A Headcanon For Age Of Fracture (The ending where Melina Sacrifices Herself)

[Mr_Blank]

Something was bugging me about how the only universally friendly person in the game outside of Rya and Boc sacrifices herself just so you can become Elden Lord. And, Why? What did Melina gain from dying so you could go kick more demigod ass? And then why couldn't the tarnished do anything about it After the Elden Ring was repaired? Here's my headcanon (if you want more on Melina's true ambitions, I made a full post outlining that theory as well.)

Melina was a demigod birthed of Renalla and Radagon, and was left out of the family for reasons I'll get to. I saw this because she has a similar hair colour to Renalla and Radagons other offspring, like Radagon. The other damning evidence I found was that in the opening cutscene, we see that Rykard originally had a blonde and white hair, with fleeting red. This is the exact hair colour Melina has when she reveals herself as the gloam eyed queen in the Age Of The Frenzied Flame ending. No other Demigod has this hair colouring apart from these two. The other reason it can't me radagon and marika or radagon and godfrey is because Marika is clearly the vassel for the cursed children, something Melina definetly ISNT, is cursed. Marika and Godfrey have Godwyn, Mohg and Morgott. Godwyn is given the curse of death and, something he passes on to his good friend lichdragon fortisaxx (we see this in the lichdragon boss battle). Mohg and Morgott are cursed Omens and thats the end of that discussion. Radagon and Marika have the cursed twins Malenia and Miquella, one cursed with youth and the other with scarlet rot. Because Melina is not cursed, and all cursed children have a genetic tie to Marika SPECIFICALLY (yes I am aware radagon and marika are the same person but thats a wrench im not smart enough to incorporate here), Melina MUST be a child of Renalla and Radagon.

Likely due to the circus that the academy must have been, with a gravity magic, rancor magic, and dark moon magic student ruffling the feathers of Renalla and Radagon, Melina likely took her studies elsewhere, taking time away from her family. During her time away from the lands between, Ranni masterminds the night of black knives and The Shattering begins. Melina returns to see her old brothers both lumbering terrors, her sister is nowhere to be found, her mother is an obsessed lunatic rambling about the unborn, and her father is sealed away in the erdtree. She returns to Leyndell, only to be shunned by Morgott, refusing Melina entrance to see what could remain of her father.

Outraged, sad, and alone, Melina seeks shelter with the roundtable, and meets SIR GIDEON OFNIR THE ALL KNOWING. Knowing who Melina is, and knowing how vunerable she is, he keeps her secret safe in return for bringing tarnished to the roundtable to help his craze of killing the demigods and becoming the Elden Lord. This explains why no one knows shes a demigod, because she was the shunned offpsring in the renalla family that didn't focus on magic. It also explains why no one in the erdtree speaks about her.

She agrees, as it allows her to stay safe and hidden, and she can look for a champion to help her quest and self-given duty. I already mentioned in another theory post, but long LONG story short, Melina beleives it is HER responsibility to mend the elden ring and the lands between, because she wasn't there to prevent the harm done by the shattering.

Still with me? good. Melina finds the tarnished (you) and for anyone wondering how no other tarnished were worthy in the span of 5000 years, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GIDEON OFNIR THE ALL KNOWING, can't remember the last time a tarnished came to the hold (his first dialouge in the roundtable) if the all knowing forgor when the last time a tarnished went to the roundtable, that explains melina's inability to act for so long. there were no tarnished to help her.

You prove yourself to her, and after slaying two demigods and getting to leyndell (always two, u need to kill two two great runes to enter leyndell.), Melina picks up her dagger and helps you fight Morgott, the man who had NO RIGHT to shun her from the erdtree, when he himself was shunned. He dies, and melina realizes what she must do after seeing the vines. She had watched you slay three of the demigods, and a fire giant that even the first elden lord missed during his war against them. She sacrifices herself for her duty, entrusting you to kill the BNA fangirl malekith, senator armstrong godefry, her twink father, and the new hope space slug.

So, now at the ending, what happens next? the tarnished sits down, discontent that the only person who was willing to help them through and through is dead. The tarnished thinks back to what Vike said on the mountaintop, about how he refused to let his maiden die. and then it hits you. Melina KNEW she was going to sacrifice herself from the start, and kept herself distanced so you wouldnt turn out like Vyke.

Melina knows of the three fingers and their followers, and because she knows that Vyke got too attacthed to sacrifice his maiden, she keeps herself secluded from you. was... was she hiding her true feelings from you? was she so hellbent on fufilling her self given duty she was willing to sacrifice the only love she ever felt?

Enraged, the tarnished bursts into the erdtree just like marika did after godwyn died. But this time, the hammer is put above the rune of death, not the elden ring. Marikas one fatal mistake was not realizing she was the vassel for A GOD, and could do virtually anything, including cutting out the rune of death. so that means it can be destroyed without the ring being hurt, right?

For thouse who dont know, the loathsome dung eater is imprisoned in the shunning grounds. he isnt imprisoned for being an omen, hell other omens walk around roam free down there. no, he was imprisoned because of the curse he gives. we are old explicitly through ONLY his questline that the erdtree acts as a haven for dead souls, and that his curse locks those he kills out of the afterlife.

The erdtree is right there, and so is the destined death and the means to destroy it. With the power of radagons might hammer, the tarnished shatters the rune of death, the thing they worked so hard to get and lost so much to obtain. But, it was to get what was once lost, back. using the power of the Elden Ring, the tarnished brings Melinas soul back, and fufils the promise of bringing her to the erdtree.

Melina sees her mother, sees the elden ring mended, and sees you, the tarnished she put so much faith in. now that she need not hide, she lets the truth come out. She had watched and cared for you as you had cared for her, and now she could express it all. she quickly becomes an emotional wreck, and the tarnished comforts her. The tarnished, now with their ambitions and her ambitions achieved, asks Melina to be their consort. So, the age of fracture ends with Melina and the Tarnished being wedded at the same place her parents were wedded, with all the people you helped along the way showing up, like Boc, Rya, and sellen (too soon?). Melina and the tarnished intent to spend the rest of thier rule as Melina of the golden order and the third elden lord mending the lands between into the place it once was.

Until the prostitute femboy brings back his half brother godlyn, aka the pricne of death, bringing troubles for the newlywed lord and queen.

if you want to use this headcanon as well go ahead, or if you wanna hit me with a shovel for getting something in my theory wrong or for not simping Ranni, im not gonna stop you.

I'm going to bed this was a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of writing.