Bowie (Shining Force II)
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Bowie is the main protagonist of the 1994 video game Shining Force II, the third game in the Shining Force series of video games. During the game, he may be renamed to whatever the user desires, but his default name is Bowie. He is the young leader of the band of heroes called the Shining Force.
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[edit] Background
Bowie is a human boy who lives on the island of Granseal with his mother. As he begins his quest, he is speculated to be around 13-14 years old. His class is a Swordsman (SDMN) during pre-promotion, and a Hero (HERO) after being promoted. He is a unique character in Shining Force II in that if he dies during battle, the Force retreats and the player loses half of their gold.
[edit] Granseal
As the game begins, Bowie wakes up in his two-story house in Granseal, along with his mother. He is late for school, and as he is leaving, his mother tells him that Sarah and Sir Astral have been looking for him. He hurries off to school and finds two of his three classmates waiting for him. Sarah, an Elven priestess is sitting at attention in her seat, awaiting the professor, Sir Astral. Chester, a Centaur, sleeps face down on his desk. Bowie goes downstairs to find Sir Astral sitting at his desk. Once class has begun, it is interrupted by a messenger straight from King Granseal himself. He delivers his statement to Astral, who looks shocked. Astral rushes out, leaving the three students alone in the classroom. They decide to check out what was happening at the castle. Once they figure out that the King is sick, Sir Astral discovers them and in order to cover up for the fact that they snuck into the castle, decides to make Bowie and the group accompany him to Ground Seal, a tower deep inside the castle. As they arrive, Sir Astral notices a symbol on the ground. As he inspects it, a Gizmo appears and attempts to attack Astral! It summons more, which the three children dispatch off with their wooden weapons. The first Gizmo escapes and heads for the castle. Bowie, Sarah, and Chester find Sir Astral engaging in a battle with a possessed King Granseal in his own bedroom. Astral wins the battle, and the Gizmo escapes from the King's body. During this ordeal, Astral faints. When he awakens, he tells the King to order them to go to Yeel and to bring back an old historian, named Hawel. Astral believes that Hawel has books needed to investigate Ground Seal. The group leaves, and as they are leaving town, they find their classmate, Jaha joins them, telling them he was late to class and needed to be filled in on the details.
The group sets off for Yeel, and as they get there, they talk to one of Hawel's pupils. His name is Kazin and he leads them to Hawel's house. As the quintet arrives, there is no answer at the door. They barge in to find Hawel in a bloody mess on the floor, and two Galam soldiers standing above him. They flee, and Kazin talks to Hawel for the final time. Hawel tells him that the soldiers stole his notes on Ground Seal, and Kazin immediately wants to avenge his death. They leave the house and head back toward Yeel, where they find more soldiers, including the Galam army general, Lemon. The band of teenagers are captured and brought to Galam Jail. Bowie wakes up as the other jailmates are exchanging thoughts on the Galam vs. Granseal situation. Bowie finds out that Galam has declared war on its former ally, Granseal, over Ground Seal. Another cellmate wakes in the cell next to them, a rat by the name of Slade. It is discovered that by his stupidity in stealing the Jewels of Light and Evil, he has awakened the most fearsome beast in the world, the King of Devils himself, Zeon. To attempt to make up for his actions, Slade decides to help the group escape. He shows them a secret passageway, where they end up inside the castle. They overhear Lemon and King Galam speaking about how Granseal will be crushed. The two and their army rush out of the castle, leaving one knight behind, who brags to his friend about being entrusted with the Jewel of Light. Bowie and his friends charge him and defeat him, taking the jewel. As they attempt to leave Galam, they fight a few more knights and mages. They make their way back to Granseal, where they find the entire city in shambles. Upon exploring a few of the ruined buildings, the group finds a small tortoise. Bowie names him Kiwi and he follows them. They enter the castle, where the King and the Minister accmpany them to Ground Seal once more. King Galam has captured Princess Elis and he is engaging in a battle with Sir Astral. The two are at a stalemate, and knock each other down. Galam summons creatures to protect Elis from being recaptured by the Granseal forces, and they go to battle, with Bowie's team winning it. As they attempt to take Elis back, Galam jumps up and brings her into a portal, dropping his Jewel of Evil in the process, which fuses to Bowie's neck along with the Jewel of Light obtained earlier. An earthquake commences, and the entire town is being engulfed by chasms. The remnants of the island pack onto a boat in the harbor, with Elis still captured by King Galam. They head for Parmecia, the mainland.
[edit] South Parmecia
As they arrive, the town begins to use the wood from the ship in order to rebuild the town. A man comes up to Bowie and tells him that his friend is missing. The group agrees to find him, and they do, but not before a bunch of rocks fall on him and he is rendered unconscious. After winning a battle with witches and goblins, they rescue the man. They make their way back to the site of the boat, which has been turned into in an entirely new city (in just moments, nonetheless).
One year later, the same band of heroes is in New Granseal. Bowie talks to the king, who tells them to build a new ship to go back to Grans Island, but there is not enough trade going on in this new colony. So first, Bowie heads out of the castle, and as he is leaving town, he sees a group of townspeople crowded around a large, yellow bird who speaks. Three boys attempt to attack it, but the Minister brings it back to the king. Bowie enters the castle and finds out that his name is Peter, and that he must accompany him to Mt. Volcano, the home of the God Volcanon. From New Granseal, they make their way to Ribble, where they are believed to be spies. An old man tries to attack them, but Peter tells him their real story. The man apologizes and the town dwellers come out of hiding. A person standing underneath a tree explains how he thinks there is secret ruins somewhere around there, but Bowie just ignores him. Another Centaur, this one named May is waiting near the exit of Ribble. She joins up with the Force, looking for adventure, and they start out for Polca, the village of the wolf-men. First, they enter a dank cave called Hobgoblin Cave (what a surprise, considering the main enemy inside it is a Hobgoblin). Once the Force dispatches of it, they enter the village of Polca. After they enter the city, the volcano erupts and sends a small blind child, Oddler tumbling out. The mayor brings him to his house, letting him rest, as the Force continues up the mountain. After fighting a few enemies who mistake them for Polcans, they enter Mt. Volcano. The city of birdmen, Bedoe, is inside. They talk to King Bedoe, who tells them that Volcanon is very angry. As they see Volcanon, Peter tries to talk Volcanon out of being mad at the ground dwellers, but he disagrees and refuses to help Bowie at all. Bowie and Peter head back to King Bedoe, who tells them to go to the mansion of an ex-Greater Devil, Creed to seek help. Once the Force heads back to Polca, they find that the town has been taken over by Devils. One of King Bedoe's birdman soldiers, Luke is trying to gain the town back, but he is knocked out. Gerhalt, a wolfman, decides to join the force and recapture the village. Once they are successful, the mayor agrees to build a raft for the Force to use. Once it is constructed, Bowie and his friends try to leave the town, but the mayor will not allow it unless they take Oddler with them. Also, Luke decides to join the Force and bring them to their new raft. They head to a nearby ruin, where they find an old man. He mistakes them for his grandson, Petro, but then realizes it is not him. The old man leads them to a shrine where they can get back to Grans Island, but inside they find Devils! Once they are defeated, they find that the door to Grans is locked and cannot be opened this way. There is a pecuiliar looking Wooden Panel in a chest, which the Force takes back to Ribble. They insert it into the tree the man was babbling about, and a path opens. They go through it and Bowie opens up a chest containing a weapon known as the Achilles Sword. They then continue sailing down to Creed's Mansion, but they are stopped along the way. There is a rumbling in the water, and soon, a gigantic monster known as the Kraken emerges. Somehow, with the help of Peter and Luke in the air, the Kraken is vanquished and the heroes end up in the town southwest of the battle site, Hassan. They talk to an old historian named Rohde, who smells the Achilles Sword and tells them he will bring them to the Taros Shrine west of Hassan. He does so, and a battle ensues for the rights to the Caravan, a mythical item. Taros disallows this and his forces are ready to attack. The two clash and Bowie slays Taros with the one weapon that can harm him, the Achilles Sword. Rohde now operates the Caravan and they head back to Hassan. A young Centaur named Rick is at the gate, and he sees the Achilles Sword and the Caravan, and joins the Force just because of the sheer astonishment he experiences after seeing those items.
The Force makes their way through two or three battles before arriving near a pond, with no path to Creed's. Confused they stand before Oddler heard someone crying out from the pond. They find out that he was trapped there by a Harpy, who must be killed. The harpy and its forces are destroyed, and the Elven boy is rescued from the pond. His name is Elric, and he is an archer. He joins the Force and shows them the way to Creed's mansion, through a mountain. Once they enter Creed's mansion, they are stopped by his servant, Goliath. He guards the main door, so they try and sneak in the side door. As soon as the doorknob is touched, all of the Force members are shrunk, and Goliath puts them on the desk in that room, which turns out to be the Desktop Kingdom. Bowie talks to the King and he tells him that he will show them a way out, but only if his forces can defeat the king's Chess Army. They are successful, and their prize, a Cotton Balloon, allows them to drop off of the desk safely. Now in Floor World, they make their way into a tunnel, where there is nothing but oozes and rats. After they defeat these hostile monsters, they end up in Creed's room. He talks to them and restores them to their normal size. Creed leads them to the Evil Spirit, who tells them that he cannot see Zeon, as the barrier around Arc Valley is too strong. Bowie shows him the two jewels, and Evil Spirit explodes as the avatar of Zeon himself is displayed! Zeon tells Bowie to bring the Jewel of Evil to Arc Valley in exchange for Princess Elis. Once upstairs again, Bowie talks to Creed, who tells him to go to Tristan in North Parmecia and talk to the Goddess Mitula, who will guide him further. Creed also announces that Oddler will be staying with him. Creed sends his fairy with Bowie, who has heard that there is a sick dwarf who needs to be helped. They make their way to the cave back near Hassan, and the fairy cures the dwarf. The dwarf gives Bowie a cannon to destroy rocks.
Bowie and the Force head back to New Granseal, where Sir Astral joins them as an advisor after hearing the story of Creed and the Evil Spirit. Sir Astral brings them to a dwarf outside of a shop selling dynamite. Astral receives some from him and they make their way to North Cliff, where they saved the man when they first arrived in Parmecia. As they leave, another Elven archer joins, Elric's girlfriend, Janet. After killing some more Devils, Rohde operates the cannon and dynamite, and blows the rocks away from a cave that was unseen before. Rohde then joins the Force officially. After fighting another battle in the cave, the Force arrives in North Parmecia.
[edit] North Parmecia
Upon entering North Parmecia, the Force comes across a town called Ketto, where there are signs of Devils telling people not to leave their houses or go to church. After passing through, they see a Centaur named Higins trying to guard the city from being attacked by more Devils. Geshp attacks his friends, killing them, before leaving his men to attack Bowie's Force. After Sir Astral exorcises the demon from Higins's body, he joins the force willingly. He leads them to the city of Centaurs, Pacalon. After talking to the King, Bowie and his Force travel to Tristan. On their way there, they see a girl stranded on a bridge, which is being eaten away by worms. They destroy the enemies, and after the battle, rescue the girl. She reveals herself to be one of the generals of the Devil Army, Cameela! She jumps off the bridge, leaving Astral, Bowie, Peter, and the rest headed to Tristan.
As the Force arrives at Mitula Shrine, outside it, they meet a priest. He explains to them that Mitula's Shrine is off limits for the time being, and that they must come back another time. However, they implore that the priest lets them in, and he refuses. Then, he transforms into a dark knight and his forces appear out of nowhere. The Force quickly disposes of them and a bellowing voice welcomes them to the shrine. They enter to see the Greater Devil Zalbard inside. The two armies go to battle, with the Force coming out on top. Zalbard drops an orb out of his robes called the Ground Orb, and Bowie puts it on the Mitula statue next to him. Mitula comes to life and tells him everything she knows, about Volcanon not wanting to help the ground people, and everything else. She tells them to go back to Granseal using the ancient Nazca Ship, found beyond the gates of Moun. They head back to Pacalon, where a vicar, Frayja talks to them and tells them how he imprisoned the townspeople of Moun in the city just so he could keep the Devils out of Parmecia. As they leave the castle, Geshp shows up again and orders Frayja to give him the key to Moun. He disagrees, and Geshp locks him in a ring of fire before summoning Devils and fleeing. After the battle, they begin to head to Moun. During the next battle, a Devil Pegasus knight named Jaro doesn't want to fight for the Devils anymore, and quits. He joins the Force after the battle. Once they hit Moun, Frayja officially joins the force. After dominating the Devils inside the town gates, Bowie and the Force find a secret underground cave the people of Moun created. Two new additions to the force are made, Zynk, a robot, and Gyan, a dwarf. After passing through Moun, they reach the Nazca Ship, but they were beaten to it by Cameela. A battle ensues, and Cameela is slain. The Force operates the Nazca Ship and tries to fly to Granseal once more.
[edit] Granseal (again)
As the Force flies from Parmecia to Granseal, they are shot down by lasers from Geshp's new project, the Prism Flowers. Once Bowie and the troops fight their way through another battle, they end up face to face with Geshp and the Prism Flowers. Geshp flees again, leaving the Force to deal with his Prism Flowers, in addition to other Devils. They are defeated, and the Force continues to make their way towards Galam, and ultimately Arc Valley. Geshp arrives once more, this time with a familiar face. The Red Baron, or Lemon, the general of the Galam Army. Geshp disappears once more. Red Baron and his army fall to Bowie and the Shining Force, and they remove his mask to reveal Lemon. Lemon talks as if it was all a dream, but Astral is the bearer of bad news, telling him that none of this was a dream. Lemon is determined to kill himself, but he is now immortal. Once the Force passes through Galam, Geshp makes his presence known again. This time, the Force doesn't let him get away, and he is cornered. Geshp is finally killed by the Force. Next, Bowie heads to Yeel, where he plays the piano for a moment. This opens up a secret door in the church, where all of the villagers are. A wizard named Chaz is with them, and he joins the Force. As Bowie tries to exit the town, Lemon jumps off of an elevated platform, impaling himself into the ground in vain. Lemon decides that if he is going to die, he will die fighting against Zeon, and joins the Force. After leaving Yeel, Bowie enters a cave to the south. He finds himself in a shrine, where his jewels are glowing brightly. They lead him to a door, which opens at the presence of the two jewels. Inside is a pedestal and a glowing sword. Bowie retrieves it from the rock and now wields it. It is the legendary Force Sword. The Force then sees a large devil's head statue. There is a space in the back of it, so Bowie plunges the Force Sword into it and takes it out. The mouth opens, showing a path. It is a narrow maze hovering over a pool of lava. Once the Force emerges from that, they are on a glass "battlefield" of sorts, as none other than the former Oddler, Odd Eye, makes his way out. In a very emotional battle, Bowie slays Odd Eye, who dies after telling Bowie that he would want to relive his life as someone like him.
After this, Creed is seen. He tells the Shining Force that Odd Eye destroyed his mansion and threw him into the sea, but he made his way to Arc Valley. He acts as a priest, blessing all of the Force. Once the Force enters the final room, King Galam is seen with Princess Elis. The battle commences, and King Galam is defeated by the Shining Force. After the battle, the ground rumbles and Zeon opens up a hole in the wall. The final battle is here. Bowie barely defeats Zeon, and he rescinds back into the hole he came through. Galam begins to speak, asking what happened, and to see Elis's face. Elis draws nearer, and Galam jumps up, seizing her. He annouces that he is Zeon channeling his energy through Galam, and orders Bowie remove the Jewel of Evil. Bowie does so, and Zeon releases Elis. Lemon tries to save her and is enveloped in a fire. The Jewel of Light releases energy that puts that fire out, however. Lemon continues to move closer as Bowie knocks the Jewel of Evil out of Zeon's hand. Lemon drags him to a hole in the wall, sending them both to another dimension. The war with the devils was over. During this entire ordeal, Elis faints into a coma and Mitula reveals that Volcanon and she had helped the Force all along.
Two years later, Bowie is standing in the castle, and the person is being chosen that will kiss Elis and bring her out of her coma. Bowie is (almost) unanimously chosen to do the job. He goes upstairs and he and Elis kiss.
[edit] Abilities
[edit] Stats
- Top line indicates stat increases before promotion, bottom line indicates increases after promotion.
[edit] Magic
As Bowie is a swordsman and not a sorcerer or wizard, he does not have many spells. He casts just two in the entire game, a Bolt Spell and an Egress Spell.
- Egress (retreats from battle)
- Level 1: learned at lvl 1
- Bolt (lightning strikes an enemy)
- Level 1: learned at lvl 22
- Level 2: learned at lvl 31
- Level 3: learned at lvl 42
- Level 4: learned at lvl 51
