The most mysterious entities in the ELDEN RING are Greater Will and the Outer Gods.

The Greater Will and the Outer Gods appear only in text and their forms are completely unknown.

In this article, a native Japanese writer explained the lore of Greater Will and Outer Gods including Japanese backgrounds.

目次 (Contents)

Notes
1. What Is Greater Will?
2. What Is Outer Gods?
True Identity of Greater Will
True Identity of Outer God
Postscript

Notes

First, I will summarize the basic information about the Greater Will and the Outer Gods.

What Is Greater Will?

Basic information about the Greater Will is as follows

Greater Will
・Send Elden Beast into the Lands Between.
・Use Astel to destroy the Eternal City.
・Use Two Fingers for its messenger.

That the Greater Will send the Elden Beast to the Lands Between is stated in the text of Elden Stars.

Elden Stars
It is said that long ago, the Greater Will sent a golden star bearing a beast into the Lands Between, which would later become the Elden Ring.

We can also see from the following texts that the Greater Will used Astel to destroy the Eternal City.

Remembrance of the Naturalborn
A malformed star born in the flightless void far away. Once destroyed an Eternal City and took away their sky. A falling star of ill omen.

Nox Swordstress Crown
Long ago, the Nox invoked the ire of the Greater Will, and were banished deep underground. Now they live under a false night sky, in eternal anticipation of their liege. Of the coming age of the stars. And their Lord of Night.

Also, what Enia said suggests the Greater Will uses Two Fingers as a messenger of its words.

Finger Reader Enia
Well, you managed to return.
You know what this means. The Erdtree has spurned you.
The Fingers remain still.
Shaken by this turn of events, they are busy consulting the Greater Will.
When they are finished, the Fingers will once again offer their guidance.
But thousands, if not tens of thousands, of moons must first pass.
No matter for me. But you? How will you ever manage the wait…
My, oh, my…
It may be thousands upon thousands of moons before the fingers again offer their guidance.
My, oh, my. Whatever will you do…

This is the basic notes about the Greater Will.

What Is Outer Gods?

The following three types of Outer Gods are suggested to exist.

Outer Gods (whose names are nonofficial)
・Outer god of rot
・Outer god of death
・Outer god of flame

First, the existence of the outer god of rot is suggested in multiple texts below.

Map (Lake of Rot)
A great lake of standing water downstream of the Ainsel River. It is said that the divine essence of an outer god is sealed away in this land.

Scorpion’s Stinger
Dagger fashioned from a great scorpion’s tail, glistening with scarlet rot.
A ceremonial tool used by heretics, crafted from the relic of a sealed outer god.

Unalloyed Gold Needle
A ritual implement crafted to ward away the meddling of outer gods, it is thought capable of forestalling the incurable rotting sickness.

Malenia is associated with the scarlet rot, and it is speculated that she is the queen of rot chosen by the outer god of rot.

By the way, as for the outer god of death, the existence is suggested in the text of Twinbird Kite Shield.

Twinbird Kite Shield
Shield featuring a vividly painted twinbird.
The twinbird is said to be the envoy of an outer god, and mother of the Deathbirds.
At dwindling levels of HP, this shield slightly boosts both attack and defense.

Since the Deathbird is thought to include Death Rite Bird, the outer god of death would employ the Death Rite Bird.

This may be similar to the relationship between Greater Will and Two Fingers.

The existence of the outer god of flame is suggested around Three Fingers.

Given that the Three Fingers and the Two Fingers are derived from a Five Fingers, it is conceivable that someone uses the Three Fingers, just like Two Fingers.

In addition, given that the Three Fingers are associated with Frenzied Flame, it is likely that the outer god of flame uses the Three Fingers.

There are other evidences.

First, the text of the Scorpion’s Stinger shows that outer gods are heretical.

Scorpion’s Stinger
Dagger fashioned from a great scorpion’s tail, glistening with scarlet rot.
A ceremonial tool used by heretics, crafted from the relic of a sealed outer god.

And, the text of Nomadic Merchant’s Chapeau suggests that Frenzied Flame is also heretical.

Nomadic Merchant’s Chapeau
These merchants once thrived as the Great Caravan, but after being accused of heretical beliefs, their entire clan was rounded up and buried alive far underground.
Then, they chanted a curse of despair, and summoned the flame of frenzy.

So, the Frenzied Flame would be related with the outer gods.

More to the point, the outer god with whom Mohg gets to communicate would be the outer god of flame.

Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear
Trident of Mohg, Lord of Blood. A sacred spear that will come to symbolize his dynasty.
As well as serving as a weapon, it is an instrument of communion with an outer god who bestows power upon accursed blood.
The mother of truth desires a wound.

Bloodboon
The mother of truth craves wounds. When Mohg stood before
her, deep underground, his accursed blood erupted with fire, and
besotted with the defilement that he was born into.

From the text of Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear, Mohg’s mother of truth is an outer god, and from the text of the Bloodboon, the mother gives Mohg the power of fire.

Thus, the outer god with whom Mohg communicates must be associated with fire.

In addition, there are a number of stone tablets lying in the Mohgwyn Palace, and the pattern of the stone tablet is same as that of the tablet possessed by the Fire Giants.

So, the outer god with whom Mohg communicated would be a fell god from whom the Fire Giant borrowed power.

Burn O Flame!
The Fire Giants borrowed from the power of a fell god, and still they were defeated. Yet their failure released them from their solitary curse: to serve as keepers of the Flame for eternity.

From the above poits, it can be inferred that the fell god from whom the Fire Giant borrowed power, the outer god with whom Mohg communicated, and the outer god who uses the Three Fingers are all outer god of fire.

These are the basic information about the outer god.

True Identity of Greater Will

To conclude, the true identity of the Greater Will would be only a “will” that exists in space.

Actually, the following dialogue of Enia suggests Greater Will exists in space.

Enia
The Fingers remain still.
Shaken by this turn of events, they are busy consulting the Greater Will.
When they are finished, the Fingers will once again offer their guidance.
But thousands, if not tens of thousands, of moons must first pass.
No matter for me. But you? How will you ever manage the wait…

In Japanese, the “consulting” is translated into “交信” a term used when communicating between distant locations, such as between the ground and space.

In addition, the consulting needs thousands days, which suggests Greater Will is somewhere far from the Lands Between.

And, Divine Towers are designed to be quite high, which would be for Two Fingers, at the top of the Divine Tower, communicating with Greater Will existing in space.

Therefore, the Greater Will would exist in space.

And as I mentioned earlier, the Greater Will would be the existence of only a will.

First, in the worldview of ELDEN RING, life would consist of body, soul, and mind (will).

(Mind and will are translated into 意志 in Japanese)

So, it makes sense that the shape of the Greater Will is not revealed in the work.

And, the Greater Will is able to interfere with the will of others maybe because it is also a will.

Iji’s Mirrorhelm
Worn by those committed to high treason, it wards off the intervention of the Greater Will and its vassal Fingers.
Iji was afraid. Terrified of his own treachery.

From the above considerations, the Greater Will must be only the will that exists in space.

True Identity of Outer God

The motif of the outer god would be the Cthulhu Mythos.

This is because in the Cthulhu Mythos there is a term “outer gods,” which is exactly the same description as ELDEN RING’s “outer gods”.

The outer gods in the Cthulhu Mythos are as follows

Outer Ones in Cthulhu Mythos
The creation of the universe, the existence that was drifting in the outer space before the big bang.
Or it could be the Big Bang itself, a being that transcends the human imagination.
They are often said to be disembodied supernatural beings or masses of pure energy, and even the beings called the Great Old Ones just prostrate themselves.
It is said that external gods rarely interfere with humans, but the existence of Nyarlathotep, who is summoned by humans himself, is an exception.
An existence beyond the reach of human intellect. It is really dangerous to look into even a fraction of it.
（Ref.）

In short, the outer god in the Cthulhu Mythos is an entity floating in space without a physical body.

Also, this seems to be true to the Greater Will.

Indeed, from the text of the Blue Dancer Charm, we can infer that the outer god of rot is the concept of rot itself.

Blue Dancer Charm
The dancer in blue represents a fairy, who in legend bestowed a flowing sword upon a blind swordsman. Blade in hand, the swordsman sealed away an ancient god — a god that was Rot itself.

And, the text of the Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear states that communion is also necessary to touch the outer gods, just like the Greater Will.

In fact, when Mohg communicates with the outer gods shouting Nihil, or when the Fire Giant makes an offering of his own feet in order to borrow power from the fell god, they seem to get the power from the heaven.

Also, the eyes of the Fire Giant (Left), which is empowered by the evil god, showed Jupiter (Right).

This suggests that the fell god exists in space.

Also, that the outer gods exist in space explains the reason why Uhl Palace Ruins, Eternal City, and the altar of the outer god of rot are in the deep underground.

In short, if we bury them deep underground, it will be harder to communicate with the outer gods who exists in space.

The above points suggest that the Outer Gods are probably inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos and is a will-only entity that exists in space, like the Greater Will.

Postscript

This article explained the lore of Greater Will and Outer Gods.