Elden Ring: Distant Tales Between is ending, and the series still won’t say exactly when. The manga announced on October 19 that it would finish in its next chapter, then left the date blank. The series page on the publisher’s site lists the next chapter as “to be determined,” which is an unusual thing to read next to an ending notice.
What is confirmed: the manga closes with its third volume, scheduled to ship on December 4. Haruichi’s comedy take on FromSoftware and Bandai Namco’s game will wrap at three books.
An omnibus of short stories, not a retelling
Distant Tales Between isn’t an adaptation of the game’s main plot. Haruichi debuted it in July 2024 as an omnibus collection of short stories set in the Lands Between, which explains the structure: small comedic episodes rather than one continuous arc following the Tarnished.
Haruichi has form with licensed properties. The artist worked on the Star Wars: Visions manga and the Star Wars: Leia, Princess of Alderaan manga series, both of which are the kind of tie-in work that requires hitting someone else’s tone exactly. Comedy inside a famously punishing game is a different problem, and the short-story format gave the series room to test jokes without committing to a plot.
Yen Press licensed the series for English release. The cover art for volume one carries the Elden Ring logo and Haruichi’s name, and the English editions have tracked the Japanese volumes closely.
Why the ending has no date
The announcement gives no reason for the conclusion, and the missing date may be the more interesting detail. Manga endings usually come with a scheduled final chapter, even when the volume date is still loose. When a series announces “next chapter” without saying when that chapter runs, it often means the final manuscript isn’t finished, or the magazine slot isn’t locked.
That’s speculation on my part, not something the publisher said. But it’s worth flagging for anyone planning to buy volume three on December 4: the collected book and the final chapter are not necessarily arriving in the same week.
The game is doing fine
The manga’s ending has nothing to do with the source material’s health. Elden Ring launched in February 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and passed 12 million units sold by March 2022. By April 2022 it had overtaken Call of Duty: Vanguard as the best-selling game in the United States over the previous twelve months.
The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion arrived in June 2024 and crossed 5 million copies within three days. Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition came to Nintendo Switch 2 on August 28 this year, delayed from its original 2025 window, and bundles the expansion with new armor and a fresh customization option for Torrent.
Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin built the original world together, and a live-action Hollywood film is set for March 3, 2028. Tie-in manga come and go around a property that size. Comics get greenlit when a game is hot and quietly closed when the promotional window passes, and three years of short stories is a respectable run for that arrangement.
What English readers should know
Volumes one and two are available in English from Yen Press. Volume three, the finale, is dated December 4 in Japan, with an English release to follow. Yen Press hasn’t announced that date yet.
Game tie-in manga tend to close in batches, and this autumn has a few of them. Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Tales of Iga ends this month, with its final volume due on November 19.
Anyone who wants the complete story in one sitting should probably wait for the third book rather than chase the final chapter, given the scheduling gap. Readers who only want the game’s lore won’t find much here anyway. This is a comedy, and it treats the Lands Between as a setting for jokes about dying repeatedly, which is roughly what the game is.
The bigger picture
Elden Ring’s manga presence has been scattered. Distant Tales Between is the lightest of the tie-ins, and its ending leaves the field to whatever comes next, whether that’s another publisher’s take or something tied to the 2028 film. For now, three volumes and an unannounced final chapter is the whole story.
Source: Anime News Network.
Featured image: Cover of the first Elden Ring: Distant Tales Between volume by Haruichi, via Anime News Network.
