If there is something unique and transcendental in ARPGs and RPGs it is certainly loot, useful for improving yourself, for strengthening yourself, for arriving at a fight with a boss with the right cards in order to not succumb to the first blow. And the rings, in this sense, come to the aid of ordinary mortals. In Sacred, a great forgotten and seminal work of the ARPG genre, these ancestral tools had enormous usefulness in dealing with the demonic beasts of Ancaria, coming from the dark depths of the earth.
“Ancaria sleeps”: this phrase was pronounced by Gianni Musy, the voice actor of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, shortly before the opera allowed you to choose your own character in the classic Diablo style. In similar productions, which take inspiration from fantasy and European culture (especially from Northern Europe), it is sometimes tiny objects that change the fate of any battle. In popular culture, in fact, rings symbolize the main human emotions: love, but above all eternity.
RINGS IN HISTORY: BETWEEN CHRISTIAN RELIGION AND CELTIC CULTURE
These man-made works, created in gold, silver, bronze or copper, were not merely used as ornaments. It was believed, in this sense, that the vital essence of a person resided within them. Thinking about the wedding ring, for example, a widower or widower could believe that within it was contained the spirit of the beloved man or woman who had passed away. The Christian religion, since its dawn, tried to convey this type of ethereal contact to others, which was sometimes formulated as an eternal promise. But well before the Christians took this freedom, taking it away from its origins, the Celts, the Salassi and other similar populations who prayed to Epona, goddess of horses and mules, gave rings to their neighbor because, within them, it was thought that he was eternal peace was present, a sort of ancestral place where life continued in another form.
The discovery of rings in Ireland, Britain and other places represents how they have been fundamental over the centuries. Even today, after so long, these objects are relevant, especially in literature. From Dante and Petrarca to Manzoni, Leopardi, as well as other exponents of modern poetics and prose of the last two centuries. The ring is not just a means to represent a bond with someone, but it is a formal way to indicate one’s power, one’s strength, and to contain, as demonstrated in fantasy, the relationship with the key elements of the world. Then there are video games, from Sacred to Baldur’s Gate 3, and we understand better what we’re talking about. In the common world it’s called empowering yourself and having an ace up your sleeve; I define it differently: absolute power.
WHEN YOU CARRY TOO MUCH WEIGHT…
You need a ring that lightens the load you carry, or that increases its strength, as FromSoftware says with the Ring of Havel, which has a beautiful story, linked to the lore of Lordran. Obtaining such a ring is not easy, especially if you are new to the gaming world. On the other hand, it has become a rule to collect it before advancing towards oblivion. The technical gesture, however, is to face Havel without losing his nerve, a not particularly simple task, considering that skill and a lot of patience are needed to solve the problem.
A ring like this, in addition to lightening the load, facilitates the combat system. But above all, it comes to the aid of the various dodges to be used during the adventure, precisely to subsequently concentrate on the various useful ways to face the journey with the necessary patience and to face abject creatures. In short, it is never wise to remove pieces of armor in Dark Souls, unless it is absolutely necessary to do so: for dodging and things like that, it is a real godsend; then if it’s about having to face what’s in your way, maybe a few more enemies than normal, everything becomes even more important.
A ring like this, in addition to lightening the load, facilitates the combat system
The world of Dark Souls is full of rings of ancestral power. Some of them also increase the stamina or mana bar. This is also extended in Elden Ring with the Oath Ring. Well hidden in the Raya Lucaria Academy, shortly after facing Rennala, the boss of that area. That ring is fundamental to completing Ranni’s story, in my opinion one of the most beautiful storylines in FromSoftware’s video games. Of the many rings present in the worlds invented by FromSoftware, these are the ones that left the most impression on me because one is linked to the story of an important NPC, while the other is linked to the improvement of the character. Hidetaka Miyazaki used two different approaches to achieve, in short, the same objective: to tell something about Lordran, Lotrich or the Interregnum, doing it in his own way. And I’m purposely leaving out amulets and other jewelry, as well as Boletaria, so as not to take up additional space. On the other hand, there is the aforementioned Sacred, that marvel of Diablo and Path of Exile to chat about.
RINGS THAT EXTEND LIFE, LITERALLY
In a very large part of isometric ARPGs, like the cornerstones I talked about above, a ring is an object that sometimes changes the entire build of a character. It doesn’t make it worse, if anyone is thinking about this, unless it is a ring that binds a soul, like the one created by Celebrimbor and Talion (former blacksmith of the First and Second Ages, slain by Sauron immediately after the creation of the Rings of Power donated to the people of Arda), two characters who, during the course of The Shadow of War, found themselves having to recreate one, since the other had been lost who knows where (it was in the Shire, just to explain the timeline).
Now, despite some brave liberties on Monolith’s part, that moment was super cool. A completely new ring, given to Shelob, which allowed the mental control of the orcs, and to create an army to defeat the King of the Wizards of Angmar and Sauron himself. Leaving aside that disaster perpetrated years ago, which shamefully contaminates everything related to the Silmarillion and the return of Sauron, there are video games like Diablo, Sacred and Path of Exile that have made use of the rings in a more intelligent way.
A completely new ring, given to Shelob, which allowed the mind control of the orcs
Ascaron, Blizzard Entertainment and Grindin Gear Games are development houses that have been able to use the ancient legends around the rings to create, precisely, something new. There aren’t any particularly memorable ones, but it’s about what, since the times of the Arthurian cycle and other works of this nature, because it’s about magic. Magic, both dark and otherwise, is at the basis of the creation of these rings, which increase statistics, improve them and enhance them to the point of being at the center of game design, when it affects the improvement of a character, to such an extent its strength to be fully defined.
So, in short, both in Path of Exile and in Diablo the rings can encourage the recovery of mana and vitality, while shredding opponents. In Sacred, however, I remember well that the strongest rings sometimes unleashed lightning and thunderbolts on the enemies. I think that works like the ones just mentioned have managed to better explain how fantasy has become embedded in video games. This is an incredible added value, especially if we think about the value of rings in past and current culture.
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