Elden Ring’s Shadow Giants Are Bigger Than the Erdtree—And Nobody Talks About Them

Turns out the biggest mystery in Elden Ring: Nightreign isn’t buried in item descriptions or secret boss fights—it’s just... standing there. A recent video by longtime FromSoftware dataminer Zullie the Witch breaks down the enormous figures looming in the background during the second day cycle of Nightreign. They're not just tall. They’re gigantic. We’re talking 3,450 meters—that’s over two miles high. For comparison, that’s nearly the height of the Erdtree. And yes, the game never explains what they are, why they’re there, or if they’re even real.

In terms of size, these shadow giants leave previous Soulsborne heavyweights in the dust. The Dragon God from Demon’s Souls? Small fry. Sekiro’s rope-bound monstrosity? Barely in the same league. Even those massive Caelid skulls—if they had full bodies—would only reach up to the giants' knees. And still, despite being clearly visible in the distance during a huge portion of Nightreign, not one line of dialogue, item, or quest ever mentions them. It’s a piece of background design that might’ve gone completely ignored if not for Zullie’s digging.

This isn’t the first time Nightreign players have found something huge and unexplained. Just last month, fans were stunned to learn that Elden Ring Nightreign’s max level is pretty much useless, a finding that sparked endless debate about stat scaling and game design philosophy. Like that discovery, this one brings back the age-old FromSoft tradition of putting massive, weird things in the game without a single word of explanation.

Zullie's breakdown goes a step further by comparing these giants to the biggest mechs in Armored Core 6, another FromSoftware title. While Nightreign's giants are the tallest things we’ve ever seen in a Soulsborne game, they’re still beaten by the RLA Strider from AC6, which measures over 4,953 meters long. But the real record holder is the Planetary Enclosure satellite, an unused mega-object that was supposed to be a boss or explorable zone. That thing clocks in at 5.9 kilometers tall and 11 kilometers wide. Absolute unit.

Image Credit: Zullie the Witch/YouTube Channel

Still, those were meant to be machines. Elden Ring’s giants, as far as we can tell, are living (or were living) creatures. And that makes them a whole different beast. Some fans have speculated that they’re tied to the Nightreign ending, where strange, otherworldly shapes appear around the protagonist. Maybe they represent the gods of some forgotten age. Maybe they’re time-frozen titans from a failed cycle. Maybe they’re something else entirely. But one thing’s for sure: they’re there, they’re real, and they’re massive.

The fact that the giants are never mentioned isn’t an oversight—it’s classic FromSoft. This is the same studio that once left an entire boss arena under the floor of a dungeon with no way to access it. They’ve made a name for themselves with vague storytelling, cryptic world design, and weird stuff in the background that no one notices for months. These giants feel like an extension of that ethos, scaled up to cosmic proportions.

It also puts a new spin on Nightreign’s visual storytelling. The Erdtree has always loomed over the Lands Between like a god watching over its creation. But if you take Zullie’s measurements seriously, these giants aren’t just large—they're equal in size to the tree itself. That makes them more than just oversized set pieces. They might be the oldest things in the world. Older than the tree. Older than the game’s current gods. And yet, FromSoftware leaves it up to players to figure that out for themselves.

And of course, this isn’t the only major Nightreign moment fans have picked apart lately. Remember when Patch 1.01.4 dropped, fixing bugs and giving the UI a fresh polish? That update also subtly tweaked lighting and depth, possibly making these background giants more visible. Whether that was intentional or not, it helped players start asking: “Wait, what are those things back there?”

If you missed the reveal of the Libra, one of Nightreign’s new bosses, that’s another example of FromSoft’s love for scale. Libra doesn’t reach titan height, but she does introduce new lore layers about darkness, light, and the balance between planes. That balance might actually connect to these giants. Some players think Libra’s role is to guard the gateway to their realm, or to make sure they never walk the lands again. It’s pure speculation—but that’s half the fun.

It’s also worth noting that despite being two miles tall, the shadow giants never move. They’re just… there. Zullie didn’t find any AI data or animations associated with them. That strongly suggests they were never meant to be fought or interacted with, though some fans are already modding the game to try and “summon” them into test arenas. Because of course they are.

Looking at the scale of the world, this discovery continues Elden Ring Nightreign’s trend of delivering unsettling size contrast. In a game where you start as a fragile Tarnished and end up facing gods, dragons, and now skyscraper-sized silhouettes, it’s clear that FromSoftware wants you to feel small. Not weak—just insignificant in a world far bigger than you could ever grasp.

And it’s that feeling of awe, dread, and confusion that’s kept Nightreign in the spotlight since launch. Sales are still strong— Nightreign recently hit 3.5 million copies sold —and the upcoming duo co-op update is set to bring even more players back into the world. Whether or not they notice the giants in the distance is another story. But now you know to look.

FromSoftware won’t tell you what they are. They probably never will. But they put them there for a reason.