History Characters / ShiningForce

* TheDragon: He's [[spoiler:unwillingly]] second in command to Darksol.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:After you defeat him and break his mask in Dragonia]].

* MeaningfulName: Due to a translation mishap, his name was written as "Cain" in the GBA remake, but once you read the story behind him in that game, it'll make sense. For more info, see CainAndAbel above.

* TheManBehindTheMan: He's brainwashed [[spoiler:King Ramladu and Kane]] in order to take control of Runefaust and use them for his own agenda.

* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: Resented [[spoiler:the Ancients for being assigned as the Dark Dragon's "brain", and decided to awaken it to get his revenge]].

%%* DraconicAbomination

* GreaterScopeVillain: Darksol's main motivation is to bring him back into this world.

* BeardOfEvil: Had a beard and his kingdom was responsible for all the evil things that occurred in the game. [[spoiler: But (surprise!) it turns out he was only BrainwashedAndCrazy thanks to Darksol's magic and manipulations.]]

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Unlike Ramladu or Kane, he's not been brainwashed. He's simply loyal to his country. He does implore Max and the Shining Force to defeat Darksol after he's beaten.

* SuddenlyVoiced: He suddenly speaks at the final battle of the original game. This is downplayed in the remake as he speaks in that game.

* DecorativeWeapon: His art shows Zuika with a katana, but in-game he fights bare-handed.

* TheArcher: His class. It gives him good range, especially once he gets some of the higher level equipment.

* TheArcher: Like Hans, this is her character class.

* ShockAndAwe: As mentioned before, if you promote him, his attack animation has him breathe ''lightning bolts/pillars of light''.

* TookALevelInBadass: The most triumphant example in the game. Bleu goes from a cowardly dragon shivering in fear to a decent fighter and [[spoiler: if the player chooses to grind him, easily the most overpowered character after Zylo]].

* {{Samurai}}: His character class.

* FantasticFoxes: She is a foxling.
* GlassCannon: Levelling her up enough allows her access to powerful Bolt spells, which have a ''very'' wide area of effect, causing widespread damage, meaning that she can level up very quickly once even Bolt level 2 is learned.

* CrutchCharacter: He's useful as an early game healer but due to only having single-target healing, is quickly outclassed by other healers. Krhis in particularly is a likely candidate to replace him as she joins the party at the end of Chapter 1 and has access to Aura for healing multiple targets in addition to Lowe's other useful spells.

* TheMentor: Succeeds Nova in this department in ''[[VideoGame/ShiningForceGaidenGames Shining Force CD]]''.
* StatusBuff: Learns Quick 1 and Quick 2.
* TheVicar: What he becomes after you promote him.

* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Like every other knight in the game.

* FragileSpeedster: Tao will often end up the fastest character on the Force.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: If you don't retreat from your first fight with Runefaust and go to the little cabin located on the right side of the map, Gong will turn into this.

* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Averted; he's a member of the Shining Force, and he's wearing a helmet that's full of notches, implying a long life of fighting and war.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: If you don't talk to him again after Guardiana is invaded. Averted in the remake, where he's recruitable even if you miss him the first time.

* TheVicar: What she becomes after you promote her.

* TheHighQueen: Of Guardiana in ''[[VideoGame/ShiningForceGaidenGames Shining Force CD]]''.

* AnIcePerson: His Freeze spell.
* KillItWithFire: Courtesy of the Blaze spell.

* ShockAndAwe: His Bolt spells ("Spark" in ''[[VideoGame/ShiningForceGaidenGames Shining Force CD]]'').

* StrongFamilyResemblance: To Tao (See AllThereInTheManual).
* UnorthodoxHolstering: According to the Shining wiki, she feels the wearing a quiver on her back is banal and about to go out of fashion, so she wears it at her hip instead.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Specifically, the typical "feral" behavior associated with werewolves was the result of being poisoned by Runefaust soldiers, which caused Zylo to go mad and attack everyone in sight. After Max helps cure him, he joins out of gratitude. AAnd technically, he's more of a BeastMan and doesn't actually have a human form.

* IntelligentGerbil: Yep.

* NoSenseOfDirection: How he ended up in Rudo (see AllThereInTheManual).

* MagikarpPower: An unfortunate example, since he's the second-to-last character that joins the Force.

* GlassCannon: Has impressive range and damage, but one solid hit is enough to kill him.

A retired knight and inventor the Force meet in Bustoke. His starting class is Wing Knight, and his promoted class is Sky Lord.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Specifically, the typical "feral" behavior associated with werewolves was the result of being poisoned by Runefaust soldiers, which caused Zylo to go mad and attack everyone in sight. After Max helps cure him, he joins out of gratitude.

* SayMyName: Calls Max's name at the end of the game when he is believed to have died defeating Dark Dragon and the Castle of the Ancients sinks afterwards.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: In ''Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict'', [[HistoryRepeats just like his brother Kane,]] he is placed under Mishaela's control with a mind-controlling mask. He even lampshades that he was afflicted with the same curse that plagued his brother.

* FireIceLightning: He can shoot walls of fire with the Chaos Breaker, can cast Freeze 3 as much as he wants with the same weapon, and has access to Bolt 1-3 in ''Gaiden: Final Conflict''.

* TheMentor: Succeeds Nova in this department in ''Shining Force CD''.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: According to the [[AllThereInTheManual Shining Force I manual]], he had a PrecociousCrush on Mae, who is five years older, but she sees him more as a little brother than a potential mate. However, in ''Shining Force Gaiden'', he possibly managed to successfully woo Mae and have a son named "Apis".

* FantasyForbiddingFather: In ''Shining Force Gaiden'', he is greatly uncomfortable with letting his son Apis become a member of the Shining Force, seeing it as too dangerous. He gets over it, eventually.

* JustFriends: Mae sees Ken as a little brother. Unconfirmed if this changes by the time Shining Force CD comes around.

* MeaningfulName: In Scottish, Ken means "handsome". He's grown to become very attractive in ''Shining Force CD'' compared to his first appearance, and even has a son, Apis, with Mae, another ''Shining Force I'' character whom he had a crush on.

* WideEyedIdealist: He is eager to prove himself in battle as a knight. He becomes OlderAndWiser in ''Shining Force CD'', where he is the military leader of Guardiana's army and a bodyguard to Queen Anri.

* EyesAlwaysShut: Depicted as this in-game and in concept artwork. Even in ''Shining Force CD'', his eyes are always shut.

* OperatorIncompatibility: {{Implied|Trope}}; Gong is first seen chopping wood with an axe, but when he joins the Force, he leaves behind his axe and fights excusively [[BareFistedMonk bare-handed]]. Supplementary materials state that Gong is a half-giant, indicating his hands might be too big to use axes in combat as effectively as [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarves]]; thus, he would only use them for tasks where they are specifically required (i.e. splitting wood).

* BornUnlucky: In the games she appeared in, she had her father killed and hometown Guardiana attacked and razed by Runefaust soldiers, (fake) kidnapped by an exiled prince and his bodyguard, kidnapped (for real) by an old woman who thought said prince was not worthy of his father's throne, and magically cast into a coma by Woldol. Apis [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this trope in Book 3 of ''Shining Force CD'':

* ConvenientComa: Falls into one as the result of a spell cast by Woldol in ''Shining Force CD''.

* TheHighQueen: Of Guardiana in ''Shining Force CD''.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Became this in ''Shining Force CD''; while not a terrible ruler, she accepted an audience with the evil Woldol (who cast her into a ConvenientComa), and allowed herself to be kidnapped by a [[FallenPrincess Fallen Prince]] and his bodyguard not knowing it was fake.

* LadyOfBlackMagic: She is the princess of Guardiana and daughter of its (deceased) former king who strives to become a leader for her people. Naturally, she can cast offensive spells - namely [[AnIcePerson Freeze]] and [[ShockAndAwe Bolt]]. When promoted, her light blue robes become black.

A centaur knight living among the mages as a laundryman in Manarina. He can be recruited by talking to him twice - when you first meet him while he's washing the laundry, and after you retrieve the Orb of Light. His starting class is Knight, and his promoted class is Paladin.

* MagicKnight: Justified. He lived in the magic school of Manarina for a while and presumably learned how to cast spells in the meantime, something other knights cannot do. He even retains said spells well into ''Shining Force CD''.

* RetiredBadass: If you talk to him before you fight Dark Dragon at the end of the game (that is, if you decide to keep him in your party), he reveals his plans to retire from fighting once it's all over. In ''Shining Force III'', he becomes a simple laundryman once again, though it becomes TenMinuteRetirement if you recruit him into Medion's party.
* ShockAndAwe: His Bolt spells ("Spark" in ''Shining Force CD'').
* TookALevelInBadass: When you recruit him in Manarina, he starts off pretty weak, with a tendency to get killed off first due to low HP. But once sufficiently leveled up (and promoted to Paladin at level 20), he quickly gains stats and MP (magic points), and learns spells no other Knight has. This becomes apparent in ''Shining Force III'', where the spells he gains in the first game are more powerful than ever before, with them becoming ''level 3''.

* TakenForGranite: He was turned into stone by Darksol when the Force first meets him, to prevent him from revealing [[spoiler: Shade Abbey was actually a death trap set for Max, with all its inhabitants killed and turned to undead soldiers]].

* HighlyVisibleNinja: Maintains the standard ninja appearance, but averts it when you first meet him. [[spoiler: He's disguised as a bush with a very conspicuous flower on it.]]

* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: Is the Cain (translation issues withstanding) to Max's Abel. The remake also wrote them as brothers who were descendants of the Ancients, but along the way Max lost his memory, while Kane was captured and brainwashed by Darksol]].

* TheDragon: He's [[spoiler: unwillingly]] second in command to Darksol.

* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Has white hair, and he worked for Runefaust, being responsible for killing Varios (Mae's father and Max's mentor) and the king of Guardiana (Anri's father). [[spoiler:However, it's later subverted once you defeat him in Dragonia - it's revealed that he was controlled all along by Darksol through the mask he wore. Once he realizes this, he swears revenge.]]

* TheCorrupter: [[spoiler:He influenced King Ramladu into evil, transforming the once good kingdom of Protectora into Runefaust.]] He also brainwashed [[spoiler: Kane]] into doing his dirty work for him. He made almost every NPC you meet screw you over under the threat of being destroyed if they rebel against Runefaust's forces. He is undeniably the biggest douchebag in the entire game.

* UnholyMatrimony: In ''Shining in the Darkness'', the game's BigBad, Mephisto, is the son of Darksol and Mishaela.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Dark Dragon had been defeated in the past and angrily vows he'll return in 1000 years.
* SealedEvilInACan: He's been sealed away for the last 1000 years and Darksol's attempt to unseal him forms the main plot. [[spoiler: This is his final fate after the Shining Force defeats him. Turns out the reason he was sealed he was sealed in the first place is because he couldn't be killed. The Shining Force can't kill him either so they seal him back up.]]

* UnholyMatrimony: In ''Shining in the Darkness'', she is the lover of Darksol, which resulted in that game's BigBad Mephisto (whose name is mistranslated as "Dark Sol" in most English versions).

* SpannerInTheWorks: If Boken didn't wander into Prompt's castle and free Max after the latter was arrested under suspicions of being a Runefaust spy [[spoiler:(actually, to deal with Dark Dragon if it ever awkaens)]], then Max wouldn't be able to save Torasu and Alef, and Darksol would've resurrected Dark Dragon much earlier.

* EvilCounterpart: Turns out to be this for [[spoiler:Max and Kane, as he is also from the past put into stasis for a mission in the future. However, his mission was to ''awaken'' Dark Dragon]].

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: He's an evil dragon who does evil, and that is about all there is to him since he's only screen time is showing up to act as the FinalBoss.

* ShockAndAwe: As mentioned before, if you promote him, his attack animation has him breathe ''lightning bolts''.

* TailSlap: How he fights enemies before promotion.

* SpannerInTheWorks: If Boken didn't wander into Prompt's castle and free Max after the latter was arrested under suspicions of being a Runefaust spy, then Max wouldn't be able to save Torasu and Alef, and Darksol would've resurrected Dark Dragon much early.

* PeekABangs: Both in her original appearance, and as the queen of Guardiana in ''Shining Force CD''

* PeekABangs: In the original game, his hair covered his left eye. In the GBA remake, his hair covered his right.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: If you don't talk to him again after Guardiana is invaded. Averted in the remake, where he's recruitable.

* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Averted; he's a member of the Shining Force, and he's wearing a helmet that's full of notches, implying a long life of fighting and war

* PermanentlyMissableContent: If you don't talk to him again after Guardiana is invaded.

* DarkChick: The sole female of the villains.

* OverprotectiveDad: In ''Shining Force Gaiden'', he is greatly uncomfortable with letting his son Apis become a member of the Shining Force, seeing it as too dangerous. He gets over it, eventually.