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Due to cast overlap, this page covers both Wargroove and Wargroove 2; please be wary of potential spoilers for the original game in the profiles for characters with major roles in the sequel.

Cherrystone Kingdom

Commanders

Mercia

"I won't let you down!"

Voiced by: Tamara Fritz (English)

The main heroine, and newly crowned Queen after her father's assassination by Felheim forces.

Mercia's Groove is Healing Aura, which heals all friendly units within three squares (including herself) for 50% HP. In Wargroove 2, Mercia's groove can be charged twice to heal nearby units for 75% health, and restore 10% health to all other friendly units on the map.

Ancestral Weapon: The Cherryblade, which has been a heirloom of Cherrystone's royal family for generations.
Boyish Short Hair: The shortest and messiest hairdo of the game's women commanders.
Combat Medic: Mercia's Groove is one of the better healing options in the game, and as a Commander unit she can easily hold her own against most hostile attackers. Indeed, participating in combat recharges the Groove meter faster, incentivizing this trope.
The Corruptible: In her Wargroove arcade ending Mercia attempts to destroy Requiem only to take on the tell-tale purple hair of Dark Mercia as she touches it.
Daddy's Girl: Is absolutely devastated when her father is murdered. It's what ultimately saves her from Requiem's corruption during her father's Arcade run, as Mercival bets on Mercia's love for him to break free.
Expy: Of Andy, being the healing-focused main character who serves as a relative newcomer to the political situation and gameplay mechanics.
Heroes Prefer Swords: Wields a two-handed broadsword called the Cherryblade, which has been passed down through Cherrystone's royal lineage for generations. It later turns out to be a MacGuffin that can unlock Requiem's vault.
Hoist By Her Own Petard: Subverted. Sigrid nearly kills Mercia using the stolen Cherryblade against her, but Valder stops her.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: A clean scar over her left eye, which only makes her look heroic.
Leitmotif: Fledgling Queen
The Medic: Her Groove lets her heal friendly units in a short area around herself.
Out of Focus: In Wargroove 2, Mercia makes a few, brief appearances here and there, but otherwise largely is not directly involved in the plot until the very end. Perhaps to compensate for the fact that she was center-stage for pretty much all of the first game's campaign.
Paint It Black: When Mercia is corrupted by Requiem in her Wargroove Arcade ending, her clothes and hair immediately morph from red/blue to purple to symbolize her transformation into Dark Mercia.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "It's just you and me now!".
Royals Who Actually Do Something: A frontline commander-in-training even before becoming ruler of Cherrystone, and quickly has to put her training into action.
Tomboy Princess: Prefers swords and plate armor to formal dresses, and enjoys combat.
You Killed My Father: Towards Sigrid, after learning that she was the one who assassinated Mercival and started the war between Cherrystone and Felheim. The penultimate battle on Cradle Island is a one-on-one between Mercia and Sigrid, and ends with Mercia killing the vampire.

Emeric

"An educated choice!"

Voiced by: Jason Marnocha (English)

The royal advisor, a powerful mage, and Mercia's tutor in the ways of battle.

Emeric's Groove is Elder Shield, which creates a Power Crystal on a square next to him. The crystal increases the defense value of all terrain within three squares by 2 for all friendly units (maximum 4 defense), and will slowly degrade over time (though it can be attacked and destroyed by enemies to end the effect early). In Wargroove 2, Emeric's groove can be charged twice to increase the radius and defence bonus provided by his crystal, with the added bonus of granting +2 attack range to any ranged units standing within the field.

Ambiguously Brown: along with some Cherrystone faction units.
Combo: Elder Shield synergies strongly with Mage units, since their Critical Hit is based on whether they're standing on terrain with three or more defense points (normally forests and mountains). With Elder Shield improving the defense value of tiles within its radius, Mages are able to score criticals on all terrain except roads, bridges, beaches and shallow waters.
Field Power Effect: Elder Shield allows Emeric to plant a cherrystone on an empty square, which will temporarily improve the defense value of terrain in a short radius.
He Knows About Timed Hits: Explains game mechanics like critical hits to Mercia as part of the tutorial.
Heroic Sacrifice: In his Wargroove arcade ending, Emeric seals Requiem at the price of his own life. The last scene shows Mercival meeting him in the afterlife.
The Not-Love Interest: To Tenri. They're old friends and banter Like an Old Married Couple during a friendly spar, but she's already Happily Married to Koji's father.
Old Friend: Is revealed to be an old friend of Tenri halfway through the Heavensong chapter, and the two of them spend their time together reminiscing about the past.
Old Retainer: To Mercia, being of the same age as her father.
Only Sane Man: A fairly clever example in Wargroove 2. In the Felheim-branch of Conquest mode, he is fought as the final boss at the end seeking "the secret of this world". At first, he seems to be going crazy or something but when it becomes clear they're in a Lotus-Eater Machine, it's clear that he's more aware than the rest of the cast that they're in an illusion of some sort. A shame no one listens to him.
Leitmotif: Lucent Mage
Parental Substitute: All but serves this role to Mercia since she's lost both her parents (mother when she was 6, and her father at the start of the game).
Power Crystal: Emeric attacks using spells from a series of hovering crystals, while his Groove has him place a stationary crystal to provide a defense bonus to nearby units.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "You were simply outmatched.".
Shock and Awe: His attacks are all of the lightning variety.

Caesar

The royal guard dog, whose presence on the battlefield motivates troops. Is a Very Good Boy.

Caesar's Groove is Inspire, which allows all adjacent infantry units to take an Extra Turn. In Wargroove 2, Caesar's groove can be charged twice to extend the area of effect to a 2-tile radius, while also providing inspired units with +2 movement range.

Achievements in Ignorance: Caesar is stated to be Mercia's pet, and doesn't even have Battlepup training, just a pair of powerful guards to defend him. According to the campaign Horatio and Beatrice get actual tactical advice from his barks, though for all we know they're just using Caesar as the figurehead of the army. He's definitely the one with the Groove, though.
Big Friendly Dog: Resembles a golden retriever, and certainly acts friendly to most of Mercia's allies.
Curb Stomp Cushion: Ceasar's "victories" involve being a figurehead rallying royal guards and peasants to disperse bandit camps. When he "commands" any army against an organized force (as the antagonist in Ragna's side-chapter) he loses handily... But this isn't much of an achievement for the victor, either.
Extra Turn: His Groove grants this to adjacent allies.
Fighting Clown: Caesar spends all his time on the battle screen goofing off while Horatio and Beatrice do the heavy lifting. He does stop and whine in concern when they take a hit for him, though.
Heroic Dog: A very good boy.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: In his Wargroove arcade ending, Caesar ends up destroying Requiem by being such a good boy the weapon fails to corrupt him.
Inexplicably Awesome: How does a dog lead an army? Who knows.
Intelligible Unintelligible: Horatio and Beatrice can apparently interpret his commands. Or at least they pretend to.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Smart enough to scram if his bodyguards bite the dust.
Leitmotif: Bounding Joy
Nearly Normal Animal: Able to lead armies. Somehow.
The Paragon: Truly, the Best of Boys. He can lead the Cherrystone Army to victory just by being so danged inspiring. He's even able to inspire other Commanders of other factions, as he does in the final mission.
The Greatest Story Never Told: All of his battles with the bandits conclude with him being discovered by another character after the fact, who merely assumes that Caesar ran off to get up to some mischief. This even happens in his Wargroove Arcade ending, after battling his way across Aurania and singlehandedly defeating an Artifact of Doom.
Those Two Guys: Caesar is constantly followed by a pair of royal guards called Horatio and Beatrice, who do all the actual fighting for him.
You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Tends to inspire this in his opponents, both in Campaign and Arcade Mode.
What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Similar to dog units, Caesar leaps off-screen when defeated. His guards get no such luxury.

Mercival

"I am with you."

Voiced by: David J. Dixon (English)

The former King of Cherrystone, who is assassinated in the introductory mission while trying to decide how to tell his daughter about an ancient kingdom.

Mercival's Groove is Gone Fishing, which allows him to catch a fish if adjacent to a water tile. In Wargroove 2, Mercival's groove can be charged twice to enable him to go birdwatching near mountains and forests.

"I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Mercival's Wargroove arcade run ends with one of these against Dark Mercia, as the king banks on his daughter being able to resist Requiem's influence out of love for her father. It works, sending Dark Mercia into a Villainous Breakdown before reverting to normal.
Joke Character: His Groove has no benefit in battle whatsoever, except to fill up the codex and find the 200th star.
Leitmotif: Fisher King
Mr. Exposition: Explains the role of Requiem to Emeric when his spirit is summoned.
Secret Character: Unlocking him requires visiting hidden statues in each of Caesar's side missions after obtaining at least 151 stars.
We Hardly Knew Ye: His death is part of the prologue.

Mini-Commanders

Hans

Former Cherrystone alchemist. Deserted his station during the Requiem Conflict of 3042.

Does Not Like Magic: His experiences during the previous war convinced Hans that all magic is dangerous, no matter the source, which is why he's determined to prevent the Faahri from absconding with Cacaphonic relics.
Palette Swap: Of the Cherrystone archer unit. Back when he served under Emeric during his flashback of the war against King Kaspar's Felheim, he was an Alchemist unit.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Is blasted apart by Warship cannons courtesy of Pistil.
Tragic Keepsake: His equipped item is called Lucia's Bow. Hans would've wed her, had she survived the invasion.
Villainous Valor: He and his men are common bandits, but when he realizes that the Faahri are trying to unearth Cacophonic relics, Hans does everything in his power to prevent the relic from leaving the island. He openly states that fighting the Faahri is likely "the most important thing any of us will ever do".

Others

Horatio and Beatrice

Caesar's two bodyguards.

Almighty Janitor: Despite merely being the bodyguards of the Queen's pet dog they both are together as strong as any Commander in combat.
Battle Butler: For Caesar.
Innocently Insensitive: Their treatment of Rhomb leaves the Faahri General wondering if they enjoy tormenting living creatures. Anyone who knows them, would know they aren't cruel like that, but they unknowingly hit one or two Trauma Buttons and are confused by his accusation.
Short-Range Long-Range Weapon: Despite being armed with crossbows, they do not use them for actual ranged attacks.
Those Two Guys: Most of their dialogue is about Caesar's latest brilliant scheme to win you the current battle.
Undying Loyalty: To Caesar.
Voice for the Voiceless: Their main job is to handle the exposition for Caesar's side chapters, since the viewpoint character is, well, a dog.

Felheim Legion

Commanders

Valder

"Felheim rises!"

Voiced by: Sean Chiplock (English)

A mortal necromancer that wields the Fell Gauntlet, and the leader of Felheim's forces.

Valder's Groove is Raise Dead, which creates a basic soldier unit in an empty square adjacent to him at no cost. The soldier can act immediately. In Wargroove 2, Valder's groove can be charged twice to summon two soldiers, and double the damage of all friendly soldiers on the map for one turn.

A Father to His Men: Downplayed example; His bio describes him as having a somewhat paternal attitude towards his nation and any of its undead citizens sentient enough to talk back (like Ragna).
Animate Dead: His Groove summons a regiment of skeletal Dreadswords from the earth.
Big Bad: Of the campaign. Subverted when it's revealed that attacking Cherrystone wasn't his intention; Mercival's assasination and the initial attacks had been orchestrated by Sigrid in her search for the Key.
Cooldown Hug: In both a show of Not So Stoic and a blend of Tearjerker and Heartwarming Moment, Valder manages to break Prince Harmon's control over Ragna by giving her a thoroughly heartfelt hug.
Dark and Troubled Past: His hometown was destroyed by marauding undead when he was ten, due to Felheim being in chaos due to a lack of a wielder of the Fell Gauntlet. The Gauntlet eventually found him and enticed him into becoming its next wielder. In the present day, much of his work as a Benevolent Mage Ruler is from a desire to prevent similar chaos from erupting again after his own, inevitable passing.
Designated Villain: An In-Universe example: Many from Heavensong and Cherrystone assume that Valder is a power-hungry, evil overlord. The fact the Fell Gauntlet is a reputedly evil artifact and has been wielded by far less scrupulous individuals before him doesn't help. It doesn't help either that Valder doesn't always get complete information himself.
Deadpan Snarker: He occasionally lets loose in the few scenes he's seen in.
Doomed Hometown: Wargroove 2 establishes that his hometown was utterly destroyed by the Fallow that resulted from King Kasper's death. The trauma still influences Valder in the present and he admits to Prince Harmon (and Ragna) that it influenced his harsh reaction to Ragna's lack of progress in learning.
Disc-One Final Boss: Sigrid exposes her treachery after Valder's near-defeat at Mercia's hands, which leads to Valder joining the protagonists to chase the vampire down outside Requiem's tomb.
Disappointed in You: The reason he forced Vesper to teach Ragna fumomancy is because he wants Ragna to succeed him as ruler of Felheim after his passing, to create an era where "the dead shall govern themselves". Unfortunately, Vesper's unwillingness to admit to her lack of progress over three years leads to Valder being embarrassed and infuriated by Ragna's limited grasp of the magic, right after having triumphantly announced his intentions to his court. Losing his temper, Valder calls Ragna a disappointment, and even resorts to using the Fell Gauntlet on her when she refuses to go to her room; leading to a scuffle that ends with Ragna stealing the Gauntlet and getting possessed by the spirit within.
Enemy Mine: After Sigrid reveals her manipulations, he joins forces with the protagonists to stop Requiem.
Hearing Voices: In Wargroove 2, it's stated that the Fell Gauntlet causes the wielder to hear voices in their head at almost all times and it has driven most of the previous Fell Lords insane. That Valder hasn't suffered the same fate bespeaks his sheer force of will. After Prince Harmon and Sordino are reunited, while he's resting with Ragna, Valder notes with some intrigue that the Gauntlet is now silent.
"I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: He chases down Ragna, possessed by Prince Harmon, and repeatedly appeals to Ragna to fight his control. When Valder owns up to Harmon's criticism and gives Ragna a sincere apology, it destabilizes Harmon's control over Ragna and enrages him, allowing Ragna to push to the surface.
Irony: It's noted in the Codex that the Fell Gauntlet cannot be wielded by someone who is undead themselves (perhaps because of its very nature, being an artifact that controls the undead). This makes Valder the only living human in an otherwise undead-based army (barring Fell Bats and Deepfolk). Felheim is noted in the Codex to have living citizens as well, but they don't fight in the army.
Leitmotif: Fell Savior
Magic Knight: His bio notes that Valder spent his teens on his own in the Felheim wilderness before obtaining the Fell Gauntlet, and is therefore a skilled warrior on top of a mage. In-game he's as endurable as any other commander.
Meaningful Name: "Valder" means 'ruler' in old Germanic and Norse languages.
Moment of Weakness: He confesses and owns-up to Harmon and Ragna that telling Ragna she had embarrassed him was fueled by this, his mind being preoccupied in the moment with his past and afraid of another Fallow tearing his nation apart and Ragna's lack of progress left him afraid that she was not going to be up to the task of taking over when he inevitably dies.
Necromancer: Thanks to the Fell Gauntlet.
Noble Demon: In his Wargroove arcade ending, Valder overcharges the Fell Gauntlet by draining Requiem of power, allowing him to raise the dead of the other three nations as sentient undead... And then leaves them in peace to enjoy their new undead citizens. He had no interest in trying to Take Over the World, he just wanted to make the dead and the living equal in all the nations like they are in Felheim.
No Full Name Given: Averted in Wargroove 2, where Valder introduces himself as "Valder Ragnarsson" in a formal letter to Queen Mercia.
Not So Above It All:
- After defeating Caesar in his Wargroove Arcade Mode, Valder indulges in a bit of Evil Gloating, before pausing and asking himself why he's talking to a dog.
- In the Jukebox, Valder's sprite doesn't dance, but he can still be seen tapping his foot to the beat and grinning cheerfully.
- In Wargroove 2, he prefaces a banquet, intended to celebrate Ragna becoming fit to lead in his stead one day, with a joke. He lampshades it, remarking "Yes, we like a good jest every now and then."
Orcus on His Throne: Defied, the plot kicks off when he leaves said throne to invade Cherrystone personally. Interestingly, he would have been fine with invoking it. Sigrid had to start the border tensions that eventually escalated to invasion, otherwise he and Felheim would have left well enough alone.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "You fought well.".
Redeeming Replacement: Strives to be this for all the previous rulers of Felheim, who were all Evil Overlords to some extent.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Wears a deer skull on his head. Also an example of Mask of Power as it disguises his facial features.
Sorcerous Overlord: Over Felheim and the Deep Folk. Notable in that he is merely the latest in a long history of similar overlords, all crowned by their discovery of the Fell Gauntlet.
- Benevolent Mage Ruler: From Felheim's perspective. The owner of the Fell Gauntlet is able to keep Felheim stable by exhibiting control over the undead, and Valder has used his time on the throne to stabilize the nation and promote technological advances. He actually would have been perfectly content to leave Cherrystone in peace, were it not for Sigrid's manipulations.
- Wargroove 2 delves into this a bit further. Valder is well-aware that his mortal life is limited, and he wishes to break the curse of the Gauntlet before that time so Felheim never has to suffer another Fallow and the undead can govern themselves. He knows the pain of loss from the Fallow all too well so his motivation to do this is personal as well as in the interest of his nation.
Spam Attack: His Groove is the fastest charging in the game by a noticeable margin. Dreadswords' utility might fall off as the game wears on but a steady supply of boneshields (Dreadswords have no meat on their bodies on account of being skeletons) never hurt anyone's chances.
The Stoic: A significant amount of his lines are Visible Silence and the mask hides his emotional state.
Technicolor Magic: The Fell Gauntlet's magic is colored purple, as seen during Valder's Groove and when he attacks. This is because the Fell Gauntlet was created by the Kingdom of Cacophony, much like Requiem, and utilizes the same type of Black Magic. Notably, even in the sequel where he temporarily loses his Gauntlet, his magic attacks retain the same color.
Tricked-Out Gloves: The Fell Gauntlet, the source of his power.
Truly Single Parent: Valder created Ragna to lead his armies, but the codex makes it clear that he's a pseudo-father figure that she wants to make proud. Made more overt in Wargroove 2, where he declares Ragna to be his eventual successor as ruler of Felheim, and Ragna's bio lists her full name as "Ragna Valdersdottir".
Unable to Cry: Among other grievances that Oddvar had with Valder back when they were children, was the fact that Valder never seemed to stop crying due to the loss he and everyone else had suffered. Valder wryly states he has not cried even once since he and Oddvar parted ways.
We Have Reserves: As is typical of a necromancer in fiction. His groove embraces it, creating a ready-to-move skeleton on the spot.
Worthy Opponent: Considers Koji one in Arcade Mode, promising him a rematch where he won't hold back if he's defeated.
Young Conqueror: According to the Codex he's not the first evil wizard to claim the Fell Gauntlet and lead Felheim to war, but he is noted to have done it at a younger than usual age. He also succeeds in his initial attack on Cherrystone, which is also noted to be unusual.
Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Oddvar's observation that Valder has perfected the hollow look in his eyes even better than him leaves Valder a bit shaken and wondering if he's carried the Fallow with him all this time.

Ragna

"This SUCKS!"

Voiced by: Kimlinh Tran (English)

A zombie created from pieces of history's finest warriors, put together by Valder to be the ultimate commander.

Ragna's Groove is Shield Jump, allowing her to teleport 5 tiles and deal 65% of her regular damage to adjacent units when she lands. In Wargroove 2, Ragna's groove can be charged twice to deal full damage and gain additional range and pushback.

And Then What?: In her Wargroove arcade ending, after telling Mercia that, yes, destruction is what she wanted, Mercia then despairingly asks her what's next, causing Ragna to actually think about it.
Ragna: ...That's a good question. (Cut to Ragna setting sail to conquer new lands.)
Artificial Family Member: For all intents and purposes, Ragna the Flesh Golem is Lord Valder's daughter, and in the sequel he even makes clear that she's being groomed to be his eventual heir as ruler of Felheim. Reflecting this, the Lore Codex lists her name as "Ragna Valdersdottir".
Blood Knight: Her likes: Fighting. Her dislikes: Everything else.
Blunt "Yes": In her Wargroove arcade ending, when Mercia tries asking her if all this destruction was what she really wanted.
The Brute: For Valder, being directed by Sigrid when she's around.
Butt-Monkey: Ends up humiliated in pretty much every battle in the campaign. Her one victory (in a side mission) involves her defeating Caesar in battle, under the impression that he was an important Cherrystone general, only for Sigrid to reveal that Ragna had spent hours matching wits with a dog.
Didn't Think This Through: More like, didn't 'think', period. Most of her battles involve teaching Mercia about a new aspect of combat against an overfocused army under Ragna's command.
Enemy Mine: Joins Valder and the protagonists in the battle against Requiem.
Escape Battle Technique: Her bio points out that Shield Jump can also be used to exit a fight if needed.
Expy: A Dumb Muscle Starter Villain who is considered not-so-competent ... she takes a similar role to what villains like Flak and Jugger take from their games.
Flesh Golem: She's a patchwork of multiple corpses, with visible stitch-marks and clashing skintones.
Fridge Logic: In-Universe. When defeated by Mercia in arcade mode, she realizes she's made out of the "finest warriors in history" who died in battle and is left wondering just how "fine" they must have been.
Friendly Enemy: After accepting that she isn't truly Mercia's greatest arch-nemesis in the campaign's epilogue, Ragna resolves instead to become her "absolute best frenemy"; triumphantly gloating that with the war over, she can just fight Mercia for the fun of it.
Hot-Blooded: Impressively so, for someone with no blood. She's also something of a Mood-Swinger on top of it.
Inadequate Inheritor: Valder intends for Ragna to take his place as the leader of Felheim after his passing. However, her poor progress in learning Fumomancy after three years, leaves Valder feeling she is this.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Exists mainly to provide a more lighthearted Felheim adversary than Valder or Sigrid.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Lets slip during Mercia's Arcade run that the reason she wants to defeat Mercia is to prove she's "not just some useless zombie pieced together from broken parts."
Large Ham: A good portion of her lines are screamed out.
Leitmotif: Patchwork Valkyrie
No Full Name Given: Averted in Wargroove 2, where the Lore Codex lists her full name as "Ragna Valdersdottir".
No Indoor Voice: As mentioned above, most of her lines are screamed. This actually ends up saving the day when Elodie subdues the protagonists with hypnosis - Ragna's discordant ranting manages to snap everyone out of the trance.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "It's over, loser!".
Post-Victory Collapse: In Wargroove 2, after being freed from Prince Harmon's control, Ragna spends a few moments being her usual, loud, discordant self... then abruptly falls on her face, and proceeds to start snoring up a storm. She did, after all, get dragged all the way south to the equivalent of Antarctica by Harmon with hardly any time to rest.
Psychopathic Womanchild: Though as the codex points out, this is mostly due to being a mentally-five-year-old Frontline General zombie who just wants her father-figure's approval and can only get it through battle.
Redemption Promotion: Is significantly more competent in the player's hands, including after she joins the protagonist's group.
The Rival: Considers herself this to Mercia.
Ragna: *in arcade mode* IT'S ME! YOUR NEMESIS!
- Gold Fish Poop Gang: What Mercia considers her.
  Mercia: *sigh* You're not my 'nemesis', Ragna. I don't have a nemesis.
This Cannot Be!: Her standard response to being defeated, usually followed up by loud complaining about the opponent cheating.
Shield Bash: Her main offensive tool. Her groove combines this with In a Single Bound and Shockwave Stomp.
Spanner in the Works: Saves our heroes from Elodie by showing up at exactly the right/wrong moment and screaming them free of her mind-controlling music.
Super Not-Drowning Skills: Pirates of the Caribbean-style. When she sinks her own barge during a cutscene, she walks all the way from the middle of the ocean to Requiem's tomb, just to find Mercia and Sigrid. Amusingly, even in the heat of the volcano, she's still dripping with saltwater when she shows up.
Take Over the World: Her Wargroove arcade ending ends with Ragna conquering Aurania before leading Felheim's fleets in search of new lands to conquer.
Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Does this when attacking.

Sigrid

"Mortals die SO easily."

Voiced by: Elsie Lovelock (English)

A High Vampire, and Valder's most trusted subordinate.

Sigrid's Groove is Vampiric Touch, which One Hit Kills an adjacent enemy unit and heals Sigrid for each HP drained. In Wargroove 2, Sigrid's groove can be charged twice to also make her invulnerable for one turn.

Acrophobic Bird: Shown capable of flight in campaign cutscenes much like other Vampires, but does not do it in-game. The codex entry on vampires notes that High Vampires simply tend to have a preference for staying close to the ground, unlike the more common variety.
And Now for Someone Completely Different: She's the Player Character for the prologue, before the viewpoint switches to Cherrystone forces.
Character Death: One of the few commanders to be killed outright during the story after Mercia strikes her down with the Cherryblade in the penultimate chapter. While she's still playable in the sequel (via Conquest Mode, custom levels and multiplayer), the Lore Codex makes a point of listing her as "deceased".
Climax Boss: The war against Felheim officially ends after Mercia avenges her father and slays Sigrid... but that battle is only the penultimate mission. Since she managed to unseal Requiem's tomb before her death, the final mission and epilogue involve cleaning up Sigrid's mess by battling the Sealed Evil in a Can.
Death by Irony: Sigrid murders King Mercival in her search for the Key to Requiem, starting a terrible war just as his daughter Mercia ascends to the throne. In the end, Sigrid dies when Mercia impales her on the Cherryblade, since revealed to be the Key, right outside the door of the tomb where Requiem was kept.
Deceptive Disciple: Killed her own creator in his sleep. Also only works with Valder to get what she wants, and is willing to backstab him the moment she gets it.
The Dragon: For Valder, being his most trusted subordinate and the one who directs Ragna in the field.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Set up the war between Cherrystone and Felheim in order to get the Key to Requiem, which is Mercia's sword.
Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: While idly discussing Queen Mercia's unusual sword with a vampire Mook, Sigrid suddenly realizes that the Cherryblade might be the key to Requiem's tomb, after accidentally reminding herself of Mercival's last words on the matter.
Sigrid: A fine weapon? I suppose... More important whose hands it's in. (Beat) Whose hands... "safe hands"... THE KEY!!
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Her eyes glow red when she uses her Groove, and also when sufficiently riled in cutscenes.
Klingon Promotion: Sigrid became the ruler of Felheim's vampires by murdering her sire in his sleep.
Knight of Cerebus: Unlike Ragna, Sigrid is taken completely seriously as a threat, and the first real 'battle' against her in Act 3 involves simply fleeing from her.
Leitmotif: Ancient Blood
Life Drain: Her groove steals HP from another unit. It's one of the few things that instantly destroys a unit.
Little Bit Beastly: Like all Wargroove vampires, Sigrid has bat ears. The art style's tendency to give characters blushed noses also somewhat evokes the features of a vampire bat.
Little Miss Snarker: Very snarky towards anyone who's not Valder.
Narcissist: Her favorite thing? Herself.
Not So Above It All: Her Conquest Mode run in Wargroove 2 has her roll her eyes at Ragna's antics, but when informed that the goal is to find a good birthday present for Valder, Sigrid grumbles that the ruler of Felheim is difficult to shop for. Meanwhile, as the boss of the Saffron Isles Conquest, Sigrid indulges in a mocking pirate accent upon defeating the player.
One to Million to One: Does this when Mercia impales her in the penultimate level. Subverted in that the bats just fly away off-screen instead of merging back into Sigrid, and everyone treats her as dead.
Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires in the Wargroove world exist in two forms: 'Lesser' vampires are winged pack hunters that serve as Felheim's aeronautic units, while 'high' vampires like Sigrid are one-of-a-kind creatures considerably higher up in the food chain. Unlike lesser vampires, who procreate by draining people of blood and then introducing a bit of their own, high vampires are created from mortal infants abducted and transformed though magical means by their sire.
Power Floats: When attacking. In cutscenes she is also capable of unassisted flight and levitation, despite lacking the wings of common vampires.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Victory means little to me...".
Really 700 Years Old: Sigrid is over 900, according to the codex, and was possibly born around the same time the florans arrived on Aurania. Her sire was even older, at 4'000 years of age. This meant Sigrid grew up hearing stories about the Great Dissonance, which inspired her centuries-long search for Requiem.
Smug Snake: Downplayed due to her stoicism, but she has the part where she looks down on everyone else down pat. She goes fully into this trope once she steals the Key to Requiem.
The Stoic: In contrast to Ragna.
- Not So Stoic: Once she realizes the Cherryblade is the key to Requiem's tomb, Sigrid's unflappable demeanor starts to rapidly show cracks, and she becomes significantly less tolerant of distractions. Even a relatively mild annoyance - such as a Kappa unable to speak clearly through his helmet - is enough to send her flying into a rage.
  Kappa 1: Hmerher hm!
  Kappa 2: He said-
  Sigrid: I DON'T CARE WHAT HE SAID!
Surrounded by Idiots: Thinks this all the time, about everyone. When she finally claims the Key to Requiem she goes on a long rant about it.
Take Over the World: In her Wargroove Arcade ending, she uses Requiem to conquer Aurania with an army of the undead, ransacking Valder's castle and cornering the remaining commanders as they try to flee from her (though the camera cuts away just as her minions converge on them). In the aftermath, Sigrid is seen celebrating her victory with her lesser kindred in a volcanic biome forest, suggesting that she's reduced the entire planet to a barren Crapsack World ruled by vampires.
This Cannot Be!: Upon being skewered by Mercia, Sigrid manages to stammer out a shocked "H-how?" before expiring.
You Are a Credit to Your Race: Shows a measure of respect for Sedge after being defeated in the latter's Arcade run, musing that perhaps "Floran, for all their failings, aren't as hopeless as humans". She even offers him a Villain Team-Up (albeit under the pretext of Sedge needing her leadership), which the floran brushes off.

Mini-Commanders

Oddvar

A strange necromancer seeking claim to the Fell Gauntlet.

Action Bomb: His item, "Virge of Death", allows him to force an ally within four tiles to explode, dealing 30% damage to adjacent units. In his second appearance, he upgrades it to "Virge of Death+", which increases the range to six and adds pushback to the blast.
Back from the Dead: Reappears in Conquest Mode as a miniboss, now an undead skeleton himself.
Big Bad Wannabe: With Felheim suffering an Evil Power Vacuum during Wargroove 2, this guy styles himself as the next Evil Overlord. Unfortunately, his abilities as a Necromancer fall flat when his undead creations ignore him without the Fell Gauntlet.
Despair Event Horizon: He reveals the reason the Fallow-crazed undead leave him alone is because he's "dead" on the inside, which Oddvar figured out after finally losing all his remaining friends to attrition and alienation. After he admits this, and notices that Valder has that same hollow look in his eyes, Oddvar sorrowfully concedes his claim to the Fell Gauntlet, and uses his staff to send himself and his remaining "children" "home".
Evil Counterpart: Oddvar is essentially a warped parody of Valder: A crazy necromancer whose paternal attitude towards the undead is really just an excuse to go around killing innocent people, reanimating them to join his "family". He's even from the same village as Valder, sharing the Fell Lord's origin story.
Evil Former Friend: "Friend" is pushing it, but Oddvar was part of the group of children who fled Valder's destroyed hometown. Taking a leadership role, he bullied "little brother Vivi" and turned the group of desperate children into a bandit gang. Valder eventually grew disgusted with him and left. Twenty years later, he's a crazy necromancer trying to become Fell Lord.
Necromancer: A whackjob obsessed with killing people and reanimating them to be his "family" and "children". However, with Felheim in the grip of Fallow, his creations don't actually obey him.
Palette Swap: Of the Felheim mage unit.

Fenris & Donut

A pair of hounds that prowl the Felheim tundra.

Aerith and Bob: One is named after a fearsome wolf from Norse mythology. The other is named Donut.
Dual Boss: In Conquest Mode, they appear together as a Mini-Boss encounter during the Felheim map.
Fragile Speedster: They're both dog units equipped with "Fast Paws", which give them +3 movement and 1.25% defence. While still not that durable, that 8 movement range can easily cross Conquest Mode's relatively small maps and let them strike vulnerable units.
Palette Swap: Of the Heavensong dog unit.

Others

King Kaspar

Valder's predecessor as the ruler of Felheim.

The Caligula: He was known as King Kaspar the Mad. That should tell you everything.
Evil Overlord: One of the many sorcerer-kings of Felheim who took this path.
Predecessor Villain: The previous owner of the Fell Gauntlet, who used its power to launch invasions of Cherrystone and Heavensong. Tenri's parents were killed by Kaspar personally, while Valder lost his family and village to the chaos that erupted after Kaspar's defeat. Thirty years later, many of the older characters still remember his rampage and are heavily biased against Felheim and Valder as a result.
Palette Swap: When he appears in cutscenes, his sprite is a modified version of the Felheim knight unit.

Floran Tribes

Commanders

Greenfinger Zawan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/greenfinger_portrait.png

"Of course."

Voiced by: Sean Chiplock (English)

The Floran elder, who rules with both strength and compassion.

Zawan's Groove is Wild Growth, which creates five vines on five empty squares within five squares (selected by the player). The vines block enemy movement but cannot attack or counter-attack, and slowly degrade over time. In Wargoove 2, Zawan's groove can be charged twice to extend the range his vines can be placed, and they'll deal mild damage to adjacent enemies whenever they appear or reposition.

Boring, but Practical: His Groove is one of the most sedate in the game, but the utility of selectively blocking enemy movement in an area cannot be overstated.
Character Death: Perishes at the end of the first act of Wargroove 2, succumbing to wounds sustained while hunting a poisonous beast with Nuru, and during the later Faahri incursion.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: In Wargroove 2, Zawan, badly poisoned by a monster and fatally injured in battle with the Faahri, dies in Nuru's arms.
Gone Horribly Wrong: Downplayed example; his Wargroove arcade ending ends with Zawan successfully banishing Requiem but not before the weapon briefly possesses him. The end result is Zawan's powers growing out of control and covering the entire continent in non-stop forest, to the Floran tribes' delight and his own consternation.
Green Thumb: As seen both in his Groove and in the way he normally attacks - Zawan grows an elk out of plant-matter and tramples his opponents with it. The Organic Technology used by certain floran units is attributed to his ability to shape plants and cultivate seeds with unusual properties.
Leitmotif: Oaken Sentinel
The Marvelous Deer: Uses his Green Thumb powers to conjure an elk out of plant seeds, which he rides into battle as his attack animation.
My Greatest Failure: Shows genuine sorrow at having to exile Sedge, feeling he has failed as a Greenfinger by not getting his charge off such a barbaric path.
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: As a Greenfinger, Zawan's job is to keep the Floran from falling too much into barbarism.
No Body Left Behind: When he dies in Wargroove 2, his body turns brown and crumbles into dead leaves.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Such a waste...".
Reasonable Authority Figure: Of the Floran tribes in the Gloomwoods. After being corrected about the conflict with Sedge, he apologizes to Mercia's group and exiles Sedge from the Gloomwoods in his side chapter.
Secret Secret-Keeper: As he lies dying at the end of Wargroove 2's "Breaking Ground" arc, Zawan admits that he knew all along Nuru was from another planet, despite her efforts to tell him the truth herself.
Senseless Sacrifice: Zawan dies fulfilling his oath to prevent anyone from unsealing the Queen of Cacophony's workshop, only for it to be revealed that his predicessor, Greenfinger Russom, had already broken the oath and relocated the Sealed Evil in a Can, leaving the chamber empty. For added irony, Russom had left a note in there explaining what happened, clearly expecting young Zawan to also give in to curiousity.

Nuru

"Oh boy! A big fight!"

Voiced by: Elsie Lovelock (English)

A young Floran hunter whose skills are out of this world.

Nuru's Groove is Teleport Beam, which allows her to purchase a unit for double its usual cost and deploy it in a legal square next to her, provided she also owns a recruitment structure of that type (soldiers, spearmen and dogs are always available). The new unit can then move immediately. In Wargroove 2, Nuru's groove can be charged twice to summon a unit free of cost, and the player gains a 25% discount at all recruitment stuctures for one turn.

Amazing Technicolor Population: Her skin tone changes with her team color, since her leaves and clothes are already a fixed set of colors.
Conflict Ball: Grips this pretty hard when the protagonists finally reach Heavensong, and are stopped at the desert border by guards overly suspicious of florans. Nuru, incensed, promptly ransacks the border outpost and draws the attention of Ryota and Koji, forcing Mercia and Emeric to intervene.
Cutscene Power to the Max: When faced as an enemy in the campaign in Wargroove 2, she can do things in scripted events like teleport in units without using her groove, teleport multiple units and even teleport herself!
Cutting the Knot:
- Her Wargroove arcade ending. Ancient Artifact of Doom that brainwashes anyone who touches it? Just teleport that sucker into space!
- She also mentions a good blaster would have ended the campaign in an afternoon, before hastily avoiding having to explain what she meant.
Does Not Like Spam: Hates kidney beans, which sound like they're made of meat but aren't.
Flashy Teleportation: Her Groove summons down a unit at her location this way, with the visuals and sound effects of Starbound's spaceship teleporters. This is also how she defeats Requiem in the Arcade, by calling in Esther Bright's ship to beam it away.
Friendly Rival: To Mercia, even suggesting they have a fight to get to know each other better.
Guest Fighter: All but stated to be Starbound's Nuru, having stumbled onto the conflict while exploring the stars. She even repeatedly alludes to Starbound's setting by referencing blasters and mechs during the campaign, and hints at the game's Eldritch Abomination Big Bad during Mercia's arcade run.
Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Being a space-farer, she does have access to advanced science-fiction tech, but deliberately avoids using most of it as part of an Alien Non-Interference Clause. After Greenfinger is killed by the Faahri, Nuru declares that she's done holding back, and attempts to destroy the Faahri expeditionary force using laser weaponry.
Leitmotif: Wild Flower
Martial Arts Staff: While she claims to prefer spears (or a good blaster), in-game Nuru fights using a staff/halberd and pairs it with Unnecessary Combat Rolls. Wargroove 2 reveals that, being the same staff from Starbound, it has a blaster built into it.
Nerf: At launch, Nuru quickly became infamous due to her ability to instantly summon a fresh unit of any type to her location, for the same price as buying them normally from a fort. She was eventually tweaked so that spawning units with Teleport Beam cost double their normal recruitment price, to discourage players from casually dropping upper-tier units like giants and trebuchets behind enemy lines.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Being a Floran, other people tend to set a very low bar for the intelligence and civility Nuru would display. She takes full advantage of this to simply not mention a lot of things, and resorts to a clumsy Verbal Backspace when she slips. She seems to be adhering to some sort of Alien Non-Interference Clause.
Oh, Crap!: Upon seeing Rhomb's Hulking Out groove for the first time (most likely performed when Nuru herself is within attack range), even the experienced hunter can't help but balk:
Romb: The enemy is near.
Nuru: HOLY-!!
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Is noticably more dour and irate in Wargroove 2, snapping orders at other florans and very quickly losing her patience when the Faahri intrude in the forest. Mercia believes it's due to her preparing to leave in a few days, but it's soon revealed in flashbacks that she got careless during a hunt and caused Zawan to be badly injured by a poisonous beast, leaving her in charge while Zawan travels to a place of healing. When the Faahri later encounter the weakened Zawan and kill him, its enough to push Nuru into abandoning her Alien Non-Interference Clause. Other florans, for all their childishness, notice Nuru's change in attitude and quickly pick up that something must be wrong, which serves to make the entire tribe anxious.
Parts Unknown: Nuru is noted in the Lore Codex to be a visiting foreigner, rather than a native of the Gloomwoods, and is secretive about her past even to Greenfinger Zawan - He knows only that she arrived on a "ship" that had "travelled a massively, ridiculously long way".
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "I'm still the champion!".
Teen Genius: Is seventeen years old.
Unnecessary Combat Roll: During her attack animation, she does a backflip before striking. Errol and Orla lampshade it during Double Trouble.
Verbal Backspace: In Act 2, Nuru brags to Mercia hunting monsters with blasters where she comes from. When Mercia expresses confusion, Nuru clumsily changes the subject and offers a friendly spar to avoid explaining herself. This happens a second time in Act 5, when Nuru is caught referring to Tenko as a "mech" and quickly corrects herself to "battle puppet".
"World of Cardboard" Speech: In Wargroove 2, after Greenfinger is killed by the Faahri, a heartbroken Nuru declares that she's fed up with adhering to the Alien Non-Interference Clause for the sake of "this backwater planet", and starts tearing apart the Cacophonic ruins with energy weapons.
You Are in Command Now: Becomes the acting leader of the Floran Tribes after Zawan's death in Wargroove 2, as according to her "a new greenfinger hasn't even been born yet".

Sedge

"The hunt... begins!"

Voiced by: Sean Chiplock (English)

A sinister Floran that considers all other races his prey, and thrives on the fear of others.

Sedge's Groove is Sadistic Rush, which deals a flat 35% damage to an adjacent target with no counter-attack. If Sadistic Rush kills its target, Sadistic Rush is immediately recharged and Sedge gets to take a new turn's worth of actions. In Wargroove 2, Sedge's groove can be charged twice to become a ranged attack.

Arc Villain: Is the source of Act 2's conflicts, hunting the Cherrystone refugees for sport and then deceiving Greenfinger Zawan into attacking as well. After being exposed, Sedge attempts to usurp Greenfinger before being driven from the forest for good.
Back for the Dead: Abruptly returns in Act 5 to attack the Cherrystone protagonists after they leave Heavensong, only to be driven off by Emeric and Koji. Sedge swears further vengeance down the road, but a side mission immediately following this has the Floran discovered by Ryota, who defeats Sedge and promptly executes him.
Black Eyes of Evil: Monochromatic black eyes aren't unusual for Floran, but Sedge is actually evil on top of it.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Played with. It's not hunting humans in Floran territory that gets him exiled - that's acceptable behaviour. It's lying to the Greenfinger about why he did it, and actively tricking him into attacking the humans as well (by claiming the Cherrystone refugees were an invading army), that ultimately gets Sedge exiled from the forest. Its also heavily implied that Sedge was already skating on thin ice due to his sheer bloodthirstiness and unwillingness to change, and that deceiving Zawan was merely the final straw.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Sedge once attacked Heavensong, defeated Ryota and butchered one of his garrisons for no reason other than fun. Ryota remembers the event very clearly, but in their second meeting Sedge needs to be reminded of it.
Card-Carrying Villain: Gleefully embraces being called a monster by Ryota.
Character Death: One of the few commanders to be killed outright during the story. While he's still playable in the sequel (via Conquest Mode, custom maps and multiplayer), the Lore Codex makes a point of listing him as "deceased".
Evil Laugh: Does one whenever he attacks or uses his Groove.
The Exile: In Zawan's optional side chapter, Sedge is called out for his actions against Cherrystone and banished from the Gloomwoods.
Flash Step: How he attacks, disappearing from view only to emerge behind his target to strike. His map sprite performs a similar move during Sadistic Rush, though he doesn't actually leave his tile. An Easter Egg gag line found in the campaign editor has Sedge lampshade this trope.
Sedge: Sedge doesn't teleport! Sedge is just very, very sneaky.
Hate Sink: Portrayed as a very unlikable character, he sadistically "hunts" foes and attempts to pit them against each other when things don't go his way. He tricks Greenfinger into fighting the Cherrystone forces and makes the Heavensong empire develop a racist attitude against the Florans (which combined with Poor Communication Kills makes you spend three missions on fighting them).
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Loves hunting humans, unlike most Floran who restrict themselves to boar and other wildlife. In his Wargroove arcade ending he uses Requiem to abduct all the people who opposed him during the campaign so he can personally hunt them down for a game.
I'm a Humanitarian: Standard Floran behaviour towards 'meats' is to eat it no matter how sentient the source, and Sedge is very much a traditionalist.
In the Hood: Wears a hood crowned with two leaves.
I Work Alone: In his Arcade Mode, Sigrid attempts to offer him a Villain Team-Up after their battle, but Sedge dismisses her on these grounds.
Leitmotif: Creeping Ivy
Mechanically Unusual Class: Sedge's groove doesn't scale with his health, always dealing 35% damage to any target. It has the slowest charge time in the game and requires the player to spread damage effectively, but once charged Sedge can (and probably will) use it multiple times a turn.
Mysterious Past: According to the codex, nobody knows Sedge's past, and no tribe in Gloomwood has ever acknowledged him as a member by birth.
Never My Fault: Blames Mercia's group for causing the conflict in his introductory mission, when he was the one hunting them for sport, and falsely claims to Zawan that the Cherrystone refugees were actually invaders in order to deflect blame. This blows up in his face once Nuru exposes his treachery and gets him exiled. Even when he's cornered by Ryota he continues to angrily insist he's the predator and everyone else is prey, even as he's clearly lost.
Palette Swap: Only briefly, but when Sedge goes rogue for Zawan's side mission, his army is distinguished from Zawan's by switching out their standard leaf-green costume colors for turquoise. He goes back to green in subsequent appearances.
Renegade Splinter Faction: His bio notes that Sedge has a large following amongst the Gloomwood Floran, who see him as everything a hunter should be. When Sedge rebels against the Greenfinger over his exile, enough Floran follow his lead to form an army. According to Wargroove 2's codex, Sedge's rebel faction still remains unaccounted for, even three years after their idol's downfall.
Sssssnake Talk: Much like most Floran characters in Starbound. However, he's the only named Floran character who does it, as the other two Floran commanders speak without the hissing accent.
Sinister Scythe: A pair of sickles more specifically, but they still evoke the same symbolism.
The Sociopath: Hunts humans for sport and dislikes "lectures on personal responsibility" according to his bio. Zawan repeatedly tried to guide him onto the straight and narrow and it never did anything.
Terms of Endangerment: Mockingly refers to Ryota as "pretty soldier boy". Refers to his would-be victims as "Sedge's friends" during his Wargroove arcade ending.
Third-Person Person: Speaks this way, appropriate for a floran from Starbound (though he uses his own name as a pronoun rather than just "floran"). Notably, his counterparts Greenfinger and Nuru speak with perfect grammar.
Token Evil Teammate: He is much less friendly than Zawan and Nuru, and happily embodies the Floran stereotype of a cruel, barbaric plant-monster. Naturally, this leads to friction with his more civilized counterparts.
Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Unlike the other antagonists, who have affable, redeeming or at least humorous qualities, Sedge is portrayed almost akin to a slasher movie villain, motivated only by the desire to kill and eat people. This comes to a head in his Villain Episode, where Ryota's flashback shows Sedge at his most unnerving, and the post-mission cutscene uniquely depicts him surrounded by corpses after winning the battle.
Ryota: You... You're a monster!
Sedge: Yesss, a ravenous monster. And do you know the worst thing about ravenousss monsters? They always come back for ssseconds.
Villainous Legacy: According to the codex of Wargroove 2, Sedge has left a bit of a mark on the Floran Tribes after his passing. The Floran riverboat design is attributed to him — Greenfinger Zawan forbid their construction on the grounds that a Fire-Breathing Weapon was too dangerous for florans to use, but his followers built a couple of them during Sedge's rebellion, and they ended up in the Tribes' armory anyway after his downfall. Speaking of followers, the Lore Codex reveals that Sedge's Renegade Splinter Faction didn't disband with his death, but went into hiding and formed an assassin guild so they could continue Hunting the Most Dangerous Game.

Mini-Commanders

Bulrush

One of several young guard captains training to replace Commander Sedge.

Designated Bullet: He originally crafted his lance with the intention of using it to kill Sedge. With Sedge having been killed by Ryota, he has turned his attention to being a better role-model for the Floran.
I Have Your Wife: In the penultimate level of "Breaking Ground", Bulrush tries to force the Faahri expedition to surrender by abducting their "greenfinger", General Rhomb, in the dead of night to hold hostage. Unfortunately Pistil (who had taken advantage of Rhomb's disappearance- and its implied she drugged him to keep him from stopping her, to hijack the expedition) isn't willing to back down, and a bloodbath ensues.
Jousting Lance: Has the item "Bulrush's Lance", which grants 25% damage resistance and allows Bulrush to encourage friendly units.
Palette Swap: Of the Floran knight unit.
Replacement Pedestal: He is trying to be this for the Florans who followed Sedge, wishing to give them a better champion to admire.
Sssssnake Talk: Speaks with the typical floran hiss.
This Is Unforgivable!: Declares the Faahri expedition's actions such during Act 2 Mission 4 of the "Breaking Ground" storyline. Understandable, given the Faarhi had killed many florans by that point, and Pistil had started a forest fire near the Great Tree.

Heavensong Empire

Commanders

Tenri

"I am not here to play."

Voiced by: Dawn M. Bennett (English)

The noble and pragmatic Empress of Heavensong, Tenri possesses the power to manipulate the winds.

Tenri's Groove is Rising Wind, which allows her to move any unit within five squares of herself, friendly or enemy, to any unoccupied square within the same area. Can also move herself, but not the enemy commander. In Wargroove 2, Tenri's groove can be charged twice to extend its maximum range to eight tiles, and units adjacent to the target destination will be pushed back.

Blow You Away: Uses wind power both when fighting and using her groove.
Combat Hand Fan: Her weapon of choice, though it's dangerous due to her wind powers instead of a sharp edge.
Dark and Troubled Past: Lost both her parents in the last Felheim invasion of the mainland.
The Empress: Of Heavensong, having ruled it for thirty years by the game's start. The negative aspects of this become more apparent in Wargroove 2 with her attitude towards her Empire's colonies and willingness to claim Cacophonic Relics through force if necessary.
Escape Battle Technique: Rising Wind can be used to extract Tenri or other friendly units from nearly any situation.
Foil: As much as she would deny it, she and Valder are actually this. Both lost their loved ones at very young ages because of Felheim (her due to Kaspar's invasion, him due to the Fallow after Major Shōsa killed Kaspar), and want to prevent this violence from hurting them again. While Tenri became driven to use domination by force as a way to attain this, Valder sought a non-violent way to stop any more Fallows from plaguing Aurania. For Tenri, the scars run too deep for her to learn from her mistakes, whereas Valder finally admits to his shortcomings thanks to Harmon-in-Ragna projecting his grievances over his own mother Maestra.
Freudian Excuse: Her slide into antagonism during Wargroove 2 is attributed to the loss of her parents during King Kaspar's invasion of Heavensong, leaving her perpetually afraid of a new tyrant rising with the Fell Gauntlet, and driven to amass power by any means necessary. Maestra is able to exploit this trope to possess her, by pulling Tenri back to the childhood memory of her parents' deaths.
Improperly Paranoid: Wargroove 2 sees her adopt a With Us or Against Us mentality with Cherrystone. She tells Koji it is to prevent him experiencing what she has (namely, she lost her father in the last war between Felheim and Heavensong, when Mad King Kasper attacked the royal palace personally). Though she says she is willing to trust Valder, it's clear she doesn't trust anyone who takes his place to not go mad like previous Fell Lords. In a classic case of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy from this, her intent to have Valder surrender the Fell Gauntlet or launch an unprovoked attack upon Felheim strains relations between Felheim and Heavensong so it's more likely Felheim may attack in the near-future. All in all, Tenri is very paranoid about Felheim, and on top of this, she is researching Cacophony artifacts with the clear intent of fortifying her Empire against attack, even if she says otherwise.
Leitmotif: Dancing Crane
Meaningful Name: 'Tenri' can be roughly translated to 'Reason of Heaven' in Japanese (depending on which kanji were used to write it, mind).
Mask Power: Wears what appears to be a heron mask on her head.
Minor Major Character: In the first game's main campaign, she only participates in a single battle - a friendly war-game with Emeric - and disappears from the plot after the protagonists leave Heavensong behind.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Get out of my sight!"
She Who Fights Monsters:
- In her Wargroove arcade ending, Tenri uses Requiem to invade and destroy Felheim. Valder's last words implies that by accepting its power she's going to end up just as bad as him.
- This aspect of her character crops up again during Wargroove 2, where her self-righteous arrogance leads her to go behind the backs of her allies and amass Cacaphonic artifacts, in the belief that they can be harnessed for the betterment of the world. She's even drawing up plans to launch an unprokoved invasion of Felheim, because she wants to capture the Fell Gauntlet to use for her own ends.
Spanner in the Works: Her arrogance, lack of trust and desire for power singlehandedly unmakes The Alliance that had maintained peace between the nations since the end of Wargroove 1, to Queen Mercia's dismay.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: In Wargroove 2, Tenri wishes to research Cacophony artifacts to try and improve lives, though Mercia can easily see how they can be used for war. And while she says she can trust Valder, she is more skeptical of whoever may follow after he is gone, which is her reasoning for wanting to demand he surrender the Fell Gauntlet. Tenri does all of this so Koji will not have to experience what she has in the past, as well as trying to benefit her Empire. That she wants to position armies to attack Felheim without warning (in case Valder refuses and to deprive him of time to prepare) is what finally causes the discussion with Mercia to breakdown and turn into an all-out battle.
With Us or Against Us: Takes this stance during Wargroove 2, when Queen Mercia and Emeric refuse to go along with her plan to gather Cacaphonic relics and launch an invasion of Felheim if Valder doesn't surrender the Fell Gauntlet to her. Unwilling to budge on her ambitions, she writes everyone off as traitors, despite having basically been gearing up to do the betraying herself.

Ryota

"I will NOT be defeated."

Voiced by: Aleks Le (English)

An unwaveringly loyal supporter of the Empress and his nation.

Ryota's Groove is Blade Dash. When used, Ryota performs a number of linear dashes through lines of enemies, dealing 45% of his regular damage (increasing by 5% for each line he makes) to any enemy units caught underneath. It can also pass through allied and neutral units, which will not deal any damage to them. It can make as many dashes as possible, but cannot dash through the same unit twice. In Wargroove 2, he instead dashes a fixed number of spaces and can otherwise move freely using it so long as he ends on an empty space. When charged twice it doubles the maximum range of his dashes, increase the damage, and cause affected units lose 1 movement range for their next turn.

Armed Legs: Uses his bladed legs for attacking.
Awesome, but Impractical: His groove. If you can get the enemy troops to line up just right, Ryota can deal a fair chunk of damage to all of them in one action. But good luck getting them properly arranged that way. This was eventually mitigated somewhat in a patch, by allowing non-hostile units to contribute to a line (without being damaged, of course), so long as at least one enemy is present in the chain. And even then, you need to be careful with where Ryota ends at as it can very easily have him end up deep behind enemy lines where he can swiftly get swarmed and overwhelmed by enemy units.
- This is more averted in Wargroove 2, making the Groove slightly less powerful, but far easier to use and not quite so reliant on enemy positioning.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: Having been born to a poor family in a time of post-war famine, Ryota joined the military at a young age to provide for his relatives and make the country a better place to live, acquiring an ever-growing list of reasons to bury himself in his work. This sense of responsibility is twisted against him by Maestra, who uses her powers to make him regress to a carefree childhood he never allowed himself to have.
Crush Blush: Has a sprite animation for this, which usually pops up around Mercia.
Failed a Spot Check: Despite receiving reports from Saffron Isles about a new Pirate Captain named Tealbeard and one soldier suggesting "Big Buff Hammer Man", he doesn't immediately guess that it might be Wulfar (whom he has technically fought alongside during the last mission of Double Trouble) until they meet face-to-face at the end of the Saffron Isles campaign where he is captured, and even then he could only think he was familiar before Tenri confirms it after rescuing him when the rebellion showed up at her doorstep.
Fantastic Racism: Distrusts floran due to a run-in with Sedge and quickly gets on Nuru's bad side because of it (although she does accept his apology when he explains himself).
Flash Step: His groove, Blade Dash.
Handicapped Badass: Lost both his legs below his knees in a border skirmish. He had them replaced with steel prostheses with blades on the end, and retrained himself in an entirely kicking-based way of fighting.
Has a Type: Ryota likes people with a sense of honour, duty, and skill, along with blue hair and green eyes.
It's Personal: With Sedge, after the Floran butchered a border garrison under Ryota's command, for seemingly no reason other than the fun of it. Months later, Ryota corners Sedge on the border and executes him to avenge his men.
Leitmotif: Dashing General
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The young and handsome Ryota sports a long ponytail of white hair.
Mask Power: Owns a golden rabbit mask, but he lets it hang around his neck and chest.
Mirror Character: Notes the fact that both he and Caesar have devoted their life to servitude to someone else in Arcade Mode, and also that both of them love the same person.
My Country, Right or Wrong: His military academy education, drive to provide for his family and salvage the country from an age of post-war famine, and his family later being allowed to live in the royal palace where they'll never go hungry again, has made Ryota intensely patriotic and unwavering in his loyalty to the Empress out of sheer gratitude. His experiences in the Wargroove 2 storyline — witnessing the unfair conditions of the Saffron colonies and sympathetic motives of the rebellion, followed by seeing Empress Tenri fracture The Alliance and accidentally unleash a new Sealed Evil in a Can out of self-righteous arrogance — seems to have shaken his faith in the institutions of Heavensong, as he's last seen in the epilogue donning Outlaw Clans colors and leaving the city under cover of darkness.
Noble Top Enforcer: Picks up this role in Wargroove 2, where Heavensong picks up elements of The Empire and Ryota is sent to bolster the oppressive colonial government of the Saffron Isles. Especially after Empress Tenri is later revealed to be the story's Big Bad, so caught up in her own arrogance that even Ryota can't help but silently balk.
Ornamental Weapon: Carries a pair of wakizashi, a type of Japanese sword, but his battle animations and groove all have him using his bladed legs to attack.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "You've been careless!"
Pretty Boy: Complete with long hair. Sedge goes as far as to nickname him "pretty soldier boy".
Samurai Shinobi: His character design is based on a samurai, but his mask (a hare's) is used by the Fleetfoot, who are the Heavensong thief unit and described as being akin to shinobi in the lore. In the epilogue of Wargroove 2, reflecting some apparent disillusionment with the Empire, he's last seen having donned a more ninja-esque version of his normal clothes, complete with a cloth face mask and no trace of Heavensong yellow, as he leaves the capitol under cover of darkness.
Shout-Out: Both of his quotes when activating his Groove reference something.
Ryota: You are already dead.
Ryota: You'll never see me coming!
Single-Stroke Battle: While it can strike multiple lines of enemies and doesn't necessarily finish them in one strike, his Groove nonetheless has this vibe about it.
Survivorship Bias: Because his military career was so fruitful, his impoverished family was generously taken care of, and Empress Tenhri strived to make life better for imperial citizens after the war with King Kaspar, Ryota struggles to grasp that Heavensong's colonies aren't being treated nearly as well, and is outraged by the rebellion's lack of "gratitude".
Teen Genius: Graduated Heavensong's military academy at the age of 16 with highest honours.
This Is Gonna Suck: When defeated by Caesar in arcade mode, Ryota bemoans the fact that he'll have some explaining to do back home:
Ryota: How am I going to explain this to the Empress? "I'm sorry your highness, I tried my best, but the dog was the better tactician"?
Undying Loyalty: To Tenri and Heavensong. In his Wargroove arcade ending he's able to resist Requiem through sheer force of will and safely deliver it to Tenri, who has it sealed away.
- In Wargroove 2, his loyalty takes a severe beating over the course of the game, especially when he sees the very poor conditions for the prisoners on the Saffron Isles. At the end of the game, he's seen sneaking out of the castle at night, dressed as an Outlaw, though it's ambiguous as to whether he's abandoning Heavensong altogether or merely deciding to take certain matters into his own hands under a different identity.

Koji

"This will be awesome!"

Voiced by: Amber Lee Connors (English)

The son of Empress Tenri, Koji is an enthusiastic and committed young commander. Although he is only just developing his skills, he is nonetheless an impressive kid - especially when it comes to the weapons he creates. Koji's most remarkable creation to date is Tenko, the 12-foot tall fox puppet he pilots.

Koji's Groove is Sparrow Bombs. When used, two unique Sparrow Bomb units are spawned nearby, which may then immediately fly up 5 spaces and detonate, inflicting 50% of Koji's full damage on nearby enemy units. In Wargroove 2, Koji's groove can be charged twice to instead spawn a pair of Sparrow Bomb mk.2 units, which have increased damage and health, and cause pushback with their explosions.

Action Bomb: His Groove spawns two Sparrow Bomb units, which can be ordered to fly at targets to explode.
Child Prodigy: At a young age, Koji is already highly proficient in Heavensong's puppet-based Bamboo Technology, having designed and built Tenko himself as his personal mount. The codex indicates that he gained his love of engineering from his great-aunt, Mari, at the mere age of two.
Children Are Innocent: In his Wargroove arcade ending, Requiem never even tries to corrupt him. Koji then uses it as a power source to turn Tenko into a Humongous Mecha.
Gadgeteer Genius: Is only a child, but has created various mechanisms, such as his puppet mount.
Iaijutsu Practitioner: Tenko attacks using iajutsu. Lampshaded by Koji in one of his attack quotes.
Just a Kid: In his Arcade run, he encounters this attitude a couple of times and expresses irritation with it from various grown-ups. His mother, understanding him better, at least gives him the benefit of the doubt and has him prove his capabilities in combat to her before she considers punishing him for running off into danger. When he wins, she just asks that he uses proper care when heading into danger.
Leitmotif: Mechanist Prince
Mask Power: Wears a fox mask on the top of his head, while Tenko wears a larger version.
Magic Versus Technology: Invoked and subverted - Koji catches himself admiring Cherrystone's wholly magical Golems during a battle with them, and clumsily tries to insist that Heavensong's puppet technology is better.
Motion-Capture Mecha: A Bamboo Technology example. Like Heavensong's other puppet machines, Tenko's movements are controlled by a pilot pulling at a sensitive arrangement of strings, which leads to the puppet mech mimicking its pilot's movements. In cutscenes, Tenko mimics all of Koji's actions, such as crying or raising his fist in triumph.
Morality Pet: In Wargroove 2, to Empress Tenri, the story's Big Bad. She cuts a swathe through most of the cast in the penultimate level, but stops in her tracks when Koji arrives on the field and wonders why everyone is fighting. In the epilogue, Tenri arranges to have Koji sent overseas to a special academy in the far north, to spare him from the renewed hostilities on the Auranian continent.
Named Weapons: Koji's puppet mount is named Tenko.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Here comes the finishing blow!".
Shout-Out: A young operator named Koji who pilots a giant machine? Now where have I heard of that before?

Mini-Commanders

Lt. Umibozu

Decorated veteran of the 3020 Saffron Riots. Wields a weapon of unknown providence.

Arch-Enemy: He has a vicious grudge against Captain Sourcheeks, though the specifics aren't stated.
Blood Knight: To a disturbing degree. When he ambushes Wulfar's group, he orders his troops to wake them up first so he has a good fight. Later on, if you have Wulfar engage him personally, Wulfar tells him to go soak his head... which prompts him to muse that he'll enjoy soaking in your blood.
Palette Swap: Of the Heavensong amphibian unit.

Outlaw Clans

Commanders

Wulfar

"Aye, I'm up for the task."

Voiced by: Adrian Vaughan (English)

Descending from a long line of pirates and thieves, Wulfar is Chief of the largest and oldest Outlaw clan in Aurania. Renowned for his adaptability and problem solving, in spite of his appearance.

Wulfar's Groove is Tee Off. When used, Wulfar can launch units across the map, potentially moving allies into advantageous positions, or throwing enemies into the ocean. When used against enemies, it deals damage to both the target unit and any enemy unit adjacent to them when it lands. In Wargroove 2, Wulfar's groove can be charged twice to increase the range of the launch, and the player may designate two nearby spaces in cardinal directions for the unit to bounce towards, causing shockwave damage at each location.

Brave Scot: Though there's no such thing as Scotland on Aurania, Wulfar and his children have a notable Scottish accent and his leitmotif is based on bagpipe music.
Captain Colorbeard: One of the names Heavensong authorities consider giving him when he's working with the pirate Outlaws, is Captain Tealbeard, referencing his Implausible Hair Color.
Fastball Special: Tee Off can be used this way, launching a friendly unit towards an advantageous position. Wulfar's groove can also be used on enemy units, launching them towards their fellows to deal deal area-of-effect damage.
Horrible Judge of Character: His Wargroove arcade ending sees him corrupted by Requiem, who preys on his sympathy for the reviled and outcast — Unfortunately for Wulfar, Requiem's bad reputation is entirely justified.
Improbable Weapon User: Partway through Wargroove 2, he swaps his regular hammer for a treasure chest mounted on a stick.
Large and in Charge: Wulfar is a hulking bear of a man, and is the leader of the most influential bandit faction on the continent.
Leitmotif: Towering Chieftain
The Lost Lenore: His beloved, Alia, is notably absent in the present day. Wargroove 2 confirms she passed away some time ago, though Wulfar assures Nadia that he believes she died happy.
No Sense of Humor: At the very least, he does not like puns.
Not in This for Your Revolution: Played with. In Wargroove 2, Wulfar makes a point early on to Mercia and Emeric that he doesn't like government in any form and isn't about to be their lapdog. However when they specifically request he visit the Saffron Isles for them to see what Heavensong is up to there, Wulfar quietly agrees to go. He doesn't tell them, but he wants to see Alias' homeland, and since Cherrystone is offering to pay for the boats and other expenses for him, it's an opportunity he's not about to pass-up.
One-Hit Kill: Tee Off can instantly destroy any unit by launching it into a square it can't move on (mostly land units in the ocean and ocean units on land, though wheeled units can also be destroyed by mountain or swamp/river tiles).
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Yer beat'n."
Rebellious Spirit: He takes pride in being an Outlaw and living outside the feudal system, and comes from a long line of Outlaws who similarly rejected civilization for a free life. He dislikes most of the Cherrystone and Heavensong main cast for that reason.

Errol and Orla

Errol:"I'll give it a shot."

Voiced by: Eileen Montgomery (Errol, English) and Vivien Taylor (Orla, English)

The thoughtful Errol and feisty Orla are a pair of troublemaking twins, who work effectively as a pair despite their bickering.

Uniquely, Errol and Orla have two separate Grooves that they can choose between depending on the situation. Errol's Groove is Cooling Water. When used, Errol covers an area of the map with healing magic that shrinks in size each subsequent turn. Both allied and enemy units inside this radius are healed for 20% of their health per turn. Orla's Groove is Scorching Fire. When used, Orla ignites a single tile, which grows on subsequent turns. Both allied and enemy units on a flaming tile are instantly defeated. In Wargroove 2, their groove can be charged twice to become Cooling Fire, which combines the effects of both grooves to heal allies and hurt enemies, with a fixed area of effect.

Beehive Barrier: Errol creates these whenever the twins are attacked.
Brats with Slingshots: Orla uses one. Errol turns it into a serious threat by loading and lighting a firecracker for her.
Challenge Seeker: Their motivation to obtain Requiem in arcade mode is to steal it simply because it's there.
The Dividual: They act as a single Commander unit in battle, with shared health.
Dumb Struck: Errol's reaction to trauma is to go completely silent. After their balloon crash-lands in the south, with Koji nowhere to be seen, his silence leaves Orla freaking out a bit, pleading with him to say something. She notes later that he was silent for days after their mother died too.
Friendly Enemy: They quickly befriend Koji in Double Trouble's final mission due to the Enemy Mine situation. Tenri ends up banning all the outlaws except Errol and Orla from Heavensong, on the condition they visit only during playtime.
Friendly Fireproof: Averted as the big drawback to their otherwise powerful Grooves. The areas will heal or burn enemy and ally alike. Played straight in Wargroove 2, where their groove can be double-charged to combine the effects, healing allies and hurting enemies simultaneously.
Hammerspace: During Errol's Dumb Struck moment, Orla stuffs a number of stuff in her pockets as they traverse the area they crashed at. Among the things she pockets are a ridiculpus amount of Gold (that she then has to surrender later to placate some wild Dragons).
Ignored Enemy: Their Wargroove arcade ending leads to Requiem giving up on corrupting them because the twins only want mundane wishes (a nice book and a crossbow) and start bickering instead of taking Requiem seriously.
Leitmotif: Impish Urchins
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Errol is the contemplative one who both defends the pair and has the healing ability, while Orla is the excitable one who does the attacking, and has the damage-dealing ability.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: The only commander with multiple Grooves.
Missing Mom: With the reveal that Enid is a cat, it can be implied that Wulfar is a single father and their mother (presumably Alia) isn't around for whatever reason. Wargroove 2 confirms that Alia passed away years ago, and that Errol took it especially poorly.
One-Hit Kill: Orla's Scorching Fire is instant death to anything stopping on or standing on one of the flaming squares when it activates. This includes Commanders, who are normally immune to these effects.
Polar Opposite Twins: Orla being the outgoing tomboy and Errol being the introverted and uncertain bookworm.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Yer goin' down!" by Orla.
Puppy Love: Errol develops a crush on Koji during Wargroove 2's Felheim campaign. Errol's a bit worried, both because Koji is the prince of The Empire and because he's worried it could jeapordize their friendship. Orla does not share these concerns. After the final mission, Koji and Errol have a conversation offscreen where it's strongly implied Errol confessed, and Koji reciprocated.
Sad Clown: Orla admits after Errol recovers from his Heroic BSoD, that she prods, teases, and otherwise annoys him in her own attempt to help keep his spirits up even in hard times, apologizing for if she's ever gone too far with it.
Technicolor Fire: In Wargroove 2, their double-charged groove produces magical blue fire that hurts enemies but heals allies.
Yet Another Stupid Death: See the entry under Friendly Fireproof? The One-Hit Kill effect of Scorching Fire also applies to themselves, and it can easily happen if you're not paying attention.

Vesper

"No smoke, without fire!"

Voiced by: Jessica Strauss (English)

Sly, deceitful and abrasive, Vesper certainly makes an impression – this notorious criminal is capable of conjuring a demonic smoke beast with just a whip and a flourish!

Vesper's Groove is Smoke Shroud, which spawns an obscuring cloud of smoke on her location for one round. Units positioned in the smoke cannot be attacked or counter-attacked. In Wargroove 2, Vesper's groove can be charged twice to increase the range of placement, and to also spawn a pair of special Shadow Sister units. Shadow Sisters deal considerable damage to all units, but will be destroyed if they take any amount of damage.

A Fate Worse Than Death: Played for Laughs. Her final fate in the Double Trouble campaign is a choice between rotting in a Felheim cell... Or teaching Fumomancy to Ragna. Vesper states she doesn't know which one is worse.
Becoming the Mask: Due to the events of the "Double Trouble" campaign, she's stuck in Felheim, trying to teach Ragna to use Fumomancy. By the time of Wargroove 2 (three years later), Ragna actually has taken to calling Vesper "Big Sis". When the penultimate battle rolls around, Vesper (revealed to be The Mole) chides Ragna for getting attached to her when she was there against her will... yet the frown on Vesper's face suggests that Vesper cares more for Ragna than she'd like to admit. Vesper’s Conquest mode and her dialogue in the final battle (if Ragna is defeated) reveal that Vesper has indeed come to see Ragna as a sister as well, and one of the scenes in the credits shows Vesper apologizing to Ragna.
Big Bad: Of the Double Trouble campaign.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Wears a white glove on her right hand, and a collection of golden rings on her left. She also sports a golden armlet around her left bicep.
Glass Cannon: Vesper's summoned "Shadow Sisters" deal massive damage when attacking, but they disperse upon taking any damage themselves.
Gratuitous French: Uses a lot of French words and expressions while mostly speaking English.
I Have Your Wife: Blackmails Wulfar, Errol and Orla into helping her launch dramatic heists against the nations of Aurania by kidnapping someone close to them named Enid. It turns out Enid is the family cat.
Leitmotif: Flashy Fumomancer
Like a Son to Me: Gender-flipped and might explain her Becoming the Mask. While the game makes no clear indication of it, her worry about Ragna when the Fell Gauntlet is missing (Errol and Orla find her searching for Ragna when they break into Felheim's captial), her staying by Ragna's side most of the journey to the south, and the fact her brand of magic is passed-down by the mother in her family, it's not too hard to think that Vesper has started to see Ragna as a surrogate daughter, even if she may never admit it. Vesper’s Conquest mode and dialogue in the final battle if Ragna is defeated confirms this, though more as a sister instead of a daughter to match how Ragna had started calling Vesper “Big Sis”.
Love Makes You Evil: Not that Vesper was good to begin with, as she was still an outlaw, but she was somewhat respectable and even had a close friendship with Wulfar. Then she met Alia and got a massive crush on her, only to find out she and Wulfar were in love. She didn't take it well.
The Mole: In Wargroove 2, Empress Tenri hired Vesper to find a means to steal the Fell Gauntlet during her stay at Felheim. However, due to circumstances well beyond Vesper's control, she's eventually forced to return empty-handed.
Not Me This Time: When Koji, Errol, and Orla arrive at Felheim's stronghold and confront her about the stolen Fell Gauntlet, after admitting that suspecting her is a fair assumption, she makes it quite clear she isn't the one who stole it.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Au revoir!"
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Wears a red undershirt underneath her black (by default) jacket, as well as a black leather whip with a ruby-red cherrystone for the pommel.
Repulsive Ringmaster: Her outfit, whip and theatrical personality are all inspired by one, and her Leitmotif is akin to a sinister circus tune.
Secret A.I. Moves: During the final battle of the Double Trouble campaign, Vesper has a different Groove called Smoke Sisters that spawns two copies of herself. They die in one hit, but they deal a lot of damage and even have her Smoke Shroud Groove. This Groove cannot be accessed while playing as her.
- Averted in Wargroove 2, as supercharging her Groove causes it to spawn a couple of Smoke Sisters which are just as powerful as they were in the first game.
Shared Family Quirks: Fumomancy is said to be an extremely difficult kind of magic to master, which in her case has been taught through the generations by the mothers in her family.
Super Smoke: She is trained in the art of Fumomancy, which lets her use smoke as a weapon.
Take Over the World: In her Wargroove arcade ending, she uses Requiem and her outlaws to take over the continent, stealing all its valuables for herself while enslaving the rest of the cast. She's last seen doing a Slouch of Villainy on a golden throne.
Villainous Breakdown: During the final battle of the ‘’Double Trouble’’ campaign, she starts off cocky and confident, but gets progressively more irritated and panicky as she's cornered and more structures are taken from her.
Whip of Dominance: Uses a whip as her weapon of choice. Rather than striking foes with it (unless they're close to her right after attacking her), she uses it to kick up smoke, which morphs into a monster she can control.
White Hair, Black Heart: The most villainous Outlaw commander has a head of wispy white hair.

Nadia

Voiced by: (English)

A boisterous pirate lord better known as the Dread Captain Firebird, Scourge of the Saffron Isles.

Naida's Groove is Fire Dance, which damages three random enemies within a radius of five tiles. When charged twice, it strikes five enemies and inflicts additional burn damage each turn, until another unit performs the "douse" action on them.

Cool Aunt: Since Alia is her sister and Errol and Orla's mother, this makes Nadia their aunt. The game never shows their first proper meeting with one another but it's safe to assume the twins will regard Nadia this way.
Fire-Breathing Weapon: Wields an anachronistic flamethrower fed by a keg on her back, which also forms the basis of her groove.
Man on Fire: When supercharged, her groove additionally sets the targets ablaze, dealing additional damage until an allied unit douses them.
Rebel Leader: She and all the other "pirates" of the Saffron Isles are actually a rebel movement trying to liberate the Isles from the Heavensong Empire, play-acting at being pirates as a form of Obfuscating Stupidity.
Red Baron: She's better known around the Saffron Isles (especially to Heavensong) as Captain Firebird.
Strong Family Resemblance: Looks enough like her sister Alia that Wulfar is briefly shocked to see her.

Mini-Commanders

The Oaracle

Captain of the Muse. A seer and eccentric artist.

Palette Swap: Of the Outlaw sky rider unit.
Punny Name: A seer witch using an oar as a broomstick goes by the moniker of "the Oaracle"

Captain Sourcheeks

Captain of the Wetbotham. A kindly but mysterious soul.

Arch-Enemy: Lt. Umibozu of the Heavensong Empire has some kind of grudge against Sourcheeks.
Frog Men: A merfolk pirate captain.
Palette Swap: Of the Outlaw amphibian unit.

Others

The Bandits

A trio of outlaw rangers that prey on the defenseless and have a surprisingly good grasp of feudal-era socioeconomics. They serve as antagonists of Caesar's side missions during the Campaign. They have no actual commander unit associated with them.

Animal Nemesis: Caesar is theirs.
Goldfish Poop Gang: While they talk a big game and have a surprising amount of manpower, they find themselves bested at every turn by a dog.
The Greatest Story Never Told: As they only show up in side missions and Caesar can't talk, his heroic trouncing of the bandits goes unremarked upon by the remainder of the cast.
Know When to Fold 'Em: After Caesar's final side-mission, they realize their attempts at banditry have gotten them nowhere, and decide to go back to their old jobs.
Leitmotif: They're associated with Cheeky Ruckus, which is usually played for any battle against an army lacking a known commander. In the Jukebox, the dancer sprite for Cheeky Ruckus is one of the three outlaw rangers that represents the gang during cutscenes.
N.G.O. Superpower: Have no problem deploying an army's worth of knights, mages, harpies and giants to get rid of a dog.
No Name Given: They're simply called "outlaws", and until their last appearance it's even unclear if they're the same outlaws. Eventually subverted in their final appearance, where they're revealed to be called Greg, Paul and Neil.
Palette Swap: They use Cherrystone units, but wear black instead of red.
Recurring Boss: As a faction, they serve as this for Caesar.

Faahri Republic

Commanders

Lytra

Voiced by: (English)

A young mage with very large ears, and one of the latest recruits of the Faahri Armed Forces.

Lytra's Groove is Song Cyclone, which picks up units in a one-tile radius, deals some damage, and rotates their position relative to her by 180 degrees, clockwise or counterclockwise. When charged twice, the radius increases to two tiles, and causes affected units to miss their next turn.

Blow You Away: Lytra's groove sweeps up nearby units in a short-lived cyclone, rotating their positions relative to her own.
Born Unlucky: Nothing in her life has ever gone right for her, having been rejected by all of the Republic's guilds, mistreated or ignored by everyone she knows, and only accepted on the expedition because the organizers decided to literally mark her down as Cannon Fodder. Another lore entry shows that she has a whopping seventeen disciplinary reports on her record whereas everyone else has only one or two at-most, if any.
Child Soldiers: While her exact age isn't given, Greenfinger is taken aback when he sees Lytra for the first time, lamenting that someone as young as her shouldn't be forced to fight on the battlefield. Lore entries claim she's 16, but given Faahri lifespans are 30 years in average, this case is murky.
Musical Assassin: Her weapon is a magical lyre, which she can throw like a boomerang and play to manipulate the winds. The lyre is found in a Cacophonic ruin, and originally belonged to Prince Harmon.
One-Hit Kill: Similarly to Wulfar's "Tee-Off", Song Cyclone can instantly destroy units if it repositions them in an illegal space, such as by dropping ground units into the ocean, bringing naval units onto dry land, throwing wheeled vehicles into mountains and forests, or throwing anything into Castle walls. Units can also be killed if their new position would interfere with a unit that can't be moved by the groove, like Commanders or Zawan's vine barriers.
Only Known by Their Nickname: The Codex indicates her name is actually Elytron Falaki. She is only ever actually called "Lytra" though.
Prefers the Illusion: Unlike everybody else in Conquest Mode, Lytra is aware that she's in an illusory world, but she actually prefers being in it, and resisted Emeric's pleas to wake her up in Felheim Conquest. Come Gloomwoods Conquest though, she's come to see that it's not actually better, and finally wishes to return even if it hurts. She then invites (Dark) Mercia with her, which eventually leads to them (well, Lytra and regular Mercia) emerging in the final battle destination).
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "How about an encore?"
Shrinking Violet: She starts off very timid and quiet. Pistil and Rhomb trusting her with responsibility helps her gain confidence, though if she feels she's in trouble she quickly becomes very quiet and stumbles over her words.
Spectacular Spinning: Whether using her groove or just her standard attack, Lytra tends to spin like a top while doing it for seemingly no reason than just because.
Super-Hearing: She's capable of hearing reinforcements on the approach before they even come into view.
Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder: Her official rank in the Faahri military is "CF (cannon fodder)", but she ends up becoming a Commander and capable leader.

Pistil

Voiced by: Marissa Lenti (English)

The chief scientist of the Faahri Republic, accompanying their expedition to the mainland.

Pistil's Groove is Chain Reaction, which sends Chain Lightning arcing through every unit connected to Pistil by adjacency with other units. It deals maximum damage to units directly adjacent to Pistil, with damage falling off (to a minimum of 10) as it spreads to further units. This groove cannot kill units. When charged twice, the chain damage falloff is reduced.

Berserk Button: Damaging, or worse, destroying her creations... especially with an act of what she considers idiocy such as hitting buttons without knowing what they do.
Companion Cube: Cherishes her machines, prefers their company over people, and even gives them names like Watt and Volt. Pistil's encounter with Maestra suggests that she puts on a show of this trope to deflect from her Inferiority Superiority Complex, pretending that she doesn't need anyone's approval.
Cosmetically Different Sides: Expresses frustration in the Lore Codex with how ALL of her inventions are merely on par with the other nations' equivalent weaponry, despite otherwise being more technologically advanced.
Chain Lightning: Pistil's groove is a zap of electricity that starts at her and then chains through every adjacent unit it can reach, with diminishing returns as the lightning travels further away from Pistil.
Dirty Coward: She's prone to using underhanded tactics. Rhomb's first appearance in the game is followed by him giving her a dressing-down for faking orders from him to retreat from a pirate attack, her ship being the only one to retreat in this manner. She spends the next while, hiding behind a rock. Later still, when Rhomb decides to call off the expedition and leave, Pistil forces a bit more time to try and find the Queen's Workshop by drugging Rhomb with a sleeping potion... which leads to him being captured by the Floran (though that wasn't Pistil's intent) and when they try to coerce a surrender from them by threatening Rhomb, Pistil ignores them.
Evil Old Folks: Faahri on average have a lifespan of 30 years. Pistil's pusing 27, and the rest of her character folder should speak for itself.
Eye Patch Of Power: Crossed with Electronic Eyes. Her left eye appears to have a mechanical replacement strapped over it. Whether she lost the eye in some manner of accident or simply replaced the eye herself is not clear.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: The final battle reveals that Pistil is ironically not that different from Lytra, hiding behind her scientific accomplishments to cope with a crippling fear of being seen as a disappointment. Its the true reason she keeps pushing the expedition onwards, no matter how destructive it gets, because she can't bear to go back home empty-handed. Lore pages unlocked after finishing the game imply that it had something to do with an estranged father figure. Unfortunately, Maestra is able to exploit Pistil's woes to turn her into a Brainwashed and Crazy minion, and she spends the last fight deliriously giggling and fawning about how Maestra loves her unconditionally.
Insufferable Genius: She's responsible for most of the Republic's recent technological advancements, but is also a narcissist who will gladly decieve people and misuse military resources to fulfill her personal goals. Rhomb calls attention to how Pistil carries herself like an officer with the right to order soldiers around, despite only being a civilian.
Irony: There's something to be said about just how much Pistil's own arrogance sabotages her pursuit of knowledge. There's no one on the entire planet who could impart more knowledge to her than Nuru, show her technology way more advanced than anything she's ever seen, show her whole other worlds… But her treatment of the Florans (such as burning part of their forest) ensured that she will never know any of that.
Kick the Dog: According to the codex entry of the Faahri Pullbot, a clan of frogfolk from Cherrystone approached Pistil, asking via letter if she could use her scientific knowledge to undo their Forced Transformation. Pistil, incredulous at the idea of sapient frogs and believing it to be a prank, instead used the frogfolk as test subjects for her weapons research.
Laser-Guided Karma: The epilogue shows that, as punishment for her crimes, the Expedition locked her up in their ship's brig as they return to the Republic.
Living Emotional Crutch: To Lytra. Pistil is the first person to have ever treated Lytra nicely. To make her feel valued and worth something. That alone is enough for Lytra to want to do anything for Pistil. If she dies in front of Lytra, Lytra will essentially shut-down. By the end though, having lost many friends to Pistil's schemes and coming to realize her love and trust was sorely misplaced, Lytra grows out of it.
Miles to Go Before I Sleep: At least part of the reason why Pistil is so desperate to not be seen as a disappointment and achieve a major breakthrough somewhere is because, by Faahri standards, she's nearing the point of dying from age (Faahri live about 30 years and she is 27). So she is afraid of leaving a forgettable legacy.
Token Evil Teammate: The Faahri as a whole are a mostly sympathetic Proud Scholar Race, but Pistil represents their culture at its worst — a ruthless Mad Scientist who is merely Affably Evil at the best of times.
Trial by Friendly Fire: Similar to Ryota's groove, you can put your own troops next to the enemy's to extend how far Pistil's groove hits. However, unlike Ryota, Pistil's groove will deal just as much damage to allied units as enemies.

Rhomb

Voiced by: (English)

The general in charge of the Republic's first ever military campaign.

Rhomb's groove is Crystal Heart, which gives him increased attack power, defence and movement for one turn. Charging it twice increases his defence and movement further, and gives Rhomb a ranged attack that can hit air units.

Affectionate Nickname: He consistently refers to Lytra as "Little Soldier".
The Atoner: When he shows up in the penultimate battle, he sides with Nuru (who naturally supports Mercia), stating that he needs to make amends.
Defector from Decadence: In his youth, he studied plants to eventually become a teacher of botany at the House of Knowledge, but based on a letter he eventually dropped out, citing the House of Knowledge becoming increasingly dominated by power-hungry Mad Scientists.
A Father to His Men: He attributes the expedition's victories less to his leadership and more to the teamwork of the men under him. He is also quite gentle with Lytra, apologizing for seeming brusque with her when he was chastising Pistil for her insubordination, and he even invites Lytra to share her insight on what tactics she believes they should use.
Gemstone Assault: His attack animation while his groove is active sees him swing his arms to hurl a flurry of sharp crystals off his arms at the enemy. Considering he can attack from three spaces away if the groove is supercharged, it makes a statement of just how strong his arms are in that state.
Gem Tissue: His groove causes him to sprout a mane of crystals along his back and arms.
Good Old Fisticuffs: His attack animation has him doing this. Given his sheer muscular bulk, it's little wonder he can handle basic enemies with his bare fists.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: A subtle example. If you look closely at his portrait at certain times, his visible eye sometimes shines a light blue, hinting at his truer nature.
Hunk: The guy's built like a mountain, towering over his fellow mice with a Heroic Build and Lantern Jaw of Justice.
Hulk Out: His groove causes him to become a fair bit bigger and tougher (and he's already big enough to match Wulfar in size).
Know When to Fold 'Em: His surface reason for calling off the expedition is that, having only about two-score in troops remaining, and vastly outnumbered by the Floran. Though it's clear that his underlying motive to calling it off, is that he is fed-up with Just Following Orders and hurting the Floran for nothing.
Nature Lover: He points out interesting plants by their scientific names, and openly wonders if its right to be marching an army through The Lost Woods. A lore entry, a letter written by him in the past, claims he had aspired to become a botany teacher at the House of Knowledge. He's quietly dismayed when he discovers that Lytra and the expedition had cleared a large swathe of forest to fund a rescue mission for his sake, even if you choose not to use the sawmills.
Super-Soldier: Based on his unlocked lore, Rhomb's powers are the result of an experiment along these lines, which ended with him as a traumatized Sole Survivor.
Survivor Guilt: Seems to suffer from this. Getting locked up in a cell seems to bring it out as he talks to ghosts of individuals he once knew. He gets worked-up enough that he nearly attacks Lytra when she rescues him from imprisonment.

Others

Philtrum

A Duelist in the Faahri expedition.

Cannon Fodder: Is listed as this, same as Lytra.
Heroic Sacrifice: Holds the line with his Duelists against a horde of pissed-off florans to buy time for the others to escape the Cacophony royal palace, even repeating Rhomb's earlier words; "Save yourselves, I'll hold them off". Lytra is heartbroken when she hears about it.

Octagon

A scribe attached to the Faahri expedition.

Guardians of Requiem (unmarked spoilers ahead)

Commanders

Elodie

"Shall I play you a song?"

Voiced by: Rachael Messer (English)

The keeper of Requiem. Formerly the Princess of the ancient kingdom of Cacophony, she sacrificed herself to seal the weapon, and now exists as a wraith guarding over it. Serves as the Final Boss of Arcade Mode as well as in Campaign Mode.

Her Groove is Nocturne of Woe, which instantly flips the allegiance of a single unit to Elodie's control. In Wargroove 2, Elodie's groove only controls a unit for a single turn normally, but can be charged twice to make the effect permenant.

Apologetic Attacker: Takes no joy in killing anyone who can be corrupted by Requiem. One of her lines when attacking is "I am sorry!".
Back from the Dead: When she takes full control of Requiem in Arcade Mode, she destroys the weapon and uses its power to resurrect herself as an anonymous bard who plays music to make people happy.
Barrier Maiden: For Requiem.
Battle in the Center of the Mind: Her Arcade Mode run culminates in a contest of wills between herself and Requiem, represented by a Mirror Match.
"Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: At the end of her Arcade mode, it's revealed that Elodie could have attempted to mentally overpower Requiem all along. She never considered the possibility until Mercia suggested it.
Cutscene Power to the Max: Uses her Groove to take command of everyone's armies in campaign mode, as well as being able to control commanders for a single round. She can do neither of these in Arcade Mode.
Disappears into Light: When defeated. Also in her Wargroove arcade mode ending, as she destroys both her wraith form and Requiem.
Early-Bird Cameo: Is briefly visible at the end of the intro. Elodie can also be seen in Wargroove's multiplayer menu as the human form she assumes during her Arcade Mode ending.
Final Boss: Of the campaign, though she's followed by an unlockable True Final Boss. Furthermore, almost every character's Arcade Mode run culminates in a showdown with Elodie (with the exception of Dark Mercia and Mercival), since the Arcade's plot centers around a great hunt for Requiem. Her own Arcade run even puts Elodie up for a Mirror Match.
Heroic Sacrifice: Sealed herself with Requiem for four thousand years to keep it from harming anyone else.
I Believe That You Believe It: In Elodie's Arcade run, the wraith appreciates Mercia's intent to destroy Requiem rather than use it (enough to actually spare her life after winning), but she still refuses to back down:
Elodie: Your intentions are noble, Queen Mercia. Had we met in another lifetime, perhaps we could have been friends.
Mercia: You... don't believe me. You don't believe it can be done.
Elodie: I believe you mean well. I do not believe you will succeed, and I cannot let you try. The risk is too great.
Last Chance to Quit: In both Campaign and Arcade mode she usually offers her opponents the chance to walk away first. After that, there is no mercy offered.
Leitmotif: Sorrow Sempre
MacGuffin Guardian: For Requiem.
Mind-Control Music: Her Groove involves taking control of enemy units, and its animation shows this is achieved by briefly playing music on Requiem, a magical cello. She briefly hypnotizes the protagonists this way during her debut, only for the trance to be shattered by Ragna. After that, she continues to enthrall individual commanders using her Groove, who all hear Requiem's song in their heads a turn before it activates.
Mirror Match: Her Arcade Mode run ends with a battle against another Elodie, representing Requiem in a Battle in the Center of the Mind.
Musical Assassin: Elodie attacks by playing a loud note on Requiem, which creates a sonic shockwave to strike her opponent.
Musical Theme Naming: Princess Melody of the Kingdom of Cacophony, guardian of Requiem.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: Elodie pulls no punches with anyone, for any reason. The commanders she defeats in Arcade mode are killed off in order to prevent Requiem from falling into anyone's hands.
Painting the Medium: Her speech is rendered in wavy, shimmering purple text. Characters who fall under her spell during the final battle also speak this way.
Palette Swap: During her campaign boss fight she uses a mish-mash of units from other races colored purple, while in Arcade Mode she simply uses Cherrystone units. For her final Arcade Mode mission she will play a mirror match against another Elodie painted yellow.
Power Floats: Not only does Elodie float everywhere, but Requiem's cello body and bow float alongside her when not in use.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Silence falls!".
Prophet Eyes: Her irises are white.
Purple Is Powerful: Is associated with the color purple, due to being the keeper of Requiem. She's dressed in it, has a purple aura and her faction is colored purple.
Purpose-Driven Immortality: An undead wraith only staying alive by trying to contain Requiem. Emeric outright states that Elodie cannot be negotiated with because of this trope, as wraiths are merely single-minded, obsessive reflections of the people they once were.
Technicolor Magic: The wraith and the Artifact of Doom in her care are associated with the color purple. It is further implied that all forms of "cacaphonic magic" are purple in color, as the Fell Gauntlet (another, weaker relic of Cacophony) also generates purple spell effects.
Time Abyss: Elodie has been the guardian of Requiem for over four-thousand years, vastly predating Sigrid and the arrival of the Floran upon the world (both of which are a mere 900 years).
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Requiem is evil. Requiem corrupts the minds of the living. Therefore, destroy all living beings that desire Requiem. Unlike the other commanders, Elodie will outright kill anyone she defeats in Arcade Mode.

Dark Mercia

"Darkness falls."

Voiced by: Tamara Fritz (English)

An Evil Counterpart to Mercia created by Requiem, representing her embracing Requiem's power. The True Final Boss of Campaign Mode, and unlockable for use in Arcade Mode and online play afterwards.

Dark Mercia's Groove is Aura of Ruin, which drains all enemy units within 3 squares of 30% health and gives it to her. In Wargroove 2, Dark Mercia's groove can be charged twice to drain an additional 10% health from all enemy units on the map.

Always Need What You Gave Up: Dark Mercia tries to invoke this in a last ditch attempt to get Mercia to submit to Requiem's power, citing that she'll suffer a loss in the future and wish she hadn't turned down this power so she could've prevented it. Mercia, while acknowledging she may feel that way in the moment it happens, confidently rejects the offer.
Apocalypse How: Class 6. Her Wargroove arcade run sees Dark Mercia killing every single opponent who approaches her, and the ending is a Death Montage where she tracks down everyone she didn't encounter, which cut away just as she attacks them. In the end, the land is left barren and she departs to go find more lands to conquer.
Battle in the Center of the Mind: As the True Final Boss, Dark Mercia traps the real Mercia inside a recreation of Cherrystone Castle, attempting to break her will through a gauntlet of pitched battles. Dark Mercia's Arcade Mode run also culminates in a battle against Mercia, when the queen makes a final effort to rebel against Requiem's control.
Demonic Possession: Tries to do this to Mercia in the story mode, while her (and Mercival's) Arcade story is an alternate timeline where she succeeds and goes on a rampage.
Dialogue Reversal: Her line just before using her groove sometimes is a very dark inversion of Mercia's.
Mercia: None shall fall while I still stand!
Dark Mercia: All shall fall while I still stand!
Evil Counterpart:
- To Mercia, with her Groove being an offensive reflection of Mercia's as well.
- Also to Elodie, the other Requiem commander. Both are princesses of a kingdom who were ensnared by Requiem. The difference is that Dark Mercia chose to use Requiem while embracing its power, while Elodie gave up her life to contain it and only uses it to keep it from others. In the campaign their origins contrast as well, as Elodie was once an ordinary human being, while Dark Mercia is merely a mental avatar of Requiem's will who was never alive to begin with.
Flaming Hair: When she puts on her Game Face, Dark Mercia's blue locks erupt into the same Technicolor Fire as Elodie's.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Like Mercia, she also has facial scars. Unlike her good counterpart though, Dark Mercia has two that each go over an eye and make an X. Combined with her milky-white eyes, it makes her look cruel.
The Heartless: The game's Codex entry on her implies she is the embodiment of Mercia's fears and insecurities, given form by Requiem when it realized the young Queen wasn't going to be swayed by an offer of power.
Leitmotif: Unbound Fury
Life Drain: Her Groove is an area-of-effect one.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Fights with a sword-and-shield getup, using Requiem's body as a shield and the bow as a sword.
Marathon Boss: As the True Final Boss, she has an entire castle full of choke points and around five times your (limited) units, and she teleports away twice before finally being cornered at the end of the gauntlet.
Omnicidal Maniac: In her Arcade run, she makes it clear she has no interest in holding or protecting a kingdom or anything else. All she wants to do is fight and kill until nothing is left.
Painting the Medium: Like Elodie her text boxes contain wavy purple text.
Palette Swap: Uses Cherrystone units, but purple. Dark Mercia herself is a palette swap of Mercia, wearing the same clothes and armor, but with her hair and the red trimming colored purple. Ironically, her gag line in the level editor suggests that Dark Mercia takes offense at being called one.
Power Floats: Much like Elodie.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Embrace your end!".
Prophet Eyes: Like Elodie.
Psychopathic Womanchild: The fact she hates "naysayers and killjoys" seems to suggest something of a childish personality. Add in that she wants to just kill everything and you have this trope.
Purple Is Powerful: Like other characters associated with Requiem, she has a purple-based palette.
Slasher Smile: Dark Mercia generally doesn't smile, but when she does, it's definitely this.
Time Abyss: Requiem was first created over four-thousand years before the beginning of Wargroove's story. As the embodiment of Requiem's magic, Dark Mercia's age in the codex is listed as "a philosophical question."
Throat Light: Upon being defeated, she emits dense beams of light from her mouth and eyes into the air, before it goes out and she collapses.
Villainous Breakdown: Suffers one in Mercival's Wargroove Arcade ending, when the king opts for a "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight that causes Mercia to start Fighting from the Inside. Before Requiem's control is broken for good, Dark Mercia is reduced to impotently screaming at Mercival to stop talking.

Others

Harmon

The last prince of the Kingdom of Cacophany and twin brother of Elodie, now a spirit residing within the Fell Gauntlet.

Adults Are Useless: While their parents went to war, Harmon and Sordino conspired to steal Cacophony's superweapons and flee into the icy wastes, believing it would force the exhausted kingdoms to sue for peace. Thousands of years later, Harmon invokes the trope when he sees Koji, Errol and Orla chasing him, assuming that they're trying to save the day because "the adults have failed" and bemoaning how times haven't changed.
Animate Dead: Since he is the Fell Gauntlet, Harmon can summon Dreadswords like Valder normally does, on top of using Ragna's own groove.
Anti-Villain: He was a noble figure of his own time, and all he really wants is to reunite with his fiance. Unforunately, his emergance has plunged Felheim into Fallow, leading to many innocent deaths that he shows little concern for, and he's stolen Ragna's body to make the trip south.
Arc Villain: Of Wargroove 2's "Dark Skies" storyline.
Artifact of Doom: He's the spirit of the Fell Gauntlet, having apparently bonded to it after his death.
Defector from Decadence: He and his fiance, Prince Sordino, rebelled against their warring parents and stole the Fell Gauntlets, fleeing to the far south in order to hide the weapons.
Demonic Possession: Hijacks Ragna's body when she dons the Fell Gauntlet, setting the "Dark Skies" storyline into motion. Like other hosts of Cacophonic spirits, Ragna gains Prophet Eyes and Flaming Hair.
Hearing Voices: The Fell Lords before Valder were all driven to madness by Harmon's voice in their heads.
Musical Theme Naming: Prince Harmony of the Kingdom of Cacophony.
Non-Player Character: Only appears during the story mode of Wargroove 2.
Palette Swap: By way of Demonic Possession, Harmon is a version of Ragna painted purple and wreathed with Flaming Hair.
Possession Burnout: It's implied that the true reason the undead cannot wield the Fell Gauntlet is because Harmon uses it to try and hijack their bodies, only to destroy them in the attempt. Ragna, a commander created by Valder, proves resilient enough for Harmon to actually possess.
Psychological Projection: When he meets Valder and mocks him about how he treated Ragna, it becomes very clear that Harmon is projecting his own feelings about his parents onto Valder. As the fight drags on, Harmon becomes increasingly outraged and confused when Valder owns up to the criticisms and gives Ragna a genuine apology, since it doesn't line up with how Harmon percieved his own elders.
Secret A.I. Moves: Under the player's control in a Villain Shoes mission, Harmon functions identically to Ragna. As an enemy encountered a few levels later, Harmon has access to both Ragna and Valder's grooves, and can activate either of them at any time.
Shield Bash: Since he's controlling Ragna's body, he fights like she does.
Unfinished Business: Harmon's entire motivation is to fulfill a promise to reuinite with his fiance, Prince Sordino of Silmor. Everything else is aggressively dismissed. Once they do find each-other, both spirits pass on and leave the Fell Gauntlets behind for Valder to claim.

Sordino

The last prince of the Kingdom of Silmor.

Ambiguously Related: Sordino identifies Koji as "cousin", implying alongside some other lore that the imperial family of Heavensong originated as an offshoot of the royal family of Silmor.
And I Must Scream: His body is sealed within a pillar of ice, save the arm bearing the second fell gauntlet, which he uses to cast spells. When he speaks, its an incoherent mess of wingdings with occasional discernable words, suggesting that his mental state has suffered badly.
Artifact of Doom: Wields a counterpart to the Fell Gauntlet, which is said to control life the way the first controls death. The paired gauntlets were so dangerous that Sordino and Harmon stole them and fled rather than allow them to be used during the war.
Defector from Decadence: He and his fiance, Prince Harmon, rebelled against their warring parents and stole the Fell Gauntlets, fleeing to the far south in order to hide the weapons.
Non-Player Character: Appears only in the story mode of Wargroove 2.
Sealed Evil in a Can: The society of Cacophonic/Silmorian remnants living in the southern wastes view Sordino as this, since he's a deranged spectre armed with an Artifact of Doom. They go to great lengths to prevent anyone from finding him, though they unfortunately have no idea what to do once he actually wakes up.
Shielded Core Boss: Sordino can't move, but when he takes a large amount of damage he'll teleport further into the arena and become invulnerable, until the player smashes crystal growths powering the shield.

Maestra

The last queen of the Kingdom of Cacophony, and the creator of Requiem.

And I Must Scream: For her reckless creation of doomsday weapons, culminating in Requiem, Elodie trapped Maestra's spirit inside a sceptre and then locked it away inside her workshop, where she remained for the better part of four-thousand years. When Maestra relives the memory, she's quickly reduced to begging Elodie not to leave her alone.
Brainwashed and Crazy: She can dominate minds by twisting perceptions, making people relive bad memories and inner demons, and then soothing their worries in return for obedience. It fails to work on most of the cast, but Ryota and Pistil are turned into giddy, deluded minions who seem barely aware of the battle at hand — Pistil spends the fight estatic that Maestra loves her unconditionally, while Ryota regresses to childhood and thinks he's playing a game in front of his mother.
Demonic Possession: Hijacks Empress Tenri's body by betwitching her mind and preying on her insecurities, though she doesn't fight on the field as a Commander. Like other hosts of Cacophonic spirits, Tenri develops Prophet Eyes and Flaming Hair.
Final Boss: Of Wargroove 2.
I Know What You Fear: Part of her Mind Manipulation involves pulling her victim back to the lowest, most traumatizing point in their lives, and then offering comfort and reassurance to create deluded loyalty. Tenri relives the death of her parents, Pistil has her Inferiority Superiority Complex torn down to expose her fear of being seen as a disappointment^*, while Ryota regresses to childhood at a time when his family was barely surviving a terrible famine. When defeated, however, her powers seem to warp back on herself, causing her to relive the memory of her daughter Elodie sealing her away for her crimes.
Musical Assassin: Continuing the themes of Cacophony. Rather than fight as a Commander, Maestra hangs in the background and plays a gargantuan pipe organ, and the player is instead tasked with smashing three clusters of pipes. The pipes have commander statistics, summon units, have a projectile attack, and can push all unsheltered units on the field two spaces away from themselves (which is used to knock your units into a growing number of pits in the arena).
Musical Theme Naming: Queen Maestro of the Kingdom of Cacophony.
Predecessor Villain: Maestra, the Queen of Cacophony, crafted the Fell Gauntlets and later Requiem in her deterimination to conquer Silmor, which led to the destruction of both kingdoms and originated just about every bad thing that has ever happened on Aurania.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Her spirit, inside an unnamed sceptre, is locked up inside the wreckage of one of the Cacaphonic Guardians, in turn sealed inside her workshop in Cacophony's royal palace by Elodie. Greenfinger Russom later tossed her into the ocean for good measure, when she tried to dominate his mind. Unfortunately, the wrecked machine eventually washed ashore in the Saffron Isles, where it was found by the Heavensong Empire and brought to Tenri.

Units

Barracks Units

Commander (General Unit)

Achilles' Heel: Commanders have no means of attacking sea or air units. A group attack that includes a Dragon (be careful you're not on a road tile), Warship, or even a Harpy can spell defeat.
Action Girl: Mercia, Nuru and Tenri qualify as this.
Colonel Badass: All of them qualify as this. Even Caesar.
Dark Action Girl: Ragna, Sigrid and Vesper qualify as this. Along with Elodie and Dark Mercia.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Whoever the commander is, they still count as one type of unit. Vampire? Dog with arrows? Cavalry? Two twins? All the same.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Enemy commanders will generally run away from battle to try to recover once they get a dent in them. It's recommended to do the same with your commander as well.
The Heavy: No matter who you control, all of the Commanders qualify as this. Even the dog.
Hero Must Survive: All missions where you handle a Commander (or multiple) require them to survive (you could also destroy their stronghold). If there's an enemy commander, defeating them will grant an instant victory on your side, although there are a few exceptions.
Leitmotif: Each of the Commanders have their own theme.
Limit Break: All of the Commanders have a Groove they can use once it's charged up enough. It's what sets them apart from each other.
No-Sell: Even though Commanders can take damage from all units that can attack ground units, they're take little-to-no damage from Archers.

Villager

Escort Mission: One mission involves you escorting some villagers to safety after Valder invades Cherrystone.
Kryptonite Is Everywhere: They're weak ... to just about everything. The only units they're not weak against are Aeronauts, Ballistas, Swordsmen, and Dogs. And they have the same durability as a Swordsman too.
Palette Swap: Cherrystone and Heavensong villagers are similar in appearance.
Protection Mission: If they're involved, they have to survive. And enemies will love attacking them.

Soldier

Expy: Of the basic Infantry units from Advance Wars.
The Goomba: Very basic melee units that have few favorable matchups, Soldiers only really serve a purpose in capturing buildings early on, or wasting the enemy's time by blocking land movement.
Villains Out Shopping: Fellheim Dreadswords have been known for turning their attention to pursuits they valued in life - including painting, whittling or ice fishing among the desolate wastes of Felheim.
War Memorial: Every Cherrystone Swordsman's name is recorded upon the walls of the "Hall of Remembrance" deep inside Cherrystone Castle.
Zerg Rush: As the cheapest units the in the game, easy to try to make an army of Soldiers to slowly wittle down enemy health. However, they're not too useful at taking out most other units, so they make good beef shields at best.

Dog

Alien Animals: Like their Floran masters, Quagmutts are originally from space, being a type of critter from Starbound.
All Animals Are Dogs: The Faahri "Dog" units are beetles.
Attack Animal: Units of trained canines deployed as a military asset.
Full-Boar Action: Pirate Battleboars.
Expy: Of Recons from Advance Wars.
Nerf: Their sight radius was reduced from 4 to 3 in the Expansion update, making them equal to Commanders and several other units.
Precious Puppy: Because everything's cuter with dogs, isn't it?
Raising the Steaks: Dreadhounds are undead dogs, first created when a previous overlord of Felheim experimented with this trope. The zombie hounds were among his few creations deemed practical, as fossilized mammoths collapsed under their own weight, while sea creatures like sharks were incapable of swimming.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As dogs get damaged, they run away instead of dying. These are the only units that do so.
Stock Animal Diet: Bones, naturally. This is frequently used as a source of humor regarding Felheim's skeletal troops.
Super-Senses: In Fog of War, dogs can see really well. Place them on a mountain and you'll be able to see enemies that are even hiding under trees.
Zerg Rush: These units work well in a pack. They get a Critical Hit if you attack a target that has another allied dog next to it.

Spearman

Anti-Cavalry: A cheap counter to the Cavalry units.
Boring, but Practical: They move slowly, but their relative low cost and greater strength than the common Soldier means that the player is very likely to use spearmen as frontline troops once they build up a decent income.
Expy: Of the Mechs from Advance Wars, foot soldiers with heavier armor-piercing weapons but less movement range.
Nerf: Spearmen were initially 150 coins, meaning it was easy to spam them on maps despite them having low movement. They could also counter against almost every other unit as well. In the Expansion update, their price raised to 250, meaning they were harder to spam during initial rushes.
A Thicket of Spears: These spear-armed troops are a more robust upgrade over common Soldiers, with a greater number of favorable matchups (especially against Cavalry), and an easy-to-use critical hit based on standing in tight-knit formations together. However, they move more slowly than most units, making them vulnerable to ranged attacks and unable to reposition quickly.
Zerg Rush: At a rather cheap price of 250 (used to be 150) gold, it can be somewhat easy to spam them. It's even encouraged to group them next to each other so they can score a critical hit.

Wagon

Artificial Stupidity: For some reason, the enemy will prioritize in attacking wagons compared to other units (except Commanders of course). Additionally, they'll never really use them in combat, and even when they somehow have them, they'll just leave them there.
Awesome Personnel Carrier: Remember the APC units in Advance Wars? These wagons fill these roles for the transport units. They also have the highest movement ranges of all units.
Defenseless Transports: They have no means of attacking or defending at all.
Escort Mission: In the Campaign, there are two missions where they can be useful in escorting particular units into safety with their very large move range.
Expy: Of the Advance Wars APC, except it can carry more than just infantry. The only thing it is missing is the refueling, which is a mechanic Wargroove does not have.

Archer

Body Horror: Fellheim Dreadbows lorewise generate bows by using their ribs.
Expy: A kind of amalgamation of the Advance Wars Artillery unit, as the simplest indirect attacker with the same range, and the Anti-Tank from DoR, with its vulnerability to foot soldiers, and being able to both fire on adjacent units and counterattack.
Glass Cannon: They'll fall by almost any close-range attack.

Mage

Anti-Air: These guys can kill Aeronauts in one hit provided they're in full health or at least close to it.
Church Militant: Outlaw Priests. One was asked to cast the Storm's Dagger against Heavensong pilots, but he initially refused to since priests are meant for healing. As the days went on however, he eventually agreed, considering it as an act of surgery for removing the oppression "infecting" the Saffron Isles.
Combat Medic: They can heal units for 300 coins for 20% of their health, on top of being strong units themselves. In Wargroove 2's Conquest Mode, a Roguelike where healing is scarce, this makes mages invaluable for keeping your forces healthy.
- In fact, Conquest Mode makes the healing only cost 150 coins. This makes them one of the most important units, as most maps in Conquest Mode don't have recruitment structures, which means you'll be using their heals as much as possible in a lot of cases.
  - Goes from simply a powerful option to almost Game-Breaker levels if you get the Compassion Power-Up that halves their heal cost again down to a measly 75 coins.
Expy: Of the Anti-Air unit from Advance Wars. They will mutilate infantry and air units on the attack, but are vulnerable to first strikes, missile fire, and heavier ground units.
Glass Cannon: They have good matchups against common units like Swordsmen, Spearmen, and Dogs, and can swat air units out of the sky, but they're rather fragile when faced up against the likes of Cavalry and Archers.
Necromancer: Fellheim Warlocks have been regarded as Necromancers and lore-wise have helped awaken units such as Revenants.
Shock and Awe: They attack by calling down bolts of lightning. Heavensong Mages are explicitly called Thunderbears.

Cavalry

Achilles' Heel: They do not do well against Spearmen, and a group of them will easily take a Cavalry unit out.
Death or Glory Attack: A Cavalry's Critical Hit is activated if they attack from their maximum movement range, but this can leave them open to enemies if they're not careful.
Expy: Of Tanks/Light Tanks from Advance Wars, combining high mobility with the ability to defeat almost every other ground unit (except the Spearman and Giant) in melee combat.
Hellish Horse: Felheim Cavalry rides nightmares.
Horse of a Different Color: Floran Cavalry ride Fluffalo, another monster from Starbound. In Wargroove 2, Faahri cavalry ride giant cats, while the redesigned Outlaw Clans cavalry ride donkeys.
Mounted Combat: The horseback units of the game. They have a pretty high movement range too.

Ballista

Anti-Air: Their chief purpose is to be an anti-air weapon, sitting in one spot and swatting tresspassing flying units out of the sky.
Expy: Of the Missile Launchers from Advance Wars - except they can attack any target. They are still far deadlier to air units.
Glass Cannon: They'll fall easily if they're not defended well.
Siege Engines: They can attack from long ranges, but their usefulness shines on flying combatants.

Trebuchet

Expy: Of the Rocket Launchers from Advance Wars.
Glass Cannon: If your Trebuchet is unprotected, prepare to have it destroyed. They're rather poor in the defense department and have no ability to counter-attack.
Improbable Weapon User: According to the lore, Heavensong Trebuchets have been known to use strange projectiles at times - in one instance, even cabbages.
Punny Name: Every other faction calls them Trebuchet ... except for the Florans. They call them Treebuchets.
Nerf: Before the Expansion update, they costed 900 coins to spawn. They weren't cheap, but they were also not too expensive - compared to other higher tier units. The cost was increased to 1,000 coins, making them a little harder to spam than before.
Siege Engines: Very useful in destroying enemy properties from a long range.
Tree Buchet: The Floran ones are named this word for word. And yes, according to the lore, it's an actual tree too.

Giant

Achilles' Heel: As useful as they are against ground units, they have no air counters, meaning one without air support can easily be destroyed by Dragons or even sustained fire from Aeronauts.
Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Gloom Giants are regarded as forbidden to attack another Floran with. Sedge being willing to use them on Greenfinger demonstrates his lack of scruples.
Awesome, but Impractical: Their Critical Hit requires them to be at 40% or less health. This can be quite dangerous as at that state, other units can easily destroy them.
Critical Existence Failure: Due to how the number add up, their "critical hit" kicking in at 40% health boosts their damage back up to what it was at full health. So a giant at any level of HP is going to be hitting like a truck until it's wiped out completely.
The Dreaded: Giants are regarded as a serious threat in-universe, and their first appearance in each game's story is usually treated with fear by the characters.
Expy: Serves as the answer for the Medium Tanks from Advance Wars. They're much harder to kill compared to other units.
Giant Mook: The largest units in the game, and among the hardest-hitting. The only land units they can't crush effortlessly are other Giants.
Mecha-Mooks: In Wargroove 2, the Faahri giant is a robot with drill arms.
Motion-Capture Mecha: The Heavensong giant, called the Oni, is one of their battle-puppets — an operator sits atop the machine and yanks puppeteer strings to make it move.
This Is a Drill: The Faahri Harvester in Wargroove 2 is equipped with drill arms, and according to flavor text is based on repurposed mining equipment.
Treants: The plant-hybrid people known as the Florans have Gloom Giants. Like the game's other giants, they have enough strength to significantly harm most foot-soldiers without themselves taking much damage.

Tower Units

Balloon

Artificial Stupidity: The enemy will never really utilize any use for Balloons, meaning you don't have to worry about a sudden infantry drop or anything. This makes "Salty Sea Dog" slightly less agonizing due to the fact you only have to worry about air and sea units coming into your main island.
Awesome Personnel Carrier: They can bring ground units from above.
Anachronism Stew: Of all of the units in the game, the Hot Air Balloons are the only ones that seem out of place - being made long after the Medieval era.
Buffy Speak: The Balloon is just called "Floaty Thing" by the Florans.
Defenseless Transports: They have no means of attacking or defending at all.
Expy: Of the Transport Copters from Advance Wars. However, they can carry other units - not just strictly Infantry (mainly because there are more kinds of "foot soldiers").
Stink Bomb: Lorewise, the fuel for a Fellheim balloon ... is dragon poop. It is said if one were to explode it would destroy all nearby plant life with its foul smell.

Aeronaut

Airborne Mook: The basic flying fighters of all of the forces.
Expy: Of the Battle Helicopters - except they can attack all Air units.
Feral Vampires: Lesser vampires are described as isolated beings that nest in trees.
Harping on About Harpies: Cherrystone Harpies are actually goodhearted creatures. They'll even aid miners and voluntarily join the battles of their adopted homeland. And if Outlaw Sirens are of the same race as they, they apparently speak through Teepathy.
Jet Pack: Faahri Flight Engineers use these
Our Vampires Are Different: The Fellheim equivalent are vampires - and they're generally associated with Sigrid.
Tengu: The Heavensong equivalent are these.

Sky Rider

Achilles' Heel: They cannot reliably attack ground units - meaning Harpoon Ships, Ballistas, and even their Ground counterparts will make quick work of them if they're not backed up properly.
Airborne Mook: The flying versions of the Mages - except instead of Healing, they can harass enemies with Hex.
Animal Motifs: Heavensong Stormowls wear masks of owls as a mark of its balance of all things.
Anti-Air: Like their ground counterparts, these wizards serve as hard counters for all air units.
Area of Effect: Sky Riders can use an Area of Effect spell, Hex, to damage any unit within a 4-tile radius surrounding them. This can be useful as a means of harassment against units that can't counter them by themselves, including Golems and even enemy commanders.
Body Horror: The Fellheim Wraiths are born from the undead remnants of a Necromancer. Their body is literally burning and are fueled by spite.
Expy: Of the Fighters from Advance Wars. They also have an Area of Effect spell that lets them attack ground and sea units too - which is a non-suicidal and much weaker (they only deal 10% damage) version of the Black Bomb's explosion from Dual Strike.
Flying Broomstick: All Sky Riders fly on these. Well, in a strict sense, only Cherrystone Witches. Felheim Wraiths either only use staffs or their broomsticks just don't have bristles anymore, Floran Swoopers' "broomsticks" apparently have flower buds in place of the bristles, Heavensong Stormowls use special flying staves designed by Koji with rotors in place of bristles, Outlaw Muses outright use oars, and Faahri Hexologists used to have these before Pistil invented crystal-powered variants that spew energy from the back.
Shock and Awe: Like their ground counterparts, they use lightning elements as part of their attacks.

Dragon

Achilles' Heel: They have no defense against airborne units - including Aeronauts and Sky Riders. The latter can instantly kill a Dragon with ease. They're also very vulnerable to Ballistas, Harpoon Ships and Mages, which specialize in Anti-Air.
Death from Above: These beasts breathe fire from above and can cause massive damage to any Ground unit that's on road.
Expy: Their function pretty much the same as the Bombers from Advance Wars.
Gentle Giant: Cherrystone Emberwings and Fellheim Fellbats are considered to be gentle lorewise and actually aren't aware of their destructive potential.
Mecha-Mooks: The Heavensong Ryuus are actually mechanized and emulate the bone structure of a real dragon.
Our Dragons Are Different: These dragons are very devastating units that will unleash destruction among Ground units. While Emberwings look like standard dragons, Fellbats are giant bats, Bloom Dragons are Planimal versions, Ryuu are mechanized variants, Pirate Skychildren have chameleon-like heads, and Stygiformes are basically giant owls.
Playing with Fire: Their primary element of attack is fire! The Cherrystone ones are even called Emberwings.
The Power of the Sun: Floran Bloom Dragons have been trained to harness their energy from the sun itself ... and breathe that energy out at their targets.

Air Trooper

Acrophobic Bird: Rather than stay airborne like other tower units, Air Troopers are actually land units that can move like flying units — they can cross chasms and oceans, but must end their turn on solid ground, and can be attacked by land units in melee as a result.
Horse of a Different Color: Warriors riding flamingo-like creatures.

Harbor Units

Barge

Artificial Stupidity: The enemy never utilizes transport units (even if they're somewhat in the map), and these are included.
Defenseless Transports: Like the Balloon and Wagon, they cannot attack.
Expy: Their function is identical to the Landers from Advance Wars.

Amphibian

The Alliance: Lorewise, Deepfolk have an uneasy alliance with Felheim, while Merfolk are allies of Cherrystone.
Graceful in Their Element: Amphibians deal critical hits when in a water tile and can move quite far. However, on land their mobility slows to a crawl.
Javelin Thrower: They throw harpoons as a short-ranged attack, allowing them to target land units and structures from a safe distance.
Frog Men: The Merfolk and Deepfolk are two separate races of this trope.
Trapped in Villainy: The Deepfolk are stuck as Felheim's naval allies due to Valder gifting their civilization with undead turtle constructs, revolutionizing their industries. Unfortunately, the deepfolk soon learned that Valder can instantly destroy them all whenever he wishes, which would cripple the deepfolk's infrastructure if they ever turned against him.
The Unintelligible: Cherrystone Merfolk, Felheim Deepfolk, and Outlaw Buccaneers only speak in frog-like ribbiting. Kappa zig-zag this trope, as they can speak perfectly fine through their diving helmets... except for one whose helmet happens to be damaged, resulting in muffled grunting. Faahri Aquanauts and Floran Splashers avert this entirely, as they're not separate races from the armies they serve.
Codex: Though (the Merfolk's) language is unknown to all but Cherrystone's most learned, one can assume from their 'plip' noises and froggy, toothless smiles that they're rather happy fellows indeed.

Turtle

Achilles' Heel: They have no way of countering air units and can only attack sea units. Harpoon Ships can also make quick work of them as well.
Crippling Over Specialization: Turtles are effectively the sea equivalent of Sky Riders, being far-moving interceptors that can be used to easily dominate over the sea. However, they can only do that — they can't even capture or damage buildings.
Expy: Of the Advance Wars submarine, keeping the same Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors by hard-countering Warships while being themselves countered by Harpoon Ships. In return for being unable to dive, they have a greatly improved movement range.
Making a Splash: Turtles splash a wave to attack opposing sea units with.
Mecha-Mooks: Heavensong Cogshells. This appears to apply to Faahri Chelonians with the visible screwheads on the shells, but its lore entry implies it's actually artificial armor made from shed carapaces of Pincer Entoma (Faahri "Dog" units) since their natural shells are softer than others.
Raising the Steaks: Valder created the Bone Turtles using the power of the Fel Gauntlet, revolutionizing deepfolk society with their tireless efficiency compared to living turtles — though he reserves the right to dispel them at any time, effectively keeping the deepfolk Trapped in Villainy.

Harpoon Ship

Crippling Overspecialization: A great counter against air units and turtles, but only serve that purpose. Their movement range is also very poor - they have the same movement range as a Soldier (4) - compared to other sea units which are 5 (Amphibian), 8 (Warship), and 12 (Turtle). This is remedied in the second game, where they have 6 move now, at the cost of having 1 less range.
Anti-Air: None of the other sea units can attack air units. These ships can - and unlike Ballistas, they can move and attack.
Expy: Of Advance Wars Cruisers, countering Turtles (submarines) and air units while being themselves countered by Warships (until the second game). They are a ranged unit as opposed to a melee-only one, however, and cannot carry Aeronauts.
Harpoon Gun: They can move and engage in ranged combat in the same turn.
Stone Wall: They have the lowest movement of any of the sea units, and their Critical Hit only activates in reefs, slowing them down even further. However, they do an excellent job at defending other sea units from aggressive turtles and air units.

Warship

Achilles' Heel: Turtles are the hard counters to warships. Warships are also quite slow-moving, which makes them easy to chase down.
Crippling Overspecialization: In the second game, they can only target land units and structures, losing the ability to attack naval units.
Down in the Dumps: Floran Warships are constructed from remains of sunken warships alongside plants and vines.
Expy: Their function is identical to the Battleships from Advance Wars.
Siege Engines: The water version of the Trebuchet - and they can attack any Ground or Sea unit. In fact, if they're on the beach, they can do a critical hit.

Frog

Forced Transformation: The frogfolk race came into being many generations ago, when the Kingdom of Cherrystone hit upon the idea of allowing criminals to accept ten years of "hard froggitude" in lieu of a more severe punishment. Unfortunately, "ten years and hundreds of frogs later," Cherrystone's mages weren't able to figure out how to turn the frogs back to normal, leading the practice to be banned.
Mecha-Mooks: The Faahri Pullbot is another of Pistil's robotic creations, designed after a chance encounter with a clan of frogfolk looking for a cure to their transformation. The Heavensong Kerobotto is also a machine, devised to replace frogfolk laborers within the Empire in response to a workers' strike.
Prehensile Tongue: Frogs can extend their tongues to yank a single unit one tile towards themselves, which can be used to drop land units into pits or set up decisive attacks from allies.
Raising the Steaks: The Fellfrogs are undead frogs, originally another frogfolk clan that sought the dubious aid of Felheim Necromancers to reverse their curse.

Riverboat

Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Sedge desired to build riverboats for the floran after witnessing Heavensong's "ryuu-boats" in action, but Greenfinger Zawan shot the idea down, believing that a Fire-Breathing Weapon would be far too dangerous for florans to operate safely. Naturally, when Sedge rebelled, his Renegade Splinter Faction ignored Zawan's decree and started building riverboat prototypes, which the mainstream Floran Tribes recovered from the rebel camp after Sedge's downfall.
Fire-Breathing Weapon: Riverboats are armed with a flame-spewing prow decoration, dealing especially high damage to structures.
Organic Technology: Floran riverboats use the same solar-energy-absorbing seeds that allow Bloom Dragons to breathe fire. It's mentioned in the codex that Sedge's early prototypes subverted the trope by instead using whale oil as a crude incendiary, since the rebels obviously couldn't acquire the necessary enchanted seeds from Greenfinger.
Turn Coat: Rather than being operated by the usual Amphibian units, Outlaw boats have Kappas who turned against Heavensong in light of what's happening in the Saffron Isles.

Kraken

Combat Tentacles: Kraken attack with their tentacles, striking ground or water targets up to three spaces away.
Kraken and Leviathan: An assortment of giant octopi and squid. Cherrystone's is even outright called
Mecha-Mooks: The Faahri Kephalos is another of Pistil's robots. Apparently, the giant cats the Faahri use as mounts kept breaking ranks to attack living giant octopi the Faahri were attempting to train, and Pistil was tasked with finding a solution. Heavensong Korokamu are the same, made after Heavensong restaurant barons gave a fit over military using living Korokamu, so Engineer Mari eventually developed a mechanical version used in the game.
Tentacle Rope: They can do this instead of attacking, holding their victim in place for one turn. However, other units can attack the outstretched tentacle to deal damage to the kraken.
Raising the Steaks: The Felheim Kraken are undead creatures reanimated as naval weapons.

Hideout Units

Rifleman

Achilles' Heel: They can't move and shoot on the same turn, or aim diagonally, making them easy to flank on their own. And the fact they cannot shoot units that are in forest tiles makes them largely useless if the map is heavily forested.
Glass Cannon: They can kill infantry units with relative ease, but leave them open, and they'll fall down and fast.
Hat of Authority: Or hat of prestigious ranking, at least. Faahri Snipers not only have these, it (or rather, their becoming Snipers) makes them feel overly self-important despite their impracticality of being easily spotted, and they even brag to each other about their hats' sized.
Long-Range Fighter: They have an astounding nine tiles of range, but low movement and can't shoot diagonally.
Necessary Drawback: Their attack is limited to the four cardinal directions, leaving them open to being flanked. Fair enough, considering the amount of area denial they project.
No-Sell: Rifle bullets deal devastating damage to soft targets from long range. However, they do next to nothing to hardened structures, and the primitive ballistics are completely defeated by targets hiding in woods.
One Bullet Left: A desirable position, since their last bullet triggers their Critical Hit. In the first game, at least.
Organic Technology: Unlike the other riflemen types, Floran Gunners use flowers in place of actual black-powder guns. This is another allusion to Starbound, where floran make extensive use of cultivated plants that mimic the functions of modern weaponry (courtesy of the greenfingers). The flower rifle even uses the same projectile sound effect as a Starbound thorn gun.
Pirate Parrot: Pirate Musketeers each have these on their shoulders. Apparently, they also serve as spotters while the Musketeers themselves are apparently blindfolded.

Thief

Awesome, but Impractical: They can ransack the enemy Stronghold for a whopping 1,000 gold. Of course, if you can get a thief in and out of the enemy base, you're probably winning enough to not need it, though it can help if you're up against multiple opponents.
Fragile Speedster: An unarmed utility unit. They will get destroyed by almost anything though.
Necessary Drawback: After ransacking a building, they have to return to an allied structure with slower movement to drop off the loot, requiring Wagons as a getaway vehicle. Logical enough, and it stops a single thief crippling the entire enemy economy.
One-Hit Kill: Ransacking a structure instantly neutralizes it without retaliation.
Support Party Member: Thieves cannot attack - or interact with other mobile units in any way, for that matter. They exist to quickly and painlessly neutralize enemy buildings.

Special Units

Guardian

Giant Enemy Crab: Loosely designed like a crab, using their claws to brace against the recoil of their weaponry.
Mecha-Mooks: They were this for the Kingdom of Cacophony back in the day, and can be repurposed by any player who reactivates them. Prince Harmon is dismissive of them, however, since they weren't powerful enough to end the war on their own.
Mighty Glacier: They hit exceptionally hard, but after every attack they fall into a hibernative state where they can't move or counter-attack.
Vehicular Turnabout: Dormant guardians can be captured by any unit to reactivate them under that player's control. Upon being defeated, they return to dormancy until captured again, meaning guardians can change hands multiple times during a match.

Characters / Wargroove

Cherrystone Kingdom

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Others

Felheim Legion

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Others

Floran Tribes

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Heavensong Empire

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Outlaw Clans

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Others

Faahri Republic

Commanders

Others

Guardians of Requiem (unmarked spoilers ahead)

Commanders

Others

Units

Barracks Units

Tower Units

Harbor Units

Hideout Units

Special Units

Alternative Title(s): Wargroove 2

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Index

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Characters / Wargroove

Edit Locked

Cherrystone Kingdom

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Others

Felheim Legion

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Others

Floran Tribes

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Heavensong Empire

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Outlaw Clans

Commanders

Mini-Commanders

Others

Faahri Republic

Commanders

Others

Guardians of Requiem (unmarked spoilers ahead)

Commanders

Others

Units

Barracks Units

Tower Units

Harbor Units

Hideout Units

Special Units

Alternative Title(s): Wargroove 2

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Index

Next