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* BodyHorror: The Scarlet Rot has done a number on her body, though you don't see the true extent until her second phase, which shows parts of her body being decayed and cracked. She was already decaying by the time she fought Radahn (seen in the cinematic trailer), but decades later when facing the Tarnished, the rot has gotten even worse (particularly noticeable around her face). [[https://i.redd.it/3a3yeod2ouq81.jpg A statue in the Haligtree of her out of her battle dress]] shows it was nowhere near as bad prior to the Shattering -- she still was missing her right arm, but her left arm and face were untouched and she still had her feet and, possibly, her eyes.
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* BodyHorror: The Scarlet Rot has done a number on her body, though you don't see the true extent until her second phase, which shows parts of her body being decayed and cracked. She was already decaying by the time she fought Radahn (seen in the cinematic trailer), but decades later when facing the Tarnished, the rot has gotten even worse (particularly noticeable around her face). [[https://i.redd.it/3a3yeod2ouq81.jpg A statue in the Haligtree of her out of her battle dress]] shows it was nowhere near as bad prior to the Shattering -- she still was missing her right arm, but her left arm and face were untouched and she still had her feet and, possibly, her and eyes.
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* ModestRoyalty: Despite being a PhysicalGod and the co-leader of her faction, Malenia dresses in a rather understated fashion more befitting a warrior than a royal, which is not unusual for her siblings. What ''is'' unusual though 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, and the images made of Malenia throughout the Lands Between (such as the 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. The fact that her followers can still be found kneeling in reverence to these statues, including the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy battle-hungry]] Misbegotten Warriors, is pretty telling.
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* ModestRoyalty: Despite being a PhysicalGod and 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, which is not unusual for her siblings. What ''is'' unusual though 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, and 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) 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. The fact that her followers can still be found kneeling in reverence to these statues, including the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy battle-hungry]] Misbegotten Warriors, is pretty telling.
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* BraggingRightsReward: Defeating her earns you her Great Rune, [[spoiler:which enables you to rally your yellow health back a la ''Bloodborne''.]] However, having defeated Malenia, there's a good chance you're so overpowered that no enemy presents a challenge worthy of her Great Rune, or you simply don't need its power at all.
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* BraggingRightsReward: Defeating her earns you her Great Rune, [[spoiler:which enables you to rally your yellow health back a la ''Bloodborne''.]] However, having defeated Malenia, there's a good chance you're so overpowered that no enemy presents a challenge worthy of her Great Rune, or you simply don't need its power at all. Great runes also don't carry into NG+, and by the time you beat her, there's probably little left to fight anyway in your current playthrough.
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* MyNameIsInigoMontoya: She begins her boss battle by announcing her name and title with the quote at the top. As she also repeats it every time she kills the player in the first phase of her boss fight, you will be hearing it ''a lot''.
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* MyNameIsInigoMontoya: She begins her boss battle by announcing her name and title with the quote at the top. As she also repeats it every time she kills the player in the first phase of her boss fight, you will be hearing it ''a lot''. Given [[DeathOfPersonality what the Rot does]] [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget to its victims]], it quite possibly doubles as a SurvivalMantra.
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* FatalFlaw: She has great pride in being Miquella's blade and being his undefeated protector instead of whatever the Scarlet Rot has planned for her. When she has trouble in battle against opponents like the Tarnished and Radahn she is willing to let the Rot advance in her body and mind over a defeat that could shame her brother. It doesn't help that Miquella has been missing and the Scarlet Rot tries to destroy the sense of self of those infected so the few things Malenia can still identifies herself as is slipping away.
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* YourDaysAreNumbered: Malenia is more resistant to the effects of the Scarlet Rot than most others, even able to [[CursedWithAwesome wield it to her advantage]] to an extent, but she is still not immune to the disease. The Rot ever so gradually consumes her from within, especially without the Unalloyed Gold Needle her brother made to hold it at bay. This even applies on a mechanical level: Malenia's lifelong fight against the Rot has rendered her ''highly'' resistant to its effects and even regular poison,[[note]]You need to inflict 1,481 points of Rot build-up for the effect to trigger, which is about four times what you need for other late-game bosses like Morgott, Godfrey, or Maliketh, or twice for especially resistant ones like Mohg or Fortissax.[[/note]] but she's still able to have it inflicted, and it will eventually kill her like it would anyone else. Miquella's main motivation for establishing the Haligtree was to subvert this trope by finding a cure for her Rot, but Mohg kidnapped him before he could do so. The player actually does find a cure that seemingly would work,[[note]]Miquella's Needle, which normally only holds back outer god influence, is capable of totally purging it if used in Farum Azula due to it being "outside time."[[/note]] but [[ButThouMust there's no option to use it]] or [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyAnswer even say a single word about it to her.]]
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* YourDaysAreNumbered: Malenia is more resistant to the effects of the Scarlet Rot than most others, even able to [[CursedWithAwesome wield it to her advantage]] to an extent, but she is still not immune to the disease. The Rot ever so gradually consumes her from within, especially without the Unalloyed Gold Needle her brother made to hold it at bay. This even applies on a mechanical level: Malenia's lifelong fight against the Rot has rendered her ''highly'' resistant to its effects and even regular poison,[[note]]You need to inflict 1,481 points of Rot build-up for the effect to trigger, which is about four times what you need for other late-game bosses like Morgott, Godfrey, or Maliketh, or twice for especially resistant ones like Mohg or Fortissax.[[/note]] but she's still able to have it inflicted, and it will eventually kill her like it would anyone else. Miquella's main motivation for establishing the Haligtree was to subvert this trope by finding a cure for her Rot, but Mohg kidnapped him before he could do so. The player actually does find a cure that seemingly would work,[[note]]Miquella's Needle, which normally only holds back outer god influence, is capable of totally purging it if used in Farum Azula due to it being "outside time."[[/note]] but [[ButThouMust there's no option to use it]] or [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyAnswer [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption even say a single word about it to her.]]
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* YourDaysAreNumbered: Malenia is more resistant to the effects of the Scarlet Rot than most others, even able to [[CursedWithAwesome wield it to her advantage]] to an extent, but she is still not immune to the disease. The Rot ever so gradually consumes her from within, especially without the Unalloyed Gold Needle her brother made to hold it at bay. This even applies on a mechanical level: Malenia's lifelong fight against the Rot has rendered her ''highly'' resistant to its effects and even regular poison,[[note]]You need to inflict 1,481 points of Rot build-up for the effect to trigger, which is about four times what you need for other late-game bosses like Morgott, Godfrey, or Maliketh, or twice for especially resistant ones like Mohg or Fortissax.[[/note]] but she's still able to have it inflicted, and it will eventually kill her like it would anyone else.
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* YourDaysAreNumbered: Malenia is more resistant to the effects of the Scarlet Rot than most others, even able to [[CursedWithAwesome wield it to her advantage]] to an extent, but she is still not immune to the disease. The Rot ever so gradually consumes her from within, especially without the Unalloyed Gold Needle her brother made to hold it at bay. This even applies on a mechanical level: Malenia's lifelong fight against the Rot has rendered her ''highly'' resistant to its effects and even regular poison,[[note]]You need to inflict 1,481 points of Rot build-up for the effect to trigger, which is about four times what you need for other late-game bosses like Morgott, Godfrey, or Maliketh, or twice for especially resistant ones like Mohg or Fortissax.[[/note]] but she's still able to have it inflicted, and it will eventually kill her like it would anyone else. Miquella's main motivation for establishing the Haligtree was to subvert this trope by finding a cure for her Rot, but Mohg kidnapped him before he could do so. The player actually does find a cure that seemingly would work,[[note]]Miquella's Needle, which normally only holds back outer god influence, is capable of totally purging it if used in Farum Azula due to it being "outside time."[[/note]] but [[ButThouMust there's no option to use it]] or [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyAnswer even say a single word about it to her.]]
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** 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 briefly bends the other close to her body to mimic a crane's stance. Her signature attack is also known as the Waterfowl Dance. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xywpJ26hS70 weaker variant]] that she sometimes does (patched out of the game after version 1.0) makes the parralel more obvious as she hops around on one leg while she does it.
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** 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 briefly bends the other close to her body to mimic a crane's stance. Her signature attack is also known as the Waterfowl Dance. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xywpJ26hS70 weaker variant]] that she sometimes does (patched out of the game after version 1.0) makes the parralel parallel more obvious as she hops around on one leg while she does it.
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--->'''Hand of Malenia:''' Malenia's war prosthesis symbolized her victories. Some claim to have seen wings when the weapon was raised aloft; [[Determinator wings of fierce determination that have never known defeat]].
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--->'''Hand of Malenia:''' Malenia's war prosthesis symbolized her victories. Some claim to have seen wings when the weapon was raised aloft; [[Determinator [[{{Determinator}} wings of fierce determination that have never known defeat]].
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--->'''Hand of Malenia:''' Malenia's war prosthesis symbolized her victories. Some claim to have seen wings when the weapon was raised aloft; [[Determinatorwings of fierce determination that have never known defeat]].
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--->'''Hand of Malenia:''' Malenia's war prosthesis symbolized her victories. Some claim to have seen wings when the weapon was raised aloft; [[Determinatorwings [[Determinator wings of fierce determination that have never known defeat]].
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--->'''Winged Sword Insignia:''' The wings symbolize Malenia and her undefeated prowess. Though she never knew relief from the accursed rot she was born into, her blade was forever beautiful -- and relentless.
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* PastExperienceNightmare: After Malenia first wakes she seemingly recalls dreaming about Miquella's disappearance, giving in to her curse at Aeonia, the state of her disease, and the loss of her limbs to it. Millicent mentions in her own quest that the Rot causes nightmares, which paired with [[DespairEventHorizon how it takes over its hosts]] implies that the Rot was attempting to unleash itself by driving Malenia to her lowest possible point during her multi-year coma.
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--->'''Winged Sword Insignia:''' The wings symbolize Malenia and her undefeated prowess. Though she never knew relief from the accursed rot she was born into, her blade was forever beautiful -- and relentless.
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* 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 the 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 in addition to 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.]]
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* 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 the 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 in addition to 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.]]
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* HeroicWillpower: Millicent states it was Malenia's "will", "dignity", and "sense of self" which allowed her to resist the Scarlet Rot for so long, before she lost it in her duel with Radahn. While anyone else infested with the Rot dies or degenerates into a beast fairly quickly (Millicent can even be encountered as an invader before you meet her as an NPC), and Malenia would bloom into a "true god" if she gave into it, Malenia still managed to keep it contained for her entire long life despite the enormous mental stress involved, her being its designated vessel, and it reducing her to a dying triple amputee. She even keeps it down during the majority of her long duel with Radahn. Unfortunately her will frays at the end of the duel, leading to her first "blooming." She suppresses it again during the battle, to the point Finlay carrying her all the way back to the Haligtree leaves no infection in the lands she travels through, but it potentially comes out again after the Tarnished pushes her to the brink of death in her boss fight. This is also the reason given in her Great Rune's description for why she heals whenever she hits you -- her body is literally rotting away (hence why her rotted Rune reduces the effects of healing items), yet her "spirit of resistance" means seeing her enemy bleed simply drives her ever forward.
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* HeroicWillpower: Millicent states it was Malenia's "will", "dignity", and "sense of self" which allowed her to resist the Scarlet Rot for so long, before she lost it in her duel with Radahn. While anyone else infested with the Rot dies or degenerates into a puppet or beast fairly quickly (Millicent can even be (her "daughter" Millicent is encountered as an invader before you meet her as an NPC), NPC, and even a strong-willed and prideful warrior like Radahn succumbed to feralness in the time between Aeonia and the Tarnished's revival), and Malenia would bloom into a "true god" if she gave into it, Malenia still managed to keep it contained for her entire long life despite the enormous mental stress involved, her being its designated vessel, and it reducing her to a dying triple amputee. She even keeps it down during the majority of her long duel with Radahn. Unfortunately her will frays at the end of the duel, leading to her first "blooming." She suppresses it again during the battle, to the point Finlay carrying her all the way back to the Haligtree leaves no infection in the lands she travels through, but it potentially comes out again after the Tarnished pushes her to the brink of death in her boss fight. This is also the reason given in her Great Rune's description for why she heals whenever she hits you -- her body is literally rotting away (hence why her rotted Rune reduces the effects of healing items), yet her "spirit of resistance" means seeing her enemy bleed simply drives her ever forward.
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* 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 the 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 in addition to 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.]]
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The initial entry wasn't very accurate. One, Malenia's still rejecting the Rot even now; Gowry outright says as much at the end of Millicent's quest, it's why he's crying (it's also why the Kindred's description call them rejects). Two, "she retained her undefeated status because of the Rot" assumes that she still would've been merely able to stalemate Radahn if she wasn't decayed from birth, which is frankly ridiculous (she has one limb, no eyes, and nearly all of her remaining flesh is covered in lesions), especially since these pages are also making the assumption that Radahn himself being infected with a single dose of the Rot and enduring it for far less time qualifies as Worf Had The Flu.
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* FallenHero: Subtle, but it's there. Malenia is an undefeatable swordswoman who's skill she learned from the person who sealed the Rot she's suffering from but then when Radahn fought her to a standstill she, if the story trailer is to be believed,unleashed the Scarlet Aeonia to turn that standsill to a ''pyrrhic draw'' and her phase transition into Goddess of Rot doesn't depict someone who has been struggling to hold back but letting the Rot empower her because she doesn't want to lose--In the end, she retained her undefeated status ''because'' of the Rot she fought her entire life(before the Tarnished managed to beat her again)
** This can also be seen in the Haligtree itself, once spurning her Kindred of Rot worshippers now she lets them into the very place she was sworn to protect as her curse spreads itself into the bark of the giant tree. Whether out of deliberate inaction or being comatose, it's still quite a bad look having Pests run around inside the Haligtree.
** This can also be seen in the Haligtree itself, once spurning her Kindred of Rot worshippers now she lets them into the very place she was sworn to protect as her curse spreads itself into the bark of the giant tree. Whether out of deliberate inaction or being comatose, it's still quite a bad look having Pests run around inside the Haligtree.
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* FallenHero: Subtle, She has spent her entire life fighting off the Rot inside her, even as it all but it's there. destroyed her body and mind. However by the time the Tarnished meets her Malenia is an undefeatable swordswoman who's skill she learned from clearly at the person who sealed end of her rope. She's become a walking wasteland since Aeonia and is leaking Rot all over the Rot she's suffering from but then when Radahn fought Haligtree in spite of her continued efforts to contain it; killing her will cause her to a standstill she, if the story trailer is to be believed,unleashed the Scarlet Aeonia to turn that standsill to a ''pyrrhic draw'' revive and her phase transition temporarily apotheosize into the Goddess of Rot doesn't depict someone who has been struggling where she consciously wields her curse's power in a desperate attempt to hold back kill the Tarnished. Only Miquella could help her now, either by finding a real cure or by crafting another Unalloyed Gold Needle to restore her mind (as it does Millicent's) for a stopgap, but letting the Rot empower her because she doesn't want to lose--In the end, she retained her undefeated status ''because'' of the Rot she fought her entire life(before Mohg abducted him long ago.[[note]]Theoretically the Tarnished managed to beat her again)
** This cancould also be seen in give her Millicent's Needle if you completed her quest and then ask her to come to Farum Azula where it can permanently purge an Outer God's influence, [[ButThouMust but the Haligtree itself, once spurning her Kindred of Rot worshippers now she lets them into the very place she was sworn Tarnished]] [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption can never say anything to protect as her curse spreads itself into the bark of the giant tree. Whether her]], so that's out of deliberate inaction or being comatose, it's still quite a bad look having Pests run around inside the Haligtree.too barring DLC.[[/note]]
** This can
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* FallenHero: Subtle, but it's there. Malenia is an undefeatable swordswoman who's skill she learned from the person who sealed the Rot she's suffering from but then when Radahn fought her to a standstill she, if the story trailer is to be believed,unleashed the Scarlet Aeonia to turn that standsill to a ''pyrrhic draw'' and her phase transition into Goddess of Rot doesn't depict someone who has been struggling to hold back but letting the Rot empower her because she doesn't want to lose--In the end, she retained her undefeated status ''because'' of the Rot she fought her entire life(before the Tarnished managed to beat her again)
** This can also be seen in the Haligtree itself, once spurning her Kindred of Rot worshippers now she lets them into the very place she was sworn to protect as her curse spreads itself into the bark of the giant tree. Whether out of deliberate inaction or being comatose, it's still quite a bad look having Pests run around inside the Haligtree.
** This can also be seen in the Haligtree itself, once spurning her Kindred of Rot worshippers now she lets them into the very place she was sworn to protect as her curse spreads itself into the bark of the giant tree. Whether out of deliberate inaction or being comatose, it's still quite a bad look having Pests run around inside the Haligtree.
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* StatuesqueStunner: She'a over eight feet tall. The Tarnished's shoulders are about level with her waist.
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* StatuesqueStunner: She'a She's over eight feet tall. The Tarnished's shoulders are about level with her waist.
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* StatuesqueStunner: The Tarnished's shoulders are about level with her thighs.
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* StatuesqueStunner: She'a over eight feet tall. The Tarnished's shoulders are about level with her thighs.waist.
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[[Characters/EldenRingMainCharacters Main Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingSecondaryCharacters Secondary Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingOuterGods Outer Gods]] | [[Characters/EldenRingDemigods Demigods]] ('''Malenia''') | [[Characters/EldenRingEnemiesAndBosses Enemies and Bosses]] ([[Characters/EldenRingGreatEnemies Great Enemies]]) -]]]]]
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[[Characters/EldenRingMainCharacters Main Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingSecondaryCharacters Secondary Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingOuterGods Outer Gods]] | [[Characters/EldenRingDemigods Demigods]] ('''Malenia''') ([[Characters/EldenRingRanniTheWitch Ranni the Witch]] | '''Malenia''') | [[Characters/EldenRingEnemiesAndBosses Enemies and Bosses]] ([[Characters/EldenRingGreatEnemies Great Enemies]]) -]]]]]
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* {{Cyborg}}: A variant made possible by AlchemyIsMagic. Malenia's right arm and both of her feet have been replaced by unalloyed gold prosthetics created by Miquella, they're implied to double as a RestrainingBolt that helps her keep the Rot under control. Given how she's maintained her strength ''because'' of them, it's safe to say that they're actually fairly advanced mechanical instruments.
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* {{Cyborg}}: A variant made possible by AlchemyIsMagic. Malenia's right arm and both of her feet legs have been replaced by unalloyed gold prosthetics created by Miquella, they're implied to double doubling as a RestrainingBolt that helps her keep the Rot under control. Given how she's maintained control in addition to letting her strength ''because'' of them, it's safe to say that they're actually fairly advanced mechanical instruments.move around normally.
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* {{Cyborg}}: A variant made possible by AlchemyIsMagic. Malenia's right arm and both of her feet have been replaced by unalloyed gold prosthetics created by Miquella, they're implied to double as a RestrainingBolt that helps her keep the Rot under control.
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* {{Cyborg}}: A variant made possible by AlchemyIsMagic. Malenia's right arm and both of her feet have been replaced by unalloyed gold prosthetics created by Miquella, they're implied to double as a RestrainingBolt that helps her keep the Rot under control. Given how she's maintained her strength ''because'' of them, it's safe to say that they're actually fairly advanced mechanical instruments.
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* HollywoodCyborg: Malenia's body is so ravaged by the rot that most of her limbs are now prosthetic. Given how she's maintained her strength ''because'' of them, it's safe to say that they're actually fairly advanced mechanical instruments.
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* TheAce: In terms of raw skill with a blade Malenia has no equal. On top of being an unparallleled SwordMaster her qualities as a [[MagneticHero inspirational figure]] and [[FourStarBadass military leader]] are also given great emphasis.
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* TheAce: In terms of raw skill with a blade Malenia has no equal. On top of being an unparallleled unparalleled SwordMaster her qualities as a [[MagneticHero inspirational figure]] and [[FourStarBadass military leader]] are also given great emphasis.
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* HollywoodCyborg: Malenia's body is so ravaged by the rot that most of her limbs are now prosthetic. Given how she's maintained her strength ''because'' of them, it's safe to say that they're actually fairly advanced mechanical instruments.
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[[Characters/EldenRingMainCharacters Main Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingSecondaryCharacters Secondary Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingOuterGods Outer Gods]] | [[Characters/EldenRingDemigods Demigods]] ('''Malenia''') | [[Characters/EldenRingEnemiesAndBosses Enemies and Bosses]] -]]]]]
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[[Characters/EldenRingMainCharacters Main Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingSecondaryCharacters Secondary Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingOuterGods Outer Gods]] | [[Characters/EldenRingDemigods Demigods]] ('''Malenia''') | [[Characters/EldenRingEnemiesAndBosses Enemies and Bosses]] ([[Characters/EldenRingGreatEnemies Great Enemies]]) -]]]]]
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* AmbiguouslyHuman: Or rather, [[spoiler:Ambiguously Demigod, as her father Radagon might have been a full deity as Marika’s other half. The fact Malenia was "blessed" with Scarlet Rot even since in the womb might also mean she is fully divine in body, unlike the other demigods]].
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* AmbiguouslyHuman: Or rather, [[spoiler:Ambiguously Demigod, as her father Radagon might have been a full deity as Marika’s other half. The fact Malenia was "blessed" with Scarlet Rot even since in the womb might also mean she is fully divine in body, unlike the other demigods]].demigods. Biologically, Radagon and Marika being the same person would also make Malenia and Miquella purely [[HumanAliens Numen]], unlike the half-human children of Godfrey and Rennala]].
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* 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]].
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!Malenia, Blade of Miquella]]
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!Malenia, Blade of Miquella]]Miquella
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[[WMG:[[center: [-''VideoGame/EldenRing'' '''[[Characters/EldenRing Main Character Index]]'''\\
[[Characters/EldenRingMainCharacters Main Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingSecondaryCharacters Secondary Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingOuterGods Outer Gods]] | [[Characters/EldenRingDemigods Demigods]] ('''Malenia''') | [[Characters/EldenRingEnemiesAndBosses Enemies and Bosses]] -]]]]]
!Malenia, Blade of Miquella]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yag9fkgqspjtsr4xoaagp5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I dreamt for so long... My flesh was dull gold... and my blood, rotted. Corpse after corpse, left in my wake. As I awaited his return."'']]
-->'''Voiced by:''' Pippa Bennett-Warner
->''"...Heed my words. I am Malenia. Blade of Miquella. And I have never known defeat."''
Also known as Malenia the Severed and the Goddess of Rot. One of Marika's children through Radagon and twin sister to Miquella.
----
[[folder:A-G]]
* TheAce: In terms of raw skill with a blade Malenia has no equal. On top of being an unparallleled SwordMaster her qualities as a [[MagneticHero inspirational figure]] and [[FourStarBadass military leader]] are also given great emphasis.
* ActionGirl: Malenia is a deadly woman in combat who, according to her own words, has never known defeat in battle and will give the Tarnished a severely rough time with her swordsmanship and powers.
* AmazonianBeauty: She's over eight feet tall ([[https://i.imgur.com/ef1N9hj.png 2.56 meters counting her helmet]]), has long red hair and classically attractive facial features, and her FullFrontalAssault makes it clear that she has the sort of athletic good looks you'd expect of a preeminent LadyOfWar: long muscular legs, thick thighs, a flat toned stomach, and powerful shoulders paired with wide hips. [[FanDisservice She surely looked a lot better before most of her body got either covered in rotted skin or flat-out amputated, though.]]
* AmbiguouslyHuman: Or rather, [[spoiler:Ambiguously Demigod, as her father Radagon might have been a full deity as Marika’s other half. The fact Malenia was "blessed" with Scarlet Rot even since in the womb might also mean she is fully divine in body, unlike the other demigods]].
* AmbiguouslyRelated: Millicent, Sage Gowry's adopted daughter, claims she is related to her, though even she's not exactly sure what relationship they have. [[spoiler:Gowry says Millicent is Malenia's daughter, though there's no mention of a father and she was found in the scarlet rot-infested swamps of Aeonia. Given Millicent is also worshipped by the Kindred of Rot, it's heavily implied Millicent was born from Malenia's GodzillaThreshold from when she fought General Radahn.]]
* AnimalMotif:
** 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 briefly bends the other close to her body to mimic a crane's stance. Her signature attack is also known as the Waterfowl Dance. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xywpJ26hS70 weaker variant]] that she sometimes does (patched out of the game after version 1.0) makes the parralel more obvious as she hops around on one leg while she does it.
** In her Goddess of Rot form she has an association with butterflies, perhaps symbolizing her gradual metamorphosis into something inhuman as she gives into the Scarlet Rot.
* AntiVillain: Malenia was said to be a noble warrior who greatly valued the camaraderie she shared with her men, had immense loyalty to her brother, and understood the value of mercy, as she spared Godrick's craven life when he begged her. By the time events of the game begin Malenia isn't even active anymore, instead waiting in vain to reunite with her brother by the Haligtree. Alas, in her effort to defeat Radahn she is said to have cast aside the "dignity and sense of self" which allowed her to resist the scarlet rot, which makes her something of a hazardous threat albeit a very tragic one.
* ArtificialLimbs: Her right arm and her legs are unalloyed gold prosthetics. The Hand of Malenia is attached to the hand's wrist. The hand wields the blade without a hilt, and [[{{BFS}} said blade is as long as she is tall, if not longer]].
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: ''Utterly [[SubvertedTrope subverted]].'' She's the chronologically-youngest still-active demigod of her generation, yes, but she's also very mature, charismatic, level-headed, and down-to-earth compared to her siblings, with ''zero'' desire to take the throne despite being one of the three most eligible for it. She's also one of the, if not ''the'' most, feared and respected among the demigod siblings (and certainly your worst nightmare as a player).
* BadassArmy: Malenia's army obtained battlefield success during the Shattering rivaled only by Morgott's, even though she had to project power across the length of nearly the entire continent to do anything (while Morgott was mostly defensive), and she had the smallest and newest fief to work with (a collection of outcasts in a city-tree). This bears out in gameplay as the Lordsworn and Cleanrots at the Haligtree are the strongest generic human opponents in the game, with sky-high stats paired with prowess in Holy incantations. On top of their combat prowess their lore also paints them as ''very'' devoted to Miquella and Malenia.
* BadassBoast: She claims she's never known defeat, and she has the skills to back it up. She's not technically wrong either, as her fight with General Radahn ended in a draw.
** She gets an even more impressive one when her second phase begins and she becomes the [[OneWingedAngel Goddess of Rot]].
--->'''Malenia:''' [[GodzillaThreshold The scarlet bloom flowers once more]]. You will witness ''true'' horror. [[PrepareToDie Now]], '''[[PrepareToDie rot]]!'''
* BadassNormal: [[DownplayedTrope By demigod standards]], as Malenia is still an 8-foot tall warrior strong enough to hurl the player Tarnished into the air one-handed and swing a sword a hundred times larger than a regular one-hander as if it weighed nothing, but as long as she's holding back the Scarlet Rot rather than giving in to it she seems to have none of the overtly supernatural abilities of her siblings. She isn't TheArchmage, she's not a multi-ton giant with the strength and weight to shatter the earth, and she lacks specially enchanted armor or weapons[[note]]her sword Hand of Malenia inflicts purely physical damage and doesn't deal particularly more than the starting katana when wielded by the player[[/note]]. She doesn't even have a fully healthy and intact body due to the Rot within ever since childhood. Yet Ranni states that she is mightier than any other demigod besides her brother Radahn, who had all of the above advantages (a master of gravity magic and the largest and strongest demigod, wearing full plate armor and wielding two heavily enchanted greatswords, and with no noted health issues) and still only managed to force a draw with her when she was holding back the Rot. Her sole advantages are her [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower inhumanly good]] [[ImplausibleFencingPowers sword skills]] and [[{{Determinator}} extremely powerful will]]. Even her self-healing ability is stated in her Great Rune's description to not be a spell or incantation but simply her ''sheer refusal to die'' being so powerful that she essentially wills additional hit points into existence.
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Malenia is among the more noble of her fellow Demigods, being a warrior god who inspired [[UndyingLoyalty admiration and reverence from her followers]] and choosing to support her twin's benevolent goals over attaining power for herself. Unfortunately, the Scarlet Rot is one of the most intrinsically vile powers one can possess in the setting, [[DeconstructedTrope its presence within her acting as a constant strain on her body and mind that ultimately causes horrible devastation to Caelid when her will finally wavered]] and she (albeit reluctantly and in desperation) utilized the rot to turn the tides in the Battle of Aoenia.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: When she enters her second phase, she's completely nude, but lacks any genitalia or nipples. This seems to be due to the severity of the Scarlet Rot afflicting her, as the relevant parts of her body are scaled over with the same decayed Scarlet Rot lesions as her eyes and remaining arm.
* {{BFS}}: Malenia has a sword which is [[BladeBelowTheShoulder attached to her prosthetic arm.]] In the story trailer, when General Radahn smashes her arm with his sword, she seamlessly transfers the blade to her other hand. It is both proportionally thick and longer than she is tall. [[https://i.imgur.com/0fEQy2p.png Some]] [[https://i.imgur.com/tYwkbv7.png model-ripping]] shows it's about 9 feet long and weighs nearly 160 pounds ''without'' counting the arm it's attached to,[[note]]Volume is 0.003720 m^3 and it's made of enchanted gold with a density of 19,320 kg/m^3.[[/note]] sixty to seventy times the mass of the average historical katana or arming sword. [[OneHandedZweihander She swings it superhumanly fast, as if it weighed nothing.]]
* BigSisterInstinct: She's very fond of Miquella, her twin brother, and her title seems to indicate she served as his protector. Players visiting the Haligtree can find a statue of her protectively holding Miquella close with her remaining arm, with Miquella clinging to her. In a sad irony, she spent years waiting for Miquella at the Halligtree, unaware Mohg, her own half-brother, had already kidnapped him.
* BigLittleSister: She's much, ''much'' taller than Ranni (both her current artificial body which is [[https://i.imgur.com/Ln2EntX.png 1.65 meters/5'5]] and her original which is about seven and a half feet) and Miquella, who're chronologically older than her, and about the same height as her father, Radagon.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Her sword, fittingly called the Hand of Malenia, lacks a handle and is instead directly attached to her prosthetic arm.
* BlessedWithSuck: The Scarlet Rot which Malenia suffers from birth is said to be a "blessing", yet it takes the form of an incurable and extremely infectious affliction trying to consume and/or warp its host's mind and body, either slowly killing them as they literally rot away or twisting them into feral monsters. [[spoiler:As the origin of said blessing turns out to be an outer god with heavy dosage of BlueAndOrangeMorality, it really might have been a boon from its perspective.]]
* BlindWeaponmaster: She lost her eyes to the Scarlet Rot, but it hasn't slowed her down one bit.
** Her master is one too and has [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome once subjugated the God]] [[HeroOfAnotherStory of Rot itself with the help of a fairy.]]
* BlingOfWar: Her armor and prosthetics are made of unalloyed gold, meant to keep her Scarlet Rot infection in check.
* BodyHorror: The Scarlet Rot has done a number on her body, though you don't see the true extent until her second phase, which shows parts of her body being decayed and cracked. She was already decaying by the time she fought Radahn (seen in the cinematic trailer), but decades later when facing the Tarnished, the rot has gotten even worse (particularly noticeable around her face). [[https://i.redd.it/3a3yeod2ouq81.jpg A statue in the Haligtree of her out of her battle dress]] shows it was nowhere near as bad prior to the Shattering -- she still was missing her right arm, but her left arm and face were untouched and she still had her feet and, possibly, her eyes.
* BraggingRightsReward: Defeating her earns you her Great Rune, [[spoiler:which enables you to rally your yellow health back a la ''Bloodborne''.]] However, having defeated Malenia, there's a good chance you're so overpowered that no enemy presents a challenge worthy of her Great Rune, or you simply don't need its power at all.
* BrainsAndBrawn: Malenia serves as the brawn to her twin Miquella's brains, to the point that she openly refers to herself as his "Blade". She's intelligent and well-spoken in her own right, but her most prominent skill is her incredible prowess in battle, compared to the brilliant scholar and inventor Miquella.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: Her AnimalMotif are butterflies, which associated with the Scarlet Rot in general, along with flowers and fungi.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Malenia's [[ImplausibleFencingPowers inhuman skill with a blade]] is not an inherent trait, but rather the result of training under an unnamed mentor.
* TheChampion: Miquella's, as indicated by her title. This is exemplified by her actions during the Shattering; despite being an Empyrean Malenia has no interest in achieving godhood for herself, and in fact could have apotheosized into a god at any point simply by giving into the Scarlet Rot, instead she's devoted to helping Miquella ascend.
* ChildProdigy: Morgott briefly reminisces Malenia and her twin brother Miquella were this trope.
* TheChosenOne:
** Malenia is mentioned to be of the three Empyreans capable of succeeding Marika, the other two being her brother Miquella and [[spoiler:Ranni]].
** A darker variant. [[spoiler:Similar to the Greater Will with Marika, an Outer God chose Malenia to be its vessel, which resulted in her being afflicted with the Scarlet Rot.]]
* ContraltoOfDanger: Fitting for a warrior goddess, her voice is quite deep, [[DissonantSerenity yet invariably smooth and calm]] [[TranquilFury even when making threats.]]
* TheCorruption: She is afflicted with the Scarlet Rot, having infected General Radahn and the land of Caelid with it during their duel, and weaponizes this during the second phase of her boss fight. It runs strong enough through her veins she can become a WalkingWasteland if she doesn't keep it under control, even having to have her weapons and armor consecrated with Unalloyed Gold to resist it. The rot itself is implied to have a will of its own that actively wants to spread itself.
* CursedWithAwesome: {{Downplayed}}. Malenia was born afflicted with the Scarlet Rot from birth, which has gradually eaten away at her body, threatens to bloom forth from her flesh to corrupt anyone and anything around her, and plagues her entire bloodline. She can at least use it to her advantage by wielding the Rot as a weapon in combat (the Scarlet Aeonia incantation), but it's probably not worth the cost: the incantation's description says if she used it a third time, she'd become a "true goddess".
* {{Cyborg}}: A variant made possible by AlchemyIsMagic. Malenia's right arm and both of her feet have been replaced by unalloyed gold prosthetics created by Miquella, they're implied to double as a RestrainingBolt that helps her keep the Rot under control.
* DamageSpongeBoss: Malenia packs a combined 33000 HP across her two phases -- one of the highest health totals in the game, beaten only by Rykard, the Fire Giant, and the two-part FinalBoss. Additionally, Malenia has a potent LifeDrain ability attached to all of her attacks; playing badly against her means the player has to punch through even more HP. The only saving grace is she has low poise, making it slightly easier to combo hits together and stagger her.
* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Malenia is the best warrior of the setting bar none, with the closest she ever got to being defeated was her duel with General Radahn (that ended in a draw). Gideon first introduces her as "the undefeated swordswoman." The player Tarnished can push her to invoke the Rot again out of desperation, and managing to beat her regardless has her apologize to her missing brother and stating she finally met her match.
* DeityOfHumanOrigin: When her scarlet flower blooms, Malenia temporarily ascends into the Goddess of Rot, which comprises the second stage of her boss fight. Her Remembrance states if she unleashed her full power a third time, her apotheosis would be permanent.
* 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.
* {{Expy}}: Malenia can be concisely summed up as "[[VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice Wolf]] if he were a charismatic, 8-foot tall Nordic goddess." 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 the similarities are much more pronounced: 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,[[note]]The Blue Fairy Swordsman for the God of Rot, Isshin Ashina for Shura.[[/note]] 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, like her kick attack looking quite similar to 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 she's seemingly stationary, just like One Mind.
* EyeScream: The Scarlet Rot has either severely affected the flesh around her eyes or eaten them entirely.
* FanDisservice: During her second phase she sheds off her clothing and fights in the nude. However, you can see the Rot taking a heavy toll on her body, with much of her skin cracked and decayed: along with her lack of eyes, her nudity comes off as more tragic than sexually appealing.
* 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.
* FightsLikeANormal: Malenia is not only [[HandicappedBadass working with a single arm]], but seems to lack any of the sorcerous powers of her siblings and parents. The only power she uses is the minimum of superhuman strength/speed needed to facilitate her fighting style and drive her sword through any target. Yet she manages to be a contender for the WorldsBestWarrior and the game's toughest boss just because of her inhumanly good skills. According to the Sword Memorial in Caelid, prior to releasing the Rot she was locked in an indecisive stalemate with Radahn, who is many times her size and a master of Gravity Magic. When her will frays and she manifests the Scarlet Rot she gains magical attacks, but she takes every effort to keep the Rot contained if she can help it. She only fights that way for any duration if the Tarnished finds her and forces her into her second phase.
* FlashStep: She's scripted to open her first fight by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwD4zSKFK7Q&t=144s quickly dashing]] at the player for her opening slash, and will occasionally do a similar dash as part of her regular move set. She isn't ''actually'' teleporting but she accelerates so quickly over such a low distance (hitting about 30 m/s in three frames at 30 FPS) that it appears she does unless you take a video of her dashes frame by frame.
* FourStarBadass: While her generalship is never given much focus, environmental clues, certain Sword Memorials, and a few item descriptions (most notably the Cleanrot Armor's label of her knights as "celebrated for their undefeated campaign") indicate that she was quite successful as a commander during the Shattering, rivaled only by Morgott. She marched her army from one side of the continent to the other while still maintaing its discipline (''much'' harder than it sounds), marched (and almost certainly fought) through the Academy/Cuckoo-held territories of Liurnia to reach Limgrave,[[note]]Sword Memorial West Liurnia: "This marks Malenia's southward march. The Blade of Miquella and her Cleanrot Knights. Grant her wings never to be clipped." Also, you find a Cleanrot Knight in a mine near this memorial.[[/note]] crushed Godrick's faction so hard while she was there that Godrick himself was reduced to begging on his knees,[[note]]Sword Memorial West Limgrave: "Godrick the Golden, humiliated Having tasted defeat by the Blade of Miquella. Now on his knees, begging for mercy."[[/note]] smashed Radahn's famed Redmanes thoroughly enough in Caelid to push all the way up to the eastern coast,[[note]]Radahn's arena (the Wailing Dunes) is there, far from the Aeonia Swamp where Radahn and Malenia had their fateful duel, and there was clearly a massive battle between their forces at that location judging by all the corpses and weapons strewn about the desert. To the north of that are the War-Dead Catacombs, where Radahn and Malenia's troops continue another battle as spirits (said catacombs also having been the sign of a battle while they were alive, and meant to bury the Redmane dead as a result of it). Given that the Cleanrots were "undefeated" and clearly penetrating deep into the fiefdom, that leaves only one possible result for these early battles.[[/note]] and was only fought to a stalemate at the Battle of Aeonia when Radahn showed up personally with his best. Even then, both armies seemed to have beaten each other to near-death before the battle was over,[[note]]The release trailer has Radahn and Malenia engaging each other seemingly alone on a field full of bodies.[[/note]] despite the Redmanes having a home field advantage and Malenia having to project power across an entire continent, and as of the present her troops are still occupying parts of Caelid (including mines) even with most having retreated and the remainder being just as ravaged by the Rot as the Redmanes.
* FlowerMotifs: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peony Paeonia]], via her curse. Her "bloom" attack creates a giant red version that inflicts Rot, and it is even called the Scarlet Aeonia (in-universe named for the location of Aeonia in Caelid, out of universe obviously named for the flower). She even unwittingly created "buds" that resulted in offspring (Millicent and her sisters).
* FullFrontalAssault: She loses her clothes after her metamorphosis.
* AGodIAmNot: Implied. Her Remembrance states she would turn into a "true goddess" if she unleashed the Scarlet Rot again. Considering how deadly Scarlet Rot is even to demigods, and how she ended up devastating an entire land just to defeat her own brother, General Radahn, she has more than enough reason ''not'' to do it. [[spoiler:There's also how she rejected Sage Gowry and the Order of Rot for worshiping her as a goddess of rot.]]
* GodzillaThreshold: On her own, she couldn't surmount General Radahn, merely locking the two in unending combat. However, she ''could'' give in to the rot to give her the power capable to end her stalemate with him in her favor (it's not explicitly said there was a winner in their duel, but it could be argued Caelid and Radahn came out of the conflict with greater losses) emerging from the transformation as quite possibly the strongest force in the setting. However, the effect is only temporary the first two times she uses it, and extended use of the power ''reduced an entire fiefdom and the preeminent town of sorcery'' to a blasted hellscape answerable only with contempt, horror, and [[KillItWithFire fire bombs.]] She effectively becomes a WalkingWasteland, and it's heavily implied it strongly suppresses the mercy and honor she was known for. Using it three times would make her a goddess who can't turn it off, explaining why Malenia is so apprehensive to utilize her full power. Unfortunately for the player, she decides it's acceptable to use the rot a second time to overcome the Tarnished, even if it risks her precious brother's Haligtree, which causes her to transition into her second phase, regain a good eighty percent of her HP, and hit ''even harder.''
* GracefulLoser: She commends the Tarnished's strength when they finally strike her down, stating it's the strength worthy of an Elden Lord, only lamenting she'll never see her brother again.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:H-Z]]
* 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.
* HeroicRROD: As revealed by the Sword Memorial in Caelid, Malenia had Radahn evenly matched without having to rely on the power of the Scarlet Rot, and calling upon the rot broke the stalemate in her favor. She was unable to follow through on this by killing Radahn however as she collapsed into catatonia afterward, presumably due to the strain of releasing the rot for the first time.
* HeroicHost: It's implied [[spoiler: that the [[EldritchAbomination Outer God]] that created the Scarlet Rot is trying to force Malenia to become it's vassal, but Malenia herself is a noble warrior fighting constantly to keep the plague from escaping her body]].
* HeroicWillpower: Millicent states it was Malenia's "will", "dignity", and "sense of self" which allowed her to resist the Scarlet Rot for so long, before she lost it in her duel with Radahn. While anyone else infested with the Rot dies or degenerates into a beast fairly quickly (Millicent can even be encountered as an invader before you meet her as an NPC), and Malenia would bloom into a "true god" if she gave into it, Malenia still managed to keep it contained for her entire long life despite the enormous mental stress involved, her being its designated vessel, and it reducing her to a dying triple amputee. She even keeps it down during the majority of her long duel with Radahn. Unfortunately her will frays at the end of the duel, leading to her first "blooming." She suppresses it again during the battle, to the point Finlay carrying her all the way back to the Haligtree leaves no infection in the lands she travels through, but it potentially comes out again after the Tarnished pushes her to the brink of death in her boss fight. This is also the reason given in her Great Rune's description for why she heals whenever she hits you -- her body is literally rotting away (hence why her rotted Rune reduces the effects of healing items), yet her "spirit of resistance" means seeing her enemy bleed simply drives her ever forward.
* IdenticalTwinIDTag: Averted; she and Miquella are mix-gendered twins, as they have different hair colors. Malenia is also a Scarlet Rot-infested woman who lost entire limbs and her eyes to the disease, while Miquella was cursed to eternally remain a child [[spoiler:until Mohg's actions broke the curse, but apparently left him a decrepit old man]].
* IWasQuiteALooker: The Scarlet Rot has ravaged her body to the point where her FullFrontalAssault is pure FanDisservice, but it's clear there's the remains of an exceptionally beautiful woman within all that decay.
* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: It's stated the Scarlet Rot ([[spoiler:or rather, the [[EldritchAbomination Outer God]] responsible for it]]) chose Malenia as its vessel in a similar vein to Marika's status as the Greater Will’s extension. As a result of this "blessing", Malenia's body is literally [[BodyHorror rotting from the inside out]].
* LadyOfWar: Her movement throughout the battlefield is graceful and her swordsmanship is fluid and unmatched.
* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: She allowed Radahn take a full thirteen seconds to dramatically unsheathe and enchant his swords at the start of their duel despite being demonstrably capable of closing the distance between them and throwing dozens of strikes in less than half that time, implicitly out of gratitude for letting her put on her prosthetics first.
* LifeDrain: If Malenia lands a hit, she'll regain health regardless whether or not she damaged the Tarnished. Her great rune gives the same effect, in exchange for reducing the healing from the Flask of Crimson Tears.
* LightningBruiser: ''Good lord.'' As the game's {{Superboss}}, Malenia is extremely strong, lightning fast, and packs one of the highest HP pools in the game backed by a lifesteal effect. This gets taken {{up to eleven}} in her second phase where she taps into the power of the scarlet rot, further empowering her attacks and becoming relentlessly aggressive.
* LogicalWeakness:
** Due to flames being an immensely effective ward against scarlet rot, Malenia lacks any fire resistance. Related to that, while she's incredibly resistant to any poison or other scarlet rot build up, the same can't be said for bleed and frostbite, since it doesn't change the fact that her body was ravaged by rot and susceptible to other things that may affect her condition.
** As the foremost and most skillful swordswoman in the game, perfect parries completely throw her off her combos and knock her back ''without'' activating her lifesteal. Of course, it's easier said than done, as it also takes ''three'' successful parries to stun her, when it takes only one for most other enemies and bosses. Her being parryable at all is what's notable, as other late-game bosses like Mohg and Godfrey [[SuperStrength will]] [[NoSell simply smash through]] any parry attempts.
* MaleMightFemaleFinesse: With her deft swordplay and BladeSpam, she's the finesse to Radahn's might.
* MagneticHero: While not a CharmPerson like her brother, Malenia's ability to inspire admiration and loyalty apparently bordered on superhuman. Her soldiers knew that long term contact with her would cause them horrible pain, disfigurement, and eventually death, yet all willingly followed her regardless. Special mention goes to Commander O'Neil and Finlay, the former remaining for years at the Rot-ridden battlefield of Aeonia as "the sole veteran who remembers this battle with pride" and the latter going so far as to [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome carry an uncounscious Malenia across the entire continent while slaying anything that got in her way, despite rotting away the whole time.]]
* MasterSwordsman: Malenia is an excellent swordswoman with ImplausibleFencingPowers. Not only does she hit hard and fast with her sword, she occasionally leaps to deliver a flurry of BladeSpam attacks which are extremely difficult to avoid as she slashes in a sphere around her multiple times with only some visual effects to show where she strikes, her sword arm being too fast for the naked eye, apparently. A player who transposes her sword can do the same. Her sword skills are especially ridiculous when you consider how screwed her weight balance and center of gravity are due to most of her limbs being several times as dense as the rest of her (rather thickly-built prosthetics stated to be made of solid gold). Her dexterity and balance should be borderline ''impossible'' no matter how strong she is. As if to emphasize the point, the smaller copy of her sword you can get from her Remembrance has a minimum Dexterity requirement of ''48'', the highest in the entire game; and even if you meet that requirement you still can't do the faster and more complex moves she uses.
* ModestRoyalty: Despite being a PhysicalGod and the co-leader of her faction, Malenia dresses in a rather understated fashion more befitting a warrior than a royal, which is not unusual for her siblings. What ''is'' unusual though 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, and the images made of Malenia throughout the Lands Between (such as the 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. The fact that her followers can still be found kneeling in reverence to these statues, including the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy battle-hungry]] Misbegotten Warriors, is pretty telling.
* MyNameIsInigoMontoya: She begins her boss battle by announcing her name and title with the quote at the top. As she also repeats it every time she kills the player in the first phase of her boss fight, you will be hearing it ''a lot''.
* MythologyGag:
** Her status a noble and valorous warrior-god with a missing arm is possibly in reference to Týr from Myth/NorseMythology. She even wears the armor of a Norse Valkyrie.
** Her Great Rune allows you a grace period after taking damage to regain that lost health by landing hits against your enemies, mirroring a core mechanic from ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''.
* NeckLift: Her command grab has her strangling the Tarnished with her (still-organic) arm, then tossing them a good thirty feet into the air before catching them on her sword.
* PatientZero: Malenia is the source of the Scarlet Rot plaguing Caelid and several other areas of the Lands Between. She was apparently born with it, [[spoiler:and according to the Unalloyed Gold Needle's description, is gifted upon her by an outer god distinct from the Greater Will]].
* PolarOppositeTwins: To Miquella. She's a [[AmazonianBeauty voluptuous]] [[StatuesqueStunner tall]] [[FieryRedhead redhead,]] inherited from her father, while he (or his previous self) has [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Marika's blonde locks]] and is [[NotGrowingUpSucks stuck in the body of a child.]] Malenia is a [[LadyOfWar celebrated warrior]] wielding [[BlessedWithSuck very destructive innate powers,]] while Miquella is more renowned as [[GadgeteerGenius an inventor]] whose creation (the "Unalloyed Gold" series) can resist the power of Rot ravaging his own sister, as well as serving as her and her trusted generals' prosthetics after they lost their limbs. Similarly, their personal areas are also opposite of one another: Malenia's is full of the deadly Scarlet Rot, while Miquella holds domain of the evergreen and lush tops of the Haligtree.
* PoisonousPerson: In her second phase, Malenia will begin weaponizing the Scarlet Rot, causing build-up on every attack and packing a new attack called "Scarlet Aeonia", which creates a massive blossom of Rot to ruin your day.
* PowerGivesYouWings: In her second phase, she grows massive wings made of butterflies and her own hair.
* PowerIncontinence:
** Even when she attempted to keep the Scarlet Rot suppressed, the description of the Cleanrot Knight armor shows it still risked infecting those close to her. Millicent speaks of her needing to maintain her "will" and "sense of self" to prevent the Rot from bursting forth, a will which had apparently been fraying by the time she got to Caelid. Judging by Millicent's questline and the existence of creatures such as the Kindred, the Rot seems to be a sentient force in its own right constantly fighting to be released.
** This is implied to be the case in the first phase of her boss fight. She's still keeping the Rot held back at that opponent and, while still very fast when she bothers to attack, is a rather passive and reactive boss past the first few seconds; it's surprisingly easy to space out and get heals off in front of her. When the Rot fully overtakes her for her second phase she suddenly becomes hyper-aggressive and barely gives you room to breathe, possibly because she now has no mental distractions holding her back.
* PyrrhicVictory: The final result of her clash with Radahn. While their actual duel was a stalemate, Radahn ultimately lost more than she did with his entire fiefdom laid to waste and her knights still maintaining occupation zones in Caelid as of the present. But this was of no comfort to Malenia -- she had succumbed to the curse she tried to keep suppressed for her entire life, saw much of the land she grew up in reduced to a wasteland, saw the bulk of her loyal army perish in the Rot and in the preceding battle, and was rendered comatose for years thereafter. To make things even worse, Mohg had already absconded with Miquella, [[ShootTheShaggyDogStory meaning her quest to protect her brother and the meek residents of the Haligtree ended in failure, with Miquella being subjected to the Lord of Blood's whims and the Haligtree reduced to a rotting husk without Miquella's holy blood to nurture it.]]
* RecurringElement: She shares a lot of similarities with [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Lady Maria]], being a [[ContraltoOfDanger husky-voiced]] yet [[DissonantSerenity soft-spoken]] LadyOfWar who is first encountered slumbering on top of a tower, who is a tall and powerful LightningBruiser who fights with finesse and ImplausibleFencingPowers. Also like Maria, she in desperation resorts to using her DangerousForbiddenTechnique in her second phase despite normally trying to keep it suppressed, and is responsible for one of the game's most dangerous areas getting to be that way. Malenia's fight also takes place in a flower field, like Sword Saint Isshin and Gehrman before her.
* SeriesMascot: Malenia featured heavily in ''Elden Ring'''s advertising, getting prominent shots in all the trailers and TV spots and being plastered all over the physical marketing, [[https://gamerant.com/elden-ring-malenia-statue-mall/ including nearly to-scale statues in stores.]] The game's [[https://assets-prd.ignimgs.com/2021/11/04/elden-ring-collectors-edition-1636036230103.jpeg collector's edition]] came in a box adorned with her heraldry (golden tree on a crimson field), and also included a 9-inch statue of her. The premium edition [[https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/elden-ring-premium-collectors-edition.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&dpr=1.5 added a replica of her helmet.]]
* SmallRoleBigImpact: She's only an optional BonusBoss at the end of the game, but Malenia is ''very'' important to the world. She was one of the two chief belligerents in the Shattering and released the Scarlet Rot within herself to gain an advantage over Radahn during their stalemate, turning Caelid into a hellscape of nightmarish creatures and rotting landscapes and making Radahn into a wandering, zombified nightmare, which the player is required to MercyKill.
* TheStoic: The Tarnished’s encounter with Malenia showcases a woman with the emotions of icy steel and an unflappable fortitude; even when angered she barely raises her voice to the Tarnished.
* StatuesqueStunner: The Tarnished's shoulders are about level with her thighs.
* StopWorshippingMe: [[spoiler:She is disgusted upon learning she is worshiped by Sage Gowry and his "Order of Rot" cult for being a goddess of rot who is the reason why Caelid is infected with Scarlet Rot. Her utter rejection of Gowry leaves the latter [[DespairEventHorizon pretty despondent]].]]
* StrongFamilyResemblance: She's practically the spitting image of her father Radagon.
* {{Superboss}}: Malenia is this game's answer to the likes of [[VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice Demon of Hatred]], [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Laurence]], and [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII Midir]], being an outrageously difficult boss who can only be accessed through obscure means and does not need to be fought to complete the game. In this case, you need to collect both halves of the Haligtree Medallion to be able to access the topmost part of the map. One trek through the Haligtree later, and you'll be met with a duel against Malenia herself, [[LightningBruiser a tanky, lightning-fast swordfighter]] who is deliberately designed to be the toughest fight in ''Elden Ring''. Her bag of tricks includes: [[LifeDrain regaining health on every hit]] (note she doesn't have to deal ''damage'' with these hits, blocking her attacks with your shield will still heal her all the same); lengthy attack patterns with tricky dodge-timings; one of the fastest grab attacks in the game; a minimum of three needed parries before she can be hit with a critical; attacks which inflict Scarlet Rot build-up in the second phase; and her signature move, Waterfowl Dance: BladeSpam incarnate which has 3 phases to it, is pretty much guaranteed instant death should any of those phases connect, and whose only consistent method of dodging is to equip Bloodhound's Step to your weapon and mash L2 like a madman the moment you see her preparing to use it.
* SuperSpeed: While all the demigods can move at superhuman speed, Malenia is the quickest by a good margin. Particularly noticeable with her Waterfowl Dance move where she throws several dozen swords strokes with her nine-foot blade in under five seconds, with her flurry being so fast that the last ten or so swings [[SpeedEchoes appear to land after she has stopped moving.]] Even her [[https://i.imgur.com/UKrm1oJ.png basic thrust attack]] has her accelerating at literally hundreds of times the rate of an Olympic sprinter.
* TrulySingleParent: [[spoiler:Assuming Millicent and her sisters really are Malenia's children, and as there's no mention of a father, it's all but implied Millicent and her sisters were born from when Malenia unleashed the scarlet rot upon Caelid during her battle with General Radahn.]]
* UncertainDoom: 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. She noticeably continues to talk for several lines despite losing her body, and the Scarlet Aeonia obtained from her Remembrance describes her as if she's still alive and capable of "blooming" again. Some cut dialogue also hints at this.
--> Is this... my first... defeat? Bravely fought, sir/lady. But remember... One day, the scarlet bloom will flower again...
* UndyingLoyalty: To Miquella, her twin brother. She speaks longingly about him before beginning her deathmatch with the Tarnished, and when defeated her last words are an apology to him for losing. She was apparently waiting for him at the Haligtree all this time, ignorant to the fact he'd already been kidnapped by Mohg. Her followers had this to her in turn, much like Radahn's men; her Cleanrot knights fought fanatically at her side despite knowing she'd be the death of them, and one of her generals, Commander O'Neil, proudly still displays her and Miquella's banner and slays her enemies in Caelid decades after she's left. Misbegotten can also be seen praying to statues of her in the Haligtree, most notably near the Haligtree Town Plaza.
* TheUnreveal: It's never stated why Malenia attacked Caelid in the first place. Her domain is almost on the opposite side of the Lands Between and she had to march all the way through Altus, Liurnia, and Limgrave just to get there. It couldn't have been a desire for Great Runes or territory, as she completely disregarded the much easier and more valuable target of Liurnia (which was in a civil war and not led by a fellow powerful warrior-god), a larger, richer, and closer area 'led' by a nearly defenseless shardbearer (Rennala). She didn't even take Godrick's Great Rune after defeating him (and thus presumably subduing Limgrave, though she took no efforts to leave an occupying force). Unlike Radahn, Godrick, and possibly Rykard, she didn't try to attack the capital at any point, despite her realm being the second closest to it. Radahn didn't seem to be threatening her either, as he had suffered a recent defeat against Morgott at Leyndell and apparently either wasn't even able to conquer Godrick's territory right next to him or didn't want to ''bother'' to do so. Seemingly the only reason she'd have to go there is Miquella was around that area (having been kidnapped and held by Mohg right underneath Caelid, an event implied to have happened before Malenia and Radahn's fight as the latter is shown after the former in the intro), though it's unknown whether she knew this. If the goal was just to kill Radahn and retrieve Miquella or her having a reason to go after Radahn specifically, it's never given.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Infecting Radahn with her Rot caused it to spread through all of the Caelid Wilds, leaving it utterly ''wiped.''
* WalkingWasteland: As a result of being cursed with the Scarlet Rot, Malenia would unwillingly spread said Rot around her despite her best intentions, laying waste to Caelid after her fight with Radahn. She finally willingly weaponizes her power as the Goddess of Rot against the Tarnished for the second phase of their fight.
* WarGod: Radahn's primary rival in this department, Malenia is both a deity and one of the setting's most formidable fighters, spoken of with reverence by both characters and item descriptions as a renowned and mighty warrior. Most in-game art of her, like her engraving on the Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom or the portrait of her in the Shaded Castle, are consistent with this image. This directly contrasts her against her NonActionGuy brother, the other deity of the Haligtree. [[HiddenDepths Interestingly though,]] when you finally get to her domain, you don't see any depictions of her like this; instead her subjects are kneeling to [[https://i.imgur.com/hF1UGP0.png statues of Malenia simply cradling her smaller brother]], [[https://i.redd.it/3a3yeod2ouq81.jpg without her helm, armor, sword, or even prosthetics.]]
* WeaksauceWeakness: Normally Malenia's Waterfowl Dance is an unstoppable death sentence barring a very precarious string of dodges or weapon art uses from mid-to-long range. Her using it at close range all but guarantees at least ''some'' damage... save for the fact her resistance to [[KillItWithIce frostbite]] is extraordinarily low, such that even a single Freezing Pot at base stats will stagger her out of the startup of the attack even when conventional attacks can't. The minimal requirments to make such pots are also easily gathered in the southern forest of the Consecrated Snowfield, meaning running out of them is only a minor concern.
* WorfHadTheFlu: She was [[HandicappedBadass barely being held together by the time she fought Radahn]] (going by the design of her helmet she may have even already been blind by that point), yet still fought him to a draw. She has decayed even further by the time she meets the Tarnished, though presumably her going full Goddess of Rot more than made up for it.
* WorldsBestWarrior: One of the contenders for the title in the setting. Malenia is noted to be a superlative and undefeated warrior among her siblings, her closest bout being when she dueled Radahn, another candidate of this trope, to an inconclusive draw. Even then, the Rot she marked him with reduced him to a feral shadow of his former self. She's indisputably the setting's best warrior by the time of her own boss fight. She was already strong enough to stalemate Radahn in an extended fight while specifically ''suppressing'' the Rot and even in that state (i.e. her first phase) is arguably already the game's toughest boss. But if you push her to phase 2, she'll actually utilize the Rot properly for the first time in her life and gain a huge power-up, effectively doubling her health, enhancing all of her attacks, and granting her several new ones including one move where she launches six duplicates of herself and another where she triggers a big explosion. Furthermore it's stated by the Incantation obtained from using her Remembrance, that if her scarlet flower bloomed a third time, Malenia would evolve into "a true god", which she apparently wasn't before. It's worth noting if the player does defeat her she drops 480,000 runes (runes being directly proportionate to someone's power in-universe), the highest of any entity in the game and nearly as much as the two final bosses combined.
* 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.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Malenia is more resistant to the effects of the Scarlet Rot than most others, even able to [[CursedWithAwesome wield it to her advantage]] to an extent, but she is still not immune to the disease. The Rot ever so gradually consumes her from within, especially without the Unalloyed Gold Needle her brother made to hold it at bay. This even applies on a mechanical level: Malenia's lifelong fight against the Rot has rendered her ''highly'' resistant to its effects and even regular poison,[[note]]You need to inflict 1,481 points of Rot build-up for the effect to trigger, which is about four times what you need for other late-game bosses like Morgott, Godfrey, or Maliketh, or twice for especially resistant ones like Mohg or Fortissax.[[/note]] but she's still able to have it inflicted, and it will eventually kill her like it would anyone else.
[[/folder]]
[[Characters/EldenRingMainCharacters Main Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingSecondaryCharacters Secondary Characters]] | [[Characters/EldenRingOuterGods Outer Gods]] | [[Characters/EldenRingDemigods Demigods]] ('''Malenia''') | [[Characters/EldenRingEnemiesAndBosses Enemies and Bosses]] -]]]]]
!Malenia, Blade of Miquella]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yag9fkgqspjtsr4xoaagp5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I dreamt for so long... My flesh was dull gold... and my blood, rotted. Corpse after corpse, left in my wake. As I awaited his return."'']]
-->'''Voiced by:''' Pippa Bennett-Warner
->''"...Heed my words. I am Malenia. Blade of Miquella. And I have never known defeat."''
Also known as Malenia the Severed and the Goddess of Rot. One of Marika's children through Radagon and twin sister to Miquella.
----
[[folder:A-G]]
* TheAce: In terms of raw skill with a blade Malenia has no equal. On top of being an unparallleled SwordMaster her qualities as a [[MagneticHero inspirational figure]] and [[FourStarBadass military leader]] are also given great emphasis.
* ActionGirl: Malenia is a deadly woman in combat who, according to her own words, has never known defeat in battle and will give the Tarnished a severely rough time with her swordsmanship and powers.
* AmazonianBeauty: She's over eight feet tall ([[https://i.imgur.com/ef1N9hj.png 2.56 meters counting her helmet]]), has long red hair and classically attractive facial features, and her FullFrontalAssault makes it clear that she has the sort of athletic good looks you'd expect of a preeminent LadyOfWar: long muscular legs, thick thighs, a flat toned stomach, and powerful shoulders paired with wide hips. [[FanDisservice She surely looked a lot better before most of her body got either covered in rotted skin or flat-out amputated, though.]]
* AmbiguouslyHuman: Or rather, [[spoiler:Ambiguously Demigod, as her father Radagon might have been a full deity as Marika’s other half. The fact Malenia was "blessed" with Scarlet Rot even since in the womb might also mean she is fully divine in body, unlike the other demigods]].
* AmbiguouslyRelated: Millicent, Sage Gowry's adopted daughter, claims she is related to her, though even she's not exactly sure what relationship they have. [[spoiler:Gowry says Millicent is Malenia's daughter, though there's no mention of a father and she was found in the scarlet rot-infested swamps of Aeonia. Given Millicent is also worshipped by the Kindred of Rot, it's heavily implied Millicent was born from Malenia's GodzillaThreshold from when she fought General Radahn.]]
* AnimalMotif:
** 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 briefly bends the other close to her body to mimic a crane's stance. Her signature attack is also known as the Waterfowl Dance. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xywpJ26hS70 weaker variant]] that she sometimes does (patched out of the game after version 1.0) makes the parralel more obvious as she hops around on one leg while she does it.
** In her Goddess of Rot form she has an association with butterflies, perhaps symbolizing her gradual metamorphosis into something inhuman as she gives into the Scarlet Rot.
* AntiVillain: Malenia was said to be a noble warrior who greatly valued the camaraderie she shared with her men, had immense loyalty to her brother, and understood the value of mercy, as she spared Godrick's craven life when he begged her. By the time events of the game begin Malenia isn't even active anymore, instead waiting in vain to reunite with her brother by the Haligtree. Alas, in her effort to defeat Radahn she is said to have cast aside the "dignity and sense of self" which allowed her to resist the scarlet rot, which makes her something of a hazardous threat albeit a very tragic one.
* ArtificialLimbs: Her right arm and her legs are unalloyed gold prosthetics. The Hand of Malenia is attached to the hand's wrist. The hand wields the blade without a hilt, and [[{{BFS}} said blade is as long as she is tall, if not longer]].
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: ''Utterly [[SubvertedTrope subverted]].'' She's the chronologically-youngest still-active demigod of her generation, yes, but she's also very mature, charismatic, level-headed, and down-to-earth compared to her siblings, with ''zero'' desire to take the throne despite being one of the three most eligible for it. She's also one of the, if not ''the'' most, feared and respected among the demigod siblings (and certainly your worst nightmare as a player).
* BadassArmy: Malenia's army obtained battlefield success during the Shattering rivaled only by Morgott's, even though she had to project power across the length of nearly the entire continent to do anything (while Morgott was mostly defensive), and she had the smallest and newest fief to work with (a collection of outcasts in a city-tree). This bears out in gameplay as the Lordsworn and Cleanrots at the Haligtree are the strongest generic human opponents in the game, with sky-high stats paired with prowess in Holy incantations. On top of their combat prowess their lore also paints them as ''very'' devoted to Miquella and Malenia.
* BadassBoast: She claims she's never known defeat, and she has the skills to back it up. She's not technically wrong either, as her fight with General Radahn ended in a draw.
** She gets an even more impressive one when her second phase begins and she becomes the [[OneWingedAngel Goddess of Rot]].
--->'''Malenia:''' [[GodzillaThreshold The scarlet bloom flowers once more]]. You will witness ''true'' horror. [[PrepareToDie Now]], '''[[PrepareToDie rot]]!'''
* BadassNormal: [[DownplayedTrope By demigod standards]], as Malenia is still an 8-foot tall warrior strong enough to hurl the player Tarnished into the air one-handed and swing a sword a hundred times larger than a regular one-hander as if it weighed nothing, but as long as she's holding back the Scarlet Rot rather than giving in to it she seems to have none of the overtly supernatural abilities of her siblings. She isn't TheArchmage, she's not a multi-ton giant with the strength and weight to shatter the earth, and she lacks specially enchanted armor or weapons[[note]]her sword Hand of Malenia inflicts purely physical damage and doesn't deal particularly more than the starting katana when wielded by the player[[/note]]. She doesn't even have a fully healthy and intact body due to the Rot within ever since childhood. Yet Ranni states that she is mightier than any other demigod besides her brother Radahn, who had all of the above advantages (a master of gravity magic and the largest and strongest demigod, wearing full plate armor and wielding two heavily enchanted greatswords, and with no noted health issues) and still only managed to force a draw with her when she was holding back the Rot. Her sole advantages are her [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower inhumanly good]] [[ImplausibleFencingPowers sword skills]] and [[{{Determinator}} extremely powerful will]]. Even her self-healing ability is stated in her Great Rune's description to not be a spell or incantation but simply her ''sheer refusal to die'' being so powerful that she essentially wills additional hit points into existence.
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Malenia is among the more noble of her fellow Demigods, being a warrior god who inspired [[UndyingLoyalty admiration and reverence from her followers]] and choosing to support her twin's benevolent goals over attaining power for herself. Unfortunately, the Scarlet Rot is one of the most intrinsically vile powers one can possess in the setting, [[DeconstructedTrope its presence within her acting as a constant strain on her body and mind that ultimately causes horrible devastation to Caelid when her will finally wavered]] and she (albeit reluctantly and in desperation) utilized the rot to turn the tides in the Battle of Aoenia.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: When she enters her second phase, she's completely nude, but lacks any genitalia or nipples. This seems to be due to the severity of the Scarlet Rot afflicting her, as the relevant parts of her body are scaled over with the same decayed Scarlet Rot lesions as her eyes and remaining arm.
* {{BFS}}: Malenia has a sword which is [[BladeBelowTheShoulder attached to her prosthetic arm.]] In the story trailer, when General Radahn smashes her arm with his sword, she seamlessly transfers the blade to her other hand. It is both proportionally thick and longer than she is tall. [[https://i.imgur.com/0fEQy2p.png Some]] [[https://i.imgur.com/tYwkbv7.png model-ripping]] shows it's about 9 feet long and weighs nearly 160 pounds ''without'' counting the arm it's attached to,[[note]]Volume is 0.003720 m^3 and it's made of enchanted gold with a density of 19,320 kg/m^3.[[/note]] sixty to seventy times the mass of the average historical katana or arming sword. [[OneHandedZweihander She swings it superhumanly fast, as if it weighed nothing.]]
* BigSisterInstinct: She's very fond of Miquella, her twin brother, and her title seems to indicate she served as his protector. Players visiting the Haligtree can find a statue of her protectively holding Miquella close with her remaining arm, with Miquella clinging to her. In a sad irony, she spent years waiting for Miquella at the Halligtree, unaware Mohg, her own half-brother, had already kidnapped him.
* BigLittleSister: She's much, ''much'' taller than Ranni (both her current artificial body which is [[https://i.imgur.com/Ln2EntX.png 1.65 meters/5'5]] and her original which is about seven and a half feet) and Miquella, who're chronologically older than her, and about the same height as her father, Radagon.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Her sword, fittingly called the Hand of Malenia, lacks a handle and is instead directly attached to her prosthetic arm.
* BlessedWithSuck: The Scarlet Rot which Malenia suffers from birth is said to be a "blessing", yet it takes the form of an incurable and extremely infectious affliction trying to consume and/or warp its host's mind and body, either slowly killing them as they literally rot away or twisting them into feral monsters. [[spoiler:As the origin of said blessing turns out to be an outer god with heavy dosage of BlueAndOrangeMorality, it really might have been a boon from its perspective.]]
* BlindWeaponmaster: She lost her eyes to the Scarlet Rot, but it hasn't slowed her down one bit.
** Her master is one too and has [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome once subjugated the God]] [[HeroOfAnotherStory of Rot itself with the help of a fairy.]]
* BlingOfWar: Her armor and prosthetics are made of unalloyed gold, meant to keep her Scarlet Rot infection in check.
* BodyHorror: The Scarlet Rot has done a number on her body, though you don't see the true extent until her second phase, which shows parts of her body being decayed and cracked. She was already decaying by the time she fought Radahn (seen in the cinematic trailer), but decades later when facing the Tarnished, the rot has gotten even worse (particularly noticeable around her face). [[https://i.redd.it/3a3yeod2ouq81.jpg A statue in the Haligtree of her out of her battle dress]] shows it was nowhere near as bad prior to the Shattering -- she still was missing her right arm, but her left arm and face were untouched and she still had her feet and, possibly, her eyes.
* BraggingRightsReward: Defeating her earns you her Great Rune, [[spoiler:which enables you to rally your yellow health back a la ''Bloodborne''.]] However, having defeated Malenia, there's a good chance you're so overpowered that no enemy presents a challenge worthy of her Great Rune, or you simply don't need its power at all.
* BrainsAndBrawn: Malenia serves as the brawn to her twin Miquella's brains, to the point that she openly refers to herself as his "Blade". She's intelligent and well-spoken in her own right, but her most prominent skill is her incredible prowess in battle, compared to the brilliant scholar and inventor Miquella.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: Her AnimalMotif are butterflies, which associated with the Scarlet Rot in general, along with flowers and fungi.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Malenia's [[ImplausibleFencingPowers inhuman skill with a blade]] is not an inherent trait, but rather the result of training under an unnamed mentor.
* TheChampion: Miquella's, as indicated by her title. This is exemplified by her actions during the Shattering; despite being an Empyrean Malenia has no interest in achieving godhood for herself, and in fact could have apotheosized into a god at any point simply by giving into the Scarlet Rot, instead she's devoted to helping Miquella ascend.
* ChildProdigy: Morgott briefly reminisces Malenia and her twin brother Miquella were this trope.
* TheChosenOne:
** Malenia is mentioned to be of the three Empyreans capable of succeeding Marika, the other two being her brother Miquella and [[spoiler:Ranni]].
** A darker variant. [[spoiler:Similar to the Greater Will with Marika, an Outer God chose Malenia to be its vessel, which resulted in her being afflicted with the Scarlet Rot.]]
* ContraltoOfDanger: Fitting for a warrior goddess, her voice is quite deep, [[DissonantSerenity yet invariably smooth and calm]] [[TranquilFury even when making threats.]]
* TheCorruption: She is afflicted with the Scarlet Rot, having infected General Radahn and the land of Caelid with it during their duel, and weaponizes this during the second phase of her boss fight. It runs strong enough through her veins she can become a WalkingWasteland if she doesn't keep it under control, even having to have her weapons and armor consecrated with Unalloyed Gold to resist it. The rot itself is implied to have a will of its own that actively wants to spread itself.
* CursedWithAwesome: {{Downplayed}}. Malenia was born afflicted with the Scarlet Rot from birth, which has gradually eaten away at her body, threatens to bloom forth from her flesh to corrupt anyone and anything around her, and plagues her entire bloodline. She can at least use it to her advantage by wielding the Rot as a weapon in combat (the Scarlet Aeonia incantation), but it's probably not worth the cost: the incantation's description says if she used it a third time, she'd become a "true goddess".
* {{Cyborg}}: A variant made possible by AlchemyIsMagic. Malenia's right arm and both of her feet have been replaced by unalloyed gold prosthetics created by Miquella, they're implied to double as a RestrainingBolt that helps her keep the Rot under control.
* DamageSpongeBoss: Malenia packs a combined 33000 HP across her two phases -- one of the highest health totals in the game, beaten only by Rykard, the Fire Giant, and the two-part FinalBoss. Additionally, Malenia has a potent LifeDrain ability attached to all of her attacks; playing badly against her means the player has to punch through even more HP. The only saving grace is she has low poise, making it slightly easier to combo hits together and stagger her.
* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Malenia is the best warrior of the setting bar none, with the closest she ever got to being defeated was her duel with General Radahn (that ended in a draw). Gideon first introduces her as "the undefeated swordswoman." The player Tarnished can push her to invoke the Rot again out of desperation, and managing to beat her regardless has her apologize to her missing brother and stating she finally met her match.
* DeityOfHumanOrigin: When her scarlet flower blooms, Malenia temporarily ascends into the Goddess of Rot, which comprises the second stage of her boss fight. Her Remembrance states if she unleashed her full power a third time, her apotheosis would be permanent.
* 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.
* {{Expy}}: Malenia can be concisely summed up as "[[VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice Wolf]] if he were a charismatic, 8-foot tall Nordic goddess." 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 the similarities are much more pronounced: 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,[[note]]The Blue Fairy Swordsman for the God of Rot, Isshin Ashina for Shura.[[/note]] 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, like her kick attack looking quite similar to 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 she's seemingly stationary, just like One Mind.
* EyeScream: The Scarlet Rot has either severely affected the flesh around her eyes or eaten them entirely.
* FanDisservice: During her second phase she sheds off her clothing and fights in the nude. However, you can see the Rot taking a heavy toll on her body, with much of her skin cracked and decayed: along with her lack of eyes, her nudity comes off as more tragic than sexually appealing.
* 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.
* FightsLikeANormal: Malenia is not only [[HandicappedBadass working with a single arm]], but seems to lack any of the sorcerous powers of her siblings and parents. The only power she uses is the minimum of superhuman strength/speed needed to facilitate her fighting style and drive her sword through any target. Yet she manages to be a contender for the WorldsBestWarrior and the game's toughest boss just because of her inhumanly good skills. According to the Sword Memorial in Caelid, prior to releasing the Rot she was locked in an indecisive stalemate with Radahn, who is many times her size and a master of Gravity Magic. When her will frays and she manifests the Scarlet Rot she gains magical attacks, but she takes every effort to keep the Rot contained if she can help it. She only fights that way for any duration if the Tarnished finds her and forces her into her second phase.
* FlashStep: She's scripted to open her first fight by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwD4zSKFK7Q&t=144s quickly dashing]] at the player for her opening slash, and will occasionally do a similar dash as part of her regular move set. She isn't ''actually'' teleporting but she accelerates so quickly over such a low distance (hitting about 30 m/s in three frames at 30 FPS) that it appears she does unless you take a video of her dashes frame by frame.
* FourStarBadass: While her generalship is never given much focus, environmental clues, certain Sword Memorials, and a few item descriptions (most notably the Cleanrot Armor's label of her knights as "celebrated for their undefeated campaign") indicate that she was quite successful as a commander during the Shattering, rivaled only by Morgott. She marched her army from one side of the continent to the other while still maintaing its discipline (''much'' harder than it sounds), marched (and almost certainly fought) through the Academy/Cuckoo-held territories of Liurnia to reach Limgrave,[[note]]Sword Memorial West Liurnia: "This marks Malenia's southward march. The Blade of Miquella and her Cleanrot Knights. Grant her wings never to be clipped." Also, you find a Cleanrot Knight in a mine near this memorial.[[/note]] crushed Godrick's faction so hard while she was there that Godrick himself was reduced to begging on his knees,[[note]]Sword Memorial West Limgrave: "Godrick the Golden, humiliated Having tasted defeat by the Blade of Miquella. Now on his knees, begging for mercy."[[/note]] smashed Radahn's famed Redmanes thoroughly enough in Caelid to push all the way up to the eastern coast,[[note]]Radahn's arena (the Wailing Dunes) is there, far from the Aeonia Swamp where Radahn and Malenia had their fateful duel, and there was clearly a massive battle between their forces at that location judging by all the corpses and weapons strewn about the desert. To the north of that are the War-Dead Catacombs, where Radahn and Malenia's troops continue another battle as spirits (said catacombs also having been the sign of a battle while they were alive, and meant to bury the Redmane dead as a result of it). Given that the Cleanrots were "undefeated" and clearly penetrating deep into the fiefdom, that leaves only one possible result for these early battles.[[/note]] and was only fought to a stalemate at the Battle of Aeonia when Radahn showed up personally with his best. Even then, both armies seemed to have beaten each other to near-death before the battle was over,[[note]]The release trailer has Radahn and Malenia engaging each other seemingly alone on a field full of bodies.[[/note]] despite the Redmanes having a home field advantage and Malenia having to project power across an entire continent, and as of the present her troops are still occupying parts of Caelid (including mines) even with most having retreated and the remainder being just as ravaged by the Rot as the Redmanes.
* FlowerMotifs: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peony Paeonia]], via her curse. Her "bloom" attack creates a giant red version that inflicts Rot, and it is even called the Scarlet Aeonia (in-universe named for the location of Aeonia in Caelid, out of universe obviously named for the flower). She even unwittingly created "buds" that resulted in offspring (Millicent and her sisters).
* FullFrontalAssault: She loses her clothes after her metamorphosis.
* AGodIAmNot: Implied. Her Remembrance states she would turn into a "true goddess" if she unleashed the Scarlet Rot again. Considering how deadly Scarlet Rot is even to demigods, and how she ended up devastating an entire land just to defeat her own brother, General Radahn, she has more than enough reason ''not'' to do it. [[spoiler:There's also how she rejected Sage Gowry and the Order of Rot for worshiping her as a goddess of rot.]]
* GodzillaThreshold: On her own, she couldn't surmount General Radahn, merely locking the two in unending combat. However, she ''could'' give in to the rot to give her the power capable to end her stalemate with him in her favor (it's not explicitly said there was a winner in their duel, but it could be argued Caelid and Radahn came out of the conflict with greater losses) emerging from the transformation as quite possibly the strongest force in the setting. However, the effect is only temporary the first two times she uses it, and extended use of the power ''reduced an entire fiefdom and the preeminent town of sorcery'' to a blasted hellscape answerable only with contempt, horror, and [[KillItWithFire fire bombs.]] She effectively becomes a WalkingWasteland, and it's heavily implied it strongly suppresses the mercy and honor she was known for. Using it three times would make her a goddess who can't turn it off, explaining why Malenia is so apprehensive to utilize her full power. Unfortunately for the player, she decides it's acceptable to use the rot a second time to overcome the Tarnished, even if it risks her precious brother's Haligtree, which causes her to transition into her second phase, regain a good eighty percent of her HP, and hit ''even harder.''
* GracefulLoser: She commends the Tarnished's strength when they finally strike her down, stating it's the strength worthy of an Elden Lord, only lamenting she'll never see her brother again.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:H-Z]]
* 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.
* HeroicRROD: As revealed by the Sword Memorial in Caelid, Malenia had Radahn evenly matched without having to rely on the power of the Scarlet Rot, and calling upon the rot broke the stalemate in her favor. She was unable to follow through on this by killing Radahn however as she collapsed into catatonia afterward, presumably due to the strain of releasing the rot for the first time.
* HeroicHost: It's implied [[spoiler: that the [[EldritchAbomination Outer God]] that created the Scarlet Rot is trying to force Malenia to become it's vassal, but Malenia herself is a noble warrior fighting constantly to keep the plague from escaping her body]].
* HeroicWillpower: Millicent states it was Malenia's "will", "dignity", and "sense of self" which allowed her to resist the Scarlet Rot for so long, before she lost it in her duel with Radahn. While anyone else infested with the Rot dies or degenerates into a beast fairly quickly (Millicent can even be encountered as an invader before you meet her as an NPC), and Malenia would bloom into a "true god" if she gave into it, Malenia still managed to keep it contained for her entire long life despite the enormous mental stress involved, her being its designated vessel, and it reducing her to a dying triple amputee. She even keeps it down during the majority of her long duel with Radahn. Unfortunately her will frays at the end of the duel, leading to her first "blooming." She suppresses it again during the battle, to the point Finlay carrying her all the way back to the Haligtree leaves no infection in the lands she travels through, but it potentially comes out again after the Tarnished pushes her to the brink of death in her boss fight. This is also the reason given in her Great Rune's description for why she heals whenever she hits you -- her body is literally rotting away (hence why her rotted Rune reduces the effects of healing items), yet her "spirit of resistance" means seeing her enemy bleed simply drives her ever forward.
* IdenticalTwinIDTag: Averted; she and Miquella are mix-gendered twins, as they have different hair colors. Malenia is also a Scarlet Rot-infested woman who lost entire limbs and her eyes to the disease, while Miquella was cursed to eternally remain a child [[spoiler:until Mohg's actions broke the curse, but apparently left him a decrepit old man]].
* IWasQuiteALooker: The Scarlet Rot has ravaged her body to the point where her FullFrontalAssault is pure FanDisservice, but it's clear there's the remains of an exceptionally beautiful woman within all that decay.
* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: It's stated the Scarlet Rot ([[spoiler:or rather, the [[EldritchAbomination Outer God]] responsible for it]]) chose Malenia as its vessel in a similar vein to Marika's status as the Greater Will’s extension. As a result of this "blessing", Malenia's body is literally [[BodyHorror rotting from the inside out]].
* LadyOfWar: Her movement throughout the battlefield is graceful and her swordsmanship is fluid and unmatched.
* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: She allowed Radahn take a full thirteen seconds to dramatically unsheathe and enchant his swords at the start of their duel despite being demonstrably capable of closing the distance between them and throwing dozens of strikes in less than half that time, implicitly out of gratitude for letting her put on her prosthetics first.
* LifeDrain: If Malenia lands a hit, she'll regain health regardless whether or not she damaged the Tarnished. Her great rune gives the same effect, in exchange for reducing the healing from the Flask of Crimson Tears.
* LightningBruiser: ''Good lord.'' As the game's {{Superboss}}, Malenia is extremely strong, lightning fast, and packs one of the highest HP pools in the game backed by a lifesteal effect. This gets taken {{up to eleven}} in her second phase where she taps into the power of the scarlet rot, further empowering her attacks and becoming relentlessly aggressive.
* LogicalWeakness:
** Due to flames being an immensely effective ward against scarlet rot, Malenia lacks any fire resistance. Related to that, while she's incredibly resistant to any poison or other scarlet rot build up, the same can't be said for bleed and frostbite, since it doesn't change the fact that her body was ravaged by rot and susceptible to other things that may affect her condition.
** As the foremost and most skillful swordswoman in the game, perfect parries completely throw her off her combos and knock her back ''without'' activating her lifesteal. Of course, it's easier said than done, as it also takes ''three'' successful parries to stun her, when it takes only one for most other enemies and bosses. Her being parryable at all is what's notable, as other late-game bosses like Mohg and Godfrey [[SuperStrength will]] [[NoSell simply smash through]] any parry attempts.
* MaleMightFemaleFinesse: With her deft swordplay and BladeSpam, she's the finesse to Radahn's might.
* MagneticHero: While not a CharmPerson like her brother, Malenia's ability to inspire admiration and loyalty apparently bordered on superhuman. Her soldiers knew that long term contact with her would cause them horrible pain, disfigurement, and eventually death, yet all willingly followed her regardless. Special mention goes to Commander O'Neil and Finlay, the former remaining for years at the Rot-ridden battlefield of Aeonia as "the sole veteran who remembers this battle with pride" and the latter going so far as to [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome carry an uncounscious Malenia across the entire continent while slaying anything that got in her way, despite rotting away the whole time.]]
* MasterSwordsman: Malenia is an excellent swordswoman with ImplausibleFencingPowers. Not only does she hit hard and fast with her sword, she occasionally leaps to deliver a flurry of BladeSpam attacks which are extremely difficult to avoid as she slashes in a sphere around her multiple times with only some visual effects to show where she strikes, her sword arm being too fast for the naked eye, apparently. A player who transposes her sword can do the same. Her sword skills are especially ridiculous when you consider how screwed her weight balance and center of gravity are due to most of her limbs being several times as dense as the rest of her (rather thickly-built prosthetics stated to be made of solid gold). Her dexterity and balance should be borderline ''impossible'' no matter how strong she is. As if to emphasize the point, the smaller copy of her sword you can get from her Remembrance has a minimum Dexterity requirement of ''48'', the highest in the entire game; and even if you meet that requirement you still can't do the faster and more complex moves she uses.
* ModestRoyalty: Despite being a PhysicalGod and the co-leader of her faction, Malenia dresses in a rather understated fashion more befitting a warrior than a royal, which is not unusual for her siblings. What ''is'' unusual though 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, and the images made of Malenia throughout the Lands Between (such as the 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. The fact that her followers can still be found kneeling in reverence to these statues, including the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy battle-hungry]] Misbegotten Warriors, is pretty telling.
* MyNameIsInigoMontoya: She begins her boss battle by announcing her name and title with the quote at the top. As she also repeats it every time she kills the player in the first phase of her boss fight, you will be hearing it ''a lot''.
* MythologyGag:
** Her status a noble and valorous warrior-god with a missing arm is possibly in reference to Týr from Myth/NorseMythology. She even wears the armor of a Norse Valkyrie.
** Her Great Rune allows you a grace period after taking damage to regain that lost health by landing hits against your enemies, mirroring a core mechanic from ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''.
* NeckLift: Her command grab has her strangling the Tarnished with her (still-organic) arm, then tossing them a good thirty feet into the air before catching them on her sword.
* PatientZero: Malenia is the source of the Scarlet Rot plaguing Caelid and several other areas of the Lands Between. She was apparently born with it, [[spoiler:and according to the Unalloyed Gold Needle's description, is gifted upon her by an outer god distinct from the Greater Will]].
* PolarOppositeTwins: To Miquella. She's a [[AmazonianBeauty voluptuous]] [[StatuesqueStunner tall]] [[FieryRedhead redhead,]] inherited from her father, while he (or his previous self) has [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Marika's blonde locks]] and is [[NotGrowingUpSucks stuck in the body of a child.]] Malenia is a [[LadyOfWar celebrated warrior]] wielding [[BlessedWithSuck very destructive innate powers,]] while Miquella is more renowned as [[GadgeteerGenius an inventor]] whose creation (the "Unalloyed Gold" series) can resist the power of Rot ravaging his own sister, as well as serving as her and her trusted generals' prosthetics after they lost their limbs. Similarly, their personal areas are also opposite of one another: Malenia's is full of the deadly Scarlet Rot, while Miquella holds domain of the evergreen and lush tops of the Haligtree.
* PoisonousPerson: In her second phase, Malenia will begin weaponizing the Scarlet Rot, causing build-up on every attack and packing a new attack called "Scarlet Aeonia", which creates a massive blossom of Rot to ruin your day.
* PowerGivesYouWings: In her second phase, she grows massive wings made of butterflies and her own hair.
* PowerIncontinence:
** Even when she attempted to keep the Scarlet Rot suppressed, the description of the Cleanrot Knight armor shows it still risked infecting those close to her. Millicent speaks of her needing to maintain her "will" and "sense of self" to prevent the Rot from bursting forth, a will which had apparently been fraying by the time she got to Caelid. Judging by Millicent's questline and the existence of creatures such as the Kindred, the Rot seems to be a sentient force in its own right constantly fighting to be released.
** This is implied to be the case in the first phase of her boss fight. She's still keeping the Rot held back at that opponent and, while still very fast when she bothers to attack, is a rather passive and reactive boss past the first few seconds; it's surprisingly easy to space out and get heals off in front of her. When the Rot fully overtakes her for her second phase she suddenly becomes hyper-aggressive and barely gives you room to breathe, possibly because she now has no mental distractions holding her back.
* PyrrhicVictory: The final result of her clash with Radahn. While their actual duel was a stalemate, Radahn ultimately lost more than she did with his entire fiefdom laid to waste and her knights still maintaining occupation zones in Caelid as of the present. But this was of no comfort to Malenia -- she had succumbed to the curse she tried to keep suppressed for her entire life, saw much of the land she grew up in reduced to a wasteland, saw the bulk of her loyal army perish in the Rot and in the preceding battle, and was rendered comatose for years thereafter. To make things even worse, Mohg had already absconded with Miquella, [[ShootTheShaggyDogStory meaning her quest to protect her brother and the meek residents of the Haligtree ended in failure, with Miquella being subjected to the Lord of Blood's whims and the Haligtree reduced to a rotting husk without Miquella's holy blood to nurture it.]]
* RecurringElement: She shares a lot of similarities with [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Lady Maria]], being a [[ContraltoOfDanger husky-voiced]] yet [[DissonantSerenity soft-spoken]] LadyOfWar who is first encountered slumbering on top of a tower, who is a tall and powerful LightningBruiser who fights with finesse and ImplausibleFencingPowers. Also like Maria, she in desperation resorts to using her DangerousForbiddenTechnique in her second phase despite normally trying to keep it suppressed, and is responsible for one of the game's most dangerous areas getting to be that way. Malenia's fight also takes place in a flower field, like Sword Saint Isshin and Gehrman before her.
* SeriesMascot: Malenia featured heavily in ''Elden Ring'''s advertising, getting prominent shots in all the trailers and TV spots and being plastered all over the physical marketing, [[https://gamerant.com/elden-ring-malenia-statue-mall/ including nearly to-scale statues in stores.]] The game's [[https://assets-prd.ignimgs.com/2021/11/04/elden-ring-collectors-edition-1636036230103.jpeg collector's edition]] came in a box adorned with her heraldry (golden tree on a crimson field), and also included a 9-inch statue of her. The premium edition [[https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/elden-ring-premium-collectors-edition.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&dpr=1.5 added a replica of her helmet.]]
* SmallRoleBigImpact: She's only an optional BonusBoss at the end of the game, but Malenia is ''very'' important to the world. She was one of the two chief belligerents in the Shattering and released the Scarlet Rot within herself to gain an advantage over Radahn during their stalemate, turning Caelid into a hellscape of nightmarish creatures and rotting landscapes and making Radahn into a wandering, zombified nightmare, which the player is required to MercyKill.
* TheStoic: The Tarnished’s encounter with Malenia showcases a woman with the emotions of icy steel and an unflappable fortitude; even when angered she barely raises her voice to the Tarnished.
* StatuesqueStunner: The Tarnished's shoulders are about level with her thighs.
* StopWorshippingMe: [[spoiler:She is disgusted upon learning she is worshiped by Sage Gowry and his "Order of Rot" cult for being a goddess of rot who is the reason why Caelid is infected with Scarlet Rot. Her utter rejection of Gowry leaves the latter [[DespairEventHorizon pretty despondent]].]]
* StrongFamilyResemblance: She's practically the spitting image of her father Radagon.
* {{Superboss}}: Malenia is this game's answer to the likes of [[VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice Demon of Hatred]], [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Laurence]], and [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII Midir]], being an outrageously difficult boss who can only be accessed through obscure means and does not need to be fought to complete the game. In this case, you need to collect both halves of the Haligtree Medallion to be able to access the topmost part of the map. One trek through the Haligtree later, and you'll be met with a duel against Malenia herself, [[LightningBruiser a tanky, lightning-fast swordfighter]] who is deliberately designed to be the toughest fight in ''Elden Ring''. Her bag of tricks includes: [[LifeDrain regaining health on every hit]] (note she doesn't have to deal ''damage'' with these hits, blocking her attacks with your shield will still heal her all the same); lengthy attack patterns with tricky dodge-timings; one of the fastest grab attacks in the game; a minimum of three needed parries before she can be hit with a critical; attacks which inflict Scarlet Rot build-up in the second phase; and her signature move, Waterfowl Dance: BladeSpam incarnate which has 3 phases to it, is pretty much guaranteed instant death should any of those phases connect, and whose only consistent method of dodging is to equip Bloodhound's Step to your weapon and mash L2 like a madman the moment you see her preparing to use it.
* SuperSpeed: While all the demigods can move at superhuman speed, Malenia is the quickest by a good margin. Particularly noticeable with her Waterfowl Dance move where she throws several dozen swords strokes with her nine-foot blade in under five seconds, with her flurry being so fast that the last ten or so swings [[SpeedEchoes appear to land after she has stopped moving.]] Even her [[https://i.imgur.com/UKrm1oJ.png basic thrust attack]] has her accelerating at literally hundreds of times the rate of an Olympic sprinter.
* TrulySingleParent: [[spoiler:Assuming Millicent and her sisters really are Malenia's children, and as there's no mention of a father, it's all but implied Millicent and her sisters were born from when Malenia unleashed the scarlet rot upon Caelid during her battle with General Radahn.]]
* UncertainDoom: 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. She noticeably continues to talk for several lines despite losing her body, and the Scarlet Aeonia obtained from her Remembrance describes her as if she's still alive and capable of "blooming" again. Some cut dialogue also hints at this.
--> Is this... my first... defeat? Bravely fought, sir/lady. But remember... One day, the scarlet bloom will flower again...
* UndyingLoyalty: To Miquella, her twin brother. She speaks longingly about him before beginning her deathmatch with the Tarnished, and when defeated her last words are an apology to him for losing. She was apparently waiting for him at the Haligtree all this time, ignorant to the fact he'd already been kidnapped by Mohg. Her followers had this to her in turn, much like Radahn's men; her Cleanrot knights fought fanatically at her side despite knowing she'd be the death of them, and one of her generals, Commander O'Neil, proudly still displays her and Miquella's banner and slays her enemies in Caelid decades after she's left. Misbegotten can also be seen praying to statues of her in the Haligtree, most notably near the Haligtree Town Plaza.
* TheUnreveal: It's never stated why Malenia attacked Caelid in the first place. Her domain is almost on the opposite side of the Lands Between and she had to march all the way through Altus, Liurnia, and Limgrave just to get there. It couldn't have been a desire for Great Runes or territory, as she completely disregarded the much easier and more valuable target of Liurnia (which was in a civil war and not led by a fellow powerful warrior-god), a larger, richer, and closer area 'led' by a nearly defenseless shardbearer (Rennala). She didn't even take Godrick's Great Rune after defeating him (and thus presumably subduing Limgrave, though she took no efforts to leave an occupying force). Unlike Radahn, Godrick, and possibly Rykard, she didn't try to attack the capital at any point, despite her realm being the second closest to it. Radahn didn't seem to be threatening her either, as he had suffered a recent defeat against Morgott at Leyndell and apparently either wasn't even able to conquer Godrick's territory right next to him or didn't want to ''bother'' to do so. Seemingly the only reason she'd have to go there is Miquella was around that area (having been kidnapped and held by Mohg right underneath Caelid, an event implied to have happened before Malenia and Radahn's fight as the latter is shown after the former in the intro), though it's unknown whether she knew this. If the goal was just to kill Radahn and retrieve Miquella or her having a reason to go after Radahn specifically, it's never given.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Infecting Radahn with her Rot caused it to spread through all of the Caelid Wilds, leaving it utterly ''wiped.''
* WalkingWasteland: As a result of being cursed with the Scarlet Rot, Malenia would unwillingly spread said Rot around her despite her best intentions, laying waste to Caelid after her fight with Radahn. She finally willingly weaponizes her power as the Goddess of Rot against the Tarnished for the second phase of their fight.
* WarGod: Radahn's primary rival in this department, Malenia is both a deity and one of the setting's most formidable fighters, spoken of with reverence by both characters and item descriptions as a renowned and mighty warrior. Most in-game art of her, like her engraving on the Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom or the portrait of her in the Shaded Castle, are consistent with this image. This directly contrasts her against her NonActionGuy brother, the other deity of the Haligtree. [[HiddenDepths Interestingly though,]] when you finally get to her domain, you don't see any depictions of her like this; instead her subjects are kneeling to [[https://i.imgur.com/hF1UGP0.png statues of Malenia simply cradling her smaller brother]], [[https://i.redd.it/3a3yeod2ouq81.jpg without her helm, armor, sword, or even prosthetics.]]
* WeaksauceWeakness: Normally Malenia's Waterfowl Dance is an unstoppable death sentence barring a very precarious string of dodges or weapon art uses from mid-to-long range. Her using it at close range all but guarantees at least ''some'' damage... save for the fact her resistance to [[KillItWithIce frostbite]] is extraordinarily low, such that even a single Freezing Pot at base stats will stagger her out of the startup of the attack even when conventional attacks can't. The minimal requirments to make such pots are also easily gathered in the southern forest of the Consecrated Snowfield, meaning running out of them is only a minor concern.
* WorfHadTheFlu: She was [[HandicappedBadass barely being held together by the time she fought Radahn]] (going by the design of her helmet she may have even already been blind by that point), yet still fought him to a draw. She has decayed even further by the time she meets the Tarnished, though presumably her going full Goddess of Rot more than made up for it.
* WorldsBestWarrior: One of the contenders for the title in the setting. Malenia is noted to be a superlative and undefeated warrior among her siblings, her closest bout being when she dueled Radahn, another candidate of this trope, to an inconclusive draw. Even then, the Rot she marked him with reduced him to a feral shadow of his former self. She's indisputably the setting's best warrior by the time of her own boss fight. She was already strong enough to stalemate Radahn in an extended fight while specifically ''suppressing'' the Rot and even in that state (i.e. her first phase) is arguably already the game's toughest boss. But if you push her to phase 2, she'll actually utilize the Rot properly for the first time in her life and gain a huge power-up, effectively doubling her health, enhancing all of her attacks, and granting her several new ones including one move where she launches six duplicates of herself and another where she triggers a big explosion. Furthermore it's stated by the Incantation obtained from using her Remembrance, that if her scarlet flower bloomed a third time, Malenia would evolve into "a true god", which she apparently wasn't before. It's worth noting if the player does defeat her she drops 480,000 runes (runes being directly proportionate to someone's power in-universe), the highest of any entity in the game and nearly as much as the two final bosses combined.
* 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.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Malenia is more resistant to the effects of the Scarlet Rot than most others, even able to [[CursedWithAwesome wield it to her advantage]] to an extent, but she is still not immune to the disease. The Rot ever so gradually consumes her from within, especially without the Unalloyed Gold Needle her brother made to hold it at bay. This even applies on a mechanical level: Malenia's lifelong fight against the Rot has rendered her ''highly'' resistant to its effects and even regular poison,[[note]]You need to inflict 1,481 points of Rot build-up for the effect to trigger, which is about four times what you need for other late-game bosses like Morgott, Godfrey, or Maliketh, or twice for especially resistant ones like Mohg or Fortissax.[[/note]] but she's still able to have it inflicted, and it will eventually kill her like it would anyone else.
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