Nepheli Loux’s Questline in Elden Ring is Uniquely Optimistic for a Soulsborne Game

Highlights

• Elden Ring features some of the saddest quests in FromSoftware games, making Nepheli Loux’s questline stand out as a rare uplifting and positive story.
• Depending on player choices, Nepheli Loux can become the ruler of Limgrave, promising to improve the region and drive away the darkness that has settled on the lands.
• While Elden Ring’s lore tends to be dark and bleak, Nepheli Loux’s questline brings a glimmer of light and highlights the potential of a brighter future for the player and the game’s world.

FromSoftware games are known for their unforgiving difficulty, and this brutality extends beyond moment-to-moment combat and into the relationships that the player will have with NPCs. Indeed, friendly faces are sparse in Soulsborne games, and Elden Ring is no exception. That said, the kind, noble, and powerful Nepheli Loux is among the few FromSoftware NPCs who don’t show any latent or direct malice toward the player, and her questline reflects that.

In the cold worlds of most FromSoftware games, happy endings are few and far between. Many NPCs who appear benevolent wind up corrupted, with the player either finding out they had sinister intentions all along, or that they have been tragically altered by some external force (Bloodborne is replete with these sorts of side stories). At many times, side quests in FromSoftware games can be an exercise in sadness and frustration as, for as well-written as they are, they are almost never uplifting. With its vastness of content, Elden Ring features some of the saddest quests FromSoftware has ever contributed to the video game landscape, which is precisely why Nepheli Loux’s questline stands out.

Nepheli Loux’s Questline Is a Light in Elden Ring’s Darkness

Nepheli Loux’s Role In Elden Ring

Nepheli Loux is the adopted daughter of Gideon the All-Knowing and is presumed to be the biological child of Godfrey, previously known as Hoarah Loux. She is pitted against her biological father by Gideon, which can be reasonably viewed as dark (and also highly typical of Elden Ring lore writer George R.R. Martin’s focus on familial struggles), but her overall character is defined by virtue and honor. In a world where countless characters are obsessed with both material and mystical power, Nepheli Loux’s desires appear to be far more altruistic and respectable, making her an easy character to like.

Nepheli Loux’s Story Is One of Elden Ring’s Few Happy Endings

Depending on what choices players make during Nepheli Loux’s questline, it can wind up being refreshingly positive, promising a rare, uplifting vision for the future of The Lands Between. If players ally with Nepheli and progress throughout the main campaign to a certain point, she will eventually move to the Stormveil Castle throne room, where she will assume her role as the ruler of Limgrave. If Kenneth Haight and Gatekeeper Gastoc are alive, and if Fort Haight is cleared of its occupying forces, they will appear in the throne room alongside her, as allies. She vows to “drive away the foulness that has settled on the winds” of Limgrave, and assist the player-character if they become Elden Lord.

Though her story contains about as much killing and violence as many of Elden Ring‘s darkest questlines, the fate of Nepheli, and her goals for the future, are what make its conclusion an optimistic relief. Limgrave, though ravaged by The Shattering, is clearly a beautiful place, rich in natural vistas and history, and Nepheli’s promise to improve the region feels genuine and full of potential. Ultimately, the ending of her questline lets the player wonder what the future of Limgrave could look like with her as its leader, and there’s every reason to believe that the outlook is positive.

Nepheli Loux’s questline can still take a depressing turn. If players choose to give Seluvis’ potion to Nepheli, the latter will be turned into a mindless puppet, forced to serve Seluvis for the rest of her life. However, players have to make an active, intentional effort to get this ending; it’s not something that’s activated by accident.

FromSoftware’s tendency toward dark lore is a major part of what makes its games so unique and memorable, and it’s certainly not a bad thing. At the same time, letting a little bit of light come through can highlight the overall emotion, intrigue, and believability of these in-game stories, and Nepheli Loux’s questline is a prime example of this, as it makes Elden Ring a better game overall.