Trivia / Elden Ring

• Content Leak: Around March 2021, four clips were leaked of the game, showing details that would later be shown in the gameplay trailer at the Summer Game Fest such as the carriage being pulled by the two Trolls, the Flying Dragon Agheel boss, and an early intro cutscene for Rennala's second phase.
• Creator's Favorite: Miyazaki's favorite character is Rykard, who is also one of his favorite bosses along with Radahn and Godrick.
• Dueling Works:
  • This game dropped about one week after Horizon Forbidden West, another open world game.
  • It also dropped the same year as God of War Ragnarök, another hack-and-slash sandbox game set in a fantasy world inspired by Norse mythology, whose protagonist scythes their way through a corrupted pantheon of Nordic-inspired gods on their way to attempt to mend the world order. Both games also feature their world's take on Thor as the penultimate boss. Both were among the top five games of 2022 in sales and both games were considered each others' only true rival for the GOTY title at the Game Awards (Elden Ring won).
• Dummied Out:
  • In the initial version of the game, dataminers discovered that a number of NPCs had mostly or completely finished questlines that were not implemented into the game, leaving the associated characters stuck in one place without an ending. A patch released a few weeks after the game's launch added some of these quests back in, suggesting their inaccessibility was a bug. Curiously, other quests were either kept Dummied Out (e.g. Kale's) or outright removed from the game files (e.g. Rhico's) instead.
  • The Free Colosseum update affected the three eponymous colosseums with PVP functions. Even before the update, they were all fairly complete and existed before then, complete with the interiors.
• Lying Creator: Accidental and benign example. In an interview, George R. R. Martin said that Elden Ring is a sequel to Dark Souls, which it is not. When discussing tie-in games to his opus in the past, Martin has made clear his knowledge of modern games is limited, so there is little question this was an honest mistake — or he may have meant in the sense of being a Spiritual Successor, which it very much is. Needless to say, he hasn't caught much flak.
• Newbie Boom: Partially thanks to the nature of its hype cycle (years of silence followed by a lot of information all at once creating buzz), followed by absolutely incredible reviews on release (it charted a 97 on Metacritic, which is the highest average score a From game has ever gotten by at least 5 points) has led to the most incredible newbie boom the "Souls series" has ever seen. By March 5th, it had managed almost nine times the peak player concurrency of Dark Souls III on Steam, and the game managed to sell 13.4 million copies inside of a month. By way of comparison, DSIII took four years to reach eight-figure sales.
• Refitted for Sequel:
  • In early previews, up to the first network test, Dark Souls II had an advanced shadow system heavily advertised that would commonly turn dungeons almost pitch black, requiring the player to trade their shield or two-handed stance for a torch to safely navigate. It was removed for both gameplay and engine reasons (as the lighting and shadows system was so advanced it caused the game to run at seconds per frame). Many of Elden Ring's dungeons and parts taking place deep beneath the earth brings this back, with pitch-black catacombs and caverns requiring a torch to properly navigate, since the hardware the game runs on is a bit more capable of accomplishing this effect compared to the seventh-gen hardware DS2 had to target.
  • The fact that the game is so open world compared to previous games is also from Dark Souls II, which was how the game was supposed to be until the seventh-gen console hardware limitations struck, as well as Demon's Souls, when early on it was planned to be an open-world game, but the company lacked the resources to do so.
  • The mechanic of charging spells for a stronger effect was also originally planned for Dark Souls II but was cut in the final game for unknown reasons.
  • The dynamic day-night cycle and enemies changing with it seems to be taken from Bloodborne, which was originally supposed to have the system, but for whatever reason ended up cutting it. Something similar was planned for Dark Souls III, but evidently cut very early.
  • Bloodborne has a mirror in the Hunter's Dream that does absolutely nothing, but datamining reveals it was intended to let you change your character's look at any time. Elden Ring implements that feature with a similar mirror in the Roundtable Hold.
  • Dark Souls III had a feature called Epitaphs, which were more or less Flavor Text inserted into a level through an interactable grave that gave a nice bit of lore, in the Alpha, but were removed from the final game (despite them having been made for every zone). Elden Ring resurrects the idea with the ghosts (which usually have a fair bit of lore say about an area, character, or induvial dungeon) and the Buried Greatblades found in the various Field of Blades scattered around the overworld, which give Flavor Text about major battles in the world.
  • Datamining Dark Souls III reveals that the Deacons of the Deep fight was supposed to be a two-stage fight, with Aldrich spawning in halfway through for part two. That concept seems to have been recycled for Rennala's fight.
    • This datamining also unearthed an unused wolf boss (The Wolf of the Eclipse, which was supposed to be fought with the Abyss Watchers) whose model was repurposed as the covenant leader of the Farron Watchdogs. This boss would end up becoming the basis for the Red Wolf bosses and mini bosses in Elden Ring.
    • More datamining also revealed that a boss (The Abyss Snake, which was one of Dark Souls III's final bosses before it was removed) whose only remnants in DS3 are a set of unused AI packages has found a new lease on life as the Ulcerated/Putrid Tree Spirits, by far the most common Recurring Boss in the game.
    • The Last Giant from Dark Souls II was supposed to be a mostly stationary "turret" boss, it was much larger than its current integration, and its gameplay would involve it throwing massive balls of fire at the approaching player. Though more mobile; this idea is extremely similar to the Fire Giant, and its boss concept was built from this existing one.
    • The Banished Knights, both enemy and armor set, was made with existing and unused art assets from Bloodborne, specifically a cut boss, the Cainhurst Dragoon◊.
• What Could Have Been: Datamining reveals multiple NPCs and quest lines that were cut in the final game.
  • There was supposed to be another variant of the Elden Lord ending called the "Age of Absolute". All that remains of it is an empty cutscene file and nothing else, meaning that it got the axe early enough to not even have any quest line triggers implemented for it. After a modder made a fake version for April Fool's Day, they claimed that the "Age of Absolute" is an unused or older variant line for the Age of Order ending.
  • Kale, the first wandering merchant you meet, had a questline. In it, Kale is looking for a large caravan of his people and you help him in the search. However, the search would culminate with him finding all his people slaughtered by Tarnished due to a belief that they followed the Three Fingers. At this point Kale would stop selling anything for you due to his hatred of the Tarnished, but if you approached him after acquiring the Frenzied Flame, he'd encourage you to use it to burn down the Lands Between and everything in it. While the quest line was cut and exchanged with Hyetta's (since they both have a similar endgame of telling you how to meet the Three Fingers), pretty much all the stuff around it remains in game, including some merchants using Madness attacks. Data miner Sekiro Dubi found and restored an even earlier version of the questline that was cut even before the Network Test, wherein Kale and a small number of his people escaped from the catacombs between the Cathedral of the Forsaken and the Frenzied Flame Proscription. They would request Dream Mist, giving you Saint Trina's Crystal Ball to collect it, so they could calm the "Cursed Flame" (an early version of the Frenzied Flame) and sleep without their minds melding into one. It would also be revealed that the song that the merchants play was a lullaby sung to them by Saint Trina and it too would help calm the Cursed Flame.
  • There was a planned questline with Gostoc in which he reveals/claims he is Godrick's son, which would then be followed up with the player being able to find a crown that could be given to him. This quest line was cut, so instead Gostoc is just a lone man in the castle, who can join Nepheli should her quest line be done.
  • There was a planned questline involving a sentient silver tear named "Asimi". Though most of it is removed, enough pieces remain to map out some idea of the quest line: Asimi would have initially begged to be spared, before offering herself as a source of strength if you ingested her, during which she would have interacted with the player character at sites of grace a few times, even having the option to have a confused Melina also talk to her. From there, the player could find chalices within each Eternal City that gave her strength, and when all were gathered, she would have left the player, and reappeared near the end game as some kind of foe, where she seems to have become slightly Drunk On Power. Exactly what her role was beyond that is unknown, but it seems to have been the basis for the Mimic Tear boss fight, as she would have given the player the ability to create an exact duplicate of her, only to use that against you.
  • There was a cut "Lord of Grace" questline in Leyndell. The character creation data for the main NPC involved in the quest, the Viscount of House Shanehaight, looks like an elderly version of Kenneth Haight and is clad in a Ruler's Mask and Robe, and was cut early enough he doesn't have any voice acting. He presents himself as a follower of "perfect order", telling the player Tarnished to leave Leyndell because they've (paraphrased) "overstepped their station in life". Starting his quest apparently required a gold-pickled fowl foot, where he sends you down into the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds to slay the Omens that have been forced to live down there. Doing so would reward you with some kind of House Shanehaight heirloom and lead him to find out that Morgott the Grace-Given is an Omen himself. Sometime later, he asks that you kill Margott. And given where you find his mask and robe in the final game, it can be implied that he tried to flee the Capital via a caravan, and Morgott sent a small troop of Omens to slay him instead.
  • There was a "Redeemer" named Guilbert who serves Radahn and the god of Vengeance. He asks you to kill Crucible Knight Ordovis. From his dialogue, he would have been a summonable ally for that fight, and would’ve set his sights on Godrick after that, seeking information that would help him hunt down Malenia and avenge Radahn, only to end up infected with Scarlet Rot. He also has dialogue for invading you, seemingly in revenge for angering or killing NPCs.
  • Bernahl's Finger Maiden was supposed to be an NPC you could meet, but she got cut before the Network Test and only had dialogue subtitles in the Japanese version of the game. Based on said subtitles, she had some sort of quest line associated with her, but what it entailed beyond the implied basics is unknown.
  • Vyke originally had a questline, showing up as a summon in Stormveil Castle. Although it was cut very early, about the only thing left is lines from Gostoc about a "repulsive looking knight" clad in "armor melting inwards, practically falling apart".
  • Yura has cut dialogue regarding his hunt for Eleonora, very heavily implying that Varre is helping her elude the Finger Hunter and he can feel Shabriri's attempts to possess his body, wanting to complete his mission before Shabriri is successful.
  • Torrent was seemingly originally going to be able to wander on the map, even having a kick for defense. This was removed and instead Torrent can only be summoned for riding purposes.
  • Rennala was supposed to have more summons in Phase 2, specifically; a Black Knife Assassin, a Crucible Knight, the Bell-Bearing Hunter and, most interesting of all, Blaidd, whom she calls her child (presumably as, being Ranni’s shadow, he is effectively her stepson). What exactly the lore significance of these summons was is unknown, though all of them were removed or unused, with Blaidd's role being replaced by a Bloodhound Knight instead.
  • On the note of Rennala's boss fight, the juvenile scholars in the first phase were much more talkative at one point, treating the entire encounter with childlike wonder and acting like they were just playing.
  • Datamining has also unearthed some unused content related to Malenia and Miquella, including descriptions for an "Abundance Twinblade" and "Twinblade of Abundance and Decay". The descriptions imply that obtaining the latter would involve fusing the former with a Malenia related weapon, much like the Twin Princes' Greatsword in Dark Souls III. Both of them also have a good bit of cut dialogue seemingly indicating that Malenia was meant to be a friendly NPC in addition to a potential boss fight (she calls the player "sweet Tarnished" and "dearest companion" and questions why they're fighting her) and that Miquella was part of a cut ending.
  • On a related note, there's an entirely complete questline, which includes unique mechanics, that was cut from the game for seemingly no reason yet can be seen via datamining from the closed network test. It involved Miquella (in his guise as St. Trina) and the cut NPC Rhico, with the latter tasking the player to collect some key items that would allow him to peer into other characters' dreams (notably, a ton of seemingly random NPCs still have unique dialogue and triggers related to this quest). At the end of the quest, Rhico would reveal that Miquella's body in the cocoon is merely a "cadaver" and his soul resides in "[his] dream, the world of [his] heart"; Mohg himself has corresponding cut dialogue coming after his boss fight (presumably his death speech as Morgott had) where he expresses shock at Miquella "abandoning" him. Given that some files relating to Rhico were deliberately removed in patches weeks after the game came out (like Rhico's armor set), while other Dummied Out content has been left alone, speculation is that all the cut Miquella and Malenia content is being saved for DLC. This is further supported by the fact that Miquella has a lot of unused cutscene assets in the game files (which, like Rhico's files, were deliberately deleted in a later patch).
  • The game's text files give different titles to some of the demigods. Some are, more or less, just synonyms for their titles in the final game (General Radahn is the God of War, Ranni the Witch is the Enchantress, and Praetor Rykard is the Captain). Some give entirely new information about characters who have no noted job prior to the Shattering in the final product (Malenia is the Arbitress, suggesting she was some kind of judge or law enforcement leader). Others are just plainly incompatible with the final version of the story (Morgott is called Elden Lord, and unlike the others, this title actually got far enough along that there's cut dialogue of Morgott referring to himself as such, suggesting the story was quite different).
  • Mohg was meant to have his own questline where you would join his covenant. There's an unused quest file assigned to him in the game's code, with quest flags tied to certain parts of the map (all late-game locations), code logic for joining his covenant, and surviving prompts asking the player "Will you become my subordinate" and "Will you make an oath?". However, no one's been able to find out if dialogue was recorded for it. He also has unused animations that seem to be for it.
  • There's a set of dialogue from Godfrey that seem to be from a cut intro of some kind. It's unknown if it was an animatic like in the final release, a fully animated in-game cutscene, or an outright playable prologue of some kind. What is interesting is it reveals that Godfrey was fully aware of Marika's plans to shatter the Elden Ring and that the player was most likely one of the many Tarnished that accompanied his exodus after Marika took the blessing of Grace from him.
  • At some point, Varré was apparently supposed to be able to send you to Roundtable Hold if you rejected Melina's accord.
  • The Spirit Summoning system was once more convoluted, at one point requiring the player to find Rebirth Monuments in the field and using a specific limited use consumable to summon them. A later version of this early system even required having an associated talisman equipped to even use the consumable.
  • While Godfrey, Miquella, and Malenia are the most notable, many other characters have extensive cut dialogue indicating more significant interactions. One such example is Godrick.
  • There are indications that the Night's Cavalry were meant to play a more active role in gameplay rather than act as simple mini bosses, being a regular threat appearing at night roaming the lands to hunt down the player. From Software have tried this concept at least three times before, including the Grim Reapers from Demon's Souls, the Black Knights from Dark Souls, and the Pursuer from Dark Souls II, who were all downgraded to either being boss fights or mini bosses at release.
  • It seems that the Astel enemies/bosses were originally supposed to show up while aboveground as field fights, but they were cut down to just two appearances and their original "meteor crash" animation/attack was transferred over to Radahn as his phase change attack.
  • The Lake of Rot in the 1.00 version of the game originally had special Scarlet Rot infected versions of the Ancestral Followers and Shamans, while the area boss used to be an Ancestral Spirit until it was replaced by an Astel. One of the things the day one update changed was replacing all the Followers with Kindred of Rot, with the only remnant of them being a sole uninfected Follower wandering the Lake.
  • A keystone part of the pre-production work for the game was the commissioning of George R. R. Martin to pen an extensive founding myth and genealogy for Marika and her demigod descendants, which was liberally embellished as Miyazaki conceptualized their downfall and the events of the game proper. Several dead or fled minor demigods exist in this unreleased lore reference that are never named or expounded on in the story of the Tarnished and the surviving claimants of the Shattering, because they simply ran out of room or time to work in substantial storylines about them. Messmer was one of them, but has been revived to serve as a DLC antagonist.
• Working Title: At one point early in development, the game was called Great Rune.

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