Like many FromSoftware games, Elden Ring is dense with lore and secret histories that lie buried in its expansive environments. So many details about Elden Ring's story may escape the notice of players, as they're often hidden in item descriptions or briefly mentioned in snippets of dialogue that are easy to never come across. While many players love this approach to narrative, it might mean that the significance of certain NPCs is overlooked. Wider aspects of Elden Ring lore might even lose their potency if players don't fully explore certain environments or carefully read the descriptions of the loot they pick up, and it would be a shame to miss out on the rich and detailed lore of the Lands Between.
NPCs in particular often get overlooked. Some are difficult to find and even harder to keep track of. Players may miss a vital encounter, yet the NPCs in Elden Ring are some of the best conduits for its fascinating, original, and often tragic stories, and they help to provide color and context to the vast world. They supply questlines, help to advance the plot, serve as foils for the protagonist, and often provide great gear or other interesting items. One of the most fascinating NPCs with a classically sad tale is Millicent, a young woman suffering from the debilitating Scarlet Rot.
NPCs In Elden Ring
There are plenty of characters with tragic pasts and even more heartbreaking fates, like the loyal Half-Wolf knight Blaidd, and some serve as links between other FromSoftware titles like the fan-favorite serial backstabber Patches. Melina, the stand-in maiden for the player's Tarnished, helps to guide the player throughout the game, but can also turn on them if they pursue a certain ending.
While some of Elden Ring's NPCs are there to aid the player, others may need a helping hand instead. One of the characters that players can encounter in a bit of a sorry state is Millicent. Fate has dealt her a bad hand, but Millicent is one of the more resilient characters in the game, and finishing her story will also yield some useful items to help with the endgame, as well as explore interesting questions around free will and fate.
Meeting Millicent in Elden Ring
Caelid is a memorable location in Elden Ring, not only because it's filled with weird and wonderful creatures for players to kill - or, more likely, be killed by. The "arid wasteland" is "marred by scarlet rot, [...] bathing the environment in a deathly hue." It doesn't sound like a place the player wants to spend too much time in, with death and decay lurking around every corner. Nevertheless, it's where players can first encounter the sickly Millicent after being tasked with helping her by the mysterious Gowry. She can be found at the Church of the Plague, protected by creatures that worship her because she serves as a vessel for the rot they consider a deity.
Gowry claims he found Millicent in the swamp of Aeonia as a babe, and says she is one of his "dear daughters." Players later learn that Gowry raised Millicent's four other sisters, whom the player will need to defeat during Millicent's quest. The Scarlet Rot with which Millicent is afflicted also affects her memory, so she doesn't remember Gowry or her connection to him, but nevertheless he feels responsible for her fate and wants to save her after he was unable to save her sisters. He tasks players with finding the Unalloyed Gold Needle and bringing it back to him to be repaired. Giving Millicent this item will help her cope with the Scarlet Rot, making her well enough to continue her quest.
An Interesting History and a Troubled Fate
After receiving the Unalloyed Gold Needle, players can find Millicent at Gowry's shack, although the once-powerful sage is no longer there. She says that although she does not know why she is there, she felt drawn to the place, as if wanting to say goodbye to someone before she left. Gowry returns to the shack after this and mentions that Millicent has the capacity to be a great warrior like her mother, whom many players speculate could be the fearsome boss Malenia. If players are having trouble defeating this boss, they can summon the cult hero Let Me Solo Her to deal with her deadly attacks.
There are multiple things connecting the two characters, like how Millicent uses a unique Shamshir that has the Waterfowl Dance Skill; something that is otherwise only found on the Hand of Malenia. Players can give Millicent the Valkyrie's Prosthesis so she can once again wield a sword, which is heavily implied to have once belonged to Malenia. Millicent can be encountered in various locations as the player progresses, engrossed in her own search of Malenia as she is now convinced that she is "of [her] blood" and must return "the will that was once her own" to her, helping Malenia overcome the rot. Flowery imagery further links Millicent to Malenia, the Goddess of Rot, and her giant scarlet flowers.
Millicent's fate is not a happy one, however. If players choose to help her, at the end of her questline they will find her dying by the side of a pool near where her summoning sign used to be. Millicent was worried that she would "bloom" and transform into whatever Malenia had become. She took out the needle, wanting to die as herself rather than live as someone (or something) else. Players can choose to kill or challenge her at various points of the quest, but either way, the end of her storyline is heartbreaking.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.