Characters / Breath of Fire II

Playable Characters

Ryu

Ryu Bateson

• Action Hero: The primary job his employer gives him after clearing Bow's name is "Go whup that giant demon way over there." His primary personal goal "whup that misguided religion and its evil patron" penultimately concludes with an explosive Roaring Rampage of Revenge straight out of the movies. Even a number of his animations in battle look like they were drawn in an action comic.
• Blessed with Suck: Rand says he feels this way about Ryu and his clan, whose significant powers mean that fate will always weigh heavily upon them.
• Can't Drop the Hero: He can't be removed from the party.
• Chick Magnet: Katt, Nina, Bleu, the three harpy bosses, and Nimufu all comment on/fawn over him.
• The Chosen One: He is the Fated Child. Barubary says as much in the Prologue.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Has a few healing spells to differentiate himself from Ryu 1. Also, whereas the previous Ryu was made aware of his dragonic heritage at the outset of his journey, Bateson’s isn’t implied until several hours in, and isn’t outright confirmed until late in the game.
• Despair Event Horizon: Seeing hopelessly how Deathevan kills all his friends. Followed by a mandatory Unstoppable Rage.
• Elemental Powers: Same arrangement as his predecessor. ^note Though thanks to a oversight, the three Dragon forms are actually Non-Elemental.
  • An Ice Person: Ice Puppy and Ice Dragon.
  • Playing with Fire: Fire Puppy and Fire Dragon.
  • Shock and Awe: Thunder Puppy and Thunder Dragon.
  • Non-Elemental: Kaiser/G.Dgn.
• Fate Worse than Death: Averted as it doesn't stick but this seems to be what Deathevan tried to do to Ryu at the beginning of their confrontation.
• Gladiator Subquest: Early on when he enters the coliseum and battles Katt.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Father's human, mother's dragon. As a result, his dragon transformations only last long enough to fire one breath attack, as he cannot maintain that form except when he transforms irreversibly to seal the gate of Infinity in the bittersweet ending.
• Heroic Build: Contrasting with his predecessor's fairly standard Bisheon design, he's quite muscular.
• Heroic Mime: He does, however, speak in the flashback where you're playing as his mother.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Permanently becomes a dragon like his mother in the bittersweet ending if you don't get TownShip flying.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Uses a sword in combat. While Sten and Jean can also equip a few swords, their main weapons are knives and rapiers, respectively.
• Last of His Kind: Subverted. Dologany, the city that falls halfway through the Infinity dungeon, is home to a lot of dragons.
• Love Triangle: Implied, as both Nina and Katt are romantically attached to him.
• Made of Iron: In battle, his defense and damage threshold is generally only surpassed by his hulking armadillo pal. Furthermore, his guts rating and special command causes him to shrug off lethal attacks more often than any other character and allows him to regenerate health endlessly simply by striking a pose. His final conflict is immediately preceded by having him No-Sell numerous attacks from a Physical God who not moments ago instantly and effortlessly slaughtered every one of his companions. Even his optional, unwinnable duel with Tiga practically requires the player to simply give up as Ryu's self-heal is rather easily able to nullify his adversary's damage output.
• A Minor Kidroduction: The prologue.
• Orphan's Plot Trinket: The Dragon Tear, left behind by his mother.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: He replaces Baba in the tournament, only needing to show the axe he got from him as proof. Once he does this, everyone calls him Baba ^note  including the game itself and talks about him as if he is Baba. Despite Baba being a recurrent participant, and a musclebound giant lumberjack.
• Power at a Price:
  • Gameplay-wise, most of his dragon-powers completely drain his MP.
  • The test he must undergo to obtain the ultimate power Anfini finds him forced to choose one of his allies to sacrifice in exchange. He elects to choose no one and succeeds.
• The Power of Friendship: It's explicitly stated that Infini, the final dragon spell, draws its power from the bonds between Ryu and his friends.
• Ret-Gone: He is forgotten by everyone in his hometown of Gate. You find out late in the game that Aruhamel erased him from their minds, along with his sister and father. This facilitated Habaruku's infiltration under the guise of Father Hulk.
• Secret Test of Character: How he acquires his ultimate spell, Infinity/Anfini.
• Time Master: In a small scale. He naturally gains the ability to fast-forward the day/night cycle (though the original Japanese name translates to "Take a Rest" — "Rest" in the English fan retranslation — indicating that the party is simply waiting out the rest of the night/day).

Bow

Bow (Bosch Doggy)

• All or Nothing: His special battle skill. If successful, it's a One-Hit Kill, but if not, it does only 1 point of damage.
• Arm Cannon: Bow's significantly more imposing fusion form boasts one of these.
• Automatic Crossbows: His main method of attacking, upgraded to Guns Akimbo in his Shaman form.
• Can't Catch Up: He's locked out of the party for so long to remain in hiding, that when you do get him back, he might be behind in levels up to the double digits. Fortunately, the trope's subverted easily enough with a little Level Grinding.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Always seems to have something to say about the female characters you encounter.
• Clear My Name: What makes him unavailable for an early portion of the game.
• Combat Medic: He's the best healer in the game, and he can kick a fair amount of ass as well.
• Conveniently an Orphan Ryu's becoming an orphan is the very first event shown in the game. Bow's past however, is never brought to light.
• Healing Hands: Slightly better at it than Rand.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Ryu.
• Lovable Rogue: He can sometimes be a pain in the tail, especially when stealing is involved. He softened up during the 10 year timeskip and became a lot nicer, but he can still be this once in a while.
• A Minor Kidroduction: Is introduced as a kid during the prologue.
• Punny Name: His English name is a succinct example, as "bow-wow" can refer to dog barking in addition to fitting his wielding of a crossbow.
• Sidekick: To Ryu.

Rand

Rand Marks

• Ambiguously Gay: A note you can get when first meeting him is for him to call the clearly male Ryu "cute". He doesn't show too much attraction towards anybody outside of that event.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Uses his fists as weapons. Additionally, his equipment tends to be rather weak; most of his power comes from his base stats.
• Berserk Button: Threatening his mother Daisy is a sure way to enrage him. He leads the party in fighting the Church of Evrai when they abduct her.
• Be the Ball: His map ability lets him curl into a ball and roll across the map, avoiding random encounters.
• The Big Guy: Artwork of the game always places Rand in the background because if he was in front, you wouldn't be able to see the rest of the cast.
• Combat Medic: Rand is well balanced between fighting strength and healing magic. Sometimes he uses both at once with his "Wake" skill, where he punches a fallen ally with a chance to revive them.
• Dishing Out Dirt: The only character with access to 8.0 (Quake), the game's "earth-based" spell.
• Empty Levels: Inverted for Rand who uses near-worthless equipment and gains almost ALL of his combat strength through leveling. He will always be slow, but early grinding at Monster Island can turn Rand into The Juggernaut. Played straight, however, for everyone but the secret character after about level 50.
• Encounter Repellant: His field ability can prevent random battles on the world map for as long as he's rolling. But if he bumps into anything (which is also the only way to stop), a random battle is almost guaranteed.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: In a certain scene late in the game, Rand displays physical strength miles above the combined efforts of the rest of his party. This despite his in-game strength stat being barely above the other fighters individually, if at all.
• Gentle Giant: Very, very imposing, but he climbs on board the hero's band wagon without hesitation when he learns of Augus's plan for the coliseum duel.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: His attack animation consists of a few quick punches and an uppercut. His equipable weapons are all brass knuckles.
• Healing Hands: Second only to Bow in this regard.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He stays behind to hold two closing walls and let the team proceed. His mother then comes and forcefully switches places with him.
• Jack of All Trades: Rand's search for work probably made him this in the "traditional" sense, but he can also double as this in the combat sense. He is a good fighter with equal skill as a healer and even has a few attack spells on his list; when supplemented with spells from Barose, Rand becomes the closest thing to The Red Mage the party can have.
• Mighty Glacier: Rand is all but incapable of throwing the first punch. However, his punch will hurt you more than yours will hurt him.
• Momma's Boy: The one reason he left his home.
• Punny Name: Land Marks. Because he rolls. Get it?
• Power Fist: His method of attacking, and he can get other fist weapons.
• Rolling Attack: Only used a couple times and never in an actual fight, but this is how Rand smashes through walls in the Grand Church.
• Team Dad: He says he sees himself as one during the Anfini test. Also alluded to in stating that he felt as though he had married off his own daughter following Tiga's courting of Katt.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Rand and Katt show clear signs of being this. Rand will harp on Katt's dim wit and she will respond by saying he's too big and always in the way. However, when the going gets tough for either one of them, the other is always the one in the group to show the most concern.
• Wolverine Claws: These are his weapons of choice.

Katt

Katt (Rinpoo Chuan)

• Action Girl: Katt starts the game working as a gladiator, her main solution to problems is to hit them with her staff, and she's one of the strongest physical fighters in the game.
• A-Cup Angst: Although she's fairly busty in her concept art◊.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Katt adds three of the most powerful spells in the game to her spell list many levels before Nina does. However, without her shaman fusions (which only become available at the very end of the game), it takes a great amount of level grinding to even be able to cast the cheapest of the three a single time.
• Badass Adorable: She's cute, she's funny, and she can pulverize monsters several times bigger and heavier than her.
• Badass Normal: In her default form, probably the closest example of this out of all the characters through the whole series.
• Berserk Button: She really doesn't like getting harassed by lecherous men. She beats some politeness into Sten when they first meet, and she does the same to the diet wizard if she's the one to "persuade" him to return to Tunlan.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Katt likes to joke and make fun of her enemies while she's beating the hell out of them. This also counts as one of her game skills, as Katt uses it to break Ryu's concentration during their initial battle and later can use it against normal enemies to make them ignore her party and attack her instead.
• Cat Girl: Well, tiger girl.
• Cute Bruiser: One of the party's heavy-hitters and the only character besides Ryu with the ability to counterattack.
• Cute Monster Girl: Except for being covered in fur from the waist down, Katt, a female Woren, is a fairly standard cat girl. In contrast, Tiga, a male Woren, is a Beast Man with a tiger head.
  • Just how anthropomorphic the Woren in general are varies. While the ones that join the player's party tend to be anthropomorphic animals regardless of gender (Rei from III is a good example) the ones that don't join your party tend to vary in their attractiveness.
• The Ditz: Bow asks Ryu to take her along as he quickly realizes Katt isn't the sharpest knife in the box and if she's allowed to stay with him, she could destroy the house he was intending to fix. Rand even wonders if there's a way to get inside of Katt's head and rewire her brain to make her smarter.
  • This is played with when you consider her spell casting abilities. She learns some of the most powerful spells very early in the game, but her maximum AP is way too low to actually cast any of these spells even once until late into the game (or after some serious level grinding).
• Fiery Redhead: Obvious in her red hair and characteristic quick temper. Incidentally, Fireball is the first spell she "learns" and the Fire Shaman is generally the best compliment to her Devil Shaman fusion for further capitalization on her strength.
• Fragile Speedster: While she's one of the fastest and hardest-hitting characters in the game, her HP and defense stats tend to be low. Unlocking the Devil Shaman causes her to become even more powerful offensively, with Devil/Fire and her Infinity +1 Sword allowing her to reach the cap on the Attack stat. Said combination also replaces her taunt with a Charge Attack that deals up to triple normal damage.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Katt romps around bottomless, with naught but her fur to preserve modesty.
• Last of Her Kind: She's never seen another of her kind. Until Tiga's entrance, who tells her that there are very few of them spread all over the world.
  • Woren are so rare that when Ryu and her arrive at the monster hunters's place, they ask Ryu to sell her to them.
• Lightning Bruiser: By using cooking to raise her low Stamina. She still won't have good HP, but in her Shamanized form, she ends up sporting drastically more physical defense than Ryu with the same stats, more than enough to make up for the difference in HP.
• Genki Girl: She's very gung-ho and a happy-go-lucky person. Just don't make her angry or else...
• Love Triangle: Tiga sets his eyes on her the moment she crosses the door. Later, Katt has to clear up the issues as she can't reciprocate the feeling. The reason for this is because, if you bring her to the right events, she's actually in love with Ryu.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Katt is short, thin and flat chested, yet she is the strongest character in the game and her shamanized form cranks it up to eleven.
• Required Party Member: Her ability to hit things is needed to enter CotLnd / Kott Fortress, and (rather troublesomely) to proceed into the whale.
• Running Gag: In the Japanese version, constant mention of her small cup size. If Salvador is recruited as a Township's resident, Katt will ask him to give her a bigger chest when it's her turn to get a statue. (He doesn't.)
• Stripperiffic: Katt's outfit is made of fingerless gloves, toeless boots, a bra... And nothing else. Her shamanized form ditches the bra, replacing it with a tattoo painted around her torso (although in-game it looks more like a strapless leotard due to graphical limitations).
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Rand and Katt show clear signs of being this. Rand will harp on Katt's dim wit and she will respond by saying he's too big and always in the way. However, when the going gets tough for either one of them, the other is always the one in the group to show the most concern.
• Women Are Wiser: Inverted, as Katt is the dumbest member of the party and gets called on it a few times. It's implied that her low intelligence is simply the result of her poor education, as she was raised to do nothing but fight.
• Your Answer to Everything: Katt tries to fix everything using brute force, death threats and old fashioned violence. The funny part? It works.

Nina

Nina Windia

• All of the Other Reindeer: She's exiled due to her black wings.
• Apocalypse Maiden: The people of Wyndia think she's this due to her black wings, which is why she was banished.
• The Cameo: Appears as a card in the Heroes and Heralds mode of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
• Damsel out of Distress: Is definitely this in comparison to other incarnations of Nina in the series, who in some cases rely on Ryu for saving so many times, other party members begin calling them a liability. This Nina, on the other hand, is the sort who even just out of training will barbecue a criminal organization and its demon-possessed boss almost to a crisp before Ryu lifts a finger.
• Determinator: Looking at her backstory, she arguably has the hardest life out of anyone in the main cast, but never once angsts about it or gives in to despair. Even Nina the First tells her that her will is adamant. Also note that her special ability is called "Will" and in spite of her low defense scores, only Ryu gets back up after lethal attacks more often than she does.
• Duel Boss: Against the Guardian of the Wings who ends up being the ghost of the first game's Nina, her ancestor.
• Energy Ball: Her normal "physical" attack is a one-handed energy shot.
• Feather Flechettes: Her attack animation becomes this when transformed via shamans.
• Freakiness Shame: Her black wings resulted in her being outcast. When this gets revealed, she immediately gets some comforting from Katt.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The ordeal with the obese Queen of Tunlan made Nina consider "relying on her wings less and walking more". However, outside of her end-game fusion form, Nina is actually never shown to fly instead of walk.
• Glass Cannon: She can deal a lot of damage with her offensive magic (unlike her counterpart in the original game, she's an offensive mage, not a support one), but can't take much in return. Like Katt, this can be fixed with cooking to turn her into a Lightning Bruiser, though raising her poor base Agility is also required.
  • Also a case of Logical Weakness, as Word of God states that Windians, like birds, have hollow bones to make flight easier.
• Global Airship: No, she's not the airship this time. She's the one calling it.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: A perfect example of "Black Angel Wings" falling into the category Dark Is Not Evil.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Part dragon way in the back, actually. The ghost of the first Nina explains that the black wings come from her decision to marry someone from outside the Windian race, implied to be the first Ryu. As a result, every now and then a royal is born with black wings, because of the small amount of dragon heritage in them.
• Head-Turning Beauty: This is noted by many PC’s and NPC’s alike. One NPC in particular at the magic school nominates her for World's Most Beautiful Woman.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Attempted to by turning into the Great Bird.
• Informed Ability: It is revealed in conversation during the Tunlan chapter that Nina plays piano. This is never used anywhere in the game. Flutes are much easier to carry around than pianos, after all.
• Irony: Windians think black wings are the sign of an Apocalypse Maiden. They're actually a relic of having a hero in her ancestry.
• Lady of Black Magic: Graceful, elegant, composed, and has the party's widest selection of damage-dealing spells? Check, check, check, and check. She's not an Ice Queen by any stretch, but her past has made her a bit slow to open up her otherwise big heart.
• Love Triangle: Both Nina and Katt are romantically attached to Ryu.
• Modest Royalty: Although it's fuzzy whether she has a claim to the throne, being next in line (especially after her sister's Heroic Sacrifice) but ignored by her parents for her own safety.
• Purple Is the New Black: It's a bit remarkable that no one ever just points out that her ill-fated "black wings"... aren't.
• Ring of Power: Her weapon set consists of rings.
• Royal Blood: Though her parents ignore her existence, due to her wings and one prediction stating that once a black-winged Windian is born in the royal family, misfortune would strike the country.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Again, it's tough to say if Nina truly counts as royalty after her exile. Nonetheless, Nina is never one to hold back a helping hand.
• Winged Humanoid: As with all Windians. Unfortunately, her wings are black, and the prophecies and rumors involving a black-winged Windian have caused her no end of grief.
• Wings Do Nothing: Played with. Flying enemies in Breath of Fire II are unaffected by Rand's earth-shaking magic attack; the same spell used against Nina by an enemy however, deals damage normally. However, she can use her wings well enough to lift herself out of pits.
  • Her shamanized form also gives her Stationary Wings during combat, though they flap very slightly while moving. She can no longer use them to fly out of pits, however.

Sten

Sten Legacy

• The Atoner: Mixed with a huge dose of survivor's guilt.
• The Casanova: He attempts to play this trope with Nina and Katt. Nina gets disturbed, and Katt gives him a savage off-screen beating. Much later, we discover he fits the trope perfectly among his people, and his princess loves him dearly.
• Con Man: You first meet him when he puts on a magic show and uses it to attempt to con a date out of Nina and/or Katt by "disappearing" Ryu as part of a magic trick.
• Duel Boss: Against Trubo. Hope you have leveled him up well. Otherwise, you're going to spend some time in the castle's basement.
• Extendable Arms: His field skill is to cross over chasms by extending his arms, though he stops being able to do so in his shamanized form.
• Faking the Dead: He did this with his fellow Highlanders; they believed he had died in a previous battle before his return. He can also weaponize this in combat, discouraging attacks from hitting him and counterattacking anything that decides to hit him anyways.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He appears to sacrifice his life after the defeat of Shupkay, but he turns out to be just fine, something that he didn't want.
• Hidden Depths: In a way. The party, while generally being full of optimism, has several characters who've faced much hardship in their lives. These hardships are evident in the story very early on except for Sten (save for vague commentary from St. Eva priests) who shows a very different side of himself when his past finally comes up quite late in the game.
• Jack of All Stats: He's reasonably strong, but not as much as Ryu, Katt, or Rand. Ryu, Rand, and Jean all surpass him in defence. And he has a small pool of offensive magic, but not as much as Nina or Bleu, and nowhere near as much AP or Wisdom.
• Playing Possum: His special skill is feigning being K.O.ed so that enemies ignore him when attacking.
• Playing with Fire: Most of his spells are fire-based.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Says this after returning to Highfort after a long time.
• Required Party Member: For the quest in Highfort to get the Master's Flute. Not only are his extending limbs needed to get into the place, it's implied the Highlanders wouldn't let the party in unless Sten was with them.
• The Rival: His old war buddy Trubo (Turvoe).
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Sten's backstory is that he was the commander of Highfort during a war with another country, Gulfheim. It was so traumatizing for him that he took the decision of making a Heroic Sacrifice as part of a very risky maneuver; he survived, but he faked his own death, then fled from his own country, in which he was reported as AWOL. He is so reluctant to face his past and see Trubo/Turvoe and his princess again that he refuses to return to Highfort until the party is required to go there in order to get the Master's Flute.
• Stage Magician: This is how you meet him the first time around, although it was just his own way of working as a Con Man.

Jean

Ekkal Hoppa de Pe Jean (Tapeta)

• Aborted Arc: His subplot with Nimufu the witch. She just disappears after the impostor story is resolved.
• Aside Glance: Does this while waggling his eyebrows and smiling before every physical attack.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Few things are more satisfying then seeing a score of 9's across the screen when you attack your enemies, which Jean's late-game transformed special ability "Chop" MIGHT do. In minor battles. After the enemies get two free turns of damaging your party while you wait for the very slow Jean to charge up and use it. (Unless you fed him a heap of Dinkers in which case, it'll still take one turn).
• Bewitched Amphibians: Introduced as a prince who was turned into a giant frog by a witch. The twist is, of course, that he was a frog person before he was cursed.
• Bilingual Bonus: The "Ekal" part on his name is written "Ekaru" in Japanese, which is an anagram of "Kaeru", Japanese for Frog.
• Bratty Half-Pint: His sister Petape.
• Chef of Iron: Slightly subverted in that he's a good cook for his race only, considering most of their meals consists of roaches, flies and worms. Still, he was such a well-known chef that a Cooking Duel was set up to demonstrate he was the true prince.
• Continuity Nod: Appears as an NPC In Breath of Fire III.
• Diagonal Cut: The ability of his Shaman form.
• Encounter Repellant: His Giant Frog form tones down the frequency of random battles on the world map.
• Everybody Knew Already: The castle's self-destruct switch. Only his sister and the impostor believed it existed.
• Eyebrow Waggle: Does this while smiling at the player when he makes a physical attack in his normal form, right before striking with his rapier. Presumably because the game technology of the time didn't allow for him to say "Watch me be awesome" when striking...
• French Jerk: Inverted. Jean is a French stereotype, up to the Visual Pun of his being a frog, but he's also a thoroughly pleasant, good-natured individual.
• Gratuitous French: Non, Non, Non!
• Magikarp Power: He joins the party with poor stats and weak weapons, but can learn the Death spell and a truly awesome Shamanized form that allows him to use a Charge Attack that has a chance of inflicting 999 damage to all enemies onscreen (which will one-shot almost anything that's not a boss). Additionally his best weapon (if you can manage to get it) is Holy-element, which is strong against Demon and Spirit-type monsters; since about 80-90% of the enemies in the Very Definitely Final Dungeon are at least one of those two types, it makes him one of the better party members to bring along for it.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He plays dumb only because he's very optimistic and easy-going.
• Requisite Royal Regalia: His Royal Ring is used as proof of being the true prince. Too bad the impostor also has one...
• Rousseau Was Right: He thinks there are no truly evil persons, only weak ones that can easily fall into evil's temptation.
• Royal Blood: He's the prince of SimaFort.
• Royal Rapier: His main weapon.
• Spot the Imposter: The focus of his whole arc. Subverted in that the imposter isn't particularly hard to spot, but neither do any of Jean's subjects particularly care.
• Status Effects: One of the party's two specialists, alongside Spar.
• Supreme Chef: Double subverted. He's an excellent cook, but his preferred ingredients are roaches, flies, and worms, the kind of food only the Creeping Clan could love. His cooking makes Ryu sick, but it's due more to the ingredients rather than anything Jean did. While the judges pan Jean's entries in the cooking contest, it's heavily implied that they're actually delicious, and they reveal that the fake prince threatened to kill their families unless they declared him the winner.

Spar

Spar (Aspara Gus)

• Ambiguous Gender: Aspara's gender is uncertain due to them being from the Grassman species. It doesn't help matters that they have a "mushroom girl" Shaman form that's considered female overall (they're capable of convincing a Dirty Old Man to help the party while transformed).
• Crutch Character: A mild example, as they can get their first form-changing fusion (which raise all of the fused character's stats by a large percentage) far earlier than any other character, since all they need is the Water Shaman to turn into a cute mushroom girl. This makes them very strong in all categories and trades their Geo Effects for a more reliable sleep spell, but eventually Aspara's weak stats and unimpressive weapons will cause the other characters to surpass them.
• Geo Effects: The effect of the Nature skill depends on the environment during the battle: While a forest background calls forth trees, a desert one will have exploding cacti.
• Green Thumb: Their special skill allows them to, among others, command trees to stomp on the enemies or flowers to bloom and restore the party.
• Late Character Syndrome: Spar is the last party member to join, and is a low-leveled Crutch Character. The game forces you into using them to bypass forests and talk to the Wise Trees.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Their Sana/Shin fusion is a anthropomorphic snapdragon. Sadly, said fusion still uses their normal Geo Effects special ability.
• Plant Person: Their species.
• Punny Name: Check their full name. Just don't hit your face too hard.
• Really 700 Years Old: Their actual age is 111.
  • Older Than They Look: 111 in Grassman years equates to about 16 in human years, which is about how old they look.
• Required Party Member: For the quest to save Gandaroof's memories. They're the only one who can communicate with Gandaroof, not to mention lead the party through the heavy forests to reach him.
• Secret Test of Character: They willingly let the carnival capture them. They did it to see if anyone would be brave and kind enough to free them. Such heroes were the only people Aspara could trust with trying to restore Gandaroof's memories.
• The Spock: They are only capable of thinking logically, but starts discovering new feelings and emotions near the end of the game.
• Status Buff: Team expert on the subject.
• The Stoic: Justified, as their species cannot show emotions.
• Weaponized Headgear: Their "mushroom girl" form attack animation has her attacking by throwing her mushroom-cap hat.

Secret Character

Bleu ("Deis")

Reprises her role in the first game as a powerful Black Mage... if you can manage to find her, that is.

See here for tropes pertaining to her.

Supporting Characters

The Shamans

• Elemental Powers: Each Shaman represents an element, which influences which party members they can fuse successfully with.
  • Playing with Fire: Sana is the Fire Shaman
  • Making a Splash: Seso is the Water Shaman
  • Blow You Away: Spoo is the Wind Shaman
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Solo is the Earth Shaman
  • Light Is Good: Seny is the Holy Shaman
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Shin is the Devil Shaman
• Fusion Dance: They have the ability to fuse with other characters (except Ryu and Bleu) to increase their stats or even transform them completely.
• Ms. Fanservice: Almost all of them fall under this, being scantily-clad attractive women.
  • Fan Disservice: While no less scantily-clad than the other Shamans, Solo is a Gonk instead.
• Show Some Leg: Sana has used her charms to entice several people over to her granny's fusion lab. Her latest conquest is Ryu, but that works... a bit too well.
• Stripperiffic: All of them wear strips of cloth like a bikini, some jewelry, and nothing else.
• Taken for Granite: Seso is found as a statue in the Witch's Tower. Once Nimufu is defeated, Seso is freed.

Baba

Baba (Babadel/Babaderu)

• The Big Guy: He's big, slow, and can hit quite hard.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: According to the end credits, he's a "Ramberjack".
• Gentle Giant: He really only fights Ryu to defend his spot in the tournament.
• Iconic Item: His axe, in-universe. Apparently, it's all Ryu needs to pose as him, despite the clear difference in build and appearance.
• Mighty Lumberjack: He's powerful and carries an axe to chop trees, other tournament competitors, and anyone who gets in the way of his competing.

Patty Smith

Patty Smith

• Everybody Knew Already: Arguably, that she's Ryu's younger sister Yua.
• Half-Human Hybrid: She's half-dragon, just like her brother.
• I Want My Mommy!: She is pretty good at running away and even sasses Trout while held in his basement, but when she faces certain death at Habaruku's hands, she breaks down and calls for her brother.
• Phantom Thief: Not very effective as one though...
• Stripperific: Her outfit consists of a dominatrix corset/leotard that rides up her ass like a thong. Not even her overworld sprite is able to hide it!
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Right after her last major story appearance in the opening of Infinity, she's never heard of again. This became averted in the GBA port as she appears in the ending (not the cast roll call, either).
• Winged Humanoid: She has dark, bat-like wings. Except not really. Those are dragon wings, which hint at her heritage.

Nimufu

Nimufu (Nimpho Mani)

• Cute Witch: Her entire looks, but it doesn't help her case when she's also a case of being a Wicked Witch.
• Punny Name: Her full name is a pun on the word "nymphomania", which is an "excess of sexual behavior or desire in women", which can explain why she is a cute and sexy witch. No wonder her name got changed via bowdlerization.
• Taken for Granite: Her magic has made many people (including the shaman Seso) fall under this type by the time the party arrives at her tower.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Where she ran off to after the Simafort and WildCat incidents remains a mystery.

Tiga

Tiga (Tigger Lee)

• Cock Fight: Insists on one when his -then- love interest, Katt, recoils behind the hero in response to Tiga's proposal.
• Defiant to the End: Even when completely outclassed in power against Habaruku, he doesn't stop trying to save Claris until the bitter end.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The Duel Boss battle between him and Ryu is unwinnable.
• The Infiltration: Claris infiltrates Evrai posing as a believer. The party and Tiga later do the same.
• La Résistance: Tiga is the leader of the group trying to bring down the Church of St. Eva.
• Love at First Sight: Is instantly smitten with Katt/Rinpoo the moment he lays eyes on her. It doesn't pan out for him, though — Katt is romantically interested in Ryu, and Tiga eventually realizes he's truly in love with Claris.
• Love Interests: Katt at first. Then later, he realizes Claris is the one he truly loves. Unfortunately, things went sour afterwards. Very sour.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Unlike other Woren, he is a humanoid tiger instead of a human with tiger features.
• Shout-Out Theme Naming: All characters related to the resistance are named after Disney characters. Yes, Tiga's real name is a reference to that Tigger. It may also be a Shout-Out to the folk song Stagger Lee.
• Together in Death: He and Claris are vaporized together by Habaruku's lightning bolt.
• Worf Effect: Despite being stronger than Ryu (at least before Ryu obtains his Grand Dragon form), Tiga is easily killed by Habaruku.

Father Ganer

Father Ganer

• Back for the Finale: Is unseen during most of the game, as he was captured by the church and used as a Living Battery.
• Badass Preacher: A late-game flashback shows him smiting demons while Valerie sacrifices herself to seal off Infinity. The man either never got, or rejected, the memo that he was supposed to be playing for their team.
• Cool Old Guy: Your party members comment on it if you speak to them after rescuing him.
• Disappeared Dad: Thank Aruhamel and Habaruku for that.
• Love at First Sight: Towards Ryu's mother Valerie. The feeling was mutual.
• Papa Wolf: The Gunhead that Ryu "fights" at the game's start was a threat to both Ryu and Yua. Father Ganer had none of that.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: He serves as the Power Source in two occasions: unwillingly as prisoner in Evrai, and willingly to power up TownShip.
• So Proud of You: During the best ending, while taking Ryu's place in becoming the new seal on the Underworld.
• The Dog Bites Back: Spent years being used by Deathevan as a component in the machine under Evrai to send power to the demon. In the best ending, he powers TownShip and uses it in a Colony Drop on the entrance to the Underworld, sealing Deathevan away again.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential / Video Game Caring Potential: During the attack on Evrai, you can either kill him or save him. Taking the latter choice is necessary for the best ending.

Ray Bradoc

Ray Bradoc

• Anti-Villain: He's rather helpful during the adventure, helping the people of Capitan being one of his most noble actions. When Habaruku orders him to fight against Ryu, he decides to sacrifice himself in order to teach Ryu to do the Great Dragon / Kaiser Dragon transformation.
• Badass Preacher: Specially during the Capitan Town incident.
• Badass Longcoat: He wears a longcoat, and he's also powerful.
• Healing Hands: He uses healing spells as a priest, and can teach one of two possible spells to a party member after the Capitan incident.
• The Reveal: Turns out he's a member of the Dragon clan, as well.
• Stealth Mentor: He dies just for Ryu to learn the Kaiser Dragon transformation.

Valerie McCarran

Valerie McCarran

• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Her dragon form is downright enormous.
• Barrier Maiden: Turns into a dragon to protect the seal on Infinity.
• Chekhov's Gunman: That dragon on that mountain behind Gate? One guess on her identity...
  • Convenient Coma: She's left in a deep slumber until after Habaruku's attempt to kill her.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Before the game events, she turned into a dragon to seal the entrance of Infinity. Later, she sacrifices herself permanently to reopen the gate so Ryu and the others to confront Deathevan.
• Love at First Sight: For Ryu's father.
• Mama Bear: She finally awakens in force once Habaruku threatens Patty/Yua.
• Winged Humanoid: A side effect of her race's continued contact with Deathevan's aura.

Antagonists

Deathevan

Deathevan / Father Evans (St. Eva) / God

• Ax-Crazy: After Ryu hits him, it all goes downhill for him.
• As Long as There Is Evil: Deathevan feeds off human darkness. Also, Ganer explicitly states in the good ending that, if Ryu can eliminate hate and despair in the world, he'd never be able to return.
• Big Bad: Even when either Habaruku or Barubary are pulling the strings, he's in this position.
• Break Them by Talking: Will give everyone you bring to the last fight a very pointed lecture about their "sins". Except Deis, who he rants at for helping to kill his mother Myria in the first game.
• Continuity Nod: He's the spawn of Tyr (Myria) from the first game.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: He poses as one as god of the Church of St. Eva, but it's all a facade.
• Dark Is Evil: His true form is a ugly Eldritch Abomination, and he wishes to kill everyone in the world.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He shows up in a few instances prior to the climax of the game, represented as a gigantic eye. He also shows up in silhouette in the Bad Ending.
• Eldritch Abomination: His true TRUE form. Making mommy so proud!
• Enemy to All Living Things: Deathevan's presence causes the forests surrounding Gate to wither and die.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Deathevan considers death the ultimate desire of all life and his great gift to the world, and cannot understand why anything would choose to defy him.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: His Ice Breath attack, not to mention his whole freezing the party schtick.
• Evil Old Folks: His human guise is an old man, but his true nature as a demon shines through regardless.
• God of Evil: Breath of Fire II follows a polytheistic universe, and so he is one of many gods rather than a singular god.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: Essentially says so in the first scene of the game. He doesn't actually need worship, but it gives him power that he can use to break out of his prison sooner.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Subverted, it's only impossible to defeat him if you didn't learn Anfini.
• Light Is Not Good: He's a horrifically evil demon, but invokes this trope when he masquerades as Evans/St.Eva.
  • Not to mention his Bone Laser attack is a huge beam of light.
• Madness Mantra: Starts screaming "Kill... kill... kill..." after (a very pissed off) Ryu injuries him.
• Not Quite Dead: As Ryu later discovers, Deathevan only lost his physical form after his final defeat. Ryu decides to perform an Heroic Sacrifice to take his mother's place as the guardian of the mountain... Or if you get the best ending, your father will take your place and crush the whole mountain with the Township!
• One-Winged Angel: He transforms into a horrifying demonic form for the final boss fight.
• Straw Nihilist: "I will bless the world... with desperation. All living things will look up to me and feel happiness as they accept death."
• Villainous Breakdown: He does not react well when Ryu breaks free of his sealing power, runs up to him and slashes him across his face, cutting his left eye in an Unstoppable Rage.
  Deathevan: I can't believe… that I would lose to a crumb like this… It's impossible! That I… God…! God… God cannot die!

Barubary

Barubary (Barbaroi)

• Co-Dragons: Along with Habaruku. Unlike Habaruku, who's arguably the face of the Church of Evrai, he's behind the scenes, and he's one of the catalysts for both Ryu and Bow's start of their adventure.
• Duel Boss: He offers Ryu to fight one-on-one midway through his Boss Battle. It's up to the player if he accepts or not. If you win he gives a vague hint to where the ultimate armor accessory is.
• Glass Cannon: Compared to Deathevan, Barubary's not quite as durable, but he's got massive attack damage and speed, making him arguably even more difficult than the actual Final Boss.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Right in the prologue.
• Noble Demon: Probably the only demon in the whole series who has anything even resembling a code of honor.
• Our Demons Are Different: He's one of the Dragons to the Big Bad, but he's a noble being, seeing Ryu's potential and letting him live at the beginning of the game, even offering him a solo duel for the purpose of making Ryu conquer his fear towards him.
• Worthy Opponent: Considers Ryu this if you defeat him without help.

Aruhamel

Aruhamel (Alzheimer)

• Battle in the Center of the Mind: He's staying within Gandaroof's psyche, making a mess out of his mind so he's neutered as an obstacle.
• Easy Amnesia: He uses amnesia as a weapon; in battle, he's capable of making the characters forget any number of spells from their spell list.
• Inconsistent Spelling: This guy needs a break. He's spelt Aruhameru in the dialogue, Aruhamel in the Boss Battle and Alheimer in the credits.
• Meaningful Name: Alzheimer. It's rather obvious in the Japanese version, but the English release's Translation Trainwreck got his name Lost in Translation.
• Our Demons Are Different: Unlike most other enemies in the game, he's a pure demon.
• The Reveal: Before you fight him, he reveals that he was the one who erased the memories of Gate's citizens 10 years ago.

Habaruku

Habaruku / Father Hulk (Habalq V / Halq)

• Abusive Parents: While he isn't shown to be outright abusive to Ray, he brushes him aside as "worthless" when he hears of his defeat at the hands of the heroes.
• Bald of Evil: In his human form.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Remember that slightly goofy priest from the prologue, Father Hulk?
• Co-Dragons: Along with Barubary. He's the face of the Church of Evrai, and he's also masquerading as Father Hulk in Gate, all of this in order to open the seal to free Deathevan from his prison.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: After abducting Father Ganer, he attaches him to a machine in the facility beneath the Grand Church and uses his life force to power Deathevan. If this doesn't sound bad enough, he tortures him like this for ten years.
• Dirty Coward: At the Cathedral, he spends most of his time running away from the party, and instead has Ray and deadly traps do the work for him.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He appears as Father Hulk long before his formal introduction near the end of the game.
• Human Sacrifice: In addition to offering sacrifices to Deathevan, he attempts to offer up Patty's life to open the portal to Infinity and release demons upon the world.
• Inconsistent Spelling: At times (and during the Boss Fight), his name appears misspelled as Babaruku.
• King Incognito: Father Hulk, a seemingly minor character? No, that's just a guise for Habaruku, the face of the Church of Evrai.
• Light Is Not Good: It comes into the territory of being the face of the Church of Evrai, and despicably evil to boot.
• Not Even Human: Turns into a Cthulhu-esque monster when fought.
• Parental Substitute: He raised Ray.
• Sinister Minister: Being the face of the Church of Evrai cements this for you.
• Tentacled Terror: His monster form.

Other demons

Augus (Argus Cont), Joker Heart, Trout Barm, Kuwadora (Quadra X), Shupkay, Ringmaster John, Father Manson.

Deathevan's servants. Originally normal, relatively speaking, beings, Deathevan's influence turned them into demons.

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• All There in the Script: Ringmaster John's name is only seen in the Creative Closing Credits.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Some of the servants engaged into this to serve their purposes. Joker attempted to do this to Nina, in order to force her into submitting to him as he had Mina as a bargain chip, and Kuwadora threatened the families of some of the servants in Simafort if they didn't comply with his orders.
• Deadly Game: Argus wanted to turn the contest into this, thinking it'd be more exciting and satisfying for the public if Katt died during/after the bout.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: In the battle screen they just disappear like any other monster, but once it goes back to the field they blow up.
• Fat Bastard: Trout and Joker.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Joker's whole motivation was lusting over Nina.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Shupkay in the dialogue becomes Shupukay in the boss battle.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: Trout, again.
• The Neidermeyer: Shupkay.
• Night of the Living Mooks: Manson summons a group of undead before he decides to fight himself.
• Not Even Human: Though it's Not Even Humanoid for Shupkay and Kuwadora (as neither were human to begin with).
• Obviously Evil: Again, all of them, but the ringmaster who captures Spar is so blatantly evil that it's almost funny.
• One-Winged Angel: They all pull one before you fight them.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Augus, who has two heads in his true form.
• Palette Swap: Shupkay and the ringmaster's true forms are used as recurring enemies later in the game.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Each of them is associated with one: Augus and Joker are both lust (bloodlust for Augus and sexual lust for Joker), Kuwadora and particularly Ringmaster John are Wrath, Shupkay is Envy (she is jealous of other, powerful nations while she lives in a desert and her people are mercenaries), Trout is Greed (he even steals money during his boss battle), Aruhamel and Munmar are Sloth (the former causing amnesia to their victims, and the latter causing eternal sleep to the whale), Father Mason and Barubary are Pride. There is no demon for Gluttony, but the Queen of Tunlan was in the middle of becoming one before Ryu stopped it.
• Shout Out Themenaming:
  • Trout and his rich neighbour/rival Kilgore are named after Kilgore Trout, a recurrent character used by writer Kurt Vonnegut.
  • Manson is arguably named after cult leader Charles Manson, and his summoning of undead (and his position as Father Manson) may be references to Charles Manson's cult "The Family".
• Sinister Minister: Father Manson.
• Spot the Impostor: Kuwadora, who poses as Jean at one point during the game. Somewhat subverted in that nearly everyone at the castle knew he was full of crap, but went along with him anyway. Not even Jean's master for his cooking attempted to go against him, due to being threatened into killing their family if the master chef didn't comply to his demands.
• The Undead: Manson's fighting form, the Necromancer.

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