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Characters / Suikoden II

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Character sheet for Suikoden II. For Jeane, Viki and Leknaat and other recurring characters, see Suikoden Recurring Characters.

All spoilers are unmarked.


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New State Army

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Riou (The Hero)

Voiced by: Hisafumi Oda (Drama CD)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s2_riou.png
An orphan adopted by the late disgraced hero Genkaku alongside his similarly adopted older sister Nanami. He and his best friend Jowy join the youth army of their home nation, Highland, only to realize the depths of the military's depravity, forcing them to switch sides - this leads Riou, Jowy, and Nanami to pick up a destiny that Genkaku left off twenty years prior.
  • Artifact of Doom: The Bright Shield Rune. Due to its unique nature, the rune compels its owner to fight its other half, which translates to Riou having to fight Jowy on opposing sides during the war.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Does this with Jowy, Nanami (unless she decides to have tea) and, later, with Tir in their Unite attacks. In the case of he and Hoi, this is amusingly subverted in their unite attack.
  • Badass Family: His adoptive father was a war hero, and his sister and he are very skilled at martial arts at a very young age.
  • Bash Brothers: His unite attack with Jowy — which comes in very handy in the early parts of the game as it targets all enemies.
  • Big Good: Riou is chosen by destiny to bear the Bright Shield Rune and to oppose Highland by becoming the leader of the Orange Army.
  • The Charmer: Unlike Tir before him, Riou has several dialogue choices that compliment many girl/women he came across, like saying that they're cute/pretty, but he didn't go as far as Sheena and generally keeps himself together.
  • Chick Magnet: Richmond will lampshade this trope if you investigate Eilie.
  • Child Soldier: Like Jowy, Riou is a soldier of the Highland Army's Unicorn Youth Brigade.
  • The Chosen One: Chosen by a True Rune, granting him the power to fight against his enemies and eventually become the leader of an army.
  • Combat Medic: With the Bright Shield Rune, which grants him several powerful healing spells, making him an invaluable asset against bosses. His above-average affinity with the Resurrection rune accentuates this.
  • Combination Attack: Five different ones:
    • "Buddy Attack": Performed with Jowy. Attack all enemies at the same time. While their attack power isn't boosted (1x multiplier), it is not weakened either, unlike other Unite Attacks, making this attack a Disc-One Nuke against everything that is not a boss.
    • "Family Attack" or "Leisure Attack": Performed with Nanami. Brother and sister join together to deliver a flurry of attacks on a single target, dealing double the damage they normally would, at the cost of Nanami getting "Unbalanced" afterwards... except when she unilaterally decides to treat herself to a picnic in the middle of the attack. As long as Nanami is decently geared, this attack packs up quite a punch.
    • "Copycat Attack": Performed with Hoi. Utterly useless (except for the 100% accuracy), and treated as a joke Unite Attack, for good reasons.
    • "Double Leader Attack": Performed with Tir. Attack all enemies at the same time. Unlike "Buddy Attack", the damage done is lowered (0,75x multiplier), but since both Riou and Tir are very powerful this attack remains a fantastic option.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: He and Nanami had been left orphaned by previous wars and were adopted by a local hero named Genkaku.
  • Critical Hit: Riou has the highest luck stat of the game, and will unleash critical hit after critical hit more often than not. Coupled with high strenght, he is your best damage dealer when he is not on healing duty.
  • Dramatic Wind: Later on when you win against Boss Battles and Duel Battles with Riou, instead of spinning his Tonfa, he'll just feel the wind on his face. Even inside a castle!
  • The Dreaded: Played for Laughs. While escaping Muse, Riou and his party are stopped by Highland soldiers, who are actually unaware of what transpired during the false peace treaty conference. Viktor bluntly ask them if they "wanna try to fight the leader of the [opposite] army?". Cue the soldiers immediately running away. Considering Riou fought one-on-one Luca Blight and won, you can't really blame them.
  • Fighting Your Friend: He is forced to fight against Jowy, following his defection to the Highland Kingdom.
  • Four-Star Badass: Eventually becomes one during the course of the game.
  • Generation Xerox: Like his adoptive father Genkaku, he wields the Bright Shield rune and is forced into conflict with his best friend who wields the Black Sword. In the best ending route, much like Genkaku in his duel with Hans, Riou ultimately refuses to fight back in his final confrontation with Jowy.
  • Hello, [Insert Name Here]: You can call the hero any name you wish.
  • The Hero: He's the main protagonist of the game and the player avatar.
  • Heroic Mime: As is typical of RPG heroes. However, he can speak and occasionally the screen will go dark as he recaps previous events to people he's talking to.
  • Heroic R Ro D: If Riou decides to run away from Tinto with Nanami, he overuses his Bright Shield Rune to repel Neclord's zombies. This action takes an extreme toll on his body, leaving him unbalanced and at 1 HP during the escape, until he faints from exhaustion some time later.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: The Bright Shield Rune's level 2 and level 4 spells. The latter, called Forgiver Sign, which is unlockable by getting all 108 recruits, heals all allies for a total of up a certain amount of HP and deals damage to a single target equal to the amount in excess of the HP healed. Thus, it deals maximum damage when the party is at full HP.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: Strangely, an alternate depiction of Riou in the Gaiden Game Suikoden Card Stories depicts him implicitly as he may have looked some time after the events of the main game after assuming leadership of the reunified Dunan (i.e. the alternate ending where Jowy is either not fought at all, or fought and then killed), wearing Eastern-style armor and a katana strapped to his waist. Trope is in effect here whether Riou has eschewed his tonfas to fight with this weapon or is just wearing it for ceremonial purposes as katanas look awesome.
  • Light 'em Up: Thanks to the Bright Shield Rune. Also, Riou has a strong affinity with the Resurrection Rune, which he can use effectively against undead foes.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Very fast, very strong. He has one of the highest dodge, Counter-Attack, and critical hit rates in the game, and all of his stats are very high. Even his Magic stat is serviceable and is higher than some magic oriented characters such as Millie, though he can't hold a candle to true specialists like Luc or Mazus, and his rune affinities are all standard, with the Resurrection rune being the exception.
  • Lonely at the Top: In the endings where he takes over as leader of the united city-states of Jowston. He commands a new nation, he holds the Rune of Beginning that makes him one of the most powerful individuals in the world, and he's immortal. But he lost both his best friend and his sister, and the last scene of him staring forlornly outside the gates of Muse City imply he is spiritually broken.
  • Magnetic Hero: By necessity, with 107 potential recruits on offer.
  • Magic Knight: Above-average in both physical and magic attacks. He has average rune affinity in all cases, except for the Resurrection rune, which is above average.
  • Moment of Weakness: Has a potential, entirely optional one. You can agree with Nanami and decide to run away from the war. Shu and a few others will catch up with you, and reveal that because of your choice, Ridley lost his life trying to find you while going against Neclord's horde of zombies. Shu promptly slaps Riou for it. Riou can either atone and resume his position as a leader, or double-down and run away for good, leading to a Bad Ending.
  • Ryu and Ken: He and Jowy roughly have the same stats, but Riou has slightly better physical stats than Jowy, making him The Brawn.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Has potentially two of those:
    • A negative one, where he agrees with Nanami and decides to run away from the war.
    • A rare positive version. Pulls one in the Golden Ending, alongside Jowy and Nanami. Reunited with his best friend and his sister, Riou gives up his position as the liberator of the City-States of Jowston and embark on a journey around the world with the people he loves the most.
  • Sheathe Your Sword: During his duel with Jowy, the only way to reach the true ending, on top of getting all 108 stars and saving Nanami, is to stubbornly refuse to fight his best friend. Jowy will continue attacking Riou with normal attacks, but Riou has to keep using the "Defend" command during both duel segments, with Jowy lashing out at him for not fighting back, until the duel stops.
  • Shout-Out: His costume design is very similar to the archetypal portrayal of Monkey from Journey to the West.
  • 10-Minute Retirement: At one point, Nanami tries to convince him to run away from his responsibilities. Accepting leads to a 10-Minute Retirement, after which the other characters catch up and try to convince him to be their leader again. Refusing here turns the temporary retirement into a Nonstandard Game Over permanent one. Running away will also lead the storyline to one of the Stars of Destiny, Ridley Wizen, being killed off-screen and later being replaced by his son. However, if you refuse to run away, Ridley will live.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: A classic example - Jowy, Nanami and himself.
  • William Telling: He participates in a traveling circus' show by having various pieces of fruit placed on his head while knife-thrower Eilie impales them with expert precision. You can throw off her aim and get hit with a knife yourself by choosing to wimp out and move to either side before she throws.

Nanami

Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (Drama CD)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nanami01_4.gif

Riou's older adopted sister, who trained alongside him and Jowy under their father, Genkaku. She is forced into the complicated politics of Jowston and Highland when both Riou and Jowy join in the war between the two states.


  • Action Girl: She's a skilled martial artist and a capable fighter who was trained under Genkaku, a famous hero in the City-States of Jowston. It's reflected several times during the story too, as despite it being played for laughs, she did break free from prison all on her own, possesses one of the most damaging single-target combination attack of the game with her brother, and is able to deflect arrows targeted at her, which is no small feat.
  • Angst: Throughout the game, Nanami constantly expresses how much she's tired of the war, and how she and Riou should just run away from it all and lead a secluded life somewhere. If the right conditions are met, she finally leaves for good and even fakes her own death just to avoid seeing her brother go through more pain and suffering partly because of her.
  • Badass Adorable: An incredibly appealing, plucky young woman who is also highly skilled with her three-sectioned staff.
  • Break the Cutie: More subtle than some, but the war is slowly but surely taking its toll on Nanami, especially once her brother is designated as the leader of the resistance. Things only get worse when they have to fight against Jowy. She can't stand to see her brother and her best friend fighting eachother, and share with Riou her wish for him and her to just leave. Considering they are both only 16 years old when all the tragedies take place and after witnessing so many horrors, it is no wonder she wants out. Ultimately, if she survives Rockaxe's assault, she fakes her own death to get away from it all, with Riou none the wiser unless you unlock the Golden Ending.
  • The Champion: Protecting the hero is her life's work, at least until the aftermath of the assault on Rockaxe Castle, either because she dies or she becomes broken and disillusioned.
  • Combination Attack: "Family Attack", that she can perform with Riou. As Riou is mandatory, this attack is always available to him as long as Nanami is in the team. Brother and sister join together to deliver a flurry of attacks on a single target, dealing double the damage they normally would, at the cost of Nanami getting "Unbalanced" afterwards... except when she unilaterally decides to treat herself to a picnic in the middle of the attack. As long as Nanami is decently geared, this attack packs up quite a punch.
  • Cool Big Sis: Deconstructed. As orphans who were adopted and raised together by Genkaku, Nanami took it upon herself to look after Riou when their grandfather passed away, believing it's her duty as the elder sibling. For most of the story, she does her best to protect him even at the expense of her own well-being. Unfortunately, she's also repeatedly shown to lack wisdom and emotional maturity to be a proper role model. Her impulsiveness, tendency to make poor decisions, and inability to come to grips with the harsh realities of war lead often to unnecessary trouble and clash with Riou's own growth and maturity as a person, particularly in Tinto where she urges him to run away with her and pick the coward's way out (which, in turn, leads to tragic results if he does as she wishes). Nanami and Riou are actually both 16 years of age, only a few months apart at best, and the story makes no secret that despite her insistence in taking the authoritative role, she's the more immature of the two. Should she survive the siege on Rockaxe Castle, Nanami comes to a bitter realization that she's not the pillar of support her brother needs and will only keep being a burden to him if she stays. With a heavy heart, she quietly returns home to Kyaro.
  • Cute Bruiser: She's a puckish, sweet-looking girl, but absolutely loves combat and flings herself into battle with admirable pluck.
  • Damsel out of Distress: At Kyaro, she managed to escape on her own, in a furious state of mind, rushing through and knocking out several soldiers on her way and terrorizing a few others with her "Golden Bird Holy Flower Dragon Tooth Glory Punch", hellbent on saving Riou and Jowy from their execution. Riou, Jowy, Flik and Viktor, who were on their way to save her, witness her behavior and are a bit agape, complete with Sweat Drop icons above their heads.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The moment you meet her properly, Nanami immediately tackles Riou to the ground and shakes him senselessly, asking him questions about what happened to him, as she was worried sick about him, but not actually letting him any room to answer (or breathe, for that matter). Not to mention her dragging him around, or throwing him into the wall hard enough to leave an imprint. In the end, she tells Riou in no uncertain terms that no matter what happened to him, he will always be her brother. The scene is accompanied by her theme, "Beautiful Morning", reflecting her carefree yet a bit overwhelming nature. This brief scene, filled with unique 2D sprite animations, highlights her hyperactive personality, while also making it clear just how loving and loyal she is to her brother.
  • Faking the Dead: If you gather all 108 Stars before reaching a certain point, her death turns out to be this when she is shot by Gorudo.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish to her brother's responsible despite repeatedly pointing out that she's the elder one. Nanami is brash, impulsive, and overall immature, unable to face the harsh realities of growing up in a wartorn land and keeps regressing back to her naive and idealist mindset, no matter how irresponsible. Her brother, in contrast, steadily grows wiser and more dependable as he adjusts to his role as a leader of men.
  • Four Is Death: During the climax of Matilda's invasion, Nanami successfully blocks the first three arrows shoots at her, but the fourth one hit his mark and kills her (or not, under the right circumstances).
  • Fragile Speedster: Extremely fast, so much that only a few select characters (namely Kasumi and Stallion) can outspeed her. She is even faster than The Hero, but she can't take as much punishment as him.
  • Genki Girl: The first thing she does when she sees that Riou has returned home is initiate The Glomp.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: She is mortally wounded protecting the hero from Gorudo - depending on whether or not the player meets the right conditions, she either survives and pretends to be dead in order to escape the war, or is Killed Off for Real.
  • Hot-Blooded: Don't mess with the hero or Jowy when she's around.
  • Leitmotif: "Beautiful Morning" is light and cheerful to emphasize the fact that Nanami is a Genki Girl.
  • Lethal Chef: Her cooking is so bad that the only reason Riou can eat it is because he's developed an immunity to it.
  • Not Blood Siblings: She and the hero aren't actually related, but were both adopted by Master Genkaku.
  • One of the Boys: To Jowy and the hero.
  • Parental Substitute: To Pilika, following the tragic death of her parents during the Toto massacre.
  • Plucky Girl: She's one of the bravest of all the Suikoden characters.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If she survives, Nanami decides to fake her death to get away from the conflict. After narrowly cheating death, she just can't stand to see her best friend and her brother fighting anymore. She also realizes that her brother has truly become a war leader, that his life is more important than her own, and that she will only keep being a burden to him if she stays by his side, citing Riou trying to protect her from the volley of arrows as something he shouldn't have done. She entrusts her brother in Shu's care, and tells him to reveal him the truth only if he decides to come home. Shu is initially a little reluctant, but as Nanami points out, only him will know when the time is right to do so.
  • Short Tank: To most of the other characters - Viktor especially, who calls her a "pug-nosed tomboy".
  • The Pollyanna: She almost always remains positive for the hero's sake, despite the hardships they must face.
  • Team Mom: She not only looks after Riou, but Jowy and Pilika as well. When Jowy assassinates Annabel and defects to the Highland Army, he leaves Pilika in Nanami's care.
  • Tomboy: But don't call her that to her face.
  • 10-Minute Retirement: She can convinces the Hero to flee with her during the Tinto incident, if you choose the right answers during a dialogue with her. Eventually, others characters will catch up and try to convince them to come back.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Nanami doesn't take kindly Jowy's plan to make them surrender during the false peace treaty event. She is taken aback and asks him why he would do such a thing, as she was sure until now that he joined Highland to put a stop to Luca Blight and to his "stupid war", thus giving him a good reason to leave them.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Nanami is an absolute idealist and refuses to accept the harsh reality that war does not end just by both leaders saying "Let us sign a peace treaty." out of blue or one of them going "Screw This, I'm Outta Here". She fakes her death to get away from those harsh realities and stays at Kyaro until both Riou and Jowy came back in her ideal visions (as buddies, not leaders of two warring factions).
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ghosts. She is petrified of them.

Jowy Atreides (later Blight)

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (Drama CD)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jowyatreides01.gif

Riou's best friend and fellow martial artist. Having come from a well-to-do family in their hometown of Kyaro, he is naive to the true natures of war and the vicious forces behind his country's military, leading him to detest the virulent politicking he sees around him.


  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He begs Luca to stop killing his adopted daughter Pilika. Luca won’t listen to this.
  • Apologetic Attacker: While determined to carry out his assassination of Anabelle, Jowy is shown to be extremely apologetic about what he is about to do.
  • Arranged Marriage: He marries Jillia Blight, the Big Bad's sister, to further his power in the Highland Kingdom.
  • Artifact of Doom: The Black Sword Rune - it soon starts to consume him...
  • The Atoner: After everything he does over the course of the game, Jowy doesn't believe he deserves the second chance Leknaat grants him in the Golden Ending. She tells him that while his sins have not been cleansed, he still has the power to help make the world a better place, which is enough to give him some peace.
  • Bash Brothers: His unite attack with the hero — which comes in very handy in the early parts of the game as it targets all enemies.
  • Big Bad: Eventually. He changes sides early in the game, and after much successful planning, becomes the new king of Highland after Luca is killed (which he's partially responsible for), making him the primary antagonist for the rest of the game. There's a case to be made that it's really a Big Bad Duumvirate with Leon, however.
  • Big Bad Friend: Even after his betrayal, he still cares about Riou and Nanami, giving them multiple opportunities to stop opposing him.
  • Casting a Shadow: He has a perfect affinity with the Darkness rune. His Black Sword rune spells also have a dark theme, though the damage they deal is actually non-elemental, and Jowy doesn't benefit from any damage bonuses while using it, though his high Magic stat and the inherently powerful spells make up for it plenty.
  • The Chosen One: By the Black Sword Rune.
  • Combination Attack: "Buddy Attack", performed with Riou. Attack all enemies at the same time. While their attack power isn't boosted (1x multiplier), it is not weakened either, unlike other Unite Attacks, making this attack a Disc-One Nuke against everything that is not a boss.
  • Crutch Character: While not overtly powerful, both his Black Blade Rune and the unite attack he shares with Riou make him very strong asset to have on the team that makes the first leg of the game a breeze. His departure marks the point where things start getting difficult.
  • Death Seeker: He's ready to die by the end of the game and knows he doesn't have much time left anyway. The only thing he wants is for his friend to kill him and put a definitive end to the war once and for all.
  • The Dragon: Climbs his way through the Highland ranks until he becomes this to Luca Blight.
  • Dragon Their Feet: Becomes the main antagonist after Luca's death.
  • Duel to the Death: At the end of the game, should Riou find him, he will force him into one final duel. At this point, Jowy is plagued by guilt and his body is failing him, so he fights Riou to atone for his sins and pass him his halve of the True Rune.
  • Enemy Mine: Of a sort; although he's technically Riou's enemy at that point, when Gorudo mortally wounds Nanami, Jowy still teams up with Riou to rip him a new one.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: His betrayal of the hero and Nanami. However it is revealed to be a False Flag Operation and he decided to destroy Highland from within after witnessing the power of Luca Blight. The hero and Nanami are initially completely oblivious to this plan. They catch on eventually and even conspire with Jowy to kill Luca Blight. What makes this trope really stick though is that Jowy decides that peace will never come between Highland and Jowston because the two countries hate each other so much, and he invites Riou and Nanami to a fake peace treaty signing with the purpose of taking them hostage and forcing the City-State to surrender. The only thing that saved Riou and Nanami then was that Shu planned ahead and used Pilika as a meat-shield to get them out of there. Because of this, the war continues regardless and both countries end up being absorbed into each other as the Dunan Republic.
  • Evil Is Cool: In-Universe example. Jowy outright states to Riou at the very end of the game that despite hating Luca Blight, he admired his strength and believed that if he was that powerful, he might have fulfilled his goal of establishing a peaceful world.
  • Fallen Hero: He still wants to end the war for the greater good of Highland and the City-States, but is methods to do so are too extreme for him to be called a hero anymore.
  • Fighting Your Friend: He is forced to fight against the hero, following his defection to the Highland Kingdom.
  • Four-Star Badass: Becomes one for the villain team.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: He goes from just another rank-and-file soldier in the Youth Brigade to the King of Highland in a mere couple of months.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: He keeps this aspect of himself hidden, but Jowy harbors jealousy towards Riou because of his strenght and his Magnetic Hero status. During their final duel, Jowy comes clean to Riou about these feelings.
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: While Jowy is absolutely repulsed by Luca's and Highland's actions, watching the Muse conference, serving as an Highland general and marrying into the Blight family gave him a new perspective, making him realize that the City-States of Jowston were far from being innocent and that no one involved in the conflict could rightfully claim the high ground. Once Luca is taken care of, Jowy becomes the king of Highland, and as their king he has responsibilities to his country. Not trusting the City-States of Jowston, Jowy wishes to unite both countries under Highland's banner, knowing full well that more blood would be shed in the process. On top of that, with the Beast Rune being awakened and running amok, Jowy is one of the few persons able to restrain its power with his own, at the cost of his own life.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: He rejoins Riou for a single fight late in the game, to rip Gorudo a new one for (possibly) fatally wounding Nanami.
  • Hero Antagonist: Contains the Beast Rune as the King of Highland.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Zig zagged, subverted and inverted. Jowy joins with a staff, which is his favored weapon, but switches to a sword when he betrays the City-States and joins Highland. He uses it in a single fight, and by the time you find him for the final duel, Jowy has picked up his staff again.
  • Heroic B So D: Seeing Nanami getting hurt (and, as far as he knows, getting killed) troubles him so much that it becomes obvious he has all but given up on the war after this event. His final duel against Riou is in essence a Suicide by Cop instance, as he knows he is going to die anyway, his body failing him and his mind plagued by remorse over killing so many people over the war.
  • Heroic R Ro D: Containing the rampaging Beast Rune is extremely taxing on Jowy's body. By the end of the game, he is actually at death's door, and will die unless you meet the Golden Ending's conditions.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Jowy tries too rationalize his betrayal and all the horrible things he did and allowed to happen this way: believing it was all for the greater good. At the end of the game, however, he admits that he deeply regrets everything and expresses remorse for killing Anabelle specifically.
  • I Want My Mommy!: Before getting captured by Highland under the false charge that he is a spy, Jowy asks to see his mother. He is told by his step-father, Marcel, that she doesn't want to see him. Jowy immediately calls out his lie, and demands to see her, struggling to get free of Highland soldiers' grasp while being dragged away.
  • Karma Houdini: Discussed in the Golden Ending. Jowy remarks to Leknaat after being allowed to live thanks to Riou not killing him and fulfilling the destiny of the Rune of Beginning that as the King of Highland, he's already got too many sins that he doesn't deserve to live. Leknaat rebukes that it's by continuously living that he can have a chance to redeem himself, his death actually won't absolve him from anything. Jowy then decides that "Jowy, the King of Highland" is dead, but he can restart as "Jowy, Riou's best buddy".
  • The Lancer: To the hero.
  • Lightning Bruiser: While he doesn't hit as hard as The Hero physically, he makes up for it by being a better mage than him.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: He came from a rich family, but his situation was not a happy one. Neither his stepfather nor his stepbrother had any love for him, his mother was distant, and the other children of Kyaro relentlessly bullied him. Riou and Nanami were the only friends Jowy ever had.
  • Magic Knight: Proficient in both physical combat and magic.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Zig-zagged. Jowy's character portrait changed after murdering Annabelle to something slightly more sinister, showing that Jowy might be at the point of no return. At the end of the game his sins are confronted outright, with Leknaat confirming that he will carry them for the rest of his life, but can still find some measure of redemption by making the world a better place.
  • Morality Pet: While Jowy staged the false peace treaty conference with the intent to either make Riou and Teresa surrender, either kill them if necessary (though not an option he genuinely wants to go with, as he will almost beg Riou to surrender if Riou initially refuses), his plans are thwarted by Shu sending in Pilika, allowing Riou and co to flee alongside their rescue party, leaving Pilika behind. Upon seeing Pilika, Jowy immediately orders his troops to stand down, defying Leon's authority, not wanting her to see her friends getting shot. Leon Silverberg drily points out that in doing so, Jowy just prolonged the war. Jowy calmly answers that he can't do this in front of Pilika.
  • The Mole: Jowy joins Luca Blight, believing he can work from within to bring about a better future. Jowy eventually becomes a general in Highland, marries Jillia Blight, and secretly plots against Luca with Leon Silverberg.
  • One-Hit Kill: The second spell of his Black Sword true rune, Twinkling Blade, has a decent chance (30%) of inflicting instant death. He also comes with the "Critical" war skill, which, if it triggers, will promptly destroy any opposing army. He retains that skill as an enemy army leader, making it extremely dangerous to face him head-on.
  • Parental Abandonment: His step-father throws him out of the Atreides house and his mother does not intervene.
  • Power of the Void - Jowy's Black Sword Rune spells.
  • Ryu and Ken / Brains and Brawn: He and Riou have roughly the same stats, but Jowy has slightly better magical stats and much better elemental affinities than Riou, making him The Brains.
  • The Starscream: To Luca Blight.
  • Storm of Blades: The Black Sword Rune's level 4 spell, Hungry Friend.
  • Suicide by Cop: His final duel against Riou is one. Plagued by remorse and knowing his body will fail him very soon, he wants to die at the hands of his best friend, and pass his half of the True Rune on to him.
  • Spell My Name With An S: 'JoEy'?
  • Tactical Withdrawal: Orders one after Rockaxe's events, despite Highland's army not necessarily being in a position of weakness and with Seed being noticeably against the idea. His choice is motivated by the fall of Rockaxe, which means that Mathilda's army may have given up the fight and put his own army in danger, but also because of what happened to Nanami, meaning that Jowy may no longer be in the right state of mind to continue the war. There is also the possibility that he wanted to give Nanami a chance to survive and get medical care as soon as possible.
  • Unstoppable Rage: When Gorudo's archers shoot Nanami, Jowy is visibly shaking with rage after Gorudo claims he will finish the job. Cue the boss battle, in which Jowy teams up with Riou, has access to his most powerful Rune spell, and is more than happy to eviscerate Gorudo on the spot.
  • We Used to Be Friends: His betrayal. Nanami is incredibly upset about Jowy's defection to the Highland Kingdom - even faking her own death (in some conditions) so she doesn't have to fight him.
  • Wicked Stepmother: Gender-Inverted. Marcel, Jowy's stepfather, never liked Jowy. Jowy himself never knew Marcel wasn't his biological father until he connected the dots following Marcel coldly rebuffing and disowning him when he is captured in Kyaro.

    Stars of Destiny 
NOTE: For Apple, Clive, Flik, Futch, Georg Prime, Hix, Humphrey, Kasumi, Killey, Lorelai, Luc, Maximilian, Meg, Pesmerga, Sheena, Stallion, Tai Ho, Templeton, Tengaar, Tuta, Valeria, Viktor, Vincent De Boule and Yam Koo see Suikoden Recurring Characters.

Gen-Gen

A Kobold conscript to Flik and Viktor's mercenary army, he stays with the mercenaries as they later form a resistance against Highland.

Rikimaru

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rikimaru.gif
A wandering swordsman with a huge appetite and an agenda of revenge against someone who wronged him in the past. Rikimaru joins the army to repay Riou and Jowy for covering his tab at a restaurant.
  • BFS: He wields a huge, curved blade.
  • Big Eater: His motivation for joining Viktor's mercenaries is to keep himself fed. Also, in the Cook-off challenge, he'll give anything high marks. It's rare he doesn't give something a 4 or a 5.
  • Big Guy: One of the more powerful fighters available for the active party early on, and amongst the first adult males to join the hero's cause.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: Has big, thick eyebrows.
  • Heroic Build: Very big and muscular.
  • Hot-Blooded Sideburns: Has sideburns and is on a quest for revenge.
  • Revenge: Someone who was dear to him was killed and he is looking for the killer.
  • Rōnin: He's a wandering sword for hire.

Millie

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/millie.jpg
A mysterious teenager found wandering a village in Jowston. Her steadfast companion is her bizarre pet, Bonaparte. The two join if Riou helps Millie locate the missing pet.

Kinnison and Shiro

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kinnison.gif
An archer living in the woods in Eastern Jowston, and his white wolf companion. The two join Riou after the latter shows himself to care about nature.

  • Bragging Rights Reward: If you successfully recruit all 5 squirrels, Feather, and Sigfried, along with Ayda, you get a special surprise during the end credits: a bonus cutscene, where Ayda visits Kinnison. However, this is only seen during the game's best ending, meaning, you also have to recruit all 108 Stars of Destiny.
  • Canine Companion: Shiro, to Kinnison. He is always by his side and apparently can communicate quite well with him.
  • Country Mouse: It takes him a little time to adjust to castle life, due to having grown up in the isolation of the forest.
  • Disk One Nuke: Shiro is incredibly strong for the first 1/3 of the game, able to kill most enemies in a single hit.
  • Forest Ranger: He is recruited after he sees that the hero has put a fallen bird's nest back in a tree.
  • Heroic Dog: Shiro. He's a Disk One Nuke and has by far the greatest strength for the first 1/3 of the game.
  • In Harmony with Nature: He only hunts what he needs to survive on.
  • Nature Hero: When you first enter the forest surrounding Ryubei Village, you find a fledgeling that's fallen from its nest. Put it back, then return a short time later to find Kinnison and Shiro, who'll ask if you were the one who saved it. Answer "yes" and he and Shiro will join Riou's army.
  • Nature Lover: If you have Richmond investigate him, he tells you Kinnison lives in the forest where you found him and that he's found peace with nature by only hunting what he needs to live on.
  • Nice Guy: Kinnison is humble and polite.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Shiro grew up with Kinnison from when he was a pup.
  • Pretty Boy: Kinnison is quite dashing, with an appealing, smiley face.
  • Purity Personified: A relatively rare male example.
  • Ship Tease: With Ayda. Due to both of them having animal companions and a mutual love for nature and animals, they seem to get along very well. It's even mentioned that they keep correspondence with each other after the war. If you recruited both of them, as well as the five squirrels and Sigfried, you get a special scene of them together in the ending.

Zamza

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zamza01.gif
An arrogant and highly vain magician from Zexen, who joins the mercenaries when Nanami appeals to his vanity.
  • Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He is highly narcissistic and thinks himself to be incredibly powerful and beautiful.
  • The Fighting Narcissist: He is a skilled mage, but is vain and lacks humility.
  • It's All About Me: When Shu makes him head magic instructor, he thinks this a logical and obvious choice given his own greatness.
  • Jack of All Stats: He has average stats, allowing him to fulfill any role. He won't be able to beat specialists, but he is definitely more than able to pull his weight.
  • Jerkass: One of the most obnoxious recruitable characters in the series.
  • Kung-Fu Wizard: He's a skilled martial-artist and also a good mage with the highest affinity possible to the fire rune. He believes that magic users must have both a strong body and a fierce intellect.
  • The Münchausen: Boasts about himself and his deeds a lot.
  • Only Sane Man: Despite all those insufferable tropes he possessed, Shu noted that he's still more stable than Luc or Viki, thus in his ending he ends up as the official magic instructor of Dunan.
  • Playing with Fire: One of the best Fire mages in the game, with a perfect Fire affinity, granting him +40% damage when using fire spells. His special attack also involves beating up monsters with fire fists.
  • Smug Snake: Talks a good game in terms of his combat and magical abilities, but gameplay-wise, his stats are average.
  • Insufferable Genius: Certainly behaves like one, much to your annoyance. His behavior even infuriates Richmond when you ask the detective to investigate him.
  • Useless Useful Spell: His Fire Dragon shoryuken style move is powerful, but damages him too. Subverted if you equip him with the Fire Sealing Rune, which reduces all Fire damage to zero. However, Zamza only has two rune slots available, so you would have to choose between equipping him with a magic rune to make use of his powerful rune magic, or equipping him with the Fire Sealing Rune to nullify his Fire Dragon rune's drawback.

Hanna

A wandering mercenary from the southern badlands, with a soft spot for children. Disgusted by Highland's wanton slaughter, she joins Riou in order to stop their destruction.

Tsai

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tsai01.gif
A gifted spear-fighter and craftsman who has retired from fighting, he rejoins the military effort when Luca Blight begins to threaten innocent lives. He has an estranged daughter, Tomo.
  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: He once pierced an opponent's iron helmet in combat.
  • Badass Pacifist: Crossed with Retired Badass, until the hero came along.
  • Disappeared Dad: He is this to his daughter, Tomo.
  • Eyes Always Shut: In his portrait art, his eyes are tightly closed.
  • Mr. Fixit: He's an expert at repairing weapons, so the hero makes contact with him to repair the famous Fire Spears.
  • Old Soldier: His is proficient in wielding spears, but is retired from combat when the hero first encounters him.
  • Red Baron: He's known as "Tsai of the Divine Spear". It should also be noted he's not a fan of being called this.

Anita

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anita_sii.jpg
A wandering swordwoman with a tumultuous past with a general from the Toran Republic. She joins when Riou is kind to her, or if said Toran general confronts her about her lazy manners.
  • Action Girl: She's an accomplished swordswoman and the Falcon rune she has allows her to do 3x the normal damage in combat.
  • Always Second Best: To Valeria, whom she can't stand. She has challenged her to 11 duels so far, and is said to have lost 10 of them. Ouch. Also reflected in their actual stats, as Valeria and Anita are extremely similar, with Valeria being just slightly stronger and luckier than Anita. Anita makes it up by having a slightly better magic stat and a lightning rune affinity.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: In hers and Valeria's Unite Attack.
  • Bifauxnen: She sports a masculine, cropped haircut.
  • Brilliant, but Lazy: Valeria, should you take her with you to recruit her, actually chides Anita for pissing away her talent by spending time getting pissed literally.
  • Friendly Enemy: Despite being rivals, she and Valeria are frequently seen at the HQ bar having a drink together.
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Spends a LOT of time not fighting knocking back a drink.
  • Lady Drunk: She's said to have a penchant for drinking heavily.
  • Lady of War: Subverted, She may look the part, but her personality and penchant for boozing makes her anything but.
  • Magic Knight: Hits relatively hard with both her rapier and magic. Shame she has to wait until her second Rune slot opens up.
  • Really Gets Around: It's heavily implied that she sleeps around; particularly if you have Richmond investigate her. Valeria also implies it, if you have Valeria with you while recruiting her, while Anita retorts that Valeria has never had a boyfriend.
  • Shock and Awe: Good affinity with Lightning element.
  • The Rival: Of fellow fencer, Valeria. This appears to be rather one-sided as Valeria has bested her 10 out of the 11 times they have dueled.
  • The Tease: Known for this, even hits on The Hero if you speak to her pre-recruitment.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: If you choose to recruit Valeria (rather than Kasumi), she and Anita will both gripe about being stuck having to work with each other.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Towards Valeria.

Gilbert

A mercenary soldier who is acquainted with Flik and Viktor. He will defect from Highland's employ if Flik and Viktor confront him in battle.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Viktor and Flik convince him to defect from Highland early in the game.
  • Luck-Based Mission: There is only a very small window of opportunity to recruit him — you must damage his unit during the third major battle map. He must also survive this battle.
  • Master Swordsman: The reason why Viktor and Flik are so keen to sign him up to the cause, believing they could make great use of his skills in training new recruits.
  • Old Soldier: He leads a group of hardened mercenaries and appears to be in his mid-forties at the very least.

Bolgan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bolgan01.gif
A firebreather who travels with his adoptive sisters Rina and Eilie in a traveling sideshow. He and his family become early allies of Riou, and remain his close confidantes upon the formation of the State Army under his leadership.
  • Big Eater: He likes nearly all the food served if he appears as a judge in the Cook Off.
  • Breath Weapon: A trick he learned in the circus — he has a fire-breathing attack.
  • Circus Brat: He was sold to the circus at a young age.
  • Dumb Muscle: Though he is interested in upgrading to Genius Bruiser and wanting to attend Greenhill Academy in the future.
  • Hulk Speak: "Bolgan happy!"
  • Mighty Glacier: Bolgan is the slowest character of the game. His strenght stat, however, is through the roof, surpassing Viktor's, with only few characters able to compete with him.
  • Walking the Earth: Him and his sisters make up a traveling circus.
  • Work Off the Debt: He had to pay his debt to the circus before he was able to leave.

Eilie

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eilie01.gif
A knife thrower traveling with Bolgan and Rina in a family-run sideshow act. She, along with her siblings, becomes a close ally to, and falls in love with, Riou, and the three are present when Riou, Flik, Viktor, and Apple revive the State Army.
  • Action Girl: Has no problem joining the army and fighting in combat. She can do reasonable damage with her throwing weapons and is fast to boot.
  • Expy: Menat, a young Egyptian woman from the 5th iteration of the venerable Street Fighter series is this to Eilie, and bears a striking resemblance to her via her hair and entire outfit — though of course Eilie came first by a good 20 years.
  • Boyish Short Hair: Ellie's is styled in a short bobcut hairdo, in contrast to her sister's waist-length hair. Which is used to convey that Ellie is the tomboyish one.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: It's obvious to her sister and Bolgan, that she nurses a huge crush on Riou. But she can't work up the nerve to say so.
  • Circus Brat: She grew up in the circus with her older sister, Rina.
  • Did Not Get The Guy: In Ellie's ending, she and her sister take their circus performance on the road again, without Ellie confessing her feelings for Riou.
  • The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: She's got a big inferiority complex towards her big sister.
  • Hot-Blooded: She's pretty feisty. She get particularly tempramental when teased about how she feels for the Hero.
  • Jack of All Stats: She forms a nice middle ground between her sister and adoptive brother in this regard: she's not as powerful physically as Bolgan, but she can dish out some hurt with her throwing knives, and she's handy with runes without being as good as Rina. The one category she beats both of them in is her speed.
  • Knife-Throwing Act: Her speciality in circus performances and weapon of choice in combat.
  • Modesty Shorts: She wears a pair of black leather tights beneath her sarong.
  • Playing with Fire: Ellie excels in the use of fire runes, though her magic isn't as potent as Rina's.
  • Romani: She and her sister, Rina, are a travelling pair circus performers, but dress like gypsies.
  • Smitten Teenage Girl: Noted by Richmond, during his third investigation on her.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Rina and herself. Rina often tells Eilie to act more feminine while Eilie is disgusted whenever Rina acts like a blatant flirt.
  • Walking the Earth: Her and her family make up a traveling circus.

Rina

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rina01.gif
A tarot reader and magician, traveling with and leading her siblings in a sideshow. The three of them are early allies to Riou, and eventually become some of his closest confidantes.
  • Action Girl: Has no problem joining the army and fighting in combat. She can do reasonable damage with her throwing weapons, but she can really tear it up with her use of magic. Off all the best mages she is probably the most physically able.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Despite Eilie feeling in her shadow, Rina does look out for her a lot.
  • Circus Brat: She grew up in the circus with her younger sister, Eilie.
  • Crystal Ball: Uses a crystal ball in her fortune telling act.
  • Femme Fatale: Frequently uses seduction to her advantage.
  • Fortune Teller: Her speciality in circus performances.
  • Good Bad Girl: As part of her Femme Fatale traits. This, however, made her ineligible for recruiting Sigfried, despite being only 18, or in terms of masquerading as Greenhill students.
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She is said to be able to drink even Viktor under the table.
  • I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: She's unmatched in the art of seduction and helps to "convince" a checkpoint guard to allow the party to proceed onto Tenzan Pass.
  • Jack of All Stats: As a mage, she has average proficiencies (C) in all magic runes except for water which is a B. She is also one of the characters that has 3 free rune slots to tweak with.
  • Lady of Black Magic: A feminine and mature Femme Fatale who is quite the powerful mage. Having access to all 3 rune slots allow for quite a lot of customisation.
  • Parental Substitute: To Eilie, after their parents were killed by bandits, and also to Bolgan.
  • Playing with Fire: Joins with a Fire rune attached, and can participate in the Circus unite attack along with Eilie and Bolgan.
  • Romani: Her look.
  • Tarot Motifs: She hurls tarot cards in combat.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Eilie and herself. Rina often tells Eilie to act more feminine while Eilie is disgusted whenever Rina acts like a blatant flirt.
  • Walking the Earth: Her and her family make up a traveling circus.
  • Younger than She Looks: She acts really mature... and then you realize she's 18. And hilariously, because of her mature act and display, she is unable to participate in the Greenhill mission. For the record, she's younger than Hix, who's eligible.

Freed Yamamoto

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/freedyamamoto01.gif
The personal retainer to Lord Granmeyer of South Window, who joins Riou's fledgling army after the latter is executed by Solon Jhee of Highland.
  • Battle Butler: He is Mayor Granmeyer's loyal aide.
  • Crutch Character: A downplayed version; he starts out at a somewhat higher level when he first joins you, but his overall stats are rather sub-standard, and it doesn't take long for everyone else to catch up with him.
  • Happily Married: To Yoshino. She even joins the army to be with him. In response, he refused a position in Dunan Republic in order to stay with Yoshino.
  • It's Personal: Joins the hero after his master, Granmeyer, is executed by Highland.
  • Nerds Are Sexy: He acts rather dork and looks a bit reedy, with glasses and everything, but he still wears his uniform well... and he has a very devoted wife.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Looks like a Japanese takeoff of Clark Kent
  • Not So Stoic: Is rather distraught After Granmeyer's murder.
  • Smart People Wear Glasses: Sports a pair of quite modern-looking, Clark Kent-esque glasses.
  • The Stoic: As befitting his Japanese-inspired character type, he's proper, composed and never lets himself succumb to high drama.
  • Stoic Spectacles: He's quite straight-laced and proper.

Shu

Voiced by: Show Hayami (Drama CD)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shu01.gif
A petty trader, having been expelled from the late Mathiu's school in the-then Scarlet Moon Empire for misbehaviour years before. An old classmate of hers, Apple recognizes his tactical genius (as well as her own self-perceived shortcomings in that regard), and convinces him to become the chief war strategist to the State Army with the help of Riou, Nanami, and Richmond.
  • Awesomeness by Analysis: He is a world renown strategist and is directly responsible for winning many of the battles of the game.
  • Broken Ace: He's a former star strategist, but is a cynical, broken man when the hero and his party first makes contact with him.
  • Character Development: He goes from blunt cynic to courageous mentor as the game progresses.
  • Cynical Mentor: He starts out as this, but becomes more of a traditional mentor as he comes to realise that it is sometimes necessary to put himself on the line in order to truly win.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The famous line between he and Leon:
    Leon: "Never put your own life in danger; that's the first rule in the book."
    Shu: "I had to throw the book away; you read from it too many times."
  • Defrosting Ice King: He starts cynical but gradually warms up and starts to really care, mostly due to Apple and Nanami's influence.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Attempts to pull one towards the end of the game to get rid of Leon Silverberg. His gambit succeeds, and he was at peace with dying that way, but Viktor ultimately found and saved him. Shu remarks, with some snark, that his survival was a miscalculation, and even chews out his rescuer.
  • Hopeless Suitor: To Apple (see The Resenter entry).
  • Impossible Task: He (rather cruelly) tells Apple that if she can find a coin that he hurls into a river, he'll join the hero's cause. It's also implied he never even throws the coin into the lake at all, instead pocketing it back up his sleeve, and the heroes only manage to find one thanks to Richmond.
  • Intrepid Merchant: Having been cast out by Mathiu, his uncanny grasp of the movements in the world quickly lead him to became rich through trading.
  • Jerkass: When first encountered he is cynical and does not want to get involved in the war. He is cruel to Apple making her get on her knees and beg and telling her if she can find a single coin tossed in the river then he will do as she asks.
  • Not So Stoic: Seeing Nanami gravely wounded is the only instance in the game where Shu loses his cool and yells. His confrontation with Leon also leads to a heated exchange with his strategist counterpart.
  • Oh, Crap!: When he finds Riou holding Nanami's wounded body in Rockaxe, Shu is visibly shocked and orders soldiers to get a doctor. Notable for being the only instance of the game in which Shu is shown to actually yell.
  • One-Hit Kill: Comes with the "Critical" war skill, which, if it triggers, will promptly destroy any opposing army, save for Kiba's and Luca's.
  • The Resenter: After successfully completing Shu's challenge, he admits to being cold towards Apple because she spurned him. Apple was already aware of his reasons and tells him "it was necessary" when he asks why.
  • Secret-Keeper: If you are on the path to the Golden Ending, he is the only one with Huan to know about Nanami's survival. Should you unlock the true ending, he will fill in Riou and Jowy on this.
  • Shout-Out: Much like Lucretia in the fifth game, Shu embodies certain elements of Zhuge Liang without wearing his feather fan. Namely, aside of being a young and brilliant strategist (Zhuge Liang is often portrayed as being youthful), Shu was a student of someone of tactical intellect (Mathiu Silverberg) much like how Zhuge Liang learned under Sima Hui, and in order to recruit him, the hero has to visit/confront him three times, alluding to the three visits of Zhuge Liang. And lastly, Shu shares the same name as the kingdom Zhuge Liang serves (Shu-Han).
  • The Strategist: He orchestrates all of the Allied Army battle plans. His genius is also reflected when assisting an army, as he is the best war support unit, bar none, granting not only a substantial +3 ATK and +1 DEF boost to the war unit, but also comes with both the Critical and Evade skills, effectively making whichever unit he is part of a force to be reckoned with.
  • The Stoic: He can be distant, reacting to major turns in the war with some degree of aloofness.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Very much so; he is distant and just a touch broody in addition to being, well, tall dark-haired, and handsome.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers one to Leon, effectively mocking the man and his god complex:
    Shu: "Unlike you, I don't think I'm some kind of god to use people like pawns!"
  • Troll: When Apple believes he died pulling off his last gambit and is trying to go search the burning battlefield for him, he casually strolls into the scene and tells her to not let his sacrifice be in vain. Granted, were it not for Viktor finding him, he would have died.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Against all odds, Viktor manages to find and save Shu after he tries to pull off a Heroic Sacrifice. A weakened but still snarky Shu complains about Viktor rescuing him.

Barbara

The brawny woman in charge of the allied storehouses. She joins Flik and Viktor's mercenaries well before Riou and Jowy do, and retains her role as their quartermaster as they form a resistance to Highland.
  • Apron Matron: To the Allied forces.
  • Bag of Sharing: Her speciality — she looks after the HQ warehouse, where all items and equipment can be dropped off, stored and retrieved when necessary. After the war she serves as a keeper of the nation's national vault.
  • Big Eater: Like Bolgan, she likes most of the dishes served when she judges the Cook Off.
  • Brawn Hilda: Her look — she's pretty well-built from dragging boxes around all day in the warehouse.
  • Damsel in Distress: In Hai Yo's storyline she is poisoned by Ryuki to force Hai Yo into a cook off for the antidote. Fortunately, she will not die regardless if Hai Yo wins or loses.
  • Determinator: Downplayed. She worked all night on a jigsaw puzzle before getting too frustrated.
  • Doomed Hometown: Like Viktor, she is also from North Window, but had moved to Ryube (making this a double dose) just before Neclord attacked it.

Huan

A genius physician from Muse, and Tuta's instructor in medicine. He joins the State army as its chief surgeon upon its inception, having fled from Muse during Highland's takeover.
  • Chinese People: Very much so. Even lampshaded in the cooking duel commentary where it's opined that he'll probably prefer Chinese cuisine.
  • High-Class Glass: He wears pince-nez, the classiest kind of glasses.
  • Healing Hands: A doctor who presumably uses a healing rune.
  • The Medic: He is the Allied Forces chief doctor.
  • Secret-Keeper: If you are on the path to the Golden Ending, he is the only one with Shu to know about Nanami's survival.
  • Smart People Wear Glasses: His glasses enhance his character as the wise healer of the group.

Leona

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leona01.gif
The bartender at the Mercenary Fort, and later at the army's headquarters, having supported Flik and Viktor well before Riou and Jowy joined them.
  • And Now for Someone Completely Different: She is used to swap party members in and out of the hero's team.
  • Cool Big Sis: To the younger members of the Allied Forces, even when she complains a little just for show.
  • Dragon Lady: Only in appearance. She's got the look, but not the evil personality.
  • Fanservice with a Smile: She runs the bar at the Allied HQ.
  • Lady in Red: She wears a sexy, clinging cheongsam.
  • Sexy Slit Dress: As shown in her official artwork, she wears a beautiful cheongsam with much emphasis on her bare legs.
  • Smoking Is Cool: She uses an elegant kiseru pipe.
  • Stepford Smiler: Downplayed, Richmond reveals that she is broken up when her hometown Toto burns down, but hides it in front of her customers.
  • Team Mom: She shares this role with Barbara and often watches over Pilika. It's especially evident during an (unfortunately) optional scene where she tells Riou that he can rely on her for advice and comfort if he needs it.

Amada

A fisherman living in Radat who helps run the local sluice gate over the river. He joins the army if Riou can show himself to be strong.

Oulan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oulan01.gif
A wandering bodyguard-for-hire, who detests when the weak are targeted. This chivalry prompts her to join with Riou when she sees him become a target by a bunch of thugs.
  • Amazonian Beauty: She's as strong as she looks.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Her specialty is unarmed combat.
  • The Berserker: Her Angry Dragon Rune can be used repeatedly if she's berserk.
  • Bodyguard Babes: She is a veteran bodyguard and powerful martial artist. Gameplay wise, this ability means that even if the unit she's in is destroyed during a battle, there won't be any fatalities.
    • If she's in your final party, and you say that you have to stay to find Jowy when L'Renouille Castle starts to collapse, she'll tell you that it's her job to be your bodyguard and that her contract is binding, and she'll start dragging you out of the throne room.
  • Combat Stilettos: Oulan wears a pair of sharp crimson high heels.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: She has a huge fan-club within the Allied Forces - and they're all female.
  • Fiery Redhead: She's got red hair and is a fiery martial-artist.
  • For Great Justice: She has a passion for defending the weak and is in constant search for people who are worth defending.
  • Heroic Build: More muscular than most women in the game.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Richmond lampshades this about her and Hanna.
  • Instant Fan Club: Accordign to Richmond, she is said to have one, composed only by girls.
  • Leotard of Power: Wears a red one under her robe, similar to her hair color, as evidenced by her official artwork.
  • Ms. Fanservice: As Richmond's final investigation notes: "I found a memo of hers. It said '90 60 89'. I wonder what if could mean? Some kinda code, I guess." note 
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Can deliver one using her Angry Dragon Rune (once per battle, but it can be used multiple times if she's affected by Berserk status), where she pounds the hell out of the enemy with her fists, knocks them upwards and finally uppercuts them in midair.
  • Smash Sisters: With Hanna, judging by their Unite attack.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Her battle sprite is the tallest non-monster sprite in the game.
  • Stone Wall: She has one of the highest defensive stats note  in the game. However, she is restricted to wearing light armor, balancing her impressive stats.

Richmond

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/richmond_sii.gif
A self-described detective who aids Apple in helping to recruit Shu for the military effort. He himself later joins and acts as an information broker on both already recruited members of the army as well as people of interest he thinks would be a good addition to the army.
  • The Barnum: When first encountered, but he joins the Allied Forces after the hero beats him in a coin flipping bet (where Richmond used a weighted coin). He apologizes for tricking the hero and agrees to join, impressed that the hero saw through his trick.
  • Expy: Of Columbo. Detective/Investigator? Check. Kinda worn-out raincoat? Check. Messy, brown short hair? Check. Even their facial features are similar to a degree. It's to the point that you would almost expect Richmond to pull off a "Just one more thing..." !
  • Information Desk: His speciality — he can be recruited (for a small fee) to find out the whereabouts of as yet recruited characters, although a certain amount of Figure It Out Yourself is also required.
  • Knowledge Broker: As well as letting the hero know the location of potential recruits, he can also investigate current team-mates, offering fun trivia but also useful game information about pairings for unite attacks, for example.
  • Hardboiled Detective: He runs the detective sidequests that becomes a fixture of later Suikoden games.
  • Film Noir: His look — the classic 1940's/50's, trench-coat wearing, coin-flipping, chain-smoking private eye. He also bares a striking resemblance to Columbo.
  • Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Has a pet cat called Bianca who he keeps in his jacket pocket.
  • Leitmotif: A bluesy, filmic theme tune starts to play whenever the hero speaks to him.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: He is strongly implied to be responsible for the coin that Riou finds in the river (Nanami says she thinks she saw Shu pocket the coin he supposedly threw and Richmond flips a coin into the air after witnessing Riou find the coin and Shu joining the army) that helps Shu join the army, who in turn is a major factor in defeating Highland's invasion.
  • Smoking Is Cool: Is one of the few characters shown smoking in the games.
  • You Do NOT Want To Know: Should you try to have Richmond investigate himself, he will briefly explain to your how handsome he is, but also make it adamantly clear that you won't get any more information from him. Tellingly, he is the only character besides the squirrels who has just one "Secret" entry.
    Richmond: "You want to know about me besides the fact that I'm handsome, wise, and brave? Don't get too close to the fire, kid, or you'll get burned."

Yoshino Yamamoto

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Freed's wife, who has stayed home back in Radat while he serves Granmeyer in South Window. She later joins the military to stay by Freed's side, showing her skill with a naginata in battle.
  • Action Girlfriend: She's more formidable in battle than her husband, Freed.
  • Alliterative Name: Yoshino Yamamoto.
  • Blue Blood: Implied — her surname, 'Yamamoto' is aristocratic.
  • Fluffy Tamer: Of a sort. She can occasionally be seen washing Gengen and Gabocha.
  • Happily Married: To Freed. The two of them later have Sanae from III after the war ends.
  • Hime Cut: Sports a blunt fringe and long black hair, as per her Yamato Nadeshiko character type.
  • Housewife: When not fighting, she can usually be seen doing laundry.
  • Jack of All Stats: Yoshino's stats are all average, with just her Luck stat being slightly better than the norm. Thanks to her great run affinities, she can pull her own weight, but because of serviceable Magic stat she won't be able to cast as many spells as other dedicated spellcasters.
  • Lady of Black Magic: Yoshino is secretly one of the most flexible magician of the game, as her rune affinities are all good, with her Water and Non-elemental's affinity being perfect. Usually only specialized characters such as Luc and Mazus can boast about such feat. Her magic power is, however, rather average.
  • Lady of War: She elegantly wields a naginata, a weapon traditionally used by women in feudal Japan.
  • Making a Splash: She excels at water rune magic.
  • Magic Knight: She's skilled in both combat and magic equally.
  • Naginatas Are Feminine: In keeping with her classy, traditional vibe, she wields a naginata, a weapon used by samurai wives to defend their homes from attackers.
  • Ojou: Type 1 — she's from a wealthy political family in Radat.
  • Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Granmeyer had a hand in introducing them to each other, and, as Richmond further notes, the marriage wrote itself.
  • Silk Hiding Steel: An elegant, classy young woman who's more than willing and able to lend her naginata to Riou's cause.
  • Third-Person Person: Speaks like this quite a bit, though one instance is clearly a translation error in which she should be saying her husband's first name as opposed to her own.
  • Water Is Womanly: A polite housewife who wields a naginata along with water rune magic.
  • What Does She See in Him?: Richmond lampshades this if you investigate her. Fu Tan Chen even states many says too good for him in her introduction.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: She provides a perfect example and exhibits of all the desired virtues. She's demure, attractive, kind, polite, good at housework and a badass with her naginata.

Alex

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An innkeeper alongside his wife and son outside of Muse, Alex is obsessed with treasure hunting. The family escapes the chaos of Highland's invasion, and joins Riou's army to help him.
  • Adventurer Archaeologist: He is obsessed with finding the lost treasure of the Sindar Race. When first encountered, the hero teams up with him to help his quest.
  • All That Glitters: The "treasure" turns out to be a powerful healing herb, that he originally disregards in frustration, but whose power he comes to appreciate when Hilda falls ill and it heals her.
  • Happily Married: To Hilda.
  • Ridiculously Average Guy: Only in appearance, see below.
  • We Buy Anything: He opens an item store at HQ, once recruited.
  • We Sell Everything: His store carries any item that has been found available in any other item store already visited by the hero.
  • You ALL Look Familiar: His design is quite simple and he is dressed just like one of the generic non-player character townsfolk from Suikoden 1, in what appears to be a fond Shout-Out to the previous game.

Hilda

Alex's wife and Pete's mother, who handles the day to day operations of running their family inn in the countryside. The three later escape Highland's invasion and join Riou in repayment for helping them earlier on.
  • Happily Married: To Alex, despite his adventurous streak.
  • Housewife: She's the classic caring mother and homemaker.
  • Parents as People: In Richmond's investigations she is worried about her son Pete, who is unable to make friends due to fleeing from a war to a place that is a big lake away.
  • Sacred Hospitality: After the traumatic events at Toto village early in the game, her warm, maternal manner provides a welcome respite.
  • Trauma Inn: She runs the peaceful White Deer Inn near Muse and later serves as the innkeeper at HQ once recruited.
  • What Does She See in Him?: Richmond lampshades this if you investigate her.

Adlai

A bizarre inventor living in South Window, his proudest accomplishment is the elevator, which he installs in the army's headquarters. He joins when Riou stands up to his demands.
  • Absent-Minded Professor: Demands the hero fetch him a variety of random items, then forgets that he even asked for them.
  • Anachronism Stew: His contribution to the Liberation army is inventing an elevator.
  • Fetch Quest: Required to recruit him — he sends the hero to fetch various random items, then denies having asked for them! The solution is to hurl the third item, the wind crystal, at him — he then agrees to join, impressed by the hero's pluck.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Inventing an elevator in the series' medieval setting is no mean feat.
  • Insufferable Genius: He's a crotchety old bastard, and his recruitment process, detailed above, is certainly insufferable.
  • Perpetual Frowner: His face is constantly sullen, and his mouth is sharply downturned.
  • Secret Test of Character: His ordering Riou around was to see if the boy was willing to stand up for himself.

Taki

A loving grandmother from near Two River, she joins without complaint in order to support the youth of her home country.
  • Cool Old Lady: Her children are all grown up, and she wants to be useful to the hero's war efforts in whatever way she can.
  • Cryptic Conversation: As helpful as her advice is, a certain amount of Figure It Out Yourself is also required.
  • Granny Classic: A sweet, short-statured little old lady who exhibits a very grandmotherly persona. "Taki" is also an old-fashioned, granny-ish name in Japanese — in the same vein as Edna, Doris or Vera are in English.
  • Little Old Lady Investigates: Her speciality — she provides hints on progressing the storyline if stuck, as well as the occasional useful proverb!
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: She's tiny.

Hans

A down-on-his-luck armorer stranded in Two River. He will join the military if asked to open a shop there.


  • Elemental Crafting: He's an armorer and once recruited, opens a store at castle HQ.
  • No Hero Discount: Unlike the Inn, which you can go to for free, you have to pay full price for his goods.
  • We Buy Anything: Buys everything, not just armor.
  • We Sell Everything: He sells armour that is available from any other armour store already visited.

Tetsu

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A bathmaker, he joins Riou when he sees that the boy loves baths.

Chaco

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A Winger child who harasses Riou during an official visit to Two River, he later joins the army alongside the Kobolds when he is convinced that Riou wants to fight for his tribe and town.
  • The Artful Dodger: He has amazing pick-pocketing skills and robs the hero's party.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Is an obnoxious little brat who steals your wallet and then insults you constantly as you try to get it back.
  • Fantastic Racism: The three races who live in Two River - Humans, Wingers and Kobolds - do not get along and live in three distinct quarters of the town.
  • Jerkass: Especially when first encountered, but he does mellow later on.
  • Mouthy Kid: To an unbelievable degree.
  • Street Urchin: He's not homeless, but he's a thief.
  • Super-Speed: He's significantly faster than you when running.
  • Winged Humanoid: He's one of the "Winger" race, basically a kind of harpy.

Fitcher

A government official, first with Muse and then with Two River, he joins the army in an official capacity and serves as a broker of forged documents and official information.
  • Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Due to having to deal with the complicated issues surrounding the government departments of Muse, and later Two River. His tone is exasperated and worn out.
  • Irony: He's an overworked government official who has the potential to and does become the Mayor of Muse according to its laws, in the game proper, after the Two River storyline he serves almost no help to the player character.
  • Non-Action Guy: Notable for being one of two male characters (the other being Marlowe) who serves absolutely no purpose in gameplay, whereas all the other ones at least offer some battle utility in one way or another. Even Jess, a government official just like him, can be used as a support character during war battles (and he provides quite good bonuses too). That said, unlike Marlowe, Fitcher is critical to the plot of the game, especially in its first half.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: His main trait — he comes across as a fool, but that is only an act to deceive others into underestimating him. Of course, as Richmond points out, not all of it is an act.

Ridley Wizen

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A hard-nosed Kobold general, he at first suspects Two River and Riou's army of selling his tribe out. He later realizes his mistake, and becomes one of Riou's top generals.
  • Badass in Distress: Before Luca Blight's assault on your base, Ridley found himself isolated and surrounded by Highland Generals, and the scenario usually defaults that he ends up captured. However, Ridley's war unit has a tendency to trigger Critical Hit more often, therefore, it's possible for him to decimate a number of his enemies before running out of luck or reinforcements arrive.
  • Batman Gambit: He and Shu cook one up to fool the Highland Army into thinking the Kobolds are still vulnerable to Fantastic Racism post-Two River so they can outflank the Highland Army later when they least expect it.
  • Blue Blood: He is Kobold nobility and is the General of the Two River Army as well as the leader of the Kobold section of Two River.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: He does NOT suffer idiocy or incompetence amongst his troops, and was prepared at one point to horsewhip Fitcher for what he perceived as cowardice/treason. (He held back during the act, though.)
  • Fantastic Racism: The three races who live in Two River - Humans, Wingers and Kobolds - do not get along and live in three distinct quarters of the town.
  • Four-Star Badass: So much so that his reputation will make every Kobold in the Jowston City States head for the battlefield without question. Bonus points for being more than happy to join his troops on the front lines. He's also got one of the best stats of a general in the game for major battles.
  • Heroic Dog: Kobolds in the series are based on dogs, rather than others which are more lizard-like.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Can perform one if you choose to run away with Nanami during the Tinto events: Ridley will die fighting off zombies, while looking for you. Shu subsequent slap and What the Hell, Hero? speech to the hero are well deserved.
  • Large and in Charge: Most of the Kobolds are based on fairly small breeds of dog (terriers, for example) - whereas Ridley, as the leader, is taller and has a doberman or alsatian look about him.
  • Our Monsters Are Different: He's a Kobold, but Suikoden Kobolds are more like cute dogs than the more usual lizardine versions.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Kobolds are proud warriors.

Boris Wizen

Ridley's son, and an equally powerful military commander. He will join if Ridley dies during the events of Tinto.

Hai Yo

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An eccentric chef with a mysterious past, he finds his way to the army's castle and insists upon becoming its head chef.
  • Brotherhood of Funny Hats: He was trained by the Black Dragon Clan of chefs, and was one of its four masters.
  • Chef of Iron: Is the Allied Forces chef and can be selected as a fighter.
  • Cooking Duel: The player must use the various ingredients found during the game to create recipes for Hai Yo as he battles the Black Dragon Clan members in a series of minigame cook-offs, which are judged by other members of the Allied Forces. Antonio and Lester from Suikoden 1 also make guest appearances.
  • A Day in the Limelight: The Cooking Duel is his story, outside of the main one.
  • Defector from Decadence: He eventually escaped from the Black Dragon Clan, taking with him the coveted "Moon Bird Recipe" — problem is, the Clan want it back, which in-game leads to a series of escalating cook-off minigames.
  • Frying Pan of Doom: He wields a wok.
  • Fun Personified: He's a very happy-go-lucky guy. Though he hides a dark past that haunts him and often breaks this personality.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: How Hai Yo wins his cook-offs, especially against the Black Dragon clan. The clan sure have their own excellent cooking skills and signature dishes. While Hai Yo is equally skilled, what brings him victory is basically being The Heart: Rather than serving signature dishes all the time, he (and to an extent, the player) modifies his food combo based on what the current judges like and the timing of the serving (such as serving a desert with a desert food, not a main course food). In the end, he states that his ultimate victory with Jinkai is because the people of the castle have their hearts touched with him and support him back as a result.
  • Heroic BSoD: After the death of Ryuko and witnessing many Black Dragon clan committing suicide after he beat them in cook-offs, Hai Yo becomes depressed and unable to find joy in cooking again. It took Antonio hitting him in the face and then having a cook-off with him to restore his spirit.
  • Lethal Joke Character: Despite his silly appearance and subpar stats, his three rune slots add twinking potential to him.
  • Mysterious Past: This is unraveled as the Black Dragon Clan begin to pursue him to get their recipe back.
  • Team Chef: Once recruited, as well as offering a fun, sequential Cooking Duel, he can also craft dishes that have various health and stat-buffing effects for the active party.

Shilo

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A vulgar gambler, he joins Riou's army when he's convinced that the leader is luckier than him.
  • Betting Mini-Game: He hosts a chinchirorin game, which you can play to try and increase your fortunes. After the end his gambling house is still successful in North Window.
  • Born Lucky: So he says....
  • The Barnum: ...but a certain amount of trickery does go on.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: You must best the score on his mini game to have him join the hero.
  • Delinquents: His look — the typical banchou or juvenile gang member.
  • Jerkass: When you first meet him.
  • The Gambler: He's always up for a game of chinchirorin once recruited.
  • Tsurime Eyes: As befits his arrogant character.
  • Oral Fixation: He chews a piece of straw.
  • Smug Snake: He's very rude to the hero if you encounter him before the HQ is level 2.

Sid

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Chaco's older brother (or so he considers himself), who delights in tormenting the poor boy, he joins when he realizes that Chaco is part of the army, thus giving him ample opportunity to continue terrorizing him.
  • Beneath the Earth: He lives a troglodyte existence in the sewers beneath Two River.
  • Big Brother Bully: He LOVES to torment Chaco in particular, saying that they are "like brothers".
  • The Bully: He picks on Chaco all the time, often threatening to ''eat'' him.
  • Casting a Shadow: His highest affinity is to the Darkness element.
  • Giggling Villain: "Heeheeheeheeeeee!" Subverted that he's not a villain at all, he just likes creeping off his friends.
  • Loners Are Freaks: He prefers to live in the Two-River Sewers, and he's quite creepy.
  • Peek-a-Bogeyman: The local children in Two River are terrified of him — he loves to tell them horror stories.
  • Primal Fear: He's creepy to say the least — even cocky Chaco is terrified of him.
  • Token Evil Teammate: He's terrifying to Chaco, but never actually does anything evil onscreen.
  • Slasher Smile: He sports a terrifying rictus grin.
  • White Magic: He's also got an affinity with the resurrection rune, surprisingly.
  • Wild Card: He only joins the hero because Chaco does and he wants to keep scaring him.

Gabocha

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Gengen's younger relative, who idolizes the soldier. Gengen visiting Gabocha will convince him to join the army, much to the former's chagrin.

Gadget

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A robot created by famed trickster Juppo to act as a companion to Meg on her journey. He and Meg join Riou in order to stop the war so she can travel unimpeded.

Wakaba

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A martial artist and the pupil to Long Chan Chan, she is training in the Forest Village near Greenhill, and will join Riou in order to improve herself, as well as search for her master.

Tony

A farmer living and working for the mayor of Forest Village, he joins the army in order to set up a thriving farm.
  • Farm Boy: He's a sweet, naive young man and sets up a small farm at the HQ.
  • In Harmony with Nature: Exhibits a natural gift for nurturing vegetables, which can be taken to Hai Yo to craft recipe items.
  • Green Thumb: He sets up a vegetable farm at the HQ that expands when seeds are delivered to him.
  • ManChild: He's a simple, sweet-natured kind of guy.
  • Mini-Game: If there are no seeds to be delivered, he also provides a Whack-a-Mole minigame.

Emilia

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The headmistress of the academy in Greenhill, and a supporter of Teresa and the resistance against Highland. She joins the army when Riou reveals himself as its leader and his intent to save Teresa.

Teresa Wisemail

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The acting mayor of Greenhill upon the death of her father, Alec. She joins the State Army when Flik, Riou, Nanami, Pilika, Nina, and Shin work together to smuggle her out of the city under Highland's nose.
  • Action Girl: In war.
  • Badass Boast: When she engages Luca in the army's (failed) attempt to execute him on the battlefield:
    "I will no longer accept your tyranny."
  • Bodyguard Crush: On her guardian Shin, but these feelings are never communicated.
  • Driven to Suicide: She attempted to take her own life for failing to repel the attack on Greenhill, before agreeing to join the Allied Forces cause.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Sports pale blonde hair and is a true-hearted, just leader.
  • Heroic Spirit: Protecting her citizens comes first for her at all times.
  • Long-Range Fighter: Her war unit specializes in archery, and is the only archer war unit able to shoot from a 3 squares distance thanks to her Bombard skill. It comes with a caveat though: her war unit has, by default, the lowest Attack score of all your war units, starting at 5, which means than unless you give it characters with very high attack bonuses, it is unlikely to be able to damage enemy war units besides the ones with the lowest defense. On top of that, some enemy war units, such as Culgan and Seed, can't be damaged by the Bombard skill at all.
  • Meaningful Name: A wise ruler named Wisemail.
  • Ojou: Type 1 — she comes from a powerful, political family.
  • Our Presidents Are Different: After awhile, the Dunan Republic is formed and she becomes the President after Shu's retirement. She is a President Personable type, as she is very much a wise and kind person while leading the nation, based on her experience in Greenhill. Before and after the Higheast Rebellion, she continued to maintain peace and prosperity in Dunan.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Takes after her father, but in a much more compassionate way.
  • Redeeming Replacement: Alec Wisemail, while a capable leader, can be rather scheming thanks to his involvement in the Karaya conflict. Teresa inherited his leadership skills, but she's MUCH more compassionate than her father.
  • Rescue Arc: The hero's team travel to Greenhill to help reinstate her as mayor from her exile.
  • Self-Deprecation: Felt she was not fit to take over her father's duties. In response, the citizens of Greenhill declared her the "acting mayor" instead.
  • Survivor Guilt: When Muse soldiers threatened to sell her for ransom to Highland, she was rescuded by Shin and hides out in a forest cottage. However, in her solitude (and safety) she blames herself for Greenhill's fall.
  • Universally Beloved Leader: She cares for her citizens above all else and is well-loved by the people of Greenhill.
  • You Are in Command Now: She had taken over as mayor of Greenhill from her ailing father, Alec, before the Highland Invasion. After the war is over, she ended up becoming the leader of Dunan after Shu retiring from being a Chancelor.

Nina

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A student in Greenhill who falls in love far too easily, harbouring crushes on Nash Latkje and later Flik. In reality, however, she is actually working with the resistance in order to keep Teresa safe, and joins alongside her, Shin, and Emilia.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Her rather amusing Unite attack with Flik.
  • Little Miss Badass: She's young and petite but stat-wise, she is surprisingly one of the better characters in the entire game — her unite attack with Flik is especially potent.
  • Joshikousei: She's a student at Newleaf Academy in Greenhill.
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Newleaf Academy's answer to this trope — she's quite mean to Nanami, very self-assured and does tease the hero's party with her ghost stories, but she's a nice girl at heart.
  • Mouthy Kid: She shows no deference and is constantly sassy.
  • Playing with Fire: She's one of the best Fire mages in the game.
  • Plucky Girl: She rallies the student body to help repel Highland's forces, and was acting as a mule to keep supplies running to Teresa whilst she was in exile.
  • Smitten Teenage Girl: Falls head over heels in love with Flik at first sight.
  • Stalker with a Crush: She has a huge (unrequited) crush on Flik and follows him around wherever he goes.
  • Throw the Book at Them: She uses her book-belt as a weapon, whirling around and smacking the enemy with it (and getting a little dizzy in the process).
  • Unknown Rival: Nanami is puzzled when Nina sizes her up as competition for Flik's affections.

Shin

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Teresa's bodyguard from the Nameless Lands to the south. He is incredibly stoic and undyingly loyal to Teresa, which prompts him to follow her and join Riou's army.
  • Animal Motifs: His sword is named after a spider.
  • Battle Butler: For Teresa.
  • Bodyguard Crush: He is Teresa's guardian and it's pretty obvious he has fallen in love with her.
  • Cool Sword: A curved blade (given his motif, perhaps inspired by a shamshir or scimitar) called the Ray Tarantula. Appropriately enough, it's got a huge spider for a crossguard.
  • Glass Cannon: He has pretty strong attack power, but his defense is pretty low.
  • Master Swordsman: He wields the Ray Tarantula Sword and has a unique, 3 hit attack called the Spider Slay.
  • Paintingthe Fourth Wall: Shin and Genshu's United Attack, which cuts the screen in half.
  • Properly Paranoid: Richmond tried to investigate him during a nap, and found out Shin is VERY alert and ready for battle at a moment's notice.
  • The Quiet One: He doesn't really say much.
  • The Stoic: Very much so, he's consistantly stern and steely.

Yuzu

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A little girl with a particular skill in rearing livestock, she joins the army when Riou helps her locate her missing flock of sheep.
  • Cheerful Child: She's adorably perky and upbeat.
  • Disappeared Dad: She has become separated from her grandpa when the hero encounters her. The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue states that she's reunited with him after the war.
  • Fairytale Motifs: Like Little Bo Peep, she has lost her sheep and the hero must help her to find them before she'll join him.
  • Farm Girl: She's a farmer's grand-daughter.
  • Free-Range Children: She's ten years old, completely lost in the Kobold woods when first encountered, and her parents are nowhere to be seen!
  • Friend to All Living Things: She's very knowledgeable in animal husbandry. Once recruited, she helps Tony with the livestock at the HQ farm.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair in bunches.
  • Ironic Nickname: She loves her farm animals, but is quite objective about their fate, giving them names like "hamburger" and "pork-chop".
  • Mama Bear: Just don't try to eat her favourite sheep, Taro.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Taro, her big fluffy sheep.

Camus

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (Drama CD)
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The leader of the Red Knights of Matilda, forming a triumvirate of sorts with his best friend Miklotov and their leader Gorudo. He defects to Riou's army out of disgust for Gorudo's Lack of Empathy towards common citizens.
  • Blue Oni: To Miklotov's Red Oni, which is pretty ironic seeing that he wears red.
  • Four-Star Badass: Was for his first master, resumes this for the hero.
  • Good-Looking Privates: He is a captain of the famous Matilda Knights.
  • Heel–Face Turn: He leads a mass-defection of the knights and joins the hero following his master Gorudo's reluctance to counter the atrocities committed by Highland.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With fellow knight, Miklotov.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: He believes in the ideals of chivalry.
  • Magic Knight: He's equally highly skilled in combat and magic.
  • My Country, Right or Wrong: While disgusted at Gorudo's actions, Camus is much more reluctant to leave Matilda than Miklotov.
  • Playing with Fire: His permanently attached Rage rune provides the ultimate fire based magic. Sadly, he doesn't have any affinity with Fire magic, and actually gets a bonus for Wind magic.
  • Pretty Boy: He's a dashingly handsome young knight.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the Blue Oni to Miklotov, despite being actually the calmer one and wearing red.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Alen from the first game, being the prettyboy knight equipped with Rage Rune, although Camus' personality is more in-line with Alen's buddy Grenseal.

Miklotov

Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno (Drama CD)
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The leader of the Blue Knights of Matilda, he accompanies Riou to witness Luca Blight massacring the citizens of Muse. Upon Gorudo revealing himself to not care about the refugees from said genocide, he and his best friend Camus defect to Riou's side.
  • The Cape: He's incredibly just and will do whatever possible to do what is right.
  • Four-Star Badass: Was for his first master, resumes this for the hero.
  • Good-Looking Privates: He is a captain of the famous Matilda Knights.
  • Heel–Face Turn: He leads a mass-defection of the knights and joins the hero following his master Gorudo's reluctance to counter the atrocities committed by Highland.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With fellow knight, Camus.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: His unique Knight Rune allows him to protect dying comrades by having him take the hit for them.
  • Heroic Spirit: His anger at Gorudo's refusal to fight against Highland, even after Luca Blight slaughters refugees and sacrifices many of the citizens of Muse in a magic ritual, leads him to break his oath of loyalty to the Matilda Knightdom as he is "a human first, and a knight second". This inspires Camus and roughly half of the Matilda Knights to do the same and join the New State Army.
  • Hot-Blooded: He's surprisingly hot-headed for a knight. He also has, fittingly, an hidden Fire magic affinity, but considering his low magic stat and him unlocking his second rune slot at level 52, you may as well ignore it.
  • Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: The first to do so in the face of Gorudo's uncaring, inhuman attitude, which is then followed by a lot of his friends, Camus included.
    "I am a human first, and knight second!"
  • Knight in Shining Armor: He believes in the ideals of chivalry.
  • Magic Knight: He's equally highly skilled in combat and magic.
  • Pretty Boy: He's a dashingly handsome young knight.
  • Red Oni: To Camus' Blue Oni, also ironic because he wears blue.
  • Sir Swearsalot: Despite his knightly exterior, he's prone to rough speech.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Grenseal from the first game, the prettyboy knight, though Miklotov is a lot more impulsive like Grenseal's buddy Alen, and he switches the Thunder Rune to Knight Rune.

Kiba Windamier

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One of the military leaders of Highland, the two have sworn fealty to King Agares Blight. When news arrives that Luca has slain his father, becoming king, a disgusted Kiba defects to Riou's side alongside his son.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: He is taken prisoner after battle map 7 and joins the Allied Forces.
  • Determinator: His defense in war battles is so high that in the battle before he can be recruited, it's almost impossible to destroy his unit. In fact, you actually can throw everything at him, and you still have to wait for the plot to take care of things because he just refuses to be defeated.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Richmond's investigations let you know he had a high rank, but his pay was pretty crappy despite his fine service record.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Join the Allied Forces after learning of King Agares death.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Acts as a decoy toward the end of the game, giving the main army a fighting chance, but dies in the process. He did this knowing fully well that he wasn't going to come back.
  • Honor Before Reason: Eventually inverted. He insisted to be executed as a soldier being taken prisoner since he's got his pride. Then news of Agares' murder reached his ears. Immediately afterwards, he decides to take the shame of being a traitor and joins the New State Army because he can't just reasonably serve a madman like Luca, and there's just no honor in there either.
  • Made of Iron: His defense in War Battles turns his unit into this.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Whereas he is powerful, built and typically masculine, his son Klaus is mild-mannered, bookish and comparitively effeminate.
  • Stone Wall: His stats as a general: his attack is mediocre, but his defense is insanely high, especially when his son is in his unit.
  • Take Up My Sword: Asks Shu to take care of his son before the battle in which he dies.
  • They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: He get's very angry with Viktor for his lack of respect when he's captured.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: His main motivation to join is because Luca Blight murdered his own father, Agares, who was his master.

Klaus Windamier

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Kiba's son and lieutenant in their military company, he acts as a strategist for the Highland Army. Once Agares Blight is murdered by Luca, however, he defects, eventually becoming one of Shu's lieutenants in strategy alongside Apple.
  • Defeat Means Friendship / Heel–Face Turn: He is taken prisoner after battle map 7 and joins the Allied Forces.
  • Non-Action Guy: He'll visit the battlefield, but only to give advice and remains safely out of the combat zone.
  • Pretty Boy: Unsurprisingly, he's said to take after his mother in both looks and personality, rather than Kiba.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Whereas he is mild-mannered, bookish and comparatively effeminate, his father Kiba is powerful, built and typically masculine.
  • Stone Wall: Similar to his father, as a trooper he will provide +3 defense and the skill evade to the general
  • The Strategist: He was one of Highland's most brilliant strategists before his defection to the Allied Forces.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: His main motivation to join is because Luca Blight murdered his own father, Agares, who was his master.

Badeaux

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A mysterious wanderer with an affinity for animals, he joins Riou when one of the latter's animal friends is brought to him and convinces him of Riou's gentle nature.
  • Badass Long Robe: Sports a long, brown, fur-trimmed robe.
  • The Beastmaster: His speciality — he can communicate with many different types of animals.
  • Berserk Button: Literally - his Howling Rune ability puts all animal companions into a permanently berserk state.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a huge scar running up the entire left hand side of his face into his hair-line.
  • Hermit Guru: He's found deep in the woods on the Forest Path, far away from civilisation.
  • Nature Hero: Recruiting him unlocks the ability to recruit two of the three large monster characters.
  • Sound Stone: He comes equipped with two magic listening crystals that can be used to recruit any two large characters including: Feather, Abizboah, Sigfried or L'Roladia.
  • Whip of Dominance: Badeaux is an expert beast tamer who wields a whip in combat to denote his control over animals. It's not treated as his being cruel to animals, and he actually gets along with them better than with people, which is why he's a Hermit Guru.

Connell

A young man living in the Forest Village, he has a passion for music and sound, and joins Riou's army if presented with a Sound Set.
  • The Empath: As a phonologist, he has the ability to listen to the music of the mind, a way is deducing the mood of others.
  • In the Blood: His father is also a gifted phonologist.
  • Music and Sound Effects: His speciality - he can change the menu sound effect options once recruited.

Ayda and Feather

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A forest girl and her griffin companion; she and Feather join Riou when he protects them from a flock of rogue griffins.
  • Action Girl: She doesn't carry that bow and arrow for decoration. Just sayin'.
  • Birds of a Feather: See the Nature Hero entry.
  • Bond Creatures: Feather. The hero is able to befriend him by using the magic Listening Crystals Badeaux gives him.
  • Braids, Beads and Buckskins: Her look is a cross between a forest ranger's and stereotypical Native American garb.
  • Bragging Rights Reward: Seen during the end credits of the best ending, if you've successfully recruited all 5 squirrelsnote , Feather, and Sigfried. If you do, you'll get a bonus scene where she visits Kinnison, causing him to blush.
  • Distaff Counterpart: She's basically a female Kinnison.
  • Flechette Storm: Her unite attack with Kinnison (or Stallion) has them shower all enemies with a rapid fire barrage of arrows.
  • Friend to All Living Things: When your party finds her in the Forest Village, she's defending Feather from the townspeople, to keep them from killing him. They get scared off when a flock of griffons swoop in to attack. Ayda tries communicating with them and gets wounded for her trouble, propmting your party to save her and Feather.
  • Giant Flyer: Feather.
  • Hachimaki: She wears a headband with a pair of feathers adoring each side.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: In order to get all 108 stars, you have to recruit Feather with one of your two listening crystals, as he and Ayda come as a pair. The other monsters are optional.
  • Hot-Blooded
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: Hilariously subverted. When Nash stumbled across her in the nude, he had to run for his life.
  • Monster Allies: Feather, a recruitable griffin.
  • Nature Hero: Like Kinnison, she's also a defender of the woodlands and the animals therein.
  • Nature Lover: Although you find her in the Forest Village, if you talk to the townspeople, you'll learn she actually lives in the forest surrounding the village instead.
  • Nubile Savage: She's hot-blooded....and just plain hot. In fact, Nash from the Suikogaiden games even stumbles across her when she's naked.....and yes, this trope more than applies.
  • Our Gryphons Are Different: Feather — he is their Prince.
  • Ship Tease: With Kinnison.

Sigfried

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A spirit of sorts living in the forest, he is first confronted when Hix undertakes the heroic quest of legend at Tengaar's insistence. Later, he will join if Riou brings a "pure maiden" to see him.
  • Cool Horse: He's a unicorn.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: He will only show up for attractive young maidens.
  • Bond Creatures: The hero is able to befriend him, partly by using the magic Listening Crystals Badeaux gives him.
  • Hilarity Ensues: When recruiting him, bringing Miku-Miku or Sierra to him as a maiden has interesting results.
  • Monster Allies: A unicorn recruitable to the active party.
  • Mythology Upgrade: Unlike traditional unicorns, who's magic is mostly limited to teleportation, he possesses the unique Blessed White Lady Rune, which has 3 powerful magic attacks.
  • Side Quest: He first appears in Hix and Tengaar's sidequest, where Hix agrees to undertake "The Test of the Unicorn" ....which turns out to be an obvious Fetch Quest sham but coincidently, the pair do encounter Sigfried, who backs off when Hix bravely protects Tengaar from him.
  • Virgin Power: The other requirement to recruiting him is to bring a young female character with the hero to meet him.

Lebrante

An appraiser living in Radat, he has a love for Celadon Urns, and will join the army as its appraiser if presented one.

Simone Verdricci

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Vincent de Boule's best friend with a love of roses. He is found in Radat mourning the loss of the Rose Brooch that Vincent gifted him. If it is found and returned to him, he will join Riou in gratitude.

Gordon

An intrepid merchant living in Gregminster, he will only ally himself to those he considers to have great business acumen.
  • Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: True, all the merchants who join your team don't give you any sort of discount, but this guy makes a point of letting you know he wouldn't even try.
  • Gotta Catch 'Em All: His is possibly the most arduous recruitment process in the game...
  • Intrepid Merchant:....but now he wants YOU to do it.
  • Chain of Deals: The longest and most difficult in the game — especially without a guide-book.

Mondo

A high-ranking ninja in Rokkaku, he will join the military is convinced by Kasumi, or failing her, Hanzo.

Sasuke

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A young ninja in Rokkaku, he and Mondo will join if either Kasumi or Hanzo order him to aid Riou.

Tomo

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A demure spearwoman, and Tsai's daughter. She will join in order to convince her estranged father to come home after the war ends.
  • Action Girl: As with all the non-Squishy Wizard women mages.
  • Closer to Earth: She's more stable and logical than Tsai.
  • Cute Bruiser: She's quite strong for a 14 year old girl.
  • Disappeared Dad: Tsai is her (absent) father.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Only she and Luc have an Earth affinity of A.
  • Just the Introduction to the Opposites: She's sensible and grounded, whereas her dad Tsai is flighty and runs away from his marriage problems.
  • Kids Play Matchmaker: She has been looking for Tsai in order to make him reconcile with her mother.
  • The Last Of These Is Not Like The Others: A few characters who show up over multiple Suikoden games will change Star assignments between games. Tomo, however, is the only character who can have different Star assignments within a single game, because she will occupy the slot left vacant by either Valeria or Kasumi, whoever you didn't choose to recruit.
  • Shout-Out: She is likely named after Tomo(e) Gozen, a rare example of a historical female samurai warrior (onna bugeisha), known for her bravery and strength.
  • The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Lampshaded by Richmond, and even by the cooking duel MC.

Bob

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A werewolf living in Two River, he will join Riou if he sees that Riou has a sizeable army.
  • Badass Boast: "Now, shall I show you my true-form and power?!"
  • Cheshire Cat Grin: His portrait has him smiling widely.
  • Dreadlock Warrior: He has dreadlocks.
  • Gotta Catch 'Em All: He'll only join the hero if he already has 80 or more recruits.
  • Monster Town: He comes from a whole village of lycanthropes.
  • Our Werewolves Are Different: He is able to uses his Rabid Fang Rune to control his transformations, though with a twist: His rune merely helps him keep his human form easier, while being a wolfman is a inherent power.
  • Sole Survivor: Windy from the first game torched his hometown.
  • Token Minority: He has quite dark skin, dreadlocks and his costume colour-scheme is the same as the flag of Ghana. However, Hauser is also black.

Karen

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A gentle and innocent woman who moonlights as a belly dancer in Kuskus, she will join Riou if he dances on stage with her.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Her clothes in her dancer garb certainly have a Bedlah Babe vibe to them and she dances in a middle-eastern fashion.
  • Dance Battler: You have to match her dance moves to recruit her.
  • Everything's Better with Sparkles: This accompanies her attack when she's in combat, and is complemented with a short musical flourish.
  • Femme Fatalons: She fights with her long fingernails.
  • Rhythm Game: The hero has to match her dance steps in order for her to join. Later the hero can also play harder versions of it to win her statues and art.
  • Split Personality: She displays two distinct personality types, depending on whether she is on stage. Her actual personality is sweet, shy and modestly dressed, but her alter ego (and look) is that of a belly dancer. When she dances, she's confident, beautiful and sexy. Interestingly, she can be used to recruit Sigfried.

Annallee

The lead singer in a band with Pico and Alberto, the three were separated when Muse was sacked by Highland. She now lives as a destitute street performer in South Window, and will join if Riou listens to her song.

Hoi

A petty crook operating in Radat, he impersonates Riou attempting to swindle food and other luxuries using the general's name. He will join when confronted about this.
  • Criminal Doppelgänger: He pretends to be the hero, mostly in order to afford himself an easy life, with free food, drink and compliments. He is revealed to be a fake when the villagers ask him to see the Bright Shield rune, and it turns out he has simply drawn it on.
  • Easy Impersonation: He bares little resemblance to the hero, being short, fat and with only a vaguely similar outfit. However the people of Radat seem to be taken in by him to start with.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed. Compared to his Star predecessor (Krin), while Hoi might be very much a suck-up for the hero, he seemed to at least care for quite an extent to the hero, treating him like a 'bro' in a loony way and even was saddened with Nanami's apparent death. That's pretty much his only genuine kinder side and it's generally overshadowed with his attempts at thievery.
  • Gonk: Unlike the hero, he has a rather piggy, unappealing face.
  • I Owe You My Life: He pledges to join the hero, after he helps him out when the mobs turns on him in Radat when they learn the truth.
  • Loony Fan: Of the hero — he spends most of his time trying to be just like him.

Long Chan Chan

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Wakaba's instructor who she is on a search for. He will join the military in Crom Village when Riou and Wakaba catch him dining-and-dashing.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: His Unite with Wakaba.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: One of the few characters who fights bare-handed.
  • Bash Brothers: As a duo, he and pupil Wakaba are said to be almost unbeatable in combat.
  • Dine and Dash: He's found eating in either Rockaxe (but only if you didn't take Wakaba with you there) or Crom eating in the tavern, but not paying for it.
  • Eccentric Mentor: He's Wakaba's badass master, but he's quite eccentric, forgetful, and is pulling a dine 'n' dash when first encountered.
  • Kamehame Hadoken: His White Tiger Rune takes form in two open palms put together and throwing a fireball at it. Not unlike the previous game's Ronnie Bell.
  • Kiai: He peppers his speech with various martial artist yells, especially notable when he's taken amongst the final assault team in L'Renouille.
  • My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours
  • Quad Damage: His White Tiger rune increases his attack power.

Tenkou

An elderly gentleman with a passion for windows, he will join if offered a Window Set.
  • Robe and Wizard Hat: Sports a long blue robe and matching hat.
  • 10-Minute Retirement: He was retired from his trade as a window maker, but after seeing the hero with a window set, his spirit was stirred to help out with the war effort.
  • Video Game Interface Elements: His speciality — he can change the colour (and design) of the in-game menu windows.

Raura

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An old friend of Jeane's with a terrible sense of direction, she will join the army if given directions to it, setting up shop as a scroll-maker.
  • Ancient Egypt: Her look, and she's one of the few characters in the series that doesn't exhibit a Western or East Asian aesthetic.
  • Hot Witch: Magic is her speciality — she is a rune mistress, specializing in changing rune crystals into scrolls.
  • Japanese Ranguage: 'Raura' (Rowwwwww-raa!) was almost certainly meant to be rendered as 'Laura'.
  • Mysterious Past: She's friends with Jeane, which immediately brings up all kinds of questions about her past, motives, and abilities.
  • No Sense of Direction: She's lost, looking for Jeane when the hero first encounters her, and given how she walks off in the wrong direction to your castle after being recruited, it's a wonder she got there at all. In the epilogue, she travels north to the Toran Republic, exactly the opposite direction in which said country resides.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Possibly — her friendship with Jeane suggests so.

Gijimu

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The leader of a band of thieves on Mt. Lampdragon, he joins with the Tinto forces to help fight Neclord and his undead army alongside Gustav, Hauser, and Jess, both to protect his home and to save his sister, Lo Wen, who was captured by the vampire. He and his siblings join the army after Neclord is defeated.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: Just like his sworn brother and sister.
  • Dual Wielding: He uses two hand-axes.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: When the evil vampire Neclord turns most of the LampDragon Bandits into zombies, and kidnaps Lo Wen for his Bride, he joins forces with the hero's Allied Army to defeat Neclord and save his friends.
  • Just Like Robin Hood: He operates on a strict moral code of only going after money-hungry traders.
  • Loveable Rogue: He is the head of the Lampdragon Bandits.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Koyu, Lo Wen and himself.

Hauser

The commander of Muse's army under Anabelle and later Jess, he joins Riou after Neclord is defeated in Tinto.
  • Four-Star Badass: For the army of Muse, and for all of Dunan in the epilogue.
  • The Fettered: He's the archetypal soldier who follows orders without question.
  • Married to the Job: According to Richmond's investigations.
  • Master Swordsman: He's said to be one of the best in Dunan.
  • Mighty Glacier: Fairly low speed, but he compensates it with one of the best strenght stat of the game, and he is rather tanky to boot.
  • Perpetual Frowner: He never so much as cracks a smile.
  • Token Minority: One of the only black characters in the entire series.

Kahn Marley

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A vampire hunter from a long line of Harmonian slayers, he allies himself with Viktor, Sierra, and Riou in order to finally defeat Neclord. In repayment for their help, he joins Riou's army after the fact.
  • Back from the Dead: He comes equipped with the Resurrection rune. Ironically, his actual job involves undoing this trope to most members of the undead.
  • Blue Blood: His family are nobles from Harmonia.
  • Call to Agriculture: Who knew a badass vampire hunter planned to retire as a geologist?
  • It's Personal: Neclord killed his father and grandfather.
  • Shout-Out: As a vampire hunter from one clan dedicated for it, and the existence of a major vampire (Neclord), Kahn and the Marleys fit well as the shout out to one of Konami's magnum opus franchises Castlevania, specifically the Belmont clan. He's just missing the whip or any ancestral weapon specializing in killing powerful vampires (that goes to the Star Dragon Sword, but it's not a Marley family heirloom). All he got is the techniques passed down from generations.
  • The Unfettered: Destroying Neclord has become his life's work and obsession - he accomplishes this finally, with help from the Allied Forces.
  • Vampire Hunter: He comes from a long family line of vampire hunters.
  • Who You Gonna Call?: In his capacity as a professional Vampire Hunter, especially when Neclord reemerges.

Koyu

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The youngest of the Mt. Lampdragon bandits, he arrives to the army headquarters to ask Riou for assistance against Neclord. After Neclord is defeated, he and his family join the army.
  • Big Damn Heroes: If the hero should try to run away with Nanami, but come back, Koyu and Marlowe try one to rescue Lo Wen and Lilly. It doesn't work, but Lo Wen and Lilly are very appreciative, anyway.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: Just like his sworn brother and sister.
  • Distress Call: He relays the news of Neclords attacks to the Allied Forces.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Along with his sworn brother and sister, he joins with the hero's Allied Army to defeat Neclord and save his friends.
  • Gondor Calls for Aid: He starts the Tinto section of the game by asking for help with the undead in the Tinto region.
  • Keet: He certainly talks a lot.
  • Loveable Rogue: He's the youngest of the Lampdragon Bandits.
  • Super-Speed: He has the Gale Rune equipped as standard.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Gijimu, Lo Wen and himself.

Lo Wen

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One of the leaders of the Mt. Lampdragon bandits, Lo Wen is captured by Neclord alongside Lilly Pendragon. When the two are saved and Neclord is killed, she and her brothers join the army in thanks.
  • Action Girl: A good fighter, like most non-Squishy Mage women in the game.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: Just like her sworn brothers.
  • Epic Flail: She wields a whip-chain with a spiked ball at the end.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Following her rescue from Neclord.
  • Loveable Rogue: A bandit that can join your cause.
  • Mama Bear: Not her actual mother, but she's very protective of 6-year old Lilly after Neclord had captured both of them.
  • Rescue Arc: Neclord captures her and Lilly as his bride. Normally, Riou, Viktor and Kahn rescue her, but if Riou tries to escape the war, but comes back, Koyu and Marlowe try to rescue them.
  • Sarashi: She wears a traditional fighter's body wrap, a symbol of toughness in Japan.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Gijimu, Koyu and herself.
  • Tomboy: Just as rude as her brother Gijimu.
  • Tsundere: Apparently, she's pretty tough on guys she likes.

Marlowe Cody

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Lilly Pendragon's tutor and Koyu's best friend, he feels that he is cowardly, but he shows great bravery in the face of Neclord's attacks. He eventually joins Riou's army after Neclord is destroyed.
  • Big Damn Heroes: If the hero should try to run away with Nanami, but come back, Koyu and Marlowe try one to rescue Lo Wen and Lilly. It doesn't work, but Lo Wen and Lilly are very appreciative, anyway.
  • Hot for Student: He has a crush on his young pupil, Lilly Pendragon. This is deeply disturbing, as she is only 6 years old during Suikoden II.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: He loves to read books about high adventure and longs to have the chance to take part.
  • I Should Write a Book About This: He is so inspired by the hero's bravery, that he begins to chronicle his adventures. Also wrote the stage-play "Neclord's End", which tells a rather inaccurate version of the Army's battle against Neclord. Lilly notes that "This isn't how she remembers it" in Suikoden III.
  • Nice Guy: Aside from his squicky attraction to Lilly, he's a decent guy overall.
  • Odd Friendship: He couldn't be more different than his best friend, the hyperactive motor mouth Koyu.
  • Smart People Wear Glasses: A glasses-wearing bookworm.

Sierra Mikain

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One of the first vampires in the world of Suiko, she has been hunting Neclord for stealing her True Rune, the Moon Rune. To this end, she joins with Kahn, Viktor, and Riou to end Neclord for good, staying with the army after the fact in thanks.
  • Animal Motifs: Bats, clearly.
  • Artifact of Doom: She was possessed by the power of the Moon Rune, a magic artefact symbolising cruelty and compassion, that transforms the bearer into a vampire. She gained mastery over her desire to kill however, drawing on the compassionate aspect of the rune's powers and retreated into isolation.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: She fights using her own innate vampiric powers, is a master of the Darkness Rune, and carries the Moon Rune, but she's actually an altruistic and fairly friendly person.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: She's a vampire totally immune to the weaknesses of most of her kind.
  • Hunter of His Own Kind: Some of her fellow villagers, lacking the power of the rune to stay alive, went rogue and began to feast on the living again. She was determined to stop the renegade vampires from causing suffering to others and thus she became a vampire hunter.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be snippy when she's annoyed, but she's basically a decent lady who hunts other vampires to protect humans from them.
  • Ma'am Shock: She really doesn't like it when she's referred as an 'old hag'. Her Cook-Off description involve Fu Tan Chen calling her an old hag at heart and she has an extra dialogue of restraining herself from offing him that instant. Naturally, due to their relations, Nash pokes fun of this when he's able (especially when he's told to act as her during the Neclord's End theatric play). Indirectly, her anger against Sigfried for refusing to form a contract with her counts as this.note 
  • Monster Town: She was approached by others who desired immortality and so created the Blue Moon Village, a safe haven for other vampires who had cast away their blood-sucking past. The power of the rune allowed the vampires to live without the need to drink the blood of the living.
  • Mystical White Hair: She is a vampire, so her hair color disinguishes her from humans.
  • Not a Morning Person: Due to her vampiric nature. Sunlight doesn't actually hurt her, but she still prefers to sleep in.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: She does not need to feed on the living to sustain herself, as above. Nor does sunlight actually harm her, though she doesn't find it pleasant.
  • It's Personal: Neclord, one of her fellow Blue Moon villagers, overtaken by the lust for power, stole the Moon Rune and fled, robbing immortality from the villagers other than Sierra.
  • Really 700 Years Old: At about a thousand years old, she's the single oldest character yet introduced in the Suikoden series. Even the seemingly-eternal Leknaat and the unseen but ancient Emperor Hikusaak of Harmonia are younger.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Although, she is one of the good guys.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Her shawl.
  • Sole Survivor: Of her village.
  • Transhuman Treachery: Averted. While she condescends towards humans now she's long been a vampire, she also is still firmly on their side and every thing she does as a vampire huntress is to protect humankind.
  • Vegetarian Vampire: Played With. Sierra is not above sucking the blood of other humans and she has remarked subtly that she wants to suck Klaus' blood. However, during Cook-Offs, she favors vegetable dishes more.
  • Undeathly Pallor: Befitting her vampiric nature, her skin is cadaver-white.

Jess

An arrogant government bureaucrat, he harbours a very fierce hatred for Riou and Nanami after wrongly assuming that they murdered Anabelle. Eventually, he realizes his folly, and joins Riou in penance.
  • The Atoner: He eventually apologizes for initially being a Jerkass and is loyal and supportive from then on.
  • Break the Haughty: He eventually apologizes and joins the Allied Forces, having initially accused them of Anabelle's murder.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: According to Richmond, he only eats a single croissant at breakfast as his entire meal.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: He was in love with Mayor Anabelle, but felt it inappropriate to tell her.
  • Jerkass: Downplayed. Jess is a douchebag Non-Action Guy who, without the mayor's approval, sends Riou and Jowy on a dangerous mission that doesn't end well for them, and he refuses to take any responsability for it. Even after Riou killed Luca Blight and did a huge favor for his nation, he still accuses him of killing Anabelle, and his insistence on not trusting Riou can lead to Ridley's death and a Bad Ending. In spite of that, he eventually apologizes for his behavior and becomes a good sub-unit for war.
  • Mistaken for Murderer: Finds Anabelle lying on the floor, gravely wounded, with Riou and Nanami crounching besides her, and comes to the conclusion that they attacked her. Unbeknowst to him, it was actually Jowy who carried out the deed, but no one could dispel the misunderstanding at the time, as the Highland Army invaded the city at that very moment and his attention was required elsewhere. This leads to quite a few complications down the line and prevents the Liberation Army from joining forces with the remainder of Muse's army, as Jess refuses to ally with Anabelle's presumed killer.
  • Non-Action Guy: Jess is a government official, not a soldier, and there's no implication that he's ever had any combat experience. Naturally, his role falls strictly on politics and war counseling.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: He accuses the hero of Anabelle's murder, when it was actually Jowy who was responsible. He wants to hear nothing of it for a long time, blinded by his hatred.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Sending Riou and Jowy to spy the Highlanders' camp leads to the latter's capture and to his defection to the Kingdom of Highland, Anabelle's death and the capture of Muse and later to conflict between him and Riou.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: According to Richmond, Jess is petrified of bugs.

Gantetsu

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gantetsu01.gif
An arrogant monk who was exiled from Qlon Temple in Toran for his excessive violence, he joins Riou's company when he is overpowered.

Abizboah, Rulodia and Chuchura

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/abizoah.gif
A family of kraken-like giant squids who join Riou when he communicates with them on his castle's pier.
  • Awesome, but Impractical:
    • Each one of them is strong, but certainly not strong enough to justify taking up two party slots.
    • Abizboah is a Star of Destiny, but you have to choose between him and Sigfried if you want all 108 (you have to get Feather with the other crystal, because he brings another Star with him). Wasting the listening crystals on his family prevents you from getting the best ending.
  • Bond Creatures: The hero is able to befriend Abizboah and Rulodia by using the magic Listening Crystals Badeaux gives him.
  • Combat Tentacles: Being squids, their tentacles are used to attack.
  • Giant Squid: Abizboah, Rulodia are Kraken-like creatures.
  • Happily Married: Abizboah and Rulodia.
  • Magikarp Power: Chuchura has pitifully low HP at level 60, but it can grow to up to 999 HP at level 99.
  • Monster Allies: A trio of giant squids available for the active party.
  • Monster Is a Mommy: Rulodia — Chuchara is her son.

Pico

A handsome musician who formed a band with Annallee and Alberto, only for them to be separated following Muse's fall. He will join the army when he hears that Annallee is safe.

Alberto

One of a trio of bandmates with Pico and Annallee, who were separated when Muse was attacked. He works as an armorer apprentice in Tinto, but will return to music and join the army if told that Annallee and Pico are within its ranks.

Jude

A sculpting teacher in Greenhill, he joins the army out of gratitude for Riou resupplying him with clay.
  • Cool Teacher: He teaches at the Newleaf Academy.
  • Fetch Quest: He's a sculptor and will join the hero if he brings him some clay.
  • Nice Guy: Lampshaded by one of his students even.

Tessai

A jaded blacksmith who wishes to see a legendary sword, he joins Riou when Viktor presents him with the Star Dragon Sword to forge.

Genshu

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/genshu01.gif
A wandering ronin with a fascination for weaponry, he joins Riou when presented with an adequately sharp weapon.

Mazus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mazus01.gif
A rival to his old master, Crowley. He joins Riou when he sees how many people have joined the army.
  • The Archmage: His magical abilities far surpass anyone else in the known world, save perhaps his master, Crowley. He's the best magic user in the game.
  • Badass Long Robe: Sports a voluminous robe in a deep mauve colour
  • Earth-Shattering Kaboom: During a duel that took place against Crowley (of Suikoden I fame) over a hundred years ago, the force of their battling leveled three mountains and evaporated a lake.
  • Gotta Catch 'Em All: Amongst the last recruitable characters, as the hero must already have 100 Stars recruited.
  • Hermit Guru: He's hidden on one of the platforms only accessible via the sliding paths within the Tinto Mines.
  • Magic Wand: Wields the Nova Rod.
  • Playing with Fire: Joins with a Fire rune equipped, and has max affinity with it. Most notably, his army uses fire magic, unlike Luc's which uses wind magic, and he has an unique war skill which damages all enemies in a 5-grid area, which is akin to the effect of a mini-nuke on the battlefield.
  • Reincarnation: Implied. He and Crowley have listed years of birth after the time of their epic duel. Word of God confirms this wasn't an error, but doesn't elaborate. Since each sought to produce power equivalent to a True Rune without actually possessing a True Rune, this presumably was their method of matching the immortality that the things grant. It's generally assumed by fans that both of them died in their duel, were reborn, and resumed their rivalry after reaching adulthood again.
  • The Rival: With Crowley from Suikoden 1. He is Crowley's ex-pupil but the two are now bitter rivals.
  • Shock and Awe: Joins with a Lightning rune equipped, and has max affinity with it.
  • Summon Magic: He wields the Blue Gate Rune, a rune used to summon monsters from another world to attack enemies.
  • Wizard Duel: With Crowley.

Maku-Maku, Meku-Meku, Miku-Miku, Moku-Moku and Muku-Muku

Voiced by: Tomoko Kaneda (Drama CD)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mukumuku_sii.gif
A band of squirrels from around Dunan. Muku-Muku is an old friend of Riou and Nanami's, while the other four form his squad.

Highland Kingdom

    Blight Royal Family 

Prince Luca Blight

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (Drama CD)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucablight.gif
The commander of Highland's military, and the prince of the country. Luca is absolutely mad and murderous, and attempts to ignite a war with Jowston in order to get revenge on a perceived sleight against him during his childhood. His actions set most of the plot of the story.
  • Animal Motifs: A wolf. His personal guard are called the "White Wolves", and Luca's plan was to unleash the Beast Rune, which itself turns into the form of a white wolf as the final boss of the game. Luca's armor is also mostly white.
  • Ax-Crazy: A truly insane and sociopathic individual, he's more at home in a straitjacket than lording over an army.
  • Badass Normal: Luca is simply the "strongest human" in the world of Suikoden, driven by nothing but madness, determination, and sheer skill. While magic is commonplace in the setting, Luca has only his heavy armor and a sword. According to director Murayama, even his seemingly-supernatural flaming sword attack actually uses a mundane flammable substance rather than a Rune (note how there is no Rune symbol when he uses it). And he still manages to be one of the most terrifying beings in the entire series. The Drama CD downplays this by having him use a common Fire Rune, but that doesn't diminish the danger he presents.
  • Battle Theme Music: He gets one of the famous Suikoden II one-shot (well, technically three-shot) battle themes for himself, entitled "The Chase": [1]
  • The Berserker: Best showcased in the final battle against him, where he's howling "Die, pig!", constantly attacking, and everything that hits him only serves to piss him off even more until the last arrow volley takes him down.
  • Big Bad: More or less. He's responsible for the False Flag Operation that instigates the game's plot, and remains the primary threat for the majority of it. However, his defeat doesn't end the war between Highland and Jowston.
  • Blood Knight: Luca Blight absolutely lives for the thrill of battle and bloodshed. He dies showing nothing but pride in having "killed humans by the thousands".
  • The Corrupter: To Jowy. It is only hinted in-game but the 'Gaiden' game has threatening him during his capture at the Highland camp near the Muse-Highland border that he will order the deaths of his estraged family unless he kills Anabelle and even gives him a knife to murder her, setting off a series of events that leads to Jowy in a different path in opposition to Riou.
  • The Caligula: When the most murderous, cold-hearted, psychopathic member of an army is the royal prince in charge of it, you know you're in trouble. Things only get worse when he becomes king, as he now has unlimited access to all of his nation's war assets, leading everyone (including a foreign nation and his own generals) to band together against him.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: It's hard to imagine a guy more gleefully embracing of his title as a villain than Luca.
  • Climax Boss: He's fought in a massive multi-phase battle which concludes much of the plot, and is one of the most gruelling and challenging fights in the game by far. There's even a different battle theme from the other bosses. Also doubles as a Disc-One Final Boss.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: So dark and troubled it turned him into a really really mad, murderous prince that doesn't like looking back to what he used to be. Watching his mother repeatedly raped without being able to help would do that.
  • Death Glare: Sports this when he enters the Highland Camp tent in Genso Suikodgaiden Vol. 1.
  • Determinator: His unwillingness to die after absurd amounts of mortal injury is insane.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: He's set up as the Big Bad, and the protagonists believe that defeating him will end the war. The game is far from over after you beat him, though.
  • The Dreaded: His enemies regards him as an unstoppable monster and even the others Highlanders are cautious of him.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Downplayed. Even at his maddest, Luca still held his late mother in high regards, even if she's dead and never coming back. His mother's rape and death was what set him onto the path of madness and he made an extra effort to point that out once he killed Agares, the one he chiefly blamed for her death. Additionally, he would've killed Jillia if not for the fact that she looked like his late mother.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
    • In the loosest sense. His sister Jillia is the only person he will hold an equal discourse with. Although it is actually revealed in the Gaiden game that the only reason Luca tolerates Jillia is because of her strong resemblance to their late mother. Given his maniacal and wrathful character, this is probably the closest he comes to expressing "love".
    • He kills his father because he blames him for the capture, rape and death of his mother, as they had been ambushed as a family when he was a boy and his father ran off like a coward.
  • Evil Is Cool: An In-Universe example. Jowy outright states to Riou at the very end of the game that despite hating Luca Blight, he admired his strength and believe that if he was that powerful, he might have fulfilled his goal of establishing a peaceful world.
  • Evil Laugh: He particularly lets out a maniacal cackle for this moment.
  • Evil Is Burning Hot: Luca is particularly associated with fire. In his infamous "die, pig!" scene, he's shown ordering villages burned to a crisp. In his boss fight, he wields a Flaming Sword. As he lays dying, he likens his bloodshed to a "thirst that scorched [his] flesh".
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Probably in the Drama CD adaptation.
  • Evil Prince: Murdered his father and took the throne.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: More like Insanity cannot comprehend good. Luca is highly unaware or doesn't care how disgusted most of subordinates are regarding his evil actions (Torching villages, ordering Solon Jhee's execution for losing one battle). This leads to Jowy and Leon Silverburg leaking his night raid plan to Riou and his army, sealing his fate when ambush his army and kill him.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He personally offers the Highland subordinates to facilitate the renewal of hostilities with Jowston.
  • Flaming Sword: Wields one to vicious effect in his boss fight, even though it's not powered by any Rune whatsoever.
  • Freudian Excuse: When he was a child, he and his mother were captured by bandits hired by Muse while his father ran away and abandoned them. He had to watch his mother being raped in front of him. Most of this is All There in the Manual however, mostly just alluded to in the game proper.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: In the past, he was a kind and cheerful child. Years later, he is now a totally murderous, genocidal, vengeful and furious madman since his mother's rape.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: Luca Blight manages to survive being brutally assaulted and riddled with arrows twice... but when he begins the duel with Riou, he only has a third of his health left, showing that he is mortally injured regardless.
  • Godzilla Threshold: His ascendancy to the throne - and thus, writing himself a blank check to be even more destructive to Dunan as a whole - forces Shu and Riou to go above and beyond to stop him, up to and including allying with Lepant in the Toran Republic and Jowy and Leon Silverberg of Luca's own military forces. All parties may differ on their allegiances, but they all agree that Luca will not only burn out Dunan, but also Highland, and eventually he would take his genocidal campaign south to Toran as well, so he must be stopped and killed before that happens.
  • Hate Sink: Every single second of screentime, Luca is positively relishing in being as much of a brutal, sadistic, murderous, repulsive dick as he can be, having absolutely nothing that could be construed as a likable quality.
  • The Heavy: Luca's direct actions cause most of the conflicts in the story.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: World's Strongest Man though he may be, he's still an ordinary human. He also manages to be every bit as monstrous as Neclord, if not more so, due to his sheer sadism and bloodlust.
  • Kill It with Fire: Burned down a couple of villages when he invaded Jowston, and is able to light his sword on fire to strengthen his attacks.
  • Jerkass: Exaggerated. As one of the chief Hate Sink of the series, Luca always makes sure to act like a completely condescending bastard who throws out insults and disrespects (even beyond Pitiful Worms style) to everyone else he comes across. Makes sense because he absolutely hates humanity after his traumatic past, he lives among them, and he wants them out of the picture soon, so he relishes in being as insulting as possible.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Even his few humanizing traits are tinged in sheer cruelty and excess depravity.
  • Lack of Empathy: He callously kills everything in his path without any hint of remorse.
  • Large Ham: He steals almost every scene he's in.
  • Laughing Mad: As he dies, he shows nothing but pride in his actions, punctuating his Card-Carrying Villainy with fits of insane laughter.
  • Leitmotif: He's associated with the track "Tension", which plays during his most horrific on-screen atrocities. As he dies, this track gets a very scary Dark Reprise, fittingly titled "The Evil One". This hints that although Luca is dead, the war isn't over, and he still lives on through the Beast Rune...
  • Light Is Not Good: He wears shining silver armor with gold trim and a blue cape, giving him a heroic appearance that completely belies his twisted nature. His personal army, the White Wolf Guard, wears white uniforms (unlike the regular blues of the Highland Army) despite being utterly loyal to a monster like Luca and participating in his most horrific acts.
  • Made of Iron: He takes an absolute beating from three groups of 6 members of the Liberation Army and is shot by a volley of arrows before finally keeling over at the hands of the hero.
  • Messy Hair: He has long, unkempt hair, which only further adds to his deranged look.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: He hates everyone and everything and wants them all to die, war is just one of the method to kill the people around Dunan. One of his ongoing plans at the time of his death is to release the Beast Rune, if he had his way, he'd want everyone in all the regions in the world to get wiped out and die.
  • One-Man Army: It takes being hit by dozens of arrows and eighteen combatants fighting him directly to bring him down, even after he's been wounded in an earlier battle.
  • Nightmare Face: In all of his in-game portraits, and especially the game's opening movie, he looks totally unhinged.
  • Parental Issues: He harbors a deep hatred for his father Agares, after he had to witness his own mother, Sara, being raped whilst his cowardly father simply ran away.
  • Patricide: Luca conspired with Jowy to poison his own father as a result of certain events in the past.
  • Pitiful Worms: He shows utter contempt for his subjects, calling them pigs and maggots as easily as he breathes.
  • Praetorian Guard: Luca has his own personal army, the White Wolf Guard who are stronger than the regular Highland troops during war battles and they are highly loyal to Luca to the point of protecting him to the bitter end when Riou's army is poised to kill him.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: He has no impulse control, mocks his enemies like a bratty child, takes pleasure from inflicting pain and suffering, and displays a staggering indifference toward the lives of others.
  • Psychotic Smirk: His character portrait shows this as his default expression.
  • Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": He's at his happiest while burning villages to the ground and slaughtering everyone in it.
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: He's the prince of the kingdom and one of the most dangerous characters of the game.
  • Rasputinian Death: Of all the characters in the Suikoden universe, Luca is by far the most resilient, especially for a normal human. During the night in which he is finally stopped, he immediately takes two arrows to his back, and survives Flik, Viktor and Riou's groups assault, taking several thousand points of damages from the unrelenting attacks, far more than any bosses so far. While fleeing, he is spotted by Shu's archers, who riddle him with 4 more arrows, and yet he still has the strength to stand and to charge Riou head-on. It is only after a duel to the death with Riou (in which he is perfectly able to kill him) that Luca's body finally fails him, and that he dies after his final rant, laughing. Everyone at that point is exhausted and under shock, processing just how much of a beast in an human body Luca was.
  • Sadist: He personally proves to be one when he kills the scared woman, after letting her act as a pig when he burned the Ryube village to the ground, laughing maniacally afterwards.
  • Savage Wolves: He and his most loyal soldiers form the "White Wolf Guard".
  • Screaming Warrior: Prone to Chewing the Scenery as he is, he practically roars in his climactic one-on-one duel against Riou.
    Luca: "Pig!!!! Die!!!!!!!!!"
  • Self-Made Orphan: He successfully conspires with Jowy Atreides to assassinate Agares.
  • Sequential Boss: DEAR LORD! To beat him, you have to form 3 different teams to ambush him. The first two teams can't kill him, only weaken him, and their battles will automatically be cut short if you manage to deal enough damage or after a few turns elapsed. It is then the final team's mission to land the killing blow, which is easier said than done, Luca being very resilient to pain and able to mop the floor with you if Riou doesn't heal constantly (and if you didn't damage him enough beforehand, chances are Riou won't have enough rune usages to keep everyone alive long enough to defeat him). Then, Luca flees, and you have to fight him in a duel with Riou, in which the usually straightforward action hints become downright misleading and Luca is perfectly able to kill Riou in just a few hits.
  • Shoulders of Doom: As evidenced by his official artwork, Luca's armor has massive pauldrons. Coincidentally, he is the most evil character in the game, and a massive beast strength-wise.
  • Shout-Out: Luca's most memetic actual quote, "DIE, PIG!!!", is actually taken from a quote from fellow Konami game Lethal Enforcers, said by some random enemies as taunts. However, the quote only existed in the Japanese version, censored in other international versions, to lessen other controversies the game already had (akin to Mortal Kombat or Doom). Ironically, the Shout-Out tends to be extremely fitting considering how bloodthirsty and mad Luca is.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Where he is very mad, cruel and evil, his sister Jillia is so refined, calm and compassionate.
  • Slasher Smile: Judge for yourself. [2] His maniacal face is eerily reminiscent of both The Joker from the DC Universe and The Coachman from Disney's Pinocchio.
  • The Sociopath: To a disturbing degree. He takes absolute pleasure in degrading, torturing and killing his citizens and is amongst the darkest, if not THE darkest, character presented by the series.
  • Straw Nihilist: Being the genocidal psychopath that he is, he could very well carry out his plan to eradicate humanity by himself. To be fair, he's jumped off the slippery slope some time before...
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky: More like "Tall, Dark, and Batshit Insane", but he has his moments of snark.
  • This Cannot Be!: Does this when being defeated in the one-on-one duel.
  • Tragic Villain: Yes, he's a Grade-S vile monster, proud claimer of 'The true face of evil'. But his descent into madness was not by his own choice; he was a well-adjusted child until Darrel, the Mayor of Muse, decided to send ruffians to attack his entourage out of spite, displaying his father's cowardly attitude and mentally scarring him for good. His actions are inexcusable, but his origins are understandable and tragic.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He was cheerful and kind-hearted as a child. Then his mother was raped before his eyes, and he turned into a cold-hearted killer.
  • Warrior Prince: He is referred to as the "Mad Prince".
  • World's Strongest Man: In gameplay as well as in-universe. Gameplay wise, you have to buff up the Main Character's party and equip yourself with fire-reducing equipment. In-universe, it takes how many hundreds of arrows, three groups of six of the strongest members per group, even more arrows and finally a duel against the hero himself to kill him.
    Luca Blight: It took hundreds to kill me, but I killed humans by the thousands!!!! Look at me!!!! I am sublime!!! I am the true face of evil!!!
    • Just to give an idea of how monstrously vile and powerful Blight is, the only people who are seen to be able to hold him off for any length of time canonically are Riou, Jowy, Flik, and Viktor, all of whom are incredibly powerful warriors themselves. Beyond them, everyone else is either defeated or killed nearly immediately.
  • Would Hurt a Child: During his raid of the Mercenary Fortress, he ruthlessly murders Pohl, who barely looks much older than Riou himself, with zero hestitation and was seconds away from from doing the same to Pilika, a six-year-old girl, before Riou and Jowy intervened.
  • You Have Failed Me: Luca beheads one of his generals (whose previous record was sterling) because the general had the audacity to lose a battle; it was lost not for strategic or tactical reasons, but because of a wickedly effective public relations move. In hindsight though it was a bad move, because Solon Jhee was respected by the other generals, and Luca killing him unnecessarily began a turning point for several of them to conspire his assassination.

Princess Jillia Blight

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jilliablight01.gif
The princess of Highland, Jillia is Luca's half-sister, born to his late mother and a bandit who raped her.
  • Arranged Marriage: She marries Jowy to strengthen her position, but also for love.
  • Child by Rape: She was born following her mother Queen Sara's rape ordeal.
  • Gorgeous Period Dress: She's beautifully dressed in a deep-scarlet gown.
  • Morality Pet: A very dark variation. While it may appear at first that she's one for Luca, as she is the only person he will hold an equal discourse with, it's actually revealed in the Gaiden game that the only reason Luca tolerates Jillia is because of her strong resemblance to their late mother. If not for that, he would have killed her.
  • Parental Substitute: She and Jowy adopt Pilika, following their marriage.
  • Princess Classic: An elegant, demure young royal, she's got the looks and the elegant, non-combative personality.
  • Proper Lady: She's dignified and regal, never once losing her cool.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Her long, flowing black hair combines with an alabaster skin-tone.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Where Luca is mad, cruel and evil, she is refined, calm and compassionate.
  • Token Good Teammate: Of the Highland Kingdom's upper echelons, she's one of the few who sees how pointless Luca's war with Jowston is. Even after marrying Jowy, she still seems to be a Morality Pet for most of the Highlanders, and is fittingly one of the few from the royal family and military to survive the game.

King Agares Blight

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agaresblight01.gif
The aging king of Highland, father to Luca, and adoptive father to Jillia.
  • Ermine Cape Effect: As King of Highland, he sports a voluminous fur-trimmed cape as part of his kingly regalia.
  • Dirty Coward: When his wife Sara was attacked and raped by Muse ruffians (which lead to Jillia's birth), he simply ran away, rather than help her. Luca forever holds this against him.
  • The Good King: Possibly. He is definitely no model parent, but when it comes to running the Highland Kingdom, nothing says that he was avaricious or evil, he was pretty good at it that generals like Kiba held an Undying Loyalty to him and it was news of his assassination that caused Kiba to defect, declaring Agares to be his true liege before his death. While he also suggested the Combat by Champion scenario between Genkaku and Han, he expected a fair and square combat as opposed to Darrel who coated Genkaku's sword with poison to rig the battle in his favor. Although news about his Dirty Coward attitude later spread and his own people thinks he's useless after all.
  • Minor Major Character: Is the king of the nation you spend the game fighting, but only appears in a single scene where he is promptly killed off.
  • The Mourning After: He is a troubled soul; having lost his wife Queen Sara shortly after Jillia's birth, he was definitely not a good father to Luca.
  • Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: Agares gets poisoned not because there was poison in the cup or the wine given to him by Jowy; but because Jowy had poisoned himself before he symbolically bled himself into the wine to symbolize his loyalty. He then took a lot of antidote, but still almost died.
  • Purple Is Powerful: Wears a purple robe and is the King of Highland.
  • Requisite Royal Regalia: Sports vast, gathered purple velvet robes.

    Highland Army 

Solon Jhee

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/solonjhee01.gif
One of the commanders of Highland's military, he first engages with Flik and Viktor's mercenary troops and later goes on a campaign that costs the leader of South Window his life. However, his arrogance gets the better of him, and he is trounced by a strategy devised by Shu, Freed, Apple, and Riou. Luca quickly executes him as a result.
  • Anime Hair: He sports a slicked-back fin of hair, in a very similar style to Jin of Tekken fame.
  • Badass Normal: Despite not being in the game for very long, he had a number of successful attacks against the heroes at the beginning of their adventures.
  • Blood Knight: He has no issue with killing a gentle old man who peacefully surrendered.
  • Kick the Dog: He killed Granmeyer, the mayor of South Window, even though the latter peacefully surrendered without putting up a fight.
  • Non-Idle Rich: A member of a prominent noble family.
  • Off with His Head!: Luca has him beheaded for failing him. As a bit of irony, Jhee had done the same thing to the mayor of South Window, Granmeyer, despite Granmeyer surrendering the city as opposed to putting up a fight.
  • Starter Villain: He's the first general of the Highland Army to antagonize the player and leads all of the first several war battles.

Culgan and Seed

Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Culgan - Drama CD), Showtaro Morikubo (Seed - Drama CD)
Two highly ranked soldiers in the Highland Army's Fourth Company, they detest Luca Blight's command as being damaging to the country they love. They eventually are promoted to Generals in the final act of the game.

  • AntiVillain: Both of them are only villainous by virtue of fighting for Highland. Both are honorable men who love their country and want the best for it.
  • Co-Dragons: Initially to Solon Jhee, leading two units under him in the Fourth Company. After his death, they swear allegiance to his successor, Jowy Atreides, and serve as his most trusted allies for the remainder of the game. After Luca's death they are promoted to become the new generals of the Third and Fourth Companies, further cementing this role.
  • Dragon Their Feet: They start out as minions of Solon but remain prominent foes till the end of the game whereas their original master dies at the end of the first act.
  • Dual Boss: You have to fight both of them together at L'Renouille's palace.
  • Elemental Powers:
  • Evil Counterpart: While "evil" may not be the right word, they're very much the Flik and Viktor to Jowy's Riou, with Flik and Culgan each being cool headed partners to fiery swordsmen in Viktor and Seed. They're even the penultimate bosses protecting Jowy, much in the same way that Flik and Viktor are the right hands of Riou.
  • Face Death with Dignity: Mortally wounded after their boss fight, the two reflect only how proud they were to serve Highland and believe it fitting they die along with their country.
  • Magic Knight: They are equally skilled in combat and magic.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The cautious and reserved Culgan is the Blue Oni to the boisterous and aggressive Seed's Red.
  • The Starscream: Rare heroic examples. they ultimately betray Luca Blight to finalize his downfall, admitting to Jowy they love their nation and know Luca will burn it all to ash before he's satisfied. Both are far happier with Jowy on the throne and fight to the death for his sake.

Rowd

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Drama CD)
A lower-ranking military commander, and Riou and Jowy's superior at the start of the game.
  • Dirty Coward: Rowd fled the Highland Army after Luca Blight is killed and Jowy Blight is crowned king.
    • Earlier in the game, he runs away from nearly every confrontation he becomes involved with. With the exception of the fight at Kyaro, any time he comes face to face with the player he runs off and sends in other troops to do his dirty work.
    • Taken to an extreme in the game's opening. At this point, Riou and Jowy are just a couple of fairly weak and inexperienced kids, yet if they defeat the troops he sends after them, he will run away to get reinforcements rather than attempt to engage them himself (even though he's likely much stronger at this point). If the player gets stuck in the But Thou Must! loop, he will endlessly run away and come back with reinforcements rather than ever fighting.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: To the Highland Youth Brigade.
  • Head Swap: His battle sprite uses the same body as a regular Commander enemy, but with a different head.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Although many of Rowd's actions in the game could be considered cowardly and underhanded he is ultimately trying to earn money to take his blind sister to see a doctor. He also occasionally gave a genuine apology for what he must do, but not enough to make him stop.
  • It's All About Me: He is a Glory Hound and Luca Blight's Professional Butt-Kisser who only cares about being promoved, with little-to-none concern for anyone but himself. When his boss dies, he run away south.
  • Karma Houdini: He is never brought to justice for his behavior, and runs away South after the Highland army is defeated. The only semblance of 'justice' he got was that from what was heard, he pretty much failed to cure his sister and she died, making everything Rowd did completely pointless and only makes him look like a complete Jerkass.
  • The Unfought: Subverted. You actually do fight him early on in a nearly impossible Open-Ended Boss Battle which always ends with him capturing Riou and Nanami, but there's never a rematch, despite him initially being the most personal antagonist to Riou.

Han Cunningham

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hancunningham01.gif
A legendary military leader, and an old friend of Genkaku. He comes out of retirement to help Highland fight off Riou's army.
  • Duel to the Death: With the hero at L'Renouille — resulting in Han's death.
  • Badass Cape: Sports a long teal-coloured cape.
  • Duel Boss: Amongst the last and toughest in the game.
  • Fighting Your Friend: He and Genkaku, detailed below.
  • History Repeats: His backstory mirrors and foreshadows Riou and Jowy's own storyline — 20 years before the events of the game, he lead Highland Army and was the hero of the Highland-Jowston. However, after Riou's master, Genkaku, rose as the leader of the Jowston forces, he was forced into a stalemate. Due to King Agares Blight's suggestion, he had to fight a duel with Genkaku. However, Genkaku did not lift his sword at all, and Han won the duel, making Jowston lose Kyaro to Highland. At some point after the Highland-Jowston War, he and Genkaku sealed their respective runes, the Black Sword Rune and Bright Shield Rune, in a cave in Toto.
  • Older Than They Look: He's 65, but looks like he's in his late 40s.

Others

    Other Antagonists 
NOTE: For Leon Silverberg, Lucia, Neclord, Sasarai and Yuber see Suikoden Recurring Characters.

Gorudo

Voiced by: Masashi Hirose (Drama CD)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gorudo01.gif
The head of the White Knights of Matilda, and by extension, the lord of Matilda in general. Self-absorbed and uncaring, he shows himself to be unwilling to aid his fellow regions in the war.
  • 0% Approval Rating: Downplayed. While his white knights remain loyal to him, his actions throughout the story eventually lead to the majority of the red and blue ones to rebel, following their commanders Camus and Miklotov. Turns out that letting the Highland army massacre fleeing refugees at their doorstep was the last straw for many of them.
  • Battle Theme Music: His fight uses the third of the one-shot battle themes, "Iron Fist of Anger": [3].
  • Betrayalby Inaction: Inflicts this twice, One by ordering Miklotov and his troops to retreat during the initial battle between Muse and Highland and later he simply has his troops watch as the escaping Muse refugees are brutally captured by Luca Blight and his army outside his borders.
  • The Captain: He is the Captain of the Matilda White Knights and the leader of the Matilda Knights.
  • Conflict Killer: Briefly, but notable. Just when Riou and Jowy were about to fight eachother in Rockaxe Castle, Gorudo, who until then was allied with Highland, seizes the opportunity to try to kill them both on the spot. Instead, Riou and Nanami protect eachother and Jowy from the arrow volley, only for Nanami to get badly hurt. Overwhelmed by grief and anger, the two former friends immediately cast aside their differences to gang on him.
  • Corrupt Politician: His self-interest was enough of a cause to sacrifice his knight's code, and as Matilda became rich, he refused to offer support to surrounding regions when Highland attacked.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Wields a Mother Earth Rune, the most powerful Earth rune in the game.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He is utterly flummoxed when Miklotov discards his knight's badge in protest over his decision to abandon refugees from Muse. When Gorudo orders Miklotov's arrest, Camus and many Matilda knights follow Miklotov's lead. Gorudo's selfishness had blinded him to the fact that there are knights in his own land who are far more honest and selfless than he'll ever be.
  • Evil Gloating: Once he finds Riou and Jowy alone during the siege of Rockaxe Castle, he gloats he'll be able to kill both of them and rule the land himself. Instead, he gets himself killed by the pair in retaliation for hurting Nanami.
  • Fat Bastard: While still a trained knight, Gorudo is among the most heavy-set characters of the story, and encompass some of the most negative traits one can find in a villain, revealing himself to be an opportunist, a traitor, a coward and a murderer with no empathy whatsoever, only serving his own interests. Had Gorudo decided to actively defend the City-States of Jowston instead of betraying them and allying with Highland, the story would have taken a very different direction.
  • Hate Sink: Despite his atrocities being less monstrous than Luca Blight himself, Gorudo comes across as even more despicable due to lacking the latter's Freudian Excuse, Evil Is Cool moments, and his actions result in the fall of Muse and fracturing of the City-States of Jowston. He's also the one responsible for killing Nanami, or at least grievously wounding her, which is enough to cause Riou and Jowy to set their antagonism aside and unite against Gorudo. The one edge he has over the other Hate Sink (Mayor Darrel) is that he's not The Unfought, so he still provides catharsis for the players by curb-stomping his sorry ass with the combination of Riou and Jowy.
  • Hero Killer: Unless the right conditions are met, Nanami succumbs to his arrows; Riou and Jowy promptly slaughter him for it.
  • Jerkass: He is a pompous asshole who has no hesitation with mocking his allies for their failings.
    • During the conference meeting in Muse, Gorudo callously shoves Nanami aside for getting in the way, forcing the more gentlemanly Camus to apologize on his behalf. Then, the moment Teresa opens her mouth in her briefing, Gorudo wastes no time to insult her 'competence' when compared with her father Alec.
    • No sooner when Riou steps in his throne room in order to ask for his aid, he goes on a mocking tirade infront of him berating Muse for easily falling to the Highland Army (despite inflicting Cavalry Refusal upon them by ordering Miklotov and his men to fall back during Highland's initial attack) and mocking both Riou and his Army, expecting them to fall to the Highland Army sooner or later.
  • Large and in Charge: He's enormous, and amongst the largest human sprites in the game.
  • Light Is Not Good: He leads the White Knights, both words usually are associated with goodness and righteousness. He and his squad are all decked with white armor to symbolize that. He's an evil, opportunistic asshole.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Instead of waiting for Riou and Jowy to fight eachother, with the very likely outcome of them tiring themselves out or possibly killing eachother, Gorudo decides to betray Highland and try to kill both immediately. He succeeds in gravely hurting Nanami, leading Riou and Jowy to briefly unite to kill him, ensuring Riou's army conquest of Rockaxe and, ultimately, the fall of Highland.
  • Opportunistic Bastard: His first calling is looking out for his own selfish interests, with his knightly oath as a distant second. While Gorudo doesn't have a solid, long-term plan to advance himself, he is constantly looking for opportunities that he could take advantage of. For example, he refused to allow Matilda to come to the defense of Muse in the hope that Matilda would eventually become the new capital of the Jowston Alliance after the war. When the Highland army invaded Matilda, Gorudo swiftly surrendered without a fight and allied himself with Highland in exchange for retaining his autonomy. When he caught Riou, Jowy and Nanami alone in Rockaxe Castle, Gorudo's first instinct is to murder them in the hope of eventually conquering both Jowston and Highland for himself.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: He is swiftly dispatched by the hero and Jowy in retaliation for his heinous deeds.
  • Poison Is Evil: Along with Teresa's father Alec he poisoned the Karayan chief's leader Kianu who was Lucia's father, hoping for the successor to be harmless and easy to influence.
  • Smug Snake: While he is the leader of a city-state with a strong army and an experienced knight, the arrogant Gorudo tends to overestimate his ability to accomplish his goals. Both Riou and Jowy ensure that the corrupt knight pays dearly for his crimes.
  • Stout Strength: He's rotund, very tall and his sprite is quite a bit larger than some of the other characters.
  • Too Dumb to Live: His trying to ambush Riou and Jowy might have been pragmatic in theory, but he doesn't take into account that the leaders of the two combating armies got there for a reason and have extremely powerful runes that could toast him and his archers, nor did he ever consider that the two would team up to take him down before anything else between them. His almost murdering Nanami just made them want to kill him all the more painfully.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Implied, but Jowy cites that the squabbling and disorientation between the City-States leader is what caused him to finally go along with his plot to kill Anabelle and eventually prolong the war. Gorudo is amongst the less reasonable leaders, meaning that he unwillingly had a part in causing Jowy to do a Face–Heel Turn.
  • Younger Than They Look: He's 37, but looks like he's at least in his fifties.

Elza

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elza01.gif
A fugitive member of the Howling Voice Guild who Clive is hunting for mysterious reasons.
  • Death by Irony: Averted. Elza deliberately chose this end for herself which also mirrored the same duel between her and Kelley.
  • Death Seeker: It's revealed in the Gaiden game that Elza is waiting for the day when Clive will kill her. This is in part due to the past when their friend Kelley allowed Elza to kill him during a duel they were forced into by deliberately picking a gun filled with blanks.
  • Murder, Inc.: Like Clive she was trained Howling Voice Assassins Guild since the age of five.
  • Mysterious Woman: Of the alluring, sexy variety (even despite of her scar).
  • Parental Abandonment: Having come from a poor family Elza's parents sold her to the Howling Voice Assassins Guild when she was five.
  • Side Quest: A time based mission, with Clive hot on her heels. After a cat and mouse game throughout various locations in Dunan, this culminates in a showdown with Clive in her hometown of Sajah....

Darell

The late mayor of Muse and father of Anabelle. On the surface, just a minor character dead by the time of the game...except for one or two actions that basically resulted in all the bad events done by the main villains of the game to begin with.
  • General Failure: Had Genkaku not saved the City-States, he would have nearly caused its destruction during a war he started with Highlands due to his lack of military knowledge.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: He envied Genkaku because he was a better leader that managed to ease the tension between the City-States and Highlands. He sets up Genkaku's fall in a duel over the custody of Kyaro.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: EVERY bad thing of Suikoden II can be laid at his feet, as after picking a fight/war, losing horribly, and needing to be bailed out, Darrel in one act of supremely spiteful cruelty sent thugs to attack the Highland Royal family, resulting in Luca Blight being subjected to a Trauma Conga Line so severe that he snapped harder than 95 percent of villians in all of fiction and turned into a living avatar of rage, hate, bloodlust, misanthrophy, more rage, more hate, and a giant dollop of lunacy on top. Without Darell's final little atrocity, the entire plot of Suikoden II likely never happens.
  • Hate Sink: Even in the past, he's portrayed as very much unpleasant and does everything for his own benefits and failing, as well as being an Unwitting Instigator of Doom of epic proportions, leaving a lot of mess for his daughter to clean up later even beyond his death. He's the embodiment of what goes wrong in the City-States of Jowston and not at all portrayed sympathetically. He's also a Posthumous Character, which means that unlike Gorudo, the players can't directly beat the shit out of him.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: He's a human with ZERO military experience, and yet it was his gigantic pride and pettiness as a human that caused troubles for the City-States Jowston for decades, and even indirectly created the monstrous human known as Luca Blight the Mad Prince.
  • Karma Houdini: Downplayed. He suffered no consequences for his petty, vicious acts and died before the game had begun, completely missing the utter horrors that the monster he created would inflict on his city states (and he died fairly peacefully too, rather than dying in a rather humiliating or brutal manner). However, shortly after he died, his spiteful cheating attempt on Genkaku was discovered and as a result, his name went down to the gutter while Genkaku's reputation was restored. But that just meant Annabelle received extra works to repair the damage he has done, and once again, he never lived to directly experience on how he's widely considered as a dishonorable, crapsack shit.
  • The Millstone: Everything he did always made things worse for the City-States, and even sometimes, the whole Dunan area.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Essentially caused all the events of Suikoden II by initiating the events that created Luca Blight, a crime that snowballs so hugely that it's enough to put him in the antagonists' folder.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His hiring of thugs to assault Highlands royalty caused Jillia's birth and Luca's insanity, which contributed to him renewing hostilities between Highlands and Jowston city-states and causing the current conflict.

    Others 
NOTE: For President Lepant, Lilly Pendragon and the Star Dragon Sword see Suikoden Recurring Characters. For Tir McDohl, Gremio and cameos from Suikoden I, see Suikoden I characters.

Pilika

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pilika01.gif
A gentle child living in Toto, she befriends Jowy and begins to see him as a surrogate father.
  • Break the Cutie: Following the events at Toto, where her parents were killed by Luca Blight with sadistic glee. Then, after being rescued, she gets to watch as Luca Blight brutally kills a completely helpless soldier for her viewing pleasure, and is only prevented from killing her by timely heroic intervention. Later on, she is separated from her honorary uncle Jowy, with whom she bonded considerably, and she is ultimately used as a deterrent by Shu to help Riou and Nanami escape, in an event which could have ended up with her getting shot. It is only after being reunited with Jowy that, finally, the poor girl regains her voice.
  • Dumb Struck: In reaction to the above events, after Luca's attempt to slice her in half, she is no longer able to speak.
  • Cheerful Child: When first encountered, Pilika acts as a friendly, loving little girl. Her cheerful behavior comes to a violent halt following the trauma she goes through in the span of a few days.
  • Parental Substitute: The Hero, Nanami and Jowy, then later on in the game, Jillia Blight, following her marriage to Jowy.
  • Third-Person Person: Justified as she is very young. Upon recovering her voice, she drops it and uses the "I" pronoun.

Anabelle

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Drama CD)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anabelle_sii.gif
The mayor of Muse, and the de facto leader of the Jowston Alliance by default.
  • Do Not Go Gentle: Jowy comes to assassinate her, wielding a knife, when she is completely vulnerable. While determined, Jowy is wholly apologetic, and she manages to distract him long enough to make him drop his guard, throws her glass at him and rushes to wrestle him.
  • Final Speech / Forgiveness: After she is mortally wounded by Jowy, she apologizes to the Hero and Nanami for the state's treatment of their adoptive father, Genkaku, but once they confirm their happy childhood with him, she dies peacefully.
  • Look Behind You: When faced with Jowy's murderous intentions, she feigns acceptance, but requests to finish her wine as a distraction, then leaps towards Jowy as he briefly turns away....but too late to prevent him from mortally wounding her.
  • Pirate Girl: Her look, complete with bandanna.
  • Redeeming Replacement: A much more competent and moral mayor of Muse and leader of the City States when compared to father Darrel.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: As mayor of Muse and the chair of the Jowston Alliance.
  • Ship Tease: With Viktor. She makes it pretty clear that she is interested in him, and the feeling is mutual, but Viktor doesn't think that he is good enough for her, mostly because of their difference in station (she is the mayor of the most powerful City-State of Jowston, and he is a simple mercenary for hire). They are only able to enjoy a single bottle of wine together before she is killed some time later.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Most certainly the tallest female character of the game. Interestingly enough, she is rather self-conscious about it, if her exchange with Viktor is any indication.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: She and Viktor clearly have history — during their conversation over wine, on the night she is murdered by Jowy, she even laments that if circumstances were different, and she were "a little shorter", she'd have made a good girlfriend for him...
  • Women Are Wiser: She's far calmer with her negotiations than many of the (male) mayors/leaders of the other regions.

Granmeyer

The leader of South Window.
  • Actual Pacifist
  • Anyone Can Die: He is executed by Solon Jhee after surrendering South Window.
  • Dead Guy on Display: According to Freed Yamamoto, Solon Jhee decapitates him and places his head on one of the walls of South Window as a message.
  • Gray-and-Grey Morality: While Granmeyer is one of the more reasonable authority figures in the City States of Jowston, his city of South Window is also in large part responsible for the country's ongoing feud with the Toran Republic (formerly the Scarlet Moon Empire).
  • Nice Guy: Generally reasonable, pleasant and affable despite being part of the feud with the newly formed Toran Republic, to which Freed is genuinely loyal to him.

Makai

The plenipotentiary of Two River.
  • The Ditherer: Though only somewhat.
  • Ensign Newbie: He comments his young age in comparison to most of the leaders of the City States and this results in him being rather weak willed enough to accept surrender to the Kingdom of Highland. Despite this, he immediently fights back when Highland reveals the ruse.
  • Nice Guy: Despite his rather wishy-washy earlier stint and inexperience, Makai is also polite and held no ill-wills when compared to several other older state leaders.
  • Time to Step Up, Commander

Gustav Pendragon

The leader of Tinto, and Lilly's father.
  • Bystander Syndrome: By far, only concerned with Tinto only, not the City-State as a group (and as Tinto is the most remote member of the Jowston confederation, many of the citizens of Tinto feel the same way), so he refuses to send help for Muse when his people are starving, only getting involved in the war after the Hero saves his town and family from Neclord. Even then, that did not last, and by III, Gustav broke free of the City-State and formed the Tinto Republic.
  • I Own This Town: He is town mayor, as well as head of the Miner's Guild, so is easily the most powerful man in Tinto.
  • Papa Wolf: To his daughter, Lilly.

Pohl

One of Flik and Viktor's top mercenaries, he mentors Riou and Jowy upon their capture.
  • Heroic Resolve: Upon seeing Pilika being threatened by Luca.
  • Heroic Spirit: In conjunction with the above trope.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Poor Pohl - he takes the hero under his wing, and helps him get settled at Viktor's fort, until he is killed when the fortess is attacked by Luca.

Ellie

The daughter of the innkeeper in Banner Village.
  • Sidequest Sidestory: Ellie can be involved in the quest to recruit Tir McDohl. It can be relatively minor or she can play more of a role in it depending on the Old Save Bonus.
  • Trauma Inn: She runs the inn at Banner. It's also revealed that she helped Marie run the inn at the Liberation Army Headquarters during the first game as well.

Fu Tan Chen

The host of the cooking mini-game.
  • The Host: He's the MC of the cooking contest. He does the introductions of the judges, often slipping in hints about their tastes as well some rather daring commentary about a few of them in a personal sense.
  • Hilarity Ensues: Some of his comments about a few of the judges provokes some rather amusing outraged reactions.
  • Slogan-Yelling Megaphone Guy: In his capacity as the MC of the cooking contest.

Genkaku

The hero of the Jowston City-States and Riou's and Nanami's adopted grandfather.
  • Fighting Your Friend: He and Han faced each other in a duel over the custody of Kyaro. When he learned that the sword was poisoned, he choose not to fight so that he doesn't hurt his friend.
  • Morton's Fork: He was screwed the moment the duel began. Darell had the sword coated with poison and the consequence will end with exile. Either he loses and be called a "traitor" or win and be called a "murderer." He chose the former.
  • Sheathe Your Sword: He discovered that the sword Darell has given him was coated with poison and that his fate was already sealed in his duel with Han. He decided to forfeit the match and accept punishment than be dishonored by hurting his friend.

Alec Wisemail

The late mayor of Greenhill, father of Teresa.
  • Corrupt Politician: Downplayed. He's a very ruthless and shrewd politician that only cared for the welfare of Greenhill, willing to commit immoral crimes for it and his daughter is considered a Redeeming Replacement, but he's a lot more tame than Gorudo and Darrel, since he didn't actively make things worse for City-States nor being an Opportunistic Bastard.
  • The Ghost: Unlike Darrel, he's not even seen at all. Not even a sprite of him is available.
  • Out Sick: During the earlier Muse-Highland conflict, Alec has gotten ill that he sent Teresa as his representative. He never recovered from that.
  • Pet the Dog: He's the guy who hired Shin, letting him become Teresa's bodyguard and being okay with their relations.
  • Poison Is Evil: He collaborated with Gorudo in poisoning Lucia's father to ensure that Greenhill can grab some Karaya territory while keeping the Karaya under tight influence. This is a blow to his general popularity.

    Hai Yo's cooking opponents 
NOTE: For Retso, see Suikoden V Sol Falena. For Antonio and Lester, see Suikoden.

Yu Kum

Hai Yo's first cooking opponent. He has no relation to the Black Dragon Clan.

Goetsu

Shiki

Hai Yo's third cooking opponent. He is a member of the Black Dragon Clan.
  • Driven to Suicide: After losing, he drinks poison and die, promising Hai Yo that the Black Dragon Clan will continue to pursue him until he gives up the Moon Bird Recipe.

Ryuki

Hai Yo's fourth cooking opponent. He poisoned Barbara to force Hai Yo to accept a duel with him.
  • Driven to Suicide: After losing, he warns Hai Yo that the Black Dragon Clan will hunt him down until he return the Moon Bird Recipe, then he stab himself.
  • Master Poisoner: He made a poison extracted from 10 species of spiders from a nameless country north of Zexen. He used it on Barbara and will give an antidote if Hai Yo accept a duel with him.

Bashok

Hai Yo's fifth cooking opponent.
  • We Used to Be Friends: He and Hai Yo were once friends when Hai Yo was still in the Black Dragon Clan. However, when he left, Bashok swore to claim the Moon Bird Recipe from him. He eventually turned around.

Ryuko

Hai Yo's sixth cooking opponent. He is Ryuki's younger brother.

Gyokuran

Hai Yo's eighth cooking opponent, the only female cook-off rival in the game and one of the members of the Black Dragon clan, taking on the title of Suzaku.
  • The Smurfette Principle: She's the only female chef in the game and also the only female member of the Black Dragon clan.

Jinkai

The leader of the Black Dragon Clan, who covets the Blue Moon Bird Recipe from Hai Yo.
  • Arc Villain: He is the main antagonist of Hai Yo's story, which has little connection to the conflict.
  • Final Boss: He is your final opponent in the Cooking Duel. Though he appears and challenge you after defeating Retso, he doesn't necessarily need to be dueled right away.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: His plan with the Blue Moon Bird Recipe may sound grand, using the Blue Moon Bird Recipe to create foods so tasty to unite the world in happiness and end conflict. However, both Hai Yo and Shun Min can detect that it's just a cover for his own lust for power that comes from being the conflict-ender.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: He wears a black uniform with a red scarf.


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