After our first meeting, three thoughts came to my mind The Shadow of Erdtree‘s electrifying Divine Beasts dance Lion Boss: “What?”, “Ouch!”, and, dimly, “What Is What’s going on in there?” And a kind modder has now answered that last question, by stripping the thing down and showing us how the sausage is made (spoiler: there’s no sausage involved, but there are some Dancing Lion-related spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution).
For those who don’t know, the Divine Beast Dancing Lion is one of the earliest major boss encounters in the Elden Ring DLC and is found hanging at the top of the Belurat Tower settlement. It’s an impressive sight, too; a twisting, soaring, teeth-gnashing creation that (as its name implies) is inspired by the traditional Chinese lion dance, in which two performers – one controlling the head, the other the tail – mimic the movements of a lion.
Keen-eyed Tarnished have no doubt already spotted the human legs sticking out from beneath the lion’s cloth-covered body – one pair at the front, the other at the back – but the flapping, billowing fabric makes it hard to see much else as it moves. As it turns out, developer FromSoftware has done a little more than just give the dancing lion legs; two fully formed and (mostly) animated human actors have been hidden beneath the cloth, and when the covering is removed the two can be seen scurrying around to control the beast.
We all know this, thank you Excellent work by YouTuber BonfireVN (to encourage PC Gamer), who instantly read everyone’s minds and threw off the cloth. And what a sight it was! The performers themselves are largely nude except for a loincloth, a protective coverall skirt and, in Mr. Rear’s case, dirty bandages covering his face. Both, too, are appropriately animated – when their limbs touch the ground at least – Mr. Rear spends most of his time running around on all fours.
True, the illusion is hilariously shattered when the Dancing Lion shows off some of his extraordinary moves – his corkscrewing, forward-jumping moves in the air, for instance – and the pair hop and tumble back and forth in impossible, physics-defying acrobatics.
Of course, this isn’t the first time FromSoftware has gone the extra mile to create something amazing that players don’t usually see in Elden Ring – who could forget Dreamboat Face-Reveal Everyone’s favorite masked shrimp man? – but it’s always nice to get a look at the craft behind the curtain. Even if the curtain is hurtling toward you at 100 miles per hour, jaws snapping, and electricity shooting out from behind it.
So, if you find the Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss too intimidating, why not follow that classic advice and now (accurately) depict him without clothes? Or, if that doesn’t work, there’s always Eurogamer’s Elden Ring: Erdtree’s Shadow Guide,
