Elden Ring: Alchemy, Runes, and the Shattering of Reality

BY NICOLE LAU

Elden Ring is alchemical transformation made open-world—the Elden Ring is the Philosopher's Stone shattered, the Great Runes are its fragments scattered among demigods, and you are the Tarnished seeking to gather them, to restore the Ring, to become Elden Lord through the Great Work. But the game's deeper truth: the Shattering broke reality itself, the Lands Between exist in fragmented state, and your quest is not just political (becoming Lord) but ontological (restoring wholeness to broken reality). Runes are both currency and power, both material and spiritual—the alchemical principle that transformation requires sacrifice, that death yields rebirth, that the base (Tarnished) can become gold (Elden Lord) through the Work. The Erdtree is the World Tree, the axis mundi, but it's corrupted, dying, and must be burned to allow new growth. Elden Ring is alchemy as game design, the Great Work as open-world quest, the Magnum Opus as player journey from Tarnished to Lord to God.

The Elden Ring: The Shattered Philosopher's Stone

The Elden Ring is the source of order, the foundation of reality in the Lands Between—and it has been shattered.

The Elden Ring as Philosopher's Stone:

Source of transformation: The Ring grants power, enables ascension, creates order

Divine artifact: Created by the Greater Will, maintained by the Elden Beast

Shattered: Queen Marika shattered it—breaking reality, fragmenting order

Must be restored: Your quest is to gather the Great Runes, restore the Ring, become Elden Lord

The Philosopher's Stone in alchemy:

• The ultimate goal—transforms base metal into gold, grants immortality
• Represents perfection, wholeness, divine power
• Must be created through the Great Work—stages of transformation
• When achieved, grants mastery over matter and spirit

The Shattering represents:

• Solve et Coagula: Dissolve and coagulate—break down to rebuild
• Necessary destruction: The old order must be destroyed before new can emerge
• Fragmentation: Wholeness scattered, must be gathered and reintegrated
• The Work begins: The Shattering is not the end but the beginning of transformation

The Great Runes: Fragments of Divine Power

The Great Runes are fragments of the Elden Ring, held by demigods who fought over them in the Shattering.

Key Great Runes:

Godrick's Great Rune: Grafting, adding to oneself—the principle of accumulation

Radahn's Great Rune: Holding back the stars—controlling fate, defying cosmic order

Rykard's Great Rune: Devouring, consuming—transformation through absorption

Morgott's Great Rune: Blessing of the Erdtree—maintaining the old order

Malenia's Great Rune: Scarlet Rot—decay as transformation, death as power

The Great Runes represent:

• Aspects of the whole: Each rune is one facet of complete power
• Corrupted fragments: Separated from the whole, they corrupt their bearers
• Must be gathered: The alchemist must collect all components for the Work
• Integration required: Possessing them isn't enough—they must be unified

Runes as Currency and Power: Alchemical Transmutation

Runes in Elden Ring are both currency (you spend them to level up, buy items) and power (enemies drop them when killed, you lose them when you die).

The rune system as alchemy:

Death yields runes: Killing transforms life into power—transmutation

Runes enable growth: Spending runes increases your level—transformation through sacrifice

Death loses runes: Your death scatters your accumulated power—impermanence

Retrieval possible: You can reclaim your runes—the Work can be continued

This mirrors alchemical principles:

• Solve et Coagula: Break down (death) and rebuild (leveling)
• Sacrifice required: You must give up runes (material) to gain power (spiritual)
• Circulation: Runes flow—from enemies to you, from you to growth, lost in death, regained
• Transformation: Base material (runes) becomes refined power (levels, items)

The Erdtree: Corrupted World Tree

The Erdtree is the axis mundi, the World Tree—but it's corrupted, dying, and must be burned.

The Erdtree represents:

Yggdrasil: Norse World Tree connecting realms

Tree of Life: Kabbalistic structure of divine emanation

Axis mundi: The center, the connection between earth and heaven

Source of grace: The golden light that guides the Tarnished

But the Erdtree is corrupted:

• It's sealed—you can't enter without burning it
• It's dying—the golden order is failing
• It must be destroyed—the old must burn for the new to grow
• The Elden Beast hides within—the parasite masquerading as god

Burning the Erdtree is:

• Calcination: The first alchemical stage—burning away impurities
• Necessary destruction: The old order must die
• Ragnarök: The world tree burns, the old gods fall, new world emerges
• Phoenix fire: Death in flames, rebirth from ashes

The Tarnished: From Base Metal to Gold

You are Tarnished—exiled, graceless, dead and resurrected, the lowest of the low. Your quest: become Elden Lord, the highest of the high.

The Tarnished as alchemical subject:

Base metal: You start weak, graceless, nothing

The Work: Your journey through the Lands Between is the Great Work

Stages of transformation: Each boss, each area, each trial refines you

Gold: Becoming Elden Lord—the perfected state, the Philosopher's Stone achieved

The alchemical stages in Elden Ring:

Nigredo (Blackening): Death, decay, the dark beginning—you're Tarnished, dead, nothing

Albedo (Whitening): Purification, washing—defeating bosses, cleansing the Lands Between

Citrinitas (Yellowing): The dawn, the first light—approaching the Erdtree, seeing the goal

Rubedo (Reddening): The final stage, the red king—burning the Erdtree, becoming Elden Lord

The Demigods: Failed Alchemists

The demigods each attempted their own Great Work, their own transformation—and all failed, becoming corrupted by their Great Runes.

Godrick the Grafted:

• Tried to become powerful by adding parts—accumulation without integration
• Became monstrous—the Work corrupted by greed
• Failed transformation—more is not better, wholeness requires balance

Radahn:

• Held back the stars—tried to control fate itself
• Consumed by Scarlet Rot—the price of hubris
• Became mindless—lost himself in the attempt to transcend

Rykard:

• Fed himself to the serpent—transformation through devouring
• Became the serpent—lost his identity in the transformation
• Endless consumption—the Work corrupted by appetite

Malenia:

• Embraced the Scarlet Rot—decay as power
• Bloomed into goddess—transformation through disease
• But at what cost—she's rotting, dying, becoming inhuman

The demigods teach: the Great Work can fail, transformation can corrupt, and power without wisdom leads to monstrosity.

The Endings: Different Alchemical Outcomes

Elden Ring has multiple endings, each representing a different completion of the Great Work:

Age of Fracture: Restore the Elden Ring as it was—maintaining the old order

Age of Stars (Ranni's ending): Remove the Greater Will's influence—freedom from divine control

Age of Duskborn: Restore death to the Lands Between—accepting impermanence

Blessing of Despair: Curse the world with the Dung Eater's omen—corruption as transformation

Lord of Frenzied Flame: Burn everything, return to primordial chaos—solve without coagula, destruction without rebuilding

Each ending represents:

• A different philosophical stance on order, chaos, freedom, control
• A different outcome of the alchemical Work
• A different vision of what the perfected state should be
• Your choice—what kind of gold do you want to become?

Practical Applications: Elden Ring's Alchemical Wisdom

For players:

Embrace the Work: The journey is transformation—each death refines you

Gather the fragments: The Great Runes must be collected, integrated

Burn the old: The Erdtree must burn—the old order must die

Choose your gold: What kind of Elden Lord will you be? What order will you create?

Accept sacrifice: Runes must be spent, comfort must be sacrificed, the base must be burned away

For life:

You are Tarnished: You start base, broken, nothing—that's the beginning of the Work

Reality is shattered: The world is fragmented—wholeness must be achieved, not assumed

Gather your runes: Collect the fragments of power, knowledge, experience

Burn your Erdtree: The old structures must be destroyed for new growth

Become your own Lord: The Great Work is becoming who you're meant to be

The Eternal Work

Elden Ring is the Great Work made playable—the journey from Tarnished to Lord, from base metal to gold, from fragmentation to wholeness.

The Elden Ring will be restored. The Erdtree will burn. The Tarnished will become Lord. And the cycle will begin again—because the Work is never truly complete, the transformation is eternal, and there's always another ring to restore, another tree to burn, another ascension to achieve.

The Ring is shattered. The runes await. The Erdtree burns. Become Elden Lord. The Great Work continues.