History Characters / EldenRingMalenia

* StatuesqueStunner: She's over eight feet tall. With the Tarnished's head about level with her waist.

[[Characters/EldenRingMainCharacters Main Characters]] ([[Characters/EldenRingTheTarnished The Tarnished]] | [[Characters/EldenRingMarika Marika]]) | [[Characters/EldenRingRoundtableHold Roundtable Hold]] | [[Characters/EldenRingSecondaryCharacters Secondary Characters]] ([[Characters/EldenRingRenownedAshes Renowned Ashes]]) | [[Characters/EldenRingOuterGods Outer Gods]] | [[Characters/EldenRingDemigods Demigods]] ([[Characters/EldenRingGodfrey Godfrey]] | [[Characters/EldenRingMorgott Morgott]] | [[Characters/EldenRingMohg Mohg]] | [[Characters/EldenRingRadahn Radahn]] | [[Characters/EldenRingRykard Rykard]] | [[Characters/EldenRingRanniTheWitch Ranni the Witch]] | '''Malenia''') | [[Characters/EldenRingEnemiesAndBosses Enemies and Bosses]] ([[Characters/EldenRingDragons Dragons]] | [[Characters/EldenRingLiurniaOfTheLakes Liurnia of the Lakes]] | [[Characters/EldenRingRecurringEnemiesAndBosses Recurring Enemies and Bosses]] | [[Characters/EldenRingTarnishedInvadersAndTargets Tarnished Invaders and Targets]]) -]]]]]

* AdvertisedExtra: She's prominently featured in the marketing and receives a lot of references and hype throughout the game. Yet not only is encountering her in-person completely optional, said encounter ultimately amounts to one boss fight and less than a dozen lines. Contrast [[TheHeavy Morgott]]/[[RecurringBoss Margit]] and [[{{Deuteragonist}} Ranni]]. There's cut dialogue for her boss fight where she talks to the Tarnished like an old friend and expresses betrayal and disappointment at them fighting her, indicating she was originally planned to have a larger role. Seeing as how her brother (and her faction's co-leader) appears to have [[https://rannirespecter.wordpress.com/2022/03/31/miquella-malenia-and-the-age-of-abundance/ an entire ending that got cut]], presumably she would've been prominent in a quest line similar to Ranni's.
-->'''Malenia:''' Sweet Tarnished...
-->'''Malenia:''' Dearest companion...

** Why did she invade Caelid and fight Radahn? The most obvious explanation would be that she was trying to claim his Great Rune, but if that was the case, it's extremely counterintuitive for her to do so. To even reach Caelid, she would have needed to cross the entire continent, and if her goal was to claim Great Runes, she would have had much easier targets along the way: namely, Queen Rennala, who has been rendered nearly helpless by her mental breakdown after Radagon left her; and Godrick, a cowardly upstart with a crumbling army whom she has unambiguously bested in combat before. Both are still in possession of their Runes, and there's no indication Malenia even touched Rennala's forces on their march. Her known motivations also give no indication that she desires power for herself. An alternate theory is that she undertook her campaign to rescue Miquella, which opens up its own can of worms. There's also a theory that she went to Caelid specifically to kill Radahn, as he was arresting the movement of the stars. Miquella was apparently trying to complete a ritual to revive Godwyn which required the moon to eclipse the sun, and if Radahn was arresting the movement of the stars, said ritual would never be completed. This would explain Malenia's seemingly spiteful final act of unleashing the Scarlet Rot on Caelid as a desperate move to finish him off, after impaling him "only" seemed to wound and paralyze instead of kill him. The 1.0 version of the game's script essentially confirms this, unless the Haligtree has some ''other'' enemy who's holding stars.
-->'''Castle Sol Ghost:''' ''(1.01+)'' Lord Miquella, forgive me. The sun has not been swallowed. Our prayers were lacking. Your comrade remains soulless... I will never set eyes upon it now, your divine Haligtree...
-->'''Castle Sol Ghost:''' ''(1.0)'' Lord Miquella, I still cannot make pilgrimage to the Haligtree. Our glorious sun remains '''held in thrall.'''[[note]]As established on the Eclipse Crest Greatshield, the sun is considered a star in Elden Ring - and is what wards off Destined Death.[[/note]]

** Cranes, as visually indicated by her disproportionately long legs, red hair, and winged helmet, which comes to a beak-like point. She balances on one leg after several of her attacks, most noticeably her kick and thrust, and briefly bends the other close to her body to [[https://i.imgur.com/M0Jfx9V.png mimic a crane's stance]]. Several item descriptions make reference to her metaphorical "wings" as symbols of her martial prowess, such as the Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom stating "though born into the accursed rot, when the young girl encountered her mentor and his flowing blade, she gained wings of unparalleled strength." Her signature attack is also known as the Waterfowl Dance, and she [[https://twitter.com/meowmaritus/status/1507171438448549889?s=20&t=1TPeKDoVGdzuiB38Ra6tmA hops on one leg]] in the middle of it. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vATpVh-sev8&t=135s weaker variant]] that she sometimes does[[note]]This was patched out of the game after 1.0, seemingly in an attempt to make her easier; her first phase was also made less aggressive and coded to use her "block out of player combo" move significantly less often.[[/note]] makes the parallel more obvious as it's easier to see her motion.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Malenia is easily one of the nicest Demigods, being a noble warrior who inspires great loyalty from her followers and fights for the sake of creating a world where persecuted minorities like the Albinaurics and Misbegotten can live free from oppression. She's also indicated to be humble and honorable woman, based off her depictions in the Haligtree, and the fact that she congratulates you on your victory in both her current and cut dialogue. She's also a terrifyingly powerful warrior and full-on {{LightningBruiser}}, and she's also the game's foremost SuperBoss.

** Her last few post-defeat lines. Malenia normally talks like a stoic warrior in both scripts and her dialogue is mostly notable just for having the least adornment and archaisms out of her family. But when apologizing to Miquella for losing, her speech [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness abruptly changes]] to sound almost childish in a fairly jarring way, referring to herself in [[ThirdPersonPerson the third person]] (which would sound weird in English, but is stereotypical for young or cutesy characters in Japanese) and calling Miquella 兄様 (older brother), a young-sounding mix of respectful in the ending and familiar in the lack of an honorific prefix. This carries over to her quoted lines in her armor description, also talking about Miquella, ending the last sentence with 〜なのだから.[[note]]Additionally, her cut lines (e.g. her alternate boss intro where she's addressing the Tarnished as a close friend) are no-frills yet mature and articulate, further underlining the contrast between her defeat lines and her normal speech.[[/note]]

** She and Miquella, aside from their similarities to Wolf and Kuro respectively, also cover a lot of the same ground as the twin princes Lothric and Lorian in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls3'' as cursed twin siblings who reject their society's stagnating religion to strike out on their own and usher in a new age, with one being a physical powerhouse famed for their martial achievements but still presented as somewhat vulnerable due to their disabilities, and the other a mage who's frail and weak in body but potent in magic ability, who acts as their stronger sibling's caretaker. Both Lorian and Malenia also have the title of "Blade of [other sibling]." Cut content would've made the connection even more obvious.[[note]]Her boss fight - optional after being her ally in this version - has cut dialogue of Miquella reviving her during her phase transition in a similar way to how Lothric revives Lorian in his. They also had a weapon, the Twinblade of Abundance and Decay, which used both of their elements and symbolized their bond in much the same way as Lorian and Lothric's Twin Princes Greatsword (and to add to the parallel, the element of the stronger sibling on the blade was the curse responsible for their affliction - flame for Lorian, rot for Malenia).[[/note]]

* RedBaron: The Blade of Miquella, the Severed, the Undefeated Swordswoman, the Goddess of Rot. She was also variously called "the Red Queen", "the Undefeated", and "the Arbitress" in the v1.0 descriptions of Cleanrot Armor, the Winged Sword Insignia, and her helmet, respectively.[[note]]They got patched to different text later but those titles still existed and will display if you play the offline version without downloading any patches. She's also still called the Red Queen on the [[https://i.imgur.com/1NHkxtA.jpeg certificate]] that comes with Elden Ring's collector edition.[[/note]]

** It's not made clear if she's actually dead at the end of her boss fight. Upon defeat she leaves a large flower instead of a corpse, which is a symbol of death and rebirth for the Scarlet Rot. In the bad ending to Millicent's quest, she leaves a near-identical (though much smaller) flower, and Gowry states that she will be "reborn" from it in due time. Malenia also noticeably continues to talk for several lines despite losing her body and Rune,[[note]]With two exceptions, ''every other'' main boss is scripted to have their death speech stop after the "Great Rune and/or Remembrance acquired" message comes up, and even of those two, Morgott clearly does die when he is finished talking. The other exception? Rykard.[[/note]] and the Scarlet Aeonia obtained from her Remembrance describes her as if she's still alive and capable of "blooming" again. The Remembrance itself refers to her in the present tense, which isn't the case for any other character.[[note]]E.g. "Miquella and Malenia '''are''' both the children of a single god" vs "It '''was''' the vassal beast of the Greater Will and living incarnation of the concept of Order" or "The Red Lion General '''wielded''' gravitational powers."[[/note]] Some cut dialogue further hints at this.
--> Is this... my first... defeat? Bravely fought, sir/lady. But remember... One day, the scarlet bloom will flower again...

* WorthyOpponent: Regards the Tarnished as this after they defeat her, commenting on their strength and apologizing to her twin she's finally met her match. Notable as she and Godfrey are the only bosses in the entire game to regard the Tarnished this way, while all the others either completely disregard[[note]]e.g. Rennala, Rykard, Mohg, Radagon.[[/note]] or actively look down on them.[[note]]e.g. Godrick, Morgott, Maliketh.[[/note]] She also respectfully refers to the Tarnished as "sir" or "my lady" upon being defeated in cut dialogue, and says that they fought well. More subtly, she ends her intro cutscene with a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epQZqzJRAfE&t=100s saber salute]] and (in Japanese) uses a semi-archaic polite form of "you" right before doing so.

* {{Expy}}: Malenia can be concisely summed up as one to [[VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice Wolf]]. Design-wise, they have the obvious similarities of prosthetic arms and wielding katanas (though Malenia's blade isn't ''quite'' an identical match for one) with which they perform SuperSpeed FlashStep and RazorWind attacks. Character-wise, both always speak very calmly in a deep voice, can restore their health by killing enemies, unwillingly act as vectors for a disease that causes those close to them to Rot (Scarlet Rot/Dragon Rot) and potentially threatens the whole land, have resurrective immortality [[BlessedWithSuck granted by their corruptive curses]], turn against their fathers' visions for their homeland (Radagon's obedience to the Golden Order/Owl's plot to become god-emperor of Japan) and give up shots at great power to do so, have overall understated personalities that fade just a bit [[BloodKnight in a good fight]], are in constant danger of being overtaken by a supernatural influence that would transform them into monsters (Goddess of Rot/Shura), had a master swordsman mentor who famously slew the previous incarnation of said influence (The Blue Fairy Swordsman for the God of Rot, Isshin Ashina for Shura), and are primarily defined by their ironclad and selfless loyalty towards wise, mystical, immortal child-lords (Miquella/Kuro) who seek to purge their curses. Some of Malenia's attack animations also look a ''lot'' like stronger versions of the moves Sekiro can learn, with a kick resembling the Senpou Leaping Kick, the opening of her Waterfowl Dance having similar choreography to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SM4HEnBIg4&t=0m36s Spiral Cloud Passage]], or the last second of her Waterfowl Dance having her perform a forward slash followed by a dozen invisible-to-the-eye slashes appearing around her in a sphere while seemingly stationary, just like One Mind.

* MadeOfIron: With how many parts she's missing and how much of her remaining flesh is covered in lesions, Malenia shouldn't even be ''alive'' by the time she fights Radahn and the Tarnished, much less able to act as the toughest boss in the game. Especially since it's made clear that the Rot is incredibly painful and physically debilitating. Mechanically, Malenia's potentially the single most durable entity in ''Elden Ring'', with 33,000 hit points between her two phases backed by an ability that allows her to heal 300-400 more hit points on every hit - and [[BladeSpam she throws a lot of them.]]

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: The game spends a good deal of time hyping up Malenia as likely the strongest remaining entity in the setting, having not waned in strength as much as the likes of Radahn. And with her mechanically being one of, if not ''the'' single, hardest ''[=FromSoftware=]'' bosses it is a well-earned position, both in-universe and out-of.

* DesperationAttack: Millicent states Malenia unleashed her Rot in this regard, she saw no other way to beat [[TheJuggernaut General Radahn]] and did this as a final resort.

[[/folder]]

* BigSisterInstinct: Inverted as the subtitles in the Japanese version of the game has her refer to Miquella as "older brother", confirming that she's the younger twin. As her title indicates, she's sworn her life to defending Miquella, her twin brother, and making his vision of the Lands Between a reality. In a sad irony, she's currently comatose and unable to help him as Mohg, her half-brother holds him hostage.

* BigSisterInstinct: As her title indicates, she's sworn her life to defending Miquella, her twin brother, and making his vision of the Lands Between a reality. In a sad irony, she's currently comatose and unable to help him as Mohg, her half-brother holds him hostage.

* HandicappedBadass: [[ExaggeratedTrope She's missing an arm, both her feet and her eyes]], and first confronts the Tarnished having just awoken from a decades-long coma. None of this seems to slow her down in the slightest. The statues of her in the Haligtree and the description of the Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom indicate while she used to have intact feet and eyes and an unmarred left arm, her status as an amputee with a missing right arm goes back to her childhood. As the chosen of the Scarlet Rot, it's strongly implied that she can be nothing other than this trope - to properly embody decay and rebirth, she must always be both horribly crippled and incredibly powerful - and, indeed, she seems to have shaped a significant part of her fighting style around her disabilities and the prosthetics she uses to compensate for them.

* WorthyOpponent: Regards the Tarnished as this after they defeat her, commenting on their strength and apologizing to her twin she's finally met her match. Notable as she and Godfrey are the only bosses in the entire game to regard the Tarnished this way, while all the others either completely disregard[[note]]e.g. Rennala, Rykard, Mohg, Radagon.[[/note]] or actively look down on them.[[note]]e.g. Godrick, Morgott, Maliketh.[[/note]] She also respectfully refers to the Tarnished as "sir" or "my lady" upon being defeated in cut dialogue, and says that they fought well.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Malenia is easily one of the nicest Demigods, being a noble warrior who inspires great loyalty from her followers and fights for the sake of creating a world where persecuted minorities like the Albinaurics and Misbegotten can live free from oppression. She's also indicated to be humble and honorable woman, based off her depictions in the Haligtree, and the fact that she congratulates you on your victory in both her current and cut dialogue. She's also a terrifyingly powerful warrior and full-on {{LightningBruiser}}, with each one of her Waterfowl slashes carrying enough energy to [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/yfmrez/malenia_vs_tanks/ cut through the frontal armor]] of a [[{{Tank Goodness}} Panther tank]], and she's also the game's foremost SuperBoss.

* ModestRoyalty: Despite being a PhysicalGod, the co-leader of her faction, and a crown princess by Marika, Malenia dresses in a rather understated fashion more befitting a warrior than a royal. Her dress is simple and practical, Her "throne" within the Haligtree's roots is a simple wooden chair with no adornments, and aside from her prosthetics (which are only gold because she ''needs'' them to be to resist the Rot), the only sign of her rank is the cape she wears bearing the Haligtree sigil. All of her knights have more elaborate armor than her, with even her iconic helmet being fairly modest compared to theirs. Her sword is an unadorned chunk of dull metal, contrasting the [[BlingOfWar decorative]] ones used by the other Shardbearers. What's especially unusual is how she's depicted in her own fiefdom. The other demigods adorn their territory with statues and portraits of themselves in royal regalia or battle dress, often in dominant posture and bearing weapons. The images made of Malenia throughout the Lands Between (such as the [[https://i.imgur.com/8ACS2ec.jpg painting of her at the Shaded Castle]]) generally follow this trend in keeping with her continent-wide reputation as the WorldsBestWarrior. But in the Haligtree, the only idols of Malenia present are statues depicting her unarmed (both literally and figuratively), garbed in a commoner's clothing, and kneeling on her knees to embrace her child-sized brother. Said statues notably make no effort to downplay Malenia's physical disabilities, as she's depicted with her prosthetic detached, exposing a nasty-looking shoulder wound where her right arm should be. Her followers can still be found kneeling in reverence to these statues, including the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy battle-hungry]] Misbegotten Warriors, which is pretty telling.

* SignatureMove: Two of them.

** Her second phase adds another, Scarlet Aeonia. After her disastrous duel with Radahn, she became infamous throughout the Lands Between for this, a Servants of Rot Incantation that creates a gigantic glowing red "flower" (similar in appearance to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrus_archeri the real world "Devil's Finger" Fungus]]) that sprays a massive cloud of Scarlet Rot onto the surroundings upon blooming. Not only is this [[VictorGainsLosersPowers an Incantation the player can get using her Remembrance]], but an ''entire region of Caelid'' is called Aeonia Swamp due to being the epicenter of her biggest ever Scarlet Aeonia which she used to [[FantasticNuke bring her fight with Radahn to a stalemate and which permanently transformed Caelid into the rot-ravaged hellscape it is now]].

* WingedHumanoid: She grows a massive pair of moth-like wings upon unleashing the Rot in her second phase, and will use them to quickly fly out of the Tarnished's reach and set up another attack. A closer look shows that the wings are formed from masses of Aeonian Butterflies clinging to her hair.

** The description of her Great Rune notes that, were it not infected by the Rot, her Great Rune would be the most sacred of them all - and implicitly (as the Great Runes reflect their wielders), she'd be the most "sacred" of the demigods. The exact meaning of this, and why this would apply to her in particular (as opposed to at least sharing the title with her brother), is never explained.

* FieryRedhead: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed.]] She inherited her father's flowing red locks and is a ferocious warrior, but her overall demeanor is more stoic then this trope usually implies.

** Her second phase adds another, Scarlet Aeonia. After her disastrous duel with Radahn, she became infamous throughout the Lands Between for this, a Servants of Rot Incantation that creates a gigantic glowing red "flower" (similar in appearance to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrus_archeri the real world "Devil's Finger" Fungus]]) that sprays a massive cloud of Scarlet Rot onto the surroundings upon blooming.

** She and Miquella, aside from their similarities to Wolf and Kuro respectively, also cover a lot of the same ground as the twin princes Lothric and Lorian in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls3'' as cursed twin siblings who reject their society's stagnating religion to strike out on their own and usher in a new age, with one being a physical powerhouse famed for their martial achievements but still presented as somewhat vulnerable due to their disabilities, and the other a mage who's frail and weak in body but potent in magic ability, who acts as their stronger sibling's caretaker. Both Lorian and Malenia also have the title of "Blade of [other sibling]." Cut content would've made the connection even more obvious.[[note]]Her boss fight - optional after being her ally in this version - has cut dialogue of Miquella reviving her during her phase transition in a similar way to how Lothric revives Lorian in his. They also had a weapon, the Twinblade of Abundance and Decay, which used both of their elements and symbolized their bond in much the same way as Lorian and Lothric's Twin Princes Greatsword (and to add to the parralell, the element of the stronger sibling on the blade was the curse responsible for their affliction - flame for Lorian, rot for Malenia).[[/note]]