The Two Fingers

The Two Fingers at Roundtable Hold

The Tarnished encounters the Two Fingers after gaining access to Roundtable Hold, where they occupy a chamber beyond the main gathering area. Their presence establishes the Hold as more than a refuge for wandering Tarnished: it is also a place where the established order recognizes and evaluates candidates for the title of Elden Lord. Finger Reader Enia stands beside them and translates their movements for visitors.

Through Enia, the Two Fingers affirm the Tarnished's broader mission. The player is expected to pursue the Great Runes held by the demigods and eventually approach the Elden Ring. This guidance gives the Tarnished a recognized purpose within the events following the Shattering, even though the path requires defying the demigods who possess the runes.

The Two Fingers do not function as a conventional quest giver. They do not accompany the Tarnished, issue ordinary mission objectives, or intervene directly in the major battles. Instead, they provide institutional legitimacy. Their chamber and Enia's interpretations frame the Tarnished's journey as part of a larger attempt to restore the order surrounding the Elden Ring.

Guidance Through the Shattering

As the Tarnished advances through the Lands Between, the Two Fingers remain associated with the approved route toward the Elden Lordship. Their guidance points toward the demigods and the Great Runes, while the Roundtable Hold gathers other Tarnished whose goals are connected to the same succession crisis. The Two Fingers therefore influence the narrative primarily by defining which objectives count as progress.

That guidance is not identical to direct control. The Tarnished can pursue optional regions, encounter figures who reject the Golden Order, and accept competing visions for the future of the Lands Between. Characters such as Ranni openly oppose the authority represented by the Two Fingers, while other figures pursue different interpretations of what should replace the current order. These alternatives make the Two Fingers a narrative standard against which rival choices are measured.

Their role also gives the player a way to understand the political and religious conflict surrounding the demigods. The Two Fingers treat the recovery of the Great Runes and the approach to the Erdtree as steps toward a legitimate restoration. The story gradually shows that other characters do not accept this objective as neutral or inevitable.

The Tarnished Reaches the Erdtree

After the Tarnished defeats Morgott, the immediate route to the Elden Ring appears to be open, but the entrance to the Erdtree is sealed by impenetrable thorns. This is the point at which the Two Fingers' guidance encounters a problem it cannot immediately solve. Enia explains that the Fingers are attempting to commune with the Greater Will and that the process may take an extremely long time.

The scene changes the practical meaning of the Two Fingers in the story. Earlier, their authority seemed to provide a clear direction: gather the Great Runes and become Elden Lord. At the Erdtree, they cannot simply command the barrier to open or reveal an ordinary next step. Their response is to wait for an answer, leaving the Tarnished in a situation where obedience to their instruction would halt the journey.

This delay also creates the narrative opening for Melina's proposal. Rather than waiting indefinitely, the Tarnished is directed toward the Flame of Ruin and the means of burning the Erdtree's thorns. The resulting course of action goes beyond the normal guidance previously associated with the Two Fingers. The story thus presents the Tarnished's progress as increasingly dependent on decisions made outside their immediate instructions.

The Fire at the Erdtree and the Collapse of Certainty

Once the Erdtree is burned and the Tarnished is transported to the Mountaintops of the Giants' aftermath, the Two Fingers' position is no longer enough to explain what will happen next. Their earlier promise of guidance has not provided a complete answer to the sealed Erdtree, and the Tarnished has had to violate the apparent boundaries of the established order to continue.

This does not remove the Two Fingers from the narrative. Their authority remains relevant because the player is still pursuing the Elden Lordship and the future of the Elden Ring. However, the story increasingly distinguishes between the Two Fingers as interpreters of a larger power and the Tarnished's direct experience of events. The player must decide whether the Fingers' objective should be accepted, revised, or rejected rather than treating their instructions as the only possible account of the crisis.

Ranni's Rejection of the Two Fingers

Ranni's storyline presents the most sustained personal rejection of the Two Fingers' authority. She is an Empyrean selected for a possible divine succession, yet she refuses to follow the future assigned to her and works to escape the control represented by the Fingers. Her conflict with them is not a minor disagreement about method; it concerns who has the right to determine the fate of the Lands Between.

The Tarnished can assist Ranni in pursuing an alternative path, including events involving Nokron, the Fingerslayer Blade, and the wider conspiracy surrounding her chosen future. These events place the Two Fingers within the story's central conflict rather than outside it. They are part of the structure Ranni seeks to overcome, and helping her eventually leads the Tarnished toward the Age of Stars ending.

Ranni's route also complicates the image of the Two Fingers as unquestionable guides. Her actions demonstrate that an Empyrean can regard their authority as coercive, and that the future offered by the established order is only one possible outcome. The player's alliance with Ranni turns the Two Fingers from a source of guidance into an opposing force in a conflict over autonomy and cosmic rule.

The Three Fingers as a Direct Opposition

The Three Fingers represent a more overtly hostile alternative to the Two Fingers. Hidden beneath Leyndell, they are associated with the Frenzied Flame and with the destruction of the distinctions maintained by the existing order. Their presence reveals that the Two Fingers are not the only supernatural interpreters or claimants connected to the fate of the world.

The Tarnished can choose to receive the Three Fingers' embrace, setting the character on the path toward the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending. This choice rejects the future normally associated with the Two Fingers and replaces restoration or orderly transformation with the Frenzied Flame's radically destructive vision. The opposition between the two groups is therefore expressed through the player's possible final allegiance.

The Three Fingers do not simply provide another version of the Two Fingers' instructions. Their route challenges the assumptions behind the Tarnished's original mission and makes the consequences of abandoning the established path explicit. Through this contrast, Elden Ring frames the Two Fingers as one faction in a larger struggle over whether the Lands Between should be restored, transformed, or consumed.

The Two Fingers and the Possible Endings

The Two Fingers' narrative role is most visible in the ending structure. The default restoration-oriented conclusion follows the broad purpose established through Roundtable Hold: the Tarnished reaches the Elden Ring and takes responsibility for the next age. Other endings modify that outcome through the intervention of figures such as Goldmask, Fia, or the Dung Eater, while Ranni's ending rejects the established order in favor of the Age of Stars.

These endings do not all represent simple instructions from the Two Fingers. Some attempt to repair the order they serve, some replace its governing principles, and one abandons the struggle between competing forms of order altogether. The player's final decision therefore determines whether the Two Fingers' original direction remains authoritative, is revised through a new order, or is discarded.

The Frenzied Flame ending is the clearest rejection of their influence, while the Age of Stars provides a deliberate alternative to their intended succession. The other endings are more closely connected to the question of how the existing order should be changed or restored. Across these outcomes, the Two Fingers remain a reference point for understanding the consequences of the Tarnished's choices, even when the final path moves beyond their guidance.