Imil

Imil is located close to Mercury Lighthouse within the winter-locked climes of northern Angara and is home to Mia of the ancient Mercury Clan.

Imil (イミル村 Ymir Village) is a village featured in Golden Sun, located near the wintry northern coast of the northern continent of Angara. Visiting it as Isaac's party is mandatory because the major dungeon located just northeast of it, Mercury Lighthouse, can only be entered once the player meets Mia in the village. She and her cousin Alex are descendants of the ancient Mercury Clan of Adepts who once lived near the lighthouse and considered themselves its protectors. When Alex betrays the oath handed down by their bloodline and helps Saturos enter and light Mercury Lighthouse, Mia departs Imil with Isaac's party to prevent Alex's side from lighting the other three Elemental Lighthouses and returning the easily abused power of Alchemy to the world.

While Imil is described in in-game gossip and books as still existing by the events of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn 30 years after the first two titles, it is not possible to see or visit Imil in-game.

In Golden Sun

For all NPC gossip, see Side Scripts.

Once the player has crossed northeast through Goma Cave and exited out into the northern swath of Angara, the overarching objective technically becomes passing through Kolima Bridge far at the eastern part of the continent. The most direct route possible is to head northwest from Bilibin through another cave trail, Bilibin Cave, and emerge into the snow-covered northern region of Angara, where Imil lies a short distance before Mercury Lighthouse. Once major story events conclude at the lighthouse, the player must know to take a fairly nondescript key item from Imil, turn it into another item at the lighthouse, and bring that into Kolima Forest east of Bilibin. Using it on Tret (after he is defeated as a boss) will dispel the curse that was preventing the NPC at Kolima Bridge from lowering it for the party.

Most likely, the player will instead go to Kolima Forest first and defeat Tret, then learn by Mind Reading Laurel that Tret can only be restored by the "healing waters of Mercury Lighthouse", and then make the trip all the way northwest toward Imil and complete business at the village and the lighthouse before returning to Tret. Either way, Mercury Lighthouse cannot be entered at first because of a barrier that covers its front entrance, forcing the player to enter Imil.

Isaac's party must meet Mia in Imil before he can follow her to Mercury Lighthouse and complete it as an in-game dungeon.

Because of what is presented in-game as a flu epidemic, the weapon and armor vendors do not sell their wares during this initial visit. Entering the large house near the village entrance first thing and talking to the old man is technically optional but establishes that Mia is going around the village and making use of her healing abilities to help those who are sick. You cannot bump into Mia while exploring the other buildings at first. In the Sanctum at the west end of town (currently staffed by children named Justin and Megan), once you talk to Megan in particular (regardless of how you answer her question), a mandatory cutscene introducing Mia will automatically trigger the next time you enter the old couple's house. She will notice that Mercury Lighthouse is suddenly no longer dormant and will rush out of town to investigate.

Several significant collectibles can be picked up at Imil before departing for Mercury Lighthouse. By far the most mandatory of these items is the Empty Bottle found in a chest in the old couple's house, which counts as an Artifact that can always be bought back. The frozen river allows Isaac to slide between and against its rocks if you enter it through the gap just above the four gravestones. From there, sliding up, left, up, left, up, right, up, left, down, left, up, and right lets you reach the chest on the hill, which contains a Vial. More significantly, northwest of the armory is a snowman that you can remotely drop onto the ice river by casting the Move Psynergy. That way, when you step onto the river again and then slide up, left, up, left, up, right, up, and left like before, sliding up, right against the snowman, and up into the frozen waterfall brings you to the Mars Djinni Fever inside Imil Falls Cave.

Other collectibles of note include one of the game's four Lucky Peppers found by inspecting the stove in the bottom floor of the inn, as well as a Lucky Medal found by inspecting the upper-left of the four gravestones.

Mia will permanently join Isaac's party early on in Mercury Lighthouse. After winning the challenging boss battle against Saturos at the aerie of Mercury Lighthouse, the party will be deposited back outside its front entrance, where the fountain in front of the lighthouse will be filled with healing water. The player's only mandatory objective at this point is to use the Empty Bottle in front of the fountain to replace it with Hermes' Water, which you must then use in front of Tret all the way back in Kolima Forest.

While this means revisiting Imil after completing Mercury Lighthouse is optional, all of the villagers will have updated their spoken and mentally expressed gossip, and the weapon and armor vendors will now be open for business, letting you buy Adept's Clothes for potentially several party members and the Blessed Ankh weapon artifact. In addition, the next time you enter the Sanctum, you will trigger an optional cutscene in which Mia will explain to Justin and Megan that she will be joining Isaac on his quest.

Vendors

Imil's Inn is located in the southeast building, east of the building with the old couple, and its service costs 8 coins per party member. Both the item shop and the armory are behind doors embedded into the cliff wall north of the inn, though the weapon and armor vendors inside the armory will not be able to sell or buy from you until the nearby Mercury Lighthouse dungeon is completed. The Sanctum lies behind the double doors at the west end of the village.

Weapon Shop
Name	Class	Cost	Effect
Broad Sword	Long Sword	1000	Attack +40
Hunter's Sword	Light Blade	520	Attack +28
Battle Axe	Axe	280	Attack +24
Heavy Mace	Mace	500	Attack +26
Artifacts
Blessed Ankh	Staff	1600	Attack +44, Unleashes Psyphon Seal

Armor Shop
Name	Class	Cost	Effect
Leather Armor	Armor	240	Defense +12
Adept's Clothes	Clothing	850	Defense +18, Max PP +8
Bronze Shield	Shield	500	Defense +14
Leather Gloves	Gloves	220	Defense +10
Leather Armlet	Bracelet	180	Defense +7
Open Helm	Helm	180	Defense +9
Wooden Cap	Hat	400	Defense +10
Circlet	Circlet	120	Defense +6

Item Shop
Name	Class	Cost	Effect
Herb	Consumable Item	10	Restore 50 HP to one Adept
Antidote	Consumable Item	20	Cures Poison and Venom from one Adept
Elixir	Consumable Item	30	Removes Stun, Sleep, and Delusion from one Adept
Sacred Feather	Consumable Item	70	Temporarily lowers monster encounter rate

Collectibles

• Empty Bottle: Found in a chest in the old couple's home near the bottom center of the village.
• Fever: Found in Imil Falls Cave inside the frozen waterfall. The cave-like entrance is out of reach until you cast Move on the snowman above the north bridge and shift it left so that it drops onto the frozen river below. That way, after you step onto the ice river using the gap above the four gravestones, you can slide up, left, up, left, up, right, up, left, up, right, and up through the hole in the ice sheet to reach the Djinni, which is added to your inventory without you having to battle it.
• Lucky Medal: Found by inspecting the upper-left of the four gravestones just below the Sanctum.
• Lucky Pepper: Found in the stove in the first floor of the Inn.
• Vial: Found inside a treasure chest on top of the cliff, which is reached by sliding across the frozen river.
• Sleep Bomb: Found in a barrel inside the armory, southwest of the two beds and in between both a barrel and a crate that have swords shoved into them.
• 9 Coins: Found in the wide, brown jar just outside the northwest house.

Story

This article or section has been identified as needing to be either cleaned up, reformatted, or rewritten. Please help us improve it by editing.

Spoiler warning: The following section(s) contain plot details that some people may not wish to learn before reaching this point in the game on their own.

For many generations the Mercury Clan has been responsible for keeping Mercury Lighthouse from being lit. In the present day of Golden Sun, the clan has been reduced to a mere four members: Mia, Alex, Justin, and Megan. Some time before the Elemental Stars are stolen from Sol Sanctum, Alex decides to abandon his duty and aid Saturos and Menardi in relighting the lighthouses. However, unlike the Proxians who wanted to save Weyard from eroding into oblivion, Alex wished to obtain the raw power of the Golden Sun for himself.

Mia says goodbye to her apprentices Justin and Megan at the Sanctum before departing with Isaac to stop Alex from helping light the Elemental Lighthouses.

Isaac, Garet, and Ivan, intent on stopping Alex and his companions from lighting the lighthouses, arrive in Imil while much of the village is in the grip of a powerful, debilitating cold. Mia is being kept busy staving off the worst of the cold's effects and unintentionally demonstrates her healing abilities to Isaac's party when they finally find her. As fate would have it, Alex broke the seal that keeps non-Adepts out of the lighthouse, which manages to catch Mia's attention and arouse Isaac's suspicion. Mia then rushes off to investigate, with Isaac's party hot on Mia and Alex's trails.

Ultimately Isaac's team, even with Mia's assistance, are unable to scale the lighthouse fast enough to keep it from being lit. Fortunately, with the Mercury Beacon glowing brightly, the fountain at the base of the lighthouse is filled with the Water of Hermes, mystical water that can heal all wounds and diseases. With the fountain flowing once again, Imil would never need to fear illness again. Knowing this, and realizing that she had failed in her most important duty, Mia decides to continue traveling with her new friends and help them keep the remaining lighthouses unlit. Before leaving, though, Mia stops by the sanctum to say goodbye to Megan and Justin. After reassuring the two that Imil will survive with the beacon lit, she leaves the village in their hands as the children wish her good luck on her new mission.

Although Imil itself does not appear during Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Justin and Megan are seen at the end of the game. They are at the base of Mercury Lighthouse, warning people on the Wise One's behalf that the area around the lighthouse will become very dangerous now that Alchemy has been unsealed. Somehow they can hear Mia's voice, despite her being atop the Aerie of Mars Lighthouse, and likewise Mia and her companions can hear the young Mercury Adepts.

Imil is mentioned a few times in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, always for being Mia's hometown or its relation to the Mercury Lighthouse, but does not appear, even as an unreachable location on the map (as the Mercury Lighthouse does). Of note is that Imil would be under the effects of the Grave Eclipse.

Spoilers end here.Those who did not want the plot ruined for them may now continue reading as normal.

Name Origin

"Imil" is a corruption of its Japanese name イミル (Imiru), which transliterates into the name Ymir. In Norse mythology, Ymir is portrayed as the progenitor of the Jötnar, giants described as enemies to the Norse deities referred to as the Aesir. The creation myth holds that Odin and his Aesir brothers slew Ymir and fashioned the material world out of his body. Imil's in-universe location in the wintry northern reaches of the Eurasia-like continent of Angara correlates to real-world Scandinavia, where the Norse tradition was spread.

Incidentally, the Taymyr Peninsula in Russia is transliterated in Japanese as タイミル, the last three syllable sounds of which are shared with those of イミル.