 |
This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | Hear me, Demigods. My children beloved. Make of thyselves that which ye desire. Be it a Lord. Be it a God. But should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices. | „ |
| ~ Queen Marika's declaration to the Demigods. |
The Demigods are major antagonists in the 2022 dark fantasy RPG-action video game Elden Ring. They are the children and descendants of Queen Marika the Eternal and Radagon. After Marika shattered the Elden Ring and disappeared, the demigods warred with each other over their Great Runes, fragments of the shattered Elden Ring. When none of them were successful in achieving their desired goals they were renounced by the Greater Will.
History[]
During the reign of Queen Marika, her family consists of many demigods, heroes who were given a powerful blessing by Marika. As she had sealed away the rune of death/Destined Death from the Golden Order, this rendered them immortal, as they are stripped of their deathly fates.
While Marika had different demigod offsprings with notorious consorts, such as with the Elden Lords Godfrey and Radagon, at some unknown point in time she sired the cursed demigod, Messmer, whom she exiled into the Lands of Shadow to wage a bloody war against those without the grace of gold.
The Golden Lineage[]
Queen Marika, with her first consort Godfrey, who is also the first Elden Lord, would bore with each other the first demigods, also known as the Golden Lineage. Godfrey was also given a demigod status. The confirmed members of Marika and Godfrey's line are the Omen Twins Morgott & Mohg, and Godwyn the Golden. The latter is suggested to be a descendant of the Golden Lineage, given his name, title, and the pattern on his clothing.
Though Godrick the Grafted is also a member of the Golden Lineage, however, he is only a distant relation to Queen Marika's line and his divine blood to her is sorely diluted. Godrick is also said to be the last of the Golden Lineage, but his creations, the Grafted Scions, are suggested to be dregs of the family line. After Godfrey was divested of the grace of gold, after having served his purpose, he lost his status as a demigod and became the first Tarnished.
Marika's demigod stepchildren[]
While Godfrey was Elden Lord, the mighty champion Radagon, who is actually the "male self" of Marika, had married Queen Rennala, the ruler of the Academy of Raya Lucaria, and they bore two sons and a daughter; Starscourge Radahn, Praetor Rykard, and Lunar Princess Ranni. After Godfrey was hounded from the Lands Between, Radagon left Rennala to become Marika's new king consort and the second Elden Lord. This led to the elevation of Radahn, Rykard, and Ranni, who became demigods themselves.
The Twin Prodigies[]
As a result of the union of Marika and Radagon they would bore two more children, which are the twin demigods, Malenia and Miquella. However, as their parents are a single being, they were born cursed; Malenia was afflicted with Scarlet Rot, which ravaged her body from within, causing her to lost several limbs and having them replaced with prosthetic limbs. Meanwhile, Miquella was cursed with eternal childhood, rendering him unable to grow to adulthood.
Soulless Demigods[]
The walking mausoleums in the Lands Between cradles the corpses of demigods who have no souls. There are at least 8 demigods who became soulless including an unwanted child of Queen Marika. The Soulless Demigods were guarded and watched over by mausoleum guards until they are resurrected.
Fall of the Demigods[]
During the Night of Black Knives, Godwyn the Golden was assassinated by a group of Black Knife Assassins, who used black knives that are imbued with a fragment of the rune of Death, which was secretly given to them by Ranni, who seeks to avoid her fate of becoming a pawn to the Two Fingers. Godwyn was recorded as the first demigod ever to die during Queen Marika's reign, however, in reality, both him and Ranni died at the same time. While the latter perished in the flesh and her soul was preserved, the former, however, died only in soul, leaving his body to live in death, becoming the Prince of Death in the process.
The death of Godwyn the Golden is what led to the fall of the Demigods. Driven to the brink by her son's death, Queen Marika would shatter the Elden Ring, which consequently broke and corrupted the Golden Order. Radagon tried to repair the Elden Ring himself but failed. Queen Marika's trespassing led to her imprisonment within the Erdtree, though Radagon would also share the same punishment as he and Marika are bound in a single body.
This became the precursor of a cataclysmic war known as The shattering; after the Elden Ring was shattered, the demigods claimed their Great Runes, becoming Shardbearers in the process. The mad taint of the powerful strength from the Great Runes led to the Shattering, where a majority of the Demigods warred with each other for power and for control of the Lands Between. However, there are some who didn't take part or wouldn't seek to usurp the other Great Runes; Morgott the Omen King chose to defend the royal capital of Leyndell and the Erdtree while his twin brother Mohg quietly recruited followers for himself for the establishment of his own dynasty.
For Praetor Rykard, due to his blasphemy, he sees the Erdtree and the Gods as demanding and, while content with his own Great Rune, believes that his fellow Demigods fighting over miserly scraps of power is nothing but debasing. This led to him launching a blasphemous campaign against the Erdtree and the Greater Will, turning towards heresy in the process. At some point, he would feed and merge himself with the ancient traitor of the Erdtree, the God-Devouring serpent/Blasphemous Serpent, who lives on the volcano Mt. Gelmir. Losing his sanity, Rykard's ambitions turned into gluttonous depravity, where he would feast on the champions sent to challenge him, making them a part of his "family" in the process, which greatly disturbed Rykard's followers, causing them to abandon him.
Lunar Princess Ranni, now known as Ranni the Witch, whose soul has been transferred into a doll modeled after her mentor, largely remained out of the Shattering. Consequently, as a result of her new body, she was forced to go through extended periods of dormancy, withdrawing from the world in the process. While she hides in a tower in Caria Manor, her family's home, Ranni's agents worked to bring her plan of getting rid of the Greater Will's influence on the Lands Between and allow their leader to pursue her godly ascension on her own terms.
In the aftermath of The Shattering, none of the demigods achieved their goals and they were abandoned by the Greater Will, who then extended grace towards the Tarnished while the Two Fingers gave them the task of stripping the demigods of their Great Runes.
Gallery[]
