The Maiden

Maidens occur throughout pop culture. In film, the maiden appears as a female supporting character, bereft of character development, whose role is solely to help a male character development. This portrays women as shallow, albeit noble characters. Another depiction occurs in From Software games like Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. Here the maiden serves a similar role, to help the main character to develop and, literally, level up. However, the maiden is a deep and mysterious character who achieved great power through tremendous sacrifice. Put differently, The Maiden can do what no other character can: they can sacrifice themselves completely purely for the benefit of others. This takes the shallow feminine character of Western pop culture to a much deeper level in which the sacrifice made by The Maiden is not hidden under a veil of romantic interest or rooted in unrealistic stereotypes about women's behavior.

Acid free 5 x 8 inch print originally inked using Pigma Micron 01 and graphite. Available with or without text.