While exploring the Land of Shadow inElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, you may have seen a pop-up message reading, ‘Somewhere, a Great Rune has broken’ and ‘And so too has a powerful charm’. Other than the message and a little animation, the game does not do a very good job of explaining what it means, especially if you are not paying attention to NPC dialogue.

If you are still unclear about what the message means, here is everything you need to know, from how it triggers it to explaining its meaning.

How To Trigger The Message

The message appears whenever youfirst enter one of three areas in the Land of Shadow. These are:

Of these three,Shadow Keepis the easiest to reach. Simplydefeat Rellana,Twin Moon KnightinCastle Ensisfollowed by heading straight from theHighroad CrossSite of Grace past theFurnace Golemto reach Shadow Keep.

If you do not want to deal with Rellana, Twin Moon Knight, you can alsouse a Sealed Spritspringnear the Elder’s Hovelto reach Shadow Keep without defeating any of the major bosses.

“A Great Rune Has Broken” Meaning

Once you see the message, this means thata previously inaccessible area in the Land of Shadow has been unlocked. You can reach this area bytraveling south to the Cerulean Coast. From there, continue south until you can drop down into a large cave that will lead you to theStone Coffin FissureSite of Grace.

If you try to access this area before the Great Rune is broken,you will find it sealed by Miquella.

Past theStone Coffin FissureSite of Grace, you will find an entirelynew region,the Putrescent Knight boss, St. Trina who is an alter-ego of Miquella, and the ability tocomplete Thiollier’s quest.

“And So Too Has A Powerful Charm” Meaning

This simply means thatthe charm that Miquella was using to control her followers across the Land of Shadow has been liftedas well. While this does not unlock any new areas in the DLC, it does make a lot of NPCs question their loyalty.

Once the charm is lifted, these NPCs getnew dialogues,quest states,and even move to different areas. We recommend speaking with these NPCs once the charm is broken for some new dialogue:

It is important to do so becauseyour choices determine who appears inEnir-Ilimduring your confrontation with Needle Knight Leda just before fighting thefinal boss of Shadow of the Erdtree.