bosses players must beat to finish Elden Ring.
[Warning: Spoilers for Elden Ring are below.]
Although players can take an optimal route through the game and clear it relatively quickly, doing so will likely mean missing out on many of the secrets and hidden questlines littered throughout the game, which in turn will also lock players out of some of the more obscure and tough to get endings hidden in Elden Ring. It is also important to note that while there are six endings, only three of these are rewarding with a trophy or achievement, as four of the endings are very similar with more minor alterations than the other two. It's easy to miss out on some of these endings, especially given that players may be occupied with everything in Elden Ring's new 1.03 patch, such as the new NPC questlines.
It's important to note that data seems to suggest that there is also a seventh ending in the game, known as the "Age of Absolute" which fans are as of yet unsure how to trigger, meaning it may or may not be cut content, although FromSoft does have a history of hidden endings, such as Dark Souls 3 hiding an ending should the player slay the firekeeper in the ending sequence. As such, the six endings explored below are all of the endings currently obtainable by the player without the use of mods as of patch v1.03. It is suggested Ranni's ending in Elden Ring was mistranslated and as such, her ending may not be as it appears to English-speaking audiences.
#6 Elden Ring's Worst Ending - Lord of The Frenzied Flame
To obtain this ending, the player must locate the Three Fingers deep in the sewers beneath the Capital city of Leyndell, at which point the players will be locked out of all other endings unless they are cured through the use of Miquella's needle. Although Elden Ring has no "good" or "bad" endings as such, with most of them being alike, The Lord of Frenzied Flame ending is as close as it comes to the worst ending in Elden Ring, with the player being responsible for the burning of The Lands Between. It is also notable for being the only ending without a narrator ending, instead showing Melina swearing revenge on the player, meaning there's no surprise that players may wish to remove the frenzied flame in Elden Ring.
#5 Elden Ring Ending - The Blessing of Despair
At first glance, the blessing of despair ending may seem like the worst ending in Elden Ring, given that it literally consists of the player cursing every living being in The Lands Between and their offspring. However, as the item description for the Elden Ring's Dung Eater and his Seedbed Curse items he requests.
#4 Elden Ring Ending - The Age of Fracture
The Age of Fracture ending in Elden Ring is the first of the "neutral" endings. It is actually the most basic ending that the player can obtain. This particular ending needs no special conditions to be met or questlines to complete to unlock and is very much the default ending.
In this Elden Ring ending, the player essentially replaces Elden Ring's shattering that happened long ago.
#3 Elden Ring Ending - Age of the Duskborn
The Age of the Duskborn ending in Elden Ring is similar to the Age of Fracture ending, but the main difference is that the endless cycles of rebirth have been halted, and Death takes its place alongside Life in The Lands Between. The player has assisted in overturning the Golden Order which had confined Destined Death, as stated by the Rune's description "it will embed the principle of life within Death into Order." The only way for players to obtain this ending is to complete the questline of Fia at the roundtable hold, which is a good reason why players should keep hugging Fia in Elden Ring.
#2 Elden Ring Ending - Age of Order
The Age of Order can be considered the best of the "regular" endings in Elden Ring, in which the player becomes Elden Lord, by virtue of the fact that it has eliminated the Golden Order's biggest weakness, the fickleness of its Gods. Created by the enigmatic Elden Ring's mysterious Golden Order and its failings.
#1 Best Elden Ring Ending - Age of Stars
Finally, there's Ranni's Age of Stars ending in Elden Ring, in which the player does not explicitly become Elden Lord, a distinction shared only with the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending. Instead, Ranni supplants Marika as Elden Queen before taking the player, who is recognized as her consort eternal, before leaving The Lands Between on a thousand-year voyage beyond the stars, replacing the Golden Order with her own order. This ending is one of the trickiest to obtain, as it invo0lves completing Ranni's lengthy and difficult questline, in which players must decide whether they wish to serve Ranni or not in Elden Ring, and only by serving her can the player obtain this ending.
Overall, although Ranni's ending can be seen as slightly ambiguous, and it may be argued that the Age of Order represents greater stability for The Lands Between, only Ranni's ending serves to offer something entirely new for the land's inhabitants. Other than arguably the Lord of Frenzied Flame and the Blessing of Despair endings, which leave a distinctly bitter taste, any of the endings of Elden Ring are equally satisfying for most players, leaving the distinct impression that the Tarnished has improved The Lands Between and the lives of its denizens in some way, although Ranni's Age of Stars ending is the only one to offer true and not entirely destructive change.
