Highlights
- Elden Ring's world-building extends beyond The Lands Between, featuring other societies and cultures hinted at through item descriptions and lore.
- While Elden Ring draws inspiration from European-style fantasy, the lands beyond The Lands Between offer a different experience. The Badlands is a lawless, brutal region, while The Land of Reeds resembles Japan during its Warring States period.
- The Numen race, with their unique appearance and connection to notable characters, comes from a distant land separate from The Lands Between. These nations play a significant role in the game's lore, contributing to the overall richness of Elden Ring's world.
The world that players spend time exploring in Elden Ring is sprawling, but FromSoftware conceptualized a number of other societies and cultures that exist outside The Lands Between. In typical FromSoftware fashion, these extraneous lands are alluded to via item descriptions and other vague lore delivery devices. While these outside nations may not be the focus of Elden Ring, they boast the same complex and thoughtful world-building players have come to expect from this studio.
Elden Ring players fight dragons, don typical knight armor, and traverse medieval castles, all of which suggest familiar, European-style fantasy roots. Much like the Dark Souls series, Elden Ring takes a lot of inspiration from stories of traditional wizards, knights, queens, and other fantasy tropes and conventions, but the lands beyond The Lands Between seem to be cut from a different cloth. There is reason to believe that The Lands Between is something of a central point in Elden Ring's lore, and even its name suggests that it is directly connected to all other "lands," but it is nonetheless distinct from other nations mentioned throughout the game.
The Badlands Is A Lawless Region In Elden Ring
Most Elden Ring players know Godfrey as the first Elden Lord and the penultimate boss of the game, but he is also the Elden Ring character who is most connected to The Badlands. The opening cinematic of the game refers to him by his original name, Hoarah Loux, and calls him "chieftain of The Badlands." Digging a bit more into his backstory reveals that, before he became the first Elden Lord and Queen Marika's consort, he was a great, almost feral warrior who led an army of Tarnished to The Lands Between during something called The Long March.
Descriptions of The Badlands suggest that it is a brutal and unforgiving place, one that might be explored in future Elden Ring DLC. During a questline with Nepheli Loux, a relative of Godfrey's, she describes the badlands as violent, chaotic, and war-torn, explaining that the weak were oppressed by the strong and that murder was commonplace. She also references the harsh weather conditions of The Badlands, describing bitter winds and storms. Nepheli's accounts, as well as information gleaned from item descriptions and Hoarah Loux's backstory, paint The Badlands as a region completely cut off from modern society, law, and order, spawning bloodthirsty warriors.
The Land Of Reeds Is Elden Ring's Version Of Japan
The vast majority of Elden Ring's weapons and armor, like its architecture and general world-building, have European roots. However, some of Elden Ring's best weapons, like the Moonveil Katana and Rivers of Blood, appear to be Japanese in origin. These weapons, along with armor typical of ancient samurai warriors, are described as being from The Land of Reeds, a nation beyond the shores of The Lands Between.
The Land of Reeds is described as being similar to Japan during its Warring States period. According to various item descriptions and the character creation menu, The Land of Reeds has been locked in a vicious civil war since long before the events of Elden Ring, and has thus lost touch with outside cultures and societies. The Land of Reeds is where characters like Okina and Yura hail from, and it could be yet another interesting setting for Elden Ring's upcoming DLC to explore.
The Numen Race Comes From Beyond The Lands Between
Perhaps the most mysterious Elden Ring nation is the one that birthed the Numen. These individuals, suggested to be connected to Queen Marika, the Nox of the Eternal Cities, and the Black Knife Assassins, have grayish skin, dark eyes, and pronounced bone structure. They are certainly humanoid, but distinct enough to stand out from the base human models of the game. These individuals are described as "long-lived but seldom born" and as being descended from a distant land. Considering the Numen's unique appearance and relevance in the world of Elden Ring, it would seem that this distant land is quite influential and distinct from The Lands Between.
Elden Ring's The Lands Between is beautiful, disturbing, and overflowing with history and culture, but it's not the only nation in the game's world. It might be the home of Marika, Radagon, The Golden Order, and the Erdtree, but it is nonetheless influenced and impacted by its neighboring lands. When players get their hands on The Shadow of the Erdtree or an Elden Ring sequel, perhaps more light will be shed on these strange nations.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Series X/S.
