Elden Ring Lore | Radagon of the Golden Order

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

Let me know your thoughts below

So Godfrey never realized his Wife was missing for years? Radagon and Marika were not joined until imo until after the twins.

Has it occured to you guys that maybe radagon was marika's twin.
Twins are often talked as being split people, during pregnancy when the embryo splits.

And finally the game of thrones author had a hand in the story... Remember the lannisters 😝

Something that has bugged me about the time line with radagons story is when did he meet Renalla?
I cant help but think they married BEFORE the Erdtree was the complete dominant kingdom. Like while Marika went to fight the giants with Godfry, her other self went to subdue the Carians but found it would be much easier to exploit the sorcerers infatuation with radagon.
I dont have anything to back this up but i just find the time line to be weird every time someone goes over this

I alwayse read it as if Radagon was a creation with the purpose of doing what Godrick couldn't. Uniting instead instead of conquerering. This would lead into the long march of the tarnished and subsiquent "Golden Age" of Radagon(Marika).

I think Radagon would've had access to the elden ring by virtue of being elden lord, and perhaps could've taken the amber egg that way.

As a further question, if they're one and the same, couldn't Radagon secretly be Marika? instead of Marika secretly being Radagon? We have even less information on Marika before becoming vessel for the elden ring than we do Radagons time before being elden lord.

Perhaps Radagon was created as a result of Marika becoming a full god? As an "other half", who then became one with the whole again upon becoming elden lord?
Always having been "the same being", but existing as seperate bodies? Thus "you have yet to become me", as he was yet to realize the truth about himself, something he had been chasing in his attempts "to become whole".

It's possible that Radagan was "separate" from Marika in the sense that their body could only be one of them at a time, and he was literally not her.
The shattering might have removed the barrier between them, letting him access the Elden Ring's power, or more accurately, letting the Elden Ring's power access Radagan as her now true other half, finalising the rebus (or however it is spelled).

I always assumed Radagon was a curse by the Fell God of the Fire Giants. It doesnt make any sense to me that Radagon has their red hair thats referenced clearly as a curse if he had nothing to do with them outside of being Marika which they wouldn't have even known.

The Erdtree tried to rebuild Godwyn but failed. As we could see 2 corpse. So maybe Radagon is the old corpse of Marika after she used the Rune of the Unborn to be reborn again. But Marikas old corpse was influenced by the Eldenbeast and became Radagon. Even Ranni has 2/3 bodys. But she used the doll for her Soul to Trick the 2 Fingers and created Melina with the Rune of the Unborn. To escape from the influence of the Eldenbeast because she knew that her Dad never had an own will.

I wounder if Mikaela could also be a Rebus. Given the whole saint trina thing going on.

I think that Marika created Radagon as a means to achieve perfection, but not necessarily in the alchemical sense. Miyazaki has a habit of taking ideas from western fantasy and turning them on their heads. If Radika is an immortal rebis, they’re far from alchemically perfect. They often seem to be at odds with each other, and their children are born afflicted with curses.

Back to the idea of Marika creating Radagon to reach her perceived notion of perfection, I think that Radagon is essentially a vessel for everything Marika saw within herself as unbecoming of a god. It seems Empyreans are all invariably feminine, so it only makes sense that Marika would cast aside her more masculine traits. I also believe it likely that at the end of the War with the Giants, she and the Giants exchanged curses with each other. While Marika condemned the last giant to an eternal vigil over the Forge, I believe the giant may have cursed Marika to become a vessel of the Fell God, like the rest of the giants she and Godfrey had just butchered. We can see thorns similar to those made by Radagon sprouting from their corpses. So Marika likely put this Fell curse into the being that would become Radagon as well.

However, what I think is most telling is Radagon’s sense of incompleteness or imperfection. Not only is he a fragmentary part of a complete being, but such feelings of uncertainty are also no use to a god like Marika. So she cast these aside into Radagon as well.

As a side note; Stormveil is more connected to Radagon than most realize. My current biggest pet peeve with the lore community is the thinking that the thorns marring Stormveil and the Exile armor are Deathroot sprouting from Godwyn’s corpse, but this is demonstrably not true. Go to Fortissax’s arena, and then visit the Erdtree before you burn the thorns and tell me which looks more like what you find in Stormveil. As another side note, the scarring in the walls of Stormveil look like burn marks from the Three Fingers. They have a similar sickly burnt yellow hue to them, and we can also find our first Shabriri grape in Stormveil

So wait if radagon was loyal to the golden order, why is it a shock to the two fingers that he would block access to the erdtree? Shouldn’t radagon and the two fingers want the same thing? Why would radagon want to stop the reforging of the elden ring if he was trying to repair it while marika was trying to break it?

Marika is strung up. And stabbed EXACTLY as the first Elden Lord from the intro. He just died with an arrow. Its pretty cool.

The two faced statues where a lord was tried to be made; with a mimic tear. He seems like a mimic tear kinda. -Seems symbolic. His "skin" looks Numan too with his death rune scar makes it almost seem in a way Rani at the time is him, she knows when to show up if you use her ending. And shes like made of the same material as him but with rope inside not rings

Radagon is Rani. I hope this nonsense is true. I doubt it though. You can visit Rani after her quest ends any time at her room at the site of Grace

. He comes across as a vessel that carries the black goo that is the elden beasts goo he dips the guy into and makes into a sword... its odd everyone knows how she is strung up, was she scupled this way.


I think Marika spiked herself with amber to purposely get stuck so someone would come, and change things. She read tons and studied the Golden Order so much i feel she grew a lot of distain towards it. But who knows i agree with all the stuff you said. Thanks for the videos !

Hmm after Last Protagonist ripped apart TA's video referenced here I just can't go along with it.

That said earlier I think you might be overlooking Ikiryo concept in Japanese where the soul of a living person departs the body to do other actions and act on its own. I want to say there is another concept that matches more closely but I cannot think of it right now.

Also until the shattering I don't think it's that accurate to call Marika passive. She seemed to act quite a bit like a male warlord in the early days. There also doesn't seem to be any kind of rejoining envisioned between them to make a perfect being. I suppose you could argue it was the children but if so it totally failed.

So I'm skeptical of the whole alchemical allegory.

Personally I see Radagon as the embodiment of the excess or external forces that Marika integrated into her order.

I just realized that maybe "Radagon" gave the golden egg to Rennala knowing very well that it would make her go mad, in order for the secret to forever remain unknown to the outside world
edit: since he would not have done this in my opinion, as we know that he really did love Rennala, I think this implies even more that Radagon was Marika from the start

See I know all the evidence says he’s always been apart of Marika, however the image of a low class labourer rising through the ranks and eventually becoming Lord is such a good story and a very George R.R Martin story to tell.

His hair turned red after fighting the giants..
7 mins in and this vid is frustratingly wrong.

It's Saturday, I have nothing to do, aside from chores, guess it's time to rewatch/listen to some awesome content again! The best part of your lore videos is they are so high-quality that you can just listen over and over!

I believe he was his own self and merged with Marika because she said for him to merge with her and she used psychology on him to get him to believe he and her are the same.

The dichotomy of Marika and Radagon reminds me of the relationship between God and Jesus in Christian theology. Although Jesus lived as a human, albeit a powerful and influential human, and was born from a mother like everyone else, he is also God himself. Marika was risen to Godhood and was hailed as such since then, meaning she would no longer know what it means to be merely human. Radagon's purpose may have been to live amongst the people of the Lands Between, and thus, was Marika's vessel through which to live something of a human life once more.

Ardhanarishvara

If they were ever separate beings, it would make since that that he would have to have done something notable to draw her notice for the marriage/merge still early in the timeline. Perhaps he was a soldier of Godfrey who was an affair and to safe his life they merged? Or radagon was a curse put on Merika from the giants? Born of the curse but still identifying as a citizen of the golden order he would hate the resemblance or the noticeable evidence of that curse?

Meanwhile the game says “Radagon Is Marika” to your face

I think radagon was born as a result of the removal of the rune of death, and the birth of the golden order.
He is the most intense fundamentalist, and opposed Marika in the shattering of the ring. I feel like if he was born exactly when she ascended to godhood, he would not be okay with the altering of the ring.

He is the embodiment of the golden order, always yearning to be complete. Perhaps because the golden order is fundamentally an incomplete version of the elden ring.

Smough, great video as always. You have made me an even greater fan of Elden Ring. Why creating Radagon with Red hair e this giant link?

The rebis talk seems a stretch to me, neither Marika nor Radagon are mentioned as alchemists for one, and mainly Marika is a god. Being able to present as a man to advance her aims seems like nothing for a god. I had the thought that when Godwyn was murdered and Marika lost it and shattered the ring that she had a split personality thing happen, that or the greater will split the personalities so that they could control Radagon after Marikas mental breakdown.,

Maybe Radagon was created from the Crucible. Red is the associated colour of the Crucible and his red hair has connections to the Misbegotten, who were touched by the Crucible.

It would be cool if you talk about known lore about the Crucible, the Crucible Knights, the Misbegotten and the Omen curse.

For some reason I had interpreted Gideon's actions as still opposed to Marika. Like "if you do this shell get what she wants and we'll be in this struggle cycle" or something like that.

Rannis hate for golden order and marika has to run deep. Imagine finding out your mother's mortal enemy( and now also your "father") duped her into marriage, just to leave her mentally and emotionally broken. I think they were even struggling against the Carian knights during the war so what better way to infiltrate you're enemy.

Patapon of the Golden Order

I wonder if Radagon was originally his own person, but then for some reason the Greater Will or Marika somehow turned him into the embodiment of the Elden Ring. In my mind I think Radagon could have even sacrificed himself in some way in order to channel the Ring.

I need the dlc so bad lol.

The biggest problem with the Brick Hammer being linked to Radagon is.... He never has been linked to a rebellion anywhere else.
So a strong definition of the character of the hammer just doesn't fit with Radagon.

Technically radagon is the 3rd Eldon Lord the dragon Lord placidusax is the 1rst Eldon Lord and Godfrey was the 2nd Eldon Lord then radagon became the 3rd Eldon Lord

My theory is Radagon is a Mimic Tear of Marika created by her and given sentience by her. The Golden Order is what she used to form the basis of his Psyche and that’s why he is so devoted to it. It’s literally wired into him. I also don’t think Marika was terribly nice to Radagon, likely viewing him as more of a thing than a person, and so his rebelling against her and attempting to repair the Elden ring would’ve been a complete surprise to Marika.

I just had an observation while watching some playthrough content: Elden Beast summons Elden Stars from the sword. In specific, you can see that the beast actually uses the sword as a talisman for all the incants casted..
Would this mean that the elden beast, too, is locked in by the rules of the Elden Ring and the universe it inhabits?
That would make it some sort or usurper, even... maybe...

How could he be at two different places while being married already to Godfrey as Marika. And while married to Rennalla. It's what I still don't understand
Maybe what happened is that Radagon divided from Marika as defience. Then went to Rennalla and then back to Marika.

So if Radagon/Marika left the egg to Rennala, is Marika trying to be resurrected through it, at the end of the day we fight Radagon so its possible that we are yet to fight Marika and we will do so once shes back, through the DLC

Sorry if you mention this later in the vid I’m only 32m in, but if being a rebis makes marika a perfect being to house the elden ring and gods will, then Miquella also being a rebis lends credence to both the previous statement and the theory that he/she was supposed to be a successor right?

The force that influenced Vyke wasn't Radagon, it was Shabriri. Vyke is meant to be a mirror of us, the player.

We are confronted with the knowledge that we must burn our maiden to get into the Erdtree, just as Vyke was. And just as Vyke was, Shabriri talks to us (through the body of a former friend), and tells us there is another way, the way of frenzied flame.

Absolutely love the fact that there us so much in this game & even a year later i am still learning more of the lore & theories that make more sense

So, I’ve had a really weird thought about Radagon and… here it goes.

He’s Godwyn. You know, one of his brothers is pretty good at the false identity thing.

Say, he hates that red hair because mommy did the dead with someone other than Godfrey, Marika makes him wear that mimic veil to hide it around daddy.

He uses a fake name to go out and his champion stuff. He has a whole other plot wanting to take Marika’s throne because she’s kind of… a terrible person.

So Godagon/Radwyn goes off to get the power of another outer god. He bones the mouthpiece of the moon, learns some stuff from the Nox… Naybe Rennalla was once the gloam eyed queen… blah blah. He has one son go and make himself an integral part of the Layndel military. Sends another son to find powers lost to time from previous ages. And starts up some stuff with Ranni to get all the gears greased. Before he goes, as he does love Rennala and his children, he fashions the rune of the unborn so that if something goes wrong, Renalla can bring him and/or their back.

So he goes, everyone gets into position. We don’t not really much look at the golden haired person being murdered and we also don’t get a legit Marika to compare with.. could be she was killed and Godagon/Radwyn immediately took on her persona. The announcement goes out that Godwyn was killed and Rennala never learns of the success.

But something really did go wrong. There’s a theory that Ranni was going to take possession of Marika’s body but couldn’t. Perhaps because of Radahn stopping stars to protect the Black Knives and their training being done in Selia. He also stopped the complete destruction of the Eternal City, specifically Night’s Sacred Ground, where the fingerslayer blade was being forged. He’s in on the plot, I’m trying to say. His stopping the stars could even be part of Ranni’s role in the plot, in that it was the only way she’d retain her will or something without flesh.

So like Rennala hears her hubby died, her daughter did a self termination, one of her sons has been eaten by a serpent, and her other son is out on the other side of the continent doing war. The Moonlight Altar and it’s dwellings are destroyed, her home is assaulted with no record of survivors… and try as she might, she can’t resurrect anyone because (though she doesn’t) none of them have actually died.

Marika calls Radagon/Godwyn her Other Self because he is just about the spitting image.

Okay… so I base this mostly on the strip of fabric Godwyn wears in the cutscene, that Radagon and Marika wear, that drape the Queens bedchamber, decorates Farum Azula, and hides The Prince of Death’s rotting twig and berries.

I love the unbridled irony of the Golden Order, a system that's all about being an all-encompassing logic of reality, is founded upon a massive paradox. I guess that was the entire point of Goldmask's questline.

Gonna stop calling myself genderfluid and instead change it to “immortal rebus”. Feeling cute, might shatter the elden ring later

First of all be careful in the streets of the capital my dude ❤ I'm late to the party but what a great video and a great analysis....
I'm in the same camp as you, I do believe Radagon never existed before Marika and that he was created when she ascended as nature/fate/the order outside the elden ring always balance things (just like rykkard ... there's a Serpent? Here's a sword to kill it now you go do it) and I find it fascinating that even though they shared a soul they could not... well converge in the end.
Also it's utterly poetic the way Radagon was open minded enough to include the carian magic and even marry a carian queen but in the end he cling to his pride and the order. Following your theory he was just too human and didn't want a new order because it could mean his death... the big mystery we are all afraid of. and I don't think marika or radagon are eternal. Powerful yes but they can be shattered and broken and tossed aside if necessary and killed if the outer god doesn't need them.
Anyway great video, great background for my painting just as usual thank you for all your work ❤❤❤❤

Radagon really is the worst secret keeper in the lands between. “Erm how did you procure that fragment of the literal order” “I just have it in my back pocket”

Could it be that Numen have a bit of timelord inspiration. They are outsiders that are "long lived and seldom born". They could go through a rebirth, like doctor who, and when Marika became a god it corrupted her so she could give birth more frequently but with mutations and her rebirth happens while she still exists, creating Radagon