[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Summonercover_5808.jpg]]

->''I am Joseph of Ciran. Joseph of Masad. Farmer, cotter, plower... Sahugani. Summoner.''

In the land of Medeva, there is a legend: Every generation, a child is born bearing a mark on his right hand. The mark of the summoner. Using magical rings, the summoner can call forth powerful monsters and demons to do his bidding. Through history, summoners have used their powers to become Kings, Warlords and Sorcerers.

Joseph, born in the village of Ciran, is the latest bearer of the mark of the summoners. 9 years ago, Joseph met an old traveling monk named Yago, who gave Joseph one of the summoner's rings. He helped Joseph master his talent, until the day where raiders attacked Ciran. Joseph called forth a demon sleeping inside the ring, who slaughtered the raiders before turning on the villagers, killing everyone but Joseph and Yago. Joseph threw the ring down a well and told Yago to leave, to never approach him again. He then made his way to the village of Masad, to rebuild his life there in obscurity. That is, until a group of masked warriors from TheEmpire of Orenia [[DoomedHometown attack the village, butchering its inhabitants in the hope of finding the one with the mark of the summoner]]. And that is where the adventure begins.

''Summoner'' is an RPG released in 2000 by {{Creator/Volition}} and published by {{Creator/THQ}} for the Playstation 2 as one of the first [=RPGs=] for the system and later ported to Windows [=PCs=] and the Macintosh in 2001. The game was noted for its combat system, where characters take turns but attack in real time, with chain attacks that rely on the players timing. However, the game is better remembered for its story, set in a fully original world with four fully developed religions and its own history. The player controls Joseph, as he is joined in his adventure by 3 other characters. Flece, a thief; Rosalind, Yago's abandoned daughter and a priestess of the island monastery of Iona; and Jekhar, a medevan knight who grew up in Ciran, and has vowed to kill Joseph for slaughtering his family.

A sequel for the [=PS2=], ''VideoGame/{{Summoner 2}}'' (later ported to the Platform/NintendoGameCube as ''Summoner: A Goddess Reborn'') was released in 2002. It was given a more [[ActionRPG action-adventure]] feel, and followed a DistaffCounterpart, Maia, who is Joseph's opposite in nearly every way. Where he sought to flee his destiny and followed TheCall only reluctantly, Maia embraces her destiny and seeks to fulfill it.

The game has been re-released on Steam and GOG.com.
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!!This game contains the following tropes:

* ActionCommands: Chain attacks.
* AllMythsAreTrue: There really was a tower of Eleh. Urath did exist and he was murdered by his sister Laharah. [[spoiler:Oh, and Joseph IS Urath. Interestingly, the humans, who are Urath's children, do not remember the myth that the Summoner is Urath reborn, instead it's the Khosani who know that.]]
** All of which gets completely inverted in the sequel. The tower is now a tree, Laharah is now a good goddess with a bad reputation in Medeva and [[spoiler: none of the gods were ever real in the first place]]
* BackStab: Flece.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo[=/=]YouCantFightFate: See SelfFulfillingProphecy
* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' suggest to Jehkar that his grudge against Joseph is "irrational" or anything like that. He ''will'' explode at you.
* BigBad: [[TheEmperor Emperor]] [[EvilOverlord Murod]], ruler of TheEmpire of Orenia, [[spoiler:but he's [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil later somewhat upstaged by Machival]] -- The Demon of Darkness that destroyed Ciran.]]
** OneWingedAngel: Almost literally in the latter case.
* BossInMookClothing: General Wentao looks identical to most of his subordinates.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive and it's sending an army of goons to your DoomedHometown. '''Twice'''.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Machival plotted the whole thing, so Lenele would be destroyed and all four demons would be freed]]
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: The flight back to Medeva
* DegradedBoss: The Barbarian Fighter and the Iron Golem. The first can be fought in a normal encounter practically right after you fight him as a boss, and the Iron Golem can be found as enemy before he's a boss, if you're a glutton for punishment.
* DialogueTree
* DualBoss: [[spoiler: Jekhar and Rosalind against [[TheEvilPrince Sornehan]] and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Galienne]].]]
* DoomedHometown: Two of them. First, you accidentally destroy your beloved peasant village of Ciran in an attempt to defend it with your fledgling powers, killing your friends and family; after disowning your powers, you settle down in Masad, which years later gets burned to the ground by the BigBad's invading army in their search for you; you then resolve to confront your past and defend the nation of Medeva, which you accidentally end up destroying as well after a suitable BigNo. Joseph is an overachiever.
* DownTheDrain: No, not the sewers again!
* DownerEnding: A weird case, as the sequel's CosmicRetcon and other story events takes the potential for an epic ending in the previous game and makes it rather depressing. [[spoiler:If Joseph decided to become a god, and Summoner 2 says the gods do not really exist... Did Joseph end up killing himself? And the fate of Rosalind.]]
** [[spoiler: No, he was reborn into Maia. Kind of. He, too, was part of Aosi.]]
* TheDragon: Murod's [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse four riders]].
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Rosalind in the second game, though finding out what exactly happened is a big part of the plot]].
* EasilyForgiven: Jekhar easily forgiving Joseph, Rosalind easily forgiving Yago.
* EasterEgg: The Dead Ale Wives' famous ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' skit as acted out by the ''Summoner'' cast.
* EliteFour: The role of Emperor Murod's CoDragons is filled by the Four Riders: The Serpent Rider, the Tiger Rider, the Ghost Rider and the Phoenix Rider.
* TheEmpire: of Orenia
* ExploitedImmunity: One highly effective late-game tactic is to load everyone with frost-resistance items, and then have [[BlackMagicianGirl Rosalind]] cast Blizzard into every melee.
* EvilChancellor: Murod used to be one when he usurped the throne. [[spoiler: Sornehan is one to Belias.]]
* EvilMentor: [[spoiler:Yago, possessed by Machival]]
* FighterMageThief: Your three extra party members each fit into one of those classes. Joseph has aspects of all three, being JackOfAllStats.
* GlassCannon: Flece, who can do the most damage but is very fragile.
* GuideDangIt: Most of the sidequests in the game. A bunch of them are contextually timed - in that they disappear once certain story objectives are reached - and you'll get no warning of this beforehand. It's entirely possible to not know certain quests even exists, and miss out on rewards and level ups you could use later.
* GutPunch: In one stroke, Yago [[spoiler: turns out to be Machival, destroys your hard-earned demon rings and burns Joseph's hand off.]]
* HandicappedBadass: Subverted: Joseph loses [[spoiler:his left hand]] half-way into the game. This actually does NOT make him even more of a bad-ass who has to overcome his disability. He genuinely loses the ability to use 2-handed weapons and shields, making him physically and defensively ''weaker'' for the 2nd half of the story.
%%* HitPoints
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Joseph, who doesn't give a damn about being a Summoner: He wants to live the life of a simple farmer. One of the endings [[spoiler:has Joseph refusing to become a god, before turning his back on everyone and vanishing to live his life as a simple farmer, anonymously]].
** It's the main difference between Joseph and the protagonist of the second game, Maia. Maia embraces being a summoner, was raised from childhood by dedicated priests, and actively seeks out to fulfill her prophecy.
* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: Joseph loses his left hand at the end of the first major arc, and can't use shields or two-handed weapons until it's magically regenerated most of the way through the second.
* JackOfAllTrades: Joseph. He can use most weapons and armors (Only Jekhar as as wider choice), and he has access to most offensive and defensive magics, as well as being able to summon.
* LaResistance: The Jade Temple is the rebellion against Murod, trying to restore the rightful imperial line.
* LetsSplitUpGang: In both games at some point.
* LiteralSplitPersonality[=/=]EnemyWithout[=/=]BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: [[spoiler:The four demons, the four dragons, and Joseph are really the evil, good, and human aspects of the dead god Urath]]
* TheManBehindTheCurtain: When you finally confront Murod, he proves to be a feeble old man desperately grasping for power, rather than the intimidating evil you might have been expecting.
%%* MightyGlacier: {{Golem}} summons, Jekhar.
* MookChivalry: Somewhat of a strange case. In the sewer boss fight against the three golems, the two brass golems don't actually start off aggro'd - only the iron golem does. This means that if you let the iron golem approach you and stay out of the brass golems' aggro range, you can fight them one by one.
%%* NominalImportance
%%* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Murod turns into a spectacularly ridiculous example.]]
%%* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: The Trial the Khosani send you through.
* OptionalBoss: [[spoiler:At the end of the Tome of the Nhuvasarim quest, you fight against all of Murod's Four Riders at once. Your reward? The second summon for the Ring of Darkness.]]
%%* PausableRealtime
* PhysicalGod: Emperor Murod, later [[spoiler: Joseph himself in one of the ending, as he becomes the reincarnated god Urath]]
* PointOfNoReturn: You can never return to Orenia once you've left.
* PlotCoupon: Most of the [[spoiler:four demon]] rings.
* {{Precursors}}: The Unseen from Summoner 2.
* PuzzleBoss: Azha the Archlich, (unless you leveled up Dark magic to level 10).
* RefusalOfTheCall: Joseph wanted nothing to do with being a summoner. One of the endings has him saying ScrewDestiny and going back to live his life as a farmer.
* ReligionOfEvil: The Nhuvisarum of Lahara (at least in the first game). In the second game... it's a long story (see Retcon).
* RightfulKingReturns: [[spoiler:Flece]] is the rightful heir to the Orenian [[spoiler:and Medevan]] throne.
* RoyalBastard: [[spoiler:Flece is, unknown to her, the daughter of the Queen of Orenia and the King of Medeva via an affair the two had. With both royal lines all but exterminated, this makes her the rightful heir to both thrones]].
* ThrivingGhostTown: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]; Lenele is humongous, to the point of frustration.
** Early in production, Sornehan was the ruler of another nation next to Medeva rather than being Belias' brother. As the game developed, a lot was cut and the two cities were merged into Lenele. Imagine TWO cities as big as that!
* ScrewDestiny: Joseph tried to do this. He only succeeds in one of the endings.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Emperor Murod hears a prophecy that a Summoner will put an end to his reign. Every action he thus takes to stop this prophecy from happening only results in it coming true, by undoing Joseph's RefusalOfTheCall. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Joseph even calls him out for this before their final battle;]] Had Murod simply done ''nothing'', Joseph would have lived the rest of his days as a simple farmer without ever knowing Murod even existed.
* SetAMookToKillAMook: in the sequel, Maia and Morbezan can both learn Control Undead.
* SequentialBoss: [[spoiler:Machival]]
* ShoutOut: The court gossip of Medeva bears a strong resemblance to parts of ''[[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire A Game of Thrones]]'', though with some of the characters shifted around: The king does not have any surviving heirs, Prince Yon was fond of climbing and fell to his death from a castle tower [[spoiler: after likely being pushed by Sornehan (who would, in league with the queen, later betray the king)]], another prince was killed by a boar during a hunt, and another died of fever. In addition, the king married and came to power to conclude a civil war (though as a loyalist rather than a usurper) after which he has presided over a long peace, but while a superb fighter and military leader, tends to avoid much of his duties in the administration of the kingdom, with the royal treasury heavily in debt.
* StoryDrivenInvulnerability: You can fight the Four Horsemen in random encounters before the proper boss fights, but you cannot kill them, just chase them off.
* SummonMagic: Duh. The game employs both types.
* TwentyBearAsses: Several, all with 100% drop rates.
* UselessUsefulSpell: Death, also, arguably, most of the summons.
* WaifProphet: Luleva, an orphan in Lenele. She's a minor NPC, but she shows up again in ''VideoGame/Summoner2'', where she is a gladiator and therefore no longer fits the trope. It's nice that she survived though.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Initially two of the members of the party are outright hostile to Joseph. Rosalind hates Joseph because her father all but abandoned her and her mother in his quest to find the Summoner and teach him, and she resents Joseph having had the attention from her father. Jehkar meanwhile is the sole survivor of Ciran besides Joseph and Yago, and swore an oath to kill the former for causing the death of Jehkar's family and the village. The only reason he's not doing it right now is because he's under royal order to help Joseph and as a knight he must obey but swears the moment they are done he'll execute Joseph. [[spoiler:Ultimately both get over it. Rosalind realizes that Yago didn't do anything great for Joseph's life either, and Jehkar realizes that his hatred of Joseph pales compared to how Joseph feels about himself and that Joseph's responsibility over what happened isn't as great as either thought.]]
* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: Joseph's first DoomedHometown, which he [[NiceJobBreakingItHero destroys in his attempt to save it]] by summoning the Demon of Darkness to wipe out the army already doing its level best.
* WhiteMagicianGirl: Rosalind.
* WingedHumanoid : All humans are descended from the Sudani, who were, well, humans but with wings. They lost their wings in a squabble among gods and demons. (Not between. Among.)
* YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord - Used as a plot point: the Khosani call Joseph "Sahugani," a name that's equivalent to "summoner." But whose literal translation would be "Person of the Four Rings". It is however later reveal that this translation is incorrect. "Person of the Four Rings" would be pronounced as "Sahudoni". "Sahugani" actually means [[spoiler:"Person of the '''Eight''' Rings", hinting at the existence of the 4 extra summoner's rings. Being a {{Cunning Linguist}}, Rosalind notices this discrepancy but declines to mention it when it might have mattered because she hates you.]]
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: I got the 4 rings! I'm going to the forge! Oh, wait...
** [[spoiler:MacGuffinDeliveryService]]
** [[spoiler:ShootTheShaggyDog]]
** [[spoiler:NiceJobBreakingItHero]]
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