Elden Ring is full of mysteries. Strange gods, forbidden bonds, unknown oaths between brothers that change the fate of the world. At the heart of all of this and Elden Ring itself is the biggest mystery and the most important character in the game: Marika. Despite her importance, she’s the only character you never really see and never speaks for herself. It’s a strange situation considering this goddess queen forced the entire world to submit to her rule and created an entirely new religion centered around herself.
I thought the Marika puzzle was just FromSoftware’s usual practice of leaving story threads unfinished, but once I finished Shadow of the Erdtree, I realized that wasn’t the case. Marika’s disappearance was intentional – and I think it drives the entire plot of Elden Ring forward.
Full endgame spoilers for Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree below.
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Long ago, Marika was a very physical being, a fierce warrior, and a capable witch. She swept across the “Underground” and brought it under her control, waging a holy war against dragons, ancient giants, and the very beings who eventually stuffed her family into a meat grinder jar. She established herself as a leader in the new social order. The important thing to note here is that she Yes, Godfrey, her first lord, went along (and killed a lot of people), but it was Marika who was behind it all, who made contact with the gods and destroyed the Ancient Order.
It wasn’t enough. She wanted more, and of course she did. She could be vicious, vindictive, and cruel to her children, but Marika was also an ambitious, restless woman who had reached the top and was wondering how to get to the next level. The thing is, I don’t think she took into account Radagon. only Ambitious.
The Shadow of Edelwid story trailer mentions seduction, betrayal, and “an affair born of gold,” while showing the first time someone uses the Sacred Gate. Seduction and affair are biased terms, and it’s safe to say that Marika and Radagon become Very friendlyperhaps before Marika banishes Godfrey. However, I think there is a secondary meaning here, especially since the words mean that Marika draws some golden thread from what may be her corpse and then offers herself at the door.
The lure of power and godhood tempted Marika into a relationship that went far beyond physical intercourse. Marika saw no reason not to allow Radagon to remain her lover and remain married to Godfrey—unless Radagon agreed to something Godfrey could not or would not agree to: ascension.
One of the most confusing plot points in Elden Ring is Marika herself. Or more specifically, what exactly happened between her and Radagon. The Corhyn side quest made a big deal about her and Radagon being the same person. It was a shocking revelation for both him and us, but Shadow of the Erdtree casually unravelled the mystery when Miquella merged with Radahn. The only way to become a god in Elden Ring is to merge the souls of a consort and an empyrean.
If this sounds far-fetched or specific to Shadow, remember that this is essentially what Ranni does to you in the finale. She abandons her body, becomes a spirit, makes you her consort, and ushers in the Lunar Age as the new God of The Lands Between.
The downside, however, as St. Trina tells us, is that the life of the Supreme Beings becomes a prison from which only death can free them.
Marika’s experience reminds me of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Bear with me. In this wonderful Gothic novel, Catherine Earnshaw falls deeply in love with a nobody named Heathcliff, but she wants something far more rewarding: status. She decides to marry the local landowner and nobleman and banish Heathcliff from her soul, choosing a life that ultimately suffocates her until she is nothing but a withered shell.
Elden Ring doesn’t make this clear or implicitly, but there’s little viable explanation for Marika’s sudden decision to expel Godfrey. After hearing what Santarina said about Miquela, I can easily imagine Godfrey (if he had any feelings for Marika at all) refusing to sentence her to the same prison as Miquela, and Marika throwing him out into the sun to find someone willing to be her spouse for this strange ritual.
A popular fan theory is that Marika received a favor from Godfrey and his followers as part of a plan to fight the Big Will, but I don’t buy it. First of all, Marika devoted herself to the order she created. back Banish Godfrey and ascend to godhood. Maybe this is some kind of long-term insurance measure in case things go bad in Radagon, but that seems a stretch. The Tanithids hold to what Marika said in the church—that they will return in grace after death to “wield the Ring of Elden”—but the dead don’t return to the Underworld en masse. They just slowly come back, die, and fade into memory.
I think her words have a more practical interpretation, though. Marika had just demoted, divorced, and exiled the beloved leader of a large and militant military unit. That’s not the kind of enemy you want in your new regime, so the best thing to do is to appease them and send them far, far away so they won’t be a problem – which is exactly what Marika did.
Or maybe Godfrey just got mad at Marika for stuffing their Omen child into the sewer, threw a scene, and Marika threw him out. It’s possible, but unlikely. Elden Ring loves its parallels, and Godfrey and Marika are perfect mirror images of Santarina and Miquela.
But whatever the reason for Godfrey’s banishment, Marika remarried—and everything changed.
Accompanied by Radagon, Marika traveled through the war-torn Shadowlands to Einir-Ilium, shedding her mortal form (as Miquilla later did), and opening the Divine Gate. But unlike her son, Marika and Radagon actually completed the ritual. Following the ritual that Miquilla had begun to initiate upon Radagon, Marika and Radagon became one at this point—and no, I don’t mean in that old-fashioned way. I mean, the souls of the spouses and the High Heavens merged into one until the end of the Golden Order. This is the anomaly that saw Marika order the war against the wizards of the Lukarian Light in the Liondale, with Radagon leading the charge. They were separate people—until Marika became a god.
As far as I can tell, Marika’s war at Hornsent was her last, and she returned to the Underworld changed—or was forced to change. She was no longer Marika, the fierce warrior, conqueror of dragons, and avenger of her people. She faded out of the role that women had been forced to play for most of history. She became a wife.
After her multiple marriages to Radegon, she is reduced to a passive role. Goddess Queen Marika is the embodiment of grace and the order of the Elden Ring, and the standard of belief and behavior that everyone in the order is expected to follow. She is Radegon’s wife, the mother of his children, and the object of worship throughout the nation. To Hornsent, she is a “vile whore” (for understandable reasons at this point). She is the historical trinity of views of women: mother, saint, whore – but no text in the Elden Ring describes her as a person anymore; let alone as having any ability to act of her own.
Instead, she became a idealIn her role as maintainer of order, she is partly a Victorian nonsense Women are the moral role models of the family and the countryShe is the mother of all creatures, providing boons to those who adapt to the society she has created, and offering constant peace and security. Now, she also represents, in part, the way that medieval Europeans viewed women as objects to be revered and protected, rather than autonomous beings with lives to lead. Even the opening cutscene of Elden Ring gets in on the act. The Queen is missing! Save her, brave knight!
Mallika becomes what you and others see her to be. She exists to exploit her for your own gain, without any understanding of what she wants, thinks, or needs. After ascending to godhood, she has lost herself. Meanwhile, Radagon – an entity that remains in the material world – enjoys all the privileges of being alive and being a god, and does everything in his power to ensure that this state of affairs continues.
Elden Ring never explicitly states why or when the Shattering occurred. The opening cinematic says Marika disappeared before the war, which means Marika destroyed the Elden Ring before Godwyn was murdered. Rogier says she did it after Godwyn died, after the Night of the Black Knife. In Shadow of the Erdtree, Leda suggests that “Bishop” Miquella may have initiated the Shattering as a contest to find a worthy lord for his consort. Perhaps he used charms to trick Marika into smashing the Elden Ring, or maybe he simply incited his family to war after the deed was complete. What Marika did was such a strong act of defiance that I think she did it on her own, without interference from her snotty-nosed magical son.
Whatever the reason, whether it was sadness or depression, Marika deliberately destroyed her life and everything she had built. She had had enough and she didn’t care what the consequences would be. And who could blame her? In this way of thinking, her life dwindled year after year with no end in sight, and she eventually realized that her triumphs, sacrifices, and sins were all in vain.
The Finger Reader tells us she was imprisoned for breaking the ring, but in typical Elden Ring lie-telling fashion, she’s not some random emissary of the Outer Gods. It’s Radegon. The thorns that prevent you from entering the Erdtree—and that prevent anyone from leaving—are shaped like his runes.
Enya the Finger Reader explains vaguely that the Great Will punished Marika. However, she never actually says WHO It did. But think about this: Radagon is the one who has the most to lose if Marika escapes. He is the reason Marika is missing.
Having lost her last chance at freedom, Marika spent her final days in her room, imprisoned in her own body, and when you broke Radagon’s seal and entered her room, she was shattered into nothingness – the end of a life, a warrior, a mother, and a god. Radagon is still there, but he is a shadow of his former self, which is almost sad, or would be if he hadn’t tried to smash your head in. Marika’s complete lack of movement makes me think she may be dead or dying at this point, everything she fought for in tatters. Even if Radagon prevails against you, Tanished, neither of them can go back to the way they were before.
I think Godfrey knows this, hence the sudden return of Tarnished and Godfrey himself to Leyndell. Obviously, Elden Ring doesn’t have a definitive answer, and it doesn’t intend to. But I think, at least in some ways, it continues the parallels of Wuthering Heights: Godfrey can’t escape Marika’s shadow, he comes back to take back what’s rightfully his, and destroys the remnants of her life’s work, but inadvertently creates a better world for those who come after.
Well, until you kill him. Are we…are we bad people?
