Zerase theory

[Wraith]

Something I thought I should bring up is Zarase's apparent ability to simply cease to exist in a location. She walks out of the rune room in the east palace but no one outside sees her. She also walks around a corner in the Barrows basement and is gone when we see around the corner a second later.

Its called teleportation. When she evades an attack you can see her do it as well.

[Ancient Cheesecake]

I thought only Viki can teleport, thanks to her Blinking Rune.

[Wraith]

I thought only Viki can teleport thanks to her Blinking Rune.

Many can teleport, as a skill that is not affiliated to a True Rune or Blinking Rune, such as Sarah and many others.

[Ancient Cheesecake]

Oh, I always thought Zarase was like, "stepping into the etherial plane" or something. So what's so special about Viki's rune then?

[Wraith]

Oh, I always thought Zarase was like, "stepping into the etherial plane" or something. So what's so special about Viki's rune then?

Eh maybe that she can TIME TRAVEL perhaps? Wether this has anything to do with ther Blinking Rune is unkown though. Also there arn't many who understand mass teleporting or have ever seen it. If you are reffering to Zweig's comment on Viki's rune then I beleive this is because the Blinking Rune is unique and the fact that you could acquire a seperate Blinking Rune in S2 was a fault on Konami's part. But thats just my thoughts.

Or its just because teleporting is rare since it requires a alot of skill if the caster has no rune to allow him to teleport. I think Sarah's teleportation skill comes from her Sindarin knowledge or from teachings of Leknaat. And Zerase's from Leknaat as well or the Star Rune.

[Ancient Cheesecake]

Hm, this is very interesting. I hope someone else picks up on this line of discussion as well. Has Viki ever time traveled intentionally though?

[Wraith]

Hm, this is very interesting. I hope someone else picks up on this line of discussion as well. Has Viki ever time traveled intentionally though?

If she has ever done that then it was in Suikogaiden. However since the explenations on the site ar every vague I have no idea if she has or not. But lets focus on Zerase and not stray of-topic.

[Sorcy]

Hello, I've been reading these forums off and on for a few years now but this discussion interested me

I my own wild theories.. I guess I can start with what the game offers and what I think it means/what the designers intended.

1) It's unlikely she's human- Oboro notes that she doesn't sleep, and her body remains cold even in hot temperatures, and pale skin tends to change color in hot places, but no one's skin is really that pale, even pasty white skin has a reddish tones(blood, of course)

2) She knows Jeane, and apparently is fairly familiar with her work.. enough that she has formed a strong opinion about its caliber. This could indicate that Zerase has been around for a long, long time and that she's been all over the world- perhaps in search of something. Genoh's comments also support this.

3) It's hinted that she's been acquainted with the night rune, when she says something along the lines of "if only I had the sword of night".

4) She's associated with Leknaat, "keeper of balance". She strives to prevent the misuse of the Twilight and Dawn runes, and to safeguard them second. (I say this because she trusts the Hero with the Dawn rune rather than kill him and restore it to a neutral state). But what does this mean? The dawn and twilight runes have no major implications at Leknaat's (and other true rune bearer's) level.

Meaning, the only apparent risk associated with misuse of the sun rune and its child runes is loss of life (she could teleport away, sit back and let all of falena burn to a crisp, but instead she unrelentingly pursues a means for the nation's survival) chaos and imbalance. For Zerase to willingingly be Leknaat's subordinate, it's probable that she elected to do so out of a coexistence of their ideals; Zerase could be protective of human life OR of wordly balance, and her purpose seems to serve Leknaat's fairly well. She can be straightfoward, brash, cold, but she seems to follow order (pursuing one goal relentlessly for an ideal rather than doing as she pleases, i.e Yuber, and she's unlike Windy in that she doesn't seem cruel or "evil") and her goals protect living things.

My theory is that she's closely tied to the Night Rune. Either that she was a previous bearer or like someone mentioned, she could be an incarnation of the Star Rune; perhaps even created by the Night Rune itself to as a wielder/servant.

It should be noted that Zerase and the SDS are very much alike, in terms of personality. The main difference there is that the Night Sword seems to have a temper and is provoked by insolence; Zerase can be very urgent and sometimes indignant but she doesn't acknowledge direct insults towards *her*. Otherwise, I'd say they're more or less very alike in terms of behavior. Also, Leknaat and Windy are opposed and Neclord was associated with Windy; Zerase being associated with Leknaat (and thus, in some degree, opposed to Neclord) would tie their motives together somewhat.

If Zerase once wielded the Night Rune I suspect they were separated, and the Night Rune would prefer to be in her hands more than anyone else's. She'd give him due respect, no doubt about it. She respects Leknaat apparently, and also Jeane, so I see little reason in the game's context for them to be at odds. In the case that she is undead or a child-rune incarnation though, the Night Rune probably could have simply ended her existence, which leads me to believe he didn't "leave her".

I speculate that Zerase seeks out order, especially when it involves the Night and Sun runes, and is associated with Leknaat much like Yuber and Windy are associated; the difference (of course) being that they curb wanton desctruction of life and imbalances of power while their antitheses kill as they wish; their goals untimately creating a major imbalance in power (Windy with Three True Runes would be a very dangerous situation indeed) and perhaps the end of the world among other things.

I can see Zerase resurfacing in another Suikoden; it appears to me the game designers put a lot of thought into her character and they give her a pretty large role in the game and hint that she's a major force in the Suikoden world. Powerful Rune, Teleportation, no need for rest, agelessness, association with a True Rune, **ties with Leknaat** all put her *very* high up in power. Even if she herself is currently incapable say, stopping the twilight rune her association with Leknaat should at least give her some leverage.

I would love to see her reemerge with the SDS in hand, there's a chance they'd be working in unison then for whatever cause. Perhaps working with Leknaat, using control of the undead, star rune powers, and the power of the night rune to fight off imbalancing forces like Yuber, anyone like Neclord, and Windy.

It seems like a lot of people are very interested in her though. It'd be intriguing to have an Queen of the Undead with an All Powerful Rune/God-Sword fighting against universal imbalance though. :O

[redeyesblind]

What about her Star Rune though? Personally, I think Zerase DID at some point bear the Night rune. The reason is this, when the night and sun rune broke away, it created the children of the sun rune (Dawn and Twilight)

Now what I'm wondering is, is it possible that the night rune also had a child rune from the disjunction? If it did, logically couldn't we assume it's the Star Rune?

My theory goes beyond this though, what interests me is that people like Victor and Edge were able to use the 'Star' Dragon sword, but they basically just used the rune like a simple sword. They never actually tapped into its power, I'm wondering if just as the Twightly and Dawn rune control the Sun Rune.

Then perhaps Zerase and her star rune can fully control the night rune and pull out the full potential of that sword. It's possible...

[Ushiku]

It would be interesting if the theory of the Night Rune's potential being unlocked by the Star Rune was true, that could explain why he's so stubborn, it might stem from not havint the Star Rune to cool him down.

[Wraith]

What about her Star Rune though? Personally, I think Zerase DID at some point bear the Night rune. The reason is this, when the night and sun rune broke away, it created the children of the sun rune (Dawn and Twilight)

Now what I'm wondering is, is it possible that the night rune also had a child rune from the disjunction? If it did, logically couldn't we assume it's the Star Rune?

My theory goes beyond this though, what interests me is that people like Victor and Edge were able to use the 'Star' Dragon sword, but they basically just used the rune like a simple sword. They never actually tapped into its power, I'm wondering if just as the Twightly and Dawn rune control the Sun Rune.

Then perhaps Zerase and her star rune can fully control the night rune and pull out the full potential of that sword. It's possible...

Like I said before, Stars are suns after all. So I thought it was created from the same broken bond but with the information we have at this time it seems alot more likely that the Star Rune is merely a Unique Rune purely derived from the Night Rune.

Also if the Night Rune had the same 'uncontrollability' as the Sun Rune then the Sword form of the Night Rune would be alot more aggressive and uncontrollable than he is now.

[xXSqualleoNXx]

According to one of the Old Books, When the Night Rune broke the bond with the Sun Rune, the Sun Rune became too unstable, so the Dawn and Twilight Rune were created from the separation to control it. For all we know, the Dawn and Twilight Rune may also be linked to the Night Rune. And again, it's quite possible that the Night Rune may be searching for it's original wielder. He doesn't likes any of his current wielders, and if he is commanding Edge to go south, he may just be looking for Zerase.

[Zulias]

Maybe I'm just drawing things out of the air, but I wanted to point something out.

Zerase makes no noise, wears black, acts like a ghost, and is likely ancient.

There are two other characters in the previous suikodens that match this description. Yuber and Pesmerga.

Pesmerga was noted by Richmond in Suikoden 2 as never removing his armor, sleeping, or making a sound.
Yuber is also never seen without his black garb, and always has very pale skin (when you can see it).

The detective similiarities in Zerase and Pesmerga's descriptions is what keyed me off. It's not generally something done by accident.

Just a thought.

[Wraith]

Maybe I'm just drawing things out of the air, but I wanted to point something out.

Zerase makes no noise, wears black, acts like a ghost, and is likely ancient.

There are two other characters in the previous suikodens that match this description. Yuber and Pesmerga.

Pesmerga was noted by Richmond in Suikoden 2 as never removing his armor, sleeping, or making a sound.
Yuber is also never seen without his black garb, and always has very pale skin (when you can see it).

The detective similiarities in Zerase and Pesmerga's descriptions is what keyed me off. It's not generally something done by accident.

Just a thought.

Pesmerga makes no noise regardless of walking.
Zerase makes no noise because she dousn't walk, she floats. Sometimes you can see her dress move as if her legs would move though. But most of the time you see her floating.

[demon eye]

I think Zerase is quite mysterious, but I think we may be making too much of this whole thing about her being pale, has no reaction to warm water, and her floating. First off, we have to remember that she is a powerful mage. She more than likely has some background with the Night Rune, where as she bears the Star Rune, so she naturally would seem like she avoids the Sun as much as possible..hence the black cloak. Hard to not be pale walking around in that all the time and avoiding the light.

Also, she is a die hard mage as I mentioned before. Recall that Crowley and Mazus both seem to be in quite good shape despite their ancient years...Crowley was over 100 in Suikoden 1. Most true mages have the ability to extend their years it seems.

So, if she is ancient it may just be a testament to her magical prowess. And it is not very hard to avoid the effects of heat by a magical ward if she chose not to be effected by the warmth of the water. Floating is something new, but remember that Leknaat seems to have no problem casting an apparition of herself and is seen floating in Suikoden 2, as well. I believe that Zerase is very human, just very powerful.

I would like to see how they develop her in the future and see how familiar she is with the Night Rune and possibly with Sierra.