Elden Ring Lore | Deep Dive Into the Starting Classes

The Tarnished were all once warriors but beyond that they have a complex history. Tarnished Hunters, Prophets who have seen the flame and inheritors of the Blind Swordsman. The Starting classes of Elden Ring each hold a story (mostly) that can provide a great bedrock of Lore.

Intro: 0:00
Confessor: 1:25
Warrior: 6:17
Samurai: 12:19
Astrologer: 16:55
Prophet: 22:03
Hero: 25:37
Prisoner: 27:13
Vagabond, Bandit and Wretch: 33:20
Final Thoughts: 35:46

I found this to be a worthwhile subject as the starting classes are excellent on informing us about the cultures, crime, history and scope of the lands between as well as the nature of the Tarnished themselves.
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Soundtrack is Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Sekiro and Elden Ring

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#eldenring #tarnished #godfrey

[SmoughTown]

Thanks for watching guys, let me know what you think of the Tarnished below!

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[AgentSmith]

The idea that if you start as a prophet you foresaw the burning of the tree but end up burning it yourself is so funny. “Be the change you want to see in the world”

[chumleyhuffington]

I love Vagabond! I always thought it was cool that a lone errant knight would fight to become Elden Lord, not due to any inherent belief, but rather to prove their own worth in response to being banished.

[slug]

the confessors seem like the opposites of the recusants, the recusants hunt tarnished aligned with the Erdtree, while the confessors hunt those who have abandoned the order of the Erdtree

[ericcooke]

You missed that confessors were the wielders of the twinblades according to the twinblade talisman. "The twinblade technique is a tradition of the confessors, who closely guard the secret of how they preserve the momentum of their attacks."

[LilCptMajesty]

One thing I would like to point out regarding the prisoner class is that their origin seems to have strong links to the Carian faction. Their starting spell is Magic Glintblade, a spell "said to be the prototype of the sword-phalanx sorceries wielded by royal enchanted knights" that can currently only be learned from Miriel, someone who has been associated with the Carians since before the Shattering. The prisoner's favored stats are intelligence and dexterity, a combination that synergizes with frost weapons and magic (equipment and spells associated with the Carian family). The playstyle their equipment and stats encourage also mirror the combat techniques of Moongrum the Carian knight found in Raya Lucaria (a melee playstyle supported by tactical sorceries). Also the prisoner class does not start with the Glintstone Pebble spell, a spell of the Academy of Raya Lucaria described as "a universal first step on the journey to true knowledge of sorcery". I believe that they originally studied sorcery among the Carians before their imprisonment.

[seelcudoom]

the idea of the vagabond possibly being the former knight of one of the demigods has a lot of potential, especially for Rykkard, finally returning to take up that spear and put an end to his madness

[akaErma]

My one finished playthrough was as a Confessor, and it seems thematically poignant that a former loyal servant of the Two Fingers became so disillusioned with the Order they ultimately fought to undo it.

[snohnathan]

something i find interesting with the prisoner class is the specific wording in the description—that they (the tarnished) were convicted of an appalling crime. convicted of—not necessarily committed.
mostly, i say that because it leaves the possibility that they didn't do anything at all—which, role-playing wise, would also allow for a lot of resentment to build up over the potential years spent with that suffocating mask on before the tarnished finally died.

[akaErma]

This has brought into clear focus just how many types of people have become collateral damage in the affairs of demigods and outer gods in the Land's Between and beyond. Each and every class has an abundance of motive for burning the Erdtree, whether they restore, append, or supplant the Golden Order in the end.

[kizami]

The irony. I began with samurai, discovered dragon communion and began to level arcane for bleed and faith for the spells. Then slowly moved to self buffs and statys debuffs before going in for the hemorrhage.
And then my exploration and disdain to burn Melina sent me down the path of Frenzy. I went insane trying to find what Shabriri/Yura was talking about and finally found the three fingers. And my 'faith' faltered at seeing the tomb where Kale's people where sealed away.
Then the madness continued as the path to deeproot opened to me, and I found Godwyn's corpse. It wasn't until I got down there that Melina left me. And I wandered the frozen peaks alone, confused, and found Okina and the White Reed set. This completed my new, maidenless look and my new source of faith, Rivers of Blood.

[selenalulamoon]

Hearing this makes me want someone to do a role play series in elden ring. Like actual role play. These classes would really help with the start.

[TheBestOfAll]

For me the Wretch has been abducted from the end of a Dark Souls game for entertainment and experiments by an outer god and after getting bored of them, they were ditched in the Lands Between as a tarnished with nothing but underwear, a stick, a golden seed and a LOT of anger.

[Hawntbawt]

I know some are unhappy with the shift in the assassin spell from int to FA, but I loved how either From or Martin took inspiration from both the Spanish inquisition and the middle eastern origins of assassins, as well as Martin’s themes of light casting shadow to create a really cool order. It’s a shame we never meet Crepus or anyone else from the order. Maybe DLC, or at least an interesting RP concept.

[feralbunnydonut]

I played as an astrologer numan and went with Rannis quest line before I even knew that canonically it fit my characters back story lol

[dylanfarrow]

The barbarians essentially being the OG tarnished will forever be cool to me. Amazing and enlightening video as always.

[CannonXG]

The vagabond set looks like a well used version of the knight set you can buy at the roundtable imo. Doubt there is any lore implications to it just a neat detail.

[claytonbarham]

I personally always thought of the Prisoner as a former Carian Knight. While likely not Canon, the network test offered the Glintstone Sorcerer and Mage (aka Carian) Knight as as starting classes, which were replaced with the Astrologer and Prisoner respectively. The Prisoner in Elden Ring starts with the same estoc, staff, and sorcery that the Carian Knight in the network test did, and that sorcery is one associated with the Carian royal family (iirc, all sword or blade sorcery is Carian in origin, and the one the prisoner starts with specifically mentions it being a prototype for other Carian sorceries). In Elden Ring, the Carian royal family is a defunct organization, with the manor in ruins, the Queen senile in the Raya Lucaria archives, Ranni pursuing her personal agenda, and very few non-phantom defenders left. It's possible that the Prisoner is Carian Knight who survived the war with Leyndell and/or the civil war with Raya Lucaria, and that their 'appalling crime' is nothing more than still being alive when the victor wrote the history of the conflict

[violettreglio]

on the subject of the mysterious rift on the rift shield, i had always assumed that it was the same kind of rift as we see evergaol bosses step out of, especially since that connection to the evergaols made sense being a starting item for the prisoner class. perhaps the prisoner themselves was not trapped in an evergaol, but rather the symbol of an evergaol rift was synonymous with prisons of all sorts, and would have been emblazoned on the arms and armor of a prison guard, explaining where the prisoner got it from.

in fact, to take it a step further, i propose the theory that the prisoner was once a page, maybe one who rejected their master and was punished for their transgression. to make it fit the appalling crime they were accused of, maybe they even murdered their master. the estoc that the prisoner wields is the very same weapon of the pages, and both also are said to live among nobility. note that the starting quote said the prisoner lived among nobility, not that they were nobility.

[glebthereviewer]

I started as a Prisoner and sort of role-played him as an heir to some Carian Knight, who was disgraced and placed in jail for a crime he didn't commit. My guy basically tries to re-learn the sorceries of his ancestors, reclaims his proper armor and, obviously, stumbles into Ranni, later on becoming her Consort.
I played him more like a fragile young man relying on Carian Sorceries, not a dexterous trickster, but as he claimed the Moonlight Greatword, he became a true Royal Knight.
Never role-played anything in any of FromSoft games, but my playthrough as this Prisoner turned Consort changed everything.