Two Mothers [Spoilers ahead]
Hello there! It's me again.
Huge spoilers ahead!
>!TLDR: Melina's parents are Marika and Gloam Eyed Queen.!<
This is wild one, I know. It's not as strong theory as 'Melina is GEQ' and personally I believe she is GEQ too, but few details seem to support the 'two mothers' theory better than 'Melina is GEQ' theory so, here we go.
Points indicating that Melina is daughter of Marika:
- Her in game ID is 'MaricaOfDaughter'
- Messmer's Kindling says that his sister had vision of fire.
- Enia confirms that information indirectly when asked 'how to burn the Erdtree'.
- Melina could be related to Miquella, because the first time we see her she is with Torrent. That simply shows us she was part of the family.
- She knows a lot about the Erdtree, Lands Between, runes, Fingers, Frenzied Flame and 'hear' echos of Marika as if she was a part of events of the past.
- She often says that her mother is inside the Erdtree.
- When summoned to fight Morgott, she (probably) uses Minor Erdtree incantation, the secret incantation of Marika. This not only suggests her ties with Marika but also to Realm of Shadow or even maybe the Shaman Village.
- Her name starts with 'M', which aligns with Elden Ring's naming schedule.
HOWEVER, here we have few counterpoints suggesting that she is GEQ/GEQ is her mother:
- She is out of hair color pattern. The color doesn't match Godfrey's and Radagon's children (gold and red). Her hair color is something between brown and dark red - or maybe gloamed blonde?
- Every time Melina tells part of her story, she tells us that her mother is inside the Erdtree, but when she tells us stories of the past of the Lands Between she uses 'Queen Marika' instead of 'my mother' as if her mother and Marika were two different individuals, once in the same place which is inside the Erdtree.
- Morgott doesn't mention her in cutscene before his final fight. However this may be connected to Melina's state of being burn and bodyless. Morgott is not aware of her existence or simply thinks she is dead so there is no point in mentioning her in is monologue.
- Melina's eyes are 'gloamed' in Frenzied Flame ending.
- Marika could be in some sort of relationship before Godfrey. As Shadow of the Erdtree trailer states: Miquella the Kind spoke of the beginning. The seduction. And the betrayal. An affair from which Gold arose. - Since we don't exactly know who is betrayed, it could mean anyone, including GEQ.
- Melina uses Erdtree incantations while being connected to fire. Marika + GEQ attributes.
- She is the only human sized child of Marika. Ranni is a doll and her original body atop of the Divine Tower is bigger than player, other demigods are obviously bigger, but Melina appears to be 'normal' or rather different from the rest of the family.
- Melina's quote: 'Does being born of a mother... Mean one behaves in such a manner?' may mean that she was born, but not of a mother - so possibly from an egg or cocoon and GEQ is a serpent, according to other theories. This quote can also suggest that Melina was created by Marika and has no other parent.
Now, why is this not as dumb as it seems at the first glance?
Because there are evidences that Melina is daughter of Marika, Gloam Eyed Queen or she is Gloam Eyed Queen herself, however I don't know any evidence pointing directly towards Melina being daughter of Godfrey or Radagon.
Also both Marika and Gloam Eyed Queen are godlike creatures of some cosmo-spiritual origin, there is a possibility of them having a children just like Marika and Radagon did, despite of being 'one'. If her place of birth was the Shadow Realm then no information about her in the Lands Between is quiet easy to explain.