So, you've finally done it. After countless hours battling Demigods, exploring every corner of the map, and surviving the brutal challenges of the Realm of Shadow, you stand before Marika's fractured form, ready to decide the fate of The Lands Between. But wait... which ending is the real one? Which path does FromSoftware consider the true canon? With the epic saga seemingly concluded after the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, this question burns brighter than ever. Let's dive deep into the six possible destinies for this shattered world and unravel what they might mean for its ultimate truth. 🧐

A Quick Tour of The Six Endings

Like a true FromSoftware masterpiece, Elden Ring doesn't hand you a simple conclusion. Instead, it offers a spectrum of six distinctly different outcomes, each shaped by the quests you undertake and the allies (or enemies) you befriend along the way. Think of it as a cosmic multiple-choice test where every answer reshapes reality. Let's break them down.

Ending Name	How to Unlock	Core Effect on The Lands Between
Age of Fracture	Default path, mend the Elden Ring.	Returns the world to the pre-Shattering status quo, a cycle of Undeath and Golden Order rule. 😴
Age of the Duskborn	Complete Fia's questline.	Restores the Rune of Death, allowing a true cycle of life and death under the Greater Will. 💀✨
Blessing of Despair	Complete the Dung Eater's questline.	Curses all life, making everyone akin to the ostracized Fell Omen (Hornsent). A cruel "equality." 🤢
Age of Order	Complete Goldmask's questline.	Removes the corrupting influence of Demigods from the Golden Order, creating a pure, if rigid, hierarchy. ⚖️
Age of the Stars	Complete Ranni's questline.	Usurps the Greater Will with the moon and stars, removing the Elden Ring and granting free will. 🌙✨
Lord of the Frenzied Flame	Inherit the Flame in the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds.	Burns everything—the Ring, the Order, the world itself—to ash in a cleansing, chaotic inferno. 🔥💥

Four of these endings—Fracture, Duskborn, Order, and Despair—fundamentally keep the Greater Will in power. The Outer God remains the Golden Order worships remains the cosmic landlord, with the mended Elden Ring as its lease agreement. So, does that make these the canon choices? After all, they maintain the established world order. 🤔

But then you have the fan-favorite Age of the Stars, where you literally run away with a doll-wife to start a new age of freedom and darkness. It's the most popular ending by a landslide! And let's not forget the apocalyptic Frenzied Flame ending, which is basically the ultimate "reset button" pressed on reality. Can we really ignore what the players love most, or the ending that offers the most definitive change?

Lessons from Lordran: The Soulsborne Precedent

To understand Elden Ring, we must look to its spiritual ancestors: the Dark Souls trilogy. Those games taught us one brutal, beautiful lesson about "canon": Cycles are inevitable.

Think about it:

• Dark Souls 1: Link the Fire or let it fade.

• Dark Souls 2: Take the Throne or walk away.

• Dark Souls 3: Link the Fire, let it fade, or usurp it.

No matter what the Chosen Undead, the Bearer of the Curse, or the Ashen One did, the end result was always the same over a long enough timeline: The Flame fades. The Age ends. Your choice wasn't about creating a permanent truth, but about directing the flow of the cycle for a brief moment. One age's "Link the Fire" ending becomes the next age's decaying world, ripe for another choice.

So, what does this mean for The Lands Between? It suggests that asking for a single canon ending might be missing the point. The real question becomes: What is the nature of this world's cycle, and how do our choices nudge it? Is the Erdtree the new First Flame, a symbol of power that will inevitably be contested, corrupted, and reborn?

The Shadow's Whisper: Does the DLC Change Anything?

Ah, Shadow of the Erdtree. The expansion that finally gave us Miquella's story. Many hoped it would introduce a seventh, definitive ending. But here's the kicker: it doesn't. 🤯

The DLC is a masterclass in tragic, self-contained storytelling. Everything that happens in the Realm of Shadow—Miquella's abandonment of his flesh, his war against Messmer, the revelation about the Hornsent and the Scadutree—is a closed loop, a pocket dimension of the past. By the time we get there, Miquella's grand plan has already succeeded or failed within that realm. Defeating him there leaves no trace in The Lands Between.

So why include it? Shadow of the Erdtree isn't about changing the ending; it's about deepening our understanding of the middle. It shows us that the Erdtree we know is just the latest incarnation of an ancient "Great Tree," a symbol co-opted by each new ruling power. The Hornsent (proto-Fell Omen) had their tree, Marika and the Greater Will have theirs. This reinforces a core idea: The symbol of power changes with the ruler.

The Grand Unified Theory: All Endings Are (Maybe) Canon

This brings us to the mind-bending conclusion. Based on FromSoftware's love for cycles and the new context from Shadow of the Erdtree, it's entirely possible that all six endings are, in some way, canon. Not simultaneously, but sequentially—or even concurrently in fractured pockets of reality. Let's cook this theory. 🧠🔥

1. The Cycle of the Erdtree: The Erdtree/Great Tree/Scadutree is the stage. Different ages see different rulers (Outer Gods, Empyreans) take the spotlight and reshape the symbol to their will.

   • An Age of Fracture or Order leads to a stable, but stagnant, Golden Order rule... for a time.

   • Dissent grows, leading to a revolution like the Age of Stars or a collapse into the Frenzied Flame.

   • From the ashes (literal or metaphorical), a new order rises, perhaps one that integrates the Rune of Death (Duskborn) or embraces a cursed unity (Desirant, the Hornsent are avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? Could the Hornsent be avenged? 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