Every boss you fight inElden Ringis huge. Even the very first Godrick Soldier you take down in the Stranded Graveyard is like eight feet tall. There are a few human-sized Tarnished you’ll have to fight either as an invader or in Evergaols, but by and large, you’re the smallest thing with a sword in the Lands Between.
Which is fine; you’re a Tarnished of no renown, after all. But there are some bosses in Elden Ring that are just inexplicably huge, and Rennala is chief among them. She’s supposed to be a regular old human–one with phenomenal cosmic power from a lifetime of studying the stars, but she’s still just a person. And yet when you fight her, she’s easily twice your size, with unnaturally long arms and a neck that’d make a giraffe blush.
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“Why is Rennala so giant? Reddit userMeowNuggetasks. “I get gods/demi-gods being huge, but isn’t she just a human who uses magic (albeit, royal)? Is there lore for her being huge?”
In terms of lore, the best explanation comes from userBlack-Mettle, who reminds us that Rennala was given the Rune of Rebirth from Radagon when they went through a messy divorce. However, if the Rune of Rebirth causes unnatural growth in humans, this would imply that Rennala was normal-sized during her marriage with Radagon (who as we know from the end of Elden Ring, was pretty big himself).
I’d like to propose a second possible reason, however. The architecture of Raya Lucaria Academy is generally larger than what a normal-sized human would need, which implies Rennala was always pretty big (Ranni’s body at the top of the tower is also fairly large).Various in-game lore entries explainthe ancient Astrologers were once neighbors to the giants at Mountaintop of the Giants, so it’s possible there might have been a little…commingling, shall we say.
But I think it’s important to remember a point well-made by userPhunkie_Junkie: “There’s a recurring theme in Souls games that size = power. It’s not 100% of course, but it’s the main reason why all of the architecture in the games is too big for you. The oppressive environment is a subtle reminder that you are meddling with things beyond your ken.”
