One of the core characters in the story of ELDEN RING is Dung Eater.

In addition to the shocking name, its disgusting appearance has a great impact.

Dung Eater also palys a role in the branching of the ending.

In this article, a native Japanese writer explained the lore of Dung Eater and the Blessing of Despair Ending including Japanese backgrounds.

目次 (Contents)

Real Name
Spreading Curses
Blessing of Despair Ending
Postscript

Real Name

The real name of Dung Eater is Milos, as described in the text of Sword of Milos, which Dung Eater has.

Sword of Milos
Sinister greatsword fashioned from a giant’s backbone.
Metes out wounds like a lopsided saw-blade, and restores some FP upon defeating an enemy.
Milos was undersized for a giant, and was viewed as sullied and terribly grotesque.

From the text above, Dung Eater would be a family of giants.

However, the appearence of Dung Eater is far from that of giant, which must be the reason why he gets to spread curses.

Spreading Curses

Dung Eater killed and defiled many people, as described below:

Dung Eater
I’ve been here long enough.
I will kill again. And defile each corpse with care.
Just to be sure. That when they’re reborn…
They’ll be cursed. Along with their children, and their children’s children, for all time to come…

Dung Eater Puppet
Spirit of a man who murdered thousands and defiled their corpses with the Seedbed Curse.
Wields a spine greatsword and hurls curses.
The Dung Eater despaired at how he met his end.
How hideous and sinister this puppet is, and yet, its utter despair invites one to care for it.

From the text above, people Dung Eater defiles will be cursed even after their death and removed from the cycle of an Order, which is also implied in the text of Seedbed Curse.

Seedbed Curse
Curse grown on a corpse killed and defiled by the Dung Eater. A tender pox afflicted with omen horns.
The Dung Eater cultivates the seedbed curse on corpses.
By doing so he prevents dead souls returning to the Erdtree, leaving them forever cursed. One of the most loathsome things found in the Lands Between.

From the text above, Dung Eater cultivates the curse on corpses and the souls become cursed forever and never to return to the Erdtree.

How horrible Dung Eater’s curse is…

Blessing of Despair Ending

If you complete the quest of Dung Eater, you will get Mending Rune of the Fell Curse.

Mending Rune of the Fell Curse
The reviled curse will last eternally, and the world’s children, grandchildren, and every generation hence, will be its pustules.
If Order is defiled entirely, defilement is defilement no more, and for every curse, a cursed blessing.

And, if you mend the Elden Ring with the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse, you will see the Blessing of Despair Ending.

Let’s think about this ending.

In the Blessing of Despair Ending, the Order of Dung Eater governs the Lands Between because the Elden Ring was mended with the Mending Rune of Dung Eater.

And, the text, “They’ll be cursed. Along with their children, and their children’s children, for all time to come…”, suggests the Order of Dung Eater would include the world where all people are cursed.

In addition, from the text below, the Order of Dung Eater would represent the infinite loop where cursed people curses other people.

Dung Eater
Give me your blessing. Defile my flesh with the seedbed curse.
Again and again. Until it is done. Until a cursed ring coalesces, that may one day defile the Order itself.
Countless, I have killed. And countless, I have defiled. And soon the fruits will be borne.
Hundreds will be reborn cursed, and they’ll bear thousands of cursed children, who’ll bear tens of thousands more.
A few of those will be born just like me, and they’ll kill, and defile, and bless in my stead!
The rotten fools. My fate was the grandest, most brilliant of them all!

In order to make this infinite loop, Seedbed Curse and Ancestral Spirit’s Horn may be used.

Ancestral Spirit’s Horn
Item cut from the horns of the Regal Ancestor Spirit.
Restore FP upon defeating enemies.
A number of new growths bud from the antler-like horns of the fallen king, each glowing with light. Thus does new life grow from death, and from death, one obtains power.

In other words, the Seedbed Curse would be the curse planted in the Ancestral Spirit’s Horn.

The Ancestral Spirit’s Horn is able to absorb souls and become a seedbed for new life, so if you plant a curse in the horn, you can curse all life that sprouts from it.

In other words, the Dung Eater curses the “Horn” in the figure below.

Remembrance of the Regal Ancestor
Ancestral spirits exist as a phenomenon beyond the purview of the Erdtree. Life sprouts from death, as it does from birth. Such is the way of the living.

From the above points, the Blessing of Despair Ending would represent the world where curses continue to occur forever based on the infinite cycle where curses continue to give birth to curses.

Postscript

This article explained the lore of Dung Eater and the Blessing of Despair Ending.