Mytha

"That creature, she was human, once, you know. Hmm, In fact, she was wed to the Prince of that nearby castle. But her husband, hmm, he had feelings for another. The Princess was desperate, and sought eternal beauty. Hoping that it would restore the Prince's, ah, affection, ha you see what I mean. Before long, the Princess' ire transformed her into a monster."

- Laddersmith Gilligan

Mytha, also known as the Baneful Queen, is a supporting antagonist in Dark Souls II.

Biography
Mytha was once a powerful and respected princess who was to be engaged to the ruler of her kingdom. However, the prince had no affection for Mytha as he was in love with another. Envious, Mytha performed multiple efforts to increase her beauty so the prince would notice her. Despite her efforts, he never did. This drove Mytha mad and as a last resort, turned to poison, as she believed consuming enough would make her even more beautiful. This backfired and Mytha was mutated into a half-human, half-serpent monster. She was exiled to the Earthen Peak, a degraded fortress.

Driven even further insane, Mytha converted the fortress into a factory pumping poison into her chamber with belief that it would grant her youth immortality. Those who resisted had their heads ripped off, and reanimated to become Manikins, the Queen's servants. One of her servants expressed his love for her by gorging himself until he bloated into the Covetous Demon.

Mytha is encountered by the player when they get through Earthen Peak to reach the Iron Keep with the Old Iron King's Great Soul. Her arena is filled in a poisonous pool of green acid, which both drains the player's health and slowly heals Mytha. This can be adverted by using a torch to set the windmill near the Central Earthen Peak bonfire on fire, which will reduce the size of the pool to just the sides. Even without the poison, Mytha can be a challenging foe given her quick pace of throttling her spear and magic abilities. She can throw her head at the player to create an explosion. She can even use her tail to swipe or grab the player and constrict them, although the player can cut off her tail to prevent her from using these attacks. Once Mytha goes down, a passageway to the Iron Keep is opened.

Trivia

 * While it is unknown who Mytha was originally engaged to, some speculate that it may have been the Old Iron King.
 * Mytha's design is based on the of Hinduism and Buddhism mythology.
 * In New Game Plus, Mytha drops the Covetous Silver Serpent Ring+2.
 * Mytha's tail can be severed, but no rewards will be given.