So, you finally beat Miquella and Radahn. It was a nightmare. You spent hours—maybe days—dying to that light-speed cross-slash, and then, suddenly, the "God Slain" text popped up. You walked toward the tiny glow in the center of the arena, watched a thirty-second memory of Miquella talking to a chair, and then... that’s it. You're back in the Realm of Shadow with nothing but a circlet and a lot of questions. Honestly, the way Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree handles its reign of shadows and endings is probably the most polarizing thing FromSoftware has ever done. It doesn't give you a new credit roll. It doesn't change the state of the Leyndell capital in the base game. It just ends.
But there is actually a massive amount of narrative weight buried in that silence.
The community expected a "Duskborn" or "Frenzied Flame" style choice for the DLC. We wanted to decide the fate of the Land of Shadow. Instead, Hidetaka Miyazaki and the writing team at FromSoftware gave us a fixed conclusion that serves as a tragic prequel to your own rise to Elden Lord. It’s a story about a god who tried to divest himself of everything—his lineage, his body, his fears, and his "doubts"—only to realize that a god without doubt is just a monster with a pretty face.
The Brutal Reality of Miquella’s Reign of Shadows
To understand the ending, you have to understand what Miquella was actually trying to build. He wasn't just some villain. He genuinely wanted a "thousand-year voyage guided by compassion." That sounds nice on paper. Who wouldn't want a world without the Golden Order’s systemic racism against Omen and Misbegotten?
But the reign of shadows and endings we witness proves that Miquella’s compassion was artificial. It was a lobotomy. When you break Miquella’s Great Rune during the questline, all the NPCs—Ansbach, Moore, Thiollier—suddenly wake up from a charm. They realize they don't even like each other. Moore falls into a deep depression. Ansbach remembers that Miquella literally desecrated the corpse of his lord, Mohg, to use as a vessel for Radahn’s soul.
This is the central "horror" of the DLC.
Miquella’s age would have been one of total mental subjugation. By the time you reach the Gate of Divinity, he has discarded St. Trina (his own love/half) because love is a vulnerability. He thinks he’s becoming a pure god, but he’s actually just becoming a hollow shell. As Sir Ansbach—arguably the best-written character in the expansion—points out, a god who can force you to love them is the ultimate tyrant.
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Why the Final Cutscene Feels "Small"
A lot of players felt let down by the final memory. You see Miquella whispering to an empty room, asking Radahn to be his consort if they fulfill their part of a vow. That's it. No epic cinematic of the world changing.
The reason it’s so understated is that the DLC is a self-contained tragedy. FromSoftware lead designer Hidetaka Miyazaki has mentioned in interviews that the DLC doesn't affect the base game endings because the player's journey to becoming Elden Lord is the "final" point in the timeline. The reign of shadows and endings in the DLC happened "off the books." You are effectively a janitor. You went into a hidden land, cleaned up a mess that the Golden Order left behind, and killed a nascent god before he could ever reach the Lands Between.
It’s depressing. You killed the only person who actually wanted to make the world better, because his version of "better" was a nightmare of forced peace.
The Role of the Finger Mother and the Greater Will
One of the biggest lore bombs dropped in the Shadow of the Erdtree involves Count Ymir and Metyr, Mother of Fingers. This completely recontextualizes the reign of shadows and endings of the entire Elden Ring mythos. We found out that Metyr was the first shooting star to hit the Lands Between, long before the Elden Beast.
But she’s broken.
She has been receiving "no signals" from the Greater Will for eons. Think about that. Every single Finger Maiden, every Two Fingers, and even Queen Marika herself were following the advice of a broken "antenna" that was just making things up as it went along.
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- Marika’s ascension at the Gate of Divinity was based on a lie.
- The genocide of the Hornsent was fueled by a god who felt abandoned.
- Miquella was trying to fix a broken system using the same broken tools his mother used.
When you finish the Ymir questline and kill Metyr, you aren't just finishing a side quest. You are confirming that the "Shadow" in the title refers to the dark origin of the Erdtree itself. There was never a grand plan. It was just a series of traumatized people trying to find meaning in the silence of the cosmos.
Comparing the DLC Ending to the Base Game
In the base game, you have choices. You can burn it all down with the Three Fingers or repair the Ring with Goldmask’s mending rune. The reign of shadows and endings in the expansion doesn't give you that agency because your role here is different. You are a "Lord" in the making, and the DLC is your final test to see if you can resist the charm of a god.
Look at the boss fight with Radahn. If he grabs you twice, your heart is "stolen." You lose. The game literally ends with a "HEART STOLEN" message across the screen. This is a mechanical representation of the ending Miquella wanted. If you win, you prevent that ending.
It’s worth noting that the "Ending" of the DLC is actually the item description of the Circlet of Light. It tells us that Miquella’s soul has finally departed, leaving the world to you. The weight of the DLC isn't in a cutscene; it’s in the realization that you just murdered a child-god who was trying to save a world that didn't want to be saved his way.
The Truth About the "Vow"
People are still arguing about whether Radahn actually agreed to Miquella's plan. The game is intentionally vague. However, the Redmane Freyja seems to think Radahn would love an eternity of endless war, which Miquella’s age would provide. Ansbach, on the other hand, thinks Radahn’s soul was essentially hijacked.
If you look at the design of the final boss, Radahn doesn't speak. Not once. He is a puppet. The reign of shadows and endings we see is the result of Miquella’s obsession with a "purer" past. He reached back for his big brother because Radahn represented the strength and kindness Miquella thought he needed.
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But by doing so, he turned a legendary warrior into a silent thrall. It’s a recurring theme in Elden Ring: the desire to return to a "Golden Age" always results in something monstrous.
What You Should Do After the Ending
Since the game doesn't kick you into New Game Plus, you’re left in a quiet world. Most players miss the final pieces of the puzzle because they just teleport away.
- Go back to St. Trina. Down in the Stone Coffin Hole. After Miquella dies, she has a final interaction. It’s small, but it provides the closure the main boss arena lacks.
- Talk to the NPCs at Enir-Ilim. If they survived their respective fights (which they probably didn't, honestly), they have final lines of dialogue that wrap up their personal arcs.
- Read the descriptions of the Remembrances. The Remembrance of a God and a Lord gives the most direct explanation of what Miquella’s "Vow" actually was.
- Visit the Scadutree Base. If you haven't killed the Scadutree Avatar yet, do it. It explains the "shadow" relationship between the two trees.
The reign of shadows and endings isn't about a new throne. It’s about the cost of godhood. Marika’s era started with a "secret affair and a coward's betrayal" (as the trailer said), and Miquella’s era ended before it could start because he tried to follow her footsteps too closely.
Actionable Next Steps for Lore Hunters
If you're still feeling like you missed something, you probably did. FromSoftware hides the best stuff in the most annoying places.
First, go find the Suppression Pillar in the center of the Gravesite Plain. There’s a tablet there that says: "The very center of the Lands Between. All manners of Death wash up here, only to be suppressed." This confirms that the Land of Shadow isn't another dimension; it’s the physical center of the map, hidden by Marika’s veil.
Second, re-examine the Finger Ruins. There are three of them. If you haven't rung all the bells for Ymir, you haven't seen the "true" ending of the religious lore in the DLC. The boss at the end of that chain is arguably more important to the "cosmic" story than Radahn is.
Third, look at the Leda and Allies fight. The items you get from the people you kill there tell the story of why they followed Miquella. Some followed out of love, some out of fear, and some because they had nowhere else to go. It’s the best way to see the human side of the reign of shadows and endings.
Finally, take the Circlet of Light back to the base game. It gives you a tiny boost to your stats, but more importantly, it serves as a crown of the god you chose to slay. You are now ready to head to the Erdtree and decide the fate of the world with the full knowledge of how gods are actually made. It isn't pretty. It’s bloody, lonely, and built on the bodies of those who were "different."