The Elden Ring symbol - the iconic image on every cover and loading screen - is Duchamp's Chocolate Grinder viewed from directly above.
Updated
4/15/2026
Reading Time
2 min
The Elden Ring symbol on the cover is the Chocolate Grinder viewed from top-down. The cylindrical grinding mechanism, when seen from above, produces the exact radial pattern of the Elden Ring.
Each Great Rune corresponds to parts of the Chocolate Grinder mechanism. The segments, the central axis, the rotating elements - all map to specific Great Runes.
Godrick's and Morgott's anchor runes only make geometric sense as a top-down view of cylindrical grinder structure. The 'anchors' are the legs of the grinder seen from above.
The Chocolate Grinder is the central apparatus in the Bachelor domain of The Large Glass. Duchamp based it on an actual chocolate grinding machine he saw in a confectioner's window in Rouen, France. In The Large Glass, it represents the self-grinding, self-sufficient mechanism of bachelor desire.
Duchamp famously said of it: "The bachelor grinds his chocolate himself." This phrase encapsulates the onanistic, self-referential nature of the bachelor machine - it produces nothing but its own operation.
When you rotate Duchamp's Chocolate Grinder 90 degrees to view it from directly above, the iconic Elden Ring symbol emerges. The three cylindrical drums become the radiating segments. The central axis becomes the core ring. The supporting legs become the anchor points.
This isn't coincidence or vague similarity - it's geometric correspondence. The Great Runes, which are fragments of the Elden Ring, map to specific parts of the Grinder mechanism.
If the central symbol of the game - the thing in the title, on every cover, in every loading screen - is Duchamp's Chocolate Grinder, then the connection is not peripheral. It's foundational. The game is literally named after a component of The Large Glass.
The Chocolate Grinder is where the Bachelors process their desire. The Elden Ring is where the Tarnished process theirs. Same mechanism, different medium.