Elden Ring Lore: Who is Ranni? Backstory, Questlines, and Boss Battles

Elden Ring‘s characters are shrouded in mystery, with many of them requiring a deep understanding of the game itself to figure out the lore surrounding them. Shockingly, the snow witch Ranni is one of the easier characters to understand, mostly thanks to her questline outright telling the player her story and motivations. There are still quite a few mysteries about her to uncover, though, partially due to her ties with multiple questlines and other characters throughout the game. The lore behind Ranni in Elden Ring might not be hard to understand, but its vastness is arguably unmatched when compared to the lore surrounding any other character.

Elden Ring Lore: Who is Lunar Princess Ranni?

Ranni was born as a child of Radagon and Rennala, making her one of the demigods. She was born as an Empyrean, making her a potential successor to Queen Marika as ruler of the Lands Between. In celebration of this, the Two Fingers gifted her with a faithful follower known as Blaidd, whom she became close friends with as a kid alongside the blacksmith Iji. She also met a strange witch and learned about the dark moon, with Ranni becoming the witch’s pupil as a result. The demigod would go on to model her doll body in the visage of this witch, meaning the form Ranni takes in Elden Ring does not even resemble her true appearance.

As she grew older, Ranni found herself wishing to escape the influence of the Greater Will, granting humanity the chance to live life without being controlled by gods. To achieve this, she conspired with assassins that would come to be known as the Black Knives, imbuing their blades with traces a stolen Great Rune that would allow them to kill demigods. She also gave traces of this rune to her brother Rykard, as mentioned in the Blasphemous Claw item‘s description. While these assassins killed Godwyn, Ranni sacrificed herself at the Divine Tower of Liurnia, killing her flesh and creating a Cursemark of Death. This event freed her from her duties as an Empyrean, but it also led to Marika shattering the Elden Ring and basically set the entire game into motion.

By the events of Elden Ring, Ranni has employed the services of Seluvis alongside Blaidd and Iji to help her further her goals. At some point, she also met Torrent’s former master, which is what leads to her granting the player a Spirit Calling Bell. It’s unknown how she and Seluvis first met, but one can guess that their connections come from Rennala and the Carians found throughout Liurnia. Notably, she seems to take over the second phase of Rennala’s boss fight, but this has little bearing on her questline or attitude towards the player.

Before meeting Ranni in her tower, she uses the name Renna. The importance of this alternate name is questionable, though it’s implied that this is more than an alternate name due to the existence of Renna’s rise. The player might find Ranni on their own or be directed to her through Fia’s questline, due to her part in the events that led to Godwyn’s death. When the player starts Ranni’s questline, she tasks them with finding the Fingerslayer Blade. She doesn’t seem to have any connection with it, the city of Nokron where it lies, or Radahn, whom the player must defeat to reach it. She also doesn’t seem to have any connection with Nokstella, which is where she heads after receiving the blade.

With the blade in hand, Ranni sets out to kill a special variant of the Two Fingers. They seem to be personal overseers of Ranni, separate from the ones found in the Roundtable Hold. However, Ranni is prevented from killing them by the appearance of a Baleful Shadow, which she tasks the player with slaying. After doing so, nothing stops Ranni from achieving her goal and killing the Fingers, leading to her simply resting on their corpse. Should the player go after her by retrieving the Dark Moon Ring and killing Astel, Naturalborn of the Void, they will become her consort, allowing them to trigger the Age of Stars ending. This ushers in Ranni’s wish for an age without the influence of gods, taking the player with her to embrace the stars and end humanity’s dependence on the Elden Ring.

Overall, Ranni has some of the deepest and most intricate lore of any character in Elden Ring. Though she isn’t fought in a boss battle, she still requires the player to overcome many challenging obstacles. She is tied to her own special questline as well as Fia’s questline, the questlines of her followers, and even the main conflict that triggered the events of Elden Ring. Completing her goal might not lead to many enticing rewards for players that don’t use magic, but those invested in the game’s story will almost certainly enjoy discovering Ranni’s influence throughout their travels.

Elden Ring is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.