This is my theory for why Melina is the most important demigod in Elden Ring. Let me know your thoughts below! Patreon: / drewmora Twitter: / drewberrymunch Discord: / discord Twitch: / drewmora
I think Melina might be the secret offspring of Marika and Radagon. The name follows a pattern we see with Malenia’s and Miquella’s names. Furthermore, Malenia has red hair as her father, and Miquella has golden hair as Marika does. Melina’s hair is pale pinkish, as if the mix of colors of the parents hair. The last bit of evidence, are the butterflies: there are three lootable butterfly items in the game, Aeonian butterfly, clearly connected in the description to Malenia; nascent butterfly, described looking as if it just emerged from it’s cocoon for it’s entire life - clearly connected to Miquella, his unaging body and the cocoon we find at the Mohg’s place; And lastly there is smoldering butterfly, described to be often used as kindling by people. And Melina was used as kindling, fuel for the flame, I think the connection is obvious
exactly this. i think so too. alot of small things point that direction. her name. melina, melania. names copy each other. shes op on a level of ranni and the rest of them. shes definitely not just some finger maiden. and i know its just in doll form but she and rannis doll look like twins. maybe she was adobted out lol. maybe banished for being the gloam eyed queen and wanting the gods gone.
Is she the daughter of Radagon though, I have always questioned this because when choosing the frenzied flame ending and her cut scene at the end reveals black hair. This has always raised question to me, I believe she is without a doubt Marikas child and I also believe that Melina is the Gloam eyed queen due to the end she shows her closed eye is seems to have a gloam to the color, not to mention that she also is extremely familiar with Destined Death throughout the whole game. Along with that her physical appearance shows many burned scars which matched with Destined Death. She is a very interesting character and it would be dope to get a DLC on her lore
I especially like how cryptic they made Melina's background You really have to piece her story together with an open mind There are some pretty interesting parallels between her moveset and the Black Knife Assassins' as well Thanks for everything you do for us .. Appreciate you
A reason why I loved the fudgemuppet podcast was because y’all have such pretty voices 😂. Drew you should consider just taking the audio from these videos and putting it on Spotify as well.
Kind of a Tinfoil hat theory if I've ever heard one. There are plenty of other theories though. One even includes that She's actually the missing Gloam Eyed Queen. I myself like to think that her birth is similar to Malenia where the outer god of rot took advantage of the situation to acquire a 'new body'. The Greater will took advantage of the situation and instilled itself into Melina at birth to get a new and more loyal servant in a sense who wouldn't be afraid to do 'what's necessary' when the time came.
Melina doesn't choose us. We are chosen by Torrent, and Melina herself is quite skeptical of us as an Elden Lord candidate. This is why she chooses to test us first.
Marika is definitely her mother, but I don't think Melina serves either the Frenzied Flame or the Greater Will. Everything about the way she pleads with you to turn away from the Flame of Frenzy indicates that she wants absolutely nothing to do with the ruin it can bring. Moreover, the seal over her eye resembles a crow foot/fowl foot more than it does the Frenzied Flame marking. The flame she wields to burn the Erdtree is the flame of ruin of the Giants. Though the Greater Will has turned form the demigod offspring of Marika, it isn't the Greater Will that gave us Tarnished back Grace. It was Marika. Melina tells us this while channeling the queen's words. The Golden Order (note that the Greater Will did nothing to interfere) despises Those Who Live in Death and the Omen (who are blessed by the Primordial Crucible). Melina doesn't offer so much as a peep if you choose either Fia's ending of Duskborne, enshrining undeath into the Order, or if you go with Dungeater's accursed age, making everyone Omens. Hell, Ranni's ending basically boots all Outer God influence from the Lands Between and Mleina just rolls with it. I doubt she'd be content if she truly was a servant of the Greater Will. The only ending she protests against is the one of absolute destruction. This tells me that she doesn't care about Outer Gods as long as the people of the Lands Between get to live their lives, be they cursed, undead or liberated from all Outer God influence. Since Miquella and Malenia are both against the Outer Gods, it wouldn't be that out of bounds for the third 'M' sibling, Melina, not to care about them either.
I am so excited for this channel. Been a long time es and fudgemuppet fan, but have always loved Dark Souls and now Elden Ring lore and always yearned for a fudgemuppet discussion of it! I look forward to making this my main fromsoft lore channel!
It’s bittersweet to hear you’re taking your leave from the fudge tribunal, but with content like this how can I be anything but excited for your future endeavours? Loving the Elden Ring videos, and I’m looking forward to all the ones to come. Much love from Norway ❤️
It’s funny how Melina pulled a Chosen Undead and set herself aflame to keep the cycle going, yet if you become the Lord of Chaos and supposedly end all life, you ironically keep Melina alive. Like with Dark Souls, the rulers of the world would have the protagonist believe that the “other forces” are evil, yet are they really? Also Goldmask looks so much like Dagoth Ur lol. It’s awesome!
Hey drew I got a video idea for you. Now this is a stretch, but I think Godfrey/Hoarah Loux and his tarnished army became the atmorans. After being cast out by Marika, they left the lands between and traveled across realms until the ended up on nirn, on Atmora. Ysgramor was one of the tarnished warriors who decided to stay on atmora while Godfrey returned to the lands between as he was called back by the guidance of grave to become Elden Lord once again. Some of the Atmorans followed him and returned, becoming tarnished once again while the others and Ysgramor stayed behind to settle. Thus, both the story of elden ring and Ysgramor’s saga happens at the same time. This is meant to be a joke and not taken seriously cuz Godfrey looks like a Nord.
In Elden Ring manga, Ranni and Melina seem to have joint purposes, as after Ranni leaves after proposing the Tarnished to be her loyal servant, Melina suggests that her offer is interesting and worth giving a shot. Ranni also mentioned that she has a spirit bell given to her by former master of Torrent. Melina is a Numen woman and Ranni specifically employed Numen women, to carry out assassination of Godwyn and her Blade Of Calling is reminiscent of Black Knives of the assassins. She may be a handmaiden of Queen Marika, who specifically tasked her to find and help a potential Lord that can overrule Greater Will's stagnant order. And her power to burn Erdtree may belong to Rune Of Death as it also manifests as crimson flames. She intended to burn the Erdtree, so the ashes of the old Erdtree can fertilize the stagnated, infertile soil once again, allowing a new Erdtree to grow in its stead- one bearing a new bark and new principles- no longer stemmed by further stagnation.
Melina... so much is open for interpretation and speculation. Was she loyal to the Order? Was she working with Ranni? There is support for both. I am certain there is no connection between her and the Frenzied Flame. Her tattoo does not look like the incantation to me - it looks like the lower leg and foot of a bird. Also there are many different flames in the world, Frenzied is a very yellow-gold, but the flame of the Giants is more of a red-gold. When Melina ignites the Forge she's enveloped in red-gold flames. I don't think the Black Knives were 'corrupted' by Death (though the actual blades did change). Professional assassins, with ties to nobility, are hardly uncommon. Though Melina's blade and her move set does make it likely there is a connection between them. Perhaps she was an assassin before her body died?
Phenomenal video. I stand by the Gloam Eyed Queen theory for Melina but you make a very compelling arguement. First when Melina burns the tree she is channeling the flame of the fell god not the frenzy flame imo Second I believe Melina as the GEQ was essentially the grim reaper of the world due to her being the original bearer of destined death. She is bound to the Primordial Crucible, essentially the world itself. Which is what the Greater Will and other outer gods are fighting for dominion of, this is why when the greater will and erdtree have been burned in the Chaos ending Melina is still there unfazed. Third I believe Ranni and Melina conspired to carry out the Night of the Black Knives. As the GEQ Melina had control of Destined Death (which was taken by Maliketh), but still also controlled the Black Knives and the Godskin. Melina was able to steal the Rune from Maliketh and have the black knives forge their knives to carry out Rannis plan. But she was ultimately beaten by Maliketh and taken to Marika for judgement. Marika is however unable to kill her fully due to her being the original bearer of destined death. So she either reforms her or perhaps "shatters" her mind so that she remembers nothing except what Marika wants her to believe. Like you said there is so much left to interpretation that many theories are at the very least plausible. I cannot wait for the Miquella DLC. I have a feeling him and the Formless Mother have something going on. Who else would convince him to make his own erdtree and water it with his blood?
I don't know why, but up until this point, I just assumed Melina was yet another alias of Ranni--used as a tool to further her schemes. My initial reasoning was that the ghostly double that shares Ranni's closed eye is the same as Melina. This ghostly double also looked like Melina, (as I remember). When Melina burns the Urltree I didn't think she was dying, but rather controlling the power of the Flame of Ruin.
Genuinely think Melina is the current host of the twinbirds of ancient death before Maliketh stole the rune. A lot of “sealed” outer gods seem to be inside of demi gods. Much like how the rot god is sealed but Melania is still the goddess.
What is melina is marikas "daughter" but not physically, but rather marinas "spirit" or "will" or "soul" and that is what forces her to be an "amnesiac" character
Really excited for your videos! Always loved when you would say you were a ASOIAF fan and then Elden Ring, and since youre my favorite member of fudgemuppet I cant wait to see what more you can do
You keep making these, I'll keep watching, liking and well, I can only subscribe once, but if I could sub each time I would! I love the background and lore you provide. Makes things so much more interesting. Thank you!
Her spirit isn't linked to the Erdtree, as she is still tied to the lands between in the lord of frenzied flame ending, when the Erdtree is clearly burnt by the PC. She seems to be a part of the original Ranni's spirit, part of which is in opposition to Marika and the two fingers while the other half (Melina) is forced to serve as a finger maiden to fulfil her mother's wish. That may be why Ranni keeps her objective a secret, as she doesn't want anyone including Melina meddling with her own vision for the future.
I wish we had more information on the relationship between Rani and Melina. Melina calls the Tarnished out of the pursuing the Frenzied Flame ending. Ranni’s ending also has a somewhat nihilistic bent. It seems to me that if their objectives were mutually exclusive, Melina would have warned you away from Ranni as well. Indeed, Ranni’s plan counts on you becoming Elden Lord under Melina’s guidance. To me at least, everything points to Ranni and Melina being the same person: the overlap of their blinded eyes, Melina’s face hanging halfway out of Ranni’s doll body, the appearance of the magic they use, the fact that both are acquainted with Torrent and his former owners. If not the same person, I believe they are at least two sides of the same coin. One the bright golden sun, the other the cool blue moon.
Your channel is awesome. Love the details you give out. Plus your voice is so relaxing ♥️🥰 I really love Melina as a character, properly one of the few characters in this game that is actually doing good things and cares for you as a tarnished a lot. Compare other characters they usually mess around with you.
I wonder if Melina was the one to kill our Finger Maiden, thus giving her the opening to guide us to her goal. And how do you kill a finger maiden in a land where death means a respawn?
Little feedback, the Flame of Frenzy and the Giant's Flame are two different flames. The giant's flame is tied to the Fell God. There are a bunch of different flames in Elden Ring and they're all different from one another.
100% agree. Maybe it's my Elder Scrolls lore background affecting my perspective, but I see the Outer Gods (Greater Will, Frenzied Flame, etc.) as forces/ideas. So the potential of the giant's flame to burn the Erdtree, in my opinion, is a chaotic force in the Lands, even if it's not directly tied to the Frenzied Flame
WOO, YEAH BABY! That’s what I’ve been waiting for - that’s what it’s all about! In all seriousness I’m incredibly excited for Elden Ring conttent, and from the legend Drewmora himself of all people!
I personally believe she is the third daughter of the God Slaying Queen and the Item description on The Beast Eye is the key to tying it to the Dusk/Gloam eyed queen aka Marika the eternal. The short version is that judging from Iji and Ranni’s dialogue, we know that when each Empyrean are chosen by their two fingers, they are given a shadow that will betray them if they should ever go against the Greater Will. When Marika began to plot against the Greater Will(shattering the Elden Ring), I believe Maliketh used Destined Death against her hence why she’s crucified with a spear bearing similar traits to the power of his Black Blade. It would explain why her corpse is missing her left eye, why the eye has a claw mark, and is surrounded by Marika’s stony flesh(His Black Blade could be made up of the same stony flesh). This eye could very well have been passed down to some of her children as well. Melina- she reveals to have the same eye, on the same side of her face, in the lord of frenzy ending. Malenia - obviously this is pure speculation but I think the rot that covers her eyes was an intentional creative decision to hide this very secret. Miquella - maybe we’ll find out in the DLC Ranni - It’s hard to tie Ranni as a daughter to Marika but she does posses the same Gloam colored eye in the exact same pupil. I believe Ranni’s pupil color that she never opens is Golden. And that’s basing it from Melina. In fact, the golden color from Melinas right eye only changes to white in the flame of frenzy ending, after the golden order is no more. I also have this insane theory that would bring so much of the lore together and is that Ranni Is the Reborn daughter of Rennala, previously being Miquella, but that’s still a work in progress..
@Easily Peasily In the lore, it’s stated that Marika gave Maliketh the Rune of Death(Destined Death) for safekeeping, probably to immortalize herself. It wasn’t until she betrayed the Greater Will that Maliketh betrayed her by using her own Rune against her. That’s basing it off Iji’s dialogue and it would explain how Ranni understands the nature of Blaidd, seeing as he was Ranni’s shadow. I never said Ranni is Marika. Not sure why you’re arguing that.
@Easily Peasily woah, I would t say you’re stupid. Miyazakis stories are like trying to solve a rubix cube with missing pieces. I edited so it’s more transparent. Iji says this when you ask him why he imprisoned Blaid: “I presume you've spoken with Blaidd? Very well. There is something you should know. The Two Fingers gave Blaidd to Lady Ranni, as a faithful follower. Her very shadow, incapable of treachery. But if Lady Ranni, as an Empyrean, reists being an instrument of the Two Fingers, the shadow will go mad, transforming from a follower into a horrid curse. But such is his destiny. In such matters, Blaidd's own thoughts hold no weight. It pains me so, but he must be neutralised. For Lady Ranni's sake.” Ranni says something similar about his nature. Maliketh is Queen Marika’s(An empyrean) shadow so I presumed the same logic applies. I speculate Ranni witnessed this herself that’s why she is careful and sends the black knives after Blaidd.
@Easily Peasily Makekiths remembrance says the following: "Maliketh was a shadowbound beast given to his Empyrean. Marika's sole need of her shadow was a vessel to lock away Destined Death. Even then, she betrayed him." It doesn’t clearly say he was given by the Two Fingers, but it’s safe to assume since the Two Fingers are the ones who choose Empyreans. Ranni was responsible for the night of black knives so I presume she sent them to get rid of Blaidd once he started to go insane, due to her assassinating her own two fingers. You find him surrounded by a bunch of black knife assassins and then he attacks you.
@Easily Peasily Well Gurranq(Maliketh) is also in the Sanctum in Caelid. There’s nothing to prove exactly where they were and weren’t. Just theory shooting but the crimson spear shes impaled with made me speculate it can from Maliketh.
Hmm. Interesting theories. While I doubt Ranni is Miquella since we do know who their parents are and a bit of their history, it's still an interesting idea and I'm curious how you tie them together like that.
I think Melina is somewhat accidentally serving both the greater will and Marika, to get Melina in the position she’s in the game it would’ve most likely required some of Marika’s intervention, but the actual job she does serves the greater will much more than it does Marika since her goal is to rid of the greater will’s near absolute manipulation, rather than repair the world, after all it is possible that Marika wanted the rune of death to be removed, and very likely that it was entirely her planning to make the elden ring shatter
Great Video! Interesting connection with Melina and the Frenzied Flame, maybe that’s why she has one eye. I don’t know I’ve kinda given up at this point trying to understand everything
this video completely validates all my thoughts. the only thing i didn't understand was her motives. but i think her, ranni and merika all want the exact same thing. the gods gone but not humans and not life.
Looks like I'll be able to see a discussion about Melina, Ranni and about (nearly) everyone involved in the Night of the Black Knives sometime soon. Or how grim the Three Fingers and the Frenzied Flame can be.
I disagree with your interpretation of melina being burned by the frenzied flame. It is the Flame of the Fell God that is atop the mountain not the frenzied flame.
Drew, you have an interesting interpretation of Melina. But one could argue her connection to the Gloam-eyed Queen. (Look to the descriptions of the items/incantations associated with the Black Flame and the Frenzied Flame ending) To further explore this, how can we relate the points you’ve observed with the Gloam-eyed Queen connection, if possible? Overall, love your content, came over from Fudge Muppet, all great stuff!
One thing I always thought was weird was that it’s stated that ranni’s doll body was modeled after her old master the snow witch. Meaning the Ranni we see is not her original appearance but does look exactly like Melina, implying a direct connection between the snow witch and Melina if not implying they’re one and the same.
The thing I can’t understand is why us ? She seems like the only one that can burn the erdtree because we learned that another tarnished bernahl reached the mountain top but his maidden failed to ignite the fire so why she choosed us instead of someone like vyke or another powerful tarnished ? It seems like she’s not even a finger maiden in the first place she just act like she’s one for us but she don’t have her own two fingers I never saw any RU-vid talk about this
I wouldn't be surprised if she were the direct culmination of Radagon and Marika. Seems plausible. Or maybe she's the direct descendant of destined death? Maybe destined death got it on with either Marika or Radagon? EDIT: Perhaps she is the direct child of the Erdtree itself? When she burned, so did the Erdtree. Perhaps she herself is the Erdtree but in human form sorta like Jesus is to God?
I feel like gold face the more and more I learn and watch… I just want the truth, I want to put all the puzzle pieces together. But here I am… speechless and frustrated 😂
There is no way they made her look just like a mirror version of Ranni on an accident, there's some kind of connection between her and Ranni, what it is, i don't know, but they're definitely connected somehow
I actually think melina is the sister of merika that nobody except numens knew, both are numens born with special powers, one have power to create life (merika),other have the power to end life(golem eyed queen aka melina ) Think about it, melina might have a secret intention about why she is helping the tarnished, if the tarnished kill melikath and restore rune of death melina get her power back which she lost when merika remove the death from the lands between and thus make melina power useless I think the reason that she tell u not get the frenzied flame is not because she wants to save the golden order . I think it’s because if u become lord of frenzied flame and destroy everything , there is nothing left there for the golem eye queen to kill, that’s why in the frenzied ending she says she will hunt u down until she delivers u destined death , because u are the only one who is left in the lands between,
She might actually be "Death Indiscriminately" her ending is fine. "Life goes on after death" like "tough times don't last, tough people do". Burning everything is just a selfish "If i can't have it, nobody can" but players choose chaos take the world because they simping for a goth melina instead 😂
I don't think she IS Ranni, she is more than likely somehow connected to Ranni, the resemblance cannot be an accident, but i don't think they're the same person as their goals and dialogues diverge from each other. Ranni's Twin perhaps, her "anti" somehow. I don't think she's the Gloam-Eyed Queen as some argue as Melina hints heavily at Marika being her mother and the Gloam-Eyed Queen as the original holder of Destined Death before the Golden Order predates Marika as far as i know and is never described as a child of Marika's.
Melina is a potato farmer from Idaho. She loves them tatters and setting herself on fire. That's all she does, growing and eating tatters and setting herself on fire, often at the same time. She also holds the record of the longest turd, over 5 foot 8 inches of solid turd, entirely made of tatter. She cried out "I got a turtle head poking out" then she dropped it in a soft bed of dirt, then on her hands and knees she buried it like a cat as she does every time she drops a log. She grows tatters, eats tatters, sets herself on fire, and watches Family Guy reruns while waiting for the destined tarnished.
