Who is Rudra in Street Fighter 6?

Has Dhalsim met his match?

Street Fighter 6 shows a lot of characters many players haven’t seen before. Some actually come from other Capcom series, such as Thrasher Damnd from Final Fight. Some others, like Rudra, are getting their video game debut.

Much like Damnd, Rudra is a non-playable gang member players will encounter in the World Tour mode. Unlike Damnd, however, he bears some striking resemblances to a classic Street Fighter character. Rudra fights like Dhalsim and also looks like his younger alternate self from a parallel universe in which people never stopped listening to Limp Bizkit.

This has naturally prompted speculation among Internet users who have wondered if he’s actually Dhalsim’s son, Datta. That’s not the case. Some eagle-eyed Reddit users have pointed out we can see Datta in Dhalsim’s stage.

Rudra has his own tiny story, which involves a rivalry between his gang, The Crows, and Damnd’s Mad Gear Gang. He also has a partner, which might lead us to some answers regarding his origin.

So what are Rudra’s likely origins?

Rudra is the Hindu god of wind. That’s the main inspiration for the name, but there’s also a big connection with another Capcom series.

Even though Rudra as we see him in Street Fighter 6 doesn’t show up in the Devil May Cry series, he most likely exists because of Devil May Cry 3. In that game, Dante has to face off against Agni and Rudra, two brothers who are also swords that we get to use in the game. That leaves us with the question of who is Agni in this story. Is it a reference to Rudra’s buddy? Unlikely. Agni is the name of the Hindu god that Dhalsim worships, the one that has granted him the power to control fire.

Does this mean we could see Rudra showing up in the future as a playable character who is to wind what Dhalsim is to fire? We don’t know, but that would be rad as hell.