Characters / Dragon Quest VIII

A list of characters in Dragon Quest VIII.

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As with many character pages, merely knowing that a trope applies to a character can be a major spoiler. Hiding said spoilers is against the Spoiler Policy, so they will be unmarked.

The Party

The Hero

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (Japanese, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

A member of Trodain's palace guard, and the sole person who survived Trodain's curse unscathed. He has a pet mouse named Munchie. Princess Medea discovered his unconscious self in the woods when they were young and they became best friends. He was taken under the care of the castle at her request and is greatly indebted to King Trode as a result, but he has no recollection of his life before these events.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Yangus calls him "Guv," King Trode calls him "My boy," and in the second new ending in the 3DS version, Jessica starts calling him "Hubby."
• Amnesiac Hero: He doesn't remember anything from before he started to live at Trodain. He is half Dragovian and his memory was wiped to keep their existence a secret.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He was a palace guard before the game began, and his efforts during the game earned him promotion to Captain of that same guard.
• Battle Boomerang: Which can be used to hit all the enemies at once, though the damage is gradually decreased with each enemy struck.
• Canon Name: The instruction manual and promotional screenshots for the PS2 version gave him the name "Eight" and it carried over to his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Argon Heart obtained by helping Prince Charmles complete his Rite of Passage becomes one of these in the good ending for the Hero. Because the hero is actually part of the royal family, and since he successfully completed the trial, he is allowed to marry Princess Medea.
• Choice of Two Weapons: His skill trees include swords, spears, boomerangs, and fisticuffs.
• Chosen One: Averted. Notable in that Dragon Quest games tend to be Chosen One narratives. The Hero in VIII is a part of the story due to sheer coincidence, and his mysterious past is so unrelated to the story that it only gets revealed post-game.
• Combat Medic: He's got the most powerful attacks, and makes an excellent back-up healer to Angelo. He also gets "Omniheal," which heals everyone completely.
• Cursed with Awesome: Literally. As a child, a curse was used to wipe his memories of the Dragovian Sanctuary, which had the side effect of making him immune to any other curses... including the one cast on Trodain.
• Curtains Match the Window: Brown hair, brown eyes.
• Didn't Think This Through: In the Jessica-pursuit ending, the hero still can't accept leaving Medea to marry Charmles, and goes to confront King Clavius with his direct-bloodline heritage as leverage to get him to call it off. That's all well and good, he has the best intentions. The problem is that, being the son of the prior crown prince, he's effectively the heir apparent to the Argonian throne, and unknowingly threatening to create a succession crisis at such a pivotal moment when he's not even intending to marry Medea himself. This is something King Clavius does not hesitate to call him out on. Fortunately, Clavius works the situation out in the end.
• Dragon Knight: Hero's Spear weapon-tree contains many skills that are typically associated with Dragon Knights. At level 70, the Hero is capable of learning "Dragon Soul", a move that actually calls onto the powers of Dragons. Two of the hero's special armors, Metal King Armor and Dragovian Armor even look very similar to the "Dragoon" Armor you'd find from the Final Fantasy series. The reveal of the Hero's true heritage as Half-Human, Half-Dragovian makes him a literal Dragon Knight.
• Elemental Punch: His fists can produce Razor Wind if leveled properly.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Not only did he survive the curse on Castle Trodain unscathed, but he's immune to the "cursed" status effect. He can also remove cursed equipment with no penalty.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Like everyone else, he can fight with his bare hands if the player so chooses.
• Guest Fighter: He's one of the four playable heroes that represent Dragon Quest in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half human, half Dragovian.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The voice acting deals with this by having his teammates generally refer to him by the nickname "Guv," or omitting his name completely (i.e. the text will say "Right [hero's name], my boy," but the voice actor will say "Right, my boy.")
• Heroes Prefer Swords: While he's free to pick up and use any of the above mentioned weapons, he starts the game with a sword, is usually depicted holding it and has a special, very powerful attack that can only be obtained by reaching the maximum level of both "Sword" and "Courage".
• Heroic BSoD: Has a minor one in the new Golden Ending after King Clavius royally chews him out. Angelo even says he "looked ready to throw in the towel."
• Heroic Mime: He has no voice whatsoever, though the game shows him talking several times, with other characters Repeating So the Audience Can Hear. Lampshaded by Red in the ending by calling him the strong, silent type.
• Heroic Spirit: His special skill, "Courage".
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Towards King Trode. Technically, he's the king's retainer, as the only surviving soldier of Dhoulmagus cursing the castle.
• In-Series Nickname: "Guv". (Short for "guv'nor", with both being British slang for "boss".) Mainly used by Yangus; over time, Jessica picks it up, too.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Potentially regarding Medea, who is arranged to be married to Charmles. The Hero is clearly upset about this but does not get in the way if it is what Medea wants. She realizes it isn't.
• Jack of All Stats: He doesn't have the speed or the magic of Jessica, but he has above-average health and attack.
• Lady and Knight: As a member of the palace guard, he is the loyal and brave White Knight to Medea's gentle and compassionate Bright Lady.
• Laser Blade: Gigaslash and its powered up version, Gigagash.
• Magic Knight: More on the Knight side, but he does learn the entire Sizz line of spells.
• Magnetic Hero: While Trode thinks of the party as his retainers, Yangus (and in the 3DS remake, Morrie) joined up for the hero's sake specifically, while Jessica and Angelo joined the group as a whole. This inadvertently makes him the unofficial Leader.
• Official Couple: In the original version of the game, he could potentially end up with Medea at the end of the game. With the 3DS version, he can now end up with either Medea or Jessica.
• One Curse Limit: He's already cursed, and can't be affected by curses from anyone else anywhere in the game, including Dhoulmagus. He's cursed to not remember he was born in the Land of the Dragovians.
• Playing with Fire: Can learn some fire spells.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: Toriyama + First 3-D Dragon Quest = Inevitability. In the PS2 English version, when he reaches maximum tension, he looks almost exactly like a Super Saiyan with purple hair.
• Primary-Color Champion: A red bandana, blue tunic, and a yellow-orange overcoat.
• Razor Wind: The Thin Air special attack.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He doesn't learn until post-game (that is, after saving the world and all) that he's the son of the previous crown prince of Argonia and thus has royal blood.
• Shock and Awe: He's the only party member who can use lightning by powering up his Courage skill set.
• Shout-Out: Maxing out his Tension makes him look like a pink-haired Super Saiyan.
• Standard Hero Reward: He marries Princess Medea in the true ending of the original game, but that had more to do with uncovering his secret legacy.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To his father, which is immediately noticed by his paternal uncle, the king of Argonia.
• Suicide Attack: With the Kamikazee spell, which sacrifices the user to deal heavy damage to enemies.
• Take My Hand!: With Yangus before the game proper begins.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: He's the spitting image of his deceased father Prince Eltrio of Argonia, so much so that King Clavius is startled when he first sees the Hero. Interestingly enough, his mother Xia bares an uncanny resemblance to the Hero's love interest, Princess Medea.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards King Trode and Princess Medea. In the 3DS remake he even dreams about his first meeting with Medea when trapped on Purgatory Island.
• Victorious Childhood Friend: He can potentially marry Medea in one of the endings.

Munchie

The Hero's pet mouse who lives in a pouch at the hero's side. While not seen often, he can provide some amazing support in battle thanks to the many cheeses that can be fed to him.

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• Attack Animal: Feeding Munchie a piece of cheese will prompt him to do something in battle. Many of these cheeses will activate a Breath Weapon.
• Breath Weapon: Feeding Munchie plain or spicy cheeses will prompt him to use fire breath, while feeding him icy cheeses will lead to him breathing frigid breath.
• Combat Medic: Feeding Munchie mild or cured cheese will result in him healing the party to a lesser or greater extent. If he's fed a piece of angel cheese, he'll cast Kazing and revive a dead party member.
• Fighting Clown: Munchie isn't very clownish in his own right, but many of the cheeses he can be fed are silly Joke Items — the icy cheeses are frozen solid, for example—and his Breath Weapons can be explained as him being a Fire-Breathing Diner.
• Foreshadowing: All of Munchie's attacks are Breath Weapons, and his default attack, used when feeding him plain cheese, is fire breath in particular. Unusually draconic for a mouse.
• Killer Rabbit: Munchie is a cute little rodent who will roast your enemies alive if you feed him the right food.
• Loyal Animal Companion: The Hero of the game has been accompanied by Munchie for his entire life, about two decades now.
• Mons: Dragon Quest Monsters titles for the Nintendo 3DS (and Joker 2 Professional for the DS) include Munchie among their available monsters, albeit as a very rare SS-Rank.
• Non-Human Sidekick: A tiny mouse that fits in the hero's pocket.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Munchie will unleash powerful attacks and spells when fed the right cheese.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: A tiny little pet mouse totally loyal to the Hero.
• Team Pet: Though he doesn't show as often as most pets do. However, you can see his head poking out of the hero's coat pocket.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Cheese! Every variety of cheese in VIII is described as, "One of Munchie's favourites."
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: The Hero is an unusual person, and Munchie is an unusual pet, but what makes them so unusual and what they have to do with each other aren't explored until the post-game.
  • Munchie's quite long-lived for a mouse.
  • Munchie's got a cute little mohawk that most mice don't have.
  • Munchie's a Pintsized Powerhouse Killer Rabbit who converts cheese into power.
• Walking Spoiler: He's mostly there for Rule of Cute during 99% of the game, but as his cheese eating implies, there's more to him than meets the eye. Munchie plays a big part in the post-game content.

Yangus

Voiced by: Ricky Grover (English), Fumihiko Tachiki (Japanese)

Originally a bandit from the town of Pickham, since trying to reform after the Hero saved his life.

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• Acrofatic: He's rather agile for a guy his size and weight.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Gets on his knees to plead with Red after she claims she's keeping the party's horse and carriage after all. Turns out she just wanted to see his reaction.
• Anti-Hero: Type II — a brash bandit who's doing good out of a sense of respect for someone truly heroic.
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Being the party's Magically Inept Fighter, although he is able to use some healing spells, they are situational at best, and a former bandit; he unsurprisingly uses axes, clubs/hammers and his fisticuffs are the best amongst the party. That being said, until the 3DS release he was a Master of None as his skills were rather lackluster compared to the others. And even then, Morrie tends to outshine him in being a Critical Hit Class.
• Badass Normal: He doesn't have the versatility and draconic legacy of the Hero and possesses the least magical ability of the core four party members. He just hits really, really hard to make up for it.
• The Big Guy: The slowest and the strongest of the traveling adventurers, as well as using the heaviest weapons.
• Boisterous Bruiser: His weapon of choice during a pub brawl? A chair. With another patron still sitting in it.
• Carry a Big Stick: His second choice, which includes hammers.
• Catchphrase: "COR BLIMEY!" An expression of mock surprise whenever Trode appears in a scene out of nowhere.
• Character Development: From ridiculous, unsuccessful bandit to honorable, big-hearted hero.
• Choice of Two Weapons: His skill trees include axes, hammers, scythes, and fisticuffs. Aside from those, he can also equip himself with flails that don't get a boost from any of his skills.
• Combat Medic: Eventually learns some healing magic, but not nearly as powerful as the Hero's or Angelo's. Except Kerplunk.
• Delusions of Eloquence: Played with. Yangus occasionally tries to show off by calling on turns of phrase he's heard educated people use — probably Brains, his friend from Pickham — but while he almost always mispronounces them, he never actually misuses them.
• Epic Flail: Two skippable weapons (one is obtained by visiting Red late in the game and the other one is the prize for gathering enough mini medals): they're both quite damaging and can hit multiple enemies, but they don't have a skill set.
• Face of a Thug: The main reason why his first attempt at reforming failed is he looks scary.
• Gentle Giant: Despite his rugged appearance, he's quite sensitive and is often hit the hardest by the various Tear Jerkers and Player Punches the team encounters.
  • Encountered in one of his skills: Humanity.
  • He's even this towards Trode, besides their bickering. When Trode is starting to feel really down in the dumps about always being stuck waiting outside of town, Yangus is the one who suggests going to Pickham so Trode can at least get a drink somewhere and have SOME measure of dignity.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: As strong as he is, his fists are good weapons.
• Heroic Sacrifice: His "Kerplunk" spell, the most powerful healing ability in the game, completely revives and heals all other party members... at the cost of all of his HP and MP.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Best buds with the Hero. Yangus thinks so, at least, ever since he was saved by him.
• Honor Before Reason: During the hunt for the orbs of the seven sages, if you consult with him in Arcadia, he wonders if maybe they should get Dominico to get them a summoning spell... but then thinks Empyrea might get mad at them for "cheating" and decides against it.
• How We Got Here: The game begins with him already traveling with the guv; he later recounts how they met to Jessica in a Flashback.
• I Owe You My Life: The reason he travels with the party is because the hero saved his life, even after he tried to rob them.
• Infinity -1 Sword: The Flail of Fury, which can be obtained by visiting Red's home during the final act of the game. This weapon has a greater attack value than any other weapon he can equip besides the Infinity +1 Sword in each of his weapon categories.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: In the original release, Yangus is a Master of None and doesn't stand out as well as the others, but he has two niches he can occupy — if the player develops his scythe skillset, he can help harvest any Random Drops or Rare Random Drop monsters have by stealing from them, or if the player develops his axes, he can gain Critical Hit skills that help get around monsters with high defense—and where Metal Slimes are concerned, a Critical Hit is a One-Hit Kill.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Downplayed. While he can use magic, he's the only character who doesn't learn any spells by leveling up, and he has the smallest MP pool. He mostly learns a few support spells from his Humanity tree, but maxing out his Scythes tree will teach him a powerful explosive spell called Big Banga.
• Master of None:
  • He looks like he should be a Mighty Glacier, with a build that suggests Stout Strength and proficiency with axes. He's certainly slow enough, but his damage output is average at best and pales next to Jessica's spells and whips, Angelo's bows and arrows, and the Hero's swords or spears.
  • He can get a few healing spells if you put points into Humanity, but his healing potential is limited by a small MP pool, and unlike the Hero and Angelo he never gets any way to regain magic points or mitigate casting costs.
  • He can wear some of the best armor in the game and has a massive HP pool, which qualifies him as a Stone Wall, but since there's no way for him to Draw Aggro he can't really tank for squishier party members.
  • Early in the game he's useful in boss fights as a debuffer, although Jessica can do that as well or better.
  • In the late game, he's mostly useful to hold on to a Sage's Stone, Rune Staff, and Resurrection Staff and act as a secondary buffer and healer, not so much because he's particularly good at it as because he's the only party member with nothing better to do.
  • This is averted in the remake where Yangus gets a significant strength boost starting at level 21. He will eventually end up with the highest strength among the playable characters, making him a Mighty Glacier.
• My Greatest Failure: He admits he's no saint, readily enough, but if there's one thing that makes him feel guilty, it's his failure to get Red the Venus' Tear like he promised years ago.
• Odd Friendship: With King Trode. Yangus calls Trode "granddad" and Trode thinks of Yangus as a smelly brute, but they've got each other's backs. Yangus's ultimate ability in his "Humanity" skill tree even calls on Trode for help.
• Perma-Stubble: Yangus is perennially unshaven, but never with an actual beard.
• Reformed, but Rejected: His first attempts at reforming fell flat because nobody was willing to give him a chance... until he met the Hero.
• Running Gag: His reaction to Trode's skill at the Stealth Hi/Bye maneuver is "COR BLIMEY!". This is lampshaded when he starts to react once, then stops and states he's gotten sick of that old gag by the time the party reaches Tyran Gully.
• Ship Tease: With Red.
  • There is, of course, his old unfulfilled promise to get her the romantically-named Venus Tear.
  • In the second phase of the Heavenly Dais, Yangus is sufficiently intimidated by the fact that the whole zone is free-floating in midair. Not the kind of place he'd pick for a stroll with Re- er, nevermind.
• Sinister Scythe: Some of the most powerful ones though looks more like polearms or even billhooks. Boost his scythe skills to allow Yangus to do some Video Game Stealing.
• Stout Strength: The heaviest hitter, he's also the shortest and the fattest.
• Undying Loyalty: Yangus has been absolutely devoted to the Guv since his life was saved, like some butler with a battle-axe. He gets down on hands and knees to beg Red to return a certain horse and cart for the Guv's sake, and is outrage over the fact that someone would dare to put the Guv in prison.
• Video Game Stealing: At about 1/4th the item's drop rate, meaning a 1/16 chance becomes 1/64. Upgrades to 1/2 chance.
• "X" Marks the Hero: The X-shaped scar on his cheek is most likely an emblem of banditry but he's a hero now.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Downplayed. In one of the consultations you can have partway through the Arcadia chapter, Yangus confesses sorrow that he misjudged Dominico — he'd been hoping the magician would have a change of heart and be a better person if the party gathered the Kran Spinels for him like Yangus had a Heel–Face Turn after the Hero saved his life. Angelo interrupts and suggests perhaps Yangus always had his heart of gold; Dominico is an entirely different type of person. As a matter of fact, Dominico does reform, but at a much higher cost than Yangus anticipated.

Jessica Albert

Voiced by: Emma Ferguson (English, PS2), Jaimi Barbakoff (English, 3DS), Ayana Taketatsu (Japanese)

A magician from Alexandria who is from a long line of nobles and joins up with the party after Dhoulmagus kills her older brother, Alistair. Hot-tempered and sharp-tongued, but a capable spellcaster with plenty of potential.

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• Action Girl: The only female combatant in the PS2 version, and the person most likely to take charge against an opponent.
• Adaptational Modesty: As a function of the increasing restrictions on video game ratings between the original release and the Updated Re-release for the Nintendo 3DS, Jessica's various outfits in the latter have had modifications that show less skin.
• And I Must Scream: She describes the incident following Dhoulmagus' defeat in which she was subject to Demonic Possession as a long, terrible dream that she couldn't wake up from.
• Arranged Marriage: In a distinct parallel to Princess Medea, Jessica is betrothed to the son of Argonia's chancellor, an effete fop named Lorenzo. While not as abrasive as Prince Charmless himself, Lorenzo takes his wealth and surroundings for granted and nearly everyone considers him to be worthless. (He briefly winds up as an apprentice Stone Mason in Arcadia, a task at which he is no good.)
• Ass Kicks You: Her Hip Drop attack.
• Black Mage: Though she can get a group healing ability at the end of her Sex Appeal skill tree, she mostly sticks to offensive spells and abilities that increase the party's power.
• Black Magician Girl: Jessica. Forceful personality? Check. Action Girl? Check. Offensive caster? Check. However, unlike the typical Black Magician Girl, Jessica has a not-insubstantial physical attack.
• Bathos: When entering the frigid region around Orkutsk, a cutscene will depict Jessica shivering near to death from the cold. The sense of severity can be lessened by equipping her with the Magic Bikini, which leaves her Exposed to the Elements for the whole cutscene.
• Blade Enthusiast: Which can be upgraded to Heroes Prefer Swords with enough training. Some of her knife-skills automatically poisons when attacking.
• Bunny Girl: A Dragon Quest staple, when she has the Bunny Suit, Fishnet Stockings, and Bunny Ears equipped.
• Chainmail Bikini: Many of her alternate outfits qualify, the Magic Bikini in particular. Funnily enough, you can get the bikini right before you get to the snow-covered region of the game.
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: If you equip her with one of her outfits while she's in the overworld, she'll fade out and back in to existence in the new outfit.
• Choice of Two Weapons: Her skill trees include Knives, Whips, staffs, and fisticuffs with the former skill tree allowing her to wield swords once 30 points are invested into it.
• Cool Big Sis: To Bangerz and Mash, the young boys of her village. The feeling seems to be mutual.
• Curtains Match the Window: She has vivid red hair and red eyes.
• Cute Witch: Played up with the Hexlet costume in the 3DS version, which looks like a modern Halloween costume.
• D-Cup Distress: Gets frustrated when King Clavius uses her Ms. Fanservice status to motivate Prince Charmles. (Ironically enough, she's being used as a stand-in for Medea, who's actually quite petite).
• Deadpan Snarker: Unlike the Hero or Yangus, she's not afraid to snark to people she meets, but mostly to Angelo, who is not above snarking back himself.
• Demonic Possession: She is possessed by Rhapthorne's sceptre at one point.
• Distracted by the Sexy: As her "sex appeal" stat rises, enemies have a random chance of losing a turn by gazing in admiration. The skill also allows her to learn abilities which can produce the same effect.
• Dude Magnet: Many NPCs are attracted to her including Angelo and even Hero, and her sex appeal can even distract enemies. On top of all that she's probably one of the (if not the) most attractive females in the Dragon Quest universe according to fans, to the degree that her ability to attract men is a running gag in other materials.
• Establishing Character Moment: Powering up a fireball to launch at the hero's head, then breaking down into tears when she hears her brother's voice.
• Evil Makeover: Possessed Jessica sports an unhealthy greenish skin and a perpetual grimace coupled with a Death Glare, not to mention that her voice becomes a croaky Voice of the Legion.
• Fiery Redhead: Literally. She is a spirited red-headed girl whose default spells involve fire.
• Flunky Boss: Constantly summons black shadows during her boss battle to fight for her.
• Full Set Bonus: Downplayed. Some of Jessica's outfits require more than one piece — you can equip her with the Bunny Suit, but she won't become a full Bunny Girl unless she's wearing the Bunny Ears and the Fishnet Stockings, for example.
• Girlish Pigtails: Despite all her possible costume changes, her hairstyle never changes, unless you choose to marry her in the alternate ending of the 3DS version, where it briefly changes to a formal bun.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Like everyone else, she can punch enemies even if she has a daintier frame than them.
• Having a Blast: Jessica dominates the Bang-family class of explosive spells.
• Hot Witch: She can use her sex appeal stat to perform magic-like techniques in battle. It's even exploited by King Clavius, trying to motivate his son.
• An Ice Person: Can learn how to cast ice spells.
• I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Several of her Sex Appeal skills allows her to cast status effects on the enemy. The Sexy Beam in particular allows her to make an enemy into an ally.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: There's a scene that highlights her figure. I.e. VA VA VOOM!
• Impossibly-Low Neckline: Her standard outfit shows a lot of cleave with its low cut. Her other outfits tend to avoid this altogether, but generally shows more of her legs.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: When she first joins the party Jessica is all but blind to the implications of her body type, and is ignorant of the effect of her cleavage when she belatedly introduces herself with a deep bow in her strapless, low-cut Adventurer Outfit. Depending on whether the player invests in her Sex Appeal skill, she will either remain this way or become a Shameless Fanservice Girl over time.
• Jiggle Physics: When she casts magic, they bounce. Or just by doing as much as turning around, taking a step or picking up something.
• Kill It with Fire: The Frizz and Sizz line of spells are fire based.
• Kill It with Ice: The Crack line of spells are ice based.
• Lady of Black Magic: Despite her reputation for hot-headedness, Jessica is actually quite mature and level-headed when not actively grieving her brother's death, or dealing with her Proper Lady mother.
• Leotard of Power: The Divine Bustier is a potent armor.
• Magic Dance: Upon reaching the highest level of Sex Appeal, she can do a special dance while holding slime-shaped maracas. It seems nonsensical at first, but it heals about 100 HP to each member and costs no MP.
• Magic Idol Singer: In the 3DS version, the Nitid Tutu makes Jessica look like one, complete with a headset.
• Magic Knight: If you chose to equip her with daggers and then swords then she can use them alongside her magic.
• Magic Staff: She's a mage by default, after all, so she is good with magic staves
• Male Gaze: Used hilariously when the King of Argonia tries to persuade Prince Charmles to marry Medea. VA VA VOOM! This is much to Jessica's embarrassment.
• Marshmallow Hell: Weaponized by her "Puff Puff", though it fails to work on certain enemies, especially the female ones, obviously.
• Monster Arena: While initially dubious of Morrie and his Monstrous Pit, Jessica soon gets in the swing of things — by the time you win Rank S, she's such a fan that, in a 3DS Consultation, she considers finding a place to live nearby.
• Ms. Fanservice: Jessica is the franchise's first real sex symbol since Maya of Dragon Quest IV. Much advertising for the game was devoted to the fact that Jessica was Virtual Paper Doll—with a sole, hidden exception in the hero's Dragovian gear, Jessica alone was given numerous Palette Swaps, nearly all featuring her in one of a variety of sexy costumes.
• Naïve Newcomer: Jessica is a headstrong Spirited Young Lady, but despite her good intentions, she starts out well in over her head.
  • When Jessica first meets The Hero and Yangus, she asks them to wait a while, quite convinced that she'll be able to go running off after Dhoulmagus, kill him in Revenge, and be back in Alexandria without unduly delaying the boys.
  • Jessica is an Innocent Fanservice Girl who has little concept of how impractical her Adventurer Outfit is or the effect of her physique on men. As a matter of fact, her sex appeal skill starts at zero.
  • When the ghost of Captain Crow appears, she wonders if fighting him to take his treasure counts as armed robbery.
• Of Corsets Sexy: Dangerous Bustier and Divine Bustier include corsets for the fan service.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: A special event in Dragon Quest XI features Jessica who's behaving like a blissfully placid proper lady. Her own mother asks the heroes to find a book to give her back her aggressive and rebellious personality.
• Palette Swap: One of the big features of Dragon Quest VIII when it released was that Jessica could wear multiple outfits depending on her equipment choices. Most of these options were blatant Fanservice, but Jessica could also wear the more modest outfit she sported when she first entered the story.
• Petal Power: Her Pink Typhoon ability, which blasts foes with a tornado of cherry blossom petals.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: Her interactions with Angelo whenever he is being lecherous is a swift smack or fireball.
• Pink Is Erotic: Most of Jessica's Sex Appeal skills involve displays of pink light; her ultimate attack in this skillset is Pink Typhoon.
• Playboy Bunny: One of her outfits, which is a Dragon Quest staple, of course. The remake removes the overt similarities to true Playboy Bunnies and makes it into more of a black two-piece with rabbit ears.
• Playing with Fire: The first thing she does upon seeing the Hero and mistaking him for Alistair's killer? Shoot fireballs at him.
• Promoted to Love Interest: In the 3DS version, there is a new alternate ending where she and the hero get married. This was done because a lot of male players wanted the option to marry the game's Ms. Fanservice.
• Rebellious Princess: Although in Jessica's case, her idea of rebelling is going off to avenge her dead brother rather than be a proper lady.
• Recurring Element: Jessica is the franchise's third straight instance of a redheaded, knife- and whip-wielding female mage with a penchant for Playing with Fire or Having a Blast, after Ashlynn and Maribel. (If you want to get technical, the female Mage of Dragon Quest III also fits the bill).
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Not a princess, but her house is one degree away from royalty, thus making her a Noblewoman Who Actually Does Something.
• Sarcasm Mode: She "thanks" her mum for giving her such a great life after she's disowned and storms out of the mansion.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: She refuses to stay home and do nothing because tradition dictates it. She takes the first chance she gets to go out and avenge her brother.
• Second Love: Potentially becomes one to the hero in the 3DS update. There's added Relationship Values events between the two and, if all completed, she can be married in the ending instead of Medea.
• She-Fu: Jessica's Fisticuffs techniques are very elegant and acrobatic.
• The Smurfette Principle: Well, besides Medea, but she's the only female party member (and Medea spends the game as a horse). It's averted in the 3DS remake when Red joins the party.
• So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear: Averted when she's possessed by the sceptre. She only carries the sceptre with her and all her clothing and equipment will stay with the main party.
• Sphere of Destruction: The Magic Burst spell.
• Squishy Wizard: She can wipe out whole enemies with her spells and can dish out decent damage, but she's not very resistant to damage herself.
• Stripperific: Most of her special outfits show a lot of skin.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Her Bang-family class of spells.
• Time to Unlock More True Potential: Dominico unlocks her potential to use Kasizzle and Kacrackle.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Despite her tomboyish personality, she can be very elegant, is fond of wearing dresses, and uses her femininity for all it's worth.
• Tsundere: Looks like she'll be a full blown tsun-tsun when you first meet, but it's mostly because you've caught her at a really bad time... her default tends to be dere-dere.
• The Unchosen One: Variation; it turns out her bloodline is one of the living seals on Rhapthorne, which is why her brother was killed.
• The Unfavorite: Has a very poor relationship with her mother, to the point that she's disowned upon deciding to join the heroes. If you take her to talk to her mother regularly throughout the main quest, their relationship will start to improve, and by the epilogue, they are mentioned to get along very well.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Unlike Yangus and Angelo, she doesn't express any elation upon their victory over Dhoulmagus, knowing that it wasn't going to bring Alistair back. Barring the brief disappearance she makes from the party afterward, she is nevertheless compelled to carry on the fight against her brother's true murderer, Rhapthorne.
• Whip of Dominance: Played With. Jessica's iconic weapon is her whip but while she's known to use her sex appeal in combat her whip isn't related to those abilities and her personality is more of a tomboyish Fiery Redhead than domineering or sadist. Yet some of the names of her whip skills lampshade the fetish appeal of the weapon (like "Lashings of Love" and "Queen's Thong") and one of her outfits, the "Dangerous Bustier" is a skimpy lacy corset that resembles something a dominatrix might wear.
• Wings Do Nothing: Part of her Divine Bustier outfit are a pair of nonfunctional wings.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: A word-of-mouth contender for this title for sure. The sailors affiliated with her family’s company all consider her the ideal woman, men in Alexandria extol the virtues of her physical form to complete strangers, and she is extolled for her beauty even by the male villagers in Arcadia where she has just tried to assassinate Dominico in her frightening possessed form.

Angelo/Kukuru

Voiced by: Blake Ritson (English), Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese)

A Templar from Maella Abbey, who joins the party under orders to hunt down Dhoulmagus after the jester kills the head abbot.

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• Agent Scully: If it's supernatural or fantastic enough, Angelo is probably going to be the one to doubt it.
• All of the Other Reindeer: The other Templars at the Abbey look down and sneer at Angelo, what with his gambling, womanizing, drinking, etc. However, it's heavily implied that they'd been doing this since way before he started delving into vices because they were following the lead of Marcello, the Abbey's golden boy, and Angelo developed the habits as a means of coping. How noble of them.
• At Least I Admit It: Downplayed; while he never gets especially confrontational about it, it's clear the gambling lech regards the Corrupt Church with some disgust.
• Backstory: Daddy was a philanderer who left behind a huge debt when he died, leaving Angelo with no place to go other than the Abbey. When he got there, the first person he met was Marcello, who welcomed him warmly and comforted him... until learning just who he was, at which point he violently rejected him.
• Battle Butler: The 3DS version gave Angelo a butler suit as one of his alternate costumes and just happens to be one of his most protective pieces of armor.
• Blow You Away: His Woosh-family class of spells.
• The Casanova: Morrie even calls him this.
• Casting a Shadow: Being the healer of the group doesn't stop him from learning instant death spells.
• Changeling Fantasy: Deconstructed. Angelo finds out that he has an older half-brother... who hates him merely for existing, as Marcello was cast out of the house when Angelo was born.
• The Charmer: It's his fricking superpower; his personal skill is Charisma, which (in a pleasant historical pun) grants him enough divine favor to open portals to heaven at its highest level.
• Chivalrous Pervert: He loves to hit on good-looking ladies, particularly Jessica, but his heart's in the right place.
• Choice of Two Weapons: Four weapons.
  • Bow and Sword in Accord: Aside from his standard sword set, he can also wield a bow, his only exclusive weapon.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: with a little more of Royal Rapier, though both the Hero (and possibly Jessica) can wield some of his swords too. He shares some of his techniques with the Hero, though not all of them.
  • Magic Staff: Like Jessica, he can wield staves to improve his MP reserve and learn more spells.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: As a last-resort, he can learn unarmed combat.
• Church Militant: As mentioned above, he's a Templar.
• Coat Cape: A rather dashing red and stylized cape at that.
• Combat Medic: A lot of his abilities revolve around healing. He doesn't get quite as many as the hero, but Angelo learns his healing spells much faster.
• Cruel Mercy: Saves Marcello after his half-brother completely ruined his own career through his own actions.
• Custom Uniform: No other Templar has a uniform like Angelo's. Even though Marcello's uniform is stylistically similar (and in contrasting colors too), it's sewn and tailored completely differently from Angelo's. Hell, most of the Templars seem to have crusader-like outfits from the 1000-1200s, while the white gaiters on Angelo's boots didn't come into fashion until almost the 1900s.
• The Cynic: If you talk to him enough in party chats, you'll notice he tends to be the most negative about the locations the group visits or what the next goal is, especially in places of religious significance. Towards the end, he can even become outright hostile if he feels that the player is wasting time before fighting the final boss.
• Deadpan Snarker: Growing up in a place where everyone seemed to dislike him led him to becoming cynical and snarky.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: He starts out distrustful of the others, but starts warming up to them after revealing his backstory to King Trode, of all people.
• Dirty Old Monk: This is mixed with Sexy Priest and downplayed. Angelo's got quite the local reputation for being the one Knight Templar (which appears to be a religious order of men) with a habit for gambling and flirting.
• Dub Name Change: Kukuru -> Angelo
• Energy Bow: Angelo's "Shining Shot" fires a volley of light arrows at enemies.
• Establishing Character Moment: After cheating at card games, he sips a glass of red wine while a fight breaks out. He quickly dodges the brawl, sneaks Jessica and the Hero out of the bar, then takes the opportunity to flirt with Jessica.
• Foil: Angelo's entire initial sketch as a character is a study in contrast with the Templars as a whole and Marcello in particular. The Templars are rude but obstinate in their duty whereas Angelo is smooth but whiles away his time in sin; the Templars bar the party's path further inside of the abbey while Angelo gives them the means to get in; the Templars wear blue whereas Angelo wears red. (Marcello has relatively short dark hair whereas Angelo's is long and white); the Templars are ostensibly good people but have stark Blood Knight tendencies while Angelo is outwardly a lech but is more a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who legitimately cares for those he likes in his own way.
• Freudian Excuse: He is disobedient and smarmy in large part because he has issues with Marcello.
• Friend to All Children: He was orphaned as a child, and the Abbot took him in. As of the Epilogue, he opens an orphanage for kids in similar situations to help carry on the late Abbot's legacy.
• Handsome Lech: A fairly attractive young man, but also completely shameless in his flirting.
• Hidden Depths: Introduced as a flirtatious pretty boy who doesn't take his station seriously; turns out to have a pretty damn tragic history and to honestly care about the church.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Lightning Storm that lets him call forth bolts from the blue at the end of his Sword skill tree. His "Pearly Gates" skill also blasts enemies with holy light and deals extra damage to zombies.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: For whatever reason, despite using Royal Rapiers and other European swords, Angelo's standard sword attack animation uses iaijutsu despite not being suited for such things. It's only when his new Infinity +1 Sword, the Demonsbane, which actually is a katana does this make a lick of sense.
• Ironic Name: His dub name Angelo would seem to imply a holy, higher-minded sort, but among his knightly brethren, he's the biggest sinner of the bunch.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Angelo is not short of complaints about the journey. Very often, he will complain about the Hero's Chronic Hero Syndrome tendencies and voice out his overall disdain for the most unfortunate situations they are in. Luckily, he's not as bad as Maribel was. Under all the snark, he does have a good heart.
• Katanas Are Just Better: In the 3DS version, Angelo's new ultimate sword, Demonsbane, is a katana.
• Lady Killer In Love: Played with, he spends a good deal of the game hitting on Jessica, but his attraction also doesn't stop him from flirting with other women as well.
• Laser Blade: His penultimate sword, the Shamshir of Light.
• Left-Handed Mirror: to his half-brother Marcello. Played with in that while he tends to shirk his duties and is the most cynical of the party, he's ultimately the more heroic of the two as Marcello is perfectly willing to take advantage of Rhapthorne's sceptre for his own ambitions.
• Magic Knight: Like most Priests in the series, Angelo has a decent selection of weapons and armour and is capable of dealing damage with his spells, as well.
• Male Gaze: In-Universe he subjects Jessica to a full-body one upon meeting her for the first time, much to her dismay.
• Momma's Boy: Averted, even unto the point of accusing sailors who put their faith in the Goddess of being tied to their mother's apron strings.
• Mr. Fanservice: While he doesn't have the revealing outfits like Jessica does, Angelo is a very flirtatious, handsome man with a charismatic side, which attracts the female fans out-of-universe and women in-universe.
• Mr. Vice Guy: A consummate flirt and gambler.
• Mystical White Hair: Quite fitting for a skilled healing mage.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: When the party meets up with Angelo at Maella Abbey he claims to have sense an evil presence around to get the party. This is implied to be a subversion and all he really wanted was a distraction to circumvent Marcello's grounding. Too bad that Dhoulmagus really was around.
• No Guy Wants an Amazon: Not a big fan of "aggressive women", which he (perhaps snarkily) admits made it easier to fight against Jessica during her Demonic Possession.
• One-Hit Kill: As with most playable characters of the Priest class throughout the series, he can learn the Whack-family of instant death spells. Two of his bow skills allow him to do the same, as well.
• Out of Character Is Serious Business: Downplayed. Angelo becomes downright moody when visiting certain holy sites, as it reminds him of his own backstory and the Corrupt Church.
• The Paladin: Essentially fulfills this role, wielding elegant swords like rapiers and learning great healing magic.
• Quick Draw: Some of his attacks, despite being mostly performed with western weapons, are highly reminiscent of iaijutsu.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red compared to his half-brother, Marcello. Angelo is charming, sociable, with a quick wit and a sense of humor compared to his stern and humorless brother. They even have contrasting hair and uniform colours.
• Reused Character Design: Greatly resembles Future Trunks, another character designed by Akira Toriyama.
• Rōnin: After his brother Marcello all but evicts him from the Templars by giving him a "final" assignment to join the party, Angelo is left with no order or master (Trode's egotism notwithstanding). The 3DS remake leans into this by giving him the Oriental Warrior Wear and a new ultimate sword, Demonsbane, which together provide Angelo with a custom Palette Swap.
• The Runt at the End: Marcello and the Knights Templar are introduced, big and brash in their blue uniforms at Maella Abbey — you only later meet smooth-talking Angelo, in his bright red uniform, in a Simpleton pub.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: It becomes apparent during several consultations that Marcello assigning him to the hunt for Dhoulmagus also doubled as a quiet dismissal from the Templars; Angelo is well aware of this though, and actually rather pleased about it — making it clear he intends to return to the world of wine and women afterwards. Then Jessica disappears with Dhoulmagus's staff, he realizes that Abbot Francisco has not truly been avenged, and decides to stick around for the chase.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: The Butler's Best outfit for him in the 3DS version is a black suit with white gloves and it also changes his appearance when he wears it, bringing the trope to mind and accentuating Angelo's role as Mr. Fanservice. It's also very powerful and grants him immunity to a variety of status effects.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • During the epilogue, partially out of drunkenness, he tries to convince the hero to sabotage the Arranged Marriage.
  • In the 3DS version, he considers Yangus and Red to be "our favorite criminal romance", no less. He's frustrated that they're still at the Just Friends phase.
• A Sinister Clue: The only left-handed party member. Considering his status as a templar indulging in sin, it fits the stereotype.
• Status Effects: In addition to his fantastic healing powers, his abilities mostly focus on debuffing enemies and subtly turning the tide of battle.
• White Mage: His primary role, especially in the endgame, is to heal instead of hurt.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: The moment in his Backstory where Marcello welcomes him to the Abbey with a smile and a "Don't worry; we're your family now!", only to take it all back upon realizing who he is.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: Angelo's fully maxed Sword Skill allows him to wield even cursed swords.

Red/Geruda

Voiced by: Morwenna Banks (English), Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese)

An old associate of Yangus. They have quite the history together... Originally she was just an NPC in the PS2 version of the game, but was changed to be a playable character in the 3DS version.

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• Action Girl:
  • Red is able to sail her own ship across the sea into Pirate's Cove to challenge the party to a race for the treasure, but as a thief rather than a fighter, she's more suited to evading monsters than pitched battle. When she goads herself into confronting Captain Crow's ghost for his treasure, she gets Punched Across the Room. As she puts it, fighting isn't "her cuppa tea".
  • Red becomes an Adaptational Badass in the Updated Re-release for the Nintendo 3DS, a function of being Promoted to Playable.
• Adaptational Modesty: Red's bikini bottoms were changed to a pair of Modesty Shorts in the Updated Re-release for the 3DS, one of many Bowdlerizations to keep the game's age rating in the lowest bracket. This design carried over to the spinoff game, Dragon Quest Rivals.
• Affirmative Action Girl: Red being made a playable character in the 3DS version brings the number of female combatants up to two.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Given Yangus is willing to toss aside his pride for her and they wind up Walking the Earth as traders in the ending, he probably has a crush on her and is to shy to admit it.
• The Artful Dodger: Described by Yangus as this, name dropping the trope and while only one henchman is seen in-story, her Fire in the 'Ole skill however shows the rest of her crew.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Red keeps badgering and poking at Yangus—whom she has a huge bee in her bonnet over—but by the time they come into each other's lives again Yangus has become too goodhearted to return fire, which aggravates Red even more, since she has no idea how to deal with it.
• Blade Enthusiast: Her only visible weapon is a small dagger. It's one of her weapons of choice in the remake. Her Blade Cascade ability has her juggling and throwing knives at enemies. Like Jessica, enough skill points allocated into Knives allows her to wield Swords as well.
• Childhood Friend Romance: While Dragon Quest VIII makes it apparent that Red and Yangus had some romantic history, they were both featured as children in the fourth Dragon Quest Mystery Dungeon Gaiden Game, which starred a young Yangus, so their relationship goes back quite a ways. That said, by the time the game starts, things have soured so much between them that not only have they parted ways, they enter the story at the opposite ends of adjacent continents.
• Choice of Two Weapons: The 3DS remake gives Red four (technically three) weapon branches to use including knives (that can later include swords), whips, and fans.
• Combat Hand Fan: Her primary weapon in the 3DS version.
• Combat Medic: While not as proficient as Angelo when it comes to healing, Red does get access to Fullheal from her Roguery skillset and a revive if she uses fans.
• Contrived Coincidence: She comes sailing into the Pirate's Cove right as you begin the dungeon. Coincidence? Morrie thinks not.
• Dance Battler: The special abilities she learns from her Fan skillset are all dances.
• Epic Flail: "Lends" one to Yangus for the final battle if you visit her. But she wants it back!
• Everyone Can See It: By the time she lends Yangus the Flail of Fury, the only member of the party still blind to her feelings for Yangus is Yangus himself.
• Exact Words: Red is first introduced when she comes into possession of a certain horse and cart through the Pickham black market, and only in exchange for the legendary Venus' Tear will she think about returning them to the party. Once you've provided her with the jewel, it turns out she has thought about it... and decided not to. (Although it's also possible she always was going to do it and she just wanted to see how far Yangus would go.)
• Faux Action Girl: In Pirates' Cove. Despite her reputation, she's not nearly as successful an adventurer as the party (she completely misses the switch needed to progress in a supposed "dead end"), but she is quick to capitalize on their progress for her own sake. She also tries to take on Captain Crow with a single, nondescript knife and is promptly knocked unconscious. Given that Captain Crow poses a suitable challenge for the hero and his entire party, this is somewhat understandable. The 3DS remake makes her an Adaptational Badass after she joins the party.
• Foil: To Yangus.
  • Red and Yangus both wear furs, but Red is trimly dressed in a fancy outfit while Yangus' gear is quite shabby.
  • While Red lives near the Wretched Hive of Pickham, she sets herself apart and surrounds herself with comfort and wealth. Before the events of the game, Yangus is homeless and loses his axe—probably the most expensive thing he owned—but has a lot of sentiment for Pickham, which is his hometown.
  • Red is at pains to establish that she's a hard woman, despite how slender she is. Yangus has both an exceptionally large heart and an exceptionally large stomach. This is best seen when Red decides not to give back the party's horse and cart even after being furnished with the Venus' Tear; Yangus responds by begging her on hands and knees to return the horse and cart, not for his sake but for the Hero. Red is shocked by the sight, chastises him for not being a man, and insists she was only doing it for a laugh, anyway.
  • Bonus points for their mechanical differences — she's the Fragile Speedster to his Mighty Glacier.
• Fragile Speedster: She has the highest base speed of any party member, and with training can come close to the Hero for damage output. There's a reason one of her alternate costumes is a ninja.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: In the ending montage, all of the other women are sipping at goblets of wine while she's chugging from a pint of beer.
• I Will Wait for You:
  • Years ago, Yangus promised to venture into a certain dungeon and collect the prized Venus' Tear for her, only to fail and flee. While she certainly wouldn't admit to it in such terms, the fact that Red's price for returning the party's stolen cart and horse is for Yangus to fetch her the same jewel is a direct indication that she's still waiting.
  • When Red gits the Flail of Fury to Yangus at the end of the game before he and the party go off to The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, she makes clear that she considers it a loan and that she expects him to return it to her when all's said and done.
• Iron Lady: She's quite ruthless and demands respect from her male henchmen, but they still love her.
• It Was a Gift: During the final chapter of the game, if the party visits Red, she will give Yangus a personal weapon, the Flail of Fury—she insists that it's a loan and she expects him to bring it back.
• It's All About Me: Consult her in Pickham and she'll reveal her golden rule is "Look out for number one."
• The Lad-ette: Red is no stranger to fighting, drinking, and cursing.
• Lady of War: A little less so than Jessica, but she's still quite feminine, especially when using her fan.
• Outlaw Couple:
  • Before the events of the game, there were serious prospects that Yangus and Red might have become one, but then the Venus Tear incident happened. By the start of the game, their prospects of becoming an outlaw couple have vanished outright, since Yangus has gone straight and fallen in with the guv. Not the prospects of them being a law-abiding couple, however.
  • In a specific bit of Party Chat in the 3DS version, Angelo describes them as the party's "favorite criminal romance".
• Perpetual Frowner: Her default facial expression is a big scowl and the number of times that changes can be counted on one hand.
• Pirate Girl:
  • Red brazenly sails into Pirate's Cove right as the party does and challenges them (read: Yangus) to a race for the treasure.
  • In the 3DS version, one of her costumes gives her the appearance of a pirate captain.
  • Red's ultimate Roguery skill, Fire in the 'Ole, features her commanding her minions to fire ship cannons at the enemy.
• Pretty in Mink: She wears a wrap skirt of brown fur. It looks stylish, but still tough enough to fit her pirate image.
• Pride:
  • Yangus' and the party's arrival in Pickham presents Red with the first opportunity to confront Yangus in years. Rather than go and see Yangus, however, Red obtains their stolen horse and cart, which will force the party (Yangus) to come to her.
  • After challenging the party (Yangus) to a race for the treasure of Captain Crow, Red finds herself confronted with the Captain's ghost. While normally be too smart for a head-on confrontation, once she realizes Yangus is watching, the prospect of losing face in front of him by fleeing the boss and the treasure is so hateful that she goads herself into fighting the captain anyway and is almost killed for her trouble.
  • Earlier in the game, Red is astonished and embarrassed when Yangus makes a Pose of Supplication to beg her for the horse and cart once she threatens to renege on their deal. Red, taken aback by the direction of her Childhood Friend's Character Development, awkwardly tries to jab at his behavior, accusing him of not having enough pride, and claims I Was Just Joking.
• Promoted to Playable: In the 3DS remake, she joins the party after Captain Crow's defeat.
• Razor Wind: She learns the Thin Air attack via Fisticuffs like many of the other characters.
• Reused Character Design: Due to lacking concept art during development, LEVEL-5 chose to use the design of Aishe/Aira as a basis.
• The Rival: Long before Yangus left Pickham, she was this to him... with a little more success, should we say.
• She-Fu: Her fisticuffs techniques are very acrobatic and agile.
• Ship Tease: With Yangus.
  • While she's too Tsundere to admit it, when she enters the story Red is still waiting for Yangus to win the Venus' Tear for her. She wants it so bad, in fact, that the instant she hears Yangus is in nearby Pickham she takes immediate action and seizes the party's cart, which will naturally send them her way. Her price for the horse and cart? The Venus' Tear.
  • Note that, of all the things the jewel could be named, its namesake is the implied grief of a goddess of love.
  • In a 3DS consultation during the last leg of the Dark Citadel, she pulls the hero aside to thank him for being such a good influence on Yangus.
  • She and Yangus enter some kind of partnership together after the Big Bad is defeated. Jessica wonders how they got to such a state — when last she saw them they couldn't "exchange two words without three insults".
  • Red chastises the hero (in the 3DS version) for not keeping in contact with Yangus, even if he is the strong, silent type. She makes a point of harping on how Yangus was so upset when he showed up at the door, afraid the Guv' might've forgotten about him.
• Showgirl Skirt: Her main form of legwear is a long skirt which leaves her entire front bare.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • Red's design is lifted directly from Aishe of Dragon Quest VII. Her association with fans in the 3DS rerelease (and the dancing abilities she gets from that skillset) strengthens the resemblance.
  • In her playable incarnation, she inherits much from the Thief vocation of Dragon Quest III, being able to use its knives, whips, and even some classic skills like Padfoot.
• This Is My Chair: If she's in the party when they return to her cabin, her henchman will be sitting on her chair, Red will chastise him for sitting in it and beat the poor guy senseless.
  Red: You jumped up little... Who gave you permission to sit in my chair, eh? Eh? COS IT WEREN'T BLEEDIN' ME!
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Red is The Lad-ette, but highlights her feminine attributes with her fashion choices. Her use of the fan in 3DS version character art strengthens the girly streak.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: Red wears her hair up in one.
• Tsundere: Red is harsh and bitter by default, but carries a torch for Yangus and slowly but surely becomes less hostile towards him over time. This reaches its ultimate expression when she gives him the Flail of Fury to use for his own protection and then cuts short any sentiment by insisting that it's a loan and that she wants it back.
• Video Game Stealing: Comes with the fact she's of the thief trade.
• Weapon Specialization:
  • Red carries a knife on her hip that is plainly visible in every piece of her character art.
  • In the Updated Re-release for the Nintendo 3DS she still uses knives, but can also use fans, whips, and fisticuffs. In fact, her official art for the 3DS release features her with a fan, as does her art in Dragon Quest Rivals, suggesting that fans are her new primary weapon.
• You're Insane!: In a Consultation following the Prison Island chapter, Red figures she's seen Marcello's true colors.
  Red: Yeah, 'is true, stark ravin' bonkers colours.

Moro "Morrie" Mozzarella

Voiced by: Brian Bowles (English), Joji Nakata (Japanese)

An eccentric fellow who runs a Monster Arena known as the MONSTROUS PIT, along with his assistants Marrie, Merrie, Mirrie, and Murrie.

• Ambiguously Bi: Many of his comments to the Hero are laden with double entendres. Morrie is filled with PASSION for the hero due to his ability with monsters. Even Marrie is shocked at how good of a mood Morrie's been in lately because of him. He really wants to show off his monstrous pit and tells the hero that he won't know the depths of his own passion until he plays with himself. Humorously, one of his boomerang abilities in the 3DS version is called "Swings Both Ways."
• The Beastmaster: He's able to utilize the monsters from his pit, such as being able to summon Sabrecats to maul his enemies.
• Carpet of Virility: His outfit prominently displays his chest hair. He's a type 1 compared to Yangus.
• The Casanova: With some surprising degree of success, considering that he has at least four bunny girls with him in his Monster Arena. Ironically, he also calls Angelo this.
• Chewing the Scenery: Every last bit of his voiced dialogue is ridicolously over-the-top, and that's when he's dialoguing.
• Choice of Two Weapons: Four weapons.
  • Battle Boomerang: He can learn to use Boomerangs, like the Hero. Can hit all enemies at once.
  • Carry a Big Stick: He can use clubs, but with a remarkably different set of moves which makes them closer to Yangus' own Axe skill set.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Again, martial arts as a fourth resort.
  • Wolverine Claws: The only character who can equip them in the 3DS version, though he only equips them in one hand.
• Combat Medic: As a playable character. He has healing abilities and is something of a mix between the Martial Artist and Minstrel classes from Dragon Quest IX.
• Cool Old Guy: Downplayed. Yangus is notably older than the hero, and Morrie was already grown when Yangus and Red were kids.
• Cursed with Awesome: Discussed — Morrie quietly wishes he'd been turned into a monster like Don Toad, because he thinks that it would help him understand the hearts of monsters better. He also thinks that being possessed by Rhapthorne turned Jessica into some kind of The Chosen One, and being chosen is like being special, and being special is like being the best!
• Double Entendre: His speech is thoroughly peppered with them. The fact that he manages the "Monstrous Pit" is just the start.
• Dramatic Wind: His scarf and tunic billow indoors.
• Fighting Clown: Morrie is by far the wackiest teammate in the 3DS version with his Passione and his Gusto, has an entirely eclectic skill-set based around monsters and being Hot-Blooded, and his alternate costume is a jester suit.
• Glass Cannon: The worst vitality in the game, made up for with some of the most powerful single target attacks in the game and the easiest character to reach max tension. He also has roughly the same equipment choices as Angelo, being able to equip robes and lightweight tunics.
• Gratuitous Italian: Morrie uses quite a lot of Italian words in his normal speech and his English voice actor even speaks in an exaggerated Italian accent.
• Hot-Blooded: Morrie's so damn hot and bothered about his Monstrous Pit that his personal space will occasionally explode into flame. These flames actually form the basis of one of his special attacks in the 3DS remake.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: So hotblooded the 'stache meet in the middle! (The technical term is "Friendly Muttonchops").
• Kavorka Man: He's old, he's hairy, and he's an oddball... and yet, he's constantly attended by four beautiful blonde Bunny Girls.
• Large Ham: You need to be able to handle the Passione and the Gusto if you intend to deal with Morrie, yes, you do.
• Luck-Based Mission:
  • The Monster Arena, to an extent. You can pick what sort of monsters to send into the Arena, but you can't control them directly. Also, increasing the Hero's level will also strengthen the monsters he employs (up to a certain point).
  • His ultimate skill Monster Mia summons monsters to assist the party in battle, but which set of monsters is up in the air.
• Malaproper: He often bungles his English idioms, and he gets even more of them in the 3DS remake, resulting in this.
• The Nicknamer: He has nicknames in Italian for all of the main characters: ragazzo (boy) for the hero, signore (sir) for Yangus, bimba (baby) for Jessica, casanova (self-explanatory) for Angelo, rosa rossa (red rose) for Red, and Don Toad for King Trode. After the heroes beat Rank S in the arena, he refers to everyone as champione or championessa, though the words are a slight misspelling from the actual words^note There should be no H's in both Campione and Campionessa.
• Playing with Fire: When Morrie is feeling particularly passionate, flames will appear out of nowhere behind him. It turns out that his passion actually lets him control fire.
• Promoted to Playable: In the 3DS remake, he joins the player party.
• Polyamory: Implied with the bunny girls Marrie, Merrie, Mirrie, and Murrie.
• Razor Wind: His Fisticuffs skill lets him learn the "Thin Air" skill.
• Scarf of Asskicking: And it is always blowing in the wind. Even indoors!
• Shipper on Deck: In the 3DS, recently inspired by an encounter with the godbird Empyrea's hatchling to gush about babies and their Gusto. The thought of babies prompts him almost immediately to think of signore Yangus and the rosa rossa... only for him to catch himself.
• Shout-Out: A mustachioed Italian adventurer who dresses in red and green? Why is that so familiar? (Bonus Points for his Bunny Girls, the "Super Morrie-o Sisters").
• Support Party Member: He definitely fills the role of the team cheerleader, having a number of support abilities such as Oomph and being able to increase another character's Tension (much like Minstrels from Dragon Quest IX).
• Poirot Speak: He tends to pepper his sentences with italian words here and there, usually when calling people by name.
• Uncle Pennybags: He's actually one of the richest men in the world.

King Trode

Voiced by: Jon Glover (English), Hiroshi Iwasaki (Japanese)

The titular "Cursed King" of Trodain, transformed into a green-skinned, troll-like creature by Dhoulmagus. Set out on the titular journey in hopes of tracking the jester down, regaining the sceptre, and restoring his kingdom and his true form.

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• Adipose Rex: While he's also very short, Trode isn't exactly a sylph. As seen in the standard ending he's Acrofatic though.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: While Trode initially comes off as a self-absorbed blowhard, he is actually a man of boundless compassion and surprising wisdom.
• Break the Haughty: A downplayed example. He never really gets very humble despite his experiences, but he at least goes from demanding things to politely asking.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: For all of his wackiness, he proves himself to be a very competent and dedicated ruler.
• Character Development: His time as a monster renders him much more humble as the game goes on. He still thinks very highly of himself and his station, but he no longer looks down upon commoners or his party members. He also becomes less controlling of his precious daughter Medea, eventually letting her make her own marriage decisions.
  • While initially eager to drink from the Mystical Spring and regain his original form, he eventually decides to refrain and leave its use specifically for Medea's benefit alone. He also orders the hero to take Medea to the spring often to make sure she can benefit from it.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Often claims in the tips he gives that his experience is direct. In the finale, he disarms and knock out several polearm-wielding guards while armed with a stick.
• Dirty Old Man: Just look at his comments after equipping Jessica with any of her Battle Bikini. Also, if you equip a piece of the Bunny Girl outfit on Jessica, he practically screams at you to finish getting the rest.
• Doting Parent: King Trode clearly cares more for his daughter than anything else in the world.
• Foil: For all of his faults, King Trode did a much better job with parenting Medea than King Clavius did with Charmles.
• Forced Transformation: Dhoulmagus turned him into a troll as a pun on his name. Though when he's back to human he still looks like a troll.
• Freak Out: He does not deal well with stressors, like being treated like the monster he appears to be or Medea getting horsenapped.
• Gonk: Even in his human form, he's short and troll-like.
• The Good King: As goofy and blustering as he is... and when he's stopped feeling sorry for himself, Trode is repeatedly shown to be a kind, reasonable King who truly wants to save his kingdom. He is also surprisingly open to listening to the thoughts and feelings of others.
• Good Parents: He's a terrific father to Medea, who grew into a well-mannered and gentle young woman under his and his late wife's care. He also is virtually a father to the Hero, and their relationship is more of a father and son than of a king and his vassal. In the best ending, he even becomes Hero's father by marriage, an arrangement he clearly is pleased with.
• Guest-Star Party Member: The player assumes direct control of him any time the party visits Tryan Gully since it's the only town in the game where it's safe enough to walk around freely without being chased out of town or having Medea stolen out from under him.
• Hidden Depths: Starts off seeming shallow, spoiled, and bossy, but reveals other sides of himself over time.
• Honor Before Reason: Not a big fan of running away — in his youth he apparently spent two weeks in a hospital because he had a run-in with monsters he refused to run away from. He'll chastise you for running away from battle too many times.
• Horrible Judge of Character:
  • He first describes Medea's Arranged Marriage as "A match made in heaven," until he actually meets Charmles.
  • He alludes to himself being one when he fell for Dhoulmagus's act that eventually gave him access to steal the scepter.
• Hypocrite: Chastises Rylus posthumously for being a careless master and not being in tune with his servants' feelings, even while considering his own "retainers" to be useful for his own every whim (the only person officially in his retinue is the hero).
• I Gave My Word: Struggles with this regarding Medea's Arranged Marriage once it becomes apparent that it will not be a case of Happily Ever After.
• Item Crafting: He personally manufactures, improves, and manages the Alchemy Pot.
• It's All About Me: King Trode has a colossal narcissistic streak and a certain blindness to the difficulties of others, but he's got a few redeeming qualities, too.
  • Talk to him enough and it'll become apparent that the only member of the party whose suffering he really cares about is his own (and, less often, his daughter's). By the same token, he considers his own opinion to be the decisive one. Bonus points for considering every new addition to the Character-Magnetic Team to be a personal retainer.
  • Trode knows how to take a thing way too far. Consulting with him during the Tryan Gully chapter reveals he considers everyone he's ever spoken to to be a personal retainer. He later claims his life philosophy is to commandeer services from others.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Trode's ego and vanity are second-to-none in the party.
• Nice Guy: While he's very egotistical, Trode is actually courteous to everyone he meets and does his best to support the party throughout the quest.
• Non-Action Guy: Despite being on the party, he never actively participates in battle. He does occasionally get physical when he needs to though, and he proves to be surprisingly capable when he does.
• Old Master: Downplayed, but the little robed troll has plenty of experience in combat and knows enough to manufacture an Alchemy Pot.
• Papa Wolf: He absolutely loves his daughter with all his heart (which is, frankly, one of his few redeeming qualities). He'll throw himself into harm's way if it means keeping Medea out of danger, and when she's been kidnapped, he stops at nothing to find her. Comes to a head in the normal ending when He helps break up Medea's wedding despite the potential political fallout with Argonia, but King Clavius is on his side and he just doesn't know that.
• Reason Before Honor: In the normal ending he says that an agreement made by his grandparents shouldn't dictate what Medea does with her life if she doesn't want to go through with it.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Why is he a ninja? He's insanely good at popping up out of nowhere, startling the heck out of Yangus and the rest.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Medea being a substitute for the Princess of Moonbrooke and King Trode being her father, the latter is one for the late King of Moonbrooke of Dragon Quest II, though he's in a better spot the original, who lost his life and wanders the throne room as a ghost.
• Team Dad:
  • The oldest of the group, which is why Yangus consistently refers to him as "grandad." He listens to Angelo's backstory as a paternal figure, and comforts the hero during his minor Heroic BSoD in the second new ending in the 3DS version.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: His wife is very pretty and it's obvious she is where Medea got her looks from. Trode himself? No comment.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Frequently argues with Yangus, yet comes to respect him enough that the bandit can even learn a team-up move with him.
• What the Hell, Player?: King Trode keeps the Battle Records, and so provides commentary on how you're doing. He'll rake you over the coals if you aren't playing "correctly", such as if you're taking too long to get to the next plot point... or if you're going too quickly.

Princess Medea

^{Medea's true form}

Voiced by: Victoria Shalet (English), Risa Taneda (Japanese)

The princess of Trodain, transformed into a horse by Dhoulmagus on the very brink of her wedding to the Prince of Argonia. She uses this form to its best advantage by pulling the party's wagon.

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• Altar Diplomacy: Averted. While it would certainly tie Argonia and Trodain closer together, Medea's betrothal to Charmles isn't about politics so much as it is an attempt to fulfill an ancient marriage vow by the previous rulers of those kingdoms.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Downplayed. After Rhapthorne is fully released from the scepter, Medea reveals that she considers that marrying Prince Charmless would mean she'd lose the hero, which is a prospect that she hates; she'd rather remain a horse forever and carry the hero around on her back than be wed to her betrothed.
• Apologizes a Lot: She'll apologize any time she feels like she's being selfish, such as asking to be brought to the Mystical Spring every so often. King Trode seconds the request because of how rarely she actually asks for anything, and then redoubles it into an order, just to make sure.
• Arranged Marriage: With Prince Charmless. Naturally, she escapes it either by becoming a Runaway Bride or marrying another Prince of Argonia, which the hero turns out to be.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: She reaches her 18th birthday in the middle of the journey while she's still turned into a horse. She had grass instead of cake.
• Can't Hold Her Liquor: During the ending montage she looks tipsy after what looks like a couple of sips from her goblet of wine.
• Character Development: Princess Medea is the game's central conflict in microcosm, who spends the game being as dutiful as she can... only to encounter Prince Charmless and discover that her Arranged Marriage with him is the most loathsome duty of all. As the game progresses, she wavers more and more, thinking of her miserable grandmother (who couldn't Marry for Love), and how she'd much rather spend the rest of her days Walking the Earth with the hero, even if she has to remain in horse form, and how guilty she feels about his insistence on sticking around (which even King Trode admits is above and beyond the call of duty). Before the Final Boss, she at last resolves to see things through and marry Charmless anyway. Depending on the ending, either she decides not to go through with it and to run away with the Hero, or she goes through with it and is rewarded with the discovery that she gets to marry the hero anyway.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Downplayed. Medea is suggested to have feelings for the hero repeatedly, and they've known each other since they were children.
• Cool Horse: Despite being a princess, she can pull the party's wagon with little trouble.
• Elegant Classical Musician: She's a talented grand pianist. During the epilogue, with the looming prospect of her marriage to Prince Charmless, she's been playing only sad and melancholy songs.
• Establishing Character Moment: When her father is being stoned by angry villagers for his monstrous appearance, she interposes her own body inbetween him and the hurled rocks, while glaring determinedly at his attackers.
• Everyone Can See It: Downplayed; it's a well-known fact at Castle Trodain that she and the hero have been joined at the hip for as long as they've known each other; at least half the staff mention how her Arranged Marriage will be breaking up the dream-team, so to speak. Even during their travels, the other party members notice how close the pair is.
• Fairytale Wedding Dress: She wears a grand, lacy dress at the end, which fits nicely when she either runs off with the hero or marries him, depending on the ending.
• Foil:
  • To her father, who is squat, obnoxious, egotistical, and ugly to highlight how lithe, demure, beautiful, and humble she is in turn.
  • Also to Prince Charmles, and for all the same reasons (her hair is also long and dark to contrast with Charmles' being a short-cut blond); bonus points for the fact that the Mystical Spring becomes available to the party at the same time as Argonia.
  • She draws implicit contrasts between the hero and Charmles after the Prison Island chapter when she wishes Charmles could be more like the hero (who is so absolutely necessary to the quest that Trode couldn't stop jabbering about him while he was away).
• Follow the White Rabbit: In a flashback, it is revealed that she first meets the unconscious Hero in the woods after Munchie gets her to follow him. Also, in one of her other memories, an attempt by her and the hero when they were younger to sneak to Farebury was ruined when they got lost, and it was by following Munchie that they made their way home.
• Forced Transformation: Changed by Dhoulmagus and his curse. Trode may whine about his hideous appearance and the trouble it's caused, but Medea can't even speak and can only contribute to the cause as a beast of burden. (On the bright side, she is at least a beautiful horse.)
• High-Class Gloves: Her wedding dress includes long gloves.
• Honor Before Reason: Conversations with her at the Mystical Spring and in dreams reveal she really doesn't want to get married to Charmles but will go ahead with it because it's her duty as a princess. Fortunately for her, by this point her father doesn't want her to marry him either.
• I Hate Past Me: Downplayed. Medea readily admits that she's not always been such a proper young woman and was something of a terror in her youth. She hopes Charmles has it in him to change after they've married.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In the 3DS version, should the hero complete the requirements for Jessica, Medea will turn down the Hero's marriage proposal despite being in love with him and tell him to follow his heart.
• Identical Stranger: She's bares a remarkable resemblance to the Hero's deceased mother, Xia.
• The Ingenue: She's not naive about the world, but still sweet and innocent.
• "Leave Your Quest" Test: Averted. After the Empycchu chapter, Medea tells the hero that she knows he has his own life to live (which she overheard from her father mentioning it) and that she's absolutely okay if he decides to give up on searching for a cure, and she means every word.
• Like Brother and Sister: When they were younger, Medea considered them to be much like brother and sister... but in a dream conversation she reveals that, of late, she can't help but consider him a man.
• Marry for Love: Her grandmother was unable to do so and was lonely and miserable for the rest of her life; Medea, who has an Arranged Marriage with Prince Charmless, really wishes she could do this herself. Ultimately she can- even if the player ends up with Jessica instead in the remake, she still doesn't have to marry Charmles.
• Missing Mom: Her mother died when she was very young and it often led her to run away from the castle to cry.
• Morphic Resonance: Her horse form has a strong resemblance to her human one, with white hair that reflects her pale skin, a light brown mane and tail like her hair, and the same pale blue eyes. Even her tack resembles her clothing, with the blue drape and orange trimming reflecting her blue cape and orange skirt.
• Nice Girl: Dutiful to a fault.
• Official Couple: She grew up with the hero, and has been attracted to him before the game starts. In the original version she would end up with him, and in the 3DS rerelease, while no longer as "official", she can still end up with him, if the player chooses her over Jessica.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Her main dress and wedding dress have gold trimming.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: In a Mystical Spring conversation after the Purgatory Island incident, she quietly implies she nearly hit the Despair Event Horizon because she couldn't contact the hero in his dreams and had begun to think he'd died. She asks him not to go anywhere she can't follow. She immediately claims this is because she's an only child and he's like a brother to her, but this comes after the revelation mentioned under Like Brother And Sister.
• Primal Fear: She quietly admits "it's a little scary in the dark" during a dream sequence in Dark Empycchu, but also that she'd not be scared with the hero around.
• Proper Lady: So proper, in fact, that the Blind Seer the party encounters says she outshines every princess he's ever seen, while stuck in a horse's body.
• Psychic Link: Once she drinks of the Mystical Spring water, she develops one with the Hero. Resting at inns will allow them to communicate in their dreams.
• The Quiet One: It's not possible to directly interact with Medea with standard consultation (for obvious reasons), so it's all the more significant the first time she speaks up; after leaving Purgatory Island, she neighs to agree with her father on how it's impossible to relax without the hero around.
• Red Sky, Take Warning: The sudden appearance of Rhapthorne spooks her something fierce and makes her think of how insignificant her own problems are in comparison, but she still worries that she might be trapped a horse forever even if Rhapthorne is defeated.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Again, she pulls the wagon.
• Runaway Bride: In the normal ending she runs off with the hero.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Downplayed; she confesses the hero became a palace guard because she suggested it to her father.
• Secretly Selfish: Discussed. It's suggested repeatedly that Medea feels guilty for even having problems of her own in the face of such massive problems as what the party faces. She actually rebukes herself at least twice for risking to let her personal feelings hijack her dream conversations with the hero.
• Ship Tease: Exclusively with The Hero.
  • You know how the Hero and Medea are nearly joined at the hip when in human form? Everyone Can See It.
  • If you go the Mystical Spring and haven't met the requirements for a new conversation, Medea and the Hero share "a stolen moment" together.
  • Late in the game, she considers that even if she never is free from her curse, she'd be content as long as she could be by the hero's side.
  • Upon realizing the Hero is Prince Charmles' cousin, literally the first thing she does is lament how cruel fate is.
• Simple, yet Opulent: Her dresses are grand yet simple.
• The Speechless: On account of being a horse. Though midway through the game the party encounters a mystical spring whose waters can temporarily dispel the effects of the curse, giving her a chance to speak her mind.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To her mother at least, who looks almost exactly alike.
• Super Drowning Skills: It was a dream of hers as a child to be able to grow wings and fly (as in, away from her boring books), but not to become a fish. Definitely not a fish. She hates the ocean. She can't swim.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: As a Forced Transformation victim under a Curse who is really a princess from a kingdom that has been overrun by monsters, Medea is much the same as the Princess of Moonbrooke from Dragon Quest II. Unfortunately, her curse is not lifted until Rhapthorne is defeated.
• Tender Tears: In her Dream Sequence following the Orkutsk chapter, she weeps over the tragedy, but quickly stifles it, distracting herself by chatting about her first ever time seeing snow.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Trode is a short, impish fellow even in his normal form, while Medea has a normal lady design. She's considered beautiful by both the rest of the party and pretty much any NPC that has something to say about her, even while she's in her horse form.
• Unbroken Vigil: During his time on Purgatory Island, the hero dreams of when he and Medea first met in a 3DS-exclusive cutscene. Medea was wandering in the woods (again) lamenting her Missing Mom when she first encountered Munchie, who led her to the hero when he was terribly sick. She arranged to have him brought back to the castle and insisted on staying by his side until he woke up.
• Victorious Childhood Friend: She marries the Hero in the original ending, though you can choose to marry Jessica in the 3DS version.
• Walking the Earth: After the boss fight on Neos Isle, she confesses in a dream that all she wants to do is travel the world with the hero, even if she is never freed from her curse.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: She has this reputation and is mentioned to be the fairest princess in the world. A tourist guide even says getting to see Medea is worth the trip to Trodain
• Would Rather Suffer: She outright states that if given the choice to marry Prince Charmles or remain cursed as a horse for the rest of her life, her choice is, "Make mine a grass sandwich!"

Supporting Characters

Kalderasha

A famous fortune teller of great skill from Faresbury, who has recently gave up his job. He recovers thanks to the party.

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• Berserk Button: Played for Laughs, he falls into a comical rage when he discovers that someone (Geyzer) wrote "halfwit" on his crystal ball.
• Crystal Ball: After renouncing his art, he's been keeping a mere glass ball in his shop, though he claims he's still good enough to actually predict the Hero's arrival through it. His original Crystal Ball allows him to scry even further and is so hard it gave poor Geyzer a concussion when dropped on his cranium.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Blaming himself for the death of Valentina's parents (and his inability to prevent it), Kalderasha threw away his Crystal Ball and started drinking hard. He's even introduced in a bar, drinking hard and claiming that his art is nothing but guesses.
• Fortune Teller: He's considered the best fortune teller of his area and possibly of the whole world, renown everywhere, until the death of Valentina's parents made him swear off his art, denouncing it as a mere hazardous activity, and taking the bottle. After the hero and Valentina restore his confidence, he starts fortune telling again an helps the Hero whenever he needs a hint on where to go.
• Funny Afro: Subverted, while he does have a massive black afro there's nothing remarkably funny about him... except for the funny moment when he realizes that Geyzer scratched the word "half-wit" on his precious crystal ball.
• He's Back!: Ultimately, you have to convince him to embrace his profession again. He does, finally at peace with himself.
• Magical Barefooter: He's a knowledgeable and wise fortune teller who's costantly bare footed.
• My Greatest Failure: He saw what would happen to Valentina's parents, but his inability to save them made him feel guilty over their demise.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Minor one, but when he threw his crystal ball down the waterfall cavern, he hit Geyzer on the head, wounding him and making him swear vengeance.

Rosalind Albert

The lady of Alexandria, mother of Jessica and Alistair. She doesn't approve her daughter's desire of avenging the latter's death.

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• Adaptation Expansion: In the 3DS version, she's the objective of a Cameron sidequest and a middle-game even has her welcoming Jessica back and entrusting her son's armor to the Hero.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Initially furious with her daughter and her desire for revenge, she goes as far as to, essentially, disown her. However, if you return much later in the game, Jessica and her will actually talk on better term and the final part of the game confirms that they've made peace. In Dragon Quest XI 's special event, she's even the one who asks the Luminary to find the personality-swapping book to restore Jessica's old feisty personality.
• Generation Xerox: Downplayed, but still Rosalind is stunningly similar to Jessica, though her modest outfit hides most of her voluptous curves.
• I Have No Son!: When Jessica claims that she's ready to go against the traditions to avenge Alistair, Rosalind claims that if that's the case, as far as she's concerned she has no daughter. Subverted if you visit her later in game.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While the whole "tradition" thing may be indeed silly, she's kinda right in pointing out that Jessica alone, while being a capable mage, is no warrior, and thus she has little chance of avenging her brother on her own.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: In a special event in Dragon Quest XI a monster makes Jessica lose her fiery personality, becoming far more polite and agreeable with her mother. This disturbs Rosalind, who promptly asks the hero of that game to help bring the more hot-headed and argumentative Jessica back.

King Pavan

The king of Ascantha, whom the party helps out of a massive Heroic BSoD.

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• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Emma and the castle chef talk about how he's stopped eating and taking care of himself in his sorrow, but of course looks and acts perfectly healthy.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He promises a reward for the heroes after they help bring him back to normal, but the actual reward isn't given until much later when they return to Ascantha to ask for the Moonshadow Harp.
• Heroic BSoD: His wife died and he keeps the country in a state of national mourning for two years! He finally snaps out of it when memories of his queen help him realize that not moving on is the worst thing he could ever do for her.
• Manly Tears: Over the loss of his wife every night for two years.

Prince Charmles

Voiced by: Richard Pearce (English), Kōki Miyata (Japanese)

Crown Prince of Argonia, and the Prince Charmless. His father is determined to make the best possible heir out of him that he can, but it's hard when he's reluctant to perform the initiation... or anything else that requires he, uh, work.

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• Acrofatic: He runs away quite quickly during battles against Argon lizards.
• Arranged Marriage: With Medea based on a promise made by their grandparents. King Trode was looking forward to it... until actually meeting Charmles.
• Break the Haughty: The ending has his father calling him out and pointing out that at the moment, he is neither worthy of the throne or princess Medea. And it is awesome. Interestingly, this is shown more explicitly in the "lesser" ending, but still happens in the Golden Ending.
• Character Development: Defied. In a game where nearly every supporting character overcomes a character flaw after encountering the party, he is the one who learns absolutely nothing and refuses to change while still expecting everything in life to simply be handed to him. Much like everything else, it comes back to bite him hard!
• Comically Missing the Point: Fails to understand why the rite of passage is so important, expecting to just lie and cheat his way through it.
• Compensating for Something: A non-sexual example as he wants the largest Argon Heart available to showcase what a true hero he is and to command the respect he thinks he deserves. Jessica is very quick to Lampshade this in an aside. King Clavius points out afterwards that the size of the Argon heart doesn't matter at all since that wasn't the point of the test.
• Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Thanks to the party, Prince Charmles actually does get the legitimately large Lizard Heart that he was searching for — one big enough that it certainly would have impressed his father. Instead, Charmles decided to buy a fake heart during the Bazaar just because it's even bigger — and he's caught in the act.
• Dirty Coward: He forces the party to fight the Argon Lizards for him. In Gameplay and Story Integration he also flees every battle against the Argon Lizard.
• Entitled Bastard: A textbook example as he treats everyone who isn't his father as though they exist simply for him to trod all over.
• Elmer Fudd Syndrome: He pronounces his R's as W's, most probably signifying how childish he really is.
• Gonk: To say he's unattractive is an understatement. His portrait in the castle shows what he could look like if he wasn't a fat slob.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Albeit a damn near worthless one; he'll maybe attack at the very beginning of the battle for a paltry one hit point of damage, and then flee at the next moment he gets, leaving Hero, Yangus, Jessica, and Angelo to do what should be his job.
• Hate Sink: There is not a single redeeming feature about the boy. He's self-centered, greedy, argumentative, and a Dirty Coward. Charmles always takes the easy way out, leaves everyone else to do his dirty work, then takes all the credit after it's over. He even whips Princess Medea in her horse form because she wouldn't listen to him. Even when presented with ample opportunities to do the right thing, Charmles always fails the test. He even buys a larger Argon heart after the party gets him one because he decided it wasn't big enough. All this was done with the intention of making Charmles into a character that the player would hate.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: By buying a fake Great Argon Heart instead of using one of those the Hero and the others obtained for him during the hunt, he unintentionally proves to his father that he isn't even remotely ready to take the throne. Not only does he get very publicly called out on this in the end, but he ends up losing the right to rule and the right to marry Medea to his long-lost cousin, who already went through the trial and harvested a beautiful heart. In fact, his cousin only even has the heart because he was trying to help Charmles get one, so he was hoist by his own petard on multiple levels!
• Ignored Epiphany: Many times does he get a chance to redeem himself. Every chance, he screws it up in order to appear better.
• In-Series Nickname: Prince Charmless. The first one to call him that in required dialogue is King Trode himself.
• It's All About Me: His motivation for finding the largest Argon heart possible: to rub it in the faces of his subjects while they laud him as a great hero.
• Jerkass: He isn't nice at all. And he isn't satisfied with the Argon Hearts the party give him until they claim one from the Great Argon Lizard. Even then he decides to simply buy a fake Argon Heart from a local merchant simply because of how much larger it is.
• Kick the Dog: His desire to obtain the largest gem possible during his initiation, regardless of the cost. The way he abuses Medea as a horse is also a perfect example, as after he pulls that crap, it's rather amazing he makes it back from the initiation in one piece.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He makes the hero get an Argon Heart for him only to buy one from the fair because he wasn't satisfied with the size. In the end, he not only loses the right to the throne and to marry Medea, but the person who he made do all the work ends up getting both instead.
• Lazy Bum: He never wants to do any work and expects his servants to do everything for him.
• The Load: When he's with your party, he might attack once. Right after that, he'll run away. And that's if you're lucky; he might just run on turn one.
• Pretentious Pronunciation: His own father calls him "Charmulls", but he insists upon "Sharm-LAY" to the party.
• Prince Charmless: While his father pronounces it "Charmulls", and he insists on "Sharm-LAY", everyone calls him Charmless, to his face no less. Even Medea, easily the nicest and most polite member of the cast, calls him this at one point.
• Rite of Passage: The Argonian Rite of Succession to determine if he's worthy of taking the throne. He isn't. Instead, he cheats by buying a bigger Argon Heart from a merchant because he wanted to impress King Clavius with its size, but doesn't realize he's been caught in the act.
• Royal Brat: Much to the protagonists' disdain.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: After all the hard work of his initiation, he up and BUYS a fake Argon Heart, effectively blowing off all the hard work you did obtaining one for him. This eventually bites him HARD later on.
• Speech Impediment: He sounds a bit like Elmer Fudd, possibly to symbolize he's nothing but an immature brat.
• Spoiled Brat: He expects his dad to solve all his problems and never learns from his mistakes.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Follows in the footsteps of Prince Harry and Prince Holse; unlike either one, however, he learns nothing from his trials and expects to coast through life on the backs of other people.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's totally afraid of lizards of all kind; that's why he's so reluctant to face the initiation, which consists of taking down a large Argon Lizard.

King Clavius

Voiced by: Tetsuo Kanao (Japanese)

Unlike his son, the current ruler of Argonia is a reasonable, thoughtful man just trying to do the best he can.

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• Calling the Old Man Out: Inverted awesomely during the ending, when Charmles tries to get Daddy to fix his problems again and Daddy puts his foot down.
• Chekhov's Gun: That large Argonian Heart that Charmles insisted you tramp all over the hunting grounds to find? Well, you end up giving it to Clavius after Charmles bribes his way to victory. In the normal ending he pulls it out to show Charmles that he knew he'd been lied to; but in the TRUE ending, he uses it as proof that the Hero is a much more able and worthy heir than Charmles.
• Covert Pervert: Perhaps, in the way he gets Charmles to agree to attempt the initiation involves mentioning Jessica's... assets. This is the only time he does it (or singles out Jessica in any way) though, so it could also just be seen as an attempt to play to his son's base desires.
• Disappointed in You: He declares Charmles too immature to take the throne or marry Medea when he finds out that Charmles cheated the initiation by buying an Argon Heart from the Bazaar.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Eltrio and Clavius; while Eltrio was the original heir apparent to the throne, he eventually left the kingdom to pursue his beloved Xia, leaving Clavius to take the throne. Since then, he's been trying to serve his father's wishes and his country's needs.
• The Good King: Unlike his son, he's a compassionate, heroic and respectable man all around.
• Honor Before Reason: Fully intends to honor the Arranged Marriage promise between Argonia and Trodain set up by his father even if it means wedding Medea to Charmles, believing that marrying a good woman will change him for the better. He reconsiders in every ending either by himself or after speaking with King Trode. The Golden Medea ending allows the promise to be fulfilled with Medea marrying the hero, though.
• My God, What Have I Done?: It's hard to spot, but he does show regret at pushing Charmles to complete the rite of succession and even bending the rules to send escorts along before he was clearly ready to do so. In either ending, he's torn between his son or what's best for his kingdom. He chooses the kingdom in both.
• Parents as People: He wants his son to become a good and just ruler. But, at the same time, he is too lenient with him and has troubles to actually be strict, as Charmles is his only family left since the passing of his wife. Charmles is, naturally, a Spoiled Brat.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's not perfect, but he is a well-respected ruler and will put his foot down when he has to, especially after realizing that Charmles is too immature to take the throne or a wife.
• Stealth Insult: Delivers one to his son after Charmles presents the fake Argon Heart he bought at the market (an event which he witnessed, unbeknownst to Charmles and the party):
  "I accept this as proof of your true character."
• Unexpected Successor: His brother was supposed to become king instead of him, but disappeared from Argonia, leaving him to take the throne.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Starts to call out the Hero and his party when he thinks they tried to fake Charmles's rite by buying an Argon Heart, but corrects himself and apologizes profusely after learning the truth of the matter.
  • Gives one to the hero if he opts to marry Jessica in the new ending for having the gall to ask him to call off the wedding between Charmles and Medea and risking creating a succession crisis because of his heritage.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Does an inverted version of this to his own son by telling him to, instead of sending the guards after the party, to go after Princess Medea himself in the normal ending. Of course, Charmles being a Dirty Coward, tries to weasel out of it, leading to Clavius finally having enough and revealing he knows the truth about what happened during the Rite of Ascension.

Ishmahri

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese)

The keeper of the Moonshadow Land, he possesses a magical harp with the power to bring memories to life. The party meets Ishmahri twice. The first meeting is in Ascantha, where the party leads him to King Pavan to soothe his broken heart. Ishmahri creates past images of the late Queen Sasha by playing a melody on his harp. The second time involves him using his powers to restore an old ship to seaworthy condition.

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• Aura Vision: He claims he can see the aura of people and thus is able to see Medea as a princess.
• The Cameo: Has a voice-only cameo in the 3DS and Definitive versions of Dragon Quest XI. He asks the Luminary to find and kill a monster named Dayle who is using the Tick-Tock spell to keep Castle Trodain trapped in daytime, as it is preventing his friends from leaving the Moonshadow Land and completing their quest.
• Cryptic Conversation: Not as bad as most mystics out there.
• Curtains Match the Windows: He has indigo-colored eyes and hair.
• Elfeminate: While not properly an elf, Ishmahri still has classical elvin traits and they're quite delicate.
• Magic Music: His powers are dependent on the Moonshadow Harp, which he plays in order to restore memories from the past.
• Older Than They Look: Ishmahri says that he is from the world of ancients, yet he looks like he's in his 20s or 30s.
• Pointy Ears
• Psychometry: Ishmahri states that ordinary objects, such as furniture and clothing, and even the land and the sky have memories just like living beings do. He is able to read them with his powers.
• Shout-Out: When he introduces himself: "Call me Ishmahri."

Master Dominico

A powerful master wizard from Arcadia, who's also an arrogant, despotic blowhard who costantly abuses his loyal servant David. Owns a huge, ferocious dog formally named "Sir Leopold".

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: The 3DS version removes a cutscene in which he accuses David of poisoning Leopold's lunch and then forces him to eat some to prove it's safe to eat.
• The Archmage: For all his faults, Dominico's skills at magic are not questionable, and he does show his worth.
• The Atoner: After David's death, he's remarkably more morose, humble and serious, and unlocks Jessica's most powerful fire and ice magic.
• Bad Boss: He treats his servant David like crap, and is usually rude and bossy even to the heroes, though not as bad as he is with David.
• Break the Haughty: David's death and the realization that not only he's not the Heir of the Sage as he believed, but that he failed his family's task to protect the heir.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: At first, he seems to be a garish blowhard sorcerer wannabe... then he really use a spell powerful enough to force Rhapthorne to leave Jessica's body.
• Establishing Character Moment: When his own servant David tries to pull a You Shall Not Pass! on Evil!Jessica, Dominico calls him useless and shoves him out of the way, before boasting about his powers and summoning a barrier.
• Fat Bastard: He's quite portly and a nasty piece of work overall.
• Irrational Hatred: At one point, he admits that he mistreats David both because he enjoys it and because he feels incredibly irritated by him.
• Irony: Dominico's relationship with his abused servant David. David is in reality the sage's heir whom Dominico should be protecting.
• Kick the Dog: In the original release, Dominico's cruelty towards David reaches a height when he forces David to get on all fours and eat dog food.
• Large Ham: His mannerism extends to his speech, especially when he casts his spells.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Has a big one when he realizes that David died because of him, when he was supposed to protect him.
• Oh, Crap!: Has a moment of panic when he sees that Jessica is wading right through the barrier he just boasted about.
• The Unchosen One: After all the implication of him being the heir of the Sages, we find out that he isn't, as David is the real heir and his family was supposed to keep the heir's family safe.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Dominico is very loud about his prestigious ancestry and power, but the Big Bad all but ignores him in favor of hunting down the little nobody David. Dominico, it turns out, is not the heir of a sage, or even his descendant—his family were originally servants of the sage's, and were given the magic power of the sage's family in order to shield and protect them. By Dominico's lifetime, however, this duty has been long forgotten, and David—the true sage's heir—is a homeless beggar until destiny guides him back to town.

High Priest Rolo

A high-ranking member of the Church. He longs to become the new Lord High Priest and tries to use Marcello to fulfill his ambition.

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• Break the Haughty: Being outsmarted by Marcello and sent to Purgatory Island forced him to eat a big slice of Humble Pie.
• Corrupt Church: He embodies all the negative aspects of the Church, basically being Abbot Francisco's Evil Counterpart in that regard.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's ambitious and corrupt, but he never even considered murdering the Lord High Priest to be a solution to fulfill his ambition and is horrified when he learns that Marcello may have assassinated him.
• Fat Bastard: He's fat and corrupt.
• Heel–Face Turn: After being betrayed by Marcello, sent to Purgatory Island and having heard of the death of the Lord High Priest, he realizes the errors of his ways and becomes an ally of the party.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He helps the party escape Purgatory Island and stays behind to activate the elevator, knowing full well that the guards would kill him for that. Subverted later, as it turns out that he somehow survived, but he wasn't expecting it.
• Large Ham: His attempt to pretend that he's sick to trick the guards at Purgatory Island has to be seen to be believed.
  Rolo: My gold rosary! I swallowed it. And now the pain is un-BEAR-rra-BLE!!
• Redemption Earns Life: He did a Heel–Face Turn and made a Heroic Sacrifice, but survived thanks to sheer luck when the elevator fell and crushed the guards that were about to kill him. He even managed to get a Karmic Jackpot, as he has become the new Lord High Priest in the epilogue.
• Smug Snake: He's very full of himself, but nowhere nearly as competent as he thinks he is, and Marcello ends up easily outsmarting him.

Cash and Carrie Golding/Fougu and Yukke

Voiced by: Atsushi Abe (Japanese): Cash, Yuuko Hara (Japanese): Carrie

The adopted twins of the late Mr. Golding, who established a fantastic casino and left them quibbling about which of them gets to run it now that he's passed on. To settle the score, they have to run a little test... one they both need help with.

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• Brother–Sister Team: By the end of their scenario.
• But Thou Must!: The party must act as bodyguards to one or the other sibling during their test.
• Dub Name Change: Fougu -> Cash, Yukke -> Carrie
• Happily Adopted
• Permanently Missable Content: While the exclusive bosses of their quest can be fought as wild encounters, the quest itself can be easily missable and can conclude by itself after a little while.
• Sibling Rivalry
• Sibling Seniority Squabble: Their first lines, especially since Carrie makes the point that they're both orphans and don't know for sure who is the older one.
• Spoiled Brat: Both until the end of their scenario.
• Theme Twin Naming
• We Can Rule Together: In a non-villainous example of the trope, they settle on this after facing the trials of the Dragon Graveyard and inherit the Golding estate together.

Empyrea/Letis/Ramia

Voiced by: Jessica Martin (English), Eri Gouda (Japanese)

Empyrea is referred to as the Godbird. She has the power to travel between worlds. The demon Gemon held her offspring's egg hostage at the top of Godbird's Eyrie. The party tries to recover it for her, but Gemon sacrificed himself to destroy the egg. Empyrea's child, who died before birth, appeared as a spirit before the heroes, and the pair decide to aid them in their quest.

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• Breath Weapon: One of her most powerful abilities.
• Continuity Nod: Her ability to travel between worlds takes on a whole new meaning when you learn her real name at the end of the game. She's actually Ramia from Dragon Quest III.
• Dimensional Traveller: She has the unique power to travel between the Light and Dark worlds. And considering that she originated from the world of the Erdrick Trilogy, she may well be able to access the entire multiverse.
• Dub Name Change: Letis -> Empyrea
• Friend to All Living Things: She hates that Gemon forces her to attack people. (The player might hate it too.)
• Giant Flyer: Empyrea is so large that she can carry everyone in the party on her back.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Not Empyrea, but her son.
• Out of Character Is Serious Business: The people of Dark Empycchu are agitated because Empyrea has recently attacked the village. A few have kept their heads enough to realize something must be up. Her egg is being held hostage by Gemon and she is thus forced to attack the human settlement at his command, but at the same time she is also attempting to recruit fighters strong enough to defeat Gemon for her since she cannot take action against Gemon directly.
• The Phoenix: A textbook example.
• Power Gives You Wings: After you meet Empyrea, her son becomes a power-up that literally "gives you wings".
• Secret Test of Character: Gives one to the party by first having them follow her shadow to the Dark World, thus establishing their bravery, and then having them best her in combat, thus establishing their strength, in order to ascertain if they can help her by defeating Gemon.
• Shock and Awe: Knows the Zap spell and is quite fond of using it in battle.
• You Don't Look Like You: Empyrea is a new design of the old Godbird Ramia.

Descendants of the Seven Sages (Spoilers!)

The descendants to the seven sages of the past who sealed the Dark Lord Rhapthorne. The seal cast upon the staff sealing Rhapthorne can only be broken should the descendants die.

Master Rylus

A renowned sorcerer and former master of Dhoulmagus. He was killed before the events of the story by his apprentice.

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• Poor Communication Kills: He was very uncaring and frequently scolded Dhoulmagus for trying to go out of his way to learn magic. In truth, Rylus was hard at work at developing a solution to release Dhoulmagus' magic power, but he only apologizes for his behavior too late once Dhoulmagus comes back, already possessed by Rhapthorne... and is then killed by him
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His attitude towards his apprentice pretty much sets off the story and one long murder spree across the world.

Alistair Albert

Voiced by: Miyu Irino (Japanese)

Jessica's older brother, who was an accomplished swordsman. Killed by Dhoulmagus before the hero could catch up with the foul jester. His death comes as a serious blow to the town of Alexandria.

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• The Chosen One: Inherited the strength to serve as part of Rhapthorne's seal. Hence his death.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: By the scepter, as Dhoulmagus hugs him.
• Magic Knight: He is (well, was) a skilled swordsman and wizard.
• Oh, Crap!: Has a moment of panic when he realizes that he can't unsheathe his sword.
• Posthumous Character: Already dead when the party arrives at Alexandria.

Abbot Francisco

Voiced by: Fubito Yamano (Japanese)

The head of Maella Abbey, Abbot Francisco is compassionate, caring, understanding, and the ideal representative of everything a Saintly Church should be. One of the few members of the Abbey who hasn't dabbled in corruption... and, unfortunately, one of Dhoulmagus's targets.

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• Good Shepherd: As mentioned in his description, he embodies all the best aspects of the Saintly Church.
• Hidden Depths: A noble and compassionate religious figure, but also a man who loved bad puns and even wrote a book about them.
• Hope Spot: At first, it seems like he may be the first of Dhoulmagus's targets that you actually arrive in time to save. Alas...
• It Always Rains at Funerals: It does at his...
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Was Angelo's and Marcello's father figure and probably taught them as well when they were still kids.
• Morality Pet: For Marcello. While not explicitly shown (and he does try to put on a brave face afterward), the implication is that the abbot's murder is what ultimately sends Marcello off the deep end.
• Parental Substitute: Acted as more of a father to Marcello and Angelo than their actual father ever did.
• Pungeon Master: His personal library is filled with books on puns, most of them bad.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's reasonable and compassionate when it comes to deal with commoners and doesn't turn them away just because they're not rich. Unfortunately, due to his old age, he doesn't have a lot of influence on the Abbey anymore.
• Taking the Bullet: Does this for King Trode.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: A kind and compassionate soul who gives shelter to orphans. His death is the first Player Punch of the game, and is the catalyst for the normally aloof and free-spirited Angelo to join the hero's party to avenge his murder.

Mr. Golding

The owner of the popular casino at Baccarat.

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• The Big Guy: According to the description, the Golding Family was known for its brute strength. The man himself was able to take down Trolls barehaned.
• Posthumous Character: Already killed by Dhoulmagus by the time the party reaches Baccarat.

David

A seemingly unassuming wanderer who lives in Arcadia. He works (and is abused) by his master Dominico, who took him in when he had arrived and collapsed at Arcadia. He originally lived in Tryan Gully.

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• Extreme Doormat: A big part of the reason why Dominico's abuse keeps going is because of David being eternally grateful to him for saving him. No matter how much unfair punishment he suffers, David will still smile and try to brush it off.
• Muggle in Mage Custody: He is the de facto slave of the magician Dominico, and shows nothing but gratitude towards his master for taking him in when he was alone and starving, even though Dominico constantly bullies and humiliates him and wonders even to himself why he keeps David around. It turns out that David is actually descended from a great sage who transferred his powers to Dominico's family in exchange for them protecting his descendants. So while David himself is a muggle, he's still linked to Dominico by magic, even though neither is initially aware of it.
• Walking the Earth: It's a miracle he came from the barred off Tryan Gully and ended in Arcadia. Turns out that Dominico's ancestor was responsible for this as he made a spell that would ensure that the heir to the Sage seal would always find his descendants in order to be under their protection.

Marta

A lonely old woman living away from Orkutsk in a cabin, helping travelers traverse the cold land.

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• Defiant to the End: In her confrontation with Rhapthorne, she's not afraid of insulting him and even manages to blind him with Nook Powder.
• Mama Bear: Takes on an evil Dark Lord in the body of a dog who (formerly) belonged to Dominico and a whole pack of Hellhounds when her estranged son is in danger.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: The sweetest old woman you meet who is stabbed through her heart by Sir Leopold.

Lord High Priest

The head of the church. A respected figure among the many corrupted officials.

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• Flat Character: Since he's only approachable when Rhapthorne attacks him, you don't get to know him much.
• Good Shepherd: It's implied that, for all of the Church's faults, he strives to do good and help his flock.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's highly respected and even his ambitious, corrupted right-hand man, despite his scheming and smarminess, won't dare touch him.

Antagonists

Dhoulmagus

^{Final Form}

Voiced by: Keith Wickham (English), Takehito Koyasu (Japanese)

A vengeful magician with the appearance of a jester. He stole the magical sceptre in Castle Trodain and unleashed the curse upon the kingdom. As the party pursues him throughout the world, he begins to commit a series of systematic murders to some unknown end...

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• Adaptation Expansion: The 3DS version shows his backstory as Master Rylus's apprentice in Farebury.
• Alas, Poor Villain: He really wasn't such a bad guy before stealing the spectre, simply frustrated after years of his master refusing to teach him magic. After one particular scolding from Rylus however, his anger and desire for power got the better of him and by the time he took hold of the sceptre it was far too late.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He wanted Trodain's sceptre because of its tremendous magic, hoping to harness it and become more powerful. Unfortunately for him, the staff was far more powerful for him to handle — in fact, once it left the confines of its magic circle, it started to handle him.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Although he does start off the main plot due to the fact he stole the sceptre in hopes of becoming insanely powerful, he winds up a pawn of Rhapthorne.
• Blow You Away: His first form uses Wind Sickles and Thin Air, while his clones can only use Wind Sickles.
• Breaking Old Trends: Dhoulmagus is the first human underling of a Demon Lord in the series. Prior to VIII, underlings of Demon Lords would usually be monsters in the case of Hargon, Baramos, Bishop Ladja, King Korol, Murdaw, Jamirus, Gracos, Dhuran, and Blackmar. In addition, he's also the first underling to have a One-Winged Angel.
• Breath Weapon: Has Inferno, as well as Scorch and Hellfire when faced as a Legacy Boss in the next game.
• Brick Joke: Dhoulmagus mentions he had to teach himself what little magic he knows, but dismisses them as parlor tricks. When he comes to Castle Trodain, however, these "parlor tricks" manage to entertain Trode pretty good that he allows Dhoulmagus to stay the night and even blind guards long enough for Dhoulmagus to knock them out.
• Casting a Shadow: Not in VIII, but his appearance as a Legacy Boss in Dragon Quest IX has him cast Kazam and Kazammle.
• Character Catch Phrase: "Such a pity." The player later finds out it's actually Rhapthorne's catch phrase, considering that he says it at least once per vessel. And that's when he's NOT feeling talkative.
• Deadly Upgrade: Dhoulmagus' body physically can't handle the power after he kills Golding, so he retreats to the Dark Ruins to incubate in evil magic.
• Demonic Possession: Just like anyone who holds Rhapthorne's staff. Actually pretty subtle, as the flashback showing his initial attack on Castle Trodain before being possessed by the staff shows he wasn't a good guy to begin with.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Defeating him is the party's goal for the first half of the game. While they succeed, it turns out things are a little more complicated than that.
• The Dog Bites Back: After becoming Rhapthorne's vessel, he kills Rylus for scolding him about having a dog as an apprentice and burns his house down just after he completed an elixir that would've boosted Dhoulmagus' magic potential.
• Dramatic Irony: He did have potential on his own and Master Rylus was about to finish an elixir that would awaken his latent magical power when he sought Trodain's scepter to become a powerful magician. If only Rylus told him that... For an extra dose of irony, Rylus manages to finish his elixir right when Dhoulmagus comes back in Farebury. But by this point, it's already too late for Dhoulmagus as he is possessed by Rhapthorne.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Calls Trode "King Toad". Overlaps with Malicious Misnaming.
  Dhoulmagus: Ah! If it isn't King Toad! Looking small and ugly as ever!
• Evil Sorcerer: He didn't have much magic until he picked up the Godbird Sceptre, then he really got rolling.
• Feather Flechettes: Break Down, which is used by his monster form to damage all enemies with the feathers from his wings.
• Four Is Death: He murders four of the Seven Sages' heirs ^note Rylus, Alistar, Abbot Francisco, and Mr. Golding on Rhapthorne's orders via possession before he himself is killed in the Dark Ruins.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Once a disgruntled apprentice of Rylus who wanted to learn powerful magic, but after a nasty scolding over reading a grimoire detailing the sceptre Rhapthorne was sealed in, he poses as a jester, steals said sceptre, and becomes one of Rhapthorne's most nefarious henchmen, killing the descendants of the Seven Sages, with Rylus's blood being the first to spill. To quote his bestiary description...
  "Once an ordinary jester, his theft of the sceptre from Trodain Castle gave him magical powers beyond imagination."
• Guy Liner: Makes sense, seen as he's disguised as a jester.
• Heroic RRoD: Downplayed — Dhoulmagus is repeatedly suggested to have been too weak to handle the sceptre as it grew in power, probably due to his limited magical ability. Once he's killed Golding, he retreats to the Dark Ruins to magically alter his body to compensate.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Uses Lullab-Eye in his human form.
• An Ice Person: He can remove enemy buffs with Disruptive Wave, described in some guides as a wave of ice. He and his clones are also resistant to ice magic, while his monster form can cast Kacrack and Kacrackle. ^note  The latter of which makes its debut from Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker onwards.
• I Just Want to Be Special: His motivation to steal Trodain's sceptre. He wanted to become a powerful magician.
• Knight of Cerebus: A rather dark-humored fellow, often mocking people after he's just killed them.
• Lean and Mean: He's also uncannily tall.
• Locked into Strangeness: In the flashback his hair is black and he has a more normal skin tone before he takes the scepter. Rhapthorne's staff has cursed him, and there's no way to remove it. The party even kills him before he can be helped.
• Me's a Crowd: The first thing he does during his boss fight is to create two clones of him with Divide, both of which still need to be defeated first, since either one of them will heal up their colleagues with Multiheal when damaged.
• Mighty Roar: His monster form has War Cry to stun enemies, as well as Raging Roar in the next game.
• Monster Clown: A former court jester who still partially looks the part... and a serial killer.
  • The 3DS version's flashback shows that he only has the appearance of a jester because he posed as one to gain entrance into Castle Trodain, a ploy to steal its fabled sceptre. Presumably Rhapthorne didn't care enough to change his host out of the getup afterwards.
• One-Winged Angel: Combines with the staff to turn into a blue demon with blood-red wings upon being defeated — almost identical to the demon statue at the beginning of the Dark Ruins; Rhapthorne later imposes a radically similar transformation on Sir Leopold.
• Playing with Fire: In addition to Inferno, his final form can cast Kasizz, as well as breathing Scorch and Hellfire in Dragon Quest IX.
• Practically Joker: A Serial Killer and phony court jester (Since it was a ploy to steal the Godbird Sceptre) with a dark sense of humor, he's like a magic-oriented version of The Joker. The 3DS remake even shows a depressed Arthur Fleck side to him, only becoming evil after a mean scolding.
• Primal Stance: In his One-Winged Angel form.
• Taken for Granite: After you kill him, he turns into a stone statue... and then into dust.
• Time to Unlock More True Potential: The reason he retreats to the Dark Ruins — he's trying to strengthen his body so he can properly wield the staff.
• Villain Respect: When fighting him for the first time, Dhoulmagus recognizes that the party is trying to stop him to break King Trode's curse. Dhoulmagus outright calls their loyalty "admirable." Not to mention, once he recognizes that the party aren't pushovers, he stops kidding around.
  • He also seems to show some degree of this toward Alistair in their confrontation. It doesn't stop Dhoulmagus from murdering him, though.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Once it's clear just how fast Rhapthorne is capable of possessing the bearer of his sceptre, it becomes a given that the only time the player actually sees the real Dhoulmagus is during King Trode's flashback and the optional flashback unlockable in the 3DS Version. Every other instance in the game he appears in is just Rhapthorne underneath his guise.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Dhoulmagus has snowy white hair, and spends his time murdering people.
• Who's Laughing Now?: His primary motivation to steal the scepter. He wanted to get back at the people who used to mock him.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Averted, he doesn't waste too much time when it comes to killing his targets. Also, after the boss battle he'll try to get rid of the party by shooting them with the vine curse used on Trodain... Only for it to utterly fail due to the Hero's immunity to curses, leaving him amazed and forced to resort to transformation.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The 3DS version reveals that Dhoulmagus was treated pretty harshly by Rylus. This leads to him seeking out the power of Rhapthorne's sceptre to prove him wrong.

Geyzer

A strange, bright red Merman who has the unique distinction of being the only one of his kind to live in a freshwater environment. Ever since he was smashed over the head with a Crystal Ball years ago, he's been guarding it so he can personally confront the owner when they come for it and give them what for.

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• Berserk Button: People dropping stuff in the waterfall leading to his cavern, especially when said stuff drops on his head.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Inverted, He talks to the hero like he's the one responsible for his bad luck, but he really isn't. He's disappointed to find out that the hero's not the culprit.
• Blue/Orange Contrast: Normal sea-dwelling Merman monsters are blue, but the freshwater-native Geyzer is reddish-orange.
• Curse: Geyzer can spread Cursed Mist that will cripple Yangus—The Hero is curiously immune.
• Degraded Boss: He's overall the same as the Mermen enemies from Dragon Quest III met later at sea, though they are stronger and do not have the scar.
• Evil Is Petty: Geyzer got a bad knock on the head years ago when Kalderasha threw his crystal ball away and has been stewing over it ever since, even placing the crystal ball in the depths of the waterfall cave to lure its owner into Geyzer's clutches.
• Fangs Are Evil: Has some pretty noticeable fangs that makes him a lot more fiercer and sinister than he is, and also give him a lisp.
• Fish People: Geyzer is apparently part of the Merman monster species; indeed the only Merman to live in a fresh water environment.
• Malaproper: His way of speaking is this, plus a lisp.
• Palette Swap: Geyzer is a red-orange recolor of the Merman monster family and has a unique scar.
• Scars Are Forever: He still bears the scar and the swollen cranium from when he was hit on the head by Kalderasha's Crystal Ball.
• Tap on the Head: Kalderasha surely made him really, really angry and he still feels the pain from the scar to this very day. In fact, his defeat animation has him clutching his wound in pain rather than falling down. His way of speaking may be a consequence of the trauma.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: "Geyzer" is just geyser with a Z swapped in.

Khalamari

A monstrous squid with multiple personalities (one for him and each of his two main tentacles, Tenta and Tickles) who hates it when things pass over his head, like ships with people on them or magically-empowered clowns.

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• Brainwashed and Crazy: Normally he's quite a jovial guy, it's just that Dhoulmagus' spell turned him evil and aggressive.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Engages in this with his own tentacles. The bestiary entry mentions that he also dreams of owning a cabaret show.
• Breath Weapon: He can attack both heroes at once by breathing fire.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He's a pretty goofy guy, even during his brainwashed period.
• Combat Tentacles: It goes without saying, these are his main weapons. They also have separate names, and even separate accents for Khalamari's Boke and Tsukkomi Routine.
• Defeat Means Friendship: After being beaten senseless by the Hero and Yangus, he asks for a truce and offers a precious treasure to make amends for his misdeeds.
• Giant Squid: The largest type of Giant Squid in the world; you don't encounter others like him.
• King Mook: He appears to an enormous variety of King Squid monster (who don't actually appear in VIII), and is probably in charge of all the Khalamari Kid monsters (who do).
• Non-Malicious Monster: Before the curse he was rather harmless, and even when Dhoulmagus walked on his head he simply tried to chastise him.
• Punny Name: His two main tentacles are named... Tenta and Tickles.
• Threshold Guardian: He's forced by Dhoulmagus to attack every ship trying to set sail from Port Prospect.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Not only does he strike hard, but he can scorch both party members with his flame breath.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: His English VA jumps the entire gamut of impersonated Irish and Scottish accents that it sounds like neither.

Evil Sir Leopold

A giant black dog with a temper equal to its master, Dominico, who uses him to torment David. After Jessica is freed, he's later used by Rhapthorne to continue murdering the sages' heirs.

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• Breath Weapon: During his boss fight, he'll attack the party with Freezing Blizzard.
• Brought Down to Normal: After being defeated by the party in his possessed state and dropping the staff, Leopold turns back to normal before collapsing to the ground, presumably dead.
• Formally-Named Pet: Dominico insists on calling him Sir Leopold.
• Jerkass: As much as a regular dog can be. He seems to enjoy being mean to David, much like his master Dominico.
• One-Winged Angel: While holding the staff, Rhapthorne changes from him a normal large dog to one with large bat-like wings. He uses this form to track down the Lord High Priest, who is the final heir to the sages, and to battle the party.
• Summon Magic: While using the scepter, Leopold is able to summon and command Hellhounds. He uses these wolves to track down Marta, though he never calls upon them when the party actually fights him. Dragon Quest X allows him to use the same Tears the dimension with the Godbird Scepter that Evil Jessica used.
• Took a Level in Badass: While he's an already hard boss in his game, Dragon Quest X gives him more abilities and spells, such as Feather Rain and summoning 3 Ridgeraisers at the same time.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After his defeat, it is unclear if he is dead or alive as he is not seen again. Signs point to him being dead though — prior to confronting Marcello at Neos, a potential party chat with Angelo will result in him musing over the possibility of having to face and potentially kill his half-brother in battle, taking note of the fact that out of the three sceptre-bearers the party had defeated thus far, two of them ultimately perished at their hands. Since Jessica is very much alive, this seems to point to Leopold being dead after all. Though his Memoriam counterpart's bestiary mentions nothing about him dying, it can still be implied because of several of the other Memoriam bestiary entries claim that they came back from the dead.

Marcello

Voiced by: Josh Cohen (English), Jun'ichi Suwabe (Japanese)

I'm notoriously bad at taking orders.

Angelo's older half-brother, who trains as a Templar at Maella Abbey. Despite being a studious monk and soldier, he harbors an old grudge against Angelo, and at times struggles with getting others to recognize his deeds because of his low-born roots.

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• Aloof Big Brother: Angelo's. He generally acts like they aren't related at all, and only uses their relation to mock or guilt Angelo.
• Ambition Is Evil: Ultimately becomes corrupted because of his ambition.
• Arc Villain: The main antagonist for a substantial part of the game's second half, though it's at a point where the player is already aware that Rhapthorne is the true threat.
• The Atoner: Suggested to have become this in the 3DS version's bonus dungeon.
• Backstory: Tied into Angelo's history: Their father was a rich philanderer. After Marcello was born, the father made various promises to Marcello's mother, one of his maidservants, that he'd leave his wife and make Marcello his heir... until his wife became pregnant with Angelo, at which point he abandoned them. Marcello ended up at the Abbey after his mother passed on, and fought his way up the ranks despite others looking down upon him for being a commoner born out of wedlock.
• Badass Longcoat: His Templar captain uniform has a longer coat than the others, giving him this sort of appearance. He wears a black trenchcoat during his Bonus Dungeon appearance in the 3DS version.
• Bastard Bastard: He's the illegitimate child.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: An interesting case in that we almost only ever see the bitch side. In most situations, Marcello is a charismatic, dedicated and polite person, but he immediately shows his inner callousness when in the presence of Angelo.
• Break the Haughty: Suffers quite the fall from grace.
• Cruel Mercy: Angelo saves his life after he gives a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to a stadium full of civilians, gets publicly possessed by Rhapthorne, and breaks his seal. Needless to say, his career's pretty much unsalvageable at this point.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Determinator: The only scepter-bearer in the game shown to outright resist the control of Rhapthorne, out of sheer willpower. He stabs himself in the arm to fend off his influence (on the PS2 version; the scene was toned down to him using some sort of magic instead in the 3DS version), afterward delivering his picture quote. It's only when the party defeats him in battle that Rhapthorne is able to gain full control of his body.
• Freudian Excuse: He's a condescending prick to Angelo because he screwed things up for him just by being born. Also has issues with being looked down upon due to his common blood, especially since his aristocratic father abandoned him because he was the bastard son he had with a commoner.
• Guest-Star Party Member: In the 3DS remake's new bonus dungeon. He fights alongside the party as an uncontrollable ally as a fifth party member against the Optional Boss.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Happens late in the game, when he chooses to make his big acceptance speech where Rhapthorne's body was sealed while holding the sceptre, then spends so long with his Evil Gloating that the heroes are able to confront him there, breaking his concentration. Then he blames everything on the good guys. Again.
• I Owe You My Life: Angelo's Cruel Mercy is for Marcello to live knowing his hated brother saved his life. In the 3DS version, he's so damn determined to settle that score that he follows the heroes all the way to Juggerwroth's lair to save them; he does this in spite of his terrible unhealed wounds from Neos (in a dream conversation, Medea admits she saw him following them).
• Jerkass: Not a pleasant person, even when he was still technically on the side of the good guys.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: His entire speech in Neos does make sense as you've seen multiple times during the game when people get power just because they were born to the right family at the right time, and how they tend to use said power poorly or selfishly.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Played with; Marcello was already an ambitious jerk even before Neos, but gaining Rhapthorne's scepter certainly must've been a strain. Rhapthorne even implies that he was not in control of Marcello when he killed the Lord High Priest.
• Kick the Dog: "So... you intend to destroy this life I've made, just like my old life, do you?"
• Knight Templar: Is both this in personality, as well as the captain of a literal Templar organisation.
• Light Is Not Good: He can cast the same holy spells that Angelo can, being a Templar knight himself.
• Magic Knight: A capable warrior, mage and cleric. With a power boost from Rhapthorne's staff he's more than a match for the party on his own.
• Motive Rant: Combined with New Era / "The Reason You Suck" Speech when accepting his new position as head of the church.
• Never My Fault: Feels the heroes are singlehandedly to blame in a mess that never would've happened had he not taken the staff housing the soul-possessing demon that had taken over every single host thus far.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Attempts this after the heroes' defeating him also weakens him enough that Rhapthorne manages to possess him and free his body, ignoring how he was stupid enough to take a staff holding the devil's spirit to bring about a better world, and arrogant enough to think he could fight Rhapthorne off indefinitely. (Granted, at this point, it's clearly Rhapthorne doing the talking for him.) Immediately before the party fights him, the trademark dual-voice effect of Rhapthorne's possession slips between the cracks, showing that he was already losing control and once he is defeated, it comes out in full force.
• Pet the Dog: An important part of his and Angelo's Backstory. When Angelo first came to the Abbey, Marcello was the first person he met, and greeted him with kindness. And then told him that he would be seen as family. Even when it turned into full out Kick the Dog, Angelo never forgot that one moment of kindness.
• Pride: So, so damn much. Once he encounters the evil spirit that has been indulging itself with serial killing, and after it tries to enslave him, no less, he decides to keep it around for his own purposes. Although, it is not explicitly stated how much of this is due to his own desire for the sceptre's power, and how much is due to Rhapthorne gaining some limited degree of influence over him despite his resistance.
• The Resenter: Angelo's appearance at Maella Abbey was all it took for Marcello to turn and walk a darker road.
• Self-Made Lie: Marcello claims to be self-made, having worked his way up from an orphan in an abbey to the leader of the world's religion. As you watch his rise to power throughout the game, it becomes clear that he only gets there through exploiting others and having anyone he views as a threat to him disposed of, rather than through any earnest effort of his own. Because of this, he loses all his power and privilege pretty quickly.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Compared to the fair-featured Angelo, Marcello is much sharper and darker in appearance, but is still good looking.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky
• Took a Level in Kindness: The 3DS version's new bonus dungeon featuring him shows that he has come to regret his actions immensely and seeks to do whatever he can to atone. He's also shown to have grown past his hatred of Angelo, though he's still reluctant to try and get closer with him.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After Angelo saves his life, he attempts to go all Nice Job Breaking It, Hero on the heroes despite him bringing the entire mess on himself. His arrogance and stupidity in trying to overcome a force of evil that had taken over every single being who touched the staff would've easily been his eventual downfall even without the hero's intervention, and he had to be stopped regardless as they caught him in the midst of a declaration of war and high treason, telling the entire population to accept him as their ruler or die.
• Walking the Earth: Revealed to be his fate post-defeat in the 3DS version.
• With Us or Against Us: He makes it pretty clear to the crowd at Neos that they have only one option if they want to live.

Tortured Soul

The ghost of a former abbot, restlessly lurking in the dungeons beneath Maella Abbey in endless torment. He died during the plague and his inability to move on has been driving him mad.

For tropes relating to the monster as a normal enemy and its Wight Priest and King relatives, see here.

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• And I Must Scream: Talking to Jessica after losing to the Tortured Soul in battle reveals that he doesn't realise that he's dead, and that he's been trapped in the Ruined Abbey for centuries. Jessica implores the rest of the party to Mercy Kill him to end his suffering.
• Degraded Boss: Like Geyzer, enemies with his model reappear in the late game. As does the monster itself in later games, like Dragon Quest X.
• Flunky Boss: He's accompanied by a Skeleton and a Walking Corpse and can call for more if they fall.
• Our Liches Are Different: He's essentially an undead high priest with magical powers.
• Summon Magic: He'll sometimes summon Skeletons and Walking Corpses to fight by his side.
• Tragic Villain: All he wants is an end to his sufferings. Upon being killed by the party, he welcomes death as it means he can finally ascend to the heavens.
• The Medic: Tortured Soul can use Zing to resurrect fallen comrades,
• The Undead: What he is, and what he commands.

Trap Box

A spring-loaded skeletal surprise waiting for anyone who dares to seek the Venus' Tear.

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• Degraded Boss: Monsters identical to this boss, Mimic Kings, reappear in the Black Citadel.
• He Was Right There All Along: You see that big chest at the bottom of the dungeon, visible from the very beginning? That was him, sleeping.
• Killed Off for Real: It's implied in his Memoriam counterpart's bestiary entry that he was killed in battle.
• King Mook: Downplayed. Imagine a Cannibox on steroids and you have the Trap Box.
• MacGuffin Guardian: Guards the Venus' Tear from any intruder.
• Spikes of Villainy: Has them on his hands, which he uses to crush the heroes to death.

Don Mole

A massive mole who leads a cohort of diggers into the basement of Ascantha Castle to make off with the Moonshadow Harp just as the heroes realize they need it. Unfortunately, his musical ambitions far outsize his actual talent, much like he outsizes his diggers.

For his appearance in Joker 2 see here.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Is Don Mole actually dead or did your party just knock him unconscious? The game states that he's defeated when strike the final blow and his henchmen treat him as if you just knocked him out. However his Memoriam counterpart's bestiary entry claims that he's dead and the Soul Mole in Memoriam's entry implies a Back from the Dead kinda deal.
  • In the PlayStation 2 version of the game, he can be found if the party backtracks through the Mole Hole, still recovering from his fight but very much alive.
• Benevolent Boss: According to one of his henchmen, Don Mole is actually a great boss aside from his occasional stealing and his music being terrible.
• Brown Note: Even in battle, his Avant-Garde Special can confuse his Soul Mole allies as well as the heroes!
• Dreadful Musician: Even with the Moonshadow Harp, his skills are dreadful.
• Fat Bastard: He's incredibly obese, almost spherical, and his main attack is to bodyslam the heroes in a tidal wave of jiggling fat.
• Flunky Boss: Don Mole can call for back up, allowing him to overwhelm the party through sheer numbers.
• King Mook: For the Diggers.
• Large and in Charge: He greatly outsizes his own subjects.

Great Argon Lizard

Prince Charmles' ambitions prove obnoxiously boundless when he realizes he needs put in little effort. After hunting down three Argon Lizards (an endangered species, no less) and proving dissatisfied with the spoils, the prince learns of a truly hulking lizard and immediately demands the heroes collect its gemstone core.

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• Degraded Boss: Its model is later reused for another Dragon enemy, the Frou-Frou, in the late game. The monster itself even reappears as a boss in Dragon Quest X!
• King Mook: For the Argon Lizards.
• Large and in Charge: The largest of the Argon Lizards, and possibly their pack leader.
• MacGuffin Guardian: Like all Argon Lizards, it keeps inside its body a massive Argon Heart gemstone.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: For Charmless for sure, and also to the player, once he finds out how much stronger than a typical Argon Lizard it is.

Red Horn and Blue Fang

The biggest, toughest monsters infesting the Dragon Graveyard. They interrupt Cash & Carrie's competition by very nearly slaughtering whoever approaches the goal fist.

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• The Brute: All they can do is to increase tension and attack.
• Dual Boss: At least in their debut game, even when fighting them as normal enemies. Dragon Quest X, on the other hand, can have more than one of either fought.
• Horn Attack: Red Horn's favorite attack method.
• MacGuffin Guardian: They guard the door to Golding's family shrine.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Their Combination Attack is this on a party member, even worse if one of them was under tension before.
• Optional Boss: The entire Cash and Carrie sub-plot is optional, but it does unlock the Baccarat Casino.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Subverted, though they certainly look the part, they don't seem to have distinct personalities, though they do have slightly different fighting styles, with the Red Horn's desperate attacks and Psyche Up and the Blue Horn's Kasap, Kabuff, and Multiheal.
• Tag Team: One of their attacks is a Combination Attack.

Captain Crow

Legendary sailor of the seas, ol' Cap'n Crow built himself a base with a secret sea-level entrance and hid his treasure away. In the years since his passing, his old haunt has been overrun by monsters, but the treasure is free for the taking... by anyone who can pry it from his ghostly grip!

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• Anti-Magic: One of the many bosses capable of using the Disruptive Wave.
• Covert Pervert: Is rather vulnerable to Puff-Puff of all things!
• Distracted by the Sexy: Captain Crow has Contractual Boss Immunity to most effects, but only partial resistance to being stunned—such as by Jessica's Sex Appeal skills. When Jessica's sex appeal is high enough, Captain Crow will spend whole turns admiring her, and he's vulnerable to a direct Puff-Puff attack. Being stunned in either way will not only make him waste a turn, it nullifies his built-up tension.
• Dressed to Plunder: Captain Crow wears a naval uniform.
• Graceful Loser: After being bested in combat he gladly leaves his treasure to the party.
• MacGuffin Guardian: Like all self-respecting ghost pirates, Captain Crows guards his treasure against thieves.
• Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie: Captain Crow is a ghost pirate.
• Riddle for the Ages: Has an interest in the Godbird Empyrea, but nobody knows why.
• Sinister Scimitar: Wields a cutlass with deadly precision, even more so when he buffs himself.
• The Undead: A ghost pirate captain.

Gemon

A wicked bird monster and servant of the Lord of Darkness who stalks the Godbird's Eyrie near Dark Empycchu. He invaded the Godbird Empyrea's nest and took her egg hostage to force her to attack the local settlement.

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• Attack Reflector: Can cast Bounce on himself to ward off magical attacks.
• Breath Weapon: Uses Inferno during his boss fight.
• Dirty Coward: Takes Empyrea's egg hostage rather than fighting her himself.
• Flunky Boss: Constantly summons Dark Turkeys and Dark Condors to help him.
• Giant Mook: He's an oversized Dark Gryphon with horns in his head.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Jamirus, another Gryphon-based King Mook from DQVI. They appear side-by-side in Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2.
• Taking You with Me: As a final act of spite, he ensures his death will destroy Empyrea's child. Unfortunately, the child is still alive, albeit as a spirit, making it a Senseless Sacrifice.

Juggerwroth

Voiced by: Ishizumi Akihiko (Japanese)

A demon that appears only in the 3DS Updated Re-release and the mightiest servant of Rhapthorne that was sealed away by the seven sages. Rhapthorne's complete revival causes the seal on Juggerwroth to weaken, which prompts the spirit of Mr. Golding to alert the heroes about it.

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• Blow You Away: Knows Kaswoosh.
• Death from Above: If he's not summoning lightning, he's crushing the entire party beneath massive stones with Boulder Dash.
• The Dragon: To Rhapthorne.
• Dragon Their Feet: The sages fought him only after they defeated Rhapthorne.
• Dub Name Change: From Jahagaros.
• Gravity Master: Creates a specialized field that causes the heroes to literally be "crushed by their own weight" after he stops playing around, allowing Juggerwroth to finish them off at his leisure. Luckily a Big Damn Heroes from Marcello cancels the field and allows the heroes to fight him on even ground.
• It's Personal: He's beyond pissed with the Seven Sages sealing him, as he swears to kill them after he's done with the party (unaware that they have been dead a long time ago)
• Large Ham: Along with plenty of Chewing the Scenery.
• Optional Boss: Fighting him is completely optional.
• Power Up Full Color Change: His second phase, in which he becomes purple, mixed with Turns Red. He also jumps from Warm-Up Boss to Wake-Up Call Boss.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The ancient sages couldn't defeat him properly so they sealed him away. He busts out the very instant you approach him.
• Shock and Awe: Knows Lightning.
• Status-Buff Dispel: Knows Disruptive Wave during his second phase.
• Taken for Granite: How he was sealed.
• Time Abyss: He knows it's been a long time since he was sealed away, but he doesn't seem to know how long. Rhapthorne was sealed away generations ago, but Juggerwroth is delighted he's "already" free upon busting himself out.
• Turns Red: Glows bright purple in the second phase of his battle.
• Worf Had the Flu: Juggerwroth confronted the sages while they were still licking their wounds from their battle against Rhapthorne. Due to this they were only able to petrify him rather than sealing him in an inanimate object.

Final Boss (More spoilers!)

Rhapthorne

^{Initial Form}

"Such a pity..."

Voiced by: Jonathan Keeble (English), Wataru Takagi (Japanese: Normal version), Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Japanese: Fat version)

An ancient Lord of Darkness who was battled and sealed away eons ago. During the events of the game, he begins to murder the seven sages that are holding him prisoner by using the possessor of his sceptre to act as his proxy.

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• And I Must Scream: Usually the fate of anyone he possesses.
• Anti-Magic: Uses Disruptive Wave to erase status buffs.
• Arch-Enemy: To the Hero, King Trode, Jessica, and Angelo. For the first two, he's responsible for Dhoulmagus unleashing the curse on Castle Trodian and cursing Trode and his daughter into their current forms, causing the Hero to go on a quest with them. For the latter two, the Lord of Darkness murdered Alistiar and Abbot Franscio via Dhoulmagus since they were descendants of the Seven Sages that sealed him away long ago. Madea even mentions that the party's whole fight against Rhapthorne started ever since Dhoulmagus stole the Godbird Sceptre from the castle, despite not being aware of him at the time.
• Barrier Warrior: Spends the first half of the Final Battle surrounded by an impenetrable, spherical energy barrier. The party must spend a looooong time praying to the Godbird Scepter in order to summon the departed descendants of the Seven Sages who can break it, while surviving his attacks.
• Beard of Evil: His final form sports a goatee and he's the true villain of the game.
• Big Bad: Though not immediately apparent, he's the ancient evil, and is the cause of all of the misery in the main characters' lives.
• Blinded by the Light: Uses Dazzleflash in his first form.
• Breath Weapon: He uses both Freezing Blizzard and Inferno, two of the mightiest elemental breath attacks in the main story.
• Catchphrase: "Such a pity." This even extends to any vessel that he's currently inhabiting.
• Dark Is Evil: Not only is he evil, but he makes anyone who so much as glances at his Godbird Scepter prison evil.
• Death from Above: In his final form, he can summon the Wrath of the Gods, as well as Starfall, to hurt the party with a rain of meteors.
• Demonic Possession: What he does in order to give himself a body while trapped inside the Godbird Scepter. Anyone who touches the scepter with their bare skin instantly becomes possessed by Rhapthorne. As noted by Sir Leopold, this vessel does not have to be human.
• Dimension Lord: He ruled the World of Darkness with an iron fist and tried to expand his tyranny into the World of Light, until Empyrea and the seven sages stopped him.
• Evil Is Bigger: Played up to Eleven, his true form reaches the size of a skyscraper.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous: His magical "enhancements" gradually turn his host into a blue-skinned red-winged demon as necessary. Dhoulmagus is given a Power Up Full Color Change after he removes the scepter from its enchanted seal, and then his body undergoes a Fusion Dance with the scepter to produce a One-Winged Angel. Jessica has substantially more power than Dhoulmagus and so only got as far as blue skin^note She will gain Kafrizz if she didn't have it before.. Sir Leopold also gets the One-Winged Angel treatment, but the seal was almost completely undone by that point, so Rhapthorne could impose it on him without combining him with the staff.
• Evil Overlord: Of the world-threatening, Demon King variety, faithful to the series' trend.
• Evil Versus Evil: Marcello has enough sheer ego to actually contend with Rhapthorne's will, even after the blood seal has been undone. After Marcello's boss fight, it becomes apparent the leader of the Templars had designs on using or taking Rhapthorne's power and becoming a Dark Messiah to impose a new world order.
• Fat Bastard: His true form, by far. He's as big as a castle, and significantly rotund.
• Full-Potential Upgrade: A twisted version — Rhapthorne is in the habit of magically altering his host so they can handle more and more of his power.
• Hidden Villain: An example of this done well. His presence isn't felt until a ways into the game, but neither is he a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His former Godbird Scepter prison is used against his shield of darkness, which makes him vulnerable to harm.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Uses Lullab-Eye in both forms, with his first form achieving this via some creepy eyes that show up on his body.
• I'm Having Soul Pains: Inverted. Rhapthorne experiences the physical suffering of his host, and when his current host can't handle the power, he upgrades the body.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After he loses the first round of his boss fight, he turns into a gooey liquid and retreats, while causing his Black Citadel lair to collapse.
• Large and in Charge: So it seems, judging from the pictures in the Dark Ruins. Subverted by his first form which is incredibly small, and played straight by his true form, which is a gargantous obese demon.
• Light Is Not Good: The lower half of his first form's body is suitable for a friendly firefly, yet he is one of the series' most evil villains, murdering all 7 descendants of the Seven Sages to regain his body and restart his plans to conquer the World of Light in order to merge it with the World of Darkness.
• Made of Evil: He requires ancient sages and a godbird of light to even challenge his corrupt form.
• Magic Staff: In addition to his prison he uses to possess people, he wields one of each in both forms, the former of which does his Frezzing Blizzard breath attack, and the latter of which whose orb can detach to fly and smack the whole party.
• Man Behind the Man: He's the reason Dhoulmagus, Jessica, and Sir Leopold all went insane with power. Marcello resists him for a time, but even he ends up succumbing.
• Meaningful Name: He's associated with thorns, and one of the first things he does after possessing Dhoulmagus is to wrap Trodain Castle in them.
• More than Mind Control: Downplayed; Rhapthorne exploits the darkness in a person's heart in order to gain control and subvert their ego to his own will — Dhoulmagus was The Resenter, Jessica hated Dhoulmagus, and Sir Leopold (who was just a mean, scary dog) had no ego of which to speak. Marcello, on the other hand, manages to resist for a time because he just has that much ego.
• The Napoleon: In his base form, he's actually rather tiny. This does not last long.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He taunts the heroes on Neos Isle because of Marcello's defeat, which weakened the Templar long enough to let Rhapthorne properly take control.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Opening the link between the Worlds of Light and Darkness not only causes the monsters exclusive to the latter World to pour out, but also allows Empyrea to break out of the World of Darkness who saves Eight and his allies in the nick of time.
• One-Winged Angel: After manifesting into his true form, he eventually grows to the size of an entire castle.
  • He also gradually imposes this on anyone who holds his cursed Scepter.
• Our Demons Are Different: There's a statue of a be-winged demon in the Dark Ruins that in the 3DS version is implied to be a former incarnation of his. Dhoulmagus and Leopold both have One-Winged Angel forms very similar to that statue.
• Pet the Dog: Possessing an actual dog aside, there are some moments in which he rarely shows kindness, even if he's doing it for his own benefit.
  • He allows Dhoulmagus to speak as himself twice when Trode confronts him at Mallea Abbey, and when the party catches up to him at the Dark Ruins. Hell, he even lets Dhoulmagus keep the jester outfit he used to infiltrate Castle Trodian, since he thought it was a good look for him despite possessing him.
  • He has the horde of Hellhounds spare Martuk since he's not the Heir of the Sage...his mother is!
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: His first form may be small and less intimidating than his credentials, but makes up for it with deadly spells and skills to send his enemies reeling.
• Playing with Fire: In addition to his Inferno breath attack, he can cast Kafrizz in both of his forms, as well as Kafrizzle in the next game.
• Power Limiter: Two — the strength of the Godbird Scepter's seal limits how much of his own power he has access to, while his host body determines how much of that available power can be called upon at once — Dhoulmagus' magic potential was limited and so he had to be modified; Jessica had much more natural power to work with (he could rip open inter-dimensional holes in her body); but the most he could really do in Sir Leopold's original body was become the alpha of a wolf-pack (telepathy notwithstanding) and stab people. When he wants more power, he either magically modifies his host or murders people accordingly.
• Power Up Full Color Change: His standard is to give his host blue skin, Red Eyes, Take Warning, and often white hair.
• Recurring Boss: He's fought at least 8 times during the game, though he's not pleased with it by the time he's defeated as Sir Leopold.
  Rhapthorne: How many more times?
• The Rival: Has a great personal enmity with the Godbird Empyrea, who led the Sages in sealing him away.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Although he can use dark magic while sealed. And in this case, his "can" is a wooden scepter.
• Sleep-Mode Size: Rhapthorne's first form is far less intimidating than his reputation and actions would imply. He's still every bit as vile regardless, however.
• Stout Strength: Morbidly obese he might be, but he is so huge that merely smacking down his arm during his Slap on the Chops attack is equal to a rock fall.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Casts Kaboom in both of his forms, in addition to Kaboomle as a Legacy Boss in Dragon Quest IX.
• Villain Respect: Though he is the Lord of Darkness and is murdering the heirs of the Sages, he seems to at least respect their bloodlines and compliments David and Martha's noble origins.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The world of Dragon Quest VIII isn't perfect, but it does have some rather light-hearted moments and a Good Shepherd or two. Rhapthorne, however, is so nasty that his evilness pollutes the world.
• Visionary Villain: He desires to unite the Worlds of Light and Darkness into one world where he can rule over the humans of both worlds as their true ruler.
• Voice of the Legion: His voice noticeably echoes a bit when fighting him for the last time.
• Walking Spoiler: His existence and essentially everything about him following his reveal.

The Dragovians (Even more spoilers!)

In General

• Group-Identifying Feature: The Dragovians all look Ambiguously Human, save for red-tipped Pointy Ears. The sole exception to this appears to be the mountain man who lives near Farebury, who is only belatedly identified as one.
• Scaled Up: It is a feature of the Dragovian race that they can turn into dragons, though the only one shown to actually do so is the Lord of the Dragovians—and to his credit, he can turn into seven different kinds of dragon.

Chen Mui

Voiced by: Kenichi Ogata (Japanese)

The party's guide in the Dragovian Sanctuary. He appears before them right as the party first enters the gate, even though he's been away from the sanctuary for twenty years. Upon learning of the fate of his people, he appeals to the party to sort out the Dragovian Lord. He knows a great deal about the party for someone they just met, and the Elder Council, of which he is a part, seems to know of The Hero.

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• The Atoner: He forced his daughter Xia to return to the Dragovian Sanctuary after she left to meet humans, but by that point she'd already been betrothed to Eltrio, who died trying to get her back. The loss of his daughter soon after shattered him, and he's spent his life trying to make up for it. He left his home in the Dragovian Sanctuary with the hero in order to watch over him.
• The Fettered: His society was nearly consumed with anti-human settlement when he left it so the Dragovian Lord forbid him to appear to his grandson in his natural state, which is why he's twenty years as a mouse.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: He's actually the Hero's grandfather, a Dragovian shapeshifter.
• Morphic Resonance: Chen Mui's mohawk is shared by Munchie.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Blames himself entirely for the death of his only daughter and the exiling of his grandson.
• Old Master: For a time, at least. He introduces the party to Dragovian society and escorts them along.
• Papa Wolf: He left the Dragovian settlement twenty years ago to watch over and protect his grandson as Munchie.
• "Rashomon"-Style: His recounting of the Hero's parents' past told through pictures shows him drawn rather more dashing and serious as an old man, something which isn't lost on Angelo.
• The Reveal: He's the hero's grandfather and has been watching over him as Munchie.
• Significant Anagram: Chen Mui for Munchie.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He provides the party with a feast consisting entirely of cheese as thanks for their agreeing to help with the Dragovian Lord. Jessica even theorizes that all the powers he uses as Munchie when fed cheese were natural abilities of his all along; he may have only been using them so he could be fed more cheese.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: He reveals himself in the Bonus Dungeon to be the Hero's grandfather, and thus not really Munchie the mouse.

Xia

Chen Mui's daughter, whose boundless curiosity about humans led her to leave the Dragovian Sanctuary to learn about them. Chen Mui, furious, pursued her and dragged her back to the Sanctuary, but not before she had been betrothed to a human prince named Eltrio. Eltrio pursued her, but died before reaching the gates of the sanctuary; after discovering his fate, she died in grief soon afterwards.

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• Grave-Marking Scene: Downplayed. Her grave lies on the road to the Heavenly Dais in a cave with several other graves, but hers is the only one not completely destroyed. It's also completely fake. Xia is buried right next to Eltrio on the Dragovian Path.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: Xia would have been Identical Strangers with Princess Medea.
• Posthumous Character: She's an important part of the Dragovian Sanctuary's history.
• Someone to Remember Him By: Eltrio died trying to chase her to the Dragovian Sanctuary, but after she'd discovered his death, she fell into grief. It soon became apparent that she was pregnant with Eltrio's child, but the strain was too much for her, and she passed away not long after giving birth.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Eltrio; so star-crossed are they that her grave was placed on the opposite side of the sanctuary from Eltrio's just to keep them apart.

Dragovian Lord

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese)

The most powerful of all Dragovians, almost twenty years ago he decided to abandon his Draconic Humanoid form entirely in favor of pure dragonhood. However, such a form requires immense amounts of energy, more than he could constantly provide — the ritual he used, therefore, compensated by inflicting Vampiric Draining on all of the other Dragovians. He remains apart from them, driven mad by his own power.

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• Brainwashed and Crazy: He did this to himself on accident by locking himself into his dragon form. By the time the heroes first engage him, he decides that the party has come to offer themselves as Human Sacrifices.
• Easily Forgiven: The Dragovians are apparently just that happy to be alive that none of them so much as chew him out for nearly wiping out the race.
• Mythology Gag
  • While the Lord of the Dragovians was already a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for the Dragonlord, his final form is a big Call-Back to the Final Boss of Dragon Quest, having the same Palette as the Scaled Up Dragonlord and even a special animation in which it rears up and imitates the Dragonlord's iconic pose.
  • After defeating each form for the first time, he'll grant you a wish—just like Xenlon, a dragon Optional Boss who grants wishes upon being defeated.
• One-Winged Angel: Played with. You originally fight him while he's stuck in his OWA form. Once he's defeated, he reverts to his actual Draconic Humanoid form, and from there he can jump to any of a number of alternate dragon forms.
• Red Right Hand: While he has the same blood-red Pointy Ears as the other Dragovians, he also has a red left hand that he keeps wrapped in his long left sleeve. You can see it whenever he goes One-Winged Angel.
• Scaled Up: While he can be fought in humanoid form, he and his entire race can turn into dragons.
• Staff of Authority: In his humanoid form he holds a kind of mandala with a dragon design on the head. This draconic staff is yet another thing he has in common with the Dragonlord of old.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's an Ambiguously Human ruler who can get Scaled Up into a full dragon, making the Lord of the Dragovians a clear nod to the O.G. Dragonlord, the Big Bad and Final Boss of Dragon Quest. His ultimate form—the Ultimate Dragon—is a big Call-Back to the Dragonlord's Boss Battle.
• Vampiric Draining: It takes Dragovians a lot of energy to maintain their dragon forms, so the Dragovian Lord, who locked himself into his dragon form, has been feeding on the life force of the Dragovians to compensate.
• We Are as Mayflies: He muses that it's been, what, a thousand years since the last time he'd had someone undergo the Dragovian Trials.

Tropes about his dragon forms and boss battles go here

• Armored But Frail: His Darksteel Dragon form approximates the immense defense but diminished hit point count of the franchise's Metal Slimes, though not to the extent of only taking one point of damage per blow.
• Art Evolution: For the franchise as a whole. The lord's dragon forms would become a template informing the design of some other major dragon characters, including the Dragonlord himself in Dragon Quest Monster Battle Road and Maya's bedragoned form in Dragon Quest Heroes.
• Boss Rush: The final fight with the Lord of the Dragovians has you fight his humanoid form, then each of his Dragon forms again (their HP is halved) with Ultimate Dragon being your final opponent.
• Cosmic Motifs: The Darksteel Dragon is described by the bestiary as, "[a] giant dragon with the colours of a dark and starless night," and has the rare Starfall skill, which calls down falling meteors upon the party.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: The Emerald and Divine Dragons have more HP than any other form he can take (and even in his first form, he had almost half again as many hit points as the Final Boss in his One-Winged Angel form).
• Kung-Fu Wizard: In human form, the Lord of the Dragovians has mastered certain Fisticuffs skills like Thin Air and Knuckle Sandwich.
• Large and in Charge: The lord's dragon forms are all apparently immense—their Japanese names all include kyoryū (巨竜), "giant dragon".
• Magically Inept Fighter: The Emerald Dragon has no MP to speak of and casts no magic, instead relying on Status Effects inflicted by his breath to tie you down while so he can whale on you with desperate attacks or his one group-hitting attack, Ferocious Roar.
• Marathon Boss: The final Dragovian Trial has you fight against all 7 of his dragon forms in a row (not to mention his human form first as usual). Defeating him will take no less than half an hour.
• Metallic Motifs: Three of his forms—the Darksteel, Golden and Silver Dragons—are named after metals.
• Palette Swap: His various dragon forms are identical in Primal Stance and proportion, but each has a different color and name.
• Superboss: The Dragovian Lord can be found at the end of the Heavenly Dias and fights you in his humanoid form before taking on a dragon form. During the final fight with him, he uses all his forms in sequence.

Memories Lane Rematches (spoilers)

After wishing for a new training ground, the party can access Memories Lane. Within the dungeon are set of opponents based off the memories of the party, all of whom are far stronger than before and will require various different tactics to take down.

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• Back from the Dead: Don Mole in Memoriam's bestiary entry implies that Don Mole might've died in the main game, though his final fate in the main story was ambiguous at best.
• Boss Rush: The dungeon itself has you fight a boss in each room, though you choose not to fight them after defeating them once. Additionally, defeating Don Mole in Memoriam and Dhoulmagus in Memoriam 2 respectively unlocks two shortcuts which also contain enemy encounters with Liquid Metal Slimes and King Slimes.
• Breath Weapon: Gemon in Memoriam uses Venom Mist against the party, and Sir Leopold in Memoriam uses Fire and Ice Breaths during his fight.
• Decomposite Character: During the party's trip to Memories Lane, Dhoulmagus in Memoriam's first and second forms are considered seperate monsters instead of being a Sequential Boss like his original self.
• Dirty Coward: Gemon in Memoriam's bestiary entry implies that he constantly fights alongside his henchmen for this reason.
• Distracted by the Sexy: In regards to Captain Crow in Memoriam, its actually a good idea to have Jessica perform her Puff-Puff on him to make him waste a turn and nullify his built-up tension. His bestiary entry even mentions that he enjoys receiving a puff-puff as much as he enjoys giving a daring display tension building.
  • Evil Jessica in Memoriam can do this any male party member, effectively forcing you have to Jessica and Red in your party due to their immunity to her charms.
• Flunky Boss: A few of the Memoriam bosses such as tend to fight with various henchmen to assist them.
• Living Memory: All of the Memory Lane bosses (except Estark) are stronger versions of various story mode bosses who can be fought to make the party stronger.
• Me's a Crowd: Dhoulmagus in Memoriam's first form creates two copies of himself, one of which can use healing and revival spells.
• Overly Long Name: Great Argon Lizard in Memoriam has one of the longest monster names in the game, which is incredible when Evil Sir Leopold and Servant of Darkness's Memoriam counterparts had to have their names shortened.
• Palette Swap: Each one is a palette swap of various bosses from the game's main story. Some of them are darker coloured versions but some such as Tortured Soul in Memoriam, Ruin in Memoriam or Dhoulmagus in Memoriam have new colours.
• Stone Wall: Ruin in Memoriam serves this role, requiring a strategy of powerful high-damage attacks to overcome it's high defence.
• Superboss: These opponents are not to be taken lightly, and are among the strongest bosses in the game aside from Estark himself.
• The Medic: Tortured Soul in Memoriam serves as the healer for their henchemen while one of Dhoulmagus in Memoriam's copies can heal all three of them.
• 13 Is Unlucky: Dhoulmagus in Memoriam's first form is the 13th boss the player fights in Memories Lane and his bestiary entry even invokes this.
• Upgraded Boss: Each Memories Lane boss is a stronger version of Geyzer, Tortured Soul, Trap Box, Don Mole, Great Argon Lizard, Captain Crow, Gemon, Evil Sir Leopold, Servant of Darkness, Ruin, Evil Jessica, Marcello and both forms of Dhoulmagus respectively.

Estark (Yet more spoilers!)

Hidden deep in Memories Lane, Estark remembers nothing about his past and challenges The Hero and his party to a fight. He remembers nothing of himself or if he's good or evil, and believes that the party have come to kill him or harness his power to destroy the world. If you deny both reasons, he'll claim you woke him for nothing and will consider it a crime before challenging you to battle.

For tropes relating to his debut game, see here.

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• Achilles' Heel: In true series tradition, Estark is weak to sleep spells and skills and you'll need them to survive his attacks.
• Anti-Magic: Once again uses Disruptive Wave to erase any status buffs used to increase your damage against him.
• Blood Knight: Just like in Dragon Quest V, Estark lives for battle and if you take a lot of turns to defeat him, he'll be disappointed in your lack of strength and tell you come back to him when you're strong enough to beat him quicker.
• But Thou Must!: Regardless of how many times you answer Yes or No to his questions, Estark will try to kill you.
• Dual Wielding: Estark is seen using two scimitars in both of his hands.
• Irony: The main theme of Memories Lane is that all the bosses are memories of the various monsters faced by the party. Estark however remembers nothing of his own past and is a completely new threat to them.
• Hellfire: One of his attacks has him summon dark hurricanes mentioned to be from Hell. The attack in question is even called Hellfire Hurricane.
• Identity Amnesia: Much like a lot of other games he's appeared in, Estark remembers nothing of his past.
• One-Hit Kill: Estark's Death Blow allows him to deal 1000-1200 damage to one of your party members.
• Playing with Fire: Two of his attacks, Hellfire Hurricane and Kafrizzle, are all fire based magic spells, while Scorch is a breath attack.
• Superboss: The resident superboss of the series returns in the 3DS remake and surpasses even the Dragovian Lord in terms of sheer power.

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