Starscourge Radahn

Voiced by: Pip Torrens

"I was born a champion's cub. Now I am the Lord of the Battlefield's lion."

Also known as the Conqueror of the Stars and the Red Lion. Son of Rennala and Radagon. Radahn is the Red Lion General, leader of Queen Marika's armies, and the most famous of the Demigods. During the Shattering War, Radahn lead his Red Lion army in conquest, before facing his half-sister Malenia in the disastrous Battle of Caelid, the final major battle of the war.

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A-F

A Boy and His X: Radahn is so attached to his horse Leonard that, once he became too big and heavy to ride it, he learned gravity magic just so he could continue to do so. Even in his feral state, indiscriminately attacking anything which moves around him and devouring corpses that don't, he never tries to do the horse any harm.
Achilles' Heel: As his body has already been ravaged by the Scarlet Rot before the festival-goes face off with him, Radahn is extremely susceptible to the Rot status ailment.
Agony of the Feet: He's missing his feet when you fight him, even though he had them when fighting Malenia in the trailer. Either he (unsuccessfully) tried to stop the spread of the rot by amputating them, or they simply rotted and fell off on their own and there wasn't enough of him left mentally to care.
Almighty Idiot: By the time he's battled in-game, Radahn is still an immensely powerful warrior and sorcerer, but he's so mentally degraded by the Scarlet Rot that he's barely more than a raging animal.
Amazing Technicolor Population: Unlike his parents and siblings, who mostly have natural skin tones, Radahn's skin was a dark bluish gray color even before he was infected by the Scarlet Rot. The portrait of him in Rykard's manor◊ indicates that, like his monstrous size and proportions, this was a recent development, possibly related to learning gravity magic from a similarly oddly-coloured Onyx Lord.
Ambiguously Related:
- Some context clues imply Radahn might have been a practitioner of Dragon Communion. Disproportionate gigantism, grey stone-like skin, and yellow eyes are all side-effects of consuming too many hearts, Caelid has the largest concentration of dragons in the Lands Between, and the Cathedral of Dragon Communion is just outside Redmane Castle. The dragonkin background in the character creation also has grey skin and yellow eyes, though not gigantism. His soldiers run the Gael Tunnel mine, which has a Magma Wyrm (a practicioner of Dragon Communion whose transformation went wrong) as the dungeon boss. On the other hand, neither he nor any of his knights utilize any Communion spells (though they do use fire spells), and Radahn's eyes lack the slit design possessed by other Dragonkin.
- There are Blackflame Monks and a Godskin Apostle occupying Radahn's divine tower in Caelid alongside his Redmane soldiers. They're coded not to attack each other, and if you lure them into the same room they'll work together to kill you and go back to their respective guard positions after you're dead. The meaning of this is never clarified. It could be tied to his implicit alliance with Rykard, who also has Blackflame Monks and Godskins in his manor, and whose war machines fight alongside Radahn's men around Caelid. Radahn's Divine Tower also has a chest holding the Godslayer's Greatsword.
- On top of the Blackflame Monks, both he and his brother Rykard have some undisclosed relation to the Fire Monks. Fire Monk Flame Chariots (confirmed as such by the Note: Flame Chariots item) operated by their members can be found patrolling alongside his troops in Caelid, as well as at Mount Gelmir and in the Fire Monks' own camps. The Fire Monks are dutybound to suppress the flame of the giants and there are giant corpses all around Radahn's territory of Caelid, so that might have something to do with it^note, or Radahn's troops might have called the monks for help containing the rot after the Battle of Aeonia. The Visage Shield, bearing the face of a Fire Giant for the stated purpose of teaching its bearers to fear their power, is also found in Caelid.
Ambiguous Situation:
- Most of Radahn's actions, even in his feral state, are pretty understandable; Kill foes, eat foes, and protect his horse. But it is not really clear why he keeps howling at the sky, as Jerren insists on pointing out more than once if you talk to him before the fight. Is Radahn lamenting his fate? Or copying his idol Godfrey? Is he making sure the Redmanes know there's still fight in him? Is he calling out to Malenia for them to finish their battle? Or is it part of his perpetual crusade against the stars and the creatures that live among them? Or is it just his Scarlet Rot-induced madness forcing him to howl? No one can say, but Jerren and the Redmanes take it as a sign that he wants to be put out of his misery.
- Exactly why Radahn "holds the stars in place" is never properly explained, barring that in doing so he "holds Sellia secure" and that he sealed Ranni's destiny in the process. The Telescope's item description implies he may have done it on behalf of the Golden Order to "fetter" different fates.^note, alongside the fact he bears the symbol of the Erdtree on his cape and idolizes Godfrey, but the game never confirms or denies this.
Animal Motifs: Lions, as can be seen in his armor's motifs, his greatbow being called the Lion Greatbow, his title as the Red Lion General, and the name of his associated knightly order, the Redmane Knights. He adopted this motif in deliberate imitation of his idol, Godfrey.
- Elephants could also apply, with him being a colosssal, bluish-grey, tusked juggernaut who was beloved by his men and considered one of the more noble demigods. In addition, his stumps of feet resemble elephant's feet, and despite his mind deteriorating from the scarlet rot, he never forgot his love for his steed or his mastery over gravity sorcery.
Anti-Villain: Radahn is one of the more noble demigods and has many heroic qualities (such as his good relationship with his troops and close ties to Leonard) despite having what's implied to be a rather self-centered motivation. His current state also makes him quite pitiable. Yet by claiming a shard despite having no valid right to the throne, and subsequently prosecuting his war as far as Leyndell to obtain said throne, he bears much of the responsibility for the scars left on the Lands Between.
The Archmage: While he may not look like the type, Radahn is also one of the most powerful sorcerers in Lands Between, having mastered gravity magic. In fact, his renown as Starscourge was earned since his youth from "challenging the stars" and warring against star spawn beasts. During his youth he created a gravity well over Lands Between to arrest the cycles of constellations; blocking shooting stars off the world before falling to the land, and repulsing away the lights of distant stars (which is why the night in Lands Between has very few visible stars prior to his defeat) — all of which prevent Ranni from contacting the Dark Moon and become an Empyrean. Even after having been weakened by the Scarlet Rot and driven past the brink of insanity, he still has enough power and sanity left in him to maintain this gravity well, to the point after his defeat an entire meteor shower shows up, from all the shooting stars previously halted in place. Not only that, but the fight itself includes many spectacular displays of gravity magic, especially his infamous Dynamic Entry halfway through. All in all, these are incredible achievements for someone who originally learned magic just so he could keep riding his horse.
Armor Is Useless: Unique among his siblings, Radahn wears full plate armor. This appears to be more for appearance than utility though since the trailer depicts Malenia plunging her sword through his chest (excusable as she's incredibly strong) and a Cleanrot knight shoving a spear through his stomach (less so, as they're mere Elite Mooks). You can see several spears sticking out of his model too. Gameplay-wise he actually has the fewest hit points of any demigod besides Godrick, even though half of them go into battle shirtless. Then again, the man is a shadow of who he once was.
Ax-Crazy: His battle with Malenia left him infected with the Scarlet Rot, which slowly ate him from the inside and drove him insane to the point he is now just a feral, mindless beast who has wandered the desert of Caelid eating nothing but the corpses of his dead friends and enemies.
Baby Of The Bunch: Again, it is unclear where the age gap is with Radagon's and Rennala's children as it is left ambigious. But several hints may point to Radahhn being the youngest. For one, of the three siblings, Radahn was the most steadfast loyal to the Golden Order and had a almost naive admiration of Godfrey. This suggests strongly that he was raised more in Leyndell rather than Caria, which would have been possible before the shattering, as this was when the influence of the Golden Order reached its height. His brother and sister, Rykard and Ranni, was far more suspicious of the Golden Order which would have only been possible if they were born right after the political marriage; where they spent most of their childhood in Caria and saw the aftereffects of their father's war on their own home. Likewise, another hint is that Caria itself is strongly matrilinial and it would benefit for a daughter to be born first. Ranni is the next in line to the Carian royal throne, putting her in status of crown princess which is confirmed by Iji who outright calls Ranni the First heir to the throne. Lastly, if Ranni and Rykard was indeed born right after the political marriage and Radahn much later on, the age gap would have been quite big between the oldest (Ranni) and the youngest (Radahn), potentially limiting any close sibling relationship of the two which is shown when Ranni helped Rykard once but outright dismissed Radahn as a hindrance.
Badass Army: His Red Lion Army was one of the most hardened and skilled among the Lordsworn, and they won him victory after victory through his leadership during the Shattering. They are such badass soldiers, they've managed to contain most of the Rot in Caelid even after being decimated during the Shattering and losing their leader.
Badass Boast: Despite being voiceless besides grunting and roaring by now, Radahn's Redmane Helmet attributes the page quote to him, which to be fair is one hell of a way to sell your prowess. It's implied he was fond of such boasts in general, but the page quote in particular sticks out as his father Radagon apparently saw his red hair as a Mark of Shame, whereas the same helmet reveals Radahn prided himself on the "heroic implications" of the red hair his father passed down to him, as it was considered a sign of a superhuman destiny in the age before the Erdtree.
Badass Cape: He has a massive, embroidered one dyed a deep crimson, which trails behind him as he charges across the battlefield.
Bash Brothers: Was one to Jerren, to the point Jerren put aside his duties to the Carians to work for Radahn as a commander during The Shattering war and the two even swore an oath together to grant each other an "honorable death" if one were ever to fall to madness.
BFS: Radahn's swords are massive even compared to him, with one being larger than the Tarnsished's entire body. Later on in the fight, he will use his gravity magic to cover his swords in stone, causing them to become even bigger.
Big Little Brother: If Ranni is the eldest sibling, then Radahn fits this trope to a comical degree as he absolutely towers over his sister, even in her original body.
Blessed with Suck: It is stated in its description that his Great Rune (which enhances health, stamina, and mana when used by the player) is responsible for him surviving his duel with Malenia, due to the fact that it "burns, to resist the encroachment of the scarlet rot." He probably would've preferred that it didn't, as instead of quickly dying to a Worthy Opponent, his Rune's resistance ensured that he would be doomed to a slow, extremely painful, and thoroughly undignified death, spending his last days feasting on corpses like an animal while his body and mind both decay from the inside.
Blood Knight: Radahn craved war, and, wanting to emulate his idol, grew obsessed with battle at a very young age.
Bring It: In the Story Trailer, Radahn answers Malenia readying her prosthetic arm and accompanying sword by drawing his greatswords out of the the ground (as depicted in the page picture) with his Gravity Magic with enough force to create Chunky Updraft when combined with his roar.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: Despite being more or less a rabid beast by now, Radahn will still go out of his way to gently stomp Leonard into the sands when he is doing particularly feral or wide-ranging attacks for it's own safety. Even stark raving mad, he is prioritizing his horse's safety over his own.
Climax Boss: Several characters, quest lines, and incidental details found throughout the first half of the game mention Radahn, his conflict with Malenia in Caelid, and in particular the Redmane Festival being prepared in his name with a select few allies requesting your presence at the event, culminating in your participation as you lead a small army to take the mad demigod down. This is all accentuated with him being given a special introduction cutscene detailing his backstory and how he got reduced to his current state, all of which gives the battle with him a greater sense of gravitas compared to Godrick or Rennala.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To the Nameless King. Both are powerful and respected Magic Knight riders with ties to royalty who nonetheless have fallen from grace but in each and every way express those facts very differently. The King learned faith-based electrical magic derived from the sun but forsook his birthplace to live with the dragons his country fought while Radahn learned intelligence-based gravity magic to continue using his humble horse and became known as the Starscourge who serves his country and people unrelentingly. The King uses a single swordspear while Radahn is Dual Wielding swordsman who uses a Great Bow for ranged combat. The Nameless King is implied to be Lord Gwyn's firstborn who was unnamed and disowned for his actions whose existence was only hinted at in the first game and a very out of the way optional boss in the third while Radahn is still considered a demi-god beloved by his subjects even after becoming infected by the Scarlet Rot, and one of the very first characters revealed for Elden Ring. Mechanically the fight with the Nameless King tests your endurance across two endgame level bosses while Radahn can be fought at almost anytime and is implied by the story to be fought as essentially a raid boss whittling down his endurance through summoning multiple allies. And lastly the Nameless King rides a powerful storm drake called the King of the Storms that he sacrifices and absorbs for the second phase, while Radahn rides an emaciated horse that he never considers harming even after long since losing all other reason.
Cool Sword: The Starscourge Greatswords, a pair of tremendous cleavers made from black steel and engraved with the sigil of Gravity Sorcery. Like the blades used by the Alabaster and Onyx Lords, Radahn's swords double as the stave he used to cast magic.
Death Seeker: Jerren states the small part of Radahn still there wants an honorable end to his current state of misery.
The Dreaded: As the Red Lion General and "the Shattering's strongest Demigod", Radahn was famed and feared throughout the land as an apex warrior, magician, and tactician as a General. Attempting to summon Patches to help you during the boss will result in Patches spawning in, taking one look at the thing you're fighting, and proceed to peace the fuck out instantly.
Dual Wielding: His Starscourge Greatswords come in a pair, and both he and a Tarnished with the right stats can use them to great effect to tear foes assunder.
Dynamic Entry: Halfway into the fight, Radahn gathers his strength and leaps high into the sky, beyond what you can see. The music fades out and the time advances to night... only for him to come barreling down on the battlefield from orbit, striking with the force of a meteor. A direct impact is a guaranteed death, no exceptions, while survival's possible from merely being grazed. Messing with the game to have bosses fight each other shows that if allowed to perform the move, it will often do damage in the thousands and swing fights he's losing (including instagibbing slow-moving bosses like Radagon, who numerically takes off half of Radahn's HP before they even make contact due to their powerful magic.)
Elemental Motifs: Fire. He's a Hot-Blooded bloodthirsty warlord who screams and flails in battle, his army universally uses fire weapons and spells as their elemental damage of choice,^note he lights himself on fire for his Meteor Move, his Great Rune (indicated by Mohg's to be influenced by their shardbearers) is described and shown as burning, the narrator in the (ambiguously canon) 2019 reveal trailer narrates how the sky is "burning" over a shot of him screaming at it, he's fought underneath a red sky amidst piles of skeletons,^note his fiefdom is an arid desert with his boss arena being the driest part of it (pure sand dunes), and his hair is bright red (of a deeper shade than his half-sisters' and father), explicitly described as "flaming" in his helmet's description, and inexplicably stands up.
Eye Scream: Close inspection of his textures reveals that mold is growing on his face and eyeballs.◊
Face of a Thug: Radahn was a terrifying sight to behold with his almost demonic-looking face, intimidating armor, and giant build; his Scarlet Rot only made him look worse as a zombified giant. In reality, Radahn is described as being one of the noblest and most stalwart of his siblings, and was a stern but caring Father to His Men.
Famed In-Story: All Demigods except Mohg has this to some degree, what with being royal family and sitting on thrones in Leyndell but Radahn is referred as the one that distinguished himself the most during the Shattering. On top of that while the other Demigods either disappeared or are staying in their stronghold Radahn maintains public attention thanks to the festival his followers advertise as an opportunity to put him out of his misery.
Fatal Flaw: Ambition. Unlike many of his siblings, Radahn is not given a higher reason for his desire for the throne during the Shattering beyond seeking power and glory and his personal desire to emulate Godfrey. While Radahn might be far more noble, that's not a very dissimilar motivation to Godrick and Rykard's.
Fate Worse than Death: Radahn was infected by Malenia's Rot at the end of their fateful duel. Normally, this would lead to a slow, painful death even for a demigod. Unfortunately for him, his innate resilience combined with his Great Rune prevented it from killing him, but did nothing to stop the spread. He spent centuries in constant agony as the Scarlet Rot devoured his mind and body. By the time the Tarnished encounters him, he's a decaying husk of his old self driven only by the urge to kill anyone who enters his territory.
A Father to His Men: Radahn was said to greatly care for the men under his command and treasured his Red Lion army. In return, his soldiers cared about him so much, they came up with an elaborate plan to Mercy Kill him, unable to bear seeing him in the state he's in.
Fiery Redhead: Radahn inherited Radagon's red hair and definitely fits the qualities for this trope. He sees his red hair as a symbol of pride that marks him as "the champion's cub" — heavily contrasting with his father's opinion on his own red locks, who saw it as a mark of shame.
Flaming Meteor: Invoked; his second phase transition has him come crashing down onto the battlefield like a big flaming meteor.
Four-Star Badass: Infamous and known throughout the land as the Red Lion General, Radahn was an extremely talented commander, being a master tactician on top of being one of the strongest warriors the land has seen. His leadership and charisma were such that even after the disastrous Battle of Aeonia, his Redmanes are still organized and disciplined enough to simultaneously contain the spread of Scarlet Rot to Caelid in a brutal Forever War and host the Radahn Festival to give the good general the honorable death he was denied against Malenia.
Frontline General: Radahn was mightiest among his legions and so naturally led from the front, which resulted in him personally dueling at least two other demigods. He personally confronted Morgott (under his Margit persona) at the First Defense of Leyndell and evidently lost. Later, after growing much larger and stronger, he led his forces against Malenia's army at the Battle of Aeonia and personally killed countless Cleanrot Knights before dueling the Blade of Miquella herself to a mutually destructive draw that led to the ruin of Caelid.

G-Z

Genius Bruiser: Radahn was an utter monster in combat, having absolute mastery in swordsmanship, mounted combat, and archery, but he was also an accomplished academic, being a tactical genius and The Archmage of gravity magic.
Glory Seeker: Implied. Radahn's reasoning for challenging the Starspawn is never stated, though implied to have something to do to protect Selia but given his idolization Godfrey, most famous for having lead Marika's army against the Fire Giants, it's possible Radahn also wished to emulate his war against primeval forces by challenging the stars and their spawns.
A Good Way to Die: The point of the Radahn Festival. Radahn is dying anyway from Scarlet Rot, so rather than let him slowly waste away to nothing as a pathetic shadow of his former self, his men organize an army to let Radahn go out with the boss battle he deserves; fighting the greatest champions in the Lands Between with his bow, swords, and gravity magic.
Gravity Master: Being the son of Rennala, Radahn possesses tremendous talent in sorcery, and he particularly specializes in gravity magic, having learned under an Alabaster Lord in his youth. And putting his skill to the test by conjuring a gravity barrier powerful enough to block falling stars and starlight from reaching Lands Between. Even in his feral state, General Radahn can still control gravity and conjure meteors on sheer instinct.
Great Bow: His other weapon of choice aside from the Starscourge Greatswords is his Lion Greatbow, which he uses on his initial phase to snipe you from afar.
Handicapped Badass: He lost his feet due to the Scarlet Rot and it doesn't inconvenience him. If the need arises, he will start slicing you to bits while crawling on his knees.
Heroic Willpower: Even after facing down her army, and hours of personally dueling her, he fought on against Malenia until he got infected by the Scarlet Rot, and even then both he and his army still managed to stop the spread of the Rot to just Caelid. Even after decades of being in a state of frenzy and inhuman madness, he was still consciously holding onto a fragment of sanity, given he never considers devouring his horse Leonard despite ferally preying on everything else.
Hero-Worshipper: Radahn utterly reveres Godfrey and his legendary prowess as a warrior, customizing his armour to be based on the Lord of the Battlefield's lion motifs and implicitly taking up the hunting of the Starspawn in the hopes of matching the first Elden Lord's famed war against the Fire Giants.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: As it turns out, the gravity magic Radahn uses to fight the starspawn creatures is probably inherent to them in the first place.
Huge Rider, Tiny Mount: General Radahn is colossal, but rides a comparatively tiny emaciated horse with a too-long neck and legs. He's said to have learned how to control gravity specifically so he could keep on riding his small and weak steed as well. The Starscourge Heirloom shows that even in his youth he was oversized compared to his mount, but in that case it was a somewhat sane difference, equivalent to a big guy riding a pony. By the time of Aeonia he had skyrocketed in size for some reason so that now his horse's shoulder is about level with his kneecaps.
Human Pincushion: This happened to him during his war against Malenia. Those giant arrows he shoots at you throughout the battle? Those are the spears that the Cleanrot Knights stabbed into him before he killed all of them, which he's pulled out of his body and is now using against you. You can still see a good dozen or so sticking out of his back during the battle.
I'm a Humanitarian: After being driven insane, he began feasting on the corpses of allies and foes alike, and is even seen doing so in his intro cutscene.
Human Resources: After his death, Alexander the Living Jar steals part of his corpse to try to claim some of his power.
Irony:
- Radahn learned gravity magic from an Alabaster Lord, a Star spawn, in his youth. He goes on to use these powers to fight the starspawn creatures in the Starscourge Conflict and stop the stars' movement via a gravity well, block falling stars and light from distant stars, which would prevent more starspawn creatures from entering the Lands Between. In fact, as Sellen explains, glinstone sorcery itself is powered by "the vitality of the stars", and gravity magic is a subset of glinstone sorcery (as noted in the descriptions of every gravity sorcery).
- Radahn longed to live up to the legacy of Godfrey, the First Elden Lord, over that of his own father Radagon. Since Godfrey is most famous for being a conqueror who took his title by strength alone, it was likely for this reason that Radahn attacked Leyndell. Who defeated his army and stopped him from achieving his goal? None other than Morgott, Godfrey's actual son. To add further to the irony, Radahn showed up in full battle regalia deliberately modeled off of Godfrey's motif, while Morgott repulsed him while wearing nought but his usual tattered cloak after having abandoned his royal title to take to the battlefield - basically it was Godfrey vs Hoarah Loux.
Improbable Weapon User: Ignoring the twin greatsword cleavers he swings around like they were kitchen knives, Radahn foregoes carrying a quiver for his bow by just yanking spears stuck in his back out and loading them with gravitational magic.
Lamarck Was Right: His mom was a powerful witch and his dad a barbarian able to master advanced sorceries and even create high intellect incantation.
The Last Dance: The Radahn Festival his troops are holding is an attempt to gather enough strong warriors to put Radahn down for good. His army laments the monster he's become and desire to find a way into both performing a Mercy Kill and honoring him one last time.
Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: During the start of their fight, Radahn can be seen patiently waiting for Malenia to arm her Valkyrie Prosthesis with his greatswords standing on their blade-ends on the ground, letting her ready herself for their duel, a very honorable gesture. She returns the gesture, letting Radahn slowly draw and enchant his swords and give her a Bring It! before she makes a move.
Lightning Bruiser: Holy hell. Despite being supposedly reduced to nothing more than a rabid monster, Radahn's combat prowess is through the roof. The fight opens with him immediately becoming hostile and bombarding the Tarnished with great arrows from several hundred meters away. When they get close, he begins his greatswords and gravity magic to zip about the battlefield disconcertingly fast for a creature of his size (or rather, his horse moves him really fast). He even leaps into the sky and comes down like a meteor when he changes into his final phase.
Living Legend: Blaidd calls him this verbatum after he's slain. Due to having been struck with madness and becoming solely a beast of action rather than a man of both action and words, Radahn is characterized entirely from context clues and his actions before falling to madness long ago, making him almost literally a living Tall Tale guaranteed everlasting fame for his larger-than-life actions even after losing all he once was to the Scarlet Rot.
Lost in Translation: In the Japanese script Radahn's title is not "general," but "shogun" (将軍). While "general" is a valid way to translate it, and it presumably went through translation because it'd be weird for a warlord in a Medieval European Fantasy setting to have an obviously Japanese title, the implications of the two words are somewhat different. While "general" is a generic title for a military commander, "shogun" recalls a very specific historical rank in feudal Japan for de facto military dictators of the country, and is never used for modern military ranks. The title is a shortening of Sei-i Taishōgun, literally "Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians",^note having originally come into use in the context of the wars against the Emishi people. The fact that no one else in the game gets the title "shogun" while others are called by different titles that could also be translated as "general" is also lost in translation. This might contextualize seemingly inexplicable details about Radahn like why he was in charge of Caelid specifically, why his soldiers were not actually native to the land he ruled (as noted in the description of the Redmane Knight Armour),^note why said land was sparsely populated even before it got rotted,^note
Made of Iron: Radahn has already taken a ridiculous level of punishment before his battle with the Tarnished. With the untreated wounds from the Shattering War and the Rot afflicting his mind and body, the fact he can put up a fight at all is a testament to his resilience.
Magic Knight: At first, Radahn fights with a mix of swordmanship enhanced by his impressive size and strength. He then unleashes a flurry of gravity spells on the Tarnished, hurling meteorites at them. Lore also states he also used his gravity sorcery to make himself lighter for his horse, but also in addition to holding the stars over the Lands Between. Appropriately enough, the player version of his greatswords have high strength requirements yet deal split-damage: physical and magic.
Male Might, Female Finesse: With his giant greatswords and heavy sweeping strikes, he's the might to Malenia's lithe finesse.
Master Archer: While he will draw his twin greatswords when anyone engages him in melee, Radahn is no slouch with the bow either given he can fire arrows loaded with gravity magic, making them fly at bullet-like speeds, with Radahn occasionally drawing several arrows for Rain of Arrows or a shotgun burst of several dozen arrows at once. The arrows — which are actually the spears of Malenia's Cleanrot Knights impaled into his back, evidently just giving him more ammo — are about the size of a small tree and will blast you right off of Torrent on a direct impact.
Master of All: Let's see here: master of Mounted Combat, Master Archer, one of two contenders for the setting's World's Best Warrior in close combat, a prodigy sorcerer, an expert strategist and on top of all this, was such A Father to His Men his army had enough morale and sanity remaining in them to hold a festival in his name after decades spent in non-stop war against the horrors of Caelid. The man seems to have the ability to become the best at anything he puts his mind to, and, amazingly enough, retains enough of his skill to be a deceptively lethal to foes even after deteriorating in both mind and body from Malenia's Scarlet Rot.
Master Swordsman: His swordsmanship is less flashy than Malenia's, but he handles his massive blades with enough speed, precision, and clever use of gravity magic to make his phenomenal skill clear, letting him carve through a small army of Tarnished heroes with disturbing grace even while near-mindless from the Scarlet Rot. It's all but stated that his swordplay was as refined as Malenia's when he was in his prime and not afflicted with the Rot, which speaks volumes of just how skilled Radahn was at his apex.
Mercy Kill: The whole point of the boss fight with him is to put the poor guy out of his misery, courtesy of his own troops who can no longer stand to see him suffer. They've been trying to grant him an honorable death for so long that it had become a regular festival event by the time the Tarnished gets their turn.
Meteor-Summoning Attack: In his second phase, Radahn will occasionally summon a series of four rock clusters with his gravity magic, and eventually he'll fire them at you like mini-meteors.
Mounted Combat: The absolute master of this in-game; Despite weighing the same as a small freight train Radahn rides effortlessly around for long wound-up cavalry swings with so much grace he appears to be skateboarding across the desert sands, with Leonard turning on a dime to direct said enormous swings right at you or your summons. The sheer momentum on some of his attacks almost makes it look like his horse is Flash Stepping to make the swings accelerate as intended by Radahn.
Mundane Utility: The original reason he learned gravity magic was so he would not have to give up riding his comparatively weak and scrawny horse after he grew too big and heavy for it to carry, just because he loved it so much. In combat, he also uses gravity magic to control the phenomenal momentum of him and his weapons, letting him move and strike with far more agility than should reasonably be possible.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Lord of the Battlefield's Lion, Starscourge, Conqueror of the Stars. This is a man who by reputation alone took "If the universe is so big, why won't it fight me?" literally, and succeeded.
Non-Standard Character Design: Radahn is an outlier among the demigods and the rest of his family. He's 27 feet tall when most of them are 8 to 12 feet, inhumanly wide relative to his height, has dark grey skin, extremely short legs (the other demigods have proportionally long legs to emphasize their stature), almost ogre-like facial features, yellow eyes with black sclera, and more obviously inhuman proportions than the other demigods, especially in how extremely his design invokes Tiny-Headed Behemoth to the point that he probably can't see in an FOV wider than 20 degrees. He looked like this even before his duel with Malenia. It's not an effect of learning gravity magic, as Redmane Knight Ogha learned the same techniques alongside Radahn and doesn't appear to have any massive differences in his proportions compared to other knights. That said, his portrait in Rykard's manor depicts him with a human face and a much smaller body relative to his head, he's depicted as completely different in size on the Starscourge Heirloom, significantly shorter and more evenly-proportioned when fighting Morgott in the introductory cutscene (if that's meant to be representative rather than allegorical in-universe art), and the size of his throne in the capital indicates that while he was always very tall, he used to be in the same size range as his siblings.
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: He's the spitting image of Alexander the Great of Macedon, being a Warrior Prince who (claimed in Alexander's case) has Semi-Divine status, is famous as a stern warrior and brilliant general, wears a gold helmet carved in the likeness of a Lion (with it as their Animal Motif), is a noted conqueror, is a Hero-Worshipper of Hercules (In Radahn's case an Expy of him in the form of Godfrey), is well-known for his relationship with his huge black horse (Leonard in Radahn's case, compared to Bucephalus for Alexander), and finally beloved and worshipped by their soldiers due to being such a A Father to His Men.
Ominous Latin Chanting: The Festival grounds are noticeably dead quiet besides a choir of his soldiers chanting a slow somber song in Radahn's honor, and sure enough, they provide the highlight of Radahn's boss theme; In his first phase they provide a baritone marching song accompanied by heavy brass and drums as if to give their leader the same honors he went into battle with when he was sane. Radahn's shattering of the earth is even worked into the music, marking a noticeable shift in tempo into a more somber choir that provide Radahn with a funeral march.
One-Handed Zweihänder: General Radahn dual-wields a pair of swords almost as big as he is, and considering he's a giant...
One-Hit Kill: His meteor attack cannot be resisted even with the highest amount of Vigor, damage negation and Greatshields available. Depending on how (unfortunate) your position is, he can potentially OHKO multiple summons.
One-Man Army:
- So much so it's actually the main gimmick of his fight, using reusable summoning signs found in his arena to summon wave after wave of allied NPCs to keep him occupied and distracted... operative word being reusable, as he will slaughter these allies within seconds of contact with him. Furthermore, it's strongly implied by Jerren that there have been multiple Radahn Festivals, which can only mean that he massacred every previous group of warriors that tried to put him down.
- The Starscourge Conflict was implied to have been fought solely by him. Per one Sword Memorial: "The Starscourge Conflict. Radahn alone holds Sellia secure. And stands tall, to shatter the stars."
Our Giants Are Different: Radahn is massive even by demigod standards, about 27◊ feet tall◊ with a build fit for a strongman. No reason is given for why he's literally dozens of times larger than his parents. It seems to be a relatively recent development as he first learned gravity magic so as not to have to abandon his horse (who's supernaturally big, but still only about as big as the ones the Nightriders use and tiny compared to the full-grown Radahn), implying he was always a huge guy, but still somewhere around his siblings' size once.
Pet the Dog: His whole reason for learning gravity magic? So his beloved horse would not have to deal with the strain of carrying him around.
Rain of Arrows: One of his long-ranged attacks, called Radahn's Rain is shooting a massive volley of equally massive great arrows to the sky, and raining down into an impromptu wall of death. The fact it can actually home in on whoever is being targeted suggests there might also be some influence of his gravity magic.
Rasputinian Death: Even after centuries of enduring untreated injuries from his battle with Malenia and her Cleanrot Knights, the Scarlet Rot ravaging his body and mind, wandering a desert with nothing but corpses for sustenance, and repeated attempts from warriors across the land, it still took the Tarnished working with a small army of some of the greatest fighters still alive to finally kill Radahn.
Recurring Element: Radahn takes the reoccurring role of the great respected hero corrupted by the very power he was fighting. Whose final death is seen as a Mercy Kill by those who remembered him, like Artorias, Vendrick, Yhorm the Giant and Ludwig.
- Both in terms of lore and gameplay, his boss fight is very similar to the Old Ivory King from Dark Souls II; a Fallen Hero who has been corrupted by a primordial evil and has to be put down with the help of his own men. Both of their boss fights are The War Sequence, with far more summons than are normally available to the player. In addition, both characters were well known for having a beloved animal companion: for the Ivory King it was his three tigers Aava, Lud, and Zallen; and for Radahn it was his loyal steed Leonard.
Red Baron: The Conqueror of the Stars.
Removing the Rival: After completing his training in gravity magic, Radahn used his powers to "arrest the cycles of constellations", blocking shooting stars and their glintstone and the light of distant stars. This prevents Ranni from reaching the stars which guide the Carian Royal Family's fates as well becoming an Empyrean on Dark Moon's behalf; as such she can't begin her full plans until the Tarnished defeats Radahn and frees her destiny. Whether or not this was intentional or not on Radahn's part is unclear.
Secret A.I. Moves: Twofold- He can use both Cragblade and Starcaller's Cry skills with his Starscourge Greatswords, which is impossible for the Tarnished to perform since the Starscourge Greatswords they obtain from his Remembrance only has the Starcaller's Cry skill, and he can also cast Collapsing Stars without the need of a Glintstone Staff.
Sigil Spam: Radahn's two swords are engraved with the symbol of Gravity Sorcery, the same sigil that appears whenever someone casts a Gravity spell.
Spanner in the Works: His war with he stars ended with him putting a gravity well that hampers Ranni's power, stopping her plan until he is dead.
Strong and Skilled: Jesus Christ. If his immense speed and strength weren't enough to deal with, his masterful swordplay with his dual BFS and his potent usage of gravity magic will make him a nightmare for mid-game players. The scariest part is that Radahn is currently a pale speck compared to what he once was due to his Scarlet Rot affliction: one can see why he was declared the mightiest of all Demigods in his prime.
Super-Strength: While all of his siblings are blessed with inhuman strength, the added benefit of Radahn's great size has allowed him to outshine them all. By ripping his model◊ it can be determined one of Radahn's Starscourage Greatswords had a volume of 1.076 m^3 and therefore a mass of around 8.4 tons (as they're stated to be made of steel). Meaning Radahn can swing around what are essentially a pair of edged buses like they were twigs.
Suspicious Videogame Generosity: The boss arena for Starscourge Radahn has numerous reusable Summons, totally up to nine NPCs help fight or, more accurately, distract Radahn. While this would make any other boss fight easier, it makes Radahn's tolerable due to him being extremely dangerous to those he has his attention to. On a related note, his fight is one of the few where Torrent can be summoned, making it easier to keep Radahn at a distance or get up close to him before Leonard zooms off out of range with Radahn in tow. This can also be a trap though, as Torrent staggers heavily and can't dodge-roll, while if you stick close to his legs on foot, most of his attacks will whiff.
Top-Heavy Guy: His legs only make up about a third of his height.
Tragic Monster: He was once a famed hero who was beloved by his soldiers. By the present day, he's succumbed to Scarlet Rot and become little more than a feral beast. His fate is lamented by his followers, who now try and gather as many strong warriors as possible to put him out of his misery during their regular Radahn Festivals.
Undying Loyalty:
- Radahn was a master of inspiring this; his soldiers worshipped the ground he walked on, his commanders, like the Redmanes and Jerren, thought of him as a brother and would do anything he said, and even his horse, Leonard, refused to leave his side after he fell to madness. In turn, Radahn completely returned it, given he didn't once harm Leonard even decades into his rotting and feral state don't, still protects him from the player and his own sword swings.
- He himself seems to have had this for his step-father, Godfrey. His page quote, after all, has him declaring himself to be the "Lord of the Battlefield's Lion"
The Unreveal: Unlike most of his siblings, Radahn's motivations for participating in the Shattering aren't stated or even alluded to. Possible motives he could have had range from his obsession with battles or desire to elevate himself, but whatever it was, it earned him Morgott's contempt.
War God: Rivaled only by Malenia; Radahn was hailed as the mightiest warrior of the Demigods in his prime and both he and most of his followers highly value warrior honour and martial skill.
Warrior Prince: Though the son of Radagon, Radahn became inspired by Godfrey's fighting prowess, eventually earning the right to wear lion-themed armor similar to the first Elden Lord, and becoming a Challenge Seeker much like Godfrey, probably unaware that No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction was the death sentence of Godfrey's Grace.
Whole Costume Reference: In terms of design, Radahn’s armor bears a strong resemblance to Emperor Gaiseric's in Berserk (himself probably inspired by the same person as Radahn), in keeping with From's many references to that manga. Specifically, he looks like Gaiseric as he's first depicted, with most of his helmet obscured by shadow◊; check out especially his helmet with the plume of his own hair trailing behind it.
- His helmet, meanwhile, bears a strong resemblance to the one used by Raoh in Fist of the North Star.
Worf Had the Flu: In his glory days, Radahn was considered the most powerful of the demigods, a match for Malenia herself even after being impaled by dozens of her knights AND holding back the stars during their final duel. By the time of the game, those days are long past. The Radahn faced by the Tarnished is downright decrepit; his legs have rotted off from below the knee, he's riddled with Scarlet Rot from being at the epicenter of Malenia's "blossoming", and he's been reduced to a howling beast perpetually wandering the sands of Caelid, eating corpses from The Shattering for sustenance. Even in such a miserable state, Radahn is still a force to be reckoned with, requiring the Tarnished and a small army of other warriors to be defeated, but he's only a pale shadow of his former self. Iji and Blaidd both note this in dialogue, the former saying "the General was blighted by scarlet rot and driven to madness, but not long ago he was hailed as the mightiest demigod of them all" and the latter◊ in multiple different lines◊ that Radahn was "once the strongest of the demigods", both indicating that he dropped enough in strength that he's no longer considered the mightiest. In-game this explains why Radahn is a mid-game boss of moderate difficulty for his place while his former peer is meant to be a post-endgame Super Boss, and also gives you a major exploitable weakness for his boss fight - having alien space flu means his status effect resistances (including to the Scarlet Rot itself) are very unimpressive, meaning that you can improve your odds by making a sick man even sicker.
World's Strongest Man: One of the contenders for the title in this setting, with Ranni referring to him and Malenia as "the mightiest to remain" in the story trailer. Radahn dueled Malenia, another candidate for this trope, to an inconclusive draw when she was holding back the Rot and he was holding back the stars [[note]]The Aeonia Swamp Memorial states: "The Battle of Aeonia. Radahn and Malenia locked in a stalemate. Then, the Scarlet Rot blooms".^note. Even when the Rot came out, it still didn't manage to kill him. Even after the Rot crippled him over time, Radahn remains a threat who can potentially require multiple heroes working together to put down. Jerren and Blaidd, at least, both label him as "the mightiest demigod" in his prime. However he's shown losing to Morgott in the introductory cutscene, and is stated to have feared Maliketh just like the other demigods. While these three and possibly others can match him in a fight through skill, equipment, and/or circumstances, Radahn definitely has the greatest displays of raw power among his fellow warriors, from the huge blasts and boulders he's able to fling around with his magic to how every single one of his blows carries the mass of an 8-ton sword swung by a 10+ ton giant and was using magic on literal meteors he's been holding back for years on end.
Worthy Opponent: Blaidd and Iji hold him in very high regard despite the fact Radahn made moves to oppose their liege-lord. It helps Iji was an Old Friend of Radahn's second, Jerren, who likewise respects and likes Ranni.

Radahn's Horse

Radahn's faithful steed, who continues to carry his master even after his derangement with the aid of Gravity Magic.

The Alleged Steed: Was described as "scrawny" even before being hit by the rot nuke. Now he looks emaciated and shriveled, somewhat like if horses pruned up like raisins.
All There in the Script: The horse's name is never actually given in-game. Rather, it's in the game files which name him; more specifically, him and Radahn are a single NPC called "RadahnAndLeonard".
Assist Character: Ever wondered why Radahn was able to zip around the battlefield so fast? This horse is why. Also, Leonard burrows under the player during the meteor attack, acting as Radahn's spotter by telling him where to land.
Automaton Horses: Unless Radahn somehow found a good stable with fresh water and hay in the Wailing Dunes while the Scarlet Rot had reduced him to a bestial frenzy, then apparently he is one.
Cool Horse: Radahn's horse seems underwhelming compared to his rider, being comparatively tiny and looking quite sickly. But he more than pulls his weight, and actually grants Radahn a huge advantage. While Radahn has to lighten himself with gravity magic so the horse can comfortably bear him, gravity has no effect on mass, which means he is still providing the impetus to accelerate dozens of tons (his own mass + Radahn's + his multitude of weapons and "arrows") of flesh and metal at very high speeds. Constantly, without as much as a whinny of complaint. Radahn doesn't seem capable of doing this himself outside of certain specialized techniques, due to his stumpy legs. This is doubly the case in the present, where his feet have rotted off; without his horse he's reduced to (relatively) slowly dragging himself along the ground, but his steed turns Radahn into a high-speed magic-throwing blender and with his Gravity magic they make for a concerningly agile dynamic duo. Note also that the horse is gigantic, some ten feet at the shoulder. He just looks small compared to the 27-foot Radahn. He's also incredibly durable, given how many times he's able to shrug off Radahn stomping on him hard enough to bury him entirely in the sand.
The Determinator: Yes, the horse. The Scarlet Rot has done a number on him as much as his master, and unlike Radahn the horse doesn't have a Great Rune to resist it, but he still carries Radahn in battle and will even rear up and neigh in triumph in some of his animations.
Meaningful Name: The horse's file name, Leonard, means "Brave Lion". It's still another indication of Radahn's admiration of the lion-motifed Godfrey.
Morality Pet: Even deranged from the Scarlet Rot, Radahn never attacks his horse; at most, he'll (relatively) gently nudge it into the sands with his leg stumps to protect it from particularly wild attacks.
Undying Loyalty: Still carries Radahn after the Rot has reduced him to a husk of himself.

Characters / Elden Ring: Radahn

Starscourge Radahn

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Characters / Elden Ring: Radahn

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