Elden Ring: How to open the locked Rennala chest

The Elden Ring is locked. The Rennala box in the Grand Library at Raya Lucaria Academy is one of the strangest and most frustrating things you'll uncover in the early stages of Elden Ring. This closed-chest sits to one side of Rennala after you fight her, and it's a complete mystery - it won't open, there's no hint of what's within, and attempting to open it merely tells you "it's locked." Even if it's not very helpful, there is a route in and what's inside.

How to open the locked chest in Elden Ring

The closed Rennala box in Elden Ring can only be opened with a rare key known as the Discarded Palace Key, which will take a long time to obtain. The key, the chest, and the contents of the chest are all important aspects of the Elden Ring Ranni questline and secret ending, in which the four-armed witch hands you the key when she asks you to retrieve something from the chest that she requires.

Technically, you'll need to know how to fight Rennala in Elden Ring in order to retrieve the contents, although it's quite improbable that anyone will reach that point in Ranni's questline without first defeating the Carian Queen. To gain the Discarded Palace Key, go through our Ranni questline guide and advance to stages 7 and 8, where defeating the Baleful Shadow rewards you with the Discarded Palace Key. Following that, you can proceed to the locked chest and open it.

What's inside the locked Rennala chest?

The Dark Moon Ring is the only item in the closed Rennala box. This is a quest item that is specifically linked to Ranni's quest, in which the player must locate Ranni's real body (not the doll she currently possesses) and present the Dark Moon Ring to it in order to become her consort, implying that if Ranni rises to power in her ending, you will be her Elden Lord.

Unfortunately, the Dark Moon Ring has no other abilities; it can't be used for magic or to increase your stats, and it can't be worn as a talisman. It's only a vital item related to Ranni's mission, and once you've given it to her at the end of her quest, it's gone forever.