Hardest Characters To Save (& How)

Summary

• Elden Ring features a vast array of characters, some of whom can be saved temporarily or with emotional conclusions.
• Some NPCs, like Aureliette, Sir Ansbach, and Latenna, can be saved by fulfilling specific requirements during the game.
• Characters like Millicent, Boc, Nepheli Loux, Ranni, and Melina have complex questlines where players can save them through various actions.

RPGs tend to have many characters within their stories. As games capable of telling vast and immersive narratives, they allow for an abundance of characters for the player to come across and interact with. FromSoftware RPGs tend to follow this, with sizable casts featuring numerous characters.

As their largest game, Elden Ring does indeed feature a vast array of characters, varying from minor NPCs to important personae. However, given that Elden Ring is a FromSoft game, it is not exactly a happy world, with death and misery abounding. Some of the NPCs that players find during their journeys can be saved — either for good, for a certain period of time, or saved in a sense relating to their story. The Tarnished can’t save everyone, but they can save some, if the player is benevolent enough to do so.

8

Aureliette

Summon Her Sister

Aureliette is a minor NPC that some players are going to miss. She is a spirit jellyfish found in the Mountaintops of the Giants, specifically at Stargazers’ Ruins.

Her plight isn’t as serious as some of the other NPCs, but is an emotional one when she finally meets her sister again. Her sister is the spirit jellyfish that Roderika gifts players as a summon. Aureliette is waiting for her sister, Aurelia, the jellyfish players can summon. When players summon Aurelia next to Aureliette, both go to visit the stars as they promised one another, providing an emotional conclusion to their story.

7

Sir Ansbach

Help Him Defeat Needle Knight Leda

The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion introduced new NPCs into the fold, with Sir Ansbach quickly becoming a beloved character. Throughout the expansion, Needle Knight Leda attempts to kill the Hornsent, then Ansbach.

Obviously, saving Ansbach requires players to aid him in fending off Leda, lest he fall to her. Aiding him will keep him alive, while Leda appears again in Enir-Ilim. However, he doesn’t survive the entire expansion, and succumbs to death after the final boss.

6

Latenna The Albinauric

Talk To Her After Acquiring The Haligtree Secret Medallion (Right)

The Albinaurics play a prominent role in Elden Ring. Latenna is an Albinauric players can save and recruit as a spirit summon. She is found at the end of the Lakeside Crystal Cave in Liurnia of the Lakes.

Players must talk to her after receiving the Haligtree Secret Medallion (Right) from Albus in the Village of the Albinaurics, where she asks to be taken to the Consecrated Snowfields. If the player doesn’t have the medallion, she will not move from her location, and can’t be saved as such. Her quest is fairly easy to complete, requiring players to summon her near Phillia, Towering Little Sister, at the Apostate Derelict in the Consecrated Snowfields.

5

Millicent

Give Her The Unalloyed Gold Needle

Out of all the NPCs in Elden Ring, Millicent has one of the most involved questlines, especially given she doesn’t have a unique ending. Players can first find her at the Church of the Plague in Caelid, where she is in pain over her Scarlet Rot infection.

While her questline can be complicated, saving her is not. Players need to defeat Commander O’Neil in the Swamp of Aeonia in Caelid, where he will drop the Unalloyed Gold Needle. The needle can be repaired by giving it to Gowry, and can then be given to Millicent to halt her Scarlet Rot. It will only save her temporarily, as she passes at the end of her questline, but does so of her own volition to stand against her otherwise doomed fate.

4

Boc The Seamster

Saved Throughout His Questline

Boc is an NPC that doesn’t have as much of an influential questline compared to some other characters, but he is still a fan-favorite. Players can first find him in Limgrave, southeast of the Agheel Lake North Site of Grace, where he has been turned into a bush. Hitting the bush will free him.

The end of his questline will see him wanting to turn into a human via Rennala and her rebirthing. Giving him a Larval Tear will indeed turn him into a human, but will also kill him soon after. Instead, using the “You’re Beautiful” Prattling Pate will cause him to ask players if they think he’s beautiful. Answering yes will save him from his desire to turn into a human, and will keep him alive. Players can find this Pratting Pate at the Hermit Village in Mt. Gelmir.

3

Nepheli Loux

Saved Throughout Her Questline

An NPC with a major questline, Nepheli Loux is one of the few characters in Elden Ring that features a happy ending — at least by FromSoft standards. Another character that is heavily linked with Nepheli’s quest, Kenneth Haight, can also be saved. However, it is extremely easy to save him.

Players can save Nepheli at a point where she is in despair in the Roundtable Hold. Giving her the Stormhawk King ashes will revitalize her. This item can be found back at the starting area, the Chapel of Anticipation, which players can revisit via a waygate at the Four Belfires. It requires an Imbued Sword Key to open. If the Tarnished gives her this item, she eventually becomes the ruler of Stormveil Castle and Limgrave. If this is not done, she disappears from the game until the next playthrough. In a game where almost every NPC dies, Nepheli is one of the few to live and see a happy ending, and becomes a (presumably) benevolent ruler of Limgrave.

2

Ranni The Witch

Help Her Attain Her Fate

Ranni is one of the most iconic Elden Ring characters, with an involved and complicated questline that unlocks a unique ending. She doesn’t necessarily get saved by players in a similar sense as some other NPCs. Instead, players can save her and her story by completing her questline.

When players proceed with her questline, Ranni goes through with her fate, which saves her from vanishing from the game like she would if they didn’t complete her quest chain. She succeeds in her destiny thanks to the player. However, there is a technicality where she can be more directly saved. A part of her questchain involves defeating a Baleful Shadow, which was hunting her down. Killing it aids her, and stops it from killing her. However, there isn’t as direct of a saving compared to, say, Boc. Regardless, it is a long and winding questline that will take some time.

1

Melina

Saved Via A Long Process

Melina is the player’s companion throughout Elden Ring. She might not be as involved compared to some of the other level-up characters in other FromSoft games, but she is an important NPC regardless.

Normally, she is destined to die when she sacrifices herself after the Fire Giant fight, to burn away the thorns barring entry to the Erdtree. However, the Tarnished can save her by accepting the Three Fingers. Players can then either decide to follow through and become the Lord of the Frenzied Flame, where Melina is featured in a unique ending cutscene. Alternatively, they can rid themselves of the Three Fingers’ branding and return to their journey of becoming Elden Lord after burning the Erdtree thorns themselves. The latter option leaves Melina alive, albeit with no further confirmation, as there is no additional cutscene or dialogue proving her whereabouts. Despite this, she would be out there somewhere, saved, and still alive.

To take this option, players must receive Miquella’s Needle, obtained after completing Millicent’s questline, where she hands back the Unalloyed Gold Needle to players. Obtaining the needle requires players to defeat Malenia, then return to her boss room where a Scarlet Aeonia will have bloomed. Interacting with this Scarlet Aeonia with the Unalloyed Gold Needle in the player’s inventory will reward the player with Miquella’s Needle. Players can then use the needle in Dragonlord Placidusax’s arena to dispel the Frenzied Flame, saving Melina and themselves.