Shadow of the Erdtree Ending Explained - Elden Ring Guide - IGN (2024)

Elden Ring is a game known for its deep and expansive lore, and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is no different. This page serves to help explain the game's Ending using key quotes from important characters and item descriptions.

Check out our full Ending explanation below:

Warning: This page contains major spoilers for Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, the final boss, and multiple character questlines.

We begin our journey in the Shadow Realm following in the footsteps of Miquella the Kind, and our quest ends with us killing Miquella and his consort, Radahn, at the foot of the divine gateway. But what does it all mean? To understand, we will start with Ansbach, a former knight in service to Mohg.

Speak to Ansbach at the base of the Specimen Storehouse and he will tell you some interesting information. He informs you that after Mohg’s slaying at his palace his body was taken away, though at this point he does not know why.

If you hand over the Secret Rite Scroll (found in a hidden area of the Specimen Storehouse) Ansbach will realize their intentions: to use Mohg’s body as a vessel for Radahn’s soul.

The Secret Rite Scroll's description adds more context to this theory: "Few can decipher the scroll, which describes the secret rite of the divine gateway said to be found at the tower of shadow. A lord will usher in a god's return, and the lord's soul will require a vessel."

The Promised Consort Radahn boss fight confirms this theory. Not only does the reborn Radahn have horns growing on his body, he also uses Mohg’s bloodflame magic.

This seems a bit deranged, but in the memory we see after defeating Miquella and Radahn we learn that they had made a vow to each other long ago to carry out this exact plan. This is backed up by the Remembrance of a God and a Lord description: "And so Miquella made his heartfelt wish. That Radahn would one day be his king consort."

They weren’t the only ones in on it though, if you read the descriptions from Radahn’s Young Lion Armor Set you will learn that Malenia knew of this vow as well, and mentions it before she attempts to kill Radahn: “Miquella awaits thee, O promised consort”.

But why? Well Miquella tells us himself in the memory: “if we honor our part of the vow … I’ll make the world a gentler place”. If we choose to believe this scene, we can see that Miquella’s intentions were pure.

But consider this final piece of information. As we know, the Miquella Crosses are markers of his journey across the Shadow Realm. He abandoned some part of himself at each one, first his physical self, and ultimately his ideologies.

The most significant of these is found in Stone Coffin Fissure, where the Miquella Cross reads “I abandon here my love”.

A nearby phantom notes the importance of this loss: "How will you salvation offer ... to those who cannot be saved? When you could not even save your other self?". After all, his Love is what made him “Miquella the Kind”.

What does he mean by "other self"? This brings us to St. Trina and Thiollier. Thiollier asks us: "would kindly Miquella forgive me for falling for St. Trina, knowing she was the discarded half?" St. Trina, the discarded half, is most likely the abandoned Love.

At the deepest point of the Fissure, the Garden of Deep Purple, we encounter St. Trina. Knowing all of this info adds an incredible weight to the words of St. Trina, who confides in us after we drink her nectar 5-6 times:

“Make Miquella stop, don't turn the poor thing into a god, godhood would be Miquella’s prison, a caged divinity is beyond saving, you must kill Miquella, grant him forgiveness.”

Coming from Miquella’s abandoned half, potentially his abandoned Love, gives us more than enough reason to doubt anything that Miquella tells us in this DLC. What would Miquella's rule be like without the Love that inspired his original vision? I guess we will never know.

Special thanks and shoutouts to VaatiVidya on YouTube, whose videos helped us track down some of these important pieces of lore.