The Banished Knights are the sworn order of Lord Godfrey, the first Elden Lord, and after Marika stripped Godfrey of grace and sent him across the fog as a Tarnished, the Banished Knights chose exile rather than reassignment. The Banished Knight's Greatsword and Halberd flavour texts give the order's official rationale : 'Given to knights who, whether by misfortune or misdeed, were forced to abandon their homes. Most of these knights were sent to the fringes, where they were forced to start anew with only despair for company.' The misdeed of the Banished Knights, by Marika's measure, was loyalty to the wrong lord.

After Godrick took Stormveil, the surviving Banished Knights formed the castle's garrison, sworn to a Grafted parody because he was the last of Godfrey's bloodline still in the realm. Two of their finest, Engvall and Oleg, were called the Wings of the Storm. The Banished Knight Engvall ash-summary : 'Despite his banishment, he rejected the invitation of the Grace-Given Lord, instead keeping watch over a masterless castle for many years, gaining renown as a hero of the fringes.' Oleg made the opposite choice, accepted the Grace-Given Lord's call, slew a hundred traitors as his hand, and earned the Erdtree-burial Engvall refused. Two banished knights, two answers : the canon's clearest small-scale parable about what the Erdtree's grace asks a sworn man to forget.