Dragon Quest III/Characters
Yes, there are characters. This is still in the eight-bit world of games, where characters don't get much characterization, but there are heroes.
The heroes
Ortega's Heir
The son (or daughter) of the great hero Ortega. Shortly after you were born, your father departed on a quest to defeat the fiend Baramos, never to return. In his absence, it falls to you to take up his quest and save the world.
Tropes associated with the Hero:
- Action Girl: If female.
- Always Male: In the original, even if you chose to be female, you would be "Ortega's son".
- This was more a translation issue, however, and is Lampshaded in the Updated Rerelease: if you choose to be female there, the king will start to call you "Ortega's son" before correcting himself and justifying the mistake with "But your dauntless look -- no man could hope to match you!".
- The original also used the same sprite for the male and female versions of the Hero, unlike every other class.
- Bifauxnen: If female.
- Can't Drop the Hero: And can't change your class to anything other than "Hero".
- Curtains Match the Window
- Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday: You aren't allowed to start your quest until you turn sixteen.
- Disappeared Dad: And you find evidence of his passing all over the world before finally tracking down what happened to him.
- Fake King: You don't choose to be one, but the king of Romaly gives you the crown so he can go gamble. You can hang around as king for as long as you feel like, then make the real king take his crown back so you can continue on your quest.
- Good Morning, Crono: The game begins on the Hero's 16th birthday, the day on which they are supposed to take up their father's quest.
- Hello, Insert Name Here: While you can change any character's name, most people will refer to the Hero.
- The Hero
- Heroic Mime: The Hero never speaks save to answer a yes/no question.
- I Have Many Names: In the end, he'll be Roto, Loto or Erdrick, depending on which game you choose.
- Jack of All Stats
- Magic Knight: It's possible, thanks to the game's job system, for anyone to be this, but only the Hero gains strong attacking stats and innate magic naturally.
- One Man Party: Only possible for The Hero.
- Playing with Fire: Every magic user but the Priest gets some of this.
- Retroactive Legacy
- Secret Test of Character: In the remake.
- Shock and Awe: The Zap series of spells is traditionally exclusive to the Hero only.
- Weapon of Choice:
- With This Herring: 300 gold pieces. On the GBC remake, the king gives you a small amount of gold and some basic equipment.
- You Killed My Father
The Soldier/Warrior
Soldiers are your obvious choice for defense. They'll quickly have more hit points than the Hero and will even get better armor.
Tropes associated with the Soldier/Warrior:
- Bare Your Midriff
- Battle Bikini: Female-only.
- The Lancer: Often considered this by fans.
- Mighty Glacier: As the game goes on, it's quite likely that your Soldier/Warrior will virtually always be the last to act. They are incredibly slow.
- Ms. Fanservice: Female-only.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Of Scandinavians.
- Real Men Wear Pink
- Stripperific: The female Soldier/Warrior, to the point where her swimsuit is less revealing.
- Weapon of Choice:
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Purple for the female Soldier/Warrior, blue for the male.
The Pilgrim/Priest/Cleric
Your designated healer. Unlike many games, healers in Dragon Quest can become decent attackers and can learn some wind-based magic and other spells.
Tropes associated with the Pilgrim/Priest:
- Blow You Away: Expel and its upgraded forms outright eject an enemy from the battlefield, which counts as them fleeing if they fail their resist.
- Bowdlerize: Not called a Priest or even a Cleric, but a Pilgrim in the NES version.
- The Chick
- Combat Medic: Having a healer also be a decent hand at combat was pretty unusual for JRPG's at the time. They're no Soldiers/Warriors, but they can wield decent weapons and do acceptable damage.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrifice.
- One-Hit Kill: Beat and Defeat.
- Razor Wind: The only direct-damage spell the Pilgrim/Priest/Cleric gets takes the form of a line of wind-based spells.
- Weapon of Choice:
- Blade on a Stick
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Not as much as the Hero or Soldier/Warrior though.
- Simple Staff/Magic Wand
- White Mage: Naturally, they specialize in healing.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The female Pilgrim/Priest/Cleric has long cyan hair.
The Wizard/Mage
Your designated combat mage. Very weak physically, but boast powerful magic. Always put in the back.
Tropes associated with the Wizard/Mage:
- An Ice Person: Along with their fire spells, Wizards/Mages also get access to the Icebolt line of spells.
- Black Mage: Their main specialty is attack spells.
- Cute Witch <=> Hot Witch: Depends on the art style. In official art, the latter applies, but the sprites ingame tends toward the former.
- Glass Cannon: The frailest class in the game, but as long as their MP holds out, they can lay waste to entire waves of enemies.
- Mana Drain: RobMagic.
- Odd Name Out: Sure, Fireball/Firebane/Firebolt and Blaze/Blazemore/Blazemost follow a pattern, but Bang/Boom/Explodet?
- Playing with Fire: Their starting spell is "Blaze", and the Blaze family and Fireball family spells form an important core to their spell lists.
- Robe and Wizard Hat: The male Wizard/Mage even looks like a dead ringer for the classic Mage stereotype in the original artwork.
- The Smart Guy
- Squishy Wizard
- Stuff Blowing Up: The Bang line of spells pounds the enemies with explosive force. Unlike Blaze, which is exclusively single target, or Fireball, which targets only a group of enemies and can thus be thrown off by funky enemy formations or heavily mixed groups, Bang will hit everything on the opposing side of the battlefield without exception.
- Weapon of Choice:
The Fighter/Martial Artist
The physical Glass Cannon. Doesn't use much equipment. In fact, doesn't really need equipment. A poor man's alternative to the Soldier/Warrior (though sacrificing nothing in sheer power), but if you prefer two physical and one magic, you will have a Fighter/Martial Artist.
Tropes associated with the Fighter/Martial Artist:
- Artifact of Doom: The most well-known cursed item, the Golden Claw, is his.
- Ascended Extra: The male Fighter/Martial Artist has made cameo appearances in later games.
- Badass Long Hair
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Fighters/Martial Artists deal their damage using their bare hands (or a few equippable claws), making them relatively cheap to equip.
- The Big Guy
- Curtains Match the Window
- Cute Bruiser: The female Fighter/Martial Artist.
- Fight in The Nude: He's actually just as effective without equipment as with. In fact, most weapons he can equip actually lower his attack power.
- Glass Cannon: They are far frailer than the Soldier/Warrior, with smaller HP pools and much more limited armor selection, though their sky-high Agility still makes them tougher than the Squishy Wizard.
- Lightning Bruiser: At high levels, he's likely to kill most enemies before they can even move.
- Mukokuseki: One of the game's few aversions.
- Odango: The female version.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Of Chinese People.
- Wolverine Claws: The only weapons worth equipping him with.
The Merchant/Dealer
The only one of the characters you need to have to complete the game, the Merchant is the Jack of All Stats besides your healers, only not magical.
Tropes associated with the Merchant/Dealer:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism
- Arab Oil Sheikh: The male Merchant looks vaguely Arab.
- Character Select Forcing: In order to progress, you MUST recruit a Merchant at some point.
- Jack of All Stats: Leaning toward Mighty Glacier stat-wise though.
- Master of None: Lacks the Soldier/Warrior's sky-high stats, but isn't quite as slow as one.
- New York City: He starts a town there.
- President Evil: He slowly becomes this.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Averted; he's just thrown in jail and eventually released, rather than being executed.
- Sixth Ranger: You'll need him for one scene, but you won't want to use your own character for it.
- Weapon of Choice:
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The female Merchant/Dealer usually has pink hair in fan works and some official art.
The Goof-off/Jester/Gadabout
What are these guys doing on the battlefield? The higher their level, the more they goof off when they're supposed to be fighting! And even when they do what they're supposed to, all their stats except luck are mediocre at best. Not the most reliable of companions... At level 20, however, they can become a Sage without needing the Book of Satori.
Tropes associated with the Goof-off/Jester/Gadabout:
- Joke Character: Not only do they have mediocre stats aside from Luck, but they have a tendency to ignore your commands to do random things in battle. Making maters worse, Luck's only effect in this game is to reduce the chance of being hit with Standard Status Effects by a mere tenth or fourth of a percent (depending on the status) per point.
- Lethal Joke Character: Their Whistle ability in the remakes is actually useful.
- Magikarp Power: Borderline worthless, but get them to where they can class change, and...
- Playboy Bunny: The female.
- Tagalong Kid
- Weapon of Choice:
The Sage
A mysterious and rare profession, Sages learn all the spells of both Priests and Mages. Nobody is capable of simply starting as one, however; it takes special training and the rare and highly-valued Book of Satori...
Tropes associated with the Sage:
- An Ice Person: The Sage has access to both Pilgrim/Priest/Cleric and Wizard/Mage spells, meaning they can use ice magic.
- Blow You Away: The Sage has access to both Pilgrim/Priest/Cleric and Wizard/Mage spells, meaning they can use wind magic.
- Color Coded for Your Convenience: Hair and outfit are blue.
- Curtains Match the Window
- Eleventh-Hour Ranger: You can't start with one, but most players certainly will finish with one.
- Jack of All Stats
- Magikarp Power: The other side of the Goof-offs.
- The Medic: Heals just as effectively as the Pilgrim/Priest/Cleric.
- Ms. Fanservice: The female Sage gets a lot of fanart.
- Odd Name Out: Bang/Boom/Explodet.
- Playing with Fire: The Sage has access to both Pilgrim/Priest/Cleric and Wizard/Mage spells, meaning they can use fire magic.
- Prestige Class
- The Red Mage: With none of the weaknesses of the archetype; learns all Pilgrim/Priest/Cleric and Wizard/Mage spells, and has stronger physical stats and an overall wider selection of equipment.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The Sage has access to both Pilgrim/Priest/Cleric and Wizard/Mage spells, meaning they can use explosive magic.
- Weapon of Choice:
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Both genders have light blue hair.
The Thief
A Jack of All Stats that only appears in the remakes. While the player cannot manually command them to steal, they have a chance of automatically swiping items from their defeated opponents... and the higher they level, the better their chances.
Tropes associated with the Thief:
- Darkskinned Blonde: The female Thief, at least.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: Finishes the trifecta.
- Fragile Speedster: Surprisingly averted. Since the game uses Agility to determine base defense, the Thief winds up with more defensive than the Hero, especially if they're female (female only equipment can be equipped by any class, making up for their relatively poor armor selection).
- Lightning Bruiser: In addition to being fast, Thief also has a pretty decent attack for being a class that can use Boomerangs and Whips, which can attack multiple enemies.
- Kleptomaniac Hero
- Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
- Weapon of Choice:
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
- White-Haired Pretty Girl
Friends and Allies
Ortega
The Hero's father. Fought a monster over a volcano and fell in.
Tropes associated with Ortega:
- The Ace: Well regarded by all who knew him.
- Back From the Dead: A possible reward from the bonus boss in the remakes.
- Disappeared Dad: Departed shortly after the Hero's birth to save the world from Baramos.
- Heroic Sacrifice
- No One Could Have Survived That
- You All Look Familiar: The original Famicom release didn't bother to give him a unique sprite. This if fixed in every other release, including the NES one.
The Hero's Mother
Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Has no canon name.
Tropes associated with The Hero's mother:
- Good Morning, Crono: Wakes up the Hero on their sixteenth birthday to go meet the king and take up Ortega's quest.
Divinegon
A god who grants you wishes if you defeat him.
Tropes associated with the Divinegon:
- Bonus Boss: The boss of the post-game dungeon. Good luck beating him.
- Fluffy Cloud Heaven
- The Gods Must Be Lazy: Really, you're not going to help us defeat Zoma? At all?
- Olympus Mons
Adversaries
Kandar
A thief whom the hero crosses paths with several times. A vicious, axe-wielding brute.
Tropes associated with Kandar:
- Four Is Death: He shows up with three henchmen the first time.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: A recurring boss that shows up twice to get in your way.
- Heel Face Turn: Albeit not to your party. He just gives up the life of crime after you kick his ass twice, and becomes a law-abiding civilian.
Orochi
A monster on the island of Zipangu who requires sacrifices.
Tropes associated with Orochi:
- Animeland
- Fake King
- Human Sacrifice: True to legend, young maidens from Zipangu are regularly offered to Orochi as a sacrifice to spare the village from the monster's wrath.
- Orochi: Orochi, and by extension the Zipangu portion of the main quest, is a loose retelling of the original myth, with the Hero's party taking the place of Susanoo.
Boss Troll
A vicious beast who plagues the realm of Samanao by pretending to be the king.
Tropes associated with Boss Troll:
- Fake King
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: For a guy who just woke up, he's pretty much alert throughout the fight.
Baramos
Thy enemy shall be the archfiend Baramos.
Tropes associated with Baramos:
- Darkest Africa: His castle is in Central Africa.
- Disc One Final Boss
- The Dragon
- Orcus on His Throne: For being the primary threat to the world, he doesn't seem to do much before you arrive at his castle.
King Hydra
A palette swap of Orochi. Kills The Hero's father.
Tropes associated with King Hydra:
BaraBomus
An evil wizard working for Zoma.
Tropes associated with BaraBomus:
- Evil Genius
- In My Language, That Sounds Like...: Bara is Japanese gay pornography.
BaraGonus
A skeletal dragon also associated with Zoma.
Tropes associated with BaraGonus:
- The Dark Chick: Has zero for several stats.
- In My Language, That Sounds Like...: Bara again, but with two syllables that sound like "gonads".
Zoma
The real cause of all this mess.
Tropes associated with Zoma:
- An Ice Person: Future games that feature him as a Bonus Boss (the Monsters series, Dragon Quest IX) portray him as a master of ice magic.
- Big Bad: He's the real villain behind Baramos.
- Book Ends: Ending the Roto saga where it began.
- Four Is Death: Four bosses in Charlock Castle.
- Genre Savvy: Hides the Light Orb and destroys the Sword of Kings.
- Orcus on His Throne: He doesn't show up until you've beaten Baramos.
- Revive Kills Zombie: Once you use the Light Orb on him.
- Weaksauce Weakness