Rune.00: Synopsis

ELDEN RING (2022)

The story is set in the Lands Between, a realm governed by the blessing of the Erdtree and the enigmatic power of the Elden Ring—brought forth through the intervention of a transcendent entity known as the Greater Will. Reigning as an absolute god, Queen Marika established the Golden Order: an immortal cosmic order that transcended death itself by removing Destined Death from the Elden Ring.

However, this absolute order began to fracture during an assassination event known as the Night of the Black Knives. Through a dark conspiracy, a fragment of the Rune of Death was stolen, resulting in the slaying of the soul of Godwyn the Golden, Marika’s firstborn. Grief-stricken by the death of her beloved son, Marika shattered the Elden Ring with her own hands, and the subsequent attempt at repair by King Consort Radagon proved futile.

This shattered the world’s balance, igniting the Shattering—a catastrophic war among the demigods, Marika’s offspring who had claimed fragments of the Ring known as Great Runes. Yet, the brutal clash between these demigods and sovereigns—Godrick the Grafted; Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon; General Radahn; Praetor Rykard; Morgott, the Omen King; Mohg, Lord of Blood; and Malenia, Goddess of Rot—produced no true victor, leaving the Lands Between locked in a gruesome stalemate. Abandoning the squabbling demigods, the Greater Will and its envoys, the Two Fingers, restored grace to the Tarnished—blessing-deprived exiles who had once been banished from the realm—tasking them with repairing the Elden Ring and becoming Elden Lord.

The protagonist, a Tarnished, forms a pact with Melina—a mysterious maiden claiming to act as a Finger Maiden—and embarks on a journey across the Lands Between alongside the spectral steed Torrent. By slaying the demigods entrenched throughout the realm, the Tarnished collects Great Runes and makes for the Erdtree, which towers over the heart of Leyndell, Royal Capital. Yet, the way into the Erdtree is sealed tight by the Impenetrable Thorns, rejecting all who approach. To force passage into the Erdtree, the Tarnished commits the ultimate taboo: kindling the Flame of the Giants through Melina’s sacrifice (or by embracing the Frenzied Flame) to burn the Erdtree.

In Leyndell, Capital of Ash, now blanketed in soot and cinder, the Tarnished prevails in a series of grueling battles against Godfrey, the first Elden Lord; Radagon, Marika’s other half; and the Elden Beast, the physical incarnation of the Greater Will. In the end, the Tarnished faces a momentous decision that will decide the fate of the world: repair the fractured Elden Ring with a Mending Rune to become the new Elden Lord, usher in the Age of the Stars alongside Ranni the Witch, or become the Lord of Frenzied Flame, melting away all life into chaotic oneness.

DLC: Shadow of the Erdtree (2024)

The story unfolds in the Realm of Shadow, a land erased from the history of the Lands Between and concealed beneath the shadow of the Erdtree. It is the cradle where Queen Marika first ascended to godhood, as well as a gruesome realm where divine retribution and atrocities were shrouded from the world.

Miquella the Unalloyed—the demigod prodigy believed in the main campaign to have been abducted by Mohg, Lord of Blood—had been operating in the shadows. Seeking to cast aside both the flawed Golden Order and his own curse of eternal childhood, he aimed to establish a new order: an “Age of Compassion” that encompasses all creation. Undertaking a pilgrimage across the Realm of Shadow, Miquella systematically divested himself of every aspect of his former existence—his physical flesh, his lineage, his strength, and even his love and heart—as he pursued the ritual to attain godhood.

The Tarnished enters the Realm of Shadow via the misshapen cocoon left behind with Mohg’s body. There, a group of followers led by Needle Knight Leda has gathered, drawn together by Miquella’s potent charm and following the “Crosses” that mark his path. However, as the Tarnished delves deeper into the realm, Miquella’s Great Rune shatters, breaking his mesmerizing spell. Long-suppressed desires, loyalties, and grudges surge to the surface: the Hornsent’s burning thirst for vengeance, Sir Ansbach’s unwavering fidelity to his slain master Mohg, and Leda’s fanatical paranoia. Consequently, the band of followers turns upon itself, devolving into a violent tragedy of mutual slaughter.

The Realm of Shadow was once inhabited by the Hornsent, who were indiscriminately slaughtered in a purge led by Messmer the Impaler, Marika’s son acting on her divine decree. To burn the Sealing Tree that bars access to Enir-Ilim—the sacred shadow tower—the Tarnished defeats Messmer, a commander tormented by blind devotion to his mother and his own serpent curse, and uses his flame to break the seal.

At the Gate of Divinity, located deep within the spiral tower of Enir-Ilim, the newly ascended god Miquella stands alongside his resurrected lord, Promised Consort Radahn. Honoring a promise made in their youth, Miquella fashioned his lord by placing Radahn’s soul into the vessel of Mohg’s slain corpse. After cutting through Miquella’s fanatic loyalists, the Tarnished defeats the newly ascended god and his promised consort. Through this victory, the arrival of Miquella’s new order—one that would strip away individual free will in the name of absolute compassion—is thwarted, bringing a final conclusion to the hidden history of the Realm of Shadow.