History TearJerker / EldenRing

* Queen Marika. Given how venerated, beloved and feared she was by the majority of the Lands Between, to see the state she is reduced to by trying to buck the fate that was bestowed upon her is horrifying to behold, all because she no longer (if ever) wanted the godhood she never asked for. She vehemently tried to fight against the order that she is ostensibly in charge of, thus one must wonder how much of Queen Marika's reign as a "god in truth" was on Marika herself. Her plan to free herself from the Golden Order and the Greater Will go back at least as far as the end of the war with the Fire Giants, if cut dialogue from Godfrey is to be believed, and she had several contingencies in place to try to ensure it came to fruition (her demigod children and the Tarnished, to name two), indicating her godhood was a burden on her. Even for all of her planning, though, the [[BigBad Elden Beast]] still managed to catch wind of her intent to defy it and had to take a personal approach to punishing Marika; first by imprisoning her within the Erdtree, then ''crucifying her on a Rune Arc'' and ''impaling her on a shard of runic matter'' in a manner none too dissimilar to the Crucifixion of Christ, and [[FridgeHorror we have no idea how long she has been tortured for]]. In the process, her children ended up cursed, dead or worse, the world fell to ruin, and entire species were wiped out by the Greater Will's command over her, forcing her to carry out wars and violence for its impossible strive for "perfection" and "order" at any cost, even the people she loved. And in the end, all of it would be for naught, because the Elden Ring is either restored or Marika dies before she can ever see her freedom.

* The life of an Omen is a sad one. Omens are mutated, ogre-like creatures that are occasionally born in the Lands Between to normal parents. Considered bad luck to keep around, most Omens have their horns cut off as newborns, usually resulting in death, and those few who survive are sent into the sewers (literally called the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds) to be kept out of sight forever. What's worse is that anyone, even ''gods'', can birth an Omen, and that no matter their status they are mistreated and considered cursed. Morgott is one such Omen, and though he is loved by the royal capital, he too is bitter and incensed at his treatment.

A common player message at certain plot points is "sadness ahead" and "Why is it always sadness?" There's plenty of reasons why.

** Even what the Frenzied Flame represents is tragic. You might expect it to represent pure destruction or chaos incarnate. It isn't. Instead, it's the representation of a philosophy; in particular, it's Efilism, the belief which assigns a negative moral value to birth and life. The Frenzied Flame is the god of those who have suffered so much that they have come to believe that existence itself was a mistake. It's the very embodiment of the idea that life is not worth living, that the suffering and pain outweighs any positives, and that it would be better if all things simply ceased to be. Hyetta's own words actually paraphrase the core belief of Efilism.

* Queen Marika. Given how venerated, beloved and feared she was by the majority of the Lands Between, to see the state she is reduced to by trying to buck the fate that was bestowed upon her is horrifying to behold, all because she no longer (if ever) wanted the godhood she never asked for. She vehemently tried to fight against the order that she is ostensibly in charge of, thus one must wonder how much of Queen Marika's reign as a "god in truth" was on Marika herself. Her plan to free herself from the Golden Order and the Greater Will go back at least as far as the end of the war with the Fire Giants, if cut dialogue from Godfrey is to be believed, and she had several contingencies in place to try to ensure it came to fruition (her demigod children and the Tarnished, to name two), indicating her godhood was a burden on her. Even for all of her planning, though, the [[BigBad Elden Beast]] still managed to catch wind of her intent to defy it and had to take a personal approach to punishing Marika; first by imprisoning her within the Erdtree, then ''crucifying her on a Rune Arc'' and ''impaling her on a shard of runic matter'' in a manner none too dissimilar to the Crucifixion of Christ, and [[FridgeHorror we have no idea how long she has been tortured for]]. In the process, her children ended up cursed, dead or worse, the world fell to ruin. And in the end, all of it would be for naught, because the Elden Ring is either restored or Marika dies before she can ever see her freedom.

* Queen Marika. Given how venerated, beloved and feared she was by the majority of the Lands Between, to see the state she is reduced to by trying to buck the fate that was bestowed upon her is horrifying to behold, all because she no longer (if ever) wanted the godhood she never asked for. She vehemently tried to fight against the order that she is ostensibly in charge of, thus one must wonder how much of Queen Marika's reign as a "god in truth" was on Marika herself. Her plan to free herself from the Golden Order and the Greater Will go back at least as far as the end of the war with the Fire Giants, if cut dialogue from Godfrey is to be believed, and she had several contingencies in place to try to ensure it came to fruition (her demigod children and the Tarnished, to name two), indicating her godhood was a burden on her. Even for all of her planning, though, the [[BigBad Elden Beast]] still managed to catch wind of her intent to defy it and had to take a personal approach to punishing Marika; first by imprisoning her within the Erdtree, then ''crucifying her on a Rune Arc'' and ''impaling her on a shard of runic matter'' in a manner none too dissimilar to the Crucifixion of Christ, and [[FridgeHorror we have no idea how long she has been tortured for]]. In the process, her children ended up cursed, dead or worse, the world fell to ruin, and entire species were wiped out by the Greater Will's command over her, forcing her to carry out wars and violence for its impossible strive for "perfection" and "order" at any cost, even the people she loved. And in the end, all of it would be for naught, because the Elden Ring is either restored or Marika dies before she can ever see her freedom.

** The Omens' situation is even sadder after finding item lore such as that of the Protection of the Erdtree incantation ("In the beginning, everything was in opposition to the Erdtree. But through countless victories in war, it became the embodiment of Order.") and that of the Crucible Knight sets. It is revealed that the Erdtree supplanted the primordial crucible that originally governed life in the Lands Between. Horns were one of the signs of this crucible's divinity. The Omen's horns are not a curse at all, but simply one of the last remains of the Lands Between's previous divine order. It's supposed to be a ''blessing''. But the Golden Order persecutes the Omens for it because they're evidence that the Erdtree isn't the native order of the land.

** Even what the Frenzied Flame represents is tragic. You might expect it to represent pure destruction or chaos incarnate. It isn't. Instead, it's the representation of a philosophy; in particular, it's antinatalism, the belief which assigns a negative moral value to birth. The Frenzied Flame is the god of those who have suffered so much that they have come to believe that existence itself was a mistake. It's the very embodiment of the idea that life is not worth living, that the suffering and pain outweighs any positives, and that it would be better if all things simply ceased to be. Hyetta's own words actually paraphrase the core belief of antinatalism.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[DueToTheDead It's been a long while, Morgott...]]"]]''

* Malenia has quite possibly [[BeyondTheImpossible the most tragic story of any character in a From Software game]]. A gifted and noble prodigy, in a normal world Malenia would have been a great hero with few troubles. But by a cruel twist of fate, she was cursed from birth as the vessel of the Scarlet Rot, meaning she was both afflicted with a horrific flesh-eating disease and designated as the proxy of the malignant outer god who created it. Not even the Erdtree knew of any cure for it; she simply had to make do. From the moment she exited the womb, the outer god of Rot progressively chipped away at Malenia's body and mind, rendering her a diseased amputee since childhood and constantly sapping her will. [[HeroicWillpower Yet against all odds,]] Malenia's mind held and she prospered, not only as a loving sister to Miquella and Godwyn, but as a virtuous and intelligent motivater to the Lands Between in its darkest hour. While anyone else infected by the Rot degenerated into a beast or puppet near-instantly, Malenia kept it contained within her for her entire ([[ResurrectiveImmortality first]]) life, in spite of the fact that giving in at any point would grant her true godhood. Not only that, she worked past her physical disability[[note]]Bare minimum she's been missing her right arm since she as a teenager, judging by her depiction on the Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom.[[/note]] to become quite possibly [[WorldsGreatestWarrior the greatest warrior in the Lands Between]] and a [[MagneticHero revered champion of the downtrodden outcasts of the Haligtree.]] She went so far as to reject a second chance at godhood as an Empyrean to devote herself totally to helping her brother Miquella, who returned her devotion in kind by dedicating his own life to curing her of her Rot. While the outer god kept trying to exert influence, Malenia continued to maintain superhuman mental discipline up to near the end of the Shattering, at which point she [[BodyHorror had lost three limbs and both of her eyes]] to her lifelong battle with the Rot. Alas, amidst her stalemated duel with Radahn,[[note]]Which quite possibly only happened in the first place because of her misguided attempt to rescue her missing brother, as the opening depicts Mohg kidnapping Miquella before this and the location of the Radahn-Malenia duel happens to be ''right'' above Mohg's throne room.[[/note]] she lost control of the Rot for the first time in her life, either unable or unwilling to hold it back anymore. The result was an outbreak that [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom destroyed an entire fiefdom rather than just the guy she wanted to kill]], rendered her comatose, killed many of her loyal soldiers, and gave the Rot more power. And in the end it was AllForNothing; Mohg still had Miquella, and without Miquella both the Haligtree and Malenia herself were doomed. By the time the Tarnished awakes she's spent the recent years passed out next to her brother's former throne at the base of the Haligtree, hoping in vain to see him again. She's seemingly resigned to [[DrivenToSuicide rot into nothingness]] if he can't return.

* The Lord of Frenzied Flame is pretty depressing when you see what pursuing this ending does to your relationship with Melina. Melina warns you against seeking out the Three Fingers, saying nothing good will ever come from the Flames of Frenzy and advises you keep on your current path. The problem is that, if you pursue certain questlines, the Tarnished will learn that in order to become Elden Lord, Melina will have to sacrifice herself to open the way forward. In that sense, one might believe (and in some cases this is even other players' motivations for choosing this ending) that the Tarnished accepts the Flames of Frenzy to save Melina. She either isn't aware or doesn't appreciate the gesture, as when you interact with her after accepting the Frenzied Flame, she swears to one day kill you. To reiterate, the girl who's helped you every step of the way has just become your sworn enemy. So tell me, Tarnished, was it worth it?
** It's worse than that. If you talked to her after talking to Shabriri, she tells you that while it was her mother's orders to do so, she is sacrificing herself for her own reasons and won't let anyone take that away from her. In other words by becoming the Lord of Chaos to save her, you're trampling on her feelings, resolve, purpose and betraying her trust. No wonder she wants to kill you afterwards.

** Even what the Frenzied Flame represent is tragic. You might expect it to represent pure destruction or chaos incarnate. It isn't. Instead it's the representation of a philosophy, in particular it's antinatalism, the belief which assigns a negative moral value to birth. The Frenzied Flame is the god of those who have suffered so much that they have come to believe that existence itself was a mistake. It's the very embodiment of the idea that life is not worth living, that the suffering and pain outweighs any positives, and that it would be better if all things simply ceased to be. Hyetta's own words actually paraphrase the core belief of antinatalism.

** Even if the player (and by extension the Tarnished) personally don't agree life isn't worth living, it shows that the Frenzied Flame's minions aren't pure evil like the [[CardCarryingVillain Dung Eater]] or even just power hungry like [[SerialKiller Volcano Manor]], but many of them are actually trying to stop the suffering in [[CrapsackWorld The Lands Between]]... just in a way sane people would find abhorrent.

* Halfway through the boss fight with the Fire Giant, a cutscene plays in which his leg gruesomely snaps in two while he screams in agony. It's difficult to watch, and it's clear that the Fire Giant has still maintained his capacity to feel pain and emotion despite his many years of isolation on top of the mountain. For the remainder of the boss fight he's left on his knees, desperately crawling at the Tarnished and using fire attacks. In addition, leading up to his boss fight, you encounter DOZENS of corpses belonging to Giants slain in the war. This poor Fire Giant was left alone and isolated on a mountain, surrounded by the corpses of his people, and would have stayed that way forever without the Tarnished's intervention.

* Right on the heels of the above, Crumbling Faram Azula, where the Tarnished finds themselves after the Erdtree is set ablaze, carries a somber, lonely tune. While it could be meant to convey the broken, decrepit nature of the place (and does so very well, mind), it also says a lot about what has just happened to you. Either a) Melina sacrificed herself to become kindling to burn the Erdtree or b) you did so yourself by accepting the Frenzied Flame, saving Melina but alienating her entirely in the process, even if [[spoiler:you go this route with Miquella's Needle in hand to cure yourself and cheat the Frenzied Flame soon after]]. No matter what, you have lost your constant companion, who left your side for a brief time only to realize the Erdtree was rejecting everyone and the Two-Fingers have effectively abandoned the Tarnished, leading to the current situation. The music as you explore one of the last legs of the game in search of Maliketh perfectly conveys just how completely ''alone'' you are in the final stages of your journey...

** Master Hewg he starts off the game as a jaded grump who thinks you've died the second you're out of his sight. He has no faith in you completing your quest at first, but slowly over the course of the game he truly comes to believe in you, and does his best at his mission to make a godslaying weapon. However, as you set the Erdtree ablaze, he starts losing his memories, the bonds he's formed with you and Roderika, and his sense of identity, only retaining the knowledge that he's a blacksmith. In the end you slay the Elden Beast, avatar of the Golden Order, with a weapon of his making but he'll never know. By the time that happens he's lost himself completely. If you talk to him before he completely loses his memories one of the last things he does is telling you to take care of Roderika. You can hear how much he's struggling just to get the words out, but the real heartwrencher is his last words to you personally.

* Rya/Zorayas is initially shown to be shockingly well-adjusted considering she's the adopted daughter of [[UnholyMatrimony Rykard and Tanith]], but her sidequest spirals into depressing territory fairly quickly. An intrepid Tarnished can discover the secret Prison Town hidden within the Volcano Manor - if Zorayas is confronted about this, they can tell her about the terrible things Tanith [[LockedOutOfTheLoop kept hidden from her]], and more than that, they can present her the very amnion from which she was born. Zorayas goes to investigate matters herself, only to discover she was born of an unholy intercourse between a woman and a snake. Zorayas is completely broken by this revelation and genuinely doesn't understand why Tanith could love someone like her; the next time the two of you meet, she directly begs you for death. From here, there are three endings to the quest, one being surprisingly positive, but as for the other two:

* Both endings of Sorceress Sellen's storyline. Either she is betrayed to her ArchEnemy by her beloved apprentice, or she finally achieves her lifelong goal, only to suddenly be transformed into a near-mindless abomination that can't even be granted the peace of death. While its hard to deny she wasn't a good person (since she readily admits to her various crimes), the fact that she was [[AffablyEvil one of the most genuinely friendly and supportive characters in the game]] makes it sting more than it should.
* In Jarburg, there's a chance you can come across Jar-Bairn sleeping - and having a nightmare about Jar Poachers. The normally cheerful jar sounds absolutely distraught. [[spoiler: And even worse, it can later happen for real in Diallos's questline.]]

* The state one finds Sir Gideon Ofnir in after unshackling Destined Death is one of the most pitiable sights in the game. Throughout your entire journey Sir Gideon has been a constant, a font of knowledge and wisdom about the demigods and your duty as a Tarnished. By the point where you burn the Erdtree he has likely given you a few spells and tools as thanks for giving him knowledge that he did not have, and while he is by no means a good person for what he did to the Village of the Albinaurics and his treatment of Nepheli Loux, he has been the only other Tarnished of the Hold determined to stand before the Elden Ring and become Elden Lord. After Destined Death is unshackled though, Sir Gideon learns the true nature of Queen Marika and her intentions for the Tarnished and it '''breaks''' him. Upon encountering him in the Erdtree Sanctuary in the Ashen Capital, he has crossed the DespairEventHorizon and is now standing before ''you'', determined to prevent you from succeeding at the goal that he himself had been championing from the moment you crossed the threshold of the Roundtable Hold. To see the All-Knowing falter and lose his resolve so close to the finish line because he learned a truth too great for even ''himself'' to reckon with is crushing, and then being forced to kill the one man who you truly shared a goal with throughout the entire game is rending to the soul, made even worse by his final words to you.

* The plight of Radahn is a sad one. Despite his FaceOfAThug, Radahn was once among the most beloved demigods, AFatherToHisMen and a great warrior famed across the lands, it was said that he learned gravity magic solely so that he could keep riding his weak, scrawny horse that he had since childhood after he outgrew it, since he loved it so much. When the Shattering began, Radahn clashed with his sister Malenia, the only one who could hope to match him in skill, but they were locked in a stalemate until Malenia, infected by the horrid Scarlet Rot, spread it to her brother. Over the ensuing years, the rot claimed Radahn's mind until the great and kind demigod was nothing but an animal feasting on corpses in the desert. Unable to see their beloved leader suffer such, his soldiers arranged a festival, calling all the greatest champions to see if any could finally put Radahn out of his misery. One is reminded of a line from [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} a certain hunter.]]

** To make it even more tragic, the entire CivilWar has been AllForNothing. Any recorded battles fought were either a stalemate (Radahn vs. Malenia) or the victories were utterly pyrrhic in nature (Morgott vs. Rykard), and thus, no one was even one step closer to a meaningful victory. Not a single demigod was even able to gain a significant foothold in the entire war, and all it came out of it were lives lost, destroyed architecture, and the demigods either being deceased, gone insane, indisposed or are too stubborn to change the status quo. "A war from which no lord arose" indeed.

** Even what the Frenzied Flame represent is tragic. You might expect it to represent pure destruction or chaos incarnate. It isn't. Instead it's the representation of a philosophy, in particular it's antinatalism, the belief which asigns a negative moral value to birth. The Frenzied Flame is the god of those who have suffered so much that they have come to believe that existence itself was a mistake. It's the very embodiment of the idea that life is not worth living, that the suffering and pain outweighs any positives, and that it would be better if all things simply ceased to be. Hyetta's own words actually paraphrase the core belief of antinatalism.

** Want to feel even ''worse?'' Blaidd and Iji's fates are YOUR fault. Ranni was insistent that she must walk this path of hers alone, and judging by her state in the Cathedral of Manus Celes when you find her after she has slain her Two Fingers, it's likely that she knew the task would essentially kill her. Blaidd does not go insane until the player puts the ring on Ranni's finger, meaning that her whole goal this time was simply to break herself free of the Two Fingers' control, as she likely had concluded that attaining the Elden Ring on her own was an impossible task. In reviving her and becoming her consort, the player has given Ranni the possibility of attaining the Elden Ring, making her a direct threat to the Greater Will's rule, and causing the Two Fingers to intensify their directive for Blaidd to kill her, driving him insane and possibly sending the Black Knife assassins after both him and Iji in retaliation.

* When you strip away all the battles and glory and destruction, the [[CivilWar Shattering]] is ultimately a family feud. The demigods are siblings, family that must at one point have held some love for each other. With the disappearance of their mother Marika and the murder of beloved sibling Godwyn, however, the survivors have all fallen to the hunger for power and are now naught but petty tyrants and beasts. With Malenia and Radahn, you can even see that they both take after their father's red hair, but the Shattering turned what could have been BashSiblings into rivals with no desire except to murder the other. Who each of them once was has long since been changed or gone away, and the loss of those relationships and their own humanity is nothing short of haunting as circumstances outside of their control ripped them away from each other or permanently altered them, making them unrecognizable from their former selves and despite their shared history, they never get to each other again before their deaths.

* When you strip away all the battles and glory and destruction, the [[CivilWar Shattering]] is ultimately a family feud. The demigods are siblings, family that must at one point have held some love for each other. With the disappearance of their mother Marika and the murder of beloved sibling Godwyn, however, the survivors have all fallen to the hunger for power and are now naught but petty tyrants and beasts. With Malenia and Radahn, you can even see that they both take after their father's red hair, but the Shattering turned what could have been BashSiblings into rivals with no desire except to murder the other. Who each of them once was has long since been changed or gone away, and the loss of those relationships and their own humanity is nothing short of haunting as circumstances outside of their control ripped them away from each other or permanently altered them, making them unrecognizable from their former selves. Despite their shared history, they never get to each other again before their deaths.

* When you strip away all the battles and glory and destruction, the [[CivilWar Shattering]] is ultimately a family feud. The demigods are siblings, family that must at one point have held some love for each other. With the disappearance of their mother Marika and the murder of beloved sibling Godwyn, however, the survivors have all fallen to the hunger for power and are now naught but petty tyrants and beasts. With Malenia and Radahn, you can even see that they both take after their father's red hair, but the Shattering turned what could have been BashSiblings into rivals with no desire except to murder the other. Who each of them once was has long since been changed or gone away, and the loss of those relationships and their own humanity is nothing short of haunting, as circumstances out of their control ripped them away from each other or permanently altered them, unrecognizable from their former selves, and despite their shared history they never get to each other again before their deaths.

* When you strip away all the battles and glory and destruction, the [[CivilWar Shattering]] is ultimately a family feud. The demigods are siblings, family that must at one point have held some love for each other. With the disappearance of their mother Marika and the murder of beloved sibling Godwyn, however, the survivors have all fallen to the hunger for power and are now naught but petty tyrants and beasts. With Malenia and Radahn, you can even see that they both take after their father's red hair, but the Shattering turned what could have been BashSiblings into rivals with no desire except to murder the other. Who each of them once was has long since been changed or gone away, and the loss of those relationships and their own humanity is nothing short of haunting. Through circumstances out of their control, they were ripped away from each other or permanently altered, unrecognizable from their former selves, and they never get to each other again before their deaths despite the history they share and their love.

* When you strip away all the battles and glory and destruction, the [[CivilWar Shattering]] is ultimately a family feud. The demigods are siblings, family that must at one point have held some love for each other. With the disappearance of their mother Marika and the murder of beloved sibling Godwyn, however, the survivors have all fallen to the hunger for power and are now naught but petty tyrants and beasts. With Malenia and Radahn, you can even see that they both take after their father's red hair, but the Shattering turned what could have been BashSiblings into rivals with no desire except to murder the other. Who each of them once was has long since been changed or gone away, and the loss of those relationships and their own humanity is nothing short of haunting. Through circumstances out of their control, they were ripped away from each other or permanently altered, unrecognizable from their former selves, and they never get to each other again before their deaths despite their love for each other, and the history they once shared.
* Godwyn's murder is nothing short of tragic. His death led to the Shattering in the first place, and the more that is learned about what kind of person he was, the more heartbreaking it becomes. The most cherished demigod in his time, Godwyn not only spared the Dragons from the usual terrible fate of those who lost to the Golden Order, but also gave them a place in it, forging a lifelong friendship with Fortissax that made them close companions and allies. Unlike his biological siblings, he had a very tender and supporting relationship with half-siblings Miquella and Malenia, and it is likely from being a kind and supportive big brother to them that they grew to be as wise and empathetic as he was, [[DueToTheDead carrying on his legacy]] as just and heartfelt inspirers who put forth the needs of others above themselves, all in spite of their disabilities. By the events of the game, when all other demigods became horrific abnormalities or overtaken by disfiguring curses (willingly or otherwise), Godwyn was the only one who remained as stunning as he was benevolent in his lifetime, a visage of beauty with [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold long shining gold hair]], handsome chiseled features, and a muscular athletic physique befitting of his status as an attractive warrior. To see him horrifically mutilated and corroded by the Rune of Death and the Black Night Assassins who violated him is itself a perversion of the traditional hero's tale, stripping Godwyn from ever being someone's PrinceCharming and the best ruler the Lands Between ever had, in the most brutal and violent way. He didn't remotely deserve the horrible death he endured or the indignity of what the half of the Curse-mark of Death did to his remains. Worst of all, his [[DeaderThanDead soul is destroyed]]. [[DeathOfPersonality Everything that made him who he was, the way he loved others, his personality, his honor and gallantry, is completely erased, the person he was gone as if he never even existed in the first place]], and there is [[FateWorseThandeath nothing that can be done to bring him back]]. The Order he fought for has crumbled to nothing, the family he loved is in shambles or deceased, never to reunite with him, and his soulless corpse has become a blight on the entire Lands Between, cursing people with an illness Godwyn never would have subjected anyone to when he was alive. All that remains of him, and the person he once was, is his golden hair hanging loose and limp from the corpse of what was once a beautiful soul, [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth who gave everything he had to a world that gave him nothing in return, and he cannot even find peace in the next life. He is simply gone]].

* Queen Marika. Given how venerated, beloved and feared she was by the majority of the Lands Between, to see the state she is reduced to by trying to buck the fate that was bestowed upon her is horrifying to behold, all because she no longer (if ever) wanted the godhood she never asked for. She vehemently tried to fight against the order that she is ostensibly in charge of, thus one must wonder how much of Queen Marika's reign as a "god in truth" was on Marika herself. Her plan to free herself from the Golden Order and the Greater Will go back at least as far as the end of the war with the Fire Giants, if cut dialogue from Godfrey is to be believed, and she had several contingencies in place to try to ensure it came to fruition (her demigod children and the Tarnished, to name two), indicating her godhood was a burden on her. Even for all of her planning, though, the [[BigBad Elden Beast]] still managed to catch wind of her intent to defy it and had to take a personal approach to punishing Marika; first by imprisoning her within the Erdtree, then ''crucifying her on a Rune Arc'' and ''impaling her on a shard of runic matter'' in a manner none too dissimilar to the Crucifixion of Christ, and [[FridgeHorror we have no idea how long she has been tortured for]]. In the process, her children ended up cursed, dead or worse, the world fell to ruin, and entire species were wiped out by the Greater Will's command over her, forcing her to carry out wars and violence for its impossible strive for "perfection" and "order" at any cost, even the people she loved. And in the end, all of it would be for naught, because the Elden Ring is either restored or Marika dies before she can see her freedom.

* When you strip away all the battles and glory and destruction, the [[CivilWar Shattering]] is ultimately a family feud. The demigods are siblings, family that must at one point have held some love for each other. With the disappearance of their mother Marika and the murder of beloved sibling Godwyn, however, the survivors have all fallen to the hunger for power and are now naught but petty tyrants and beasts. With Malenia and Radahn, you can even see that they both take after their father's red hair, but the Shattering turned what could have been BashSiblings into rivals with no desire except to murder the other. Who each of them once was has long since been changed or gone away, and the loss of those relationships to each other and their humanity is nothing short of haunting. Through circumstances out of their control, they were ripped away from each other or permanently altered, unrecognizable from their former selves, and they never get to each other again before their deaths despite their former love for each other.

* When you strip away all the battles and glory and destruction, the [[CivilWar Shattering]] is ultimately a family feud. The demigods are siblings, family that must at one point have held some love for each other. With the disappearance of their mother Marika and the murder of beloved sibling Godwyn, however, the survivors have all fallen to the hunger for power and are now naught but petty tyrants and beasts. With Malenia and Radahn, you can even see that they both take after their father's red hair, but the Shattering turned what could have been BashSiblings into rivals with no desire except to murder the other. The history the family used to share has long since been broken, and they never reunite, come together or heal. Who each of them once was has long since gone away, and the loss of those relationships to each other and their humanity is nothing short of haunting, because it is evident they used to look after each other but, through circumstances out of their control, were ripped away from each other or permanently changed, unrecognizable from their former selves, and some members of the family never get to see each other again before their deaths.

* When you strip away all the battles and glory and destruction, the [[CivilWar Shattering]] is ultimately a family feud. The demigods are siblings, family that must at one point have held some love for each other. With the disappearance of their mother Marika and the murder of beloved sibling Godwyn, however, the survivors have all fallen to the hunger for power and are now naught but petty tyrants and beasts. With Malenia and Radahn, you can even see that they both take after their father's red hair, but the Shattering turned what could have been BashSiblings into monsters with no desire except to murder the other.

--> '''Sir Gideon Ofnir, The All-Knowing:''' Ah, I knew you'd come... to stand before the Elden Ring, to become Elden Lord. I commend your spirit, but alas, none shall take the throne. Queen Marika has high hopes for us. That we continue to struggle. [[ForeverWar Unto Eternity.]]