May | |
Mage May | |
Vital statistics | |
Race | Foxling |
Class | Mage -> Wizard |
Gender | Female |
Faction | Shining Force of Cypress |
Birthplace | Unknown (Citizen of Emild) |
Relatives | Unknown |
Appearances | Shining Force Gaiden II Shining Force CD |
May (マリアン - Marian in the Japanese versions) is a Foxling who served as the Royal Sorceress of Emild. She is a playable Mage and Wizard in Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya and Shining Force CD.
Appearance[]
Despite having what many have perceived to be a very feline appearance, May is in fact a Foxling; her ears, facial shape, wide eyes and lack of bushy fur could be the causes of this error. Oddly, her portrait in Sword of Hajya gives her a more fox-like appearance, despite being a lower quality image.
May has long, golden hair that matches her fur, and large, purple eyes. Her ears are close to equilateral triangles in shape, instead of the usual isosceles triangles of other Foxlings.
May wears a beige wide-sleeved robe that leaves her legs exposed; on top of this her torso is covered by a metal chestplate with matching shoulder pads, with a leather belt and elbow straps. Her thighs are bare, but her shins are wrapped in cloth, and on her feet she wears a pair of open-toed boots. Metal pads cover the backs of her hands, and a large blue cape covers the back of her body and legs. May does not wear any headgear, although the standard mage & wizard sprites used for her in battle scenes show her wearing peaked and/or wide-brimmed hats. Her outfit in Sword of Hajya does not appear to be different, although her chestplate has a blue tint.
Background[]
May served as the Royal Sorceress in the court of Emild until she learned that her King was assassinated and impersonated by Gordon of Iom; upon discovering this, she agreed to join Deanna's Force to seek revenge on both Gordon and Iom.
Personality[]
May has a very gentle and trusting nature, and conducts herself with perfect politeness even under the most dangerous circumstances. When the castle of Emild began crumbling about her, she rushed to the throne room to save the king, only to find him missing and nearly a dozen strangers with weapons in hand examining the secret tunnel behind the throne. Rather than demanding the king's whereabouts of them or summoning guards to arrest them, May helpfully informed them that the tunnel leads to Portobello, and then asked forgiveness for forgetting to introduce herself. Though it is possible that she was informed that the king was seeing visitors from Cypress, that would be little reason to trust them.
Strategy[]
In Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya, May is a veritable dominatrix on the battlefield. She learns Freeze level 3 very soon after joining the Force, and in this game this level of the spell is extremely overpowered, having an extra square's radius (i.e. covering 2 squares from the target instead of 1) and causing approximately 40-45HP of damage, instantly wiping out most enemies in the game. She has less MP than Natasha and doesn't learn the often more cost-effective Blaze level 3, meaning that she ultimately won't be able to do nearly as much damage per battle as her fellow Wizard, but this is akin to saying that an atomic bomb is far less destructive than a hydrogen bomb. May learns Freeze level 3 five levels earlier than Natasha learns either level 3 spell, so if you're having trouble leveling your mages, it may be best to drop Natasha and focus on May.
Her statistics are generally as expected from a mage (low HP and attack, high MP and agility), although she can develop a fairly sturdy Defence. In fact, her Defence remains almost identical to Wendy's from the moment she joins, which means she has consistently more Defence than Natasha and Yeesha. However, this is offset by the fact that she has much less HP than Natasha.
When playing Shining Force CD, May's spell selection is arguably not as useful as Wendy's or Natasha's. However, she does learn all four level of Bolt, and does so more quickly than either Yeesha or Domingo. She also is consistently better than Yeesha in every stat, making her the obvious choice if you want someone who learns Bolt level 4. Be aware, however, that unlike Wendy and Natasha, May cannot be used in Book 4.
Powers & Magic[]
As with healers and other mages, May can equip rods, staves and flails. However, her physical offensive strength is usually far outshone by her magical powers.
May can cast the following spells:
- Level 1 - acquires at Level 15
- Level 2 - acquires at Level 20
- Level 3 - acquires at Level 25
- Level 4 - acquires at Level 30
- Level 1 - acquires at Level 18
- Level 2 - acquires at Level 23
- Level 1 - already learned
- Level 2 - already learned
- Level 3 - acquires at Level 12
- Level 1 - already learned
- Level 2 - acquires at Level 9
In Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya, May's Freeze level 3 spell is far more powerful than in other games, causing 40-45HP damage up to two squares away from the target.
Images[]
Quotes[]
- In the ruins of Emild's castle
- May: "To think that our kind and generous king was murdered! They'll pay for this. Please, take me with you."
- Book 2 headquarters, not in active party
- May: "Oh, I'm just writing a letter. No, not to my boyfriend!"
- Book 3 headquarters, in active party
- May: "Everyone has a right to live a peaceful life."
Trivia[]
Neither Shining Force II nor Shining Force CD's characters called "May" had this name in their Japanese versions; Shining Force CD's May was called Marian, and Shining Force II's May was called Matilda. If any character should have the name May, it's Shining Force's Mae, as the Japanese spelling/pronunciation of the name is the same as "May".
See also[]
External links[]
- External link
Characters from Shining Force CD | ||
---|---|---|
Force | Nick • Ruce • Shade • Apis • Sig • Wendy • Cray • Claude • Stock • Mayfair • Yeesha • Gyan • Domingo • Kashing • Gates • Shriek • Randolf • Amigo • Lug • Deanna • Natasha • Jaha • Eric • Dawn • Luke • Slade • Graham • Chester • May • Sarah • Rohde • Hanzou • Musashi | |
Enemies | Devils | |
Monsters | (Incomplete) | |
Non-Playable | bgcolor="F2F2F2" style="border-bottom-right-radius: 10px; -moz-border-radius-bottomright: 10px; -webkit-border-bottom-right-radius: 10px; -khtml-border-bottom-right-radius: 10px; -icab-border-bottom-right-radius: 10px; -o-border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;" |