Elden Ringis many things, but moments of touching empathy are rare.Elden Ringis more likely to embrace tragedy or horror. It’s no surprise, however, thatElden Ringplayers search for the former in a flood of the latter. Such is the case with oneElden Ringfan who believed they stumbled upon a tragic but touching moment, a soldier mourning his fallen comrade. Instead, theElden Ringplayer found a disturbing example of humanity in The Lands Between.
The original post was made by a Reddit user with a title referencing a “soldier grieving his buddy’s death.” The video in the post depicted a soldier kneeling over a dead comrade, his hands rotating down and back up to his face. Given the animation’s simplicity, it would be easy to confuse what was happening as grieving, with the soldier crying and wracked with sadness. If theElden Ringplayerhad gotten closer and listened, they’d find that the sound effects revealed something entirely different happening.
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Instead of sobbing, the player would hear the sounds of smacking lips and chewing. The soldier isn’t grieving their fallen compatriot, they’re eating them. The player is witnessing an act of cannibalism. The hands moving up and down aren’t wiping his face of tears, but rather bringing bits of meat up for consumption.Elden Ringisn’t a game to hold back from disturbing content, even in casual instances like what this Reddit user discovered.
As for why the soldier is eating their fallen friend, there could be any number of reasons. They could have been influenced by thedemigod Rykard, who has quite literally gained power through being devoured. It’s also possible the cannibal has been driven insane by the flame of frenzy, which would light their eyes ablaze with golden light. It’s also possible that they’re just hungry. They’re a soldier in enemy territory, witness to unspeakable horrors. They may simply be doing what they need to do to survive.
What makes the situation somewhat confusing is that both soldiers are wearing tabards with the emblem ofLeyndellon them. Leyndell’s soldiers are representatives of the Golden Order, what’s supposed to be the righteous faction of The Lands Between. This isn’t the first, or even the most egregious example of the Golden Order’s fall from grace, if it ever had it, but it’s persuasive.
To be fair to FromSoftware andElden Ring, there are plenty of legitimate examples of soldiers or creatures genuinely mourning their fellow soldiers. TheHaligtreehas an area where many soldiers are weeping for fallen comrades. There are beastmen and monsters who perform similar actions in certain areas. Of course,Elden Ring’s protagonist can attack them all in their adventuring. It just goes to show how disturbingElden Ring’s world is.
Elden Ringis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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