The Godbird Sceptre, also known as the Sceptre of Trodain and Rhapthorne's Sceptre, is an important item in Dragon Quest VIII. This staff was first introduced as the treasure stolen from Castle Trodain by Dhoulmagus. It is an artifact designed as a vessel for souls of great power, be they evil or good.
History[]
In an age long past, Rhapthorne, the Lord of Darkness, battled the Seven Sages for the dominion of the World of Light. Thanks to Empyrea's aid he was defeated, and under her guidence the sages created a staff to bind his malevolent soul within it and then seal him to a remote part of the world so that he may not be revived in full.
The Seven Sages imprisoned Rhapthorne's body in the Goddess Statue in Neos while the sceptre, now the only tool for Rhapthorne to interact to the outside world, was kept under a powerful sealing magic in Castle Trodain, where it was guarded at all times. In time the true nature of the sceptre was forgotten by Trodain's people and it simply became valued as the kingdom's most precious treasure.
For many, many years the sceptre remained in the castle, but one day, a would-be sorcerer by the name of Dhoulmagus came from Farebury to the castle disguised as a jester. The man had a deep desire to be the greatest magician of all time and he was studing under master Rylus. The irascible Rylus however, was a very strict teacher and also unintentionally emotionally abusive; this, coupled with Dhoulmagus's apparent low magic potential, had began festering inside him into resentment. Having summarily read about the sceptre from his master's books, who was one of the descendants of the Seven Sages, Dhoulmagus decided to attempt stealing the legendary sceptre, beliving it to simply being a powerful magic relic and hoping it would be just what he needed to achieve his dream. After doing so however, he was quickly overwhelmed by Rhapthorne's power and made into his vessel, a puppet in the hands of the Lord of Darkness unable to exert his own free will.
Assailants[]
The sceptre controlled many people along its journey. Each person that was controlled had one thing on their minds: killing the heirs of the Seven Sages, using the sceptre to grimsly skewer them.
The first person to be possessed, Dhoulmagus, cursed the kingdom of Trodain into a perpetual entanglement in vines and turned King Trode into a troll-like creature and Princess Medea into a horse. He next headed back toward the town of Farebury. There, he killed his Master Rylus as payback for angering him, tragically just after Rylus had finished the elixir he was working on Dhoulmagus' behalf, and he then burned his house down to cover it up. He proceeded to the Tower of Alexandria and underhandedly killed Alistair Albert, Jessica's brother. Following that was Maella Abbey where he killed the peaceful Abbot Francisco. He crossed the ocean and went to Baccarat where he broke into the Golding Mansion and killed Mr. Golding himself. Mr. Golding however was able to severly injure Dhoulmagus, forcing Rhapthorne to make his puppet retreat inside the Dark Ruins, where he planned to heal his somewhat lackluster vessel while also transforming him into a stronger and more monstruos form. He was however interrupted in the process by the party, who proceeded to destroy Dhoulmagus.
Once Dhoulmagus was killed by the party, Jessica picked up the leftover sceptre and was taken over, but this took no effect until the next morning. She took off from Argonia to the northern checkpoint and headed through to Arcadia. She at first thought Dominico to be the heir to the Sage, but in truth it turned out to be David, his servant. Although she came close, she fortunatly never managed to actually kill him, being defeated by the rest of the party before she could do so, the sceptre blasted out of her hands.
However in the ensuing confusion, Sir Leopold, Dominico's beloved dog, ill-fatedly took possession of the sceptre. He killed David, then fled north to the Blizzard Peaks where he began targeting Marek, with a pack of brainwashed Hellhounds at his side, but discovered that it was Marek's mother, Marta, that was the heir and killed her after cruelly taking her son hostage. Rhapthorne then once again transformed his vessel into a monstruos flying form, and Sir Leopold went off to the the Lord High Priest's Residence to attempt to kill the Lord High Priest himself, but was defeated by the party before he could do so, ending the dog's life.
Finally, the Templar's captain Marcello took the sceptre and, to achieve his ambitions, killed on his own accord the Lord High Priest, making it look like he died from shock while also sending off his successor, High Priest Rolo, to Purgatory Island. Rhapthorne then tried to possess Marcello, but was able to partially resist him thanks to his own iron-stong will. However it was only a matter of time before he would be possessed, resulting in him sometimes speaking with the Lord of Darkness's voice. When the party defeated Marcello at Neos, he weakened enough for Rhapthorne to completly take him over and used him throw the sceptre into the Goddess Statue. Now, with the heirs of the Seven Sages killed and the Goddess Statue destroyed, Rhapthorne was finally free from his prison and reunited with his body, devastating Neos in the process.
Sometime later, Empyrea came across the now discarded sceptre and gave it to the Hero and his friends. While initially wary of the object, the party was then informed by the Godbird of the true nature of the sceptre as a vessel for souls, be they evil or good. Since Rhapthorne had at that point grown too powerful to be sealed again, a final battle to the death with the World of Darkness's tyrant was inevitable. In order to break his barrier, the Great godbird Empyrea entrusted the Echo flute to the Hero and his group. Only with the help of the souls of the Seven Sages, returned from the afterlife to permanently defeat Rhapthorne, the barrier could be broken and thanks to this sacred musical instrument, the physical manifestation of their souls, under the form of seven coloured orbs, could be located and collected inside the Godbird Sceptre. Each of said orb end up lingering in the proximity of where their last living descendant tragically passed away. During the final battle, the Hero and his friends used the sceptre, along with the seven orbs in their possession, to summon forth the Seven Sages, who then destroyed the barrier surrounding Rhapthorne. Even without his shield, the Lord of Darkness proved to be a formidable foe, but after a heated battle he ultimately was slain once and for all.
Other Appearances[]
Dragon Quest XI[]
The Sceptre itself is a heavy wand, obtained after clearing the 3rd round of Past Masters and can be equipped by either Veronica and/or Rab. It has the same attack power and MP absorption rate as the Aurora staff, but has the highest Magical Might stat in the game and can seal an enemy's spells when attacking, while also casting Kazammle for free when used as an item.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light[]
Dragon Quest of the Stars[]
Dragon Quest Rivals[]
Dragon Quest Walk[]
Appearing from the Dragon Quest VIII event onwards, it has the spells Seven Sages' Purification and Magic Burst and can be obtained via the Godbird Sceptre gacha.
| Level | Skill/Spell | Description | MP Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MP Recovery +20% | Recovers 20% of the user's MP when damaging an enemy with a normal attack | |
| 1 | Frizz spell damage +10% | Increases the damage of Frizz spells by 10% when wielding this weapon | |
| 10 | Kacrack | Deals major Crack spell damage to all enemies | 24 |
| 20 | Puff-Puff | Charms an enemy | 15 |
| 25 | Magic Burst | Unleashes non reflectable spell damage to all enemies at the cost of all the user's MP | All |
| 30 | Seven Sages' Flame | Inflicts massive Frizz spell damage to one enemy while rarely increasing the next Frizz spell damage taken by said enemy once | 46 |
| 33 | 5% damage to Demons | Increases damage to Demon family monsters by 5% when wielding this weapon | |
| 36 | 5% damage to Beasts | Increases damage to Beast family monsters by 5% when wielding this weapon | |
| 40 | Maximum MP +12 | Increases the user's maximum MP by 12 when wielding this weapon | |
| 45 | Magical Might +12 | Increases the user's maximum Magical Might by 12 when wielding this weapon | |
| 50 | Will of the Seven Sages | Increases the user's defense and spell resistance at the start of the battle while occasionally increasing the damage of the next Frizz spell taken by 1 enemy once for 3 turns | 18 |
Dragon Quest Champions[]
| Level | Skill/Spell | Description | MP Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frizzmurta | Deals small Frizz spell damage to all random enemies 6 times | |
| 1 | Dhoulmagus Damage +40% | Increases damage dealt to Dhoulmagus by 40 when wielding this weapon. | |
| 1 | Warrior Damage +20% | Increases damage dealt to Warriors by 20 when wielding this weapon. | |
| 1 | Dancer Damage +20% | Increases damage dealt to Dancers by 20 when wielding this weapon. | |
| 5 | Frizz Spell Damage +10% | Increases the damage of Frizz spells by 10 when wielding this weapon and player is in the Mage vocation. | |
| 10 | Zing | Revives one ally with 50% of their HP. | 35 |
| 15 | Status Rate +15% | ||
| 20 | Puff-Puff | Recovers the user's MP and potentially charms 1 enemy | |
| 25 | HP +20 | Increases the wielder's HP by 20 when equipping this weapon and in the Mage vocation. | |
| 30 | Agility +25 | Increases the wielder's agility by 25 when equipping this weapon and in the Mage vocation. | |
| 40 | Frizz Spell Damage +10 | Increases the damage dealt by Frizz spells by 10 and current MP is over 50%. | |
| 50 | HP +5 | Adds 5 HP to the wielder's maximum HP at the end of a battle. | |
| Coup de Grâce | Seven Sages' Flame | Inflicts massive Frizz spell damage to one enemy party while increasing the user's Wisdom by 1 level. | None |
Other languages[]
| Other languages | |
| French | Sceptre céleste |
| German | Göttervogel-Zepter |
| Spanish | Cetro de la Deidiave |
| Italian | Scettro dell'Aquila |
| Dutch | Unknown |
| Norwegian | Unknown |
| Greek | Unknown |
| Portuguese | Unknown |
| Russian | Unknown |
| Chinese | Unknown |
| Korean | Unknown |