I Always Find It Particularly Funny When People Say That Ranni Is Just Manipulating The Player And That

Oh boy here comes a long one.

My least favourite part about the elden ring fandom is probably how readily everyone blamed Ranni for everything horrible that happens in the game, completely stripping away any agency Marika or anyone else had in the whole ordeal. 

Through a grief stricken rage over Godwyns death or not it was Marika’s decision to shatter the elden ring, bringing her age to a bloody end. It was her choice to put all the Demigods against each other in a big bloodbath of a war and it was Radagons decision to seal the erdtree so nobody could enter and fix the whole mess, condemning the world to stagnation. And on top of all of this it was the Demigod’s themselves who followed through with Marika’s wishes tenfold and tore the lands between to shreds in their war path.

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This isn’t even going into the fact that overtime, more and more evidence has cropped up that Marika was planning to revolt against the greater will for a long while before Godwyns death, so the shattering might have not even been caused by it in the first place. There’s breadcrumbs of this secret plot leading all the way back to the end of her first marriage with Godfrey, where she banished him and his tarnished warriors specifically to wage war in distant lands and grow stronger in death, to eventually be called back when she deems it time (which just so happened to be through the shattering itself).

If any one soul person is to be responsible for the shattering (which I don’t believe to be the case) and all the lives it ruined, it would be Marika. Ranni might have been the person to light the spark, but it was Marika who decided to throw that spark into the forest, and tell everyone else to follow suit until it was nothing but a blazing, chaotic mess.

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Don’t get me wrong. Ranni isn’t an innocent little snowflake in this whole ordeal either. She did still plot the assassination of Godwyn, armed and set loose the black knives upon the world (who seemingly went rouge at some point considering they’re leader’s trapped on the moonlight alter and they went after Ranni’s lot after she attacked her fingers), royally pissed off Maliketh by stealing from him and inadvertently spread the second most annoying, deadly plant across the lands between. She’s not innocent by any means, but she’s also not more guilty than any other character in the game.

Like, you really gonna look at the shit characters like Rykard, Shabiri and Mohg pulled and still tell me that Ranni is the most evil, selfish, heartless character in the game?

I don't think a game has ever made me feel as physically ill as elden ring did when I found out about how Miquella was using Mohg. 

I always had a sneaking suspicion that Mohg's obsession with Miquella had something to do with his charming ability, but never really had much more than a hunch to go off of.

Finding out that that hunch was not only correct, but also how much deeper the rabbit hole went made me feel genuinely sick. He didn’t just charm Mohg, he somehow used him to gain access to the land of shadow, abandoned him and then stole his still warm corpse to desecrate into an entirely different form to house the soul of the consort he actually wanted.

Mohg doesn’t even get a footnote in his little “thank you” speech at the gate of divinity. To him, we were more impactful in his plans coming to fruition for inadvertently delivering Radahn’s soul to him than the person who got him into the land of shadow in the first place. The person who died to become the vessel of his king consort.

I don't know why this part of the game specifically had me feeling so disgusted, it's not really something I can explain. There's just something about this character that was put on such a high pedestal by the world around him, and who has received unconditional love throughout his entire life, weaponizing that very same love against someone that probably struggled with it for most of his life and used it to manipulate, take advantage of and isolate him.

And then when one of his knights comes looking for justice, for the freedom of his master, Miquella just charms him too, burying his memories of his devotion to his lord and stealing him for his own followers.

He stripped Mohg of absolutely everything and used him for his own gain until the very end and beyond. For me, Miquella’s age of compassion died the moment he decided doing that was acceptable.

Tbf there are also a couple other things that link Marika to the black knives. Notably the fact that the group seem to have aligned themselves with the GW in some way after the shattering, due to them hunting down Ranni’s squad after she goes after her fingers (her baleful shadow is even kitted out with the same destined death powers, which shouldn't be possible if they weren't specifically given it by someone) and the one guarding the throne room in Leyndell.

On top of this the item description for the black knife set not only says that the black knives were all Numen women but specifically mentions that they had close ties with Marika.

Then there's the question as to how Ranni even got to farum azula to steal from Maliketh in the first place, which could very neatly tie into the grand and as of now unexplained "betrayal" that Marika commited against Maliketh.

There’s also Melina, who is one of Marika’s own children who uses the very distinct black knife fighting style if summoned for the Morgott fight. Since she's also technically a numen woman she's also in the running as a black knife candidate.

One of the things that has always vexes me is how people made the assumption that Marika the Eternal had some hand in the Black knife plot that killed Godwyn. The reasoning? Because the Black Knife assassins happen to be the same race as her, Numens.

Gee it's not like an entire civilization of Numen exist or anything, it's not like the player character can choose to play as a Numen or anything???

There are literally no other facts that link them outside of race. Yeah it is true that Marika was delving deep into the meaning of the order to find flaws with it, but if you knew your boss was making constant plans to replace you with some other candidates then what else would you do but question how they work??

All in all, there is no definite facts that line up either way, but I prefer to keep to the belief that Marika's shattering of the Elden Ring was an act of grief and loss of faith with the death of one of her most prominent children rather then something out of pure malice. I also support the theory that as Ranni was being groomed to take on Marika's role as the new goddess of the Erdtree, Godwyn was being groomed to take on the role of Elden Lord. It would explain why he was chosen specifically for her plot, and why she seemingly shows no remorse for his 'death.'

Not that Godwyn was seemingly a bad individual as far as in game lore goes. He was pretty much the Ned Flanders of Leyndell before he got merc'ed.

There's some delicious irony in the fact that the omen twins are probably the most accomplished and successful demigods in the family despite having all the odds stacked against them.

Morgott

is the ruling king of Leyndell

has one of the most powerful armies in the lands between, only really being beaten out by Miquella's haligtree forces and Messmer's crusade army

has successfully guarded the capital from both the redmanes and volcano manor invasions and chased Godrick and Godefroy from its walls

is a master of holy magic, being able to project himself across the lands, seal multiple pathways to dangerous artefacts (the giants forge and the 3 fingers) and cast a myriad of holy weapon spells which he all likely had to self teach.

Mohg

is the lord of a budding dynasty

had some of the most loyal followers out of all of the demigods, despite his Omen heritage, which he wore openly and proudly

had such loyal followers that even after the dynasty's collapse, a small handful were still willing to fight a god to the death to do right by him

is a master of blood magic

can also project illusions of himself

somehow learned of a way to access the sealed away land of shadow, an ability so exclusive to him that Miquella had to use him to gain access to it.

has gained the favour of a fucking outer god! a feat that no other basic demigod was capable of

all of which was also probably self taught due to growing up in isolation in the sewers.

These two absolutely amaze me. They had everything stacked against them and were still able to forge a place for themselves in the lands between.

One of my favourite concepts I don’t think I’ve really seen before is characters trading/lending their weapons to each other. There’s just something I find really sweet about that act (especially if the weapon has sentimental value to the owner and letting someone else use it is a big deal.)

It’s all good, I’m happy to answer them!

Marika very much does seem to be incredibly distant with her family (even her golden child Godwyn) which is rather interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was hardly present, which would also explain why no one caught on to her and Radagon being the same person.

Radagon seems to be more connected with his children (at least in the past) but the only other connection I remember being explicitly mentioned other than Miquella is Radahn, who despite heavily looking up to Godfrey, still wore the red hair he inherited from his father with great pride.

Rykard and Ranni however seem to be mama’s boys/girls respectively so Radagon breaking Renalla’s heart and leaving abruptly very likely struck a wedge in their relationship with him, which is probably why he’s hardly mentioned in their history’s.

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As far as I’m aware the wandering mausoleums house some of the demigods slain in the night of the black knives. The beings inside are described as “soulless” in a few places, which makes me think they were other victims targeted during the assassination, but due to not dying at the same time as Ranni, were lucky enough to just fully die.

They also seem to be somewhat possessed by a great deal of spirits, as they have glowing face shaped rocks littering their bodies, which makes me believe they’ve been animated through restless souls residing in them. Bells in elden ring are also pretty synonymous with raising the dead (spirit tuning bells specifically) so I wouldn’t be surprised if they had something to do with it too.

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The Nox are incredibly interesting. They seem to be one of the first civilisations that caught on to the finger’s corruption and forged the finger slayer blade in order to rebel, but unfortunately they were found out and literally buried beneath the lands between as punishment before they could ever use it (which would have been extra awful for them as much like the modern day Carians, they too used to worship and chart the night sky). The only remnants of their society left on the surface are a handful of ruins and the town of Selia in caelid. Which funnily enough Radahn is very closely tied too.

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As for your final question, unfortunately it’s anyone’s guess. I can’t say for certain how Marika and the Nox connect. However I do think it’s likely that the Nox and Carians have some sort of inherent link due to their similar cultures regarding the night sky and moons, how Radahn was so protective of Selia and how Ranni uses the Nox’s finger slayer blade to slay her fingers and bring forth the “age of night” that the Nox are said to be waiting for.

I don’t think I ‘hate’ a single Elden Ring character. Each and every one is designed so compellingly, their stories are so varied, their interactions while sparse are the type to carry magnitudes of meaning.

Example:

For the longest time I did not realize that the scene we stroll into at Castle Morne is a slave rebellion. The misbegotten are treated as chattel. My first go around I assumed “ah yes, monster attack castle, understand”

It wasn’t until I watched a random lore video that only referenced it that I got it. I went back and read the descriptions of stuff and I’ll be damned.

There’s a lot of little tidbits hidden here and there that flip entire perspectives on their heads. Preaching to the choir on this point.

Even the characters that I generally dislike/disregard (dung-eater, (hot take) Varre, selvus) I still find fascinating. One of the cool parts about the game is you can just kill the character you don’t like. If you’re doing a run and you want to get a little roleplay in, sometimes murder freak be murdering.

Personally, I’m not on twitter, instagram (used to be), deviant art (do people still use that), or anywhere else ((I Do have a blue sky but I think I’m too dim to use it just yet)) . I’d love to be in a space where people talk more about lore or art things! I haven’t the foggiest clue where to go though. When I hear people say “everyone hates on xyz character” or “this fandom is so nuts” or whatever I am genuinely confused. I’m only seeing a portion of the stuff here, and so far it’s been more than pleasant! Big ups to the people on here, so far you’ve all been very kind 😊

So I guess, could I ask anybody to fill me in? Or where to go to get filled in?

In the meantime I want you to know I’ve started working on a pair of drawings centered around Malenia and Miquella - ooooo be so tragic oooooo

I hate when people are like "What do you mean I should spoiler tag this massive plot twist? This thing has been out for years you should have experienced it already!" As if completely oblivious to the fact that new people... exist?

Shockingly enough someone that's 15 may not have had the chance to experience this game that came out 7 years ago yet. God forbid young people get the chance to experience old content too.

Something neat I just discovered while researching a different topic is that the icerind hatchet is known as the "freezing fog" and was crafted using a scale from a dragon. This dragon is almost certainly borealis, a boss who is found up in the mountain tops close to Castle Sol, and who also has the title of "Freezing fog"

It's a very small detail but I thought it was neat enough to talk about since I'd never read the axe's description before!

Thinking about how Ranni probably hated her own body because it made her nothing more than a puppet for the GW. And that’s probably why there’s no depictions of her anywhere in the game (I wouldn't be suprised if she slowly got rid of them all before deciding to revolt completely), and why she decided to make her new bodies in the image of her teacher instead of herself.

Because any sight of her previous body would be a horrible reminder of what she was.

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Edit:

To add onto this, Rykard obviously loved his sister as he was willing to fuck with Maliketh just because it would help her, but despite this there’s no depiction of her in volcano manor. Only ones of himself and Radahn. 

Soooo he obviously cared for his sister and also obviously cared for these grand displays of affection/family power or he wouldn't have had these portraits made, so why wouldn’t he also have a picture of her? Well I can only assume it was because she didn’t want one.

The way the omen twins would have been dancing on my corpse if they were a duo boss fight 🪩