Miyazaki: "The rings that you’re looking at in the logo are not so much a representation of those factions, as you put it, but more a representation of the law of the world, the rules and the order."
(Edge, 'Boss Encounter', The Hidetaka Miyazaki Interview)

[4] Hidetaka Miyazaki: "The rings that you’re looking at in the logo are not so much a representation of those factions, as you put it, but more a representation of the law of the world, the rules and the order. This Golden Order is something that the Elden Ring may have once represented, but not directly. It’s more about how you apply those rules and how you enforce them on the physical world and what effects they have on it. So it’s more the influence of these demigods that existed a long time before and how they applied these concepts of order and discipline. That’s what’s being represented by the Elden ring and these overlapping intersecting rings. It gets a little bit more complicated than that, but I’ll leave it there for now [smiles]."
(Edge, 'Boss Encounter', The Hidetaka Miyazaki Interview)

[:3-5] Elden Stars

[6] Elden Remembrance

[:2-7] Finger Reader Enia: "Queen Marika is the vessel of the Elden Ring, carrier of its vision. A god, in truth."

[8] Dark Moon Ring

[:0-9] 9.0 ^9.1 ^9.2 Mending Rune of the Death-Prince

[10] Remembrance of the Dragonlord

[11] Marika's Hammer

[12] Melina: "I can play the role of maiden. Turning runes into strength. To aid you in your search for the Elden Ring."

[13] Rune Arc

[14] Godrick's Great Rune

[15] Morgott's Great Rune

[16] Mohg's Great Rune

[17] Marika's Scarseal

[18] Marika's Soreseal

[19] Radagon's Scarseal

[20] Radagon's Soreseal

[21] Rune Arc: "It is said that the lower arch of the Elden Ring receive its bounty, and this is a shard of one such arch."

[22] Finger Reader Enia: "The Rune of Death goes by two names; the other is Destined Death."

[23] Finger Reader Enia: "The forbidden shadow, plucked from the Golden Order upon its creation..."

[24] Maliketh's Black Blade

[25] Mending Rune of Perfect Order

[26] Mending Rune of the Fell Curse

[27] Hidetaka Miyazaki: "There have been a lot of different works that influenced the creative process in various ways — The Lord Of The Rings, The Eternal Champion series of novels by Michael Moorcock, aspects of tabletop RPGs such as RuneQuest, etc."
(Edge, 'Boss Encounter', The Hidetaka Miyazaki Interview)

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