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Players ofElden Ringknow Radahn as one of the few mounted boss fights, where you get to summon an army of NPCs in a Festival meant to give the warrior a proper end. But who was this mighty general before this strange madness turned him into a mindless warrior?
Well, even if you thought you knew everything about Radahn, Shadow of the Erdtree, Elden Ring’s DLC, introduces a lot of new information about him. He was more connected to his siblings than we thought, and those connections shed light not only on Radahn himself, but on his family as a whole.
Spoilers For Elden Ring And Shadow Of The Erdtree!
Early Life
Radahn is one of the three children that came fromthe union of Rennala and Radagon.Radagon was a champion of the Golden Order, andhe married Rennala to unify her realmof Liurnia and avoid any confrontation between her Carian Royals and the Erdtree.
The other two children of Rennala and Radagon are Rykard and Ranni.
Radagon was a god, the representation of the Greater Will in the Lands Between, andhe had another side named Marika.These two sides had many children, not only with different spouses, but with one another as well;all these children were demigods.
While Radahn inherited the red mane of his father, whohe really looked up to was Godfrey, the first Elden Lord.He wanted to be a fierce warrior like his idol, training his body to be the mightiest of the demigods, and using lion-like iconography to represent Godfrey, since that was his symbolic animal.
This, however, didn’t make him a mindless brute, sincehe was cherished by many, his brothers and half-brothers included. Rykard, for example, goes against everything the Golden Order represents, but he still has a painting of Radahn at his Manor, showing affection and respect for the general.
This charisma and kindness was noticed by Miquella, son of Marika and Radagon.Miquella wanted to ascend to godhood, and wishedRadahn to be his Lord Consort(just like Godfrey was for Marika), something the red-maned lion would agree on one condition.
Sadly,we don’t know what that condition was(or “vow” as it is spoken in-game), but it was likely something to do withhonorable combat and conquest.After all, the downfall of Godfrey was the lack of anything to conquer, so Radahn might wish to avoid the same fate.
Learning Sorcery
While Radahn looked up to the warriors of the Golden Order,he was still one of the sons of Rennala, the Queen of the Full Moon. Rennala and her Carian Royals were adept magic users, soRadahn had ample access to sorceriesif he ever wished to learn any.
Having access to something doesn’t mean that you wish to learn it, and Radahn had no interest in something like Glintstone Pebble. But that changed whenRadahn had to stop riding his beloved horse, since he had grown too large for the scrawny creature to support him.
According to dataminers, the name of Radahn’s horse is Leonard.
This ledRadahn to learn Gravitational Sorceries, that way,he could magically negate his colossal weightwhile on top of his horse. This not only led to Radahn riding his horse to every battle, but he also added many Gravitational abilities to his combat repertoire, like throwing rocks and falling like a meteor.
General Radahn
Eventually,Radahn gained his own piece of land, just like all the other demigods, and that land was Caelid.He formed a friendship with Jerren, a nomad warrior, who helped him in many battles not only in Liurnia, but also in Caelid.
Through Jerren we can learn thatRadahn hadn’t cut ties with his maternal home, thathe continued to earn the favor of many warriors, and thathe waged many wars. We don’t know who exactly he was fighting against, but it was likely enemies of the Golden Order.
There was even aTown of Sorcery in Caelid known as Sellia, showing that, if nothing else, Radahn still kept a passing interest in sorcery. This interest was key to keeping Sellia safe, sincea terrible catastrophe was fallingdirectly into that Town.
Stopping The Fate Of The Stars
It seems thatRadahn learned of a meteor that would fall directly on top of Sellia, destroying the Town completely. Since Radahn couldn’t fight the meteor with his swords,he did so with his Gravitational Sorcery, and he forced the stars to be still, so the meteor would never fall.
At least, that’s what we can put together as far aswhy Radahn decided to keep the stars still.This haddire consequences for Ranni, whose fate is tied to the stars, butthere isn’t anything pointing to Radahn wanting to do Ranni any ill, especially considering the good relations he seemed to have with his maternal home.
The Shattering
When the Elden Ring was shattered,all the demigods rushed to get their own shard of the thing, gaining untold power. It seems thatRadahn’s rune is what made him so big, at least judging by his change of size during the intro cinematic of the game.
He likelyfought the other demigods during the Shattering, but it is hard to say if he fought for sport, or if he truly wanted to be Elden Lord. After all,he did promise Miquella he’d be his Lord Consortonce the Empyrean achieved godhood, and that goal lied outside the wishes of the Greater Will.
The key event here was Radahn’s fight with Malenia, but they didn’t fight alone: their forces clashed as well, ending in an epic confrontation where only the demigods remained. It isn’t known why Malenia invaded Caelid, since she doesn’t seem interested in becoming Lord, butit might have to do with Miquella’s vowall those years ago.
In their final clash,Malenia whispers to Radahn “Miquella awaits thee, o promised Consort,”and then unleashes her Scarlet Aeonia, infecting bothRadahn and the whole of Caelidwith the corruption of the Rot.Malenia is carried back homeby one of her Cleanrot Knights, and Radahn is left being consumed by the Rot in both mind and spirit.
Radahn’s Rune is what keeps him alive, burning the Rot inside of him so it doesn’t consume him. He is, however, still susceptible to being Rotted by a player.
Without their leader,the Redmane soldiers did what they couldto fight their greatest foe yet: the Rot infestation.Their main weapon was fire, and they developed what techniques they could to keep the Rot at bay and burn it away, but to no avail:Caelid fell to the Rot, its General now wandering the battlefield as a husk of his former self.
The Festival
Jerren, Radahn’s close friend,promised him a warrior’s death long ago, and he planned to keep his promise.He now holds the Radahn Festival, an event that not only commemorates the great General Radahn, but it works as a way to summon great warriorsthat can give Radahn his deserved end.
Players can partake in the festivities, joining forces with many NPCs to slay Radahn. The General uses his full might, riding his loyal steed and using his deadly Gravitational Sorceries to keep his enemies close, and to fall like a meteor.
Playerslooking to complete Ranni’s quest lineneed to slay Radahn (so the Fate of Stars can move again), but beyond that,he is an optional boss.If you wish to enter the DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree,Radahn isn’t optional, since he needs to be dead for the events of the DLC to happen.
The Promised Consort
While Radahn was running Caelid as an honorable General would,Miquella was putting his plans into fruition.He likely sends Malenia to slay Radahn, andhe leaves with Mohg(son of Marika and Godfrey), charming andusing him to enter the Realm of Shadow.
Mohg isn’t all that relevant to Radahn’s story overall, buthe bears mention here.While he is a demigod,he is also an Omen Child, meaning that his face and body are covered in deformed horns; in his case, one even goes into his left eye.
He follows one of the Outer Gods, the Formless Mother, and aims to build a new dynasty outside the Golden Order alongside Miquella.He was actually charmed by Miquella, since whatever Mohg did to him allowed the Empyrean to enter the Realm of Shadow.
Once Mohg is defeated by the player, Miquella (somehow) takes his corpse and carries it with him into the Realm of Shadow.He plans to use this corpse as a vessel for Radahn’s soulin the Divine Gateway, bringing the mighty General back to life, albeit in a slightly smaller frame.
We can see vestiges of Mohg in Radahn’s new body, since there are a few small horns coming out of Radahn’s gauntlets.
This is the first timewe see Radahn without the influence of Rot, buthe seems more mindless than during his original boss fight.Most bosses, especially the demigods, have some sort of dialogue establishing who they are or why they fight us, but the only one doing the talking here is Miquella.
After learning how charismatic and beloved Radahn was,it seems odd that he says nothingwhen his idol Godfrey had a lot to say during both phases of his fight. While it might just be a stylistic choice, it all seems to point towardsMiquella being in control of the General, charming him with the same magic he uses on everyone else.
Still,Radahn did promise to be Miquella’s Consortall those years ago, at least according to the memory we see after beating the final fight of the DLC. We still don’t hear from Radahn, however, since we only get to hear Miquella’s side of their conversation.
While we can see why Miquella might have admired Radahn,it is hard to see it the other way around, since Radahn was a man of action and honorwho would hardly look kindly at misleading tactics and charming magic.
The way the General was able to naturally gain people’s trust might have been why Miquella was after him, but by keeping him on a divine leash, Radahn would hardly be himself as Lord Consort in the Age of Compassion.
