Elden Ring isn’t exactly one for happy-go-lucky characters. There are several characters who are downright vile, utterly broken, or completely tragic, but perhaps the most tragic characters in the game are Shadows. These Elden Ring characters are created and/or designated specifically for an Empyrean by the Two Fingers, and should the Empyrean diverge from the Golden Order/leave their Shadow, they are driven into madness.
WARNING: Major Spoilers for Elden Ring AheadThis is seen when Ranni disappears in Elden Ring and Blaidd, her Shadow, goes mad. It’s truly upsetting because it’s clear that Ranni loved him like a brother. Meanwhile, there are Empyreans whose Shadows are just gone—like Malenia. But perhaps the Shadow who gets it worst is Maliketh, Shadow to Queen Marika the Eternal, because it’s clear that she never even cared for him—despite his being her half-brother too.
Elden Ring: Gurranq and Maliketh are One and The Same
Players would be forgiven for thinking that the first time they meet Maliketh is on Farum Azula, where they kill him and restore Destined Death to the Lands Between. No, instead, they can meet him much sooner by finding the Bestial Sanctum in Caelid or by following D, Hunter of the Dead’s quest in Elden Ring. Here, he’ll be introduced as Gurranq, Beast Clergyman, but just like Margit is Morgott, Gurranq is Maliketh in hiding.
Gurranq tasks the player to bring him Deathroot, as he has an insatiable hunger for it. Doing so will net players a few rewards, but in this form, Maliketh’s tragedy is on full display. He hungers for it because Maliketh has taken the Rune of Death into his own body, to ever prevent its use again. As many know, Ranni stole the Rune of Death during the Night of Black Knives, where she slew her worldly body as well as killed Godwyn’s spirit. This “broke” Marika’s heart and resulted in the Shattering of the Elden Ring—in other words, Maliketh believes he failed her.
Elden Ring: Why Gurranq Need Deathroot
With the Rune of Death embedded in Gurranq/Maliketh’s body, it has caused his hunger for Elden Ring’s Deathroot. These were spread with Godwyn’s death, symbols of his tragedy but also a result of the Rune of Death. His hunger for Deathroot is likely a hunger to be complete. Not only does he have an incomplete rune of death in him, but he’s also incomplete without Marika. This appears to be part of the bond between Empyrean and Shadow, the madness of the latter losing the other, and this means Gurranq’s suffering is threefold: he is incomplete without Marika, his hunger drives him mad, and he fails he has failed in his duty.
It's a punishment, at least as it seems to him. His suffering is obvious as players complete his tasks. Elden Ring players can only collect 9 Deathroots in the entire game. In theory, giving this to Gurranq should at least make him feel more whole, as the Rune of Death has at least most of its parts back. It does not. His dialogue in Elden Ring highlights this. “It is…it is all…consumed. Still, I am not sated…not nearly stated.”
“Marika…is this…what it is…to sin? Will things…never be the same…again?”
The worst of his suffering can be seen at night. He’ll be found on the right of the sanctum, howling. Speaking to him doesn’t provide new dialogue, because the howl says enough. Wolves howl to communicate; they howl to signal the pack. No one is answering Gurranq. No one is answering Maliketh’s cry for help, for wholeness, for Queen Marika.
Elden Ring: Marika Used and Abused Her Loyal Shadow Maliketh
If players give Gurranq the Deathroot, he’ll offer new dialogue when players face him in Farum Azula. Ultimately, the Tarnished will kill him and Destined Death returns to the world, something required in every Elden Ring ending. What the player does is a mercy, ending Maliketh’s suffering. But the worst part is that his suffering and what he perceives as his failure is not genuine on the other end. Marika used Maliketh, abused his suffering, and offered him no grace.
Through Elden Ring, the context of The Shattering changes. Marika was not some grief-stricken mother who rebelled against the Greater Will on impulse. She, as an Empyrean, was bound to the Greater Will but did not want to be, she was an almighty goddess of great power, and she plotted against the Greater Will for a long time. The war against the fire giants, giving the Rune of Death to Maliketh, telling Hewg to create a God-slaying weapon, and her connection with the Numens of the Night of Black Knives all suggest one thing: Marika would have done anything to anyone to be free of the Greater Will, including letting her half-brother suffer and still believe in her and including letting Godwyn die.
Maliketh feels incomplete without Marika and yearns for that connection, which is the root of all his suffering. She caused it intentionally and knowingly. Marika may not be the final boss of Elden Ring, but she is perhaps the most antagonistic force in the game.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.