#because what other secret does radagon have to hide?

[nishihii]

rennala marika toxic yuri i cant get you out of my head

[maranull]

there’s a very strong connection between Ranni and Melina and I can’t really figure out what it is... so, here’s a thoughts dump:

they both have similar symbols under their closed eyes this is wrong, that’s a connection Melina might have with the Snow Witch, Ranni’s mentor, and not Ranni directly.

both had/have sacrificed their bodies to their ambitions/ purposes (Ranni literally died, and Melina is scared, I think from burns, even before she lights the Forge)

Melina has the exact same moveset that the Black Knives have and her blade is basically the same as theirs, minus the Rune of Death add on

Both have an affinity for Torrent and treat him like an old friend

Assuming Melina is Torrent’s master before the Tarnished, Ranni says: “I was entrusted this, for thee. By Torrent's former master. Tis a bell for calling forth spirits.” so there’s definitely at least some communication between them. But this does bring up the question: why didn’t Melina give us the bell herself, if she is the former master Ranni mentions?

If you are a heartless monster (kidding) and go with the madness ending, Melina’s appearance changes and she reveals her closed eye to be an icy blue, while the one she’s been using so far fades as if blinded

I’m also fairly certain that Melina’s mother (”I'm searching for my purpose given to me by my mother inside the Erdtree long ago”) is Marika. hell, Melina could be similar to Radagon in that she’s part of Marika’s...whole deal

so I got, under the cut, a couple theories to the connection Ranni and Melina have, apart from just Torrent and the high possibility of being step-sisters (or half-sisters, depending how much individuality you give Radagon)

1. Melina is bullshiting us about following her mother’s purpose and is actively working with Ranni, towards Ranni’s new age. The similar eye-symbols are their pact. Marika is Melina’s mother, and Melina got her scars escaping her influence or even by being the one that stole the Rune of Death for Ranni. Melina trained the Black Knives, hence the same moveset and weapon art.

So in this interpretation, Melina and Ranni have been working together for ages and are both pushing towards Ranni’s free age.

2. Melina is Ranni, Ranni is Melina. The same way Radagon is himself but also Marika. That weird duplication thing could be an ability of the Empyreans or something. Or when Ranni first died, her soul split in two, one part of her taking the doll form and the other wandering “burned and bodyless“. This explains Melina’s form in the madness ending, assuming Ranni and Melina merge then. The mother Melina mentions could also be Ranni, in the sense that Melina was created from Ranni’s essence.

This however doesn’t really connect with Melina’s end, unless Ranni, the demigoddess that chose the Snow Witch’s body to model her new doll form, is somehow also able to command fire at the level Melina does.

No, it could connect. Radagon’s last act during the Shattering was the opposite of Marika’s (attempting to repair the Elden Ring she shattered). If Ranni is snow, Melina could very well be fire. And this also fits their personalities too, I think. Ranni is passionate and she takes the role of a protagonist in the story, while Melina hides her emotions for the most part and acts in a very important but supporting role. It fits.

3. This anon’s post in the wiki:

transcript:

“Here's my smoothbrain take on why Ranni and Melina look similar and have one eye closed on opposite sides: They're both modeled after Marika. In Melina's case, this is because Marika created her and gave her the task to burn down the Erdtee. You could say she is an aspect of Marika's being, or an agent of hers. However, for obvious reasons, I don't think this is true for Ranni. At least not exactly. I personally believe Ranni's secret mentor - the snow witch she encountered when she was young - was another agent of Marika. But what does that have to do with anything? Well, as we all know, Ranni is in a doll's body, and that doll is modeled after her mentor. Don't you think it's suspicious that Ranni's mentor would look so similar to one of Marika's agents we meet in the game? To me, it seems like the snow witch might also have been an aspect of Marika that was carrying out her will. Perhaps she even influenced Ranni to steal the Rune of Death that way. Now, if you take into consideration that it's heavily implied Ranni isn't actually Rennala's, but rather Radagon's and Marika's daughter, then it starts to seem like Marika is the mastermind behind the Age of the Stars ending. I hypothesize that Marika knew of the Carians and their fate, saw it as the only way of breaking free from vassalship to the Greater Will, and thus decided to use Rennala's line as a cuckoo (sound familiar?) would another bird's nest. Radagon married Rennala, gifted her the amber egg that somehow contained Ranni, and Marika sent one of her agents to influence the young Empyrean, causing her to rebel against the Two Fingers. This also makes perfect sense when you look at how affectionately Ranni picks up fractured Marika's head in her ending: She's holding both her mother and mentor figure, who sacrificed herself so that Lands the Between may one day be free from the influence from Outer Gods. This ended up being about more than just why Melina and Ranni look similar, but screw it, I'm not editing this.”

The only things I don’t agree with here is that Marika plotted the seemingly unneeded death of her firstborn and that Ranni isn’t Rennala’s daughter. Rennala is obsessed with trying to resurrect Ranni(’s old body) and Ranni herself is very protective of her.

~

Will add more through reblogs, or a new post if I think anything but that’s where my head’s at for now. Personally I adopt the first one as my understanding, mostly cause I want to imagine Ranni and Melina chilling together.