Godwyn the Golden |
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Location | Deeproot Depths |
Role | First Demigod to die |
Voiced by | N/A |
Godwyn the Golden was a demigod and son of Queen Marika the Eternal and Godfrey the First Elden Lord. In the "Night of the Black Knives" he was assassinated by assassins from the land of the Numen with the use of daggers imbued with the Rune of Death. Godwyn the Golden was the firstborn son of Queen Marika the Eternal and her consort Godfrey, the First Elden Lord. Godwyn was a scion of the so-called "Golden Line", of which Godrick the Grafted was the final descendant. Early in his mother's divine reign, the Erdtree came under assault by the Dragons, who had ruled the world before Marika's ascent. The forces of the Erdtree managed to triumph against the dragons, with Godwyn prevailing against the dreaded Fortissax, earning the mighty dragon's friendship in the process. Godwyn would eventually meet his end during the Night of Black Knives. Seeking to be free from her fate as a pawn of the Greater Will, Godwyn's step-sister Lunar Princess Ranni stole a fragment of the rune of death from Maliketh, imbuing the weapons of Numen assassins with the rune. Ranni wished to shed her Empyrean body but preserve her spirit, which meant that someone else's spirit would need to die. Nevertheless, when the assassins fell upon the Royal Capital and murdered Godwyn, his soul was destroyed and left only his soulless body behind. He was the first demigod in history to die since the ascension of Marika to the throne of the Lands Between. Godwyn's death would be the catalyst for the Shattering of the Elden Ring, plunging the kingdom into chaos without the guidance of the Greater Will. Due to Ranni's ritual, Godwyn's flesh was branded with half of the cursemark of death and he became the first of Those Who Live in Death. His body was laid to rest deep in the roots of the Erdtree, but it would eventually corrupt it, leading Deathroot to sprout across the Lands Between, causing others to also rise in undeath. These undead worshipped Godwyn as the Prince of Death, believing he would eventually return and lead them. An aspect of Godwyn's corpse appeared in the depths of Stormveil Castle and is responsible for the loss of Rogier's legs. Many figures, including his half-brother Miquella and his companion Fortissax, tried to cure him of his condition and allow him a proper death, but to no avail. The deathbed companion Fia would become a leading figure among Those Who Live in Death, eventually making her way to Godwyn's corpse. Having received the other half of the cursemark from Ranni's discarded body with help from a Tarnished champion, Fia lay with Godwyn to grant him a second life as the Prince of Death. As a result of their union, Fia conceived a rune, which a champion seeking to become Elden Lord might use to mend the Elden Ring, reimbuing the principle of death within the Golden Order.
The rune of death was stolen. And the demigods began to fall, starting with Godwyn the Golden.
- Elden Ring Intro Narrator
Godwyn the Golden Location in Elden Ring
Godwyn the Golden can be found at
Elden Ring Godwyn the Golden Notes & Trivia
- Godwyn's face appears on the back of some crabs
- Godwyn was the first demi-god to die
- It appears his corpse has a fish tail
Godwyn the Golden Gallery
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- Anonymous
Dude was prolly an absolute unit before he died. I mean think about it godfrey is tall as **** and any of marika/radagon's children are for some bizzare reason always taller than the player character.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I find it very funny how people are sad about him and sometimes even use his death as an excuse to hate Ranni, when he's such a non-character. Really, we know jack about the guy. He could have been an ******* in his life and we'd never know
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
the shape of the eyes reminds me of the basilisks, and it would make sense if that connection was intentional given the shared thematic role of deathblight
- Anonymous
I like the theory that Marika actually conspired with Ranni, that she realised the error of taking out the rune of death and was dissatisfied with the Golden Order and the Greater Will. The Numen women who killed Godwyn were close to Marika, after all. Why would they betray her?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Not my theory, but I saw someone say once that the reason there is two godwyns is the fact the erdtree is trying to “rebirth” him like what it would usually do for people being buried into the erdtree, but because there is no soul it’s reproducing a corpse over and over again, causing more death root to spawn in. Also thought it was interesting he has two physical bodies while ranni has two spiritual bodies.
- Anonymous
This dude is such a Chad that even after his death everyone wants him, whether it be his revenge or his claspers.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
my poor godwyn may we will see him in the DLC and may Ranni will pay for her crime !
- Anonymous
I like the hypothesis that Marika removed death from the Elden Ring and thus from the Lands Between thinking it to be nice for everyone or to feed/prolong the Erdtree. And eversince, "those who live in death" only exist because they lack the ability to actually die. They are an approximation of the death they have no concept of any longer. And since they're stuck existing and all that, they may as well advocate for themselves and do so in the game via Fia etc.
All things should die and Marika not letting that happen, messed with things. And as dogma tends to do, that which lay outside of it as a result of its very own practices, was branded unclean/unholy but isn't actually 'bad' in any real sense. As for why Ranni would want to conspire with the Black Knives to kill her half-brother, I would say its a double statement of "you took out the rune of death and it should be put back in and I'll use it to kill my body your first sons soul" and also I would conjecture, that Marika/The Fingers intended to have Ranni breed with Godwyn and so Ranni acted in pre-emptive self defence. That an Ranni sided with her mother, not her 'father-mother' given that Godwyn is kinda a blond Radagon or something. I don't know lol
What needs to happen is a restoration of the Elden Ring in a form much older and more complete - as seen in Farum Azula - with death intact. With as much of it intact as possible to restore 'reality' to its proper nature and function.
Maybe the Lands Between are even 'between' and so 'seperate' because there was once an Elden Ring that joined it to other 'places' but a piece of it was lost/removed and so the lands literally drifted away from other lands. Like the Land of Reeds and such?
- Anonymous
has anyone else noticed that the godwyn in deeproot has his head upside down? we never see his face pre-deeth, so was his nose just on his forhead?
- Anonymous
After fighting his third phase I have to wonder how 20 Black Knife Assassins were enough to subdue him
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Two characters I hoped I could save when starting this game: the hot blond guy from the intro (Godwyn) and the friendly wizard I met in Stormveil Castle. Haha yeah, that went well for both of them. :(
- Anonymous
Poor guy. Only decent demigod in the game. I wish we could restore his soul and give him a proper death or bring him back to life. Fia’s quest seemed so incomplete and unsatisfying.
- Anonymous
I've seen a theory that he was a merman before his death, explaining the huge amount of water around Leyndell and the fact that you never see his lower body pre-death. I think this theory is cool because merfolk are one of my favourite things
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I’m confused how tf did his body end up like it does when you go to Deeproot Depths?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
We will probably see and fight Godwin in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I still haven't seen anyone give a proper explanation as to why Godwyn apparently has two separate corpses, one beneath Stormveil, and another beneath Leyndell.
Godwyn is basically the nameless king of this universe yet he got killed by a bunch of numen with spicy daggers?
- Anonymous
the black knives snuck bro </3
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