You’ve probably seen the red phantom sitting in the Roundtable Hold, surrounded by piles of corpses and a literal aura of filth. He’s gross. He’s terrifying. He basically tells you to get lost the moment you meet him. But if you’re looking to unlock one of the most depressing endings in FromSoftware history, you have to deal with him. The dung eater quest elden ring isn't just about finding a guy; it’s a scavenger hunt through the most disgusting corners of the Lands Between. It's a journey into the heart of a curse that aims to defile the very concept of life.
Honestly, most players miss this quest entirely on their first run. It's tucked away behind specific items called Seedbed Curses, and the game doesn't exactly hold your hand to find them. If you want that mending rune, you're going to have to get your hands dirty.
Finding the Loathsome Dung Eater
First things first: you can't really start the meat of the quest until you reach Leyndell, Royal Capital. Before that, he’s just a cranky spirit in the room past the Twin Maiden Husks. He won’t even acknowledge your existence until you bring him a Seedbed Curse. This is the "key" to his heart, if he even has one.
Once you show him one of these fleshy, cursed items, he gives you the Sewer-Gaol Key. This is where things get tricky. You have to head to the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds. It’s a maze. It’s dark. It’s full of omens that will absolutely wreck you if you aren't careful. From the Underground Roadside Site of Grace, head left, dodge the omens, and drop down through the grates in the floor. You're looking for a cell.
When you find him in the flesh, he’s hitting his head against the wall. He asks you to let him out. You should probably say no if you have a conscience, but for the sake of the quest, you let him go. This is the point where most people get confused because he just disappears. He doesn't go back to the Hold. Instead, he leaves a message back at his old spot telling you to meet him at the outer moat of Leyndell.
The Outer Moat Showdown
Don't go there immediately if you like Black Guard Big Boggart. If you’ve been doing Boggart’s questline—the guy who sells you boiled prawns and crabs—he’s involved here. If you want Boggart to survive or at least play his part in the tragedy, make sure you've bought enough prawns from him at Liurnia so he moves to the moat near the capital.
🔗 Read more: Main Event WSOP Payouts Explained (Simply): Why $10 Million Isn't Always the Record
When you arrive at the moat, talk to Boggart. He’s scared. He knows the Dung Eater is coming. Reload the area, and things get grim. The Dung Eater invades you. He uses the Sword of Milos, which is a jagged spine of a giant. It’s a tough fight because his scream reduces your resistances. Kill him.
You’ll get the sword, but he isn't dead for good. His "true" body is still back in that sewer cell. This is where the real work begins. He wants you to defile his body with five Seedbed Curses.
Where to Find Every Seedbed Curse
This is the part that usually kills a playthrough. You need five. There are six in the game, but one is tied to Boggart’s death. If Boggart dies by the Dung Eater's hand, you get a curse from his body. If you killed Boggart earlier for his iron mask (we’ve all thought about it), you’ll have to find the others.
- Leyndell Capital (Pre-Ashen): There’s one in the "fortified manor" which is the real-world version of the Roundtable Hold. It’s on a corpse in the room that would be the Dung Eater’s room.
- Leyndell Capital (Pre-Ashen): Near the East Capital Rampart. You have to take an elevator down, go into a large building, and climb a ladder. It's on a balcony.
- Volcano Manor: You have to use a Stonesword Key to get behind an imp statue near the Temple of Eiglay. It involves a lot of jumping on cages. It's annoying.
- Haligtree (Prayer Room): This one is easy to miss. Exit the Prayer Room, go down the stairs, and jump onto a gazebo. Then jump onto a ledge with a corpse.
- Haligtree (Further down): From the same Prayer Room, keep going down until you find a room with a bunch of those "Putrid Avatar" enemies. There’s a balcony tucked away.
If you miss the Leyndell ones before the city turns to ash, you are basically locked out of the ending. The game doesn't warn you. One minute the city is gold, the next it’s buried in sand, and your quest items are gone forever.
The Mending Rune of the Fell Curse
Take those five curses back to the Dung Eater in his sewer cell. He’s tied to a chair now. One by one, you give them to him. He groans, he shudders, and eventually, the screen fades to black. When it comes back, he’s dead, and you can loot the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse.
📖 Related: RC Games: Why Most Digital Racing Sims Miss the Mark
This item allows you to choose the "Blessing of Despair" ending after defeating the final boss. Is it a good ending? Absolutely not. You are essentially cursing every living soul and their descendants to be reborn as omens, cut off from the Grace of the Erdtree. It’s arguably the "evilest" ending in the game, even topping the Lord of Frenzied Flame because it’s a slow, generational rot rather than a quick burn.
Why Does He Do It?
The lore here is thick. The Dung Eater isn't just a serial killer; he’s a fundamentalist. He believes the Omen curse is a more "natural" state or at least a way to break the hegemony of the Greater Will. By making everyone cursed, no one is cursed. It’s a twisted form of equality. He wants the world to be "defiled" so that the soul can never return to the Erdtree.
A lot of players compare him to the "Loathsome" title he bears. It’s a title of both fear and disgust. In the game's opening cinematic, he's shown being hanged while people throw things at him. He's been treated like filth, so he decided to become the personification of it.
Common Mistakes and Tips
- Don't kill him in the cell early: If you kill his physical body the moment you open the cell door, you get his armor (the Omen set), but you lose the quest. Only kill him if you don't care about the ending.
- Seluvis’s Potion: If you’re feeling extra cruel, you can give the Dung Eater Seluvis’s potion while he’s tied up in the cell. This turns him into a spirit ash summon. He’s actually one of the tankiest summons in the game, but doing this fails the quest for the Mending Rune. You get a puppet instead of an ending.
- The Sword of Milos: Even if you aren't doing the quest for the ending, the sword you get from the moat invasion is top-tier for FP regeneration. It restores FP on every kill, even if it’s just in your off-hand.
The dung eater quest elden ring rewards exploration more than combat skill. You have to navigate the most complex legacy dungeons like the Haligtree and the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds. It’s a test of patience.
Most people get stuck because they can't find the fifth curse. If you’ve reached the endgame and you're short one, double-check the Haligtree. Those balconies all look the same after three hours of dying to Malenia's knights.
👉 See also: Internet Solitaire Games Free: Why We Can't Stop Sorting Digital Cards
Actionable Steps for Your Playthrough
If you're starting this now, follow this sequence to avoid breaking anything:
- Reach the Altus Plateau to trigger his appearance in the Roundtable Hold.
- Find your first Seedbed Curse in Leyndell to get the Sewer-Gaol Key.
- Free him from the sewer, but don't attack him.
- Go to the moat, let him invade, and kill the phantom.
- Collect the remaining four curses from Volcano Manor and the Haligtree.
- Return to the sewer, feed him the curses, and claim your rune.
This quest is a dark descent, but it provides some of the most haunting imagery in Elden Ring. Whether you want to actually use the rune at the end is up to you, but the journey through the sewers and the Haligtree is a rite of passage for any "completionist" Tarnished. Just... maybe wash your hands afterward.
Make sure you've finished Boggart's dialogue before freeing the Dung Eater if you want that extra Seedbed Curse. If you free him before talking to Boggart at the moat, Boggart might not trigger the death scene correctly. It's a small detail, but in a game this big, the small details are usually what break the 100-hour save file. Check your inventory for the Sewer-Gaol Key right now; if you have it and haven't used it, the Dung Eater is still waiting for you in the dark.
Once you have the Mending Rune, it stays in your "Key Items" tab. You don't need to equip it or do anything special. Just beat the final boss, approach the fractured Marika, and choose the option to "Use the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse." Prepare for a lot of brown fog.