Lands Between

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Lands Between
Alias(es)	交界地
Classification	World/realm
Status	Reforged under the Age of the Sun and later serves as a nexus linking worlds illuminated by Lucian's sunlight 515 522
First Appearance	Chapter 5

Background / History

The Lands Between was not always governed by the Erdtree. Ancient dragons and beasts ruled its earliest known age, followed by the giants and later civilizations including the Nox Dynasty, the Hornsent, the Numen, and the Golden Dynasty 250.

Death was introduced by an otherworldly visitor who died in the Lands Between before death existed there. His death established the concept of mortality, and the power later called Destined Death became the law through which even immortal beings of the Lands Between could be slain 420 497.

During the brief Age of Plenty, a pitch-black Shadow Tree grew alongside the Erdtree, which then flowed with abundant dew and was praised even by its enemies. This age ended after events tied to Messmer, one of Marika's children 247. The central continent of the Lands Between—including the Pillar of Suppression, Jagged Peak, and the Cerulean Coast—was subsequently erased or sealed away, leaving behind the vast inland sea visible in the present age 215 247.

The Elden Ring's shattering reduced the realm to a war-torn and deteriorating land. Its surviving lords held Great Runes and ruled isolated territories, while widespread conflict, madness, and despair worsened living conditions 9 343.

Geography

Surface Regions

• Limgrave — A comparatively livable region containing the Church of Elleh, Stormveil Castle, the Weeping Peninsula, and Castle Morne. Its scenery remains beautiful despite the dangers created by war and roaming enemies 20 439.
• Liurnia — A vast lake region shrouded in pale-blue mist, home to Raya Lucaria Academy, Albinauric settlements, Caria Manor, and the Church of Vows 150 155 168.
• Caelid and Dragonbarrow — A region transformed from older lands associated with Jagged Peak and the drake clans; Sellia later suffers attacks from rot creatures and Kindred of Rot 214 215.
• Altus Plateau — Reached through the route beyond Bellum Church and connected to regions such as the Bountiful Forest, Leyndell, and Mt. Gelmir 168 410.
• Leyndell — The royal capital beneath the Erdtree. It retains remnants of the Golden Dynasty's former prosperity but is left desolate after The Shattering 216 455.
• Land of Shadow — A sealed, suppressed land once connected to the central Lands Between. It is dominated by the black-and-gold Shadow Tree and retains ruins of the Hornsent and Marika's crusade 288 289 433.

Underground and Other Realms

• Nokron and Nokstella — Eternal Cities of the Nox Dynasty beneath false night skies, filled with ruins, Silver Tears, and remnants of lost civilization 208 325.
• Lake of Rot — A vast underground lake saturated with Scarlet Rot, ancient-dynasty ruins, Basilisks, Kindred of Rot, and rot-infected Ancestral Followers 334.
• Deeproot Depths — An underground region linked to the corpse of Godwyn and guarded routes once controlled by the Golden Dynasty 481.
• Spirit World — The intended destination of souls after death. Its original form collapsed, but a “Second Spirit World” was later created by Godwyn's followers and Deathbirds 211 256 257.
• Farum Azula — A crumbling region affected by severe space-time distortion, where scenes from the Lands Between's past can appear together 492 497.

Metaphysics

Grace and Runes

Grace is tied to the Erdtree and can guide selected individuals. By the present age, ordinary Tarnished are generally believed unable to see it; Lucian's ability to do so identifies him as exceptional 9.

Runes serve as both currency and a manifestation of Grace. Golden residents treat them as symbols of status and Erdtree recognition, while Tarnished can convert Runes directly into personal strength without needing that recognition 12.

• Sites of Grace allow travel and guidance across the realm 19 178.
• Great Runes embody powerful laws and can be activated through Divine Towers 102 106.
• Rune Arcs activate and enhance the power of Great Runes 106.

Death and Souls

Before the Erdtree's dominance, Deathbirds and death priests guided souls to the Spirit World. Bodies were burned in Ghostflame furnaces so that souls could be freed for rebirth 211.

Lucian later rebuilds the Spirit World, links it directly to the Lands Between, and changes the Erdtree's Return to the Tree cycle. Souls are thereafter transported through the Spirit World, while Deathbirds recover lingering souls across the realm 500.

Outer Gods and World Laws

Outer Gods are exceptionally powerful beings, whether born in the Lands Between or arriving from the stars. Their thoughts and actions can alter the realm's environment and laws 343.

The Elden Beast is an Outer God and the incarnation of the Elden Ring's laws. As long as it held the Elden Ring, powers derived from the Lands Between's laws could not meaningfully oppose it 512.

After destroying the Elden Beast, Lucian touches the Elden Ring and replaces its former order with a solar law intended to foster prosperity, unity, mutual trust, and reward for effort 515.

Inhabitants and Powers

• Golden residents — People recognized by the Erdtree through the Grace of Runes; losing that recognition is considered equivalent to death 12.
• Tarnished — Followers of Godfrey's former army and later returnees from beyond the Lands Between. They can freely turn Runes into strength 12 185.
• Ancient dragons and drakes — Long-lived races that predate the Golden Dynasty. Ancient dragons once fought the Erdtree's forces before becoming their allies 209 215.
• Albinaurics — Artificial lifeforms created using technology connected to the Nox Dynasty. First-generation Albinaurics resemble humans and can communicate normally 155.
• Ancestral Followers — A people associated with ancient-dynasty ruins and nature-centered beliefs. Some later become corrupted by Scarlet Rot in the Lake of Rot 168 334.
• Hornsent — A powerful former people of the central Lands Between, known for ritual worship, monumental construction, social division, and human sacrifice 248.
• Nomadic merchants — Traveling traders connected to the Great Caravan, which once invited nomads to Leyndell during the Golden Dynasty's prosperity 254.

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Lucian first reaches the Lands Between after being washed ashore and begins navigating its hostile inhabitants, ruins, and altered geography 5 9.
• His discovery of Grace, Runes, Sites of Grace, and the realm's expanded scale establishes the Lands Between as a physical world rather than the game world he remembers 9 12 178.
• The discovery that the realm's center once contained a vanished continent reveals major gaps in its accepted history and leads Lucian to investigate the Land of Shadow 215 247 288.
• Lucian's rise in Stormveil transforms the castle from a decaying stronghold into a living and prosperous city, contrasting with Leyndell's stagnation 102 216.
• The Land of Shadow is eventually reconnected to the Erdtree through the restored Scadutree, helping return the Lands Between to wholeness 520.
• Lucian defeats the Elden Beast, rewrites the Elden Ring's laws, revives the Erdtree, and inaugurates the Age of the Sun as the Sun King 515.
• Fourteen years into the Age of Light, the Lands Between becomes an interworld center through which sunlight, knowledge, and prosperity are shared among countless worlds 522.

Trivia

• The Lands Between is substantially larger than its game counterpart; travel between settlements takes far longer, while caves and underground ruins vary in scale as needed 9.
• Its central inland sea was once mostly land, rather than a naturally formed body of water 215.
• The Land of Shadow imposes percentage-based suppression on outsiders; stronger visitors suffer greater losses of power until the restriction is removed 289 297.
• The realm's new solar order does not concentrate law-power in a single ring; it distributes the new laws throughout the sunlit Lands Between 515.