Final Fantasy V/Characters

Our Heroes

Bartz Klauser

Bartz is a wanderer from the town of Lix, accompanied by his chocobo Boko. His mother Stella died when he was a child, and his father Dorgann died three years before the series. He has a fear of heights gained from falling from a rooftop, staying there all night. He was chosen by the Wind Crystal, symbolizing passion. It turns out that his father Dorgann was one of the Warriors of Dawn, further linking his destiny to saving the world. Bartz also appears as a playable character in Dissidia Final Fantasy and is set to appear in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.

A Boy and his Chocobo: Boko.
Big Brother Instinct: Towards Krile when she joins the party after Galuf's death.
Bishonen: Amano's art shows him as this, and so does his 3D model in Dissidia
Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: With Ghido.
Cool Chocobo: Boko, again.
Drives Like Crazy: Does this late into the game. He does have somewhat of an understandable excuse for doing so, however: See Heroic BSOD.
The Hero
Heroes Prefer Swords: Played with. Given the mechanics of the Job System, Bartz doesn't need to use swords, but he does start out with a Broadsword equipped. And he uses the Brave Blade in Dissidia.
Heroic BSOD: When Exdeath pulls his hometown into the Void. Bartz nearly destroys the airship in rage-filled agony before Faris and Lenna snap him out of it.
Idiot Hero: Every so often. It's exaggerated in Dissidia.
Mighty Glacier
Nice Guy: Despite his reluctance to get involved with the quest, he's never anything but a man who does the right thing, and he is amazingly easygoing.
Parrot Exposition: Again, with Ghido.

Ghido: [You'll need] the twelve legendary weapons used to defeat the warlock Enuo a thousand years ago.
Bartz: The twelve legendary weapons?
Ghido: Sometimes I wonder if you say things like that to spite me... Yes, the twelve legendary weapons. They are weapons. They are legendary. There are even twelve of them.

Parental Abandonment: His mother died when he was a child; his dad when he was in his late teens.
Refusal of the Call: He declines Lenna when she asks if he wants to go with her on their quest. Boko makes him reconsider that decision about ten seconds later.
Ridiculously Average Guy: Possibly the most normal-looking major character in the entire series. And this is Final Fantasy we're talking about here...
Royals Who Actually Do Something: The only one who isn't. On the other hand his father was royalty...
Secret Legacy: Everyone else in the party are Royals Who Actually Do Something except Bartz, the hobo on a chocobo. Until he finds out that his father fought Exdeath thirty years ago.
Unfortunate Names: Called "Butz" in non-English versions, which makes this one of the few name translations across all media that generally isn't disputed.
- Clean Dub Name
Walking the Earth: Before the game. He's pretty content with it and goes back to doing so at the end.
Why Did It Have To Be Heights?: Bartz has suffered from acrophobia ever since a childhood incident in his home town where, in a game of hide-and-seek, he somehow managed to get stuck on the roof of a house. Not that this ever seems to stop him from climbing mountains, ascending towers, flying airships... though it compromised with his first time riding a Wind Drake. He hesitates long enough for Galuf to be ticked, and proceeds to throw the poor boy into Hiryu's back.

Lenna Charlotte Tycoon

Princess and heir to the throne of Tycoon, Lenna is a caring young woman, to the point of putting the life of others before hers. This made the Water Crystal choose her, as its essence was that of devotion.

Action Girl: Not as much as Faris but is still quite determined to fight and protect the world.
Badass Princess
The Chick: Well-raised, well-spoken, and full of kindness.
Cute Bruiser: Hard hitting jobs like monk and knight turn her into this.
Demonic Possession - To put it simply, Exdeath arranged for her to be possessed by a demon after sucking Tycoon in the void and shortly before her wyvern helped her escape.
Friend to All Living Things: Oh so much. She'll put her life on the line to save Wind drakes, and that's just a part of it.
Green Eyes: Ingame sprite only. They're not a personality indicator, rather they are a visual clue to her and Faris' relation.
Hair of Gold: In her artwork where she is also an example of a Woman in White.
Heroic BSOD: A small one after her father's death.
Lady of War: Depicted with a sword in Amano art as well as the PSX's FMV stills and does not hesitate to take up arms against the forces destroying the crystals. Hard-hitting jobs like Knight and Monk turn her into this as well.
Leitmotif: Lenna's Theme. She's the only one besides Exdeath to have one named after her.
Leotard of Power: Her in-game sprite.
Naive Newcomer: Her idea to request pirates for a ride. Not that Galuf's brilliant plan worked any better.
The Girly Girl to Faris.
Princess Classic
Rebellious Princess: She disobeys her father right at the beginning of the game.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Like most of the party.
Rose-Haired Girl: Only in the in-game sprites (Her Amano art has her as a blonde). However, the pink hair is far more favored by fan artists.
Ship Tease: Her initial dialogue with Bartz (especially the PSX translation) and the Amano art of them embracing in moonlight. Doesn't really happen in-game.
Silk Hiding Steel: She may be a Lady of War but she's also so kind and sweet and well-spoken and princessy.
Spell My Name with an "S": Initially translated as "Reina".
Squishy Wizard

Galuf Halm Baldesion

Galuf is an amnesiac old man, who was found near a meteor. It seems that his mission is protecting the crystals, and he takes along Lenna (and eventually Bartz) along for the ride. The Earth Crystal chooses him, symbolizing hope. It is eventually revealed that Galuf is one of the Warriors of Dawn and the king of Bal, who fought alongside Bartz's father Dorgann thirty years prior to the series. He later dies while protecting the party from Exdeath in the Guardian Tree.

Authority Equals Asskicking: As the king of Bal.
Badass Grandpa: Damn right he is. He is even able to fight at 0 HP.
The Big Guy, with a hint of The Lancer: He's only 5'5", but his personality sure is big.
Berserk Button + Papa Wolf: You don't mess with his True Companions or attack his granddaughter in front of him unless you have a legitimate death wish.
Cool Old Guy
Deader Than Dead
Determinator: He can fight at 0 HP. It's to the point that Exdeath actually begins to freak out over it.
Easy Amnesia: Initially, he can't remember anything save his name, because he hit his head when landing his meteor in the beginning of the game. He tries to use it to get off blame when his "steal Faris' ship" plan goes south.

Galuf:...Ohh, my aching head! I can't remember a thing!
Bartz: And your amnesia oh-so-conveniently returns.

Eccentric Mentor
Grandpa, What Massive Hotness You Have: He pulls off a Walking Shirtless Scene fairly well for someone his age in his Monk sprite.
- And his Dancer costume is positively Stripperiffic.
Heroic Sacrifice
- Gameplay and Story Integration: The party tries to use all their healing abilities, but they don't work because he fought at 0 HP.
Large Ham: Especially when he gets together with his Dawn Warrior pals.
Let's Get Dangerous: Galuf is an irreverent, smart-mouthed, amnesiac old coot. Expect that to change the second the party's life is in his hands or Exdeath arrives.
Modest Royalty: Later revealed to be a king who insists on not being addressed royally.
Normally I Would Be Dead Now: Unfortunately, he dies afterwards.
Old Soldier: Acts like this. Especially his last living words. They're not a heartfelt farewell, but telling his friends to end Exdeath once and for all. (He has kinder words for Krile afterwards.)
The Power of Love: Implied to be what spurs him on in his Heroic Sacrifice.
The Obi-Wan: After his memory is restored.
Pungeon Master

Galuf:...Don't push it, kid. Here in Bal, bad jokes like that will get you PUNished...

Spirit Advisor: Towards Krile.
Stone Wall: Before getting job-classed up.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Faris.
What You Are in the Dark: Near the beginning of the game, the Siren offers him the chance to flee if he lets her devour everyone else's souls. It's really not much of a question to him.
When I Was Your Age: When confronting the Desert of Shifting Sands.

"We crossed burning sand every day and liked it!"

Faris Scherwiz

Faris is the leader of a band of pirates, who catches the party trying to steal their ship. Faris eventually lets the party use their ship, which can move without wind due to Faris' sea creature friend, Syldra, moving it. Faris is chosen by the Fire Crystal, symbolizing courage. It is revealed quickly that Faris is in fact a girl, and Lenna's long lost sister Sarisa. She will be appearing in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a playable sub-character.

A Pirate And Her Sea Creature Friend
Action Girl: Oh yes.
Anti-Hero: Initially Type IV; she intends to hold Lenna for ransom early on, and only joins the quest to find out about her past, not because she cares about the crystals or worldwide devastation. This changes, and by the end of the game she's Type II.
Badass Longcoat: In her official artwork.
Badass Princess
Bifauxnen
Big Sister Instinct: Towards Lenna, even before Faris came to terms with their relation.
Cannot Spit It Out: She refuses to admit that she and Lenna are sisters.
Character Development: Starts off as a pirate captain whose main interest is in ransoming Lenna back to Tycoon. By the end of the game, she declares that she won't stand by as more lives are lost to Exdeath.
Green Eyes: For her ingame sprite. They're the same color as Lenna's. Her artwork gives her Brown Eyes instead.
Hair of Gold: In her artwork, combined with a Tomboyish Ponytail.
Informed Attractiveness When Faris, or rather, Sarisa is in her princess attire, all the characters in the throne room during the waltz talk about how beautiful she is. additionally, during the reveal of her gender, Galuf and Bartz go ga-ga over her. There isn't any real way to tell, since she's a 16-bit sprite after all.
Jack of All Stats: Bartz and Galuf have slightly (it won't mean anything after the very early game for the most part) higher physical attack and constitution, Lenna has slightly (though the agility boost will at least decide what order characters with the same set up move in here) higher magic and agility, Faris has the best of both.
The Lancer: Somewhat. She's more on the ball than Bartz is, in general.
Luke, I Am Your Father: Faris is Lenna's sister.
Pirate Girl
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Averted. Her first reaction to finding out she has a princess aboard is to hold her for ransom.
- Played straight by the rest of her crew, though; the moment they reach the nearest town, they rush to the pub and just start drinking.
Raised By Pirates
Rebellious Princess
Royals Who Actually Do Something
She Cleans Up Nicely: Bartz becomes even more smitten with her when she's dressed up for a ball. Seems to apply when she's asleep, too.
Sweet Polly Oliver: Not so much on the sweet, but she fits.
- Sweet on Polly Oliver: There's an optional scene before her outing where Bartz and Galuf fawn over "his" looks.
  - Also, if you talk to one of "his" crew at the start of the game in the Tule pub, he will say "Captain... so dreamy..."
Talk Like a Pirate: It's done horribly in the PSX version, with nearly every line beginning with "D'garr!" The GBA simply (and less annoyingly) makes her talk like a thug with very old slurs.
Tall Purple And Bishoujo
The Tomboy to Lenna
You Gotta Have Purple Hair: Like Lenna, the Amano art has her as a blonde.
Unfortunate Names: The PSX release translated her real name as "Salsa."

Krile Mayer Baldesion

Krile is the granddaughter of Galuf, and the princess of Bal Castle. A bright and optimistic girl, Krile is an extremely knowledgeable girl and helps the others in their quest to defeat Exdeath and save the worlds. When Galuf performs his Heroic Sacrifice, he gives his powers to Krile and she takes his place.

Action Girl
Aside Glance: Constantly. All of her battle sprites have her looking straight out at the audience instead of at the monsters like the rest of the party.
- It should be noted that this was how younger characters' battle sprites were rendered back then; the Onion Knights and Rydia, Palom, and Porom did this too.
Badass Adorable
Badass Princess
Big Damn Heroes: The first time the party meets her is when she busts into the Ronka Ruins on a meteor and knocks out an Exdeath-controlled King Tycoon.
Chekhov's Gunman: Her first appearance is as an illusion the Siren creates to lure Galuf, but he has no clue who she is. She's later revealed to be his granddaughter and replaces him after his Heroic Sacrifice.
Cute Bruiser: It seems that she was designed to be as adorable as possible. Especially her job classes. Berserker gives you a little girl in what looks like a cat Halloween costume, going on a rampage with an axe or a hammer. She also wins a fist fight against Bartz once.
Friend to All Living Things: She's less suicidal about it than Lenna, fortunately.
Genki Girl: Perhaps the first one in the series.
Hair of Gold: In all artwork.
I See Dead People: If there's a ghost around, she's the one who will talk to him/her/it.
Little Miss Badass
Modest Royalty
Please Wake Up / Please Don't Leave Me: Krile says this to Galuf. The first while he's dying, the second after he's dead, and then she begs him to come back when his spirit speaks to her.
Plucky Girl: Krile has by no means had an easy life, but that hasn't put a dent in her spirit.
Psychic Headache: Gets one thanks to Ghido's mind-call.
Raised by Grandparents: One grandparent, anyway. Her parents vanished in the desert when she was little.
Rousing Speech: After everything has become so much worse, Krile gives a brief one at the Guardian Tree.

"We must stop Exdeath. The people around the world need us... No, not only the people, but all life...

Royals Who Actually Do Something
Sixth Ranger
Speaks Fluent Animal / Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish: She can talk to moogles. And wind drakes. And chocobos. They never really explain this except for one NPC in Bal that said her ability started to appear after her parent were missing in desert.
Take Up My Sword: Galuf to Krile.
Token Loli
You Are Not Alone: The others tell her this during the ending.

The Job Classes

The cornerstone of Final Fantasy V's gameplay, these warrior spirits are acquired from the Crystal Shards that appear after the breaking of each successful crystal.

The Freelancer

The "base" job of the game; all of the characters start out as one.

Magikarp Power: While this job starts out fairly weak Statistically Speaking, it eventually gains the stat boosts of all mastered jobs without taking on stat penalties. It also acquires the innate abilities of mastered jobs, such as the Ninja's Dual-Wielding or the Monk's ability to Counter Attack.
Weapon of Choice: Averted; this class can equip any and all pieces of equipment. Being able to do so actually makes it one of the best jobs in the game, even before it inherits stat boosts.

Wind Crystal Jobs

The Knight

These brave warriors take physical attacks for weakened allies. Their class ability, Guard, allows them to nullify all physical damage until their next turn.

Mighty Glacier: They're actually faster than a Freelancer, but their use of Heavy Armor tends to make them slower.
Won't Work On Me: As stated above, Guard nullifies damage from all physical attacks.
Self-Imposed Challenge: Use of the above and below in combination makes them quite useful for them.
Taking the Bullet: Has the signature Cover ability.
Weapon of Choice: Knives, swords, knight swords, and shields.

The Monk

These bare knuckled fighters can take down even powerful monsters with but their fists. They have the highest Strength and health among all jobs, making them sturdy.

Bare-Fisted Monk: Goes without saying.
Counter Attack: Their innate ability.
Critical Hit: Bare fists are one of the two ways to trigger critical hits without consuming MP.
Disc One Nuke: Like Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy Tactics, your bare hands do rather high damage early in the game.
Heal Thyself: Chakra heals some HP and some Standard Status Effects.
Herd-Hitting Attack: Their command Kick lets them hit all foes for reduced damage.
Lightning Bruiser: Is fairly fast, though they have the same speed bonus as a Knight, yet is not encumbered by heavy armor.

The Thief

These nimble rogues run circles around foes, whilst pilfering valuable items from them.

Fragile Speedster: Fastest job in the game, yet has mediocre strength and health.
Video Game Stealing
Weapon of Choice: Knives. They also have access to throwing weapons and the Twin Lance.

The Blue Mage

Final Fantasy V introduced these unique mages, having the ability to learn certain magic used by enemies. Their skill set is fairly diverse, ranging from offensive magic like Goblin Punch and Flame Thrower, to defensive buffs like Mighty Guard.

Blow You Away: Has access to the Aero series of spells.
Difficult but Awesome: Not an easy class to master, yet veteran players swear by Blue Magic.
Enemy Scan: Possibly reflecting their origins in the Scholar class.
Jack of All Stats: Has the most balanced stats among Wind Crystal Jobs, yet they are lacking in physical strength.
Mask Power: All party members wear a domino mask.
- Nice Hat: Lenna and Krile also get stylish berets.
Mega Manning: Codified the Final Fantasy version.
Weapon of Choice: Knives, swords, rods, and shields.

The Black Mage

Masters of offensive magics. They do tend to be outclassed later on by Summoners and Mystic Knights, but they are fairly useful to the end.

Black Magic
Crutch Character: They seem to be this, since as more jobs are unlocked their offensive power wanes.
The Faceless: As per Final Fantasy tradition, but an interesting case given that other than using this job, each character has a face.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Every odd level of Black Magic has this.
Nice Hat: Steeple hats as usual.
Non-Elemental: Their ultimate spell, Flare.
Squishy Wizard: High Magic, low strength and health.
Standard Status Effects
Weapon of Choice: Knives and rods.

The White Mage

Masters of defensive magics. Unlike Black Mages, they remain consistently useful throughout the game.

Holy Hand Grenade: Their ultimate spell, Holy.
The Medic: Obviously.
Squishy Wizard: Slightly less squishy than a Black Mage, yet still fairly frail.
Weapon of Choice: Simple Staffs, though they also get an Epic Flail or two.

Water Crystal Jobs

The Mystic Knight

These warriors have the ability to enchant their weapons with magic, allowing them to exploit elemental weaknesses, inflict status effects, drain HP or MP, or just deal heavy damage.

Fire, Ice, Lightning: Given that their skill set is closely linked to a Black Mage's...
Lightning Bruiser: Tied for second fastest job with Ninja, and is one of a handful of jobs that get no stat reductions whatsoever. They can also equip heavy armor and can swing swords with enough strength.
Magic Knight: Sort of. They still use physical attacks, yet can imbue their weapons with magical effects.
One Hit KO: Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga/Holy Spellblade does this to foes weak against their respective elements, provided they aren't immune to this trope.
Shout-Out: Bartz's and Galuf's outfit resembles Minwu.
Standard Status Effects: Poison, Silence, Sleep, Bio, Break, and Death Spellblade.
Stripperific: Lenna and Faris both resemble belly dancers in this job.
Weapon of Choice: Knives, swords, and shields.

The Berserker

These fur-clad heroes destroy enemies with their axes and hammers, without pausing for commands.

The Berserker: Obviously.
Mighty Glacier: Slowest job in the game, yet they hit hard.
Nemean Skinning: All of them wear animal skins.
Weapon of Choice: Knives, axes, hammers, and shields.

The Red Mage

These scarlet-clad, tabard-wearing wizards take up magic and fighting equally, resulting in a Jack-of-all-trades that is also a Master of None. Final Fantasy V gives them the Dualcast ability, making mastering this job ultimately worth it.

Crutch Character: They're very useful upon first acquisition due to their versatility, then fall behind as other jobs become more useful. However, see Magikarp Power below.
Jack of All Stats: Balanced stats (including both increased Strength and Magic), yet have no outstanding stats and actually lack in health.
Magikarp Power: They gain the great Dualcast ability, after acquiring the most ABP required to master a single Job, standing at 1179 ABP total.
Master of None: Bar dualcasting this job has few niches to fill, and Dualcast is used better by Mimes.
Nice Hat: Par for the course.
The Red Mage: Of course.
Weapon of Choice: Knives, swords, rods, and staves.

The Time Mage

These are masters of time and space, able to speed up allies, slow down foes, rewind time to the beginning of a battle, and even summon meteors.

Death From Above: Comet, and their ultimate spell, Meteor.
Gravity Master: Gravity and Graviga are Percent Damage Attacks, as is typical in Final Fantasy.
Nice Hat: A conical hat with a star on it.
Reset Button: Return does this for an entire battle.
Time Master: First specialized Time Mages.

The Summoner

These mages call upon magical creatures, ranging from the humble Chocobo to the Dragon King Bahamut.

Elemental Powers: They have more elemental coverage than Black Mages, even.
- Blow You Away: Syldra, though the animation suggests otherwise.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Titan.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: The level 2 summons Shiva, Ifrit, and Ramuh.
- Making a Splash: Leviathan.
- Non-Elemental: Chocobo, Sylph, Odin (when using Gungnir) and Bahamut.
- Playing with Fire: Apart from the aforementioned Ifrit, Phoenix.
Life Drain: Sylph damages a single enemy and heals all living party members.
Single-Stroke Battle: Odin, provided he uses Zantetsuken.
Taken for Granite: Catoblepas petrifies a single target.
Taking the Bullet: Golem takes physical attacks for the party.
Weapon of Choice: Largely the same as a Black Mage: Knives and rods.

The Mime

Although a Water Crystal job, plot events make it unavailable until the worlds are merged. Though by themselves they can't do anything but Mimic the last move by a party member, they are stronger than expected.

Badass Cape: Their outfit is largely the same as the Freelancer outfit, save for the addition of a cape.
Magikarp Power: See Freelancer. In fact, this is the best job for a magically inclined character, as they can have three commands apart from Mimic, and this class lack of weapons does not hamper them thus.
Mega Manning: This is their default job command.
Weapon of Choice: Has the weapon set of the Thief and Ninja, but with the addition of rods, staves, and shields.

Fire Crystal Jobs

The Ninja

Stealthy warriors who can Dual Wield, throw weapons, create images to distract physical attacks, and flee with the use of a smoke bomb.

Dual Wield: Their specialty.
Glass Cannon: Tied for second highest speed with Mystic Knight, and possesses good strength to go with Dual Wield, yet has a lack of health.
Smoke Out
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: In this case, throwing Excalipoor is one of two ways to effectively use its good 100 nominal attack power.
Weapon of Choice: Same as the Thief's.

The Beastmaster

These are masters of keeping monsters under control, as well as the ability to catch and release monsters for powerful attacks.

The Beast Master
Mighty Glacier: Good strength, good health, mediocre speed.
Weapon of Choice: Other than knives, they are principally whip users.

The Geomancer

Magi of the earth, they use the environment to wreak havoc on foes. They, oddly enough, use bells in battle.

Convection Shmonvection: They can ignore damage from lava floors and similar conditions.
Geo Effects
Weapon of Choice: Bells, apart from the universal knives.

The Ranger

Although this job and the Bard are also of the Fire Crystal, they are found separately, coughed up by a Black Chocobo rather than being retrieved after the breaking of the said crystal. This job specializes in ranged assaults and the alliance of woodland creatures.

The Archer
Forest Ranger
Glass Cannon: Good strength, decent speed, hampered by low health. Mitigated however by this class's usefulness in the back row.
Spam Attack: Rapid Fire.
Summon Magic: In the form of Woodland Creatures.
Weapon of Choice: Apart from knives, see The Archer.

The Bard

This job is acquired alongside the Ranger. Bards use their songs to either bolster a party or mess with foes.

Expy: Starting a series tradition, the Bards in this game have a moveset based on that of Edward from Final Fantasy IV, including Edward's signature ability to hide from sight.
Lethal Joke Character: While their stats are nothing to write home about, their song repertoire includes abilities to increase strength, magic, or even level over time, heavily damage undead, or stop even a mechanical bringer of death in its tracks.
Revive Kills Zombie: Requiem does massive damage to undead. And then there's Apollo's Harp, which deals greatly increased damage to Undead and Dragons - of which the latter includes one of the two original Bonus Bosses.
Spoony Bard: Somewhat, but see Lethal Joke Character.
Weapon of Choice: Knives and songs complemented by harps.

Earth Crystal Jobs

The Samurai

These honorable warriors from a faraway land can block attacks with their bare hands, as well as throw money at the enemy for good damage.

Barehanded Blade Block: Their Shiriharadori skill does this, even for non-sword attacks. It notably stacks with equipment such as shields and the Elven Mantle, allowing Samurai to dodge many physical attacks.
Katanas Are Just Better: The katana weapon class is the only one that inherently has a Critical Hit chance, and the Legendary Katana, the Masamune, allows its wielder to go first in a battle regardless of his/her speed.
Mighty Glacier: A Heavy Armor job in the Knight's mold, with slightly less strength but slightly more speed.
Money to Throw Away: Zeninage lets you throw money at enemies.
Single-Stroke Battle: Their Iainuki ability allows them to do this, though its chance of success is minimal against more powerful foes.
Weapon of Choice: Apart from the aforementioned katana, they also have access to knives and shields.

The Dragoon

High jumping champions, they wield spears into battle.

In a Single Bound/Jump Physics: Their Jump skill deals double damage when used with spears.
Life Drain and Mana Drain: Their Lance skill allows them to recover HP and MP from a foe.
Mighty Glacier: Yet another Heavy Armor job, yet again slightly weaker than a Knight and slightly faster.
Shout-Out: Bartz's Dragoon outfit very closely resembles Kain Highwind.
Weapon of Choice: Knives, spears, and shields.

The Dancer

These warriors use deadly dances to defeat foes.

Dance Battler: First ever in Final Fantasy. Dance is a surprisingly good ability, especially when used with certain equipment.
Life Drain/Mana Drain: Two possible effects of Dance.
Lightning Bruiser: Decent strength and agility, with their Stamina surprisingly being their best stat.
Quad Damage: with Sword Dance being the most effective...
Standard Status Effects: and Tempting Tango causing confusion (though Tempting Tango is superseded by Sword Dance when wearing certain equipment).
Weapon of Choice: Knives.

The Chemist

These intrepid item users and mixers are a rather oddball job, in that they tend to rely heavily on item use.

Chemistry Can Do Anything
Difficult but Awesome: Even more so than Blue Magic, yet Mixes are invaluable for more strategic players, particularly those doing a Low-Level Run.
Item Caddy: Potions and ethers are doubly effective when used by a Chemist. This is an innate ability, so mastering it will pass it to Freelancers and Mimes.
Jack of All Stats: Despite the more magical nature of their abilities, they don't get appreciable stat boosts or deductions, and they have Magic as their lowest stat (though not by much).
Weapon of Choice: Knives and staffs.

Advance-exclusive Jobs

The Gladiator

Masters of combat, this class has the second most diverse weapon selection behind the Freelancer. They hit hard, and their abilities are geared towards combat.

Cap: The Elemental Attack of Finisher will always do 9999 damage... provided the target does not resist the element.
Critical Hit: One of the possible effects of Finisher.
Elemental Powers: This is the only part of the game where the elemental essences granted to the party make a difference in game play. The Elemental Attack of the Finisher ability has its element dependent on the character.
- Blow You Away: Bartz
- Making a Splash: Lenna
- Playing with Fire: Faris
- Dishing Out Dirt: Krile
Foil: See the Oracle entry.
Glass Cannon: Tied with Monk for highest strength, yet has rather low health. This is mitigated through the class' Long Range ability (allows attacks to deal full damage from the back row), and access to Heavy Armor.
Herd-Hitting Attack: Bladeblitz hits all enemies with a regular attack.
Random Encounters: Can increase their rate through the Lure passive ability.
Shout-Out: The character's outfits resemble that of Saint Seiya characters. Each of the characters also resemble a Summon within the game (Bartz to Odin or Bahamut, Lenna to Shiva, Faris to Syldra, and Krile to Carbuncle).
Weapon of Choice: They get access to most physically based weapons, such as knives, swords, knight swords, axes, katana, spears, and shields.

The Cannoneer

This class uses more modern armaments such as cannon primed with magical shot. A more offensively-inclined version of the Chemist.

Experience Booster: Of the more orthodox variety.
Good Bad Bugs: It is possible to use Combine to prevent the Final Boss encounter altogether.
Item Caddy: They're quite item reliant like the Chemist, yet with a more offensive bent.
Jack of All Stats: Quite balanced stat bonuses, and they notably don't get any stat reductions.
Nice Hat: The party resembles French soldiers in this job, complete with tricorn (though Pirate Faris forgoes the hat).
Standard Status Effects: Open Fire is a regular attack that deals full damage from the back row and can inflict these.
Weapon of Choice: Other than cannon, they carry knives, swords, and shields.

The Oracle

These harbingers of good and bad fortune alike peer into the future, either providing magical effects into battle or reducing Random Encounters.

Experience Booster: A variant for ABP.
Foil: Arguably to the Gladiator class, as not only were both introduced in the Advance release, but one is a physical specialist while the other is a magic specialist, and both have abilities that either increase or decrease the rate of Random Encounters.
Random Encounters: Has an ability that decreases them.
Spoony Bard: Having a skill set entirely dependent on luck will do this.
- Lethal Joke Character: Provided you know how to game the Oracle's mechanics, they'll be able to match even Black Mages.
Squishy Wizard: Best Magic stat in the whole game, nothing useful for it to use it on barring mastery.
Weapon of Choice: Simple Staff.

The Necromancer

Harbingers of death and the power to use the dark arts.

Black Magic: Of an even more sinister version than the Black Mage's.
Bragging Rights Reward: This class is only acquired after defeating Enuo, after which there are at most two to four meaningful foes to fight.
Mega Manning: A twist on the Blue Mage's version; this time a Necromancer needs to kill a monster with an attack to learn its skill.
Revive Kills Zombie: Be careful when using healing spells and items around these guys. Using Death on them, on the other hand...
Squishy Wizard: Averted. These guys have even better health than a Knight, but this is probably meant to counter-balance their recovery difficulty.
Weapon of Choice: Knives and rods.
Whatevermancy

Our Villains

Exdeath

The main villain of Final Fantasy V. Exdeath was once a tree in the Great Forest of Moore, who was used as a prison for evil souls to inhabit. Eventually the evil souls merged into the form of the Tin Tyrant that's seen in the game. Exdeath's goal is to control the void and destroy everything.

And Your Little Dog, Too: He destroys Bartz' hometown and the Moogle Forest largely just to show off his newfound power.
Big Bad
Cardboard Prison: The Dawn Warriors booted him out of their dimension, with Dorgann staying behind as a warden.
- As a dustbin for evil creatures, Exdeath himself is an embodiment of this trope.
Card-Carrying Villain
Eldritch Abomination: His final boss forms.
Evil Albino: The only visible parts of Exdeath are his hands, which are ghostly white.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He thinks that Galuf is fighting with hatred. He's wrong.
Evil Laugh: In pretty much every line.
Evil Overlord: He has the multitude of demons sealed in the Rift at his beck and call, apparently by promising to reshape the world for them to rule.
- There's also the fact that he himself is actually composed of multiple demons.
Hoist by His Own Petard: During the final battle, he becomes consumed by the Void(which he had attempted to gain control of over the course of the game), turning him into Neo-Exdeath
Fighting a Shadow: The Sealed Castle is patrolled by ExDeath Souls.
Genius Bruiser
Humanoid Abomination
Knight of Cerebus: The game noticeably gets about ten times as serious every time he is on-screen. And usually somebody you cared about dies.
Large and In Charge
Large Ham: And HOW. He even went from a very unpopular Final Fantasy villain to VERY well-liked when Dissidia Final Fantasy finally was able to have Gerald C. Rivers voice his hamminess (and play it up as well).
Leitmotif: "The Evil Lord Exdeath". Complete with Psycho Strings and Evil Laughter in the background!
Made of Evil: An amalgamation of evil spirits that have become one being.
Magic Knight: Wears heavy armor, wields a large sword, has good physical attacks... and magic to kill you many times over.
Names to Run Away From Really Fast
Obviously Evil: ...Exdeath.
Omnicidal Maniac
Outside Context Villain
Power of the Void: His obsession.
Scary Impractical Armor
Sealed Evil in a Can
Shoulders of Doom: Those spikes have got to be over a foot high.
Shut Up, Kirk: Delivered to Bartz and the gang when they confront him in his castle.

Bartz: Exdeath! No way we'll let you get away with this!
Exdeath: Mwa-hahahaha... Have you any idea what I plan to get away with in the first place?

Spikes of Villainy
Supervillain Lair: Castle Exdeath.
Tin Tyrant: A stepping point between Golbez and Kekfa Pallazzo.
- Trivia: He's the last Tin Tyrant major villain until XII's judges, and the last out of an almost unbroken line for the first five games, III being the exception.
When Trees Attack: This is what happens when you use a tree in a magic forest as a trash compactor for evil spirits.
Where I Was Born and Razed: The tree that became Exdeath originally grew in the Great Forest of Moore. In his race to destroy the Crystals of Galuf's world, he burns down the entire forest, save for the eldest tree, because the forest would not allow him to enter.
Why Won't You Die?: He says this to Galuf in his Heroic Sacrifice.

Gilgamesh

The Dragon to Exdeath. An enthusiastic warrior who fights the main party several times throughout the story.

Affably Evil
Boisterous Bruiser
Braggart Boss: Trope Codifier.
The Cameo: He's notable for being so awesome that he's the only character to actually appear (as in, not as some guy with the same name, it's the same person) in other numbered games.
- Character Exaggeration: Gilgamesh's poor battle skills and sword-obsession in other parts of the series are in contrast of his original appearance here; he actually doesn't even use a sword until growing extra arms, and even then only uses one. What's more, he's a challenging boss most of the time and is described by one NPC as having defeated an entire Redshirt Army on his own.
  - Well to be fair, even when he is making a cameo appearance, he's usually some kind of Bonus Boss...
The Dragon
Fake Ultimate Baddie
Friendly Enemy: Grows into this as you keep beating him.
Goldfish Poop Gang: The first example in the franchise.
Heroic Sacrifice
Heel Face Turn: And he comes back later for a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
Hot-Blooded
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: You gotta feel sorry for him when Exdeath sent him to the Interdimensional Rift for his incompetence.
Large Ham: INCONCEIVABLE!
Multi-Armed and Dangerous
Worthy Opponent + The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He is very saddened to find out that Galuf has been killed, to the point he keeps quiet for the rest of the battle in complete contrast to his normal self
You Have Failed Me...: Exdeath got fed up with his constant bungling and tossed him into the Interdimensional Rift.

Enuo

The original evil. A dark Wizard who 1,000 years before the events of the game nearly destroyed the world and whose defeat caused the world to split in two.

Bigger Bad
Bonus Boss: In the GBA version.
Eldritch Abomination
Sealed Evil in a Can: His domain is entitled THE SEALED TEMPLE.

Our Supporting Cast

Cid Previa

Every Final Fantasy needs a Cid, after all.

The Engineer: Handles the party's machine-related needs. He converts a ship to a submarine and fixes a thousands-year-old airship for them.
Heroic BSOD: After the Fire Crystal breaks. Mid snaps him out of it.
Gadgeteer Genius: Invented the Crystal machines.
My God, What Have I Done?: He blames himself for the shattering of the Crystals.
Unwitting Pawn: Exdeath used his machines to help destroy the Crystals that sealed him.

Mid Previa

Cid's grandson. Manages to get his grandfather to his senses.

Bookworm: He's so absorbed in his reading he doesn't even notice the party's battle with a vicious book-demon behind him.
The Engineer: He seems just as adept as Cid.
Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Towards his grandfather.
Insufferable Genius: He would be insufferable if he wasn't so funny.
Mythology Gag: There have been several references to Mid in the series. "Mid" is one of the default names for the Red Mage job in the remakes of Final Fantasy I, Cid Pollendina's grandson in The After Years is named Mid, and Mid is Balthier's true middle name.
Nerd Glasses

Alexander Highwind Tycoon

Lenna's father, the king of Tycoon. Sets off to the Wind Shrine at the beginning of the game; when he doesn't come back, Lenna sets out after him, beginning the story of the game. Is also the father of Sarisa, AKA Faris.

Brainwashed and Crazy
Disappeared Dad
Dragon Rider: With his Wind Drake, Hiryu.
Mythology Gag: His middle name is the common Dragoon last name, "Highwind".

Dorgann Klauser

Bartz's Father, who died three years prior to to events of the game. Trained Bartz in fighting, and is the one who encouraged him to become a wanderer. Is one of the Warriors of Dawn, and is originally from Galuf's world. He decided to stay in Bartz's world to make sure the seal on Exdeath does not break.

Xezat Matias Surgate

The King of Surgate. One of the Warriors of Dawn.

Cool Old Guy
Heroic Sacrifice
Master Swordsman: Famed among his fellow warriors for this.
Modest Royalty: Just like Galuf.
Royals Who Actually Do Something

Kelger Vlondett

The leader of the werewolf village of Quelb. One of the Warriors of Dawn.

Cool Old Werewolf
Doppelganger Spin
Heroic Sacrifice: In order to break the illusion spell protecting Exdeath's Castle.
Our Werewolves Are Different: Lone Wolf aside, they're a friendly lot.
Poor Communication Kills: His often-jumped-into-conclusion attitude costs him dearly when Bartz defeats him in a duel, leaving the old werewolf bed-ridden for the rest of the game.

Ghido

An ancient sage, who happens to be a tortoise. Has a very dry wit and loves to pick on Bartz.

Badass: He was evenly matched against Exdeath
Deadpan Snarker: Everything he says to Bartz is a veiled insult.
- Well, sometimes veiled. Lines like "so enthusiastic and yet so stupid" aren't really subtle.
Telepathy: He mind calls Krile to page Galuf.
Turtle Power: Naturally.