There are over a hundred different Bosses to face in Elden Ring, which is an astonishing number. All of these bosses have some lore behind them, and there are even a fair amount who have well-thought-out lore-important ties to each other. Many of Elden Ring’s bosses serve America's golden order in some shape or form whether they're loyal to it or enslaved by it. So let's discuss all of these bosses in Elden Ring.

The Lore of Elden Ring Bosses

1. The Fire Giants

Starting at a time before order had even come to the lands between to the north are mountaintops of the giants, a name that makes it abundantly clear just who dominated this region of the world. However, it was not always this way, according to the borealis missed incantation, the ice dragons were once lords of the mountaintops long ago until they were defeated by the fire giants and chased from the peak, and perched upon this peak stands an enormous forge. The chain rings of this forge depict dragons which might be a reference to the dragons that once dwelt here. The art of smithing is said to have originated among the giants and the craft was even once considered divine, so it seems likely that at the very least they made good use of this fire. Sparks from this forge would fall down and fertilize the smoldering flowers that bloomed upon the mountaintops and it seems like it was a crucial part of life in this region. The most ancient giants here were called fire giants and according to the burn of flame incantation, they have long held a solitary curse to serve as keepers of the flame for eternity. Traditionally, in from software games curses are the domain of the gods and indeed the fire giants are cited to have borrowed power from one such god who is represented by a single large red eye. This god is called a god of the flame and it's believed to be able to inhabit fire itself as well as the bodies of the fire giants who worshipped it. The giants shared borders with the astrologers who according to their legendary sword of knight and flame established themselves in the mountaintops and considered the fire giants their neighbors, the relationship is implied to be friendly even collaborative as the sword does combine the power of both flame and the power of the primeval current. That's glimpsed within the night sky. The sword would go on to become a treasure of the carrion royal family and the carrions themselves are likely descendants of the astrologers generations later these carrion royals would call upon their old giant allies for aid. 

2. The Ancient Heroes of Zamor

The fire giants also had another neighbor with whom relations were not so amicable, further down the mountains just past the forbidden lands, roamed the knights of zamor. According to their armor, these long-lived warriors clad in biting freezing winds are said to have been the mortal enemies of the fire giants since time immemorial. According to their weaponry, these beings were devoted to winter itself and had weapons styled after icy winds and bodies that were cloaked in swirling ice storms, it makes good sense that such cold beings would be natural mortal enemies of the fire giants and they commonly did challenge their larger rivals. But it seems like their true chance came when queen America waged war against the fire giants and the knights of zamor gladly joined her offensive, they earned great renown amongst the order of the odd tree and many ancient heroes of zamor became hailed as heroes, as the fire giants were largely wiped from the face of the earth after this war.

3. The Fire Giant

In every item description, their god is described as a fel god and the giant's flame is a flame of ruin and to be fair, their god doesn't seem like a super nice guy, it only really opens its eye when the fire giant boss sacrifices a leg which is pretty metal. The fire itself was just extremely taboo topic during America's age of the Erdtree and it's not just giants flame items that mention this fire in general was prohibited to those who served the Erdtree which was a pretty smart defensive measure especially considering that many rival outer gods also have a flame of their own. The formless mother has blood flame, the three fingers have frenzied flame, the outer god of death has ghost flame, but giant's flame in particular was capable of burning the Erdtree and that is a fact that clearly inspired the inevitable war with the giants. So the giants were deemed mortal enemies of the Erdtree and they allegedly desolated nature triggered avalanches and whipped up storms of flame with their roars, clearly those who served the Erdtree were afraid and perhaps rightfully. So led by lord godfrey the forces of the Erdtree went to war. The fire giants borrowed from the power of the fel god to fight against the Erdtree, but were defeated nonetheless. According to the burn of flame incantation, this released the fire giants from their curse to serve as keepers of the flame all except one, who the fel god still hides within and upon realizing that the giant's flame would never die America left this last giant alive, knowing it was bound to protect the flame for all eternity and thus leaving it cursed to protect the flame from someone.

4. Stonedigger Trolls

In addition to the knights of zamor, many lesser giants were also roped into the war against the fire giants. These lesser giants are called trolls and are confirmed to be a race that is descended from the giants. This relationship is clearer at the mountaintops where the trolls still cast giants flame incantations, troll hammers were even once used as ancient ceremonial smithing tools. Thus it seems evident that the trolls and the fire giants coexisted for a time and then fell further and further apart, because while some trolls are assumedly still fire giants at heart, many now are not, in fact at the heart of most trolls is nothing. Almost as if something has been ripped out of their torso and when you consider what's upon the torso of the last remaining fire giant. Every single troll is now missing that giant eye of their outer god, and if you manage to look really closely here at a troll, in its place is strange stone tablet that is held in place by what look like roots. These rooted tablets are very reminiscent of the rooted shackles that were created to bind the omen twins, moog and morgot, which might suggest that the trolls are also being shackled or suppressed by America in some way. This is just speculation, but America does have this suspicious set of stone tablets in her chambers. A sword gravestone in the mountaintops elaborates further on the troll's role in the war of the giants, champions battled and allegedly the trolls betrayed. 

Nowadays, the trolls are said to have lost their minds and are inseparable from the weight of their rusty swords which have long since lost any trace of gold, so whether they carry coffins or mine down at the bedrock of the earth, their sad state brings to mind enslavement, more than anything else. Some trolls do seem to have a little bit more dignity and these are the ones that fought against the Erdtree later on. these were the enchanted troll knights deemed comrades of the young ranala and they were called into service when the queen invoked an oath that they swore long ago. The trolls go way back to when the fire giants and the astrologers were still neighbors, and back then it seems for whatever reason they swore an oath to the astrologers. When the carrions went to war against the Erdtree, the trolls were finally called into that service to be treated as true knights of carrier, wielding swords embedded with blue glintstone and summoning enormous glint blades, they fought aminar with their long-lost human comrades.

5. Night's Cavalry

These recurring bosses wander the dim roads at night and were once led by the fel omen. Now this description specifically references margaret's title as the fel omen, margaret represents this undercover extension of morgot who scouts further out in the world and takes out champions who approach all the way from stormville castle. Morgot's big role in the story is that he's a stout defender of the Erdtree who wouldn't dare betray the golden order, he calls all the other demigods willful traitors all simply for fighting over the great runes of the Elden Ring, even radhan who has a lot of signs of being quite loyal to the golden order is called a traitor, simply because he fights at one stage another character who has a great rune. You can even see morgot in one of these opening cutscene cinematics leaping onto what looks like radon and managing to even get an attack off on one of the mightiest of the demigods.

Anyway, the knights cavalry seemed to fulfill a similar role to margate. According to their armor, they were deliverers of death for great warriors knights and champions, simple as that no motive is listed except that they have a reputation for taking out the greatest warriors of the world and that makes sense that that would be their aim because only the strongest can acquire two great runes and approach the Erdtree. So it's almost as if strength itself must be stifled, so that morgot's failing order might be maintained. 

6. Tree Sentinels

Having a strong defense is essentially the guiding principle of those who serve the Erdtree especially as you get closer to the capital, there are numerous examples of this the soldiers of lane dell fight their battles defensively. The knights of lane del always put their shield before the sword and lanedale itself the city is built to withstand siege with layers and layers of defensive measures built in. And the protective standard to which all defenders of the Erdtree aspire is that of the tree sentinels whose order became the living rampart of the Erdtree embellished with golden tree crested armor and shields that can retaliate with bolts of light they turn defense into offense. And that's the idea in lane dell, defense is the best offense and the way this idea is presented is just such beautiful storytelling, so many characters in other areas of the lands between long to return to the blessed land of the Erdtree and even for you it's this goal that looms over you the entire game. So the path is designed to repel everyone getting close. The highway through leonia has fallen apart, so you need to take this secret waterlogged route up through the mountain. Finding this secret path through the mountains and infiltrating the altus plateau, and then when you finally get there, there are countless ballista and golem arches and they're all positioned facing outwards. Finally you even find a side entrance to lane dell and that is even guarded by a draconic tree sentinel which is different, this variant of sentinels arose after the ancient dragons attacked lane del in its history.

7. Crucible Knights

They were eventually scorned for their strength, appearance and their close resemblance to chaos and how that inspired who they originally were. 16 of these nights served godfrey, the first Elden lord and all 16 of them yet remain across the lands between, one is imprisoned in an ever jail, two appear to be dead and are summoned to fight you as spirits. A number of crucible knights still patrol lane dell some protect great tree roots, though most just stand dejected in lost corners of the earth and one of them has even found a new blasphemous master. So the next time you fight these, think carefully about where they are and who they're fighting with. because each knight is a distinct character with purpose or lack thereof even though they were all once united by a common purpose and a single lord. Many of these knights fight with different aspects of the crucible, some fight with wings, some with horns, fire and tail. But what they all have in common is their mastery of their lord godfrey's signature stomp attack, which breaks up the earth beneath their feet. This is such a cool homage to godfrey, knowing the law is great, it definitely makes dying to it feel a little bit better. It's important to remember that godfrey and his crucible knights existed in an age before the erdtrees, an age with the great tree in its primordial form back when there was this red tinted crucible of life and these were warriors who drew power from its chaos. However, they were brought on board with order which is best exemplified by godfrey being tamed by the beast regent upon his back. 

There are two types of ornamentation that the crucible knights can have, there's ax ornamentation which is worn by crucible knight or dovis and his men and the axe is a bit of a homage to godfrey. Then there are some nights that have great tree ornamentation and these are displayed by the knight seluria and her men which is a reference to the great tree itself.

8. Ulcerated Tree Spirits

In the act of burning down the erdtree, you release a slew of ulcerated tree spirits from it, these spirits lie suffering beneath the ash until you come along, but you fight many of these tree spirits across the lands between, even before the end game, there's an ulcerated tree spirit at the husk of this minor erdtree, there's a bunch in catacomb dungeons by great tree roots, there's even one at the husk of the hailik tree. Some might even say there's too many of these bosses, they're the worst boss in Elden Ring, but anyway understanding their law might make it a bit more palatable. So while these creatures fight near the trees, they're not defending them rather they're corrupted by-product of dead or dying trees. One of the new purposes of the erdtree is to accept spirits and allow them to live on and it's almost like ulcerated spirits are horrific failure of that process. 

These spirits are a physical manifestation of stagnation and decay, they're this product of an age of an erdtree that really should have ended a long time ago. Most tree spirits drop golden seeds which are also found at the base of smaller illusory trees and they read when the Elden Ring was shattered, these seeds flew from the erdtree scattering across the various lands as if life itself knew that its end had come. The talisman also goes on to say the erdtree was once perfect and eternal and thus it was believed that earth tree seeds could not exist. This was back when there was an age of plenty when blessings literally dripped from the boughs of the erdtree like sap, and the erdtree's warm light healed those who bathed in its rays. The erdtree flourished with abundance, yet it was only for a fleeting moment such is the course of all life. Then the leaves began to fall and from the introduction, and the endings, the fallen leaves tell a story. The story is that the erdtree was withering.

9. Erdtree Avatars

Scattered across the lands between are minor erdtrees where you go to collect crystal tears basins were placed at the feet of minor erdtree in order to collect these tears. Though in some cases, these tears are dropped by earth tree avatars instead. When the Elden Ring was shattered, the avatars emerged wielding ceremonial staffs that depict the erdtree in its historic radiance. These creatures are the will of the dying earth tree made manifest, they are literally part tree after all and they fight desperately to protect the minor erdtrees which are the offspring of the withering erdtree itself. Some avatars placed in caled and Miquella's Haligtree are rotten avatars and they even have uniquely designed staff that festers with rot just as they do. The hailik tree is also an emulation of the erdtree, so it makes sense that it has its own avatars as well. They fight on because to many of these creatures, any odd tree whether it's minor or a copy or doomed is something worth protecting.