Dark Majesty

Dark Majesty
Title(s)	Archdemon King Stroud
Gender	Male
Race	Mavole (formerly human)
Faction	Mavolia
Health	53499
Level	50
Status	Dead
Location	Mana Holyland
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The Dark Majesty is one of the three main villains from Seiken Densetsu 3, along with the Masked Mage and the Dragon Lord. He serves as the main villain and final boss in Hawk and Riesz's storylines. He has the same goal as the other two main villains: steal the power of the Sword of Mana, release the eight God-Beasts, and take their powers as well to become a god. His intent afterwards is to merge the world with Mavolia (the Underworld) and rule over it, forcing humanity to worship the Mavole.

Background

The Dark Majesty Stroud was once a human that was the heir and prince of the Castle of Light. Due to a prophecy, he was imprisoned, hated and feared by his subjects. The creatures of Mavolia took advantage of this and made him an offer. In exchange for destroying his own kingdom, he would become their leader's heir and be freed from his prison. He accepted the offer, threw his younger brother (who was in line for the throne) into the ocean and seized the throne of Lorimar, invaded Illusia, and within the Mana Tree was banished to Mavolia in a broken state after his defeat at the hands of his brother while attempting to release the seal on the Mana Gate and fully open the door to Mavolia. Before his defeat he would betray and "kill" the Archdemon who so graciously took him in and thus, became the new Archdemon (though unbeknownst to him Anise survived his attempt long enough to be killed by the same person who bested him during his attempt to unseal the Mana Gate) attaining a new form in the process. After Zable Fahr escaped and then proceeded to destroy many nations - as well as plunge the world into a state of chaos for several centuries - he later drew the Mana Stone of Darkness and Zable Fahr itself to Mavolia.

Trials of Mana

The Dark Majesty desired to gain the power of the Benevodons to become a god and merge the Mavolia with Fa'Diel. For the plan to work, however, he needed to force the mana stone of darkness back into Fa'Diel. He was aware that channeling the amount of power needed to do that would kill him, so he also ordered his servants to find a human vessel for him to take over afterwards. Two of the Dark Majesty's minions, a shape-shifting creature called Belladonna and vampire-like entity named Malocchio, launched attacks on the Mana Stones under the guise Nevarl attempting to take over Laurent. When Laurent was taken, the Dark Majesty learned of Elliot and had Malocchio acquire him because he saw the young prince as his opposite and thought it made him the perfect vessal. Over time, because of attacks that were also made by the minions of the Dragon Lord and the Masked Mage, all of the Mana Stones were broken. At this point, the heroes had gathered the spirits of each element and attempted to use them to open a portal to the Mana Holyland right when Dark Majesty uses up the power keeping his broken body alive to summon the Dark Mana Stone to Fa'Diel from Mavolia. They prove unsuccessful, but because of the energy released by the Mana Stones, the portal still opens.

Belladonna and Malocchio then went to the Mana Holyland in a silly looking airship. The events that happen next depend on whose the main character:

• If Duran or Angela is the main character, the Dark Majesty's remains needed for him to resurrect are destroyed by the Dragon Lord.
• If Kevin or Carlie is the main character, the Dark Majesty's remains needed for him to resurrect are destroyed by the Masked Mage.
• If Hawk or Riesz is the main character, then Belladonna and Malocchio kill the Dragon Lord and the Masked Mage, then after Hawk or Riesz gains the Sword of Mana, the two demons kidnap Faerie and trade her for the sword, then they release the God Beasts.

Off-screen, the Sword of Mana is used to allow the Dark Majesty to reanimate his broken body in Fa'Diel, who watches the events unfold for his base the Dark Castle. After the God Beasts are killed, the heroes break into the Dark Castle, kill Malocchio and Belladonna, and meet the Dark Majesty. He absorbs the Sword of Mana and the power of the God Beasts, and offers the heroes a chance to serve him, which they predictably decline with Riesz demanding her brother back with him refusing to give up the unconscious child. The Dark Majesty prepares to kill them, but finds that the Goddess is restraining his power, and so he goes to the Mana Holyland to destroy the Tree of Mana to kill the Goddess. The heroes follow him, but he gets to the tree first and destroys it. Faerie attacks him, but he swats her away easily, ditches the body his brother Keldric crippled, possesses Elliot, turns into his true Archdemon form and devastates the heroes. They are, however, healed by Faerie, who tells the Archdemon that even if Mana fades away, as long as they have hope they will create a new world without it. The Archdemon scoffs hope as a "petty emotion" and the final battle begins. After a long fight, he's exorcised from Elliot's body and having discarded his real body ends up in the same state as his predecessor Anise.

Archdemon First and Second Forms

Ablities

The Dark Majesty only fights in the game using the power gained from the Sword of Mana and the God Beasts in his Archdemon form. He uses high level elemental spell for a variety of elements, as well as some of the desperation attacks of the God Beasts. The ones he uses mostly have state lower effects on the targets. He switches elemental strengths and vulnerabilities throughout the battle, though non-elemental spells always have the same effect on him. After taking enough damage, the Archdemon transforms into a second, more menacing form. This one doesn't use nearly as much magic as before; the spells he uses during this phase are a time Power Up and Defense Up. For the rest of the fight he relies on attacks of the God-Beasts he used during his first form, but two are replaced with his only unique moves, his attack-lowering Demon Scream, and his most powerful attack, Catastrophe.

He is an extremely strong enemy and is viewed by most fans as the most difficult of the three final bosses in Trials of Mana.

Attacks

Magic - Part One

Earthquake - Level 2 Earth-based magic

Stone Cloud - Level 3 Earth-based magic

Dark Force - Level 2 Shadow-based magic

Black Curse - lowers all stats of target

Death Spell - Instantly kills one target if lower level than caster

Body Change - Pygmizes (shrinks) entire party

Half Vanish - Halves target's current HP

Stun Wind - Level 3 Wind-based magic, causes Silence

Thunderstorm - Level 2 Wind-based magic

Mega Splash - Level 2 Water-based magic

Cold Blaze - Level 3 Water-based magic, turns target into Snowman

Exploder - Level 2 Fire-based magic

Blaze Wall - Level 3 Fire-based magic

Special Attacks - Part One

Hypercannon (Earth) - hits party for heavy magical damage, lowers hit and evade rates

Hell Cross (Dark) - hits party for heavy magical damage

Spiral Moon (Moon) - lowers Maximum HP of party

Air Slasher (Wind) - Powerful Wind-based spell, lowers defense of party

Ice Cradle (Water) - Powerful Water-based spell, lowers attack power of party

Gigaburn (Fire) - Powerful Fire-based spell, lowers magic effectiveness/resistance of party

Magic - Part Two

Power Up - raises target's attack power

Protect Up - raises target's defense power

Black Curse - lowers all stats of target

Special Attacks - Part Two

Air Slasher - Powerful wind-based spell, lowers defense of party

Gigaburn - Powerful Fire-based spell, lowers magic effectiveness/resistance of party

Hypercannon - hits party for heavy magical damage

Demon Scream - hits one target for small magical damage, lowers target's attack power

Demon Breath - hits party for moderate Shadow-based damage, lowers party's magic effectiveness/resistance

Hell Cross - hits party for heavy magical damage

Catastrophe - Archdemon's strongest attack, hits party for massive magical damage

Circle of Mana

Rank	Image				Classes	Quote
SUR					呪われた王子 闇の王子 滅国の王子 魔界の王子	「ククク、新たな神となった私が、希望がいかにおろかな幻想か思い知らせてくれよう！！」
SUR					呪われた王子 闇の王子 滅国の王子 魔界の王子	「なかなか面白い余興だ。では、この世界を手に入れるとしようか。」
SSUR					呪われた王子 闇の王子 滅国の王子 魔界の王子	「フフ…それでは共に奈落の底へと堕ちていこうか、勇者よ。力は光にも闇にもなる。それは貴様らも同じ事…」
SSUR					呪われた王子 闇の王子 滅国の王子 魔界の王子	「ふざけた男だ。いいだろう、その娘一時お前に預けておく。」
SSUR					呪われた王子 闇の王子 滅国の王子 魔界の王子	「気晴らしにはなったが、それ以上ではない。」
SSUR					陸サーファー ビーチボーイ 浜辺のプリンス 浜辺のフィクサー	「魔界の砂浜だけではなく、この世界の砂浜も私が制覇する。」

Trivia

• Although Belladonna is strongly implied to have romantic feelings for the Dark Majesty, he doesn't care about her and when he finds that she was killed, he dismisses her as an "acceptable loss."
• Unlike the other villains, the Dark Majesty is met after the game's penultimate boss fight, as opposed to before.
• His Japanese name actually means Dark Lord, though since he is referred to as the heir of his kingdom it was assumed by the fan translation that he was a prince and not an ascendant king.

See also

• Malocchio
• Belladonna
• Stroud
• Dark Lord

External links

• External link