Finally, it is time. We’ve bested all of the demigods in Elden Ring, explored your complete world of the Lands Between, delved into the depths beneath the land and their historical past, and discovered all we will concerning the Outer Gods. It’s time to lastly stand earlier than the Elden Ring and develop into Elden Lord.Unfortunately, there are nonetheless a number of folks standing in our approach, attempting to maintain that from occurring. Shocking, I do know.With a handful of Great Runes in our possession, we’ve got virtually every part we have to restore the Elden Ring. But if we have discovered nothing else from our experiences within the Lands Between, witnessing the horrors and stagnation created by the Golden Order and the demigods, and from our stalwart companion Melina, it is that eradicating Destined Death from the Elden Ring was a mistake. This is a narrative about demise, in spite of everything. We’ve been dealing out demise everywhere in the Lands Between. It’s time to revive it as a pure a part of the world. To try this, we’ve got to go to the unusual mausoleum metropolis of Crumbling Farum Azula.As at all times, there are a ton of spoilers to comply with.More Elden Ring story explainersElden Ring Story Guide: The Lore and History of The Lands BetweenWhat Happens in Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 1: LimgraveWhat Happens in Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 2: Liurnia Of The LakesWhat Happens in Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 3: CaelidWhat Happens in Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 4: Mt. Gelmir and Volcano ManorWhat occurs in Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 5: Leyndell, Royal CapitalWhat Happens in Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 6: Mountaintops of the GiantsWhat Happens in Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 7: Castle Sol and the Consecrated SnowfieldWhat Happens in Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 8: Miquella’s HaligtreeWhat Happens in Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 9: Eternal Cities, Deeproot Depths, And MohgThe Frenzied Flame and the Game’s Bleakest Ending, DefinedFarum Azula, seat of the dragonsAfter kindling the Flame of Ruin with Melina, fulfilling her function (and, maybe, the plans of Marika–we’ll get there), you end up awakening in Crumbling Farum Azula. This is a metropolis actually floating within the air, but additionally in an limitless state of disintegration. The place itself makes little or no sense, and it is exhausting to say precisely what is going on on right here.What lore we will glean about Farum Azula is that it is an historical metropolis, current exterior the traditional circulation of time. It’s additionally a mausoleum meant to honor an historical dragon, which appears to be Dragonlord Placidusax, since you could find and combat the two-headed monster dragon as an non-compulsory boss as you make your approach by way of right here. (To entry him, although, it’s important to lay down and get pulled into an odd tornado–this second appears to counsel that to search out and tackle Placidusax, it’s important to take some form of magical pathway, probably involving time journey, to succeed in the Dragonlord.) It appears like Farum Azula may very well be the traditional residence or birthplace of the dragons earlier than they made their technique to the Lands Between. It’s additionally residence to the beastmen, who you might need encountered right here or there. Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, is seemingly one among these, and it appears very potential that Blaidd, the wolf-man raised as Ranni’s brother who acts as her “shadow,” is one other. The beasts have their very own faith, they forge weapons the likes of that are past human understanding, and so they seemingly defend and serve the dragons, not less than to some extent.Farum Azula offers us a glance into the previous of the Erdtree and the Golden Order that we have solely seen hinted at in different places. First, we be taught right here from the Remembrance of the Dragonlord that, within the age earlier than the Erdtree, Placidusax served as Elden Lord–which means that Marika is maybe not the primary god chosen by the Greater Will to serve it within the Lands Between. Placidusax can be implied to have been immortal, “unlike the paltry dragons of today.”It’s powerful to say precisely what occurred to Farum Azula and the place it suits into the world of the Lands Between, however we will freely speculate with a number of the associations, so this is what I believe is the take care of Farum Azula. Before the age of the Erdtree–which Marika established by defeating the giants and their Fell God–there was the age of the dragons. Placidusax, Elden Lord among the many dragons, dominated from Farum Azula, a metropolis that existed past time. Because of that, like Marika after she eliminated Destined Death from the Elden Ring, Placidusax was immortal. That immortality assured that the Greater Will’s brokers could be in place to run (most of, or not less than a part of) the Lands Between endlessly, whereas nonetheless leaving Destined Death in place to permit demise to occur naturally on the earth, one thing a whole lot of characters counsel was crucial. Removing Destined Death from the Elden Ring appears to have been the beginning of all the issues that led the Lands Between to the state we discover them in at this time.Placidusax was a dragon Elden Lord, which has a whole lot of implications concerning the Greater Will’s previous within the Lands Between.At some level, nevertheless, Farum Azula was attacked, maybe by a cosmic creature just like Astel, Naturalborn of the Void, or by way of the machinations of one other Outer God. The Ruins Greatsword says it got here from a break that “crumbled when struck by a meteorite,” and the usage of the phrase “crumbled” to speak about ruins feels fairly specific–that phrase solely appears to seem in any lore entries which might be associated to Farum Azula. The sword additionally appears to resemble the aesthetic of the buildings in Farum Azula. Again, we’re speculating, however regardless that Farum Azula has been crumbling “from time immemorial,” it sounds prefer it bought walloped by a meteorite sooner or later. The Placidusax’s Ruin incantation, in the meantime, says the spell is made up of “the dying wails of the Dragonlord who once dwelled eternal beyond time.” Finally, the Remembrance of the Dragonlord says that Placidusax’s god “fled,” and the dragon awaited its return.Taken all collectively, we will guess that Farum Azula bought nailed by a meteorite, an assault from exterior pressure. Placidusax’s was Elden Lord, which implies he was consort to a god, identical to Godfrey was Elden Lord to Marika–and that god fled from the assault, although we do not know who or what it was or the place it ended up (though there is a compelling principle on this, which we’ll get to). With the dragons’ residence devastated and their Elden Lord ravaged, the Greater Will appeared for a brand new god to run the Lands Between. That god could be Marika, marking the beginning of the Golden Order and the period of the Lands Between that we all know.This line of pondering fills in a whole lot of potential gaps. Remember again in Part 5, after we mentioned the traditional dragon cult of Leyndell? People worshiping dragons makes extra sense in case you take into account the dragons had a god and an Elden Lord earlier than the rise of Marika. And the dragons getting deserted by the Greater Will and shedding their declare to energy, because it appears in all probability occurred, gives a reasonably good motivation for the good dragon Gransax to assault Leyndell, residence of these the Greater Will now favored, triggering the conflict through which Godwyn fought and defeated them.The beastmen, too, make a reasonably good case for Farum Azula to be the primary seat of energy for the Greater Will. According to Ranni, the entire Empyreans chosen by the Two Fingers get a “shadow,” a beastman protector. Also in response to Ranni, if any Empyrean goes in opposition to the Greater Will, these beastmen develop into “baleful shadows,” assassins meant to hunt and get rid of their Empyreans to cease them. If you comply with Ranni’s storyline to its conclusion, you see this occur to Blaidd; he loses his thoughts and turns into hostile, whilst his dialogue suggests he would not imagine that to be potential. Blaidd’s transformation right into a baleful shadow occurs in opposition to his will, suggesting he is beneath the management of the Greater Will. It certain sounds just like the Greater Will instituted a failsafe with these shadows, to make sure that no Empyrean would ever attempt to go in opposition to it–suggesting that maybe such an rebel occurred up to now.We know Marika had a beastman shadow, actually, and assembly him is your aim in Farum Azula.Maliketh, the Black BladeGurranq’s need for Deathroot appears to be penance for his position in Godwyn’s demise.When you make your technique to the highest of Farum Azula, you encounter Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman. If you have been serving to Gurranq discover Death Root all this time, he’ll acknowledge you and haltingly ask why you have come right here searching for Destined Death, earlier than attacking you. What we be taught right here is that Gurranq is none apart from Maliketh, Marika’s shadow and keeper of the Rune of Death. Maliketh’s story is likely one of the most tragic within the sport: He’s been attempting to appropriate a mistake that wasn’t his fault since earlier than the Shattering.First, some historical past about Maliketh. Marika’s shadow served her when she was an Empyrean, and like Ranni and Blaidd, the 2 have been so shut that Maliketh is taken into account Marika’s adoptive brother. However, we be taught from lore associated to Maliketh that Marika did not have a lot use for the shadow, apart from one explicit approach: to be keeper of the Rune of Death. When Marika eliminated Destined Death from the Elden Ring, she charged Maliketh with its safety.That made Maliketh a pressure to be feared even by the demigods, as the one individual within the Lands Between who may wield Destined Death. Marika’s transfer to take away the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring looks like it spawned some disagreement, nevertheless. We’re as soon as once more shifting into the realm of hypothesis, however plainly one group that doubtlessly disagreed with Marika on this level have been the Godskin Apostles, a bunch you have run into a couple of occasions by way of the course of Elden Ring, and can discover in Farum Azula, too.As normal, it is powerful to say precisely what the deal is with the Godskin Apostles. Lore associated to Maliketh says that he defeated the Godskins with Destined Death; they beforehand wielded the ability of Destined Death by way of their magical Black Flame, an influence able to killing gods–but when the rune was faraway from the Elden Ring, the Black Flame misplaced its efficiency. Maliketh defeated the godskins, and their chief, somebody we all know solely because the Gloam-Eyed Queen or Dusk-Eyed Queen. This queen was stated to be an Empyrean herself, and wielded the Black Flame energy, however we do not know what occurred to her after she was crushed by Maliketh.YouTuber Smoughtown has a terrific video speculating on the entire take care of the Godskins and the Gloam-Eyed Queen. For my half, I agree with Smoughtown that the Godskins have been pro-Destined Death, therefore the very phrase “Godskin,” and that when Marika modified the foundations of demise within the Lands Between, the Godskins got here for her. What Godskins we nonetheless discover within the sport are the remnants of that order, buddying up with folks like Rykard, looking places just like the Caelid Divine Tower, and making their approach by way of Farum Azula in hopes of reclaiming Destined Death and beating the demigods themselves.With Destined Death beneath the management of Maliketh and the Godskins defeated, Marika was free to usher within the period of the Golden Order. But on the Night of Black Knives, a part of the Rune of Death was stolen from Maliketh, in some way, and used to create the blades of the demigod-slaying Black Knives. The assassins then used that energy in opposition to Godwyn, a horrible prevalence that Maliketh by no means forgave himself for.Rather than simply holding onto the Rune of Death, at that time, Maliketh buried it inside his personal physique and it grew to become a part of him, as he vowed that the Rune would by no means be taken from him once more. Donning the extra nameless id of Gurranq, Maliketh began working with Golden Order fundamentalists to scrub up the mess he believed he’d made by way of his negligence, dispatching warriors to kill Those Who Live in Death. The undead have been an affront to the Golden Order, however greater than that, they have been instantly created due to Maliketh’s failure and Godwyn’s demise. Maliketh devoted himself to eliminating the Deathroot from the Lands Between–he actually eats it–and the abominations it created, and in so doing, grew to become hooked on Deathroot, even typically shedding management of himself due to its affect.Though Maliketh appears accountable himself for what occurred on the Night of Black Knives, it is potential to be taught who was truly behind it. In Rogier’s quest line, you may assist him decide that it was Ranni who orchestrated the Night of Black Knives, and in case you full quest strains associated to Rykard and Bernahl, one among his followers, you be taught what his half within the affair was, as effectively. If you comply with his quest line, Bernahl seems in Farum Azula and assaults you, seemingly on his technique to attempt to declare Destined Death for himself.You can get the Blasphemous Claw from Bernahl, one among Rykard’s followers, suggesting Rykard had a plan for coping with Maliketh.When you defeat him, he drops an merchandise referred to as the Blasphemous Claw, which you need to use to parry Maliketh’s Destined Death assaults throughout his boss fight–an unbelievable capacity with the ability to defeat the keeper of Destined Death. The lore on the Blasphemous Claw says that it was given to Rykard by Ranni “on the night of the dire plot,” and means that the thought was that Rykard may use the merchandise as a final resort to problem Maliketh. All that means that the Night of Black Knives was an expansive plot of Ranni’s to achieve energy, and that Rykard was concerned, which is sensible given what number of of these disembodied arms, the Fingercreeper enemies, we have discovered at key locations just like the Mountaintops of the Giants.When you lastly meet Maliketh, you first face him as Gurranq, however when you do sufficient injury, he reveals his true id as Marika’s shadow. He additionally pulls out the Black Blade, the sword product of Destined Death he presumably used to defeat the Godskins. But as at all times, you finally defeat Maliketh, permitting you to assert the Rune of Death from him.The Rune of Death is the final piece you wanted. It’s time to return to Leyndell and enter the Erdtree.
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