Note: I'm seeing a lot of questions about where Melina's second model comes from. It's used in Lord of Frenzied Flame ending. This is a video I've been meaning to make for a while, but part of the issue what not knowing what all NPCs to show and what to ignore. I mostly went off of what NPCs I could remember anyone specifically asking about.
@Zullie the Witch do you think there’s any lore implications behind Ranni and Melina being half sisters or anything? The fact that Ranni’s right eye is closed while Melina’s left is closed, they both have a connection to Torrent, and they both wish to be guides for the player seems like they’d have some connection. I know one idea is that Melina is a fragment of Marika to help ensure her plan, but it’s kinda contradicted, because Melina only wishes for the Frenzy ending not to occur, and not the Elden lord endings, which Marika would dislike, because she turned on the Greater Will. Love your videos, just curious on your stance on some lore stuff.
@@runningbeaner1 I think it's something we don't have enough information on to answer definitively. Part of Miyazaki's style of storytelling is deliberately leaving out certain key answers to promote speculation and guesswork.
Since Malenia is blind I now imagine Mohg just carefully tip-toeing past her to steal Miquella from the tree, completely with hilarious shenanigans of him almost knocking things over and stepping on twigs.
@gucciusmaximusi5099 Yeah! You're a hundred percent right. Which actually makes sense rather than what we're saying X) But God I love the cartoon villian imagery. XD
While going through the land of the Haligtree, and seeing all the statues depicting Malenia and Miquella, I wonder, could someone recreate Malenia's pre rot face? On the statue her arm is missing, but her face seemed unaffected by the rot at that point.
@@saymyname2618 technically, this is a thing already ingame. The Raya Lucaria students in Renalla's bossfight are reborn to take on the appearance of Ranni.
Ranni was the only child of Radagon and Rennala to inherit her mother's hair She also seemed to have inherited the weakest amount of the giant bloodline from her mother since she was smaller than her siblings and mother, but about the same size as Radagon
I have a feeling they're going to go more into Ranni's background and story for dlc. I feel like she has so much mystery behind her and so many things go back to her being this incredibly powerful puppet master but her story seems unusually vague even for a From game. Like they're sort of setting it up to be expanded more.
@@pixelspy5791 TBH I prefer they go either the dusk eyed queen route or Miquella route for the dlc because it feels like we need more info about who the dusk eyed queen is and also about miquella someone made a video about a theory of entering a dream world to fight miquella which is I think a good dlc content.
@@barbatos9441 there is no miquella dream world. he and malenia are the new radagon and marika. or will be. the game is pretty direct about that. there is so much info about miquella i dont think they will make a dlc about that because it would be too predictable. and i feel like most people wouldnt be too excited for a dlc where they have to fight malenia again. also gloam eyes queen is just melina. yes it was a plottwist. she wanted you to kill maliketh to get her rune back, thats all. its not even a big deal. we use the rune of life with its owner rennala. who has a daughter ranni. and melina is the daughter of marika who is the owner of the rune of death. there is connection and background, already in the game.
@@hfweuiofnweuio500 bruh there's so little about miquella inside the cocoon what are you on about and there's no concrete evidence about Melina being gloam eyed queen just good theories.
I like the idea of Malenia being blind because then that lends credence to her attack style of "walk at you till attacked, then reciprocate". She's navigating the field and has to find you first 🗡️
@@ioverslept. She kinda does do this since she is far more passive if you are. If you drink Crimson tears or roll/ attack she suddenly goes nuts. This is the tactic some poeple do to bait out her waterfowl dance.
@@deusex9731 Unless she can hear you breathing, your armor making noise, fabric sliding across fabric, etc. plus her combat experience likely letting her predict where you'll be plus her most likely knowing the layout of the chamber she's probably spent so much time in plus plus her probably having spent a long while fighting blind before. With everything rotting away, she's probably had to rely on her hearing a lot. Hell she might be able to smell your character out, considering they don't seem to bathe lol.
You really go above and beyond for these videos. I wonder how many other odd, interesting, and intensely detailed faces the rest of the From catalogue have.
One thing that's really tragic about Malenia being blind is that it means she likely doesn't realize that she's not protecting Miquella anymore. She was asleep when he was taken, and though she's awake to fight you, she's unable to see that his cocoon is gone. She fights you to protect something that isn't even there anymore, and therefore dies for nothing.
I felt like the reason Malenia marched all the way to Caelid, is actually to get Miquella back, since Mohg's Palace, is literally right below the place where Malenia and Radhan fought, sadly in the end they fought to a stalemate and Malenia's rot increased and fainted, and she cant continue her mission to retrieve Miquella anymore without risking her rot to increase furthermore
When you show Melina’s open eye that closely, it really does look like that Beast Eye that Gurranq gives you… I’ve also always loved the detail of Melina’s once-dominant eye being faded as though blind in yhat ending, signifying the loss of grace and/or her connection with Marika.
A "face" that I'd like to see is the statue in the Grand Cloister in the room where you find the Scorpion's Stinger that all the Kindred of Rot are staring towards. The body and face are covered in rot so you can't tell who it is, and it could just be nothing with the Kindred worshipping the weapon, but I thought the placement of that statue was interesting.
I saw goldmask in a strange pose when I was summoned to my friend's world in the ashen capital. His ghost looked like it was grabbing onto a ledge and floating mid air
There is more that imply-explain how/why Malenia can be blind and still fight as well as she does, as the curve swordsman and prosthesis wearer heirloom talismans, blue dancer charm (talisman), and flowing cursed sword all reference some mysterious blind swordsman who was a renowned fighter, and was Malenia's mentor.
After watching this I realized that Melina's frenzied flame model has her eye tattoo faded, as if it were a seal that finally broke, allowing her to use it again. This might give more credence to the theory that she is the gloom eyed queen, and that her power were sealed with her eye, now restore due to it breaking.
@@DragonfoxShadow I think this is why she fakes her death. She regains her memories as the Gloam Eyed Queen and aids the tarnished so she can bring Destined Death to the Lands Between. Melina survives every ending.
@@wisp3936 I mean, she straight up says that's her goal in the cutscene for the Frenzied Flame ending. She says goodbye after you reach the capital implying that you won't see her again, yet she joins you for the Morgott fight and immediately propositions you to burn the tree. She also seems to know much more about herself once she rejoins you.
@@saintsfearful In fact, a very real theory, given the fact that it seems like the one who raised the level for us, as it were, died, but the level can still be raised. Who do we give the runes to if she's dead?
Am I the only one who feels kinda bad for the cursed twins? It’s kind of wholesome that they tried creating a paradise despite their curses. Even if one of them may be manipulating people to do so
Well, Miquella curse is eternal childhood and their power to inspire loyalty/affection is not very controllable as far as it seems. Somewhat similar to Malenias power of the Rot, she can sort of turn it on or off, but it goes wild the second she inflicts something and can’t stop it, even if it’s her own body.
Maybe Melina's golden eye looses colour because after burning everything grace is no more (and we don't see her in other endings). After all, she has ties with Marika (she even knows what could have been her final words before shattering with Radagon, this is very sus)and after dying leaves an entire "tree" of golden runes, instead of little branches like us
Yeah, there's definetely a lot of room for speculation regarding her, unless a dlc were to add more details. She can conjure runes into strength like a Maiden, offering to play as one, she knows Marika's words, like we said (and those are words that only she may know, like the bit regarding Radagon, but also the speech where she questions the Order or when she exiles Godfrey... They don't sound like something of public domain ahahah), she guides us to fulfil Marika's wish, basically, which is following the grace and killing the God. Then there is the fact that she moves like one of the black knives, only but "a golden version of them", she has an immense "light of grace", she says she was born under the erdtree... She shares Radagon and Marika's children initial (but also Morgott and Mogh have an M, maybe it was a way to simbolyze that they were cast away and not recognized as Gofrey's successors), she has a golden eye and "reddish brown hair" (Malenia is a redhead and Miquella is blonde... while she's kinda in between). But then there are the ties with Ranni, she gives us a spectral steed and Ranni knows about it, she even says she's happy to see Torrent doing well, as well as the fact that Ranni gives us the means to use spirits. They also share a closed eye, but mirrored (also there's this image of Melina being overlapped to Ranni's spirit face, but i don't know how much of that is intentional or just "an average anime woman looking face") and Ranni can follow us by putting her soul inside the miniature doll, which could be similar to what Melina does with her "spectral appearence". Up until these elements, she could sound like a secret daughter or byproduct of Marika to ensure that a Tarnished would follow that path... The similarities with Ranni could be simply part of their lineage (like, Rykard can summon the souls of the ones he feasted upon), but the doubts begin with the chaos ending and her "gloam eye". If she were the gloam eyed queen, it wouldn't make much sense, as she says her mission was given by her mother (so if we wanna believe that theory and also believe her words regarding her mother, this mother would be a different character we may not knkw about... Maybe death itself or the God of death, who knows...); If she were the daughter or a byproduct of the gloam eyed queen, the ties with Marika would be just kinda there as well... So maybe she still is an offspring of Marika and she follows the path of destined death simply because Marika basically changed her mind: at first she had Maliketh defeat the g.e.queen and took death away, but at some point she changed her mind, questioned the Order and basically conjured the game's plot, betrayed Maliketh, created the Tarnished, shattered the ring and so on. Whatever the reason for this change of mind might be doesn't really matter (honestly i don't really see Marika as some good being who is genuenly sorry for what she did, after all if she really had a part in the night of the black knives, since the black knives are tied to her and Maliketh feels betrayed by her, she would have had her son killed....I see her more as someone who plotted against the current Order because the Greater Will chose a new empyrean to replace her. She wanted to be eternal, not just a cycle, but after Radagon was sent to the Capital probably to keep an eye on her, as he was the leal Hound of the Order, she plotted to basically screw everything, destroy the Order and have a Tarnished kill the God... But we don't really know if she changed her mind before or after Ranni was born, so anyone's guess is as good as mine), what matters is that Melina is fullfilling her part in the plan, one way or another and the gloam eye she has at the end could be simply representative of the destined death she wants to deliver to the Lord of Chaos.
You know until now I genuinely though they had the same spelling, although I was thinking he shared it with the Warhammer version more than the Marvel one.
Seeing gurrang like that feels so weird. I imagined him as basically guardian ape from sekiro with robes. I was so convinced that they literally used the apes model and hunched him over more and put a robe on him
Strangely, Malenia's eyes being blind/rotted out never crossed my mind. Well, that just bumped her up a few more pegs for being one of the most badass warriors From has ever created. She is absolutely up in the top 5 of my favorite From bosses.
Do you think she would fight any differently if she could actually see? Like PERFECT tracking on waterfowl dance? Do you think the unalloyed golden helmet helps her sight in anyway?
Eyes can function as portals in Elden Ring. Those with Frenzy shoot flames out of their eyes. Unfortunately for Malenia (and everyone else) Scarlet Rot is pouring of hers’. (Also pretty sure there is a Beksinski painting or two similar of a face that (like Malenia) has biological horror pouring out of the eyes).
Smoughtown just released a 1 hour 30 minute lore video on the scarlet rot which also includes lore of Malenia. It even talks about her fighting style and how it's related to the outer god of rot (ie it's the fighting style that was originally used to fight against the outer god of rot) and that using the fighting style may help in suppressing it or giving her temporary relief. But it also opened my eyes because I hadn't realized how handicapped she was during her lore fight with Radahn. During the fight with Radahn, her body was already succumbing to the rot. She'd already lost her arm, most likely lost her eyes at the time, and was actively trying to suppress the influence of an OUTER GOD having control over her body. IMO, Radahn holding the stars in place sounds way less impressive now.
5:15 Considering that the previous model doesn't have an option to open it's eye I'm 60% certain that lore-wise the eye is always purple. Tho FromSoft puts great attention to details we normally won't see, hence the 40% uncertainty.
After watching this, Melina is 100% the Gloam-Eyed Queen. Just look at the eye, it looks exactly like dusk. Which is why the game also mentions her as the Dusk-Eyed Queen. Perhaps Melina is the Gloam-Eyed Queen in the same way that Gurranq is Maliketh.
+ she moves like a Black Knife assassin when you summon her VS Morgot Still, im not convinced of her being the queen: maybe the same body, but not the same mind/soul/whatever.
Really cool 👍 I'm also curious about some character models like how much a man vs wolf Blaidd is especially after seeing Maliketh Also wondering if characters with helms like Loretta have faces 🤔
I never got a close look at mohgwyn's face having only fought mohg so far , always thought he'd have similar features to morgott so his deviliah face was definitely a surprise
i love the way this video is presented. could have easily just been shots of their models with the barest descriptions but you went into it. i liked your descriptions
I just want you to know this video unexpectedly came out super relaxing, just reading what's on screen 10pm at night, with that mellow music and just like that, I fell asleep watching this video. It was therapeutic in a sense and now every now and then I look to this video when I want to sleep
Hey Zullie, so about this whole unmasking business… There are some more npcs like the bloodhound knight that have black untextured faces underneath their helmets - figured it out once I tried looking under the helmet on the player variant. Maybe an idea for another unmasking video? Makes me wonder if the gladiators also have faces and so on.
It is very intriguing of each character is at a closer look, though it begs to theorize of what they were before they were damaged/rotted/crippled, like Malenia, Rahdan, or many other NPCs; wondering how overwhelmingly challenging they may had been.
I’ve seen a lot of lore discussion about Miquella, but no one seems to notice that Mogh was literally inside the body in the cocoon. We know this because the blood flows out of the arm and out pops Mogh who then says “you must abide alone a while”…
I realized Radagon doesn't look like he has any sight either. Which makes me wonder if blindness was something Malenia inherited rather than being the result of the scarlet rot. I'd like to think this is the case because it reinforces how much like Radagon she is. She's a Miquella fundamentalist in a similar way to Radagon being a Golden Order fundamentalist.
Love the video. Just a humble request if you ever see this. Could we see a height comparison of the main NPCs and bosses, or even some the monsters? Some are so small while others are incredulously huge. It would be cool to see the height differences on a scale.
I wish we could get a closer looks at Rennalas sweetings. The blue ones with tall hats have higher cheek bones, but nobody takes close pictures of them or their model.
Jesus Christ imagine having horns but they get so fucked up one takes out your eye and you feel it in that socket every day. No wonder Mohg went insane.
Another aspect of Melinas different faces ist that the frenzy Flame one looks older and less childlike, not only because of the hair and mimik but the facial features looks more mature too. But well it could even be because of Weightloss after the destruction by fire which could been stressful^^ . And the difference in the two Faces of Ranni are nearly similar, the eyes the most. But nose and face itself looks thinner. Someone said the ghostface where Melina, but the eyes are too different.
Ranni's doll is modeled after Melina. I suspect the ghost face is the real Ranni face. Still makes sense there is some resembelance since they are half-siblings.
Funnily enough the two crystal mages CAN be moved. The one at the mountain can be shoved around by the Demiqueen boss near him, so he just slides around in his chair with no animations.
It's a shame we didn't get any more lore on Melina aside from the implication of her being Messmer's sister and one of Marika's children. It's even sadder that this is probably the only dlc we will get for Elden Ring. Hope there's a Elden Ring 2 or something. Great video btw
year late, but its incredibly interesting to me the whole concept of morgott. Hes someone born absolutely scorned by the erdtree, yet despite it all he goes as far as to lay down his life for it and even sacrifice it in defense of the erdtree, even while knowing no one can enter it anyway, perhaps in a gambit to make sure no one ever finds out and tries to burn it, with either frenzy or maiden sacrifice, and as if to reward him he's granted the blessing of grace, and upon his defeat hes given a nearly human like appearance and the ability to withstand death as though he were a demi-god, call back to godrick. When we defeat him he's reduced to a torso and head, and remains there undying, as though it were his punishment for his crimes and abuse of power, and when death is restored and Morgott fully dies, its almost as if he turns into grace itself, probably the highest possible reward for his loyalty despite his origins. In complete contrast, mohg straight up looks like a demon, and he revels in his insidious and nauseating nature, going out of his way to kidnap miquella. In his second phase he grows gnarled and twisted wings, like a fallen angel, homage to what he could have been if he followed in the path of his brother, but ultimately a reminder of his twisted nature. When hes finally killed his last words are outright delusion, hes so far into his fantasy that he cant even understand hes already dead, and that his twisted dynasty ends with him..... And radahn has golden eyes as well, erdtree really wanted him to be happy with his horsie :DDD
I had a thought... looking at Rannis spirit, attached to a doll with a bad eye. The spirits bad eye is the same as Melina's. And it's shown that Godwyn's body survived after his spirits death... is it possible that Ranni's body somehow survived? I know there's the body on the tower, but there's also multiple bodies Godwyn. Like it could be possible that like some of the false bodies of Godwyn, Melina or the one on the tower could be duplicates. And why does Melina's good eye go bad when the marked one opens, then looking more like the doll? Mysteries on mysteries... I fell like there's a connection between the two. Maybe a DLC might explore it further.
Awesome. I've been asking about Gurranq. Seems Sarosh would actually be significantly bigger than him. The Mohg close up was very cool, I never noticed the horn in the eye. Wild. I wonder if that is the wound that allows him to commune with the Mother of Truth. The Melina one is very interesting too. Kinda confirms her as the Gloam Eyed Queen or Dusk Eyed, whoever she is. Thanks Zullie.
Note: I'm seeing a lot of questions about where Melina's second model comes from. It's used in Lord of Frenzied Flame ending.
This is a video I've been meaning to make for a while, but part of the issue what not knowing what all NPCs to show and what to ignore. I mostly went off of what NPCs I could remember anyone specifically asking about.
@Zullie the Witch do you think there’s any lore implications behind Ranni and Melina being half sisters or anything? The fact that Ranni’s right eye is closed while Melina’s left is closed, they both have a connection to Torrent, and they both wish to be guides for the player seems like they’d have some connection. I know one idea is that Melina is a fragment of Marika to help ensure her plan, but it’s kinda contradicted, because Melina only wishes for the Frenzy ending not to occur, and not the Elden lord endings, which Marika would dislike, because she turned on the Greater Will.
Love your videos, just curious on your stance on some lore stuff.
Next: Time to shave?
What about the bloodhound knights? I'm sooo curious what there faces look like...if they have them🤔
@@runningbeaner1 I think it's something we don't have enough information on to answer definitively. Part of Miyazaki's style of storytelling is deliberately leaving out certain key answers to promote speculation and guesswork.
When does the second model of Melina get used? I don't think I ever saw that model
Since Malenia is blind I now imagine Mohg just carefully tip-toeing past her to steal Miquella from the tree, completely with hilarious shenanigans of him almost knocking things over and stepping on twigs.
A large gulp as Malenia snoring stops for a bit and proceeds to resume...
"Honk mimiquellamimi"
Mohg acting like a cartoon villain is something I never knew I needed
he knows one cracked branch and its dancing time
@gucciusmaximusi5099 Yeah! You're a hundred percent right. Which actually makes sense rather than what we're saying X)
But God I love the cartoon villian imagery. XD
Inside a bush with bugs Bunny sneak music
While going through the land of the Haligtree, and seeing all the statues depicting Malenia and Miquella, I wonder, could someone recreate Malenia's pre rot face? On the statue her arm is missing, but her face seemed unaffected by the rot at that point.
I wondered the same about Ranni, if someone could make a version of her while she was still made of flesh and bone.
@@saymyname2618 technically, this is a thing already ingame. The Raya Lucaria students in Renalla's bossfight are reborn to take on the appearance of Ranni.
@@BlitzStorm
What? But they dont look nothing like her. Where did you get this from? Never heard anything like that.
Ranni was the only child of Radagon and Rennala to inherit her mother's hair
She also seemed to have inherited the weakest amount of the giant bloodline from her mother since she was smaller than her siblings and mother, but about the same size as Radagon
The statues around the haligtree do actually depict the progression of her rot going from having both eyes, to only 1 eye, to having neither
This really makes me want some DLC exploring all the missing details surrounding the Gloam/Dusk Eyed Queen and Ranni's snow witch mentor.
Dusk eyed Queen Melena
I have a feeling they're going to go more into Ranni's background and story for dlc. I feel like she has so much mystery behind her and so many things go back to her being this incredibly powerful puppet master but her story seems unusually vague even for a From game. Like they're sort of setting it up to be expanded more.
@@pixelspy5791 TBH I prefer they go either the dusk eyed queen route or Miquella route for the dlc because it feels like we need more info about who the dusk eyed queen is and also about miquella someone made a video about a theory of entering a dream world to fight miquella which is I think a good dlc content.
@@barbatos9441 there is no miquella dream world. he and malenia are the new radagon and marika. or will be. the game is pretty direct about that. there is so much info about miquella i dont think they will make a dlc about that because it would be too predictable. and i feel like most people wouldnt be too excited for a dlc where they have to fight malenia again. also gloam eyes queen is just melina. yes it was a plottwist. she wanted you to kill maliketh to get her rune back, thats all. its not even a big deal. we use the rune of life with its owner rennala. who has a daughter ranni. and melina is the daughter of marika who is the owner of the rune of death. there is connection and background, already in the game.
@@hfweuiofnweuio500 bruh there's so little about miquella inside the cocoon what are you on about and there's no concrete evidence about Melina being gloam eyed queen just good theories.
I like the idea of Malenia being blind because then that lends credence to her attack style of "walk at you till attacked, then reciprocate". She's navigating the field and has to find you first 🗡️
Would be cool if she didnt attack if you stood still for a certain time
@@ioverslept. She kinda does do this since she is far more passive if you are. If you drink Crimson tears or roll/ attack she suddenly goes nuts. This is the tactic some poeple do to bait out her waterfowl dance.
It is also fairly appropriate as she learned her swordsmanship from a blind swordsman.
@holllllke123 you are fighting in water so she might hear you stepping, but in the end she has some attacks that just wouldnt hit.
@@deusex9731 Unless she can hear you breathing, your armor making noise, fabric sliding across fabric, etc. plus her combat experience likely letting her predict where you'll be plus her most likely knowing the layout of the chamber she's probably spent so much time in plus plus her probably having spent a long while fighting blind before. With everything rotting away, she's probably had to rely on her hearing a lot. Hell she might be able to smell your character out, considering they don't seem to bathe lol.
What I learned from this video is that Radahn is actually Tyler1. I should have known from how tall he was modeled to be.
Tyler is bald
You really go above and beyond for these videos. I wonder how many other odd, interesting, and intensely detailed faces the rest of the From catalogue have.
One thing that's really tragic about Malenia being blind is that it means she likely doesn't realize that she's not protecting Miquella anymore. She was asleep when he was taken, and though she's awake to fight you, she's unable to see that his cocoon is gone. She fights you to protect something that isn't even there anymore, and therefore dies for nothing.
nah, she has dialogue saying shes awaiting his return. for some reason she just thinks he left of his own free will
@@shedinjask Or that she's waiting for him to wake up
I felt like the reason Malenia marched all the way to Caelid, is actually to get Miquella back, since Mohg's Palace, is literally right below the place where Malenia and Radhan fought, sadly in the end they fought to a stalemate and Malenia's rot increased and fainted, and she cant continue her mission to retrieve Miquella anymore without risking her rot to increase furthermore
@@Xiuyas makes no sense
@@xeibei4804 Leo’s explanation makes more sense than most “lore” they give us to begin with 🤦🏽🤦🏽
So those Skeleton Dogs in Tomb of the Giants are a bunch of Malikeths, explains why they're so fucking strong and annoying to fight
Deepest lore!
Time traveling skeleton dogs
@@tylervanpeursem7627 From teleportation to time travel...
@@asdergold1 "the very fabric of time itself is convoluted, with heroes centuries old fading in and out"
Frenzied flame ending segueys right into DS1s opening. This is not much a stretch thematically.
When you show Melina’s open eye that closely, it really does look like that Beast Eye that Gurranq gives you…
I’ve also always loved the detail of Melina’s once-dominant eye being faded as though blind in yhat ending, signifying the loss of grace and/or her connection with Marika.
A "face" that I'd like to see is the statue in the Grand Cloister in the room where you find the Scorpion's Stinger that all the Kindred of Rot are staring towards. The body and face are covered in rot so you can't tell who it is, and it could just be nothing with the Kindred worshipping the weapon, but I thought the placement of that statue was interesting.
I saw goldmask in a strange pose when I was summoned to my friend's world in the ashen capital. His ghost looked like it was grabbing onto a ledge and floating mid air
Corhyn must have freaked out
@@eldendynast "WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS MEAN"
He's just that insightful, dude.
There is more that imply-explain how/why Malenia can be blind and still fight as well as she does, as the curve swordsman and prosthesis wearer heirloom talismans, blue dancer charm (talisman), and flowing cursed sword all reference some mysterious blind swordsman who was a renowned fighter, and was Malenia's mentor.
Dororo?
seeing radahn without the helmet and his spiked red hair truly show he's the "strongest creature" and an "ogre"
@@WesHalScyth I knew he reminded me someone thanks lol, though can't remember in which franchise he was. (Goblin Slayer???)
@@WesHalScyth Though saw similar design in Old Brazilian manga that is no longer sold besides Brazil.
@@rafsandomierz5313Baki
After watching this I realized that Melina's frenzied flame model has her eye tattoo faded, as if it were a seal that finally broke, allowing her to use it again. This might give more credence to the theory that she is the gloom eyed queen, and that her power were sealed with her eye, now restore due to it breaking.
Sealed when the Rune of Death was sealed. And most likely no longer sealed after you kill Maliketh
@@DragonfoxShadow I think this is why she fakes her death. She regains her memories as the Gloam Eyed Queen and aids the tarnished so she can bring Destined Death to the Lands Between. Melina survives every ending.
@@saintsfearful An interesting theory
@@wisp3936 I mean, she straight up says that's her goal in the cutscene for the Frenzied Flame ending. She says goodbye after you reach the capital implying that you won't see her again, yet she joins you for the Morgott fight and immediately propositions you to burn the tree. She also seems to know much more about herself once she rejoins you.
@@saintsfearful In fact, a very real theory, given the fact that it seems like the one who raised the level for us, as it were, died, but the level can still be raised.
Who do we give the runes to if she's dead?
Am I the only one who feels kinda bad for the cursed twins? It’s kind of wholesome that they tried creating a paradise despite their curses. Even if one of them may be manipulating people to do so
Miquella is Griffith my dude. Manipulation may be the least of one's concerns over him. He reeks of sanctified evil.
@@conormccue2871 true
Well, Miquella curse is eternal childhood and their power to inspire loyalty/affection is not very controllable as far as it seems. Somewhat similar to Malenias power of the Rot, she can sort of turn it on or off, but it goes wild the second she inflicts something and can’t stop it, even if it’s her own body.
Maybe Melina's golden eye looses colour because after burning everything grace is no more (and we don't see her in other endings).
After all, she has ties with Marika (she even knows what could have been her final words before shattering with Radagon, this is very sus)and after dying leaves an entire "tree" of golden runes, instead of little branches like us
Or that the rune of Destined Death finally returned to her
Do you think she's piece of Marika reborn? She has all this info and sometimes works with Ranni while fighting like a Black Blade. 🤔
@@maybemablemaples2144 I think she's Ranni's long lost twin sister Renna.
@@saintsfearful Renna is not Ranni's sister. Renna is a witch that taught Ranni how to use magic. There's no evidence that they were related.
Yeah, there's definetely a lot of room for speculation regarding her, unless a dlc were to add more details.
She can conjure runes into strength like a Maiden, offering to play as one, she knows Marika's words, like we said (and those are words that only she may know, like the bit regarding Radagon, but also the speech where she questions the Order or when she exiles Godfrey... They don't sound like something of public domain ahahah), she guides us to fulfil Marika's wish, basically, which is following the grace and killing the God.
Then there is the fact that she moves like one of the black knives, only but "a golden version of them", she has an immense "light of grace", she says she was born under the erdtree... She shares Radagon and Marika's children initial (but also Morgott and Mogh have an M, maybe it was a way to simbolyze that they were cast away and not recognized as Gofrey's successors), she has a golden eye and "reddish brown hair" (Malenia is a redhead and Miquella is blonde... while she's kinda in between).
But then there are the ties with Ranni, she gives us a spectral steed and Ranni knows about it, she even says she's happy to see Torrent doing well, as well as the fact that Ranni gives us the means to use spirits.
They also share a closed eye, but mirrored (also there's this image of Melina being overlapped to Ranni's spirit face, but i don't know how much of that is intentional or just "an average anime woman looking face") and Ranni can follow us by putting her soul inside the miniature doll, which could be similar to what Melina does with her "spectral appearence".
Up until these elements, she could sound like a secret daughter or byproduct of Marika to ensure that a Tarnished would follow that path... The similarities with Ranni could be simply part of their lineage (like, Rykard can summon the souls of the ones he feasted upon), but the doubts begin with the chaos ending and her "gloam eye".
If she were the gloam eyed queen, it wouldn't make much sense, as she says her mission was given by her mother (so if we wanna believe that theory and also believe her words regarding her mother, this mother would be a different character we may not knkw about... Maybe death itself or the God of death, who knows...);
If she were the daughter or a byproduct of the gloam eyed queen, the ties with Marika would be just kinda there as well...
So maybe she still is an offspring of Marika and she follows the path of destined death simply because Marika basically changed her mind: at first she had Maliketh defeat the g.e.queen and took death away, but at some point she changed her mind, questioned the Order and basically conjured the game's plot, betrayed Maliketh, created the Tarnished, shattered the ring and so on.
Whatever the reason for this change of mind might be doesn't really matter (honestly i don't really see Marika as some good being who is genuenly sorry for what she did, after all if she really had a part in the night of the black knives, since the black knives are tied to her and Maliketh feels betrayed by her, she would have had her son killed....I see her more as someone who plotted against the current Order because the Greater Will chose a new empyrean to replace her. She wanted to be eternal, not just a cycle, but after Radagon was sent to the Capital probably to keep an eye on her, as he was the leal Hound of the Order, she plotted to basically screw everything, destroy the Order and have a Tarnished kill the God...
But we don't really know if she changed her mind before or after Ranni was born, so anyone's guess is as good as mine), what matters is that Melina is fullfilling her part in the plan, one way or another and the gloam eye she has at the end could be simply representative of the destined death she wants to deliver to the Lord of Chaos.
So even Zullie mistakes Maliketh for Malekith...
You know until now I genuinely though they had the same spelling, although I was thinking he shared it with the Warhammer version more than the Marvel one.
Maliketh, the Dark Clergy-Elf
Guranq is such a cute little puppy lol
Seeing gurrang like that feels so weird. I imagined him as basically guardian ape from sekiro with robes. I was so convinced that they literally used the apes model and hunched him over more and put a robe on him
Strangely, Malenia's eyes being blind/rotted out never crossed my mind. Well, that just bumped her up a few more pegs for being one of the most badass warriors From has ever created. She is absolutely up in the top 5 of my favorite From bosses.
Do you think she would fight any differently if she could actually see? Like PERFECT tracking on waterfowl dance? Do you think the unalloyed golden helmet helps her sight in anyway?
Did you just skip the second phase cutscene every time?
The way Malenia's eyes are blinded visually reminds me of the Maiden in Black's blinded eyes. The shape is oddly similar.
Eyes can function as portals in Elden Ring. Those with Frenzy shoot flames out of their eyes. Unfortunately for Malenia (and everyone else) Scarlet Rot is pouring of hers’.
(Also pretty sure there is a Beksinski painting or two similar of a face that (like Malenia) has biological horror pouring out of the eyes).
Smoughtown just released a 1 hour 30 minute lore video on the scarlet rot which also includes lore of Malenia. It even talks about her fighting style and how it's related to the outer god of rot (ie it's the fighting style that was originally used to fight against the outer god of rot) and that using the fighting style may help in suppressing it or giving her temporary relief.
But it also opened my eyes because I hadn't realized how handicapped she was during her lore fight with Radahn. During the fight with Radahn, her body was already succumbing to the rot. She'd already lost her arm, most likely lost her eyes at the time, and was actively trying to suppress the influence of an OUTER GOD having control over her body. IMO, Radahn holding the stars in place sounds way less impressive now.
I feel like Maliketh's strange body shape didn't get enough attention here. Is he a bear? A wolf? A wolverine? Something between?
Melina's left eye looks so cool
5:15
Considering that the previous model doesn't have an option to open it's eye I'm 60% certain that lore-wise the eye is always purple.
Tho FromSoft puts great attention to details we normally won't see, hence the 40% uncertainty.
Melina's model after the frenzy flame ending even made her hair look like it was singed.
After watching this, Melina is 100% the Gloam-Eyed Queen. Just look at the eye, it looks exactly like dusk. Which is why the game also mentions her as the Dusk-Eyed Queen. Perhaps Melina is the Gloam-Eyed Queen in the same way that Gurranq is Maliketh.
+ she moves like a Black Knife assassin when you summon her VS Morgot
Still, im not convinced of her being the queen: maybe the same body, but not the same mind/soul/whatever.
Radahn has spent untold years as a crazed maniac wandering a desert of corpses, but still takes time to shave.
even Zullie misspelled Maliketh rip
I'm going to blame Warhammer and Marvel for this.
@@ZullietheWitch hehehe fair enough :) excellent video as always
Malenia called Radahn an angry potato no wonder he’s gone mad it wasn’t the scarlet rot.
4:15 right, no sleep for tonight.
dear god maliketh without armor looks like something you'd see in a nightmare
I didn’t know any of the characters looked like this, Radahn and Mohg were crazy
It's poetic that Malenia is blind due to the scarlet rot because according to lore the water dancing swordsman who taught her was also blind.
Never noticed that Melina's right eye changes color in the other model. I suppose it's meant to symbolize the death of the Golden Order?
Really cool 👍 I'm also curious about some character models like how much a man vs wolf Blaidd is especially after seeing Maliketh
Also wondering if characters with helms like Loretta have faces 🤔
I will now and forever give Radahn the voice of Recoome.
Azur & Lusat do actually move, just very slightly and slowly, they open their hands and raise their arms slightly to give you their sorceries.
I never got a close look at mohgwyn's face having only fought mohg so far , always thought he'd have similar features to morgott so his deviliah face was definitely a surprise
It's weird getting the tweet and video on my notification simultaneously
Rennala has the weirdest ears I’ve seen in a gosh darn second
Naked Maliketh isn’t real…..he can’t hurt you.
Naked Maliketh: So that was a lie.
Can't help but feel Radahn looks like he's gonna lead a lot of Ancient Egypt-themed Space soldiers and get mixed up with chaos deities
i love the way this video is presented. could have easily just been shots of their models with the barest descriptions but you went into it. i liked your descriptions
Man, Melina is just so cute
That's a cool detail with Mohg. I didn't even notice. (I was on fire, causing me to be less perceptive)
that spiraling cloudy eye looks like the center of a whirlwind at crumbling farum azula.
Radahn has a pretty big forehead, further evidence that he is big brain
Need big brain to control stars tho
I just want you to know this video unexpectedly came out super relaxing, just reading what's on screen 10pm at night, with that mellow music and just like that, I fell asleep watching this video. It was therapeutic in a sense and now every now and then I look to this video when I want to sleep
It's been months since the game released and I've only just realized that Master Hewg is a Misbegotten. The more you know...
Melina's gloam eyed queen model looks so badass. Hope we get more interactions, or even fight her as a boss in dlc.
and now the DLC released, Melina's eye is made from "Iris of Grace" and "Iris of Occultation".
Hey Zullie, so about this whole unmasking business… There are some more npcs like the bloodhound knight that have black untextured faces underneath their helmets - figured it out once I tried looking under the helmet on the player variant. Maybe an idea for another unmasking video? Makes me wonder if the gladiators also have faces and so on.
Azur and Lasat DO move, their hands actively move to give you their respective sorcery. It's a very slow and creaky style of animation, too.
Can’t stop watching these videos. Thanks for making them!
0:19 MFW I see a new Zullie video in my feed.
You have an allergic reaction?
I really hope Melina comes back in a dlc or something. I really like the sound of her voice.
never realized that Mohg's eye was destroyed by his own horn... Jesus Christ
I want to see more of Radagon's brain cavity
It is very intriguing of each character is at a closer look, though it begs to theorize of what they were before they were damaged/rotted/crippled, like Malenia, Rahdan, or many other NPCs; wondering how overwhelmingly challenging they may had been.
I’ve seen a lot of lore discussion about Miquella, but no one seems to notice that Mogh was literally inside the body in the cocoon. We know this because the blood flows out of the arm and out pops Mogh who then says “you must abide alone a while”…
I realized Radagon doesn't look like he has any sight either. Which makes me wonder if blindness was something Malenia inherited rather than being the result of the scarlet rot. I'd like to think this is the case because it reinforces how much like Radagon she is. She's a Miquella fundamentalist in a similar way to Radagon being a Golden Order fundamentalist.
First phase Rykard is actually just groot confirmed.
Zullie dropping heat as always
Love the video. Just a humble request if you ever see this.
Could we see a height comparison of the main NPCs and bosses, or even some the monsters? Some are so small while others are incredulously huge. It would be cool to see the height differences on a scale.
Demon Souls 2009 's ost in the background hits different
Beautiful melodic accompaniment.
Rennala looks high as f*** xD
Even radahns eyes burn like his great tune
I wish we could get a closer looks at Rennalas sweetings. The blue ones with tall hats have higher cheek bones, but nobody takes close pictures of them or their model.
I like how malenia is blind but still easily manages to eradicate us from existence
Mohg is still the coolest looking boss in the entire game for me. He just oozes badassedry.
Jesus Christ imagine having horns but they get so fucked up one takes out your eye and you feel it in that socket every day. No wonder Mohg went insane.
There are various portraits of Rykard and Radahn at the Volcano Manor depicting them before things went to hell.
Dang you turned “the ever brilliant Goldmask” into just “the ever brilliant”
Radahn, Lord of the NECK
Melinas left eye looks like beast eye that Gurrang gives you to find deathroot.
Another aspect of Melinas different faces ist that the frenzy Flame one looks older and less childlike, not only because of the hair and mimik but the facial features looks more mature too. But well it could even be because of Weightloss after the destruction by fire which could been stressful^^ .
And the difference in the two Faces of Ranni are nearly similar, the eyes the most. But nose and face itself looks thinner. Someone said the ghostface where Melina, but the eyes are too different.
Ranni's doll is modeled after Melina. I suspect the ghost face is the real Ranni face.
Still makes sense there is some resembelance since they are half-siblings.
The Glaom Eyed Queen is the future Maiden in black. I'm calling it again.
Funnily enough the two crystal mages CAN be moved. The one at the mountain can be shoved around by the Demiqueen boss near him, so he just slides around in his chair with no animations.
I never realized that Hewg is misbegotten.
Radahn was Carrot Top the whole time, and Maliketh is a shaved polar bear.
Melina is a ghost that controls Ranni probably which is why they both appear early to you in the game
5 min Zullie content lets go! I'll take any length but this one's a treat. Never realized Hewg was that close to the enemy model.
Love all your works, Zullie. You're amazing 👏🏻
It's a shame we didn't get any more lore on Melina aside from the implication of her being Messmer's sister and one of Marika's children. It's even sadder that this is probably the only dlc we will get for Elden Ring. Hope there's a Elden Ring 2 or something. Great video btw
Must have been a hard video to make, especially considering its length. Whether or not that's the case, thank you for your hard work!
Rahdan looks like Pennywise without helmet XD
I really wanted to look at the faces of the masters of magic. Be careful what you wish for
I appreciate all the effort on the vids Zullie!!! :)
Rykard is giving them "moisturise me" vibes
Radahn getting ready for mad max.
interesting upclose eye on Melina... she became a spiral being just like Simon from TTGL
Lusat's and Azur's faces look really uncanny, they give me the heebie-jeebies
Someone ported several of the boss models into VRChat and they are amazing to see up close and moving.
year late, but its incredibly interesting to me the whole concept of morgott. Hes someone born absolutely scorned by the erdtree, yet despite it all he goes as far as to lay down his life for it and even sacrifice it in defense of the erdtree, even while knowing no one can enter it anyway, perhaps in a gambit to make sure no one ever finds out and tries to burn it, with either frenzy or maiden sacrifice, and as if to reward him he's granted the blessing of grace, and upon his defeat hes given a nearly human like appearance and the ability to withstand death as though he were a demi-god, call back to godrick. When we defeat him he's reduced to a torso and head, and remains there undying, as though it were his punishment for his crimes and abuse of power, and when death is restored and Morgott fully dies, its almost as if he turns into grace itself, probably the highest possible reward for his loyalty despite his origins. In complete contrast, mohg straight up looks like a demon, and he revels in his insidious and nauseating nature, going out of his way to kidnap miquella. In his second phase he grows gnarled and twisted wings, like a fallen angel, homage to what he could have been if he followed in the path of his brother, but ultimately a reminder of his twisted nature. When hes finally killed his last words are outright delusion, hes so far into his fantasy that he cant even understand hes already dead, and that his twisted dynasty ends with him..... And radahn has golden eyes as well, erdtree really wanted him to be happy with his horsie :DDD
Radahn without a helmet be looking like a thumb thumb from spy kids lmao!
congrats on 500k! i hope i was 500,000!! i subbed yesterday u make amazing videos i love these!
I had a thought... looking at Rannis spirit, attached to a doll with a bad eye. The spirits bad eye is the same as Melina's.
And it's shown that Godwyn's body survived after his spirits death... is it possible that Ranni's body somehow survived? I know there's the body on the tower, but there's also multiple bodies Godwyn. Like it could be possible that like some of the false bodies of Godwyn, Melina or the one on the tower could be duplicates. And why does Melina's good eye go bad when the marked one opens, then looking more like the doll? Mysteries on mysteries... I fell like there's a connection between the two. Maybe a DLC might explore it further.
I want a DLC where you play as Melina, hunting down the Lord of Frenzy
Awesome. I've been asking about Gurranq. Seems Sarosh would actually be significantly bigger than him. The Mohg close up was very cool, I never noticed the horn in the eye. Wild. I wonder if that is the wound that allows him to commune with the Mother of Truth. The Melina one is very interesting too. Kinda confirms her as the Gloam Eyed Queen or Dusk Eyed, whoever she is. Thanks Zullie.