Marika/Radagon

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Pairing
Pairing: Marika/Radagon
Alternative name(s):
Gender category: Het
Selfcest
Fandom: Elden Ring
Canonical?: yes
Prevalence: uncommon
Archives:
Other:
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Marika/Radagon is the pairing of Marika and Radagon from Elden Ring.

Canon

Fandom

Common Tropes

  • Bodysharing: Radagon is revealed within the game to be the male counterpart/alter ego of Marika. They are shown as sharing a single body (with one transforming into the other) when the player encounters them toward the end of the game. However, it is implied that they may have been physically separate at some point in the past. Melina informs the player that Marika once told Radagon: "Thou'rt yet to become me. Thou'rt yet to become a god." The game provides an explicit canonical example of soul-sharing with the characters known as D, twin brothers described as having "two bodies and two minds, but one single soul." Fans have developed various theories explaining Marika and Radagon's connection, including that they were formerly two physically-separate individuals sharing a single soul like D, that they were two physically-separate and spiritually-unlinked individuals who fused into a single body, or that Radagon was created as an offshoot of Marika. Fanworks featuring the Marika/Radagon ship often focus on the inherent complexity of being physically and spiritually bound while also having distinct personalities, relationships, and wills.
  • Love-Hate Relationship: It is hinted within the game that Marika and Radagon's relationship eventually became a fractious one. In dialogue quoted by Melina, Marika mockingly refers to her "other self" as a "leal hound of the Golden Order," a conflict that culminated with Marika's shattering of the Elden Ring and Radagon's attempt to mend it. Marika/Radagon fanworks take different approaches to their dynamic, with some presenting Marika (the dominant personality) as controlling or even abusive toward Radagon, while others portray them both as reluctant or unwilling pawns of the Greater Will.
  • Rebound Romance: Radagon is stated in the game to have left his first wife Queen Rennala of Caria without explanation. Immediately thereafter, he returned to the royal capital of Leyndell, wedding Queen Marika and becoming second Elden Lord. Whether Radagon made this choice freely or was lead into a forced marriage by Marika or the Greater Will remains unknown.
  • Selfcest: A rare canonical example in which the selfcestuous couple not only married but produced offspring. The twins Malenia and Miquella were born cursed as a result of having been conceived through the union of a single person. Some fans headcanon Marika and Radagon as having been born twins.[1] The ship has drawn comparisons to Cersei/Jaime, a canonical twincest relationship featured in A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, a novel series by Elden Ring story writer George R. R. Martin.[1][2]

Fanworks

Fanart

Fanfiction

Archives & Fannish Links

References

  1. ^ a b "What if Radagon and Marika are actually twins? Like the Lannisters" thread on r/Elden Ring on Reddit
  2. ^ "Radagon didn't have a choice. (SPOILERS)" thread on r/Elden Ring on Reddit
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