Chalis is an antagonist along with her partner Blados in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. The two together are commanders from a secretive military nation named Tuaparang, and she encounters Matthew at several points in the game.
Heart, her Japanese name, likely refers to the playing card suit of the same name. This is supported by the heart symbol that adorns her gown. Her English name refers to the equivalent suit of cups or chalices in the Minor Arcana of tarot.
Story[]
Chalis and Blados are two of the more powerful members of a clan that no one on Weyard knew existed, the Umbra Clan. These people are similar to the Adepts of the other clans; however, while the other clans are devoted to the four great Elements that comprise all physical matter of Weyard, the Umbra Clan has somehow tapped into Darkness, one of the other two values that helps complete reality. This makes Chalis an example of what can literally be called a Dark Adept.
The Tuaparang empire, as lorded over by one High Empyror, is described as the "scions" of the Umbra Clan, as in "descendants", and this technologically-advanced, military-focused nation appears on Weyard amidst at least one giant, flying airship within the thirty-year timeframe between The Lost Age and Dark Dawn. Chalis, like the other Adepts of the Umbra Clan, serves the High Empyror and his empire, and she and Blados have received the positions as commanders of the Tuaparang. Chalis is described as an individual of bewitching beauty rarely seen in Angara, and she is cunning and skilled in the art of manipulation. In battle, she dons a pair of arm-length red gloves with clawed tips that she uses to literally scratch and slash at her opponents with.
The High Empyror's goal by the time Dark Dawn takes place is the acquisition of the ancient light-based apparatus called the Apollo Lens, which is situated at the highest peak of the Khiren Mountains that divide Angara into equivalent halves. Just as the ancient peoples of Weyard's past had tried to gain control over the fundamentals of Darkness, they had attempted to control Light as well, and the Apollo Lens is one product of their research - a giant, sealed cannon-like superweapon that can fire an aimable beam of amplified light at a target. Gaining control of this weapon is easier said than done: the Apollo Lens can only be reached, unsealed, and made operable with three elusive Colored Orbs that are designed as keys, and the external power source to it is a pair of ancient Alchemy Machines located in Angara's southern Ei-Jei region, the Alchemy Forge and the Alchemy Well, and they have to both be turned on and made operable in order to serve that purpose. Not only that, a legend holds that the Apollo Lens will only open up once a phenomenon named the Grave Eclipse is triggered. The Grave Eclipse is a giant Darkness-generating effect that is emitted from the Eclipse Tower north of the Lens once the Alchemy Machine sealing it, the Alchemy Dynamo, is turned on and the subterranean tower is risen out of the ground. Finally, the various ancient dungeons located throughout Angara that are connected to these secrets all contain riddles and hints presented in a glyph language indecipherable to all but whoever is chosen by the Konpa Ruins in southwest Angara to obtain special knowledge.
At some point before the start of Dark Dawn, the powerful Mercury Adept Alex ends up joining Chalis and Blados' circle. He receives the codename "Arcanus", linking him to the codenames of Chalis and Blados because they all correspond to suits of a deck of fortune-telling cards sometimes used in Weyard. "Arcanus", in particular, matches the highest-ranking cards in the deck, which Alex seems to view as significant.
At the Konpa Ruins, Blados and Arcanus find that having recently entered the ruins is a group of Adepts led by the young Venus Adept Matthew, son of the famous leader of the Warriors of Vale, Isaac, who is out on a quest across Angara to find a feather of the giant bird roosting at the northeastern corner of Angara, the Mountain Roc. Matthew has obtained the knowledge to read the ancient glyphs. They and Chalis receive the High Empyror's order not to inflict harm on Matthew, and to instead make use of Matthew and have him carry out essentially every one of their purposes, which will ultimately result in the activation of the Apollo Lens. The High Empyror lets his subordinates choose their own methods to accomplish this goal with Matthew, but specifies that they are to let Matthew live until he has played his part. Blados and Arcanus make their move and force Matthew's party south to the Ei-Jei region, where Matthew would end up geographically trapped. Matthew comes to attempt to figure out how to turn on both Alchemy Machines and thus create and make use of the cloud passage across the Khiren Mountains north to make it into the Morgal region, wherein lies Matthew's original objective to find the feather. It is up to Chalis now to subtly guide Matthew along this critical step of his own journey and the Tuaparang commanders' own campaign.
The object that the Alchemy Forge needs in order to work, the Sol Mask, is locked deep in the twisting Ouroboros labyrinth. A palace and settlement, Kaocho, was founded on top of these ruins by the military-minded king Wo, and he is interested in conquering the other nations of the Ei-Jei region. Blados and Chalis both meet Wo at some point, and Chalis gets herself inducted into his court, already occupied by Kan-Shuku and Meisa. She tells him about the ancient Alchemy machines, the Sol Mask key to them currently in the ruins underneath his palace, and how activating these machines will allow him to wage war like never before. King Wo is entirely on board with this, but he has been unable to penetrate the Ouroboros' secrets, and even back when Kaocho was on friendly terms with Ayuthay, the Ayuthay people had refused to share the secrets concerning gaining access to it. On Chalis' advice, Wo has his soldiers wage a two-fronted war against the nations that contain the two Alchemy Machines, Ayuthay and Passaj, not knowing that he is simply being used by Chalis to help get the two Alchemy machines started for her and her associates' own purposes.
Chalis knows that Matthew and his group of Adepts would be coming to Kaocho to try to find the Sol Mask on their own so that they can power the Alchemy Forge in Passaj themselves, so she tells Wo of Matthew's impending arrival in advance. When Matthew and his friends arrive in Wo's throne chamber, they deduce from Chalis' name, unusual appearance, and authority over unusual soldiers previously seen in Konpa Ruins that she is working with Blados. Chalis introduces them to Wo as the exceptional Adepts he would need to get the relic from the Ouroboros, as well as the extra manpower Wo would need to complete his conquest of Ayuthay. Chalis is on board with Wo's decision to have the Adepts used for Ayuthay first, and hands them his signed letter of approval.
When the Adepts object to helping Wo out with any of this and the mood sours, Chalis says that perhaps she was wrong about them bending their knee to Kaocho. But she then invites the Adepts to act on their intention to explore the Ouroboros and steal the Sol Mask for themselves, and Wo's advisors realize that is a good idea and open a trap door that drops the Adepts into the preliminary part of the Ouroboros labyrinth below. Chalis, however, explains that she hasn't given up on them: once the Adepts complete their fall, they will learn that the actual Ouroboros labyrinth containing the Sol Mask cannot truly be entered yet, and Chalis reasons that the Adepts would therefore go to Ayuthay and obtain the strength and knowledge thay need to explore the Ouroboros when they return to Kaocho later. She convinces Wo that the Adepts are likely to prove themselves worth their weight in gold to Wo over time, even if they don't do it for Wo's sake.
Events happen as Chalis predicts: Matthew and his friends find themselves unable to delve into the Ouroboros further, and they take the exit back outside and depart for Ayuthay. While Matthew is out at Ayuthay, Chalis then concocts a plan for Wo that he finds appealing, and she leads him and his army north out of Kaocho on what she describes as a "secret mission" involving Wo threatening the head of his rival's empire. Ostensibly, Chalis' true purpose is not to benefit Wo in any way, but to secretly prevent him from catching Matthew in the act of retrieving the Sol Mask for himself, which would happen while they are gone. Matthew's group does end up returning to the now-mostly-deserted Kaocho with a newfound companion in Amiti, the prince of Ayuthay who has the Psynergy and implements that allow Matthew and the others to get into the Ouroboros.
Thanks to Chalis' sneaky tactic, when the Adepts retrieve the Sol Mask, there is nothing to hinder Matthew on his journey back toward Passaj and use it to activate the Alchemy Machine. Wo would only realize later, when it is far too late, that he was used and stabbed in the back by Chalis, for now Passaj has the means to protect itself from any and all further Kaochan attacks - Wo would have chosen to conquer Passaj first before using the Sol Mask on the Alchemy Forge so that the Alchemy Forge would have been used by Kaocho itself instead - and with both Alchemy Machines active, advance power to the Apollo Lens is set up and provided, Matthew's group crosses over into the Morgal region, and the first phase of Chalis and her associates' overarching campaign is completed successfully.
One of the many effects the Golden Sun event had on the world was to mutate populations of its denizens, both human and animal, into hybrid beastmen. These originally scattered people were hated by the rest of humanity, but they coalesced into a unified nation that claimed the upper half of Angara, the Morgal region, as their territory, and their capital city of Belinsk was built upon the ancient ruins in the center of their region that happens to lead to the cataclysmic secret of the Alchemy Dynamo and Eclipse Tower. With Eclipse Tower's activation being their next overarching objective, Chalis, Blados, and Arcanus approach the beastman king, Volechek, who grants them his full attention because he has a deep-rooted respect for powerful warriors. Morgal's bloody history and Volechek's personal past were shaped by military conflict between itself and the empire of Sana down south, in which Sana, as ruled by the warmongering Emperor Ko at the time, aggressively invaded it, killed Volechek's parents, and subjected the beastmen of Morgal to ten long years of slavery. Volechek only managed to liberate his kingdom through a civil war which drove the Sanans out. Volechek's vendetta is not limited to Sana; Bilibin to the west refused to lend help. With this in mind, the trio have an easy time gaining Volechek's personal alliance without him suspecting that they are making use of him for Tuaparang's own purposes.
Chalis and her two peers lie to Volechek that the secret under Belinsk is an ancient weapon that he can use to subjugate both Sana and Bilibin before they attempt to return Morgal to slavery, and they offer to conspire together to get it unsealed. It is somehow known between them that necessary to power the Alchemy Dynamo and release Eclipse Tower is a naturally-occurring jewel-like sphere that forms within the innards of the Mountain Roc that Matthew's party happens to be aiming for, the Magma Orb. They know that the Roc sleeps in the composition of stone, and that it can only be brought out of stone form by waking it up with the unique Slapping Psynergy that both Volechek and his royal lineage inherently know and which is imbued into a national treasure of Belinsk, the Slap Gloves. Recently, Volechek had captured and imprisoned the princess of Sana, Hou Ju, within his own castle, and Volechek publicly sets an execution date for Hou Ju to be the upcoming full moon and the festival in Belinsk it accompanies. The conspirators also know about Volechek's wayward sister, Sveta, and her sympathy to Hou Ju's plight.
Hou Ju's brother, the Sanan prince Ryu Kou, and his mentor, Hou Zan, lead a group of mercenaries on an assault on Belinsk Castle, and Volechek drives them back - but he lets them escape with ease. By this point, Volechek and his conspirators have concocted their plan: knowing how Sveta would want to help Hou Ju and is herself currently in possession of the Slap Glove, they know that Sveta would come after Hou Ju's brother and give him the glove to help him on his next effort to get to and free Hou Ju - the other critical function of the Slap Glove is that it opens the way into Belinsk Ruins, and these ruins, in addition to leading to the Alchemy Dynamo below, also provide an underground route into the interior of Belinsk Castle from below. Naturally, this secretive way is what they understand Ryu Kou would be intending to use on his second attempt to save his captive sister.
The conspirators also know that Sveta would direct Ryu Kou to Matthew and his group of combat-hardened warriors to help him out. Because Matthew's group, whom Sveta had already encountered by that point, is headed toward Talon Peak to retrieve their feather from the Roc, and because Matthew would be unable to get the feather without the Slap Glove, the conspirators know that Sveta would have Ryu Kou join with Matthew and accompany the warriors to the Mountain Roc's roost before they would go into Belinsk Ruins together. With this scenario plotted out, the conspirators have Volechek additionally capture and slate the pirate Eoleo for execution, just so that Matthew will be all the more motivated to get involved in the effort to free Volechek's two captives. Chalis and Blados proceed to dispatch themselves to the top of Talon Peak where the stone Roc lies sleeping, and proceed to wait however long it takes for Matthew and Ryu Kou's combined group to climb up to the peak to take care of their business. The duo intends to make Matthew and Ryu Kou additionally obtain the Magma Orb and bring that with them when they would enter the Belinsk Ruins.
Chalis and Blados apparently wait long enough for Matthew to arrive that they start to get concerned, but sure enough, Matthew, Ryu Kou, and their respective companions climb to the top of Talon Peak, awaken and knock out the Mountain Roc, and retrieve one of its feathers. Blados prevents everyone from "leaving so soon" and shows himself and Chalis for the first time in a while. Their conversation with the group leads Ryu Kou and Hou Zan to deduce how Volechek letting them escape from Belinsk Castle was part of a plan that involved setting up this trap for them here at Talon Peak. Chalis and Blados soon reveal that they want the warriors to obtain the Magma Orb, and the duo find that the Waelda of nearby Kolima Forest, Tret and Laurel, had spoken with Matthew earlier about Belinsk Ruins and the allegedly ancient Alchemy Machine inside it, but had not told them that it was a full Magma Orb that was needed to power it up. Matthew and Ryu Kou come to know that Chalis and Blados want them to power up this dangerous machine for a sinister purpose, but the duo secure their eventual willingness to do this by stating that if they don't, both Hou Ju and Eoleo will lose their lives. Chalis and Blados' last words before leaving are to instruct them to kill the Mountain Roc for the Magma Orb, and then bring the orb to Belinsk. The Mountain Roc awakens just then and attacks them, and Matthew and his Adept companions engage it and slay it in a fierce battle.
Chalis and Blados return to Volechek's castle, and they, Arcanus, and some more of Blados' soldiers proceed down into Belinsk Ruins from the castle itself. They, in the ruins, and Volechek in the castle above employ mysterious mechanisms that control which of the various hallways are blocked off, so that when Matthew, Ryu Kou, and Sveta all join together just inside the ruins' entrances from outside the castle, their intended route into the castle above is now blocked off, forcing them all down to the Alchemy Dynamo below. When Chalis' group comes across a chess-like puzzle that requires time and painstaking positioning to pass, they decide to barrel their way through their brute force, though the soldiers are killed in the encounter. Chalis, Blados, and Arcanus wait in hiding off to the side until Matthew's extended group open their way into the core of the Alchemy Dynamo, and until then they consider offering them some help but decide against it.
Chalis, Blados, and Arcanus enter in behind them and order Matthew's group to place the Magma Orb in the machine, and Chalis and Blados quickly decide to show them in advance what will happen if they don't comply by engaging them in battle. Chalis demonstrates her clawed combat maneuvers and disorienting utilities alongside Blados' fierce swordsmanship, but both of them are defeated by the young Adepts. While Chalis admits that the Adepts' superior numbers were too great for them to underestimate, Blados states that the metaphorical war has been won in the end: Arcanus successfully emotionally manipulates Ryu Kou into giving the Magma Orb to the Alchemy Dynamo to power it on. As the chamber trembles and Eclipse Tower rises out from behind Belinsk Castle, Arcanus picks up Chalis and Blados and warps out with them to safety.
Arcanus, Blados, and Chalis avoid being endangered by what happens soon after: Weyard's sun rises up and situates itself behind Luna, the moon, and the light Sol exudes starts getting siphoned by the tower, causing the tower to project and maintain a colossal, semi-spherical dome of purplish dark energy that stretches across most of Angara. This is the Grave Eclipse, and its cataclysmic effects are immediately apparent: an infinite array of shadow creatures manifest from the shadows and begin slaughtering many of Angara's people, including Belinsk's own. When it dawns on Volechek that he was tricked and used by the Tuaparang and that his people are now tragically suffering for it, he manages to steal the Blue Orb from Blados' possession and hurls it toward Matthew's group as they retreat from Belinsk by ship. Volechek hopes that in doing so, Matthew's party will some how be able to use it against Tuaparang. Unknown to Volechek and Matthew's party, giving Matthew the Blue Orb, and by extension all of the Colored Orbs, is precisely what Chalis and her two conspirators would want as part of their plan for Matthew.
Volechek nobly puts his life on the line to oppose the three that manipulated him, but he eventually falls. Chalis and Blados proceed to collect Volechek and, in Chalis' perspective, "save" him by making use of sinister experiments to artifically mutate and warp both Volechek's body and mind, turning him into a werewolf-like monster infused with Dark Psynergy.
Chalis and her two companions' successful plot to unseal Eclipse Tower and trigger the Grave Eclipse it entails has at least two apparent purposes: to trigger the Apollo Lens into opening up as per what the legend about it holds, and to motivate Matthew's group into finding and setting up the Apollo Lens in an attempt to stop the eclipse. Whether the mass death wrought by the Grave Eclipse is part of their or their Empyror's plan specifically is not clear. When Matthew's group resolves to find the other Colored Orbs for this purpose, they do not realize that, yet again, they are doing what Chalis and her peers intend of them. To this end, Arcanus goes to the capital of Sana, Tonfon - the empire that Matthew would have to pass through while on his way toward the Apollo Sanctum - and approaches its modern-day emperor, the benevolent Unan. He tells Unan of Matthew's arrival in advance, gives him the Red Orb, and instructs him to give the Orb to Matthew. Events happen as Arcanus predicts, and Matthew's party uses the two Colored Orbs now in their possession to locate and obtain the third. Then, as would be expected, Matthew's party brings the complete set with them as they scale the mountains toward Apollo Sanctum. At the peak of the sanctum, Matthew uses the Colored Orbs to set up the giant cannon-like lens and point it toward Eclipse Tower.
Chalis and Blados, whether from the start or by this point, intend to claim the Apollo Lens not for the High Empyror, but for themselves, possibly to use against the Empyror and/or the Tuaparang Empire. When they make their move and fly their dropship above the Lens to deposit both themselves and their Umbra Clansmen, they question why Arcanus, who had arrived at the lens before them, is not killing all of Matthew's group now like they had previously agreed on. Arcanus, as Alex, however, tells them as well as Matthew's group of Adepts that the High Empyror sent Alex personally to make sure that the Apollo Lens was used according to the Empyror's own plan, and that Chalis and Blados were left out because the Empyror distrusts the two. Chalis and Blados remain silent as Alex proceeds to antagonize the duo by revealing various sensitive secrets: he reveals how they and their men are Dark Adepts belonging to a self-styled Umbra Clan, notes that the Dark Adepts are not really "Tuaparang" soldiers because of this, and insinuates that as such, Chalis and Blados may plan on using the lens against the Tuaparang empire itself, which is apparently within the same trajectory as the area around Sol Sanctum at this point in time. Chalis and Blados announce their intention to keep these secret by eliminating Alex, as well as Matthew's group, and Alex instructs Matthew to throw the switch for the Apollo Lens and end the Grave Eclipse - it is not known if this is part of the Empyror's own plan for the Lens, or if this goes against it. Alex engages Chalis and Blados in a brief one-on-two battle out of sight.
For whatever reason, Alex does not prevent Chalis and Blados from eventually coming back to the Apollo Lens and preventing Matthew and company from using the Apollo Lens at Eclipse Tower. They bring the bestial, monstrous Volechek, referred to as the Chaos Hound, as their battle pet, and they thank Matthew profusely for letting the greatest weapon of the ancient world fall into their own hands before they and their pet attack the eight Adepts with the intent to kill. Matthew's party has become surprisingly strong by this point, for they manage to beat their three opponents back. Not pleased that a bunch of children are beating the elite of the Tuaparang Empire, Chalis and Blados fall back to their alternate plan, and call on the power of Dark Binding. The Chaos Hound is drenched with the energies of the Grave Eclipse, but both of them suddenly find themselves getting pulled into the Chaos Hound's body like a vacuum, and while they didn't intend for this initially, Blados agrees with Chalis that they must allow themselves to be absorbed because they cannot allow Matthew to win against them. Chalis, Blados, and the Chaos Hound merge and mutate into a horrific, multi-armed monstrosity of terrible dark power, and Chalis' enlarged left red-gloved arm comprises the monster's upper left arm. Matthew's party rushes into their most harrowing and nightmarish battle.
Matthew and his seven companions miraculously manage to best the monstrosity in battle, and it separates back into Chalis, Blados, and the Chaos Hound's defeated forms. Chalis merely says that "the darkness will fade" for having lost, and then Sveta is aggrieved to discover that the Chaos Hound is in fact Volechek, who Sveta believed previously died at Belinsk. The defeated Dark Adepts proceed to explain what they did to Volechek and how they had tried to twist his mind so that he could fight his own sister. They then reveal that as Volechek is now a creature of darkness, he won't be able to live in the Adepts' world of light, and that what they did cannot be undone because Volechek wouldn't survive another big shock to his system. On Sveta's urging, Matthew makes repeated attempts to climb onto the controls of the Apollo Lens to use it, but the oppressive amounts of Light energy flowing at the top knocks him back. The Dark Adepts tell them that because Matthew is attempting to go into the very heart of the light, he won't survive it because he doesn't have enough of a dark side. They then reveal that had they won against Matthew, they would have sent Volechek up there to get rid of him when he played his part.
Sveta agrees to be the one to go up there and Matthew agrees to be the one to support her, and wills his vitality out of his body to empower Sveta's own through a mysterious process. The two go up intending to sacrifice themselves together to end the Grave Eclipse, but suddenly Volechek gets back up and knocks them both back down. The Adepts momentarily think Chalis and Blados' original plan is proceeding and that they have lost, but Blados suddenly affirms that Volechek has snapped out of it because he had seen his sister in danger, and Chalis states that he is evidently now about to give his life for his sister and his people. Volechek spiritually bids Sveta farewell as he selflessly sacrifices himself to fire the Apollo Lens at Eclipse Tower, ending the Grave Eclipse that wrought so much death and despair across Angara.
Much of what happens after this is not known, including what happens with Chalis and Blados - whether they were left behind to die or were collected. Matthew's party leaves Apollo Sanctum to return to Belinsk, leaving the Apollo Lens behind. It is unknown whether it is left in a state that allows the Tuaparang Empire headed by the High Empyror to make it amount to further threat, or if it is not able to be used anymore. Alex's status following this, including whether he remains affiliated with the High Empyror and the Tuaparang Empire, is unknown - while Alex gave Matthew's party the critical opportunity to defeat Chalis and Blados and use the Apollo Lens to end the Grave Eclipse, it is not known whether this goes against the Empyror's plans for the Lens. In doing this, Alex had ultimately helped ensure that the traitorous Dark Adept commanders Chalis and Blados not use the Lens against the Tuaparang Empire.
Skills[]
Chalis' fighting style is more of a support fighter, using Illusion Perfume to wrap her targets in delusion as well as healing herself and her partner with Vials. She can also use Psy grenades to drain her enemy's psynergy and Shadow Shield to raise hers and her partner's defense. When she is not bringing support to her partner she is slicing her enemies with her deadly claws using her powerful Scornful Caress technique.
Trivia[]
- Blados and Chalis are the first characters in the Golden Sun series to have audible voices. Blados grunts when he uses Punish, and Chalis giggles when she uses Scornful Caress.
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