One of the big selling points of From Software’s upcoming game Elden Ring, along with its open world, was that the game’s background was written by George R. R. Martin. From Software head Hidetaka Miyazaki went into a bit of detail in a recent interview (with Edge Magazine) of how he and Martin crafted the Elden Ring lore for the game.
“He actually knew about the Dark Souls games. He was aware of them and what they were about, so that made me happy. I knew immediately from talking to him, it just became apparent his skill and his passion for the genre, and for games as well.”
Elden Ring takes place in a place called the Lands Betwixt, a once-proud kingdom brought to ruin after the Rune of Death was stolen, which caused a civil war between multiple demigods, shattered the concept known as the Elden Ring, and plunged the land into chaos. All of the Elden Ring lore behind the game was crafted by Martin, according to Miyazaki.
“So we established early on that he would be writing that foundation, that historical element to the game, something that took place long before the events of the game itself. And this way he was able to much more freely flex his creative muscles and provide something that wasn’t restricted.”
The rest of the game’s story was still done by FROM Software, as players, playing as their Tarnished adventurers, must attempt to bring down the demigods that now rule the fractured Lands Betwixt and become the Elden Lord, a great figure who could restore order to the world. The various relationships between the game’s characters, demigods and background characters included, were key to Martin’s work on the Elden Ring lore, according to Miyazaki.
“A lot of the motifs that came from this and drove my creative thinking behind these elements in the game were relationships between people, including parent-and-child relationships.”
Knowing how much lore is often under the surface in From Software games, hopefully we’ll be seeing more of George R. R. Martin’s work soon when the game releases on February 24 of this year for the Xbox One, Playstation 4, PC, Xbox Series X, and Playstation 5.
