Ether


 * This Djinni appears as an enemy that can be battled.

Ether (ゼン Zen) is a Jupiter Djinni found in Golden Sun: The Lost Age and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Ether is the third Jupiter Djinni in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. The separate Djinn list viewable with the Select button from the status screen lists Ether and all other Jupiter Djinn introduced in The Lost Age before the seven Jupiter Djinn from the original Golden Sun, most likely because all the Djinn from the original game can be gotten all at once late in The Lost Age. However, the original Djinn are ordered before all of the Djinn introduced in The Lost Age in the Djinn inventory screen while they are allocated to characters. By this order, Ether is the tenth Jupiter Djinni in the GBA series, rather than the third.

Ether is the third Jupiter Djinni in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Basic description
When Set, Ether increases base HP by 8, base Psynergy Points by 4, base Agility by 3, and base Luck by 2.

When Ether is unleashed in battle, the user heals one of the currently active and battling party members by an amount equal to 30% of their maximum PP.

In The Lost Age, Ether's unleash animation visually resembles the glowing purple image of a Jupiter Djinni above the target, and the Djinni briefly hovers around as a a small collection of glowing purple energy enters the target Ally from above quickly. In Dark Dawn, the 3D model of Ether appears in front of the user briefly, then the screen turns black and some small, twisting chains of lavender glitter enter the targeted Adept from above.

Location
Golden Sun: Ether is available in the town of Garoh, automatically handed to you after two lengthy cutscenes. First, you will have to have completed the Air's Rock dungeon. Then, at Garoh, use the Reveal Psynergy you acquired there to enter the entrance you see the werewolf that says "What!? Outsiders, here?" exit and reenter. Follow your way and eventually trigger a cutscene with the werewolf, Maha. You automatically return to the town's inn, and the town is now under daylight. Enter the hidden entrance again and return to where you spoke with Maha to trigger another, lengthier cutscene with him. Maha will eventually produce the Jupiter Djinni for Felix's party to take on their travels (learning from the party in the process that the name "Djinni" is what you call creatures like this), and you automatically acquire it. In a sense, this is another eventual reward you get for completing Air's Rock.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Ether is one of the Djinn that is findable by being randomly fought in a specific area of the game's overworld that otherwise appears to be featureless scenery. It is an area of forest that you pass by if you go east of Passaj, and is directly west of the town Kaocho, divided by a river. Fight here until you find and defeat Ether in battle in order to get it. See here for enemy statistics.

Analysis
Ether is the one Djinni in the series that functions as a straight-up PP-restoring effect that focuses on targeted Adept. Because of the rarity of Psy Crystals, Ether can be a very valuable effect, giving a necessary PP-recovery effect to any Adept that really needs their PP meter refilled somewhat. Compared to a PP-restoring item, being a Djinni means it stays with the party forever once acquired, though it also means it can only be used during battle.

By game
Golden Sun: The Lost Age: Ether has the potential to be useful throughout the entire game, getting competition perhaps only from the much later Jupiter Djinni Aroma, which restores all Adepts' PP meters by 10% of their respective maximum PP meters. If you are deep in a dungeon and there is no Psynergy Stone nearby, Ether can be Unleashed during a random battle to restore a PP-dependent Adept's PP meter instead of relying on walking around a lot to restore PP naturally and slowly.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Ether ends up not as practically useful in this game as the last, because Dark Dawn is the first Golden Sun game that introduces common consumable items that can restore small amounts of PP. Khiren Waters that restore 20 PP can be stocked up on at Harapa early in the game, while late in the game Ginsengs that restore 50 PP can be stocked up on at Tonfon. You can easily give lots of Ginsengs to every single party member and pretty much remove all PP issues your party could have late in the game, so the only reason to use Ether would be the additional effect of setting up for a Jupiter summon.

Name Origin
There may be two sources for Ether's name:


 * In mythology, ether (also spelled aether) is an invisible substance that fills the region above the atmosphere.
 * In science, ether is a class of organic compounds which contain oxygen atoms. Oxygen is one of the primary gases in Earth's atmosphere and is needed to support animal life.

Many fantasy RPGs typically have a magic point-recovering item named "Ether", which matches this Djinni's effect in concept exactly.