Is there more than one? Because if there is, it would clear up my confusion about how the timelines are so interconnected that the ninjas would have a lot of Shrike Runes.

Do they or is there only one?

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I guess they are quite common.

My thoughts: There are a lot of Shrike Runes, but it needs a lot of hard training to master them and a lot of skills. Ninjas are masters of skill and agility, so it is only natural that they can use it.

But it isn't really a Ninja-only Rune; Sagiri wasn't a Ninja ("just" an assassin) and she mastered it, too.

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Is there some kind of correlation between the Shrike Rune and being female? If I recall correctly the only people to have it were women although I could be wrong.

I mean, I'd guess that Mondo was a more skilled Ninja than Kasumi, but he didn't get a Shrike Rune. And Watari and Ayame seemed to be fairly equal, and only Ayame had the rune.

The generally accepted theory is that physical runes, such as the Shrike or Falcon runes are based more on the skill of the users than the rune itself. Some people have gone so far as to state that they are skills and not runes at all, but take up a rune slot as per game mechanics. I disagree with that givn the fact that as early as S1 you can equip different characters with "skill" runes, such as the boar rune.

And I think it's mentioned in S II that Roundier Haia gives a Falcone Rune to his students.


No, you're right. My best guess is that.. well, I don't have an idea.

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So Belcoot was trained by Roundier Haia then?

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Hmmm indeed. How about Kika then? I don't read that anywhere in her profile.

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that question was asked back when s4 came out. Thats where the idea of the Falcon rune being a technique and not an actual Rune came about. But as the ever snide Raww said, it is an established fact that Roudier Haia give his students the RUNE. So i find it most likely that the shrike, and falcon runes, are runes that can only be used by people with sufficient skill. Not like the Great Hawk rune, that can be equipped by anyone who uses a bow.

That's what I think too.


About Kika having a Falcon-Rune: Maybe she found it on the high seas and mastered it after long years of training. It's too bad it was never really explained (or made a connection to Haia...).

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Considering Kika lived roughly 150 years before the time period we know Roundier lives in it would seem doubtful that she trained under him.

Lest he has the True Falcon Rune which would just be silly.

That said there's no evidence that he actually makes the runes, just that he hands them out to his students. Where they actually come from is up in the air so it's possible that there are Falcon users that never even heard of Roundier Haia.

Or he's a descendant of Kika.

Or it's just one of Suikoden IV's numerous gaffs.

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Definitly gaffs.

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