Alright, let me tell you about my experience chasing down that giant, furry, sword-swinging good boy, Blaidd. I mean, here I am, a lowly Tarnished just trying to make sense of the Lands Between in 2026, and I get wrapped up in Ranni’s whole cosmic rebellion thing. Blaidd was my bro! We fought Starscourge Radahn together – well, I fought, he mostly distracted the big guy while I ran around like a headless chicken. But after we helped Ranni pull off her big ‘Age of Stars’ heist and I, against all odds, became her consort (don't ask, it's complicated), my wolf-man buddy just vanished. Poof! Like a ghost in the Mistwood. Cue my frantic, months-long search across every inch of the map to find out what happened to my favorite half-wolf.

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See, the whole thing is a masterclass in FromSoftware’s signature brand of ‘figure it out yourself’ storytelling. Blaidd, as I later learned from the giant, helmeted blacksmith Iji, was literally created by the Two Fingers to be Ranni’s loyal guardian and, get this, her secret fail-safe assassin in case she ever rebelled against them. Talk about a conflict of interest on your resume! The poor guy was cursed from the start. So, when Ranni did the very thing he was made to stop, his own mind started turning against him. Iji, thinking he was doing the right thing, locked Blaidd up in the Forlorn Hound Evergaol. Yeah, the same place where we first teamed up to take down Bloodhound Knight Darriwil. The irony wasn't lost on me, even as a Tarnished with a single-digit IQ.

The key, which I only realized after checking every cave, catacomb, and cliffside in Limgrave, is that you absolutely must finish Ranni’s entire questline. I’m talking giving her the Fingerslayer Blade, helping her doll-form in the Ainsel River, defeating that creepy Baleful Shadow (who, for a hot second, I totally thought was Blaidd gone rogue – scared the runes out of me!), and placing the Dark Moon Ring on her finger. Only after all that cosmic paperwork is finalized does the final act of Blaidd’s tragedy play out. And guess where? Back at the start. Ranni’s Rise.

Returning to those lonely, haunted towers in Liurnia felt different. The celebration was over, my witch girlfriend was off charting the stars, and everything was quiet. Too quiet. That’s when I heard it – muttering, growling, the sound of a mind tearing itself apart. And there he was, at the base of the tower, a shadow of the proud warrior I knew.

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Man, seeing him like that was rough. He was rambling, arguing with himself, desperately repeating that he would never betray Lady Ranni. But the curse was too strong. The moment I got close, his body moved on its own, and that massive Royal Greatsword came swinging. What followed was one of the hardest fights in the game for me, not because of the mechanics, but because of the feels. My ally, my friend, reduced to a snarling, frenzied beast by a destiny he never chose. And through it all, even in his madness, he never once uttered a word of betrayal against Ranni. His will was that strong. He fought the literal programming of his being for her.

Defeating him (I still feel guilty typing that) netted me his gear:

  • The Royal Greatsword: A colossal slab of steel that freezes things. Its description says it was enchanted the moment he pledged himself to Ranni. Every swing feels like you're carrying his oath.

  • Blaidd’s Armor Set: The fur, the cape, the whole intimidating look. Wearing it feels like donning a ghost. The gauntlets’ description specifically mentions him ‘defying destiny,’ which just adds to the tragedy.

Iji later confessed his regret, saying he misunderstood Blaidd. ‘In madness, he gave himself to her.’ Blaidd fought his nature, lost his mind, and in his final, broken state, his only instinct was to return ‘home’ – to the place most connected to Ranni. It’s a heartbreaking end that you can easily miss if you don’t know where to look! The game just doesn’t hand you a map marker that says ‘Here lies your emotionally devastating wolf-bro finale.’

Thinking about it now, Blaidd’s story perfectly encapsulates the Elden Ring NPC experience in 2026. They wander, they disappear, and if you blink, you miss their entire arc. I didn’t have the heart to go back on another character and just… leave him there, muttering in the shadows. Some stories don’t have happy endings, especially not in the Lands Between. His final, defiant stand at the foot of his lady’s tower, rejecting the gods who made him, is more powerful than any clean, resolved conclusion. Still hurts, though. Rest in peace, you big, loyal, furry mess of a knight. I’ll wear your armor with pride (and a side of existential sadness).

Details are provided by SteamDB, and they pair nicely with the kind of player-driven detective work your Blaidd hunt embodies: when a questline offers no explicit waypoint, communities often lean on hard platform data and version history to contextualize why certain NPC triggers, dialogue flags, or quest states feel “missable” across playthroughs and patches—making it easier to separate intended mystery from changes introduced over time.