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Elden Ring: Which Ending is Best?
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- Опубликовано: 14 авг 2024
- Now that we've explained the 6 endings, we can begin to ask: which one is the "good" one? Which one is best?
In this video, I explain my views on the endings and which one I think is best. The quick answer to that question is: the Age of the Stars ending. If you want my reasons, you're going to have to watch the video.
Tweet: / mad_luigi
Stream: / madluigi
Music:
Elden Ring OST - Roundtable Hold, Liurnia of the Lakes, Catacombs, Elphael
RUclips Audio Library - I Don't See the Branches I See the Leaves, In Albany New York
#eldenring #ending #explained
TIMESTAMPS:
Intro: 0:00
Elden Lord Ain't It: 1:32
Lord of Frenzied Flame Ain't It: 3:47
Witch Ending Best Ending: 8:12
Fin: 11:46
The most contentious part of this video is going to be whether or not the Moon is an Outer God. To address that in more depth here, these item descriptions (eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Ranni's+Dark+Moon, eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Rennala's+Full+Moon, eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Carian+Knight+Helm) are what I've seen used to defend the idea that the Moon is an Outer God, but they don't seem convincing enough to me. The Greater Will or Formless Mother are described with much more agency and much more explicitly as Outer God/agents. If there's something else that provides more evidence to think the Moon is an Outer God trying to sway things too, I'm happy to hear, but so far what I've seen is not enough. I welcome more evidence, and hope you enjoy the video!
Check this out:
Nox Swordstress Armor description: "Long ago, the Nox invoked the ire of the Greater Will, and were banished deep underground. Now they live under a false night sky, in eternal anticipation of their liege. Of the coming age of the stars. And their Lord of Night."
Glintstone Icecrag description: "The snowy crone taught the young Ranni to fear the dark moon as she imparted her cold sorcery."
From the Ranni's Dark Moon description you linked: "The moon was encountered by a young Ranni, left by the hand of her mother, Rennala. What she beheld was cold, dark and veiled in occult mystery."
Why would one "fear" the dark moon if it is not some sort of entity? Ranni also mentions that the Age of Stars will be "A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon". Does a typical moon provide wisdom? Is she simply being poetic? Furthermore, how does one "encounter" a moon? I suppose this could mean that she simply saw it, but it's an atypical choice of wording here in my opinion. This, alongside the description on the Nox armor, seems to imply that this could be another instance of the typical Outer God --> God --> Consort relationship that we see in Elden Ring. The Nox armor does not explicitly mention the dark moon or an Outer God, but these other sources seem to reference the dark moon or simply "moon" in such a way that it could be easily interpreted as some sort of entity or Outer God.
The Outer God --> God --> Consort relationship seems to be the norm. For instance, this is the reason why Mohg is attempting to resurrect Miquella in order to bring the influence of the Formless Mother into the Lands Between. The only exception to this rule seems to be the Frenzied Flame, unless I'm missing something. Should we assume that the situation involved with the Age of Stars is another exception to the norm? I'm not convinced based on the descriptions here and the ones that you've pinned in your comment.
I edited my comment (on the main thread) and your love disappeared. I didn't know this would happen :( Can I please have it back haha (if not, totally cool!!) Thanks for your work :D
@@0press0r He won't touch this cause that would mean Ranni isn't perfect.
Getting your attention so you could look at Lz's reply. They have shown three item descriptions that seem to refer to some entity behind the dark moon. The Glintstone Icecrag is definitely the strongest supporter as this is essentially a mirror to Master Willem's warning to Laurence about using the Old Blood. The old crone is warning a young Ranni of the dangers of the Dark Moon.
Whether she's evil or not, she's definitely messing with powers beyond her understanding out of desperation of running away from the Greater Will's influence.
Another thing to add, Ranni becoming the new God can only happen because she's an Empyrean, and Empyreans can only become the new reigning Gods under the patronage of an Outer God. By default, this means Ranni found a new patron. So yeah, she's Marika but with a different look.
Age of Despair aka Dung-Eater’s ending is basically: “…and when everyone is THE LOATHSOME DUNG EATER…no one will be.”
‘We are all equal in our misery🥰 and if everybody’s miserable, nobody really is🌸🌈’ my interpetation basically lol
*THE LOATHSOME DUNG EATERS!*
no seriously this is why i think the video is wrong. if the game is truly about learning to overcome hardship to become better, who better an example than morgott, who was subjected to a life where he was shunned by all his family yet he is the only one who by the time we play the game is still truly loyal to the golden order and marika. he fits the theme of overcoming great hardships to serve regardless of what little he gets in return.
@@aneeshakella121 yet Marika abandoned the order and shattered the Ring
The wholesome dung eater
The Frenzied Flame ending sounds like the End of Evangelion lol
If there's a DLC to Elden Ring, we might get to play as Melina's agent to kill the tarnished, the lord of frenzied flame.
@@rezafebriansyah8620 considering how FromSoft games are, I doubt that’ll happen. I think we’ll play as another tarnished working under Melina to stop the Frenzied lord (our first character) and try to restore balance onto the lands between
@@s9ras Uh, I believe I said 'Agent', which means we're working under her.
Sounds good to me
Or it might be a new area after u defeat godrick a island of secrets probably
For me it was fia's ending. I mean making death a part of life instead staying immortal and rotting away seems like a good ending to mem
Same
Fia’s ending does not make death work as in out world. It makes the skeleton undead be acccepted without persecution. Lame and pointless. Rotting living aggressive people now coexist with rotting undead aggressive people.
@@guiu9878 it means death can re-enter the world again and the skeletons can finally die. Plus with you at the throne of elden lord and the protector of the meek, it implies that the world would be more embracive of all beings not just what the golden order thinks it should be valued and cast away the meek.
@@DiomedesLivesno it means that those that live in death aren’t persecuted or discriminated against and it is normal in reality to see skeletons everywhere
@drakecassell1840 then go look into it because that’s what it is
If the biggest issues of the age of the Erdtree were the selfish actions of Marika in sealing away Destined Death and the Demigods for fighting to be Elden Lord, the Perfect Order ending actually seems really positive. It's the one I'm going for. Hear me out:
Goldmask see's the issues of the Golden Order stem from the selfish, petty actions of gods and their spawn. If my Tarnished slays all these selfish Demigods, fixes the Order of the universe to stop God's from interfering, and leaving Marika locked in the tree, that's pretty much every problem wrapped up with a sparkly golden bow. If the player character can remain virtuous when setting The Law of the World, it too shall remain virtuous.
Plus my man Goldmask spoke to me. Not literally but... Yk...
I'm also torn between that ending and the witch ending. But i don't think the perfect order ending is the way to go because:
- If we can trust the words of the three fingers. They say that the greater will screwed up by giving the world pain, sin, hardship etc... Basically humanity. The three fingers see flaw as something disgusting
-On the other hand flaw is the thing that thing that makes the world "human". Why the Demigods fought for power, why there are rebellions (ex. the war with the giants, the conflict with the dead...) (With this i would like to point out that there are a few conflicts not caused directly by the demigods)
If this were truly an ending with perfect order. Then there wouldn't be any flaw. In that case, wouldn't it simply be some form of tyranny to keep people in the state of paradise.
This theme is explored well in Christianity and Judaism: "God could have NOT given Adam and Eve independence and free will, thus having them not commit the first sin and have them stay in paradise. But is that truly bliss?"
While i don't have much basis for this. I mainly go with the description "The current imperfection of the Golden Order, or instability of ideology, can be blamed upon the fickleness of the gods".
The fickleness as in the changeability, weakness of the gods. This could simply mean eliminate fickleness as in bolster their strength to be unbreakable. But it could also mean eliminate the greed of the demigods, which would definitely make it the best ending...
IDK, tho. I always go with the endings that basically give as much independence as possible (The end of fire for DS1 and DS3).
The Age of Stars is for all, but all alone without the protection of the outer worlds...
The Lord of Chaos is but one step closer to that cosmic war, but to whom is the end of it all?...
The wrest... Is erased in the endless yet temporary cycle of such worlds. Lost ruins of the soon to be unearthed truths.
In the end, there must always be a Lord, a true Monarch. For any Fate is doomed to oblivion without wisdom, without leadership. But only the "Arisen" may challenge the One, if such a choice was even given... Chains of the Throne. (Dragon's Dogma)
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 So you think the tarnished is not going to become the next marika, and the people of the land between need to ruled by the tarnished. If that is the case do you think people of the land between need free will or not? Because to them right now, the tarnished just kill god and replace it, to them the tarnished is the new god.
@@Vincentpanh
No matter the Endings that the Tarnish stands in. Without the protection or the power of an Outer God. All paths lead to oblivion in the Lands Between.
Knowing that there is a war between the Outer Gods. The duty of the Elden Lord is still unfinished, depending on the Endings.
(Or at least... I would prepare two steps ahead of the grand scheme, as Elden Lord. The Endings are temporary solutions at best.)
Weird how people see complete independence with zero oversight as being a good thing. Humans will tear themselves apart with this new power vacuum
Personally I think the Goldmask ending is best because I like the idea of purifying and perfecting the old order instead of getting rid of it
It's a little underwritten if you ask me, all we're told is that Goldmask wants to perfect it. We don't really know what that entails. His vision of perfection could be pretty messed up.
I couldn't get down with that ending because the only way to have perfect order is to have perfect control. It seems like the exact opposite of Ranni's ending.
Which to me just highlights that Ronnie's is also not the correct ending. It's the frenzy flame ending.
@@cryptofacts4ungl, I can't get behind the idea that just burning everything to the ground is the best option. There's always something that can or should be done to fix or change things before just burning everything to ash
@@cryptofacts4ubut with order there is no chaos
What i hate about those 4 endings is greater will it's a dick
Obviously the one you get married to a witch is the best ending
Maiden less no longer
Maiden any%
A witch with 4 hands. Think of the possibilities.
@@toughstuff3374 you can also get the Mimic Tear, think of those possibilities
The witch... how dare you sir!
I find Fia and Dung Eater's endings both very interesting to think about.
They both equalise & humble people and gods in some way, and bring order back with that method.
Gold Mask's ending to me is being undervalued by people just because it's another Elden Lord ending, but I feel as though it's quite on par with Ranni's ending. So long as your tarnished has good intentions of course. Chaos, well... It has good intentions too, but the methods and means are very indiscriminate and destructive in comparison.
But Fia and Dung Boy change life in a wholly different aspect that some of the endings don't (Goldmask and default). Ranni's is an exception due to freeing souls from the tree, and Chaos quite literally burning everything to nothingness with the aim of starting anew.
Dung Eater's ending from my interpretation of it is basically making everyone cursed, even if his intent is evil- There's a weird benevolence to what the ending actually achieves, even if people feel and look terrible in this accursed age, nobody is really better than anyone else just because of things they can't control. There's a reason why he takes after the Omens and their plights to heart, even if it isn't obvious when talking to him. On the surface though, it's still a bit of a cruel ending.
Personally, I like Fia's more since it brings upon death as inescapable and a natural part of life where & when it wasn't before. Plus, it's a good way to bring about new generations too rather than letting them fester and stay in control forever. Dying isn't pleasant of course, but it's clear eternal life drives people bonkers- just look at Marika as proof of that. It also makes the limited time one now has all the more precious. It's a little melancholic but, very grounded.
The age of order imo is muuuch better than ranni’s ending, and possibly the best ending the lands between can have
Does Fia's really bring upon death as inescapable? It seems to me that her ultimate goal is to give the undead their place to fluorish. Her ending makes everyone and everything undead.
Im gonna do Frenzied Flame (chaos) first. just defeated Maliketh by the way. after that Im gonna do age of stars (My favorite) in Ng+. then start a new game entirely because Im level 170 and want a challenge that isn't the blade of Miquella and do default. If you have to do ng+2 to get all the trophies (which wouldn't make sense) ill do chaos, default and ranni. the others are cool too but I don't want to do them myself. after all its just a waste of time to do an entire playthrough just for the Dung Eater ending if I can just watch it on youtube. but I did get most of the ending runes.
ps: ngl though, Ranni herself is a big plus as well. I mean fOuR hAnDs, yOu KnOw wHaT ShE cOuLd dO WiTh tHoSe???
Actually chaos was never about the whole “starting anew” thing it just wants to burn everything to the ground ‘no more fractures, no more births’ and all
hmmm evolution IS chaos given form BUT through it thinking beings came into being think about that. In nature Nothing is a straight line ,No Living thing goes right from A to B no flower exists with spirals built into it some where. The Golden Ratio is a real thing look it up.
Goldmask ending is just pure meme, dude T pose all the time without speaking until his scribe went mad. His perfect rune want the order to transcend beyond dogma and ideologies and seeing the gods as flaw as men. I like that; compared to the other Elden Lord endings Goldmask is the best version of it. He is like a philosopher in a way everyone see him as mad man but he could be the Diogenes of the Land Between.
Goldmask feels the most ideologically pure and consistent character in the whole game. He's not zealous or blind in his adherence to the Golden Order and its dogma and is able to recognize that it is not perfect and beyond reproach. The truth is more important to him than what the Golden Order represents or has been built up as, and he's willing to defy it and go against it in order to do what is necessary to fix it so that perfect order may actually be achieved. In the end, Corhyn, ironically, truly is blinded by his unquestioning faith in the Golden Order and its perfection, and cannot accept any other truth, while Goldmask sees it for what it is and sees that it must be changed.
Wait so do we have to kill Corhyn?!
@@dubsquad156well we have to kill him because later in goldmask questline he gets angry at goldmask kills him for questioning the greater will and trying to perfect the golden order that doesn't need perfecting which clearly isn't
Just "T" man
In my opinion the endings are all morally grey, but they can be classified in general categories of good, neutral and evil.
Good: Ranni and Goldmask.
Ranni offers a new beginning, a beginning where Gods and powers are distant and people can live how they may. Goldmask fixes the issues of the golden order. If you think the golden order is inherently evil then you would disagree but overall I think this is an ending that embraces the light of the erdtree and removed the fallible gods from their seats of power, giving order and fairness space to rule.
Neutral: Fia, Shattered and dung eater.
Fias ending reintroduces destined death and the world resets much like ours. Rulers may be good or evil but they will eventually die, bringing about new generations. Shattered is the most selfish/melancholy ending. You’re the Elden lord and there aren’t demigod squabbles any more, but you did directly oppose the golden order and sin to get the Elden Ring. Who knows what repercussions this will have. Still, the world goes on as you sit on the throne. Dungeater is interesting as he is very clearly an evil character, but the idea of his ending championing fairness in the bestowal of grace is thought provoking. The world is in an awful state, but at least there’s no more racism from the gods because everyone’s blessed with the curse.
Bad: three fingers is the only truly evil ending. Honestly this quest is more friendly than dungeaters but the ending is a fiery hell-scape of a world with screaming in the background. Theoretically if you desire the end of this world then maybe you agree with this ending, but on the surface there is nothing promising a restart to this world, it literally may just be the death of it. Sad, but at least Melina didn’t die earlier.
Love to see this kind of analysis!
You obviously don’t know the whole outcome of the dung eater ending 😂😂😂
@@gwennknightt9917 explain
@@gwennknightt9917 I debated putting it in bad, personally I think it’s not great but the idea that it’s supporting miscreants is interesting. I still think it feels the most evil to play though.
@@gwennknightt9917 also no need to be rude about it, what is your interpretation?
See to me the Perfect Order mending ending fits best with the themes of struggling until through mastery you get everything right even if there's some bumps along the way.
Theory: the fingers are numerical, as in during the age of dragons and giants (and anything before that) were lead by the greater will of the "1 finger" the age stagnated as being too chaotic, and the "2 fingers" where sought out bringing about the age of the elden ring (the same way we seek out the 3 fingers) and the "3 fingers" are just a return to unity in chaos, so on so fourth the system loops.
There must always be fingers but hole
@@user-vh7ks8px3s absolutely.
The three fingers were already here.... the frenzy was summoned by the merchants. >.>
I believe the two fingers and the three fingers were once one hand of the greater will, but somewhere along the way the hand was split
Nah they are numbered 2 & 3 because they are 2 halves of the same hand
I’m not sure we can discount the Elden Lord endings as easily as relinking the flame. There really wasn’t a problem until the Elden Ring was broken. The state of the Lands Between is not nearly as shattered as it was in Lordran, and issues arose when the Elden Ring was broken. I think it has more to do with whether or not one is willing to tolerate influence from outer gods. Mind you, I don’t think that this means FromSoft intended anything different from what is stated here. I just think we may want to rethink the assumption of the Witch ending being necessarily the most “ethical.”
You bring up a fair point, but before the ER was broken, there was still the obliteration of the Giants, the enslavement of the Misbegotten, conquest of the dragons. True it's not a one to one with Lordran. Appreciate the comment!
In every souls game I've chosen the ending that free's the people basically
@@therealpoolboy420 A true Florida man would want his people to be free.
@@anotherday5270 lololol good one
@@MadLuigi I'm curious whether some things, like the seeming increase in Misbegotten and Omens and that sort, was intended as an indication that the age of the erdtree was closing in towards its end (similar to things beginning to get strange as the fire fades in dark souls) and the empyreans being selected as replacement candidates was intended to move things into a new age, but Marika's actions (and somewhat Ranni's) locked the world into that stage a lot longer by disrupting that process.
I think trusting Ranni, the one who planned the death of her step brother and planned overthrowing the order (such as giving Rykard an item that'll let him stand a chance against Maliketh). While her ending does sound like the best ending at face value, we're being told it all by a mastermind. Assuming she's not evil and actually does want a good age, it means that at the very least, she's a strong believer in "ends justify the means". To some extent, I'd agree with her, but I think that plunging the world into chaos and murdering family is a bit much. If she really wanted a good ending, then she probably could try and join Miquella (assuming Miquella was actually trying to create a utopia and wasn't just making empty promises)
Overall, I think Goldmask has the best ending. We at least have item description proof that the Mending Rune of Perfect Order will try to perfect the golden order. And at the end of the day, Marika is... not able to lead, so it'll basically be left to the Tarnished and the greater will to rule over the Lands Between.
I view Ranni's overall ending as a much more anarchistic/atheistic one, in that it removes authority. She replaces Marika and thus the Greater Will's influence in the Lands Between, but then goes off on her 1000 year journey and leaves the world to its own devices, for better or worse. It seems like her murdering of Godfrey and stealing Destined Death, while reprehensible from some perspectives, was aimed at essentially removing the idea of gods and divinity from the world itself.
Atheism is generally an amoral position, neither good or bad, but in the case of Elden Ring's world, given that the gods are more or less fucked up and pretty terrible for the world, getting rid of divinity seems to be at least as good of a solution as trying to improve it (Goldmask's ending), and certainly better than plaguing everyone with a curse (Dung Eater), burning everything to the ground (Frenzied Flame), or keeping everything more or less the same but adding undeath as the next phase of life instead of returning to the Erdtree (Fia).
Because of Ranni we got
Deathroot
No Godwyn ( :( )
Fia
Fia's simps
Ranni seems to be very immoral and her ending is giving her godlike authority... that makes me wary.
@Acesahn She is a "ends justify the means" type of gal. "Age of Chaos" is not really "chaos". It is a world that isn't dictated by outer Gods and the people of the world live freely from it, instead of everything being predetermined for them. Ranni simply did everything she could to be free from the shackles she was born in. Change is not always pleasant, but at times necessary.
After shadow of the erdtree Ranni is an Angel
Age of the Stars ending is both the best and the worst. What follows after giving free will in the lands between can be better or worse than the greater will or frenzy flame had in store. But this is left up our personal interpretation just like all souls games set up.
Fully Grown Falling Star Beast: "It's free real estate."
If you read into the correctly translated versions of Ranni's Japanese lines, it becomes quite clear that the Age of Stars will largely bring about peace, and lessen the conflicts which ensued after the power vaccuum caused by the Shattering.
@@nxvh9062 I wouldn’t say clearly bring about peace but it will give people free will without other outside influences. This could be the equivalent to our own world so the fate of the new world can either lead to “peace” or disaster. Having the Golden Order makes thing fair game, you can still have adversity and free will but not struggle a fuck ton.
@@nxvh9062 Lmao ranni is the primary reason why there is a conflict and a power vacuum in the lands between in the first place. None of this would have happened if godwyn didn't die.
@@mostafatarakji4937 you act like things where hunky dory before? There where full genocides and conquests all over the place plus it's heavily implied Marika grew disillusioned with the golden order so she likely would have shattered the elden ring anyway regardless of Godwyin dying hell he might not actually be the reason to begin with and his death is just a excuse.
All these endings have pros and cons and this is how I feel about the endings and how I interpret them
The age of fracture:
You just kinda become elden lord but nothing changes
The age of golden:
Everything is the same but you stop outergods from being able to meddle with the elden ring
The age of dusk: You bring back death but your still under control of the outer god
The poo poo ending: Everyone’s souls can’t return to the tree and it is endless suffering for everyone
Flame of frenzy: You hit the reset button because you see everything and flawed and irreparable.
Age of stars: You say F this and go to explore the stars out of the control of the greater will.
I'm not so sure that Ranni's ending is necessarily "good". While existence will become unbound by dogmatic faith and control from an outer force, the world is plunged into an endless and harsh cold where life is likely to be unforgiving and rife with hardships.
When she says the cold of the moon night I don't think the she literally means the world will be physically chilly. More of a metaphor for free will.
@@paulwin9036 Maybe. But given her affinity for ice magic I believe it is still likely literal.
@@adisillusioneddork618 perhaps.
I took that as a metaphor like now people are free, and less like the world will be engulfed in cold and ice. Ranni intentions aren't bad so I don't think she was being serious more like using a metaphor
@@symphonixblades I know she may mean it like that but we don't know with certainty. I'm just saying the price of freedom might be too much to pay if it turns out that she meant it both literally and figuratively.
People keep saying Ranni's Ending is the best keeps forgetting that all of this nonsense started because of her.
Sure gaining ones own freedom is good and all but she didn't think of the consequences.
Malikth got banished by Marika after the Rune of Death got stolen by her. Said rune was then used to murder Godwyn.
Sure she maybe just stole the rune but she didn't lift any her 20 fingers to prevent a family members death by keeping the fucking rune where no one else can make a weapon for it.
Godwyns death then caused Marika to go batshit and shatter the Elden Ring for maybe, a theory, she thought that Outer Gods stole the rune of death to kill them all.
This then caused a massive war between the demigods, which she also did do anything to stop, and just stayed out of it while everything to fell chaos.
Now, she just magically wants to make an order that let's people fend for themselves while she and whoever supports her just chill in the cosmos, looking on the plebians who will suffer a century without sunlight cause the Moon is "cool".
Kenneth Haight also makes a good foil for Ranni in some ways. He's a nobleman and, while he's a blowhard, he's deeply concerned about trying to improve Limgrave and get it back to being a place where people can live their lives. Ranni, on the other hand, is actually a member of the royal family responsible for Liurnia, with far more power at her disposal, and no obvious inclination to try to do anything for her people.
Ranni is potentially in some way behind the death of Godwyn. She definitely allied herself with Rykard (notably Rykard was engaged in doing some of the nastiest things happening anywhere in the lands between). She definitely allied herself with Seluvis (whether 'Seluvis' was a puppet or not, her ally was the entity operating a side hustle that consisted of turning people into mindless puppets to sell off for the use and enjoyment of others).
We haven't exactly been given a lot of reason to believe Ranni is genuinely benign, and we have no reason to believe that any of the problems arising from the various factions of Outer Gods would be addressed by Ranni being in charge (if she even is in charge, because the backstory of the game seems to strongly imply that either some Outer God is backing or or her time in charge isn't likely to last long).
The golden order itself is already bat shit crazy nonsense. It’s the whole reason why Ranni choose to do the things she did. I wonder if you’ve noticed how bad the golden order actually is playing through the game.
@@corxiiifelinike2643 You can start from the assumption that the Golden Order is extremely terrible (which it may well be), and that doesn't change the fact that Ranni has supplied a lot of reason to believe she isn't entirely benign (at a minimum).
@@Eladelia assumption? Just play the game and see the golden order for yourself. I already explained why it’s bad in another comment. And nobody claims Ranni is innocent, it’s just that her will for the lands between is, without a doubt, the best of all the known endings.
@@corxiiifelinike2643 Making an assumption for the sake of discussion is a common tactic for simplifying discussions when there are multiple issues at hand. It takes one variable temporarily out of play to reduce the number of things under consideration. In this case it points out that Ranni's shortcomings exist independent of whether the Golden Order is terrible or not. You're completely wrong to say that "nobody claims Ranni is innocent", there are absolutely people on the Internet expressing a belief that Ranni is 100% good.
Neither Miyazaki nor GRRM are in the habit of writing stories where readers/players/viewers are meant to draw conclusions "without a doubt".
Frenzied flame is probably the most interesting for me. Is it the best? Probably not, but in terms of a sequel it has the most potential
It's leads to Bloodborne xD madness and craziness everywhere
Bruh you literally end existence by collapsing it into its primal state in Frenzied flame idk how you could make a sequel in that world lmao
@@bror1645 my guy, have you not seen Melina's cut scene at the end? Plus there's also an implication that 3 fingers and 2 fingers are part of a cycle from the greater will. One destroys and one re-build. There's definitely potentials to see how Melina will hunt the Lord of chaos and how the frenzy can be destroyed to re-build a new order.
I'm definitely torn between the "Perfect Order" ending and the "Witch" ending.
If you were to ask me what ending i'd choose in any Dark Souls game i would definitely say "snuff the fire". Which makes the most sense for me: Too long of a single age is bad, whether it is age of fire (link the fire) or age of darkness (usurp the flame (DS3)), so the ending that makes the most sense is the ending that allows the natural cycle of a world to take place (don't touch anything, have it take it's natural course).
Of course the "independence" endings for a lot of dark souls fans make the most sense, as we've been taught. And by that logic the witch ending makes the most sense as well (rebirth the world and disappear and see what happens).
But on the other hand there's so much ambiguity regarding these endings compared to dark souls:
1 ) We don't know how independent we are with the witch ending. It is sometimes implied that the moon thingy is a god themselves, so we're kind of doing the same thing with the other endings, just now with a third god. Of course if this god likes giving the world a lot more independence that's great, but we can't be as sure as we are with dark souls...
2) We don't know how dependent we are with the "perfect order" ending. Yes we do give power back to the greater will but we're removing the fallacy of the gods. This can have two interpretations:
- The gods won't be as greedy, Thus there won't be as much struggle with power as we experienced. Of course there is still the great flaw with the greater will as said by the three fingers (Sin, pain, death, birth, wars, greed). Basically independent life. But that is what we like. Independence and letting humanity screws itself over, not let Gods do it for em. (Pretty good ending)
- The gods would be even stronger, thus not fickle. There wouldn't be opposition, because any opposition would be met with destruction and the world would be perfect...in the eyes of the gods, thus we would be living in some paradise (or maybe not, depending how good the gods would be at doing their job) but without independence (Not so good ending)
I wanna close this off with me drawing parallels to Christianity and Judaism. I think it's pretty obvious that some aspects of this game have been inspired by these religions : The great ErdTree - the tree of life, the statuettes of Marika and her pose when shackled to the rune arc - the hanging of Jesu Chris... As these parallels exists, I think one great parallel is the concept of paradise with no free will VS free will with no paradise. It is a point of debate in Christianity and Judaism whether God is a merciful god for giving Adam and Even independence, allowing them to sin and casting them off of the garden of Eden or if independence is a punishment, and no merciful god would punish humanity like that, instead arguing that paradise with no free will is a better alternative.
In fact, i think this is what these two ending come down to. There is in my opinion no better option. It's just what ideology you lean towards more.
The game is more in common with Gnostic “Christianity” and Alchemy than actual Christianity
The whole endings are meant to symbolize an alchemical mixture that alters the reality and principles of the world
I just don't like Ranni cause she got Godwyn killed wither on purpose or not she did.
@@Noodlepunk I mean, they wanted to kill him anyways, she just used them
Frenzied flame ending be like: “It comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down”
nah, thats more the blessing of dispair ending
@@MovieFactory I disagree, in the frenzied flame ending all life is returned to a single consciousness, a single entity, with no room for individuality. This much more closely resembles the 3rd impact in the end of evangelion where all life on earth is eradicated to be a part of one being.
@@afrostacheb8228 yeah im dumb. lore wise of course, but visually, the the curse
I refuse to believe that casting the world into eternal darkness is a good thing. To me, becoming Elden Lord isnt just about “postponing the world’s eventual demise” but rather taking up the mantle to fix the issue when nothing else is there to repair it. So what if the greater will used us to repair the ring? Why do we always assume that that “being used” is always a bad thing? No one else would have been able to save the world if not for our character. And atleast I’m not abandoning the world in its greatest time of need. The way I see it, becoming Elden Lord is the solution to fixing the issue at hand. The other Tarnished didn’t even stand a chance of getting into the tree if not for me, the other demigods are dead so they can’t do anything either. So I have to fix it. And you got me extremely wrong if you think “I’m gonna be Elden lord and just sit around”. In Frenzied Flame, you destroy the world and everything and everyone in it. In age of stars, you abandon world and everyone in it. But in Elden lord I’m there to fix the world. That to me is good thing.
Thank you! Age of Order is my personal favorite ending precisely because it holds the most potential for reconstruction of society in my opinion. In an Age of Stars, we may be free of the influence of outer gods, but we are still leaving the world without any rulers and, to shake things up even more, with no gods. It’s like an Age of Fracture but worse, because the fact that everyone is now without any kind of stability in their lives would cause even further strife than if you just became Elden Lord in an Age of Fracture. Besides, I don’t understand why he disparages the Elden Lord endings as a temporary solution where war and societal decay would eventually come again, the same is true of an Age of Stars, as no matter what new kingdoms and societies would be instituted, conflict and strife would still remain, as it is unfortunately part of the human condition. An Age of Order would end up doing the most good for the Lands Between in the long run, as in that time society would be bolstered immensely. Sure, it’s not exactly breaking new ground, but progress for progress’ sake is not inherently good. What this guy seems to take umbrage with is the Greater Will/Golden Order, and what he assumes is that the Greater Will does not have the Lands Between’s best interests at heart, and is willing to manipulate whoever for its own gain. Whether that’s true or not I couldn’t tell you, as I’d have to do some more lore-diving to finalize my position on the Greater Will and whether its presence is a net positive or net negative for the Lands Between, or whether Marika’s the one at fault here since she shattered the ring and is pretty manipulative herself. If it is a benevolent deity that truly holds the interests of the Lands Between as its primary concern, then it would make no sense to break away from it and its Order. To put this in perspective, let’s say you were running away from home because you didn’t care for your parents having control over your life. If you were living in an abusive household, I would understand, but if the parents were caring and competent I wouldn’t. Once again, as I don’t have a full understanding of the lore I could be wrong in some aspects, so to all who see this feel free to critique my post or try to convince me otherwise.
"Why do we always assume that that "being used" is always a bad thing?"
Probably because someone using people means that they likely don't have good intentions, or at the very least have selfish intentions. We already know that the Greater Will has a habit of abandoning those that it no longer deems as useful and that it doesn't take kindly to those that oppose it.
"The way I see it, becoming Elden Lord is the solution to fixing the issue at hand"
How so?
"In age of stars, you abandon world and everyone in it"
I don't think the ending implies that you abandon everyone, her bonus dialogue after her quest has a line about a great remove
@@drpepsi48 the problem I have with the age of order ending is that the mending rune of perfect order implies (at least to me) the removal of free will. It has a line that says this
"The current imperfection of the Golden Order, or instability of ideology, can be blamed upon the fickleness of the gods no better than men. That is the fly in the ointment."
It's basically saying that we must remove the fickle nature of God's and men for perfect order.
"What this guy seems to take umbrage with is the Greater Will/Golden Order, and what he assumes is that the Greater Will does not have the Lands Between's best interests at heart, and is willing to manipulate whoever for its own gain"
Well it's already shown that it uses people only to abandon them when it no longer deems them useful and that it doesn't take kindly to those who oppose it.
@@Abyzz_Knight Ranni's ending isn't clear cut either nor is it morally good, despite the new info about the mistranslation. It all starts with her stealing the rune of death and getting her half brother Godwyn killed (spiritually) by using said rune to create the black knives that can kill gods. There's also her need to kill Radahn in order to remove the stars from stasis so it could open an entrance to Nokron.
Since we know that's she's uncompromising to her mission, she wouldn't have had qualms with having you kill a sane Radahn if it meant getting to Nokron faster. There's also another commenter here by the username Lz where he shows item descriptions that refer to an entity of the dark moon that is connected to Ranni. The most damning one is The Glintstone Icecrag being a mirror to Master Willem's warning to Laurence about using the Old Blood. The old crone is warning a young Ranni of the dangers of the Dark Moon.
Overall: Ranni's ending seems to be one of idealism that could either end in good or backfire horribly, causing a war between two outer gods.
@@pillarmenn1936 Ranni stole the rune of death because she wanted to kill her imperium flesh. Godwyn being killed by the black knife assassins was an indirect consequence so I don't think this should be considered an immoral act.
Radahn being killed is a positive, he turned into a mindless bloodthirsty beast due to the scarlet rot. The player killing him gives him what he desired which was to die an honorable death.
"Since we know that's she uncompromising to her mission, she wouldn't have had qualms with having you kill a sane Radahn if it meant getting to Nokron faster."
I don't know about that, nothing in game really implies that she's willing to kill anybody to further her own goals
What was the description and from what item? I can't really find anything that makes any implications of an entity associated with the dark moon.
I don't see how her being associated with an outer God by itself is a bad thing. With outer God's like the formless mother or the unnamed outer God of scarlet rot we know by their actions that their goals aren't good but the unnamed outer God associated with the darkmoon doesn't appear to have any interest in the lands between. Even with Ranni who's most closely associated with it, the deepest she's interacted with it is
encountering the dark moon and it being veiled in occult mystery
"This moon encountered by a young Ranni, led by the hand of her mother Rennala. What she beheld was cold, dark, and veiled in occult mystery"
"the most damning one is glintstone icecrah being a mirror to master Willhelm's warning to Laurence about using the Old Blood. The old crone is warning a yelling Ranni of the dangers of the Dark Moon"
I view this more as a Quelanna moment, specifically when she says "always fear the flame lest you be devoured by it" basically don't let it consume you.
If it was a master Wilhelm to Laurence type situation then I feel the old crone wouldn't use or even teach ice magic at all.
To further my point, the pursuit of primeval socery is forbidden in Raya Lucaria and if you read the description of Comet Azur and Stars of ruin you basically see that they were consumed by what they discovered.
Comet Azur
"When Azur glimpsed into the primeval current, he saw darkness. He was left both bewitched and fearful of the abyss.
Stars of Ruin
"When Lusat glimpsed into the primeval current, he beheld the final moments of a great star cluster, and upon seeing it, he too was broken.
It should also be noted that their armor tells you that their bodies where physically turning into glintstone and when actually encountered Lusat and Azur and barely functioning, unable to even speak.
I don't think that usage of primeval sorcery inherently leads to one being consumed as certain NPCs like Gideon Ofnir, the All-knowing use Azur Comet and don't appear to face any noticeable negative affects.
"Overall: Ranni's ending seems to be one of idealism that could either end in good or backfire horribly"
I'd say more uncertainty, which I feel is intentional. Ranni's post quest bonus dialogue has a line about how the "certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch... All become impossibilities." And her ending dialogue has a line of "Here beginneth the chill night that encompasses all, reaching the great beyond. Into fear, doubt, and loneliness... As the path stretcheth into darkness."
This just suggests to me that this path in uncertain because they won't have guidance from any outer gods.
My favorite thing about this game is how it allows you to create your own story and journey. I named my character Azrael, which means angel of death, and I played the game with that journey in mind. I chose to go with The Age Of Duskborn ending because it felt like it made the most sense for my character. No ending is really best to me, but whatever is best for your character, which is cool.
This fun you had is because you created in you head, nice, well done
The game literally feels like it was set in the time of fallen angels
I think you kinda wrote out the Elden Lord endings too quickly and by comparing them too much with Dark Souls' linking of the flame even though Elden Ring's cosmology and metaphysics don't work anything like Dark Souls' universe. Cycles and stagnation aren't as relevant in this universe as they are in Dark Souls, even if From likes to repeat its concepts through different games.
I too am of the opinion that Ranni's ending is probably the most positive one, at least relatively speaking, since it supposedly releases the world from the direct control of outer gods (although, it does so with many unknowns and the caveats that life as we know it might change completely and we may just be trading the Greater Will with a Lunar based outer god who's maybe more hands off with how he rules the world), but I interpret the Elden Lord endings as being more than just continuations of the status quo, and several of them drastically change the way the Golden Order works and is maintained.
Only the Age of Fracture is the imperfect ending you describe in my opinion, since the ending seems to imply that our Tarnished, without the help of any mending rune, can't fully restore the Elden Ring and it remains half-broken in the coming age, inevitably leading to an unstable order. The other endings however change the world in a more radical manner: the Age of Order in particular seems to fix the issues that caused the collapse of Marika's order by taking out the destabilizing factor of the fickleness of the gods, who will now be forced to execute the rules of the Golden Order, maybe by taking out free will, at least for the gods themselves. The Age of the Duskborn seems to make undeath normal in the new order, while the Dung-Eater rune turns the concept of curse and blessing on its head by making the condition of misbegotten and omen common and accepted in the new world, by enshrining curse into the order you turn it into a "good" thing, these both seem to work to restore a new kind of wholeness to the shattered Elden Ring by changing how the world works at a fundamental level, and acting in favour of groups that were discriminated under the previous Golden Order (undead and mutants).
Assuming that one doesn't trust Ranni and thinks that life under the Greater Will is the least bad and most secure condition one can have in a universe filled with malicious outer gods I can see the Order ending being another potential "good" ending that stabilize the Golden Order for good, while Fia and the Dung-Eater seem motivated to change the Elden Ring in order to do good toward discriminated groups (although the Dung-Eater is obviously a psychopath).
I posted this as its own comment, but I feel like you should see this.
I think one possible interpretation of the idea of the Mending Rune of Perfect Order is that You separate order from gods. Having taken the Elden Ring for yourself and slain what was the elden ring before, you now choose to reject the notion of gods all together, Removing the Fly from the Ointment entirely. In which case, the Order ending would be, in my opinion, superior to all of the others, as you keep the world in tact, as it was, without removing grace from the world, but you focus out the idea of divinity entirely. No more outer gods. No more inner gods. Order exists separately from them all, and you reign supreme at its heart. This fits the idea of the shape of the rune as well, with a ring formed around the order, keeping all outside influence away. In this way, the order can persist free of the direct control of the divinities that existed beforehand. No more Astels, no more formless mothers, no more Elden Beasts, and no more Marika/Ranni/Radegon types.
You need no maiden, you are no one's consort and the world's laws are now set in stone, no longer subject to the spasmodic whims of beings beyond comprehension.
I think there's an implication in the game's story that there are intended to be cycles of some sort in the world. The whole reason Ranni was an empyrean was that the fingers (whatever numbers for any given entity, because don't see them all) were apparently selecting empyreans as potential gods for a coming age. That implies that they were conscious of some level of need for the world to move forward and change.
It's unclear to me whether we're intended to take it as definitely all of these empyreans were candidates to be the next vessel of the greater will, or if there were actually different competing cosmic powers each choosing a 'champion' of sorts as a path toward deciding which 'outer god' might take charge during the next age. (It certainly sounds like there was violence and contention among distinct powers when Marika became the winning empyrean.)
@@Eladelia Whatever the case. We won.
@@NorthernWind0 Another reason why i chose this ending is that since we are still left with enough ambiguity to will happen next at least i liked to think that now that my tarnished is the Elden Lord of a perfect order trying to truly fix everything i may also rid the lands of the hatred towards the Omen, misbegotten and those loving in Death, in my opinion the people from the Lands Between may do better with a lord that actually guides them for good rather than be left on their own while we go with Ranni as their consort. And even if we are still technically under the Greater Will, who says that a contingency plan can't be made in case outer foced complot against this mew order? After all our Tarnished went through hell and beyond to kill a god and has learned a lot along the journey, seems reasonable to me precautions would be taken, at least this is my own interpretation
Ranni’s ending kinda reminds me of Kreia’s goal from KOTOR 2. Kreia despises the Force for subjecting everyone to its will. To the point that she wants to destroy the Force itself.
i miss kotor 2 :D hope one day there will be remaster
Makes sense.
Remember the moon does not emit light, it only reflects it.
I think there is no good end.
Stars emit lights tou
@@beatricegherghel1479 and the stars either eldritch entities, fallingstar beasts... or astels
There should be a lord of blood ending
theres probably still endings we havent found
Until bloodloss gets nerfed right?
@@10gu91 Did blood loss ever get nerfed in a fromsoft game?
@@bt-gn7zv Unfortunately, I dont think there are anymore, each ending has an achievement. And so far all of their conditions have been made.
So from my pov we are done until the (almost inevitable if looking at the sales figures alone) future DLC is released
@@xander8558 yes, in DS3 Carthus Rouge (consumable applied on weapon to inflict bleed) got nerfed hard due to players using it on bleed weapon. Not a direct nerf to mechanic, just to the tool.
I love Goldenmask ending
Cuz , you basically helped a T-posing genious to get things better than ever(or it is?)
‘BREAKING: Naked maniac finds the secrets of the universe through T-posing’ love that
@@SlashesShasieCZ Local schizophrenic shadowboxes GOD (and wins)
Age of Fracture: Conceit
Age of the Duskborn: Guess we die 🤷🏻♂️
Blessing of Despair: Evil
Frenzied Flame: Nihilistic
Age of Stars: Simping
Age of Order: Based
0:28 “Witch Ending Is Best?”
I see what you did there.
Thank you for your thoughts on the ending. But I wish we had more videos playing devil's advocate for the other endings. Getting kind of tired seeing people say Ranni's ending is the best. It's good, don't get me wrong. But I don't think we should apply all of Dark Souls' philosophy onto this game as it is a new IP, regardless of its similarities to the previous entries.
Yeah there seems to be a plurality siding w the Ranni end (I'm sure that influenced me to some degree), maybe something I'll look into doing. And the point about new IP is fair, trying to find a balance in pulling from prev work while still recognizing this as its own thing
Agree with this though this is my first game from the dark souls creators and Me not knowing anything about the previous game I think the frenzied flame ending seems fair to me and the ranni quest doesn’t seem as good as other hype it up to be
Is rannis even *good* ? It always struck me as everything fading to the cold and dark. Sounds awful.
@@MeanMustard650 The whole speech about everything being cold and dark is allegorical. Ranni wants to create a world that is free, but a consequence of that freedom is that everyone will also be without guidance or protection. That is my interpretation anyway.
Anywho, I do not think Ranni is good. I think she is true neutral at best, and chaotic neutral at worst.
As I see it, the Age of Duskborn ending is the best one.
Firstly it stays the persecution of the undead that already exist in the lands between. They are allowed to coexist alongside us.
Secondly it restores the concept of death in the Golden Order. Previously all the souls that came in contact with deathroot a.k.a the rune of death were denied by the Erdtree, because the golden order didn't recognise destined death. This is what gave rise to those who live in death in the first place. Now that the concept of death is back in the order, all souls will be accepted by the Erdtree regardless,never to be reborn again. Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with the undead who already exist, who will simply be allowed to coexist. It will simply prevent further undead from being born, since now it's a free passage for all souls.
The ones that will infact give rise to even more "rotting aggressive undead" are all the other endings except frenzied flame and age of stars, since in those endings, the destined death is already out in the world when we kill Maliketh, but the Golden Order still won't acknowledge its existence.
Oh, and thirdly, Godwyn, the most benevolent and loved demigod, is given a new chance at life. Big win!
Fia's is easily the best ending for me
People forgets that Burning down a house means either you incinerate the people inside the house or leave everyone homeless.
Restoring order in a broken is almost always better than becoming anarchist. Being used or the user has a negative connotation. But imagine the sword you swing for the good. If it had free will and consciousness, would you stop using it? No, because without someone swing it, it is useless. without someone to sharpen it, it corrodes. Using or being used can be for both good and bad. If it doesn't solve the problem permanently, that's okay.
This is how life works. One solution always leads to a newer problem. It's the struggle to solve every upcoming problem that keeps us, the humanity inside of us on our toes. Restoration of the order keeps us in... order. It may not be perfect, but is it part of life. Perfection will never be a reality. But that does not mean anarchy is perfection.
And this is why I disagree with you.
I think one possible interpretation of the idea of the Mending Rune of Perfect Order is that You separate order from gods. Having taken the Elden Ring for yourself and slain what was the elden ring before, you now choose to reject the notion of gods all together, Removing the Fly from the Ointment entirely. In which case, the Order ending would be, in my opinion, superior to all of the others, as you keep the world in tact, as it was, without removing grace from the world, but you focus out the idea of divinity entirely. No more outer gods. No more inner gods. Order exists separately from them all, and you reign supreme at its heart. This fits the idea of the shape of the rune as well, with a ring formed around the order, keeping all outside influence away. In this way, the order can persist free of the direct control of the divinities that existed beforehand. No more Astels, no more formless mothers, no more Elden Beasts, and no more Marika/Ranni/Radegon types.
You need no maiden, you are no one's consort and the world's laws are now set in stone, no longer subject to the spasmodic whims of beings beyond comprehension.
Or in short,
We become the greater will
right?
No, you don’t remove the outer gods. The order is the teachings of the greater will. By you choosing the age of order ending, you basically simply remove Marika(not radagon who actually was a follower of the greater will)/a god from the equation (the “fly”) and focus entirely on the greater will & its teachings. So really it’s no more gods, only the greater will remains. Now, where does that leave you, the player, however, I wouldn’t know how to answer it except for maybe being the greater wills…will?
@@AlextheGreat647 It is basicly monotheism ending with a non material god to worship. The "fly" is the material gods whom wims are can change the Golden Order, but with perfecting it you can make the Greater Will the only god who should be followed.
@@reactiondavant-garde590 I know. That’s what I was originally saying.
@@AlextheGreat647 Oh yes sorry, it was more like a general observation but it is true that I am basicly only said what you said just with different words.
on a scale of 1 to 10 how crazy would it be to say that the frenzied flame ending is the precursor to dark souls and that the frenzied flame is the first flame and that melenia is the furtive pygmy?
Bat shit insane...but I fucking like that thought mate
About a 9
11.
3
Like a 9 since Melina tells us that in the Frenzy Flame scenario there will be no life left in the world. ‘The Lord of the Frenzied Flame is no Lord as he has no life left in his lands to rule over’ or something like that. No rebirth from the flame according to her, no starting over, just… end. But I’m sure Vaati could make it work lore-wise lol
hyetta could probably see if she took off that blind fold.
My best ending: i killed the god and left there without choosing anything now i rule the world as an elden lord and most powerful being. I wont repair that broken god and wont be a consort of some moon witch like a stock animal she can be my bitch if she like XD
hahahaha best ending
Deadass why can’t we do that
Wasn't Ranni the one that orchestrated killing Godwyn though? Which was then the catalyst that led to Marika shattering the ring. So Ranni kind of ruined the golden order herself and by choosing her we are giving into her own plan. She may be right or have good motives but it's hard to get past all the suffering that she was the original cause of. It didn't seem like life was that bad when the golden order was at it's height.
To be honest, the Golden Order seemed like they were extremely discriminatory. Any child born with monstrous deficiencies or Omen horns was either shunned or killed, and those outside the Royal family were considered lesser beings. Even the younger members of the family were disillusioned with how it was already playing out, and it was bound to fall into chaos eventually considering the constant rising tension between the demigod siblings. Godwyn’s death was certainly the catalyst, but I doubt the Elden Ring would have never shattered had Godwyn lived.
To me, the Age of Fracture ending sounds like a good Neutral ending. Sure it doesn't fix the worlds issues per se but those issues along with the Golden Order will eventually end and give way to change and a new age.
You simply become Elden Lord because you can and for your own reasons. Definitely the most Chad ending.
@@kingsgrave_ >enters lands between
>kills all demigods and becomes elden lord
>refuses to elaborate
no one ever gave me the choice of using the mending rune of waifu
MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD
Ranni ending "lets gove everyone free will, totally, freedom man...ya."
Also Ranni ending "btw we worship stars now. They are our masters."
Never understood where people got the free will vibe from Ranni turning from a god to instead worship stars but I stay with team Greater Will.
Or you can play as a crazy old hobo, killing everything he sees with fire and brings the apocalypse, because he mistook the clearly evil door as a bathroom.
In my view there’s nothing inherently wrong with cycles and order.
With dark souls, I prefer the age of dark, as the world is suffering, but more importantly the new age is one explicitly of man.
But with Elden ring, I prefer the true order ending. It is an order of ideology without necessarily an outer god leading, even if it inspired or laid the foundation. It’s presumably the safest and easiest life for most, and there’s nothing wrong with an easier life.
Edit: though after the explanation of this video, it’s a fair argument. But simple free will without anything else, literally a path without support and is harsh, isn’t good in my view.
Also, most thematically fitting doesn’t mean best ending.
It does for him, and it’s his video so…
Plus, there’s plenty inherently wrong with the order, genocide, slavery, prejudice endless war, no guarantee that’ll end, but you know what they say, can’t keep doing the same fucking thing and expect different results
@@lothara.schmal5092 and it’s my comment, so I can add my perspective to the discussion, helping this video in the process.
Recently I’ve been teetering on the edge of saying Duskborn is better (has been 9 months) but I’m sticking to the true order.
The only real issue was the shattering of the Elden Ring. If there aren’t fickle gods to do that, and the ring is protected, then no more issue.
Nothing is inherently wrong. Good and evil is what you perceive it. Let the course of empire continue, for I am it’s captain.
@@purpledevilr7463 Any Empire that is not of man is one I’ll go against, Gods do not deserve to exist, and I’m happy to sever their influence.
@@lothara.schmal5092 Gold mask’s rune describes how it protects the ring from gods, that there will be no more gods in the order (Marika sense. Not Greater Will sense)
Why be a slave of a witch that will bring fear into the world when you can just rule the world and burn it however you desire
So wouldn’t a entity such a radahn just easily be able to end the age of the stars and return power to the two or three fingers? Or at the very least bring about stagnation in such a age.
If the Rune which controls the Stars is still in a physical form, then yes...
If the Rune returned to "it", then all shall be free and one complete whole...
But is it truly fair in the end? Strings of Fate that bind us all. Maybe another End can be obtain. A way out of the cycle...
If there was "A Way Out" ending? To stand against those of the Beyond? To unearth the truth of Existence? I wonder... Would the Tarnish stand above Gods, fall into fear and madness, or something else, something more than personal desire... ... ... But would that choice be liberty or of Fate? Only a true Monarch can make such a choice... Until the true End marks to final spark of the flame. Without Dark, without Light, only of the everlasting. Yet, with the Flame of Ambition in the hearts of all life. The cycle is not broken... ... ... The oblivion of all will surely return once more, but each time, Fate may not recover from such ends. Complete eradication without a cycle to start, a new.
(That's how far I would go as the "Elden Lord". But by then. I would no longer be bound by anything... ... ... Lord of the Void, Twin of Existence, and True Existence as One. "We" are the Legions of Nothingness, creator of Fate itself.)
Isn’t he basically a zombie cause of the scarlet rot all he wants to do is devour things and fight
Maybe, but after the tarnished is done with their journey, there remain no entities with such power except Ranni (and Miquella and theoretically maybe Melina).
It also seemed that Ranni needed a connection to the full elden ring in Marika's body to start the age of stars and it is unclear what happened to the runes afterward (Ranni might be their vessel) so there is likely not enough power to collect for someone to end the age of stars by force
Hence why Radahn has to be killed to advance her questline.
He could prevent the beginning of the age for sure, but stopping it? Nah, Raani’s whole plan is to take the stars and gods far away, too far to ever touch the world again directly, meaning 1.they’re untouchable 2.there could never be anyone like Radahn again, no more gods walking the land, no more magical forces controlling man, no more dominion of death and blood.
I dont see how the gold mask ending is any worse. The way i see it, the moon is described as an ethereal body similar to the greater will. Both of these powers had their own gods and immortal beings that married into each other. In both gold mask and rannis endings, there are still these immortal beings that will rule humanity and give rebirth to their souls. Even if the moon doesnt have goals or ambitions like the greater will, ranni still does. If u really think the idea of no outer influence or immortality is the good ending, then why isnt fias ending the good one since its the most natural one with everyone being mortals?
I think all of the Elden Lord endings are subject to the Greater Will, and I don't think the Moon is characterized with the same agency as the GW, so I don't really think it's an Outer God, or on the same level
Because undead becomes the norm in Fia's ending. How is that good? Also Marika still exists as a vessel for the Elden Ring so eventually the greater will will retrieve it by sending another servant. Like how they sent astel to destroy the eternal cities.
great video, but Im not sure Hyetta intended to be a normal finger maiden. I dont think she was coaxed to serve the three fingers considering she asked and knew about shabriri grapes from the get go and she never specifies which fingers she intends to serve when you first meet her. Hyetta seems like a frenzied flame serving soul that hijacks Irina's dead body like how Shabriri did the same to Yura. the only time she sort of resisted was when she found out what shabriri "grapes" actually are and vomitted, after getting over the grossness, she seemed more determined than ever.
I always pick the age of the stars but the second best is imo Goldmask's. That's why I plan to choose it on my current faith based run :D.
For me, there are only two good endings. Either the Ranni ending, where mankind is left to it's own devices for a thousand years, with no Gods or Lords to interfere with it's developments or choices, or the Duskborn ending, where the natural cycle of life and death is resumed, and the curse of immortality is removed.
I just cannot agree with your bit about Ranni. Her entire character arc comes off less as someone wanting to break free of the yoke of ideology but rather self-righteous assertion that they know what's best for everyone.
Are any of the other endings any better at not being "this is what's best for everyone"?
@@MadLuigi I wouldn't say so, not really, but frankly none of them come with the same air of narcissism that hers does. She essentially leaves the Lands Between structureless and without any leaders which can, realistically, only lead to worse stuff happening. Basically the fantasy version of raging against the sociopolitical machine without actually having a plan behind it for when you do eat the rich.
If nothing else, even Fia's ending is more honest.
@@Haitch_Kay i get your point, but I find the “I’ll just let you all choose your fate by making right and wrong decisions without me influencing you” way less narcissistic than the others. I’m basing my take on the alleged mistranslation/the Japanese version of the age of stars
@@sinner2133 "Without me influencing you" it's that part. Ranni is putting the importance of *her* actions above everything else by saying "I won't do anything". She's essentially saying "I'm clearly too important to be allowed to influence anything" and her entire plan is to essentially leave the Lands Between in a massive power vacuum rather than actually, you know, stay and fix anything.
@@Haitch_Kay no longer maidenless. Nuff said
I don’t think there’s exactly a ‘good’ ending as Ranni taking the order far from the world would effectively make her an outer god imposing her will on the world. And even though she rebels against the greater will she is still acting on her own desires to bring in her age and ultimately bend the world to her will. While you could say she’s doing what she thinks is best for the world, the same could be said about the greater will ,frenzied flame and the others who push you towards implementing the changes they want to see in the world. This parallels Dark Souls 1 as regardless of what ending the chosen undead picks they end up doing the will of one of the primordial serpents even if they agree that the ending they choose is truly what’s best for everyone. So in Elden Ring the player character may truly believe that Ranni (or anyone else for that matter) is truly doing what is best for the world but ultimately they are just executing her plan that she came up with without any input from the player character.
The way I understood Ranni’s wishes (after finding the correct translation of her explanation) is that she actually does NOT want to bend the world to her will? Therefore after establishing her own age, she leaves and takes it away with her - with only us, her consort, as company - so that the new order is at ‘great remove’ and people can live their lives independently. She ultimately sounds like she wants very little control over the lives of beings in Lands Between. But a lot of the info we receive about the endings is be open for interpretation, and that’s what I like about it so much lol. I guess I can see other perspectives as welll.
At face value, Ranni's ending sounds well and good. But my problem with Ranni's ending is that once she achieves her personal liberty, she abandons The Lands Between and absolves herself of responsibilty for it. Everyone is free, but everyone is left to their own devices without guidance or protection. And in a universe where other Outer Gods and Eldritch starspawn like Astel exist, I think that is an issue. When the cat is away, the mice shall play, or so the saying goes. I would probably like her ending alot more, if she kept a distant but watchful eye over the world, or at the very least stopped to check on things from time to time. But as things stand, I think I have to go with the Goldmask ending as being the best outcome.
I believe that the frenzied flame ending is truly the best we have traveled the lands, and seen nothing but suffering and pain. This ending is simply similar to that of the anime evongelion turning the world into one high mind, like being of no suffering no pain, but just one simple mind of true understanding at the cost of individuality, I feel like burning away the pain and sins of the world is worth it
I would like to propose the idea of Age of Order being good as well, since in real life people tend to have the most joy when their life is in order, when we don't let Jesus take the wheel. We have rules to live by, established society, trade system which lets us live in comfort without the need to struggle on our own we have people providing food and services in exchange for our own services. As an Elden Lord of Order I imagine myself being a King of the land enforcing law onto bad guys and creating oppurtunities for people to prosper, live their life with certainty and without fear, having strong sense of security, thus focusing on their lifes instead of outer forces ruining everything. Age of Order is where everyone has a chance at life without being oppressed by tyrany. As for two fingers and their gods, enemy of my people if enemy of mine, we face any challenge that threatens our order.
Order can and does often times lead to tyranny. I would rather not live in an authoritarian dictatorship. Some order is ideal, perfect order eliminates free will and descends into being enforced by tyranny. Yes invisioning a rule of benevolent dictatorship is easy, however the more probable outcome is far less desirable.
The whole point of the mending rune of order, though, is to prevent this exact situation. It perfects the ring and prevents the ring from being altered so that the new benevolent golden order and rules of the world cannot bend at the whims of a dictator. So perhaps you would be a king ruling over the land like how Morgott was king of Leyndell or Godrick was king of Stormveil, but definitely not one that has the power to destroy or bend the rules of the world at their fancy and throw the world into chaos once the Elden Ring has been repaired (like Marika did before).
Yeah, I'd have to disagree on the order bringing joy part. It brings unending mediocrity where one goes through tedious work to achieve temporary and minor pleasure. Better to burn it all down and leave it all in ashes forever. It is a life without meaning, only mediocrity where everything is fine, yet nothing is truly worth it.
@@Machete__Squad if this was about real life, I'd 100% agree with you. but since this is a game and the ruler is my own character, wouldn't it be up to my interpretation/imagination of how that character would rule? If I envision my character to be a goody two-shoes and they want to be a fair ruler and make everybody happy and they also manage to not get corrupted by power, wouldn't this be the best ending, because the player can completely make up how that age would be like, based on the assigned values and personality of the own in-game character? It works the other way around too. Maybe I want my character to enforce their values onto everyone else and basically take away their free will and everyone who attempts to do something against it, will be persecuted. kinda like a police state like the former DDR was or like China or the DPRK is today.
I would really love to hear someone else's thoughts on this, because I'm still trying to decide between the golden order ending and Ranni's ending
@@ahzrukal4603 Yes, you are correct. It is your character at the end of the day and we are dealing with a fantasy role playing game. If what you envision is satisfactory to you that is good enough. I however tend to be a bit more pragmatic and practical with things. So my mind goes to a more real world application. So I was just sharing why I personally would not find that ending to the best.
However you and I are different people and find value in different things. There is no objective right or wrong when it comes to this only subjective preference. I would say choose the ending that brings you personally the most joy and satisfaction. If others disagree that is fine, their ending worked for them and yours worked for you.
I think that simply lumping all the Elden Lord endings together and comparing them wholly to linking the flame is too simplistic and does away with the nuance of it all. The Age Of Fracture is probably the only one to really be the same as Linking the Flame. The others have radical story and philosophical differences. The Dung-Eater is clearly a bad ending, just causing everyone to suffer from some warped sense of “justice”, the Duskborn is interesting in that it attempts to fix the problems of the Golden Order through getting rid of prejudice by the codifying of life within death into a rule within the world.
The Age of Order, however, is radically different. It restores the Ring to its original state or at least close to it and fixes what it seems the major flaw, the meddling of mortals in the plans of the divine.
Many people’s aversion to the Elden Lord endings is because the idea of being under the control of the Greater Will sounds less than ideal, especially considering it is a deity within a FromSoft game. However, there is no reason to believe that the Greater Will is evil or lacks benevolence. In fact, it seems the opposite. Not only is it the creator, but it continually blesses the Lands Between. It seems to me that the themes of the games, or at least in regards to the endings, focuses on what one would do when religion/belief fails. Do you abandon that religion and either succumb to nihilism or replace it with your own version (Frenzied Flame and Age of Stars), do you keep it as is and hope it works better this time around (Age of Fracture), do you recreate it in the image of what you think is best (Blessing of Despair, Age of the Duskborn), or do you reform it in the shape intended by the divine, forbidding anyone from messing with it (Age of Order)? There are many implications for each one, and I believe that just throwing out the Greater Will is unwise. For my money, the Age of Order is what’s ultimately the best for the Lands Between. Plus, it makes the tree prettier lol
I think the key oversight is saying that being under a god is wrong, and I don’t think that’s at all the case, especially for the Greater Will, one implied to be above all others
Personally my first ending, which was Frenzied Flame, is honestly the best to me. Ranni seems like to me she's just a pretty facing hiding yet another power hungry ideology. Just because she keeps her composure and doesn't get loud doesn't make her manipulative. If anything the Frenzied Flame and Three Fingers offer a more complete upheaval of the entire system. Gone is the useless Erdtree, gone are the fools who would be Elden Lord, gone are the Moon Witch followers. All that remains is everything being melt down back into base components, a true unity to a power that exists beyond our comprehension, and that realistically, mortals have no right to deny the whims of. To an Outer God style being, we are nothing more than toys, pawns, objects. Our struggles and lives become meaningless to them who can see things far beyond our scope of understanding.
And since the two fingers wanted to exist in just this land and manipulate things, and the other alternative is a deluded moon witch who doesn't care for her birthright or power, I say cast it into oblivion and let it all begin truly from the start at some distant point eons away. All hail the Frenzied Flame!
People wasnt lying when they said Lord of Frenzied Flame is for narcissists 😂. "Everyone else but me is WRONG, I'm the savior here! YOU should be thanking ME for burning everything down. This is not suffering, it's the grace of my SALVATION. Praise me, the Lord of Frenzied Flame!"
@@ashen0306 It’s the most interesting ending tbh
Bro have you been frenzied in real life😂😂
I’d disagree, if you look at the original Japanese translation it is much more clear that choosing Ranni means a new age, but one where Gods and the power of the Elden Ring is far distant from this world. As such people still in the land between won’t even remember or feel controlled by power in the future, and will have true freedom. In the frenzied flame ending you just kill everything, maybe a new beginning will come from that but I tend to doubt it based off the screams heard in the background.
Once I read the “Witch ending is best?” at the beginning of the video, I knew MadLuigi’s personal opinion 😆 before watching the rest of it.
I have 2 favourites:
1. Age of Stars
- You have a wife
- You travel with her to outer space to fight outer gods that might danger earth for 1000 years, and after that they come back.
- She launches the elden ring to space so no one can reach it and be endangered by it because of the greater will.
- She created a new order with no name, it makes earth be always be at night, a chill night with no danger.
- She made people of earth having faith, doubts and even fear of what is the truth, to show true faith, instead of imposing truth like the golden order.
- And I bet that before going to that millenial adventure, you might give Ranni a new body.
2. Age of Perfect Order
- The Golden Order still exists, but now is perfected. There is no Gods or Kings except me and the greater will.
Imagine Elden Ring 2 being like a sequel to Age of Stars, like fusion between Elden Ring, Bloodborne and Star Wars but more fantastic.
They need to put more gear, spell and set, and more quest for the Madness subquest and build. Im all in with the 3 finger! Let's burn this world! 😛
I'd make the argument that the age of the duskborn might be a good ending, given how it changes the Elden Ring and brings back death. When the Golden Order was created, it was done so by confining destined death, thus making the Elden Ring as we know it. Destined death is just death, and by removing it we're removing mortality from the world and bestowing immortality, a trait often associated with gods. What I'm saying is that the Greater Will created it's order for the world by removing "destined death", aka mortality, and by us putting Destined death into the Elden Ring we're restoring mortality to the world, allowing it to be governed by the will of the mortals and not the Greater Will. Godwyn is the prince of death because he represents death itself, a demigod that died despite his godhood.
Thematically, this can be seen as a sort of bridge between the Elden Lord and the Ranni endings, allowing for the traits of the many that lived before to rule the Elden Ring while still preserving some of the order from before.
Ultimately, it depends on whether you see the problems with the Greater Will as coming from it's humanity or it's divinity. There's an argument to be made for both. I'd also like to say that the title of the ending, "Age of the Duskborn" suggests that the reign of the erdtree is over, as dusk refers to the darker stage of twilight before the sun sets, the sun possibly representing the golden order or even the Greater will itself
This is a rather undervalued comment, I agree with you 100% Rannis ending removes the golden order entirely but that means it leaves the lands to influence deities such as the formless mother and god of rot, or even the serpent god, but bringing back death to the lands may make lands less appealing to malevolent gods and allow people to live and die naturally
I think a lack of polish on anything but Ranni's ending makes this a hard question to answer. Everything else is just "Which color tree do you want?" if you don't think long and hard about the lore.
Goldmask is my favorite ending, I also see argument for duskborn. Plus I’m the Elden Lord, not consort to Ranni (which I’m not 100% sure I can trust her). But I understand why people like the Age of Stars ending
I just want to put it out there but the giant gravity cosmos bug could probably be seen as a type of stars godz or at least the parent to that thing since the boss one crashed ages ago and had to come from something.
where do I find the bug
@@user-dx7lt6yj4e it's astel you fight it near the end of ranni's quest. There is lore that the greater will called it down but they came from something like the falling star beasts, probably. Given you can see young cosmic dragonflies it isn't unlikely that there are parent ones and we don't know if astel is truly a fully grown whatever it is.
my problem with the Age of the Stars ending is that we may have rejected the power of the gods, but we switched it with Ranni's control, and she isn't exactly a pleasant individual, prone to scheming. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I'd rather be Elden Lord myself than serve a sinister witch. Also, I like the sun, and I don't get any in the age of the stars.
That's what im talking about.
People always says it was the best Ending bcuz you become Elden Lord and Got a Maiden like wtf.
I mean you (Tarnished) is not the Highest but Ranni is, sure you become an Elden Lord but Ranni is still above you like a New Goddess in her own Age of Stars even you Kneel before her.
I kill every single Demigods and killed a God but at the end i still serve someone as her Consort (im basically a Godfrey 2.0 in this Ending)
right there with you. i don't like her coldness. age of duskborn resonates most with me because by contrast, fia radiates warmth and wants to lift up an outcast class. plus she had rogier's backing, and rogier was just the best dude to us tarnished and in general.
2 things;
1. The stars in this game aren't like ours. They're literal eldritch horrors that dictate fate, not balls of plasma. They are not akin to Dark Souls Sun, or real world scientific suns.
2. Ranni is not sinister, she's merely fighting against being a puppet. She tells you as much, and is never not once dishonest with you.
You have to scheme, otherwise the assassins would have straight up murdered her. she has to work from the shadows.
Not doing so would just get her killed, and or turned into the very thing she does not want to be.
she's stoic, not cold. I think you need to pay more attention to the story next time.
@@watertommyz i will definitely pay more attention next time because we all have to. it's an overwhelmingly inscrutable story. you can forgive someone for being suspicious of a character when they didn't give you their real name at first.
@@watertommyz My problem with Ranni's ending is that once she achieves her personal liberty, she abandons The Lands Between and absolves herself of responsibilty for it. Everyone is free, but everyone is left to their own devices without guidance or protection. And in a universe where other Outer Gods and Eldritch starspawn like Astel exist, I think that is an issue. When the cat is away, the mice shall play, or so the saying goes.
Idk I’ve always felt that I’m not a vessel, god, or lord, but just someone who wants to keep fighting to keep exploring. That’s why I don’t pick the endings those endings. Also I for some reason don’t like becoming evil and so the frenzied flame is out. Maybe I’ll wait for the dlc and see if there’s a different ending, but if not then we’ll I guess it’s Ranni again.
For me in every way it was Ranni's ending. It was best for my character, going on a space journey with the moon waifu, I was maidenless no more, much better than being a lonely lord of broken world. And it was best for the world, no more monolithic deity towering over the lands between and dictating everything, the relentlessly bleak world is their doing after all, the people of the lands between unbound by fate and an uncaring deity's control, left to make of themselves and their world what they can.
I feel like People don't realise that ranni isn't even a Maiden.
The state of the Lands Between is atleast partially Ranni's fault. But my real issur with Ranni's ending is this:
She wants personal liberty from the gods. And if you take that at surface value, that sounds like a good thing. But then she Fs off into space, leaving the world without protection and absolving herself of responsibilty if things don't work out. That to me seems more like an uncaring deity.
@@LeonardoStupidKenway don’t think that’s the point
@@cptndunsel3364 Not really, she just doesn’t want to control the world, she doesn’t just go away, she forces everything to go away with her, the stars, the order and the gods, meaning there’s nothing more (supernatural at least) to protect the world from
@@lothara.schmal5092 Not sure where you are getting that idea from. She dissolves the Elden Ring, thus severing the land from the greater will. Even if I were to accept that what she did blocks all other Outer Gods (which I don't see anything to make me believe would be the case.) There are still things like Astel and Fallen Star Beasts to worry about.
I read a post that I feel perfectly explains the Age of Order ending and what it truly means and what makes it one of the best endings IMO
1/2
"The Age of Order ending is a lot more explicit than the current wiki description speculates. One needs to reference the *entire* saga of the Golden Order and reformation by Goldmask in order to understand it.
From the Incantations "Law of Causality" and "Law of Regression," we are told explicitly what the Order stands for:
"The fundamentalists describe the Golden Order through the
powers of regression and causality. Regression is the pull of
meaning; that all things yearn eternally to converge. [...]
Causality is the pull between meanings; it is the connections
that form the relationships of all things."
This philosophy is frequently espoused by the one true fundamentalist we encounter: Miriel, Pastor of Vows, (aka Turtle Pope) when he says "Heresy is not native to the world; it is but a contrivance. All things can be conjoined."
The Golden Order establishes that separation is the cause of strife and is ultimately an illusion. This is why its incantations are able to reveal the truth about Marika and Radagon. That revelation is also what sets Goldmask on his path towards reformation. All of the strife in the Lands Between is caused by conflicts between the gods, both the Empyreans born of Marika, and the Outer Gods, some of whom are implied to have once been a singular being (loose speculation based on the Two Fingers and Three Fingers, who are diametrically opposed, forming a hand if joined together).
The two Laws form the sides of the triangle, but what forms the top? The Litany of Proper Death, which is used by the hunters of Those Who Live in Death, and states:
"The role of the hunters is to stamp out defiled reason - all for
the perfection of the Golden Order.""
2/2
"Now, we look to the Incantation "Order Healing," which states:
"The noble Goldmask lamented what had become of the hunters.
How easy it is for learning and learnedness to be reduced to the
ravings of fanatics; all the good and the great wanted, in their
foolishness, was an absolute evil to contend with.
Does such a notion exist in the fundamentals of Order?"
Again, we return to the concept of separation (defining an evil enemy), and the realization that this only causes strife. This finally brings us to the Mending Rune of Order. We know what the base laws of the Order are (regression and causality, that all things seek to converge and conjoin as one), and we know what is wrong: the gods and the fundamentalists seek only strife and division (Radagon and Marika; the Outer Gods' competition; the empyreans' struggle; the hunters rooting out "heresy").
"A rune of transcendental ideology which will attempt to perfect the Golden Order.
The current imperfection of the Golden Order, or instability of ideology, can be blamed upon the fickleness of the gods no better than men. That is the fly in the ointment."
The Mending Rune of Order thus, if we follow Goldmask's logic, means a removal of ALL godlike influence from the Order, both the empyreans and the outer gods, and an end to the idea of heresy. This would allow the forces of the world to exist in balance, without influence from greater powers. Decay and blood and so on only become forces of evil and destruction when they are used as such. Heresy is a contrivance."
Im just picking the golden order ending because that sounds like the real world the most
Age of the Stars is the big brain ending
Great game, it would've been sweet if they gave something cool to players after each ending.
that'd be a nice touch
To play devils advocate, the "greater Will" might very well have humanity's best interests at heart. Kind of like how the Christian God does according to Church doctrine. Doesn't make the Moon ending bad, but it also doesn't mean the Greater Will is malicious.
Like all of the other Outer Gods, the Greater Will seeks to enforce its vision of what the Lands Between should be like. Problem of course comes with how it deals with any elements that don't fit into its idea of order. For the people of Leyndell the Golden Order probably seems pretty great, but the Merchants, Albinaurics, Omens and Dung Eater would likely disagree.
I think that the Greater Will is a Lawful Neutral entity. It seems to want to create order, and in that order there is room for mortals to prosper. The problem is that the Outer Will is perfectly fine with enforcing its will onto people, or outright exterminating anything that it perceives as a potential threat.
After everything I found out Ranni did to get where she is and seeing the beings that live beyond the stars I completely avoid her ending. Apart from the fact that Ranni's actions started the Shattering in the first place, welcoming the stars can potentially lead to the Lands Between being invaded by other beings worse than the Greater Will. Plus when you get down to the brass tacks Ranni did everything for herself. She didn't kill her two fingers because it would help the larger world, she did it because she wanted to rule unrestrained.
Now I'm not saying the Frenzy Flame ending is right, but the only real way to change the world is to destroy the tree and remove the Elden Ring entirely. Its the same as in Dark Souls 3. Rather than prolonging the cycle or replacing a piece in that same cycle it qas best to lead that age fade to darkness so a new one can begin. To me Ranni's ending is that except if Ranni is left to rule she is still part of the age that came before. The tarnished may have been apart of the world Elden Ring is apart of, but they before the Shattering they had no say or part in the order that came about. Now they have a chance to change things entirely.
I think lord of frenzied flame is it because u become reborn into a new god
The two I like best are Age of Stars, for obvious reasons, and Lord of Frenzied Flame. The latter I just got last night and it reminded me of Zao's "5 Year Winter" more specifically the line of lyrics at the end, "BURN IT DOWN AND WALK AWAY!", repeated over and over again on top of a sick breakdown....
Good song.
I dunno man, I feel like you skipped over the Elden Lord endings too fast. This isn't like Dark Souls where everything is a hellscape being artificially prolonged, this is a beautiful world that's full of life, happiness, pain and growth. I find myself coming to the conclusion that the Perfect Order ending is the best. It doesn't burn the world down, it doesn't completely change the fundamentals of life itself, it just changes what we know to be better, without people like Marika to screw everything up. Leadership is important, and total freedom is dangerous. We just needed a better leader imo
the problem with that ending is that marika isnt gone. as she is one with the elden ring, unless that is destroyed, she will live on. thats why i also think that age of the stars is the best ending, is because ranni gets rid of marika. also, after how the greater will stood in our way to become elden lord, i want it gone for good. that last boss fight was horrible
good point
Idk man, if Godfrey was thrown in the trash after finishing the commands of the great will, what do any people expects of full domination of the golden order? You do not become the ruler, you become the messenger and servant of the true leader, which is the great will.
@@maykelhernandez9690 elden lord is like being consort to the queen. You don't really hold any power. The character doesn't hold any more power after mending the elden ring than before. The only thing you have power over is what you want to do with the elden ring, aka the endings.
@@firefox30570 I understand what you're saying, but that's not what I mean. By which I mean the Great Order can throw away anyone who isn't useful to them. That's why I used Godfrey's example.
The ending I want is whichever one comes closest to absolving me of the sin of killing Greyoll the Mother Dragon in what was essentially just a massive trophy hunt lol.
I've said it before recently on a poll, but I hope I can better explain my thoughts this time. Ranni's ending deals with leaving the lands between without a god. Some think that because the lands are now independent means that it is the best possible outcome.
But throughout our whole history we have looked to gods for guidance, answers, and protection. We strive to hear their word in a time of need and when our calls go unanswered it's devastating. Being forsaken is not a good feeling.
Will this be the case after Ranni's ending in the Lands Between? I think so, we have examples of this exact thing happening in game after all. Morgott and Mohg were sealed in the subterranean shunning grounds, sealed away from their mother and god. When finally released they did not rejoice with the fact they were Omen and therefore independent of the Golden Order and the greater will, instead Mohg searched for another god, the formless mother to comfort, guide, and empower him while Morgott forever hating himself thinking that he was unworthy to commune with a god and doing what he could to repay for the tragedy that he thought his birth was. Both were forsaken, and both did not benefit from it.
The divinities of the Lands Between are not the benevolent spirits of some real world mythologies answering the prayers of the goodly. They were merely men and women writ larger than life. They schemed and politicked, knew jealousy and hate and despair, made terrible decisions, went to war and were often brutal tyrants. Their Golden Order fell apart under its own inequity. What followed was made worse by their feuding. Even the Outer Gods were nothing like you would expect. Terrible beings or forces that brought horrific and inhuman changes with their worship. Ranni's ending at least is an attempt to escape the divine horrors of the past for something better. To let people live as people and not merely cultists. In such a world being forsaken is possibly the best thing that can happen to you.
Elden Ring's story is about finding a Maiden. You start out Maidenless.
Ranni's ending means you will never be Maidenless again.
My maiden is Rodericka
Yall be thinking you want perfect orders, darkness , or flames and shit but man I just want to grill...
Idk man I feel like the nobody in the world but ranni and makayla wants rannis ending like let’s really look at the people in the world. Everyone actually likes the greater will in fact everything was going well until Marika shattered the Elden ring in my opinion. What do you guys think
“Everything was going well…”
The giant race got genocide, most got wiped out, the remaining ones become slaves and abomination.
Misbegottens treated as lesser being, as such, they are enslaved by humans, subjected to cruel punishment, discrimination, and life of servitude, until they rebelled out of their hatred for human kind. A young, blind, innocent girl literally got killed in the middle of the conflict. This is castle Morne lore btw.
With Marika removing the rune of death, nobody dies. Eternally walking the land as literal ghoulish corpse. If you haven’t noticed already, most humans you see in the game aren’t exactly normal healthy humans, as they are not allowed to die, their bodies age and decay but are forced to live on and serve.
I really could go on and on about how terrible the golden order is. You played the game and caught none of these things? I bet you’re a Christian, blind to reality and content to have your lives and beliefs controlled.
@@corxiiifelinike2643 all these problems are things happening after queen merika made these decisions not before, which is what I was saying things were going well. Nothing happening here is the fault of the greater will besides maybe not finding a way to split marika a from radagon. And we’re really not going to pretend if people didn’t follow the greater will there would be no slaves or mistreated people, let’s be realistic about this.
@gray whistler121 I actually don’t know any lore about the fire giants tbh I hope I can find some after this. And no there are people that aren’t afraid of the greater will the rucusants hate it and I wouldn’t call those people any good. Our maiden doesn’t, Ranni doesn’t and she’s a neutral person to me.
@@corxiiifelinike2643 on top of all this when shit really got as worse as it could get the Greater will started guiding tarnished to solve this problem. We’ve been guided by the greater will the whole game up until we could not enter the Erd tree that is when we began to go our own path further proving that anyone can still make whatever decision they want. So yes the age of Order is the best ending still because you solve all these problems and under your lordship makes sure things of this nature don’t happen in the future.
Don’t you dare tell me Marina’s removal of death rune is after the shattering. Or the giant’s genocide. These happened before it.
Perfect order ending.
No, i will not elaborate.
I don't care what anyone says. Ranni's ending = no longer maidenless.
She looks underaged though, I don't want to go to jail
@@Aggrofool she died and her body perished.
@@Aggrofool Yeah, she's kinda made of wood and string.
«Sex doll, sex doll, you’re my sex doll»
Tarnished to ranni
With respect to others opinion I think these are the best endings:
1: age of the perfect order
2: frenzied flame ( yea it's a restart for a better world to get born from the ashes! )
3: duskborn ending
4: age of fracture
5: age of stars
6: blessing of despair
I thought frenzied flame was basically rage quiting all worlds..their would be no more individual life, everything all of creation would return back to one..
@@lifewasgiventous1614 I love the game, but it also can leave us so mentally broken from all of the aneurisms we get playing it sometimes that the frenzied flame kind is what we wish for lol.
@@nuclearguy1652
I guess 😂😂 idk I’m probably gonna try for golden order, it seems like the spiritual ending so to speak.
I appreciate your analysis and particularly liked your use of quotes from Miyazaki but, I think its hard to say that any of the endings are particularly good. Even in the age of the stars there are some hints that the stars are neither benevolent nor are they going to let the denizens of the lands between go on with their life. For example the flavor text of the nox swordstress armor there is reference to the coming liege of the stars. Ranni also isn’t free from sin. She’s practically the reason the world is in the state it’s in. I personally think that all of the endings lead to some form of stagnation or destruction. I think the way I’d rank the endings is in 2 categories the four mending endings, which basically perpetuate the cycles that set the world where it is, and the Ranni and Frenzied Flame endings which I think at least set to seek either a new way for the world to be which could end either better or worse than the previous order or return to a state before the mistake that set the world down its bad path.
the grace in 11:53, its shape and animation looks like humanity in Dark Souls 1.
I personally think of the frenzied flame ending as almost a prequel to Dark Souls. People hate when others try to connect these games but I think some of the references are way too big to be just that and actually mean something.
Hyetta is literally the first fire-keeper imo. Her eyes are covered and we give her eyes to see. Her eyes become burned and blackened just like the ones we find in DS3. The woman we meet named Irina before going to Castle Morne IS Hyetta. When she died a soul of the frenzied flame took over her body just like Shabriri did to Yura. The frenzied flame is pretty much the first flame and it’s kind of crazy when you think of the first flame as an entity like a great one or old god that is alive as long as it stays lit.
The age of stars is actually a bad ending. I think Radahn was one of the most solid/legitimate people in Elden ring, and in his lore he wanted to stop the Stars. I think he was trying to hold back the stars and meteors from coming down and creating a world overrun with basically an alien invasion. It seems to me like Ranni is fully allowing that age to start which I can’t see being good at all.
There's one major thing to be pointed out about Ranni's ending, and that is that it, as well as the dialouge in her room have been heavily mistranslated, making the Ending kind of better and worse at the same time. For clarity's sake, and for people wanting to build their own opinion before reading my interpretation i put the original lines and the better translated ones at the bottom of my comment.
The first major difference is the line "Here beginneth the chill night that encompasses all, reaching the great beyond." This would be more accurately translated as "To all, you may think of the chill night as infinitely far away."
Then "into fear, doubt and loneliness... As the path stretcheth into darkness" should be more accurately translated as "And now, let us go on our path of fear, doubt, and loneliness, into darkness. This (and some changes from the dialouge in her room) makes the line "A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon" contextually different, now not referring to the fate of the living beings on earth, but to a literal voyage she will take together with you.
The changes to the dialouge in her room are even more egregious. The line "And have the certianties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch... All become impossibilites." makes her feel very villainous, while a more accurate translation would be "It’d be best if mine order could never be seen, felt, believed in, or touched again."
All of this together paints a pretty different picture of Ranni's plans. Like it is said in the video, the moon is not an outer god, and is heavily connected to magic and the human mind. an "Age of the Moon" would therefor be an age led not by a god, but by humans and their ingeniuity. To make this last as long as possible Ranni planned to set out on a journey (originally alone, as evidenced by the description of her Dark Moon Ring: "Whoever thou mayest be, take not the ring from this place, the solitude beyond the night is better mine alone.") to (and this is where a bit of interpretation comes in) hold back the outer gods from interfering with Earth, or even to go to war against them and kill them.
As i see it, her ending can be interpreted as a rejection of the hierarchy of the outer gods, even if it may bring about the destruction of earth if she fails to do so. You journey together to wage war against these unknowable eldritch beings, while being aware of the possible futility of the entire act, basically following the mantra "better dead than oppressed".
The official localization of the ending is:
"I do solemnly swear. To every living being, and every living soul.
Now cometh the age of the stars.
A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon.
Here beginneth the chill night that encompasses all, reaching the great beyond.
Into fear, doubt, and loneliness... As the path stretcheth into darkness.
Well then. Shall we? My dear consort, eternal."
While a more literal translation would look like this:
"I shall swear to all lives and souls,
From hereon is the Age of Stars.
A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon.
To all, you may think of the chill night as infinitely far away.
And now, let us go on our path of fear, doubt and loneliness, into darkness.
Well then. Shall we? My dear consort, eternal."
Then there is her dialouge in her tower. The official localization says:
"Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night.
I will keep them far away from the earth beneath our feet.
As it is now, life, and souls, and order are bound tightly together, but i would have them at a great remove.
And have the certianties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch... All become impossibilites.
Which is why I would abandon this soil, with mine order.
Wouldst thou come to me, even now, my one and only lord?"
While a more literal translation would look like this:
“Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night.
But I want to keep it all away from this land.
Even if life and soul are closely bound with an order, I could just distance it all away.
It’d be best if mine order could never be seen, felt, believed in, or touched again.
This is why I would leave this land with mine order.
Even so, I know thou would follow me, my one and only lord”
The stars ending is probably the starkest one of them all, and for the mortal mind of the player character who would actually have to experience it in-universe, it would be almost impossible to willingly choose without the guidance of the player.
"Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes" is a famous real world quote, referencing humanity’s dependency on religious belief to get by on their day-to-day. It’s impossible not to feel sympathy for those who would struggle if not for their faith, but it’s ultimately a dependency that is actively holding humanity back from proper advancements toward a more free and just world.
Now imagine how this concept is tested in The Lands Between, where gods have a solidly documented, tangible presence in the world. That dependency eschews the need for faith entirely. There isn’t even the ample room we have in our world for doubting the existence of gods. For that reason alone, The Lands Between’s dependency on gods is probably given a level of validation in the eyes of a certain subset of players.
But that dependency is still a dependency. One they can do without and be better off without, in the long run. It will be at times excruciating not having the warm and fuzzy feeling of divine guidance, or the peace of mind that can only be found in the faith/knowledge of greater powers watching over you, but at the end of the day it’s an addiction. Time for rehab.
"3 fingers" is just the middle finger XD let's it burn! Damn, I'm a faith build that use a lot of frenzy spell... I'm already down that road.
No ending where you become a simp can be the best.
i refuse to believe that "witch ending" was not on purpose
I also believe that ranni ending is the best.
although I still don't understand ranni's plan exactly
without our help
Ronnie doesn't actually free people from control, she explicitly says that she is going to move the godly power far enough away that people don't know they're being controlled or manipulated or guided, but she's still going to be the one guiding them. I actually agree that I feel like Ronnie's ending and gold masks ending are like dimetrically opposed, they're both about control, which to me hence that they are both still just propping up a order of things that will eventually, and Ronnie's ending, 1000 years, will eventually need to be mended again
Where has the frenzy flame ending and a philosophical sense doesn't destroy anything. It's the true mending ending because you're not mending the Eldon ring, you are mending reality itself.
We're told that at one point in the past everything was one thing. And then a mistake was made and individuals came into existence. And we can look around at the world and see that while not true in our world, in the world developed and ring it's definitely true that it was a mistake. Even the ghosts suffer, and it pretty explicitly shows us that this is not a condition that is unique to Marika and the golden order or the erd tree. Happened to the dragons and probably others before and or if you continue to mend the ring, countless others after.
When everything is one once again, maybe, there's hope that it can learn from the experience of having been fractured and to create a better world in the future
i understand your point, but for me the age of order looks too beautiful
Ascending to the stars with a witch waifu? Age of Stars might be the best Souls ending ever.
It's also the most popular. The majority of players had to plan for Ranni's ending. They presumably chose it thinking it's the best ending, or at least the most interesting.
My first ending was the Frenzy Flame ending. I wanted to become the consort of Ranni but her and her family led the world into its current state and I felt it needed a good reset.
I saw it as an end to all ends. Break down everything and let the world burn. I also wanted Melina to live and I took the flame upon myself to do it. Sure I could have used the needle to rid myself of the flame but I was already so committed that I just kept on going. It's a great ending even though I swept the world up in madness but Melina and the others will resist and persevere and come for me....eventually
If u let melina sacrifice herself before meeting the three fingers no one would be able to stop u
Something I notice nobody talking about:
Long-Term implications of these endings.
Let us assume that our tarnished is an absolute unit of a murder machine.
We demolish every other demi-god, eliminate fia's onlyfans & the cacaphonous caca consumer, annihilate mohg the chomo and most of his followers, and secure (at least temporary) calm, not peace.
We choose Ranni's end. We follow and assist someone that has performed actions that could be considered most heinous, and go with her on the 1000-year journey.
We leave and observe while the nox come out of their hidey holes and worship the stars and moons again, as do the carians and sellians.
Meteors start striking the Lands Between again, Malenia's little clones start being birthed from the rot that is slowly spreading (but without much in the way of guidance they would squabble amidst one another and without the needles they are impotent and unable to grow), and the Devouring Serpent will slowly grow back (eventually...probably just in tine for the 1k year mark and the Night Lord to whoop his slitherbutt into a fine gooey paste again).
The Frenzied Flame still has its' three sticky fingers in the Lands Between, albeit buried in ash and such. It will continue to spread its influence and attempt a mass "coup."
Perhaos there will be brave individuals that will rise and beat the brothers karamazov back where they belong (in classic russian literature), and perhaps with the already large amount of fracture factions fighting there won't be enough traction.
The peeps of the spicy haggis momma will attempt to continue their shenanigans (if any are left after we are done performing an emergency late-term abortion of mohg), but there will be a solid kingdom on the rise in Limgrave under the strength and guidance of everybody's favorite buff-and-tan barbarian, which provides 1 solid foothold for man and beast alike.
If we left most of the dragons alone then we have dragons still in play, and the roots of the great tree (NOT the erdtree) are still alive (for now). Dragons didn't seem awful during their reign so if it ends as an alliance with musclequeen then there is a chance for stability between them, the Carians who will probably end up taking in the Sellians as refugees from Cleveland, Ohio.
Now for the last 2 open ends (that might get addressed via DLC):
Miquella and Godwyn('s body).
Miquella was barely begun in their tree womb when mohg performed BnE into Kidnapping. Mohg dropped them into a freaky external womb and tries with varied success to accelerate their growth. Miquella lay dreaming, probably for a set amount of time.
What will Miquella do when they wake up incomplete and corrupted? They are the first wild card and will probably be a boss for the DLC.
Godwyn's body is still growing through the greattree roots, and will consume everything in a hellish deathscape of rotten flesh and Those Who Live in Death.
First the erdtree saplings, then the Lands Between...all will be consumed.
The pace we see from in-game indicates a rapidly accelerating growth.
Will this leave the flock of the Frenzied Flame as accidental Damage Control? Will the worship of the Nightbirds (if we left any alive) return and allow for the disposal of the dead?
Unless every part of the Deathroot is fully purged it will continue to soread and grow, which may be the premise for Elden Ring 2 (confirmed to exist, no idea what it will be about) OR the DLC.
Godwyn is a wildcard as, without external forces, it will grow to consume everything.
I think Im going with this ending because I don’t trust The Greater Will or the old Gods of the Sun and Moon. I can rest easy with the only true choice of absolute certainty, annihilation.
Do you mean the Frenzied Flame ending?
Kind of Funny how you say Ranni ending gives the world the real freedom even if it filled with hardship, yet to achieve this ending you need to follow Ranni's exact instructions and never doubt that her way is the right one. It shows how you are just a tool for her, like Bladid, Iji and Seluvis were. There is no freedom in her questline yet in other two endings you are willing to choose the state you leave the world in, Frezed Flame even give you the option to reject it, in the note written by the servart of the flame found in the catacombs.
Also Ranni says
"Upon the order I envision.
Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night."
Confirming that she is changing Gold to Night, thus just changing the lords of the world.
Doesn't she also say
"I would keep them far from the earth beneath our feet. As it is now, life, and souls, and order are bound tightly together, but would have them at great remove.
And have the certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch... All become impossibilities.
Which is why I would abandon this soil, with mine order."
What I understand from that is she will literally take her order away from the people and have it act not as a master that commands those bellow it, but as a guiding light that only exists far away from the people never actively interfering with them
Like how people used the stars to guide them in the past
@@Pedro-yr8fl That was actually a mistranslation, I don't remember what the actual translation is but it should be easy to look up.
What are you talking about? At no point does she treat Blaidd or Iji as tools; she states outright that she loves them and they understand the path that she has to walk. Her ending is about freeing the people of the Lands Between and departing for the stars with Ranni; it just so happens that specific things need to occur in order to accomplish that. There's nothing "funny" about having to do specific things in order to accomplish a specific goal.
And yeah, she states in-game that she plans to take her order AWAY from the Lands Between.
Blaidd isnt a tool btw. Replay the game do his questline. The guy is so devoted to ranni he manages to go against the greater will for a time.
I wanted to save and love this world, I truly did, with the whole of my heart and all of my soul... And yet, this quest has left me bereft of all that would be worth saving in this world. died pitifully, both by my hand; for one it was a mercy, the other had his dreams shattered by my hand.
My maiden is turned to ash, The Deathbed Companion is no more, The legendary hunter of the living dead died by her hands,
Both of the legendary artisans who crafted my weapons have either lost themselves or fell by cowardly weaponry, My two dearest friends, the wolf and the vessel
And now... I am to believe that there is beauty in this world? This world, littered to the brim with obscenety and madness because of the pride of higher beings?... There is no beauty in this place, only rot, filth and loss. I wanted to love this world, I truly did. And yet, these lands that oh so beckoned to be saved birthed the likes of the Dung Eater, allowed for Godwyn's abominable descent and for the sister who conspired and betrayed him. They allowed for the madness of one of its most stalwart defenders. They conspired at every turn to transform my quest into a nightmare, a lake of rot not only festering beneath its physical surface but permeating all of its spirit.
I am sick, sick and tired. This world does not want to be saved. It wants to be put down...
And if it wants so badly, if it wants to burn so badly that it has robbed me of all I hold dear...
I'll be glad to do it. I will put you down, it will be the vengeance for all you took from me and all
the torment I had to endure... For a world that never wanted to be saved, but purified.
May chaos take the world and burn everything down that divides, distinguishes... and allowed
for this cesspit to ever form.
Good riddance.
The flame of frenzy ending is the destruction of that universe and all their gods. Nothing is left but a one thing.
Nothingness...
(Also... Think about the people in limegrave asking dragon to burn them... So that they can finally die.. this isn't our world... It's another world.
Age of the stars best ending ? oh yeah let's give authority over the elden ring to the girl who unleashed half death on the lands between and basically trigerred the shatering what could go wrong ?
Based