Sage of Mind Soractes, the first example of a Sage
Sage Enemies (超賢者, Chō Kenja, Super Sages) are a type of enemy introduced in Version 13.1 and first encountered in Garden of Wilted Thoughts. Sages have a resistance to all debuffs inflicted by Cat Units, including Weaken, Freeze, Knockback, Slow, Warp and Curse. Effect durations and knockback distance are reduced by 70%.
The only ability to specifically affect Sages is Sage Slayer, which increases damage against them to 1.2x, reduces damage taken from them to 0.5x, bypasses their debuff resistances and grants the Sage Slayer debuff resistance against Sages (equal to a Sage's resistance against normal attacks).
Like Colossus and Behemoth, Sage is not considered a trait, but always overlaps with one of the standard enemy types. All Sage enemies' designs include a shiny blue hexagonal gem.
Trivia[]
- The Sage type was foreshadowed by the Uncanny Legends ending, in which an ancient god tasks the Cat Army with finding a sage in the Zero World.
- Golem Sunfish's description may have also foreshadowed this, claiming it was sealed by a sage, which predated the end of Uncanny Legends by half a year, and the introduction of Sage enemies by close to 2 years.
- The coloration of the Sages' gems may stem from how the color blue is commonly associated with wisdom, intelligence and knowledge.
- Most Sage enemies appear to be based on real historical figures:
| Sage | References | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Sage of Mind Soractes | Socrates (ancient Greek philosopher) | Similar name and appearance, closely resembling this statue of Socrates. Soractes' seemingly empty head may allude to "I know that I know nothing," a famous saying widely attributed to Socrates. |
| Dogenstein | Albert Einstein (German-born US theoretical physicist) | Similar name and mustache and debuts in the American-themed sub-chapter Stratospheric Pathway, possibly referencing how Einstein lived in the U.S. for the last 22 years of his life. Note that his Japanese name is entirely different and that Techn-Old Hyena ultimately bears more similarities to Einstein, so it's possible that Dogenstein is actually based on someone else or no one in particular. |
| Tarsiriel | Unknown | It's unclear as to whom Tarsiriel is based on, if anyone. The closest known match for Tarsiriel's design is Peter Cooper, an American inventor and industrialist best known for creating America's first steam locomotive, Tom Thumb. |
| Dark Dober | Antonín Léopold Dvořák (Czech composer) | Not only is Dark Dober a musician, its Japanese name, Doveru Dāku (ドヴェルダーク, "Dover Dark"), is similar to Dovoruzāku (ドヴォルザーク), the Japanese pronunciation of Dvořák. |
| Doctor K.O. | Karl Marx (German philosopher and founder of modern communism) | Similar hairstyle and mustache, is traited as Red, and the name K.O. starts with a "K". Compared to other Kang Roo variants, Doctor K.O. has a larger, more curved tail that points upwards, resembling the blade of the sickle in the communist hammer and sickle when mirrored. In Pop-pop Wonderland, Doctor K.O. appears alongside CTO Seal, an enemy from Worker's Revolution |
| Techn-Old Hyena | Albert Einstein (German-born US theoretical physicist) | Similar hairstyle and mustache, his Alien trait and Warp ability possibly alluding to Einstein's theory of relativity. The fact that he is a variant of H. Nah may be a subtle reference to Einstein's formula for mass-energy equivalence, E=mc^2, as H. Nah's Japanese name is High Energy (ハイ・エナジー). |
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