Nepheli Loux is anElden Ringcharacter that players first meet in Stormveil Castle and then later at the Roundtable Hold. She is the adopted daughter of Gideon and a strong warrior who can help the player defeat a couple of the game’s bosses such as Godrick, Godfrey, and the Omenkiller at the Village of the Albinaurics. Outside of boss fights, she also plays a part in some ofElden Ring’soptional quests.
Fans have been piecing together the lore behind Nepheli, from who her biological parents were to her connections with the Lands Between. Whileshe is Tarnished like many others, it is her relationship with other characters that makes her quite interesting. Depending on player choices, she can also take a powerful role in the future of the Lands Between.
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Nepheli’s Past
One of the most interesting relationships Nepheli has with other Tarnished is withGideon, her foster father. Since Nepheli says she never knew her biological family, it is safe to assume Gideon raised her from a very young age. However, the two are very different in terms of motivations and personality. This could mean that Nepheli, though raised by Gideon, had very different world experiences. While Gideon mostly learns of the world through reading and spying, Nepheli is a warrior who gets first-hand accounts. An example of their differences is that Nepheli was at Stormveil Castle under Gideon’s orders. She hated Godrick for his cruelty, as she saw it all first-hand, while Gideon just wanted Godrick dead for his Great Rune and remained at Roundtable Hold.
In theVillage of the Albinaurics, Nepheli mentions that as a little girl, she witnessed terrible injustice like what happened in the village. She never goes into detail about this, but it’s very compelling information since she came from outside the Lands Between. Whatever happened in her infancy had a major effect on her, enough so to betray her own foster father when she finds out he is the one behind what happened to the Village of the Albinaurics.
Many believe that Nepheli’s biological father is Godfrey, and this has mostly been accepted as fact because of all the evidence. Her last name is shared with his warrior name, Hoarah Loux, she can be summoned to his fight, and the relationship may have some reason as to why Kenneth chooses Nepheli to replace Godrick the Grafted as ruler of Limgrave. Strangely enough, this would make Godwyn, Mohg,and Morgotther half-brothers.
Her Relationship With Stormveil Castle
Nepheli is a character whose dialogue shows a connection with the wind, storms, and hawks. Quotes that show this include, “Let the winds lift you, to a higher place.” “He’s tainted the very winds,” “I will call upon the storm, to drive away the foulness that has settled on the winds,” and “I can smell the ancient storm. It remains me of my first hawk.” All these mentioned storm themes and the fact thatNepheli can rule Stormveil Castlehas made fans really wonder if she is somehow connected to the Storm King.
The Storm King was the previous lord ofStormveil Castleand very little is known about him except that he was defeated by Godfrey. Some fans think the Storm King was a hawk, and that seems likely due to their presence around Stormveil Castle. Nepheli seems to harbor a deep connection with this old version of Stormveil due to her mentions of wind, storms, and hawks. It seems likely that she was raised with hawks, especially since she mentions having a “first hawk.” As a warrior, she likely used hawks to scout areas and send messages to Gideon.
The ashes of hawks mention of a time when “Stormveil’s winds still raged like no other.“Under the Greater Will, these storms stopped. As the new ruler of Stormveil, Nepheli seems to have a goal to return it to how it once was before the Storm King was defeated by Godfrey. If Godfrey was indeed her biological father, it seems she also has no shared motivations or loyalty with him either, especially since she helps the player fight him.
Her Name And Weapons
Since Elden Ring’s lore is quite subtle, Nepheli’s name and weapons are important to understanding her. Nepheli means “she who comes from the clouds” in Greek and could also be references to nymphs of rain fromGreek mythology, which were called “Nepheleia.” Once again, this connects her to the theme of storms, wind, and rain.
Lastly, she wields a pair of Stormhawk Axes. Their flavor text says that they are designed to resemble hawks and serve as “the signature weapon of warriors who strive to remain one with the storm, despite being so far from their place of birth.” Their weapon skill is called Thunderstorm and gives the weapon lightning damage while also creating a lightning storm.
Elden Ringis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
