Miquella the Kind

Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers for Elden Ring; read at your own caution.

About

Miquella The Kind is a character in the action-adventure fantasy game Elden Ring, developed by FromSoftware and released in February 2022. In the game, Miqueela is mostly a background character mentioned across multiple side stories, especially in Malenia's questline. The character became a central point in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, which was released in late June 2024. Online, Miquella has been featured in numerous memes related to Elden Ring's lore, as well as fan art and other content.

Origin

Miquella the Kind^[1] is quoted in Elden Ring as, “The most fearsome Empyrean of all” with the wisdom and allure of a god. He is a demigod, son of Radagon and Marika, brother of Malenia Blade of Miquella. The character briefly appears during Mohg, Lord of Blood's boss fight in which the game lore^[2] details that the demigod was kidnapped by Mohg to make him lord so he could start a new empire with the power of an empyrean.

On February 21st, 2024, FromSoftware announced a DLC expansion for Elden Ring, titled Shadow of the Erdtree, which will focus on Miquella's journey across the Land of Shadow. The trailer^[3] (seen below) amassed over 10 million views and 472,000 likes in five months.

Spread

Following the announcement that the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC expansion would focus on the demigod Miquella, the character's online presence began increasing on social media. For example, on May 21st, 2024, X^[4] user @IvyJinna posted a fan art inspired by Miquella The Kind (seen below, left), which amassed roughly 2,700 likes and 500 reposts in a month.

On May 31st, X^[5] user @Ediptus1 also posted a fan art inspired by the character (seen below, right), garnering over 2,300 likes and 360 reposts in a month.

Miquella's relationship with his sister Malenia has also been the subject of memes and parodies, like the video posted by YouTube^[6] user @lineichen1418 on August 3rd, 2022. The video features an animated version of the comic titled "Malenia and Miquella fighting the summer," which was created by Noru0217 and amassed more than 64,000 views and 2,400 likes in two years.

Shadow of the Erdtree Reaction

This section contains major spoilers for the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC to Elden Ring.

In the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC to Elden Ring, players learn significant information about Miquella, why he traveled to the Land of Shadow, and what he did to make his journey possible.^[7]

The DLC reveals that Miquella has the power to charm others to do his bidding. His plot was to ascend to godhood in the Land of Shadow and attempt to rule The Lands Between by utilizing this power to take away free will and follow Miquella's altruistic vision for humanity. To do this, he charmed Mohg into kidnapping and killing him so that his spirit could enter the Land of Shadow. He also possibly forced Radahn, his half-brother, to swear to be his King Consort when he ascended to godhood. The final fight of the DLC is against the soul of Radahn, puppeteered by Miquella, in Mohg's body.

On June 29th, 2024, VaatiVidya posted a video explaining the lore revelations about Miquella revealed in the DLC, gaining over 1.2 million views in two days (shown below).

The DLC significantly altered players' opinions of Miquella, many of whom now believed him to be perverse and villainous. This led to the creation of memes about the revelations surrounding Miquella's character. For example, on June 28th, 2024, Twitter user @oeuftroi^[8] posted a meme comparing the fandom's perception of Miquella pre and post-DLC, gaining over 1,000 retweets and 12,000 likes in three days (shown below, left). On June 25th, user @MurgosW^[9] posted art of Miquella controlling Radahn and Mohg, gaining over 1,400 retweets and 20,000 likes in six days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References