THEORY TIME: What is up with Melina

Alright you gitguders and SoG fighters, I've been thinking.

I really wanted to find out Melina's story when I first started the game. 300 hours later, I didn't learn jack ****. So, I scoured everything I could, and I have come before the council with my theory. HEAVY FUCKIN SPOILERS AHEAD YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

One of Melina's voice lines is:

" Me, I'm searching for my purpose given to me by my mother inside the Erdtree long ago, for the reason that I yet live, burned and bodyless."

Number 1: Marika is Melina's mom. This makes Melina a Demigod.

Let's round up all those damn demigods, there are too many of em, 9 to be exact.

Marika and Godfrey had 3:

Godwyn

Morgott

Mogh

Radagon and Rennala had 3:

Radahn

Rykard

Ranni

Marika and Radagon had 3:

Miquella

Melania

Melina

I am taking the liberty to put Melina in the Marika/Radagon era as the spellings of that pair are way too similar as well as the other eras have three children each. Obviously it's tenuous, but naming conventions must not be ignored.

Now, something interesting about Demigods is that Ranni says that each demigod was gifted a Two Fingers by the Greater Will. We encounter each Demigod’s two fingers in the divine towers where we restore the great runes. Twins share a Two Fingers.

Let's round up the Two Fingers we find in the game:

Godwyn: Divine Tower of Limgrave

Morgott + Mogh: Divine Tower of East Altus

Radahn: Divine Tower of Caelid

Rykard: Divine Tower of West Altus

Ranni: Divine Tower of Liurnia (later moved beneath Cathedral of Manus Celas)

Miquella + Melania: Isolated Divine Tower

Melina: ???

If Melina is a Demigod, where is her Two Fingers?

There are only two other pairs of two fingers I have found so far. The first one is in the Roundtable Hold. This one is the most obvious as Melina herself takes us to the roundtable at the start of our journey. Something about this idea doesn't add up though. Gideon is in charge of the roundtable, and he has no mention of Melina. Melina herself doesn't appear in the roundtable, nor does anyone inside reference her. I think this pair of Two Fingers belongs to Godfrey. There is no hard evidence for this, but follow me. If Godfrey did have a Two Fingers, it seems likely that it would be in a place close to him. Gideon already has a connection to Godfrey through Nepheli Loux. If Gideon got access to a two fingers, the best place for him to do so would be through the fastest connection to the Golden Order that he has, which would be Godfrey. We don't know where Godfrey was throughout our journey. It is possible that he could have come by the roundtable. Now, Godfrey was stripped of his grace when he was banished, so there is a good chance that this pair of Two Fingers doesn't belong to him, but there isn't a lot of evidence that it belongs to Melina either. Hell, maybe the roundtable hold just has a two fingers, who knows.

The last piece of the puzzle before we get to my conclusion is that Melina is confused. She has lost her purpose, however she gradually begins to remember as we get closer to the Erdtree.

This leads me to believe that Melina’s Two Fingers is the one underneath Leyndell, the one inflicted with Frenzied Flame; The Three Fingers.

If this is true, then it explains the prophecy, The one who walks alongside Flame, it explains why Melina is the only NPC who gives a shit that you become inflicted with the Flame, and it explains why she lost her mind, or otherwise was driven mad.

I believe that her purpose was originally to combat the Frenzied Flame, possibly even to imprison the Flame. (a la Hollow Knight/Radiance) Her two fingers was inflicted with the Flame, and she was sent to the shunning grounds to seal it away. She would have crossed paths with Morgott down there, maybe that's why she can be summoned against him. (Not sure about Mogh though, but who cares about that creepy ass old guy.)

There are only two characters in the entire game who mention Melina: Ranni, and Shabriri. If Shabriri, the guy who directs you to the Frenzied Flame, knows Melina, then that gives more credence to Melina being connected to the Flame.

Why does Ranni know Melina? Well Melina fights with the same kit as the Black Knives. It's possible that Melina was a co-conspirator in the Night of the Black Knives. Or maybe Ranni gave Torrent to Melina or vice versa. Either way, Melina helped Ranni with the Night somehow.

Now, I haven't even gotten to the actual gameplay parts with Melina and the Flame. Melina will reject the player as a companion if the player takes on the Flame. She warns the player of the Flame outside the doors because she is already familiar with it. If the player becomes the Lord of Chaos, then Melina will hunt you down to deliver Destined Death, as that is what her purpose in life is, to fight the Frenzied Flame.

Also if you look at her marking on her left eye, it definitely looks like a claw with three fingers. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but the marking looks dead on after I associated it with the Three Fingers.

Melina also exists as a spirit, in a similar way to Ranni. she refers to herself as "burned and bodiless." Perhaps this is because the Flame overcame her, killing the physical flesh, and inflicting the madness that drove Melina to forget her purpose. (Headcanon time: the frenzied two fingers got an extra finger after melding/killing Melina's body. Most definitely not accurate but the idea is metal as hell.)

Anyway, I have most likely missed stuff. Please let me know if you have info that contradicts or even supports this theory. Remember kids, Melina is not the Gloam-eyed Queen, and she is not Ranni. I believe this is Melina's true place in the Lands Between.

Edit: TLDR: Melina is purposed by Marika to fight, and seal, the Frenzied Flame. She was inflicted with madness, losing sense of who she was, and just went with the first prospect she came across, Torrent noticing the player.