I know he's not in this video but everytime I see Marika's pose as she's held in stasis by the elden beast, it reminds me that both her and Godfrey are introduced in the exact same pose. In the intro cutscene when the narrator talks about Hoarah Loux, Godfrey is hung by his wrists with a spear through his side, exactly like Marika in the Erdtree. And of course that pose is a straight up reference to Jesus on the cross with a spear in his side.
Also a reference to Odin being strung up and speared (although tbf there's probably some cross pollination of religious iconography between those two real world religions)
@@spookysioux1224 Hoarah Loux was Chieftan of the Badlands tho, perhaps maybe he held as much power (Influence wise) as a Warrior in the Badlands as Marika/Radagon had in the Lands Between. Just a theory...
Do we ever get to see her face in a cutscene or the concept art? Seems like it's always hazy ... We can see it in her statues for sure, but ... Nothing other than that which I can remember
Clearly seeing Radagon's original hair style before the Shattering is great, with most of his hair pushed back and a prominent braid from the top of his head. I keep seeing fan artists draw him with hair in his face, but that should only be after the Shattering during the final boss where his hair has clearly come undone. These concept artworks have provided some really good reference material for me. EDIT - Coincidentally with the new patch, two of the new hairstyles look like shorter versions of Radagon and Marika's hair styles pre-Shattering (28 and 31 respectively), similar to what we've seen in the art book.
@@fatcat1250 his hair unfortunately became a symbol of his might. "His victories were as red as his hair" they said. Cant just go bald before the masses now eh?
Just had a realization about the poses and the relation to Christian symbolics. Marika's pose is the pose of Jesus on the cross. Radagon's pose is *the* *cross.* It leads to a whole bunch of conclusions if you go along with this metaphor.
Golden Order fundamentalist: So this is the sign of the golden order in it entirely Meanwhile Radagon: Should I tell them I was just trying to assert my dominance
I love these two a lot specially Radagon I wish we could know more about him or even hear him talk I’m still hoping to dlc would give us more lore about them
Yes! He's my favourite character! I want more about him - but I also on Miquella and especially Godwyn. I need more than one DLC to get all the info I need to know :'D
These two are the single most fascinating character in the game and we still have no clue how they came to be this way... I wish there was more because again, they're fascinating.. And yes, selfcest and all....
I can offer some insight. But it is a theory based on alchemy sources used to inspire the game. And what Marika is, is a Rebis. A lot of people think of alchemy as turning lead into gold, but that's not considered the end goal. Marika already achieved that when she turned Godfrey into an Elden Lord. The real great work is the creation of the rebis. A rebis is the union of two opposing forces and has both male and female qualities and us represented by a creature known as the "divine hermaphrodite." The two halves of this creature is formed by the union between the White Queen and the Red King. Let's just say there's a reason Marika's bed looks like an alchemical crucible where substances are mixed together. Knowing a little about this rebis gives us some insight. First, it tells us that Marika and Radagon were at one point separate beings and they are also brother and sister. Yeah, gross. To become the rebis, they go through a process of purification and rotting. This process is what birthed Miquella and Malenia.
1:08 It's interesting that unlike Radagon's Statue which has his Rune on the Back, Marika's Statue doesn't have her Rune, instead SHE IS her own Rune and the "Cloths" wrapping behind her resembles a Serpent in a way.
marika's pose very closely resembles the rune of death. what this means to me is that her iconography changed after she removed the rune of death, like it became a staple of her rule and what she did for the world this also leads me to believe that the same is true for radagon, and the cross hatching pattern behind him (which is also present on the actual elden ring) is a symbol of what he did for the golden order. the original elden ring, the one in farum azula has something resembling roots flowing down from it, and the modern elden ring has the cross hatching pattern instead. i think that after he became elden lord, radagon changed the more natural root pattern on the elden ring into the cross hatching pattern, representing his golden order fundamentalism
I once made a joke on a reddit art for a comic of Marika hugging Godfrey, before changing into Radagon and the two fight. I joked Godfrey is Ryoga, and his disappearance from the lands between was him being lost while travelling for his rematch with Radagon.
They are the same entity that is so ashamed of their Fire-Giant (half dwarf Fire-Giant Milos, half Numen) heritage that their persona was splintered apart...
Always wondered what that weird formation on the back of Marika's statue was. Was struck by it even seeing it right outside the Chapel of Anticipation. Radagon's statue seems to be enveloping him with roots from the base. Seems fitting, being the champion of the Golden Order and Erdtree. But what of Marika? Looks almost like an odd or misshapen tail to me at first glance. A feature of the crucible?
Yes, or at least I think it’s her robes forming to appear as some sort of tail. You can also see this glowing line, that comes out of radagon’s pelvis as well, but straight downwards, go down and into the tail, that looks like maybe the guide of grace, or her grace itself.
I surely can see why that sculptor from Leyndell noticed Radagon's secret, he was like uhhh... Why is Lord Radagon wearing the same clothes and crown of his wife to pose for his statue?
Really hope in time one of the DLCs will let us fight Marika and Radagon in their own full individual glory and get their outfits/spells. Not a duo boss for sure but a back to back boss fight or even three in one like Friede was, that would be so sick.
I love how both Radagon and Merikas faces are constantly obscured in their artwork as to avoid anyone even remotely piecing together their shared secret.
Marika is a being known as a Rebis. It's the final product of the alchemical process. Neither male nor female and said to be the combination of substances that were symbolized as the white queen and red king. If they took no creative liberties with the formation of this rebis, it would mean the following: Marika and Radagon were two separate beings who were joined together as one to create the perfect being. It's often viewed as a sexual union, hence why Marika's bed looks more like an alchemical crucible than a bed (sexy!). And also they are...um brother and sister. (Sexiness gone) Yeah, alchemists were kind of facinated with incest in a very creepy way. Malenia and Miquella, each representing putrification and purification, were a product of that... um... process. They too are merging into one being with Malenia rotting away and Miquella absorbing her (hence why Miquella has female features and still aged.) Anyway... everyone have a nice day!
If Godfrey hadn’t been killed by us, what would his expression be when he found out about Marika and Radagon. Now that I think about it we actually save him from such a seen. 😂
@@afungai1649 just visually, as far as I can tell. Marika's a Numen craftswoman so it's probably hers. It also kinda looks like a split wedge, as if whoever put it there was trying to tear the Erdtree down from the inside. maybe the hope was that the force of shattering the Elden Ring, or the repeated attempts to repair it, would inevitably drive the wedge deeper and deeper into the Erdtree and, by proxy, the Elden Beast. the mind boggles lmao there's an Ebay listing for an antique wrought-iron split wedge that looks a lot like that anvil without the pock marks
The symbolism of these characters is very clearly inspired by Christianity, with the most prominent image of Marika being that of her crucifixion; an obvious homage to Jesus, right down to the lance piercing her side. However, there does also seem to be a lot of imagery involving a hammer and anvil, especially in the concept art, that didn't quite make it into the final game with the same consistency as the Christian stuff. I mean, I guess there is an anvil in there, and Marika/Radagon does wield a hammer, but there's not much else. I think it would've been really cool to have more of that in the game, a focus on Marika as a creator, a craftsman truly forging the Elden Ring herself and shaping the world she ruled--as things turned out, she feels like a more passive character than is perhaps warranted, with the Greater Will implied to be calling the shots in the end.
There are both christian and norse motives in their characters. Runes are significant part of Scandinavian Myth. Marika hanged in a tree with spear struck to her side also invoke Odin's hanging on Yggdrasil while bleeding from gungnir piercing his side. Erdtree is lands between's version of Yggdrasil. Marika turning into Radagon invoke Thor crossdressing into Freya in lay of thrym. Radagon learning both incantation and sorcery to "perfect himself" and Marika's "searching the depth of golden order" invoke Odin's quest for knowledge and wisdom. Radagon's fighting style kinda invoke Thor with drop the hammer (plus he is redhead like the myth thor). Marika with golden hair and being a head of warlike tribe that conquer the lands between invoke Freya, the goddess of beauty, Seidr, war, and death in addition to Odin's motif as God of Wisdom, Seidr, war, and death and leader of the war-like Aesir. Her reviving Tarnished also invoke einherjar who kill each other for practice in valhalla and being revived the next day. What else, oh right Marika's association with black knives also invoke Valkyries. Valkyire in the myth isnt only someone who take the soul of the brave to Valhalla and Volkfangr, they actually *cause* these death by arranging for misfortunes during battle. Godwyn also this world's stand in for Baldur, and Marika is both Odin and Frigg in this case.
My headcanon/theory is sometime before she became a god she discarded a part of herself thus creating Radagon, just like how Miquella discarded her love which resulted of St. Trina. I just don't know what's the indication of Radagon to came back to Marika.
I don't think Radagon was created by Marika abandoning parts of herself. There's info in the game that contradicts this theory. Miquella and St Trina r a separate case.
The color of the spear remind me of destined death personnaly, wich, before we release it in the lands between was control by Maliketh. So maybe Maliketh injured Marika to bring her to the Greater Will after her betrayal (The Shattering), the same way Blaidd wanted to kill Ranni after she killed her two fingers. Wich could also explained why he is in a state of madness and confusion whe we fight him and kill him, because of the paradoxe between his unquestionably loyalty to Marika, and the absolute command of his creator, the Greater Will
@@saklasnabal42069 malenia and miquella are meant to mirror radagon and marika in appearence and their respective curses, miquella takes after marika in appearence but is stuck as a child, stagnant representing just like radagons purpose in blindly perpetuating the golden order, while malenia takes after radagon but is rotting, as if she was rapidly aging and already dead, representing marikas constant need for change
So we saw that spear that pierced Marika's body during devine punishment also left scar-breach on Elden beast aka Elden ring. Why would Elden beast harm itself? Or it was ready for such consequence? Also, How exactly Marika shattered Elden ring, if she is the vessel? Did she somehow extracted it from herself to smash it? Or there were two parts of Elden ring - one in Marika and other one inside Erdtree? And all of this took place inside The Erdtree, interesting, isn't it?
she likely extracted it from herself, assuming the elden ring as a whole can be absorbed and used just like its individual greatrunes, you have to equipt individual greatrunes afterall so there has to be a way to remove them from yourself
@@stanislavmatusevich9276 I am looking at this with the assumption that it makes sense for the Elden Beast to get hurt from the Shattering, and doesn't make sense for it to hurt itself just to punish Marika. From this point of view, the crack is indeed an inconsistency, as it should probably cover its whole body. Now I'm not saying it's completely impossible that the only way Elden Beast could punish Marika is by hurting itself, just that I find that harder to believe than, for example, that a single scar on its belly made for a more cohesive visual design, or a similar design decision. Also, would the scar being self-inflicted, coupled with absence of other scars not imply that it didn't get hurt from the Shattering at all? That seems even more implausible to me. Actually while typing this I realized that the scar doesn't exit from its back, does it? I would take that as evidence that it is indeed not self-inflicted.
Interesting so Marika has double personality where sometime she is radagon and sometime she is Marika and thanks to the statue some of them knew about it
Dog you literally see her crucified in the cutscene before Radagon’s fight, and since the two are literally the same person you could even argue that we fight her as well.
If Marika and radagon are the same why does Marika want to give up her role as the vessel for the greater will and radagon doesn't at some points he looks like he did having ranni to replace her as the empirien but he kinda Uno reverses when they join again.... Godfrey had a baddie
hahahah. Rennala.... I am so happy our daughter is going to replace Mari.... waaaazzaaattt? Marika wants to be one again? Ranni... don't you dare try pulling something off.
I agree with the other commenter, I think it is supposed to be his hand. It's too small though, from that perspective I mean, it's like his arm is really short. That painting in the Roundtable Hold always bugged me because of the hand.
I just love that From decided to be so on the nose with the gender fuckery in this game. Having gender non-conforming characters like Gwyndolin was one thing, but Radagon being Marika's "Cross to bear" is just, such a poignant metaphor. Not to mention Miquella/St. Trina mirroring that exact same duality: Truths versus Ambitions.
Im really curious why Miyazaki always put a androgyny kind of concepts(such as gyndolin - player can wear woman clothes... etc) or characters in his games..
@@yourewallsareveryconvenien8292 Oh okay, I just meant that I enjoyed the fact that Marika and Radagon had exactly the same level of conviction as the prosecutor/defender of the Elden Ring and the Golden Order, regardless as to whether or not they took the shape of a man or a woman, and that there was no weird sexist distinguishable attributes between the two