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| “ | The assassins that carried out the deeds of the Night of the Black Knives were all women, and rumored to be Numen who had close ties with Marika herself. | „ |
| ~ Black Knife Assassin description. |
The Black Knife Assassins are major antagonists in the 2022 dark fantasy action role-playing video game Elden Ring. They are a group of tall, shadowy, hooded female assassins that are responsible for the assassination of the demigod, Godwyn the Golden, an event that later became known as the Night of Black Knives.
Biography[]
The Black Knife Assassins are believed to be Numen women who have close ties with Queen Marika the Eternal, the divine Empyrean ruler of the Lands Between.
When Lunar Princess Ranni, the daughter of Queen Rennala, was chosen to become a potential Empyrean successor to Marika, the former sought to change her fate as she didn't wish to be a pawn to the Greater Will's vassal, the Two Fingers. Developing a hatred for her Empyrean status and wanting to escape the future that will be prepared for her, Ranni steals a fragment of the Rune of Death from Marika's shadowbound beast and half-brother Maliketh before forging the death-imbued knives of the Black Knife Assassins through a fearsome rite. As Ranni seeks to preserve her spirit, she plotted for the assassins to murder someone else, in which said person will die only in soul, while she kills her physical body, thus freeing herself from her fate. The Black Knife Assassins chose their target in Godwyn the Golden, though their reasons why are unknown.
Night of Black Knives[]
One night, they arrived in the royal capital of Leyndell, where they slew Godwyn while at the same time carved the cursemark of death into his flesh while the other half of the mark was carved into Ranni's empyrean flesh. The Cursemark of Death was supposed to form a circle but since both Godwyn and Ranni died at the same time the mark was split into two half-wheels. While Ranni died in the flesh, Godwyn died in soul alone, which forced his body to live in death.
With their assassination a success, the Black Knife Assassins fled Leyndell. During their escape, one of the assassins, Tiche, protected her mother Alecto, who is the ringleader of the assassins, but this cost the former her own life.
Elden Ring[]
As of the present, the group of Black Knife Assassins had disbanded and each of them were scattered throughout the Lands Between in different regions. Alecto herself was imprisoned in an evergaol in Liurnia of the Lakes. The Black Knife Assassins appear as optional bosses the Tarnished can fight. In combat, they are challenging opponents as some of them have the ability to turn invisible through their concealing veils, and they can inflict Death through their black knives which can drain away some of the player's health, which is very risky as this can lead to the player dying, but they can survive this through Flasks of Crimson Tears.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Black Knife Assassins wield deadly black knives, which are forged and imbued with the Rune of Death/Destined Death. They also wear concealing veils, which allows them to hide their presence and render themselves invisible. They are also shown to be incredibly acrobatic and have great agility, which allows them to swiftly dodge attacks.
Trivia[]
- If looked at closely, the Black Knife Assassins are shown to be headless, though the reason why is unknown.
- In the official artwork depicting the Night of Black Knives, which is seen during the game's prologue, the Black Knife Assassins are shown to have long streaks of grey hair whilst in the game they do not.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Alecto (Elden Ring).jpg (201 KB)")
