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Elden Ring has seen countless role-players who could honestly pass for FromSoftware-made characters, but we've never seen another community figure – perhaps in any game – like Let Me Solo Her. The jar-headed, katana-wielding warrior has been helping Tarnished beat Elden Ring's hardest boss, Malenia, for nearly a full year now. They've been immortalized in mods and fan art, inspired imitators like Let Us Duo Them and the markedly less helpful Let Her Solo Me, and they're still out there fighting the good fight.
With Elden Ring a year old and finally due for DLC – at some point, anyway, though we don't have a release date yet – I sat down with Let Me Solo Her to chat about his legendary adventures and what he hopes to see in the long-awaited Shadow of the Erdtree. Believe it or not, he's still an avid explorer of The Lands Between, and still finding new things.
"I am definitely not as active as I was fighting Malenia," Let Me Solo Her tells me over Discord. "I am currently exploring the Lands Between and discovering new things I haven't seen before. I'm almost at 1000 hours so I'm proud of that!"
I was curious if other Soulslikes like the recently released Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty would appeal to Let Me Solo Her given his clear love of harsh challenges. He says he's seen gameplay of Wo Long, in particular, but his "main interests lie with FromSoft titles and other games such as Overwatch."
In those 1,000 hours, Let Me Solo Her has gotten to know some of his peers. "I have talked to 'Let Us Duo Her' who appeared on my 1000th Malenia slain stream," he explains, "and 'Let Me Solo Them' on Reddit. I also talked to 'Let Kratos Solo' who cosplays as Kratos from God of War. They talked about how much I inspired them to do what they do and that makes me happy."
At this point, Let Me Solo her is confident he's killed Malenia at least 4,000 times, though he's understandably "stopped counting officially." He has about six characters in Elden Ring, three of them named Let Me Solo Her, with the original holding most of his playtime. Interestingly, he also has a character based on Sorceress Sellen, and another simply dubbed "Lightning Gal" used for PvP Invasions. Seeing as how his OG character has "almost every item and armor in the game so far," that's the Tarnished that'll brave Shadow of the Erdtree once it's out.
"I'm just so hyped since I can be here to enjoy it firsthand with other Souls fans," he says of the DLC announcement. "I missed the DLC launch of Dark Souls 3 so I was very hyped to hear it being released soon. And that's just how FromSoft works in terms of advertisements. I think it actually works in their favor announcing it like this since it gets more recognition through the internet." Indeed, the reveal was so low-key that many players were caught off-guard, still reeling as the news percolated the morning after.
Like most Elden Ring players, Let Me Solo Her has a bit of a wishlist for the DLC: "I definitely want to see more Miquella content in the DLC, and possibly The Lands Between in the past or the prime before the Shattering. It's bound to have interesting lore and enemies." He speculates that "we are going to enter the dream of Miquella who is in the cocoon at Moghwyn Palace and help him give Godwyn a rightful death."
Perhaps more than any other player on Earth, Let Me Solo Her is also looking forward to some tough bosses to master. From Dark Souls to Dark Souls 3 to Bloodborne, FromSoftware consistently reserves their toughest boss fights for DLC, and while Malenia set a high bar, I suspect Shadow of the Erdtree will be no different. That's what Let Me Solo Her is counting on.
"Everyone knows a Soulsborne DLC has the hardest boss, so yes, I'm hoping for a good challenge that's harder than Malenia," he says. "I fought Malenia because I liked her design and moveset. If I like the DLC's final boss, I will probably take the mantle again."
Reflecting on a year of Elden Ring, he says, "I do miss the initial hype and the new wave of Soulsborne players fighting bosses and traversing the world together, but it's inevitable that players will leave after some time with no new content. I still love Elden Ring despite its faults and bugs, and the community is still one of the more passionate ones I've ever engaged in for a long time. When the DLC comes out I intend to make the most of it since it will probably be considered the 'Golden Age of Elden Ring.'"
With DLC finally official, another Malenia expert can retire after beating her with 62 different builds.
