Descender (ディセンダー, Disendaa^?) is a term used in the Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology-series.

Reason of birth

A Descender is born from a world's World Tree in a time of crisis. When a world is threatened, it uses its mana to give birth to a Descender to travel and use its power to protect the world which made him or her.

A Descender is born to love their world. They love them more than anything, which sometimes is not just as positive as other times. Some Descenders, like Widdershin, are blinded by their love for their world and therefore sacrifices many other worlds in order to restore it, while others like Aurora love their world and its people so much that they feel lost and betrayed if the world forgets about them. Kanonno was even so desperate to save the world she loves that she destroyed the humanity in Pasca because the humans fought over what mana remained, weakening the tree further.

It is said that after the Descender has fulfilled his or her mission, he or she will disappear, for there is no longer a need for a Descender. However, a special spirit in the Orphic Maze, named the Niata, tells the player and Mormo that it is possible for Descenders who have brought peace to his or her world to continue to live and watch it.

In a conversation with Raine from Tales of Symphonia, Mormo says that he is the third Descender of Yaoon. This may imply that the World Tree never uses the same Descender twice. However, in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 it is explained that Descenders will return to the tree to sleep until the world is in crisis again. When reawakened they will have no memory of their previous awakening and will only know of their own name.

Power of Descenders

The power of a Descender is enormous, yet it is unknown just how strong it really is. However, the Descender's power was used when Widdershin turned his World Tree into a seed, when Kanonno used her power to stop the mana flow for a time, and when the player gets rid of all the Gilgulim nodes all over Terresia. The reason the player is able to become so strong throughout the game so fast, even though he or she was born just recently, may also be because of the power of a Descender. Although the Descender is incredible strong regardless of how weak the World Tree is, it has been said that the stronger the World Tree's mana is, the stronger the Descender will be. However, it is mana which sustains the life and power of the Descender—in the most dire straits, a lack of mana in the land can adversely affect the Descender, leading to blackouts.

In Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, Descenders have the power to convert negative energy into mana. This is seen multiple times where the player purifies the negative energy of several different beings throughout the game.

In Radiant Mythology 3, the Descender is is capable of restoring a person's Document, the written record of their soul, to it's original state.

Known Descenders

• Protagonist (Radiant Mythology)
• Protagonist (Radiant Mythology 2)
• Protagonist (Radiant Mythology 3)
• Mormo
• Pasca Kanonno
• Widdershin
• Aurora
• Lazaris