Elden Ring director says George R.R. Martin will be ‘shocked’

Developer FromSoftware has twisted Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin’s lore for Elden Ring to the point where Martin “might be a bit shocked” when he sees what happens to some characters, says game director Hidetaka Miyazaki. 

Miyazaki highlighted these changes in an interview with Game Informer for its Elden Ring cover story. Martin’s name is closely tied to Elden Ring, but FromSoftware stressed previously that the author just came up with the backstory and lore for this world and let FromSoftware go wild from there in terms of writing dialogue and making the game. 

Miyazaki thinks FromSoftware’s interpretation of this lore is not as focused on the human element as Martin was when he crafted Elden Ring‘s backstory.

“When Martin wrote these characters, and when he provided that origin story and that mythos for the world of Elden Ring, these demigods were much closer to their original form, and maybe closer to human form back then, before the Shattering,” Miyazaki explained. “So it was more up to us to interpret this and say ‘how did they become such inhuman monsters? And how did the mad taint of the shattered shards of the Elden Ring and its power affect them.'”

Martin previously stated on his blog that he finished working on Elden Ring years ago and has only been periodically shown updates and designs since then. Miyazaki’s statements here back that up. 

“I think if we get a chance to show Martin, and if he gets a chance to see the game and see these characters, I think he might be a bit shocked,” Miyazaki says. “When he wrote them, he was really envisioning something a little bit more human, a little bit more traditional human drama and fantasy characters. I hope he gets a kick out of that.”

Elden Ring will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on February 25, 2022. 

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