Who Was Queen Marika? - Her origin, motives, and divine manipulation
Queen Marika, a god in flesh, stood as the living vessel of the Elden Ring and ruled over the Lands Between with divine authority. Her children, born of her godhood, were Demigods--each wielding a fragment of her power in the form of Great Runes. But for a long while now, Marika has vanished, leaving behind silence and uncertainty.
Opening
Welcome back, lore-lovers. I'm Liandrug, and today, we dive into the shadowed legend of Queen Marika--the divine sovereign whose choices shattered the world and shaped the Lands Between.
The Chronicle
Marika was born a Numen, hailing from the secluded Shaman Village hidden deep within the Scaduview. As one of its shamans, she was part of a people whose very flesh the Hornsent believed could merge with others in sacred harmony. This belief gave rise to a gruesome rite--where the bodies of condemned criminals were carved apart and sealed into jars, with the hope of rebirth as saints. Marika's people were stolen from their home and offered to this ritual, their village hollowed by absence.
Amidst this cruelty, Marika's fate took a divine turn. The Two Fingers, choosing her as an Empyrean, gifted her a Shadowbound Beast to protect her: her own half-brother, Maliketh. In time, she ascended to godhood at the Gate of Divinity atop the tower of Enir-Ilim, becoming the living vessel of the Elden Ring. From this divine act were born the twin trees--the radiant Erdtree and the shadowy Scadutree. But to the Hornsent, this transformation was a bitter betrayal.
In the time surrounding her ascension, Marika confronted another chosen Empyrean--the Gloam-Eyed Queen. She defeated the Queen and, in her vision for a world untouched by fated death, carved the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring itself. She sealed it away within Maliketh, her loyal beast, and from that act, the Golden Order began to take shape.
During this era, Marika took a mighty warrior, Godfrey, as her consort. Through this union, he became both the first of the demigods and the first Elden Lord.
In time, Marika returned once more to her forsaken village. There, she cut a braid of her hair and laid it before the Grandmother in solemn offering. She bathed the empty land in golden light, though none remained to receive its warmth--and she never returned again.
In the early days of the Erdtree's rise, the world stood in defiance. Marika, with Godfrey at her side, turned her gaze northward to the frozen peaks where the Fire Giants guarded the Flame of Ruin--one of the few forces capable of reducing the Erdtree to ash. Together, they waged a bitter war against the giants. Marika, triumphant, was said to have slain the Fell God they served. Yet the flame could not be extinguished. Knowing this, she placed a cruel curse upon the last surviving giant, condemning him to tend the eternal fire. To seal away this dark chapter, she forbade passage to the mountain path, naming it the Forbidden Lands, and struck all records of the war from history.
In these years of conquest and rule, Marika and Godfrey bore children: Godwyn the Golden, and the twin Omens, Morgott and Mohg. The twins, born with cursed forms, were hidden beneath the capital's depths, but their blood marked the dawn of the Golden Lineage--demigods born of gods. Godfrey, bearing the Elden Lord's title, led mighty campaigns to expand the Erdtree's dominion.
Yet Marika's ambitions reached further. She sought to bring Liurnia of the Lakes under her rule--a realm of sorcerers and moonlit royalty. She declared war upon the glintstone scholars of Raya Lucaria and the Carian royal line. To lead her golden host, she sent her secret other half: Radagon, the red-haired champion. Opposed by Queen Rennala and her lunar warriors, the war ground to a stalemate.
In a second campaign, Radagon returned--not with sword alone, but with penance. He performed a sacred rite at the Church of Vows, using Celestial Dew to renounce his offenses and beg absolution. Queen Rennala accepted, and the conflict was washed away. Their union followed, and from it were born three children: Radahn, Rykard, and Ranni.
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With the Lands Between firmly under her dominion, Marika declared a new era--one where the Golden Order would no longer be followed blindly, but examined and unraveled to its depths. As Godfrey's final enemy fell in battle, the fire in his eyes dimmed, signaling the end of his purpose. In that moment, Marika stripped him and his kin of their grace, casting them from her lands. Thus were born the first Tarnished--exiled warriors, sent to die in foreign lands, grow stronger through hardship, and one day return, guided once more by grace.
Among her many hidden moves, Marika sent her son Messmer into the lands of the Hornsent, masked as a crusade. But beneath the command lay fear--fear of the Abyssal Serpent sealed within him. To prevent the darkness from threatening her realm, she cast Messmer into the sealed Realm of Shadow, bidding him to wage a ceaseless war against the Hornsent. Yet even as the flames of Messmer's fury consumed her enemies, Marika gave no word to end his campaign. She cloaked the existence of this hidden realm in powerful enchantments, shielding the truth of both Messmer and her godhood from the world.
After Godfrey's exile, Marika took Radagon as her King Consort, elevating him to the title of second Elden Lord. Radagon, who had already fathered three children with Queen Rennala--Radahn, Rykard, and Ranni--brought his lineage into Marika's fold. These children, once of Carian blood, were raised by Marika herself and granted the status of Demigods.
Together, Marika and Radagon bore two more children: the twins Malenia and Miquella. Like their parents--and like Ranni--they were Empyreans, destined as possible successors to godhood. But Marika and Radagon were not two, but one. Radagon was her male other self, a divine reflection. And so, the twins were born of a single god--afflicted by the divine union. Malenia was cursed with a wasting rot, and Miquella remained trapped in eternal childhood.
Then came the Night of Black Knives. A fragment of the Rune of Death, once locked away within Maliketh, was stolen. For a time, the identity of the conspirator remained hidden. But it was Ranni, daughter of Radagon, who had orchestrated the theft. Through a forbidden rite, she forged blades that could slay even gods.
The assassins who carried out this grim task were Numen women--said to be closely tied to Marika herself. They struck in the dark and killed Godwyn the Golden, marking the first true death of a Demigod. The loss shattered Marika. In her despair, she commanded her remaining children to fight--not only for the crown of Elden Lord, but for the right to ascend to godhood itself.
In the aftermath of the Night of Black Knives, Queen Marika took her Numen hammer and shattered the Elden Ring. The divine order it once maintained was undone in a single strike. The ring's fragments--now Great Runes--scattered across the Lands Between, each claimed by her demigod children. As they clashed for dominance, an age of ceaseless war began. Yet no champion emerged, no victor crowned.
Marika herself vanished from the world stage, imprisoned deep within the Erdtree--perhaps by the Elden Beast, or by the Greater Will whose laws she had defied. Bound in golden thorns, she remained suspended, unmoving, while the world she had ruled collapsed into chaos.
True to the promise she once made, Marika restored grace to the exiled Tarnished. They began to rise from their graves, drawn by the light to return to the Lands Between. Among them, a chosen few gathered at the Roundtable Hold--guided by grace, and armed with purpose. There, an imprisoned Misbegotten blacksmith named Hewg, once tasked by Marika herself, toiled endlessly to forge a weapon that could slay a god.
In time, one Tarnished proved strong enough to reach the base of the Erdtree. Within its sacred heart, they found the remains of Marika--shattered and suspended. As they approached, Radagon seized control of their shared divine form and stood to defend the will of the Greater Will. After his defeat, the Elden Beast rose, the living manifestation of the Elden Ring itself. And when it too was slain, the fate of the Lands Between fell to the Tarnished.
In the age that follows, the Tarnished may choose to mend the Elden Ring--restoring Marika's fractured body and becoming the third Elden Lord and her new consort. In other paths, Ranni the Witch gently takes Marika's broken form before vanishing into the Age of Stars, or the Lord of Frenzied Flame burns everything, reducing Marika to ash.
No matter the ending chosen, Marika herself remains silent--shattered beyond healing, with only the blinding brilliance of the Elden Ring still glowing within.
Closing Words
And so ends the tale of Queen Marika--shattered god, silent sovereign, and the root of a thousand destinies. If this story sparked something in you, then like the video, share it with your fellow lore-lovers, and subscribe to Liandrug for more deep dives into myth and memory. And if you crave more discussion, speculation, and camaraderie, join our Discord. Together, we'll build a cozy refuge for every lore-lover who walks between worlds.
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