If you're curious about the model viewing program, that was Dark Souls Anim Studio, by Meowmaritus. Meow has been working on updating it for Elden Ring, and it's getting to a good point, with some of the rendering issues being sorted out. Meow's also the one who mentioned the Japanese text for Radahn's alternate title, which I found interesting for how it really focuses in on Leonard instead of Radahn's other accomplishments.
Radahn is way past his prime and still kicks so much ass. ^_^" We were lucky he was unable to truly fight with razorsharp senses and his gravitymagic was focussed on the cosmos instead of us.
Actually, the name "Leonard" for the horse I am pretty sure was mentioned in the german version in the description of one item! I am not sure anymore which it was, but I am 100% Sure I have read the name ingame in the german version and thus i knew how the horse was called... I might check out where I did, not sure if it was in the echo or on a spell or item!
@@uncensoredmaverick4455 you really want to cross the line in order to make me cry, you know that. If we meet face to face, i pleading to you, on my knees. No sword nor arrow must harm Leonard.
Im sure everyone knows this but I'm gonna say it anyway, the fact he's mentally rotted to the point of being a cannibal he still never ate or even hurt Leonard. He still remembers to use his gravity magic to help Leonard and just the fact that his concern for his Boi is so core to his personality is so wholesome
I really wish Phase Two opened with you accidentally killing Leonard, prompting Radahn to come at you with everything he's got, hence the comet. Since Radahn floats, they wouldn't have even had to alter his animations all that much, just shifting his legs a tad.
@@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth that reminds me of a certain boss fight in Dark Souls III where a character's supposed companion dies to make phase 2 happen. For this to be as fucked as that was (if it wasn't censored) Radahn would have to straight up eat the horse to kick off Round 2.
I think it's an animalistic thing, like how we have a fight or flight response coded into our brains. Radahn cared about his little friend so much that when he went insane his brain considers protecting his steed as instinct
Leonard isn't comically small; he's actually fairly large compared to, say, Torrent. It's just that Radahn is absurdly huge, making Leonard look small by comparison.
I think that's what made the fight as difficult as it is. Atleast for me. You get distracted by how funny he looks riding Leonard and then laughing when he finally comes crashing down as a comet still on his horse
“Radahn of the Scrawny Steed” would’ve been awesome from a storytelling perspective. Imagine hearing that and thinking you’re gonna fight some joke, then you enter the Wailing Dunes, see a fucking behemoth off in the distance, and eat a face full of gravity arrows.
True, but I feel that title wouldn’t represent him enough imo. Radahn, the strongest of demigods who literally fought back the stars itself being remembered for riding a horse 10x smaller than him wouldn’t do him enough justice, considering he’s still known for the former ingame.
I think that would have needed the writers to create the tales of two Radahn's, The Scrawny Horse and the Starscourge (?) and intentionally make it so that we don't know it is actually the same guy... and then convince us we were about to face off with the unimpressive one. Like if we got one tale from someone who knew of him in this youth and didn't like him: "Pff... he only learned gravity magic because he got too big for his withered nag of a horse." And later from some of his soldiers: "The General, his mind eaten away by Scarlet Rot, continues to hold the stars back with his gravity magic!"
Everyone's like "You are too heavy for that horse," and this madlad learns gravity magic so he can make himself lighter. What a king. This adds a lot of depth to Radahn's character, and he was already really important.
Don't forget he also learned gravity magic probably to defend the lands between from unspeakable monstrous celestial beings beyond our comprehension, and protect Sellia, he was a chad all around
@@alph8587 Nah, that one was just be sheer coincidence. Chadahn, the absolute gigachad with a heart to match his size, wanted to learn magic all for his beloved steed.
It's funny how all 3 of Rennala's childrens are mages, and they're probably the 3 strongest mage in the game, Ranni is probably stronger than her mother at her prime, Radahn look like a Warrior, have the strongest Gravity magic in the land and Rykard is straight up making a new type of magic (i think it call magma hex or something).
The part I love the most about Leonard is that Radahn isn’t steering him. He has no hold over the reins, leaving both his hands free to attack and fully entrusting his steed to carry him into battle. And he does. Leonard is the one coming after us, chasing us down the moment Radahn puts down his bow and wields his greatswords. The fact that both Radahn and Leonard are able to work in such unison is amazing and is truly one of the the most remarkable aspects of their pairing. Leonard is loyal and brave, even in his weakened, frail state he is willing to dive headfirst into battle. The more I learn and realize about Radahn and Leonard further puts them up the list as my top favorite characters in terms of design, story and in-game functionality. It can’t be understated how much I enjoy these two.
I like your point but there was ways to steer a horse even without the reins, The Mongols for example often had no hands on the reins as they needed both hands to shoot there bows
When riding a horse, you can apply pressure or kick their side( of course gently) and that would tell them to run, walk, and all that. He still wasn’t steering though so that’s cool
@@mk_gamíng0609 It is common to use leg cues as aids to guide a horse in equitation. Position, pressure, movements of the leg and seat... But Radahn doesn't seem to use any of those so it's still very impressive how these two work together.
if you watch the fight between Radahn and Malenia you can see Leonard is there, which means that leonard took the scarlot aeonia pretty much point blank and is still kicking (arguably better than Radhan but he wasnt stabbed)
Leonard is the icing on the cake for what I consider one of the silliest (in a good way) bosses in the series. The image of this ludicrously huge and top-heavy giant with no feet scooting around on a tiny horse gives me the impression that the devs were saying with this fight, 'go on, you have our permission to just have a good time'. And then, just when you thought that Patches leaving would be the funniest part of the fight, Radahn leaps into the stratosphere and descends to earth like a meteorite. The whole fight is nothing but cartoonish fun, I love it.
I think the thing that cracks me up the most about this fight, other than what you've mentioned, is the Doppler effect on the music as Radahn ascends into the heavens and then blasts back down into the arena. I love a good Doppler effect.
Radahn shoving Leonard into the ground is surprisingly interesting, he still has enough mind left to push his old friend aside when doing big attacks. His horse probably meant so much to him
It's pretty insane how much Radahn does at once. Uses gravity magic to fight, float, protect Leonard AND keep the stars at bay. All at the same time, while also being infested and driven insane by the scarlet rot. If he was that powerful that even hoards of warriors couldn't put him down until we came along, image what he'd be like whole and hearty while not having to control the stars.
@@seferofe most likely as powerful as Malenia in her Goddess of Rot state as Malenia was as powerful as he is in his prime when he was holding back the star and we fight the most powerful version of Malenia being her Goddess of Rot form which she get from fighting us by blooming the scarlet rot flower for the third time so most likely without holding back the star he would be as powerful as Goddess of Rot Malenia or even stronger
Right and wrong, I think without Leonard he’d still be appreciated for being kind to his men, but more focus would be on the spectacle of a man as big as a house flying around swinging buses on sticks at you.
Leonard’s scrawny body reminds me of all the dead and decaying horses in Bloodborne. Points to how Yarhnam is trapped in some kind of time bubble on the night of that hunt and for more time has passed than just a few hours, though most Yarhnam citizens don’t seem to notice (with the exception of real Iosefka who notes that it feels like the night is lasting much longer than usual).
@@ReiBagg1 They’re talking about the dialogue when receiving Iosefka’s blood vials before reaching Cathedral Ward, when she says that ‘The Night is long’ It’s not surprising that Iosefka knows more about the nightmare than she lets on, given her obsession with paleblood and it’s supposed ability to ‘transcend’ the hunt. Plus there is that blood vial of hers you find in the chest outside Mergo’s loft.
@@jamesmark5601 the impostor iosefka is obsessed with paleblood. If you go to the clinic through the back entrance after vicar amelia you find whats left of the real iosefka and if you go to the top part of the clinic before the bloodmoon u can fight the impostor
Honestly I think that the people are being affected by the beastly scourge and the eldritch truth from consuming so much blood and they’re losing their minds. That “hunt” is most likely a nightmare of some kind that everyone’s collective subconscious is trapped in. Maybe they’re all dead in the physical world who knows.
The fact of the matter is that Radahn was willing to learn an entire school of difficult magic just to keep from putting his horse out to pasture. It speaks deeply to his underlying character and gives us a glimpse of what he used to be; not just a warlord with excessive strength.
literally everybody else in the Lands Between has loyalty issues. Godrick's servants help you sneak in to assassinate him, Liurnia is mid-civil war, Rykard's soldiers think he's insane, Miquella relies on mind control mojo. meanwhile every one of Radahn's followers who's still got their wits thinks he's the best boss ever even though he's eaten half of them.
While Miquella has the power of mind control, I think it's dishonest to say that that's what he RELIES ON for followers. The guy is offering a place for the various people who are rejected by the Erdtree to be accepted; I think that's convincing enough .
Radahn: *becomes as big as a two-story building* Jerren: "It appears you have become too great in stature to sit a horse, general." Radahn: "No, Leonard is *_my_* horsey, and he always will be. Jerren: "But general, how will you ride him?" Radahn: "I shall find a way, even if it means I must defy the very stars themselves!"
My favorite bit about Radahn is that despite being driven mad by rot to the point he can't tell friend from foe, he still doesn't hurt his beloved horse. Now that's a bond.
We love you Leonard! I also think it’s interesting how Leonard also has a red mane and tail, and everything we’ve seen with red hair was connected to Radagon. Maybe Leonard was a gift to a young Radahn by his father?
I don't know. Isn't it said that Radagon really hated that his hair turned red after genociding the giants? Wasn't it like a curse mark that he feared because he didn't know what it actually did besides turn him into a ginger? Yet he seems to have owned a Red Wolf. Do any of the lore people have an explanation for this?
@@Erick-tv8oq The giants placed on a curse on Marika, which is what gave Radagon his red hair. And yes, you're correct, R hates his hair, but only because it connects him to a group of beings that were named as his mortal enemies (and also probably because it reminds him of the entire race that he genocided). I believe that anything directly related to Radagon carries the red hair because, as we see with Dung Eater, curses in Elden Ring can be passed along bloodlines. Thus, I imagine that the red wolf is red because it's a product of Radagon and therefore carries the curse. I can't recall where I read it, but I am fairly certain that Radahn loves his red hair, though, as he views his father as a great hero and therefore his own hair as proof that he comes from a heroic lineage. Also worth noting that Radahn is far, far bigger than his father, and seems a bit giant-y, if you ask me Edit: The Giant's Red Braid item description is where we get the implication that the giants caused Radagon's gingerfication, and Radahn's Redmane Helm is where we learn that Radahn is a big fan of his hair color. I think the fact that he named his knights 'the Redmanes' is also a pretty conclusive piece of evidence that he was into the idea
This could also be a reference to a real world thing. Of Horses;Red Hare. Of Men;Lu Bu. Lu Bu is widely regarded as one of the greatest warriors in history and he always had a red colored horse called Red Hare who was said to be the strongest and fastest horse breed
@@justkosmo6806 Now I'm left here imagining Rennala giving Radagon a magic wolf as a birthday gift or something, then Radagon taking it in his hands and seeing the cub's fur turning red, to his horror. Then he discovers there is actually an entire species of magic wolves, and also they all turned red so he wouldn't get any ideas of trying to exchange his cub for one of them. Like Midas, but much worse since everything that is related to him is condemned to the awful curse of being ginger. In the end he begrudginly accepts the wolf, but leaves it to guard Rennala the first chance he gets.
Now that you point out how Radahn can still move by levitating with his gravity magic, it really strengthens the bond he has with Leonard. Radahn learned gravity magic so he could always ride Leonard and even though he doesn't need to ride a horse with the ability to levitate, he rides Leonard anyway. They truly are inseparable and it is absolutely adorable.
I really like that Radahn is very much the culmination of something FromSoft always wanted to have: a spectacle battle with multiple summons that nonetheless is still very challenging. They tried that with Ivory King in DS II, and in many ways Radahn feels like a loveletter to that, a bigger, better, meaner version of that fight that works extremely well in gameplay and lore.
well, the Ivory king boss fight when you have the 4 knights at your side and one or two summons is a nice spectacle: Since your entry to the arena, the small scale war between your team and the charred knights and then the uber awesome king entrance... it never loose the challenge no mater how much companions you have... the summons are just health pools for the Ivory king tho, as they don't do that much damage to him IF they actually survive the fight. But yeah, I do agree on what you say. Radahn war festival is the most memorable boss fight in the whole game and one of the best under From's belt
This whole game feels like a love letter to DS2, they're sort of similar in how in that game they tried implementing more Norse esthetics and powerstancing and stuff like that. I never finished that game but definitely regret not doing so and have wanted to give it another go because this game made me realize maybe what they were going for
@@setsunaes Wish they didn't nerf him. Like, yeah, initially it took me hours to beat him, but that was a part of the fun. It really felt like you're dealing with a legend who could single-handedly beat literal armies at the peak of his power.
I remember the first time fighting this guy and being *really* confused about his movements until I noticed the tiny horse. Best boss 11/10, take your seat next to the nameless King you magnificent madman!
Thought he was a crude joke when I first saw him in the early trailer. Only later learned the wholesome connection. Now I can’t get enough of the animations when Radahn gets too far away too quickly and Leonard frantically gallops back under him to keep the illusion alive. So cute.
I love how silly Radahn looks zooming around so low to the ground, but it's kind of bad ass in its own way. Radahn is wholesomely badass. Dude became huge, strong, and smart explicitly to protect the weak, literally holding up the sky to protect the crumbling order of the world.
@@Cannon_Shots in dark souls lore the more souls you have the bigger you get.. aka the more power you have the bigger you get I don't know how it works in elden ring
@@Cannon_Shots Radahn is a lot bigger than Radagan. Honestly, I think Renalla is bigger than Radagan... But ay maybe giant is a recessive gene that comes out every once in a while 🤷♂they really only associate his hair with giants though, not his size.
@@Tuxedosnake00 Im not sure about souls since I THINK the only ones that can transform all the souls that they have to power for themselves are just hollows/ashen ones and they don't seem to get bigger the stronger souls they have, Gwyn gave his powers (part of his soul) to a lot of people and they are big tho, but that might be because of his own power as a god, maybe part of the people's size depends on the amount of power that they were born/created with, like black knights were humans that were originally born with "soul level 40" so they grew bigger or were more suited to combat than most normal humans that start with SL 5 or something. That's just an idea that came to my mind when i was reading your comment so it might have a lot of flaws xd
"Or, more concerningly, they could've had a special state for if the player killed Leonard early, sending Radahn into a rage" I'd like to imagine that's the reason Malenia never tried to attack Leonard during their fight
@@vdarkfire9378 fr Like imagine Malenia killing Leonard and then Radhan goes absolutely apeshit on her, bringing down meteors left and right. Idk maybe carving out the land with gravity magic and yeeting it at her. Then Malenia goes crackhead mode as well. Full on Blood Lusted Radhan and Malenia in her Goddess form would be a fight of its own. I'd sell my right testicle and left kidney to watch that tbh.
I imagine that part of why Radahn doesn't have a phase where he is "standing" is that with a giant enemy, ankle slashing is the strat in these games, and Radahn has no ankles to slash
I saw a video somewhere that showed a theory of his geet being gone is because of how fast he is going across the sand that it literally ground his feet off.
I’d like to note that the name Leonard means something like “lion-strong” or “lion-hearted”, which is both very fitting (matching Radahn’s lion motif) and hilariously unfitting (I mean, look at him).
other writing forms of the name are leonhart or leonhardt. Just meant to say it directly is the word Lionheart. It´s meant to mean bold as a lion. Leonard certainly is a damn bold horse, despite his weak body.
I learned during some research into the medieval period that the -ard suffix on a name came from the word "hard" Found this from the name Everod, which came from Everard or Ever-Hard, meaning hard-headed or stubborn.
I imagine Leonard was probably a very impressive steed before he was covered in scarlet rot. Compared to Radahn he's short, but compared to Torrent he is monstrous in size. He might be the tallest horse in Elden Ring
I can only imagine this being a 300 IQ megabrain move on part of Renalla. "Sweetie, don't you wanna learn sorcery?" :D "Nnno! I don't want to read books, I want to ride Horses and be a strong knight!" *pouts* "Oh my beloved Radahn. But if you don't study enough then poor Leonard shan't be able to hold your weight." *Radahn immediately drops everything and doesn't leave Raya Lucaria Academy until he has a Master's Degree on Gravitational magic*
Radahn is one of the most principled Shardbearers - he'll put in any amount of work to protect those in his care. He learned gravity magic to protect his horse, he fights the toughest battles himself to save his warriors, and he literally holds the stars in place to save the crumbling Golden Order. He puts the team, and the world, on his back, growing strong in order to protect the weak.
@@alchemysaga3745 Pretty sad, for sure, but it also says a lot that even after eating his men, his soldiers still follow his old example and do their best to honor him. Even after Radahn became a shadow of his former self, his soldiers still respect his legacy.
Tbf he didn't really have a reason to build an army prior to the Shattering, but he thought Godfrey looked cool doing it and wanted to follow in his steps. Although he "protects" his horse and his men, he's also largely responsible for generating their own demise, all to pamper his ego and sell himself as a noble warrior. He is principled, but also kind of a jerk, lol.
@@shyguyrocks1 I mean, I think I'd fall more in line with Miquella or Ranni, personally. Miquella was at least trying to provide a haven for the forlorn while desperately seeking a cure for his sister's illness; Ranni's whole thing is triumphing over fate and actualizing free will, and though she's forced to sacrifice those she loves, she recognizes it's the only way to defeat the Greater Will. Radahn had no grand purpose as a warlord, but he wanted to pretend he did. In fact, if Malenia hadn't infected him, maybe he would have simply found himself abandoned by the Greater Will just like Godfrey upon finding he was (almost) without equal. Of course, maybe that was all a part of the Greater Will's master plan. I won't pretend he's any less noble than Malenia, at least. While she seeks to aid her brother and to suppress the Aeonia, she didn't exactly help anyone by zombifying Caelid. Kind of a bad look, girl.
Oh wow, I hadn't realized that the Scarlet Rot has actually already taken his feet. That means, festival or not, the Scarlet Rot was eventually going to kill him, how long would that taken is a completely different matter though.
Radahn, the big badass demigod general, learning gravity magic just so he could keep riding his trusty steed despite the size difference is one of the most wholesome things in this game
The description to Hoslow's Helm is also a prepare to cry moment. "Juno Hoslow had a younger brother who was all talk and no trousers. His inability to commit to action was such that Juno inherited the Hoslow legacy without resistance, granting him the freedom to shower his little brother with adoration."
@@TheVikingKitty holding the stars in place, we all know, its even in his name. But the only other uses he gives to his Magic is his attacks AND protecting Leonard.
I feel like Leonard is the ultimate proof of Radahn's incredible strength. Not only is he holding back the stars and killing everyone he comes into contact with whilst dying from the scarlet rot, he maintains his difficult and presumably taxing gravity magic so as to avoid hurting his buddy, which he does for litteral years. Since it's implied that scarlet rots spreads to and infects everything near it, that means on top of everything else Radahn is actively holding the rot inside his own body so that it won't spread to his beloved steed.
Zullie, would you ever consider doing a video showing up-close look at non-Tarnished enemy faces? it’s pretty difficult to get a look at characters such as the Valiant Gargoyles and other huge/tall characters. even certain main bosses it’s difficult to see their face, even Radahn here
Valiant gargoyles has skull shaped faces similar to the ones you see in dark souls 3. Except the only difference is that the valiant gargoyles have two fused faces.
I'd also be interested to see what some of the humanoid but not Tarnished enemies look like without their gear, like the Nox or the Vulgar Militia, heck even the Exiles or Banished Knights might have some hints at their origins under the armour!
I have thought about it, yes, it'd just be a bit time consuming to do, and I'm not sure where I should draw the line on what faces to bother showing or not.
@@dragonsaint9446 Nox are just some grey hollow people. Exile knights despite their minimal view of their faces, are also some dead - hollow looking guys. Banished knights doesn't have faces. Its just empty. Vulgar militia, seems to undead looking mf.
Elden Ring, a game where one of the most wholesome moment is when you go in an all out assault along with your friends, against a massive dude who had unintentionally became the strongest gravity user just because he love his horse.
The craziest thing about the Radahn fight is we're fighting him AFTER he's handicapped himself devoting power to holding back the stars, his body rotting apart, and his mind driven mad. Imagine Radahn at full strength.
You could say that about most bosses. Almost all of them are at a lowpoint, maybe even at their lowest. GUYS I GET THE FUCKING POINT! I AM WRONG, AND YOU ARE CORRECT. NOW SHUT UP.
@@maxeon0937 I disagree. Malenia is arguably at her peak after the Goddess of Rot transformation. Same thing with Godrick, being the result of all the grafting he did to become stronger, Rykard, fully assimilating himself with the God-Eating Snake, and Mohg with his role as Lord of Blood and his transformation on his second phase. Godfrey/Horah Loux also seems to be at peak strength when we face him. I feel that the only ones that are truly handicapped are Radahn, Renala and maybe Morgott
@@hughmann9568 Malenia is...arguably comparable, at least on the 'body rotting apart' aspect of it. It's a bit hard to say if Rykard is stronger or weaker than he was before being devoured. But yeah, overall Radhan has a MASSIVE handicap when we fight him, and I have no problem believing that in his prime he could drive Malenia up the wall enough that she had to use scarlet rot on a scale that permanently tainted all of Caelid just to drive him back - and not even that was enough to actually kill him.
@@hughmann9568 Ranni literally killed her own body and Miquella seems to be in an even worst state, if you are thinking from a gameplay standpoint Placidusax is the most crippled by having lost 3 of his 5 heads and while not being a shardbearer it still validate the other comment above
Wanna hear a fun fact? The name Leonard means Lion's Strenght. Really sweet of Radahn to give his horse such a powerful name and its also fitting since Radahn is associated with lions. So Radahn Basicly named him as 'Radahn's Strenght'.
His mind is completely gone from the scarlet rot, turning him into a mindless killing machine, but somewhere deep inside, he still does whatever it takes to protect his scrawny boi. Legend.
Actually, I think this helped me figuring out something. I was helping a host some days ago and Radahn never came down from space, yet all the AIs were running around and attacking the same spot which moved around. I guess they must have been tracking Leonard underground, since he would share location with Radahn.
There's another theory about the development of these two, which is that Radahn was way too easy because you could just avoid all his attacks by rolling past him between his legs (like the trolls' sword attacks), so they stuck something there to block you. There's not enough room under Radahn for a proportionally-massive horse without completely changing the fight, so the tiny Leonard was born and with him Radahn's goofy charming backstory. Complete conjecture, no evidence, but it's an interesting guess. And it's true that the fight would be simple if you could dodge under the legs.
I love him so much. What is so hilarious to me is how, well, normal his name is. It’s so out of place that’s it’s funny I really love and admire Radahn. Even being consumed by the scarlet rot, he still loves his beloved steed. Like, hell, the man learned how to fucking defy gravity for him. Super admirable
Radahn is actually intimidating design wise while everyone else only inspires dread at taking damage. Radahn touches you mentally on an instinctual level with how he just rushes you down.
@@alastor8091 what about Tooooogethaa phase 1? Everytime that serpent did his one attack when he rushed towards the character with open mouth slowly, I just lost my shit
Yea but I still feel bad for the horse, people like to bring up the gravity magic but he could've partially avoided that by just choosing a better war horse after his growth spurt. You also see Leonard fall down just from his own weight in the cutscene
Just got to him last night. Easily my favorite boss in a souls game. I've always imagined a boss with a huge health pool on an open battlefield with a dozen npc summon signs.
I loved radahns fight, and the fact that he literally masted a school of magick just to keep his horse makes him my favorite demigod, and maybe my favorite boss. What a chad
- Clean the battleground with the UNDEFEATED Goddess of Rot - Wait for her to stand up and take a literal nuke of Scarlet Rot at PB range - Refuse to stop fighting and caring for your horse - Still hold STARS in space with your magic power That's Chadanh, ladies and gentlemen
-Chad Radahn keep on fighting even after losing his mind and his soldiers throwing a festival to give him a warrior's death -Virgin Malenia bio nuke the entire battlefield with her soldiers on it just to get one guy, then passed out and got carried
- couldn't i-frame the slowest incantation from a blind and disabled space-cancer patient - gets proc'd with scarlet rot once, immediately goes insane - got his ass sent back home by an unwanted goat son after invading leyndell - literally a brony Midahn
Imagine if Radahn's second phase had Leonard be killed by the player, or just pass out from a mixture of exhaustion and injuries. We get a cutscene where Radahn momentarily snaps out of his madness and remembers how to talk and cast gravity spells (as the scarlet rot may have made him forget his magical power). The cutscene ends with him mustering up a gigantic amount of gravitational power as he regains his former glory and he then jumps into the sky (you know where this is going). Only problem with that is that it's too similar to godfrey's fight or even the nameless king's, but considering Radahn saw Godfrey as a role model, his love for his horse and genuine good nature would be an excellent contrast to godfrey's seemingly good nature, which hides his evil and barbaric side that harbours a total disregard for honour or human life.
Radahn was actually a pretty wholesome guy all things considering. Most powerful of the demigods but also kind of a stand up guy when you read up on him. But then Malenia came and messed the poor guy up with that aeonia
Given how respected he was by his soldiers and many other people within the lands between, it shows that despite being one of the scarier looking and brutal demigods he was also one of the most fair and understanding as a ruler, gotta love fromsoft writing
@@ColonelKebabShop his army respect him so much, they created an entire festival just to find the best warrior around to make radahn wishes come true; to die with honor in a fight.
I mean, that meteor move? It's all Leonard bro. Torrent might be good at double jumping, but he ain't strong enough to withstand fall damage. On the other hand.. *L E O N A R D*
Even with gravity magic, the fact that Leonard can be burried under sand and continue to breath, then surface no matter what or survive the heat and the impact of himself being transformed as a comet proves that this horse is the beefiest ever seen.
Radahn: "Don't worry Leonard I'll protect you!" Proceeds to violently shove the horse underground, mangling all of his legs and joints Leonard: "My life is suffering"
I really hope From sticks with the theme of time-travel in Elden Ring’s DLC so we could maybe meet the Shardbearers in their prime; Radahn seems like he’d buy everyone a round of Siegbrau
@@lordaizen113 radahn can stalemate malenia in a sword fight alone while nerfing himself on multiple levels. he isn't just an equal to malenia in sword combat, he's also the strongest mage in the entire game. and let me correct, radahn would've beaten malenia while the latter was giving up her pride and dignity because she would've lost and made a country wide nuke just to be carried away while Radahn tanked it and still fought her knights as we know from the cinematic and his spear description. malenia would've lost the endurance game in the fight if she didn't cancer the country and that's facts based on feats from both and malenias rot curse that affected her. and that's putting it mildy. Radahn low diffed the entire space army, fate, magic currents, stars/meteorites, outer gods, and all their combined power because he has the cheesiest and strongest magic in the game called gravity magic, that only space beeings can use and radahn that was taught it. I have most of the statements and lore in check regarding this and Radahn is easily the strongest. you can try any argument you wanty
@@lilhandsome9496 although I agree to most of what ur saying radahn did nothing to the outer gods I can't tell if ur trolling because u say gravity magic can beat the outer gods
There is a literal term in Japanese that describes the rider and the horse are becoming one together due to their sheer amount of skills, it's called "Jinba ittai" (人馬一体), and it's interesting to see how Fromsoft used this idea not only lore wise, but game design wise as well in Elden Ring.
I think the original might have been for Radahn to only do the meteor drop if you killed Leonard, maybe with the logic that he wasn't going full force because that would hurt Leonard.
I wouldve loved it if we had an actual cutscene for enraged radahn after you kill Leonard (by getting radahn to half health). not even a cutscene, just radahn yelling like a savage as he falls.
Leonard's design reminds me a lot of Lü Bu's famous horse Red Hare (Chì Tù), from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Red Hare was said to be a great steed capable of traveling a thousand miles in a day and crossing rivers and mountains as though they were flat. Red Hare is described as ashen red, which perfectly matches Leonard. There was supposedly a saying that went "Among men, Lü Bu; Among steeds, Chì Tù." Radahn and Leonard very much remind me of Lü Bu and Red Hare. I like to imagine that before Leonard became so skinny he was just as amazing as Red Hare supposedly was.
I am not sure you can even hit Leo considering how low his abdomen is to the ground and how forwarded model he has He would practically fall if the horse decided to lift his back leg
Radahn loved his scrawny little friend so much, he learned how to defy gravity through magic so as not to be too much of a burden on the little guy. What a wholesome story.
Ok, imagine this: Late game Radahn, you've become strong enough to kill Leonard and you do. Suddenly, Radahn flies into a rage and the stars fall. Now, he flings stars at you and unleashes his full power as the Scourge of Stars.
Radahn is certainly an interesting character lore wise: learned gravity magic to keep riding his friend Leonard. Decides he loved the village that he learned gravity magic enough that he would halt the stars themselves from falling JUST to keep them protected from a falling star.
The lore about Radahn and his horse is strangely incredibly adorable. This bit of lore and his really cool moves with his star-scourging ways and the flipping meteor attack makes Radahn my favorite boss in the whole game.
The fact that they exist as separate entities makes me think that there may have been a version of the fight planned where Leonard perishes during the fight, leaving the Tarnished to face off with a dismounted Radahn fueled by grief and vengance. Personally, I'm glad that didn't happen, because it sounds both very tragic and incredibly horrifying. Heh.
It's possible that Radahn's original phase transition was Leonard dying and him using his famous stratosphere divebomb as a move of uncontrolled rage. And considering that the sky changes to night when that phase shift happens, perhaps the original context for said phase shift was Radahn becoming so pissed off at his precious little horse dying that he stops halting the stars just to focus more of his power and killing the player to avenge Leonard. Imagine pissing off someone so much that they decide that murdering you as hard as possible has greater precedent than holding back hostile lovecraftian aliens because you killed their emotional support animal.
If I see one more comment anywhere about Radahn and this fucking horse I'm going to lose it. People swear he is their favorite character...... But only ever talk about that one aspect
Grandpa's skateboarding a horse and even when he became medically obese from sheer muscle mass and rot cysts, he learnt the secrets of the universe just to continue skateboarding ol' Leonard
I, personally, believe that the design ethos for this boss was just Miyazaki telling the devs, "for the purposes of this fight, you are all little kids who have just watched Dragon Ball Z for the first time." Observe: "This fight will have a giant boss with bright red Raditz hair, giant purple spear-arrows, and meteors!" "Yeah, and he's a knight so he'll ride a horse!" "He's gonna be 20 feet tall, how'd he fit on a horse?" "He uses his gravity powers!" "He has gravity powers?" "Yeah, how else would he do the meteors? But he didn't learn it for that, he learned it 'cause he had this horse he really liked and wanted to ride it even though he was way too big. So he uses gravity magic to make himself lighter so the horse can hold him." "You know what, I like that. The boss now uses gravity magic to ride a horse, and that's canon."
Honestly Radahn's fight was so hectic and fucky that I never even had to time to stop and process what happened to Leonard during his leaping attacks / meteor attack
I think it also stands that the arena is crazy huge compared to other bosses and honestly I feel it’s even too big for him when I think about it. A part from one hidden dungeon that they hid in the north part there is a lot of nothing in the whole area. I like to imagine that if dlc arrives then they could add a huge castle after a ritual or something.
It makes sense that there is a version of both entities being separate, I bet at some point Rahdan would have started the fight dismounted while he uses his bow only to get on trusty Leonard and charge at us as we get closer. It would have been cool, I am ashamed to say it took me a few tries to notice that poor little horse, I thought Rad could levitate given his powers.
Me after seeing the non combined version of Radan "oh my goodness I am glad this isn't what they went for he looks like a dark age RPG version of iron man on steroids"
The lore that Radahn learned gravitational magic so that he wouldn't have to leave his horse is interesting because it shows that cared a lot about his companion when his mind was still intact. Thinking about it feels a melancholy as it means that he used to have the capacity to care for others and be selfless in his actions, but all that seems to have been lost.
Radahn: Learns gravity sorcery so that he can always be with his beloved steed Also Radahn: Literally stomps his beloved steed into the ground to perform certain attacks, causing the steed's limbs to spaz uncontrollably
Quick question Zullie, is there a way to see if Torrent was supposed to be used for the elden beast boss fight? I feel like he would've been perfect for it and it's kinda a missed opportunity for him. Especially since torrent and the beast are somewhat connected.
@@setsunaes I mean the only real hard thing about the eldenbeast fight is that you do it back to back after fighting Radagon. Or maybe I was just lucky. Didn't really feel that challenging compared to Radagon
@@ngotemna8875 i would argue that the running back and forth when it starts to dive and jump away makes the fight harder due to the simple fact you start getting tired of that and end up making mistakes. the elden beast is not a good fight because of that. yeah torrent would make that fight easier, but it would also make it more bearable and fun.
I personally would've loved to see what the fight would have become had Leonard been a killable mount. I could just imagine a cutscene occurring where Radahn is shown mourning his lost and most cherished steed. Though he wouldn't have been as mobile, I can definitely see him becoming far more aggressive, outright ignoring the summons and trying his damndest to tear you to shreds. Hell, I could imagine him allowing the stars to move once more only to redirect them into obliterating you and the very ground you stood on. Elden Ring is a phenomenal game, and knowing just what could have been makes me eager to see any future DLCs and what they hold in store for us.
I already loved Radahn as a whole, his gravity magic, the way he literally flies out of view into the atmosphere (?) only to come CRASHING DOWN into you like a fucking meteor and defeating him with the power of friendship is just so cool, but learning this fact in game right after defeating him made it all so much better Like, this dude learned all of these cool ass spells just so his horse could fight alongside him He is SO COOL
The crazy thing is that the horse is much bigger than normal, it's just that Radahn is so gigantic that he seems scrawny in comparison; imagine radahn as a child sitting on a horse that size
@@8Kazuja8 Introduction to the game (Cutscene) does show Radahn being a hulk of a man before Malenia spread her rot rabies all over Caelid tho, and Caelid was said to be quite a scenic area before that
If you're curious about the model viewing program, that was Dark Souls Anim Studio, by Meowmaritus. Meow has been working on updating it for Elden Ring, and it's getting to a good point, with some of the rendering issues being sorted out. Meow's also the one who mentioned the Japanese text for Radahn's alternate title, which I found interesting for how it really focuses in on Leonard instead of Radahn's other accomplishments.
When are you making an onlyfans, Zullie?
Radahn is way past his prime and still kicks so much ass. ^_^"
We were lucky he was unable to truly fight with razorsharp senses and his gravitymagic was focussed on the cosmos instead of us.
Leonard is Radahn confirmed.
Actually, the name "Leonard" for the horse I am pretty sure was mentioned in the german version in the description of one item! I am not sure anymore which it was, but I am 100% Sure I have read the name ingame in the german version and thus i knew how the horse was called... I might check out where I did, not sure if it was in the echo or on a spell or item!
HELL YEAH!
A Leonard video!
If we could kill Leonard then I would have one hell of a Prepare to Cry episode on my hands
Please do it regardless, pleaaase
I feel like it would be the Tarnished crying about getting curb stomped by furious Radahn
@@uncensoredmaverick4455 you really want to cross the line in order to make me cry, you know that. If we meet face to face, i pleading to you, on my knees. No sword nor arrow must harm Leonard.
begone from my sight demon
I, personally think Renalla deserves a prepare to cry,
Im sure everyone knows this but I'm gonna say it anyway, the fact he's mentally rotted to the point of being a cannibal he still never ate or even hurt Leonard. He still remembers to use his gravity magic to help Leonard and just the fact that his concern for his Boi is so core to his personality is so wholesome
I really wish Phase Two opened with you accidentally killing Leonard, prompting Radahn to come at you with everything he's got, hence the comet. Since Radahn floats, they wouldn't have even had to alter his animations all that much, just shifting his legs a tad.
@@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth that reminds me of a certain boss fight in Dark Souls III where a character's supposed companion dies to make phase 2 happen. For this to be as fucked as that was (if it wasn't censored) Radahn would have to straight up eat the horse to kick off Round 2.
I think it's an animalistic thing, like how we have a fight or flight response coded into our brains. Radahn cared about his little friend so much that when he went insane his brain considers protecting his steed as instinct
@@shutupandmarmalade is this in the ringed city dlc? i'll be vague so as not to spoil.
@@norishimogawa6125 i think he is talking about oceiros and ocelot(in the original cut content ocelot was visibly crushed at the start of phase 2)
I will never get over the fact he battles while drifting on a comically small horse.
The horse is super tall
Leonard isn't comically small; he's actually fairly large compared to, say, Torrent. It's just that Radahn is absurdly huge, making Leonard look small by comparison.
I think that's what made the fight as difficult as it is. Atleast for me. You get distracted by how funny he looks riding Leonard and then laughing when he finally comes crashing down as a comet still on his horse
@@samueljohnson2794 hes not on his horse when does the comet thing im pretty sure he stuffs leonard in the ground before doing that phase transition
Now I need a cut of his drifts to the "step on the gas tonight" song
“Radahn of the Scrawny Steed” would’ve been awesome from a storytelling perspective. Imagine hearing that and thinking you’re gonna fight some joke, then you enter the Wailing Dunes, see a fucking behemoth off in the distance, and eat a face full of gravity arrows.
Kinda reminds me of the way GRRM names stuff in ASOIAF
True, but I feel that title wouldn’t represent him enough imo.
Radahn, the strongest of demigods who literally fought back the stars itself being remembered for riding a horse 10x smaller than him wouldn’t do him enough justice, considering he’s still known for the former ingame.
@@DemonBlanka Read that as MGRR, what the fuck is happening?
@@cronqvist5763 Gear Rising Revengance Metal
I think that would have needed the writers to create the tales of two Radahn's, The Scrawny Horse and the Starscourge (?) and intentionally make it so that we don't know it is actually the same guy... and then convince us we were about to face off with the unimpressive one. Like if we got one tale from someone who knew of him in this youth and didn't like him: "Pff... he only learned gravity magic because he got too big for his withered nag of a horse." And later from some of his soldiers: "The General, his mind eaten away by Scarlet Rot, continues to hold the stars back with his gravity magic!"
Everyone's like "You are too heavy for that horse," and this madlad learns gravity magic so he can make himself lighter. What a king. This adds a lot of depth to Radahn's character, and he was already really important.
Don't forget he also learned gravity magic probably to defend the lands between from unspeakable monstrous celestial beings beyond our comprehension, and protect Sellia, he was a chad all around
@@alph8587 Nah, that one was just be sheer coincidence. Chadahn, the absolute gigachad with a heart to match his size, wanted to learn magic all for his beloved steed.
Not sure the horse agrees.
@@Vespyr_ I don't think Radahn's actually riding Leonard, he just hovers and Leonard walks along under him.
It's funny how all 3 of Rennala's childrens are mages, and they're probably the 3 strongest mage in the game, Ranni is probably stronger than her mother at her prime, Radahn look like a Warrior, have the strongest Gravity magic in the land and Rykard is straight up making a new type of magic (i think it call magma hex or something).
The part I love the most about Leonard is that Radahn isn’t steering him. He has no hold over the reins, leaving both his hands free to attack and fully entrusting his steed to carry him into battle. And he does. Leonard is the one coming after us, chasing us down the moment Radahn puts down his bow and wields his greatswords. The fact that both Radahn and Leonard are able to work in such unison is amazing and is truly one of the the most remarkable aspects of their pairing. Leonard is loyal and brave, even in his weakened, frail state he is willing to dive headfirst into battle.
The more I learn and realize about Radahn and Leonard further puts them up the list as my top favorite characters in terms of design, story and in-game functionality. It can’t be understated how much I enjoy these two.
I like your point but there was ways to steer a horse even without the reins, The Mongols for example often had no hands on the reins as they needed both hands to shoot there bows
When riding a horse, you can apply pressure or kick their side( of course gently) and that would tell them to run, walk, and all that. He still wasn’t steering though so that’s cool
@@trigaashy2502 And yet, neither knees nor (non-existent) heels touch Leonard for the lion's share of Radahn's animations...
@@mk_gamíng0609 It is common to use leg cues as aids to guide a horse in equitation. Position, pressure, movements of the leg and seat... But Radahn doesn't seem to use any of those so it's still very impressive how these two work together.
if you watch the fight between Radahn and Malenia you can see Leonard is there, which means that leonard took the scarlot aeonia pretty much point blank and is still kicking (arguably better than Radhan but he wasnt stabbed)
LEONARD
STEED OF THE STAR-HALTER
BEARER OF THE TITAN
TRAVERSER OF THE ENDLESS DUNE
LORD OF ALL HORSES
ENEMY OF ROT
PRAISE BE HIS NAME
LEONARD!
And then a fucking horse dragon breathes purple laser beams made of gravity at you.
@@zur0ra418POV: 2nd phase radahn in his prime
Leonard is the icing on the cake for what I consider one of the silliest (in a good way) bosses in the series. The image of this ludicrously huge and top-heavy giant with no feet scooting around on a tiny horse gives me the impression that the devs were saying with this fight, 'go on, you have our permission to just have a good time'.
And then, just when you thought that Patches leaving would be the funniest part of the fight, Radahn leaps into the stratosphere and descends to earth like a meteorite. The whole fight is nothing but cartoonish fun, I love it.
I think the thing that cracks me up the most about this fight, other than what you've mentioned, is the Doppler effect on the music as Radahn ascends into the heavens and then blasts back down into the arena. I love a good Doppler effect.
The reason he has no feet is due to the scarlet rot right?
@@ultraspinalki11 guess that dragging them throughout sand over years mounting Leonard trimmed them.
@@ultraspinalki11 yeah
Radahn somehow perflectly balances absolutely ridiculous with incredibly badass, he's easily my favourite boss in the game.
Radahn shoving Leonard into the ground is surprisingly interesting, he still has enough mind left to push his old friend aside when doing big attacks. His horse probably meant so much to him
It's pretty insane how much Radahn does at once. Uses gravity magic to fight, float, protect Leonard AND keep the stars at bay. All at the same time, while also being infested and driven insane by the scarlet rot. If he was that powerful that even hoards of warriors couldn't put him down until we came along, image what he'd be like whole and hearty while not having to control the stars.
@@seferofe Really hoping prime radahn is a DLC boss
@@seferofe most likely as powerful as Malenia in her Goddess of Rot state
as Malenia was as powerful as he is in his prime when he was holding back the star
and we fight the most powerful version of Malenia being her Goddess of Rot form which she get from fighting us by blooming the scarlet rot flower for the third time
so most likely without holding back the star he would be as powerful as Goddess of Rot Malenia or even stronger
Probably isn't much fun for the poor horse though..
Thats so incredibly wholesome!
I think the horse is single handedly the reason why everyone loves Radahn XD
You wrong
@@Blast_S_rank_1 He's also right, horse caring boi is best boi
Right and wrong, I think without Leonard he’d still be appreciated for being kind to his men, but more focus would be on the spectacle of a man as big as a house flying around swinging buses on sticks at you.
I thought he was cool then I seen the horse.
nah, he loved Selia/Caelid and he loved his people, and they loved him from what I heard. He is genuinely a good guy.
Leonard’s scrawny body reminds me of all the dead and decaying horses in Bloodborne. Points to how Yarhnam is trapped in some kind of time bubble on the night of that hunt and for more time has passed than just a few hours, though most Yarhnam citizens don’t seem to notice (with the exception of real Iosefka who notes that it feels like the night is lasting much longer than usual).
What are you on about? I never considered this. Which line from Iosefka made you think this?
@@ReiBagg1 They’re talking about the dialogue when receiving Iosefka’s blood vials before reaching Cathedral Ward, when she says that ‘The Night is long’
It’s not surprising that Iosefka knows more about the nightmare than she lets on, given her obsession with paleblood and it’s supposed ability to ‘transcend’ the hunt. Plus there is that blood vial of hers you find in the chest outside Mergo’s loft.
@@jamesmark5601 the impostor iosefka is obsessed with paleblood. If you go to the clinic through the back entrance after vicar amelia you find whats left of the real iosefka and if you go to the top part of the clinic before the bloodmoon u can fight the impostor
Honestly I think that the people are being affected by the beastly scourge and the eldritch truth from consuming so much blood and they’re losing their minds. That “hunt” is most likely a nightmare of some kind that everyone’s collective subconscious is trapped in. Maybe they’re all dead in the physical world who knows.
@@ceral1871 the note saying "seek paleblood to transcend the hunt" is written in Iosefka's clinic before the imposter arrives.
The fact of the matter is that Radahn was willing to learn an entire school of difficult magic just to keep from putting his horse out to pasture. It speaks deeply to his underlying character and gives us a glimpse of what he used to be; not just a warlord with excessive strength.
7
literally everybody else in the Lands Between has loyalty issues. Godrick's servants help you sneak in to assassinate him, Liurnia is mid-civil war, Rykard's soldiers think he's insane, Miquella relies on mind control mojo. meanwhile every one of Radahn's followers who's still got their wits thinks he's the best boss ever even though he's eaten half of them.
@@tuxedocatfish Speaks extreme volumes and weight of character about Radahn, Best general
While Miquella has the power of mind control, I think it's dishonest to say that that's what he RELIES ON for followers. The guy is offering a place for the various people who are rejected by the Erdtree to be accepted; I think that's convincing enough .
@@mastermarkus5307Do you still think so?
Radahn: *becomes as big as a two-story building*
Jerren: "It appears you have become too great in stature to sit a horse, general."
Radahn: "No, Leonard is *_my_* horsey, and he always will be.
Jerren: "But general, how will you ride him?"
Radahn: "I shall find a way, even if it means I must defy the very stars themselves!"
Chad among chads
Issac Newton joins the chat* perhaps...there is a way
Based
and defy the stars he did
Jerren: general, may i suggest some sort of chariot?
My favorite bit about Radahn is that despite being driven mad by rot to the point he can't tell friend from foe, he still doesn't hurt his beloved horse. Now that's a bond.
We love you Leonard!
I also think it’s interesting how Leonard also has a red mane and tail, and everything we’ve seen with red hair was connected to Radagon. Maybe Leonard was a gift to a young Radahn by his father?
I don't know. Isn't it said that Radagon really hated that his hair turned red after genociding the giants? Wasn't it like a curse mark that he feared because he didn't know what it actually did besides turn him into a ginger? Yet he seems to have owned a Red Wolf. Do any of the lore people have an explanation for this?
@@Erick-tv8oq Wasn't Radahn proud of his red hair, and Radagon the one ashamed of it?
@@Erick-tv8oq The giants placed on a curse on Marika, which is what gave Radagon his red hair. And yes, you're correct, R hates his hair, but only because it connects him to a group of beings that were named as his mortal enemies (and also probably because it reminds him of the entire race that he genocided). I believe that anything directly related to Radagon carries the red hair because, as we see with Dung Eater, curses in Elden Ring can be passed along bloodlines. Thus, I imagine that the red wolf is red because it's a product of Radagon and therefore carries the curse. I can't recall where I read it, but I am fairly certain that Radahn loves his red hair, though, as he views his father as a great hero and therefore his own hair as proof that he comes from a heroic lineage. Also worth noting that Radahn is far, far bigger than his father, and seems a bit giant-y, if you ask me
Edit: The Giant's Red Braid item description is where we get the implication that the giants caused Radagon's gingerfication, and Radahn's Redmane Helm is where we learn that Radahn is a big fan of his hair color. I think the fact that he named his knights 'the Redmanes' is also a pretty conclusive piece of evidence that he was into the idea
This could also be a reference to a real world thing. Of Horses;Red Hare. Of Men;Lu Bu. Lu Bu is widely regarded as one of the greatest warriors in history and he always had a red colored horse called Red Hare who was said to be the strongest and fastest horse breed
@@justkosmo6806 Now I'm left here imagining Rennala giving Radagon a magic wolf as a birthday gift or something, then Radagon taking it in his hands and seeing the cub's fur turning red, to his horror. Then he discovers there is actually an entire species of magic wolves, and also they all turned red so he wouldn't get any ideas of trying to exchange his cub for one of them. Like Midas, but much worse since everything that is related to him is condemned to the awful curse of being ginger. In the end he begrudginly accepts the wolf, but leaves it to guard Rennala the first chance he gets.
Now that you point out how Radahn can still move by levitating with his gravity magic, it really strengthens the bond he has with Leonard. Radahn learned gravity magic so he could always ride Leonard and even though he doesn't need to ride a horse with the ability to levitate, he rides Leonard anyway. They truly are inseparable and it is absolutely adorable.
I dunno, he could still love him without sitting on him
I really like that Radahn is very much the culmination of something FromSoft always wanted to have: a spectacle battle with multiple summons that nonetheless is still very challenging. They tried that with Ivory King in DS II, and in many ways Radahn feels like a loveletter to that, a bigger, better, meaner version of that fight that works extremely well in gameplay and lore.
well, the Ivory king boss fight when you have the 4 knights at your side and one or two summons is a nice spectacle: Since your entry to the arena, the small scale war between your team and the charred knights and then the uber awesome king entrance... it never loose the challenge no mater how much companions you have... the summons are just health pools for the Ivory king tho, as they don't do that much damage to him IF they actually survive the fight.
But yeah, I do agree on what you say. Radahn war festival is the most memorable boss fight in the whole game and one of the best under From's belt
This whole game feels like a love letter to DS2, they're sort of similar in how in that game they tried implementing more Norse esthetics and powerstancing and stuff like that. I never finished that game but definitely regret not doing so and have wanted to give it another go because this game made me realize maybe what they were going for
The whole game feels like a love letter to ds2 to me honestly
@@setsunaes Wish they didn't nerf him. Like, yeah, initially it took me hours to beat him, but that was a part of the fun. It really felt like you're dealing with a legend who could single-handedly beat literal armies at the peak of his power.
@@Arrakiz666 They've since unnerfed him. I don't think back to his pre-nerfed level, but apparently even they realize they nerfed him a bit too much
I remember the first time fighting this guy and being *really* confused about his movements until I noticed the tiny horse.
Best boss 11/10, take your seat next to the nameless King you magnificent madman!
Thought he was a crude joke when I first saw him in the early trailer. Only later learned the wholesome connection. Now I can’t get enough of the animations when Radahn gets too far away too quickly and Leonard frantically gallops back under him to keep the illusion alive. So cute.
I love how silly Radahn looks zooming around so low to the ground, but it's kind of bad ass in its own way.
Radahn is wholesomely badass. Dude became huge, strong, and smart explicitly to protect the weak, literally holding up the sky to protect the crumbling order of the world.
@@monsieurdorgat6864 thought he was big because radagon was part giant but idk
@@Cannon_Shots in dark souls lore the more souls you have the bigger you get.. aka the more power you have the bigger you get
I don't know how it works in elden ring
@@Cannon_Shots Radahn is a lot bigger than Radagan. Honestly, I think Renalla is bigger than Radagan...
But ay maybe giant is a recessive gene that comes out every once in a while 🤷♂they really only associate his hair with giants though, not his size.
@@Tuxedosnake00 Im not sure about souls since I THINK the only ones that can transform all the souls that they have to power for themselves are just hollows/ashen ones and they don't seem to get bigger the stronger souls they have, Gwyn gave his powers (part of his soul) to a lot of people and they are big tho, but that might be because of his own power as a god, maybe part of the people's size depends on the amount of power that they were born/created with, like black knights were humans that were originally born with "soul level 40" so they grew bigger or were more suited to combat than most normal humans that start with SL 5 or something.
That's just an idea that came to my mind when i was reading your comment so it might have a lot of flaws xd
"Or, more concerningly, they could've had a special state for if the player killed Leonard early, sending Radahn into a rage"
I'd like to imagine that's the reason Malenia never tried to attack Leonard during their fight
I like this thought.
Maybe she knew he'd literally bring the stars down on top of her and wasn't too sure about her chances there.
@@vdarkfire9378 fr
Like imagine Malenia killing Leonard and then Radhan goes absolutely apeshit on her, bringing down meteors left and right. Idk maybe carving out the land with gravity magic and yeeting it at her. Then Malenia goes crackhead mode as well. Full on Blood Lusted Radhan and Malenia in her Goddess form would be a fight of its own. I'd sell my right testicle and left kidney to watch that tbh.
@@awrench1512 considering malenia had to use her full strength to incapacitate both of them, nearly killing herself, radahn would steamroll her lol
@@SnailSnail-lo4pm Fr
Fuck Malenia
Go Radhan
@@SnailSnail-lo4pm wrong she was not as her full strength because she was not a true goddess
I imagine that part of why Radahn doesn't have a phase where he is "standing" is that with a giant enemy, ankle slashing is the strat in these games, and Radahn has no ankles to slash
True. He would be nearly impossible to hit without some kind of ranged attack.
he obviously saw achilles and was like: "lmao im not a dumbass like him"
Maybe there's some Phantom Limb nonsense going on?
Maybe he lost them in a battle against ankle slashers
I saw a video somewhere that showed a theory of his geet being gone is because of how fast he is going across the sand that it literally ground his feet off.
I’d like to note that the name Leonard means something like “lion-strong” or “lion-hearted”, which is both very fitting (matching Radahn’s lion motif) and hilariously unfitting (I mean, look at him).
Its also cool to think that Radahn intentionally named him knowing this, as he especially looked up to Godfrey
other writing forms of the name are leonhart or leonhardt. Just meant to say it directly is the word Lionheart. It´s meant to mean bold as a lion. Leonard certainly is a damn bold horse, despite his weak body.
I learned during some research into the medieval period that the -ard suffix on a name came from the word "hard" Found this from the name Everod, which came from Everard or Ever-Hard, meaning hard-headed or stubborn.
I imagine Leonard was probably a very impressive steed before he was covered in scarlet rot. Compared to Radahn he's short, but compared to Torrent he is monstrous in size. He might be the tallest horse in Elden Ring
@@C_F_M kinda sounds like a late night male enhancement commercial "Ever-hard" lmao
I can only imagine this being a 300 IQ megabrain move on part of Renalla.
"Sweetie, don't you wanna learn sorcery?" :D
"Nnno! I don't want to read books, I want to ride Horses and be a strong knight!" *pouts*
"Oh my beloved Radahn. But if you don't study enough then poor Leonard shan't be able to hold your weight."
*Radahn immediately drops everything and doesn't leave Raya Lucaria Academy until he has a Master's Degree on Gravitational magic*
@@wowwhatacleverandoriginaln9416 fuck you're right, but let's just pretend that it was an exchange student program xD
@@wowwhatacleverandoriginaln9416 Selia was just a branch school of raya lucaria
Radahn is one of the most principled Shardbearers - he'll put in any amount of work to protect those in his care. He learned gravity magic to protect his horse, he fights the toughest battles himself to save his warriors, and he literally holds the stars in place to save the crumbling Golden Order. He puts the team, and the world, on his back, growing strong in order to protect the weak.
...Was.
His mind is completely gone, and he ate his own men.
@@alchemysaga3745 Pretty sad, for sure, but it also says a lot that even after eating his men, his soldiers still follow his old example and do their best to honor him.
Even after Radahn became a shadow of his former self, his soldiers still respect his legacy.
Tbf he didn't really have a reason to build an army prior to the Shattering, but he thought Godfrey looked cool doing it and wanted to follow in his steps. Although he "protects" his horse and his men, he's also largely responsible for generating their own demise, all to pamper his ego and sell himself as a noble warrior.
He is principled, but also kind of a jerk, lol.
@@michaelmannix1604 All wars are awful but Radahn is more respectable as a general than most
@@shyguyrocks1 I mean, I think I'd fall more in line with Miquella or Ranni, personally. Miquella was at least trying to provide a haven for the forlorn while desperately seeking a cure for his sister's illness; Ranni's whole thing is triumphing over fate and actualizing free will, and though she's forced to sacrifice those she loves, she recognizes it's the only way to defeat the Greater Will. Radahn had no grand purpose as a warlord, but he wanted to pretend he did. In fact, if Malenia hadn't infected him, maybe he would have simply found himself abandoned by the Greater Will just like Godfrey upon finding he was (almost) without equal. Of course, maybe that was all a part of the Greater Will's master plan.
I won't pretend he's any less noble than Malenia, at least. While she seeks to aid her brother and to suppress the Aeonia, she didn't exactly help anyone by zombifying Caelid. Kind of a bad look, girl.
Oh wow, I hadn't realized that the Scarlet Rot has actually already taken his feet. That means, festival or not, the Scarlet Rot was eventually going to kill him, how long would that taken is a completely different matter though.
Well yeah, that was the whole point. To give him an HONORABLE death to be celebrated that he's finally been freed of his Scarlet Rot.
Radahn, the big badass demigod general, learning gravity magic just so he could keep riding his trusty steed despite the size difference is one of the most wholesome things in this game
I mean, there's an actual lore reason as to why he learned gravity magic but let's keep believing it was purely for the horse
The description to Hoslow's Helm is also a prepare to cry moment.
"Juno Hoslow had a younger brother who was all talk and no trousers.
His inability to commit to action was such that Juno inherited the Hoslow legacy without resistance, granting him the freedom to shower his little brother with adoration."
@@TheVikingKitty holding the stars in place, we all know, its even in his name. But the only other uses he gives to his Magic is his attacks AND protecting Leonard.
I feel like Leonard is the ultimate proof of Radahn's incredible strength. Not only is he holding back the stars and killing everyone he comes into contact with whilst dying from the scarlet rot, he maintains his difficult and presumably taxing gravity magic so as to avoid hurting his buddy, which he does for litteral years. Since it's implied that scarlet rots spreads to and infects everything near it, that means on top of everything else Radahn is actively holding the rot inside his own body so that it won't spread to his beloved steed.
Zullie, would you ever consider doing a video showing up-close look at non-Tarnished enemy faces? it’s pretty difficult to get a look at characters such as the Valiant Gargoyles and other huge/tall characters. even certain main bosses it’s difficult to see their face, even Radahn here
Valiant gargoyles has skull shaped faces similar to the ones you see in dark souls 3. Except the only difference is that the valiant gargoyles have two fused faces.
I'd also be interested to see what some of the humanoid but not Tarnished enemies look like without their gear, like the Nox or the Vulgar Militia, heck even the Exiles or Banished Knights might have some hints at their origins under the armour!
Even Iji would be nice to see!
I have thought about it, yes, it'd just be a bit time consuming to do, and I'm not sure where I should draw the line on what faces to bother showing or not.
@@dragonsaint9446 Nox are just some grey hollow people. Exile knights despite their minimal view of their faces, are also some dead - hollow looking guys. Banished knights doesn't have faces. Its just empty. Vulgar militia, seems to undead looking mf.
Elden Ring, a game where one of the most wholesome moment is when you go in an all out assault along with your friends, against a massive dude who had unintentionally became the strongest gravity user just because he love his horse.
The craziest thing about the Radahn fight is we're fighting him AFTER he's handicapped himself devoting power to holding back the stars, his body rotting apart, and his mind driven mad. Imagine Radahn at full strength.
You could say that about most bosses. Almost all of them are at a lowpoint, maybe even at their lowest.
GUYS I GET THE FUCKING POINT! I AM WRONG, AND YOU ARE CORRECT. NOW SHUT UP.
@@maxeon0937 that's just plain not true at all... Name a single shard bearer who is even close to the shape Radahn is in at this point? I'll wait....
@@maxeon0937 I disagree. Malenia is arguably at her peak after the Goddess of Rot transformation. Same thing with Godrick, being the result of all the grafting he did to become stronger, Rykard, fully assimilating himself with the God-Eating Snake, and Mohg with his role as Lord of Blood and his transformation on his second phase. Godfrey/Horah Loux also seems to be at peak strength when we face him. I feel that the only ones that are truly handicapped are Radahn, Renala and maybe Morgott
@@hughmann9568 Malenia is...arguably comparable, at least on the 'body rotting apart' aspect of it.
It's a bit hard to say if Rykard is stronger or weaker than he was before being devoured.
But yeah, overall Radhan has a MASSIVE handicap when we fight him, and I have no problem believing that in his prime he could drive Malenia up the wall enough that she had to use scarlet rot on a scale that permanently tainted all of Caelid just to drive him back - and not even that was enough to actually kill him.
@@hughmann9568 Ranni literally killed her own body and Miquella seems to be in an even worst state, if you are thinking from a gameplay standpoint Placidusax is the most crippled by having lost 3 of his 5 heads and while not being a shardbearer it still validate the other comment above
"I control the stars and my horse is a submarine" -Radahn, in his memoirs
Even when Radahn is feral he still continues to protect his beloved Leonard. How cute.😻
That poor horse though. He does not look happy. I feel bad for Leonard.
@@Kholaslittlespot1 horse is just super old probably got affected by the rot too
Wanna hear a fun fact? The name Leonard means Lion's Strenght.
Really sweet of Radahn to give his horse such a powerful name and its also fitting since Radahn is associated with lions. So Radahn Basicly named him as 'Radahn's Strenght'.
Specially when he stomp him during the fight, so cute!!🤗🤗🤗
Wholesome keanu chungus CHADahn forces his horse to continue fighting even though it should be resting 😍😍😍
His mind is completely gone from the scarlet rot, turning him into a mindless killing machine, but somewhere deep inside, he still does whatever it takes to protect his scrawny boi. Legend.
I can't overstate how much I love Radhan's design. His King Gaiseric style armor and str/int build makes him my favorite boss in Elden Ring.
Berserk reference
Actually, I think this helped me figuring out something. I was helping a host some days ago and Radahn never came down from space, yet all the AIs were running around and attacking the same spot which moved around. I guess they must have been tracking Leonard underground, since he would share location with Radahn.
I like to think they kept Leonard and Radahn as a single NPC to stress how inseparable they are. To kill one is to kill the other
There's another theory about the development of these two, which is that Radahn was way too easy because you could just avoid all his attacks by rolling past him between his legs (like the trolls' sword attacks), so they stuck something there to block you. There's not enough room under Radahn for a proportionally-massive horse without completely changing the fight, so the tiny Leonard was born and with him Radahn's goofy charming backstory.
Complete conjecture, no evidence, but it's an interesting guess. And it's true that the fight would be simple if you could dodge under the legs.
That makes a lot of sense!
I love him so much. What is so hilarious to me is how, well, normal his name is. It’s so out of place that’s it’s funny
I really love and admire Radahn. Even being consumed by the scarlet rot, he still loves his beloved steed. Like, hell, the man learned how to fucking defy gravity for him. Super admirable
“I am Radahn, the Starscourge, master of gravity and keeper of the cosmos in the sky.
And this is my pony, Lenny.”
Radahn is the scariest dude in the whole game but his friendship with his lil horsey is actually pretty adorable
Counterpoint: Placidusax and Malenia inspire much more terror in me. Especially when they use their "oh shit" moves.
Yeah I agree "insert boss here" is way scarier than Radahn
Radahn is actually intimidating design wise while everyone else only inspires dread at taking damage. Radahn touches you mentally on an instinctual level with how he just rushes you down.
@@alastor8091 what about Tooooogethaa phase 1?
Everytime that serpent did his one attack when he rushed towards the character with open mouth slowly, I just lost my shit
I always felt bad for the poor horse until I learned that Radahn is actually using gravity magic to safely ride him because he loves him so much 😭
Yea but I still feel bad for the horse, people like to bring up the gravity magic but he could've partially avoided that by just choosing a better war horse after his growth spurt. You also see Leonard fall down just from his own weight in the cutscene
Just got to him last night. Easily my favorite boss in a souls game. I've always imagined a boss with a huge health pool on an open battlefield with a dozen npc summon signs.
I loved radahns fight, and the fact that he literally masted a school of magick just to keep his horse makes him my favorite demigod, and maybe my favorite boss. What a chad
- Clean the battleground with the UNDEFEATED Goddess of Rot
- Wait for her to stand up and take a literal nuke of Scarlet Rot at PB range
- Refuse to stop fighting and caring for your horse
- Still hold STARS in space with your magic power
That's Chadanh, ladies and gentlemen
-Chad Radahn keep on fighting even after losing his mind and his soldiers throwing a festival to give him a warrior's death
-Virgin Malenia bio nuke the entire battlefield with her soldiers on it just to get one guy, then passed out and got carried
- couldn't i-frame the slowest incantation from a blind and disabled space-cancer patient
- gets proc'd with scarlet rot once, immediately goes insane
- got his ass sent back home by an unwanted goat son after invading leyndell
- literally a brony
Midahn
- Clean the battleground with the UNDEFEATED Goddess of Rot. He might be a chad but you clearly missed some parts of the lore here...
@@basictrash7115 gets proc Scarlet Rot by the Goddess the made an ENTIRE CONTINENT affected by Scarlet Rot.
He's a Chad
@@samuelriccio24 Yeah, OP did. The fact that Malenia wasn't a goddess yet, and he still cleaned house. That a better correction?
Imagine if Radahn's second phase had Leonard be killed by the player, or just pass out from a mixture of exhaustion and injuries. We get a cutscene where Radahn momentarily snaps out of his madness and remembers how to talk and cast gravity spells (as the scarlet rot may have made him forget his magical power). The cutscene ends with him mustering up a gigantic amount of gravitational power as he regains his former glory and he then jumps into the sky (you know where this is going).
Only problem with that is that it's too similar to godfrey's fight or even the nameless king's, but considering Radahn saw Godfrey as a role model, his love for his horse and genuine good nature would be an excellent contrast to godfrey's seemingly good nature, which hides his evil and barbaric side that harbours a total disregard for honour or human life.
Radahn was actually a pretty wholesome guy all things considering. Most powerful of the demigods but also kind of a stand up guy when you read up on him. But then Malenia came and messed the poor guy up with that aeonia
Given how respected he was by his soldiers and many other people within the lands between, it shows that despite being one of the scarier looking and brutal demigods he was also one of the most fair and understanding as a ruler, gotta love fromsoft writing
@@ColonelKebabShop his army respect him so much, they created an entire festival just to find the best warrior around to make radahn wishes come true; to die with honor in a fight.
I hate that bitch, melania that is, if Finlay havnt saved her ass she would be dead. Anime protag arc having bitch
I love how he can make himself into a missile anytime he wants and fly wherever. Dude must’ve killed a ton of dragons
Watching folded up Leonard slide around under the sand was the funniest thing I've seen all day
My eyes always covered with tears when someone talking about Radahn and Leonard, it's just beautiful
Everyone taking about gravity magic being what makes radhan be able to ride Leonard but I know the truth. Leonard is just incredibly buff
He discovered the secret of low mass muscle density
His muscle fibers are like nano-scale steel cables
I mean, that meteor move? It's all Leonard bro. Torrent might be good at double jumping, but he ain't strong enough to withstand fall damage. On the other hand.. *L E O N A R D*
Even with gravity magic, the fact that Leonard can be burried under sand and continue to breath, then surface no matter what or survive the heat and the impact of himself being transformed as a comet proves that this horse is the beefiest ever seen.
Radahn: "Don't worry Leonard I'll protect you!"
Proceeds to violently shove the horse underground, mangling all of his legs and joints
Leonard: "My life is suffering"
*pops back out like nothing happened*
Leo: Round 2 it is
Well Radahn isn't exactly sane anymore
I really hope From sticks with the theme of time-travel in Elden Ring’s DLC so we could maybe meet the Shardbearers in their prime; Radahn seems like he’d buy everyone a round of Siegbrau
Giga Chad Radahn: still holds the stars and cares about his horse even after losing his mind. No surprise that he is the most powerful of all demigods
Wrong
@@lordaizen113 hes right and if you want to debate try me
@@lilhandsome9496 malania slams 😹👎
@@lordaizen113
radahn can stalemate malenia in a sword fight alone while nerfing himself on multiple levels.
he isn't just an equal to malenia in sword combat, he's also the strongest mage in the entire game.
and let me correct, radahn would've beaten malenia while the latter was giving up her pride and dignity because she would've lost and made a country wide nuke just to be carried away while Radahn tanked it and still fought her knights as we know from the cinematic and his spear description.
malenia would've lost the endurance game in the fight if she didn't cancer the country and that's facts based on feats from both and malenias rot curse that affected her.
and that's putting it mildy.
Radahn low diffed the entire space army, fate, magic currents, stars/meteorites, outer gods, and all their combined power because he has the cheesiest and strongest magic in the game called gravity magic, that only space beeings can use and radahn that was taught it.
I have most of the statements and lore in check regarding this and Radahn is easily the strongest.
you can try any argument you wanty
@@lilhandsome9496 although I agree to most of what ur saying radahn did nothing to the outer gods I can't tell if ur trolling because u say gravity magic can beat the outer gods
There is a literal term in Japanese that describes the rider and the horse are becoming one together due to their sheer amount of skills, it's called "Jinba ittai" (人馬一体), and it's interesting to see how Fromsoft used this idea not only lore wise, but game design wise as well in Elden Ring.
Radahn when he meets his horse in the afterlife "Haha, found you lenny!"
I think the original might have been for Radahn to only do the meteor drop if you killed Leonard, maybe with the logic that he wasn't going full force because that would hurt Leonard.
You assume, Radahn is the one leaping and meteoring. That was all Leonard bro.
@@kindle1951 Oh sorry, my bad.
I wouldve loved it if we had an actual cutscene for enraged radahn after you kill Leonard (by getting radahn to half health). not even a cutscene, just radahn yelling like a savage as he falls.
Leonard's design reminds me a lot of Lü Bu's famous horse Red Hare (Chì Tù), from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Red Hare was said to be a great steed capable of traveling a thousand miles in a day and crossing rivers and mountains as though they were flat. Red Hare is described as ashen red, which perfectly matches Leonard.
There was supposedly a saying that went "Among men, Lü Bu; Among steeds, Chì Tù." Radahn and Leonard very much remind me of Lü Bu and Red Hare. I like to imagine that before Leonard became so skinny he was just as amazing as Red Hare supposedly was.
"Radahn may seem to dismount Leonard by shoving him out of harms way"
*Slams underground with a foot*
He doesn’t even have feet tho o.o
I wouldn't call it slamming. It looks more like a gentle shove to be honest.
Bro got a Masters Degree in Gravitational Magic just so he can still ride around with his horse is badass
From what I’ve constantly seen, Leonard and Radahn are Elden Ring’s Sif and Artorias
Basically, he is kinda the “tragic hero” of elden ring like Artorias was to Dark souls in a way.
If they ever added a Leonard skin for Torrent I would never take it off.
It is my headcanon that the reason why Radahn takes damage when you hit Leonard, is because Radahn takes emotional damage when that happens.
I am not sure you can even hit Leo considering how low his abdomen is to the ground and how forwarded model he has
He would practically fall if the horse decided to lift his back leg
Thank you. That's one of my favorite comments.
So you're saying I can literally kill Radahn if I harness my learnings from Stephen He?
Radahn learning gravity magic so he wouldn't hurt his horse is still one of my favorite pieces of lore in this game
Even after helping countless players with Radahn, I still can't believe he rides such a tiny beloved horse 😂
Radahn is my favorite boss to help with, provided they survive the initial run
Wellsh sniff sniff he usesh gravity magicsh 🤓🤓
Radahn loved his scrawny little friend so much, he learned how to defy gravity through magic so as not to be too much of a burden on the little guy.
What a wholesome story.
Ok, imagine this:
Late game Radahn, you've become strong enough to kill Leonard and you do.
Suddenly, Radahn flies into a rage and the stars fall. Now, he flings stars at you and unleashes his full power as the Scourge of Stars.
just learned that the big shooting star meme man has a sweet spot for his horse
while fighting Radahn and his horse
I felt like he had the energy of a big bear biker riding a mini bike.
And he still drags that poor horse into battle. No retirement on wide green fields for Leonard.
Now I wanna know what happens to Leonard when Radahn is doing his meteor thing 😯
Radahn is certainly an interesting character lore wise: learned gravity magic to keep riding his friend Leonard. Decides he loved the village that he learned gravity magic enough that he would halt the stars themselves from falling JUST to keep them protected from a falling star.
The Virgin Torrent: *Dies from a 10 meter fall*
The Chad Leonard: *Now entering the stratosphere at terminal velocity.*
Leonard my beloved
1:20 Radahn: *literally just stomps him into the dirt* Leonard: *becomes spaghetti* okay
The lore about Radahn and his horse is strangely incredibly adorable. This bit of lore and his really cool moves with his star-scourging ways and the flipping meteor attack makes Radahn my favorite boss in the whole game.
he loves his horse so much that he just stomps on his already weathered bones, shoving him underground
I would die for Leonard.
Didn’t I do it for you?
Didn’t I do it for you?
When all I do is for you?
Kermie?
The fact that they exist as separate entities makes me think that there may have been a version of the fight planned where Leonard perishes during the fight, leaving the Tarnished to face off with a dismounted Radahn fueled by grief and vengance.
Personally, I'm glad that didn't happen, because it sounds both very tragic and incredibly horrifying.
Heh.
It's possible that Radahn's original phase transition was Leonard dying and him using his famous stratosphere divebomb as a move of uncontrolled rage. And considering that the sky changes to night when that phase shift happens, perhaps the original context for said phase shift was Radahn becoming so pissed off at his precious little horse dying that he stops halting the stars just to focus more of his power and killing the player to avenge Leonard.
Imagine pissing off someone so much that they decide that murdering you as hard as possible has greater precedent than holding back hostile lovecraftian aliens because you killed their emotional support animal.
1:26 Does it look like Leonard is out of harm's way though? Look at its face whenever Radahn pushes him underground lmao
If I see one more comment anywhere about Radahn and this fucking horse I'm going to lose it. People swear he is their favorite character...... But only ever talk about that one aspect
Grandpa's skateboarding a horse and even when he became medically obese from sheer muscle mass and rot cysts, he learnt the secrets of the universe just to continue skateboarding ol' Leonard
I, personally, believe that the design ethos for this boss was just Miyazaki telling the devs, "for the purposes of this fight, you are all little kids who have just watched Dragon Ball Z for the first time."
Observe:
"This fight will have a giant boss with bright red Raditz hair, giant purple spear-arrows, and meteors!"
"Yeah, and he's a knight so he'll ride a horse!"
"He's gonna be 20 feet tall, how'd he fit on a horse?"
"He uses his gravity powers!"
"He has gravity powers?"
"Yeah, how else would he do the meteors? But he didn't learn it for that, he learned it 'cause he had this horse he really liked and wanted to ride it even though he was way too big. So he uses gravity magic to make himself lighter so the horse can hold him."
"You know what, I like that. The boss now uses gravity magic to ride a horse, and that's canon."
>Radahn died
>Leonard stand by Radahn corpse
>Leonard pick up the greatswords
>New health bar appear on the screen
Honestly Radahn's fight was so hectic and fucky that I never even had to time to stop and process what happened to Leonard during his leaping attacks / meteor attack
I think it also stands that the arena is crazy huge compared to other bosses and honestly I feel it’s even too big for him when I think about it. A part from one hidden dungeon that they hid in the north part there is a lot of nothing in the whole area. I like to imagine that if dlc arrives then they could add a huge castle after a ritual or something.
leonard, first horse in space
It makes sense that there is a version of both entities being separate, I bet at some point Rahdan would have started the fight dismounted while he uses his bow only to get on trusty Leonard and charge at us as we get closer. It would have been cool, I am ashamed to say it took me a few tries to notice that poor little horse, I thought Rad could levitate given his powers.
Me after seeing the non combined version of Radan "oh my goodness I am glad this isn't what they went for he looks like a dark age RPG version of iron man on steroids"
The lore that Radahn learned gravitational magic so that he wouldn't have to leave his horse is interesting because it shows that cared a lot about his companion when his mind was still intact.
Thinking about it feels a melancholy as it means that he used to have the capacity to care for others and be selfless in his actions, but all that seems to have been lost.
Channels like this are almost 50% of why these games are so amazing
Radahn: Learns gravity sorcery so that he can always be with his beloved steed
Also Radahn: Literally stomps his beloved steed into the ground to perform certain attacks, causing the steed's limbs to spaz uncontrollably
Take a shot every time From Soft has trouble with mounted bosses
Quick question Zullie, is there a way to see if Torrent was supposed to be used for the elden beast boss fight? I feel like he would've been perfect for it and it's kinda a missed opportunity for him. Especially since torrent and the beast are somewhat connected.
I’d like to know too!
Up!
solely by the moveset of the beast you can argue that Torrent seems logical to use and maybe it was... and it made the boss way way too easy.
@@setsunaes I mean the only real hard thing about the eldenbeast fight is that you do it back to back after fighting Radagon.
Or maybe I was just lucky. Didn't really feel that challenging compared to Radagon
@@ngotemna8875 i would argue that the running back and forth when it starts to dive and jump away makes the fight harder due to the simple fact you start getting tired of that and end up making mistakes. the elden beast is not a good fight because of that. yeah torrent would make that fight easier, but it would also make it more bearable and fun.
Despite being scrawny, Leonard is still an enormous horse when compared to torrent
I personally would've loved to see what the fight would have become had Leonard been a killable mount. I could just imagine a cutscene occurring where Radahn is shown mourning his lost and most cherished steed. Though he wouldn't have been as mobile, I can definitely see him becoming far more aggressive, outright ignoring the summons and trying his damndest to tear you to shreds. Hell, I could imagine him allowing the stars to move once more only to redirect them into obliterating you and the very ground you stood on. Elden Ring is a phenomenal game, and knowing just what could have been makes me eager to see any future DLCs and what they hold in store for us.
You're making me want that kind of fight against Radahn now. 😁
I think you can now see some of the intended gameplay with separate NPCs in The Knight of St Trina.
I already loved Radahn as a whole, his gravity magic, the way he literally flies out of view into the atmosphere (?) only to come CRASHING DOWN into you like a fucking meteor and defeating him with the power of friendship is just so cool, but learning this fact in game right after defeating him made it all so much better
Like, this dude learned all of these cool ass spells just so his horse could fight alongside him
He is SO COOL
Radahn not only did his best to keep his horse, but also overcame diabetes, definitely the best demi-god
The crazy thing is that the horse is much bigger than normal, it's just that Radahn is so gigantic that he seems scrawny in comparison; imagine radahn as a child sitting on a horse that size
@@8Kazuja8 You can see his fight with Malenia, so no.
@@8Kazuja8 Introduction to the game (Cutscene) does show Radahn being a hulk of a man before Malenia spread her rot rabies all over Caelid tho, and Caelid was said to be quite a scenic area before that