Quick Links
One of the best Souls-like games to be dropped by FromSoftware so far,Elden Ringis by far the best thing they’ve ever made. From an absolutely gigantic map full of side-quests, dungeons, sub-bosses and all sorts of distractions to a twisting story filled with some genuinely great designed characters. It’s all just very, very good.
A lot of work went into making the game, especially from the lore and mythology teams who likely had a nightmare working with George R.R. Martin, but they pulled it off. The mythology of the game alone pulls deeply from some interesting wells and it’s worth diving into it for a while. So here’s everything you need to know about the mythology of Elden Ring.
What Mythology Is Elden Ring Based On?
If we were to metaphoricallycrack open Elden Ring and its design documentlike a metaphorical onion. Then peel back thevarious layers of design and art choice, we can start to piece together where a lot of the creatures, locations and overall style came from.
Although it’s worth noting that whilst you could put together amulti-page dissertationon all the symbolism, cultural touchstones and other mythological and historical references, we’ll be keeping things surface level for brevity’s sake.
The Celtic Connection
From the outset, whilst there’s no one specific mythology that Elden Rings focuses on, it does seem to primarily feature amedieval Europeansetting. Lifting styles and armor fromup and down the timeline of history. But if we were to drill into the mythology section, we would find that the various names, descriptions, and proverbial ‘fluff’ pull mostly from a mix ofold Irish and Celticmyths.
As an example, the fire giants resemblethe Irish Fomorians, a race of towering beings that settled in Ireland. There’s also the redheaded family that rules and the little hints of faeries, twisting trees that resembleDeirdre of the Sorrows, an old tale of two lovers that had twisting trees above their graves. There’s alsoThe Golden Beast Crest Shield, which looks like a Celtic Battersea Shield.
Plus, everything hastwo namesor more than one. A constant in old Celtic storytelling where someone has to learn the ‘True Name’ of something to gain power over it. There’s also Elemer of the Briar, who bears a resemblance tothe Red Branch Knightsof old Irish mythology. These men fought forthe Kingdom of Ulsterand in the description he comes from a land known as Eochaid. Which itself is a name used by a lot of old Irish Kings.
A Sprinkling of Somewhere Else
Whilst it is apurely Celtic corerocking away at the heart of Elden Rings art design. There are also notes of other mythologies from around the world. For example, alongside all the lovely Irish and Celtic stuff there are dabbings ofJapanese shinto-ism and Christianity.
For example, the prevalent use of crosses and a‘special magic family’impacting everyone, but taken to the Nth degree. The use ofswords to mark gravesor the importance of warriors, which was an old Norse Viking tradition.
Speaking of Vikings, we’ve got a fair amount of old Norse lore here and there as well. The Erdtree being a reference toYggdrasil the World Treeas the most obvious and sparkly example. We’ve also got a healthy dollop of all thetasty stuff from Berserksince Miyazaki is a fan, as well as references to works by the ‘other Miyazaki’. So the whole thing is abit of a melting potof cross-cultural goodness.
Why Is Elden Rings Mythology So Mixed?
So whilst Elden Ring has somecore mythologieswrapped up in its center to hold it all together, it is safe to say that the entire game dips into a lot of different cultures and mythos. But why?
In short,its good game design. They found things that looked cool throughout history and various cultures and decided to incorporate them into their game. There’sa little bit of everythingbecause there’s always something cool, some great story, some astrological tale, or just reallyunique and lost designsthat can be pulled from and they did.
Plus, the Lands Between is implied to bevisited by people from other placesaround the world, mainly otherFromSoftware gamelocations. So that’s why you’ll encounterSamurai, Teutonic Knights, Norse Barbarians, and everything in between on your travels.
It’s implied heavily throughout Elden Ring that just off over the horizon are the lands whereDark Souls and Bloodborneare kicking off.
