Dyluck

Major Dyluck or simply Dyluck is a major supporting character in Secret of Mana. He's the young commanding officer of the Pandoran army and Primm's love interest.

Background
Dyluck was born and raised in Kippo Village, eventually becoming a talented swordsman in Pandora's army and gainging the title of Major and Captain of the guards. He quickly courted Primm after their first encounter, bringing her flowers and asking how her day was. The girl even recalls during an inn cutscene when she tripped over a branch and he rushed at her side, even carrying her home. His mother, still living in Kippo, complains that he's too busy to visit even though the Kingdom of Pandora isn't far.

Secret of Mana
When Randi was asked by Gemma to meet him at the Water Palace, he came across a small battalion heading toward a warp pad leading to the Haunted Forest, where a wicked witch has been draining the life energy out of the pandoran citizens. The troop leader is none other than Major Dyluck who leads his men to the witch's lair shortly after Randi converses with the guards.

Some time later, Randi meets with Primm, and he learns that she's searching for her fiancé Dyluck upon joining the young swordsman. An optional scene in Pandora castle's throne room reveals that Primm's father made a deal with the King to send the captain away from Primm so he can convince his daughter to marry a rich nobleman in an arranged marriage. This angers the maiden to the point that she vows not to come back until she finds Dyluck.

After reaching the end of the Witch's Castle, they find a numbed up Dyluck being teleported to Thanatos by Elinee. A distressed Primm asks where she's sent him, to which the old crone responds that she decided to teleport him to the Pandora Ruins per Thanatos request since her magic wasn't working properly on him. The evil figure is said to be a mystic knight of the Vandole Empire trying to dismantle the kingdom from within. Since most citizens in Pandora have lost their souls, the evil knight would be unstoppable by storming the castle and attacking from the southern ruins. The heroes are then forced to battle Elinee's pet before he devours them. Unfortunately for Primm, Dyluck has already been transported to the ruins and the party must head there to stop the curse once and for all.

After gaining Undine and Gnome's powers from their respective palaces, our heroes finally venture into the ominous southern structure where they see Pamaela, Primm's childhood friend, excited about being sacrificed. The possessed friend heads toward the ruins' entrance and the party is now forced to rescue her alongside Dyluck. They find Thanatos in the middle of a ceremony chamber, where he praises the trio for defeating Elinee and not being ordinary people. The evil mage proceeds to make Pamaela and Dyluck appear in front of the party, taunting them in the process. He then explains that while the girl has lost all of her energy and is now his faithful servant, the captain was a difficult one to crack and wonders why. Thanatos decides to absorb the party's energy but the heroes find themselves victorious after defeating the evil source. His source of human energy being destroyed, Thanatos remarks in a snarky way the idea that Randi is now the new wielder of the Mana Sword before leaving Pandora free from harm, but keeping his two young hostages.

Dyluck is not seen or heard again until the party reaches the Resistance headquarters in Northtown, where they hear that a person of the same name has been draining the life forces of people in the northern ruins just like in Pandora. As our heroes decide to investigate, they are greeted with a dazed Pamaela who tells Primm that she and Dyluck are a couple now and that she's taking revenge for taking him from her in the first place. Primm then hits her friend on the head, causing Pamaela to become unconsious. The girl is then escorted back by Krissie to a local doctor while the main characters decide to rescue Dyluck once again. After a long and grueling journey through the dark ruins, they finally climb the central altar where they find a lone Dyluck. Primm is promptly tricked by her possessed boyfriend into giving her life energy, while he explains to Randi and Popoi that his master Thanatos needs her blood. Revolted by his attitude, Randi strikes Dyluck with his weapon in retaliation, snapping the former captain from his trance. He then urges the duo to rescue Primm by pointing at a door behind the altar. Making their way to the aforementioned location, they find Primm's body lying before Thanatos, commenting about her strong life force all the while paralyzing the two rescuers. Suddently, a blinding light appears resurrecting the girl and allowing the other two friends to move again. The dark sorcerer deduces that Dyluck must have given her some of her life force which truly impresses him and gives him one more reason to keep the young commander into his grasp. He teleports himself out of the room while leaving his pet Vampire to deal with them. After defeating the nightmarish creature, the party returns to the worship room but Dyluck is nowhere to be found. While Randi and Primm are bummed by this realization, the fact that he is still alive gives Primm enough incentive to continue her search.

After another long gap, Dyluck is mentioned again by a now recovered Pamaela in the Mana Palace after the resurrection of the Mana Fortress. There she explains to Primm that she regrets having said such awful things to her and that seeing Dyluck and Primm together made her feel jealous of their happiness. This was probably the source of her being so easily manipulated by Thanatos in the first place. Primm forgives her friend and the latter hopes the party get to Dyluck as soon as possible.

Dyluck is finally found deep within the Mana Fortress under Thanatos' spell yet again. The evil sorcerer reveals that his own body has reached its limit and needs another worthy vessel to house his spirit. As he couldn't take a normal human because his earthly envelope would tear apart, he went on a search for a human born in the shadow of darkness every few decades. It happens that Dyluck's body is one of them and is capable of augmenting his powers beyond comprehension. While the young soldier's powers were sealed as a child, he is no more than a puppet to Thanatos now and will be housing his evil soul and using the Mana Fortress to rule the world. The magic knight is suddently growing weaker by the minute and must now inhabit his new vessel before collapsing. Primm then lunges towards Dyluck as a way to prevent his possession going further attacking the evildoer in the process. The latter's body vanishes almost instantly but unfortunately, Thanatos's soul has become one with the major's body. Gloating about his newfound vessel, the possessed Dyluck tries to further his modus operandi, but suddently finds himself unable to do anything. An otherworldly but familiar voice resonates across the room, telling Primm to listen to it as it is Dyluck's spirit. His echo says that he cannot speak for too long since Thanatos's energy is too strong, but he knows a way to defeat the sorcerer. He reveals to the party that Thanatos was once an ancient sorcerer who sold his soul to Maviola in exchange for eternal life. While his spirit became eternal, his body slowly decayed and he must periodically find a new suitable host to possess. With each new body, his spirit grows ever darker as it feeds on hatred and destruction. Dyluck's spirit then apologizes to Primm, as he cannot join her in the mortal realm anymore and entrust Randi to take care of her. As he finishes his speech, Dyluck uses his last bit of strength to destroy his body, leaving Thanatos without a host and revealing his true face.

After the final confrontation with the Mana Beast, Primm is found mourning the loss of Popoi and Dyluck alongside Randi in an open snowy field.

Circle of Mana
Dyluck makes a cameo appearance in the online game, along with several Secret of Mana characters.

Physical appearance
Dyluck is depicted as a slender young man with short spiky blond hair. His artwork in the 3D remake shows him wearing a silver sleeveless plate armor with large gardbraces and faulds of the same color. He also wears a leather tunic underneath with large flat trimmings decorated with gold accents. He wears leather baggy pants with several fabric patterns sewn on its sides. His arms and feet are protected by metal vambraces, greaves and solerets respectively, only baring his hands. Finally, his weapon of choice is a simple metal sword which he keeps in an indigo and gold scabbard.

Personality
The young major is generally revered by all of his fellow soldiers and Pandoran citizens. He is portrayed as an indefatigable and skilled fighter by his men and having a promising future. He's also shown to be very observant of his king's orders of defeating the witch, as well as being fond of playing with children when he can make room in his busy schedule. While being depicted as very dutiful and serious-minded in both the original and the remake versions, the latter focuses more on his romantic and gentlemen-like personality thanks to the inn cutscenes. On many occasions, he helped Primm by mentoring him and by tending to her needs during a bad fall. According to her, he is known to never talk down to his fellow soldiers like the other captains, as he is supportive to them and tries to lend a hand when they have problems or concerns. He even is knowledgeable in horticulture, as he's shown to be able to identify all the flowers during a romantic trip with Primm. Dyluck even said to her that "[he's] happy as long as [he] can make everyone else happy".

Trivia

 * A minor character in Sword of Mana named Prince Durac serves as an homage to this character(even having the same Japanese name) to the point of mistaking the old woman Marley for Pamaela after being unfrozen along with Lorimar's citizens when Malyris perishes.