Knowing the story of Godwyn the Golden is important for those hoping to understand the events that led to the Shattering in Elden Ring.
The Tarnished never directly interacts with Godwyn the Golden, so lore about him is easy to miss in Elden Ring. However, he is an incredibly important character. He is indirectly the cause of the Shattering that made the entire plot happen in the first place.
It is important to know that Godwyn was the only non-omen son of Marika and Godrey, which made him quite special. He was called Godwyn the Golden and is the progenitor of what people in the Lands Between called the "Golden Line." He is also the one who went to war against the dragons and came out victorious. What is most relevant to the story of Elden Ring, though, is his death.
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His Life And Death
Godwyn was the firstborn son of Marika and Godfrey and was around in the early part of Marika's divine rule. Before Marika ruled the land, the Lands Between belonged to dragons. Due to this, dragons attacked the Erdtree. It was Godwyn who put a stop to this and fought Fortissax. This earned the respect of the dragons, and they left the Erdtree alone since.
The demigod met his end in the Night of Black Knives, as he was assassinated by Numens. How mere Numens were able to kill a demigod came down to their weapons, as they were marked with the Rune of Death. This was all orchestrated by Godwyn's half-sister Ranni. She stole parts of the Rune of Death so that Godwyn could be killed.
The reason Ranni had Godwyn killed was for a ritual. She wanted to destroy her body but preserve her soul in a doll. This way, she could escape her destiny and not be bound by the whims of the Greater Will like the rest of her family. It was this act that really made the plot of Elden Ring begin.
The Aftermath Of Godwyn's Death
Godwyn's mother, Marika, was devastated by his death and responded by making the Shattering happen. Doing this diminished the Greater Will's power in the Lands Between, and the Greater Will responded by punishing Marika and Radagon through imprisonment in the Erdtree.
Far more than just the Shattering happened due to Godwyn's death, though. Ranni's ritual actually gave him half of the cursemark of death, which made him the first of Those Who Live in Death. This meant that Godwyn's spirit could not return to the Erdtree. On top of that, his body was placed at the Erdtree's roots, which lead to the roots getting corrupted. The corrupted roots lead to the growth of Deathroot and helped more of Those Who Live in Death rise.
Those Who Live in Death began to worship the dead Godwyn, with the hopes that he would return and be their leader. While that occurred, others tried to cure Godwyn's condition with the goal of helping his spirit returning to the Erdtree. Miquella was one such figure that tried to cure him to no avail.
In The Events Of Elden Ring
Fans do get to see the corpse of Godwyn if they do Fia's questline in Elden Ring. Fia is in fact a leader among Those Who Live in Death and seeks to lay with Godwyn so that he can have a second life as the Prince of Death. To do this, though, she needs the Tarnished's help. While Godwyn's corpse has half of the cursemark of death, Fia needs the other half. This half can be found on the corpse of Ranni's Empyrean body (which is accessible by getting to a certain point in Ranni's questline).
If the Tarnished gives the other half to Fia, she is able to lay with Godwyn and gives the Tarnished a special rune that they can mend the Elden Ring with. If the player chooses to mend the Elden Ring with this rune, they unlock the Age of Duskborn ending.
Elden Ring is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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