ELDEN RING (PART 12)

 ... and after this Tarnished battled many foes in the Lands Between -- both the brave and the idiotic -- many have come to realise his Prophecy, if not true calling, lies not with Fire but Madness. And that Chaos was his vision. While he still wields the fire-affiliated Blasphemous Blade when travelling, probably as an act of defiance, when he reveals his true identity -- and armour set -- he is not unlike another (great) Tarnished before him: Vyke, Knight of the Roundtable. 

According to the Elden Ring lore, there are two versions of Vyke; there is the one who uses Ancient Dragon Cult lightning incantations -- he could be found in the Evergaol on the Mountaintops of the Giants -- and there is one who casts Frenzy Flame incantations -- and he is the invader outside of the Church of Inhibition near the Frenzy Village.

Legend has it that: "No other Tarnished was closer to the throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke. But without announcement, Vyke travelled far below the [Leyndell Royal] capital, and was scorched by the flame of frenzy. Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with suggestion?"

Contemporary scholars (on Reddit), however, have made these notes:

a) Vyke is Lansseax beloved/lover. She's the Priestess of Dragon Cult, also female Ancient Dragon that took form of a human to communicate with the Cult followers. Only those, who are loved by dragons, can clad themselves in lightning, so says the description of Dragonbolt Blessing and Vyke's dragonbolt spell specifies that Lansseax loved him the most of all Cult members.

b) Dragon Cult is and was in Leyndell ever since the end of Golden Order vs Dragons war. Which was ended by Godwyn who defeated Granssax (likely) and Fortissax, the Mightiest Boulderstone (confirmed) who also is Lannseax sibling. Then he befriended Forti, and started a Cult, because both humans and dragons had the same "Gold" in them.

c) Vyke was tricked, by Shabiri (likely) to use himself as Kindling for the Forge, because being the noble hero, he wanted to protect his human maiden, who otherwise had to be burned in the Forge. And since Shabiri is "chaos incarnate" and Three fingers = Chaos, we can see where did Vyke go. To Three Fingers, as the only way to be a Kindling and survive is to burn yourself in the forge, and only grasped by the Frenzyflame seemed to be able to do this. (eg our Tarnished)

So is our Tarnished to follow the same fate as Vyke as he, too, refuses to sacrifice Melina to start anew?

ELDEN RING (PART 11)

It has transpired that there are two types of incantation casters in the Lands Between: those whose spells are laced with curses that inflict deadly status, which can cause instant death; and those who wield (often blasphemous) magics like weapons. 

This Tarnished, the Mad Prophet, belongs to the latter. Those who have the misfortunate to cross his path (and lived to tell their tale) have seen him cast fire and frenzy spells like missiles. His build is heavy on FAITH, with reasonably high MIND, meaning his incantations are strong on damages. Boosted by the Edtree sacred seal, his castings can be devastating. His frenzy spells, however, are less likely to "proc" the madness status. 

Those from the other school, who are extremely well versed in ARCANE and wield the Dragon Communion sacred seal are equally (if not more) deadly. As each spell can almost guarantee madness to be inflicted onto the opponent who, for a brief moment, will be completely paralysed, leaving the caster enough time to execute their final blow.

But as we have previously determined, this particular Tarnished is not likely to have any affiliation with the dragon cult. Instead, it is fire -- and the hellish burning flames -- that have seen many of his enemies fallen below his feet.