Endings | Elden Ring Wiki

IMPORTANT! The Endings page and guide are a work in progress by the community. This information is subject to change as more nuance is discovered and lore is weaved together. Please help by editing the page or contribute your experience via comments!

Submit

I wish the ending you choose had impact on the next journey you take, like frenzied flame randomizes items and enemies, duskborn puts undead everywhere, despair puts accursed enemies and omen everywhere, etc

Submit

Honestly I feel like the duskborn is the ending that makes the most sense and can actually lead to a needed change. It basically insinuates no one can be immortal anymore and death comes for everyone. No one can rise to power and stay there because they are an immortal God. The power will change hands like it should with time

Submit

Does that mean, that in all endings except Frenzied Flame and age of stars the Land Between will be kept under the influence of the Greater Will?

Submit

I wish this game encouraged NG+ the way Dark Souls II did. Imagine if after using Dung-Eater's mending rune, your character had cosmetic Omen horns in NG+ and more Omen enemies appeared in the world. Or if Ranni's ending made it nighttime all the time (it's the only time of day that makes any difference, mechanically) or if Fia's rune made it so skeletons didn't instant die to Golden Order stuff anymore

Submit

One thing kind of confuses me. If you return the rune of destined death taken by Marika's shadow, Maliketh, then that should end the undead curse right? But using Fia's rune allows those who live in death to be a part of the new order. How could they be a part of the new order if there's no more undead curse.

Submit

The Elden Ring and Golden Order have close parallels in Catholicism, specifically the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are and are not one another all at the same time. This is mirrored by Marika, Radagon, the Elden Beast, and perhaps even the Erdtree itself. Marika shattered the Ring, and Radagon, who is Marika, attempted to use the same hammer that broke it to repair it. It's no coincidence that Radagon beats your cheeks with the weapon called "Marika's Hammer" once you can claim it for yourself.

Side note, Marika's Hammer may be an allusion to Nietzsche. Nietzsche was known as a deconstructionist, who tore down belief systems by exposing their flaws, which led his contemporaries to say he "philosophized with a hammer". He also famously wrote the line "God is dead, and we have killed Him."

We see repeated throughout the story and item descriptions that Golden Order was created when the Rune of Death was "snatched" from the Elden Ring. The worshipped Trinity is missing a part it originally came with.

Carl Jung posited a "solution" to Catholicism and the problem of evil in the Quaternity: folding Satan into the Trinity. Jung recognized that God was not omnibenevolent, at least not in the way we humans can understand and experience. Satan did not torture and torment Job, God did. God allowed his chosen people to be enslaved in Egpyt and, perhaps most importantly, if Satan were the source of all misery and suffering, God created Satan and allowed him to continue existing. Satan as a "mistake" God made makes no sense. Satan as an aspect of the divine - a fourth face of God - may not be palatable to the typical devotee, but is more consistent with the source material and the way of the world.

With the Mending Rune of the Death-Prince, we fold Godwyn's death and Those Who Live in Death into Golden Order. We, as Elden Lord, say "gods can die, and humans can live forever in undeath." This is Christ's death and man's subsequent apotheosis: god became man and so man became god.

With the Mending Rune of Perfect Order, we absolve God's imperfection and make him truly perfect. It's like retconning the Bible. Corhyn lost his mind over Goldmask doubting the perfection of Golden Order, but Goldmask found a way for it to be fixed, and you cannot fix perfection. In the Old Testament, God shows emotion and changes his mind, which is incompatible with eternal perfection. With this rune, the gods of the Lands Between would not be so fickle, which insinuates a rebirth of the world in which Marika's and Radagon's impetuous actions never happened.

Dung-Eater... I'm not sure. There's a number of interpretations that could be made. I think my preferred reading is as an abolition of Heaven. Everyone will be cursed, nobody will go to heaven, no haves and have nots, just cursed mortals who rot in the ground instead of some sanctified Erdtree burial or life in death. Remember that for all the prominent Omen enemies in the game, and the fact that we can get most NPC enemies as spirit ashes, there are no Omen spirit ashes.

Frenzy is a nihilistic obliteration of everything, recognizing that the "One Great" made a terrible mistake which allowed for "sin, curse, and affliction". God made us able to be unhappy, and to get sick and hurt and all these other terrible things and what kind of loving and all-powerful god would do that? Burn it all, it's the only solution.

Lastly, Ranni's Age of the Stars is, I feel, sorely lacking in context even by Fromsoft standards. What it entails is left mysterious, but we know that it is a departure from Order, and that the Nox of the Eternal City, who were banished underground for defying the Greater Will, have waited a long time for the Age of Stars. Is Ranni still an Empyrean without her flesh? Is this, then, an Age of Empyrean like Gowry describes, which would replace Marika and Golden Order? Ranni says it's a thousand-year journey, not eternity. The information we get about it asks more questions than it answers.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading a theologist's philosophical analysis of his favorite game.

Submit

unpopular opinion: ranni ending is for simps

Submit

miriam ending age of the turtle

Submit

Carians are the most clear-cut good guy faction ever put into a FromSoft game, good lord. Even Miquella admired them. How is there a debate about which ending is best?

Submit

I wanted a dragon ending where you get back the dragon god that Placidusax served in his time as Elden Lord and reestablish the ancient dragon dominion over the world

Submit

you obviously forgot the ending where the chosen undead links the fire, becoming a lord of cinder and prolonging the age of fire

Submit

Something about the Elden Lord ending still confuse me. The Tarnished and Melina set the Erdtree on fire and give it Destined Death. But during the Age of Fracture ending, its glowing gold again. I thought the Erdtree died. Did mending the Elden Ring restore the Erdtree as well?

Submit

Best Ending is not Mending the statue

Submit

All endings suck ass besides Lord of the Frenzied Flame. They should have added and ending where you "abuse" the rune of death and actually complete what the Gloam-Eyed Queen wasn't able to do, bringing order and balance between life and death; no more "the Erdtree is gonna save your soul when your body dies", no more "soul swapping" and no more "creatures that lives in death". Just completely remove the separation of body and soul and deliver destined death to every being that dies, both for natural causes or because they have been slapped by a bouquet of roses that causes bleed build-up.

Submit

There should be an ending where you open up a seafood restaurant with Boggart

Submit

So an interesting detail is that if you become the lord of frenzied flame after farum azula Melina won't threaten you

Submit

I hope for the DLC they add an ending where Miqulla's Haligtree becomes the new erdtree and he creates his own perfect order

Submit

they should've put an ending when Seluvis transforms everyone into puppets XD

Submit

Can someone explain what's so bad about the Duskborn Ending? It seems to read as normal function. Beings live, and then they die just like RL. Maybe I missed something so im going to reread it but that seems to be a good ending. At the very least, no immortality is good.

Submit

FF and Ranni are the only even interesting endings.

the rest are just video game blue balls,.

GRRM is a hack

Submit

The best ending is to just defeat the elden beast and then not do any of the endings.

Submit

all endings (except for frenzied flame where everything gets destroyed) are pointless, usless, and bleak. Nothing changes, maybe in the stars ending, you atleast go with Ranni. From should make a DLC where your endings does have an impact on the Lands Between, especially if you end with Ranni(like something actually changes...). The other endings where you become the E.L. should atleast give you a possibility to have some decision, or to change something....real utter disapointment, after all I've been through in that game, the endings are just lame AF

Submit

all endings (except for frenzied flame where everything gets destroyed) are pointless, usless, and bleak. Nothing changes, maybe in the stars ending, you atleast go with Ranni. From should make a DLC where your endings does have an impact on the Lands Between, especially if you end with Ranni(like something actually changes...). The other endings where you become the E.L. should atleast give you a possibility to have some decision, or to change something....real utter disapointment, after all I've been through in that game, the endings are just lame AF

Submit

guys new ending has just been found... i wont spoil but has something to do with that monkey seamstress geezer

Submit

I wish the ending would give you a confirmation before it plays the ending cinematic. I did a playthrough as str/fth with the intention of taking Goldmask's ending, but I coincidentally defeated Elden Beast while my gf was over, and was explaining some of the lore cause I was excited she was there to witness the ending. I was talking about Ranni's questline, and clicked on her summon sign, assuming it would show her name and face, as well as ask if you wanted to summon her, just like with combat summons. Unfortunately that auto-entered the cutscene. I skipped the cutscene from panicking and trying to go back, so I didn't even get to see the actual scene with my character.

Submit

While the game is good, its really sucks there is no good ending...
Say all you want, none of the ending above is good

Submit

I really hope, while it would require genius writing and world design, that From finds a way to incorporate all of the endings into the first DLC and beyond. I'm not saying a separate story for every single ending, that'd be asking way too much of them, but even subtle changes depending on your chosen ending and references to your actions and how they've affect the Lands Between and how they'll affect the DLC's events. For example, perhaps since Ranni's Age of Stars ending technically seems to say that she & the player would go on a 1000 year journey together, the DLC could mention this & give an explanation (subtly, as is From's way) as to why the DLC's events are preventing that journey. Or maybe if the player's ending was the Age of Despair, the Seedbed curse could seen in some NPCs and enemies as a sign of the Dung Eater's success. Or for the Flame Frenzy ending players, the sky would have a different skybox in certain areas and maybe signs of the Three Fingers' influence would be more evident in those players' worlds.

I think that would sort of be the logical next step in From's world design. Imagine invading or being summoned into another players' world and theirs has fundamental changes to areas based on the ending/choices they've made. Of course, the reason I'm hoping for even some small things like I listed above because game design is hard and time consuming and expecting too much only leads to despair. But then again...this is From Software, I thought that there was no way Elden Ring was going to be as huge and rich in content as it is...but they pulled that off, so anything's possible.

Submit

I think all the endings are sort of meh because with the DLC Miquella's ending will be the "best" ending, having the tarnish finally realize his convoluted-ass plan that's been going on in the background.

Submit

So… this is a weird question, I know. But normally, if a player inherits the frenzied flame and Melina leaves, by the time you can get rid of it, you’ve already beaten Fire Giant and are past the point where her last interaction would be anyways. BUT, if one were to wrong warp to Farum Azula early and get to Placidusax’s arena after getting the needle, and remove the frenzied flame before burning the erdtree, would Melina show back up? I would guess that she does tbh, because otherwise the player would have no method of burning the erdtree. She probably just has the normal dialogue because the game obviously doesn’t expect you to wrong warp, so it might seem kind of clunky since she left and pretty clearly had no intent of coming back. Y’know, having threatened to kill you and all…

Submit

I've seen some comments, but to summarize, it seems that what she wants is a world like ours. A world where faith and knowledge of the metaphysical and gods is just that: faith. No interference, so miracles, only faith and academia. No knowledge of whether or not souls exist, so that people won't meddle with them. Basically, their world becomes like ours: completely neutral.

Submit

Wow I ****ing LOVE going through the whole game just to NOT get the achievement at the end, ****ing amazing.

Submit

I may have horribly misunderstood the lore and the main character's intentions but here is my take on the endings anyway.

With Age of Stars, we indirectly solve the existing problems of the world by essentially giving up on it entirely, leaving it altogether under a new order and rule of Ranni, who by the way, envisions a genocidal new order that would have "life, and souls, and order at a great remove" and "have the certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch become impossibilities", which obviously suggests every living thing will be stripped of body and soul, alive only as some sort of intelligence under the guidance of Ranni's moon. I don't know in what capacity we would continue serving her as her eternal consort in our new form. To me, this is the worst possible ending as it will end all life just to wander in space aimlessly.

With Age of Duskborn, you eliminate one of the major threats that is ravaging the Lands Between which was caused by Godwyn's improper death. Because Godwyn died only in soul, his flesh started to resurrect mindless husks of dead. What you essentially bring in to the table with brandishing the Elden Ring with Fia's version of the death rune is firstly, returning the souls of the dead which would restore them as rational beings; secondly, introducing a new way of immortality without having to go through with the cycle of life of the Erdtree, essentially eliminating the source of power of the Greater Will; and thirdly, stopping the persecution imposed by the Golden Order. It is a benevolent ending aside from Godwyn possibly becoming Gravelord Nito 2.0.

Lord of Frenzied Flame is very interesting. Melina says that it will deny new births and kill every living being. However, I don't think it is as simple as bringing the world to an absolute end as Melina suggests. My understanding is that the Frenzied Flame does not oppose the notion of life itself because we understand from Hyetta that "All that there is came from the One Great." and Greater Will imposed its modifications to the One Great's creation, making everyone "born of the mistake". I think Frenzied Flame only wishes to eliminate the Greater Will and its corruption to the original creation of the One Great. What you see in the ending cutscene is that the frenzied flame is channeling through the stump of Erdtree as if targeting the ancient root system which encompasses all (well, nearly) Lands Between. I think this root system was once planted by the Greater Will and the Frenzied Flame's aim is to burn all of it to eradicate the corruption of life Greater Will brought with it. (Shabriri even wants to burn the Erdtree "to the ground", to its roots. In all other endings, Melina burns the surface of the Erdtree which would not harm its roots anyway and also burning the decaying part of a tree is a beneficial thing for its renewal) To my understanding, the conventional act of birthing, during the age of plenty anyway, was through the "blessing" of the Erdtree, in which it literally dropped dews which will then birth humans. Plant life obviously comes from the same root system. Omens, misbegottens, regardless of being born without grace, still tied to the crucible. Even those living in death are "reborn" through Godwyn, who is tied to these roots. (Idk about Malenia's offspring and the animal life though) I think what Melina refers to, in saying that the Frenzied Flame will deny new births, is that it would only deny the Greater Will's system of giving birth. I think with this ending, we make sure that the Greater Will and its influence through the root system along with its "mistakes" that caused curses such as deathblight and scarlet rot, will be gone which would ultimately serve the betterment of the Lands Between. And lets not forget that the Haligtree has its own root system which is unconnected to the crucible and could very well be unaffected by the Frenzied Flame, because of the unalloyed gold of Miquella.

As for the other endings, the Blessing of Despair is nothing but endless suffering and unless you purposefully roleplay having twisted morals, it is for sure a bad ending. Age of Fracture or Age of Order endings are doomed because they will not address any existing social problems in the world and the Erdtree will die anyway as it will be overrun by either deathblight or scarlet rot.

Submit

If you go through with the frenzied flame inheritance and burn the Erdtree yourself, sparing Melina, does using Miquella's needle then mean she gets to live, and allow you to choose a more favourable ending? If so, would this be the 'good' ending?

Submit

The real issue with the endings is that , if you restore the rune of death, who is killed is simply dead and should not respawn. The player included… Dying should launch a new journey, as you can restart one at the round table and mobs should not respawn as you kill them, never. It reduces farming ability but it’s way more logic, as much as it can in the Land Between.

Submit

Age of Fracture: Your bog-standard Neutral Ending. You become Elden Lord and as far as I'm aware, the status quo remains unchanged. I'm going to assume for every ending that the Rune of Death was reattached to the Elden Ring when you fixed it, otherwise no endings other than Fia's acknowledge the whole "living forever and everyone is a mindless husk" problem, which is probably the biggest issue plaguing the Lands Between at present. Even then, it doesn't touch on any other issues such as the Omen, Trolls, Giants, and Dragons being persecuted against by the Golden Order, as well as the Deathblight (Those Who Live in Death isn't a natural state of being, change my mind) and Scarlet Rot (it's spreading slowly, but still spreading, give it enough time and the Lands Between will eventually be consumed by it. Also, giant Monster Dogs and Birds) problems.

Age of the Duskborn: Makes Those Who Live in Death apart of the natural cycle after dying, thus when anyone dies, they become an undead. The only issue this ending resolves is that Those Who Ling in Death are no longer being persecuted against by the Golden Order, and by proxy I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and assume that Omen, Trolls, Giants, and Dragons will become undead too when they die and thus won't suffer from persecution either. Unfortunately, this ending doesn't really address the Scarlet Rot, and becoming a seemingly mindless undead skeleton after you die doesn't seem very appealing.

Age of Order: In the words of Goldmask, the gods are at fault for causing suffering in the world by having human desires, when they should be above that, because they are gods. This tries to fix that problem by removing the ability for any god to alter the Elden Ring in any way, such as when Marika removed the Rune of Death. This doesn't really address the persecution problem, nor the Deathblight and Scarlet Rot problems either. Overall, this is a definitive improvement over the Fracture ending, and is probably the safest "Elden Lord' ending by far, with no sweeping radical changes to the people of the lands.

Blessing of Despair: Prevents the souls of every inhabitant from being returned to the Erdtree, due to assumedly every living being becoming cursed to become Omen, whose souls cannot return to the Erdtree because they are considered "defiled beings." This is the best take on this ending I could find, and it's not exactly a direct improvement from the Duskborn ending, but at least you don't become a skeleton when you die. If Morgott can get by and eventually become semi-accepted within the Golden Order, then normalizing Omen by making it the new standard, doesn't seem that bad of an idea on paper. Omen can't be persecuted against if the people doing the persecuting become Omen themselves. This doesn't seem to address the Deathblight and Scarlet Rot problems, though, and I'm unsure if Trolls, Giants, or Dragons can become Omen, even if they started growing horns, so that issue isn't solved either. Yet again, based on Morgott who seems to have his wits about him and is a pretty strong-willed guy, both in body and spirit, I'm going to lean on it being an improvement, since Omen seem much more capable than your standard human. Of course, this is just an assumption, we don't really know what "being an Omen" is really like. It could be better, or it could be worse.

Lord of the Frenzied Flame: Everything dies forever, the end. It technically solves every issue on our list, the Deathblight and Scarlet Rot are eradicated, Omen, Trolls, Giants, and Dragons are no longer being persecuted against because they and the people who persecuted them are now also eradicated. While it's true that all the evil in the world is gone, all the good is gone too, so it's no better an ending because it makes a whole new list of problems, such as life as we know it ceasing to exist, the Lands Between becoming a flaming and barren wasteland, and everything is really hot now. I'd say the new problems are worse than the old problems, so this ending gets a big yikes from me. It's a fine talking point for philosophy about how much suffering must be endured before one begins to think if death is a preferable alterative, but not really anything else. Of course, if you like being the bad guy and think everyone in the Lands Between should go suck a big one, this is the best ending.

Age of the Stars: Ranni replaces the Golden Order with a new Order of her own making, and then takes that Order, and you, with her into the deep cosmos for 1000 years, leaving the Lands Between without any leadership from any gods or lords, essentially left to their own devices. And just in case you missed this, the reason she makes a new Order at all is so that no other gods can try and interfere with the Lands Between while she's away, which includes the Greater Will. Unless this also stops the spreading of Scarlet Rot and Deathblight, I don't really see anything changing, this might be no better than the Fracture ending. And unless something is done about it, I don't see people changing their ways, suddenly stopping the persecution of Omen because it's no longer required of them to do so. This ending assumes too much that people are better off without the gods, and that the world will improve without gods interfering with their lives, but without considering that people are any less flawed than the gods that ruled over them. People are biased and ignorant, which can lead to them being unnecessarily cruel. Of course, there's also room for improvements because it leaves things so vague, but every ending is vague.

Don't know if my takes are fully correct, but these are my thoughts on each of the endings. Let me know if there are any definitive notes I may have missed.

Submit

Was it just me or did most of the endings seem unsatisfactory? I wish there was a little more in all of them. I mean hell, Dark Souls had at least the knowledge of the loop going with the flame. This you don't know what happens next.

Submit

I propose an ending where the Frenzied Flame is accepted but not unconditionally. Leaving the Greater Will some agency still. An ending, not to torch everything, but more of a controlled burn. The stagnant ways of the Greater Will stirred up. Where deviants of the Golden Order are no longer shunned or pursued.
Frenzied Flame gives a voice to the wronged but it's destructive ways in turn are kept at bay. The Greater Will will never achieve its pipe dream utopia. Frenzied Flame's chaos is naught but homogeneous pointlessness. But together they can achieve a kaleidoscopic dance of vibrant evolution. Change is the only constant and ought to be embraced. "Heresy is not native to the world; it is but a contrivance. All things can be conjoined." - Miriel, Pastor of Vows. I propose an age of balance and adaptable order. An age of Golden Flame. An age of the five fingers. An age of the High Five.

Submit

Ranni's ending is having her instead of the greater will as tyrants, the age of order continues the cycle but this time the gods will no longer be influenced like man (i think from what i know), the Duskborn returns to the very beginning before omen where hunted and killed the age of crucible to be precise, the blessing of despaire punishs all for their action/innaction against omen, misbegotten and other creature cursing them to never return to the erdtree, mending the elden ring only prolongs temporarely the ultimate downfall of everything (unless technicly if you defeated all main optionnal boss then they can no longuer interfere and fight against you) as for the age of the duskborn, the gods are no more all can die. no more will people be fearful of being cursed by the dung-eater (or others if there are more like him), no more will people fight against creatures because they believe in rebirths they shall know true death this ending is what i call a true blessing upon all beings since immortality without purpose makes you go hollow ;)

Submit

If you complete the Age of the Stars ending by summoning Ranni, then go through the process of getting the Frenzied Fire ending, it breaks the playthrough as you cannot teleport to Marikas Remains anymore, and you cannot re-enter the boss room.

Submit

I was hoping for a Patches ending - you give up on being Elden Lord and hand the throne over to Patches. He just basically sits about for a bit pretending to know what he's doing. But at the first sign of trouble, he runs off with all the gold and hides in a cave while the world burns.

Submit

We need a bring back the Crucible Ending

Submit

Is there a blasphemous ending or smth? Rykard told me that togethaa we will devour the very gohs.

Submit

What happens when you beat Elden Beast with multiple mending runes in your inventory?
Do you get to choose which ending you want, or will it just be the last one you picked up?

Submit

Anyone know what ending/achievement you get after cleansing the frenzied flame?

Submit

You can still get Frenzy Flame Seal if you can't beat Melenia and don't want frenzy flame ending, just finish the game with the ending you want and then go see the 3 fingers. You still get burnt and eyes turn yellow, but the game has finished so it has no effect on the ending.

Submit

i just do ranni quests aka what i call the omega simp ending

Submit

I would love if there were Volcano Manor and Mohgwyn Dynasty focused endings. Do not get me wrong, I like the Age of the Duskborn ending. Fia is my favourite character, after all, but still... an ending in which the recusants prevail against the Erdtree and another one in which you help build the dynasty of blood would be absolutely amazing.

Submit

This is what I think is the ending order from best to worst:
1 - Age of Stars: Since wee leave with Ranni towards somewhere else, away from the powers in the Lands Between, I guess this might be the best ending concerning the protagonist. The world won't fare well though. It just means that humanity will be free to decide by itself which wars to pick and who to exterminate without following guidance from a higher power.

2 - Age of Order: Probably the best ending concerning the world. Greater Will > 'manity. We get part of the Rune of Death from Maliketh through the game and restore it to the Elden Ring (this is true to all Elden Ring restoration endings) so death returns to the balance and there won't be immortals ruling anymore. My guess is this is how things were in the beginning. Not sure if the removal of Death was something Marika came up with or if it was the will of the Greater Will. If the latter, then everything is pretty much f***d up, only a matter of time.

3 - Age of Fracture: Things remain how they are but with death restored to the Ring. So same as Age of Order but the world remains broken. Greater Will remains distant.

4 - Age of the Duskborn: The first of the S*** Trio and least worst ending. Don't be swayed by Fia, the undead (called Those That Live in Death in the game) are husks of living beings, they are not like the Tarnished, that are reborn into a second life, that's why they're called Those That Live in Death. By reforging the Ring with Fia's rune and Destined Death together, all life, after ending, will eventually become undead. The whole world will slowly decay. This ending would be something like the DS3 hollow ending maybe. No life anywhere, only undeath. Don't fall for this trap, stop kidding yourselves.

5 - Lord of Frenzied Flame: Basically the end of all life, including the protagonist's ("The Lord of Frenzied Flame is no Lord at all"). The world will be reverted to the state that it was before creation, according to Hyetta (who is mad by then), all life will return to the Frenzied Flame. Nothing stops the Outer Gods from grabbing this power again and creating stuff once more though, but this is speculation. I'm placing this here because I still think the next one is worst but it's still extremely horrible.

6 - Blessing of Despair: Eternal suffering in cryptic ways. I have no idea what kind of bull**** the Dung Eater planned, but it's bad for sure. People will get cursed somehow, something related to the Omens, maybe all will turn into them, maybe something else will happen. The only certainty is that there will be eternal suffering. I consider this worse than the end of all life. Again, nothing stops the Outer Gods from clearing all this but it's speculation.

There is unfortunately no perfect ending, all have either some bad stuff or only bad stuff. I would choose between the first two, depending on where your priorities lie: protagonist or Lands Between. No ending is absolute, the Outer Gods are powerful and can unmake any of these as far as we know, for best or for worse. I'd say the Ending that might endure the most would be Age of Order as the Greater Will gets more influence, but that would depend on who had the idea to remove Destined Death from the Elden Ring: Greater Will or Marika. My guess is Marika after she decided to rebel. Gold Mask said that Destined Death had to be restored and he was a follower of the Greater Will so removing Death was against the Will. I don't think the Greater Will is mostly bad, it's not perfect but definitely better than the other Outer Gods we know of and better than humanity too.

Here's hoping they add more endings in future DLCs.

Submit

I did everything so i can get all ending options in one playthrough, but it turns out to be a waste of time because only three out of all has an achivement. The golden order, dung eater fia etc have nothing to give.

Submit

(Continued from Oct 20 2022 11:31)

As for which endings have the highest chance of being "canon" I'd say either Age of Fracture or Age of Duskborn; they allow the most room for sequels and neither of them fix anything significantly enough to be considered "happily ever after" nor ruin enough to be considered "end of the world". Just my thoughts

Submit

So here's my take on the ranking of the endings from best to worst:

1.) Age of Stars: Best ending in my opinion, the influence of the Greater Will is removed entirely and nowhere does it state that the Greater Will/Golden Order is "needed" or even considered an objectively positive thing so eff 'em.

2.) Age of Order: Really all this means is that the gods/Greater Will can no longer abuse their own power and "bend the rules" when they see fit, but the Greater Will alas still remains in power so this ending really is just gold-tinged excrement.

3.) Age of the Duskborn: Very close tie with the Perfect Order ending as while it results in a more "complete" and inclusive Golden Order by allowing for natural death the rest of it remains the same so still not great.

4.) Age of Fracture: Not much to say on this one, current order is fixed with the equivalent of duct tape and zip ties so nothing really changes. Meh at best.

5.) Lord of Chaos: Ranking this not last since it at least implies that while the entire life cycle is brought to an end there is at least hope for a new one down the line. Sort of like the End of Fire ending in DSIII but evil.

6.) Age of Despair: Obviously the worst intended ending. Everyone is cursed and will be cursed and suffer until the end of time.

Submit

So basically we have:
1) rule over a shitty destroyed wasteland
2) fix the shitty destroyed wasteland
3) apocalypse
4) apocalypse
5) super apocalypse
6) "figure it out yourselves, I'm going to space"

Submit

And of course, the ending that REALLY rejects the influence of the Gods. The ending of the one true, middle finger. Getting to the chair and deleting your save.

Submit

There totally should've been a secret ending where:

1.) you inherit the Frenzied Flame causing Melina to leave you
2.) Burn the Erdtree yourself leaving Melina alive.
3.)Do Millicent's questline and kill Malenia to get Miquella's Needle.
4.) Disinherit the Frenzied Flame
5.) Finish the game and choose Ranni's Ending
6.) You and Ranni leave the Lands Between in Melina's care and a cutscene plays where she stares up at a beautiful starry night sky and rejoices in how her and Torrent ended up still being right about choosing you in the end.

Melina lives. No more Greater Will. No more Frenzied Flame. Marry Ranni. Best possible ending.

Submit

Secret Elden Ring Ending: Margit the Fell extinguishes thy meagre flame, or ye tarnished simply admire the Erd Tree in all its glory

Submit

If you took ranni's ending, would incantations still work in the lands between? After you cleared it from the influence of the greater will?

Submit

'There is no clear good, bad, or true ending'

Ahh yes, the ending where every living thing born until the end of time will be afflicted with a loathsome reviled curse isn't a bad ending, no not at all...

Submit

Ranni best waifu

Submit

it says that meeting with the three fingers locks you out of all other endings, does this apply to new game plus though?

Submit

Age of Duskborn description is incorrect. According to item descriptions Fia's rune embeds principle of Life within Death into the Order, not that she restores Life and Death cycle, meaning that instead of being revived after death ("immortality") the dead will enter a sort of second life as living corpses of sort (e.g Godwyn)

Submit

which ending is the most "anti-ranni" if i'm playing a character who specifically wants to dunk on magic-users?

Submit

Say, what would happen if i return to the three fingers after i cured myself in placidusax's arena?

Submit

I think Therese should be an ending where Mohg gest his dynasty and the tarnished becomes the highest ranking white mask or something

Submit

Can anyone clarify where to use the needle after beating Malania? it says here to use it where Placidusax was killed but after the Malenia fight there is a scarlet aeonia flower in her boss arena, I got the prompt asking if I wanted to use the needle when I got close to it, so now I'm not sure what to do next.

Submit

Wait, so what happens if we spare Melina using the Three Fingers, then use the needle? Does she just not do anything or participate in the endings?

Submit

haha funny arson ending go boom best ending hehe

Submit

ending of the frenzied flame - firelink ending from DS1

Submit

Gonna elaborate on Fia’s ending a bit more as well because I think there’s some really interesting references and imagery, as well as some points people have made supporting the Fextra explanation of her ending as well as some other alternatives which I personally disagree with.

I’ll start with this because even though it’s pure conjecture and can’t really be considered a point of evidence on its own, I think it offers some more clarity on the possibilities, so don’t take this as evidence or even support that much, it’s just an interesting possibility. Fia is imo one big Whore of Babylon reference. The Whore of Babylon is described as a woman sitting atop a blasphemous beast (reference to Godwyn potentially) and described as the ‘mother of Earth’s abominations’ which is pretty much what those who live in death are considered to be by the Golden Order and Fia has explicitly stated that she wants to be a mother to those who live in death. She seduces you and others into following this same route. Babylon itself is often used as metaphor for a world that’s strayed from God’s path and seduces those who live in it towards a blasphemous one, which is pretty apt for Fia and imo her world post-ending compared to the Golden Order’s ideals. It’s loose, but Elden Ring’s not been shy about making some religious references like Rykard’s entire blasphemous imagery and everything related to him and Mohg’s very on-the-nose satanic imagery. I really would not be surprised if this was more than coincidence even if it’s not quite as overt.

Ok, bs out of the way. The three main possibilities I’ve seen for Fia’s ending and what the mending of Godwyn’s rune means is one of these:
1. Death returns as normal.
2. Zombie apocalypse.
3. Life within death becomes part of the natural order and therefore is no longer persecuted.

No1 implies that Godwyn’s rune is a fully repaired and unaltered version of the Rune of Death, mending it would mean that life within death would no longer be a possible affliction because the souls of the dead would no longer be absorbed within the roots of the Erdtree to be reborn and struggle and die again forever, and they’d be free to die a proper death in body and soul. I can see why people think this and why the Fextra description follows this too, but there’s just too much against this. In the description of Godwyn’s rune itself it mentions that the rune holds the principal of life within death, which is not what the original rune of death was at all so it’s pretty certain that it’s a modified version of the original rune of death. Secondly, this goes entirely against the principals of Fia and all her followers who sympathise with those who live in death and her desire to be a ‘mother’ to them since re-establishing a natural cycle of life and death would eliminate the concept of those who live in death entirely which totally clashes with their ideals of sympathising with them as a weak and persecuted beings unless you’re convinced they want to act as mercy-killers. Lastly, Fia’s quote when she receives the cursemark of death is ‘With this, Godwyn can take his rightful place as First of the Dead. And claim a second, illustrious life’ which is not a quote from someone who wants to give him a proper death and restore the natural order, she wants to give those who live in death a proper king and to give them a sense of power as otherwise weak and persecuted beings; death sorceries and the prince of death’s staff scaling with Faith as well implies that she wants to establish some kind of a new order much like all other alternatives aside from Ranni who seems to want to eliminate dogmatic order altogether; ‘Our Lord will rise. The Lord of the many, and the meek’, another quote from Fia.

No3 which suggests that life within death wouldn’t become more than an affliction like it is now, but becomes part of the accepted order and those who live in death will no longer live in persecution does follow the idea that Godwyn’s rune is a modified version of the rune of death, as well as supports Fia and co’s desire to protect those who live in death, but I think it falls flat conceptually since those who live in death as it stands right now is an affliction from contact with the deathroot and the Erdtree’s subsequent rejection of souls of the dead; given that there is no rune at all, souls of the dead have nowhere to go besides being taken into the roots of the Erdtree to be reborn. Having a rune pertaining to what happens to the souls of the dead at all is a more hard-line result rather than the fickle nature of the Erdtree. With the rune of death body and soul pass on fully, with the modified Godwyn’s rune souls would pass on leaving the body a hollow shell that still ‘lives’ despite being dead, both scenarios leave the Erdtree completely out of the equation, I don’t see any reason why the inclusion of a new rune explicitly embedding the principal of life within death into the natural order in its own description would still leave life within death as only an affliction since it’s essentially like corrupting the Elden Ring with deathroot. I don’t strictly have quotes to support this one so it is the most likely alternative, but it’s the conclusion I came to just based on how the principals of death work with and without the rune of death.

I think with all of this, No2, zombie apocalypse ending, seems like the one that makes the most sense based on Fia’s intentions in her dialogue and the way the principals of death work with and without the rune of death embedded into the Elden Ring. It also supports the Whore of Babylon imagery which, again, is total baseless conjecture, but a bit too easily comparable to ignore.

Tl;dr: Bad ending imo.

Submit

I've been thinking (as any lore fan would) about this so called "bad" Frenzied Flame ending. I get it, it sucks to throw out the good with the bad, but you all forgot one thing: we're nothing more than miserable little pawns for the Outer Gods to do with as they please. We get screwed over repeatedly before and during our adventure in the Lands Between. We go through unbelievable pain and face horrific nightmare monstrosities (with broken OP movesets). We can't even die properly after all that.

Frenzied Flame is pretty much, as I see it, our final, cosmic middle finger to all of these uncaring bastards for all the pain, misery, and BS game design that we've been through. Elden Lord? Radagon? Scarlet rot and the undead? Dogs and crows? To hell with all of you, into the Chaos Flame you all go.

Submit

Ranni's ending is a really awkward one because of how convoluted her phrasing constantly is, she never just friggin says something. That said, the way I interpret it is that her aim is to divert the world from one where people live in faith to one where people live for learning, for a few reasons.
Almost all other endings in some way, and some of the other alternatives which didn't have endings like Mohg's and Rykard's ambitions and the pest's worship of the goddess of rot, are all faith rooted, either to embrace their own faith or to blaspheme against it it's all fundamentally centred around the notion of faith. Glintstone sorcery is all about higher learning and looking to the stars for knowledge rather than embracing the world as it is; Ranni leans into this totally. Int and Faith are not particularly compatible attributes either as far as things go, they're meant to generally stay pretty separate with very few exceptions. Ranni, in all liklihood, wants to denounce the influence of faith, I don't have any translation alternatives but I do think some things she said can be reinterpreted, like 'order' being more of a reference to the present Golden Order and similar structures in which case 'dogma' would be a better alternative, or when she says 'emotion' I don't think it means to hard-line kill all emotions but referencing more actions guided by pure emotion, in which case 'impulse' would suit better. Very ancient Greek philosophy, question everything, pursue logic over emotional judgement, and take to the stars for learning.
The end goal of running off to space is likely not only to remove the influence of the Greater Will from its source, but of all Outer Gods, present and future, who would interfere with the Lands Between. Without blind faith and being led around like sheep by some strange outer beings, the people will be lost and forced to find their own way, but it's in times like this when people as a whole grow the most and that's what the goal is; I'd reckon that's the interpretation of 'Into fear, doubt, and loneliness... As the path stretcheth into darkness'.
With this in mind, I think a more literal name for her ending would be the 'Age of Learning'. Whether I'm barking up the wrong tree or not, I think there's much more to her end goal than to just piss off the fingers and shag on the moon for 1000 years.

Also, just to throw this in, I think the explanation of Fia's ending is wrong.
'where the Lands Between are engulfed in a harrowing fog and the principle of life within Death is embedded into Order, ridding the world of immortality and allowing the natural cycle of life and death to occur for all people and creatures alike.'
It's kinda contradictory that embedding the principal of Life Within Death into the order restores the natural cycle of life and death, what that'd do is just make Life Within Death no longer just a phenomenon of an affliction but a natural part of all lifecycles, so no one gets to ever die a proper death; the 'harrowing fog' doesn't bode well either. The Age of Zombies more like, Dung Eater goth gf edition.

Submit

From Ranni's quotes in the Age of Star ending, I totally got the impression that, as it is now, the Order (of the current ruling god) binds lives and souls under its rule (all lives are regulated under strict rules), but she would make it so they're not. As the new Queen(?) she would take her Order far from the earth, which will be beneath her feet, and she'll be going on a long, chilly, lonely voyage to the great beyond. The conclusion? She, (and my char) will be traveling through SPACE, and create her order somewhere among the moon and the stars. What will she do with her Order? I don't know, maybe create another civilization? The Lands between will probably be free from, at least a complete rule of any other Outer God, since the way things are framed, there's only one Elden Ring, and whoever has it gets the final say over the Order (rules) of the Lands, and she already took it with her. The Lands will literally become lawless. The other Outer Gods may or may not continue to try to influence the Lands, but none of them will ever get to rule completely again. Will the Lands recover? No one knows.

Submit

The community seems to love to input what their opinions are on the different endings, so here's my take.

The Age of Fracture seems pretty neat, but it really depends on what your character is like. If your character was say... Nice to Boc, didn't murder every human they saw, and always kept their hunter's ring on, then the world might improve slightly. But otherwise nothing really changes.

oH bOy fReE HuGs FOr EvERyone?!?!? The Age of Duskborn seems nice I guess, but mostly just because it counts as an Elden Ring version of BLM.

Face it. We all love that Ever-T-posing Goldmask fellow. We truly enjoy the way he just stands over his little wagon wheel-knecked simp and decides he would be a better god than the greater will. He would fix a lot of the Nazi-style stuff that the Golden Order has done, and honestly this seems like the best ending.

Do I really trust a poop chomper? Especially if his goal is to make people like getting their souls eaten by some eternal curse? I swear whoever chooses this ending should have their balls cursed like dung eater wanted. Or its another Miziyaki fetish. iDK.

I honestly see the philosophy of the Frenzied Flame ending. "Life has bad parts and good parts." But that doesn't mean you can just delete all life so it has no bad parts! This ending is practically just a way for the whole world to commit suicide. And what do you gain? Not Much....

All the Ranni simps; Go ahead and go to space with her. Have a good day.

Submit

This guide is missing the "age of absolute" ending

Submit

WTF. I just did the Age of Fracture Ending after doing Ranni and frenzy first and I didn't get the achievement. It was literally the last achievement I needed before getting all the achievements.

Submit

You're sure to be in a fine haze about now, but don't think too hard about all of this. Just go out and kill a few beasts. It's for your own good.

Submit

Does Melina still appear in the Frenzy Flame ending. even if you sacrifice her for kindling at the forge?

Submit

Please add this too the wiki

I found the PKCS ending

Submit

Don't overthink this stuff too much. Just run around and kill stuff.

Submit

Lord of the Frenzied Flame and Blessing of Despair. The Chad's choices.

Submit

The Duskborn Ending… Or the ending no one seems to have wrapped their heads around.


From what I could piece together, this does not reintroduce the rune of death. As is the description, it makes life within death part of the order. Plus Fia’s goal was to revive Godwyn as Fortisaxx resisted.


However that does not mean that everyone who dies becomes a walking skeleton. Those living in death are those who were rejected by the Erdtree and its recycling of souls. It’s just a phenomenon that happens, I don’t think it will increase frequency, you are adding onto the order rather than removing from it.


However, just making undead part of the order, is just not satisfying so I feel like I’m missing something. Age of Order considers the Golden Order as the Theory of Everything, a mathematical formula. However because the gods were variables, the formula was broken. So Goldmask prevents even the gods from altering it, as they are no better than man. My understanding of the Age of the Duskborn pales in comparison to that. Perhaps undead becomes more like man by no longer being a glitch in the system.

Submit

...So can you not save Melina by using Frenzied Flame to light the fire, and then removing it from yourself? Shouldn't there be extra endings with her alive? Feels like a MASSIVE missed opportunity

Submit

does the duskborn ending set free death so people die and just stay dead? get rid of death making everyone kinda zombie like, or just makes everyone immortal as i am still confused

Submit

“Interestingly, all 6 endings require the player to continue to accept the influences of one of the Outer Gods in the Lands Between. There is currently no ending whereby the Lands Between is completely rid of the Outer Gods.”

This is categorically just false, the age of the stars, Ranni’s special ending, is literally all about removing the influence the greater will and all that

There’d still be outer gods influencing the lands yes, but you do not accept their influence

The 4 Elden lord ending are possibly the same, the greater will and Elden beast and Marika are all literally never said to be outer gods. The greater will could maybe be one, but that is complete speculation, and not fair to say as fact

Only the lord of frenzied flame ending has you accept an outer god’s message and objective to our knowledge



“where the Lands Between are engulfed in a harrowing fog and the principle of life within Death is embedded into Order, ridding the world of immortality and allowing the natural cycle of life and death to occur for all people and creatures alike.”

This is never said either?

A) What is the “natural cycle of life and death”? We don’t know there to be a “natural” cycle, it seemingly always varies based on the current age and order

B) Nothing about the ending say it’s removed immortality from the world… the ending is all about creating justice for those who live in death, because currently they’re seen as a violation of the order, this ending makes them a explicit part of it, meaning the hunters would hunt them anymore, and they would be allowed to live in death in peace. Which actually is possibly exactly a form of immortality…



“Ranni supplants Marika as Goddess and takes The Tarnished as her Elden Lord.”

It’s also never said that she ascends to godhood

It’s not even known if she can considering she slew her “empyrean flesh”

Submit

Almost everyone seems to just consider Frenzied Flame ending as "Evil ending" ignoring all of the nuance in it . This ending is n't a madman's sick desire or malevolent entity goal to destroy the lands between for its benefit it is a plea for help being answered . The three fingers the embodiment of frenzied flame itself is in agony . Frenzied flame incarnations are giving this maddening pain a physical form and your character is in agony while casting these incantations . Three fingers was only brought into the lands between because of curse of despair chanted by great caravan . Frenzied Flame is not the cause of this but the result , It is all of this pain given sentience .Unlike other outer gods it has no great champions to speak of , Vyke has to be tricked by Shabriri to try to find some one who can free everyone from their torment . Almost all of these "followers" are nobodies who have suffered greatly one way or other some even because of Shabriri some one working towards the same goal . These "followers" were willing to rip out their own eyeballs for the possibility that Hyetta becomes a maiden of three fingers so she might guide their lord who might not even exist .

Your tarnished has more reason than most to become this lord .You have been driven from lands between for no fault of your own , now guided back to seek the elden ring . On your path you fought countless monstrosities and died several times in horrifically painful ways all the while you are simply a pawn part of their schemes . None of these schemers care very little about your wellbeing you are only useful because you are achieving victory . You can not even die and rest in peace . Frenzied Flame is in the same boat as you why not become the lord of frenzied flame and end all suffering.

Is it really justified ending all life because great many people have suffered and you believe everyone else will soon follow ? No , but this is not just "Evil ending"

Submit

The cut ending be like “haha I king and I give hi five”

Submit

PSA for anyone checking down here: You can beat Elden Beast then save at the Stone Platform SoG & use that save for ALL endings. You can still fast travel to the Placiudax Dragon SoG to use Miquella's needle after you see the frenzy ending & use that save to do the remaining endings.

This site makes it seem like once you beat final boss it's too late, at least that's how it seemed to me in it's current wording.

Submit

Any reason the cut ending isn't here?

Submit

Elden Ring. Wow. I'd have expected no less from Martin and Miyazaki. Easily among my favorite games. Perhaps even supplanting SOTN.
-----
The world was, long before the Elden Ring and the Erdtree. There was a time before. It is up to the player to decide if the Erdtree has brought a true "Golden Age".

Deathless, but is it full of the living? Nearly every Godling encountered wishes the end of it all; they wish the end of the Order. the outside influence, and the Erdtree, tool of the outside divinity. Is whatever brought the Erdtree into this world truly benevolent? If so, why are so many cursed? Pondering these thoughts, there are only two outcomes that I can fathom:

The Age of Stars. Join Ranni on an a quest across the cosmos to find the true roots of the Erdtree, and those who planted it.
-or- Join the Three Fingers, burn it to the ground, destroying that which the creators of the Erdtree so desired.

One could side with the Order and the Outside, but what naivete would that require? One could choose the deathless end, perhaps starving the Erdtree, but setting no one free? Or, one could curse everyone further than they already were, giving them the Seedbed of the Dungeater. These last endings, while perhaps no less hard fought, are frightfully different.

My sincerest gratitude to the progenitors of this game. Worthy beyond the meager fodder that swarms the digital space. I will remember this time, indefinitely

Submit

Well, i have a hunch that there are more, since the “outer gods” are also mentioned, what if there is an ending for:
- The volcano manor.
- mohg’s dynasty
- Gideon
I don’t know, can’t keep them and more out of my mind

Submit

Let's be straight ain't expecting no Final Fantasy cinematic ending but give us like three or four cool cutscenes per each ending

Submit

Don't get me wrong I absolutely love this game but a little more time spent on the endings would have been nice.

Submit

Come on. The ending is whack. I mean come on give me some more cutscenes maybe your character
standing over his army. Or something.

Submit

I will say, though half of the endings are just the same cutscene with minor differences, they're still pretty entertaining to ponder.

I like that there's an ending based on faith and optimism for once, that instead of perpetuating a cycle, Goldmask envisioned an absolute trust in Order opposed to fanatical infighting.

Age of Duskborn is neat for simply being sympathetic to the aimless dead, kind of like the Lord of Hollows ending in DS3. Again, Goldmask had apparently discovered that the fractured Golden Order secretly rejected the dead from returning to the Erdtree in an effort to create an eternal punching bag, a sort of propaganda to incite followers of the Golden Order. This ending inverts Order and elevates the downtrodden.

The Age of Stars is exceedingly puzzling, even for Miyazaki's standards, which I suppose is fitting for a quest involving a lot of intelligence-based NPCs and enemies. It doesn't strike me as necessarily benevolent on Ranni's part, but rather she wanted to dissolve any sense of purpose or confirmation, instead forcing the Lands Between to face the emptiness of existence, that perhaps there are no good or evil acts in an absurd cosmos. I guess it's comparable to literal heat death of the universe—not only is the Elden Ring shattered, it, along with concepts such as "life, and souls, and order" become so scattered that the distinctions become meaningless. As for Ranni herself, it would appear it was all a rather selfish act of rebellion, requiring countless casualties throughout the Shattering, and even sacrificing those she held dearest. (Even so, this only illustrates the cruelty of the Greater Will and the Fingers that love should be used to hold their captives hostage, and Ranni merely challenged their gambit.)

Lord of Frenzied Flame is downright funny. Becoming so depressed that you burn the world. What a mood. Melina's secret appearance is neat, and also provides a good deal to contemplate. (Spare me the "Melina is the Gloam-Eyed Queen" nonsense, though.)

Something something, Idea of Evil, Causality, etc., etc. Elden Ring is certainly the most on-the-nose Berserk fanfic yet, but hey, I ain't complaining.

Submit

This page says there are no clear bad endings, and literally has Dung Eater's ending in it

Submit

So (to my understanding) the Age of Stars is basically Ranni becoming a bodiless spirit devoid of emotion and venturing into space, leaving the Lands Between without any kind of order.
She is either a straight up alien trying to return to her comfortable environment or is so tired of human life with its emotional complexities that she wants to spend her entire existence as an emotionally numb incomporeal being.

Submit

so like. Perfect Order is just the straight up good ending though, right? As I understand it, it essentially revitalizes the Erdtree and stops the demigods from causing another Shattering. It might have some undertones of a sort of "stay in line, or else" kind of situation but it doesn't really seem like that's the case. And I don't know any reason why the rune of death wouldn't become a part of the new elden ring again, so... mortality returns, no more war, potentially the Erdtree begins to produce its sap again given its much more vibrant golden color, this is just straight up the good ending?

Submit

Age of Stars replaces the Greater Will with the Dark Moon who is likely involved in the life modification experiments of the Eternal City. Heck, the Moon itself may be a result of such experiment, i.e. a graven mass. So I am not buying the argument from the simps that Age of Stars is a good ending.

Submit

Sad there isn't a Haligtree/Miquella ending

Submit

For the "Age of Stars" ending, it's important to note that similarly to the "Lord of Frenzied Flame" ending, that the tarnished still has a title in replacement for Elden Lord. This name is "Lord of the Night" and is verified by the Nox armor set. Maybe update this to include that name?

Submit