Menardi

Menardi (メナーディ Maenadi) is a Mars Adept who, along with her partner Saturos, is a main antagonist in Golden Sun. She and Saturos lead the original effort to break the seal on Alchemy and bring it back to the world of Weyard, and is opposed by Isaac's party all throughout the first game. She is the elder sister of Karst, who becomes an antagonist in a similar vein in Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

Biography
Menardi hails from the northernmost settlement on the world map, Prox. She, like the people of Prox, is of a distinctive race that is very humanlike but characterized by almost reptilian scales and spikes on various areas of their flesh - but more importantly, their natural proficiency to the Mars element. They are thus afforded both a natural toughness and a natural immunity to the constant cold of their environment. Among Prox's warriors, Menardi is recognized as one of the village's strongest, skilled with the scythe, amongst her contemporaries Saturos, Agatio, and her younger sister Karst. Also, Prox is somehow in possession of a working Lemurian Ship, which ended up as specifically registered to Menardi herself.

Alchemy and the Elemental Stars
Three years before the present, the chieftain of Prox, Puelle, found that the abyss at the edge of the world a distance north of Prox has been consuming the world's end down in Prox's direction, and that in the future, it would eventually destroy both the town and the nearby Mars Lighthouse. Puelle and the Elder of Prox make the deduction that this is caused by the absence of the force of Alchemy, long sealed in a state of dormancy since the world's ancient past ages ago, and that to circumvent this the Elemental Lighthouses must each be activated with their respective Elemental Stars, currently hidden within Sol Sanctum in Mt. Aleph down south in Angara. However, when Prox sent envoys to the town at the foot of the mountain, Vale, to explain circumstances and persuade the elders to retrieve the Stars to light the Lighthouse Beacons with, the envoys were steadfastly turned back by the town's elders and mayor. Prox's ruling body was soon forced to make the decision to have the Stars outright pilfered from Sol Sanctum. So, Puelle organized a raiding party of Prox's finest warriors, headed by the extremely talented Saturos and Menardi, and sent them down to Vale so as to retrieve the Stars in a covert operation.

When Menardi arrived at Vale with Saturos' raiding party and infiltrated Sol Sanctum during the night, they came upon the sanctum's ancient riddles and traps. One of the switches they triggered, alas, was one such deathtrap: In a matter of minutes, all of Saturos' raiding party was dead, and Menardi and Saturos barely survived to make it out of Sol Sanctum. A violent thunderstorm manifested around Mt. Aleph and over Vale as though specifically triggered in response to their intrusion, and a large boulder situated on Mt. Aleph named the Mt. Aleph Boulder became dislodged and rolled on a course of destruction through the town below.

As Menardi reconvened in hiding with Saturos in an abandoned area in Vale that was evacuated due to the storm, they suddenly found that they were being eavesdropped on by two young Valeans, Isaac and Garet; Menardi and Saturos immediately knocked them unconscious so that the boys would lose their memories of the Mars Adepts. Menardi and Saturos began to leave the town, but as they passed along the town's flowing river they discovered four more Valeans floating in the river unconscious: Felix, his two parents, and Isaac's father Kyle, all of whom had been knocked out and away by the fall of the Mt. Aleph Boulder. Possibly out of remorse for the disaster they caused for the town, Menardi and Saturos saved the four Valeans' lives and took them back with them on their return trip to Prox. The Mars Adepts would report to Puelle and the Elder everything about what had transpired.

Over the next three years, Felix and the Valean adults lived new lives in Prox, and were nominally kept as captives of Prox. Menardi and Saturos conducted some in-depth research on each of the Elemental Lighthouses, and they discovered that, in order to even enter a Lighthouse, you need an Adept of that Lighthouse's respective element, meaning that they would need to be accompanied by at least one each of a Mercury Adept, Venus Adept, and Jupiter Adept the next time they set out to light the Lighthouses. (The Jupiter Lighthouse, in particular, also requires the usage of an artifact named the Shaman's Rod for whatever reason.) Therefore, Saturos decided to train Felix as the Venus Adept of their future party, and Felix was coerced to their cause because his parents will be quarantined in Prox until all four Elemental Beacons are active. In addition, during their research ventures, Menardi and Saturos encountered the Mercury Adept Alex, a guardian of the Mercury Lighthouse, and Alex agreed to ally himself to them and their purposes, interested in the prospect of bringing the power of Alchemy back to Weyard.

Second Raid of Sol Sanctum
By the present day and age, the Adepts Saturos, Menardi, Alex, and Felix depart Prox on Menardi's Lemurian Ship and set out on their worldwide journey to restore the Elemental Lighthouse Beacons and subsequently restore the power of Alchemy to the world. The four travelers sail to the peninsula of Idejima on the continent Gondowan and anchor her ship there, and travel north to enter Angara and eventually reach Vale and Sol Sanctum. Before they enter Vale once again, Felix forces the Mars Adepts to promise him not to let any of the people of Vale, particularly Felix's former childhood friends Isaac and Garet and especially his younger sister Jenna, get involved in what they're trying to do. The Mars Adepts and Felix then lodge at Vale's inn without introducing themselves to the Mayor of Vale (recall that it was the Mayor who turned Prox down previously), and Menardi and Saturos conduct a preliminary investigation around town.

Menardi and Saturos stop by the cottage of a wizened scholar of Alchemy, Kraden, and attempt to glean information from him about Sol Sanctum by telling him about how "the Elemental Stars are the key" to their plan to "set the elements into motion", things that not even Kraden and the elders of Vale are aware of. Kraden uses his cunning to send them away by stating that he has a big errand to run with Isaac, Garet, and Jenna. The Mars Adepts convene in secret and note that Kraden's knowledge of Alchemy and related matters is no meager thing; he would be invaluable for them to use for the purposes of their quest. They are suddenly happened upon, however, by the three teenagers Kraden was waiting for (though unnerved by Menardi and Saturos's somewhat non-human appearance, Isaac and Garet do not recall their previous encounter with the pair three years back), but after a brief but tense interaction, Menardi agrees with Saturos' decision to let them pass and see Kraden.

When Menardi, Saturos, Felix, and Alex eventually commence their secretive second raid of Sol Sanctum, they find that none other than Kraden and the three teenagers Saturos saw earlier are exploring the sanctum on their own as well. Saturos and Menardi are quick to seize the situation and take Jenna and Kraden hostage, and make demand that Isaac and Garet fetch the Elemental Stars for them. When Kraden asks what guarantee he and the others have that Saturos will not harm them if they comply, Menardi provides a cunning response: she has Felix remove his mask and reveal his identity to those who believed him dead since three years prior, and everyone is shocked effectively into submission. Isaac and Garet hand the Mars Adepts three of the Elemental Stars; when Isaac removes the fourth Star, the Mars Star, from its pedestal, however, the volcano that is Mt. Aleph begins to stir, and everyone watches as the almighty entity and protector of Alchemy's seal, known as the Wise One, emerges into view. Menardi and the others realize that they cannot get the Mars Star without very likely dying, so they must flee with their lives at the expense of leaving Isaac and Garet and the Mars Star behind. Obviously it would completely defeat their purpose if the Mars Star was lost for good, but before they flee Alex proposes to take Jenna and Kraden with them as captives that accompany them on their quest; if Isaac and Garet survive, he reasons, they will pursue Saturos' group to try to free Jenna and Kraden from their grasp, and they will bring the Mars Star if they want Jenna back. Menardi and Saturos agree, and reluctantly flee the erupting chamber and sanctum with three of the four Stars in their possession.

Angara and the Mercury Lighthouse
Menardi and Saturos' group have already caused the world to begin changing by setting off Mt. Aleph's eruption, which showered Psynergy Stones across Weyard, changing the lives of many a person and wild animal. And now, the four travelers and their two captives aim to climb and light the nearest Lighthouse, Alex's own Mercury Lighthouse. After passing through the town of Vault, through the Goma Range, and then north through Bilibin Cave, they reach Imil. After Alex admits them into Mercury Lighthouse with his Mercury Psynergy and the group climbs through the Lighthouse to arrive at the tower's aerie, they cast the Mercury Star into the well of the Mercury Lighthouse to light the Mercury Beacon. With one Lighthouse lit, three remain before the seal on Alchemy is broken.

As soon as the Lighthouse Beacon is activated and Menardi prepares to leave the Lighthouse with Felix, Jenna, and Kraden, a group of four young traveling Adepts suddenly arrive to confront them: Alex's clanmate Mia, a young boy named Ivan, and none other than Isaac and Garet, who survived Mt. Aleph's eruption and have indeed come to stop the Mars Adept's quest and take back Jenna and Kraden. Saturos instructs Menardi to take the three with her away from the lighthouse via the elevator while he engages the opposing Adepts in Battle; when Jenna mounts objections, Menardi has to restrain herself from teaching Jenna a lesson of a very physical sort and instead makes Felix make Jenna obey her for the sake of Jenna's safety, and they leave the Lighthouse together. Saturos, however, as fate would have it, would actually lose his battle with Isaac's party as a direct result of fighting near the lit Mercury Beacon, which inhibited his Mars-aligned powers. Alex and Saturos had to flee the Lighthouse together from Isaac using the elevator. After the events at Mercury Lighthouse, Saturos and Alex rejoin Menardi and the others, and they immediately resume their journey to the next Lighthouse.

In the extended period of time to come, Menardi and her associates travel all across Angara, along the way either directly or indirectly causing problems for the various towns and locations they go through to impede the progress of Isaac's pursuing party. Among the callous acts Menardi causes or allows to happen during this period are when they cross through Bilibin Barricade and push Kolima children already petrified as trees by the curse of Tret into the river for no apparent reason; when their group reaches Fuchin Temple and they force Master Nyunpa to reveal his secrets so that they can then cross through Mogall Forest; and beyond the town of Xian, they cause a landslide at Alpine Crossing to block off an important trade route and prevent Isaac's party from catching up to them, in the process injuring and trapping an uninvolved person named Hsu. Menardi soon travels with the others through the scorching heat of Lamakan Desert without much incident or trouble because, as the oracle Hama theorizes to Isaac's pursuing party at a later point, Saturos and Menardi's Mars-based powers somehow allow them to suppress the heat for them all.

Gondowan and the Venus Lighthouse
Saturos and Menardi's group eventually pass the town of Kalay in southwestern Angara and take a ship across the Karagol Sea to the continent Gondowan, where the Venus Lighthouse lies. While they travel through the Suhalla Desert cutting down the rampant Tornado Lizards, the Mars Adepts happen upon Sheba lost in the desert. They see that she is Jupiter aligned - the element of Adept they need to be able to enter the Jupiter Lighthouse - so they capture her, something Felix takes poorly. They soon arrive at Venus Lighthouse, and Felix, like Alex with Mercury Lighthouse, uses his Venus Psynergy to admit them entry.

In Venus Lighthouse, as Saturos' party climbs up through the tower, Menardi and Saturos take Sheba with them to the top as they order Felix and Alex to lead Jenna and Kraden outside to Idejima, the place where Menardi moored her ship a long while back. Menardi and Saturos are on the verge of lighting the Venus Beacon on the Venus Lighthouse's aerie, however, when Felix suddenly arrives by himself. Felix demands to know why they haven't released Sheba to the Laliverans, but when they explain how she is needed for Jupiter Lighthouse, Felix proclaims he will take Sheba away from Venus Lighthouse and bring her down to Idejima for safety's sake, but Menardi and Saturos deny Felix his demand, pointing out out that they cannot trust him anymore thanks to his outburst. Felix prepares to battle both Mars Adepts outright when at that moment, Isaac's party arrives at the aerie to confront Saturos and Felix. A tense standoff occurs, but through crafty wording Saturos convinces Isaac to hand the Shaman's Rod in their possession to Felix without actually making what he appeared to present as a promise to let Sheba go.

Menardi and Saturos then decide it is time for Isaac's party to die, and they launch an all-out offensive against Isaac's group. The master Mars Adepts are indeed immensely powerful opponents together, and unlike when Saturos fought alone at Mercury Lighthouse the pair fight together without any inhibitions placed upon their Mars powers. But nonetheless, the fierce battle eventually ends in victory for Isaac's party. But Menardi and Saturos are not out of the picture yet: After Isaac confronts Felix over the latter's involvement in Saturos' quest, Saturos arises and casually tosses the Venus Star into the Venus Lighthouse's well, to everyone's surprise and Isaac's horror. As the Venus Lighthouse activates, the energy output by the forming Venus beacon revitalizes and recharges the pair. Saturos and Menardi then execute their ultimate power: magically merging together to form a single, gigantic, terrifying creature resembling a two-headed dragon. The beast attempts to overwhelm and annihilate Isaac and his group with its superlative Mars powers, but Isaac and his friends ultimately slay the dragon. The dragon reverts to the defeated forms of Saturos and Menardi, who can only express disbelief at their complete defeat before falling backward into the Venus Lighthouse's opening. Thus do Saturos and Menardi meet their shared demise.

Isaac's incredible victory over Felix's masters intimidate Felix into declaring that he is no match for Isaac now, and thus he declares that he must now flee to complete Saturos and Menardi' quest objective while he still can. But that is when the Venus Lighthouse suddenly experiences a violent earthquake as the Venus Beacon lights itself on the tower's top; when Sheba loses her footing, falling off the side of the lighthouse, Felix jumps clean off the tower after her, to the disbelief of Isaac and his companions. After the Lighthouse reforms and the chaos subsides with the Venus Beacon now brightly alight, Isaac and his friends assume Felix and Sheba have been killed, and that now that Menardi and Saturos are gone their priority is searching for Jenna and Kraden. Both Felix and Sheba survived, however: as a result of a series of fateful coincidences and incidents, Sheba and Felix land safely in the water while the nearby Idejima, which has been severed off from the mainland in the quake, floats east out to sea, and the two swim to the island to rejoin Alex, Jenna, and Kraden, reporting everything that has transpired, including the deaths of Menardi and Saturos. Now that they're gone along with the Black Orb they used to commandeer Menardi's ship, the ship that's at the island with them is now useless.

Postmortem
Menardi and Saturos, of course, are never seen in person in The Lost Age, but they are by no means no longer important to the story; the entire course of the game's story revolves around the pair's legacy. Felix leads the party of Jenna, Sheba, and Kraden across much of Weyard in his quest to eventually reach and properly climb Jupiter Lighthouse, while Alex operates on the sidelines and threatens Felix to hasten the latter's progress in achieving Saturos and Menardi's original objective. In one scene, Felix and his group discover a Lemurian Ship which they assume is Menardi's ship that has drifted away from Idejima following a tidal wave, but they still can't use it at that point, but it later turns out that this ship belongs to a Mercury Adept named Piers, and Felix and Piers set sail on this ship together to explore much of Weyard's Great Seas to continue their pursuit of the goal to break Alchemy's seal. In another scene, Alex expresses how he thinks Menardi and Saturos were pretty much simple brutes lacking in intelligence, since while they were climbing Venus Lighthouse the Mars Adepts were having some serious trouble solving the structure's riddles. Felix and Jenna's drive in continuing Menardi and Saturos' quest stems from their desire to earn the freedom of their parents at Prox and to save the town itself from eventual destruction. At the same time, two other warriors from Prox, Karst and Agatio, set out to search for Isaac and gain vengeance upon him for his killing of Menardi and Saturos, Menardi being Karst's beloved elder sister.

Much later on in their epic expedition across Weyard, Felix's group discovers and enters the lost society of Lemuria, and from there he learns that the world of Weyard has effectively been dying and shrinking in size because of Alchemy's absence; in order to save the entire world from collapsing in the distant-yet-near future, Alchemy must be returned, so the completion of Menardi and Saturos' goals proves more important for the sake of the world's welfare than anyone realized.

Eventually at Jupiter Lighthouse (which is eventually lit by Felix), Karst and Agatio make their move against Isaac's party to avenge the murders of Menardi and Saturos, but Felix's party steps in to battle them off, and the dramatic personal conflicts are eventually resolved when Karst takes the Mars Star and Alex advises them to flee the tower while they can so that the Mars Adepts can finish Saturos and Menardi' goal by activating Mars Lighthouse to the north by Prox. While Felix and Isaac's respective parties engage in a discussion and resolve their misunderstandings about each other and the overall circumstances, Agatio and Karst return north to their hometown of Prox on their way to light Mars. The pair report to the Proxians before leaving for Mars Lighthouse that Menardi and Saturos were slain in battle by Isaac during their original journey; while the villagers of Prox are understandably shocked, they do not become overly vengeful themselves. Puelle, in the meantime, gives the order that when Felix comes to Prox later, his parents shall be set free from their quarantine, though it turns out that the parents have suddenly disappeared on their own. When Isaac and Felix's combined party eventually travels to Prox in the Lighthouse's direction, they explain to the Proxians why and how things happened at Venus Lighthouse, and Isaac receives the Proxians' forgiveness.

Karst and Agatio are confronted by a mysterious entity in Mars Lighthouse and are turned into dragons, which Isaac and Felix unwittingly kill when they engage the beasts in battle later during their exploration of the tower. Karst and Agatio, near death, put aside their past antagonism with Isaac and entrust the Mars Star to the Adepts so that the Adepts may be the ones to finally fulfill Saturos and Menardi' goal and save the world. This is as it happens: After the Adepts experience a series of incredibly dramatic events and revelations of their own atop Mars Lighthouse Aerie, the Mars Lighthouse is finally lit, and all four Lighthouses operate to break the seal on Alchemy within Mt. Aleph and restore the great force to the world at last.

As a boss in Golden Sun
Menardi is fought in two separate, scripted instances in the first game, one anonymously. This signifies her role as being part of the chief antagonistic force towards the player's party.

In the prologue sequence
The first battle with Menardi takes place in the game's prologue in Vale, labeled at that point in the game as "Mystery Woman", and she is a level 10 opponent that fights you along with Saturos (appropriately named "Mystery Man"). This scripted battle, near the end of the prologue sequence, is the only one in the game that the player's party is expected to lose within a turn, since the two playable characters at that point, young Isaac and Garet, are extremely weak while their opponents are about as durable as when they are fought at the end of the game. When the party loses, the following cutscene plays, where it's Isaac and Garet laying on the ground and Menardi and Saturos leaving the screen off the left.

Since she cannot be defeated normally, she does not yield any EXP or coins when slain. If one hacks the game so that young Isaac and Garet are strong enough to defeat Mystery Man and Mystery Woman, what happens afterwards is exactly the same as if it was the opponents that won: The cutscene where Isaac and Garet are knocked out on the ground, the pair of Mars Adepts leaving off to the left.

Menardi as Mystery Woman is especially likely to be affected by Defense-lowering effects. Her statistics are as follows:

Menardi as Mystery Woman uses the following battle commands with :

On Venus Lighthouse
At the end of Golden Sun, the final two-part sequence of boss battles will trigger in much the same way as on Mercury Lighthouse, with the party walking up to the center of the lighthouse's top. After a relatively lengthy cutscene, the first of what will be two boss battles will occur, which is when Menardi, this time at level 38, is paired up with Saturos to fight you. What makes things especially difficult is that after winning this first battle, the second battle against an even stronger enemy will automatically trigger with no chance of rest for the player.

While in this fight Saturos is the more physically damaging of the two opponents with his Psynergy abilities and statistics, many players would consider Menardi to be the more dangerous one because her monster skill Death Size is an attack that has a chance to instantly kill an Adept, and she has a markedly higher Agility rating than Saturos (her agility is the highest in the first game), so she is often focused on defeating first. Regardless of which Mars Adept is focus on first for the fight, the remainder of the battle will become much easier once one of the two antagonists are taken out.

Menardi is especially likely to be affected by Defense-lowering effects. Her statistics are as follows:

Menardi uses the following battle commands with :

Trivia

 * In a beta screen of the original Golden Sun originating from that game's development, Menardi originally had a rather different, more humanlike appearance which lacked pointy ears (pictured). Her hair was a much bolder orange before her final blonde appearance.
 * Menardi, like Saturos, is featured as one of the paper targets in an obstacle course that can be navigated in Dark Dawn, with her poster being one of the objectives to burn to complete the course.

Quotes

 * In present-day Vale:
 * Menardi: "Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?" (If Isaac says yes) "Oh ho! Well... I can't permit you to continue your spying."


 * In Sol Sanctum:
 * Menardi: (While the Elemental Star Chamber erupts) "If we leave Jenna, she will surely die. Is that what you want, Felix?"


 * Menardi: "Let's make haste!" (Shoves Jenna toward the exit portal.)
 * Felix: "Hey, don't push my sister!"
 * Menardi: "Who do you think you're talking to? You owe us your life!"
 * Saturos: "Menardi!"


 * On Mercury Lighthouse Aerie:
 * Menardi: "Heh heh! Those kids are still alive? You came all this way to save Jenna and Kraden?"
 * Garet: "That's not all... We're after the Elemental Stars!"
 * Menardi: "In other words, they've come to stop us. Then we have no choice... Let's take care of them now, before they can do any harm!"


 * Menardi: "Saturos... Are you going to fight them alone?"
 * Saturos: "Menardi, I can't expect you to leave our hostages alone and help me, can I?"
 * Menardi: "Umm... That's true..."
 * Saturos: "Besides, I want to see how much their powers have developed."
 * Menardi: "Are you sure about this, Saturos?"
 * Saturos: "Leave me be! Head for the next lighthouse--now!"
 * Menardi: (To Jenna) "Come here, child... Do you mean to defy me? I should teach you a lesson, child, but... Felix, I'd get your sister to obey me, if you hope from harm."
 * Felix: "Jenna, please... Just do as she says for now."
 * Jenna: "Felix..."


 * At Venus Lighthouse Aerie:


 * Saturos: "Are you ready to do this, even though it means fighting us?"
 * Menardi: "...I believe he is! He would not have defied us if he lacked the will to fight."
 * Felix: "If it means protecting Sheba from harm, then I must."
 * Saturos: "You have seen what we can do. You know you can't stop us."
 * Menardi: "How can you protect Sheba, when you can't even protect yourself?"
 * Saturos: "This rebellious attitude is exactly why we've never let you fight."
 * Menardi: "Haven't you been given enough reason to fear us in these travels?"
 * Saturos: "You're no fighter, Felix. How can you hope to stand against us?"
 * Menardi: "You've questioned us for the last time! Let's see what you can do!"


 * Menardi: "Prepare to experience first-hand the horror of a master Fire Adept!"


 * Saturos: "You may have beaten the two of us..."
 * Menardi: "But now, you face the true might of Fire Clan [sic] of the north!"


 * Menardi: "What are you waiting for? Go! Now!"
 * Felix: "No. I cannot leave you to fight them alone."
 * Saturos: "Are you saying you don't want to lose to Isaac?"
 * Menardi: "I wonder if that's true..."
 * Felix: "What was that?"
 * Menardi: "Wouldn't you be just a little sad to see your childhood friend perish?"
 * Felix: "What are you saying?"
 * Menardi: "I'm saying you're here to protect this brat from your past."
 * Felix: "Do you really think that I would help them?"
 * Menardi: "Let's just say that I wouldn't put it past you."


 * Saturos: (After they have ultimately been defeated in battle by Isaac) "How... How... did we lose?"
 * Menardi: "We are superior in every way, but still we were defeated..." (Saturos and Menardi fall into the hole into Venus Lighthouse.)

In fan circles
Menardi as a character is somewhat popular for being a main character and essentially the main "villain" of the first Golden Sun, though she is often overshadowed by the more charismatic Saturos. But because she and Saturos are always depicted functioning as a designated pair, fanfiction authors often depict them together in a shipping genre called Proxshipping.