Elden

The first time I saw the Cord End on the ground in Elden Ring Nightreign, I was vexed. The enigmatic item had a simple description: “Gain entry somewhere.”

Where is somewhere, you might ask? Good question. I didn’t find out during that playthrough. Painfully, I relinquished the item on the floor in the waiting area before the final boss on that run to make room for articles with more immediately apparent uses, like healing. Every single teammate stopped what they were doing to inspect the object, which silently exhibited its rarity with a golden hue. Classic Souls experience right there: Something, somewhere, can be interacted with, if only you could figure out the exact conditions. The game will helpfully not tell you. Only your curiosity or willingness to Google the answer can solve the mystery.

I’ve kept an eye out since then, but to some degree, it felt useless. Nightreign’s design forces players to zip through the map from icon to icon in the hopes of building up a character who can withstand a Nightlord on the third day, which the game enforces by periodically corralling players with a Fortnite-like storm. But while Nightreign’s pacing is speedier than that of the original Elden Ring, the intricate level design and secrecy remain. Areas will have winding hallways leading to deep chambers with multiple pathways and doors that you may never see if you have any sense of urgency. One time, I dove deep into the magma area of the map only to find that the level extended so deeply, I couldn’t figure out how to get out before the storm claimed my runes.

In my 60 hours playing Nightreign, I’ve seen the Cord End exactly once. I figured that the likelihood of ever figuring out what to do with it was small, so I recently allowed myself to look it up. Turns out, it opens a door near the castle residing in the middle of the map. In it, there are three Sacrificial Twigs, which prevent you from losing runes or levels when you die.

Looking at a picture of the door itself, it’s evident why I couldn’t figure out where the Cord End might lead to. The area is poorly lit and barely visible. I had probably run by it many times, on most of my runs — the castle is a popular destination — without ever realizing it.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

Puzzle solved… kind of. Figuring out what it does, hilariously enough, was the easiest part of the Cord End debacle. Players now know that the Cord End will sometimes drop in churches that house extra flask charges, but hell if anyone can get the item to drop again.

“I found one of these on my very first game and in the fifty-something games since I’ve never seen another one and now I’m going insane,” reads one comment on the Fextralife website detailing the item.

“I want to say I’d looted over 50 by that time, so it isn’t a very common drop at all,” another remarked.

“In 44 hours, I’ve only found 2,” says a comment on a YouTube video about the item.

Sacrificial Twigs are useful items, to be sure, but they’re not necessarily critical to beating Nightreign. Part of what’s driving the interest here is that lore junkies are convinced that the Cord End might do more than simply open a door.

As one player points out, there’s a crypt area in the game where a description reads, “The Ways of Cutting point to the deep woods, bestow branches to those who are worthy and wise.” Another description in the same area says, “The Ways of Cutting point to the deep woods, bestow branches to those who wander and roam.”

Theoretically, both of these text snippets may not only reference specific areas of the map, but they could also be attached to characters in the game. The descriptions are tied to coffins that players speculate belong to each individual class. The Recluse, for example, is described in the game as a witch of the deep woods. Crucially, this area also appears to have something that resembles an altar, and it’s accompanied by text that says, “To atone for the first sin, we elect to become the foundation.”

It could just be stuff to set the ambiance; while Souls games do have distinct narratives, you can’t assume every bit of text is an intentional tie to a wider storyline. Sometimes, descriptions will conflict with one another or plainly not make sense in the larger context of the game. Still, this is a lot of references to branches, all hailing from an apparently important place in the game. The altar is suggestive; is the player supposed to do something there? What happens if players bring the twigs to the areas on the map?

Twigs are obviously useful, but why does it give you three? A single player can only carry two branches, as it is classified as a Talisman, not a normal item. If the game expects you to share the twigs, is there a chance something might happen if specific characters hold those branches in the right area of the map? It’s the sort of thing that sounds like a classic Souls puzzle.

“I think there is some way to get those three branches to these 3 spots within the Roundtable,” muses a Redditor who is convinced there’s a deeper mystery afoot.

Another thing that’s fueling this quixotic search is the knowledge that being given a legendary item merely prevents you from losing runes doesn’t feel like a proper reward for something this unlikely.

“I believe that to solve this Easter egg, you need to have a group with specifically Recluse, Wylder, and Duchess, and happen to get a cord drop and open the secret door,” another Redditor says. “Then everyone needs to equip the branches. After that? Who knows?”

The hunches could be right, and there could be a wilder secret no Nightreign player has figured out yet. Then again, Souls games are not above simply trolling players. Famously, the original Dark Souls offered players a choice to begin the game with a pendant that players convinced themselves must be tied to some other elaborate thing in the game. Later, everyone found out that the developers just wanted to prank players. Nightreign is also slated to get updates, so it’s possible that whatever the twigs do — if indeed they do anything — might not be in the game yet.

We can’t know until someone successfully tests out the myriad theories floating around. Good luck getting the item to drop, though. Even if you do get the twigs, you’ve got to survive long enough to bring the branches to the right locations, or end a run with the items still in your possession. Most runs aren’t successful, and dying is a constant in Nightreign. Woof.

Perhaps one Redditor puts it best when they wrote, “I wish I had a consistent team just to run around the map to try and find cords, but to whoever can do this first and see if there really is more to the secret door, you’ll be a legend!”

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