Summary
Elden Ringis a dark game. It takes place in a land torn apart by war and riddled with cursed monstrosities, where players must fight tooth and nail to gain ground and get closer to their goals. Everything, from the red swamps of Caelid to the disgusting designs of bosses like Rykard, reflects the idea that this world is dying, rotting away in the aftermath of a massive conflict.
Content warning: this list examines some of the more distressing themes inElden Ring. It includes discussions of gore, torture, dismemberment, self-mutilation, self-immolation, assault and general physical violence. There are also some late-game spoilers for the main game ahead.
Some of the most disturbing elements of the game, however, often go under the radar. Several are hidden deep in the story’s lore, while others are so commonplace that players become desensitized to their depravity. These parts ofElden Ringneverthless remain integral to establishing the game’s tone and the darkness of the Lands Between.
10The Living Jars Are Full Of Corpses
They Are Brought to Life By Human Flesh And Blood
Given how jovial and pleasant the living jars can be, it is easy to forget that they are filled with rotting corpses. But that is, unfortunately, the case.Even allies like Iron Jar Alexander and theJar Bairnare stuffed with the dead bodies of fallen people. When those NPCs or other living jars around the world are slain, they explode in a shower of blood and guts, leaving behind blood-stained ceramic shards and disgusting raw meat dumplings.
Thepurpose of the living jars in the Lands Betweenseems to be to transport the remains of the dead to a proper burial place. However, they may have a different purpose in the Land of Shadow, where the Hornsent people seem to have been stuffing prisoners inside jars in the hopes of purifying their sins and turning them into saints. Regardless, some jars take on a life and purpose of their own, and can be quite cordial.
Yet they continue to collect corpses, which they see as a way of strengthening themselves, according to Alexander.It also seems like Alexander is honoring the abilities of the dead folk he collects, joining them to his own consciousness in a way. This is a nice sentiment, but it doesn’t change the fact that the living jars probably smell like rotting flesh.
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Elden Ring’s loveable Living Jars are some of the best characters to encounter in the Lands Between, and they would make a perfect class.
9Melina And Ranni Both Burn Their Own Bodies To Ash
For Different Reasons At Different Moments Of The Game
Melina’s sacrifice at the Forge of the Giants is always tragic, even if it is the fate she wishes for herself. The moment is sad, butMelina’s calm body language doesn’t quite express how painful a death by burning must be. She turns her body into kindling to burn away the Erdtree’s protection, and is shown on fire for a pretty long amount of time as she fully dissipates into ash. It’s a truly horrible fate for anyone, especially since Melina seems to believe this is her only purpose in life.
Another notable figure, Lunar Princess Ranni, previously burnt her Empyrean form to hide the curse mark on her back.
But Melina isn’t the only character to self-immolate inElden Ring. Another notable figure, Lunar Princess Ranni, previously burnt her Empyrean form to hide the curse mark on her back and escape into the body of a doll. Ranni speaks of this decision in a matter-of-fact manner, without regret or indications of suffering.Other creatures in the game, such as the Burning Putrid Corpses, scream and cry out as they light themselves ablaze; it is indicative of the pain tolerance Melina and Ranni possess that they go through this process with a straight face.
8The Omens Mutilate Themselves By Cutting Off Their Horns
A Common Practice That Leaves Omens Permanently Disfigured And Weaker
Omen horns are seen as a sign of deviation from the Erdtree, and Omens are often shunned or hunted by other denizens of the Lands Between.A common practice is to cut off an Omen’s horns, leaving them covered in reddened stumps across their faces and bodies. This process looks and sounds painful, and seems to leave Omens permanently disfigured and weaker than they would otherwise be.
Notably,Morgott, the Omen Kingcut off his own horns, out of either shame, devotion to his parents or the Erdtree, or perhaps a mix of all three. Morgott seems to despise his own nature as an Omen and is constantly disgusted by the signs of his curse. But it is worth pointing out that leaving an Omen’s horns uncut can also lead to problems.
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Many side characters in Elden Ring have tragic origins or tragic fates. Morgott (or Margit) the Omen King, unloved and unchosen, has both.
Mohg, Lord of Blood, the brother of Morgott, is another Omen who refuses to cut his horns.He now lives in an underground palace where his horns continue to grow, to the point that one of them has wound back up and stabbed him in one eye. The inherent body horror of an Omen’s existence makes their fate an unenviable one.
7Godwyn Lives In A State Of Undeath Inside A Decaying Fish Corpse
The Cursemark Of Death Made Him The First of Those Who Live In Death
Continuing the body horror trend,no creature in the Lands Between has a poorer lot than Godwyn the Golden. Once a proud and regal demigod, Godwyn was slain by his step-sister Ranni at the beginning of the Shattering. Only, Godwyn did not fully die. He appears to have been left in a state of undeath, decay, and stagnant suffering as his body rots below Leyndell.
Exploring the area underneath the capital city,players can find the enormous rotting fish carcass that Godwyn has become. It is truly a painful thing to look upon, with black roots hanging from a disfigured face and a fishtail constantly circled by a swarm of flies. He sits, unable to move, in a pool of purple liquid, presumably juices expelled from his corpse. It is unclear to what degree Godwyn is currently conscious, but his growing influence in the Lands Between and his connection to Fia indicates he is at least somewhat aware.
It is a cruel fate for someone who, apparently, was once a great and powerful demigod.
Godwyn’s followers, those who live in death, seek to make the Lands Between a safe place for themselves where they will not be persecuted by knights of the Golder Order. Godwyn can do little but sit and wait, his visage slowly appearing in different desolate places across the realm, as his followers pray for salvation. It is a cruel fate for someone who, apparently, was once a great and powerful demigod.
6Godrick Kidnaps People To Take Their Limbs And Graft Them Into Monsters
Several Sick Experiments That He Performed On His Own People
Godrick the Graftedis likely the first demigod players will meet, challenging him in the courtyard of Stormveil Castle.Godrick himself is an unsightly monster of a man, a sick fusion of dozens of arms and legs “grafted” onto his bodyto make him stronger and more threatening. But while Godrick is disturbing in his own right, the evidence of his crimes against humanity found throughout his castle is far worse.
Stormveil Castle is littered with discarded bodies; arms, legs, and torsos torn apart and removed, with some areas containing massive piles of mutilated carcasses. Roderika, whose original allies ventured into the castle, tells the player thatGodrick dismembered them and experimented upon them, creating mindless abominations like the Grafted Scions to test his grafting ritual. Godrick is already a coward and a pretender, but the sick experiments he performed on his own people prove just how little he has inherited from the great Godfrey.
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5The World Is Full Of Crucified Bodies That Are Still Screaming
Unlike everything covered so far, this has no relation to a boss or specific area. Rather,this facet of the world is so disturbing to think about because of how commonplace it becomesand how easily players can start to ignore it. Death is everywhere inElden Ring, and looking around at the sweeping environs of areas like Limgrave, players can spot clusters of crucified bodies hung up over cliff sides and atop hills.
It is not known what these people did to deserve such a cruel fate, nor why their posture resemble that ofMarika at the end of the game, but what is certain is that these poor souls are still alive somehow.Approaching their positions, players can hear the tortured screams of the people atop the crucifixes, implying that they are howling out upon seeing someone half-sane approaching them. Either that, or their screams of pain are echoing constantly around them even after death, which is not much better.
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4The Torture Of The Albinaurics Inside The Volcano Manor
Rykard’s Followers Evil Plan To Wipe All Albinarics Out
The Albinaurics face persecution from every corner of the Lands Between, but the biggest threat to their well-being lies within Volcano Manor.This murder mansion includes a hidden torture chamber at its lowest level, where a mask fashioned from an Albinauric’s face can be found next to a bloody rack. It is implied that the recusants and serpent folk of the manor took Albinaurics here to try and get some information out of them.
What exactly they were trying to glean from these poor souls is unclear, though it might be connected to their quest to find the Haligtree or their knowledge of the Mohgwyn Palace. Then again, it might be that the torture was occurring just for the sake of causing the Albinaurics harm.
Trapped in wooden mechanisms holding them in the air or driven mad with bags tied over their heads.
Other Albinaurics can be found throughout the manor, trapped in wooden mechanisms holding them in the air or driven mad with bags tied over their heads. It is entirely plausible that Rykard’s followers are putting the Albinaurics through all of this just because they want to wipe them out.
3Mohg’s Questionable Kidnapping Of Miquella
Mohg Wished To Have Miquella Elevated To Godhood
WhileMohg, Lord of Blood, is responsible for many misdeeds (including killing so many people that he formed a river of blood near his palace), he is most maligned by fans for his treatment of Miquella. In the base game, it is believed thatMohg kidnapped the comatose Miquella, another demigod and his half-brother, intending to make him his consortand start a “Mohgwyn Dynasty.” Mohg can be found inside Miquella’s coccoon at the top of his palace, and the implications of this kidnapping paint Mohg in a very predatory light, especially since Miquella’s appearance resembles that of a child.
However, with the DLC and new lore surrounding Mohg, this is likely not the whole story. It is implied by characters like Ansbach in the Land of Shadow that Mohg was being controlled or manipulated by Miquella, and that being kidnapped was all part of Miquella’s plan. It is even possible thatMohg was brainwashed by Miquellaand that none of his actions were of his own volition.
This removes agency from Mohg and makes him a bit less of an intimidating villain, almost more of a victim of Miquella’s scheming. Miquella’s own morality is strongly called into question throughout the DLC, and itis possible that he was the real villain of the story when it comes to this kidnapping. Still, either way, the implications of what happened between Miquella and Mohg are distressing and this remains a controversial topic among the fan base.
2Feeding Rotting Eyes To An Unsuspecting Blind Woman
She’ll Be Disgusted To Know The Truth About Those Grapes
Lightseeker Hyetta is an NPC that can be encountered multiple times in the Lands Between, making a journey from Liurnia to Leyndell, each time asking the player to feed her a “Shabriri Grape.“Hyetta is blind, yet says that the grapes provide a sort of guiding light in her mind, and that they have a “delectably tender and sweet, yet searing” flavor. What Hyetta does not know is that the Shabriri Grapes are, in fact, yellowed, rotting eyeballs taken from maddened wanderers.
What makes this element of the story particularly sickening is that the player is complicit, if not completely to blame, for Hyetta’s eyeball consumption.They gather and offer the grapes to the blind woman while not telling her what they truly are. That is, until Hyetta wonders aloud what the grapes are, and the player can inform her, which disgusts Hyetta so much she throws up and goes silent for a while.
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To finish the first segment of Hyetta’s questline in Elden Ring, Tarnished must gather three Shabriri Grapes, one of which requires an invasion fight.
This involuntary eyeball eating gets worse when players realize that one of the previous eye owners, Edgar the Revenger, is probably Hyetta’s father. He dies at the player’s hands and his eye is the last Hyetta consumes before realizing what she has done. To make matters worse, Hyetta then doubles down and continues to request Shabriri Grapes, showing that she has cast aside her disgust in order to reach her destiny. If players follow her quest all the way through to its frenzied conclusion, Hyetta’s death is somehow just as gruesome as her life.
1The Dung Eater’s Grotesque Ritual Of Defilement
Repeatedly Rips Something Out Of His Victim And Consumes It
When the Dung Eater is introduced in the opening cut scene, his name makes him sound almost comical, and many jokes were made about him before players actually started to meet him. Once they did, the true horror of his actions killed the joke of his moniker immediately.The Dung Eater is not only a serial killer but a defiler, with an intense and obsessive desire to desecrate his victimsuntil they wish for death.
While the exact method of his ritualistic defilement is never depicted visually, the blood-covered towel on his victims' laps and his namesake suggests that the Dung Eater repeatedly rips something out of his victim’s anal cavities and consumes it, likely some object akin to their soul or their tie to the Erdtree. Whatever it is, the reaction of one of the Dung Eater’s victims, Boggart, before he dies, tells us that it is unspeakably painful and humiliating. It permanently severs their connection to grace and will cause them to be forever cursed.
In terms of fates characters can meet inElden Ring, torture and death at the hands of the Dung Eater is by far the most painful and grotesque to imagine. What’s even worse is that the player can become almost a disciple of the Dung Eater, practicing the same method on him over and over, eventually yielding a cursed mending rune that can doom the entire land to a life of suffering.As gross as his moniker sounds, the Dung Eater’s actions blow everything else out of the water.
