Rudy

Rudy's official art

DJ Baby Snekky-Snake

*Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*

*Aru Shah and the City of Gold*

**Prince Rudra of Naga-Loka**, more commonly known as **Rudy,** is a minor character in *Aru Shah and the End of Time*, and *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*. He is a major character in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes* as well as a secondary main character in *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*. He is the Heir of Naga-Loka and a modern-day Naga Prince, who has had a bad cultural shock. He's Aiden's cousin and a naga prince.

## History

### Early Life

Rudy grew up with his parents as the prince of Naga-Loka and visited the treasury many times. It is implied that growing up, he never visited or saw the mortal world.

## *The Pandava Quintet*

### *Aru Shah and the End of Time*

Rudy visited an Otherwordly Costco and smiled and winked at Mini. Mini, in response, walked into a pole.

### *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*

Rudy saved Aru, Brynne and Aiden from Takshaka by playing music (loud, Punjabi music, to be exact) and asked for Aru's number so he could call in a favor. Sometime after that, off-screen, his mom wanted him to have some human cultural experience, so he went to live with Aiden, where he read Aiden's texts and learned about their quest.

### *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*

After a failed mission, when Aru, Mini, Brynne and Aiden decided to go on an unofficial quest, Rudy, who read Aiden's texts, and learned about it, decided to go with them as well. First, the team was a bit reluctant to allow him to go with them, but when they learned that he could be a lot of help, they allowed him to.

## Physical Appearence

Rudy is about Aru’s age and is an attractive naga boy. He can assume the form of a snake, half-snake, or human. In his human form, he has a strange scale-like pattern across his right temple that might appear to be a birthmark and the same patterns on his arms. In his snake form, he has a red tail with yellow markings.

He's wearing a pair of sunglasses perched on his head and a bright eyesore of a tie-dyed denim jacket over dark jeans when he meets with Aru for the second time in the Tree of Wishes.

Later, he dons an all-white outfit, then, pajamas that look like glittering snakeskin with music notes on them.

## Personality

Rudy often takes time to understand things that others find evident. It might be because of the culture shock of being raised in Naga-Loka and thrown into the Human Realm and also because of his dorky nature. He is also a quite flirtatious person, winking at girls and boasting about how girls get all disoriented and tongue-tied when they see him.

## Abilities and Tools

* Naga Abilities
* Naga Magic

* **Shapeshifting (limited)**: Being a Naga, Rudy has shapeshifting powers.
	+ **True Naga Form**: He can transform into a full fledged red colored snake with yellow markings on his body.
	+ **Half-Naga**:He can also transform into a half-naga form. In this form, the upper part of his body remains humanoid, while from his waist down, he has a long red-colored tail with yellow markings. While transforming from a human into a half-naga, his eyes glow green and in a flash of light, his legs fuse together to form his naga tail. In this form, he stands well over 6ft
	+ **Human**: In his human form, he has strange scale-like patterns across his right temple and on his arms. It may appear as a birhtmark to some people.

* **Music:** Due to him being colorblind, Rudy finds it difficult to use magic in the traditional sense, and instead listens to the 'music' of gemstones. That allows him to mess around with them and create magical charms and spells that can do things such as get you hyped up or calmed down or tired.

## Relationships

#### **Arundhati Shah**

Aru and Rudy first met in Aru Shah and the End of Time, when Rudy winks and smiles at Mini, causing Mini to walk straight into a pole.

They didn't formally meet until Aru Shah and the Song of Death, when Rudy saves Aru and the Pandavas from his grandfather, Takshaka. He tells Aru that she owes him, and asks for her number. At the end of the book, while all her friends are asleep at the end of her thirteenth birthday party, Rudy texts Aru, saying he will be calling in the favour soon.

Throughout Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, it is hinted that Rudy has a crush on Aru, such as when he invites her to his castle. Another instance is when he says that Aru must hate Home Depot, to which Aru responds saying she doesn't. As Aru is walking away towards the other girls, Aru overhears him tell Aiden, saying "I thought she would hate this place." Aiden responds by saying, "Then I guess you don't know her at all." Aru does not hear the rest of their conversation, as she has now run to catch up with the other girls.

#### **Yamini Kapoor Mercado Lopez**

Mini and Rudy first met in Aru Shah and the End of Time, when Rudy winks and smiles at Mini, causing Mini to walk straight into a pole.

They didn't formally meet until Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, when Rudy requested to go on the unofficial quest with them. Mini acts awkward around Rudy, because "she hasn't mastered the art of the boy yet". Whenever she talks to Rudy, it usually makes Rudy uncomfortable, disgusted, or disturbed. However, in one scene in Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, he says that he if he goes behind Mini, he probably won't die, implying that he trusts her.

She also is shown to be quite sad when Rudy openly flirts with Aru in front of her. Aru initially feels excited when Rudy invites her to his castle, as she has never been invited anywhere with a boy before. However, when she sees how sad Mini looks, she immediately regrets her excitement, as Mini has a crush on Rudy.

In the last book however, when Mini opened the Anywhere Elevator, Rudy is impressed and shows more interest in her. Like at the end, when he offers to build palaces for Mini, spelling out her name.

#### **Brynne Tvarika Lakshmi Balamuralikrishna Rao**

Brynne is harsh on Rudy, but she doesn't mind him as much as she acts like it.

### Family

#### **Takshaka**

Takshaka despises Rudy. This can possibly be because of Rudy's colorblindness.

#### **Unnamed Family**

Because of his color blindness, Rudy's family doesn't like him that much. His father doesn't trust him and his choice of judgement.

#### **Aiden Acharya**

Rudy and Aiden have a slightly rough relationship, where Aiden is often annoyed by the sheer difference of Rudy and himself, but Rudy seems to like Aiden and teases him.

## Etymology

* **Rudra** in Sanskrit is the name of one of the many forms of Lord Shiva. It is also a kind of a musical instrument, referring to Rudy's abilities to create music.
* **Rudy**, on the other hand, is a name of German origin, meaning "famous wolf"

## Trivia

* Rudy has never kissed a girl. He once practised it on a gem, but choked on it.
* He has deuteranomaly, the most common form of color blindness, which he describes as yellow and green looking kind of reddish to him, and blue and purple looking like the same color.
* He is definitely not a family favourite.
* Rudy is a double Gemini

## ReadRiordan's Article On Him

*“This naga boy is a special being. He can either appear as a full human or have a snake’s lower body. But even in full human form he still has this epic scale-like pattern on his temple. We can’t help but be a little envious of that. It’s like a leveled up tattoo.”*