In Elden Ring, the Tarnished will have to make the difficult decision of choosing whether or not they will side with the Three Fingers for the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending. There are many paths to the coveted throne of Elden Lord, and each of these paths will have ramifications on how the Tarnished will run the Lands Between after defeating Radagon. But the path of the Three Fingers is one marked with the Frenzied Flame, Madness, and destruction.
The Three Fingers function as the opposing force of the Two Fingers. Because the latter of these phalanges are representatives of the Golden Order and the Greater Will, the Three Fingers are thus agents of chaos who harbor the power of the Frenzied Flame. While the specifics of the Outer God who controls this flame are unknown, what is known is that they desire to bring the world to an end to undo all the wrongs the Greater Will has committed in Elden Ring. The Tarnished can become agents in this mission by letting the Three Fingers hold them, burning the Erdtree with the Frenzied Flame, and becoming the Lord of the Frenzy Flame after acquiring the Elden Ring.
While resorting to the destruction of all life may not be everyone's cup of tea, there are actually many reasons why one might legitimately consider supporting the Three Fingers. The world of Elden Ring is one that was plunged into chaos because of the Greater Will's mishandling of the Lands Between, so siding with the Three Fingers is one of the only effective ways to truly solve the in-game world's problems. But more than that, there are many story and gameplay benefits to becoming Elden Ring's Lord of Frenzied Flame - as well as negative consequences.
Pros Of Embracing Elden Ring's Three Fingers
The most important benefit that comes with embracing the Three Fingers is that players will get the option to spare Melina. Upon visiting the Moutaintops of the Giants, players will find Shabriri, who some believe to be a human version of the Frenzied Flame. Shabriri attempts to sway the Tarnished toward the Three Fingers by telling them doing so would protect Melina, and though Sharbriri is a known liar, this particular piece of information is actually true. If players visit the Three Fingers before letting Melina sacrifice herself as kindling, she will not become a sacrifice to the Tarnished's mission. In turn, players will also gain access to one of the Lord of Frenzied Flame endings depending on when they embraced the Three Fingers, and while some may not like the prospect of destroying the world, both endings are among the best (or most popular) Elden Ring endings.
There are other plusses to siding with the Three Fingers. On top of the cosmetic scars they leave on the Tarnished's skin, the Three Fingers bestow players with Hyetta as a Finger Maiden. In doing so, the Three Fingers are the only real means through which the Tarnished can acquire a maiden. In other quest lines, there are NPCs who resemble Finger Maidens but do not actually fill this role: Ranni is a demigod, Fia is Godwyn's Deathbed Maiden, and Melina only poses as a Finger Maiden in Elden Ring, but none of them are actual Finger Maidens.
When it comes to gameplay benefits, the Tarnished siding with Elden Ring's Three Fingers will give players access to the Frenzied Flame Seal. The Frenzied Flame Seal - bestowed to the Tarnished by Hyetta after becoming the Lord of Frenzied Flame - enhances Frenzied Flame Incantations in an interesting way. According to its description, the seal "Scales incantations using strength, dexterity, intelligence, and faith all together." In this way, the Frenzied Flame Seal grants players who did not dedicate points to Faith the opportunity to effectively use Frenzied Flame Incantations. This is incredibly powerful, as these Incantations inflict Madness, which deals tons of damage to health and FP, stuns opponents, and stops them from casting spells.
Cons Of Embracing Elden Ring's Three Fingers
While saving Melina is one of the biggest benefits of embracing the Three Fingers, it is also one of its worse. Melina wants to burn the Erdtree and would rather serve as kindling than see the Tarnished become the Lord of Frenzied Flame. Indeed, if Melina is spared, she vows to hunt the Tarnished down for betraying her and embracing the Three Fingers. Thus, saving Melina to save her is a net negative, especially because players will destroy the entire world with the Frenzied Flame simply to spare one life.
Additionally, if players feel like they have made a mistake in siding with the Three Fingers after learning of the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending, they will have to complete Millicent's quest line. While there is nothing particularly wrong with Millicent's quest line, it leads to a fight with Malenia, the hardest boss in Elden Ring. The reason why players have to do this is because Millicent's Unalloyed Gold Needle must be used on the Scarlet Aeonia Malenia turns into after her defeat to retrieve Miquella's Needle. On top of this, players will have to enter Lord Placidusax's arena to use Miquella's Needle to free themselves of the Three Fingers' imprint. This lengthy and difficult process makes embracing the Three Fingers even just to spare Melina (without enacting the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending) feel rather pointless.
Finally, the gameplay benefits of embracing the Three Fingers may not actually be useful to all players. Many Elden Ring fans prefer to limit themselves to physical weapons or even Sorceries, so boosted Frenzied Flame Incantations might go unused. Additionally, Madness build-up is not as effective on NPCs in the same way it is on players. Thus, for the many Tarnished who do not use Elden Ring's PvP and invasion systems, the Three Fingers provide almost no upside because they will not be any more useful on bosses than other boosted spells or melee weapons.
Ultimately, the Three Fingers provide players with an interesting albeit evil option solving the problems of the Lands Between. But while burning the world down to restart it may sound like a simple solution, there are other paths the Tarnished can take as Elden Lord. While these other paths do not provide strong incantations and seals to boost them, they do allow many of the characters of Elden Ring to live on after the game's completion.