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Great Runes

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"Ahh, the Great Runes are the stuff of the Demigods; the children of the goddess, Queen Marika. She who is vessel of the Elden Ring. Tainted by the strength of their runes, her children warred, but none could become Elden Lord."

- Finger Reader Enia


Elden Ring Screenshot 05

The Elden Ring shattering.

Great Runes (大ルーン, Dai Rūn) are the shards of the Elden Ring[1][2] which were inherited by some of the demigods.[3] The great strength they granted tainted the demigods, compelling them to war over control of the Lands Between.[4]

Overview[]

The Great Runes are the shards of the Elden Ring, currently making up the Golden Order, and represent the concepts of order and discipline that the demigods enforced on the physical world.[5] They were inherited by some of the demigod offspring of Queen Marika the Eternal following the shattering of the Elden Ring. The mad taint of the newfound strength granted by the Great Runes precipitated the Shattering,[3] wherein the demigods fought for control of the Lands Between.[4] The demigods who inherited Great Runes were known as Shardbearers.

The known Great Runes are as follows:

It is unknown if the Rune of Death is considered a Great Rune.

The Great Runes reflect the demigods that inherited them. For example, Morgott's Great Rune was proof that he was born of the Golden Lineage, and the rightful Lord of Leyndell.[7] Mohg, Lord of Blood's Great Rune was soaked with accursed blood from his devout love for the wretched mire he was born into.[8] Morgott's and Mohg's Great Runes were naturally similar due to their bearers being twins.[8] Malenia, Blade of Miquella's Great Rune was half-rotted but infused with Malenia's spirit of resistance.[9]

Miquella of the Haligtree and Ranni the Witch are the only Shardbearers known to have discarded their Great Runes.[6] The whereabouts of Ranni's Great Rune remain unknown. Miquella relinquishes and breaks his Great Rune after the Tarnished crosses into one of three areas of the Land of Shadow: the eastern half of Scadu Altus, the Rauh Base region, or Shadow Keep.

The Tarnished, upon returning to the Lands Between, were compelled by the Two Fingers to seek out demigods to relieve them of their Great Runes in order to become Elden Lord.[10][11] The Tarnished required one Great Rune to be granted audience with the Two Fingers in the inner chamber of the Roundtable Hold.[12] They also required enough Great Runes to repair the Elden Ring before the Two Fingers would permit them to enter Leyndell, Royal Capital to have an audience with Queen Marika to become Elden Lord.[13] During the course of the game, this is two Great Runes, however since the Shardbearer Morgott, the Omen King guards the entrance to the Erdtree and must be killed to access it, they will have at least three when granted audience. Finger Reader Enia has only ever seen two Great Runes together once before this.[14]

When initially obtained by the player, a Great Rune (except the Great Rune of the Unborn) would be devoid of any benediction, and had to be taken to the Divine Tower mentioned in its description, whereupon it would be restored by interacting with the image of the Great Rune above the inert Two Fingers at the summit of the tower. Further, a Rune Arc was required for The Tarnished (Protagonist) to be granted the blessing of a Great Rune after restoring it.

The Great Runes acquired by The Tarnished were used to repair the Elden Ring in at least one ending.

See Also[]

Trivia[]

  • Localisation Notes
    • In English, Enia calls the player a Shardbearer after they acquire a Great Rune,[15] however, in Japanese she simply calls them "Master of the/a Great Rune" (大ルーンの主, Dai Rūn no Omo.)
  • "Great Rune" was rumored to be the title of Elden Ring prior to the game's announcement.[16]
    • Prior to Elden Ring's announcement, FromSoftware game modder TKGP discovered the project code name "GR", thought to refer to the rumored "Great Rune", in the data files of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.[17]
  • Cut content indicates that at least some of the Great Runes were planned to have actual names.
    • The cut Abundance Twinblade and Abundance and Decay Twinblade, weapons make reference to "the Rune of Abundance" and the "the Rune of Decay" in their descriptions belonging to Miquella and Malenia respectively.
    • In the Chinese 1.0 text, the Grafted Blade Greatsword refers to "the Rune of Grafting" (“接肢”的卢恩, “Jiē Zhī” de Lú'ēn), presumably Godrick's Great Rune.

References[]

  1. ↑ en.bandainamcoent.eu :: "ELDEN RING | Official Website (EN)"
  2. ↑ Finger Reader Enia: ""Brave Tarnished, your Great Rune is a handsome shard of the Elden Ring.""
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Intro Cutscene: "Soon, Marika's offspring, demigods all, claimed the shards of the Elden Ring. The mad taint of their newfound strength triggered the Shattering."
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Finger Reader Enia: "Tainted by the strength of their runes, her children warred, but none could become Elden Lord."
  5. ↑ 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]."
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing: "There are four more demigods yet to be located. Miquella of the Haligtree, the Unalloyed. His twin, Malenia, the undefeated swordswoman. Lunar Princess Ranni, daughter to Rennala. And the one only known as the Lord of Blood. Ranni is said to have cast aside her Great Rune, so here at the Hold, we seek the whereabouts of the remaining three shardbearers."
  7. ↑ Morgott's Great Rune
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Mohg's Great Rune
  9. ↑ Malenia's Great Rune
  10. ↑ Finger Reader Enia: " "Brave Tarnished, your Great Rune is a handsome shard of the Elden Ring." "Seek another of its kind." "To become Elden Lord, and restore the Golden Order." "
  11. ↑ Finger Reader Enia: ""Confer Great Runes to become Elden Lord, and join Queen Marika as her consort." "
  12. ↑ White Mask Varré: "Aren't you supposed to be earning your place at the Roundtable Hold? Then you must face Godrick the Grafted, lord of Stormveil, for without a Great Rune, you will not be granted audience. With the Two Fingers, in the inner chamber."
  13. ↑ Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing: "Morgott the Grace-Given is Lord of Leyndell, the capital city. It lies at the foot of the Erdtree, in the east of the Altus Plateau. But the Two Fingers forbid us from venturing there. Until we've acquired enough Great Runes to repair the Elden Ring."
  14. ↑ Finger Reader Enia: "I had my doubts, but...my, look at you. Only once before have I seen two Great Runes together."
  15. ↑ Finger Reader Enia: "Look there. The Fingers tremble. To welcome you, shardbearer."
  16. ↑ https://youtu.be/xloXES9PA5U
  17. ↑ https://twitter.com/tkgp_/status/1133809744601391104?s=21
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