"Somewhere a Great Rune has broken" in Shadow of the Erdtree explained

Shadow of the Erdtree Somewhere a Great Rune has Broken — (Image credit: Bandai Namco)

What does "Somewhere a Great Rune has broken" in Shadow of the Erdtree mean? The message comes out of nowhere, followed by another that says "and so too has a powerful charm", but what are you supposed to do with that? If you're like me playing Shadow of the Erdtree, you run to a Site of Grace ASAP to check all your existing Great Runes and make sure none of them have been lost, but that's not the issue - in fact, the Great Rune that's broken isn't even yours. We'll cover the meaning of the Somewhere a Great Rune has Broken message in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree below, and what it means for your game.

What does "Somewhere a Great Rune has broken" in Shadow of the Erdtree mean?

The message that a Great Rune has broken in the Elden Ring expansion is a story flag that doesn't affect you directly, but does change the questlines of certain characters. After you see this message, it might be worth going to speak to all the NPCs you've found to see if they have anything new to say.

It also allows access to a new area: the Stone Coffin Fissure. Before this point, anybody attempting to work out how to get to the Stone Coffin Fissure in Shadow of the Erdtree would've been blocked at the entrance by a golden barrier. Now, it should be gone, leaving this area newly explorable.

Don't worry, the Great Rune they're talking about isn't any of the Elden Ring Great Runes you found in the core game, but another one in the world somewhere. We got this message when entering the area known as the Shadow Keep for the first time, just before the first encounter that players have with the Shadow of the Erdtree Golden Hippopotamus.

Likewise, the Powerful Charm that the game talks about straight after that is just a follow up to the message and is part of the same idea. We'll cover the meaning of that below, but be warned: some story spoilers ahead!

What is the Broken Great Rune and Powerful Charm?

The Great Rune that's broken is actually Miquella's - and not by accident. As you might've noticed from finding Miquella's Crosses in Shadow of the Erdtree, the demigod is purposefully sacrificing parts of himself for some mysterious purpose revealed later in the game, and Miquella's Great Rune is one of those things he's sacrificing.

But that comes with consequences - namely, the "Powerful Charm". Miquella's biggest power is the ability to compel loyalty and affection from his followers, charm and hypnotise them into obedience. That's why NPCs like Leda and the Hornsent are hanging around - Miquella has literally put them under a form of mind control to serve his interests. Now his source of power is broken, that control will disappear, and you can speak to those characters to see their behaviour and loyalties changing afterwards, progressing their quests accordingly,

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.