Summary of Mentioned Locations that are not on the Map/in the Lands Between
What makes Elden Ring different from previous titles is partly because the in-game world of ER (almost) covers every mentioned location in the lore.
In DS1 and DS3 we fight alongside knights from Astora, Carim, and Catarina, with pyromancers from Great Swamps, etc. But we cannot travel to those realms in the game. In DS2 we also heard places such as Mirrah, Forossa, the land of Giants, as well as characters from there; while the game largely centered around Drangleic.
ER, on the other hand, features the entirety of the Lands Between, which means nearly all the mentioned locations are, in fact, exist on the map. Rumored locations heard from the beginning of the game, such as Caelid and the Royal Capital, etc., are all places we can travel to. That's true even for "small" places: We fight the Knights/Ancient Heros of Zamor in an evergaol, and later in the game we can visit their hometown, Zamor.
Yet, there are still some mentioned locations, whether exist within or outside the Lands Between, that are not featured on the map. Below is a brief summary of them and their lore.
Land of Reeds
Characters/Enemies from Land of Reeds: Samurai starting class, Bloody Finger Okina, Bloody Finger Hunter Yura.
FS, as a Japanese studio, often puts Japanese references into their western-themed games. From DS1 to DS3, we heard and meet NPCs from "Eastern Lands" and picked up weapons that originated from there - all of which bear strong Japanese characteristics.
In ER, the Japanese reference becomes much clearer. Many item descriptions mention a "Land of Reeds." And the Japanese islands, where all humans live, according to the Japanese mythology, were called 葦原の中つ国 or "the Kingdom Amidst Land of Reeds."
The description of one of the character templates, "the Reedlanders," further describes the Land of Reeds as "distant" or "faraway, isolated." This land certainly lies beyond the Lands Between.
With such a direct reference, it can also be assumed that the Land of Reeds, similar to the Eastern Lands, will unlikely be featured in the future additions of ER. We already have Sekiro, after all.
Badland(s)
ER official twitter puts the background of the "Hero" starting class as below:
A stalwart hero, at home with a battleaxe, descended from a badlands chieftain.
This location, "Badlands," heavily features in all the descriptions related to people such as Heros, Champions (Champion Set), and Warriors (Nepheli Loux). The descriptions of the Champion Set provide us with a more detailed background for them:
Following the example of their chieftain Hoarah Loux, the brave warriors of the badlands shun excess adornment.
As we know, Hoarah Loux is the true name of Godfrey. After losing his grace, he left the Lands Between with other Tarnished, led them into a "Long March"; and at the end of it, he returned to a warrior once more. It is very likely that the Long March ended up in the Badlands, and Godfrey, now Hoarah Loux, became the chieftain of these Tarnished.
This information also puts the Badlands as a place outside the Lands Between - all the Tarnished are originally exiled warriors, exiled away from the Lands Between. The description of the Rusted Anchor also suggested that the first generation of Tarnished left the Lands Between via boats.
Kaiden
Characters/Enemies from Kaiden: Kaiden Sellswords, Mounted Kaiden Sellswords.
Remember those horse-riding folks that roam around Limgrave with a massive curved greatsword in their hands? Yes, that's them. Called "Northern Mercenaries" in CNT, they are now being renamed as "Kaiden Sellswords."
Description of the Kaiden Sellswords set:
These hulking, fearless mercenaries, said to hail from the mountaintops of the wintry north, are adept at fighting on horseback. Kaiden is the name of their home settlement.
"Mountaintops of the wintry north" really suggests that these folks originated from the Mountaintops of the Giants, which is within the Lands Between. However, there isn't any settlement in the Mountaintops of the Giants called "Kaiden" - "Zamor" does exist, though. This makes Kaiden a mentioned-only location.
Interestingly, the description of one of the character templates, "the Northerners," described these people as below:
A face found among the hardy people of the unforgiving north. Some say they're descended from giants.
The CNT description of the Northern Mercenaries set said something similar about "descended from giants."
It is possible that, at one point of the development, the Mountaintops of the Giants was not a "forbidden land" for locking up the legacy (the Fire) of the Giants (which is a threat to the Erdtree), but an openly accessible region, with its native population living a horseback life and traveling around as mercenaries. The Northerners and Northern Mercenaries would flourish under this setting, and Kaiden would be an in-game location as well. Currently, this place simply doesn't exist in the northern snowy regions at all.
Eochaid
Characters/Enemies from Eochaid: Elemer of the Briar, and all the Bell Bearing Hunters (not sure if they are just one person or a group of Bell Hunters).
We have two brief mentions of this location. The first is the description of the Regalia of Eochaid:
Treasured sword of Eochaid, a lesser, long-vanished domain. The copper coloration is not to be confused for rust, but is a conduit for its wielder to move it by their will alone. Swords of Eochaid dance through the skies.
The Japanese version of the description uses 滅びた小国 "now-perished small country" as the first line. So Eochaid is basically a small nation now falling into ruins.
Where does Eochaid locate? The description of Briar Greatshield provides a hint:
Greatshield from a foreign land, used by Elemer of the Briar. Attacks with this armament utilize the iron thorns that have been wound around its frame. Originates from Eochaid, a land of proudly solitary ascetics.
The Japanese version of the description directly says 異国の名は、エオヒドという "the name of this foreign country is called Eochaid." Hence, Eochaid is a small nation famous for ascetics that lies outside the Lands Between.
Then how did Elemer of the Briar, a foreigner, ended up in Lands Between? The description of Marais Executioner's Sword tells us his story:
Storied sword of House Marais, the family of executioners who presided over the Shaded Castle. One of the legendary armaments. Elemer of the Briar, the Bell Bearing Hunter, snatched the sword from the site of his looming execution, and furnished it with battle skills from his home of Eochaid.
A ghost in Shaded Castle also provides further details:
House Marais is ruined... Just deserts, for falling for that severed harpy. No surprise that guilty cretin took the castle and our storied sword...
Basically, Elemer wandered into the Lands Between - likely because his home country, Eochaid, is now in ruins - and hunted merchants for a living. House Marais, the hereditary executioners of Lands Between, arrested Elemer and planned to execute him. But the current head of House Marais, Maleigh Marais, fell in love with the Saclet Rot and its Goddess (Malenia) and somehow abandoned his family duty ("deserts...falling for that severed harpy"). Elemer took the chance; he likely attacked the executioner who held the Marais Sword, fought his way out of the execution ground, and took the Shaded Castle.
Elemer further applied the weapon art from his home country - Eochaid's Dancing Blade - onto the Marais Sword which turns the sword into f**king cannon (try to fight the Bell Hunter at the Isolated Merchant's Shack in Dragonbarrow and you know what I mean). He continued to hunt merchants to this day.
There is another detail about Eochaid: All three weapons that are related to Eochaid are either scaled with Arcane (Regalia of Eochaid, Marais Executioner's Sword), or could cause blood loss which also scales with Arcane (Briar Greatshield). So it seems that Eochaid is also a land famous for arcane-related techniques.
The above locations are mentioned-only locations in Elden Ring that I found with relatively detailed info in descriptions. Please comment if you find more!
Posted Mar 24, 2022, 5:01 AM UTC
Really a well done research, might I add that we maybe have a face preset for the land of Eochaid, im referring to the Loner origin that says:
"Face found among a proud and seclusive tribe of folks well-versed in ancient legends and heresies alike."
Even if I always assumed the tribe mentioned to be from the badlands, since this preset very much resembles the ethnicity of Nepheli Loux.