While the Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree manga adaptation currently running is a gag one, the comedic adventures capture the experience of playing and volume 2 exemplifies that. It’s almost like now that it really is established and moving forward, the chapters captured in this book really do more to play around with things we already know to be true from the game.
Editor’s Note: There are spoilers for both Elden Ring and volume 2 of the gag manga based on it below.
For those catching up, the Elden Ring manga follows a Tarnished named Aseo who behaves either like a player totally new to the game or someone going through a run and goofing around. Likewise, all of the normally stoic and serious individuals you’d encounter are a little more warped and silly than usual. With the second volume of the manga, it really feels like it is leaning more into some possibly obscure and fun elements that ordinary people might have missed.
One of the first examples involves Godrick the Grafted. Instead of a typical boss fight being shown, Godrick turns the battle against Aseo and fellow Tarnished Nepheli Loux into a grafting crafting contest. Now, to start, having Nepheli here is a fun nod. This is because she’s out to defeat Godrick at her father’s bidding in the game, and that carries over here too. But what really struck me while reading is how this “fight” parallels the actual battle. Once you hit the second phrase, he grafts a dragon onto himself. Well, sure enough, the dragon comes up during the first part of the grafting contest, and Godrick does attach it to himself for the second portion. It’s such a clever way of preserving a concept and using it in a different, more humorous way given how it works out for him here.
It also means some small references showing that the manga is following the questlines in the same way a player would. For example, we met Rogier in the first volume. In the game, we’d meet him before Godrick at Stormveil as well. And here, he’s in Roundtable Hold. Just as in the game, he’s again incapable of moving, so he’ll again set up camp. While Aseo doesn’t end up getting his rapier, Rogier does again offer to sell useful, magical things.
This also applies to Roderika. Again, this is another case of this adaptation pulling from an optional questline as fodder for another humorous situation. She appeared ahead of Aseo arriving at Stormveil, and we see here in the manga that the action of again getting and delivering the Chrysalids’ Memento means another chance to interact with her and, just as in the game, influence her decision to head to Roundtable Hold. It also involves a section that is actually one of the more heartfelt and genuine in this volume, while still being quite silly.
It all really makes the Elden Ring manga so much more fun to read. Because there are these connections, it really is calling back to events you may remember. The fact that they can resemble situations so closely, while still involving an original story, really helps take the parody and its humor to another level.
Volume 2 of Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree is available now, and volume 3 of the manga will arrive on May 21, 2024.
