from softwareThe game was never about heroes.this Demon Soul and dark soul Games often feature lower life protagonists to overcome their fate – or in Axe: Shadows Die Twicea stoic ninja just trying to protect his master, all against the backdrop of a decaying world where everyone is killing each other.
Eldon Ring Changed that, but not as you might imagine. You’re still a nobody; seek the “tainted” of glory by claiming the title of “Elden Lord”, fighting terrifying men and monsters alike. Some, like Margit the Fallen Omen, tell you outright to “let go of these foolish ambitions”, while others, like Sir Gideon Ofnir, will stab you in the back, To stop your grand conspiracy, everyone thinks you’re an undeserving hero.
Well, we have to look beyond the player character to find the “hero” of the Elden Ring. That title falls on the shoulders of the witch Lenny, the mysterious blue-skinned creature who resides with several accomplices in a large ornate tower near Carriah Manor. Your journey with Ranni actually begins as mirror images of each other: you’re both two-fingered recruits, but Ranni refuses to be a pawn for The Fingers — and that’s where your journey with the Empyrean begins.
Before the events of the Elden Ring, Ranni’s corpse was killed during the Night of the Black Knives, causing her soul to join with her doll model, which the player stumbled upon by accident. Ranni versus Five Fingers against the status quo: The Five Fingers want a pawn they can control to maintain order and rule The Lands Between, but Ranni basically decides the world should shake a little.
Laney’s ideal works like this: She wants to separate mortals from the plane of the gods, believing that no mortal can directly see the boundaries of life in front of them as physical barriers. The gods should not interfere in the lives of mortals, Laney believes, and should be entirely up to their own arrangements in another realm. With the state between heaven and earth, can you really blame her?
FromSoftware stories always operate in gray areas, and Elden Ring is no exception. Five Fingers and Laney are direct opposites, but neither is “good” or “bad”; the former seeks to maintain the status quo (like keeping the flames in Dark Souls’ finale), while the latter wants to maintain the status quo for each of the aforementioned And the sufferer offers something entirely new.
Laney’s route on the Elden Ring wasn’t easy, anyway. Players must overcome numerous obstacles, such as an assassin sent by the Five Assigned in the guise of Brad the half-wolf, and even killing Brad when Laney’s former comrade finally loses his mind. It’s all in the service of Lanny, and the only thing the ex-manager cares about is seeing what she’s aiming for — even if that means giving up allies like Brad until they eventually perish.
Laney’s story is self-indulgent, yes, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Take Kuro in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice: The young lord is completely focused on himself, believing he needs to expel his eternal, empowering bloodline to improve the land, damn the consequences. Kuro’s mission is entirely self-serving: he doesn’t care about anyone who might suffer as his bloodline evaporates, because he knows the alternative – his bloodline being abused by a powerful ruler – is far more likely than any other possibility Anything that happens to ordinary people is worse. If his bloodline goes up and goes away.
Ranni’s mission is selfish, like Kuro’s, but it’s for the benefit of everyone in The Lands Between. If the status quo has caused so much pain and suffering to ordinary people – which we can see countless times in Elden Ring – why is she maintaining it? You might think Ranni’s abandonment of Blaidd was a cruel move, but it could also be read as a friend putting everyone’s needs ahead of theirs, and if they’re successful, they’ll benefit. Blaidd’s possible descent into a bloodthirsty beast is the price of Ranni’s quest, not a sacrifice she’s willing to make.
If Ranni’s mission is one of personal sacrifice, it’s impossible not to read her character as the hero of the Elden Ring. In fact, you can even read Lenny’s role as Elden Ring’s protagonist: she’s manipulated to begin with, crippled when she tries to break free, but she never loses in building a better world for those around her of focus. She, like the turtles in the Elden Ring world, represents good things. kinda.
Ranni grabbed the back of the Elden Ring’s neck and dragged it to something bigger and better, and we’re just accomplices to her grandiose design. FromSoftware’s games rarely have heroes, let alone those who actually succeed in noble tasks (Shabbat, Solaire), but with Ranni, we may finally have a hero worthy of truly saving the world.