Elden Ring Endings guide: How to get Every Ending
Elden Ring features multiple endings, sticking with the traditions and expectations set out by other Souls-style action RPGs developed by FromSoftware. Exactly which Elden Ring Ending you get will vary depending on a variety of factors including which side quests you complete, which characters you’ve interacted with, and certain actions you’ve taken throughout Elden Ring’s story.
On this page, we’ll explain all of the Elden Ring endings we’ve found so far, plus go into a little detail about how you can see them all, and other things we think you should know.
This page is a work in progress, and naturally contains Elden Ring story spoilers. We’ll update it as we discover more endings and ending variations.
Elden Ring Endings guide: what you need to know about each ending
Before we get into the spoiler-filled descriptions of the Elden Ring endings and how to obtain them, a few vitally important notes about how the endings in this game work:
First off, there are three main Elden Ring Endings, but some of the endings have multiple variations on a theme. ‘Elden Lord’ is one ending, for instance, but there are at least three variations of the Elden Lord ending available depending on the actions you take throughout the game.
There are ultimately only three achievement-worthy variations, however - Elden Lord, Lord of the Frenzied Flame, and Age of the Stars.
Next, you can only see one ending per play-through. Unfortunately, while declining to go to New Game Plus right away does give you access to The Lands Between in a sort of right-before-the-end state, you cannot then go on and pick a different ending.
The door to the final boss is locked off once you’ve finished the game - the only way to beat the final boss and make different choices (if they’re even available to you) is to start the Elden Ring New Game Plus ‘Journey 2’ and play through the game again.
Finally, the endings are largely based around side quest completion, which is complicated in this game. Side quests in Elden Ring are a glorious mess of triggers and NPC requests that would be difficult to keep track of even if you had a full quest log - which Elden Ring of course doesn’t. You have to be careful, and pursue every opportunity you can, to not accidentally lock off an ending path until your next game.
With all of that noted, let’s get into the Elden Ring endings:
“The fallen leaves tell a story…”
Elden Lord Endings
In the ‘Elden Lord’ endings, the player ultimately follows the path of the Two Fingers as directed by the characters at Roundtable Hold and Melina, your Maiden, and eventually becomes Elden Lord, sitting atop a throne and overseeing The Lands Between.
However, the Elden Lord ending of Elden Ring is also a little more complicated than that, as there’s multiple variations of the Elden Lord ending, each with slightly different outcomes for The Lands Between and the characters that reside there. Specifically:
Age of Fracture
The default ending where you reach the end of the game and mend the Elden Ring, becoming the newest Elden Lord.
This ending is always available simply by following the core plot and completing no ending-related side content.
Age of Duskborn
Unlocked by following the Fia side quest which also involves D, Hunter of the Dead. This quest line won’t kick off in earnest until you reach Altus Plateau for the first time, when Fia will make a request of you.
Working through this quest and tracking down Fia after she leaves Roundtable Hold will lead to you eventually obtaining the Mending Rune of the Death-Prince key item. She’s found in the Deeproot Depths, which is reached by heading deep beneath Leyndell, Royal Capital, starting with its sewers and working down from there.
Use that at the very end of the game to restore the rune of death, dispelling the curse of immortality from the land as you ascend to become the Elden Lord.
Age of Order
This ending is built around the side quest that revolves around Goldmask and Brother Corhyn, two easily-missed characters. Corhyn begins in Roundtable Hold, but once you enter Raya Lucaria Academy with the Glintstone Key, he tells you he’s leaving in search of Goldmask.
You must track them both down (they first both appear in the Altus Plateau) and follow their quest. First speak to Goldmask on a broken bridge to the north of the Plateau, then find Cohryn a little further south to tell him where Goldmask is - thus uniting them. They will move around Altus a little, and eventually to Leyndell.
At one point you’ll need to solve a puzzle by casting the Law of Regression Incantation in front of a statue in the capital. If you can’t naturally do this, you may want to respec to unlock the spell, then respec your character back the way you prefer. The spell can be learned after giving the Golden Order Principia Prayer Book to a cleric; the book is found in the capital, too.
Ultimately, you’ll be able to take the Mending Rune of Perfect Order from Goldmask in the Ashen Capital after your trip to Crumbling Farum Azula.
The Age of Order ending sees the Tarnished ascend the throne to become Elden Lord, but also restore a true sense of order to the Lands Between.
Blessing of Despair
This ending is built around the curse that is the obsession of the loathsome Dung Eater. To get it, you need to follow Dung Eater’s quest and beat him in an invasion. After that, you can give him Seedbed Curse items in the Leyndell Gaol, and if you give him enough, he will give you the Rune of the Fell Curse.
Seedbed Curse key items can be found on bodies that have been defiled by Dung Eater. There’s several of these in the Royal Capital, plus in Elphael (accessed via the Haligtree Secret Medallion), and even one in Volcano Manor.
Use the Rune of the Fell Curse key item in the final moments of the game to begin a new era with your Tarnished as Elden Lord, but the Lands Between ravaged by a terrible curse.
Lord of the Frenzied Flame Ending
Some people consider this the ‘bad’ ending of Elden Ring - it sees the Tarnished take a different path, break from Melina and the Three Fingers, going it alone rather than following their instructions. This means that Melina’s life is saved, but also that she becomes your enemy.
To unlock this ending, you must head into the sewers below Leyndell, and then deeper beyond the sewers to eventually reach the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds. You need to defeat a boss deep down here, in the Church of the Forsaken, and then hit the altar at the rear of the boss room to reveal another secret path. Keep going, and you’ll reach a mysterious door made of molten rock.
Remove your clothes and stand before this door in order to meet the Three Fingers, which will ‘bless’ you with the curse and power of the Frenzied Flame. Be warned, doing this locks you out of the other endings except for if you use a very specific item in a very limited time window.
To Undo the effects of the Frenzied Flame, you must obtain the Miquella's Needle item, which is a drop for beating Malenia and taking her Great Rune. To reach her, you'll need to use the Haligtree Secret Medallions to reach the Consecrated Snowfields, and from there the Haligtree. Then, you can use this item to return to normal - but only in one location, the boss arena of optional superboss Dragonlord Placidusax's Arena in Crumbling Farum Azula. This permanently reverses the effect of the Frenzied Flame, locking out the Frenzied Flame ending but allowing you in turn to pursue any other ending.
At this point, you continue the rest of the game as normal. Melina will leave you in anger. In the final stages of the game, you will be able to Become the Lord of Frenzy, in turn embracing chaos and letting it take the world, leaving The Lands Between in fiery ruin.
Age of the Stars Ending
Elden Ring’s Age of the Stars Ending is all about the mysterious Snow Witch Ranni, the character that can appear to you early in the game to give you the Spirit Calling Bell for Spirit Ashes Summons. She says you won’t see her again, but you can… and if you do, she has a lengthy side quest line for you.
The exact triggers around Ranni’s quest and appearance are complicated, but broadly speaking, know that to access her quest line you should follow the quests of Rodgier from Roundtable Hold to their conclusion, and you’ll ultimately be able to find Ranni at Ranni’s Rise in Western Liurnia. Depending on your game progress, she may only appear here after beating Radahn, or she may appear there before that.
This quest also involves Blaidd, who can be encountered in the woods near the Limgrave Minor Erdtree from right at the start of the game - but encountering him there doesn't appear to be necessary to get the quest rolling.
The Ranni Quest line is complicated, and involves finding many items along the way and interacting with many characters. Ultimately, when Ranni disappears and you get a miniature doll of her, you need to talk to her Doll at a site of grace. This worked for us in her tower, but it again appears to vary depending on triggers - some have reported only being able to talk to the doll at the last Site of Grace before the Lake of Rot, undeground. Ultimately, speaking to the doll lets you commune with Ranni to continue the quest.
Follow the quest to its conclusion, then complete the rest of the game as normal. Having done this, you’ll notice before the very final interaction of the game, after the final boss, there's a Blue Summon Sign. Touching this instantly summons Ranni. Summon her to trigger her ending.
In this ending, Ranni becomes a god and replaces Marika, with you as her Lord. She ushers in an age where The Lands Between are guided by Moonlight.