Elden Ring's Rune Bears Have Special Eyes with Huge Implications

gamerant.com:

In Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, player gather «souls» to level up. InBloodborne, players gather Blood Echoes to level up, and in Elden Ring, players gather Runes to level up. Because of their involvement in this process, it's pretty clear on paper that Rune Bears are stronger than the standard bear. In-game, it's also terrifying to encounter one as they have glowing golden chests, massive arms, and at times, can just appear out of nowhere. Of course, the question is what these Rune Bears are or how they've gained their power.

In a world like Elden Ring, where there are dog dinosaurs and birds with swords, a gigantic bear definitely doesn't seem out of place. But, upon closer inspection and first noted by YouTuber Zullie the Witch, their lore may be just as deep as they are big.

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In a recent video, Zullie the Witch noted a few key details about these bears. First, there was one in the Elden Ring beta, which could only be accessed out of bonds, that dropped a Dragon Heart. Since it was a bear and this doesn't happen in the base game, it was thought to be a placeholder asset. The code for these animals also treat them as nothing real special, simply calling them Rune Bears, but it is worth noting some of the plant enemies and the red wolves are called «RuneWolf» and so on in the code. And to cap it all off, Rune Bears have draconic eyes. Their standard counterparts do not obviously, but they are a match for the yellow eyes of the Elden Ring protagonist should players take part in Dragon Communion and for dragon eyes at that.

In short, it seems the most logical explanation is that Rune Bears grow in strength from eating Dragon Hearts. These plants