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Main Party

Virginia Maxwell

Voiced by: Masumi Asano (Drama CD)

Arm: Twin Pistols Rapier EZ and Bantorain 93R

A rookie Drifter who is searching for her missing father. A Naïve Newcomer whose inexperience with the reality of the Drifter lifestyle is only matched by her fiery willpower. Her special ability is Mystic, which lets her extend the effect of an item to the entire party, or use a special ability with a non-consumable item. She dual-wields pistol ARMs in a unique style taught to her by her father.

In combat, she is a Fragile Speedster and, amusingly for the party leader, the White Mage in the sense that she is an Item Caddy. She also makes a decent magician, being behind only Gallows in terms of magic power.

Action Girl: She demonstrates this aspect of herself from the get-go, right at the beginning of her prologue. However, she did go a little over her head, and she has a tendency to put herself in danger. Maya helps her to realize and overcome this flaw.
Combat Medic: She can deal decent damage, and is by far the most efficient healer of the party thanks to her Mystic ability. If you always keep Potion and Mega berries for her to use during boss fights, she will ensure the survival of your party.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Virginia is an interesting mix of tropes and party combat roles. As a character, she is both the Naïve Newcomer, The Determinator, the Knight in Shining Armor, and The Leader, a mix that may be entirely unique. She also uses her idealism as a shield to cover her own insecurities, and applies it badly, leading to others to point out her flaws. Virginia has the best Character Development of the four party members, and it does not involve her losing her idealism, but rather, maturing it. She becomes much better at using her idealism correctly, living up to her principles and getting a handle on her insecurities- to the point that she becomes an Messianic Archetype at the end of the story and saves the world.
Disappeared Dad: Finding him is not, however, her main goal - it's just a side goal to her main quest, which is stopping the villains.
Disc-One Nuke: 10 Shot Gatling + Valiant = Bosses for a good portion of the game die once Virginia hits 100FP and deals five digits worth of damage.
Dual Wielding: She dual wields magnums.
Establishing Character Moment: When Tony tells her she's entering a restricted area and she pushes past him while saying, "Thanks for the tip!" and waving. Notably, however, this is not to set her up as a thrill-seeking maverick. Virginia's breaking in to stop a theft, establishing her as a decent do-gooder who is willing to break a few laws if it means helping people.
The Face: The other major reason she was a natural pick for leader; she's sociable, which makes getting jobs and getting paid easier for her than the others, and her natural charisma allows her to mostly keep the others in line.
Fire-Forged Friends: With Maya Schrödinger by about the halfway point of the game. Maya eventually recognizes Virginia as her superior as a combatant, and Virginia, for her part, comes to seek out Maya's advice and better overall experience as a Drifter. Their viewpoints often clash, but they're typically good sports about it and avoid getting in each other's way and even sometimes work together.
Fragile Speedster: She has god-like evasion and is the quickest member of the party (Jet using Accelerator nonwithstanding), but she also has a bad defense and the lowest HP, making her the most fragile character.
Go-Getter Girl: Virginia is a determined, fearless young woman with a strong sense of justice who became a self-taught Drifter to simultaneously fulfill her desire to bring peace to the world and track down her father.
Guns Akimbo: Her fighting style, taught by her father.
Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Downplayed. Her dress is fuchsia.
Heroic Mime: Unlike Rudy, Virginia is a full-on aversion of this trope.
Idiot Hero: Virginia's idealism and naivety lead her to get mocked by Janus rather frequently. Even her friends note she has more heart than common sense. Subverted as she grows up considerably and matures into a true hero.
Item Caddy: Virginia by necessity. Need more berries!
Item Amplifier: Her ability Mystic lets her use items more effectively, usually by making them hit multiple targets.
The Leader: Quickly promoted to the role by the rest of the party by neccesity, for various reasons; first, she's the one most gung-ho about everyone staying together, which leads Clive to argue that she'd be the one most capable of keeping the team together. Another major reason is her personality in comparison to everyone else; Jet is antisocial by nature and takes a good portion of the game to open up at all, meaning he'd be a terrible leader, Gallows is too lazy to take a crack at leadership (though the game implies, like with many of Gallow's issues, that if he honestly tried, he wouldn't be all that far behind Virginia in leadership quality), and while Clive is the most mature, level-headed, and knowledgeable about the life of a drifter, he has subtle issues with taking charge of a situation; he's far too willing to be stepped over, which ruins any chance of him staying as a leading figure for long. Virginia isn't perfect, but the fact she's sociable, ambitious, and willing to take charge means she's the best they've got. This causes problems for the party early on while she's still green and naive, but as the game goes on and she matures, she also simultaneously evolves into the leadership role. Around the third Maya fight, while she hasn't fully matured yet, she's more than earned her spot as the leader.
Naïve Newcomer: And, as a result, she ends up in trouble several times before maturing.
Pimped-Out Dress: A pretty fancy dress for someone like her.
Revolvers Are Just Better - Partially averted; Virginia's guns are the weakest in terms of damage, though they do have cutscene powers. They are extremely accurate, however, which is useful when combined with her high speed allowing her to almost always act first in a round, and they hold more shots, meaning that when Virginia uses Gatling, her attack power skyrockets.
Silk Hiding Steel: Virginia is a genuine sweetheart who can endear herself to most people quickly. She's still a Drifter unafraid to throw down with villains if push comes to shove and diplomacy falls through.
The Smurfette Principle: Virginia's the only girl, though at least she's the Leader, and having only four characters total anyway eases the sexism of this trope a bit.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Maya, eventually.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Virginia, for the most part, is a determined and tough wandering gunslinger unafraid to answer the call of danger, but that doesn't stop her from wearing dresses and enjoying flowers.

Jet Enduro

Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Drama CD)

Arm: Machine Gun Airget-lamh B/V2

An experienced Drifter. Pretty. An Ineffectual Loner who is in it for the money and tries to radiate undiluted badass at everyone else. This noticeably fails to impress his allies, though non-party members see him as the badass he wants to be seen as. He wields a machine gun ARM (which only he can use). His special ability is Accelerator, which lets him take the first action in battle.

In battle, he is the secondary guy for everyone, having decent all-around stats (except in one category). If the party needs more healing, than he helps Virginia heal; if the party needs more firepower, he helps Clive hurt people.

Artificial Human: Enduro is a clone designed with Filgaia's leyline system in mind- he's more like an elemental than a human being. This is why he can't use ARMs other than his machine gun- his powers interfere with their workings.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Jet is a deconstruction of the Ineffectual Loner archetype, and of badass people in general. Jet, for all that he's the most badass-looking dude in the game, with the coolest gun and some of the best lines, is the party member who needs the rest of the party the most. As Virginia consistently points out to him, he has accomplished nothing by being alone, and it's turned Jet into a bitter, angry, vengeful person who quite obviously does not enjoy being alive. He's also a Deconstruction of the Nature Hero archetype. He is a living representation of Filgaia as it should be, a lifeform in tune with the planet at its healthiest and a symbol of life. He's also a Jerkass, he was created in a laboratory instead of by nature, was never told of what he was and has to figure it out himself from old records, and when he sees the Filgaia he was created to reflect, he doesn't get a sense of peace and calm- he completely freaks out.
Heroic BSoD: An interesting Aversion. He finds out the truth behind his existence from Leehalt and doesn't suffer one, instead shrugging it off. It helped that he'd had several brushes with the truth beforehand, and while the first one left him physically ill, the constant exposure and his own Character Development let him take the final revelation in stride.
Ineffectual Loner: He's mocked relentlessly for this by Virginia, resulting in several hysterical moments.
Jack of All Stats: Has all-around good stats (being the second-fastest behind Virginia and the second-best physical attacker behind Clive), though his magic abilities are by far the worst of the party.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A very well-hidden heart of gold, as he spends the early portions of the story acting like a complete asshole, but Jet does come to care for his comrades and develop a more heroic attitude throughout the game.
Magically Inept Fighter: Despite being a good all-rounder in most stats, Jet has easily the lowest magic stat of the party. It's implied that his natural abilities as an Artificial Human interfere with the power of the mediums, diluting them.
Meaningful Name: He's a treasure hunter named after a type of gemstone. He gets his last name from one of the scientists involved with his creation.
More Dakka: While all other ARM's are single-shot, Jet is able to use an assault rifle ARM that allows him to shoot continuously.
Nature Hero: Actually a living manifestation of Filgaia, lab-grown and left completely unaware of his own origins.
Orphan's Plot Trinket: His ARM.
Precision-Guided Boomerang: And it really is precision-guided- you can control where it hits.
The Quiet One: A stoic man of few words, so much that he shrugs off the truth behind his existence.

Gallows Carradine

Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa (Drama CD)

Arm: Sawed-off Shotgun Modified Coyote M 17F

A Magical Native American subversion. Yes, he's magical, yes, he's Native American. He's also a lecher, a womanizer, and consistently the dumbest person in the party. He ran away from his village and its responsibilities. He wields a Sawed-Off Shotgun ARM which initially deals almost no damage due to its poor accuracy (but massive damage on a Critical Hit). His special ability is Extension, which extends the effects of a magical spell to every party member or enemy.

Gallows, despite looking like The Big Guy, is in fact The Red Mage whose powers focus on magic. He also, amusingly, has the highest health in the game, but spectacularly low defense, resulting in enemies doing hundreds of points more damage to him than to the others- and him still surviving. Often the last character standing if Virginia has been dropped already.

Amusingly Awful Aim: His Sawed-Off Shotgun initially has such poor accuracy that his shots are nearly worthless except for charging his Mana Meter. This can be later fixed by upgrading his gun's accuracy so that his gun's pellets actually hit the enemy rather than missing, greatly boosting his gun's effective damage to strong levels. Gallows' tutorial fight calls his ARM's Scratch Damage out to encourage you to use him as a mage.
The Big Guy: Subverted. Towering and muscular, Gallows definitely looks like the party's bruiser, but his skills actually lie in magic and arcane knowledge.
Casanova Wannabe: Constantly hitting on female characters to no avail.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Gallows as a character is a subversion of the Magical Native American trope, and a Determinator as well. Gallows' obsession with what he was required to do by his people- his responsibilities- led to him slacking off, trying to avoid them by being bad at them (despite his tremendous natural potential at magic). When this didn't work, he bailed, and throughout the game wrestles with the issue of whether he should go back or not. His Character Development resolves this dilemma by choosing to do his duties, not because they are his duties, but because they are the right thing to do, double-subverting the choice at the same time; he does them to save his little brother, not because he is supposed to. At the end of the game he gives them up again, as they were no longer needed, and sticks with Virginia.
Idiot Hero: Subverted slightly. Gallows is a reckless hedonist, but he's a lot more knowledgeable on arcane matters than he'd care to admit.
Magic Knight: Gallows has the best magic damage in the party, but he's also got the best health in the game. He can even pack a punch with his shotgun - if he crits, as his crits are better than the other characters. Otherwise, he's got the worst melee damage in the game.
Magical Native American: As noted, he's a subversion, but the Baskars (his people) also turn out to subvert it - they're more like a Native-imagery-appropriating hippie commune dedicated to the guardians, created after humans came to Filgaia and displaced the real natives, the Elw.
The Red Mage: He is the strongest at all types of magic including offensive and healing magic. His Sawed-Off Shotgun deals Scratch Damage except during critical hits until you upgrade its accuracy, further forcing him into this role for the beginning of the game.
Sawed-Off Shotgun: He wields one as his weapon. This gun's sawed off barrel gives his ARM terrible accuracy causing most of his shotgun's pellets to miss the enemy, making firing his gun practically worthless except for charging his Mana Meter. Upgrading his gun's accuracy greatly boosts his gun's effective damage to strong levels.
Scratch Damage: His Sawed-Off Shotgun initially deals only this except during critical hits due to its poor accuracy. You have to upgrade this gun's accuracy in order to get his shotgun's pellets to hit the enemy and do some real damage.
Screw Destiny: Gallows has no desire to become a Medium, and actually shouts the exact trope name at one point.

Clive Winslett

Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (Drama CD)

Arm: Sniper rifle Gungnir HAG 35

A Bounty Hunter who is quite the scholar at heart. For one thing, he wields a sniper rifle ARM that gives him the highest attack power in the party. Far from being a Cold Sniper, he's a very nice, sociable guy. Defying all RPG conventions, he's also happily married with a wife and daughter (and they don't die!) His special ability is Lock-On, which guarantees that his next attack will hit (and boosts the power of said attack).

Battle-wise, Clive is the only one to fit into a set mold, i.e. the Mighty Glacier. Clive has the highest Attack and Defense in the team, the second-most HP after Gallows, but he's also the slowest by far.

Badass Bookworm: While the other members of the party start off wet behind the ears, Clive has been plying his trade as a Bounty Hunter for years, taking on jobs that allow him to protect communities. He is also the most knowledgeable party member regarding Filgaia's history.
Beware the Nice Ones: Clive is the most level-headed and even-tempered member of the party by a mile, but when he encounters Melody in Yggdrasil after learning the full extent of her backstory, he delivers such a furious "The Reason You Suck" Speech that it sends Melody into an Unstoppable Rage and causes the rest of the party to make a note to themselves to never piss Clive off.
Bounty Hunter: Of a more compassionate variety than most, Clive mainly takes jobs that help him clear monsters and bandits out of populated areas.
Chick Magnet: Clive's good looks are commented on more than once.
Competence Zone: Completely averted. Clive is in his thirties and the oldest member of the party, but still has an appropriately youthful design and is never referred to as an 'old man' as is customary for most adult characters in JRPG's.
Heroic BSoD: In the last chapter of the game. He's worried that he'll be killed and he'll never see his family again, prompting this freakout.
Friendly Sniper: Clive is skilled in the use of a rare and powerful sniping ARM, but he's unfailingly polite, fair and courageous.
Mighty Glacier: Clive is this trope personified. He's guaranteed to get the last turn. He does more damage than the rest of the party combined.
My Greatest Failure: He is revealed to have spent the entire game wracked with guilt over the death of his wife's father, which he feels responsible for. This guilt eventually drives him to despair, prompting his 10-Minute Retirement.
Seduction-Proof Marriage: Clive is so Happily Married with his wife that Melody's beauty, while entrancing Gallows, falls completely flat on him.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Quite verbose when discussing history.
The Smart Guy: While the smartest party member, Clive's powerful weapon and superior combat experience actually see him hue closer to The Big Guy in regards to the party's combat dynamic.
Sniper Rifle: His weapon of choice.
10-Minute Retirement: Clive leaves the party due to being worried about getting killed and not being able to support his family, a decision the rest of the party accepts and wishes him well on. He eventually comes back.
Team Dad: Is easily the most experienced member of the party and makes sure the younger members look before they leap.

Prophets and Associates

The Prophets

In general

Three scientists who are obsessed with restoring Filgaea at any cost. Each also has their own agenda, none of which are good.

Attack! Attack! Attack!: When Yggdrasil's generator is destroyed and their plans have been foiled or so it seems, the Prophets decide to try to take the heroes with them before their bodies deteriorate for good. They put away the tricks they used before and cast the same attack spell over and over again to try to kill you.
Back from the Dead: Technically, because all of them were blown to pieces when Yggdrasil exploded ten years before the start of the story. They were only saved by Hyades.
One Degree of Separation: Worked with Virginia's father
Social Darwinist: Part of the reason they're evolving the planet to take on a demonic form is because they themselves cannot exist naturally on Filgaia. As far as they're concerned, everything that can't adapt to the planet once they're done with it can die.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Played With. They talk a good game, but their reasons are ultimately selfish. Filgaia is deteriorating, and they plan to turn Filgaia into a demon to rejuvenate it, but Filgaia itself is a toxic environment to them. If they don't turn the planet into a demon, whether Filgaia is restored or not, they'd still die. They settled on this plan to save their own skin more than anyone else's.

Leehalt Alcaste

Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki (Drama CD)

The leader of the Prophets, although his control over the others is probably not as strong as he'd like. He is obsessed with power, and wishes to rule Filgaea.

Disappears into Light: After Jet purges him.
Green-Eyed Monster: Jealous of Werner, especially because his wife was Leehalt's love interest.

Melody Vilente

Voiced by: Yuka Imai (Drama CD)

The only female member of the Prophets, who is obsessed with both her beauty and youth.

Berserk Button: Since she was very average-looking before she got the chance to remake her body, she is very sensitive to being called ugly. Clive tells her that she's "ugly" on the inside, no matter how beautiful her outer form is, and it makes her go crazy. This is actually reflected in battle; she attacks Clive over all other targets.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
Evil Genius: When she isn't obsessing over her beauty or arguing with Malik, she's actually the one doing the most work involving the various machines the Prophets use. It's implied all the Council of Seven members specialized in a different field of science, and given she programs Asgard and handles the various generators for all their bases not to mention getting Deus Ex Machina to work at just the last second after Malik mucked up the generator in the Cradle of the Gods, her field seems to have been some degree of coding and computer science.
The Vamp: Melody tries to do this, and it succeeds pretty well on Gallows - and falls flat on Clive, who's Happily Married and sees right through it.
Vain Sorceress: Deconstructed. Melody was very plain until she got a chance to reshaped herself to have great beauty, which led to her obsession with it.

Malik Bendict

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (Drama CD)

The youngest member of the Prophets. Malik wants to resurrect his deceased mother using the knowledge that he's gained.

Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Malick, despite being a villain, loves his mother... A little too much, to the point he tries to "revive" her after her death. He succeeded (kinda), but she isn't really happy about it.
Freudian Excuse: Horrifically done. Notable in that it's never treated as a "good" reason for what he does and instead weirds out everyone who finds out about it.
Villainous Breakdown: He basically loses it after a clone of his mother condemns his actions. Considering he may have been growing them for... shall we say, purposes, it's not like he shouldn't have seen this coming!

Associates

Janus Cascade

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Drama CD)

The leader of a rival group of Drifters, he and Virginia find themselves in opposition on several occasions.

Bad Boss: Janus treats his lackeys like crap. The Prophets, in turn, treat him like crap.
Batman Gambit: Turns out to be an expert of these come part 2. Unlike many examples, there's a really good justification to how this works- he slowly starts to figure out the prophets' thought processes and how they operate, and starts using that against them, as well as their reliance on him as a weapon, to give himself more autonomy than they intended, up to and including figuring out a way to get rid of their superweapon Asgard. He then uses his knowledge of Virginia's goody-two-shoes methods and ideas to set up a situation where she beats his masters for him, allowing him to come in and finish them all off. It would have worked, too, if not for Siegfried showing up at the worst moment to gut him.
Big Bad Wannabe: Significantly downplayed, but present. Janus Cascade is a credible threat who does in fact beat the heroes, whether in a straight fight or simply advancing his agenda, multiple times. He is clever and figures out a way to neutralize the biggest obstacle against him killing his masters, Asgard, by manipulating the heroes to work with him. In fact, if he had just been a little more lucky or had been a bit faster in killing the Prophets (who he had dead to rights, by the way, through trickery), he would have won and cemented himself as the big bad. Unfortunately, his luck just had to run out right as he was about to kill the Prophets and get out of the vicinity of Yggdrasil; had he left immediately, Siegfried would have never been able to assume a full form because he'd never get his spear back.
Corrupted Character Copy: He bears tons of similarities to the lead of Wild ARMs 2, Ashley Winchester. He bears the same weapon, turns into a demon and every one of Janus's gun specials is one that Ashley could learn. This makes for some amusing cognitive dissonance for the player who remembers the heroic Ashley from Wild ARMS 2.
Goldfish Poop Gang: He's the leader of one while he's with his two lackeys, but becomes a much greater threat once he abandons them.
Meaningful Name: In Roman Mythology Janus is the two-faced god of beginnings, passages, transitions, and time. Janus of WA3 serves as the first major antagonist, and who's actions start them down their new road. He's also a duplicitous snake who back-stabs just about everyone he meets.
Recurring Boss: In the first two chapters, which make up roughly half the game, Janus participates in not one, not two, but eight boss fights.
The Rival: Starts off as a slimy permutation of this, but quickly reveals himself to be an outright villain with dire plans for the world.
Smug Snake: He starts out as this and even temporarily gets better right before Siegfried guts him.
One-Winged Angel: Forced into one by the Prophets. Has the appearance of a weird fishman with no mouth.
Would Hit a Girl: He does (and how!).
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Aversion. Janus was always supposed to die — whether he was still useful or not — with his death being necessary to revive Siegfried.

Siegfried

A legendary demon from the old wars.

Ambiguous Situation: Is he Zeikfried from the original game Back from the Dead, or an entirely separate entity who happens to be very similar to him? The truth is intentionally left vague.
Baddie Flattery: Siegfried respects and envy Maya's power, which, he says, surpasses Demon's. However, that doesn't stop him from using her powers against her, and he obliterates her later on when she tries to solo him. But in the end, Maya got the last laugh.
Back from the Dead: If you believe he's the Big Bad from the first game. This interpretation is left open, so it's a fair guess.
Big Bad Ensemble: With Beatrice the Dream Demon. He directs the Prophets to revive him so he can once again try to turn Filgaia into a demon world, but Beatrice works to eliminate him and his minions so she can turn the world into her own personal twisted paradise.
Expy: Inverted. He has more than a passing resemblance to Nightmare, which fits, as Nightmare's original body was named Siegfried. However, Siegfried's character dates back to his first apparition in 1997, in the first Wild ARMS, whereas Nightmare didn't appear in the Soul series until Soul Calibur, in 2002.
One-Winged Angel: Transforms into a giant draconic monster for his final battle with the party, requiring them to use Lombardia to defeat him for good.

Asgard

A golem created by the Prophets. He is a learning machine, and over time develops feelings and a personality.

Barrier Warrior: Effectively how he fights. Early on, this gives him unmatched defenses that allow him to trounce the party, and it takes them a while to become strong enough to deal any damage to him. Over time, as his capacity to learn grows stronger, he also figures out ways to use his barriers offensively, including shoving one into the earth beneath him and enlarging it to cause quakes, or creating a barrier so large it smashes the ceilings and walls to bring the roof down on his foes' heads.
Can't Live Without You: A more convoluted process, but Asgard's primary order is to protect the prophets. Once the prophets die, the only way he can fulfill that order is to go to hell with them, which effectively forces him to have an unshakeable need to find a way to kill himself as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Dragon Their Feet: Despite part 2 being filled with battles with him, part 3 does not because he either catches the party by surprise or, when he intends to fight them in an arena where they can't avoid him, Werner comes to bail the party out. This means he misses the point where his maker, Melody, and his master, Leehalt, die. As a result, he does not get to show up again until part of the way through part 4. It's debatable whether or not he still feels any loyalty to Leehalt or his cause, but being a golem, he cannot but follow his orders, even after developing a morality and a love for nature, so when he finally corners the heroes, he goes out swinging.
Dying Moment of Awesome: Is it ever. He saves the party from Beatrice, who can only watch as he shatters the barrier she had erected around the Demondor Pillar's monster generator and destroys it, before then brazenly challenging the party to one final battle. He even takes a moment afterwards to make Jet see reason in his life before dying.
Forced into Evil: Even near the end, he's still a slave to his orders, forcing him to perform evil actions to follow his master to the grave, but he has no love for Beatrice, whose machinations ruined everything, including the green Filgaia Asgard had come to love, so he briefly opposes her and even comes out on top before participating in a suicidal battle with the party.
Friendly Enemy: By the time Asgard makes it back to the present, he feels no animosity towards anyone, he's just forced to follow orders. As a result, he actually sympathizes somewhat with the protagonists, and even gets Jet to see a reason for his existence before dying.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: Leading to a heartrending battle against him after he saves all the party's lives.
Implacable Man: Oh so very much. His actual title is "Fortress of Invulnerability", and it shows.
Lawful Stupid: Justified in that he is forced to be this. As a Golem, he is built with the internal order, 'A golem must secure his own safety to the best of his abilities.' His orders when created by the prophets were to defend the prophets. So when the prophets die, Asgard has a conundrum; he has to protect himself, but he also has to die to follow his masters into hell to protect them there. He decides upon Suicide by Cop with the protagonists as the cops as the primary means of following both orders; he'll fight to the best of his abilities because he has to, but he's fairly certain they'll beat him and allow him to follow his masters.
Mythology Gag: He is a reference to the Earth Golem Asgard in the original Wild ARMs.
Pragmatic Villainy: Ultimately his reason for confronting the party and Beatrice at Demondor Pillar. He gets to kill two birds with one stone, destroying the first pillar and mucking up Beatrice's plans somewhat as a result as revenge for what Beatrice did behind the scenes against his masters, and he finally corners the party, allowing him to preform his death match with the heroes.
The Slow Path: After being sent back thousands of years in time.
Suicide by Cop: See I Cannot Self-Terminate
Time Abyss: That statue in one of the early dungeons? It's Asgard after waiting patiently in one place for centuries so that he can protect The Prophets, who he doesn't even like anymore.
Walking Spoiler: He's actually introduced fairly early into part 2, all things considered, but most of the tropes attached to him pertain to events much further into the game as a result of his capacity for free thought growing slowly over time. This means a lot of his important actions count as spoilers.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After suffering mortal injuries, Asgard takes the time to give Jet a much-needed pep talk about how artificial beings such as both of them can develop feelings and a purpose before finally fading into dust.

The Schrödingers

In general

A band of Drifters who are seeking profit in the wastelands. They are sometimes antagonists and sometimes allies to the party.

Named After Somebody Famous: The physicist Erwin Schrödinger, famed for his thought experiment about quantum entanglement - for whatever it has to do with antagonistic drifters.

Maya Schrödinger

Voiced by: Kaori Asoh (Drama CD)

The leader of the Schrödinger family, Maya is a Drifter searching for treasure. She sees Virginia as a rival, and will often hinder the party, but she also provides them with assistance at times.

Badass Bookworm: Maya read books in her free time and is revealed to have the ability to absorb skills from books, which is where her "Calamity Jane" persona comes from.
BFG: Her gatling gun ARM- which falls out of her dress when she shakes it.
Braggart Boss: Maya and company are snobby as hell to the party when they first meet- and are justified in doing it, too, since Virginia and Co. are not particularly experienced and Virginia's leadership leaves something to be desired. Later in the game, they even compliment the party on how much stronger they've become, and even help you get to the final boss fight.
Black Magician Girl: In her mage form.
Ditto Fighter: She transforms into different expies of older Wild ARMs characters by imitating books she's read. Her mage form uses crest magic (Cecilia or Lilka), her martial artist form uses Kanon's moves from Wild ARMs 2, and the form everyone assumes is "her" is actually her channeling Calamity Jane from Wild ARMs. In reality, she's a geeky Meganekko.
Fire-Forged Friends: With Virginia about halfway into the game. Maya eventually concedes she can't take Virginia on in a fair fight and gradually gives up trying, but has a rough time making space for Virginia's early naivete and infectious idealism and optimism in her life. They eventually come to terms with each other by seeking out the other's strength as a person so they can progress their goals simultaneously, and as Virginia matures her naivete Maya comes ever closer to accepting Virginia as a contemporary and friend.
Gatling Good: Her special ARM, which comes out of the most interesting holster ever created in a Wild West game.
Mega Manning: Maya's unique power is to do this by copying the powers of anything she reads. Imagine if she got wind of TV Tropes!
The Rival: Maya is very obviously meant to serve as a foil and opposing force for Virginia, having boundless confidence and being a realist where Virginia occasionally second-guesses herself and is often blinded by her idealism. Naturally, they get into a lot of fights early on. As an opponent, Maya (and even some of her alternate forms) take on Virginia's role in the party, sans the ability to heal; she's quick, she uses an actual gatling gun to simulate Virginia being the best user of the 'Gatling' ability in the party, and she forms the backbone of her party in any given fight.
Shapeshifting: Maya has miraculously unlocked the ability to permanently take on the form and abilities of anyone she reads about in books until she chooses to take on a different form. There does seem to be a limit to how much power she can derive from the character outside her own merits, but she can otherwise perfectly copy most abilities her forms had as their characters. The big twist is that the Maya the player is introduced to is one such form, as she uses a confident gunslinger persona to deal with her own crippling nerves and anxieties. The Schrödinger family more or less consider her gunslinger persona to be her, though, and Maya herself never leaves the form willingly for long. No big fuss is made about the gunslinger persona not being the 'real' Maya, too - even Virginia's party accepts her for who she wants to be.
Super Power Lottery: She has the power to use any power from any fictional character in any book that she reads. Never becomes a party member, though.
Trouser Space: Maya has a gatling gun fall out of her skirt.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Virginia, eventually.

Alfred Schrödinger

Voiced by: Kōki Miyata (Drama CD)

Maya's little brother, and an explosive expert.

Adorably Precocious Child: He's clearly the most mature one in the group, although no one really listens to him. He's also adorable.
Hidden Depths: A lot smarter than he first appears.

Todd Dukakis

Voiced by: Kazuki Yao (Drama CD)

Maya's afro'd and loyal bodyguard. He uses a sword in combat.

Battle Butler: Dresses like a butler.
Funny Afro: Casting a fire spell will light the fro on fire and leave it smoldering for the rest of the fight, doing damage to him repeatedly.
Iaijutsu Practitioner: Uses Quick Draw sword techniques.
Katanas Are Just Better
Mythology Gag: He uses Quick Draw techniques that were unique to Jack from Wild ARMs. He says he was taught by Maya's father, which has led to some Epileptic Trees about her ancestry.
Sword Cane: His katana takes on this form.

Shady Thousand

Voiced by: Mitsuo Iwata (Drama CD)

A winged cat-like animal who can speak, breathe fire, and is apparently immortal. He was locked in a box by a previous generation of Schrödingers. His long period of confinement has made him extremely claustrophobic.

Breath Weapon: Comes in classic Playing with Fire and the Non-Elemental Blizzard Breath.
Claustrophobia: Really hates small spaces...
Intellectual Animal: Has the ability to speak.
Logical Weakness: He's a cat who's weak to water-elemental damage.
Stealth Pun: He belongs to the Schrödingers. He's a cat (sort of). He was in a box. He has a 50-50 chance of using fire attacks on any given turn. He's claustrophobic. During the scene you discover his claustrophobia, he screams "NO MORE POISON GAS!"

Others

Florina

A shy young girl who is not good with people. She lives alone in one of the few fertile places left in Filgaea, silently tending her garden.

Dub Name Change: More like dub name addition. In the original Japanese she was simply "the girl from the garden" the entire time, the implication being of course that she is Mariel (who gets name dropped in a few history books you can find).
Innocent Flower Girl: Also your only source of healing items. Amusingly she likes the Badass Loner Jet, who just wishes she'd leave him alone. She likes him because she can sense that he's a nature elemental, which makes this a huge bit of clever foreshadowing.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Mariel from Wild ARMs. Word of God says they're the same person.

Lombardia

A dragon, which in the world of Wild ARMs 3 means she is a living mechanical being. The party requests her help, and after beating her in combat, she agrees to become their transportation.

Cool Airship: A dragon that transforms into a Global Airship? Can't get too much cooler than that.
Dragon Rider: A variation, she transforms into a Cool Airship that the party rides inside. She even has seats!
Our Dragons Are Different: They're giant Transforming Mecha. Officially badass.
Transforming Mecha: For a certain value of "mecha."

Werner Maxwell

Voiced by: Issei Masamune (Drama CD)

Virginia's father, who has been missing since she was a little girl.

Dead All Along: The Werner Maxwell we see throughout the game turns out to be a ghost. More precisely, he's a hologram made from Werner's stored memories and personality data.
Guns Akimbo: As expected, since he's the one who taught Virginia.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's basically Clint Eastwood, minus the cigar.
Parental Substitute: To Jet, in that he aided him after the accident that killed his creators.
Take Up My Sword: When he's about to be completely deleted by Beatrice near the end of the game, he makes a final plea to the Drifters, particularly his daughter Virginia, to stop her and save Filgaia from the mistakes he and his fellow scientist made.

The Final Boss (Unmarked Spoilers)

Beatrice / Nega Filgaia

Voiced by: Yuri Shiratori (Drama CD)

The real Big Bad of the game. Beatrice is a demonic entity living inside the Library of Hyades, a data archive containing lost information and technology from the days of old. She's an intangible entity incapable of existing outside of Hyades and seeks to create a new world in which she can live.

Unfortunately, her method of creating this new world is by stealing memories — she has already attempted to create her world before by brainwashing an engineer and hijacking the Yggdrasil system, but failed and caused everyone on the planet to lose their memories of what the world was like. She's still active and is manipulating both Destiny's Ark, the chief religious organization in Filgaia, and the heroes to further her plan and thwart anyone who might put it in jeopardy.

Big Bad Ensemble: With Siegfried. He directs the Prophets to revive him so he can once again try to turn Filgaia into a demon world, but Beatrice works to eliminate him and his minions so she can turn the world into her own personal twisted paradise.
Chekhov's Gunman: Beatrice makes numerous, almost indistinguishable cameos in cutscenes as a background filler character, as well as being referred to by a number of different characters. She even spawns in various towns as a seemingly-generic NPC, albeit always conveniently out of reach...
Contagious A.I.: The game never comes out and says this, but she's basically this trope with supernatural trappings.
Creepy Child: She's the cute, dark-haired girl you've seen all over the place. Although given her appearance, it's really uncomfortable when she starts talking about how she wants to be pregnant and give birth to the "new Filgaia."
Demonic Possession: Through dreams.
Evil Versus Evil: She's at odds with Siegfried and the Prophets due to the mutual exclusivity of their objectives. It's only after Siegfried has been dealt with that Beatrice makes a move.
Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: She is a wicked Dream Demon who ravaged Filgaia, turning it into a desert planet, and is directly or indirectly responsible for every bad thing that happens. She also looks like an adorable, purple-haired little girl.
Faux Affably Evil: She's very soft-spoken and playful, but her dialogue reeks of utter contempt for every last person with whom she communicates.
Final-Exam Boss: Nega Filgaia has a ton of different forms, often with some kind of trick attached that needs to be overcome in order to move on. Beatrice herself also has a trick (inflicting Sleep) that needs to be worked around to defeat her.
Giggling Villain: Her signature giggle is heard by cast members numerous times, even long before she makes an official appearance in the plot. Heck, her very last utterance before finally dying is a giggle.
Ironic Nursery Tune: Her theme song, Succubus Princess. The first time you hear her theme, you instantly know something is wrong with her...
One-Winged Angel: Spontaneously transforms into some purple-skinned Elegant Gothic Lolita for battle.
Sequential Boss: You fight her personally in two consecutive battles, immediately after which you fight her creation, Nega Filgaia, which has ten friggin' forms.
The Woman Behind the Man: She's the one manipulating Lamium, the leader of the largest religious denomination in Filgaia, to uncover artifacts that she needs to complete her plan. She's also manipulating Shane to help push the party in the right direction to further her own ends too.

Characters / Wild ARMs 3

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