I'll pass, I have one of the wooden bracelets with blue -ish steel and the blue comes off rather easily and quickly on the edges. Also mine broke because of the wood being too weak and these things cost a ton.
Also I’d imagine the Godskin robes are essentially a part of the nobles and apostles, GEQ probably clones them like how the Albinaurics are all essentially the same (my theory is she used the or a part of the crucible to do this and that’s why it got shunned by the Golden Order)
Those Eternal Cities underground were incredible seeing them the first time. I wish we got something that was a fully fledged city underground similar to them to explore. First time seeing those underground cities was just pure awe and amazement. Man I hope the DLC has as much hidden in it as the base game.
I really like the idea of Melina/Messmer being twins, sharing the flame butterfly. Both histories seem to predate known events, both are connected to flame (and perhaps death too). Seems quite likely
Oooo I like this theory actually! This could also explain why Blackflame and the Destined Death we see in the base game are the colors they are, since Messmer’s is Black and Red possibly implying it’s a more proper death flame
@davisiotta489 I could see that as being equally likely. Can we all admire how much free publicity the dlc is getting from Zio and everyone else though 🤣 sales are gonna be great, lol
I think that’s fair except then it doesn’t fit with them being the only two with a shared butterfly, while Melenia and miquella have their own. It is possible though that like you said, since death and flame were separated, there are two sharing that one aspect.
The Melina we see at the end of the Frenzied Flame ending could very well be someone who had something split from her but brought back together thanks to that flame melting all that divided and distinguishes. I personally believe there is a connection between her and Ranni because of it. Ranni's corpse is fascinating with the feet missing making me think of first generation Albinaurics. And if her body was artificial, maybe it was a container? And maybe the Godskin Noble was there because of what was previously contained? Random thoughts I have. But anyways, fantastic video as always!
Godskin noble coulda easily been there to covet the Cursemark of Death since as we know it’s essential for the Age of the Duskborn ending not trying to disprove your idea though as I see the merit in yours
@@Grimsly3736 it could also easily be a connection with Rykard considering a Noble is in his domain as well. We know he and Ranni conspired so there's a chance a Noble was charged with protecting her corpse by Rykard and/or Ranni. We know Ranni isn't easily convinced to give up the location of her body until you've given her the means to kill her Two Fingers so she probably still cares for it. I actually wonder if she's aware of the Mark that's present on her body? Possibly, given she was secretive of her body in the first place. And while it may be the Cursemark of Death it isn't the Rune of Death itself which is the actual Rune of their Queen so the Godskins may not necessarily "covet" it. Given there are no Godskins near where the other Cursemark likely was I'm less sure that they covet the Mark all that much. If anything, Ranni's body being the container of their defeated Queen would be quite an interesting twist. All speculation, of course.
@@DanielGarcia-rx3kt interesting thoughts, this does go in-line with my ideas of the Black Knives and Godskins being allies that get hired by Rykard and Ranni, I’d imagine the Godskin nobles probably helped in the creation of the knives used on that night also think if the Godskins knew about both curse marks they’d want both since “Duskborn” would probably include them or it’s the ending closest enough to there queen’s wants plus the Mending Rune of the Death Prince says it’ll “restore death”
There are more dead demigods we know about. The unwanted childs of Marika at the mausoleums. Maybe it's thier skin, because they whoreshiped Messmer and not Marika. We don't know what they looked like. Maybe the had also a connection with snakes like Messmer, if they were part of his faction.
I mean maybe but the fact that godwyn is called the first dead demigod, and the black flame isn’t strong enough anymore to permanently kill a god, and that they are also soulless and mentioned alongside godwyn in the lore, makes it seem to me that they were killed by the black knives. It is still possible the godskins killed them though.
the skin is probably from humans. The spirit in the Windmill Village says that the celebrants skinned the villagers, and this may be the source of some of their skin.
All of the Godskin locations baring the Windmill village are tied to destined death directly or indirectly .The Noble on the Divine Tower in Liurnia may be trying to claim the half of the curse mark on Ranni's corpse that contains destined death. The Apostle in Caelid gauard the Godslaying sword that once channelled the full power of their Black Flame. The Noble in the Church of Egleith may have aligned with Rykard because Ranni gifted Rykard with fragments of the rune death which he forged into the Blasphemous claw, the Duo's presence in Farum Azula my be an attempt to recover the death Rune from Maliketh/Gurrank. I think the Godskins in game are mostly looking to restore the power of their Black Flame to resume their Godskin hunt.
The Windmill village interests me for two reason both having to do with the celebrants 1. So like are the Godskin recruiting essentially? The apostle there is clearly using it as a skin farm of some kind but is he also training troops essentially?. 2. The Celebrants weapons are interesting as they are made outta bones which is probably due to skin people decaying into them but also it reminds me of the the Sacred Relic Sword made outta Marika and Radagon with a intertwined spiral in the blade with reminds me of the Godslayer’s Greatsword yet it’s intertwined like it’s been split open? Food for thought
@@Terminalsanity oh yeah! Thank you for reminding me I’ve been told that but It’s one of my favorite facts! But still what I was suggesting is mayhaps GEQ was trapped in her sword until she was needed? I know it’s description talks about her using it but Sacred Relic Sword also has lore like it’s been known about even before we saw the Elden Beast make it
I'm calling it right now, Messmer is the original owner of volcano manor, before he was banished to the shadow lands, making snakes a blasphemous symbol
That's What I Have Been Of The Mind Of Ever Since I Saw The Trailer! All The Architecture In Volcano Manor Points To That Castle In The DLC Being Directly Connected. The Spiral Columns & The Colour Of The Stone It's Built From. What I Wanna Know Is Who Is That Woman We Only See & Get To Summon At The Radan Festival!? I Am Of The Mind That SHE Is Who We May Be Seeing The Bottom Of In The DLC Trailer. Or Perhaps We Will Finally Get To Meet Her In The DLC. Along With A Few Others I Have Been Wondering About. There Are Sooooo Many Tarnished That We Come Across Briefly. I Am Hopeful We Will Get Reacquainted With A Few.
@@captainxit5573Reading this is really fucking me up; why a capital letter at the beginning of every word?! Are you treating this entire reply like a title? I’m sorry, but it’s killing my brain.
One of the more fun ways I've picked apart Messmer's possible background is what could verify him as a traitor to the Erdtree. The list that I have so far is as follows: Slaying his Two Fingers Attempting to burn the tree Accepting power of serpents Alligning with the Gloam Eyed Queen Rivalry with the Erdtree Turning the dragons against the tree Opposing the Greater Will Sabotaging the Age of Plenty Leading Erdtree opposition Opposition to the Golden Order's modernization
Thank you for this video! Godskins, The Gloam-Eyed Queen and Blackflame/DD are my favorite part of the lore tbh, first build i made was a Godslayer’s Greatsword build and I been remaking it recently!
The picture of the godskin noble’s robe reminds me of the artificial behelit in berserk. Maybe the godskin nobles patched together demigods (as opposed to apostles) in order to artificially ascend to an artificial demigod-hood.
Also the Cailid Devine Tower is related to Radahn. His soldiers also guard the Godslayer Greatsword. I hold that whatever the connection, the GEQ and her minions are heavily connected with the Carian family.
Ranni and Melina do share the eye mark / tattoo and with the chaos flame ending as we all know and even prior Melina brings up destined death a lot, not convinced she’s 100% the GEQ but Melina maybe her daughter or the GEQ reborn from erdtree burial and molded to be Marika’s daughter
@@Conzort_1 oh, believe me, you are not the only one who has overlooked it. It’s only fresh in my mind because I don’t believe Radahn sided against his family. It’s just a thing we all misunderstand because of the incredibly ambiguous phrasing of things in the game.
Could the godskins have a connection to the carian royal family… there is one in volcano manor with Rykard, one in the basement of radon’s tower and one in front of rani’s tower that’s seems like a pattern also I think the gloam eyed queen is a carian only other people called queen are ranala and marika so maybe she is a carian queen idk
@@Bustersudds I think it’s more cause she’s the Queen of the Godskins but main point I got my idea is that the Godskins are actually allied with the Black Knives who else is better to help bless there daggers with a fragment of DD on said night and when Igi dies in his quest he’s wreathed in Black Flames? Not Destined Death Flames but Godslayer Flames then this also would explain the Godskins in the areas you mentioned
@@Bustersudds I think it’s plausible. Furthermore, have a close inspection of Rennala’s drapes on her robe. She also carries what looks like the entwined snakes motif and the tip of her crown looks quite like a snake’s head. I wondered whether it was DLC related but given there are Nobles and Apostles with aspects of the snake, perhaps there’s a link there too?
I Imagine the Apostles are kinda like the GEQ’s version of Albinaurics but she used the crucible to do it since she’d of been around with it at its strength still and she’s more incantation based anyways, could be part of the reason for it later being shunned by the golden order as well
Dusk eyed queen being the actual final boss of the DLC would be perfect. Since Shadow Lands is the sight of Marika's first war and requires you to divest your flesh, I can see Messmer being a son who was skinned when the dusk eyed queen was defeated, and he remains as a mid way necessary boss, but not the final. Now imagine Miquella is there to get the black flame to kill the Rot God and make a new tree following in his mother's footsteps.
I have a theory that the Gloom eyed Queen went to war with Marika. She lost and was wiped from history but Marika kept her dead body as a trophy. Years later when Marika realized her own failures, she shattered the Elden Ring. Unable to wander the lands herself, Marika breathed life into the body of the Gloom Eyed Queen and revived her to do her bidding.
Besides the seven mausoleums/seven face aprons reference, a very important detail lies with the descriptions of wrath of gold and noble presence. The first one was discovered during the Shattering as a sign of the erdtree’s wrath, and noble presence states that it was originally a sign of the gods’ wrath but the nobles took it as a trophy of their hunt. So that pretty much shows me the godskins participated during the shattering
Godskins probably went into hiding after the GEQ’s defeat and conserved strength possibly made deals with Ranni and for sure made a deal with Rykard also possibly have a good relationship with the Black Knives as when Iji is killed his body is burning of black flame and not the DD red flames and if it was a mistake or bug I’d imagine fromsoft would’ve fixed it
"Made from the largely unaltered hide of a young Albinauric. Raises arcane, but reduces the HP recovery effects of the Flask of Crimson Tears. A far cry from godskin, this Albinauric hide mask is the product of malicious mockery." (1) "godskin" used here is a generic noun (it's not capitalized, it's not plural, it's compared to a singular object produced in game) from that we know it was something which was produced in mass. (2) godskin is produced in a way that is a "far cry" from the "malicious mockery" which produces the Albinoric Mask
I still think that it's a possibility, maybe even highly likely that Mesmer and Melina are connected closely. I commented this already a few month ago when the first DLC trailer dropped. The similarities both in appearance and burning of the Erdtree are just striking. They could either be twins (another version of one "being split into two parts") or even be the same entity. Since all Empyreans are basically split beings (literally having a trans-identity), with many of them being split into body and soul, Mesmer's "true self" could have been banished into the Land of Shadow by Marika, while Melina is his/their spirit part (a part of their soul!?) that resides in the Lands Between. Possibly their only way of existing in and influencing the Lands Between. Since Mesmer is probably not evil but has more complex motives, him helping the player defeating and (quite literally) uprooting Marika's reign by burning (a part) of the Erdtree would fit too well.
Keeping Melina alive and not have her burn the erdtree is a must for this DLC I would say. So much potentially interesting dialogue and lore to uncover here.
Something to think about with the godskin hunt and its timing is also the founding principals of the Golden Order. The Golden Order begins with the declaration that Marika is the one and only god as well as with the removal of Destined Death. This reads to me that basically, the GEQ and the Godskins did their job, they killed the gods. Then Marika had Malekith "sunset" that operation since its very nature is a threat to her. Once the deed was done we get her public decree of the start of the Golden Order with Hourah Loux now calling himself Godfrey as Elden Lord.
I love this because my crackpot theory has been Messmer and Melina are more than just siblings but maybe twins like some of other Marika’s kids. Or maybe even shared a body like Marika and Radagon. I just feel like there’s a lot of potential links between the two (like this video or the butterfly theories) and I’m on major copium we get more Melina lore
For the god hunt I wonder if that is why Placidusax escaped to his pocket of time to wait for his lost god. Placidusax’s ancient dragon scales are said to be able to lightly twist time in order to create weapons which can slay a god. Interesting parallels with his story. His god fled (or was killed), he escaped into a pocket of time to wait for his lost god as the ancient dragons were rendered mortal. Godslayers seem to be entities that keep the cycle of life/death going, even the lives/deaths of gods. Messmer could *be* Destined Death with the Gloam Eyed Queen as his other aspect. Melina says even in her usual form that those who walk aside flame are on the path to Destined Death. They are a painful necessity for balance.
I believe the Godskin have small, smooth and oily scales like that simply because theyre less like the Misbegotten's crude expression of the crucible, and more of a perfect fusion of human skin and snake scales.
@Grimsly3736 Im hoping so, and there is reason to believe something like that could be the case, but it is worth noting that Messmer speaks as tho he thinks of himself as working on her behalf, maybe not entirely, but to some capacity. "Mother, wouldst thou truly lordship sanction, in one so bereft of light?" Referring to Merikas will to allow a Tarnished to become lord. But the crucible does seem to me to exude some harmony between the powers of life and death, and messmer is not only a partaker of dragon communion but also wields a spear that looks suspiciously like Mohg's, both themes of arcane and blood, the force where life and death do meet.
@@sterquiliniis7583 Idk I thought it looked more like it’s own unique type of flames he had and not really blood, but yeah he definitely has done dragon communion I bet you in his boss fight second phase he transforms completely into a dragon
@Grimsly3736 Oh, it definitely is a different flame from the blood flame, much more black and tendrily. But there's something unmistakably sanguine about Messmer imo. Even if it is just a thematic connection, things like the beast blood, mohg, and the crucibles overall association with the color red point towards a connection between the crucible and blood and fire, simultaneous symbols of life and death. I suspect these are the roots of the erdtree, and that much like Nidhoggr of norse mythology, the blasphemous snake comes from the roots of the erdtree itself, the snake like ulcerated tree spirits might be a good example of this. A product of the golden order severing itself from its snakey roots, fed on the death, destruction and perhaps darkness, vital to the now defunct cycle of erdtree burial and rebirth.
Amazing video as always. I definitely hope that there’s more of an expansion on the Godskins, Maliketh, and Melina being the Gloam Eyed Queen. I just hope that there’s no boss fight against her but this is a FromSoftware game so I’m sure there’s going to be a showdown with her. Hopefully, in the intact Farum Azula. I still feel like there’s a good possibility that Messmer and Miquella are one and the same, just his physical existence in the shadow realm. Which, hopefully includes another showdown with Malenia in her final form as she awakens from her bloom.
Take a good look at the sky at the Liurnia divine tower right before the godskin fight on the bridge. Looks pretty close to DLC sky/look IMO. Also. My money is on Melina being the child of Rennala and Radagon. Here are some things that keep me thinking... Mother's rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee.- Ranni during Rennala fight- if we get to fight the 'real' version of big momma moon i will be so happy. Her fight feels waaay too easy currently for her lore impact. Or will ye be gravestones? To be better born anew? - i often think about how birth or reincarnation works in the lands between. It seems there is a sort of 'soul recycling' going on - like reincarnation. Do things birth out of the earth itself? Do people/spirits sometimes fall from the tree like sap/seeds? DLC pic looks like they might be burning spirits/sap from the tree. Are they physically altering this reincarnation process? Did marika wage war in hades itself and actually win? Is that why the deathbirds are in the main world now? Boss rush mode would be nice. Also a huge pool of 'random' dungeons a la Bloodborne would send me over the moon 😂 Cant wait to find out all my theories are wrong and hopefully FS actually surprises us with some twists
The GEQ, the scorpion rot god and more info on the Helphen have been some of my most wanted lore continuation. Plus miquella and godwyn of course but it looks like we’re for sure getting miquella lore. Keeping my fingers crossed for some DLC hints toward the others.
Idea outta nowhere What if Melina is Messmer's alter ego, just like St. Trina/Miquella and Radagon/Marika? They would be the being that burned the Erdtree twice. Another similarity between them could be how Messmer clings to everything, any heresy that exists, while Melina's archnemesis are the Three Fingers, which represent the end of everything and anything. Maybe the sealed eye is supposed to keep Messmer away from control?
I've been thinking on it. Maybe Melina isn't THE gloam-eyed queen, but maybe a Gloam-eyed princess. She was given her purpose at birth by her mother. Maybe some kind of birth ritual thing happened where in death, Melina was born, unless she comes from the show realm and the Erdtree isn't the tree that she is referring to
The godskin apostle casts black flame tornado the ashe of war version which appears to me to work by having some black flame and then amping the fuel/intensity by creating a wind funnel when spinning the weapon around. The godskin noble casts black flame ritual the incantation by casting it. They look similar imo. The solo godskin noble boss fights (I think?) are all tagged as "legend defeated" not "enemy".
10:21 spitballing here but: maybe if the godskins are from the shadowlands, maybe that’s why they have the black/white fire because it’s flame born of shadow?
0:43 the symbol when they cast spells looks a bit like a fingerprint in the middle, with 3 "Horse-shoes" around them, a bit like when we fight Metyr and look up at the ceiling those severede like tubes. Also looks a bit like a fingerprint on the godskin noble robe between the 5 heads at the top of the rope.. I dont know if its just me, dont know if they have any relation to the Fingers or Metyr. They Hunted Gods after all. Just an observation, I might be totally off, and probably is :)
Messmer makes me think of Quetzalcoatl at least in terms of the feathered serpents and Godwyn and Miquella make me think of Xolotl. Xolotl was the god of lightning, fire, and death. He is also considered to be the god of twins, diseases, deformities, and misfortune. He served as a guide for the souls of the dead as they passed through the nine layers of Mictlan, the Aztec form of the underworld.
a few of the gods seem to be in the body of someone like marika/radigon with the elden ring, the fire giants with the face, rykard kinda did the opposite lol, but makes sense the snake in messmers chest, was thinking messmer got red hair like radigon. radigon wanted to be whole taking in others into the golden order, and seems me messmer took that idea to the next level and took on all aspects of outer gods and dragons (truest of hairs as godrick says) i'm thinking the snake has been grafted as that's also herrisy i really think the lands of shadow is under the erdtree in a way (like layers of reality) and is another more spiky tree above the erdtree, can see a visual of it literally on the erdtree entrance, plus is 3 different trees or halo looking things coming from 3 sides the some in the incantations / seals artwork another thing the tower that has morg and morgoth fighters on top is covered by a shroud of shadow, as is the forbidden lands, also in the forbidden lands the trees are growing together and look totally different from all other trees, they look like the crucible statues with the guy holding the flower among the other offshoots, looks too similar to be a coincidence to me melina really needs more lore added, seems she learnt about her role from a book in layndell in one of the rare jump off a elevator rooms (you find her weapon there) seems she had a official role and private room, she also got a golden eye, the gloam eye queen and snake both considered traitors and fire is also a sin seems they are connected to each other and the golden order in some kinda way, they might even be Marikas siblings, and the voice line over messmer a red herring and not even his voice another connection is ranni and miquella, seems torrent was miquellas stead, but ranni gives it to us, and when she does she puts cali to sleep, a power associated with st trina, also it can't just be me that finds it weird ranni and melina kinda look the same? got the same face and got one eye shut, aslo why is rannis soul only half in the doll? seems too similar to melina having one half gold one purple (the colour also connected to sleep) ranni, melinia and marika/radigon have 1 or more missing eyes, so does messmer and melina, st trina is pictured having one eye as well find that interesting as well
Marika also states that her children, the demigods are to become gods or lords, and if they fail to become something, that they will become sacrifices. This could be part of how the erdtree was fertilized, but either way there are also plenty of nameless, soulless demigods in the walking mausoleums, so I think it's safe to say there were plenty of umentioned demigods slain, and the Godskin Apostles set probably uses real godskin if the description doesn't already say it.
in reality it probably means nothing as the menu exposition doesn't really have any effect or relevance what so ever to what happens. it like TV such as lost, were told their this incredible mystery and it super interesting, but were not supposed to ask why that's relevant at all.
I have a theory, I believe that Messer’s Flame may be destined Death flame or similar to it due to how similar it looks to Maliketh’s Black blades flame and to how his flame starts as a black flame then grows a dark red flame
The colour of flames is very important in this game, we have 4 or 5 examples of different flames with different origins. I don't think it'll be linked to anyone we've met yet.
@@JtotheMeezyyeah we got Blackflame (Gloam-Eyed), Destined Death (undetermined if it’s Maliketh’s influence making it red), Gold Flames (Elden Beast), Ghostflame (Deathbird god) and Blood Flame which seems to be the Formless Mother influencing Mohg and Morgot’s cursed blood
@@Grimsly3736 there is also sleep, magic (if you wanna count the glintstone dragons as fire and not a type of breath) and i think fell god’s flame, which is a bit redder than the usual fire
Did you look into the fire monks at all for this? The blackflame monks in particular, like the one in front of the church of eiglay, have their armor say this: The Blackflame Monks, enthralled by the god-slaying black flame, became traitors, abandoning their posts as guardians. The seduction of a taboo is never easily spurned.
I think its possible melina is a golden projection of queen marika. She apparates in gold just like marget and the finger reader in the round table hold mentions that even though she is locked away she stull imposes influence on the world.
I suspect the eye may be a general thing that happens to the demigods seperated from order, a scar from the process regardless of the reason. Explaining why Ranni has it aswell since while twins are a common for Marika, triplets are not. I will say that the twin argument on it's own still suggests that melena and messmer were twins, nameing scheme even tracks for merikas kids, specifically merikas kinds with radagon. Godfrey X Merika = God-insert rest of name here. Radagon X Renalla = R names. Marika X Radagon = M names.
The will. When we travel to the past, we will kill, among others, the 2 godskin apostles that we find in the spiritcaller cave, called by the snail with the spirit bell. Ironic fate for those two goons.
Anybody else think that it's sneaky that George R. R. Martin's starting initials are the most commonly named figures? Godwyn, Godfrey, Godrick, etc. Radagon, Ranni, Rykard, etc. Miquella, Melina, etc....I've underestimated the sneakiness.
I have literally predicted Messmer might be the GEQ ever since I saw him. The snakes, the fire, the style, the physiology, the eye. It’s said that Maliketh only “defeated the Gloam Eyed Queen”. Messmer and GEQ are Empyreans. The one thing nobody I’ve seen come to theorize is Messmer is the first child of Marika, born out of wedlock. The secret child that rebelled
A few things: The Caelid Tower Apostle is there not because of Maliketh, but because of the Queen's greatsword. Nobles having draconic features is because their father/patriarch is Placidusax, the Gloameyed Queen's husband. The original Japanese can give you a better grasp of how the "godskin" of theirs stems from demigods, as the divine family is the mark of a "god"... even though only the Queen is a God. This is the same reason Maliketh, killer of the Gloameyed Queen's children, bears the moniker of demigodslayer.
Theory as to why they show up in Farum: -The dragon head is the third head of Placidusax -Radagon went to get a dragon scale to kill Marika and the apostles showed to stop him Or -Radagon sent them to retrieve the scale (Assumes Marika was the GEQ)
Marika as the GEQ makes no sense. Its confirmed that the GEQ was there in Farum Azula fighting Maliketh where she lost her physical body. The Godskins most likely went with her there and simply remained in Farum Azula after her defeat. Its anything but confirmed that Melina was the GEQ. I am 99% certain. It has to be her.
Hey Ziostorm, can you check the scene where Marika is being impaled by red spear through her stomach in Radagon Boss fight cutscene? Do you think the spear is very similar to mesmer in context of the colour?
I may be wrong in this but I think that the gloameyed queen is cryptically said to have been chosen by the fingers, not the two fingers, just the fingers, which is a weird difference for fromsoft to make right? If I recall its in the description of the godslaying greatsword.
Could the godskins have a connection to the carian royal family… there is one in volcano manor with Rykard, one in the basement of radon’s tower and one in front of rani’s tower that’s seems like a pattern also I think the gloam eyed queen is a carian only other people called queen are ranala and marika so maybe she is a carian queen idk
What about this, Melina and messmer are counter parts. We don't know the lineage of Melina but the lore heavily implies it's queen markia. They'd be the children of markia and radagon keeping the m naming scheme. Malenia and miquela have alter egos just like their parents, but children born from rennala do not. I feel like they always inhabit opposing forces. Miquela is a dreamer who is forced to stay young and never be able to reach their dreams. Where st. Trina controls sleep where dreams are created. Melinas goal is to burn the erdtree, messmers goal is to heal the erdtree. He seems to be based on nidhogg who eats the roots of yggdrasil in norse mythology allowing the tree to grow and stay healthy. The previous video you did was about how messmers based on a messopatamian god, who was the god of snakes and agriculture. This would be why we see Melina primarily in spirit form as she's predominantly in the land of shadows as a counter to messmer.
Damn! Again I feel like a little piece of connection is missing. I'm SURE that Skeleton-horse thing is related to the Godskins somehow. It's head is very similar to the Opal in the center of the Aplostles' chestpieces and the creature's entire physiology represents both the mix between beasts and men, like the Crucible, as well as the general idea of "living in death", just like the dead skins worn by the Apostles are also alive, being part of their very beings
This is a thought I had while listening to multiple theories about the godskin apostles/nobles and the gloam-eyed queen. I DON’T have alot of evidence, I wouldn’t know where in the game to look for evidence, and some parts may be incomplete, and I might dip into head-cannon territory, but I wanted to share it. (WARNING: LOTS OF TEXT) TL;DR - I think Melina and Ranni are two parts of one soul, split off from one another on the Night of the Black Knives. ________ Pt. 1 What if Ranni and Melina together are The Gloam-eyed Queen? This idea came from another theory I have about Millicent and her “sisters” (I will elaborate if asked). I think Ranni and Melina are two halves of one another. Since there is a precedent for dualities both confirmed and theorized (Merika/Radagon and Miquella/Trina), what if this was also something that Ranni, in her life before the Night of the Black Knives, was “cursed” with? With no definitive (at least that I can find or know of) timeline or known amount of time that happened between events, here is my theory on the timeline. Merkia becomes the god of the Lands Between, marries Godfry, and campaigns the war against the fire giants, enabling her to secure her throne as god of the Lands Between. I don’t know how to fit it in, but somewhere along the way, their children, Godwyn, Godrick, and Godefroy are born. I believe this would still have been near the Elden Ring having been taken from Placidusax and given to Merika by the Greater Will, thus having the Rune of Death still part of the Elden Ring. With the Giants defeated, Godfrey had his grace revoked and was thus sent away, along with his tarnished warriors. Looking at her children, Merika might have deduced that out of her three children, Godwyn was really the only one dignified enough to be an Empreian. But for some reason, none of them were chosen by the Greater Will and thus never granted their own Two Fingers, cutting them out of the eligibility for becoming the new god of the Lands Between in the future. Around this time is when the war between the Golden Order and the Carian Royal Family would have started. Seeing an opportunity to ensure that Emperian would be born, Merkia split off a part of herself, creating Radagon as the champion and general against the Carian family. However, Unbeknownst to him, Radagon was subconsciously instructed to fall for Rennala eventually, and perhaps through devious measures of her own doing, led Rennala to fall in love with Radagon. (Perhaps this was a weaker version of what would become the Bewtiching Branches in the game? If this is the case, it could explain why Miquella was said to be so beloved, as it was a much more amplified trait if his mother.) This would end the war and lead to the birth of the three demigods, Rykard, Radahn, and Ranni. During this time, Merika may have begun to see a new outer god beginning to influence or perhaps even form in Godwyn: a god of death, something much worse than Destined Death. Unlike the Frenzied Flame, where everything would simply return to one amalgamation, this death would erase everything, leaving absolutely nothing behind. I also believe Godwyn was born with the fishtail and other aquatic features we see him with in the Deeproot Depths. The fishtail may have been very prominent, making him a merman, but the others may have been more subtle, such as the spines and fins on his arms and the clam-like features on his face. This may have worried Merika, but with her help, she could also greatly hamper this outer god’s influence over Godwyn. Once old enough, the Greater Will would have chosen these three new demi-gods and given them their own Two Fingers, making them Emperians. Radagon may also have had subconscious directives to return to Merika and the Golden Order once these new Emperians were chosen. So, with his mission complete, he left Rennala and returned to Merkia. This would leave Rannala in the state we find her: completely heartbroken and delirious. When Radagon returned to Merika, there might have been some leftover charisma that was meant for Rennala, thus leading to the birth of Malenia and Miquella and becoming the second Elden Lord. Perhaps there may have been a heated argument between the two over how the Golden Order should be led, resulting in her trying to reabsorb Radagon because he might have become a problem. But his force of will was great enough that his person remained, asserting itself periodically. Without their mother, the three new demi-gods would try and find their own paths of destiny with the guidance of their own two fingers. But along the line, Ranni would begin to develop a split personality, one that led her to discover the Black Flame, which drew power from the Rune of Death, which was still firmly seated within the Elden Ring. This second personality would become known as “The Gloam-eyed Queen,” as that is the form she took while controlling Ranni’s body, complete with the bluish-violet eyes. This personality may have at first shown itself for small periods of time while Ranni slept, but as it became stronger, it asserted itself more frequently and for longer periods each time. This personality may have also arisen as a sort of “shadow” to Merika, as the Greater Will may have seen that Merkia would attempt to remove death from the Lands Between, using Ranni as a preemptive maneuver. The second personality could have been majorly influenced by this outer god of death, leading to the development of her weapons with the help of those within the Nokron: The Godslayer’s Greatsword, as a sort of scepter and crown, and the commission of the Fingerslayer Blade, to sever her connection to the Greater Will, and become the god of this outer god of death. But the Gloam-eyed Queen wouldn’t be able to face Merika on her own and thus led to the creation of the god-skin apostles. The Gloam-eyed Queen could have sought out serpents to use as her base for these new soldiers, as they were a symbol against the Golden Order, giving them a rough humanoid form while keeping some of their more reptilian attributes, leading her to become their “mother.” (pt. 2 as a comment)
Pt. 2 There may have been multiple other gods at this time, all killed by this “Gloam-eyed Queen” and her army of apostles. This allowed them to be clad in their signature attire and gave their Black Fire the moniker of “god slaying black flame.” Merkia could have seen these gods dropping like flies at the hands of this new queen and her apostles, some of whom took more of their prey and added it to their clothes to become the Godskin Nobles. With her attention being diverted to this new threat, Godwyn again began to be more and more influenced by this outer god of death. In an act of desperation and motherly frustration, she broke the Elden Ring. She removed the Rune of Death from it, giving it to her shadow Maleketh as a weapon in hopes that doing so would stop this outer god’s influence on her golden child, Godwyn, and stop the genocide of the other gods since it was becoming clearer that the Gloam-eyed Queen was coming for Merkia. The theory being that the Rune of Death, while in the Elden Ring, was the vector by which this outer god used to spread its influence, and removing it would cut off that vector. This did not have the desired effect since the influence over Godwyn was still advancing, as was the march of the Gloam-eyed Queen, albeit greatly slowed. To stop it, Merika charged Maleketh with the defeat of the Gloam-eyed queen and her godskins. This was carried out swiftly and brutally, leading to the godskins fleeing and remaining in hidden-away areas to await the return of their queen, one of which took the Godslaying Greatsword and hid it away within Radahn’s Divine Tower and stood guard over it so that when their queen returned, it could be returned to her. The Gloam-eyed Queen personality, at this point, might have been severely injured or even on the verge of death, allowing Ranni to once again become the dominant personality. With the Gloam-eyed Queen dealt with, Merika turned her attention back to Godwyn, but by this time, her attention had been divided for so long that the influence of this outer god was almost too strong for Merika to overcome. Even with the help of her son Miquella and his unalloyed gold, it still wasn’t enough, and Godwyn was quickly becoming a scion of this outer god of death. While this was happening, Ranni began to uncover what had happened and what she had done as the Gloam-eyed Queen. She tried to consult the Greater Will, but there was no answer for her as she was an Emperian, a candidate for godhood, and whatever power she possessed would be her legacy. She was afraid and didn’t want to lose herself to whoever this Gloam-eyed Queen was, and thus began to search for a way to rid herself of this curse. Eventually, Merika’s efforts would falter, and Ranni would find that the Gloam-eyed Queen was beginning to reassert itself. The two of them may have encountered one another and formed the plot for the Night of the Black Knives together. At this point in time, Godwyn was too deeply influenced by the outer god of death and began calling himself The Prince of Death, and the only way Merika could see to stop him was to kill her own son. For Ranni, she needed a way to separate herself from the personality of the Gloam-eyed Queen, leading to the creation of her blue-skinned, four-armed doll body that she could transfer the “Ranni” soul into and leave the “Gloam-eyed Queen” spirit behind to be fully killed. For this transfer to work, though, there would need to be a soul leaving a body so as not to appear suspicious to the Greater Will. And since Godwyn would need to die, it was the perfect “two birds, one stone” situation. Calling upon her “sisters” from the Eternal City, highly trained and skilled assassins, she told them of her plan and that she would need their help. Merika could have been a former Black Knife assassin herself, using those skills to sneak a small fragment of the Rune of Death away from Malaketh, allowing Ranni to create the Black Knives used by the assassins. With all the pieces gathered, the Night of the Black Knives would take place. Godwyn would be killed in Soul, making the outer god of death no longer have a scion and providing a soul, and Ranni’s soul would be transferred into the doll body, and then have her body burned to be rid of the Gloam-eyed Queen permanently. However, once the assassins left, something else began to happen. With no soul in his body, Godwyn was overtaken by this outer god of death, much the same way Shabriri overtook the body of Yura and preserved the spirit of the Gloam-eyed Queen for its own purposes. When Merika discovered this, she immediately put Godwyn and the Eternal City far below ground in hopes of hiding her failure and containing the outer god with the roots of the Erdtree. She would also bury Nokron to hide it and their commissioned Fingerslayer Blade, propagating the lie that the city was imprisoned underground for going against the Golden Order. When she learned that the spirit of the Gloam-eyed Queen had been preserved, Merika temporarily contained it and then sounded out the call to notable Tarnished, in hopes that one of them would become the new Elden Lord and usher in a new age, for now, in her own eyes, with her many failures, was no longer fit to rule the Lands Between. But Radagon was not ready to hand over their rule so easily, and thus began to try mending the Elden ring in his own way. Merika and Radagon would fight for control of their body, and while Merika was in control, created Melina only to not only help our character become the new Elden Lord by being the Kindling for the Giant’s Flame but also to try once more to burn up and completely eliminate the Gloam-eyed Queen, giving “birth” to her at the foot of the Erdtree (wherever that may be). Once this was done and the Greater Will learned of Merika’s plan, she was imprisoned within the Erdtree as punishment. Melina’s insistence on being the kindling, especially once we learn of the Frenzied Flame, could have been a subconscious command placed by Merika to ensure that the Gloam-eyed Queen would be consumed to good this time. Since the Giant’s Flame was strong enough to burn the Erdtree, surely it would be strong enough to get right of the queen. However, if you go through with the Freinzied Flame and burn everything into a giant melting pot, The Greater Will may have helped Melina regain her memory of who she USED to be while she was part of Ranni, and thus using her as an executioner to our character, allowing the Greater Will to start over, rebuilding the Lands Between, and having a god and Elden Lord the way it always wanted. ____ I hope this all makes at least a little sense. Like I said, I know some parts may not align well, be missing, or be incomplete, but this is what makes sense to me. I hope that anyone who reads this at least enjoys the attempt. -T.K.
My theory on Melina is that she’s Marika’s soul sort of reincarnated; her sealed eye is the same as the one Marika’s body is missing, she only opens it when Marika “dies” in the Frenzied Flame ending and if she rebirthed herself to escape punishment it would explain why she’s impaled through her womb. That Melina can hear Marika’s words always struck me as odd to, maybe she’s not hearing but remembering?
I hope their story gets expanded in the DLC. Also, if snakes are symbols of blasphemy, why dies Matika have bracelets in the shape of two header snakes, made of gold?
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Marika told her weaker none noteworthy children that they would die in obscurity
I assumed due to godskinners or leaving the lands between
I'll pass, I have one of the wooden bracelets with blue -ish steel and the blue comes off rather easily and quickly on the edges. Also mine broke because of the wood being too weak and these things cost a ton.
7 faces on the Noble's robe, 7 walking mausoleum with headless children of Markia
Also I’d imagine the Godskin robes are essentially a part of the nobles and apostles, GEQ probably clones them like how the Albinaurics are all essentially the same (my theory is she used the or a part of the crucible to do this and that’s why it got shunned by the Golden Order)
Chef it up dawg
🧑🍳
Doubt Press X
Let him cook
Those Eternal Cities underground were incredible seeing them the first time. I wish we got something that was a fully fledged city underground similar to them to explore. First time seeing those underground cities was just pure awe and amazement. Man I hope the DLC has as much hidden in it as the base game.
I really like the idea of Melina/Messmer being twins, sharing the flame butterfly. Both histories seem to predate known events, both are connected to flame (and perhaps death too). Seems quite likely
Oooo I like this theory actually! This could also explain why Blackflame and the Destined Death we see in the base game are the colors they are, since Messmer’s is Black and Red possibly implying it’s a more proper death flame
I'm much more inclined to believe that Messmer is Melina's other half rather than her twin,
@davisiotta489 I could see that as being equally likely. Can we all admire how much free publicity the dlc is getting from Zio and everyone else though 🤣 sales are gonna be great, lol
@@shannonconnor3697 I mean fromsoft def deserves it, they make banger DLCs
I think that’s fair except then it doesn’t fit with them being the only two with a shared butterfly, while Melenia and miquella have their own. It is possible though that like you said, since death and flame were separated, there are two sharing that one aspect.
The Melina we see at the end of the Frenzied Flame ending could very well be someone who had something split from her but brought back together thanks to that flame melting all that divided and distinguishes. I personally believe there is a connection between her and Ranni because of it. Ranni's corpse is fascinating with the feet missing making me think of first generation Albinaurics. And if her body was artificial, maybe it was a container? And maybe the Godskin Noble was there because of what was previously contained? Random thoughts I have. But anyways, fantastic video as always!
Godskin noble coulda easily been there to covet the Cursemark of Death since as we know it’s essential for the Age of the Duskborn ending not trying to disprove your idea though as I see the merit in yours
@@Grimsly3736 it could also easily be a connection with Rykard considering a Noble is in his domain as well. We know he and Ranni conspired so there's a chance a Noble was charged with protecting her corpse by Rykard and/or Ranni. We know Ranni isn't easily convinced to give up the location of her body until you've given her the means to kill her Two Fingers so she probably still cares for it. I actually wonder if she's aware of the Mark that's present on her body? Possibly, given she was secretive of her body in the first place. And while it may be the Cursemark of Death it isn't the Rune of Death itself which is the actual Rune of their Queen so the Godskins may not necessarily "covet" it. Given there are no Godskins near where the other Cursemark likely was I'm less sure that they covet the Mark all that much. If anything, Ranni's body being the container of their defeated Queen would be quite an interesting twist. All speculation, of course.
@@DanielGarcia-rx3kt interesting thoughts, this does go in-line with my ideas of the Black Knives and Godskins being allies that get hired by Rykard and Ranni, I’d imagine the Godskin nobles probably helped in the creation of the knives used on that night also think if the Godskins knew about both curse marks they’d want both since “Duskborn” would probably include them or it’s the ending closest enough to there queen’s wants plus the Mending Rune of the Death Prince says it’ll “restore death”
I'll give you a hint, you have the right idea but if you only realize things when you're looking right at them, you won't figure this out
@@GhostWriter-Gohan what
There are more dead demigods we know about. The unwanted childs of Marika at the mausoleums. Maybe it's thier skin, because they whoreshiped Messmer and not Marika. We don't know what they looked like. Maybe the had also a connection with snakes like Messmer, if they were part of his faction.
@Lee-km7qq
I think, it is possible, that Marika and the gloam eyed Queen were allies at this time and it was an order of Marika.
Maliketh was also called the death of the demigods
I mean maybe but the fact that godwyn is called the first dead demigod, and the black flame isn’t strong enough anymore to permanently kill a god, and that they are also soulless and mentioned alongside godwyn in the lore, makes it seem to me that they were killed by the black knives. It is still possible the godskins killed them though.
I hate pointing out spelling errors usually but "whoreshipped" is too funny to not point out
the skin is probably from humans. The spirit in the Windmill Village says that the celebrants skinned the villagers, and this may be the source of some of their skin.
All of the Godskin locations baring the Windmill village are tied to destined death directly or indirectly .The Noble on the Divine Tower in Liurnia may be trying to claim the half of the curse mark on Ranni's corpse that contains destined death. The Apostle in Caelid gauard the Godslaying sword that once channelled the full power of their Black Flame. The Noble in the Church of Egleith may have aligned with Rykard because Ranni gifted Rykard with fragments of the rune death which he forged into the Blasphemous claw, the Duo's presence in Farum Azula my be an attempt to recover the death Rune from Maliketh/Gurrank.
I think the Godskins in game are mostly looking to restore the power of their Black Flame to resume their Godskin hunt.
The Windmill village interests me for two reason both having to do with the celebrants 1. So like are the Godskin recruiting essentially? The apostle there is clearly using it as a skin farm of some kind but is he also training troops essentially?. 2. The Celebrants weapons are interesting as they are made outta bones which is probably due to skin people decaying into them but also it reminds me of the the Sacred Relic Sword made outta Marika and Radagon with a intertwined spiral in the blade with reminds me of the Godslayer’s Greatsword yet it’s intertwined like it’s been split open? Food for thought
@@Grimsly3736 Interestingly enough the Death rune itself is an inversion of Marika's symbol/Stake and the Godslayer sword is shaped like it.
@@Terminalsanity oh yeah! Thank you for reminding me I’ve been told that but It’s one of my favorite facts! But still what I was suggesting is mayhaps GEQ was trapped in her sword until she was needed? I know it’s description talks about her using it but Sacred Relic Sword also has lore like it’s been known about even before we saw the Elden Beast make it
I'm calling it right now, Messmer is the original owner of volcano manor, before he was banished to the shadow lands, making snakes a blasphemous symbol
It's certainly plausible
That's What I Have Been Of The Mind Of Ever Since I Saw The Trailer! All The Architecture In Volcano Manor Points To That Castle In The DLC Being Directly Connected. The Spiral Columns & The Colour Of The Stone It's Built From. What I Wanna Know Is Who Is That Woman We Only See & Get To Summon At The Radan Festival!?
I Am Of The Mind That SHE Is Who We May Be Seeing The Bottom Of In The DLC Trailer. Or Perhaps We Will Finally Get To Meet Her In The DLC. Along With A Few Others I Have Been Wondering About. There Are Sooooo Many Tarnished That We Come Across Briefly. I Am Hopeful We Will Get Reacquainted With A Few.
@@captainxit5573Reading this is really fucking me up; why a capital letter at the beginning of every word?! Are you treating this entire reply like a title? I’m sorry, but it’s killing my brain.
@@captainxit5573I am of the mind that I'm never going to read a comment with the first letter of Every Single Word capitalized
The cardinal sin was Messmer saddling Rykard with an exorbitantly high-interest mortgage.
One of the more fun ways I've picked apart Messmer's possible background is what could verify him as a traitor to the Erdtree. The list that I have so far is as follows:
Slaying his Two Fingers
Attempting to burn the tree
Accepting power of serpents
Alligning with the Gloam Eyed Queen
Rivalry with the Erdtree
Turning the dragons against the tree
Opposing the Greater Will
Sabotaging the Age of Plenty
Leading Erdtree opposition
Opposition to the Golden Order's modernization
10:34 crucible eldenbeast, gloam eyed queen, fled god of placidusax, five fingers united, the last firegiant ?
Understand nothing at what you say
@@manuuumanuuu5506 there is a single frame easter egg in the video
I got a screen of it but can't post it in comments for some reason. I saw it too. Zio out here hiding secrets like marika
it's a meme
I guess these are all bosses he hopes to see in the expansion.
The figure on the Noble's Presence incantation is caked up...
Thank you for this video! Godskins, The Gloam-Eyed Queen and Blackflame/DD are my favorite part of the lore tbh, first build i made was a Godslayer’s Greatsword build and I been remaking it recently!
dont forget that the finger slayer blade looks like a sinister distorted version of the great sword made from radagons corpse.
The picture of the godskin noble’s robe reminds me of the artificial behelit in berserk. Maybe the godskin nobles patched together demigods (as opposed to apostles) in order to artificially ascend to an artificial demigod-hood.
Good guess
Also the Cailid Devine Tower is related to Radahn. His soldiers also guard the Godslayer Greatsword. I hold that whatever the connection, the GEQ and her minions are heavily connected with the Carian family.
I'm with this. I overlooked the fact they guard the elevator down.
Ranni and Melina do share the eye mark / tattoo and with the chaos flame ending as we all know and even prior Melina brings up destined death a lot, not convinced she’s 100% the GEQ but Melina maybe her daughter or the GEQ reborn from erdtree burial and molded to be Marika’s daughter
@@Conzort_1 oh, believe me, you are not the only one who has overlooked it. It’s only fresh in my mind because I don’t believe Radahn sided against his family. It’s just a thing we all misunderstand because of the incredibly ambiguous phrasing of things in the game.
@@Grimsly3736 I've got a theory on that, but it's long-winded. I'd have to go through my belief of how the metaphysics of ER work.
@@kreadapelu8813 I definitely don't believe he ever was on the opposing side. But that small detail I missed, connecting GEQ to Radahn.
🤔 that segue into the watch sponsor bit was slick. 👍
Rennalla has a purple pendant around her neck similar to that of the Godskins. A small detail that may just be a coincidence but worth mentioning.
Could the godskins have a connection to the carian royal family… there is one in volcano manor with Rykard, one in the basement of radon’s tower and one in front of rani’s tower that’s seems like a pattern also I think the gloam eyed queen is a carian only other people called queen are ranala and marika so maybe she is a carian queen idk
@@Bustersudds I think it’s more cause she’s the Queen of the Godskins but main point I got my idea is that the Godskins are actually allied with the Black Knives who else is better to help bless there daggers with a fragment of DD on said night and when Igi dies in his quest he’s wreathed in Black Flames? Not Destined Death Flames but Godslayer Flames then this also would explain the Godskins in the areas you mentioned
@@Bustersudds I think it’s plausible. Furthermore, have a close inspection of Rennala’s drapes on her robe. She also carries what looks like the entwined snakes motif and the tip of her crown looks quite like a snake’s head. I wondered whether it was DLC related but given there are Nobles and Apostles with aspects of the snake, perhaps there’s a link there too?
I had noticed a while ago that the Apostles and Snake Men in Volcano Manor have similar move sets.
Might actually mean something, sick
I Imagine the Apostles are kinda like the GEQ’s version of Albinaurics but she used the crucible to do it since she’d of been around with it at its strength still and she’s more incantation based anyways, could be part of the reason for it later being shunned by the golden order as well
Dusk eyed queen being the actual final boss of the DLC would be perfect. Since Shadow Lands is the sight of Marika's first war and requires you to divest your flesh, I can see Messmer being a son who was skinned when the dusk eyed queen was defeated, and he remains as a mid way necessary boss, but not the final. Now imagine Miquella is there to get the black flame to kill the Rot God and make a new tree following in his mother's footsteps.
I have a theory that the Gloom eyed Queen went to war with Marika. She lost and was wiped from history but Marika kept her dead body as a trophy.
Years later when Marika realized her own failures, she shattered the Elden Ring. Unable to wander the lands herself, Marika breathed life into the body of the Gloom Eyed Queen and revived her to do her bidding.
I guess in the DLC we seek puzzle that says - Mesmer is Melina.
Besides the seven mausoleums/seven face aprons reference, a very important detail lies with the descriptions of wrath of gold and noble presence.
The first one was discovered during the Shattering as a sign of the erdtree’s wrath, and noble presence states that it was originally a sign of the gods’ wrath but the nobles took it as a trophy of their hunt.
So that pretty much shows me the godskins participated during the shattering
Godskins probably went into hiding after the GEQ’s defeat and conserved strength possibly made deals with Ranni and for sure made a deal with Rykard also possibly have a good relationship with the Black Knives as when Iji is killed his body is burning of black flame and not the DD red flames and if it was a mistake or bug I’d imagine fromsoft would’ve fixed it
What if Melina and messmer are children of the gloam eyed queen
"Made from the largely unaltered hide of a young Albinauric.
Raises arcane, but reduces the HP recovery effects of the Flask of Crimson Tears.
A far cry from godskin, this Albinauric hide mask is the product of malicious mockery."
(1) "godskin" used here is a generic noun (it's not capitalized, it's not plural, it's compared to a singular object produced in game) from that we know it was something which was produced in mass.
(2) godskin is produced in a way that is a "far cry" from the "malicious mockery" which produces the Albinoric Mask
Smooth transition into that ad 👌
lol the Frieren character. cute
The drip is indeed-- always important. Great video! And you know I'm always here for that Torvus Bog OST
Spinning Weapon: Defensive skill employed by Carian princesses.
Great video! Always loved the design of the Godskins
I still think that it's a possibility, maybe even highly likely that Mesmer and Melina are connected closely. I commented this already a few month ago when the first DLC trailer dropped. The similarities both in appearance and burning of the Erdtree are just striking. They could either be twins (another version of one "being split into two parts") or even be the same entity. Since all Empyreans are basically split beings (literally having a trans-identity), with many of them being split into body and soul, Mesmer's "true self" could have been banished into the Land of Shadow by Marika, while Melina is his/their spirit part (a part of their soul!?) that resides in the Lands Between. Possibly their only way of existing in and influencing the Lands Between. Since Mesmer is probably not evil but has more complex motives, him helping the player defeating and (quite literally) uprooting Marika's reign by burning (a part) of the Erdtree would fit too well.
Keeping Melina alive and not have her burn the erdtree is a must for this DLC I would say. So much potentially interesting dialogue and lore to uncover here.
Something to think about with the godskin hunt and its timing is also the founding principals of the Golden Order. The Golden Order begins with the declaration that Marika is the one and only god as well as with the removal of Destined Death. This reads to me that basically, the GEQ and the Godskins did their job, they killed the gods. Then Marika had Malekith "sunset" that operation since its very nature is a threat to her. Once the deed was done we get her public decree of the start of the Golden Order with Hourah Loux now calling himself Godfrey as Elden Lord.
I love this because my crackpot theory has been Messmer and Melina are more than just siblings but maybe twins like some of other Marika’s kids. Or maybe even shared a body like Marika and Radagon. I just feel like there’s a lot of potential links between the two (like this video or the butterfly theories) and I’m on major copium we get more Melina lore
Expansion.
Mesmmers cardinal sin was not burning the Erdtree.. It was crafting the Hailig tree.
For the god hunt I wonder if that is why Placidusax escaped to his pocket of time to wait for his lost god. Placidusax’s ancient dragon scales are said to be able to lightly twist time in order to create weapons which can slay a god. Interesting parallels with his story. His god fled (or was killed), he escaped into a pocket of time to wait for his lost god as the ancient dragons were rendered mortal. Godslayers seem to be entities that keep the cycle of life/death going, even the lives/deaths of gods. Messmer could *be* Destined Death with the Gloam Eyed Queen as his other aspect. Melina says even in her usual form that those who walk aside flame are on the path to Destined Death. They are a painful necessity for balance.
Gotta let smough town know he likes the godskins
I believe the Godskin have small, smooth and oily scales like that simply because theyre less like the Misbegotten's crude expression of the crucible, and more of a perfect fusion of human skin and snake scales.
Hmmmm Mesmer looks like are snakey boy maybe he sided with the Gloam-Eye that’s why he’s the traitorous snake in lore
@Grimsly3736 Im hoping so, and there is reason to believe something like that could be the case, but it is worth noting that Messmer speaks as tho he thinks of himself as working on her behalf, maybe not entirely, but to some capacity. "Mother, wouldst thou truly lordship sanction, in one so bereft of light?" Referring to Merikas will to allow a Tarnished to become lord.
But the crucible does seem to me to exude some harmony between the powers of life and death, and messmer is not only a partaker of dragon communion but also wields a spear that looks suspiciously like Mohg's, both themes of arcane and blood, the force where life and death do meet.
@@sterquiliniis7583 Idk I thought it looked more like it’s own unique type of flames he had and not really blood, but yeah he definitely has done dragon communion I bet you in his boss fight second phase he transforms completely into a dragon
@Grimsly3736 Oh, it definitely is a different flame from the blood flame, much more black and tendrily.
But there's something unmistakably sanguine about Messmer imo.
Even if it is just a thematic connection, things like the beast blood, mohg, and the crucibles overall association with the color red point towards a connection between the crucible and blood and fire, simultaneous symbols of life and death.
I suspect these are the roots of the erdtree, and that much like Nidhoggr of norse mythology, the blasphemous snake comes from the roots of the erdtree itself, the snake like ulcerated tree spirits might be a good example of this. A product of the golden order severing itself from its snakey roots, fed on the death, destruction and perhaps darkness, vital to the now defunct cycle of erdtree burial and rebirth.
frieren cosplay so good i have to go and make one lmao amazing video again!
Amazing video as always. I definitely hope that there’s more of an expansion on the Godskins, Maliketh, and Melina being the Gloam Eyed Queen. I just hope that there’s no boss fight against her but this is a FromSoftware game so I’m sure there’s going to be a showdown with her. Hopefully, in the intact Farum Azula.
I still feel like there’s a good possibility that Messmer and Miquella are one and the same, just his physical existence in the shadow realm. Which, hopefully includes another showdown with Malenia in her final form as she awakens from her bloom.
Take a good look at the sky at the Liurnia divine tower right before the godskin fight on the bridge. Looks pretty close to DLC sky/look IMO.
Also. My money is on Melina being the child of Rennala and Radagon.
Here are some things that keep me thinking...
Mother's rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee.- Ranni during Rennala fight- if we get to fight the 'real' version of big momma moon i will be so happy. Her fight feels waaay too easy currently for her lore impact.
Or will ye be gravestones? To be better born anew? - i often think about how birth or reincarnation works in the lands between. It seems there is a sort of 'soul recycling' going on - like reincarnation. Do things birth out of the earth itself? Do people/spirits sometimes fall from the tree like sap/seeds? DLC pic looks like they might be burning spirits/sap from the tree. Are they physically altering this reincarnation process? Did marika wage war in hades itself and actually win? Is that why the deathbirds are in the main world now?
Boss rush mode would be nice. Also a huge pool of 'random' dungeons a la Bloodborne would send me over the moon 😂
Cant wait to find out all my theories are wrong and hopefully FS actually surprises us with some twists
the one thing I want the most, Their ost is so good.
The GEQ, the scorpion rot god and more info on the Helphen have been some of my most wanted lore continuation.
Plus miquella and godwyn of course but it looks like we’re for sure getting miquella lore.
Keeping my fingers crossed for some DLC hints toward the others.
1 second in and i see a frieren cosplay i didn't expect that
I saw that sneaky cut in of the many unresolved bosses/gods in that one collection of boss health bars. XD
Idea outta nowhere
What if Melina is Messmer's alter ego, just like St. Trina/Miquella and Radagon/Marika? They would be the being that burned the Erdtree twice. Another similarity between them could be how Messmer clings to everything, any heresy that exists, while Melina's archnemesis are the Three Fingers, which represent the end of everything and anything.
Maybe the sealed eye is supposed to keep Messmer away from control?
I agree that Melina may be the gloam eyed queen, but I think she may be connected to Messmer in the same way that Rhadagon and Marika are connected.
I would pay stupid money for a pair of godskin boots..
I've been thinking on it. Maybe Melina isn't THE gloam-eyed queen, but maybe a Gloam-eyed princess. She was given her purpose at birth by her mother. Maybe some kind of birth ritual thing happened where in death, Melina was born, unless she comes from the show realm and the Erdtree isn't the tree that she is referring to
Which would make Marika the GEQ
Their really about their drip😎🤣
Can't wait for Godskin trio fight 🔥🔥🔥
All right, what's going on Ziostorm?
Nice vid btw, can't wait for DLC
They in fact were not back
The godskin apostle casts black flame tornado the ashe of war version which appears to me to work by having some black flame and then amping the fuel/intensity by creating a wind funnel when spinning the weapon around.
The godskin noble casts black flame ritual the incantation by casting it.
They look similar imo.
The solo godskin noble boss fights (I think?) are all tagged as "legend defeated" not "enemy".
10:35 Crucible Elden Beast, Gloam Eyed Queen, Fled God of Placidusax, Five Fingers United, The Last Fire Giant
messmers flame also the same as dragon communion flame where you buy spells
Welp, get ready for god skin duo duo
Godskin Trio confirmed.
Not the Frieren Cosplay 😂😂 looks good bro didn’t even consider it
10:21 spitballing here but: maybe if the godskins are from the shadowlands, maybe that’s why they have the black/white fire because it’s flame born of shadow?
0:43 the symbol when they cast spells looks a bit like a fingerprint in the middle, with 3 "Horse-shoes" around them, a bit like when we fight Metyr and look up at the ceiling those severede like tubes.
Also looks a bit like a fingerprint on the godskin noble robe between the 5 heads at the top of the rope..
I dont know if its just me, dont know if they have any relation to the Fingers or Metyr.
They Hunted Gods after all.
Just an observation, I might be totally off, and probably is :)
Messmer makes me think of Quetzalcoatl at least in terms of the feathered serpents and Godwyn and Miquella make me think of Xolotl.
Xolotl was the god of lightning, fire, and death. He is also considered to be the god of twins, diseases, deformities, and misfortune. He served as a guide for the souls of the dead as they passed through the nine layers of Mictlan, the Aztec form of the underworld.
a few of the gods seem to be in the body of someone like marika/radigon with the elden ring, the fire giants with the face, rykard kinda did the opposite lol, but makes sense the snake in messmers chest, was thinking messmer got red hair like radigon. radigon wanted to be whole taking in others into the golden order, and seems me messmer took that idea to the next level and took on all aspects of outer gods and dragons (truest of hairs as godrick says) i'm thinking the snake has been grafted as that's also herrisy
i really think the lands of shadow is under the erdtree in a way (like layers of reality) and is another more spiky tree above the erdtree, can see a visual of it literally on the erdtree entrance, plus is 3 different trees or halo looking things coming from 3 sides the some in the incantations / seals artwork
another thing the tower that has morg and morgoth fighters on top is covered by a shroud of shadow, as is the forbidden lands, also in the forbidden lands the trees are growing together and look totally different from all other trees, they look like the crucible statues with the guy holding the flower among the other offshoots, looks too similar to be a coincidence to me
melina really needs more lore added, seems she learnt about her role from a book in layndell in one of the rare jump off a elevator rooms (you find her weapon there) seems she had a official role and private room, she also got a golden eye, the gloam eye queen and snake both considered traitors and fire is also a sin seems they are connected to each other and the golden order in some kinda way, they might even be Marikas siblings, and the voice line over messmer a red herring and not even his voice
another connection is ranni and miquella, seems torrent was miquellas stead, but ranni gives it to us, and when she does she puts cali to sleep, a power associated with st trina, also it can't just be me that finds it weird ranni and melina kinda look the same? got the same face and got one eye shut, aslo why is rannis soul only half in the doll? seems too similar to melina having one half gold one purple (the colour also connected to sleep)
ranni, melinia and marika/radigon have 1 or more missing eyes, so does messmer and melina, st trina is pictured having one eye as well find that interesting as well
DLC Boss: The Godskin Duo Duo.
there will be godskin quadro
No shot bro made Frieren that's amazing
Marika also states that her children, the demigods are to become gods or lords, and if they fail to become something, that they will become sacrifices. This could be part of how the erdtree was fertilized,
but either way there are also plenty of nameless, soulless demigods in the walking mausoleums, so I think it's safe to say there were plenty of umentioned demigods slain, and the Godskin Apostles set probably uses real godskin if the description doesn't already say it.
Me playing Elden Ring : “haha there’s a fat one and a skinny one” The Lore:
I hate ads, like everyone else 😂 but Holzkern seems pretty cool. Nice looking stuff
in reality it probably means nothing as the menu exposition doesn't really have any effect or relevance what so ever to what happens. it like TV such as lost, were told their this incredible mystery and it super interesting, but were not supposed to ask why that's relevant at all.
I have a theory, I believe that Messer’s Flame may be destined Death flame or similar to it due to how similar it looks to Maliketh’s Black blades flame and to how his flame starts as a black flame then grows a dark red flame
The colour of flames is very important in this game, we have 4 or 5 examples of different flames with different origins. I don't think it'll be linked to anyone we've met yet.
@@JtotheMeezyyeah we got Blackflame (Gloam-Eyed), Destined Death (undetermined if it’s Maliketh’s influence making it red), Gold Flames (Elden Beast), Ghostflame (Deathbird god) and Blood Flame which seems to be the Formless Mother influencing Mohg and Morgot’s cursed blood
@@JtotheMeezyoh and honorary mention to Death Lightning as it probably doesn’t count but interesting to ponder
@@Grimsly3736 there is also sleep, magic (if you wanna count the glintstone dragons as fire and not a type of breath) and i think fell god’s flame, which is a bit redder than the usual fire
@@fourdayz1414 oh yeah St Trina’s torch! I always forget about that, also yeah I’ll count glintstone fire
Did you look into the fire monks at all for this? The blackflame monks in particular, like the one in front of the church of eiglay, have their armor say this: The Blackflame Monks, enthralled by the god-slaying black flame, became traitors, abandoning their posts as guardians. The seduction of a taboo is never easily spurned.
Messemer and Melina are twins?! Calling it now!
Gotta have God's to have godskin 🤫🤫
I think its possible melina is a golden projection of queen marika. She apparates in gold just like marget and the finger reader in the round table hold mentions that even though she is locked away she stull imposes influence on the world.
I will proudly claim Godskin duo is one of my favorite souls bosses of all time.
Like a particle & a 🌊
Zio vid let's goooo
I suspect the eye may be a general thing that happens to the demigods seperated from order, a scar from the process regardless of the reason. Explaining why Ranni has it aswell since while twins are a common for Marika, triplets are not.
I will say that the twin argument on it's own still suggests that melena and messmer were twins, nameing scheme even tracks for merikas kids, specifically merikas kinds with radagon.
Godfrey X Merika = God-insert rest of name here.
Radagon X Renalla = R names.
Marika X Radagon = M names.
Naw I can already smell the Godskin trio😭🙏
The will. When we travel to the past, we will kill, among others, the 2 godskin apostles that we find in the spiritcaller cave, called by the snail with the spirit bell. Ironic fate for those two goons.
Anybody else think that it's sneaky that George R. R. Martin's starting initials are the most commonly named figures? Godwyn, Godfrey, Godrick, etc. Radagon, Ranni, Rykard, etc. Miquella, Melina, etc....I've underestimated the sneakiness.
I have literally predicted Messmer might be the GEQ ever since I saw him. The snakes, the fire, the style, the physiology, the eye. It’s said that Maliketh only “defeated the Gloam Eyed Queen”. Messmer and GEQ are Empyreans. The one thing nobody I’ve seen come to theorize is Messmer is the first child of Marika, born out of wedlock. The secret child that rebelled
A few things:
The Caelid Tower Apostle is there not because of Maliketh, but because of the Queen's greatsword.
Nobles having draconic features is because their father/patriarch is Placidusax, the Gloameyed Queen's husband.
The original Japanese can give you a better grasp of how the "godskin" of theirs stems from demigods, as the divine family is the mark of a "god"... even though only the Queen is a God.
This is the same reason Maliketh, killer of the Gloameyed Queen's children, bears the moniker of demigodslayer.
is that a reference to the wrath of the gods miracle from dark souls on the noble presence incantation?
I think Melina may be the daughter of the gloam eyed queen instead of actually her. She mentions her mother during the game
Theory as to why they show up in Farum:
-The dragon head is the third head of Placidusax
-Radagon went to get a dragon scale to kill Marika and the apostles showed to stop him
Or
-Radagon sent them to retrieve the scale
(Assumes Marika was the GEQ)
It’s where Destined Death(the source of their power) is
Marika as the GEQ makes no sense. Its confirmed that the GEQ was there in Farum Azula fighting Maliketh where she lost her physical body. The Godskins most likely went with her there and simply remained in Farum Azula after her defeat. Its anything but confirmed that Melina was the GEQ. I am 99% certain. It has to be her.
Hey Ziostorm, can you check the scene where Marika is being impaled by red spear through her stomach in Radagon Boss fight cutscene? Do you think the spear is very similar to mesmer in context of the colour?
8:11 Melina’s hair is no where near red my boy lol especially compared to Mesmers crimson hair
I may be wrong in this but I think that the gloameyed queen is cryptically said to have been chosen by the fingers, not the two fingers, just the fingers, which is a weird difference for fromsoft to make right? If I recall its in the description of the godslaying greatsword.
Yooo @Ziostorm have you taken a look at the Faithfuls Canvas Tailsman? Looks similar to the veil hiding the shadow realm 👀 mask wearing people too
Could the godskins have a connection to the carian royal family… there is one in volcano manor with Rykard, one in the basement of radon’s tower and one in front of rani’s tower that’s seems like a pattern also I think the gloam eyed queen is a carian only other people called queen are ranala and marika so maybe she is a carian queen idk
What about this, Melina and messmer are counter parts. We don't know the lineage of Melina but the lore heavily implies it's queen markia. They'd be the children of markia and radagon keeping the m naming scheme. Malenia and miquela have alter egos just like their parents, but children born from rennala do not. I feel like they always inhabit opposing forces. Miquela is a dreamer who is forced to stay young and never be able to reach their dreams. Where st. Trina controls sleep where dreams are created. Melinas goal is to burn the erdtree, messmers goal is to heal the erdtree. He seems to be based on nidhogg who eats the roots of yggdrasil in norse mythology allowing the tree to grow and stay healthy. The previous video you did was about how messmers based on a messopatamian god, who was the god of snakes and agriculture. This would be why we see Melina primarily in spirit form as she's predominantly in the land of shadows as a counter to messmer.
Damn! Again I feel like a little piece of connection is missing.
I'm SURE that Skeleton-horse thing is related to the Godskins somehow. It's head is very similar to the Opal in the center of the Aplostles' chestpieces and the creature's entire physiology represents both the mix between beasts and men, like the Crucible, as well as the general idea of "living in death", just like the dead skins worn by the Apostles are also alive, being part of their very beings
Zio, question for you, have you done any research into the god-slaying weapon that the blacksmith said he was crafting?
Is there any chance that Melina is, in a way, Messmer? Like their possible parentage's duality? Love the channel!
at 10:34 I saw a screenshot of the Demon Warrior Fighting Player thing! Why is that lol
This is a thought I had while listening to multiple theories about the godskin apostles/nobles and the gloam-eyed queen. I DON’T have alot of evidence, I wouldn’t know where in the game to look for evidence, and some parts may be incomplete, and I might dip into head-cannon territory, but I wanted to share it.
(WARNING: LOTS OF TEXT)
TL;DR - I think Melina and Ranni are two parts of one soul, split off from one another on the Night of the Black Knives.
________
Pt. 1
What if Ranni and Melina together are The Gloam-eyed Queen? This idea came from another theory I have about Millicent and her “sisters” (I will elaborate if asked). I think Ranni and Melina are two halves of one another. Since there is a precedent for dualities both confirmed and theorized (Merika/Radagon and Miquella/Trina), what if this was also something that Ranni, in her life before the Night of the Black Knives, was “cursed” with?
With no definitive (at least that I can find or know of) timeline or known amount of time that happened between events, here is my theory on the timeline.
Merkia becomes the god of the Lands Between, marries Godfry, and campaigns the war against the fire giants, enabling her to secure her throne as god of the Lands Between. I don’t know how to fit it in, but somewhere along the way, their children, Godwyn, Godrick, and Godefroy are born. I believe this would still have been near the Elden Ring having been taken from Placidusax and given to Merika by the Greater Will, thus having the Rune of Death still part of the Elden Ring.
With the Giants defeated, Godfrey had his grace revoked and was thus sent away, along with his tarnished warriors. Looking at her children, Merika might have deduced that out of her three children, Godwyn was really the only one dignified enough to be an Empreian. But for some reason, none of them were chosen by the Greater Will and thus never granted their own Two Fingers, cutting them out of the eligibility for becoming the new god of the Lands Between in the future.
Around this time is when the war between the Golden Order and the Carian Royal Family would have started. Seeing an opportunity to ensure that Emperian would be born, Merkia split off a part of herself, creating Radagon as the champion and general against the Carian family. However, Unbeknownst to him, Radagon was subconsciously instructed to fall for Rennala eventually, and perhaps through devious measures of her own doing, led Rennala to fall in love with Radagon. (Perhaps this was a weaker version of what would become the Bewtiching Branches in the game? If this is the case, it could explain why Miquella was said to be so beloved, as it was a much more amplified trait if his mother.) This would end the war and lead to the birth of the three demigods, Rykard, Radahn, and Ranni.
During this time, Merika may have begun to see a new outer god beginning to influence or perhaps even form in Godwyn: a god of death, something much worse than Destined Death. Unlike the Frenzied Flame, where everything would simply return to one amalgamation, this death would erase everything, leaving absolutely nothing behind. I also believe Godwyn was born with the fishtail and other aquatic features we see him with in the Deeproot Depths. The fishtail may have been very prominent, making him a merman, but the others may have been more subtle, such as the spines and fins on his arms and the clam-like features on his face. This may have worried Merika, but with her help, she could also greatly hamper this outer god’s influence over Godwyn.
Once old enough, the Greater Will would have chosen these three new demi-gods and given them their own Two Fingers, making them Emperians. Radagon may also have had subconscious directives to return to Merika and the Golden Order once these new Emperians were chosen. So, with his mission complete, he left Rennala and returned to Merkia. This would leave Rannala in the state we find her: completely heartbroken and delirious.
When Radagon returned to Merika, there might have been some leftover charisma that was meant for Rennala, thus leading to the birth of Malenia and Miquella and becoming the second Elden Lord. Perhaps there may have been a heated argument between the two over how the Golden Order should be led, resulting in her trying to reabsorb Radagon because he might have become a problem. But his force of will was great enough that his person remained, asserting itself periodically.
Without their mother, the three new demi-gods would try and find their own paths of destiny with the guidance of their own two fingers. But along the line, Ranni would begin to develop a split personality, one that led her to discover the Black Flame, which drew power from the Rune of Death, which was still firmly seated within the Elden Ring. This second personality would become known as “The Gloam-eyed Queen,” as that is the form she took while controlling Ranni’s body, complete with the bluish-violet eyes. This personality may have at first shown itself for small periods of time while Ranni slept, but as it became stronger, it asserted itself more frequently and for longer periods each time. This personality may have also arisen as a sort of “shadow” to Merika, as the Greater Will may have seen that Merkia would attempt to remove death from the Lands Between, using Ranni as a preemptive maneuver.
The second personality could have been majorly influenced by this outer god of death, leading to the development of her weapons with the help of those within the Nokron: The Godslayer’s Greatsword, as a sort of scepter and crown, and the commission of the Fingerslayer Blade, to sever her connection to the Greater Will, and become the god of this outer god of death.
But the Gloam-eyed Queen wouldn’t be able to face Merika on her own and thus led to the creation of the god-skin apostles. The Gloam-eyed Queen could have sought out serpents to use as her base for these new soldiers, as they were a symbol against the Golden Order, giving them a rough humanoid form while keeping some of their more reptilian attributes, leading her to become their “mother.”
(pt. 2 as a comment)
Pt. 2
There may have been multiple other gods at this time, all killed by this “Gloam-eyed Queen” and her army of apostles. This allowed them to be clad in their signature attire and gave their Black Fire the moniker of “god slaying black flame.” Merkia could have seen these gods dropping like flies at the hands of this new queen and her apostles, some of whom took more of their prey and added it to their clothes to become the Godskin Nobles. With her attention being diverted to this new threat, Godwyn again began to be more and more influenced by this outer god of death.
In an act of desperation and motherly frustration, she broke the Elden Ring. She removed the Rune of Death from it, giving it to her shadow Maleketh as a weapon in hopes that doing so would stop this outer god’s influence on her golden child, Godwyn, and stop the genocide of the other gods since it was becoming clearer that the Gloam-eyed Queen was coming for Merkia. The theory being that the Rune of Death, while in the Elden Ring, was the vector by which this outer god used to spread its influence, and removing it would cut off that vector.
This did not have the desired effect since the influence over Godwyn was still advancing, as was the march of the Gloam-eyed Queen, albeit greatly slowed. To stop it, Merika charged Maleketh with the defeat of the Gloam-eyed queen and her godskins. This was carried out swiftly and brutally, leading to the godskins fleeing and remaining in hidden-away areas to await the return of their queen, one of which took the Godslaying Greatsword and hid it away within Radahn’s Divine Tower and stood guard over it so that when their queen returned, it could be returned to her.
The Gloam-eyed Queen personality, at this point, might have been severely injured or even on the verge of death, allowing Ranni to once again become the dominant personality. With the Gloam-eyed Queen dealt with, Merika turned her attention back to Godwyn, but by this time, her attention had been divided for so long that the influence of this outer god was almost too strong for Merika to overcome. Even with the help of her son Miquella and his unalloyed gold, it still wasn’t enough, and Godwyn was quickly becoming a scion of this outer god of death.
While this was happening, Ranni began to uncover what had happened and what she had done as the Gloam-eyed Queen. She tried to consult the Greater Will, but there was no answer for her as she was an Emperian, a candidate for godhood, and whatever power she possessed would be her legacy. She was afraid and didn’t want to lose herself to whoever this Gloam-eyed Queen was, and thus began to search for a way to rid herself of this curse.
Eventually, Merika’s efforts would falter, and Ranni would find that the Gloam-eyed Queen was beginning to reassert itself. The two of them may have encountered one another and formed the plot for the Night of the Black Knives together. At this point in time, Godwyn was too deeply influenced by the outer god of death and began calling himself The Prince of Death, and the only way Merika could see to stop him was to kill her own son.
For Ranni, she needed a way to separate herself from the personality of the Gloam-eyed Queen, leading to the creation of her blue-skinned, four-armed doll body that she could transfer the “Ranni” soul into and leave the “Gloam-eyed Queen” spirit behind to be fully killed. For this transfer to work, though, there would need to be a soul leaving a body so as not to appear suspicious to the Greater Will. And since Godwyn would need to die, it was the perfect “two birds, one stone” situation.
Calling upon her “sisters” from the Eternal City, highly trained and skilled assassins, she told them of her plan and that she would need their help. Merika could have been a former Black Knife assassin herself, using those skills to sneak a small fragment of the Rune of Death away from Malaketh, allowing Ranni to create the Black Knives used by the assassins. With all the pieces gathered, the Night of the Black Knives would take place. Godwyn would be killed in Soul, making the outer god of death no longer have a scion and providing a soul, and Ranni’s soul would be transferred into the doll body, and then have her body burned to be rid of the Gloam-eyed Queen permanently.
However, once the assassins left, something else began to happen. With no soul in his body, Godwyn was overtaken by this outer god of death, much the same way Shabriri overtook the body of Yura and preserved the spirit of the Gloam-eyed Queen for its own purposes. When Merika discovered this, she immediately put Godwyn and the Eternal City far below ground in hopes of hiding her failure and containing the outer god with the roots of the Erdtree. She would also bury Nokron to hide it and their commissioned Fingerslayer Blade, propagating the lie that the city was imprisoned underground for going against the Golden Order.
When she learned that the spirit of the Gloam-eyed Queen had been preserved, Merika temporarily contained it and then sounded out the call to notable Tarnished, in hopes that one of them would become the new Elden Lord and usher in a new age, for now, in her own eyes, with her many failures, was no longer fit to rule the Lands Between. But Radagon was not ready to hand over their rule so easily, and thus began to try mending the Elden ring in his own way. Merika and Radagon would fight for control of their body, and while Merika was in control, created Melina only to not only help our character become the new Elden Lord by being the Kindling for the Giant’s Flame but also to try once more to burn up and completely eliminate the Gloam-eyed Queen, giving “birth” to her at the foot of the Erdtree (wherever that may be). Once this was done and the Greater Will learned of Merika’s plan, she was imprisoned within the Erdtree as punishment.
Melina’s insistence on being the kindling, especially once we learn of the Frenzied Flame, could have been a subconscious command placed by Merika to ensure that the Gloam-eyed Queen would be consumed to good this time. Since the Giant’s Flame was strong enough to burn the Erdtree, surely it would be strong enough to get right of the queen. However, if you go through with the Freinzied Flame and burn everything into a giant melting pot, The Greater Will may have helped Melina regain her memory of who she USED to be while she was part of Ranni, and thus using her as an executioner to our character, allowing the Greater Will to start over, rebuilding the Lands Between, and having a god and Elden Lord the way it always wanted.
____
I hope this all makes at least a little sense. Like I said, I know some parts may not align well, be missing, or be incomplete, but this is what makes sense to me. I hope that anyone who reads this at least enjoys the attempt.
-T.K.
My theory on Melina is that she’s Marika’s soul sort of reincarnated; her sealed eye is the same as the one Marika’s body is missing, she only opens it when Marika “dies” in the Frenzied Flame ending and if she rebirthed herself to escape punishment it would explain why she’s impaled through her womb. That Melina can hear Marika’s words always struck me as odd to, maybe she’s not hearing but remembering?
I hope their story gets expanded in the DLC.
Also, if snakes are symbols of blasphemy, why dies Matika have bracelets in the shape of two header snakes, made of gold?
Maybe thats why melina gets mad at us when we burn the tree with frenzied flame instead of letting her burn it