What Elden Ring & The Lord of the Rings Have In Common (It’s Not The Rings)

Just as J.R.R. Tolkien took steps to distinguish his The Lord Of The Rings trilogy from works like Wagner’s Ring Cycle, so to did Hidetaka Miyazaki, and George R.R. Martin of Elden Ring make sure the gameplay and story of their dark fantasy action RPG wouldn’t be seen as a rip-off of LOTR. The story and setting of Elden Ring is very much full of strange world-building details and characters that go in different, original directions from LOTR; but, Elden Ring and The Lord Of The Rings draw from the same wellspring of ancient mythology and ask similar questions about the perils of power and authority.