FromSoftware’s Elden Ring greatly builds on the brand’s ranks of Dark Souls. What makes Elden Ring all the more special is the fact that it brings together two of the greatest creators that the world has seen, the beloved fantasy author George R.R. Martin, and Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki.
While the game was directed by Miyazaki, the developers roped in the Game of Thrones to write for the game. Obviously, the results were expected to be top-tier and they definitely were on release.
Hidetaka Miyazaki on his meeting with George R.R. Martin
During an interview with GamesRadar+, Miyazaki spoke about his first-ever encounter with George R.R. Martin ahead of Elden Ring. He said,
“Yes, I have some good memories of those initial discussions. Not so much for the content but just the general feelings I had speaking with George Martin. He actually knew about the Dark Souls games. He was aware of them and what they were about, so that made me happy. That sort of gave me a little bit of a boost.”
Hidetaka Miyazaki shared that Martin’s skill and his passion for the fantasy genre, and for games became evident to him right from the moment they started talking. He added,
“There was a little bit of a generation gap between us, so I felt a bit apprehensive about going to these talks, but after a lot of these conversations, it was just like speaking with an old friend. And it just felt so fresh to have those conversations with someone who was so passionate about the same things, and to show that pure joy and sense of curiosity for these fantasy worlds. This was something that really captured my interest throughout all of our talks, and I was really thrilled to be working with him.”
The Soulsborne creator was also asked about the environments in which the initial meetings with Martin took place. Miyazaki shared that the team usually went to America and to his hometown or base of operations. He recalls it was a hotel where they first sat down and spoke. The team including Miyazaki would visit him on his home turf and have kickoff conversations with him there in person.
George R.R. Martin’s Contribution to Elden Ring
Talking of George R.R. Martin‘s contributions to the game, the author, in a post on his blog, mentioned that the Elden Ring team reached out to him to create a “deep, dark, resonant world to serve as a foundation” for their upcoming game, which would include the “imaginary history.” Although the novelist was not well-versed in many video games, he did have some familiarity with the Dark Souls series.
However, it was mainly Martin’s love of fantasy that caught Miyazaki’s attention. Miyazaki, in an interview with IGN, had said, there were two reasons why he wanted Martin to write only Elden Ring’s mythology and not the main story.
He said he decided to give Martin authority over the backstory due to the restrictions FromSoftware placed on writers on the method of storytelling. He did not want to place Martin and his creativity under those restrictions.
Secondly, he shared that by giving Martin control of a backstory, which the player is not directly involved with, he was able to allow Martin to freely design his contributions. Thus Elden Ring stands as a FromSoftware game whose main story is by Miyazaki and the lore is by Martin.
There were also reports that suggested that Martin wrote Elden Ring as an alternate ending to his famous Game of Thrones creation.
