Best lore video on Radagon I’ve seen so far. I didn’t think about the duality aspect before, but really appreciated the build up to it in argument. I started Elden Ring just two months ago, as my first souls game, and avoided all guides and lore videos until after starting NG+. I came to the conclusion that the opening cinematic scenes were actual paintings depicting an interpretation of the events by a painter (maybe the same artist that does the in-game paintings) and thought to myself that the actual shattering of the Elden Ring was Marika shattering her own stone body as she is the vessel of the Elden Ring. Explains the crumbled look when you first find her. I didn’t even know about the pre-release trailers that showed footage not found in the game that debunks this I suppose, so… yours is better. Lol
Thank you so much for the super chat!! 🥲 I love the idea that the opening scenes are by the nameless artist; I actually would love to find out if there is anything more to the narrator of the opening scene and if they’re the same individual behind the item descriptions. I was like you though, this was my first FromSoft game and I avoided any guides and walkthroughs. Definitely made it a more enjoyable experience going in blind and having all of those surprises.
youtube mary and jesus in the quran and mohmmad in the bible and the Torah and the scientific miracles of the quran and mohmmad in hindu scripture … according the bible that you have
(Matthew 4:1) Jesus was tempted (James 1:13) God doesn't get tempted (John 1:29) Jesus was seen (1 John 4:12) No man has ever seen God (Acts 2:22) Jesus was and is a man, sent by God (Numbers 23:19, Hosea11:9) God is not a man (Hebrews 5:8-9) Jesus had to grow and learn (Isaiah 40:28) God doesn't ever need to learn (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) Jesus dies (1 Timothy 1:17) God doesn't die (Hebrews 5:7) Jesus needed salvation (Luke 1:37) God doesn't need salvation (John 4:6) Jesus grew weary (Isaiah 40:28) God Doesn't grow weary (Mark 4:38) Jesus slept (Psalm 121:2-4) God doesn't sleep (John 5:19) Jesus isn't all powerful (Isaiah 45:5-7) God is all powerful (Mark 13:32) Jesus isn't all knowing (Isaiah 46:9) God is all knowing ...................
@@kitetales Oh yeah they totally spell out GRRM 😂👌 There's this one thing I'm kinda confused about. The Omen Twins, I think Marika might have had them with herself considering that they were born afflicted and their names start with an M. Damn girl started doing Radagon even while she was married to Godfrey Nasty... Cersei stuff. Also, Radagon is an anagram for "A dragon". Just a fun little detail.
Practically all of the names are G, R, or M. Godfrey, Godwyn, Godrick, Godefroy, Gideon, Goldmask... Marika, Melina, Margitt, Morgott, Mogh, Melania, Miquela etc I know he said it wasn't related to his name but it's a little hard to believe.
Radagon being a disguised clone of Marika that eventually developed his own identity and conflicting goals is pretty nuts, but the way it's laid out here I could believe it. With her Numen background, Marika could have known about the Nox and their development of mimic tears, and as those of us who play the game with summons know, sometimes your most reliable ally is yourself. And of course it's a common trope to have a copy of someone eventually deviate from their original self as they go out and have their own experiences. As a result, Marika's idea of joining with her clone later on made things more complicated than expected --- one version of Marika seeking to shatter the Golden Order and usher in a new age, the other trying to repair and preserve it. And even for the most All-Knowing of Tarnished it can get a little confusing sometimes figuring out which one is talking to them.
Furthermore, since Radagon and Marika would be two different people but genetically identical, their children would have a high chance of deformity, which is exactly what we see.
I'm a lore nut and I am playing Elden Ring for the first time and the lore and mythology and the levels of imagination in this game have completely enchanted me. I loved this lore video so much thanky ou for this! Radagon is such fascinating character to me.
The phrase - "Thou aren't yet to become me, thou aren't yet to become god" gives feeling that it was Radagon's intention to merge, to conjoin Marika, and that he probably was somewhen independent being and were "perfectly" grafted later. Other examples of grafting are Godfrey and Serosh, Dragonlord Placidusax, Godrick with Godfroy, Mohg tried with Miquella and probably Godwyn and Fortissax. In the description of Northerner race it is said that there are rumors that they are descendants of giants, so why wouldn't some of them had red hair right? Plus Astrologers were living near giants which explains Radagon's interest for sorcery.
Plot Twist: Marika was always Radagon's mimic, which is why the statue reverts back to Radagon when you use law of regression, not the other way around.
Your Elden Ring lore videos are not only thoughtful and interesting, but they also help deepen my enjoyment of the game. This one, I thought, was especially good. Thank you for posting!
Oh my gosh you joined the channel membership!! 🥲 Thank you so much for that, I really appreciate it. ❤️ And thank you for your really kind feedback! It’s super encouraging. I’m so happy you enjoyed it! I really enjoyed putting this one together even though I rewrote the script several times!
Really love the last theory on Radagon being a mimic that represents the parts she does not like about herself (i.e. the red giant heritage). He is definitely one of the most intriguing characters in this game (and one of my favorites)! The seperation of them being gold and copper is even noticable in their scarseals, I hadn't noticed that before. It also makes me wonder what this means in relation to Renala and her resetting your stats once you bring her a larval tear. There does seem to be a connection there, too.
I just came here from Tarnished Archaeologist's latest video about the Golden Order and the game's timeline. Perfect timing! I love how you lay it all out here. The insight about Radagon being a blacksmith is something I haven't heard or considered and really strengthens the point about a Giant heritage. I definitely don't think Marika was the one who was cursed with red hair. Instead we know certain things that were once honored and adored as aspects of the crucible are now labeled as curses in the age of the Erdtree, and red hair is one of those things. Him being Marika's mimicry is also a great option as it ties a lot of the details together but leaves room for more mystery. So many questions still left to answer but this was a great video!
Radagon as a boss has a single weakness : he is notably weaker to fire than to any other type of damage. Mabye the Giants cursed Marika at the begining of the war with Fire Weakness to beat her easier but it didn't work because she birthed Radagon with the curse to keep it off herself
Marika's imagery -being crucified- led me to think of Marika/Radagon/EldenBeast as kinda like the christian Trinity. A very broken variant of that, but it lingered in my mind for quite a time :)
I think you could see Marika Radagon Beast as a 3 in 1 trinity perversion or perhaps even radagon/marika as a fantasy and twisted gender fluid/trans idea but with magical overtones
@@tedminette1205 Also just a depiction of the Holy trinity. As well as the three Gods that make up the triforce. All games have an uncanny way of doing that.
Elden Ring is an alchemical allegory for the great work going awry. Radagon and Marika are a broken Rebus. The ring she shattered is the circle that binds opposites. In the story both parts struggle for agency because they share a body. I’m wondering if there’s an even deeper story to this. Was this binding consensual?
An item that I feel is criminally overlooked when discussing Radagon is the Brick Hammer weapon found in Stormveil near the Concealing Veil. It looks like a pretty generic greathammer, but its description is fascinating. It says it was wielded by a laborer who led a revolt of some kind, who would later go on to become a champion. As if the image of a hammer-wielding champion doesn’t remind us of Radagon, the description goes on to state that the strength of a giant is required to wield it
Yeah I noticed that hammer too; I personally think that it was Hewg, because he's another smith (related to giants) and I imagine maybe that he was punished and imprisoned by Marika for leading a revolt.
@@Xandros999 The fact the player can wield it means that "the strength of a giant" is just superhuman strength and the Misbegotten certainly exhibit some of that due to their connection to the crucible. I don't think it was Hewg's hammer though, why would he be denied his 2-handed variant if he was gonna be eternally shackled to the Roundtable Hold anyway? "You're now a slave smith for my will. No you can't keep your hammer. Oh you need one to smith? Take this slightly smaller one." Just seems silly that would be a god's thought process. I'd personally think it would be extra punishment to force him to smith with the hammer that he wielded during his revolt (if he were actually that character). The symbol of his freedom twisted forever into a reminder of his oppression.
I don’t expect anyone to see this, but I came from THE FUTURE with knew knowledge given to us by the DLC! Turns out that Marika and Radagon have a son named Messmer (cursed, just like Miquella and Malenia) who is CONFIRMED to be Radahn’s OLDER brother. This means that Marika had a child with Radagon BEFORE she sent Godfrey away, and BEFORE Radagon “professed his love” to Renala, had THREE children with her (Rykard, Radahn, and Ranni), and learned all her magical secrets just before dumping her and going back to Marika to then have more children with. So yeah, Marika was likely having an *affair* with Radagon before Radagon’s “seduction and betrayal” of Renala. And because of this, you could say “gold arose” (The Golden Order) to its full potential and dominated the Land’s Between.
I’m not so sure about the mimicry idea, but you laid it out here better than I’ve seen anywhere else. My own thought is that the Erdtree is the central character of the whole game and given Radagon/Marika’s ties to the Erdtree, they must be closely linked. Tarnished Archaeologist had a video a while back where he pointed out that the Erdtree is a beech tree. I looked into it and I think he’s right. This is important because beech trees are monoecious, meaning the same tree will have both male and female flowers. So, I think Marika is the female flower of the Erdtree and Radagon is the male flower. It makes a lot of other things fit well too, but your presentation of the mimicry theory has me thinking that it might be better than I previously thought.
I like the idea of Marika splitting herself and binding Radagon into a new body. But there's an angle that I believe that could be considered. Marika didn't 'plan' for Radagon to merge back into herself... she foresaw it being forced upon her by the Greater Will. I believe them merging back together was the first act of "Grafting", where the Greater Will forced them back together into a single body, thereby imprisoning her with perfect order. And I think it came in stages. Radagon represents pure devotion to the Greater Will, and his marriage to Marika marked the start of the Golden Order- a strict rule set being imposed on the world. But Marika refused to be compliant even when forced to marry a zealot designed to be a puppet of the Greater Will. She set her first husband off with the prophecies discussed in the game, knowing the Tarnished would someday return to liberate her from her prison. She also shattered the Elden Ring to remove Destined Death, knowing full well that this was blasphemy against the Order and against The Greater Will. Radagon tried desperately to rebuild the Elden Ring, but it was all for naught- it couldn't be put back together. This final blasphemy was all it took, the Greater Will essentially said 'enough is enough' and grafted Radagon's soul back into Marika's. Forever imprisoning her within his Dogmatic Order. I believe this was a violent grafting, as when we see them both at the end of the game, they're cracked and splintered. When grafting was mentioned in game- it was said to be a profane act that mimics practices times past... I think that is in reference to Marika being imprisoned into Radagon as a spiritual grafting, and physical grafting is the best facsimile that humans could do to mimic it. Anyway, hope it makes sense and was at least somewhat coherent! Thanks for reading if you did!
Really good video. The mimicry section really lays it out beautifully. Edit: worth noting too that the Golden Order Sword is forged from the Moon Sword given to Radagon from Renalla, as is Carian tradition. This is not only why the swords resemble each other in shape, weapon class, and weapon skill projectile, but also demonstrates the basis for the Golden Order Sword's Intelligence stat requirement.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! I always thought it was very sweet how Radagon kept her sword in forging the Golden Order sword; to me it illustrated that he still loved her.
@@kitetales've heard and note I would kget this double checked because it's massive hearsay. That the Golden order Sword was made "in the form" of the Darkmoon sword and It being made from was a slight mistl if that's true than it further hints to Radagon still loving Rannela in his own way
I love the mimicry theory. In fact if you consider the cut Asimi quest-line, where your body serves host to a mimic tear and Melina speaks independently with it as a traveling companion, we know this kind of thing is possible. Instead of a silver tear, perhaps it was a golden tear, the golden order's perfect embodiment of an earlier version of her, explaining the "leal hound" line "Thou have yet to become me, thou have yet to become a god". Or perhaps an offshoot of her, similar to the Millicent / Melania relationship. There's also the inseparable twins D, that could explain it as well.
I love the concise way you laid out these theories. Almost all of them make some amount of sense, and I agree that puzzling them out is part of what makes Radagon so interesting. Man, but Marika crafting Radagon to suit Rennala's tastes would be all the more fucked up for how shattered his departure leaves her. Marika being capital R ruthless as always.
Thank you so much I appreciate that! And yeah I feel like bits and pieces of each theory fit together, lots of different ways to interpret it which makes it more fun for discussion. And I totally think Marika was capital R ruthless, no kindness in anything she did...
There's anothe succesful (or at least loving) marriage in Elden Ring, remeber the story of Lady Tanith and Pretor Rykaard, she was a foregin dancer who fell in love with him and embrace his path 100% till the very end.
Beautifully researched. But the numen, Marika, ranni all wanted to escape the influence of the gods and I think what happened in the mountaintops was the key.
One of the more interesting and comprehensible videos on Marika/Radagon I’ve seen in comparatively a short amount of time. Helps that according to GRRM, “the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.”
I'm surprised the mimicry line of thought isn't addressed more often. Was immediately what I thought of the first time I saw Radagon's cracked, artificial looking body. There's also the cut-content with Asimi where a mimic tear would live inside you and eventually become a separate version of you and try to kill you to take your place. Obviously you can always say it was cut to get the game out on time, but I feel like maybe it was because it made the nature of Radagon and Marika too obvious. It leaves a bit of a blind spot for the giant's curse imo but is totally believable. We see the albinaurics altered through the Formless Mother's cursed blood so artificial beings can clearly receive such ailments. I'm also a big believer in the idea their inner turmoil became actively hostile. The seal to the Erd Tree is in the shape of Radagon's rune. This makes me think he was the one that deemed it necessary to imprison her. Perhaps as an outward form of altruism, but also perhaps as self preservation. I think it could be the case St Trina is Miquella's version of Radagon, however they both came to be. And St Trina is described as having a sudden appearance then disappearance. This could coincide with Miquella's entry and exist of the Halig Tree, and Radagon came to know this so imprisoned Marika within the Erd Tree in order to stop the same thing happening to him.
Lovely. The only missing thing I picked up were the cuckoo knights. This makes me think radagon was always intent on deceiving rennala. He gave her the egg (like cuckoo birds) she then stayed in the nest fixating on it while radagon left her and his knights kept her trapped in the tower. This adds wieght to them being the same due to him only magically appearing to align the houses of moon and tree after marikas failure to do it thru conquest.
Oh, and just a fun little detail, Radagon is internally called “Distortion of Marika.” And tbh granted Marika’s mischievous nature with what’s said with the golden veil, I sort of assumed it’s how she sired those “unwanted/illegitimate children” that are now soulless and resting in the mausoleums.
@@victorprati7908 Radagon’s ID in the game files is literally “MarikaOfDistortion” - the golden veil is more or less a theory, but the soulless demigods are notably described as “illegitimate children” of Marika’s within the game.
A lot of Elden Ring lore videos just regurgitate item descriptions ad nauseam for an hour. I REALLY liked this video along with your other Elden Ring Lore videos. Very concise and interesting.
4:45 I don't think the giant's curse was just about giving Marika red hair and that that was just a side effect. I think the giant's curse is actually the Fell God's curse that forces living beings to turn into giants. Let me explain: Marika was cursed and then she passed the cursed into Radagon who later passed on to his children. Now half of his children simply inherited the red hair but not the curse, Rikard and Ranni, but two others of his children were certainly affected, the most obvious being Radahn who was literally turned into a giant being. Then there was Malenia, who was not completely affected by the curse, probably due to her connection to the Scarlett Rot, but still carry it and then spread it throughout Caelid in her first bloom. How do we known this? Well because of those annoying giant T-Rex dogs and the giant Skeksis birds we find in Caelid. Normally we all thought that they became giant due to the Scarlett Rot but we also find them in the mountain tops of the fire giants were there's no sign of the rot itself, wich leads me to believe that the curse of the giant's Fell God is what turned them courtesy of Malenia. So that leaves us with the question on why the Fell God's curse turns things into giants? My take is so someone or something can become big enough to hold the Fell God itself, or some aspect of it, inside as a medium for It to have power and influence in the material world and the mountain giants, or trolls, were the only ones that could get the "job" done. Either the original giants were slowly turned bigger until one of them became the vessel for the Fell God or the giants were originally trolls like Iji and others we encountered, that were turned into giants so one of them could serve the aforementioned goal. Well those are my thoughts/theory on the matter. Good day
Souls games have been enlarging important boss figures to emphasise their "power" since forever. But this is an interesting theory. The giant dogs and crows in caelid have always been confusing, since when does scarlet rot ENCOURAGE the growth of its host?
Beings were always larger in the past and over generations gradually shrank until they are now at modern size. Radahn is like a real giant so that is very plausible that it's the giant blood of Radagon. Maybe Rykard was as well but we never get to see him as a human.
Yeah, it's never really even casually explained why Radahn would have been so literally massive. Morgott and Mogh were both afflicted by the Omen curse which seems to promote large growth in those who have it. The other pair of twins were each afflicted with different curses as well, but neither of them grew to enormous proportions. We never *see* pre-devouring Rykard but the scale of furniture and interior infrastructure of the Volcano Manor implies he would have been similarly sized to Malenia and Miquella. His 'curse' if you will, seems to be an all-consuming desire to accumulate power and live forever, hence why he lets himself be devoured by the serpent and feasts on powerful tarnished. Maybe the reality is that *all* of Marika's offspring were cursed in one form or another as punishment for her various campaigns to annihilate and suppress previously existing societies through the Golden Order. The competing outer gods exerting their will in the ongoing struggle for dominant control over the fate of The Lands Between.
Man this is an amazing observation!! Yet the curse is not a curse. It’s just the force of life of the original great tree/ crucible. And I believe the fell god isn’t fell at all it’s just an aspect of the original thing that was abandoned.
This ties in to my theory, if the Fell God of the Fire Giants IS their curse. After all, trolls are giants without the Fell God inside them, and they're notably smaller.
Radagon is by far my favourite character in any Fromsoft game. He seems like a dedicated man who puts his entire soul into whatever is important, like Renalla or repairing the Elden Ring. Riperooni my bodacious red headed babe :[
One of my theories is that Radagon was made by the Greater Will to “complete” Marika, since he essentially has an opposite personality to her. Radagon is devoted, loyal to a fault and is a fighter as shown with his war efforts, the fact that he was a loving father and husband in his days as the Carian patriarch and how he had to leave what he loved to serve the Golden Order. Marika however is a lot more flimsy in her ideals and clearly much less loving as shown with her ability to cast away Godfrey like he’s nothing and throw the Omen twins into the sewers as well as shatter the Elden Ring, it does mean that she has more autonomy and free will. Free will and autonomy clearly isn’t something that the Greater Will likes in its subjects so it made Radagon from Marika as a way to fully complete its idea of a perfect vassal that rules over the Lands Between.
Based on everything we know now after the DLC, it's more likely that Radagon was the true chosen god of the Lands Between, but Marika was led by the corrupt fingers to usurp him. It's entirely possible that Radagon is the god that left Placidusax. That would explain why dragon worship was considered to be almost "one and the same" with the golden order.
It's interesting how the final part of the video touches on Marika splitting off a part of herself, and to now contrast it with what Miquella does to St. Trina, literally discarding a part of himself as unwanted, specifically the parts of his personality/self that he thought would be a detriment to ruling over the world. Given that St. Trina is Miquella's love, was Radagon some softer part of Marika? And is that why she's so awful? Marika treated her children as either tools (Melina, Messmer) or shameful burdens (Morgott, Mohg, and also Messmer). Rennala's kids, conversely, don't seem to have suffered anywhere near to the same degree. Perhaps Radagon possessed a love that Marika lacked, and was therefore able to have a somewhat happy family. People often see Radagon as this villainous body snatcher, but what if he didn't want to leave Rennala to marry/become one with Marika? Edit: It's easy to assume Radagon is the bad guy because he's the penultimate foe we face, but Marika is one of the worst people in the Lands Beyond: a tyrant who pursued multiple genocidal wars and then blew up the world for... reasons?? What if Radagon is genuinely trying to wrest control of her to fix the world and the Elden Ring, and the reason he's blocking all aspirants away is because, well. Rykard is insane. Mohg is insane. Malenia nuked Caelid, also insane. Who knows what Ranni is planning. Likewise Miquella. Radahn is a zombie. Godrick is a runt, and also insane. Morgott is a self-loathing Golden Order traditionalist and the least bad of the bunch, but maybe not a great candidate for the ruler of the new age. If these are the candidates, Radagon might just go "nope, you all suck" and lock the doors. Hell, who could he even trust with the power of the Elden Ring? Some random tarnished that burns the Erdtree in pursuit of power? No wonder he attacks us... but I think his cause might actually be both noble and justified. What if Radagon was the one good, sane person in the Lands, just trying to fix everything?
I 100% agree with you!! I don’t see Radagon as the villainous husband, leaving Rennala because he was using her. I have never got behind that theory and the game dialogue doesn’t support that either. I absolutely think he had a love that Marika lacked.
For one Radagon doesn’t represent the same thing as St Trina since he represent order and marika love represents gold two radagon is Equally as worst as marika or worse in the end but at the beginning he was far better then her but at the end he was far worse, since he tried to keep the order alive unlike marika who tried to end the order and want to change things by guide the tarnished to ranni who would make a better world and three when radagon took control things became a lot worse in the golden order which some of that is definitely marika doing by banishing Godfrey and hiding away the scadutree but also radagon since during rule the golden order became a lot more worse and not accepting of other life forms that were different and not blessed by the erdtree unlike during the time of Godfrey where the erdtree were accepting of the crucible and other life still horrible to those, but not as horrible and one other thing, he literally did not know what his children have become he locked marika and him self in the erdtree before the war ever started that’s why the Demigod started to war against each other Because they were not around too stop it
I love this. The mimic becoming sentient is an excellent theory on the creation and duality of Radagon/Marika (and their eventual fusing together). Deeply enriches what I thought I already knew. And adds layers to the mystery at the same time.
@@kitetales Yes! And it raises really cool questions about the mimic tears. Like... can OUR mimic tear gain sentience and its own personality? The unanswered questions of the game are so marvelously woven into our own experience. And yes, if a god such as Marika created a mimic it would likely be far more impressive than what we do.... (But still in the same vein).
I always saw the radagon marika duality as a representation of marikas inner turmoil that came to major pivoting point during the genocide of the fire giants I think she was forced into this by the golden order which led her to question wether the order was worth following Radagon was born out of that turmoil The embodiment of her devotion to the golden order stained by the red hair that devotion cruelly wiped out of existence A constant reminder of the price of such devotion
Great video never thought about mimicry could be the source. One of the main themes of GRRM works is duty versus love which sounds like Radagon and Rennala relationship.
Its very difficult to find videos that manage to keep you captivated throughout their entirety. Having to sift through so much garbage online really makes finding gems like this video all the more rewarding. Subbed!
My idea on this topic is the same as any other lore part of Elden Ring. Martin wrote a book with 800 pages. 700 of them were burned. 100 of them were turned into lore that can be found within the game. And there are people who think it's fun to be in the dark and write theories. Just like FS don't put in any effort to help people keep track of their quests (not even the lines which were said, nothing at all), they push the work unto the players to make sense of everything. This is then praised as some glorious storytelling, when in reality, players are just doing the work that the developers should have done themselves. And players have somehow convinced thenselves the ambiguity is a great thing. The story is incomplete and even severely lacking in aspects critical to the story.
I completely agree. I’ve said this game’s story is the equivalent of taking a book, putting it through a paper shredder and then telling the readers to go pick up all the pieces. It’s definitely pretentious.
@@kitetales Don’t mention it. You deserve infinite high 5s for this one. My only thoughts: You’ve taken marika in a pretty fascinating direction, and not an obvious one; most are quick to declare her exclusively numen originating from the EC, and close the book… probably, because it’s implied by dialogue and item descriptions. However, you’ve sorta distanced yourself from that conclusion… preferring this more interesting Zamor origin. (And justifiably so: She really does look more northern than Numen, you’re right) So that shared “long-lived” description solidifies a link between the Zamor and the Numen for you? As much as it intrigued me, that phrase, “Long-Lived” It’s doing some pretty heavy lifting for your theory. Maybe… more than intended? So I’ll just say it: Could you see more evidence linking the Zamor with the Numen, besides their both being long-lived?
@@AlexGordonMusic Yeah it’s definitely a stretch just to connect from that one line, but there were a couple of things that made me suspect it: the Zamor were sworn enemies of the Fire Giants for all time, whom Marika wiped out completely; it seemed almost personal. Secondly, one of the heroes drops Radagon’s Scarseal, so I thought maybe it was a way to try and connect Marika to them? And I think the Zamor move set seemed very similar to Radagon’s. It makes me wonder what the connection was.
Some other TH-camrs have noted that From Software games, Elden Ring in particular, often reference alchemy. The relevant alchemy reference here is the concept of the Rebis, a being which is both masculine and feminine.
I pr much agree with your final theory on Radagon. I believe that he did some how form his own autonomy and is a parallel to Marika while still being part of her. I also really like to think of his abandonment of Rennala to almost be forced. After all it is called the greater WILL, maybe he hardly had a choice. Take like Blaidd, who was a creation of the greater will, who went mad when turning against it. Radagon isn't too dissimilar, since he is technically part of the greater will's own vessel. But yeah, 'loved this video :)) Radagon is one of the most intriguing characters to me too! And the one that I have probably thought about more than any other (Hell my second playthrough was Red haired faith character called Chadagon xD)
I totally think the Greater Will forced Radagon to leave Rennala; I can't imagine Rennala falling apart the way that she did would have happened if there wasn't a deep love between them. Makes me hate the Greater Will even more. Thank you so much for watching and for your comment! Chadagon sounds absolutely amazing!! 😆
2:43 you are the first content creator I’ve seen who has mentioned this Radagon Zamor connection. They also move in a way that’s very similar to the black knives and I’ve always felt like they mean so much more to the story than we’ve been given.
Ah this was the little slice of lore heaven I needed to keep me going until DLC. Radagon/Marika is my favourite character in the game. I'm so sad we never had a proper interaction with them. I can only hope for some dream versions in the DLC.
I think the reason Radagon hates his red hair, is because they haven't tuned gold, like Marika's, or Miquella's and Godwyn's, implying a favor and acceptance by the Greater Will. It's a constant reminder that "he is not yet God". Perhaps that is why he is determined to serve as " a loyal dog" the Outer Will. The child that tries to get his parents' acceptance and approval.
Im hoping the DLC goes more onto what marikas plan for the tarnished was. Especially since it made Sir Spysalot: the all knowing do a complete 180 towards the end of the game. That point is where i started thinking any theory of her being "good" kinda went away.
I really like that radagon mimic theory. I havent heard any of the other channels purpose that. The fact its legit stated out in the law of regression and connecting the sword of knight and flame. I also never heard the idea that merica was part zamoran. Good theorys!
Just for fun, here’s a translation of the line. “Radagon, dog of the Golden Law. You are still not me. You are still not a god. Come, let’s shatter together, my half (other half of her body)”. The shattering in context of their form is the same used when in reference to the state of the Elden Ring - linking the cause and effect of Marika’s actions. One thing I thought was interesting is that the whole plot twist that Radagon is Marika is that Marika claims Radagon wasn’t a god. Well, we can actually see this in game. My conclusion is that Marika and Radagon are two different beings with two different forms existing in a single body. Marika was always the first of the two, the god, and thus it is her form that holds the ring. When we fight Radagon, you’ll notice that the Elden Ring is missing from her shattered body, and then manifests in Radagon’s. When we kill Radagon, it says we have slain a god. Yet that was only because he had the ring. Or the twins, for example. They were born of the one god, or the single god, and thus their afflictions can be attributed to the nature of their births, which is described as fragile - needless to say, incestuous. His existence is pretty weird, but all in all I think he’s just a chess pieace. Between allying with Caria, siring Demigods, and then Empyreans. Being King - no two different entities in that matter. It’s just Marika in two parts.
I don't know who told you this, but as someone who can read Japanese, it's not true. It is crystal clear in the Japanese text that Radagon is only not Marika *for the time being,* and Radagon *and* Marika are what's being shattered. Just the same as the English lines insinuate. I can break it down for you if you'd like. Your conclusion about Radagon's nature is sound either way, though. It doesn't really demand that the line be translated differently, as far as I can tell.
@@UltraStarWarsFanatic Really? Huh… crap translation on my part for sure. If you could then yeah, I wanna make sure I have the right info up there. Thx for pointing it out. At any rate, I suppose that makes sense too. By shattering the Elden Ring Marika shattered both herself as well as Radagon, rendering them husks in their incarceration.
@@UltraStarWarsFanatic Oh wait - I’m an idiot. I was going off of memory without looking at the actual translation in my notes. Ur completely right. It’s pretty on par with the English, saying “Radagon, dog of the Golden Law. You are still not me. You are still not a god. Come, let’s shatter together, my half.” The shattering in context of their form is the exact same used when in reference to the state of the Elden Ring - linking the cause and effect of Marika’s actions.
@@AlbertusSalvatierra Here's the raw text : おお、ラダゴン、黄金律の犬よ。お前はまだ、私ではない。まだ、神ではない。さあ、共に砕けようぞ！我が半身よ！ Oo, Radagon, ouginritsu no inu yo. Omae wa mada, watashi dewa nai. Mada, kami dewa nai. Saa, tomo ni kudakeyou zo! Waga hanshin yo! The first line is pretty straightforward, so I won't elaborate at all. おお、ラダゴン、黄金律の犬よ。 O' Radagon, dog of the Golden Order. They key to the second line is the word まだ, which means "still," or "not yet." お前は *まだ、* 私ではない。 *まだ、* 神ではない。 You are still not me. (You are) still not god. or You are not yet me. Not yet a god. There's a couple noteworthy things about the final line. First and foremost, she uses 砕ける (conjugated as 砕けよう) rather than 砕く. This is an example of a transitive-intransitive pair. Most verbs in Japanese have two versions, one transitive (i.e. the direct object is the target of the verb) and one intransitive (i.e. the subject is the target of the verb). In this context, 砕く would have meant that Marika intended to shatter something, whereas 砕ける implies Marika intended to be shattered herself. So the correct reading of 共に砕けようぞ is, "let's be shattered together." Then she calls Radagon 我が *半身.* This is tricky to elegantly translate. The best way I can explain it is to say that *半身* 麻痺 is the world for hemiplegia, or paralysis of half of the body. So she's saying Radagon is half of her own body. さあ、共に砕けようぞ！我が半身よ！ Let's be shattered together. My (other) half!
I really enjoyed this! I think your idea that Radagon was created for the purpose of wooing Rennala has a lot of merit. As you went through the mimicry item descriptions it occurred to me how Radagon could become his own person. The game is clear enough to say magic is a physical manifestation of a mental image based on trust of either study or of an external power. The more clear the mental image, the more powerful the magical manifestation. With the years of Marika pretending to be another person, the mental picture of who Radagon is would become quite well formed, enough perhaps that Marika no longer had to personify the avatar. Later, with the prospect of ripping herself apart to destroy the ring, it's natural that she would seek to make herself whole first in an attempt to gather the strength needed.
I always found Radagon was more interesting as a character if he was part fire giant first and existed as his own entity maybe a fire giant warrior of great renown whose imprisonment in a curse that binds him to Marika’s very body is the extra humiliating act against the giants Marika could take to end the war and demoralize the last giant into inaction. It would also make the references in items to Radagon’s internal conflicts like his constant striving for adoration of the golden order and their followers and his immense hatred for his hair color make a lot more sense in characterizing him as someone who’s defeated to their very being. Where he remained loyal to the order that genocided his people and through being forced to exist in a society like the golden order’s that exists on intense persecution of not only fire giants but even to people like the misbegotten he’s developed an intense self hatred and a clinging to authority that makes the shattering take on more of a twisted irony behind it. Where even when the person who orchestrated the genocide of his people offers to reject the order that deemed that genocide necessary, the conditioning radagon underwent as a giant existing in the golden order worked too well and made it so even then he’s still clinging to the golden order and greater will. Honestly the idea of Radagon being a total wreck of a character in that way could also inform a bit on how Miquella developed that altruistic edge to him given he was very close to Radagon but kind of acting against the whims of the greater will and golden order. That kind of action while still maintaining that fondness for his father makes me believe Miquella might have pitied his father a great deal and his plight under the golden order as a giant adding onto the reasons he would want to reject it. Granted been a very long hot minute since I delved into the lore talks and I’m not privy on all the items so I’m sure I missed something but if we’re going by Occam‘s razor the fact Rykard and Radahn are so massive is a detail often overlooked when it probably shouldn’t be, but besides that point Radagon being a giant first to me would fit in with the cast of strong characters elden ring has where they have these intentional contradictions about them that explains more about their characters rather than those contradictions being a mistake like how morgott being an omen made him one of the erdtree’s most twisted victims yet demonstrates an undying fanaticism to it.
Great video. I love the Zamor angle. The following is an extract from an essay I wrote hypothesising something similar. “As for the numen, only two elite castes seem to have survived intact into the Age of the Erd Tree. The first were a group of female warriors, handmaidens to the queen. The second were a contingent of male knights sent north early in the Crucible Age as an advance guard to contain the giant’s flame. To understand this, we must return briefly to the nightmaiden’s mist. Spark aromatic isn’t the only evolution of this attack. The Knights of Zamor have a breath attack where they kneel and exhale a stream of silvered particles which transform into an AOE frost attack. Only those with silver blood are capable of doing this. In their item descriptions, they are characterized as long-lived, the same phrase used to describe the lifespan of numen. A Hero of Zamor is the boss of the side catacomb beside Leyndell, further connecting them to the city in its infancy. Another Hero of Zamor in the Weeping Peninsula evergaol drops Radogan’s soreseal. A seal is the kind of item bestowed by a superior upon a subordinate to demonstrate they speak or act with their authority. This implies Radagon is a male numen and was originally the leader of the Knights of Zamor. The location and bearer of this item alone places Radagon further back in the timeline than has been generally acknowledged, too far to be human. Indeed, when you consider the matter, the game wasn’t trying very hard to conceal this detail. In one of the cinematics, Radagon and Marika are shown individually breaking/repairing the elden ring. Both their bodies display stone-like fractures in the ripping musculature, suggesting they are morphologically similar. Reinforcing this is Marika’s spoken memory in the queen’s bedchamber. ‘ . . let us be shattered both,’ she says to Radogan. Taken literally, this also indicates a similar composition.” - Death, Mother And The Maiden: The Three Sisters Of Farum Azula And Queens Of The Eternal Cities.
I was waiting all day to get home to watch this. I was just realizing how little I knew about Marika and Radagon the other day and am pretty far away from the meat of the lore on them in my current playthrough, so this video is perfect
That is solid lore sleuthing! Never thought that Marika might have actually created Rad with the intention of infiltrating Carian lines and is undone by his free will, but it really does fill in some of the larger gaps quite nicely. Great well thought out stuff, thank you for that! As soon as the game dropped there were so many speculation vids just so they could be the first trying to beat Vaati, but it was rough going.
I mostly believe Radagon was originally a separate entity that Marika took into herself. But at the same time I feel like not enough people address the Miquella/St. Trina connection. It's pretty heavily implied that Miquella and St. Trina are the same person but different forms. What if Radagon was supposed to be a sort of offshoot of Marika who left and found a sort of free will? Though I think its more likely Marika sort of subsumed Radagon into her own self perhaps as a way to strengthen herself or preventing him from supplanting her or even undermining her plans. We're not even fully sure WHY she broke the Elden Ring, the reason the Shattering kicked off in the first place. My guess is Radagon had some aspirations to becoming an Empyrean despite not being born one, and the Queen's Bedchamber speech was basically her belittling him for planning to do so. Perhaps the process of changing from an Empyrean to a god is to absorb the Elden ring or be absorbed by it. It's possible that Marika, being the possessor of the Elden Ring, did the latter. A crackpot theory, and I still don't have 100% of the lore down, but that's my interpretation so far. For some reason, in Elden Ring, despite there being more lore overall the gaps between the lore seem much, much wider than they did in Dark Souls.
It's not a mistery why Queen Marika shattered the Elden Ring She did it after the death of her firstborn Godwyn in the night of the black knifes. The lady next to the two fingers in roundtable hold tells us that stating Marika got the big sad or something like that.
These are some interesting ideas! Thus inspired, I feel compelled to offer my own line of thought: projection. In keeping with the idea that Radagon and Marika were always one, it is entirely possible for them to exist in separate locations simultaneously via projection. When I speak of projection, I refer to a remote avatar, a means of interacting with far off places, specifically the kind that Mohg and Morgott use. Since projections can engage in combat, it would be possible for Marika to be in Leyndell while her other half is off in Liurnia. As for how the children are sired, Marika could use the mimic veil to travel and switch places with Radagon.
This eases a lot of confusion off of the renalla/radagon war. Morgott certainly didnt learn it from godfrey. Though neither miquella nor malenia use projection as far as game lore is aware.
As radagon was a leal hound of the golden order, i still stand by the fact that radagon is Marikas "will" manafested. Radagon over the course of the history, fought, or united what was stopping the influence of the elden ring. We see this with milicents questline, where maleneas soul is split into 7, all moving back to rejoin her at the haligtree.
This is yet the best video I have seen about Marina/Radagon. Thank you for posting and great work! I am more bias toward them being twins, it sounds so much like Cersei and Jaime, him doing everything she told him whilst disgracing himself and honor. I see Rennala as lady Brianne, for Jaime respected her and even loved her, but he loved Cersei more and returned to her in the end. However, why would he want to remain servant to the Greater Will and restore the Elden Ring? Probably out of realization of the bad deed he did for Marika. I do like the dissociative disorder too. Humans have it, what would such a thing do to a god?
i still believe that the "curse" of the fire giants in the description of the gians braid is not speaking of a literal curse, but rather is akin to a curse , & Radagon is a lesser fire giant who was austracised for his stature thus growing to hate his own people, ssiding with the golden order the first chance he got, Although the Symbolism of Merika having mixed herritige & the likening to purifying gold is just too good to not be true
9:07 before I make it any farther I’m just gonna go ahead and say that I think Radagon is a super advanced mimic tear. One that Marika created but lost control of. The cut story line with a mimic, the description of the mimic tear where it says that it’s will isn’t copied or something to that effect, and the fact that it takes HP to summon and not FP all supports or gives context to this theory for me. The other thing I want to say about Radagon is that I don’t think there was anything romantic or good about Radagon wooing Renalla. I was First interested in the parallels between Ranni and Godwyn compared to Loki and Baldr. While the story isn’t a 1 to 1 recounting, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities. Then I read about Odin and Rindr, or Rinda. SA trigger warning for anyone looking into that mythology. I learned about the specific kind of magic referenced, seiðr (sometimes anglicized as seidhr, seidh, seidr, seithr, seith, or seid) and how it shapes the future. Again the parallels weren’t exactly the same but it was just too close for me to ignore. The celestial dew doesn’t take into consent of the person who is doing the forgiving, if you really think about it. And other than in the erdtree sanctuary and Caria manor, I’m pretty sure all of the celestial dew is underground in the Nox cities. I think it’s very interesting to consider him having a close connection there. I think it was a play on Marika’s part to dismantle raya lucaria from the inside but Radagon took the opportunity for his own gain and created children for his own means. I also think that the rune of the unborn was not something Marika intended, or even if she did, it’s removal from the elden Ring is the cause of melania and miquella’s afflictions imo. Anyway sorry that was a bit of a ramble. The celestial dew says this “Once upon a time, the stars of the night sky guided fate, and this is a recollection of those times.” So just if you feel inclined, check out that Norse mythology, I think it illuminates a kind of sinister motive for Radagon and may imply a lot of intentionality to the Renalla/Radagon children. One more thing, I’m so sorry, the whole reason I started considering this is because Odin hung in the roots of Yggdrasil with a spear stabbed in him, to try and learn the runes of fate I believe, so I started thinking about the story from the perspective of Marika actually being the role of Odin and what that could mean.
I found the part about Marika’s parentage interesting because it sort reminds me of the Norse mythological figure Odin since he too was born of an giantess called Bestla. Being half Giant and half god I guess.
I like the idea that he was custom made for Rennala's taste. The Red King and The White Queen is a thing in Alchemy, and if we know anything about the Carian queen... Babe was a science junkie! 😆 Edit: Oh and I am obsessed with the AI "art" you used in this video!
The Red King and White Queen analogy is so good; and that fits perfectly given the theme of alchemy! I hadn’t heard that term before so read up on it, thank you for sharing! And isn’t the AI art fun?! It was super enjoyable seeing all the responses it gave me. 😆
@@kitetales I really loved the AI art. There's hardly any art of Radagon and Marika in the game except for the now infamous statue depictions because we learn their secret through those statues, and the two paintings which, as beautiful and complementary to eachother they are, aren't enough imho. More is definitely something we need. It's also hard finding non sexualized or smutty artwork of these two on the internet frequently, which I must confess ruins them for me. Afterall, before we find out "the secret", it seemed like Marika disposed of Godfrey after he served his purpose because he was a barbarian warrior and a brute, which is in contradiction for where she wanted to take her kingdom from that point on. She needed someone like Radagon, an elegant fighter, a philosopher, a man of science who goes to war because of duty as opposed to the need to spill blood. Kinda interesting... And yes he happened to be hot too but that's beside the point, she literally said that the days of blind belief were behind them. It actually makes sense for the people of the lands between that she picked this guy, and him being very ambitious and ever yearning for more .. to learn, to contemplate, and to forge into principles or laws, it would make sense that he'd jump onto the opportunity to move to the capital and marry Marika. He perceived his duty towards faith and science as more holy than that of the bonds of marriage. Miriel's confusion confused me lol 🤣 Great video btw! And so happy I caught it less than 15 minutes from its release. 😊
@@kitetales yep, you certainly know what I'm talking about. I'll take the AI generated art any day over *that kind* of "artwork" Was it midjourney? Stable diffusion? Or something else that you used, if you don't mind me asking, because the quality is top notch and classy. Excellent choice! And a really good result.
@@kitetales The archetype of the Red King and the White Queen is what struck me the most when I first played the game, in alchemy this marriage of opposites is consecrated with the intent of creating a "Rebis" (A perfect hybrid of man & woman, the ultimate alchemical creation). In regards to the Lands Between, this association is of course a tragic one because Radika instead produced a White King (Miquella) and a Red Queen (Malenia). I believe that Marika fused herself with Radagon *after* the birth of their twins because of this, as a last ditch attempt to turn herself into a Rebis, an experiment which of course, failed, fracturing their bodies and damning them to corrosion. I always believed that Radagon was created by Marika with the intent of "alchemical marriage" (Or at least Elden Ring's equivalent of that). Radagon was the man who could synchronise sorceries with incantions after all, there are no intellectual advancements of his that don't do this. Maybe Radagon was meant to bear the child himself, he and Rennala were the most "active" after all (Though that could just be because they were the only ones who actually loved each other). If this was the case, then it could be a potential explanation as to why he brought the golden needle with him, he was setting out to rear that giga-baby. Another possibility reagrding Radagon's hair-hatred is the chance that it was actually given by Marika with the intent of fusing it into herself, rather than an attempt to exterminate it, even if she did hate the hugh, creating a husband that has completely different to her in every significant way might have been necessary for that Rebis Empyrean. A creation she may have believed was capable of killing that pesky Elden Beast. This particular detail isn't something I'm fully convinced by, but I don't think it's unlikely that Marika wanted to incorporate some of the Fire Giant's essence into her surrogate, so as to make it the perfectly balanced baby God-Killer it needed to be. I am more or less convinced that she was pining for a divine prodigy, but I'm not going to be fully convinced by any theories until we get all the dlc.
I gotta be honest, i think marika=radagon was unfinshed plot point. Besides goldmask theres no other plot relevance to the reveal. They literally dont use the revelation to clarify ANYTHING about the rest of the story 😂
Another aspect supporting the “Radagon is a giant” theory is Radahn. He is significantly larger than the rest of the demigods. Size could be a genetic trait that skipped a generation in this case.
I love this video! I've recently started watching your videos, and I'm glad that I did! Thank you for making wonderful videos! Also, where did you find the art for the family tree around 3:53 and thumbnail? I really love the aesthetic!
Aww thank you so much!! Those are AI generated images, which I received threatening emails demanding I remove them from my video from absolutely unhinged people. 😬
The concept that Raddigon could have been a Mimick (capital 'M' there) of Merika is genius. It answers a lot of open questions about the whole rebus thing.
This characterization is really useful for my developing theory. I'm about 75% sure that Radagon is inspired by Peter d'Aragon and his son William the Conqueror. Funny that you mention the rulers of Castle Mourne here, I think Radagon was that ruler. But I've been having trouble figuring out why the inspiration is both Peter and William. Then it hit me while watching this video. Peter represents Radagon as ruler of Castle Mourne, a fully autonomous person. William represents Radagon after his defeat at the hands of Godfrey and having his body and mind seemingly subordinated to Marika. Marika was in need of a replacement for Godfrey after Radagon's defeat. This is the point at which we're told that Godfrey loses the color from his eyes. Seemingly his passion but possibly his connection to grace. Who better to replace him than a formerly great hero? Who better than someone completely under Marika's control? Someone who is, in fact Marika? But clearly something goes wrong here. Whatever magic is used to combine the two beings results in Radagon becoming sentient again. Only he's incomplete. A sort of Frankenstein's monster, looking for purpose. Like I said, I'm still working on it. But check out the cathars as well as Peter and William. You'll start seeing the parallels pretty quickly. William even had an incestuous relationship with his third wife. You don't get much more incestuous than mating with yourself ala Marika and Radagon.
As i was reading a comments, someone pointed out that Radagon was an anagram for A Dragon. This got me thinking of a few item descriptions Dragon crest talismans - The ancient dragons, who ruled in the prehistoric era before the Erdtree, would protect their lord as a wall of living rock. And so it is that the shape of the dragon has become symbolic of all manner of protections. Lansseax's Glaive - Lansseax was the sister of Fortissax. It is said that she took the form of a human to commune with the knights as a priestess of the ancient dragon cult. Borealis's Mist incantation - The ice dragons were once lords of the mountaintops long ago, until they were defeated by the Fire Giants and chased from the peak. So the Imagery of Marika/Radagon crumbling on the rune arc in the final boss fight started to look like crumbling stone. Ill be back if I can make anything digestible out of this. If someone can make anything please advise.
Personally, I subscribe to the Duality theory with a caveat: Marika and Radagon were never physically separate beings. I think it makes sense, given the backstory presented here, that Radagon was the first to appear, in the north, with a deep hatred of his red hair and its association with the Giants. So he dedicated himself to the Erdtree, but with a desire to become someone who was worthy of Godhood, so he used mimicry, magic, or perhaps was blessed by the Erdtree with the form of Marika and thus he created his "perfect" identity. Then, as Marika, she led the war against the Giants, married Godfrey, sired a lineage, and continued to conquer and conquer and "purify" everything she saw as lesser or tainted. This obsession with purity noted throughout the Golden Order and specifically with Marika/Radagon paints the picture that neither were particularly mentally stable imo. So, this leads me to the crux of this relationship between them: dissociative identity disorder. Or, at least, the fictional and fantastical version of it (definitely not a good or healthy representation to it irl lmao, its a little problematic). I think Marika originally used her old identity as Radagon to go undercover in a sense, and take direct control of affairs when it would be disadvantageous to do so as Marika. Maybe she had some reason to treat the Carian's differently than the other conquests, maybe it had something to do with the fact they descend from Astrologers who also hail from the north, or maybe she genuinely fell in love with Rennala before, or even during, the first war, and she used it as an excuse to marry her. There have been plenty of strange and dramatic love stories throughout the Soulsborne games and George's books especially, so a convoluted situation like this wouldn't surprise me. But the point is, I think she and he were the same mind at this point. But sometime after, perhaps around the time Radagon was forced to leave Rennala and return to the capital, these identities became separate entities with separate wills. This could be attributed to literally any facet of Marika/Radagon's life imo, since its all traumatic in some way, but I personally think it was when Godwyn the Golden was murdered. Marika/Radagon clearly held love for their families, a lot of it, you can see it referenced in a lot item descriptions, but Marika was always the one who had to focus on her duties to the Erdtree and was neglectful because of it. I think Marika used her identity as Radagon to indulge in being a loving parent/spouse tbh. But when the duties of the Erdtree called again, and her beloved son was killed, I think she started to shatter. And when the Erdtree continued to force her to put it above her wants and desires, her love for her family, she decided to shatter the Elden Ring and rebel. But, with her love for her family and her duty to the Erdtree both being core parts of her identity, she snapped and the two identities of the loyal dog Radagon and the girlboss take-what-she-wants queen Marika separated and became their own unique identities autonomous from each other. Since they inhabit the same body, Radagon could not stop Marika from shattering the Ring, and for the same reason Marika could not stop Radagon from imprisoning her. They could only enact their own wills when they became conscious, which would mean the other would have to be pushed into the back seat. Radagon must've realized that he couldn't repair the Elden Ring and instead decided to shackle himself so when Marika gained control again, she couldn't do more harm. This is why they both disappear from history during the War of the Shattering, leaving only their children to war and die over a problem they created, ironically. I think the Scarseals represent this perfectly. One focuses on one half of the games main attributes and the other focuses on the other half. They're two halves of the whole, and they both exist within everyone. Just like Marika and Radagon make one single physical being, and are not actually physically separate at all. Or, well, that's what I think anyway. There's probably a lot of things that disprove this that I just don't know about. If anyone who reads this knows of anything that pokes holes in it, or adds to it, then please leave a reply!
Really loved the video. Nice job. I've always see these two in the context of mimicry. But i guess the main clue that can help to understand them a bit more is The Greater Will and it's manifestation, Elden Beast. I always thought we give Marika and Radagon too much credit for what they did and still do. While we know The Greater will is the one that pulls most of the strings. One thing that bothers me the most is The Sacred Relic Sword. Given a closer look, it's hilt has two different sides. one is more delicate and branching (probably the Marika's / female side) and the other is thicer and made from two branches converging into one. The blade part starts with two spines that are more distant in the beginning, coiled and spiraling toward one unified tip. And of course Its being wielded in beast's right hand. (Symbolic for being the executive of its will.) All im saying is deeds done by these two individuals are mostly the "Greater Will" of the Beast being manifested. Radagon is nothing but a puppet, a lap dog of the order, but could do things that Marika couldn't. Basically GW derived him from Marika to expand the reach of its order. While pinning Marika down and only using her as a placeholder for the Ring. She wasnt needed anymore as an actuator. The rest is history i guess.
I’ve always liked the idea of Marika and Radagon being the same person, two sides of the same coin, sharing the same body yet having a mind shattered in two is super interesting
You've laid out a comprehensive explanation of Radagon, and I agree with your thoughts on mimicry and the duality of Duty vs Choice represented by Radagon/Marika. It's a great summary! The one thing that caught my attention is actually rather tangential to the video- but I disagree with you that Marika and Godfrey didn't love each other. Well, you're not necessarily wrong, but I think what we see of the lore makes it clear that their bond was much closer than a loveless political marriage. Mayhaps we can get a Golden Lineage video next? Mohg and Morgott deserve some love too you know! Starting from the top; we know that Marika fought only once as 'herself'- alongside Godfrey during the War against the giants. If Radagon is as you mention a persona she cultivated to excuse her to fight on the front lines, it says a lot that she did so openly when Godfrey was by her side. Even then, I doubt that Godfrey would have cared much about her heritage or anything else when she was so obviously powerful ("a crown in warranted with strength!"). I see their relationship as a parallel Rennala/Radagon; Marika approached Hoarah Loux to use him as a pawn for conquest, but his honest respect for her strength and lack of care for her ancestry won her over to legitimately liking him. This may even explain WHY Marika sent Radagon as she did; she was using her own past experiences for inspiration! Once we reach the Age of the Erdtree we see the birth of Godwyn and the establishment of the Golden Lineage, which explicitly traces its pedigree to Godfrey/Marika (none of Radagon's kids count). Most notably, ONLY the Golden Lineage has descendants beyond first generation demigods, and those scions actually held power in the Lands Between (i.e. their own fiefdom of Limgrave/Weeping peninsula, a peaceful and seemingly rich area). This points to preferential treatment being given to them by Marika, or at the very least that she did not hinder Godfrey's efforts to set them up as lords. On top of this, Godfrey is similar to Rennala in that they are the spouse who had multiple sets of children with Marika/Radagon as their partner (at least 2 for Godfrey, 3 for Radagon). It's not a smoking gun, but still notable to me that Radagon and Marika have only one set of twins throughout his tenure as Elden Lord and a another parallel between Godfrey and a known loving relationship. On Godfrey's banishment, the echoes of Marika make it very clear that she both informed Godfrey of the consequences and that he accepted them- and if marching to certain death with your only possible reward being resurrection to do it again isn't a display of true love (or at least unconditional trust) I don't know what is. More to the point, the guidance of Grace that is probably controlled by Marika ("I will give back what I once claimed") points to the player, an implicit sign of, if not approval, acceptance of Godfrey as a candidate to be Elden Lord again. This is of course leaving out cut dialogue that explicitly frames Godfrey as Marika's partner in breaking the Ring and even more cheesy love likes ("O Marika, I shall take thee in my arms once more!"). Ultimately I think that, even if Marika and Godfrey didn't love each other in a traditional sense, they were at least close friends who respected and trusted one another to stand together- and at that point, is there really a difference? Just my thoughts as a rambler. And again, a great video. Golden Lineage forever!
I have been thinking a lot about Marika and Radagon lately. I think there is so much symbolism in the two. I think they are influenced by the Christian concept of the Trinity as well as the Daoist concept of Yin and Yang. Great video! I think this is the best explanation of Marika and Radagon's dual nature that I've come across yet.
Post DLC another facet can be considered. Shadow of the Elden Tree spoilers in oming. Just as Miquella expelled St. Trina in preparation for ascending to godhood, Marika could have done the same with Radagon. Radagon however was powerful enough to survive as an independent entity while the weaker St. Trina is slowly dying off. Many of the same reasons you mentioned, that Radagon is what Marika wanted to excise from herself, fit perfectly into this theme.
Best lore video on Radagon I’ve seen so far. I didn’t think about the duality aspect before, but really appreciated the build up to it in argument. I started Elden Ring just two months ago, as my first souls game, and avoided all guides and lore videos until after starting NG+. I came to the conclusion that the opening cinematic scenes were actual paintings depicting an interpretation of the events by a painter (maybe the same artist that does the in-game paintings) and thought to myself that the actual shattering of the Elden Ring was Marika shattering her own stone body as she is the vessel of the Elden Ring. Explains the crumbled look when you first find her. I didn’t even know about the pre-release trailers that showed footage not found in the game that debunks this I suppose, so… yours is better. Lol
Thank you so much for the super chat!! 🥲 I love the idea that the opening scenes are by the nameless artist; I actually would love to find out if there is anything more to the narrator of the opening scene and if they’re the same individual behind the item descriptions.
I was like you though, this was my first FromSoft game and I avoided any guides and walkthroughs. Definitely made it a more enjoyable experience going in blind and having all of those surprises.
youtube mary and jesus in the quran and mohmmad in the bible and the Torah and the scientific miracles of the quran and mohmmad in hindu scripture
…
according the bible that you have
(Matthew 4:1) Jesus was tempted
(James 1:13) God doesn't get tempted
(John 1:29) Jesus was seen
(1 John 4:12) No man has ever seen God
(Acts 2:22) Jesus was and is a man, sent by God
(Numbers 23:19, Hosea11:9) God is not a man
(Hebrews 5:8-9) Jesus had to grow and learn
(Isaiah 40:28) God doesn't ever need to learn
(1 Corinthians 15:3-4) Jesus dies
(1 Timothy 1:17) God doesn't die
(Hebrews 5:7) Jesus needed salvation
(Luke 1:37) God doesn't need salvation
(John 4:6) Jesus grew weary
(Isaiah 40:28) God Doesn't grow weary
(Mark 4:38) Jesus slept
(Psalm 121:2-4) God doesn't sleep
(John 5:19) Jesus isn't all powerful
(Isaiah 45:5-7) God is all powerful
(Mark 13:32) Jesus isn't all knowing
(Isaiah 46:9) God is all knowing
...................
I just want to point out the acronym of the demigods parents. Godfrey Radagon Rennala Marika.
EXCUSE ME WHAT?????? Oh my gosh that is amazing how have I never noticed that?!
@@kitetales Oh yeah they totally spell out GRRM 😂👌
There's this one thing I'm kinda confused about. The Omen Twins, I think Marika might have had them with herself considering that they were born afflicted and their names start with an M.
Damn girl started doing Radagon even while she was married to Godfrey
Nasty... Cersei stuff.
Also, Radagon is an anagram for "A dragon". Just a fun little detail.
@@kitetales yep. 😂
George did clarify in his Not A Blog that this was just a coincidence.
Practically all of the names are G, R, or M. Godfrey, Godwyn, Godrick, Godefroy, Gideon, Goldmask... Marika, Melina, Margitt, Morgott, Mogh, Melania, Miquela etc
I know he said it wasn't related to his name but it's a little hard to believe.
I think my favorite Elden Ring lore theory is "Renala was into gingers".
I’m telling you, I have a third eye for this stuff! 👁️
Radagon being a disguised clone of Marika that eventually developed his own identity and conflicting goals is pretty nuts, but the way it's laid out here I could believe it. With her Numen background, Marika could have known about the Nox and their development of mimic tears, and as those of us who play the game with summons know, sometimes your most reliable ally is yourself. And of course it's a common trope to have a copy of someone eventually deviate from their original self as they go out and have their own experiences. As a result, Marika's idea of joining with her clone later on made things more complicated than expected --- one version of Marika seeking to shatter the Golden Order and usher in a new age, the other trying to repair and preserve it. And even for the most All-Knowing of Tarnished it can get a little confusing sometimes figuring out which one is talking to them.
Furthermore, since Radagon and Marika would be two different people but genetically identical, their children would have a high chance of deformity, which is exactly what we see.
Even if this doesn’t turn out to be canon, it’s so solidly thought out. Was a fascinating watch.
Thank you so much, I appreciate that!
I find this little drama to be so human and it’s classic George RR Martin. It touched my heart
Thank you so much! 😊
I'm a lore nut and I am playing Elden Ring for the first time and the lore and mythology and the levels of imagination in this game have completely enchanted me. I loved this lore video so much thanky ou for this! Radagon is such fascinating character to me.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying the game, there really is so much depth to it!
The phrase - "Thou aren't yet to become me, thou aren't yet to become god" gives feeling that it was Radagon's intention to merge, to conjoin Marika, and that he probably was somewhen independent being and were "perfectly" grafted later. Other examples of grafting are Godfrey and Serosh, Dragonlord Placidusax, Godrick with Godfroy, Mohg tried with Miquella and probably Godwyn and Fortissax. In the description of Northerner race it is said that there are rumors that they are descendants of giants, so why wouldn't some of them had red hair right? Plus Astrologers were living near giants which explains Radagon's interest for sorcery.
Plot Twist: Marika was always Radagon's mimic, which is why the statue reverts back to Radagon when you use law of regression, not the other way around.
either way, who was the template for the mimic. i feel like that set this whole thing in motion.
uhhh it is the other way around actually
The statue turns back to Marika :p
Your Elden Ring lore videos are not only thoughtful and interesting, but they also help deepen my enjoyment of the game. This one, I thought, was especially good. Thank you for posting!
Oh my gosh you joined the channel membership!! 🥲 Thank you so much for that, I really appreciate it. ❤️ And thank you for your really kind feedback! It’s super encouraging. I’m so happy you enjoyed it! I really enjoyed putting this one together even though I rewrote the script several times!
Really love the last theory on Radagon being a mimic that represents the parts she does not like about herself (i.e. the red giant heritage). He is definitely one of the most intriguing characters in this game (and one of my favorites)! The seperation of them being gold and copper is even noticable in their scarseals, I hadn't noticed that before.
It also makes me wonder what this means in relation to Renala and her resetting your stats once you bring her a larval tear. There does seem to be a connection there, too.
I just came here from Tarnished Archaeologist's latest video about the Golden Order and the game's timeline. Perfect timing!
I love how you lay it all out here. The insight about Radagon being a blacksmith is something I haven't heard or considered and really strengthens the point about a Giant heritage.
I definitely don't think Marika was the one who was cursed with red hair. Instead we know certain things that were once honored and adored as aspects of the crucible are now labeled as curses in the age of the Erdtree, and red hair is one of those things.
Him being Marika's mimicry is also a great option as it ties a lot of the details together but leaves room for more mystery. So many questions still left to answer but this was a great video!
Thank you very much for watching! 😊
Radagon as a boss has a single weakness : he is notably weaker to fire than to any other type of damage.
Mabye the Giants cursed Marika at the begining of the war with Fire Weakness to beat her easier but it didn't work because she birthed Radagon with the curse to keep it off herself
Marika's imagery -being crucified- led me to think of Marika/Radagon/EldenBeast as kinda like the christian Trinity. A very broken variant of that, but it lingered in my mind for quite a time :)
Yeah that’s a great observation!
I always saw them as a Zelda/Link/Ganon trinity myself, but hey! Both things can be true
I think you could see Marika Radagon Beast as a 3 in 1 trinity perversion or perhaps even radagon/marika as a fantasy and twisted gender fluid/trans idea but with magical overtones
@@tedminette1205 Also just a depiction of the Holy trinity. As well as the three Gods that make up the triforce. All games have an uncanny way of doing that.
@@bengough6772 Considering that Loki is the mother of Odin's horse, shapeshifting bi-gender gods aren't exactly new.
Elden Ring is an alchemical allegory for the great work going awry. Radagon and Marika are a broken Rebus. The ring she shattered is the circle that binds opposites. In the story both parts struggle for agency because they share a body. I’m wondering if there’s an even deeper story to this. Was this binding consensual?
An item that I feel is criminally overlooked when discussing Radagon is the Brick Hammer weapon found in Stormveil near the Concealing Veil. It looks like a pretty generic greathammer, but its description is fascinating. It says it was wielded by a laborer who led a revolt of some kind, who would later go on to become a champion. As if the image of a hammer-wielding champion doesn’t remind us of Radagon, the description goes on to state that the strength of a giant is required to wield it
Yeah I noticed that hammer too; I personally think that it was Hewg, because he's another smith (related to giants) and I imagine maybe that he was punished and imprisoned by Marika for leading a revolt.
@@kitetales I don't think Hewg is a giant, and Radagon is the one named "champion" in the game.
@@Xandros999 The fact the player can wield it means that "the strength of a giant" is just superhuman strength and the Misbegotten certainly exhibit some of that due to their connection to the crucible. I don't think it was Hewg's hammer though, why would he be denied his 2-handed variant if he was gonna be eternally shackled to the Roundtable Hold anyway? "You're now a slave smith for my will. No you can't keep your hammer. Oh you need one to smith? Take this slightly smaller one." Just seems silly that would be a god's thought process. I'd personally think it would be extra punishment to force him to smith with the hammer that he wielded during his revolt (if he were actually that character). The symbol of his freedom twisted forever into a reminder of his oppression.
@@kylegonewildWrong. Lore>>gameplay on this one. The subtext of that description is too obvious it’s talking about Radagon
I don’t expect anyone to see this, but I came from THE FUTURE with knew knowledge given to us by the DLC!
Turns out that Marika and Radagon have a son named Messmer (cursed, just like Miquella and Malenia) who is CONFIRMED to be Radahn’s OLDER brother. This means that Marika had a child with Radagon BEFORE she sent Godfrey away, and BEFORE Radagon “professed his love” to Renala, had THREE children with her (Rykard, Radahn, and Ranni), and learned all her magical secrets just before dumping her and going back to Marika to then have more children with.
So yeah, Marika was likely having an *affair* with Radagon before Radagon’s “seduction and betrayal” of Renala. And because of this, you could say “gold arose” (The Golden Order) to its full potential and dominated the Land’s Between.
I’m not so sure about the mimicry idea, but you laid it out here better than I’ve seen anywhere else. My own thought is that the Erdtree is the central character of the whole game and given Radagon/Marika’s ties to the Erdtree, they must be closely linked. Tarnished Archaeologist had a video a while back where he pointed out that the Erdtree is a beech tree. I looked into it and I think he’s right. This is important because beech trees are monoecious, meaning the same tree will have both male and female flowers. So, I think Marika is the female flower of the Erdtree and Radagon is the male flower. It makes a lot of other things fit well too, but your presentation of the mimicry theory has me thinking that it might be better than I previously thought.
This was a great essay, you're definitely on to something here. I'm becoming addicted to your content and voice! Great work
I like the idea of Marika splitting herself and binding Radagon into a new body. But there's an angle that I believe that could be considered.
Marika didn't 'plan' for Radagon to merge back into herself... she foresaw it being forced upon her by the Greater Will.
I believe them merging back together was the first act of "Grafting", where the Greater Will forced them back together into a single body, thereby imprisoning her with perfect order.
And I think it came in stages. Radagon represents pure devotion to the Greater Will, and his marriage to Marika marked the start of the Golden Order- a strict rule set being imposed on the world. But Marika refused to be compliant even when forced to marry a zealot designed to be a puppet of the Greater Will. She set her first husband off with the prophecies discussed in the game, knowing the Tarnished would someday return to liberate her from her prison.
She also shattered the Elden Ring to remove Destined Death, knowing full well that this was blasphemy against the Order and against The Greater Will. Radagon tried desperately to rebuild the Elden Ring, but it was all for naught- it couldn't be put back together.
This final blasphemy was all it took, the Greater Will essentially said 'enough is enough' and grafted Radagon's soul back into Marika's. Forever imprisoning her within his Dogmatic Order. I believe this was a violent grafting, as when we see them both at the end of the game, they're cracked and splintered.
When grafting was mentioned in game- it was said to be a profane act that mimics practices times past...
I think that is in reference to Marika being imprisoned into Radagon as a spiritual grafting, and physical grafting is the best facsimile that humans could do to mimic it.
Anyway, hope it makes sense and was at least somewhat coherent! Thanks for reading if you did!
Really good video. The mimicry section really lays it out beautifully.
Edit: worth noting too that the Golden Order Sword is forged from the Moon Sword given to Radagon from Renalla, as is Carian tradition. This is not only why the swords resemble each other in shape, weapon class, and weapon skill projectile, but also demonstrates the basis for the Golden Order Sword's Intelligence stat requirement.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! I always thought it was very sweet how Radagon kept her sword in forging the Golden Order sword; to me it illustrated that he still loved her.
@@kitetales've heard and note I would kget this double checked because it's massive hearsay. That the Golden order Sword was made "in the form" of the Darkmoon sword and It being made from was a slight mistl if that's true than it further hints to Radagon still loving Rannela in his own way
I love the mimicry theory. In fact if you consider the cut Asimi quest-line, where your body serves host to a mimic tear and Melina speaks independently with it as a traveling companion, we know this kind of thing is possible. Instead of a silver tear, perhaps it was a golden tear, the golden order's perfect embodiment of an earlier version of her, explaining the "leal hound" line "Thou have yet to become me, thou have yet to become a god". Or perhaps an offshoot of her, similar to the Millicent / Melania relationship. There's also the inseparable twins D, that could explain it as well.
I didn’t know that about the Asimi quest, that matches up perfectly with the mimicry theory!
I love the concise way you laid out these theories. Almost all of them make some amount of sense, and I agree that puzzling them out is part of what makes Radagon so interesting. Man, but Marika crafting Radagon to suit Rennala's tastes would be all the more fucked up for how shattered his departure leaves her. Marika being capital R ruthless as always.
Thank you so much I appreciate that! And yeah I feel like bits and pieces of each theory fit together, lots of different ways to interpret it which makes it more fun for discussion. And I totally think Marika was capital R ruthless, no kindness in anything she did...
@@kitetales yea she was also a worse parent than godfrey who was a warhound 😩
There's anothe succesful (or at least loving) marriage in Elden Ring, remeber the story of Lady Tanith and Pretor Rykaard, she was a foregin dancer who fell in love with him and embrace his path 100% till the very end.
Beautifully researched.
But the numen, Marika, ranni all wanted to escape the influence of the gods and I think what happened in the mountaintops was the key.
Thank you! 😊
I think the Twins theory Is absolutely fantastic, the best theory that explains radagon and Marika yet.
One of the more interesting and comprehensible videos on Marika/Radagon I’ve seen in comparatively a short amount of time. Helps that according to GRRM, “the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.”
Wow, this is such a well thought out video essay and some great music and editing to boot! Amazing!
Thank you so much I really appreciate that! And I’m glad someone liked the playlist! 😆
I'm surprised the mimicry line of thought isn't addressed more often. Was immediately what I thought of the first time I saw Radagon's cracked, artificial looking body. There's also the cut-content with Asimi where a mimic tear would live inside you and eventually become a separate version of you and try to kill you to take your place. Obviously you can always say it was cut to get the game out on time, but I feel like maybe it was because it made the nature of Radagon and Marika too obvious. It leaves a bit of a blind spot for the giant's curse imo but is totally believable. We see the albinaurics altered through the Formless Mother's cursed blood so artificial beings can clearly receive such ailments.
I'm also a big believer in the idea their inner turmoil became actively hostile. The seal to the Erd Tree is in the shape of Radagon's rune. This makes me think he was the one that deemed it necessary to imprison her. Perhaps as an outward form of altruism, but also perhaps as self preservation. I think it could be the case St Trina is Miquella's version of Radagon, however they both came to be. And St Trina is described as having a sudden appearance then disappearance. This could coincide with Miquella's entry and exist of the Halig Tree, and Radagon came to know this so imprisoned Marika within the Erd Tree in order to stop the same thing happening to him.
I’d never heard of that Asimi quest! That makes me think the silver tear theory holds more weight.
@@kitetales SekiroDubi has a video about this cut quest I think. Vaati's referenced it before, I think in the Eternal Cities video.
I'm still depressed about Asimi's questline being cut. She would've been a excellent addition to the cast.
huh
i always thought Saint Trina was miquella under a seperate identity. who would saint trina represent if she was 'seperated' from miquella?
@@canvascutter7818 I always thought Trina was just another alias of Miquella. Miquella looks feminine enough to being confused for a girl.
Lovely. The only missing thing I picked up were the cuckoo knights. This makes me think radagon was always intent on deceiving rennala. He gave her the egg (like cuckoo birds) she then stayed in the nest fixating on it while radagon left her and his knights kept her trapped in the tower.
This adds wieght to them being the same due to him only magically appearing to align the houses of moon and tree after marikas failure to do it thru conquest.
Yes I love this!! It definitely is the missing piece to the puzzle.
Oh, and just a fun little detail, Radagon is internally called “Distortion of Marika.” And tbh granted Marika’s mischievous nature with what’s said with the golden veil, I sort of assumed it’s how she sired those “unwanted/illegitimate children” that are now soulless and resting in the mausoleums.
It would be in line with what Norse Loki did; disguising himself multiple times, and having weird offspring because of it 🤨
@@kitetales Mm, kinda sus
@@kitetales Honestly there are many parallels with Norse and Celtic myth and folklore
Source: trust me bro
@@victorprati7908 Radagon’s ID in the game files is literally “MarikaOfDistortion” - the golden veil is more or less a theory, but the soulless demigods are notably described as “illegitimate children” of Marika’s within the game.
A lot of Elden Ring lore videos just regurgitate item descriptions ad nauseam for an hour. I REALLY liked this video along with your other Elden Ring Lore videos. Very concise and interesting.
Thank you so much!! This one took a LOT longer than any of the others, so I extra appreciate your kind feedback! :)
4:45
I don't think the giant's curse was just about giving Marika red hair and that that was just a side effect. I think the giant's curse is actually the Fell God's curse that forces living beings to turn into giants. Let me explain: Marika was cursed and then she passed the cursed into Radagon who later passed on to his children. Now half of his children simply inherited the red hair but not the curse, Rikard and Ranni, but two others of his children were certainly affected, the most obvious being Radahn who was literally turned into a giant being. Then there was Malenia, who was not completely affected by the curse, probably due to her connection to the Scarlett Rot, but still carry it and then spread it throughout Caelid in her first bloom. How do we known this? Well because of those annoying giant T-Rex dogs and the giant Skeksis birds we find in Caelid. Normally we all thought that they became giant due to the Scarlett Rot but we also find them in the mountain tops of the fire giants were there's no sign of the rot itself, wich leads me to believe that the curse of the giant's Fell God is what turned them courtesy of Malenia.
So that leaves us with the question on why the Fell God's curse turns things into giants? My take is so someone or something can become big enough to hold the Fell God itself, or some aspect of it, inside as a medium for It to have power and influence in the material world and the mountain giants, or trolls, were the only ones that could get the "job" done. Either the original giants were slowly turned bigger until one of them became the vessel for the Fell God or the giants were originally trolls like Iji and others we encountered, that were turned into giants so one of them could serve the aforementioned goal.
Well those are my thoughts/theory on the matter. Good day
Souls games have been enlarging important boss figures to emphasise their "power" since forever. But this is an interesting theory. The giant dogs and crows in caelid have always been confusing, since when does scarlet rot ENCOURAGE the growth of its host?
Beings were always larger in the past and over generations gradually shrank until they are now at modern size. Radahn is like a real giant so that is very plausible that it's the giant blood of Radagon. Maybe Rykard was as well but we never get to see him as a human.
Yeah, it's never really even casually explained why Radahn would have been so literally massive. Morgott and Mogh were both afflicted by the Omen curse which seems to promote large growth in those who have it. The other pair of twins were each afflicted with different curses as well, but neither of them grew to enormous proportions. We never *see* pre-devouring Rykard but the scale of furniture and interior infrastructure of the Volcano Manor implies he would have been similarly sized to Malenia and Miquella. His 'curse' if you will, seems to be an all-consuming desire to accumulate power and live forever, hence why he lets himself be devoured by the serpent and feasts on powerful tarnished. Maybe the reality is that *all* of Marika's offspring were cursed in one form or another as punishment for her various campaigns to annihilate and suppress previously existing societies through the Golden Order. The competing outer gods exerting their will in the ongoing struggle for dominant control over the fate of The Lands Between.
Man this is an amazing observation!!
Yet the curse is not a curse. It’s just the force of life of the original great tree/ crucible. And I believe the fell god isn’t fell at all it’s just an aspect of the original thing that was abandoned.
This ties in to my theory, if the Fell God of the Fire Giants IS their curse. After all, trolls are giants without the Fell God inside them, and they're notably smaller.
Radagon is by far my favourite character in any Fromsoft game. He seems like a dedicated man who puts his entire soul into whatever is important, like Renalla or repairing the Elden Ring. Riperooni my bodacious red headed babe :[
One of my theories is that Radagon was made by the Greater Will to “complete” Marika, since he essentially has an opposite personality to her. Radagon is devoted, loyal to a fault and is a fighter as shown with his war efforts, the fact that he was a loving father and husband in his days as the Carian patriarch and how he had to leave what he loved to serve the Golden Order. Marika however is a lot more flimsy in her ideals and clearly much less loving as shown with her ability to cast away Godfrey like he’s nothing and throw the Omen twins into the sewers as well as shatter the Elden Ring, it does mean that she has more autonomy and free will. Free will and autonomy clearly isn’t something that the Greater Will likes in its subjects so it made Radagon from Marika as a way to fully complete its idea of a perfect vassal that rules over the Lands Between.
Based on everything we know now after the DLC, it's more likely that Radagon was the true chosen god of the Lands Between, but Marika was led by the corrupt fingers to usurp him. It's entirely possible that Radagon is the god that left Placidusax. That would explain why dragon worship was considered to be almost "one and the same" with the golden order.
It's interesting how the final part of the video touches on Marika splitting off a part of herself, and to now contrast it with what Miquella does to St. Trina, literally discarding a part of himself as unwanted, specifically the parts of his personality/self that he thought would be a detriment to ruling over the world. Given that St. Trina is Miquella's love, was Radagon some softer part of Marika? And is that why she's so awful?
Marika treated her children as either tools (Melina, Messmer) or shameful burdens (Morgott, Mohg, and also Messmer). Rennala's kids, conversely, don't seem to have suffered anywhere near to the same degree. Perhaps Radagon possessed a love that Marika lacked, and was therefore able to have a somewhat happy family. People often see Radagon as this villainous body snatcher, but what if he didn't want to leave Rennala to marry/become one with Marika?
Edit: It's easy to assume Radagon is the bad guy because he's the penultimate foe we face, but Marika is one of the worst people in the Lands Beyond: a tyrant who pursued multiple genocidal wars and then blew up the world for... reasons?? What if Radagon is genuinely trying to wrest control of her to fix the world and the Elden Ring, and the reason he's blocking all aspirants away is because, well. Rykard is insane. Mohg is insane. Malenia nuked Caelid, also insane. Who knows what Ranni is planning. Likewise Miquella. Radahn is a zombie. Godrick is a runt, and also insane. Morgott is a self-loathing Golden Order traditionalist and the least bad of the bunch, but maybe not a great candidate for the ruler of the new age.
If these are the candidates, Radagon might just go "nope, you all suck" and lock the doors. Hell, who could he even trust with the power of the Elden Ring? Some random tarnished that burns the Erdtree in pursuit of power?
No wonder he attacks us... but I think his cause might actually be both noble and justified.
What if Radagon was the one good, sane person in the Lands, just trying to fix everything?
I 100% agree with you!! I don’t see Radagon as the villainous husband, leaving Rennala because he was using her. I have never got behind that theory and the game dialogue doesn’t support that either. I absolutely think he had a love that Marika lacked.
For one Radagon doesn’t represent the same thing as St Trina since he represent order and marika love represents gold two radagon is Equally as worst as marika or worse in the end but at the beginning he was far better
then her but at the end he was far worse, since he tried to keep the order alive unlike marika who tried to end the order and want to change things by guide the tarnished to ranni who would make a better world and three when radagon took control things became a lot worse in the golden order which some of that is definitely marika doing by banishing Godfrey and hiding away the scadutree but also radagon since during rule the golden order became a lot more worse and not accepting of other life forms that were different and not blessed by the erdtree unlike during the time of Godfrey where the erdtree were accepting of the crucible and other life still horrible to those, but not as horrible and one other thing, he literally did not know what his children have become he locked marika and him self in the erdtree before the war ever started that’s why the Demigod started to war against each other Because they were not around too stop it
I'm a big fan of many Elden Ring lore vloggers, some of whom are insightful and entertaining. But to me, your ER content is just on another level.
Thank you so much! 🥲 I let production get the better of me 😆
I love this.
The mimic becoming sentient is an excellent theory on the creation and duality of Radagon/Marika (and their eventual fusing together).
Deeply enriches what I thought I already knew. And adds layers to the mystery at the same time.
Right?! I really love that theory and I think it makes sense with the items; would add a more unique feature to Radagon’s existence.
@@kitetales Yes! And it raises really cool questions about the mimic tears. Like... can OUR mimic tear gain sentience and its own personality?
The unanswered questions of the game are so marvelously woven into our own experience.
And yes, if a god such as Marika created a mimic it would likely be far more impressive than what we do.... (But still in the same vein).
Hell yeah seeing a new video from y’all always make my day 10 times better
Seeing YOU always makes my day better!!
@@kitetales 😧
I always saw the radagon marika duality as a representation of marikas inner turmoil that came to major pivoting point during the genocide of the fire giants
I think she was forced into this by the golden order which led her to question wether the order was worth following
Radagon was born out of that turmoil
The embodiment of her devotion to the golden order stained by the red hair that devotion cruelly wiped out of existence
A constant reminder of the price of such devotion
Never heard the Zamor/Giant heritage idea for Marika, great theory!
Thank you! I'm going to say "ha I KNEW it" when the GRRM story drops one day 😆
Great video never thought about mimicry could be the source. One of the main themes of GRRM works is duty versus love which sounds like Radagon and Rennala relationship.
Thank you! Yeah that sounds exactly what I’ve always pictured happened when Radagon left. It was always out of duty but not what he wanted.
Its very difficult to find videos that manage to keep you captivated throughout their entirety. Having to sift through so much garbage online really makes finding gems like this video all the more rewarding. Subbed!
Your elden ring vids are awesome, keep em coming
Thank you! 😊
My idea on this topic is the same as any other lore part of Elden Ring. Martin wrote a book with 800 pages. 700 of them were burned. 100 of them were turned into lore that can be found within the game. And there are people who think it's fun to be in the dark and write theories.
Just like FS don't put in any effort to help people keep track of their quests (not even the lines which were said, nothing at all), they push the work unto the players to make sense of everything. This is then praised as some glorious storytelling, when in reality, players are just doing the work that the developers should have done themselves. And players have somehow convinced thenselves the ambiguity is a great thing.
The story is incomplete and even severely lacking in aspects critical to the story.
I completely agree. I’ve said this game’s story is the equivalent of taking a book, putting it through a paper shredder and then telling the readers to go pick up all the pieces. It’s definitely pretentious.
This is the most intriguing analysis of the marika/radagon duality I’ve ever heard.
Thank you so much, that’s high praise! 🥲
@@kitetales Don’t mention it. You deserve infinite high 5s for this one.
My only thoughts:
You’ve taken marika in a pretty fascinating direction, and not an obvious one; most are quick to declare her exclusively numen originating from the EC, and close the book… probably, because it’s implied by dialogue and item descriptions.
However, you’ve sorta distanced yourself from that conclusion… preferring this more interesting Zamor origin.
(And justifiably so: She really does look more northern than Numen, you’re right)
So that shared “long-lived” description solidifies a link between the Zamor and the Numen for you?
As much as it intrigued me,
that phrase,
“Long-Lived”
It’s doing some pretty heavy lifting for your theory.
Maybe… more than intended?
So I’ll just say it:
Could you see more evidence linking the Zamor with the Numen, besides their both being long-lived?
@@AlexGordonMusic Yeah it’s definitely a stretch just to connect from that one line, but there were a couple of things that made me suspect it: the Zamor were sworn enemies of the Fire Giants for all time, whom Marika wiped out completely; it seemed almost personal. Secondly, one of the heroes drops Radagon’s Scarseal, so I thought maybe it was a way to try and connect Marika to them? And I think the Zamor move set seemed very similar to Radagon’s. It makes me wonder what the connection was.
Some other TH-camrs have noted that From Software games, Elden Ring in particular, often reference alchemy. The relevant alchemy reference here is the concept of the Rebis, a being which is both masculine and feminine.
Now we are twins!
Tu es mon meilleur mari !
I pr much agree with your final theory on Radagon. I believe that he did some how form his own autonomy and is a parallel to Marika while still being part of her. I also really like to think of his abandonment of Rennala to almost be forced. After all it is called the greater WILL, maybe he hardly had a choice. Take like Blaidd, who was a creation of the greater will, who went mad when turning against it. Radagon isn't too dissimilar, since he is technically part of the greater will's own vessel.
But yeah, 'loved this video :)) Radagon is one of the most intriguing characters to me too! And the one that I have probably thought about more than any other (Hell my second playthrough was Red haired faith character called Chadagon xD)
I totally think the Greater Will forced Radagon to leave Rennala; I can't imagine Rennala falling apart the way that she did would have happened if there wasn't a deep love between them. Makes me hate the Greater Will even more. Thank you so much for watching and for your comment! Chadagon sounds absolutely amazing!! 😆
2:43 you are the first content creator I’ve seen who has mentioned this Radagon Zamor connection. They also move in a way that’s very similar to the black knives and I’ve always felt like they mean so much more to the story than we’ve been given.
Im so glad u make these videos
Why thank you! I'm so glad a handful of people enjoy them ❤️
Ah this was the little slice of lore heaven I needed to keep me going until DLC. Radagon/Marika is my favourite character in the game. I'm so sad we never had a proper interaction with them. I can only hope for some dream versions in the DLC.
Thank you so much! ❤️
I think the reason Radagon hates his red hair, is because they haven't tuned gold, like Marika's, or Miquella's and Godwyn's, implying a favor and acceptance by the Greater Will. It's a constant reminder that "he is not yet God". Perhaps that is why he is determined to serve as " a loyal dog" the Outer Will. The child that tries to get his parents' acceptance and approval.
Im hoping the DLC goes more onto what marikas plan for the tarnished was. Especially since it made Sir Spysalot: the all knowing do a complete 180 towards the end of the game. That point is where i started thinking any theory of her being "good" kinda went away.
I really like that radagon mimic theory. I havent heard any of the other channels purpose that. The fact its legit stated out in the law of regression and connecting the sword of knight and flame. I also never heard the idea that merica was part zamoran. Good theorys!
Thank you!! 😊
Great theories! Very soothing yet captivating delivery.
This was very very insightful and very interesting. Thanks for this!!
Just for fun, here’s a translation of the line. “Radagon, dog of the Golden Law. You are still not me. You are still not a god. Come, let’s shatter together, my half (other half of her body)”. The shattering in context of their form is the same used when in reference to the state of the Elden Ring - linking the cause and effect of Marika’s actions.
One thing I thought was interesting is that the whole plot twist that Radagon is Marika is that Marika claims Radagon wasn’t a god. Well, we can actually see this in game. My conclusion is that Marika and Radagon are two different beings with two different forms existing in a single body. Marika was always the first of the two, the god, and thus it is her form that holds the ring. When we fight Radagon, you’ll notice that the Elden Ring is missing from her shattered body, and then manifests in Radagon’s. When we kill Radagon, it says we have slain a god. Yet that was only because he had the ring.
Or the twins, for example. They were born of the one god, or the single god, and thus their afflictions can be attributed to the nature of their births, which is described as fragile - needless to say, incestuous.
His existence is pretty weird, but all in all I think he’s just a chess pieace. Between allying with Caria, siring Demigods, and then Empyreans. Being King - no two different entities in that matter. It’s just Marika in two parts.
I don't know who told you this, but as someone who can read Japanese, it's not true. It is crystal clear in the Japanese text that Radagon is only not Marika *for the time being,* and Radagon *and* Marika are what's being shattered. Just the same as the English lines insinuate. I can break it down for you if you'd like.
Your conclusion about Radagon's nature is sound either way, though. It doesn't really demand that the line be translated differently, as far as I can tell.
@@UltraStarWarsFanatic Really? Huh… crap translation on my part for sure. If you could then yeah, I wanna make sure I have the right info up there. Thx for pointing it out.
At any rate, I suppose that makes sense too. By shattering the Elden Ring Marika shattered both herself as well as Radagon, rendering them husks in their incarceration.
@@UltraStarWarsFanatic Oh wait - I’m an idiot. I was going off of memory without looking at the actual translation in my notes. Ur completely right.
It’s pretty on par with the English, saying “Radagon, dog of the Golden Law. You are still not me. You are still not a god. Come, let’s shatter together, my half.” The shattering in context of their form is the exact same used when in reference to the state of the Elden Ring - linking the cause and effect of Marika’s actions.
@@AlbertusSalvatierra Here's the raw text :
おお、ラダゴン、黄金律の犬よ。お前はまだ、私ではない。まだ、神ではない。さあ、共に砕けようぞ！我が半身よ！
Oo, Radagon, ouginritsu no inu yo. Omae wa mada, watashi dewa nai. Mada, kami dewa nai. Saa, tomo ni kudakeyou zo! Waga hanshin yo!
The first line is pretty straightforward, so I won't elaborate at all.
おお、ラダゴン、黄金律の犬よ。
O' Radagon, dog of the Golden Order.
They key to the second line is the word まだ, which means "still," or "not yet."
お前は *まだ、* 私ではない。 *まだ、* 神ではない。
You are still not me. (You are) still not god.
or
You are not yet me. Not yet a god.
There's a couple noteworthy things about the final line. First and foremost, she uses 砕ける (conjugated as 砕けよう) rather than 砕く. This is an example of a transitive-intransitive pair. Most verbs in Japanese have two versions, one transitive (i.e. the direct object is the target of the verb) and one intransitive (i.e. the subject is the target of the verb). In this context, 砕く would have meant that Marika intended to shatter something, whereas 砕ける implies Marika intended to be shattered herself. So the correct reading of 共に砕けようぞ is, "let's be shattered together." Then she calls Radagon 我が *半身.* This is tricky to elegantly translate. The best way I can explain it is to say that *半身* 麻痺 is the world for hemiplegia, or paralysis of half of the body. So she's saying Radagon is half of her own body.
さあ、共に砕けようぞ！我が半身よ！
Let's be shattered together. My (other) half!
isn't God Slain used for the Elden Beast, not Radagon? Elden Beast uses Radagon as the sword, they're not the same creature
I really enjoyed this! I think your idea that Radagon was created for the purpose of wooing Rennala has a lot of merit. As you went through the mimicry item descriptions it occurred to me how Radagon could become his own person. The game is clear enough to say magic is a physical manifestation of a mental image based on trust of either study or of an external power. The more clear the mental image, the more powerful the magical manifestation. With the years of Marika pretending to be another person, the mental picture of who Radagon is would become quite well formed, enough perhaps that Marika no longer had to personify the avatar. Later, with the prospect of ripping herself apart to destroy the ring, it's natural that she would seek to make herself whole first in an attempt to gather the strength needed.
Radagon is a total mystery. For real.
Where did he come from?
Why does he hate his hair?
Etc.
All your videos are just the best!
Thank you I appreciate that! 😊
I always found Radagon was more interesting as a character if he was part fire giant first and existed as his own entity maybe a fire giant warrior of great renown whose imprisonment in a curse that binds him to Marika’s very body is the extra humiliating act against the giants Marika could take to end the war and demoralize the last giant into inaction. It would also make the references in items to Radagon’s internal conflicts like his constant striving for adoration of the golden order and their followers and his immense hatred for his hair color make a lot more sense in characterizing him as someone who’s defeated to their very being. Where he remained loyal to the order that genocided his people and through being forced to exist in a society like the golden order’s that exists on intense persecution of not only fire giants but even to people like the misbegotten he’s developed an intense self hatred and a clinging to authority that makes the shattering take on more of a twisted irony behind it. Where even when the person who orchestrated the genocide of his people offers to reject the order that deemed that genocide necessary, the conditioning radagon underwent as a giant existing in the golden order worked too well and made it so even then he’s still clinging to the golden order and greater will.
Honestly the idea of Radagon being a total wreck of a character in that way could also inform a bit on how Miquella developed that altruistic edge to him given he was very close to Radagon but kind of acting against the whims of the greater will and golden order. That kind of action while still maintaining that fondness for his father makes me believe Miquella might have pitied his father a great deal and his plight under the golden order as a giant adding onto the reasons he would want to reject it.
Granted been a very long hot minute since I delved into the lore talks and I’m not privy on all the items so I’m sure I missed something but if we’re going by Occam‘s razor the fact Rykard and Radahn are so massive is a detail often overlooked when it probably shouldn’t be, but besides that point Radagon being a giant first to me would fit in with the cast of strong characters elden ring has where they have these intentional contradictions about them that explains more about their characters rather than those contradictions being a mistake like how morgott being an omen made him one of the erdtree’s most twisted victims yet demonstrates an undying fanaticism to it.
Mmmmm new Elden Ring Lore.
Of all the mysterys In this game, i want to learn more about Radagan the most.
Teach us about our red haired man of the hour!
Great video. I love the Zamor angle. The following is an extract from an essay I wrote hypothesising something similar. “As for the numen, only two elite castes seem to have survived intact into the Age of the Erd Tree. The first were a group of female warriors, handmaidens to the queen. The second were a contingent of male knights sent north early in the Crucible Age as an advance guard to contain the giant’s flame. To understand this, we must return briefly to the nightmaiden’s mist. Spark aromatic isn’t the only evolution of this attack. The Knights of Zamor have a breath attack where they kneel and exhale a stream of silvered particles which transform into an AOE frost attack. Only those with silver blood are capable of doing this. In their item descriptions, they are characterized as long-lived, the same phrase used to describe the lifespan of numen. A Hero of Zamor is the boss of the side catacomb beside Leyndell, further connecting them to the city in its infancy.
Another Hero of Zamor in the Weeping Peninsula evergaol drops Radogan’s soreseal. A seal is the kind of item bestowed by a superior upon a subordinate to demonstrate they speak or act with their authority. This implies Radagon is a male numen and was originally the leader of the Knights of Zamor. The location and bearer of this item alone places Radagon further back in the timeline than has been generally acknowledged, too far to be human.
Indeed, when you consider the matter, the game wasn’t trying very hard to conceal this detail. In one of the cinematics, Radagon and Marika are shown individually breaking/repairing the elden ring. Both their bodies display stone-like fractures in the ripping musculature, suggesting they are morphologically similar. Reinforcing this is Marika’s spoken memory in the queen’s bedchamber. ‘ . . let us be shattered both,’ she says to Radogan. Taken literally, this also indicates a similar composition.” - Death, Mother And The Maiden: The Three Sisters Of Farum Azula And Queens Of The Eternal Cities.
I was waiting all day to get home to watch this. I was just realizing how little I knew about Marika and Radagon the other day and am pretty far away from the meat of the lore on them in my current playthrough, so this video is perfect
Aww thank you so much! :)
That is solid lore sleuthing! Never thought that Marika might have actually created Rad with the intention of infiltrating Carian lines and is undone by his free will, but it really does fill in some of the larger gaps quite nicely. Great well thought out stuff, thank you for that! As soon as the game dropped there were so many speculation vids just so they could be the first trying to beat Vaati, but it was rough going.
what i wouldnt give to get my hands on Martins written history of the lands between for even ten minutes. damn.
I mostly believe Radagon was originally a separate entity that Marika took into herself. But at the same time I feel like not enough people address the Miquella/St. Trina connection. It's pretty heavily implied that Miquella and St. Trina are the same person but different forms. What if Radagon was supposed to be a sort of offshoot of Marika who left and found a sort of free will?
Though I think its more likely Marika sort of subsumed Radagon into her own self perhaps as a way to strengthen herself or preventing him from supplanting her or even undermining her plans. We're not even fully sure WHY she broke the Elden Ring, the reason the Shattering kicked off in the first place. My guess is Radagon had some aspirations to becoming an Empyrean despite not being born one, and the Queen's Bedchamber speech was basically her belittling him for planning to do so. Perhaps the process of changing from an Empyrean to a god is to absorb the Elden ring or be absorbed by it. It's possible that Marika, being the possessor of the Elden Ring, did the latter.
A crackpot theory, and I still don't have 100% of the lore down, but that's my interpretation so far. For some reason, in Elden Ring, despite there being more lore overall the gaps between the lore seem much, much wider than they did in Dark Souls.
It's not a mistery why Queen Marika shattered the Elden Ring
She did it after the death of her firstborn Godwyn in the night of the black knifes. The lady next to the two fingers in roundtable hold tells us that stating Marika got the big sad or something like that.
man, I really love hearing your stories and how you tell them. It's really amazing, I wish you get more subscribers and views! You deserved it!
Thank you so much!! 😊
These are some interesting ideas! Thus inspired, I feel compelled to offer my own line of thought: projection.
In keeping with the idea that Radagon and Marika were always one, it is entirely possible for them to exist in separate locations simultaneously via projection. When I speak of projection, I refer to a remote avatar, a means of interacting with far off places, specifically the kind that Mohg and Morgott use. Since projections can engage in combat, it would be possible for Marika to be in Leyndell while her other half is off in Liurnia. As for how the children are sired, Marika could use the mimic veil to travel and switch places with Radagon.
This eases a lot of confusion off of the renalla/radagon war. Morgott certainly didnt learn it from godfrey. Though neither miquella nor malenia use projection as far as game lore is aware.
Awesome video! Excellent analysis and quite a bit to mull over. Great work 😀
Thanks so much for watching!
As radagon was a leal hound of the golden order, i still stand by the fact that radagon is Marikas "will" manafested. Radagon over the course of the history, fought, or united what was stopping the influence of the elden ring.
We see this with milicents questline, where maleneas soul is split into 7, all moving back to rejoin her at the haligtree.
This is yet the best video I have seen about Marina/Radagon. Thank you for posting and great work!
I am more bias toward them being twins, it sounds so much like Cersei and Jaime, him doing everything she told him whilst disgracing himself and honor. I see Rennala as lady Brianne, for Jaime respected her and even loved her, but he loved Cersei more and returned to her in the end. However, why would he want to remain servant to the Greater Will and restore the Elden Ring? Probably out of realization of the bad deed he did for Marika.
I do like the dissociative disorder too. Humans have it, what would such a thing do to a god?
Thank you so much!! It’s definitely one of my favorite videos I’ve worked on so I really appreciate that! ❤️
i still believe that the "curse" of the fire giants in the description of the gians braid is not speaking of a literal curse,
but rather is akin to a curse , & Radagon is a lesser fire giant who was austracised for his stature thus growing to hate his own people, ssiding with the golden order the first chance he got,
Although the Symbolism of Merika having mixed herritige & the likening to purifying gold is just too good to not be true
I love that maybe Radagon was just a short giant! 😆
I really like the mimicry theory because it nicely ties in with Marika’s connection with the nox
OMG Hes a mimic tear........ WOW. I cant believe i haven't heard that theory. Amazing work!
lord almighty this video is a work of art
Thank you so much! 🥲
@@kitetales you’re welcome! I can’t wait to see more from you!
9:07 before I make it any farther I’m just gonna go ahead and say that I think Radagon is a super advanced mimic tear. One that Marika created but lost control of. The cut story line with a mimic, the description of the mimic tear where it says that it’s will isn’t copied or something to that effect, and the fact that it takes HP to summon and not FP all supports or gives context to this theory for me.
The other thing I want to say about Radagon is that I don’t think there was anything romantic or good about Radagon wooing Renalla. I was First interested in the parallels between Ranni and Godwyn compared to Loki and Baldr. While the story isn’t a 1 to 1 recounting, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities. Then I read about Odin and Rindr, or Rinda. SA trigger warning for anyone looking into that mythology. I learned about the specific kind of magic referenced, seiðr (sometimes anglicized as seidhr, seidh, seidr, seithr, seith, or seid) and how it shapes the future.
Again the parallels weren’t exactly the same but it was just too close for me to ignore. The celestial dew doesn’t take into consent of the person who is doing the forgiving, if you really think about it. And other than in the erdtree sanctuary and Caria manor, I’m pretty sure all of the celestial dew is underground in the Nox cities. I think it’s very interesting to consider him having a close connection there. I think it was a play on Marika’s part to dismantle raya lucaria from the inside but Radagon took the opportunity for his own gain and created children for his own means. I also think that the rune of the unborn was not something Marika intended, or even if she did, it’s removal from the elden Ring is the cause of melania and miquella’s afflictions imo. Anyway sorry that was a bit of a ramble.
The celestial dew says this
“Once upon a time, the stars of the night sky guided fate, and this is a recollection of those times.”
So just if you feel inclined, check out that Norse mythology, I think it illuminates a kind of sinister motive for Radagon and may imply a lot of intentionality to the Renalla/Radagon children.
One more thing, I’m so sorry, the whole reason I started considering this is because Odin hung in the roots of Yggdrasil with a spear stabbed in him, to try and learn the runes of fate I believe, so I started thinking about the story from the perspective of Marika actually being the role of Odin and what that could mean.
I found the part about Marika’s parentage interesting because it sort reminds me of the Norse mythological figure Odin since he too was born of an giantess called Bestla. Being half Giant and half god I guess.
I like the idea that he was custom made for Rennala's taste.
The Red King and The White Queen is a thing in Alchemy, and if we know anything about the Carian queen...
Babe was a science junkie! 😆
Edit: Oh and I am obsessed with the AI "art" you used in this video!
The Red King and White Queen analogy is so good; and that fits perfectly given the theme of alchemy! I hadn’t heard that term before so read up on it, thank you for sharing!
And isn’t the AI art fun?! It was super enjoyable seeing all the responses it gave me. 😆
@@kitetales I really loved the AI art. There's hardly any art of Radagon and Marika in the game except for the now infamous statue depictions because we learn their secret through those statues, and the two paintings which, as beautiful and complementary to eachother they are, aren't enough imho.
More is definitely something we need.
It's also hard finding non sexualized or smutty artwork of these two on the internet frequently, which I must confess ruins them for me.
Afterall, before we find out "the secret", it seemed like Marika disposed of Godfrey after he served his purpose because he was a barbarian warrior and a brute, which is in contradiction for where she wanted to take her kingdom from that point on. She needed someone like Radagon, an elegant fighter, a philosopher, a man of science who goes to war because of duty as opposed to the need to spill blood. Kinda interesting...
And yes he happened to be hot too but that's beside the point, she literally said that the days of blind belief were behind them. It actually makes sense for the people of the lands between that she picked this guy, and him being very ambitious and ever yearning for more .. to learn, to contemplate, and to forge into principles or laws, it would make sense that he'd jump onto the opportunity to move to the capital and marry Marika.
He perceived his duty towards faith and science as more holy than that of the bonds of marriage. Miriel's confusion confused me lol 🤣
Great video btw! And so happy I caught it less than 15 minutes from its release. 😊
Oh my gosh the lewd Ranni artwork just makes me roll my eyes; Ranni has a doll's body- but let's give her J cups 🙄
@@kitetales yep, you certainly know what I'm talking about.
I'll take the AI generated art any day over *that kind* of "artwork"
Was it midjourney? Stable diffusion? Or something else that you used, if you don't mind me asking, because the quality is top notch and classy. Excellent choice! And a really good result.
@@kitetales The archetype of the Red King and the White Queen is what struck me the most when I first played the game, in alchemy this marriage of opposites is consecrated with the intent of creating a "Rebis" (A perfect hybrid of man & woman, the ultimate alchemical creation). In regards to the Lands Between, this association is of course a tragic one because Radika instead produced a White King (Miquella) and a Red Queen (Malenia). I believe that Marika fused herself with Radagon *after* the birth of their twins because of this, as a last ditch attempt to turn herself into a Rebis, an experiment which of course, failed, fracturing their bodies and damning them to corrosion. I always believed that Radagon was created by Marika with the intent of "alchemical marriage" (Or at least Elden Ring's equivalent of that). Radagon was the man who could synchronise sorceries with incantions after all, there are no intellectual advancements of his that don't do this. Maybe Radagon was meant to bear the child himself, he and Rennala were the most "active" after all (Though that could just be because they were the only ones who actually loved each other). If this was the case, then it could be a potential explanation as to why he brought the golden needle with him, he was setting out to rear that giga-baby. Another possibility reagrding Radagon's hair-hatred is the chance that it was actually given by Marika with the intent of fusing it into herself, rather than an attempt to exterminate it, even if she did hate the hugh, creating a husband that has completely different to her in every significant way might have been necessary for that Rebis Empyrean. A creation she may have believed was capable of killing that pesky Elden Beast. This particular detail isn't something I'm fully convinced by, but I don't think it's unlikely that Marika wanted to incorporate some of the Fire Giant's essence into her surrogate, so as to make it the perfectly balanced baby God-Killer it needed to be. I am more or less convinced that she was pining for a divine prodigy, but I'm not going to be fully convinced by any theories until we get all the dlc.
I gotta be honest, i think marika=radagon was unfinshed plot point. Besides goldmask theres no other plot relevance to the reveal. They literally dont use the revelation to clarify ANYTHING about the rest of the story 😂
Another aspect supporting the “Radagon is a giant” theory is Radahn. He is significantly larger than the rest of the demigods. Size could be a genetic trait that skipped a generation in this case.
I love this video! I've recently started watching your videos, and I'm glad that I did! Thank you for making wonderful videos!
Also, where did you find the art for the family tree around 3:53 and thumbnail? I really love the aesthetic!
Aww thank you so much!! Those are AI generated images, which I received threatening emails demanding I remove them from my video from absolutely unhinged people. 😬
@@kitetales You're welcome!! Really? I think that they are really cool! I like ai generated photos that look like that!
This makes me never want to kill Radagon again.
Radagon and marika has always been one. The separated so she can enact her plans on renala. Also they are like the philosophers stone
I really like the thumbnail
The concept that Raddigon could have been a Mimick (capital 'M' there) of Merika is genius. It answers a lot of open questions about the whole rebus thing.
Yeah, I think Marika being Numen is THE KEY to understanding Radagon because mimicry, illusion and projection are the magicks of the Eternal Cities.
This characterization is really useful for my developing theory.
I'm about 75% sure that Radagon is inspired by Peter d'Aragon and his son William the Conqueror.
Funny that you mention the rulers of Castle Mourne here, I think Radagon was that ruler.
But I've been having trouble figuring out why the inspiration is both Peter and William.
Then it hit me while watching this video. Peter represents Radagon as ruler of Castle Mourne, a fully autonomous person.
William represents Radagon after his defeat at the hands of Godfrey and having his body and mind seemingly subordinated to Marika.
Marika was in need of a replacement for Godfrey after Radagon's defeat. This is the point at which we're told that Godfrey loses the color from his eyes. Seemingly his passion but possibly his connection to grace. Who better to replace him than a formerly great hero? Who better than someone completely under Marika's control? Someone who is, in fact Marika?
But clearly something goes wrong here. Whatever magic is used to combine the two beings results in Radagon becoming sentient again. Only he's incomplete. A sort of Frankenstein's monster, looking for purpose.
Like I said, I'm still working on it.
But check out the cathars as well as Peter and William. You'll start seeing the parallels pretty quickly. William even had an incestuous relationship with his third wife. You don't get much more incestuous than mating with yourself ala Marika and Radagon.
As i was reading a comments, someone pointed out that Radagon was an anagram for A Dragon. This got me thinking of a few item descriptions
Dragon crest talismans - The ancient dragons, who ruled in the prehistoric era before the Erdtree, would protect their lord as a wall of living rock. And so it is that the shape of the dragon has become symbolic of all manner of protections.
Lansseax's Glaive - Lansseax was the sister of Fortissax. It is said that she took the form of a human to commune with the knights as a priestess of the ancient dragon cult.
Borealis's Mist incantation - The ice dragons were once lords of the mountaintops long ago, until they were defeated by the Fire Giants and chased from the peak.
So the Imagery of Marika/Radagon crumbling on the rune arc in the final boss fight started to look like crumbling stone. Ill be back if I can make anything digestible out of this. If someone can make anything please advise.
Love the production value on the video. Can you please do a lore video on the dredges next?
Easy: they’re all trash and they belong at the bottom of a lake
Personally, I subscribe to the Duality theory with a caveat: Marika and Radagon were never physically separate beings. I think it makes sense, given the backstory presented here, that Radagon was the first to appear, in the north, with a deep hatred of his red hair and its association with the Giants. So he dedicated himself to the Erdtree, but with a desire to become someone who was worthy of Godhood, so he used mimicry, magic, or perhaps was blessed by the Erdtree with the form of Marika and thus he created his "perfect" identity. Then, as Marika, she led the war against the Giants, married Godfrey, sired a lineage, and continued to conquer and conquer and "purify" everything she saw as lesser or tainted. This obsession with purity noted throughout the Golden Order and specifically with Marika/Radagon paints the picture that neither were particularly mentally stable imo.
So, this leads me to the crux of this relationship between them: dissociative identity disorder. Or, at least, the fictional and fantastical version of it (definitely not a good or healthy representation to it irl lmao, its a little problematic). I think Marika originally used her old identity as Radagon to go undercover in a sense, and take direct control of affairs when it would be disadvantageous to do so as Marika. Maybe she had some reason to treat the Carian's differently than the other conquests, maybe it had something to do with the fact they descend from Astrologers who also hail from the north, or maybe she genuinely fell in love with Rennala before, or even during, the first war, and she used it as an excuse to marry her. There have been plenty of strange and dramatic love stories throughout the Soulsborne games and George's books especially, so a convoluted situation like this wouldn't surprise me. But the point is, I think she and he were the same mind at this point.
But sometime after, perhaps around the time Radagon was forced to leave Rennala and return to the capital, these identities became separate entities with separate wills. This could be attributed to literally any facet of Marika/Radagon's life imo, since its all traumatic in some way, but I personally think it was when Godwyn the Golden was murdered. Marika/Radagon clearly held love for their families, a lot of it, you can see it referenced in a lot item descriptions, but Marika was always the one who had to focus on her duties to the Erdtree and was neglectful because of it. I think Marika used her identity as Radagon to indulge in being a loving parent/spouse tbh. But when the duties of the Erdtree called again, and her beloved son was killed, I think she started to shatter. And when the Erdtree continued to force her to put it above her wants and desires, her love for her family, she decided to shatter the Elden Ring and rebel. But, with her love for her family and her duty to the Erdtree both being core parts of her identity, she snapped and the two identities of the loyal dog Radagon and the girlboss take-what-she-wants queen Marika separated and became their own unique identities autonomous from each other.
Since they inhabit the same body, Radagon could not stop Marika from shattering the Ring, and for the same reason Marika could not stop Radagon from imprisoning her. They could only enact their own wills when they became conscious, which would mean the other would have to be pushed into the back seat. Radagon must've realized that he couldn't repair the Elden Ring and instead decided to shackle himself so when Marika gained control again, she couldn't do more harm. This is why they both disappear from history during the War of the Shattering, leaving only their children to war and die over a problem they created, ironically.
I think the Scarseals represent this perfectly. One focuses on one half of the games main attributes and the other focuses on the other half. They're two halves of the whole, and they both exist within everyone. Just like Marika and Radagon make one single physical being, and are not actually physically separate at all.
Or, well, that's what I think anyway. There's probably a lot of things that disprove this that I just don't know about. If anyone who reads this knows of anything that pokes holes in it, or adds to it, then please leave a reply!
The clone theory is still by far my favorite radagon theory
Marika really said: f*ck it, I’ll do it myself 👌
Hey sometimes you just gotta do that sh*t yourself
Really loved the video. Nice job.
I've always see these two in the context of mimicry. But i guess the main clue that can help to understand them a bit more is The Greater Will and it's manifestation, Elden Beast. I always thought we give Marika and Radagon too much credit for what they did and still do. While we know The Greater will is the one that pulls most of the strings.
One thing that bothers me the most is The Sacred Relic Sword. Given a closer look, it's hilt has two different sides. one is more delicate and branching (probably the Marika's / female side) and the other is thicer and made from two branches converging into one.
The blade part starts with two spines that are more distant in the beginning, coiled and spiraling toward one unified tip. And of course Its being wielded in beast's right hand. (Symbolic for being the executive of its will.)
All im saying is deeds done by these two individuals are mostly the "Greater Will" of the Beast being manifested. Radagon is nothing but a puppet, a lap dog of the order, but could do things that Marika couldn't. Basically GW derived him from Marika to expand the reach of its order. While pinning Marika down and only using her as a placeholder for the Ring. She wasnt needed anymore as an actuator. The rest is history i guess.
I’ve always liked the idea of Marika and Radagon being the same person, two sides of the same coin, sharing the same body yet having a mind shattered in two is super interesting
You've laid out a comprehensive explanation of Radagon, and I agree with your thoughts on mimicry and the duality of Duty vs Choice represented by Radagon/Marika. It's a great summary!
The one thing that caught my attention is actually rather tangential to the video- but I disagree with you that Marika and Godfrey didn't love each other. Well, you're not necessarily wrong, but I think what we see of the lore makes it clear that their bond was much closer than a loveless political marriage. Mayhaps we can get a Golden Lineage video next? Mohg and Morgott deserve some love too you know!
Starting from the top; we know that Marika fought only once as 'herself'- alongside Godfrey during the War against the giants. If Radagon is as you mention a persona she cultivated to excuse her to fight on the front lines, it says a lot that she did so openly when Godfrey was by her side. Even then, I doubt that Godfrey would have cared much about her heritage or anything else when she was so obviously powerful ("a crown in warranted with strength!"). I see their relationship as a parallel Rennala/Radagon; Marika approached Hoarah Loux to use him as a pawn for conquest, but his honest respect for her strength and lack of care for her ancestry won her over to legitimately liking him. This may even explain WHY Marika sent Radagon as she did; she was using her own past experiences for inspiration!
Once we reach the Age of the Erdtree we see the birth of Godwyn and the establishment of the Golden Lineage, which explicitly traces its pedigree to Godfrey/Marika (none of Radagon's kids count). Most notably, ONLY the Golden Lineage has descendants beyond first generation demigods, and those scions actually held power in the Lands Between (i.e. their own fiefdom of Limgrave/Weeping peninsula, a peaceful and seemingly rich area). This points to preferential treatment being given to them by Marika, or at the very least that she did not hinder Godfrey's efforts to set them up as lords. On top of this, Godfrey is similar to Rennala in that they are the spouse who had multiple sets of children with Marika/Radagon as their partner (at least 2 for Godfrey, 3 for Radagon). It's not a smoking gun, but still notable to me that Radagon and Marika have only one set of twins throughout his tenure as Elden Lord and a another parallel between Godfrey and a known loving relationship.
On Godfrey's banishment, the echoes of Marika make it very clear that she both informed Godfrey of the consequences and that he accepted them- and if marching to certain death with your only possible reward being resurrection to do it again isn't a display of true love (or at least unconditional trust) I don't know what is. More to the point, the guidance of Grace that is probably controlled by Marika ("I will give back what I once claimed") points to the player, an implicit sign of, if not approval, acceptance of Godfrey as a candidate to be Elden Lord again. This is of course leaving out cut dialogue that explicitly frames Godfrey as Marika's partner in breaking the Ring and even more cheesy love likes ("O Marika, I shall take thee in my arms once more!").
Ultimately I think that, even if Marika and Godfrey didn't love each other in a traditional sense, they were at least close friends who respected and trusted one another to stand together- and at that point, is there really a difference? Just my thoughts as a rambler. And again, a great video.
Golden Lineage forever!
I have been thinking a lot about Marika and Radagon lately. I think there is so much symbolism in the two. I think they are influenced by the Christian concept of the Trinity as well as the Daoist concept of Yin and Yang. Great video! I think this is the best explanation of Marika and Radagon's dual nature that I've come across yet.
The mimicry is definitely the most convincing theory based on item descriptions imo
I agree! It just makes more sense than anything else.
Post DLC another facet can be considered.
Shadow of the Elden Tree spoilers in oming.
Just as Miquella expelled St. Trina in preparation for ascending to godhood, Marika could have done the same with Radagon. Radagon however was powerful enough to survive as an independent entity while the weaker St. Trina is slowly dying off. Many of the same reasons you mentioned, that Radagon is what Marika wanted to excise from herself, fit perfectly into this theme.
Great video! Love the elden ring content
Thank you! 🥰