Karis

Karis (カリス Karis) is a playable character of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. She is a Jupiter Adept, and daughter of Ivan. She was first revealed for the game alongside her party members Matthew and Tyrell.

The name Karis comes from the Greek word χάρις (charis) meaning "graceful". It is the same word used to convey the word "grace" in the Bible. This is a fitting name for Karis, as she is graceful and never loses control of  her emotions.

As a playable character
Karis is the first Adept to join Matthew's party in Dark Dawn, and has a significant role in the story. Like her father and fellow Jupiter Adept Sheba, Karis's base class is the Wind Seer class series. However, the class itself has been altered by replacing the Ray Psynergy series with the Fresh Breeze Psynergy series, the first Jupiter-based mass healing spell. Like Ivan, Karis can equip Light Blades and Staffs. She can also equip the newly introduced Bows. Her defensive equipment consists of standard Mage equipment, such as Robes, Circlets, and Bracelets.

She has inherited Ivan's powers of observation (where she notices that the Alchemy Forge has been disconnected), but unlike him, she cannot read minds (she mentions in the Teppe Ruins that her father finds this power a "double-edged sword"), and is somewhat more energetic than her father.

Just like Ivan, Karis is one of the more defensively frail characters, with generally low HP offset by offensive Psynergy that are oftentimes better for group damage than what warrior Adepts like Matthew, Tyrell, or Eoleo have available (this, of course, would mainly apply if Karis is kept in her default character Wind Seer class series like the others are kept in theirs). This causes players to tend to use any discovered HP-boosting Power Bread items on her. Even though she can learn efficiently useful spells in the Whirlwind Psynergy series and Plasma Psynergy series in her default class series, as the game goes on it becomes apparent that she does not have as much instantly identifiable potential as a damage dealer like Matthew, Tyrell, Amiti, or Eoleo. Instead, Karis is more of a general supporter, softening up opponents with wide-ranged Psynergies, as well as useful buffs and minor healing abilities.

Karis will join Matthew's party at level 1 and will have a Wooden Stick, One-Piece Dress, Padded Gloves and Leather Cap as starting equipment.

Statistical comparison
In terms of battle statistics and equipment, Karis is essentially a clone of Ivan from the original Golden Sun. She gains a newly introduced healing-type psynergy line of the Jupiter element, which she learns in place of the Ray Psynergy series. While Ivan had the lowest defense, HP, and attack in the previous Golden Sun games, Karis is only the second most fragile. Instead, Himi gains this distinction. However, Karis does inherit her father's agility and the same luck rating of four with him, Jenna, and Amiti.

Compared to her fellow Jupiter Adept Sveta, Karis has one more luck point than Sveta, more PP and agility, but much less HP and attack.

Classes
Karis has the following classes available to her:


 * Mono-Elemental: Wind Seer class series
 * Dual-Elemental (Full): Hermit class series, Pilgrim (Jupiter) class series, Seer (Jupiter) class series
 * Dual-Elemental (Partial): Apprentice class series, Page class series
 * Tri-Elemental (Full): Ranger class series, White Mage class series, Medium class series
 * Tri-Elemental (Partial): Ninja class series

Appearance
Karis bears little resemblance to Ivan. The only resemblance that is seen is the eye colour. Her hair and eye brows are green. If Camelot was to introduce her mother in any up-coming game, it would be safe to assume that she would take after her mother in terms of looks.

Personality
Karis is a spirited girl. She prefers to think her actions through before following them, often to Tyrell's frustration. However, she can be equally impatient with her plans and forget that Matthew's the leader, something she often apologizes for. Throughout the game, she develops an unyielding yet understanding personality, and so helps keep the party's emotions under control. Karis has been noted by Blados and Tret to be as smart as her father, Ivan, which makes her blush. A reliable person, she acts as a second to Matthew, speaking for him while following his lead.

Karis is a responsible young woman who often has to struggle to keep Tyrell from causing trouble for himself and others, as seen at Patcher's Place where she hits Tyrell to stop him from launching a fireball in front of Patcher. She also scolds him for losing his temper, saying that Psynergy should be seen as helpful rather than harmful, even acting insulted in order to communicate her point. Because of all this, she can often appear to be quite bossy towards others, especially Tyrell, but it can be safely assumed she does it out of care for her friends.

A brief article on Dark Dawn in Japanese-language magazine Jump describes Karis as a Jupiter Adept and a strong-willed and reliable individual.

Biography
Karis was born to Ivan and an unknown mother roughly fourteen-to-fifteen years after the Golden Sun event. She was raised in the town of Kalay where her father and others among the survivors from Vale nowadays live. Karis inherited Ivan's cleverness and gentle personality which she is often cherished for, but is also considered a strong-willed and reliable individual. However, despite being a Jupiter Adept like her father, she failed to inherit his Psynergy-ability to read minds. Karis came to be convinced that this was not necessarily a loss, though; quite frankly, it was a relief, for individuals in Weyard who had the ability to read the minds and the darkest secrets of everyone around them often found that their lives were worse off because of it.

Karis came to be friends with the sons of Ivan's own longtime friends Isaac and Garet: Matthew and Tyrell. From time to time, she would visit the two boys and their fathers in Isaac's cabin in Goma Plateau overlooking the remains of the lands around Mt. Aleph, bringing things made by Ivan. While she had a deep respect and admiration for the cool-headed and few-worded Matthew, she would often clash with the hot-headed and brash Tyrell, and oftentimes she would have to restrain both his temper and her own. Despite this, her visits continued.

Rescuing Tyrell
Thirty years after the Golden Sun event, Karis travels north from Kalay to Lookout Cabin to deliver an invention of Ivan's, a hang glider-like device called a Soarwing. It is kept aloft not so much by the wind but by a skilled Adept's own Psynergy, and a critical component in its  construction is the feather of a mammoth bird roosting in northeast  Angara called the Mountain Roc. Isaac and Garet previously went on a quest with other old companions of theirs to retrieve this feather, for  they had decided that they need the Soarwing in order to fly and  maintain a watch over both the uncrossable terrain around Mt. Aleph and  elsewhere to study anomalous phenomena named Psynergy Vortexes. Karis has had experience flying a Soarwing already, and has come to both deliver the Soarwing to them and to give flying lessons.

However, by the time Isaac and Matthew return from a stop at nearby Patcher's Place, Tyrell suddenly takes and puts on the Soarwing for himself, immaturely reasoning that he wants to take the device out for a ride even though he had not received lessons from Karis yet. When Karis and the adults get angry at him, he retorts that nobody has any faith or respect in him and jumps off, and soon enough, he finds that he is unable to keep aloft. Isaac has him fly toward the Abandoned Mine in the distance and wait for the everyone else to catch up to and fetch him, and has both Matthew and Karis accompany himself and Garet on the dangerous trip through Tanglewood Forest; while Garet believes the two young Adepts would only amount to a burden and would be put through an unnecessary amount of danger, Isaac explains that the adults, as the Warriors of Vale who originally brought the Golden Sun to Weyard, have been training their children so that they may one day take on the responsibility of watching over the world. Matthew and Karis are not opposed to the idea.

After Karis helps Matthew suit up, the two leave the cabin and join Isaac and Garet on their expedition from Goma Plateau through the monster-infested darkness of Tanglewood. Through this, Karis and Matthew receive their first critical experience in fighting and slaying wild monsters with weapons, Psynergy, and Djinn, and in the Abandoned Mine itself, they even defeat an enormous plant monstrosity and save Tyrell from a nearby Psynergy Vortex. But while everyone is glad that he is safe, Tyrell had shattered the Soarwing when he crash landed into the mine.

Quest for the Roc Feather
Back at the cabin the next afternoon, Isaac suddenly gives Matthew and Tyrell the following quest: to leave immediately and travel across Angara to find the Mountain Roc and obtain another Mountain Roc feather so that a new Soarwing can be created. Isaac hands this down both as a critical rite of passage for the boys to undertake as Adepts and to get Tyrell's behavior and sense of responsibility straightened out; even though it was her father's Soarwing that was destroyed, Karis is concerned that Isaac is forcing such a big quest on her friends so suddenly, but Isaac explains that that is the point because his own quest thirty years before began just as suddenly. Karis willingly volunteers to accompany Matthew and Tyrell on their journey, and the three young Adepts are soon off on their new adventure.

Shortly after leaving Isaac's cabin, Karis and her two friends stop by Patcher's Place, and  her frustrations with Tyrell seemingly come to a head. When it is told that Tyrell nearly burned Patcher's Place down with his Mars Psynergy on  a previous visit, Tyrell is frustrated that Patcher never forgets these  sorts of things even though nothing bad had happened in the end, and  starts to let loose some of his fire Psynergy; to prevent him from a  second chance at burning down the store, she shoves him to the floor and  angrily berates him. Within a moment, Karis breaks down and starts crying in apology, and lectures that it is their responsibility as  Adepts to make sure they never use Psynergy in public or hurt people,  since their fathers are concerned about people viewing Psynergy and the  Adepts that use it as helpful rather than hurtful. Tyrell eventually agrees not to use Psynergy in front of strangers, and recognizes and  appreciates that his friends are always looking out for him. Tyrell and Karis' companionship improves from that point onward.

For the rest of Dark Dawn, Karis consistently accompanies Matthew's group of Adepts as their journey progresses through the continent of Angara. She is a voice of reason and insight just like her father even though she is nowhere near as mild-mannered as Ivan, but despite her  spirited nature she does her part to keep the party's emotions under  control. Her abilities as a Jupiter Adept are critical to her group's ability to bypass various obstacles that impede them from exploring  whichever dungeon their journey takes them into.

When Matthew's party gets forced into the southern Ei-Jei region by operatives of the mysterious Tuaparang empire, its field commander, the warlike Blados, specifically takes note of Karis as the daughter of Ivan and sneers that that only means that Karis might be a worthy adversary for Blados to fight some on some far-off day. Over the course of the building party's quest for the Roc feather, which they eventually obtain, Karis makes many deductions about the circumstances they happen across; in one instance, the hotheaded Sanan prince Ryu Kou seems to betray the party in a way that the promise the Adepts had previously made to Laurel would be broken; unlike the rest of her friends, Karis is willing to suspect that Ryu Kou is actually trying to help them in his own way by preventing them from being the ones to break their own promise, though Ryu Kou angrily denies this.

Apollo Sanctum
Though Karis makes several critical deductions about what their adversaries in Tuaparang apparently intend for them as a traveling group of Adepts, it does not make the party capable or prepared enough to avoid essentially being manipulated by Blados and his ilk into achieving every one of their goals for them, which includes the trigger of the Grave Eclipse and the setting up of an ancient superweapon designed to destroy the Eclipse, the Apollo Lens. When Blados and Chalis make their final move and attempt to take the Lens for themselves, however, Karis joins Matthew's party in fighting the duo in two drawn-out, harrowing battles, and they miraculously manage to defeat the field commanders through their own fighting ability and defeat their plans for the weapon. They proceed to end the Grave Eclipse with it.

Following the end of the events at the Apollo Lens, Karis makes the long journey back to the Lookout Cabin with Matthew and Tyrell as the rest of the Adepts that had joined their group over the course of the journey part ways to return to their own kingdoms. Upon returning to the cabin, however, the three of them see that a giant Psynergy Vortex has appeared within the airspace very near the cabin.

Trivia

 * Because Ivan is a descendant of the Anemos and Karis is Ivan's daughter, it is safe to assume that she is an Anemos as well.
 * It is unknown how Karis has green hair. The first half of the group has inherited the same hair colour as one of their parents (Matthew-Isaac, Tyrell-Garet, Rief-Mia). It is possible that Karis inherited her green hair from her mother who has yet to be introduced.
 * Karis is the only playable Jupiter Adept that has no Psynergy to read minds.

Quotes

 * On Lookout Cabin:
 * Karis: "Get OFF the roof, Tyrell!"
 * Tyrell: "I'll be down before anyone knows it, Karis!"
 * Karis: "Don't be stupid, Tyrell! It's slippery up here after last night's storm! Oh, you can fall, for all I care! But don't break the soarwing!"
 * Tyrell: "Don't be so uptight, Karis! I've got it under control!"


 * Karis: "I'm going to give Tyrell such an earful for taking the soarwing!"
 * Isaac: "My, what fire you've got in you for a Wind Adept, Karis. Good-you'll need it out there."


 * In Tanglewood:
 * Karis: "I've got a mind like a steel trap, so I'll bring it up should it ever prove useful!"


 * In Patcher's Place:
 * Karis: "You nearly burned down his store? Wow. Is there anywhere you haven't made a mess of things, Tyrell?"
 * Tyrell: "What I did here happened forever ago! I didn't mean to do it! But Patcher never... ever...FORGETS!" (Begins to charge up fire Psynergy in frustration)
 * Karis: (If Matthew responds with sadness) "Oh, great. Now I have two friends falling apart on me. Help me calm him down! Snap out of it, Tyrell!" (Karis pushes Tyrell onto the ground.)
 * Tyrell: "Ouch. That hurt."
 * Karis: "I hope that DID hurt, Tyrell! It's pretty stupid, losing your temper like that! You might have scorched this whole place!"


 * In Konpa Cave:
 * Tyrell: "But when bad luck hits, you just have to roll with the punches."
 * Karis: "What a surprisingly positive thing for you to say, Tyrell. I'm more used to you kicking and screaming when fate throws you for a loop."
 * Tyrell: "Well, one of us has to be the grown-up here."
 * Karis: "Very funny. But let's hurry."


 * Karis: "What do you mean, smart as my father?!"
 * Blados: "Just that you MIGHT be a worthy adversary someday."


 * Karis: "This is the first time we've been to this part of Angara. I'm scared we'll get lost."
 * Tyrell: "Don't be such a worrywart, Karis. We'll be up and over those mountains in no time!"
 * Karis: (If Matthew responds with contentedness) "You're not concerned that we're going to get lost, Matthew? Well, maybe we'll be fine..."


 * Karis: "I say we head straight for that town! Let's get our bearings before we go over the mountains!"
 * Tyrell: "There she goes again. Pushing us around..."
 * Karis: "What?! I know full well that Matthew is our leader. I just figured he'd want some input!"
 * Tyrell: "Fine, then. Let's move out before Karis blows a gasket."


 * At Harapa:
 * Karis: "It's natural to want to show off Psynergy. But controlling Psynergy means controlling our minds. We've got to maintain discipline."


 * At Passaj:
 * Karis: "Hey, Tyrell! Throw a fireball at this spot marked with the flame!"
 * Tyrell: "I can't stand it when Karis bosses me around..."
 * Karis: "Just fire it up!"


 * At Ayuthay:
 * Karis: "I'm sure we can do it, but what do you think, Matthew?" (If Matthew responds with sadness) "Don't pull your head into your shell! We've got work to do!"


 * In Teppe Ruins:
 * Tyrell: "Hey-even with problems, I think it could be handy to have a mind reader around..."
 * Karis: "Sveta is a person, not a tool you can just use. Don't talk about her like that, Tyrell."


 * Karis: "Wait-weren't those people looking for a bag back in... Where was that again?" (If Matthew responds with anger) "OK, OK, Te Rya village! Don't bite my head off for forgetting one name!"


 * Karis: "Matthew, this bag seems really important. I say we bring it back to Te Rya."
 * Sveta: "You are very kind, Karis, for wanting to deliver the bag for me."
 * Karis: "Well, um, thank you, but I'm not the leader here. We need to see how the others feel about it."


 * Tyrell: "You've gotta be kidding! Can we really take on something big enough to make WEATHER?!"
 * Karis: (If Matthew responds with anger) "Yeah, if he wants the feather so badly, maybe it SHOULD be Isaac fighting this thing..."


 * In Border Town:
 * Karis: "This Briggs fought Felix and his friends... Do we just forget that and risk our lives to help him?" (If Matthew responds with contentedness) "I suppose it does feel sort of poetic that Briggs's son could be saved by his enemies' children..."


 * Amiti: "Champa is a nation of lawless cutthroats. Their leader does not deserve our help."
 * Karis: "Amiti, I know you mean well, but I don't think the world is quite that simple."
 * Amiti: "What do you mean?"
 * Karis: "We like to imagine that right and wrong are absolutes, but they really depend on how you look at things. Don't you agree, Matthew?" (If Matthew says no) "I'm sorry to put you on the spot. I know it's a thorny question."


 * In Port Rago:
 * Karis: (Concerning taking up Briggs' request to get information from Tret) "What do you think, Matthew?" (If Matthew responds with sadness) "Hey, it can't all be doom and gloom! How about a little optimism? I think Tret is our best shot at cracking this nut."


 * In Kolima Forest:
 * Karis: "You're developing into a real leader, Matthew. I'm proud of you."


 * On Talon Peak:
 * Karis: (To Blados and Chalis) "Treacherous snakes."


 * Karis: (In response to Ryu Kou taking the Magma Orb for himself while having claimed that he will now do what's necessary to save Hou Ju on his own) "I don't buy it..."
 * Ryu Kou: "You think I'm lying? Just what part of this do you think I'm making up?"
 * Karis: "I know you want to save your sister, but you're making it sound like you just want to go off on your own. I think you know that we would all be overwhelmed by guilt if we broke our word to Laurel. So you decided to spare us the pain by taking the orb out of our hands."
 * Ryu Kou: "Hah! If that's what you think, you're bigger fools than I could have imagined."


 * Karis: (After Ryu Kou left) "I can't believe we lost the Slap Glove and the Magma Orb all at once... Makes it hard to figure out what our next move is, huh?" (If Matthew responds with anger) "Wow...graphic. But you're right-we can probably find Ryu Kou in Belinsk and get some payback."


 * At Belinsk:
 * Karis: (Upon seeing Briggs' death) "Briggs docked his ship here to save us. It's not right that it's going to cost him his life."


 * Karis: "Sveta's worried sick about her brother and won't leave the deck. I wish I could comfort her somehow."


 * Out at sea:
 * Karis: (Concerning how Kraden does not know what the Blue Orb is) "Hey-we only have the item itself to work with! It's not a lot to go on, you know!" (If Matthew responds with anger) "Anyone who thinks it's a scholar's job to know absolutely everything is clearly thinking with their hearts."


 * In Harun Village:
 * Karis: (Breaking up the laughing session between Kraden and Ikan) "EXCUSE ME!"


 * In the Watchtower:
 * Karis: (Concerning the Third Eye) "Maybe we don't understand it, but it WAS hidden away by the ancients. It's important."
 * Kraden: "As usual, Karis is right. Let us have a little faith in our forebears."


 * In Yamata:
 * Tyrell: (To Matthew) "Ready for another trip, buddy?"
 * Karis: (If Matthew responds with contentedness) "Yeah, it does sort of feel like destiny, doesn't it?" (Or if Matthew responds with cheer) "Yes, this is a chance to be part of the legacy of the Warriors of Vale. Should we be cheering about that?" (Or of Matthew responds with sadness) "Matthew, you're our leader. Complaining about "fate" just makes you seem helpless!" (Or if Matthew responds with anger) "You can think of it as unlucky, but at least we CAN save the world. Most people never get to."


 * In Tonfon:
 * Tyrell: (In discussion with Emperor Unan about the cause of the Grave Eclipse, the powering of the Alchemy Dynamo) "But the one who actually turned it on was a Sanan boy named Ryu Kou."
 * Karis: (If Matthew responds with contentedness) "That's right. He could only think about saving his sister, so we can't put too much blame on him." (Or if Matthew responds with cheer) "Yeah, using someone's sister as a hostage is a pretty low blow. Let's show those Tuaparang!" (Or if Matthew responds with sadness) "Poor kid. He was in a pretty rotten situation. No one can really blame him for what he did." (Or if Matthew responds with anger) "Hey, if YOUR sister was going to be boiled alive unless you did something, what would you have done?"


 * At Apollo Lens:
 * Karis: "We're here to stop the eclipse. If we have to fight, so be it."


 * Karis: (After the transformed Volechek throws Sveta away to prevent her from sacrificing herself to turn on the Apollo Lens) "It's over... We've lost."


 * At Belinsk (epilogue):
 * Sveta: "We will see each other again, right?"
 * Karis: "Of course. We're all young, except for Kraden, and he doesn't age!"


 * Golden Sun: Dark Dawn's encyclopedia entry for Karis:
 * This young Wind Adept has long known Matthew and Tyrell, often visiting them at their Goma Plateau Cabin. Her father, Ivan, was a Warrior of Vale. She has inherited her father's indomitable spirit and powers of observation.

In fan circles
In fanfiction community circles, any fiction that romantically pairs Karis with Matthew is categorized with the shipping term "Dawnshipping". Likewise, fiction that focuses on Karis and Tyrell is categorized as "Sparkshipping"; fiction that focuses on Karis and Amiti is categorized either as "GoldenHeavenshipping" or "Stormshipping"; fiction that focuses on Karis and Rief is categorized as "Tiarashipping"; and a term that has been offered for fiction that focuses on Karis and Eoleo is "Creepershipping".