Zophar (Lunar series)

"Zophar" is a fictional character in the RPG world of Lunar. He is also known as The Dark God, Lord of Darkness, Architect of Anarchy, Master of Mayhem and, most commonly, the Destroyer.

Zophar is known to take on many different appearances. However, his best-known appearance is that of black, gigantic, tower-like creature sprouting the four black dragon skeletons at its base. In this fleshy mess, a human-like face with glowing red eyes is situated in the center.

The First Arrival

In the beginning, the human race inhabited the Blue Star, a planet similar to Earth. The Silver Star revolved in orbit around the Blue Star as a moon. While details of life on the Blue Star were lost to time, it was the coming of the Dark God, Zophar, to the Blue Star that changed the fate of humanity forever.

Using the innate greed, hatred and pettiness of humans, Zophar manipulated the humans of the Blue Star into fighting terrible, brutal wars among each other. Feeding on the dark desires of humans, Zophar later began to twist humanity even further by turning evil humans into bloodthristy monsters. After many years of these atrocities, the survivors of humanity implored Althena, the goddess of beauty and love, for salvation.

In an epic battle that lasted many days and nights, Althena finally defeated Zophar and banished him to the netherworld. However, the clash between the forces of creation (Althena) and destruction (Zophar) caused a surge that devastated the Blue Star. Despite his defeat, Zophar appeared to have accomplished his ultimate goal - the destruction of the Blue Star.

The Approaching Eclipse

Despite his imprisonment, Zophar quietly continued to watch the progress of humanity on their new world, Lunar. He witnessed the many events that shaped the fate of life on Lunar, but the people always held the seed of darkness somewhere in their hearts. After Althena's decision to become an ordinary human girl named , Zophar himself began to plan his own release from the netherworld and the destruction of all life on Lunar.

Some time between the death of Luna and the events of "", Zophar, the Dark God, was able use his mind to reach out beyond his prison in the netherworld and exert his influence on the world. At this time, Zophar was still unable to free himself, but he was able to communicate his wishes to humans who held dark desires in their hearts. Using this subtle influence, Zophar gradually subverted Althena's religion, making its dogma intolerant of any kind of deviance (including singing and dancing) and turning many priests of Althena into fanatical zealots.

Eventually, Althena's priesthood created an elite cult called The Chosen of Althena. Ostensibly the most loyal followers of the Goddess, The Chosen actually owed their true allegiance to Zophar, the Destroyer, who granted dark gifts to them in exchange for servitude. Zophar himself grew more powerful as he fed on the darkest desires of his worshippers.

In time, Zophar became powerful enough to resurrect , the former Magic Emperor and another enemy to Althena. Through Ghaleon, Zophar was able to seal away the powers of the Four Dragons of Althena into objects called Auras. To ensure their safety, Zophar entrusted his four most powerful followers among The Chosen with the Auras. The Auras were the only method to restore the Dragons, who were among the few beings who could seriously challenge Zophar's return to power.

Later, Zophar instructed an unnamed female human to pose as the earthly incarnation of the Goddess, Althena. Urged on with promises of eternal beauty and youth, the false Althena conveyed the wishes of Zophar in the guise of Althena's dictates.

Eclipse's End

A thousand years after the death of Althena, Zophar was finally nearing the culmination of his plans to free himself from the netherworld. He has firmly placed himself in the center of Althena's religion, using it to prepare the world of Lunar for his arrival. The Four Dragons were incapacitated by the theft of their Auras, which were guarded by Zophar's loyal followers. It seemed as though nothing could stop the Dark God.

However, Zophar wished for Althena's power, which she had disseminated throughout the world of Lunar, and he was unable to absorb it. So he awakened Lucia, a guardian left behind on the Blue star to await a time when it would be restored to life. Lucia, having premonitions of Zophar's return, went to Lunar to try to stop him.

Zophar sealed Lucia's power when she got there to hinder her attempt to find Althena's power. Since only Lucia could gather Althena's magic, his plan was for the humans who helped Lucia to become too important to her, so that when the time came, she could not bring the full force of Althena's power to bear against Zophar, which would destroy the world of Lunar along with him.

Zophar was correct, and Lucia faltered at the critial moment allowing her to be captured, where Zophar siphoned Altheana's gathered power from Lucia into himself. However, he miscalculated that the Human Spirit was actually powerful enough to challenge Zophar. Zophar was betrayed by Ghaleon, who was seeking to make amends for his evil deeds from 1000 years ago. Ghaleon challenged Lucia's friends, and awoke the spirit within them, allowing them to find the strength to challenge Zophar in his stronghold.

In a final battle in his own fortress, Zophar was finally defeated and killed by Hiro and his allies, with Hiro and Lucia together dealing the final blow. With Zophar's death, the darkness that had pervaded Lunar for ages had finally come to an end.

Trivia

Zophar was originally an abbreviation for "Zone Pharaoh", as shown in the Sega CD era Lunar I&II art book.