Wild ARMs 3/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Playable Characters

Virginia Maxwell

A rookie Drifter who is searching for her missing father. A Naive Newcomer whose inexperience with the reality of the Drifter lifestyle is only matched by her fiery willpower. Her special ability is Mystic, which lets her extend the effect of an item to the entire party, or use a special ability with a non-consumable item. She dual-wields pistol ARMs in a unique style taught to her by her father.

Like all four party members, she is an interesting mix of tropes and party combat roles. As a character, she is both the New Guy, the Determinator, the Knight in Shining Armor, and the Leader, a mix that may be entirely unique. She also uses her idealism as a shield to cover her own insecurities, and applies it badly, leading to others to point out her flaws. Virginia has the best Character Development of the four party members, and it does not involve her losing her idealism, but rather, maturing it. She becomes much better at using her idealism correctly, living up to her principles and getting a handle on her insecurities- to the point that she becomes The Messiah at the end of the story and saves the world.

In combat, she is a Fragile Speedster and, amusingly for the party leader, the White Mage in the sense that she is an Item Caddy. She also makes a decent magician, being behind only Gallows in terms of magic power.

  • The Determinator
  • Disappeared Dad: Finding him is not, however, her main goal - it's just a side goal to her main quest, which is stopping the villains.
  • Disc One Nuke: 10 Shot Gatling + Valiant = Bosses for a good portion of the game die once Virginia hits 100FP and deals five digits worth of damage.
  • Dual-Wielding / Guns Akimbo
  • Fragile Speedster
  • Idiot Hero: Virginia's idealism and naivety lead her to get mocked by Janus rather frequently. Even her friends note she has more heart than common sense. Subverted as she grows up considerably and matures into a true hero.
  • Item Caddy: Virginia by necessity. Need more berries!
  • The Messiah
  • The Obi Wrong - Both Jet and Clive are more experienced Drifters than Virginia, but still take orders from her. Justified at first in that Clive finds it amusing, and Jet hates the idea of being a leader. Later on, Virginia ends up being a better leader than either Clive or Jet due to Character Development.
  • Naive Newcomer
  • Pink Means Feminine / Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Her dress is fuchsia, which counts as both tropes.
  • Purple Is Powerful
  • Revolvers Are Just Better - Partially averted; Virginia's guns are the weakest in terms of damage, though they do have cutscene powers. They are extremely accurate, however, which is useful when combined with her high speed allowing her to almost always act first in a round, and they hold more shots, meaning that when Virginia uses Gatling, her attack power skyrockets.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Virginia's the only girl, though at least she's the Leader, and having only four characters total anyway eases the sexism of this trope a bit.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Maya, eventually.

Jet Enduro

An experienced Drifter. White haired. Pretty. An Ineffectual Loner who is in it for the money and tries to radiate undiluted Badass at everyone else. This noticeably fails to impress his allies and later, friends, though non-party members see him as the Badass he wants to be seen as. He wields a machine gun ARM (which only he can use). His special ability is Accelerator, which lets him take the first action in battle.

Characterwise, he's a deconstruction of the Ineffectual Loner archetype, and of Badass people in general. Jet, for all that he's the most Badass-looking dude in the game, with the coolest gun and some of the best lines, is the party member who needs the rest of the party the most. As Virginia consistently points out to him, he has accomplished nothing by being alone, and it's turned Jet into a bitter, angry, vengeful person who quite obviously does not enjoy being alive. He's also a Deconstruction of the Nature Hero archetype. He is a living representation of Filgaia as it should be, a lifeform in tune with the planet at its healthiest and a symbol of life. He's also a Jerkass, he was created in a laboratory instead of by nature, was never told of what he was and has to figure it out himself from old records, and when he sees the Filgaia he was created to reflect, he doesn't get a sense of peace and calm- he completely freaks out.

In battle, he is the secondary guy for everyone, having decent all-around stats (except in one category). If the party needs more healing, than he helps Virginia heal; if the party needs more firepower, he helps Clive hurt people. His main weakness is having the worst magic abilities of the entire party.

Gallows Carradine

A Magical Native American subversion. Yes, he's magical, yes, he's Native American. He's also a lecher, a womanizer, and consistently the dumbest person in the party. He ran away from his village and its responsibilities. He wields a Sawed-Off Shotgun ARM which deals average damage (but massive damage on a Critical Hit). His special ability is Extension, which extends the effects of a magical spell to every party member or enemy.

Gallows as a character is a subversion of the Magical Native American trope, and a Determinator as well. Gallows' obsession with what he was required to do by his people- his responsibilities- led to him slacking off, trying to avoid them by being bad at them (despite his tremendous natural potential at magic). When this didn't work, he bailed, and throughout the game wrestles with the issue of whether he should go back or not. His Character Development resolves this dilemma by choosing to do his duties, not because they are his duties, but because they are the right thing to do, double-subverting the choice at the same time; he does them to save his little brother, not because he is supposed to. At the end of the game he gives them up again, as they were no longer needed, and sticks with Virginia.

Gallows, despite looking like The Big Guy, is in fact a Black Magician Girl (guy) whose powers focus on magic. He also, amusingly, has the highest health in the game, but spectacularly low defense, resulting in enemies doing hundreds of points more damage to him than to the others- and him still surviving. Often the last character standing if Virginia has been dropped already.

Clive Winslett

A Bounty Hunter who is quite the Badass Bookworm. For one thing, he wields a sniper rifle ARM that gives him the highest attack power in the party. Far from being a Cold Sniper, he's a very nice, sociable guy. Defying all RPG conventions, he's also happily married with a wife and daughter (and they don't die!) His special ability is Lock-On, which guarantees that his next attack will hit (and boosts the power of said attack).

Character-wise, Clive is a family man through and through, as well as The Smart Guy. In addition, he is wracked with guilt over the death of his wife's father, which he feels responsible for, and throughout the game he eventually absolves himself of this guilt by finishing his father-in-law's quest. In a further unexpected subversion, He's the party member who leaves the party, not Jet, as he's worried about getting killed and not being able to support his family, a decision the rest of the party accepts and wishes him well on. He eventually comes back.

Battle-wise, Clive is the only one to fit into a set mold, i.e. the Mighty Glacier. Clive has the highest Attack and Defense in the team, the second-most HP after Gallows, but he's also the slowest by far.

The Prophets

Three scientists who are obsessed with restoring Filgaea at any cost. Each also has their own agenda, none of which are good.

Leehalt Alcaste

The leader of the Prophets, although his control over the others is probably not as strong as he'd like. He is obsessed with power, and wishes to rule Filgaea.

Melody Vilenete

The only female member of the Prophets. Before they Prophets began their experiments, she was a rather plain young woman. She has reshaped herself to have great beauty, and she is obsessed with both her beauty and youth.

  • Berserk Button: Since she was very average-looking before she got the chance to remake her body, she is very sensitive to being called ugly. Clive tells her that she's "ugly" on the inside, no matter how beautiful her outer form is, and it makes her go crazy. This is actually reflected in battle; she attacks Clive over all other targets.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
  • Super-Powered Evil Side
  • The Vamp: Melody tries to do this, and it succeeds pretty well on Gallows - and falls flat on Clive, who's Happily Married and sees right through it.
  • Vain Sorceress: In a deconstruction, she was very plain until she got a chance to rearrange her features, which is why she's so vain and weird about it.

Malik Bendict

The youngest member of the Prophets. Malik wants to resurrect his deceased mother using the knowledge that he's gained.

  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Malick loves his mother... A little too much, to the point he tries to "revive" her after her death. He succeeded (kinda), but she isn't really happy about it.
  • Freudian Excuse: Horrifically done. Squick. Notable in that it's never treated as a "good" reason for what he does and instead weirds out everyone who finds out about it.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Show of hands; who else was freaked out to high heaven by Malik's...devotion to his mother?
  • Stepford Smiler
  • Super-Powered Evil Side
  • Villainous Breakdown: He pretty much loses it after a clone of his mother condemns his actions. Considering he may have been growing them for... shall we say, purposes, it's not like he shouldn't have seen this coming!

Other Antagonists

Janus Cascade

The leader of a rival group of Drifters, he and Virginia find themselves in opposition on several occasions. He and his gang are actually working for the Prophets, and he is eventually changed into a demon by them and then sacrificed to facilitate Seigfried's coming.

Seigfried

A legendary demon from the old wars.

  • Baddie Flattery: Seigfried respects and envy Maya's power, which, he says, surpasses Demon's. However, that doesn't stop him from using her powers against her, and he obliterates her later on when she tries to solo him. But in the end, Maya got the last laugh.
  • Back from the Dead: If you believe he's the Big Bad from the first game. This interpretation is left open, so it's a fair guess.
  • Expy: Inverted. He has more than a passing resemblance to Nightmare, which fits, as Nightmare's original body was named Siegfried. However, Seigfried's character dates back to his first apparition in 1997, in the first Wild ARMs, whereas Nightmare didn't appear in the Soul series until Soul Calibur, in 2002.
  • Social Darwinist
  • The Man Behind the Man: To the Prophets.

Asgard

A golem created by the Prophets. He is a learning machine, and over time develops feelings and a personality.

Beatrice

The real Big Bad of the game, who has been manipulating everything from the start.

The Schrödingers

A band of Drifters who is seeking profit in the wastelands. They are sometimes antagonists and sometimes allies to the party.

Maya Schrödinger

The leader of the Schrödinger family, Maya is a Drifter searching for treasure. She sees Virginia as a rival, and will often hinder the party, but she also provides them with assistance at times. She has the ability to absorb skills from books, which is where her Calamity Jane Expy persona comes from.

  • Badass: Just ask Siegfried.
  • Badass Bookworm
  • BFG: Her gatling gun ARM- which falls out of her dress when she shakes it.
  • Braggart Boss: Maya and company are snobby as hell to the party when they first meet- and are justified in doing it, too, since Virginia and Co. are not particularly experienced and Virginia's leadership leaves something to be desired. Later in the game, they even compliment the party on how much stronger they've become, And even help you get to the final boss fight.
  • Black Magician Girl: In her mage form.
  • Expy: She transforms into different expies of older Wild ARMs characters by imitating books she's read. Her mage form uses crest magic (Cecilia or Lilka), her martial artist form uses Kanon's moves from Wild ARMs 2, and the form everyone assumes is "her" is actually her channeling Calamity Jane from Wild ARMs. In reality, she's a geeky Meganekko.
  • Gatling Good: Her special ARM, which comes out of the most interesting holster ever created in a Wild West game.
  • Mega Manning - Maya's unique power is to do this by copying the powers of anything she reads. Imagine if she got wind of TV Tropes!
  • The Rival
  • Superpower Lottery: She has the power to use any power from any fictional character in any book that she reads. Never becomes a party member, though.
  • Trouser Space - Maya has a gatling gun fall out of her skirt.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Virginia, eventually.

Alfred Schrödinger

Maya's little brother, and an explosive expert.

Todd

Maya's afro'd and loyal bodyguard. He uses a sword in combat.

Shady

A winged cat-like animal who can speak, breathe fire, and is apparently immortal. He was locked in a box by a previous generation of Schrödingers. His long period of confinement has made him extremely claustrophobic.

Other Characters

Florina

A shy young girl who is not good with people. She lives alone in one of the few fertile places left in Filgaea, silently tending her garden.

  • Expy: Of Mariel from Wild ARMs. Word of God says they're the same person.
  • Innocent Flower Girl: Also your only source of healing items. Amusingly she likes the Badass Loner Jet, who just wishes she'd leave him alone. She likes him because she can sense that he's a nature elemental, which makes this a huge bit of clever foreshadowing.

Lombardia

A dragon, which in the world of Wild ARMs 3 means she is a living mechanical being. The party requests her help, and after beating her in combat, she agrees to become their transportation.

Werner Maxwell

Virginia's father, who has been missing since she was a little girl. Also a father figure to Jet, in that he aided him after the accident that killed his creators.

  • Barrier Warrior
  • Dead All Along: The Werner Maxwell we see throughout the game turns out to be a ghost. More precisely, he's a hologram made from Werner's stored memories and personality data.
  • Dual-Wielding / Guns Akimbo: As expected, since he's the one who taught Virginia.
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