Symbolic confusion in Elden ring?
This is less of a lore question and more of just a "visual vibes" question
So most of the Outer Gods in Elden ring have pretty consistent theming.
Blood Mother- Cysts, Blood (obviously) and bodily imagry. Also flowes. Crimson red
Frenzied Flame- Fire, madness, eyes, hands.
Death god-Dark Fire, birds, ghost, skin, dead plants. Dark Black
Rot God-butterflies, Mushrooms/fungus, still water, flowers, butterflies, rust red, bugs
Fell God: Giants, deep red, fire, eyes
So far so good. As seen in Sekiro and Dark Souls, From Soft is very good as making its world building elements aethitically consistent.
The Greater Will though seems visually very confused, it seems to have three distinct visual themes that don't have much to do with each other, beyond the Golden Color scheme that it has going for it.
Firstly, its a Tree. It hates fire (opposes the Fel God), its servants are tree themed (Erd Tree Avatar/Tree Spirit/Tree Sentry), it associated with Healing and Life, its Golden Order is all about things being in their proper place and its sacred symbol is a massive magical tree.
Secondly it is associated with fingers; Its servants are the two Fingers, one of its top creatures is a massive finger monster, it has a lot of hand imagry associated with it
Thirdly are stars. Unlike the Dark Moon/Night/Bloodstar, it seems to have a golden star association, and the Elden Beast, the most clear cut direct servant of the Greater Will is itself a massive galaxy dragon with golden stars
And a possible fourth is dragons. I don't know if the Dragon God mentioned in Farum Azula is the Greater Will or something else, but if they are connected then the Greater Will is also associated with lightning, beast and Dragons.
So visually i feel like these don't have anything to do with each other. Like with all of the other Outer Gods, I feel like I can look at all their servants next to each other and be like "ok, this is what these guy's deal is". All of the Death Servants, be they the Godskin, Death Birds, Those who Live in Death ect all have this ghostly spooky dark flame vibe. But i Feel like the Golden Order is like 2-3 different gods merged together. Am I missing something?
Posted Dec 7, 2025, 11:44 PM UTC