The Purpose of The Tarnished

[demonhunter307]

So I finished my first playthrough a month ago and decided to start a new one with a new build and started watching lore videos alongside.

Throughout my first playthrough, a Question has been burning in mind that has yet to be answered. Why does the Tarnished, specifically our player character, Want to become Elden Lord?

Like seriously, just think about it for a minute. The Tarnished are not from this land. This is not their war, These are not their people. They have nothing to do with this mess, outside of being called back to Marika to fight for her.

And its not surprising that many, if not all Tarnished, do not even attempt take on this Suic!de Mission. Most don't even get to the Altus Plateau. Invading the domains of the Demigods.......killing them one by one.....until you can stand before Marika herself and reforge the Elden Ring....and for what? So you can inherit this broken mess of a kingdom.......run it as per the bidding of the Fingers....try to make some sense out of it...why would you even want this role? There's no one left to Rule over. Most of the populace of the Lands between are dead....or worse. There's nothing left to rule over. Nothing but crumbling castles and empty fields and dark caverns filled with monsters and undead.

Unsurprisingly, most Tarnished go about their own personal objectives. Even Gideon, who has deep loyalties to Marika, does not go out to Hunt the Demigods. He knows where they are, but never attempts to gather their Great Runes.

This explains why Most Tarnished have lost the Sight of Grace. They've been deemed useless as they refuse to do Marika's bidding.

Which brings us to our character. Why does our tarnished give a sh!t? I know the Main Player character is meant to be a blank slate, an empty vessel for the player.

But Personally I cannot think of a single reason why my Character would want to be Elden Lord. What would my character even do with that title?

So tell me, Fellow Tarnished. Why do you wish to become Elden Lord? What fuels your flame of ambition?

[Elymnir]

I tihnk it's simply a matter of survival. You were dead, but the Greater Will brought you back. If you ever want to return home one day, being the elden lord might be the answer.

[MULTIPASS]

My dim understanding is that this is all part of Marika's plot to unravel the control that an outer god (the Greater Will) imposes on the world through her. Agreeing to be an avatar of this eldritch parasite turned out to be a raw deal, so she started making moves that would lead to its downfall. This included plucking out and keeping the rune of death during the creation of the Elden Ring, and banishing Godfrey and his warriors (that's you, the tarnished) and removing them from the influence of the Greater Will.

[MizarAce]

Pretty much the Elden Ring must be reforged and the current holders are at a stalemate, so in order to break it the Elden Lord candidate status was extended to whoever can rise up to the occasion for a final Victory Royale.


Also long live the Caca Consumer.

[CourtesyFlush09]

I don't think your character actually wants to become an Elden Lord. He/she's just there to supposedly follow the orders of the Greater Will (GW). The GW wants you to kill the warring demigods who fractured the Lands Between. By doing so, you restore the Elden Ring and Order itself- which is the ultimate goal of the GW.

But as the game progresses, you learn that there are many other factions and Outer Gods trying to exert their influence on the Lands Between, and the GL isn't exactly what it seems. In the end, it's up to your character to decide what to do.

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by demonhunter307:

Originally posted by |x|SiriuS|x|:

Rookie mistake, right there.

These games tend to have plot holes you can drive a deathstar through, if you seriously start to think about why and how it pretty much falls apart.

Fair enough.

Still, You are a fellow Tarnished. Humor me, my friend. Why did you wish to become Elden Lord?

Because there is not much left to do other than keep killing everything else in the world time and time again, so taking the final challenges is the least and last ("maybe") thing to do.
If it moves it dies, as simple as that in a video game about fantasy combad :D
(less if it is Priscilla, she is still untouched by me even since first playthrough, too cute and kind to be attacked and I could understand exactly what she is doing there as much as you understood the purposes of the Tarnished in ER).

[King of Games]

The tarnished are there to verify the game files

[dande48]

I could see a drive in attempting to repair the Elden Ring, or free the realm from the influence of the outer gods. But first time facing Godfrey, I thought, "Ok, you can be Elden Lord". He seems like a good fit.

[dande48]

Originally posted by demonhunter307:

Still, You are a fellow Tarnished. Humor me, my friend. Why did you wish to become Elden Lord?

Personally? I was bored. Maybe I wanted to see how the story ended. The whole thing felt lackluster to me.

Heck, I don't even know why I spent so much effort tracking down and killing Malenia. She was just sleeping, waiting for her brother. I did want to try her sword and incantation. Both were disappointing.

That about sums up my feelings of Elden Ring. I paId $60. I liked Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro. There was a lot of content. A lot of hype. I kept playing, waiting for it to get better. It never did.

[demonhunter307]

Originally posted by vamirez:

The Tarnished were once banished, but were now called back for the specific purpose to unravel the cluster**** in the Lands Between, collect the Great Runes from the demigods, repair the Elden Ring with it, and become Elden Lord. This is set up as a holy quest, like the search for the grail, complete with different questing folks and a round table. Now, when you specifically arrive, this seems to have been going on for a long time already, and the best days of the questing Tarnished, so to speak, are already past. Everyone so far has failed. Most Tarnished can't see grace anymore.

Gideon basically wants others to do the work and collects the secrets of the demigods, increasing his own power. He is more like a spymaster. However, at the end, he wants to preserve the status quo and has put it in his head that this is what Marika wants. I thought he was actually afraid of change.

Anyway, so why would the average Tarnished want to become Elden Lord? That is individual, but it probably ranges from "must answer the holy call" to "i want to rule the world". Even though everything is ****ed up, as Elden Lord with the power of the Elden Ring, you supposedly can repair everything, no? And you only find out the real story, or at least what you make of it, during the journey. Most of the stuff we know at the end, almost noone knows.

Yeah Man, I know the lore. That isn't what I asked.

The Quest for Elden Ring is set up as a Holy Quest. But as it turns, Marika is a fickle Goddess. The Last Elden Lord, Godfrey, massacred the Fiery Giants for her. He won her battles, Her Wars. He laid the foundation for the Age of the Erdtree.

And what was Mighty Godfrey's reward in his efforts to bring about this age? He was tossed aside, exiled from the Lands Between. The moment he outlived his usefulness, he was cast out. He became the first of the Tarnished.

So what makes our character any different? Who's to say Marika wouldn't toss the player character to the wayside once we outlive our usefulness? She has already taken away the Guidance of Grace from the Tarnished who she believes are useless to her.

The Player Character in these games has always been an empty vessel for you to imprint yourselves upon it.

So I am asking you Fellow Tarnished. Why do you wish to become Elden Lord? What fuels your flame of ambition?

[John Titor]

Originally posted by demonhunter307:

... So what makes our character any different? ...

We murdered just about every god-like being currently living in the Lands Between.

Originally posted by demonhunter307:

... Who's to say Marika wouldn't toss the player character to the wayside once we outlive our usefulness? ...

Marika's dead, baby. Marika's dead.

[Dr.Abscondus]

Originally posted by demonhunter307:

So I finished my first playthrough a month ago and decided to start a new one with a new build and started watching lore videos alongside.

Throughout my first playthrough, a Question has been burning in mind that has yet to be answered. Why does the Tarnished, specifically our player character, Want to become Elden Lord?

Like seriously, just think about it for a minute. The Tarnished are not from this land. This is not their war, These are not their people. They have nothing to do with this mess, outside of being called back to Marika to fight for her.

And its not surprising that many, if not all Tarnished, do not even attempt take on this Suic!de Mission. Most don't even get to the Altus Plateau. Invading the domains of the Demigods.......killing them one by one.....until you can stand before Marika herself and reforge the Elden Ring....and for what? So you can inherit this broken mess of a kingdom.......run it as per the bidding of the Fingers....try to make some sense out of it...why would you even want this role? There's no one left to Rule over. Most of the populace of the Lands between are dead....or worse. There's nothing left to rule over. Nothing but crumbling castles and empty fields and dark caverns filled with monsters and undead.

Unsurprisingly, most Tarnished go about their own personal objectives. Even Gideon, who has deep loyalties to Marika, does not go out to Hunt the Demigods. He knows where they are, but never attempts to gather their Great Runes.

This explains why Most Tarnished have lost the Sight of Grace. They've been deemed useless as they refuse to do Marika's bidding.

Which brings us to our character. Why does our tarnished give a sh!t? I know the Main Player character is meant to be a blank slate, an empty vessel for the player.

But Personally I cannot think of a single reason why my Character would want to be Elden Lord. What would my character even do with that title?

So tell me, Fellow Tarnished. Why do you wish to become Elden Lord? What fuels your flame of ambition?

For the Power of course, and the perks aren't bad either.

[Heimdall313]

Radahn was cast down by rot, otherwise he'd credibly of been the honorable hero-king that brings the relative peace, prosperity, and stability that any people is deserving of. Lord Godfrey, by everything I can find, was absolutely an honorable hero-king that brought order and peace to a pretty bad situation with pure badassery. Remember: the light was taken from his eyes - he was, in Marika's own words, "divested of thy Grace", when he had defeated the Storm-King and the Fire Giants and all other terrible foes, the very moment he had achieved peace.

From the gameplay/lore perspective, it is my/your duty to be the noble ruler that the Lands Between have been denied, and are in dire need of. It is the Tarnished's duty to take the reigns, because if you do not, the alternative (anarchistic, rotting chaos) is abhorrent. Its not a question of "are they worthy of my rule", its not a question of "is it even worth the effort", it is, quite simply, the moral thing to do because the realm and the people in it do not deserve the damnation they endure. Except the merchants.

You can do Frenzy or Dung Eater or whatever, but in a world where everything close to true nobility has been murdered, rotted, twisted, and perverted, I'm inclined to fix that. Seriously, my three favorite characters are Godfrey, Radahn, and Boc.
Think about what Boc asks of you:

"...I heard that you and the other Tarnished seek the throne of the Elden Lord.
Well, I know that you will be the one, and you'd make just the manner of kind hearted lord that I'd wish for.
So, please, if you would. Allow me to call you lord."

He deserves that. Godfrey was banished. Radahn, "beloved among the Demigods", was rotted, damned, basically made rabid. Gideon is simply not fit nor worthy of lordship. The Tarnished (player) is the only thing left. Why do become Elden Lord? Because you must.

[Señor Brown]

Originally posted by demonhunter307:

Originally posted by Spicy Ramen:

Asses of Marika and Ranni

No Horny Pls lol...

I don't think the internet works that way.

[MundM]

You confuse the character you play as an extra character in the story. You are that character, it is not someone else. You decided what you are going to do, you can completely go against Marika's wishes, you even have multiple different ways and gods to go for, or you just end it all and turn it into chaos. The grace only guides you so far, cause you are following it, and as soon as someone better comes along, you have to be stopped.

[demonhunter307]

Originally posted by Courageous Crawdad:

Frenzied Flame is the good ending and I won't change my mind.

I don't know why but I love the Frenzy flame ending. There's just something so enticing about "Watching the world burn"

Yes. Let it all burn in the Flame. Let chaos take the world. LET CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD