Going from a single hero to an ensemble of seven and having nine different characters in the party, Legend of Dragoon runs the gamut of Ensemble tropes:
With a Friend and a Stranger: Shaken up a bit in that it's a guy from out of nowhere and the childhood friend is the Mysterious Waif. Played fully straight when Rose joins.
Knight, Knave and Squire: Lavitz, Dart and Shana form a toned down version with Lavitz as the Knight, Dart being the Knave and Shana as the Squire. When Rose joins as she takes over the Knave position and Dart switches roles to the Squire. This dynamic is especially noticeable when Shana is poisoned, leaving the others without her.
Voiced by Tomokazu Seki in Japanese and John Butterfield in English
"Revenge does not generate anything." That's what I learned from Lavitz. To tell the truth, I don't know what I am going to do or even what I want to do when I face the Black Monster. I just want to know what he is."
Survivor of the Black Monster's destruction of Neet, Dart returns from a trip Walking the Earth to find his adopted home of Seles razed and his childhood friend Shana kidnapped. The quest to rescue Shana and make the responsible parties pay will extend his journey to take vengeance against the Black Monster further than he could possibly comprehend.
Wielder of the Red-Eyed Dragoon Spirit, which awakens from within his father's prized jewel during the climax of the party's first clash with Kongol. Later inherits the Divine Dragoon Spirit from Lloyd at the very end.
Doomed Hometown: Dart attracts fire (no pun intended) like honey attracts bees. Not only is Seles burned at the beginning of the game, but his birthplace of Neet was torched by the Black Monster 18 years prior. He's one of only three known survivors.
Jack of All Stats: All his stats are perfectly average, with the exception of his above-average HP.
Memento MacGuffin: His father's memento is actually the Red Eyed Dragoon crystal.
Parental Abandonment: Both of Dart's parents were killed trying to save their home village of Neet from the Black Monster. His dad his Not Quite Dead but does this again at the very end.
Pinball Protagonist: Never really figures things out until the end. He's just in 'protect Shana' mode and this informs all his decisions.
Walking the Earth: What he's been doing prior to the beginning of the game
Lavitz Slambert
Voiced by Kazuhiro Oguro in Japanese and Mike Marx in English
This is what I saw everyday when I was young. I grew up thinking... "I'll be an admired knight just like my father and I'll protect this country!" [...] The reality was much harder than I imagined back then. I feel all the more strongly how great my father was. To protect this country I would tear the flesh from my body.
Knight of Basil and prisoner of Sandora's Hellena compound, at least until Dart rescues him in the midst of his strike to save Shana. Together, they escape to the Kingdom of Basil and assist in its defense at the fortress city of Hoax.
Wielder of the Jade Dragoon Spirit, won from Greham, the man who killed Lavitz's father during the initial schism that split Serdio into Basil and Sandora. Killed by Lloyd while saving King Albert from Hellena, and his soul imprisoned in the Winglies' Death City Mayfil due to his ties to the world of the living.
Foreshadowing: When Lavitz casts the Blossom/Rose Storm spell, the petals he uses are Cherry Blossoms, a flower long symbolic of the tragically short lives of samurai.
Voiced by Akemi Okamura in Japanese and Donna Mae Wong in English
"I can walk next to Dart. I have been working towards that. There is nothing we can do about the time we were apart, but I want to be with you forever!"
Dart's childhood friend and honestly not-girlfriend. Isn't particularly sure why Sandoran forces kidnapped her during the invasion of Seles. It's probably because she's the Moon Child, but more on that in Rose's spoiler data.
After being poisoned by the Green-Tusked Dragon Feyrbrand, she is healed with the White Silver Dragoon Spirit and subsequently inherits its power. And then she loses it following the Divine Dragon's attack on Deningrad, gets directly kidnapped by "Emperor Diaz", and so on.
Charm Person: Everyone's love for Shana becomes rather dark once you realize that one of her Moon Child powers is the ability to overpower and influence the minds of others.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As the White Dragoon spirit, she can remain almost permanently in Dragoon Form...and her Dragoon summon is, without a doubt, the best in the game. A suitable reward for putting up with someone who can't combo, is outdamaged by the other Squishy Wizard's phsyical attacks and is also a Squishy Wizard herself.
Damsel in Distress: Kidnapped in Disc 3, and held in Damsel Perpetuity until the ending.
Defense Mechanism Superpower: On occasion, when her life is endangered, she instinctively manifests a glowing halo of power that can destroy her enemies or protect her allies. It turns out that this is actually one of the powers of the Moon Child.
Everything's Better with Princesses: She's the daughter of the Queen of Mille Seseau. Neither she nor her birth mother knows and this isn't resolved at all, with the ending showing her back in Seles.
Separated at Birth / Switched at Birth: The Black Monster was sent to kill Shana as a baby but accidentally killed her twin, which is how the Moon Child managed to survive to adulthood.
She Is All Grown Up: Played with in that Shana wants Dart to think of her differently because of this but Dart still thinks of them Like Brother and Sister. Resolved about halfway through the game.
Voiced by Yumi Touma in Japanese and Awele Makeba in English
War is not in human nature. Humans fight by making themselves enter insanity. It is...the same for revenge. This is a tool to amplify the insanity. And this insanity is the source of the power of Dragoons, the Dragon Knight. Someday, something will happen, and if you cannot chasten your insanity, I wonder if you will be able to endure it, given the size of your spirit?
A wandering warrior who saves Dart from Feyrbrand during his journey home to Seles, and later shows up to help awaken and train his Dragoon Spirit, seeing as how she wields the Darkness one herself. Her knowledge of the Dragon Campaign of 11,000 years ago becomes dangerously relevant to the civil war in Serdio and the machinations of its puppetmasters. Said knowledge is firsthand, and she's been spending a good chunk of the eleven-millenia gap killing Moon Children under the guise of the Black Monster, ensuring that the world never experiences the "holy bliss" that a Moon Child would bestow.
Bad Powers Complicated People: She has moves called Death Dimension and Demon's Gate, but she's a pretty good person who occasionally goes on a massive killing spree to keep the world safe.
Cool Sword: They don't come much cooler than that.
Crutch Character: Rose will pretty much carry the party through the first disc and remain decent in the second but her poor stat progression and Dragoon magic leaves her near-useless in the last half of the game once she gets outclassed by everyone. It's only the Infinity+1 Sword that keeps her viable for the Final Boss.
Dance Battler: Some of her combos even sound like dance names.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Being forced to be a mass murderer every 108 years has to do things to you.
Easily Forgiven: Rose has killed untold numbers of people throughout the generations to prevent the Moon Child from coming about, and Zieg makes sure everyone in the party knows about it at the end of the third disc. Apart from a swordfight with Dart to resolve the pent-up anger, the party very readily forgave Rose for this. Rose herself was surprised at this treatment, but everyone accepted that she did whathad to be done.
And they flat out let her go for it when they realized killing Shana might be for the best.
Nice Job Breaking It, Herod: Note that it's Rose's failure to kill off the real Moon Child that sets off the events of the entire game.
Obfuscating Stupidity: One of the few times she doesn't almost blow her cover, it's because she immediately knows Meru is a Wingly, and it's not at a good time to mention that.
Sugar and Ice Personality: Rose can be extremely cold and downright merciless at times, but with a lot of patience and effort, she can show a certain degree of affection - usually to Dart.
Time Abyss: Rose has been alive for over eleven thousand years. She's seen the rise and fall of countless empires, associated with creatures now considered to be myths, and she's made it her mission in life to assassinate the supposed Messiah every century.
The Tragic Rose: Once you've finished the game, step back and take a good hard look at everything that Rose has been through in her life.
Useless Useful Spell: Astral Drain would be awesome if it dealt (and therefore healed) more damage. Demon's Gate is only useful in random battles, which no sane person will use Dragoons in anyway.
Voiced by Minoru Inaba in Japanese and Brian Vouglas in English
It's been 20 years since I left the village pursuing Claire, but what I have found was only my immaturity.
Martial Arts master from the isolated island village of Rouge, who joins Dart and pals to take a bit of a break from his own search for his missing daughter Claire. This winds up being a shock to Dart, as Claire was also his mother's name, and the lullaby Dart taught Shana originated from Rouge. Of course, There Are No Coincidences.
Wields the Thunder Dragoon Spirit after inheriting it from Doel.
Lightning Bruiser: Both stat-wise and literally, of a fast hard hitter variants, but he has a decent defense as well. It's not a coincidence that he and Dart are well balanced.
Theme Naming : His addition refers to numbers, and add the exact same number of hits -1 to fit the number of hits with the number it represents. The weird exception is Flurry of Styx (which might or might not be referring to three) and Hex Hammer (which adds 6 hits, totalling into 7 attack)
In the Japanese version, Flurry/Ferry of Styx (the English version is inconsistent on what it's called) is referred to as 三途の渡し (Sanzu no Watashi), with "Sanzu" being the Japanese name for Styx. "San" (三) is also Japanese for "three" which fits his number theme. Ferry of Styx makes sense, even though it loses the number theme. Don't even ask where "flurry" came from...
My Greatest Failure: His daughter accidentally killed a fellow student during a sparring session, under his watch, after being insulted by him, and then ran away from home.
Shock and Awe: After gaining the Thunder Dragoon Spirit. Probably one of the main reasons he doesn't fall behind stat-wise, as Thunder has no counter-element.
Well Done Son Guy: Claire was the sole heir to the Rouge School of Martial Arts. As such, Haschel pushed her harder than any of his other students.
Albert
Voiced by Shinichiro Miki in Japanese and David Babich in English
It reminds me of what Lavitz happily told me about you. That he had met "guys he could finally call friends." Now, I understand why.
King of Basil and regular sparring partner to Lavitz, he joins Dart's merry band following Sandoran forces' extraction of the Moon Gem from his body and also that whole "Lavitz dying" thing. Smitten with Princess Emille of Tiberoa, and spends a good chunk of Disc 2 shocked at her newfound rashness of attitude. He's only slightly less shocked that Emille was impersonated the whole time by Lenus, pulling the Long Con for Lloyd.
Wields the Jade Dragoon Spirit.
A Child Shall Lead Them: Albert inherited the throne when he was only six. It's the reason Doel split the country in two.
Awesome But Practical: The Rose Storm spell. It halves damage for three turns and won't break the mana meter, perfect for enemies who charge up for a major attack.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: There's no sugar-coating it, Albert is a nerd, and his royal upbringing means his ability to blend into a crowd leaves a bit to be desired. Good thing he can tear through enemy lines with his trusty blade on a stick and has memorized entire libraries.
King Incognito: Albert tries to adopt this persona once he joins the party, but the disguise never seems to last very long.
Something about a Rose: Albert uses roses in the Flower Storm spell. The noble, rebellious rose is meant to contrast against Lavitz's Cherry Blossoms.
Spam Attack: Albert's Additions are the QTE version of a 6-year-old with ADHD on a sugar rush.
The Smart Guy: You'd think he'd be a Lancer but he gladly defers to Rose in that role and simply doesn't have the same dynamic with Dart that Lavitz did. On the other hand, we are reminded often that Albert has a hard-on for books.
Voiced by Tomoko Kawakami in Japanese and Lucy Kee in English
Hey you, alky! How dare you touch my butt!
The best dancer in the Tiberoan village of Donau, she joins Dart and the gang to help free the kingdom from the clutches of the Gehrich Gang. Her perky exterior hides the fact that the Winglies of Mille Seseau are royally cheesed off at her leaving their Hidden Elf Village to prove the two races can heal their wounds from the Dragon Campaign.
Wields the Blue Sea Dragoon Spirit after putting an end to Lenus.
Age Inappropriate Dress: Although Meru is older than she looks if you meet her fiancé in the Wingly Forest.
Awesome, but Impractical: If you use the special command to initiate either her Plane Shift or Dart's, it weakens the other's attacks and magic because you cannot remove Dart from the party.
Awesome Yet Practical : On the other hand, she is ridiculously fast, and has ridiculously powerful spells, combined with second highest magic stats, far making up for the weakened Dart.
Fragile Speedster -> Glass Cannon and Lightning Bruiser once her last Addition is maxed out. She's most definitely the fastest character in the game, regularly getting two attacks before most people get one.
Foreshadowing: This essentially is a Replay Bonus moreso, but you'll notice that when everyone is surprised Lenus is flying away, she points at Meru. Then when Lenus dies in the cutscene, for some reason, Dart, Shana, and MERU are shown, with emphasis on Meru's emotions during the scene. See also Hair Color Spoiler.
Just a Kid: How everyone treats her. Not that she helps matters by acting like a tween with a schoolgirl crush.
Kawaiiko: Older than she looks but acts younger than she is.
Magikarp Power : Not as bad as Shana, but despite her massive speed, she starts with a weak addition for several levels, potentially the last character to gain her Dragoon, and weak defense. Properly trained and set up, she become a complete Game Breaker, capable of killing bosses before they get a single turn, dealing massive damage like it was nothing, and becomes the strongest physical party member with only Haschel being capable of outdoing her physical damage output. Not to mention that her Dragoon form is the most versatile, having both a healing move and a spell for every situation. And in case you forgot, she is also the one with highest speed.
Squishy Wizard: Which is kind of ironic because by Wingly standards Meru is a terrible magician; in fact, by the ancient standards of magic held by Zenebatos, she can't even qualify as a real Wingly at all.
Voiced by Masashi Sugawara Japanese and Ernie Fosselius in English
Emperor Doel say he make world where every species equal. World needs strong leader. Whether you can be leader, Kongol will watch to the end. Giganto's sadness should not be repeated....
Last of the Giganto species and one of Emperor Doel's trump cards in the civil war in Serdio. After being bested by Dart and his entourage twice, however, his honor as a Proud Warrior Race Guy leads him to join the team as they liberate the Gigantos' ancestral home from the Gehrich Gang.
Canonically the last to gain a Dragoon Spirit, inheriting the Golden spirit from the memory of his brother within the Moon That Never Sets; although the player can acquire it earlier with a little backtracking to the merchant city Lohan (as hinted by an easily missed NPC in Donau).
Last of His Kind: Somehow the entire race was wiped out by racist bandits.
Mighty Glacier: Highest HP, highest physical defense, close to the highest attack strength, but slowest speed, almost no magic, and has few additions to his attacks.
Out of Focus: While his motivations for joining and his loyalty to Doel are both explained, relative to the rest of the party he's pretty much along for the ride. He admits as much when he joins up.
Voiced by Yoko Soumi in Japanese and Mo Mellady in English
Don't misread me. Roses make me puke. They are just flashy. They don't have any kindness in them. Do you know why roses have thorns? It is to bring out their own red using the blood of the people they hurt. They'll do anything for their own happiness.
First Sacred Sister of Mille Seseau and a particularly headstrong retainer of that nation's queen. Following the Divine Dragon wrecking Deningrad and much of the army being wiped out in the process, she is assigned to Dart's group to assist in their counterattack.
Wields the White Silver Dragoon Spirit, since it got knocked away from Shana when the Divine Dragon broke one of the Wingly signets holding the Moon That Never Sets in the sky.
Archer Archetype: Much straighter example than Shana or Shirley, the other two archers. She's cold, driven to independence, and doesn't like taking orders from people she doesn't respect.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As the white dragoon, she appears to be stuck behind everyone else. However, as the white dragoon, you can keep her almost permanently in dragoon-form and the dragon summon is undoubtedly the best in the game.
Four Star Badass: Seems to be in charge of the Mille Seseau military based on what happens in Deningrad.
Freudian Excuse: Abandoned by her mother and left with an abusive bum as a father. When he kicked it, Miranda was orphaned. She never forgave her mother and takes it out on everyone.
Good Is Not Nice: Despite belonging to the holy order of Denigrad, she is a definite hardass.
Out of Focus: One of the reasons Miranda is seen as The Scrappy. While most characters do get their focus, Miranda and Kongol just seem to be along for the ride. Miranda in particular doesn't show up until midway through the third disc, leaving little time for character development. The problem is, at that point in the game, the plot's already on full speed and Miranda gets left in the shadows, having only a few scenes up until the Final Dungeon.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Technically adopted, but officially she's the Queen's daughter and one of the kingdom's highest ranking generals.
Something about a Rose: Reversed. Miranda despises roses because they remind her of her negligent mother.
Token Good Teammate: The afore-mentioned Sandora Commander; whereas the others mentioned here are, for the most part, various shades of Ax Crazy and megalomaniacal, he's only it because of My Master, Right or Wrong. Sure, he leads the attack against Seles in the opening movie, but it soon becomes apparent that the wanton destruction that occurred there was entirely down to Freugal; he just captured Shana, as ordered, and got out. Later, when the player actually meets him, he makes no attempt to fight the heroes, and instead implores them to remind Doel of the reasonable man he once was, even going so far as to give them one of the key items needed to access Doel's throne room.
Fruegel
The red one!? I'll get you!! I might as well dye everything else red with your blood!!
The head warden of Hellena Prison, feared for his immense size and superhuman ability he displays in battle. Fruegel was given the order from Emperor Doel to obtain Shana from the small outlying village known as Seles. Emperor Doel himself does not know the importance of the girl, he was following an outside influence. Fruegel, sadistic as he was, was not content in only taking the girl and ordered that the village to be destroyed, as well.
Dishing Out Dirt: He has the Earth element and can hurl large boulders at you.
Fat Bastard: Has a huge belly which not even his uniform can disguise.
Flunky Boss: The first time you battle him, he's escorted by two guards and when they're killed he summons two more guardians. The second time he's followed by his pets Rodrigo and Guftas.
Nobody could be stronger than your father. That was the only thing I could never conquer. I had...admiration for him, as a mate...and as a friend. But time goes by and it turned into this feeling.... This fear, from realizing the limits of your ability.... This fear...that goes nowhere. The only thing you can do is curse yourself for weakness....
Once the commander of the Second Knighthood of Basil, Greham was the right-hand man and closest friend to Lavitz's father Servi. Over the years, Greham became jealous of Servi's ability, his desire to better himself turning into a desperate attempt to best Servi as a warrior. Greham defected to Sandora where he received the power of the Jade Dragoon Spirit and used it to murder Servi. He commands the Green-Tusked Dragon Feyrbrand in service of Sandora and the two are finally defeated by the heroes deep inside Feyrbrand's nest. Mortally wounded and consumed with reget, he passes the Jade Dragoon Spirit to Lavitz before finally dying.
Fridge Brilliance: When poisoned, Shana is diagnosed as being healthy in the body but poisoned in the mind. Feyrbrand primarily uses his Fear-inducing attack a lot more than his Poison-inducing one.
Informed Ability: Feyrbrand is mentioned as attacking with poison and the forest surrounding its nest is drenched in poison, yet it uses poison very rarely, instead shooting a blue goo that causes Fear most of the time. In addition, the poison it does shoot is no more severe than any other poison.
You remind me of...Carlo, 20 years ago. A bloodstained corpse in front of me....
Ruler of the southern part of Serdio, which broke from Basil to become Imperial Sandora following the death (read: murder) of Albert's father Carlo. Doel claims to be fighting to create a world where all creatures may live in peace - by any means necessary. However, for the past few years, he's been content to operate under the truce between Basil and Sandora without actively pursuing his goals... up until he discovered the power of dragons, with Lloyd's help, of course. Doel is the primary antagonist of Chapter One, and is revealed to be in possession of the Purple Dragon Orb. Late in the game, an apparition known as "Dark Doel" appears to test Albert's virtue.
Emperor Scientist: A patron of the sciences, he's had a good portion of his castle converted into a testing facility for magic. After his death, the scientists are allowed to continue their work with the entire castle as a laboratory.
Evil Is Not Well Lit: The aptly-named Black Castle. His throne room puts Palpatine to shame.
Evil Uncle: After King Carlo's death, Doel apparently wanted to be set up as Regent for Life since Albert was so young. When he didn't get his way, he started a civil war. Friendly guy!
Evil Virtues: Doel keeps a gigantic statue of his late wife in his castle.
Genius Bruiser: As well as being an impressive swordsman and a powerful Dragoon, he's a shrewd tactician (even without Lloyd's help) and very happy to incorporate highly-advance Magitek into his palace and personal defences.
Graceful Loser: In his final moments, Doel concedes that Albert has grown stronger in the years since they last met, and provides him with Lloyd's destination before finally dying.
Turns Red: Happening all in the same battle, it counts as he becomes a lot tougher.
Orcus on His Throne: Doesn't do anything against anyone until they take the fight to him.
Pet the Dog: Taking in the young Kongol after his people were massacred.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Black Castle is powered by purple flame, explicitly stated to originate from a Dragon... and there's a Dragon corpse in the basement of the castle being experimented on, which would account for the reason why Doel has no dragon of his own.
Purple Is Powerful: As a human, most of his colour scheme involves dark blues and purple; as a Dragoon, well...
Shock and Awe: Even before unleashing his Dragoon Spirit, he can cast waves of purple lightning.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Serdian government under Carlo was characterized by overtaxation, systemic racism, corrupt government ministers and Carlo's questionable competence. Then Carlo dies and the ministers decide to have a six-year-old crowned, presumably to keep all the power to themselves. If he wasn't a megalomaniacal tyrant, he'd be a hero.
Lenus
A girl in love doesn't know the meaning of the words 'give up'! I have managed to get this for my love. I won't give this up so easily.
A Wingly bandit lovesick for Lloyd, she spends much of her screen time disguised as Princess Emille of Tiberoa, whom she and the Gehrich Gang had sealed inside a magical pocket dimension following a "convenient" horse accident. When directly challenged by the Dragoons, however, her rowdy side manifests in a frenzy of cesta attacks and ancient magic. After escaping the palace, she flees to Prison Island, where she's confronted a second time, this time using the Blue Sea Dragoon Spirit and calling on the dragon Regole to help her. Upon her death, the Blue Sea Spirit is given to Meru.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: She's hopelessly in love with Lloyd despite the fact that he clearly thinks she's dirt.
Squishy Wizard: Though she's a very powerful Wingly magician, she's nothing special in the way of physical resilience. This is carried over to her Dragoon powers.
She actually gets squishier as a Dragoon. As a Wingly, she's actually far more powerful offensively, which made her a Glass Cannon. As a Dragoon, she does get some defensive power (not much though), but her massive attack power takes a large hit, making her effectively weaker.
Voiced by Show Hayami in Japanese and Jon Russell in English
The blood-smeared road might be the only way to lead us to the world we desire. Death gives birth to tears. And tears give birth to anger. When anger turns itself into rancor, it opens to war.
An impossibly fast swordsman who bests Dart and Haschel in a tournament at the desert city of Lohan and then proceeds to take direct and indirect responsibility for the misfortunes that befall our heroes. The laundry list: killing Lavitz, orchestrating Emperor Doel's strikes against Basil and Shana's initial capture, stealing the Moon Gem from Albert, hiring Lenus (and by proxy the Gehrich Gang) to steal the Moon Dagger, unsealing the Divine Dragon to steal the Moon Mirror AND break one of the ancient Wingly signets through raw power, and nabbing the Divine Dragoon Spirit for good measure. Despite being a Wingly, he claims to do all of this on the orders of Emperor Diaz, the human leader who emerged victorious from the Dragon Campaign 11,000 years ago.
Captain Ersatz: Silver-haired, nigh-unbeatable swordsman who wears black, wields a long, thin blade, is chased by the main characters across the world, and kills a main character by impaling them in the torso. Sound like anyone familiar?
Draco in Leather Pants: Lloyd is this in-universe. No less than two completely different women fall for him despite all the horrible things he's done. One's more justifiable, since she falls for him after he saves her life on two separate occasions.
Winged Humanoid: As a Wingly, this is a given, but he doesn't use his wings much before the third disc.
The Worf Effect: His shaming of both Haschel and Dart in their element shows he's not to be taken lightly. When he kills Lavitz as a Dragoon makes him a serious threat. When he learns of Zieg/Melbu Frahma's real goal he is easily put through the floor. Later at The Moon That Never Sets he is mortally wounded by the Virage Embryo empowered Melbu Frahma. Granted he may never have fully recovered from the beating he took at the groups hand.
Emperor Diaz/ Zieg Feld
Voiced by Akio Ohtsuka in Japanese and Doug Boyd in English
It's been a while, Rose. Dart.
The man Lloyd claims to be working on the behalf of, Emperor Diaz was a human rebel who was canonized after the successful human rebellion against the Wingly Dictatorship. "Diaz" is actually an alias used by Dart's father Zieg, a fellow survivor of the Dragon Campaign, who was petrified after striking down the Wingly dictator Melbu Frahma. After over 10,000 years, the spell that bound Zieg Feld in stone finally failed, and Zieg was free to wander Endiness. He met Haschel's daughter, Claire, and married her, eventually producing a child named Dart. During the Black Monster's burning of Neet, Zieg activated his Dragon Spirit in order to defend the town, unaware that Melbu Frahma had sealed his own consciousness within it...
Demonic Possession: Merely a puppet controlled by his age-old nemesis, Melbu Frahma.
Flaming Sword: Unlike Dart, his sword in Dragoon form has a flame aura on the tip.
Flight: One of the non-Dragoon magicks he's managed to master. Also, it's probably his most annoying characteristic, as it's very difficult to catch up with him.
Taken for Granite: In Rose's Flashback, Zieg was turned to stone by Melbu Frahma, forcing her to leave him for dead as the castle collapsed around them.
Voiced by Akio Ohtsuka in Japanese and David Babich in English
I have acquired all. The immortality.... And the ultimate power.... I am the god...who purifies the world...! Under the fate determined by Soa. Death to those who rebel against fate. Death to all life...! And may your death bless the new world to which I shall descend!!
Over 11,000 years ago, Melbu Frahma was the ruler of the Winglies and all of Endiness, renowned for both his power and his depravity. Frahma, according to the lore of present-day Winglies, was directly responsible for imposing on his people the genocidal directive of Wingly superiority over all other living creatures. These lesser beings had no right to live, he preached, and it was the mercy of the Winglies that suffered them as slaves.
To cement his role as all-powerful dictator, he kept the soul of the Virage Embryo in a Crystal Sphere, giving him immense magical power. His older sister, Charle, realizing the the threat Melbu posed, created five Signet Spheres to limit the power he could draw from it and keep the body of the Virage Embryo - known in layman's terms as " The Moon That Never Sets" - floating in the sky. In retaliation, Melbu Frahma created Divine Moon Objects to destroy the spheres if need be.
However, he never had a chance to do so: the human slaves of his empire finally rebelled, leading to a war known afterwards as the Dragon Campaign. Led by Emperor Diaz and assisted by sympathetic Winglies, the humans proved themselves too formidable for Frahma to easily defeat, especially when they began harnessing Dragons for war - creating the legendary Dragoons in the process. During the Dragoons' final attack on the Wingly Capital of Kadessa, Zieg, the bearer of the Red-Eyed Dragoon Spirit, defeated and killed Melbu - apparently at the cost of his own life. Secretly, Melbu transmigrated his soul into Zieg's Red Dragoon Spirit, intending one day to arise and use the Virage Embryo's body and soul to attain a truly godlike power.
The Archmage: Thanks to the power of the Crystal Sphere, Frahma was arguably one of the most powerful magicians in all Endiness - especially once Faust died.
A God Am I: Believed himself to be a god especially after taking the body of the Virge Embryo, which is essentially an unborn god.
Authority Equals Ass Kicking: Managed to put up quite a fight against Zeig before dying. To say nothing of what happened once he took control of the Virage Embryo.
The Chessmaster: Manipulated three countries and two different species to acquire the means to execute his Evil Plan, and without ever having to show his face. All the work Rose did over the last eleven thousand years merely kept him in check for a little while.
Conflict Killer. Once he's revealed himself, all other fights are kinda meaningless.
The former owner of the White Silver Dragoon Spirit, died fighting a Super Virage during the battle of Kadessa. Her spirit is still bound to Earth and resides in a ruined shrine in the middle of Serdian mountains. She's trying to save the other Dragoons and will test Dart in order to see if he's worthy of the Dragoon spirit for Shana.
The Heart: All of the Dragoons were drawn to her, even after death. Their trust in her was what allowed her to keep their souls in check at Vellweb for 11,000 years.
The former owner of the Purple Dragoon Spirit, is a fierce and brutal martial artist who used to carve a doll for each killed opponent. His soul is bound to Vellweb by his own bloodlust.
Foil: To Haschel. His bloodlust and love of killing contrasted with Haschel's dedication to fighting, making one wonder if one could have been like the other For Want of a Nail.
The former Jade Dragoon, Syuveig is a wise scholar and researcher who's nonetheless afraid of the void of death, hence why he's ended up stuck in Vellweb.
Foil: Syuveig's bookishness highlights Albert's as well and shows the consequences of going overboard: he's become afraid of what he doesn't or can't know.
Mad Scientist: It's implied from the contents of his room that he's been dissecting dragons in his studies.
Nothing Is Scarier: He's seriously afraid of death and the afterlife, and with good reason; the Wingly city Mayfill automatically channels non-Wingly souls into hell.
The Former Golden Dragoon, a huge warrior who was romantically linked to Shirley in life. His inability to accept her demise is what anchors him to Vellweb.
Heroic Sacrifice: His last act was to try and save Shirley from the dual threat of an attacking Virage and a collapsing ceiling; though he managed to grab the ceiling in time, the only way he could stop the Virage was by getting impaled on its fingers. Sadly, Shirley refused to abandon Belzac, resulting in the Virage's next attack killing both of them.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His last act was to suffer one of these from a Virage. Horrifically, it doesn't kill him immediately.
Super Strength: Much like Kongol, Belzac was immensely strong in life - a trait enhanced by his Dragoon powers - enough to lift the collapsing roof of a Wingly building, which looked like it weighed a few tons at the very least.
Tomato in the Mirror: When you find him, he's under the impression that Shirley's still alive and the final battle is due to occur the next day. He even mistakes Dart for Zieg at first. Rose has to deliver the Tomato in the Mirror revelation to him, ultimately forcing him into a boss battle.
Damia
The former Blue Dragoon, Damia is a human-mermaid hybrid, and thus she was highly ostracized during her youth. Her only friends were her fellow Dragoons, and now she can't move on to the afterlife because she's afraid of being left alone.
Foil: To Meru. Both sat on the lines between societies and faced ostracism for it. Meru compensated with her gregariousness, while Damia coped by shying away from contact.
Half-Human Hybrid: Half Mermaid. Her skin is pale and scaly, her ears look like fins, her face is covered with blue marks, her hair is blue, and her eyes are red.
Sister to the infamous Wingly Emperor, Charle was one of the few Winglies of her generation that sympathized with the humans her little brother oppressed. Throughout the Dragon Campaign, she and her partners-in-crime provided aid to the resistance, becoming friends to the Dragoons in the process. She even went so far as to personally sabotage Melbu's powers by creating the Divine Moon Objects. Even once her human allies had won the war, she continued assisting them - more specifically, the only surviving Dragoon: Rose, the Darkness Dragoon. Early in the fourth disc, it's revealed that Charle was the Winglie who first learned of the threat that the Moon Child and the Virage Embryo posed, and sent out Rose - as the Black Monster - to stop them.
Hidden Elf Village: Ulara, Charle's home, is one of the nicer examples of these.
Immortal Immaturity: To put it lightly, Charle tends to approach things with childish excitement, giving both Rose and Zieg pet names, to the point that Rose actually has to step in and ask her to calm down.
Time Abyss: Charle is well over eleven thousand years old, having been alive long before the Dragon Campaign, and probably even before the Winglies first started oppressing humans.
Savan
A magician and researcher dwelling within the city of Aglis. During the Dragon Campaign, Aglis was shot down by human forces, sending it plummeting into the ocean; however, Savan was able to prevent the city's outright destruction by creating a barrier around it, holding in the oxygen and protecting it from flooding. As the only surviving Wingly in the area, Savan set himself the task of preserving as much magical knowledge as possible and defending Aglis' signet sphere from harm. However, over the milennia he spent researching the outside world through his scrying mirror, he came to sympathize with humans, specifically, Rose. As such, when Dart and the others arrive in Aglis during the fourth disc, Savan is more than willing to help them.
Cool Pet: Most of his Familiars function as this. There's also the Last Kraken, the guardian of the Signet Sphere, and Coolon, the Giant Flyer Savan gives to the heroes as an easier means of getting around the world map.
Creating Life Is Awesome: Over the course of his exile, Savan created numerous life-forms to assist him in his research- and to prevent him from going mad from isolation. Both Savan and the creatures are depicted as entirely benevolent.
The Green-Tusked Dragon of Air, living inside a toxic swamp in the middle of Serdio. The Sandoran Empire managed to tame it with Greham's Dragoon Spirit, and now is their secret weapon.
Our Dragons Are Different: He looks more like some sort of giant praying mantis, and isn't sentient.
Poisonous Person: Can produce several kinds of poisons from his abdomen.
Technicolor Toxin: Green poison (poison), blue poison (fear) and grey poison (stun).
Walking Wasteland: Feyrbrand's toxins can pollute and corrupt almost any landscape he settles in; the swamp he resides in has become so distorted and twisted by the influence of his poison that water can actually wilt the plantlife.
Regole
The sea dragon of Illisa Bay residing on the Prison Island. It's known for assaulting ships and thus making the Tiberoan Sea too dangerous to traverse. It takes orders from Lenus.
The Dark Burst Dragon and Rose's former dragon companion. When he eventually went crazy Rose was forced to kill him. Appears as a special boss for Rose and Dart on the Moon.
Achilles Heel: Whenever he attacks with his laser, he opens a weak spot on his chest for a short time.
Casting a Shadow: Can cast a dark explosive gas and a pitch black laser beam of destruction.
Early-Bird Cameo: First seen in the flashback to the Dragon Campaign, where he tears a Virage apart by chewing through it's torso and vaporizes another one with his laser attack.
Our Dragons Are Different: It's hard to describe him, but he looks slightly more like a tradition Dragon, if not a wyvern.
Puzzle Boss: Rose has to tell to Dart what's his weakness, then they have to attack him exploiting said weakness.
The Divine Dragon
The seven-winged God of the Dragons, the Divine Dragon is the strongest living Dragon in Endiness. It was imprisoned by the ancient Winglies inside a giant volcano in Mille Sesau. However, during the third disc, he awakens from his slumber and escapes his prison to wreak havoc on the world.
A.I. Roulette: Divine Cannon normally either hits the leftmost two or rightmost two party members, but if you're particularily unlucky, he'll aim it dead centre and hit everyone.
Body Horror: A subtle case, but you can clearly see that this seven-winged dragon has a little stub where an eighth wing would be on the other side. Either it was cut off in the battle to seal it and people forgot it had an eighth wing, or it didn't grow out correctly.
Cognizant Limbs: The "Divine Ball" and the "Divine Cannon", each hosting its own absurdly powerful attack. Since the Divine Dragon itself has its own powerful attacks that it can use before or after the Ball's or Cannon's turns, leaving them alive is a definite shortcut to the Game Over screen.
Averted in the optional Mayfil boss fight, where the only target is its spirit. This is not as good as it sounds, because now you can't stop the Ball or the Cannon.
Doomed Hometown: He almost turns Deningrad into this, laying waste to the entire town in all of one minute. Only Shana's Moon Child powers prevent a complete disaster.
Faux Symbolism: In the intro video of the game, the "You are free to sever the chains of fate that bind you" line is accompanied by a video clip of chains being broken. Cut to Disk 3, where you realize that clip was from the cutscene where the Divine Dragon breaks free.
Eyes Do Not Belong There: He gets one big eye on his "chin" and the other six jumbled up above his upper gums.
Eye Scream: After the Divine Dragon is finally defeated, Lloyd adds insult to injury by slicing into the largest of his eyes to remove the Dragoon Spirit.
Magic Knight: In conjunction with its projectiles and bulk, it has a handful of actual magic attacks - that is, the ones you use from items. If they're of the Button Mashing variety, it'll always get them up to max charge.
Our Dragons Are Different: The Divine Dragon looks somewhat similar to the traditional dragon design, but the similarites clearly end there: its chest can open up and fire energy blasts, its typical Breath Weapon is replaced by a torso-mounted Wave Motion Gun, its head is nearly all mouth, and its eyes are just... well, read the Eyes Do Not Belong There entry if you haven't already.
Physical God: Explicitly stated as such. Considering that you only just manage to kill him because you have the Dragon Block Staff (to reduce its power) and because he was still recovering from a fight with Lloyd (who was wielding the Dragon Buster), that's not an exaggeration.
Roar Before Beating: He tends to roar just before using his Ball or Cannon attacks.
Make Me Wanna Shout: One of his attacks involves roaring (screeching?) so loudly that it gives the whole party Fear status.
Unlike the first boss fight you can destroy neither the Ball nor the Cannon, which are now even more powerful than before (2,000+ damage from the cannon is being generous), and he will spam them with wild abandon. He's also faster to the point where he can attack you two or three turns in a row; Bonus BossMagician Faust also did this, but he was rendered almost completely helpless if you had a Legend Casque to neuter his magic, whereas the Divine Dragon can deal out as much physical punishment*
Did we mention that Divine Ball and Divine Cannon count as physical?
as it can magical. Good luck if you choose to fight this thing, because you're going to need it.
Spanner in the Works: While using the Divine Dragon to destroy Deningrad's Signet Spherewas part of the plan, actually accomplishing this was sheer dumb luck on its part, as it only attacked Deningrad because of its hatred for the Winglies; it craved the destruction of the city and possibly its residents more than that of the sphere. If the Divine Cannon that wrecked the Crystal Palace was maybe an inch or two off and didn't destroy the sphere, the Big Bad's plan would've been completely and utterly derailed.
Wave Motion Gun: Divine Cannon. To put it into perspective: the Signet Spheres are only supposed to be destroyable with the Divine Moon Objects. A single shot from the cannon destroys not only Deningrad's Signet Sphere, but the entire top half of the Crystal Palace.
And if you need further proof if its power: if you can't destroy the cannon in time during the fight with the Divine Dragon, he'll blast the whole party for upwards of a thousand damage, which is more than almost any other boss in the game can do. Allowing the cannon to fire is very likely a death sentence, as it's a Cognizant Limb and can easily hit you before or after another powerful attack without warning.
Weaksauce Weakness: The Dragon Buster sword and the Dragon Block Staff are the only reasons this thing is remotely beatable.
Your Size May Vary: Most likely due to engine limitations, the Divine Dragon, while still quite the colossus, is scaled down to about half of its cutscene size for its boss fight.
Other Creatures of "Myth"
The Black Monster
A mysterious demon who exists seemingly only to kill, the Black Monster has been slaughtering innocents for over eleven thousand years, his massacres coinciding with the birth of the Moon Child every one hundred and eight years - his victims often including the Moonchild as well. It's commonly believed that his mission in life is to prevent the Moon Child from cleansing the world, which would destroy him as well; of course, Dart has set out to kill the Monster long before this can happen, motivated by revenge for the destruction of Neet. It's revealed that the Black Monster is actually Rose, trying to save the world by stopping the Moon Child from ending it.
Would Hurt a Child: The Black Monster is more than prepared to kill children over the course of his rampages, and because the intended target is the Moon Child - who will likely be only a baby at the time of the massacre - child murder is guaranteed.
Wreathed in Flames: As a flashback reveals, the Black Monster's body is wreathed in black flames and smog.
The Moon Child
The prophesized saviour of Endiness, the Moon Child is born once in every one hundred and eight years; the Child's mission in life is to purify and restore the world with holy power, but in the past eleven thousand years, none of the Children have ever managed to complete this sacred quest, as every last one of them was murdered by the Black Monster before they had a chance to begin. The third disc reveals that Shana is actually the current Moon Child, having managed to escape the Black Monster's rampage in Neet over eighteen years ago. Unfortunately, it also reveals that the Moon Child itself is just the reincarnated soul of the Virage Embryo, the God of Destruction, and the holy purification bestowed on Endiness would arrive in the form of an Apocalypse.
Apocalypse Maiden: The Moon Children themselves might not be malevolent per se, but they're driven by instinct and destiny to reconnect with the Virage Embryo and end the world.
Born-Again Immortality: Unlike the Black Monster, the Moon Child is not physically immortal, and its spirit has to be reincarnated in a human form to go about its sacred duties; for good measure, it still takes a hundred and eight years to find a new human host whenever the Black Monster kills it. Of course, the real goal of the Child is to reunite with its original body, the Virage Embryo.
Charm Person: It's revealed that the Moon Child has the ability to psychically influence those around it, subtly persuading them to worship it - hence the reason why the Black Monster goes out of his way to kill everyone within a mile radius of the Child as well as the Child itself.
Weird Moon: The Moon Child's birth is heralded by the Moon That Never Sets glowing blood-red.
The Virage Embryo
Purported to be the one hundred and eighth fruit of the Divine Tree, an unborn god of unthinkable power, created specifically to destroy the world and remake it. It was first discovered by the ancient Winglies; under the command of Emperor Melbu Frahma, they removed the Virage Embryo's soul and imprisoned it within a Crystal Sphere; the body was kept well out of reach of both the imprisoned soul and any prospective saboteurs - in the sky, where it became known as The Moon That Never Sets. Melbu kept the sphere with him at all times, using its immense magical power to terrorize the races under his control, in spite of his sister's efforts to lessen his power; however, in the final battle of the Dragon Campaign, the sphere was broken, releasing the soul trapped within. However, thanks to the Moon signets that Charle Frahma created, the soul couldn't return to its original body, so it began a cycle of incarnating itself in the bodies of newborn humans, hoping to find a way of destroying the signets through the worshippers it inspired over the course of each lifetime - and earning the title of The Moon Child in the process. For eleven thousand years, Rose managed to stop it from making any progress - up until Shana escaped her assassination attempt.
Bad Moon Rising: Its original body, which has been mistaken for a moon by countless astronomers.
Eldritch Location: Most of the Moon That Never Sets functions as this; on the outside, it's a small planet, and on the inside, it's a jumbled mixture of landscapes that the Virage Embryo has sculpted to confuse invaders. For good measure, Rose confirms that none of it is an illusion- it's all real, courtesy of the Virage Embryo's powers.
Fetal Position Rebirth: When the Moon Child (AKA: Shana) is being reunited with the Embryo, she's in the fetal position, contained within a bubble for good measure. Averted when Melbu Frahma takes her place a couple of minutes later.
Fetus Terrible: It's called an Embryo for a very good reason, and the entire moon is just a giant womb in which it will incubate until the Virage Embryo's long-lost soul can rejoin it.
