Dragon Quest: The Mark of Erdrick

Manga
Dragon Quest Saga: Emblem of Roto
Publisher(s)	Square Enix (Japan, USA); Ki-oon (France); Star Comics (Italy); Planeta Cómic (Spain)
Artist(s)	Kamui Fujiwarai (藤原カムイ); Chiaki Kawamata (川又千秋); Junji Koyanagi (小柳順治)
Series	Emblem of Roto
Release date(s)	September 20,1991 (Japan); July 25, 2006 (Japan, PE); May 15, 2014 (France); April 1998 (Italy); November 4, 2015 (Italy, PE); September18, 2018 (Spain); September 23, 2025 (USA)

"Many years have passed since the legendary hero Erdrick and his companions defeated the forces of evil.

But after a century of peace and prosperity, the world is once again under threat. Now Prince Arus, scion of the hero Erdrick, decides to take to the road along with his guardians and friends to counter the rise of darkness!"

Dragon Quest: The Mark of Erdrick (ドラゴンクエスト列伝ロトの紋章, Doragon Kuesuto Retsuden Roto no Monshō), also known as "Emblem of Erdrick" due to it's japanese title, is a manga with art by Kamui Fujiwara and script by Chiaki Kawamata and Junji Koyanagi. It's plot follows a descendant of Erdrick named Arus, 100 years after the events of Dragon Quest III.

The original manga ran from 1991 to 1997 on Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine. Fujiwara and Kawamata also produced the spinoff Dragon Quest: Emblem of Roto Returns which focuses on three central characters of the original manga, and a full on sequel named Dragon Quest: Emblem of Roto: Those Who Inherited the Emblem. There is also an OVA covering the childhood of Arus and Kira. Kamui Fujiwara also released an artbook of Mark of Erdrick.

The main series is 86 chapters long, collected in 21 tankobon volumes, and later in 15 kanzenban for the Perfect Edition. Some parts of the manga were redrawn for the Perfect Edition due to lost materials between the original edition and this re-edition.

An official English release was announced in 2024, with the first volume releasing in September 2025 under the name of "Dragon Quest: The Mark of Erdrick". In May 2026, the manga became available on Square Enix's "Manga Up!" service.

Story[edit | edit source]

After the defeat of Zoma two descendants of Erdrick left Alefgard and founded two kingdoms, the kingdom of Carmen, and the kingdom of Loran, each taking half of the Mark of Erdrick with them. The rulers of both kingdoms would wear necklaces with their half of the mark to protect themselves from evil forces. 100 years after the defeat of Zoma, the king of Carmen leads a campaign against brigands of evil-worshipers who are starting to gather around the land, while his pregnant wife -Lady Rosa- stays in the castle. Upon reaching the hideout of the monsters, the king comes across a horrific idol, and tries to destroy it. The moment he takes his sword, the evil idol glares at his necklace and breaks it, making the mark of Erdrick fall to the ground. Without the holy protection offered by the mark, an evil spirit serving the evil forces quickly takes over his body. Meanwhile, priest Tarkin announces the goddess-given name for the unborn prince: Arus.

In the following days, the king becomes irascible and worships the demonic statue in secret, using it to communicate with his master: the Dragonlord, who tells him to give the child the demonic name of Jagan instead of the holy name of Arus. When the queen gives birth, the king tries to take the child by force and hold a ceremony to name the prince Jagan, but lady Rosa is begging him to stop. Then the evil spirit taking the body of her husband decides to kill her. Bolgoy, a veteran knight, unmasks the monster pretending to be his monarch and starts figthing him. Then, his daughter Lunafrea tries to aid him using a light ring, but it unable to channel enough power. It's then when prince's Arus's holy powers first appear, greatly boosting the ring's power. With this boost, the monster who took over the king's body is dead. Lunafrea then takes the infant and the mark of Erdrick, and leave the castle while her dying father stays back to protect her. Outside the castle, she meets the Tarkin, who aids her.

After the plan to turn the prince of Carmen into a Fiendlord fails, Dragonlord takes aim at the other descendant of Erdrick: the prince of Loran. Meanwhile, Lunafrea, Tarkin and infant Arus travel the Ibis desert until their forces start to fail. Then, they are saved by a sandsailor, Ghiran, and his son Kira. 10 years later Arus begins his journey along with Lunafrea, Tarkin, and Ghiran and his son Kira. Soon after, the group meets Sage Quadal, who aided hero Erdrick in his journey to slay the Master Archfiend Zoma in the past.

Characters[edit | edit source]

Arus, the main protagonist. The descendant of Erdrick from the kingdom of Carmen, blessed with a sacred protector name.
Tie, a blond fairy that accompanies Arus everywhere he goes.
Kira, Arus's best friend and son of Ghiran. This young man becomes skilled with the sword under the training of Quadal.
Yao, a martial artists who aids Arus during his adventure.
Poron, a young gadabout who holds a special secret. He is often seen with his three monster friends.
Quadal, sage who fought Archfiend Zoma alongside Alheru. Sage Quadal serves as a mentor to the group.
Tarkin, an old priest of Carmen. He tells Lady Rosa her child's goddess-given name, and later helps the boy escape.
Lunafrea, daughter of the general Bolgoy of the Carmen kingdom. She is quite skilled with the sword and is an older sister figure to Arus. (Voiced by Yumi Tōma in the OVA)
Jagan, another scion of Erdrick, heir to the Loran kingdom. He bears a cursed name and works for Lord Imagine.
Dragonlord, a minion of Lord Imagine and commander of the Dragon army tasked with finding and taking care of the scions of Erdrick.
Beastlord Gnon, commander of the Beast army.
Deathlord Gorgona, commander of the Undead army. He is the closest archfiend to Lord Imagine.
Lord Imagine, the main antagonist. He shows himself as a giant talking head in front of his archfiends.

Related Media[edit | edit source]

Printed media[edit | edit source]

The Mark of Erdrick spawned a collection of short side-stories called Emblem of Roto Returns, and a full-fledged sequel titled Dragon Quest: Emblem of Roto: Those Who Inherited the Emblem. A 45-minute OVA covering the childhood of Arus and Kira -placed between the first two chapters of the manga- titled "Dragon Quest Saga: Emblem of Roto" was released in 1996.

In 1994 and 1997, Kamui Fujiwara published a couple of artbooks containing artworks, reference sheets and more.

In 2025, Fujiwara released two more artbooks called "A journey through the world of Emblem of Roto" Part 1 and Part 2 (ドラゴンクエスト列伝ロトの紋章の世界の旅 PART-1, Doragon Kuesuto Retsuden Roto no Monshō no sekai no tabi PART-1; and ドラゴンクエスト列伝ロトの紋章の世界の旅 PART-2, Doragon Kuesuto Retsuden Roto no Monshō no sekai no tabi PART-2)

Audiovisual[edit | edit source]

In 1994, a Drama CD was published.

In 1996, an OVA was released. It covers Arus's childhood and how he became friends with Kira.

In Videogames[edit | edit source]

The Mark of Erdrick has had a handful collaborations with the Japanese version of Dragon Quest of the Stars. The collaboration include a multitude of cosmetic equipment based on characters like Arus, Kira, Yao, Quadal, Jagan and more; Fiend-difficulty boss fights against multiple villains from the series like Orochi or Imagine, and stamps for multiplayer communication. Kamui Fujiwara designed new armor for the collaboration event.

It also collaborated with Keshi Keshi, with erasers based on Arus, Kira, Yao, Porog (both gadabout and sage forms), Jagan and Gunon. Players would get Poron by just playing the game while the event lasted, with the item to upgrade him to sage being available as a quest reward. Arus, Kira and Yao were gacha erasers. The erasers of Jagan and Gunon were unlockable by progressing in the event.

The members of Arus's party also delved into the world of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, with Arus, Yao and Poron being added into the game as gacha units, Killa as a free unit, and Gunon and Jagan as bosses. Aside from the units themselves, a couple Vision Cards based on them were also available.