Summary
It’s no surprise that the combined talent of Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin would result in a dark fantasy story, filled with complex characters with motives both seen and unseen. EnterElden Ringand the Lands Between, where players must embark as Tarnished to fight against manipulative beings and great monsters with desires to ascend beyond their capabilities, bringing a shroud of darkness toElden Ring.
The darkest characters inElden Ringrange from mere mortals to literal gods, presenting the wide case of complexity that features within the game. Despite being known for its difficulty and expansive open-world design,Elden Ringcertainly features characters thatplayers might lose their runesfor.
8Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy
The Serpent King Who Wants To Devour The Gods
Traveling underneath Volcano Manor reveals a dark secret, and the true king of the palace is revealed. Rykard is a God-Devouring Serpent that has existed underneath these halls for a long time, and his desires to go against the Erdtree and become a serpent showcase his deranged sense of immortality, and how far he will go to achieve the status of godhood.
Twisting his original form, Rykard showcases the decay ofElden Ring’s characters, and how their mental states constantly deteriorate into a self-absorbed desire for power, no matter the cost of the physical toll, for Rykard is a huge mass of serpents with no care for anything outside of being a god.
7Godrick The Grafted
Unfit To Rule, Godrick Grafts Limbs Of Others Onto His Flesh
Exploring Stormveil Castle, players will eventually find a dreaded Demigod Boss, Godrick the Grafted. The ruler of Stormveil Castle himself, Godrick was born of a golden lineage thanks to being a descend of Godfrey, but thispressure was too much, mounting in a dwindling sanity that saw Godrick unfit to rule until he had the bright idea to graft power onto him physically through the limbs and heads of other beings more worthy than he could ever be.
Godrick is a deformed amalgamation of flesh, and he wears his soldiers and knights on his skin. Most notable, is the dragon head on his left arm, and his demand to be seen as a commander and the lord of all that is golden, showcases a fractured mind that exhibits a true darkness.
6Preceptor Seluvis
A Sorcerer Who Makes Puppets Out Of People
Seluvis is a character thatplayers can uncover in the fleshwhen they venture to Seluvis’s Rise, but the question remains if they would ever want to do that. He’s a proud sorcerer, pompous in personality, and provides loyal servitude to Ranni the Witch. Yet, it goes deeper than that, and Seluvis’ desires are corruptible and highly disgusting when players discover his requests.
Seluvis desires to make puppets from unwilling victims, providing them with a potion that will immobilize them. Players can find these NPCs in his laboratory, being experimented on and treated as mindless slaves. It’s a dark fate that no one deserves, and Seluvis doesn’t seem to care, he only cares for his puppets and schemes.
5Sorceress Sellen
A Sorcerer With Dangerous Ambition
Imprisoned at Witchbane Ruins, Sellen seems immovable and inconsolable, until she sees the great purpose within the Tarnished before her.Taking on the role of mentor, Sellen will recruit the Tarnished as her young apprentice, and seek aid in her quest. Whilst she doesn’t seem all that manipulative, it’s her goal, and her fate, that makes her such a dark and tragic character, where there will be no rest nor saving her from what is to come.
Sellen takes over the Grand Library after the Tarnished kills Jerren, and she wishes them luck in becoming Elden Lord. It’s so nice to see a character that doesn’t want the player dead, but those characters never last. Returning to this area, players will find Sellen reborn as a stone ball, unkillable and trapped in this immortal unmoved form with flesh turned to stone and bound to other sorcerers.
4White Mask Varre
A Devoted Mohg Disciple Who Allows Tarnished To Invade Other Worlds
A walking enigma, White Mask Varre can be found around Limgrave, and strangely, further through the Lands Between depending on where the Tarnished have journeyed, and wherever their accomplishments take them on the quest to be Elden Lord. Whilst Varre starts as a mere philosopher, dabbling in the concepts of the Two Fingers and if they have what it takes, he soon reveals his manipulation as a disciple of Mohg, Lord of Blood.
Varre provides players with the necessary key to invade the worlds of other Tarnished, showcasing his sinister motives to see blood and conflict take hold. It’s telling of Varre’s character that he would die blessing Mohg’s dynasty, showcasing that his worship is entirely unholy.
3Shabriri
A Fanatic Who Wants Chaos To Take The World
Shabriri is a reviled man and one that takes great pleasure in the teachings of the Frenzied Flame. Shabriri worships it, and the Three Fingers thatprovide the flame of frenzy. With his eyes gouged out, Shabriri showcases the power of the flame through his empty sockets, and even in death, his spirit claimed the bodies of others, most notably, Bloody Finger Hunter Yura.
Shabriri only cares for one thing, that being a Lord of Chaos on the throne instead of an Elden Lord that would keep the Lands Between in a place of contempt and steadiness. Shabriri wants to see the world engulfed in chaos, and he will manipulate others into his sadistic bidding.
2Mohg, Lord of Blood
A Demigod Obsessed With Forming His Own Dynasty
Mohg may have been born of the Golden Lineage, but he certainly does not follow in its divinity. Embracing his power, Mohg would embrace his Omen blood and form connections that would see him cursed with bloodflame magic, only growing his powers to seekfurther conquest of the Lands Betweenand beyond as he ventured to a lair deep below ground to create his dynasty.
Mohg isn’t just a ghastly figure with twisted goals, and the way he goes about said goals is what makes him truly dark. Mohg would even go so far as to steal the infant Miquella to raise into godhood and as consort in order to gain even more power.
1The Loathsome Dung Eater
A Scourge Upon The Living
TheDung Eater is a disgusting character, not only for his grotesque namesake but for his desires for others. The Dung Eater has a vision for the world, in which those who die will not have their souls returned to the Erdtree. Instead, he wants people to exist in a formless torment forever and sees this as a cure to life itself, and the way he achieves this is beyond redemption.
Dung Eater will kill people indiscriminately and defile their corpses, further feeding his great pox that would create Seedbed Curses, preventing dead souls from going to the Erdtree and leaving them trained, in constant pain, and forever cursed to a new age of despair.
