Elden Ring Nightreign Ending Explained: What's Going On In FromSoftware's Co-op Spin-off?

Don't fto Elden Ring Nightreign's presumption arsenic a spin-off fool you. It has plentifulness of worldly to prime isolated for lore fiends. Much similar the towering Erdtree, Nightreign is conscionable 1 branch, 1 alternate timeline, with roots successful the satellite of Elden Ring. Nightreign brings its ain unsocial ideas and caller characters to Elden Ring, adjacent if the events of the crippled don’t necktie straight to the original. You’ll cognize what we mean erstwhile we commencement exploring the ending of Nightreign below.

This nonfiction contains spoilers for the ending of Elden Ring Nightreign.

Is Nightreign Canon?

Nightreign bends the past of The Lands Between successful a antithetic direction, forking disconnected from a pivotal infinitesimal successful the lore to springiness america a peek astatine what might've happened if things had gone much, overmuch worse. It’s amended to deliberation of the events of Nightreign arsenic an alternate timeline alternatively than a canon storyline. You don't request to cognize everything astir Elden Ring to bask it, but you bash request to walk rather a spot of clip moving expeditions and warring Nightlords to get the afloat picture. Once you do, you'll commencement to grasp however Nightreign fits (and doesn't fit) into the communicative of the Lands Between.

Elden Ring Nightreign Ending Explained

As the intro cutscene explains: Nightreign takes spot successful a satellite wherever the Tarnished ne'er amusement up. The warfare betwixt the gods—known arsenic The Shattering—breaks retired aft Marika stirs chaos successful The Lands Between by smashing the Elden Ring. Thousands of years walk and cipher takes the throne, yet luring "an abomination" known arsenic the Nightlord to the land. This unnamed being is fundamentally a walking earthy disaster. Wherever helium goes, the Night follows, and an endless torrent of rainfall dilatory dissolves the satellite into nothing.

Leave it to FromSoftware to travel up with an adjacent bleaker mentation of the timeline than what we person successful the archetypal game. Here, the Elden Throne is conscionable an bare seat sitting successful the ruins of a satellite fading retired of existence. There's thing to regularisation oregon to conquer. And yet a peculiar radical of radical person been chosen by immoderate chartless maestro to effort and decision the Nightlord anyhow and extremity the Night.

That's wherever we travel in. The Nightfarers squad up to hunt down lesser Nightlords connected their mode to the root of the catastrophe. This involves dropping down onto what's near of Limgrave and battling acquainted monsters and bosses from not lone Elden Ring, but the Dark Souls bid arsenic well. While the crippled doesn't explicitly authorities wherefore the worlds person converged, I similar to deliberation of it arsenic the effect of ruptures successful world arsenic the beingness collapses successful connected itself.

Once you bring capable of the Nightlords down, the existent culprit is revealed to beryllium the husk of a antheral named Heolstor. He carries what looks similar the Moonlight Greatsword from Dark Souls successful 1 of his 3 arms, and is 1 of the astir spectacular brag fights FromSoftware has ever created. Defeating him rewards you with the Primordial Nightlord's Rune, which resembles the Great Runes you find successful Elden Ring, lone with an inky hue.

Usually you instrumentality to spot your allies hanging retired successful the Roundtable Hold aft defeating a Nightlord, but sidesplitting Heolstor leaves you lasting successful beforehand of a Roundtable Hold that has been agelong abandoned. A petrified corpse sits wrong and erstwhile you spot the rune earlier it, it causes your Nightfarer to dissipate into streaks of airy that alert into the sky.

A post-credits country shows the Lands Between arsenic we cognize it from Elden Ring—Erdtree and all—with aureate leaves wafting successful the air. One of those leaves lands connected a histrion subdivision atop a elephantine that looks a batch similar Heolstor if helium were made retired of wood. It rises retired of the sea, pausing a infinitesimal to look the Erdtree, and past steps away.

It's heavy implied that by defeating Heolstor we've retroactively stopped the Night from ever happening successful the archetypal place. In different words: We've chopped disconnected Nightreign's subdivision of the communicative for good, leaving the events of Elden Ring to play retired arsenic we cognize them from the archetypal game.

Who is Heolstor and what happens successful the alternate endings?

We don't cognize a batch astir Heolstor extracurricular of the relic you get from defeating him. It tells a little communicative of a knight who was slain by a leader earlier mysteriously waking up to curse the world. It's vague capable to acceptable into respective antithetic interpretations, but the astir plausible 1 seems to beryllium that helium is intentionally a nobody, a cosmic inevitability arsenic earthy arsenic the prima mounting successful the evening.

This lines up thematically with the alternate ending the Wylder tin get if you decorativeness his remembrance quests. Instead of erasing the timeline, the Wylder takes up the mantle of Nightlord by utilizing a Larval Tear, an point from Elden Ring that is associated with rebirth. You larn earlier successful his quest that the Roundtable Hold lone exists due to the fact that the Nightlord exists, and his sister, the Duchess, is locked to the aforesaid fate. He sacrifices himself to the Night to support her alive.

In the Ironeye's unsocial ending, helium cuts the pharynx of the petrified corpse successful the bare Roundtable Hold and prolongs the Night. His extremity is to support his clan of undying warriors who you mightiness retrieve from Elden Ring arsenic Those Who Live successful Death. In Elden Ring's timeline, Those Who Live successful Death are hunted by the followers of the Erdtree. The Ironeye's determination saves them from this outcome, but dooms the satellite arsenic a result.

The Recluse's ending is the 2nd astir hopeful 1 you tin get. Her remembrance reveals that she erstwhile had a kid who she abandoned, leaving it to succumb to an endless hunger and commencement to devour everything successful sight, including her ain sister. After defeating Heolstor, the Recluse tin find the Night-touched babe successful the Roundtable Hold and clasp it. Her emotion calms the babe and seemingly prevents a caller Nightlord from forming.

The remaining Nightfarers don't person peculiar endings associated with them. Their stories travel the events of the default ending and they apt vanish on with everything other erstwhile it's erased. But Nightreign's communicative isn't wholly over: FromSoftware volition yet merchandise caller Nightfarers arsenic DLC and they could supply adjacent much penetration into the quality of this bittersweet world— perchance done their ain alternate endings.