Black Knife Assassins have a deep and profound history in Elden Ring's world, playing a crucial role in shaping The Lands Between. Elden Ring has hundreds of bosses, including fearsome beasts like dragons, giant bears, and trolls. Each Elden Ring boss has a rich backstory, including repeat bosses like Crucible Knights. As per the lore, Crucible Knights followed Godfrey, The First Elden Lord, when he rampaged through The Lands Between to spread The Golden Order.

Black Knife Assassins are another type of Elden Ring boss that appear multiple times in places like Deathtouched Catacombs, Sainted Hero's Grave, and Black Knife Catacombs. Most people would agree the Black Knife Assassin boss fights are among the toughest in Elden Ring due to their agility and complicated moveset. Regardless of their combat skills, not many people know their origins and that each assassin has a unique story.

RELATED: Elden Ring Fan Notices A Strange Similarity Between Fire Giant And Jupiter’s South Pole

Elden Ring: Origins of Black Knife Assassins

black knife assassin and her dagger

Not much is known about the history and origins of the Black Knife Assassins, except that they're all women and highly skilled warriors. As per the item description of the Black Knife Armor set, they belong to the Numen race that has its roots outside The Lands Between. Queen Marika The Eternal is also a Numen, suggesting a possible correlation between her and the Black Knife Assassins that is confirmed by the aforementioned armor set.

The crucial information here is that both Marika and the Black Knife Assassins are female Numen beings, suggesting that Numens can only be women. Players come across multiple Black Knife Assassins, but the most famous is their leader Alecto Black Knife Ringleader, one of the game's most brutal bosses. She drops the ashes of Black Knife Tiche, her daughter who died in Leyndell Royal Capital during the Night of the Black Knives.

RELATED: Satisfying Elden Ring Clip Shows Player Defeating Cheater

Elden Ring: Night of The Black Knives

Godwyn being killed by Numen.

The first mention of this important event in the history of The Lands Between is made by Rogier when asked about the misshapen corpse below Stormveil Castle. He says the Night of the Black Knives occurred on a dark, wintry night when someone stole the rune of death from Maliketh the Black Blade. He adds that the thief imbued the blades of the Black Knife Assasins with this stolen rune, making it powerful enough to kill a demigod. Godwyn the Golden died at the hands of these assassins, but it is unclear who gave them the order.

Only a handful of people had the necessary resources to execute such an operation, including the Empyrean Ranni. Players can ask Ranni about the Night of The Black Knives when she confesses that she stole the rune of death from Maliketh. She also mentions performing a fearsome ritual to imbue the rune of death into the Black Knife Assassins' daggers, but she does not say anything about giving the final order to slay Godwyn.

Some believe it was Ranni who ordered the killing, whereas other conspiracy theorists believe it was someone else. These fans think that because both the Black Knife Assassins and Queen Marika are Numens, it is possible that Marika hired them. Some Elden Ring fans even theorize Ranni and Queen Marika worked together to execute this plot, hoping the blame would eventually fall on the Black Knife Assassins.

Many of the Black Knife Assassins were killed in the aftermath of Godwyn's death, including the Black Knife Tiche, who is available as spirit ashes. In addition, Alecto - Black Knife Ringleader - was captured and put into an Evergaol for her crimes while the other assassins were sent to different parts of The Lands Between.

RELATED: Elden Ring Player Makes Character That Looks Like Santa Claus

Elden Ring: What Happened Next?

radagon art

As Rogier says, the Night of The Black Knives acted as a catalyst for numerous events to come in The Lands Between. Godwyn's death brought a period of uncertainty, turmoil, and instability as it became known that demigods can be killed. After this event, the Greater Will and the Golden Order's hold on The Lands Between became weaker.

At nearly the same time, Ranni the Witch took her own life and relinquished her physical self to exist in a doll body. The instability and turmoil grew to unmanageable levels, causing Marika to destroy the Elden Ring, kickstarting the War of the Shattering among the demigods. The shards of the Elden Ring were scattered in different corners of the map and acquired by the demigods as their Great Runes, making them more powerful.

Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Elden Ring: What to Do If You Can't Level Up