You’re wandering through the soggy, depressing ruins of Liurnia of the Lakes when you hear it. A polite, slightly raspy voice calling out for help. It’s a girl named Rya, hunched over in a stone pavilion, claiming someone stole her necklace. At first glance, she’s just another quirky NPC in a game full of people who want to kill you or use you. But Rya’s questline in Elden Ring isn’t just a fetch quest. It’s arguably the most emotionally resonant arc FromSoftware has ever written, touching on themes of identity, bodily autonomy, and the crushing weight of family secrets.
Most players stumble into this by accident. You get her necklace back from Blackguard Big Boggart (the guy who loves boiled prawns), she gives you an invitation to Volcano Manor, and suddenly you’re knee-deep in a conspiracy to devour the gods. But if you aren't paying attention, you'll miss the tragic core of her character.
Meeting Zorayas and the Volcano Manor Invitation
Rya isn't actually human. Well, sort of. If you follow her back to Volcano Manor—which you can do easily if you meet her at the Grand Lift of Dectus or the Lux Ruins—she eventually reveals her true form. She’s a Man-Serpent named Zorayas. She’s hunchbacked, scaly, and deeply insecure about her "true" self.
It’s a shock the first time she transforms. You walk into a side room of the Manor and see this giant snake-person standing where your polite friend used to be. But here’s the thing: she’s still Rya. She still speaks with that same gentle cadence. She’s just trying to find her place in a world that would normally view her as a monster. She believes she was born from a "graceful ritual" to serve the manor’s master, Rykard.
She’s wrong.
The deeper you go into the hidden city of Eiglay, the more the facade crumbles. To progress Rya’s questline in Elden Ring, you have to find the Serpent's Amnion. It’s a disgusting, wet key item found on an altar in the Temple of Eiglay after killing a Godskin Noble. Bringing this back to her is the moment the quest shifts from a political recruitment drive into a psychological horror story.
The Serpent’s Amnion and the Truth of Her Birth
When you give Rya that piece of skin, you’re basically handing her a DNA test that says her life is a lie. She realizes she wasn't born of a noble ritual. She’s the product of something much darker, an "abhorrent ritual" involving Lady Tanith and the Great Serpent.
Honestly, the way she reacts is heartbreaking. She disappears from the main drawing room and hides in the basement of the legacy dungeon. This is where most players get lost. You have to find her tucked away in a small room past the magma lakes, accessible via a series of elevators and hidden paths near the Temple of Eiglay.
The Three Possible Endings
Unlike many Elden Ring quests that have one set outcome, Rya gives you a choice. Or rather, you have to decide what kind of person you are.
The Mercy Kill: She asks you to kill her. She can't live with the knowledge of what she is. If you do it, she dies thinking she’s a monster, leaving behind a simple talisman (Daedicar's Woe). It’s the "bad" ending, but in a world as bleak as the Lands Between, some might see it as an escape.
The Potion of Forgetfulness: Lady Tanith gives you a tonic to make Rya forget her pain. If you give it to her, she falls asleep. After you kill Rykard and everyone leaves the manor, she wakes up alone. She’s "happy" because she doesn’t remember the truth, but she’s also hollow. It’s a lobotomy disguised as kindness.
The "True" Ending: This is the one you want. You ignore her request to kill her. You refuse to give her the potion. You leave her there and go kill Rykard. Once the boss is dead, go back to her hiding spot one last time. She’ll realize that even though her origin is dark, she has the strength to define herself. She leaves you a letter and the Daedicar’s Woe, promising to set out on her own journey to become something better.
Why Daedicar’s Woe Matters
Let's talk about the item she leaves behind. Daedicar’s Woe is a talisman that makes you take double damage. From a gameplay perspective, it’s a "challenge mode" item. But lore-wise? It’s heavy. The description hints at a woman named Daedicar who "indulged in every form of adultery and wicked pleasure," giving birth to countless "grotesque" children.
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This suggests Rya is a descendant of this figure, or at least shares that cursed lineage. By giving you this item, she isn’t just giving you a trinket; she’s shedding the burden of her ancestors. She’s literally handing you the weight of her curse and walking away into the fog, free for the first time in her life. It’s one of the few moments of genuine hope in the entire game.
Common Mistakes Players Make
People mess this up all the time. If you kill Rykard too early, you can lock yourself out of certain dialogues. If you give her the potion, you lose the chance for her to find her own strength.
Also, don't miss the interaction with Blackguard Big Boggart in Liurnia. If you just kill him to get the necklace back, you lose out on one of the best NPCs (and the best consumables) in the game. Buy the necklace from him instead. It’s worth the runes.
How to Find Her Secret Room
Finding her at the end is a nightmare if you don't know the layout.
- Start at the Temple of Eiglay Site of Grace.
- Take the wooden elevator up.
- Run past the Man-Serpents and jump off the balcony into the lava area.
- Look for a window you can jump through.
- She’s hiding in a dark room under the bridge.
It’s tucked away because she’s literally hiding from the world. She’s ashamed. The physical verticality of the manor reflects her mental state—the deeper you go, the closer you get to the "monstrous" truth she’s trying to avoid.
The Masterpiece of Narrative Design
Rya's story works because it flips the script on what a "monster" is in Elden Ring. Most things that look like her are mindless enemies trying to bite your head off. But Rya is kinder than almost any human NPC you meet. She’s polite to a fault. She’s loyal.
The contrast between her gentle personality and her "hideous" form is the whole point. While the "noble" knights of the manor are out there murdering fellow Tarnished for sport, the snake-girl in the basement is the only one with a conscience.
When you finish Rya’s questline in Elden Ring by letting her live, you aren't just completing a checklist. You're validating her existence. In a game about becoming a god or burning the world down, helping a shy girl find the courage to exist as she is feels like the biggest victory of all.
What to do next
If you've managed to get the "good" ending for Rya, your next step should be checking back at Volcano Manor after the boss is dead to see the aftermath. Talk to Tanith by Rykard’s corpse (it’s gross, be warned). If you have the "Tonic of Forgetfulness" still in your inventory because you refused to give it to Rya, you can actually offer it to Tanith later on during the Patches questline, though she won't take it.
The items you get—the Zorayas's Letter and the Daedicar's Woe—are permanent markers of her survival. Take that letter and read it. It’s a rare moment of closure. From here, you can move on to completing the rest of the Volcano Manor assassinations if you haven't already, or head toward the Mountaintops of the Giants, knowing you did one thing right in this miserable, beautiful world.