Rahan is dead? How does our childhood cartoon end?

“Rahan, the child of fierce ages, Rahan, faster than the wind”this cartoon was broadcast on Canal+ in 1987 and then released on VHS. Rahan, son of fierce ages is adapted from the comic created by Roger Lecureux and Andre Cheret and published in the magazine Pip Gadget.

The story takes place “There are more than 500,000 seasons” and recounts the travels of Rahan, the son of Craô, who, following the destruction of his village by the eruption of a volcano, sets off in search of ” lair of the sun”. Along the way, he will spread his values ​​of kindness and friendship between peoples. The 26th and final episode, The Death of Rahan, offers a truly powerful plot to conclude the series.

From the age of 8

It all begins when a man named Atko arrives in a village with important news: Rahan is dead. The information is transmitted by clouds of smoke, tam-tams and other means of communication in all the villages that Rahan has passed through since the beginning of the series. Wherever he left a great memory.

Canal+

Atko tells those he meets that “the sorcerer Handdak killed [Rahan] in fair combat” then recounts the whole story, which we discover in flashback. We find the sorcerer Handdak, whom a gorak (a saber-toothed feline) is about to devour, in front of Atko, petrified with fear. Rahan comes to their aid and saves the life of Handdak, who invites him to come and rest in their village.

On the way, Atko, who is the village chief, behaves strangely, convinced that Handdak alone defeated the gorak. On the spot, the whole clan seems apathetic. The hunters are rickety and staring blankly, sitting on the ground. Handdak then explains to Rahan that he feeds the village with a drink he makes, a drug.

Canal+

The Son of Feral Ages strongly opposes Handdak and resists his attempt at hypnosis. He leaves the village and returns some time later with a “long horn” that he chased away. The clan can eat their fill, but the sorcerer, displeased, challenges Rahan to single combat on the hill overlooking the camp and “until death ensues”.

Despite promising a fair fight, Handdak uses poison arrows. After injuring Rahan, who begins to lose his strength, the wizard shoots him with two projectiles in the body, in an image that remains shocking even today!

Canal+

End of flashback, return to the present: Atko has finished his story and is being chased away with stones: the tribes that Rahan helped want revenge. So they take up arms and march towards the village of Atko. The chief returns home to warn his clan, but its members, under the effect of Handakk’s drugs, remain indifferent. Above all: the wizard has disappeared.

Canal+

On the hill where his body was left, Rahan suddenly wakes up! He bears no trace of injury. Handdak then reappears and reveals the truth. Before their duel, he had the whole village drink a hallucinogenic brew which allowed him to trick the clan into thinking he was killing Rahan when in reality he had simply put him to sleep with his first arrow. He thus wished to preserve his prestige and his authority, undermined by the arrival of the son of Craô.

Rahan arrives just in time to prevent the clans wishing to avenge his death from decimating that of Atko. Handakk is repentant, declaring that he understood thanks to Rahan that: “True happiness cannot be eaten or drunk”.

It should be noted that in addition to being an anti-drug episode, The Death of Rahan is a somewhat violent episode for young audiences because we literally see the hero being pierced by two arrows, and the character remains officially dead for several minutes. before the revelation comes to reassure the spectators. Dared bet for the last adventure of the final season!