The dark fantasy setting of Ring of Elden, the latest RPG from FromSoftware, is full of fearsome warriors – golden champions who wield holy powers, enchanted knights who cast astral magic, and barbaric brawlers who can stir up windstorms and shatter the land beneath their feet. . The most fearsome martial artist in the Lands Between, however, may be a figure never encountered directly in the game – a blind swordsman dressed in blue clothes who defeated the anthropomorphic personification of Rot, then acted as a mentor to Malenia, Blade of Miquela. , one of the hardest bosses in Ring of Eldenis the main game. What follows is an exploration of the tradition of Ring of EldenItem descriptions and area maps were easily missed in order to piece together a picture of who the blind swordsman was and what role they played in shaping the game’s backstory.
Of all the threats and divine forces in Ring of Eldenfew are as terrifying as Scarlet Rot, an outer god who manifests as a The last of usstyle fungal pathogen. The players of Ring of Elden will typically encounter Scarlet Rot in the Caelid Wilds region, shifting quite abruptly from the verdant green beauty of Limgrave to a suppuration of massive fungal growths, cancerously mutated monsters, and crimson soil, all under a scorching blood-red sky. The demigod boss called Starscrouge Radahn was devoured from within by this scarlet rot, reduced to a savage, cannibalistic monster. General Radahn’s surviving Redman soldiers act as a bulwark against the blight, holding the rot at bay with steel, fire magic, primitive flame-spewing tanks, and barriers of molten rock; even these heroic sentinels, however, seem to be eroded by both the scarlet rot and the searing fires they likely use to cleanse themselves of infection. In addition to Caelid’s ravages of rot, the infection singularly crippled Malenia, one of the Lands Between’s most fearsome warriors.
With all those direct examples of the dreaded Scarlet Rot cover Ring of Elden‘s Caelid may be, the legendary feats of the blind swordsman, a character players only hear about secondhand, become all the more impressive. According to all tales in the game, this blue-clad wanderer was not a demigod, had no particular affinity for incantations or sorceries of the Glittering Stone, and simply wielded a single curved sword in battle. And yet, this mysterious legend managed to defeat and seal the outer God who brought the rot itself – perhaps because he embodied everything that the rot was not.
Who was the blind swordsman of Elden Ring according to the descriptions of weapons and armor
Even before new players learn of the Blind Swordsman, they can gain insight into the origins of this mysterious hero when they collect the Blue Cloth Set, the signature outfit of Ring of EldenWarrior’s starting class. Its item description is as follows:
Cowl/Vest/Gauntlets/Greaves of a Nomad Warrior.
The blue color of its fabric symbolizes living waters, as fluid and flowing as the sword in its wearer’s hand.
Just as still waters become foul, stagnation leads to decay.
Warriors must always drift.
The long drooping sleeves and chest piece hems of the blue cloth ensemble closely resemble the traditional dress of the Mongols and other historical societies of the Eurasian steppes – long-hemmed coats designed to cover the legs of a rider on horseback and protect them from the cold plains winds. In all likelihood, the blue cloth outfit is the outfit of a literal nomad – someone who was brought up in a clan or culture that cared for herbivorous livestock like horse or sheep, migrating across the steppes and the tundras to find new pastures for their herds (and a good choice for the historical horse archer Ring of Elden cosplay). In a society like this, immobility and stagnation would indeed lead to decadence.
At the end of the game, Ring of Elden players may encounter a hearse in the hallowed snowfield area containing a fluid curved sword with the following description:
Legends tell of a sword master dressed in blue and his curved blade inspired by flowing water. A powerful attack unleashes a series of dance-like strikes, offering a glimpse into the legend.
From this weapon description, an image forms of a valiant swordsman who wields a flowing water inspired weapon, which has a flowing water inspired martial arts style that even wore clothes symbolizing flowing water. To learn more about Ring of EldenHowever, for the most mysterious hero, search for three Talisman items found in different parts of the Lands Between.
What Elden Ring’s Blind Swordsman Did According to Talisman’s Descriptions
The Curved Sword Talisman, which increases the damage of Counterguard attacks, can be found at the start of Ring of Elden‘s Stormveil Castle legacy dungeon and has this description:
It is said that a blind swordsman was the originator of this technique – the art of allowing one’s opponent to strike in order to make them vulnerable to a timely response.
The Blue Dancer Charm, which increases a player’s attack power the less gear they wear, can also be found east of Stormveil in a hidden dungeon called the Highroad Cave (along with a scimitar-style light weapon called Shamshir). Its description is as follows:
The dancer in blue represents a fairy, who in legend granted a sword flowing over a blind swordsman. Blade in hand, the swordsman sealed an ancient god – a god who was Rot himself.
After giving the one-armed NPC Millicent an unalloyed gold needle to remove his Scarlet Rot affliction, players can receive the Prosthesis Bearer’s Heirloom. This dexterity-enhancing talisman provides players with the following key item:
Though born in the cursed rot, when the maiden met her mentor and his floating blade, she gained wings with unparalleled strength.
From these Talisman descriptions and previous descriptions of the Flowing Curved Sword and Blue Cloth set, players can deduce the following story – an account of the life and deeds of the blind swordsman who is speculative, but plausible in the context of Ring of EldenThe vast and often hidden knowledge of:
The blind swordsman was born and raised in a clan or band of steppe nomads. Instead of focusing on the arts of archery or horsemanship like his fellow nomads, he devoted himself to mastering the way of the sword, creating a defensive martial art that used movements of dancing to distract the eyes of the seers, acute hearing to block the enemy. attacks and a keen sense of touch to unleash deadly counterattacks.
Wandering far beyond his homeland, the blind swordsman came to the Midlands, which were threatened by a terrifying incarnation of Scarlet Rot. A mysterious fairy – possibly a spirit of Ring of EldenThe underground river Ainsel or Siofra – blessed the blind swordsman and gave him a sword inspired by flowing water (there are parallels here between this mysterious fairy and the Lady of the Lake of Arthurian myth). With this sword in hand, the blind swordsman defeated the god, then threw his avatar into the flowing waters of the Ainsel River. Trapped in the antithesis of stagnation, the avatar was carried downstream to the deepest terminus of the river, left to rot in what would be known as the lake of rot.
After his triumphant victory, but before the major backstory events of Ring of Eldenthe blind swordsman somehow crossed paths with young Malenia, a demigod of the Elden Ring born rotting, an Empyrean with the potential to become a virulent goddess of rot herself. The blind swordsman might have been tempted to kill this sick demigod before she became the new incarnation of her old enemy. Instead, he became Malenia’s mentor, teaching her her fluid, dancing style of swordplay. In time, Malenia would appropriate this style of sword fighting, developing the infamous waterfowl dance technique that made so many Ring of Elden rage apoplectic players.
