>>715528820
Marika is clearly the first Empyrean of the current cycle.
She is explicitly called one, "Maliketh was a shadowbound beast given to his Empyrean. Marika's sole need of her shadow was a vessel to lock away Destined Death. Even then, she betrayed him."
Everything else is a product of that misunderstanding. Marika was an Empyrean. Perhaps she wasn't born one, but she became one and was recognized in that by the Two Fingers.

>godfrey's return
Pilgrimage Church dialog.
She wants Godfrey to grow even stronger and then return and claim the Elden Ring when she gives Grace back to him.
>hewg
Marika's Hammer, via its item description, is explicitly said to come from outside the Lands Between.... in the lands of the Numen. Hewg did not make it. The Roundtable Hold is in a pocket dimension, but not in the lands of the Numen.
Hewg was tasked with essentially recreating the Nox's Finger Slayer Blade and failed at it.
>kill the elden beast
Anyone that wanted to claim the Elden Throne had to contend with the Beast.
Either being accepted by it or rejected. And if they were rejected, they had to be able to fight and kill it, like the player does.
>radagon
Her lines are clearly condescending and rude. 'Leal hound' demonstrates that she thinks he's lesser than her. He isn't her, and he isn't a God. He is a lesser dog of the Golden Order.
At no point do we see anything that shows that she has a desire to merge with him fully, they actively oppose one another regarding shattering the Elden Ring in the first place. Why would she want to merge with him in that light?

Marika is not dead at the end. We see her glowing with Grace from the inside.
She's alive at the end.

Throughout this post you've demonstrated a fundamental ignorance of the game's text and what it explicitly says.
You're out of your depth.