Summary
It won’t be long beforeElden Ring’s DLC finally arrives. Shadow of the Erdtree has kept fans waiting for over a year, paralleling the announcement and subsequent silence of the originalElden Ring. Even so, both have endeavored to make that wait worthwhile, and players can see what Shadow of the Erdtree has in store once it drops on July 08, 2025. Once that day arrives, eager Tarnished will once again sweep the Lands Between, triumph over Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood, and then jump into the Land of Shadow. New challenges will follow, but that’s exactly whatElden Ringfans seek.
Shadow of the Erdtree is expected toadd plenty toElden Ring’s massive content offering, including the aforementioned challenges in new bosses and enemies, as well as other things like new equipment and lore. Until fans get to see how everything fits into a playable context, they will continue pouring over all the teased elements in Shadow of the Erdtree’s marketing materials. Among the larger trailers and previews have been a variety of screenshots focused on particular enemies and locations, one of which recalls one of the deadliest foes from another FromSoftware title.
Elden Ring Is Getting Something Reminiscent of Bloodborne’s Winter Lanterns
Through viewing the screenshots released alongside the firstElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtreetrailer, fans were struck with a few observations. One was that thespirit worms were one ofElden Ring’s cutest monsters yet, and had faces primed for reaction memes. Mirroring that, a ragged figure with a massive, glowing, fleshy head immediately triggered flashbacks toBloodborne’s Winter Lanterns, something players were less than pleased about seeing. As playfully frustrating as FromSoftware’s games can be, what Winter Lanterns could do was one ofBloodborne’s nastiest surprises.
Bloodborne’s Winter Lanterns Explained
Winter Lanterns are horrific aberrations that haunt late-game areas nested deep in the otherworldly Nightmare Frontier. Formed by a brain-shaped mass of Bath Messengers and eyes perched atop a bloody parody of the Plain Doll’s torso, this walking betrayal of safety and reason builds the Frenzy status by just looking at Hunters, and it won’t immediately stop once out of sight. Although this won’t necessarily kill players if Frenzy procs, the Lantern’s grab basically guarantees death if performed adjacent to a filled Frenzy bar. To say this hasmade Winter Lanterns aBloodborneiconis an understatement; players always treat them as the biggest threat present, and FromSoftware may have internalized their legacy as a whole genre of terrifying enemies.
Shadow of the Erdtree’s Faux Winter Lanterns May Be Far Worse
Dark Souls 3’s max HP-draining Jailers are an example of said legacy, andElden Ringmight be about to add another to the pile. Shadow of the Erdtree’s glowing, bulbous-headed enemy has a similar design approach, with what appears to be a walking stick and a hunched posture being the main visual differences between itself and a Winter Lantern. Many assume that this creature will alsobuild one ofElden Ring’s status effectsthrough its line of sight, just like a Winter Lantern. However, that should be where their similarities end.
Explaining why starts with a brief lore snippet provided on social media:
“The abandoned and tragic who forage beneath the umbra pray for the embrace of a new master.”
Assuming the “umbra” refers to Shadow of the Erdtree’s dark and twisted focal tree, these creatures look and sound like counterparts to thedisturbing, yet pitiable, Wormfaces in baseElden Ring. Their disheveled clusters near a Minor Erdtree strike a different tone from the eldritch Winter Lanterns, but Wormfaces are also keyed to the instant-death Death Blight status instead of Frenzy’s burst damage, which would make Shadow of the Erdtree’s equivalents nearly impossible to fight directly. Combining Winter Lanterns and Wormfaces into this foe would likely require players to use every tree in its teaser art as cover to surviveElden Ring’s most harrowing encounter yet.
