Gryphon enemy line

The Gryphon, Wild Gryphon, and Wise Gryphon are enemies that are randomly battled throughout the Golden Sun series. These monsters, resembling the stereotypical image of the half-bird, half-lion monster it is named after, are palette swaps of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought at different locations in the games.

Gryphon
A Gryphon is a large level 23 variant with wine-colored plumage and orange and yellow talons, legs, and beak. In Golden Sun only two are fought throughout the entire game, together as one scripted boss encounter that occurs on the fourth "dungeon floor" of the optional Crossbone Isle as soon as you try to enter the door to that floor's puzzle room.

The encounter with two Gryphons can occur as the fourth and last battle if you're exploring Crossbone Isle earlier in the game through the hidden method of the Tolbi-bound Ship. When fought at that point, this battle can actually be quite challenging, since each Gryphon is quite a bit more powerful and durable than the mini-bosses in the earlier floors. Like the bosses on the earlier floors, it's possible to end this battle in the first turn by having everyone use a full-powered summon; however, the Gryphons are strong enough that if you try this at the earlier point in the game rather than later, your underleveled and weakened Adepts might actually be downed before they can summon, and that would cause problems. A method that's both less risky but fast nonetheless is to only have Ivan summon Thor once, and conduct the rest of the battle normally.

A Gryphon's statistics are as follows:

A Gryphon uses these battle commands:

Wild Gryphon
A Wild Gryphon is a normal-sized variant with with light-green-colored plumage and light-green and yellow talons, legs, and beak, and is level 26 in Golden Sun and level 31 in The Lost Age. In Golden Sun it is first fought throughout Babi Lighthouse, then subsequently through Tunnel Ruins and the later "real" portion of Venus Lighthouse. In The Lost Age it is fought in Shaman Village Cave.

In the first game, it is the strongest, fastest, and most durable monster fought in Babi Lighthouse, but is outperformed in power and durability by the Fenrir at the end in Venus Lighthouse (but still retains its title as the fastest random monster of the original Golden Sun). In the second game it is much stronger and more durable among the monsters in Shaman Village Cave, which otherwise are the exact same as what you encounter on land in the overworld areas of the Great Western Sea, but is no longer the fastest monster. To say that its rare drop is desirable is an understatement: the Feathered Robe is not only the best bodywear for mage-style Adepts in the first game, it is one of the best pieces of bodywear for mages to wear as endgame equipment by the end of The Lost Age. The Wild Gryphon is thus, of course, targeted by Random Number Generator abuse a lot for the sake of getting multiple of these robes.

A Wild Gryphon's statistics are as follows:

A Wild Gryphon uses these battle commands:

Wise Gryphon
A Wise Gryphon is a normal-sized level 34 variant with with dark-purple-colored plumage and violet talons, legs, and beak. In The Lost Age it is fought throughout Magma Rock.

The Wise Gryphon is no longer a particularly special enemy to note during battle because of how it is outperformed by the various other monsters throughout Magma Rock, such as the Lesser Demon and the Phoenix. Note that it has significantly less HP than the Wild Gryphon.

Although the Wise Gryphon does not appear in Golden Sun, it exists in the code of the game with its name and colors, but none of its statistics coded beyond weak placeholder stats.

A Wise Gryphon's statistics are as follows:

A Wise Gryphon uses these battle commands:

Gryphon
A Gryphon is a level 17 variant with a white mane, wine-colored wings, and orange talons and beak. It is randomly fought throughout Harapa Ruins.

A Gryphon's statistics are as follows:

A Gryphon uses these battle commands:

Wild Gryphon
A Wild Gryphon is a level 27 variant with a brown mane, wine-colored wings, and dark orange talons and beak. It is randomly fought throughout Talon Peak.

A Wild Gryphon's statistics are as follows:

A Wild Gryphon uses these battle commands:

Wise Gryphon
A Wise Gryphon is a level 41 variant with a white mane and purple wings, talons, and beak. It is randomly fought throughout Yamata Ruins.

The Wise Gryphon receives the honor of being the monster to randomly drop the extremely powerful Feathered Robe in this game.

A Wise Gryphon's statistics are as follows:

A Wise Gryphon uses these battle commands:

Cultural References
Origin: Greece

The griffin (another common spelling for "gryphon") is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and often wings of an eagle. As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Griffins are normally known for guarding treasure. In antiquity it was a symbol of divine power and a guardian of the divine.