What Exactly is the Greater Will? | Elden Ring Lore

i assume the greater will isn't dead, but the shattering may sever greater will power over land between, the wifi router is broken the fingers cannot dm the greater will, what a sad state of affairs...

The greater will is GRRM, typing away with his two fingers.

One small detail I think is important. In the item descriptions for mohgwyn's sacred spear and the bloodboon incantation it mentions that you are physically piercing the body of the Formless Mother to use their abilities, which means the Formless Mother could be some kind of extra dimensional being that's in the same place as the lands between but on a higher plane of existence, so that could explain why Mohg is able to commune with his outer god instantly

Placidusax looks like he was trying to commune with the Greater Will as well with his two remaining heads. It could explain why he is locked in time as it apparently takes a very long time to do so.

I was kinda playing around with a theory that the Greater Will is either a collective consciousness or just a case of "only I can talk to the Greater Will, trust me bro it exists." So this video is pretty insightful, there's more thinking to be done.

Worth noting, the Gloam Eyed Queen was also an Empyrean, as stated in the Black Flame Ritual incantation description

The greater will seems to have very little direct involvement in the lands between. The only 'direct' actions it's taken are sending the Elden Stars to the lands between to become the Elden Ring, selecting Marika as the vessel for the Elden Ring and having the fingers and Elden Beast as it's vassals, and, presumably, banishing the Nox. Everything else done in it's name is carried out by one of it's vassals, which are distinct entities, namely, Marika's punishment is all but outright said to be carried out by the Elden Beast. As for why it didn't kill her, Marika is the vessel for the Elden Ring; in a sense she IS the Elden Ring, this is even expressed by her cracked body after shattering it. Destroying her probably means destroying the Elden Ring. The way I see it the Greater Will before the shattering was very hands off and seemingly only communicated to the lands between through the fingers, and after the shattering, it straight up abandoned the land entirely; this is stated right out in the opening. So the fingers aren't getting a response from the greater will anytime soon.

I love how, in a game series that’s already very tight on the given lore, there can be so much thats just lost or misunderstood due to improper translation.

You've made a point. I played part of this game with a friend who constantly refers to GW as a "creator god" or "outer god" sits atop the power hierarchy and I believe that’s not the case, simple, GW itself sounds like a propaganda term. ER’s theme is Radagon’s theme not EB’s theme, the golden order felt more like a cult to me if anything, and it makes sense that Marika would say Radagon is yet to become her, yet to become a god. People are overcomplicating the power of GW imao, and I don’t buy it whatever the GW is. Good job on challenging that. 🤗

I interpret Marika's imprisonment as actually the work of Radagon, not the Greater Will, so you might be able to scratch another action off the Greater Will's scoreboard.

This was an interesting video. I never really thought to hard on why the Greater Will is so distant vs "Outer Gods." It might be dead like you say or it might be a "Blind Idiot God" like Azathoth of HP Lovecraft. Azathoth is all powerful, all knowing, and if I remember right his dreams create the universe. But what Lovecraft tried to pitch as a being beyond our comprehension, my brain took to understand that it is a God-Ameba. Everything that happens be it good or ill is in their realm of their power but none of what happens is part of any plan of theirs. The God simply exists and everything is just a byproduct of its nature. So in this interpretation, yes from the people or whatever's view the Greater Will sent down the Elden star. Because it is something so grand, from their perspective it must be intentional. But what if the Greater Will just shuttered, shifted, or something and that sent the Elden Star down. Keeping in mind Azathoth technically created us means an Idiot God CAN make beings that think like us on accident. I'm not fully convinced of the "Idiot-God" Theory but just adding something to get folks thinking.

Hyetta’s dialogue with Komm susser tod playing in the background is a strangely good pairing that I’d never think of.

I love the Eva reference with the three fingers

I want to clarify that before you read this that I love your theory. Its very tragic and poetic in many ways that invite a new way of interpreting the game. The following are my thoughts but given that words can often come off more cold and mean then we want them to when writing them in text I wanted to clarify beforehand. Have you watched Tarnished Archeologist? He offers a very compelling idea that the Greater Will can only act through a vassal, specifically through woman capable of childbirth. If Marika, the Greater Will's chosen vassal has rebellee and broken its connection to the world then maybe it simply can't interact with it. Also, if the Greater Will was dead then why are Tarnished being given back grace? Is it part of Marika's plan? Seems a little conviluted when everyone is telling you the Greater Will was the one to give grace to the Tarnished. Its also a bit too coincidental that the two fingers connection to the Greater Will would be broken at the exact time the Tarnished reaches the Erdtree for it to be simply a leftover message that no longer matters. And why would Ranni even have a questline if her goal of severing the connection to the Greater Will was already accomplished? Whats more, Gold Mask along with other Tarnished seems to have been given a vision to reforge the Elden Ring by the Greater Will itself so it cannot be dead. I think whats gojng on is an allegory to the Abrahamic God as you've pointed out in one of your videos. In the Bible, after repeated covenants have been broken by the Israelites God abandons his people and lets them be conquered. Heis not heard from again in Jewish belief but will return with the promised Son of Man, but for now he remains silent for thousands of years. Given the Christian iconography present in this game its likely that they are going with the Christian fufillment of that prophecy where a man is raised from the dead to save the world from its sins. Sound familiar? You are a Tarnished whose grace has been restored and the various endings with the exception of Ranni's and Frenzied Flame are establishments of new covenants with the Greater Will. This explains each changing era of gods and lords in elden ring as covenants and helps fill in a lot of missing information. That is not to say the Greater Will is God from the Bible as its motivations seem more based around a need for order but still you get the idea. Honestly, I think your video of the Greater Will's connection to the Biblical God explains a lot of whats going on here with Ranni's ending being a rejection of the covenant. Still, interesting theory. We need more "outlandish" theories if we are ever going to solve this game.

Fantastic video. I really don't know what to think, but I like the open-endedness of it all

First of all, I really enjoy your video. I think you're the first one to do justice to how the Fingers react to the fact that the Erdtree is closed. I've never thought about the time for the message to "reach" the Greater Will. I've always thought that either the GW ghosted the Finger or that it was itself thinking really hard about what to do next, making the Fingers freeze while waiting for the answer. I was always of the opinion that the GW is very similar to the Outer Gods but, being in charge for so very long, its followers drank ther own kool-aid and believed he was a Father-of-all God. And of course, neither the GW nor the Fingers did anything to correct the mistake. I won't call it propaganda per se, but they sure influenced the whole culture of the Lands Between to go in that direction. It explained, for exemple, why every enemy of the Erdtree and the Golden Order wants to make a Lord + a consort structure. It is what they saw as the political and religious normalcy for centuries if not millenia. It is a social construct, not a cosmic force that push them to want this. And I think, for this very reason, that what the followers of the Golden Order say about the nature of the world, the Order (as a social or cosmic Order), the gods, etc. can't be taken at face value. They either lie (most likely the Fingers) or know no better. It is a point easily forgotten. After a all, a common theme in Dark Souls and Bloodborne is that the true nature of the social and cosmic orders is very actively hidden, we need to be more suspicious, to paraphrase Nietzsche. Anyway, I found your channel pretty much by chance and I hope to see your furture videos soon !

There are two possibilities: 1. The One Great's shattering refers to the creation of the universe. Therefore, the Greater Will is indirectly responsible for life existing. Life here is a byproduct. 2. The One Great refers to the Crucible. Here, life is a consciously created object by the Will through Elden Stars. In either case, the entire premise of this video depends on you ignoring one or the other. The Greater Will cannot possibly be described as weak; it is either directly or indirectly responsible for existence as we know it. More importantly,the Golden Order does not worship the Greater Will. The Golden Order is founded on the principle of Marika being the one true God. The Greater Will is an afterthought; it is not the interest of the Order. Moreover, Hyetta and the Three Fingers have every reason to downplay the Greater Will's role in existence. But they don't. As such, the premise that they are an untrustworthy source is faulty at best. The assumption it could've been Marika does not hold much weight; nowhere do we hear pf Godfrey fighting Nox. The Nox were underground by the time the Carians were founded, most likely. Marika was trapped inside the Erdtree and tortured without reprieve. Death is too merciful a punishment when it comes to the Will. She is kept alive because her Shattering the Elden Ring means shattering herself. Her dying without a successor would mean no vessel for the Elden Ring, and possibly the complete breakdown of the world's laws, even beyond how they are now. Either the Elden Beast wanted the world to keep going, or the Greater Will wanted it to keep going. Either way, Marika was punished. There are three Empyreans. All of them are candidates for succession. If you think the Will shouldve just picked one up and gsve them the Ring,then you are thinking in terribly simple terms. They have to fight or choose whoever is going to recieve the Ring. Godhood is not given on a silver platter. Otherwise, why did Marika have to fight the Gloam Eyed Queen? The opening cutscene told you what happened. The Greater Will abandoned the world in the Shattering, and only it's vassals are interested in convincing you it didn't. Whether it renews it's interest in this plane or not is not known to us, but by all accounts, it is content to let Marika, and the Lands Between, rot for eternity.

I heard and appreciated your creative liberty during the Hyetta dialogue.

Incredibly interesting as always, sir!

One thing I've noticed in the lore is that the Greater Will is both rarely mentioned by characters and is also never worshipped by anyone. Even those who follow The Golden Order only worship Marika as the one true god. The Two Fingers seem to be the only ones who follow the GW or even mention it at all and even then it's implied that they haven't communicated with the GW in a very long time.