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Characters > Lundi
Rewritten by Geoffrey Duke, April 2004
Lundi was the first human dragon rider in the epic Panzer Dragoon trilogy setting into motion a chain of events that would one day save the world. He raised and named the dragon, something which Lagi wasn't quick to forget. Lundi shares in the same fate of all the dragon riders thus far, in that we have no idea what ultimately became of him after he ended his adventure. We know the knowledge he gained from his exploits had a great impact on the direction the Seekers he later joined chose to go in their efforts to stop an ancient menace, but nothing further.
 
Lundi grew up in Elpis, a village located south of the Imperial capital and just south of what used to be the border separating Meccania and the Empire. His family bred coolias for a living and he naturally lent a hand. Coolias are two-legged beasts of burden indigenous to the Panzer world akin to the horses of our own. His village enforced a brutal code to kill all mutants without exception to prevent the bio-weapons responsible for reducing humanity to a few tribes during the Ancient Age from coming back to haunt them. A female coolia in Lundi's care died giving birth to a mutant coolia that Lundi couldn't help but hide from prying eyes, not out of defiance, but rather because his sense of compassion wouldn't allow him to do anything else. Like other mutant coolias, a patch of translucent blue-white light said to be ominous among his people glowed brightly on its throat, but unlike other mutant coolias, this one also had a pair of wings. Lundi regretted breaking the village's code, but he couldn't bring himself to kill the little coolia who was in no position to harm anyone. Lundi couldn't see how a mere patch of light could be harmful, and he named the winged coolia Lagi to express his growing fondness for the creature. Lagi reminded Lundi of a legendary dragon written in village scripture, and if Lagi was indeed one such dragon, then his dreams of becoming a dragon rider may one day come true. To cut a long story short, they became friends.
 
Lundi is obviously a watchful thinker. He makes his cynicism clear when he questions the true reasons his village kills harmless mutant coolias: because they cannot be tamed or sold. Lundi tries to make an excuse for his people's actions by saying the mutant coolias are believed to be a bad omen, which although true, is merely an excuse to kill what is useless. Lundi also has a noticeable conscience. He blames himself and his foolish desire to become a dragon rider when Shelcoof turns Elpis to ashes. His thirst for vengeance and Lagi's power was all he had left to fill the empty void inside of him left behind by the destruction of his home. He simply had nothing else to hold onto anymore.
 
Lundi discovers the true significance of the blue-white light the villagers of his former home feared so much when the green patch of blue-white energy on Lagi's next begins to glow even brighter and a ball of green energy begins forming in his mouth (making a sucking noise in the process). Lundi hasn't the faintest clue as to what is happening and what will happen next.
 
The ball soon bursts into three separate energy beams, or arrows of light, which blast their way out of the fledgling dragon's mouth and towards Shelcoof as it hovers over the burning remains of Elpis. The arrows of light fade in the distance, not quite reaching their intended target. Perhaps the villagers had good reason to fear the light if not for all the wrong reasons in the case of our heroic dragon.
 
As if being left without a home wasn't enough, shooting down hostile Imperial ships chasing his dragon weighed heavily on Lundi's conscience: the fact he'd be forced to kill people frightened him more than conflict itself. So much so, he later runs from, rather than fights, Imperial forces refusing to give up in their non-stop pursuit of the dragon rider duo. Subsequent riders such as Edge and Orta don't hesitate to shoot down hostile warships, and thereby callously disregard the potential orphans and widows they create each time. Lundi speaks of becoming one with Lagi in his journals, and thus acting with a profound sense of duty that pushed his misgivings aside. A world-changing mission was at stake, one that would save lives: destroying Shelcoof. Fighting for a greater good was a place in his heart where he no doubt found solace.
Once Lagi leaves Lundi after Shelcoof no longer posed a threat to the world, Lundi explores the wrecked Shelcoof and during his search finds Lagi's stone cold body. At least according to his journal describing the event found in Panzer Dragoon Saga. Lundi assumes Lagi will regain his strength one day and take to the skies again in a new body. The Panzer Dragoon Zwei primary endings, however, paint a slightly different picture:
 
Lundi explores the downed Shelcoof to find its halls inhabited by nothing but silence. Somehow, because the partially destroyed ship had been drained of power, its arsenal of bio-weapons had become powerless along with it.
 Lundi's lengthy exploration is interupted upon reaching a spacious hallway in the centre of the shipwreck and beholding a huge coiling alien artifact in the distance. The image on the right should be adequate for the task of showing us just how small Lundi is in comparison to the strange device he has discovered.
As the camera draws closer to the device hanging high on the wall, something familiar in turn draws our attention. Lundi's sight gradually moves up the surface of the artifact towards a reddish circular cavity.
Lundi looks up at something he evidently sees as out of place because his facial expression becomes locked in complete shock. He cannot believe what he is seeing. Wouldn't it be delightfully frustrating if the camera didn't turn around at this point in the ending?
 
 
Here we see what has startled Lundi so effortlessly. Now, the question is: is this Lagi/the Heresy dragon, or some symbol of him? Was this Lagi's stone cold body? The fact that this crest will depict a different dragon depending on what dragon you completed the game with (these are all the different crests seen in each of Panzer Dragoon Zwei's primary endings), I'd venture a guess and say it was perhaps Lagi himself. The dragon crest is certainly *massive* enough to house his body. The moment Lundi beholds the dragon, he even exclaims "Lagi", so there's no room for doubt as to what he is seeing with his own two eyes. However, I'm more inclined to believe that these crests were merely engravings of an ancient dragon, which also happened to be the form Lagi assumed at the time, and that Lagi hibernated elswhere in the ship. The ominous green light a typical mutant coolia emits is also depicted in the crest on the dragon's throat. Gash said that folklore can be twisted to trick people into fearing their saviors; did he inherit this notion from his mentor, Lundi? The green light was never meant to be ominous. Quite the contrary perhaps.
 While the primary endings reveal what happened at the end of Panzer Dragoon Zwei to some extent, Epilogue D, the ending that reveals the fate of the Type 01 Solo Wing dragon, is considered the game's true ending because it's the hardest to unlock (Epilogue D is an appropriate name for an ending that reveals Lagi's true fate, don't you think?). The true ending cinematic shows us an altogether different crest at the very end somewhat resembling the Solo Wing dragon, which is in fact the only dragon crest to reappear in Panzer Dragoon Saga. Edge finds a crest identical to this one inside Shelcoof that when destroyed releases a baby dragon almost as if it was trying to break free all along. The Type 01 Solo Wing dragon crest could be a symbol of the most powerful dragon created by the ancients, serving as both a reminder and a warning of its unrivaled power. That might explain why the crest reappears time and time again.
Sidenote: Panzer Dragoon Zwei's true ending, and Sestren's fourth memory orb in which the Type 01 Solo Wing dragon is shown fighting the Guardian dragon of Shelcoof provide us with all the proof we need to confirm that Lagi morphed into the Type 01 dragon (the default form of the Solo Wing dragon) at the end of Panzer Dragoon Zwei. The orb, which looks back at the events of Panzer Dragoon Zwei through the eye of Sestren, shows us how the final confrontation with Shelcoof and its minions really ended. It also shows Lundi seeing two crests inside Shelcoof: the Sky Dart crest and the Solo Wing crest. The Solo Wing crest Edge finds is located in a much smaller room than the hallway containing the dragon crest Lundi is witnessed seeing in any of the game's primary endings (a hallway so huge you'd hardly believe it was inside a ship). I think it's possible that there were two separate crests present inside Shelcoof, but that's a story for another day.
Out of all the dragon riders whom Lagi has communicated with through a telepathic data transfer of meaningful images, Lundi was the only one to receive a vision about the Ancient Age, aptly highlighting their friendship. Lundi felt compelled to share the knowledge his friend had entrusted to him, and took it to the Seekers. He felt that Lagi would always be with him as long as he put the knowledge to good use. Lundi became the leader of the Seekers, a group of insidious ruin raiders who love to portray their organization as anything but organized. He adopted the name Skiad Ops Endow, meaning Shadow Eye Endow in order to conceal his former identity. Endow, a verb in English, can mean to provide something freely, further reflecting the role Lundi played in shaping the fate of entire Seeker ogranization.
Lundi is in his mid to late teens when Panzer Dragoon Zwei takes place in the timeline (71 A.F.); Panzer Dragoon Saga is set roughly 48 years later. He could, therefore, have still been alive while Edge visited the Seeker stronghold near Zoah (if the 7th Emperor survived the ravages of time then why couldn't Lundi?). The journal of Skiad Ops Endow states that he sent a Seeker to find the new dragon rider and give the journal to him, but we don't know how recent it is -- the journal could be very old. We don't know how long Lundi had been the leader of the Seekers, but the new leader, namely Skiad Ops Gash, was mentored by Lundi. If Gash was the new leader, then that would imply Lundi was dead. Nevertheless, Gash does not reveal Lundi's fate, unless it's something only found in the Japanese script (we hope Japanese fans can enlighten us if that is the case). According to the drone record not found in the game per se, Skiad Ops Endow was researching drones. Gash no doubt became the leader of the Seekers partly due to the knowledge of the nightmarish creations born in the Ancient Age he inherited from Lundi. As a rule, the person who assumes the mantle of leadership is someone who their enemies would never even think to suspect. The name Skiad Ops/Shadow Eye which is given to whomever is fit to lead the Seekers reflects a shadowy personality whose potential is always hidden from prying eyes under layers of deceit. When Lundi's tenure came to an end, Gash was the perfect choice for his replacement. After all, who in their right mind would suspect that a diminutive, one-armed, one-eyed man was capable of leading anything? Of course, there's no need to guess where the name Gash came from when it's answered to by a man who wears his scars with pride.
The most shocking information written in Endow's Journal is the fact that he only wrote down a fraction of the secrets Lagi entrusted to him. He only provided relevant information regarding the Tower network, such as their purpose and bloody history. Lundi knew much more, yet he kept the knowledge to himself. Why? Perhaps this closely guarded information can explain his fate.
Side note: The Journal of Skiad Ops Endow calls Lagi the Heresy dragon. Whether this is due to the dragon's heretic birth, as Lundi described it, is unclear. Still, this is where the name "Heresy dragon" was derived.
 Lundi literally picked up an ancient pulse-laser gun from the charred ashes of his village at the start of his adventure. How convenient. Finding a gun seemingly out of nowhere seems to be a Panzer tradition. Its erstwhile origins are otherwise unknown. This snapshot shows Lundi's gun as it appears in any Panzer Dragoon Zwei primary ending. Does it seem familiar to you?
More information can be found in our Panzer Dragoon Zwei reviews, as well as Lundi's journals found in the books section. Panzer Dragoon Zwei excerpts parts of those journals during the cut scenes as if Lundi is looking back on the events. If only we knew at what future time he was telling the tale.
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Related Articles:
Books > Dragon Book 1
Books > Dragon Book 2
Books > Dragon Book 3
Books > Old Diary
Dialogue > Panzer Dragoon Zwei Script
Mysteries > The Mystery of Dragon Crests
Theories > Panzer Dragoon Zwei True Ending Theory
World > Lagi
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Destroy the mutant stealing habits; it is the village's code. The Will of the Ancients is an unofficial fansite that is in no way supported or associated with SEGA or Smilebit. Panzer Dragoon, Panzer Dragoon II Zwei, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Panzer Dragoon Orta and all other official Panzer Dragoon content is © SEGA, 1995-2003. Everything else on this website was made or written by Solo Wing Dragon unless otherwise noted. Please ask me first before using any content on this website for fan or commercial purposes.
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