Elden Ring no doubt has an excellent story to tell, but this story is not very straightforward. Now, some would say this is how FromSoftware does things. They make games and leave it to their fans to figure out the story. This is all good and dandy, but some fans want answers, and they go around looking at the game. And as a result, some very unusual fan theories were born.
Some of these theories talk about the game’s characters; others talk about its world; and some just talk about how this whole thing is nothing but an illusion. What exactly is this theory, and does it even make sense? Let’s find out.
The latest fan theory suggests Elden Ring’s world is an illusion
Hidetaka Miyazaki is an incredible writer; there’s hardly any doubt about it. But he loves leaving his stories with gaps. He once suggested that he does so to allow players to interpret their own scenarios and decide what might have happened. It’s not like he fails in this endeavor either; the internet is nowadays full of people trying to find out what and how to play most of FromSoftware’s games.
The only game that had a straightforward story was Sekiro. And even that game left out a bunch of details for players to solve themselves. And this is not a bad thing either; it only works to increase engagement. Players play these games more, explore more, and find new stuff.
Elden Ring is once again the kind of game that leaves much untold. And this time, its massive open world also assures that players have much more to uncover. Uncover they do; bit by bit, players have revealed a bunch of previously unknown stories of Elden Ring. But the latest of them is quite unusual.
A Redditor by the name of C-PTSDshit has fanned the fires of a theory that Elden Ring’s Erdtree might just be an illusion. Erdtree, for those unaware, is the giant golden tree that overshadows the Lands Between. People around this area look to the Erdtree for guidance and grace. It is, in some ways, directly connected to the Elden Ring.
Every now and then, players would see golden light rising from them; this is what people call Erdtree’s blessing. It aids players in their journey as it provides a temporary boost to their stats.
But C-PTSDshit suggests that Erdtree is not there at all. In fact, it was burned way before players made their way into the Lands Between. They point out that when players enter the Leyndell Royal Capital, it is already partially covered in ash. They also suggest that a bunch of items in the game also suggest that Erdtree has been burned.
The item they are hinting at might be Knight Bernahl’s armor. It suggests that he was worthy of becoming an Elden Lord before, but his maiden threw herself in the fire. The fire might be the fire of the forge of the giants, which Melina uses to burn the tree later in the game.
So yes, maybe this tree was burned before, and maybe it’s an illusion, as it’s nothing new for FromSoftware to play with the idea of presenting a major landmark as an illusion. Let’s not forget that Anor Londo of Dark Souls and the Ringed City in Dark Souls 3 were somewhat illusions too.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree might provide a solid answer
As with every theory mentioned ever, solid confirmation of this fan theory would only be found in the upcoming DLC. Maybe it was an illusion by Miquella to test the tarnished before they could come together for a new journey.
Maybe this illusion was from the Greater Will itself trying to build a new Elden Lord for itself. After all, a new Erdtree would require a champion to protect it. And who better to protect something so precious than the one who defeated every Demi-God they came across?
