Just to clarify, this is the product of hacking. There's no secret Melina bossfight in the actual game. As for the fight itself, because she's only meant to be a summon, Melina's damage output is extremely low. It's very interesting to see the parallels between her moveset and the Black Knife Assassins though.
Just imagine if Melina was the secret final boss of the frenzied flame ending. Just give her poise for her spells and a death themed second phase. It would be amazing
I summoned Melina just before going in to fight Margot. I was waiting for my brother to set down his sign so we could fight him together, but when I tried to activate his summon, it wouldn't work, I was really confused. Turns out some poor fool invaded me while I had Melina following me and she obliterated him. Was very fun to watch.
@@northernkantomonkey868 i was also summoned with rogier so i think your capping right now, its either a bug or an invader in your world was being a bitch
Well she does tell you that she is going to kill you after u got burned by the three fingers, getting her as a secret bossfight after the elden beast would have been awesome
Honestly I’m not entirely sure considering this moveset is the one for when we summon her for Morgott. But I love the idea. I also love how every single ending could easily lead into a new game. More than any in Souls before.
This is what she says after you approach the Three Fingers: 'You... have inherited the Frenzied Flame. A pity. You are no longer fit. Our journey together ends here. And remember... Should you rise as the Lord of Chaos, I will kill you, as sure as night follows day. Such is my duty, for allowing you the strength of runes. Goodbye, my companion. Goodbye, Torrent...'
Its really cool that she spawns an Erdtree on death, as she's meant to be a summon so that Erdtree is for you, a last effort to help you against Morgott.
It's such a bummer that she can only be summoned for just ONE boss in the entire game (Morgott). With the presence she has, it really feels like she should be a summon for a lot of story bosses or other demi-gods. Particularly given how Melina is almost DEFINITELY a demi-god herself.
This is true for so many npcs. Storytelling in these games (Eldensoulsborne) just doesn't exist. There is already summoning, both directions (you summon npc, npc summons you or you invade), we already have phasing and Co-Op areas. So why not utilize them more? You can help Ranni go through a few levels while she is in your inventory. Why not just summon her for that? Make that level different? Or she summons you? Even without significantly changing the game, there are a lot of possibilities not utilized whatsoever.
Yes Melina as a Buddy would be a nice addition for the Story imo Her "death" would be more tragic too Plus she could tell us some Storys at a Grace from time to time (like Mimir from GoW or Ranni in her Quest as Mini Ranni)
My favorite theory about Melina that I've seen is that she's the one who the Godskins serve. They serve Destined Death, which is integral to Melina's character, who delivers it unto others. She even says she'll do it to you in the Frenzied Flame ending. They also name-drop the person that the Godskins serve in a vague sense: the Dusk-Eyed Queen/Gloam-Eyed Queen. Another fun thing about the Frenzied Flame ending? After she vows to destroy you, Melina opens her previously closed eye... to reveal a dusk-colored eye. Very telling. There's also the fact that, while Melina is tied to the Erdtree (especially seen here with many of her moves), she helps you slay the god of this world. The god of the Erdtree. She's traitorous to the Golden Order, even saying that "My purpose was given to me by my mother. But now, I act of my own volition. I have set my heart upon the world that I would have. Regardless of my mother's designs." Let's also not forget that even the Godskins are shown to have some connection to the Erdtree, from the Noble Set's description: "Nobles are the most ancient apostles who are said to have assimilated inhuman physiology. Not unlike the crucible, the Erdtree in its primordial form." And from the Apostle Set's description: "The apostles, once said to serve Destined Death, are wielders of the god-slaying black flame. But after their defeat by Maliketh, the Black Blade, the source of their power was sealed away." Could the power source that Maliketh sealed away be... Melina's eye? The source of her power, and therefore the source of the Godskins' power? Melina's such an interesting character and is definitely my favorite. I wish she was more involved in the main story, at least with the demigods. I didn't even realize you could talk to her at some sites of grace until I went to Leyndell for the first time. :(
Theory I had is that Melina as Marika's daughter is attempting to draw out Marika. She desires to kill Marika and reforge the world under her own design, she couldn't defeat Radagaon's golden order by herself hence why she enlists the player character's help. Turning him into an elden lord. What she didn't account for is the player also becoming lord of the moon by marrying Ranni as well as if you so choose, becoming lord of frenzied flame. Now outpowering Melina, she now must use her dusk eye possibly against the player? Also interesting is that Vyke, the character wearing the fingerprint armor on the cover of the game was touched by the 3 fingers. Melina clearly has a strong aversion to the frenzy flame as it can burn the erdtree, the strongest affront to her erdtree derived powers. My theory is that she sealed Vyke in the evergaol as a "backup" to the player, since Vyke atleast partially possessed the power of the three fingers, Melina decided he must not be used as the chosen tarnished. Melina derives her power purely from the erdtree, if she wanted to kill Marika, it would make sense that she would create some form of power to specifically hunt the demigods of the golden order.
Theres a major conflict though, and that's that the gloam eyed queen fought directly against Marika way back when as an almost rival figure... Melina feels too young and frequently brings up her mother as guiding her. Therefore, I think her mother WAS the Gloam Eyed queen, and that she inherited a fraction of her power. It explains why she has only one eye with that weird aura. It also explains why she wanted to deviate from her mothers plans, realizing that she was just a pawn in a greater plot against the gods. Theres a chance that maybe Marika in the form of radagon had a child with the gloam eyed queen, it wouldn't be the first time good ol radagons got his weewee wet in a rival force... except i doubt that to an extent.
@@sirrealism7300 I can definitely see Melina being the daughter of the Gloam-Eyed Queen. It might be possible that the queen and the Godskins were simply god-slayers, killing gods just out of spite or in pursuit of power, but Melina might've gone against that because she wants to kill Marika purely to let people choose their own path (not for her own gain). Her severe hatred of the Frenzied Flame might also hint at her disgust of mindless pursuits of power. It also might be possible that she IS the queen, and her possible battle with Maliketh and sealing of her eye trapped her in her yonger body as part of Destined Death being sealed. It might even be possible that Marika IS Melina's mother, and her going against her Golden Order is what Melina meant about deviating from her mother's chosen path.
@@GenesisJames That tattoo also looks like a beast claw (Maliketh?). While everyone seems to be so focused on tying Melina to Ranni, I aswell are more leaning towards the gloam eyed queen connection. But that also doesn't mean that the gloam eyed queen doesn't have a connection with Ranni aswell since we have no clue about who that Ice Witch really was that Ranni's puppet is build after. Wouldn't surprise me if that is actually the thread that would tie it all together.
@@sirrealism7300 I think you're right on the front that Melina is rebelling against her mother/god's plans but i'm still leaning toward her being Marika's daughter. She's also listed in game id as Marikaofdaughter which I suppose is cheating in terms of lore. I feel like her appearance is somewhat misleading, i'd be surprised if a formal royal assassin didn't know how to change the way they look at least a little bit, especially if she's a demigod. I doubt she'd get a lot of tarnished interested if she appeared at the grace looking like godrick. Interestingly though you can find her knife, the blade of calling and it claims to be owned by the "kindling maiden." So it seems according to the blade, it is her calling to "sacrifice" herself to the fire. Maybe this is why she rebelled? She realized her position as the one to create a new world by burning the erdtree and hates the idea of her elden lord puppet being able to not only steal that destiny from her, but also survive and have the power. In my mind she seems to want to take a similar path to Gwyn from DS1, Using their unique magic to kill the gods and usher in a new age free from their influence with only herself to thank and no one to threaten her power.
Morgott should have been a more difficult boss fight. Compared to early game Margit, he was too easy to take down. 2x health and 1.5x damage output would have been nice to see.
@@MartinHindenes Yeah but then again, youre supposed to use Melina to help out. I wiped the floor with him by using my bleed+frost twin blades build, the mimic, and Melina.
Melina, Morgott, and Torrent are my favorite characters. They all fulfill their duty despite what it means for them. Melina has a really pleasant voice too.
@@Mojavay He sure wasn't freeing the Omen from the sewers or stopping the practice of sawing off their horns as infants, killing most of them. He sure wasn't kind to Those Who Live in Death. Godwyn has a good boy persona to the people who are already treated well by the Golden Order and managed to befriend a dragon after slaughtering many others but make no mistake, he was also the very representation of the order's façade. He was the poster child for the brutally hierarchical, bigoted order that stole away the ability for people to die normally. Even Marika, despite seemingly being upset about his death, said that if her children (Ranni is her child also due to the Radagon/Marika duality) did not strive and succeed to make something of themselves they may as well be sacrifices. And what else could the demigods strive to become but gods themselves? They can't all ascend to godhood. The Greater Will doesn't give a shit and Marika moves on to encourage her other children to forge their own paths. Ranni just happens to not trust and doesn't want to be subservient to the Greater Will, and therefore seeks to unshackle the people from the current order and the gods who govern it, to remove the meddling of the gods and Elden Lord and allow the world to simply exist and develop as it would naturally. Everyone left to determine their own fate instead of it being thrust upon them by the Greater Will and the Golden Order.
It's amazing how Melina who is the closest person to you is also the most mysterious. Like she has connection with most of the elements in the story. She has connections with Marika, The Erdtree, Destined Death, the Flame of Frenzy, possibly Ranni? She doesn't have the move set of a regular human NPC, but that of the Blackknives. She also has possession of Torrent who in my theory has connection with the Ancestor Spirits (based on the same double jump abilities). I hope we explore more of Melina if there's more DLC. I don't believe she's dead in the main story.
@@Kamawan0If we go to the spirit world as part of the DLC hopefully we'll see her there, or maybe in the past. I think the DLC will have a few things going on besides the Miquella thing so maybe the past will be one of them
Her moveset is similar to black knives assasin because she is the GLOAM EYED QUEEN who once delivered destined death in the lands between until she was defeated by the maliketh and the destined death was sealed away...thats why we can see her burnt all over the body because she was betrayed by her own followers
I honestly think she's the most interesting NPC in the game due to her mysterious background and the fact she uses a dagger to fight like an Assassin. Watched videos of people pointing out the marking on her left eye is similar to the madness symbol when you use the spell.
I haven't gotten that far into the game yet, but she had a bit of dialogue at one of the grace points in Limgrave about her mother in the Erdtree, and I remember Marika was being held captive in the Erdtree. So I'm assuming she's related to Marika somehow, but could be thinking too hard about it.
She’s 100% connected to the Three Fingers in some way. She immediately leaves you when she finds out you’re siding with them, and even threatens to kill you for it. Even if you use the Alloyed Needle and revert back to another path, leaving Melina alive, she’s still missing and doesn’t show up even after the end of the game, which makes me think she’s somehow connected to one of the Outer Gods (Like Shabriri that possesses Yura or the God of Rot that possesses Gowry) or she is an Outer God but physically manifested. From what we can tell Outer Gods like to manipulate us into doing what works best for them, like the Frenzied Flame ending basically putting Shabriri’s will over reality. I’m pretty sure Melina is going to follow this pattern, only her (proper) ending is going to be in a DLC.
Pretty cool! With minor tweaks this could very well serve as a secret frenzied flame third phase of the final boss id say. Would make that threat more direct in that she would rather join the greater will than to allow chaos to be unleashed.
Yeah, you should have either had to fight her in the sewers when you make the move to enter the 3 fingers zone, or on the forge when you go to use the frenzied flame. Would've been better than just a threat and then wandering off.
@@elizabethk8718 there is a way in game to remove the frenzied flame from the character, so it strikes me as origionally it was intended for the player to be able to "save" melina by doing the frenzied flame up until the burning, then "curing" yourself by placing melina as a fight before that moment it prevent you from saving her, which feels like the intention to me it seems far more like the content that was cut (or which will be added as dlc) is what she does if you follow this path and save her
I definitely hope DLC delivers on the Melina storyline. She feels so important, but so underdeveloped. Shabriri himself asks you to save Melina by burning yourself instead. Melina leaves you for it, but even after doing the complicated process of taming the Frenzied Flame. Nothing. No extra cutscenes or anything. You can just do the other endings now
@@knavenformed9436 in the current game it definitely seems that way, but when looking at cut content it definitely seems like Melina and taming the frenzy flame was a different ending
@@manfellafellaman Cut content doesn't affect game canon even if Elden Ring is a very patchy game. If that content ever gets into the game then sure, but now I can only go with what is in the game.
I'd prefer they add a greater reason to defeating Melania first to obtain Miquella's Needle, it nullifies the Frenzied Flame Ending but allows you to save Melina without causing the ending. Perhaps if you did it this way Melina could help you fight Radagon and the Elden Beast as one additional summon, like saving Solaire in Dark Souls 1 allowed.
I remember data miners going wild early on from seeing Melina's quotes from the Frenzied Flame route, and they saw she had combat data as well and assumed she must be the final boss of the Frenzied Flame ending.
Tbf, doesn't she literally tell you she'll try and stop you if you try to frenzy flame the planet? I thought that was confirmation she was a secret boss until this video told me she isn't, it's weird that they'd seed it and not pay it off
@@squeemlives Presumably she knows that by the time you're walking up to the Erdtree with the Frenzied Flame, you're too powerful for her to take on, but she does appear to survive the maddening of the world in the ending cutscene, and vows to find you and bring you Destined Death.
Yeah, you can absolutely tell she's meant to be a supportive summon. She doesn't do a lot of damage, but she has plenty of attacks that can easily hit, particularly a large boss, which allows her to draw aggro away from you, she always opens with the healing tree as well as force one last tree out on defeat really just seals it. Gotta admit, I regret not bringing her in the Morgott fight now, since I thought I'd bring her on round two but just barely beat him first try. Though, if she would be a hidden boss they'd need to either have you fight her alongside somebody else, or up her damage and maybe instead make the tree radiate damage or some status buildup.
To my knowledge, she's the only one that can spawn an erdtree for healing. It would have been cool to get an incantation like this. Like an enhanced/upgraded version of Hallowed Ground. I assume Fromsoft will add it in as a high level spell, or unique weapon art in a DLC.
Planting your weapon into the ground and having it grow into an erdtree would be epic as fuck and also as an easter egg for mythology nerds a nod to Greek myth.
@@Gstrangeman96 Use the Cragblade ash of war animation, but instead of pulling rocks on the blade, it sprouts a mini erdtree. It would give off some really cool King Arthur or World Tree vibes.
Morgott can spawn a tree for healing as well. Edit: I realize now that that was Melina who I had summoned for one of my attempts that made the tree. Never mind lol.
@@Gstrangeman96 I thought it was more Norse with the fire giants and how the roots of the erdtree sprout to all locations like ygdrasil connecting the realms
She's got more moves than Alecto, bordering on Maliketh's moveset, which is pretty interesting. Also the ranged attacks have the animation and shape of Destined Death attacks which are usually red, but here are yellow instead, appearing to be normal miracles, just ones that look identical to the Destined Death attacks
The movesets in this game are so gorgeous. I love how you can literally see the years of influence from the prior games and how they’ve refined everything. It’s like nostalgia but better
What I find interesting is not only where you find her knife, but the officials outfit you find there (as well as being part of the bloodsoaked masked and gauntlets, which you find underneath the capital, are in the same item ID grouping in the game files). This suggests that Melina may have either been an official at some point and was heavily injured or disfigured (the burns and scaring on her hands always being the tell) while performing "grim tasks" for the Erdtree Pantheon, or was always under surveillance as being a particular individual of interest by those who knew more about who or what she was. "Official's attire" "Grubby blue robe worn by magisterial officials to carry out their grim tasks. Surveillance, executions, gruesome rituals... The darkest duties drive the wheels of mankind." (This robe is also an altered version of the Marais Robes, its also in the same item ID group in the game files, and has a description reading that they were both executioners and castellans of the Shaded Castle)
You don't find Melina's outfit in Leyndell. You find Melina's outfit just before the fight with Malenia, in the Haligtree. The set is called Traveler's Set, and is worn by both Melina and Millicent in the game.
I really hope they elaborate on her story in the DLC, she's one of the biggest mysteries in the game and there's really not enough lore to come up with a satisfying explanation
Melina: *Throws a spell* Ranni: "Only a miracle user deals with absolute" Ranni: "I will do what I must" Melina: *Do backflip and cast a tree* Melina: "You will try"
I was really expecting her to be a secret boss fight for the Flame of Frenzy ending, but she got relegated to a cutscene instead. It's crazy her moveset is so fleshed out when she's only a summon for one fight.
If you want her knife, you have to take the elevetor that leads to the Mountain top, face southwest, and drop onto the ledge when you see. You'll net the Official's Robes and the knife Melina uses. It uses the same animations as the Black Knife, but deals holy damage and shoots holy projectiles instead.
It’s really cool that as a spirit summon in the event that she would die she casts the healing tree one more time for the tarnished to heal. Most useful spirit in the game.
I imagine they would make her have more movesets if she happens to become a boss in future patch/dlc. At least for being an important character. I remember summoning her for Morgott, quite fun
@@zkull9982 It may not be, if you go for the Lord of Frenzy ending you actually see her eye become unsealed as she makes it her goal to give you "destined death", yes this move set is for her as a summon, but the idea of a DLC/patch added boss isn't impossible.
So interesting to see just how similar she is to a black knife assassin, even her weapon is essentially an uncorrupted/untouched by the rune of death version of the Black Knife
You can actually get Melina's weapon, The "Blade of Calling." It's ridiculously well hidden, but very easy to get. Its description even gives some hints about Melina. What's interesting is that the Blade of Calling has the same shape of the Black Knife Blades. The only difference is that it isn't warped by the power of death like the Black Knives are. Their special attacks are even the same. You do the acrobatic leap into the air and then fire golden erdtree energy (Blade of Calling) or the death rune energy (Black Knife). It's likely the Blade of Calling is/was what the Black Knives were before they were infused with death. My guess is the answer to her backstory lies in the origins of the Black Knives. We only know vague bits of lore, really only the "whos" and the "whats" but none of the "whys."
@@philliphelmut1077 on the lift down from Leyndell to Forbidden Land, there is a section near the end, hop in it before the lift goes all the way down.
Unfortunately it only gets that buff when doing the special move like the assassin dagger, but it has better dmg for a pure faith build. Always double check your elevator shafts guys! Edit: also agree on the theory. Was my thinking exactly
@@seedmole I highly doubt that. Ashes tend to be individuals that have already passed on with Latenna being the only exception I know of. More likely the theory she's connected to Ranni in some way holds more ground, both of their eyes being the most obvious clue. On top of that though there's a lot of other hints, Ranni having four arms could be another sign that she's not just one entity, From D and Radagon we know that it's possible for multiple people to share a body or soul, Ranni is a soul without a body, and was the mastermind behind the Night of Black Knives. There's too many coincidences around Ranni and Melina to let that thread go in favor of a much weaker thread. Perhaps Melina is an avatar of Ranni and she did get her hands more dirty than we thought that night, lord knows she's willing...
If I remember correctly, when the Closed Network Test demo files were datamined, there were dialogue and other clues that made people speculate if Melina would be a boss, even the final one of the game. Now seeing how, let's say, colorful they coded her battle AI and move set, regardless of her role as a NPC summon, it makes me wonder if From originally had planned to her a more antagonistic twist in the story but scrapped that idea eventually.
I mean she straight up says she'll be back to kill you when you take the Frenzied Flame. Many of us were hoping she would be the "true" final boss of that route given that dialogue.
Reading through some of these theories. Unless they changed it from the network test, Melina was named “DaughterofMarika” internally. How she fits into everything else is still a total mystery. I think it’s interesting she doesn’t have Radagon’s red hair (every one of his kids does). She’s also never mentioned along with the other Demigod children. She doesn’t seem like a child of Godfrey either. I wonder if she’s some sort of offshoot of Marika made after the shattering to find a tarnished. She does leave you for a while to figure out her “purpose”. Her dialogue about being “bodiless” is weird. I wonder if it’s a mistranslation. Also, vykes story is that he was the closest tarnished to becoming lord but tried to claim the flame of frenzy to save his maiden.
Doesn't she mention that her body is at the base of the Erdtree, and burned in some way? Working my way through Lyndell so far, so maybe she brings up more later.
Melina isnt mentioned because Ranni and Melina are the same person. Ranni stole a fragment of the Rune of Death from Maliketh and created the Black Knives(who killed Godwyn) and also let slay her own Empyrean flesh, removing her from the influence of the Two Fingers. She didnt want to succeed Queen Marika, so she "split" herself from it. Notice the closed eyes of these characters, Ranni has the left eye, Melina has the right with similar markings around the closed eyes. Theyre basically twin sisters! Theyre both spirits, hence her "bodiless" remark.
@@ab-constant9564 its speculative at this point. There are some inconsistencies in what i mentioned but we are still trying to fit all the pieces together. It sure does look like it might be something similar. If Melina is the daughter of Marika, and Ranni is the daughter of Radagon, and Marika and Radagon are the same person… you see where this is going lol
I had no idea that she helps you in the Morgott fight till my second playthru… I hope there’s DLC and she’s a final boss if you chose the flame of frenzy ending
Yeah I was just thinking. If you choose Frenzied Flame ending she mentions that she'll be back to kill you later. Maybe she should be the secret final boss. Kinda like how Emma was in the Sekiro ashura ending. Edit: Autocorrect is stupid
I believe that we where supposed to be able to cast that Erdtree spell as well. In the game files there was a cut Prayerbook called the Erdtree Codex, and I'm willing to bet that this spell would have been in it
Melina is definitely going to be a fully fledged boss on a dlc, since the frenzied flame cliffhanger (even if it's just cut content) is TOO GOOD to just be left at that
I think the reason her moveset is so similar to the black knives is because she's using the blade of calling. It has a near identical ability and a similar shape. The black knife said it was reshaped by the rune of death. So the assassins origins could have some connections to Melina's origins.
It's cool that we got to see Zullie the Witch's moveset too. There's something very telling on how different people approach the micro in a bossfight, very cool.
I was helping my friend in lyndell yesterday and learned she's a summanble NPC for the main lord there. She used the blade of calling and was an absolute badass. Reading the description for the weapon is super interesting. Love finding new shit like that in this game
I had the honor to summon her when fighting Morgott af Capital. Her moves is basically like Tiche. They both take 90% of the aggro throughout the fight. One of the best NPC summons I’ve used so far
because she’s the Gloam eyes Queen. and all the dialogue hints she felt bad for causing the shattering and wants to right her wrongs. hell maybe godwyn the gold was about to become the lord of chaos and instead she killed him. thus making her vow.
I remember people posting videos of her animations after data mining the CNT and saying she was a boss, I guess they didn’t expect a summon to be this good lol
Lot of those moves seem really similar to the black knives you fight. She has lunging thrust attack and only the other bits of their kit, even has slam they do, just without the aoe. Only thing she doesn't have from their kit is the grab attack. Yeah I'm pretty sure she has black knife moveset with miracles tagged on. Possible lore implication that all the black knives were maidens maybe.
The black knives were confirmed to be all female, dunno what connection they'd have to finger maidens though. Melina isn't a finger maiden, her words to you are that "She'll play the role of a maiden." She's not a maiden but she can act the part, (Thus we are still maidenless through the whole game). That's not to say them being maidens isn't possible, just that there's not as much a connection there as you think.
Their armor set links them to being in Marika's graces as it appears that they "share" a relation as Numens. This could also mean that Melina is a Numen as well since she embodies similar fighting styles to the Black Knives Assassins as well. But this also implicates her being under the will of Marika since she says that she was born inside the Erdtree.
@@sparxskywriter2589 Melina and Ranni are the same person. Ranni didnt want to succeed queen Marika so she created the Black Knives(who killed Godwyn) and let her slay her own Empyrean flesh. She quite literally "split" herself from the influence of the Two Fingers so she could usher in the Age of Stars. It was Rannis goal from the beginning.
@@Luxorcist ?? Black Knives are all from a race called Numen who came from outside The Lands Between, it's rumored Marika has close ties to these Numen. Not really sure where you got the idea that Ranni created the Black Knives.
I don’t believe it is after looking at the wiki which is disappointing. It would be really great to have a spell similar to warmth from the souls games for summon healing.
@@thesilverwalnut3314 We already have warmth as a craftable item (warming stone) which uses a bit of fp but is well worth the passive heal out of combat or even in combat depending on your role (support)
@@sinisterwombat3128 You're thinking of Shard Spiral, which unlocks upon completion of her quest (which is strange, since it's a fairly basic spell). To your credit, though, she does use Founding Rain of Stars in the final battle. And in case anyone's wondering, FRoS is found in a chest in Mountaintops of the Giants
I'm sure it's been mentioned already, but she shares most of her moves with the Black Knife Assassin boss (hence this video taking place in the same room). There's definitely some sort of connection there, 'cause you can find her dagger (Blade of Calling), and it's quite clearly an un-death'd version of the Black Knife. They're even put next to each other in the menu sorting.
I imagine they probably wanted something similar to Emma and her boss fight in Sekiro both being the ""bad"" end and were you fight the one most helpful to you/ the one who guided you
Huh, that does work surprisingly well. Just make her two shot you with her attacks and she'd fit right in as an endgame boss. Perhaps as a final fight before the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending.
Im sorta into the idea that Melina is some powerful being, that is temporarily dead, that works alongside some other order unknown to everyone else in the world. I mean her moveset is almost similar to Black Knife Assassins, she loathes the idea of you becoming the Frenzied Flame Lord, but for some reason is intent on sacrificing herself to help you become any lord besides Frenzied Flame. For some reason, she gives me Gael vibes and that she is somehow the true final boss of Elden Ring, that when all the gods, demigods, lords and other powerful beings fall, she would be the last maiden that stands between you and the future Elden Lords.
she almost has the same move set as the black knife assassins and the fact she wields the counterpart dagger to the black knife the assassins (blade of culling) makes it even more fascinating! As if she was one of the assassins who turned good, or she was part of the order created to hunt them down.
small correction, it's the blade of cAlling. And another comment suggests a really interesting idea that the Blade of Calling could be what the black knives were before they were corrupted by the rune of death.
That also caught my interest. She jumpes through the throwables. But I think that jump move is implemented to make her jump over morgott's throwing knives
@@acommoncommenter9364 That's a possibility just was weird seeing it so well synced with "That Particular Weapon" considered what must he done to acquire it
@@anidiot9831 The boss doesn't use a MLGS. If you ever play with Cheat Engine and drop random enemies to fight each other you'll often fond it turns into a stand face to face and swing it out because they are not programed to deal with eachothers movesets. She full on reacted to both a swing the follow up buff and jumped the magic ability. That's very strange considering in games she's not intended to ever face that as an obstacle
When I first finished the game with the evil ending and watched her ending dialogue I was under the impression that there would actually be a boss fight against her in that ending. Alas I was wrong but still cool to see her summoned moveset in boss form.
Oh, wow. It's super cool to see her moveset. I was wondering if From had planned to make her a boss in the Frenzied Flame ending Edit: oh, snap she's a summon for Margott?! Mind blown
Given that there's the "flame of madness" ending, where Melina says she will kill you if you become the lord of chaos, they really should put her in as a boss.
Hey Zullie! I know you like to play around with the game and its files. I found a very interesting hole in the geometry under the water in the center of the 6 divine towers with the flying horse glitch earlier. Im curious as to if its cut content or maybe future development space, who knows!
Zullie, I very much admire your attention to detail, and I very much enjoy your videos. I've always had the notion that humans should commit themselves into having a very meaningful role in the society in which they live, whether they wire buildings for power, teach children and or adults, provide jobs, provide mental help, anything that requires a sacrifice of time or resources to help another. You sir, provide me with very detailed analysis of games that my busy life simply does not have the time for. Thank you, and don't ever let anyone tell you that RUclips'rs and streamers aren't a meaningful path in life. They likely speak from jealousy because they grew up in an environment where gamers were not accepted. Keep em coming my friend 👍
I wouldn't be surprised if, at one time, Melina was meant to be a boss encounter. The Frenzied Flame ending does imply she is going to hunt you down, so I was wondering if it were originally going to be like Gehrman/Moon Presence, or Shura ending Sekiro, where you fought Emma then Isshin as unique bosses. Or, if they have plans for DLCs, she could appear there. I'd not really mind it, because I loved her moveset in Morgott's duel. Even though I don't use summons much, due to how trivial they make most Soulborne bosses, I absolutely summoned her for Morgott, due to how wonderful her moveset is and how thematic it is for her to fight with you one last time.
I would be, especially because it's in an ending. Endings never effect the gameplay even if you continue to play after them, it's not cannon that they happened. And even in a DLC I'd doubt that it would happen in such context. From Soft just loves not doing anything with endings, any ending from literally any FS game only implies things, and those things never get touched upon ever again. As well as only the main ending ever being cannon in following games
Everyone where talking about fighting her as a boss but I got an even better idea Someone please make a mod where we can play as her with this exact moveset
If I had to take a wild guess, this would have something to do with the Chaos ending, where she tells you that "Should you become Elden Lord, I will come and kill you, just like night comes to day" or something of the sort. Since I have not finished the game, I do not know if she has any interaction with you during the ending cutscene. (I also do not wish to know, until I end the game myself) Regardless this is fantastic to see and I wish it was a fight for this ending. Another note: Her damage was possibly kept low for testing purposes. The devs possibly needed to test out her moveset and AI without having to repeatedly deal with death or other things, and possibly never got to the damage balancing stage.
I'm sure we'll see her return as a fight in DLC, I'd love to get that sword and an incantation of functioning version of the tree or her rain down skill (similar to the plant enemies skill).
She’s going to be a huge part of some DLC in the future, as hinted at in the Frenzied Flame quest line. I can only imagine what her connections are to the Erdtree, the Black Knives, and Morgott. (He’s the only boss we can summon her for)
Well her connection to the Erdtree is her mother wanted her to burn it, she says that much...to the black knives it could be her possible connection to Ranni, as she was the mastermind behind them. Perhaps Ranni is Melina, or MADE Melina? It would make sense for Ranni to want her to burn the tree so she could perform her ending, and if she is Ranni herself, perhaps her "mother" was Marika who wanted her to burn the tree down, since Marika was having a bit of a crisis and shattered the Elden Ring herself out of the great despair she felt. Morgott is just generally tied to all the demigods as he was the king of Leyndell and effectively guarding the Erdtree, so Melina would have to get past him just like we did if she was gonna burn it.
@@sparxskywriter2589 Why does she create minor Erdtrees and only use holy magic if she doesn't have a greater connection to the Erdtree/The Elden Ring than just "her mom"? Who is her mom really? It couldn't be Ranni as she was never IN the Erdtree. We know this because we're told by Morgott that all Demigods were locked OUT of the Erdtree. Marika is also not a very reliable answer, as we find out later on in the game that Marika is actually just Radagon (or the other way around?), so who could have given birth to Melina in the Erdtree? Does "she" really want to burn the Erdtree, or is an outside force manipulating her into that path? Like the Outer Gods, with Shabriri manipulating Yura and the Rot God manipulating Gowry. Continuing that, if her whole goal is really to "burn the Erdtree" then why does she get upset at you for saving her life and offering yourself to burn it instead? The tree still gets burned so why is she threatening us for doing what she wanted, while also saving her life, if not for having an ulterior motive that we're not seeing? I'm almost positive that Melina is an Outer God, possessing an offspring of Marika, and is using that disguise as a way to use us to get them to the Erdtree, to somehow insert themselves into the Elden Ring, or to become an Elden Lord, or to aquire an Great Rune, or impose their will on reality or something along those lines. Either that, or she is actually a Tarnished, who, like us, is seeking the power of the Elden Ring and Greater Runes for herself, but she knows something that we don't and isn't telling us. Also just because i forgot to mention, The Black Knives are an all female group of assassins so there's a huge possibility that she is both Marika's Daughter and also is an ex-Black Knife Assassin. I'm not sure what all of this means lore wise, and how it all connects but i'm still going through some questlines and reading item descriptions to piece stuff together, but i doubt we'll have any solid answers before any DLC.
Her quest is quite disappointing and it pains me to think and say it. I believe they should've done a lot more with her. Despite being with us for the majority of the journey, her screen time is scarce. I went into the game with my expectation to someday fight a Fire Keeper (equivalent), and at least the FF ending could have included that, being the only way to antagonize her, yet they didn't do it. Something along the lines of Bloodborne's finale was my wish months before the release, anf even though I scaled down my expectations for such a showdown immensely, we got essentially nothing.
I would’ve really loved to see her more involved in the cutscenes of the demigods. Even a small touch like her just shimmering out of the ether to join you watching the sky after killing Radahn would’ve been great and helped to solidify her role as sort of your celestial chaperone.
When I got her interaction after starting on the path of the chaos flame I honestly expected there to be diverging bosses like in Sekiro. I was somewhat disappointed to find that that wasn't the case. Now this makes me think that maybe that was the case at one point.
In case you missed it, Zullie said that Melina has a moveset/combat ai or whatever because she can be summoned against a certain boss, and to make her fight the player you have to hack the game. So it doesn't particularly imply that she was ever planned as a boss, though it's certainly still plausible.
Imagine for this fight when you get the frenzied flame ending, she takes away all your levels and you’re back at deprived with everything at 10. And you can’t use any weapons that need higher stats either.
Previous firekeepers: get killed easily and don't fight back. Melina: actually fights, highly competent. Melina is indeed the top tier waifu among firekeepers.
I find it funny that this "reserved maiden" character could pull of these crazy agile movesets lol, certainly surprised me during her summon. I wonder what kind of weapon she uses, she really reminded me alot of the black knife assassins.
Just to clarify, this is the product of hacking. There's no secret Melina bossfight in the actual game. As for the fight itself, because she's only meant to be a summon, Melina's damage output is extremely low. It's very interesting to see the parallels between her moveset and the Black Knife Assassins though.
hackerCD
Was she a black knife? What about the black knifeprint she drops, did you hack that too?
I didn't even know you can summon Melina for a boss wtf
@@cumpaMira That's just the drop from the boss that's supposed to be there.
@@cumpaMira She's made by Ranni who led the black knives and Godskin Apostles
Just imagine if Melina was the secret final boss of the frenzied flame ending. Just give her poise for her spells and a death themed second phase. It would be amazing
Ladies final boss always fun to fight. I enjoyed Sister Friede so much
@@samuelsulaiman We can only have one Danger-lady per game
more like second phase is her using a sword with a carving saying "maidenless"
Yeah, phase one: Melina, The Kindling Maiden, and phase two, Melina, The Gloam Eyed Queen
That would be great, just like the alternative ending of Sekiro where you have to fight Emma
I summoned Melina just before going in to fight Margot. I was waiting for my brother to set down his sign so we could fight him together, but when I tried to activate his summon, it wouldn't work, I was really confused.
Turns out some poor fool invaded me while I had Melina following me and she obliterated him. Was very fun to watch.
That can happen!? That's beautiful.
Its just that you cant summon people and npcs at the same time, when I summoned shabriri all player signs disappeared
@@northernkantomonkey868 that can’t be true cus I summoned a friend and bullgoat tragoth to fight draconic tree sentinel with me
"Tarnished, stay back. I shall pwn this noob."
@@northernkantomonkey868 i was also summoned with rogier so i think your capping right now, its either a bug or an invader in your world was being a bitch
i'm willing to bet in a version of the frenzied flame path this actually was a boss-fight
Instead, we get a cliffhanger
Well she does tell you that she is going to kill you after u got burned by the three fingers, getting her as a secret bossfight after the elden beast would have been awesome
Honestly I’m not entirely sure considering this moveset is the one for when we summon her for Morgott. But I love the idea. I also love how every single ending could easily lead into a new game. More than any in Souls before.
This is what she says after you approach the Three Fingers:
'You... have inherited the Frenzied Flame. A pity. You are no longer fit. Our journey together ends here. And remember... Should you rise as the Lord of Chaos, I will kill you, as sure as night follows day. Such is my duty, for allowing you the strength of runes. Goodbye, my companion. Goodbye, Torrent...'
I imagine they probably wanted something similar to Emma in Sekiro both being the ""bad"" we're you fight the one most helpful to you
Its really cool that she spawns an Erdtree on death, as she's meant to be a summon so that Erdtree is for you, a last effort to help you against Morgott.
@@Kasaaz Yeah but she does it on death too which is a cool touch
@@QuestionableObject That's what he said :P
@@QuestionableObject Reading not your strong suit eh?
@@2ScoopsPlz ironic
@@LeonV777 Looks like they were replying to someone else, probably a deleted comment (look at the @)
It's such a bummer that she can only be summoned for just ONE boss in the entire game (Morgott). With the presence she has, it really feels like she should be a summon for a lot of story bosses or other demi-gods. Particularly given how Melina is almost DEFINITELY a demi-god herself.
It would have been nice to have been made to fight her if you choose frenzied flame ending. She outright threatens to kill you when you do.
@@pcbangbros8350 but she still hunts you down at the end of the frenzied flame ending
@@mikeyrizo6532 that's why you let her burn herself to death and THEN inherit the flame
This is true for so many npcs.
Storytelling in these games (Eldensoulsborne) just doesn't exist.
There is already summoning, both directions (you summon npc, npc summons you or you invade), we already have phasing and Co-Op areas.
So why not utilize them more? You can help Ranni go through a few levels while she is in your inventory. Why not just summon her for that? Make that level different? Or she summons you?
Even without significantly changing the game, there are a lot of possibilities not utilized whatsoever.
Yes Melina as a Buddy would be a nice addition for the Story imo
Her "death" would be more tragic too
Plus she could tell us some Storys at a Grace from time to time (like Mimir from GoW or Ranni in her Quest as Mini Ranni)
My favorite theory about Melina that I've seen is that she's the one who the Godskins serve. They serve Destined Death, which is integral to Melina's character, who delivers it unto others. She even says she'll do it to you in the Frenzied Flame ending. They also name-drop the person that the Godskins serve in a vague sense: the Dusk-Eyed Queen/Gloam-Eyed Queen. Another fun thing about the Frenzied Flame ending? After she vows to destroy you, Melina opens her previously closed eye... to reveal a dusk-colored eye. Very telling. There's also the fact that, while Melina is tied to the Erdtree (especially seen here with many of her moves), she helps you slay the god of this world. The god of the Erdtree. She's traitorous to the Golden Order, even saying that "My purpose was given to me by my mother. But now, I act of my own volition. I have set my heart upon the world that I would have. Regardless of my mother's designs." Let's also not forget that even the Godskins are shown to have some connection to the Erdtree, from the Noble Set's description: "Nobles are the most ancient apostles who are said to have assimilated inhuman physiology. Not unlike the crucible, the Erdtree in its primordial form." And from the Apostle Set's description: "The apostles, once said to serve Destined Death, are wielders of the god-slaying black flame. But after their defeat by Maliketh, the Black Blade, the source of their power was sealed away." Could the power source that Maliketh sealed away be... Melina's eye? The source of her power, and therefore the source of the Godskins' power?
Melina's such an interesting character and is definitely my favorite. I wish she was more involved in the main story, at least with the demigods. I didn't even realize you could talk to her at some sites of grace until I went to Leyndell for the first time. :(
Theory I had is that Melina as Marika's daughter is attempting to draw out Marika. She desires to kill Marika and reforge the world under her own design, she couldn't defeat Radagaon's golden order by herself hence why she enlists the player character's help. Turning him into an elden lord. What she didn't account for is the player also becoming lord of the moon by marrying Ranni as well as if you so choose, becoming lord of frenzied flame. Now outpowering Melina, she now must use her dusk eye possibly against the player? Also interesting is that Vyke, the character wearing the fingerprint armor on the cover of the game was touched by the 3 fingers. Melina clearly has a strong aversion to the frenzy flame as it can burn the erdtree, the strongest affront to her erdtree derived powers. My theory is that she sealed Vyke in the evergaol as a "backup" to the player, since Vyke atleast partially possessed the power of the three fingers, Melina decided he must not be used as the chosen tarnished. Melina derives her power purely from the erdtree, if she wanted to kill Marika, it would make sense that she would create some form of power to specifically hunt the demigods of the golden order.
Theres a major conflict though, and that's that the gloam eyed queen fought directly against Marika way back when as an almost rival figure... Melina feels too young and frequently brings up her mother as guiding her. Therefore, I think her mother WAS the Gloam Eyed queen, and that she inherited a fraction of her power. It explains why she has only one eye with that weird aura.
It also explains why she wanted to deviate from her mothers plans, realizing that she was just a pawn in a greater plot against the gods.
Theres a chance that maybe Marika in the form of radagon had a child with the gloam eyed queen, it wouldn't be the first time good ol radagons got his weewee wet in a rival force... except i doubt that to an extent.
@@sirrealism7300 I can definitely see Melina being the daughter of the Gloam-Eyed Queen. It might be possible that the queen and the Godskins were simply god-slayers, killing gods just out of spite or in pursuit of power, but Melina might've gone against that because she wants to kill Marika purely to let people choose their own path (not for her own gain). Her severe hatred of the Frenzied Flame might also hint at her disgust of mindless pursuits of power.
It also might be possible that she IS the queen, and her possible battle with Maliketh and sealing of her eye trapped her in her yonger body as part of Destined Death being sealed. It might even be possible that Marika IS Melina's mother, and her going against her Golden Order is what Melina meant about deviating from her mother's chosen path.
@@GenesisJames That tattoo also looks like a beast claw (Maliketh?). While everyone seems to be so focused on tying Melina to Ranni, I aswell are more leaning towards the gloam eyed queen connection. But that also doesn't mean that the gloam eyed queen doesn't have a connection with Ranni aswell since we have no clue about who that Ice Witch really was that Ranni's puppet is build after. Wouldn't surprise me if that is actually the thread that would tie it all together.
@@sirrealism7300 I think you're right on the front that Melina is rebelling against her mother/god's plans but i'm still leaning toward her being Marika's daughter. She's also listed in game id as Marikaofdaughter which I suppose is cheating in terms of lore. I feel like her appearance is somewhat misleading, i'd be surprised if a formal royal assassin didn't know how to change the way they look at least a little bit, especially if she's a demigod. I doubt she'd get a lot of tarnished interested if she appeared at the grace looking like godrick. Interestingly though you can find her knife, the blade of calling and it claims to be owned by the "kindling maiden." So it seems according to the blade, it is her calling to "sacrifice" herself to the fire. Maybe this is why she rebelled? She realized her position as the one to create a new world by burning the erdtree and hates the idea of her elden lord puppet being able to not only steal that destiny from her, but also survive and have the power. In my mind she seems to want to take a similar path to Gwyn from DS1, Using their unique magic to kill the gods and usher in a new age free from their influence with only herself to thank and no one to threaten her power.
In case anyone missed it, you can summon her for Morgott and this is the moveset she uses to help you fight him.
Yeah, I pounded morgott’s face into the pavement with mimic tear str faith build and Melina
Really? Didn't see the summon sign 😕.
@@alessanderturibiopaes5257 If I'm not mistaken it's right before the fog gate
Morgott should have been a more difficult boss fight. Compared to early game Margit, he was too easy to take down. 2x health and 1.5x damage output would have been nice to see.
@@MartinHindenes Yeah but then again, youre supposed to use Melina to help out. I wiped the floor with him by using my bleed+frost twin blades build, the mimic, and Melina.
In her death animation she gifts you one last heal. Even if you don't think she's best girl, give her credit - she's beautifully loyal to you.
Melina, Morgott, and Torrent are my favorite characters. They all fulfill their duty despite what it means for them. Melina has a really pleasant voice too.
@@the_ideal_grease5565 lol you dont know nothing about Ranni. All simp her witouth reason.
idk why they made her so unexpressive, makes you feel no emotions for her
@@the_ideal_grease5565 nah bro, Ranni killed Godwyn in such a gruesome way and he did absolutely nothing wrong
@@Mojavay He sure wasn't freeing the Omen from the sewers or stopping the practice of sawing off their horns as infants, killing most of them. He sure wasn't kind to Those Who Live in Death. Godwyn has a good boy persona to the people who are already treated well by the Golden Order and managed to befriend a dragon after slaughtering many others but make no mistake, he was also the very representation of the order's façade. He was the poster child for the brutally hierarchical, bigoted order that stole away the ability for people to die normally. Even Marika, despite seemingly being upset about his death, said that if her children (Ranni is her child also due to the Radagon/Marika duality) did not strive and succeed to make something of themselves they may as well be sacrifices. And what else could the demigods strive to become but gods themselves? They can't all ascend to godhood. The Greater Will doesn't give a shit and Marika moves on to encourage her other children to forge their own paths. Ranni just happens to not trust and doesn't want to be subservient to the Greater Will, and therefore seeks to unshackle the people from the current order and the gods who govern it, to remove the meddling of the gods and Elden Lord and allow the world to simply exist and develop as it would naturally. Everyone left to determine their own fate instead of it being thrust upon them by the Greater Will and the Golden Order.
When she decides that you’re about to be Maidenless again.
Or when you ditch her for Hyetta.
Ride maiden.
Life good.
Maiden fight back.
KILL MAIDEN.
Maiden gone.
Think about maiden.
Regret.
It's amazing how Melina who is the closest person to you is also the most mysterious. Like she has connection with most of the elements in the story. She has connections with Marika, The Erdtree, Destined Death, the Flame of Frenzy, possibly Ranni? She doesn't have the move set of a regular human NPC, but that of the Blackknives. She also has possession of Torrent who in my theory has connection with the Ancestor Spirits (based on the same double jump abilities). I hope we explore more of Melina if there's more DLC. I don't believe she's dead in the main story.
@@Kamawan0If we go to the spirit world as part of the DLC hopefully we'll see her there, or maybe in the past. I think the DLC will have a few things going on besides the Miquella thing so maybe the past will be one of them
I'd say she even has connection with the Godskins.
@@AManChoosesASlaveObeysshe has connections to the godskins through the gloam eyed queen (who is most likely her or at least related to her)
Her moveset is similar to black knives assasin because she is the GLOAM EYED QUEEN who once delivered destined death in the lands between until she was defeated by the maliketh and the destined death was sealed away...thats why we can see her burnt all over the body because she was betrayed by her own followers
Spoiler
She's not dead. She has a cutscene at the end of the flame of frenzy ending, so we know that she's alive.
I honestly think she's the most interesting NPC in the game due to her mysterious background and the fact she uses a dagger to fight like an Assassin. Watched videos of people pointing out the marking on her left eye is similar to the madness symbol when you use the spell.
Very possible she was afflicted with Madness to an extent. The marking around her eye is a dead ringer for the rune
I haven't gotten that far into the game yet, but she had a bit of dialogue at one of the grace points in Limgrave about her mother in the Erdtree, and I remember Marika was being held captive in the Erdtree.
So I'm assuming she's related to Marika somehow, but could be thinking too hard about it.
another thing is her left eye is closed, and Ranni's right eye is closed. Maybe they have some sort of connection?
Her and ranni. Both intriguing characters
She’s 100% connected to the Three Fingers in some way.
She immediately leaves you when she finds out you’re siding with them, and even threatens to kill you for it.
Even if you use the Alloyed Needle and revert back to another path, leaving Melina alive, she’s still missing and doesn’t show up even after the end of the game, which makes me think she’s somehow connected to one of the Outer Gods (Like Shabriri that possesses Yura or the God of Rot that possesses Gowry)
or she is an Outer God but physically manifested. From what we can tell Outer Gods like to manipulate us into doing what works best for them, like the Frenzied Flame ending basically putting Shabriri’s will over reality.
I’m pretty sure Melina is going to follow this pattern, only her (proper) ending is going to be in a DLC.
Pretty cool! With minor tweaks this could very well serve as a secret frenzied flame third phase of the final boss id say. Would make that threat more direct in that she would rather join the greater will than to allow chaos to be unleashed.
I think we might get DLC for that ending. Maybe all endings have DLC coming for them, but frenzied flame definetly was left with cliffhanger.
Yeah, you should have either had to fight her in the sewers when you make the move to enter the 3 fingers zone, or on the forge when you go to use the frenzied flame. Would've been better than just a threat and then wandering off.
I would have taken this over Elden Beast for sure.
@@elizabethk8718 there is a way in game to remove the frenzied flame from the character, so it strikes me as origionally it was intended for the player to be able to "save" melina by doing the frenzied flame up until the burning, then "curing" yourself
by placing melina as a fight before that moment it prevent you from saving her, which feels like the intention
to me it seems far more like the content that was cut (or which will be added as dlc) is what she does if you follow this path and save her
@@gregsmw W...why, even given the choice; would you ever get rid of the friendly flame!? EMBRACE THE MADNESS!
I definitely hope DLC delivers on the Melina storyline. She feels so important, but so underdeveloped. Shabriri himself asks you to save Melina by burning yourself instead. Melina leaves you for it, but even after doing the complicated process of taming the Frenzied Flame. Nothing. No extra cutscenes or anything. You can just do the other endings now
I went out of my way to complete Melina's questline before accepting the frenzied flame and there wasn't any change she still left me.
Shabriri scams your goodwill by saying it's for her good when it's just to have the Frenzied Flame win over the Elden Beast.
@@knavenformed9436 in the current game it definitely seems that way, but when looking at cut content it definitely seems like Melina and taming the frenzy flame was a different ending
@@manfellafellaman
Cut content doesn't affect game canon even if Elden Ring is a very patchy game.
If that content ever gets into the game then sure, but now I can only go with what is in the game.
I'd prefer they add a greater reason to defeating Melania first to obtain Miquella's Needle, it nullifies the Frenzied Flame Ending but allows you to save Melina without causing the ending.
Perhaps if you did it this way Melina could help you fight Radagon and the Elden Beast as one additional summon, like saving Solaire in Dark Souls 1 allowed.
I remember data miners going wild early on from seeing Melina's quotes from the Frenzied Flame route, and they saw she had combat data as well and assumed she must be the final boss of the Frenzied Flame ending.
Then it turned out that a lot of her lines were just her quoting Marika. Miyazaki trolled us there.
she had combat data because you can summon her for Morggot
data miners truly ruin everything they touch
Tbf, doesn't she literally tell you she'll try and stop you if you try to frenzy flame the planet? I thought that was confirmation she was a secret boss until this video told me she isn't, it's weird that they'd seed it and not pay it off
@@squeemlives Presumably she knows that by the time you're walking up to the Erdtree with the Frenzied Flame, you're too powerful for her to take on, but she does appear to survive the maddening of the world in the ending cutscene, and vows to find you and bring you Destined Death.
Yeah, you can absolutely tell she's meant to be a supportive summon.
She doesn't do a lot of damage, but she has plenty of attacks that can easily hit, particularly a large boss, which allows her to draw aggro away from you, she always opens with the healing tree as well as force one last tree out on defeat really just seals it. Gotta admit, I regret not bringing her in the Morgott fight now, since I thought I'd bring her on round two but just barely beat him first try.
Though, if she would be a hidden boss they'd need to either have you fight her alongside somebody else, or up her damage and maybe instead make the tree radiate damage or some status buildup.
Her jump to dodge your attack at 0:45 was so fluid
Melina makes me fluid
To my knowledge, she's the only one that can spawn an erdtree for healing.
It would have been cool to get an incantation like this. Like an enhanced/upgraded version of Hallowed Ground.
I assume Fromsoft will add it in as a high level spell, or unique weapon art in a DLC.
Planting your weapon into the ground and having it grow into an erdtree would be epic as fuck and also as an easter egg for mythology nerds a nod to Greek myth.
@@Gstrangeman96 Use the Cragblade ash of war animation, but instead of pulling rocks on the blade, it sprouts a mini erdtree.
It would give off some really cool King Arthur or World Tree vibes.
Morgott can spawn a tree for healing as well.
Edit: I realize now that that was Melina who I had summoned for one of my attempts that made the tree. Never mind lol.
It'd be so cool if we got her incant or any of maggies weapon incants
@@Gstrangeman96 I thought it was more Norse with the fire giants and how the roots of the erdtree sprout to all locations like ygdrasil connecting the realms
She's got more moves than Alecto, bordering on Maliketh's moveset, which is pretty interesting. Also the ranged attacks have the animation and shape of Destined Death attacks which are usually red, but here are yellow instead, appearing to be normal miracles, just ones that look identical to the Destined Death attacks
yeah, same powers, but recolored.
Her blade is also the same shape as a black knife.
@@TonkarzOfSolSystembruh alecto is the hardest boss
The movesets in this game are so gorgeous. I love how you can literally see the years of influence from the prior games and how they’ve refined everything. It’s like nostalgia but better
I adore the way that exploding moon spell is casted, its so graceful
What I find interesting is not only where you find her knife, but the officials outfit you find there (as well as being part of the bloodsoaked masked and gauntlets, which you find underneath the capital, are in the same item ID grouping in the game files). This suggests that Melina may have either been an official at some point and was heavily injured or disfigured (the burns and scaring on her hands always being the tell) while performing "grim tasks" for the Erdtree Pantheon, or was always under surveillance as being a particular individual of interest by those who knew more about who or what she was.
"Official's attire"
"Grubby blue robe worn by magisterial officials to carry out their grim tasks.
Surveillance, executions, gruesome rituals... The darkest duties drive the wheels of mankind."
(This robe is also an altered version of the Marais Robes, its also in the same item ID group in the game files, and has a description reading that they were both executioners and castellans of the Shaded Castle)
That would be cool if they allowed you to use her outfit
So she was following orders all along? Or maybe she can't stand them anymore so that she betrayed them and help us
You don't find Melina's outfit in Leyndell. You find Melina's outfit just before the fight with Malenia, in the Haligtree. The set is called Traveler's Set, and is worn by both Melina and Millicent in the game.
What weapon is she holding?
@@DegenerateHour blade of calling, a dagger that has faith scaling and an unique skill
The fact that her last effort before dying is to give you a healing tree is quite sweet
I really hope they elaborate on her story in the DLC, she's one of the biggest mysteries in the game and there's really not enough lore to come up with a satisfying explanation
Melina: *Throws a spell*
Ranni: "Only a miracle user deals with absolute"
Ranni: "I will do what I must"
Melina: *Do backflip and cast a tree*
Melina: "You will try"
I understood that reference
@@eetfuk3571 i dont pls explain
@@filipepereira1204 Star Wars, "Only a Sith deals with absolutes!"
@@filipepereira1204 Star ward dialogue. "Only a Sith deals in absolutes"
I was really expecting her to be a secret boss fight for the Flame of Frenzy ending, but she got relegated to a cutscene instead. It's crazy her moveset is so fleshed out when she's only a summon for one fight.
"You've called me maidenless for the last time, Melina."
If you want her knife, you have to take the elevetor that leads to the Mountain top, face southwest, and drop onto the ledge when you see.
You'll net the Official's Robes and the knife Melina uses. It uses the same animations as the Black Knife, but deals holy damage and shoots holy projectiles instead.
Black knife also deals 100% holy damage FYI
@@HLGViper well, not 100% percent holy damage on either, however the beam the skill fires does different things.
Blade of calling
Melina and Ranni fighting over the position of Elden Ring's best -girl- *maiden*
Melina can be our Maiden
because Ranni is our Wife
It’s really cool that as a spirit summon in the event that she would die she casts the healing tree one more time for the tarnished to heal. Most useful spirit in the game.
Bernahl:
0:45 that jump to dodge the attack, wow
ai is really nuts in this game
I imagine they would make her have more movesets if she happens to become a boss in future patch/dlc.
At least for being an important character. I remember summoning her for Morgott, quite fun
this is a very bad assumption.
Its actually her just her move-set for the Margott's boss fight where you can summon her.
@@zkull9982 It may not be, if you go for the Lord of Frenzy ending you actually see her eye become unsealed as she makes it her goal to give you "destined death", yes this move set is for her as a summon, but the idea of a DLC/patch added boss isn't impossible.
Yeah that is what I literally said in the last sentence.
I am saying for a possibility of a boss version
@@blackjet2000 Yeah I was responding to the guy who said your assumption was bad. lol
I love her fight style like the black knife assassin as you said. Definitely dope
So interesting to see just how similar she is to a black knife assassin, even her weapon is essentially an uncorrupted/untouched by the rune of death version of the Black Knife
Her weapon is Blade of Calling, you can jump to a hidden path while on the elevator to the forbidden lands, which leads to a room with it inside.
Kinda like the way you find Midirs boss room in ds3
@@gbaldwin4169 literally all secre rooms in elevators are like this
She would've been really cool as a secret final boss for the 'Frenzied Flame' ending.
You can actually get Melina's weapon, The "Blade of Calling." It's ridiculously well hidden, but very easy to get. Its description even gives some hints about Melina.
What's interesting is that the Blade of Calling has the same shape of the Black Knife Blades. The only difference is that it isn't warped by the power of death like the Black Knives are. Their special attacks are even the same. You do the acrobatic leap into the air and then fire golden erdtree energy (Blade of Calling) or the death rune energy (Black Knife). It's likely the Blade of Calling is/was what the Black Knives were before they were infused with death.
My guess is the answer to her backstory lies in the origins of the Black Knives. We only know vague bits of lore, really only the "whos" and the "whats" but none of the "whys."
where do I get it?
@@philliphelmut1077 on the lift down from Leyndell to Forbidden Land, there is a section near the end, hop in it before the lift goes all the way down.
Unfortunately it only gets that buff when doing the special move like the assassin dagger, but it has better dmg for a pure faith build.
Always double check your elevator shafts guys!
Edit: also agree on the theory. Was my thinking exactly
Maybe Black Knife Tiche and Melina are the same person, and one of the two identiies is merely a pseudonym.
@@seedmole
I highly doubt that. Ashes tend to be individuals that have already passed on with Latenna being the only exception I know of. More likely the theory she's connected to Ranni in some way holds more ground, both of their eyes being the most obvious clue. On top of that though there's a lot of other hints, Ranni having four arms could be another sign that she's not just one entity, From D and Radagon we know that it's possible for multiple people to share a body or soul, Ranni is a soul without a body, and was the mastermind behind the Night of Black Knives. There's too many coincidences around Ranni and Melina to let that thread go in favor of a much weaker thread. Perhaps Melina is an avatar of Ranni and she did get her hands more dirty than we thought that night, lord knows she's willing...
If I remember correctly, when the Closed Network Test demo files were datamined, there were dialogue and other clues that made people speculate if Melina would be a boss, even the final one of the game. Now seeing how, let's say, colorful they coded her battle AI and move set, regardless of her role as a NPC summon, it makes me wonder if From originally had planned to her a more antagonistic twist in the story but scrapped that idea eventually.
I mean she straight up says she'll be back to kill you when you take the Frenzied Flame. Many of us were hoping she would be the "true" final boss of that route given that dialogue.
Most of her moves are copied from the Black Knife Assassins, not created specifically for her.
@@Corvus7159 She probably was at one point, shame fromsoft are so good at cutting content and dropping ideas. I still want my archstone of giants :/
Most prolly dlc boss
This is just a reskinned version of the actual boss here
Reading through some of these theories. Unless they changed it from the network test, Melina was named “DaughterofMarika” internally.
How she fits into everything else is still a total mystery. I think it’s interesting she doesn’t have Radagon’s red hair (every one of his kids does). She’s also never mentioned along with the other Demigod children. She doesn’t seem like a child of Godfrey either. I wonder if she’s some sort of offshoot of Marika made after the shattering to find a tarnished. She does leave you for a while to figure out her “purpose”. Her dialogue about being “bodiless” is weird. I wonder if it’s a mistranslation.
Also, vykes story is that he was the closest tarnished to becoming lord but tried to claim the flame of frenzy to save his maiden.
Vyke more than likely killed his own maiden, since her dead body is there in the church where you fight him.
Doesn't she mention that her body is at the base of the Erdtree, and burned in some way? Working my way through Lyndell so far, so maybe she brings up more later.
Melina isnt mentioned because Ranni and Melina are the same person. Ranni stole a fragment of the Rune of Death from Maliketh and created the Black Knives(who killed Godwyn) and also let slay her own Empyrean flesh, removing her from the influence of the Two Fingers. She didnt want to succeed Queen Marika, so she "split" herself from it. Notice the closed eyes of these characters, Ranni has the left eye, Melina has the right with similar markings around the closed eyes. Theyre basically twin sisters! Theyre both spirits, hence her "bodiless" remark.
@@Luxorcist Is this factual? Or is it a theory? Cuz i really wanna knwo
@@ab-constant9564 its speculative at this point. There are some inconsistencies in what i mentioned but we are still trying to fit all the pieces together. It sure does look like it might be something similar. If Melina is the daughter of Marika, and Ranni is the daughter of Radagon, and Marika and Radagon are the same person… you see where this is going lol
I had no idea that she helps you in the Morgott fight till my second playthru… I hope there’s DLC and she’s a final boss if you chose the flame of frenzy ending
that would never happen but would be cool
Yeah I was just thinking. If you choose Frenzied Flame ending she mentions that she'll be back to kill you later. Maybe she should be the secret final boss. Kinda like how Emma was in the Sekiro ashura ending.
Edit: Autocorrect is stupid
@@isaacschwartz1257 god I loved Selkirk 😍😍
@@PapaTheJ fromsoft/Star Trek collab???????
Reading the word “DLC” today in Elden Ring makes my heart beat in joy for that possibility Thank you for your comment.
I believe that we where supposed to be able to cast that Erdtree spell as well. In the game files there was a cut Prayerbook called the Erdtree Codex, and I'm willing to bet that this spell would have been in it
1:45 Good job, now you are maidenless again.
Melina is definitely going to be a fully fledged boss on a dlc, since the frenzied flame cliffhanger (even if it's just cut content) is TOO GOOD to just be left at that
I think the reason her moveset is so similar to the black knives is because she's using the blade of calling. It has a near identical ability and a similar shape. The black knife said it was reshaped by the rune of death. So the assassins origins could have some connections to Melina's origins.
0:10 The erdtree of light in the middle of the chapel looks gorgeous
It's cool that we got to see Zullie the Witch's moveset too. There's something very telling on how different people approach the micro in a bossfight, very cool.
I was helping my friend in lyndell yesterday and learned she's a summanble NPC for the main lord there. She used the blade of calling and was an absolute badass. Reading the description for the weapon is super interesting. Love finding new shit like that in this game
her fighting style does tell you she is one of the black knifes who killed godwyn
I had the honor to summon her when fighting Morgott af Capital. Her moves is basically like Tiche. They both take 90% of the aggro throughout the fight.
One of the best NPC summons I’ve used so far
Yeah, her buffs and moveset alone had her 1v1 Morgott. I barely did anything and practically watched it like an anime fight scene.
because she’s the Gloam eyes Queen. and all the dialogue hints she felt bad for causing the shattering and wants to right her wrongs. hell maybe godwyn the gold was about to become the lord of chaos and instead she killed him. thus making her vow.
wait WHAT??? She was summonable for that fight? where was her sign I never saw any!
@@femto7579 that's just a theory as far as I know
@@vir6487 just near the boss gate, you might have missed it because you need to use a rune arc for her to be summonable
I love these. Keep it up. Can't wait to see some of your code deep dive videos that reveal interesting tid bits about the lore.
you can actually get melina's dagger and it's basically just a slightly weaker version of the black knife. Which is super interesting lore wise
I remember people posting videos of her animations after data mining the CNT and saying she was a boss, I guess they didn’t expect a summon to be this good lol
The moves and environment destruction are just amazing in this game. What a work of art.
Imagine you became lord of frenzied flame, you defeated Miquella's followers and then Melina appears as adversary after Needle knight Leda dies.
I never summoned her for Morgott and wow, her move set is incredible!
but damage output is trash
@@vindicator879 Good thing mine isn’t 😉
I feel like when FromSoft designed Ranni their thoughts were something along the lines of "Let's give Zullie an extra cool witch costume this time."
Congratulations, you unmaidened yourself.
Lot of those moves seem really similar to the black knives you fight. She has lunging thrust attack and only the other bits of their kit, even has slam they do, just without the aoe. Only thing she doesn't have from their kit is the grab attack. Yeah I'm pretty sure she has black knife moveset with miracles tagged on. Possible lore implication that all the black knives were maidens maybe.
The black knives were confirmed to be all female, dunno what connection they'd have to finger maidens though. Melina isn't a finger maiden, her words to you are that "She'll play the role of a maiden." She's not a maiden but she can act the part, (Thus we are still maidenless through the whole game). That's not to say them being maidens isn't possible, just that there's not as much a connection there as you think.
Their armor set links them to being in Marika's graces as it appears that they "share" a relation as Numens.
This could also mean that Melina is a Numen as well since she embodies similar fighting styles to the Black Knives Assassins as well.
But this also implicates her being under the will of Marika since she says that she was born inside the Erdtree.
@@sparxskywriter2589 Melina and Ranni are the same person. Ranni didnt want to succeed queen Marika so she created the Black Knives(who killed Godwyn) and let her slay her own Empyrean flesh. She quite literally "split" herself from the influence of the Two Fingers so she could usher in the Age of Stars. It was Rannis goal from the beginning.
@@Luxorcist ??
Black Knives are all from a race called Numen who came from outside The Lands Between, it's rumored Marika has close ties to these Numen. Not really sure where you got the idea that Ranni created the Black Knives.
@@RuthwikRao got it mate, thanks
That tree incantation she uses is super cool, though I've no idea if it's actually in the game or not
you can summon her for the boss before the finalboss. Does anyone know if she has the same moveset there?
I don’t believe it is after looking at the wiki which is disappointing. It would be really great to have a spell similar to warmth from the souls games for summon healing.
She has it if you summon her for the morgott fight. Or do you mean if its player acquireable?
@@thesilverwalnut3314 We already have warmth as a craftable item (warming stone) which uses a bit of fp but is well worth the passive heal out of combat or even in combat depending on your role (support)
@@mt2r-music she does
*summons erdtree with her dying breath
That’s actually pretty heartbreaking 😔
0:58 im in love with the incantation she uses here, its like a golden version of the giant plant one. Such a shame we cant use none of them
Sorcerer can. Spell you can lern from Selene after her questline ended
@@sinisterwombat3128 no lol that's founding rain of stars it's not the same thing
@@sinisterwombat3128 You're thinking of Shard Spiral, which unlocks upon completion of her quest (which is strange, since it's a fairly basic spell). To your credit, though, she does use Founding Rain of Stars in the final battle. And in case anyone's wondering, FRoS is found in a chest in Mountaintops of the Giants
We can’t use any of them, not none of them. Grammar is important.
@@SirQuantization no it isnt
I remember back during the big datamine her moveset was recovered, everyone thought she was going to be the big final boss.
Melina actually helped out a decent bit in that Morgot fight.
Seeing her movelist in the fight, I was surprised that she WASN’T also a boss somewhere later in the game.
I'm sure it's been mentioned already, but she shares most of her moves with the Black Knife Assassin boss (hence this video taking place in the same room). There's definitely some sort of connection there, 'cause you can find her dagger (Blade of Calling), and it's quite clearly an un-death'd version of the Black Knife. They're even put next to each other in the menu sorting.
I imagine they probably wanted something similar to Emma and her boss fight in Sekiro both being the ""bad"" end and were you fight the one most helpful to you/ the one who guided you
I wish Melina appears at every grace you sit and summonable at every demigod/remembrance boss.
Huh, that does work surprisingly well. Just make her two shot you with her attacks and she'd fit right in as an endgame boss. Perhaps as a final fight before the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending.
You need to level Vigor and get better armor. I can take five shots from Malenia in a row and I'm not even the "recommended level".
@@chrismanuel9768 Yeah, sure.. level vigor so you get 2 shot instead of 1 shot. lol
Also put a delay on every one of her attacks then she'd fit in with all the endgame bosses
Im sorta into the idea that Melina is some powerful being, that is temporarily dead, that works alongside some other order unknown to everyone else in the world. I mean her moveset is almost similar to Black Knife Assassins, she loathes the idea of you becoming the Frenzied Flame Lord, but for some reason is intent on sacrificing herself to help you become any lord besides Frenzied Flame. For some reason, she gives me Gael vibes and that she is somehow the true final boss of Elden Ring, that when all the gods, demigods, lords and other powerful beings fall, she would be the last maiden that stands between you and the future Elden Lords.
Man i love the move on 0:26 when she jumps and twirls casting the slash atrack. So fluid
damn, the first souls game where you can summon your level up waifu to fight alongside you. Elden Ring truly is a 10/10
she almost has the same move set as the black knife assassins and the fact she wields the counterpart dagger to the black knife the assassins (blade of culling) makes it even more fascinating! As if she was one of the assassins who turned good, or she was part of the order created to hunt them down.
She's the Gloam-Eyed Queen smh
small correction, it's the blade of cAlling. And another comment suggests a really interesting idea that the Blade of Calling could be what the black knives were before they were corrupted by the rune of death.
@@HijoDeDios999 Theres barely any evidence of that.
@@darthkenobi6726 Other than her appearing with a literal Gloaming eye and using Destined Death once again? Ok buddy
With the context of the DLC, it's very interesting that she can attack with orbital lasers like Miquella can
She dodged and reacted to your moonlight abilities, she just doesn't have a moveset she has a full on AI system for a fight.
She's summonable for a boss fight.
That also caught my interest. She jumpes through the throwables. But I think that jump move is implemented to make her jump over morgott's throwing knives
@@acommoncommenter9364 That's a possibility just was weird seeing it so well synced with "That Particular Weapon" considered what must he done to acquire it
@@anidiot9831 The boss doesn't use a MLGS. If you ever play with Cheat Engine and drop random enemies to fight each other you'll often fond it turns into a stand face to face and swing it out because they are not programed to deal with eachothers movesets. She full on reacted to both a swing the follow up buff and jumped the magic ability. That's very strange considering in games she's not intended to ever face that as an obstacle
When I first finished the game with the evil ending and watched her ending dialogue I was under the impression that there would actually be a boss fight against her in that ending. Alas I was wrong but still cool to see her summoned moveset in boss form.
I assumed she'd be a boss fight similar to Emma in Sekiro.
Maybe Miyazaki read that and said fuck you all and cut that content to fuck with us lol
Truly maidenless behavior.
Oh, wow. It's super cool to see her moveset. I was wondering if From had planned to make her a boss in the Frenzied Flame ending
Edit: oh, snap she's a summon for Margott?! Mind blown
Given that there's the "flame of madness" ending, where Melina says she will kill you if you become the lord of chaos, they really should put her in as a boss.
Bro decided that being maidenless wasn't so bad, so he took matters I to his own hands lol
Is that healing tree spell usable in game? It's so beautiful
Hey Zullie! I know you like to play around with the game and its files. I found a very interesting hole in the geometry under the water in the center of the 6 divine towers with the flying horse glitch earlier. Im curious as to if its cut content or maybe future development space, who knows!
And of course her version of the Blade of Calling is much more awesome than the one we get to use.
Zullie, I very much admire your attention to detail, and I very much enjoy your videos. I've always had the notion that humans should commit themselves into having a very meaningful role in the society in which they live, whether they wire buildings for power, teach children and or adults, provide jobs, provide mental help, anything that requires a sacrifice of time or resources to help another. You sir, provide me with very detailed analysis of games that my busy life simply does not have the time for. Thank you, and don't ever let anyone tell you that RUclips'rs and streamers aren't a meaningful path in life. They likely speak from jealousy because they grew up in an environment where gamers were not accepted. Keep em coming my friend 👍
I wouldn't be surprised if, at one time, Melina was meant to be a boss encounter. The Frenzied Flame ending does imply she is going to hunt you down, so I was wondering if it were originally going to be like Gehrman/Moon Presence, or Shura ending Sekiro, where you fought Emma then Isshin as unique bosses.
Or, if they have plans for DLCs, she could appear there. I'd not really mind it, because I loved her moveset in Morgott's duel. Even though I don't use summons much, due to how trivial they make most Soulborne bosses, I absolutely summoned her for Morgott, due to how wonderful her moveset is and how thematic it is for her to fight with you one last time.
I would be, especially because it's in an ending. Endings never effect the gameplay even if you continue to play after them, it's not cannon that they happened. And even in a DLC I'd doubt that it would happen in such context. From Soft just loves not doing anything with endings, any ending from literally any FS game only implies things, and those things never get touched upon ever again. As well as only the main ending ever being cannon in following games
@@ElectricNox which is the main ending of elden ring? Age of fracture (Elden Lord) or age of stars (ranni)?
@@defaulter264 I don't know why you specifically list these two, but the age of fracture one
@@ElectricNox because age of stars is the most common ending to get, according to steam; while age of fracture is the basic/normal ending
@@defaulter264 Yeah, because everyone is obsessed with Ranni
Everyone where talking about fighting her as a boss but I got an even better idea
Someone please make a mod where we can play as her with this exact moveset
Ranni and Melina fighting over the Tarnished. Nice
If I had to take a wild guess, this would have something to do with the Chaos ending, where she tells you that "Should you become Elden Lord, I will come and kill you, just like night comes to day" or something of the sort. Since I have not finished the game, I do not know if she has any interaction with you during the ending cutscene. (I also do not wish to know, until I end the game myself)
Regardless this is fantastic to see and I wish it was a fight for this ending.
Another note: Her damage was possibly kept low for testing purposes. The devs possibly needed to test out her moveset and AI without having to repeatedly deal with death or other things, and possibly never got to the damage balancing stage.
Still a better wizard duel than Harry vs Voldemort
I'm sure we'll see her return as a fight in DLC, I'd love to get that sword and an incantation of functioning version of the tree or her rain down skill (similar to the plant enemies skill).
The sword is in the game. It's in a secret passage on the elevator ride down to the forbidden lands. Think of how to get to Midir in Ds3.
She’s going to be a huge part of some DLC in the future, as hinted at in the Frenzied Flame quest line.
I can only imagine what her connections are to the Erdtree, the Black Knives, and Morgott. (He’s the only boss we can summon her for)
Well her connection to the Erdtree is her mother wanted her to burn it, she says that much...to the black knives it could be her possible connection to Ranni, as she was the mastermind behind them. Perhaps Ranni is Melina, or MADE Melina? It would make sense for Ranni to want her to burn the tree so she could perform her ending, and if she is Ranni herself, perhaps her "mother" was Marika who wanted her to burn the tree down, since Marika was having a bit of a crisis and shattered the Elden Ring herself out of the great despair she felt. Morgott is just generally tied to all the demigods as he was the king of Leyndell and effectively guarding the Erdtree, so Melina would have to get past him just like we did if she was gonna burn it.
@@sparxskywriter2589 Why does she create minor Erdtrees and only use holy magic if she doesn't have a greater connection to the Erdtree/The Elden Ring than just "her mom"? Who is her mom really? It couldn't be Ranni as she was never IN the Erdtree. We know this because we're told by Morgott that all Demigods were locked OUT of the Erdtree. Marika is also not a very reliable answer, as we find out later on in the game that Marika is actually just Radagon (or the other way around?), so who could have given birth to Melina in the Erdtree?
Does "she" really want to burn the Erdtree, or is an outside force manipulating her into that path? Like the Outer Gods, with Shabriri manipulating Yura and the Rot God manipulating Gowry.
Continuing that, if her whole goal is really to "burn the Erdtree" then why does she get upset at you for saving her life and offering yourself to burn it instead? The tree still gets burned so why is she threatening us for doing what she wanted, while also saving her life, if not for having an ulterior motive that we're not seeing?
I'm almost positive that Melina is an Outer God, possessing an offspring of Marika, and is using that disguise as a way to use us to get them to the Erdtree, to somehow insert themselves into the Elden Ring, or to become an Elden Lord, or to aquire an Great Rune, or impose their will on reality or something along those lines.
Either that, or she is actually a Tarnished, who, like us, is seeking the power of the Elden Ring and Greater Runes for herself, but she knows something that we don't and isn't telling us.
Also just because i forgot to mention, The Black Knives are an all female group of assassins so there's a huge possibility that she is both Marika's Daughter and also is an ex-Black Knife Assassin. I'm not sure what all of this means lore wise, and how it all connects but i'm still going through some questlines and reading item descriptions to piece stuff together, but i doubt we'll have any solid answers before any DLC.
@@sparxskywriter2589 Ranni was Renna. Ranni is a doll, a soul of Renna in a doll. The reason for that is she gave up her physical form.
@@DanteEhome u got it switched. Renna is the doll Ranni is the soul
@nicro Says who? You?
She's gonna have to bring more than that if she wants to kill the Elden Lord of Frenzied Flame.
Her quest is quite disappointing and it pains me to think and say it. I believe they should've done a lot more with her. Despite being with us for the majority of the journey, her screen time is scarce.
I went into the game with my expectation to someday fight a Fire Keeper (equivalent), and at least the FF ending could have included that, being the only way to antagonize her, yet they didn't do it.
Something along the lines of Bloodborne's finale was my wish months before the release, anf even though I scaled down my expectations for such a showdown immensely, we got essentially nothing.
I would’ve really loved to see her more involved in the cutscenes of the demigods. Even a small touch like her just shimmering out of the ether to join you watching the sky after killing Radahn would’ve been great and helped to solidify her role as sort of your celestial chaperone.
When I got her interaction after starting on the path of the chaos flame I honestly expected there to be diverging bosses like in Sekiro. I was somewhat disappointed to find that that wasn't the case. Now this makes me think that maybe that was the case at one point.
In case you missed it, Zullie said that Melina has a moveset/combat ai or whatever because she can be summoned against a certain boss, and to make her fight the player you have to hack the game. So it doesn't particularly imply that she was ever planned as a boss, though it's certainly still plausible.
Ofc she does, shes a fantom to summon lol
Imagine for this fight when you get the frenzied flame ending, she takes away all your levels and you’re back at deprived with everything at 10. And you can’t use any weapons that need higher stats either.
She leaves the power to level with you once you get the frenzied flame, it's not her ability.
@@A_328FL it was a hypothetical.
Previous firekeepers: get killed easily and don't fight back.
Melina: actually fights, highly competent.
Melina is indeed the top tier waifu among firekeepers.
Hey don’t discount Emma here, she gave me a shit ton of trouble on shura route
Melina isn't a fire keeper
@@darthkenobi6726 Sure, buddy. And the enemies don't give souls 😂
@@bare_bear_hands They don't.
She has a moveset because she helps you to kill morgott
This is the closest we'll get to an Elden Ring sequel if the frenzied flame ending was canon
I find it funny that this "reserved maiden" character could pull of these crazy agile movesets lol, certainly surprised me during her summon. I wonder what kind of weapon she uses, she really reminded me alot of the black knife assassins.
She uses an obtainable weapon, Blade of Calling. Basically the black knife with holy effects.
your videos not only entertain, but they also educate!
Notification gang going so hard
What does that tree attack actually accomplish? I could never figure that out during the fight.
healing aura