Golden Sun/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Characters of the Golden Sun games.

When looking at the characters, one can understand what class of Adept a character is by using these tropes as guidelines.

The Heroes

Isaac

Isaac is a Venus Adept, a playable character in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age, and a main character in the overall Golden Sun series. He's the silent protagonist and party leader of the original Golden Sun, and gains a speaking role in his appearance late in Golden Sun: The Lost Age as a co-leader of the game's extended final party.

In Dark Dawn, he keeps a cabin observatory which he uses to keep an eye on Mt. Aleph along with Garet, and also as a place to train his son, Matthew. He is greatly concerned over the unrest that has swept Weyard since the restoration of Alchemy, as well as eventual coming of the Mourning Moon, a devastating giant Psynergy Vortex that appears every decade.

At the onset...

  • BFS: Ragnarok summons one. Odyssey summons four, and then a fifth that goes Up to Eleven.
  • Blue Eyes
  • Combat Medic
  • Dub Name Change: Robin in the Japanese version, Vlad in the French version and Hans in the Spanish version. This is particularly bizarre as his name is one of the few that's within the character limit in English text. "Robin" was a Fan Nickname for Matthew, the main character from Golden Sun: Dark Dawn before he was officially named. Probably because fans weren't initially sure Matthew WAS a new and separate character, since he is extremely similar to Isaac.
  • Establishing Character Moment: His mother wakes him up and tells him to evacuate for the disaster, and he goes and rescues Garet on his way out, then runs for help when Felix gets in trouble twice. Three years later, he's helping fix the roof of the house, and by his mother's commentary he's apparently still upset he didn't do enough to help in the prologue. Chronic Hero Syndrome much, Isaac?
  • Estrogen Brigade Bait
  • Healing Hands
  • The Hero
  • Hero Antagonist: In The Lost Age, with lots of worrying over how his and Felix's parties will avoid coming to blows. They join up instead.
  • Heroic Mime: First game only.
  • Hero of Another Story: Felix can glean a rough estimate of Isaac's exploits across the Eastern Sea if you transferred data from the first game.
  • Lightning Bruiser: For some reason, he dishes more damage then even Garet by default.
  • Magic Knight: Shows prowess in both combat and magic.
  • Post-Victory Collapse: Not matter how well you do, in the last fight at Colossi he will always collapse after it's over.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Personality-wise, he's the Red to Felix. When he speaks in the second game, Isaac is a little more impulsive and abrasive.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Passes it on to Matthew.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Once he starts talking in the second game.
    • Right after the Saturos boss fight, Alex comments on how quickly Isaac and Friends turned badass. After the Fusion Dragon fight, Felix says that Isaac's become so powerful it frightens him.


30 years later...


Garet

Garet is a Mars Adept and a playable character in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. He is the one who is tasked to personally accompany his closest friend Isaac on the latter's quest and endeavors all throughout the Golden Sun series, but is also a foil for the occasional comedy relief.

In Dark Dawn, he joins Isaac in keeping watch over Mt. Aleph while trying to keep his son Tyrell in line. He's simmered down with age, but often gets irritated at Isaac's unflappable personality.

At the onset...

  • An Axe to Grind: He or Isaac are the only ones in your party in the first game able to wield axes.
  • Anime Hair
  • The Big Guy
  • Boisterous Bruiser
  • Brown Eyes
  • Dub Name Change: Gerald in the Japanese version. The only one in the initial group it makes sense for due to character limits.
  • Dumb Muscle: To an extent. He's the most belligerent character of the party and tends to act thoughtlessly (his first scenes include him crushing his sister's flower garden without realizing it).
    • As the sequel illustrates though, he's less deliberate about it and has more common sense than his son Tyrell.
  • Establishing Character Moment: "It's at times like these that we men have to stick together!" from the prologue establishes his closeness with Isaac.
    • His first scene after the prologue shows him mistakenly Moving a rock into his sister's flower garden and awkwardly trying to comfort Jenna about the loss of her entire family, which probably shows him more as a person: he's scatterbrained and inattentive and gets into trouble, but he's trying his best to be helpful.
  • Fiery Redhead
  • Informed Flaw: Gluttony, pretty much contained to Fanon as he denies it in game.
  • Irony: Despite being a Fire Adept, out of the original group he was the most eager to see the ocean for the first time.
  • The Lancer
  • Magic Knight: He can become very magically powerful.
  • Mighty Glacier: By default has an overall lower damage output than Isaac and has low PP, but can take damage like nobody's business.
  • No Name Given: With regards to his family, contrary to what fans wanked. The first game's debug room named his family members as "Mr. Jerra", etc, leading to several fans believing he was the only character in the series with a full name. This was found to be a poor translation ("Jerra" is a bad romanization of Gerald, and the Japanese version's debug room had named his family members as "Jera-papa", etc, to signify their relation to him).

30 years later...


Ivan

Ivan is a Jupiter Adept and a playable character in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. As a party member, he is a mage-style Jupiter Adept who has an extremely similar successor in Sheba in the second game.

In Dark Dawn, he lives in Kalay, the merchant city of his old caretaker Hammet the merchant. He designed the soarwing glider that allows one to fly using Psynergy. His daughter Karis is a childhood friend of Matthew and Tyrell.


Mia

Mia is a Mercury Adept and a playable character in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. She is the only mage-style Mercury Adept in either game, and is probably the only Adept that can be labeled the "designated healer" to the player's party in the default class setup. Her characterization is stronger in the Japanese text, generally speaking fairly politely, but drops it when when she she thinks she is alone or when particularly outraged (generally at Alex for betraying the clan).

She eventually gives birth to Rief, a party member in Dark Dawn, as well as Nowell, an NPC from the same game.

Mia: "What, is there a pharmacy down there?"

  • Demoted to Extra: After joining Isaac's party, she largely diminishes in significance for the rest of the first game, and as stated above, she doesn't get much dialogue in the second (though it's actually more than just three lines). She still plays a role regarding her relationship with Alex, but it's not even brought up until near the end of the duology. Considering even Ivan, Sheba, Piers and Kraden had more focused-on character arcs, this is especially egregious. It may be partially justified in that she doesn't talk much anyway... at least compared to Garet and Ivan.
  • Dub Name Change: Mary (though Mia comes from it Mary->Maria->Mia) in the Japanese version and Sofia in the French version.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Her first scene, healing a sickly old man with her powers, reassuring his wife, then (only obvious in Japanese) privately cursing Alex when she realizes something is wrong with the lighthouse and, when she realizes they heard her, asking our heroes if they need help before rushing to the Mercury Lighthouse. Grade A White Magician Girl up front, very devoted to her duties, but not really as polite as she seems.
  • Healing Hands
  • The Messiah: Heralded as such by the people of Imil.
  • Nice Girl
  • Not So Different: The 4koma Gag Battle depicts her as wanting Babi's immortality potion... turns out Alex wanted to live forever too.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Intellectually. Mia is a professional medic with apprentices of her own in the first game as a teenager, so she's clearly quite brilliant in her own right, it's just very subdued in comparison to Alex and Ivan. Probably because she's...
  • The Quiet One: Especially in The Lost Age: the little dialogue she gets though is well worth it.
  • White Magician Girl
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair
  • You Killed My Father: The Japanese script has her say she failed her deceased father before insisting the group follow Alex specifically, creating an implication of this. The English version simply says she failed her clan and requests the group follow "them".


Felix

Felix is a Venus Adept, a playable character in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, and a main character in the overall Golden Sun series. He appears in Golden Sun as an NPC in league with the game's band of antagonists opposed to Isaac, but in The Lost Age, the perspective of the narrative focuses on him as the main playable character. He is the elder brother of Jenna, and uncle to Matthew (though he's almost certainly never met his nephew).

After the party returned from their quest to light the lighthouses, he left on his own, and by the time of Dark Dawn, no one has seen him since.


Jenna

Jenna is a Mars Adept and a playable guest character in Golden Sun that becomes a main playable character in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. A childhood friend of Isaac and Garet's and the younger sister of Felix, Jenna quickly becomes a conventional damsel-in-distress character early on, until The Lost Age when she joins Felix's quest in full. As a result of her kidnapping between the games, she has matured fairly quickly, though it's only obvious in the Japanese script where her speaking style has changed dramatically.

In Dark Dawn, she is said to live in Kalay along with other Vale survivors. She is the mother of Matthew, the game's protagonist.


Sheba

Sheba is a Jupiter Adept introduced as an NPC in Golden Sun and becomes a playable character in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. As a party member, she is a mage-style Jupiter Adept in an extremely similar vein to Ivan in the first game.


Piers

Piers is a Mercury Adept and a playable character in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. He is the only warrior-style Mercury Adept in either game and the only playable character in The Lost Age that is completely new to the series, in contrast to the other playable characters Felix, Jenna and Sheba who appeared in the first game in NPC and minor gameplay roles.

By the time of Dark Dawn, he sails around Weyard in his ship and is considered a hero to the seafaring world for sailing the Sea of Time surrounding Lemuria, and is also friends with the Champan pirate Briggs, who ironically was unintentionally responsible for him being imprisoned in The Lost Age. While he never appears to Matthew's party, he is instrumental in helping them obtain a sea-worthy ship.


Kraden

Though not an Adept of any kind, Kraden is a wise old sage who lives in Vale to study Alchemy and tutor Isaac and his friends. He is not a playable character, but he accompanies Felix throughout the entirety of Golden Sun: The Lost Age and is vastly important to the plot. In Dark Dawn, he continues his Alchemy studies, and is the teacher of Mia's children, Rief and Nowell (as with the heroes of the first two games, the Golden Sun slowed down his aging as well, which is why he lived as long as he did without anything else to slow it down as with the Lemurian draught that slowed down the aging of Babi and the Lemurians the former took it from; he just ended up with this effect after he was already of old age).

  • Cool Old Guy: Sadly not playable. Of course, considering that he's a Muggle, this does make sense.
  • Gentleman and a Scholar
  • Hostage for McGuffin: In the first game; he is more of a free entity in The Lost Age.
  • Irony: His entire scholarly life was started by trying to find the secret to immortality for Babi. By Dark Dawn, Babi is dead of old age while Kraden has stopped aging due to his travels trying to find the secret for Babi. Whoops.
  • Motor Mouth: Though not necessarily quick-speaking, he certainly talks a lot and likely has the most lines in The Lost Age. And, of course, he's the one with the Easter Egg line that results from answering "no" to every question in the game.
  • Mr. Exposition
  • Mysterious Past: Implied in the first game and discovered in the second as you uncover clues and details about his life. He was a scholar for Lord Babi ever since he was four, and was sent to Vale on his behalf to study Alchemy.
  • The Obi-Wan
  • Party in My Pocket: He seems to be able to avoid combat, leap across hazardous terrain, and traverse dangerous dungeons simply by walking into Issac (during the Sol Sanctum section of the first game), Felix (in all of The Lost Age), and Matthew (in Dark Dawn) beforehand.
  • The Philosopher
  • Shipper on Deck: Observes Feizhi's crush on Isaac, then expresses his approval. Feizhi is appropriately mortified.
    • Possibly recurring in Dark Dawn, where he claims that Nowell is in love with Piers. No definite information to confirm, however; at least not until the fourth game is released.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: Until Dark Dawn, Kraden lacked any promotional art releases despite being a fairly major character.


The Antagonists

Saturos

Saturos is a Mars Adept who along with his partner Menardi is a main antagonist in Golden Sun, and is typically considered the primary antagonist in the duo. He leads along with Menardi the original effort to break the seal on Alchemy and bring it back to the world of Weyard, and is opposed by Isaac's party all throughout the first game.


Menardi

Menardi is a Mars Adept who along with her partner Saturos is a main antagonist in Golden Sun. She along with Saturos leads the original effort to break the seal on Alchemy and bring it back to the world of Weyard, and is opposed by Isaac's party all throughout the first game. She is the elder sister of Karst, who becomes an antagonist in a similar vein in Golden Sun: The Lost Age.


Agatio

Agatio is a Mars Adept who along with his partner Karst is a main antagonist in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. The pair nominally follows in the footsteps of the original game's Saturos and Menardi and shares their goal of lighting the four Elemental Lighthouses and restoring Alchemy to the world, but seek vengeance upon Isaac in response to the deaths of Saturos and Menardi at his hands at the end of Golden Sun. Of the two, Agatio appears to have the higher authority because he is more powerful.


Karst

Karst is a Mars Adept who along with her partner Agatio is a main antagonist in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. The pair nominally follows in the footsteps of the original game's Saturos and Menardi and shares their goal of lighting the four Elemental Lighthouses and restoring Alchemy to the world, but seek vengeance upon Isaac in response to the deaths of Saturos and Menardi at his hands at the end of Golden Sun. Of the two, Karst is the more personal side, for Menardi was her sister.


Alex

Mia's cousin and fellow Mercury Clan disciple, and the closest thing the games have to a Big Bad. Very little is known about his motivations until the end, where it is revealed that he is playing every side in an effort to obtain the Golden Sun, which will grant him godlike power.

  • Affably Evil: Certainly a whole lot more courteous and polite than Saturos and Menardi were, especially obvious in the Japanese script where his speech uses polite forms, even when saying he'll kill the main cast if they tried to finish off Saturos. It may be all fabricated in order to further his own ambitions, of course.
  • Big Bad: Kinda? Maybe? He is the consistent antagonistic force between all three games but he appears subservient to Saturos in the first game; has every reason to wish the protagonists success in the second game, even if he is manipulative and his motives considerably less altruistic than theirs; and the third game does little to clear up his Hidden Agenda. Still, when it comes to examining the series as a whole, he's the closest we've got.
  • Big Bad Friend: Mia's friend/cousin/fellow apprentice; the game was never really clear about just how they are related beyond belonging to the Mercury clan. The Sun Saga books in Dark Dawn, however, out him as Mia's cousin. If you didn't pick up the Sun Saga books, careful analysis of a mistake Tret makes in Dark Dawn about Amiti's parentage cements the aspect.
  • The Chessmaster
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He betrayed the Mercury Clan before the game began, then he betrayed Felix's group by running off without them, then he hired Karst and Agatio just to rub salt in the wound before betraying them by healing Felix's group but ultimately betrayed the heroes a second time by running off to Mt. Aleph to gain the Golden Sun's power. Considering that Karst and Agatio were just replacements for Saturos and Menardi in his eyes, it's extremely likely that he would have betrayed them too had they not been killed.
    • And in the sequel, he betrays Amiti's mother before the story begins by leaving the nation. Later on, he openly backstabs Blados and Chalis, who were in turn planning on betraying Tuaparang and its High Empyror (something which Alex was implied to have already done) and then he betrays you by saying he'll handle Blados and Chalis while you fire up the Apollo Lens which he very clearly never does.
  • Enigmatic Minion
  • The Evil Genius: Definitely so in the first game. The sequel hints that he's being elevated to the status of Big Bad, or perhaps was all along.
  • Face Heel Turn: It's not known whether Alex was ever a "Face" to begin with: in the Japanese script, Mia instantly knows Alex is to blame when something is up at the lighthouse, but it's established before the Mercury clan is even introduced that he's a bad guy.
  • Hidden Agenda Villain
  • Immortality: This was revealed to be his goal at the Apollo Sanctum in Dark Dawn. It's possible that it was just one of many, however. Similarly, whether he's still aiming for the same thing or has an entirely new plan is also unknown.
  • It's All About Me: Which is pointed out by Jenna and Sheba several times.
  • Manipulative Bastard: A very good one, as it turns out. In the sequel and Dark Dawn, it becomes clear that he's a Magnificent Bastard as well.
  • Morality Pet: A few lines say he still cares about Mia, to the point he's willing to go against his apparent allies to protect her. His Japanese mind read dialog even has a slight ship teasingness to it (calling himself a ladies man who spoils women).
  • Pound of Flesh Twist: Instead of getting the full force of the Golden Sun infused into his body, the Wise One tricks him into getting sealed at the bottom of the earth for who knows how long. Hopefully, the next game will reveal how he escaped.
  • Smug Snake: Very smug in the first game, when he mostly hangs back and lets everybody else do the work for him, and the Japanese script has his speech very formal and professional, even when telling the group he'd kill them if they tried something. Then he begins to graduate to chessmaster status.
  • The Unfought: Three. Bloody. Times. If the last third of whatever the final game in the series isn't just a rolling boss battle with him, there's likely to be a fandom outcry.
  • Wild Card
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair


Dark Dawn's Heroes

Matthew

A young Venus Adept, the son of Isaac and Jenna, and the main playable character and party leader of Dark Dawn. He lives with his father in a cottage in the Goma Highlands west of Bilibin, which overlooks the ruins of Mt. Aleph, training for the day he's expected to step up and take on his father's mantle. That day comes when his friend Tyrell breaks Ivan's soarwing, and he's sent on a journey that begins with the goal of obtaining the Mountain Roc feather and ends up involving the fate of Angara and Weyard.

  • BFS: Aside from boasting the Ragnarok and Odyssey spells, improved graphics allow for different weapons to actually be shown; long/broad swords are big enough to be comparable to Cloud's and are apparently so heavy he holds it down by his leg.
  • Blue Eyes
  • Dub Name Change: His Japanese name is Muuto (likely intended to be the German name "Mut").
  • The Hero
  • Heroic Mime: Just like his father before him, though this time there are a few "emotional responses" (emoticons) that the player can pick for him to provide some variety.
    • Lampshaded and played with much more than with Isaac or Felix
    • And then there's the encounter with Arcanus at the Apollo Sanctum... where Matthew swears. Though this is only applicable to the US version; the Japanese and European versions have him reacting with the same old "?!" he normally responds with.
    • There's also an instance where if the angry emote is used as a response to Karis' comments about Ryu Kou stealing the Magma Orb, Karis will respond, "Wow, graphic!", implying that Matthew had some very choice words for the situation.
  • Identical Grandson: Son, rather, but he looks so similar that many early previews confused him for a redesigned Isaac at first. This led to his being dubbed "Robin", Isaac's Japanese name, for a while.
  • The Leader: Type IV and maybe Type II also according to fan's inpretation.
  • Made of Iron: He's just knocked unconcious without any injuries after falling over and over three times, attempting to switch on the Apollo Lens. Then after awakened he's so fast that he ran and caught Sveta before anyone else could.
  • Magic Knight
  • Nice Guy: The general Fanon interpretation and, optional reactions aside, there seems to be an element of truth to it too.
  • Passing the Torch: His father makes a big deal about how it's now Matthew's turn.
  • Punny Name: His Japanese name is Mute, and he is stated to be not very talkative.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: It looks to be the same one as his father's, for that matter.
  • Ship Sinking: He's the torpedo that sank Mudshipping (Isaac x Mia) and Flameshipping (Garet x Jenna).
  • Ship Tease: He was paired with Karis within days of their official names being revealed. And thanks to several scenes near the end of the game, shippers also tend to pair him with Sveta.
  • Silent Bob:
    • Several lines of reactionary script. No words (except for one scene at Apollo Sanctum where he swears (and even then it was dubbed in)) but still... for people who played Golden Sun and The Lost Age, Matthew seems damn talkative compared to his father and uncle.
    • Lampshaded in the conversation with Tret, where Tret asks for Matthew's name, only for Matthew to reply with his classic "...", followed by Tret asking him to speak up, and Amiti pointing out that he doesn't talk much.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Played with when Briggs identifies him on sight... because of how strongly he resembles Jenna. To be fair, Briggs never met Isaac.


Karis

A young Jupiter Adept who is Ivan's daughter and a childhood friend of Matthew's and Tyrell's. She decides to accompany the two on their quest to obtain a Mountain Roc feather. She is strong-willed, reliable, and clever.


Tyrell

A young Mars Adept who is the son of Garet. Like father, like son: he is a mischievous character, but is loyal and a close friend of Matthew's and Karis's. His making off and subsequently breaking the soarwing glider that Ivan had made becomes the trigger for their quest.


Rief

The fourth party member is a Mercury adept, as well as the younger of Mia's two chidren. Along with his sister, Nowell, he is an apprentice of Kraden, now a traveling Alchemy scholar. He joins the party after being captured by Tuaparang in order to bait Matthew's party south to the Ei-Jei region of Angara.

"Yes, Tyrell. This is the part where she just volunteers that she's a spy."


Amiti

A Mercury Adept who joins Matthew's party. He is the young prince of the Ayuthay kingdom who is said to have been an immaculate birth on account of his mother's strong Mercury powers. However, his uncle King Paithos reveals that this is not the case, that his father was actually an unknown Mercury Adept of considerable power. It is confirmed that his father is Alex.


Sveta

A member of a new race of man-beasts who have evolved since the restoration of Alchemy, Sveta is a Jupiter Adept who joins Matthew's party, her natural animal senses being boosted by the precognitive abilities of the wind element. Her older brother, Volechek, is the king of Morgal.

Sveta: How does a treasure sleep?


Eoleo

First appearing as the infant son of the pirate Briggs in The Lost Age, Eoleo is now the prince of the pirate nation Champa and a Mars Adept. He first appears imprisoned by the Belinsk beastmen and sentenced to death, but is freed by Matthew's party. He joins their party after his father's death in the Grave Eclipse, whereupon he swears revenge on those responsible for it.


Himi

A Venus Adept and the final party member. She is the princess of Yamata, a city on Nihan founded by refugees from the city of Izumo, which was destroyed following the return on Alchemy, and has the power to see into the future. Her parents are Susa and Kushinada, both of whom met Felix's party in The Lost Age, and she also has an unseen older brother named Takeru.

  • Ascended Extra: Well, sort of: her parents turned up for the Gaia Rock bit of The Lost Age.
  • Badass Princess: She gets up from being effectively bedridden for several days, and immediately takes off with a bunch of random strangers to go save the world... and she's just so calm and matter-of-fact about it.
  • Black Magician Girl: The first mage-style Venus Adept! Also the first playable female Venus Adept.
  • Eleventh-Hour Ranger: She's basically around for collecting the Umbra Gear and the final dungeon. Half-lampshaded during the final dungeon where, upon seeing Arcanus, everyone in the party expresses shock and anger... except her. She just asks, "Who?".
  • Expy: For Himiko of Yamataikoku.
  • Facial Markings: Become more elaborate when she recieves the Third Eye.
  • Fainting Seer
  • Flat Character: Not her fault, since she joined the group too late for any meaningful interaction. Golden Sun games have never been known for character development. Himi just happened to get the shortest of a bunch of short straws.
  • Girlish Pigtails
  • Good Is Not Nice: One of her exclusive class trees is called "Curse Mage", and focuses a lot on necromancy, poison and curses.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: One of her best class options for combat, and one she alone inexplicably accesses in lieu of Samurai classes, giving her multiple methods of using it.
  • Lady of War: Has light swords among her available weapons and can rock the "Magic" aspect of her part-Mercury and part-Jupiter Magic Knight classes.
  • MacGuffin Super Person/The Chosen One: Chosen as the bearer of the Third Eye, which grants her the power to Search for things unseen, leading her to join the party.
  • Mysterious Waif
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something
  • Samurai: While attempting to access the Samurai class will put her into the Ninja class, she wields light blades with a very Samurai esqe stance.
  • Shrine Maiden
  • Summon Magic: Both of her exclusive classes have psynergy lines that resemble this. One of her strongest moves summons Dragons Up the Yin-Yang.
  • Token Loli: The Moe variant.
  • Youngest Child Wins:
    • Back in The Lost Age, Kushinada said (via Mind Read) that her son Takeru will rush to help the children of Felix's party (which includes Jenna) should they ever be in danger. It is her younger daughter Himi that actually helps out Matthew and company.
    • Takeru actually left because Himi had visions of Isaac being in danger causing him to seek out the first game's hero. Because of this, fans presume that he will appear in the next game.


Dark Dawn's Antagonists

Blados

A swordsman from the military nation of Tuaparang who Matthew's party encounters several times over the course of the story. He is always eager for a fight, and along with his partner Chalis manipulates Matthew's party into fulfilling their desires.

He is an Adept who can wield a new type of darkness Psynergy, and attempts to gain control of the Apollo Lens.


Chalis

A commander of Tuaparang who also confronts Matthew's party several times over the course of the story. She gets close to leaders of foreign nations in order to obtain secret information and is in league with Blados in some fashion.

Like Blados, she is also a darkness Adept, and works with him in order to gain control of the Apollo Lens.


Arcanus

Alex

A third member of Tuaparang who is seen working with Blados. Seems to be connected with the original Warriors of Vale. Is absolutely not a certain Mercury Adept from the previous games.

Of course he is. Now working under Tuaparang's High Empyror, Alex works with Blados and Chalis in order to bring about the Grave Eclipse, and in the end reveals that he plans to use the Apollo Lens to disperse it, and turns against the other two when they try to seize the weapon for themselves. As always, his motives and allegiance remain ambiguous, but suggestive.

  • Affably Evil: More so in this game than anyone in the series. He remains downright polite even when the heroes are antagonizing him.
  • Big Bad: Takes this role between himself, Blados and Chalis, especially considering how his "Ace"/"Arcanus" moniker implies that he might be their superior (though where exactly the three of them fit into the hierarchy of Tuaparang isn't really clear). And since he's really Alex, he's manipulating everyone for whatever purpose he's plotting. Of course, seeing as this is Alex we're talking about, we still don't know whether there's any benevolence to his goals or if he's nothing more than a self-serving asshole.
  • Dub Name Change: From Ace to Arcanus.
  • Hidden Agenda Villain: Well, duh!
  • Hot Dad: ...Maybe, in a villainous kind of way.
  • Manipulative Bastard: It's due to his machinations that Blados and Chalis manage to play Matthew's party like a fiddle.
  • Mask Power: It only covers part of his face and one eye though. Compare with the Luna Mask. Any questions?
  • Meaningful Name: Ace, the highest card in the deck. In English, "Arcanus" references the group of Tarot cards called the Arcana, with the exact explanation depending on the translation: the US uses the same "high card" analogy[2], while the UK version takes it to imply him "holding all the cards" since it refers to the name of the entire deck.
  • Older Than They Look: He doesn't seem to have changed a bit since his last appearance in The Lost Age. Which makes sense considering that the Golden Sun affected the original eight party member's life spans, drastically slowing their rate of aging. Alex absorbed quite a bit of the Golden Sun's power.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Anyone who's played the GBA games (or hell, looked further up this very page) will instantly recognize who he is. And at the Apollo Sanctum, if you still haven't figured it out, Kraden blows the lid wide open. Somewhat subverted when you consider how he isn't exactly trying to conceal his identity. Kraden even lampshades this at one point early in the game wondering who would fall for that.
  • Theme Naming: Again, from the cards. Lampshaded obliquely when his alias is mentioned to Kraden, who comments he must have chosen that name to match his Tuaparang allies (albeit upstaging them with the most impressive item in the theme: see Meaningful Name above).
  • Unexplained Recovery: When Karis expresses disbelief at him surviving the destruction of Mt. Aleph, Alex's only response is the "overjoyed" emoticon.
  • The Unfought: Again!
  • Wild Card: *Groan*...
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Hmm...

Back to Golden Sun
  1. Mind Reading only.
  2. Kraden refers to the "Most important cards", so perhaps the Major Arcana?