Randal, the Vandal

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Main
Randal, the Vandal
RandalInfo1.jpg
Biographical information

Other name(s):

Reaver Vandal
Rahndel, the Perfected
Nightmare Reaver Vandal

Species:

Fallen

Gender:

Male

Political and military information

Affiliation:

House of Devils
House of Exile
House of Dusk
House of Salvation
Devil Splicers

Rank:

Ultra
Major

Class:

Vandal

 
Destiny 1
Reaver Vandal
File:RandalInfo2.jpg
Biographical information

Faction:

House of Devils

Rank:

Major

Combat information

Mission:

Forgotten Shore

Weapon(s):

Shrapnel Launcher

Abilities:

High Durability
Rapid Movement
Summon Shank
Fallen Melee

 
Destiny 2
Reaver Vandal
RandalInfo3.jpg
Biographical information

Faction:

House of Dusk

Rank:

Major

Combat information

Mission:

Sunken Isles

Weapon(s):

Shock Rifle
Wire Rifle

Abilities:

High Durability
Rapid Movement
Fallen Melee

 

Randal, the Vandal is a Fallen Vandal located in the Forgotten Shore that appears as Reaver Vandal. Due to the Vandal's exceptional health, he caught early Destiny Beta players off guard and was then affectionately nicknamed "Randal" by the Destiny community.

He has since gone onto become the longest running Easter Egg within the Destiny series due to his ongoing reoccurrence.

History

Origins

The humble origins of Randal the Vandal can be traced back to the Destiny Alpha edition of the game where he is first seen idling near the northern cave of the Forgotten Shore alongside his trusted Shank. In the Alpha version, he appeared as a Level 8 "Elder Vandal" with a significantly high health bar in comparison to the other enemies in the area.[1] However he was seen as an afterthought as Guardians were power capped to Level 8 and stronger Level 11 enemies existed within the vicinity that took no incoming damage.

Following the release of the Destiny Beta, the Elder Vandal was replaced with a Level 8 Reaver Vandal. Some Patrol missions led Guardians into vicinity of the Vandal and the cave near him would frequently spawn a chest which attracted players who wanted to farm Glimmer.[2] During that time, the Reaver Vandal was an ordinary enemy with regular health stat.[3] He was defeated with great ease and instead a Level 5 Reaver Captain that appeared in the "Eliminate the Target" Public Event proved to be a tougher challenge and required multiple players working together to defeat the Captain.[4]

Terror of the Shore

Randal, the Vandal in Destiny 1

With the release of Destiny, the Reaver Vandal continued to patrol the Forgotten Shore. Due to an unknown glitch, the Reaver Vandal had higher health stat in comparison to its Beta counterpart and began killing many unsuspecting players. His disproportionate stat soon caught the attention of Level 20 players who documented his strength by uploading videos onto YouTube titled "Level 8 Reaver Vandal" and "Randal the Vandal".[5] The Vandal quickly gained infamy among the Destiny community for his notorious ability to withstand damage from the greatest of weapons such as Gjallarhorn and Vex Mythoclast.[6][7] He was described as a "juggernaut" and a "tank" and regarded to be one of the toughest enemies of Destiny even though he was a Level 8 Vandal.[8][9] Players wondered why the Vandal had the health bar of Valus Ta'aurc, another enemy infamous being a bullet sponge.

Randal reached the status of a memetic Badass within the community and tales of his encounters spread throughout the Internet.[10] Becoming one of the first memes within Destiny, players created meme images of Randal, most notably an image of Randal welding a Gjallarhorn with two health bars. He was viewed as the true "Kell of Kells" and the actual Kell of the House of Devils among other humorous descriptions. The Shank accompanying him also became a meme and nicknamed "Hank the Shank" and "Frank the Shank".

In 2014, Bungie first acknowledged the presence of Randal the Vandal in their year end update.[11] They quickly responded to the meme by secretly having more powerful Reaver Vandals spawn in other events such as VIP Kill Target. Randal was notably spotted on the moon with the House of Exile where he spawns in the final wave of the Glimmer Extraction Public Event.[12] As more new weapons were released, Randal became a litmus test to see how powerful the weapons were. Randal was even capable of withstanding a high damage attack from the Celestial Nighthawk.[13]

The release of The Taken King expansion saw Randal get nerfed in his stats. This was quickly reverted when community outcry denounced the change and Randal returned to his former strength and continued to terrorise the Shore with his mighty presence.

The Perfect Vandal

The release of Rise of Iron saw the Devil Splicers gain prominence by augmenting themselves with the ancient Golden Age technology of SIVA.[14] While Randal continued to be a permanent feature of the Forgotten Shore, Bungie secretly paid homage to the Easter egg in the Wrath of the Machine Raid.

As players defeated the Vosik, the Archpriest and Siege Engine encounters and traversed into the Server Farm, unsuspecting players were greeted by Rahndel, the Perfected and his trusted Shank, now a Splicer Repeater Shank.[15][16] The Level 42 Vandal quickly proved to be a formidable foe as he was empowered with SIVA and gifted with an unusually high durability and health stat. He was stronger than his original counterpart and it took a whole fireteam to defeat him. News of his reemergence quickly spread and various articles documented the Easter egg.[17] However, the spawn rate for Rahndel was so low that only few have witnessed the glory of the perfect Vandal.[18] Bungie also decided fixed the bug for original Randal the Vandal.[19]

House of Dusk

Gallery

List of appearances

References

Template:Reflist