Really happy with how this one came out! Next project is back to Zelda, thanks everyone

Gurranq is Maliketh. If you fed him deathroot, he will recognize you and wonder why you're there in Faram Azula.

The fact that the Maliketh we fought is not at the same strength he was at when he killed the Gloam-Eyed Queen is insane. And only one Elden Lord can kill Prime Maliketh. And his name is Ongbal

If you read into the lore carefully though…. You can actually easily make an argument, that Malekith IS stronger than any other demigod. Think about it, it was already stated that all the demigods FEARED him. Powerful and power-hungry demigods who had no problem fighting one another FEARED the Black Blade himself.

*SPOILER* Maliketh isnt LIKE the beast clergyman from Caelid He IS the beast clergyman from Caelid

When you realize that Limgrave is literally the ruins of Ferrum Azula that fell back towards the earth, which is why there are scattered ruins dotted throughout the map. One of the bosses in the starting area is also a beastman, almost confirming this. You could argue that the old kingdom and golden order resided in Limgrave which are largely ruins of said kingdom, aka Stormveil.

Over 1200 hours in elden ring and its been roughly 3 months since I've jumped back in...hearing the music for the capital gave me goose bumps and I'm hearing the sirens calling me back to the lands between.

When Elden Ring came out initially, maliketh was actually broken. The Death rune didn't work properly, when it chopped your vigor, it also chopped into the health bar itself, doing more damage than it should've. There was also another part when the rune did wear off you didn't get the health back, the vigor yes, the health was still missing. Maliketh from the beginning was THE strongest character, and I find it weird that no one talks about it enough. You can even see older stream clips he used, they fixed the death rune.

Ah, another Maliketh enjoyer. My favourite part of his boss fight's design is that, although his attacks are not that hard to dodge, his ability to two-shot pretty much every build makes people panic, as would any Tarnished or even a Demigod (armour description). His Destined Death attacks are legitimately scary and absolutely do the lore justice. On top of that, the Blasphemous Claw is by far the coolest and best implemented anti-boss item in the game as opposed to Margits/ Mohgs Shackle

Maliketh was feared by all the demigods. And like Rahdon we are not fighting him in his prime. Not only is destined death missing a piece from itself but Maliketh himself has been tormented by the same death rune that he sealed into his flesh.

As soon as I saw and fought Maliketh for the first time, I instantly knew that it would be a memory I would and could not forget. His power, his character, his backstory, everything about him radiates awe and fear. Just like how the demigods must’ve felt. Side note: A little nod to Destined Death is that when you fight the Baleful Shadow near the Lake of Rot as part of Ranni’s questline. Not only does it take the form of Blaidd, but the sword it wields is also coated in Destined Death.

Maliketh is why Elden Ring needs a Boss Rush mode

Maliketh is my favorite character out of the entire game. I was so sad and heartbroken when I fought and killed him.. I never wanted to hurt him, I wish I could pet him, he was such a good boy

That 2nd phase cutscene..... No matter how many times i watch it, i will always get goosebumps. It's just too epic.

Maliketh didn't steal Destiny Death, Marika gave it to him by removing it from the Elden Ring (an act that robbed the Gloom Eyed Queen of power). He then bound it inside his sword to wield against the Gloom Eyed Queen. After a fragment was stolen, he then bound his Black Blade within his body so no more could be stolen.

Okay okay okay so maliketh STILL gives me the chills when he says “oh, death…” he is the coolest boss in the game hands down. Although i didnt have a super hard time with him though. Moonlight greatsword OP?

Malekeith is the beast clergyman from the cathedral. I think it's even in the same time as well. Because when you fully complete his quest he recognizes you and asks why you want destined death. After you give him all the death root he just goes to Farum Azula. Rani probably came back in a simaler way as sorceress sellen but only put her soul into a doll.

Ah, Maliketh my beloved

You were right on the money up until that last section, where you said Maliketh has nothing on the Demigods without Death. You got a lot of reading to do. How do you think he got Death in the first place? It wasn't always his. The name ''Maliketh'' literally means ''Death of The Demigods''. He crushed Marika's Empyrean rival when she had an army of Godskins and wielded Death against him in its full force. Imagine fighting Malenia and a few dozen Godskins, except they all wield Destined Death and deal double the damage with it since the Destined Death we face in game is fragmented. Maliketh did the rough equivalent of that, and won. He curbs any Demigod. The game says that they fear HIM, not his blade. Maliketh > Godskins > Gods > Demigods Proof? The Godskin Swaddling Cloth says this: ''The Gloam-Eyed Queen cradles newborn apostles swaddled in this cloth. Soon they will grow to become the death of the gods.'' They wear the skin of Gods they slay, and even have the Noble Presence, which says this: ''Once a sign of the gods' wrath, this incantation became a trophy of the Nobles' god hunt.'', proving beyond all doubt that they were stronger than Gods back when they were at their strongest since they hunted them and took their skin and spells as trophies. Maliketh was the one who beat the Godskins. Scouring Black Flame says: ''The black flame could once slay gods. But when Maliketh sealed Destined Death, the true power of the black flame was lost.'' And we know how he did this thanks to the Godslayer Greatsword, which says: ''Sacred sword of the Gloam-Eyed Queen who controlled the Godskin Apostles before her defeat at the hands of Maliketh. The black flames wielded by the apostles are channeled from this sword.'' So the Godskins were birthed and raised by the Gloam-Eyed Queen. She wielded Destined Death in her blade, and from that blade, her Godskins drew their Black Flame, which due to being infused with Destined Death was able to slay Gods. Maliketh defeated the Gloam-Eyed Queen singlehandedly, took her blade, and sealed Destined Death, removing the Godskins' ability to draw from it. So Maliketh > Godskins > Gods is now confirmed. So where are the Demigods placed? Well, Marika (through Melina) has dialogue making it pretty damn clear: ''In Marika's own words. Hear me, Demigods. My children beloved. Make of thyselves that which ye desire. Be it a Lord. Be it a God. But should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices...'' So Marika essentially inspires them to strive for lordship or even Godhood, but informs them that if they fall short, they will be forsaken, a sacrifice. So it is clearly an immense struggle for a Demigod to achieve Godhood, which we know for a fact thanks to the trailers. The entire reason The Shattering Wars took place is because the likes of Radahn and Malenia began butting heads over Great Runes in order to acquire enough power so as to become Elden Lord and attain Godhood by replacing Marika. So it is beyond a shadow of a doubt: Maliketh and the Elden Beast are the strongest beings in the game. And that is no coincidence. Both are/wield Concepts, the only two Concepts in the game (so far). Concepts are borderline omnipotent, and completely omnipresent. They are about as powerful as anything gets in fiction. They transcend dimensions such as space, time, etc. Maliketh wields the literal Concept of Death which allows him to control Death, while the Elden Beast is described as such: ''It was the vassal beast of the Greater Will and living incarnation of the Concept of Order.'' Who would win between these two is very difficult to say. I lean towards Maliketh since Death > any other Concept, and since his individual skill is already so great in and of itself that he was the one who beat Death in the past. His own dialogue strongly implies that he knows this too. Whether you've done his quest or not, he makes it pretty clear that once we beat him, we will succeed in our quest. Probably because he knows that if we beat him, we can beat Marika, Godfrey, Radagon and the Elden Beast. Nothing can stop us now. That's why he pleads with us in dread if we're a stranger, and asks for forgiveness from Marika if he’s at peace with it because we’re a friend, outright saying the Golden Order cannot be restored now that he has fallen. He knows it has nobody more capable than him left to protect it. His cut dialogue even says this: ‘’This (wo)man, a slayer of Gods (referring to himself), most impressive. Armed with Death, thou mayest choose the throne of thy desire.’’ It’s on KZfaq, fully voiced and all. It’s even in the game files, just doesn’t have a trigger. But yeah, it confirms that he’s the strongest.

This is the best boss in gaming. And the more I fight him, the more that fact is solidified for me. His lore, his fight, everything about him is insane. A hound born to be a sworn killer of his half-sister Goddess wielding the literal Concept of Death. The only problem with Maliketh is that he has 10k health, not 30k, and that he has 80 poise, not 120-160.

so wait, what was the secret? I watched the video and I don't really see the point.

I think Godfrey is in the top 5 strongest in elden ring lore because unlike all the others, godfrey does not have any special power, and even so he fought in several wars, practically extinguished the race of giants, went 1x1 against the storm lord, attracted the attention of queen marika who was a goddess and everything that and he was just a human, he must have other feats too but I don't remember now, and even so in the fight against him, he can cause earthquakes with just his bare hands

“A sacred seal given by Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman. A rare trinket which allows incantations to be scaled with strength. *The claw mark represents Gurranq's wrath*. Enhances bestial incantations learned from Gurranq.” I think there’s something to the conflicted nature of Maliketh and why so many item descriptions talk about his wrath and ferocity. We find out from Iji and Ranni that the shadowbound beasts are secretly sleeper agents for the Two Fingers as tools to control their Empyreans. There’s a lot of evidence that Marika might’ve pushed Maliketh to activate his kill switch and we see it happen firsthand with Blaidd…

Feeding him all ten deathroots and his voicelines change at the end he recognizes you

That cinematic tells us Radahn and Malenia were the mightiest demigods left in the war of the shattering. Maliketh was not a part of the war nor was he a demi-god. My power tier guess: Outer Gods > Marika/Radagon = Maliketh = Miquella > Radahn = Malenia = Gloameyed Queen = Godfrey > Margit = Mohg = Ranni = Renalla etc.

I’ve wanted a lore video about Maliketh for the longest time. So thank you

Remember your top-shelf videos from Destiny 1 & 2, had no idea you made videos from Elden Ring. This was fantastic as usual. Keep the videos coming!

aight lad, I just discovered your channel literally today. I gotta say that this is an amazing video, I am entertained. subscribed!

Nobody talks about Malikeths multiplayer bug. If you die at the same time as Maliketh while you're in another player's world, it bugs out your save file and you can't progress the story. I'm sure somebody can mix that into the game lore somehow 🤔

My favorite boss and character in the game so much so that I made a whole character build around him. first playthrough him asking why I was there because I gave him all the deathroot had me asking all kinds of questions then when he turned into the black blade I lost it, had goosebumps the whole time fighting him.

God I always hated that helmet so much, but It's stats made it hard not to use. Don't take the lack of subs personally , my brother has a smaller youtube channel and gets tons of positive feedback , likes, shares, etc and his sub rate is about the same as yours. People just don't use the sub button, most people use KZfaq more as a video search engine, which is really what it is. But since you asked I subbed, you make good stuff, and I appreciate the effort.

I actually almost started crying when I saw the clergyman transform into maliketh. After struggling the first half I knew my fate was sealed.

Love to see your Elden Ring content… your style of narration and content is absolutely perfect for Elden Eing lore, story, and discussion. Definitely keep it up! Sekiro was my first official FromSoft Souls. Elden Ring was my second. They both opened my eyes and helped me to appreciate the Souls-like genre more than I already had. All of that to say it’s awesome to see one of my favorite Destiny content creators carving out a niche in Souls content. Definitely consider making similar content for Sekiro! I would definitely watch that content.

Almost every minute of this vid was a gift to watch. Sensational!

Some great content there m8. Subbed.

Great video my man

Love this keep going!!!

Bravo, great editing, great video, made me laugh and informative, love Elden Ring lore! You earned my sub.

Awesome video but I'm sorry how did you in your right mind call Fire Giant From's most annoying boss... I would put Bed of Chaos, and Dragon God in that spot easily.

Lmfaooo had to hit subscribe so you can feel something since the wife and kids. Had me rolling bro. Awesome videos on this channel.

Maliketh is the best good boy out there

Bro this is one of the best ER videos i've seen. I'm glad algorithm worked for once. You funny af dude and have a talent for explaining stuff in a interesting manner.. I'm starting a new playthrough tomorrow haha Liked and subbed bro keep em coming hope all is well cheers

16:30 There's actually something on that. If you enter Maliketh's arena without having ever given the Beast Clergyman a death-root he will say the standard line of "I will not allow it to be stolen again". However, feed him even one death-root and the dialogue changes to a more remorseful question as to why it is you that appeared. Following along with his lore that while he is hurt by your betrayal in trust, he will still carry out the duty given to him by Marika and kill those who try and steal Death.

You can see the medallion on gurranq’s hand under his sleeve at the beastial sanctum + he recognises you if you feed him all the deathroot

That 1st run changed my life!! I was able to understand beauty in death and decay, I never knew it was possible but elden ring will open your mind to things in life, though death and decay. Pure masterpiece!

Great video!

Very solid video, though worth mentioning the Two Fingers are not the equivalent of Great Ones, they only convey the will of the Greater Will, which is then translated to common tongue by the Finger Maidens. The Outer Gods are closer to the Great Ones.

Beserk armour=strongest character

Ok you got a new sub lol great job

this game is just incredible

Lorewise, Maliketh is on a different tier of power, but gameplay wise, Maliketh is no joke either. Just imagine how easy Elden Ring would be if you got to play as Maliketh, you'd steamroll every boss with zero difficulty.

Time to grab the popcorn 🍿

I legit didnt know about the sleep pot method until I watched Carbots cartoon fighting the God Damn Duo

I did the Godskin duo fight in one try, mainly because i utilized, what souls veterans would consider coward tactics and yell at me if they could, by using a summon that would be largely immune to most of their damage (the Crystalian +10) and hiding behind cover, only popping out to deliver some massive damage when their attention was off me, specifically with the Spiral Shard spell. See, this was my first souls game, and with other games i am a Blaster Caster at heart, so i gravitated to sourceries. I have learned very little of the actual combat but had an absolute blast of a time (hehe) finishing the game. Next playthrough i will be doing a melee run just so i can actually learn all that good stuff.

Gurang is maliketh , if you finish gurang quest line before fighting him in the arena he will say something along the line that he wished it was not you because you helped him.

I'm subbed buddy 😁👍🏼

I wonder if there is some lore-based justification for why you can still be brought back by grace after Maliketh kills you with destined death. I would speculate that it has something to do with how time passes in Farum Azula, since that place seems to have a weird relationship with the passage of time, allowing you to go back and fight Placidusax or the fact that you can defeat Maliketh there, but the Beast Clergyman will still remain in his usual spot outside of Farum Azula etc. Maybe Maliketh kills you in the fight with destined death, but dying in that coliseum at the top of Farum Azula causes you to go back in time, rather than simply being brought back in the usual manner by the site of grace.

That Guardian right outside Maliketh's door was far more difficult to beat than both the somewhat hidden Dragon Boss and Maliketh combined. I only died once between those two fights, that guardian killed me at least 15 times.

The beast clergyman attacking me despite me supplying him with drugs

the gloem eyed queen follows you throughout the game. you can see the burn scars on her hands.

Did you guys know that in the Spanish version of the game Marika is named Marida because Marika means f*ggot?

If you pay attention. When you feed gurrang death root, you can see the death rune on his hand..

8:47 the funny thing is, they’re supposed to be able to wake each other up but for some reason, the enemies nearby (mainly the one under the floor) bug that out

So long time soulsborne fan, and can verify godskin duo was one of the few bosses I could not first try solo, had to use mimic tears, and farm up another 15-20 levels in order to win.

This was phenomenal 👏

Bruh, the end of this video killed me 😂

@15:00 'somehow Ranni returned' 🤣

Can't wait to see the dlc to get even more info. I'm can't figure if this is another dark souls world or completely different. Because blight is like in dark souls 3 where dead bodies have a branch piercing through.

I think my favorite thing about this game is how hard some bosses are for some people and easy for others. I beat the godskin duo first try in literally 2minutes, but I've been getting my ass prolapsed by elden beast for a week

My first playthtrough solidified my love for the game. I just played as long and as hard as I could at base level Prisoner without Melina's offer of help. It was so hard, but so much fun. I just love Souls games to no end

5:04 She chopped off his feet. When I fought Radahn, I wondered where his feet were.

Not ashamed to say that Maliketh was a steel wall I just couldn't overcome on my 1st char and damn near made me give up on ER, but thankfully months later with a pure strength build, +10 ruins great sword and +10 great shield ghost summon for added cheese, I was finally able to beat him and let me tell you that victory was oh so very sweet.

What's up with destined death and the black/white combo though? Ranni's Divine tower is unique not just by the missing two fingers, but the "elevator room" got white and black lingering in it. Malakith's hair and tail is black and white. And should you "betray" Melina, her hair turns Black and white to, in the ending sene. It's kind of odd as destined death itself is red/black.

Bosses are hard in all souls games unless you realise they are designed like Mega Man bosses and each one has a profound weakness. Like sleep spell and weapons put godskins in coma for easy victory

Liked and Subbed, great work on the video! I loved it

My head canon is you aren't permakilled by Malekith's blade is that Ranni took a fragment of the Rune of Death. It's not at full strength and won't permakill a Tarnish.

Subbed! ❤

I’m gonna have to start an entirely new game of Elden Ring cuz if I’ve learned anything, it’s that trying FromSoft DLC on NG+ is an exercise in absolute horrifying torture

The funny thing about the sleeping pot method on godskin duo is that it shouldn't even work, they technically have the ability to wake each other up but because of a bug it doesn't work

The godskin duo fight might actually not be just two of them but a few dozen of them sent to kill maliketh since the fight doesnt really end when you kill both of them, you have to wait till more spawn

The beast clergyman has the medallion on his hand so it must be him

You miss out on a sword if you kill him before completing a quest line.

Destined death isn't a permanent thing. In fact, like craigblade, it lasts for ~60 seconds (1 minute) before the effect goes away. This is my favorite fight in the game, and after 1,000+ times beating him (32 of those are actual playthroughs, the rest is helping people). You learn a lot of stuff. Also, his strongest attack is also his must vulnerable. When he's using the actual skill titled destined death, run behind him, and you can get 2 heavy attacks or 1 heavy and 2 light attacks (with greatsword or colossal swords.) Literal favorite boss in the game. And fun fact. If you die from destined death, you'll respawn with 20% of your health missing. It can still be refilled don't worry it's not an old king Allant situation from Demon Souls.

Everyone goes through all the souls games and has their defacto "best boss ever" and Maliketh is my favorite hands down. His music is also absolute gas

After I beat maliketh I beat the game This was the first time I immediately regretted beating a boss (first souls game)

Uhm, a key difference between the tarnished and the natives of the lands between is that the tarnished can and do die and then revive for as long as they have the guidance of grace. As the player is tasked with becoming Elden Lord he's essentially the only tarnished that will revive as many times as necessary to complete his goal. The natives of the lands between however CANNOT die because destined death was taken from the Ring. Instead you see them wither away both physically and mentally with a few exceptions retaining some semblance of sanity. So even if we were to die to destined death from either Maliketh or the Black Knife sssassins, we would still revive and not suffer from a permadeath. Again, the only way to suffer permadeath as a tarnished is by losing the sight of grace.

Pause @16:32 and you can see the red medallion on his left hand. The beast cleargyman is Maliketh.

There was a random coop summoning for my fight with godskin duo. That’s the only way I beat them because before that I had failed for a week.

I had more trouble with the god skin duo and the tree sentinel than I did with Maliketh. I think I got him 2-3rd try... Guess builds just make different things different difficulty

Idea for a mod: anytime you die to destined death it makes a copy if your character in its entirety, including inventory, and its randomly placed in the game world and is continually hunting you in real time. That would be amazing, especially if it has some way of keeping track of all of your inputs and then starts mimicking your patterns when they fight you, theoretically using your cheapest tactics AGAINST you!

Even that tree sentinel before Maliketh is a problem lol

I would highly recommend you check out SmoughTown, VaatiVidya, and Tarnished Archeologist during your research for making videos. I promise it will elevate your commentary on Elden Ring lore to the next level, as you will be very well educated in the nuances of the Lands Between's history. Instead of noting "this could possibly be skin" that the Godskins wear, you would be aware of the texts in game that heavily imply that it is literally the leather of gods and demi-gods alike, in a quantity that could only be considered genocide. The Godskin Peeler, as you've mentioned was used by the Apostates (or "lower class" Godskin) to get their hands dirty, quite literally, skinning the gods. The Godskin Stitcher however, was used by the Nobles (or "high class" Godskin) for the cleaner job of stitching the tanned god-hide into the Godskin Robes. There's obviously much more detail to go into, but this comment is already long enough for a simple example. I love what you're doing, but I do believe it could be even better with a little prior research into certain concepts in your script that you're unsure about. I also don't ever want to state anything as fact in Elden Ring lore as much of it is obviously interpreted, but there are many threads that weave together within the story of the Lands Between which reveal much more detail than can be seen from the surface of any singular subject. Individual item descriptions, lines of NPC dialogue, or differences in architecture between Leyndell and Farum Azula mean so much more when you look at them together, rather than separately. That's just the beauty of FromSoftware's world-building. That being said, this was a wonderful video anyway. Keep up the great work and don't let my overly detailed nitpick make you think you didn't do great work. There's just always room for improvement, and my brain loves to point that out for some reason. 😅

the shadow lands are obscured, "hidden" as you say as well. I think obfuscation is definitely one of the core themes in the game.

godskin duo made me change my OG build

Uhhhh, no crap Maliketh is the beast clergyman. When you go to the temple and meet the clergyman or anytime you feed him death root take a telescope and look at his left hand. This wasn't a mystery. Like at all.

Maliketh is my favorite boss. I love the fight so much. I hope they'll add a new Destined Death Ash of War in Shadow of the Erdtree. A Sacred Blade DD AOW would be awesome.

I LOVE MALIKETH. HE IS MY FAVORITE BOSS IN THE ENTIRE GAME. YALL WANA KNOW WHY? Because of the fact that his attacks actually have lore in them, are shaped pretty well, and just his character in general is the greatest invention ever. Maliketh the black blade is a bad ass name to. I just cant imagine dark souls making him any better.

Spectacular video💯💯🎯🎯

Hey Even, Maliketh was GIVEN the shard of the Elden Ring conveying Death by Marika to remove Death from the equation of the Lands Between, during the early years of the Golden Order, and after learning of the Godskin Hunt and the Gloam-Eyed Queen Marika sent him to deal with the Queen.... the fact that during the roughly FIVE HUNDRED YEARS he wound up trapped there by something Marika did, only getting lose during the Shattering War roughly 50-100 years before the game starts when searching for Death Root which started springing up (F*ck didn't mean the pun, forgive me) after Godwyn was merc'ed by a knife made with an ECHO of the might of Death, left him vastly past his prime and we are facing a weakened faded version, who is still ONE OF THE MOST OP BOSSES... much like Placidussax who is 2 of 5 heads WITH a shattered Divine Rune from the Dragon God and still a terrifying and powerful foe... any way Maliketh/Gurranq is a shell who is still vastly overpowered shows just how terrifying and powerful he was at his prime... and why the Godskin Apostles and Godskin Nobles are a threat since MALIKETH was sent to deal with their order by destroying the Empyrion in charge of it...

The Godskin apostle fight is the ER version of Ornstein and Smogh.