Elden Ring's Biggest Mystery is STILL Unsolved | LORE 

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I could totally imagine a Gael moment at the end of the DLC where Melina somehow ends up fighting us in a ridiculously epic duel. Like she realises what's her true purpose and that results in a conflict.

A friend of mine had a theory that the Gloam Eyed Queen is just a title passed from one person to the next, by whoever inherits the power of destined death. Kind of like the title of Lord of Cinder from Dark Souls. Melina might be inheriting that title in that ending and that's what we're seeing, her becoming the next Gloam Eyed Queen. Maliketh didn't get the title because he technically stole death from the previous queen. Ranni had the potential to become the next queen, because she used destined death on herself and that's why her eyes is also closed. I thought it was interesting theory.

She burns like wood - therefore she is a witch. (Thanks Monty Python) But in seriousness I think she may be a vessel for the Gloam-eyed Queen akin to Ranni's doll or even Marika being a vessel for the Greater Will. Can't wait to actually find out more.

Probably a combination of all of those roles. - The GEQ is a confirmed Empyrean, suggesting that there is something in common between her, Ranni and the twins - The butterflies strongly point towards Melina being the offspring of Radagon and Marika. GEQ being the daughter of Marika&Radagon wouldn't be the first skeleton in their closet, nor the first time FROM has a ruling god who hides their children or wipes them from historical record (Nameless King, Yorshka, Filianore) - The Rune of Death could be Melina's Great Rune, stolen by Maliketh after her defeat. Then her spirit could've been reborn as the Kindling Maiden, as failsafe in case Radagon decided to close off the path into the Erdtree, thus needing Destined Death to be unsealed for Melina to be able to burn it. In the Frenzied Flame ending, Melina survives the burning of the Erdtree and instead recovers Destined Death, regressing back into being the GEQ. Her discolored right eye might also indicate she is no longer under the influence of Marika or the Grace of Gold The weakest link here is her connection with Ranni and the Black Knife Assassins. Maybe the BKA's fighting style was modelled after the GEQ, who was the original wielder of Destined Death, although she is supposed to be wielding the Godslayer Greatsword

I think Melina's tattoo is definitely depicting a crow's foot. Not only is "crows feet" literally the name for wrinkle lines around the eye, but it connects her with the Deathbird iconography that symbolizes the pre-Erdtree death cycle and the cremation practices that the Godskin adhere to

Ziostorm, this is exactly what I've been thinking for a few months now! "Reborn" of Radagon and Marika (therefore a daughter of Marika) after her defeat at the blade of Malekith and sent out to fulfill Marika's will and goal as the Kindling Maiden. It ties it all together in a way that makes sense and fits with the evidence we have. The reason her eye opens during the Frenzied flame ending is now Marika and the Golden Order have been destroyed and her soul has been released from bondage to the Erdtree. Love seeing you make this theory explicit!

So I always had a theory that melina was marikas child and she was bodyless because she was born as a final defiance to the order, after she was punished for shattering the elden ring. If you look she's been stabbed through the womb.

From what I have noticed, the tattoo that's on Melina's left eye is a fowl foot, specifically a three-toed fowl foot. According to the description of the four-toed fowl foot, is that a fowl foot with three digits is a sign of a bad omen. This could mean several things, from her fate as the kindling maiden, serving as the kindling to burn down the Erdtree, or what seems more accurate is in the Frenzied Flame ending, the opening of her left eye when the world has come to a catastrophic end. It could also be some kind of seal and it was released with the destruction of the world and the vow to kill us at the end of the Frenzied Flame ending as the fowl foot over her eye is faded and no longer colored black. I'm not saying this is correct and I don't have a lot of stuff backing this up but I just wanted to put this out there and see if someone could make a little more sense of my rambling thoughts.

Melina was kind of here and gone like that in the storyline. I hope we get to see her in the DLC, and learn about her further.

It looks like a bird talon on her eye. And with how much she’s associated with death, then maybe there’s some currently unknown symbol that represents the death birds.

What I am very curious about that nobody mentions is that we know for a fact that the kindling through the sacrifice of a maiden is not a Melina only thing. Both Bernahl and Vyke have had this specific part as the main twist in their story. I hear most people talk about the kindling maiden as a single entity when that is unlikely given what we know about kindling.

*"In the coming days and weeks"* *"In the coming days and weeks"* *"In the coming days and weeks"* *"In the coming days and weeks"* *"In the coming days and weeks"* *"In the coming days and weeks"*

The reason I think no one knows Melina is a child of Radagon/Marika is because she's a child that was was born after the chatering. Maybe as a last resort for Marika to find a way to finish destroying the Elden Ring.

I also am in the camp that Melina is the Gloam-eyed queen, and you worded why so well. I also think she was reborn thru Marika after her defeat at the hands of maliketh.

Ranni states that she doesnt want to be controlled by the Elden Beast. It takes your body and fills it with a golden soul, separate from your individual soul. So when Godfrey became tarnished the golden shade inside of him remained at the Erdtree Sanctuary. Fia and Rogier seem to think that undead have their own individual identity separate from the soul's, so you have D Gold(soul) and D Silver (mind), albinaurics have manufactured silver souls considered outside of Grace. When NBKnives happens Ranni survives as a silver soul, Godwyn's soul dies but his undead body remains, and Melina, who was supposed to enter Ranni, is born between them as a golden spirit of the Erdtree, given purpose by Marika. Just like Blaidd if she fails to satisfy the Erdtree she is driven to violence, an activated weapon. My theory is that the Elden Beast is a parasite and Marika and Ranni schemed to break the wheel, and Melina is Marika's daughter as a result. This same struggle plays out with Marika and Radagon, one trying to break the order and the other trying to mend it. Now I dont have enough evidence for this last bit but my hunch is that Marika was the Gloam Eyed Queen before she was filled with golden grace (and Melina now has her eye).

Godrick and Godefroy aren't the children of Marika and Godfrey they're further descendants, also Mohg and Morgott both are the children of Marika and Godfrey and their names don't start with G but they're also omen so maybe that's why they don't fit the naming scheme.

Probably not very signifficant, but the petrified eye you get from Gurranq may be from Melina rather than Marika regardless of being made of stone. After all, in Bloodborne all eyes not implanted in your mind or kept in a jar were petrified and used as pebbles

Something I rarely see brought up is how Melina, Ranni, and Torrent's blue particle thing when they teleport in and out is also similar to how it looks when we go through the Raya Lucaria gates.

I've been looking at it this way: When Marika became a god, she became the embodiment of the Elden ring. She had become the ring herself in a way, it can even be seen glowing inside her and Radagon. And as shown in one of the trailers, shattering the Elden ring literally shattered her, you can see stone cracks forming on her back as it's breaking. So this got me thinking: When Marika removed the rune of death from the Elden ring to create the golden order, what if she removed a part of herself too by doing that? A part of her that would end up becoming Melina, representing the broken off piece of the Elden ring that is Destined Death.

I feel that part of Melina's curse as a child of Radagon and was not just to have her literal body burned but to have her metaphorical body burned from the pages of history as well, like the Nameless King. I believe that both her bodies were burned because she tried to rise up against the order not just as the gloam eyed queen but as a child of Radagon, imagine if that got out.

Im glad you posted this video. Just a day or two i was thinking of this subject and thinking how vague Melina as a character is

Melina says she was given her purpose "at the foot of the Erdtree" (not necessarily from within it - a japanese traslation my help here). She is very old based on the Blade of Calling description, so that distinction may not matter, but this could mean Leydell and not inside the Erdtree, or this could imply it was from a time before the Erdtree was as large as it is now. Her spells use the crucible incantation icon - this symbol is on the table in Rountable Hold, and on the ground outside the Chapel of Anticipation (also used for all the crucible knight incantations and the Holy Ground AoW that is similar to Melina's tree spell). This can be explained by her ties to Marika, but calls back to a time before the Ertree (as it is now) and Golden Order -and before any mention of Radagon- back to a time of Godfrey and his knights (crucible knights) before the singular Erdtree. It's worth noting that Marika had other children that were relativley unknown - Mogh and Morgott for example (as well as those in the Mausoleums), known to the players but hidden away from the general populous. Notably, the sealed path that leads us to the tower M&M's 2 fingers is atop also leads us to the forbidden lands, and the tower contianing THAT lift (ForbLand) is where we find a hidden chamber, with a body guarding a closed door with Melina's dagger. And that guard (body) is wearing Official's Attire: "Grubby blue robe worn by magisterial officials to carry out their grim tasks. Surveillance, executions, gruesome rituals... The darkest duties drive the wheels of mankind." Implying some nefarious activites there. Melina is a 'kindling maiden' so they wouldn't want her too close to the Erdtree even if they were happy with her.

"One that walks alongside the flame shall one day meet destined death" can't remember the exact quote but that sounds like a prophecy and someone gave it to her at one point.

Could she be a vessel for the Gloam eyed Queen, much like Marika being the vessel for the Greater Will?

I would LOVE for us to get multiple story DLCs for this game, so we can learn more about this incredible world. I can't wait until they throw us a new bone!

My top 3 personal picks for DLC would be Melina being related to the Gloam-eyed Queen, Caelid before the Scarlet Rot, or Mohg and Miquella unleashing the power of the Formless Mother.

I think melina is also a child born from marika on her own, meaning we should argue for her to be cursed aswell as miquella and malenia. Maybe by the gloam eyed queen and maybe by something else we dont know. However she is also rebellious to the golden order yet her physic state is reliant on grace for as long as the earth tree exist. Only after destroying the greater will and the earth tree does melina actually takes a physical form again. Considering both ranni and melina are connected to torrent and have a very same looking eye it would seem very likely that melina is somewhat connected to ranni. Both of them share a somewhat similar view on the world, thats its beautiful but corrupted by the influence of the outer gods which may have led to melina working together with ranni during the shattering, her curse of not having a physical form would explain how she and ranni are stuck together whenever you are not at a grace. The most interesting thing about this however is that melina despises the frenzied flame a lot more than any other outer god, as she only comments on them as opposed to the other influences in the world. This seems to be a lot more likely if the frenzied flame tried to use melina the same way mohg is used, but failed to do so due to her nonphysical state, as the fingers need to touch you to imbue the frenzy into you. Or her body burned away during that attempt, both would be possible. There is a fuckton of things to consider about melina and we absolutely need more info about the outer gods or the gods family.

I dreamed that the Story-DLC will come in June, lol

The second theory makes the most sense to me. The butterflies kinda seals the deal for me personally. I can see 2 and 4 overlapping, but the butterflies is what I will choose to believe

People complain about Melina’s small role in the main campaign, but this video proves she’s yet another example of From’s masterful style of writing. I mean how incredible is it that all four of these opposing theories feel totally canny? I hope she’s explored in a future DLC, but I almost prefer that she stay this perfect, mysterious cipher. She’s like the pinnacle of From’s storytelling ethos brought to life

Really good video, mate. Earned my sub. Keep up the good work! 🤝

Great video and research! Really enjoyed and finally subscribed. 😊

Great presentation of the possibilities, I really hope we get that DLC with some answers. But I'm also pretty sure if we get the DLC and we get some answers, we'll also have even more questions. Also, AgtJake had a great video involving mostly Melina 2 days ago, specifically of a wierd theory that also kinda fits imo. Based on that theory, the Lands Between are broken not just in space, but also in time. The bottomline is that Melina might be a younger self of Ranni, but check out that video, he does a better explanation than I could do here.

Would love to see someone tie all this info to the deathbirds/twin birds, would make sense for Ranni and Melina since they are linked by the bird talon mark.

such a good video, the 2 theories gloam eyed queen and that melina being sivlkngs to miquella and malenia sre really on point.

The idea of Melina being the Gloam Eyed Queen reborn through Marika makes a lot of sense to me. Also, has anyone explored the possibility of Melina being Renna? Maybe Radagon and Marika had a secret child who they somehow managed to swap for one of Radagon and Rennala's children? (I wouldn't put it past Radagon to pull something like that with the help of the Preceptors.) Or maybe when Marika rebirthed the GEQ she hid her away as Renna... although that would have required Radagon and the Preceptors' complicity as well. I've always found it weird that there was supposedly this third child of Radagon and Rennala who had her own tower (Renna's Rise) and who was clearly important to Ranni but who we never hear much about. This would explain the strong affiliation between Melina and Ranni.

I'm pretty sure the snowy crone Renna IS the Gloam Eyed Queen from the age of the Crucible who rose against the Greattree to establish Death's place in the world. In this age, Renna gave rise to the Flame of Ambition: a red (Crucible color/life/vigor/body/violence) and black (Death) flame that could truly burn away the Great Tree/Erdtree's roots. Renna was a spirit tuner, familiar with spirits of the dead, and master of Torrent when they were both alive. Renna likely succeeded in burning the Erdtree and died doing so, as the colosseum implies that the snake god/cult was the natural enemy to them in the Crucible; Tarnished Archeologist does a great video on it. The Tarnished Archeologist helps contextualize important world elements that will help us answer Melina's identity. Most notably that of birth, how are people born in the Lands Between? Sexual intercourse and natural births have fallen out of favor after the age of the Crucible, and Tarnished Archeologist theorizes that Marika's Golden Order places emphasis on Marika's power to bring about new births, likely through the Elden Ring/Erdtree. Before establishing dominance in the Crucible, Marika opposed her rival, the Gloam Eyed Queen, who brandished the rune of Destined Death (the inverse shape of Marika's rune) and hunted gods, and who embodied a motherly role to her apostles. Marika removed death and sealed Destined Death in order to create her age, thereby cementing her power over life/birth. Any other form of birth was deemed heretical (snakemen birthing, Those Who Live in Death, ancestor followers, etc). Melina expresses interest in motherhood and heavily implies that she was NOT born of a mother, as she reflects on Boc's behavior. This implies she IS the daughter of Marika/Radagon (who at this point are the same person) but was born post-Shattering. We know Marika shattered the Ring and Radagon attempts to fix it; they oppose each other as Marika no longer serves the Greater Will. It is MARIKA guiding the Tarnished with grace, NOT the Greater Will. Marika's goal is to slay the Elden Beast, hence Hewg's task and her guiding those who would create a new order, like Fia or the Dung Eater. Marika gave rebirth to the Gloam-Eyed Queen knowing that the she was the embodiment of the Flame of Ambition that burned the Erdtree before and needed to do so again. Melina has no memory that she was Renna, only that as a spirit she could ride and commune with Torrent, and was given "purpose" (in quotes because it wasn't her own yet) by Marika to burn the Erdtree. Both Melina and Ranni exist as a soul without a body, so they aren't the same person. Renna just doesn't remember she's Renna.

I like the theory that Melina was part of Marika similar to how Millicent was part of Melania. Therefore, she's motherless yet spawned from Marika, which also makes her a Numen (hence her weapon selection). That also leaves room for other connections as she could've went on to be Ranni's mentor or even be the Gloam Eyed Queen. The latter would be interesting as that would make Marika at least three different key figures within the lore as well as a guide for us the player 🤣

Excellent video! It's not easy to approach the mistery around Melina without getting tangled up in confusion, but you managed to structure your video quite well. I personally believe her to be Marika's and Radagon's daughter since I find the evidence for that to be the strongest, but this can't be the only correct answer. There is definitely a strong link to Ranni, yet I can't quite figure it out. Anyway, I love diving into Elden Ring lore, keep these videos coming!

Is it possible that Melina is a child of Marika and Rennala, it would explain the resemblance to ranni as well as Melina having a pinkish hair color instead the deep red of Radagons other children, and given that Radadgon had children with himself it isn’t too far fetched, just a crackpot theory

I mean tons of figures in previous fromsoft games had secret children, Gwyndolyn being a good example, so I wonder if merika had Melina in secret as a way to undermine the golden order, something radagon would be against

I havent seen anyone mention this but do you think that melina may be linked to the snow witch in some way as she resembles ranni since ranni's current body has been modelled after the snow witch

Great video as always! I personally don’t think the Melina we meet at the start of the game is the GEQ that we see at the end of the FF ending. It’s possible she is a different Melina (if that makes sense..) The reason why I think so is because the golden eye that the Melina we know is faded out and the ‘gloam’ eye is opened. Every subtle detail in FromSoft games is done on purpose and with meaning, so the changing eye colours could have huge implications. Her hair is also a different colour which could mean she has transformed into someone different. Similar to what we see when Marika transforms into Radagon and the hair also changes colour.

I see no reason why all four of these theories can't be true. They all fit together rather perfectly.

So much lore discussion on elden ring has been built on foundations that make no sense and come from basless personal interpretations. I love Vaati but ever lore theory i watch from him now I can think of a multitude of item descriptions that blow apart interpretations he makes, and usually the core concepit is based around an idea people have rather than any evidence of that idea directly. There is complex things at work here that intertwine with our real world science, but obviously with a fantasy spin. The Regalia of Eochaid is something that people never talk about but it indicates that copper is the metal that is allowing for people to move the sword by will alone, this is what the bell bearing hunters do. So copper allows will to conduct somehow, i also think alloys are very important, the mixing of metals.

I think it should also be mentioned that at the end of Ranni's quest when Iji dies he's covered in white flames surrounded by dead black knife assassin's. So this could be good evidence further connecting Melina to both Ranni and the Gloam eyed queen

Good video, I didn’t realize Melina had so much speculation and uncertainty surrounding her.

Good content. Subbed.

Melina's tattoo is a talon. Maybe relating to the Deathbirds. Burned and bodiless she says. Look at Rannis corpse at the divine tower. Sure looks burned to me. Also, why is Rannis corpse at the top of the tower anyways?

If we don’t get the spells Melina uses, imma be mad

best vid about melina really hope u get to 100k bro

Elden ring has so many good and well rounded theories that even at their fullest explanation feel open ended and incomplete without further details and that gives me hope for future content like you wouldn’t believe

The doll Ranni uses was not modeled after her own form. It was modeled after the frost witch who mentored her. If I had to guess, that frost witch was the gloam-eyed queen, who helped Ramon found the black knife assassins. Which would also mean she was a sort of maternal figure for Ranni, which would tie into her affinity and curiosity about motherhood and what it really meant. And if she was an empyrian, and an unknown one at that, that would imply she was born of Marika alone, the same way that Ranni is implied to be an offspring of Radagon alone. So one possible story would be that Melina was birthed from Marika's desire to be free of the outer gods, and ended up becoming a frost witch called the gloam-eyed queen. In this guise she ended up meeting and becoming the mentor of Ranni, Radagon's last gift to the wife he left for Marika. Between the two of them, they ended up developing Ranni's plan for overthrowing the elden beast and the outer gods' control over things, and carried it out. However it was not successful and the gloam-eyed queen was destroyed. It was Marika's continuing desire for freedom from the elden god that caused her to be born again, this time to serve the PC as their maiden. She is interested in motherhood because she largely raised Ranni, yet both had largely terrible and neglectful mothers themselves. She hates the frenzied flame because it is an even more restricting outer god than the elden beast's patron. And she is more or less ok with sacrificing herself; it will further the path of her adoptive daughter. There are gaps and holes in it right now. I'll have to actually play through the game and see if my understanding of events lines up correctly.

I launch Elden Ring and Zio posts a video. Coincidence? I think not!

This is really my fav video you’ve dove.

I really like the ideas proposed in both this video and the comments. I always thought it would be interesting if you took a very specific set of events (all remembrance bosses, inherit the chaos flame to burn the erdtree, quell the flame with miquellas needle, and then go on to defeat radabeast) that perhaps a special Melina interaction should occur. perhaps even its own ending, as it seems to a path specifically laid out to you, with no reward at the end for completing it.

My theory that I haven’t heard talked about is the fact that they bury the bodies near the tree to be reborn, ranni killed her body and separated her consciousness at a divine tower, her body is reborn and marika uses it to effect the world from the tree, which is why they share looks and scars, she split to follow her own path but her body is a clean slate for marika

I've always interpreted the spirit besides Ranni, as the actual Ranni, the body just being a puppet, seemly alive bc of Ranni controling it

i think what could be really interesting is that she is both the daughter of marika and radagon, AND is the gloam eyed queen. there is strong evidence supporting both, and taking into account the the gloam eyed queen was an empyrean, and multiple children of marika are empyreans (miquella, malenia, ranni), it could make sense. you could also look at the blade of calling. doesn’t it’s design notes sort of resemble those of the godskin weapons?

i really like tbskyen analysis of her design, she echoes odin in a lot of ways, a one eyed traveller with hidden identity and humble garbs always in search of something and always knowing more than you first assume. You can read her tattoo as looking more like a dragon claw and connecting her to them, but if you see it as that of a bird, it can be a crow/raven claw, another connection to odin in the same way that radagon and marika are kind of the same person but still different entities, i think melina is probably another aspect of marika

Maybe, she’s ranni also, when ranni got rid of her physical form, she split into two, like light and dark, but it’s heat and cold, who we know as ranni is the dark, cold, for obvious reasons and melina is the light, heat, because she does holy damage and literally takes the fire from the forge and burns down the tree with it, becoming the flames, the spirit next to ranni is melina, like a literally spilt personality that’s become two separate people, they already look strikingly similar, the closed eye, both have something on the face around that eye also, it’s ranni’s left aye and melina’s right eye, so they match perfectly when stood side by side, this is my take anyway, probably many holes in it but anyway

I find it interesting....and not coincidental....that Ranni is the new Ice Queen and Melina is the Kindling Maiden. Also I think the most likely scenario is that when we are reading about who the Gloam-Eyed Queen is, they are actually talking about Queen Marika herself, and we are getting the background story on her we thought we were waiting for. I also think it's highly likely Melina has a Gloam-eye because she is Marika's daughter, not because she is the Gloam-Eyed Queen herself, and if Maliketh actually defeated Marika....maybe that has something to do with why she is in the Erdtree in the first place. That could very well be Marika's eye, which beg's more questions as to why it is called the "Beast Eye", and if there is some relation there to Hoarah Loux and the Crucible.

I think I might have some light to shed on the origins of Melina’s eye “seal”. When you receive the beast eye from Gurranq, if you look closely at the eye you can see that the claw mark on it is identical yet mirrored to that of Melina’s eye seal. During the Frenzied Flame ending she opens an eye with an uncanny resemblance to the Beast Eye. This is what the Beast Eye description states in game: “Claw-marked stone eye received from Gurranq, Beast Clergyman. It is said to tremble when near Deathroot. The murky violet iris writhes as if alive. "I am not sated... Feed me more...Death..." If you’ve encountered the dialogue that Melina states at the end of the Frenzied Flame ending you’d know she wishes to bring us (the lord of frenzied flame) destined death. This has MAJOR implications as to what she actually is. I believe that when Maliketh (Gurranq) was in his prime at the behest of Marika, he defeated the gloom eyed queen and sealed destined death. (I don’t have the evidence for this on hand but it is stated in game that Maliketh defeated her and sealed away destined death). Remember, Melina states at the beginning of the game this incredible statement, “Me, I'm searching for my purpose given to me by my mother inside the Erdtree long ago, for the reason that I yet live, burned and bodyless. There is something for which I must apologize. I've acted the finger maiden yet I can offer no guidance, I am no maiden. My purpose was long ago lost...“. If the Gloam Eyed Queen represented true death it would mean that she was in complete opposition to Marika’s ambition of rebirth. Hence why her purpose being lost recounts to her power of destined death being stolen from her. It gets even deeper though, if you are familiar with Dark Souls lore in the slightest the item description for the Blade of Calling has some incredible implications. It reads as follows, “Dagger given to one who set out on a journey to fulfill her duty long ago. The power of its former owner, the kindling maiden, is still apparent. The one who walks alongside flame, Shall one day meet the road of Destined Death.” I could totally be reading into that last bit a little too much but “the kindling maiden” really stood out to me. Regardless there is so much to learn from Melina and her dialogue and it’s always so interesting to me to really dive in to the lore of this game and try and figure it out.

Torrent is related to the Ancestor Spirit, who all about death and rebirth. I wonder how this relates to Melinas association with him. Melina, Ancestor Spirit, and Gloameye Queen all like death, so would they be cooperating somehow? Also, I’m pretty sure (can’t remember exactly) at the start of the game Rani gives you to spirit wolves and says they belonged to torrents former master. If the former master is GEQ or Melina, could they also be the one depicted in that one statue of a woman surrounded by wolves in the Maliketh boss arena? I’m pretty sure the godskins existed in the dragon age, and the maliketh arena is associated with death, so who knows? Although, the amount of associations with death in Elden Ring are quite numerous so maybe not.

I like to think Melina grew from the golden seeds like Millicent and her sisters did when Malenia bloomed. Maybe she was burned at the stake like the numerous unfortunate souls at the start of the game. Edit: Melina isn’t the only character that uses the blade of calling, when you fight the commander at the heart of aeonia you can summon PollyAnne and she also uses it.

Since Elden Ring uses a lot of metaphors, here is something interesting I found: Mother/daughter is a tree with two trunks of significantly different size/strength. I think Melina is Marika. Maria's body crumbles to ash when we finally get to her, like one burned. She is missing the same eye as Melina. Life and Death are paired, and without one, the other is meaningless. The first thing Marika (by name) tried to do to rebel against the Greater Will was unseal the Rune of Destined Death. I believe she paid for that betrayal dearly by getting sealed inside the Erd Tree, and then was crucified by Maliketh for the further treason of shattering the Elden Ring. Her last effort, as part of the Erd Tree and otherwise unable to act or die, was to grow Melina and call back the Tarnished. But I dunno, that's just my opinion.

I watched someone else's lore video for months ago that went into this topic as well. And with that and this video my main two theories are that: 1) Melina is the child of the gloam-eyed queen as that cutsceen looks like she's in the erdtree, or 2) that, like Radagon and Marika being the same, so is Melina and the Gloam-eyed Queen, kinda shifting between the two as we can see changes hair colour. Only for Radagon it stayed the same shape so the gloam-eyed queen having messy hair makes me wonder if maybe she's not the same person. But they are 1000% connected...but also Melina being the 3rd child of radagon and marika just makes so much sense bc like there's just too many patterns that make that fit the bill so XD

From my perspective, Melina is likely a manifestation of Marika's will, born almost identical to Ranni, sharing an almost similar goal with Ranni who collaborated in the Night of the Black Knives, (probably the one who killed Ranni whose corpse burned who burned beside her, and the entity also known as the gloam eyed queen), her purpose is to guide a tarnished that could finish the shattering of the Elden Ring, dismantling the Rebis and subsequently remove the current god (Elden Beast) to usher in a new age, or eliminate the Tarnished that chose the path of the three fingers. or she's a spliced half of Ranni's spirit, the Great Rune in another embodiment aiming for the same objective.

I think that she was at one point the Gloam Eyed Queen, attempted to burn the Erdtree with the Black Flame, was defeated by Merika, and then was repurposed as Melina by Merika after Merika realized the Gloam Eyed Queen had been correct all along... Just my own particular theory. I'm sure there are holes in it.

one thing i find that many people get wrong is that the Gloam Eyed Queen wasn't the wielder of destined death. The rune of death was part of the elden ring at that time. Death was part of the world at that time, and the godskins were able to wield it in a powerful way. Once Maliketh defeated them, it was then plucked from the elden ring and sealed away.

To me the most important dialogue in these games are the last words after you choose your ending most of the time it is accompanied by the FireKeepers or some sort of NPC that occurs that the world will continue on regardless

I like to think of it like this. Ranni is the child of Renala and Radagon. Two separate gods. Meanwhile, all of Marikas children were either between an elden lord, or herself (a.k.a, radagon.) Meaning they were never really true emperions because they were not the offspring of two separate gods, but instead two gods that were two half of a whole. So that makes ranni and her siblings more authentic gods. Marika, as a God, was able to split herself into two conciousnesses. Hence radagon. So my theory is that on Rannis death and transcendence to a spirit, wether intentional or not, she split herself in two. One side being the part of her that was linked to Marika (who she calls her mother because although Radagon was her father, he was half of the original source being Marika) and becoming Melina, the half of Ranni that was dedicated to Marika. And the other becoming the Spirit Ranni that embodied her actual mother Renala. Both were the same being much like Marika and Radagon, only with different agendas that Mirrored either mother.

Melina’s face doesn’t line up “almost” identically to Ranni’s 2nd half ghost face, it lines EXACTLY identical to it.

*Lady Maria boss fight flashbacks kicks in*

All empyreans we know of are children of Marika/Radagon. Melina is likely their daughter and could thus have been an empyrean i.e. the Gloam-eyed Queen who challenged her mother and lost. GEQ wants destined death to be unleashed to all, even the gods. Whereas, Marika wanted to seal away destined death and remain "The Eternal". We know the Elden Ring lay within Marika/Radagon, perhaps the GEQ is* the rune of death. Therefore, when Maliketh defeated (not killed) her, it meant he sealed her away. So in an ending where she is released with the rune of death after defeating Maliketh and her spirit is unburned, the body and spirit can come together, as in the Frenzied flame ending. Also, what if the Godskin Duo were on their way to challenge Maliketh because defeating him would release their leader/mother? Why else were they in Farum Azula? Anyway, when a fragment of the GEQ (rune of death was stolen) during the night of the black knives and a ritual was performed on Ranni with it, it linked a piece of her spirit (Melina) with Ranni in the form of the ghostly figure with a sealed eye. It also linked her with Godwyn as the deathroot is also linked to the rune of death - hence why we use her eye to find the deathroot because they're also pieces of her. Pure speculation.

Cause Melina is a woman, and women are confusing by nature.

another curious connection to Melina and the Frenzied Flame, her eye-tattoo somewhat resembles the marking on the door to the three fingers and the giant flaming sigil in the sky when the Erdtree is burned by the frenzied flame

Melina's Tree spawning spell reminds me that Miquella also grew Haligtrees. I think she was Miquella himself, with it and other evidence. e.g., burned skin, disillusion for the Golden Order, which couldn't save Mallenia's curse, compassion for discriminated or persecuted people, and ability related to slumber. And elaborate unalloyed gold items they have(the Japanese version flavor text of the whistle ring describes it as "soft gold," like Miquella's Needle), opposition status to Flanzy Flame(according to a cut NPC Rhico's quest). There are too many connections between them.

It’s said that merika and radagon like combined but at the end it just looks like radagon battle damaged. So my theory is that Melina is merika after the fight with radagon trying to ‘disappear’ you could say think that would be cool

I always thought that the mark on her eye represents the deathbird.

I noticed a thing: No one you meet ever mentions Melina. Never acknowledges her existence. Even Shabriri only refers to her as a maiden, which could potentially be the mistaken belief the tarnished has a finger maiden. It strikes me as odd because other characters do talk about each other! Giving younlore & personality. ....I personally think most of the theories laid out in this video could be brought together. I think maybe Melina is an empyrean daughter of Marika & Radagon, she became the Gloaming Eyed Queen, attempting to overthrow the Golden Order & it's endless deathless ways, only to fail, and be destroyed & erased from history as best possible. Everyone that knew of her believing her dead and gone. ...only he wasn't quite gone. Just bodyless. And so she works, in secret, on the downfall of the order. ....Possibly, even, at the behest of Marika. Resurrecting and using her willful daughters spirit to break that which she no longer belives in. ...no idea what the connection with Ranni is though. And there does seem to be something there. Even if minimal.

13:25 that could also explain why Melina and ranni look the same. Ranni’s doll form is modeled after her mentor, Renna. My theory is that Renna was the former gloam-eyed queen, she was defeated by maliketh and was reborn as Melina

In my head canon, the ones between is a multiverse or convergence like land of the lost. The lore is kinda confusing but it makes more sense if you consider some of the characters as possibly being variants of others. I struggle with the merika radagon situation. More specifically how it seems like they are one body at times but 2 distinct ones other times.

I think that it could be multiple. Maybe Melina was made by Marika to enforce Marika’s will, potentially from the ashes of the gloam eyed queen. However, Melina didn’t like the two fingers just like Marika and Ranni. Melina helps Ranni start the shattering to flip the bird at the two fingers and after the tarnished becomes the lord of frenzied flame, because she’s alive when death becomes unbound, part of the rune of death manifests itself in her making her the gloam eyed queen

The whole Melina and miquella thing reminds me alot of the goddess velka from dark souls they both were important to the lore they both are intriguing and both will never be elaborated on

I was watching videos on crazy experiments with patients who had their brain hemispheres separated that got me thinking about Melina keeping an eye closed. Many of the experiments involved the patient keeping one eye closed while performing tests to see that each body half's eye (and corresponding brain hemisphere) can act autonomously and can even have different opinions and knowledge exclusive to one another. My maybe theory is that Melina is two fused into one body, and the one half the comes out in the frenzied flame ending is originally dormant or possibly was inhibited by the will of the second half?

i cant quite remember who i heard say it, but the tattoo on melina's eye could be like the claws of the elden beast. another ive heard was that its representative of a crows foot, which would tie her even more to destined death and maybe even the gloam eyed queen.

I'm going to play this game again and pay attention to all the lore and knowledge the community put together since my last (2nd playthrough). I will also note where those butterflies appear

is there any chance that melina was ranni’s former teacher ? maybe that’s why they’re so similar, bc ranni made the doll to resemble melina? and this also could lead to another theory of melina being an embodiment of marika. ranni and marika working together against the greater will since it was too late for marika to do it alone.

9:13 Pretty sure Godrick isn't Godfrey's son, just a descendant. As for Godefroy, that's probably also the case. What I find interesting is that the Omen brothers follow a different naming convention.

I saw a masked Nintendo bandit video that had an awesome theory about where Melina comes from and how she ties into the golden order and death

I definitely think that #4 sounds very plausible. Marika and Ranni take back destined death from Maliketh and after the night of the black knives, Marikadagon uses it to create Melina.

I really thought when she suggested burning the Erdtree that she was going to end up being the endgame boss. That would have been an excellent plot twist.

Another note on the daugther of Marika and Radagon. If you mix hair colors of Radagon and Marika, so deep orange/red-ish and very light yellow, you get a color pretty similar to Melina's.

I’m pretty sure Melina is both the Gloam Eyed Queen *and* the snow witch who mentored Ranni. The GEQ is covered in the video. The snow witch set description, though, says that the doll that houses Ranni’s doll was modeled after her. That doll has similar hair to Melina and, crucially, has the right eye permanently closed and the left eye open and glowing. As we see in the chaos flame ending, those match up with Melina’s “normal” eye and her also-glowing gloam eye.

So for the tattoo on her eye, i like the theory about it being. Crow's Foot. Crow's often representing death

Still watching so this might be covered but to also further strengthen Ranni and Melina theory is the whole concept of duality. Maybe they are linked similarly to how Marika and Radagon are part of the same whole?

Welp, since I refused to use summons and spirits in the game, I have no idea you can summon her to fight Morgott... Interesting.

She's a fragment of the best half of Marika, Radan the Red, like Melania having Millicent as a fragment and the Advent Children Sephiroth remnants.