Malenia, Blade of Miquella

Warning: This entry may contain spoilers for Elden Ring. Read at your own caution.

About

Malenia, Blade of Miquella is an optional boss in Elden Ring who grew infamous among players for her brutal difficulty. She was widely featured in promotional materials leading to the game's release, making her one of the most recognizable characters in the game. Online, she has been the subject of a large amount of fan art, as well as jokes, memes and commentary about her immense difficulty.

Origin

Malenia first appeared in the reveal trailer for Elden Ring, which debuted on June 12th, 2019, at E3 2019, though her name was not revealed at the time (shown below). The trailer shows her battle with General Radahn, which takes place before the events of the game.

In the game itself, she is an optional boss accessible after completing a complicated sidequest. She is widely considered the most difficult boss in the game^[1] due to her ability to heal herself whenever she strikes the player and the ease with which she induces the scarlet rot status effect in her second phase.

Spread

Malenia's character design, a warrior in valkyrie-like armor with a prosthetic, golden arm, became widely associated with the game in the years leading up to the game's release. She prominently appeared in Fake Elden Ring Lore posts^[2][3] in the years after the game's reveal trailer, during which time very little information was released about the game. During this time, she also became the subject of fan art online (DeviantArt posts from July 12th, 2019^[4] and November 27th, 2020^[5] shown below).

After the game's release, she grew infamous among players for her high difficulty, leading to jokes online. On March 30th, Redditor NtR_Odin posted a shitpost video showcasing themselves dying over and over to Malenia, punctuated by her victory cry, "I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella." The post gained over 1,200 points in less than 24 hours on /r/EldenRing^[6] (YouTube embed shown below, left). On March 20th, TheLolHounds2.0 released a meme-filled guide to defeating Malenia, gaining over 190,000 views in 11 days (shown below, right).

Memes about Malenia tended to focus on her repeating the line, "I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella" after she defeats the player, which would happen often for most players. For example, Redditor EmansaysEman compared her to a famous scene from The Princess Bride^[7] (shown below, left). Redditor Glaedrax^[8] parodied the phrase using a Say The Line, Bart meme (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References