The doctrine of Elden Ring he's about as rough and tumble as it gets. Civilizations are collapsing, people are suffering, and the whole world may soon be coming to an end, and at the center of all that pain are a select few who have probably been through a lot more than anyone else, and frankly, deserve a better life.
10 Games That Are Officially Harder Than Elden Ring
From brutal platformers to ruthless RPGs, these games are even more difficult than Elden Ring. Do you have what it takes to conquer them?
Some have been afflicted by a terrible curse, others have taken a path they never intended to take, but what unites them all is a sense of hardship that they will likely never escape, even in death. Fate has never been kind to them, and while the player may try his best to save or help them, in the end it is almost always too late for those efforts.
8
Blaidd The Half-Wolf
Loyal to the very end
Details:
-
Ranni's staunch ally
-
He died confused and manipulated
Blaidd begins as a staunch ally attached to Ranni's quest, with his gruff exterior hiding a truly noble heart. Throughout his questline, he relentlessly seeks out Ranni's elusive allies, displaying a sense of duty that is both poignant and selfless, and these early interactions paint him as grounded, funny, yet deeply committed to his role as protector.
Yet, as the story unfolds, Blaidd's fate turns to tragedy. Seduced by his conflicting loyalties, he becomes corrupted and stands more as an obstacle than an ally at critical moments. When the players finally confront him near the end, he's a mere shell of his former self, and his last words resonate more with confusion and sadness than villainy, and the fight itself plays out as an act of mercy against an old friend rather than an actual enemy.
7
Millicent
Innocence cursed away
Details:
-
Through no fault of her own, scarlet rot struck her
-
A tragic fate with no way out
Millicent's plot is one of the Elden Ring scariest side stories. Introduced as a wandering warrior corrupted by the Scarlet Rot, she embodies the cruelty of fate and how forces beyond our control can shape identity. Her gradual rots and the Tainted's efforts to aid her emphasize her resilience and vulnerability, and while players are faced with difficult choices that affect her end, none completely erase her suffering.
Elden Ring: Best Overpowered Builds
These powerful OP builds will make adventuring and combat in the world of Elden Ring a walk in the local park.
Millicent's loyalty to her mentor Gowry and steadfast courage make her a standout among a long list of characters, and even after fully completing her quest line, Millicent's end is bittersweet at best. The sense of loss and wasted potential embedded in her story makes her fate sad at best and downright unfair at worst.
6
General Radahn
A fallen hero buried in madness
Details:
-
Common sense eroded over time
-
A constant cycle of violence
The tragedy of General Radahn plays out in both the base game and the DLC, turning him from a fallen war hero into one of the most heartbreaking characters in the Earth Between. In the main game, Radahn is introduced as a demigod of immense power, a gravity sorcerer who once held the stars themselves in stasis to protect Sellia, going so far as to master gravity magic to continue riding his beloved horse Leonardo.
However, his duel with Malenia left him rotting from the inside, his mind consumed by the Scarlet Rot. By the time players encounter him at the Radahn Festival, he is a feral husk wandering the Caelid wasteland, still clinging to the instinct and muscle memory of the battlefield, the festival itself conceived as an act of mercy where warriors gather to grant him the honorable death he can no longer claim for himself. The DLC deepens the tragedy as Radahn's younger self is resurrected and transformed into Miquella's promised mate, his corpse transformed into a vessel in a divine plan he never agreed to. He becomes a pawn in another's vision of divinity, reduced to an instrument of another's fate and unable to defend himself.
5
Blacksmith Master Hewg
Hammering away at my own mind
Details:
-
Cursed by Queen Marika
-
Over time, he begins to forget everything
Hewg's presence within Elden Ring is quietly impressive but woefully underappreciated. As a master blacksmith, his role is to create and improve the very tools that define a player's journey, but from a lore perspective, there is much more beneath the surface. Imprisoned in the Hold at the Round Table, he is bound by Queen Marika's command to forge a weapon capable of killing a god, unable to leave the place and unable to refuse the wishes of a higher power.
Despite this, Hewg takes genuine care of his craft and often mutters about his promise to create such a weapon outside of his conversations with the player. As the Erdtree burns and the world changes, Hewg begins to lose his memory, his mind deteriorates, even as he continues to pound steel for the cause that can destroy him, and at the end of the day, he is not a warrior seeking glory or a demigod seeking power, but a slave who remains loyal to a broken system and clings to his purpose because he has it all.
4
Morgott, King of Signs
Burdened by his own destiny
Details:
-
He protects the city despite being exiled
-
Imprisoned due to nature Omen
Born as a mark, Morgott was bound and hidden under Leyndell just to exist. The Golden Order reviles omens, their horns considered accursed omens, but despite a lifetime of imprisonment and rejection, Morgott remained fiercely loyal to Erdtree, rising as the capital's secret protector and defending it from the ambitious demigods who sought to tear it apart during the Shattering.
Unlike his twin brother Mohg, who embraced the rebellion, Morgott clung to his faith in the very system he despised. He ascends the throne not for glory but to preserve order, and even in death calls himself “The Last of all Kings,” clinging to dignity in a world that has denied him legitimacy. So after all the shame and pain, he certainly deserved a lot more credit as Leyndell's true guardian.
3
Maliketh The Black Blade
Failure of a Personal Kind
Details:
-
Abused despite devotion
-
Treated more like an animal than a human
Maliketh's entire existence is defined by loyalty. As Queen Marika's shadow, he was created for the sole purpose of serving and containing the Death Rune. When the Fatal Death Fragment was stolen and used in the Night of the Black Knives, Maliketh accepted the guilt, sealed the rune in his own body as penance, and then isolated himself in Farum Azula, bearing the unbearable weight of a failure that was never entirely his.
His tragedy lies in his unwavering devotion to a master who eventually shattered the very order he protected. Marika's rebellion against the Greater Will renders Maliketh's sacrifice meaningless, yet she continues to guard Doom to the end. He has earned freedom from a role imposed at creation, not an eternity defined by guilt and abandonment, and when confronted, he fights desperately, not for ambition, but because loyalty is all he has and will ever know.
2
Thiollier
Sweet, sweet release
Details:
-
A lifetime of devotion for nothing
-
Forced to destroy the thing he loves
Thiollier, introduced in Shadow of Erdtreeit is defined by his devotion to Saint Trina and by extension Miquella's vision. Quiet and introspective, he clings to a belief in a gentle god who promises compassion in a brutal world, and his journey through the Shadowlands reveals a man desperate for meaning, seeking solace in dreams rather than facing the harshness of reality.
As Miquella's grand design is revealed, Thiollier is forced to come to terms with the truth, despite his best attempts to cling to what's left of the past. He still believes he is the chosen one, but it is the Tainted One who hears her words instead, causing him to become enraged with jealousy until he finally accepts Saint Trina's wish and ultimately sacrifices himself to aid the player in the final battle against Radahn.
1
Midra, Lord of Raging Flame
The flame consumes everything
Details:
-
Clinging to the last threads of sanity
-
A century of unimaginable suffering
Midra's transformation into a Raging Flame Lord was not born out of cruelty, but out of desperation. A once-powerful sage living with his beloved wife Nanaya came into contact with the Raging Flame through the Old One, then was attacked by Hornsent, who massacred the estate and impaled him in an attempt to quell the flame.
He suffered for many years, clinging to what was left of his sanity until the Tainted finally found him. The fight is beautiful yet terrifying as he rips the sword from his body and succumbs to madness, apologizing to Nananya and discarding the last bits of his former self before becoming a mere avatar for the flame until the player finally extinguishes it.
