Sergo

February 28, 2021

Sergo is a friendly pirate who Randi meets while imprisoned on Tasnica’s sandship.  He explains that the imbalance of Mana has caused the seas to be rough, and he can’t sail them, ruining his livelihood.  While many of the sandship’s passengers are prisoners, Sergo seems to be a voluntary presence, as riding a sandship through the desert is the next best thing to a ship on the water:

SERGO: Oooooo lalala, the seeeaaaa!  Hm?  You’re a fresh recruit?  Wahaha!  Got it, got it.  My name is Sergo, the great pirate who has sailed seas the world over! …or so it was said of me, a long time ago.  These days, seas all over the world have started raging, and because of that, my trade’s in trouble.  Since nothing could be done about all that, I stowed away on this ship, thinking that way I’d at least be unable to forget the feeling of being aboard a ship…Well, someday the time I can return to the sea will come, surely. Until then, patience!

Despite being on good terms with the Tasnicans, Sergo helps Randi escape from the ship by distracting the guards in the engine room.  

Sergo is only seen again at the end of the game, where Randi catches him singing again on the Lost Continent:

SERGO: Sailing on the ocean bluuue…Oh!  My friends!  You will remember me from the sandship.  It’s Sergo!…Mysteriously, the sea has calmed down, and ships have set out.

This is an abrupt finish to Sergo’s already brief time in the game, but some characters didn’t even have this level of closure.  Considering that Randi hasn’t defeated Thanatos yet, it seems strange that the ocean would be calm enough for ships again.

Speaking of ships, there was likely supposed to be one in Secret of Mana.  Throughout the world, you’ll see beaches in strategic locations:

There’s at least one prerelease image with a dock as well.  One final note is that the game has a location called Turtle Island.  It literally looks like a turtle that’s about to rise to the surface of the ocean.  This is reminiscent of Vuscav, the amphibian who transports the protagonists in Trials of Mana over the seas.  This may be a concept that was intended for Secret of Mana as well.

Localization Notes

• The sandship is actually named, “Sandship” in Japanese.
• Note that Randi catches Sergo singing when he approaches him. Taosenai’s favorite trivia from the Japanese script: The song that Sergo sings is almost certainly a reference to 海その愛 by 加山雄三: