“ | Arise now, ye Tarnished. Ye dead, who yet live. The call of long-lost grace speaks to us all. - Narrator—Elden Ring | ” |
The Tarnished are individuals who lost the grace of the Erdtree and were consequently banished from the Lands Between by Queen Marika the Eternal. Following the breaking of the Elden Ring, the Tarnished were beckoned by lost grace, fragmentary divine light from the Erdtree, to return.
Contents
- 1 Overview
- 1.1 The Long March
- 1.2 Return to the Lands Between
- 2 List of Known Tarnished
- 3 References
Overview[]
The Long March[]
In the early age of the Erdtree, Godfrey, the first Elden Lord, fought many battles throughout the Lands Between. He led the War Against the Giants, and defeated the Storm Lord. When his last enemy fell, it is said that the hue of his eyes faded.[1] Queen Marika addressed Godfrey and his warriors as she divested them of their Grace, commanding them to leave the Lands Between and travel to a faraway land, where they would wage war and die.[2] Before they departed, she promised them that after their deaths their Grace would be given back, and that they would return to the Lands Between once again, to wage war and brandish the Elden Ring.[3]
Godfrey led his kinfolk away from the Lands Between on an exodus referred to as the Long March.[4] They left their home on boats, although one was said to have been left behind.[5] The warriors who accompanied Godfrey honored him by wielding axes[6], although Godfrey's own axe was broken in battle during the course of the march.[7] When the Long March came to an end, Godfrey divested himself of kinship and became a simple warrior once more.[4] Now known as Hoarah Loux[8], he became a chieftain of the Badlands, revered by its bravest warriors.[9]
The Tarnished settled in lands outside the Lands Between, and bore descendants who were also Tarnished.[10] As Queen Marika had commanded them, the Tarnished lived and died in these distant lands.
Return to the Lands Between[]
A long time after the Tarnished left the Lands Between, the Elden Ring was shattered and Queen Marika disappeared.[11] Marika's offspring, the Demigods, claimed shards of the Elden Ring. Tainted by their newfound strength, the Demigods warred, causing the Greater Will to abandon them.[12] With the war yielding no victor, the Guidance of Grace was extended to the Tarnished, who returned from the dead[13] and went back to the Lands Between, guided by Grace.[14] Upon setting foot in the Lands Between once more, the Tarnished received the aid of the Two Fingers, who bid them to seek the Great Runes possessed by the Demigods so as to restore the Golden Order and become Elden Lord.[15] The Tarnished, given life by Grace[16], gained a form of immortality[17], allowing them to return from the dead over and over on their quest to become Elden Lord.
The Guidance of Grace brought together the Tarnished and their Finger Maidens, women in the service of the Two Fingers who were tasked with serving their appointed Tarnished.[18] The Finger Maidens would offer guidance and aid to the Tarnished, as well as turning the Runes they gathered into strength.[19]
Roundtable Hold became a gathering place for the Tarnished, and was where they sought audience with the Two Fingers.[20] Among the first Tarnished to visit Roundtable Hold were Vargram the Raging Wolf[21] and Errant Sorcerer Wilhelm[22]. Vyke, a knight of the Roundtable Hold, came closer than any other Tarnished to becoming Elden Lord. However, without announcement, he disappeared below Leyndell and was scorched by the flame of frenzy.[23]
Although the Tarnished had once again been given Grace, some lost sight of it once more.[24][25][26] At least one Tarnished, Roderika, never once saw the Guidance of Grace.[27] With many Tarnished seemingly abandoned by Grace, an Elden Lord would not arise for a long time. Roundtable Hold, once the home of venerated warriors, stopped receiving visitors.[28] This would change when a Tarnished of no renown crossed the fog and made their way to the Lands Between.[29] This Tarnished would not meet a Finger Maiden to guide them[30], but would instead be found by Melina, a mysterious woman who offered to play the role of maiden for them: turning Runes into strength, granting them the means to summon a spectral steed named Torrent, and extending them an invite to Roundtable Hold. This Tarnished would gain audience with the Two Fingers, claim the Great Runes, and make the journey towards the Erdtree in order to become Elden Lord.
List of Known Tarnished[]
- Knight Bernahl
- Bloody Finger Nerijus
- Dung Eater
- Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger
- Fia, Deathbed Companion
- Sir Gideon Ofnir the All-Knowing
- Godfrey, First Elden Lord (Hoarah Loux)
- Goldmask
- Old Knight Istvan
- Nepheli Loux, Warrior
- Patches
- Roderika, Spirit Tuner
- Sorcerer Rogier
- The Tarnished (Protagonist)
- Vargram the Raging Wolf
- Errant Sorcerer Wilhelm
- Bloody Finger Hunter Yura
- Bloody Finger Okina
- Recusant Henricus
- Brother Corhyn
- Mad Tongue Alberich
- Blackguard Big Boggart
- Juno Hoslow, Knight of Blood
- Knight Diallos
- Rileigh the Idle
- Lionel the Lionhearted
- Great Horned Tragoth
- Festering Fingerprint Vyke
- Bloody Finger Ravenmount Assassin
- Sanguine Noble (Invader)