Menardi

Official artwork of Menardi
Menardi
Species	Human
Hair color	Blonde
Eye color	Red
Relatives	Karst (sister)
Debut	Golden Sun

Menardi is a member of the Mars Clan who acts as the main antagonist of Golden Sun along with her partner Saturos.

Background

Menardi was part of the Mars Clan who presided in Prox and was one of their strongest warriors. Her only known relative was a younger sister named Karst. Prox was actually in danger due to the dropping temperatures which made the land into a frigid wasteland. The Proxians found that the only saw to save their home was to reawaken the sealed art of Alchemy, as Mars Lighthouse would provide the necessary warmth to reverse this cooling effect. Prox made attempts to negotiate with Vale, where the secrets of Alchemy were kept, but these entreaties fell on deaf ears. Instead, a group was assembled to covertly sneak into Mount Aleph's Sol Sanctum and find the Elemental Stars, which were needed to re-activate the four elemental lighthouses and undo the seal. Menardi and Saturos were both part of this group. The plan went awry, however, when they accidentally set off a trap that caused a giant storm to terrorize Vale. Saturos and Menardi were the only members of their party to survive and escape Sol Sanctum. When they tried to regroup outside, they found a pair of locals, Isaac and Garet, eavesdropping on them. They decided to make the two forget what they'd head and defeated them easily in a quick battle. Saturos and Menardi left them alive, likely only trying to beat them enough to forget what they had overheard in the last few minutes.

Menardi and Saturos also wound up saving some Vale villagers who were nearly killed by the storm. At Prox, Saturos decided that three of them would be taken hostages to convince the fourth, the young Felix, to help them in their quest. They were also eventually joined by a mysterious fourth companion known as Alex. Three years later, they were finally ready to make their second attempt to enter Sol Sanctum. This time, they persuaded the scholar Kraden to go in their stead by telling him everything they knew about the Sol Sanctum. As they expected, this provoked Kraden's curiousity, so he entered the Sol Sanctum accompanied by his pupils, Isaac, Garet and Jenna. Menardi and Saturos tailed them the whole time, and Isaac's group was able to solve the puzzles that they were unable to. This eventually led them all to a strange area which held the four Elemental Stars. Menardi and Saturos revealed themselves after Isaac and Garet had collected three of the Stars from throughout the area. They took Jenna and Kraden hostage in order to force him to hand over the three stars and then collect the fourth, having Felix unmask himself in order to gain their trust. Thus they received the first three Elemental Stars, but just as Isaac grabbed the fourth, the Mars Star, an eruption began in Mount Aleph, and the mysterious Wise One appeared. The group decided they had to cut their losses and run, taking Jenna and Kraden with them as insurance in case Isaac and Garet really did survive with the Mars Star.

They soon made it to Mercury Lighthouse and succeeded in igniting its beacon using the Mercury Star. Isaac's group caught up with them was they were departing. Menardi saw no choice but to finish them off, but then Saturos volunteered to take them all down alone. Menardi escorted the hostages away from the lighthouse while Saturos fought them. She also held the Elemental Stars at this point so that Saturos could not lose them when he was defeated. Their next stop was the continent of Gondowan, where they sought the Venus Lighthouse. They picked up one more hostage, Sheba, along the way, as they needed a Jupiter Adept to round out their group's collective elemental abilities. After navigating the Venus Ruins, they made their way up to the top of Venus Lighthouse. Saturos and Menardi went up to the top with Sheba while trusting Felix to evacuate the others to their ship at Idejima. Felix, however, defied their orders and confronted them at Venus Lighthouse's aerie in an attempt to convince them to release Sheba. This caused them to lose their trust in Felix and almost fought him when Isaac's group arrived. They first attempted to negotiate with Saturos and Menardi for Sheba's safety, and Menardi was initially confused when Saturos agreed to take the Shaman's Rod from them in exchange for Sheba's safety. However, it then became clear to her and the others that Saturos had conned them by only promising that Sheba would be safe, not that he would release her. Menardi and Saturos then battled Isaac's group together, but they were still defeated.

They were both left lying beaten on the floor, but Saturos was still able to toss the Venus Star into the lighthouse. As the lighthouse was activated, the Venus Lighthouse boosted Saturos and Menardi's powers greatly due to the Venus Psynergy's symbiotic relationship with Mars Psynergy. With this power boost, Menardi and Saturos were able to fuse together and form a two-headed Fusion Dragon as their last-ditch effort to defeat Isaac's group. Despite their power, they were defeated again and reverted to their original forms. Menardi wondered how they could have lost despite their superiority. Menardi and Saturos then chose to kill themselves by tossing themselves into the lighthouse's beacon.

Abilities

Menardi is a Mars Adept and thus uses primarily fire-based Psynergy in battle. with her most powerful ability being Supernova. She also has the Venus-based Death Size attack, which is accompanied by an afterimage of a Grim Reaper with a scythe and could potentially be a one-hit kill. She also knows some Psynergies which can restore health and increase resistance. Her normal weapon is some type of double-ended scythe.

Trivia

• She is replaced by her sister Karst in the sequel.
• In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Menardi is alluded to in the Sun Saga books which summarize the plots of the first two games, although her and Saturos's presence is downplayed in favor of Alex and Felix, who are treated as if they were the true antagonists, likely reflecting the in-universe perspective of the first games' events. Her likeness is also used as a target at the end of the second area of the Training Grounds, which also are intended as retellings of the first two games' stories.