Ulysses


 * "A[n] legendary wandering mage."

Ulysses is a Summon sequence of the Mars element found only in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. When two Mars Djinn and two Mercury Djinn are on standby, and Ulysses’ Summon Tablet has been collected, the Ulysses Summon sequence can be activated. It resembles a glowing card transforming to a Japanese-themed mage that summons six slips of glowing paper, and each one transforms into a giant scissor-like object that bites and crunches the enemy party. It is highly likely that the slips of paper thrown by Ulysses are japanese talismans known as ofuda.

Ulysses has a base Mars power of 160 and also does additional damage equivalent to 12% of the enemy’s maximum HP. In addition, there is a small chance that each foe hit will lose its next turn in battle. Ulysses, however, is not automatically summonable once one collects the required Djinn. Ulysses can only be summoned once the Summon Tablet containing the sequence has been found and collected in the Izumo Ruins. This sequence, along with the rest of the dungeon, can only be found with the Sand Psynergy. Unlike the rest of the catacombs, however, the Parch Psynergy is also needed to obtain the Summon Tablet.

Ulysses is not considered a very useful Summon sequence; it does roughly 2/3rds the damage as Meteor, which uses the same number of Djinn for activation, and its additional effect does not activate often enough to make up for the lack of damage. What would make it useful as an alternative to Meteor is that it uses two Mars Djinn and two Mercury Djinn; a Mars Adept casting Ulysses would only need two Mars Djinn on standby to summon Ulysses while the rest of that adept’s Mars Djinn would be Set and therefore provide statistical boosts and a better class to that Adept (it can happen that an Adept with four Djinn on standby may be KO’ed before he can use those standby Djinn for summoning due to his statistical weakness). This also makes it more available than Meteor for random battles. It is probably most useful in the battle with Poseidon where it can be used more frequently than Meteor while also making use of Mercury Djinn that would otherwise be wasted on the less effective Boreas.

Cultural Allusions
Origin: Greece

The Ulysses featured in Golden Sun bears no resemblance to the original. Ulysses (or Odysseus in the original Greek) was a protagonist featured in the Greek poet Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey. Ulysses was king of Ithaca, and sworn to defend the marriage of King Menelaus and Queen Helen of Troy. Therefore he had to lead forces against Troy to recover Helen when she was kidnapped by Prince Paris of Troy. After the war was won through his cleverness, Ulysses sailed home to Ithaca but encountered many trials and tribulations on the way, causing him to arrive only after ten years.

The connection between this Ulysses and the one in Golden Sun may be the use of the Mercury Djinn, as Ulysses spent most of his adventures at sea. As Mars, the other Djinn needed to summon him, is the god of war, this may be a connection to Ulysses' role in the Trojan War. As well as the fact that Golden Sun's Ulysses is described as a wandering mage where as Homer's Ulysses spent twenty years wandering the seas for his home land.

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