| “ | In a fight to the death, having your opponent hold back on you... is even worse than dying! | „ |
| ~ Rudra explains to Shiva why he backed out of their fight, feeling humiliated by his best friend. |
Rudra is a supporting antagonist in the manga/anime series Record of Ragnarok.
He is the main antagonist of Shiva's Flashback during the Fifth Round and a major antagonist in the Fifth Round of the Ragnarok Tournament.
Rudra is the Hindu God of the Storm and the best friend of Shiva, who had the dream of becoming the King of the Hindu Gods and, having started a campaign with Shiva to achieve this, he was eventually defeated by Shiva and gave him the title of King of the Hindu Gods.
He is voiced by Shūhei Sakaguchi, who has also voiced Jūgo in Naruto, Narcistoru in Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure and Shingo Shoji in New Initial D: The Movie, in the Japanese dubbed version of the anime adaptation. He is voiced by Kamran Nikhad in the English dub. His younger self is voiced by Anne Yatco in English.
Appearance[]
Rudra is a white-skinned humanoid-looking God with four arms, including a pair on his shoulders, and with marks just like scars on his neck and face. His black hair is tied in two braids. His long black pants are loose and airy and he has no shoes. He also wears a purple shirt and cape with white-edged squares.
When he was younger and a child, Rudra wore only long white trousers, and his bare chest showed blue marks.
Personality[]
Rudra is a confident and motivated God, devoted to his dreams and ideals, which is considered absurd by the other Gods given that dreams are considered for Humans. In order to achieve that dream, he is also willing to fight against his best friend Shiva at the cost of death, even if he considers it humiliating if an opponent stronger than him surrenders to let him win. Rudra is more rational and serious than Shiva, and if there is a battle to fight he never backs down. Nonetheless, he always pleases Shiva within the limits of his capabilities. Rudra is a type who knows how to accept defeat, and supports Shiva in any circumstances.
Biography[]
Rudra is the Hindu God of the Storm, who since childhood has known Shiva, the Hindu God of Destruction, who becomes his best friend. Growing up, Rudra focuses on fighting while Shiva on dancing, and after defeating the Ashura Brothers who invaded their village, Rudra confesses to Shiva that he has a dream: to reach the summit of Svarga and become the King of the Hindu Gods, who are divided into clans. Shiva, while mocking his dream, agrees to help Rudra in his campaign to realize it.
Rudra and Shiva together face and defeat the 1115 existing Hindu Gods (with Rudra managing to defeat Agni, Indra and, with Shiva's help, Vishnu and Brahma), but once they reach the summit of Svarga Rudra challenges Shiva to a fight, claiming that only one of them can become the King of the Hindu Gods. During the battle, Shiva proves superior, but Rudra does not intend to give in and for this reason Shiva prepares to surrender, which leads Rudra to surrender first, claiming that not reciprocating his commitment with equal commitment is worse than death. Thus, Rudra gives up the title of King of the Hindu Gods to Shiva and abandons the Svarga, without seeing his best friend for millennia.
Millennia later, during the Ragnarok Tournament, Rudra shows up in the stands to witness, together with the other Hindu Gods, Shiva's fight in the Fifth Round against Raiden Tameemon, and when Shiva ends up in difficulty due to his opponent's Yatagarasu, Rudra shows up to him after millennia, which charges Shiva to the point of unleashing the Tandava Karma and defeating and killing Raiden. At the end of the match, Rudra joins Shiva in the corridors and helps him, witnessing the moment in which Shiva warns Zeus to consider Humans fantastic now.
While Shiva is hospitalized in the infirmary to repair the three arms cut during the Fifth Round and follows the other matches of the Ragnarok Tournament, Rudra and the other Hindu Gods go to visit him to make sure he is well.
Powers and Abilities[]
Overall Abilities: Rudra is the second most powerful God in the Hindu Pantheon. He is so strong that he can compete with Shiva, a Chief God and participant in the Ragnarok Tournament, although he would ultimately be defeated even without Shiva using Tandava Karma. As a God, Rudra cannot die due to old age and possesses physical abilities far greater than those of any ordinary Human. His body cannot be damaged by mortal weapons, however it can still be damaged by unarmed attacks from individuals with superhuman strength and by Divine Weapons.
Strength, Speed and Reflexes Divine: Rudra possesses immense strength, being able to compete with Shiva. During their fight, their clashes sent massive shockwaves throughout Svarga and the sound of their fists echoed throughout the land. Rudra also possesses extraordinary speed and reflexes, which allowed him to defeat the other 1115 Hindu Gods (with the help of Shiva), as well as compete with Shiva himself. Rudra was able to take multiple punches from Shiva, which have the power of a cannon shot and have been shown to be capable of sending massive shockwaves.
Four Arms, Endurance and Stamina Divine: When Rudra fought Shiva, he was able to take multiple blows from him and still remain conscious, and the sweat that flowed from their duel became a heavy rain that fell all over the Earth, and despite this and the fact that their fight lasted for hours Rudra showed no signs of dehydration. According to Shiva, the injuries Rudra suffered during the fight were enough to put his life in danger, yet despite this Rudra was more than capable of continuing the duel. Thanks to his four arms, Rudra possesses far greater combat dexterity than most people and can defend himself from incoming blows with one pair of arms, while attacking his opponents with the other pair. Rudra is extremely skilled in the art of unarmed combat, having defeated the other 1115 Hindu Gods with nothing more than his fists and the help of Shiva, and with his four arms he can use moves and techniques that cannot be performed by most Gods.
Dancing Skills: Rudra possesses some dancing skills, as he often danced together with Shiva. However, unlike Shiva, Rudra does not appear to use dance as part of his fighting style.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Rudra in Hindu Mythology is depicted as a ferocious and destructive Deity, which is in stark contrast to the Rudra of Record of Ragnarok who is instead a peaceful but ambitious God.
External Links[]
- Rudra on the Shuumatsu no Valkyrie Wiki
