The Sounds Between Lordran and Yharnam: Exploring Motivic Recontextualization in Non-Linear Narratives

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University

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Masters Theses Graduate College

4-2024

The Sounds Between Lordran and Yharnam: Exploring Motivic The Sounds Between Lordran and Yharnam: Exploring Motivic

Recontextualization in Non-Linear Narratives Recontextualization in Non-Linear Narratives

Tré Bryant

Western Michigan University

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Linear Narratives" (2024).

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THE SOUNDS BETWEEN LORDRAN AND YHARNAM: EXPLORING MOTIVIC

RECONTEXTUALIZATION IN NON-LINEAR NARRATIVES

Tré Bryant M.A.

Western Michigan University

In this thesis I argue that the music of the Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring

play a vital role in the player’s capacity to form an understanding of the narrative, examining

how musical coding and visual association work for and play against expectations. First, this

thesis will analyze the musical styles of each game, identifying commonalities in the

compositions. Second, I will explore a case study from each game that illustrates how the music

alleviates ambiguity in the narrative. Lastly, the thesis will discuss how players often form their

own slightly different interpretations of the stories and lore within, and how the music forms a

connective branch for players to link the commonalities of their interpretations.

THE SOUNDS BETWEEN LORDRAN AND YHARNAM: EXPLORING MOTIVIC

RECONTEXTUALIZATION IN NON-LINEAR NARRATIVES

Tré Bryant

A thesis submitted to the Graduate College

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts

School of Music

Western Michigan University

April 2024

Thesis Committee:

Maria Cristina Fava, PhD., Chair

Lauron Kehrer, PhD.

Keith Kothman, PhD.

Lisa Reneé Coons, PhD.

Tré Bryant

2024

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Everything I have achieved at Western Michigan University, I owe to the wonderful

friends, teachers, and mentors I have met during my time. I love composing and music research

equally, and for a long time thought that I could only do one or the other, but Drs. Maria Cristina

Fava and Lauron Kehrer showed me that I could do both. They believed in me, showed me what

the program had to offer, and allowed me to shape my education the way I wanted it, leaving me

with a truly unforgettable experience. As I grew up, I never imagined I would graduate from

college, let alone get a Master’s degree, let alone do so while getting to talk way too much about

video game music. And yet, here I am.

Of the many thanks, I must begin with Oliver Wallace. Were it not for him forcing me to

play Bloodborne and the Dark Souls trilogy during the 2017 and 2018 summers, who knows if I

ever would have played those games. That experience quite literally changed my life, giving me

amazing games and music to forever love. I want to thank my buddy Brian Bradley, whose faith

in me and my academic career never once faltered, and whose own enjoyment of these games

enhanced my own. Our endless conversations about video games and music will be forever

etched into our friendship. To my dear friends Haden Plouffe and Autumn, whom I will forever

cherish spending endless hours in Dalton Center practice rooms with blasting video game music

and playing the piano. Haden especially, as she and I worked through becoming WMU

ludomusicologists together, and she never let me settle for being just okay. Thanks to Troy

Robertson III for near-daily summer nights driving around, talking about our futures, and

encouraging each other to succeed.

Acknowledgements—Continued

iii

It goes without saying, but my teachers have been so incredibly supportive and

instrumental to my education. Every teacher I have studied with or been in a class with has

opened my mind to new ideas and ways of thinking, and that is a gift I can never repay. I want to

thank Dr. Lisa Coons for always encouraging me to push boundaries, ask questions, and never

settle for being anything less than my unabashed self. To Dr. Keith Kothman for always making

time for me to figure things out, to make mistakes, and celebrating my successes. He has been a

wonderful mentor and teacher to me during the past few years, and there is so much more that he

has done that I am grateful for. To Dr. Chris Biggs, who pushed for me to try new things in my

compositional output at a time when I felt stuck. And of course, Dr. Fava and Dr. Kehrer for

giving me the tools I needed to make through this degree, and like the others, never letting me do

the bare minimum.

I am nought without my family – my amazing mom, my hilarious granny, and my dear

sister and brother-in-law, my awesome and talented niece and nephews, and my late father.

They’ve always allowed me to be myself and loved me for who I am regardless. Making them

proud has always been my aim because I know that making them proud means achieving my

goals.

And last and most certainly not least, I want to thank my wonderful partner Hannah

Strayhorn – her love, support, encouragement, and belief in me has been everything. She is so

smart, wise, capable, and endlessly patient. She has spent more of her life letting me talk at

length about games that she’s never seen than any person should, and for that I am truly grateful.

As someone who regularly plays games with multiple endings, she is the ending I have chosen,

and I am honored and excited to spend the rest of my life such an amazing woman.

Tré Bryant

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………….ii

LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………vi

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………...1

CHAPTER 1: “THOU WHO ART UNDEAD, ART CHOSEN” – MOTIVIC DECAY IN THE

DARK SOULS TRILOGY……………………………………………………………………..…..6

Story of the Dark Souls Trilogy…………………………………………………………...7

Music in the Dark Souls Games…….……………………………………………………10

Primary Motives and Themes in Dark Souls (2011)……………………………………..15

Thematic Transformations in Dark Souls III (2016)……………………………………..18

Linking Conclusions……………………………………………………………………..23

CHAPTER 2: “ALREADY DEAD” – BLOODBORNE AND MOTIVIC

RECONTEXTUALIZATION……………………………………………………………………25

The Story and Music of Bloodborne……………………………………...……………...26

“Hunter” Motif…………………………………………………………………………...30

The “Moon” Motif……………………………………………………………………….32

Waking Conclusions……………………………………………………………………..36

Table of Contents—Continued

CHAPTER 3: “UPON MY NAME” – LEITMOTIF AS A NARRATIVE GUIDE IN ELDEN

RING………………………………………………………….………………………………….38

A Brief World History……………………...…………………………………………….40

The Story and Music of Elden Ring……………………………………………………..42

Radagon of the Golden Order, the Elden Beast, and the “Age of Fracture” Ending……51

Mending Conclusions……………………………………………………………………53

CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………….55

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………….58

LIST OF FIGURES

1. Gwyn encountering the First Flame…………………………………………………………...7

2. Opening chords of “Firelink Shrine”……………………………………………..…………...16

3. Opening statement of “Gwyn, Lord of Cinder”……………………………………………….18

4. “Lord of Cinder” motif in “Firelink Shrine”…………………………………………………..19

5. Opening chords of “Soul of Cinder”…………………………………………………………..22

6. “Hunter” motif in Bloodborne track…………………………………………………………..30

7. “Moon” motif in “Hunter’s Dream” track………...…………………………………………..32

8. “Moon” motif in "Moonlit Melody” track……………………………...……………………..33

9. Gehrman melody………………………………………………………………………………35

10. “Moon” motif in “Moon Presence”…………………………………………….…….……...36

11. Official art of Queen Marika…………………………………………………………………41

12. Main motif of Elden Ring……………………………………………………………………42

13. “Erdtree Knights” motif……………………………………………………………………..44

14. In-game screenshot of Leyndell, Royal Capital……………………………………………..45

15. Godfrey motif in “Lord’s Apparition”……………………………………………………….46

16. Concept art of Godfrey and Serosh…………………………………………………………..48

17. First Godfrey Motif in “Godfrey, First Elden Lord”…………………………………………49

18. Second Godfrey Motif in “Godfrey, First Elden Lord”…………………………………...…50

19. In-game screenshot of Radagon of the Golden Order……………………………………….51

20. “Erdtree” motif………………………………………………………………………………53

INTRODUCTION

Music in video games has functioned similarly to music in film for many years, both in

scoring/compositional practices and execution. As the development of games became more

involved, music followed suit, offering a broader palette of sounds and textures to fulfill the

needs of the evermore complex narratives and visuals. Games can utilize music in a way unique

to the medium by way of interactivity, allowing the player varying degrees of agency, depending

on the game, to influence the music they experience. That influence ranges from modifying the

music orchestrationally and formally to outright determining whether certain musical tracks are

experienced at all, with high degrees of overlap between these techniques. For example, in the

games of the Souls series by developer FromSoftware, music takes on a reduced role eschewing

omnipresent overworld music and instead reserving music for the boss battles, for which the

series is known. Experienced in a nonlinear way, these games engage players in a musically

silent world, requiring exploration as the means of progression. Boss battles then, as well as the

music that accompanies them, become a reward for the player’s persistence in exploring the

world. Additionally, just as the boss characters serve as narrative anchor points for the player, the

music also serves to guide the player’s understanding of that character’s broader role in the story,

using coding of musical styles, harmonies, and orchestration to adhere to or subvert the on-

screen visuals.

Each of these franchises borrows different musical aesthetics and tropes to help sell the

setting of the games. Director and Dark Souls series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki describes the

games as “dark fantasy third-person action games with a higher focus on melee combat and

sense of accomplishment,” with Bloodborne and Elden Ring as spiritual successors falling under

that verbose category.

The Dark Souls trilogy pulls largely from early and mid-2000s fantasy

role-playing game (RPG) musical tropes, with mixes of contemporary and avant-garde aesthetic

mix in including, but not limited to adventure-coded brass flourishes, sweeping strings for

emotional moments, and choir chanting for a sense of reverence and scale. Dark Souls (2011)

composer Motoi Sakuraba would include extended instrumental techniques and non-standard

vocalizations to vary up the sonic palette of the game. Dark Souls II (2014) introduced composer

Yuka Kitamura to the series, having worked on FromSoftware’s Armored Core series previously;

her contributions started to shift the sound of not only the Dark Souls series but the general

sound of Bloodborne and Elden Ring going forward.

Early in the existence of the games, maximalism became a staple of the musical practices

of these games. This does not just mean large instrumentation and density of texture, but also an

intensified emotional capacity and increased breadth of musical content.

We find somewhat

Mahlerian persistent pedal points, stacked interval harmony, the tonic-dominant relationship

altered away from traditional hierarchal arrival points, and more to toward a process of becoming

of the music evolves; the arrival of the root position dominant chord becomes as a significant as

its resolution to the tonic.

Bloodborne brings the concept of Victorian-Gothicism and horror into

the music through techniques such as schizophonia, hauntology, excess, and transgression, as

defined by Isabella van Elferen.

Music appears in two forms in Bloodborne: first there is the

score composed by the team of composers that the player solely experiences; then there is a

Matt Kim, “Two Years After Elden Ring, Miyazaki Trusts the Players to Figure It All Out,” IGN, February 22,

2024. https://www.ign.com/articles/elden-ring-shadow-of-erdtree-director-hidetaka-miyazaki-look-back-interview-

profile.

Richard Taruskin, “Reaching (for) Limits” in Music of the Early Twentieth Century, (Oxford: Oxford University

Press), 5-6.

Ibid, 10-16.

Isabella van Elferen, Gothic Music: The Sounds of the Uncanny (Cardiff, United Kingdom, 2012), 173-174.

blurring of diegesis where the player is unsure of not only where the music comes from, but also

of how the music has an effect on the characters and entities in the game – only that it does and

those characters are aware of it. Elden Ring returns to a more pure-fantasy style similar to Dark

Souls with a wide range of instruments, including a few ethnic instruments. The maximalist

reorienting of the harmonic hierarchy and equalizing the dominant with the tonic continues in

both Elden Ring and Bloodborne, with the musical objects holding as much harmonic content as

possible – doublings and extended tertian pitch content.

These games prefer a more narratively immersive experience, allowing the player to

design their own character, or avatar.

Because of this, the player character (of a different title in

each game) does not always have leitmotif associated with them. Bloodborne and Elden Ring

each have themes that are attributed to the affiliation the player character belongs to, but not

necessarily the player character themselves. This ensures that the player has full range to impart

whatever qualities onto their character that they wish without music or the narrative dictating any

biassing factors. For non-player characters (NPCs), motives exist primarily in the boss music,

with some things occurring in more than one track and creating a narrative connection and

developing the associated character’s role. For some, music allows these characters exist beyond

their location or personal role. However, many of these characters exist musically and narrative

for only a small slice of the player’s experience, and when their music stops (that is, when the

battle ends victoriously for the player), that character’s influence in the world also ends. Most of

the games discussed do not have overworld music in most locations, leaving moments of musical

activity entirely dependent on the player’s willingness to seek it out – through the boss battles, of

Origin Systems, Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar,” Origin Systems, Apple II, November 1985. Developer Richard

Garriot coined the term “avatar” to apply to the character the player controls in a virtual space, borrowing the term

from Sanskrit and Hindu mythology.

course. In that way, music is also a reward for the player’s immersion in the game world and

seeking out its challenges.

In the first chapter, I will give an overview and breakdown of the music in these games,

discussing generally the conception and orchestration. I will give specific examples from each

game and connect the musical material back to the narrative and characters the tracks apply to.

This chapter mainly serves to orient us in the soundscape of the games and prepare for the in-

depth discussion on each game as a case study. The subsequent chapters will each focus on a

game franchise and a specific musical motif that is recontextualized over the course of the game.

Chapter two will detail the plot of Dark Souls and Dark Souls III as bookends to the trilogy. The

music I will focus on centers on the characters Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight in Dark Souls, the

Lords of Cinder from Dark Souls III, and the First Flame narrative concept the trilogy revolves

around. I will analyze the musical themes associated with each of these entities and explore how

they interweave and evolve, furthering the player’s understanding of the story.

Chapter three will dive into Bloodborne, giving a side-by-side narrative overview and

musical analysis. As the music in Bloodborne is much more intrinsic to the world and gameplay,

I will show how music is necessary in understanding the subtle story revelations. I will also

analyze two musical motifs from the game that apply to characters and situations and how they

transform as the world in the game changes. The music I explore is focused on the Hunters

including the player character, and the moon as a consistent visual motif throughout the game.

We will see how the themes become recontextualized in the story, culminating in the battle with

the true final boss – the Moon Presence. In chapter four, I discuss the story of Elden Ring and

examine the motifs centered around the characters Godfrey, First Elden Lord, Radagon of the

Golden Order, and the player character themselves – the Tarnished. I will explore and analyze the

leitmotifs to show how the game develops a musical idea through various encounters and

locations to build up the final confrontation with Godfrey. The combination of the different

musical parameters used, including melody, harmonic progression, and texture, serves to reach

the full realization of the motif associated with the character. The chapter will demonstrate how

encounters with certain enemies and locations contain unique musical devices that will

eventually combine in the boss encounter with Godfrey himself at the climax of the game in

Leyndell, bringing the player to the conclusion of a narrative journey.

CHAPTER 1

“THOU WHO ART UNDEAD, ART CHOSEN” – MOTIVIC DECAY IN THE DARK

SOULS TRILOGY

In this chapter, I will discuss the music of Dark Souls (2011) and Dark Souls III (2016),

exploring the progression of motivic development in the individual games, and across the span of

the trilogy. Souls III sees direct continuity from Souls both narratively and musically, and I detail

how the themes of natural decay/things coming to their inevitable conclusions and persistence of

will are showcased in the music. Dark Souls II, an important entry in the trilogy to be sure, is

more narratively distant from the other games. Despite the themes of decay and persistence being

focal points of Souls II, the narrative and musical connections to the rest of the trilogy are more

nebulous, and at times abstract. As such, Souls II is outside of the scope of this chapter.

The Dark Souls series is marked by several aesthetic and design similarities, including

interconnected level design, ancient architecture past its prime, punishing difficulty, and a

general sense of isolation. In these games, music is used to aid in that isolated feeling, with very

little overworld music accompanying the player’s journey. In the Dark Souls trilogy (2011–

2016), ambient overworld music is only used in a scant few situations, typically in locations or

situations important to the narrative or lore. This includes the Firelink Shrine location in Dark

Souls (2011) and Dark Souls III (2016) and the Majula locale in Dark Souls II (2014). These

locations are linked together because they are all safe hubs for the player; for the most part, the

player can relax in these areas. Additionally, these locations have NPCs for the player to interact

with in various, often non-violent ways. By having music in these inhabited hubs, the player is

granted a sense of home and community. Contrasting those areas with the broader world of these

games, where there are far less NPCs to encounter, invites a feeling of isolation served by the

absence of overworld music in the player’s journey.

Story of the Dark Souls Trilogy

Dark Souls begins telling the story of early world was endless, grey, and ruled by

Everlasting Dragons. Eventually, the First Flame appeared, and the first lords were born after

interacting with the Flame and gaining great power from the souls the fire imparted upon them.

Led by Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, the lords fought against the Everlasting Dragons, defeating

them, and ushering in the Age of Fire. Dubbing their land Lordran and their capital Anor Londo,

the lords enjoyed prosperity for a time. However, the encroaching Abyss threatened to swallow

the land; compounding the issue was that the First Flame began to wane, and people both lords

and human were going hollow. Hollowing is the loss of emotion free will, and humanity,

becoming a mindless undead who is cursed to walk the land with no purpose. To save his

kingdom from this fate, Gwyn and his knights traveled to the Kiln of the First Flame where the

miraculous fire was housed and attempted to use his own body as kindling to keep alight.

Unfortunately, this only prolonged the inevitable, and Gwyn himself was left to hollow at the

base of the Kiln.

Figure 1. Gwyn and his knights’ initial encounter with the First Flame.

The player takes the role of the Chosen Undead, who must journey across the land of

Lordran to ring the two Bells of Awakening and gain access to the city of Anor Londo.

A knight

named Oscar drops a key to the door into the player’s cell, giving the option to go make

something of their life. This gives way to a longer journey, one in which the Chosen Undead

must overcome fallen Lords and vile monsters in their quest to either keep the First Flame

burning and maintain light in the Age of Fire, or let the Flame die and usher in the Age of Dark.

The player lands at Firelink Shrine early on in their adventure, where they meet a small group of

NPCs, including the Fire Keeper who tends the bonfire at Firelink.

Traveling through the

decaying world, the Chosen Undead resists their hollowing by maintaining their free will and

emotions by reclaiming humanity.

Eventually, the Chosen Undead learns they must reach the Kiln of the First Flame and

either link the First Flame as Lord Gwyn had tried before them, or let the flame die out and bring

about the Age of Dark. The choice is up to the player. Regardless, to even reach the Kiln, the

Chosen Undead must reclaim the other Great Souls that the First Flame gifted the original lords:

the Light Soul, Death Soul, the Life Soul, and the Dark Soul. Finding and slaying Gwyn’s former

posse grants the player these powerful souls, and along the way they realize that the Dark Soul is

the essence of humanity shared across all humans; thus, as a human, they already possess the

The Chosen Undead can be named by the player.

FromSoftware. Dark Souls Remastered, Bandai Namco Entertainment, PlayStation 4. 2018.

Bonfires are safe areas in the Dark Souls trilogy where the player can rest, recover their health and healing items,

and in the case of Dark Souls, spend the souls they’ve collected to level up their character. Bloodborne and Elden

Ring would go on to use the Bonfire mechanic in the form or Lanterns and Sites of Grace, respectively.

Humanity is a literal gameplay mechanic that, among other things, allows your character to maintain a healthy,

human appearance. Dying reduces their appearance to a corpse-like state. Humanity has a lot of uses, which can be

explored at bonfires around the game world.

final Great Soul. Reaching the Kiln of the First Flame, the Chosen Undead finds the hollowed

Gwyn, and after a poignant battle puts the once great lord out of his misery.

By the time of Dark Souls III, many Chosen Undead and other champions have linked the

First Flame to prolong the Age of Fire, but the flame is on its last legs: the world as we know it is

dying.

Some of the lords who linked the Flame maintained a few of its embers in their souls

afterward. This was done as a backup plan of sorts in case the linking ritual was no longer

effective; these “Lords of Cinder” would be used to keep the Flame alive with their souls. The

Bells of Awakening ring once more, and Unkindled awaken once more, including the player

character: the Ashen One. Journeying to Firelink Shrine, the Ashen One learns that they must

return the Lords of Cinder to their thrones, as for various reasons they each abandoned their

posts. Thus, the Ashen One begins their adventure across the land of Lothric and its surrounding

territories.

The Lords of Cinder the Ashen One must track down are the Abyss Watchers, a group of

wolf-revering warriors who each share the embers of the Flame and were driven to madness by

the abyss they were tasked to guard; Yhorm the Giant who linked the Flame in a desperate

attempt to keep his people alive, but fell into despair at his failure and forsook his throne; Saint

Aldritch, a scholar who sought power and knowledge to such a degree that he became a hideous

monster hellbent on devouring the gods; and the Twin Princes Lorian and Lothric, who never

actually linked the Flame and become kindled. After finding and defeating each Lord and

returning their embers to their thrones, the path to the Kiln of the First Flame opens for the

Ashen One. Upon arrival, they are greeted by the Soul of Cinder, the living manifestation of the

Even the player is Dark Souls can choose not to link the First Flame at the end, the existence of Dark Souls III’s

plot is dependent on the idea that the original Chosen Undead did link the Flame.

First Flame and the embodiment of every previous Lord of Cinder. After the emerging victorious,

the Ashen One is left to decide the fate of the world: futility link the Flame and prolong the

inevitable end, usher in the Age of Dark and look into the darkness with hope for the future, or

decide another path forward and bring about a new kingdom.

Music in the Dark Souls Games

Four composers have worked on the Dark Souls trilogy, with Motoi Sakuraba

being the sole composer for Dark Souls, Sakuraba and Yuka Kitamura working equally on Dark

Souls II, and Kitamura (main composer), Sakuraba, Tsukasa Saitoh, and Nobuyoshi Suzuki

contributing to Dark Souls III.

Sakuraba’s style in Souls commonly emphasizes angular

melodies, persistent rhythmic grooves, and percussion and keyboards playing in polyrhythm

against the rest of the orchestra, and drew from medieval, classical, and contemporary art music

for the soundscape of the score.

Sakuraba also collaborated with vocalist Emi Evans, who

previously worked on NieR by Cavia and Square Enix, another game in the action JRPG genre.

The boss battle music in Souls is marked also by bombastic and maximalist textures,

aggressive harmonic progressions and modulations, and formal structures written not to loop

certain sections, but instead to play the length of the piece before looping. The series’ typically

instrumentation is orchestra with choir, though there are exceptions with some tracks using

smaller forces such as solo piano or just strings. In the music of Firelink Shrine, for example, the

orchestration calls for just harp, string quartet, and light percussion, which is a sharp contrast to

This last option refers to the “Usurpation of Fire” ending, where after a series of sidequests that span the length of

the game, the player can forsake the Flame altogether and usher in a new kingdom – one where hollows reign. It is a

choice.

“DARK SOULS Original Soundtrack”, VGMdb, September 22

, 2011. https://vgmdb.net/album/26577.

Don Kotowski, Chris Greening. “Interview with Motoi Sakuraba (December 2011),” Square Enix Music Online,

December 2011, https://squareenixmusic.com/features/interviews/motoisakuraba.shtml.

the intensity of the music heard later in the game. Another example of strikingly contrasting

music is in the final boss encounter with Gwyn, Lord of Cinder; the music is only a piano played

with four hands. This track is much more somber than the player had been led to expect for the

once-Lord of Sunlight, and especially for the heavily orchestrated and intense tracks for the

previous bosses.

Before diving into the motifs of the Dark Souls trilogy, I must first discuss how these

games use music. Much of what I describe here is applicable to FromSoftware’s other titles

explored in this thesis – Bloodborne and Elden Ring. As mentioned in the introduction, the Dark

Souls trilogy uses music sparingly compared to its contemporaries in the action Japanese role-

playing game (action JRPG) genre, generally reserving music for the boss battles. The Dark

Souls series is marked by several aesthetic and design similarities, including interconnected level

design, ancient architecture past its prime, punishing difficulty, and a general sense of isolation.

In these games, music is used to aid in that isolated feeling, with very little overworld music

accompanying the player’s journey. In the Dark Souls trilogy (2011–2016), ambient overworld

music is only used in a scant few situations, typically in locations or situations important to the

narrative or lore. This includes the Firelink Shrine location in Dark Souls (2011) and Dark Souls

III (2016), the Majula locale in Dark Souls II (2014), and the Hunter’s Dream in Bloodborne.

These locations are linked together because they are all safe hubs for the player; for the most

part, the player can relax in these areas. Additionally, these locations have non-player characters

(NPCs) for the player to interact with in various, often non-violent ways. By having music in

these inhabited hubs, the player is granted a sense of home and community. Contrasting those

areas with the broader world of these games, where there are far less NPCs to encounter, invites

a feeling of isolation served by the absence of overworld music in the player’s journey.

Stylistically, in Dark Souls Sakuraba takes the aforementioned influences and pushes

them into a dark maximalism, creating thick textures in the orchestration, extended instrumental

techniques and sounds, and heavy choral singing with orchestra to invoke the image of the

creatures and characters on the screen. Highly active percussion and ostinatos doubled in

multiple instrument families, as well as densely orchestrated chords and harmonic clusters are

common for the larger tracks. Not every track is maximalist in the sense of large quantity of

forces or high density of texture, however. On the opposite end of the stylistic spectrum are other

tracks, such as “Firelink Shrine” and “Gwyn, Lord of Cinder.” These tracks employ smaller

forces and thinner textures, providing some striking contrasts in the soundtrack, especially when

their narrative context is considered. Sakuraba pushes the emotional direction of many tracks to

their extremes, employing many coded tropes for an emotion in a single track. The “Great Grey

Wolf Sif” track, which is written for the tragic eponymous character, uses a slow tempo, lament

basslines, solo violin, mournful choir wails, and sudden shifts in textural density successively

and simultaneously throughout the piece – all to convey that this is “sad” and the player is

intended to feel as such. These stylistic extremes, the variety of sounds used, and the heavy-

handed emotional pushes all give the Dark Souls soundtrack a maximalist lean.

Dark Souls features three situations where music plays outside of a specific combat

encounter with a boss character. These are the Firelink Shine hub (“Firelink Shrine” track); the

bedchamber of Gwynevere in Anor Londo (“Gwynevere, Princess of Sunlight” track); and the

hidden area Ash Lake (“The Ancient Dragon” track). The first and third of these locations can

and do feature combat, however the music never changes from the background tracks.

“Gwynevere, Princess of Sunlight” will stop playing should the player ever attack Gwynevere.

But the music in these locations immediately imparts some significance to the player, indicating

some kind of narrative importance to uncover.

Jumping ahead to Dark Souls III, we are treated to the primary composer Yuka Kitamura

who had previously worked on Dark Soul II and its three DLCs. Sakuraba is featured as well,

however only working on a few tracks. While maximalism remains an undercurrent of the music

in Souls III, as will be the case in many action video games, the nature of the emotional content

of the music is much different. Kitamura opts for a more emotional restrained approach with

subdued energy in some tracks (“Abyss Watchers” track), and explosive heaviness with frenetic

activity in others (“Yhorm the Giant” track) – the common thread being the dark fantasy feel of a

decaying world expressed in the music. The subtleties of the compositions – the way motifs are

employed and transformed along with the narrative at a given moment – become almost

secondary characteristics to the immediacy of the individualized focus of each track. Essentially,

each track and its attached boss character have their own unique sound space (analogous to the

arena they occupy) and the room to develop as they are, without needing to worry about

extramusical influences from the story to impact them.

Souls III shares direct continuity with Souls musically in a couple of ways – some more subtle

than others. The Firelink Shrine location is revisited early on, though this Firelink is quite

different from the one in the first game. The “Firelink Shrine” track in Souls III pays homage to

the original “Firelink Shrine” in its orchestration, harmonic progression, and general somber

mood. The “Aldritch, Devourer of Gods” track heavily features the motif used in the “Dark Sun

Gwyndolin” track from Souls, as the latter character ends up becoming one of the gods that

Aldritch is devouring during the battle. This example becomes one of the many ways Souls III

carries the theme of decay in the music, as Gwyndolin’s motif is fragmented after its initial

appearance in the “Aldritch” track and swallowed up by the emerging textures new to the track.

The boss music in III stylistically differs from Sakuraba’s work in Souls, as Kitamura’s

style focuses more on slowly changing harmony over static roots revolving around the tonic and

dominant chords, dense textures with doublings and heterophony, and emphasis on the violin,

cello, and/or voice as a soloist, which she often performs herself for the recordings.

This

soundscape for the series going forward was inaugurated by Kitamura in the Dark Souls II

“Crown of the Old Iron King” and “Crown of the Ivory King” DLCs in her work on the Sir

Alonne and Burnt Ivory King boss fights. Kitamura’s work in III will often drone the tonic of the

track’s key underneath closely related chords for the purpose of building tension; changes in the

bass note, often accompanied by a textural change, become significant formal markers. Like

Dark Souls, the tracks with vocals do not feature actual text, instead having the singers sing on

vowels and nonsense syllables. The choirs in Kitamura’s work tend to be the leading force with

the orchestra supporting and a solo violin providing frenetic elaborations on the harmony.

The only situation where music occurs in gameplay outside of combat is at Firelink

Shrine. The Firelink area resumes its role as the central hub or nexus space for the player, with

the music providing a calmer atmosphere that does not demand much active listening.

Should

one opt to listen closely during their quiet moments of respite and reflection in Firelink, they

may start to notice connections to the music heard outside during battle. In the next section, we

will dive into the motifs and connections.

Game Informer. “Inside The Creation Of Sekiro’s Soundtrack With Yuka Kitamura,” YouTube. January 22

2019. Interview video, 5:09. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9NpbnBaDPE.

Dylan Armitage, “Sonic Spaces in Dark Souls.” First Person Scholar. July 4th, 2018,

http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sonic-spaces-in-dark-souls/.

Primary Motives and Themes in Dark Souls (2011)

We have discussed where and how music is used in the Dark Souls trilogy, but now we

need to explore the content. Dark Souls (2011) does not have a main motif or theme that

pervades the soundtrack, with most tracks standing on their own. Some have thematic and

stylistic connections, such as the “Great Grey Wolf Sif” and “Knight Artorias” tracks – the latter

representing the fallen master of the Grey Wolf. In this instance, both tracks push a tragic

soundscape but otherwise do not share directly related material. There is one example in the

game with musical material shared explicitly between tracks: during the cutscene when the

player first reaches Anor Londo, a short musical stinger plays when the city comes into view.

This stinger features the opening chords of the “Ornstein & Smough” track that plays for the

infamous duo bosses found in Anor Londo. While the city level itself does not feature ambient

music, those chords give the player a musical association with the level, however short the

stinger is. The Anor Londo intro stinger and the overall character of the “Ornstein & Smough”

track share thematic connections with the “Gwynevere, Princess of Sunlight” track, having

heavily orchestrated chords with orchestra and choral doublings, harp glissandi over sustained

chords, and generally conveying a sense of lordly grandeur.

LimT, “Welcome to Anor Londo,” October 21

, 2011, YouTube video

Ornstein and Smough are bodyguarding Gwynevere by the time the player arrives, so the thematic connection is

apropos.

There are two relevant themes: the first is the Firelink Shrine theme.

Figure 2. Opening chords of the “Firelink Shrine” track. Harp and timpani are omitted.

A common progression (i-ii(no 3)-V

-i) with small changes per chord over an E drone, this

unassuming track works its way into the player’s ear as they come to hear it over and over

throughout the course of the game. The game map was designed such that Firelink connects to

nearly everywhere else; as such, the player will likely hear these opening chords the most out of

any other section of the piece, even as they are just passing through Firelink on their way to

another location. The track is designed to instill a sense of calm in the otherwise constant battle

and uncertainty of the rest of the world. Though there are opportunities for conflict in Firelink, it

is first and foremost a site of respite; the music that otherwise creates feelings of unrest in the

player in battle is not the case here in Firelink.

The player can invite a heinous individual named Knight Lautrec to Firelink Shrine, unaware of his true intentions

He will kill the Fire Keeper and render the bonfire in Firelink unusable until the player reclaims her soul and returns

The second theme we need to consider is Gwyn’s theme. The Lord of Cinder is the final

boss of Dark Souls, with his bastardized title reflecting his current state and fall from once

having been the Lord of Sunlight. Now hollow, Gwyn fights the player at the base of the Kiln of

the First Flame to a melancholy track for four-hand piano. Gwyn has been described throughout

the game as this kingly, noble figure – a hero of sorts amongst the lords. In the introductory

cinematic, Gwyn is shown to have led the battle against the Everlasting Dragons and ushering in

the Age of Fire, an era of prosperity. For the player to see him now a shell of his former self –

decayed flesh and mindless, violent behavior – is quite the twist. The music during this battle

marks a sharp departure from the heavily orchestrated, maximalist-inspired music from earlier in

the game. And yet, there is still the dark fantasy of it all: the hollow emotional distance in the

piano afforded through octaves and quartal harmony; the ashen scenery dimly lit by the glow of

the single bonfire in the center and flames from Gwyn’s greatsword. Despite his fallen state,

Gwyn is still a formidable opponent, still retaining his honed battle instincts now mixed with

rather unpredictable behavior.

it to her. The questline narrative intends for the player to chase Lautrec to Anor Londo after his crime, but the player

can actually kill him in Firelink before he even kills the Firekeeper.

While Gwyn can be considered a tough enemy under most circumstances, he famously can be “cheesed,” or

otherwise fought in a way that drastically reduces the intended difficulty. Every one of his attacks can be parried,

leaving him unable to defend himself from a riposte by the player. This can be done repeatedly until he is defeated.

Figure 3. Opening statement of Gwyn’s theme in the “Gwyn, Lord of Cinder” track. Note

the melody in the top staff, affectionately referred to as “plin plin plon” by fans.

Upon defeating Gwyn, the Chosen Undead is left with the final choice: rest at the bonfire and

link the Fire Flame, prolonging the dwindling Age of Fire; or walk away and usher in the Age of

Dark. The choice is up to the player.

Thematic Transformations in Dark Souls III (2016)

These themes do not end there; they are spiritually succeeded in character and impact,

though not content in Dark Souls II, and directly referenced in Dark Souls III. The final game of

Philipp, “Plin Plin Plon,” Know Your Meme, March 12

, 2020. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/plin-plin-

plon.

the trilogy sees countless cycles of connecting the First Flame, the fire fading, and another

Chosen Undead journeying to link the flame again. By now, the First Flame is at its limit and is

ready to fade away for good. I had mentioned earlier that Firelink Shrine returns in III; this time,

the hub is housed within an ashen temple of sorts, adorned with five large and vacant thrones.

Now, the theme of III is decay and things coming to their natural conclusions. The music of

Firelink this time is a stripped-down version of the original theme, centering solo cello, violin,

and treble voice as the leading sounds. This new version of the theme also features a new motif –

a theme I call the “Lords of Cinder” or “Cinder” motif. Fitting, given that the objective is to

return the Lords of Cinder to their thrones in Firelink, alive or dead.

Already, there is a decaying of the original theme as it crumbles and gives way to the new

theme; the purpose of Firelink Shrine has changed since the time of Lordran, and thus dies the

old traditions. From those embers, the “Lords of Cinder” motif takes over the primary theme.

Figure 4. “Lords of Cinder” motif emerging in the “Firelink Shrine” track by Yuka

Kitamura. The cello and violin slightly hocket the melody, creating a heterophonic

texture and harmony.

The “Cinder” theme appears in the “Abyss Watchers,” “Yhorm the Giant,” “Aldritch, Devourer

of Gods,” and “Twin Princes” tracks. These four are the remaining Lords that the player – the

Four of the five thrones of vacant; the remaining throne is occupied by Ludleth of Courland, the only Lord of

Cinder to answer the call and return to his throne of his own accord. He is a great ally for the player, able to turn the

souls of defeated bosses into weapons, spells, and other equipment.

Ashen One – must find and return to their thrones. Each were previous champions who linked

the First Flame in an effort to maintain the Age of Fire and were resurrected by the Bell of

Awakening. These characters are connected by the “Cinder” motif that appears during the second

phase of each of their battles; part way through the battle, each Lord assumes a form where their

bodies become covered in smoldering flames and their attacks are enhanced by fire – power

leftover from when they link the First Flame.

As is ever-the-case with the music FromSoftware’s game, gradual realization and

transformation is the key to understanding the narrative; what we are building up to in this

instance is that the Twin Princes Lorian and Lothric are the most important foes for the player to

overcome. The first Lord of Cinder the player encounters are the Abyss Watchers. The “Cinder”

theme” here is the most similar to its presentation as heard in the “Firelink Shrine” track –

contour-wise and harmonically, being primarily stepwise and spanning a minor 3

principally;

the Abyss Watcher’s theme gradually fades into the “Cinder” theme over the course of the track

with transpositions sequencing. In “Yhorm” and “Aldritch,” the theme is transformed through

tonal modulation, meter changes, and intervallic alterations. Furthermore, the introduction of the

themes are not overstated elements of the track, especially in “Yhorm” where the motif is a

background harmonization to the main theme of the track; in “Aldritch,” theme “Cinder” is still

secondary to the Gwyndolin theme that the track borrows and the haunting texture for Aldritch

himself. For the Twin Princes, however, the “Cinder” theme makes up the entire second half of

the track when Lothric joins the fight. Attention is drawn to the theme in a few ways: the track is

entirely instrumental up until the theme is introduced, sung by the hitherto tacet choir; the theme

This is not the case of the Twin Princes – Lorian and Lothric. The younger prince Lothric was meant to, but he

became disillusioned by everything, and refused to become a lord. His elder brother, Lorian, would defend him from

those who attempted to force him into lordship. Lorian is the primary opponent during the boss battle, and the

flames from his attacks come from his specialized greatsword.

is not gradually transformed, nor is it covered by another melody or texture, or used concurrently

with another theme; and the theme is now musically developed as a proper section of the music

instead of functioning as a cameo. In the story, the Twin Princes were the most problematic of

the Lords – none of them wanted to sit upon their thrones for various personal reasons, but the

Twin Princes were also the royal family of the land and had control over who could even

approach them. Thus, they worked to ensure the First Flame would die out, and if anyone

somehow approached them, they would meet Lorian’s sword.

Dark Souls as a series is nothing if not cyclical, to be sure. The vacillation between the

Age of Fire and the Age of Dark, the constant hollowing and regaining of one’s humanity for the

Undead, the monarchies and lord rising due to a belief that they can save the world this time,

only to fall as all lords have before them. Yes, the music works this way too in Dark Souls III,

and does so intrinsically with the final boss: the Soul of Cinder. This being appears as the

amalgamation of every person who has previously been linked to the First Flame and become a

Lord, and it is the living manifestation of the Flame. This is reflected in the appearance and

abilities of the Soul of Cinder, and players who have played the entire trilogy may recognize

some of the references.

The “Soul of Cinder” track opens with the same chords as “Firelink Shrine” (i-ii°-V

-V

i) in the first Dark Souls, apropos given the nature of the Soul’s existence.

The Soul of Cinder uses the coiled sword seen at every bonfire as its weapon; has armor pieces from many

different armor sets found across the trilogy, including the Elite Knight set from Dark Souls and Alva’s armor set

from Dark Souls II; the Soul of Cinder can switch “modes” throughout the first phase, whereupon it can use various

spells and moves the play can use and has seen in the series; most importantly, the second phase of the battle sees

the Soul shifting its moveset to that of Gwyn – the final boss of Dark Souls and first person to ever link the First

Flame.

Figure 5. Opening of chords the “Soul of Cinder” track, condensed. Though densely

textured in a full orchestra setting, this statement of the Firelink chords is an example of

the Dark Souls trilogy’s emphasis on cycles.

I consider this example to be the more subtle of the two instances of the “Soul of Cinder” track

harkening back to Dark Souls; Firelink Shrine does not have very present music and is less likely

to stick in players’ minds as much due the lack of a boss battle association. And in the heat of the

moment against the Soul of Cinder, one is more likely focused on the armored flaming entity

running toward them when these chords are evening happening. The other, far more notable

example is the return of “plin plin plon” – Gwyn’s theme -- in the second phase when the Soul

changes fighting style to match the final boss from Dark Souls. The track builds on an

elaboration of the melody used throughout the first half of the piece, layered with another,

extended statement of the Firelink theme, and finally landing with a massive cadence and the

shocking reveal of the piano delivering Gwyn’s theme. The remainder of the battle features

music that is orchestrationally paired down to just violin, cello, piano, chimes, and bass drum –

texturally reminiscent of both Souls and Souls III “Firelink Shrine” tracks. This portion also

incorporates elements from the “Secret Betrayal” track, another piece that can play in Firelink in

III after certain requirements are met.

After defeating the Soul of Cinder, the player achieves

The player and the Fire Keeper can conspire to not link the First Flame, instead letting the fire fade. This is

unlocked by giving her the Eyes of the Fire Keeper item. From the moment on, the music in Firelink changes to the

“Secret Betrayal” track, allowing the player to achieve “The End of Fire” ending and its slight variant.

whatever ending they met the requirements for, and the credits roll. The “Epilogue” track heavily

features the “Lords of Cinder” theme as the primary melody and is reminiscent of the “Nameless

Song” and “Longing” credits tracks from Dark Souls and Dark Souls II, respectively.

Linking Conclusions

For years, I really debated whether to call the “Lords of Cinder” theme the “Lothric”

theme. As I had mentioned earlier in the chapter, the melody does not appear until the second

half of the track in a grand way, which is when Lothric finally joins the fray. The land where

much of the game takes place is named after Lothric, and he is the most important and stubborn

of the Lords of Cinder. But ultimately, I decided that “Lord of Cinder” theme was the better

option, as it decouples the other Lords from Lothric, who truly had little to do with each other;

they were just Lords from various eras who link the First Flame, and Lothric was just the most

recent. That theme is the closest Dark Souls III comes to having a leitmotif in the traditional

sense, and I am inclined to grant that it is the main theme of the game, an idea I find interesting

for the end of the trilogy. Souls and Soul II do not feature an overarching leitmotif, and neither

does the trilogy, and while “plin plin plon” is by far the most notable of themes from the games,

it does not truly function as a main theme. If I were to hazard a guess, it could be that director

Hidetaka Miyazaki wanted to tie everything together for the third game and insisted on more

musical cohesion. But that is not for me to say.

I did not touch upon some other instances of music linking the narrative for the player,

instances such as the Nameless King in Dark Souls III. The character is described as a “deific

hunter of dragons,” and a “god of war,” notably making references to the time of Gwyn. The

game all but states that he is Gwyn’s firstborn child whose name was forsaken because he

ultimately sided with the Everlasting Dragons in the war. But where the in-game lore leaves it

ambiguous, the music tells the truth: in the second phase of the battle, the music features Gwyn’s

theme in the harpsichord as he begins to use lightning-based powers similar to Gwyn. Another,

less firm instance is the overall tone of the “Knight Artorias” track from the Dark Souls: Artorias

of the Abyss DLC and the “Abyss Watchers” track from III having a tragic nature to them. The

Abyss Watchers were a group of warriors who took after Artorias, basing their fighting style after

him and revering great wolves similar to Artorias’s loyal companion, Sif. Like the Wolf Knight,

the Abyss Watchers tasked themselves with keeping watch over the encroachment of the abyss,

but too losing their sanity like their venerated hero. The sad character of their respective tracks

link them in that capacity, even the content is quite dissimilar.

Leitmotif would become no stranger to FromSoftware’s output, as we will observe in the

later chapters on Bloodborne and Elden Ring respectively. The idea of reframing narrative

understanding through music is a consistent thread, and I will next explore how that looks when

the game has persistent leitmotifs for the player to uncover.

CHAPTER 2

“ALREADY DEAD” – BLOODBORNE AND MOTIVIC RECONTEXTUALIZATION

In this chapter, I will discuss how Bloodborne takes a small group of motifs and

transforms them through various tracks to gradually introduce the player to unfolding plot

elements. The transformations of the themes are less traditional in the sense of expansion,

modulation, or metric changes. Instead, these melodies are placed in different contexts that shape

how the player understands the story of the game. As the mysteries of the story unfold, the music

grounds the player and allows to them make connections that may be otherwise ambiguous in

just the narrative alone.

Bloodborne takes place in a separate world from the Dark Souls trilogy, though the

games do share design commonalities. In this game, the player assumes the role of a Hunter who

has traveled to the city of Yharnam to seek the infamous Blood Treatment the area was known

for to treat an unspecified ailment. The Hunter then immediately finds themselves wrapped up in

the nightmare of the city, fighting off crazed citizens and horrific monsters during the long night,

so that they might awaken from the dream. Like the Souls trilogy, Bloodborne features a team of

six composers; Ryan Amon as the lead, Yuka Kitamura, Cris Velasco, Nobuyoshi Suzuki,

Michael Wandmacher, and Tsukasa Saitoh. The development team chose specifically to have a

mix of Japanese and Western composers to diversify the soundscape of the variety of creatures

and characters they would be writing for.

The music department at Sony Interactive

Entertainment and the composers decided on the specific musician line-up for the game to fit the

Victorian-Gothic visual aesthetic: low brass, percussion, choir, and strings. The composers were

Daniel Robson, “The Story Behind Bloodborne’s Haunting Soundtrack,” PlayStation.Blog, May 18

, 2015,

https://blog.playstation.com/2015/05/18/the-story-behind-bloodbornes-haunting-soundtrack/.

tasked with writing for this template of musicians, though the music uses additional instruments

provided via samples, such as organ and cymbals. Commonalities in the music include heavy

brass, string ostinatos, chromatic dissonance, microtonality, choirs singing in Latin, and solo

voice melodies.

The Story and Music in Bloodborne

Like many of FromSoftware’s games, Bloodborne has multiple endings that the player

can achieve by taking certain actions throughout the story. Typically, the ending itself is decided

by a choice the player makes right at the end, with some games having prerequisites to unlock

the choice or choices to select an ending. Of the three endings in Bloodborne, only one – the

“Childhood’s Beginning” ending – has prerequisites and will be the path I discuss in this

document.

The premise of the game is that the player character – the would-be Hunter – arrives at

the Healing Church in the city of Yharnam to seek treatment for an unspecified ailment. The

treatment they seek is called the Blood Ministration and has the reputation of curing any

condition. The Hunter receives their treatment in a medical clinic called Iosefka’s Clinic, during

which they experience vivid hallucinations of a beast trying to claim them. The beast is dispelled

by fire, and the Hunter awakens on the clinic bed. The player, now in control, finds a message

nearby that simply reads, “Seek Paleblood to transcend the hunt.” This esoteric instruction is the

Hunter’s and player’s only indication of what to do. Leaving the clinic unarmed, the Hunter faces

a beast that is likely to kill a first-time player, sending them to the Hunter’s Dream – this game’s

safety hub.

Waking up in a strange and ethereal location in seeming endless fog and a large

moon hanging perpetually in the sky, the Hunter finds themselves as the base of a large stone

staircase leading up to a cathedral-like building. The overworld music track “Hunter’s Dream”

by Ryan Amon plays in this area.

The player meets Gehrman, the slightly eccentric and wheelchair-bound keeper of the

Dream. He encourages the Hunter to “just go and kill a few beasts,” offering general advice on

how to proceed.

Gehrman also introduces us to the Doll, also called the Plain Doll. Currently,

and apparently lifeless, she is a life-sized doll in fancy clothing that Gehrman explains can be

useful to us. Her apparent lifelessness is due to the player having zero Insight, which is

functionally a form of currency, but also a ludonarrative vehicle revealing more of the world to

the Hunter as they gain more Insight. After gaining Insight early on, the Plain Doll wakes and

becomes the Hunter’s means of leveling up.

Returning to the waking world, the Hunter now armed with weapons steps into the city of

Yharnam. A haunting red sky looms above, and corpses and blood litter the Victorian streets.

Those living that the Hunter does encounter are often blood-drunk citizens that the player must

defeat as they work their way through the city. Fighting through various monstrous beasts

throughout the city, the Hunter also meets other hunters along the way who, like Father

Gascoigne and Henryk, have become drunk with blood and must be put down. Others, including

Djura and Eileen, are friendly and can help the player along the way. Near the heart of the city,

the Hunter finds a haven in a large church called the Cathedral Ward, which functions as a

The actual mechanic of the player being sent to the Hunter’s Dream for the first time is the Hunter dying from any

source, be it a hostile encounter or simply falling from too great a height. That said, it is entirely possible to beat the

entire game without ever entering the Hunter’s Dream. But what is the fun in that?

Gehrman’s introductory dialogue when first talking to him.

secondary hub. Through their hunt, the player can meet NPCs who can return to the Ward for

safety during the long night. One such character is Arianna, a “woman of the night” who can aid

the Hunter’s journey by gifting them her restorative blood.

Journeying out of the city and into the Forbidden Woods, the Hunter reaches

Byrgenwerth College, a research institution predating the Healing Church. The scholars of

Byrgenwerth studied the Old Blood found in the ancient labyrinth atop which Yharnam was

built. Among these scholars, there was Master Wilhelm the Provost, and Rom who gained too

much “Insight” and transformed into a multi-eyed being placed at the intersection of where

humanity and the Great Ones are divided.

Moonside Lake, the body of water beside the school, served as a portal to a liminal space

where the Hunter encounters the bulwark, Rom (“Rom, the Vacuous Spider” track, Yuka

Kitamura). Upon defeating Rom, her death causes the barrier keeping humans from seeing the

true nature of the world falls. Now, as the player traverses the city, they will see a changed sky

with the large Blood Moon above, and huge, nightmarish creatures called Lesser Amygdalas

clinging to buildings around Yharnam. These monsters were always there, and if the player had

enough Insight prior to slaying Rom, they would start to see these creatures gradually fade into

view. But with Rom gone, they are all now fully visible regardless of Insight. Venturing through

the city, the Hunter comes across the actual workshop the Hunter’s Dream was based on. They

will even find a prototype of the Plain Doll, along with an unnerving item called “One Third of

Umbilical Cord.”

Eyes are central them in Bloodborne. They tend to symbolize knowledge and insight. It is believed that the more

eyes one had, the more they “understood.” Great Ones and humanities attempts at ascending to such heights

typically have many eyes.

There are four total “One Third of Umbilical Cord” items in the game. Three are needed for the “Childhood’s

Beginning” ending discussed in this chapter, with only one of them being a mandatory acquisition. This means the

Eventually, the player faces a monstrous amalgamation of corpses called the One Reborn

(“The One Reborn” track, Nobuyoshi Suzuki), and manages to enter a deeper realm of the dream

called the Nightmare of Mensis. Built as a castle, the Hunter fights their way through the School

of Mensis to the host of the nightmare, Micolash. After slaying Micolash, the Hunter can find

that Arianna is missing from the Cathedral Ward. Following the trail of blood from where she

was typically residing, the player finds her distraught after having given birth to a grotesque

child. Killing the child, which also seems to kill Arianna, grants the Hunter another “One Third

of Umbilical Cord” item.

Returning to the top of the School of Mensis, the Hunter reaches an area called Mergo’s

Loft. Here, the Hunter finally encounters the apparent source of the nightmare – the infant Great

One, Mergo. Defending the infant is another monstrous being known as Mergo’s Wet Nurse

(“Lullaby for Mergo” track, Amon). Slaying the Wet Nurse leaves the wailing Mergo vulnerable;

the player simply needs to perform any destructive action to complete the infanticide, granting

them the last Umbilical Cord. The message “NIGHTMARE SLAIN” appears across the screen,

alerting the player to the gravity of their actions.

Returning to the Hunter’s Dream, the player battles Gehrman who is trying to “release”

the Hunter from the dream. Defeating him, the Hunter is confronted by the orchestrator of

everything that has been happening: the Moon Presence. A terrifying cosmic being, the Moon

Presence attempts to restrain the Hunter – but they manage to overpower the being due to the

player must seek out the remaining Cords through exploration. For the purpose of this section, I will discuss

acquiring two of the three optional Cords.

The normal text that appears when defeating a boss is “PREY SLAUGHTERED.” This immersive text references

the fact that the player takes the role of a Hunter. However, there are three occasions when the “NIGHTMARE

SLAIN” text appears: defeating Mergo’s Wet Nurse and Mergo; defeating the final boss, the Moon Presence; and

defeating the final boss of The Old Hunters DLC, the Orphan of Kos. Each instance indicates that a significant

figure in the perpetuation of the nightmare was slain.

Umbilical Cords they consumed (“Moon Presence” track, Amon). After a fierce battle, the

Hunter slays the Moon Presence, earning the “NIGHTMARE SLAIN” message. After the battle,

the Doll strolls the Hunter’s Dream and finds a large, slug-like creature on the ground. Picking it

up, she refers to it as “good hunter” – the Hunter has seemingly become an infant Great One of

their own.

“Hunter” Motif

The previous section sums up the narrative of Bloodborne as experienced by the player,

but I did not address the music heard beyond including which tracks play in various

circumstances. Throughout the game, a melodic motif crops up and links the player to various

events and characters; this theme is also recontextualized over the course of the story at certain

events that reframe the player’s understanding of the game world. I will explore some of these

recontextualizations in this section.

Ryan Amon composed around half of the tracks for the game, establishing a tone for

music centering around the Hunter and the dream, featuring solo cello as prominent leading

timbre, harsh, glassy string tremolos and glissandi, ambient choral padding, and solo treble voice

– the latter a common sound in fantasy role-playing games of the era.

Figure 6. “Hunter” motif as presented in the “Bloodborne” track.

This motif is heard a few times in the game in association with the idea of the “hunt,” the

“long night,” and the Hunters themselves. As such, we might label this theme the “Hunter motif”

or the “Hunt motif,” depending on where it is used. The motif begins and ends with G as the

primary pitch, with D acting as a secondary goal note. The half step interval (G–Ab, D–Eb)

creates an ambiguity in tonality and a sense of searching or hunting. The motif is first heard in

the “Omen” track, heard during the pre-rendered cinematic that plays when the player stays on

the title screen long enough.

During the scene, we see the skyline of a Victorian-gothic

Yharnam at night; here, a lonely cello foreshadows the theme as we pan through the abandoned

city. As a mob of blood-drunk citizens and foul beasts roam the streets, we see the protagonist –

the Hunter – stalking in the shadows. At the introduction of the Hunter, a solo treble voice sings

the motif, connecting the Hunter to that theme. As Bloodborne lacks traditional cinematics with

scoring during the game, this single pre-rendered scene, the only time we hear the “Hunter

motif” when the Hunter is on screen, serves as our baseline for this connection.

A primary theme of the game is isolation – the empty streets of Yharnam; the solitude of

the Hunt; Gehrman’s long tenure as the keeper of the Hunter’s Dream and making the Doll as a

companion as examples. In the end, the Hunter is a solitary individual, despite the occasional

non-hostile NPC they encounter. The “Hunter motif” reflects this in the use of soloists to present

it, especially with the solo treble voice providing a dreamlike otherworldliness to the theme. The

“Bloodborne” and “Omen” tracks accompany the theme with a few different textures, including

a pulse-like low brass and low string cluster attack. This texture functions as secondary motif

that bridges the “Hunter motif” to the “Moon motif,” the latter of which I will discuss in the next

section.

“The Night Unfurls” track, which plays on the title screen, foreshadows the primary motifs of the game using solo

voice, angular modifications of the melody on solo violin, and the overall musical texture provided by the rest of the

ensemble. The first clearly identifiable instance the “Hunter motif” is in the track “Omen.”

There are very few cinematics in Bloodborne, as is the case in most of FromSoftware’s games. Their cinematics

are typically reserved for introductions before certain boss battles, transitions between boss battle phases, and scenes

in which the world state changes in some significant way. Bloodborne has only one mid-battle boss transition scene

that features music, and the pacing of the music during the scene and the resumed battle after is written around this.

The “Hunter motif” undergoes traditional musical transformations, notably in the “The

Hunter” track. The Hunter encounters Father Gascoigne, the first other hunter the player is likely

to encounter so far. Gascoigne is drunk with blood and barely has control of himself, forcing the

player to do battle with him. The “Hunter motif” is transformed into a condensed, higher energy

version via rhythmic diminution and thicker orchestration. It is further transformed in the track

through continued rhythmic diminution and fragmentation until it becomes an ostinato in the

strings underneath the brass playing the original modified variant. This shows Gascoigne’s

deteriorating mental state over the course of the battle until the theme dissolves entirely. At this

point, Gascoigne loses his humanity nearly altogether and transforms into a beast.

The “Moon” Motif

The other primary motif used in Bloodborne occurs in locations and situations involving

the Hunter’s Dream, the moon, and the Nightmare.

Figure 7. “Moon motif” as presented in the “Hunter’s Dream” track.

The motif is presented several times throughout the game in various instruments, but the

common thread is that the texture is always thin: solo viola as heard in the “Hunter’s Dream”

track, solo cello, solo voice, etc. to name a few. The name I have attributed to this motif comes

from the ever-present moon that hangs over the Hunter’s Dream, and eventually over the entire

I say “nearly,” but if the player uses the Tiny Music Box item that they can get from Gascoigne’s daughter prior to

the battle, the melody will cause Gascoigne to recoil and will remain stunned for a moment, as if he remembers the

melody and is fighting to retain his humanity. Prior to fighting him, a still sane Gascoigne can be summoned to

assist the player during the Cleric Beast boss battle. If the Tiny Music Box is used while he is present, he will

chuckle. Incidentally, this melody is the “Lullaby for Mergo” track, which later blurs the lines of diegesis.

world after the blood moon appears. Taken by itself, the melody seems firmly in the key of E

major; however, the only accompaniment is violins sustaining a G# harmonics over the melody.

This has an ambient quality, leaving the accompaniment as a much more background element to

the melody. The music in the Hunter’s Dream uses the eponymous track for the first half of the

game, leading the player to associate that motif with the location and not think too much of it.

The melody remains largely static throughout the game, with minimal changes to its contour and

overall presentation. Beyond occasional lengthening or contracting of certain notes in the

phrasing, the motif is never radically altered. This is significant as it gives the melody something

of an omnipresent quality – always there and watching.

The next version of the “Moon motif” is the “Moonlit Melody” track. When the Hunter

slays Rom at the midway point of the game, the sky changes, revealing the blood moon which

hangs permanently above the world now.

Change is reflected in the Hunter’s Dream as well

now; the music has changed to the new track.

Figure 8. “Moon motif” as presented in the “Moonlit Melody” track. Compare with

Figure 6.

Here, the “Moon” motif is almost inverted in its intervals. The melody is now sung by a solo

treble voice overtop soft string harmonics and a solo cello repeats the motif in a slightly altered

rhythm. On its own, this change in music is curious at best, but the tension comes when

combined with the narrative; our changing the world state has somehow changed our safe space

The “Moonlit Melody” track will also occur if the player attains at least 50 Insight prior to defeating Rom. This is

unlikely to occur for a first-time player.

in the Hunter’s Dream – the effects of which we do not yet know. But now that we have defeated

the bulwark that veiled the world from the true horrors that exist, everything as we once knew it

is now reframed and the music reflects this. The “Moonlit Melody” track will be the music of the

Hunter’s Dream until the end of the game.

Upon returning to the Hunter’s Dream, the player finds the workshop in flames, and the

Plain Doll informs us that Gehrman is waiting for us at the great tree in a previously locked off

part of the Hunter’s Dream garden. Beyond the gates, the Hunter finds Gehrman, who offers a

choice: let him slay us and release us from the dream, or refuse. Assuming the player chooses to

refuse Gehrman’s offer, a mortal struggle ensues between the two hunters. The track that plays

for this battle is “The First Hunter” by Tsukasa Saitoh. The track opens with a poignant version

of the “Moon” motif in the low strings, indicating the connection between the Hunter’s Dream

and Gehrman as its keeper. It appears that the “Moon” motif represented Gehrman this entire

time as the unchanging element of the Hunter’s Dream. However, as the track develops, the

understated motif begins to give way to a new melody.

Figure 9. Gehrman’s melody in “The First Hunter” at 1:30.

This melody begins taking shape immediately after the “Moon” motif introduction, and

gradually convalesces until the arrival point at the double bar in Figure 4. Though the cello

anticipates the primary melody starting on D in the first six bars before the double bar, the prime

form is always presented starting on F throughout the remainder of the track.

Curiously, despite the title of the track and Gehrman’s former occupation thereof, the

“Hunter” motif does not appear in “The First Hunter”; the idea behind this might be to show that

Gehrman is no longer a hunter himself and has not been for untold ages as he has lived eternally

in the Hunter’s Dream guiding other hunters on their journeys. And each one before us, the

player, has been released by Gehrman to the waking world – the real world. Defeating Gehrman

in this battle seemingly releases him at long last from the endless dream, at which the final battle

with the Moon Presence commences.

Figure 10. Final version of the “Moon” motif in the “Moon Presence” track.

Now rooted in C, the melody has a new sense of finality to it. The half step motion that has

persisted in the “Hunter” and “Moon” motives is now used as a cadential leading tone motion

(B–C). It is here that the player finally understands that the motif that has persisted nearly

unchangingly throughout the game represented the Moon Presence, the entity that has been

controlling everything. The moon has hung in the sky visibly for the overwhelming majority of

the game in most locations, and it is for this reason, I have given this motif the name “Moon.”

At the end of the final battle features one final state of the “Moon motif” in the solo treble voice

before the strings and brass ring out in a cluster.

Waking Conclusions

One of the overarching themes of Bloodborne is a sense of gradual becoming and

realization: becoming a monster, realization that leads to madness. So much of the story and

world around the player is presented in an unreliable way, never fully indicating what is real and

what is dream. As the Hunter crosses in and out of various levels of reality, the music is the glue

that holds the player to what is happening. There are many – too many – other instances of music

playing a significant role in narrative recontextualization. This chapter discusses only two

I considered the name “Dream/Nightmare motif”, as the Moon Presence is the source of the Hunter’s Dream. I

also considered “Flora motif,” since the Moon Presence is given that name in content that was cut from the final

game. In the end, “Moon” made the most sense to due to its conciseness and connections to constant visual cue of

the moon throughout the game, i.e. the Moon Presence always watching.

instances (albeit, perhaps the most important), but I hardly even mentioned “Lullaby for Mergo,”

which appears frequently throughout the game. The “Lullaby” embodies the concept of reality

blurring up, as the tune exists both in the world of the game (via the Tiny Music Box) and the

track that plays during the battle with Mergo’s Wet Nurse. The effects this melody has on entities

in the game hints at levels of exploration beyond the scope of this thesis.

There is also a high degree of characterization through music that Bloodborne achieves.

The ways motifs are spun out and disseminated amongst disparate tracks and entities deepens the

mystery of the story. But it also gives the player, through traditional coding, an anchor to hold

down some understanding of the truly horrific nightmare they find themselves embroiled in.

CHAPTER 3

“UPON MY NAME” – LEITMOTIF AS A NARRATIVE GUIDE IN ELDEN RING

Elden Ring changes the formula of the Souls series with the inclusion of persistent

overworld music in all areas – not just in the dedicated safe area/hub. Compared to the Dark

Souls trilogy and Bloodborne, the Lands Between of Elden Ring is more active with NPCs and

there is a lesser sense of isolation in the journey. Series mainstays Yuka Kitamura and Tsukasa

Saitoh return, with Saitoh taking the lead and responsibility for many of the important tracks.

They are joined by newcomers Shoi Miyazawa, Yoshimi Kudo, and Tai Tomisawa – the latter

responsible for most of the tracks I will be discussing in this chapter.

Elden Ring aesthetically aligns more with Dark Souls than Bloodborne, but is still distinct

from its predecessors due to the game’s orchestration. Because of the vastly increased scale of

the game compared to FromSoftware’s previous entries, Elden Ring features a commensurately

wider palette of sounds, ranging from full orchestra and choir to just a single vocalist. Fantasy

tropes such as compound time groves and stacked melodies that have adorned the series still

exist, with other influences such as strophic form substructures, rock music-oriented rhythms,

folk melody and sound effects, and medieval-like music suggestive of Gregorian chant.

The

soundtrack of Elden Ring was recorded by the Budapest Film Orchestra and the VoiceStation

Choir.

Elden Ring’s overworld music is often unassuming and does not get in the way of the

player’s journey. While the tracks set the tone of the area, they are otherwise in the background.

These tracks are not just throwaway compositions, however; the tracks for the main dungeons

Elden Ring even had an official live jazz concert, A Night in the Lands Between, on December 3

, 2022.

“Elden Ring (Game)”, VGMdb, February 25

, 2022. https://vgmdb.net/product/11145.

(known as Legacy Dungeons) typically function as a prelude to the music for the primary boss

character for the area. There are several examples of these throughout the game, with some being

less subtle than others. The tracks “Prison Town” and “Volcano Manor” are more obvious

examples; both use the same texture and harmonic space with which the track “God-Devouring

Serpent” – the boss of the area – opens both of its halves, foreshadowing the player’s

confrontation with the blasphemous creature. All three were composed by Yoshimi Kudo, though

not all instances of Legacy Dungeon-to-boss track connections were composed by the same

composer. Tai Tomisawa composed the “Stormveil Castle” track for the eponymous Legacy

Dungeon whilst Shoi Miyazawa wrote the track for its boss, Godrick the Grafted.

Godfrey, the First Elden Lord, and Radagon of the Golden Order and Second Elden Lord

are deeply connected to both the history and current landscape of the game, as well as the player,

representing the height of the Golden Order.

This chapter will discuss how the game uses music

spread across seemingly unrelated encounters to build up to the encounters with Godfrey and

Radagon at the climax of the game. Godfrey’s offspring referred to as the Golden Lineage, as

well as several of his surviving soldiers all have important roles in the Lands Between, and

Godfrey’s influence is felt both narratively and musically throughout the player’s journey.

Radagon’s relationship with Marika and the status of his offspring are the focus of important

mysteries in the game’s story. The tracks included in this discussion are “Elden Ring,”

“Opening,” and “Final Battle,” composed by Tsukasa Saitoh; “Erdtree Knights,” “Erdtree

Avatar,” “Lord’s Apparition,” and “Godfrey, First Elden Lord,” composed by Tai Tomisawa; and

“Leyndell, Royal Capital,” composed by Yuka Kitamura.

Hidetaka Miyazaki, “Boss Encounter – A meeting with Hidetaka Miyazaki to discuss the treasures of Elden Ring,”

interview by Jason Killingsworth. EDGE Magazine. December 12th, 2021.

https://www.yumpu.com/news/en/issue/120123-edge-issue-022022/read?page=49.

A Brief World History

Elden Ring takes place in the Lands Between where the massive Erdtree stands. In

ancient times, all life sprang from the primordial form of the Erdtree, known then as the

crucible.

Numerous lifeforms developed from the crucible’s energies, including ancient

dragons. Of these dragons, Dragonlord Placidusax is said to have been the original Elden Lord,

ruling over the early Lands Between. Eventually, cosmic beings that would become referred to as

outer gods came to influence the development of the world. One outer god, called the Greater

Will, exerted more influence than others and sent a beast in the form of a star to the Lands

Between. This beast was the living manifestation of Order itself – the origins of the Elden Ring.

All facets of reality were encapsulated in the Elden Ring, including the cycle of life and death.

After a time, the Greater Will managed to establish Golden Order – a theocracy with the Erdtree

and Elden Ring as its symbols of authority.

An Empyrean from outside of the Lands Between – a member of the Numen race named

Marika – was installed as the goddess of the Golden Order, ruling the Lands Between on behalf

of the Greater Will.

As the goddess, she became a vessel for the Elden Ring and embodied the

Golden Order. She, along with her King Consort Godfrey, the first Elden Lord established by the

Greater Will, fought numerous wars on behalf of the Golden Order to establish their complete

dominance in the Lands Between.

Team Future Press. Elden Ring – Books of Knowledge Volume I: The Lands Between (Hamburg, Germany: Future

Press Verlag und Marketing GmbH, 2022), 502.

Team Future Press. Elden Ring Volume I, 503.

“Empyrean” is a term used in the game’s lore for those who are candidates to be deities of the Golden Order. What

makes an individual an Empyrean, nor who/what decides this is not made in the story, though there are context

clues.

Team Future Press. Elden Ring Volume I. 504.

Figure 11. Official artwork of Queen Marika, the Eternal.

After defeating the Giants and their Flame, Marika could solidify the Golden Order’s

reign; she removed Destined Death from the Elden Ring which allowed the souls of the deceased

to reincarnate through the Erdtree.

It was around this time that Queen Marika took back the

Grace of Gold once blessed upon her loyal soldiers, including Godfrey, and banished them from

the Lands Between. After the exile, Marika took on another husband – Radagon. Radagon was

originally married to Queen Rennala of Caria but left her after they had three children.

His

marriage to Marika, however, seems to have merged the two into one body, with the two being

able to change who is in control of the body at any given time.

Marika eventually lost faith in

the Greater Will, and proceeded to shatter the Elden Ring with her hammer. Radagon tried in

FromSoftware. Queen Marika the Eternal Art. PNG file, Creative Uncut. Accessed January 10, 2024.

https://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-43/er-queen-marika-the-eternal.html.

Destined Death goes by two names: the other being the Rune of Death. The Elden Ring is comprised of a series of

rune that represented the totality of the Golden Order. Marika removed and sealed away Destined Death from the

Elden Ring to create the Golden Order.

Rykard, the Lord of Blasphemy; Starscourge Radahn, and Ranni the Witch.

A quest in Elden Ring has the player discover that Marika is Radagon, and vice versa. The implications of such a

revelation are not fully understood until the final boss, when the player sees Marika’s feminine body transform into

the masculine Radagon body to fight the player.

vain to repair it, but the deed was done. For their crime, Marika was imprisoned in the Erdtree.

The offspring of Godfrey, Marika, and Radagon – each demigods themselves – claimed

fragments of the Elden Ring known as Great Runes and attained great power.

The Story and Music of Elden Ring

Like the previous games in the Souls series, Elden Ring has multiple endings that each

depend on actions the player takes over the course of the game. The description of the story will

be the one that leads the player to the default ending – “The Age of Fracture” ending, achievable

through no extra steps necessary.

On the title screen of the game, the “Elden Ring” track by Tsukasa Saitoh plays. The

piece opens with reverberant bass drum strike, activating a harp motif. Shortly into the track,

almost as if interrupting the quiet melody, tremolo glissandi in the strings signal the heavy brass

and percussion texture. The track follows a chord progression in A minor before bringing in the

melody in the low brass.

Figure 12. Main motif of Elden Ring, as presented in the track “Elden Ring” at 0:45.

Elden Ring opens with the player selecting a starting class which determines their basic stats and

equipment. After finalizing their character’s appearance, the game plays the opening cinematic

accompanied by the track “Opening,” composed by Tsukasa Saitoh. This track revisits one the

primary leitmotifs of the game, heard previously in the “Elden Ring” track on the title screen and

in various pre-release marketing materials. The motif appears at the narrator’s announcement of

the six Tarnished revived by the Grace – a preliminary association of this motif with the player,

as they are the last of the Tarnished introduced in the opening, specifically. Hoarah Loux,

Goldmask, Fia, the Dung Eater, Sir Gideon Ofnir, and “a Tarnished of no renown,” – the player.

Of the characters introduced, Hoarah Loux is not encountered at all as an NPC, friendly or

otherwise, throughout the story of the game. That is because he is actually Godfrey, having taken

the name Hoarah Loux after his exile from the Lands Between. This revelation is discovered

very late in the game.

After the opening, the player begins the game in an abandoned chapel. Just in front of the

player is a corpse with a message that reads, “Though the path be broken and uncertain, claim

your place as Elden Lord!” A simple instruction that blurs the ludodiegesis of the experience,

being the only clue that informs both the Tarnished – and the player of what their objective is.

After a tutorial level, the Tarnished steps out into the open world – Limgrave. Immediately, the

player is faced with the inescapable sight of the veritably immense Erdtree looming in the

distance, shining its golden light across the land.

A nearby NPC named Varré informs the

Tarnished, among other things, that they can follow the light from Sites of Grace should they

ever lose their way.

The Site of Grace near Varré points the player toward a church; however,

the path is patrolled by an imposing figure for first-time players: a Tree Sentinel.

Daniel Pinchbeck, “Story as a function of gameplay in First Person Shooters and an analysis of FPS diegetic

content 1998-2007,” PhD diss., (University of Portsmouth, 2009).

Zullie the Witch, “Elden Ring – How tall is the Erdtree?” April 12

, 2022, YouTube video, 1:56,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjDd2q2fcAw.

Sites of Grace are this game’s Bonfires. The player rest at Sites of Grace, spend Runes to level up their stats,

manage equipment, and many other tasks in between exploring and combat. Perhaps most importantly, Sites of

Grace function as checkpoints the player returns to in most instances of death.

Figure 13. Motif used in the “Erdtree Knights” track at 1:18.

Tree Sentinels are warriors adorned in golden armor atop large horses, often found

guarding areas important to the Erdtree and the Golden Order. In the case of this first Tree

Sentinel, it is guarding the path to the Church of Elleh, which is a dilapidated sight of worship in

the Golden Order. At this point, the motif heard in the “Erdtree Knights” track is only attached to

the Tree Sentinel, so the player will not have many reasons to imagine that they will encounter

this motif again. A reason this may cross the player’s mind at this early moment in the game is

the name of the enemy – Tree Sentinel – and the importance of trees, tree imagery, and of course

the Erdtree in the world of the game. The description of the weapon this knight drops upon

defeat – the Golden Halberd – does not provide the player with much information about the

origin of its former wielder.

Due to the open-world nature of the game and near total freedom players have in

exploring with only a few locations blocked off for story progress reasons, there is no guarantee

of when a given player’s next encounter with the above motif will be. In fact, a player may

completely circumnavigate this Tree Sentinel altogether and never fight it (and thus missing the

track); there is a Tree Sentinel several hours later in the game that is a required encounter, which

may be a player’s first time hearing the track! That said, the earliest the Tarnished can encounter

another track that elaborates on the motif is in an area called the Weeping Peninsula. There are

several smaller Erdtrees (yet still massive) called Minor Erdtrees found around the Lands

Between. A player may be drawn to these immense visual markers such as the one on the

Weeping Peninsula; following the visual cue is rewarded, but not without struggle. Here, the

player encounters an Erdtree Avatar – a large, grotesque beast seemingly made of wood

resembling a hollowed-out tree stump. When finding his monster and others like it, the “Erdtree

Avatar” track plays.

The relationship between the Tree Sentinels and Erdtree Avatars stems from the Erdtree

itself, but the connection is not fully clear to the player by this point. The player will eventually

arrive at the Roundtable Hold – the safe hub for the player and other Tarnished NPCs they

encounter. Some of the Tarnished introduced in the opening reside here, and Sir Gideon Ofnir

tells the player that they must journey to the royal capital at the foot Erdtree – Leyndell. The

player will encounter two more Tree Sentinels, including a powerful draconic version as a boss

guarding the gate to the city (the “Erdtree Knights” track plays, which could theoretically be a

player’s first time hearing it).

Figure 14. Leyndell, Royal Capital in-game screenshot.

Leyndell is the seat of power for the Golden Order, where the Elden Throne sits guarded

by Morgott, the Veiled Monarch and son of Godfrey.

The overworld music, with its ambient

string drones and wind sound built into the track, gives the impression of abandoned nobility.

Soldiers and knights left behind patrol the streets of the royal capital, a monstrous band of

musicians who herald the arrival of divinity with their horns, and another Erdtree Avatar in the

area that the player can find. Besides the Erdtree around the base of which the city resides, the

other notable landmark of the city is the corpse of the great ancient dragon, Gransax. Her corpse

lays across several buildings facing the Erdtree, and can be climbed by the Tarnished in their

route to the Elden Throne. Near the Erdtree Sanctuary (Figure 4), there is a statue of Radagon

that reveals the true nature of his relationship with Queen Marika.

The Erdtree Sanctuary is the site of the next encounter with music related to Godfrey –

perhaps the most direct example yet.

Figure 15. Godfrey motif used in the track, “Lord’s Apparition” at 0:01. Note the soprano

melody.

Godfrey had three known offspring with Marika: Godwyn the Golden, who was the first demigod in all of history

to die during the Night of Black Knives, orchestrated by Ranni – daughter of Radagon and Rennala; and Morgott the

Omen King and Mohg, Lord of Blood who were twins. Morgott remained loyal to the Golden Order and defended

the Elden Throne. Mohg kidnapped Miquella (son of Radagon and Marika) to start his own dynasty, Mohgwyn.

When the Tarnished steps through the doors to the Sanctuary, they are suddenly faced with a

figure composed of golden light wielding a large double-bladed battleaxe. The health bar that

appears at the bottom of the screen displays this figure’s name as Godfrey, First Elden Lord. He

is accompanied by the track “Lord’s Apparition”, which opens with the main melody sung in the

sopranos. The music starts as choral in the voices, with limited instrumentation. As the track

progresses, the orchestration changes, adding strings, brass, and more percussion. Each statement

of the theme at the climax is accompanied by louder dynamics, expanded registers in the strings

and brass, and an overall timbral and textural expansion. This creates a weighty effect, as the

player will be impacted by the title of “First Elden Lord” knowing that our task is to become the

next Lord ourselves – a journey we are apparently so close to achieving. But as the texture of the

piece expands, it also creates the effect of gradual realization: the player sees that even a ghostly

apparition of the original Elden Lord stands to test them.

But this development does raise the

question of where the real Godfrey is, and if he is even still alive.

The player has a titanic battle with Morgott at the Elden Throne and is seemingly set to

enter the Erdtree to become the next Elden Lord. However, an array of thorns resembling

Radagon’s rune prevents the Tarnished from entering the tree. This marks the halfway point

through the story, as the player must now journey to the Mountaintops of the Giants to reach the

Flame of Ruin. From there, they will set the Erdtree aflame, burning the impeding thrones, and

forcing their way in. After a series of grueling battles and the releasing of the Rune of Death, the

Tarnished awakens in the ruined, ashen remains of Leyndell.

The Tarnished makes their way

back up to Erdtree Sanctuary, defeating Sir Gideon Ofnir in the process, and finally returns to the

Godfrey is commonly called the First Elden Lord, and this is true of the Golden Order era. However, in the time of

the crucible before the Golden Order, Dragonlord Placidusax held the title of Elden Lord. What that meant during

that time, and how it differs from the “modern” understanding is not clear.

With Destined Death released, true death now returns to the Lands Between.

Elden Throne. There, they find the imposing figure with a spectral lion-like beast looming over

his shoulders, ever at the ready. He is holding the corpse of his son, Morgott, before turning to

face the player.

Serosh the beast roars, sending out a shockwave and the figure brandishes his

axe, declaring, “Upon my name as Godfrey… the first Elden Lord!” At this declaration, the

“Godfrey, First Elden Lord” track begins, and the player regains control of the Tarnished to start

the battle.

Figure 16. Concept art of Godfrey and Serosh (left), and official art of Godfrey and

Serosh (right).

Godfrey’s track is marked by a brutal maximalist orchestration: forceful TTBB choir

leading throughout; thunderous bass drums and timpani in compound meter evoke the weight of

Godfrey’s earthshaking stomping attacks; and the strings and brass show the mix of nobility and

There is a wide angle shot during this cutscene that shows both Godfrey and the Tarnished. There is a faint stream

of golden light near Godfrey pointing toward the player; this shows that as the guidance of grace pointed the player

toward where they needed to go, that same guidance was bringing Godfrey to you.

savagery of the character. In the battle, the First Elden Lord’s movements show a discipline

stemming from his time as a kingly consort, but a barely contained lust for battle. The nobility

sound in his music also highlights the respect he has for you as a fellow Tarnished. “Tarnished

Warrior. ‘Twas nobly fought,” Godfrey declares upon defeating the player during the first phase.

As the battle progresses, Godfrey’s aggression increases as he chains together his combos

quicker. It is not uncommon for this to coincide with the midpoint of the first half of his track,

where the second primary motif occurs.

The track combines the motifs heard in the previous battle with other entities related to

Godfrey.

Figure 17. First Godfrey motif in “Godfrey, First Elden Lord” at 0:19.

This motif was first heard in the “Erdtree Knights” track, presented variously in the strings and

choir. This theme links Godfrey to the scattered remnants of his army that the player finds

through the Lands Between, as well as to the symbol of the Golden Order, i.e. the Erdtree.

Shirrako, “Elden Ring - Godfrey, The First Elden Lord / Hoarah Loux Boss Fight (4K 60FPS),” February 26

2022, YouTube video, 2:40 to 3:10, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRc2rqDDBGk.

Figure 18. Second Godfrey motif in “Godfrey, First Elden Lord” at 0:51.

Originally appearing in “Lord’s Apparition,” this second theme is attributed to Godfrey himself,

only appearing when the first Elden Lord is present. The “Apparition” variant is regal yet

ghostly, with the choir being the primary musical force; the “Godfrey” version, then becomes

much larger in texture commensurate with his actual presence.

When the player manages to bring Godfrey to fifty percent of his health, a cutscene

where he lifts his restraints occurs. The beast Serosh, whom Godfrey was seemingly holding,

begins to manifest in flesh to battle the Tarnished; however, Godfrey stops the beast and tears it

apart with his bare hands, covering himself in its blood. It becomes clear that Godfrey was not

holding back Serosh, but that the beast was holding back his barbarity. Taking a battle stance, he

declares, “Now I fight as Hoarah Loux! Warrior!”

At last, the player encounters Hoarah Loux,

revealed to be Godfrey all along after he was banished to the badlands. Forgoing his axe, Hoarah

Loux fights with a grappling style, attempting to throw and slam the player, and otherwise tear

them apart. The unrestrained brutality is reflected in the music; syncopated sixteenth notes in

compound time, constant pounding taiko, heavily accented strings to point of audible fingerboard

There is a friendly NPC the player can meet during the story named Nepheli Loux, who is also a warrior and

fellow Tarnished. The “Loux” surname implies a connection to Godfrey, but whether that relation is familial or tribal

as badland warriors is unknown. She can join the player in the battle against Godfrey.

slapping, and wild flute trills adorn the track. The choir becomes less prominent, relegated to

doubling the G to E descending minor third motif that appears throughout this half of the track.

Upon his death, Hoarah Loux speaks, “Brave Tarnished… Thy strength befits a crown.” Even in

his savagery, he still respects the player’s strength and does not resent them for his death. With

Godfrey slain and the thorns once blocking entry to the Erdtree burned away, the Tarnished is

now free to enter and claim the throne as Elden Lord.

Radagon of the Golden Order, the Elden Beast, and the “Age of Fracture” Ending

After stepping into a wall of gold light, the Tarnished finds themselves on a large stone

platform inside the Erdtree. Above them is the crucified Queen Marika (see Figure 1), suspended

from an upward-curving rune arc – perhaps a remnant of the Elden Ring. She is pierced by a

spear seemingly made of solid red light or energy, and much of her body has hardened and

crumbled, revealing the inside of her body from the right side. The rune arc shatters, and the

seemingly lifeless body of the Eternal Queen falls to the ground. She then reaches for her

hammer as her gold hair turns red and body changes. The figure stands, holding the hammer

above his head, and we see that we are now facing Radagon of the Golden Order.

Figure 19. Radagon turning to face the Tarnished, in-game screenshot. The Elden Ring

glows in his open torso cavity.

Upon seeing Radagon standing with his hammer raised above his head, a more active and

heroic version of the material from the “Elden Ring” track called “Final Battle” begins.

Compared to the “Elden Ring” track, the tempo is a tad faster and the orchestration is brighter

with strings and winds doubling the melody in higher octaves. The opening chord progression,

which did not seem to have an association, is now projected onto Radagon. The player regains

control of the Tarnished when the main melody kicks in (see Figure 2). Once again, that melody

is introduced in relation to the Tarnished, now in the context of battle. The “Elden Ring” motif is

recontextualized into theme of Elden Lords, as the player faces the previous kingly consort to

become the next god. Radagon fights to preserve the Golden Order, while the Tarnished’s goal is

determined by the player’s choice. For the “Age of Fracture” ending, the Tarnished wishes to

usher in an age of the shattered Elden Ring, ruling over a land where life and death take their

natural course.

When Radagon is defeated, his corpse is taken by a massive creature seemingly made of

the stars themselves. This being, called the Elden Beast, is the living manifestation of the Erdtree

and Golden Order. Drawing a sword apparently made from the body of Radagon, the Elden

Beast fights the Tarnished in a sublime space surrounded by a forest of Erdtrees. The second half

of the “Final Battle” track plays during this last encounter, expanding on the lonely, perhaps

distant harp motif from the beginning of “Elden Ring” track. This theme is also heard in a track

that is not on the official soundtrack during the scene where the Erdtree is set ablaze by the

Flames of Ruin.

Given the instances where we encounter this motif, we can surmise that it is

the motif of the Erdtree itself.

Weaselbee, “Elden Ring OST – Erdtree Aflame,” April 29

, 2022, YouTube video,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CIiagdgTxA.

Figure 20. The Erdtree motif as heard in “Final Battle” at 2:21.

The sections features, a solo soprano voice as the lead, with a treble voice choir chanting static

harmonies in the background. Strings and bass drum rolls create an ambient bed for the solo

soprano and harp to float atop. Upon defeating the Elden Beast, the track wraps up with the

strings and harp winding down to a gentle close. The epilogue for the Tarnished becoming the

next Elden Lord starts, and the credits roll.

Mending Conclusions

To say that Elden Ring is dense is to say the Erdtree is “pretty big.” I have barely

scratched the surface, frankly, and even in the material I do discuss, there is even more depth one

can find. For example: I leave out any discussion on Radagon’s relationship with Carian Queen

Rennala and the musical relationships found there; I tabled talking about how the music in the

various Legacy Dungeons connect to the primary bosses – often demigods – of the area; I

forwent mentioning any of the complex musical relationships of the various dragon characters of

the game – characters who have a consistent motif and musical language associated with all of

them except Lichdragon Fortissax; and I outright refused to even mention the Frenzied Flame

beyond this single glancing pass. Any of these digressions could be topics for this chapter

themselves, but I chose the Godfrey and the Tarnished/Radagon motives because of their

ubiquity throughout the story of the game. As we explored in the previous chapters, thematic

recontextualization is perhaps the most important musical tool used in these games; the

recontextualization of these themes span the entire length of the main narrative, allowing me to

detail various points of the story (a self-indulgence to be sure).

The chapter title “Upon My Name” felt appropriate for this discussion as it was when

Godfrey declares this line stating his name, the music begins. As the culmination of the entire

journey both literal and musical, the revelation that it all pointed to him was my impetus for the

title. Elden Ring is much clearer in how the player is expected to navigate the narrative, but still

maintains some of the hallmarks of FromSoftware’s storytelling style, traits that are magnified by

the scale of the game. Such hallmarks include a near-mythic figure of legend, described in story

and sometimes song, whose impact to the setting has permanently cemented them into the

foundation of the world. Seemingly a figure of the past, this entity appears at a climatic point in

the story and shows the player they are still powerful and in charge, even if they are diminished

in some capacity. Godfrey fulfills this archetype quite squarely, though he is not the only one

who does; Radagon also counts, but I am referring to other characters such as Godwyn the

Golden (Godfrey’s eldest known offspring), Starscourge Radahn, and Dragonlord Placidusax.

I hope that this chapter has illustrated some of the power that music has in this game

where the story is broad, overlapping, and essentially “already told.” That through the music, we

can begin forming a deeper understanding of the game’s world, and as players, use that

understanding to decide where we align and what sort of Elden Lord we want to be in the end.

CONCLUSION

The soundtracks in FromSoftware’s games are not always traditional and eschew many of

the methods of musical development found in music for media. On the surface, these soundtracks

seemingly focus only on general mood setting and “epicness,” but after looking closer, we see

the thoughtfulness put into the music. Instances where characters, places, and stories are

interwoven in ways that enhance our appreciation of them. Hidetaka Miyazaki has always

emphasized letting players form their own understanding of the games he creates, expertly

leaving certain elements out from the story and leaving disparate crumbs for fans to piece

together. “Another side is, I want to leave the interpretation of the world's stories to the player.

That's actually my biggest reason for focusing on environmental and subtle storytelling. Rather

than the game itself automatically telling the story, the player gets more value from it when they

themselves find out hints of plot from items or side-characters they encounter in the world.”

Players have indeed developed their own understandings from the text and scenes in the game,

formed shared beliefs about the stories. But as we know from the composers, the music they

write is informed by the details Miyazaki gives them during development, and the composers

work to see these ideas realized.

These games are not unique in the way they use music to convey unspoken narrative

ideas. Many games in the RPG genre do this, including leitmotif-heavy Final Fantasy series.

Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020), for instance, works in the villainous Sephiroth’s theme into

several cutscenes even when the character is not present, but his influence is felt.

Fire Emblem

Matt Kamen, “Dark Souls 3 director: it's about 'accomplishment by overcoming tremendous odds'”, WIRED, April

, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20160420002105/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2016-03/29/dark-

souls-3-hidetaka-miyazaki-interview.

Square Enix, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Square Enix, 2020.

Three Houses (2019) goes out of its way to use the themes for each of its protagonists in music

surrounding that character, their actions and influence, and the nations they each lead.

And just

like these games, the music in FromSoftware’s game is never static – it is always evolving with

the characters and world around it. The player’s relationship with the music also evolves as they

learn more about the world. The depth of poignancy in the “plin plin plon” of Gwyn’s theme

continued to expand in the Dark Souls III The Ringed City DLC, when players discovered more

of Gwyn’s influence, his benevolence and heroism, and the desperation behind his fatal linking

of the Flame, seeing what he truly sacrificed to maintain all that he had built.

But the key to all these games is that everything must come to an end, and no amount of

power, quest for immortality, or endless dream can prevent that. There is a reason the Rune of

Death in Elden Ring is called Destined Death: its power can bring about the end of all things,

even the immortal demigods of the Lands Between. The musical themes for some of the

characters in these games evolve until a point, and then they stop. When the player slays the

boss, the music ends and with it, their influence in the world. Godfrey’s leitmotif progressed and

built upon itself until he was finally slain by the player Tarnished, by which point his music is no

longer heard – its longevity ultimately providing a path for the player to continue forward. No

matter how good the music is and how much the player wants to enjoy it, if they are to progress

in their journey, they must not stagnate and defeat the boss – lest they go hollow. This mirrors the

three-game futility of trying to keep the First Flame alive. The Flame has to die and the Age of

Dark will come. But even in the face of the unknown there is hope because the Dark Age is the

age of the Dark Soul, of humanity.

Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo, Fire Emblem Three House, Nintendo, 2019.

Ultimately, in this thesis I wanted to demonstrate that through music we – the players and

our characters – are guided through our journeys. Music that is created by people as an

expression of life is our reward for our persistence, and we should not be afraid to seek it out. We

cannot progress without it, nor can we experience music without progression. Music is real and it

affects our perception of the world around us. The music box in Bloodborne is the only thing that

has tangible and disruptive effect on the denizens of the dream because it is the only thing that is

real. Situations change, and not always the way we want: the new Elden Lord brings about a new

Age that may not resemble the old; the long night comes to an end, and we wake up; the fire

does fade eventually. But no matter the nature of the change, it is the music in these games that

helped us understand what we were trying to achieve, what we were fighting for. And although it

is over, the Fire Keeper’s parting words to the Ashen One ring true here:

“The First Flame quickly fades. Darkness will shortly settle. But one day, tiny flames will

dance across the darkness. Like embers, linked by lords past.”

“Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?”

Just like the Ashen one can still hear and is guided by her voice, we are still guided by music on

our journeys into the unknown.

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