Elden Ring’s lore is dense, sparse, and hard to stitch together. Much of the game's story elements has seemingly been deduced by the community, with tidbits and key elements here and there explained. A lot of mysteries still remain, and perhaps one of the least known-about elements of Elden Ring is Melina.
WARNING: POTENTIAL ELDEN RING SPOILERS AHEADShe joins the Tarnished early in the game, gifts them Torrent, and joins them throughout their journey. Melina is able to sacrifice herself to burn the Erdtree, fulfilling the purpose given to her by her mother. Who her mother is isn’t clear either, but most speculation points to Marika (following Elden Ring’s M name pattern) or perhaps the Gloam-Eyed Queen. If players align themselves with the Three Fingers prior to her sacrifice, she will leave the Tarnished and return at the end, promising to deliver Destined Death upon the player.
Elden Ring: Melina’s Eyes
Most speculation of Melina’s real identity hinges on her seeming role as a spirit (she says she is bodyless early in the game) and perhaps even more importantly, her eyes. Melina clearly does have a body but it may not be hers and hers alone which again goes back to her eyes. Throughout the game, Melina will keep one eye closed. So too does Ranni the Snow Witch, and they each have a different eye closed.
Melina will open her eye and reveal a dusky and murky dark blue, which many connect to the Gloam-Eyed Queen, under certain constants in the Lord of Frenzied Flame Ending. However, Ranni will never open that eye even at the Age of Stars Ending. This is entirely speculation, but if they have opposite eyes closed and if they are connected as this would imply, it would add up that Ranni’s eye would be different—a potentially brighter, light-ish yellow-orange color on a color wheel. Even more importantly, this would largely line up with the eye color of the other character, as their open eye is close to this color.
Ergo, Melina’s eye could be somehow tied to the Dark Moon, and that could suggest Ranni’s eye is tied to the Golden Order. This would be the inverse of their beliefs, explaining why they keep this eye closed. The shared (if inverted) markings could somehow connect them to the thing they oppose, which is why Ranni used the Rune of Death on her body to begin with.
How Elden Ring’s Melina and Ranni Could Be Connected
There are a lot of theories as to how the two are connected. Some think that Melina is a spirit who adapted the appearance of Ranni’s body when she cast it aside, while some think that Melina and Ranni are two parts of a whole, similar to Marika and Radagon. This theory on the ideas may connect better to the latter, nonetheless. It should be noted that Marika was first married to Godfrey, and their children are named with the letter G for the most part—save a few that start with M. Godfrey’s G-named children often find themselves aligned with the Golden Order, while Margit and Mohg are omens of bad things to come.
Then, after she made him Tarnished, she took Radagon as her consort even though he was married to Rennala, with whom he had Ranni. How Marika and Radagon were separated but one is unclear, but they reunited. It could be that Melina and Ranni are in the same boat, having never reunited.
There are a lot of little hints that Marika was not so loyal to the Greater Will, resenting it for a variety of reasons and tasking Hewg with crafting a weapon that could kill it. Marika had a lot of plans in the works, with many thinking her creation of the Tarnished was part of her elaborate plot too, even the Night of Black Knives.
Elden Ring: Marika's Plan to End The Greater Will
Thus, it’s possible that Ranni (as she is tied to Radagon, thus Marika) and Melina were contingency plans too. Melina was born at the foot of the Erdtree and searches for her purpose, as assigned by her mother. Melina’s goal was to burn it but not destroy the world, explaining why the Lord of Frenzied Flame’s ending is considered the worst. Meanwhile, Marika could have influenced, somehow, Ranni through Radagon or have chosen her for some reason—with the Night of Black Knives potentially tying the two together. Ranni led the Numens; Marika is a Numen.
Marika wanted the Greater Will dead (her soul punished for her act, Radagon’s body forced to labor in the repair of the Elden Ring). But she didn’t want to destroy The Lands Between, so Marika could have had two plans. IF Ranni’s plan succeeded, a form of free will would come to The Lands Between and that would be a good thing (perhaps through Radagon's love she felt this), but Marika may not have wanted to put all her eggs in one basket. So, she may have created Melina to guide the Tarnished, restore Destined Death, and should the need arise, stop a worse Outer God in Elden Ring from destroying the Lands Between in the process.
This duality between Melina and Ranni’s eyes would make sense this way: a golden eye and a dark moon eye, as they were torn between the Golden Order and the Dark Moon. Each planned a specific role in Marika’s plan. Ranni did not want to become the Golden Order’s next Marika, and Marika knew this. She wanted to destroy the Greater Will, and it all comes together neatly that the two could be allies, not enemies. Ranni likely still followed the footsteps of her mother, finding her power in a different phase of the moon, and perhaps eventually blocking her golden eye so as to be no one’s pawn. Perhaps the plan was a little different; perhaps Ranni walked her own path in opposition to Marika. But ultimately Melina’s role was to compliment her, as they were tied together in more ways than first meets the eye.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.