History Characters / FinalFantasyVI

* PragmaticVillany: Emperor Gestahl tries to stop Kefka from doing something that will cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, because he wants to rule the world, not blow it up. Kefka kills him.

* CharacterAlignment: LawfulEvil: See EvenEvilHasStandards.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Emperor Gestahl tries to stop Kefka from doing something that will cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, because he wants to rule the world, not blow it up. Kefka kills him.

* CharacterAlignment: First LawfulGood, then later NeutralGood.
** He was arguably always NeutralGood.

* EvilCounterpart: To Terra and Celes, in different ways.
** To Terra - Kefka believes life is worthless hope and love are insignificant, Terra comes to believe in ThePowerOfLove and believes in hope. Kefka has artificial magic, Terra has natural magic. Kefka has a tendency to lose control, Terra's CharacterDevelopment is learning control.
** To Celes - Both are Imperial generals, both are Magitek Knights raised in the Empire. Kefka loves ruthless destruction, Celes abandons the Empire when it becomes too much for her. Kefka values power, Celes eventually decides she wants nothing to do with it.

* {{Badass}}: Being able to survive in a fierce wilderness and kick the ass of monsters bigger than you since you were barely old enough to walk should qualify anyone as this.
* BareYourMidriff

* MamaBear: Threaten her, enslave her, try to kill her, and she'll shrug it off. But if you have the bright idea to threaten her [[spoiler:adopted children]] and attack her {{nakama}}, well... I hope you like fire.

* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: Hmm... interesting that Shadow can equip Relm's memento of her late mother... and she actually gets along with Interceptor...]]

** The point (No Pun intended) where the very last of his sanity (what little is left) leaves is on the Floating Continent where despite all the power he's gained, Celes manages to trick him and actually stab him with a sword and draw his own blood.

* Leitmotif: Kefka's eponymous theme starts out light and bouncy with string and wind instruments, then descends into a loud flurry of drumbeats and cymbol clashes. Which is a good indication of [[ItGotWorse how Kefka himself goes as the game progresses]]. It's sampled twice in "Dancing Mad", the final boss theme.

* Leitmotif: Kefka's eponymous theme starts out light and bouncy with string and wind instruments, then descends into a loud flurry of drumbeats and cymbol clashes. Which is a good indication of [[ItGotWorse how Kefka himself goes as the game progresses]].

* TheStarScream: Some people might argue that he is just too crazy for Gestahl to control, but careful reading of Kefka's lines reveals that he has a major problem with being a servant, and therefore Kefka knows what he's doing all along.

* MamaBear: Threaten her, enslave her, try to kill her, and she'll shrug it off. But if you have the bright idea to threaten her adopted children and attack her {{nakama}}, well... I hope you like fire.
* TheMessiah: once she finds herself in the orphanage and becomes a protector.

* ParentalAbandonment: Her Father is captured and her mother is killed.

* ThePowerOfLove: In the World of Ruin, Terra stumbles upon a village of orphans whose parents here killed by Kefka and his [[LightIsNotGood Light of Judgment]]. The children call her "Mama" and these new feelings confuse Terra. She eventually realizes that it was love all along and that the future of these children is worth fighting for.

* ActionMom: The children of Mobliz see her as their Mama after their real parents were killed by the Light of Judgment.

* ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler: In the World of Ruin, Terra stumbles upon a village of orphans whose parents here killed by Kefka and his [[LightIsNotGood Light of Judgment]]. The children call her "Mama" and these new feelings confuse Terra. She eventually realizes that it was love all along and that the future of these children is worth fighting for.]]

* [[spoiler:[[DudeShesLikeInAComa Dude She's Like A CORPSE]]: His fixation on Rachael. Seems more emotional rather than sexual, but still not right]].

* [[spoiler: FailureKnight: Played straight with Rachel. He couldn't save her from her accident and he wasn't in Kohlingen when TheEmpire attacked and killed her. Averted in the ending when Locke saves Celes.]]

* ILetGwenStacyDie: See the spoiler above.

* LoveHurts: Locke can't forgive himself for [[spoiler:what happened to Rachel until after the Phoenix revives her and she convinces him otherwise.]]

* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:Rachel's accident and death.]]

* {{Squick}}: Some fans react this way to learning about [[spoiler:Rachel in the basement]].

* TheChainsOfCommanding: After their father's death, Edgar and Sabin were to co-rule. Both wanted out, but at the same time didn't want to plunge the kingdom into chaos their absence would cause, so they settled it with the coin toss, [[spoiler: Edgar, being the protective brother he is, rigged it with the double-headed coin in Sabin's favor]].

* {{BADASS}} [[spoiler: As [[TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony put it: MOTHERFUCKER SUPLEXED A TRAIN!]]]]

* DefectorFromDecadence: Celes committed treason when she realized that Kefka planned on [[spoiler:poisoning Doma's water supply.]]

* DespairEventHorizon: After Celes wakes up from a year long coma to realize that [[spoiler:the world really was destroyed, she's stranded on a deserted island with Cid, and everyone she knew is probably dead,]] the last event that completely destroys any lingering sense of hope is [[spoiler:Cid's death]] and leads to her [[spoiler:attempted suicide.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: She survives it though. [[spoiler: It can actually be avoided altogether.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: Before the game begins, [[spoiler:Celes burned Maranda to the ground; she's the reason that everyone is rebuilding the town when you visit.]] After Locke rescues her in Figaro, Celes joins the Returners.

* ThePowerOfLove: Regardless of whether or not [[spoiler:Cid lives or dies, Celes will see a pigeon on the beach with a blue bandanna wrapped around its wound. Celes recognizes it as Locke's bandanna and knows that he must be alive. Knowing that Locke is out there somewhere is enough motivation for Celes to leave Solitary Island and find her friends.]]

* TykeBomb: The Empire infused Celes with magic at a young age, [[spoiler:much like was done to Kefka, except it didn't cause mental instability in Celes.]]

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Celes is only 18 years old at the start of the game, [[spoiler:19 years old when she wakes up on Solitary Island]]

* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: If you leave on the Floating Continent]].

* BadassGrandpa [[spoiler: This man had the sheer balls to take on the whole Imperial Army at Doma.....AND WAS WINNING!]]

** Shifts towards ChaoticGood later in the game [[spoiler: when he rejoins you in the World of Ruin]]

** [[spoiler:The developers confirmed this in an interview. There was going to be a scene between Strago and Shadow confirming his relationship to Relm but it was dropped.]]

* [[spoiler: DuelBoss: Leo vs. Kefka]]
* [[spoiler: DueToTheDead]]

* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: Despite what any UrbanLegendOfZelda might say.]]

* [[spoiler: RedemptionEqualsDeath]]
* [[spoiler: SacrificialLion]]
* UrbanLegendOfZelda: [[spoiler: [=~He's Just Hiding~=]]]
* [[spoiler: WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife]]

* [=~You're Insane!~=]: [[spoiler: His FamousLastWords]] in the GBA translation.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler: After having absorbed the power of the Statues/Warring Triad and become the incarnation of magic.]]

* BadassAbnormal [[spoiler: Was this even before becoming a literal god.]]

* CompleteMonster: Oh boy, where to begin... enslaving Terra and using her as a weapon, [[spoiler:poisoning Doma's river, killing General Leo, capturing countless espers at Thamasa, destroying the entire world, and then picking off survivors with the Light of Judgment.]]

* DeathFromAbove: After his [[spoiler: ascent to godhood]], Kekfa used his Light of Judgment to deal this to anyone who dared oppose him.
* TheDragon: Kefka fills this role before [[spoiler:he murders Gestahl and becomes the BigBad]].

* DrunkOnTheDarkSide
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Out of all the villains in the series, those who don't favor [[FinalFantasyVII ol Sephy]] usually prefer Kefka, possibly because of how over the top he is... Or just because he made it further than Sephiroth ever did. Unlike Sephiroth and other villains though, Kefka manages to avoid being a DracoInLeatherPants, arguably because the reason ''why'' he's so memorable as a villain is precisely because he's a CompleteMonster and is very difficult to sympathize with.

* EvilLaugh: Kefka's "hohohoho," the only vocalized character sound in the entire game. Or at least the only one that isn't Terra's [[spoiler:inhuman scream when Tritoch forces her to confront her true nature]].

* FromNobodyToNightmare: He starts the game as a court jester lackey of Gestahl and by the end of the game [[spoiler:he's pretty much a god.]]

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: He's not very popular in Japan, but the lines given to him in the [[{{Woolseyism}} English translations]] made him ''very'' popular in English-speaking countries.

* [[spoiler: KickTheSonOfABitch: Figuratively and literally, to Gestahl.]]

* [[spoiler:LightIsNotGood: Kefka has a weapon called the Light of Judgment that he uses to destroy towns that oppose him, and in the final battle he turns into an angelic-looking creature.)]]

** His second non-flashback appearance involves him [[spoiler: breaking the siege of Doma by poisoning the water supply... killing both the inhabitants of Doma and the sieging soldiers]].
** At one point in the game he orders his troops to burn down a civilian village ([[spoiler:inhabited by mages, true, but they were civilians none the less]]) and kills the potential DefectorFromDecadence while he's at it.

* NietzscheWannabe: While he really starts being this only after [[spoiler: destroying the world]], you still gotta admit that when taking everything else that Kefka was into consideration, this REALLY wasn't something that boded well for the World of Balance... OR the World of Ruin for that matter.

* [[spoiler:OrcusOnHisThrone: To his credit though, he probably doesn't even need to move from his chamber to destroy the party, but where the fun in that?]]

** The point (No Pun intended) where the very last of his sanity (what little is left) leaves is on the Floating Continent [[spoiler:Where despite all the power he's gained, Celes manages to trick him and actually stab him with a sword and draw his own blood.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: It's jarring to see him go from running away from a lone Sabin (granted, Shadow could be there as well) through an entire camp full of his army and having to run away with his tail between his legs from the collective party, to kicking the party's collective asses ''twice'', then killing [[spoiler:the best soldier in the Empire, ''without using any magic'', and a small ''army'' of Espers ''on his own'' that were able to thrash the Capital City of the Empire.]] [[ItGotWorse And that's just the start of the madness.]]

* [[spoiler: BodyguardBetrayal: Gestahl appears with Kefka thoroughly on his side on the Floating Continent. And then Kefka must show them the meaning of power...]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: Emperor Gestahl tries to stop Kefka from doing something that will cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, because he wants to rule the world, not blow it up. Kefka kills him.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Gestahl meets his doom at the hands of his genetically altered SuperSoldier.]]
* KarmicDeath: It's very fitting that Emperor Gestahl dies [[spoiler: at the hands of Kefka after he was responsible for having Kefka infused with magical powers, and had him PromotedToScapeGoat when things started going wrong.]] Add additional Karmic points for the fact that [[spoiler: he falls off the Floating Continent, the very thing he has pursued all of this time.]]

* TheUnfought: [[spoiler: Kefka zaps him before you get the chance.]]

* TheWorfBarrage: [[spoiler: His magic barrage against Kefka.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: Gestahl tries this on Kefka on the floating island. [[XanatosGambit Unfortunately, Kefka was just sane enough to have seen this coming from the start,]] and it ends up [[KarmicDeath backfiring spectacularly.]] He also plays it straight with Shadow.]]

!!Gogo
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gogo_(Final_Fantasy_VI)_menu.png]]
->"Shrouded in odd clothing, ...is this a man...? ...a woman...? ...or should we ask...?"

* AmbiguousGender
* CharacterAlignment: TrueNeutral: The only reason he joins the party is because it has been so long since he's done anything. He decides that since the party is planning to save the world, then he will too. He would have just as easily joined Kefka or the empire if they had found him first.
* ContinuityNod: To ''FinalFantasyV'' boss Gogo and to the Mimic class in general.
* EpilepticTrees: Practically every theory about Gogo's identity. Some maintain that it's Setzer's lover, Daryl, while others hypothesize that it's deposed Big Bad Emperor Gestahl. Another proposed theory is that it's Democratic also-ran Adlai E. Stevenson, though that theory was created in order to ridicule the constant arguments over the "true" identity. Of course, some people believe that he's the same Gogo as in Final Fantasy V (a ludicrous idea, of course). Naturally, ''FFV'' [[NoExportForYou didn't come out in the US until years after FF6]], which explains the confusion.
* HeroicMime: Literally.
* OptionalPartyMember
* PowersAsPrograms: Gogo can equip almost any other character's special ability (except Terra's Morph), and does need to equip appropriately to use some of them, though.
* SecretCharacter

!!Cyan/Cayenne Garamonde
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cyan_Garamonde_menu.png]]
->"Faithful retainer to his family's liege, with the courage and strength of a hundred men..."

* BadassGrandpa [[spoiler: This man had the sheer balls to take on the whole Imperial Army at Doma.....AND WAS WINNING!]]
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler: Spending a night at the abandoned Doma castle in the World of Ruin triggers this as a sidequest.]]
* CharacterAlignment: LawfulGood
* CoolOldGuy: He's 50.
* CounterAttack: One of his Sword Techs.
* CrutchCharacter: Borderline Example - his later Sword Techs/Bushido requires very long waiting, leaving the party at enemy's mercy. This can be avoided by making Cyan go last, and by the time other party members finished their attacks, Cyan is ready to kickass, and since VI is the starting point in a series when attacks have [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation noticeably longer animations]]...
** You still have to delay your whole team in order to make him go last, though, and you'll still usually be slowing your team down if you go after the high-level Bushidos.
* [[DeadLittleSister Dead Family]]
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Writes letters and sends flowers to the girlfriend of the dead soldier he met in Mobliz to make her happy.
* DoomedHometown: He's one of the few survivors after [[MonsterClown Kefka]] poisons Doma's water supply.
* EstrogenBrigadeBait: To Cyan's [[UnwantedHarem own chagrin]], especially considering he was recently widowed.
* FailureKnight: Everyone in Doma Castle, even his wife and child, die when Kefka poisons the river.
* JapaneseHonorifics: He speaks using lingo reserved for samurai, including heavy use of "de gozaru", in the original script.
* OldRetainer
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The death of his wife and son sends him into one, as he charges toward the Imperial camp.
* {{Samurai}}
* ShellShockedSenior
* SingleStrokeBattle: His ultimate Sword Technique.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: About his aversion to machines.
* {{Unfunny}}
* WalkingTechbane: He is NOT good with machines. He ''tries'' to learn more about how to use them over the course of the game though.
* TheWoobie: The poor guy's family died right in front of his eyes and he tortures himself over it.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Cyan's dialogue, originally written in what is sometimes called the "samurai dialect" of Japanese, extensively uses "thee" and "thou." Other characters make fun of him for it.


!!Shadow
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shadow_(Final_Fantasy_VI)_menu.png]]
->"He owes allegiance to no one, and will do anything for money. He comes and goes like the wind..."

* {{Badass}} {{Ninja}}: Including many of the abilities that usually come along with that class in the series, such as throwing weapons.
* [[ABoyAndHisX A Man And His Dog]]: With Interceptor.
* BloodKnight: The reason for this isn't revealed until much later, and then only to the player.
* CanineCompanion: Interceptor.
* CharacterAlignment: ChaoticNeutral
* CounterAttack: Interceptor will occasionally block and counter attacks from enemies.
* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler: It's the only way for him to atone for the spoiler mentioned in MercyKill below.]]
* [[spoiler:DisappearedDad: When the details of Shadow's five dreams and Relm's one dream are combined, it becomes certain that he is Relm's missing father.]]
* TheDrifter: In the World of Balance, sans the Floating Continent, Shadow can leave the party at random intervals.
* FlashbackNightmare: Shadow is haunted by his inability to put his friend, Baram, out of his misery.
* GameBreakingBug: "Interceptor" is considered a permanent status effect for Shadow, and unfortunately, this makes it vulnerable to the infamous Rippler glitch. If an enemy snatches up Shadow's status and is then killed, kiss his beloved pooch good-bye outside of story sequences.
* GuestStarPartyMember: He'll join your party at a few points throughout the first half of the game, but will decide to leave either through random chance after an enemy encounter (technically, once you've acquired a certain amount of Gil from battles), or at designated points in the plot. (He signs up permanently later on though.)
* ICannotSelfTerminate: [[spoiler: Was asked by his friend, Baram, to kill him, since he couldn't do it himself because of his mortal wounds. Clyde, as Shadow was known then, couldn't do it and ran away.]]
* IronicEcho: More evident in the GBA translation, in which Edgar claims that Shadow would kill his best friend for the right price. As mentioned above, however, he couldn't.
* IWorkAlone: After the Fire incident in Thamasa, Shadow tells the rest of the party that he will look for the espers by his own way.
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: If you leave on the Floating Continent]].
* [[spoiler:LostForever: In conjunction with the previous trope]].
* MercyKill: [[spoiler: Shadow, back when he was Clyde the train robber, chickened out of mercy killing a wounded comrade. He never forgives himself for it.]]
* MoralityPet: Shadow's devotion to his dog Interceptor is one of the chief things that humanizes him.
* [[spoiler:NoOneGetsLeftBehind: The subject of this on the Floating Continent]].
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: [[spoiler: His real name is Clyde. Shadow was originally the name for him and his partner as a group. By taking the name Shadow, he's making sure he doesn't forget his past.]]
* ShooTheDog: [[spoiler: He doesn't want to drag Interceptor into his [[NeverFoundTheBody personal]] GainaxEnding.]]
* TheStoic: Shadow hardly says anything during the game and very rarely, if ever, shows any emotion.
-->'''Shadow:''' "There are people in this world who have chosen to kill their own emotions. Remember that."
* StoicWoobie: Admit it, Shadow is a walking TearJerker.
* WildCard

!!Strago/Stragus Magus
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Strago_Magus_menu.png]]
->"An elderly gentleman, pure of heart, and learned in the ways of monsters..."

* BadassGrandpa
* CharacterAlignment: NeutralGood
* EliteTweak: Having problems learning some Lores? Use other's characters' abilities to make the process easier. Strago can naturally learn most spells, including Ultima, after seeing others in the party use them.
* MegaManning: as a Blue Mage, merely has to see a compatible monster skill happen in order to learn it for himself, no matter who the target was. There were also few glitches in the Lores in the SNES original, such as Setzer's 7-7-7 Joker Doom teaching Strago L5 Doom.
** This can get somewhat meta, as there are several instances in which the easiest way to learn a monster skill is to have Gau learn how to imitate the monster that uses it and then using it with Strago in the party, thereby using MegaManning to activate another character's MegaManning.
* MiniatureSeniorCitizens
* RobeAndWizardHat: except for the hat (as far as sprites are concerned).


!!Relm Arrowny
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Relm_Arrowny_menu.png]]
->"In her pictures she captures everything: forests, water, light, the very essence of life..."

* ArtInitiatesLife: Her Sketch ability - she will draw the copy of the enemy to attack other enemies.
* [[LittleMissBadass Little Miss]]BadassAdorable (she's a cute little girl who can paint a portrait of you that kicks your ass!)
* BrattyHalfPint
* TheBumblebee
* CharacterAlignment: ChaoticGood
* [[spoiler: CanineCompanion: If Shadow dies, Interceptor will protect Relm instead (In plot; [[GameplayAndStorySegregation short of a bug, Interceptor only protects Shadow in battle]]).]]
* [=~Everything's Louder With Bagpipes~=]: Her theme has this in the official remakes.
* [[spoiler: FlashbackNightmare: If Shadow dies on the FloatingContinent, you will not find Shadow in the Cave on the Veldt, but instead Relm, who will have a dream of her own that ties in to Shadow's five FlashbackNightmare scenes, finally firmly establishing Clyde as her DisappearedDad. But without SaveScumming (just before choosing whether to let Shadow live or die on the FloatingContinent), Shadow's fifth dream and Relm's dream cannot both be viewed within the same playthrough of the game.]]
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Painting brushes.
* TheJailBaitWait: Joked with by Edgar.
* KidWithTheRemoteControl: The Fake Moustache relic allows her to control monsters.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: Hmm... interesting that Shadow can equip Relm's memento of her late mother... and she actually gets along with Interceptor...]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Relm's mother is said to be dead in the inventory description of her [=~Orphan's Plot Trinket~=], her father, on the other hand, is never directly mentioned. Indirectly [[spoiler:there's a million and one hints that he's Shadow.]]
** [[spoiler:The developers confirmed this in an interview. There was going to be a scene between Strago and Shadow confirming his relationship to Relm but it was dropped.]]
* ThePenIsMightier: Statistically not, but what she draws with it is possibly mightier depending on the subject.
* PuppetMaster
* RaisedByGrandparents
* TagAlongKid
* {{Whatevermancy}}: In the Japanese and GBA version, Relm is a "[[ArtInitiatesLife Pictomancer]]".

!!Gau
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gau_menu.png]]
->"Draped in monster hides, eyes shining with intelligence, a youth surviving against all odds..."

* {{Badass}}: Being able to survive in a fierce wilderness and kick the ass of monsters bigger than you since you were barely old enough to walk should qualify anyone as this.
* BareYourMidriff
* TheBerserker: When Rage is initiated, although unlike the Berserker status in the series, he has a 50-50 chance of either physically attacking, or using the special move related to the specific "Rage" he's using.
* CloudCuckooLander
* CuteShotaroBoy
* DeathByChildbirth: The reason his father went mad and abandoned him on the Veldt.
* DiscOneNuke: Several of Gau's rages use abilities for free that are ordinarily not available until later - for example, using Rhinox allows you to use Reraise, for no MP cost, in the World of Balance.
* DittoFighter
* FairyBattle: This is how Sabin and Cyan recruit him.
* GoodBadBugs: "Wind God Gau" in the original SNES version. That is all.
* HulkSpeak
* InsistentTerminology: MR. THOU!
* MakeoverMontage
* MegaManning: His Rages; one for almost every enemy in the game.
* ParentalAbandonment
* RaisedByWolves
* WildChild: Deconstructed, as the game actually looks into the rather terrible circumstances that would produce one.

** Shifts towards ChaoticGood later in the game [[spoiler: when he rejoins you in the World Of Ruin]]

* {{Badass}} (Being able to survive in a fierce wilderness since you were barely old enough to walk and kicking the ass of monsters bigger than you since should qualify anyone as this)

** Sometimes he'll even throw himself.[[hottip:* :Yeah, you could rationalize it as him ''charging'' the enemy, but where's the fun in that?]]

* [[spoiler: General Leo is KilledOffForReal, despite what any UrbanLegendofZelda might say.]]

* [[spoiler: RedemptionEqualsDeath: General Leo's Death fighting Kefka redeems him as a good and worthy man to the heroes, but of course, he dies in the battle.]]

** To Terra - Kefka believes life is worthless hope and love are insignificant, Terra comes to believe in ThePowerOfLove and believes in hope. Kefka has artificial magic, Terra has natural magic. Kefka has a tendency to lose control, Terra's CharacterDevelopment is learning control.
** To Celes - Both are Imperial generals, both are Magitek Knights raised in the Empire. Kefka loves ruthless destruction, Celes abandons the Empire when it becomes too much for her. Kefka values power, Celes eventually decides she wants nothing to do with it.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: He's not very popular in Japan, but the lines given to him in the[[WoolseyIsm English translations]] made him ''very'' popular in English-speaking countries.

** Before the start of the game, he had put a ''[[MindControlDevice Slave Crown]]'' on Terra, effectively berieving her of her own free will, and then he ordered her to [[BadBoss slaughter his own troops.]]
** His second non-flashback appearance involves him [[spoiler: breaking the siege of Doma by poisoning the water supply... killing both the inhabitants of Doma and the sieging soldiers]].
** At one point in the game he orders his troops to burn down a civilian village ([[spoiler:inhabited by mages, true, but they were civilians none the less]]) and kills the potential DefectorFromDecadence while he's at it.
** ApocalypseHow. Sure, lots of villains try to destroy the world, and certainly a lot of ''Final Fantasy'' villains want to as well. But few, if any, have come as close as Kefka did.

* ThisCannotBe: His reaction of the his [[TheWorfBarrage Worf Barrage]].

* CharacterAllignment: First LawfulGood, then later NeutralGood.

* CharacterAllignment: NeutralGood

* CharacterAllignment: TrueNeutral: The only reason he joins the party is because it has been so long since he's done anything. He decides that since the party is planning to save the world, then he will too. He would have just as easily joined Kefka or the empire if they had found him first.

* ShooTheDog: [[spoiler: He doesn't want to drag Interceptor into his suicide.]]

* [[spoiler:DisappearedDad: It is strongly suggested that he is Relm's missing father.]]

!!Shadow
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shadow_(Final_Fantasy_VI)_menu.png]]
->"He owes allegiance to no one, and will do anything for money. He comes and goes like the wind..."

* {{Badass}} {{Ninja}}: Including many of the abilities that usually come along with that class in the series, such as throwing weapons.
* [[ABoyAndHisX A Man And His Dog]]: With Interceptor.
* BloodKnight: The reason for this isn't revealed until much later, and then only to the player.
* CanineCompanion: Interceptor.
* CharacterAlignment: ChaoticNeutral
* CounterAttack: Interceptor will occasionally block and counter attacks from enemies.
* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler: It's the only way for him to atone for the spoiler mentioned in MercyKill below.]]
* [[spoiler:DisappearedDad: It is strongly suggested that he is Relm's missing father.]]
* TheDrifter: In the World of Balance, sans the Floating Continent, Shadow can leave the party at random intervals.
* FlashbackNightmare: Shadow is haunted by his inability to put his friend, Baram, out of his misery.
* GameBreakingBug: "Interceptor" is considered a permanent status effect for Shadow, and unfortunately, this makes it vulnerable to the infamous Rippler glitch. If an enemy snatches up Shadow's status and is then killed, kiss his beloved pooch good-bye outside of story sequences.
* GuestStarPartyMember: He'll join your party at a few points throughout the first half of the game, but will decide to leave either through random chance after an enemy encounter (technically, once you've acquired a certain amount of Gil from battles), or at designated points in the plot. (He signs up permanently later on though.)
* ICannotSelfTerminate: [[spoiler: Was asked by his friend, Baram, to kill him, since he couldn't do it himself because of his mortal wounds. Clyde, as Shadow was known then, couldn't do it and ran away.]]
* IronicEcho: More evident in the GBA translation, in which Edgar claims that Shadow would kill his best friend for the right price. As mentioned above, however, he couldn't.
* IWorkAlone: After the Fire incident in Thamasa, Shadow tells the rest of the party that he will look for the espers by his own way.
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: If you leave on the Floating Continent]].
* [[spoiler:LostForever: In conjunction with the previous trope]].
* MercyKill: [[spoiler: Shadow, back when he was Clyde the train robber, chickened out of mercy killing a wounded comrade. He never forgives himself for it.]]
* MoralityPet: Shadow's devotion to his dog Interceptor is one of the chief things that humanizes him.
* [[spoiler:NoOneGetsLeftBehind: The subject of this on the Floating Continent]].
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: [[spoiler: His real name is Clyde. Shadow was originally the name for him and his partner as a group. By taking the name Shadow, he's making sure he doesn't forget his past.]]
* ShooTheDog: [[spoiler: He doesn't want to drag Interceptor into his suicide.]]
* TheStoic: Shadow hardly says anything during the game and very rarely, if ever, shows any emotion.
-->'''Shadow:''' "There are people in this world who have chosen to kill their own emotions. Remember that."
* WildCard

!!Cyan/Cayenne Garamonde
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cyan_Garamonde_menu.png]]
->"Faithful retainer to his family's liege, with the courage and strength of a hundred men..."

* BadassGrandpa [[spoiler: This man had the sheer balls to take on the whole Imperial Army at Doma.....AND WAS WINNING!]]
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler: Spending a night at the abandoned Doma castle in the World of Ruin triggers this as a sidequest.]]
* CharacterAlignment: LawfulGood
* CoolOldGuy: He's 50.
* CounterAttack: One of his Sword Techs.
* CrutchCharacter: Borderline Example - his later Sword Techs/Bushido requires very long waiting, leaving the party at enemy's mercy. This can be avoided by making Cyan go last, and by the time other party members finished their attacks, Cyan is ready to kickass, and since VI is the starting point in a series when attacks have [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation noticeably longer animations]]...
** You still have to delay your whole team in order to make him go last, though, and you'll still usually be slowing your team down if you go after the high-level Bushidos.
* [[DeadLittleSister Dead Family]]
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Writes letters and sends flowers to the girlfriend of the dead soldier he met in Mobliz to make her happy.
* DoomedHometown: He's one of the few survivors after [[MonsterClown Kefka]] poisons Doma's water supply.
* FailureKnight: Everyone in Doma Castle, even his wife and child, die when Kefka poisons the river.
* JapaneseHonorifics: He speaks using lingo reserved for samurai, including heavy use of "de gozaru", in the original script.
* OldRetainer
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The death of his wife and son sends him into one, as he charges toward the Imperial camp.
* {{Samurai}}
* ShellShockedSenior
* SingleStrokeBattle: His ultimate Sword Technique.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: About his aversion to machines.
* {{Unfunny}}
* WalkingTechbane: He is NOT good with machines. He ''tries'' to learn more about how to use them over the course of the game though.
* TheWoobie: The poor guy's family died right in front of his eyes and he tortures himself over it.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Cyan's dialogue, originally written in what is sometimes called the "samurai dialect" of Japanese, extensively uses "thee" and "thou." Other characters make fun of him for it.

!!Gau
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gau_menu.png]]
->"Draped in monster hides, eyes shining with intelligence, a youth surviving against all odds..."

* {{Badass}} (Being able to survive in a fierce wilderness since you were barely old enough to walk and kicking the ass of monsters bigger than you since should qualify anyone as this)
* BareYourMidriff
* TheBerserker: When Rage is initiated, although unlike the Berserker status in the series, he has a 50-50 chance of either physically attacking, or using the special move related to the specific "Rage" he's using.
* CloudCuckooLander
* CuteShotaroBoy
* DeathByChildbirth: The reason his father went mad and abandoned him on the Veldt.
* DiscOneNuke: Several of Gau's rages use abilities for free that are ordinarily not available until later - for example, using Rhinox allows you to use Reraise, for no MP cost, in the World of Balance.
* DittoFighter
* FairyBattle: This is how Sabin and Cyan recruit him.
* GoodBadBugs: "Wind God Gau" in the original SNES version. That is all.
* HulkSpeak
* InsistentTerminology: MR. THOU!
* MakeoverMontage
* MegaManning: His Rages; one for almost every enemy in the game.
* ParentalAbandonment
* RaisedByWolves
* WildChild: Deconstructed, as the game actually looks into the rather terrible circumstances that would produce one.

!!Strago/Stragus Magus
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Strago_Magus_menu.png]]
->"An elderly gentleman, pure of heart, and learned in the ways of monsters..."

* BadassGrandpa
* CharacterAllignment: NeutralGood
* EliteTweak: Having problems learning some Lores? Use other's characters' abilities to make the process easier. Strago can naturally learn most spells, including Ultima, after seeing others in the party use them.
* MegaManning: as a Blue Mage, merely has to see a compatible monster skill happen in order to learn it for himself, no matter who the target was. There were also few glitches in the Lores in the SNES original, such as Setzer's 7-7-7 Joker Doom teaching Strago L5 Doom.
** This can get somewhat meta, as there are several instances in which the easiest way to learn a monster skill is to have Gau learn how to imitate the monster that uses it and then using it with Strago in the party, thereby using MegaManning to activate another character's MegaManning.
* MiniatureSeniorCitizens
* RobeAndWizardHat: except for the hat (as far as sprites are concerned).


!!Relm Arrowny
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Relm_Arrowny_menu.png]]
->"In her pictures she captures everything: forests, water, light, the very essence of life..."

* ArtInitiatesLife: Her Sketch ability - she will draw the copy of the enemy to attack other enemies.
* [[LittleMissBadass Little Miss]]BadassAdorable (she's a cute little girl who can paint a portrait of you that kicks your ass!)
* BrattyHalfPint
* TheBumblebee
* CharacterAlignment: ChaoticGood
* [[spoiler: CanineCompanion: If Shadow dies, Interceptor will protect Relm instead (In plot; [[GameplayAndStorySegregation short of a bug, Interceptor only protects Shadow in battle]]).]]
* [=~Everything's Louder With Bagpipes~=]: Her theme has this in the official remakes.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Painting brushes.
* TheJailBaitWait: Joked with by Edgar.
* KidWithTheRemoteControl: The Fake Moustache relic allows her to control monsters.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: Hmm... interesting that Shadow can equip Relm's memento of her late mother... and she actually gets along with Interceptor...]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Relm's mother is said to be dead in the inventory description of her [=~Orphan's Plot Trinket~=], her father, on the other hand, is never directly mentioned. Indirectly [[spoiler:there's a million and one hints that he's Shadow.]]
** [[spoiler:The developers confirmed this in an interview. There was going to be a scene between Strago and Shadow confirming his relationship to Relm but it was dropped.]]
* ThePenIsMightier: Statistically not, but what she draws with it is possibly mightier depending on the subject.
* PuppetMaster
* RaisedByGrandparents
* TagAlongKid
* {{Whatevermancy}}: In the Japanese and GBA version, Relm is a "[[ArtInitiatesLife Pictomancer]]".

!!Gogo
[[quoteright:80:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gogo_(Final_Fantasy_VI)_menu.png]]
->"Shrouded in odd clothing, ...is this a man...? ...a woman...? ...or should we ask...?"

* AmbiguousGender
* CharacterAllignment: TrueNeutral: The only reason he joins the party is because it has been so long since he's done anything. He decides that since the party is planning to save the world, then he will too. He would have just as easily joined Kefka or the empire if they had found him first.
* ContinuityNod: To ''FinalFantasyV'' boss Gogo and to the Mimic class in general.
* EpilepticTrees: Practically every theory about Gogo's identity. Some maintain that it's Setzer's lover, Daryl, while others hypothesize that it's deposed Big Bad Emperor Gestahl. Another proposed theory is that it's Democratic also-ran Adlai E. Stevenson, though that theory was created in order to ridicule the constant arguments over the "true" identity. Of course, some people believe that he's the same Gogo as in Final Fantasy V (a ludicrous idea, of course). Naturally, ''FFV'' [[NoExportForYou didn't come out in the US until years after FF6]], which explains the confusion.
* HeroicMime: Literally.
* OptionalPartyMember
* PowersAsPrograms: Gogo can equip almost any other character's special ability (except Terra's Morph), and does need to equip appropriately to use some of them, though.
* SecretCharacter

* BareYourMidrift

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: He's not very popular in Japan, but the lines given to him in the English traslations made him ''very'' popular in English-speaking countries.