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Ramia also later known as Empyrea, the Great godbird is a recurring character in the Dragon Quest series who is a gigantic bird-like creature with the power to travel between worlds. Thanks to this ability she was able to make many repeat appearances across multiple titles of the series set in different realities.

Ramia's visage is the base of the legendary hero Erdrick's emblem, due to the hero's role in hatching the egg of the sacred bird.

Appearance[]

In her first appearance freshly hatched, she is depicted as a gigantic bird-like being of godly majesty and grace, resembling a white peacock. By the time of Dragon Quest VIII, Dragon Quest Heroes, and Dragon Quest Heroes II, Empyrea has now drastically changed appearance, being shown as a mauve eagle with trailing tail-feathers and two long quills extending from the back of her head. Her eyes are a deep green with black pupils.

Her Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 depiction is virtually identical to the one mentioned above, with the exeption of her colour scheme, which is predominantly golden instead of mauve.

Personality[]

In Dragon Quest III, Ramia did not speak, thus not showing a specific personality. By her second appearance in Dragon Quest VIII however, Ramia, now known as Empyrea, is shown to be a very kind and wise individual, that was openly ready to sacrifice herself in order to save a world she was just visiting. When her unborn son was killed by the cowardly Gemon, while grieving, instead of lashing out to the party for their inability to save the hatchling, she was instead the one apologising, knowing that she had put the group through a very bitter experience. Despite her numerous experiences with humans Empyrea never stops to be amazed and surprised by their resorcefulness and courage, having in the past developed on separate occasions strong bonds of friendhip with the Seven Sages and the sovereign Unos, as well as with the party of Dragon Quest VIII after their shared experiences. However as shown in Dragon Quest Heroes and Dragon Quest Heroes II, when the situation is particularly dire and urgent, Empyrea can become somewhat aloof and pragmatic, opting on both occasions, possibly because she already knew that they would accept, to summon the majority of the otherworldy heroes without offering beforehand any explanation whatsoever or choice in the matter, which initially left the individuals confused about their location and predicament. She apparently does not give particular importance to her own name, having let people call her by different names and having accepted both of them as her own.

The Ramia portrayed in Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 greatly differs from her usual kindhearted incarnation, being instead very stern, refusing to aid the crew of the downed Albatross airship into escaping the island, asserting that her services to be only done in the name of Leonyx, becoming open to the idea of helping only after realising that the hero held the potential to free her master, and actually doing so only after her master is reawakened and he directly orders her to assist.

Biography[]

Main series[]

Dragon Quest III[]

When first encountered at the Rimland shrine, Ramia is only an egg being guarded by a pair of twin sisters. In order to hatch the egg, the Hero and their party must gather the Six Orbs from around the world and place them on pedestals surrounding it.

Once hatched, Ramia serves as the series' first aerial transport, allowing access to such places as Baramos' Lair and the Dragon Queen's castle in the central continent. However, due to gameplay reasons, Ramia cannot travel to Alefgard, nor can she land where the hero cannot walk, such as high mountains and bodies of water.

Speaking to her attendants after her hatching reveals that Ramia is a servant of the Goddess (possibly refering to Rubiss) and will only allow those pure of heart to ride upon her, cementing the Hero's destiny as a savior. The twins further state that Ramia has incarnated many times in the past, aiding heroes in times of crisis.

Dragon Quest VIII[]

At some point after her adventures in Dragon Quest III, in her travels across dimensions, Ramia came across this reality, a world that originally was one singular, chaotic world before eventually finding balance by splitting into two twin worlds, the World of Light and the World of Darkness. Taking to heart the plight of the World of Light's people, she decided to offer her support to the Seven Sages in their war against the Lord of Darkness Rhapthorne, who was set to forcebly re-merge the two worlds together in order for him to rule supreme on all of reality. The seven wise men were awestruck by the majestic bird creature, and renamed her Empyrea, the Godbird.

Empyrea instructed the seven sages how to craft the Godbird Sceptre, a magic staff designed as a container for powerful souls, be they good or evil, and they later used it to seal away Rhapthorne's spirit. When Rhapthorne attempted to open the gate between the World of Light and the World of Darkness, Empyrea used all her power to seal the gate, which subsequently made her unable to use her ability to cross between worlds, trapping her in the World of Darkness. Her shadow, still visible in the World of Light while she flies in the World of Darkness, creates a portal to the World of Darkness called the "Dark Eye".

#275 - Empyrea
??? Family
DQ8-275-Empyrea HP MP Attack Defence Agility
1785 (PS2)
2400 (3DS)
255 386 308 101
Exp Gold Drop Seed of Magic
10150 0 G
Note: The Godbird, capable of traveling between worlds. Joined forces with the seven sages to imprison Rhapthorne long ago.
Abilities
Normal attack
Acts twice per turn
Eagle Grip
Dazzleflash
Disruptive Wave
Spells
Zap
Midheal (PS2)
Kafuddle (3DS)
Haunts at:
World of Darkness


Empyrea's first encounter with the party was when they traveled to the World of Darkness in search for her advice. After a quick test of strenght done by the sacred bird, they discovered that she had laid an egg, but it is now threatened by a monster serving under Rhapthorne called Gemon, who had taken hostage the unborn hatchling and forced her to attack the nearby village of dark Empycchu, with some of its inhabitants beginning to resent the feathered giant.

The party agreed to infiltrate her nest, the Godbird's Eyrie where the egg was being kept hostage, but during the battle to recover it, Gemon, realizing that Empyrea had sent the party, sacrificed himself to destroy the egg, much to her grief. However Empyrea's child, who died before hatching, appeared as a spirit and decided to aid the party in their quest, bestowing them the power to fly through his solidified soul. This allows them to reach places in their world inaccessible by land or sea, whith Empyrea's son saving the party from difficult situations time and time again.

After Rhapthorne absorbs the Black Citadel into himself, he begins once again the process of unification of the two worlds, accidentailly giving Empyrea the chance to return to the World of Light, where she immediatly saves the party from plummeting into the void. Empyrea plays a major role in the game's final battle. Knowing that sealing Rhapthrone is now impossible, she entrust to the party the Echo flute, and tasks them into finding the souls of the seven sages, now turned into seven orbs. Meanwhile she recover the Godbird Sceptre, allowing the party to invoke the power of the seven sages' spirits to break the barrier protecting Rhapthorne during their final battle, while she also carries them on her back throughout the entire fight, no matter the quantity of collateral damage she sustains.

Following Rhapthorne's final defeat and death, Empyrea carries the party back to Castle Trodain, where King Trode and Princess Medea are waiting for them. Afterwards, she prepares to depart for another world. When Trode asks her about the curse, she tells him that, with Rhapthorne gone, he, Medea, and Trodain will return to normal shortly. Trode then tells Empyrea to take care, but then takes it back, stating that he should not be telling a god to take care. Empyrea reveals to the group that she is not a god, nor is Empyrea her real name, revealing that it was the name given to her by the seven sages and that her real name is Ramia. She then bids farewell to everyone and leaves for another world, with her son' soul following right behind her.

Heroes series[]

Dragon Quest Heroes[]

Empyrea is once again a central character. In this world, in order to achieve his goal to reawaken the deity of Darkness, Shadroth, Lord of the Night, the deeply unhinged sorcerer Velasco had created a spell that drawn and sapped the energies of darkness from all across the multitude of different realities into this world, a spell that not only had plunged monster-kind into a frenzy, but would have also spelled doom to all worlds if not stopped in time.

Empyrea, having sensed this great unbalance, decided to secretly take, unbeknownst to most of them, heroes belonging to other worlds (specifically the realities of Dragon Quest IV, Dragon Quest V, Dragon Quest VI and Dragon Quest VIII) from different points of space-times, and bring them to this reality to stop whoever was behind this crisis. As she was already familiar with Jessica and Yangus, she asked them to keep her involvment a secret fromthe others for the time being, while also asking them to investigate why the monsters are attacking humans. She is first hinted at by Jessica telling the party that a "friend" asked her and Yangus to do so.

Empyrea makes an appearance following the defeat of Velasco and the King Hydra, where she rescues Luceus, Aurora, and the rest of their companions from the otherwise inescapable destruction of Nexus Island. After taking them to Arba Castle, she reveals her role in bringing all these otherworlders to Arba to stop the imbalance of light and dark; unable to assist further she wishes the group good luck in their fight against the rewakaned Shadroth, and departs for the time being. Once the Lord of the Night is defeated once and for all, she once again re-appear to bring back the otherworldly heroes back to their respective place in time and space.

Dragon Quest Heroes II[]

Compared to the previous title, Empyrea plays a somewhat more subdued, albeit still vital role in this story. At some point in the past she visited this reality, another one composed of two twin worlds of Light and Darkness and befriended the kind king Unos. Sadly the harmony between the two worlds was shattered when the power hungry brother of Unos, Fractos, devastated the world ruled by his kind brother. Eventually Unos defeated his brother, but finding himself unable to kill his own sibling, he instead imprisoned him into the World of Darkness, the world he had brought to ruin.

When the treacherous Fractos returned after 1000 years to endanger the World of Light, and its Seven Realms once again, Empyrea decided to put a stop to him once and for all, working from behind the scenes by once again summoning heroes from other worlds (the realities of Dragon Quest IV, Dragon Quest VI, Dragon Quest VII and Dragon Quest VIII) from across space-time. While some of these heroes were already familiar with the giant bird, mostly due to her previous summoning, such as Alena, Kiryl, Maya, Terry, Jessica and Angelo, others were not. In general, most of them, be they aware of the bird involvement or not, were initially left confused about their predicament and the purpose behind the summoning, the reason only becoming clear once Fractos made himself known.

She is hinted throughout the game's climax due to a mauve feather left behind after Lazarel, Teresa, and their allies are saved from the Pinnacle of Peace's destruction, guiding them in dreams while they were uncounscious. After Fractos is defeated once and for all, she appears telling the party to take the Cup of Kings, now bathed in light again, and fulfill the prophecy, thus destoying Fractos evil castle and returning piece to the World of Light. She then once again wisks away the otherworldly heroes she had summoned, back to the their home realities.

Monsters series[]

Dragon Quest Monsters 2[]

Ramia is among the cast of breedable monsters but she is not normally available in the game, instead she was being given away as part of a Nintendo Power contest during the game's debut year. Since this contest has ended, cheating devices and ROM hacks are nowadays the only way to gain access to the phoenix.

She learns MultihealZing, and MPass naturally.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker[]

Empyrea makes another appearance in Joker as a downloadable extra monster, available this time through WiFi. Obtaining her nowaday is impossible unless the player uses a cheating device like Action Replay.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2[]

Empyrea makes her return in Joker 2 as a character heavily involved the main story, although sporting an unusual golden coloration, unfamiliarity with humanity and an apparent lack of the ability to travel to other worlds. Due to these characteristics it is more than likely that this Empyrea is alternate incarnation of the Empyrea more commonly depicted. She is one of the guardian of the island and lives in the Cragravation.

She appears after the hero defeats Gemon in Cragravation, coming forth to talk to them, Melonie, and Captain Rex Mayday. After hearing their plight, she initially tells them that escape from the island is impossible, for she serves only one master. However, she notices the Mysterious Medal in the player's possession and immediately agrees to aid them, so long as they awaken the Great One.

Once the player succeeds in reawakening Leonyx,the Great One, and talking to Rory Bellows, Empyrea is sent by him in aid of the hero and the crew of the Albatross, letting them escape the island by lifting the downed airship with her claws all the way to the True Monster Scout Challenge at the nick of time.

Aside from this appearance, Empyrea is key in two monster recipes; Orochi and Great Godbird. Synthesizing her with Wormonger, Bjorn, and Missing lynx result in Orochi, whereas Great Godbird requires her to be fused with a Dragovian lord. The player does not need to worry about using Empyrea or the four other giants freely, as they respawn after being synthesized away into different monsters.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D[]

Ramia appears as a breedable monster alongside her Empyrea design, and both can be in the same party. She is a rank SS, size-three monster, and was available in 2012 via a limited distribution through Mcdonalds fast food restaurants in Japan along with Captain Crow. One year later, the monsters were made available in-game through an official update patch.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3[]

Empyrea once again makes an appearance in her golden form.

Other series[]

Dragon Quest of the Stars[]

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Dragon Quest Rivals[]

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Dragon Quest Tact[]

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Dragon Quest Walk[]

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Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The twins who accompany Ramia in both of her main series appearances are a reference to the faerie-like attendants of Mothra known as the Shobijin. Both sets wear clothing reminiscent of Pacific Islanders, speak on behalf of a divine being, talk in unison, and pray for the hatching/manifestation of their holy one. Mothra herself is mentioned by Yuji Horii as a part of his trivia quiz in the developer's room ending of Chrono Trigger.
  • The theme that plays while riding Ramia is known as "Heavenly Flight", and it has since become an iconic and recurring tune in the series; one such appearance is in Dragon Quest XI, where the flight theme is used for Cetacea once the holy whale receives her armour in Act III.

Other languages[]

Other languages
French Empyréa
Grand oiseau céleste
German Empyrea (VIII,J,J2,TR)
Großer Göttervogel (J2) (Purple vers.)
Spanish Ramia
Empyrea
Pajarracos Divinos
Latin American Spanish Unknown
Italian Empyrea
Dutch Unknown
Norwegian Unknown
Greek Unknown
Portuguese Unknown
Russian Unknown
Chinese Unknown
Korean Unknown

See Also[]

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