#lol in the past i’ve gotten shit for saying rykard hated his father

[slavonicrhapsody]

I’ve said this many a time, but to be absolutely clear. I think it’s ridiculous to claim that rykard and radagon had a “good” relationship, like rykard has dedicated his life to tearing down everything radagon stands for, which speaks to something deeply rotten in their relationship. however I also don’t think it’s wrong to say that rykard and radahn might still in a way seek their father’s attention; their use of red on their soldiers’ plumes to indicate their “pedigree” could be them invoking radagon’s reputation as a respected warrior so that they might be seen as strong like their father. and you could also interpret rykard’s very deliberately public acts of blasphemy as a cry for any kind of acknowledgement, even if it’s negative… as if he’s so tormented by what his father thinks that he’s determined to become the thing he’d hate the most. and then radahn’s obsession with being a heroic warrior could be interpreted as a response to him not feeling worthy in his father’s eyes after being left behind and “replaced.” I think this is a relationship with a lot of nuance… we know radahn looked up to radagon as a “champion,” and if the children viewed their father as a role model then those feelings aren’t just going to disappear even after his betrayal, they’re going to become tragic and warped. I see their relationship with radagon as full of resentment and hurt and hatred, but deep down, they wish their father could be proud of them (a feeling that could go back even further if radagon always had an air of secrecy and distance around him while they were growing up). I think it’s very likely that after radagon left, rykard and radahn both had a kind of “why wasn’t I good enough for you?” response that they both ran with in completely opposite ways. basically I think their relationship with radagon is way more complicated than simply “they loved him” or “they hated him”