The Forbidden Lands are a long, dark gorge north of the Erdtree, and the road through them ends at the Grand Lift of Rold, which the game's own directions place 'beyond the forbidden region'. The Rold Medallion says what that lift is for: brandishing it 'activates the Grand Lift of Rold, connecting Leyndell to the Mountaintops of the Giants', where 'the forge of the flame of ruin is said to be found upon their peaks'. That fire, 'capable of burning the Erdtree', is what the incantation Surge, O Flame! describes as sealed, and it does so in the passive: after the War against the Giants, 'its ruinous blaze was sealed, and guardians were appointed to watch over it'. Marika's part is recorded on the Fire Giant's remembrance instead: seeing that the flames of their forge 'would never die', she 'marked him with a curse', 'O trifling giant, mayest thou tend thy flame for eternity.' The road itself is held by a Black Blade Kindred, a name shared with Maliketh, the Black Blade, whose service is marked by blackened arms: 'Such is the mark of those who serve Maliketh, the Black Blade.'

The gorge is the road to that flame rather than a reward for having reached it. Melina asks for the journey before the burning, 'to the flame of ruin, far above the clouds, upon the snowy mountaintops of the giants', so that she can 'set the Erdtree aflame', and Gideon points to the same fire, 'the smoldering flame in the Great Forge of the Giants, on the highest peak in the Lands Between'. What opens the way is the conjoined medallion; the sealing that belongs to Maliketh is of another order, a blade 'bound the blade within his own flesh, such that none might ever rob Death again'. Of the country above the lift, the western map remembers a marching ground of the War against the Giants, where 'they carved winding paths in the cliff walls right up to the summit'. Of the dead who travel, a merchant's note has great coffins carrying 'the bodies of nameless fallen warriors', and the Wandering Mausoleum takes in 'the bodies of soulless demigods', guarded by headless soldiers who 'followed their masters into Death by severing their own heads from their bodies', its bell ringing 'in constant mourning'. The game does not say where it wanders.

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WeaponMaliketh's Black Blade

Maliketh's black blade which once harbored the power of the Rune of Death. A sad shadow of its former glory. After a fragment of Death was stolen on that fateful night, Maliketh bound the blade within his own flesh, such that none might ever rob Death again.

Item / MiscRold Medallion

Conjoined split medallion depicting the Flame Peak. Brandishing the medallion activates the Grand Lift of Rold, connecting Leyndell to the Mountaintops of the Giants. The forge of the flame of ruin is said to be found upon their peaks, and it is here Melina wishes to travel in resuming your journey together.