Characters / Elden Ring: Ranni the Witch

Elden Ring Main Character Index
Main Characters (The Tarnished | Marika) | Roundtable Hold | Secondary Characters (Renowned Ashes) | Outer Gods | Demigods (Godfrey | Morgott | Mohg | Radahn | Rykard | Ranni the Witch | Malenia) | Enemies and Bosses (Dragons | Liurnia of the Lakes | Recurring Enemies and Bosses | Tarnished Invaders and Targets)

Lunar Princess, Ranni the Witch

"Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night."

Voiced by: Aimee-Ffion Edwards

"Unless, of course, thou shouldst take the crown?"

A mysterious Demigod and princess of Caria, daughter to Queen Rennala and Queen Marika's stepdaughter. Unlike the other demigods, Ranni does not seem to have much overt interest in the civil war and succession crisis of the Shattering, instead plotting to pursue her own unknown agenda, one in which she is keen on having the Tarnished assist her...

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Beware of unmarked spoilers

A-F

• Action Girl: As shown by her fight with the Tarnished after they attempted to kill her mother, she is a powerful witch with an array of magical spells at her command. A notable display of her power is casting an illusion of her mother at her peak that is capable of fighting the Tarnished with powerful spells and summons. If the Tarnished helps her retrieve the Fingerslayer Blade, she manages to kill her Two Fingers in what's implied to be a pretty big fight between them offscreen. She can also One-Hit Kill the Tarnished regardless of stats should they attempt to trick her into taking Seluvis's potion. Though this is implied to be because of a trap specific to her tower, as she noticeably can't do this anywhere else; if you screw over her centuries-long plan by attacking her in the "wedding" for example, she only runs away and leaves you to do whatever you want. Even before the Shattering, she defeated the dragon Adula in single combat — a dragon infamous for devouring sorcerers like her.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: In the manga, Ranni's entire mystical and otherworldly ice witch persona is shown to be a lot more of an act, as she's actually a bit of a petulant Spoiled Brat who expects Aseo to immediately trust her with very little reason and loses her patience quickly when he doesn't. Also, whenever she fades into dust at the end of conversations she's actually just hiding in a bush.
• Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed, courtesy of Lost in Translation. In the English localization while her overall end goals are still the same, but the sheer vagueness of her intentions makes her come across as somewhat more sinister compared to her Japanese dialogue. Ranni's plans regarding her "Age of Stars" in the Japanese version has Ranni be a little clearer on the subject, specifying that she wants to do away with the Golden Order and all that came before it, essentially wiping the slate clean so as to allow everyone to determine their own fate free of interference.
• Affably Evil: 'Evil' is arguable, though she definitely doesn't have clean hands. But her affection for her compatriots and, if you progress her questline, the Tarnished, is completely genuine. She's also completely on the level with you, working for her won't result in her betraying you (unlike the Volcano Manor, where joining just gets you fed to Rykard after Tanith deems you strong enough), and she will never become hostile unless you attack first. If you exhaust her dialogue and then choose her ending, she'll call you her "dear consort", and if you betray her, she'll be utterly heartbroken.
• Affectionate Nickname: Ranni starts to address the Tarnished as her 'dear' once you progress into her questline far enough.
• Allegorical Character: Like several of the members of her family, Ranni represent a stage of the development of rulers throughout history. In particular she represents the inevitable rebellion that happens to all aristocratic states, that fight to free themselves of rulers "chosen by god" in favor of those chosen by the people or, as they are usuallly portrayed, a fight for freedom. Regardless if the fight will harm innocent people or not or if it will plunge their nation to war as it often happens in history.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: The skin of the doll she's inhabiting has a faint blue tint to it. While it's unknown if the witch she modeled after also had this skintone, the doll's coloration strengthens her connection with her mother, Rennala, who specializes in light-blue colored glintstone magic.
• Ambiguously Evil: While there's an undeniably sinister and ruthless side to her, especially in regards to her role in the Shattering, Ranni seems to genuinely believe her cause will improve the Lands Between and free the people from the shackles of fate. It's up to the player to decide if her ideals and plans have genuine merit.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • While Ranni's role in stealing a portion of Destined Death from Maliketh cannot be disputed, and she definitely used it to kill her own flesh and blood body, it's her role in Night of the Black Knives and Godwyn's murder which remains a mystery. Sorcerer Rogier believes she commands the Black Knife assassins responsible, and defeating the Black Knife assassins in their catacombs drops the Black Knifeprint, which goes on to mention the one who stole the fragment of Death was also responsible for imbuing its power to the daggers used by Black Knife assassins. Meeting Ranni through following Rogier's questline has her openly admit she did so. However, Rogier is Entertainingly Wrong about both the origins of the assassins and Ranni's main objective (killing her own physical body), and it becomes apparent the Black Knife assassins answer only to Queen Marika and Golden Order, and in fact fiercely target Ranni and her followers for defying the Order. All of these details bring forth several questions: Did Ranni steal Death out of her own initiative, or did Queen Marika/her Two Fingers order her to so the Black Knife assassins can obtain a weapon to kill Godwyn? Did she know the assassins were after Godwyn beforehand? Did she intentionally divide the stolen portion of Death so the assassins would only have half its cursemark knowing it would not fully kill Godwyn? Or did she solely divide it just to get the half that would kill her in body?
  • If The Future Press guide is to be believed, it states she herself orchestrated Godwyn's murder◊.
• Ambiguously Related: While the extent of her relationship with Melina is unknown, they're close enough the latter informs her the Tarnished Player Character is Torrent's new master. The two also share the same claw-like tattoo, albeit on different eyes with Melina's mark on her left eye and Ranni's on her right. It should also be noted that Ranni's current body is modeled after her teacher Renna, which raises the question of whether the mark belongs to her or Renna.
• Animal Motif: Wolves. Her chief retainer is a Wolf Man, she has heavy Lunacy themes, her tower is surrounded by packs of Wolves, the mysterious and otherworldly white Direwolves prowl around her manor, and the Carian Royal Family symbol is a howling wolf.
• The Archmage: One of the most magically powerful demigods, and with the impairment of similarly-powerful sorcerers like Rennala, Radahn, Rykard, and Miquella, she's implied to be the best still-active magic wielder in the Lands Between. For example, her projection alone is a full sorcery-based boss battle. Then, unlike Fia, Mohg, Shabriri, and the Fire Giant, who require grave and countless sacrifices to draw some power from the Outer Gods they worship, she can instantly summon the Dark Moon and envelop the Lands Between in its influence by herself after dying a second time, once she's released from Radahn's virtual shackles.
• Badass Adorable: Very delicate and easy on the eyes, especially compared to many of her more monstrous siblings. But of course she's still a demigod and shouldn't be underestimated. The Tarnished gets a taste of this themselves when she steps in to fight in place of her mother. If you try to force Seluvis's potion on her she will also instant-kill the Tarnished regardless of their level, though this might be restricted to her tower as she does not do this anywhere else. After the stars are freed and with Fingerslayer Blade at hand, she slays a lone Two Fingers offscreen, albeit in a Mutual Kill.
• Badass Boast: Her line against the Tarnished before assuming the form of Rennala to strike them down.
  "Upon my name as Ranni the Witch, Mother's rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee. Foul trespasser. Send word far and wide of the last Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon, and the majesty of the night she conjureth."
  • She gets another good one when you confront the Baleful Shadow in Ainsel River.
    "Tell the Two Fingers, that Ranni the Witch cometh to rend thy flesh. With a fateful wound, ne'er to heal."
• Bait-and-Switch: As her mother isn't really in any condition to fight the Tarnished, she does it in her stead.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Quite literally, in her case. Ranni's doll body appears to be a highly customized marionette soldier's body, given she has four arms not unlike them. Her clothes-less form seen in the Moonlight Altar completely lacks both primary and secondary sexual characteristics, with everything other than her head, neck, lower arms, and legs being a tangled mess of exposed cables and wires woven into a humanoid form beneath a simple, unadorned ceramic shell.
• Benevolent Boss: She's always very courteous to the Tarnished and cares greatly for Blaidd and Iji, seeing the latter two more as family than as her underlings.
• BFS: She doesn't use one as she relies on sorcery as seen in her boss fight as "Rennala", but the end of her questline sees her gift the Dark Moon Greatsword to the Tarnished. The Dark Moon Greatsword is the Moonlight Greatsword of Elden Ring, and according to its flavor text, it's given to the consort of Carian royalty, as is per tradition.
• Big Sister Instinct: A muddied example, as the birth order of Radagon and Rennala's children is ambiguous. But after stealing a fragment of the Rune of Death, she gave Rykard the Blasphemous Claw to protect him from Maliketh's wrath should he be hunted by him.
• Body Backup Drive: It is explicitly stated by Ranni herself the body the Tarnished converses with is not her true one, referred to by her as a "doll". Ranni killed her own physical body during the Night of the Black Knives, at the same time the Black Knives killed Godwyn, and her heavily-damaged corpse can be found at the top of Liurnia's Divine Tower.
• Body Horror: Her doll body is definitely not in the best of shape at the end of her questline, being horrifically cracked and broken away, revealing what seems to be twine stuffing underneath what's left of whatever counts as her skin. The corpse of her physical body is found at the top of Liurnia's Divine Tower, charred black from where she used the Rune of Death to destroy it.
• Breaking Old Trends: To the stereotypical female witch characters in FromSoftware's games past, particularly Yuria (Demon's Souls) and Karla (Dark Souls III):
  • Appearance wise, they always wear black, worn-out and tattered outfits, while Ranni wears the all-white and delicate Snow Witch Set. They're always presented sprawling and sitting down on the ground, while Ranni's seating position is always placed higher than the Player Character's eye level or simply standing about.
  • They're transported to their respective games' Hub Level after a simple find-and-talk requirement, while Ranni never enters the Roundtable Hold due to her feud with the Two Fingers, requiring the Tarnished to travel to her location instead. Gameplay-wise, they're dedicated sorcery teachers to the Player Character, with plenty of options for you to purchase and learn; Ranni doesn't teach you a shred of magic, and the skills she uses in combat are obtained from someone else or found in certain locations.
  • Lore-wise, they're traditional Sidequests which start and end shortly, with generally simple and short missions. Ranni's questline spans the entire game. Also, they're usually of humble background, while Ranni is a demigod and royalty. Learning from them is portrayed as 'mutual learning' with the Player Character as you bring them items, but while Ranni is clearly at the peak of her skill, Elden Ring dedicates the task of teaching you magic to other NPCs.
• Cain and Abel: She had her brother Godwyn murdered for unclear reasons. It's implied she needed another demigod to die at the same time as her so she could die only in flesh while her spirit remained in the Lands Between but why Godwyn was the one she chose to have killed is unknown.
• Character Tic: She's fond of tenting her upper arms' fingers together when she's speaking to anyone. The only time she doesn't do so is when she's confronting Marika in the Age of the Stars ending... as well as when she's presenting her hand to the Tarnished in marriage.
• Childhood Friends: With Blaidd, who had been by her side since they were children. They’re so close the Carians considered them siblings despite the lack of blood relation — Iji describes him as Ranni’s stepbrother, and Rennala calls Blaidd “my child” in cut dialogue for her boss fight.
• The Chosen One: She was one of the Empyreans, the three potential successors to Marika chosen by a Two Fingers as the future rulers of the Lands Between. She rejected her role as one by killing her original body with the Rune of Death's power.
• The Comically Serious: There's often a significant gap between her cold, regal demeanour and the goofy situations you find her in, like sitting on a stack of books to make herself taller or stuck underground inside a tiny, helpless doll. It helps to make her more endearing, befitting someone who's introduced to you as a sinister mastermind but can instead become a Romance Sidequest.
• Cute Witch: Compared to the other Demigods who consist mostly of towering and hardened warriors, Ranni is very petite and with few hard edges to her design, and her specialty is magic rather than physical prowess. The former makes her come off as much more cute and approachable a being in a world full of horrifying monsters, you know, assuming it's not just an act. It is implied that she was much more physically imposing when she was in her original body.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Dark Sun Gwyndolin. Both are powerful wizards associated with the moon and among the few members of the land's royalty to have not succumbed to raving madness. While Gwyndolin was abused for his affinity for lunar magic, upheld his father's doomed kingdom in an attempt to prove himself worthy of his family's love, and treated the members of his Covenant as a means to an end. Ranni was born into the revered position of an Empyrean, eventually grew disgusted with her stepmother's empire to the point she enabled the plot that brought about its destruction, and truly cherishes the small circle of allies who have sworn themselves to making her vision a reality.
• Daddy's Girl: Completely inverted. Ranni is deathly protective of her birth mother, Rennala, and judging from some lore implications, she and Marika are close enough to conspire the Rune of Death's theft together, marking Ranni as one of the few characters who knows parts of Marika's plan (the other being Maliketh, Radagon, Godfrey, and Melina). Even in the "Age of Stars" ending, when she supplants her stepmother as the next ruler, her treatment of Marika's broken body is nothing but tender. In contrast, her relationship with her father, Radagon, may as well be non-existent compared to her brothers, Radahn and Rykard.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Ranni is heavily associated with darkness, witchcraft, and the night in general, and the Outer God she's associated with is the Moon; despite this, she espouses the virtues of free will and champions freedoms, and her ending is one that Melina will support. This is heavily contrasted with the Light Is Not Good Frenzied Flame, whose ending Melina will not support.
• Darkhorse Victory: Following her questline will lead to her coming out on top of the entire Shattering, outliving potentially all of her siblings and overthrowing the Golden Order in favor of a new age headed by her and the Tarnished.
• Deep Sleep: After granting the first mission of her questline to the Tarnished, her doll body enters a slumbering state, leaving her unresponsive if the Tarnished tries to speak with her until her quest has progressed. Her dialogue implies that this is a regular occurrence as a side-effect of inhabiting her artificial body.
  "I shall soon enter my slumber. And it will be some time before I wake. This doll's body is not without its hindrances..."
• Defrosting Ice Queen: In varying degrees, depending on how you start and how you finish her quest. If you come to her with no ulterior motive and swear to serve her, she warms up to you rather quickly, sincerely thanking you after you give her the Fingerkiller blade and only becoming more impressed as you doggedly follow her through to the end of her destiny. If you come to her following Rogier's lead, however, she'll (perhaps rightfully) believe you are only serving her in return for the location of her death rune (though she doesn't say it's a bad thing); her goodbye after giving over the Fingerkiller blade is much more formal, as she believes you have your own opposing design for the Elden Ring, and will only really start to become fond of you after you kill the Baleful Shadow for her.
  • Regardless of how you start her quest, she will be fond of the Tarnished by the end of it. If you've spoken with her thoroughly, including a secret conversation in her tower's chamber at the end, she'll seem to be genuinely affectionate towards the Tarnished, referring to them as "dear" to her in the ending.
• Deity of Human Origin: She is the birth child of the sorceress-queen Rennala and Radagon, who later became an Elden Lord by marrying Queen Marika. When this occurred, Ranni was elevated to the status of a demigod and by the time of the story is no longer human — having killed her physical body and possessed a doll. She can become a God-Emperor herself and the new Top God by succeeding Marika in the "Age of the Stars" ending.
• Deuteragonist: Though you can complete the game without even meeting Ranni, she has the most involved sidequest in the entire game, is connected to several other NPCs, sends the Tarnished to the Nokron and Nokstella optional areas, has huge relevance to the games' lore, and even factors into her own, unique ending. To top it all off, she gifts the Dark Moon Greatsword at the end of her sidequest, Elden Ring's version of the Moonlight Greatsword.
• Disappointed in You: Beyond merely being furious and disgusted should you attempt to betray her by going along with Seluvis' scheme Ranni is genuinely surprised and saddened, having thought better of you.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: Through following Preceptor Seluvis' goal of trying to make Ranni their plaything she will notice what's going at the last second, before the Tarnished can ever succeed in administering the Amber Draught on her; by that point, Ranni will cut ties with them, ordering the Tarnished to leave her presence and never come back. However, if you make the Tarnished try to force a conversation with Ranni over and over again, not heeding her following warnings, she will have enough of it, killing the Tarnished instantly through unknown means.
• Dub Personality Change: The English version makes her ultimate goal sound far more sinister than it's originally written. In English, she makes it sound like her Order will be one where things like touch, faith and emotions would become, in her words 'impossibilities'. In actuality, as written in the original Japanese, Ranni wants to create an Order and raise herself to godhood so she can distance that Order, and herself, from the world, freeing it from the influence of the Greater Will and its divine law. In fact, this is how the previously mentioned line is directly translated from Japanese:
  Ranni: Even if life and souls are one with the order, it (the order) could be kept far away. If it was not possible to clearly see, feel, believe in, or touch the order… That would be better.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Ranni will likely be the first demigod encountered in the opening hours of the game, introducing herself under the name Renna, at the Church of Elleh if proper steps are taken. The full gravity and implications of this meeting — as well as her true identity — will not be made clear until much later in the game.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • Should you follow her questline after beating Rennala, Ranni seems to treat the Tarnished attacking her mother unprovoked as a thing of the past. It's not made clear if the spell she casts to protect the Carian queen was a conscious decision or it was a trap she left that triggered without her input, meaning she might not even be aware it happened in the first place. The latter interpretation is supported by the fact that she won't even mention if you attack her mother after agreeing to work with her either.
  • Completely averted if you actually do end up betraying her, be it by attacking her at specific points in her questline where you're allowed to do it, or by helping Seluvis drug her, in which case she'll completely cut ties with you and the sidequest will become unavailable for that playthrough.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: While her overall morality is debatable there is no mistake Ranni clearly loves her birth-mother Rennala. When Rennala is defeated in her first phase, Ranni hijacks the fight and conjures an illusion of her mother in her prime to protect her.
• Everyone Has Standards: While Seluvis is part of her retinue, she clearly dislikes him, and he's only tolerated because his puppetry magic was necessary for her to create her doll body. And since giving Ranni the Fingerslayer Blade and allowing her to move forward with her plans triggers Seluvis's death, it's likely she disposed of him the moment he wasn't needed.
• The Evils of Free Will: Inverted, because she is all for them. Ranni's ultimate goal is to separate the "order" which governs the world, causality and all souls so it won't cast such a strong shadow on the destinies of all beings (the very fundamentals of Golden Order itself), which will allow everyone to be the master of their own fates. She acknowledges removing the Golden Order and giving all living souls agency will still cause suffering, as without the certainty from the guidance of a higher power, many will despair in the face of absolute uncertainty; but she believes it is better than the Age of the Erdtree as a whole.
• Extremely Protective Child: She won't let the Tarnished kill her mother and will fight them in her stead as Rennala's second phase, taking her mother's form.
• Eye Scream: Her right eye is always closed for unexplained reasons. It also has a similar claw-like mark Melina's left eye does.
• Facial Markings: Ranni has glowing blue tattoo-like markings under her right eye, which only appear while the spectral mirror of her face is "active". Curiously, it almost matches Melina's own, albeit on opposite eyes.
• Fan Disservice: She's shown naked during her "wedding" scene at the end of her quest line but it's not exactly an eroticized moment. Ranni's doll body is old, brittle, and cracked, with most of her torso and legs being exposed wire and twine, and even the design itself is an anatomically simple framework like a cheap wooden artist's mannequin that was clearly not designed to be visible outside the face and hands.
• Fiery Redhead: Inverted. Her doll body has blue hair and she's very stoic, or at least tries to do so. Her original body, which can still be found at the top of the Divine Tower of Liurnia, has been so ravaged by time and the elements you can barely tell she has any hair left. And yes, it was red, no doubt inherited from her father.
• Flowery Elizabethan English: Constantly speaks like this, including use of antiquated vocabulary like saying "ne'er" instead of "never".
• Foil: To Melina, as a fellow main female character in Elden Ring:
  • Both are mentioned to be "bodiless", but Melina maintained the ability to shift between spectral and corporeal form similar to Torrent, while Ranni relies entirely on inhabiting her doll body. Melina prefers simple, hardy travelling clothes with dark, sombre colors with a hood to cover her face, while Ranni always wears the regal and white-themed Snow Witch Set, which has a large hat to do the same job.
  • Melina is synonymous with light, fire, and the Erdtree, symbolized by her proximity to the various Sites of Graces and her light-based, Magic Knight fighting style. Ranni personifies the night's darkness, ice, and the Dark Moon, while "fighting" only with illusions, long-range and large-scale sorceries... plus One-Hit Kill spell traps aimed at you should you attempt to drug her.
  • Melina acts as your supporting crew member throughout your journey, while Ranni tasks you with supporting her in her complicated plans to overthrow the established order.
  • Melina strives to restore the Golden Order, willing to compromise with any acceptable method you choose (bar the "Frenzied Flame" ending) and sacrifice herself for the greater whole. Meanwhile, Ranni's questline is heavily-laden with shades of an ambitious, vengeful, and rebellious desire to smash apart the established rules and set her own, while her final sacrifice felt more like simply spiting the Two Fingers who'd controlled her whole life.
  • Melina serves as your most constant companion throughout your journey and is arguably the character you spend the most time around yet, little is known about her own past and personal thoughts on certain matters within the Lands Between and its current state. Meanwhile, Ranni is someone who goes out of her way to make herself scarce around the Player Character and others due to her current circumstances but is very willing to reveal her motivations and plans for the future, including why she's doing what she's doing due to her history.
  • Their "death" scenes are opposites of each other. Melina does so in the open, witnessed and accompanied by the Tarnished, setting herself and the Erdtree's thorns ablaze. Ranni chose a secluded, dark and cold final resting place, with no one around her and her companions having either died, been killed, or sent away (you) prior to the Final Duel, with her corpse lying in already-cold blood.
• Formerly Friendly Family: While Ranni loves her birth mother Rennala to death (and seemingly gets along with Marika well enough), she considers Blaidd and Iji to be her real family, instead of her brothers Rykard whose territory is directly north of Liurnia, or Radahn who's off campaigning in Caelid in the southeast. You can be the newest addition to her 'family', too, if you complete her questline.

G-W

• Gay Option: An odd case in which she, and technically Marika, are the only romance options, regardless of the Tarnished's gender. She does use slightly different dialogue depending on the Tarnished's gender, though her actual sexual preference is never elaborated upon.
• God-Emperor: Becomes this in the "Age of the Stars" ending by succeeding Marika and taking the Tarnished as her eternal consort.
• Godhood Seeker: While Ranni initially slew her own flesh-and-blood body to avoid walking "the Empyrean Path" chosen for her by the Two Fingers, she ends up walking it anyway in the "Age of the Stars" ending — albeit on her own terms, slaying the Two Fingers and usurping Marika's status as the divine ruler of the Lands Between.
• Happily Married: Depending on how close she becomes to the Tarnished, Ranni's interactions with the Tarnished vary from cordial to slightly warm if her entire sidequest and dialogue options are triggered and exhausted. The end of her questline sees the Tarnished slipping the Dark Moon Ring on her damaged doll body's finger, and she accepts the proposal. If the questline is completed without exhausting her dialogue and the "Age of the Stars" ending is picked, she refers to the Tarnished as her "fair consort", whereas exhausting her dialogue has her affectionately call them her "dear consort".
• Height Angst: It's subtly implied that she resents her doll body's average height compared to her far taller original body's. Both in when the player first encounters her at Kalé's church, and in her tower in Caria, she's sitting on things that make her look taller (a crumbled wall and a stack of books respectively)
• Hidden Depths: Ranni has a few moments showing she's not as cold or regal as she likes to present herself.
  • When she's in her Rise, closer look reveals she piles books on her chair as to appear taller than she really is, a quirk which was first hinted when you met her for the first time in the Church of Elleh where she sits on top of a broken section of the wall.
  • In Ainsel River, she sounds almost embarrassed when the Tarnished found her small doll form and kept talking to her even when she feigned silence. She also gets surprisingly talkative (you can practically talk to her in every new grace you found in Ainsel River), and at one point even ponders to include the Tarnished in her list of "really kind people" before hastily asking the Tarnished to forget she ever said that, blaming her loose lips on her current small form.
• Homosexual Reproduction: Sort of. As a demigod, she is considered a child of Marika, but she is also very close with her biological mother Rennala. With the reveal of Radagon and Marika sharing a body, it's possible both her mothers are in fact her biological parents.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Ranni's doll body is visibly shorter compared to everyone else in her service. While the height difference between her and the Tarnished and Seluvis (both of whom are in the 5.5-6 ft tall range) is more realistic, it becomes exaggerated when comparing her to Blaidd, who's around 8-9 feet in height, and Iji, who's about as tall as a two-story building... and let's not even get started about comparing her with Adulla. It doesn't stop there, as she gets even tinier once she shrinks down to the size of a doll which can fit neatly within the Tarnished's pocket. And while the corpse of her true body is noticeably taller than her doll form, in Morgott's cutscene, her designated throne is absolutely tiny when compared to all of her siblings, even to Miquella who's supposed to be cursed with eternal childhood.
  • Funnily enough, this trope also applies when comparing her with her immediate family members. Her mother is already twice as large as her, while her brothers, Radahn and Rykard, are even multiple times larger than that. It seems while she inherits her mother's talent in magic and association with the Dark Moon, Radagon only passed on his red hair and some degree of his martial prowess.
• An Ice Person: Ranni has an affinity for the cold, as shown by weapons and spells associated with her (chiefly among them the Dark Moon Greatsword) causing frost buildup and her attire being named the Snow Witch set.
• Identity Impersonator: Downplayed. If the Tarnished meets Ranni at the Church of Elleh at night, she'll introduce herself under the alias Renna. The flavor text for the Snow Witch armor reveals Ranni had a teacher of the same name, and her doll body was crafted in Renna's likeness rather than Ranni's original body; a curious thing to take note of, since the doll body was made by Seluvis and his puppets match the origin of the body flawlessly. She only uses her Renna alias once, as the next time the Tarnished runs into her she will give her actual name.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Ranni has made many decisions that are morally questionable at best in her quest to enact the Age of the Stars, but claims no remorse for them as she feels they were necessary to free the world from the Greater Will.
• Immune to Fate: Ranni's ultimate goal is to completely break free of the Golden Order so she can properly ascend as the Dark Moon's vassal. Killing her flesh-and-blood body (which was especially attuned to the Greater Will as one of Marika's children) and moving her soul to a doll has allowed her to accomplish this partially, but she needs to slay the set of Two Fingers who first marked her as an Empyrean to fully break the connection.
• Ineffectual Loner: Ranni tries to complete her journey alone twice with the Tarnished still lending a hand when she gets stuck. The first time she is quite annoyed by it, but the second time she implicitly left a way for the Tarnished to help her despite her saying the contrary.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ranni can come off initially as secretive and cold towards the Tarnished, treating them as a tool for her plans and eviscerating them for talking to her in miniature doll form, mainly stemming from the fact she was resolved to finish her journey by herself and the Tarnished doggedly followed her. However, throughout the course of her questline, she is shown to care a great deal for Blaidd, Iji, and potentially the Tarnished themself should they prove loyal to her. In spite of her Ambiguously Evil nature, she also seems to sincerely believe her plans will improve the lot of everyone, freeing them from the machinations of the Greater Will.
• Kick the Dog: Of all the Demigods, why she chose Godwyn to die on the Night of Black Knives is very unclear. Ranni never expresses any remorse for murdering her half-brother and condemning him to a horrifying Fate Worse than Death.
• Kill the God: Part of Ranni's endgame is to kill the Two Fingers, the divine emissaries of the Golden Order, and to this end she sends the Tarnished to obtain an Immortal Breaker weapon. The reason she stole part of the Death Rune was to kill her own Semi-Divine body in an attempt to sunder herself from the destiny the Two Fingers had chosen for her.
• Lady and Knight: Beginning her questline requires the Tarnished swear fealty to her, becoming the "Knight" to her Dark Lady. While the Tarnished might not literally be a Knight, the spirit of it remains.
  • And of course she already has this dynamic with Blaidd who proudly serves as her shadow.
  • Before the Tarnished came around, Glintstone Dragon Adulla also swore fealty to her as her knight, and even possesses their very own nifty spell as an emblem of said pledge.
• Large Runt: Her actual body is much taller than her doll one, easily dwarfing a normal human adult, but is among the shortest demigods, only surpassing Miquella in height. Even her (mostly) human mother Rennala was taller than she was in her original body.
• Leave No Witnesses: After orchestrating the Night of the Black Knives and handing the assassins the enchanted daggers, Ranni betrays them and has their ringleader, Alecto, locked up in an evergoal in a highly obscure spot that only Ranni can reach. It's never stated why, but the most likely reason is that, as the assassins' leader, Alecto would know the real identity of the plot's mastermind and could spill it if she were captured or simply decided to change sides. Ranni's whereabouts and involvement are supposed to be a secret, and she's seemingly trying to pass herself off as a victim of the assassins like Godwyn and the other targets (hence why she disguises herself as "Renna" to the Tarnished and adopts a doll body that looks nothing like her real one), so Alecto has to go.
• Little Big Sister: We aren't too sure how old Ranni is in relation to her brothers, but we do know she was lacking in the height department. Compared to all her siblings (full, half, and step), with the exception of Miquella, Ranni being a human-sized (and a short human at that, even the Tarnished is taller than her) doll is absolutely tiny, especially when compared to the likes of her full brothers Radahn and Rykard.
• Lost in Translation:
  • The Age of Stars ending. In the English version, Ranni's wording and description of her world order implies she wants to do away with Marika's Golden Order and wipe the slate clean, though without this context, her age of the stars, a "thousand year voyage into fear, doubt, and loneliness" makes it come off more sinister. In the Japanese version, Ranni's world order is more concrete and wants to free the world from the Golden Order's influence.
  • Rogier calls her "demigod and sister to General Radahn and Praetor Rykard." The Japanese subtitles specifically use the word for younger sister (妹), marking her as the youngest of the Carian siblings. Of course, given that Ranni is also called the first heir by Iji, caution must be taken. Caria might be matriarchal, but being called the first in the line of succession is incredibly specific even by their standards.
• Lunacy: Her title is the "Lunar Princess" and she's proficient with Glintstone magic, a style heavily associated with Cosmic Motifs. The second phase of her battle is steeped in lunar imagery, which is fitting since she's using the image of her mother, who's known as the Queen of the Full Moon.
• Mage Tower: Her main base of operations is Ranni's Rise, a large tower enveloped with glintstone, situated on the westernmost point of the Three Sisters.
• Magic Knight: Not onscreen unfortunately, but it's implied she hold some skill as a swordswoman on top of her vast sorcery prowess, having presumably both the Fingerslayer Blade and Glintstone Sorceries when she slew her Two Fingers.
• Man Behind the Man: It was her who stole a fragment of the Rune of Death from Maliketh and gifted it to the Black Knife Assassins, allowing them to slay Godwyn and beginning the Shattering.
• Marionette Master: The body she inhabits in front of the Tarnished is actually an advanced marionette animated by her soul, much like the Marionette soldi you encounter all over Liurnia.
• Meaningful Name: In Sanskrit, the name "Rani" means "queen". Ranni aims to ascend the throne, albeit on her own terms and not of the Golden Order's.
• Momma's Girl: She cares greatly for her mother Rennala, enough that she won't allow the Tarnished to battle Rennala, instead adopting her mother's appearance to fight in her place.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Her doll form has two sets of arms. As her original body displays only two, it's assumed that the additional limbs were another of the unusual traits that her witch mentor had.
• Mundane Utility: She's highly talented in Summon Magic, and one of the things she's shown using it for is to call spectral projections of her retainers to her tower to discuss strategy and host general meetings, such as when she introduces the player to her service.
• Mutual Kill: Her battle against her Two Fingers, Ranni ends up destroying her doll body in the last fight against her nemesis; presenting the Dark Moon Ring to Ranni by then is the only way to save her.
• Mythology Gag: Her appearance as a four-armed doll mirrors the Fool's Idol from Demon's Souls. But whereas the Fool's Idol was naught but a mindless puppet, Ranni is certainly in control of her own actions.
• Mythical Motifs:
  • Possibly more than any other character, Ranni is very close to her mythological inspiration, in this case Loki. She's a ruthless and conniving mage-god who champions chaos (in contrast to her overlord) and who seeks to overthrow the God of Order, and engineers the murder of the beloved god Godwyn (as Loki engineered the death of Baldr; both even did it the same way, enchanting a mundane object and giving it to another so they could kill the normally-immortal target). Both she and Loki cause their setting's version of Götterdämmerung in their scheming, leading to mass death. Both also have a loyal wolf as a family member (Loki's son Fenrir and Ranni's stepbrother Blaidd) who aids in their plots, work through false identities and forms, and rely on trickery partly because they're small and dainty compared to their more martial relatives.
  • Her character design - a four-armed, blue-skinned, robed deity who can take multiple avatars - might be in reference to the Hindu god Vishnu (known as Bichū-ten in Japanese Buddhism), especially since Ranni sounds quite similar to a Hindi name (रानी) that means "queen."
  • She also has some motifs of Kaguya-hime from Japanese mythology, a princess from the moon that descended onto the earth. The 'fake ending' to her questline, where she dissapears and orders the Tarnished not to follow her, as she must travel her path alone, is likely a reference to the ending of the myth in which Kaguya must bid goodbye to her lover to return to the moon. Unlike the myth, however, Ranni and the Tarnished can become eternally bonded and stay together in her ending.
• Nay-Theist: Despite being a demigod herself, Ranni seems to have little respect for any deity, with outright disdain for the Greater Will specifically. Her plan for her new age after ascending to full godhood is to remove the influence of herself and other gods from the Lands Between so that the people could be free to make their own choices.
• Necessary Drawback: She doesn't seem able to remain in control of her doll body at all times and needs to rest for long periods to recharge herself. A bit precarious given that her original body is dead. The doll is also implied to be much weaker and more fragile than her original body as shown by it seemingly "breaking", leaving her practically comatose after she used it to kill her set of Two Fingers.
• Necessarily Evil: Ranni is directly or indirectly responsible for some genuinely heinous crimes, from implicitly tolerating her minion Seluvis's monstrous "hobby" so long as he's useful to arming a dangerous assassin group with the Rune of Death and enabling to murder the beloved Godwyn. From her point of view, all of this is preferable to letting the Golden Order continue ruling the world.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Whatever you think about how she unchained herself from the Greater Will, Ranni probably did not plan for the black knives she enchanted to mutate Godwyn into an undying monstrosity whose presence warps the land and destabilizes the boundary between life and death.
• Not So Stoic: She loses her monotone demeanor during certain events, precisely those where she is slightly irritated. To note: when the Tarnished first chooses to talk with Ranni's miniature doll, Ranni will feign silence until the Tarnished insists well enough so Ranni responds, revealing her little doll is also her avatar, and Ranni will chastise them accusing the Tarnished of having a potential kink towards little dolls, but she is actually mad her cover was blown; also when Ranni opens herself about her troubles with the Two Fingers, she is noticeably angry when talking about them, and to finish it Ranni seems agitated too when she talks about what is her intention for the era she calls "Age of the Stars", encompassing the world in the cold of darkness, free of all current beliefs, showing clear disdain for how the world worked until the Shattering.
• Odd Friendship: The 'friendship' part is only implied in the lore, but her relationship with Melina is certainly 'odd'. Despite all the aforementioned points in Foil above, both of them are well-acquainted with each other and fond of Torrent (and potentially you, should you progress both their quests enough), have identical markings on opposite eyes, and neither goes against the other's final designs on what the next age should be (Ranni's "Age of Stars" is the only other Outer God-based ending Melina will still support). Technically, they're also the remaining active demigods who're on good terms with each other, if Melina's implied connections to Marika are true.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • She killed her Two Fingers with the blade you gave her in the basement of a church. We only see the aftermath, but from the looks of both combatants, it was a fierce battle.
  • Even more impressive is stealing the Rune of Death itself, which required her to somehow rob Maliketh the Black Blade, who is one of the most feared beings in the Lands Between and could have easily killed her if he detected her. How Ranni managed to accomplish such a feat is never even alluded to, though presumably her talents as a sorceress skilled in illusory magic were important to it. Queen Marika herself may have also assisted in the theft, if her connection to the Black Knife Assassins and plan to shatter the Elden Ring went to that extent.
• Order Versus Chaos: She's the Chaos to the Greater Will's Order. Her goal is to create an age free of the control of the Greater Will or any other Outer God, regardless of the cost.
• Patricide: If what we know about Marika and Radagon's true nature is correct, then Ranni's been planning on usurping her "father's" throne and killing him all these years. She will only succeed in the end with the Tarnished's assistance.
• Plot Armor: She's one of the very few characters that simply cannot be killed in any way at all, the others being gameplay-vital characters like Hewg, Rennala and Roderika, and the Roundtable's Two Fingers. The most you can do is attack her in specific points of her questline, after which she'll simply dissapear and consider you a dissapointment, before never reappearing again for that playthrough.
• Puppet Permutation: After killing herself, Ranni's spirit was imbued into a puppet made by Seluvis. Ironically, instead of the puppet looking like her original self, something Seluvis has been shown to be very good at doing, item descriptions for the Snow Witch outfit reveal her current body is tailored to look like Ranni's teacher, Renna.
• Reality Warper: Her 'illusion' magic is so strong it's technically this, completely transporting the player Tarnished into an endless body of water watched over closely by a gigantic moon, and the only 'illusory' thing about it is her control over which moon she's showing — Rennala's Full Moon or her personal Dark Moon spell. In fact, the only other entities who display a similar ability to her ability are the Elden Beast, who is an actual god; Placidussax, a dragon with similar status to Marika regarding his relationship with his Outer God; and Astel, the most powerful of all Naturalborns.
• The Reveal: Ranni outright proclaims herself as the one who stole Death prior to the Shattering when the Tarnished finds her again after their first meeting in her rise. If the Tarnished chooses to serve her, assisting her plot reveals Ranni was also one of three demigods chosen by the Two Fingers to be titled an Empyrean, a candidate for succeeding Marika, the other two being Miquella and Malenia.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: She wears the Snow Witch set, comprised of a regal skirted robe and a big pointed hat which both boost the effectiveness of ice magic. It's revealed to have once been her mentor's garb when you obtain it near the end of Ranni's questline.
• Romance Sidequest: Her questline in a nutshell. Of course, the results of which won't be apparent until the final steps of the quest are completed and the Age of the Stars ending is achieved, where Ranni declares the Tarnished her consort. More specifically how much Ranni seems to like the Tarnished can slightly vary depending on if you exhausted all of her dialogue options as a doll in the places allowing you so; without paying attention to that, she will merely dub the Tarnished her "fair consort eternal" when they marry, but total completion will have her say "dear consort eternal" instead. Even before the Tarnished puts the ring on her finger, she can affectionately refer to them as her "one and only Lord" when expositing her plan for the Age of the Stars.
• Satanic Archetype: Though not as blatant as Mohg and Rykard, Ranni's character is still very Luciferian, even if significantly more sympathetic than the other two examples. The biggest connection between the two is their refusal to bow down to God, with Ranni wanting to cut herself free from the fate the Fingers and the Greater Will created for her, defying its will and subverting its order in the Lands Between if her ending is chosen. Instead of being out of blind pride and superiority, Ranni seems to genuinely believe that the world would be better off without divine oversight and the laws of the Greater Will, as that would allow people to be truly free - even if she is willing to step over a lot of corpses to get there.
• Screw Destiny: In the end, Ranni's questline is about her taking her destiny into her own hands and no longer being a pawn to be used by the Two Fingers, Golden Order or Marika.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Casted aside her Great Rune and sealed herself in Caria Manor at the start of the Shattering, refusing to raise an army or wage war against the other demigods, and as of the present day not even Gideon knows where she's gone.
• Secret Test of Character: After slaying the Baleful Shadow, itself a task she only asked of the Tarnished because of their persistence, Ranni bids goodbye to the Tarnished "for the final time" once again, but leaves with them a key to the chest containing what is essentially her engagement ring and a breadcrumb trail to the place which will otherwise be her final resting place, where she commits a Mutual Kill on one of the Two Fingers... Unless "her lord" intervenes.
• Signature Headgear: Recognizable by her massive, white witch's hat.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Or woman. One of the primary reasons Ranni finds herself endeared to the Tarnished is because of their kindness.
  Ranni: Ah, should I add thee to the list? Another one, kind of heart. As kind of heart as [Iji and Blaidd].
• Starring Smurfette: She is both the leader of the Three Sisters faction and the only woman in the group. It turns into a case of Two Girls to a Team if a female Tarnished agrees to serve her.
• Summon Magic: While far from her only magical skill, Ranni seems to heavily favor summoning. She's the one who gifts the Tarnished the bell to call Spirit Ashes, and what's likely to be their first set of Ashes to go with it. When she "fights" in Rennala's second phase, it's by summoning an illusory copy of her mother, and said illusion takes it a step further by invoking Spirit Ashes of her own, including wolves, a troll, and a dragon. Ranni even uses summoning for regular business like calling meetings among her retainers.
• Supernatural Aid: 'Tis she who grants the Tarnished the Spirit Calling Bell, along with the Lone Wolf Ashes, one of the most important items in the player's kit. It also implies she was the original handler of Torrent. And furthermore, her stealing the Death Rune allowed for the creation of the Black Knives.
  (Giving you the Spirit Calling Bell)
  "'Tis a bell for calling forth spirits."
  "Summon them with it, from ash unreturned to the Erdtree."
  "The spirits will obey thine command but briefly, as they recall battles past."
  "Now it is thine. To do with as thou wishest."
• Thanatos Gambit: When talking to the miniature Ranni doll, she tells the Tarnished she slew her own physical body to free herself from the destiny the Two Fingers had chosen for her as an Empyrean. In order to do so she had to kill herself with a Black Knife at the same time as another Demigod, in this case Godwyn, is killed in the same way, so the Cursemark of Death would be metaphysically halved and one would "die in soul but not in body", which is what happened to Godwyn, and the other "die in body but not in soul", her wanted outcome.
• That Liar Lies: Should the Tarnished come across her as "Renna" after receiving Torrent, Ranni will ask if they are the bearer of a Spectral Steed called Torrent, and become rather annoyed if they answer no; revealing she is acquainted with Melina, who told her about them, and giving them a chance to change their response. Should the Tarnished persist in denying they have Torrent, Ranni calls them out on lying again but admits they're wise not to trust her.
• Token Heroic Orc: While by no means the most morally clean of Marika’s children, Ranni is the only Demigod who, aside from her hijacking the second phase of Rennala’s fight to protect her mother, is neutral to/on The Tarnished’s side and doesn’t attack them on sight. She’s even the Big Good if you pursue her ending.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • Should the Tarnished attempt to administer Seluvis' Amber Draught, Ranni's voice never rises above a calm, harsh tone betraying her barely-restrained rage.
  • This is also her reaction when the Tarnished gets to the second phase of her boss fight, calling them a "foul trespasser" and taking up the fight in her mother's place.
• True Companions: She cares deeply for both Iji and Blaidd and one of the last things doll Ranni asks of you before she goes to fight the Two Fingers is to tell Iji and Blaidd she loves them. Depending on why they joined her, she'll develop either the same gratitude to the Tarnished or something more.
• Two-Faced: Ranni has a spectral mirror image of her head beside her, with the left side of its face superimposed over the right side of hers.
• Übermensch: Ranni's ultimate goal. Her Age of the Stars will do away with the Golden Order and everything pertaining to Queen Marika's rule, essentially creating a new world order.
• The Unfought: Played With; while Ranni does highjack her mother's second phase, you are fighting an illusion of Rennala at her peak, not Ranni herself. This makes Ranni technically the only demigod whom you interact with (Godwyn and Miquella are both kind of dead when you see them) you never directly fight. Even if you attack her or attempt to trick her, she will just state how Disappointed in You she is, kill you instantly if it is in her tower, then leave and never appear again.
• Unreliable Narrator: She narrates the game's story trailer, which has her audibly wondering who could have stolen the Rune of Death. In the game itself, not only does she know who stole it, she's the one who stole it!
• The Usurper: In the Age of the Stars ending, where she succeeds Queen Marika as God-Emperor and marries the Tarnished as her consort.
• Vague Age: The age difference among Rennala's children has been notoriously vague and contradictory, but Ranni possibly sufferred the worst case. As mentioned above, the Japanese translations put Ranni as youngest....which is immediately contradicted by Iji calling Ranni as first heir to the Carian throne. Now one can make semantic arguements that Caria, being matrilineal and matriarchal, would have an obvious bias towards females being put first no matter the age. But Iji's statements was incredibly specific. If he stated that Ranni was the next heir, the contradiction would have subsided. But being first strongly indicates a level of age seniority that would not be possible if Ranni was the youngest. As such, where Ranni sits is incredibly muddled.

  "Jerren. Now, that's a name I haven't heard for a while. Before taking up the banner of General Radahn, he was a guest of the Carian royal family. An expert swordsman, to be sure, but ever the eccentric. No surprise he'd get wrapped up in some festival. Oh, no, wait... How did I not see it before? I ought to retire as war counsellor for such a gross oversight! Let me explain. The fate of the Carian royal family is guided by the stars. As is the fate of Lady Ranni, first heir in the Carian royal line. But General Radahn is the conqueror of the stars. Who stood up to the swirling constellations, halting their movement in a smashing victory. And so, if General Radahn were defeated, the stars would once again resume their movement. As would Lady Ranni's destiny. Perhaps, even, revealing the elusive path. That leads to Nokron."

• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Against all normal reasoning, you can actually make the Tarnished attack Ranni at the very end of her questline, when bringing her doll body back to life, instead of talking to Ranni one last time before she teleports away to the "Age of the Stars" summon rune trigger; Ranni will sadly remark she should have seen it coming, believing no Tarnished would actually randomly appear to help her without ulterior motives or being just plain crazy. Ranni disappears after that unprovoked assault.
• Wave-Motion Gun: She uses Comet Azur when fighting on Rennala's behalf.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She fully believes all the problems with the world can be linked back to the Greater Will and the Two Fingers, as she claims everything bad which had occurred was due to their influence. Going so far as to defy them is the only way she feels their hold can be broken.
• What the Hell, Hero?: During the second phase of Rennala's boss fight, Ranni calls the Tarnished a "foul trespasser" for attacking her mother and declares she'll fight them in her stead. If the Tarnished actually goes along with Preceptor Seluvis' plan of administering the Amber Drought on Ranni, she will be understandably enraged by your actions and soon have Seluvis killed and will completely cut ties with the Tarnished, threatening them to leave her presence forever.
• Worf Had the Flu: When you 'fought' her briefly, those powerful and annoying spells she was using to wipe the floor with you were actually weakened from her real ability, as she was working through a projection of her mother's visage (much like her brothers Mohg and Morgott/Margit are handicapped when having to fight in projection form rather than in-person). As she has lost her original body long ago and is now using a puppet body, it is also likely she was stronger prior to losing it as it was noted to possess the qualities to be an Empyrean, though the Dark Moon Ring seems able to restore them. She complains about the limitations her doll body place on her more than once in her dialogue, indicating that she is likely only operating at a fraction of the strength she had when she was still flesh and blood.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: A surprisingly sympathetic example, as the only one she does this to is Seluvis, who was planning to puppet her with the Amber Draught.