Elden Ring loves its mystery. Strange gods, forbidden unions, unknown vows between brothers change the fate of the world. At the center of it all, and Elden Ring itself, is the biggest mystery and most important character in the game: Marika. Despite her importance, she’s the only character you never really see and never speaks for herself. It’s a strange situation, considering this goddess-queen forced the entire world to submit to her rule and created a whole new religion centered around her.
I thought the mystery of Marika was just a narrative thread intentionally left unfinished by FromSoftware, but when I finished Shadow of the Tree, I realized that wasn’t the case. Mallika’s removal was intentional – I think it drives the entire plot of Elden Ring.
Full game ending spoilers for Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree follow.
Manage cookie settings
Once upon a time, Malika was a very physical being, a fierce warrior and a capable sorceress. She swept across the world and brought it under her control, waging a crusade against dragons, ancient giants, and the people who would ultimately stuff her family into the jars of a meat grinder. She established herself as a leader in the new social order. The important thing to note here is that she Did this. Yes, her first lord Godfrey followed her and did a lot of killing) but Marika was the power behind it all, she made contact with the gods and destroyed ancient order.
This is not enough. She wanted more, and of course she did. Mallika may be vicious, vindictive, and cruel toward her children, but she’s also an ambitious, restless woman who’s reached the top and wants to know how to get higher. The thing is, I don’t think she took into account the fact that Radagon only Just as ambitious.
The story trailer for Shadow of the Tree mentions temptation, betrayal, and “gold’s resulting romance,” while showing someone using the Divine Gate for the first time. Seduction and affair are both loaded words, and it’s safe to assume that Malika and Ragone became very friendly, perhaps before Malika banished Godfrey. However, I think there is a second meaning here, especially since the meaning of these words is most likely – that Malika pulled some golden thread from what might have been her corpse before consecrating herself to the door.
The allure of power and divinity seduced Malika, and there was more to it than just the mixing of bodies. There’s no reason why Marika couldn’t have Lagon as her lover and remain married to Godfrey—unless Lagon agreed to something Godfrey couldn’t or wouldn’t: Ascension.
One of the most confusing plot points in Elden Ring involves Mallika herself. Or, more specifically, what exactly happened to her and Ragone. Corin’s side quest makes it very important that she and Ragon are the same person. It’s a shocking revelation for him and for us, but The Shadow of the Tree inadvertently unravels the mystery when Miquela merges with Radane. In “Elden Ring”, the only way to become a god is for the soul of a concubine and the Nine Heavens to merge into one.
If this sounds far-fetched or unique to Shadow, remember that this is essentially what Lanie does to you in her ending. She abandoned her body, became a soul, made you her consort, and ushered in the Moon Age as the new god between heaven and earth.
The downside, however, as St. Trina tells us, is that life in the Empyrean becomes a prison from which only death can free them.
In Marika’s case, I was reminded of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Be patient and listen to me. In this brilliant gothic novel, Catherine Earnshaw falls passionately in love with an unknown man named Heathcliff, but she has her sights set on a far more expensive prize: status. She decides to marry a local landowner and nobleman and banish Heathcliff from her soul, and the life she chooses ultimately suffocates her until nothing but a withered shell remains.
“Elden Ring” doesn’t say this explicitly or implicitly, but there’s almost no viable explanation for Malika’s sudden decision to banish Godfrey. After listening to St. Trina’s words about Michaela, I can easily see how Godfrey – if he had any feelings for Marica – refused to condemn her to the same prison that awaited Michaela, Marika, on the other hand, sent him out into the sunlight to find someone who would accept him.
A popular fan theory is that Marica received grace from Godfrey and his followers as part of a plan to oppose the Great Will, but I don’t believe it. First, Malika was fully committed to the order she created back Banish Godfrey and ascend to godhood. Maybe this is some long-term failsafe in case something goes wrong with the Radagon, but that seems a bit far-fetched. The tarnished hold fast to what Malika said in her church—that after death they would return full of grace, “waving the ring of Eldon”—but there is no mass return of the dead “to heaven and earth.” They just slowly come back, die, and fade into memory.
However, I think there is a more practical explanation for her words. Malika had just demoted, divorced, and exiled the beloved leader of a large, aggressive military unit. This is not the kind of enemy your new regime wants, so the best thing to do is to appease them and send them far, far away so they don’t cause a nuisance – which is exactly what Mallika did of.
Or maybe Godfrey was just angry that Marika shoved their Omen child into the sewer, making such a fuss that Marika kicked him out. This is a possibility, but much less likely to continue along this line of thinking. “Elden Ring” loves its similarities, Godfrey and Malika are perfect mirror images of Saint Trina and Miquela.
But whatever the reason for Godfrey’s banishment, Malika married again – and everything changed.
With Ladagon in tow, Malika traveled across the war-torn Shadowlands to Enir-Elim, shed her mortal form (as Migaela would later do), and unlock her divinity door. But unlike their son, Malika and Radagon actually completed the ritual. Following the action Miquela started with Radagon, this is when Mallika and Radagon become one – and no, I don’t mean in an old sexual way. I mean, the Consort and the Soul of the High Heavens were one and the same until the end of the Golden Order. That’s why you see Marika ordering war against the Rayalukalia wizards from Leander, with Ragon leading the charge. They were different people – until Malika became a god.
As far as I know, Mallika’s war against the Hornsants was her last battle, and once she returned to the Middle Land, she would change – or be forced to change. She is no longer Malika, the fierce warrior, conqueror of dragons, and avenger of her people. She is reduced to the role that women have been forced to play for most of history. She becomes a wife.
After her multi-layered marriage to Radagon, the only role left for her was that of a passive one. The Goddess Malika is the personification of Grace and the Order of Elden Circle, and the standards of belief and conduct that everyone in the Order is expected to follow. She is Ladagon’s wife, the mother of her children, and the object of worship throughout the country. To the people of Hosent, she is a “mean whore” (for understandable reasons, at this point). She is a trinity in the view of women’s history: mother, saint, prostitute—but no text in Elden Ring treats her as a person anymore; Let alone working with any agency of her own.
Instead, she became a ideal. In her role as a maintainer of order, she becomes something of a Victorian gibberish. Women are the moral compass of the family and the nation. She is the Mother of All, offering grace and unchanging peace and security to those who integrate into the society she created. Now, she also represents in part the tendency in medieval Europe to view women as objects worthy of respect and protection rather than as autonomous people with the needs of life. Even the opening animation of Elden Ring was integrated into the show. The queen is missing! Go and save her, brave knight!
Malika becomes how you and others perceive her. She exists to use her to get something for herself without any idea of what she might want, think or need. After being promoted to the divine position, she lost herself. Meanwhile, Radagon—the one who still retains an actual physical body in the material world—enjoys all the privileges of being alive and is a god, and does everything in his power to ensure that this continues.
“Elden Ring” never makes it clear why or when the shattering occurs. The opening cutscene states that Marika disappeared before the war, suggesting that Marika destroyed the Elden Ring before Godwin was murdered. Rogier said she did so after Godwin’s death on Black Knife Night. In The Shadow of the Tree, Leda hints that “His Majesty” Miquela may initiate the Crushing War as a race to find a worthy lord for his consort. Maybe he tricked Malika into shattering the Ring of Elden, or maybe he just incited war between his family members after the deed was completed. What Malika did was such a strong act of defiance that I think she just did it on her own, without interference from her snot-nosed magical son.
For whatever reason, whether it was grief or depression, Marika tore apart her life and everything she had purposely built. She had had enough and she didn’t care what the consequences were. Who can blame her? As she thought about it, her life shrunk year by year, with no end in sight, until she finally found that her victories, sacrifices, and sins had all been in vain.
The finger-reader tells us that she was imprisoned for breaking the ring, but in Elden Ring’s characteristic lying-by-omission manner, this was not the work of some random emissary of the Outer Gods. It’s Ladagon. The thorns that prevent you from entering the tree—and prevent anyone from getting out—are shaped like his runes.
Reader Aenea’s vague explanation suggests that the Great Will punished Malika. However, she never actually said World Health Organization done. But think about this: if Malika breaks free, Ragon is the one who has the most to lose. He was the reason she disappeared.
With her last chance for freedom gone, Malika is imprisoned in her room and spends her final days imprisoned in her body. When you break Radagon’s seal and enter her room, she Gone without a trace – the end of a life, a warrior, a mother, and a god. Ladagon is still around, but he’s such an aging shadow of his former self that it’s almost pathetic, or it would be pathetic if he wasn’t trying to knock your brains out. Marika’s complete lack of movement made me think she might be dead or dying now and everything she did was in tatters. Even if Ladagon defeats you, Tainted, there is no way these two can go back to their original selves.
I think Godfrey knew this, hence the sudden influx of Tartar and Godfrey himself into Ryder. Obviously, there’s no clear answer as to what Elden Ring is about, and there shouldn’t be. But I like to think that, at least to some extent, it continues the parallels of Wuthering Heights: Godfrey, unable to shake his fear of Malika, comes back to take back what’s rightfully his, and to take revenge on what’s left. Stuff wreaked havoc. Her life’s work, but inadvertently created a better world for those who came after.
Well, until you kill him. Are we… bad people?
