Dragon Quest VIII/Characters

A list of characters in Dragon Quest VIII.

The Hero
A member of Trodain's palace guard, and the sole person who survived Trodain's curse unscathed. He has a pet mouse named Munchie.


 * Brown Eyes: Paired with Curtains Match the Window.
 * Choice of Two Weapons: Four weapons in this case:
 * Blade on a Stick: Perhaps Lampshading that in Castle Trodain, he was originally seen as a mere Spear Carrier.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: As one might expect, his default weapon is a sword. His best weapons are also swords.
 * Prongs of Poseidon
 * Flaming Sword
 * Battle Boomerang: Which can be used to hit all the enemies at once, though the damage is gradually decreased with each enemy struck.
 * Precision-Guided Boomerang
 * Good Old Fisticuffs: Like everyone else, he can fight with his bare hands if the player so chooses.
 * Razor Wind: The Thin Air special attack.
 * Combat Medic: He's got the most powerful attacks, and makes an excellent back-up healer to Angelo. He also gets "Omniheal", which heals everyone completely.
 * Elemental Punch: His fists can produce Razor Wind if leveled properly.
 * Gameplay and Story Integration: Averted. Not only did he survive the curse on Castle Trodain unscathed, but he has a natural immunity to curses in battle.
 * Hello, Insert Name Here: The voice acting deals with this by having his teammates generally refer to him by the nickname "guv," or omitting his name completely (i.e. the text will say "Right [hero's name], my boy", but the voice actor will say "Right, my boy.").
 * Heroic Mime
 * Heroic Spirit: His special skill "Courage".
 * In-Series Nickname: 'Guv'. Mainly used by Yangus; over time, it starts to really stick.
 * Jack of All Stats: He doesn't have the speed or the magic of Jessica, but he has above-average health and attack.
 * Magic Knight: More on the Knight side, but he does learn the entire Sizz line of spells.
 * Nice Bandana
 * Playing with Fire: Can learn some fire spells.
 * Power Dyes Your Hair: Toriyama + First 3-D Dragon Quest = Inevitability.
 * Shock and Awe: He's the only party member who can use this element by powering up his Courage skill set.
 * Shout-Out: Maxing out his Tension makes him look like a pink-haired Super Saiyajin.
 * Suicide Attack: With the Kamikazee spell, which sacrifices the user to deal heavy damage to enemies.
 * Take My Hand: With Yangus before the game proper begins.
 * Shock and Awe: He's the only party member who can use this element by powering up his Courage skill set.
 * Shout-Out: Maxing out his Tension makes him look like a pink-haired Super Saiyajin.
 * Suicide Attack: With the Kamikazee spell, which sacrifices the user to deal heavy damage to enemies.
 * Take My Hand: With Yangus before the game proper begins.
 * Take My Hand: With Yangus before the game proper begins.

Munchie
The Hero's pet mouse who lives in a pouch at the hero's side. While not seen often, he can provide some amazing support in battle thanks to the many cheese that can be fed to him.


 * Team Pet: Though he doesn't show as often as most pets do.
 * Team Pet: Though he doesn't show as often as most pets do.

Yangus
Originally a bandit from the town of Pickham, since trying to reform after the Hero saved his life.


 * Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Gets on his knees to plead with after.
 * Anti-Hero: Type II.
 * The Big Guy: The slowest and the strongest, as well as using the heaviest weapons.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: His weapon of choice during a pub brawl? A chair. With another patron still sitting in it.
 * Carpet of Virility: A type two.
 * Catch Phrase: "COR BLIMEY!"
 * Choice of Two Weapons: Five weapons in this case:
 * An Axe to Grind: One of his most effective weapons.
 * Carry a Big Stick: His second choice, which includes Drop the Hammer.
 * Sinister Scythe: Some of the most powerful ones though looks more like polearms or even billhooks. Boost his scythe skills to allow Yangus to do some Video Game Stealing.
 * Good Old Fisticuffs:
 * Razor Wind
 * Epic Flail: Two skippable weapons (one is obtained by visiting Red late in the game, and the other one is the prize for gathering enough mini medals): they're both quite damaging and can hit multiple enemies, but they don't have a skill set.
 * Combat Medic: Eventually learns some healing magic, but not nearly as powerful as the Hero's or Angelo's. Except Kerplunk.
 * Delusions of Eloquence: Played with. Yangus occasionally tries to show off by calling on turns of phrase he's heard educated people use (probably Brains, his friend from Pickham), but while he almost always mispronounces them, he never actually misuses them.
 * Gentle Giant: Despite his rugged appearance, he's quite sensitive and often reacts the worst to the various Tear Jerkers and Player Punches the team encounters.
 * Encountered in one of his skills: Humanity.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: His "Kerplunk" spell, the most powerful healing ability in the game, completely revives and heals all other party members... at the cost of all of his HP and MP.
 * How We Got Here: The game begins with him already traveling with the guv; he later recounts how they met to Jessica in a Flash Back.
 * I Owe You My Life: The reason why he's friends with the hero.
 * Mighty Glacier
 * Nice Hat: A spiked cap.
 * Odd Friendship: With King Trode.
 * Perma-Stubble: Yangus is perennially unshaven, but never with an actual beard.
 * Reformed but Rejected: His first attempts at reforming fell flat because nobody was willing to give him a chance... until he met the Hero.
 * Running Gag: His reaction to Trode's skill at the Stealth Hi Bye maneuver. Lampshaded when he starts to react once, then stops and states he's gotten sick of that old gag.
 * Stout Strength: The heaviest hitter, he's also the shortest and the fattest.
 * Video Game Stealing: With about a 1000:1 chance. Later, you can upgrade it to 100:1.
 * X Marks the Hero: The X-shaped scar on his cheek.

Jessica Albert
A magician from Alexandria who joins up with the party after Dhoulmagus kills her older brother Alistair. Hot-tempered and sharp-tongued, but a capable spellcaster with plenty of potential.


 * Action Girl: The only female combatant in the PS2 version, and the person most likely to take charge against an opponent.
 * An Ice Person: Can learn how to cast ice spells.
 * Ass Kicks You: Her Hip Drop attack.
 * Black Mage: Though she can get a group healing ability at the end of her Sex Appeal skill tree, she mostly sticks to offensive spells and abilities that increase the party's power.
 * Bunny Girl: A Dragon Quest staple, when she has the Bunny Suit, Fishnet Stockings and Bunny Ears equipped.
 * Chainmail Bikini: Many of her alternate outfits qualify, the Magic Bikini in particular. Funnily enough you can get the bikini right before you get to the snow-covered region of the game.
 * Choice of Two Weapons: Five weapons in her case:
 * Knife Nut: Which can be upgraded to Heroes Prefer Swords with enough training.
 * Hot Chick with a Sword: Potentially, if you decide to upgrade her Knife skills.
 * Poisoned Weapons: Some of her knife-skills automatically poisons when attacking.
 * Sword Beam
 * Magic Staff/Magic Wand
 * Whip It Good: Her starting weapon type, which strikes a whole group of enemies.
 * Good Old Fisticuffs:
 * Razor Wind
 * Curtains Match the Window: She has vivid red hair and red eyes.
 * Dead Little Sister: Her dead older brother.
 * Deadpan Snarker: To a LOT of people, but mostly to Angelo, who is not above snarking back.
 * Distracted by the Sexy: As her "sex appeal" stat rises, enemies have a random chance of losing a turn by gazing in admiration, and also allows her to learn abilities which can produce the same effect.
 * Fiery Redhead: Literally. Her default spells involve fire.
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Hot Witch: It's even exploited by King Clavius, trying to motivate his son.
 * Impossibly Low Neckline: Her standard outfit.
 * Jiggle Physics: When she casts magic.
 * Lady of Black Magic: Despite her reputation for hot-headedness, Jessica is actually quite mature and level-headed when not actively grieving her brother's death, or dealing with her Proper Lady mother.
 * Leotard of Power: The Divine Bustier.
 * Magic Dance: Upon reaching the highest level of Sex Appeal, she can do a special dance while holding slime-shaped maracas. It seems nonsensical at first, but does heal about 100 HP to each member and costs no MP.
 * Magic Knight: A female example, if you chose to equip her with daggers and then swords.
 * Male Gaze: Used hilariously when the King of Argonia tries to persuade Prince Charmles to marry Medea.
 * Marshmallow Hell: Weaponized.
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Of Corsets Sexy: Dangerous Bustier and Divine Bustier.
 * Playboy Bunny: One of her outfits, which is a Dragon Quest staple, of course.
 * Playing with Fire: She's best known for using fire magic.
 * Rebellious Princess: Although in Jessica's case, her idea of rebelling is going off to avenge her dead brother rather than be a proper lady.
 * She Fu: Jessica's Fisticuffs techniques are very elegant and acrobatic.
 * The Smurfette Principle: Well, besides Medea, but she's the only female party member in the Playstation version. In the 3DS remake, Red is a party member as well.
 * Sphere of Destruction: The Magic Burst spell.
 * Squishy Wizard: She can wipe out whole enemies with her spells and can dish out decent damage, but she's not very resistant to damage herself.
 * Stripperific: Most of her special outfits.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: The Bang-family class of spells.
 * Tsundere: Looks like she'll be a full blown tsun-tsun when you first meet, but it's mostly because you've caught her at a really bad time... her default tends to be dere-dere. Unless Angelo is involved.
 * : Variation; it turns out.
 * The Unfavorite: Has a very poor relationship with her mother, to the point that.
 * Wings Do Nothing: Part of her Divine Bustier outfit.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: The above mentioned Divine Bustier.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: The above mentioned Divine Bustier.

Angelo
A Templar from Maella Abbey, who joins the party under orders to hunt down Dhoulmagus after the jester kills the head abbot.


 * Backstory:.
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Bishonen
 * Blow You Away: His Woosh-family class of spells.
 * Bring My Red Jacket
 * Casanova: Morrie even calls him this.
 * Casting a Shadow
 * Changeling Fantasy: Deconstructed..
 * Chivalrous Pervert: He loves to hit on good-looking ladies, particularly Jessica, but his heart's in the right place.
 * Choice of Two Weapons: Four weapons:
 * Bow and Sword in Accord
 * The Archer:
 * Energy Bow
 * Multishot
 * Rain of Arrows
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: With a little more of Royal Rapier.
 * Flaming Sword
 * Laser Blade: His ultimate sword, the Shamshir of Light.
 * Magic Staff/Magic Wand
 * Good Old Fisticuffs
 * Church Militant: As mentioned above, he's a Templar.
 * Combat Medic: A lot of his abilities revolve around healing. He doesn't get quite as many as the hero, but Angelo learns his healing spells much faster.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Comes from growing up in a place where everyone seemed to dislike him.
 * Defrosting Ice King: He starts out distrustful of the others, but starts warming up to them after revealing his backstory..
 * Dub Name Change: Kukuru -> Angelo.
 * Freudian Excuse: Is disobedient and smarmy, in large part because he has issues with Marcello.
 * Handsome Lech: Fairly attractive young man, but also completely shameless in his flirting.
 * Hidden Depths: Introduced as a flirtatious pretty boy who doesn't take his station seriously; turns out to have a pretty damn tragic history and to honestly care about the church.
 * Holy Hand Grenade: An ability that lets him call forth bolts from the blue at the end of his Sword tree. His "Pearly Gates" spell also blasts enemies with holy light and deals extra damage to zombies.
 * One-Hit Kill: He can learn the Whack-family of instant death spells.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: The moment in his Backstory where.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: The moment in his Backstory where.

King Trode
The titular "Cursed King" of Trodain, transformed into a green-skinned, troll-like creature by Dhoulmagus. Set out on the titular journey in hopes of tracking the jester down, regaining the scepter, and restoring his kingdom and his true form.


 * Adipose Rex: Mostly due to the fact that he's also very short.
 * Baleful Polymorph
 * Break the Haughty: A downplayed example. He never really gets very humble despite his experiences, but he at least goes from demanding things to politely asking.
 * Character Development: His time as a monster renders him much more humble as the game goes on. He still thinks very highly of himself and his station, but he no longer looks down upon commoners or his party members. He also becomes less controlling of his precious daughter Medea, eventually letting her make her own marriage decisions.
 * While initially eager to drink from the Mystical Spring and regain his original form, he eventually decides to refrain and leave its use specifically for Medea's benefit alone. He also orders the hero to take Medea to the spring often to make sure she can benefit from it.
 * Dirty Old Man: Just look at his comments after equipping Jessica with any of her Battle Bikini. Also, if you equip a piece of the Bunny Girl outfit on Jessica, he practically screams at you to finish getting the rest.
 * Freak-Out: He does not deal well with stressors like being treated like the monster he appears to be or.
 * Hidden Depths: Starts off seeming shallow, spoiled and bossy, but reveals other sides of himself over time.
 * I Gave My Word: Struggles with this regarding Medea's Arranged Marriage.
 * Item Crafting: He's the one who runs the alchemy pot.
 * Papa Wolf
 * Stealth Hi Bye: Why is he a ninja? He's insanely good at popping up out of nowhere, startling the heck out of Yangus and the rest.
 * Team Dad: The oldest of the group, which is why Yangus consistently refers to him as "grandad." He listens to Angelo's backstory as a paternal figure, and comforts the hero during his minor Heroic BSOD in the second new ending in the 3DS version.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Frequently argues with Yangus, yet comes to respect him enough that the bandit can even learn a team-up move with him.

Princess Medea
The princess of Trodain, transformed into a horse by Dhoulmagus. She uses this form to its best advantage by pulling the party's wagon.


 * Arranged Marriage: With none other than Prince Charmless..
 * Baleful Polymorph: Changed by Dhoulmagus and his curse. Trode may whine about his hideous appearance and the trouble it's caused, but Medea can't even speak and can only contribute to the cause as a beast of burden.
 * Cool Horse: Despite being a princess, she can pull the party's wagon with little trouble.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Her 'princess' title is window dressing until the very last scene.
 * Fairytale Wedding Dress
 * Green Eyes
 * The Ingenue: She's not naive about the world, but still sweet and innocent.
 * Pimped-Out Dress
 * Proper Lady: So proper in fact that the Blind Seer the party encounters says she outshines every princess he's ever seen, while stuck in a horse's body.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Again, she pulls the wagon.
 * Ugly Guys Hot Daughter
 * Ugly Guys Hot Daughter
 * Ugly Guys Hot Daughter

Dhoulmagus
A vengeful magician who dressed like a jester. He stole the magical scepter in Castle Trodain and unleashed the curse upon the kingdom.
 * Catch Phrase: "Such a pity. Such a pity..."
 * he says it at least once per vessel.
 * Once per vessel? Try thrice per scene. And that's when he's NOT feeling talkative.
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Lean and Mean
 * Monster Clown
 * One-Winged Angel
 * Who's Laughing Now?
 * Monster Clown
 * One-Winged Angel
 * Who's Laughing Now?
 * Who's Laughing Now?

Rhapthorne
An ancient Lord of Darkness who was battled and sealed away eons ago.
 * Beard of Evil
 * Big Bad
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy:.
 * Dark Is Evil
 * Large and In Charge: So it seems judging from the pictures in the Dark Ruins..
 * Made of Evil
 * One-Winged Angel
 * Sealed Evil in a Can
 * One-Winged Angel
 * Sealed Evil in a Can

Alistair Albert
Jessica's older brother, who was an accomplished swordsman. Killed by Dhoulmagus before the hero could catch up with the foul jester. His death comes as a serious blow to the town of Alexandria.
 * Dead Older Brother: Unfortunately, the brother in question.
 * Magic Knight: He is (well, was) a skilled swordsman and wizard.
 * Posthumous Character
 * Posthumous Character

Marcello
Angelo's older half-brother, who trains as a Templar at Maella Abbey. Despite being a studious monk and soldier, he harbors an old grudge against Angelo, and at times struggles with getting others to recognize his deeds because of his low-born roots.
 * Ambition Is Evil
 * Backstory: Tied into Angelo's history:.
 * Bastard Bastard: He's the illegitimate child. Heck, he could possibly be the Trope Namer.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Freudian Excuse: He's a condescending prick to Angelo because he screwed things up just by being born. Also has issues with being looked down upon due to his common blood.
 * : Happens late in the game, when . Then he blames everything on the good guys. Again.
 * Jerkass
 * Jumping Off the Slippery Slope
 * Kick the Dog: "So... you intend to destroy this life I've made, just like my old life, do you?"
 * Knight Templar
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Attempts this after . Of course, he completely ignores his own obvious role in causing the whole mess...
 * Pet the Dog: An important part of his and Angelo's Backstory. When Angelo first came to the Abbey, . Even when it turned into full out Kick the Dog,.
 * Tall, Dark and Snarky
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Attempts this after . Of course, he completely ignores his own obvious role in causing the whole mess...
 * Pet the Dog: An important part of his and Angelo's Backstory. When Angelo first came to the Abbey, . Even when it turned into full out Kick the Dog,.
 * Tall, Dark and Snarky

Abbot Francisco
The head of Maella Abbey, Abbot Francisco is compassionate, caring, understanding, and the ideal representative of everything a Saintly Church should be. One of the few members of the Abbey who hasn't dabbled in corruption... .
 * Good Shepherd
 * Parental Substitute: Acted as more of a father to Marcello and Angelo than theirs ever did.
 * Parental Substitute: Acted as more of a father to Marcello and Angelo than theirs ever did.
 * Parental Substitute: Acted as more of a father to Marcello and Angelo than theirs ever did.

Red
An old associate of Yangus. They have quite the history together...
 * Action Girl: Not quite, she stated that she'll simply avoid the monsters in the Pirate Hideout by simple stealth. When she's faced by Captain Crow's ghost, she's easily defeated. Played straight in the 3DS game where she can actually be an effective party member despite that particular incident.
 * Epic Flail: "Borrows" one to Yangus for the final battle if you visit her.
 * Knife Nut: Her only visible weapon is a small dagger.
 * Fridge Brilliance: She's a thief, and traditionally, thieves used to carry a dagger as a weapon of last resort and as a tool to help pry open windows and treasure chests. Most thieves in medieval times knew they'd never last in a proper fight, so a dagger was also handy for backstabbing and running, another thievery trademark.
 * Pirate Girl: You even race her to some pirate's treasure in a later mission.
 * The Rival: See above.
 * Tsundere: Common interpretation of her treatment of Yangus, with him being Oblivious to Love.
 * Alternate Character Interpretation: Or, given he's willing to toss aside his pride for her and in the ending, he probably has a crush on her and is too shy to admit it.
 * Ugly Guy Hot Gal: Her relationship with Yangus.

Morrie
An eccentric fellow who runs a Monster Arena known as the MONSTROUS PIT, along with his assistants Marrie, Merrie, Mirrie and Murrie. Prone to Accidental Innuendo and Hot Bloodedness.
 * Casanova
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Large Ham
 * Luck-Based Mission: You can pick what sort of monsters to send into the Arena, but you can't control them directly. However, the monsters have a tendency to get stronger when you level up to make the arena easier, so it's not entirely luck-based
 * Poirot Speak
 * Promoted to Playable: In the remake, it's possibly to recruit him as a party member.
 * Tenchi Solution
 * Uncle Pennybags

Prince Charmles
Crown Prince of Argonia, and THE Prince Charmless. His father is determined to make the best possible heir out of him, but it's hard when he's reluctant to perform the initiation... or anything else that requires he, uh, work.
 * Arranged Marriage: With Medea.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil
 * Comically Missing the Point: Fails to understand why the rite of passage is so important, expecting to just lie and cheat his way through it.
 * Dirty Coward
 * Entitled Bastard
 * Expy: Follows in the footsteps of Prince Harry and Prince Holse; unlike either one, however, he learns nothing from his trials and expects to coast through life on the backs of other people.
 * In-Series Nickname
 * It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": It's supposed to be "Charmulls", but he prefers "Sharm-LAY".
 * Jerkass
 * Kick the Dog: His desire to obtain the largest gem possible during his initiation, regardless of the cost. The way he is also a perfect example, as after he pulls that crap, it's rather amazing he makes it back from the initiation in one piece.
 * Prince Charmless: Trope Namer. While his father calls him Charmulls, and he insists on being called Sharm-LAY, everyone calls him Charmless, to his face no less.
 * Rite of Passage
 * Royal Brat
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money: After all the hard work of his initiation, he . This eventually bites him HARD later on.
 * Speech Impediment: He sounds like Elmer Fudd.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's totally afraid of lizards of all kind, that's why he's so reluctant to face the initiation, which consist in taking down a large Argon Lizard.
 * Speech Impediment: He sounds like Elmer Fudd.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's totally afraid of lizards of all kind, that's why he's so reluctant to face the initiation, which consist in taking down a large Argon Lizard.

King Clavius
Unlike his son, the current ruler of Argonia is a reasonable, thoughtful man just trying to do the best he can.
 * Covert Pervert: The way he gets Charmles to agree to attempt the initiation.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Unexpected Successor: His brother was supposed to become king instead of him, but disappeared from Argonia, leaving him to take the throne.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Starts to call out the Hero and his party when he thinks, but corrects himself and apologizes profusely after learning the truth of the matter.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Starts to call out the Hero and his party when he thinks, but corrects himself and apologizes profusely after learning the truth of the matter.

Ishmahri
The keeper of the Moonshadow Land, he possess a magical harp. The party meets Ishmahri twice. First in Ascantha, were they lead him to King Pavan to soothe his broken heart. Ishmahri creates past images of the late Queen Sasha by playing a melody on his harp. The second time involves him using his powers to restore an old ship to sea worthy condition.
 * Aura Vision
 * Cryptic Conversation: Not as bad as most mystics out there.
 * The Empath
 * The Force: Ishmahri's connection to the realm of Moonshadow, plus his powers in general.

Cash and Carrie Golding
The adopted twins of the late Mr. Golding, who established a fantastic casino and left them quibbling about which of them gets to run it now that he's passed on. To settle the score, they have to run a little test... one they both need help with.
 * Brother-Sister Team: By the end of their scenario.
 * But Thou Must!: Act as bodyguards to one or the other during their test.
 * Sibling Rivalry
 * Sibling Seniority Squabble
 * Spoiled Brat: Both until the end of their scenario.
 * Theme Twin Naming
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Blue for Cash, and green for Carrie.

Empyrea
Empyrea is referred to as the Godbird. She has the power to travel between worlds. .
 * Breath Weapon: One of her most powerful abilities.
 * Friend to All Living Things: She hates that Gemon forces her to attack people.
 * Giant Flyer: Empyrea is so large that she can carry everyone in the party on her back.
 * Good Thing You Can Heal: Not Empyrea but.
 * The Phoenix: A textbook example.
 * Power Gives You Wings: After you meet Empyrea,.