Elden Ring loves its mysteries. Strange gods, forbidden unions, an unknown vow between brothers that changes the fate of the world. At the center of all this, and Elden Ring itself, is the biggest mystery and the game’s most important character: Marika. Despite her significance, she’s the only character you never really meet and who never speaks for herself. It’s a bizarre state of affairs, considering this goddess-queen forced an entire world to submit to her rule and created an entire new religion with herself at the center.
I assumed the Marika mystery was just FromSoftware doing its usual thing of intentionally leaving narrative threads unfinished, but once I finished Shadow of the Erdtree, I realized that wasn’t the case. Marika’s erasure was intentional – and I think it drives Elden Ring’s entire plot.
Once upon a time, Marika was a very corporeal being, a ferocious warrior, and a capable sorceress. She swept into The Lands Between and brought it under her control, launched a crusade against the dragons, the ancient giants, and eventually, the people who stuffed her family into meat-grinder jars. She established herself at the head of a new social order. The important thing to note here is that she did this. Yes, Godfrey, her first lord, tagged along for the ride )and did lots of killing) but Marika was the force behind it all, the one who made contact with gods and brought ancient orders to ruin.
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