Element

In Weyard, four Elements are the building blocks of everything in the world: Mars (representing Fire), Venus (for Air), Mercury (Water), and Jupiter (Wind). Each Element also has an Elemental Star and an Elemental Lighthouse. The Djinn and the forms of Psynergy each correspond with one of these four elements. The elements are the base for all Alchemy and are the driving force behind the events in the Golden Sun games.

Sol and Luna are technically not elements, although they are featured in Weyard's mythology.

Traits and Abilities
Each element has interesting attributes often seen within its corresponding Psynergy spells:


 * Mars is associated with fire, and can manipulate both flames and heat, but it also includes spells that manipulate magma. Spells that raise and lower defense also typically belong to the Mars element. Healing spells in Mars are often somewhat potent, but on the whole the element is known for being an offensive powerhouse. Some fire-based monsters are also capable of resurrecting the dead.


 * Venus is the element of earth, and as such can manipulate soil and rocks. It is also tied heavily to plants and life, being able to bring forth plants, heal allies, and even revive those who have fallen. On the flip side, Venus also has deep ties to death and mortality, with several abilities capable of causing instant death. As a result, most undead creatures and demons are closely associated with Venus. Venus also carries a slight association with steel and other metal alloys.


 * Mercury is the element of water, and can manipulate all of water's forms, including both water and ice and sometimes even bubbles and steam. It is heavily tied to the cold, and can employ frigid blasts. Water is closely associated with healing and life, with the most potent healing abilities almost always coming from Mercury, and it is the only element with spells capable of removing status effects (like poison).


 * Jupiter is the element of wind, capable of manipulating air flow. Beyond this, Jupiter is also deeply tied to lightning, storms, and weather in general. It also has abilities relating to the mind and spirit, and has been shown to be able to reveal hidden truths, peer into the minds of others, and even see across time. Its repertoire includes the power to affect attack power and elemental resistances.

Element relationships
All elements have relationships with each other. Mars and Venus are aligned, as are Jupiter and Mercury. When the lighthouses of those elements are lit, the Psynergy of any Adepts aligned with that element will have their power restored. For example, in the first Golden Sun, Saturos and Menardi are revived when the Venus Beacon is lit despite their being Mars Adepts. Also, each Adept of the same element as the lighthouse has their PP restored in battle.

It is said that the elements also conflict with each other, such as Mars and Mercury. According to facts in Golden Sun, when the player defeats Saturos on the Mercury Lighthouse, Saturos admits that his Mars Psynergy was limited by the power of the Mercury Lighthouse.

This conflict of elements plays a role in the weakness and power of combatants in the game. Almost all monsters are aligned with a specific element and take the most damage from the opposite element. For example, monsters in the Mars Lighthouse are aligned with Mars and are resistant to Mars based Psynergy, but weak to Mercury Psynergy.

Combining elements
It has been debated that combining elements to create new Psynergy is the best way to create a powerful team, but others believe keeping each element pure will bring the most powerful Psynergy. Both can be true, depending on one's strategy. You can combine elements using the elemental Djinn found around Weyard to change a character's class. By combining elements, you can create new Psynergy that otherwise would not be available to your characters. For example, by giving Mia a Mars Djinni, her Mercury Psynergy changes to a "warmer" theme and water-based attacks replace her ice-based ones. While there's not much of a difference here, by adding more Mars Djinn, her attacks will continue to change and become more fire-like. Some of the most interesting Psynergy can only be found by combining all four elements in certain combinations (although these classes in particular require assistance from special items). For example, by setting 3 Djinn of each element onto an Adept equipped with the Tomegathericon will create the powerful Necromage class. Note that you can only set a maximum of 9 Djinn to one Adept, so the 3 missing Djinn are replaced by the Adept themselves. For example, Isaac or Felix (being Venus Adepts) would need 3 Jupiter Djinn, 3 Mars Djinn, and 3 Mercury Djinn.

Combining elements to make new Psynergy plays a small role in progressing through the game too. There are a few places where the Psynergy Growth is needed to pass certain areas, but, prior to Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, this ability is not learned by any character without mixing elements. To learn Growth, Mars Adepts can equip a Venus Djinni and Venus Adepts (except Himi) can equip a Mars Djinni. There are other combinations that will create Growth, but all of them include some level of the Venus element. Another example: Mia will not learn Douse unless she has a Mars Djinni equiped, but she loses Frost in the process. (Later in Golden Sun players obtain equippable items that allow any Adept to cast Frost or Douse.)

Other information
All elements have access to some healing Psynergy, but Venus and Mercury Adepts are more skilled at healing than others. Although Mercury's healing is easily the most powerful, Venus has the ability to revive those that have been downed in battle. While Mars and Jupiter are not as good at healing, they do have other specialties: As Mars is the element of power, it can also help to boost the offensive abilities of allies; most Jupiter Adepts tend to possess psychic powers ranging from reading minds or predicting the future to seeing things that are invisible.

Adepts can share the effects of some Psynergy by making physical contact while it is being cast. This is demonstrated in Vault when Ivan holds Isaac's hand and allows him to read Garet's mind.

It is also said that non-Adepts cannot see the casting of Psynergy, only the effects, which is why most people can't tell when someone is reading their mind, why Isaac and Garet were surprised that Mia could see their Psynergy when they used Move to move the statue in front of Mercury Lighthouse, and why no one notices the Psynergy being used during Colosso to make shortcuts for Isaac.