Who is Torrent? - The Spectral Steed Lore Explained | Elden Ring 

Torrent, the Kingmaker. Think about it. We are the only tarnished that has both a steed to travel the huge world of the Lands Between and the only one that can summon spirits to aid us in battle. Besides our own skill these are the two most powerful abilities in the game. Imagine how much harder it is for other tarnished with no steed and no summons. And who is the only one responsible for this? Torrent. Melena doesn't trust or believe in us at first, she only goes along with what Torrent senses and because we can summon Torrent Ranni gives us the spirit calling bell. Torrent gave us a huge advantage over every other tarnished.

I would like to mention a couple of hints: 1. Ranni gave us the lone wolf ash ( three wolves) which belonged to torrent’s former master 2. There is a statue of a girl surrounded by three wolves in Maliketh’s boss room.

17:02 I need to emphasize this part with something: Torrent wants the world to change to such an extent that he doesn't oppose the player's choice to take on the frenzied flame and burn the world to ash. Melina acknowledges such by wishing Torrent goodbye when she abandons the player herself for making that choice. Torrent is the only character in the game not infected by the flame that doesn't oppose it.

Torrent also come with a cloth or sleeping rug and a saddled bag at his rear, which is interesting.

Torrent's former master feels like exactly the sort of character that gets teased in the main game to be expanded upon in the dlc. People building complex theories on who it is, but then we all look like idiots when it's just some guy introduced in the DLC.

It always struck me how, in a world full of brutality and horrific scenery, they made Torrent so cute and fluffy lol

i took the ''lord of the frenzied flame'' ending on my second playthrough and was absolutely heartbroken when i heard the whistling and saw Melina picking up the spirit whistle only for it to burn to ashes. i knew what it meant to be the lord of the frenzied flame, but when i saw that, i knew i made the wrong choice.

"Maybe the real Elden Ring was the friends we made a long the way" Torrent is our only friend AND he comes from a ring. He's the true Elden beast and that's why we can't fight alongside him.

I think Torrent might be a reference to Thor's two goat steeds that were able to run on air, as well as regenerate their bodies so long as their bones weren't broken. In one old story, Thor and Loki are traveling and come by a village of hungry people. Thor tells them they can slaughter his goats, so long as they don't break the bones, if they will give them lodging. Loki tricks a young man into breaking a leg bone for the marrow, and when the goats are restored the next morning, his is furious to find one of them is lame. Perhaps that's why Torrent can only hop on air, he's got a busted leg.

I think Torrent's health does scale either with the player's health or flask upgrade level. I haven't tested it enough to break out the exact numbers, but if you return to say Limgrave in late game the Kaidens who could wreck Torrent at the start of the game barely seem to tickle him. His healthbar and poise certainly seem to get more beefy. I *think* it may be tied to your flask upgrade level rather than vit, which makes sense given that we can summon him back from death in exchange for a flask and healing yourself while riding him also heals torrent directly.

As for the Regal Ancestor triple jump I would like to point out that the secong Regal Ancestor can copy the moveset of a bunch of the wildlife. It can roll like a sheep and jump like one of the squirrels so while there is a connection between them the jumping could just be it copying the ability of spirit horses

I wish we could have improved torrent double jump by killing the ancestral spirits

Torrent may have been passed down from different Lord contenders like Vyke, who was the closest to becoming Lord before the player, or another Lord who decided to burn down the Erdtree on another world, seeing as how Melina picks up Torrents whistle in the end of the Frenzied Flame ending. Just my theories especially if he's "spectral" and can live outside the presence of the Golden Order.

The Lone Wolf Ashes that Ranni (Renna) give you upon first meeting her state that "They later encountered a nameless Tarnished, who welcomed them as hunting companions". She gives these with the Spirit Calling Bell when mentioning Torrent's former master. I figured, therefore, that Torrent's master was this "nameless Tarnished", and that Torrent (like the guiding grace) is only bestowed upon promising Tarnished.

Just a word of thought, most lore writers of Elden ring mention Ranni the witch's mentors name could probably be Renna, the alias Ranni uses when you 1st encounter her. Did any anybody bother to peace together that Renna is short for Rennala? Her mother's name, so she was most likely using her mothers shortened name since we have no idea of who she is at 1st.

i think the fact melina holds the ring and takes a short moment to mourn torrent in the frenzied flame ending is important. while seeing the flame of frenzy melt away everything is real scary and dark, seeing the ring fade away in her hand, and hearing the distant whistle grow faint and vanish was truly heart-breaking.

Even though he's seen me jump to my death, fall to my death, misjudge many many cliffs that I swore I could jump across, he still chooses to stick with me. He's an absolute bro.

I assumed Vargram the Raging Wolf was Torrent’s former master. We are given the 3 wolves with the spirit caller bell, and in the network test, most people chose the Raging Wolf as their “starting class”.

His whistle does kind of look like the clarifying horn charm made into a ring. Maybe Torrent is next in line. Their version of a living God somewhat closer to those that live in death.

To me it’s interesting how Torrent doesn’t care which choice we go with. It doesn’t care if we become Lord of frenzied flame or restore the golden order or so on… Does it have other motives?

I like the Theory that Torrent might grow up as an Ancestor Sprite, and he's just a baby. Incredibly, Torrent has so much mystery, and that makes him loveable.

I wish we could have customization options for our horse. Like the Night Calvary or Tree Sentinel

As we had a ton of ranni stuff in here and I have yet to encounter my theory anywhere else I'll just post it in here. When we first meet her she tells us her name is renna which is straight latin and means rebirth. Her name Ranni is just Rani with another n and is Sanskrit which just means princess or queen (how fitting). Interestingly Rannis doll takes the form of Vishnu - one of the big 3 of the hindu gods. Most of vishnus re-incarnations or forms (I'm not a scholar of hinduism nor a native English speaker, so please excuse my wording) kinda match what we know about ranni. A few examples: The second avatara of vishnua is a literal turtle. Narashima his 4th avatar killed an immortal demon. (hint hint) and a few more. Vishnu is always someone that punishes those who oppose the real order of the world and what I think is most interesting is his 10th incarnation - Kalki - who is always depicted with a horse - which could lead us to belive that maybe melina is just another future form of ranni. Idk anymore - pretty sure either George RR Martin took some inspiration from Hinduism and From Soft ran with it.

I've always thought it's interesting that Torrent & Melina approach the player down in the Stranded Graveyard. What purpose did they have for being down there? It's framed as though they are merely riding past, by chance, however that cave is a hard place to end up by accident. In the past, I've wondered if this hint toward Melina's connection to death, and thus being the Gloam Eyed Queen (perhaps she is able to sense that there is a dying tarnished in the graveyard?). Either way, it does seem that they are performing some sort of vetting process, and Torrent has some say in who they choose to "make an accord" with.

I love how there are gazzilions of lore channels now, all of them talking about different things or having different takes on the same subjects, pretty fun.

I think marika may be his former master. She is implied to be Melina's mother, and potentially collaborated with Ranni in some way with the night of the black knives, so it would make sense how they both know him. The only thing I really have to back this up is that torrent is trying to help you, a tarnished, become elden lord, so his goals align with Marika's. Also it would make sense if she had ordered him to go out and find a tarnished that he thinks has the best shot of becoming elden lord or something. But this all assumes that marika does actually want a tarnished to succeed (and maybe is okay with all the alternate endings)

Now it makes sense that the regal ancestor ‘dies’ when they teleport

Torrent definitely became my BFF in the game I feel so bad when he gets hit or falls he is just adorable ❤️❤️

Idk why, but I really enjoyed the fact you love the Ancestral Spirit boss. I don't care much for the boss myself, but I'm just happy that you have a strong positive opinion about it. That inspires me to go through the game during my second playthrough looking for my favorite boss. I appreciate this video!

I appreciate how clear-cut & concise your content is. Not an shred of affect or performance in the way you present your findings & proof, which is refreshing. Not to draw comparisons, but I think you've taken Vaati's place in my subs. Great work man.

I really wish there was more gameplay interactions with Torrent. :(

I just can’t help but think about how Ranni said the spirit caller bell was given to her by “Torrent’s former master” as opposed to “one of Torrent’s former masters” This would imply either that 1) before you, torrent has only had one master, or 2) she was referring specifically to the person who was torrent’s master just before you. In both cases, it would be pointing to Melina.

Your theories are all very insightful, you're my favorite lore channel out of them all

Torrent has more in common with a mountain goat than a horse

If Ranni and Melina aren’t the same being, they at the very least must know each other. I don’t know, but I mean I think it’s rather far fetched that they both trust you with their life’s mission for no reason (yea it’s a video game I know) but they also both know Torrent and refer to him like they would an old friend several times

I think I side with torrent's former master being Melina, seeing as she is riding on him in the first cutscene of the game, it seems pretty clear to me.

You're forgetting the Lone Wolf Spirit ashes which also belonged to Torrent's former master. Its not much but i think the fact that it mentions a Nameless Tarnished points to the simplest answer, he just gets passed down 'promising' Tarnished to Tarnished. Or indeed HE chooses his next master, like the 'Ghosts' in the Destiny franchise.

simplicity is usually the correct answer a lot of the time, and Melina is literally seen riding torrent, so I wouldn’t say it’s a reach. she also mourns torrent in that frenzy ending

Now that we’ve got a video on the best boy Torrent, I would LOVE a video on Melina. She’s a character shrouded I’m mystery, but the hints of who she is (was?) are scattered throughout the game, and I’d love to hear your takes on her.

Brilliant video, loved the way you organized all this lore. Thanks.

My personal theory is that Torrent is servant or possibly a creation of Miquella, who is also the orignal owner of the Spirit Calling Bell. Torrent is a _spectral_ steed (i.e. a spirit) after all, and Miquella is shown to be closely tied to dreams and spirits. There's also the teaser image for the upcoming DLC, in which a figure who is almost definitely supposed to be Miquella is depicted riding on Torrent (or at least another spectral steed just like him). I believe that Miquella lent Torrent and the bell to Melina and Ranni respectively in order to help find a suitable Tarnished to resolve the Shattering (and maybe find our way to him eventually, however that's going to end up happening in the DLC); Malenia was likely in a critical state from her fight with Radahn at this point and the only siblings (hypothetical sibling in Melina's case) left he could trust to cooperate with him were those with "reasonably unorthodox" views on the Golden Order (that is to say, those in the middle of the spectrum between Morgott's fanatical loyalism and the depraved apostasy of Mohg and Rykard).

Seen a really convincing theory that Melina might be the "gloam eyed queen" and the power of destined death (Released when you kill Maliketh} was stolen from her by marika, very convinced after seeing the frenzied flame ending where she litterally says shes going to kill you with that exact thing

When the game begins Melina rides Torrent, which makes her it's previous master in my opinion.

Something I learned while making this video: horses have horizontal pupils like goats. Waow. Follow my twitter: twitter.com/Mad_Luigi and let me know your Torrent lore thoughts here or there!

This is a really good video, I have a few ideas 1. Ranni made the Renna puppet as a secret identity after killing herself. Using the name of her mother and the image of her mentor. (Cold sorcery + Full Moon sorcery = Dark Moon sorcery?) 2. Melina image may be Ranni real image, we know Ranni had red hair based off her corpse, we have seen images of the dead being used for new npc with Irina and Hyatta (who doesn't appear till Irina dies) They also share physical disabilities (bad eyesight). 3. What physical disabilities do Melina and Ranni share? Well Melina tells you multiple times, she is Burned and Bodiless. Ranni's body looks burned and the rune of death killed her body only leaving the spirit to be copied. 4. The only question I have is who brought Melina to life? If the three fingers are responsible for Hyatta coming into being. Who is responsible for Melina? My 1st thought is the Gleom eyed queen. 2.

Of course we know what Torrent is. Friend, good boy, all around cool guy. But who is Torrent?

This is a really great video. Really good suggestions at the end too. I agree that it would have been such a great improvement to the game if they had included some sort of leveling system for Torrent!

The golden ring whistle used to summon Torrent is reminiscent to me of something Miquella would design.

In the promotion for shadow of the erdtree we see miquella riding torrent, possibly making him torrents former master, the ring being made of gold perhaps hinting at this. The connections between the night, death and sleep in the real world definitely lends to the idea of characters like ranni, miquella, godwyn, Melina and torrent being interconnected somehow.

Thank you so much for speaking on this! Wish I saw this before I even played! Really helps enrich this npc. Torrent's SEEMINGLY lack of attention is one of my two complaints about Elden Ring. I love your attempt to directly connect Torrent with the Ancestor Spirit. Before the game released I went heavy with speculation that fighting that boss was in fact how you would acquire Torrent. I was whole-heartedly disappointed when I was handed Torrent as an item like blah here's you're ability to move fast on the map... I was so put-off by it I refused to use torrent until after I defeated Godrick lol I pretended he was cold to me at first. I also pretended a mechanic that he would be less wieldy if I didn't feed him rowa fruit every so often despite his health (sometimes he deliberately killed me). Frozen Rowa is his favorite I think. Helps with his breath too. BUT I DIGRESS! A few oddservations I wanted to share. Although morphology and general transformation is a theme throughout, the Ancestor Spirits are more like Moose in physique, from horns to humped back with a long neck (I also perceive the underground civs as having existed long before the establishment of order, where the children of Radagon are already deep within, tho Torrent being a young lively version, yet to bud, isn't impossible with this consideration). Torrent's physique is a little more ambiguous. TORRENT IS NOT A HORSE. It has horns horses don't have horns period. It's horns look like a yaks but it's body and hair more closely resembles a reindeer than a type of bull. Perhaps it is a sort of shadow-spirit counter to the wolf-shadows the order places on its chosen empyrians. Frost magic is after all heretical. Then there's his name. Torrent. If he's not an animal represented in the Land's Between, maybe he comes from somewhere else. Maybe the planet, on a whole, sent him like a flood to help wash out all outer god's destructive forces. Water is an evasive subject in the game now that I think of it. Maybe we can deep dive for correlation between Torrent and water in general. There is no Frost without water. Lastly, just to throw a little wrench in the mix. There is a distinct marking of gold at the base of his HORNS... were his horns completely golden before and like all things after the ring was shattered, tarnished? What the hell does this even imply?? Shot in the dark: like Ranni, he was helped to grow out of his golden influence. beyond the order. Cleansed of the Greater Will.

🤣🤣🤣 the Accord gag got you an instant sub! Great video!

Yooo this is a great video. I love torrent but never thought about his lore much.

I noticed you neglected to mention Torrent's absurd drinking problem; which explains why he constantly runs me off cliffs and misses easy jumps that results in death. He is far from "TRUSTY", actually I trust he will no doubt get both of us killed.

Good content man keep up the good work!

I honestly do you see the connections between torrent and ancestry spirit but I don’t think they’re the same species but I do think they’re connected to something.😺

Now that I think about it, am I remembering correctly that on our first playthrough, we don't have access to our healing flasks until after we "die" at the chapel of anticipation and get the cutscene with the first encounter with Torrent and Melina? I wonder if there is a deeper connection between Torrent and the cerrulian flasks aside from just "red kool-aid make ouchies hurt less"?

the most underrated and Bravest little Hero in the whole Elden ring universe 🦌 even my Simon Belmont build agrees of his Badassery🤘

@MadLuigi Just a little thing on the possibly connection between Ranni and Melina. At the Altus Plateau, Melina says "The Erdtree...is close. Only a little further till the foot of the Erdtree, and the accord is fulfilled. It takes me back. I was born at the foot of the Erdtree. Where mother gave me my purpose. Though now, everything is lost to me. I...have to ascertain for myself. The reason for which I live, burned and bodiless." I find this really fascinating, because one burned body with a living spirit comes to mind. The Ranni's old body, we find marked by the half wheel and burned for some reason. If Godwyn was stabbed with a black knife, why was Ranni burned? What if her body wasn't burned on that night but by someone else, after she had already abandoned her body? Just speculating. Amazing video!

Connecting Torrent to the Regal Ancestor is really awesome, nice work.

The accord flying by got me 😂 😆

Interesting video! I would definitely say there's some kind of connection there Other than the use of these bells, summoning spirits seems to be a thing almost exclusively of more natural places, where the remains of the dead are not returned to the Erdtree. Siofra River with its warriors and ancestor spirits, the mountaintops of the giants with its spirit deer and trees, not to mention the spirit-calling snails and the abandoned Castle Sol If that is the case, maybe becoming spirits is what naturally happened to the dead before the Erdtree came along and started interfering, and Torrent is... their version of the Tarnished? Someone chosen for a mission to fix the world, to return it to the good old days by finding and aiding the person most likely to upturn the Golden Order (There is also definitely a connection between spirits and horns. Torrent has horns, the ancestor worshippers all have horns and have strong connections to spirits, the Omen are covered in horns and can blast you with similar dark spirits to those sent out by the wraith-calling bells. And also horns are considered one of aspects of the Crucible, which is highly tied into the state of the world before the Gold Order, so...)

It's good to see someone finally realize we're offered a Honda Accord. Yet still most don't realize the first boss is a Toyota Scion.

Truly love Torrent, know him for over a decade. Dude gave me so much free movies, music and more.

Important note that wasn’t mentioned: Hewg when he discusses Rodericka. He implies that he knew the previous spirit tuner. He also mentions that Rodericka resembles that spirit tuner. Since Ranni gives you the bell and Rodericka looks like Ranni’s ghost form that floats next to the Renna face, I think Ranni was the spirit tuner and Torrent’s previous owner, not Renna.

Maybe try checking out the rune circles that appear when the double jump occurs for both characters. That could help determine if it is the exact same ability.

Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, also uses Spirt Summons & mother to Ranni. Rennala might have been Torrent's former master.

Great video! I think the Astel fight also could have benefited greatly from torrent’s help, to add to that final point.

"Torrent hath quite the ruffian chosen.." Lmao man the actress who voices Ranni is amazing. Aimee-Ffion Edwards.

great video

Little did we know the fruit of the erdtree makes the tastiest raisins. That’s all he was after

Pretty convinced now that the remaining Ancestor carcass is Torrent's - explaining why it has so many fans compared to even the "Regal Ancestor" :) Now that'd be a DLC boss fight xD

"potentially" so very true

I think Torrent's former master was a spirit tuner like Roderika. Possibly even the one Hewgh was indebted to, but that may be too coincidental. Other than that, I think Melina is the most obvious candidate, since she is the only other one seen actually riding him. Edit: I think for the Ancestral Spirit theory, the Ancestral Spirit Infant's Head needs to be analyzed too! :)

Torrent is the greatest friend in all of souls games.

few things I think might be relevant: - I think the theme of game, at it's core, seems to be that all these factions with different ideas about life and death have sprung up and are now competing. Almost like the shattering of the elden ring was a fracturing of how the circle of life and death once worked (so now, some: return to erd tree to be reborn, are still living IN their death, get separated from their body as a spirit, etc. all these different variants) - there is a big theme throughout the game of powerful lord/god types AND their specific attached beast familiars. On some level, Torrent is YOUR beast familiar, and is about travel and climbing. Which echoes your actions as the player. if you are to become a lord/god, he is perfect beast to support you. - raisins are shriveled grapes. which makes me think of the whole Shabriri grapes angle (rotting eyeballs). Torrent preferring to eat grapes makes me wonder if he's connected to that aspect/sect and their approach to death/rebirth. Or maybe just implies his former master was from that sect (a maiden basically?) so he's used to eating what she fed him. - the game sets up that Omens are born with horns. As if horns are sign of this beastial nature corruption that ruins them (in the eyes of the golden order). torrent seems to have natural horns because he's part of that original ancient beast club, before all the humans. + I've always thought torrent looked more like a giant horse-sized goat. I think it's likely the ancestor spirit is the old version of his kind (jumping three times), and torrent is new baby boy version of that same pure-beast-culture thing. (i want to say "maybe he's on his own tarnished style journey. just a new guy in town trying to mess with all the established competing religions." but maybe it's more likely he's the newest heir of that ancient underground beast-spirituality thing, and he's happy to help your tarnished-ass fuck with all the religions that came along and sat on top of his whole ancient world. (... plus if the stars are underground. and the moon and stars were separated. and Ranni's ending is about re-uniting the moon and the stars - this might suggest torrent was working with Ranni to pull off this whole reunification). - i think it's interesting that in the item picture: the old golden ring you can use to whistle for torrent : is clearly broken. -... have this whole separate thought: wondering if Melina might actually be Miquella (the eternally young "twin" of malenia). and she/he escaped the body in the egg that Mohg is guarding by dying (sleeping?) in that spirit-separated-from-body way that some sects seem to enjoy.

I would of liked some Torrent customization options for like saddles and such. Grooming him for buffs would be nice and maybe what you feed him too.

Idk if anyone else actually noticed but torrents horns, ears and jump are that of a mountain goat lmao.

Whoever his former master was, he's the best horse in all gaming.

Surprised you didn't mention the Night cavalry since they also seem to have the ability to summon a spirit horse

Please make a video on ranni’s original body. Also torrent is best horse!

I saw a video that was about a theory that the Tarnished you are is a vessel for miquella, that's why so many people like and trust you.

I think Torrent Is related to the crucible, the primal tree. Like the omens the connections are the Horns but not twisted part of Time before the Golden order demonized the crucible. Torrent might have seen the Conquest of Marika even the Arrival of the elden Beast

Different/matching armor for Torrent would've been amazing

I was hopping in the end you get dismounted and the torrent reveals it’s true form as the final boss

Music for the spirit fight was relaxing as hell. And who doesn't like raisins?!.... my torrents name was changed to Chico. 🤘

The video I didn't know I needed. Good work. Torrent, the unrelenting.

Yea I would say Regal Ancestor has the best boss fight music in the game. I know I'm probably forgetting some great soundtracks but that one really stood out

To quote the great Rolf: “ That’s my horse!”

Torrent is definitely inspired by yakul from princess mononoke.

“Always with us”. Until elden beast. Or any other time I need him

Torrent the type of bro that when your car breaks down at 2am they show up with McDoubles.

I always kind of figured Torrents former master was likely to be the Spirit Tuner Hewg mentions being indebted to.

I'd love a boss fight that's centered around using Torrent. Something like those moments where the giant golems are shooting at you.

Ranni can also give you torrents whistle. Idk what triggers it but that’s how I got it in my first playthrough.

What would have been really cool (lore wise not necessarily gameplay wise) would have been if you could summon him in the ancestral boss fight, but when he sees who you're fighting refuses to obey our commands, like just kneel or something

i think melena was ranni's old master and also the original holder of the rune of death, in the frenzied flame ending ,the ending where she doesn't die before the rune of death is unbound, she has the rune of death on her and says 'death comes for you'. In malekeths room there is a girl with 3 wolves, the same 3 wolves you get from a spirit calling bell (spirits = dead :) ) as well as torrent being a spectral steed both given by ranni's old master . ranni and melena have the same markings on opposite eyes and the design is that of a crows foot (representing death). The night of the black knives was when the rune of death was stolen and ranni began her fight against he fate and the 2 fingers, melena is always followed by black knife assassins and uses their move set to fight as well. Finally melena says her task was given to her by her mother (marika) who i think wanted to free the lands between from the greater will and that is why she was imprisoned in the first place because she shattered the elden ring and sent her daughters on a path to find a tarnished capable of freeing them from their fate (killing rhadan for ranni and burning the erd tree for melena) and killing the elden beast.

Good video.

Torrent is always by your side. Helping us with every need. any movie, tv show, music, pornos. Torrent truly is always with us. 😿

I remember hearunga theory about elden ring and the senses having power. Sound I think was theorized to be able to summon spirits, like wraiths, ashen remains, or torrent.

it might be a good idea to check the original description of the dark moon spell because it might've just been that the translator just assumed it was talking about rennala but couldve been left to interpretation or mentioned her in a different way originally