Elden Ring (FromSoft) is a massive game. RKG just finished their first series (they are doing three and this one was 30 episodes over six months. I’ve included the last episode below), and I was thinking about how Rory has been worried about having to kill Alexander at some point and how the questlines of other NPCs will end.
He and Gav have been speculating wildly about the NPCs, and they have hit the nail on the head in alarming ways. Then again, they are speculating all over the place, so it’s not surprising they will get it right now and again. Especially since they’ve played all the other games and know how these things go.
I was running over the different NPC questlines in my mind and thinking about which ones end well (spoiler, almost none of them). I’ve decided to ruminate over the NPCs they’ve already met and what happens to them. I’m also going to speculate how they are going to react to the conclusion of the different questlines. I’m going to try to do it in order that the boys met them. Well, rough order.
First up is Kale. Nothing bad happens to the merchants (except you can kill them if you want. I’ve never done it). Then there’s Renna (Ranni). Nothing bad happens to her, but all three of her advisors die. We’ll talk about them next. Seluvis dies at some point, and I never knew why, though I read about when it happened. It was when you got the thing Ranni wanted you to get (that ended the first part of her quest). I only just realized it’s probably because you can betray her before this point at Seluvis’s instruction. So my guess is that she kills him. Which, good for her.
Side note: I love his hat. I love his whole outfit. But I can’t wear his armor because he’s such a jerk! I’m mad they made the big hat in this game belong to such an asshole.
Anyway, I’m not sad when he dies. In fact, I’m viciously gleeful. Then there’s Blaidd. Oh, Blaidd. Forever BAE. After the end of Ranni’s questline, if you go back to her first tower, there’s Blaidd turned hostile. I will say that I don’t watch lore videos for the most part because I like to make up my own reasons for why things are the way they are.
My belief is that once Ranni was done with this world, Blaidd lost his purpose. That’s the case with the Dark Souls game. People went hollow once they lost their purpose or fulfilled their ambition. Having to kill Blaidd was agony, but his weapon is sweet. It’s what I used for my second playthrough (and third in NG+). But having to kill him was heartbreaking.
One thing I appreciate about Gav and Rory (especially Rory) is how they get so into the questlines. Even when I don’t agree with their opinion (such as with Boc and Roderika), it’s interesting to see how they get that into the characters. In the case of the two I just mentioned, in a very negative way.
Back to the advisors. Iji is the other one, and he just…dies at the end of Ranni’s quest. That’s going to break Rory and Gav, I know. In about thirty more episodes time. Or fifteen. I feel like the first ten or so episodes of the second series are going to be Ranni’s questline. Which took me forever to do the first time. Roughly thirty hours. I don’t think it’ll take Rory that long, but at least ten. So far, they’ve done sixty hours with only a third of the game done. I took over 200 hours to finish the game my first time through, so that tracks. I do think they’ll take less time now that they’ve frimly got their feet wet, but we’ll see.
Alexander is going to devastate Rory. Maybe. You have to kill him, but it’s in a duel. He wavnts to prove that he’s the toughest champion of all tnime, which means taking you on. You don’t have to do it, but it’s the true end of his questline. And it’s so sad. But it’s also him going the way he wants to go, so there’s some dignity in that.
I’m interested to see how they feel about the more ambiguous endings. For example, Hyetta. She wants to be a Finger Maiden, and the way to do that is by eating the Shabriri grapes. Which are actually eyeballs. This is specific to one ending, my favorite, and it’s so elaborate. Well, the most elaborate bits are undoing that ending. Anyway, if you do her questline properly, she becomes a Finger Maiden of the Frenzied Flame. which means she goes up in flames herself.
Same with Melina, but with the canonical ending and burning the Erdtree. Again, these are good endings for these characters. Which is how these games go. There are really no good endings….except for one in this game. And it’s one I missed on my first playthrough. And the lads are going to love it if they can do it correctly.
It’s Nepheli Loux, and Gav and Rory were instantly smitten with her, as was I. She’s a Barbarian (class) with two electric axes. She gives you the equivalent of the Havel ring, and she’s filled with angst. Gideon is her adopted father, but he kicked her out when she went against him (with good reason). As she gets increasingly upset and agitated, there is a parallel bit where you go get a spirit ash that you have to give to her at a certain time. Oh, and you cannot give her the potion that Seluvis wants to give to her.
Also parallel, you have to do Kenneth Haight’s questline, which isn’t too hard. And you have to kill Goddrick, wihch you’ll probably do witnhin the natural flow of the game. In doing so, you have to get Gostoc to stomp on his head. Which you’ll also probably do naturally. If you do all this right, then at the end, Nepheli will become ruler of Limgrave–which is fantastic! It’s the best end to a questline in the whole game.
On the other side, a character the boys just met (Millicent) is similarly convoluted, and the ending to her questline is not nearly as happy. But she shows that she is in charge of her own destiny, despite Gowry trying to pull the strings behind the scene.
In this game, you get to know the NPCs much better than you do in past From games. It’s because the game is so massive and there are many more opportunities to interact with the NPCs. I do wonder if Gav and Rory will shed a tear at Patches’ ending. Probably not, but maybe?
At any rate, I’ll be interested to see how their feelings develop for different NPCs the farther we get into the game.