Sorceress Sellen, notoriously known as the Graven Witch, is a major NPC character in the 2022 Dark Fantasy RPG-Action video game Elden Ring. She is a Glintstone sorcerer, who was expelled from the Academy of Raya Lucaria for her mistreatment of other Glintstone Sorcerers. She seeks to restore the primeval current to glintstone sorcery, which has been her obsession since then.
Sellen is voiced by Kezia Burrows. who also voiced Gladys in Bravely Default II.
Biography[]
Sellen used to be a scholar at the Academy of Raya Lucaria, which was governed by Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. Her first teacher was Azur, one of the founding glintstone sorcerers and the originator of the Karolos Conspectus. Sellen views him as a stern judge of character. Though she was considered to be the most promising sorceress in the academy, however she held an obsession of restoring the Primeval Current, desiring for Glintstone sorceries that are unbound by taboos and the pedantry of the Carian Royal Family. Under the name of the Graven Witch, she murdered countless sorcerers.
Jerren, the castellan of Redmane Castle, considers Sellen to be the most dangerous mage in the entire history of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. When she was accused of unspeakable mistreatment on her fellow sorcerers, Sellen was expelled and banished from the academy as a reviled and apostate witch. Following her exile, she was imprisoned in Witchbane Ruins, which is located in the Weeping Peninsula. Though she was bounded by the academy's shackles, she managed to create an astral projection of herself in Limgrave, in the basement of Waypoint Ruins.
In that location, she was encountered by a Tarnished of no renown and of unknown origin. She will ask them on why they are in Waypoint Ruins. When the Tarnished tells her that they want to learn sorcery, Sellen becomes doubtful of it, due to her dark past, and will ask them if they still wish to learn from her. When the Tarnished insisted that they still wish to learn sorcery from her, she will make them her apprentice, allowing the Tarnished to learn various sorceries and incantations from Sellen. When she learned that the Tarnished has found primeval sorcerer Azur on Mt. Gelmir, she will reveal to them that he was her first teacher in the Academy of Raya Lucaria.
After telling the Tarnished of her story on how she was banished from the academy, she expressed her hatred on the Carian royal family. She then tells them of her desire on sorceries that opens the mind and are unbound by terrestrial taboos, she asks for their help in restoring the primeval current. When the Tarnished accepted the request, Sellen will give them the task of finding Lusat, another founding glintstone sorcerer. After finding Lusat's location in Sellia, a town of sorcery, they reported it to Sellen, who will then give them the favor of finding her physical body, revealing that the form that they are seeing is a projection. Pleased that the Tarnished has found sorcerer Lusat, she gives them a token as a reward. She then tells them that with both Azur and Lusat found, she can send their bodies to the Academy of Raya Lucaria but if only she is freed from her shackles.
Once the Tarnished finds her true body in Witchbane Ruins, Sellen, knowing that someone is coming to kill her, will ask the Tarnished to remove her primal Glintstone from her body, entrusting them to look after it, as it is her very being. She will scream in intense pain when her primal Glintstone was removed, causing her body to slowly perish. Later, when Jerren, who is a friend to the Carian royal family, arrived to kill Sellen, he instead finds her dead body, unaware that the Tarnished had removed her primal Glintstone. In a secret basement near Ranni's Rise, the Tarnished finds the body of a Glintstone sorcerer, who bears a striking resemblance to Sellen. After placing her primal Glintstone in it, Sellen was reborn in her new body, which now became a vessel for her soul. Thanking the Tarnished for their deed, she notes that her new and vigor-filled body is fit for her very being. Sellen then tells them that she can now return to the Academy of Raya Lucaria, expel the Carian royal family and restore the primeval current to Glintstone sorcery.
If the Tarnished has slain Starscourge Radahn during the Radahn festival, Sellen will be dispossessed of her immortality, much like Ranni the Witch. When they encounter Jerren in Witchbane Ruins where Sellen's old body is located, he will reveal to them of who Sellen really is. Though he assumes that because her body is now a husk, he correctly suspects that her soul is living on in a different location, assuming that she'll turn up in a new body, oblivious to the fact that she is already in her new, and more youthful body. In the grand library of the Academy of Raya Lucaria, the Tarnished is given the choice of helping Sellen fight against Jerren, who arrived to kill her. Once Jerren is slain, Sellen can now be found in the library, in the spot where Queen Rennala was. Thanking them for saving her, she will reveal to them of her overthrowing of Rennala and that since the bodies of sorcerers Azur and Lusat had been returned to the academy, the school will hone the primeval current.
Though she asked the Tarnished to stay, she realized that they are seeking to become the next Elden Lord. Reminding them to remember her and of when they became her apprentice, she will tell them that they will always be her student. However, changing her mind, Sellen will tell the Tarnished that the entirety of the Academy of Raya Lucaria will swear allegiance to them before bidding the Tarnished to become Elden Lord. She will then give them a token to symbolize hers and the academy's allegiance. Once this is done, she will offer her support in the Tarnished's quest to become the next Elden Lord and gives them the request that when the time comes, they illuminate her about the secrets of life which courses the Elden Ring. However, she will give them the offer to pay her a visit if they failed in their quest, noting that the academy always has a place for them. Later, when the Tarnished encounters Sellen again, they will discover that she has transformed into a gravel mast.
In an alternative path, if the Tarnished sides with Jerren, then Sellen will die in the latter's place. In addition, they will automatically receive her bell bearing and her glintstone crown.
