Elden Ring has a lot of detail in its presentation, which ranges from its expansive world lore to the individual bosses housed within. This makes for quite an immersive open-world experience, and the game deserves all the praise it gets.
The game world features a ton of secrets and fun little easter eggs hidden throughout, and a recently revealed secret about Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman will make you appreciate it all the more, regardless of its implications.
Gurranq woefully howls at night in Elden Ring
In otherwise normal conditions, a particular detail surrounding Gurranq the Bestial Clergyman can be easily missed. However, eagle-eyed fans might notice that he periodically howls, in particular at the direction of the Erdtree – where Marika resides.
It could be attributed that the Elden Ring NPC misses Marika dearly and howls to express his sadness on being forced to part ways with her. After all, he is charged with protecting the Death Rune, something he miserably failed to do (and ended up having Godwyn, Marika’s firstborn child killed in the process).
Either way, the beast can be found in a rather pitiful state when you meet him, where he will ask for your Deathroots. Gurranq craves these Deathroots, opting for a fleeting sense of a final respite. He craves the item, yet his hunger for it cannot be sated.
Players can hand him over a total of 4 Deathroots, after which he becomes incredibly hostile towards you, perhaps understanding that he cannot be sated anymore. A fight ensues, like most Elden Ring fights this can be quite brutal if you are ill-prepared.
Two paths with differing outcomes
Depending on your actions during the battle, Gurranq’s fate can differ. Subduing Gurranq (holding him down to 30% of his HP) will restore him back to his original resting place, where you can continue giving him five more Deathroots. He will hand over an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone to you, before crumbling to dust and fading away once his quest is done.
Alternatively, players can choose to immediately kill him when he stops attacking – this will also drop the Smithing Stone – but will naturally stop them from progressing through his quest any further.
Well, keeping the quest business aside, if you want to see him howl, you will have to skip until it is nighttime in-game first – and might even have to log in and out of the game once. He should spawn, howling at the Site of Grace, where he sometimes talks in his sleep.
Gurranq has some rather interesting dialogue once you spare him though, which culminates into the famous Maliketh boss fight, which should not be missed if you want a real challenge in Elden Ring.
Either way, the first fight against a wounded Beast Clergyman does not feel honorable or particularly rewarding especially when you opt for the second route – striking him down at his weakest in the process.
Gurranq is quite the pitiful figure in Elden Ring, and like a hound wailing for its master, he craves to be whole again but is bound by duty to never set foot further.
This makes the fight all the more damning and is simply a token of both Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin’s combined genius that makes the game shine as much as it does in these very little details.
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