Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Unravels Boss Mystery

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has solved a long-standing mystery concerning what exactly happened to Dragonlord Placidusax. The recently released expansion even accounts for two of the three heads that are missing from the frightening Elden Ring boss.

Elden Ring
and
Shadow of the Erdtree
lore and boss spoilers ahead.

Dragonlord Placidusax is one of Elden Ring's most well-hidden secret bosses. Those who do manage to reach him in the eye of the storm at the bottom of the Crumbling Farum Azula will find themselves facing down a terrifying dragon with two heads. And though some players characterize the ensuing fight as one of the game's biggest challenges, Elden Ring also heavily implies that things could have been much worse. That's primarily because the Tarnished fights a significantly weakened version of Dragonlord Placidusax that's missing three heads and one set of wings.

Elden Ring's Dragonlor Placidusax Lost His Heads Fighting Bayle The Dread
The critically acclaimed Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree expansion finally sheds some light on the mystery of what exactly happened to this imposing creature. As recently noted by Reddit user Matrix_030, two of Placidusax's three missing heads can be found on Bayle The Dread, still biting its neck. That's far from the only damage that the Dragonlord appears to have inflicted on Bayle, who is also missing his wings and several limbs, all of which appear to have been ripped off.

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Talisman of the Dread offers some additional insights into the fight that occurred between the two in a distant past. This accessory, found in Elder's Hovel south of Shadow of the Erdtree's Fort of Reprimand, states that Bayle once issued a "challenge to the ancient Dragonlord." The ensuing fight resulted in "severe mutual injury," the item's description reads.

Despite injuring each other severely, neither Bayle nor Placidusax is left incapacitated following their clash. On the contrary, this duo is still responsible for two of the most challenging dragon fights in all of Elden Ring, based on their combination of massive health pools and complex movesets packed with attacks that are difficult to evade and hit hard. Bayle is especially problematic in that he's always extremely aggressive at the beginning of his boss fight. This makes summoning Spirit Ashes nearly impossible at the very start of the encounter, unless the player utilizes some one-hit shield effects, like the one offered by a Wondrous Physick mixture incorporating the Opaline Bubble Tear.

No evidence regarding the fate of Placidusax's third head has yet been discovered in Shadow of the Erdtree. But many Elden Ring fans commenting on this reveal seem to agree that Bayle is also likely responsible for severing that missing part of the Dragonlord.