To understand the meaning of Ranni’s Age of the Stars Ending, we have to understand the meaning of “the order of the stars and moon of the chill night”.

What does Ranni’s “I would keep them far from the earth” mean?

In this article, the meaning of Ranni’s Age of the Stars Ending was explained from the perspective of Japanese and English translations by the native Japanese author .

目次 (Contents)

Preparation
The order of the stars and moon of the chill night
The Age of the Stars Ending
Postscript

Preparation

Before the detailed explanation of the meaning of “the order of the stars and moon of the chill night” and “the Age of the Stars Ending”, some important knowledges were summarized below.

・life ＝ soul ＋ body ＋ mind
・order ＝ destiny ＝ cycle
・Golden Order ＝ a cycling system of lives via the records of Erdtree.

Once, please accept these knowledges and read the following explanation.

The order of the stars and moon of the chill night

Let’s start with the interpretation of Ranni‘s order “the order of the stars and moon of the chill night”.

To conclude, the Ranni’s order represents a cycling system in which souls become new live via stars guaided by the moon.

Simply put, in the Ranni’s order, the stars and moon replace Erdtree.

To understand the Ranni’s order, the following dialogue may be the most helpful.

Ranni
I thought I might expound a little further… Upon the order I envision.
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.
Which is why I would abandon this soil, with mine order.
Wouldst thou come to me, even now, my one and only lord?

As in the dialogue above, Ranni’s order is closely related to the stars and moon.

So what do the stars and moon represent in the world of Elden Ring?

So the following three points should be clarified.

1, Relationship between the stars and moon
2, What do the stars represent?
3, What does the moon represent?

Relationship between the stars and moon

In the worldview of Elden Ring, the moon would be superior to the stars.

The superiority of the moon is suggested in the text of “Moon of Nokstella”.

Moon of Nokstella
This legendary talisman is a treasure of Nokstella, the Eternal City.
This talisman represents the lost black moon.
The moon of Nokstella was the guide of countless stars.

The text of “The moon of Nokstella was the guide of countless stars.” suggests the superiority of the moon.

In addition, Rennala‘s sorcery of moon bewitch the Raya Lucaria academy (whose sorcerers use the sorcery of star), which implies the superiority of the moon.

Rennala’s Full Moon
Sorcery associated with the Carian queen.
Queen Rennala encountered this enchanting moon when she was young, and later, it would bewitch the academy.

Also, the fact that the moon seen from Lands between is much larger than the stars may imply that the moon is superior to the stars.

From these points, the moon whould be superior to the stars.

What do the stars represent?

Next, let’s think about the stars.

To conclude, star is a mixture of soul and stone.

To understand what stars represent, the sellen’s dialogue below may be the most helpful.

Sellen
Our powers draw upon the powers embedded in glintstone, but what is the nature of such power?
Glintstone is the amber of the cosmos, golden amber contains the remnants of ancient life and houses its vitality, while glintstone contains residual life.
And thus, the vitality of the stars. It should not be forgotten that glintstone sorcery is the study of the stars and the life therin.

The text of “the vitality of the stars” suggests that the stars contain life (= soul + stone).

In addition, “amber” is key word.

In our real world, “amber” is a stone that was formed over a long period of time from resin (= a substance produced by trees).

In Japanese translations, Sellen said “Glintstone is the amber of the stars“, which means that stars turn into glintstone over a long period of time.

Summarizing the above clues, it can be interpreted that the star is a mixture of soul and stone, and the soul and stone completely fuse over a long period of time to give glintstone.

This interpretion will help your understanding of the primeval current of glintstone sorcery.

This is to say, the primeval current of glintstone sorcery can fuse the soul and stone in a short period of time, which should normally take a long time.

So, while the glintstone sorcery extracts the power of life from glintstone, the primeval current of glintstone sorcery converts the power of life to glintstone.

Graven-Mass Talisma
A talisman depicting the first school of graven mages — a nightmare that would continue to haunt the academy.
The primeval current is a forbidden tradition of glintstone sorcery.
To those who cleave to its teachings, the act of collecting sorcerers to fashion them into the seeds of stars is but another path of scientific inquiry.

From the text of “the act of collecting sorcerers to fashion them into the seeds of stars is but another path of scientific inquiry”, the mixture of souls and stone is needed in the research of the primeval current of glintstone sorcery to fuse it.

In addition, it was shown in the text of “Shattering Crystal” that the ideal of the iprimeval current of glintstone sorcery is the vitalization (= fusion of soul and body) of inorganic matter (= stone).

Shattering Crystal
The Crystalians are inorganic beings, yet they live.
They cleave close to the ideals of the primeval current, and as such, they are revered guests of the sorcerers.

In fact, Sellene, Azur, and Lusat, who are the experts of the iprimeval current of glintstone sorcery, fused their own souls with glintstone.

From the above considerations, the star is a mixture of soul and stone, and that the soul and stone fuse completely to give glintstone.

What does the moon represent?

The superiority of the moon to the stars was pointed out in the above.

In other words, the moon guaids the stars.

So what exactly does it mean that the moon guides the stars?

To answer this question, we have to consider full moon and dark moon.

To conclude, the full moon represents the pull force to the stars, and the dark moon represents the repulsive forces, which is suggested by Alabaster Load (= full moon side) and Onyx Load (= dark moon side).

Because Alabaster Load taught Radahn (the son of Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon) gravitational technique and appears in Raya Lucaria academy, he would be in the full moon side.

On the other hands, because Onyx Load is related to Astel (= dark moon side), he would be in the dark moon side.

First, why Aster is in the dark moon side is explained.

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.

Glintstone Icecrag
The snowy crone taught the young Ranni to fear the dark moon
as she imparted her cold sorcery.

From the text above, Astel was born in darkness like a dark moon that is an object of fear.

And the important point is that Astel has a total of six limbs.

Having total six limbs is a common characteristic of the snowy crone, the teacher of Ranni and the model for the doll which Ranni’s soul settled on, and the mob enemies that appear in Lunar Estate Ruins.

Therefore, Astel would be born from the dark moon.

Moreover, the relationship between Onyx Load and Astel is implied in the fact that they uses the same sorceries.

In addition, the Astel that appears in Yelough Anix Tunnel is confined with a simple fence and an Onyx Load seems to manage it.

From these consideration, Alabaster Load would be in the full moon side and Onyx Load would be in the dark moon side.

And, as those who have played the game will know, Alabaster Load uses “Alabaster Lord’s Pull” and the Onyx Load uses “Onyx Lord’s Repulsion”.

Therefore, the full moon represents the pull forces to the stars, and the dark moon represents the repulsive forces to the stars.

In summary, the guaid of the moon would mean that the stars, which were attracted to the full moon by the gravitational pull of the full moon, fall into Lands Between due to the repulsive force of the dark moon.

The order of the stars and moon of the chill night

Now that the meaning of the stars and the moon have been explained, let’s think about the meaning of “the order of the stars and moon of the chill night”.

First, let’s focus on the word “chill”.

A similar word “Frigid” is used to represent “solar eclipse”.

Eclipse Spirit
… Ohh great sun! Frigid sun of Sol!
Surrender yourself to the eclipse!
Grant life to the soulless bones!

(In Japanese translations, “chill” and “Frigid” are expressed as a same word “冷たい” meaning “cold”)

Therefore, “chill night” would represent “solar eclipse”.

This is because the moon in the game does not phase, while the sun moves.

So, the moon light would not be the reflection of sun light, which means that the sun must be directly behind the moon to cause a solar eclipse (= dark moon).

In other words, the dark moon would represent a solar eclipse.

So, the dialogue “Grant life to the soulless bones!” is interpreted as the stars falling into the Lands Between during a solar eclipse, which results in the soul inside the stars returning to the soulless bones.

Eclipse Crest Greatshield
Metal greatshield painted with a sun in eclipse.
Carried by the headless mausoleum knights.
The eclipsed sun, drained of color, is the protective star of soulless demigods.
It aids the mausoleum knights by keeping Destined Death at bay.

In summary, “The order of the stars and moon of the chill night” represents a life cycle where the souls change into the stars and they fall into the Lands Between during a solar eclipse (= dark moon = the moon of the chill night).

Sansara

The cycle of the soul in the world of Elden Ring will be based on the “Sansara”.

In Japanese wikipedia, initial concept of sansara is explaend like below.

Initial concept of sansara
Sansara is likened to the five festival fires, and the deceased stays on the moon for a while, returns to the earth as rain, is absorbed by plants and becomes grain, becomes the sperm of the man who eats it, and becomes the sperm of the woman. It is the idea that it is injected into the womb through sexual intercourse, becomes a fetus, and is born again. The two ways theory refers to two ways, the way of regeneration (the way of the ancestors) and the way of no regeneration (the way of the gods), and the way of regeneration refers to the content of sansara.

The text “the deceased stays on the moon for a while, returns to the earth as rain” corresponds to the stars containing souls falling into the Lands Between.

The text “is absorbed by plants and becomes grain” corresponds to absorbing souls and sprouting life by Regal Ancestor Spirit.

And “the way of the gods” is expressed as “the fates of the gods” Amber Starlight’s text.

Amber Starlight
An ephemeral sliver that gives off a pale amber glow.
What remains of a passing flash of starlight.
If the stars command our fates, then amber-hued stars must command the fates of the gods. Such is the belief that inspired the use of these shards to prepare a most special draught.
Cannot be consumed by mere humans.

From these points, the cycle of the soul in the world of Elden Ring will be based on the “Sansara”.

The Age of the Stars Ending

Finally, the Age of the Stars Ending will be explained.

The auther concluded that, in the Age of the Star Ending, Ranni took the moon far away from the earth, resulting in the period of the solar eclipse extended to 1,000 years.

With this interpretation, let’s decipher Ranni’s dialogue below.

“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.“
→Ranni took her order far away from the earth by taking the moon far away.

“As it is now, life, and souls, and order are bound tightly together, but I would have them at great remove.“
→Life is now tightly connected to the order (= destiny), while Ranni wants to release the life from the destiny.
(In Japanese translations, the word “remove” is replaced by the word meaning “keep away”. )

“And have the certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch… All become impossibilities.“
→Since it takes a 1,000 years for the stars to fall, we can’t perceive the life cycle via the stars.

“Which is why I would abandon this soil, with mine order.“
→Ranni will leave the Lands Between with the moon.

Ranni
…The battle is over, I see.
To every living being, and every living soul.
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.
Well then. Shall we? My dear consort, eternal.

“Now cometh the age of the stars. “
→This is the Age in which the stars fall into the Lands Between over a 1,000 years.

“A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon Here beginneth the chill night that encompasses all, reaching the great beyond. “
→The distant moon Ranni took away guaids the cycle of the stars(= souls) over 1,000 years.

“Into fear, doubt, and loneliness… As the path stretcheth into darkness. Well then. Shall we? My dear consort, eternal.”
→The way taking the moon far is dreadful and perplexing, lonely and dark, but let us go together, my King.

At the end of the Age of the Sars Ending, Ranni seems to go to the moon while holding hands with the main character, which means that Ranni and the main character will abandon the Lands Between together.

This is the interpretion of the Age of the Stars Ending.

Postscript

This is the article about “The Meaning of Ranni’s Age of the Stars Ending Explained”.