I am a sucker for lore and how FromSoftware tells it's stories, and I wanted to share why I think Midra really has it the worst. I mean, don't get me wrong, Elden Ring as a whole is full of tragedy, bust most of it is at least...dignified? No matter how sad, at least Morgott died doing his duty; at least Miq died fighting for what he believed in; at least St.Trina died achieving what she believed was the right thing; even Marika, for all of her trauma and tragedy, still went out on her terms. Even in tragedy, there is at least some dignity, but there is none with Midra - that man was stripped of everything good, noble and kind, left with festering despair, and this is what I wish to talk about, for I believe that the story of Midra showcases the true horror of something like Frenzied Flame existing.

There are things about Midra's story that do not make perfect sense and do not align with each other; for example, why are there frenzied forces outside the castle? You would be lead to believe that this was after what happened to Midra, but I doubt it - we can assume that whatever happened to him, happened before Marika and her rule, but after Crucible was split in two. That is exactly why I think that is is not out of realm of possibilities that, at that time, sort sort of cult dedicated to Frenzied Flame existed - and that those were the forces that attacked Midra and his people. The Inquisition in question? It was done to drive Midra mad from the pain and suffering inflicted upon himself and his people. And his crime? Just that - he refused to become Lord of Frenzied Flame. This is where the horror comes in - it was his "fate" to become such, his feelings do not matter, but there was clearly something resistant about Midra, something strong and good, as he seemingly contained the insanity even as the flame developed inside of him from all the suffering inflicted. This is where the final part of the plan came into play - realizing that physical torture will get them nowhere, that Midra just too noble and too tough to fall for it, they did the last thing they could think of, the last thing that could work, and it did. They could not drive him mad with misery, so they would drive him mad with love - Nanaya.

There seems to be 2 main components to becoming affiliated with Flame of Frenzy, from what we can gather - insanity and despair. The insanity part was covered by all the death, torture and misery, that much clear, as something did invite the flame in Midra's heart, but it was clearly not enough, his will was still stronger. So, comes in Nanaya - she might've told him that she was there to "teach him how to contain the flame", which might've been not a lie at all, because it was part of the plan. Seeing how there was something fundamental lacking about Midra for despair to set in, they made him fall in love, and that is an extremely important part. You see, the horror is not that Midra was forced to endure in the state that he did, all alone, in a dead castle for gods know how long - the horror came after. Despair. Midra held out even as he and his men were tortured, and all for 1 reason only - because the woman that he loved, the woman that he respected, asked him to "endure".

But she did this knowing full well what it will lead to - the horror of his story is that to win, he had to let go earlier. To win, he had to realize that he is weak and to let himself die before the flame grew too strong; instead, he fought, and by fighting he only prolonged the end. And what was the end? That he let go - and by letting go he disgraced the last living memory of the woman he loved so much. That is where the horror comes in, in the fact that his strength that held him sane throughout all these years was the very thing that finally broke him. And that is why, to me, Nanaya might very well be the "creepiest" character - as I said, I don't think she was lying, I think she honestly fell in love with him, honestly taught him how to control it, and honestly supported him. It's just that all of that was done with exact desire to take it away from him - and not to simply take it, but force him to finally let go of it with his own hands, so that he would finally know true despair.

We had notes of this horror with merchants in the base game when we finally got to the catacombs where they were sealed, but this...this just sent shivers down my spine. Spending untold years next to a smiling corpse of a woman that you loved, who is smiling because she died knowing that her dead is the final seal of the plan - she had to die giving him those final words, as only be "breaking" his promise to her would he finally achieve true depths of frenzy. Midra is a direct proof why worshipping Frenzied Flame might be objectively the worst call ever - even Rot God and Shapeless Mother at least care about you, in their own way.

EDIT: I forgot to touch upon it in my original post, but Nanaya, as far as my research could tell me, is an ancient goddess of love, but specifically, of also unrequited love and grieving lovers. Given naming tendency we have with followers of Frenzied Flame (Shabriri) that is one of the main reasons why I call sus on Nanaya and see her as the mastermind of the whole affair.