List of Golden Sun characters
This is a list of the most significant characters featured in Nintendo’s video games Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. All hail from the fictional world of Weyard, and most of the main characters are “Adepts”, individuals skilled in the art of manipulating Psynergy.
Main playable characters
Isaac
- Japanese name: ロビン (Robin)
- French name: Vlad
- Spanish name: Hans
Isaac is the silent protagonist of the first Golden Sun and may be considered the main character of the Golden Sun series as a whole. A Venus Adept, Isaac is virtuous and caring, yet not to a fault. He hails from the town of Vale at the foot of Mt. Aleph, where he lived a tranquil life with his mother Dora, his father Kyle, and his friends Garet, Jenna, and Felix until a tragic incident at age 14 – the crash of a giant boulder from the mountain into the town below – caused the presumed deaths of Kyle and Felix, alongside Felix and Jenna’s parents. Though under the influence of his personal loss since, Isaac had coped with his loss quite well and would have lived an otherwise uneventful life were it not for a major twist of fate that would link Isaac’s destiny to that of the world of Weyard itself.
At age 17, when Isaac joined Kraden along with Garet and Jenna in Kraden’s unauthorized investigation into Sol Sanctum, he and Garet bore witness to the arrival of the menacing Saturos and Menardi and their accomplices Alex and, more alarmingly, Felix. This new group takes Jenna and Kraden as their hostages and forces Isaac to give them the Elemental Stars necessary to initiate the return of the force known as Alchemy to the world. As Saturos’ band flees the area, the Wise One, the guardian of Alchemy’s seal, emerges. The Wise One explains that the restoration of Alchemy can have potentially disastrous consequences for all, and he therefore gives Isaac the great responsibility to pursue Saturos and Menardi and defeat their party objective to activate the four Elemental Lighthouses that will open up Alchemy’s seal. Thus does Isaac set out on an epic journey across Weyard as the leader of a group of friends that include Garet, Ivan, and Mia. Although he pursues his objective valiantly, and in fact is able to ultimately slay Saturos and Menardi in a climactic confrontation atop the aerie of Venus Lighthouse, two of the Elemental Lighthouses are nonetheless activated, and Felix and Alex continue their quest in Saturos’ stead.
However, what Isaac had not realized about the Wise One’s decree was that the Wise One’s description of Alchemy’s potentially harmful effects was an intentional half-truth meant to disorient Isaac; Though Alchemy can indeed be a deadly commodity when used for evil, it is actually the force that sustains the world’s life force and therefore has to be returned to ensure humanity’s survival. The idea behind the Wise One’s half-truth is that if Isaac is truly strong in soul yet understanding in heart, he will come to understand the importance of Felix’s mission and join him in returning Alchemy to Weyard, in effect demonstrating that he can put the welfare of the world over the need to blindly follow the orders of a higher-class being. This is just what happens when Isaac confronts Felix afterwards and demands answers to why the latter thinks Alchemy’s seal must be broken; Felix’s explanation reveals to Isaac the truth about the necessity of restoring that force, and Isaac willingly joins his rival’s effort to save the world from eventual collapse. In joining Felix, Isaac defies the Wise One just as the Wise One had been hoping.
When Isaac and Felix’s combined party of friends and warriors travels to the top of Mars Lighthouse to activate the final beacon together, the Wise One appears and admonishes Isaac for disobeying his command, but Isaac challenges the Wise One’s credibility with the truth he learned about Alchemy and explains how that is the reason why he would break the seal against the Wise One’s command. The Wise One in response summons the Doom Dragon to battle the Adepts, and Isaac can tell right away that the dragon is actually a conglomerate of his own father, Kyle, and the parents of Jenna and Felix, the ones the Adepts had hoped to reunite with after their long journey, but in the greatest demonstration of his character Isaac takes up his sword, joins the battle against the dragon, and slays the dragon with his own blade, in effect sacrificing what he holds dearest to his heart for the greater good of humanity. With this, he passes his ultimate personal test in the eye of the Wise One. Once Alchemy is returned, Isaac’s body unwittingly absorbs part of the power of the Golden Sun, and he is proven capable enough in the Wise One’s eye to take on an even greater responsibility than ever before: To ensure that, throughout the world, Alchemy is not used for evil.
Garet
- Japanese name: Gerald
- Spanish name: Garet
Garet is Isaac’s close friend and confidant. The second of the Mayor of Vale’s three grandchildren, he has a flower-loving elder sister (her name is implied to be Kay) and a spunky kid brother (his name is equally implied as Aaron). Out of himself, Isaac, and Jenna, he was the only one not to have lost a loved one in the Mt. Aleph boulder disaster. Garet generally fits the bill of a typical “Big and Strong, but Not Too Bright” sort of sidekick to Isaac in the story: He is often brash and hot tempered, oafish, clumsy, and carries a general lack of focus on important matters at hand, but nonetheless shares complete trust between himself and Isaac, like brothers, and his supportiveness and loyalty to him and his other friends are without question.
At first, Garet is reluctant to pursue and defeat Saturos’ band as Isaac was charged by the Wise One, especially considering the Mars Adepts’ fearsome powers and the fact that their former friend Felix is among their ranks, but he soon willingly takes up his sword to support Isaac’s objective with his Mars psynergy powers and capable swordsmanship. Oftentimes, however, he is a source of comic relief, the first example of which is when Garet climbs onto Isaac's roof to meet him and accidentally pokes holes in it with his clumsy footing. While he tries to console the rest of his friends in the face of their apparent tragedy atop Mars Lighthouse, Garet momentarily experiences the pain of a true loss of his own when Vale is erased by Alchemy’s return and all of his family is believed to be gone forever. Of course, he realizes he is not alone when it is revealed that the Wise One saved the townspeople and his family by evacuating them out of Vale before its destruction.
Ivan
Ivan, a 15-year-old Jupiter Adept from Contigo and the younger brother of Hamma, is initially unaware that he is one of the three last known living descendants of the ancient Anemos tribe. He is a quiet, insightful boy with the ability to read the minds of people and animals alike with his Jupiter psynergy powers. As a baby, Ivan was handed over to the merchant tycoon known as Master Hammet by Ivan’s mother, who wanted a better life for Ivan than what could be offered in their dusty hometown of Contigo. Ivan’s mother soon died of sorrow while he lived with Hammet in the merchant town of Kalay, with the mysterious Anemos artifact, the Shaman’s Rod, in his hand.
Ivan is unwittingly the central figure to a prophecy held by the Contigans, which is as follows: Three years after a terrible incident occurs at the nearby Mt. Aleph, Ivan is to join warriors from the town of Vale on a worldwide journey. During this journey, the Shaman’s Rod that Ivan holds is to be brought to the Shaman Village and exchanged for the ability to perform the Hover Psynergy spell, a power that was characteristic to Ivan’s Anemos ancestors, and this power is then to be used to climb and eventually light the Jupiter Lighthouse, restoring Contigo morally. Afterwards, Ivan will depart with his party on a flying ship with wings constructed with materials found in the nearby Anemos Sanctum and join the effort to restore Alchemy to the world.
Initially, the events that occur when Ivan joins the warriors Isaac and Garet from Vale seem to counteract what was predicted; they are on a quest to prevent the activation of the four Lighthouses of the world and the subsequent release of Alchemy. Ivan helps Isaac fight Isaac’s opponents valiantly but is nonetheless unable to prevent the activation of the Mercury and Venus lighthouses. At the aerie of Venus Lighthouse, Ivan is forced to relinquish the Shaman’s Rod to Felix to ensure the safety of Sheba (who is actually an Anemos descendant herself). Felix proceeds to depart on a world journey of his own to light the remaining lighthouses with Ivan and Isaac in pursuit to stop him, and Felix trades the Shaman’s Rod at Shaman village for the Hover Psynergy which Sheba is able to use because of her heritage. After activating the Jupiter Lighthouse, Felix’s party meets Isaac’s party and the two sort out their differences when they realize their overall goal is the same. Once the combined party departs from Contigo on Felix’s flying ship (which now has the Wings of Anemos attached to it), the predictions of the prophecy are fulfilled, and Ivan helps the final effort to restore Alchemy.
Mia
- Japanese name: Mary
- French name: Sofia
Mia, a 17-year-old Mercury Adept from the wintry town of Imil, is one of the two last living descendants of the Mercury Tribe. Mia is an attractive, caring young woman with long, flowing blue hair characteristic of Mercury tribesmen. Mia had previously held Alex as her apprentice, and as the custodians of the Mercury tribe their sworn responsibilities were to live as the healers of the populace and to ensure that the Mercury Lighthouse near town is never activated. Mia, of course, never suspects Alex’s hidden motives for self-gain, and she is left confused when Alex leaves Imil on his own, in effect abandoning her.
Mia’s life and destiny change completely when the warrior Isaac arrives in Imil in pursuit of Saturos to prevent his band from activating the Lighthouses and returning Alchemy to the world. Mia joins Isaac in hastily climbing to the top of Mercury Lighthouse, where to Mia’s supreme horror the Mercury Beacon has been lit by none other than Alex, revealed to be in league with the unusual, menacing Saturos and Menardi. Alex explains that in lighting Mercury he has freed the first part of a great power that has long been sealed away, a power that he obviously admires, and Mia in response accuses Alex of having gone mad in betraying not just their charge of duty but her as well. After Alex bids her farewell and leaves with Saturos, Mia vows not to let Alex get away with this and accepts Isaac’s invitation to join his quest to stop Saturos and Alex. Mia becomes the designated healing figure to Isaac’s party in their journey from then on.
Isaac and Mia do not encounter Alex again for the duration of their journey across Weyard, and in fact both realize later on that the return of Alchemy is actually a necessity for the welfare of the world. However, at the end of their journey at Mars Lighthouse, the Wise One reveals that both Isaac’s party and Saturos’ have been played for fools from the start; Alex manipulated the objectives of every individual involved in this chain of events so that when Alchemy does return to Weyard, Alex will be at the center of the process and hoard ultimate power for himself. Mia is supremely mortified by her clan mate’s base tactic for self-gain, and later when the Adepts slay the Wise One’s Doom Dragon creation and realize that they destroyed their own parents, Mia is heard voicing that she will never forgive Alex for committing these irreversible sins. Right afterwards, however, when activating Mars miraculously revives the parents, Mia returns to her serene disposition as they return to Vale and discover that the town was destroyed but all the townspeople are safe. Alex turns up missing as well.
Felix
- Japanese name: Garcia
- French name: Pavel
Felix, an 18-year-old Venus Adept formerly from Vale and the elder brother of Jenna, is the main playable character of Golden Sun: The Lost Age , and for much of both games is made to act as a rival to Isaac. Felix lived happily with his family and Isaac and Garet in Vale until age 15, when the Mt.Aleph boulder disaster swept him, his parents, and Isaac’s father away from Vale and were all nearly killed. They were rescued by Saturos and Menardi, the ones who caused the disaster by trying to raid Sol Sanctum, and were brought back with the two Mars Adepts to their home colony of Prox in the frozen northlands. Felix learns that Prox is in danger of being eradicated by an expanding abyss that exists because of the absence of Alchemy, and that Saturos was tasked to raid Sol Sanctum to acquire the Elemental stars necessary to initiate the return of Alchemy and therefore save Prox. Thus, to repay Saturos and the other citizens of Prox for saving him and his family, he is trained as a warrior and joins their quest, helping them infiltrate Sol Sanctum a second time three years later.
Initially in Golden Sun, Felix fits the role of an anti-hero. From when he first appears in front of Isaac and Garet in Sol Sanctum onward, he demonstrates a noticeably stiff, antagonistic attitude that no doubt developed from years under Saturos’ stern tutelage, at one point calling Isaac and Garet “poor fools” for their inability to understand why his and Saturos’ party objective is the right one (though he declines to explain it at that point, saying “It’s no use talking about it… Just wait and see!” ).
But for this arrogance Felix has a stronger sense of chivalry which shows when Saturos begins taking previously uninvolved people hostage for the sake of the quest. Felix objects, of course, as his own sister Jenna and the scholar Kraden are taken captive by Saturos, but he is forced to accept these developments. He draws the line, however, when Saturos kidnaps the young Jupiter Adept Sheba, and animosity between Felix and Saturos develops to a strong enough degree that at the aerie of Venus Lighthouse Felix demands to take Sheba back down to ground level for her safety, and is willing to fight Saturos for that purpose. This is right before Isaac’s party appears and engages Saturos and Menardi in a climactic duel where the latter two are ultimately slain. When the Lighthouse is activated, the ensuing earthquake causes Sheba to lose her footing and fall off the towering structure, and Felix, having developed enough of a selfless concern for Sheba’s well-being previously, dives off the Lighthouse after her, and both appear to be doomed.
Either by luck or by fate, both Felix and Sheba survive their fall and regroup with Jenna and Kraden. The circumstances of the situation call for him to become the new leader of the effort to restore Alchemy, and so he and his party set off on a world journey of their own to activate the remaining two Lighthouses (The events the player controls in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, during most of which Felix becomes a silent protagonist himself). When he meets Piers and enters Lemuria, Felix learns that the objective to restore Alchemy is more important to the world’s life force and welfare than he ever thought possible; He has to activate the remaining lighthouses in order to save not just Prox but all of Weyard.
When Felix initially encounters Karst and Agatio, Karst declares that she plans to exact deadly revenge upon Isaac for the latter’s slaying of Karst’s sister Menardi, and though Felix agrees not to stand in her way when the time comes, the magnitude of what will happen to Isaac becomes enormously apparent to Felix and he develops a serious concern towards who was once a close friend when they were children. This is what drives him to step in and prevent Karst from slaying Isaac at Jupiter Lighthouse and subsequently fight the vengeful Mars Adept in battle. Afterwards, Felix, Isaac, and their respective parties convene in Contigo and Felix finally explains why his objective to restore Alchemy was the correct one, based both on how it will save Prox and free their parents and how it will renew the world’s inner life force as it was revealed to him in Lemuria. Isaac, finally aware of the truth, joins Felix’s cause, and the two lead their combined party of friends out on the last stages of the journey to break Alchemy’s seal, a journey that proves successful only through much dramatic hardship.
Jenna
- Japanese name: Jasmine
- French name: Lina
- Spanish name: Nadia
Jenna, a 17-year-old Mars Adept from Vale, is the younger sister of Felix. A more outgoing, tomboyish girl than others, Jenna travels the full spectrum of depression and joy through the course of the initial two chapters of the Golden Sun story. She lived an ideal life with Felix and her friends Isaac and Garet until age 14, when the Mt. Aleph boulder disaster appeared to cause the deaths of all her immediate family, including Felix, leaving her emotionally traumatized for the years to come.
Three years later, at which point Jenna has gotten over her initial ordeal but would remain generally morose, Jenna joins Isaac, Garet, and Kraden in a bold research venture into Sol Sanctum, and her destiny changes when Saturos and Menardi invade the core of the sanctum, and Jenna receives the shock of her life when Felix is revealed to be alive but in league with these strangers. When Saturos’ band flees the area with only three of the four Elemental Stars, Saturos has Felix take Jenna and Kraden hostage in hopes that Isaac and Garet will follow Saturos to retrieve Jenna and maybe exchange the last Star currently in Isaac’s possession for her. In being the hostage that Isaac and Garet hope to free, Jenna becomes the conventional “Damsel in Distress” in the first Golden Sun. Though Jenna is taken against her will, she and Felix eventually talk with each other, and Jenna learns of the true nature of their objective as well as the fact that their parents are alive in Prox, so she joins Felix and hopes that in time Isaac will understand.
Eventually, when Isaac and Felix do join forces after a long series of events and traveling around Weyard and the combined party battles the Wise One’s Doom Dragon creation at Mars Lighthouse, which turns out to be her parents in disguise, Jenna is completely crushed by the fact she helped destroy her own parents. Her grief causes her friends to lash out and curse the Wise One’s name. But then she sees the resolve of Isaac and Felix in their lighting of the Mars Lighthouse, and finds the will to agree with them that this was the price necessary to save all the inhabitants of Weyard, a price worth it. But when Alchemy is restored, the parents are revived and nursed back to health, obviously placating Jenna and restoring her spirit. Finally, when the Adepts return to Vale to find it is all gone, but all its residents are safe, Jenna finds that she has everything in life.
Sheba
- Japanese name: Sheba
- French name: Cylia
- Spanish name: Sole
- German name: Cosma
- Italian name: Sara
Sheba, a 14-year-old Jupiter Adept who lived mostly in the desert town of Lalivero, is a very special human whose enigmatic background is a central point of contention among the game’s fanbase. As a baby, she is described as having fallen from the sky like a shooting star and landed in the ruins of an ancient civilization just north of Lalivero, creating a massive depression in the center of the ruins, and yet she was not even bruised by this extreme form of arrival. (These ruins would eventually become the foundation for the construction of the Babi Lighthouse.) Her adoptive family in Lalivero, alongside the rest of the town, would dub Sheba “Child of the Gods” due to her baffling origin from the sky and ability to survive what would most certainly kill anyone else. She was raised in Lalivero and became the town’s pride and joy.
In the ancient past, according to legend (and described in Golden Sun: The Lost Age), there existed a clan of Jupiter Adepts known as the Anemos tribe (of which Ivan and Hamma are among the last known living descendants), and these humans could perform extraordinary Psynergy powers such as flight. When the Alchemy-fueled world war broke out, the Anemos’ main opponent in the conflict was the colony of Shaman in the continent to the north. The Anemos are said to have suffered a great disaster when the seal was placed on Alchemy. Soon, to safeguard its culture, the city of Anemos lifted off the ground, leaving behind a giant crater that is situated beside the modern-day settlement of Contigo. The city became a literal city in the sky with only its rocky underside visible to the inhabitants of Weyard far below, leading Weyard to name the floating rock the Moon. Taking this and what is known about Sheba’s origin into account, many fans believe that Sheba fell from the city on the Moon, but any other details concerning these events are nonexistent.
Historical background aside, at age 14 in the present, Sheba was kidnapped by Babi, lord of Tolbi, as a form of blackmail for the Laliverans to build him Babi Lighthouse upon the ruins where Sheba arrived on Weyard. However, when Isaac won Babi’s Colosso tournament, Babi released Sheba back to the Laliverans, but fate intervened and she was subsequently captured by Saturos and Menardi, looking for a Jupiter Adept to help them on their quest to restore Alchemy. This groups Sheba along with Jenna as a typical “Damsel in Distress” that Isaac and friends try to rescue in Golden Sun. When Saturos and Menardi are defeated in battle atop the Venus Lighthouse by Isaac’s party, the Lighthouse which Saturos previously activated triggers an earthquake that causes Sheba to slip and fall off the towering structure, and Felix, Saturos’ companion, jumps after her. It may not have been due to luck that both survived the long fall; the sea is described as having risen up to the lighthouse just as they fell and caught both of them.
Afterwards, Sheba willingly becomes part of a traveling party led by Felix to restore Alchemy to the world in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, and Sheba explains that she hopes she can unravel her destiny through this quest. In being the one to prove to Moapa on Shaman Island that her party is worthy of the Hover Jade item necessary to climb and light Jupiter Lighthouse as was predicted in Ivan’s prophecy, Sheba solidifies the notion that she is an Anemos and, consequently, hails from the Moon. However, even at the end of the game, her mysterious heritage is never realized, nor has she found her true family, but Sheba is nonetheless content in considering Felix and his vast group of friends as her new family.
Piers
- Japanese name: Picard
- German name: Aaron
Piers is a Mercury Adept hailing from the secluded, fog-shrouded society of Lemuria, located in the center of the Great Eastern Sea. His appearance is characterized by his bold yellow eyes and his blue-textured poncho, but though he appears to be in his twenties, (Sheba even says that the two look roughly the same age, with her being 14) it is implied that he could be centuries old. He never reveals his exact age, though, possibly not wishing anyone to treat him like an old person. All Lemurians have uncannily extended lifespans thanks to a mystical influence that hangs over Lemuria that prevents its inhabitants from aging at the standard rate. Piers is an understanding individual who lived with his mother and uncle for a long time, until the lighting of the Venus Lighthouse by Felix causes a tidal wave that drives Piers out of Lemuria on his ship. He heads towards a foreign continent to rest and is suddenly apprehended by soldiers from a town that was recently raided by pirates, and Piers is falsely accused of being in league with them and held in jail. Felix comes along in search of a ship himself and decides to clear Piers’ name in hopes that they can use Piers’ ship together. Thankful for the help, Piers lets Felix on his ship and lets Felix command their now-sea-faring party as they embark on a large oceanic venture.
After a great period of time exploring the Great Eastern Sea, Felix and Piers make a successful attempt to reenter Lemuria, and Piers is allowed back in with his newfound friends, where he soon finds that his mother has died due to sadness and a weak heart. Piers finds the time to pay his last respects to his mother before going with Felix to his king Hydros. Their lengthy discussion with the king reveals to Felix for the first time that Alchemy’s absence is what has been causing Weyard’s waning over the ages. Hydros therefore tasks Piers to accompany Felix on the rest of Felix’s quest to activate the remaining two Lighthouses and save Weyard from eventual collapse.
However, Hydros’ lord advisor, Conservato, objects to the belief that Alchemy is not the destructive force he has always believed it to be personally. Therefore, Conservato assures Piers that he will be banished from Lemuria if he leaves to accompany Felix, but Piers accepts this consequence and leaves Lemuria with Felix as they head out on the final stages of Felix’s journey. Eventually, after a great deal of drama, Alchemy is restored, the world is re-sustained, and Piers is entirely content with considering all his new friends as his new family.
Antagonists
Alex
Alex, a Mercury Adept from Imil who is among Mia as the last living Mercury tribesmen, is widely interpreted by fans as the main villain of the Golden Sun series. An intriguing blend of bishōnen characteristics and Machiavellian motives, Alex’s character is not outright evil, merely manipulative (He outright boasts his ability to discard people who are no longer “of use” to him late in the story). It is suggested in the Japanese version of Golden Sun that he was the apprentice to Mia's late father. He assists the effort to restore Alchemy and renew the world’s life force for the purpose of gaining ultimate power for himself once Alchemy is returned to Weyard, but his attempt for self-gain ultimately proves to be his downfall at the end of Golden Sun: The Lost Age.
Alex once lived in Imil as Mia’s apprentice, and both held the responsibility to act as healers and protectors of the populace. It is unclear what drove him to a strong desire for power and self-gain, but it is known that he encountered Saturos sometime after the incident at Vale and enlisted himself into his band of warriors that would aim to restore Alchemy to the world, at which point he clearly had his master plan already hatched: he would dupe Saturos and attempt to steal Alchemy-based power for himself at the location where Alchemy’s return would be initiated, the peak of Mt. Aleph. Thus does he abandon the life of a healer and betray Mia when he departs with Saturos.
Initially, all goes well as Alex helps Saturos, Menardi, and Felix raid Sol Sanctum and activate the Mercury and Venus Lighthouses, with Isaac’s party in hot pursuit to halt their objective. At the aerie of Mercury Lighthouse, Alex encounters Mia for the first time since he left. He seems only minimally disappointed when Mia expresses her contempt for Alex’s betrayal and apparent madness in assisting Saturos, and as he leaves with Saturos he leaves behing the message “Ah, well… I can’t stay the same Alex you knew forever…” When the Venus Lighthouse is lit, however, Saturos and Menardi are slain by Isaac’s party, and Felix takes on the new role as leader of the rest of the effort to break Alchemy’s seal. Alex decides to abandon Felix at this point and set out on his own, deciding to become a neutral party.
Alex’s self-prescribed stance as a neutral party who will assist those who aim to break the seal of Alchemy becomes apparent when he encounters Karst and Agatio and sees their vengeance against Isaac for the death of Saturos and Menardi. He leads the Mars Adepts to Felix in the seaside town of Champa, where Karst’s threats to Felix convince the latter to hurry up in his objective to light the remaining Lighthouses, which of course is what Alex would appreciate himself. Later at the Jupiter Lighthouse, when Karst and Agatio carry out their revenge upon Isaac, Alex notices that Felix certainly would rather save Isaac before lighting Jupiter, and that is why Alex appears before Felix and restores his health before letting him confront Alex’s supposed companion Karst. In helping Felix, Alex indirectly causes Jupiter’s activation sooner. When Karst takes the Mars Star and engages Felix in battle, Alex stops one side from slaying the other because, now that Karst and Agatio are the ones with the Mars Star, it is up to them to activate the final Lighthouse.
After a complex series of dramatic events and revelations among everyone else at the Mars Lighthouse, all four Elemental Lighthouses are now activated, and the process that returns Alchemy to Weyard begins in earnest. Alex scrambles to the top of Mt. Aleph and stands in the center of the forming Golden Sun’s stream of energy into Mt. Aleph, gaining bolstered Psynergy power and near-limitless life. At this point, ecstatic with his success, he throws mercy to the wind and attempts to summon a storm to attack Vale below as a test of his newfound power, but he fails, and the Wise One appears before him, stating that a side-effect the Wise One took long ago has caused Alex to gain most of the power of the Golden Sun but leaving a small portion of the power to the care of Isaac, in turn denying him full mastery of Alchemy's powers. Enraged by the Wise One’s deceitful ploy, Alex attempts to attack him with the Psynergy he has, but the Wise One renders Alex’s body immobile. Then the mountain and the landscape surrounding it begin to mutate and collapse due to Alchemy’s newly released influence, and Alex seems to disappear into oblivion.
The Mars Clan
The Mars Clan is a tribe of Mars Adepts consisting of a race of imposing, scale-skinned humans situated in the colony of Prox in the farthest reaches of Weyard’s northern wastes, rather close to the edge of the world. They have lived in a harsh climate over the ages, tempering them into a hardy folk. But then the abyss up north gradually grows in size and creeps closer to the settlement, which could potentially mean doom for the town in the future. The elders of Prox know that this is the result of the absence of Alchemy over the ages, so to save their colony they instigate the effort to return Alchemy to Weyard by sending their most capable and cunning warriors, Saturos and Menardi, to raid Sol Sanctum for its Elemental stars and embark on the quest to restore Alchemy. This action ends up saving all of Weyard from eventual collapse, in spite of the conflict that ensues between their warriors and the main characters.
Saturos and Menardi
- Japanese names: サテュロス (Satyurosu) and メナーディ (Menādi)
- French names: Salamandar and Phoenixia
- Italian names: Saturos and Adexia
Saturos and Menardi are the main antagonists of Golden Sun, though they can be seen as woefully misunderstood tragic heroes. They are Prox’s most patriotic soldiers, highly skilled in swordplay and Mars Psynergy. Their ostensibly tough lives in the stormy northern reaches of Prox, taken together with their extraordinary overall power, has brought out their generally coarse, patronizing personalities, which is obvious each time they encounter Isaac and his party, the group of individuals that circumstances have set to oppose their effort to save their hometown. Nontheless, their shared loyalty to the people of Prox is what qualifies them for leadership of the quest to bring back Alchemy.
Saturos and Menardi attempt to raid Sol Sanctum for the Elemental Stars three years before the present. Unfortunately, they trigger a trap that drives the two out of the Sanctum as a fierce thunderstorm is caused, in turn causing a giant boulder to fall from the mountain and crash into the town of Vale below. Their mission failed, Saturos and Menardi must leave, but they find four people assaulted by the boulder—Felix, his two parents, and Isaac’s father Kyle—and, feeling remorse for the destruction they unintentionally caused to Vale and its inhabitants, the two bring the victims along with them back to Prox safely.
Over the next three years, Saturos and Menardi gather up resources for another attempt on Sol Sanctum. Firstly, they train Felix into a capable Venus Adept warrior, and sometime during this period Saturos and Menardi are approached by the Mercury Adept Alex and accept him into their team. Having multiple Adepts of differing elements is vital for the attempt to break Alchemy’s seal to be successful because each of the four Elemental Lighthouses cannot be entered without possessing an Adept of that Lighthouse’s respective element. With their current team setup, they are guaranteed entrance into three of the four Lighthouses, with only the Jupiter Lighthouse remaining to acquire a Jupiter Adept for, willing or not. After three years of preparation, Saturos, Menardi, Felix, and Alex head out on their official journey to restore Alchemy and save Prox.
As Saturos’ band attempts to raid Sol Sanctum a second time, they are witness to a major twist of fate where their raid coincides with a research expedition into Sol Sanctum undertaken by the scholar Kraden, Felix’s younger sister Jenna, and her friends Isaac and Garet. Saturos pilfers three of the four stars from them, but then the area starts erupting, and they are forced to flee as Isaac, holding the last star, is left behind. Because Isaac holds the star they now lack, they take Jenna and Kraden as hostages for Isaac to follow, which Felix is not too thrilled about due to his sister’s involvement in their cause. With two extra in their group, Saturos’ band must now rush to complete their quest as Isaac pursues them to stop their objective.
Saturos is able to activate the nearby Mercury Lighthouse with Alex’s help without too much trouble. Then in his journey to Venus Lighthouse in the continent of Gondowan, Saturos spots the Jupiter Adept he was looking for: a young girl named Sheba. Saturos kidnaps her, to Felix’s chagrin again, and brings her to the top of Venus Lighthouse. Felix objects to Saturos’ using Sheba like a tool, and enough friction develops between the two that Felix is about to battle Saturos and Menardi outright when Isaac’s party arrives to challenge Saturos and prevent him from lighting the Venus beacon. Saturos and Menardi believe that Isaac, based on his misguided determination to stop their objective from the start, would not able to understand why they are trying to bring back Alchemy even if they tried to explain, so the two decide to try and remove Isaac’s party from the picture permanently by slaying them all. When initially defeated by Isaac’s surprisingly strong group of friends, the two Mars Adepts resort to the extreme measure of merging their bodies into a giant, two-headed Fusion Dragon to lay waste to Isaac’s crew, but Isaac ultimately conquers them through battle. Defeated, Saturos and Menardi fall into the well of the now-activated Venus Lighthouse to their deaths, and Felix and Alex are the ones left to continue their quest to save Prox.
Karst and Agatio
- French names: Karstine and Agatio
- German names: Dinaria and Hagartio
Karst and Agatio are another pair of capable Mars Adept warriors from the colony of Prox. Karst is the younger, nimbler sister of Menardi, and Agatio is an imposing, brutish Proxean that nevertheless holds his values to his hometown. Both serve as antagonists in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, in spite of the similarity between their mission and that of Felix's. While Saturos and Menardi functioned as tragic heroes, Karst and Agatio function more as formerly caring individuals who succumb to an obsession with exacting revenge upon the ones who slew their loved ones.
Prox agrees to send Karst and Agatio out as reinforcements to assist Menardi and Saturos in their quest. Soon after departing, Karst learns that Menardi was indeed slain by a warrior named Isaac, and she vows to see his blood on her own scythe to avenge her elder sister. Her rage becomes so substantial that she and Agatio develop the obsessive belief that once Alchemy is returned and Prox is saved, all of Weyard shall kneel before the Mars Clan. Karst and Agatio soon meet Alex and let him lead them to Felix’s party so that they can introduce themselves. When that happens, Karst threatens Felix and tells him that she plans to kill Isaac and his friends in the future, and that she will not tolerate Felix coming to his old friend’s aid, lest his life be forfeit to her scythe as well. Karst leaves with Alex and Agatio after having made her point.
As Felix’s party explores and climbs Jupiter Lighthouse, Karst and Agatio set a trap to ensnare members of Isaac’s party as they follow Felix, so that they can go in and attempt to kill them while divided. But Felix steps in to save Isaac, against Karst’s threat to him earlier, and Karst is forced to agree to let Felix take the Mars Star from Isaac and activate the Jupiter Lighthouse with the Jupiter Star in exchange for sparing Isaac’s life. Deciding that Felix can no longer be trusted because of his defiance, Karst and Agatio steal the Mars Star from Felix and immediately attempt to kill him, but the other members of his party join in the fight and a fierce confrontational battle ensures. Alex, however, steps in and prevents one side from slaying the other because, now that Karst and Agatio are the ones with the Mars Star, it is up to them to activate the final Lighthouse. The pair leaves with Alex to accomplish the rest of their objective, putting aside Karst’s vow to exterminate Isaac’s clan permanently.
Karst and Agatio travel up north to Mars Lighthouse as Alex (who they never suspected has played everyone for fools) leaves for himself. They pass through their hometown of Prox, now under more frigid weather conditions than ever, before entering Mars Lighthouse, Mars Star in hand. However, the Wise One suddenly appears before them and transforms them into lumbering, mindless Flame Dragons, preventing them from their objective. Isaac and Felix, meanwhile, have joined forces and have passed through Prox towards Mars Lighthouse as well, intending to retrieve the Mars Star (since the Lighthouse would have been lit by now if Karst and Agatio were successful). They encounter the two Fire Dragons and defeat them in battle, and the defeated dragons transform back into the nearly dead bodies of Karst and Agatio. Karst recognizes that it is up to Felix and Isaac to complete the quest and save Prox and the world, and she hands over the Mars Star before dying with Agatio, knowing that she should place her trust in Isaac to accomplish what they had not.
Soon, after much drama of their own, Felix and Isaac are able to light the Mars Lighthouse and restore Alchemy, saving both Prox and the rest of Weyard. Isaac and Felix return to Prox with their unconscious parents, and the medics of Prox are able to nurse them back to full health. For saving their colony and bringing out a new golden age for all of Weyard, the citizens of Prox are eternally grateful to Isaac, Felix, and all their friends and family, despite having lost four of their own warriors, and they bid the Adepts goodbye as they return to Vale.
Other major characters
The Wise One
The Wise One, a large, spherical, boulder-like entity with one single eye as his only organic feature, is the being that influences the majority of the events in the Golden Sun series. The Wise One had initially laid dormant within Sol Sanctum, in Mt. Aleph. Based on his actions at the beginning of Golden Sun and at the end of The Lost Age, the Wise One’s motives and purpose are only somewhat apparent: Because Alchemy was sealed away within Mt.Aleph in the ancient past to save the world from the destruction brought about by Alchemy’s abuse as a military weapon, the Wise One is essentially the guardian of Alchemy’s seal. When the inevitable attempt by Weyard’s inhabitants to bring back Alchemy would come in the future, he would awaken and take any number of complex, subtle steps to ensure that they would never be successful if they lacked the resolve, conviction, and virtues to prevent history from repeating itself. He would test the resolve of whoever removes the Elemental Stars from their pedestals to ensure that that individual would have the capacity to lead the world down the path of peace rather than another world war once Alchemy is returned successfully.
This is indeed what happens when Saturos’ band instigates the effort to restore Alchemy. The Wise One sees that Isaac is the individual he had hoped for in this case. Therefore, the Wise One modifies the scenario in subtle, complex fashions so that either Isaac will succeed in Alchemy’s restoration or Alchemy will never be returned at all. The Wise One proceeds to give a dubious explanation to Isaac about the nature of Alchemy, stating that it is a destructive force that is better off sealed, and he tasks Isaac on a quest to stop Alchemy’s return. This is the main part of a test of Isaac’s virtue; the idea is that it is up to Isaac to find out and accept the truth about Alchemy on his own, for only the strong in soul and understanding in heart can succeed at that.
Under the influence of the Wise One’s half-truth about Alchemy’s destructive potential, Isaac valiantly pursues Saturos and Felix. Over the course of Isaac’s quest, though, he is unable to prevent the lighting of three of the four Lighthouses necessary for Alchemy to return. After the episode at the third Lighthouse, Isaac confronts his rival Felix and learns the truth about Alchemy from him, and though Isaac is flabbergasted, he comes to grips with the truth and joins Felix’s cause, just as the Wise One had been hoping.
As Isaac and Felix and their extended party travel to the Mars Lighthouse to complete their quest, the Wise One arranges for one final test; he lures the parents of Isaac and Felix from the nearby town of Prox and subdues them, transforming them into a monstrous, three-headed Doom Dragon. When Isaac makes it to the top, the Wise One appears and pretends to admonish Isaac for disobeying his command to stop Felix and Saturos. When Isaac explains how the truth he learned about Alchemy is the reason why he would break the seal against the Wise One’s command, the Wise One summons the Doom Dragon to battle them, expecting the Adepts to be crushed in spirit once they slay the beast and find out that they had murdered their own parents. Isaac is fully aware of what the creature is, but he is willing to sacrifice his loved ones in the name of Weyard’s welfare and ultimately slays the dragon. In other words, Isaac and his friends completely pass the Wise One’s test of virtue and conviction.
The Wise One, in setting up this test for Isaac, never actually intended for the parents to die from the start if Isaac was to succeed, and this is illustrated by what happens after the Mars Lighthouse is activated: The energy let loose by Alchemy’s return miraculously revives their parents, and they all reunite. When the Golden Sun is formed above Mt. Aleph, a subtle effect previously employed by the Wise One causes part of the Sun’s power to enter Isaac’s body so as to counteract the ambitions of the man who desired the full power of the Sun itself, Alex, and at the same time the Wise One evacuates the citizens of Vale and saves them from the destruction of the town that occurs when Alchemy returns to Weyard. This proves Hamma’s contention that the Wise One has a caring heart; essentially, the Wise One elevates his stoic image once he finds the heroes necessary for Weyard’s well-being.
Kraden
- Japanese name: Sclater
- French name: Thelos
Kraden, an elderly, bespectacled scholar, acts as a consistent "guide" to the traveling party. He was born in a poor village. At the very young age of four, he was taken under the wing of Babi, mayor of Tolbi, to embark on a life of scholarship, consequently being separated from his parents. After a lifetime of studying Alchemy and the four elements of Weyard, Kraden becomes a learned enough man to gain recognition from lord Babi, and he eventually sends Kraden to live at Vale, where he is to study the four jewels known as the Elemental Stars hidden within Sol Sanctum, as well as to observe the Adepts that live at Vale. Kraden moves to Vale and becomes fast friends with the young Adepts Isaac, Garet, and Jenna, along with their parents, and he shares the young ones’ grief when the Mt.Aleph boulder disaster allegedly kills the parents.
Three years afterwards, Kraden’s pressure to fulfill Babi’s wishes merges with his own curiosity enough that he arranges for an unauthorized research expedition into Sol Sanctum consisting of himself and the three Adepts. They end up finding the chamber containing the Stars, but in a major twist of fate their expedition coincides with a raid of Sol Sanctum by the menacing strangers Saturos and Menardi, accompanied by who else but Jenna’s long-lost brother Felix, and Saturos makes Isaac hand over three of the Elemental Stars. When Isaac attempts to fetch the fourth, the area starts erupting, and the Wise One appears, who Kraden immediately recognizes as a figure from his studies. But Kraden is taken hostage with Jenna by Saturos as they flee and leave Isaac behind with the Wise One, and Kraden, of course, is initially remorseful that he ever had the idea of disturbing the sanctum.
Kraden and Jenna quickly come to understand Saturos’ motive for activating the Elemental Lighthouses. Eventually, when Saturos and Menardi are slain at Venus Lighthouse and Felix is made to lead the rest of party, which now includes the Jupiter Adept Sheba, Kraden becomes the group’s advisor from there on, giving Felix advice and insight into the workings of a situation whenever the situation calls for clarification. Of course, since he is an old man who studied books as opposed to swordsmanship, Kraden steps out of the way whenever Felix and his younger friends engage in battle. Kraden proves that his involvement in the quest does stem from his own curiosity in Alchemy more than Babi’s decree when Alex appears a great deal of time later and notifies Kraden of the passing of Babi. Though Kraden is understandably affected, he proclaims that he will continue his participation in the quest in the name of the pursuit of knowledge all the way.
Babi
Babi was the imposing mayor of the commercially successful city of Tolbi. He had ruled Tolbi for over one hundred years, and in fact lived to 150 years of age thanks to his dwindling draught supply. In the context of the story, Babi can be seen as a ruler whose kingdom’s economic and military power has cast a shadow of misconception over his public image, regardless of whether or not he deserves that image. He influences events concerning Lemuria, Lalivero (Sheba’s hometown), and the Venus Lighthouse.
Babi’s lifespan was continually extended by consumption of specialized Lemurian draught which he acquired from Lemuria on a boating expedition long ago. Since then, he has been looking for ways to regain access into Lemuria to fetch more draught because he clearly desired to avoid death. By the time Saturos’ effort to restore Alchemy was initiated, Babi had undertaken three separate alternatives in a desperate attempt to preserve his life: Sending his student Kraden to the town of Vale to study Mt. Aleph and Sol Sanctum up close, for Babi understandably took an increasing interest in Alchemy’s alleged ability to thwart death itself; Blackmailing the coastal town of Lalivero by kidnapping Sheba so that they would build upon the ruins north of the town a great watchtower that, when completed, would help orient Babi’s navy in sailing into Lemuria in the open sea; And hosting an annual tournament of warriors known as Colosso whose purpose for Babi personally was to find a warrior with Psynergy powers, and this warrior could be tasked to use Babi’s ship (stolen from Lemuria) to go into Lemuria and fetch some draught without the need for Babi Lighthouse to be completed.
As it would turn out, the third measure is the one that pays off; the young, sharp warrior Isaac competes in Colosso and employs his Psynergy powers brilliantly in Babi’s eyes. Pleased and hopeful, Babi holds an audience with Isaac and explains his situation, tasking Isaac to locate Lemuria for him and bring back more of its draught. To this end Babi lends Isaac his old Lemurian ship. Expecting Isaac to be his best chance at life, he releases Sheba back to the Gondowan citizens. What would happen next at Venus Lighthouse is history. After the Venus Lighthouse incident, Isaac uses Babi’s Lemurian ship to set out on his continuing quest to stop Felix while attempting to locate and enter Lemuria. But alas, his effort is for naught, for Babi eventually runs out of draught and passes away from old age, leaving Tolbi without its iconic sovereign. Though Babi’s end is unfortunate, it was his objective that introduced Kraden to the Valeans, and it is his gift of a ship that later allows Isaac to continue his quest on an oceanic scale.
Minor characters
The following characters either did not have long-lived roles but remained important to the plot or were essential to the sidequests. Only the English names are given.
- Hamma is the older sister of Ivan and leader of the Lama Temple monks. A powerful Jupiter Adept in her own right, Hamma is implied, but never outright stated, to be quite a bit older than her little brother. She apparently has the gift of foresight, as demonstrated by her correct prophesies in Contigo regarding the fate of Karst and Agatio. She gives Ivan the ability of Reveal and, in The Lost Age, gives Piers' ship wings powered by the recently obtained Hover Psynergy. Her mention of a "terrible fate" that she would "not wish on any man" for Felix when Isaac and company first meet does not seem to have been fulfilled yet, although it is possible that it was merely in relation to his parents. Hamma also says that she cannot see Isaac's fate because she may somehow be involved.
- Hammet is the merchant leader of Kalay, as well as the man who raised Ivan. Hammet was traveling in Atteka when he met disaster and nearly died. A group of Adepts (assumed to be the last of the Anemos) rescued him. Upon his departure, he was given the baby Ivan, the Shaman's Rod, and the business advice that helped propel him to the title of Weyard's richest merchant. This is never confirmed, but it seems likely that Hamma gave him the advice, considering certain things she says if you saved Hammet in the linked save file of Golden Sun, and the fact that she is the oracle of Contigo and would therefore be able to foretell his success if he builds a town in the middle of the Silk Road. A sidequest involves freeing him from Dodonpa's fortress in Lunpa. His wife Layana is the one who receives Ivan and the others in his stead upon their arrival in Kalay.
- Dodonpa is the grandson of the Righteous Thief Lunpa. He has forgotten his family's values, and leads a group of evil thieves who kidnap and imprison Hammet. The Hammet sidequest culminates with a battle against his "pet frog", a giant monster called Toadonpa (a rather obvious play on its master's name).
- Iodem is Babi's right-hand man. He leads Isaac to Lalivero in the first Golden Sun. Iodem is also a "Vice President" of sorts, taking the power over Tolbi when Babi is unable to. Apparently, he has his own personal group of warriors to boot (When Jenna encounters a trio of soldiers in the Idejima Cave, one of them refers to Iodem as "Master"). Whether he took over Tolbi upon Babi's death was never revealed.
- Faran is the adoptive father of Sheba. He and Iodem wait for Isaac to return from Venus Lighthouse together. Little is known about him, other than he is a loving man who raised Sheba as if she was his own and did everything in his power to keep Tolbi from taking over Lalivero.
- Referred to only as the "Mayor of Madra", this helpful young man leads a search party looking for Briggs at the beginning of The Lost Age. Later, he gives Felix the Cyclone Chip item, which bestows the Cyclone Psynergy. A cheerful fellow, the Mayor is well loved by the townspeople of Madra. He is the polar opposite of Alhafra's mayor, a greedy "bag of hot air", as Sheba defines him.
- Briggs is the leader of the Champan pirates, and plays quite an important role in the first half of Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Felix first meets him in Alhafra, where they fight. Briggs is imprisoned afterwards, but escapes to Champa using the recently repaired ship after Felix and his crew clear off the last of the rubble on the boat. Briggs only resorted to piracy to save the people of Champa from starvation (the soil is too rocky to farm on, and the fish populations, the primary source of food in Champa, have decreased rapidly), and is regarded as a hero in his hometown.
- The Witch Doctor of Kibombo, Akafubu, sent the Kibomban warriors to Madra, where they stole Piers' Black Orb. This event triggers the entire "Journey to Gondowan" section. Akafubu is an impatient, at times overzealous individual, but he feels deeply honored to have been selected as the new witch doctor.
- Susa is a warrior of Izumo. He is the one who tries to kill the Serpent and ultimately does the job by dealing the final blow. Originally hated for his wild nature, Susa matured over time, and after rescuing Kushinada, became a hero to the townfolk. He has a limited form of Psynergy that manifests itself as the Move technique.
- Kushinada is the young girl whom Susa was attempting to rescue by slaying the Serpent. She was to be its next sacrifice. Kushinada is a rather intelligent young girl, as stated by Kraden. Like Susa, she can perform the Move technique.
- Obaba is the grandmother of Briggs. She reforges the Trident once all the pieces have been collected and Briggs has returned to Champa. Upon Briggs' return, she initially protects him by summoning her pet, Avimander (a giant spike-tailed lizard like creature), but begins to chase and threaten Briggs after learning about the piracy.
- The Righteous Thief Lunpa was traveling with Babi when they found themselves in Lemuria. Unlike Babi, however, Lunpa stayed on the island. He became King Hydros' close friend and advisor of sorts. Lunpa is a good natured man, but is not above insulting people (In a conversation with Kraden, he calls Conservato a fool) to get his point across.
- King Hydros is the ruler of Lemuria. Together with Lunpa, he gives Felix and the others information regarding the "death" of Weyard. Hydros is constantly being nagged by the Senate's leader, Conservato, for approving of the seal of Alchemy to be removed, and actually goes as far as to give Felix and the others his blessing upon their departure.
- Leader of the Shaman Village tribesmen, Moapa is the guardian of the Hover Jade. By defeating Moapa in battle atop Trial Road, Felix earns the Hover Jade. Initially, Moapa refuses to relinquish the Jade, first on the premise that none of the group is Contigo, then on the grounds that Sheba (who at this point has demonstrated her Jupiter powers) is a girl. Moapa is the only Shaman villager willing to speak with Felix upon their arrival.
- Puelle is a mayor figure to the Mars Adept colony of Prox. He is certainly warmer-hearted than the Proxean warriors Saturos, Menardi, Karst, and Agatio. He is the first to notice that the edge of the world is gradually creeping closer to the settlement. He and the Elder of Prox conclude that it is the absence of Alchemy that has caused this, so together they send out Saturos and Menardi to restore the omnipotent force and save Prox and the rest of the world as well.