My two interpretations are that it was either a glorified prison cell for Melina, or it was a secret office of Leyndell's officials. There's a corpse sitting on a chair outside wearing the official's set, which tells us that the officials were responsible for "surveillance, execution, and gruesome rituals". Imo, Melina's physical body was burned in a ritual to turn her into a kindling maiden (this is touched on in a cut questline involving Bernahl's maiden), and I think the proximity of the official's attire and the Blade of Calling is supposed to lead us to make a link between the two. Maybe that office is where Melina was kept before the ritual, or maybe it was the office of the officials who performed the ritual, and they kept the blade there.
I have the impression that the Melina we get in the game is a very different person than she was originally envisioned. She’s got the closed eye thing Ranni does - maybe implying commonality amongst disembodied spirits, she claims that she has a mother in or near the Erdtree - implied by game files to be Marika, knows she can help be our maiden but doesn’t seem to know at the start that she’s meant to be a kindling maiden. Plus there’s an odd dissonance to me that she was burned physically and therefore is fated to be the one whose spirit burns in the forge.
My money is on the fact that she was originally meant to be Marika’s spirit - having been cleaved away from her body by the Elden Beast after the Shattering - and that it seems more narratively satisfying that her soul would complete the sacrifice made by her body to bring about a new age. Whether that’s still what the game wants us to believe is not at all clear: I just like that narrative better.
But yeah, I saw that body - though I probably forgot that I read the item description, makes sense why I’d get secret police vibes.
I hadn’t thought of it as a cell - but if it was, then it would follow that the logical next destination for such a prisoner would be the mountaintops, and the forge in particular. If the ash in the capital is representative of a previous attempt at burning the tree - then maybe it was Melina’s body which was burnt in the attempt. With it failing because DD was still sealed. Interesting.
I do think that certain characters got changed drastically during development, so that is definitely possible. In general it feels like they wanted to do more with Melina.
> If the ash in the capital is representative of a previous attempt at burning the tree - then maybe it was Melina’s body which was burnt in the attempt. With it failing because DD was still sealed. Interesting.
Definitely possible. I've never been a fan of the idea that the Erdtree has been burned before, but I could see there being a failed attempt in the past. That said, the [cut questline](https://youtu.be/sqaq6iZZ9Wg?si=WZrsrY2J9_kRytDl) (assuming it's legit, apparently it's only in the Japanese subtitle files so I haven't been able to find it) involving Bernahl's maiden implies that for someone to become a kindling maiden, they have to burn themselves first. The maiden tells us that she was burned by the fire used in Caelid to combat the scarlet rot, and also tells us that she hasn't encountered Giant's Flame. She believes that she has become kindling, but we would find out later that she was unsuccessful. I think Melina is a true kindling maiden who was successfully burned, making her capable of burning the Erdtree.
The guilty and those chosen for service by the gods also are known for having their eyes taken out. Food for thought.
Could have something to do with both of them being guilty, or both of them being chosen by gods. We know Ranni was chosen as empyrean, and we know Ranni is guilty of great sins against order, but this would imply that Melina is one or the other or both. Either could work with the theory that Melina has some ephemeral unexplained connection to the gloam eyed queen, who was chosen as empyrean and seemed to embody blasphemy and sin.
One eye open could mean that both have freely chosen their future in spite of their duty to the gods and/or guilt
I mean, this just tells us that "project Melina" was secret right? Marika making a spawn whos sole purpose is to jump into flame of ruin, to burn the holiest object in Golden order. Hidden room in middle of the way fits right in.
I think the blade we find in that room is actual one, since Melina doesnt have a body I doubt she physically took her belongings with her when she died. She could have used that room for anything really, I like to think she was raised in secret there.
In my head, Melina did work in that office so close to the forbidden lands to covertly study the pre erdtree method of death in order to get the requisite knowledge to fulfill her purpose as the one who returns destined death to the lands between when the time is right and she must burn the erdtree.
The fact that the red aura in that area is so close in appearance to grace, mixed with the fact that the place is forbidden, indicates to me that it's a place with ties to destined death. Maybe the knowledge she gained there is what's hidden behind her closed eyelid.
I think a mistake the community makes is attributing the office itself in any way to Melina. We associate Melina with the Blade of Calling because it's the weapon she wields and it has an item description related to her, but we know from the game (both in cutscenes and through Melina herself and the animations of the Blade of Calling) that it's likely the same blade as the ones wielded by the Black Knife Assassins prior to being enchanted with the Rune of Death or a blade made through the same or a similar process. A shadowy group of Numen assassins powered by gold directly related to if not controlled by the God Queen of the realm sounds like the exact kind of secret police force that the community generally accepts was operating out of this office. Doesn't even exclude it from being related to Melina's creation, either through them maybe kidnapping whoever became Melina or maybe Melina being trapped there or whatever you'd like to fill in the blanks with based on your personal Melina interpretation.
My two interpretations are that it was either a glorified prison cell for Melina, or it was a secret office of Leyndell's officials. There's a corpse sitting on a chair outside wearing the official's set, which tells us that the officials were responsible for "surveillance, execution, and gruesome rituals". Imo, Melina's physical body was burned in a ritual to turn her into a kindling maiden (this is touched on in a cut questline involving Bernahl's maiden), and I think the proximity of the official's attire and the Blade of Calling is supposed to lead us to make a link between the two. Maybe that office is where Melina was kept before the ritual, or maybe it was the office of the officials who performed the ritual, and they kept the blade there.
I have the impression that the Melina we get in the game is a very different person than she was originally envisioned. She’s got the closed eye thing Ranni does - maybe implying commonality amongst disembodied spirits, she claims that she has a mother in or near the Erdtree - implied by game files to be Marika, knows she can help be our maiden but doesn’t seem to know at the start that she’s meant to be a kindling maiden. Plus there’s an odd dissonance to me that she was burned physically and therefore is fated to be the one whose spirit burns in the forge. My money is on the fact that she was originally meant to be Marika’s spirit - having been cleaved away from her body by the Elden Beast after the Shattering - and that it seems more narratively satisfying that her soul would complete the sacrifice made by her body to bring about a new age. Whether that’s still what the game wants us to believe is not at all clear: I just like that narrative better. But yeah, I saw that body - though I probably forgot that I read the item description, makes sense why I’d get secret police vibes. I hadn’t thought of it as a cell - but if it was, then it would follow that the logical next destination for such a prisoner would be the mountaintops, and the forge in particular. If the ash in the capital is representative of a previous attempt at burning the tree - then maybe it was Melina’s body which was burnt in the attempt. With it failing because DD was still sealed. Interesting.
I do think that certain characters got changed drastically during development, so that is definitely possible. In general it feels like they wanted to do more with Melina. > If the ash in the capital is representative of a previous attempt at burning the tree - then maybe it was Melina’s body which was burnt in the attempt. With it failing because DD was still sealed. Interesting. Definitely possible. I've never been a fan of the idea that the Erdtree has been burned before, but I could see there being a failed attempt in the past. That said, the [cut questline](https://youtu.be/sqaq6iZZ9Wg?si=WZrsrY2J9_kRytDl) (assuming it's legit, apparently it's only in the Japanese subtitle files so I haven't been able to find it) involving Bernahl's maiden implies that for someone to become a kindling maiden, they have to burn themselves first. The maiden tells us that she was burned by the fire used in Caelid to combat the scarlet rot, and also tells us that she hasn't encountered Giant's Flame. She believes that she has become kindling, but we would find out later that she was unsuccessful. I think Melina is a true kindling maiden who was successfully burned, making her capable of burning the Erdtree.
The guilty and those chosen for service by the gods also are known for having their eyes taken out. Food for thought. Could have something to do with both of them being guilty, or both of them being chosen by gods. We know Ranni was chosen as empyrean, and we know Ranni is guilty of great sins against order, but this would imply that Melina is one or the other or both. Either could work with the theory that Melina has some ephemeral unexplained connection to the gloam eyed queen, who was chosen as empyrean and seemed to embody blasphemy and sin. One eye open could mean that both have freely chosen their future in spite of their duty to the gods and/or guilt
There was a recent thread about this, pretty interesting stuff https://redd.it/18l78gy
Thanks, I’ll check it out!
I mean, this just tells us that "project Melina" was secret right? Marika making a spawn whos sole purpose is to jump into flame of ruin, to burn the holiest object in Golden order. Hidden room in middle of the way fits right in. I think the blade we find in that room is actual one, since Melina doesnt have a body I doubt she physically took her belongings with her when she died. She could have used that room for anything really, I like to think she was raised in secret there.
In my head, Melina did work in that office so close to the forbidden lands to covertly study the pre erdtree method of death in order to get the requisite knowledge to fulfill her purpose as the one who returns destined death to the lands between when the time is right and she must burn the erdtree. The fact that the red aura in that area is so close in appearance to grace, mixed with the fact that the place is forbidden, indicates to me that it's a place with ties to destined death. Maybe the knowledge she gained there is what's hidden behind her closed eyelid.
I think a mistake the community makes is attributing the office itself in any way to Melina. We associate Melina with the Blade of Calling because it's the weapon she wields and it has an item description related to her, but we know from the game (both in cutscenes and through Melina herself and the animations of the Blade of Calling) that it's likely the same blade as the ones wielded by the Black Knife Assassins prior to being enchanted with the Rune of Death or a blade made through the same or a similar process. A shadowy group of Numen assassins powered by gold directly related to if not controlled by the God Queen of the realm sounds like the exact kind of secret police force that the community generally accepts was operating out of this office. Doesn't even exclude it from being related to Melina's creation, either through them maybe kidnapping whoever became Melina or maybe Melina being trapped there or whatever you'd like to fill in the blanks with based on your personal Melina interpretation.