∇
troperville

The main melee fighter of the group. He can wield many heavy weapons such as swords and axes, and can wear the heaviest of armors. This affects his speed, as it greatly reduces his ability to dodge attacks. When promoted, he becomes a Knight, capable of casting some White Magic up to level 3. The Warrior appears representing the original Final Fantasy in the Dissidia: Final Fantasy series and appears in the Spin-Off titles Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy Brigade. In the official novelization of the game he leads the party and is named Zest.

Bifauxnen:
- If you choose to make your fighter character female. Actually, this can apply to all the Light Warriors except for White Mage->White Wizard.
- This also applies in the Dawn of Souls wallpaper.
Knight in Shining Armor
Mighty Glacier
Red-Headed Hero
Shonen Hair
White Magic

Thief —> Ninja

The secondary melee fighter of the group. He can use most of the same weapons that the Fighter can, but doesn't have as much variety in armor. He is, however, faster than the Knight, and has a better chance at running away from battle than other classes. Upon promotion, he can become a Ninja, and can cast some Black Magic up to level 4. In the official novelization of the game he is a cynic named Sauber.

Fragile Speedster
Highly Visible Ninja: In the GBA version, he keeps the same shade of bright green on his outfit after the class change.
Knife Nut
Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: In the NES version.

Black Belt/Monk —> Master

Yet another powerful melee damage dealer, the Monk is a peculiar character in that he deals much more damage unarmed than he would with weapons. Even then, he can only wield nunchaku and a few staves. He is also the only class who is never able to learn magic. His damage-dealing capabilities are increased even further when he receives his promotion to Master.

Red Mage —> Red Wizard

The quintessential "jack-of-all-trades, but master of none." The Red Mage (Red Wizard after promotion) can use select spells from both the White and Black Magic schools, but never the most powerful of either. His choice of weaponry is knives and swords.

Bishōnen: Or possibly Bishoujo.
Jack Of All Trades
Master of None
Magic Knight
Nice Hat
The Red Mage: Well...
White-Haired Pretty Boy / White-Haired Pretty Girl: Depending on whether you choose to make your red mage male or female.

White Mage —> White Wizard

The peaceful healer of the group. The White Mage is weak physically, but is capable of using every spell from the White Magic library, from healing spells to status buffs to the undead-killing Harm/Dia spells. When promoted, the White Mage becomes a White Wizard, letting down the hood of her robe and revealing a full head of hair. In the official novelization of the game she is a motherly youth named Floe.

Combat Medic: Only when she has a weapon equipped.
Drop the Hammer: The most powerful weapon she can equip save the Masamune.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: If you choose to make your white mage male.
Healing Hands
Holy Hand Grenade: The Dia/HARM line of spells only works on undead, but deals heavy damage to them.
The Smurfette Principle: If there's only one female white mage. Or only one female character period. Maybe.
Squishy Wizard
Word of Dante: The White Mage's gender is unspecified in the original, and the sprite in the remakes is androgynous. The idea that the White Mage is a woman gained popularity from 8-Bit Theater, and it's generally accepted Fanon.
White Mage: Like the Red Mage, the Trope Namer comes from here.
White Magic

Black Mage —> Black Wizard

The primary magic damage-dealer of the group. With the lowest HP of any character, Black Mages are often kept in the back of the line as they rain down fire, ice and lightning on their foes. They are easily spotted by their cone-shaped hats and cloaks that obscure their face (save a pair of glowing eyes). In the NES version, the promoted Black Wizard removes his hat, but all versions after the Wonderswan Color port simply change the outfit, but keep the face-concealing hat on. In the official novelization of the game he is a quiet man named Daewoo.

Black Mage: Another Trope Namer.
Carry a Big Stick
The Faceless: This is averted in the original, as his class change makes him take off his hat, but in ports and remakes, his face is covered in shadow.
Fire, Ice, Lightning
Robe and Wizard Hat
Simple Staff/Magic Wand
Squishy Wizard

Villains

Garland/Chaos

A former Knight of Cornelia, he kidnapped Princess Sara, and rescuing her is the first quest of the game. Initially presented as just the first boss and forgotten as soon as he's killed, he returns at the end of the game and is revealed to have been the Big Bad all along—he was sent back in time by the Four Fiends when he was killed to absorb their power and become Chaos. Garland and Chaos appear in the Dissidia: Final Fantasy series as separate entities and Chaos be appears again in the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Spin-Off as a boss character.

All Your Powers Combined: As Chaos, he has the elemental attacks of the Four Fiends.
Art Evolution: As the series has progressed and the game remade for new systems, Chaos has become increasingly demonic looking. Garland has likewise become larger and more imposing while retaining the same basic design.
Badass Cape
Big Bad
Big Red Devil
Black Knight
Book Ends: He's the first boss as Garland and the last boss as Chaos.
Character Development: Both he and Chaos get a slew of it in Dissidia: Final Fantasy, but how much of it is actually canon is up for debate...
- Adaptational Badass
Chaos Is Evil
Chekhov's Gunman
The Chessmaster
Elemental Powers
Evil Plan:
Face Heel Turn: As a part of his backstory.
Fallen Hero
Glowing Eyes of Doom
Good Bad Translation: "I, Garland, will knock you all down!" Never Say "Die" was clearly in effect here.
- Perhaps not, the original line was "kick you around," apparently.
It Makes Sense in Context: "Two thousand years from now, you killed me." That's not a typo.
My Death Is Just the Beginning
One-Winged Angel: A decade before the Trope Namer existed, there was Chaos.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: As Garland.
Save the Villain: After breaking the time loop the trick of fate that sent Garland down the slippery slope vanishes and he along with the rest of Cornelia awaits the return of the Warriors of Light.
Spikes of Villainy: His iconic horned helmet.
Tin Tyrant: The Ur Example within the series.

Lich

The Fiend of Earth, who resides in the Cavern of Earth. His siphoning of the Earth Crystal's power has caused the land around Melmond to rot and become lifeless.

Undead
- Our Liches Are Different
Dishing Out Dirt
Elemental Embodiment
The Man Behind the Man: When the party goes to Melmond for the first time, the citizen said that a vampire was the one who made the land rot. But after you defeat said vampire, you will notice something off, along with a sealed door behind the vampire's chamber. Put two on two together with the fact that the land still continue to rot...
Wham Episode: His sudden reappearance in the past version of the Chaos Shrine. Followed shortly by another with the realization that the other three are there, too. They are.

Marilith/Kary

The Fiend of Fire, who has made her home in the volcano called Mt. Gulg. She was the last of the Fiends to awaken, originally due to arise 200 years after the Lich.

Blondes are Evil
Cute Monster Girl: See her pic to the right.
Dark-Skinned Blond: Going from a moderate tan to red.
Dub Name Change: When the game was first released, her name was spelled as Kary, a mistranslation of Kali, the multi-armed Hindu goddess of death, likely due to Nintendo's policy at the time of no direct references to religion in American releases.
- That they took issue with the wholly fictional name "marilith" and thought that Kali, a deity that is actively venerated by people in the present day, was an acceptable substitute brings up considerable Unfortunate Implications.
Elemental Embodiment
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: And all of them holding swords.
Playing with Fire
Scissors Cuts Rock: Fire damages her more than Ice. Some Fiend of Fire! (Elemental weaknesses as a video game mechanic hadn't caught on yet.)
Snakes Are Sexy
Snake People
Stripperiffic: A bra, and that's pretty much it. May possibly be the Ur Example of Ms. Fanservice in this series.
Woman Scorned: She was said to have been sleeping for more than 100 years in Gulg Volcano after completely draining the Fire Crystal, and never once attacked the nearby village. The only thing that roused her from her sleep was Lich's death. She also listed the other Fiends that you have defeated before her (you can skip her fight until the end of the game) and will swear revenge on their name.

Kraken

The Fiend of Water, who lives deep under the ocean in the Sunken Shrine.

Badass Cape
Elemental Embodiment
Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods
Kraken, of course
Combat Tentacles
Making a Splash
Noblewoman's Laugh: Only in NES version, though.
Wicked Cultured

Tiamat

The Fiend of Air, residing high above the earth in the Flying Fortress. She was the first of the Fiends to awaken, and is the most powerful of the lot. Tiamat is responsible for forcing the sky-dwelling Lufenians to Earth when she took over their fortress.

Achilles Heel: While Tiamat is resistant to all magic elements, the BANE/Poison/Scourge spell has a small chance of killing her instantly. She's also vulnerable to BRAK/Petrify, with similar odds of success. These weaknesses are removed during the party's second encounter with her in the Shrine of Chaos.
Blow You Away
Elemental Embodiment
Multiple Head Case
Our Dragons Are Different: Said to be an anti-thesis of Bahamut.
Samus Is a Girl: The Lufenians refer to the six-headed dragon thing using a female pronoun. The players? Not so much.
Shock and Awe

Other Characters

Princess Sarah

The beautiful eldest Princess of the Kingdom of Corneria, Garland takes her captive when he goes rogue as a ransom to the kingdom. She will appears as a playable sub-character in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.

Chekhov's Gun: The Lute that she gives you opens the final dungeon's entrance.
Damsel in Distress
Everything's Better with Princesses
Legacy Character
Magic Music: Her Lute.
Pimped-Out Dress: In her artwork painted by Yoshitaka Amano.
Princess Classic
Smitten Teenage Girl: After you save her.
- Ship Tease: The ending mentions the Warriors will return to Cornelia where she is waiting for them.
You Gotta Have Green Hair: In her sprite in the advanced versions.

Bahamut

The Dragon King living under the Caradia Islands.

Fetch Quest: Sends you to the Cave of Trials to bring him a Rat's Tail
Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons
Our Dragons Are Different
Prestige Class: Bahamut will give you the class upgrades when you bring him a Rat's Tail.

Matoya

A witch who lives in a cave. She cannot see without the use of her special Crystal Eye.

Blind Seer: Without her Crystal Eye anyway.
Mineral MacGuffin: The Crystal Eye.
Little Miss Snarker: This is how Matoya expresses her (gratitude) upon regaining her vision. "Hmph! You're not even as attractive as I thought you'd be..." You're welcome.
Small Name, Big Ego

Prince of Elfheim

An Elf Prince who resides in a castle at Elfheim and is put into a deep sleep by the evil Dark Elf Astos.

Curse: Astos placed a "sleeping curse" upon him.
Heavy Sleeper: Astos's curse put him in a deep sleep.
Instant Waking Skills
Flat Character: Other than the Key he gives you, he doesn't contribute to the plot much. Heck they never even mention the guys name!

Astos

A minor villian, the Dark Elf who placed a sleeping spell upon the elf prince of Elfheim in a bid to rule over all elves.

Card-Carrying Villain: A very generic bad guy really, coy disguises and all.
Evil Laugh
Fake King: Hangs out in a ruined castle, where he requests that the Light Warriors retrieve his crown (presumably so he can Class Change).
Take Over the World: All in good time. He wants both elven kingdoms first.

Cid of the Lufain

A minor character who did not appear in the original Final Fantasy (he appears in the Dawn of Souls remake), he is an ancient Lufenian who created the airship used by the Warriors of Light.