Randal, the Vandal: Difference between revisions

|othernames = Reaver Vandal <br> Rahndel, the Perfected <br> Nightmare Reaver Vandal

'''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.

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.<ref>'''YouTube (2014/6/17):''' ''[https://youtu.be/ktbZiKKTgJY Destiny Alpha Gamplay – Timestamp 23:05s]''</ref> 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]].<ref>'''YouTube (2014/6/25):''' ''[https://youtu.be/QSJj_vpEfSI Destiny Beta Chest Hunt – Timestamp 03:45s]''</ref> During that time, the Reaver Vandal was an ordinary enemy with regular health stat.<ref>'''YouTube (2014/9/1):''' ''[https://youtu.be/WlHE4Z7_VzU Destiny Beta Explore Gamplay – Timestamp 02:10s]''</ref> 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]].<ref>'''YouTube (2014/6/30):''' ''[https://youtu.be/O3q61AKvzTI Destiny Beta Random Event – Timestamp 00:30s]''</ref>

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".<ref>'''YouTube (2014/10/31):''' ''[https://youtube.com/watch?v=ORgWPlnFlME Randal the Vandal in action]''</ref> 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]].<ref>'''YouTube (2014/10/17):''' ''[https://youtube.com/watch?v=6Rp48x6puZk Mythoclast vs Lv 8 Vandal – Timestamp 00:10s]''</ref><ref>'''YouTube (2014/12/21):''' ''[https://youtu.be/1T2lmWb_cW0 Randal vs Gjallarhorn]''</ref> 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.<ref>'''YouTube (2014/10/19):''' ''[https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yezo1ZeOMgY Toughest Enemies in Destiny]''</ref><ref name="Poll">'''Twitter (2019/5/15):''' ''[https://twitter.com/Cozmo23/status/1128719323868962816 Most powerful enemy in Destiny history?]''</ref> 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.<ref>'''Reddit (2014/12/5):''' ''[https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2odzu6/too_much_epic_for_one_forgotten_shore/ Too much epic for one Forgotten Shore]''</ref> 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.<ref>'''Bungie (2014/10/19):''' ''[https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/12472/7_Bungie-End-of-Year-Update---2014 Bungie End of Year Update – 2014]''</ref> 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.<ref>'''YouTube (2015/2/2):''' ''[https://youtube.com/watch?v=6Rp48x6puZk House of Exile Randal – Timestamp 00:30s]''</ref> 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]].<ref>'''YouTube (2015/2/2):''' ''[https://youtube.com/watch?v=OC71KMwrTKk Randal vs Celestial Nighthawk]''</ref>

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.