History EldenRing / TropesOToZ

* ReligionOfEvil;

** It should be noted the term "Demigod" is multilayered and encompasses beings of vastly different power levels. It's used, most often, in context to Marika's direct brood; her children she had with Godfrey and Radagon. Demigod in our real world history refers to an offspring born from a union between a God and a mortal. In Lands Between, however; Marika is the TopGod, and her consorts are ''DeityOfHumanOrigin'', ''once'' mortal champions turned into Lords through SuperEmpowering, and referred to as Demigods. Thus, Marika's Demigod children have a full Divine parent and a SemiDivine parent; as such, they display ''immense'' power, ranging from an utter mastery in arms and magic, to more Esoteric abilities, can be {{Physical God}}s in their own right, and worshipped as such. The lesser offsprings of these Demigods (such as Godrick and [[spoiler:Millicent]]) are in turn much more in-line with classical depictions in terms of power (being very gifted, but far lesser champions), even though they too are referred to as Demigods.

** Living Jars: Sentient clay pots with arms and legs that are given life by stuffing them full of human corpses. When they die, they shatter in a shower of blood and guts like you took the Bloody Mess perk in a ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' game. Their shards have magical poperties that make them a potent crafting ingredient so they are frequently targeted by poachers.

** The Dragons of ''Elden Ring'' are said to have ruled in a prehistoric age, and were ancient when the Gods (the Erdtree, Marika, and her kin) were young. Sometime after, during the very early age of the Erdtree, war erupted between the Dragons and the Empire. The war devastated both sides, until Godwyn the Golden faced Fortissax, the Legendary Dragon General. Though Godwyn had the upper hand and was prepared to strike down Fortissax, he instead spared his life. Befriending the mighty drake, Godywn convinced his mother the Dragons were better as allies, Marika forged a pact with the Dragons and the Dragons were elevated to a position similar to lesser deities. This eventually flourished to outright worship, and a Dragon Cult formed at the Imperial Capital, soon encompassing many might knights and warriors. It would eventually become the Empire's unofficial "secondary" religion, as the demigods decreed the worship of the Erdtree did not conflict with idolizing the Ancient Dragons. After the Shattering, dragonkind still lingers and split into two different groups.

* SuperSpecialMove: Several of the bosses have a limited-use super move that they're scripted to do only once or twice throughout their fights. The most notable are probably Mohg's Bloodboon Ritual ("NIHIL!"), Radahn's meteor strike, and Placidusax's Ruin. {{Subverted}} with [[Characters/EldenRingMalenia Malenia]]'s SignatureMove, the "Waterfowl Dance". Despite the fact it gets its own cinematic and is scripted to trigger at a point during the fight like all Super Special Moves do (specifically at about 80% of her first phase's health), the "Waterfowl Dance" is ''not'' an example. It's not of limited use nor does it require any set-up, just chaining three distinct combos together, and she can [[https://twitter.com/BioticNova/status/1576978554340126721 spam it at will]] if the AI decides that it hates you.

* SceneryPorn: Though ruined and desecrated by unending war between demigods, the Lands Between are very beautiful (with the exception of [[{{Mordor}} Caelid]]). Whether it's the rolling plains of Limgrave, the massive lakebed of Liurnia, the perpetually twilit Siofra River, or the unbelievable scale and opulence of Leyndell, Fromsoft really spared no expense in making the environmental design every bit as immaculate as they could.

* PlatformHell: ''Elden Ring''[='=]s physics and movement systems are ''not well-tailored'' to platforming and parkour, to say the least. Regardless, many areas are gated behind a series of precarious jumps across tiny platforms, which doesn't play well with the game's sense of momentum and judgment of what constitutes a lethal drop. Expect the surroundings to be painted with bloodstains in online mode, and expect to get very mad very quickly.

** Sage Gowry's sidequest is a WholePlotReference to the poem ''The Insect-God'' by Edward Gorey (note that "Gorey" and "Gowry" would be transliterated/pronounced identically in Japanese.) Millicent's name, the theme of [[spoiler:[[BigCreepyCrawlies giant anthropomorphic insects]]]], and a focus on grotesque-yet-beautiful transformation are all drawn from the poem.

* TheUndead: As the Rune of Death was stolen from the Elden Ring, this breaks one of the central rules of the Golden Order, and it means mortals have a very hard time dying and staying dead in the Lands Between. This effectively makes every mortal who lives there a form of undead.
** Many people in the Lands Between are {{Technically Living Zombie}}s. The extended succession war between the demigods has left a lot of the region devastated and impoverished, with little food or industry to be found. However, because people can't die, many are left as emaciated, weak, stumbling husks. Most have gone mad from starvation and the unending war, left wearing tattered clothes and aimlessly wandering the roads or digging in the dirt. Soldiers seem to be better off, relying on their past discipline to keep functional, but they are still mindlessly sticking to their guard posts or patrols. Very few people have any semblance of rational thought or intelligence anymore.
** On the other hand, there are Those Who Live In Death, which are people who will not stay dead as a result of the Rune of Destined Death being partially embedded in Godwyn's corpse, and the influence of said rune spreading across the Lands Between to make corpses rise from their graves. They can be destroyed but will rise again unless their bodies are struck or they are slain with holy damage or with the Litany of Proper Death. Their existence is considered an affront to the Golden Order, and so they are actively hunted down and destroyed by undead hunters.

* {{Reconstruction}}: Of the TheTimeOfMyths. Similar to what ''Bloodborne'' did for GothicHorror, ''Elden Ring'' harkens back to classical mythology of many different cultures, in particular Greek and Norse mythology, two of the most influential mythological settings. Today, settings inspired by Myth/NorseMythology and Myth/ClassicalMythology can overly humanize gods and demigods in ways that don't inspire fear or intrigue. ''Elden Ring'' brings back that splendor ''and'' the horror full-scale. Mighty, human-like but also otherworldly {{Physical God}}s clash with each other and rule over humanity as petty overlords, nightmarish monsters ripe with BodyHorror and powerful magic tear across the realm preying on the innocent, legendary heroes rise to challenge them both, and epic adventures abound. The world also has some elements of CosmicHorrorStory to it, hearkening back to a time where humanity was afraid of the world and its unknowns.

** The Soldier of Godrick, who is fought at the end of the tutorial cave, is literally a bog standard Lordsworn Soldier of the type you will kill literally hundreds of throughout the game. The only thing that distinguishes him as a "boss" is that he gets a fog gate and a health bar, and he's mostly there to teach you about guard counters, as performing one on him will instantly shatter his posture and let you get a critical hit that is almost certain to finish him off. If you die to him it's probably because you were trying to.

** Compared to the DiscOneNuke that is Radagon's Soreseal, the magical equivalent that is Marika's Soreseal is much less impressive. Compared to Radagon's Soreseal which can be acquired at the very beginning of the game and boosts multiple physical stats by 5 at the cost of taking more damage, Marika's Soreseal (which is similar to Radagon's Soreseal but increasing magic stats) cannot be gotten until [[spoiler:the Haligtree]], an endgame BonusDungeon. The problem is, by the time you reach said BonusDungeon, if you are a magic wielding character, you have likely reached or gotten close to softcaps for your magic stat of choice and you won't need the other magic stats it gives since you don't use them, meaning the Soreseal won't have much use for you to make up for the increased damage taken. Radagon's Soreseal on the other hand is obtainable early enough that it can be an extremely useful boon for most of the game until you start reaching ''it's'' softcaps. And as a final insult, Radagon's Soreseal actually mitigate's it's own drawback as it increases Vigor, meaning you'll have a bigger healthbar. Marika's Soreseal offers no such reduction of the damage up drawback.

* PowerUpLetdown: The Elden Stars incantation requires a hefty 50 Faith to cast, the highest Faith requirement among all equipment in the game. After reaching said huge requirement, you get... a painfully slow to cast, expensive, and ''pathetically'' weak shower of light orbs that move slowly and only deal double digits of damage before the final blast, and the final blast itself isn't any stronger than much faster damage options that scale off Faith. This is in contrast to the other equipment with very high stat requirements, such as the Giant-Crusher with its high Strength requirement and Rennala's Full Moon with its incredibly high Intellect requirement, but have the power to back up their hefty conditions.

* UselessUsefulSpell: There is an Ash of War for the skill "Through and Through", which is only usable on greatbows and allows its projectiles to penetrate enemies. There is only one greatbow in the game that can actually accept Ashes of War, and it already comes with this skill by default. This is also the ''only'' Ash of War it can accept, and non-melee weapons cannot be given affinities other than Standard, therefore making this Ash of War completely redundant.

** It wouldn't be a Creator/HidetakaMiyazaki game without an {{expy}} of [[Manga/{{Berserk}} Guts]]. In this case, we have Blaidd, a huge werewolf clad in armor wielding a greatsword in one hand, effectively evoking Guts post-Eclipse, though Blaidd is much more affable in terms of personality. You can also find a greatsword in the world which has a description invoking lines from the manga, describing the sword like Guts' sword, the Dragon Slayer. [[spoiler:Then it turns out all the 'shadows' of the royal family might ''all'' be Guts expies, if Maliketh's resemblance to Guts in the Berserker Armor is any indication.]]

** You're once again invaded by a cannibal woman with a giant knife.

** The Moonlight Greatsword returns to wieldable status again after it was unobtainable in ''Sekiro'', though this time under the name of the Dark Moon Greatsword. However, its weapon art is called "Moonlight Greatsword".

* WeaponOfXSlaying: Near the entrance of the boss arena against the God-Devouring Serpent, there's a Great Spear called the Serpent-Hunter. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Unsurprisingly]], it's tremendously effective against this boss specifically, manifesting blades of energy which don't appear if the spear is used outside the arena.

** Elder Dragon Greyoll is the titanic mother of all dragons... who is so sickly that she can't even move. If you attack her from the rear she'll be completely incapable of fighting back at all. If you attack her from the front, you have to fight through her lesser dragons to reach her... after which she promptly dies without you touching her.

* RevenantZombie: Tarnished are an unusual variant of this: they were revived by Grace (the blessing of the Erdtree), which they had previously lost, in the wake of the Shattering, with the apparent mission of mending the Elden Ring and becoming Elden Lord. However, they're not compelled or forced to actually pursue this goal; indeed, the overwhelming majority [[RefusalOfTheCall either don't bother, or give up]] in favour of living more 'normal' unlives. Moreover, all Tarnished can supposedly see the [[FollowThePlottedLine Guidance of Grace]] when first resurrected, but it disappears if becoming Elden Lord [[MissedTheCall ceases to be a possible destiny]] for them. That said, ''not'' pursuing the Elden Ring has no effect on a Tarnished's continued existence or mental state.

** You can also attach gestures to messages. One naughty player got crafty and used the "Warm Welcome" gesture to stretch out his hands to [[ADateWithRosiePalms "two-hand"]] some armor sets next to each other.

* {{Reconstruction}}: Of the TheTimeOfMyths. Similar to what ''Bloodborne'' did for GothicHorror, ''Elden Ring'' harkens back to classical mythology of many different cultures, in particular Greek and Norse mythology, two of the most influential mythological settings. In this day and age, settings like Myth/NorseMythology and Myth/ClassicalMythology have become watered down by media influence in attempts to paint them in a "fresh new light". ''Elden Ring'' brings back that splendor ''and'' the horror full-scale. Mighty, human-like but also otherworldly {{Physical God}}s clash with each other and rule over humanity as petty overlords, nightmarish monsters ripe with BodyHorror and powerful magic tear across the realm preying on the innocent, legendary heroes rise to challenge them both, and epic adventures abound. The world also has some elements of CosmicHorrorStory to it, hearkening back to a time where humanity was afraid of the world and its unknowns.

** The Soldier of Godrick, who is fought at the end of the tutorial cave. The only thing that distinguishes him as a "boss" is that he gets a fog gate and a health bar, and he's mostly there to teach you about guard counters, as performing one on him will instantly shatter his posture and let you get a critical hit that is almost certain to finish him off. If you die to him it's probably because you were trying to.

** Each NPC merchant in the world drops their own Bell Bearing on death as a form of AntiFrustrationFeatures so the player cannot permanently lose access to their inventory. There's nothing stopping the player from murdering every merchant in the game so all the games' shops can be consolidated at the Twin Husks in the Roundtable Hold.

** Carian Knight Moongrum is a miniboss situated right before the fight with Rennala. He is adept with shield, sword, and magic, and can roll out of attacks like the player. He can also parry your swings for a lethal CriticalHit. All in all, he serves to check overly aggressive players and remind them of patience in combat.

* WhamShot: It's a bit out of the way, but not too far away from the Leyndell Royal Capital's West Castle Rampart site of grace is a set of stables which can be platformed on to jump onto a small balcony with an open door. Stepping inside of said door leads you to the upper floor of the Fortified Manor. [[spoiler:It's the real Roundtable Hold in ruins, with corpses everywhere. Items like the Coded Sword can be looted from the corpses littering the area. The Roundtable Hold serving as the hub for your game may be filled with traveling Tarnished, but within ''your'' world, everyone in there is dead.]]

** The Mimic Tear's gimmick is that it duplicates whatever equipment you have on you when you walk through the fog gate. Nothing is stopping you from unequipping all of your weapons and armor when you walk in, and then reequipping it after the Mimic spawns, allowing you to whale on it while it's naked and helpless. Bonus points if you equip Daedicar's Woe, a talisman whose only function is to increase the amount of damage you take, and then unequip it after the Tear spawns.

* ZeroEffortBoss: The Mimic Tear's gimmick is that it duplicates whatever equipment you have on you when you walk through the fog gate. Nothing is stopping you from unequipping all of your weapons and armor when you walk in, and then reequipping it after the Mimic spawns, allowing you to whale on it while it's naked and helpless.

** Rot Cultists worship the Scarlet Rot, a singularly ''nasty'' pathogen that attacks both the mind and body, killing people if they're lucky and mutating them into monsters with no trace of the human they were if they aren't. They worship the demigod Malenia by spreading Scarlet Rot- [[StopWorshipingMe entirely against Malenia's will]], mind you, as she was born with Scarlet Rot and has fought it all her life.