A new video delves into the lore of Elden Ring's Duelist enemies, asking whether they may have been relocated from the colosseum cut content. Duelists are, all things considered, not one of Elden Ring's strangest enemy types. The armored humanoids take on the familiar archetype of a roman gladiator. But a closer look at the Duelists reveals that they are as complicated and mysterious as any Elden Ring enemy and raise a frustrating amount of questions.
The new video from YouTube content creator Zullie the Witch starts by dissecting the Duelist enemy type. It begins by taking a closer look at the Duelists' models and armor. Of particular interest is that each Duelist appears to be adorned in strange snake-shaped effigies. These snakes, wrapped around the Duelists' arms, legs, and perhaps elsewhere, also bite deep into the Duelist's flesh, causing blood loss and lesions.
Zullie calls attention to the Duelist Helm armor, which explains that "The snake is viewed as a traitor to the Erdtree, and the audience delighted in seeing these bronze effigies beaten and battered." The Duelists, then, were likely traitors, and their painful armor was just a part of the punishment they faced for their betrayal. They'd then battle to the death in the colosseums of The Lands Between. This relationship between snakes and traitors to the Erdtree can also be seen in the denizens of the Volcano Manor.
If these Duelists are meant to battle to the death in colosseums, Zullie asks why they're found in odd locations like a Grave Warden protecting an Erdtree burial site. This could be explained by the fact that Elden Ring's colosseums were never finished by FromSoftware. They're inaccessible in-game, despite dataminers showing they're fully explorable and robustly decorated within. Zullie notes there's even a spawnpoint for a Duelist in the Leyndell colosseum, indicative that Duelists were intended for these locations at one time.
The theory that Zullie posits is that, at one point in time, these colosseums in Elden Ring could have been used both for PvP and PvE encounters. The Duelists would then have served as a type of enemy players could fight. There's even evidence that FromSoftware had plans to create a more diverse line-up of Duelists at one point in time. When the colosseum plans were canceled, the Duelist plans were scaled back and the enemies were moved to different locations.
It's been a long hope of FromSoftware fans that the developer will eventually complete the colosseums if only to serve as a more centralized location for PvP battles. Since FromSoftware has yet to announce an expansion for the RPG, it's unclear if that's the direction it will choose. Perhaps if Elden Ring receives colosseum DLC, the Duelists will play a larger role, too.
Elden Ring is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
