Another aspect that made Rykard so much more amazing for me, was the tragedy of it. If you are inside the manor during night, you can find a ghost in the hallway begging for "Someone, please, kill him...". Once you talk with the spirit, unlike all of the other spirits you meet, this one seems aware of his current status and actually speaks to you with a voice actor(and an excellent one at that, seriously, look up his dialog). He tells you about how Rykard's ambitions, blasphemous as they were, inspired his knights who saw him as a worthy lord. But after he fed himself to the serpent, those ambitions were reduced to mere "gluttonous depravity, and he begs you to kill him and spare his ambitions from further dishonor. The way he keeps referring to the serpent, "that thing", "that unspeakable monstrosity", "whatever that thing is, it is no longer Praetor Rykard", absolutely set the fight up to be something horrifying. Then you actually get to the fight, and yeah it's a massive snake beast, but it doesn't seem so bad, maybe the ghost was talking about the disgust at what Rykard did more than the physical shape. Then phase 2 hits and you realize exactly what he meant when he begs you to find the spear he left, saying "It is the only thing that can kill that horror. Run it through. The great serpent...that unspeakable monstrosity." Not only does it add on to what you said about the corpse, like it was somehow begging you to take the spear despite being long dead. It literally was, as the ghost still lingers in the castle, hoping someone would be able to find it and put his lord down for good. But it also adds a layer of tragedy to the fight, somewhat similar to coming across Gwyn in DS1, fully expecting some grand god of light and fire but only finding a pitiful burned husk of a man, you get to learn about how amazing Rykard was, that he was such a charismatic lord with such enthralling ambitions that his Knights genuinely followed him out of loyalty rather than fear or sadism. Then you see the fight itself, see what Rykard is now, and it feels tragic that someone so grand could be reduced to... this writhing abomination, so obsessed with it's hunger it barely seems to resemble the man Rykard once was. It's honestly kinda invocative of the Lucifier archetype, which is somewhat separate from the actual character of lucifier/satan in actual religion. In Paradise Lost by John Milton, Satan was written as a noble yet tragic anti-hero, someone who rebelled against the "tyrany" of God's absolute authority over all things, and was defeated in a great battle and cast out of heaven for it. It really feels like Miyzaki took inspiration from that concept for Rykard, not the "Evil lord of hell" satan, but the "Man with noble ambitions of freedom, but who's pride and desire drove them to ruin" satan shown in Paradise Lost. It really makes him feel pitiable, you can almost see what he could have been had he gone down a better path, but then compared to what he did actually become, it feels so tragic. I really love the Rykard fight, and for different yet similar reasons, Renalla, so I've never liked it when people rate those two fights so poorly "because they're gimmick fights. That isn't wrong, but do you really care so little for the presentation that the build up and beauty/horror of the fight itself means nothing anymore? I still feel as awe-struck by Renalla's phase two, and the contrast between what Renalla has regressed into, and what she was at her prime, and as horrified by the reveal of Rykard within the Great Serpent as the first time I saw them. I still adore those fights, even after beating them both countless times.
I had never encountered the ghost in the hallway of the manor at night, but now I really wish I had before fighting Rykard. It would've made the build up even better, and lent some more evidence to support some of the feelings I had about him. Thanks for the very insightful comment, it makes me happy to see other people enjoy aspects of bosses other than just the combat!
Bro you’re so fucking right. His lore, his design, the trip up when you kill the snake(first attempt no spoilers) the buildup, the arena, the pvp quests, the manor and surrounding area is just sick. I love rykard. TOGETHER!
Some criticisms I have on your videos that could be improved on, the music was really loud I think even louder than your voice at times. Another thing is you should edit out your breaths and get a pop filter for your microphone. Besides that your personality is great :)
Another aspect that made Rykard so much more amazing for me, was the tragedy of it. If you are inside the manor during night, you can find a ghost in the hallway begging for "Someone, please, kill him...". Once you talk with the spirit, unlike all of the other spirits you meet, this one seems aware of his current status and actually speaks to you with a voice actor(and an excellent one at that, seriously, look up his dialog). He tells you about how Rykard's ambitions, blasphemous as they were, inspired his knights who saw him as a worthy lord. But after he fed himself to the serpent, those ambitions were reduced to mere "gluttonous depravity, and he begs you to kill him and spare his ambitions from further dishonor.
The way he keeps referring to the serpent, "that thing", "that unspeakable monstrosity", "whatever that thing is, it is no longer Praetor Rykard", absolutely set the fight up to be something horrifying. Then you actually get to the fight, and yeah it's a massive snake beast, but it doesn't seem so bad, maybe the ghost was talking about the disgust at what Rykard did more than the physical shape. Then phase 2 hits and you realize exactly what he meant when he begs you to find the spear he left, saying "It is the only thing that can kill that horror. Run it through. The great serpent...that unspeakable monstrosity."
Not only does it add on to what you said about the corpse, like it was somehow begging you to take the spear despite being long dead. It literally was, as the ghost still lingers in the castle, hoping someone would be able to find it and put his lord down for good. But it also adds a layer of tragedy to the fight, somewhat similar to coming across Gwyn in DS1, fully expecting some grand god of light and fire but only finding a pitiful burned husk of a man, you get to learn about how amazing Rykard was, that he was such a charismatic lord with such enthralling ambitions that his Knights genuinely followed him out of loyalty rather than fear or sadism. Then you see the fight itself, see what Rykard is now, and it feels tragic that someone so grand could be reduced to... this writhing abomination, so obsessed with it's hunger it barely seems to resemble the man Rykard once was.
It's honestly kinda invocative of the Lucifier archetype, which is somewhat separate from the actual character of lucifier/satan in actual religion. In Paradise Lost by John Milton, Satan was written as a noble yet tragic anti-hero, someone who rebelled against the "tyrany" of God's absolute authority over all things, and was defeated in a great battle and cast out of heaven for it. It really feels like Miyzaki took inspiration from that concept for Rykard, not the "Evil lord of hell" satan, but the "Man with noble ambitions of freedom, but who's pride and desire drove them to ruin" satan shown in Paradise Lost. It really makes him feel pitiable, you can almost see what he could have been had he gone down a better path, but then compared to what he did actually become, it feels so tragic.
I really love the Rykard fight, and for different yet similar reasons, Renalla, so I've never liked it when people rate those two fights so poorly "because they're gimmick fights. That isn't wrong, but do you really care so little for the presentation that the build up and beauty/horror of the fight itself means nothing anymore? I still feel as awe-struck by Renalla's phase two, and the contrast between what Renalla has regressed into, and what she was at her prime, and as horrified by the reveal of Rykard within the Great Serpent as the first time I saw them. I still adore those fights, even after beating them both countless times.
I had never encountered the ghost in the hallway of the manor at night, but now I really wish I had before fighting Rykard. It would've made the build up even better, and lent some more evidence to support some of the feelings I had about him.
Thanks for the very insightful comment, it makes me happy to see other people enjoy aspects of bosses other than just the combat!
Bro you’re so fucking right. His lore, his design, the trip up when you kill the snake(first attempt no spoilers) the buildup, the arena, the pvp quests, the manor and surrounding area is just sick. I love rykard. TOGETHER!
I gotta go with the dragonlord, the spectacle is just too good
Placidusax is fantastic, I love it when he comes out of the cloud flying at you
great video. You deserve much more views for your content
I really enjoyed this
I think the crucible knight duo is the best in not only elden ring, but the series
because
You're a monster
Owned by two chads what could possibly be better
@@rebeccasheng620The two gargoyles
My favorite boss is the large rune bear. Absolute manace.
Good video bro
Some criticisms I have on your videos that could be improved on, the music was really loud I think even louder than your voice at times. Another thing is you should edit out your breaths and get a pop filter for your microphone. Besides that your personality is great :)
Thanks so much for the feedback! I really want to turn video making into a skill for myself and the constructive criticism really helps!
Rykard is good but radhan is best (at least for me )
Radahn is super cool too, I love the idea of the festival