I feel so bad for renalla. She absolutely adored her husband & had 3 red headed children with him, & planned on spending eternity with radagon but he abandons her. Being that she is immortal she just mourns losing him for all eternity. Renala has one of the saddest stories other than melania & miquella in my opinion.
Not to mention she thinks Ranni is dead, and apparently she was/is trying to rebirth her not knowing she had indeed survived. It probably explains why she becomes less hostile when Ranni releases the spell/trap of the Rennalla vision in thr 2nd phase.
The one who imprisioned Marika in the Erdtree was the Elden Beast. It even has a move in which it crucifies you and impales you with dozens of spears of light.
And that's true because I remember somewhere it's being stated that Radagon and Marika would be punished together, by the Great Will. It seems Radagon rune has powers of locking things. Like doors of even mouth. While Marika's Rune seems to be Death. Would be cool to see a video about what the Runes are about as only the Rune of Death is given a name regarding its power.
@@Piratadoidao the skill Elden Beast uses to imprison us is kind of meh to me, it's cool and rarely used in a fight but deals mediocre/neglectable damage
Radagon has sure inspiration from Thor in my opinion. The Norse God Thor was said to have red hair, and his mother was a Jotunn (their giants). Funnily enough, he hated giants with a passion, and hunted them down for the Aesir until he fought Jormungandr the World Serpent. When we fight Radagon, he wields the hammer used to shatter the elden ring. And guess what Thor's famous weapon is? Of course, Mjolnir, a mighty hammer.
@@MadLuigi Yep! The fact that so much media portrays Thor with blonde hair as well can be seen as a link between the Radagon/Marika dynamic. Though that's just my observation
@@MadLuigi more connections to Norse myth is very apparent with godwyn. He is basically just baldur. They were both beloved by everyone,had a sort of golden aura to them and their death signified a massive apocalyptic/devastating event
Honestly, just like Radagon, there is a beardless Thor in the record of ragnarok anime and he is also red haired. The parallel to Thor is really something. My guess is that they didnt want this to be obvious, and then named the weapon after Marika.
Also when Odin sacrificed himself to himself he hanged himself on Yggdrasil and impaled himself with his spear which would emulate Marika somewhat as well.
My headcanon is that Radagon tried repairing the Elden Ring not only out his sense of loyalty to the Golden Order, but also because he didn't want to see his children kill each other.
I think he was chosen for his mission early on. It’s no coincidence that he was sent to marry Rennala, the Queen of the Carian forces - the only group able to go toe-to-toe with the Golden Order and repel them. He uses this opportunity to learn sorceries and understand the Carians’ source of power. He then leaves to become conjoined with Marika, sending the Carian forces into disarray, significantly weakening them, thus leaving the Golden Order unopposed. They couldn’t defeat the Moon in combat, so they had to defeat it from the inside.
This makes a lot of sense, in addition to that, the emotional distress of Radagon's exit brought to Queen Renala also leaves room for the Carian kingdom to remain a non-factor, as their monarch locks herself away from her royal duties.
@Daniel it really feels like Godfrey is stronger than Radagon before the later becomes a god. This only shows how us Tarnished are strong and able to be as strong as other races.
Not only that but breeding a son with the Queen of the Carians that will one day stop there stars in motion. Since The gods can see fate this was a giant "f.uck you" done by the golden order
I don't think he didn't.He knew about that but he really believed that order could benefit the good to inhabitants of the Lands Between (and It really did, despite all the controversial points (let's be honest, no one in the Elden Ring is without sin).
I believe mostly everyone in one form or an other is being used by the greater will. Both Miquella and Ranni tried in their own way to change it. Miquella by trying to start his own order with his haligtree to right the wrong doings of the golden order and cure his sister from the rot. And Ranni by trying to sever all influence of the greater will upon her Empyrean body and the Lands Between to start her own age of stars.
@@hirakujup It can’t all be that. I think it was a plan set up by Marika to get out of the GW’s influence. Ranni was surprised to see you. You went there due to the graces which was not from the GW. (Given the two fingers take thousands of years to commune) Not many beings could manipulate those.
The idea of Radagon being a giant makes a lot of sense when you look at the Fire Giant's design. He seems very Jotun-inspired, and in Norse mythology, Jotun aren't all giant in size.
He’s also very obviously, based on Thor. Thor as we know was a half giant, and Radagon according to lore descriptions hated his red hair because of it’s association with the Giants Thor also hated Giants even when being, a half Jötnar himself. Both are also taller than average. While I do not think that he is a Giant, Radagon probably has some form of connection to the Giants. Possibly the result of the Giants curse that was put on Marika and him, caused his hair to turn a fiery red.
I love Radagon as a character. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, if a little naive in his beliefs. Can't blame him though, from the surface, the golden order is the law of their world.
I think Radagon was created by the Greater Will from a part of Marika, as Eve was created from Adam's rib, during the liurnian wars when the order couldn't defeat Rennala's knights. He was sent to win over Rennala and Liurnia with diplomacy when war did not work. I don't know how this would fit in the timeline laid out by Marika's echoes in the churches (someone should check this theory against those) but I believe this plan by the Greater Will to cover more ground in the Lands Between by splitting Marika off into different parts backfired. Radagon, as a man on his own, may have truly fallen in love with Rennala. Meanwhile, Marika, with the most loyal and devoted part of her having been sent off to Liurnia, may have started to question the Golden Order. Her questioning initially began as genuine curiosity, which she believed would actually strengthen her faith. But eventually it resulted in Marika growing jaded and disillusioned as she learned the true nature of the Greater Will's alien machinations. Perhaps when it noticed something was off, the Greater Will hastily bid Radagon to return, so that he could be recombined back with Marika, so as to restore her to her former pious self, but it was too late and the damage was already done. Both were fractured/altered mentally, Radagon from leaving Rennala (unless he was an unfeeling political agent simply manipulating her) and Marika from having spent so much time exploring the order without her blind loyalty to keep her grounded. The conflict worsened and worsened until Marika shattered the Ring, and as Radagon tried to surface to repair it, both went back and forth until the Greater Will simply imprisoned Marika. Perhaps Marika sowed the seeds for the Night of the Black Knives with Ranni, Rykard, the Black Knives, etc while she was still separate from Radagon. Not sure how the timing and chronology on all those things checks out, but I feel very strongly that just as the great runes being removed from the elden ring changes its nature, so too did creating Radagon from the most ferociously loyal part of Marika's self (and yes I do believe he was created from her) end up changing Marika's personality and her course of action, leading to this whole disaster. Lastly, I believe Radagon having been a part of Marika to begin with is at the core of why it is the Law of Regression that reveals his secret to us, for the Law of Regression is rooted in an understanding of the way different things trace their roots back to the origin that connects them all. [[As for the red hair, I believe it's a curse that was placed on the giants, which they then passed onto Radagon for his role in their destruction, bc I believe that's the most logical and fitting explanation that can tie together all the item descriptions relating to the war with the giants and the role Radagon played in it.]] Edit: I totally forgot that Godfrey was the one who went to war with the giants, so Radagon could not have played a huge part in their subjugation. One of the replies I got actually has a very compelling take about the giants' curse and Radagon's hair - perhaps a curse was placed upon Marika by the giants at the moment of their defeat at the hands of the Order, and in addition to having been created to conquer Liurnia, Radagon was created in part to bear that curse and keep it contained away from Marika.
This is a great theory, one that I have believed in for a while, so it's good to see it written out like this. But I don't think Radagon specifically had anything to do with the Giants' genocide as Godfrey was at war with them. I believe Marika received some form of curse from them, and it didn't manifest itself physically until Radagon was created to bear the burden of it
@@darthskele oh you're right. could've been the case that Radagon carried said curse with him and felt bitter about it until building a family with Rennala calmed him down.
I'm still confused about our character's quest. The fingers, the crones, even Melena all tell us to mend the Elden Ring by becoming Elden Lord. The fingers and the crones claim they talk directly with the Greater Will and its said that the Greater Will wants us to do this. The points of grace even have directions on them telling us where to go to do this. But when we get to the Erd Tree, Radagon has closed the door. And when we break in, he tries to stop us from mending the Elden Ring. Even the Elden Beast tries to stop us. What's the deal there? They should be on our side because for the most part of the game, I am told the Greater Will wants this to happen. Did Radagon and the Elden Beast go rouge against their god? Or were the crones and fingers lying to us the whole time?
The Fingers were certainly deceiving us, to an extent. They DO commune with the Greater Will, but we learn late in the game that it takes them thousands of moons to do so, so they’re operating on some very outdated orders. It’s not even clear if they’ve actively communed with the Greater Will since the Elden Ring was shattered, or if they’re just operating on old orders. I think that Marika accounted for that in her plot to have the Tarnished kill her, Radagon, and the Elden Beast. She knew the Fingers would be desperately trying to restore the Elden Ring and the Golden Order after she shattered it. She knew they’d summon the Tarnished back to the Lands Between, and set them on the path to the Erdtree - including Godfrey, who Marika probably intended to be the one to kill her. She knew that Melina would seek out the Tarnished with the most potential and help them to unbind Destined Death so that Marika/Radagon/the Beast could be killed. Radagon is the part of Marika that’s still fiercely loyal to the Greater Will, and since he’s a part of her, he knows her plan is to have herself (and himself) killed, so he seals the Erdtree to keep you and Melina out.
The crones clearly had different thoughts as to what you should do. Notice Enia tells you burning the tree is the first cardinal sin, but now the fingers are dormant so "who is to say that the cardinal sin must be cardinal forever?" Then she tells you to go on, finish the job take the course you deem most worthy. LOL she literally was like the devil in Eden telling you to eat that apple. You go burn down the tree and when you come back and she's dead. Now look at the cron by the Lift of Dectus, she reiterates that even the path to it is forbidden and burning the tree is a cardinal sin and asks who put you up to this, certainly not the fingers. I think it's implied that Enia went rogue and was killed by the Greater Will because the other crons are still alive after the tree was burned. Like all religion we have no way to know if the priests/priestesses are actually conveying the message of their respective god. We work under the assumption that the crones were all telling the truth, but at least with Enia that was not the case. You could argue Gideon could've killed her after he realized what Marika wanted but that still doesn't change the fact that Enia went against the Greater Will. The Greater Will wants a replacement but not in the path the protagonist took e.g potentially fraternizing with enemies in the form of Ranni/Frenzied Flame/Melina (Gloam Eye Queen?) and Miquella who tried to sever the link to all outer gods. They have some kind of selection process or requisites that we're not privy to for Empyreans. (e.g. came from one god, so what divine lineage did Marika come from then?) take thousands of moons to decide something and if the requisite for Marika's replacement is that easy to find, they would've found one by now. They were looking for a replacement but we as the protagonist was not it.
Here's how I see it: Two Fingers: speak directly with GW, but that can take centuries. It's possible it's been corrupted by the Shattering. Remember that the Two Fingers was as surprised as you when the Erdtree didn't open, and went to seek guidance from GW, because he didn't knew why that happened or what to do next, but we know : Radagon blocked our entrance. Grace and Milenia: both come from Marika. The Tarnished returning and one becoming the Elden Lord was probably part of Marika's plan to free the lands from the GW.
(Cont) And BECAUSE we're part of Marika's plan that the Elden Beast and Radagon want to stop us. Because we could reshape the ring in many ways and weaken the Greater Will's grip.
Things make a bit more sense if you recognize The Greater WIll as separate from The Golden Order. The Beast (and Radagon) are Vassals of the GW, they hold the ring on it's behalf, but they themselves are not The Greater Will.
One of the most interesting connections I've seen for Radagon and Marika is that of the alchemical rebus, a perfect union of a red king representing masculinity and a white queen representing femininity. This fits well with the repeated motif in elden ring of "as above, so below", an alchemical maxim indicating duality which fits well with the number of dual identities the various characters possess in ER. Additionally the masc/fem split works well as an allegory for the Golden Order principals of Causality and Regression each represent by the dual "parts" of Marika/Radagon.
I think so as well. The infatuation with red hair also has some gnostic implications as the children of the watchers and daughters of men, as portrayed in the Bible and Book of Enoch, are known as nephilim a.k.a. giants who are also known for their red hair. Adam's first wife, Lilith is also known as a red head and the chief deity of wisdom known as Sophia, is also a redhead.
You can expand on the thought by referencing the fact that godwyn the golden “dies” and his body is left decaying. Negredo(the alchemical symbol for decay) is represented by a skeleton standing over a black sun (suns=gold in alchemy) Godfrey- who carries a lion on his back could also possibly represent aqua regia as he got kicked out of the golden order and aqua regia eats away at gold(possibly because he freed the omens to help fight the giants we don’t know that for sure though)
Hell you could even use the idea that Melania and Miquela represent butterflies and moths respectively as the perfect representation of the alchemical process
Even ignoring his lore, I think Radagon's fight is one of the best-made in the game, even down to the most minute details. Like, I don't know if anyone else saw this, but Radagon does this slow sideways walk after attacking sometimes, looking at you the whole time, as if he were sizing you up. I don't know if it's a feature or because it was synched up with the music at the time, but it gave me chills.
Until someone can explain how Radagon was in possession of a great rune before the shattering, I'm going to keep believing that he was created from Marika. Likely through the use of that very same rune. We know that Marika was beginning to doubt, or at least question, the golden order and sought to understand it more deeply (Marika's words from Melina 'I declare mine intent, to search the depths of the Golden Order. Through understanding of the proper way, our faith, our grace, is increased. Those blissful early days of blind belief are long past. My comrades; why must ye falter?'). I think in order to do this without bias she split the part of her that kept that 'blind faith' from herself, creating Radagon. At this time Marika is not yet in full opposition to the Greater Will, so Radagon goes about his life. Since he's the Greater Will simp part of Marika, he was very useful to the Greater Will and intervention was not deemed necessary . The time at which Radagon is called back to the capital is when Marika sends Godfrey away. Marika sending Godfrey away was so he and the other tarnished could come back stronger to take the Elden Ring after it's shattered (Again, Marika's words from Melina 'Then, after thy death, I will give back what I once claimed. Return to the Lands Between, wage war, and brandish the Elden Ring. Grow strong in the face of death. Warriors of my lord. Lord Godfrey.'). The Greater Will intervenes at this point, calling Radagon back to reign in Marika as she is clearly planning something. The Greater Will intends Radagon to be re-joined with Marika to stop her, which explains why Marika seems to hold contempt for him. But anyway, I don't feel the red hair is enough evidence to say that Radagon was not born from Marika when there is far more substantial evidence to the contrary. And like I said, for me, Radagon having a great rune before becoming Elden Lord makes no sense at all unless he was created from the vessel of the Elden Ring.
Seems to me that that Rennala's amber egg is simply an alternative casting device. It works even after we take the rune in it for ourselves. So Radagon simply gave her the egg without rune. Then later Radagon leaves, the shattering happens and each demigod gets a piece. Ranni died right before the shattering so she couldn't take it in person, but I could believe that her death wasn't public knowledge yet and so the Great Rune of the Unborn was offered or taken to the Carian family where the Queen took it in Ranni's name. After all, it seems she's trying to revive Ranni, so she wouldn't reject this powerful magic rune. After, she puts it inside her egg, however that works.
Problem is Radagon is very clearly part giant, Marika is fully Numen so there are clear distinctions between them that wouldn’t make sense if Radagon was just created from Marika. I still don’t believe they were completely separate and just fused however since it wouldn’t make sense why Ranni Radahn and Rykard are considered Demigods if Radagon was just a random champion who fused. Radagon and Marikas dynamic is probably the most ambiguous part of the lore
A cool detail about the Sacred Relic Sword I noticed while farming runes the other day: Whenever you do the special attack, you can briefly see Radagon's rune on the ground
So I think the use of "unalloyed gold" has 2 purposes in a story. Like with repelling fey, where cold iron is used, a pure substance is used to repel the outer gods. Furthermore, unalloyed could be a refutation of Radagon, who is fused, or alloyed, with Marika. It could be said that he is directly the kind of influence Miquella sought to protect against.
I find it interesting that no one mentions that a lot of the misbegotten ALSO HAVE RED HAIR. And that one of them has the golden order sword, while you have to kill 2 others that also drop legendary armaments. Implying radagon may have something to do with these misbegotten, maybe he’s part misbegotten himself which is why he is ashamed of his hair,
I don't think Radagon has a choice in following the Golden Order. Remember that Blaidd was made to turn on Ranni even though it's obvious he's still loyal to her. Iji wears a helmet that can ward off the influence of the Greater will because he was terrified by the possibility of being controlled by the Greater Will. And who can blame him? Iji has seen it happen before with Radagon. Muriel stresses how it's a mystery that Radagon, who went out of his way to profess his love to Rennala, just up and left suddenly. Marika calls him "leal hound of the golden order" i.e. "loyal dog of the order". Radagon's entire existence post shattering is to be a warden of Marika, cut off from the world and everything he ever knew. That can't be pleasant. I can imagine this sequence of events: -Radagon is a shunned fire giant because of his size. no relation to marika -he and some other small giants, trolls, defect to Marika's side in the war -the war with Caria begins and ends with political marriage -Radagon becomes Carian king-consort, his troll-giant friends follow him and become elite carian knights (like Bol, an evergaol boss) or war councellors like Iji did -Marika exiles Godfrey, which makes the greater will suspicious. they mind-control Radagon and make him second eldenlord. people are confused why a mere champion becomes lord and why Radagon left the love of his life, and it's so the Greater will can keep an eye on marika and put someone around her who can kill her or imprison her if need be -Iji realises what happened to Radagon and dons the helmet to protect himself. he prepares for the possibility that another servant of Ranni gets taken control of. this is why he's prepared for Blaidd's "betrayal" -the shattering happens and the greater will conjoins Marika and Radagon, to keep Marika from messing things up any more
I've always had a doubt: apparently Marika was sacrificed after she shattered the Elden Ring, right? And theoretically Radagon locked her in the Erdtree and stayed there trying to fix the Elden Ring. So how did this symbol of her crucified spread across the Lands Between? This leads me to two possibilities: either she has always been this way, which I don't think is the case since she even fought and defeated the Fell God, or this imagery was falsely propagated by the Lands Betweens, perhaps trying to transform her in a martyr. Perhaps the Golden Order didn't want the people to find out that the Goddess Marika shattered the Elden Ring, and they tried to cover up that fact, trying to avoid the war that would ensue if the demigods found out she no longer possessed the Elden Ring. Perhaps the confinement of Marika by Radagon was not immediate, perhaps some time passed before the truth was discovered, causing the demigods to regain the runes and fighting the wars that followed. Seeing the chaos that was ensuing, Radagon locked himself in the Erdtree and tried to repair the Elden Ring. Perhaps the spear in Marika's belly wasn't made by Radagon, but by Maliketh, after feeling betrayed by Marika upon discovering that she was behind the theft of Destined Death, causing him to be cast aside in Farum Azula. That would explain the statues with Marika's symbol scattered across the Lands Between.
Marika's crucified body combined with the Rune arc it is suspended from resembles what maybe her personal great rune. Visible at the very top of the Elden Ring. She seemed to adopt her Rune as her symbol when she was operating in the world thus all the statues of her have her with her arms up like she is pinned to the Rune arc
@@syedasadali8529 Miquella was kidnapped during the war of the shattering, not before, but i don't think she wanted to kill herself. The entire thing around Marika seems to be a big chess play so that she could get rid of the Greater Will, while Radagon was totally loyal to it.
I disagree with the original premise:I think Radagon and Marika have always being the same person, as D and his brother are the same soul with two bodies. When Marika says "thou are yet to became me, to become a god" I think she means that Radagon, the other self of Marika, ISN'T the same god as her andthey need to be one and "fuse" into one body. That's the only way to explain how Ranni, Rykard and Radahn are demigods as well: if Radagon WASN'T always Marika and he was just one mortal, then how could the children he had with Rennala be demigods? Rennala is NOT a Demigod, she had a Rune because Radagon gave it to her.
They became demigods through Radagon's marriage with Marika. I forget what or who tells you this, but it's mentioned in game. But I agree with you. EVERY demigod is mentioned to be MARIKA'S children. That implies that Radagon and Marika have always been connected in some way. I like the theory that Radagon is just the Order rune personified. Like how Marika is the vessel for the elden ring. This theory also includes the gloam-eyed queen to be the rune of death itself.
I think you're spot on, in fact I suspect that Marika used the egg to be reborn and ended up creating Radagon, I think that's why Radagon has the egg in the first place.
The thing with Darian and Duo is that only one of them can be awake at the same time. It's a weird thing that has to do with them sharing a soul, but not their bodies and minds. It's not the same with Radagon and Marika...
Another thing to mention about radagons red hair, writer GRRM loves to make lore connections and symbolism with hair color. It's very prominent in GoT and I'd bet if he wrote this part of the lore he stressed it was important to FromSoft too
I really like your summary of the lore, as you present mostly facts and sometimes add some general or your own speculation, but always point out that it is just speculation. As a natural scientist this makes my heart soar ^^
Red giants can carry their flame god in torso, like Radagon carries golden order looking seal. What if it was needed to become a vessel for golden order?
That elden ring logo found all the way in Farum Azula is really interesting, the lore saying Placidusax being the first Elden Lord is probably legit while some claim that it is a mistranslation.
I love how when you start the game Demigods dying was a big deal, but by the time you reach the Mountaintops of the Giants it’s pretty much a daily occurrence.
It’s probably just me, but Radagon reminds me of Kvothe for anyone that has read the Kingkiller Chronicle. It’s not at all a direct one to one, but the born prodigy that is pulled by things beyond his control, while trying to make the best of it is there.
Seeing Radagon's departure from rennala as potentially not entireling Willful is really interesting to me. I really like Radagon as a character, but I always saw that as such a oddly Dickish move xD so it being something he felt compelled to do I find a lot more agreeable, as well that would explain why it was so sudden, mabye he couldn't face telling his love of this duty that he felt he had to carry out, so he simply left without a word.
Well, Radagon being good with a needle wouldn't surprise me. The dude is described as a perfectionist, he might as well picked up a needle by chance and decided to dedicate the following month to mastering the skill just for the kicks. It also ties into his fighting style: he isn't that big compared to even just Godrick, let alone Godfrey or his own son Radhan, possibly even smaller than Malenia. He fights with his skill and magical knowledge, even doing some unique spells that we don't get to learn (the "golden glintstone comet"), signalling that he was pretty good at learning and doing his own stuff. Hell, just look at the Rings of Light spells. His son develops an Incantation and shows it proudly to papa just to have him gift back an improved and more developed version.
I think that Radagon was always Marika. We know that Radagon had a secret he desperately wanted to keep hidden, as far back as his time as Rennala's husband, as he literally gagged all of their preceptors. This secret is revealed to us with the simple direct statement "Radagon is Marika." This is all we know as fact. My theory is that Radagon was an identity created by Marika (like Batman was created by Bruce Wayne) so she could escape her role as god queen and vessel for the Elden Ring. Perhaps she needed to break the Elden Ring first in order to do this, which would explain why Radagon had a great rune. As Radagon, he got to live the life of a conquering champion, marry a wife and even have children. Something must have happened that made him want to give this up and return to the Erdtree. Maybe the shattering of the Elden Ring allowed for the rise of dangerous outer gods such as the Frenzied Flame, so he dedicated himself to repairing the Elden Ring and restoring the Golden Order. "Marrying" himself let him become Elden Lord, another thing which Marika never could have done as a mere vessel.
Maybe, but Marika and Radagon have such differing personalities and motives. Despite being two halves of a whole, they have different motivation, goals, consciousness, people they associate with, and even likes/dislikes. They're so fundamentally different that it's hard to envision them as always just one character.
This is a much more interesting perspective and there’s at least as much evidence as them being originally separate. It bothers me how much content creators talk about their own speculation as fact
Wasn't marika married to godfrey while radagon was with renalla? If it was marika doing both roles from the beginning how could she be with both renalla and godfrey without raising suspicion?
@@mynameisurl1073 The details aren’t known to us, but I don’t think there’s anything that explicitly says they were married at the same time. It could have been thousands of years apart.
Dude I was starving for a radagon vídeo since I finished the game the first time. He’s my favorite fight in souls series, you’re really fighting a god!
1:05 That she refers to Radagon as her other self before he joins with her eliminates any possibility of them starting out as two separate people for me. Personally, my conjecture is that Marika tried to use the egg to be reborn and because she is a god only the non god parts could be reborn, leaving Marika intact while also being reborn as Radagon.
Did she say that in the original Japanese? Have you even heard it in Japanese? If so i don't see how you feel confident ruling anything out. And even if it is accurate, people call their partners their "other half" all the time. It doesn't have to be literal. Everyone just has a headcanon and refuses to see anything outside of it.
@@jimmierustler5607 I have no idea how you want to hear it in Japanese if the game doesn't even have Japanese voice acting. and you obviously haven't completed the Golden Mask quest, the main point of which is to find the answer to the question "Who exactly *was* Radagon?" The mere mention of this name puzzled the Golden Mask. Radagon is no one knows who appeared out of nowhere. And after finding a direct game answer that "Radagon is Marika", trying to interpret "my other half" differently does not make any sense
@@Xgenstudioz777 It was written in Japanese, and we've already found several examples of mistranslations, including in Ranni's questline (voice acted parts). So i don't know why you are so sceptical. And why are you presuming goldmask knows everything? Brother Corhyn seems to suggest the name of Radagon was only even "discovered" by Goldmask when they're near Leyndell. I don't even disagree with you that Radagon could have emerged from Marika but the confidence in your conclusions is just silly.
@@jimmierustler5607 The Golden Mask is one of the key characters in the game. He is the only NPC other than the fingers themselves that only communicates in the language of the fingers. He is literally a legend among the followers of the Golden Order - "The master is always deep in contemplation. While I frantically attempt to record his wisdom; the movement of his finger. And though I am yet to comprehend the daintiest morsel of his wisdom... I know that this, this is my life's calling. The Golden Order has bestowed me, talentless as I am, the great duty of documentarian." Are you saying that the Golden Mask, who is so engrossed in thinking about fundamentalism that he was able to find the imperfection of the Golden Order, as well as a way to fix it, simply missed the champion of the Golden Order who leads their troops? Not to mention, the lack of information about his origins is the only thing that kept him from creating the Mending Rune of Perfect Order.
I'm just throwing this theory out there: Marika is Adam and Radagon is Eve. (reverse of Genesis story.) Radagon was created out of the flesh of Marika. The role is reversed however when Radagon is loyal to "God" while Marika wants to rebel against it. Both person = one flesh. this is where my theory comes to a wall... how and when did those two merge back?
@@mutatedpotato8551 explain what, godfrey left and radagon gone to the capital. What do I have to explain, nothing, marika is radagon, they where having two double lives everything the Pope turtle said was what the general public knows
The law of regression (which is one of the core beliefs of the fundamentalists) says that all things yearn to converge. Going with your theory that could explain why after becoming two beings Radagon and Marika eventually merged into one. It doesn't explain how, and I'm not sure if the "how" is particularly relevant, but I think it could justify the why to some level. Idk what I'm talking about so this could all be just a bunch of crap, but yeah. Btw pretty interesting theory. I rlly liked the connection you made
@@mutatedpotato8551 no, they have the same body they are the same person but they have a personality disorder that it , the whole thing about gold mask quest is who the hell is radagon he just appeared out off nowhere suddenly someone so important appeared with no info about his background at all , then we learn the he is marika All of the 6 demigods in the game are marika offsprings including ranni, rykard and Radhan, if radagon and marika are separate than they would not be a demi Gods
Alloying is the process of mixing together metals to create a new metal with more desirable properties. Much like Radagon and Marika were mixed together, likely at the behest of the Golden Order. Miquela and Malenia were born of this alloy of Radagon and Marika, but were born cursed. I think there's something to Miquella abandoning the 'alloyed' version of the golden order to create an un-alloyed gold.
I had a similar idea with Miquella. His "Unalloying" being his spirit and his body. It seems to fit with the motif of dualism. Godwyn being separated the same way, and becoming the prince of death. Marika and Radagon. Ranni. Possibly the Gloam-eyed witch. The only thing confusing to me is how Miquella split himself, unless I'm missing something.
@@JC-bk7li Miquella didn't split himself. Mohg Lord of Blood hunted down the haligtree and stole him away while he was slumbering to ascend into godhood
It is in the same breath that Marika says in reference to Radagon "Thou'rt yet to become me" and "mine other half". This apparent contradiction actually has an explanation found in game. On the Twinned Armor. And with the principle of Chekhov's Gun, serves to give D a purpose in the greater narrative. (aside from introducing us to Gurranq, and dieing to/killing Fia. for both of which, twins and their mechanics aren't necessary). As for his red hair, and their apparent "curse" (curse in this game mostly being a matter of perspective). We might be able to come to a conclusion, by using other Empyreans to draw a pattern. Malenia's "curse" from the god of Rot, Miquella's "curse" from either [cut content] or perhaps the formless mother, Lunar Princess Ranni and her relation to the Moon, The Gloam Eyed Queen and her affinity with death/the twinbird god whose name has been lost. And Marika, who, drawing from this pattern, would have had to have sported some Erdtree "blessing". Radagon could have been Numen born, same as Marika, but "cursed" with a blessing of the Fell God of Fire.
Your videos are so amazing, beautifully made and you explain in a way that I could listen to you all day. Thanks for investing so much time in those videos!! 🙂
I really like the idea of Radagon as a malformed Giant. Although I still want to believe Radagon and Marika were always the same person (the same body at least), and that's the secret that drove Renalla crazy, and warranted all the sewn-up mouths and such.
radagon's seal looks a lot like a stitching pattern, so perhaps the connections run deeper than simply a hobby? maybe it is lending itself to a theme of him being tied forever into the golden order, unable to think even the slightest blasphemy.
Since all demigods are marika,s direct offsprings this makes me believe that radagon was always marika , I mean she's a god she could have easily clowned herself or changed her gender is she really wants , another neat idea other people pointed out is that each one represents a different accept of marika,s personality radagon being her blind faith in the golden order while she harbored all of the doubts about the greater will and the order she created which is why she broke the ring in the first place but weather it was a calculated masterplan or a desperate attempt to break fate is anyones guess
I’m starting to think that Marika was having second doubts about the Erdtree/Golden order and as a result, it compelled Radagon to fuse with her to keep Marika in check
I assumed at 10:44 Mirel was talking about Radagon being descended from the giants. Barring issues with translation, "skeleton in the closet" seems to imply an old, hidden secret, and Radagon's statue was rendered in giant stature, and the phrasing with "when he glimped..." as a sentence fragment. Of course, another possible, "old" secret would be that Radagon was always Marika and thus was created from her, but it's impossible to say that his oft referenced hair has no meaning. Shame it's so hard to read into phrasing in a game that wasn't written in my language xD
Since the sword graves and the turtle states, that radagon has always had his red hair, before the battle with giants even probably, then perhaps the weapon of red hairlocks is exactly saying that, “radagon is a giant, and him hating his giant red hair, was a curse to their giant kind, for this brought him to drive his own giant kind to extinction”.
Radagon is always represented in association to thorns, mabye the red spear in marika's side IS RADAGON, the thorn in marika's side. When Radagon takes control of Marika's body, the spear is gone after all...
I begin to notice there might be a civil war between two factions: those who are fanatics of the Greater Will such as Radagon and Radahn and those who are against it or disillusioned by it: Marika, Miquella and Malenia.
thats the reason mario went off on his quest in Supermario Galaxy. He wanted to find an outer god, able to challenge the greater will. He only found Rosalina sadly.
I interpreted it a little differently. To me Radagon is the curse cast upon by the giants, not just the hair, Marika was split into 2, her cursed half becoming Radagon. He probally was called back to the Erdtree to become Elden Lord because leaving someone as important as Radagon running around Liurnia was not safe, also, as we later know that Marika planned to betray the Greater Will, radagon, could also watch Marika. Radagon and Marika were once one, then become two, they begun to diverge, Radagon staied loyal, while Marika was planning a betrayal all along behind the scenes
0:25 (In Western classical symbology. A torch held up high _ signifies freedom + determination. ) I always thought Radagon was symbolic of the curses brought about by Marika's decision as a ruler. I.e. War, Rot/decay, Vow breaking, frenzy/frenetism, Never growing/changing, pride, ambition for power. Etc... essentially Stiffling Order.
I still think Radagon being a mere champion alludes to him being Marika. Because even if he is a fanatic it seems strange that he would feel so obligated to just leave without reasoning. (also it feels like the game wants you to come the conclusion of them being the same person.) Is he even that fanatic if he is willing to learn sorceries and if the greater will needed somebody who is opposition to Marika it would find tons of suitable and easier to access candidates. Also we only know of one god and that is Marika, if they weren't the same person from the very beginning Ranni, Rykard and Radahn coudn't have been demigods, since Rennala is human. That said the connection to the giants is still very interesting and confusing. I generally go with the red hair beeing a curse, but I think that sounds like confirmation bias of interpreting the text. (but you did say it isn't clear in japanese)
Copy from another reply of mine: Marika was involved with the war against the giants and slayed their god because she thought it would stop the forge of the giants from burning. (being the only fire to be able to burn the erdtree) "Upon realizing the flames of their forge would never die, Queen Marika marked him with a curse. "O trifling giant, mayest thou tend thy flame for eternity." Maybe why hewg had to try to forge a god slaying weapon for her, because she couldnt truly kill the god of the giants, from whom they had their flame. So it would make sense that she or radagon were getting cursed from their god who either resides in the last giant or the flame. Maybe even this curse is the reason for their split personalities...
@@gatlingcats6860 As far as I know Hewg specifically smithes a weapon for the tarnished, hence why he is in Roundtable Hold and because Marika planned for the tarnished to come back.
I personally get some Loki vibes from Marika/Radagon. Loki can switch his sex at will, he had three monstrous children with a witch; Fenrir the enormous wolf that’s always hungry /Radhan, Jormungandr the world serpent/Rykard, Hel the half dead goddess of the underworld/Ranni. He(Loki) also had his mouth sewn shut at one point. He’s half giant on his fathers side but is referred to as Laufeysson(Aesir goddess) meaning either his mother has a higher station or he dislikes his father. He’s often depicted as having red hair but I don’t believe there is a direct description of this in the source material. There maybe more but this is just what comes to mind at the moment.
“Lord Radagon was a great champion, possessed of flowing, red locks. He came to these lands at the head of a great Golden Host.” That’s such a wonderful bit of foreshadowing. Initially it’s read as his arrival at the behest of the Golden Order or Greater Will, but it can also be interpreted as him emerging from a vessel with golden hair - aka Marika, his twin soul, whose hair is a golden blonde.
How could Radagon stop a war he was told to wage by his God and Regent? How could he just turn around, tell his whole army to go home, and then go shack up with Renalla for 30 years? That doesn’t make any sense. Marika calls Radagon her “other half” in the same sentence she says “you are yet to become me”. So it’s possible that they were two aspects of the same whole that later combined but I’m convinced Radagon started life as an Aspect of Queen Merika
I feel like “Thau art yet to become me” is still ambiguous and could easily be her talking to a Radagon inside her, telling him “it’s not your turn to control our body yet”
The powerful golden teleport and the golden spear shotgun would be much better than Radagon Discus of Light, the Golden Order's other offensive enchantments are so bad that he doesn't even use it.
I feel like Radagon is Marika message means exactly that. The message is not "Radagon merged/fused with Marika." So, I doubt Radagon was a separate person, so much as a god proxy.
1) Law of Regression spell used to reveal duality refers to things RETURNING to their ORGINAL state 2) Radagon ending aggression against Renalla of HIS OWN CHOICE is not in the purview of a general to make overriding his Queen 3) Giants were the only enemy truly despised by Marika and represented biggest threat to Erdtree due to flame that could destroy it. Could be red hair, and Radagon himself, is due to counter curse from Fell God 4) the children of Renalla and Radagon are all born empirians - which are exclusively Marika's children and could not be possible if Radagon was a giant
It has to work like mantling, the easiest concept of it is found in Elder Scrolls. A mortal becomes the mortal incarnation of the god, the mortal body keeps most of its personality but since they fuse into one spirit and two bodies they are technically one god. Its like Radagon was absorbed onto Marika, they maintained separate bodies and most personality traits but its now one spiritual body. If thats the case, how much of Radagons actions were his and not Marikas?
Personally, i don't think that Radagon and Marika were ever apart, the "You have yet to become me. You have yet to become a god." is not literally Marika saying that, but instead saying "You are not me, you cannot control me." when the two's opinions on the Order started to differ.
IMO Radagon was always Marika, just in another, split, body. We can see the Erdtree Avatar, an avatar of the Elden Ring's power, in the Montaintops of the Giants use an incantation that splits it into two separate beings. I think Marika use this same power early on to create a true champion for the Order she was enforcing at the time, and over time, through his separate experiences, Radagon kinda gained a will of his own. Marika's armies at the time were fighting the Carian Royal family and the Raya Lucaria academy and had seemingly already been repelled once before. What better way to bring down that faction than to have her champion marry INTO the Royal Family? Why else would Radagon's union with Rennala be such a massive and sacred event? In most cases his actions might have been seen as a betrayal to the Order, but in this case it was treated almost as if Radagon was some sort of leader to the Order and not just it's champion. Then, once the alliance was secured and Godfrey had finished the rest of his campaigns and had lost his grace, Radagon was recalled to rejoin with Marika, which led to the downfall of the Carian Royal family. The Raya Lucaria academy rebelled against the Royals because Rennala was no longer fit to rule due to her immense sorrow. The Radagon Icon talisman mentions that as Rennala's hunband, he studied sorcery, and as Marika's husband, he studied incantations. "Thus did the hero aspire to be *complete*." Yet, when we face him in the Erdtree, he doesn't cast a single sorcery, solely employing the use of incantations; he had become "complete" by assimilating with Marika again. Also, when Marika spoke to him and said "Thou art yet to become a god, Thou art yet to become me" she refers to him as "Mine other self" rather than something like "mine consort".
Yeah, this fits what I think as well. I'm adding my two cents here (I wrote this earlier in response to another comment): The fact that Radagon's statue *reverts* to being Marika after using Law of *regression* is a huge factor in believing they were just Marika at first, or that he was a part of Marika, more specifically. We know that empyreans are prone to be manipulated by the Greater Will, and they aren't free as long as their bodies still have the runes. Ranni rejects her body to be free, and I think that Marika split herself, leaving her loyalty to the Golden Order in Radagon (that's why he has runes, and he's able to gift one to Rennala, why on Earth would he have had a rune prior to becoming Elden Lord, then?). That line that Melina is able to recite to us in Marika's chambers is kind of prophetic, I think. Radagon is still to become her, to become a god, because he's not himself yet. "Let us be shattered", Marika shatters herself (us) for Radagon to be his own self, then, when he returns and they marry, they become one again (through marriage/having children together). Btw, the fact that Malenia and Miquella both suffered from afflictions since birth, seems to be caused by being born of that "incestuous" (for a lack of a better term), the same way that endogamy in real life severely increases the possibility of certain diseases.
You say it's Radagon's body who becomes the sacred relic sword but I think it's quite obvious it's meant to be Marika. The swords description, as you've stated, is "Sword wrought from the remains of a god who should have lived a life eternal." Firstly, Marika is the god, not Radagon. He's the consort and lord. Secondly, her title is Queen Marika the Eternal. So when it's describing the remains of a *_god_* who should have lived a life *_eternal_* , it's clearly referencing Marika lol
I'm actually pretty sure that Radagon was made from the Rune of Order from Merika, and that it was the Giant's Curse that turned his hair red. I am also pretty sure it is the Elden Beast that crucified Merika, as the Elden Beast has a grab attack that crucifies u and stabs u in the way Merika was.
Incorrect that only fire giants have red hair. Misbegotten have red hair and there is a direct relationship between the Misbegotten and Radagon through a Misbegotten that wields Radagon's sword.
What I don't think people appreciate enough about Radagon is the fact that he's extremely hot. I mean he looks like he'd have fifty abs had he not been punished and then shattered by the greater will. More over, look at his face. He woos people by sewing for them, he's a man who can sew, that's hot. He's depicted as being in this smith like pose in the beginning, which I think detracts people from this conclusion, but he truly is the man consort. We constantly focus on waifus like Ranni and Melina but in reality Radagon is the true husbando.
To be honest, i always saw Radagon himself as the curse placed upon Marika/The Edrtree by the Fire Giants; to always have a seperate half that defied her in some way as her opposite. Hell, i even think Miquella might've inherited his fathers "giant genes" just like Radahn based on how huge he's grown within his cocoon.
The giant-Radagon family tree relation is interesting but I remember it is stated in an item or Gideon dialogue that Radagon was cursed by the giants when Marika fought them. Still it would be interesting to discover how a Numen like Marika is somehow half of Radagon. I mean, what I find interesting is that Marika has quite a fair skin and blond hair for a Numen, because Numen have a darker skin tone and dark hair ( at least what we see in the character creation as default) and Radagon seems to display these features tho, his skin being slightly dark. So maybe Marika split herself into two from the beginning of her godhood: one being the Goddess we know and the other her fanatical side ( let's call it) the parts she did not like. Idk, it's just an idea.
I'm pretty sure he mentions the curse thing at the beginning of the video and says it's extremely vague on what it means. Gideon doesn't say anything about Radagon whatsoever afaik
@@launchbase4944 My bad :)) Thanks for pointing out tho. Well, it would be nice if FromSoft would explain in a future DLC what the curse meant. For now everything seems quite vague. Cannot wait tho to go through the game a second time, I played 200h on my first playthrough and still did not find all the items or finished all npc quests :))) But I loved every moment of it.
like everyone else in the comments I don't think radagon simply "fused" with marika. I believe he is originally a part of her/the elden ring that was separated to fulfill a purpose, went on to have his own life but then was summoned/ forced back to fulfill another purpose (the elden beast's or marika's)
now that I think of it, it does make sense that the greater will would just collate the "essence"/"rune" of a bunch of notable people into a main messiah/vessel which would act as the embodiment of the laws of the world. that would explain how we're able to just add runes/laws to the elden ring depending on the ending we choose and how the elden ring changes/adapts/evolves over the ages (see the "other elden ring" in farum azula)
So like a reverse Adam and Eve situation where in this case Radagon was made from a part of Marika. Perhaps the Greater returned Radagon to Marika or allowed him to fuse back as a way to maintain the order and possibly return the Elden Ring
If anything, him being a part of Marika helps explain his "curse". A Random general being cursed by the giants because of the war against the giants is a bit weird. But a part of the godness that leaded the golden order ? That makes alot more sense.
@@DM-Oz yeah. That makes sense. The giants are assimilated into the elden ring. Then Marika needs to remove that influence from the ring to carry out some plan (like she did with death) and does so by creating radagon. Could be
I believe Radagon has always been part of Marika because despite hearing that she is Numen, we never read of his arrival in the Lands Between. Our first known action of his is marriage to Rennala. Edit: That and he's not often otherwise mentioned before Godfrey leaves the picture
I think it's implied that the marriage with Renalla happens when Godfrey is still around. Radagon and Renalla have three children(that takes some years) and after that, when Marika sends Godfrey away, is Radagon called back to the capital(by the greater will, supposedly). So for some years, both couples would exist, I think. Again, the years thing is always so vague in From games... Bloodborne has the same problem I think. We have all the timeline put together(all the events and the possible order) but the years don't add up.
Are you implying numems can change/alter their gender? We don’t see that that with these specific groups like black knives, gloam eyed queen and godskins, miquella and malenia.
@@thelionofjudah5318 It could be alot simpler than that. Ask yourself: What happens when two Empyreans work together? The answer is probably something close to Malenia and Miquella's dynamic before everything went south, with Miquella attempting forge a new Order and Malenia being his sword. Both were described as being born of a " Single God" and therefore being Empyreans, as well as Marika's most sacred children.... Except this leaves a slight contradiction. How do Radagon and Marika count as " One God", a truly single parent?Also, how could any two Empyreans coexist in a single Order without competing? After all, there could technically only be one God chosen for each Order, or else it wouldn't be an Order at all, as each God embodies an Order in themselves..... Unless one is counted as an extension of the other, and therefore, they count as " one God". And thus, Malenia being Blade Of Miquella. I believe a similar situation happened with Radagon and Marika. In other words...... They're siblings.
DECREE OF THE GOLDEN ORDER: Any comments about how I pronounce "Radagon" will be deleted unless they are funny. (and tbf some Misbegotten also have red hair)
One thing you missed is that the Golden Sewing needles are made for changing demigod attire specifically. For some reason, normal sewing needles aren't up to the task, so golden ones are required when dealing with the clothes of demigods. Meaning from the very beginning of their marriage, it was expected or known that Radagon and Rennala's children would be demigods. It means that Radagon was in some way or another = to Marika even before they fused into one. Otherwise there would be no reason to expect that their children would be demigods in the first place, and there wouldn't have been any reason for Radagon to bring demigod-specialized sewing equipment.
@@HeavensRipper-he4sz that is some interesting investigation that I definitely did miss. but why would he bring the tool to liurnia if those children were not to become demigods until after he left? wouldnt they have been able to use normal tailoring gear until he left? tho maybe its a going away gift lol. It does seem like that gives credence to the idea that Radagon was at least predestined to return to Leyndell from before he went to Liurnia. Great comment! Lots of stuff to chew on
@@MadLuigi It was a gift from when their marriage with Rennala began. Not when he left. They were demigods from the start, but were only given the title as step-demigods after Radagon returned to Leyndell.
@@MadLuigi Enia tell us. "Great Runes are the stuff of demigods: the children of the goddess, Queen Marika. " and "The demigods are each and all the direct offspring of Queen Marika." They officially recieved the title of demigod step-children only after Radagon left. But if Radagon always was Marika from the beginning of Rennala's marraige, then they'd always have been demigods, even if that status wasn't legally recognized.
I love the symbolism of the Elden Beast, Radagon was for the Greater Will and the Golden Order just a tool, a weapon to impose the will of the Golden Order upon the Lands Between. So in the finale battle he becomes the sword for the Elden Beast beacouse in the end, that'all he ever was. Every action he made, marrying Rennala, leaving her for Marika, sealing Marika in the Erdtree and trying to repair the Elden Ring with the hammer, were just what the Greater Will wanted from him, he never truly had free will.
Man, the lore in these games is so confusing and overwhelming. I'm glad these videos exist to shed some light on it! About the only constructive comment I can make is that the old ring pattern from Farum Azula makes me think of the tentacles hanging from the big creature faces under Stormveil and at the base of the Erdtree. The giant squid-faced Chthulu looking things. One video mentioned that one of them might have actually been Godwyn (Prince of Death's Pustule flavor text). I havent seen much else about what those things could be (yet)
miquella seems to have a power of resisting time. he’s ever young ( or supposed to be) his tool (needle) is to be in area with highly variation of time. A smithing stone (ancient dragon ones) are used to craft weapons used to slay a God. these stones are imbued with dragon magic, that miquella would be resistant to.I’m sure that We’re fighting miquella in the dlc. But he won’t be in his best form, you’ll have to do a quest line to get that super awesome smithing stone only gotten with dlc (they’ll balance it), with only buff will be that it can used to slay miquella. We’re getting a few side quests also. I’m 1000% sure
There is nothing pointing towards Miquiella being specially powerful in boss fight way. His greates power was his charm, that he used to have people's loyalty.
One point upends your assertions quite easily, Radagon’s children are all demigods…but also Godrick, and Godwyn who aren’t stated to explicitly be Merika’s children are they? So maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. This lore is confusing.
I think radagon takes the form of the spear in marikas side. It's red color matches his hair and it Mysteriously disappears when the change is occuring. I think that's how he keeps Marika in place. It also appears to lightly be made up of that criss cross that makes radagon rune
I wonder at what point did radagon and Marika fuse since Ranni is an empyrean (born of a single god) while her brothers aren’t. Ranni even says only she, miquella, and Malenia can claim the title of empyrean.
An empyrean isn't someone born of a single god. Its just a demigod 'with a fate' (guided by amber starlight perhaps) The gloam eyed queen was also an empyrean. The only empyreans confirmed to be conceived of a single god, are the twins.
My theory is she was born from the amber egg containing the rune of the unborn, and Ranni is made directly from Radagon and wasn’t at all birthed from Rennala in the classic intercourse sense. Because she is purely from Radagon who is Marika she is an Empyrean.
What if Radagon and Marika are twins (or at least stepsiblings, born from at least one of the same parent)? They started out one, separated, then returned and rejoined in "marriage", and two of their twin children, Malenia and Miquella, seem to have inherited their twin parents hair, one red and the other golden. Maybe I don't know about Marika's backstory enough, but it seems weirdly fitting to explain Radagon and Marika being described as one starting from a natural way, twins, and then made one through weirder supernatural ways. It also very much ties into George RR Martin's story beats with certain twins in his lore.
I cant help but feel like radagon was marika the entire time. The way marika talks about them sounds like god speaking to jesus, his human form who is 100% human despite being a god. How would a normal man have a child like radahn, the most powerful of the demigods? Not only that but they werent even considered demigods until radagon returned to marika. Marika birthed demigods with the carian queen and thats why they are so powerful. I really cant find anything that disputes this
I don’t know if parts of elden ring was partly inspired by Norse mythology, but in Norse mythology, it is important to note that giants weren’t always particularly……giant.They could grow to large sizes if they chose to, but there were a few giants, such as Loki, who chose to adopt a more human figure.Giant didn’t mean large in size, it just meant that the being comes from jotunheim.I say this because it may indeed be possible that Radagon is a giant, in spite of him being perfectly human in stature and size.Although, that is just my view on the situation.
Radagon is my favourite character in Elden ring because there's so much mystery surrounding him. I really wanna know whether he actually had free will of his own or he was just manipulated by Marika since the beginning.
I'm not sure how to feel about this video. It's really thought provoking but is kind of unfounded. For example, Radagon is a giant because he has red hair and 1 out of his 5 kids is huge? Red hair can just be red hair. We don't even know if all giants have red hair. I honestly think it's more likely that he was an aspect or splintering of Marika who attained an unforeseen level of agency rather than an individual character to begin with. Marika has dialogue saying she believes splintering from the faith temporarily will ultimately strengthen it. So she seems to have created Radagon for some such method but by the time this "splinter" came back to her she lost faith in the Order and Radagan had gained too much individual agency which is why when they rejoined they fought for control of the body (as seen in the reveal trailer). This explains why a "mere champion" was selected for Elden Lord and why their kids (Malenia and Miquella) are both cursed due to it technically being incest as opposed to the kids he had with Rennala. Finally, there is no direct evidence or foreshadowing as of yet that two independent beings can fuse into one (what Rykard and Ranni do are fundamentally different) and it doesn't appear to happen as a result of becoming Elden Lord since this did not happen to Godfrey.
I dont think Radagon was ever separate from Marika. I think it has something to do with Rune of Rebirth that he gave to Renala. A player can change his appearance with it, including sex (type A and type B). So...maybe thats what Marika did? Used Rune of Rebirth to change herself into Radagon? At the end, why would Radagon could have posessed a Rune of Ribirth if "he was a mere champion"? This is an actual piece of elden ring itself. Just like rune of Death, maybe Rune of Rebirth "dropped" out with Rune of Death when Marika tried to took it away...seem somehow logical to me, even though not clear enough. If there is no death in the formula, why would a birth would stick. Somehow connected.
I agree. And I think his seal is like a full rune of creation. Marika pulled this rune of creation out of herself to create Radagon. And when Radagon left Renalla he left her with a piece of his creation Rune. I even suspect that Ranni is a creation of this Rune’s power because she is an emperyean. The only other two emperyean’s are children of one god. Then when Marika shatters the Elden ring, shattering herself, he tries to forge himself back into the ring to fix it. Which puts them back together as one being. And putting his hash seal back into the Elden ring.
I've watched a LOT of lore videos now. I was nodding along to this one. A lot in this seems viable. Viewing things with the idea of Radagon being a zealot for the Golden Order from Day One changes some motivations I notice
There's something very... personal about how Miquella invested himself in his dad's hobby, only for said dad to make it All About Himself, leading to Miquella saying 'screw it' and abandoning it altogether. Radagon's a fascinating character, but much like 90% of the Lands Between, something of a bastard.
Radagon is A man of duty. Forever curse to serve under the order and to protect the crown from any tarnished that dares try to claim the throne. He is nothing more but a sword that is waiting to be weilded by the greater will.😺
I feel so bad for renalla. She absolutely adored her husband & had 3 red headed children with him, & planned on spending eternity with radagon but he abandons her. Being that she is immortal she just mourns losing him for all eternity. Renala has one of the saddest stories other than melania & miquella in my opinion.
Not to mention she thinks Ranni is dead, and apparently she was/is trying to rebirth her not knowing she had indeed survived.
It probably explains why she becomes less hostile when Ranni releases the spell/trap of the Rennalla vision in thr 2nd phase.
@Mădălina she knows what happened to them lol
You’d think after all the times Malenia tells you her name people would be able to spell it right
@@oneverymadlad1124 it’s quite ironic tbh
Malenia and miquella's stories aren't that sad. Cursed demi gods with a superiority complex. If you want something truly sad go read Morgott's lore.
The one who imprisioned Marika in the Erdtree was the Elden Beast. It even has a move in which it crucifies you and impales you with dozens of spears of light.
So what's the red spear pierced through her?
I think dozens is a understatement........
This is a move way too rare to happen as I fought the Elden Beast like 1737483283883 times and had never seen it before some video that showed it.
And that's true because I remember somewhere it's being stated that Radagon and Marika would be punished together, by the Great Will.
It seems Radagon rune has powers of locking things. Like doors of even mouth. While Marika's Rune seems to be Death. Would be cool to see a video about what the Runes are about as only the Rune of Death is given a name regarding its power.
@@Piratadoidao the skill Elden Beast uses to imprison us is kind of meh to me, it's cool and rarely used in a fight but deals mediocre/neglectable damage
Radagon has sure inspiration from Thor in my opinion. The Norse God Thor was said to have red hair, and his mother was a Jotunn (their giants). Funnily enough, he hated giants with a passion, and hunted them down for the Aesir until he fought Jormungandr the World Serpent. When we fight Radagon, he wields the hammer used to shatter the elden ring. And guess what Thor's famous weapon is? Of course, Mjolnir, a mighty hammer.
Definitely some interesting connections that I hadnt thought about!
@@MadLuigi Yep! The fact that so much media portrays Thor with blonde hair as well can be seen as a link between the Radagon/Marika dynamic. Though that's just my observation
@@MadLuigi more connections to Norse myth is very apparent with godwyn. He is basically just baldur. They were both beloved by everyone,had a sort of golden aura to them and their death signified a massive apocalyptic/devastating event
Honestly, just like Radagon, there is a beardless Thor in the record of ragnarok anime and he is also red haired.
The parallel to Thor is really something.
My guess is that they didnt want this to be obvious, and then named the weapon after Marika.
Also when Odin sacrificed himself to himself he hanged himself on Yggdrasil and impaled himself with his spear which would emulate Marika somewhat as well.
My headcanon is that Radagon tried repairing the Elden Ring not only out his sense of loyalty to the Golden Order, but also because he didn't want to see his children kill each other.
I get the sense Marika wanted a divorce and Radagon said "No"
@@VoidBlack7873 Radagon: "Don't give me the 'it's not you, it's me' line. I invented 'it's not you, it's me'!"
@@synthetic240 WHAT DO YOU MEAN "ITS NOT YOU ITS ME" WERE LITERALLY THE SAME PERSON
@@cephaleaorion4888 I told her we were breaking up and you know what she said? "No".
Didn't marika broke the elden ring to spare their children from fighting?
I think he was chosen for his mission early on. It’s no coincidence that he was sent to marry Rennala, the Queen of the Carian forces - the only group able to go toe-to-toe with the Golden Order and repel them. He uses this opportunity to learn sorceries and understand the Carians’ source of power. He then leaves to become conjoined with Marika, sending the Carian forces into disarray, significantly weakening them, thus leaving the Golden Order unopposed. They couldn’t defeat the Moon in combat, so they had to defeat it from the inside.
Very well put!!!!
This makes a lot of sense, in addition to that, the emotional distress of Radagon's exit brought to Queen Renala also leaves room for the Carian kingdom to remain a non-factor, as their monarch locks herself away from her royal duties.
@Daniel it really feels like Godfrey is stronger than Radagon before the later becomes a god. This only shows how us Tarnished are strong and able to be as strong as other races.
Not only that but breeding a son with the Queen of the Carians that will one day stop there stars in motion. Since The gods can see fate this was a giant "f.uck you" done by the golden order
@Mădălina Sadge
After watching this video, Radagon is a tragic person being used as a tool by the Greater Will and Marina can clearly see that but Radagon didn’t.
I don't think he didn't.He knew about that but he really believed that order could benefit the good to inhabitants of the Lands Between (and It really did, despite all the controversial points (let's be honest, no one in the Elden Ring is without sin).
I get the sense that Radagon did, but did what he did out of obligation. That's why his scarseal laments the burdens of duty.
@@ЛМорнингстар Alexander is, he's perfect
I believe mostly everyone in one form or an other is being used by the greater will. Both Miquella and Ranni tried in their own way to change it. Miquella by trying to start his own order with his haligtree to right the wrong doings of the golden order and cure his sister from the rot. And Ranni by trying to sever all influence of the greater will upon her Empyrean body and the Lands Between to start her own age of stars.
@@hirakujup It can’t all be that. I think it was a plan set up by Marika to get out of the GW’s influence. Ranni was surprised to see you. You went there due to the graces which was not from the GW. (Given the two fingers take thousands of years to commune) Not many beings could manipulate those.
Radagon is by far my favourite character, from the boss fight to his lore to his champion status, everything about him is just so cool
The idea of Radagon being a giant makes a lot of sense when you look at the Fire Giant's design. He seems very Jotun-inspired, and in Norse mythology, Jotun aren't all giant in size.
He’s also very obviously, based on Thor.
Thor as we know was a half giant, and Radagon according to lore descriptions hated his red hair because of it’s association with the Giants
Thor also hated Giants even when being, a half Jötnar himself.
Both are also taller than average.
While I do not think that he is a Giant, Radagon probably has some form of connection to the Giants. Possibly the result of the Giants curse that was put on Marika and him, caused his hair to turn a fiery red.
I love Radagon as a character. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, if a little naive in his beliefs. Can't blame him though, from the surface, the golden order is the law of their world.
He sounds more like a "Lawful Neutral", someone who follows their code or ideals bereft of emotion or malice.
Might not even be that he's naive more so he is probably driven by the golden order
I can't forgive a guy who abandons his devoted and loving wife.
@@nowhereman6019 To marry him/herself? I don't see anything wrong with that.
@@GearShotgun yeah, he seems like a textbook lawful neutral
I think Radagon was created by the Greater Will from a part of Marika, as Eve was created from Adam's rib, during the liurnian wars when the order couldn't defeat Rennala's knights. He was sent to win over Rennala and Liurnia with diplomacy when war did not work. I don't know how this would fit in the timeline laid out by Marika's echoes in the churches (someone should check this theory against those) but I believe this plan by the Greater Will to cover more ground in the Lands Between by splitting Marika off into different parts backfired.
Radagon, as a man on his own, may have truly fallen in love with Rennala. Meanwhile, Marika, with the most loyal and devoted part of her having been sent off to Liurnia, may have started to question the Golden Order. Her questioning initially began as genuine curiosity, which she believed would actually strengthen her faith. But eventually it resulted in Marika growing jaded and disillusioned as she learned the true nature of the Greater Will's alien machinations. Perhaps when it noticed something was off, the Greater Will hastily bid Radagon to return, so that he could be recombined back with Marika, so as to restore her to her former pious self, but it was too late and the damage was already done. Both were fractured/altered mentally, Radagon from leaving Rennala (unless he was an unfeeling political agent simply manipulating her) and Marika from having spent so much time exploring the order without her blind loyalty to keep her grounded. The conflict worsened and worsened until Marika shattered the Ring, and as Radagon tried to surface to repair it, both went back and forth until the Greater Will simply imprisoned Marika.
Perhaps Marika sowed the seeds for the Night of the Black Knives with Ranni, Rykard, the Black Knives, etc while she was still separate from Radagon. Not sure how the timing and chronology on all those things checks out, but I feel very strongly that just as the great runes being removed from the elden ring changes its nature, so too did creating Radagon from the most ferociously loyal part of Marika's self (and yes I do believe he was created from her) end up changing Marika's personality and her course of action, leading to this whole disaster. Lastly, I believe Radagon having been a part of Marika to begin with is at the core of why it is the Law of Regression that reveals his secret to us, for the Law of Regression is rooted in an understanding of the way different things trace their roots back to the origin that connects them all.
[[As for the red hair, I believe it's a curse that was placed on the giants, which they then passed onto Radagon for his role in their destruction, bc I believe that's the most logical and fitting explanation that can tie together all the item descriptions relating to the war with the giants and the role Radagon played in it.]]
Edit: I totally forgot that Godfrey was the one who went to war with the giants, so Radagon could not have played a huge part in their subjugation. One of the replies I got actually has a very compelling take about the giants' curse and Radagon's hair - perhaps a curse was placed upon Marika by the giants at the moment of their defeat at the hands of the Order, and in addition to having been created to conquer Liurnia, Radagon was created in part to bear that curse and keep it contained away from Marika.
Very interesting theory 10/10
This is a great theory, one that I have believed in for a while, so it's good to see it written out like this. But I don't think Radagon specifically had anything to do with the Giants' genocide as Godfrey was at war with them. I believe Marika received some form of curse from them, and it didn't manifest itself physically until Radagon was created to bear the burden of it
This is the first theory I've heard where I'm like "yeah, that could actually make sense!"
Yeah that was my understanding of it as well
@@darthskele oh you're right. could've been the case that Radagon carried said curse with him and felt bitter about it until building a family with Rennala calmed him down.
I'm still confused about our character's quest. The fingers, the crones, even Melena all tell us to mend the Elden Ring by becoming Elden Lord. The fingers and the crones claim they talk directly with the Greater Will and its said that the Greater Will wants us to do this. The points of grace even have directions on them telling us where to go to do this. But when we get to the Erd Tree, Radagon has closed the door. And when we break in, he tries to stop us from mending the Elden Ring. Even the Elden Beast tries to stop us. What's the deal there? They should be on our side because for the most part of the game, I am told the Greater Will wants this to happen. Did Radagon and the Elden Beast go rouge against their god? Or were the crones and fingers lying to us the whole time?
The Fingers were certainly deceiving us, to an extent. They DO commune with the Greater Will, but we learn late in the game that it takes them thousands of moons to do so, so they’re operating on some very outdated orders. It’s not even clear if they’ve actively communed with the Greater Will since the Elden Ring was shattered, or if they’re just operating on old orders.
I think that Marika accounted for that in her plot to have the Tarnished kill her, Radagon, and the Elden Beast. She knew the Fingers would be desperately trying to restore the Elden Ring and the Golden Order after she shattered it. She knew they’d summon the Tarnished back to the Lands Between, and set them on the path to the Erdtree - including Godfrey, who Marika probably intended to be the one to kill her. She knew that Melina would seek out the Tarnished with the most potential and help them to unbind Destined Death so that Marika/Radagon/the Beast could be killed. Radagon is the part of Marika that’s still fiercely loyal to the Greater Will, and since he’s a part of her, he knows her plan is to have herself (and himself) killed, so he seals the Erdtree to keep you and Melina out.
The crones clearly had different thoughts as to what you should do. Notice Enia tells you burning the tree is the first cardinal sin, but now the fingers are dormant so "who is to say that the cardinal sin must be cardinal forever?" Then she tells you to go on, finish the job take the course you deem most worthy. LOL she literally was like the devil in Eden telling you to eat that apple. You go burn down the tree and when you come back and she's dead.
Now look at the cron by the Lift of Dectus, she reiterates that even the path to it is forbidden and burning the tree is a cardinal sin and asks who put you up to this, certainly not the fingers. I think it's implied that Enia went rogue and was killed by the Greater Will because the other crons are still alive after the tree was burned. Like all religion we have no way to know if the priests/priestesses are actually conveying the message of their respective god. We work under the assumption that the crones were all telling the truth, but at least with Enia that was not the case. You could argue Gideon could've killed her after he realized what Marika wanted but that still doesn't change the fact that Enia went against the Greater Will.
The Greater Will wants a replacement but not in the path the protagonist took e.g potentially fraternizing with enemies in the form of Ranni/Frenzied Flame/Melina (Gloam Eye Queen?) and Miquella who tried to sever the link to all outer gods. They have some kind of selection process or requisites that we're not privy to for Empyreans. (e.g. came from one god, so what divine lineage did Marika come from then?) take thousands of moons to decide something and if the requisite for Marika's replacement is that easy to find, they would've found one by now. They were looking for a replacement but we as the protagonist was not it.
Here's how I see it:
Two Fingers: speak directly with GW, but that can take centuries. It's possible it's been corrupted by the Shattering. Remember that the Two Fingers was as surprised as you when the Erdtree didn't open, and went to seek guidance from GW, because he didn't knew why that happened or what to do next, but we know : Radagon blocked our entrance.
Grace and Milenia: both come from Marika. The Tarnished returning and one becoming the Elden Lord was probably part of Marika's plan to free the lands from the GW.
(Cont)
And BECAUSE we're part of Marika's plan that the Elden Beast and Radagon want to stop us. Because we could reshape the ring in many ways and weaken the Greater Will's grip.
Things make a bit more sense if you recognize The Greater WIll as separate from The Golden Order. The Beast (and Radagon) are Vassals of the GW, they hold the ring on it's behalf, but they themselves are not The Greater Will.
One of the most interesting connections I've seen for Radagon and Marika is that of the alchemical rebus, a perfect union of a red king representing masculinity and a white queen representing femininity. This fits well with the repeated motif in elden ring of "as above, so below", an alchemical maxim indicating duality which fits well with the number of dual identities the various characters possess in ER. Additionally the masc/fem split works well as an allegory for the Golden Order principals of Causality and Regression each represent by the dual "parts" of Marika/Radagon.
I think so as well. The infatuation with red hair also has some gnostic implications as the children of the watchers and daughters of men, as portrayed in the Bible and Book of Enoch, are known as nephilim a.k.a. giants who are also known for their red hair.
Adam's first wife, Lilith is also known as a red head and the chief deity of wisdom known as Sophia, is also a redhead.
You can expand on the thought by referencing the fact that
godwyn the golden “dies” and his body is left decaying. Negredo(the alchemical symbol for decay) is represented by a skeleton standing over a black sun (suns=gold in alchemy)
Godfrey- who carries a lion on his back could also possibly represent aqua regia as he got kicked out of the golden order and aqua regia eats away at gold(possibly because he freed the omens to help fight the giants we don’t know that for sure though)
Hell you could even use the idea that Melania and Miquela represent butterflies and moths respectively as the perfect representation of the alchemical process
@@gabrielhill995 how so? I'm not familiar with the butterfly/moth symbolism
@@Athorell9 start state deconstruction reconstruction into new form of being
Even ignoring his lore, I think Radagon's fight is one of the best-made in the game, even down to the most minute details. Like, I don't know if anyone else saw this, but Radagon does this slow sideways walk after attacking sometimes, looking at you the whole time, as if he were sizing you up.
I don't know if it's a feature or because it was synched up with the music at the time, but it gave me chills.
Until someone can explain how Radagon was in possession of a great rune before the shattering, I'm going to keep believing that he was created from Marika. Likely through the use of that very same rune.
We know that Marika was beginning to doubt, or at least question, the golden order and sought to understand it more deeply (Marika's words from Melina 'I declare mine intent, to search the depths of the Golden Order. Through understanding of the proper way, our faith, our grace, is increased. Those blissful early days of blind belief are long past. My comrades; why must ye falter?'). I think in order to do this without bias she split the part of her that kept that 'blind faith' from herself, creating Radagon. At this time Marika is not yet in full opposition to the Greater Will, so Radagon goes about his life. Since he's the Greater Will simp part of Marika, he was very useful to the Greater Will and intervention was not deemed necessary .
The time at which Radagon is called back to the capital is when Marika sends Godfrey away. Marika sending Godfrey away was so he and the other tarnished could come back stronger to take the Elden Ring after it's shattered (Again, Marika's words from Melina 'Then, after thy death, I will give back what I once claimed. Return to the Lands Between, wage war, and brandish the Elden Ring. Grow strong in the face of death. Warriors of my lord. Lord Godfrey.'). The Greater Will intervenes at this point, calling Radagon back to reign in Marika as she is clearly planning something. The Greater Will intends Radagon to be re-joined with Marika to stop her, which explains why Marika seems to hold contempt for him.
But anyway, I don't feel the red hair is enough evidence to say that Radagon was not born from Marika when there is far more substantial evidence to the contrary. And like I said, for me, Radagon having a great rune before becoming Elden Lord makes no sense at all unless he was created from the vessel of the Elden Ring.
Seems to me that that Rennala's amber egg is simply an alternative casting device. It works even after we take the rune in it for ourselves. So Radagon simply gave her the egg without rune.
Then later Radagon leaves, the shattering happens and each demigod gets a piece. Ranni died right before the shattering so she couldn't take it in person, but I could believe that her death wasn't public knowledge yet and so the Great Rune of the Unborn was offered or taken to the Carian family where the Queen took it in Ranni's name.
After all, it seems she's trying to revive Ranni, so she wouldn't reject this powerful magic rune. After, she puts it inside her egg, however that works.
@@arnoluyten3476 If you look at the item description for Great Rune of the Unborn, it states that it IS the amber egg. Not that it just contains it
@@esspysr.5499 really? That's weird...
I mean she clearly still has the egg, even after we take the rune from her.
@@arnoluyten3476 I think this can be explained by the fact that the rune cannot be equipped by us, we have to go to Rennala, who uses it for us
Problem is Radagon is very clearly part giant, Marika is fully Numen so there are clear distinctions between them that wouldn’t make sense if Radagon was just created from Marika. I still don’t believe they were completely separate and just fused however since it wouldn’t make sense why Ranni Radahn and Rykard are considered Demigods if Radagon was just a random champion who fused. Radagon and Marikas dynamic is probably the most ambiguous part of the lore
I want to see more of Miquella's lore honestly, because I suspect he's the DLC
Oh and how right you are 👍
A cool detail about the Sacred Relic Sword I noticed while farming runes the other day: Whenever you do the special attack, you can briefly see Radagon's rune on the ground
Kudos on the great visual accompaniment in this video. Very impressive, totally made this video more engaging.
So I think the use of "unalloyed gold" has 2 purposes in a story. Like with repelling fey, where cold iron is used, a pure substance is used to repel the outer gods. Furthermore, unalloyed could be a refutation of Radagon, who is fused, or alloyed, with Marika. It could be said that he is directly the kind of influence Miquella sought to protect against.
I find it interesting that no one mentions that a lot of the misbegotten ALSO HAVE RED HAIR. And that one of them has the golden order sword, while you have to kill 2 others that also drop legendary armaments. Implying radagon may have something to do with these misbegotten, maybe he’s part misbegotten himself which is why he is ashamed of his hair,
Pyrogiants and red hair humans may have something in common ur right
Noticed this the other day. Had me thinking
@TheOldDrzewid or they could be the abandoned first children of Radagon/Marika. Their first attempts at making empyreans.
@TheOldDrzewid I've been thinking this from day one but haven't seen anyone else pick up on it. Really intriguing if correct.
I don't think Radagon has a choice in following the Golden Order. Remember that Blaidd was made to turn on Ranni even though it's obvious he's still loyal to her.
Iji wears a helmet that can ward off the influence of the Greater will because he was terrified by the possibility of being controlled by the Greater Will. And who can blame him? Iji has seen it happen before with Radagon.
Muriel stresses how it's a mystery that Radagon, who went out of his way to profess his love to Rennala, just up and left suddenly. Marika calls him "leal hound of the golden order" i.e. "loyal dog of the order". Radagon's entire existence post shattering is to be a warden of Marika, cut off from the world and everything he ever knew. That can't be pleasant.
I can imagine this sequence of events:
-Radagon is a shunned fire giant because of his size. no relation to marika
-he and some other small giants, trolls, defect to Marika's side in the war
-the war with Caria begins and ends with political marriage
-Radagon becomes Carian king-consort, his troll-giant friends follow him and become elite carian knights (like Bol, an evergaol boss) or war councellors like Iji did
-Marika exiles Godfrey, which makes the greater will suspicious. they mind-control Radagon and make him second eldenlord. people are confused why a mere champion becomes lord and why Radagon left the love of his life, and it's so the Greater will can keep an eye on marika and put someone around her who can kill her or imprison her if need be
-Iji realises what happened to Radagon and dons the helmet to protect himself. he prepares for the possibility that another servant of Ranni gets taken control of. this is why he's prepared for Blaidd's "betrayal"
-the shattering happens and the greater will conjoins Marika and Radagon, to keep Marika from messing things up any more
Most plausible theory
I've always had a doubt: apparently Marika was sacrificed after she shattered the Elden Ring, right? And theoretically Radagon locked her in the Erdtree and stayed there trying to fix the Elden Ring. So how did this symbol of her crucified spread across the Lands Between? This leads me to two possibilities: either she has always been this way, which I don't think is the case since she even fought and defeated the Fell God, or this imagery was falsely propagated by the Lands Betweens, perhaps trying to transform her in a martyr. Perhaps the Golden Order didn't want the people to find out that the Goddess Marika shattered the Elden Ring, and they tried to cover up that fact, trying to avoid the war that would ensue if the demigods found out she no longer possessed the Elden Ring. Perhaps the confinement of Marika by Radagon was not immediate, perhaps some time passed before the truth was discovered, causing the demigods to regain the runes and fighting the wars that followed. Seeing the chaos that was ensuing, Radagon locked himself in the Erdtree and tried to repair the Elden Ring. Perhaps the spear in Marika's belly wasn't made by Radagon, but by Maliketh, after feeling betrayed by Marika upon discovering that she was behind the theft of Destined Death, causing him to be cast aside in Farum Azula. That would explain the statues with Marika's symbol scattered across the Lands Between.
Marika's crucified body combined with the Rune arc it is suspended from resembles what maybe her personal great rune. Visible at the very top of the Elden Ring. She seemed to adopt her Rune as her symbol when she was operating in the world thus all the statues of her have her with her arms up like she is pinned to the Rune arc
@@Writh811 yeah, but why? Randomly?
Marika is the Elden Ring her beloved son died and miquella was kidnapped, she wanted to kill herself as a result.
@@syedasadali8529 Miquella was kidnapped during the war of the shattering, not before, but i don't think she wanted to kill herself. The entire thing around Marika seems to be a big chess play so that she could get rid of the Greater Will, while Radagon was totally loyal to it.
@@wirliet My fellow tarnished, thy words hold weight.
I disagree with the original premise:I think Radagon and Marika have always being the same person, as D and his brother are the same soul with two bodies. When Marika says "thou are yet to became me, to become a god" I think she means that Radagon, the other self of Marika, ISN'T the same god as her andthey need to be one and "fuse" into one body. That's the only way to explain how Ranni, Rykard and Radahn are demigods as well: if Radagon WASN'T always Marika and he was just one mortal, then how could the children he had with Rennala be demigods? Rennala is NOT a Demigod, she had a Rune because Radagon gave it to her.
They became demigods through Radagon's marriage with Marika. I forget what or who tells you this, but it's mentioned in game. But I agree with you. EVERY demigod is mentioned to be MARIKA'S children. That implies that Radagon and Marika have always been connected in some way. I like the theory that Radagon is just the Order rune personified. Like how Marika is the vessel for the elden ring. This theory also includes the gloam-eyed queen to be the rune of death itself.
I think you're spot on, in fact I suspect that Marika used the egg to be reborn and ended up creating Radagon, I think that's why Radagon has the egg in the first place.
@@Hi-Hi1990 I can't find anything about Radagon's children receiving the power of Demigods after marrying Marika, citation needed.
The thing with Darian and Duo is that only one of them can be awake at the same time. It's a weird thing that has to do with them sharing a soul, but not their bodies and minds.
It's not the same with Radagon and Marika...
@@Hi-Hi1990 But is that true? I mean, is "demigod" just a title and Rennalas children became demigod because of it?
Another thing to mention about radagons red hair, writer GRRM loves to make lore connections and symbolism with hair color. It's very prominent in GoT and I'd bet if he wrote this part of the lore he stressed it was important to FromSoft too
I really like your summary of the lore, as you present mostly facts and sometimes add some general or your own speculation, but always point out that it is just speculation. As a natural scientist this makes my heart soar ^^
you forgot to mention the most important lore piece: radagon is a gah damn certified daddy.
Red giants can carry their flame god in torso, like Radagon carries golden order looking seal. What if it was needed to become a vessel for golden order?
Radagon is the former Flame Giant God. Marika fought and fell in love with him and they merged.
@@LloydsSky9 ayo..?
@@joot9184 Yessir?
That elden ring logo found all the way in Farum Azula is really interesting, the lore saying Placidusax being the first Elden Lord is probably legit while some claim that it is a mistranslation.
That logo was made up from the great tree and 6 rings. The golden order logo had 2 less
@@henryteo82 wa
I’ve been looking for a video exploring this character’s lore
Thanks!!!!!
I love how when you start the game Demigods dying was a big deal, but by the time you reach the Mountaintops of the Giants it’s pretty much a daily occurrence.
I like your lore videos, the comment sections always have the most fun lore debates and readings in them :)
It’s probably just me, but Radagon reminds me of Kvothe for anyone that has read the Kingkiller Chronicle. It’s not at all a direct one to one, but the born prodigy that is pulled by things beyond his control, while trying to make the best of it is there.
Honestly. Going to war and then seducing the enemy queen is something Kvothe would do.
Seeing Radagon's departure from rennala as potentially not entireling Willful is really interesting to me. I really like Radagon as a character, but I always saw that as such a oddly Dickish move xD so it being something he felt compelled to do I find a lot more agreeable, as well that would explain why it was so sudden, mabye he couldn't face telling his love of this duty that he felt he had to carry out, so he simply left without a word.
I feel like radagon is inspired a little by Thor who has red hair and is the son of a god and giantess
and the whole hammer thing, and hating the giants, like how Thor basically only killed giants
Well, Radagon being good with a needle wouldn't surprise me. The dude is described as a perfectionist, he might as well picked up a needle by chance and decided to dedicate the following month to mastering the skill just for the kicks.
It also ties into his fighting style: he isn't that big compared to even just Godrick, let alone Godfrey or his own son Radhan, possibly even smaller than Malenia.
He fights with his skill and magical knowledge, even doing some unique spells that we don't get to learn (the "golden glintstone comet"), signalling that he was pretty good at learning and doing his own stuff.
Hell, just look at the Rings of Light spells. His son develops an Incantation and shows it proudly to papa just to have him gift back an improved and more developed version.
I think that Radagon was always Marika. We know that Radagon had a secret he desperately wanted to keep hidden, as far back as his time as Rennala's husband, as he literally gagged all of their preceptors. This secret is revealed to us with the simple direct statement "Radagon is Marika." This is all we know as fact. My theory is that Radagon was an identity created by Marika (like Batman was created by Bruce Wayne) so she could escape her role as god queen and vessel for the Elden Ring. Perhaps she needed to break the Elden Ring first in order to do this, which would explain why Radagon had a great rune. As Radagon, he got to live the life of a conquering champion, marry a wife and even have children. Something must have happened that made him want to give this up and return to the Erdtree. Maybe the shattering of the Elden Ring allowed for the rise of dangerous outer gods such as the Frenzied Flame, so he dedicated himself to repairing the Elden Ring and restoring the Golden Order. "Marrying" himself let him become Elden Lord, another thing which Marika never could have done as a mere vessel.
Maybe, but Marika and Radagon have such differing personalities and motives. Despite being two halves of a whole, they have different motivation, goals, consciousness, people they associate with, and even likes/dislikes. They're so fundamentally different that it's hard to envision them as always just one character.
@@luckycandy101 Thats a good point. Maybe a multiple personality disorder situation?
This is a much more interesting perspective and there’s at least as much evidence as them being originally separate. It bothers me how much content creators talk about their own speculation as fact
Wasn't marika married to godfrey while radagon was with renalla? If it was marika doing both roles from the beginning how could she be with both renalla and godfrey without raising suspicion?
@@mynameisurl1073 The details aren’t known to us, but I don’t think there’s anything that explicitly says they were married at the same time. It could have been thousands of years apart.
Dude I was starving for a radagon vídeo since I finished the game the first time. He’s my favorite fight in souls series, you’re really fighting a god!
1:05
That she refers to Radagon as her other self before he joins with her eliminates any possibility of them starting out as two separate people for me.
Personally, my conjecture is that Marika tried to use the egg to be reborn and because she is a god only the non god parts could be reborn, leaving Marika intact while also being reborn as Radagon.
Did she say that in the original Japanese? Have you even heard it in Japanese? If so i don't see how you feel confident ruling anything out. And even if it is accurate, people call their partners their "other half" all the time. It doesn't have to be literal. Everyone just has a headcanon and refuses to see anything outside of it.
Can't be just off the fact that before radagon existed she was with godfrey and birthed those children. Radagon came after that
@@jimmierustler5607 I have no idea how you want to hear it in Japanese if the game doesn't even have Japanese voice acting. and you obviously haven't completed the Golden Mask quest, the main point of which is to find the answer to the question "Who exactly *was* Radagon?" The mere mention of this name puzzled the Golden Mask. Radagon is no one knows who appeared out of nowhere. And after finding a direct game answer that "Radagon is Marika", trying to interpret "my other half" differently does not make any sense
@@Xgenstudioz777 It was written in Japanese, and we've already found several examples of mistranslations, including in Ranni's questline (voice acted parts). So i don't know why you are so sceptical. And why are you presuming goldmask knows everything? Brother Corhyn seems to suggest the name of Radagon was only even "discovered" by Goldmask when they're near Leyndell. I don't even disagree with you that Radagon could have emerged from Marika but the confidence in your conclusions is just silly.
@@jimmierustler5607 The Golden Mask is one of the key characters in the game. He is the only NPC other than the fingers themselves that only communicates in the language of the fingers. He is literally a legend among the followers of the Golden Order - "The master is always deep in contemplation. While I frantically attempt to record his wisdom; the movement of his finger. And though I am yet to comprehend the daintiest morsel of his wisdom... I know that this, this is my life's calling. The Golden Order has bestowed me, talentless as I am, the great duty of documentarian."
Are you saying that the Golden Mask, who is so engrossed in thinking about fundamentalism that he was able to find the imperfection of the Golden Order, as well as a way to fix it, simply missed the champion of the Golden Order who leads their troops? Not to mention, the lack of information about his origins is the only thing that kept him from creating the Mending Rune of Perfect Order.
I'm just throwing this theory out there: Marika is Adam and Radagon is Eve. (reverse of Genesis story.)
Radagon was created out of the flesh of Marika. The role is reversed however when Radagon is loyal to "God" while Marika wants to rebel against it.
Both person = one flesh.
this is where my theory comes to a wall... how and when did those two merge back?
I think they never separated they had a personality disorder
@@mutatedpotato8551 explain what, godfrey left and radagon gone to the capital. What do I have to explain, nothing, marika is radagon, they where having two double lives everything the Pope turtle said was what the general public knows
The law of regression (which is one of the core beliefs of the fundamentalists) says that all things yearn to converge. Going with your theory that could explain why after becoming two beings Radagon and Marika eventually merged into one. It doesn't explain how, and I'm not sure if the "how" is particularly relevant, but I think it could justify the why to some level.
Idk what I'm talking about so this could all be just a bunch of crap, but yeah.
Btw pretty interesting theory. I rlly liked the connection you made
@@teamtea3439 Thank you for expanding the thought. Man, this game better have multiple DLC that further explain this.
@@mutatedpotato8551 no, they have the same body they are the same person but they have a personality disorder that it , the whole thing about gold mask quest is who the hell is radagon he just appeared out off nowhere suddenly someone so important appeared with no info about his background at all , then we learn the he is marika
All of the 6 demigods in the game are marika offsprings including ranni, rykard and Radhan, if radagon and marika are separate than they would not be a demi Gods
Alloying is the process of mixing together metals to create a new metal with more desirable properties. Much like Radagon and Marika were mixed together, likely at the behest of the Golden Order.
Miquela and Malenia were born of this alloy of Radagon and Marika, but were born cursed. I think there's something to Miquella abandoning the 'alloyed' version of the golden order to create an un-alloyed gold.
I had a similar idea with Miquella. His "Unalloying" being his spirit and his body. It seems to fit with the motif of dualism. Godwyn being separated the same way, and becoming the prince of death. Marika and Radagon. Ranni. Possibly the Gloam-eyed witch. The only thing confusing to me is how Miquella split himself, unless I'm missing something.
@@JC-bk7li Miquella didn't split himself. Mohg Lord of Blood hunted down the haligtree and stole him away while he was slumbering to ascend into godhood
" s e l f c e s t "
This will make a fine addition to my collection. :I
It is in the same breath that Marika says in reference to Radagon "Thou'rt yet to become me" and "mine other half". This apparent contradiction actually has an explanation found in game. On the Twinned Armor. And with the principle of Chekhov's Gun, serves to give D a purpose in the greater narrative. (aside from introducing us to Gurranq, and dieing to/killing Fia. for both of which, twins and their mechanics aren't necessary).
As for his red hair, and their apparent "curse" (curse in this game mostly being a matter of perspective). We might be able to come to a conclusion, by using other Empyreans to draw a pattern. Malenia's "curse" from the god of Rot, Miquella's "curse" from either [cut content] or perhaps the formless mother, Lunar Princess Ranni and her relation to the Moon, The Gloam Eyed Queen and her affinity with death/the twinbird god whose name has been lost. And Marika, who, drawing from this pattern, would have had to have sported some Erdtree "blessing". Radagon could have been Numen born, same as Marika, but "cursed" with a blessing of the Fell God of Fire.
maybe he is her twin, mine other half sounds like something a twin would say
@@eastbow6053 I thought that, too!
I think their relationship was once akin to that of Malenia and Miquella, before....Well, all this stuff.
Your videos are so amazing, beautifully made and you explain in a way that I could listen to you all day. Thanks for investing so much time in those videos!! 🙂
I really like the idea of Radagon as a malformed Giant.
Although I still want to believe Radagon and Marika were always the same person (the same body at least), and that's the secret that drove Renalla crazy, and warranted all the sewn-up mouths and such.
What sewn-up mouths?
radagon's seal looks a lot like a stitching pattern, so perhaps the connections run deeper than simply a hobby? maybe it is lending itself to a theme of him being tied forever into the golden order, unable to think even the slightest blasphemy.
Since all demigods are marika,s direct offsprings this makes me believe that radagon was always marika , I mean she's a god she could have easily clowned herself or changed her gender is she really wants , another neat idea other people pointed out is that each one represents a different accept of marika,s personality radagon being her blind faith in the golden order while she harbored all of the doubts about the greater will and the order she created which is why she broke the ring in the first place but weather it was a calculated masterplan or a desperate attempt to break fate is anyones guess
Radagan was not a giant. He was cursed by the Giants. That's why he looks the way he does.
I’m starting to think that Marika was having second doubts about the Erdtree/Golden order and as a result, it compelled Radagon to fuse with her to keep Marika in check
Marika and Radagon were fused back as a punishment by greater will.
I assumed at 10:44 Mirel was talking about Radagon being descended from the giants. Barring issues with translation, "skeleton in the closet" seems to imply an old, hidden secret, and Radagon's statue was rendered in giant stature, and the phrasing with "when he glimped..." as a sentence fragment. Of course, another possible, "old" secret would be that Radagon was always Marika and thus was created from her, but it's impossible to say that his oft referenced hair has no meaning.
Shame it's so hard to read into phrasing in a game that wasn't written in my language xD
Since the sword graves and the turtle states, that radagon has always had his red hair, before the battle with giants even probably, then perhaps the weapon of red hairlocks is exactly saying that, “radagon is a giant, and him hating his giant red hair, was a curse to their giant kind, for this brought him to drive his own giant kind to extinction”.
I love how you articulate in your videos. I hope to better myself listening to you :)
elden john himself
Radagon is always represented in association to thorns, mabye the red spear in marika's side IS RADAGON, the thorn in marika's side.
When Radagon takes control of Marika's body, the spear is gone after all...
I begin to notice there might be a civil war between two factions: those who are fanatics of the Greater Will such as Radagon and Radahn and those who are against it or disillusioned by it: Marika, Miquella and Malenia.
thats the reason mario went off on his quest in Supermario Galaxy. He wanted to find an outer god, able to challenge the greater will. He only found Rosalina sadly.
Then you have Rykard and Mogh and Ranni who completly going against it.
@@Yul_B_Awright 😂Supposed to be Marika not Mario’s
Hate the auto correct
I don't think miquella was ever in much conflict with the golden order. He kinda just did his own thing.
@@darthacez yeah no big deal just made me laugh imagining it
I interpreted it a little differently. To me Radagon is the curse cast upon by the giants, not just the hair, Marika was split into 2, her cursed half becoming Radagon. He probally was called back to the Erdtree to become Elden Lord because leaving someone as important as Radagon running around Liurnia was not safe, also, as we later know that Marika planned to betray the Greater Will, radagon, could also watch Marika.
Radagon and Marika were once one, then become two, they begun to diverge, Radagon staied loyal, while Marika was planning a betrayal all along behind the scenes
My god that makes sense. He is the curse
I like to think radagon is his own person not just a curse
0:25 (In Western classical symbology. A torch held up high _ signifies freedom + determination. )
I always thought Radagon was symbolic of the curses brought about by Marika's decision as a ruler.
I.e. War, Rot/decay, Vow breaking, frenzy/frenetism, Never growing/changing, pride, ambition for power. Etc... essentially Stiffling Order.
Keep up your content man, I think your vids are so good. You don’t have as many subs as you deserve
I still think Radagon being a mere champion alludes to him being Marika.
Because even if he is a fanatic it seems strange that he would feel so obligated to just leave without reasoning.
(also it feels like the game wants you to come the conclusion of them being the same person.)
Is he even that fanatic if he is willing to learn sorceries and if the greater will needed somebody who is opposition to Marika it would find tons of suitable and easier to access candidates.
Also we only know of one god and that is Marika, if they weren't the same person from the very beginning Ranni, Rykard and Radahn coudn't have been demigods, since Rennala is human.
That said the connection to the giants is still very interesting and confusing. I generally go with the red hair beeing a curse, but I think that sounds like confirmation bias of interpreting the text. (but you did say it isn't clear in japanese)
Copy from another reply of mine:
Marika was involved with the war against the giants and slayed their god because she thought it would stop the forge of the giants from burning. (being the only fire to be able to burn the erdtree) "Upon realizing the flames of their forge would never die, Queen Marika marked him with a curse. "O trifling giant, mayest thou tend thy flame for eternity." Maybe why hewg had to try to forge a god slaying weapon for her, because she couldnt truly kill the god of the giants, from whom they had their flame.
So it would make sense that she or radagon were getting cursed from their god who either resides in the last giant or the flame.
Maybe even this curse is the reason for their split personalities...
@@gatlingcats6860 As far as I know Hewg specifically smithes a weapon for the tarnished, hence why he is in Roundtable Hold and because Marika planned for the tarnished to come back.
@@Romapolitan yes right, so scratch that. she probably wasnt aware that she didnt truly killed the god of the giants.
I personally get some Loki vibes from Marika/Radagon. Loki can switch his sex at will, he had three monstrous children with a witch; Fenrir the enormous wolf that’s always hungry /Radhan, Jormungandr the world serpent/Rykard, Hel the half dead goddess of the underworld/Ranni. He(Loki) also had his mouth sewn shut at one point. He’s half giant on his fathers side but is referred to as Laufeysson(Aesir goddess) meaning either his mother has a higher station or he dislikes his father. He’s often depicted as having red hair but I don’t believe there is a direct description of this in the source material. There maybe more but this is just what comes to mind at the moment.
“Lord Radagon was a great champion, possessed of flowing, red locks. He came to these lands at the head of a great Golden Host.”
That’s such a wonderful bit of foreshadowing. Initially it’s read as his arrival at the behest of the Golden Order or Greater Will, but it can also be interpreted as him emerging from a vessel with golden hair - aka Marika, his twin soul, whose hair is a golden blonde.
How could Radagon stop a war he was told to wage by his God and Regent? How could he just turn around, tell his whole army to go home, and then go shack up with Renalla for 30 years? That doesn’t make any sense. Marika calls Radagon her “other half” in the same sentence she says “you are yet to become me”. So it’s possible that they were two aspects of the same whole that later combined but I’m convinced Radagon started life as an Aspect of Queen Merika
I feel like “Thau art yet to become me” is still ambiguous and could easily be her talking to a Radagon inside her, telling him “it’s not your turn to control our body yet”
" Mine other self"
"Yet to become me" is too specific for that tho. She would said take over or control otherwise
The powerful golden teleport and the golden spear shotgun would be much better than Radagon Discus of Light, the Golden Order's other offensive enchantments are so bad that he doesn't even use it.
I feel like Radagon is Marika message means exactly that.
The message is not "Radagon merged/fused with Marika."
So, I doubt Radagon was a separate person, so much as a god proxy.
1) Law of Regression spell used to reveal duality refers to things RETURNING to their ORGINAL state
2) Radagon ending aggression against Renalla of HIS OWN CHOICE is not in the purview of a general to make overriding his Queen
3) Giants were the only enemy truly despised by Marika and represented biggest threat to Erdtree due to flame that could destroy it. Could be red hair, and Radagon himself, is due to counter curse from Fell God
4) the children of Renalla and Radagon are all born empirians - which are exclusively Marika's children and could not be possible if Radagon was a giant
It has to work like mantling, the easiest concept of it is found in Elder Scrolls. A mortal becomes the mortal incarnation of the god, the mortal body keeps most of its personality but since they fuse into one spirit and two bodies they are technically one god.
Its like Radagon was absorbed onto Marika, they maintained separate bodies and most personality traits but its now one spiritual body.
If thats the case, how much of Radagons actions were his and not Marikas?
Personally, i don't think that Radagon and Marika were ever apart, the "You have yet to become me. You have yet to become a god." is not literally Marika saying that, but instead saying "You are not me, you cannot control me." when the two's opinions on the Order started to differ.
IMO Radagon was always Marika, just in another, split, body. We can see the Erdtree Avatar, an avatar of the Elden Ring's power, in the Montaintops of the Giants use an incantation that splits it into two separate beings.
I think Marika use this same power early on to create a true champion for the Order she was enforcing at the time, and over time, through his separate experiences, Radagon kinda gained a will of his own.
Marika's armies at the time were fighting the Carian Royal family and the Raya Lucaria academy and had seemingly already been repelled once before. What better way to bring down that faction than to have her champion marry INTO the Royal Family? Why else would Radagon's union with Rennala be such a massive and sacred event? In most cases his actions might have been seen as a betrayal to the Order, but in this case it was treated almost as if Radagon was some sort of leader to the Order and not just it's champion.
Then, once the alliance was secured and Godfrey had finished the rest of his campaigns and had lost his grace, Radagon was recalled to rejoin with Marika, which led to the downfall of the Carian Royal family. The Raya Lucaria academy rebelled against the Royals because Rennala was no longer fit to rule due to her immense sorrow.
The Radagon Icon talisman mentions that as Rennala's hunband, he studied sorcery, and as Marika's husband, he studied incantations. "Thus did the hero aspire to be *complete*."
Yet, when we face him in the Erdtree, he doesn't cast a single sorcery, solely employing the use of incantations; he had become "complete" by assimilating with Marika again. Also, when Marika spoke to him and said "Thou art yet to become a god, Thou art yet to become me" she refers to him as "Mine other self" rather than something like "mine consort".
Yeah, this fits what I think as well. I'm adding my two cents here (I wrote this earlier in response to another comment): The fact that Radagon's statue *reverts* to being Marika after using Law of *regression* is a huge factor in believing they were just Marika at first, or that he was a part of Marika, more specifically.
We know that empyreans are prone to be manipulated by the Greater Will, and they aren't free as long as their bodies still have the runes. Ranni rejects her body to be free, and I think that Marika split herself, leaving her loyalty to the Golden Order in Radagon (that's why he has runes, and he's able to gift one to Rennala, why on Earth would he have had a rune prior to becoming Elden Lord, then?).
That line that Melina is able to recite to us in Marika's chambers is kind of prophetic, I think. Radagon is still to become her, to become a god, because he's not himself yet. "Let us be shattered", Marika shatters herself (us) for Radagon to be his own self, then, when he returns and they marry, they become one again (through marriage/having children together).
Btw, the fact that Malenia and Miquella both suffered from afflictions since birth, seems to be caused by being born of that "incestuous" (for a lack of a better term), the same way that endogamy in real life severely increases the possibility of certain diseases.
I agree that Radagon was always an aspect of Marika that was split off, yeah
Nah I like to think radagon was just a normal guy until he fused with radagon
You say it's Radagon's body who becomes the sacred relic sword but I think it's quite obvious it's meant to be Marika.
The swords description, as you've stated, is "Sword wrought from the remains of a god who should have lived a life eternal." Firstly, Marika is the god, not Radagon. He's the consort and lord. Secondly, her title is Queen Marika the Eternal. So when it's describing the remains of a *_god_* who should have lived a life *_eternal_* , it's clearly referencing Marika lol
I'm actually pretty sure that Radagon was made from the Rune of Order from Merika, and that it was the Giant's Curse that turned his hair red. I am also pretty sure it is the Elden Beast that crucified Merika, as the Elden Beast has a grab attack that crucifies u and stabs u in the way Merika was.
I agree with this
If Radagan is a giant, that explains why Rodan is massive
Incorrect that only fire giants have red hair. Misbegotten have red hair and there is a direct relationship between the Misbegotten and Radagon through a Misbegotten that wields Radagon's sword.
The whole point of a pinned comment is that people will HAVE to see it before making a comment, but somehow you avoided that. Bravo
@@MadLuigi Sorry, but stay mad.
@@wanakinp2752 mf'er bout to get that comment clapped quick
@@MadLuigi it's pinned?
0:46 I’m surprised with fromsoft usually that sentence would have been more of a riddle but they tell you in 3 words exactly what his secret is
What I don't think people appreciate enough about Radagon is the fact that he's extremely hot. I mean he looks like he'd have fifty abs had he not been punished and then shattered by the greater will. More over, look at his face. He woos people by sewing for them, he's a man who can sew, that's hot. He's depicted as being in this smith like pose in the beginning, which I think detracts people from this conclusion, but he truly is the man consort. We constantly focus on waifus like Ranni and Melina but in reality Radagon is the true husbando.
Yeah, the guy was so ripped that the nerdy mom Renalla never recovered from their divorce xD
To be honest, i always saw Radagon himself as the curse placed upon Marika/The Edrtree by the Fire Giants; to always have a seperate half that defied her in some way as her opposite. Hell, i even think Miquella might've inherited his fathers "giant genes" just like Radahn based on how huge he's grown within his cocoon.
The giant-Radagon family tree relation is interesting but I remember it is stated in an item or Gideon dialogue that Radagon was cursed by the giants when Marika fought them. Still it would be interesting to discover how a Numen like Marika is somehow half of Radagon. I mean, what I find interesting is that Marika has quite a fair skin and blond hair for a Numen, because Numen have a darker skin tone and dark hair ( at least what we see in the character creation as default) and Radagon seems to display these features tho, his skin being slightly dark. So maybe Marika split herself into two from the beginning of her godhood: one being the Goddess we know and the other her fanatical side ( let's call it) the parts she did not like. Idk, it's just an idea.
I'm pretty sure he mentions the curse thing at the beginning of the video and says it's extremely vague on what it means. Gideon doesn't say anything about Radagon whatsoever afaik
@@launchbase4944 My bad :)) Thanks for pointing out tho. Well, it would be nice if FromSoft would explain in a future DLC what the curse meant. For now everything seems quite vague. Cannot wait tho to go through the game a second time, I played 200h on my first playthrough and still did not find all the items or finished all npc quests :))) But I loved every moment of it.
I love this channel so much! Keep doing what you’re doing! Love your content
like everyone else in the comments I don't think radagon simply "fused" with marika. I believe he is originally a part of her/the elden ring that was separated to fulfill a purpose, went on to have his own life but then was summoned/ forced back to fulfill another purpose (the elden beast's or marika's)
but I agree that does make his "Giants" connection more challenging. maybe he was cursed during the conquest?
now that I think of it, it does make sense that the greater will would just collate the "essence"/"rune" of a bunch of notable people into a main messiah/vessel which would act as the embodiment of the laws of the world.
that would explain how we're able to just add runes/laws to the elden ring depending on the ending we choose and how the elden ring changes/adapts/evolves over the ages (see the "other elden ring" in farum azula)
So like a reverse Adam and Eve situation where in this case Radagon was made from a part of Marika.
Perhaps the Greater returned Radagon to Marika or allowed him to fuse back as a way to maintain the order and possibly return the Elden Ring
If anything, him being a part of Marika helps explain his "curse". A Random general being cursed by the giants because of the war against the giants is a bit weird. But a part of the godness that leaded the golden order ? That makes alot more sense.
@@DM-Oz yeah. That makes sense. The giants are assimilated into the elden ring. Then Marika needs to remove that influence from the ring to carry out some plan (like she did with death) and does so by creating radagon.
Could be
I believe Radagon has always been part of Marika because despite hearing that she is Numen, we never read of his arrival in the Lands Between. Our first known action of his is marriage to Rennala.
Edit: That and he's not often otherwise mentioned before Godfrey leaves the picture
I think it's implied that the marriage with Renalla happens when Godfrey is still around. Radagon and Renalla have three children(that takes some years) and after that, when Marika sends Godfrey away, is Radagon called back to the capital(by the greater will, supposedly). So for some years, both couples would exist, I think.
Again, the years thing is always so vague in From games... Bloodborne has the same problem I think. We have all the timeline put together(all the events and the possible order) but the years don't add up.
Are you implying numems can change/alter their gender? We don’t see that that with these specific groups like black knives, gloam eyed queen and godskins, miquella and malenia.
@@thelionofjudah5318 It could be alot simpler than that.
Ask yourself:
What happens when two Empyreans work together?
The answer is probably something close to Malenia and Miquella's dynamic before everything went south, with Miquella attempting forge a new Order and Malenia being his sword. Both were described as being born of a " Single God" and therefore being Empyreans, as well as Marika's most sacred children....
Except this leaves a slight contradiction.
How do Radagon and Marika count as " One God", a truly single parent?Also, how could any two Empyreans coexist in a single Order without competing? After all, there could technically only be one God chosen for each Order, or else it wouldn't be an Order at all, as each God embodies an Order in themselves.....
Unless one is counted as an extension of the other, and therefore, they count as " one God".
And thus, Malenia being Blade Of Miquella.
I believe a similar situation happened with Radagon and Marika. In other words......
They're siblings.
Not to point out the obvious, but a mouth stitched shut with golden thread is "silence is golden" manifest
DECREE OF THE GOLDEN ORDER: Any comments about how I pronounce "Radagon" will be deleted unless they are funny.
(and tbf some Misbegotten also have red hair)
One thing you missed is that the Golden Sewing needles are made for changing demigod attire specifically. For some reason, normal sewing needles aren't up to the task, so golden ones are required when dealing with the clothes of demigods.
Meaning from the very beginning of their marriage, it was expected or known that Radagon and Rennala's children would be demigods.
It means that Radagon was in some way or another = to Marika even before they fused into one. Otherwise there would be no reason to expect that their children would be demigods in the first place, and there wouldn't have been any reason for Radagon to bring demigod-specialized sewing equipment.
@@HeavensRipper-he4sz that is some interesting investigation that I definitely did miss. but why would he bring the tool to liurnia if those children were not to become demigods until after he left? wouldnt they have been able to use normal tailoring gear until he left? tho maybe its a going away gift lol. It does seem like that gives credence to the idea that Radagon was at least predestined to return to Leyndell from before he went to Liurnia. Great comment! Lots of stuff to chew on
@@MadLuigi It was a gift from when their marriage with Rennala began. Not when he left. They were demigods from the start, but were only given the title as step-demigods after Radagon returned to Leyndell.
@@HeavensRipper-he4sz is there anything that refers to them as demigods before before radagon leaves to leyndell?
@@MadLuigi Enia tell us. "Great Runes are the stuff of demigods: the children of the goddess, Queen Marika. " and "The demigods are each and all the direct offspring of Queen Marika."
They officially recieved the title of demigod step-children only after Radagon left. But if Radagon always was Marika from the beginning of Rennala's marraige, then they'd always have been demigods, even if that status wasn't legally recognized.
I love the symbolism of the Elden Beast, Radagon was for the Greater Will and the Golden Order just a tool, a weapon to impose the will of the Golden Order upon the Lands Between. So in the finale battle he becomes the sword for the Elden Beast beacouse in the end, that'all he ever was. Every action he made, marrying Rennala, leaving her for Marika, sealing Marika in the Erdtree and trying to repair the Elden Ring with the hammer, were just what the Greater Will wanted from him, he never truly had free will.
Radagon looks like the Shadowlord from NieR Replicant.
Man, the lore in these games is so confusing and overwhelming. I'm glad these videos exist to shed some light on it! About the only constructive comment I can make is that the old ring pattern from Farum Azula makes me think of the tentacles hanging from the big creature faces under Stormveil and at the base of the Erdtree. The giant squid-faced Chthulu looking things. One video mentioned that one of them might have actually been Godwyn (Prince of Death's Pustule flavor text). I havent seen much else about what those things could be (yet)
miquella seems to have a power of resisting time.
he’s ever young ( or supposed to be) his tool (needle) is to be in area with highly variation of time.
A smithing stone (ancient dragon ones) are used to craft weapons used to slay a God. these stones are imbued with dragon magic, that miquella would be resistant to.I’m sure that We’re fighting miquella in the dlc. But he won’t be in his best form, you’ll have to do a quest line to get that super awesome smithing stone only gotten with dlc (they’ll balance it), with only buff will be that it can used to slay miquella.
We’re getting a few side quests also. I’m 1000% sure
There is nothing pointing towards Miquiella being specially powerful in boss fight way. His greates power was his charm, that he used to have people's loyalty.
One point upends your assertions quite easily, Radagon’s children are all demigods…but also Godrick, and Godwyn who aren’t stated to explicitly be Merika’s children are they? So maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. This lore is confusing.
I think radagon takes the form of the spear in marikas side. It's red color matches his hair and it Mysteriously disappears when the change is occuring. I think that's how he keeps Marika in place. It also appears to lightly be made up of that criss cross that makes radagon rune
Dude! The Rebis symbolism is epic! How freaking cool is that!? I love it
I wonder at what point did radagon and Marika fuse since Ranni is an empyrean (born of a single god) while her brothers aren’t. Ranni even says only she, miquella, and Malenia can claim the title of empyrean.
Maybe she was born from Golden Egg.
An empyrean isn't someone born of a single god. Its just a demigod 'with a fate' (guided by amber starlight perhaps)
The gloam eyed queen was also an empyrean. The only empyreans confirmed to be conceived of a single god, are the twins.
My theory is she was born from the amber egg containing the rune of the unborn, and Ranni is made directly from Radagon and wasn’t at all birthed from Rennala in the classic intercourse sense. Because she is purely from Radagon who is Marika she is an Empyrean.
@@lillonerboi504 that makes sense
What if Radagon and Marika are twins (or at least stepsiblings, born from at least one of the same parent)? They started out one, separated, then returned and rejoined in "marriage", and two of their twin children, Malenia and Miquella, seem to have inherited their twin parents hair, one red and the other golden. Maybe I don't know about Marika's backstory enough, but it seems weirdly fitting to explain Radagon and Marika being described as one starting from a natural way, twins, and then made one through weirder supernatural ways. It also very much ties into George RR Martin's story beats with certain twins in his lore.
10:17 Was it necessary to hurt miriel's feelings?
The exaggerated swagger of a golden order fanatic
I cant help but feel like radagon was marika the entire time. The way marika talks about them sounds like god speaking to jesus, his human form who is 100% human despite being a god. How would a normal man have a child like radahn, the most powerful of the demigods? Not only that but they werent even considered demigods until radagon returned to marika. Marika birthed demigods with the carian queen and thats why they are so powerful. I really cant find anything that disputes this
I don’t know if parts of elden ring was partly inspired by Norse mythology, but in Norse mythology, it is important to note that giants weren’t always particularly……giant.They could grow to large sizes if they chose to, but there were a few giants, such as Loki, who chose to adopt a more human figure.Giant didn’t mean large in size, it just meant that the being comes from jotunheim.I say this because it may indeed be possible that Radagon is a giant, in spite of him being perfectly human in stature and size.Although, that is just my view on the situation.
7 feet perfectly human *cough*
Radagon is my favourite character in Elden ring because there's so much mystery surrounding him. I really wanna know whether he actually had free will of his own or he was just manipulated by Marika since the beginning.
I'm not sure how to feel about this video. It's really thought provoking but is kind of unfounded. For example, Radagon is a giant because he has red hair and 1 out of his 5 kids is huge? Red hair can just be red hair. We don't even know if all giants have red hair. I honestly think it's more likely that he was an aspect or splintering of Marika who attained an unforeseen level of agency rather than an individual character to begin with. Marika has dialogue saying she believes splintering from the faith temporarily will ultimately strengthen it. So she seems to have created Radagon for some such method but by the time this "splinter" came back to her she lost faith in the Order and Radagan had gained too much individual agency which is why when they rejoined they fought for control of the body (as seen in the reveal trailer). This explains why a "mere champion" was selected for Elden Lord and why their kids (Malenia and Miquella) are both cursed due to it technically being incest as opposed to the kids he had with Rennala. Finally, there is no direct evidence or foreshadowing as of yet that two independent beings can fuse into one (what Rykard and Ranni do are fundamentally different) and it doesn't appear to happen as a result of becoming Elden Lord since this did not happen to Godfrey.
I dont think Radagon was ever separate from Marika. I think it has something to do with Rune of Rebirth that he gave to Renala. A player can change his appearance with it, including sex (type A and type B). So...maybe thats what Marika did? Used Rune of Rebirth to change herself into Radagon? At the end, why would Radagon could have posessed a Rune of Ribirth if "he was a mere champion"? This is an actual piece of elden ring itself. Just like rune of Death, maybe Rune of Rebirth "dropped" out with Rune of Death when Marika tried to took it away...seem somehow logical to me, even though not clear enough. If there is no death in the formula, why would a birth would stick. Somehow connected.
I agree. And I think his seal is like a full rune of creation. Marika pulled this rune of creation out of herself to create Radagon. And when Radagon left Renalla he left her with a piece of his creation Rune. I even suspect that Ranni is a creation of this Rune’s power because she is an emperyean. The only other two emperyean’s are children of one god. Then when Marika shatters the Elden ring, shattering herself, he tries to forge himself back into the ring to fix it. Which puts them back together as one being. And putting his hash seal back into the Elden ring.
I've watched a LOT of lore videos now. I was nodding along to this one. A lot in this seems viable. Viewing things with the idea of Radagon being a zealot for the Golden Order from Day One changes some motivations I notice
There's something very... personal about how Miquella invested himself in his dad's hobby, only for said dad to make it All About Himself, leading to Miquella saying 'screw it' and abandoning it altogether.
Radagon's a fascinating character, but much like 90% of the Lands Between, something of a bastard.
Fighting that boss that dropped the scarseal made me wonder if Radagon was A Knight of zamor or something. They fight just like him
Radagon is A man of duty. Forever curse to serve under the order and to protect the crown from any tarnished that dares try to claim the throne. He is nothing more but a sword that is waiting to be weilded by the greater will.😺
crown*
weilded*
Will*
I like your comment so I wanted it to read how it oughta 😊
(I'll delete this if you make the changes 👍)
@@Jesse__H thanks for telling me about the spelling errors. Sometimes I mess up on typing.😺