Bartz is a wanderer from the town of Lix, accompanied by his chocobo Boko. His mother Stella died when he was a child, and his father Dorgann died three years before the series. He has a fear of heights gained from falling from a rooftop, staying there all night. He was chosen by the Wind Crystal, symbolizing passion. It turns out that his father Dorgann was one of the Warriors of Dawn, further linking his destiny to saving the world. Bartz also appears as a playable character in Dissidia: Final Fantasy and is set to appear in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.
Heroes Prefer Swords: Played with. Given the mechanics of the Job System, Bartz doesn't need to use swords, but he does start out with a Broadsword equipped. And he uses the Brave Blade in Dissidia.
Heroic BSOD: When Exdeath pulls his hometown into the Void. Bartz nearly destroys the airship in rage-filled agony before Faris and Lenna snap him out of it.
Nice Guy: Despite his reluctance to get involved with the quest, he's never anything but a man who does the right thing, and he is amazingly easygoing.
Ghido: [You'll need] the twelve legendary weapons used to defeat the warlock Enuo a thousand years ago. Bartz: The twelve legendary weapons? Ghido: Sometimes I wonder if you say things like that to spite me... Yes, the twelve legendary weapons. They are weapons. They are legendary. There are even twelve of them.
Parental Abandonment: His mother died when he was a child; his dad when he was in his late teens.
Refusal of The Call: He declines Lenna when she asks if he wants to go with her on their quest. Boko makes him reconsider that decision about ten seconds later.
Ridiculously Average Guy: Possibly the most normal-looking major character in the entire series. And this is Final Fantasy we're talking about here...
Secret Legacy: Everyone else in the party are Royals Who Actually Do Something except Bartz, the hobo on a chocobo. Until he finds out that his father fought Exdeath thirty years ago.
Unfortunate Names: Called "Butz" in non-English versions, which makes this one of the few name translations across all media that generally isn't disputed.
Princess and heir to the throne of Tycoon, Lenna is a caring young woman, to the point of putting the life of others before hers. This made the Water Crystal choose her, as its essence was that of devotion.
Action Girl: Not as much as Faris but is still quite determined to fight and protect the world.
The Chick: Well-raised, well-spoken, and full of kindness.
Cute Bruiser: Hard hitting jobs like monk and knight turn her into this.
Demonic Possession - To put it simply, Exdeath arranged for her to be possessed by a demon after sucking Tycoon in the void and shortly before her wyvern helped her escape.
Friend to All Living Things: Oh so much. She'll put her life on the line to save Wind drakes, and that's just a part of it.
Green Eyes: Ingame sprite only. They're not a personality indicator, rather they are a visual clue to her and Faris' relation.
Heroic BSOD: A small one after her father's death.
Lady of War: Depicted with a sword in Amano art as well as the PSX's FMV stills and does not hesitate to take up arms against the forces destroying the crystals. Hard-hitting jobs like Knight and Monk turn her into this as well.
Leitmotif: Lenna's Theme. She's the only one besides Exdeath to have one named after her.
Rose-Haired Girl: Only in the in-game sprites (Her Amano art has her as a blonde). However, the pink hair is far more favored by fan artists.
Ship Tease: Her initial dialogue with Bartz (especially the PSX translation) and the Amano art of them embracing in moonlight. Doesn't really happen in-game.
Galuf is an amnesiac old man, who was found near a meteor. It seems that his mission is protecting the crystals, and he takes along Lenna (and eventually Bartz) along for the ride. The Earth Crystal chooses him, symbolizing hope. It is eventually revealed that Galuf is one of the Warriors of Dawn and the king of Bal, who fought alongside Bartz's father Dorgann thirty years prior to the series. He later dies while protecting the party from Exdeath in the Guardian Tree.
Badass Grandpa: Damn right he is. He is even able to fight at 0 HP.
The Big Guy, with a hint of The Lancer: He's only 5'5", but his personality sure is big.
Berserk Button + Papa Wolf: You don't mess with his True Companions or attack his granddaughter in front of him unless you have a legitimate death wish.
Determinator: He can fight at 0 HP. It's to the point that Exdeath actually begins to freak out over it.
Easy Amnesia: Initially, he can't remember anything save his name, because he hit his head when landing his meteor in the beginning of the game. He tries to use it to get off blame when his "steal Faris' ship" plan goes south.
Galuf:...Ohh, my aching head! I can't remember a thing! Bartz: And your amnesia oh-so-conveniently returns.
Gameplay and Story Integration: The party tries to use all their healing abilities, but they don't work because he fought at 0 HP.
Large Ham: Especially when he gets together with his Dawn Warrior pals.
Let's Get Dangerous: Galuf is an irreverent, smart-mouthed, amnesiac old coot. Expect that to change the second the party's life is in his hands or Exdeath arrives.
Modest Royalty: Later revealed to be a king who insists on not being addressed royally.
Old Soldier: Acts like this. Especially his last living words. They're not a heartfelt farewell, but telling his friends to end Exdeath once and for all. (He has kinder words for Krile afterwards.)
What You Are in the Dark: Near the beginning of the game, the Siren offers him the chance to flee if he lets her devour everyone else's souls. It's really not much of a question to him.
Faris is the leader of a band of pirates, who catches the party trying to steal their ship. Faris eventually lets the party use their ship, which can move without wind due to Faris' sea creature friend, Syldra, moving it. Faris is chosen by the Fire Crystal, symbolizing courage. It is revealed quickly that Faris is in fact a girl, and Lenna's long lost sister Sarisa. She will be appearing in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a playable sub-character.
Anti-Hero: Initially Type IV; she intends to hold Lenna for ransom early on, and only joins the quest to find out about her past, not because she cares about the crystals or worldwide devastation. This changes, and by the end of the game she's Type II.
Character Development: Starts off as a pirate captain whose main interest is in ransoming Lenna back to Tycoon. By the end of the game, she declares that she won't stand by as more lives are lost to Exdeath.
Green Eyes: For her ingame sprite. They're the same color as Lenna's. Her artwork gives her Brown Eyes instead.
Informed AttractivenessWhen Faris, or rather, Sarisa is in her princess attire, all the characters in the throne room during the waltz talk about how beautiful she is. additionally, during the reveal of her gender, Galuf and Bartz go ga-ga over her. There isn't any real way to tell, since she's a 16-bit sprite after all.
Jack-of-All-Stats: Bartz and Galuf have slightly (it won't mean anything after the very early game for the most part) higher physical attack and constitution, Lenna has slightly (though the agility boost will at least decide what order characters with the same set up move in here) higher magic and agility, Faris has the best of both.
The Lancer: Somewhat. She's more on the ball than Bartz is, in general.
Sweet on Polly Oliver: There's an optional scene before her outing where Bartz and Galuf fawn over "his" looks.
Also, if you talk to one of "his" crew at the start of the game in the Tule pub, he will say "Captain... so dreamy..."
Talk Like a Pirate: It's done horribly in the PSX version, with nearly every line beginning with "D'garr!" The GBA simply (and less annoyingly) makes her talk like a thug with very old slurs.
Unfortunate Names: The PSX release translated her real name as "Salsa."
Krile Mayer Baldesion
Krile is the granddaughter of Galuf, and the princess of Bal Castle. A bright and optimistic girl, Krile is an extremely knowledgeable girl and helps the others in their quest to defeat Exdeath and save the worlds. When Galuf performs his Heroic Sacrifice, he gives his powers to Krile and she takes his place.
Aside Glance: Constantly. All of her battle sprites have her looking straight out at the audience instead of at the monsters like the rest of the party.
It should be noted that this was how younger characters' battle sprites were rendered back then; the Onion Knights and Rydia, Palom, and Porom did this too.
Big Damn Heroes: The first time the party meets her is when she busts into the Ronka Ruins on a meteor and knocks out an Exdeath-controlled King Tycoon.
Cute Bruiser: It seems that she was designed to be as adorable as possible. Especially her job classes. Berserker gives you a little girl in what looks like a cat Halloween costume, going on a rampage with an axe or a hammer. She also wins a fist fight against Bartz once.
Please Wake Up / Please Don't Leave Me: Krile says this to Galuf. The first while he's dying, the second after he's dead, and then she begs him to come back when his spirit speaks to her.
Plucky Girl: Krile has by no means had an easy life, but that hasn't put a dent in her spirit.
Speaks Fluent Animal / Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish: She can talk to moogles. And wind drakes. And chocobos. They never really explain this except for one NPC in Bal that said her ability started to appear after her parent were missing in desert.
The cornerstone of Final Fantasy V's gameplay, these warrior spirits are acquired from the Crystal Shards that appear after the breaking of each successful crystal.
The Freelancer
The "base" job of the game; all of the characters start out as one.
Magikarp Power: While this job starts out fairly weak Statistically Speaking, it eventually gains the stat boosts of all mastered jobs without taking on stat penalties. It also acquires the innate abilities of mastered jobs, such as the Ninja's Dual Wielding or the Monk's ability to Counter Attack.
Weapon of Choice: Averted; this class can equip any and all pieces of equipment. Being able to do so actually makes it one of the best jobs in the game, even before it inherits stat boosts.
Wind Crystal Jobs
The Knight
These brave warriors take physical attacks for weakened allies. Their class ability, Guard, allows them to nullify all physical damage until their next turn.
Mighty Glacier: They're actually faster than a Freelancer, but their use of Heavy Armor tends to make them slower.
No Sell: As stated above, Guard nullifies damage from all physical attacks.
Self-Imposed Challenge: Use of the above and below in combination makes them quite useful for them.
These bare knuckled fighters can take down even powerful monsters with but their fists. They have the highest Strength and health among all jobs, making them sturdy.
Final Fantasy V introduced these unique mages, having the ability to learn certain magic used by enemies. Their skill set is fairly diverse, ranging from offensive magic like Goblin Punch and Flame Thrower, to defensive buffs like Mighty Guard.
Blow You Away: Has access to the Aero series of spells.
Difficult, But Awesome: Not an easy class to master, yet veteran players swear by Blue Magic.
Enemy Scan: Possibly reflecting their origins in the Scholar class.
Jack-of-All-Stats: Has the most balanced stats among Wind Crystal Jobs, yet they are lacking in physical strength.
These warriors have the ability to enchant their weapons with magic, allowing them to exploit elemental weaknesses, inflict status effects, drain HP or MP, or just deal heavy damage.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Given that their skill set is closely linked to a Black Mage's...
Lightning Bruiser: Tied for second fastest job with Ninja, and is one of a handful of jobs that get no stat reductions whatsoever. They can also equip heavy armor and can swing swords with enough strength.
Magic Knight: Sort of. They still use physical attacks, yet can imbue their weapons with magical effects.
One-Hit KO: Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga/Holy Spellblade does this to foes weak against their respective elements, provided they aren't immune to this trope.
These scarlet-clad, tabard-wearing wizards take up magic and fighting equally, resulting in a Jack-of-all-trades that is also a Master of None. Final Fantasy V gives them the Dualcast ability, making mastering this job ultimately worth it.
Crutch Character: They're very useful upon first acquisition due to their versatility, then fall behind as other jobs become more useful. However, see Magikarp Power below.
Jack-of-All-Stats: Balanced stats (including both increased Strength and Magic), yet have no outstanding stats and actually lack in health.
Magikarp Power: They gain the great Dualcast ability, after acquiring the most ABP required to master a single Job, standing at 1179 ABP total.
Master of None: Bar dualcasting this job has few niches to fill, and Dualcast is used better by Mimes.
Although a Water Crystal job, plot events make it unavailable until the worlds are merged. Though by themselves they can't do anything but Mimic the last move by a party member, they are stronger than expected.
Badass Cape: Their outfit is largely the same as the Freelancer outfit, save for the addition of a cape.
Magikarp Power: See Freelancer. In fact, this is the best job for a magically inclined character, as they can have three commands apart from Mimic, and this class lack of weapons does not hamper them thus.
Although this job and the Bard are also of the Fire Crystal, they are found separately, coughed up by a Black Chocobo rather than being retrieved after the breaking of the said crystal. This job specializes in ranged assaults and the alliance of woodland creatures.
This job is acquired alongside the Ranger. Bards use their songs to either bolster a party or mess with foes.
Expy: Starting a series tradition, the Bards in this game have a moveset based on that of Edward from Final Fantasy IV, including Edward's signature ability to hide from sight.
Lethal Joke Character: While their stats are nothing to write home about, their song repertoire includes abilities to increase strength, magic, or even level over time, heavily damage undead, or stop even a mechanical bringer of death in its tracks.
Revive Kills Zombie: Requiem does massive damage to undead. And then there's Apollo's Harp, which deals greatly increased damage to Undead and Dragons - of which the latter includes one of the two original Bonus Bosses.
Barehanded Blade Block: Their Shiriharadori skill does this, even for non-sword attacks. It notably stacks with equipment such as shields and the Elven Mantle, allowing Samurai to dodge many physical attacks.
Difficult, But Awesome: Even more so than Blue Magic, yet Mixes are invaluable for more strategic players, particularly those doing a Low Level Run.
Item Caddy: Potions and ethers are doubly effective when used by a Chemist. This is an innate ability, so mastering it will pass it to Freelancers and Mimes.
Jack-of-All-Stats: Despite the more magical nature of their abilities, they don't get appreciable stat boosts or deductions, and they have Magic as their lowest stat (though not by much).
Masters of combat, this class has the second most diverse weapon selection behind the Freelancer. They hit hard, and their abilities are geared towards combat.
Cap: The Elemental Attack of Finisher will always do 9999 damage... provided the target does not resist the element.
Critical Hit: One of the possible effects of Finisher.
Elemental Powers: This is the only part of the game where the elemental essences granted to the party make a difference in game play. The Elemental Attack of the Finisher ability has its element dependent on the character.
Glass Cannon: Tied with Monk for highest strength, yet has rather low health. This is mitigated through the class' Long Range ability (allows attacks to deal full damage from the back row), and access to Heavy Armor.
Random Encounters: Can increase their rate through the Lure passive ability.
Shout Out: The character's outfits resemble that of Saint Seiya characters. Each of the characters also resemble a Summon within the game (Bartz to Odin or Bahamut, Lenna to Shiva, Faris to Syldra, and Krile to Carbuncle).
Foil: Arguably to the Gladiator class, as not only were both introduced in the Advance release, but one is a physical specialist while the other is a magic specialist, and both have abilities that either increase or decrease the rate of Random Encounters.
The main villain of Final Fantasy V. Exdeath was once a tree in the Great Forest of Moore, who was used as a prison for evil souls to inhabit. Eventually the evil souls merged into the form of the Tin Tyrant that's seen in the game. Exdeath's goal is to control the void and destroy everything.
And Your Little Dog Too: He destroys Bartz' hometown and the Moogle Forest largely just to show off his newfound power.
Evil Overlord: He has the multitude of demons sealed in the Rift at his beck and call, apparently by promising to reshape the world for them to rule.
There's also the fact that he himself is actually composed of multiple demons.
Hoist by His Own Petard: During the final battle, he becomes consumed by the Void(which he had attempted to gain control of over the course of the game), turning him into Neo-Exdeath
Large Ham: And HOW. He even went from a very unpopular Final Fantasy villain to VERY well-liked when Dissidia: Final Fantasy finally was able to have Gerald C. Rivers voice his hamminess (and play it up as well).
Tin Tyrant: A stepping point between Golbez and Kekfa Pallazzo.
Trivia: He's the last Tin Tyrant major villain until XII's judges, and the last out of an almost unbroken line for the first five games, III being the exception.
When Trees Attack: This is what happens when you use a tree in a magic forest as a trash compactor for evil spirits.
Where I Was Born And Razed: The tree that became Exdeath originally grew in the Great Forest of Moore. In his race to destroy the Crystals of Galuf's world, he burns down the entire forest, save for the eldest tree, because the forest would not allow him to enter.
The Cameo: He's notable for being so awesome that he's the only character to actually appear (as in, not as some guy with the same name, it's the same person) in other numbered games.
Character Exaggeration: Gilgamesh's poor battle skills and sword-obsession in other parts of the series are in contrast of his original appearance here; he actually doesn't even use a sword until growing extra arms, and even then only uses one. What's more, he's a challenging boss most of the time and is described by one NPC as having defeated an entire Redshirt Army on his own.
Well to be fair, even when he is making a cameo appearance, he's usually some kind of Bonus Boss...
Worthy Opponent + The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He is very saddened to find out that Galuf has been killed, to the point he keeps quiet for the rest of the battle in complete contrast to his normal self
You Have Failed Me: Exdeath got fed up with his constant bungling and tossed him into the Interdimensional Rift.
Enuo
The original evil. A dark Wizard who 1,000 years before the events of the game nearly destroyed the world and whose defeat caused the world to split in two.
Lenna's father, the king of Tycoon. Sets off to the Wind Shrine at the beginning of the game; when he doesn't come back, Lenna sets out after him, beginning the story of the game. Is also the father of Sarisa, AKA Faris.
Mythology Gag: His middle name is the common Dragoon last name, "Highwind".
Dorgann Klauser
Bartz's Father, who died three years prior to to events of the game. Trained Bartz in fighting, and is the one who encouraged him to become a wanderer. Is one of the Warriors of Dawn, and is originally from Galuf's world. He decided to stay in Bartz's world to make sure the seal on Exdeath does not break.
Poor Communication Kills: His often-jumped-into-conclusion attitude costs him dearly when Bartz defeats him in a duel, leaving the old werewolf bed-ridden for the rest of the game.
Ghido
An ancient sage, who happens to be a tortoise. Has a very dry wit and loves to pick on Bartz.
