Anise, also known as Medusa, is the most recurring and influential antagonist of the World of Mana video-games, serving as the overarching main villain of the series. She is the evil counterpart of the Mana Goddess and the primeval Demon Queen, whom all three Great Evils of Mana seek to succeed. Anise is constantly threatening the multiverse, only to be kept at bay by the Goddess' chosen heroes. She was created by mixing elements of separate games into a single character, but the series' many alternate continuities give her several counterparts.
Appearance
Anise never appeared in the flesh until the remake of Trials of Mana, always manifesting through possessed victims, who get horribly warped by her influence.
Most of her incarnations and counterparts share her tall and regal stature, flesh-revealing lavish robes, and very long, flowing purple hair (pink for her benevolent counterpart in Sword of Mana), that flow horizontally. Fitting the mythological Medusa, she has a distinct snake-motif, evident in her demonic forms.
In Dawn of Mana, her host becomes taller and adult-looking, with red eyes, pointed ears, purple skin covered in intricate white motifs, and an elaborate hairdo.
During the final battle her demonic side becomes more apparent. Her eyes become snake-like and her hair get divided into many tentacle-like locks, two gigantic, demonic serpents, one red and one blue, protrude from the hem of her robe, and she emits an intense aura of violet darkness.
In Heroes of Mana, Anise manifests as the Goddess of Doom, who retains her host’s long, curly blonde hair, facial structure, and mask, but becomes a building-sized, quadrupedal monstrosity with blue skin covered in darker stripes, grotesquely thin and long limbs, three crystal-like horns on her forehead, one being much longer, greyish feathered wings, and ribbon-like tentacles protruding from her back.
She later transforms into an even bigger being made from pure darkness and looking like a wraith-like, somehow draconic demon colored entirely black, with large, glowing, red eyes, two horns, no legs and long, thin arms.
Anise’s true self looks like a human woman easily thrice as tall as the heroes, whose undeniable beauty is somehow downplayed by her demonic features, red eyes and pale purplish skin. She wears jewellery, long gloves, a lavish black and red gown revealing her upper body, and walks barefoot, not unlike her manifestation from Dawn of Mana.
Unlike the Mana Goddess' Mother Nature theme, she appears as dark as her realm, surrounded by a dark violet aura of evil. She has purple, somehow solid-looking hair expanding on her sides and becoming paler crystal-like at their end, an array of crystal-like lilac spikes around her head, shoulders and waist that might be her hair, and an array of black horns covered in red veins glowing in slow pulsation, sprouting from her body.
She later transforms into Dragon Anise, a titanic, hundreds-yard-long snake demon with a draconic head full of sharp fangs and pointy protrusions, glowing purple eyes and two large, equally glowing purple horns on her forehead. She is purplish black with a brown underbelly, a spiked hood similar to that of a cobra, and she retains the array of horns covered in glowing veins and the lilac spikes of her humanoid self, respectively on her head and back.
Characteristics
Anise is shrouded in myths. Even in the games featuring her, her origin and nature are never fully explained, some being even retellings of the distant path that faded to myths. Heroes of Mana refers to her as an immortal witch who envied the Mana Goddess for her godhood. This is a reference to the game that introduced her, Legend of Mana, in which her character really was a witch, and is a possible in-universe explanation of why almost every character calls her Anise the Witch. However, Heroes distinctly refers to her as a goddess in the Final Battle.
Her real name is Medusa (due to being based on a Gorgon monster from the first game), but mortals call her Anise, out of fear of the deadly curse carried by her name. Dawn of Mana explains that the original Anise was a priestess who became her first vessel and whose name was substituted to her own in the following centuries.
The game also introduces the Underworld of Mavolia, the Mana counterpart of Hell, as well as the Echoes of Mavolia: the somehow sentient heart of the demonic realm and the manifestation of everything wrong in the universe, which Anise wants to unleash to obliterate creation, and which influenced the priestess Anise to become Medusa's vessel. Mavolia being her creation, stated to have come to be after she engulfed another world in darkness, it can be guessed that the Echoes personify her essence, that forever seeks to be reborn through a human host.
Anise is an undying Demon Queen who came to be in the Dawn of Times. She is nearly equal to the Mana Goddess herself, and they both hail from the Primal Dimension of Illusia. With the Goddess creating the world of Fa'Diel, the Elemental Spirits, the mortal races and the Mana Power that sustains everything, Anise created in turn Mavolia along with demons and monsters, and is all but stated to have spawned the Benevodons, all of them being sustained by the corruptive Psi power she diffuses. She exists in every multiverse and alternate timeline, and will not rest until she has destroyed them all to the last one.
Just like the Mana Goddess never truly dies and is always reborn through willing fusion with a Faery or a woman of the Mana Clan, Anise is never destroyed for good, always resurfacing by possessing a mortal (preferably a woman), killing them in the process while assimilating their appearance and characteristics. She will also resurface when the Goddess is weakened. As long as there is Mana to destroy in one dimension, she can enter it to wreak havoc.
The mightiest evil beings can seize her throne, but never surpass her or supplant her for good. Without her influence Mavolia can be pacified, as servants of the Goddess ruled it in her absence, but evil always drove them out.
Powers and Abilities
Fitting her divine nature, Anise is unfathomably powerful. Her Psi disrupts the Goddess' Mana and grows in might as it decreases, weakening those who depend on it while empowering her demons. She can perceive everywhere, see and talk where she is not present, teleport, shape-shift, alter her aspect, project herself, or syphon someone's power. She can also create artefacts infused with her essence, through which she can manifest, expand her influence and absorb Mana. People can draw power from them, but get unknowingly corrupted and can become her vessels.
Worse, she can warp reality and blur the limit between illusions and existence, drawing from people’s subconscious and memories to create imitations of what they know under her control which she can reshape at will. She can create up to parallel dimensions in which she stores her victims’ souls, or dark doubles of people with the same powers. In Heroes of Mana, her presence alone breaks the very fabric of dimensions and tears a huge rift in time and space. She uses the power she gathered to create a Sea of Chaos: a barren wasteland outside or reality for the final battle.
Personality
Anise is cruel, merciless, relentless, sadistic, and hateful. She appears collected and unshakeable, being indifferent to the passing eons and dismissing even being destroyed as a minor setback, knowing that she is bound to return. But this facade of poise hardly veils her searing hatred for everything that exists, which she seems to regard as an affront, and for the Mana Goddess, knowing that she is only second best and despising her for it.
She has a very high opinion of herself, reacting to opposition with amused, derisive scorn. She greatly enjoys flaunting her might to cower victims but welcomes a challenge. Her even tone and dignified manners contrast her scathing insults towards her foes. She revels in chaos and destruction, feeds on suffering, and revels in toying with her foes' emotions and memories: by showing them replicas of places important to them twisted by her power. Unlike her successors who covet Fa'Diel to shape it following their designs, she strives to obliterate every dimension, mostly to enjoy the resulting void all for herself, but also out of petty spite towards the Mana Goddess.
However, Dawn of Mana shows that her vessels' traits become her own, down to their memories and tastes, albeit hideously twisted by her evil nature. Indeed, she expresses the desire to be reunited with their loved ones, by turning them to her demonic consorts, and violently lashes out at the hero Keldric who killed the lover of her previous vessel (oblivious to the fact that he chose to die by Keldric's hand to test his valour).
Counterparts from Alternate Continuities
Anise is based on several unrelated villains from early games of the series, assembled into a single character. This is explained in-universe as each game being part of a separate continuity, all of them forming a multiverse with many distinct timelines.
Final Fantasy Adventures/Adventures of Mana
Medusa appears as a normal boss in the first game of the series. She is a normal gorgon and the mother to the Illithid Davias, the dictator of the city of Jadd and vassal of the Dark Lord, who turns dissidents to birds. The Hero (named Duke in adaptations) and his friend Amanda need her tears to free Amanda's brother Lester from Davias' spell.
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Medusa in Adventures of Mana
They must kill her but her venom gradually turns Amanda into a gorgon, forcing a grieving Duke to take her tears and mercy-kill her. He later kills Davias and saves Lester, whose magic music dispels the toxic fog preventing Duke to reach the Dark Lord's castle.
Medusa can prove challenging, she moves fast and constantly throws snakes that can petrify Duke, which Amanda can cure when asked. Duke must strike her while keeping his distance, and try to bring her withing range of Amanda's throwing daggers.
Medusa is quite tougher and faster in the remake Adventures of Mana. She still sends waves of snakes as projectiles, but she strikes with her claws and grabs the heroes with her snake hair to bite them repeatedly, which they must escape, and can petrify them, which must be cured. Both Duke and Amanda can attack with weapons and magic.
Sword of Mana
This remake of the first game is the first to make Medusa the Queen of Mavolia. Although in it monsters are neutral and Medusa herself a tragic figure, not unlike her inspiration in the myths in which she was cursed to become a monster.
She fell in love and married Lord Granz, ruler of the Granz Realm and leader of the Gemma Knights, who toppled the evil Vandole Empire. They had twin sons, Stroud and the Illithid Devius (Davias).
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A much gentler Medusa (artwork from Circle of Mana).
Unfortunately, not even Medusa could circumvent the law separating Fa'Diel and Mavolia, and both her memories and her life-force started fading away. She was forced to return to Mavolia with Devius, whose uncontrollable power made dangerous for him to stay, while the more human Stroud was raised by his father.
During the course of the game, Stroud (now the Dark Lord) is hunting down the Mana Clan with the intent of making Mana disappear from the universe, falsely believing that it will mend the rift between Mavolia and Fa'Diel and save his mother.
As for Devius, he rules the town of Jadd and keeps Medusa in a room where time is frozen to halt her decline in health. He surrounds her with minstrels whose music preserves her fading memories. But she can no longer control her power, unwillingly turning them all into birds and animals, which she keeps for company.
Duke and his friend Amanda come to her, begging her to turn Amanda's brother Lester back to normal. But Medusa lost most of her mind and strikes Amanda in a panic, thinking they want to take away her treasured memories of her family. She reveals her true demonic form, forcing them to kill her in self-defence.
The Heroine (named Elena in adaptations) arrives and restores Medusa's mind, but cannot save her life. She gives Duke her husband's lute and gives her blood to dispel the transformation she inflicted. But the brutal arrival of her sons drops the vial, and her venom starts turning Amanda into a gorgon, forcing the grieving heroes to mercy-kill her and restore the minstrels with her blood. Alas, they must later fight an enraged Devius to the death.
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Fighting a tragic monster.
Medusa is not that hard to defeat, especially with strong heroes. She flies around and teleports, biting with her snake hair to harm and inflict the poison status. She fires yellow bolts that harm and petrify, and fires a huge energy ball. The heroes must hit her when she appears, preferably with Wind Magic.
Legend of Mana
The first game to mention Anise gives a more detailed Creation Myth than the others. She never appears in person, but remains a plot critical character in the backstory, with her actions still shaping the story eons later. Her being a bringer of chaos and corruption who sought to emulate the Goddess, and the concept of the Goddess having a dark side, would later serve as major aspect of Anise’ definite character.
It is said that the Goddess of Mana was awoken from Primeval Darkness by a radiant light, which she shaped into a sun before creating the universe and giving life to six Moon Gods from a colour of that light, to rule the world in her stead while she slumbered as the Mana Tree: Tryne the God of Water, Zea the God of Fire, Barlen the God of Gold, Libleyt the God of Wood, Morphes the God of Earth, and Ghazel the God of Wind. Each one was gifted a Stone serving as the mightiest source of magic in the universe. Later, the Moon Gods entered slumber in turn.
Anise was the first and greatest of human mages, who built her lab in a hole she bore in the Mana Tree, and syphoned Mana Power to try to copy the Goddess' stones, but only to create powerful jewels called the Eyes of Flames, that brought the evil of anyone. Their proliferation brough untold corruption, tainting even the Mana Power itself and tearing rifts into the fabric of space, depriving Fa’Diel of its primeval purity and leading to the Mages' rise in power.
For a thousand years, Anise's mages ruled Fa'Diel and disrupted the balance of the world, killing the faeries rising against them. Until Aion the King of Faeries allied with humans to defeat them, killing Anise herself with a powerful stone that was called the Seventh Moon, but the Mana Tree was burned in the battle.
Aion exiled himself to the Afterworld where he made his penance by judging the souls of the departed, and Mana gradually restored itself. Only three Eyes of Flame were recovered, but wars were waged for eons to gain control of them, with mages seeking them to regain their lost superiority. However, Anise's daughter Elise, who had fled the tyranny of her mother and renamed herself Annuella, brought a new, more benevolent, purpose to mages, teaching them to create harmless things and creatures, while dragons and faeries restored order.
The Game in Itself
The game takes place nine centuries after the Mana Tree was destroyed in a great cataclysm, and civilisation waged wars for the control of the few remains of Mana Power. Alas, evil spread all over to the point of corrupting the regrowing Mana Tree, not the least of them due to Anise's actions.
After the heroes restore the Mana Power all over the world, they must battle the Mana Goddess herself to rid her of her corruption and heal the Mana Tree. The conception of the Mana Goddess having an evil half would later unfold in later games, by reimagining Anise as her evil counterpart.
The Final Battle
The Mana Goddess first manifests as a small plant-like humanoid that jumps, dodges, shields herself with her leaves and strikes at close-range. She can also deliver energy-infused punches, powerful energy-infused dives, or unleash powerful surges of Wood Energy around herself. She can even transform into a knight whose sword strikes radiate light, into a mage who casts mighty Wood Magic, or into a lilac-colored demon who conjures a Moon firing deadly purple beams. The heroes must harass her without end with weapons, spells and techniques to win.
Anise as the Goddess of Evil
All games featuring Anise as the anti-goddess are also part of different continuities. Though Dawn of Mana is the prequel to Children of Mana, and Heroes of Mana to Trials of Mana, with Dawn being similar to the backstory of Trials. Anise is the primary villain of the first and the third, and plays a major villainous role in the remake of the fourth.
All games share the same Creation Myth, in which the Mana Goddess created the world of Fa'Diel and incarnated herself as the Mana Tree, to infuse everything with her power of Mana. The introduction of Trials of Mana states that while there were still only Darkness, the Mana Goddess wielded the fabled Sword of Mana to defeat the Benevodons and sealed them into the Mana Stones.
No mention is made of Medusa, aside from his Dark Majesty mentioning that he killed his predecessor to take the throne of Mavolia. She was perhaps sealed away or even destroyed in battle against her rival, likely during the Dawn of Times, hence why she spends most games as a disembodied presence that must incarnate into vessels.
Dawn of Mana
A thousand years before the start of the story, a Tree Maiden (priestess of the Mana Tree) named Anise fell in love with the human-like spirit named Granz the Masked Guru. Alas, the Echoes of Mavolia sealed under the Mana Tree took control of her and pushed her to open the Door to Mavolia, causing her to become the vessel of the Demon Queen Medusa. She almost destroyed Fa'Diel, but Granz managed to seal her in Mavolia and close the Door.
The story begins as the Ice Kingdom of Lorimar invades the island of Illusia, location of the Mana Tree where live its guardians of the Mana Clan. The evil king Stroud seeks to open the Door to Mavolia as part of a deal with demons, aided by a newly awoken Granz who seeks to set his beloved free (in all senses of the word).
The hero Keldric (nicknamed Keldy) attempts to fight of the invading army, along with his best friend the Tree Maiden Ritzia. They set out to awake the Legendary Beast protector of the island, in fact the White Dragon Flammie, the mascot and main mean of transport of the heroes throughout the series. There, they befriend the child faerie Faye. Keldric gets chosen by the Mana Tree herself, who implant her seed in his right arm which he can shape as any weapon he chooses, but they end up captured by Lorimar forces.
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Medusa in Ritzia's vessel (credits to Lunsel).
Stroud abducts Ritzia, who is the key to unlock the Door to Mavolia, steals and corrupts the divine Sword of Mana, and uses it to defeat Keldric and throw him to the sea, with him only owing his life to Faye's intervention. Stroud later uses Ritzia to pry open the Door to Mavolia and makes her into the new vessel of Medusa.
Keldric and Faye flee from Illusia and spend a year gathering allies to retaliate. Alas, Mavolia has spread its evil all over, with its Thanatos Spirits corrupting countless people into demonic Grimslies and spreading disarray and destruction. Stroud fused with as many Thanatos Spirits as possible to gather all their might.
Keldric is forced to kill his childhood friend Lekius, who became a Grimsly seeking his Tree's seed for Medusa. Medusa later appears before him as a projection using Ritzia's aspect, trying to tempt him to become her prince and rule by her side, which he refuses.
He is later confronted by Granz, who fights him to test whether he can save Anise, explaining more about her in the process. Keldric ends up reluctantly killing the Masked Guru, who dies satisfied.
- Granz flies out of reach, alternating between a Flaming Barrier or a Frozen Barrier. Keldric must chase him and dispel his barrier with the opposing element, before attacking. He casts the blasting Flaming Gale and a barrage of Ice Crystals. He summons Sniper Visages: floating masks firing lasting purple beams that must be destroyed. At close range, his rapier can stun Keldric. He conjures a green sphere causing all negative status, a violet cloud of Poison Mist, and Meteorite: a devastating rain of meteors.
Granz reveals that Stroud is Keldric's brother, who threw him at sea when he was a baby to get rid of competition, having been saved by Mana Tree herself. Before disappearing for good, he opens a path enabling Keldric and his allies to take back Illusia. Later, Flammie takes him to the tyrant's lair. As Keldric confronts him, Stroud strikes down Medusa, intending to steal her throne and rule both Mavolia and Fa'Diel.
After Keldric destroys the hugely powerful Grim Stroud, Medusa reappears now fully controlling her vessel, having survived the attempt on her life which she predicted. Keldric took down a threat, only to face a much direr one.
Medusa spreads Mavolia all over Fa'Diel, beginning to terraform the world into a second Hell. Encouraged by the spirit of all his allies, alive and dead, including the Tree Spirit Treant and the Face of the Earth Gaia, Keldric and Faye confront Medusa, deep below the Mana Tree where the Echoes of Mavolia remain sealed. The evil goddess needs Keldric's Tree Seed and Faye to fully unleashes the Echoes and destroy the universe. She drags Keldric and Faye to a twisted mirage of his and Ritzia's favorite meeting place, before confronting him, but he destroys her.
Granz's soul frees Anise's from Medusa's possession and brings her to the afterlife. Alas, the only way to restore the Mana Tree and Fa’Diel anew is for Ritzia and Faye merge with it with Keldric's Tree Seed, renouncing their physical existences to awake the Mana Goddess, who recreates the Sword of Mana and the Elemental Spirits.
The Final Battle
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Keldric battling Medusa.
Keldric must track down Medusa, who does not attack but endlessly spawns Bloodwraith and Frostwraith monsters who strike and fire dark bolts, fireballs and frost blasts. They constantly appear before him, making her frustrating to keep up with and can wear down his energy and supplies. The battle starts upon reaching their tree.
Medusa is quite challenging. She spawns two Blood and Frost Serpents from herself and surrounds herself with a spherical barrier. Keldric must knock out the Serpents by striking their heads or throwing at them the Rock Crystal of the opposite colour. He must then take down her barrier and attack her as much as he can until the Serpents awake.
The Serpents attack with a headbutt, repeated bites, a fiery or frosty breath, and by vacuuming Keldric to chew him. As for Medusa, she still summons Wraiths to hinder Keldric, but she casts Mine Blast to conjure golden runes chasing him along the ground before causing a huge purple energy blast, or the very powerful Dark Twister, which conjures a storm of darkness all around her and levitates all the Rock Crystals, forcing Keldric to stay away.
Heroes of Mana
Contrary to the classical RPG of the series, this game is played in real-time strategy, with the player having to direct many characters and troops, facing enemy armies, and having specific heroes attack selected targets.
The story begins when the hero, Roget, a young officer of the army of the powerful Ancient Kingdom of Pedda and childhood friend of the peddan Boy King Inath, is tasked to go on a reconnaissance mission on the flying ship the Nightswan. Roget and his comrades, the lieutenant Yurchael, the mercenary Qucas, the forest girl D'Kelli and the female warrior Gemiere are investigating rumors of warmongering in the Beastmen Kingdom of Ferolia, but the beastmen shoot down their ship, causing them to fall to the ground.
Roget and his friends are surrounded by beastmen led by King Gauser. They now discover to their horror that their mission was a diversion to let the admiral warship Vel Vimana invade the capital Lowenburg.
General Baxilios (artwork from Circle of Mana)
They are attacked by Peddan soldiers led by General Cecilia Baxilios, Yurchael's former girlfriend, who places a strange Black Mirror in the throne room, stating that it is Pedda's key to world domination.
The disbelieving heroes eventually turn against the Peddan invasion and ally themselves with King Gauser. They head to the Wind Kingdom of Laurent but fail to convince them of the danger, until Pedda attacks, allied with the Thieves' Guild of the Nevarl Desert.
Despite back-up from Princess Minerva, her lover Commander Joster and her best friend Commander Alma, they cannot prevent the Guild Lord Olbex to kill Queen Galura, plant a Black Mirror of Esina and abduct Princess Minerva, prompting her best friend Alma to ally with the heroes.
The heroes then go to the Holy City of Wendel, where they ally with Belgar the Oracle of Shadows (the future Masked Mage). They later ally with Falcon, leader of a rebel group from Nevarl and daughter of Olbex's right-hand Flamekhan. They defeat a manifestation of the Benevodon of Fire Xan Bie and later manage to gain seven Benevodons as powerful summons, given that they refuse to see Fa'Diel destroyed by anyone but them.
On their way to the Grassland Kingdom of Valsena, Roget is forced to fight his former best friend Juhani, who sees them as traitors despite knowing Pedda's ambition unlike them. They find Valsena allied with the Magic Kingdom of Altena, led by Prince Richard of Valsena, the Golden Knight Loki (the future Darkshine Knight), and Princess Valda of Altena.
They must fight the Peddan Officer Celestan, Yurchael's former friend in charge of the dragon troops lent to Pedda by the Dragon Lord. Alas, they cannot prevent the fall of Valsena and the planting of yet another Black Mirror. They later battle against General Baxilios herself, who planted a Mirror in Nevarl, and ally with Loki and Valda. The Queen of Altena conjures a blizzard to freeze the invading Peddan troops, but General Baxilios dispels it with yet another Black Mirror of Esina (Anise spelled backwards), which she places in the Altenian royal palace after killing the queen. This plunges Roget into near despair, as nothing they did could even stall Pedda's progress.
Returning to Wendel, the heroes find it attacked by King Inath himself, aboard his flying flagship the Guldrea. Inath offers them to join him and become his officers, but they refuse, Roget's pleas falling into deaf ears. They defeat him in battle, but he leaves unimpressed and taunts them. The Elemental Spirits join the heroes one by one, enabling them to score their first victories, crushing Pedda's invasion of Wendel with an ancient flying fortress from Altena called the Luzio Malis and its powerful warp cannons.
The Black Mirror of Anise.
Princess Minerva is freed by the Wind Elemental Jinn, leading to Olbex's death in a failed suicide attack. Next, Juhani fights a heartbroken Roget to the death before expiring in his arms. A coalition of every fallen kingdom takes back Lowenburg and defeats Nevarl, but Inath reveals that Baxilios has placed the last Black Mirror in Wendel, with the real intent to drain all Mana and engulf Fa'Diel in Psi.
The coalition gains in strength and the heroes awake the Winged Defender, the White Dragon Flammie who helps them. Elena, Juhani's sister and Roget's former betrothed, attacks them with Dark Magic granted by General Baxilios to avenge her brother. When defeated, she prefers killing herself than relenting. The heroes storm the capital city of Pedda but fall in a trap, as Inath and Baxilios destroy it with the Vel Vimana's laser cannons, sacrificing their entire people.
The heroes reach the Jungle of Illusion and the Mirage Palace, where the real Black Mirror of Esina is located, draining Mana from the Mana Tree itself by using its copies in every realm. There, they confront the Mirage Bishop, Roget's twin (or other half, it is not really clear), who is overseeing Operation Psi.
The Mirage Bishop traps the Elemental Spirits within the Black Mirror and reveals that it channels the power of Anise. He then traps everyone in the Dark World formed from the Mirror's reflection and the power it absorbed, before going there along with Inath and Baxilios, but the Mana Goddess sends the Sword of Mana there for Roget to gain.
General Baxilios possessed by Anise: The Goddess of Doom.
The heroes defeat the Bishop and an army of dark clones of themselves spawned from Anise’s power, whom Baxilios calls "Anise's children", but it is revealed that Anise chose Baxilios in fact, letting the Bishop delusionally fancy himself as her chosen one able to use the Black Mirror to create a new universe.
Anise uses Baxilios as her vessel, engulfing Inath and the Bishop in the process, and transforming her into the gigantic Goddess of Doom. She turns the Dark World into the Sea of Chaos, from which she could obliterate the multiverse.
The heroes manage to take down the Goddess of Doom, who further transform into Anise' Incarnation made of darkness. She shrugs off all of their attacks, until Cecilia Baxilios' soul appears to Yurchael, revealing that Anise fed on her grief of losing their child to miscarriage, and that the evil goddess can only be killed by breaking her Mirror with the Sword of Mana. This reverts Anise's Incarnation to her Goddess of Doom form, and Flammie appears to knock her away from the Black Mirror, enabling Roget to throw the Sword in it, destroying it and her demonic creator, saving every universe.
Finally freed from Anise's corruption, the Mirage Bishop's soul appears to Roget and his team before fading, revealing that all the souls stolen by the Black Mirror will be restored and the damage undone, but that the ruins of Pedda will remain for eternity outside of time and space. Having lost his home and family, Roget decides to travel through the rift through time and space torn by the battle to destroy Anise in every world she exists, to purge the multiverse from her blight. All his friends join him in his quest, but no-one in Fa'Diel will remember them, nor even the events of this war.
The Final Battle
The Goddess of Doom is difficult to defeat. She is very resilient, and her attacks are powerful, but she seldom uses them. If she kills Roget or destroys the flagship, the game is lost. She creates doubles of herself causing a deadly explosion of lilac energy when taken down, and spawns monsters to back herself up. Destroying her monsters enables the heroes to farm materials and items, backing them up in the battle. The Goddess attacks with yellow explosions and giant exploding sphere of purple energy. The Goddess is hard to distinguish from her doubles, and she can teleport and substitute herself with a double.
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Anise's incarnation.
When she becomes Anise's Incarnation, the battle becomes way harder. She still spawns monsters and doubles of the Goddess of Doom, and her attacks are devastating, easily able to take down squadrons even from far away.
She will spam grey crescent-shaped waves, fire a gigantic lilac-colored shockwave, and surround herself with a gigantic dark sphere causing many deadly dark explosions around her. She must be swarmed by every possible unit the heroes can create and never be approached more than necessary.
After Baxilios' spirit appears, Anise must be attacked until she reverts to the Goddess of Doom.
Trials of Mana (Remake)
Anise was absent from the original game, his Dark Majesty's predecessor not being characterised yet. However, she is featured in the remake as the True Final Boss, who resurfaces without needing a vessel as Mana is nearly totally depleted. Her story is unlocked after the Final Boss is beaten, yet takes place in-universe just before the final battle.
As the main villain (either his Dark Majesty, the Dragon Lord or the Masked Mage depending on the selected hero) has absorbed the slain Benevodons' power and just killed the exhausted Mana Goddess, preparing to take her place, she resurfaces deep within Mavolia. She briefly wonders where she is, but quickly perceives the state of the world and prepares to annihilate it. Fortunately, a great archmage from eons ago named Master Grand Croix preserved all his knowledge into a sentient magic tome that awakes in the Royal Library of Valsena.
Just as they are about to challenge the main villain, the heroes are told to go to the library, where Grand Croix's tome explains that Anise is about to open Mavolia upon Fa'Diel to obliterate it. To stand a chance against her, the heroes must reach the legendary Fourth Character Class, by each earning a specific sphere.
The knight Duran must speak to the Hero King Richard of Valsena to earn the Valor Sphere. There, he must defeat one on one the Bruiser knight he beat at the start in a tournament. He is at level 50 and fights like a knight enemy, but the real challenge is an echo of his late father Loki at level 65, who is also fought alone. He fights exactly as he did as the Darkshine Knight, but even faster, mightier and tougher, using most of Duran's deadliest techniques.
The mage princess Angela must speak to her mother the True Queen Valda of Altena to earn the Sage Sphere. To restore its power, she must venture into the Labyrinth of Ice and overcome a reflection of herself alone, in a Trial of Queenship. At level 65, her double is a tough foe, fighting with her staff and casting most of her deadliest spells.
The beastman prince Kevin must speak to his father King Gauser of Ferolia to earn the Instinct Sphere. There, he is challenged by a guard coveting the throne, who turns into a level 50 Silver Wolf enemy. But the real challenge is Gauser himself, fought one on one under his wolfman form. At level 65, he is considerably strong and resilient. He can smash the ground, cause a whirlwind with a flurry of blows, and uses most of Kevin's deadliest techniques.
The half-elf cleric Charlotte must speak to her grandfather the Elven Elder to earn the Hope Sphere. She must destroy a gigantic level 65 Revenant in the Woods of Wandara, flanked by ghouls and zombies of the same level. It is huge and very strong but is fought like a normal monster by all heroes, before meeting echoes of her late parents.
The ninja thief Hawkeye must speak to his adoptive sister Jessica to earn the Loyal Sphere. He must search the Fiery Gorge for the Guild's treasure, hidden by his late friend Eagle from Belladonna and kept by a gigantic, level 65 Mimiqueen. It uses mighty attacks but is fought like a chest-monster by all heroes, before meeting Eagle's echo.
The amazon princess Riesz (Lise) speak to her caregiver Alma in Laurent to earn the Kind Sphere. It is found in the Somnosa Meadow where her late parents Queen Minerva and King Joster were crowned, protected by the Empreeb, a female humanoid bee creature at level 65, flanked by two level 53 Bee Lancer monsters. It is very fast and strong, and uses most of Riesz's deadliest spear techniques, but is fought by all heroes, before meeting her parents' echoes.
Anise taunts the heroes as they return to Grand Croix, having noticed the archmage's scrying. She opens a portal to Mavolia in the sky and dares the heroes to face her, delaying her apocalypse for the sake of her amusement. They change to Class Four and venture within her dark realm, filled with mighty monsters and twisted mimicries of their homelands. There, they destroy Anise who is not even phased, knowing that she will return sooner or later.
Confronting Anise
| “ | Writhe, worthless mana worms! Fall from the tower of your dreams and wallow in the pits of despair! Feed me with your pain! | „ |
| ~ Anise to the heroes before their battle. |
Anise is a formidable foe at level 75. Her attacks are telegraphed by red zones and she can be knocked out open for attacks. She floats around, teleports and is protected by four level 73 Elemental Crystals that cast spells of their elements and must be destroyed. The heroes must weaken her and boost themselves. Anise can summon a double of herself and level 60 Shadow Zeds that transform into monsters or heroes, conjures a demon hand under one hero, causes explosions at close range, and casts Counterattack (a dark blast) or Super Shackles (a rain of light orbs).
Dragon Anise, her true demonic form.
At level 76, Dragon Anise is mightier and tougher. She takes most of the screen but is fast and spry, complicating dodging. Her head is vulnerable but harder to reach. She casts spells on all heroes at once, including Annihilate that kills lower-level targets, and still summons Shadow Zeds.
She charges, flies and dives in the ground to erupt under a hero, poisons with her bites, shrinks heroes at contact, turns one to a snowman with Artic Beam or all to harmless Moogles with Flash, which must be cured. She casts Destructo Bomb (damaging explosions on the ground), Ruin Wail (purple circles on the ground) and Set Trap (huge fireballs that explode when near). When she creates Dark Crystals, they must be destroyed before she can cast the devastating Scarlet Dust: a flashing pyroclastic blast.
 Villains
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Final Fantasy Adventure / Sword of Mana Secret of Mana Trials of Mana Legend of Mana Dawn of Mana Heroes of Mana Echoes of Mana | ||