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This is a trope sheet for the cast of Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.

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The Heroes

Cecil Harvey

"Stay back. This is a fight for me and me alone."

The main character of the game. Cecil is a dark knight of the Baron Empire, torn between his loyalty to his kingdom and feelings against having to commit atrocities against several nations. Eventually decides he's had enough and defects from Baron to try and stop them and later Golbez from gathering the Crystals. He and Golbez appear in the Dissidia series as representatives for Final Fantasy IV and will be returning for the Spin-Off Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.

Voiced by: Shizuma Hodoshima (Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal (English)

• The Atoner
• BFS: Just like most Final Fantasy heroes. Hard to tell in the 2D releases, but in the DS release, well... ^{[dead link]} Of course this is probably due to the Chibi art style because his official renders show him wielding swords of standard sizes.
• Bishonen: Currently fighting with Kuja for the title of Bishiest (no, really).
  • Real Men Wear Lipstick
• Black Knight: His initial class. ...Which makes a lot of sense, given that the king was also stated to be a Dark Knight.
• Blue Eyes
• Brainwashed and Crazy: By the Mysterious Girl in The After Years.
• Cast from Hit Points: The Darkness ability.
• Casting a Shadow: At first.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Rosa.
• Classically-Trained Extra: His seiyuu is Shizuma Hodoshima, who's not a Name to Know in Anime... bit of a different story though, if you're looking to put on a Shakespeare production.
• Cool Sword: Both his Dark swords and the Paladin swords.
• Defector From Decadence
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: But it only became obvious after one, technology developed to the point that we could clearly see what he looks like, and two, the series became popular enough for Yoshitaka Amano's artwork for it to be gathered up into artbooks (as usual, happening later for the anglophone world than Japan).
• Expy: Played very oddly. His CGI render for The Complete Collection looks a heck of a lot like Griffith, facially, but the official artwork that came first doesn't (partially due to Hair Color Dissonance). Personality-wise, however, they couldn't be further apart if they tried.
• The Good Captain
• Good Costume Switch
• Hair Color Dissonance: Purple? White? Blond?
• Half-Human Hybrid
• Happily Married: To Rosa.
• The Hero
• Heroes Prefer Swords
• Hot Dad: To Ceodore.
• How Do I Shot Web?: After the Paladin transformation, he's reset to level one, with the damage capability he had at the beginning of the game (fortunately, he gains levels extremely quickly). This is also alleviated quickly by the fact that Cecil's Mythgraven Blade/Sword of Legend works wonders against all of the unholy enemies on Mt. Ordeals.
• Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad
• Ideal Hero: Well, he is a Paladin (eventually).
• Kain and Abel: With both Kain and Golbez. To be technical, only the latter is his blood sibling, but Kain has been his friend since childhood. They were both adopted and raised by the same man.
• Knight in Shining Armor: As a Paladin, naturally (and hands down at that), but it's also implied that he was this as a Dark Knight before the king was replaced by Cagnazzo (which most people seem to forget).
• Lawful Stupid: Averting this trope is actually a plot point for him, as he worries that he's becoming a tool of Baron without any morality in the beginning of the game. The decision to avert this is also what causes him to turn against his homeland.
• Leitmotif: "The Red Wings".
• Light Is Good/Dark Is Not Evil: Before the king turned evil or, rather, before Cagnazzo began to impersonate him, it's very strongly implied that Dark Knight!Cecil was actually a just and noble warrior.
• Magic Knight: Ends up as one of these, primarily of the Combat Medic variety.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction to attacking the Mysidians and inadvertently burning down Mist and killing Rydia's mother.
• Official Couple: Cecil and Rosa.
• The Paladin
• Purple Prose: The DS version had him dabble in some of this during his angsty moment with Rosa. After that, he starts speaking much more normally, oddly enough.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Golbez.
• Stay in the Kitchen: He tells Rosa and Rydia (you know, the healer and the nuketastic spellcaster) to stay safe on earth but has no problem taking along Edge, who spends half his time in battle face-planted (fortunately, they don't listen).
• Sword of Plot Advancement: The Mythgraven Blade.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy

Kain Highwind

"Cecil, Rosa. I cannot bring myself to face you both, not yet. I must test myself as you did, Cecil, at Mt. Ordeals. I will train until I've surpassed my father as a Dragoon. When that time comes, then I shall return to Baron."

Cecil's long-time friend and ally, and commander of Baron's Dragoons. Involved in a Love Triangle with Cecil and Rosa. He appeared in the sequel to Dissidia as one of the main characters to the new plot.

Voiced by: Koichi Yamadera (Japanese), Liam O'Brien (English)

• All Love Is Unrequited:
  • Love Redeems: Just as his love for Rosa turns him to The Dark Side, it is his love for Rosa that manages to redeem him in the end.
• The Atoner: Decides to atone for his sins at the end of the first game.
• Awesome McCoolname
• Badass Long Hair
• Big Brother Mentor: To Ceodore in the sequel.
• Blade on a Stick: His Weapon of Choice although not the only weapon he can wield.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: The main reason for his Heel Face Revolving Door trope.
• Breakout Character: One of the most famous Ensemble Darkhorses of the series. He got to be a central character in The After Years due to his dark side being a major antagonist, and is one of the more plot-important characters in Dissidia 012. Even Tetsuya Nomura is a Kain fanboy and tried really hard to get him in the first Dissidia, looking at him for Final Fantasy IV's representative villain at one point instead of Golbez.
• Cain and Abel: Is the name not a clue? He even gets an Infinity Plus One Lance called "Abel's Lance".
• Childhood Friend Romance
• Dragon Rider: He is a Dragoon, although the only mention of his pet wyvern is in supplemental materials.
• Enemy Without: Kain?/Dark Kain in both Final Fantasy IV Advance and The After Years.
• Hair of Gold: It takes a while for him to get there, but yeah. Shoulder length too.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: The most common perception of him, though in truth he only is brainwashed twice, and he notably fights off another attempt at brainwashing without even letting the struggle show on his face. Some versions of the game reduce the number from two to one, with Golbez intentionally allowing him to briefly rejoin Cecil to steal the last Dark Crystal.
• Hopeless Suitor: Has unrequited feelings for Rosa.
• In a Single Bound: Jump. That is all.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He kept his feelings hidden beneath the surface in order to avoid hindering his friendship with Cecil and Rosa.
• Knight in Shining Armor: He becomes a Holy Dragoon in the sequel.
• The Lancer: This is both his class name and his role within the story.
• Leitmotif: "The Theme of Suspicion".
• Love Makes You Evil: His unrequited love for Rosa and jealousy of Cecil was the main reason he was able to be turned to The Dark Side.
• Magic Knight: Upon becoming a Holy Dragoon in The After Years, although sprites Dummied Out from the original game suggest that Kain would have had this ability all along.
• Manly Tears/Cry Cute: Teach him "Cry" and try it out.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: He tries it while serving Golbez. His "Lunar Trial" in GBA's bonus dungeon focuses entirely around this concept and Kain overcoming the temptation (or not, which causes a Nonstandard Game Over). In The After Years, his Enemy Without plans to do it, but the real Kain is able to stop him.
• Mythology Gag: Starting with the Dawn of Souls remake for Final Fantasy II, the boy that Richard Highwind (the series' first Dragoon and bearer of the surname Highwind) adopts is named Kain. This was brought full circle when remakes of Final Fantasy IV had Kain mention that the name of his father (who died ) was Richard (although it's highly unlikely due to age; Kain tells the 17-year-old Ceodore that he was about his age when he heard news of his father's death; the Kain seen in Final Fantasy II is merely a child).
• Name of Cain
• The Rival
• Rival Turned Evil: But he gets over it.
• Romantic Runner-Up
• The Southpaw/A Sinister Clue: Officially, Kain is left-handed.
• Troubled but Cute
• Unrequited Love Lasts Forever

Rosa Farrell

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Kristy Pape (English)

Cecil's girlfriend and a White Mage of Baron, who has vowed to stay by his side even if he doubts his own motives.

• Action Mom: Sure, she's a White Magician Girl and not a frontline fighter, but how many other mothers in Final Fantasy join the playable party?
• All There in the Manual: Her middle name is Joanna (taken from her mother's first name).
• The Archer: Though she can use staves, she's much better when handling a bow and arrow. Once she gets her best equipment, she deals damage comparable to the front-row characters.
• The Chick: The party's moral center. The Hero's love interest. The lancer's unrequited crush. The healer. Rosa IS this trope.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Cecil.
• Damsel in Distress
• Generation Xerox: She wished to become a white mage and fight alongside her lover, much like her mother did. The only difference is that Mrs. Farrell's husband was a dragoon, and Cecil's a paladin...
• Hair Color Dissonance: Sometimes portrayed as more of a strawberry-blonde.
• Hair of Gold
• Happily Married
• The Heart
• The High Queen: When Cecil is determined to be the only person in the kingdom eligible to take the throne, Rosa becomes his elegant queen.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Holy.
• Hot Mom: Widely known as the most beautiful woman in the kingdom in-game, and in the sequel at age 36, and with a son named Ceodore, she's just as attractive as she was in the original.
• Informed Attractiveness: While by no means ugly, her reputation as a world famous beauty seems a bit of a stretch when the other female party members are also quite beautiful. YMMV of course on if they're more attractive than Rosa or not.
• The Ingenue: She's pure of spirit, although she's not naive or stupid.
• Lady of War: It takes a while for her to grow into this trope though.
• Leitmotif: "The Theme of Love". Doubles as a Breakaway Pop Hit, at least in Japan (where it is taught to music students).
• Leotard of Power
• The Medic: Rosa is known in story as a master of Healing Hands.
• Official Couple: Cecil and Rosa.
• Pimped-Out Cape: In the remake, her cape has a lace cape over it.
• Pregnant Badass: In the original release of The After Years, Ceodore is 16. The After Years takes place 17 years after the original game, implying she was possibly already pregnant during the end-game. The Complete Collection re-release de-aged Ceodore to 15, but included the Interlude chapter where she's playable for part of the chapter and later explicitly states she's pregnant.
• Silk Hiding Steel: A pure and loving healer/queen who dresses very well and kicks ass.
• Spikes of Villainy: Uhh... Well, now we know who the Warrior of Light takes fashion advice from.
• Stripperiffic: Though nowhere near as much as Rydia.
• White Mage
• White Magician Girl: In terms of personality and story role, Rosa is one of two candidates for the Trope Codifier.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Though see above under Informed Attractiveness.

Rydia

A young girl from the Mist Village, home to many a summoner. She will be appearing in the Dissidia Final Fantasy Spin-Off Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a playable sub-character.

Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya (Japanese), Daniella Macey (English)

• Absolute Cleavage: Not as much as some though.
• Badass Adorable: If you level her sufficiently, she can one-hit desert creatures with her little Ice Rod.
• Big Damn Heroes: One of her iconic scenes is showing up as an adult (supposedly killed by a sea serpent a few weeks earlier at age 6), after everyone is about to die and kicking Golbez's ass. This was a guy who took a Meteor spell to the face and walked it off.
• The Big Guy: A surprisingly non-shoehorned example. Rydia has the highest damage potential of any party member, with Bahamut easily hitting the 9999 damage cap. Also fits this in the team dynamic somewhat, as her adult version tends to be mature and centered as opposed to Cecil's brooding Hero, Rosa's Heart/Chick, Kain's stoic Lancer and Edge's Smart Guy.
• Black Magician Girl: She chants. Enemies explode.
• Blind Idiot Translation: Doesn't anyone else think she was supposed to be Lydia? ...but honestly, who cares?
• Blue Eyes/Green Eyes: Depending on the Artist.
• Breakout Character: After Kain a prominent Ensemble Darkhorse, her Eidolons and her quest to save them are a major plot point in The After Years, not to mention the initial Big Bad is her Evil Counterpart. Along with Kain she also gets to be in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a bonus character.
• Child Mage
• Curtains Match the Window: Debatable: in Nomura's artwork, she has green eyes, but in the other appearances she has Blue Eyes.
• Deadpan Snarker: She shows signs of this as an adult in the original SNES translation, although that could be chalked up to the localization team's efforts to voice her "inner child" due to the Plot-Relevant Age-Up. Subsequent rereleases tend to focus on the "childlike innocence" angle in her dialogue.
• Depending on the Artist: See Curtains Match the Window above.
• Detached Sleeves
• Easily Forgiven: Forgiveness from Rydia was surprisingly fast.
  • Justified Trope: Rydia didn't forgive Cecil too quickly, but she was rational enough to realise that he felt remorseful for what he'd done after he saved her life after she attacked him and even continued to protect her from his own allies from Baron. The Plot-Relevant Age-Up also helped a lot—Cecil was surprised she still wanted to fight alongside him now that she could protect herself, but she pointed out there were more important things to consider than their own discomfort (and given she spent at least a decade there, it would've given her time to truly forgive). As for forgiving Kain though... well, maybe Leviathan explained things to her so her anger wouldn't fester?
• Glass Cannon: Her summons will blast your enemies into oblivion, but Rydia by far has the lowest health of any of the group. If not sufficiently leveled by the time you've reached Zeromus it's likely he'll have her face down on the floor half the time.
• I Choose to Stay: The ending for the original game implies Rydia chose to stay in the Feymarch and live with Asura and Leviathan. The After Years turns this one-sided: Asura and Leviathan send her back to live in Mist because she's still a human, and despite growing up in the Feymarch; they thought it would be better for her to be with her own species.
• Last of His Kind: Thanks to Cecil and Kain. Though going back to Mist and talking to the survivors shows that Rydia is just the last woman.
• Leitmotif: "Rydia's Theme".
• Leotard of Power
• Little Miss Badass: When she first joins the party as a child.
• Ms. Fanservice: One of the earliest examples in the series. Given the only female characters to predate her were Princess Sarah, Maria, Leila, Princess Hilda, Princess Sara, and Aria, Rydia could almost be the Ur Example if not for Maria.
• Parental Abandonment
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Hand Waved by a time flow difference between the regular world and the Feymarch/Land of Summoned Beasts. While only a week or so passed for everyone else, a decade passed for her.
• She's All Grown Up
• Stripperiffic: As an adult. It's probably because she was raised by summons, who aren't known for their modesty (when they're humanoid at all).
• Summon Magic
  • Four-Element Ensemble: Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh and Titan.
  • Light'Em Up: Mist Dragon.
  • The Medic: Asura.
  • Making a Splash: Leviathan.
  • Life Drain: Sylph.
  • One-Hit Kill: Odin.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: Bahamut.
• Whip It Good
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Rydia is unable to cast Fire, and is afraid to cast it at first because Cecil and Kain unknowingly destroyed her hometown with Bombs (the monster, not the explosive device).
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair
• You Kill It, You Bought It: All of her optional summons are acquired by defeating the monster in battle first, as their code of honor states not to answer the summons of a Summoner who hasn't proven him/herself worthy of controlling them. Considering she joins the party with Ifrit, Titan, Shiva, Ramuh and Mist Dragon, does that mean Rydia beat them all on her own? Titan may have already been hers when she was recruited by the party and the Mist Dragon was her mother's and is implied to embody her spirit, but the other three, perhaps.
• Zettai Ryouiki

Edward "Edge" Geraldine

Ninja prince of Eblan.

Voiced by: Hiroya Ishimaru (Japanese), Taliesin Jaffe (English)

• All Love Is Unrequited: He has feelings for Rydia. She doesn't seem too interested.
• Badass Cape: It's hard to tell. Artwork from The After Years depicts Edge wearing Rubicante's cloak of flames as his own; you can later obtain it for Edge to wear.
• Battle Boomerang
• Dual-Wielding Katanas
• Fragile Speedster: He will spend a lot of time facedown in the dirt, even when buffed up.
• Highly-Visible Ninja
• Hot-Blooded
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A brash, egotistical womanizer with a kind heart and a fiery sense of justice.
• Ninja
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Not too well known in English fandom, but "Edge" is just an alias: his real name is Edward Geraldine. We think most of us would go by Edge in that case. This is also because there is already another character named Edward.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Self-Made Orphan: Subverted. When Dr. Lugae turns his parents into fiends, Edge tries to reach out to them. They regain their lucidity, but then decide to kill themselves. Edge wasn't the only one screaming in anguish at that moment.
• Small Name, Big Ego
• The Smart Guy: Of the Tricksters variety.
• Stepford Smiler: In the DS remake, specifically the Lunar Subterrane. Edge is as outwardly cocky as ever, but his inner thoughts are more or less utter terror about where he is and what they are doing.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Oh yes it does.
• Unstoppable Rage: It gives him the power to create one epic Crowning Moment of Awesome.
• Warrior Prince
• White-Haired Pretty Boy

Tellah

A wise old sage who has mastered both the arts of White and Black Magic. He meets Cecil at the Underground Waterway north of Kaipo to help him find a cure for Rosa's desert fever.

Voiced by: Goro Naya (Japanese), Lee Everest (English)

• Badass Grandpa
• Blessed with Suck: Tellah just learned nearly every spell in the game! Oh, but he only has 90 MP...
• Cool Old Guy
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Storyline-wise, Tellah just doesn't have the strength to use Meteor without killing himself. Gameplay-wise, Tellah isn't able to cast Meteor due to it costing 99 MP, and he only has 90 max. The developers overlooked the idea that in some releases, players can use items on him to boost his max MP. Oops.
• Grumpy Old Man
• Large Ham:

"I am ready to face Golbez! I am DOOM ITSELF!"

• Lennon Specs
• Old Master: Tellah did know almost all the spells in existence, once. He's just forgotten most of them in his old age. He later gets his memory back.
• Revenge: He wants to kill Golbez in retaliation for the death of his only daughter, Anna.
• Revenge Before Reason: Crosses this line at times.
• Senseless Sacrifice: His last stand against Golbez, the almighty Meteor spell, fails to kill him. Not Senseless actually, considering that Tellah temporarily freed Kain from Golbez's mind control and wounded Golbez enough to save Rosa, who was rescued right before the killing contraption would have killed her.
• Squishy Wizard

Edward Chris von Muir

The lovestruck Prince of Damcyan.

Voiced by: Ryo Horikawa (Japanese), Sam Riegel (English)

• Bishonen
• Brown Note
• Cowardly Lion
• Fragile Speedster
• Heartbroken Badass: The "badass" is debatable, but you can bet yer ass that Anna's death hit him hard. Her Rousing Speech to him did ease his pain a bit, but he's still mourning 17 years later.
• Item Caddy: The Salve ability which originally just spread a potion to the entire party is buffed considerably in later versions to allow Edward to use items on the entire party provided you still have the stock.
• Leitmotif: "The Melody of Lute".
• Lethal Joke Character: Just get him Apollo's Harp and he'll be a lightning-fast Glass Cannon.
• Magic Music
• Magikarp Power
• The Medic: Edward can make an effective healer in the DS version and The After Years due to his Salve ability combined with the Economical Ring which doubles the effectiveness of items and he will often out-pacing a White Mage because items heal instantly. It makes him a bit of a Money Sink, however.
• Musical Assassin
• Nice Hat
• The Smart Guy
• Spoony Bard: Trope Namer.
• Took a Level in Badass: The original versions of the game notwithstanding, both the GBA and DS remakes, as well as The After Years, have seen Edward discard his Joke Character status quite triumphantly (in the case of the latter, it's more evident in the story, but damn, Edward has balls of steel).
• Wandering Minstrel: It was during his travels that he met Anna.

Yang Fang Leiden

File:Ff4-yang 2445.jpg

A hot-blooded fighting monk from the kingdom of Fabul.

Voiced by: Tessho Genda (Japanese), Jackson Daniels (English)

• Badass Mustache
• Bald of Awesome
• Bare-Fisted Monk
• Easy Amnesia: Briefly suffers this after Leviathan's appearance and works as a Baron troop. He gets his memory back after the party beats him up a bit.
• Happily Married
• Hard Head: His reaction to getting smacked by the Frying Pan of Love is to groggily wonder if it's time to train.
• Hot Dad: Not many people can still pull off a Walking Shirtless Scene past the age of fifty.
• Leitmotif: The theme music for Fabul doubles as this.
• Lightning Bruiser
• Stay in the Kitchen: Always tells Ursula to stay behind while he's off fighting or exploring in The After Years. Good thing she doesn't listen either.
• Walking Shirtless Scene
• Warrior Monk
• Wolverine Claws: Weapon of Choice.

Palom and Porom

Twin mages from the town of Mysidia. The impulsive Palom is a student of Black Magic, while his much calmer sister Porom is a student of White Magic.

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (Japanese), Megan Harvey (Porom, English), Hunter MacKenzie Austin (Palom, English)

• Badass Adorable
• Black Mage: Palom.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Palom.
• Butt Monkey: Four Words: Palom in the Sky.
• Child Mages
• Combination Attack: Before anyone else was using Bands, Palom and Porom had Twincasting as their signature move, setting off a small number of hard-hitting attacks after a sizable delay. In The After Years, Twincasting is retconned into a Band during the twins' flashback. They actually lose the band as they grow up and apart, but regain it during the final chapter, stronger than ever.
• Different As Night and Day
• Half-Identical Twins: Subverted in The After Years, as their appearances differ with age. Porom, in particular, looks very different than she did in the original.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Their intention was clear, although it turns out that their master was able to restore them to life.
• Insufferable Genius: Palom in The After Years has let his Bratty Half-Pint tendencies mature into this, trading his hilarious boasts for a constant air of superiority. Now when he calls himself Mysidia's most accomplished Black Mage, it's entirely true, but he's no less infuriating for it.
• Kidanova: Palom.
• Leitmotif: "Palom and Porom".
• Little Miss Badass: Porom.
• The Mentor: Palom in The After Years. And a surprisingly good one. How many other Final Fantasy characters have explained so clearly to anyone how mages work?
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Palom and Porom, respectively.
• Rose-Haired Girl: Porom in The After Years, oddly enough.
• Sibling Yin-Yang
• Stealth Pun: Palom is a smart-alec and calls himself the "Mysidian Genius", while Porom is quiet, devout and loyal to the Elder and the Crystal. When it comes to their abilities, Black Magic grows stronger as the user gains Intelligence, while White Magic depends on Spirit.
• Stripperific: Porom in The After Years wears a nearly see-through outfit and no real hint of underwear under it. In Japan, this is to represent her purity. Her outfit was modified to be less see-through for the American release.
• Taken for Granite: They turn themselves to stone to save the rest of the party.
• Theme Twin Naming
• White Mage: Porom.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Porom.
• Wonder Twin Powers
• Zettai Ryouiki: Porom provides Grade A in The After Years.

Cid Pollendina

Cid is one of Cecil's closest friends, and a master engineer. While he has helped build the airships that make up the Baron Air Force, he hates seeing them being used for war.

Voiced by: Ichiro Nagai (Japanese), John Snyder (credited as Stephen Martello; English)

• Badass Beard
• Badass Grandpa: Espescially in The After Years when he's 71 years old and actually has a grandson. Still doesn't stop him from grabbing his hammer and jumping back into the fight.
• The Big Guy
• Boisterous Bruiser
• Cool Old Guy
• Drop the Hammer
• Expy: He is the "Cid" of the game.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Almost anyone named "Cid" in a Final Fantasy game will be good with tools to some extent. This guy is no exception.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a genius when it comes to airships, building and designing them for a living, and can easily beat things to death with his hammer.
• Gonk: Especially when compared to the rest of the male party members, who are outright Bishonen.
• Leitmotif: "Hey, Cid!"
• Mighty Glacier
• Parental Substitute: The PS 1 version had some lines of dialogue that imply he sees himself as one for Rosa.
• Shipper on Deck: Likes to tease Edge about his crush on Rydia. Not to mention how much he ships Cecil x Rosa.
• Unexplained Recovery: Somehow survives detonating a bomb in his hand that manages to collapse a chunk of the earth's crust. While freefalling. Over spikes and lava. While he was being shot at.

FuSoYa

An old Lunarian sage and the brother of KluYa, Cecil and Golbez's father.

Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

• Badass Beard
• Badass Uncle
• Blatant Lies: In the SNES/GBA version, his advice when facing the CPU proves very useful when put into effect. In the DS version, if you value your sanity, do NOT listen to him this time around unless you want to be brutally creamed by the Attack Node's new attack which can turn into a Total Party Kill if not leveled enough.
• Crutch Character: He'll fall down with two strong hits. His faint animation in the DS version literally vaporizes him into his clothes.
• Eleventh-Hour Ranger
• Expy: Fits the same character mold as Tellah, joining the party with all the spells in the game but with mediocre HP and too low MP to get a lot of usage out of his abilities.
• The Red Mage
• Spell My Name with an "S": Is it FuSoYa, Fusoya or Fu-So-Ya? KluYa experiences a similar problem.

The Villains

Golbez/Theodor

A dark sorcerer who is believed to have taken over the kingdom of Baron from within. He seeks out the four Elemental Crystals in an effort to rule the world. ...supposedly. He plays a pivotal role in the plot of the Dissidia Final Fantasy where he appears as the villain representing Final Fantasy IV.

Voiced by: Takeshi Kaga (Japanese), Peter Beckman (credited as Anthony Landor; English)

• The Atoner
• Badass: He takes Meteor to the face and shakes it off like it was nothing (all it does is break his mind control spell on Kain). In the original versions of Final Fantasy IV, his defeat in the Dwarven Castle reduces him to no more than a single hand, and he comes back seconds later. Plus, if he too is bound by the fact that a summoner dies when their summon kicks the bucket, he doesn't succumb to the loss of his Shadow Dragon and survives for the entire game. Oh, and he's one awesome mage.
  • Badass Long Hair
• Badass Baritone: In both English and Japanese.
• Badass Cape
• Barbarian Hero: As the Man in Black. He even uses a BFS called the Ebony Blade.
• Big Bad: Actually, he's the Brainwashed and Crazy Dragon.
• Big Brother Instinct: In The After Years, it shows that he truly does care deeply for Cecil.
• Black Knight
• Brainwashed and Crazy
• Crutch Character: In The After Years. When you first set out to the True Moon, he's just shy of 3,000 HP and probably has at least an extra thousand health on everyone else and has Firaga, Blizzaga and Thundaga. This, in tandem with Taunt to draw enemy attacks, makes him an excellent meat shield and Black Mage. As well, many monsters on the moon are plain immune to lower-level magic, and Palom and Rydia won't learn those "-aga" spells until Level 41, making Golbez pretty much the only offensive spellcaster you have until you level them up another ten-fifteen levels.
• Darth Vader Clone: His Dissidia art provides the current page image. Besides his appearance as seen in his DS render, he's a Badass Baritone and is Cecil's brother and is brainwashed by Zemus, the true Big Bad.
• Depending on the Artist: His armor is either bright blue, dark blue or black, and the lining of his cape is either blue or red. In the Super NES release, his boss sprite had blue armor with a blue cape, but his player character sprite had brighter blue armor with a red cape. In his DS render seen above, he has black armor and a blue cape, but his in-game model has black armor and a red cape. His Dissidia adapts this by presenting his dark blue and black armor with the blue cape for his default outfit while his gold and black armor with a red cape is his alternate outfit.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Intercepts a Black Fang intended for Cecil in The After Years, and may not survive it if you don't have the proper party set-up.
• Hidden Depths: A meta example, remakes of the original game and his appearances in Dissidia and The After Years have turned him into one of the more complex characters in the Final Fantasy IV universe, while in the game's original release, he was little more than a generic Tin Tyrant Evil Overlord. Even after his stint of Brainwashed and Crazy ended, he didn't show much personality besides hints of The Atoner in the original Super NES release. The After Years takes this further during his final moments with his former henchmen, the Elemental Archfiends. In particular, Scarmiglione notes that even though he was hideous, Golbez looked past that and invited him into his ranks, hinting that even while brainwashed, Golbez still held some goodness in his heart.
• Leitmotif: "Golbez, Clad in Darkness".
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Golbez is Cecil's older brother, Theodor.
• Magic Knight: In The After Years, he arguably plays this straighter than any other cast member save for Ceodore. He has a huge equipment draw including most of the mage-type robes and rods along with the knight-type swords, shields and heavy armor. He also learns more Black Magic than Cecil, Ceodore or Kain learn White Magic, including Flare and Meteor, so Golbez is perfectly capable as an attacker or mage. The only disadvantage he has compared to other Black Mages like Rydia and Palom is that he doesn't learn the Standard Status Effect spells they do.
• Master of None: Golbez is not as effective a physical fighter nor mage as the other more dedicated characters, but his high HP and his taunt ability make him an effective tank as well making him one of the most versatile characters in the game.
• Meaningful Name: Golbeza (his name in Japanese) is a mistranslation of Golubaeser (also known as the Golubac Fly), a type of black fly named for the town of Golubac in Serbia. According to folk tales, the venomous flies were born from the body of a decomposing dragon, mirroring Theodor's eventual fate. In the DS remake, Zemus takes the symbolism further by calling him an insect that was "birthed from womb of dragon's corpse", referring to both the Golubac Fly and the Mysidian Legend.
• My God, What Have I Done?
• Ominous Pipe Organ: His Leitmotif, "Golbez, Clad in Dark(ness)". Notably, Golbez was the first villain to get his own, foreboding theme.
• Purple Eyes: In the DS port of the original game and PSP port of The After Years. Other depictions show him with Green Eyes, but you could Hand Wave it as somehow being due to his armor, since the green eyes are never depicted when he isn't wearing it.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Depending on the Artist. Subverted when he turns out to just be brainwashed.
• Redemption Equals Death: Possible outcome of the battle against the Dark Knight Cecil doppelganger. The Japanese novelization for The After Years actually has Golbez dying during the Lunar Subterrane event.
• Shoulders of Doom: You'll seriously wonder how he walks in those things.
• A Sinister Clue: Like Kain, he's officially left-handed (thus, preceding Sephiroth), but this tends to most come across as an Informed Ability due to his status as a mage. Also, his status as such wasn't revealed until The After Years.
• Spikes of Villainy
• Squishy Wizard: A most notable inversion on the "squishy" part, which probably comes from his armour. It says a lot about how durable he is gameplay-wise that the team needed Meteor to beat him. And even then, it doesn't work! He could qualify as a magical Lightning Bruiser if he was a bit quicker.
• The Stoic: In The After Years, unless the topic of discussion is Cecil, the Crystals or the Mysterious Girl, don't expect much more than the very occasional off-hand comment. He doesn't even soften up when dealing with the Elemental Archfiends (his loyal [former] subordinates), deaths included!
• Summon Magic: His Shadow Dragon.
• Taking the Bullet: In the battle with Cecil's Dark Knight side in The After Years, Golbez takes a fatal blow aimed for his brother, finally rousing Cecil out of his Heroic BSOD. If Rosa and Ceodore aren't also in the party, he won't survive the battle.
• Tin Tyrant
• Villainous BSOD: Implied to be the reason why he retreated after first fighting Cecil.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: As the Man in Black in The After Years.
• Walking the Earth: More like Traveling the Galaxy: if he survives The After Years, he heads out in the Lunar Whale to search for the Red Moon and FuSoYa.

Scarmiglione/Milon

A zombie warrior, and one of Golbez's four Elemental Archfiends. He is dispatched to Mt. Ordeals to prevent Cecil from completing his trial to become a Paladin.

Voiced by: Konishi Oonishi (Japanese), Dameon Clarke (English)

• Elemental Embodiment: Of Earth.
• Night of the Living Mooks
• Not Quite Dead
• Trick Boss: He ambushes your party from behind moments after you defeated his somewhat easy first boss form. Hope that you inverted your party formation and healed because he's a lot tougher the second time around.
• Undead

Cagnazzo/Kainazzo

The second of Golbez's Archfiends, encountered when the party returns to Baron Castle.

Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

• Elemental Embodiment: Of Water.
• Fake King
• Turtle Power

Barbariccia/Valvalis

Elemental Archfiend of the Air, and the only female member of the group. She first appears in the Tower of Zot, backed up by her Quirky Miniboss Squad, the Magus Sisters.

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Kirsty Pape (English)

• Cute Monster Girl: Technically speaking, yes. She's still a fiend, which arguably thrusts her into Creepy Sexy territory.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of Wind, embodied by her tornado spin and her wind-themed attacks.
• Hair Colors: Ranging from Blondes Are Evil to lime/chartreuse.
• Ms. Fanservice: Rivals/equals Rydia in this regard.
• Rapunzel Hair
• Shock and Awe: As an extension of her control over air, the DS remake gives Barbariccia access to the powerful Lightning spell.
• Shout-Out: To both Dante's Divine Comedy and Barbarella.
• The Smurfette Principle: The sole female of the Four Elemental Archfiends.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: Her primary defense is wrapping herself in a tornado that renders all direct attacks null. Unfortunately, it doesn't protect her from attacks coming straight down, and you just joined up with a Dragoon who knows Jump.
• Stripperiffic: No shoes. Minimal clothing. You should get the picture.
• Taken for Granite: Has a petrifying Stone Touch.

Rubicante/Rubicant

The fourth and most powerful of the Archfiends, sent by Golbez to attack the kingdom of Eblan. He wears a special cape to compensate for his natural weakness to water-based attacks.

Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Lee Everest (English)

• Affably Evil
• As Long as There Is Evil: In New Game+ for the DS remake, the Archfiends' malice lives on in the superboss Geryon. Averted in The After Years, as the Archfiends show a more benign side (when they break free of their Brainwashed and Crazy status due to an against their will resurrection by the Crystals), holding no ill-will towards their former enemies (going as far as to thank them), as well as expressing joy to see Golbez again, honoring him with the same respect as when they were in his servitude. Seeing as it can be inferred that they are the physical representation of the world's elemental forces, it's likely that Zemus' influence perverted them and the group was really Good All Along.
• Badass Cape:

"The frozen winds of hell's ninth circle could not penetrate this cloak of flame I wear."

• Duel Boss: It's optional, but in The After Years, you have the option to fight him using only Edge.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of Fire.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Notable because he goes out of his way to subvert it with proper equipment.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Detests and chastises Dr. Lugae for his horrific experiments on Edge's parents.
• Kill It with Fire
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Rubincante believes in fairness, and he completely heals your party before you fight him (both times).
• Noble Demon
• The Power of Friendship: In a sense. After being defeated by Cecil and co., Rubicante notices that teamwork with his fellow Archfiends is a more viable strategy to besting the heroes than all of them attacking individually. You'd expect that you'd be facing all four Archfiends at once, with the quartet whipping out Combination Attacks, but it's really nothing more than an impromptu Boss Rush, mainly due to the fact that all four Archfiends are too giant to all fit on the screen at once. They have a modicum of coordination though: the order they are assembled into means that if an archfiend dies before one of your weakness-hitting attacks connect, the attack will heal (or provoke a counterattack from) the following fiend.
• Spirit Advisor: In The After Years.
• Worthy Opponent:

(to Edge) "I respect men like you. Men with... courage. But you are a slave to your emotions, and so will never know true strength. Such is the curse of men."

Dr. Lugae

A scientist who answers directly to Rubicante. Turned Edge's parents, the King and Queen of Eblan, into zombies.

• Everything's Deader with Zombies: His monster form.
• Evilutionary Biologist
• Frankenstein's Monster: His prized creation Barnabas.
• Mad Scientist
• Sympathy for the Devil: He comes close to getting this in The After Years, with Golbez wondering about Lugae's potential if he had taken a different path in life.

Zemus/Zeromus

Voiced by: Ryo Horikawa (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

• As Long as There Is Evil: Trope Namer.
• Bait and Switch Boss: Zemus for Zeromus.
• Bald of Evil
• Big Bad
• Eldritch Abomination: Zeromus, and how!
• Giant Space Flea from the Moon
• High Collar of Doom
• Human Aliens
• Kill All Humans
• Made of Evil: Zeromus is hatred incarnate.
• The Man Behind the Man
• More Than Mind Control: In the DS remake/director's cut of Final Fantasy IV, it is heavily implied that the method he uses to brainwash Golbez and Kain was by finding any negative emotions inside of them (self-loathing and jealousy, respectively) and exploit it.
• One-Winged Angel: He starts as a bald, blue floating guy, changes to an indistinct blue smoky ghost, to a massive, freakish crustacean insect... thing.
• The Power of Hate
• Psychic Powers
• Puny Earthlings: He is the last of the radical sect of the Lunarian's who believed it was not worth waiting for the inferior humans to evolve to the same level of Lunarian's so they might coexist.
• Superior Species: Part of his entire motivation.
• What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Commented on by FuSoYa.

Other Characters

Baigan

A knight in the service of King Baron. He is utterly devoted to the kingdom, even when Cecil is not, and remains so when it's revealed that the real King was killed and replaced with one of Golbez's servants.

• Heel Face Mole: Your first clue that he's not on your side is the fact that your party is already full when he offers to join.
• The Quisling
• Voluntary Shapeshifting

Elder of Mysidia

The leader of the town of mages.

• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
• Guest Star Party Member: He is playable for exactly one battle in The After Years...
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Unlike the other Mysidians, the Elder is willing to hear Cecil out and give him a chance at redemption.
• White Mage: ...with absolutely no offensive magic in a party that already has a White Mage.

Giott

Leader of the Dwarves in the Underworld.

• Our Dwarves Are All the Same
• Reasonable Authority Figure

Sheila Leiden

Yang's wife, and the mother of Ursula in The After Years.

• Chef of Iron: Is heavily implied to be one with her...
• Frying Pan of Doom: One that can not only keep away a legion of monsters, but also wake up sleeping husbands!
• Happily Married: Hints of frying-pan related violence aside, that is.
• Mundane Utility: She gives the party the strongest thrown weapon in the game... a simple kitchen knife.
• No Name Given: In the original game, she was just "Yang's Wife"; it wasn't until The After Years until she recieved a proper name.
• Pregnant Badass: She may have already been pregnant with Ursula when she was smashing mooks with her frying pan during the invastion of Fabul.

Heroes

• Optional Party Member: Notably, the only two characters in this section who must be recruited to complete the game are Ceodore and Luca.

Ceodore Harvey

The son of Cecil and Rosa, Ceodore is a new recruit into the Red Wings.

• Adorably Precocious Child
• Combat Medic
• Deadly Upgrade: After Awaken wears off Ceodore suffers stat penalties.
• Determinator
• Hair of Gold: Only in some arts. He hair is sort of blue'' for his actual sprites.
• Heroes Prefer Swords
• Heroic Spirit: His Awaken ability.
• Humble Hero: Just like his parents.
• Jack of All Stats: Ceodore is very balanced with speed, strength and magic and has a very large amount of Bands to choose from as well. He is outpaced by more dedicated fighters and healers, but his versatility by far outstrips almost any fighter in the game.
• Locked Out of the Loop: The Hooded Man stops him from encountering Brainwashed Cecil in his story.
• Magic Knight: Being the son of a White Mage and a Paladin, he has stronger White Magic than Cecil and Kain at the cost of not being quite as good (though still effective) a fighter.
  • The Paladin: Although he doesn't actually carry that title.
• Modest Royalty: Ceodore insists on being treated like any other soldier would.
• Quarter-Human Hybrid
• Retcon: The Complete Collection de-aged him from sixteen to fifteen to remove the Shotgun Wedding implications.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Scarf of Asskicking
• Ship Tease: With Ursula, thanks to a One-Scene Wonder at the moon, which gives them a a band attack.
• Spin Offspring
• Supporting Protagonist: Despite being The Hero of the sequel, he plays a much smaller role in the events concerning the Mysterious Girl and the Crystals than the other characters.
• Warrior Prince

Luca

The princess of the Dwarf Kingdom, who greatly admires Cid.

• Action Girl
• Ambiguously Brown: She's also the only dwarf whose face isn't obscured by a beard or helmet.
• The Apprentice: To Cid.
• Ascended Extra: A minor character in the original game, she is upgraded to a playable character in the sequel.
• Badass Princess
• Beauty Mark
• Big Beautiful Woman
• Dark-Skinned Redhead
• Drop the Hammer
• Expy: Of a certain other Gadgeteer Genius named Lucca. Though, this is a bit of an odd example, as Luca appeared in Final Fantasy IV before Chrono Trigger existed, but had no personality or combat abilities until The After Years.
• Gadgeteer Genius
• Goggles Do Nothing
• Hopeless Suitor: For Palom.
• Mighty Glacier
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Averted.
• Rebellious Princess
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Like a lot of your party.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works
• Wrench Wench

The Eblan Four

Edge's four apprentices; Gekkou, Zangetsu, Izayoi and Tsukinowa.

• Action Girl: Izayoi.
• All Your Colors Combined: Two of their Band abilities, "Wheel of Elements" where the four combine together, "Ultimate Art: Advent of Phoenix" where they all combine with Edge. The latter even comes with a chant. However, "Wheel of Elements" is thematically closer, since it actually consists of the four using their elemental powers in sequence, while "Advent of Phoenix" just uses fire.
• Badass Grandpa: Zangetsu.
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: Gekkou wears red, Izayoi wears blue, Tsukinowa wears green and Zangetsu wears Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning and orange.
• Elemental Powers:
  • Blow You Away: Tsukinowa of Wind.
  • Kill It with Fire: Gekkou of Fire.
  • Making a Splash: Izayoi of Water.
  • Shock and Awe: Zangetsu of Thunder.
• Fantastic Fighting Styles:
  • Combat Medic: Izayoi, balanced stats with a focus on healing Ninjutsu.
  • Fragile Speedster: Tsukinowa, the highest Speed in the game but very weak otherwise.
  • Magic Knight: Zangetsu, high Intelligence and still respectible Strength and HP.
  • Mighty Glacier: Gekkou, high HP and Strength but very low Speed and MP.
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Hero: Edge, who was The Smart Guy in another Five-Man Band.
  • The Lancer: Zangetsu, Edge's second.
  • The Big Guy: Gekkou, the strongest of the group.
  • The Smart Guy: Tsukinowa, even more of a Tricksters than Edge.
  • The Chick: Izayoi, the only woman.
• Informed Attribute: Their individual personalities don't get a lot of time to shine through, as they individually receive equal focus in Edge's Tale which doesn't last long, and once Edge's Tale is complete they contribute little to the plot.
• Killed Off for Real: If you let them die during their recon missions. Luckily, these are Save Scummable.
• Master of Disguise
• Ninja: Naturally. Izayoi is a kunoichi, and insists on being treated as a ninja, not a woman.
• Theme Naming: All of their names have something to do with the moon. "Tsukinowa" means "moon halo". "Gekkou" means "moonlight". "Izayoi" means "full moon". "Zangetsu" means "morning moon". Additionally, Tsukinowa's alias during his recon in Mysidia, "Lapin", means, "Moon Rabbit".
• Weapon of Choice:
  • Katanas Are Just Better: All of them.
  • Drop the Hammer and An Axe to Grind: Gekkou.
  • Whip It Good: Izayoi.
  • Blade on a Stick: Zangetsu.
  • Precision-Guided Boomerang Battle Boomerang: Tsukinowa.

Ursula Leiden

The daughter of Yang and Sheila. She wishes to be trained as a monk by her father, but needs to get past his overprotective streak first.

• Action Girl
• Badass Princess
• Bare-Fisted Monk
• Combat Medic: With her Chakra ability.
• Cute Bruiser
• Flower in Her Hair
• Fragile Speedster
• Hair of Gold
• Lady of War
• Odango Hair
• Pressure Point: Her Tenets ability delivers the Touch of Death by virtue of this trope.
• Princesses Prefer Pink
• Qipao
• Rebellious Princess
• Retcon: The Complete Collection de-aged her from seventeen to sixteen so she would still be a year older than Ceodore.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• She's Got Legs
• Warrior Monk
• Wolverine Claws

Leonora

An Epopt in training. Recent events have convinced the Epopts of the need for their members to be able to defend themselves, and so she begins her black magic training under Palom...

• The Apprentice: To Palom.
• Ascended Extra: She was the girl Palom tried to pick up in the ending of the original game.
• Black and White Magic
• Hair of Gold
• Inept Mage: At first. Hell, her first Black Magic spells are even weaker than 1st tier Black Magic (Fire? Blizzard? Thunder?).
• Magic Wand
• Magikarp Power: Patience, you'll reach that high level someday.
• Mentor Ship: With Palom.
• Nice Hat
• The Red Mage: She can learn both White Magic and Black Magic, but does not learn every spell. She gains her spells at much higher levels than other characters: she gains Holy at Level 70, the 3rd-tier elemental spells at Levels 78, 80 and 82, and Flare at Level 85.
• Squishy Wizard: The squishiest: at Level 99, she's one of only three party members with less than 4,000 HP, and the other two are Calca and Brina. And then, if the random factor in HP gain doesn't like her, she can flat have the worst HP of all.
• Took a Level in Badass: She stutters a lot and is respectful of Palom initially despite him being a Jerkass. Once he insults the Epopts though, she's had enough and tells him off, at which point for the rest of the game the stuttering stops. This event coincides with the completion of the Tower of Trials, and thus she begins to learn Black Magic as she levels up from now on.

Harley

Edward's assistant. She originally desired to be a scholar, but one day she heard his voice, and so abandoned her plans to become his secretary.

• Badass Bookworm
• Badass Longcoat
• Death Glare: One of her special attacks.
• Hot Librarian
• Joke Character: Unfortunately while Edward Took a Level in Badass, he passed his "usefulness" to his secretary. Piercing Sight gives an enemy a random elemental weakness and has a very low success rate, while Gil Toss is much weaker than in other entries in the series to the point that it's useless, even with the Money Spiders in the final areas giving you lots of cash for it. Her Band abilities are also horrible, with all but Feast of the Land taking up the turns of half your party or greater, two requiring specific equipment set-ups, and another having random effects. And even then, the party configurations required to use her Bands quite simply suck.
• Meganekko
• Money to Throw Away: Has the Gil Toss ability.
• Nerds Are Sexy
• Nice Hat
• Prim and Proper Bun
• Sexy Secretary
• Subordinate Excuse
• Whip It Good
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Calca and Brina

Mechanical dolls that assist Luca, they're bosses in the original game and join the party in The After Years.

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: They malfunction and turn on the party in The After Years. May also explain their actions in the original game too.
• Ascended Extra: From BLAM Boss to party members.
• Awesome but Practical: Brina's Dance, which casts a random White Magic spell for no MP cost. Random Number God aside, most of the time you get Cure or Cura, which is pretty good considering that in Rydia's Tale your party has no White Mage and thus only Brina has any healing powers. If you're really lucky you can even get Haste and Curaja.
• Combination Attack: Though everyone gets Band abilities in the game, Calca and Brina's bands specifically rely on them combining into Calcabrina.
• Creepy Doll
• Dance Battlers: Calca uses Jive, and Brina uses Dance.
  • Magic Dance
• Killed Off for Real/Lost Forever/Guide Dang It: Unless you manage to obtain a Mythril Nut, Mythril Bolt and Mythril Spring from a Quatro Puppet, Luca will be forced to scrap their bodies to repair the Falcon.

Biggs and Wedge

• Ascended Extra: They are the two soldiers who questioned Cecil about taking the Water Crystal from Mysidia at the beginning of the original game.
• Crutch Characters. They don't even gain XP during Ceodore's initial dungeon.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Biggs.
• Guest Star Party Members
• Mythology Gag: Named after the recurring pair of characters in the series.

Villains

Mysterious Girl/Maenad

The apparent main villain of The After Years, she shows up to steal the crystals. It turns out that there are multiple Maenads, and they were gathering the Crystals to take back to their master, the Creator, who also created the crystals.

• The Battle Didn't Count: It's possible to win the battles that the party is supposed to lose to her, but the same result happens each time anyway. And in the storyline even when someone does kill her, another Maenad just takes her place.
• Big Bad: She sets off the major events of The After Years as The Dragon of the true Big Bad, the Creator.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Badly, if she actually killed off the heroes when she had the chance only half of them would have survived to the final tale.
• Boss Remix: Her character theme is the basis for her battle theme.
• Catch Phrase: "Incomprehensible" whenever a party member invokes Honor Before Reason.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy: Her main method of collecting Crystals? Use the Red Wings to do it. After all King Cecil is The Hero, so few realize what's really going on when Baron starts going to war again.
  • During the boss battle with her and Bahamut, players may be tempted to use Reflect. Too bad that just as the Mega Flare countdown hits 1, she uses Black Hole to remove all your status buffs. Oh Crap...
• The Dog Bites Back: A band of them finish off the Creator when he goes haywire.
• Easily Forgiven: Considering that it is at least hinted at that the Maenad possess a Hive Mind, yet neither Leviathan nor Asura are shown to resent the child Maenad in the ending in any way.
• Emotionless Girl: Mostly, arrogance and contempt are there but that's about it.
• Evil Counterpart: Greatly resembles Rydia, and in The Complete Collection is able to successfully pose as her for a time. Interlude reveals it's because the Creator made the Maenads in Rydia's image after gathering data on her through a Crystal.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Justified as there's no way of knowing her real name until the last five minutes of the game. And even then, 'Maenad' is just the name given to her race as a whole.
• Fantastic Racism: Frequently insults humans and Lunarians as "inferior species".
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Her battle sprite.
• Karmic Death: The ones that control Odin and Bahamut are killed by them once the Eidolons regain their senses.
• The Man Behind the Monsters: She controls an army of monsters to take over Baron, and still uses them on occasion after switching over to relying on Baron's military instead.
• Pragmatic Villainy: She's after the Crystals only. Unless one of the heroes is directly obstructing her, she doesn't care about them.
• Recurring Boss
• Redemption Equals Life: In the case of the one Maenad adopted by Rydia (Cuore), the only surviving member of her race.
  • Redemption Equals Death: In the case of the rest of the race. They go into near extinction by sacrificing themselves via attacking the Creator in order to allow the party to escape.
• Summon Magic: As part of her status as an Evil Counterpart to Rydia.
• Woman in White
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Although stated to be cloned from Rydia, her hair is a more aquamarine than Rydia's.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: She uses those very words before attempting to kill the party after Cecil returns to his senses.

Dark Kain

The embodiment of Kain's repressed hatred and jealousy for Cecil, he wishes to act out Kain's buried desires to kill Cecil and claim Rosa for himself. Masquerades as the real Kain during The After Years until the Hooded Man reveals himself as the true Kain and dispatches him.

• Ascended Extra: Only took part in a short sidequest exclusive to the Advance release, but was a major antagonist in The After Years.
• Black Cloak: How he appears in Kain's Lunar Trial.
• Blade on a Stick
• Climax Boss: The fight with him occurs immediately after The Reveal that the Hooded Man is Kain and this guy is an imposter.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: He makes his introduction to Porom by slicing apart an entire pack of enemies in one hit. Immediately after this he joins the party, and said skill is nowhere to be found.
• The Dragon: To the Mysterious Girl.
• Duel Boss
• Enemy Without
• Evil Counterpart: The name should be a clue.
• Evil Gloating: "Come, Rosa! It's time for the main event! You'll see me walk right up to him... And tear him apart limb from limb!"
• Evil Laugh: Lets out many when he finally has Rosa in his grasp.
• Guest Star Party Member
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: A picture is worth a thousand words.
• In a Single Bound: Retains Kain's Jump skill.
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: In Final Fantasy IV Advance, his true form is that of Lunar Bahamut.
• Love Makes You Evil: As evidenced by his reluctance to hurt Rosa, deep down, he's still motivated by Kain's love for her.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: His goal.
• Not So Stoic: When Cecil and/or Rosa are the topics of discussion, in which case the ham comes out. Just see above under Evil Gloating above.
• Pet the Dog: He's not totally evil, as evidenced when he rescues Porom and her party for no benefit to himself, and later tells some brainwashed guards to value their lives in spite of being controlled.
• A Sinister Clue
• The Stoic: Being Kain's dark side, he's just like the real thing in this regard...

Creator

The real Big Bad of The After Years, he is the sole surviving member of an alien race that prospered itself into extinction. He designed the crystals and sent them to various planets to test their evolutionary processes, and eventually declared them all unworthy of existence. He does this to the world of Final Fantasy IV as well, setting the plot.

• Apologetic Attacker: Towards the whole world.
• Big Bad
• Clipped-Wing Angel: The fights against him as the party escapes his lair, in which he hurts himself more than the party and several Maenads also attack him.
• Death Equals Redemption/My God, What Have I Done?: He seems to regret his actions in his final moments and thanks the party and the Maenads who attacked him with his last words.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Could that really be his true name?
• Evilutionary Biologist
• Expy: Seems to be one for the "Firstborn" from the 2001: A Space Odyssey books, both being Sufficiently Advanced Aliens who seeded planets with life by sending mysterious objects to them.
  • Also resembles the Anti-Spiral, being a god-like being from a failed race that decides to drop a moon on Earth because he decides they aren't worthy of evolution.
• Final Boss
• Last of His Kind
• Mad Scientist
• The Man Behind the Man
• Meaningful Name
• Omnicidal Maniac
• One-Winged Angel: As the battle against him progresses he turns into increasingly bizarre forms, with the last vaguely resembling Neo Exdeath from Final Fantasy V.
• Shout-Out: Several of the bosses in his lair are from other Final Fantasy games.
• The Social Darwinist
• Sufficiently Advanced Aliens
• That's No Moon: The True Moon turns out to be his battleship.
• Time Abyss: What else can you call somebody who performs biological experiments on a macroevolutionary timescale?
• You Have Failed Me...: Apparently, his attitude towards the planets he destroys.