
There’s cut dialogue for her boss fight where she talks to the Tarnished like an old friend and expresses betrayal and disappointment at them fighting her, indicating she was originally planned to have a larger role.

Yet not only is encountering her in-person completely optional, said encounter ultimately amounts to one boss fight and less than a dozen lines.

save for the fact her resistance to frostbite is extraordinarily low, such that even a single Freezing Pot at base stats will stagger her out of the startup of the attack even when conventional attacks can't. Her using it at close range all but guarantees at least some damage.

Achilles' Heel: Normally Malenia's Waterfowl Dance is an unstoppable death sentence barring a very precarious string of dodges or weapon art uses from mid-to-long range.
