Charon


 * [[Image:Charon-icon-dd.gif]] "The boatsman of the river Styx."

Charon is a Summon of the Venus element first appearing in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. It is the ultimate Venus summon. When eight Venus Djinn and two Jupiter Djinn are on standby, and Charon’s Summon Tablet has been collected, Charon can be summoned. It resembles a cloaked, skeletal entity, emerging from a giant dark seal in the landscape who summons a flood of black-purplish energy to engulf each victim individually, drowning them within its impure mass.

Basic Charactertistics
Charon has a base Venus power of 500 and also does additional damage equivalent to 30% of the enemy’s maximum HP. In addition, each enemy affected may automatically be KO’ed. In The Lost Age, Charon can only be summoned once its Summon Tablet has been found at the beginning of Anemos Inner Sanctum near the end of the game; only with all 72 Djinn collected does the dungeon open up and Charon and Iris become available.

In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Charon's summon tablet can be obtained by going at that the left side of the lowest level of Crossbone Isle. Himi's Search Psynergy is needed to make both teleport spaces appears (unlike The Lost Age, the Teleport Psynergy is not needed to use these spaces). Charon is a free summon tablet, with no one guarding it. This may cause players to believe they're in a rather lucky position, until they discover it is left there as a tool to help beat the larger-than-life Dullahan.

Charon receives a redesign in Dark Dawn. Charon starts out casting a flood of dark mud towards the opposition which quickly renders everything pitch-black and shatters to pieces. He also now appears more human skeleton-like rather than phantasmal as he appeared in The Lost Age.

Analysis
Charon may be seen, along with Iris, as one of two “ultimate” Summons in The Lost Age and Dark Dawn. Charon is the game’s strongest Venus-based attack, much stronger than the Judgment and Haures summons. The hefty and lopsided Djinn requirement most often causes players to use Charon mostly in boss fights, rather than in random monster battles, though Charon proves to be one of the best weapons against the supremely powerful and fearsome Dullahan at the end of that same dungeon. But beware; Dullahan can summon Charon as well.

Cultural Allusions
Origin: Greece

Charon in Greek mythology was the ferryman of Hades. He would take the newly dead from one side of Acheron, the River of Death, to the other side, but only if the dead had a coin to pay the fare. However, later confusion over different rivers in Hades led the natures of the Acheron and the Styx, River of Unbreakable Oath, to be muddled and fused, hence the summon's description.

Extended Gallery