Are Dark Souls and Elden Ring Connected? Unraveling the Threads of FromSoftware’s Mythos
Few questions ignite more passionate debate among action RPG fans than this: Are Dark Souls and Elden Ring connected? At first glance, the answer seems obvious — after all, both games are masterpieces crafted by the legendary studio FromSoftware, under the creative direction of Hidetaka Miyazaki. But dig deeper, and you’ll find that the connection goes beyond shared developers or similar gameplay mechanics. There’s a subtle, thematic, and even cosmological thread weaving through these worlds — one that rewards curious players with rich lore and hidden meaning.
Shared DNA: More Than Just Difficulty
Let’s begin with what’s immediately apparent. Both Dark Souls and Elden Ring are punishingly beautiful action RPGs that demand patience, precision, and perseverance. Their combat systems — weighty, deliberate, and deeply tactical — feel unmistakably related. The stamina bar, the roll-dodge mechanic, the emphasis on timing over button-mashing — these aren’t coincidences. They’re hallmarks of a design philosophy that FromSoftware has refined over more than a decade.
But to say they’re “connected” simply because they play similarly would be reductive. What truly binds them is something less tangible: a shared mythological architecture and narrative DNA.
Lore and Worldbuilding: Echoes Across Realms
While Dark Souls unfolds in the decaying kingdom of Lordran, and Elden Ring sprawls across the shattered Lands Between, both settings orbit around the same cosmic principles. Fire and Dark. Order and Chaos. Cycles of decay and rebirth. These aren’t just themes — they’re foundational laws that govern the universes Miyazaki builds.
In Dark Souls, the First Flame is central. It gives birth to the Age of Fire, but as it fades, the world teeters toward darkness — and players must choose whether to rekindle it or let it die. In Elden Ring, the titular Elden Ring — shattered by Marika — serves a similar narrative function. It’s the source of cosmic order, broken, and players must decide how (or whether) to restore it.
Notice the pattern? Both games revolve around a broken cosmic order, a fallen god or monarch, and a silent protagonist tasked with reshaping destiny. Even the NPCs — cryptic, tragic, and often doomed — speak in the same haunting, poetic cadence.
Miyazaki’s Signature: Recurring Motifs and Symbols
Hidetaka Miyazaki doesn’t just reuse mechanics — he recycles myth. Consider the following:
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The Chosen Undead / Tarnished: Both protagonists are outcasts summoned (or drawn) to fix a broken world. Neither speaks. Both are vessels for player agency in a world that offers no easy answers.
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Bosses as Fallen Ideals: Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder, sacrifices himself to prolong the Age of Fire. Radagon, Elden Ring’s warrior-god, merges with the shattered Golden Order. Both are tragic figures clinging to dying systems — and both must be slain by the player.
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Bonfires vs. Sites of Grace: Functionally identical — save points that also serve as metaphysical anchors. In Dark Souls, bonfires are fragments of the First Flame. In Elden Ring, Sites of Grace are remnants of the Erdtree’s power. Same purpose, different flavor.
These aren’t lazy rehashes. They’re deliberate echoes — a mythological language Miyazaki speaks fluently, inviting players to compare, contrast, and interpret.
Case Study: The Dung Eater and the Abyss
One of the most fascinating examples of thematic continuity appears in Elden Ring’s questline involving the Dung Eater — a nihilistic demigod who seeks to curse the world with eternal suffering. His “Seedbed Curse” bears eerie resemblance to the Abyss from Dark Souls, a force of primordial chaos that consumes light and reason.
In Dark Souls, characters like Artorias and Manus embody the Abyss’s corrupting influence. In Elden Ring, the Dung Eater weaponizes defilement as a form of twisted salvation. Both represent the same philosophical terror: what if the world’s natural state isn’t order… but entropy?
This isn’t direct continuity — you won’t find Manus walking around the Lands Between — but it is conceptual continuity. Miyazaki revisits the same existential questions, dressed in new mythological garments.
George R.R. Martin’s Influence — And Its Limits
When Elden Ring was announced with George R.R. Martin co-writing its mythos, many assumed it would break from Dark Souls’ cryptic storytelling. In truth, Martin provided the “mythological backbone” — the gods, demigods, and ancient wars — while Miyazaki handled the in-game narrative delivery. The result? A world that feels grander in scope, but no less mysterious.
Martin’s contribution doesn’t sever the link to Dark Souls. If anything, it expands it. The Lands Between feel like what Lordran might have been before the First Flame — a world of warring gods and primordial forces, not yet bound by cycles of fire and dark.
Why It Matters: The Power of Implied Continuity
You won’t find a character in Elden Ring saying, “Ah yes, I remember Lordran — lovely place before the flame guttered out.” There’s no explicit timeline linking the two. And that’s precisely the point.
FromSoftware’s genius lies in implication. The connections aren’t spelled out — they