Just as the Demigods fought over the pieces of the Elden Ring after Marika shattered it, there are a ton of pieces of Elden Ring lore to be put together. It’s a lot, and it’s unlikely that anyone’s personal interpretation of its story and lore line up with what was exactly intended quite yet, though perhaps that’s the beauty of it. With so many puzzle pieces, one question thing many may question is the connection, or lack thereof, between the Golden Order and the Dark Moon.
SPOILER: THERE ARE MAJOR ELDEN RING SPOILERS AHEADFirst, it’s worth looking at how Elden Ring’s Outer Gods work. It should be noted that there are exceptions and missing elements, but it seems each god has a Lord of some sort, a Vassal, a demi-god leader/representative, and an Order. Dragonlord Placidusax, for example, was the equivalent of an Elden Lord to the Dragon God, while the Three Fingers is a vassal for the Frenzied Flame. Marika and Malenia are demi-god leaders or representatives of their Gods (The Greater Will/The Scarlet Rot), regardless of whether they want to be or not.
Elden Ring: The Golden Order vs. The Dark Moon
Through this lens, the Golden Order and Dark Moon can be somewhat sorted, making their biggest differences stand out. The Golden Order is The Greater Will’s Order, a system of operations including death for The Lands of Between. Whether Marika disrupted or helped fulfill that order by removing the Rune of Death is debatable, but how The Greater Will wanted the world to operate is The Golden Order. Those loyal to this are often known as the Golden Order, too. Either way, The Greater Will’s Vassal is the Two Fingers, the Elden Lord is its champion as chosen by its demi-god representative (usually), and Marika was its representative (if not exactly willingly).
The Dark Moon is less clean cut, because the god itself never plays a major role. This symbolizes its approach, though. Whereas The Greater Will seems to embody an imposed order lacking anything close to free will (especially for Marika), which the Perfect Order ending highlights this ideology as faulty, it seems The Dark Moon represents an Order of no true order. In Elden Ring's Age of Stars ending, Ranni becomes the equivalent of Marika, establishes her new order without the Elden Ring, and takes the player Tarnished as her Lord/Consort. The only missing component is a Vassal, but this may be intentionally missing; if Vassals communicate commands and desires, then the Dark Moon has no need of it.
Whereas the Golden Order seeks to control all life of the Lands Between, the Dark Moon’s exact goals are less clear but do not involve this same control by no means. Meanwhile, the Golden Order’s nature of control can be seen in how the Golden Order Great Sword is a Dark Moon Great Sword but overtaken by the Golden Order’s insignia. A lot too can be said about the relationship between supporters of the Golden Order and the Academy, but that just adds another layer to it all. It’s not clear that the Dark Moon itself is ever so forceful, as it seems Ranni acts of her own desire—not that of the Greater Will. Not to mention, it's clear Ranni wants to have this relationship with the Dark Moon, whereas Marika was forcefully tied to the Greater Will.
Elden Ring: An Age of Stars
In many endings of Elden Ring, players restore the Elden Ring but impose a new Order—becoming the Elden Lord for Those Who Live in Death, establishing a more Perfect Order, and so on. Only two endings don’t see the player become the Elden Lord: the Frenzied Flame, where The Lands Between are devoted to destruction, and Ranni’s Age of Stars. This indicates a lack of order as symbolized by the Elden Ring, and in a way, free will for those in The Lands Between.
What exactly Ranni, her consort, and her Order in the Stars do remains to be seen, and how death, life, and all of that are impacted by this departure is hard to know. On top of all that, where the Greater Will seemingly wanted to control everything forever, the Age of Stars is said to last 1000 years, notably no more or less. Ranni, The Dark Moon, and more might be the new gods of The Lands Between, but those living in it no longer have to bow to an order. For better or worse, they essentially have “free will."
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
