Alex (Golden Sun)

Alex, also known as Arcanus is a Mercury Adept and the main antagonist in the Golden Sun series.

Profile
Alex is a mysterious Mercury Adept hailing from the wintry town of Imil, and alongside his cousin, Mia, are the last living remnants of the Mercury Clan by the time of the original ''Golden Sun. ''By the present day, Alex goes beyond his normal Psynergy capabilities and learns a vast array of elemental powers. However, Alex desires more than just his current power. It is presumed Alex learned of the tales of Alchemy, and with mastery over it, would activate the four Elemental Lighthouses and bestow the wielder unlimited power, possibly to dominate the world. To this end, Alex manipulates and works with opposing parties to the Heroes of Vale to his ultimate goal of global domination, while remaining a complete mystery to all who behold him.

In Golden Sun
At some point in the three-year time period before the present, Alex either encounters or is approached by the foreign Mars Adepts, Saturos and Menardi, who are currently conducting research on each of the four Elemental Lighthouses. Saturos and Menardi aim to break Alchemy's seal via the activation of the Elemental Lighthouses, and the tools to achieve this are four jewels corresponding to each Lighthouse by element, the Elemental_Stars Elemental Stars. The four Stars are currently hidden within  Sol Sanctum, inside Mt. Aleph, the sacred mountain southwest of Imil on Angara, and Saturos and Menardi previously attempted to raid the sanctum for the Stars but failed because they triggered a trap. Currently preparing for a second, future raid of Sol Sanctum, Saturos and Menardi have now found that in order to enter each Lighthouse, they will need at least one Adept of that Lighthouse's element, just like they will need the Star of that element to activate that Lighthouse's Beacon.

Alex makes the decision to join Saturos and Menardi on their quest, accompanying them as the Water Adept that will allow them to enter Mercury Lighthouse in the near future. As he secretly leaves Imil with Saturos's group, he betrays his bloodline oath, and effectively abandons Mia. He likely returns to Prox, Saturos and Menardi's hometown, and waits there until he and another companion Saturos and Menardi recruited, the Venus Adept Felix, depart with the Mars Adepts on their quest across Weyard to break Alchemy's seal. Alex accompanies Saturos and Menardi in invading Sol Sanctum, and forces  Garet to hand over the Elemental_Stars. Alex, Saturos, Menardi, and Felix sail on their Lemurian ship  to the continent of Gondowan, and anchor their ship at a peninsula named Idejima. They travel far to the north to Angara, whereupon they reach the town at the foot of Mt. Aleph, Vale. Vale was formerly Felix's hometown, and Felix forces Alex and Saturos to promise him not to let any of Vale's people, particularly his former childhood friends  Isaac  and  Garet  and especially his younger sister Jenna, get involved in what they are aiming to do. When the four commence their secretive raid of Sol Sanctum, by fateful coincidence they find that these very three people, along with the scholar Kraden, are conducting an investigation of their own within the sanctum's Elemental Star chamber. The group immediately seizes the situation: They take Jenna and Kraden hostage and force Isaac and Garet to fetch the Elemental Stars for them. Isaac and Garet hand Alex three of the Stars and go to retrieve the fourth, the Mars Star, for him.

When Isaac removes the Mars Star from its pedestal, the volcano that is Mt. Aleph begins to stir, and everyone watches as the almighty entity and protector of Alchemy's seal, known as  the Wise One, emerges into view. Saturos's group realizes that they cannot get the Mars Star without very likely dying, so they must flee with their lives at the expense of leaving Isaac and Garet and the Mars Star behind. It would completely defeat their purpose if the Mars Star was lost for good, but before they flee Alex proposes to take Jenna and Kraden with them as captives that accompany them on their quest; if Isaac and Garet survive, he reasons, they will pursue Saturos's group to try to free Jenna and Kraden from their grasp, and they will bring the Mars Star if they want Jenna back. Felix lashes out at Alex for breaking their promise, but Alex states that the circumstances have obviously changed since then and that Jenna would probably die if they did not take her with them. With this decided, Alex and Saturos' group reluctantly flees the erupting mountain with three of the four Elemental Stars.

Alex and Saturos's group have already caused the world to begin changing by setting off Mt. Aleph's eruption, which showered Psynergy stonesacross Weyard, changing the lives of many persons and wild animals. And now, the four travelers and their two captives aim to climb and light the nearest Lighthouse, Alex's own Mercury Lighthouse. After passing through the town of  Vault, through the Goma Range, and then north through Bilibin Cave, they reach Imil. Alex avoids making a reappearance at his hometown even as the rest of his associates pass through the town on the way to the lighthouse. Once Alex and Saturos's group gathers at the Lighthouse's entrance, Alex admits them entry into the tower by using his Mercury Psynergy Ply. Doing this causes the lighthouse to glow briefly, which apparently tells Alex that Mia is certain to notice and therefore come to investigate and likely interfere. As such, as they proceed to climb up through the lighthouse, they set up obstacles that would block Mia from following them. Once they arrive at the tower's top, Saturos and Alex cast the Mercury Star into the well of the Mercury Lighthouse to light the Mercury Beacon.

Alex decides to make himself known to the Adepts, casually noting how it has been a while since he and Mia last saw each other. A mortified Mia accosts Alex for his betrayal of their shared bloodline oath, but Alex, stalling for time while Saturos recovers, explains how the activated Mercury Lighthouse was the cause for their victory: The Mercury element of the Lighthouse itself suppressed Saturos's Mars-based powers enough that he was physically weakened, and at the same time the lighthouse was supplying Mia with unlimited Mercury Psynergy reserves. Alex also makes a passing attempt to subtly convince Mia that great power, such as what is contained within Lighthouse Beacons like what Alex just lit, is not something that should be kept sealed away. After Alex confirms that Isaac has the Mars Star with him, he Warps himself and the recovered Saturos away from the lighthouse, leaving behind as his final statement to Mia: "I can't stay the same Alex you knew forever..." Alex and Saturos rejoin the other four members of their group and immediately resume their journey to activate the Elemental Lighthouses, while Mia joins Isaac in their pursuit of Saturos and Alex. As soon as the Mercury Beacon is lit, fate plays a hand as a group of four young traveling Adepts are suddenly transported up to the aerie via the Lighthouse's magic transportation system. They are none other than Mia accompanied by Isaac and Garet, who survived the events at Mt. Aleph and have indeed come to stop Saturos's quest and take back Jenna and Kraden. Alex and Saturos immediately hide behind the now-active beacon to discuss what they will do, and Saturos soon presents himself to Isaac's party and says he will defeat them all. Alex watches in secret as Saturos engages Isaac and his friends in a one-on-four brawl, but he does not help fight Isaac because he is certain Saturos's extreme powers as a fighter will let him win. However, Alex is surprised when Isaac's group bests Saturos.

In the extended period of time to come, Saturos and Alex's group travels all across Angara, along the way either directly or indirectly causing problems for the various towns they go through, such as causing an avalanche at Alpine Crossing , to impede the progress of Isaac's pursuing party. They eventually take a  ferry service Karagol Sea  to the continent  Gondowan, where the next lighthouse, the Venus Lighthouse , is located. After they stop in the city of Tolbi, they travel through the  Suhalla Desert  in the Lighthouse's direction, which is infested with patrolling Tornado Lizards  strong and vicious enough that safe passage through the desert should be impossible. Alex helps the group make it through the desert by using his water Psynergy to counteract the sandy whirlwinds the beasts cloak themselves within, thus allowing Saturos and Menardi to subsequently slay them.

Before Saturos and Alex' group reaches the exit of Suhalla Desert, they happen upon the young girl  Sheba, lost in the desert ever since she was separated from her Tolbian entourage by a Tornado Lizard attack. They see she is, in fact, a Jupiter Adept, and therefore the one they have been seeking for the purposes of their quest, so they force her into their traveling group just like they did with Jenna and Kraden. The group, now numbering seven, reaches the building of Venus Lighthouse, and Felix uses his Venus Psynergy to admit them inside. They soon find they only discovered the lighthouse's exit, and that the true entrance is further up north, so the group passes through Sheba's hometown of  Laliveroon their way to  Babi Lighthouse, which is built upon the entrance to the secret underground tunnel complex that leads into Venus Lighthouse as its true entrance. Now in Venus Lighthouse, the group climbs up through the tower, but apparently has some trouble because, in Alex's words later on, "they are somewhat lacking when it comes to solving the mysteries of the lighthouses."

When Alex, Jenna, and Kraden exit Venus Lighthouse, they are greeted by whole regiments of Tolbian soldiers and Laliveran workmen who have come to take Sheba back from her kidnappers. Jenna says they have to fight the soldiers outright in order to make it to Idejima, to which Alex responds by saying he will shoulder her burden. Alex employs his incredibly powerful Mercury Psynergy to blow away the soldiers with water, intimidating the rest of the grunts into outright fleeing, and follows the retreating Tolbi soldiers to Lalivero, where he proceeds to keep the rest of the numerous Tolbi soldiers stationed at Lalivero at bay entirely by himself and allow Jenna and Kraden safe passage to Idejima. Saturos's group makes it to the tower's aerie, and Saturos and Menardi take Sheba with them to the top while Felix and Alex are supposed to lead themselves and Jenna and Kraden back outside and return to where Menardi moored their Lemurian Ship on Idejima a long time back. Alex is impressed, however, when Felix decides to head back up to the aerie to confront Saturos over the involvement of Sheba in their quest. By this point Isaac's party has surely arrived at Venus Lighthouse with the intention to confront Saturos and Felix, so Jenna proclaims she has to return to the aerie to prevent a fight between her brother and Isaac; Alex stops her by stating that Isaac and his companions are their enemies because they are sworn to the cause of preventing Alchemy's release. Saturos and Menardi would safely deal with Isaac's group at any rate.

Alex eventually rejoins Jenna and Kraden at Idejima, where they notice that Venus Lighthouse is only now being lit. Suddenly, a severe earthquake wracks the lighthouse and tears a rift through the Suhalla Range, disconnecting Idejima from the rest of the mainland and turning it into its own buoyant island. The island floats east out into the Great Eastern Sea, with the three marooned on it. After these extraordinary circumstances, all Alex and the others can do is wait, since they are unable to use Menardi's Lemurian Ship to sail away from the island without employing the  she and Saturos had in their possession.

In The Lost Age
At some point in time after Idejima has broken away from Gondowan, Alex informs Jenna and Kraden that Felix and Sheba have washed up on the buoyant island's beach, alive but unconscious. When the two regain their senses, they report that Isaac and his group have killed Saturos and Menardi in direct combat, to the considerable surprise of Alex and the others. Following that, Sheba fell off the tower because of the earthquake and Felix jumped off after her, and they both survived because they managed to land in ocean water, and Felix was able to carry Sheba and swim to Idejima in time. With the five now together, they have to contend with the prickly issue of trying to get off the island to resume Saturos's quest, since without the Black Orb Saturos and Menardi used to commandeer the ship, Menardi's ship is useless.

Alex, by this point, has apparently decided that he and/or the overall quest to restore Alchemy to the world will be better off if he works separately from the other remaining members of Saturos's group. So, after exploring Indra on his own for a period of time, he goes to Daila  and speaks with Daila's mayor, saying he would pay the mayor a fortune to buy whatever boat he might have, but the mayor simply does not have any boats and tells Alex to travel down south to  Madra  to look for one. As Alex leaves, he bumps into none other than Felix's party. Alex reports that there are no ships for them to use and that he will be going to Madra next, but when Felix offers for Alex to travel with his party down to Madra, Alex is almost eager to refuse, citing that he is merely "preoccupied." Jenna and Sheba call him self-absorbed, but he calmly responds that he simply prefers to work alone, then proceeds to leave Felix and the town in a rather obvious haste. As Idejima passes by the continent Indra, the group soon finds itself beset upon by a global-scale natural disaster: A Tidal Wave, generated in response to the activation of Venus Lighthouse, washes over Idejima and rams it into Indra, knocking everyone unconscious. When Felix, Jenna, Sheba, and Kraden come around, they notice that Alex has left, apparently to explore Indra himself and seek out a ship, and they decide to travel as their own group across the new continent in search of a ship themselves. A ship is necessary for them to complete Saturos's quest because the remaining two Lighthouses are unreachable by land.

Alex travels south across the continent through the  Dehkan Plateau on his way to Madra; along the way, he sees a  Lemurian Ship beached at Indra's eastern shore that is just like Menardi's ship, and he witnesses the apparent captain of the ship, a young man named  Piers, being taken away by Madrans while unconscious and captive. Alex is intrigued and follows them down to Madra, where he sees Piers being imprisoned on suspicion of being a  Champan pirate in league with the pirate Briggs, who recently attacked the town. Then, Felix's group arrives at Madra and enters Piers's jail house, and Alex secretly watches everyone witnessing Piers casting the  Frost Psynergy at one of the townspeople goading him, revealing that he is a Mercury Adept.

Felix's party came to Alhafra both to look for a ship and to confront Briggs over Piers's imprisonment, and while he is staying at Alhafra's inn, Felix and his party once again come across Alex. Alex suggests to them to try to fix the ship while they are at it. After Felix's run-in with Briggs plays out successfully and they try to fix the ship (but are not able to do the job completely), Alex warmheartedly teases them about their honorable deeds, mentioning that Mia would have done the same. But getting back to the issue at hand, Alex learns that Madra's ships were destroyed by the tidal wave as well, but the town Madra trades with, the bustling town of  Alhafra  to the continent of  Osenia  to the east, recently completed a massive sailing ship  that is powered entirely by catching wind in its sail. Alex sets out on his travels again and arrives in Alhafra, which turns out to be another town that was thoroughly damaged by the tidal wave. And once again to his dismay, he finds that the famous sailing ship was both damaged by the tidal wave and sold to Briggs, who fled here after his attack on Madra. Having traveled long and hard, Alex lodges at the inn and uses his apparently vast wealth to get a two-bed room entirely to himself.

Sometime after Felix's party leaves Alhafra, Alex leaves as well and returns to Indra. In his mind's eye, he has exhausted every other possibility, so when he sees that Piers has left to lower  Gondowan and Felix's party has departed to Gondowan in pursuit of him, he entertains the option of taking Piers's ship for himself, which in his perspective counts as "borrowing" the ship. (It is not known how Alex would have been able to take the ship for himself since he seems not to have a Black Orb to control the ship with.) However, moments before he can make his move, Felix's and Piers' party returns from Gondowan, having retrieved the Black Orb that the warlike o Kibombo Tribe had recently stolen, and Alex must withdraw again. But because Alex remains behind on Indra as Felix and Piers' party leaves on their Lemurian Ship together, Alex then encounters  Karst and Agatio, fellow warriors to Saturos and Menardi from Prox, who have sailed out here originally to assist Saturos and Menardi but are now seeking vengeance upon Isaac's traveling party because they discovered Isaac murdered the Mars Adepts. Alex reports to Karst and Agatio everything that has transpired in Saturos's quest to restore Alchemy, and explains the quest's current circumstances. Alex then joins Karst and Agatio on their own ship.

Alex and his newfound sailing companions Karst and Agatio are aware that the key to everyone's next shared objective, the Jupiter Star needed to activate Jupiter Lighthouse, is currently in the possession of Felix's traveling party. Alex decides, however, that Felix and his group are a stronger and more capable unit than what he originally gave them credit for; after all, they went all the way to Gondowan and singlehandedly retrieved Piers's Black Orb from the warlike Kibombo tribe, and had joined forces with Piers and his ship. And Alex views the new Mars Adepts as hardly more promising than Saturos and Menardi in terms of the capacity to solve and climb Lighthouses. These observations lead him to decide not to take the Jupiter Star for themselves, instead leaving the task to Felix. In addition, the three Adepts also get a hold of the news that the lord of Tolbi and Kraden's father figure, Babi, has passed away.

Following Champa, Alex, Karst, and Agatio presumably follow Felix's traveling party wherever they go across the Great Eastern Sea on Felix's journeys, with the intention to make sure that Felix does not stray unnecessarily from his core quest. Despite their previous threats, Alex and his group do not physically encounter Felix's group again until long after Felix has made it into the Great Western Sea, when he has reached Jupiter Lighthouse and has started to explore and climb it. Alex foresees that Felix's party will be headed to the cliff-side town of Champa, and he and Karst and Agatio go there and lie in wait until Felix's party arrives. Alex first remarks about how he sees Felix has "replaced" him with Piers as their new water Adept, and admits he was once going to "borrow" Piers's ship. Then he lets Karst and Agatio threaten Felix by saying that if Felix does not hurry up on his objective to reach and light Jupiter Lighthouse, they will take the Jupiter Star themselves and perform the task themselves. Alex does not have any moral qualms, however, about letting everyone know that he does not consider any of them terribly useful and/or intelligent, and that includes Karst and Agatio and the deceased Saturos and Menardi. He clarifies that he is "on no one's side" through all of this; his only concern is to see all four Lighthouses lit once again, and Felix's group is the most capable of this responsibility. Alex and the Mars Adepts promise Felix that they will always be near Felix's group to push and pressure their way to Jupiter Lighthouse. And as Alex and the Mars Adepts leave, he remembers what he learned about Babi's death and announces it to Kraden; Apparently, in his mind's eye he's doing Kraden a favor, as the old man now should not have a reason to continue putting himself in danger on this quest for Babi's sake.

Alex, Karst, and Agatio enter Jupiter Lighthouse after Felix, and then see that Isaac's party has entered Jupiter Lighthouse as well. Karst and Agatio engage a trap that divides Isaac's group, and then personally confront Isaac's group with the intent to destroy them; the Mars Adepts immediately realize, however, that Alex has completely abandoned his two "companions," leaving them to do the dirty work themselves. Alex, after all, saw that Felix's party witnessed Isaac's party being engaged by Karst and Agatio, and are rushing up to help them. Alex materializes before Felix and speaks what's on his mind: He knows Felix will not emotionally handle Isaac's death enough to light Jupiter Lighthouse since Felix lacks, in Alex's own words, Alex's ability to "discard someone who is no longer of use to him." Thus, Alex personally heals Felix's party before sending them off to save their friends. (Alex also admits that despite his motives and what he is capable of, he would still rather not directly inflict harm on Mia, and would probably part ways with Karst and Agatio after this). It is possible for the player to read Alex's mind after this encounter, and he expresses a desire to rush to Mia's aid.

Much drama and physical confrontation occurs between Felix's party and Karst and Agatio before Felix eventually achieve the lighting of the Jupiter Beacon, as Alex believed he would. But an outright fight to the death ensues between the two groups in front of the now-lit Jupiter beacon. Whether the victors of this battle are Felix's group or Karst and Agatio, Alex steps in before one side can finish the other off for good and reports that Isaac's party has recuperated and is coming up in their direction. Karst and Agatio are too drained from their battle with Felix to fight Isaac off too, and they already have possession of the Mars Star  that they would need to light Mars Lighthouse themselves; Alex uses these facts as his argument to convince the Mars Adepts to flee Jupiter Lighthouse with him while they can. Thus do Alex and the Mars Adepts leave Jupiter Lighthouse, right as Isaac's party arrives to the aerie.

After the events at Jupiter Lighthouse, Alex and the Mars Adepts are all too happy to part ways. Karst and Agatio, with the Mars Star now in their possession, depart back north to their hometown of Prox so they can then enter Mars Lighthouse and light the Mars Beacon, thereby completing Saturos's original objective. Whereas Alex immediately prepares for and enacts the final phase of his master plan: He knows that once the last of the four Lighthouses Beacons are lit, the place for him to be is at the top of Mt. Aleph, so he sails from Atteka to Angara with all haste. (While it is never explicitly stated in the game, it is probable that Alex steals, or "borrows" to use a more appropriate term, Isaac's Lemurian ship for himself because Isaac's ship is never seen in-game and Isaac's party comes to join Felix's party and quest on Piers's ship for the rest of the game.) He lands on Angara and begins his final travel towards Vale, where he proceeds to climb the exterior of Mt. Aleph. No sooner than when Alex reaches Mt. Aleph's very peak does the Mars Lighthouse get activated and the global process that heralds the return of Alchemy to Weyard commences. The four Lighthouse Beacons shoot out their beams of purified energy into the airspace above Mt.Aleph, which merge together to form a golden sphere of the power of Alchemy named the Golden Sun. In turn, it shoots down into Mt.Aleph to give shape to Stone of Sages within the mountain. As Alex stands in the beam's path and its power passes through his body, he is infused with immense power and near-limitless life: effectively, the power of the Golden Sun itself.

Alex is bewildered because he thinks he should be all-powerful, but is not, and demands to know how that can be. The Wise One tells him everything: Back when the Elemental Stars were first pilfered by Alex and Saturos and they had to leave Sol Sanctum with the Mars Star in Isaac's possession, the Wise One predicted Alex's motive and set in effect a precaution to counter it. By imbuing the Mars Star with a certain magical property, the Mars Beacon generated by the Mars Star at Mars Lighthouse ended up imbuing its essence of power into Isaac's body at the lighthouse rather than Alex's body here at the peak of Mt. Aleph. The Wise One and an unwitting Isaac have thus robbed Alex of his dream for complete mastery of the building blocks of reality.Triumphant over the success of his grand plan, Alex eagerly tests his newfound power by calling out to the sky for a thunderstorm to be summoned and unleash its might upon the now-empty town of Vale at the foot of the mountain. To his puzzlement, however, not even so much as a simple storm appears. He barely has time to ponder the meaning behind this when he is suddenly greeted by  the Wise One, last seen in Sol Sanctum as the guardian of Alchemy's seal. The Wise One announces that Alex has indeed gained a lot of power and life, but they are by no means limitless. Alex, believing the Wise One is trying to anger him, confidently pushes the Wise One away with his bolstered Psynergy, but the Wise One telekinetically drives Alex into the ground and completely immobilizes him.

Then, the entire mountain and its surrounding landscape begin to change and collapse as part of the last phase of the process that signifies Alchemy's release. The Wise One instructs Alex to flee the mountain if he wants to save his own life, lest he be "drawn into the heart of the earth forever." Alex exclaims he is unable to even move right now, to which the Wise One responds that now Alex sees the limits of his power, and that Alex may not survive his imminent fall. The last words Alex hears before he meets his supposed demise is this cryptic final statement by the Wise One: "If you survive, perhaps we shall meet again someday..."

In Dark Dawn
Alex managed to survive the fall into the Earth, and masked himself so nobody recognized him (he was presumed dead). Ten years after the restoration of Alchemy, he stumbled across a city called Ayuthay, and fell in love with King Paithos' sister, Veriti. He turned Ayuthay's Alchemy machine, the Alchemy Well, on halfway (the other half required the Luna Mask, which he did not have in his possession). He also revealed his face to only Veriti, and together conceived a son, Amiti. However, he ran away for reasons unknown, and King Paithos lied to Ayuthay and said that Veriti had powers which allowed her to turn on the Alchemy Well, and to get pregnant without a male partner, in order to keep the Mysterious Adept (aka Alex) a secret. Later, identifying himself as Arcanus (Ace in the Japanese versions), he joined up with the Tuaparang, working with Blados and Chalis. Alex's motives throughout the game are unknown.

Alex, under his guise of Arcanus, teams up with the two Tuaparang agents Blados and Chalis, similarly how he had teamed up with Argaito and Karst and Saturos and Menardi thirty years earlier. The Masked Man and Blados kidnap Rief, a Mecury Adept, and manipulate the descendants of the Heroes of Vale into wandering off-course, blocking their path back home. Alex and the two Tuaparang elites approach the beast king Volecheck, and turn him to their side without him knowing he's being used for the High Empyror's own needs.

Alex, after Blados and Chalis are defeated at the Belinsk Ruins, uses Ryu Kou, an apprentice to Hou Zan and friend of Matthew, to turn on the Alchemy Dynamo under threats of the martial artist's sister, who is due for execution at Volecheck's hand. After the Alchemy Dynamo is activated, Alex takes Blados and Chalis and leaves, while the Eclipse Tower rises from the Belinsk Ruins. The Grave Eclipse, an eclipse that covers most of the continent of Angara of shadow, starts, furthering Alex's goals even more. Alex doesn't appear again until Matthew and his party reach the Apollo Sanctum, where the Apollo Lens, a device that can stop the Grave Eclipse, is ready to be activated. Blados and Chalis confront Alex, intending to use the Apollo Lens for their own purpose, but at this point Kraden reveals Alex's true identity to the Heroes of Vale, and Alex vanishes. Blados and Chalis confront Matthew, as well as the Chaos Hound (later revealed to be a mutated Volecheck) and fuse into the Chaos Chimera. Even after the Chaos Chimera is defeated, Alex is heard telling Matthew to stop, telling him he cannot use the Apollo Lens without dying. Volecheck, still as the Chaos Hound, ends up sacrificing himself to fire the Apollo Lens and stop the Grave Eclipse.

Alex disappears and doesn't reappear in the game after this point, and with the game ending on a cliffhanger, his ultimate fate is unknown until a possible fourth installment of the series.