Developers of Elden Ring Items took great pains to differentiate their game from The Lord Of The Rings but did explore some of the same themes and myths.
Just as J.R.R. Tolkien took steps to differentiate his The Lord Of The Rings trilogy from works like Wagner's Ring Cycle, to did Hidetaka Miyazaki, and George R.R. Martin of Elden Ring ensure the gameplay and story of the dark fantasy action RPG would not be seen like a rip-off of LOTR. The story and setting of Elden Ring is extremely much filled with strange world-building details and characters which go in different, original directions from LOTR; but, Elden Ring and The Lord Of The Rings tap into the same wellspring of ancient mythology and get similar questions regarding the perils of power and authority.
In FromSoftware's newest fantasy RPG, the titular Elden Ring is not actually a physical ring, but a floating golden rune of circles and lines able to dictate rules of reality for example Fate or Death; as opposed to the Fellowship's mission to destroy the One Ring in LOTR, the aim of Tarnished would be to reforge the Elden Ring and reclaim its power. Unlike in previous FromSoftware RPGs for example Dark Souls, players can't equip magical rings like Tolkien's Rings of Power; instead, they wear Talismans and equip Great Runes. These are just examples of how Elden Ring explores motifs like those who work in Lord of the Rings, then expresses those motifs in various ways.
Elden Ring And Lord Of The Rings Both Draw Inspiration From Norse And Abrahamic Myth
When crafting his Middle Earth fantasy setting, J.R.R. Tolkien drew from the range of ancient epics. From the Old English epic Beowulf came the treasure-plundering plots and covetous dragons of The Hobbit. The Finnish national epic known as the Kalevala inspired the DD Bard-like mythic musicians and creation myths of The Silmarillion. From Norse myth came legends about Odin, who roamed the lands in gray clothing like Gandalf, and cursed magical rings that will doom their bearers. Finally, Tolkien’s own Catholic upbringing infused The Lord Of The Rings with very Christian themes of forgiveness, compassion, and rising above temptation.
The setting and good reputation for Elden Ring also draw lots of inspiration from Norse Myth, especially the tales described within the Prose Edda. Like the World Tree believed to hold up the planet, the Erdtree stretches over the game’s sky, as the mighty yet fallible Demigods mirror the Aesir and Vanir deities. The enmity between Marika’s Golden Order, the flame-tending Fire Giants, and also the gluttonous Serpents of Mount Gelmir match the mythical rivalry between your Aesir, the Jotuns, and the planet serpent Jormungander. Lastly, the statues of Marika and Radagon depict these deities in Christ-like crucifixion postures, as the Golden Order they rule includes a monotheistic creed such as the Eastern Roman Empire.
Both Elden Ring And Lord Of The Rings Reject Explicit Allegory In Their Narratives
As a genre-transforming fantasy author, a polyglot expert in ancient languages, along with a fan of myth and "fairy stories," J.R.R. Tolkien infamously disliked allegories and stories with explicit morals. In a famous quote, Tolkien highlights how many people "confuse applicability with allegory, however, the one resides within the freedom from the reader, and also the other within the purposed domination from the author." Consequentially, his Lord from the Rings trilogy wasn't a metaphor for World War 2 or perhaps a fable made to teach an existence lesson, but simply a well-written fantasy saga readers could enjoy and uses like a mirror for examining their very own lives, beliefs, and principles.
Nearly every Hidetaka Miyazaki-directed FromSoftware Soulsborne game, beginning with Demon's Souls and culminating in Elden Ring, requires a similar approach by declining to create moral judgments or flat declarations of who's "Good" or "Bad." NPCs within Elden Ring's Lands Between setting may offer their very own opinions and argue passionately concerning the righteousness of the ideology or factions, however, their worldviews are biased, and their perspectives are limited. Players have the freedom to analyze the game's fragmented lore, judge certain non-playable characters, and choose for themselves exactly what the right choices (and finest or worst endings of Elden Ring) are.
Both Elden Ring And Lord Of The Rings Explore The Folly Of Tyranny And Domination
Near the finish of The Fellowship Of The Ring (the book and also the movie), Frodo provides the One Ring to Galadriel, a golden-haired Elf of unsurpassed beauty, wisdom, and serenity. In a famous (and oft parodied scene) Galadriel admits that using the One Ring will make her a tyrant as bad as Sauron, a queen as “beautiful and terrible because the dawn” whose subjects would “love her and despair.” It might be no coincidence the lore descriptions of Elden Ring’s Queen Marika, an attractive golden-haired woman from the long-lived Numen race, a vessel from the reality-shaping Elden Ring, match Galadriel’s own description of her worst self.
The antagonists of The Lord Of The Rings - The Dark Lord Sauron and the traitor wizard Saruman - are villains because they’ve been consumed by the desire to dominate, their once-noble ideals of bringing order to the planet forgotten. Depending on how one interprets the backstory of Elden Ring, Queen Marika can be seen as a Sauron who succeeded at taking over the planet, simply to realize she’d be a slave for their power along with a prisoner of their own empire. In the worlds of Elden Ring and The Lord Of The Rings, seeking mastery no matter what leads to death and misery for both the conquered and conquered, while having the ability to give up power makes one free.
Elden Ring And Lord Of The Rings Do Differ In Their Perspectives On Divinity And Fantasy Species
The biggest difference between Elden Ring versus The Lord Of The Rings books and also the One Ring RPG might be how their divinities and monsters are portrayed. In LOTR, the Valar gods are saintly yet distant, as the Dark Lords, Orcs, and Trolls are consumed by ambition, rebelling against the planet’s order and despoiling nature. elden ring items require a more humanistic approach using fantasy worldbuilding. In the Lands Between, the Outer Gods actively meddle with the planet and have dangerously alien desires, while non-humans for example Misbegotten, Omens, or Those Who Live In Death aren’t innately evil, but they are persecuted by Golden Order zealots craving “an absolute evil to deal with.”
