One of Elden Ring's biggest mysteries has finally been solved after 2 years

There are many mysteries in this world, but few have confounded gamers quite as much as Elden Ring’s unusually friendly furry friend. We’re referring to the ‘friendly dog’, of course. So dubbed because it doesn’t attempt to maim you as most Souls enemies do.

Anyone who’s played a Souls game, even if you never managed to complete it, will be aware that mobs of hounds can descend on you in an instant. Unlike Scratch in Baldur’s Gate 3, these pooches aren’t would-be companions, not unless you want to be ripped limb from limb for trying.

Yet one dog has gone against the grain, with no Elden Ring player able to figure out what makes this ‘friendly dog’ less inclined to hurt you. Now, however, that mystery seems to have been solved by YouTuber Zullie the Witch.

Learn the truth about Elden Ring's 'friendly dog'

Zullie the Witch posted a video of their findings, which revealed that how you approach the ‘friendly dog’ vastly changes its behaviour. Consequently, this isn’t a tame attack dog but rather a dog whose animation sequence is extremely specific.

If you visit a location just outside of where the dog is in Leyndell, then proceed to visit Leyndell without reloading your game, the so-called ‘friendly dog’ will attack you, thus proving that the dog's friendliness is determined by where you step and when.

As for the reason why this FromSoftware animation behaves like this, some speculate it’s nothing more than a code error listing the wrong event location. But we wonder if the reason is more spiritual, as does another player, "Inside you are two wolves. One has a misplaced animation event, and the other deals 13,000 damage per second,” they joked.

Another was simply glad someone had stopped them from feeling “crazy” about this specific event. “The description of how you can trigger the dog legit solved me feeling crazy, given this dog wasn't friendly for me when I came to it and I wondered what others were doing,” they further explained.

Have you encountered the ‘friendly dog’ before? And, if you have, will you continue to let the potential to pet the doggo live on despite what you now know?