The Lore of Elden Ring's Eternal Cities

I discovered the elevator by mistake during my first playthrough. When I saw the underground night sky my mind was actually blown. I knew Elden Ring was going to be great, but the underground eternal cities really cemented how vast the open world was.

Hello. May I share with you the lore of this land?

The moment of taking the lift down for the first time only to see it keeps going and going and going and to them reveal the sparkly sky bois studded sky is probably my favourite moment in the entire game

I really love how interconnected everything is in Elden Ring

Finally! The Eternal City is the most interesting place for me in Elden Ring 🤔

Small tidbit about Nox armor, Maliketh's armor actually has the same scaling motif as them, further linking Marika to them in a very subtle way

When speaking of the Albinaurics my attention is always drawn to the themes of silver and gold, how alchemists obsess with turning the former into the latter, how the silver tears are an imitation of those who bask in the light of the golden order, how the theme of silver is related so closely to magic and the moon, how they mirror the sun and its miracles and how neither purest silver nor purest gold may tarnish, yet the impure of both are marred by time.

I figured out Marika was from the Eternal City months ago and I've never felt so vindicated to hear that the buildings are literally named after her in the files. Theres a reason Radagon seems to wink into existence as she begins conflict with Caria. Theres a reason Albinaurics are so opposed to sorcerers. Theres a reason Radagons crest on the Elden Ring is so at odds with all the other rune designs, appearing as an artificial grid rather than an arc like all the others. Theres a reason the Eternal Cities were fixated on creating an artificial lord, and theres a reason Radagon and Marika are somehow one being despite not sharing a will, and not being the same... Radagon is artificial. He is to Marika what Asimi would have been to us.

When I first rounded a corner in Nokstella and found a seemingly sentient iron ball, I knew I would need Vaati to explain this place to me.

I always thought that the giants on the thrones were like the “towering little sister” at the end of Latenna’s storyline. Like the Albinaurics, the Nox could have tried to create their own lords, free from the influence of the outer gods. The Finger slaying blade was probably key to their plans of removing the Golden Order’s influence.

There's lots of alchemical themes in Elden Ring. The Albinaurics are Humonculi, Marika and Radagon are a Remis, just all sorts of old school alchemy lore.

i love how elden ring is basically the continuation of dark souls's story except just in a new universe now so we get to explore different but similar and progressed concepts and ideas, this game is genuinely a decade defining game

The exact situation you mentioned in the intro was the moment I fell in love with this game. There I was, just running away from stuff in The Lands Between, thinking to myself "dang, this world is pretty big". And then encountering this unassuming building in the middle of nowhere, entering the elevator and literally laughing out loud when I saw the magnificence and beauty of the underworld. No other game gave me such sense of exploration and discovery.

The best thing about spending 300+ hours entirely ‘blind’ before beating the game is that all of this was an absolute shock. Everything. Was so magical. I won’t ever forget it.

The Elden Ring Eternal cities are some of the best designed "levels"/areas in all of gaming. I can't even count the endless hours I spend exploring these gorgeous cities. I think I spend as much time underground in these Eternal Cities than I have spend above ground. Can't wait for the DLC's to drop, I'm so hyped. honestly I should replay the game again (for like the 8th time)

Everything about this game, every detail, is so inextricably connected, from the smallest scale of item descriptions and enemy design up to map design and the overarching story. How do you even begin to craft a world like that, where every seemingly mundane thing has some kind of deeper meaning and connection to the lore? This game baffles me time and time again.

This is tangential at best, but given the connection between the Nox and the Albinaurics, and Latennas quest to allow a giant Albinauric to birth more... Could the giant Nox skeletons have been something similar? A giant version that can birth more Nox? Also ties into the ant imagery that is so prevalent in the underground

The love of Berserk is also ever present with The Band of the Hawk. The company of the Fallen Hawk were once soldiers and faced a terrible fate as well.

When that first glimpse of that gorgeous, starry sky broke through the grey rock as the elevator finally began to finish it's endless descent, I think my breath left my body. It was one of those rare moments in life when you just know something happened that will stick with you for the rest of your life.

On my first playthrough of Dark Souls people told me “I wish I could forget and play it again” but I never really understood it. After playing Elden Ring for the first time I felt the same. Elden Ring will forever be my favorite Souls game.