Elden Ring Summary
From Software’s Elden Ring is the culmination of more than 10 years of design and refinement from Dark Souls mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki. Taking the popular Soulsborne formula and translating it into an open-world, the game features virtually thousands of hours of potential gameplay, including a variety of endings that tie into its esoteric lore. While Elden Ring taks players with restoring the broken titular totem, a metaphysical representation of order in The Lands Between, there are several different ways this mending can play out by the game’s ending. Elden Ring is a massive game, with a single playthrough that attempts to do everything often reaching the 100+ hour mark. Still, there’s plenty of reason to continue coming back and playing the game with new builds and seeing all the secret and alternate endings available.
Elden Ring’s Standard Ending – Age of Fracture
The standard ending that most players will see is the Age of Fracture ending. In this ending, the player makes the choice to mend the Elden Ring as-is after defeating Radagon and the Elden Beast. Having successfully restored order to The Lands Between, the player becomes the new Elden Lord. As with the other endings, there are certain in-game conditions to meet in order to ensure viewing this ending.
First, players must make sure to not inherit the Frenzied Flame when they touch Fractured Marika. Doing so will void the standard ending and instead see players greeted with an alternate ending. Additionally, players will need to choose to “Mend the Elden Ring” after receiving the prompt. After defeating the final boss of the game and touching Fractured Marika, the number of options players get depends on how many side questlines they’ve completed. Depending on what players have seen and done in The Lands Between, choosing one of the available alternate options unlocks different endings.
Elden Ring’s Secret/Alternate Endings
Age of Order
From here on, each of the endings we’re covering will require players to have completed various questlines scattered throughout The Lands Between. First, let’s cover the Age of Order ending. The base requirements for the Age of Order ending are to complete Goldmask and Brother Corhyn’s questlines. Once complete, players will receive the Mending Rune of Perfect Order. Obtaining this rune is essential to receive the prompt that unlocks the Age of Order ending when interacting with Fractured Marika.
After defeating the Elden Beast, selecting to “Use the Mending Rune of Perfect Order” unlocks the Age of Order ending. In this ending, the player becomes the Elden Lord but also ushers in an age of peace. The newfound stability of The Lands Between comes at the cost of banishing the gods from the realm, as their ultimate good created the envisioned necessity for an ultimate evil. With the potential for conflict gone, a new age of order arrives with you as the Elden Lord.
Age of the Duskborn
To obtain the Age of the Duskborn ending, players must complete Fia’s questline and obtain the Mending Rune of the Death-Prince. Additionally, players cannot inherit the Frenzied Flame. Selecting to use this rune after defeating the Elden Beast and interacting with Fractured Marika unlocks the Age of the Duskborn ending, ridding The Lands Between of immortality and granting to death to all creatures that inhabit Elden Ring‘s world.
The rune used to unlock this ending is actually the progeny of Godwyn and Fia, albeit a demi-god in the form of a rune. Mending the Elden Ring with its essence allows death to inhabit the order that the Elden Ring represents, enshrouding the world in a dense fog and making all creatures of The Lands Between mortal, gods or not.
Blessing of Despair
Players will unlock the rune necessary for the Blessing of Despair ending by completing Dung-Eater’s questline. After completing his questline, feed him Seedbed Curses until he grants the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse. Like most of the other endings, players also cannot inherit the Frenzied Flame. At the game’s conclusion, choosing to “Use Mending Rune of the Fell Curse” triggers the Blessing of Despair ending.
In this ending, the player chooses to mend the Elden Ring and become the new Elden Lord, only now The Lands Between are affected by a curse. The details given during the ending are scant on details regarding the effects of the curse, but it is the same affliction brought from Dung Eater’s defilement, causing souls to not return to the Erdtree. Since the curse itself is now embedded in the Elden Ring, The Lands Between will now and forever be condemned.
Lord of the Frenzied Flame
Finally! We get to see what happens after inheriting the Frenzied Flame. Meeting with Three Fingers in his secret location under Leyndell, Royal Capital will offer players a choice to inherit the Frenzied Flame. NOTE: inherting the Frenzied Flame effectively locks players out of ALL other endings unless Miquella’s Needle is used at Dragonlord Placidusax’s arena in Crumbling Falum Azula. Players do not need to fight Placidusax, they simply just need to be in his arena when they use the Needle. Reversing the Frenzied Flame is a permanent choice.
After inherting the Frenzied Flame from Three Fingers, choose to “Become the Lord of Frenzied Flame” when interacting with Fractured Marika at the game’s end. In this ending, instead of becoming the new Elden Lord, the player becomes the Lord of the Frenzied Flame. In this ending, the player becomes a Lord of Chaos and burns The Lands Between and all in it, bringing the world back to its primordial state and absolving the Greater Will.
Age of the Stars
©Ranni the Witch in the Age of Stars ending from Elden Ring
Unlocking the Age of the Stars ending requires completing Ranni the Witch’s questline, which players should do anyway thanks to some incredible rewards. Additionally, as previously mentioned, players cannot inherit the Frenzied Flame to have the option of this ending at Elden Ring‘s conclusion. After defeating the Elden Beast, using Ranni’s summon sign will trigger this ending to play out.
In the Age of the Stars ending, Ranni becomes the goddess of The Lands Between and appoints the player as her Elden Lord. In doing so, she brings an end to the Golden Order and establishes a new order based on reverence for the Moon. This also removes the influence of the Greater Will from The Lands Between. Ranni then departs The Lands Between on a thousand-year odyssey, which leaves The Lands Between without a lord for the first time.
Unlocking Multiple Endings in a Single Playthrough
Because there is a trophy/achievement for completing each of the game’s endings, one might assume that you’d need to beat the game 6 times to earn it. Fortunately, that’s not quite true. With the exception of one ending (The Lord of the Frenzied Flame), the requirements for each of the other 5 endings do not lock you out of completing any of the alternates. Whether playing on PC or console, players can simply save their game after defeating the Elden Beast and reload that file to complete any ending other than the Frenzied Flame. After completing the other 5 endings, use the Site of Grace to travel to Leyndell, converse with Three Fingers, and inherit the Frenzied Flame. Returning to the Site of Grace near the Marika statue will allow you to trigger the final ending.
Note that to earn the achievement, players do not need to beat the game 6 times. Completing any of the 4 endings where the player becomes Elden Lord will count toward the achievement. Additionally, after beating the game as Elden Lord, players only need to trigger the Age of Stars and Lord of the Frenzied Flame endings. Essentially, beating the game 3 times will unlock this trophy/achievement.
General Elden Ring Ending Tips
- Converse with every NPC you come across and take on their quests. With very few exceptions, accepting a questline from one NPC will not lock you out of completing ones for other characters.
- After beating the game 3 times to unlock the trophy/achievement, make sure to boot up New Game +. Since there’s no true “good” or “bad” ending, you can play a second time and experiment with different outcomes.
- To obtain Miquella’s Needle (which is necessary to reverse the Frenzied Flame if you need to do so), you’ll need to complete Millicent’s questline. This awards the Unalloyed Gold Needle. Returning the Unalloyed Gold Needle to the Scarlet Aeonia left after the fight with Malenia turns it into Miquella’s Needle.