Dragon Quest IV/Characters

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The cast of Dragon Quest IV. Alternate names for characters are in parentheses

The Chosen Team

• Badass Crew:
  • Determinator They all have their reasons to walk through hell (literally, at the end) to accomplish their mission.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: They all do by the end of the game.
• Fire-Forged Friends: In one way or another, they all have a stake in the larger plot. Ragnar wants to find the mastermind behind the villain of his chapter, Alena and her retainers are hunting down the the same guy, Taloon is looking for the weapon that the Hero will need, and Maya and Meena are looking for the same higher power Ragnar is. As for the Hero (who had their village torched and their adoptive parents and village murdered), all of the above are aware of his/her existence to some greater or lesser extent, and they band together to accomplish all their above goals.
• Multinational Team: One Scottish guy (Ragnar), one Irishman (Taloon), three Russians (Alena, Kiryl, Borya), two dark skinned French gypsies with some Indian ancestry (Maya and Meena), and your Hero, whose nationality equivalent is a bit unclear.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: And how. If it wasn't for the fact they all oppose the same evil and are hunting the same villains, it would seem very odd that a soldier, a priest, a princess, a magic tutor, a merchant, two gypsy entertainers, and some young boy/girl are all traveling together.
  • Although to be fair, it is an RPG.

Chapter One: Ragnar McRyan and the Case of the Missing Children

Ragnar McRyan, Royal Knight (Ryan)

A royal knight who has served faithfully under the king of Burland for several years. Along with the rest of the knights, he is dispatched to investigate the mysterious disappearances of several children from Strathbaile/Izmit.

• Badass:
  • Badass Moustache: He has a nice-looking blue mustache to go along with his pink armor.
  • Badass Normal: Unlike most other playable characters, he gains no magical abilities.
• Heroes Prefer Swords
• Mighty Glacier/Stone Wall
• Perpetual Frowner: A comment he makes about his face if you look in a mirror, lamenting it's why he probably doesn't get the attention of the ladies.
• Odd Friendship: Develops one with Healie.
• Only One Name: In the Japanese version and the NES version's English localization, this trope applied to him, but no longer does in the DS remake's English localization, where he was given a last name.
• Real Men Wear Pink: And in his case, it does jack shit to diminish his Bad Ass credentials.
• Violent Glaswegian: Given Burland is a blatant expy of Scotland in the remake, he definitely is in battle. Outside of it, he's a fairly nice guy.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: It just goes so well with pink armor...

Healie (Hoimin)

A helpful healslime who hopes that one day he might become human. Takes a real shine to Ragnar and offers to help him out. Though Ragnar wasn't the first soldier he made that offer to.

• Badass Adorable
• Guest Star Party Member
• Humanity Ensues: He wishes to become human. When you see him again later in the game, his wish is seen to have been granted.
• Mascot Mook
• The Medic: He provides healing abilities for Ragnar, who has no magical abilities of his own.
• Odd Friendship
• Pinocchio Syndrome: He succeeds and becomes human eventually.
• Verbal Tic: All Slimes have a slight slur to their voices, crossed with a bit of Smurfing given how many words in their sentences tend to be slime related puns.

Chapter Two: Alena and the Journey to the Tourney

Tsarevna Alena

The Tsarevna of Zamoksva/Santeem. Her father disapproves of her Tomboyish ways, and would much prefer she become a prim and proper lady. But Alena's more than ready to start adventuring, whether her father approves or not—nothing's going to stand in her way, not even the castle walls--!

• Action Girl
• Badass:
  • Badass Adorable
  • Badass Normal: According to Borya, she's completely incapable of using magic.
  • Badass Princess
• Bare-Fisted Monk: She's one of the game's physically oriented fighters, along with Ragnar.
• Cute Bruiser
• Everything's Better with Princesses: That's Tsarevna Alena to you!
• Fiery Redhead
• Glass Cannon: Her damage potential is very high, but her HP only middling, with an equipment selection that often leaves her more vulnerable than your medics. For Alena, the best defense is a good offense—she's not designed to soak up hits.
  • Lightning Bruiser: In the post game, this changes a little. She's a little less glassy without losing any of the cannon. Her Strength hits the game's cap about 2/3 of the way to level 99, and she finishes with maxed out Strength, Agility and Luck. Her Resilience stat is best in the game, but her total defense still suffers from a lack of decent armor and shields.
• Hot Amazon
• Inevitable Tournament: She participates in the tournament in Endor at the end of her chapter.
• In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You: Invoked at one point in her chapter, where someone gets kidnapped and she (a princess) rescues them.
• Little Miss Badass: She escapes from the castle by kicking a hole in the wall of her third-story room and jumping out. It's also stated that this isn't the first time she's done it.
• Nice Hat: She wears a pointy blue hat.
• Oblivious to Love: Kiryl's/Cristo's hopelessly in love with her, yet she doesn't seem to notice.
  • On the other hand, she may be waiting for him to get his act together and speak up first.
• Plucky Girl
• Rebellious Princess: The Ur Example for Dragon Quest.
• Redheaded Hero
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: In addition to being royalty, she's the main character of Chapter Two.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Alena's dad seems to have this attitude at the start of her chapter. Of course, Alena's the strongest physical fighter in the game, so...
• Tomboy: Repeatedly called this, perhaps because it flows well with Tsarevna.
• Tomboy Princess
• "Well Done, Daughter" Girl: She states in the party talk that she wishes her father respected her fighting ability and would praise her a little. She gets her moment after curing her father of a curse.
• You Go, Girl!

Borya (Brey)

The long-suffering Court Magician of Zamoksva/Santeem. Originally he was supposed to serve as Alena's tutor, only to find she was completely hopeless with magic. This may be just as well, however; they have enough trouble keeping her from getting into too much trouble as it is...!

• An Ice Person
• Badass:
  • Badass Grandpa: He's the oldest of the main party members on top of being good with magic.
  • Badass Long Robe
• Cool Old Guy
• Glass Cannon
• Squishy Wizard
• Team Dad: More towards Alena than Kiryl, often wishing he could do more to get Alena to act like a lady.

Kiryl (Clift/Cristo)

A childhood friend of Alena's who's currently training to become a Priest. Despite her incredible strength, he can't help worrying himself sick over her safety, and just has to come along...

• Artificial Stupidity: Probably the game's most infamous example, your Combat Medic who loves nothing more than to spam his insta-death spells rather than, say, heal your Mighty Glacier who's standing at 3 HP. Including against bosses! The DS version thankfully added a Manual command.
  • This is even lampshaded in Monster Battle Road Victory.
• Badass Preacher: While he's primarily a healer, his physical attacks are better than those of Borya, who attacks via magic.
• Cannot Spit It Out
• Childhood Friend Romance: It's painfully clear he has a huge crush on Alena... and just as painfully obvious that she doesn't have a clue.
• Combat Medic: He's pretty good with weapons in addition to being able to heal.
• Covert Pervert: In the DS remake, having him look into the mirror can result in him making a rather questionable comment. It's not clear whether it's meant to be suggestive or just a very unfortunate turn of phrase, but either way it's pretty funny.
• Dude in Distress: When you meet Alena's party in Chapter Five, he's desperately ill and Alena is out searching for a cure.
• Nice Hat: Comes with being a priest.
• Perpetual Frowner
• Useless Useful Spell: His Thwack spells fall under this.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Chapter Three: Torneko and the Extravagant Evacuation

Torneko Taloon

A cheerful merchant who dreams of owning his own store, rather than working under his ill-tempered boss. After all, how can he support his loving wife and son on minimum wage? Thus, he sets out in search of the perfect place to settle down, hoping to find fortune and a little fame along the way.

• Badass:
  • Badass Moustache: He has a prominent blue mustache.
  • Badass Normal: Like Ragnar and Alena in the preceding chapters, he has no magical abilities.
• Big Fun: He certainly is a little rotund, but he's a pretty cheerful guy by all accounts.
• Determinator: Lampshaded. He's always following a dream, and his zeal is often remarked on.
• Fairy Battle: During Torneko Taloon's chapter, he sometimes runs into fellow traveling merchants.
• Fan Disservice: Dammit Taloon, keep your cross-dressing fetish to yourself please, especially when evaluating my equipment, will you?
  • He even enters Blatant Lies territory if you have him appraise the Dancer's Clothes, during which description he says he's not a crossdresser. At about the same time, every piece of horse manure you can find in the game just smelled a little worse.
• Fighting Irish: He's from an area that is heavily accented with Irish roots in the remake, and is given this accent when voiced in second Heroes title.
• Happily Married: His wife Tessie/Neta seems to be perfectly happy with him (and apparently is attracted to his drive to follow his dreams instead of his looks), and his comments about her lunches using the appraise command indicate he's just as satisfied.
• Improbable Weapon User: Astraea's Abacus/Abacus of Virtue. The Heroes's games do reveal it looks like a mace-like staff with an abacus on the end, so it's less ridiculous in context.
• Intrepid Merchant: After working for a weapon shop, he intends to start a shop of his own and goes on a journey to do so in Chapter Three.
• Joke Character: Once you have the full party, he becomes more useful for what he can do outside your party (appraisal and treasure finding) rather than in combat. In Chapter Five, he begins doing random goofing-off much like the Jesters of Dragon Quest III. Unlike the Jesters, however, Torneko's goofing-off nearly always results in something beneficial. However, he may occasionally stare off into space or scare off metal slime types. On the other hand...
• Lethal Joke Character: Some of Torneko's "goofing-off" actions include stealing items from the enemy (being the only way in the game to do so), performing a leg sweep to nullify some of the enemy's turns, calling in an army of fellow merchants he's befriended in his travels (who proceed to beat up on the enemy for a few rounds), covering an enemy's mouth to prevent spellcasting, and tripping (yes, tripping; his weapon somehow lands a critical hit on the enemy in the process). The only thing keeping this power in check is that, again, these goof-offs are completely random.
• Only One Name: Used for his name in the Japanese version (just Torneko) and the NES version's localization (just Taloon), but this trope no longer applies to him in the DS remake, in which he's referred to as Torneko Taloon.
• Spoony Bard: Only starts growing into this during Chapter Five: during his chapter, he's a serviceable fighter. Especially if you pick up the Disc One Nuke. His random battle moves in Chapter Five are sometimes a waste of time, and sometimes bizarrely effective (such as when he summons a random army of merchants who swarm the enemy for substantial damage each turn, for 2-4 turns), but the fact that he's even more random than other AI-controlled party members makes him an unreliable and risky choice.
  • The remake tends to have his more useful random acts edge out the less useful ones.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: An NPC in his hometown considers him to be ugly and wonders how he found a good-looking wife.
  • The remake actually gives us more context: she admires his dreams and how hardworking he is.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: He has blue hair, including a blue mustache.

Laurel (Laurence/Laurent)

A wandering poet who dabbles in magic and is more than willing to lend his spells to anyone willing to pay the price. Just 600 gold nets you four days of traveling with your own personal minstrel!

• Guest Star Party Member
• Shout-Out: To Laurel and Hardy combined with Theme Naming (see below).
• Spoony Bard: He might make a decent healer, if he'd just stop spamming Sizz and Slumber until his MP runs dry...

Hardie (Scott/Strom)

A hired muscle who's currently between jobs. 400 gold equals five days of his services. Not a bad trade, if you need a good lance on your side...

• Boisterous Bruiser
• Guest Star Party Member
• Shout-Out: To Laurel and Hardy combined with Theme Naming (see above).

=Mahabala/Edgar

• Dub Name Change: The original translation was prior to the mass introduction of the heavy nationalization themes of the various characters, so his name is pretty generic in the original NES version. With Meena and Maya getting their national origins as French speaking Indian Gypsy spelled out more in the remakes, he was renamed appropriately.
• Posthumous Character: But had a massive role on the whole plot.The Secret of Evolution he discovered got him murdered by his traitorous assistant, and it eventually wound up in the hands of the Final Boss and True Final Boss.

Meena (Minea/Nara)

A composed, meticulous Fortune Teller who has been searching for Balzack, the man who betrayed and murdered her father Mahabala/Edgar. After years of traveling under the radar, she believes it's time for them to make their move...

• Action Girl
• Badass:
  • Badass Long Hair
• Blow You Away
• Dark-Skinned Redhead Violethead
• Fortune Teller: She reads people's fortunes and introduces herself by doing so before she joins in Chapter Five.
• Hot Gypsy Woman: Not nearly as much as her sister though.
• Improbable Weapon User: Her Silver Tarot Deck qualifies.
• Lady of War: She is considerably more graceful and ladylike than both her sister and Alena.
• The Medic: She acts as the healer in Chapter Four. Plus, she joins party before Kiryl in Chapter Five.
• Perpetual Frowner: Her face portrait, though given the kinda crap she has to put up with keeping Maya from being irresponsible, justified.
• Roma: The remake makes her Gypsy with a French accent of Indian descent.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Far more serious and composed than her flighty sister.
• Squishy Wizard: Averted in the remakes. While she doesn't have the robustness of, say, the female Hero or Torneko, she's still able to take a few hits, and has a wide selection of weapons and armor to choose from, to the point that she's about as much of a Magic Knight as the Hero/ine; give her the full set of Metal Babble/Liquid Metal gear, and she's a lean, mean, monster-mashing machine.
• The Stoic
• Tarot Motifs: Each card in her Silver Tarot Deck has a different effect. This was actually rebalanced in the DS version to include many more positive effects.
• You Killed My Father: She and her sister are attempting to get vengeance for him.

Maya (Manya/Mara)

Meena's exuberant and far-flashier twin sister, Maya has earned quite a reputation and a considerable fan-following as a Belly Dancer. However, she's also an incredibly talented spellcaster who's all about Stuff Blowing Up. Like Meena, she wants revenge on her father's murderer; she just tends to keep a brighter attitude about everything to offset her sister's serious nature.

• Action Girl
• Badass:
  • Badass Long Hair
• Bag of Spilling: Hilariously invoked at the start of Chapter Five by her. Even if you ended Chapter Four with tons of money, they will have none because, apparently, Maya goes through money like water.
• Bare Your Midriff: Since she wears a bikini.
• Battle Bikini: For some strange reason, she fights in her dancer outfit.
• Belly Dancer: Her job is to dance professionally, this being her speciality.
• Black Magician Girl: She uses offensive magic, in contrast to how Meena primarily uses healing magic.
• Dark-Skinned Redhead Violethead
• Glass Cannon: Were you expecting less from the way she dresses?
• Hot Gypsy Woman: She's rather attractive.
• Kill It with Fire: She is hot, after all...
• Mana Drain
• Ms. Fanservice: One could compare her to Jessica Albert.
  • Come Dragon Quest Heroes, they meet and do EXACTLY THIS.
• Ms. Vice Girl: Hers is gambling, which causes her sister understandable frustration in Chapter 5, since she gambled away ALL THEIR MONEY.
• Roma: The remake makes her Gypsy with a French accent of Indian descent.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Cheerful and far more carefree than her straight-laced sister.
• Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer: Between the end of Chapter Four and Solo/Sofia meeting her in Chapter Five.
• Stripperiffic: She doesn't wear much, being a dancer and all.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Her Puff! spell, which lets her transform into a fire-breathing dragon.
• You Killed My Father: She and her sister are attempting to get vengeance for him.

Oojam (Orin)

An apprentice alchemist who used to work with the twins' father. Like Meena and Maya, he's set out in search of revenge, hoping to track down his master's killer and bring him to justice.

• Guest Star Party Member: He joins Meena and Maya's party in Chapter Four, with this being the only time he's in the party.
• Heroic Sacrifice: After the revenge attempt goes awry, he fights off the guards so Meena and Maya can escape. He gets better.
• Mighty Glacier
• Punny Name: Add a "T" to the front of his name to get the joke.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Adds some muscle to the twins' team.

Chapter Five: The Chosen

Solo/Sofia

The Chosen One whom the forces of evil are currently scouring the world for, in hopes of putting a premature end to that pesky prophecy. Until the day destiny comes a-calling, however, they're enjoying a peaceful, easygoing life, playing with their best friend Elisa/Celia and practicing their swordsmanship...

• Action Girl: If female.
• Badass
• Battle Bikini: Solo wears long sleeves and pants, while Sofia looks like she's wearing a swimsuit under a off-the-shoulder short tank, one Detached Sleeves, and a Detached Pants Legs/Tights... thing.
  • Of course, one reason to pick Sofia over Solo is that she can equip the female-only gear... including a bikini, among other things.
• Blue Eyes
• The Call Knows Where You Live
• The Chosen One: They're the only characters capable of equipping the Zenithian equipment, which is exclusive to legendary heroes in the Zenithia trilogy.
• Combat Medic: Effectively starts out as this, gradually growing into a Magic Knight.
• Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday
• Hello, Insert Name Here: You begin the game by naming them.
• Heroic Mime: They're completely silent, unlike the other characters in the game.
• Hot Chick with a Sword: If female.
• Magic Knight: However, it takes a few levels to get them to this point.
• Most Common Superpower: Averted for the heroine, if the catty comments of a woman in Bath are to be trusted.
• Purely Aesthetic Gender: Averted. The dialogue changes notably depending on your gender and certain equipment options become available or unavailable.
• Schrödinger's Player Character
• Shock and Awe
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Both have green hair. Males just have a long, scruffy 'do, while girls have a full-out mane.

Elisa (Cynthia/Celia)

Solo/Sofia's best friend, who just happens to be a magically talented elf. Lighthearted and mischievous, she loves playing pranks on the whole village, and likes jerking the hero's chain.

• Heroic Sacrifice: Knowing the monsters won't leave until they've slain the hero, she morphs into an exact lookalike and runs out to face them... She gets better in the ending. Without explanation.
  • Until the DS remake, where Rose is revived in the same way Elisa was, implying that your friends went and did the Bonus Dungeon to get the MacGuffin to bring her back to life. Aww...
• Rose-Haired Girl
• Squishy Wizard
• Tragic Keepsake: Her feather cap, which you find by searching where she always lay in the flower field...
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: With her Morph spell.

Hank Hoffman, Jr. (Hoffman/Hector)

The son of an innkeeper, Hoffman is sharp-tongued and short-tempered at first, refusing to help anyone out. Poor guy has some serious trust issues, though there's a pretty good reason for that... Perhaps he just needs a little help, and a little more information about what exactly happened to him—surely then he'd be willing to return the favor, right?

• American Accents: Cowpoke or Texas Drawl: Hoffman speaks this way in the DS version.
• Et Tu, Brute?: His best friend turned on him while searching Casabranca/Branca Cave. At least, that's what it seemed like at the time...
• Guest Star Party Member
• Jack of All Stats: Only sans any magical ability.

Tom Foolery (Panon)

A wandering entertainer reputed to be one of the best comedians in the world. He may not be strong or swift or much of a spellcaster, but at least he's funny, right...? ...Right?

• Guest Star Party Member
• Joke Character: Could be a Lethal Joke Character in the original, given how useful his Sword of Lethargy/Dream Blade was against Keeleon/Marquis de Leon.
• Only Sane Man: In order to progress, you need to make a king laugh. Hence you hiring Tom. Tom tells the King that honestly, the world is too screwed up right now for the heroes to be held up to make a joke, and they can laugh once the world is safe.
• Punny Name: In the Nintendo DS version.
• Spoony Bard

Orifiela (Lucia)

A beautiful woman stranded far from home, requiring a special escort back to her faraway country. An accomplished healer, she also knows how to sap her enemies' magical strength and claim it as her own, making her a fantastic backup... though her physical strength is sadly lacking. Oh, and she also happens to be a Zenithian. And heavily implied to be the Hero's mother, though neither of them actually figures it out.

• Guest Star Party Member
• Mana Drain
• The Medic
• Squishy Wizard
• Winged Humanoid
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: In the DS version.

Sparkie (Doran)

A cutesy little dragonnot that hits insanely hard... when he bothers to attack.

• Breath Weapon: The main reason to bring him along. It makes him good at Metal Slime hunting.
• Guest Star Party Member
• Mighty Glacier: Incredibly strong, with some Stone Wall thrown in for spice, but slooow.
• Our Dragons Are Different: He's a Dragonnot. Subverted in the DS Version, when he's called a, um, dragon.
• Team Pet

Other Important Characters

Psaro the Manslayer (Necrosaro)

A powerful swordsman who also happens to be a White-Haired Pretty Boy.

• Badass
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Using the Secret of Evolution causes him to forget who he once was.
• Death Seeker: After losing Rose.
• Freak-Out: After Rose's death.
• Heel Face Turn: But only in the DS/PS1 version's sixth chapter.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: He believes this.
• Karma Houdini: He was never actually sorry for trying to killing off humans, even in the DS version's sixth chapter. He just directs his hate at the villain instead, and gets congratulated. Then again, he was clearly not in his right state of mind during his time as a villain...
  • More so, his Heel Face Turn is only a result of your actions. You kind of have to go out of your way to get the Plot Coupons required for it. If you think he deserves death, it's entirely within your power to kill him. ...but you can't bring Rose back, because she desperately wants him to live, and you can't go back on your decision once you've made it.
• Love Redeems
• Marathon Boss: Seven forms.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge
• Unwitting Pawn: Plays right into the real Big Bad's hands.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• White-Haired Pretty Boy
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He could be considered Corvus's predecessor in that aspect.

Rose (Rosa)

A beautiful girl in a tower who can see that the world's well on its way to ruin... thanks to the efforts of her misguided lover Psaro.

• Body to Jewel: Her tears turn to rubies, though they crumble away when touched.
• Damsel in Distress
• Died in Your Arms Tonight
• Girl in the Tower
• Last Request: Which tragically goes ignored.
• Morality Chain: Though she has trouble actually functioning as one, since Psaro tends to ignore her protests about his Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Still doesn't help when you help shatter her. Go, team. She gets better at it after she is brought Back from the Dead though.
• Rescue Romance: Psaro introduced himself to her by vaporizing a human thug threatening her.
• Rose-Haired Girl

Aamon (Radimvice)

Psaro's right hand man... demon... thing. Turns out he's more important to the plot than he seems, especially in the DS version.

• Big Bad: While it was subtly implied in the original, the remake makes it perfectly clear that he was the one who was really calling the shots.
• The Dragon: Or is he?
• The Man Behind the Man: Every villainous action in the plot, from Balzack's rise to power, to the sacking of Alena's kingdom, to Psaro's Start of Darkness, are all the result of his scheming.
• Manipulative Bastard: He's the one responsible for Psaro becoming a human hating Well-Intentioned Extremist, and later on a full blown Omnicidal Maniac.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Amon or Aamon?
• Staying Alive: It's never explained how he's still alive in the bonus chapter when you clearly killed him earlier.
• True Final Boss: The remakes feature him as the final boss of the added sixth chapter.
• Unexplained Recovery: The sixth chapter in the DS and PS1 versions have him and Psaro recover from their defeat without any explanation.

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