Queen Rennala is one of the most tragic characters in Elden Ring. She gains everything and loses it all including her sanity. And while she may not be as impactful to the story of the game as Radagon and Ranni, she is just as important because of her association with them. Here’s everything you need to know about Rennala, the Full Moon Queen.
Background
In her younger days, Rennala was an astrologer who was fascinated by the night sky and its stars. It is this fascination that led Rennala to encounter the Full Moon that possessed the Academy of Raya Lucaria.
She was a well-known champion in the academy and used her skill in lunar magic to charm its residents and become its leader.
With her newfound influence, she elevated the house of Caria to royal status and founded the Carian Knights. They were enchanted knights who were highly regarded and were personally anointed by Rennala.
They were few in number, amounting to less than a score, but made up for it by their power and skill. In fact, they were powerful enough to hold their own against the champions of gold in battle.
Her encounter with Radagon
Queen Marika the Eternal established her new Age of Erdtree and began subjugating the Lands Between. She sent Radagon, her male counterpart, to lead her armies against the Liurnia.
Radagon battled Rennala and her forces of the Academy of Raya Lucaria twice, and neither of those battles had any distinguishable victor.
Unexpectedly, Rennala and Radagon fell in love and Radagon seized his attack against the academy, withdrawing his forces. He then repented his actions and cleansed himself with the Celestial Dew and married Rennala in the Church of Vows.
As per tradition, Rennala gifts Radagon a red wolf and a Darkmoom Greatsword. Their marriage united the houses of the Erdtree and the Moon. They had three children together, Radahn, Rykard, and Ranni.
After Godfrey was exiled from the Lands Between, Radagon left Rennala to become Marika’s consort and the second Elden Lord. His unification with Marika elevated his children with Rennala to demigod status as Marika was a goddess.
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Descent into madness
While leaving, Radagon gifted Rennala an amber egg that contained the Great Rune of the Unborn. Radagon’s departure leaves Rennala heartbroken and depressed. Seeing her in this state, her students realized she was no champion at all and they rebelled against her and the Carian Royal Family.
She got locked away in the Grand Library where she went insane and began to dedicate herself to the dark art of reincarnation with the help of the egg Radagon left her.
This is when she began practicing with the scholars she found near her, whom she called “sweetlings”. She began incorrectly reincarnating them again and again until they turned into weak beings who had no recollection of who they were.
It is unknown what her goal was, but it is possible that she wanted to resurrect her daughter Ranni who had seemingly died during the Night of the Black Knives.
Her encounter with the Tarnished
A Tarnished champion makes their way to Grand Library with the intention of obtaining Rennala’s Great Rune. Rennala, because of her madness, is unable to defend herself properly.
Ranni who was alive and monitoring her mother, creates an apparition of her mother in her prime that battles the Tarnished champion. The Tarnished defeats the apparition and obtains Rennala’s Great Rune, but leaves her unharmed. Still obsessed with reincarnation, she offers the Tarnished champion to be reincarnated.