Okay, okay, okay. Seriously–this time it is gonna occur. The Shardbearers of Elden Ring are lifeless, the Great Runes belong to you, the Erdtree burns, and the way in which is evident to face earlier than Queen Marika and turn out to be Elden Lord. Now’s the time to return to Leyndell, which you will rapidly discover has modified a bit, because of your efforts. But it must be clean crusing.After all, who may presumably stand in your approach at this level? You’ve killed mainly everybody.You know the drill: all of the spoilers past this level.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 MohgWhat Happens In Elden Ring? The Game’s Story, Part 10: Crumbling Farum AzulaThe Frenzied Flame and the Game’s Bleakest Ending, DefinedThe destruction of the Roundtable HoldIf you have not dropped again by, now’s an excellent time to go to the Roundtable Hold. When you arrive, you will discover the place on fireplace, which can be shocking. Most of the individuals who have ever been listed below are gone, though a number of folks–most notably the blacksmith, Master Hewg, and the Finger-Reader Enia–intend to stay it out till the tip.When you discuss to Sir Gideon, he’ll intuit that you’ve got burned the Erdtree, with the Roundtable Hold to comply with. He’s not too damaged up about it, saying that the Roundtable Hold existed to make a Tarnished Elden Lord, and if burning the place down is what that takes, then so be it.This complete state of affairs raises questions on what the Roundtable Hold really is, although, and should you had been paying consideration in Leyndell the primary time, you may need handed by means of the Fortified Manor, a spot that’s precisely the format of the Roundtable, however empty. The undeniable fact that the Roundtable is burning down, plus the truth that you possibly can solely attain it from Sites of Grace, counsel that the Roundtable is a magical or spectral location particularly linked to the Erdtree itself–it’s not an actual place, however a spot modeled after the true Fortified Manor location in Leyndell, and exists to assist Tarnished and provides them a protected haven.So who made the Roundtable Hold and why does it exist? Clearly, the presence of the Two Fingers means that the Greater Will is behind it, however that may not be the entire story. At some level late within the recreation, you possibly can overhear Hewg lamenting that he is nonetheless making an attempt however unable to create a weapon that may slay a god. Eventually, he’ll improve your weapons to the purpose the place they will, apparently, slay a god, and Hewg reveals that he was on condition that purpose from Marika herself. Hewg is, primarily, part of the Roundtable, chained to the wall. This means that it may have been Marika who created the Roundtable for the Tarnished. It’s not the one piece of proof that means there’s extra happening with Marika than we but notice, both.Though the Roundtable Hold is on fireplace, no person appears all that involved about it, to be sincere.Hewg opts to stick with the Roundtable regardless of its destruction, and finally, he forgets who you even are. It’s a wierd second that would play much more into the bizarre magic apparently at work right here. As you method the tip of the sport, Hewg’s speech turns into halted and stuttering, as if the destruction of the demigods and the work he is doing in your weapons is taking a toll on him, like he is dying alongside the Roundtable Hold. When he forgets who you’re, nevertheless, he virtually appears reset; he now not stammers or appears drained, and he isn’t apparently all that distressed in regards to the burning Roundtable Hold round him. I’m undecided precisely what conclusion we would draw from Hewg’s demeanor in these last moments, nevertheless it does appear pointed that because the Roundtable Hold burns, he loses his recollections of you–but additionally appears to enhance bodily.The All-KnowingWhen you come to Leyndell, you discover it ravaged. The burning Erdtree has lined your complete metropolis in ashes–hence the identify “Ashen Capital.” You’ve acquired a date with the Erdtree, and the ash really makes it a bit simpler to get again to there, with fewer roadblocks in the way in which.As you climb again into the palace and the chambers of Marika and Radagon, nevertheless, you run throughout a well-known face: Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing. As you may need guessed, Gideon has turned on you, and he intends to cease you from reaching the Erdtree.Gideon’s flip right here is an attention-grabbing one. Though he is helped you alongside all of the whereas, he is additionally a Tarnished, and as he informed you at first, he is been hoping to turn out to be Elden Lord himself. If you deliver him details about the 4 lacking Shardbearers–Mohg, Melania, Miquella, and Ranni–he’ll reward you for the assistance. And as we noticed again within the Liurnia portion of the sport, Gideon may be ruthless, ordering his males to slaughter the Albinaurics, seemingly in hopes of discovering his technique to the Haligtree.All of the Tarnished you meet through the course of Elden Ring as soon as noticed the Guidance of Grace, such as you do, however all of them speak about how they have been questing for therefore lengthy that Grace has disappeared to them. So whereas Gideon hopes to turn out to be Elden Lord, we are able to infer that he is misplaced the Guidance of Grace and subsequently struggles to seek out the Shardbearers himself. What’s extra, Gideon is a man who makes use of info and obfuscation to get issues accomplished. He would not assault the Albinaurics himself; he sends minions to do it, whereas hiding out within the Roundtable Hold, the place he is primarily invulnerable.In the palace, you will discover Sir Gideon ready for you. Though he wished to be Elden Lord himself earlier than, now evidently he simply needs to cease you by any means needed.So one interpretation of the occasions of the sport is that Gideon has been utilizing you all alongside. Once you proved that you just had been doubtlessly a worthy Tarnished and one who can take down the Shardbearers, he began aiming you towards the lacking demigods, offering you with info in hopes you’d go kill them. When you killed Ensha after the Abinauric village bloodbath, you sort of left him and not using a minion to do his bidding–and Gideon sort of turned you into that minion.There’s additionally some suggestion that he is been keeping track of you all alongside; that’s, in spite of everything, his complete deal. Whenever you come to Gideon, he talks to you want he already is aware of the place you have been and what you have been as much as, as if he is been spying to these ends. And if you lastly battle him, Gideon employs talents from all around the Lands Between. Those strikes appear to be dictated by the place you have been and what enemies you have defeated and informed Gideon about–he’ll use magic from Caria, blood assaults from Mohg, exploding blasphemy assaults from Rykard, the Black Flame of the Godskin Apostles, the Scarlet Aeonia assault of Malenia, and the Triple Rings of Light incantation that Miquella made for Radagon.Since Gideon’s assaults are apparently primarily based on the data you give him, we are able to surmise that he is mainly following alongside behind you, gathering information and energy as you filter the tough-to-kill demigods on his behalf. Gideon allows you to plow by means of the troublesome battles with out endangering himself to extend his personal energy. So when he fights you within the palace of Leyndell, you would possibly guess that he is simply making an attempt to kill you to assert your Great Runes and turn out to be Elden Lord himself. It’s one thing we would have already seen him do, when Ensha attacked you, should you do not buy his rationalization that Ensha was appearing on his personal.Gideon’s dialogue provides one other dimension to this interpretation, nevertheless, as does the lore on the gear you declare if you defeat him. Gideon says that he believes Marika needs the Tarnished to wrestle ceaselessly, with out ever really claiming the title of Elden Lord. When you lastly kill him, he says he would not imagine that any Tarnished can kill a god. It looks like, at some point–possibly even through the course of the game–Gideon discovered one thing about Marika that modified his thoughts about whether or not changing into Elden Lord was even a good suggestion in any respect.Gideon appears to have been shadowing you all through your journey, and now makes use of magic from all of the places you have been and the Shardbearers you defeated.”Knowledge begins with the recognition of one’s ignorance,” the lore on Gideon’s armor reads. “The realization that the search for knowledge is unending. But when Gideon glimpsed into the will of Queen Marika, he shuddered in fear. At the end that should not be.”That makes it sound like Gideon stands against you to forestall anybody from changing into Elden Lord, as a result of it might result in “the end that should not be.” We do not know precisely what Gideon discovered about Marika, however no matter it was, it scared him. And whereas his objectives may need been egocentric earlier than, and whereas he may need been utilizing you for info and energy all through the sport, in the long run, it looks like Gideon tries to cease you as a result of he is aware of an excessive amount of, and he is afraid of what is going to occur should you’re profitable. Gideon needs the world to remain the identical, doubtlessly as a result of he believes that the world will change for the more serious should you’re profitable. What or why that’s, although, we do not actually know.Rather than simply telling you what you would possibly have to know, nevertheless, Gideon tries to kill you, and also you wallop him identical to everyone else. With the All-Knowing out of the way in which, you are once more in your technique to the Erdtree. But yet another Tarnished stands in your approach: the primary Tarnished.Godfrey, First Elden LordAt the doorway to the Erdtree, the place you fought and defeated Morgott, you meet his father, Godfrey. This is not a projection created to maintain folks away, that is the true deal–the first Elden Lord. Finding Godfrey right here, we are able to guess that he is hoping to turn out to be Elden Lord once more, however you have interrupted him on his technique to declare what was as soon as his. But why is Godfrey right here?Godfrey was the primary Tarnished, despatched out of the Lands Between together with his warriors. Now he is again to reclaim what’s his.Godfrey’s historical past is inexorably tied to yours, the truth is. Marika made Godfrey the primary Elden Lord, presumably to make use of his unimaginable prowess in battle to win her wars and consolidate her energy within the Lands Between. But earlier than he was Godfrey, the primary Elden Lord was identified by one other identify: Hoarah Loux. A pacesetter of a fierce band of warriors, Hoarah Loux was presumably the best fighter to ever reside, which made him a wonderful asset for Marika to assert as her personal.Hoarah Loux, nevertheless, was a bit too uncouth and a bit too bloodthirsty to rule as Elden Lord. He needed to rein in his fixed bloodlust, and so to try this, he “took the beast regent Serosh onto his back.” We do not know rather a lot about Serosh, an enormous armored lion, besides that he was “king of beasts,” and if you face Godfrey, Serosh has a type of ghostly look, as if he is perhaps a Spirit Ash. Serosh’s complete deal was to reel in Godfrey’s energy in order that he may function king in addition to a warlord, and the lion turned an icon of Godfrey all through the Lands Between.Even with Serosh on his again, chilling him out a bit, Godfrey was extremely good at battle. He led Marika’s marketing campaign by means of the Lands Between and, apparently, was by no means actually defeated. Godfrey beat the giants, and after Radagon efficiently united the Golden Order and the Carian royal household, Godfrey went south to Limgrave and took on an enemy known as the Storm Lord by himself. Defeating the Storm Lord allowed him to take Stormveil Castle, and Godfrey finally moved all the way in which right down to the Weeping Peninsula, capturing Castle Morne.At that time, Godfrey ran out of adversaries, and it looks like the Greater Will deserted him–Godfrey misplaced the Grace he’d been given, and Marika despatched him out of the Lands Between, which we are able to hear about from dialogue delivered by Melina at Marika’s church buildings all through the course of the journey by means of the Lands Between. Godfrey and the soldiers of his armies turned the Tarnished, and as we see within the opening cutscene at first of the sport, they had been despatched out to the remainder of the world “to live and die.”The opening cinematic of Elden Ring is a reminder that every one the Tarnished are lifeless. That’s…bizarre, and makes the Lands Between look like some sort of spectral “other” place, just like the afterlife or limbo.Godfrey and his warriors started the Long March out of the Lands Between, maybe even preventing their approach out; we’re informed by Miriel, the Pastor of Vows, that they weren’t simply exiled, they had been hounded. And as soon as the Long March was over, Godfrey gave up his crown to turn out to be a easy warrior as soon as extra. Like all of the Tarnished, he lived his life–and finally died. In truth, the opening cutscene reveals an entire vary of vital Tarnished, from Hoarah Loux to Gideon Ofnir, lifeless or in graves.After dying on this planet exterior the Lands Between, nevertheless, and after the Shattering, Godfrey and the opposite Tarnished had been known as again to the Lands Between, and again to life, receiving Grace as soon as extra. The dialogue Melina delivers within the Churches of Marika suggests this was Marika’s plan all alongside: she despatched the Tarnished away, and he or she wished them to later return, promising they’d additionally reclaim their Grace.So if you meet Godfrey, it looks like that is his plan: The first Tarnished is again to reclaim his Elden Lord standing, however he has to undergo you to get it. As you battle him, he embraces his true energy and bloodlust, eliminating Sarosh as soon as and for all and embracing his unique id as Hoarah Loux. Still, you have wrecked everybody you have confronted, together with Gideon Ofnir and all of Godfrey’s youngsters. Eventually, you’re taking down the dad, too. He even sort of congratulates you, as a result of to Hoarah Loux, a crown must be earned by means of energy.The path to the Erdtree is, lastly, clear. As you head inside, you will lastly stand earlier than Marika. We have rather a lot to debate about her, nonetheless, though–it’s time for the thrilling conclusion of Elden Ring. Uh, in Part 12. Sorry.

The merchandise mentioned right here had been independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot might get a share of the income should you purchase something featured on our web site.