A night that will go down in history as one of the worst. The only event that can be considered more significant is the Shattering; however, one could make the case that the Night of Black Knives was even more significant.
You have probably picked up on the fact that The Night of Black Knives has been mentioned several times throughout the course of the game. It makes its first appearance in the game’s opening cutscene. Later on, you will come across a number of Black Knife Assassins, and if you’re lucky, you’ll also find the Spirit Ash of Black Knife Tiche. You will find multiple references to the night in question, but it may be difficult to piece together what actually took place.
When discussing this event, having a solid understanding of what took place is the single most important thing to have. On the night in question, a group of highly skilled warriors who are collectively known as the Black Knife Assassins were hired to hunt down Godwyn and kill him. Godwyn’s body was spared by this act, but his soul was taken forever. This meant that Godwyn was stuck between life and death because in order for someone to die completely, they need to pass away from both their body and their soul.
Godwyn was the offspring of Marika and Radagon, who had been married. The Elden Rune was shattered by Godwyn as a direct result of Radagon, Rennala, and Marika’s decision to kill Godwyn. The fragments of the PC Elden Ring Runes were then given to each of their offspring. It is not clear whether the Demigods fought among themselves over the fragments of the Great Rune that were left after it was shattered, or whether Radagon gave each of them a different piece of the rune. In either case, The Shattering is to blame for the Demigods that we have encountered throughout the course of our playthrough.
Who Were the Members of the Black Knife Assassination Group? Black Knife Tiche and Ringleader Alecto are the individuals pictured here. As well as being Tiche’s mother, Alecto was the leader of the assassins who used the Black Knife.
The assassins of the Black Knife are an intriguing group to study. They are from the Eternal City, though it is unclear who hired them for this scheme in the first place.
There are two reasons why this is significant. It is said that Numen come from a place beyond the Lands Between, which suggests that they are either extraterrestrial or heavenly beings. The fact that the Black Knives are all female should not be overlooked, either. Every single member of the Black Knives was equipped with a one-of-a-kind dagger that was designed to resemble the Rune of Death. In essence, each woman was walking around with an imitation of the Rune of Death tucked away in her pockets. When death was first brought into the world, it became somewhat simpler to put an end to the lives of demigods; however, the Rune of Death was still required.
Who Sent Them To Hunt Godwyn Down?
1. This is an intriguing subject to discuss given that we do not have any concrete evidence to suggest who hired the Black Knives to kill Godwyn
2. Either Ranni the Witch or Queen Marika herself was responsible for this
3. On the other hand, there is an intriguing contradiction that points the finger of blame squarely in the direction of the mother of the murdered person
During the course of Ranni’s questline, she reveals to us in no uncertain terms that she was the mastermind behind the events of the Night of the Black Knives. She reveals the reason why she did it later on, but initially she just drops it early on in the quest. She asserts that she is aware that the Greater Will is in charge of the Lands Between, and that she has always desired to free the world from the Greater Will’s sway over it so that the Outer God of the Moon can take his place as ruler.
In spite of all of this information, Ranni chooses to conceal the specific nature of her participation in the murder. She never admits to hiring the assassins or stating that she wished for Godwyn to be killed.
Right about now is when we start getting into the part of Ranni’s accounting where certain inconsistencies and gaps in the information start to make a new picture form. Before Godwyn, nobody had ever passed away in the Lands Between; he was the first person to do so. There was no such thing as death, and it simply did not exist. On the other hand, the murder of Godwyn occurred at precisely the same time as the suicide of a witch who was kneeling atop one of the tallest towers in the land and taking her own life. Instead, it shattered into two halves, one of which currently rests on top of Ranni the Witch’s decomposing corpse. This is where things start to get complicated because both parties have very compelling reasons for their actions. This strategy does appear to have Ranni’s fingerprints all over it, at least at first glance. A meticulously planned and executed plot to kill a demigod, carried out at the precise moment necessary for her to transform into her soul form. A unique ability that could only be accessed through the Rune of Death.
Ranni most certainly had the desire to do what she did, but did she also have the means to do it? However, all that is revealed to us by the game is that the killers originated in The Eternal City. There is a second Eternal City known as Nokstella, but you won’t be able to visit it until Radahn has been put to rest, which could be hundreds of years after Godwyn. Because Marika is a Numen, she would have had access to the city prior to this, giving her the opportunity to employ the assassins.
Why, then, would she wish for the death of her firstborn son?
The Consequences Following the Night of the Black Knives
Destined Death was released into the world as a result of the murder of Godwyn. The ultra-powerful ruling elite of The Lands between, such as Marika and Radagon, who were supposed to have an eternal rule were dealt a very unfavorable hand as a result of this event. The Night of Black Knives acts as a catalyst for almost all of the events that take place in Elden Ring, and its repercussions can be seen almost everywhere we go.
Those Who Live in Death made use of deathroot in order to protect themselves from the possibility of being etched into the Erdtree and to have some hope of being freed from the possibility of being recycled by it. The Golden Order was forced to take action and come up with new incantations in order to deal with the proliferation of similar sects that sprung up all over the land. This movement away from fundamentalism almost certainly inspired other people to move in the opposite direction, away from the Greater Will, and toward the pursuit of other Outer Gods to fill the void it left. Miquella recognized the inadequacies that were present in the system that had been put in place by the Greater Will, and she appeared to share Ranni’s view that it should be overthrown. His disagreement came from the fact that he believed all of the Extraterrestrial Gods should be destroyed.
This night may have struck a chord with him, inspiring him to devise a method that would remove the influence of an Outer God Elden Ring items without taking the life of the host. The release of death into The Lands Between will almost certainly have an infinite number of repercussions. However, one thing is certain: the events of that night demonstrated to the common people that a god is mortal, and the knowledge of this fact rocked Marika to her very core.
