Alright, so I decided to really dig into this whole Melina thing in Elden Ring. You know, figure out what her deal was, her so-called ‘destiny’. Seemed important.
Getting Started
First off, I just played the game like normal for a bit. Met her, got Torrent, the usual stuff. She talks all mysterious, right? About the Erdtree, her purpose, blah blah blah. I thought, okay, let’s see where this goes. I paid close attention whenever she popped up at a Site of Grace.
I spent ages just wandering around Limgrave and then Liurnia. Fought my way through castles, caves, you name it. I kept thinking, maybe I’ll find some clue, some item description, anything that sheds more light on her. Picked up every shiny thing I saw.
Hitting Walls
Honestly? Most of the time, I was just getting stomped by bosses. Margit took me forever. Godrick wasn’t much better. And Melina? She’d show up sometimes, give a cryptic line, then vanish again. It felt like I wasn’t really doing anything about her quest, just stumbling forward.
I tried talking to every NPC, exhausting their dialogue. Gideon Ofnir at the Roundtable Hold seemed to know stuff, but even he was cagey. It was frustrating. Like, what am I supposed to do here?
- Listened to her words at different Sites of Grace.
- Tried exploring areas she mentioned, like the path to the Erdtree capital.
- Looked for unique interactions or items related to her.
The Turning Point?
Things got a bit clearer, maybe, when I reached the capital, Leyndell. More lore drops, more hints about Queen Marika, the Fingers, all that jazz. Melina seemed more focused. But then came the choice, you know? The part about the thorns and the sacrifice.
I gotta admit, I just went with it the first time. Let her do her thing at the Forge of the Giants. It felt like… the main path? The ‘destined’ path she talked about? Watching that cutscene, I felt kinda weird. Like, was that it? Her whole purpose was just to… burn?
But wait, there’s more…
Then I heard about that other path. The crazy one, down in the sewers. The Frenzied Flame. People said Melina really hates that. So, on another character, I decided to try it. Found the Three Fingers, got branded. And yeah, she bailed. Left me, swore she’d hunt me down. That felt… different. More personal, maybe? Like I’d actually changed her destiny, or at least, her relationship with me.
Final Thoughts
So, Melina’s destiny? Seems like it depends heavily on your choices. She has her stated goal, but you can totally derail it. Or fulfill it. Playing through both ways, seeing her reactions… it made me appreciate the storytelling more, even if it was confusing as heck getting there. It wasn’t just one fixed ‘destiny’, it was more like a path with some major forks in the road, and she reacts based on which way you steer. Took a lot of dying and backtracking, but figuring that part out felt pretty rewarding.
