Summary
A new questline introduced byElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtreeproves that one of the base game’s endings is even worse than it seems.Elden Ring’s endings are, on the whole, pretty ambiguous. While it’s easy enough to tell which isElden Ring’s worst ending, even those that seem positive on the surface hide negative implications beneath, and vice versa. Players don’t really find out what happened to the Lands Between after theevents of baseElden Ring’s story; they only learn where the Tarnished ended up, and are left to imagine the rest.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers forone of Elden Ring’s base endings, and Ymir’s questline in the DLC.]
Although the DLC doesn’t add any new endings to the base game, its events do recontextualize many of the important happenings throughout. That includes each and every one ofElden Ring’s endings, some of which have their meanings completely reversed byShadow of the Erdtree’s big reveals. But there’s also some new context for one of the base game’s most popular endings, hidden at the end of what may be the DLC’s longest and most complicated questline. Completing a series of tasks for Ymir eventually reveals that the Tarnished may have made a grave mistake.
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Ending Explained (In Detail)
Elden Ring’s DLC ending features a fight with a familiar foe, but things are very different this time around. Here’s how Shadow of the Erdtree ends.
Ymir’s Questline Reveals The Horrible Truth About The Two Fingers
Manus Metyr & The Greater Will Explained
The end of Ymir’s questline subtly reveals thateveryone has lost contact with the Greater Will, and the Age of Fracture ending is all the more dismal for it. PerElden Ring’s cosmology, the Greater Will created the known universe, including the Elden Ring itself. Most worship the other gods, like Marika or Miquella, but believe that the Greater Will is the ultimate authority, giving the younger deities the mandate to rule. However, with Marika imprisoned within the Erdtree and Miquella wandering the Land of Shadow, there are few ways to communicate with a higher power directly. So people rely on the Two Fingers, envoys of the Greater Will, to relay its messages. However, the movements of the Two Fingers are cryptic, and so subject to the interpretations ofFinger Readers.
That’s most of what baseElden Ringreveals about the Greater Will and its closest adherents, butShadow of the Erdtreetakes it a step further.Ymir’s questline explores the origins of the Two Fingers themselves, sending the player to various ruins dotted across the Land of Shadow in search of answers. Ultimately, the Tarnished encounters Metyr, Mother of Fingers: in essence, the creator of the Two Fingers. Upon defeating her and claiming theStaff of the Great Beyond, players gain access to flavor text that explains thatMetyr has been out of contact with the Greater Will for a long time- perhaps as long as centuries.
Players can obtain theStaff of the Great Beyondby giving theRemembrance of the Mother of Fingersto a Finger Reader, such as Enia.
That has awful implications for Age of Fracture ending. Age of Fracture isElden Ring’s default ending - it only occurs if the player decides not to complete any of the NPC questlines that unlock different conclusions. It sees the Tarnished restore the Elden Ring exactly as it was before the Shattering, with the Greater Will’s authority restored. But Ymir’s questline reveals that this is pointless. Without a direct line to the Greater Will,the Tarnished is merely legitimizing the tyranny of those who wield undue power by invoking its name. They’re not restoring the world to a bygone golden age, but rebuilding it on the same lies that tore it apart, and likely dooming it to the same fate in the future.
What Happens To Mohg In Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree
Elden Ring paints Mohg as a villain for taking Miquella, but the events and revelations in Shadow of the Erdtree show that he’s more of a victim.
What Ymir’s Questline Means For Elden Ring’s Story
Shadow Of The Erdtree Has Wide-Ranging Implications For The Tarnished’s Quest
But truthfully,the implications of Ymir’s questline extend far beyondElden Ring’s ending, turning the Tarnished’s entire quest into a farce. Apparently the sole surviving Two Fingers, the ones who reside atRoundtable Holdguide the Tarnished along their journey. Interpreted byEnia, the Finger Reader, these Two Fingers offer the Tarnished advice, ultimately giving them permission to enter the Erdtree. But it’s now clear that they have no input from the Greater Will, turning what Enia interprets as the Tarnished’s holy crusade into a meaningless endeavor of violence.
So the question becomes,how much do theFinger Readersknow? It’s not clear whether they’re aware of the futility of the Two Fingers' gestures, interpreting its meaningless movements to suit their own desires. Or they might believe, as countless others do, that the Two Fingers are still under the Greater Will’s guidance, ignorantly accepting its spasms as truth.
Whatever the case, Ymir’s questline is abundantly clear: the Greater Will has abandoned the world, although most remain in blissful ignorance. It’s only through Ymir’s questline that the Tarnished is able to discover this for themselves. The only way they can avoid it is by pursuing one of the base game’s alternate endings. But since players will only know the true meaning of the Age of Fracture ending once they’ve completedElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, it may be too late for some.
Players venture into the shadowed realm of the Land of Shadow to confront new biomes, dungeons, and formidable bosses. Guided by the enigmatic Miquella, they face the terrifying Messmer the Impaler and uncover the dark secrets shrouded beneath the Erdtree’s influence, featuring new weapons, magic, and challenges.
