The Crimson Wizard (Wizard of the Red Lotus in Japanese), is an extremely powerful young wizard and a major villain in the video game Trials of Mana. He is the right-hand man of the Dragon Lord, and the archenemy of both the knight Duran and the mage princess Angela, two of the six playable heroes.
Background
| “ | When I was younger, I was unable to use magic. Ashamed at my own powerlessness and disgusted with my lot in life, I fled Altena. […] He offered me a deal. In exchange for half of my life-force, I was given control of the Dragon Lord's limitless power! […] I only have half of my life as it is. The dark power given to me can't replace what he took of my life-force. I will never be whole... Is there even a reason to go on? | „ |
| ~ The Crimson Wizard telling his story after his defeat. |
The Crimson Wizard was born in Altena, the Kingdom of Sorcery almost entirely populated by mages. For reasons unknown, he displayed no magic potential to his great shame. He states to have suffered and his boss dialogue in the remake adds that he worked hard in vain. The fan translation adds that the master teacher was hard on him.
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The Crimson Wizard's original artwork.
He eventually ran away and ended up in Dragonsmaw, where the Dragon Lord was felled fifteen years before the start of the game.
The evil dragon's spirit tempted the boy with the power he craved, offering him access to his own incredible magical might in exchange of half his life-force.
The soon-to-become Crimson Wizard accepted and partially revived his new liege, but he soon got corrupted by the Dragon Lord's dark power.
Now the Dragon Lord's right-hand man, the Crimson Wizard came back to Altena and used his new-found power to quickly rise in rank. He was appointed as supreme commander of the Altenian army and the prime advisor of the Altenian monarch: Valda, the True Queen.
The Wizard brainwashed Valda and started ruling Altena through her in secret. He had Altena declare war to other nations, with the ultimate goal of unsealing the eight Mana Stones, in which the Benevodons lay imprisoned since the Dawn of Times.
About the Crimson Wizard
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The Crimson Wizard's new artwork.
Official info describe the Crimson Wizard as a twenty-year-old, 178 cm tall young man weighing 62 kgs. His power is estimated as equal to that of the Queen's, Altena's most powerful mage, and is certainly greater as he could make her do as he pleased. He is equal in power to the Tainted Soul and Belladonna, though he appears the most magic-adept, being the human character with the widest array of attack spells.
Moreover, he masters six elements out of eight with equal proficiency (it must be noted that the latter two lack attack spells), indicating great versatility.
Despite his enormous might, he only displays "classical" feats of magic like magical movement, levitation, teleportation, sight and talk where he is not physically present, mind-control, and creature summoning aside from fighting.
Who the Wizard really was before his fateful bargain is unknown, aside from shame of his powerlessness and his implied torment. In his last moments, he realizes how unfulfilling it was and loses all will to live, though he proves grateful for the heroes’ sympathy. (The unofficial fan-translation implies that he endured contempt and has him display utter self-loathing and regret in the end.)
From this, it can be gathered that he was quite nice and affable, if driven by a desire for fitting-in and recognition.
His liege's evil warped his mind and made him haughty, arrogant, cruel, taunting, and sadistic. Ironically for one who suffered from powerlessness, he displays strong contempt for weaker people. He revels in his victims’ torment and mocks what they hold dear. He enjoys toying with his victims, lecturing Duran and playing cat-and-mouse when he could have effortlessly crushed him. He apparently loves to fight, being seen laughing in battle or playfully teasing his foes in the remake. He grows increasingly irked by their meddling, dismissing them as hopeless weaklings at first, before getting exasperated by their persistence.
Still, he is a capable general who trains his troops hard, always fights in the front line and deals personally with missions. Despite his cruelty, he praises his troops in earnest for a job well done, and avoids needlessly risking them when he can send constructs instead.
Game Introduction
| “ | Poor boy. What senile old fool would entrust the security of his castle to a child? Oh? My apologies. You work for the king, do you not? | „ |
| ~ The Crimson Wizard taunting Duran. |
The Crimson Wizard defeats Duran (original artwork).
The Crimson Wizard personally led an attack on the royal castle of the Grassland Kingdom of Valsena, where he effortlessly defeated Duran: the kingdom's best swordsman, the son of the Golden Knight who defeated the Dragon Lord at the cost of his life and one of the six playable characters.
Duran barely survived and swore to become powerful enough to find, to fight and to kill the Crimson Wizard.
At the same time, The Wizard planned to use Angela, the princess of Altena and another playable character who was also unable to perform magic, as a sacrifice to lift the seal on the Mana Stone of Water. (Each Mana Stone needing a different sacrifice.)
He made it appear as a decision of the True Queen herself, and a distraught Angela, using magic for the first time of her life, fled the palace.
Trials of Mana
During the course of the game, the Three Great Evils of the world of Fa'Diel (his Dark Majesty, the Dragon Lord and the Masked Mage) are fighting to unleash the Benevodons before the others. The Crimson Wizard sends the witches of Altena all across, and they send two magic-powered Machine Golems after the heroes, destroying the bridge to Valsena in the process. Later, he and the Darkshine Knight search for the Mana Stones, and he has Valda sacrifice fallen warriors to unseal the Mana Stone of Water.
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The Crimson Wizard in the original game.
They eventually manage to unseal the eight Mana Stones, while the heroes fights their armies and gathers the Elemental Spirits of Mana to reach the Mana Goddess. At one point, Duran confronts the Crimson Wizard again, as he leads hordes of magic constructs in a second attack on Valsena and is about to kill Richard, the Hero King. Duran challenges him, but he just taunts him and teleports away, unimpressed.
When the heroes gather the Elemental Spirits' power to access the Mana Sanctuary, the volcano where the Mana Tree (the incarnation of the Mana Goddess) is located, the Crimson Wizard adds the released Mana Stones' power to that of the Elementals', forcing open an access.
He invades the Sanctuary on the Altenian flying battleship the Gigantress and blasts the heroes with its warp cannons, quickly followed by the other evil factions.
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The Crimson Wizard against Duran in the remake.
In the ensuing battle, the main villain slays all his rivals and their servants. If neither Duran nor Angela was selected as the primary hero, the Dragon Lord and his servants will be slain by the chosen Final Boss. Otherwise, after the heroes meet the Mana Goddess and obtain the mythical Sword of Mana, the Crimson Wizard abducts their Faerie guide and demands the Sword in exchange for her life, leaving them with no choice but to comply.
The Wizard takes the Sword, only to get harmed by its Holy Power, but the Darkshine Knight heals him and they bend the Sword to their will, using it to free the eight Benevodons.
He appears to kill the True Queen of Altena whom he no longer needs, in spite of his promise. (In fact he made her disappear but kept her in the Dragon Lord's lair just in case.) He then departs and unleashes the Dragon Lord's armies of monsters on Fa'Diel.
Render of the Crimson Wizard in the remake.
The heroes track down the Benevodons and destroy them one by one. They then reach Dragonsmaw, the Dragon Lord's lair in the Glass Desert, where they are sarcastically greeted by the Crimson Wizard, who sends a group of powerful monsters against them. The heroes successfully defeat the Darkshine Knight.
The heroes confront the Crimson Wizard and his evil liege, now fully revived. The Dragon Lord wanted them to kill the Benevodons so that their power would be trapped inside the Sword of Mana, enabling him to absorb it and surpass in power the Mana Goddess herself.
However, the Goddess thwarts his scheme with her last strength. Irked, the Dragon Lord then goes to the Mana Sanctuary, intending to destroy the Mana Tree, while the Crimson Wizard stays here to get rid of the heroes.
After a long and difficult battle, the heroes manage to defeat the Wizard, who comes back to his senses and tells them his story. Seeing no point in going on, the Wizard thanks the main hero who tried to rise his spirit, before committing suicide by blowing himself up using the remainder of his magic.
After an unexpected moment of grieving, the heroes head to the Mana Sanctuary to stop the Dragon Lord once and for all.
Boss Battle
| “ | Very well. You will soon understand how defenseless you are in the face of the power of darkness. I will show you myself! | „ |
| ~ The Crimson Wizard (before battle). |
Land Slide (normal).
At level 48 and with 14718 life-points, the Crimson Wizard is a formidable foe, more than a match even for three heroes of a higher level. He masters the spells level 1 and 2 of the Earth, Wind/Thunder, Fire, Water/Ice, Light and Shadow Elements, which he can cast on one hero or all three. Even low-level spells are painful and multi-target spells are mightier than the normal ones.
The Crimson Wizard is very fast: he moves quickly forcing the heroes to chase him all over the arena, and spams spell after spell, being able to cast two (if not three) different ones in a row. The only way to harm him with magic is to cast a spell of either the same element or opposite of his last attack, otherwise it will heal him.
Using spells against the Wizard is not advised though, except with the three mightiest, as he will likely cast another spell before being hit and will then get healed.
The devastating Ancient Curse.
The best way to deal with him is to boost the heroes and to weaken him as much as can be, before harassing him without end with weapons and special techniques. Decreasing his mind stats weakens his attacks.
Healing is necessary as soon as life-points drop under at least 200, but too powerful attacks must be avoided lest he retaliates with a devastating spell. When wounded too much, he starts casting Ancient Curse: the deadliest spell available: MANY explosive meteors dealing crippling damages to every hero.
The Moon Sabre spell heals the heroes when they strike him with weapons. And with the Counter Magic spell or the Matango Oil item, each spell he casts is reflected back and deals damage, (with the exception of Ancient Curse and the multi-target spells). Those two tricks, make the battle much easier.
In the remake, the Crimson Wizard is at level 64. His attacks can be dodged, and even telegraphed with red zones on their area of effect. He floats and warps quickly, spamming advanced versions of normal spells that cover a wide radius, even wider when casting two in a row. He can also strike at close-range with his fire-infused hand, or conjure a fiery tornado around him.
His elemental weakness is known when it changes, but he can escape spells. Beware, Counter Magic can now only reflect one spell per casting. The heroes can destroy the energy spheres around him to prevent him from casting Ancient Curse, which knocks him out and makes him vulnerable. But if he does cast it, the spell is even deadlier.
Rise of Mana
Goremand, Belladonna and the Crimson Wizard in Rise of Mana.
The Crimson Wizard, Belladonna and Goremand make cameo appearances in the mobile phone game Rise of Mana. They serve both as bosses and allies fighting alongside the heroes, even against themselves. They can be faced individually or altogether.
It features two heroes from warring species of the Spirit Realm, the divine Rasta and demonic Daruka, who are sent into the physical planes sharing a body and forced to cooperate. In the end, everything is revealed to have been a successful plot of the Mana Goddess to bring peace between the two species.
When fought as a boss, the Crimson Wizard hovers over the ground flanked by two dangerous machine monsters. He is fast, powerful and resilient, and casts dangerous spells. The heroes must dodge his attacks and pummel him at close range, but spells also work against him.
The two machines deliver whirling blows and turn their head into cannons. The Crimson Wizard uses Fire Magic to conjure two fireballs on each side that blast purple beams, or to conjure from the sky a fireball that causes a huge explosion. He uses Water/Ice Magic to conjure blue circles on the ground, causing huge icicles to erupt from them before they vanish in a circle of blue vapour. He uses Wind/Thunder Magic to conjure many thunderbolts at once.
When fought alongside the other two, they form a considerably dangerous team that unleash long-range and close range combos. Be very careful and dodge and counterattack rather than rushing blindly.
Circle of Mana
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One of the Crimson Wizard's many cards from Circle of Mana
The Crimson Wizard appears in this card-based role-playing game. The characters are played as series of cards to save the Mana Tree from monsters and can evolve to gain power, equipment, and Class Changes. Several cards featuring him are available, each evolving in a distinct path.
Lord of Vermilion III
The Crimson Wizard, Belladonna and Goremand make cameo appearances in the crossover arcade strategy game Lord of Vermilion III, which features collectible cards and battles in open space while controlling units, consisting in characters from many Square Enix games. They serve as powerful units who fight with their spells from the game.
Trivia
- Among the characters only known by their titles in the original Japanese, the Crimson Wizard and the Darkshine Knight are the only ones who do not get an English name.
- For many years, the Crimson Wizard was known as Koren ("Red Lotus" in Japanese) in the unofficial fan-translation. Contrary to the others, it gave him a name and also translated his title.
Video Links
 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 | ||