Ghoul enemy line

The Ghoul, Fiendish Ghoul, and Cannibal Ghoul are species of monsters randomly battled in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. These monsters, resembling goblin-like humanoids with broken shackles around their wrists, are palette-swapped variants of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought in different locations in the games.

Ghoul
A Ghoul is a light-green-skinned variant with brown pants and purple boots. Statistically, this monster has 99 HP, 93 Attack, 20 Defense, 16 Agility, and 1 Luck. In terms of resistance, it has a Mercury Resistance rating of 72, a Jupiter Resistance rating of 48, a Venus Resistance rating of 25, and a Mars Resistance rating of 7, and in regards to its abilities it uses its available Venus-based attacks with a power rating of 100.

The Ghoul uses these battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 6 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Cannibal Fang: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Monster Skill where a glowing orange holographic image of a pair of jaws chomps at the position of a targeted Adept three times while energy is siphoned into the monster, dealing a Venus-based attack that siphons around 24 HP from the target to the user.

Felling a Ghoul yields 34 Experience Points and 42 Coins, and there is a 1/16 chance that the monster will randomly drop an Antidote. If it is felled by the attack effect of an offensive Mars Djinni, its rewards increase to 44 EXP and 54 Coins, and the chance to drop its item becomes 1/4. In Golden Sun it is battled throughout Bilibin Cave and Mercury Lighthouse. In The Lost Age it is battled throughout Air's Rock and in Alhafran Cave.

In the first game, the ghoul has the highest Attack rating among the monsters in Bilibin Cave by quite a large margin, though it has the second lowest Agility rating. Because this earlier portion of the game can be traversed somewhat nonlinearly and Bilibin Cave and the subsequent areas can be gone through before the much easier Kolima Forest (which ideally you would do first before going through Bilibin Cave), this can prove quite a damaging and sturdy monster to an underleveled party. In the second game, the Ghoul has as much strength and durability as the other monsters it is fought alongside, but its speed is much lower, making it technically the weakest monster in Air's Rock and Alhafran Cave.

Fiendish Ghoul
A Fiendish Ghoul is a dark-purple-skinned variant with violet pants and green boots. Statistically, this is a "boss-style monster", having 609 HP, 199 Attack, 45 Defense, 69 Agility, and 3 Luck. In terms of resistance, it has a Mercury Resistance rating of 72, a Jupiter Resistance rating of 48, a Venus Resistance rating of 25, and a Mars Resistance rating of 7, and in regards to its abilities it uses its available Venus-based attacks with a power rating of 100.

The Fiendish Ghoul uses these battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 5 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Cannibal Fang: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Monster Skill where a glowing orange holographic image of a pair of jaws chomps at the position of a targeted Adept three times while energy is siphoned into the monster, dealing a Venus-based attack that siphons around 24 HP from the target to the user.
 * Bacteria Rush: Used 1 out of 8 times, this is a Monster Skill where the monster bolts forward and deals seven brutal glowing green claw swipes in a row against a targeted Adept, dealing a Venus-based attack equal to its normal physical attack with an additional 16 damage points, and the struck Adept has a chance to get inflicted with Poison.

Felling a Fiendish Ghoul yields 87 Experience Points and 109 Coins, and there is a 1/16 chance that the monster will randomly drop an Antidote. If it happens to be felled by the attack effect of an offensive Mars Djinni, its rewards increase to 113 EXP and 141 Coins, and the chance to drop its item becomes 1/4. In Golden Sun only two are fought throughout the entire game, together with the Lich as one scripted boss encounter that occurs on the third "dungeon floor" of the optional Crossbone Isle as soon as you try to enter the door to that floor's puzzle room. Therefore, the minimum rewards of the battle are 437 EXP, 1418 Coins, and a single guaranteed Psy Crystal.

As part of a team of three monsters that is one special encounter, the Fiendish Ghouls are the monsters with more physically offensive brawn, but are quite less durable than the Lich, which acts as general support. Most would not find this battle to be overly difficult, however, even if Crossbone Isle is visited and this battle is fought earlier in the game through the hidden method at Tolbi-bound Ship. This is definitely a battle that can be won in one turn by having everyone use full-powered summonings at the start, but if you decide to battle these the typical way, you should hold off on felling the Fiendish Ghouls until you have either felled the Lich or are reasonably certain that it has used up enough of its PP meter that it wouldn't be able to cast Revive to bring back a Fiendish Ghoul. (Indeed, it is possible, though unlikely, that a Fiendish Ghoul can be brought back to life at full power in this battle.)

Cannibal Ghoul
A Cannibal Ghoul is a red-skinned variant with purple pants and green boots. Statistically, this monster has 249 HP, 274 Attack, 82 Defense, 80 Agility, and 1 Luck. In terms of resistance, it has a Mercury Resistance rating of 72, a Jupiter Resistance rating of 48, a Venus Resistance rating of 25, and a Mars Resistance rating of 7, and in regards to its abilities it uses its available Venus-based attacks with a power rating of 100.

The Ghoul uses these battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Decompose: Used 2 out of 8 times, this Monster Skill prompts the battle text to display "Cannibal Ghoul exudes the smell of decay!" while the monster lobs mounds of colored fluid at multiple Adepts, for each one having a chance to reduce that Adept's Attack rating by 12.5%. This has a range of 3.
 * Cannibal Fang: Used 1 out of 8 times, this is a Monster Skill where a glowing orange holographic image of a pair of jaws chomps at the position of a targeted Adept three times while energy is siphoned into the monster, dealing a Venus-based attack that siphons around 24 HP from the target to the user.
 * Ally Search: Used 1 out of 8 times, this is a Monster Skill where the battle text displays "Cannibal Ghoul looks for allies!", and there is a chance that a new Cannibal Ghoul individual will join the battle on the enemy side.

Felling a Cannibal Ghoul yields 194 Experience Points and 160 Coins, and there is a 1/32 chance that the monster will randomly drop an Antidote. If it is felled by the attack effect of an offensive Mars Djinni, its rewards increase to 252 EXP and 208 Coins, and the chance to drop its item becomes 1/8. In Golden Sun it is battled only in Suhalla Gate. In The Lost Age it is battled in the earlier, easier portion of the optional Treasure Isle.

In the first game, the Cannibal Ghoul is only average among the enemies it is fought alongside. It has the ability to summon other Cannibal Ghouls into the battle, but it uses this rarely and often doesn't occur before you defeat it. In the second game it is about the same in these aspects.