Elden Ringhas a pretty staggering amount of completely unique Bosses in it: over 100 to be exact. Though, to be fair, there is a fair amount of reuse in the game, especially with Bosses like the Fallingstar Beast and the Erdtree Burial Watchdogs.
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Still, all of these Bosses have some sort of lore behind them, and there are even a fair amount who have well-thought-out lore-important ties to each other. So, with that in mind, these are some of the Boss characters inElden Ringthat players might not expect to have some history or connection.
7Astel, Naturalborn Of The Void & Fallingstar Beasts
First up are two Bosses that don’t get a ton of in-game lore dedicated to them: the Falling Star Beasts and Astel, Naturalborn of the Void. Both of these creatures come from the Cosmos and crash-landed in the Lands Between (which may be part of why Radahn held back the stars). There are already a lot of connections between them and Ranni’s Lunar Magic, given that fighting Astel is an inevitable part of her Quest Line. But, more than that, there are a ton of similarities between the two Boss-types as actual creatures.
The common theory among the fanbase is that they’re both part of the same species, and are just in different stages of their lifecycles; sort of like caterpillars and Butterflies. There is a variety of evidence for this, including:
6The Bell-Bearing Hunters, House Marais, & Malenia, Blade Of Miquella
Next up comes one of the most terrifying series of Bosses inElden Ring: the Bell Bearing Hunters, which only appear at night near specific Merchants. Originally, players only found these Hunters memorable due to how absurdly hard they hit in the early game and how annoying it is to have to Pass Time every time someone wants to re-attempt the fight against them.
However, looking into the item descriptions of their Equipment,as well as the edgy-yet-fashionable equipmentof their leader, Elemer of the Briar, players can discover that these briar-covered madmen were one of the main forces that hunted down any remaining merchants who weren’t buried alive for their heretical views. This explains why they’re always carrying Bell Bearings of Merchants, and their spawn locations, but what does this have to do with Malenia?
Well, Elemer of the Briar is found in the Shaded Castle of Northern Altus Plateau, and this is where players will naturally discover lore about House Marais. And, the deeper they dive into this castle, the more they’ll find that the Marais were absolutely obsessed with Malenia, as they also suffered from a lineage of Scarlet Rot. Unfortunately, they were an executioner House on behalf of the Golden Order, and were assigned to executing Elemer before he managed to break free,enchant their legendary armament the “Marais Executioner’s Sword”, and (most likely) slaughtered them all.
5Carian Royal Knight Loretta & Loretta, Knight Of The Haligtree
It’s honestly surprising how much lore the Royal Knight Loretta has in comparison to many of the other Bosses inElden Ring.At first glance, it simply appears as if she’s a magic-casting variation on the Tree Sentinel, but there’s much more going on in her story than that. For one, she’s one of the few characters that appears twice in the game: once at the Carian Manor (in her spirit form), and then again near the Haligtree Town Grace in Miquella’s Haligtree.
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However, in her second appearance, Loretta’s name has changed from “Royal Knight” to “Knight of the Haligtree.” But, how did Loretta get here and why did she leave the Carian Manor? Well, hints for all three of these things can be found in the item descriptions for the Silver Mirrorshield, as well as Loretta’s Greatbow, Mastery, Armor Set, and War Sickle.
There’s a lot to go over, but the general gist of her untold story is that Loretta originally worked for the Carian family, but was actually a first-generation Albinauric (though she hid this). And, because Albinaurics eventually lose control of their legs, she’s always seen on horseback. When Miquella and Malenia (unfair goddess that she is) created their Haligtree as a safe haven for the misbegotten, including the Albinaurics, it seems as though Loretta eventually abandoned her post with the Carians in order to find safety with her people in the Haligtree, explaining her appearance in both locations.
4Gideon Ofnir, The All-Knowing & Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy
Rykard, the man who apparently wanted to be eaten by a giant snake, has a lot of connections to different characters, but Gideon Ofnir the All-Knowing is likely not one that anyone expected. There’s an odd thing about Rykard’s Boss battle, and that’s the fact that defeating him drops an item as if he were a normal mob. This item is the Eye Surcoat, and it’s a piece of chest armor that is likely all that remains of the one who wore it after being eaten by Rykard’s serpent body.
So, why would FromSoftware make sure to have this item drop from Rykard? Well, the connection is clear in the item description as it talks about the Eye insignia on the Surcoat being connected to Gideon. And, players have even noticed that an early-game Invader, Sir Henricus, wears this item. This also explains how Gideon can use Rykard’s Rancor Sorcery during his Boss battle (worth it for the Blasphemous Blade), as this info was likely a result of Henricus' spying.
3Godefroy The Grafted & Godrick The Grafted
Godefroy, a boss found and fought in the Golden Lineage Evergaol, wins the award for “Most Unnecessary Boss Reuse” as well as the one for “Boss That Actually Hurts The Lore To Include.” He one-for-one has the same model and attacks as phase one Godrick, though his damage and health are scaled a bit. And, if the naming conventions of this game weren’t confusing enough, he just took Godfrey’s name, added a letter, and switched one around.
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In any case, Godefroy does have a bit of lore, as it turns out he’s an older descendent of Godfrey than Godrick is (though some recent digging has revealed one more potential descendent), and is likely the one that Godrick first got the idea of “grafting” from. Godefroy attempted to attack the capital during the Shattering Wars and was subsequentlyimprisoned in an Evergaolfor his crime. So, just to recap, this is a boss that’s being reused, one that adds nothing to the story itself,and ultimately takes away from Godrick’s “grafting” aspect as it’s no longer unique to him.
2Morgott, The Fell Omen & The Night Calvary
This next piece of lore connection between twoElden RingBosses is one of the most well-written, and it’s the connection between Morgott the Fell Omen and the Night Calvary. The link between these two is first made clear when defeating Margit (Morgott’s illusion)and his hundreds of delayed attacksat Stormveil Castle. After being defeated, the illusion utters “Cower in fear of the night, for the hands of the Fell Omen shall brook thee no quarter.”
Then, after beating any of the Night Calvary and obtaining any of their gear, players can read the item description to find out that they were a group that fought against great warriors and the like by orders of the Fell Omen. The Fell Omen is of course Morgott, and the Night Calvary only appears at night, explaining the “Cower in fear of the night” part of the quote. As for the second half of the quote, there are ten Night Calvary to be found in the game in total. Ten Knights, ten fingers, two hands, AKA the “hands” of the Fell Omen.
1Rennala, Queen Of The Full Moon & Ranni The Witch
Now, pointing out the relationship between Rennala and Ranni the Witch seems unnecessary since players learn that they’re mother and daughter very early on in the game. In fact, Ranni herself says this during the fight against Rennala during the cutscene leading into her second phase. “Upon my name as Ranni the Witch. Mother’s rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee.”
But what is actually happening during this cutscene? Well, for those who never put this together, this version of Rennala is absolutely an illusion that is part of a spell Ranni put on the Amber her mother is holding. When her mother is in danger, it auto-activates and creates this oceanside moon arena as well as the illusion of Rennala at her peak to defeat the trespasser. This is exactly why Rennala is perfectly fine after the fight, and why she seems to regress back to her “mentally checked out” state.
Additionally, it seems as though this spell is most likely auto-activated and “pre-recorded,” as the dialogue that comes from Ranni here is non-specific and oddly aggressivefor anyone who had started her Quest Line. Plus, Ranni never mentions this at any point in her Quest Line and likely has no idea it ever happened.
Elden Ringis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
