The Secret of Evolution is a key plot element in Dragon Quest IV. It is said to be integral to the development of all life everywhere, but extremely dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands.
Appearances[]
Dragon Quest IV[]
The Secret of Evolution, the ultimate discovery of alchemy, was originally discovered by Estark, Lord of the Underworld, a thousand years before the present time. Estark used the Secret of Evolution to transform his body and become the ultimate life-form, and in doing so, became the most powerful being on the planet. However, despite his power, he was still able to be sealed away by the efforts of the Zenithians and the Zenith Dragon within a tomb deep beneath Mamon.
Probably shortly thereafter, a powerful tool was created by some unknown evil power, the Armlet of Transmutation and, due to it being specifically designed to amplify dark power and create strong energy waves in order to aid the better performing of alchemy and magic, the Armlet became instrumental to properly control the Secret of Evolution into favorable results.
After this, the secret was lost for many centuries until it was rediscovered by the brilliant alchemist Mahabala, father of Maya and Meena. Unfortunately before Mahabala could destroy his research, having realized of the great danger the Secret could become, his treacherous apprentice Balzack, who was waiting for a golden chance like this, murdered him and stole said research for himself, then using the imperfect version to empower himself. He then passed the secret as a bargain chip to Psaro, the Master of Monsterkind, in order to quickly rise within the ranks of the army of his new manster.
Psaro, far less cruel or reckless than Balzack, originally had planned to use the Secret of Evolution to empower all of monsterkind and crush the humans, who he perceived as irredimably corrupt; but after some experimentation with it, which included the brainwashing and transformation of the Marquis de Léon, and the uplifting of several animals, granting them sapience and speech, Psaro realized the potential danger and decided to held off on using it, especially on himself, both for fear of losing his sanity as well as his own new-found conflicted feelings about humanity, stirred by the belifs of his beloved Rose that even humanity must have good in them. Meanwhile he gave a home to the uplifted animals at his cherished hometown of Rosehill.
However, his previous doubts changed when his subordinate Aamon had Rose murdered and pinned the blame on humans, causing the grieving Psaro to fly into a self-destructing rage and utilize the Secret, taking on a form very similar to that of the transformed Estark.
Unbeknownst to either Psaro or the Chosen Hero, Aamon had expected them to kill each other in Nadiria while he truly perfected the Secret of Evolution in secret and assumed dominion over all monsterkind. This plan was subverted when the Chosen were able to resurrect Rose using the Yggdrasil flower and, thanks to her magical ruby tears filled with her strong desire to save him, Psaro was reverted to his previous form and cured from his madness. Afterwards, the Hero, Psaro, and the rest of the party confronted Aamon in his ultimate form and and destroyed him, eliminating the Secret of Evolution with him.
Dragon Quest V[]
In the Nintendo DS remake of Dragon Quest V, it was said that Aamon's last disciple, Grandmaster Nimzo, was originally an evil human from Lofty Peak who took the Secret of Evolution to become a god, succeeding where his master failed. However, he ended up being sealed up, just like Estark, though in Mt. Zugzwang.
The Secret of Evolution is mentioned by a scholar in Coburg Castle who claims he is studying Psarology, the name of the science being derived from the legend of Psaro. He suspected that the Secret involves tapping into the power of the Goddess, showing that the Secret had much more mystical and divine origins than his later uses would have indicated.
Dragon Quest IX[]
The Secret itself is mentioned in Psaro's bestiary description.
Dragon Quest X[]
Dragon Quest XI[]
Although not mentioned by name, the Past Master Psaroid claims he was given the power by the Master of Monsterkind himself.
Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road Series[]
Reappearing from Battle Road II onwards, it is an SP card that amplifies the team's Yuki, similar to the Sphere of Light, though it cannot remove Zoma's Cloth of Darkness.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light[]
Appearing as a trait for Psaro the Manslayer and Aamon's Psaro form, it raises their ATK, DEF, WIS, and AGL by 1 level each.
Dragon Quest Heroes and Dragon Quest Heroes II[]
Appearing as Psaro's personal Coup de Grâce, he transforms into his iconic monster form and unleashes a destructive laser in front of enemies. While the scope of this attack is rather narrow, it is however disastrous in tight spaces such as the Pillar of Light or the Shrine of Scales.
Since this Psaro has clearly stated to belong from a time period directly after the events of Dragon Quest IV, recounting both his past conflict and partership with the Chosen, it is presumed that Psaro eventually became able to properly control at will the Secret of Evolution without being subjected to the loss of his self.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 Professional[]
Appearing as a trait for Estark, his son, Evil Estark, Nimzo, and the True King of Calamity, as well as Psaro the Manslayer once again, it raises their ATK by 4 levels and lowers their WIS by 2 levels on the 3rd round.
Dragon Quest Rivals[]
Reappearing from the beginning of the game's service, it is exclusive to Demon Swordsmen leaders, which evolve them into their ultimate forms and recover 8 HP, costing 9 MP to use.
Dragon Quest Tact[]
Learned by Psaro the Manslayer via his Talent Blossoming, it greatly increases his ATK, DEF, WIS, and AGL while reducing damage taken by 20% for 3 turns.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince[]
Set in the same world as of IV, the Secret of Evolution was being studied by the Whackolyte Dr Helix Helix, the world's greatest magic researcher, one of Aamon's, Randolfo's royal advisor, own subordinates, and Toilen Trubble's personal hero.
Due to the research on the Secret requiring at least a millennium of experience, Dr Helix Helix asked, under Aamon's suggestion, Randolfo's second-born son Psaro, for assistance, Aamon being interested in using the prince in his own plans, the prince himself reaching the doctor after being told about the secret by Aamon; the good doctor asked Psaro and his friends to retrive a Penteractic Crystal, to use to create the Sands of time, and speed up the learning process, which they found in the Circle of Caprice's Gleaming Grotto after defeating the Penteractic Guardian.
Usage and Effects[]
The exact steps one must take to perform the Secret are unknown, but it can be assumed that it makes use of magic or a form thereof. The technique acts to physically alter a person's physical characteristics, generally making them larger and stronger, and often adding other bonuses as well. For instance, Estark and Psaro both acquire an armoured carapace. Not only the Secret of Evolution radically warps its user body but, as seen during the fight against both Psaro and Aamon progressed, it can also grant a freakishigly powerful cellular self-healing, with even lost body parts being quickly regenerated into stronger ones, culminating with similar final forms, bizarre, towering entities with not only a face on the abdomen, but a second head with three eyes.
Possibly due to it's difficulty to properly control, the Secret of Evolution requires the Armlet of Transmutation, an evil tool created to aid the better performing of alchemy and magic, in order to work as intended. If attempted without it, the results are often imperfect and unpredictable. Marquis de Léon, fittingly enough, became a monstrous lioner, while Balzack first became a beast, then after a second usage he turned into a huge and bloated dragonoid. Each of these forms has a weapon unique to it - Estark and Psaro use two swords, the Marquis uses bared claws, and Balzack used a club - but whether this is an effect of the transformation or simply a matter of personal preference and common sense is unknown.
According to a resident of Zenithia, Estark did not use the Armlet of Transmutation for his evolution, indicating that Psaro's transformation (as well as Aamon's) from the likeness of Estark to his own trademark form is what signifies the ultimate evolution achievable through the Armlet. Since Grandmaster Nimzo took on a form powerful enough in its own right with no mention or indication of him having access to the Armlet of Transmutation, there may be alternate ways of properly using the Secret of Evolution other than the Armlet and still achieving equally successful results.
One major side effect that may occur after using the Secret of Evolution is the almost complete loss of one's memory and personality. Neither Estark nor Psaro have any recollection of their past after using the Secret other than their own names and some vague goals. This side effect seemingly only takes place if one is able to achieve the full potential of the Secret of Evolution, with or without the use of Armlet of Transmutation, as neither Balzack nor Marquis de Léon experienced memory loss after performing the Secret imperfectly. Interestingly, Aamon still had his memory intact after using the Secret, and Nimzo also seemingly did, probably indicating that they knew of a way to bypass the side effect of memory loss, a method that neither Psaro nor Estark were aware of.
Permanently reversing the effects of the Secret appears to be incredibly difficult. In the remake of IV, Rose's elven ruby tears were able to reverse the effects of the Secret of Evolution on Psaro, as they were filled to the brim with her very strong desire to cure her beloved from his condition. The only other time a person is seen being reverted to their previous state, was after being soundly defeated in battle, which more often than not also results in their demise due to their injuries, the Marquis the Léon being the sole one to survive such ordeal. Possibly because he applied the Secret two times, Balzack never reverted upon death. If there are other circumstances in which such reversal is possible is currently unknown.
Nevertheless, those who have decent control over Secret and have not lost their mind due to it, can decide to transform between their previous and morphed visages at will, as seen by Balzack, the Marquis de Léon, Aamon and, in Dragon Quest Heroes, Psaro himself.
Non-Evolutionary Transformations[]
It seems some demons in the Dragon Quest series, such as Mortamor and Orgodemir, can naturally transform without need of the Secret of Evolution. In Dragon Quest X, the transformation of Nelgel was a result of him being exposed to the true darkness at the top of the Heart of Hell.
Other languages[]
| Other languages | |
| French | Unknown |
| German | Geheimnis der Evolution |
| Spanish | Unknown |
| Latin American Spanish | Unknown |
| Italian | Unknown |
| Dutch | Unknown |
| Norwegian | Unknown |
| Greek | Unknown |
| Portuguese | Unknown |
| Russian | Unknown |
| Chinese | Unknown |
| Korean | Unknown |