Meena Mahabala
| Meena Mahabala | |
| Dragon Quest IV | |
 | |
| Sprite(s) | 
|
| Japanese name | ミネア |
| Romaji | Minea |
| Class | Fortune-teller |
| Race | Human |
| Age | 18 |
| Family | Maya (sister) Mahabala (father) |
| Voice actor | Hiroko Emori (CD Theater) Yōko Hikasa (Heroes II) |
"I am consulting the cards...and they are saying we will have girl problems... In a castle filled with women, this is a little worrying."
Meena Mahabala (ミネア, Minea in Japanese, Nara in the NES localization) is a playable character from Dragon Quest IV.
Appearance and Personality
Meena is nearly the spitting image of Maya, her older sister. She dresses much more conservatively compared to her sister, though they wear identical headpieces. Meena carries a crystal ball with her everywhere, which she uses to tell fortunes. While she and her sister both have long purple hair, Meena does not have bangs/fringe.
Meena is an extremely reserved and quiet person, and very rational. This disposition leads her to often scold her sister for her poor judgement regarding their money, and her general laid-back demeanor. But, despite these stern traits, she is still a very kind person at heart, looking out for her sister when the two set out to avenge their father's murder, and charging only a minuscule amount of gold for her fortune-telling services.
Story
Chapter 4 begins with Maya and Meena performing at the town, Laissez Fayre, which is populated almost entirely by entertainers and tourists. They use their job as a cover and the town as a base to investigate the murder of their father, a prominent alchemist. Though they suspect his apprentice, Balzack, killed him in order to steal the Secret of Evolution, they have nothing to back up their claims, and keep them to themselves for the time being.
After following the trail through several towns across the entire country, they finally confronted the murderer at his castle. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, his true King arrives to soundly defeat them in battle and throws them into the dungeon. Luckily, the only other occupant points them to a secret exit, and after they escape, they flee directly to Endor.
In Chapter 5, Meena is attempting to continue her fortune-telling business, but Maya blows all the gold they'd earned on their journey at the Casino, leaving them fairly stranded in the city. Luckily, the Hero has been told to seek out his destined allies, and locates Maya and Meena in short order. When Meena reads his fortune, she realizes that he is the prophesied hero and immediately joins the party.
The two are briefly separated in Con Cave and are approached by demonic doppelgangers of The Hero (while The Hero also battled doppelgangers of the sisters). When coming across the real Hero, Meena is more trusting while Maya quizzed him/her. Afterwards, they regroup and find the Symbol of faith.
A while later in Chapter 5, the party confronts Balzack, at Castle Zamoksva. He has used an imperfect version of the Secret of Evolution to become Baalzack, but the party is still able to kill him, avenging the death of the sisters' father at long last.
Abilities
In the Dragon Quest III class system, Meena is a priest. As a spell caster, Meena posses low Strength, Resilience, and HP, but high Wisdom, Luck, and MP, and many useful healing and buff spells. As the sole character with access to the vital Insulatle spell, she is a crucial ally against the Lord of the Underworld and other enemies that rely on breath weapons.
Spells
| Earliest Lvl Learned | Latest Lvl learned | Japanese Name | DW IV | DQ IV DS | Spanish Name |
| 1 | 1 | Hoimi | Heal | Heal | Minicuración |
| 3 | 5 | Rariho | Sleep | Snooze | Sueño |
| 8 | 10 | Bagi | Infernos | Woosh | Minitornado |
| 10 | 11 | Kiariku | Numboff | Tingle | Reactivación |
| 13 | 14 | Behoimi | Healmore | Midheal | Semicuración |
| 16 | 17 | Rarihoma | Sleepmore | Kasnooze | Somnolencia |
| 20 | 21 | Zaoraru | Vivify | Zing | Semirresurrección |
| 23 | 24 | Bagima | Infermore | Swoosh | Tornado |
| 26 | 27 | Behoma | Healall | Fullheal | Maxicuración |
| 29 | 30 | Fubaha | Barrier | Insulatle | Aislar |
| 32 | 32 | Bagicrossu | Infermost | Kaswoosh | Supertornado |
| 35 | 35 | Megazaru | Farewell | Kerplunk | Sacrificio resurrector |
Stats
- PSX version.
| Attribute | Starting Stats | Maximum Stats |
| Level | 1 | 99 |
| HP | 18 | 574 |
| MP | 7 | 407 |
| Strength | 4 | 149 |
| Agility | 4 | 167 |
| Resilience | 9 | 94 |
| Wisdom | 6 | 207 |
| Luck | 6 | 171 |
| Initial gear | ||
Silver Tarot Cards
One of Meena's most unique traits is her ability to read her Silver Tarot Cards during battle, with each drawn card causing a unique effect. The effects of the cards ignore any resistances a monster may normally have, save for bosses. If the player orders her to divine more than three times during a single battle, the Fool card will always be drawn. Also, Meena can use the cards outside of battle to read the player's fortune. This will not affect the game, but provides interesting dialogue from the Seer.
- Justice: Casts Poof on all enemies and sends them flying into the blue.
- Devil: Casts Kasap on all foes.
- Death: Casts Whack on one enemy.
- Sun: Restores a moderate to large amount of health to all allies.
- Moon: Lowers the accuracy of all enemies.
- Strength: Casts Oomph on a random ally
- Star: Doubles the amount of experience and gold received after the current battle.
- Tower: Casts Zap on all enemies. Damage is calculated as Meena's level multiplied between 0.5 and 2.
- Fool: Casts Thwack on the entire party!
Names
Meena is known as Minea in the original Japanese and Nara in the NES localization. Her English name is the phonetic spelling for the Korean word for twin, Miena.
Other Appearances
Dragon Quest IX
Meena appears as one of the special guests at the Quester's Rest in Stornway. This could be obtained when the DQVC was available using Nintendo's Wi-Fi Channel. When spoken to, she gives the player different pieces of her outfit for fulfilling certain conditions.
Dragon Quest Heroes II
Meena appears as one of the new playable characters in the second game. Her Coup-de-Grâce is Starfall, which summons a meteor shower to strike all her enemies. She uses her tarot cards as her weapon of choice.
Trivia
- There are a pair of sisters in Greenthumb Gardens who are a reference to Meena and her sister Maya in Dragon Quest VII.
Gallery
Famicom art
More Famicom art
Mutsumi Inomata artwork
Card detail from "Legend in the Dark" novel
PlayStation art
Meena consulting her crystal ball, PlayStation art
Meena praying, PlayStation art
Itadaki Street Portable
Itadaki Street Portable
Dragon Quest Heroes II
Meena alongside her sister in Dragon Quest Heroes II
Meena fighting with her tarot cards
Meena casting Kaswoosh on a group of monsters
DQ Heroines
