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Long ago, we began as stardust, born of a great rupture far across the skies. We, too, are children of the Greater Will. Is that not divine? Is that not sublime? - Count Ymir
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The Greater Will is an unseen character in Elden Ring.
Overview[]
The Greater Will is a mysterious and supremely powerful entity or force from beyond that has great influence over the Lands Between. The vassals and envoys of the Greater Will are central to the Golden Order. It inhabits a lightless void outside the Lands Between.[1]
Background[]
Long ago, the Greater Will fractured the One Great, creating births and souls.[2] The adherents of the Three Fingers consider this action to be a mistake, because it resulted in torment, despair, affliction, sins, and curses.
Together with a golden star, the Greater Will once sent an Elden Beast to the Lands Between that would later become the Elden Ring.[3] This beast was its vassal, and the living incarnation of the concept of Order.[4] The Greater Will has other vassals and envoys known as the Two Fingers,[5] who speak in a sign language of light.[6]
Eternal Cities[]
Before the age of the Erdtree,[7] the denizens of the Eternal Cities rebelled against the Greater Will. To shield themselves from its influence, the Nox donned ritual mirrorhelms to block its intervention and that of its vassals.[8] In an act of blasphemy, they drew the ire of the Greater Will by wielding the Fingerslayer Blade against one of its vassals.[9] In response to this transgression, the Greater Will unleashed Astel, whose destruction of the Eternal Cities condemned them to an existence underground.[10]
Age of the Erdtree[]
During the age of the Erdtree begun by Queen Marika the Eternal[11] and at least the era immediately preceding it, the Greater Will's envoy Two Fingers selected Empyreans as candidates to become the God of the coming age.[12] Queen Marika was one such candidate, and created the Golden Order by confining the Rune of Death.[13] However, Marika would eventually shatter the Elden Ring,[14] leading to her demigod offspring inheriting the Great Runes which in turn would trigger a war known as the Shattering.[15] The Greater Will abandoned the demigods following the Shattering, as none managed to claim title of Elden Lord.[16]
According to the Two Fingers, the Greater Will has not abandoned the realm, nor the life that inhabits it, proclaiming this is why the Tarnished have been extended the Guidance of Grace.[17] After the Tarnished returned to the Lands Between following the Shattering, the Two Fingers, at the behest of the Greater Will, bade them kill the demigods in order to claim their Great Runes to become Elden Lord by becoming Marika's consort,[18] as the Greater Will had long since renounced the demigods.[19]
In the time of The Tarnished (Protagonist), it was discovered that the entrance to the Erdtree was blocked by impenetrable thorns, preventing anyone from becoming Elden Lord. This caused the Two Fingers to commune with the Greater Will in search of answers, which may take thousands or tens of thousands of moons.[20][21] When The Tarnished (Protagonist) suggested burning the Erdtree, which would unbind Destined Death and slay the world itself,[22] Finger Reader Enia exclaimed that the Fingers and the Greater Will would never allow it.[23]
After The Tarnished (Protagonist) caused the Volcano Manor's recusants to disband following the defeat of Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, the recusant known as Knight Bernahl declared himself the inheritor of his comrade recusant's will. He declared their refusal to become the Greater Will's pawns and swore it would fall by his blade.[24]
Notes[]
- It is often speculated that the Greater Will is an Outer God or equivalent due to its God-like standing in the world of Elden Ring. It is never directly referred to as one in the game's text, however.
- The Nox Mirrorhelms presumably worked by reflecting the Greater Will's language of light.[25]
See also[]
References[]
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