Zaboera is a major antagonist in the Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai manga and anime adaptations. He is a Darkling who serves as the commander of the Mystic Legion of Vearn's Dark Army, holding the title of Mystic Bishop and is also the father of Zamza, who is one of the Legion's lieutenants.
Appearance[]
Zaboera is depicted as a diminutive, very old bald humanoid with large ears and notable wrinkles. He dons a set of long robes, typical of a mage. His beard is oddly shaped with some spiky strands on his sides and a very long center one that reaches below his knees. He is equipped with the Mystic Wand, which appears as a rod as tall as himself featuring a spider motif with webs sprawling and tying the extended legs, with a red jewel on the center of the tip.[1]
He has a memory cip on the forehead.[1]
He has the six point symbol of Vearn at the top of his collar stand, in the manga, 1991 series and Super Light it is a hexagram, in Dragon Quest of the Stars it is a hexagram with the inner lines removed to form a concave dodecagon and in the 2020 anime it is a hexagon. The outer layer of his clothing does feature Vearn's iconic symbol, usually covered by his beard.
Personality[]
Zaboera is an extremely cunning, calculating and scheming invidual. He is also incredibly cowardly and infamous for being a dirty fighter, using questionable and downright unethical practices to secure victory at all costs, often developing plans employing underhanded tactics since he believes in winning first and foremost.
Unlike Flazzard who is actually willing to risk his life for glory, Zaboera prefers to have others do the fight for him, watching from the sidelines, or only involve himself directly if he believes it is safe for him to do so. Even when in combat, Zaboera is no less of a cheater and goes as far as utilizing instant death spells.
From the bottom of his heart, Zaboera lacks decency, viewing everyone, including his own son as tools for him to exploit for his self-benefit, to the point that he even killed his minions to use their dead bodies to make the Superior Being Zombie at one point. He even extends this to his fellow Legion Commanders, corrupting Crocodile into abandoning his honor to preserve his rank, and even proposed to cast a love spell on Maam to try to coerce Hyunckel to his side, although this backfired as the Undead Legion Commander was repulsed by his conduct and considered him an indignity amongst the Legion Commanders, something Zaboera does little to correct. He is so cowardly that he used a Morph spell on one of his men to disguise him as Zaboera, all in order to distract his opponents from targeting the real him, allowing him to escape.
Zaboera has no real loyalties to anyone but himself, and will try to curry favor with whoever party can offer him the best benefits. He is so infamously duplicitous that his treachery is well known to fundamentally everyone, and thus nobody in the Dark Army fully trusts him. While his lack of morals, honor and any sense of genuine commitment towards anybody are his perceived and self-professed traits to remain victorious at all costs, they are in fact his major weakness and lead to his downfall. When forced by an angry Hadlar to make him into a Superior Being after he planned to curry favor with Mystvearn, Hadlar achieved tremendous power and was able to regain his status with Vearn himself after the latter was disappointed at his failures. Despite of that, Zaboera himself earned little to no grace, which led him to increasingly desperate measures to try to increase his prestige, which ultimately failed when Hadlar imprisoned him for disobedience. He was only able of gaining some favor after saving Vearn from Hadlar and even then he was kept at arm's length, which would come in full display when during the clash of the forces of the Underworld and humanity, Mystvearn would discard Zaboera since he had no obligation to protect him and scolded him into fighting for himself for once in his life. Although Zaboera was left with no choice but to do this, he tried to resort to groveling and begging for mercy to try to save his life after he was defeated. His pleas fell on deaf ears as he was rightfully distrusted and called on his bluff, which ended with him outsmarted and beaten by the very people he looked down upon and with no saving grace whatsoever.
In the 2020 series, his colour on Vearn's symbol is yellow but in the manga it is orange (based on colour from chapter 15 and seating chart of 33-34)
Story[]
Zaboera was recruited as part of the Dark Army serving as one of the six Legion Commanders under Hadlar, leading over the Mystic Legion of spellcasters and sorcerers as its Mystic Bishop. Zaboera was present along the other five Legion Commanders when presented to Vearn himself. To celebrate the occasion Vearn set up a medal in a pillar of flame, challenging the commanders to try pull it out of the fire to demonstrate their loyalty, with the winner being Flazzard.
Gathering Arc[]
Zaboera is witness to Crocodine's setback fighting Dai in the Dark Forest so he devises a plan to successfully terminate Dai, to teleport to Dermline Island and kidnap Brass, Hadlar's former general and Dai's adoptive grandfather, easily bypassing Avan's Glimmer spell and then using his own brand of Magic Cylinder to capture him and use him as a weapon, knowing that outside the Resister, Brass would become evil again and Dai would be unable to hurt his grandfather. Zaboera then teleports to Crocodine's base informing him he watched everything through the Heyedras that are part of his Legion, and proposes his plan to the Beast King. Crocodine is repulsed at the idea of sinking to dishonor to win, but Zaboera successfully convinces him by claiming Crocodine's position would be at risk, leaving Crocodine to begrudgingly accept.
As Crocodine assaults Romos Castle, Dai challenges the Beast King as he now demonstrates his better expertise of spells while Zaboera watches through a Heyedra. Intimidated by his growth, Crocodine summons Brass, leaving Dai in severe distress and unable to fight against his only family. Maam and the Romos guards call him out for his cowardly tactic, but Crocodine holds his ground believing that a warrior without victory is worthless. As Dai lies injured, Maam tries to help but is restrained by Zaboera's Heyedra, allowing Crocodine to strike Dai but is stopped by Popp who gained the courage to confront the Legion Commander. Although Popp demonstrated great magical ability, it wasn't enough to defeat Crocodine so he resorted to destroy his own magic rod to create a medium to cast a small sized Glimmer to purify Brass and keep Crocodine at bay, thus losing his leverage, and leaving Zaboera shocked at the feat. Zaboera goads Crocodine to kill Popp but is unable to as Dai regains his strength and now furious at Crocodine for his underhanded methods. With Maam freed from the Heyedra, she heals Popp who tosses a sword at Dai enabling him to perform an incomplete Avan Strash to defeat Crocodine who apologizes for his misdeeds and is taken away by his Legion.
Zaboera along with Flazzard is summoned to Vearn's Sovereign Rock Castle, where they visit Crocodine who was placed on a recovery pod. Flazzard comments on the absurd power required to penetrate Crocodine's steel hard hide, leaving Zaboera to ponder that Flazzard is as calculating as he is rash, reflecting the two sides of his being. Baran soon comes after and also offers praise to whoever left Crocodine in such a state. Flazzard feels sorry that Baran had to be summoned even though he was busy in a mission, but Baran says it isn't needed for he had already finished, leaving Flazzard and Zaboera completely shocked.
Zaboera along the rest of the Legion Commanders gathers for a meeting with Hadlar who had planned an all offensive attack on Dai's party but apologizes in advance since Vearn had given the order to Hyunckel, who being a former disciple of Avan and the most senior amongst them and with a deep grudge was perfect for the task.
Hadlar along Zaboera go to visit Hyunckel in what Hadlar calls an inspection. Hadlar asks Hyunckel whether he has seen Crocodine who left while still wounded, to which Hyunckel feigns not knowing. Hadlar and Hyunckel soon bicker over the issue of Dai to which Hyunckel presses that he got the other from Vearn himself so Hadlar had no room to protest. Zaboera stays for longer and tries to coerce Hyunckel by stating he can cast a love spell on a hostage Maam. Hyunckel grabs and pins Zaboera calling him the indignity of the Legion Commanders before tossing him away. An enraged Zaboera claims Hyunckel will fail like Crocodine for not heeding him, to which Hyunckel counters Crocodine lost because he listened to Zaboera's plans in the first place.
Zaboera is present with the other Legion Commanders on Hadlar's throne when they comment on the demise of the Undead Legion as a result of the erupting volcano, to which Flazzard replies with feigned lament, as everyone realizes he awakened the dormant volcano.
Clash Arc[]
Zaboera is summoned by Hadlar to carry out a full out offensive on Dai's party in Valge Island. Knowing they'd try to save Princess Leona from Flazzard who had activated a force field to negate spells on Valge Tower, Hadlar spread the forces so he himself and his Legion protected the Dark Ice Spire and Zaboera along Mystvearn and their troops were left to guard the Dark Fire Spire, the two points that enabled the force field. Hadlar forced Baran to conquer Carl Kingdom much to Baran's annoyance.
Zaboera lied in wait along Mystvearn as they ambush Dai and Baduck with Dai fighting the armored Shadow Legion minions and Baduck against the more vulnerable sorcerers. Mystvearn assaults Dai and traps him with his Dark Puppetry Aura Hand, leaving Dai surprised he could use Hyunckel's technique, to which Zaboera explains Mystvearn had taught Hyunckel. Zaboera and Baduck trade insults before Zaboera casts Thwack intending to kill Baduck, but is prevented from doing so by Dai as Gomechan slams on Mystvearn's face, distracting him and allowing Dai to free himself. As the situation grows more dire, a recovered Crocodine appears to help Dai and his party, revealing Hyunckel went to the opposing Spire to fight Hyunckel. Crocodine destroys the Dark Fire Spire with his Beast King Anguish Blast and pursues Zaboera, trying to settle the score for tricking him, but Zaboera had cast a Morph spell on one of his men to use him as a decoy, as Zaboera teleports away.
Zaboera pays a visit to Baran as he watches over his dragons laying waste to Carl Kingdom, leaving Zaboera afraid of Baran's ability to so easily conquer such a powerful nation in just 5 days. Having informed Baran of the failure at Valge Island, Baran is impressed on Dai's strength. Zaboera comments on Dai's mysterious strength specially when he shows a crest on his forehead. The comment sparks Baran's ire as he breaks his glass, while asking Zaboera if the crest resembles the head of a dragon, which Zaboera confirms to be the case. Baran is enraged as he realizes what Hadlar's plans were all along. Making his way to Sovereign Rock Castle along Zaboera, Baran makes clear his intentions to be the one to challenge Dai next as he knows of their common heritage. Killvearn interrupts the discussion as he performs his task, using a key to activate the castle to move, as means to change location as it was imperiled due to Crocodine and Hyunckel's defection.
Destiny Arc[]
Zaboera along with Hadlar, Mystvean, Killvearn and Vearn himself all watch the battle of Baran against Dai on Vearn's chamber. Vearn declares his intentions to make Baran the Dark Army's Commander if he successfully recruits Dai to their side, leaving Hadlar with empty protests. Zaboera realizes this scenario is the reason why Hadlar was so adamant about the two Dragon Knights not meeting. They witness as Baran forces a memory wipe on Dai before retreating to summon the Dragon Riders, his three central lieutenants. Hadlar explains about the Dragon Riders who preside over the Sky, Sea and Land and how they are said to be as powerful as the Legion Commanders, leaving Zaboera shocked that Baran could have such mighty servants.
Zaboera and Hadlar, now in a different chamber, continue to watch the war between Dai's party and Baran's Dragon Legion, along with Baran's own struggle against Dai's friends. With Baran pushed into a corner he transforms into the Dragonoid, with the surge of power being so large it destroyed surrounding Heyedras, so Zaboera commands the Heyedra on the chamber to gather the others in Teran to keep monitoring the battle, while Hadlar was panicking at the results. As Dai recovers his memories from Popp's self-sacrifice, the two Dragon Knights clash with Dai ultimately emerging victorious through the help of his friends. An injured but alive Baran, approaches Popp's body and sheds a drop of his blood on him which had the ability to resurrect him. Baran vows to face Dai eventually. Hadlar is terrified for the single worst scenario has come into play, that both Dragon Knights live and Dai is stronger than ever as he has learned to control his power. His fears materialize when Mystvearn summons Hadlar on Vearn's orders and is given a severe reprimanding for undermining their domination purely to preserve his position. Vearn rubs the three major failures of Hadlar by having two Legion Commanders to defect, by failing on his full assault offensive, and finally the battle between Baran and Dai. However, acknowledging that he managed to kill Avan, he gives him one more chance to redeem himself.
Hadlar orders Zaboera to gather his troops while Hadlar along his own will launch an attack on Dai's party. Zaboera rejects this course of action as it has proved ineffective and that normal methods will not work against Dai's party so he suggests a new plan. The two lie in wait on Merle's home where they are recovering, with Zaboera utilizing a Dark Incense to put them into slumber with Popp who was on guard somehow resisting the effects. Zaboera disguises himself as Maam using a Morph spell and tries to seduce Popp before injecting him with a paralytic neurotoxin through his claws, explaining the many venoms inside his body. Zaboera reveals the ruse as he comes along Hadlar to kill all of them. Popp berates Hadlar for falling for Zaboera's dirty schemes, to which Hadlar angrily replies his position has left him no choice. Popp points out Crocodine said the same thing but that ultimate he saw the truth that there was more to simply winning. Zaboera kicks Popp for trying to lecture Hadlar and tries to kill him himself through more poison, but has his arm torched by Matoriv, causing him to flinch from the pain.
Hadlar recognizes Matoriv from Avan's party and the two engage in battle, as they clash with their Sizzle spells, with Matoriv also dual casting Squelch but unable to fully cure Popp. Hadlar goes even further and casts Kasizz, but is met with Matoriv's own Kasizz, leaving Hadlar flabbergasted that a human like Matoriv could know the spell. As Matoriv's spell is stronger, Hadlar orders a terrified Zaboera to help him. Zaboera casts Sizzle with his left hand to get revenge on Matoriv with the combined spells overpowering Matoriv. However, Dai appears answering to Popp's pleas and using his Dragon Crest power on his hand, casts his own Sizzle by redirecting the Darklings' own spells back at them in an explosion that almost kills them but Zaboera flees using a Zoom. All injured and believing Hadlar dead, he musters how he's useless and that he's better aligning with Mystvearn. To his surprise, Hadlar is still alive (albeit only by the upper half of his body) grabbing him by his legs saying he won't allow Zaboera to betray him since the two are now on the same boat, and threatens to kill him if he abandons him. Hadlar reveals he is aware of Zaboera's research into Superior Beings and orders him to turn him into one. Zaboera questions this decision to which Hadlar responds the power from the body obtained by Vearn is not enough to match the increasingly growing power of the Disciples of Avan and that he needs the strongest power possible, one that can match even Baran's Dragonoid form. Zaboera ultimately complies with Hadlar's demands.
Halo Arc[]
Zaboera, along with Mystvearn, lead the ground attack forces against the joined human army. Zaboera spots the Disciples of Avan attempting a spell, and tries to have Popp killed by throwing his medallion, the Venom Chain, as a poisoned dart. Merle realizes this and takes the hit for Popp, who was trying to save her. As she lies dying, she encourages Popp to confess his true feelings of love, which he does, which releases the courage locked deep within his soul. This change allows Popp to transition into the Sage class (self-proclaimed Grand Sorcerer) and vastly increase his magic power to the point he is capable of healing magic, thereby saving Merle and allowing the party to cast Kaglimmer to travel to Vearn's Palace.
As Mystvearn's undead army proves unsuccessful, Zaboera releases their secret weapon, an army of monsters from the Underworld far more powerful than those of the surface world contained in special giant monster capsules buried in the rocks. With a new more powerful array of fighters, the Dark Army continues the fight. Although the new monsters were much stronger, they lacked teamwork and were ultimately defeated by humanity's superior tactics. Left by themselves and with Mystvearn warned of Avan's revival, he believes this the prime opportunity to leave. Zaboera who tries to save his own skin tries to coerce Mystvearn into demonstrating his true power while he flees under the pretense of protecting Vearn, a bluff that Mystvearn is easily capable of calling, since he wonders what utility he could provide against Dai's party if he can't fight the humans on the ground. Mystvearn continues he has no obligation to protect Zaboera and that were Zaboera to flee with no results he would be executed. Zaboera lashes at him discard honorifics about how he could abandon his comrade. Mystvearn laughs that Zaboera is so desperate he would parrot the talking points of camadrerie of humans, and severely scolds him into fighting himself for once in his life. To add insult to injury, he even states that if the two were truly comrades, then Zaboera would know how Mystvearn would act, which Zaboera correctly deduced as Vearn taking priority over everything else.
Being left alone and discarded, Crocodine roars at Zaboera to surrender since he can't fight everyone by himself. Zaboera laughs at this and says that while it is true he has been left alone he is still able to have others fight for him, stating his underworld army will do it, a statement that is brought into question since his army lies half dead. Zaboera observes this to be truth and believes this to be problematic, as he proceeds to throw light beams at his men in order to kill them as he needs them dead. He then proceeds to merge their corpses into a colossal monstrocity dubbed as the Superior Being Zombie, the next step into the Superior Being with Zaboera inside the creature. Lonberk tries to attack the creature but his sword cracks instantly, to which Zaboera is delighted as it proves his theory correct. Chu, however is not surprised as they have a user of Refractor Fist with them, requesting the aid of Brokeena (disguised as a monster) to help. Brokeena, however, correctly realizes that Refractor Fist won't work on this monster because it is undead and thus cannot be healed. Zaboera gloats at his new upgrade as it fixed the major weakness he had witnessed since the fight with Zamza. His new piloted body was unable to use magic, but had such a compact musculature that weapons were useless, therefore making it a nigh unstoppable menace.
The forces of humanity fought with all, but weren't able to so much as leave any significant injury, and even Crocodine's Axe was cracked. As Zaboera attempts to attack the magic circle, he is held by Crocodine who uses his strength to keep him at bay. Zaboera mocks Crocodine for looking small, realizing this must be how he looked to the former Beast King. With everyone trying their best to hold Zaboera back, Nova attempts a suicidal attack pouring his life energy into a single attack. Lonberk opposses believing his attack won't have any meaningful impact and Nova will die in vain. Nova does not care as he believes he will achieve something, even if the wound he inflicts is minuscule it is something his comrades can exploit to continue the fight. As Nova launches his attack, Lonberk takes the hit, which restore's Nova's vitality. In exchange for not allowing the young man to throw his life, Lonberk reveals his ultimate weapon as he exposes a rock structure. Zaboera attacks the structure which fractures the blades on his arms, but breaks the rock which reveals two swords, Lonberk's ultimate weapons the Star Emperor Swords. Zaboera laughs at the absurd name and proceeds to attack Lonberk who adopts a dual blade stance. Zaboera mocks Lonberk for evading believing him to be afriad the weapons are in fact weak. Lonberk agrees that he is afraid, but not of the weapon's weakness but rather their strength, because he is able to unleash an attack so powerful that Lonberk himself won't be left unscathed. Zaboera realizes Lonberk isn't bluffing and desperately tries to attack Lonberk who uses his Star Emperor Cross Slash attacking with both blades at once and releasing a shockwave so devastatingly powerful it cleaves the monster in four, the recoil of which breaks Lonberk's arms rendering them unusable for more years than any human can live.
With the human forces celebrating the victory and Nova vowing to become Lonberk's hands, Zaboera secretly crawls his way out as he tries to escape. He is, however intercepted by Crocodine, correctly deducing he was alive and trying to escape. To rub salt on the wound, Crocodine is able to point out that Zaboera has no magic power left as otherwise he would have teleported, leaving Zaboera cursing to himself that Crocodine was more intelligent than he thought. Zaboera then begs for mercy and tries to sell himself in a sympathetic light as a feeble old man who had to resort to everything for power due to the dire life of Darklings in their world. Crocodine seemingly convinced of this, causes Zaboera to perform his last attack, to inject his bodily poison directly into Crocodine in order to kill him. Much to his horror, however, Crocodine drops his axe into Zaboera's arms with the weight of the handle being too much for the old Darkling to lift. Being left trapped and exposed as the lowly coward he always was, Crocodine uses his Beast King Redemption Blast to pulverize Zaboera once and for all, in an act of poetic justice that sees the mad sorcerer killed by the same individual he had once looked down upon and manipulated, who had grown sufficiently self-aware of discerning Zaboera's treachery.
Abilities[]
As the commander of the Dark Army's legion of spellcasters, Zaboera is an unfathomably powerful sorcerer on his own right, and easily one of the strongest of the manga's universe. He was easily capable of entering Dermline Island despite the fact that it was protected under Avan's powerful Glimmer purification spell, and even used his own brand of Magic Cylinders to trap Brass.
Having command over the Heyedras, he could use them to transmit what they could see (which he himself can observe through a crystal ball like a Seer), as well as establish communication between parties, effectively putting Zaboera in charge of the bulk of the intelligence of the Dark Army's operations, providing tactical support.
Like most mages, Zaboera has null physical ability in combat and relies entirely on his vast arsenal of spells and minions to do the fight for him. He is able to float and even teleport with ease, and can use deadly spells like Thwack to instantly kill his opponents. He also claimed to Hyunckel that he could cast a love-binding spell on Maam. He also used a Morph spell to disguise and fool his victims. Zaboera's signature spell is Hexcitation which allows him to absorb spells thrown at him and mix their power with his own allowing him to unleash stronger blasts of magic. The full extent of this spells is never displayed, however.
More than likely due to his experimentation on himself, Zaboera's body was also fairly abnormal, carrying an uncountable amount of venoms inside, and being able to inject the likes of paralytic neurotoxins through his claws. Like other Darklings, Zaboera also displayed remarkable regenerative abilities, being able to regrow a sliced off forearm.
Zabeora appears to be an expert of both arcane magic and demonic science, being able to devise a Dark Incense which had the ability to put their intended targets to slumber or otherwise make them more susceptible to illusions. The peak of Zaboera's magic science is the research into Superior Beings, a terrifying discovery, which basis he stole from his son, that is capable of superbly enhance beings into monsters of unfathomable power theoretically capable of matching Dragon Knights, applying this procedure on Zamza and then on Hadlar himself. Upon further study of both Superior Beings, he was able to refine the technique to the next level. By using a cluster of Underworld, modified monster corpses mangled together, he can construct the Superior Being Zombie, an undead monstrosity to compact that most physical attacks are useless, unable to feel pain and even unaffected by the Refractor Fist due to being undead. The monster's only weakness was the inability to use magic, but it otherwise provided Zaboera with a nigh invincible monster that could fight for him while he nested inside like a cockpit, thusly bypassing all the drawbacks of being directly turned into a Superior Being himself.
Other Appearances[]
Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light[]
Synthesis[]
| Super Light Synthesizing | ||||||||
| Monster | Monster | Result | ||||||
| Mystic Bishop Zaboera | + | Underworld egg x2, Egg-en-ciel | = | Superior Zombie | ||||
| Synth type | {{{Synth type}}} | |||||||
Rank and Slot No.[]
Mystic Bishop
| Super Light Rank and Slot No. | |
| Rank | S |
| Slot No. | 972 |
Superior Zombie
| Super Light Rank and Slot No. | |
| Rank | SS |
| Slot No. | 973 |
Skill[]
Mystic Bishop
- ā Hexcitation
- āļø Venom Chain
- šØ Dark Incense
- ā Sizzle
Superior Zombie
- āļø Rip and tear
Dragon Quest of the Stars[]
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Dragon Quest Tact[]
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Dragon Quest Walk[]
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Dragon Quest Keshi Keshi![]
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Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai - A Hero's Bonds[]
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Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest - The Adventure of Dai[]
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Gallery[]
Other languages[]
| Other languages | |
| French | ZaboƩra |
| German | Zaboera |
| Spanish | Unknown |
| Italian | Unknown |
| Dutch | Unknown |
| Norwegian | Unknown |
| Greek | Unknown |
| Portuguese | Unknown |
| Russian | Unknown |
| Chinese | Unknown |
| Korean | Unknown |
References[]
- ā 1.0 1.1 Perfect Book, ISBN 978-4088588810