The Night of the Black Knives

Here is a detailed analysis of the event known as the "Night of the Black Knives." This event is the primary catalyst for the entire political and metaphysical collapse of the Lands Between, directly leading to the Shattering.

1. Event Definition

The Night of the Black Knives was a coordinated, ritualistic assassination plot. On this single night, assassins struck, and for the first time since the establishment of the Golden Order, a demigod was slain.

This event was not a simple murder; it was a profound metaphysical transgression that broke the fundamental laws of reality.

2. Key Players

  • The Mastermind: Ranni the Witch

    • Identity: A demigod, daughter of Radagon and Rennala. She is also an Empyrean, a candidate chosen by the Greater Will to potentially succeed Queen Marika as the new god of the Lands Between.

    • Motive: Ranni despised her fate and the control of the Greater Will. She did not want to be a divine puppet. Her goal was to sever all ties to her Empyrean flesh and the destiny prescribed to her. To do this, she needed to "die" in a way that would free her soul from her body.

  • The Assassins: The Black Knife Assassins

    • Identity: A group of elite, female assassins. They are explicitly stated to be Numen, the same long-lived, otherworldly race as Queen Marika herself.

    • Allegiance: They were scions of the Eternal City and, crucially, are rumored to have had close ties to Marika herself, implying a possible secondary, hidden motive for the plot.

  • The Victim: Godwyn the Golden

    • Identity: A demigod, son of Queen Marika and her first Elden Lord, Godfrey. He was beloved, a champion who befriended the ancient dragons, and was seen as the pinnacle of the Golden Order.

    • Significance: His death was the most devastating blow possible to the divine lineage and the principles of the Golden Order.

3. The Plot: How it Was Executed

3.1. The Weapon

The core of the plot required a power that had been sealed away: Destined Death (the Rune of Death). In the Golden Order established by Marika, true death did not exist; souls were returned to the Erdtree. Marika had removed the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring and entrusted it to her shadow, Maliketh, the Black Blade.

Ranni orchestrated the theft of a fragment of the Rune of Death from Maliketh.

3.2. The Ritual

Ranni imbued the daggers of the Black Knife Assassins with this stolen power. This made their "Black Knives" capable of inflicting true death, a concept that was anathema to the Golden Order.

3.3. The Dual Slaying

The Night of the Black Knives was a twofold ritual:

  1. Godwyn's Death: The assassins ambushed Godwyn the Golden and murdered him.

  2. Ranni's Death: At the exact same moment, Ranni used a ritual blade to take her own life, destroying her Empyrean body.

This was not a coincidence; it was a deliberate, two-part sacrifice.

4. The Consequence: A "Half-Death"

The ritual did not go as a simple murder would. Because two demigods were slain simultaneously using the power of Destined Death, the concept of death itself was fractured.

This created the Cursemark of Death. It is described as a "half-wheel," a fractured version of the complete circle of the Rune of Death.

  • Godwyn died in SOUL, but his BODY lived on. His consciousness was annihilated, but his physical form remained, becoming a soulless, immortal husk.

  • Ranni died in BODY, but her SOUL lived on. Her Empyrean flesh was cast aside, but her spirit was freed, which she then bound to the body of a doll.

Ranni succeeded in her goal: she was no longer an Empyrean, freed from the Greater Will's control. However, the price was the creation of a metaphysical abomination.

5. The Aftermath: The Catalyst for Ruin

  1. The Prince of Death and Deathroot: Godwyn's soulless, immortal corpse was buried at the roots of the Great Erdtree. This soulless life began to fester and grow, corrupting the Erdtree's root system. This corruption spread throughout the Lands Between as Deathroot. It created "Those Who Live in Death"—undead skeletons and spirits that defy the Golden Order's cycle of rebirth because their souls cannot return to the Erdtree. Godwyn's corrupted form became known as the Prince of Death.

  2. Marika's Despair and Defiance: The death of her most beloved son, Godwyn, "drove Marika to the brink." This profound grief and the complete failure of her own Golden Order to protect her son was the final act that led to her ultimate rebellion. Filled with despair, she took her hammer and shattered the Elden Ring.

This act—the shattering of the Elden Ring by a grief-stricken and defiant Marika—was the singular event that began the war known as The Shattering.