Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree features a new crafting material called the Black Pirefly, and it has some interesting lore implications.
Upon the introduction of Messmer as one of Queen Marika’s offspring in the DLC gameplay trailer, fans have put forth plenty of theories about his identity. Messmer’s flame abilities also made some fans think that the Smoldering Butterfly item refers to him and not Melina whom many believe is another daughter of Marika.
To give you some background in case you didn’t know, there are three butterfly crafting materials. One is the Nascent Butterfly which seems to be connected to St. Trina (aka Miquella). Then, there’s the Aeonian Butterfly which is connected to Malenia. Finally, there’s the Smoldering Butterfly which fans believe symbolizes Melina as she serves as kindling to burn the Erdtree.
In my hands-on with Shadow of the Erdtree recently, I came across the Black Pirefly. Its description reads:
“Flies in war-torn lands that have been scoured by Messmer’s Flame. They burn in dark and slender ribbons of fire.”
Based on this, the Black Pirefly is no doubt connected to or symbolizes Messmer. This adds another interesting wrinkle to the butterflies theory. As Messmer has his own butterfly, this should mean that the Smoldering Butterfly is for Melina, strengthening the theory of her being Marika’s daughter.
Messmer and Melina sharing flame attributes may also indicate a potential connection between the two, In fact, you can even go further and say that there’s a possibility that Messmer and Melina are twins. After all, Marika’s children barring Godwyn are all twins. First, there are the twin omens Morgott and Mohg. Then there’s Miquella and Malenia. The fact that Messmer and Melina’s names also start with M may strengthen this theory.
If they are related, it’ll be interesting to see if Melina will be mentioned at any point in the DLC given that it seems to put most of the focus on Miquella.
Of course, this is very much a theory at this point, and we’ll need to wait for the DLC to get released before we find out more about Messmer and a potential connection to Melina. However, we won’t be surprised if this connection is not explored in the DLC given FromSoftware’s storytelling style which keeps a lot of details hidden.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree will be released on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC on June 21, 2024.