Heath the Tainted Soul



Heath, the Fallen Cleric is a teenage Priest Mage of incredible potential, and a secondary character turned villain from the game Seiken Densetsu 3. He is the captain of the guard of the Holy City Wendel, in the Mana World. Heath is also the best friend and big-brother figure of the half-elf Carlie, one of the six playable characters. The Priest of Light sent him to investigate the evil activity which drains the force of Mana, but he was abducted by the Death Jester, a servant of the evil Masked Mage. (one of the three possible Final Bosses of the game) The Masked Mage later brainwashes him and makes him his right-hand man.

If the player chose Carlie or the beastman prince Kevin as the main character, the Masked Mage will serve as the primary antagonist and Heath will serve as the second-to-last boss. If the player chose Duran or Angela as the main character, the villain's right-hand man will be Koren. If the player chose Hawk or Lise (Riesz) it will be Bigieu. Given that Heath doesn't willingly serves the Masked Mage, the actual role of the primary antagonist's second-in-command is played by the Death Jester, while Heath is "only" the penultimate boss.

Background
Heath was born in the Holy City of Wendel, which houses the main cult of the Mana Goddess and the Ancient Ruins of Light, where the Mana Stone of Light is kept. His father, Belgar was one of the city's most famous and powerful mages, until a young girl fell ill, with no one able to cure her. Desperate to save her life, Belgar began to study the forbidden Dark Magic, but not to avail. The Dark Forces soon twisted his mind and body, turning him into the evil Masked Mage, whom the Priest of Light banished from the city.

The Priest of Light then took care of Heath, who eventually enrolled in the Priest Mages of Wendel, learning magic with the hope of being one day able to save his father's soul. Heath quickly rose in rank and became Cleric and captain of the guard of Wendel. Heath also befriended Carlie, the orphaned, half-elf, granddaughter of the Priest of Light, and took care of her like a big brother. However, because of her elf inheritance, Carlie grew up much slower than the normal humans. At fifteen years old, she still has the body of a five-year-old child while Heath, (who is around eighteen years old) is nearly adult.

Seiken Densetsu 3


At the beginning of the game, the Priest of Light, worried about the evil forces which are draining the power of Mana, as well as the sudden agressiveness of the beast kingdom of Ferolia, sends Heath to investigate. Carlie, who eavesdropped the conversation, manages to escape the palace and follows him. Heath is later attacked by three Beastmen who tells him that Ferolia is planning to invade Wendel. Heath easily defeats the beastmen, but he is knocked out immediately after by a demonic clown called the Death Jester. Seeing his immense potential, the demon abducts him right before Carlie's eyes.

Carlie then sets out to rescue her friend, and later learns that the Masked Mage, who swore revenge against Wendel, has become one of the Three Great Evils of the Mana World and raised a huge army of monsters. The Death Jester, the Masked Mage's faithful servant is manipulating the King of Ferolia, using the human prejudice against the beastmen to make them wage war against the other nations. The Masked Mage's ultimate goal is to seize and to unseal the eight Mana Stones, in order to release the dreaded God Beasts: eight highly powerful elemental demons who were sealed at the beginning of the world.

This goal is shared by the other two Great Evils, the Dragon Emperor and the Dark Prince, who have their second-in-command manipulate respectively the magical country of Altena and the Thieves Guild of Nevarl. (Navarre in the unofficial translation.) If either Kevin or Carlie has been chosen as the main character, the Masked Mage will be the game's Final Boss and will dispose of his two rivals. If not, he will be slain by the game's actual Final Boss and Heath will die in the process.

Later in the game, the Priest of Wendel fells ill and Heath reappears, having joined side with the Masked mage. Carlie's (or Kevin's) party, who gained the magic of the eight Elemental Spirits, reaches the Mana Holyland, where the Mana Tree (the earthly avatar of the Mana Goddess) is located. Unfortunately, the Goddess is deprived of nearly all of her strength, and the only thing she can do she can do is to give the mythical Sword of Mana to the party. But the Death Jester and Heath abducts the Fairy who guides the party and demand the Sword in exchange for her life. The party's only choice is to obey and the God Beasts are released. The Fairy then tells a distraught Carlie that she sensed a great sadness in Heath, implying that the Cleric has been brainwashed.

The party manages to track down and to destroy the God Beasts but without knowing it, they serve the Masked Mage's scheme. They later defeat the Death Jester in the Jungle of illusions and reach the Mirage Palace, confronting the Masked Mage and his brainwashed son. The evil wizard reveals that the Sword of Mana now houses the power of the eight God Beasts, a power which he plans to absorb, in order to surpass the Mana Goddess and to take her place. Hopefully, the Goddess thwarts his plan with her last remaining strength, but the aggravated Mage teleports to the Holyland to destroy the Mana Tree. The party tries to chase after him but Heath teleports them to another room in the palace and tells them that their life ends here.

The party must fight against Heath, whose potential was raised to the maximum by the Masked Mage, making him extremely powerful and dangerous. After a difficult battle, Heath is defeated, ending the Masked Mage's influence over him. He tells Belgar's story to the party and urges them to defeat him before dying. The party goes to the Holyland and ultimatelly destroys the Dark Lich, the Masked Mage's demonic avatar. During the ending of the game, the party learns that when Heath died, he used his lifeforce to cure the Priest of Light's illness. Heath is later resurrected by the new Mana Goddess.

Boss Battle
"Carlie... Irrelevant. You will die." - Heath (before fighting Carlie's party)

Heath (Level 48 . Life-Points 11543)

As a boss, Heath is considered by many to be the hardest of the three possible second-to-last bosses. He is a very powerful mage who attacks with migty spells and can heal himself. Never underestimate him even if your characters' levels are higher than his own.

Heath masters every existing summon, from the six monsters to the four divine beings. The divine beings are his most dangerous attacks: they deal huge damage to the whole party and some of them will affect your status, so make sure you've got plenty of curing spells and items. (Marduk - the strongest summon - confuses the party, Iormungand poisons them, Freya shrinks their size and Lamian Naga doesn't change status but still deals high damages.) Heath also uses the two attack spells of the Light Element, which he always casts on every target (increasing the spell's power) and finally, he uses the special spell Ghost Road, which heavily damages the whole party. To cut a long story short, most of his attacks are very dangerous.

Heath frequently heals himself and regains 600 to 700 life-points each time. He can also cast a curse that weakens a character's stats and shoot balls of white light that deals almost non-nexistent damage but propels the targets backwards. Heath has no defined weakness but attacking him with magic and especially summons has little effect. The best way to deal with him is to keep close to him and to attack continuously with your weapons and your special techniques. Use as many spells and items as you can to increase your stats and decrease his own. Heal your characters often and try to make sure that every life-point he regains is lost in the following minutes. If you can cast the Moon Sabre spell on your character's weapons, they will heal themselves whenever they strike him, which makes the fight much easier.

thumb|450px|left|the boss battle against Heath