Hemlock


 * This Djinni appears as an enemy that can be battled.

Hemlock (アナテマ Anathema) is a Venus Djinni found in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Hemlock is the eighteenth and final Venus Djinni in Dark Dawn.

Basic description
When Set, Hemlock increases its Adept's base HP by 12 and base Psynergy Points by 5.

When Hemlock is unleashed in battle, each enemy has a chance to be inflicted with a Death Curse, a status condition that instantly downs the target once the target has executed seven actions. Like with the Curse Psynergy, enemies that take multiple actions per turn will have their seven-turn countdown timers go by much faster, and if an enemy already afflicted with Death Curse has a Death Curse-causing effect such as the Curse Psynergy or this Djinni successfully affect them again, the countdown will be forwarded one measure.

In Dark Dawn, Hemlock's unleash animation visually resembles the user summoning the 3D model of Hemlock above the enemy party while the background dims. Each enemy is affected by the exact visual of the Curse Psynergy in order, except without there being a circle of fire that surrounds each enemy on the ground: a candle appears at the enemy's base, and the death curse counter appears above the enemy's head.

Location
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Hemlock is found inside the appropriate dungeon portion of Yamata Ruins that is reached once the party has the Red and Blue Orbs. You would have lowered the sand level twice once you enter its room, and you would have to solve a mandatory puzzle here to get to a blue tablet here that will lower the sand level a third time - thus revealing the Djinni at the left end of the room. Once this has been done, leave the room and reenter to perform a puzzle reset, then put the "backwards L" block one space left and one space up into the left opening, then move the straight block two spaces right. That way, you can ride three teleport paths and end up near the Djinni. Fight it and add it to your collection, and take the teleport paths back to leave the room. See here for enemy statistics.

Analysis
General: The Death Curse status condition is rarely relevant to normal play, whether it is used by you or used against you. Battles with random monsters typically go by much faster than the seven enemy actions Curse requires the targeted enemy to take, and while it is possible to have multiple Adepts be in classes with the Curse Psynergy and have them all cast Curse on the same enemy to force the countdown timer along, it takes less effort than that to rout an enemy formation with straightforward attacking. Bosses would theoretically be ideal to use Death Curse against because not only do the battles against them last long, but the fact they typically execute two actions per turns would make the countdown go by twice as fast. But unfortunately, bosses are typically immune to Curse and other status conditions due to having high luck values. Thus, while Hemlock is conceptually a direct improvement over Curse in that it attempts to afflict all enemies with Death Curse instead of one, it is still a novelty that ultimately won't yield results preferable to more straightforward battling approaches. In The Lost Age, Hemlock's identical equivalent is the Jupiter Djinni Gasp.

By game
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: There is probably no boss or worthwhile enemy to try to inflict Death Curse on in this game and expect to work. Hemlock is therefore basically worthless as a battle effect in this game, even though the four Ball minions of the Star Magician optional boss battle can be afflicted with Death Curse all at once. It is still far preferable to destroy the balls with traditional attacks, and you would probably want to keep the Thunder Balls alive to limit the threat value of the other five varieties.

Name Origin
Hemlock is the common name of a highly poisonous flowering plant called Conium maculatum. Anathema is an odd word, with an often unclear definition. However, it can be used for objects that are disagreeable, set apart, denounced, or accursed.

Trivia

 * In addition to sharing an identical battle effect with the Jupiter Djinni Gasp, Hemlock also copies Gasp's exact battle stat bonuses.