Dullahan

Dullahan is an optional boss monster located and fought at the end of the optional dungeon Anemos Inner Sanctum in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, and it is the most fearsome and deadly boss in the overall Golden Sun series. Dullahan awaits daring players willing for the game's biggest battling challenge and guards the summon tablet containing the most powerful summon sequence in the game, Iris.

Background and story
Dullahan, resembling a large, animate suit of purplish armor with nothing where its head should be, does not have any bearing on the game's actual story, nor is any background information provided. It is an incredibly powerful entity standing guard within the deepest depths of the Anemos Inner Sanctum, the sealed, secret dungeon within the Anemos Sanctum located near Contigo and the giant crater that was the former site of the City of the Anemos. For an indeterminable amount of time the Dullahan has stood watch over a summon tablet containing the power of the Sun itself (the Iris summon sequence, in other words).

Should any group of intrepid and capable Adepts brave the Anemos Inner Sanctum's traps and dangers and make it to the dungeon's end seeking the Sun's power, they will reach a chamber where using the power of Anemos will ferry them to the platform where Dullahan and the summon tablet await. Dullahan will speak telepathically to his challengers to introduce himself before attacking and using his powers to pulverize the opposition:


 * “I am the shadow, the keeper of light. If you want the sun’s power, show me your own.”

In The Lost Age, as Isaac and Felix's combined party of capable Adepts nears the end of its quest, they may decide to return to Contigo and explore the Anemos Inner Sanctum as they have so many other dungeons if they have all the Psynergy powers and Djinn necessary to do so. Their encounter with Dullahan will be the most incredibly fierce battle they will ever wage, but should they actually manage to defeat the entity, they will gain the ability to summon the embodiment of the Sun's power, the goddess Iris, in future battles.

The power of Dullahan can be harnessed to a degree by Adepts wielding dark magical arts such as those provided by the tome Tomegathericon. An Adept proficient enough to be called a Necromage may summon an image of Dullahan himself to inflict great harm upon an enemy by swinging an immensely long sword fashioned from purple lightning, regardless of whether the real Dullahan in the Anemos Inner Sanctum has been defeated in battle or not.

As a boss
Dullahan is a boss enemy more powerful than the final boss encounter at the end of Golden Sun: The Lost Age - much, much more powerful, though he is completely optional to battle. Therefore he clearly fits the bill of the Golden Sun series' "Superboss", something a lot of RPGs feature for players willing to challenge. Though an incredibly tough battle any way you look at it, it might not actually be the hardest optional boss in RPG history.

Dullahan is encountered at the end of the optional Anemos Inner Sanctum dungeon, which can only be entered and explored in a data-enhanced game of The Lost Age. Specifically, the battle will begin after solving a puzzle involving moving six blocks so they form an image of a bird, and then hopping onto the blocks and casting the Hover Psynergy; the blocks will lift up and transport you to the platform on the other end, where Dullahan awaits and the battle automatically begins.

Dullahan, statistically, has far higher numbers than any other enemies for several of its statistics: He has the highest HP rating in the game, 16000 HP. He has 300 PP, which is a lower maximum amount than certain other bosses, but he regenerates 100 PP per turn, effectively giving him unlimited PP. He has higher Attack and Defense ratings over any other monster, with 676 Attack and 269 Defense, and his 59 Luck is better than any other enemy in The Lost Age, outdone only by Deadbeard's 60 Luck in Golden Sun. Dullahan's 241 Agility is the only stat outdone by other monsters, which are the Star Magician and its Guardian Ball minion, as well as every monster in the Phoenix monster line. Compounding his astronomically high statistics is the fact he acts three times per turn, which is shared only by the Doom Dragon, Sentinel, Wonder Birds, and the Serpent if it is fought without having been weakened by sunlight prior. Dullahan's resistances are all very high, and he is most resistant to Mercury attacks, and his other resistances in decreasing order are to Venus, Mars, then Jupiter. If Dullahan is defeated in battle, you are awarded 15600 EXP, 6775 coins, and can reap the ultimate summon tablet Dullahan was guarding, the Iris summon.

Hard Mode is a replay mode where all enemies possess 1.5 times their normal HP meters and 1.25 times their normal Attack and Defense ratings. Interestingly enough, however, Dullahan is one of the only two enemies that does NOT get as much of a challenge boost as all the others: The theoretical maximum amount of HP the game's code would allow any enemy to have is 16,383, so Dullahan when fought in Hard Mode will only have an extra 383 HP, instead of the 24,000 HP he should have in theory (The other boss that hits the HP cap is Valukar, though he still gets a comparably sizable boost in HP). The 845 Attack and 336 Defense he will have will not be obstructed, however.

Arsenal
Dullahan's arsenal of abilities include some absolutely ferocious and crippling powers interspersed with some comparatively harmless status effect Psynergy, and since he can use any of these abilities three times a turn it is practically a guarantee your party members will not survive long against him:
 * Attack: Strike a single party member with a single physical attack. Since he has the highest physical attack rating in the Golden Sun series, his attack will do more damage than that of any other opponent, but compared to his other skills this seems somewhat weak.
 * Bind: May seal an Adept's Psynergy. It doesn't seal your Djinn effects or Summon sequences, and since most players would only use summons to battle Dullahan, Dullahan using Bind might be considered him wasting a turn. It costs Dullahan 4 PP.
 * Haunt: May inflict up to three Adepts with the Haunt status condition. It doesn't actually hinder the party as much as Dullahan's other skills, so Dullahan using this is like him giving your party a temporary reprieve. It costs 5 PP.
 * Curse: May inflict an Adept with Death Curse, giving that Adept seven turns to live before being automatically downed. Considering the wild nature of the battle, an Adept actually dying because of a Death Curse is rare, so Dullahan using this is akin him wasting one of his turns. It costs 6 PP.
 * Condemn: Dullahan attempts to instantly down one of your Adepts; very bad if it connects, but very good if it misses. It costs him 8 PP.
 * Break: Dullahan removes all buffing effects that the party members had applied to themselves with Psynergy and other effects at this point. It's probable you wouldn't be spending your time buffing up your characters' stats in a fight like this, so Dullahan using this is akin to him giving your party a temporary reprieve. For those depending on the boost in elemental power given by summoning, it can be a noticeable hindrance. It costs Dullahan 5 PP.
 * Formina Sage: A monster skill where Dullahan fashions a long sword made of purple lightning and remotely slashes through an Adept with extreme power, dealing triple the damage of his normal attack (for a total usually in the 800-1000 range). This attack will usually kill the target. The name "Formina Sage" itself is a mistranslation.  The correct name for the skill should be "Fulminous Edge".
 * True Collide: A monster skill where Dullahan siphons masses of dark purple energy orbs out of up to three Adepts and into himself, doing moderate damage to each Adept and possibly restoring his own HP by the amount he does to each Adept. This can prolong the battle a little farther than what it normally should be.
 * Djinn Storm: A truly crippling monster skill shared only with the Doom Dragon where Dullahan engulfs the entire current battling party in a colossal wave of multicolored energy, putting into recovery mode all nine Djinn each party member possesses. All party members will become immensely weaker statistically, especially members that have had all Djinn Set onto them before the ability, and no summons can be performed. If the party is relying on summons to defeat Dullahan and has only summoned a few times, this might as well be considered a Game Over move.
 * Element Swap: Dullahan flashes with a rainbow light briefly. Some believe he is changing his elemental power and/or resistances with this move, but this appears to be not the case: It simply does not have an actual battle effect. Dullahan always uses this move before he summons Charon, so this move can be viewed as his subtly announcing that he will summon Charon shortly. It can also be viewed as his version of putting Djinn on Standby.
 * Charon: The second strongest Summon Sequence in the game, and is a sequence normally reserved for the player. For all four Adepts in the current battling party, Charon will potentially instantly down each one, and if not it will inflict immense Venus-based damage. This is the only summon sequence in the Golden Sun series that can be specifically and freely used by an enemy, but Dullahan will always need to prepare himself to summon it by using Element Swap beforehand (it is possible, however, that Dullahan will use this as one of his very first moves; do beware the load where he uses Element Swap as his first move, Djinn Storm as his second, and Charon as his third). A common misconception is that he will be unable to summon Charon at all if the player has not collected it. This, however, is not true, he is able to summon it regardless of whether the player collected it or not.

Strategies
Dullahan, being the Golden Sun series' ultimate challenge, has been the subject of much fan debate in the realm of how best to defeat him. Typically, players attempt to annihilate Dullahan with many repeated high-level summonings before he can annihilate them. Summon spells in Golden Sun games deal damage proportional to the size of each struck opponent's maximum HP meter, meaning that a 1-Djinn summon such as Jupiter will do over 300 damage to Dullahan, Moloch will do around 700, Meteor will do 1500, and Charon and Catastrophe will do around 3000. The following summon-specific setups are fairly reliable:


 * The two Venus Adepts Isaac and Felix and the two Mars Adepts Garet and Jenna in the front party with the two Jupiter Adepts Ivan and Sheba and the two Mercury Adepts Mia and Piers in the back party, with most of everyone's Djinn On Standby. Have the first party summon Daedalus and other summons repeatedly until the first party is defeated. Then have the second party summon Eclipse repeatedly until either Dullahan is defeated or your party is.


 * The two Venus Adepts Isaac and Felix and the two Jupiter Adepts Ivan and Sheba in the front party with the two Mars Adepts Garet and Jenna and the two Mercury Adepts Mia and Piers in the back party, with most of everyone's Djinn On Standby. Have the first party summon Charon twice and keep summoning Thor until the first party is defeated. Then have the second party summon either Meteor and Boreas repeatedly or Ulysses repeatedly until either Dullahan is defeated or your party is.


 * Have the two original parties (Felix, Jenna, Sheba Piers in one, and Isaac, Garet, Ivan and Mia in another) with all Djinn on Standby. Summon as much as possible, including Charon and Catastrophe. If luck is with you, you can use all of the first party's summons in 2 turns before Dullahan crushes you. Repeat with the second party. With luck, you will achieve three turns or so before you go down, and in those you can defeat Dullahan. A member tried this on his 3rd time around with Dullahan and suceeded with Mia and Isaac still standing.

Since the damage all these summons do is based on their users' elemental power ratings and nothing else, these chancey rush-summoning strategies can be pulled off by parties of a wide range of levels, including parties as low as level 30. Summonings can also do noticeably higher amounts of damage if Adepts are equipped with items that effectively boost elemental power, such as Big Bang Gloves, Feathered Robes, and Triton's Wards. But leveling everybody up to 50 and beyond is extremely helpful nonetheless because their added resiliency increases their chances that they will not succumb to Dullahan's offenses quite as quickly; hence, they can fit in more summonings in their limited time on the battlefield, which can be vital in determining the battle's eventual victor. Everyone having agility ratings higher than Dullahan is a real necessity, however.

Incorporating the Jupiter Djinni Lull into your summon-rushing strategy does in fact allow for a far more sure-fire battle than most would realize is possible. If you've raised your party's levels high enough and equipped all members with speed-increasing equipment like Quick Boots and Running Shirts that each member has over 250 agility even when all Djinn are on Standby, then you can effectively get an entire turn's worth of summoning in without Dullahan attacking if you use this method: Have Lull be the only Djinni Set onto your frontal party member that has the lowest agility. Then on the first turn of the battle, have the other three members summon and then have your fourth-acting member use Lull to end everyone's turn, including Dullahan's. That way, the next turn will begin immediately without Dullahan having used any of his commands, and all four members can summon again. With the right setup of available summons and specific element-boosting equipment, it is possible to have Dullahan defeated by the second turn, before he can even execute a single command. It should be noted that the summon Moloch, which always halves Dullahan's speed, is useful when you are fighting with a party below level 50 (however, Moloch's speed-lowering ability will only cause Dullahan to act slower than normal starting on the turn following the summoning, not during the turn it is summoned, even if Moloch is the first command executed in the first turn of the battle).

For those wishing to defeat him without resorting to "summon rushing", be prepared for a long fight. Be sure that everyone is at least level 50 (level 56 is preferable so as to unlock all psynergy) and be sure to bring plenty of items. Keep everyone clear of status effects and their health relatively high; it's a simple battle, but very long and dangerous.

For a true challenge, consider the "four ronin" strategy, in which one optimizes the djinn setup of the Venus and Mars adepts in the party so as to have four characters with 210% base HP. All healing and most revival must be item-based, and if this front party wipes, you reset the encounter. Good luck to any who attempt this.

Cultural references
The dullahan is a powerful fairy from Irish folklore, and is essentially the Irish version of the Grim Reaper (its name means "dark man"). It takes the form of a horseman who carries his head under his shoulder. This head has tiny, constantly flitting black eyes, a hideous grin that goes from ear to ear, and flesh the color and texture of moldy cheese. Often, the horse itself is headless, and the dullahan may drive a coach pulled by several such headless horses. Gates cannot stop the dullahan's journey--they just unbar automatically as it approaches. Once the dullahan stops riding, it calls out a name. The mortal who is named dies, and the dullahan drags his/her soul to the afterlife. Those who try to spy on the dullahan riding across the country are rewarded with a bucketful of blood splashed in their faces. Curiously, dullahans are terrified of gold--even a gold pin can drive them away from their task.

The fact that dullahans are so closely associated with death is probably the reason why the Necromage can call upon one to fight on his/her behalf, and why the boss can call on Charon so readily.