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Rani is the evil Goddess of Fire and Death in the 1982 Italian fantasy flick Sword of the Barbarians (Sangraal, la spada di fuoco). She is a beautiful, vengeful and bloodthirsty Goddess who demands human sacrifice to sate her hunger. She is worshipped by an evil warrior tribe led by their chief Nantuk.

A number of her murderous priests are killed by the hero Sangraal and his tribe. She vows revenge and orders Nantuk to crush Sangraal’s tribe. Nantuk leads a raid on Sangraal's village, slaughtering the people and burning everything. During the attack, Rani manifests herself from the flames and kills Sangraal’s wife.

Sangraal sets off on a quest to bring his wife back from the dead and seek justice on her murderers. He meets the good wizard Rudak, who tells him the dead cannot be revived, but sends him to find a weapon powerful enough to defeat evil. This turns out to be a giant magical triple-crossbow.

In the finale, Sangraal fights his way to Nantuk’s cave palace. He challenges Nantuk to a duel to the death and prevails. He tries to free his new girlfriend Ati, but is confronted by Rani when she emerges from her fiery altar. At first, Sangraal is helpless before Rani’s power as she destroys his sword with her magic. Then Sangraal reaches for the magic crossbow, saying Rani has ‘no power over these arrows’.

Rani-death

Rani's demise

Rani stands petrified at the sight of the crossbow, seemingly frozen in fear at her impending doom. Sangraal fires the crossbow, all three arrows striking Rani in her belly. She grasps at her belly, screaming in pain and agony, collapsing into the flames as she dies. The flames explode and the cave begins to collapse. Sangraal and Ati escape, walking off to a new life together.


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