Elden Ring’s rich lore is supported by a massive cast of characters with highly detailed backstories. Knowing the backstory of the game’s major, and sometimes more minor, characters helps the player piece together the ambiguity of the story world FromSoftware has created with The Lands Between. The motivations and history of Elden Ring’s cast give depth to the lengthy timeline and events that shaped the world the player Tarnished fights through.
The story of Elden Ring is teased out between the many dozens of characters represented in the game. Some characters, like Melina, have little to no accompanying story, which shrouds them in mysteries that hopefully will be explored in the recently announced Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree. However, several main characters have backstories that are just too vital to ignore, while some minor characters have truly memorable stories packed with just as much awe and grandeur as the major players in The Lands Between. Below is a list of ten Elden Ring characters with the best backstories.
10 Cleanrot Knight Finlay Is Elden Ring’s Coolest Spirit Ash
Malenia, Blade of Miquella, was one of the most formidable shard bearers to participate in Elden Ring’s brutal war known as the Shattering. She led a group of knights known as Clean Rot Knights, who fought just as fiercely as Malenia herself. These knights were so devoted to the demigod that they fought loyally alongside the Blade of Miquella despite their inevitable decay and death from being so near one cursed with Elden Ring’s Scarlet Rot. Finlay was perhaps one of the most impressive Clean Rot Knights. She survived Malenia and Radahn’s fight in Caelid and managed to carry the wounded Malenia back to Haligtree by herself.
9 Morgott, The Omen King, Was Devoted To The Golden Order
Morgott and his brother Mohg were born of Queen Marika and Godfrey, the so-called Golden Lineage. However, Morgott and Mohg were born with cursed Omen blood, which gave them wild horns and extra appendages like tails and wings. The Golden Order reviled the Omen Curse, so despite their royal birth, the Omen children were forced to live hidden in the sewers below Leyndell, rather than harboring a grudge though, Morgott remained loyal to the Golden Order. When the Shattering began, he remained in the capital and defended the Erdtree and the throne from all contenders, taking the mantle of Omen King. He even fought, via a magic projection, under the alias Margit, The Fell Omen, Elden Ring’s first boss.
8 Godrick The Grafted Is Elden Ring’s Most Pathetic Shardbearer
Godrick the Grafted is Elden Ring’s creepiest and most pathetic demigod. He stems from the Golden Lineage of Marika and Godfrey but is so far separated from them that his power is practically nonexistent. He managed to claim a Great Rune during the Shattering but suffered many defeats and was kicked out of Leyndell, hiding among the small folk in order to escape. He even had the audacity to challenge Malenia but was quickly put in his place. Embarrassed by his shortcomings, he turned to the reviled practice of grafting to compensate.
7 Sellen, The Graven Witch, Studied Forbidden Sorceries
Sellen is one of Elden Ring’s more peculiar, albeit nefarious, side characters. When the player finds her in-game, she still bears the robes of Elden Ring’s Raya Lucaria Academy, where she studied Glintstone magic and became one of the most influential and controversial figures in the institution’s history. Under the masters Lusat and Azur, she became so powerful that she earned a portrait on the walls of the Academy along with a Glintstone Crown fashioned after her likeness. She was later expelled from the Academy, however, for seeking to re-engage in the study of the sacred and forbidden Primeval Current, which earned her the title of Graven Witch.
6 Miquella, The Unalloyed, Opposed The Golden Order
The union of Marika and Radagon spawned two children who were prodigies, the twins Malenia and Miquella. Unfortunately, despite their talents, the twins were cursed with terrible afflictions: Malenia, with the Scarlet Rot, and Miquella, with eternal youth. Under the order of the Erdtree, not even the Greater Will, Elden Ring’s outer god, could cure the twins. Enraged and disillusioned with the Golden Order, Miquella stepped out on his own to form a new order that was more welcoming to all the Erdtree spurned. This led him to grow the Haligtree and begin a desperate quest to cure himself and his sister.
5 Rennala, Queen Of The Full Moon, Fought Against The Erdtree
Rennala belonged to a line of astrologers that studied the stars and their movements. She discovered the full moon and its powers and quickly became adept in all manner of lunar magic. Rennala’s skills impressed those at the Academy of Raya Lucaria so much that she was made its master. She led the knights of the Carian family against the forces of the Erdtree in many battles in the years before the Shattering. Eventually, she agreed to make peace after Radagon of Elden Ring’s Golden Order repented in the Church of Vows, and the two married.
Rennala and Radagon lived happily for a time, raising three children who would grow up to be mighty demigods. Things took a turn, however, when Radagon surprisingly left Rennala to marry Queen Marika. Rennala was heartbroken and sank into a deep depression. The other leaders of the Academy took this chance to cast her aside, locking her in the Grand Library, where she was left to cradle the amber egg Radagon gifted her.
4 Queen Marika, The Eternal, Is The Vessel For The Greater Will
Marika is the queen of The Lands Between and a vessel of the outer god known as the Greater Will. In the name of this deity and her burgeoning Golden Order, Marika waged war against all manner of enemies, such as the giants in the mountaintops north of the Erdtree and the Carian Royals of Elden Ring’s Liurnia of the Lakes. Marika cast aside her husband Godfrey when all the Erdtree’s enemies had been conquered. She then took Radagon as her husband, harboring the secret that Radagon and herself are one and the same.
3 Roundtable Knight Vyke Almost Became Elden Lord
Roundtable Knight Vyke, the character on Elden Ring’s cover art, is one of the most powerful Tarnished to walk The Lands Between. Vyke was one of the early Tarnished to answer the call of Grace and join the Roundtable Hold in seeking to become Elden Lord. He was so formidable that he managed to gather two Great Runes, more than any Tarnished had acquired by that point. Vyke’s success took a turn, however, when he discovered that his Finger Maiden would have to be sacrificed in order to take the throne. So he sought out the Three Fingers and the Frenzied Flame, Elden Ring’s worst ending, which led to his imprisonment in the Contender’s Evergaol.
2 Ranni, The Witch, Is The Cause Of Elden Ring’s Major Events
Lunar Princess Ranni was one of the children born of Queen Rennala and Radagon. She formed a deep bond with her mother, who showed her the wonders of the full moon and even helped her find her own dark moon. Eventually, the Two Fingers dubbed Ranni an Empyrean, a candidate to replace Queen Marika, but Ranni shunned the idea of being forced into servitude to the Greater Will, so she devised a scheme to rid herself of this burden and bring about a new age for The Lands Between.
She was the mastermind behind the infamous Night of the Black Knives, which resulted in the death of Godwyn the Golden, Marika’s beloved son. Ranni also died on this night, but her soul lived on and it can be argued that, without Ranni’s intervention, the events of Elden Ring’s main story would never have come to pass. Perhaps Ranni had more influence over The Lands Between than Queen Marika and the Greater Will.
1 General Radahn, Conqueror Of The Stars, Has An Endearing Backstory
General Radahn was another child of Queen Rennala and Radagon. Radahn studied gravity magic in the sorcery town of Sellia when he was young, so he could still ride his beloved scrawny horse despite his massive size. He became so powerful that he arrested the flow of constellations, earning him the title of Starscourge. This act was seemingly done to prevent his sister Ranni from enacting her plans to eliminate the Golden Order, which Radahn admired greatly.
He was also the mightiest of all the demigods to fight in Elden Ring’s brutal Shattering war. He proved to be a match for the undefeated Malenia, who unleashed the Scarlet Rot on him, leaving him broken and crazed. Since that day, he has been wandering the Caelid battlefield and keeping the stars at bay.
Elden Ring’s character backstories are woven together so finely, often with significant intersections with other characters. This tapestry of plot and character motivations demonstrates FromSoftware’s skill in crafting intricate stories. Moreover, it proves that Elden Ring is a true masterpiece worthy of its GOTY win at the Video Game Awards 2022.
