| “ | Death is the only true state of perfection. It ends all physical and mental suffering. | „ |
| ~ Death Jester |
The Death Jester is a major antagonist in the game Seiken Densetsu 3, who serves as the third-in-command of the Masked Mage (one of the three possible final bosses). He is a demonic Death Clown devourer of souls, with immense magical powers and a twisted sense of dark humour. Another Death Clown very similar to him serves as a minor villain in the game Sword of Mana.
Seiken Densetsu 3
The Death Jester prominently appears in Kevin's story (the half-breed prince of the beast kingdom of Ferolia, and one of the six available characters). 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 brainwashing the wolf pup Karl, Kevin's only friend to have him killed, and 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 knew that the Death Jester was acting on the Masked Mage's behalf, with the ultimate goal of seizing and unsealing the eight Mana Stones, in order to free the demonic God Beasts.
Death Jester tricked Kevin by telling him that Karl could be revived with the power of the Mana Stones, prompting Kevin to start a journey. Later, Death Jester saw a teenage priest mage named Heath, singlehandedly killing three beastmen that had attacked him. He effortlessly knocked out the young priest and abducted him, sensing that the boy's incredible potential could prove helpful for his lord. Later, the Masked Mage brainwashed Heath and released his full power, making him his right-hand-man.
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A sketch of Death Jester.
If the player choses Kevin or the half-elf Carlie as the first of his three playable character, 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
Level 44 . Life-Points 12606 Death Jester is a highly powerful boss 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, heal your characters and pummel him with weapons and special attacks.
Sword of Mana
Another Demon Clown devourer of souls appears in this remake of the first game of the Mana series (called Final Fantasy Adventure in Occident), which is set in an alternate timeline than the main one (formed by Dawn of Mana, Children of Mana, Heroes of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, Legend of Mana and most likely Secret of Mana).
Goremand
In this game, Death Jester's counterpart goes by the name Goremand (from "gore" and "gourmand", French word for "greedy"). 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.
Isabella attacks Goremand
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.