There’s not much out there that can parallel the depth of Elden Ring‘s world-building. It seems like every other day, someone has deduced a huge piece of information about the world that has been battered and bruised relentlessly from constant power struggles between powerful beings.
Queen Marika, who won such a struggle before the events of the game, remained a mysterious character throughout the base game. However, the DLC unveiled her backstory, causing a bunch of new theories about the base game to erupt.
This Elden Ring Theory Explains Why Everyone Hates Grafting
Grafting is a cruel and gruesome practice in the Lands Between. If you’ve come across Godrick the Grafted or one of the Grafted Scions, you’ll know why that is.
Essentially, these beings take limbs from other people and fuse them onto their bodies, making themselves more strong and resilient. The act of grafting is generally referred to negatively throughout the game.
Do you think the reason grafting is blasphemous/badly considered in the Lands Between is because it is similar to what the Hornsent did to the shamans and therefore Marika sorta banned it?
byu/InfinityGiant1 inEldenRingLoreTalk
One Reddit post makes a connection between grafting and some lore drops from the Shadow of the Erdtree (SOTE) DLC. We know the Queen is from the Shaman Village, and her people were stuffed into jars by the Hornsent clan in a twisted tradition that aimed to help them ‘ascend’ into Sainthood.
Multiple Shamans would be stuffed into a single jar, fusing them into one grotesque and fleshy being.
OP sees a resemblance between this and how people graft body parts onto themselves and claims that the Queen might’ve had a hand in the negative view people have toward grafting.
The Answer Is Probably Much Simpler Than You Think
Sure, we can look at ‘in-game lore reasons’ as to why people think grafting is terrifying. There isn’t anything in the game that outright says it’s a sin under the Golden Order, but there’s a very obvious reason that might explain why people don’t like the act.
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byu/InfinityGiant1 from discussion
inEldenRingLoreTalk
Yep, it just might be that it’s an insane thing to do, even by the questionable standards that the people in the Lands Between hold.
Severing others’ limbs to fuse them onto yourself? Maybe not the greatest thing to do, morally.
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byu/InfinityGiant1 from discussion
inEldenRingLoreTalk
OP’s post inadvertently brought light to the possibility that only people with Shaman or Numen blood can successfully perform grafting, seeing as how all of them have white hair like the fused Shamans in the Elden Ring DLC do.
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byu/InfinityGiant1 from discussion
inEldenRingLoreTalk
One person suggested that grafting might not be blasphemous the way OP thinks. Rather, it’s a sign of weakness, which is why it’s looked down upon.
Unfortunately for Godrick and fortunately for us (the Tarnished), grafting doesn’t help him as much and we eventually defeat him anyway.
Do you think Marika influenced everyone’s views on grafting, or is the act and the Hornsent’s tradition a tragic coincidence? Let us know in the comments below!
