“At last the horizon seems open once more, granting even that it is not bright; our ships can at last put out to sea in face of every danger; every hazard is again permitted to the discerner; the sea, our sea, again lies open before us; perhaps never before did such an “open sea” exist.”- Frederich Nietzsche, We Fearless Ones

When we first meet Ranni, no matter what time of day it might have been in the game, we are treated to a starless night sky and an ever present moon that shines bright up high. 

“How long will it be, I wonder… Before the Tarnished tire of obeisance to the Two Fingers?”

From the very start, even if it’s not known yet to the player, Ranni has a desire. A desire for an end to the age of gold, an age fractured by time and stagnating traditions that has brought it to near ruin. An age that had its moment in the sun, but now that sun has set and now, in her mind, it is time for the moon to come out and the stars to shine once more. 

But the stars shine no more, the sky is empty save for said moon, and Ranni… Well, Ranni is nowhere to be found. 

“Forgive mine intrusion, Tarnished. I doubt we shall again meet…”

Ranni enters the game with the intention of helping the player. Not only that, but in a way, she is also trying to call you out, trying to make you intrigued enough to at the very least question your loyalty to the two fingers and, by consequence, the Greater Will. And it’s a very effective calling to say the least as most of us sought for ways to find Ranni again. We would eventually come to a cursed manor, and a doorway guarded by the spirit of the old Carian Family protector, royal knight Loretta. 

Behind magic, and enemies, and even a dragon, we find her. And in doing so, unlocking her storyline through various events in the game, freeing the Stars from the grasp of General Radahn, we do something very important in The Lands Between, we start to change fate. 

“I was once an Empyrean. Of the demigods, only I, Miquella, and Malenia could claim that title. Each of us was chosen by our own Two Fingers, as a candidate to succeed Queen Marika, to become the new god of the coming age. Which is when I received Blaidd. In the form of a vassal tailored for an Empyrean.

But I would not acquiesce to the Two Fingers.

I stole the Rune of Death, slew mine own Empyrean flesh, casting it away. I would not be controlled by that thing.” 

Ranni, one of the demigods who had a chance to ascend into full godhood, saw the system that she was a part of, decided to get rid of everything that linked her to this celestial blood and forge a new path. 

“Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night. I would keep them far from the earth beneath our feet. As it is now, life, and souls, and order are bound tightly together, but I would have them at great remove. And have the certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch… All become impossibilities.”

Through the game we come to know the moon and night sky as symbols of magic and knowledge. Queen Rennala and the Carian Family went to war with the golden order various times and they were strong enough that in both occasions they have ended in a stalemate, with the second war bringing the union of Rennala and Radagon. Even before the golden order or the tree, the people from the Eternal Cities, the nox, would look to the stars and study their movement in order to know their fate. The golden order wanted the only fate there was to be that which the Greater Will demanded and General Radahn accomplished by capturing the stars.

They captured fate and rendered it hostage to an order subjected to a will other than their own. Ranni saw this and felt anger. In a way, much like Nietzsche and the previous reading. The teachings that had been imposed upon the world had caused it to go into a slow decline that saw the Lands Between become fractured and ruined. And now she was one of the ones who was supposed to bring it back to its former glory? No. 

Instead, when we seek this new beginning, this age of stars that will lead us into a path unknown but new, something that we will be able to bring about ourselves with our own strength and not at the behest of some force from the great unknown. We become ascended beings in a way, stars ourselves that walk beyond the dark in search of our own light of knowledge and unknown. 

“Now cometh the age of the stars. A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon. Here beginneth the chill night that encompasses all, reaching the great beyond. Into fear, doubt, and loneliness… As the path stretcheth into darkness.”

For humanity fears what it does not understand. However, for once, what we don’t understand is what we might be missing to ascend after all. 

“Well then. Shall we? My dear consort, eternal.”

Thank you for reading.

I really didn’t think I’d be able to pull it off, but somehow I managed to get through Elden Ring Month. I’m pretty sure I’ll come back to this game at some point, as well as other souls games, but at least in Elden Ring’s regard I am done for the moment. If you’ve been following Elden Lord’s Ending post, then I sincerely thank you. As I write this it’s Christmas, probably gonna post this the day after so hope you had a wonderful Christmas day, and that the new years brings about an age of wisdom under the moon. 

And if it’s not any of the holidays by the time you read this, then hey! Thanks for reading all the same!