A Bit On ELDEN RING’s Blaidd The Half-Wolf

In typical FromSoftware fashion, there are plenty of colourful characters strewn all throughout ELDEN RING. However, none quite caught my attention like Blaidd the Half-Wolf did — a towering, howling knight. As such, stick around to find out more about Blaidd as I lay down what I know about him in this quick dive.

So, where is Blaidd? Well, he's in a few places, but you are most likely to encounter him first in Mistwood (an area to the east of Limgrave). It is here, amongst the region's dense foliage and monstrous fauna, that Blaidd's eerie howls can be heard. However, because this is a FromSoftware title and obscurity rules the day, getting him to make an appearance is initially impossible, and a quick chat with nomadic merchant Kàle is in order. He'll teach you his “Finger Snap” gesture, which can then be used to convince Blaidd to drop down from his lookout spot.

Initial impressions were that this guy was a proper badass! He is, after all, a giant, greatsword-wielding wolfman clad in armour. And it wasn't until his softly spoken tones met my ears that I finally let down my guard, for until then, I had feared losing an afternoon or three to one particularly solid boss fight (even if mutual friend Kàle had already painted the Half-Wolf in a positive light). To my further delight, however, not only did we not have to throw any hands, but Blaidd and I even sought to defeat the same foe. Brilliant! A team-up it is then. Bloodhound Knight Darriwil had already given me some grief, so I was more than happy to settle the score in tandem with my newfound companion.

But… who is Blaidd? Granted, there is not a great deal of lore surrounding the character, especially when compared to other inhabitants found milling around the Lands Between.

Plainly speaking, Blaidd is no warped man but instead a shadow-bound entity, which was created to protect Lunar Princess Ranni. The wolf-knight's attire (altered version) confirms this somewhat by stating that Blaidd would've defied destiny itself if it had meant him causing harm to the Princess.

With that said, though, perhaps such things were out of the wolfman's control, and in his make-up exists a failsafe! Should Ranni forsake her destiny and the Greater Will, for instance, Blaidd would be forced to turn on her. Think “Order 66” of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith infamy. This is something unbeknownst to both Blaidd and Ranni, but unfortunately comes to fruition.

Do I have final thoughts? You bet I do! Ultimately, if you couldn't tell, I really like this character. His aesthetic is awesome, and what little we get in the way of lore is overall rather pleasant and well-rounded.

I also like the juxtaposed beauty and beast dynamic shared between Ranni and Blaidd, too. Yes, Ranni may be a blue, four-armed witch, but what human features she does possess are conventionally attractive. On the other hand, though, Blaidd is a towering beast — part humanoid, part hound. Physically, at least, they seem to embody “opposites attract”.

On top of that, I like how Blaidd's character was tied back to his canine appearance. Sure, it's pretty surface-level stuff, but it's nice that he wasn't just a dog because “it would be cool” or for some other pointless, dead-end design decision. Wolves are pack animals, and they have a strong sense of family within their group. They are man's (or witch's, I suppose) best friend and will staunchly protect their masters. This is common knowledge, but that, in turn, helps us as the audience to perhaps identify his true nature before we are privy to anything further about him. FromSoftware’s approach to videogame design does, indeed, train your brain to be wary of all whom you meet, but there are instances where clever, little context clues do help you to spot friend from foe; this is just one such occasion.

And that was my two cents on Blaidd the Half-Wolf. A wolf literally named Wolf (well, in Welsh, anyway), and one of, if not, my favourite ELDEN RING NPC.