Dread Hound enemy line

Dread Hound, Fenrir and Cerebus are species of monsters found in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. These monsters, resembling two-headed dogs, are palette swaps of each other and have differing levels of power and defense. Two of these monsters are notable for dropping a rare item not found anywhere else.

Dread Hound
A Dread Hound is a member with purple skin and a turquoise tongue. It has 252 HP, 211 Attack, 56 Defense, 90 Agility, and 13 Luck. Its resistances are lopsided; it is very resistant to Mars Psynergy, moderately resistant to Venus and Jupiter Psynergy and extremely weak to Mercury Psynergy.

Dread Hound has several attack options, including a physical attack and the monster skills Fire Blessing (renamed Fire Breath in Lost Age) for Mars damage to multiple targets, Double Fang for enhanced damage to one target and Wicked Howl which damages a single target and might force them to miss their turn.

Killing a Dread Hound yields 116 EXP, 176 coins and in rare cases a Prophet's Hat - kill it with a Mercury Djinn to increase the chance it will drop this item by four times. Dread Hounds are fought in Altmiller Cave in Golden Sun and Gaia Rock as well as Izumo Ruins in The Lost Age.

Fenrir
A Fenrir is a darker purple member with a green tongue. It has 406 HP, 357 Attack, 125 Defense, 149 Agility, and a surprisingly lower 9 Luck. Its resistances are actually the opposite of Dread Hound's; it is now very resistant to Mercury Psynergy and extremely weak to Mars Psynergy.

Fenrir's attack options are exactly the same as its predecessor, but Fire Blessing has been replaced with Ice Blessing, for moderate Mercury damage to multiple targets.

Killing a Fenrir yields 402 EXP, 212 coins and in very rare cases a Kikuichimonji - kill it with a Mars Djinn to increase the chance it will drop this item by four times. Fenrir are only located in the second part of Venus Lighthouse and are some of the final enemies fought in the first Golden Sun.

Cerebus

 * Cerebus redirects here. For the Psynergy, see Cerberus.

The Cerebuses are turquoise members with pink tongues. Only two exist in Golden Sun, both serve as the final "sub-boss" on Crossbone Isle. Being boss-like, Cerebus has 2200 HP, 42 PP, 369 Attack, 130 Defense, 151 Agility, and 22 Luck. Its resistances are the same as Fenrir's, very resistant to Mercury Psynergy and extremely weak to Mars Psynergy.

Cerebus retains all of Fenrir's attack options, but also gains the psynergies Ice Missile for strong Mercury damage to multiple targets and Restore, to rid itself of most Status Conditions. Its PP meter only allows it to use Ice Missile once.

Killing a Cerebus yields 1863 EXP, 3200 coins and a guaranteed Psy Crystal; combine the two together, the total reward is 3726 EXP and 6400 coins. As the final sub boss on Crossbone Isle, Cerebus is easily one of the strongest minor enemies in the game, but strong Djinn Summons should be enough to severely cripple them.

Cultural Allusions
The Dread Hound monster line was based off the mythical Hellhound, a demonic dog from hell.

Fenrir
Origin: Norse

Fenrir was the name of a giant wolf in Norse mythology. It is the son of the gods/giants Loki and Angrboda and was appointed to kill Odin at the time of Ragnarök.

Cerberus
Origin: Greek

Cerebus is a misspelling of Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Hades in Greek mythology.