Summary

There are plenty of things, monsters and otherwise, of great power throughoutElden Ring. Whether you’re in Caelid, Liurnia, or even the Land of Shadow, it can be an uphill battle to survive as a lowly tarnished.

Of all the various powers of Elden Ring, perhaps none are so lauded as the Elden Lord. With such a title comes plenty of admiration and purpose. But, with all the complicated lore of Elden Ring, it can be hard to parse what an Elden Lord really is.

Character in raven cloak overlooking the city of Leyndell

Spoilers for the main plot of Elden Ring, and some of the main characters in the game are to follow.

What Is An Elden Lord

In short, anElden Lord is the de-facto ruler of The Lands Between. They hold incredible power, both through physical power as a fighter, and sway over the creatures and denizens of the lands they rule over.

Dependent on who rules as the Elden Lord,different groups gain power in The Lands Between, and in turn,the deity that they are connected to grows in poweras they have a physical champion in the living world to warp the world to suit them.

Elden Ring, a viney Ertree Avatar swings it’s giant club while the glowing Erdtree looms behind it

We see this in the lore when Placidusax was Elden Lord, and how much power dragons used to have, and as Godfrey is lord, how much The Golden Order has sway.

How Does The Erdtree Connect To The Elden Lord?

After the Erdtree rose into power,those who were named Elden Lord were also considered consorts ofQueen Marika, who is the power of the Erdtree (and the Golden Order in turn) given human (or human-ish) form.That hasn’t always been the case though.

Theseat of power for the Elden Lord is the throne at the base of the Erdtreein the very center of the Leyndell Royal Capital high up on the Altus Plateu. Although,that may not always have been so, since theErdtree hasn’t always been the main power for the Elden Lords.

Elden Ring: Placidusax preparing a giant red lightning bolt in it’s claw while roaring

From the Leyndell throne, the residing Elden Lord is in the perfect spot to receive power from the Erdtree directly behind them, and also defend their deity (and source of power).They also have access to a host of Leyndell royal guard, asthey usually aren’t expected to fight themselvesas often oversee that the powers in The Lands Between are in balance.

This is shown as Godfrey is the last defense between your tarnished and the Erdtree, and he took on the spirit of Sirosh to hold back his aggression as Hoarah Loux.

Elden Ring Godfrey holding axe while Sarosh the lion holds on to his shoulder

This balance, though, has shiftedprior to the beginning of Elden Ringdue to the Night Of The Black Knivesand the attempted assassination of Marika by using a fraction of the Rune Of Death that Malekith was supposed to watch over.

This lead to a series of eventsthat forced Marika to shatter the Great Rune, not onlydivvying up the power of the great rune, but alsothrowing The Lands Between into flux. Which, in turn, is the perfect opportunity for a lowly tarnished to rise to power.

Elden Ring Radagon looking behind him. He is wielding a giant hammer in one arm, his other arm and much of his head and chest are missing, inside him glows golden runes

Notable Elden Lords

Placidusax

The first Elden Lord that the game’s lore references,Placidusax the Dragonlord once ruled over The Lands Betweenlong before the tarnished meets him in Farum Azula.

The Old Lord Talisman hints at this in the lore by saying:

The Tarnished wields the Forked-Tongue Hatchet in Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree.

“The Dragonlord whose seat lies at the heart of the storm beyond time is said to have been Elden Lord in the age before the Erdtree. Once his god was fled, the lord continued to await its return.”

This further relates back to the connection between the Elden Lord, their subjects (as we seeall the dragonsin weakened forms), and the deities that they serve.

This also shows howthis former Elden Lord lost his power, thuscreating a vacuum that the Erdtree and its golden grace then filled.The Dragonlord, when the tarnished meets him, is missing two of his heads, ragged holes in his wings, and altogether seems to be resting in a position of near-death.

Godfrey

Godfrey isconfusingly titled “the first Elden Lord"despite Placidusax being before him chronologically. However, this seems to be a form of erasure by the Golden Order as they consider the current timeframe to be a new era under the Erdtree.

He waspreviously known as Hoarah Loux, a powerful warrior from the Badlands (the same place that Nepheli Loux is from), and was known to tear apart enemies with his bare hands.

Uponbeing named Marika’s consort, and in turn Elden Lord,he took on the giant axe as his weaponandattached to him the spirit of the Beast Regent Saroshto keep his bloodlust in check.

This, however, did not stop him from using his power as Elden Lord to campaign against the giants and continue the Golden Order’s crusade against the Omens.

It should be noted thatRadagon “technically” still holds the title of Elden Lordat the beginning of Elden Ring, whileGodfrey returns from exile to help stop the tarnished. But, Radagon and his connection to Marika, and his imprisonment in the Erdtree convolute this.

Radagon

“However, when Godfrey, first Elden Lord, was hounded from the Lands Between,Radagon left Rennala to return to the Erdtree Capital, becoming Queen Marika’s second husband and King Consort. Taking the title… of second Elden Lord.” - Pastor of Vows Miriel.

Radagon is the second(and technically current, as noted above)Elden Lord of the Erdtree, which alsomakes him the third in the total chronology. This gets confusing as it is revealed that not only doeshe hold the title of Marika’s Consort, but also he and Marika are the same personwho inhabit two bodies.

This means not only is he the main protector of the Erdtree (the deity that gives him power as the Elden Lord), buthe is also the humanoid embodiment of the Erdtreeand the great rune itself. This is shown as he is not onlytrapped in the Erdtreebut also in astate of limbo after the assassination, his body severely mutilated.

The Tarnished?

“Confer Great Runes to become Elden Lord, and join Queen Marika as her consort. The Fingers have willed it so.” -Finger Reader Crone.

Depending on your actionsthroughout the game’s main story,you have the opportunity to become the Elden Lord. A lowly, graceless, tarnished, risen to the height of Elden Lord shows how much The Lands Between are in a state of change.

Who you serve as the Elden Lord is more or less based on you, depending on your choices,as shown through the ending. As the consort of Ranni, Lord Of Madness by way of the Three Fingers, or something else entirely, it’s up to you.