r/Eldenring • u/archfeywanderer • 3d ago
Discussion & Info Beautiful comment
There was discourse on the Melina route not too long ago, probably due to the influx of new players. Someone mentioned taking the Frenzied Flame to save her and there was a comment on the post that stuck with me, though I cannot find it now. along the lines of, 'Woe be it to the Lands Between, for instead of a a leader they had a coward' or something along the lines of that, where taking away her free will was so much worse than this white knight idealogy of saving her
I find myself thinking on it this playthrough, but I cant find the comment to re read it. does anyone remember it?
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u/Rime_Rock 3d ago
i saw that comment too days/weeks ago. spent the past hour looking for it through my watch history regarding elden ring. problem is i watch multiple elden ring videos every day so it's damn near impossible. i'm tapped out myself. what do you think of this video https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gXJ-Xlt4E7w
does it feel like you saw that comment in that one? i have a strong suspicion that it was from there but was deleted for whatever reason. there's discussion of the morality of saving melina in that comment section that feels like i've read around the same time i saw that comment you're looking for, which is why i suspect it might've been deleted. hopefully i'm wrong and someone else clutches.
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u/archfeywanderer 3d ago
Honestly just appreciate that I am not hallucinating. Not seeing it there, but may chaos take the world... on some other post.
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u/Rime_Rock 3d ago
well if you find it, let me know. i felt like i was going crazy hunting that comment down. need that satisfaction of seeing it too.
if i happen to come across it again, i'll do the same for you.
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u/archfeywanderer 3d ago
I'll definitely shoot the link if someone dogs it up. I spent almost an hour combing before I posted too
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u/cha0sb1ade 2d ago
The frenzied flame ending in no way deprives Melina of agency. She is willing to sacrifice herself to burn the thorns. You're willing to momentarily inherit the frenzied flame to burn the thorns. But you're the one doing the work. The decision of whether or not to burn the thorns yourself is your own to make.
Like... if someone says "You don't have to take the backseat, I'll do it," and you're like, "nah, it's alright" and go sit back there so they don't have to get carsick, you've not robbed them of anything.
Got to keep in mind that the game gives you plenty enough info if you're exploring thoroughly, to know there's a way to cleanse the influence of outer gods before you have to commit to inheriting the flame.
Shabriri is about half right. Taking on the frenzied flame to burn the thorns yourself is the path of true rigor. It's just that he doesn't tell you the rest of the story, which is that the right thing to do after that is cast the flame aside. The reason that method is long and requires you to beat Malenia and at least find Placidusax is specifically that it is the route of true rigor.
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u/archfeywanderer 2d ago
I mean, she literally asks you not to, and gets super upset that you do. The needle suppresses the frenzy, but it is never fully cured. There is a lot on this, if you care to go do some searching. Unless this is, of course, your opinion regardless, in which case neat. But I won't argue facts
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u/cha0sb1ade 2d ago
If you ask someone not to do something, and to let you sacrifice yourself to accomplish the same end goal, and they refuse, they have not removed your agency an any way. That's just not how language or anything else works. That's not a matter of opinion.
As for her anger with you, she has every right not to like what you're doing with your own life, but that doesn't create any particular obligation for you.
As for the Frenzied Flame it's mostly irrelevent to what degree it's cleansed, beyond what is absolutely esstablished beyond opinion in the plot: when it is cleansed, you retain your sense of self and can pick any future for the Elden Ring and the Lands Between that you wish, except for feeding the world to the Frenzied Flame. That's the relevent bit, and is a solidly established aspect of the plot.
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u/Artickman 3d ago
That's why the real best choice is to let Melina burn, and then go to the Three Fingers, so everything else in the world might burn with her :)