Rellana, Rennala, Ranni, Godwin, Godfrey, to say nothing of whatever’s going on with Marika and Radagon—Elden Ring pelts you relentlessly with similar-sounding proper nouns, and it can often be just as hard to keep everyone straight as it is to actually defeat them in their boss battles.
With the recent release of Shadow of the Erdtree and its appearance from Miquella (yet another demigod to add to the ever-growing list) all these new questions of lineage and family have opened up once again.
If you’re wondering who’s related to who and who backstabbed who, look no further than this handy guide on the genealogy of the Lands Between.
How is everyone related in Elden Ring?
To properly understand the complex dynamics at work with Elden Ring‘s demigods, we must first understand Queen Marika, the originator of the entire twisted family. Marika is one of the Numen, a long-lived race from outside the Lands Between (and who we now know originate from Shadow of the Erdtree‘s Land of Shadow.) She grew up with her half-brother, Malekith, who also served as her protector. Nice and straightforward so far, right?
Marika was eventually chosen by the Elden Ring—the big god-rune-thing, not the game—and ascended to godhood, taking on Godfrey, a renowned barbarian warlord, as a consort. She had three children with Godfrey: Godwyn, Morgott, and Mohg, forming the “Golden Lineage” you can hear them harping on about in the game. Eventually, Godfrey and Marika fell out over a genocide, as most couples do, and she took on a second husband: King Radagon, who serves as the final boss of the base game.
Radagon had previously been married to preeminent sorceress Rennala, and had three children from that marriage, each identifiable by their red hair: Radahn, Rykard, and Ranni. When Radagon united with Marika—literally, even; they become two halves of the same being—these three children were also retroactively raised to demigodhood. Not Rennala, though, which she’s still understandably sore about by the time you meet her. Thankfully, her sister Rellana is out there getting revenge on players in the DLC.
Finally, Radagon and Marika had two more children together: A pair of twins, Malenia and Miquella, the latter of whom Shadow of the Erdtree is all about. That’s every single major name in Elden Ring laid out. Basically, every major boss you fight is either a child of Marika, Radagon, or even both, forming a large web of siblings and half-siblings that must make family reunions a living nightmare. It’s hard to imagine them being a happy, functional family even before the Shattering and the Night of Black Knives set the events of the game into motion—but that’s a story for another time.
At least now you know exactly who the boss beating the snot out of you is!
