Elden Ring Endings, Explained

Elden Ring doesn't ask you to pick an ending from a menu - which one you get is decided by quests and choices you make (or skip) over the course of the run, before you fight the final boss and interact with the Erdtree at the very end. Broadly, the endings represent different answers to the question "what kind of order should replace the shattered Elden Ring?" This guide keeps specifics light so it won't spoil the character stories that unlock each one.

The default path

If you don't go out of your way to trigger any other ending, you'll get what's generally called the Age of the Elden Lord - the "standard" outcome where you simply become the new Elden Lord and restore a version of the old order under your own rule.

Character-specific endings

Several major characters offer an alternative ending if you complete their full questline and bring the right item to the finale. These include (without spoiling how you get there) an ending tied to Ranni the Witch that rejects the Erdtree's order entirely in favour of a new "age of stars"; one tied to the Frenzied Flame, a chaotic force encountered mostly in Caelid and the capital's sewers, which leads somewhere much darker than the others; and a couple of others tied to lesser-followed questlines (Golden Order loyalists, and Fia's "Deathbed Companions") that offer their own spin on restoring or rejecting the old rules.

If you're chasing a specific ending, the reliable way is to follow one character's full questline closely and carry the item it rewards you with into the final boss room - most walkthroughs online can point you to the specific NPC quest once you know which ending you're after.