The lore of Elden Ring can sometimes be really confusing to understand, but it’s exciting nonetheless. The prologue begins in a chaotic tone as the narrator informs the players that the great Elden Ring was shattered, which led to several catastrophic events. Since then, Queen Marika the Eternal, reigning sovereign of the Lands Between, has been missing.
Shockingly, as significant as the Elden Ring is to the game, it is never explicitly revealed throughout the events that “how did the great Elden Ring shatter, who broke it, and most importantly why?”
Queen Marika the Eternal shattered the great Elden Ring after his son Godwyn the Golden was slain. Her King-consort, Radagon, tried to repair the ring but failed miserably.
Why did Queen Marika shatter the Elden Ring?
Queen Marika aimed to resurrect his son Godwyn by breaking the Elden Ring, which acted as a connection between the Greater Will and the Golden Order.
Earlier, Marika plucked the rune of death from the Elden Ring and gave it to her shadow, Maliketh, to protect it and rid the Lands Between from literal death.
Unfortunately, an assassin group led by the Lunar Princess Ranni (Godwyn’s step-sister) stole a fragment of the rune of death, also known as Destined Death, from Maliketh and used the weapons forged from it to slay Godwyn during the Night of Black Knives.
Devastated by his death, Marika hoped to bring Godwyn back by twisting the laws of life and death governed by the Elden Ring, so she ended up breaking it, which led to the disastrous events of The Shattering.
What is The Shattering in Elden Ring?
The Shattering is a series of complex events, starting from the destruction of the Elden Ring by Marika, then the abandonment of the Lands Between by the Greater Will, and finally, the cataclysmic war fought amongst the demigods that led to unprecedented bloodshed.
The Shattering is not merely all about the event of the breaking of the ring but what followed it. Marika was imprisoned for her act in a combined form with Radagon within the Erdtree by the Greater Will. Unable or perhaps unwilling to interact with the Lands Between, Greater Will’s influence diminished over the Lands.
In the absence of Marika and the Greater Will, the demigod children of Marika claimed the powers of the Elden Ring’s shards known as the Great Runes and soon started a war amongst themselves. This war resulted in immense bloodshed for all participating forces and brought disaster to the Lands.
Who is the Greater Will in Elden Ring?
Greater Will is an Outer God, a being of great power who resides in the cosmos and is responsible for the creation of the Elden Ring as well as the Golden Order of the Erdtree.
To make his presence known to the world, Greater Will hurled down a golden star containing an Elden Beast to the Lands Between. This Elden Beast was the very manifestation of the concept of order in the Lands Between, as it later became the embodiment of the great Elden Ring.
Sometimes later, Marika was chosen as a champion and the vessel of the Elden Ring by the Greater Will. However, Marika’s rule over the Lands Between abruptly ended when Ranni killed her son Godwyn in an attempt to free herself from her fate as a pawn of the Greater Will, which resulted in The Shattering.
About Elden Ring
Elden Ring is a major title released by FromSoftware in 2022, the developers of Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, and the Dark Souls franchise. Set in the ‘Lands Between’, players are on a quest to repair the Elden Ring and become the new Elden Lord.
Shadow of the Erdtree is a full-fledged expansion for Elden Ring added in June 2024. It is a whole new map with new Weapons, Sorceries, Ashes, and Craftables. It is a challenging DLC and as players continue to explore the map, they find surprises and easter eggs left by the developers every day.
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