Chapter Summaries

Zhao Si prepared to travel to the Mountaintops of the Giants to investigate clues about the dead who did not return to the Erdtree, while Malenia received the Two Fingers’ secret instructions about Radahn. Before leaving, Zhao Si recruited Godrick’s help to find Glintstone Miners for an excavation of the Eternal City.

• Zhao Si told Malenia he planned to search the Mountaintops of the Giants for clues about the Land of the Dead, and Malenia gave him a Haligtree Badge and warned him about the Fire Monks.
• Zhao Si showed Malenia the Fire Monk’s Prayerbook he had taken from a Fire Thief, then left after asking her to look after Irina.
• Helena told Malenia that the Two Fingers knew about Radahn’s plans and wanted the Haligtree and Godrick to prepare secretly for war without publicly taking sides.
• Malenia worried that Radahn’s strength and Gravity Sorcery could make a direct battle difficult, and wondered whether Miquella could help her counter him.
• Zhao Si asked Godrick to locate Glintstone Miners for an excavation of the Eternal City, and Godrick eagerly agreed to join the adventure.

Zhao Si searched the Mountaintops of the Giants for traces of Helphen's Steeple and a way to reach the Land of the Dead. After burning a Giant's bones with Ghostflame, he encountered a Death Rite Bird and began fighting it.

• Zhao Si flew across the Mountaintops of the Giants at night and examined the Giants' remains and gravestones for clues about death.
• Zhao Si reasoned about how the Giants had died and hoped to find the Death Ritual Spear or Helphen's Steeple.
• When the gravestones toppled, Zhao Si burned a buried Giant's bones with Ghostflame to try to contact the Land of the Dead.
• A Death Rite Bird appeared above Zhao Si and attacked him with Ghostflame spirit spears.
• Zhao Si fled while firing Stars of Ruin from his Glintstone Thompson, and the magic collided with the bird's Ghostflame.

Zhao Si rode the Death Rite Bird through a rift into the Land of the Dead, hoping to find a guide to the realm. As his body began to break apart under the pull of the Helphen Black Tower, a golden light enveloped him.

• Zhao Si fought the Death Rite Bird with Ghostflame, Black Flame, and the Flame of the Fell God, then climbed onto its back when it took flight.
• The Death Rite Bird carried Zhao Si through a Ghostflame rift into a colorless, distorted world where it became a spirit.
• Zhao Si saw the Tibia Mariner leading souls toward the Helphen Black Tower and tried to reach it, but his body was too heavy to move.
• Zhao Si's hand began to shatter as the Land of the Dead drew his soul out of his body.
• A gentle female voice warned Zhao Si that Tibia was not a place he should visit yet, and golden light descended around him.

After waking on the Mountaintops of the Giants, Zhao Si traveled to Castle Sol to seek information about death. He heard that ghosts were endlessly gathering around a bride-to-be’s room and went to investigate.

• Zhao Si woke on a snowy cliff with his damaged fingertips restored and wondered why the Erdtree had brought him back.
• After confirming that Death did not harm small animals, Zhao Si rode Flying Rabbit toward Castle Sol.
• Zhao Si visited a tavern and heard old gossip about Albinaurics living in Ordina.
• A drunk told Zhao Si that cold-flamed skull ghosts kept reappearing around a wealthy man’s daughter before her wedding, defeating the Paladins’ attempts to dispel them.
• Zhao Si followed the drunk’s directions to the mansion to investigate the ghosts.

Zhao Si arrived at Edward’s mansion to investigate the Ghostflame haunting that had trapped Edward’s daughter Avril in her room. He learned that the Two Fingers had already been alerted, then asked Edward whether anything unusual had happened before the haunting began.

• Edward’s plan to use Avril’s marriage to gain influence with Miquella was disrupted when Ghostflame spirits sealed her bedchamber in ice.
• Edward’s Paladins drove off the spirits with holy Incantations, but more ghosts kept appearing from the Ghostflame and overwhelmed them.
• Zhao Si gathered information about the haunting, went to Edward’s mansion, and announced that he had come to drive out the ghosts.
• Edward believed Zhao Si had been sent by the Two Fingers and urgently asked him to save Avril.
• Zhao Si told Edward the haunting counted as heresy and asked whether he had received anything unusual before it began.

Zhao Si investigated the spirits haunting Edward’s home and found Avril trapped in a deathly overlap with the Spirit World. After rescuing her, he learned that a woman speaking through Helphen’s Steeple had guided Avril in using it as a beacon.

• Edward told Zhao Si that he had bought a spiked black greatsword from adventurers who claimed it came from an ancient tomb.
• Zhao Si approached the frozen door, endured the attacking spirits, and used the Godskin Stitcher and ghostflame to break through.
• Zhao Si entered a distorted room filled with Avril’s memories and used ghostflame and the Flame of the Fell God to drive back the spirits.
• Zhao Si pulled Avril and Helphen’s Steeple out of the strange space, causing the room to return to normal.
• Avril told Zhao Si that a woman speaking through the sword had taught her to use it as a beacon so she could avoid marrying a stranger.

Zhao Si helped Avril confront her unwanted arranged marriage, then returned to Godrick as Leyndell prepared for a Combat Festival with new rules set by Radagon. The festival began on schedule, while Zhao Si still had not found the Kulala Sisters.

• Avril told Zhao Si she did not want to marry an older man who already had a wife, but feared that running away would ruin her father, Edward.
• Zhao Si left Avril to decide her own path, then accepted a reward from Edward and promised not to spread the family's private affairs.
• Zhao Si crossed finding a guidepost to the Land of the Dead off his list and imagined Helphen's Black Steeple as roots beneath the Erdtree.
• Godrick learned that Radahn would not attend Leyndell's Combat Festival and that Radagon had changed its rules to make it more harmonious.
• Leyndell's Combat Festival began, and Zhao Si returned to Godrick's home without finding the Kulala Sisters.

Radagon replaced the Combat Festival’s usual fights with judged equestrian events and knightly displays focused on harmony, grace, and artistry. Zhao Si learned that Caelid’s champion would face a Tree Sentinel for the chance to become Elden Champion, leaving him worried that Radagon might try to recruit him.

• Radagon introduced new Combat Festival rules centered on equestrian events and knightly displays, with himself and other prominent figures serving as judges.
• Zhao Si entered the Colosseum and discovered that contestants would ride over obstacles, attack targets, and duel using horses and equipment supplied by Radagon.
• Radagon arranged for a Tree Sentinel to serve as Zhao Si’s opponent because no other champions had succeeded in completing their festivals.
• Zhao Si learned that defeating the Tree Sentinel could make him Elden Champion and worried that Radagon would recruit him instead of letting him join the Golden Lineage.

Zhao Si entered the Combat Festival’s simulated battlefield, struggling to understand its drum-based rules while preparing to face the towering Tree Sentinel. After the opening ceremony and Radagon’s blessing enveloped the arena in golden light, the contest was about to begin.

• Zhao Si learned that the battlefield contest used military music to signal actions, but the staff said judges would score the unfamiliar rules leniently.
• The staff helped Zhao Si put on plate armor and provided him with an armored warhorse, a wooden lance, and a shield.
• Zhao Si entered the Leyndell Colosseum and faced the Tree Sentinel, while Radagon watched from the stands.
• Priests and a choir sang praises to the Erdtree, Marika, and the Elden Lord during the opening ceremony.
• Radagon addressed the spectators, then conjured the Golden Order emblem and enveloped the arena in golden light that Zhao Si felt warming his back.

Radagon turned the Combat Festival into a protected, nonlethal performance, leaving Zhao Si and the Tree Sentinel to compete in a joust. Bored with the staged contest, Zhao Si challenged the Tree Sentinel and survived his powerful shield bash under Radagon’s golden protection.

• Radagon declared that the Combat Festival would have no more casualties and urged the competitors to put on a spectacular performance.
• Zhao Si mounted his warhorse and traded target strikes with the Tree Sentinel, while the spectators grew bored with the harmless contest.
• Zhao Si charged the Tree Sentinel, and their Wooden Lances struck each other before breaking apart.
• The Tree Sentinel knocked Zhao Si and his horse backward with a Shield Bash, but Radagon’s golden light kept them unharmed.
• Realizing he was protected, Zhao Si rallied his warhorse and prepared to face the Tree Sentinel, while Radagon frowned at the fight.

Zhao Si and the Tree Sentinel fought a brutal mounted duel in the Colosseum until both riders and horses collapsed from exhaustion. Radagon ensured everyone was safe, and Godrick declared Zhao Si the champion of Caelid the winner.

• Zhao Si deflected the Tree Sentinel's charge and struck at his warhorse's legs with his shield.
• Zhao Si and the Tree Sentinel charged head-on, then fought on as their shields and armor were battered and their horses clashed.
• As both sides grew exhausted, the Tree Sentinel twisted his shield into a crude spear while Zhao Si prepared another attack on the horse.
• Zhao Si slid along his horse's flank and swept his shield upward, sending both men and their horses tumbling to the ground.
• Radagon used magic to revive and separate the fallen fighters, then praised the performance after confirming no one was hurt.
• Godrick declared Zhao Si the winner, naming him champion of Caelid.

Radagon resolved the Combat Festival’s tied final by letting the spectators choose Zhao Si as champion, then announced that future festivals would become performances and that he would reduce the military. Zhao Si declined Radagon’s offer to join his personal guard and prepared to move his people into Godwyn’s courtyard with Godrick.

• Radagon judged Zhao Si and the Tree Sentinel’s fall a draw, then tallied the spectators’ votes and declared Zhao Si the Elden Champion.
• Radagon presented Zhao Si with a golden laurel wreath and a likeness of himself, then offered him a place among his personal guards.
• Godrick announced that Zhao Si would join the Golden Lineage, and Radagon accepted the decision despite regretting the loss of a potential guard.
• At the closing ceremony, Radagon declared the Combat Festival would never again be held as a fight and said he planned to reduce military spending.
• The Combat Festival ended as a performance, and Zhao Si and Godrick began preparing to bring their people into Godwyn’s courtyard.

Radagon argued with Marika over disarmament, the Combat Festival, and the coming succession, insisting that he had to rule as himself rather than live in Godfrey’s shadow. He left their conflict unresolved after proposing either that they keep ruling or that Ranni become God and Godwyn become king.

• Radagon ignored ministers urging a gradual transition and returned alone to Marika’s bedchamber.
• Marika confronted Radagon through the mirror over his plans to disarm the Lands Between and abolish the Combat Festival.
• Radagon explained that reducing the armies would protect their children from the coming succession war, especially from Radahn’s powerful forces.
• Radagon admitted that he had been created to take Godfrey’s place, and said he wanted to prove himself as a genuine king despite loving Marika and Rennala.
• Marika proposed changing the Golden Order, but Radagon refused, calling it perfect and warning that altering it could cause catastrophe.
• Radagon outlined two succession options, then proposed fighting their children to prove their rule; Marika objected, and Radagon smashed the mirror as he declared that he was neither Godfrey nor Marika, but himself.

Zhao Si heard Fia’s prophetic dream of a winter-night assault that would kill Godwyn and many of Marika’s kin, confirming his fears about the Night of the Black Knives. The Two Fingers and Finger Reader Enia urged him to go help Godwyn, leaving Zhao Si resolved to prepare for the coming disaster.

• Zhao Si returned to Roundtable Hold, reunited with Alberich and Bagralim, and learned they had been carrying out missions in his absence.
• Fia told Zhao Si she sensed a surge of death and dreamed that hidden attackers would invade the Lands Between, kill many people in Leyndell, and target Marika’s kin.
• Zhao Si recognized the dream as a vision of the Night of the Black Knives and feared the assassinations might coincide with an outside army’s attack on Leyndell.
• Fia recalled that the massacre took place on a bitterly cold winter night, and Zhao Si left determined to strengthen himself before it happened.
• Finger Reader Enia told Zhao Si to go help Godwyn and said she hoped he could change fate, while the Two Fingers showed no clear response.

Godrick and Zhao Si reinforced Godwyn's residence as Fortissax joined the guard, while Zhao Si grew anxious about an approaching threat. Thops found Sellen in the Mountaintops of the Giants, and Zhao Si asked her to make land mines.

• Godrick persuaded Lhutel to let Zhao Si and the others reinforce Godwyn's room, which Morgott then sealed with magic.
• Zhao Si proposed using flour and lime to expose invisible assassins and considered ordering military equipment from Sellen.
• Thops left the Academy of Magic after its research was restricted and traveled to the Mountaintops of the Giants to find Sellen.
• A Zamor Knight directed Thops to Sellen's Observatory at the Astrologer's Ruins, where she showed him her new telescope.
• Zhao Si visited Sellen and presented a blueprint for land mines, instructing her to label them “front toward enemy.”

Godrick introduced Zhao Si to Hewg, who agreed to forge a spear capable of piercing a Tree Sentinel’s armor. Zhao Si then revealed a prophetic dream about a planned winter-night attack on Godwyn and others, leaving the group worried and uncertain whom they could trust.

• Godrick took Zhao Si to Hewg’s smithy and introduced him as the finest blacksmith.
• Zhao Si asked Hewg to make a large, heavy spear sharp and strong enough to pierce a Tree Sentinel’s armor, and Hewg began selecting metal.
• Zhao Si and Godrick discussed sending Irina and Nepheli to the Haligtree before Zhao Si shared his prophetic dream with Godrick and the others.
• Zhao Si described the dream’s planned attack on Godwyn and others, but Fortissax questioned whether it was reliable because it was only a dream.
• Morgott suggested telling Radagon, while Godrick worried Radagon might be involved and speculated that he feared losing his throne.

Maliketh returned to the Lands Between after Marika warned him of an undying God-Devouring Serpent at Mt. Gelmir. After Radagon blocked him from seeing Marika, Maliketh set out to kill the serpent.

• Maliketh volunteered to face the Godskins alone, and Marika reluctantly agreed to let him go.
• Maliketh defeated the Godskins, seized destined death, and sealed it within his sword, becoming the Demigods’ overseer.
• Marika sent Maliketh an Erdtree leaf summoning him back to deal with the undying God-Devouring Serpent at Mt. Gelmir.
• Maliketh arrived in Leyndell and found Radagon on the Elden Throne instead of Marika.
• Radagon told Maliketh that Marika was resting and tried to stop him from visiting her, so Maliketh left to kill the serpent.

Maliketh used Destined Death to execute the Gelmir God-Devouring Serpent, and Zhao Si learned that the power could kill even immortal beings. Maliketh returned to Leyndell and reunited warmly with Marika, reminiscing about their family and Godwyn.

• Maliketh arrived at Volcano Manor and killed the pinned Gelmir God-Devouring Serpent with Destined Death, reducing it to ash.
• Zhao Si crossed the serpent off his to-do list and reasoned that Ranni would not try to steal Destined Death until Maliketh was distracted during a Demigod gathering.
• Maliketh returned to Leyndell and embraced Marika after insisting on seeing her.
• Marika and Maliketh discussed her marriage, Maliketh's travels, and the hope of reuniting their family.
• Maliketh and Marika fondly remembered Godwyn's childhood and the times he rode on Maliketh's shoulders.

Marika dreamed of her childhood in the Eternal City, her friendship with the Snow Witch, and how she met Gurranq and lost Torrent. After waking, she heard a familiar woman calling her, while Radagon warned that someone else was present.

• Young Marika watched the Erdtree sapling and befriended the shy Snow Witch, who studied ice magic.
• Marika rode Torrent through the Lands Between, defeated wolves with her stone hammer, and forced Gurranq to call her big sister.
• After Torrent died, Marika asked how she could grant living creatures endless lifespans, and a voice answered that the Erdtree could do it.
• Marika dreamed of the Erdtree, the Elden Ring, Dragonlord Placidusax, and the Two Fingers choosing her as an Empyrean.
• Marika woke and argued with Radagon about sharing authority, then heard a familiar woman calling her name.

Marika dreamed that the Gloam-Eyed Queen cursed Godwyn to die and become her lord in the Spirit World, so Radagon took over to ease Marika's distress. He visited Godwyn, who rejected Radagon's attempt to draw closer but listened when Radagon warned him to avoid Destined Death.

• Marika saw the Gloam-Eyed Queen, who cursed Godwyn to die and join her in the Spirit World as her lord.
• Marika insisted that Godwyn would never die, but Radagon took control of their shared body to relieve her pressure.
• Radagon visited Godwyn, who was drinking alone and resented Radagon's place in the family.
• Radagon proposed that Ranni become a God and Godwyn become her lord, but Godwyn rejected Radagon and questioned why he should marry Ranni.
• Radagon warned Godwyn to stay away from Destined Death, and Godwyn stopped arguing after hearing that Marika was worried about him.