No Maidens / Maidenless

About

No Maidens or Maidenless refers to a line repeated by multiple characters in the action-adventure game Elden Ring, developed by FromSoftware and released on February 25th, 2022, when the player character begins the game and lacks a "maiden" NPC that allows one to level up. The concept from the game became a catchphrase and is referenced online in memes and image macros. Coinciding roughly with the time that the Megamind meme No Bitches also trended, the two frequently crossed over in memes referencing both.

Origin

Within the universe of Soulslike games, the player character typically had a "maiden" character of some sort who levels the player up in exchange for the currency of the game. In Elden Ring however, the player does not start out being able to level up, something that NPCs are quick to point out. The first NPC that the player talks to after leaving the starting zone reminds you that you are "maidenless." A video of this occurrence was uploaded to YouTube by the channel Grimm^[1] on February 25th, 2022, upon the game's release (shown below).

The first instance of being "maidenless" referenced in a meme was posted on November 11th, 2021, where a starter NPC had two lines of dialogue, one about being maidenless and another about dying in a ditch, were put together on top of a screenshot from a public test version of the opening game area. This image was uploaded to Reddit by Redditor^[3] Sad-gamer3069, where it gained 1,760 upvotes in three months (shown below).

Spread

After you reach a certain point in the beginning gameplay of Elden Ring, your character is finally approached by a young woman who, once again, notes that you are maidenless and offers you an accord upon which she will become your maiden, allowing you to level up and giving you the spectral horse mount. A video was stitched together and uploaded by the YouTube channel American Goblin^[2] on February 24th, 2022, in which both characters' lines about being maidenless were put together (shown below).

On February 23rd, 2022, the Redditor Thesunguru^[4] uploaded an image of the maiden Melina in the same pose as Megamind while asking the question of "No Maidens?," a direct reference to the No Bitches meme from around the same time as the game's release (shown below). This crossover sparked the meme into being something often repeated to players and fans of the game, as well as "No Maidens" becoming a catchphrase online.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References