The Lands Between is chock-full of mysteries. Who is Melina? What are the Outer Gods? And why is Miquella in a giant egg cocoon? Perhaps we’ll have answers in the upcomingShadow of the Erdtreeexpansion, but in the meantime, Tarnished are left with whatever scraps of loreElden Ringgives them.
This lack of explanation has led one Tarnished to askwhat’s up with the bizarre coffin elevators in Elden Rings subterranean areas. For those that ventured beneath the flowing plains of the Altus Plateau and the stormy weather of Stormveil Castle, there’s a bunch of coffins that will take the player from Siofra Aqueduct to Deeproot Depths, from Deeproot Depths to Ainsel River, and one more that takes you from the Lake of Rot to the Astel boss fight. These coffins initially just have you strap yourself in to go over a waterfall, but if you feel like backtracking, you can take the same coffin to the previous area. It’ll just magically levitate back up the waterfall with glowing orange runes.
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A coffin-based transportation system is a little weird, even for the Lands Between. There’s also no official explanation for who or what created these coffins. This lack of explanation has beenhumorously pointed out by several Tarnishedover the Elden Ring subreddit, with one suggesting director Hidetaka Miyazaki just shouted “coffin elevator” one day during Elden Ring’s development.
For an actual explanation, we turn to Reddit userMTDLuke. “There’s no confirmation, but my belief is that the Nox/Night Folk/Numen’s funeral ceremonies involve putting their dead in these coffins which are then magically carried down the river,” they explain. “This is why all along the river, you find coffins. The coffins going up/down the waterfalls are just a remnant of the magic they used to allow their dead to follow the path of the water through the Eternal Cities.”
In Elden Ring lore, the Nox had a lot of dead to deal with since they were banished to live underground forever by Queen Marika and then tried to unleash a star spawn to be their new god, only to have it destroy one of their now-underground cities. Transporting lots of dead people to their final resting place was probably an industrial problem that required an industrial solution, and what would be better than a coffin magically enchanted to return to the source once it’s done dumping its dead?
For more on the Eternal Cities and the Nox, I recommendVaatiVidya’s lore videofor its succinct explanation and exceptionally well-done visuals taken from in-game. Shadow of the Erdtree will hopefully expand upon the Nox’s lore when it eventually arrives, whenever that might be.
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