It’s clear to anyone who has playedElden Ringthat it is a large game. The world of the Lands Between is the biggest FromSoftware has ever created, and while some speedrunners canbeatElden Ringin a matter of minutes, most are going to take dozens of hours to receive one of the game’s endings. The path to the Elden Throne is one marked by challenge, with plenty of difficult bosses, dungeons, and areas to navigate through. However, once the Elden Beast has finally been felled, it is then up to the player to decide which age they want to usher in as the new Elden Lord.
It is likely that if a Tarnished has explored enough, they will have unlocked a fewdifferent endings forElden Ring. Most of the game’s endings can be achieved without locking a player out of other ways to finish their run, as within the Erdtree multiple options will be given to a Tarnished on which rune they wish to use to repair the Elden Ring. So, unless someone embraces the Frenzied Flame, they’re safe to choose between multiple Elden Lord endings or even the Age of Stars, so long as they’ve beaten Ranni’s questline. However, it feels like there is a path that’s left missing inElden Ring, which could have given an extra ending.
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The Case for a Blasphemy Ending in Elden Ring
Specifically, from the questline of the Volcano Manor and the import placed on Rykard and his “Blasphemy,” it seems almost strange that the player cannot follow a similar path to the half-snake demigod. A “Blasphemy” ending would’ve helped to make the Volcano Manor quest feel worthwhile, as well as better flesh out the lore of Lady Tanith, Lord Rykard, and the Tarnished that follow them. As it stands, while the fight against Rykard is one ofElden Ring’smost cinematic boss encounters, the fact that Volcano Manor is simply abandoned after his defeat makes the area feel somewhat purposeless.
This isn’t a huge problem, as Volcano Manor mainly acts as a lead-up to Rykard, and if a player manages to find the targets assigned by the letters from Lady Tanith they’ll earn themselves some great armor and weapons too. However, there’s a lot that points to the player getting something more out of the lengthyVolcano Manor questline. An ending tied to Rykard and his goals for devouring a god seems like it could’ve been the perfect reward for defeating him, especially when considering howElden Ringhas the player kill a god in their final battle.
Even with there being six endings available inElden Ring, there are only three with major differences. Four ofElden Ring’s endings have the player end up sitting on the throne, with a few lines of dialogue, weather effects, and lighting marking the variations between them. Then there’s the Age of Stars and Lord of Frenzied Flame endings, which offer the Tarnished a truly different final moment of their story. A “Blasphemy” ending could have offered the player another different option, which didn’t put them on the throne but instead showed them following Rykard’s footsteps, either devouring or being devoured by the God-Devouring Serpent in order to challenge more beings like the Elden Beast.
This would add another “bad” ending for the player to choose from, as rather than accepting Shabriri’s curse in theLord of Frenzied Flame, they could instead turn against the Erdtree, the Two Fingers, and the Golden Order without necessarily antagonizing Melina. This would diversify the endings that currently exist inElden Ring, allowing players to technically take the side of another faction similarly to how Ranni’s quest sees the Tarnished join her service.
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How a Blasphemy Ending Would Work in Elden Ring
There are a few similarities between the Volcano Manor andRanni questlines inElden Ring. Both begin with the player introducing themselves to a mysterious woman, who has them join her servitude before being introduced to the other important characters they surround themselves with. Both of these questlines are also lengthy, with the player needing to travel to some late-game areas in order for them to be fully completed. Like Ranni the Witch, Rykard also has some big plans for the world ofElden Ring, but the player is not allowed to become a part of his schemes.
This seems quite odd, especially when thinking about how some of the other NPCs discuss the player’s involvement in Volcano Manor. Hunting fellow Tarnished through NPC invasions in Volcano Manor’s quest is looked down upon by a lot of the other characters a player will meet inElden Ring. However, there are next to no repercussions for partaking in the hunts for other Tarnished, and those at the Roundtable Hold don’t even comment on it.
While this is asking a lot ofElden Ring, it would have been interesting to see an option where partaking in Volcano Manor assassination contracts degrades the relationship the Tarnished has with their kin and theRoundtable Hold, eventually leading to the manor acting as a major hub area. This would again make the questline feel a bit more important while informing the player they’re on a darker path through Volcano Manor. Combine this with an ending tied to Rykard and Volcano Manor, and it would completely overhaul how vital the character and location are to the Lands Between.
Following the fall of Rykard, Lady Tanith can be found in his boss arena, feasting on the corpse of the demigod. Should the player kill her, a Crucible Knight will then immediately spawn in after. With that enemy defeated, the Volcano Manor storyline abruptly ends. Instead of this, it would have been interesting to allow the player to take a part of Rykard’s or the Serpent’s power on their quest to defeat Radagon and the Elden Beast. Currently, the Volcano Manor questline and Rykard have some ofElden Ring’sbest loreattached to them, but without an ending tied to them, they can feel almost like they don’t reach their full potential, especially following Rykard’s line that he and the player could “devour the gods together”
Elden Ringis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
