Zable Fahr (Trials of Mana)

Zable Fahr
Title(s)	Benevodon of Darkness
Gender	N/A
Race	Benevodons
Faction	N/A
Health	10714/5413/5413
Level	46
Status	Dead
Location	Crystal Desert, Cave of Darkness, or Jungle of Visions (depends on main protagonist)
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Zable Fahr is the Benevodon of Darkness. It appears as a boss in Trials of Mana, and it takes the form of three disembodied heads, only one of which contains the boss's main life force. Though it is assumed to be sentient, Zable Fahr doesn't display any personality aside from a desire or instinct for destruction. However the version visited in a side-quest in Children of Mana does show more personality.

Background

"Humankind tried to harness the energy of the Mana Stones to bring peace to the world. However, they soon fought over control of that energy. Dark forces took advantage of this and soon the world spiraled into an all-out war. The seal on the Darkstone was broken and the creatures of Darkness, including the Benevodon, brought the world to the brink of destruction. [...]It has been many years since then. The world recovered, but the Benevodon is not gone for good."

—Shade telling his story of Zable Fahr.

Zable Fahr was described as being an "incarnation of disaster" that existed before the world had been fully born. It reigned destruction on existence until the Goddess of Mana defeated it with the Sword of Mana and sealed it away inside the Mana Stone of Darkness. At some point later, the Dark Majesty tried to summon the Mana Stone of Darkness before the Goddess of Mana sealed him away in the Underworld.

Release

Concept art of Zable Fahr's main head

When the villains in Trials of Mana obtain the Sword of Mana, they release the Benevodons from the Mana Stones. Zable Fahr isn't released at the same time as the others, however. After the other seven Benevodons are killed, the heroes must travel to Pedda in order to learn Zable Fahr's location, which changes depending on which character is the main protagonist. In Duran/Angela's story, Zable Fahr is in the Crystal Desert, in Kevin/Charlotte's story, it is in the Jungle of Visions, and in Hawkeye/Riesz's story, it is in the Cave of Darkness. Regardless of its location, Zable Fahr is released just as the heroes discover the Mana Stone, and although it proves a deadly foe, the heroes still emerge victorious. After its death, Zable Fahr's power was sent to the Sword of Mana like all of the other Benevodons.

Battle

Zable Fahr's sprite in the original.

Zable Fahr is generally viewed as being the most difficult of the Benevodons to defeat (despite the characters usually getting their 2nd class change before fighting it), as well as the one of the hardest bosses in the game. In the first part of the battle, the heroes are drawn into a strange, void-like arena where they are attacked by two humanoid heads, each with over 5,000 HP.

The attacks they use are somewhat weak compared to the attacks used by some of the monsters in the dungeon leading up to the fight, but most of them affect the characters' stats. After the heroes kill the two heads, a third, almost feminine head appears and revives the other two heads, marking the start of the battle's second phase. The main head has around 10,000 HP, but since the two weaker heads must be killed to make it appear, Zable Fahr technically has around 20,000.

Zable Fahr in the remake

Once its main head joins the battle, Zable Fahr will begin using its most powerful attacks such as Southern Slice (an extremely powerful Darkness-element attack), Dark Force, and Annihilate. As the heroes are unlikely to have reached a higher level than the boss, Annihilate will almost certainly be fatal.

The combination of Zable Fahr's attacks and the stat-reducing attacks of the extra two heads can also be very deadly. Although the two weaker heads can be killed again, the main head will soon revive them; if the main head is killed, the weaker heads will die along with it.

Being a Darkness-elemental entity, it's weak against Light-based attacks and magic. It's also healed by Darkness-based attacks and magic.

Attacks

Concept-art of Zable Fahr

Attacks -

Flame Radiation (one) - Left head only

Tongue Attack (one) - Left head only (unnamed in the 3D remake)

Gremlin (one) - Level 2 summon

Great Demon (one) - Level 2 summon

Magic -

Fetid Breath (all) - Moderate magical damage; left head only; lowers magic effectiveness/resistance; casts at 1/4 HP

Evil Gate (all) - Level 1 Dark magic; right head only; used to heal self if at 1/4 HP

Dark Force (all) (2D) / Dark Force + (3D) - Level 2 Dark magic; right head only (2D) / Center and right head only (3D)

Dispel Magic (all) - Negate's targets status and elemental sabres; right head only

Annihilate (one) (2D) - Instantly kill a single target if below caster's level

Dark Curse (all) - Lowers all stats of specified target

Enfeeble + (3D) / Center head only

Weaken + (3D) / Right head only

Defenseless + (3D) / Right head only

Special -

Southern Slice (Hell Cross in the fan translation) - Heavy magical damage; used only when all three heads are active (become a barrier attack in the 3D remake)

Dark Blazon (one) - Moderate physical damage

Darkness Beam (one) (2D) / Dark Beam (3D) - Moderate magical damage; lowers target's magic effectiveness/resistance

Regeneration (2D) / Reanimate (3D) - Revives other two heads

Trivia

• Zable Fahr is the only Benevodon whose name is not known before the Benevodons are released.
• Zable Fahr reappears in Children of Mana. It had fused with Dolan and formed Thaydol.
• In Trials of Mana, the musical theme that plays while battling against Zable Fahr is titled "Three of Darkside", which also serves as one of several event themes. Said musical theme is often associated with villains in the game alongside "Intolerance" and "The Sacrifice Part One", the latter of which plays as the Darkstone shatters before Zable Fahr awakens.