I want to talk about the final boss of the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, so obviously,
*SPOILER WARNING*
Why do I want to talk about it? Because it’s very divisive. Not just in the community in general, but in the RKG Discord in specific.
Let me state who the final boss is:
Promised Consort Radahn.
In the base game, General Radahn is one of the big bosses. He’s a shardbearer, the son of Radagon and Rennala, brother of Ranni and Rykard. He’s in the trailer, standing off against Malenia (this is important for later).
By the way, it’s hilarious that the vast majority of the characters have names that start with GR and M, which are George RR Martin’s initials. There have been countless jokes about this in the community. In the DLC, let’s see if that’s true. Leda, Hornsent, Ansbach, Thiollier, are all no. Moore is yes. Igon, no. Let me think bosswise. There’s Messmer, of course. He’s a yes. Gaius is a yes. Metyr, Mother of Fingers is a yes. Rellana, Golden Hippo (technical yes); Romina, Saint of the Bud; Promised Consort Radahn–going with a yes even though he has a title; Midra, Lord of Frennzied Flame; Demi-Human Queen Marigga (going with a yes. All the Demi-Human Queens have names that start with M); Ralva the Great Red Bear and Rugalea the Great Red Bear; and I’ll leave it there.
There are plenty that are not G, R, or M names, but many of those don’t have actual names. Like the Ulcerated Tree Spirit or the Tree Sentinel (both of whom are in the base game as well).
Back to Radahn. The fight against him in the base game is epic. I hated it on my first playthrough because I only had 18 Vigor and was one-shot by his goddamn arrows so many times. I ended up cheesing him by Scarlet Rotting him then racing away and letting my summons do the work. I kept summoning them in as they died. After he did his dreaded meteor bullshit move halfway through the fight, I Scarlet Rotted him one more time and then literally went off-screen to read a book and wait for him to die. Yes, I kept summoning as they died, but I did nothing else in the second half of the fight. I was off-screen as he died, which wasn’t satsifying, per se, but it was done.
I mention this beacuse I wanted to compare it with the times I did it in future playthrough. I’ve done it probably a half-dozen more times, and every time, I’ve had way more Vigor. That meant I could take two to three hits, which made the fight significantly easier. Not easy, mind, but easier. I have not had much trouble with him since, and I even participate in the fight now.
No matter how I feel about it personally, it’s most definitely a spectacle. It’s meant to be. It’s a set-piece, and people who don’t do the summoning are missing out–in my opinion. But that’s not the point of this post. The point is that there’s a reason it’s so lauded. It’s ridiculous, bombastic, and compelling. What we know about Radahn in the base game makes him an intriguing figure–and quite tragic.
He’s a war hero (kind of) who can’t die, but can’t really live, either. The scarlet rot is eating his brain out, but he’s managed to hold on to a semblance of his sanity by clinging to his love for–his horse, Leonard. He feasts on his friends and foes, but he continues to love his horse. We find out in the main game that he learned gravity magic not to cement his status as a demigod or to win wars–but to keep his weight off Leonard (probably as he, Radahn, exploded in size when he became a demi-god).
He was the famed Red Lion, and he was feared across the lands. He held back the stars, and there is a lot of speculation as to why. Since his family’s fate was connected to the stars, some say it was his way of turning his back on his fate (just as Ranni went full moon like her mother). Others believed he just did it for the challenge, which I can understand as well. Why not do the hard thing no one expects you to do, especially as you’ve done everything else? Still others think he knew what would happen if he let the stars (and Krupa did a great Roundtable Hold about this) do what they normally do, (Fallingstar Beast to Malformed Star to Naturalborn).
Regardless, it’s a testament to Radahn that he’s one of the most intriguing characters in the base game. He’s not my fave, but I like him well enough. Let’s put it this way. I have no reason to dislike him, especially once I could take two to three hits.
When he showed up as the final boss in the DLC, I was mostly puzzled. I understood that Miquella needed someone to champion him because he was not a fighter. He was frail and eternally young, so that made sense. Malenia was his champion in the base game (“I am Malenia, Sword of Miquella”), and he couldn’t call to her again because, ah, reasons?
This is the big thing I don’t get about the whole Radahn thing. Why did he not call to his sister? There are speculations that he did not choose Malenia because he did not want her as his consort. She is his full sister and Radahn is merely a half-brother. Or maybe he just preferred men. I mean, he chose Mohg for a reason (also a half-brother), too.
I guess I could handwave the whole Malenia thing with difficulty, but the Radahn choice was just so random. Some people pointed out that Godwyn would have been a better choice, but others disagreed because he was just a body (his soul was gone). However, Radahn didn’t have much of a mind, either, because it had Scarlet Rotted away, so that argument doesn’t hold water.
Then, there’s the event of Malenia and Radahn fighting to a standstill. Malenia whispered something to Radahn as she bloomed with her Scarlet Rot. Now, it’s been retconned to say that she told him Miquella was waiting for him. Which, I mean, no. When she and Radahn fought to a standstill, no one knew who would put him out of his misery or when, if anyone and ever. If she couldn’t beat him, how could she believe anyone could? Then again, she might have assumed that he would succumb to the Scarlet Rot at some point. It’s only because he was a demigod that he didn’t.
I don’t think the story was partiucularly good nor was bringing Radahn in again. As I was saying, his fight was such a highlight of the base game, it cheapened it somewhat to make him a brainless meat puppet for Miquella. I mean, we all knew he didn’t have his wits about him, but we politely ignored that. Miquella said the quiet part out loud.
That’s all for today. I have much more to say about this fight, so I’ll continue this train of thought tomorrow.