Okay now that the story/how part of the theory is out of the way allow my to explain the why...
Part 1
First off could Mellori actually be their biological child? Looking at the evidence in game I would say yes.
Age-wise it's safe to say Mellori is probably in her teens, possible between 13 and 16 years old based upon the way she talks and acts. If Mellori were only 1 or 2 years old when Raven took her than naturally she wouldn't remember much if anything of her parents of her real parents.
And if we guesstimate Malistaire as being somewhere between 40 and 45 years old Mellori being in her teens would make sense. Why?
If Malistaire was around 42 at the time of his defeat (assuming it took us two years in game time to defeat him), Mellori would have been 14. Assuming it took us another two years to defeat Morganthe, Mellori would be 16 by the time we first encounter her. Were Malistaire still alive then he would have been 44 years old, then if we do some math we can put Sylvia at 30 years old when she died. Giving us 10 between Sylvia's death Malistaire ripping the death school from the main campus. According to Penny Dreadful the year before we arrived in Ravenwood was the year Malistaire threw the death school into Nightside, if Mellori had been 2 years old at the time of Sylvia's death this would make her 12 at the start of the game.
Appearance-wise Mellori's face bares a striking semblance to the younger version of Sylvia from the Five Boxes Event, she also has black and hair and blue eyes like Malistaire (for those who didn't know in the Five boxes Malistaire does have a greyish blue eye color, yes Mellori's iris color is darker, but Malistaire brother Cyrus has dark blue eyes meaning and seeing as he is Malistaire's twin brother the gene would logically exist in the gene pool, and add to this that there are several more genes that influence the final color of the iris, hence why the color wouldn't have to be exact.
Sorry the why part takes longer to explain than the how, and it wouldn't fit in one post.
Part 2
So if Mellori were only one or two years old when Raven took her away the chance of her actually remembering Malistaire or Sylvia as her parents are very very slim as most people can't remember anything prior to their third birthday. This gives Raven the opportunity to shape Mellori's fate as she sees fit without her wondering too much about her origins. So Raven gives Mellori to Baba Yaga, and Baba Yaga raises Mellori as her own. But why give Mellori to Yaga, when she could have chosen anyone else in Spiral.
In the Ravenwood Roll Call videos by KI on YouTube, in the about Cyrus the narrator says "It wasn't until he witness his brother defeated by a canny Myth witch from Polaris..." this particular myth witch is more than likely Baba Yaga (unless there's another canny and relatively non-hostile notable myth witch in Polaris who could have done the same). This means Baba Yaga successfully managed to defeat him once, granted it was some time ago but there's not really anyone else outside of the Wizard and Yaga who can make the claim that they bested Malistaire Drake in a duel.
So what does that have to do with anything? It would be logical to assume that Raven, regardless of whether she did or didn't erase Malistaire's memory of Mellori, wouldn't want Malistaire showing up to claim Mellori and/or ruin Raven's plans for her. So why not entrust her to the only person who, at the time, managed to beat him with magic. Moving on, whether or not Baba Yaga told Mellori about Raven's involvement in her current situation or not Mellori probably has been left with some questions. So when she has the opportunity to ask the Auroracle some questions of her own, I couldn't think of a better time for Raven to intervene again, and turn Mellori completely to her cause.
Either they just don't give me enough space or I just use to many words:
Part 3
Back to the Sunless Shrine and the Auroracle...
Seeing as we had to beat up several of her Luphilim guards Raven would have every reason to show up in the Auroracle's chambers, if only to make sure the Auroracle was still safe and mayhap catch the intruder. Instead finding a perfectly fine Auroracle and an answer seeking Mellori.
We can tell from the way Mellori insists on staying with us at the end of Polaris that she wants to be a heroic powerful wizard, and Raven could probably tell this too. So what better way to get Mellori on her side than to give her the opportunity to be exactly what she wants to be?
Raven knows by now our wizard can use shadow magic, she even says that she "can no loner tell the purity of your heart", so it's wise for her to consider us possibly joining Spider's side (willingly or by force). So if Raven can't bring herself to trust us with Spider's destruction why not equip Mellori (who doesn't know anything about Shadow Magic) with the means to finish Spider?
And given the way Mellori calls Baba Yaga by her name and how Yaga calls her daughter leads me to believe there could possibly be some tension between these two characters, which might push Mellori to trust Raven further.
And what Mellori says at the end of Mirage leads me to think Raven has other children somewhere in the Spiral. Or perhaps this is not the first time Raven has attempted to end Spider once and for all.
After that there's test realm stuff that I'm not sure I can talk about, because KI has clearly said no spoilers.
On the flipside, what if Raven is evil? If she is than it would explain why she has such a burning desire to destroy Spider which theoretically would also destroy the Spiral.
To quote a line from the Dark Knight "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Perhaps Raven has been around so long that she's lost sight of her original purpose, whatever that might truly be.
Or perhaps her own view of her original purpose has become somewhat twisted, and over time has had so much subjective meaning added to it until anything could mean anything in her frame of reference. Allowing her to justify the an act like the destruction of the Spiral and everything in it, if it means Spider's death. This is a rather scary place to be, if it is the case than I feel Raven could possibly be an even greater threat to the Spiral than Spider himself.
OR perhaps the same forces that are sickening Bartelby are having some effect on Raven as well, driving her to this precarious point where all she desires is Spider's destruction even if that means the destroying the Spiral in the process.
What if we are the force that made Bartelby sick? Like our wizard has become some sort of magnet of bad forces after gaining shadow magic. We were present when Bartelby fell sick, makes sense doesn't it?
Raven saying: I can no longer tell the purity of your heart
That line interests me because it seems like she knows we're magnets of evil forces because of shadow, but doesn't know weather or not we're bringing these forces intentionally. (Explaining why she can't tell the purity in our heart)
Let's say this is true
Raven doesn't wanna tell us or do anything about this because we need Shadow Magic to defeat Spider. Once that is done, the Spiral gets destroyed, so we get destroyed as well. That's her master plan.
I feel Raven would protect the Spiral some how with her powers along with Bartelby's help. Since we have ultimately gotten rid of Spider, she would protect us too and have a lot to thank. But since we have Shadow Magic she feels we'll be the next threat to the Spiral, destroying us at the end.
I think we'll have to fight Raven at some point, maybe proving that we intend no harm to the Spiral. Or because her mind has been corrupted because of Spider's defeat..?
Lol my theories are all over the place. After reading all the other theories here I was so shook I couldn't help but brainstorm on my own.
What if we are the force that made Bartelby sick? Like our wizard has become some sort of magnet of bad forces after gaining shadow magic. We were present when Bartelby fell sick, makes sense doesn't it?
Raven saying: I can no longer tell the purity of your heart
That line interests me because it seems like she knows we're magnets of evil forces because of shadow, but doesn't know weather or not we're bringing these forces intentionally. (Explaining why she can't tell the purity in our heart)
Let's say this is true
Raven doesn't wanna tell us or do anything about this because we need Shadow Magic to defeat Spider. Once that is done, the Spiral gets destroyed, so we get destroyed as well. That's her master plan.
I feel Raven would protect the Spiral some how with her powers along with Bartelby's help. Since we have ultimately gotten rid of Spider, she would protect us too and have a lot to thank. But since we have Shadow Magic she feels we'll be the next threat to the Spiral, destroying us at the end.
I think we'll have to fight Raven at some point, maybe proving that we intend no harm to the Spiral. Or because her mind has been corrupted because of Spider's defeat..?
Lol my theories are all over the place. After reading all the other theories here I was so shook I couldn't help but brainstorm on my own.
Awesome theories all of you o:
I think that seeing as Raven used Spider's heart the Chaos Heart to fuel the Spiral's creation, that chaos is just a part of the Spiral's nature. I feel like as the story has grown our wizards have become less of a force for exclusively good and more a of a mediator between the forces of darkness and light. Why else would we have the title "Child of Light and Shadow"?
Either they just don't give me enough space or I just use to many words:
Part 3
Back to the Sunless Shrine and the Auroracle...
Seeing as we had to beat up several of her Luphilim guards Raven would have every reason to show up in the Auroracle's chambers, if only to make sure the Auroracle was still safe and mayhap catch the intruder. Instead finding a perfectly fine Auroracle and an answer seeking Mellori.
We can tell from the way Mellori insists on staying with us at the end of Polaris that she wants to be a heroic powerful wizard, and Raven could probably tell this too. So what better way to get Mellori on her side than to give her the opportunity to be exactly what she wants to be?
Raven knows by now our wizard can use shadow magic, she even says that she "can no loner tell the purity of your heart", so it's wise for her to consider us possibly joining Spider's side (willingly or by force). So if Raven can't bring herself to trust us with Spider's destruction why not equip Mellori (who doesn't know anything about Shadow Magic) with the means to finish Spider?
And given the way Mellori calls Baba Yaga by her name and how Yaga calls her daughter leads me to believe there could possibly be some tension between these two characters, which might push Mellori to trust Raven further.
And what Mellori says at the end of Mirage leads me to think Raven has other children somewhere in the Spiral. Or perhaps this is not the first time Raven has attempted to end Spider once and for all.
After that there's test realm stuff that I'm not sure I can talk about, because KI has clearly said no spoilers.
And to expand this slightly,
"...given the way Mellori calls Baba Yaga by her name and how Yaga calls her daughter leads me to believe there could possibly be some tension between these two characters, which might push Mellori to trust Raven further."
Another reason for why Baba Yaga might have sent Mellori to Ravenwood, to keep her away from Raven.
