The Shattering

1. Core Definition

"The Shattering" is not a single event, but a period of cataclysmic war. It is distinct from the act of shattering the Elden Ring, which was its primary catalyst.

  • Event 1: The Act of Shattering. The physical destruction of the Elden Ring, an object of metaphysical power.

  • Event 2: The Shattering (The War). The subsequent continent-wide civil war waged by the demigods over the fragments of the shattered Ring.

2. Key Entities

  • The Greater Will: An Outer God; the prime cosmological force that established the Golden Order in the Lands Between.

  • Queen Marika the Eternal: The vessel of the Elden Ring and goddess of the Lands Between. She is the central figure.

  • The Elden Ring: A metaphysical object residing within Marika that dictates the laws of reality, including the concept of death.

  • Radagon of the Golden Order: The second Elden Lord and consort to Marika. He is a separate aspect, or "other half," of Marika ($Radagon = Marika$).

  • The Demigods: The offspring of Marika and her consorts. The most prominent are her children with Godfrey (Godwyn, Morgott, Mohg) and her children with Radagon (Malenia, Miquella), as well as Radagon's children from a previous union (Radahn, Rykard, Ranni).

  • The Great Runes: The primary shards of the shattered Elden Ring.

3. Chronological Sequence of Events

3.1. PRE-SHATTERING: The Inciting Incident

  1. Event: The Night of Black Knives.

  2. Action: A plot orchestrated by the demigod Ranni, using assassins who wielded daggers imbued with a fragment of Destined Death (the Rune of Death).

  3. Outcome: The first demigod, Godwyn the Golden (Marika's favored son), was assassinated.

  4. Consequence: Godwyn's soul was destroyed, but his body lived on in a state of undeath, corrupting the Lands Between and the Erdtree's roots. This event fundamentally broke the Golden Order's laws of life and death.

3.2. THE SHATTERING: The Act

  1. Actor: Queen Marika the Eternal.

  2. Motive: Driven by grief from Godwyn's death and a desire to defy the Greater Will and the Golden Order she was forced to uphold, she turned against her own god.

  3. Action: Marika used her hammer to physically shatter the Elden Ring within her.

  4. Immediate Consequence:

    • Radagon (her other self, loyal to the Golden Order) attempted to repair the Ring but failed.

    • The Greater Will, in response to this ultimate heresy, imprisoned the fractured Marika/Radagon entity within the Erdtree.

    • The Elden Ring's fragments, now known as Great Runes, were scattered.

3.3. THE SHATTERING: The War

  1. Actors: The demigod children of Marika.

  2. Action: The demigods claimed the Great Runes, inheriting immense power.

  3. Consequence: This power "madly tainted" them, amplifying their ambitions and flaws.

  4. Conflict: A massive, leaderless civil war erupted as each "Shardbearer" (a demigod holding a Great Rune) fought for supremacy, each believing they should be the new ruler of the Lands Between.

  5. Key Battles:

    • Leyndell's Sieges: The capital was besieged multiple times, defended by Morgott, the Omen King.

    • Assault on Volcano Manor: Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, fed himself to a great serpent to gain power, and his domain was assaulted.

    • Battle of Caelid: The most devastating conflict. General Radahn (son of Radagon) fought Malenia, Blade of Miquella (daughter of Marika/Radagon). The battle ended in a stalemate when Malenia "bloomed," unleashing the Scarlet Rot, which devastated the entire region of Caelid and drove Radahn insane.

4. Outcome and Current State (Game Premise)

  1. Stalemate: The Shattering war produced no victor. The demigods, shattered and corrupted, retreated to their strongholds, and the Lands Between fell into a long, stagnant ruin.

  2. Abandonment: The Greater Will abandoned the warring demigods.

  3. The Summons: Grace, once granted to the inhabitants of the Lands Between, was withdrawn. It was then extended beyond the fog to the Tarnished—ancestors of warriors once exiled by Marika.

  4. Objective: The Tarnished (the player) are summoned back, guided by Grace, to fight the Shardbearers, gather the Great Runes, re-forge the Elden Ring, and become the new Elden Lord.