When playingElden Ring, one of the first characters you will come across is Melina, a helpful spirit that will aid you in leveling up. She also gives you your faithful steed Torrent, so all in all, Melina is one of the most useful NPCs you can meet in the game.

As helpful as she is, there is very little known about who she truly is. Not even she seems to know where she comes from, all she reveals is that she needs to go to the Erdtree to recover her purpose, but what could that purpose really be?

Elden ring image showing the player sitting with Melina during the night.

Beware Of Spoilers For The Entire Game!

Who Is Melina?

Melina serves the role of “finger maiden” in Elden Ring, using the runes you find to grant you strength (level you up), but there is more to her than that. First off,she isn’t even alive, at least not in a conventional sense: she, much like Torrent,is a spirit that can’t interact much with the physical world, but she can latch on to someone to travel around.

Her quest is to get to the Erdtree, so she travels with you to reach the foot of said tree. Once you make it there, her spirit is able to move with far more freedom, and she seems to have gained (or remembered) a purpose,wishing to aid you further into becoming the Elden Lord.

Elden Ring image showing Melina during her meeting of the player.

Once you take her to the Flame of Ruin,she sacrifices her essence to set the Erdtree aflame, allowing you passage into Farum Azula (somehow) and letting you progress into the final fights of the game. But how she can do all this, and who she really was before becoming a spirit, issomething shrouded in mystery.

What We Know About Melina

There aren’t really any references to Melina in The Lands Between,beyond the items that she gives directly to you.All we can really do is look at her equipment, abilities, and dialogue and see if any of them point her towards being allied with anyone at all.

Melina’s Real Identity

There isn’t really a definitive answerto who Melina really is, but there are a few theories floating around that have solid bases. There are three ideas surrounding Melina that not only fit her, butalso fit very nicely with one anotheras well.

Melina Is Marika’s Daughter

This is the most explicit connection, sincewe know that Melina was born at the foot of the Erdtree, and shecan commune with Marika strangely well. Melina was even given a mission from Marika, a purpose that she needed to travel to Leyndell to remember.

When Melina dies while fighting Morgott in Leyndell,she leaves behind a healing tree; this incantation can now be found in the Shaman Village, andit is known to be exclusive to Marika.Of course, this all makes these two women very close, but not necessarily related — it is the way Melina treats Marika as a mother figure that has led the fanbase to consider her a demigod.

Elden Ring image showing Melina during her meeting of the player with her hood up.

Melina Is Messmer’s Sister

When playing the DLC,you’ll need to slay Messmerin order to obtain his Kindling.You use this item to burn away the dark branches blocking your path, and if you read the description, there is a line that reads“Messmer, much like his younger sister, bore a vision of fire.”

Melina is already referred to as the “kindling maiden” by her own weapon, and she serves a similar purpose when we need to deal with branches blocking our path in the main game. This connection already has us looking for similarities between the two characters, andwhen Messmer’s Kindling mentioned a sister, the options aren’t many.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree image showing Marika exiting the divine gateway.

A younger sister of Messmer could be either Ranni or Malenia, but it is hard to see them having a “vision of fire.” Melina, on the other hand,has visible burnt skin even in spirit form, and if we were already considering her a daughter of Marika,the idea of her being Messmer’s sister isn’t far-fetched.

If Melina is Messmer’s sister, they might share the same father. It isn’t confirmed, but due to Messmer’s hair color, that parent might be Radagon.

Messmer the Impaler holding a flame in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.

Melina Is The Gloam-Eyed Queen

We know even less about the Gloam-Eyed Queenthan what we know about Melina. All we know about this Queen is her title, thatshe held the Rune of Destined Death, she was an Empyrean, and she was slain by Maliketh.

The main connective tissue between Melina and the Gloam-Eyed Queen isthe Black Flame Incantations, the Black Knife Assassins, andMelina’s blocked eye.This all paints the picture of a character thatrose in defiance of the Greater Will, only to be turned into a vassal of it after her death.

Elden Ring image showing a burnt Melina during the Flame of Frenzy ending.

Melina, being born from Marika and Radagon,would have been cursed from birth, possibly with a Gloam-colored Eye that channels the Rune of Destined Death. Wanting to eradicate the permanency of death from the Lands Between,Marika sends Maliketh to slay her Empyrean daughter.

With her visions of fire,Melina was able to create the Black Flame incantations, becoming an expert assassin and delivering her Destined Death to all. An age later,Ranni’s own Black Knife Assassins would use Melina’s techniquewhen wielding the Rune of Death.

Once Maliketh defeats Melina,he hides and seals the Rune of Destined Death, but Melina’s soul remains. After all, she wasn’t slain by Destined Death, thereforeher spirit remained, even if her Gloam Eye was now sealed by Maliketh’s actions.

Defeating Maliketh and unleashing Destined Death unseals Melina’s eye.This is why she appears with that look during the Flame of Frenzy ending: she’s likely still a spirit, but with her Rune free,she can once again become the Gloam-Eyed Queenand deliver Destined Death.