Feminism and Fantasy: The Women of Elden Ring

“Fantasy and Feminism” is going to be a series of articles that provides analysis of strong female characters and their role in stories that tend toward the grim as well as dark. A short analysis of those properties that exist in hopeless and shadow-filled worlds that benefit from good writing toward its female protagonists (or antagonists). There will be spoilers for the plot of the game so let the reader beware.

What is Elden Ring?

Elden Ring is a Dark Souls-esque game FromSoftware as written by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. The premise is that the Lands Between are a mythological Medieval kingdom formerly ruled by the God Queen Marika. After the death of her son, Godwyn, she shattered the Elden Ring that was the source of her power and plunged the world into chaos. The Tarnished, a banished warrior, is empowered by her to seek the Great Runes spread among her children and restore the lands to glory.

Why is Elden Ring feminist?

Elden Ring is a story driven by its female characters and their struggles, agendas, and ideology. Marika the God Queen is a character driven by female rage that proves to be a complicated figure with both good as well as evil qualities. Supporting characters Melina and Ranni both have their own solutions for the state of the Lands Between but require moral compromise that the Tarnished will have to debate. Themes of motherhood, marriage, and love are tied in with questions of power as well as revenge.

Notable Female Characters

Marika of the Golden Order

 

God is a woman in the Lands Between and while there is a Greater Will above her, they remain nebulous to the primary religion that venerates Marika above all others. She successfully conquered most of the world in the past and built a literally immortal empire by sealing away Destined Death. Marika is a complicated figure in-universe as her actions include the genocide of the Fire Giants, near destruction of the Dragon Race, and persecution of the Merchants. However, Marika is not a figure who is easily vilified like Cersei Lannister as she is never shown as anything but an incredibly capable ruler. Indeed, her room in the royal palace is shown to be filled with thousands of stone tablets containing the issues of ruling.

One interesting element is that the goal of the Tarnished is to become Elden Lord or her consort. Which is a play on the classic fantasy of marrying a princess to become king. Except the princess in this case is a queen and has already been married twice before. Marika discarded her first husband, Godfrey, when he was no longer of use to her. We also discover that her second husband was a guise for herself, which adds some interesting elements to her story (especially as said guise sired children with another woman). She is far from the Medieval virgin archetype and has close to a dozen children if we include the ones in the mausoleums on the map.

Shadow of the Erd Tree also expands on Marika’s backstory as we discover she was part of a persecuted minority in the Shadowlands. Marika eventually overthrew the Hornsent Empire that oppressed her people by becoming a god but later sent her eldest (?) son, Messmer to slaughter them all. Marika isn’t going to win mother of the year awards, though, as while it seems she destroyed the Elden Ring because of her son, Godwyn’s, death, she also charges the Tarnished to kill the rest of her extended family to become the new Elden Lord.

Melina

As Varre said at the start of your journey, you are Maidenless and thus unable to be an Elden Lord. Just as the God Queen needs her consort, so does the Elden Lord aspirants need a Maiden to provide them the secrets to achieving said state. Melina, despite not being a maiden, agrees to serve in this role for you. This is not because of romance but out of a desire to bring an end to the chaos of the Lands Between. She is the in-universe reason you can level up with runes and becoming powerful enough to slay demigods.

Later, we discover that Melina is aware this is a one-way trip for her. To enter the Erd Tree and become Elden Lord, it must be burned with mystical fire. This requires Melina to sacrifice her life to reignite the Fire Giant’s flame. You can choose an alternative way to burn the Erd Tree and save her life, but Melina rejects you as you do so, since it means siding with the evil Frenzied Flame. Indeed, if she survives, she devotes herself to destroying you as well as the horror you have brought to the Lands Between.

Ranni

The most well-loved character of Elden Ring if the ending statistics are any indication, Ranni the Snow Witch is a daughter of Marika who decided to rebel against the Golden Order. She is the reason for the Shattering by having Godwyn assassinated. Despite this, she is not a villain. Ranni despises the gods attempting to control the lives or mortals (and immortals in her case). Ranni’s plan is to force the Elden Ring into space and deny everyone its power. This will give humanity self-determination but also make them vulnerable to the other non-Marika gods out there.

Ranni is one of the only romanceable characters in the game aside from Fia but it is a strange journey based on aiding her to achieve freedom from the mysterious Fingers. Ranni is a character who has multiple strong relationships with her follows as well with the most tragic, perhaps, being her wolfman bodyguard, Blaidd. Without a hint of romance, he is willing to die for her but is cursed to turn against her by his creators.

Fia

Fia the Deathbed Companion is from a culture that forced her into a deeply uncomfortable role as a temple prostitute who laid with dying men to transfer life energy to them. Fia mentions that she was not someone who chose these companions and bitterly resents the role she was assigned by society. However, Fia is not a victim and has found a new path to devote herself to: the resurrection of Godwyn as well as saving Those-Who-Live-In-Death (the undead) from persecution.

If you do Fia’s quest to its entirety, she will reveal you are not the only one of her lovers but one of several she’s been taking the life-force of to try to restore Godwyn. She also kills the enigmatic monster hunter, D, in order to avenge the many undead he’s slain. By the end, she willingly sacrifices her life to create a Golden Rune that will make it so that the undead are not hunted anymore.

Fia is an interesting deconstruction of many traditional fantasy and video game tropes. Because, at the end of the day, you are never as important to Fia as she can be to you. Rather than played for titillation, lying with Fia only includes showing her embracing you with a warm hug. While her backstory has strong elements of trauma, they are not her primary motivation. Fia sexually manipulates individuals like Roderick and Lionel, but this is never judged by the game. It is simply the tool she must save her adopted people. Indeed, when D’s brother, also known as D, desecrates her body while shouting slurs at her, you are encouraged to kill him.

Roderika

One of the most tragic stories in Elden Ring, Roderika is the story of trauma and depression. A woman that may or may not have been Tarnished, she was exiled from her homeland and attempted to carry out the quest to recover the Great Runes. Instead, she failed miserably, and all her companions were killed. The Tarnished protagonist can help her by giving her a purpose in Roundtable Hold and befriending her to the blacksmith Hewg.

But trauma isn’t something that is easily let go of and Hewg’s dementia combined with the deaths of so many other warriors of the Roundtable results in her choosing to stay with the former when it the hold burns to the ground. Roderika is an interesting case of a game portraying weakness and sorrow without condemnation.

She’s not meant for the life of an adventurer, but her empathy makes her one of the few individuals that can be called unquestionably good in the Lands Between. The fact that she is a Master Spirit Tuner also shows that she is a person who has value and much to contribute. Unfortunately, she can’t leave behind her pain and the only thing you can do for her in the end is fulfill her request of killing Marika.

Rya and Tanith

Two of the less prominent female characters in the game that, nevertheless, have the closest mother-daughter relationship in the story. Rya is a half-human, half-snake deity who pretends to be an ordinary human girl with magic. She has been raised to believe she’s a princess and that there’s nothing abnormal about her condition. Tantih is a former dancer who became the chief priestess of Rykad the Heretic’s cult, taking over in his absence (of being transformed into said monstrous snake deity).

Tanith is absolutely evil and about as sane as your typical Cthulhu cultist but is a supporting kind mother who wants nothing more than to make sure Rya is happy. Rya wants to serve the cause of her family and prove to be a good daughter until she can’t deny that her father isn’t a noble royal but a blasphemous Emperor Leto II-esque monster living in the basement. That doesn’t get rid of her love for her mother, though.

Perhaps my favorite moment for these two is after you defeat Rykard and Tanith is reduced to her worst: trying to absorb Rykard’s essence and become the new God Devouring Serpent. Her servant, Patches, trying to remind her of her past as a dancer, suggests you show her a token of her past. Her reaction? Sneer and go back to what she’s doing.

Malenia and Millicent

The most difficult boss in the history of Elden Ring. Malenia has already begun a legend in the annals of video games. However, Malenia also has a large role in the history of the Lands Between. The world’s greatest warrior, Malenia is also disabled. Born with the curse of Rot, she has lost multiple limbs over the years as well as her eyes. Prosthetics and the Golden Order Fundamentalism (science) of her brother Miquella has let her live an accomplished life.

Malenia’s story is a tragedy, though, because her gratitude and belief in Miquella’s dream means that she became a tool for him rather than a heroine in her own right. An Empyrean, she was destined to take Marika’s place as ruler of the gods but chose to subordinate herself to her brother instead. This results in tragedies like the destruction of Caelid via Scarlet Rot and her being abandoned in the Halig Tree while waiting for his return (which will never come). Tragedy doesn’t mean misogyny, though, and Malenia remains one of the most iconic characters of Elden Ring.

Interestingly, underscoring this relationship with power is Millicent. Millicent is basically a reincarnation or child of Malenia. She wishes to reach her original self and remind her of her glories but is ambushed by her sisters who have succumbed to the Scarlet Rot. Millicent refuses and chooses death over succumbing, which puts her above Malenia who unleashed it on Caelid in order to keep her unbroken win streak. In this respect, she proves the better woman.

Criticisms

Elden Ring is a work that isn’t above criticism, though. The archmage Rellana is the ruler of her own kingdom and able to stand against the Golden Order but due to heartbreak, goes mad and abandons her kingdom in order to lord over the insane reincarnations of her juvenile students. Preceptor Seluvis actually has a plotline where he attempts to brainwash a young warrior woman into being his slave (with all that implies), which your character can actually help him achieve. One of the most interesting characters in the game, Sellen the Sorceress, ends up a horrific biological mass even if you assist her character. Still, it is a collection of fascinating well-rounded women with their own dreams as well as ambitions.

Conclusion

Elden Ring is a video game that you must work very hard to experience the story of. However, it is a story of many three-dimensional characters with their own motivations as well as stories. Many of the stories deal with particularly female interpretations of power as well as family as well. Would I have appreciated a couple of female writers to add their own content? Yes. However, George and Miyasaki have done a fantastic job with their world’s women.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erd Tree review

    ELDEN RING: SHADOW OF THE ERD TREE is a DLC expansion for the Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin penned Elden Ring. The premise of the game is that the God Queen Marika has shattered the Elden Ring out of grief for her murdered demigod son, Godwyn the Golden. This has plunged the Lands Between into a horrific civil war where the dead rise and chaos reigns. The player character, the Tarnished of No Renown, has set upon a quest to become the new Elden Lord by repairing the Elden Ring then becoming Marika's consort.

    Shadow of the Erd Tree introduces a new land for the Tarnished of No Renown to explore as well as a plot dealing with Marika's youngest child, Miquella the Compassionate. Miquella wishes to become a god and has assembled an oddball collection of servants that he's brainwashed into believing in his vision. The Shadowlands are also tied to God Queen Marika's origins and introduces a new child of hers: Messmer the Impaler. It's more plot than your typical Souls-like and includes a lot of fodder for lore junkies.

    The Shadowlands are a lot more dark and depressing than anywhere in the Lands Between. It is littered with thousands of tombstones and the sign of the ongoing genocide that Messmer has conducted on his mother's behalf. A harrowing tale of revenge and tragedy that you have to do a lot of investigation in order to find out the full horror thereof. The design for the Shadowlands are depressing but beautiful with the empty plains, endless ghosts, and ruins of a once thriving civilization.

    Most Souls-like gamers are not here for the lore or world-building, though. They are here for the gameplay. In this case, Shadow of the Erd Tree is extremely difficult. Not entirely fairly difficult either as some of the bosses go past the enjoyment factor of "Souls difficult" to "the computer is a cheating bastard." Indeed, the developers seem to be aware of this and have introduced a new mechanic called Scadutree Fragments that basically just exist to increase your damage resistance as well as damage output only in the DLC.

    There's some genuinely great bosses like the Royal Knight Rellana, Messmer, and the Dancing Lion. However, there's also some bosses that just flat out are unfun to fight like the Golden Hippopotamus and the Putrescent Knight. Some of the story beats are also accidentally lost as you move through the story. For example, if you want to explore the history of Miquella and Saint Trina then you can't have burned open the path to the final level.

    There's some good loot in the Shadow of the Erd Tree as well as several new abilities that are worth enjoying. This includes new armor, Talismans, and Remembrances that are worthwhile. There's nothing that's particularly gamebreaking but some of the rewards in the DLC could be used to finish the main game easier. I was particularly glad to get some Talismans that can hold off Fire, Holy, and Lightning attacks.

    In conclusion, Shadow of the Erd Tree is a solid DLC. Unfortunately, it is something that is designed for artificial difficulty. When the hippo ignores your Mimic Tear and turbo charges you repeatedly like a heat seeking missile, it is not particularly fun. There's also a lot of platforming that I'm not fond of. Many times, I would try to explore the map only to get completely lost. Still, the expansion is beautiful and the plot is extremely well done. I came to love the characters and lore of this DLC more than anyone in Elden Ring's primary game and I love those characters. Sadly, there's no option to romance Leda the Needle Knight.

8.5/10

Elden Ring review

    THE ELDEN RING is not really a game that needs me to review it. It is a video game that has sold thirteen millon copies and is only selling more as time goes on. It has won countless awards. It was written in conjunction between Hidetaki Miyasaki and George R.R. Martin. The game is good, fantastically good, really, and is up there with some of the all-time best ever made. That is, with the caveat, "Do you like Dark Souls-esque games?" Because that's actually something that not every gamer can answer yes to. They're something a lot of gamers love. However, prior to this game, I'd never played a Souls-like before and it became a punishing learning curve to get used to the game's quirks.

    Basically, for newcomers, a Souls-like game is a game where you play a character that is immortal in-universe. In this case, the Tarnished has been given the ability to come back from the dead but no real other superpowers. You are expected in this game to die a lot and to master the parry, dodging, as well as stabbing abilities needed to survive through trial and error. This is a game where you can grind levels and are expected to but death is punished by losing all of your unspent Experience Points (called "runes") unless you can get to the place where you died to recover them. That comes with the caveat, though, that if you die a second time then the runes are lost forever. This incentivizes the PCs to play well by punishing them for loss.

    The lore of the game is exceptionally deep but incredibly difficult to find out in-universe. The short version is that Marika, the God Queen of the Lands Between, has disappeared and the Elden Ring that provides prosperity has been shattered. All of Marika's demigod children and her Elden Lord husbands have claimed a fragment of the Elden Ring in hopes of assuming rulership of the universe. You, as the immortal Tarnished, are part of a group of warriors resurrected to make their own play for the Elden Ring. If you're a good person, you want to be Elden Lord to fix the world and if you're a bad person then you just want to be elevated to godhood.

    I really like George R.R. Martin's touch in a much more high fantasy world than Westeros and the focus on the Olympian-like demigods and their dysfunctional family that makes this gameworld so great. He apparently wrote much of the backstory that the game requires you to research to understand and its readily apparent. Almost every god has a deep and messed-up backstory relating to their families with messy breakups, long-buried lust, as well as deep philosophical issues with the way the world functions. For millennia, the Golden Order has created a paradise but it was only one for humans and under an immortal God Queen.

    I think my favorite of the demigods are Ranni and Melina, who both are willing to help the Tarnished for their own reasons. I think both characters could have had much more presence in the game and interactions but it is the nature of Elden Ring that anything other than pure gameplay takes a great deal to coax out. Of the bosses, I actually really like Godrick and Rennala who are the runts of the litter of gods. Godrick is a diluted demigod who has turned to Frankensteinian body experimentation to try to become a true immortal while Rennala used to be the world's greatest sorceress but just lives as a madwoman in her academy's attic these days.

    If you want to know what playing the game is like, basically you just wander around multiple gameworld-sized domains looking for monsters to slay and secrets until you're leveled up enough to go after the bosses. The game is fantastically beautiful but takes a special delight in not letting you know when you're underleveled for an area until you're easily smashed by a local monster. Part of what I enjoy is the fact that you start with being able to see the Erd Tree and you never really stop being able to see the miles-tall God-Thing. It provides a focus for the story just by its constant presence.

    There's very few NPCs to interact with compared to many other games but that doesn't mean that they're absent entirely. There's things like talking giant jars, a host of heroic immortal knights that have fallen on hard times, and a few twisted individuals like the loathesome Dung Eater. Figuring out how to trigger their quests is an incredible struggle but that's part of the "no hand holding" nature of the game. There's a lot of things that flat out are impossible to do at the start of the game (and sometimes later) that the game simply laughs at you for. "You can come back from the dead! Start again!"

    In conclusion, the Elden Ring is an incredibly hard but rewarding game. I had a huge amount of fun with it and am already thirty-five hours into it but have yet to even approach endgame. This is a game where I actually recommend you farm your runes and level up as well as allow yourselves to check guides. I never would have managed to enjoy it as much as I came to if not for the help online as well as gaming the system as much as I had. I needed those extra ten levels or so I got from shanking Elder Dragon Greyoll.

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