Lucas

For Lucas's appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series, see Lucas/Super Smash Bros..

"Maybe I should've gone with Claus..."

— Lucas

Lucas (pronunciation: LYOO-kuh; Japanese: リュカ) is the main protagonist of Mother 3. He is a resident from Tazmily Village. He is out of the seven main characters in total (Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, Boney, Claus, Flint, and Salsa).

He usually uses sticks and baseball bats as his primary weapons, along with his signature PK Love power, which grants him the ability to pull the Seven Needles to awaken the Dark Dragon sleeping underneath the Nowhere Islands.

Biography

Lucas is the younger one of the twins; As well as the youngest child of Hinawa and Flint. His older twin brother is Claus.

Lucas has blonde hair and black eyes, occasionally shown with a hint of teal. He usually wears a red t-shirt with yellow stripes, blue shorts, white socks, and orange and yellow sneakers. This outfit is temporarily modified when he is confused with the Masked Man (whom he bears a strong resemblance to). He awakens his PSI powers through Ionia, one of the seven Magypsies, by being forced to hold his head underwater for an extended period of time.

Personality

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Initially, Lucas is described as being a gentle boy, and can be seen as an antithesis to his more energetic twin, Claus.

He is said to be a bit coddled and seems to be slightly nervous. Despite this, he doesn't shy away from a bit of fun and play with his family. He is said to have been raised honest, hurriedly telling Alec the truth about Claus's disappearance when prompted. Additionally, he seems to be a bit of a late riser.

Following the sudden death of Hinawa and disappearance of Claus in Chapter 1, Lucas gains a reputation of being a 'crybaby'. He is visibly distraught, and struggles to cope with the losses that he's so abruptly had to endure. Duster states that "[Lucas's] poor little heart seems like it's about to break in two." He becomes a bit of a shut-in, rarely seeming to leave his house following the events at Hinawa's funeral.

During this time of grief, Lucas seems to struggle with feelings of survivor's guilt. (This is further supported by his hallucinations within Tanetane Island.) In Chapter 2, he's seen unable to get to sleep despite his efforts, and thinking that he should have gone with Claus. All of this, accompanied with the steady transformation of his hometown, forces Lucas to mature rather quickly for someone his age.

Three years later, Lucas is strong, determined, and resourceful. He cares deeply for his friends and his fellow townsfolk. He is somewhat rebellious with his refusal to buy a Happy Box and give in to Tazmily's modernization. Because of this, though, his local reputation seems to be less than favorable, and he is treated rather crudely - but Lucas doesn't let this get the better of him. After meeting with Kumatora in Chapter 4, Lucas expresses that he wishes to grow stronger. Following this and teaming up with Kumatora and Duster, he bravely pursues any task that he is given, no matter how frightening or daunting it may be.

Throughout the remaining chapters, Lucas is described as becoming "more and more gallant." Nippolyte claims that Lucas has "grown so strong that Flint doesn't need to worry anymore", and has "grown up to be a truly good lad."

Additionally, the coffee sequence in Saturn Valley states that he has grown strong for those he otherwise would be unable to help. Although glimpses of his previous shy self still shine through, Lucas has toughed through the odds and has become a kind, resilient boy, and this remains true up to the final moments of the game.

Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.

Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Lucas is playable in the Prologue as a tutorial character. In the tutorial, Lucas learns how to dash, and is taught how to fight in a battle against the Mole Cricket.

In Chapter 1, Claus, Lucas, and Hinawa fail to return to Tazmily Village from Alec's house. This causes the village to organize a search party to look for them. After Flint and Duster's fight against the Reconstructed Caribou, Claus and Lucas are found. However, Lucas is quiet, and only murmurs something about the "forest coming to life, and taking them". After Flint learns of Hinawa's death, he loses his grip and Claus and Lucas have their eyes covered by Tessie to not let them see what's happening. He attends Hinawa's funeral, where Lucas reveals that Claus went to fight the Drago that killed their mom in order to avenge her. He stays at Flint's house until the third chapter.

At the end of Chapter 3, Lucas comes to assist Salsa, Kumatora, and Wess when they are cornered by Fassad. He brings Drago Jr. and his mother, apparently wanting to avenge their cyberized family member.

At the start of Chapter 4, he becomes the permanent main character.

Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.

PSI

Lucas is the main Assist PSI user of the party because he learns all versions of Lifeup, while Kumatora only goes up to Beta. He also learns all versions of Healing, while Kumatora only learns Alpha. He also has Refresh, which restores about 10% of the target's maximum HP each turn. His unique PSI attack is PK Love, which does anywhere from 100 to 800 damage, depending on what level of power is used. He also learns Shield, Counter, PSI Shield, PSI Counter, Offense Up, and Defense Up. In Chapter 5, he learnsPK Flash. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, however, he can use PK Fire, PK Freeze, PK Thunder, PSI Magnet, and PK Starstorm.

In Super Smash Bros.

Other than being a playable character, Lucas appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a playable character and a sticker with his child sprite. Attaching this sticker to the bottom of Ness or Lucas's trophies in The Subspace Emissary increases their PK attack by 13. Lucas was added into Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as DLC and returns as a fighter in the base roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His spirit can be unlocked by completing classic mode.

Trivia

Lucas was originally planned to replace Ness as the character representative of the Mother series in Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, Ness reprised his role due to the original cancellation of EarthBound 64. Lucas later appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl alongside Ness.

Lucas's earlier render from EarthBound 64.

The main cast, Flint, Claus, Lucas, and Boney's renders from Earthbound 64.
Lucas is the only main character in the Mother series to look and dress radically different from the other two. Instead, Claus is closer in appearance to the main character of EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound; only his orange hair and lack of a baseball cap differ from the looks of the previous protagonists.
Lucas is the only main character with no sisters; instead, he has a twin brother.
Shigesato Itoi revealed in an interview with Mycom Inc. that Lucas and his twin brother Claus were inspired by two characters of the same name from the novel "The Notebook" (by Agota Kristof), which he described as a novel "about the bonds between twins." The novel is part of a trilogy, which also includes the books "The Proof" and "The Third Lie"-- both of which further explore the relationship between Kristof's twin characters.
Unlike Ness and Ninten who primarily use baseball bats as weapons, Lucas instead uses sticks. In fact, the only baseball bats he can equip are the Fake Bat and the Real Bat.
When Lucas equips the Fake Bat, he no longer makes an acoustic guitar sound when he attacks; it is replaced with some other sound.
Using a cheat to walk through walls and pass through the trigger for Fassad's shock collar cutscene, you can find usually inacessible dialogue from Lucas in the early parts of Chapter 3.

This dialogue is usually inaccessible due to Fassad preventing the player from traversing Tazmily.
In the commercials for EarthBound 64, Lucas is depicted as having a plain white shirt.
His voice actress in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is Lani Minella in all regions of the game.
Technically, Lucas is a talking protagonist. He talks in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, but only as a non-player character. Lucas also repeats what a Pigmask says in Chapter 5 when you are playing as him. He also speaks "Encouraging Words" to some boulders in Chapter 7.
- Lucas never visually speaks again past Chapter 3 besides yes/no prompts and several occasions where the player cannot hear Lucas' dialogue but is implied he's speaking.
  - It is implied that the last person talking at the End? is Lucas, making it one of the exceptions.
  - He is also the only protagonist who is voiced, as he will say "Ready? Set? Go!" during the Rock, Paper, Scissors Game with the DCMC Members.
Lucas's name is an anagram of Claus.
In the episode Neighbor Pains from the popular cartoon show Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, one character looks nearly identical to Lucas.
In Lucas's earlier render for Earthbound 64, Lucas wore a red hat, a red shirt, green and yellow mascara, and boots. He also had ginger hair in this earlier render.
Lucas seems to look more American than Ness or Ninten by his appearance, and in Super Smash Bros. Brawl he has an American accent.
In Super Mario Maker, there is a Lucas costume that can be unlocked by completing 100 Mario Challenge on Expert or by scanning a Lucas amiibo. By pressing up on the d-pad, the jingle for learning a new PSI ability will play.
When you complete Lucas's classic mode in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the spirit is the exact same as his sticker from Brawl.