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Protagonists
Yuko Asou
Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto, Sachiko Tomiguchi (Valis Famicom trailer) Yuko Miyamoto (X68000 version of Valis II), Karin Azama (Valis X), Mary Malone (English, PC Engine version of Valis II)
An ordinary school girl living in Japan with a normal peaceful life, Yuko's life was changed forever when she was attacked by monsters from the Dark World, and subsequently learned she was chosen by Valia to wield the Valis sword to become the Valis warrior of Fantasm and defend the three worlds; her home, the Earth; Vecanti, the dream world; and the land of the spirits.
- All-Loving Hero: She actually relates to Megas in Valis II, and spends most of the game confused as to why Megas' and the remnants of Rogles' forces have to fight each other.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: At the end of Valis III', due to unleashing the full power of the Valis sword, Yuko becomes the new goddess of Vecanti.
- Big Good: Becomes this in Valis IV, being the new goddess of Vecanti.
- Character Development: Yuko has a rather dramatic character arc throughout the series. She starts the first game a Naïve Newcomer scared out of her wits forced to kill and fight to survive, though learning what Rogles plans to do to the worlds lights a fire under Yuko that spurs her to find the courage she needs to overcome the first conflict. However, being forced to kill Reiko in Valis I and then losing Valia in Valis II moments before learning the latter was her mother kills some of her optimism, and hardens her considerably, which is assisted by relating somewhat with Megas on his philosophy. She takes Megas' Last Request to watch over Vecanti very seriously, and more or less becomes The Paragon for all three worlds to uphold her newfound focus on the virtue of justice. The hardening Yuko goes through over Valis II is implied to inform her choice to let herself die in the effort to stop Glames.
- Cowardly Lion: Yuko is understandably terrified for the first half of Valis I, given she's torn out of earth and brought to Vecanti to fight in a war she wanted nothing to do with, but is nevertheless an Instant Expert in the art of swordplay the moment the sword of Valis touches her palms. As she comes to accept her destiny, Yuko sheds the 'cowardly' part entirely.
- Deadly Upgrade: Unleashing the full power of the Valis sword turned out to be this.
- Expy: She resembles Fandora from the 1985 OVA series Dream Dimension Hunter Fandora.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Fighter of the main trio in Valis III. She has the most balanced skillset of the three playable characters.
- God Is Good: Though she's morose with concern to her role and hesitant to allow Lena to become a Warrior of Valis, all her dithering comes from a place of concern for Lena's mental well-being. Once Lena proves she has the temperament to be a Warrior of Valis, Yuko willingly bequeaths upon Lena the Sword of Valis.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Wields the titular Valis sword.
- Inconsistent Spelling: While her last name is spelled as Asou, sometimes it's spelled as Ahso instead. Additionally, sometimes her first name can be spelled as Yuko or Yuuko.
- Magical Girl Warrior: As the Fantasm Soldier, she is capable of both physical attacks and magic spells.
- Really Royalty Reveal: Yuko has it explained to her just as Valia dies that she, in fact, is one of Valia's daughters, making her by rights a princess of Vecanti.
- Reluctant Warrior: Even when she overcomes her cowardice, Yuko never quite takes to combat. Her observance of this trope also forms the basis of her test of Lena's character in Valis IV, since she knows that the longer Lena holds the title, the more tragedy she'll be met with.
- Sword Beam: Her most common attacks involving the Valis sword has her emitting beams of light from it.
- Trickster Mentor: Despite repeatedly hammering it into Lena's head that being a Warrior of Valis inevitably leads to great personal tragedy, Yuko ultimately was the one who had Lena arrive in Heaven, having coaxed Cham to allow Lena to depart from the resistance headquarters. It's implied she mostly just wants to prepare Lena for the role rather than actually scare Lena off from the call.
Valna Asou
Voiced by: Saeko Shimazu, Aya Hisakawa (X68000 version of Valis II), Arisu Nakahara (Valis X)
- Damsel in Distress: Had to be rescued twice; from Kolilanba, whom she proceeded to fight back against him after she was freed, and again by Galgear.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Mage of the main trio in Valis III. She exchanges physical damage in return for massive spell damage.
- Magic Staff: As a playable character, this is her main weapon.
- Promoted to Playable: Her prior appearance to Valis III was that of an NPC.
- Squishy Wizard: Her physical attacks do pitiful damage, but her magical spells are very damaging at the expense of costing a lot of MP.
Cham
Voiced by: Yuko Mita, "Enokizu Mao" (Nonaka Kaori, Valis X)
- Badass in Distress: In spite of being a powerful warrior, she gets kidnapped by Hammer Guarder. She gets freed by Yuko.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Thief of the main trio in Valis III. Cham has the highest physical damage output of the three playable characters, and slings out magic attacks very rapidly.
- Hero Antagonist: She only stole the Valis sword because she felt that it was the only way to avenge her father's death at the hands of Glames. It wasn't until Yuko rescued her from Hammer Guarder and convincing her of her plan that she worked together with Yuko.
- Lightning Bruiser: Has the fastest and most powerful physical attacks compared to both Yuko and Valna.
- Little Bit Beastly: Her design has some traits of beastly features, such as being a Horned Humanoid and unusual ears.
- Magic Knight: She also can use magic spells, which have low MP costs, meaning that she can spam them a lot.
- Weapon Specialization: Her main weapon is a whip.
Lena Brande
Voiced by: Hiromi Tsuru
- Character Select Forcing: Since she's the one undergoing the trial to wield the Sword of Valis, Lena is the only playable character for the Labyrinth level. Additionally, she makes it through the final leg of the Red Moon to fight Gallagher when he wields Titan.
- Fearless Fool: One of her opening lines is her outright admitting she's ready and eager to die a warrior's death. Though Yuko is guiding them, most people consider Lena's attitude towards danger as going well beyond reckless.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The 'Fighter' among herself, her sister, and Asfal. She has a slide move that makes her easily the dodgiest character and is well-suited for direct combat.
- Superior Successor: Though Yuko is probably still stronger than Lena as a result of being a Physical God by the events of Valis IV, Yuko's pre-fight dialogue with Lena as the final test for Lena to receive the Sword of Valis implies that, unlike Yuko, Lena will be able to overcome anything destiny puts in her way and come out stronger for it, something that rattled Yuko constantly throughout her journeys. Sure enough, when Amu performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save their adoptive mother, Lena actually manages to take the loss much better than Yuko herself was following the deaths of Reiko, Valia, and Megas, establishing that as a Warrior of Valis, Lena may just be better suited for the role.
Amu Brande
Voiced by: Yumi Touma
- Deadpan Snarker: She gets through all the chaos around her - especially her sister's determined, fearless attitude - by being as snarky as possible.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: Rather oddly, given her preference for magic wands, Amu is the 'thief' next to her sister and Asfal. Not only does she fit the general attitude, Amu distinguishes herself by being the best suited character for transversal.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She dies wresting Gallagher's axe away from him so he strikes her and not her adoptive mother, Valna.
Asfal
- Character Select Forcing: Asfal is forced to be the main character for the final section of stage 8, as he wants to be the one to put his son in his place. Though he manages to beat Gallagher on his own terms, Asfal is forced into retreat when Gallagher begins using the Titan ring, which forces Lena to do the last stage on her own.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: Asfal is the 'mage' next to the two sisters. He's a bruiser, but most of his damage output comes from his powerful magic, and his massive hitbox means that while he's the best suited for damage-racing enemies, he's going to have to damage race his enemies given how difficult it is for him to dodge anything.
- Prongs of Poseidon: Asfal's main weapon is a magical trident.
- The One Guy: Asfal's the only playable male character in the series.
Supporting Cast
Reiko Kirishima
Voiced by: Yuko Mita (PC Engine versions), Jacqueline Dunn (English, PC Engine version of Valis II), Kimie Hantani (PC Versions of Valis II), Yoko Sugiyama (X68000 version of Valis II)
Yuko's childhood best friend until she was brainwashed by the dark king Rogles and became the dark Valis warrior and Yuko's rival.
Valia
Voiced by: Yoshiko Sakakibara (PC Engine version of Mugen Senshi Valis), Michiko Abe (X68000 version of Valis II), Sumi Shimamoto (PC Engine version of Valis II)
Antagonists
Rogles
Voiced by: Kiyoshi Kobayashi
The main antagonist of the first game the ruler of the dark world.- Demoted to Dragon: Was the Big Bad of the first game, now one of Glames' underlings in the third following his resurrection.
Emperor Megas
Voiced by: Masaharu Satou (X68000 version of Valis II), Hirotaka Suzuoki (Japanese, PC Engine version of Valis II), John Warton (English, PC Engine version of Valis II)
The main antagonist of the second game.- Adaptational Nice Guy: The PC Engine version is a lot nicer compared to his X68000 version. Over there, he was considered to be the Black Sheep due to his violent tendencies which got him exiled from Vecanti, and even slayed his own family, not to mention forcing Yuko to do a Shameful Strip before going back on his word to spare Valia. The PC Engine version, on the other hand, turns him into a Tragic Villain who believes that he was wrongfully denied of his right to the throne, and even commends Yuko for defeating him in battle.
- Alas, Poor Villain: His death is actually mourned by Yuko given how alike the two were, and as the flashbacks Yuko subjects Lena to in Valis IV imply, having to kill the man in a war that Yuko thought to be ultimately pointless informed her decision to reside peacefully in heaven, away from future conflict.
- Anti-Villain: In the PC Engine version, at least. He barely qualifies for being evil - he's in an Enemy Civil War with the faction that betrayed him first, he grants his opponents several opportunities to surrender, and the entire reason he wants to conquer all the lands is because he earnestly believes that after doing so, he can abdicate his position to someone who will be able to truly unite all people and avoid further conflict. Even Yuko has mixed feelings about beating him despite his war taking her mother.
- Foil: As he lays dying, he sets himself up as one to Yuko, not-so-subtly putting the pieces together for Yuko so she'll understand the two have very similar backgrounds - both were banished to another land by their parent to avoid a succession crisis, both were dragged into fights they wanted no part in, and both feel a desperate urge to protect the lands that rally behind them. The major difference was that the dark world was a cold and cruel place that made Megas into the warlord he would become, and Megas was nearly assassinated by his brother and then banished from the dark world as a malevolent act by his father, whereas Yuko was brought to earth as an act of kindness.
- Graceful Loser: In the PC Engine version, he actually realizes the error of his ways and thanks Yuko for defeating him.
- Villainous Valor: He refuses to engage Yuko in a two-on-one fight with Tou as his ally, both out of a sense of honor and as a result of being a kindred spirit to Yuko.
Glames
Voiced by: Daisuke Gōri
The main antagonist of the third game.- Card-Carrying Villain: He's evil for the sake of being evil.
