Elden Ring's Dark Moon and Golden Order Are Exact Opposites

gamerant.com:

Just as the Demigods fought over the pieces of the Elden Ring after Marika shattered it, there are a ton of pieces of Elden Ring lore to be put together. It’s a lot, and it’s unlikely that anyone’s personal interpretation of its story and lore line up with what was exactly intended quite yet, though perhaps that’s the beauty of it. With so many puzzle pieces, one question thing many may question is the connection, or lack thereof, between the Golden Order and the Dark Moon.

SPOILER: THERE ARE MAJOR ELDEN RING SPOILERS AHEADFirst, it’s worth looking at how Elden Ring’s Outer Gods work. It should be noted that there are exceptions and missing elements, but it seems each god has a Lord of some sort, a Vassal, a demi-god leader/representative, and an Order. Dragonlord Placidusax, for example, was the equivalent of an Elden Lord to the Dragon God, while the Three Fingers is a vassal for the Frenzied Flame. Marika and Malenia are demi-god leaders or representatives of their Gods (The Greater Will/The Scarlet Rot), regardless of whether they want to be or not.

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Through this lens, the Golden Order and Dark Moon can be somewhat sorted, making their biggest differences stand out. The Golden Order is The Greater Will’s Order, a system of operations including death for The Lands of Between. Whether Marika disrupted or helped fulfill that order by removing the Rune of Death is debatable, but how The Greater Will wanted the world to operate is The Golden Order. Those loyal to this are often known as the Golden Order, too. Either way, The Greater Will’s Vassal is the Two Fingers, the Elden Lord is its champion as chosen by its demi-god representative (usually), and Marika was its representative