The Erdtree
Hark, traveler, and look up. See the great pillar of gold that dominates our sky? That is the Erdtree, and its story is the heart of every sorrow in the Lands Between.
Before the Golden Order
Know first that the Erdtree was not always golden. It grew from the remains of a previous great tree, perhaps the Greattree or the Primordial Crucible—the earliest form of life where all things were blended as one. The roots of that ancient life are still down in the depths, twisted and dark, long before the Greater Will took hold.
When the Greater Will, an Outer God, cast its influence over our world, the tree grew tall, and its sap turned golden. Queen Marika the Eternal was chosen as its vessel and became the god of this new order. Everything that is considered right and true in our age—the concept of Grace, the blessing of Runes, and the golden return to life—all of it flows from the Erdtree.
It promised everlasting life, but not true peace.
The Golden Gifts
The purpose of the Erdtree is simple: it is the guardian and dispenser of the Elden Ring, and thus, the foundation of the Golden Order.
The Golden Light: The light of the Erdtree is Grace itself. It is the blessing that guides the worthy and, for a time, made the inhabitants of the Lands Between immortal, or at least, eternally reusable. When a subject dies, their soul and life force are meant to return to the Erdtree’s roots for eventual rebirth. This is why our dead are buried deep in the catacombs, hoping for the call of the roots.
The Removal of Death: It was Marika, acting through the Order, who removed the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring. By this act, the people could not truly die. This meant a demigod could not be slain until the Rune was returned. This is the very reason why Godwyn’s soul was destroyed on the Night of the Black Knives—it was an unthinkable sacrilege against the nature of the Erdtree’s gift.
The Erdtree’s Decay
The tree that promised eternal life is now a source of eternal sickness.
When Godwyn the Golden was murdered, his soulless, un-dead body was buried at the Erdtree’s roots, just as tradition dictated. But because he was a demigod slain by the power of true Death, his body corrupted the sacred cycle.
The Deathroot: The corpse of Godwyn began to merge with the roots, spreading the taint of Death through the very channels meant to carry life. This is the Deathroot—a monstrous growth that spreads Those Who Live in Death throughout the land. The Erdtree is thus diseased by the very tragedy it was meant to prevent.
The Sealed Door: Finally, after the Shattering, the Great Runes were divided, and the Erdtree’s purpose became clouded. It sealed itself against any who would approach, whether they were the warring demigods or returning Tarnished. That wall of impenetrable golden thorns, which now protects the very trunk, is an absolute refusal of the world’s plea. It allows none to touch the Elden Ring.
It stands now not as a beacon of life, but as a monument to its own failures: a golden cage that refuses to open, rotting from the very roots upward. We look upon it and see not hope, but the promise of a glorious, un-ending agony.
What future do you imagine, Tarnished, when the source of all our Grace is itself terminally ill?