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The setting ofElden Ringis one of the bestFromSoftwarehas ever created, with a whole plot of political intrigue to be found if you dig deep enough. While the settings of the games that came before are of equal quality, the sheer size of Elden Ring is what makes it a marvel.
As you explore this land full of mystery, you will likely begin to question where you exactly are, not only in terms of geography but spiritually as well. This isn’t just a place where kingdoms rise and fall; it is a place where beings higher than gods are constantly fighting for control.
Where Does Elden Ring Take Place?
Elden Ring takes place in The Lands Between, a huge expanse with many biomes, underground cities, and floating ruins. These lands were once ruled by the Golden Order, butafter years of internal conflicts, that Order holds control no more.
No matter where you stand in The Lands Between, you will always have a view ofthe Erdtree, a massive tree shining golden light all around it.It is the center of power of The Lands Between, and there lies the literal seat of the Elden Lord.
The Lands are divided into different areas, each ruled by its own demigod.They include:
Limgrave
Vast green hills are the main feature of Limgrave, but you can also find lakes and dense forests. It is where you first begin your journey, and it stretches southward more than the map first reveals; a great place to explore if you’re stuck with any major boss.
Liurnia Of The Lakes
While Liurnia might have been the home of many lakes in the past, it is now one uniform swamp, with the few buildings that made up the city now sunken beyond rescue. At the center of it all is the Academy of Raya Lucaria, a palace of magical studies unaffected by the sinking that ate up everything else.
Caelid
Consumed by the Scarlet Rot disease, Caelid is now one of the most dangerous places to explore in The Lands Between. What isn’t corrupted by the red Rot is instead scorched by the marks of war or by the many Dragons that make this place their home.
Altus Plateau
Altus Plateau is more diverse than the other lands, with one side being barren by the active volcano, while the other is mostly grasslands filled with life. These grasslands are yellow, surely marked by their proximity to the Erdtree.
This is also where you may find Leyndell, the Royal Capital of The Lands Between. This city was made at the foot of the Erdtree, and while it suffered many sieges across the eons, it still stands tall.
Mountaintops Of The Giants
Even far above the mountains, you can’t escape the Erdtree’s shine since the impossibly tall tree is present even here. As the name suggests, this is where the Giants of old made their home, now driven to near extinction by the wars against the Greater Will.
The Lands Between And The Tarnished
Something rather peculiar about The Lands Between lies in its name. It clearly isn’t your everyday name for a vast, powerful land, and previous entries had more average names instead of descriptions, so what does it mean?Between what and what?
The answer might be found with the Tarnished, the people once exiled from The Lands, and the role of the player character.Godfrey, the first Elden Lord, became the first Tarnished as wellafter losing his Grace,which caused him to be exiled from The Lands Between.
The Grace of the Erdtree is a form of blessing in The Lands Between, and when someone loses the golden hew in their eyes, they become Tarnished.
Godfrey left, with many people following him, and continued to live the warrior’s way until his death.The people that followed him and their many descendants were all considered to be Tarnished, even if they had never been in The Lands Between before.
Many years after Godfrey’s departure, the shattering of the Elden Ring caused The Lands Between to be thrown into chaos, and someone was needed to mend the Ring.A strange force known as the Guidance of Grace(likely related to the Greater Will)started to call the Tarnished back to The Lands Between, even if they were dead.
In fact, most, if not all, the Tarnished you meet in your adventure (yourself included) died outside The Lands Between, and with this, we can finally draw some conclusions.These Lands seem to be somewhere Between life and death, but without holding absolute power over either.
Even before you take the Rune of Death from Maliketh, you can permanently kill many bosses and NPCs without them coming back. The Erdtree is powerful, but it can’t prevent death altogether.
Yetthe Lands aren’t just some sort of purgatoryeither, since there areplenty of people that are native to the place.Godfrey was seemingly born there, explainingthe mythical connection all Tarnished have with these Lands; they’re descendants from it.
In short,The Lands Between is a place of great power, binding people’s souls to it and preserving them from death. While there are lands outside that could be reached by boat, we only know of people (mostly Godfrey) leaving this way, not arriving.
Are The Lands Between Part Of Dark Souls Lore?
While a lot of players want to connect every From Software game as if it were an extended universe, the reality is thateach game has its own setting, so they are not connected.The references you’ll find are mostly just that, references.
If we were to indulge in the theories, however,The Lands Between is not that hard to add to any setting.Dark Souls has already painted worlds, so a Land beyond Death isn’t out of place; this connection doesn’t go beyond the “it could be there” point.
One interesting factor is Patches, who in Elden Ringis Tarnishedlike you.This would mean that he had a life prior to the events in Elden Ring, sohe could easily be the same Patches of either Dark Soulsor Demon’s Souls.
