Amanda

Amanda is a female character who makes her featured and debut appearance in Final Fantasy Adventure. She is a slave of the Glaive Empire, and has partnered with Sumo on a few occasions during his journey. She uses a dagger as her weapon, and has the ability to cure Petrify.

Background
Originally an enslaved gladiatrix of the Glaive Empire, Amanda fights to free her brother Lester from a curse laid by the tyrant Davias as the former was transformed into a parrot.

Final Fantasy Adventure & Adventures of Mana
Originally from Menos, Amanda is captured and forced to fight exotic beasts alongside other gladiators in Glaive's area for the Dark Lord's entertainment.

Later on, after Sumo escapes from Glaive, she finally get to escape her prison cell and find her way back home to Menos. During her stay, she learns that her brother, Lester, has traveled to Jadd to play his harp, only to be captured by the city's ruler Davias. She briefly meets with Sumo again, unconscious from falling from Glaive's Airship. She reluctantly takes advantage of his condition by taking his pendant, hoping that Davias would accept it in exchange for freeing her brother. Unfortunately for her, Davias tranforms Lester into a parrot after grabbing the pendant, prompting the young maiden to venture into the Shifting Sands to ask Medusa for a tear to cure him.

Sumo then catch up with Amanda in the sandy cave where she confesses into taking his pendant. She then adds that the only way to break her brother's curse is to find the tears of a gorgon which can only be found here. The young knight then joins Amanda in her quest to find Medusa, enventually finding the monster at the very end of her lair.

After vanquishing Medusa, the demon professes that shall shed no tears for their sake, then vanishes leaving the area dry. As, Sumo tries to find alternatives to convince Davias to change her brother back to his former self, Amanda realizes that she has been bitten by Medusa during the fight, dooming herself to turn into a mindless gorgon. She then orders the young knight to finish her and take her tears instead. Sumo tries to reason with her by telling her that Cibba might know a way to cure her, but the curse is rapidly taking over Amanda's body, leaving him to slay her in the end. In her final speech, she urges Sumo to not let her death be in vain and to tell his brother that she loves her.

Taking a single blood-red tear from her cheek in a vial, the yound knight asks for forgiveness before leaving the premises and returning to Jadd.

Sword of Mana
Amanda's role stays largely the same as the previous entries where her main objective is still to finding a cure for her brother's curse. However, she gains more dialogue and is therefore more fleshed out in Sword of Mana. By choosing Sumo's path at the beginning of the game, she is seen lying on a straw mat alongside the other slaves forced to perform in the Dark Lord's gladiator feats. She tells Sumo that he is grumpy and that he should cheer up, as well as informing him about praying before the Mana Statue to get the Goddess's protection. She then give both Sumo and Willy the thumbs up gesture before they leave for combat in the area.

After escaping with the other inmates and making her way back to her hometown, She eventually discovers an unconscious Sumo in the middle of Menos Outskirts, nursing him back to health in Menos Village. While Sumo doesn't recognize her at first, he quickly figures out who she is. Still bedbound by his injuries, Amanda tells him to take it easy, but it also amazed at meeting him in the current circumstances. She tells Sumo of how she took advantage of his escape to also flee herself. Unfortunately, Willy couldn't make a proper escape and was escorted back by Granz soldiers. Amanda is still optimistic about his fate, telling Sumo that Willy wouldn't die without a fight. She then tells the wounded hero to get some rest, as Sumo quickly falls asleep. The hero experiences a disturbing nightmare all the while convulsing repeatingly, prompting Amanda to stay at his side. Seeing that his condition is far from improving, Amanda gets increasingly distressed, but is interrupted by a mysterious man coming through his door. The man introduces himself as Devius, claiming that he can give the poor swordsman some medicine to cure him. The young woman accepts, but it is later revealed that she stole his pendant in exchange for him to get better. Crippled with guilt, Amanda escapes the premises before Sumo awakes. Amanda is then seen again in Devius Manor's main chamber. She confesses that she was the one who snatched Sumo's pendant in order to save him from succumbing from his illness. Sumo and her decide to tag along to search for his pendant. While asking Lady Medusa for permission to get out of her room, our heroes overhear the bird trapped in a giant cage sing an ode to Granz that momentarily makes the lady stop wailing. They together conclude that the bird might be Lester and that the other rabites surrounding them are ministrels as well. They try to open the cage to no avail. This disturbs Lady Medusa who hurls a magical ball in their direction, barely missing Amanda, who hit one of the rabites instead. Said creature is almost instantly transformed into a bird to the duo's amazement, confirming that the trapped bird is her brother. The heroes are immediately cornered by mavole servants who intend to kill them by knowing Lady Medusa's secret. The two guards are distracted by the lady who tells them that she must go to the Altar of Time where her husband is supposed to be calling from. The two guards are knocked unconscious by her as she escapes her room, leaving Sumo and Amanda to retrieve the birdcage's key to free her brother. Unfortunately, the newly freed bird promptly head for the exit as well, and the duo is forced to chase after it. As they traverse the manor, they discover that most of the servants were turned into birds by Lady Medusa. Amanda mentions while exiting the mansion that Lady Medusa went to the Altar of Time and that her brother must have headed the same direction. After crossing Jadd Desert and finding the way to gain entrance to a cave leading to the Altar of Time, the heroes bolt inside the sand labyrinth, eventually reaching Lady Medusa's lair. Amanda pleads to the woman to change her brother back to its original self, but Sumo notices something suspicious about the room and the giant hourglass standing behind Lady Medusa. Amanda's insistence on the matter angers the mavole woman, who retaliates by biting the young maiden in the neck. The lady reiterates that she doesn't want them to take her family memories away from them, immediately transforming into a grostesque monster that both Sumo and Amanda are forced to defeat. After taking care of the apparition, the female mavole transforms back to her original self, collapsing on the ground. Fuji and Bogard hurries to the premises and heals the laying woman with magic. Lady Medusa then declares that the people who she has changed into birds shall partake of her blood as they should transform back into their former self. She then thanks Lester for awakening buried memories through his songs and passes away quietly. Devius and the Dark Lord burst into the room and teleport the lifeless body away, foiling the party's attempt to collect Lady Medusa's blood and curing Lester. While the Dark Lord urges Devius to get revenge from the Mana Clan betraying their mother once again, the latter assures his brother that he will them to justice by killing them at his manor. After both of them leaving the altar, Amanda starts suffering from Lady's Medusa's bite and starts feeling her blood boiling. Her sking immediately turns blue and she starts attacking Fuji all the while fighting to regain her senses. Lester's bird form starts signing a songs that quells Amanda temporarily, leading her to tell Sumo that there is someone inside her that wants Him and Fuji dead and that they should leave while they can. Sumo cannot put himself to leave her like this and puts her out of her misery with his sword. Sumo instantly orders Fuji to heal her back with her magic, but Amanda is still in a weakened state. The dying woman tells the hero to give her blood to her brother, which make Lester transform back to his human form. Alas, Amanda's wounds are too severe and she collapses moments after thanking Sumo for listening to her plea. The grieving party then head back to Devius Manor to settle things right.

After vanquishing Devius, Sumo sprinkles Amanda's blood on the birds in Devius Manor, helping them gaining their original ministrel shape back.

Circle of Mana
Amanda makes a cameo appearance in several cards in Circle of Mana.

Rise of Mana
Amanda appears in Rise of Mana as a monster pet.

Echoes of Mana
Amanda appears as two playable character units in Echoes of Mana.
 * Amanda (unit)
 * Amanda (For Affection's Sake)

Physical appearance
In her Final Fantasy Adventure and Adventures of Mana deptictions, Amanda is a young woman with ruby colored eyes sporting ankle-long red hair that she wears in a ponytail. She wears a golden tiara on her forehead and has similar bracelets on both arms. She wears a skimpy green leather armor with thick brown breast and shoulder pads. Her waist is adorned with a slim red belt on whitch two daggers dangle on her hips. Her hands are covered by short black gloves and her legs are protected by thigh-high red and black boots. Her original artwork differs from her updated look by the fact that her hair is wavier and shorter, her belt only sports one dagger and that she has a longer cap coming from her right breastplate.

In her Sword of Mana artwork, she has shoulder-length frizzy blond hair with blue eyes. Her entire outfit is pink decorated with red triangular and gold brimmed patterns and fringes, akin to stereotypical native american fashion. She wears a turban adorned with a large red flowler on her left side. She has a single knife sheath attached to her left thigh and has multiple big bracelets with the same triangular patterns found on her dress.

Personality
In both her Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventures of Mana and Sword of Mana depictions, Amanda is portrayed as courageous and determined to save her brother from his curse. In Sword of Mana, however, she is a bit more fleshed out and speaks with a casual accent, using "ya" instead of "you" for example. In this iteration, she is displayed as optimistic and caring for Sumo during their captivity in Granz Castle alongside other inmates. She displays tomboyish attitude at times when she mentions arm-wrestling with Sumo inside Granz Castle. It is also implied that she has romantic feelings toward Sumo when she mentions hearing him talking about a girl, lowering her head looking the pendant she stole from him during his sleep. She is overall more cheerful and relaxed in her Sword of Mana deptiction than in her previous apparition, where she is more serious.

Party member
In Final Fantasy Adventure and Adventures of Mana, Amanda only joins Sumo for one dungeon, the Shifting Sands. She uses throwing knives as her weapon of choice during battle. She will heal Sumo from Ston status if asked. She will leave the party once Medusa is defeated.

In Sword of Mana, she joins during her reunion with Sumo in Devius Manor. She uses a spear to harm enemies and has the following starting statistics.

She also leaves when Lady Medusa is defeated.

Boss
Amanda appears as a boss in Final Fantasy Adventure and Adventures of Mana. She will do nothing against the player, until the player strikes her down and it'll only take a single attack to defeat her. However, the player can still take damage by colliding with her.

Etymology
Amanda means "lovable" or "worthy of love" in Latin.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, the tears that Sumo and Amanda are seeking is Medusa's blood.
 * In Sword of Mana, the Demon servitors of Devius Manor all imitate Amanda's Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventures of Mana hair style (which is copied by Devius) and coloration (aside from purple haired Genoa) in their character portrait with the irony being that if it wasn't for the Game Developers making Amanda's character design completely different in Sword of Mana, the Hero could have easily mistook one of the Demons for her. Whether or not the developers actually knew of this fact is unknown.
 * Amanda makes a reference to The Weather Girls' 1982 hit It's Raining Men by saying the infamous phrase while discovering an unconscious Sumo in Menos Outskirts after his fall from Granz's Airship.
 * Amanda used to arm-wrestle Sumo in the slave quarters.