Malenia’s Theme Appears As A Leitmotif In Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree
While Malenia, Blade of Miquella, does not make an appearance in the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC through her character model or voice lines, there is a very straightforward reference to her in the DLC. The theme song played during the Romina, Saint of the Bud boss fight is a leitmotif of the track played during the battle against Malenia, Blade of Miquella.
Even though there is a difference in the musical arrangement and how the song is played out, the soundtrack is the same across both boss encounters. The character’s theme played as a leitmotif is more than a nod to the base game, but the confirmation of a connection between Malenia and Romina in Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree.
Malenia & Romina’s Connection In Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree, Explained
The most straightforward approach to the connection between Malenia and Romina is that they both wield Scarlet Rot in battle. However, this connection is much deeper, even if still related to Scarlet Rot. Malenia is known to have been afflicted with the sickness since her birth. It is implied that the Scarlet Rot ate away her limbs, though she was able to partially control the disease from spreading with the help of her brother Miquella.
Giving into the full power of the Scarlet Rot to face Starscourge Radahn in Caelid, Malenia embraced the condition before the events of Elden Ring. Malenia is known as the Goddess of Rot, due to her status as an Empyrean demigod who has been able to control and wield Scarlet Rot as a weapon. This occurred after Malenia met her master, a swordsman who sealed away the Outer God of Rot.
Romina & Malenia’s Shared Connection With The Outer God
During the base game, little was known about this entity aside from the fact that they had a scorpion’s tail as a relic, which was used to create the Scorpion's Stinger dagger. However, more details seem to have been made available with the release of the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. This is because Romina herself is an arthropod-like creature who has a scorpion-shaped tail.
The new boss also wields Scarlet Rot as a weapon and, beyond those eye-grabbing details, more lore implications are revealed once players defeat her. In the Remembrance of the Saint of the Bud item, acquired after beating Romina, it is revealed that after the Church of the Bud was incinerated, Romina discovered a “twisted divine element” therein, which she used to create Scarlet Rot. As such, Romina may very well be the source of the Scarlet Rot that players get to know in Elden Ring.
Is Romina The Outer God?
It is unspecified if Romina is the Outer God of Rot that was sealed away or simply the conduit to the creation of Scarlet Rot using the divine element left by the Outer God. However, there is reason to believe that she may actually be the Outer God of Rot. When players defeat Romina, the message “Legend Felled” appears on the screen – this message is often reserved for special beings that are not categorized as Demigods, including Astel, Maliketh, and Elden Beast in Elden Ring.
Combined with the fact that the sealed Outer God’s relic obtained by Malenia’s master resembles Romina’s own tail, the new boss may be the deity. In counterpoint, however, Romina was once an ordinary saint at the Church of the Bud and then became the creature she is seen as in Shadow of the Erdtree when she came in touch with the aforementioned divine element that she weaved into Scarlet Rot. Regardless of her true origins, Romina’s connection to Malenia is clearer than ever.
Malenia Is Not The Only Main Game Boss To “Appear” In Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree
Although the recurrence of Malenia’s theme in the DLC via Romina’s theme is the most noteworthy given the base game boss’ status among the community, this is not the only leitmotif in Shadow of the Erdtree. As highlighted by user comments to SeeReax’s post on X, Messmer’s theme is also a leitmotif of the theme played when fighting Radagon of the Golden Order in the base game. Though unconfirmed, it is implied that Radagon is Messmer’s father. This seems to be backed by the fact that their theme songs are the same in Elden Ring.
Of course, this could actually be a reference to Messmer’s connection to Marika, who shares the same body as Radagon of the Golden Order. Leitmotifs are quite common in games and in FromSoftware titles as a whole, but despite the lack of a surprise they may cause, they still help establish some connections between characters. This is very helpful given that a large portion of soulslike games’ lore is hidden within item descriptions rather than actual narrative moments.
