Elden Ring Lore | Radagon of the Golden Order

Radagon Second Elden Lord; The Champion of the Golden Order and one of the most pinnacle mysteries of Elden Ring's Story. Marika is Radagon...but why? and how? In this Lore Video we discuss Radagon's history, his meaning and his relationship to Marika and the Elden Ring.

Intro: 0:00
Radagon's Origins: 2:20
The Immortal Rebis: 25:57
King Consort: 40:07
Fading Faith: 46:41
The Golden Order: 55:42
The Schemes of Radagon: 1:10:10
The Misbegotten: 1:19:06
The Red Wolf of Radagon: 1:22:55

This is an extremely expansive video that not only discusses the Radagon but also covers the following subjects: Marika, The Elden Ring, The Golden Order, Golden Order Fundamentalism, The Erdtree, Maliketh, Gurranq, The Crucible, Godrey, Hoarah Loux, Ancient Dragons, Empyreans, Shadowbound Beasts, Blaidd, the Red Wolf of Radagon, Moonlight Altar, The Carians, Ranni, Rennala, Radahn, Rykard and much more!

Shout out to Lokey for their insights and translations.

Subscribe to my second channel: @smoughburgh
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Soundtrack is Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Sekiro, King's Field and Elden Ring

I do not own the rights to Elden Ring, all rights to FromSoftware

#eldenring #eldenringlore #gaming

[SmoughTown]

Thank you everyone for checking out my video on the Champion!

Let me know your thoughts below

[jamescannon]

Absolutely loved realizing the main theme of Elden Ring also happened to be Radagons very theme. It made my jaw drop realizing he truly was the center of it all.

[daniell]

Radagon is such a mysterious person. I'm personally of the opinion that he is purely created from Marika. It reminds me a lot of how Athena supposedly arose out of Zeus' mind fully formed, so he called her his daughter. With all the parallels between Marika and Athena, I think Radagon is this same idea at play, but the roles reversed. A male divine persona arose out of Marika's mind, possibly to serve her purposes as a tool in addition to being her husband.

[TuffThaGenious]

Miquella: "so how come i never see you and mom in the same room together"
Radagon: "haha i'll tell you when you're older"
Miquella, cursed with eternal youth: "..."

[jessetroy]

I think it’s really interesting how Radagon and Marika sort of started out with similar or same views, but as time went on and Marika began to rebel more against the Greater Will Radagon didn’t, which really shows how different they were even though they shared a body. And also how Radagon can be considered an antagonist in the way he protects an order that is clearly crumbling, and how he seals the erdtree with the thorns, and how he may have deceived Gideon into trying to stop us when he tried to gaze into marikas will, but instead found Radagons. All very compelling, great video as always!

[Bellcchi]

I've been really looking forward to this video. Radagon is easily my favourite character in Elden Ring. I remember I was enthralled by all the mystery surrounding him since the very first time I heard of him from Miriel. And no matter how many times I see it, I always get goosebumps when we finally get to face him. Especially as he raises up his hammer and turns his head towards us

[gabriellecollier]

Marika: You're not a God, plus ratio, plus you're a dog, plus I'm shattering the Elden Ring.

[miomio]

19:56 On Radagon's importance: if he is created after the war with the giants, Radagon would have had years to accrue military esteem and status. Even if he didn't, if he was appointed to be the leader of the campaign, the head of the host by Marika, that would've been enough (if he were a champion before the War this would've been easier). That he's in the same position as Rennala assumes that their social rank was also similar. By this point Radagon could've made quite a name for himself serving the FO.

[RaveGuitar]

For the hammer you described in the beginning - I always thought it might be referring to Hewg as the labourer who rebelled. And that him rebelling was what resulted in Marika “cursing” him (seems to be a thing she can do based on what we know of the last fire giant). Of course, Marika had other motives for what happened with Hewg.

[Idea_of_Lustre]

A small note on the Golden Order Greatsword, the description at 44:57 may be a mistranslation. The Japanese text is as follows:
そこには、最初の妻レナラから贈られた 大剣の面影があるという. The important part to note is the use of the term 面影 or "omokage". This has two potential meanings, one modern and one archaic.
The modern translations include trace, vestige, or remnant, implying that there are detectable traces of the Moon Greatsword, which would indicate that it was reforged.
The archaic translations include likeness, reminder, or in memory of someone, implying that the Moon Greatsword inspired the design of the Golden Order Greatsword, rather than being reforged into it.
While this doesn't change the thematic point, it does offer some potential insight into the relationship between Radagon and Rennala.

[igorengel]

It's also interresting to look at Radagon from an alchemical lens further than the rebus - the traditional four stages of Magnum Opus seem to parallel Radagon's journey:

- Starting from Marika, the mercury, the Nigredo, Radagon is formed
- His marriage to Renalla, the lunar queen has mutltiple parallels to Albedo, which is associated with purification (consider the Celestial Dew ritual), the moon, and the feminine
- Citrinitas, the transition from silver to gold corresponds to Radagon's return to the golden order, his marriage to Marika. It is also associated with abandonment of the lunar light.
- Radagon never reach Rubedo stage, and it is what Marika is mocking in the bedchamber speech - they never reach their final union, never become a single being, Radagon never becomes god.

It gets kinda complicated because, I don't think alchemy usually considers two different feminine parts, but Radagon has Marika and Renalla playing this role at different parts of the journey, but it does seem like there's a correspondance. 'hero aspires to be complete' is also a very alchemical phrase.

[INVICTVS_REX]

My theory on Radagon’s origin has always centered around Marika’s slaying of the Fell God of the giants. I always speculated that perhaps a fraction or sliver of the Fell God’s essence attached itself to Marika in retaliation, forming a new identity within her. But that’s just my theory, it may be easily disproved.

[BENISD]

SmouGeoff is such a nice guy that he puts a spoiler warning on his 91 minute lore video about Elden Ring, love it dude ❤

[violetbliss]

I have always had the feeling that Marika is full of regret, that she wants out of her situation. The way I interpreted Radagon was that at some point (maybe god ascension?) she became two halves, no doubt in part inspired by yin yang or even farther back than that in the real history. What I think happened is that while her first attempt to break the Elden Ring once in her regret was partially successful, Radagon then became her effective gaoler because that part of her could not resist the influence and instead became a weapon against the Marika half, and a new de facto tool. So Marika's plot is essentially orchestrated for us to remove the greatest threat to her (who knows), but of course we may also influence what happens.

I have no idea if this really fits, but I never really had the feeling it was a benevolent relationship in Marika/Radagon. Not like a "ah hah! I am secretly two people, plotting to get ahead!" or "We're a power couple!", it just never rang right to me. Particularly, I think both the shattering as well as her ultimatum to the demogods seem designed to create chaos where randomness can be sown. Order rules, so how else can she hope to achieve anything other than by chaos?

[Skandarr]

Can't thank you enough for the consistency in the quality of your content. In my opinion, your Elden Ring videos are the best you can find out there and the extra content is simply top notch as well. I will watch this with a smile brother!

[stargazer]

Radagon's theme is pure epic. This my favorite battle theme in the whole game.

[RossAshmore]

The Marika/Radagon mystery at the core of Elden Ring is fascinating to me. Two of the most influential and prominent figures being shrouded in such mystery was such a good narrative and design choice!

[darkarchonisme]

Marika's nox association also ties her to the mercury queen concept very firmly

[miomio]

It always made sense to me that Radagon was created from Marika, an offshoot of her, while she was at the hight of her belief in the Golden Order. She sends him out with a mission, be it to learn, create, improve the GO, or remove the Carian RF, doesn't matter.

Somehow, I always sensed an implication of this as "only when you're successful, will you merge back with Marika". Radagon's rune, and his whole characterisation is of a lattice support for what's already there.

So when they marry, they "become one" but their personalities haven't merged back together yet because time has created a dissonance between them: Radagon's belief in the GO remains strong while Marika isn't only rife with doubts but has actively started investigating the flaws, dissilusioned.

If you want an on the nose metaphor, feels like when you're learning about science for the first time, after a lifetime of religious upbringing. One part of you wants to continue believing in God, while the other sees all the flaws.

[Pizzifrizzo]

Great video and great take, Smough! Loved every minute! What I find fascinating about Radagon is that most of the popular theories around him are only apparently contradictory, but can be made to work together, if one only keeps in mind the world’s rules and how the characters would use them.

When it comes to Radagon, there’s a staggering amount of hints and clues scattered all over the place, leading to a lot of compelling and yet divergent theories. I’m striving to find a “unified theory”, with a special eye to the symbolism and echoes surrounding Marika-Radagon, since that’s a writing quirk that Martin and Myiazaki have in common.

First, we should acknowledge that Radagon was Marika from at least his time in Leyndell; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been a secret for the sculptor to discover. As you say in the video, his secretiveness makes one think he was Marika even earlier.

Then we have the D brothers, revlied everywhere for their nature (“two bodies and two minds, but one soul”), except then in the Golden Order. Why? Because they shared their condition with Marika and Radagon? Probably, but I doubt that the wider Golden Order were aware of that.

I think it’s more likely that this condition mirrors the Fundamental Laws of the Order, and thus is held in high regard by the Fundamentalists. The D brothers incarnate the Law of Regression, because the souls, their “meanings”, have been pulled together; despite this, their “meanings” diverge along with their wills, thus embodying the Law of Causality. Of course, since the mind is the bridge between soul and body, their minds couldn’t diverge if they were of the same body.

What I’m getting to is: I think Marika subjected herself to the D brothers’ condition in order to embody the Order she herself was creating. In order to do something like this, she must have joined herself with someone else. Someone who had the requirements to be her “solar king”, but more pliable than Godfrey. I still think the "Rebis" was the objective, just in a specifically "elden-ringian" way, rather than a generic "alchemy works like this and so Elden Ring works like thus".

This is where the “Artificial Lord theory” and the “Rebel Lord theory” converge, according to my “unified theory”.

I can’t link it here, but there’s a very interesting series of R*ddit posts by a deleted user, detailing a lot of the circumstantial evidence pointing Radagon to Limgrave and in particular to the Siege of Castle Morne. I’ve built upon that basis to conclude that Radagon was probably born a lowly labourer in ancient Stormveil, where he led a rebellion in the name of his people. This people would later be massacred by his old masters, or by Godfrey/Hoarah Loux (difficult to say for sure), upon which Radagon shed his old hammer and built himself a huge grafted sword (grafting upon a sword is also what he later did with Rennala’s wedding sword). Then Godfrey cast down the old Limgrave and only Radagon and his men refused to bow till the end, a la Asterix.

Godfrey must have been so impressed by this champion, that he took him in. Since Radagon was already a rebel before his clan was extinguished, his defiance wasn’t founded on the desire for freedom, but on his envy towards those in higher places than him.
With this in mind, it’s easy to see why Radagon bought into Marika’s dream in the end. Radahn mentions that he’s “born a Champion’s cub”, implying Radagon to be a lesser lion than Godfrey, but still a lion. He’s also chock-full of sun and solar-king symbolism, which is itself symbolically linked to lions.

Something must have happened between Marika and Radagon, though, because they must have fused their souls prior to the First Liurnian War, the first public appearance of “modern” Radagon. Maybe it was because Radagon was originally a leonine misbegotten, descended from giants and linked to the Crucible of old, the dynamic half to Marika’s static foundations. Radagon was simply the perfect receptacle for what Marika needed in her order, but didn’t want on herself, like the so-called curse of the giants.

What could Radagon ask in return? To be reborn, finally perfect. Maybe Radagon was a misbegotten still when Rennala fell in love with him, and the fusion of golden amber and glintstone made him a rebirthed man. But I think Marika had all the means and knowledge to do it herself, before unleashing him upon Liurnia, since I also think the amber egg is integral to this process, acting as a crucible where to add silver and sulphur, in order to create the Rebis (guess who's who in this analogy), thus making it both Radagon's shed cocoon and egg to plant in Rennala's nest (like a cuckoo). This would also explain the Crusader… he must have been an old lieutenant of his, from before his rebirth, and why Hugh was contacted by Marika: he used to be Radagon’s blacksmith.

Sadly, Radagon never felt perfect, nor fully belonging to the Golden Order. He always felt apart and strove to fit in with a feverish obsession that only a convert could have. That’s why he, like Marika, needed to better understand the Golden Order, because he wanted to see that he was essential to his workings. Marika’s disillusionment and manipulatory treatment of him surely didn’t help him in this regard.

I also think that the First Liurnian War was a “test run”, to check whether Radagon was a fit successor and whether he was truly so dedicated to the Order. It is said that “his glory burned red like his hair” in that war, implying to me that this is the first time he made a name for himself.

I think Rennala was undergoing the same process on the other side, rising as a superior champion for the Academy, thanks to her Full Moon powers. If she was originally a champion, she must have fought in a war when she wasn’t queen already. The First Liurnian War is the only possible option. That’s why everyone in the Academy was so eager to put her on the throne: she had just found out a new source of magic power that had saved them from the Erdtree’s invasion, despite Radagon’s ferocious efforts to defeat them. Rennala was a trump card that Marika didn’t expect, and thus she laid in motion the events that led to the second war. That’s why Radagon was put at the head of that second army, and not Godfrey.
Then the theory continues pretty much as you’ve stated in your video (which is excellent, by the way!).

I hope someone reads this comment and asks questions. Feel free to poke holes in it, of course! Of course, all of this is a bit clunky at times, but it's a work in progress and I feel that I'm onto something that could unlock the Radagon conundrum (or a close approximation to that, since the mystery will never fully go away in any case).