The Lore of Elden Ring & Lord of the Rings Part I
This is a lore focused concept fic that explores how I would merge the cosmologies of Elden Ring and Tolkien, in a way that stays as close to canon as possible.
I figured writers who wanted to create their own crossover could use this as a basis for how the two worlds could interact.
Please have a read and tell me what you think!
Beginning of the Second Age and the Golden Order
During the Music of the Ainur, Melkor's discord gave rise to flaws within the music. The dissonant echoes of those flaws eventually coalesced into malignant spirits who would be given names such as the Greater Will, Frenzy Flame, Fell God, Formless Mother, and God of Rot. These beings aped the authority of the Valar without ever possessing their rightful place in the Music, and, although they were known to Eru, they were not known to the Valar. Towards the end of the first age, these beings would be drawn to Arda and the mightiest of them, the Greater Will, would watch with rapturous envy. During the beginning of the second age, when the Valar raised Númenor, the Greater Will sought to mimic them and raised a land of its own. These lands were situated due north of Númenor and were placed on where the border of Arda and the Straight Road would lie, hence their name: the Lands Between. Within these lands, there lay the Crucible a blended, chaotic form of the life energies present in the Lands. This Crucible was used to warping the life already present, to forge the first inhabitants of the Lands Between, much as Morgoth marred the creatures of Arda. To ensure that the Valar were not to interfere in Greater Wills designs, the Lands Between were shrouded in mists, to hide them. Yet these mists were not impenetrable, as a few errant sailors from Númenor would journey or find themselves upon the shores of the Lands Between. These people would settle and join with the groups already present in these Lands, their descendants (such as the Shaman-folk, the Black Knife Assassins and Queen Marika herself) calling themselves the Numen. The Greater Will looked once again towards the Valar, and watched how they sent their Maiar to the shores of Middle Earth. Seeking to imitate them, so too did the Elden Ring send its vassals, Metyr and the Fingers. Yet this also drew in the other outer beings, whose influence began to manifest within the Lands. Affronted at this intrusion, the Greater Will sought to reestablish control over the lands, and dispatched its greatest vassal, the Elden Beast. This creature was a crystallization of the discordant echoes born from the music, a living instability within the creation of Eru. This manifestation of instability in creation allowed the natural order of the Lands Between to be reshaped, setting it apart from the rest of Arda. Much like how Morogth’s lieutenant, Sauron, forged his Ring of Power, so too did the Greater Will’s vassal, the Elden Beast, manifested the artifact known as the Elden Ring. Although far less literal, as the Elden Ring is a metaphysical law-system embodied by the Beast. Through this, mortals were able to wield god-like powers over the Lands Between by suspending or rewritting laws that were immutable elsewhere in Arda, such as when Marika removed destined death from the order by excising the Rune of Death. In the arrogance of the Greater Will, it believed it was a greater artist than the Valar, and in its envy it sought to grow trees that would surpass the Two Trees of Valinor. Through the Elden Beast it planted the parasitic Erdtree and Scadutree in the heart of the Crucible as a means of establishing order over the Lands Between. But as they grew, it was clear that they did not hold a candle to the brilliance of the true trees. The Erdtree’s gold lacked the luster and was tarnished compared to the purity of the Golden Tree, and the Scadutree was blackened and rotten, holding none of the beauty of the Silver Tree. Having established its order within the Lands Between, the Greater Will sought to mimic the Valar for a final time and step back from it’s creation. Losing contact with its vassals Meytr, and leaving the Elden Beast and it’s chosen Empyrean to their own devices.
