Kraden

Official artwork of Kraden
Kraden
Species	Human
Hair color	Gray
Eye color	Blue
Age	Around 100 (as of Dark Dawn)
Debut	Golden Sun

Kraden is an elderly scholar who appears as a supporting character in Golden Sun as well as its sequels Golden Sun: The Lost Age and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, playing the most active role in the middle game.

Background

Kraden was born in a small and obscure village that he retained only hazy memories of in his elder years. As a child, he showed signs of extraordinary intelligence. He was such a prodigy that he came to the attention of Tolbi's ruler Babi at the mere age of four. Babi took Kraden under his wing and raised him to serve as his greatest scholar. Kraden appreciated Babi and this empowered lifestyle he had gained, but he always wondered what life with his true parents and the comfort of a true home would be like. He considered himself a scientist and grew very wise, although he was also known to act light-hearted and eccentric most of the time. Kraden has been described as being clever but stubborn.

He came to specialize in the study of Alchemy and was appointed a special task by Babi: to find the hidden society of Lemuria. That was where Babi had found the drought which he had used to keep himself young, and Babi needed more due to his stores being depleted. Kraden eventually grew old in his studies, while Babi remained the same age due to his drought. His lack of progress in his search for Lemuria led to him being sent to Vale, so that there he could try to unlock the secrets of Alchemy, such as the immortality-granting Stone of Sages. However, he was forbidden from entering Mount Aleph, the place which held most of the secrets, so his research was limited.

Golden Sun

During his time in Vale, Kraden became a mentor to the young ones there. Isaac, Garet and Jenna began visiting him regularly to learn about Psynergy under him. One day, he was first visited by two shady figures, Saturos and Menardi, who had a proposition. They told Kraden everything that they had learned about the hidden Sol Sanctum within Mount Aleph in hopes of arousing his curiousity. It did indeed hit his curiosity as well as his suspicion, as he saw those two strangers knew more about Mount Aleph than Vale's elders. He also learned that hidden within Sol Sanctum were the four Elemental Stars, which were the keys to restoring Alchemy, so it was likely that he had the ulterior motive of advancing his mission of Babi at the same time.

He decided to sneak into Mount Aleph and investigate the strangers' claims, and he convinced Isaac, Garet and Jenna to help him. With the help of the three young Adepts, they were eventually able to reach the chamber that had contained the four Elemental Stars. Kraden was hesitant to collect them himself due to the treacherous footing, but Jenna was quick to force Isaac and Garet to do all of the work by themselves. To store the Elemental Stars, Kraden gave them several Mythril bags that he had prepared for such an occasion. After the boys had grabbed three of the Elemental Stars, Saturos and Menardi intervened, accompanied by their two companions: Alex and a masked boy who turned out to be Jenna's missing brother Felix.

Kraden and Jenna were held as hostages in order to force Isaac and Garet to hand over the first three Elemental Stars. Kraden apologized due to being responsible for this whole debacle. The boys than grabbed the Mars Star, but this caused a sudden eruption within the area as well as the appearance of Mount Aleph's guardian, the Wise One. Saturos's group panicked and ultimately made the decision to leave Isaac and Garet behind while taking Jenna and Kraden with them as they evacuated the cave. Saturos wanted to hold onto Kraden and Jenna as insurance to get the Mars Star in the event that they boys survived. Kraden actually supported their plans to light all four of the lighthouses, which would revive Alchemy in the world. This was because, as the journey continued, Kraden built up a theory that it was the seal on Alchemy which had caused all the great civilizations of the past to disappear, and without Alchemy the world would eventually wane away. Kraden confided these thoughts only to Felix for the time being, acting as a mentor to the young lad.

Saturos's group succeeded in lighting the Mercury Lighthouse. When the time came to reach the Venus Lighthouse, Kraden played some role in helping to guide them towards the hidden entrance, while at the same time he made sure to protect Sheba, the young girl who was the group's latest hostage. Afterwards, he and Jenna were sent to wait by their ship at Idejima. When they arrived there, Kraden tried to get the ship going, with Jenna comparing him to a kid with a new toy, but Kraden found that they could not start it because they lacked "the thingie that makes it go". Venus Lighthouse was eventually lit, but a huge earthquake and tidal wave was caused as a result. This split Idejima off from the rest of Gondowan and set it adrift at sea. Kraden and Jenna were pondering the fates of the others when Alex arrived and alerted them to the presence of Felix and Sheba, who had washed ashore nearby.

The Lost Age

When Felix and Sheba woke up, they told Kraden and the others about the events at the lighthouse, including the deaths of Saturos and Menardi. They stopped when they realized that the floating Idejima was approaching the continent of Indra. On top of that, Kraden spotted a giant tidal wave that was making its way towards them. The wave and the collision with Indra knocked them all out, but they all soon awakened and regrouped despite Alex's conspicuous disappearance. They decided that their next goal was to find a ship that could take them to the Western Sea, where the last two lighthouses were located. As they proceeded on their journey, Kraden gave Felix advice in most situations and usually acted as the voice of the group when meeting with others. He was also constantly excited by all the new discoveries they made during the adventure, even when they found werewolves at Garoh. They eventually met Piers, who actually was older than Kraden and in fact was a Lemurian, which excited Kraden as he finally had a link to the lost city. They faced some problems, as Piers initially refused to bring anyone associated with Babi back to Lemuria, due to Babi's status there as a thief. Kraden was still intent on going, arguing that his mission for Babi was only a small part of his reason for seeking Lemuria as he had come to truly desire to see and study Lemuria and what the unbound Psynergy there was like.

Piers eventually relented to Kraden's request after he saw that they were truly good people. They then traveled across the Eastern Sea, slowly assembling everything that they needed to access Lemuria. They met Alex at one point, who taunted them with the knowledge that Babi had died, which shocked Kraden. They suspected that Alex had told them that in order to eliminate Kraden's reason for being on the quest. Kraden was remained dedicated due to his theory about the world's decay, but he refused to tell the others about that reason for the time being. They eventually reached Lemuria, where Kraden was in a constant state of wonder as he beheld all of the ancient structures. Lemuria's status seemed to confirm Kraden's theory about Alchemy's importance to the world, which he related to the rest of the group.

They then had an audience with King Hydros, and that he found that Hydros was already mulling over a theory more advanced than Kraden's. The lack of Alchemy was actually causing the continents to shrink. With a newfound purpose in their journey, they then set off towards the Eastern Sea to find the last two lighthouses. At Jupiter Lighthouse, they were finally reunited with Isaac's group. They saved Isaac's group from an ambush that was sprung by Alex's new companions, Agatio and Karst. Kraden then stayed behind to help Garet out of a trap and helped to watch over the others while Felix and eventually the rest of his group went up to light the beacon. Jupiter Lighthouse's beacon was lit, and the two groups decided to convene at Contigo in order to finally talk things out, as Isaac had been questing to stop the lighthouses from being lit. Kraden helped to explain to Isaac's group everything that they learned about Alchemy's importance to preserving the world. Isaac eventually relented, and it was decided that the two groups would pool their strengths together in order to light the final beacon at Mars Lighthouse.

As they departed from Contigo, Sheba expressed her sorrow that she never learned about her true parents or home. Kraden then related his own story to her of how he had been separated from his parents and yearned for a real home ever since, which was able to cheer Sheba up and helped her to appreciate her loving adoptive parents. They then made their way towards the Mars Lighthouse and, after an arduous climb, they finally reached its aerie only to find The Wise One waiting to stop them. Kraden was surprised that Isaac was on a first name basis with the Wise One and attempted to point out the dangers of leaving Alchemy sealed. The Wise One, however, refused to listen to their objections and summoned a three-headed Doom Dragon that he referred to as a "miracle" that would stop them, as he was bound to not interfere directly with their actions.

Kraden recalled that the two-headed dragon that Isaac and Felix battled earlier was actually a transformed version of Agatio and Karst. He was then able to guess that the three-headed Doom Dragon was actually a transformed merger of Prox's three missing hostages, who were Isaac's father and Felix's parents. Kraden tried to call Felix back from fighting the Doom Dragon, but it was too late. Everyone saw the truth after the Doom Dragon was slain, with Kraden lamenting that the Wise One played such a cruel trick in an attempt to stop them from lighting the beacon. Kraden tried to comfort Jenna and urged Felix to place the Mars Star in the beacon, while he felt sorry about the lost parents, whom he had considered to be dear friends during his time at Vale. Felix placed the Mars Star, which caused the formation of the Golden Sun and the awakening of Alchemy throughout the world. They then received a warning from The Wise One urging them that they should leave the lighthouses, which were no longer safe with the formation of the Golden Sun.

They all regrouped and recovered from the final battles at Prox. Even the seemingly dead parents were alive again, restored by the release of Fire Psynergy. Kraden pondered this miracle as they made their way back to Vale. Isaac and Garet wondered whether or not Vale would still be intact. Kraden had some doubts, but at the same time he believed that if anything had happened to Vale, The Wise One would have evacuated them just as he had done for those in the lighthouses. Isaac questioned The Wise One's actions, and Kraden did his best to answer despite admitting that they could not truly guess the Wise One's motives, due to his nature as an all-powerful being. He guessed that the Wise One had known that the parents would be revived afterwards and had only set up the sadistic battle in order to test them. By being willing to sacrifice everything for their quest, Isaac and Felix had proved that they were worthy of controlling Alchemy, so that there would be a chance that the world would not use it primarily for evil. In the end, Kraden told Isaac that it was up to him to find the answer to these questions for himself. They finally returned to Vale to find it in ruins. Kraden was saddened by this tragedy, but everyone's disposition reversed when Vale's villagers showed up alive, having been evacuated by The Wise One as Kraden had predicted.

Dark Dawn

Kraden did not age over the next thirty years due to his exposure to the Golden Sun, so he remained an old man. He traveled and continued to study Alchemy now that it was freely released in the world. Kraden also occasionally visited Isaac and Garet, who were studying the after-effects of the Golden Sun near Vale's remains, and he once met Isaac's son Matthew when he was just a child. At one point, he also went on another adventure with Isaac and Garet (possibly others) to steal a feather from the giant mountain roc. He eventually gained a pair of assistants in the form of Mia's daughter and son, Nowell and Rief.

In the time of Dark Dawn, his travels brought him to Angara once more, and he made plans to visit Isaac. Before he could arrive, Isaac sent him word that he was sending Matthew as well as Ivan's daughter Karis and Garet's son Tyrell on a quest to retrieve another feather from a mountain roc for them. Kraden gladly obliged, as he claimed that he would always perform favors for Isaac. They were first supposed to meet at Carver's Camp, but a broken bridge made that nearly impossible. Kraden decided to spend the time investigating the Konpa Ruins, and he left word that this would be his new meeting place with Matthew's group. Kraden was then enchanted by a mysterious machine that seemed to be generating a nearby Psynergy Vortex. This quickly ended when they were surrounded by mysterious guards, and Kraden realized that Rief had been captured. Matthew's group arrived in time to help them while Blados, Chalis and their masked comrade confronted them. The masked man taunted Kraden, who found his voice familiar but did not yet recognize him as Alex. They had captured Reif and claimed to have placed him at one of the two exits. After a quick discussion, it was decided that Kraden and Nowell would check the northern exit while Matthew's group would check the southern exit. It was Matthew's group that found the right exit, but Blados and Chalis set off an explosion that caved in the way back.

Separated from Matthew's group, Kraden and Nowell made their way to Biliblin in hopes that Matthew's group could cross the mountains and catch up with them there. They waited for some time, but Matthew's group never arrived. Kraden and Nowell later had Piers ferry them to Belinsk when they realized that Matthew's group might have been getting in over their head. Nowell wound up staying on the ship wiith Piers due to her falling in love with him. Kraden arrived in Belinsk around the time that the Eclipse Tower had been activated, which distressed Kraden greatly. Kraden had studied enough to know about the Eclipse Tower and the danger that it posed. He quickly made his way to Belinsk Castle, where he was finally reunited with Matthew's group. He attempted to give quick and partial explanations while voicing his suspicions that they were all being manipulated by the masked man, whom he now knew was Alex despite hearing of his current alias of Arcanus. Kraden suggested a speedy evacuation, and they made their way towards the piers where Briggs's ship was waiting to pick them up. They found Briggs dead on the ship, but his son Eoleo was able to man it in a safe evacuation while Belinsk was ravaged by the monsters that the Grave Eclipse had summoned. Kraden told them some of what he knew about, but he admitted that his studies were mostly of the past and irrelevant. He encouraged Matthew to figure out more things on his own.

They then sailed across the Western Sea, with Kraden being reunited with some familiar faces along the way as they gathered everything that they needed to reach the Apollo Sanctum. The Apollo Sanctum contained the Apollo Lens, the only thing that could stop the eclipse. Kraden also pondered Alex's motives after learning that Alex had met with Emperor Unan and taken steps in helping them to reach Apollo Sanctum. They finally reached the sanctum and began to activate the Apollo Lens. At this time, Alex, Blados and Chalis showed up to confront them. Kraden called Alex out by his true identity, admitting that he had been tossed off by Alex calling himself Arcanus. Alex actually seemed be trying to help them activate the Apollo Lens and disappeared after trying to fight Blados and Chalis. Kraden watched as Matthew's group defeated Blados and Chalis, followed by the Chaos Chimera. He then urged Matthew on in activating the Apollo Lens. With the help of Sveta and Volechuk, it was successful. With that crisis averted, they all regrouped at Belinsk before going their separate ways. Kraden left to continue traveling and studying with Rief. However, Rief had advanced to the point where Kraden considered that Rief would be learning not from Kraden, but from the world around him.

Trivia

• One easter egg in The Lost Age is a humorous, drawn-out outburst that Kraden delivers to Felix at Lemuria's entrance, which is unlocked by the player having Felix making certain choices in the game up to that point, mostly the answers that are selfish or negative in nature, particularly ones in which he refused information about Lemuria. The final straw is refusing to enter Lemuria to the guard outside.