Summary
FromSoftware is best known for the rampant difficulty of their games and the fearsome boss fights within, but fans know that they’re also masters of subtle storytelling and, most importantly, unforgettable characters. That attention to great characters stretches across the gender spectrum, with many female characters being the best in the entire roster.
Whether it’s a fearsome swordswoman feared the world over or mysterious emissaries of Gods whose motives remain unknown, there are plenty of great FromSoftware female characters that deserve the spotlight. This list is ranked by how memorable each character is and how much they’re loved within the fan community.
ThoughElden Ringis absolutely filled with difficult bosses that can grind players' progress to a halt, none are more fearsome, or have as fearsome a reputation, as Malenia, the sword of Miquella. She’s the best sword-user in the entirety of The Lands Between, and her boss fight shows it off in style.
However, she’s more than just a badass fighter. She’sone of the most tragic characters in the game, the offspring of Marika/Radagon, cursed from birth, selected by the Rot god to be its emissary, and cursed to rot away for eternity, yet she fights on regardless.
7Marika
The God-Queen
In a world defined by its demigods, Gods, and Outer Gods, Marika inElden Ringis likely the most important of them all. Not only does she wield the power of a God as a mere mortal, but she is also responsible for building the fundamental metaphysical order of the world and wielding total power over reality.
That is, until she decided to shatter the Elden Ring and plunge the world into chaos. Her reasons for doing so are not known, andconsidering her many evil acts, it may not have been benevolent, but many fans wonder whether Marika’s shattering wasn’t the final result of Marika turning her back on the Outer Gods and trying to force the world into a new, better vision of reality. She’s a complex lore figure that remains endlessly speculated about in the community.
The character roster ofDark Souls 2rarely gets as much love from the fan community as the other games, except Lucatiel, a swordswoman from Mirrah who has come to Drangleic to search for her brother.
However, like almost every character inDark Souls 2, she suffers from progressively worse amnesia until she begins to forget who she is and why she came to Drangleic. It’s a tragic and sad demise for a devoted warrior who hassolidified her popularity among the fansas one of the best female FromSoftware characters they’ve ever made.
The shrine maiden is one of the most enduring FromSoftware character tropes, appearing in almost every game of theirs, even inArmored Core 6as Ayre. These characters are defined by their mystery, their maternal caring for the protagonist, and their usually tragic fates.
This all began with theMaiden in Black, the strange figure who rules the Nexus with wax melted over her eyes. She is key to finding and defeating the Great Old One, her motives are strange, and she single-handedly inspired other shrine-maiden characters such as Shanalotte and Melina to come many years later.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twicehas an incredible cast of female characters, and trying to rank one over the other is genuinely difficult, but Lady Butterfly comes out on top because of the sheer power of her relatively short presence in the game.
In a game dominated by dysfunctional familial dynamics, Lady Butterfly is a mother figure to Wolf, who, like Owl, betrays Wolf and attempts to kill him to get to the Dragon Heritage. It’s a great and brutal boss fight where the elderly warrior shows her true power and why she was revered as one of the finest shinobi to ever live.
3Shanalotte (Emerald Herald)
The Maiden With A Motive
Of all the shrine maiden characters in FromSoftware games, none have as much gravity to their appearance and motivations as Shanalotte, the Emerald Herald,one of the first friendly characters the player meets, yet seems to be playing a game all on her own.
Well remembered for her Irish accent and mysterious advice, the herald is a creation of the dragons who were meant to break the undead curse, but ultimately failed, and now guides other Undead to the Throne of Want. She radiates with intelligence, wit, and wisdom, becoming one of the most memorable characters in the entire game.
Some characters make the most of what little time they have in a FromSoftware game, and Lady Maria is the pre-eminent example of doing a lot with a little. Although ostensibly only in the game for a single boss fight, her sheer charisma, visual style, and mastery of hunter-combat have made her a fan favourite from the moment she arrived on screens.
She’s also a figure of mystery, a hunter who seemingly did horrible experiments on the people of the Fishing Hamlet, yet now seeks eternal redemption by preventing any other from finding the Orphan of Kos. Even the Doll, the shrine maiden ofBloodborne, seems based on her likeness, adding dense layers of mystery to her relationship with figures like Gehrman.She’s a complex characterwho does a lot with a little and is undoubtedly a fan favourite in the community.
1Ranni
The Astral Witch
Usually in FromSoftware games, despite an abundance of female characters, it’s usually men who are conniving to shift the metaphysical state of the world behind the scenes. Yuria of Londor inDark Souls 3was a nice change from this, and Ranni fully broke from the trope, becoming single-handedly one of the most complex and intriguing characters FromSoftware ever made.
A daughter of Radagon and Rennala, Ranni is a magic user who felt cursed by her Empyrean status and orchestrated the murder of her own half-brother to break the world so that it could move past the Greater Will and to something more stellar. She’s morally dubious, endlessly complex, and a power player in the world ofElden Ringlike few others.
