The Tarnished

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eldenringclasses.png

Rise, Tarnished... in search of the Elden Ring...^note

Voiced by: ^(English)

A Tarnished of no renown.
Cross the fog, to the Lands Between.
To stand before the Elden Ring.
And become the Elden Lord.

The Player Character and a member of the Tarnished, a group of exiles and their descendants who were stripped of the golden grace of the Erdtree and banished from the Lands Between long ago. However, with the shattering of the Elden Ring, grace has once again blessed some of these Tarnished with Resurrective Immortality and drawn them back to the Lands Between to forge the Elden Ring anew.

open/close all folders

A-F

Action Survivor: Zig-zagged. Par for the course in a Soulsborne game, the Tarnished is at the bottom of the totem pole and has to claw their way up against insurmountable odds. However, several of the backgrounds indicate that they are a skilled warrior, such as the Vagabond, Samurai, Warrior, and Hero. Others, like the Astrologer, Prisoner, and Prophet, indicate that they aren't very experienced in battle and have to learn how to fight. The most extreme case is the Wretch, who starts with nothing but a club and their underwear.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Played for Laughs. During one fight with Patches, he will say he'll spare the Tarnished if they grovel. Sure enough, the game actually gives the player the option to beg for mercy, and if they do Patches will keep his word and stop attacking.
Ambiguously Related: To Godfrey. There are several hints that indicate that the Tarnished is a direct descendant of his, though it's never confirmed. It's worth mentioning that the Tarnished seen in trailers, promotional art, and on the box cover happens to have white hair like Godfrey's.
Ambition Is Evil: Zigzagged. About the only explicit detail the game gives you about your character's motivation is their indomitable ambition to reforge the Elden Ring and become the new Elden Lord, which is treated as a heroic goal. However, most other beings in the Lands Between see the "flame of ambition" that the Tarnished carries with them as a negative thing since it drives you to go against the established order of the world. While ambition isn't necessarily evil to you, to everyone else it is. In addition, this trope can be played entirely straight if you become Lord of the Frenzied Flame, in which case your character's thirst for power causes them to become a force of destruction that burns down the entire world.
An Adventurer Is You: Downplayed — your starting class determines your initial equipment and stats, but it doesn't restrict what you can use in the long run. Given enough time and with the right stats, any player can use any piece of equipment or spell.
The Antichrist: If they don't heed Melina's warning about not messing with the Three Fingers and the Frenzied Flame and opens their prison, they will be branded by the Three Fingers as the chosen one of the Outer God of the Flame of Frenzy. Once you've beaten the final boss and are inside the Erdtree, Elden Ring at hand's reach, the Tarnished's head will fall off and be replaced with a glowing orb of Frenzied Flame, and from within the now burned-out husk of the tree they'll begin purging all life in the world. Unless you do a very specific, cryptic and out of the way sidequest to complete Miquella's Needle, going this path will lock you out of any other ending; your Tarnished is doomed to become the Lord of Chaos.
Anti Anti Christ: If they follow the Miquella's Needle sidequest after inheriting the Frenzied Flame, they can purge the Outer God's influence from their body and screw the Three Fingers and their eldritch master out of their Lord of Chaos - and since the Three Fingers dissapeared after granting its power to the Tarnished, it's implied the Tarnished has essentially become the living seal of one of the most malevolent entities in the setting. Mind you, this still won't mend your unrepairable relation with Melina, who will never come back should the Tarnished free the Three Fingers in the first place, but it will allow the player to not be locked out of the other endings.
Anti-Hero: Your quest may be to bring stability back to a fallen world, but you will likely commit several questionable acts to get there, such as killing non-malevolent demigods and monsters, partaking in assassinations to gain an audience with one such demigod, and even commit a cardinal sin by burning down the Erdtree (unless you see this as a case of Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!). What type of Anti-Hero you are depends on your actions. This shifts into Villain Protagonist territory if you choose to help the Dung Eater or become the Lord of Frenzied Flame.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: The Tarnished has a bit of a problem with actually following through on their victories. Several mid-fight cutscenes have them poised to kill their target, only to get distracted by something happening elsewhere, initiating the second phase of the battle.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Your quest to become Elden Lord will inevitably result in besting all of the greatest warriors in the Lands Between.
Back from the Dead: The opening cutscene shows them lying dead in a sarcophagus before a spark of Grace from the Erdtree resurrects them.
Bad Powers, Good People: There's nothing to stop a player Tarnished from using evil forms of magic, explicitly tied to malevolent forces (Frenzied Flame Incantations, Destined Death, Blackflame, Giantsflame, etc), while still serving the Golden Order or any of the other somewhat good endings.
Body Motifs: There is an emphasis on the Tarnished's hands. In the intro, the grace falls on their hand and Torrent also touches it when it finds the Tarnished dead. Both Hyetta and Jar-Bairn comment on the Tarnished's hands being rough and firm compared to the other hands they felt or sought. It contrasts with other characters who use schemes and proxies to get to the Elden Ring while the Tarnished throw hands with everything and everyone.
Breaking Old Trends: Heavily downplayed. Like other Souslike protagonists in a FromSoftware game, the Tarnished doesn't speak outside of grunts and cries of pain. On the other hand, they are not a Silent Protagonist as they can speak using specific gestures such as 'Wave'.
Came Back Strong: Invoked. According to Melina's reciting of Marika's words, the Tarnished warriors who traveled with Lord Godfrey were intended to fight, live, become stronger, and die. Then Marika would revive them and bring them back to the Lands Between to fight and acquire the Elden Ring.
The Champion: A lot of characters see the Tarnished as the next Elden Lord and bet according to it. Torrent being the first, but as the Tarnished collects Great Runes most believe they are destined to it.
Charles Atlas Superpower: Even before gaining Super-Empowering, a starting Tarnished will perform blatantly superhuman feats of speed, strength, and durability as a matter of course, apparently just because they're a trained warrior (even if their specialty is non-physical). This appears to be standard in the Elden Ring setting as even the basic Lordsworn Soldiers of the various factions are low-level superhumans,^note though it should be noted that a starter Tarnished is still both mechanically and narratively far enough above them that one constitutes a joke and Zero-Effort Boss in the tutorial. Their ability to parry enemies is also not tied to their Strength stat, so you can have your scrawny sorcerer knock back the strike of a massive glaive with enough force to launch a ten-foot armored knight off his elephant-sized horse before stabbing right through said knight's incredibly thick breastplate with a dagger.
The Chosen One: Well, one of. The Player Character is just one of the many Tarnished guided by grace to become the new Elden Lord. As the story progresses, they're the closest to achieving this goal once they've acquired the necessary Great Runes to reforge the Elden Ring. Even certain NPCs they've met and befriended such as Boc or Sellen believe the Tarnished PC will be Elden Lord.
Combat Pragmatist: One way the Tarnished deals with their enemies. Why fight your opponents head-on when you can inflict them with poison, death, or Scarlet Rot? This can also apply for their reasons in joining the recusants, since they're the only ones who know anything about where to find Rykard. The existence of the Spirit Ash system also lets the Tarnished summon disposable minions against bosses, including other minibosses or a direct clone of themselves, a level of cheapness that previous protagonists could never reach. A lot of the main bosses also have specific in-universe cheese strategies to beat them^note that the player is encouraged to exploit. With how much stronger and faster the bosses are than in previous games, the Tarnished needs every advantage they can find.
Cutscene Incompetence: During certain major fights, the Tarnished just stands there if a cutscene occurs mid-fight. For instance, against Godrick, they do nothing as he cuts off his own arm and replaces it with a dragon's head. Subverted a bit during the Rennala fight, as you see the Tarnished approaching her as she lies on the ground after finishing phase 1, but the appearance of Ranni's magic clearly takes them off guard and they become more focused on it than her.
Dark and Troubled Past: Almost all of the backgrounds imply that your character has been put through absolute hell even before coming to the Lands Between. Special mention goes to the Prophet and Prisoner backgrounds, in which your character explicitly starts off as a social pariah who has been thrown out of their homeland, with your starting armor including manacles and a blindfold for the Prophet, and a very uncomfortable-looking iron mask for the Prisoner.
Deity of Human Origin: Or some variation of "human" if choosing backgrounds such as dragonkin, nightfolk, or numen. Every playthrough ends with the Tarnished becoming a god (or goddess) of some sort. The Elden Lord and Age of the Stars endings cement this for the Tarnished once they are wed to Marika or Ranni, much like Godfrey and Radagon before them. There's also the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending where the Tarnished becomes a Humanoid Abomination made of Frenzied Flame and ends the world.
Defeating the Undefeatable: Malenia is the best warrior of the setting bar none, with the closest she ever got to being defeated was her duel with General Radahn (that ended in a draw). Gideon first introduces her as "the undefeated swordswoman". But the Tarnished can push her to invoke the Rot again out of desperation and then defeat her at the very height of her power. Her death quote has her apologize to her missing brother and stating she finally met her match. Also killing the Elden Beast, which Gideon went mad at the thought of doing it since killing a god can't be done by mortals, counts as such.
Determinator: Unlike most other Tarnished who were discouraged from being defeated by the dangers in the Lands Between, the player's character has the ambition and drive to claim the title of Elden Lord no matter what challenges stand in their path, regardless of how many times they must die along the way. That determination is implied to be the only reason that they retain their Grace while nearly all other Tarnished have explicitly lost theirs.
- Taken to extremes after the fight with Morgott, whereupon you find out that the Erdtree, and by extension the Greater Will itself, are denying you from becoming Elden Lord. Your solution? Set the Erdtree on fire, travel to a place beyond time, kill this universe’s equivalent to the Grim Reaper in order to gain entry to the Erdtree, and finally kill the spirit of the Erdtree itself in order to repair the Elden Ring.
Did Not Get the Girl: Though most of the endings have them becoming part of a sort of divine Arranged Marriage with either Marika or Ranni, a potentially Perfectly Arranged Marriage in the latter's case, they spend far more time traveling and talking with Melina, who either performs a Heroic Sacrifice to burn open a path to the Elden Ring for them, or leaves them in disgust after they embrace the Frenzied Flame, even if they only did so to prevent her sacrifice and manage to purge it afterwards.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The Tarnished starts with the quest of killing the remaining Demigods in the Lands Between, and from then on kill all kinds of eldritch, demonic creatures along the way, culminating in the Final Boss: The Elden Beast, a divine being and the incarnation of Order that looks like if you twisted a supercluster into a vaguely draconic astral body.
Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: The Tarnished is capable of embracing the Frenzied Flame, which wants them to burn the entirety of the Lands Between to ash, using it to open a path to the center of the Erdtree, and disposing of it afterwards.
Difficult, but Awesome: Starting as the Wretch class. Like its Souls series predecessor the Deprived, the Wretch starts at Level 1, all stats are 10, and has no items or equipment besides a club and whatever you pick as your starting gift. The blank slate, however, allows players to mold the Tarnished into a terrifying force.
The Drifter: The Seafarer background imply this for the Tarnished, traveling across the seas and looking for their home in the Lands Between.
Drunk on the Dark Side: In the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending, the Tarnished strides around the burning Erdtree with their arms outstretched in exaltation, the only time your character ever expresses emotion through body language. The implication is that, having fully been possessed by the Flame of Frenzy, you're overwhelmed with joy and pride at the destruction your newfound power has unleashed.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: Zigzagged. When they first arrive at the Roundtable Hold, Gideon treats them coldly and states that they haven't become a proper member and considers them a "house guest". Even Godrick, when he kills them during his first phase, considers them unfit to graft. This mainly stems from other Tarnished who've come to the Roundtable Hold over the years all but giving up their intended purpose. Once they've obtained their first Great Rune, Gideon acts somewhat more amicably and points them in the direction of the other shardbearers. Other characters give the Tarnished a warmer reception, or at the very least give them a modicum of respect for their determination, such as Sorceress Sellen.
Evil Overlord: In two different flavors, no less.
- In the "Lord of Frenzied Flame" ending, the Tarnished becomes the Lord of Chaos — a Humanoid Abomination made of living fire, and reduces the Lands Between to a nightmarish hellscape.
- The Elden Lord ending variant "Blessing of Despair" sees the Tarnished willingly make the Loathsome Dung Eater's ideology into reality by repairing the Elden Ring with the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse, spreading the Seedbed Curse to everyone and preventing them and future generations from being reincarnated.
Experienced Protagonist: Some of the potential backgrounds and starting classes of the Tarnished imply this.
- A Warrior background Tarnished is described as having a common face, with the flavor text reading "they were all warriors once".
- The Reedlander background (and by extension the Samurai starting class) hails from the Land of Reeds, which is Elden Ring's version of a Sengoku-era Japan where "blood is a common sight" and supposedly filled with monsters and demons of all kinds. The description of the Land of Reeds armor even says the Land of Reeds has devolved into blood-soaked madness.
- The Seafarer background describes the Tarnished as being a drifter who wanders the seas in search of their home in the Lands Between.
- The Confessor starting class is a Tarnished that served as an agent to the Two Fingers, either sent to spy on potential threats or quietly eliminate any the Fingers deemed a threat to the Lands Between.
The Exile: Like all Tarnished, those who were exiled from the Lands Between due to having lost their connection to Grace (which basically means losing their connection to the Erdtree itself), they just so happened to have regained that connection and thus seek to return to the Lands Between and seek their birthright. Though ambition can lead to greater outcomes...
Expy: A Tarnished aligned with the Frenzied Flame of Chaos becomes this for Surtr, being a Humanoid Abomination Beast of the Apocalypse wreathed in primordial flame who burns down the World Tree and ravages the land with torrents of never-ending Hellfire.
Fallen Hero: As the Lord of Chaos, much to Melina's disappointment, as she had hoped the Tarnished would become the Elden Lord and bring prosperity and order back to the Lands Between.
Fantastic Racism: On the receiving end. The Player Character is just one of the many people in the Lands Between who lost the Erdtree's blessing and became one of the Tarnished, and is treated like dirt and looked upon because of it. That said, some characters still treat them with respect, or at the very least are willing to give them a chance to prove themselves.
Fantasy Character Classes: The starting classes, while not set in stone, dictate the preferred playstyle.
- The Vagabond is something of a Mighty Glacier, possessing the highest starting Vigor, decent weapons (a longsword and halberd), a full-damage reduction shield, and half-plate armor. Unfortunately, they start with a heavy equip load due to this.
- The Hero is something of a Lightning Bruiser, with the highest starting Strength and second-highest vitality. While not encumbered, sacrifices finesse and will struggle to use magic in general due to their low Intelligence and Faith.
- The Warrior is the first Fragile Speedster class. They have the highest Dexterity and come with a pair of scimitars but are garbed in blue robes topped with a leather breastplate.
- The Prisoner is a prison rags clad Magic Knight that begins play with an estoc, small shield, and a single sorcery spell in their repertoire.
- The Bandit is the second Fragile Speedster class, filling the role of the typical Rogue. They are equipped with a shortbow for quick long-ranged attacks and a dagger that trades power and reach for speed and a Bleed effect that deals a burst of damage once enough hits land. Their high Arcane means this class is more likely to get some desirable loot for later. They also possess the buckler, which has a very generous parrying window compared to other shields.
- The Prophet is the White Mage, though possesses decent strength and dexterity. They start with an offensive incantation and a support one. However, they have lighter starting armor compared to other classes, making them more susceptible to damage, and their low endurance makes it difficult to equip stronger armor without sacrificing maneuverability.
- The Wretch is a Master of None, with stats all at ten and starting level at one. They start with absolutely nothing besides a club, making them the hardest class to start with but the most malleable due to the extra levels allowing them to more easily move into different builds.
- The Samurai is the game's equivalent of a Ranger, their katana and longbow serving for a versatile start at both close combat and at range.
- The Confessor is a paladin with well-rounded stats, geared initially towards Faith. They start at the highest level of 10, have a weaker but quicker heal than the Prophet, and an incantation to make stealthy backstabs easier and falling down greater heights less painful, and come with a well-rounded sword and a full-damage reduction shield. However, the higher starting level gives them less room to adjust their build before level-ups start becoming more and more expensive.
- The Astrologer is the Black Mage, all about using sorcery to destroy enemies from afar. They're also Squishy Wizards to a fault.
From Nobody to Nightmare: The Tarnished is at the bottom of the barrel in terms of social class as far as the rest of the world and Marika's demigod children are concerned, yet they can rise to become the new Elden Lord and usher in a new age. If you want a straighter, exaggerated version, they go from lowly Tarnished to the Lord of Chaos, where they unleash the Frenzied Flame upon the world and scorch the Lands Between in unholy fire as part of their "crowning ceremony".

G-Z

Gameplay and Story Integration: The "guidance of grace" isn't just a fancy turn of phrase for some variant of a manifest destiny. The bonfire equivalent in this game are referred to as Sites of Grace, and the thin golden lines that some of them give off to show the critical path aren't able to be seen by every Tarnished; some like Rogier used to be able to see it but lost the ability, while others like Blackguard Big Boggart and Roderika were never able to see it despite being Tarnished. The player's ability to follow the critical path is woven into their nature as a Tarnished that can still see the guidance of grace.
Gameplay and Story Segregation:
- Very minor case. While in the lore your status as Tarnished is given away by you not having the gold eyes that mark one as graced by the Erdtree, in game it's perfectly possible to give your character gold eyes during character creation.
- According to the game's lore, anyone who uses Dragon Communing usually ends up either as flightless, pale imitations of dragons like the Magma Wyrms or become decrepit knockoffs like the Dragonkin Soldiers. The Tarnished can learn dozens of Dragon incantation spells and use them however they please with no negative side-effects at all.
Gay Option: An unusual use of the trope as there is only one (well, two technically) Romance Quest with Ranni being the only romanceable NPC, meaning your ability to have a gay romance or not depends entirely on what gender you choose during character creation before you even start the game.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Embracing the Three Fingers will give your eyes a permanent yellow glow unless you purge the Frenzied Flame with the Unalloyed Gold Needle.
God of Evil: While most of the game's endings are bittersweet at worst, if the player wishes they can go on a quest which ends with the Tarnished ascending as the Lord of Chaos and destroying the world.
Good Is Not Soft: Well, obviously, since the game revolves around you killing things or acting pragmatically to achieve your goals. Even the most heroic of Tarnished can side with Volcano Manor and become a recusant — if only so they may be granted audience with Praetor Rykard and take his great rune. Special mentions go to the Confessor starting class, whose armor description reveals they were an agent of the Two Fingers, serving as both their spies and personal hitmen.
Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The name of the Tarnished is chosen by the player at the start of the game. They will only ever be referred to by their title, however, as their name has been lost to time.
Heroic Mime: Averted, unlike in Soulsborne. Aside from the occasional cries of pain when suffering a powerful attack from an enemy, the Tarnished speaks in emotes.
Horseback Heroism: The Tarnished is bequeathed with a Spectral Steed called Torrent by Melina, enabling them to ride around the Lands Between on horseback, even dueling other mounted enemies.
Humanoid Abomination: As the Lord of Chaos/Frenzied Flame. After meeting with the Three Fingers and accepting their "blessing", the player's body essentially becomes an organic source of the power. Once Radagon and the Elden Beast are defeated, the Tarnished takes their true shape: their head is completely gone, replaced by an orb of flame with a black core that's burning everything around them. Your mere presence inside the Erdtree seems to trigger the Frenzied Flame, and kickstarts the apocalypse.
I Will Find You: After giving Ranni the Fingerslayer Blade, she will leave for parts unknown and states it's a path she must travel alone. Despite this, the Tarnished can seek her out. Ranni herself is rather flabbergasted by the fact the Tarnished would go to such lengths to find her, though given she gives them a key that opens a chest containing what is essentially a wedding ring, she's touched by the gesture.
Inexplicably Awesome: Among the innumerable Tarnished who have lost the guidance of Grace, why does this one still see it so clearly even as they turn against Greater Will and set the Erdtree aflame? It's possible that it was Marika rather than the Will that restored the Tarnished's Grace, yet the Tarnished can decide to become the host of the Frenzied Flame, an Outer God even worse then the Golden Order she opposes, without their Resurrective Immortality ever once faltering. The most likely explanation is simply that, in typical fashion for a From Software protagonist, the Tarnished just never gives up.
Informed Attribute: Many characters praise the Tarnished as a kind and charismatic person, yet, should the player will it, they can do some pretty horrible things. One such example being trying to give Nepheli Loux amber draught.
Kill the God: The Tarnished is expected to slay multiple Demigods on their journey. Finishing the game will require you to fight and kill Radagon and the Elden Beast, both of whom are fully fledged gods, and it is indicated that Marika's entire plan was for the Tarnished to kill them.
The Last DJ: The player Tarnished is noted to be a rare new face in the lands, and is pretty much the only remaining Tarnished still actively pursuing their quest to become Elden Lord (besides Gideon, who could be described as your senior in the Roundtable, and even he loses the will near the end, even actively trying to stop you). Other Tarnished long ago lost the power to see the guidance of Grace that points you towards your next destination, and are mostly concerned with doing their own thing. Some even scoff at the thought of a Tarnished becoming Elden Lord, claiming it to be impossible. But you determinedly carry on your task regardless. When it is revealed that the Erdtree itself is rejecting anyone from becoming the Elden Lord, your superiors, the Two Fingers, straight up abandon you. Despite this, you are undeterred, and set out to burn the Erdtree to complete your task of reaching the Elden Ring and reforming the entire world. Even if it means committing the greatest cardinal sin to the Golden Order.
Licked by the Dog: The plot gets kicked off when Torrent takes a liking to you, leading Melina to save you.
Lovable Coward: The Tarnished is perfectly capable, and in fact is encouraged, to simply run away from fights that may be a bit too high-level for them, but for the most part, they are held in considerable regard by those they help. They could just as easily be a Dirty Coward if their actions are more depraved and vile.
Magic Knight: While possible in all of From's Soulslike games, the Tarnished is especially suited to this fighting style due to the Spirit Ashes and Ashes of War systems. Even a pure Strength or Dexterity build (or Quality) will inevitably make use of them. The former lets you use magic to summon disposable spirit minions for a minor FP cost (and has no relation to your Intelligence or Faith skills), while the latter allows you to attach spells to weapons without meeting any of their skill requirements. A lot of these spells, like all the fire-based (Flame of the Redmanes, Flaming Strike, etc.) and storm-based ones (Storm Blade, Stormcaller, Storm Assault, etc.) scale directly to Strength or Dexterity instead of Intelligence or Faith, further encouraging this playstyle. Some of the Ash of War spells are considered straight-up better than their dedicated sorcery/incantation equivalents, albeit with the disadvantage that you can only have one Ash on a weapon at a time. This is even further encouraged for Faith builds, as one of the seals (Clawmark) scales with Strength.
Magnetic Hero: A couple of characters comment that the Tarnished has this trait. Roderika entrusts them with the Spirit Jellyfish Ashes, because the spirits look rather fondly upon them. Sorcerer Rogier indicates that the Tarnished has what it takes to become one of Ranni's vassals, because people want to trust them. Progressing through certain questlines such as Sorceress Sellen and Seamster Boc even believe that the Tarnished will become Elden Lord, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Multiple-Choice Past: The game's various character classes and appearance bases each come with their own backstories and histories, though these have no impact on the course of the game's story. Most backgrounds depict them as a native of the Lands Between in some nature or another, whereas two other backgrounds paint them as a traveler (Seafarer) or hailing from the Land of Reeds (Reedlander).
Mysterious Past: Tying partially into Multiple-Choice Past above. Some starting classes and backgrounds imply the Tarnished is a low-tier Experienced Protagonist who's gone on adventures prior to arriving at the Lands Between. The Seafarer and Reedlander backgrounds state they've been wandering in search of a home and fought in a land wrought in "blood-soaked madness" respectively whereas the Prophet and Prisoner starting classes paint them as being a Hero with Bad Publicity for having done something to warrant their imprisonment and labeled a pariah by the inhabitants. In any case, their past has no bearing on the overall plot.
My Friends... and Zoidberg: In the opening cutscene of the game, the narrator lists off the prominent Tarnished who have been received by long-lost grace, which include the likes of Hoarah Loux, chieftain of the badlands and former Elden Lord, the Ever-Brilliant Goldmask, and the Loathsome Dung Eater. When speaking of the Player Character, however, the narrator lists them as a Tarnished of no renown and speaks of them as though they're an afterthought. This doesn't stop them from becoming one of the most accomplished Tarnished among their kind, regardless of whether they become Elden Lord or the feared Lord of Frenzied Flame.
Necessarily Evil: This is one way to view the player's choice to join Volcano Manor. The most explicit way to reach Rykard and subsequently claim his Shard is to infiltrate the Manor and rise through the ranks enough that Tanith agrees to grant you an "audience" with the God Devouring Serpent. You'll have to dirty your hands with the blood of several (presumably) innocent Tarnished, but the end result is that a budding Evil Overlord is removed from the Lands Between. However, a bit of knowledge or trial and error allows you to find an extremely hidden illusory wall in Volcano Manor that allows access to the rest of the dungeon without having to assassinate anyone or even enter Leyndell, thus subverting this.
Not So Stoic: The Tarnished, befitting a Silent Protagonist, generally keeps a pretty stoic demeanor, but there are a few moments where they show emotion through body-language. When Varré asks to touch their finger, the Tarnished's movement is notably hesitant and nervous, clearly expecting something uncomfortable to happen.
One-Man Army: Most players will have killed literally thousands of enemies by the end of their journey in the Lands Between, including a dozen-odd deities. To wit, there are over 300 bosses/minibosses alone in the game (including 238 with full-on boss health bars) and you'll probably kill dozens of regular enemies for every one of those. A Tarnished on a completionist run can easily have a kill count going in to the quintuple digits. Though, probably with a few hundred of their own deaths sprinkled in.
Omnicidal Maniac: If the Tarnished becomes the Lord of the Frenzied Flame, they will begin to burn down everything in the Lands Between, starting with the Erdtree.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The Tarnished is normally quite reserved with their body language in cutscenes, as all Soulsborne protagonists tend to be when not being controlled by the player, which makes their general gestures of adulation in the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending all the more concerning. Either the Frenzied Flame has fully taken over your physical form and is expressing its joy at succeeding through you, or the Tarnished is truly delighted by the destruction and insanity that they have just unleashed upon the world.
Pet the Dog: Even if you play the Tarnished as an NPC murdering maniac who gleefully slaughters innocents, they'll still spare Rennala after her boss fight and will not even swing their weapons while in that room to avoid harming her - whether that is a case of pragmatism, as Rennala's powers of rebirth are immensely useful, or taking mercy on a broken woman is up to you to interpret.
Playing with Fire: Fire incantations can be used, but have a certain malevolent undertone with their use. Upgrades into Pyromaniac as the Lord of Chaos, where just existing is enough to not only set the area ablaze, but also scorch everything surrounding the Erdtree, split it in half, and spewing fire into the sky!
Pragmatic Hero: A "good" Tarnished will be this. Your goal starts as self-serving, you will inevitably kill some more-or-less innocent people, and your actions will always unavoidably result in great collateral damage^note — but at the same time, you ultimately do fix the world and save most of the people remaining, and you can also get a lot of Pet the Dog moments by helping friendly NPCs and avoiding unnecessary fights against those who don't deserve it.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: While this can certainly be invoked in the character editor, a more deliberate example is for those who join The Bloody Lord's order, where the eyes become bloodshot. As is it a cosmetic change, this can be turned on and off when changing cosmetics without consequence.
Reformed Criminal: If the Bandit class is taken and then one of the more benevolent endings are chosen. Possibly the Prisoner class too, although the Man in the Iron Mask symbolism suggests they may have been unjustly imprisoned.
Resurrected for a Job: While dying doesn't seem to be a requirement to become a Tarnished (just being spurned by Grace at one point), all Tarnished in the game (including you) have died at some point. After the Shattering, the Tarnished were resurrected by the same Grace that had once spurned them, and given a job: "Stand before the Elden Ring, and become the Elden Lord."
Resurrective Immortality: As long as they remain determined enough to keep trying, the Tarnished will retain their Grace and be revived from death as many times as it takes for them become a Lord. By the time of the game, nearly all Tarnished aside from the protagonist have lost their Grace and returned to mortality as they either abandoned or refused the goal of becoming Elden Lord.
Riches to Rags: The Aristocrat Tarnished was once a member of nobility. While unknown where in the noble hierarchy they were, it ultimately doesn't matter since they became a Tarnished and are summarily exiled after losing the Erdtree's grace. This is implied to be reversed into Rags to Riches by becoming Elden Lord, essentially the king of the Lands Between.
Royal Blood: Though not outright stated, it is implied that the Tarnished has some very faint connection to Marika's bloodline, possibly through Godfrey being a distant ancestor. They are also repeatedly described as possessing "warrior's blood", with Margit himself commenting on it during his boss battle with them near Stormveil Castle. For a downplayed variant, the aristocrat background implies that the Tarnished was originally from a noble house before the loss of the Erdtree's blessing turned them Tarnished.
Scars Are Forever: It's possible to give yourself a number of facial scars in character creation. In addition, embracing the Three Fingers will leave permanent burns all over your body that persist even if you manage to purge the Flame of Frenzy from your body.
Screw Destiny:
- It's later revealed that the Erdtree is rejecting virtually any Tarnished who tries to approach it and become the new Elden Lord, implying the Golden Order and Marika do not want them succeeding Radagon. The Tarnished, with Melina's help, couldn't care less about any of that and can become Elden Lord regardless.
- And the Tarnished can really put the screws to destiny if they decide to free the imprisoned Three Fingers and take the Frenzied Flame into their body. Why follow the Two Fingers' instructions and become an Elden Lord when you can become the Lord of Frenzied Flame instead and literally burn everything to the ground? And then after that, they can immediately backstab the Three Fingers by obtaining Miquella's Needle, sacrificing themselves in Melina's place, and then using said needle to sever their bond to the Frenzied Flame, allowing them to explicitly cheat fate and burn the Erdtree without killing Melina or dooming the world.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Goes along with Melina's plan to commit what is considered a cardinal sin and burn the Erdtree so they can remove the thorns preventing them from entering it and becoming the new Elden Lord.
Self-Duplication: Among the many ash spirits the Tarnished can use in battle, one legendary Ash Spirit is The Mimic Tear. It allows the Tarnished to summon a copy that, at max level, while not able to put out the same amount of damage, is far tankier than their template, complete with whatever equipment that the player currently has.
Ship Tease: With Ranni, whose questline spans almost the entire game. It's to the point her questline may as well be a Romance Sidequest, given that the Tarnished can marry her. That said, exactly how close Ranni and the Tarnished become, and how she views them, depends on how much of her dialogue is exhausted.
Super-Strength: A universal trait of Souls protagonists to even be able to swing the weapons they do and hurt the bosses they kill, but the Tarnished is definitely the most blatant about it. Even a skinny waif sorcerer can swing around weapons literally hundreds of times larger than their real-world equivalents (like the Giant Smasher) with superhuman velocity and greater ease than a real man would handle something 1% the weight (though they do less damage with it than a Strength-focused character). The first "real" fight in the game will likely see the Tarnished dodge point-blank crossbow bolts before cutting through multiple men in unrealistically-thick steel plate armor with single slices of their sword, and one of the first quests has them punting a truck-sized jar man with enough force to launch him twenty feet and dislodge him from a rocky floor he was stuck in. It just escalates from there. The visual style of Elden Ring also puts more emphasis on this than in prior Souls games as the weapons are bigger and faster you'll often see large enemies sent flying by knockback from your heavier strikes; even smacking rocky walls/floors with your standard weapons will produce rather exaggerated "breaking rock" particle effects. The Ash of War techniques go especially over-the-top in their presentation with the Tarnished being able to basically cause bomb blasts by striking the floor, stick their weapons straight through multiple feet of stone, loose spear-sized arrows at a high enough velocity to generate a vapor cone (using a bow bigger than them), and so on.
Superior Successor: Twofold to Vyke, Knight of the Roundtable. Before the Player Character, Vyke was the Tarnished closest to becoming Elden Lord. The only reason he wasn't able to was because of the Erdtree's thorns and the fact that his maiden would have to sacrifice herself to open the way forward. Vyke was also a chosen champion to the Three Fingers, and therefore a potential candidate for the position of 'Lord of Chaos'. Much like his previous endeavor, Vyke failed in this regard, as he's imprisoned in a gaol and can potentially be killed by the Tarnished. The Tarnished can succeed where Vyke failed, both by becoming an Elden Lord and potentially creating a new age through a Mending Rune or their wedding with Ranni, or become the Lord of Chaos and burn the world to cinders with the Frenzied Flame.
Token Heroic Orc: If players choose one of the non-human backgrounds, such as Numen or Dragonkin. The Numen is especially noteworthy because the Black Knives, the assassins responsible for murdering Godwyn, are comprised entirely of Numen.
Token Human: The Tarnished is this after joining Ranni's inner circle (aside from Seluvis). Said inner circle consisting of a disembodied spirit of a demigod inhabiting a doll, a wolf man, a gigantic troll blacksmith, and a literal dragon. And then Seluvis is revealed to actually be just a puppet controlled by the Albinauric servant Pidia, putting this trope fully in effect.
Übermensch: The ending has the Tarnished essentially buck the old world order in favor of a new one by defying the Golden Order and Marika by becoming Elden Lord. It's especially prominent when they use a Mending Rune to create a new age, such as the Duskborn where they allow Those Who Live in Death, considered an affront to the natural order, to become part of the new world order. A more poignant example is if the Tarnished allies with Ranni and helps her usurp Queen Marika and usher the Age of the Stars.
The Unchosen One: The Tarnished was one of many called to the Lands Between as a potential candidate to become a lord. While others like Gideon, Fia, and even the Dung Eater all had various notoriety and accomplishments in life that made them somewhat qualified, the player's Tarnished was a complete nobody in their first life who just happened to gain the smallest mote of Grace to revive them after death. They died again immediately after returning and their intended Finger Maiden guide was killed at some point before even that, leaving them with even less chance of success than the countless other Tarnished that preceded them. Despite this, their sheer determination allowed them to hold on to their tiny sliver of Grace and the intervention of Melina granted a guide not beholden to the tenants of the Golden Order. These tiny advantages made the player the only Tarnished remaining with even a remote chance of taking the throne, even if it requires them to defy the Greater Will itself.
Ungrateful Bastard: A Tarnished working for Volcano Manor will end up assassinating Old Knight Istvan as their very first target, who they may have summoned for help with the Dual Boss of Coastal Cave much earlier in the game. They can also optionally assassinate Great Horned Tragoth, who they may have summoned for help with Magma Wyrm Makar, almost definitely summoned during the Radahn Festival (along with about 10 other NPCs), and is actually the closest thing Elden Ring has to a genuine Sunbro in that he made it his life's work to help fellow Tarnished in need. In addition, they can summon Millicent for any number of the bosses she is available for (which is quite a few), then betray her at the end of her questline on Gowry's orders. A fine way to thank people who helped you beat difficult bosses, isn't it?
Villain Protagonist: Following the path of the Frenzied Flame will make you one of the most evil characters in FromSoft history (yes, on a similar or greater level to Shura Sekiro), as you become an Omnicidal Maniac who covers the Lands Between in fire. Potentially even worse, you can help the Dung Eater create a world of never-ending torture, which denies the world of even the quick death brought about by the Frenzied Flame.
Virtual Paper Doll: The appearance of the Tarnished can be fully customized, with even more options available to customize their wardrobe. Players can even revamp their character's appearance at any time with the mirror in the Roundtable Hold or by speaking with Rennala.
Weak, but Skilled: As is tradition, the Tarnished begins as a competent, but unexceptional fighter tasked with defeating giants, demigods, dragons, and thousands of enemies in-between equipped with little more than a basic weapon and the clothes on their backs. While many of the strongest foes are severely degraded from their primes, they are still more than a match for single lowly Tarnished. Despite everything, they somehow manage to battle their way through all opposition to stand at the throne. They even defeat both of their Elden Lord predecessors and the Elden Beast itself.
World's Best Warrior: They certainly don't start out this way but should the player go out of their way then they can defeat Morgott, one of the most powerful commanders of the Shattering, Rykard, and therefore the World-Eating Serpent, the Dragonlord Placidusax, Maliketh the Black Blade, Malenia, the Blade of Miquella, Godfrey and finally the Elden Beast something not even Marika could even hope to beat.

Aseo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skjermbilde_2024_02_08_183244.png

Aseo in Caelid

The Tarnished protagonist of the Road to the Erdtree manga, standing in for the blank slate player character. He has no memory of his past, and is rather frustrated at how everyone keeps talking about grandiose things and dumping new nouns on him.

See here for his character page

Characters / Elden Ring: The Tarnished

The Tarnished

Alternative Title(s): Elden Ring The Tarnished

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Elden Ring: The Tarnished

Edit Locked

The Tarnished

Alternative Title(s): Elden Ring The Tarnished

Previous

Index

Next