The world of Elden Ring is stuffed with subplots and sidequests, often given to you by utterly missable NPCs who journey across the Lands Between, stopping at numerous landmarks alongside the best way. Some of them are the keys to new weapons, armor, or spells, whereas others will unravel complete layers of lore and in-game mythology that may lead you to alternate endings and, possibly, change your understanding of your mission as a would-be Elden Lord altogether.This is actually the case with the Frenzied Flame, one in every of Elden Ring’s most dense (and most simply missed) facet tales that may stroll you down a completely new path in your quest to the Erdtree–which will even make for some new enemies and a few ominous foreshadowing of the longer term, must you select to see this quest by way of.So what, precisely, is the Frenzied Flame and what does it need to do with Elden Ring’s story? The reply is a little bit sophisticated, so strap in–and brace for lots (and we do imply quite a bit) of main sport spoilers alongside the best way.The World, As It IsOne of the important thing elements of Elden Ring’s inside mythology is the concept of The Greater Will, which is what’s generally known as an “Outer God,” or an eldritch power that’s exerting its affect on the Lands Between by way of conduits–regular gods, like Marika. There’s loads of finer factors and ins-and-outs to being a god, outer or in any other case, in Elden Ring, however for now, its finest to grasp the Outer Gods on this story as puppet masters attempting to tug the strings of the Lands Between whereas additionally present firmly exterior of the conventional idea of actuality.The Greater Will makes use of Marika as a conduit, but it surely additionally makes use of monstrous hand-like creatures generally known as the Two Fingers to speak. At some level up to now, it established the concept of The Golden Order, a type of quasi-religious motion anchored by the communication of the Two Fingers and Marika’s reign, that believed in a divine plan or algorithm for all life. In reality, we even have the names of two of these guidelines in-game, as incantations generally known as the Law of Causality and the Law of Regression.Put merely, The Greater Will has a really strict view of how issues work and the way life should function–and, unsurprisingly, not everyone seems to be tremendous wanting to go together with it, particularly if they do not fairly see eye-to-eye with these guidelines. One such dissenter is one other Outer God, popularly generally known as The Frenzied Flame.The Frenzied Flame is, in essence, the precise reverse of The Greater Will. Where The Greater Will instills inflexible order and strict legal guidelines, The Frenzied Flame instills–well, frenzy. Absolute chaos, insanity, and within the phrases of a few of their devoted, a whole breakdown of the whole lot that “divides and distinguishes.”The Greater Will might have been the highest canine by way of affect within the Lands Between previous to the Shattering and subsequent decay, but it surely was by no means with out challengers. It’s arduous to inform simply when or how The Frenzied Flame started to take root throughout the inhabitants however proof suggests it has been round for a while–and, in actual fact, has been actively buried by The Greater Will’s loyalists in an effort to maintain it hidden and locked away. There’s just one piece of concrete textual content within the sport pointing to any type of origin, discovered on the incarnation the Howl of Shabriri which reads: “it is said that the sickness of the flame of frenzy began with Shabriri, the most relieved man in all history.”More on Shabriri in a second.Now, whereas these two are removed from the one Outer Gods in Elden Ring’s mythology, they appear to be the 2 most carefully associated to at least one one other. While The Greater Will makes use of the Two Fingers as conduits, The Frenzied Flame makes use of a creature referred to as the Three Fingers for itself. This may probably recommend that the 2 of them are, in actual fact, one entity that was bifurcated someway into two opposing forces.This is additional implied by dialogue later within the sport with an NPC, Hyetta, who explains: “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.” Though, the chance for unreliable narration actually should not be discounted.So, now that the Shattering has occurred, most of the Fingers are lifeless, and the Lands Between is in a state of maximum decline, The Frenzied Flame is among the many many highly effective forces attempting to make a transfer. To do that, it, like the opposite Outer Gods, wants the assistance of some highly effective loyalists.Merchants, Samurai, and MaidensWhile The Greater Will might depend on everybody from Tarnished fundamentalists to spurned demi-gods, The Frenzied Flame retains issues a bit extra lowkey by way of its followers and conduits. The first hints of The Frenzied Flame you are prone to discover in your journey are an merchandise referred to as “Shabriri Grapes” which, regardless of the title, aren’t fruit in any respect however rotten eyeballs plucked from the sockets of (largely) keen donors seeking to give their “grapes” to maidens. You’ll ultimately be capable of give these grapes to at least one such maiden, a blind lady named Hyetta who’s on a quest to comply with the steering of “a distant light” that she will solely see as soon as she’s eaten a grape.Oh, and, yeah–she does assume they’re literal grapes. Don’t fear, you finally get to inform her what she’s consuming. It does not go properly, however does not change her thoughts about it, both.Hyetta begins her mission believing that she’s going to turn out to be a finger maiden as a servant of The Greater Will however, someplace alongside the best way, decides that she’s truly higher suited to a unique energy. She makes this selection after you feed her a “fingerprint grape”–yes, one other eyeball–this time from an invading Tarnished warrior who was “scorched by the Flame of Frenzy.” This Tarnished, named Vyke, additionally drops some gadgets with much more clues, speaking about how he was as soon as very near turning into Elden Lord however ventured “deep below the capital” the place he was burned by the flame, leaving finger print marks melted into his flesh and armor.Vyke himself might be discovered at an entire nook of the map dedicated to The Frenzied Flame, within the northern nook of Liurnia, the place a village has apparently succumbed to the Flame’s affect wholesale. They also have a guard tower that may inflict insanity on anybody approaching, presumably to each guard their little group and develop their numbers. It’s additionally value noting that the church throughout the village is named, sarcastically, the Church of Inhibition–which might indicate that the flames took root right here with some deliberate sense of irony, seeing as “inhibition” is outlined because the restraint in opposition to expressing an intuition, or, , the precise reverse of being “frenzied.” If that is the case, it factors much more strongly to the potential for The Frenzied Flame and The Greater Will being, greater than another Outer Gods, diametrically opposed enemies or rivals. A type of eldritch Batman and The Joker, in case you will–as against the opposite huge highly effective forces across the Lands Between that appear fairly completely happy to do their very own issues or pursue their very own targets.The residents of the Frenzied Flame Village aren’t the one followers to be discovered, nevertheless. Eventually, in case you comply with the questline given to you by Yura, a samurai and Bloody Finger hunter you first meet in Limgrave, you’ll meet Shabriri himself–the man who named the grapes, and apparently, began the Frenzied Flame fad. In addition to the grapes and the incarnation, he additionally has a talisman named after him–Shabriri’s Woe–which states that he had his eyes gouged out as punishment for “the crime of slander and, with time, the bright flame of the frenzy came to dwell in the empty sockets.”If you could not inform, the attention theme is fairly outstanding right here.Shabriri does not appear to have a bodily type anymore, and as a substitute, manifests throughout the corpse of Yura, which he is apparently reanimated to talk with you and as soon as once more impress upon you the significance of venturing under the capital to discover a properly hidden secret. The incentive he provides you is the security of Melina, explaining that in case you embrace The Frenzied Flame, she will not need to sacrifice herself to burn the Erdtree–you’ll have your individual fireplace to get the job achieved.Clearly, it is a manipulative tactic–Vyke’s armor set implies that the identical pitch was given to him, in some unspecified time in the future up to now. “Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with suggestion?”If you do make the lengthy trek down under Leyndell’s already subterranean system of jails, you may discover a type of mausoleum, stuffed to the brim with the lifeless (and the practically lifeless). Another factor you may probably acknowledge instantly is that the corpses littering (and we do imply littering, there’s hardly any area to stroll) this place are all retailers. Yes, retailers, the pleasant guys who you have little question been assembly alongside your travels, who’re at all times completely happy to promote you helpful stuff. The handful that do nonetheless survive someway are taking part in the straightforward stringed instrument some retailers carry with them–a melody you may in all probability acknowledge.An clarification for this grisly mausoleum might be discovered within the description of the Nomadic Merchant’s Finery, which reads “these merchants once thrived as the Great Caravan, but after being accused of heretical beliefs, their entire clan was rounded up and buried alive far underground. Then, they chanted a curse of despair, and summoned the flame of frenzy.”More context in regards to the “Great Caravan” and the retailers might be present in some reduce content material, datamined from earlier builds of the sport, the place Kale–the first service provider you meet–had a quest to uncover his personal roots, main him to ultimately succumb to the flames himself.There’s a little bit of a hen/egg dilemma occurring right here with the service provider tribe and Shabriri as properly, each of which appear to be responsible of summoning the flame of frenzy in a technique or one other. It’s doable that Shabriri was a part of an historic service provider tribe himself, and that his crimes of slander had been punished so harshly due to the robust oral traditions shared by the nomadic retailers across the continent–but there’s concrete proof both means.As Above, So BelowOnce you attain the very backside of the mausoleum, you may end up earlier than a large, fleshy door. If you have additionally achieved Hyetta’s quest up thus far, she’ll be, miraculously, ready so that you can clarify that you would be able to solely be granted an viewers with the Three Fingers in case you take away all of your garments.Doing so will assist you to enter and confront the monster–but don’t fret, it isn’t a battle. Instead, the Three Fingers will embrace you and sear their fingerprints into your flesh, very similar to they did to Vyke earlier than you. This will immediate Hyetta to supply herself up as your new maiden as a result of Melina will promptly abandon you in case you determine to journey down this path. Unfortunately for Hyetta, nevertheless, anointing her with the flames she appears to need a lot will finally kill her–so a lot for Shabriri’s promise of saving a life, huh? (Though, given Shabriri’s personal skill to body-snatch corpses and exist with out his authentic type, possibly that is all a part of the plan, we will not make sure a technique or one other.)So what was the purpose of all this, you could ask?Well, as soon as you have been anointed with the mark of the Three Fingers, you’re locked into a selected ending for the sport. It does not matter what number of potential mending runes you have collected or which different quests you have accomplished, in case you’ve acquired the fingerprints in your pores and skin, you are caught. That is, except you collect Miquella’s needle from defeating Malenia, which is able to assist you to take away the mark of frenzy out of your physique. The needle’s merchandise description particularly notes that it was made to “ward off the meddling of outer gods” and that it permits one to “cheat fate and avoid becoming the Lord of Frenzied Flame.”If you don’t use the needle, nevertheless, you’ll get the Frenzied Flame ending, which is–well, fairly bleak. Unlike the opposite endings, which embody a voice-over saying the dawning of whichever age you picked, the Frenzied Flame ending contains solely ominous silence and the world being engulfed in sickly yellow flames–which, oh yeah, have additionally changed your head. The roaring flames proceed uninterrupted till Melina, assuming she survived the sport, is given a little bit cut-away scene the place she guarantees to hunt you down and ship your Destined Death.Now, Melina’s story, motivations, allegiances, and relationship to numerous Outer Gods is an entire different can of worms, but it surely’s nonetheless value noting that her design has modified barely on this transient scene. Her closed eye is now open–and visibly blind–and her hand is prominently scarred.Melina’s presence on this ending does not inform us a lot, but it surely does affirm that regardless of the completely apocalyptic look of the world, life in some type or one other nonetheless apparently is ready to persist within the Lands Between. That, or possibly Melina is a very particular case. Still, there’s loads of unanswered questions as to what precisely a world dominated by chaos incarnate truly means and the way issues would progress below this specific model of rule.Some different Frenzied Flame adjoining gadgets within the sport, such because the Eye of Yelough (a reasonably disgusting trying herb) appears to indicate that life is unquestionably doable in some type or one other in lands affected by frenzy. Its description reads “grown in lands afflicted by frenzy, it’s used for its pain-relieving properties…though it’s also known to be a dangerous intoxicant.” The title Yelough additionally seems within the title of some ruins discovered within the Consecrated Snowfield, which can or might not be pointing towards the existence of an entity–either one other Outer God or one other Outer God-like creature, or even perhaps one other title for the Frenzied Flame itself–that controls or thrives in frenzy. It’s value pointing this out if solely as a result of Melina will warn you, in no unsure phrases, that the flames of frenzy are principally antithetical to life.Meanwhile the existence of crafting books such because the Frenzied’s Cookbook clarify that individuals troubled by frenzy had been discovering new strategies and gadgets to make “in desperation,” and had been truly healed by frenzy-touched gadgets as soon as they themselves had been contaminated.So what does all this truly imply within the larger image? It’s tough to say–the finest we will do is hope for a future DLC that may contact extra in regards to the relationships between the outer gods, and possibly even one thing that picks up the threads of the Frenzied Flame ending and Melina’s quest for vengeance in opposition to you.
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