Death Jester

The **Death Jester** is a major antagonist in the game *Seiken Densetsu 3*, who serves as the third-in-command yet main agent of the Masked Mage. He is an immensely powerful and demonic Death Clown devourer of souls, and the archenemy of the beastman Kevin, one of the six playable characters. Another Death Clown very similar to him serves as a minor villain in the game *Sword of Mana*.

## *Seiken Densetsu 3*

### Introduction

Death Jester is a vicious, dangerous, bloodthirsty, and sadistic demon with a macabre sense of humour, who enjoys taunting and disparaging people while bluntly pushing their buttons. He travels through portals of darkness and feeds upon dead souls, which he considers a delicacy. He prominently appears in Kevin's story (the half-breed prince of the beastmen kingdom of Ferolia).

He one day presented himself in Ferolia, where his magical powers made a great impression on the king himself, who appointed him as his advisor. He displayed his power by turning Kevin's only friend, the wolf pup Karl, into a wolf monster that attacked him, forcing him to kill him in self-defence while awakening his beastman power.

A grieving Kevin furiously attacked his father, King Gauser of Ferolia, who soundly trounced him and sent him away. (It is revealed much later that it was but an illusion and that Karl was alive and well, something the king knew full well, viewing it as a test of Kevin's might and worth.)

Death Jester later influenced the beastmen to wage war on the other nations; using their resentment towards humans (who prejudiced them) for his own goals. Little did they know that he was trying to unseal the eight Mana Stones on the Masked Mage’s behalf, so as to free the God Beasts. Death Jester tricked Kevin by telling him that Karl could be revived with the power of the Mana Stones, prompting the prince to start a journey.

Later, Death Jester saw a teenage priest mage of Wendel named Heath killing three beastmen that had attacked him and his friend, the half-elf Carlie (another playable character). Sensing that the boy's potential could prove helpful to his lord, he effortlessly knocked him out with a spell. He vanished with his victim, swatting Carlie away when she tried to stop him. Later, the Masked Mage brainwashed Heath and released his full power, making him his right-hand-man.

### In Game

If the player choses Kevin or Carlie as the first of their three playable characters, the Masked Mage will serve as the final boss and Death Jester will serve as a major villain. If not, the Masked Mage and Heath will be killed by the game's true final boss when the game's heroes reach the Mana Holyland. Death Jester will then flee to the Holyland and tell the heroes about his situation, before being caught and killed by the final boss' generals.

When the heroes reach the Holyland, Death Jester helps his lord and Heath to kill the others villains. He then waits alongside Heath, until the heroes obtain the legendary Sword of Mana from the Mana Goddess, and abducts the heroes' Fairy guide. When the heroes relinquish the Sword to him in exchange for the Fairy's life, he uses the blade to release the God Beasts and unleashes the Masked Mage's armies of monsters all around the world of Fa'Diel.

After the God Beasts are destroyed, he awaits the heroes in the Jungle of Illusions, and can only be found with the Mirror of Illusions. After defeating him, the party reaches the Mirage Palace where Heath and the Masked Mage are waiting for them.

### Boss Battle

Death Jester is a highly powerful boss, at level 44 and with 12606 life-points, who can put up a serious challenge. He divides himself into three clowns, who jump around and strike your characters with their scythes. The real Death Jester is the one who casts attack spells, but he always hides between his doubles. Use the multi-target spells to see who gets hit, or Make each of your three characters attack a different clown to spot the one who get hurt and attack him as much as you can.

Death Jester uses the strongest spells of the Wind, Fire, Water and Earth elements, and the weakest spells of the Shadow and Light elements. He can cast a spell on every target, which increases its power, and his most dangerous attack Death Roulette strikes at random for a one-hit-kill. He has no elemental weakness but magic is not the best weapon against him. Instead, pummel him with weapons and special attacks. Be careful for he violently counterattacks when hit
with a too powerful technique.

## *Rise of Mana*

The Death Jester, Koren and Bigieu 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.

This game features two protagonists from warring species of the Spirit Realm, the divine Rasta and demonic Daruka, who are sent to 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 herself to bring peace between the two species.

When fought as a boss, the Death Jester is flanked by two powerful werewolf monsters. He jumps around swiftly and swipes his scythe, stabs the ground, performs spinning strikes, swings it to send a yellow energy blade, spins it to conjure a tornado, and conjures a green lightning bolt that blasts the ground if it strikes the characters. The werewolves strike and surround themselves with a purple aura to attack. Death Jester is powerful but not that hard to defeat. The protagonists just need to dodge his attacks and retaliate while dealing with the monsters on the sides.

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.

## *Sword of Mana*

Another Demon Clown devourer of souls appears in this remake of the first *Mana* game (called *Final Fantasy Adventure* in Occident). While there are chronological links tying *Dawn of Mana*, *Children of Mana*, *Heroes of Mana* and *Seiken Densetsu 3*, most games were stated by the developers to take place in distinct continuities, making the two villains counterparts.

Death Jester's counterpart goes by the name Goremand (from "gore" and "gourmand", French word for "greedy for food"). He looks exactly the same and has the same powers, but he is even more cruel and disturbing, his sense of humour being even darker and his false courtesy hardly veils his scorn.

Goremand serves as one of the major servants of the Dark Lord (counterpart of the Dark Prince), alongside the mage Julius and later the shape-shifting Demon Lady Isabella (counterpart of Bigieu). Contrary to Death Jester's staunch loyalty for the Masked Mage's cause, Goremand is a wild card who only sides with the one who can provide him with more souls to devour, and switches allegiances on a whim.

Goremand works in the side-lines and the protagonists never fight him. He appears when the Hero is forced to fight and kill the Dark Lord's brother Devius, in order to devour his soul. Later, when the protagonists defeat the Dark Lord, he once again appears from nowhere and taunts the Dark Lord and his distraught lover Isabella, before eating his former lord's soul. Enraged, Isabella reverts to her original cat-like form and attacks him, but he manages to escape.

Goremand's final fate is left unclear, but it can be guessed that Isabella will track him down relentlessly until she can kill him.

## *Lord of Vermilion III*

Death Jester, Koren and Bigieu 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.