#she treats her group well when Marika doesn't

[missrandomnomad0o]

So has anyone noticed that Marika and Ranni may be parallels/foils of each other?

- Both were Empyreans with beastmen Shadows (Maliketh and Blaidd), smithing masters (Hewg and Iji) and consorts who were Tarnished at some point in their lives (Hoarah Loux and the Tarnished).

- Said Shadows were siblings of their Empyreans.

- Both have plans to remove the influence of the Greater Will from the Lands Between.

- Both of them could not carry out said plans until the Tarnished entered the picture.

However:

- Marika cursed her smithing master Hewg and chained him to make sure that he finishes his god-slaying weapon; Ranni (and her family) have treated Iji well. At the very least Iji wasn't forced to stay a smith, considering how he also served as a war counselor.

- Marika sought out Hoarah Loux for his strength, since she knew that strength would help her conquer the Lands Between, but Ranni did not seek out to Tarnished who would become her consort. Ranni's future consort either found Ranni's Rise or sought her out for her role in Godwyn's death instead of asking for her aid. Then said Tarnished proceeded to invite themselves into her group anyways.

(- Also Marika's 1st consort was the Chieftain of the Badlands, Ranni's consort was of no renown.)

- Marika treated her consorts poorly; Ranni either fell in love with her consort or considered them a close friend.

- Marika betrayed her Shadow; Ranni got mad at the Greater Will for sending a Baleful Shadow in Blaidd's form as a way to kill her.

- Both Blaidd and Maliketh are loyal to their Empyreans by design, but in Maliketh's case that loyalty doesn't seem to extend beyond what the Greater Will gave to him since he seems to be more concerned with Deathroot than any danger Marika might be in (to be fair Marika told him to guard the Death Rune and do nothing else apparently). Blaidd, on the other hand, is so devoted to Ranni that even in his madness he defended Ranni's Rise from the Black Knives. Ranni wasn't even there, but that didn't matter.

- Marika ascended in accordance with the Greater Will's plans; Ranni ascended on her own terms. Linked to that is how Marika was an Empyrean before ascending to godhood, while Ranni got rid of her Empyrean flesh first and ascended to godhood as a doll.

- Marika also conquered the Lands Between and forced everyone to follow the Greater Will; Ranni left the Lands Between to give everyone the freedom to follow whoever they wanted to follow.

- When Marika became a god, she also became the Queen of the Lands Between. She was very involved in the lives of the people who lived there, acting as the Greater Will's avatar I guess. When Ranni became a god, she instead chose to remove herself from the Lands Between.

- Marika is best associated with the colour gold (representing the Erdtree and the Greater Will), Ranni is best associated with the colour blue (representing the Carian Noble Family and the Dark Moon).

In conclusion, Marika and Ranni are meant to mirror each other, which shows up everywhere in their actions or their relationships with their group.

#elden ring #queen marika #marika #ranni the witch #ranni #ranni elden ring #lunar princess ranni #elden ring ranni #maliketh #maliketh the black blade #godfrey #godfrey the first elden lord #smithing master hewg #war counselor iji #blaidd the half wolf #blaidd #blaidd elden ring #ranni's relationships with her group are the opposite of Marika's #she treats her group well when Marika doesn't #it's funny to think of them like that #i might be reaching #but if the parallels were indeed intentional #that would explain why the age of stars is considered the good ending #the Lands Between did not thrive under the Greater Will #credit to my brother for helping me flesh out some of these points #and discussing this with me #hoarah loux