Melina Isn't Real

[@ducktes]

Discord gang! Love your way of telling and pacing.

[@ducktes]

@@angelcm1561!

[@stan_lightning]

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[@KittyLou44]

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[@mabelwantstodie6247]

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[@phinicebear6781]

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[@dariondukes8752]

9:04 "Share them with me, your thoughts" asking that of a derp faced albernauric clad in gold makes me giggle 😂

[@MrPapamaci88]

Would be funnier with a character cosplaying as the Great Caca Consumer. Would be even funnier than that if she then recoiled from the touch. 😆

[@BrassPetals3Voices]

One thing that occurred to me is that Melina *is* the flame of ambition, and it is her that Morgott is referring to as needing to be extinguished for emboldening us to take her path. He no doubt knew about her being with us having recognized the signs just as Renna did. She showed her ambition to us clearly in her determination to burn the tree (even going so far in a personal theory to kill other finger maidens to make sure that happened), and referred to herself as the flame we walk alongside. Ultimately it’s why she is the one to help us fight Morgott I think. He was probably expecting it, as was she.

[@erin1569]

I'll still stay strong on my hypothesis that Melina is Messmyr's female counterpart like Miquella/st. Trina and Marika/Radagon. They even have the same eye closed.

[@pedromaciel2751]

And the two got burned

[@Fiveward]

It's crazy how few people are saying this. I had that hypothesis immediately upon seeing messmers eye

[@tajdaffa1526]

I believe Melina is another Marika's child, but the way she born is the same just like Milicent was born, and Melina born right when the elden ring were shattered, before Radagon tried to repair it

[@Fiveward]

I thought it was confirmed Melina is a direct descendant of Marika

[@stakesishigh516]

Same here. I’m riding with this theory and her being the Gloam Eyed Queen until we’re proven wrong. Hopefully, there’s a big connection with Melina, Messmer, and Farum Azula. There has to be a reason that you get spirited there after she burns herself and the Erdtree.

[@absenz]

When we talk Melina: There is a Video from a few hours ago Named "Miquella is Melina" by a Guy named Timdiggity. Really guys watch this. You read the title and think fuck no but it makes so much sense its scary!

[@thewritermichaelis200]

YES! I was just thinking the same thing bro

[@thewritermichaelis200]

It’s a really good watch would def recommend

[@ladooshka]

Same. Just watched it right before this video. It does make sense. What if this theory is not a theory but true.

[@thelastbosss5378]

It's a great video

[@thekraken4886]

Timdiggity

[@danben6956]

11:43 RANNI, It was Ranni She stole the fragments of the rune of death and that explains the similarities between both of them Melina and Ranni

[@yunkinto]

I never realized melinas facetat was so detailed, it looks like a dragon leg/arm with armor on it or also similar to serosh‘s claws

[@exquisitedoomlapointe185]

I never considered that the ash in leyndell could be from the shadow tree. That rearranges so many events. Interesting stuff.

[@321LANParty]

Maybe the Gloam Eyed Queen’s original ambition was to burn the Erdtree (the original sin) or maybe protect the Crucible Tree. Through whatever means a Tree was burned and the current Erdtree stands. Perhaps a self sacrifice of her flesh or as a punishment to be burned with her own flame, the Gloam Eyed Queen is left without body. Marika kept her spirit for her own machinations, summoning Melina at the foot of the Erdtree and wiping her memories as you said. We’ve seen before how Marika will take an enemy and repurpose them (the Fire Giant, trolls, and the Golden Order’s philosophy on heresy). Perhaps the Shadow Tree is that which Melina was truly ambitious towards (either as a protector or enemy)

[@dylans8793]

Maybe the gloam eyed queen is melinas mother?

[@darkbornelines4587]

Dude just how many "biggest" mysteries does this damn game have

[@CallMeConCon]

Its a big game, im still making my character

[@dbfzato-1327]

the albernuric head really undermines the weight of the cut scenes i love it lol 9:44 i think she is eluding to the fact she gonna kill you if you get the freinzed flame ending, its about that point you can get it and she warns you as your about to take on the flame she will hunt you down, even with the eye shut i think by that point she knows who she is fully, she seems faster in the way she talks more confident one thing i don't understand is how she survives and plans to hunt us down, tbh i thought we died as well burned it all down, my head was fire lol was the first ending i got lol melina dint warn me as she left n i dint fight morgott yet lmao

[@Doughstroy0218]

Ya know i always suspected she had something to with the black knives with that movement but never dived deeper into her story 😅

[@exquisitedoomlapointe185]

Perhaps it comes from before the black knives "guild" per se was created. Like she could date as far back as before the numen became Nox.

[@thaiexodus2916]

One thing that needs to be mentioned. The Lands Between. JRR Tolkien borrowed the same theme, Middle Earth, from the Eldar Edda. Reference: Midgard, the 'abode' of the human race. The Lands Between Thurse and Alfheim. Uninspired or unawakened matter and Alf - Spirit Home respectively.

[@NetoJ0N]

He is tolkien fanboy, I love it 😂❤ there is no better inspiration. And he manages to never copy anything, but also make it familiar to tolkien

[@thaiexodus2916]

@@NetoJ0NInteresting parallel there. JRR was theoretically an Elder Edda scholar. He gave the other scholars fits with all the uses and reference to the Edda in his writings. But, like you said, never copied, just borrowed terms, words and general concepts.

[@KingUniverso]

The Great Tree was not just the scadutree but both the original tree before the erdtree which met its roots with what would become the scadutree. I think it could have resembled the spiral tree we see all over the shadow lands Edit; Marika basically caused one to be crushed to squeeze out its holiness and to overload the one in the lands between with holiness

[@benwiseman3051]

More than 1000 hours in this game I had no idea you could summon melina. 😂

[@eventof1859]

Definitely agree. I often think about how Melina procured Torrent... in the one cinematic shot of torrent, it's likely Miquella riding him in the Land of Shadows. Could it be that the Gloam Eyed Queen convened with St. Trina (Miquella) after dying to Maliketh, possibly sending her bereft soul to the Land of Shadows, and they somehow brought her back as Melina to guide us finally defeating the Elden Beast to restore the Rune? This would make sense as to why Melina had the Calling Bell.

[@yungmeanmug]

AgtJake looking mighty scrumptious in this video

[@CrimsonRayne]

Theres another theory that melina is the female counterpart of miqueila. Forgot who made it but it also made sense. Edit: Timdiggy made a video. 4 days ago about it. I believe it holds weight too. Dlc fire dude is the burning butterfly and melina/miqueilla is the nacesnt butterfly 2nd edit: the st.trinas torched zoomed it has almost the same face structure and almost the same scar thing on her eye like melinas. Its worth a watch

[@seiz209]

“I won’t allow anyone to speak ill of that, not even you” that made me turn to frenzy haha

[@sweetscience8038]

Why? Because you don't like free will?

[@seiz209]

@@sweetscience8038 cause I’m doing all her bidding and randomly she’s like “im just sayin, I got goals and not even you can stop me” like damn I wasn’t gonna but now I feel like it haha

[@llab3903]

@@sweetscience8038because the attitude is uncalled for and spiking it in her face teaches her that lesson

[@bullish3584]

My speculation is that Melina is the spiritual version of Mesmer. Similar to St Trina and Miquella as well as Marika and Radagon. Seems as though Marika cast aside Mesmer as she locked away the land of shadow. As Miquella cast aside his body for Godhood. It seems Marika cast aside her body aka Radagon.

[@kanaria-cu3uv]

you're so maidenless, your only maiden is a tree.

[@Fiveward]

Incredibly compelling theory. Jake has convinced me of something again lol

[@i-am-warden7575]

I really wish we could see her again she really was the one that helped us most asking merely nothing in return also her compassion for boc really shows us how sweet she really is if this theory is true then she might be the one to guide us once again to maybe save the great tree or something i would love nothing more than to go on another journey with my beloved maiden ❤

[@Spudiffer]

Her eye tattoo looks like the shadow of the erdtree, just sideways

[@ShadeStormXD]

it looks like a deathbird wing

[@Spudiffer]

@@ShadeStormXD oh that too!

[@Arieal.]

Melina is also helping you kill Marika’s offspring (the greater will?)

[@coldhaven1233]

During the fight with Morgott, I had the distinct impression that he was speaking to Melina and not us.

[@wolfzilla1237]

I had no knowledge that she helped you with the omen King in the second fight you have with him, and I am so surprised I have never seen anyone talk about that until watching this video

[@davidtippy7976]

I'm still wondering what that second trunk curling around the Erdtree is; It could be Godwyn's deathroot, but I also think that it could be an aspect of the crucible, an omen horn growing out of the roots of the Erdtree itself.

[@paralam2175]

I still don't know if I'm tripping of the eye Gurranq gives you also has clawmarks carved into it. Or it's just a coincidence. Also, I bet we will learn more about the Wormfaces, bc they're related to Deathroot of course, but also they are the only enemy in the game that drop Sacrificial Twigs, that have the same kind of sap flowing down its trunk like the tree in the shadow realm, and its description says it's "Believed to be a twig pruned from the Erdtree long, long ago", emphasizing it's a very distant past.

[@luchesisuzana7643]

Actually... imo the story of the DLC is that Mesmer is the guy who trapped Marika inside the Erdtree after she shattered the Elden Ring (and I think he did it on Radagon's orders, btw). And Miquella's whole cocooning was him trying to find a way into Mesmer's realm so he could get rid of Mesmer and thus allow the Tarnished a way inside the Erdtree, to finally kill the Elden Beast and usher the Age of Stars, where the Golden Order and its Outer God - the Elden Beast - don't exist anymore. In that sense, yes, Melina can be a projection of Miquella in the Lands Between.

[@Buhito99]

Melina is miquella, torrent former master (rides torrent the same way). Also his scar its the same as the icon of st trina

[@zulazhar1259]

9:45 i remember hearing that dialogue from melina right after meeting shabriri.

[@aresrivera9744]

I don’t know why, but when I saw some now I just thought of Caillou saying “ that’s me” lol 😂

[@cosmiccat4706]

I actually really like your theory regarding Melina, and I think the proof is very compelling as well. It paints a narrative that I didn't see too well, and may mean we won't learn more about her in the DLC if it's true. Though I still really hope we get more Melina lore in the DLC one way or another. Plus I still subscribe to the theory that she and Mesmer are the same person. Or at minimal have a strong connection to one another that we just don't know about yet.

[@XNaturalPhenomenonX]

I LITERALLY CANNOT WAIT ANY LONGER FOR THE DLC. These mysteries are killing me. I want answers!!

[@jamesshaver2376]

She says I won’t allow anyone to speak ill of that immediately after you talk to Shabriri about sacrificing her

[@Colamannen95]

This video made me rethink everything with Melina. If anything, because of how similar they are, she is more like Millicent. Since they both lost memory after their birth, they were both born from a god (if it's true) and both are searching for a purpose that were lost through their memory. And btw, the "won’t allow anyone to speak ill of that" was probably refering to Shabriri, after he try to convince you to "spare the girl"

[@AokiKatsumata]

Cool theory, and very nicely articulated. I believe that Melina is actually Messmer for many of the same reasons that you mentioned. I think she may be to Messmer what Marika is to Radagon, except that they became separate entities, perhaps due to being burnt by the Destined Death flames of Maliketh (if she is also the GEQ). Or perhaps because she is the one who once burned the Erdtree, and that would make sense of why Messmer represents the epitome of blasphemy! The reason why she has forgotten all this is still a mystery though. Maybe her memories and motives somehow stayed with Messmer, her body, while the rest of her conscience went to TLB. Anyway, their faces and mouth shapes look very similar, and they have the same closed eye; Melina also wishes for "death indiscriminate", which much looks like the role of Messmer in TLoS. The way she kindles a ring of flame in her left hand during the FF ending also reminds me of the way Messmer summons his flame in his right hand. Great observation about the Crucible sigil, given that she was born at the foot of the Erdtree! If one of Messmer's roles is that of overseeing the black tree/Crucible, then it makes full sense. Just maybe one correction: the sap that drips from the tree is definitely intended, not caused by a disaster, as shown by the fact that there's a huge building dedicated to collecting it (and in the shape of a Rune Arc, no less!). It probably never stopped dripping since the Age of Plenty, but it came to a swift end in TLB likely because it's during that time that Marika concealed the real tree under a veil, and replaced it with an "object of faith" (Blessed Dew Talisman). We also know that "when the Age of the Erdtree began, such blessings were personally bestowed upon their recipients by Queen Marika herself" (Erdtree's Favor). And what better place to bestow these blessings than the foot of the true Erdtree, in the land where she became a god, in other words, her true headquarters? As much as I'd love more Godwyn lore in the DLC, the color of the tree and its dripping sap are in all likeliness not his doing. I do agree that this tree was once burned though, the in-game imagery in Leydell makes that much obvious enough. Great content and a lot of food for thought, thanks!

[@canigetauhhhhhhhhhhh5170]

Could be wrong but the line “I won’t let anyone speak ill of that, not even you” is supposed to happen after talking to Shabriri. The way I see it is she’s telling you not to get in the way of her goals even if it means you can save her life.

[@themasquerader101]

I feel like she is tethered to the spectral steed whistle on some way. That could be how she sees everything we do. Just a thought

[@NickCombs]

This is tangential, but the Frenzy ending doesn't technically kill everyone. It merges all into the One Great, a timeless flame with complete regression and no causality. No death, no purpose. I want to say it's more like no one ever existed, since a dead person could usually live on in memory. Destined death is the fundamental opposing force since we gain causality and purpose from a world of mortality with endings and beginnings, as depicted through the ancestor spirits.

[@headecas]

Now that is the kind of title i like

[@nicholasloduca6668]

I started a new playthrough just to enter the DLC with Melina alive to see if there is anything different. June 21st can't come quick enough

[@eddyh5]

If you spare Melina by burning yourself instead and then stick yourself with the needle, is there anything different that happens since she lives?

[@nicholasloduca6668]

@@eddyh5 To my knowledge, there is nothing special that happens. Missed opportunity

[@eddyh5]

@@nicholasloduca6668 Missed opportunity forsure. Same with the Millicent quest ending. I keep hoping they will adjust things with the dlc...

[@stan_lightning]

You have a great way of story telling especially with all the little details that just come together quite perfectly as well! great video again Jake! 🫶🏻

[@agtjake]

Thanks man 🤝

[@jremigio24]

This was an epic video ! Loved every second. The lore of this game is so epic.

[@MrGittarguy]

I wonder if Melina is Messmer’s mother,? He says “mother, would you truly lordship one so bereft of light” and she has been the one pushing us to become Elden Lord the whole game, and gives us new life at the very beginning. Maybe Melina / Miquella are like Rada/Marika? And Messmer is the child of them? If Melina is the gloam eyed queen it makes sense he would have blood flame too.

[@heptagramm]

Ahhh so good to see you're back to theories.

[@wkave]

Melina is an "ally by pact" as she says, so I guess that means in her actual life she was the enemy of the Erdtree

[@Elder_Wyvern]

Melina will be the final boss of the DLC and all of us are going to get our jaws dropped.

[@Marika_peak]

Goated vid as always

[@vilek_7235]

I dont how relevant this is to the theory, but Godwyn's character seem heavily inspired by Baldur, a god in norse mythology who, just like Godwyn, is the first god to die, leading to the events of Ragnarok, just like how Godwyn's death lead to the shattering Baldur is said to be the most loved of all gods, with his beauty said to outshine the sun itself

[@Mike-xp8zc]

Idk if its been brought up before but I noticed St Trinas Lilly isn't corrupted like that the erd tree flowers in calied

[@bryanwhitney6199]

Just an idea. Maybe we’re thinking of the “Shadow” of the Erdtree in the wrong way. The only other shadows mention in the game are Maliketh and Blaidd. Maybe this tree is similar to that kind of shadow.

[@NordicVigilante]

I was thinking more that Melina is Marika to The impalers Radagon since i saw the trailer, it makes sense to me honestly.shes confused because the link is severed for some reason perhaps

[@dylans8793]

Frenzied flame, and age of stars endings is about getting away from controlled destiny. Both get rid of immortality, and control. When you get to the mountain tops of the giants the three finger tells you to spare that poor girl from burning by burning for her. Chaos is anarchy, but isnt evil.

[@apolloisnotashirt]

Omg she's the Sacrificial Twig

[@paul_solis]

Is the strangler tree death blight though? It lacks some significant visual elements like the thorns. I've long thought it's a parasite from the stars, hence the massive crater in the middle of the lands between, but has since been covered up and hidden in the land of shadow.

[@paul_solis]

Also, both the "Great Tree" and the strangler tree are burned. Did Messmer burn them both on Marika's orders? Baaahhh

[@Kat2KsRetroRecordings]

And I am the Lord of Frenzied Flame....that should be interesting. >

[@mrxxsesshomaruxx9642]

Love this game, can’t get enough if it, can’t wait for the DLC but man does the lack of explanations on characters drives me nuts sometimes, especially on Melina, not getting my hopes up but hopefully we get more of her story in the DLC.

[@lordpaps2270]

A Melina boss fight would be baller

[@tarasouthwell6132]

Gurranq and maliketh are clearly the same person. If you do the entirety of his quest line and give him all the death root, he seems confused and betrayed when you show up to kill him in Farum azula. I still think Melina is marika's daughter, and sibling to miquella and malenia. There's a statue of miquella in the haligtree where he's playing with 3 wolves (shadows), implying a third sibling. Her name fits the naming convention, and miquella and malenia have butterflies (nascent and aeonian) but the smoldering butterflies aren't claimed by anyone, but Melina is scarred from fire and can channel the giant's flame. I think that like most of her siblings, she rebelled against the golden order, and Allied herself with the God skins. She attempted a coup and died in the process.

[@warpstorm1988]

My theory is that Melina is Marika’s “reincarnated” spirit as an attempt to avoid punishment/escape the Erdtree and “birthing” herself is why she’s got a shard of destined death through her womb.

[@ETERNALXGAMEPLAY]

I believe you’re 100 percent correct

[@moose8762]

I am curious what role Melina will play in the DLC, since she is usually our exposition in the base game. Will she be replaced by Miquella? They don’t currently plan on making any more DLCs nor a sequel, so I would hope quite a bit of the lore is clarified in it

[@Moumoku-Kage]

You know...I once read a theory about Melina actually being Godwyn. Or, at least, a fragment of Godwyn saved by Queen Marika.

[@ShadeStormXD]

sounds whack

[@Moumoku-Kage]

@@ShadeStormXD to be fair, a lot of Elden Ring theories sound whack. Even so, many of them still hold some merit.

[@captainlovebug]

Hell yeah! New video 🎉

[@WilliamWallace-ts6qh]

All of this can be true, and she can be the Gloam Eyed Queen (or rather a vessel for her), especially if you consider the Great Tree the godly manifestation/representation of the Gloam Eyed Queen, in the same way you'd consider the Erd Tree to be the same of Marika. There is so much evidence that Melina is a spiritual vessel for the GEQ that's starting to get overwhelming. That said, there's always a wrench. Also, on a side note, D is a mimic of Darian (which is why a silver version is popping out of the golden armor in the Twin Set, and why D is found in Nokron, where all teh silver tears are), and Radagon is a mimic of Marika (but he had to be disguised in order for Marika to escape the same fate of the Nox, who tried to create their own Elden Lord and were punished).

[@intalek305]

Random speculations here I would appreciate people poking lots of holes in: 1. I think Marika is the true GEQ. 2. I think she was formerly the queen of the Nox, who became the GEQ. 3. I think Marika was defeated and not killed by Gurranq and he is confused why she forced him to turn on her, even though she always meant to betray him. 4. I think Marika chose to create the Golden Order in the Crucible era to fool the Erdtree into giving her the ability to destroy it, and it was after Gurranq "defeated" her and the Godskins. 5. I think the reason Melina has the Gloam Eye later is because this was the purpose she was given in the Erdtree by Marika, and she became the new GEQ once death was restored. 6. I think Godwin was sacrificed first because he was the most loyal Empyrean to the Golden Order and could not be swayed from it. 7. I think Melina's purpose in Marika's big plot was to restore Destined Death to the world, and Ranni's was to remove the influence of the Outer Gods from the Lands Between. Please confirm/poke holes in all this as much as possible. I thank you all in advance for your contributions to my mental stability.

[@ardenskylark6235]

I think shes Marikas spirit tbh. Being imprisoned and in that suspended state of godhood I bet its Marikas dream of salvation/unconcious desire

[@CrimsonRayne]

doesnt Messers description talk about Melina too?

[@galyxi3412]

i think she doesn't tell you anything about herself because she probably cant remember it if she cant even remember her own destiny

[@xColton24]

I've been seeing people say saving her takes away her purpose, but i always think, her purpose given to her by Marika? Why should any purpose Marika gives to someone be something to preserve? Maybe its something completely different than sacrificing yourself, because there are other definitive ways to burn the Erdtree down Also, is her being the gloam eyed queen even a question? I feel like the frenzied flame ending all but confirms it, but I could be missing something

[@xColton24]

Also I can really see her using the Godslayer's Greatsword as its a smaller, thinner greatsword comparatively

[@dbfzato-1327]

i like the theory but i think the great tree is a conifer, i think its in the deep root depths, (we know the greater will seems to like burying things of the past) is a lot of different looking tree stumps and vines and even roots down there, seems the trees had there own cruisible, we know the flowers did from the miranda flower, another thing i recently seen was a lot of the trees down there are in pairs, like twins, same with the big trees up north, also the trees in the forbidden land are weird all seem to be converging, lots of trees growing into one mass, much like the crucible statues! on the erdtree is self on the wooden bit seems to be a pic of a tree on top of the erdtree, more spiky, i think is a layer situation like bloodborne, i'm thinking the land of light above, the land of shadow below 2 more things, the erdtree covers the forbidden lands and the omen twins tower with a weird shadow like mist as well, seems sus i always assumed the erd tree was the sun in elden ring, but on mt gelmir you can see it due north hidden behind thick clouds, another thing i find SUPER SUS is the word sun not in the vocabulary of our message system, i dont think thats a oversight

[@frankiefromky]

Yo, I believe Melina as the Gloam-Eyed Queen is the only one who can allow Godwin to have true death and be at rest. This is why Miquella went to the Shadow Realm, in search of the Gloam-Eyed Queen so she can deliver true death and allow Godwin to finally rest... or maybe it could be to restore Godwins soul? idk... but I can't wait to see what Shadow of the Erdtree has in store for us!!

[@ardenskylark6235]

I didnt know you could summon her...bummer :(

[@tylerwastripped1590]

You might be on to it

[@neogenesis0038]

"The Numen are a race of beings in Elden Ring that are long-lived but rarely born, and are often associated with divinity" Melina has a mother, but was not born of a mother. Interesting

[@CrimsonRayne]

I believe melina is acting and working for the greater good, she knows golden rule is flawed but not irredeemable. She hates frenzied but cant stop us because we are real and she isnt if we went frenzied route. I believe she is good. Marika wanted to overthrough the golden rule so that would be marikas purpose too?

[@myztiklee]

i love this! i love this so much! 🥹

[@sliamenoob]

okay so she used to live in the erdtree and she had a mother and lived with her this is just a wild guess but could she be related to queen marika, and then there is something else she can hear echos of queen marika that we cannot hear, i think she is related to marika but not radagon which would explain why she can hear the echos of long lost lore or facts about queen marika, or it could be that she has a bond/relation with the erdtree because in the journey she wants to go to the center of the erdtree, it could also be that miquella has spoken with melina which would explain why she didnt find someone worthy of traveling with her in the first place or in other words she did find other worthy tarnished that didnt have a maiden but was simply waiting for the right time or the right tarnished. This is just a guess.

[@stormquist9405]

Melinda IS Miquella

[@Hiddenhand1]

Damn ,its been so long ago since i played , Elden Ring

[@MetaSonic543]

Of course she’s not real! She’s a video game character.

[@TheRealJohnux]

Well... she can be a part Miquella, she could be an aspect of the gloam eyed queen, we don't have conclusive evidence to proof or deny either, because Melina herself has no mention by name in lore, be it Item describtions, area storytelling or characters. Not a single person ever during the runtime of Elden Ring mentions Melina by name, not Even Ranni who is speculated to have a Spiritual connection to Melina via the Ritual that involved the rune of death. You know what, if she is a part of Miquella of some sort he was thinking about an alias and thought about Malenia and then he just went "you are now Ma- me lina, you are Melina"

[@dylans8793]

Maybe her mom was that golem eye queen

[@nathanb5579]

Godwyn is going to be in shadow of the erdtree

[@MrNicktown]

Did the livestreams move somewhere else or stop altogether? Havent seen any in the last week or so.

[@Lul_Nug]

i watch all your videos on melina and idk why but i am constantly coming to the conclusion that she is a daughter of radagon and marika and was born or created when they were made into 1

[@looots1320]

One person made Miquella is Melina now everyone doing it wtf

[@d7oomv486]

to much love for your content thank you

[@d7oomv486]

keep it up (:🤍

[@tharris3600]

This is probably the first theory of yours that Ive really really liked. This may be slightly cope, considering that a Melina boss fight/explanation is what I want the most.

[@HeevaEgo]

That would be difficult to explain. If anyone could find a narrative loophole to figure it out, it’s Miyazaki. I think maybe fighting the flesh of Melina would make sense? Idk I’m just guessing how a melina fight would make sense lol

[@RandomGuySky7537]

You could take this a step further and say that Melina is the Halig tree. Miquella could have created Melina to burn herself and spread her ashes around the Erd tree in order to grow around it and strangle it

[@tacnogion]

Love it. Amazing lore

[@gipsymelody1268]

i think 1 thing still missing! think about it! if even the gloom-eyed queen had originally the destined death aka the rune of death but even how??? the rune of death was originally part of the elden ring but marika took out to prevent death of her childrens! so how the gloom-eyed queen could bear the destined death when it was part of the elden ring back in time? or melina beared in time time before the erdtree? aka when the dragon was the elden lord? then marika needed to collect the rune shards too just like we did???

[@FartsHaveATaste]

So Marika wanted to become a God. She had the Great Tree destroyed, she had Melina bestowed with the embodiment of destined death, a God slayer. She set all of this in motion herself and tried to bury it and pin it on others. (Or perhaps she fought with her other half, Radagon on these things). With her burying everything that occurred in that period, sealed Melina's power and memory of being the Gloam Eyed Queen. Perhaps the battle that took place in The Shadow of the Erd Tree, (which is unsung now as mentioned in the trailer, thanks to her burying and outlawing it all) was a battle between Marika and Godwyn to claim God hood. Or Godwyn trying to relinquish it being a good guy... maybe even attempting to stop the burning of the great tree. HMmMmMmmmm... I love fromsoft lore 😂

[@Practicallypreposterous]

Melina is Messmer's kindling maiden as well I bet

[@tristanward9937]

I think she is him. Similar to st Trina and radagon.

[@arthurswanson1755]

"She's real to me"

[@chandlerkeck6361]

If Melina is bodiless how was she able to be used as kindling?

[@tomisinolapo2317]

Did any one notice that Maliketh sword is broken at the handle? It is not a complete arc

[@Galamoth06]

There are an awful lot of big assumptions in this theory. That Melina is the GEQ, that the Greattree is an actual thing, that the Erdtree was never actually real, that the tree in the DLC is the Greattree even though we know it doesn't take place in the past, that it's "clearly" being choked by Godwyn's Deathroot...

[@AokiKatsumata]

At this point the "Greattree" is just another synonym of the Crucible in people's minds, so it's probably fine to use them interchangeably. The tree in TLoS is really most likely the Crucible though, as it's dripping sap the same way it did in the Age of Plenty, and the trailer is FULL of Crucible imagery (worship of beasts, horns, grafting, Crucible AoW...). While you're right it doesn't take place in the past, these things have continued to exist under Marika's veil this whole time, so "Crucible" and "present time" aren't mutually exclusive.