The eternal question of George R.R. Martin’s involvement in Elden Ring has already been answered for Shadow of the Erdtree.
Elden Ring's director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, has confirmed in an interview that George R.R. Martin didn't write anything new for Shadow of the Erdtree, but that the world and story were inspired and based around what he penned for the main game.
Ever since Elden Ring was first revealed to be a collaboration between FromSoftware and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, fans have wondered just how much he contributed to the Lands Between. Martin commented on this following the game's launch, revealing that he was mostly responsible for the world-building and history of the Lands Between.
Now that Shadow of the Erdtree has been officially showcased and given a release date, that same question has started popping up, as fans wonder if Martin contributed to the DLC and how it expands on the world of the original game. Although we had to wait quite some time to find out what he did for the base game, that question has already been answered by the game's director, Hidetaka Miyazaki.
Miyazaki recently took part in an interview with Famitsu to talk about Shadow of the Erdtree and the gameplay trailer that was revealed earlier this week. During the interview, Miyazaki was asked if George R.R. Martin was involved in the DLC in any way, and Miyazaki responded by revealing that, while he didn't do anything new for it, it's still based on the world-building he did for the base game.
According to Miyazaki, as translated by Redditor theangryfurlong, Martin's involvement in Shadow of the Erdtree was the same as it was in th remain title, and that the world and story of the DLC was inspired by the history that he created for The Lands Between. He then says that what FromSoftware made this time was created "from the inspiration we took from his mythology for the main title".
"The world and story of the DLC was inspired by the mythology that he penned just as in the main title, and was created thus. To be more precise, what was created this time is part of what was created from the inspiration we took from his mythology for the main title. So, there was no additional writing done specifically for the DLC."
That might sound complicated, but it essentially means that George R.R. Martin didn't write anything new or have a particular involvement in Shadow of the Erdtree, but that the DLC's story, world, and characters are all based on the world-building that he originally did for the game. Essentially, even if we won't find anything new from Martin in there, the whole world of Elden Ring is based on his original contributions.
