Game:

Elden Ring (2022)

Duration: 4:35

89 views

11

This Elden Ring lore video explores Ranni the Witch and her relationship to her Empyrean status. Ranni tells us that she was designated as an Empyrean by her own Two Fingers, which means that she was a candidate to ascend to godhood and succeed Queen Marika as the ruling divinity of the Golden Order. But Ranni also tells us that she rejected her Empyrean status by slaying her original body, because that body gave the Two Fingers a certain amount of control over her.

But how much of Ranni's story is true? Certainly she slayed her own body, and certainly she was an Empyrean, but did she really abandon her destiny *as* an Empyrean when she slayed her original body? Not if we believe her War Counselor Iji, who tells us that Ranni continues to tread the "Dark Path of the Empyrean." Indeed, her entire questline is dedicated to preparations that Ranni must take to undergo that path.

And so if Iji is right, then Ranni did not abandon her destiny as an Empyrean when she slayed her own body, so much as take that destiny into her own hands, and ensure that she could ascend to godhood without the meddling of the Two Fingers or the Greater Will, so she could avoid the evil fates of Malenia and Marika who both lead lives as captives to their own Empyrean flesh.

This video explores these ideas further. If you want to see more Elden Ring or Soulsborne content, consider subscribing and/or liking. I have loads more on the way, and I also make essays on anime and movies! Hope to see you again!

00:00 Ranni Claims to Reject her Empyrean Destiny
01:03 Ranni Secretly Embraces her Empyrean Destiny
01:56 The Symbolic Meaning of Ranni's Darkness
02:47 The Darkness is Freedom

Other Statistics