Opera Singer Reacts: Elden Beast (Elden Ring OST)

Careful for end game spoilers in comments :)

Checking out and talking about this absolutely stunning and powerful piece from Elden Ring. What a deeply moving piece of music. Hard to believe it exists in a video game.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
1:57 Music
4:54 interlude discussion
6:39 Music
9:40 Post discussion

Links:

CREDITS:

Developer: FromSoftware Inc.
Composers: Yuka Kitamura, Tsukasa Saitoh, Yoshimi Kudō, Tai Tomisawa, Shoi Miyazawa
Writers: George R. R. Martin, Hidetaka Miyazaki

[KingKamor]

The phrase, "It's just a song in a video game, " shouldn't be used anymore. Video game music has been phenomenal since the beginning; it's only recently that they've been backed by the orchestras and vocals they deserve.

[LeoCoot]

When the Elden Beast killed me i was actually happy, i got to see it's amazing intro with this piece of music again!

[cinders]

I think the best part is how, while it's clearly an intelligent, sentient creature, not a mindless animal, it never speaks. It never makes a sound, it just... Stares at you. Judging, assessing, as fascinated as we are by it's unfathomable beauty, it too is deeply impressed by how we have done things no mere human ever could.

We are as much a god as it is, and no words could ever convey it. There is nothing left to say, nothing left to do, but end the story

[en-men-lu-ana]

Elden Beast is actually one of the few game OSTs that made me cry, I wasn't even particularly sad at the time, so it was purely the game that caused that reaction.

[SebuTK]

It put me to tears, WHILE I WAS MID FIGHT with it! Incredible.

[Vertaego]

There's one point in the fight where the Elden Beast where it fills the sky with a giant golden ring around it and it always takes me a second to process how beautiful the music and visuals are

[SageArtemisia]

i genuinely think the voice singing is Marika, alone, lamenting for her escape and for her to be put to rest. she’s been awake for so long and her time is up

she is reaching for us, hoping in the moment we listen, we open our ears to her cries and we absolve her of her crimes

[KuraSourTakanHour]

After the DLC and we understand the tragic origins of Marika, the music feels like it's telling the tale of her sorrow... which is a very human tale. Of the cruelty she faced, the loss of her people and her home... and the dream of restoring what was lost, remaking it as a new golden age that was written into the Elden Ring. The Elden Beast is the carrier of this golden age, the ruined dream... and you have come to slay it, because it keeps the world trapped in her broken dream... and only you can free the world, and free Marika. It is tragic

[ShadowDarkon]

"Only the kindness of gold, without Order.

Marika bathed the village of her home in gold,
knowing full well that there was no one to heal."

[PetNation]

This OST has an absurd power .
"it can make you cry even if you are happy"

[prawn]

Wow, that analysis was spot on. Goes to show how incredible the composition is. Time marching ahead of you, the intense grief and finality, the lack of control, coming face to face with something indescribably larger than yourself, etc. Without spoiling, this is everything the composers wanted to achieve. Lichdragon Fortisaax is another amazing one, lesser known too.

[Witchtheif]

Something I thought you especially might find interesting. Most of the enemies in the Souls Series fight in 4/4 time. The gameplay is a dance between you and your enemy. However, there are enemies in this game, and in the others, that do not fight in 4/4 They fight in 3/4 and it's always a struggle when you face them because their rhythm is different. In Elden Ring, the Zamor Knights are 3/4. In DS3 it was The Dancer of the Boreal Valley, and some of the enemies in The Boreal Valley. In DS2 it was The Fume Knight. And in DS1 it was Manus.

[nomadtealeaf]

The most insane part of this is how, DESPITE COMING FROM SOMEONE WITH BARELY 60 HOURS IN THE GAME, all of the points he raises (smallness in face of the vast, coming face to face with something beyond your control, wrestling it in an attempt to gain said control, grief at ones own inability of doing something) are some of the most discussed interpretations of the figure head in the hierarchy of the game's lore: Marika. All of these concepts are potential motivations and themes ingrained to the very core of this character who is thoroughly linked to the Elden Beast despite being mostly a mystery herself. It is a musical tale about this character we have so little to go on about but who is so crucial to the entirety of the world for the game, someone who left us with little to understand her logically but plentiful to digest emotionally. Its surreal to watch someone who (I assume) doesn't have a deep knowledge of this fictional history still somehow get all the same themes through an entirely different method of delivery.

[elitefaq]

The part at 3:02 exactly synced when the elden beast went into the sky to do the ring attack during my playthrough. It was so beautiful

[alexbarn]

In most FromSofware games there’s generally a boss in the game where it gives an intense feeling of regret, as if you shouldn’t have killed them. And this music I think gives the best example of that during the Elden Beast, feeling like you’re fighting something that doesn’t deserve to be killed, but has to be in order to fulfill your quest.

[MrLanceHeartnet]

I got goosebumps. Not everyone have the ability to listen to a song and interpret them. I can't too, but there are song in souls game that I can feel that connection, and feel what you explained. Truly masterpiece.

[seniorcaw]

Fun fact: An instrumental version of this theme plays during the sacrifice of a certain companion towards the end of the game, making it feel even more emotional and tragic with context since you (the player) becoming lord was everything they hoped for

[keyentity]

"The deepest since of grief" makes since after playing the game. Marika lost her favorite son and shattered the Elden Ring in retaliation. Really good game.

[Vugen]

This music brings tears to my eyes and i dont know why

PS: It looks like u become the music while u listen to it! Fascinating!

[LLylexx]

Your description of this about grief and sadness is really accurate, its how I felt when I was fighting the boss, sadness cause its the end, being so close to my end goal yet feeling so far, feeling sorrowful for the sacrifices that were made to get to this point, literally and figuratively, makes you feel like its all coming to a close and once the Elden beast it defeated it really helps to set in the emptiness from the fact that your end goal is completed, sure you can do an NG+ or a New Game, but it gives you the sense of "what now?" I've spent all this time and now I have nothing to strive for.