Elden Ring’s character roster has no shortage of people with very complex personalities. Gods almost destroying the world in grief. Demigods who separate their soul from their flesh to be free of duties they do not wish to take. But one character is such that players never get to meet and will probably never be seen alive. It is none other than Godwyn the Golden.
He can be credited as being the one character who brought about the shattering of the Elden Ring. But he did so by dying; someone killed him, and in grief over his death, his mother, Queen Marika, shattered the Elden Ring. Now, some very interesting fan theories suggest that he might have participated in his own death and much more.
Would Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree prove these mind-blowing theories about Godwyn?
Godwyn the Golden was loved by all; he even befriended his mother’s old foes, the dragons. This allowed the Leyndell Knights to learn dragon incantations. One of his closest friends was the ancient dragon Fortissax, whom he first defeated in battle and then befriended. This friendship effectively brought an end to the conflict between Leyndell and the dragons.
Eventually, Godwyn would meet his death at the hands of Black Knife Assassins. This was an era when gods did not die, but his death was brought about by using a piece of the rune of death. This piece was stolen from its keeper, Maliketh, by none other than Ranni, Godwyn’s half-sister.
She had her own reasons for doing this, but this action shook up the Lands Between like no one had expected. Godwyn was the first God who had died in a long time, and his mother Marika could not take it. Driven by her grief, she went ahead and shattered the Elden Ring.
At the end of the day, Godwyn looks like nothing but a pawn in this massive conspiracy. But a recent theory by Redditor Small-Breakfast903 suggests that Godwyn was not a mere puppet but one of the puppet masters.
Another Redditor, Kasta4, suggests that maybe he was just trying to be a good guy. They suggest that he might have wanted to be close to his omen brothers, Morgott and Mohg. Omens in the world of Elden Ring are people who are born covered with horns. They are usually killed at birth, but Marika decided to just banish her two kids to the sewers of Leyndell.
Adding to Kasta4’s theory, DiscoDaemon suggests that maybe he was trying to change the way things are in Leyndell. They suggest that maybe he had plans to bring everyone in the Lands Between together and free his caged omen brothers too.
Knowing these things just makes one wonder how things would have been if he were still alive. But whomever planned it, be it him or Ranni, he had to die. And now that he is dead, there’s no way of knowing what he would have done for his siblings.
Would Shadow of the Erdtree have these answers?
The biggest speculation is that players will finally meet Miquella in this DLC. And maybe they would be able to shed some light on what had happened in this world years before they arrived. Maybe not directly, but in the usual FromSoftware fashion, item descriptions might reveal this truth to players.
As with every theory about this game, these also do not seem like a stretch. Many characters do incredible things in these games for various reasons. Let’s not forget that in Dark Souls Gwyn linked the first flame by burning himself. Characters in FromSoftware games often sacrifice their own selves for what they think might be the greater good.
