Arcane | Elden Ring Wiki (2024)

So, each of the three magic-based stats embodies a specific type of magic, so to speak. Int and faith are easy to understand. Intelligence isnt actually literally how intelligent you are, its your knowledge and understanding of glintstone, how deep your knowledge of it goes. Faith is your devotion to a belief, ideal, or god. Your devotion to the two fingers, the erdtree, the dragon cult, the fell prophecy and the fire giants’ god, the gloam-eyed queen, scarlet rot, any god and their ideals.
Arcane is a little trickier to pin down, but upon examination, they all boil down to one common factor:
One’s self.
Blood and bloodflame, the most notorious, draws upon one’s own blood, in the case of blood-based ashes of war like bloody slash, you draw your own blood to channel a deadly strike, or the briar sorceries have you impale yourself, like seppuku, to draw on that blood, and though the briar sorceries dont require arcane, the albinauric staff still affects them. Others draw instead on the formless mother’s blood.
Dragon communion is done by consuming the heart of a dragon, but doing so is known to turn people into dragons. Those who do too much become the magma wyrms, starting with yellow, reptilian eyes. This power then draws on the power within, that dragon heart, and by extension, its power, is now your power, and the seal as such draws on you.
The dancing blades of Eochaid are flung through the sky through sheer will, not any glintstone or god.
Poison, like the bloodflame with the formless mother, comes from the god of rot, but servants of rot cultivate that power on their bodies and as such grow toxin-fueled mushrooms. Scarlet rot is a purer form well beyond human control and is unaffected by arcane, but poison is diluted and easier to control.
Sleep is a force of the mind, and it can be brought about or prevented by, again, willpower.
Frenzy is spread like a disease, and draws upon one’s one madness, their internal immeasurable anguish.
The one i most doubted a connection to was item discovery, before i remembered what it was called in ds3: luck, and its tie to humanity in the whole trilogy. Luck is seen in the dark souls trilogy as an inherently human thing, the ability to stand before gods and demons and emerge victorious despite the odds being stacked so heavily against you. Though it is called luck for defying all odds, the actual power behind it, is you. Your sheer determination. Your willpower.
So this brings us back to albinaurics. Albinaurics are but one arcane, silver-blooded lifeform. We also have the silver tears, which also boast a tie to arcane, so why is that? Well, theyre artificial beings, crafted by other beings. Same as the claymen, who are also arcane. Theyre inherently magical due to the method of creation. The staff doesnt draw on glintstone so much as it draws upon one’s self, and while the wording “innate arcaneness” sounds off, what its trying to say is it draws upon their inherent magical power.
“Arcane” means “secret” or “known to few,” the connotative connection to magic has nothing to do with its actual meaning, more so the ideas around magic come from the word.
That which is arcane is a secret, known only by those few who seek it and learn it. Be it the power of gods and dragons, sought out, and taken in to one’s body or mind to fester and grow, or the sheer will and determination of one person, struggling and trying against every odd, every reason telling you no, and yet you persist. Laws of physics tell you a sword cannot fly and yet with a couple runes (another word meaning something secret) and a little will, it does. Reason says a man cannot kill a god, and yet you kill reason too and slay one anyway. Your will and determination gives you luck, and that makes you unstoppable, and there really is something magical about that.
The secret which is harbored by the arcane is yours to find and keep, or share if you so wish. Take hold of a deeper power and harbor it within yourself, be it the primeval current’s life-bringing glintstone, the ever-warring gods exerting their influence, or even your own body and mind, your unmatched luck, for that is Arcane.