Rudra (ルドラ Rudora?) is a character who debuted in Street Fighter 6 as the leader of The Crows.
Appearance
Rudra is a thin-yet-muscular man with distinctive red skin and a nearly-bald head and a white bindi on his forehead. He also sports markings (possibly tattoos) on his head and face, wears ragged, torn pants with numerous pouches and pockets, as well as numerous metallic armbands, chains, bracelets and a pair of large hoop earrings.
Personality
Rudra is the brash, arrogant leader of the Crows and thus always eager to get his way with force and violence. Despite being a thug and criminal, however, Rudra has a personal sense of honor and abides by his word once given, and demands everyone in the Crows do the same -- even taking it upon himself to set up the Avatar's entry into the Old Nayshall tournament after they've earned it.
Rudra is also very kind and compassionate to his subordinates, refusing to even go by the title of "Boss". According to Chandi, his tendency to look after the Crows as individuals led each and every one of them to follow him, whether or not he is the strongest person, and they consider him a friend.
His loss to the Avatar shook his confidence enough to go into a major bout of depression, but he later bounces back and states that he will eventually challenge and beat the Avatar, showing a competitive nature.
Story
Rudra is the leader of the Crows -- the rivals to the Mad Gear Gang in Metro City. He comes into conflict with Thrasher Damnd and the Avatar when a representative for Metro City is needed for a large tournament in Old Nayshall. After he and the Crows are defeated by Damnd and the Avatar, he is later found in Old Nayshall having a crisis of self-confidence. Thanks to his second-in-command, Chandi, however, he eventually regains his confidence and declares the Avatar a rival he plans to defeat.
In his youth, Rudra was a student of Dhalsim -- when contemplating his recent defeats, he wonders if the cause is because he abandoned training with "the old man". Later, if the Avatar asks Chandi about Rudra, she states that he trained with Dhalsim with the goal of protecting orphans and children too weak to protect themselves. But, he left when forced to choose between continuing his training, or doing something to help suffering children right then and there.
Fighting Style
Rudra uses Dhalsim's fighting style, though has some unique qualities such as his own fighting stance and several original techniques, including Rudra Flame (ルドラフレイム Rudora Fureimu?), an upward fire breath that's akin to Yoga Blast, and Dirty Geyser (オラッゲイザー Oraggeizā?) (translated as "Gutsy Glare" on the official website), a fire breath to the floor that's akin to Yoga Stream and Yoga Burner.
As a controllable character in the Pao Pao Cafe fight in World Tour, Rudra has access to several other moves, including his own variants of Yoga Fire and Yoga Flame known as Rudra Fire (ルドラファイア Rudora Faia?) and Dirty Flame (オラッフレイム Oraffureimu?), as well as the Yoga Teleport. His unique attacks include Dhalsim's Yoga Upper, Divine Kick, and a variant of Yoga Spear called Rudra Drill (ルドラドリル Rudora Doriru?).
Relationships
Friends/Allies
Chandi
Chandi is Rudra's second-in-command. She is fiercely loyal to him and there are even hints that she's romantically interested. According to Rudra, they first met while she was digging through trash for food, and was extremely hostile toward him. Over time, however, she became one of his closest friends to the point that she goes out of her way to cheer him up when he becomes depressed.
Enemies
Thrasher Damnd
As a rival gang, the Mad Gear Gang are enemies to the Crows and both typically work to hinder the other. However, the Crows consider themselves a "gang" in name only, and only resort to violence to defend themselves. The Crows come into conflict with Damnd and the Avatar when only one group can represent Metro City in the Nayshall tournament, and Crow challenges Mad Gear to a 4v4 battle to decide a winner.
Avatar
The Avatar and Rudra are initially in conflict with each other, but after being defeated Rudra accepts the loss and even takes care of entering the Avatar into the Old Nayshall tournament on behalf of Metro City. The loss leaves him confused and frustrated, however, and he later challenges both the Avatar and Chandi to a 2v1 fight to figure things out. After being defeated a second time, he declares the Avatar a rival he plans to surpass. He also appears to be on much friendly terms with them -- if asked about his future plans, he openly states his intention for the Crows to rise to the top of the Metro City underworld and though he at first threatens the life of the Avatar if they get in his way...he quickly laughs it off and says that he'd try to work something out.
Gallery
Trivia
- Rudra is named after the Hindu god of wind, who is sometimes conflated with Agni, the god of fire. This befits the fact that he uses the style of Dhalsim, who is a devout follower of Agni in-universe.
Stage Theme
References
| Street Fighter 6 Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Blanka · Cammy · Chun-Li · Dee Jay · Dhalsim · E. Honda · Guile · Jamie · JP · Juri · Ken · Kimberly · Lily · Luke · Manon · Marisa · Ryu · Zangief | |||
| Year 1 | A.K.I. · Akuma · Ed · Rashid | |||
| Year 2 | Elena · M. Bison · Mai (Guest) · Terry (Guest) | |||
| CPU Only | Albert Jackson · Andore Family · Antler · Axl · Azam · Bosch · Bred · Carlos Miyamoto · Carol · Chandi · Damnd · Eliza · Eternity · F.A.N.G · Fair Libra · G. Oriber · Gerald Golby · J · Kalima · Keiko Asano · Kenichi Kakutani · Li-Fen · Max · Mel · Retsu · Rewancha · Roxy · Rudra · Sheng Long · Somsak · Yua | |||