Elden Ring Nightreign: Co-op Spin-off Secrets Revealed

Don't underestimate Elden Ring Nightreign just because it's a spin-off. It offers deep lore discoveries that will intrigue fans. Like a branch of the Erdtree, Nightreign explores an alternate timeline rooted in Elden Ring's universe, introducing fresh concepts and characters—even if these events diverge from the main storyline. We'll unpack Nightreign's enigmatic ending below.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Elden Ring Nightreign's ending.

Is Nightreign Canon?

Nightreign rewrites The Lands Between's history, branching from a crucial lore moment to explore a darker "what if" scenario. Treat it as an alternate timeline rather than canon. While Elden Ring knowledge isn't mandatory, uncovering the full story requires battling Nightlords across expeditions. Through these encounters, you'll piece together how Nightreign connects—and diverges—from the original narrative.

Elden Ring Nightreign Ending Explained

The intro reveals Nightreign's bleak premise: In this timeline, the Tarnished never arrive. After Marika shatters the Elden Ring, the Shattering war drags on for millennia until the Nightlord emerges—a cosmic aberration bringing endless rain that erodes reality itself.

True to FromSoftware's signature darkness, this world surpasses even Elden Ring's despair. The Elden Throne sits abandoned amidst vanishing ruins, with nothing left to rule. Yet mysteriously chosen Nightfarers still fight to end the Night by hunting its source.

Players journey through crumbling remnants of Limgrave, battling twisted versions of Elden Ring and Dark Souls enemies. While never explicitly confirmed, these crossovers suggest reality fractures as existence collapses—a poetic explanation fans can ponder.

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The final confrontation reveals Heolstor—a three-armed monstrosity wielding Dark Souls' Moonlight Greatsword—as the Primordial Nightlord. His defeat grants an inky Great Rune variant and triggers Nightreign's haunting conclusion: returning to find the Roundtable Hold abandoned, where placing the rune before a petrified corpse dissolves your character into celestial light.

A post-credits scene shows the restored Lands Between we know from Elden Ring—until golden Erdtree leaves land on a wooden giant resembling Heolstor emerging from the sea. This suggests defeating him erased Nightreign's timeline entirely, preserving Elden Ring's original events.

Who is Heolstor and what happens in the alternate endings?

Heolstor remains mysterious beyond lore fragments depicting a resurrected, vengeful knight. He appears designed as a cosmic inevitability—a force of nature rather than a traditional villain.

This aligns with The Wylder's alternate ending, where completing his remembrance quests lets him become Nightlord via Elden Ring's rebirth-themed Larval Tear. His sacrifice preserves the Duchess while damning himself—revealing the Roundtable Hold's existence depends on the Nightlord's presence.

The Ironeye's ending sees him slaying the petrified corpse to prolong the Night, saving his undead clan (Elden Ring's "Those Who Live in Death") from Erdtree persecution—at the cost of reality.

The Recluse offers rare hope—her quest concludes by comforting a Night-corrupted infant in the Hold, preventing a new Nightlord's birth through maternal love.

Other Nightfarers follow the default erased-timeline ending, though future DLC characters may expand Nightreign's lore through additional endings.