In your opinion what is the most powerful rune

[mightofanubis]

I think it is the full rune of beginning. Due to the fact that it has the power to "judge war". If you could give a good idea of what that means I am all ears. Or if you have a different rune pm mind home a good reason why.

[Sasarai10]

Definitely Soul Eater. 2nd and 3rd spells were making battles ridiculously easy.

[Antimatzist]

Definitely Soul Eater. 2nd and 3rd spells were making battles ridiculously easy.

I think the question leans more towards power in the story, not gameplay.

I guess the Rune of Punishment is pretty strong, but risky. But it could destroy entire fleets within seconds. The True Fire Rune has a similar destructive power, I guess.

[Neclord X]

Soul Eater definetively is the strongest Rune we've seen. I won't count any of the runes that we didn't see, may be the Circle rune its the most powerful evah who knows, we heard stories but didn't really see it in action to judge by our own eyes so I will only judge with the runes we saw.

And with that in mind Soul Eater is the strongest because SE is...well, "bullshit", clear and simple. You don't like the word "bullshit"? No problem, then lets call it "The rune of Asspull" whatever convenient thing for the plot is...this rune can do it. The other runes seemed someway limited or having some kind of backslash or only being pure destructive power. Soul Eater just seems able to do anything it wants to do. XD

[Antimatzist]

What exactly? The only real thing the Soul Eater did was, well, eat souls of those that were close to its bearer to become stronger. Did it really do anything else? Also, it is really picky in whose soul it takes.

In II, we saw the combination of two True Runes to be really strong, but that was the first time we saw it.

[sticky-runes]

I'd say its a toss up between the soul eater and Night Rune.

soul eater was pursued by Windy for 300 years, hoping she could use it to wipe out humanity - why that one particular rune out of all 27 true runes? Maybe she did try to claim some of the other true runes but failed, maybe they were too well protected, or maybe she just felt that her desire to cause destruction matched the nature of the Soul Eater, thinking it would be happy to devour all of those souls.
also, Leknaat told Tir not to use the Soul Eater in the final battle for fear of what might happen if it were used at that magnitude. She didn't complain when Lazlo used the Rune of Punishment to wipe out enemy fleets, she didn't intervene much during the sun rune war, Tir McDohl's quest was the one that the keeper of balance became the most directly involved with and she really didn't want him to use the rune to its full extent.

Night Rune has the power to send people back in time, and it seems to have chosen the form of a sword to be used by humans, rather letting a human host wield the rune's power directly like most other runes, possibly to keep it's power restricted. What on earth would a person be able to accomplish if he or she did wield the night rune like any other rune? It's also rare for people to be able to talk directly to a true rune, most other runes communicate with humans by showing them visions and stuff, but the night rune has full blown conversations with anyone near enough. It must have many other powers we can't conceive of.

[Neclord X]

I guess the Rune of Punishment is pretty strong, but risky. But it could destroy entire fleets within seconds. The True Fire Rune has a similar destructive power, I guess.

Fire true rune out of control could take down more than half grasslands, the Sun rune could transform into a desert an entire country. I think on destructive power those two are some tiers above Punishment rune destroying a fleet or two.

What exactly? The only real thing the Soul Eater did was, well, eat souls of those that were close to its bearer to become stronger. Did it really do anything else? Also, it is really picky in whose soul it takes.

Resurrecting people for example? Sun rune kind of does that too but it was more like a super-healing thing or instantly regeneration even if you wish, but Soul Eater could just pop out a guy who died months ago from nowhere. Not to mention SE had potential to literally wipe out life on the planet. If Punishment is a standard nuke, Sun and Fire are tsar bombas then SE is like an extinction level meteorite

[Antimatzist]

When did the Soul Eater resurrect somebody? Wasn't Gremio revived by Leknaat and the power of the 108 stars?

ANd why do you think SE could wipe out the life on the planet? I don't really see anything that hints towards this. Well, if you make best buddies with everybody on the world, then yes, maybe.

[sticky-runes]

ANd why do you think SE could wipe out the life on the planet? I don't really see anything that hints towards this. Well, if you make best buddies with everybody on the world, then yes, maybe.

Probably the fact that Windy was trying to achieve just that by claiming the soul eater for herself (have you put me on ignore or something?)
You don't have to be friends with everyone for the soul eater to kill them, you can simply cast a spell to end a target's life. tir and Ted could send a group of monsters to Hell instantly. Imagine what a powerful sorceress like Windy could accomplish if she used the Soul Eater.

[Antimatzist]

Probably No, I haven't put you on ignore, but you still haven't brought one argument or evidence, why the Soul Eater should have that power.

We only see it kill 4 people in the first Suikoden, don't we? And it only gets stronger by killing people (or rather eating the souls of people) that are close to you. This is how it is. It is very similar to Stormbringer from the Elric books, from which Murayama said he drew inspiration (in the books, however, Stormbringer gets stronger by any soul, but it likes to eat the souls of friends the most). Leknaat says Tir should not use its power in the final battle, but probably because it would mean death for one of his friends again (then Joshua comes with his Dragon Rune and helps Leknaat, so it's not like the Soul Eater was essential).

You argue with gameplay (send a group of monsters to hell), but that does not work if we are talking about the story. Gameplay and story are two very different things.

And also, we don't know why Windy was so obsessed with the Soul Eater. She could have easily taken any other True Rune in the world. I guess it's just a plot device in that regard. If she just wanted to kill a lot of stuff, get the True Fire Rune, that's certain destruction.

[STARWIN]

My intuitive answer would be the Rune of Beginning due to it being connected to the creation myth. But when I look at the creation myth text, it suggests that the 27 runes are decoration of the "sword" and the "shield", and as Beginning is one of the 27, it cannot be the tear of darkness the creation myth mentions. Still, being the representation of what was the source of the true runes, I'd imagine the other true runes aren't in an equal position. The only grander representation mythology-wise would be the initial darkness, but even if it had a true rune representing it, it would still be just a true rune.

The correct answer is probably something boring like that their powers aren't comparable though.

[Wolkendrache]

Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is a triple threat match. First entering the ring, bearing the Eightfold Rune, the black armored demon Yuber! Entering the ring next, bearer of the Sovereign Rune and wielder of Prakk, Emperor Barbarossa Rugner! And finally, bearing the Souleater, lady Windy!

Match progress: Windy starts casting Final Judgment on both enemies. Only Yuber gets damage. Realizing Windy as a threat, Yuber starts attacking Windy. Realizing Yuber as the only threat because of his physical power, Barbarossa attacks Yuber. Obviously outnumbered, Yuber runs away and is counted out. While Windy is wasting her spells on Barbarossa, he gives her a kiss and cuts off her head with Prakk.
Winner: Barbarossa! It was a good idea to not turn into the golden hydra, which would’ve made him vulnerable to magic for some reason.

[sticky-runes]

Leknaat says Tir should not use its power in the final battle, but probably because it would mean death for one of his friends again (then Joshua comes with his Dragon Rune and helps Leknaat, so it's not like the Soul Eater was essential).

I don't think Leknaat would be overly concerned about one more of Tir's friends dying. They're fighting in a war, people are going to die even without a rune that sucks the life out of your nearest and dearest. Let's re-word the dialogue from that scene:
"F#ck! we're about to be annihilated by an army of monsters! Shall I use the Soul Eater to destroy them all?"
"No you mustn't use that power to stop everyone from being annihilated by monsters. Somebody might die!"


We may not know what the exact consequences would have been if tir had gone against Leknaat's warning and used the Soul Eater to wipe out Windy's army, but apparently it would have been worse than if the Liberation army had been massacred, otherwise she would have let Tir go ahead and use it.I'd say that's a valid enough argument.

[wataru14]

Leknaat would have been very concerned about one of Tir's friends dying since that would mean the death of one of the 108 Stars. That's kinda her deal.

[Antimatzist]

Yeah, I mean she used the power of the 108 stars to revive one of his friends - something which she says is only possible once. Ever. How bad would it be if Gremio would have then just died again?

There is never, and I mean never in three games the rune appears in, a mention that it possesses destructive powers of nuclear proportions. If you can show me one line of dialogue, I agree, but all the Soul Eater does is eat souls.