The Tarnished will need to know how to get the Blessing of Despair ending in Elden Ring if they wish to honor the words of the Dung Eater. This enigmatic serial killer has a very odd, but impactful, role to play in the fate of the Lands Between, and the player can choose whether to put his vision of a future into effect.
Following this quest until the very end will take the players across various locations on the map, and many might feel the Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending might not be worth the cost. However, it’s one of the more subtle endings, and not everyone is aware of its implications. So, if you wish to make everyone in the region fall prey to a curse, read on to know how to unlock this ending!
How to get The Blessing of Despair Ending in Elden Ring?
The Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending can only be acquired after completing Dung Eater’s quest and feeding him five Seedbed Curses. These items are found in various mid- to late-game areas of Elden Ring, and players will need to be sufficiently leveled for this endeavor. It will also take players to some optional areas, including one that features one of the toughest bosses in the game.
Seedbed Curses only grow on bodies that have been defiled by the Dung Eater, and the figure views them as a ‘blessing.’ These items can only be found in areas after entering Leyndell Royal Capital, and they require the player to find Dung Eater’s spirit and his real body too.
Tip
This ending cannot be achieved if the player has interacted with the Three Fingers and inherited the Flame of Frenzy.
Following this quest might also result in the death of a useful NPC, so those who are committed to this path should be ready to take on some difficult enemies.
Locate Dung Eater in the Roundtable Hold
Your first interaction with Dung Eater will be in a small room in the Roundtable Hold. This room is filled with corpses, and the Dung Eater is sitting cross-legged in the center, implying that these are all the people he has defiled with his ‘blessing.’
When you speak with him for the first time without having a Seedbed Curse in your inventory, he will ask if you have felt the effects of the defilement but then lose interest in you.
You can find the first Seedbed Curse once you enter Leyndell Capital after defeating the Draconic Tree Sentinel. Once you enter and activate the East Capital Rampart site of grace, enter and exit the room in front of you, turn left, and continue South past the several Oracle Envoys to enter the building in front of you.
Go down the stairs inside and look to the west to take the elevator and continue westward into the next building. Climb the ladder on your right, take the stairs, and you will find the Seedbed Curse on a corpse sitting on a chair on the highest floor.
When you return to Dung Eater in the Roundtable Hold with your first Seedbed Curse in your inventory, he will become aware of it and remake on you being touched by the defilement.
He will then provide you with the Sewer Gaol Key. He will ask you to find his real body under the Leyndell Capital in the Subterannear Shunning Grounds and use the Key to free him and advance toward the Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending.
Find the Dung Eater in the Sewers
You can approach the Underground Roadside site of grace by accessing the Well in Leyndell Capital that leads you to the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. This is the same well you need to take if you wish to reach the Three Fingers, but you don’t need to visit the Cathedral of the Forsaken to get the Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending.
From the Underground Roadside site of grace, leave the room and turn left to come to the end of the corridor until you arrive at an open grate on the floor. Jump inside and then head northwest, past the Miranda Flowers.
Climb the ladder ahead of you and be careful of the Giant Fingercrawler awaiting in the ground as you approach the Gaol Cell Door.
Tip
You can know the Fingercrawler’s position by seeing the tips of its fingers poking out of the ground. It won’t attack the player as long as you move to the side.
If you have the Sewer Gaol Key when visiting this area, defeating the Fingercrawler will prevent it from respawning. Beyond this enemy is the door leading to Dung Eater’s cell, and you can use the Key to open the door, step inside, and speak to him to free him.
Releasing him makes him available for summoning when fighting Mohg, the Omen in the Cathedral of the Forsaken, and Morgott, the Omen King.
Defeating Dung Eater Outside of Leyndell Capital
Once you have freed Dung Eater from his Goal, return to the Roundtable Hold and visit his room. You will notice that his spirit is no longer present, and he has left you a note asking you to fight him at the outer moat of the Capital. You must now travel back to the Capital to fight him, but before doing that, make sure you have completed Blackguard Big Boggart’s quest line.
This NPC can be first found in Liurnia and will sell Boiled Prawns. He is also the one who you must visit if you want to get back Rya’s Necklace.
After you buy some Prawns, he will be available to summon when fighting Magma Wyrm Makar, and then he will move to the moat outside of Leyndell Capital. If Boggart is at the moat when you free Dung Eater, speak to the Blackguard and exhaust his dialogue after he says that he can feel the Dung Eater lurking about.
Once you arrive at the moat, you will find Boggart has been killed and Dung Eater invades your world. The fight can be a bit difficult for low-level players, as he is aggressive, and his shout attack can cause debuffs. After defeating him and picking up the Sword of Milos, you can approach Bogart’s body and acquire your second Seedbed Curse, and you are one step closer to the Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending.
Return to the Roundtable Hold and go to Dung Eater’s room to find him there in spirit form. He will inform you that you must bring more Seedbed Curses to his real body in the Gaol. You have three more Seedbed Curses to find to acquire the necessary rune for the Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending.
Find All Seedbed Curses to Feed to Dung Eater
With two Seedbed Curses already in your inventory, you now need to find three more to get the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse. This is the Rune required to get the Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending. You can find these remaining Seedbed Curses in Leyndell Capital, Volcano Manor, and the Haligtree. You can come back and feed the Curses to the Dung Eater one by one, or all at once.
Seedbed Curse #3: Leyndell Capital
The final Seedbed Curse in the Capital can be found by visiting the alternate version of the Roundtable Hold. You can find this area after you activate the fortified Manor site of grace.
The location is a mirror image of the Roundtable Hold we have come to know, and you can find the Seedbed curse by visiting the same room Dung Eater resides in the regular Roundtable Hold. You will find the Seedbed Curse on a corpse trapped in a chair.
Seedbed Curse #4: Volcano Manor
From the Temple of Eiglay site of grace, where you defeated the annoying Godskin Noble, keep progressing until you reach the teleporter taking you to Rykard. Head back into the building the go up the stairs until you come to a fog wall that can be opened by using a Stonesword Key. You can purchase one front of the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold if you don’t have any in your inventory.
Drop down to the bottom of the room carefully using the hanging cages. You will spot a glowing item on a corpse strapped to a chair surrounded by enemies. These enemies can move very quickly, so deal with them first and then collect your next Seedbed Curse.
Seedbed Curse #5 and #6: Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree
There are two Seedbed Curses in this location. If you did not progress Boggart’s questline, you would have missed one when fighting Dung Eater in the moat. You can make up for that one by collecting the two at this location.
For the first one, start from the Prayer Room site of grace and progress forward until you get to a set of stairs with two crossbowmen above you. Turn to your right and jump onto the arch before hopping to the left on the platform with the Crimson Teardrop Scarab.
On your left is a room with a Cleanrot Knight and a chest containing the Cleanrot Knight Finlay Ashes. Pick up the ashes and then jump to the arch to the northwest and follow it along up to the balcony. Walk to the end of the balcony, and you can find Seedbed Curse #5 on a chair above the ballista and the Putrid Avatar.
For Seedbed Curse #6, begin at the Prayer Room site of grace once more, and this time head down every set of stairs you find. Go toward the room with two Cleanout Knights, but jump over the railing to the right instead of going into the room. Drop down one more level, turn around, and walk into the dark room under the railing. Here you will find a body sitting in a chair with the final Seedbed Curse in the game.
After you feed the Dungeaeter the required five Seedbed Curses, he will give you the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse. This is an essential item needed if players wish to witness the Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending.
Defeat Godfrey, Radagon, and Elden Beast
With the required Rune in your inventory, you can now proceed with the game as you would for all other endings. This requires you to defeat the Fire Giant and burn the Erdtree before taking down Godfrey, the First Elden Lord. You do have the chance to rest after taking him down, but the next two fights are back-to-back scenarios.
After you take down Radagon of the Golden Order, you will need to immediately face the Elden Beast. Be sure to manage your flask usage, as not doing so could result in multiple attempts at these fights. With the two final bosses in the game defeated, you can now choose to witness the Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending.
To do so, the player needs to touch the Fractured Marika and choose to “Use Mending Rune of the Fell Curse.” The Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending results in Dung Eater’s Curse being afflicted on every denizen of the Lands Between. It’s one of the darker endings and one that players would choose only after witnessing the more canonically popular endings.
And that’s how to get the Elden Ring Blessing of Despair ending! Which of the Elden Ring endings is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below and check out our other Elden Ring guides for more tips and tricks to master everything in the Lands Between!
