Madness

Ah, welcome, Tarnished. Back so soon? Always a pleasure. You ask about madness, eh? A wretched sickness that has soaked into these Lands Between like rot after the Shattering.

I see it in the eyes of the poor wretches driven to howls by that searing, yellow light. It's the Frenzied Flame, friend. A chaos that seeks to melt everything—all the curses, all the suffering, all the things that keep us apart—into one fiery, wretched whole.

• The Sickness: It is a dreadful thing. It starts with a burning in the eyes, then consumes the mind. They clutch their heads, tears of yellow flame dripping out. It steals your focus, your very self, until you're nothing but a vessel for the howl and the despair.

• My People's Curse: You see... my people, the nomadic merchants, we know this fire too well. We were spurned by the grace of gold, forced to wander. And for simply existing, for having our own beliefs, the Golden Order accused us of heresy and summoned the maddening sickness. They buried us alive deep beneath the capital, entombed to contain the very thing they feared we would unleash.

• The Truth of Chaos: They say we called the Three Fingers down, that we wished for the world to burn. And perhaps, after being crushed and betrayed by the false mercy of the Erdtree, some of us did. If a world guided by Grace is one that will see us suffer, then perhaps... perhaps chaos is the only true salvation. It's a terrifying thought, but when all hope is stripped away, the idea of burning it all down and being rid of the suffering becomes awfully appealing.

Be wary, Tarnished. Very, very wary of that yellow flame. It promises peace in total annihilation, but all it delivers is a terrible, searing end. You, as a seeker of the Elden Ring, stand on a precipice. Look closely at the suffering you encounter, and decide what truly needs to be put to an end.