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The Main Party
Ryu
Ryu (1/8192)
Voiced By: Kappei Yamaguchi
- Almighty Janitor: His D-Ratio is 1/8192, but he ends up beating people with D-Ratios over 1/64.
- Always Save the Girl: Ryu is determined to do anything to save Nina, and doesn't care who gets in his way.
- Audience Surrogate: Per
Word of Capcom in interviews with the producers, Ryu is intended to be a substitute for the player. - Battle Aura: His D-Dash summons a fiery red aura that knocks back enemies.
- Deadly Upgrade: While drawing on Odjn's power lets Ryu kill enemies quickly, if his counter maxes out, he will get a Non-Standard Game Over.
- Death Glare: When a BioCorp scientist Ryu is interrogating dismisses Nina as a subhuman air filtration tool, Ryu is so enraged that he taps into Odjn's power, tuning his eyes red.
- Draconic Humanoid: After bonding to Odjn, Ryu can transform into a humanoid monster with Mystical White Hair, red eyes with vertically-slitted pupils, horns, red-and-black armored talons for hands and feet, and fiery spines jutting from his back.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When he is in the midst of transforming, his eyes turn solid red.
- Hellish Pupils: When drawing on Odjn's power, his irises turn red and his pupils become vertical slits.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: The only weapon able to be equipped to him are longswords and katanas.
- Heroic RRoD: Maxing out the D-Counter at any point except at the end results in a Non-Standard Game Over.
- Heroic Sacrifice: After Ryu dies killing Chetyre, Odjn resurrects him as a sign of respect to his Chosen.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: When Ryu refuses to let Bosch kill Nina early in the game, Bosch contemptuously stabs him in the throat with his rapier. It triggers his One-Winged Angel.
- The Juggernaut: Ryu in his dragon form is all but invincible. Used right, even bosses won't last long against him, and on top of that, he's immune to attacks that don't come from dragon enemies. Since you can count the number of dragon enemies in the game on your fingers, it means most enemies can't hurt Ryu.
- Kamehame Hadoken: When using D-Breath, he fires a beam of red energy from his palms.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Ryu is simply drawing upon the power of a dragon, but when he uses it, it's enough to make him all but invincible, given that there is almost nothing that can hurt him.
- No-Sell: Ryu's dragon form is immune to any attack that doesn't come from other dragons. The only reason the player can't take advantage of its invulnerability to win every fight in the game is because overusing it causes a Non-Standard Game Over.
- One-Winged Angel: A rare heroic example. After Bosch stabs him in the neck, Ryu transforms into his dragon form for the first time. He can transform at will in any subsequent battle, but doing so will quickly max out the D-Counter if the player isn't careful.
- Painful Transformation: When the D-Counter is low, using D-Dive will show a cutscene of Ryu collapsing and gasping in pain as Odjn's power transforms him.
- Power Limiter: The counter serves as a counter for how long he has to live before Odjn's power overwhelms him. Using his dragon abilities causes it to go up quite rapidly.
- Ranger: Is a low-ranking member of the Sheldar Rangers.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Tapping into Odjn's power turns Ryu's irises bright red.
- Tron Lines: When transforming, his body turns black and becomes covered in glowing red lines.
- Unwitting Pawn: He's revealed to be one to Elyon, who instigated the entire events of the game in order to determine if the Dragon Halfs/D-Constructs influence their hosts to seek out the sky.
- You Are Number 6: The D-Ratios are legally part of names in Sheldar.
Nina
Nina
Voiced By: Kyoko Hikami
- Barefoot Poverty: Nina (viewed as an object by the corporation) is dressed only in a tattered white smock, and barefoot. (Her default armor is "Slaveclothes.")
- Body Horror: She was abducted and genetically modified by BioCorp to be an air purifier.
- Black Mage: Nina casts powerful offensive magic, and can set trap spells for monsters.
- Cute Mute: Nina's a sweet 12 year-old girl who can't speak — but for a particularly disturbing reason. She's mute because the people who experimented on her decided "a tool doesn't need to speak."
- Heroic Mime: She used to be able to speak until the surgeries performed on her. The only thing she is able to say is her name, and even that little bit is implied to be difficult. This is actually a subverted/deconstructed example, deconstructed as her silence is literal mutism rather than being a player insert, and is acknowledged in-universe, and subverted as she's actually not the protagonist, and Ryu talks.
- Living MacGuffin: Was created to be a prototype living air filter, and the people who experimented on her want her back, as does Trinity.
- Mystical Waif: She's a young girl in a white dress with very potent magical abilities. To say nothing of the air filters that are her wings.
- People Jars: Nina is actually a prototype — at one point, Lin discovers a room full of headless Nina clones in jars. Being headless wasn't the only thing biologically wrong about those, either.
- Slave Brand: The symbol on her head is a serial number signifying her status as an object rather than a person, effectively acting as this.
- Tron Lines: She has glowing blue markings all over her body, similar to those on the bodies of Genics.
- Winged Humanoid: While she appears to have upside-down wings on her back, unlike the other Breath of Fire Ninas, her "wings" are in fact genetically engineered air filters — basically modified gills or book-lungs.
- Your Days Are Numbered: The polluted air of the underground world is harsher for Nina due to her status as a living air filter — she is outright stated to have very little time left to live if she remains underground. This prompts Ryu's quest to reach for the sky and save her life.
Lin
Lin
Voiced By: Kumiko Watanabe
- The Cameo: Appears as a card in the Heroes and Heralds mode of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
- Cat Girl: Quite possibly the only one in the entire franchise who is not a tiger-girl, in fact.
- The Gunslinger: She fights using a pistol.
- Heel–Face Turn: Lin first appears as an enemy and attacks the train Ryu and Bosch are escorting, but she pulls an Enemy Mine with Ryu to escort Nina to Trinity and — upon learning of Trinity's less-than-noble intentions — betrays them to help Ryu take her to the surface.
- Lady of War: Lin is stoic and calm in the face of adversity, balancing out Ryu's hotheaded determination, but is no less a warrior.
- La Résistance: Is a member of Trinity.
- Team Dad: Lin keeps Ryu's temper in check and cautions him against making rash decisions.
- You Are Number 6: Subverted. She was stripped of her D-Ratio when becoming a fugitive.
Sheldar Rangers
Bosch
Bosch (1/64)
Voiced By: Kentarō Itō
- Badass Transplant: He replaces his left arm with the severed arm of Chetyre's former Chosen in order to amplify his power. Body Horror ensues as the limb starts taking over his body.
- Break the Haughty: He becomes increasingly psychotic after Dragon Ryu tears him a new one and kills their boss.
- Comically Lopsided Rivalry: After being beaten badly by Ryu after he bonded with Odjn, Bosch becomes obsessed with killing Ryu at any cost. Despite Bosch nearly murdering him at one time, Ryu was more concerned about reaching the planet's surface with Nina and Lin.
- Crutch Character: One of two party members during the first hour of the game, and starts off much stronger than Ryu.
- Disproportionate Retribution: A ranger accuses Bosch of cowardice for running away from the battle that killed Captain Zeno. In response, Bosch cuts the guy's hand off.
- Draconic Humanoid: After bonding to Chetyre, he becomes able to transform into a humanoid monster with pale skin, horns, molten-looking talons and back-spines, and Volcanic Veins.
- Evil Counterpart: He is this to Ryu, coming from a rich family with a high D-Ratio whereas Ryu has a rock-bottom D-Ratio. However, both are swordsmen and even wind up bonded to rival dragons.
- Final Boss: Technically you fight Chetyre right after, but all you have to do to end that fight is boost your D-Counter to 100% and then it becomes a Cutscene Boss. Bosche is the final proper battle in the game.
- Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: Half Bosch's face when he has the Terminator-esque grafting of Chetyre's arm, and completely when he eventually reaches a Half-Human Hybrid state proper.
- Guest-Star Party Member: He's only in the party at the start of the game.
- Grand Theft Me: Is the victim of one at the end of the game, as Chetyre bursts out of his body. Mechanically, it's as if Bosch's D-Counter went to 100%.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Gives one to Ryu early in the game, and gets one himself from Chetyre at the end of the game.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: This is the biggest reason for Bosch's Comically Lopsided Rivalry with Ryu. Believing himself to be one of The Proud Elite of Sheldar, Bosch gradually becomes obsessed with killing Ryu, whom he saw as a worthless grunt with too much undeserved power. Bosch's obsession grows each time Ryu beats him or demonstrates his power. It reaches a point when Bosch willingly sacrifices his humanity in order to gain the power to finally kill Ryu by bonding with Chetyre.
- Laughing Mad: He goes completely insane by the game's conclusion.
- Mercy Kill: Silently pleads for Ryu to give him this after being defeated for the final time, presumably because he can feel Chetyre beginning to take over his body. Ryu grants his wish, but Chetyre ends up bursting out of his corpse anyway.
- No Shirt, Long Jacket: After he bonds with Chetyre, ditching his shirt helped us see that half his body is fused with the beast. He gets it back on his next encounter.
- One-Winged Angel: Bonding to Chetyre gives him the same powers Ryu has.
- The Proud Elite: Bosch is the son of Vexacion, one of the Regents who govern the underground world. Unfortunately, Bosch has the mindset of an entitled elitist and will abuse his connections at every opportunity to gain power.
- Ranger: He was a member of the Sheldar Rangers.
- The Rival: Plays this role initially, though he makes a We Can Rule Together offer at the beginning of the game. This transitions into Rival Turned Evil following Ryu siding with Trinity.
- Royal Rapier: His weapon of choice is a rapier called the Beast Blade.
- Sanity Slippage: Bosch starts out very cruel after Ryu suffers no harm from the Impromptu Tracheotomy delivered, but is still his jovial self at the next encounter with Captain Zeno. When Zeno dies, Bosch becomes a bit...unhinged at his next encounter on top of the LifeLine.
- This Cannot Be!: After his final defeat at Ryu's hands, Bosch still refuses to believe that he could be beaten by a lowly grunt.
- Trauma Conga Line: During his We Can Rule Together speech, Bosch outlines his plans for the future to Ryu. Then Lin blows up the train they're on, he's told to destroy the cargo they were transporting at all costs, gets his butt kicked by Ryu's dragon form, and watches his boss get killed in front of his eyes. Even after he replaces almost half his body with the arm of one of Chetyre's former Chosen, he still can't keep up with Ryu.
- Tron Lines: After Bosch has his left arm replaced with that of one of Chetyre's Chosen, it overtakes the left side of his body — turning it black with glowing blue lines.
- We Can Rule Together: Makes the offer to Ryu early in the game, but seeing how he stabbed Ryu in the throat when they next met, the offer was retracted.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: He wants his father to acknowledge him.
Violet Zeno
Violet Zeno (1/128)
Voiced By: Kyouko Hikami
The Captain of the Sheldar Rangers.- Action Girl: She's a skilled warrior befitting her rank as Captain of the Rangers, but eventually transitions to Dark Action Girl in practice after Ryu's Heel–Face Turn.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: This is her claim to Ryu, that Odjn is controlling him. She asks him to come with her so that she can help, but Ryu refuses.
- Consummate Professional: Zeno takes her job as Ranger Captain very seriously and she expects the same professionalism of her subordinates. She chews out Bosch after she learns that he returned to the Ranger headquarters without checking on the status of the top-secret cargo he and Ryu were guarding. Later, when she is assigned the mission to kill Nina, Violet Zeno does not let her previous friendship with Ryu hinder her, resulting in her death.
- Cool Sword: Zeno wields a pair of violet-bladed swords, one of which Ryu can obtain by beating her.
- Dual Wielding: She wields two violet blades. Ryu can take one when he beats her.
- Last Ditch Move: She'll use "Last Resort" if her HP goes down far enough, maxing out her attack and setting her defense to zero.
- Mentor: She was once Ryu's instructor and, among the cast of Dragon Quarter, had the closest friendship with Ryu before he met Nina and Lin.
- Ranger: She is the Captain of the Sheldar Rangers, making her Ryu and Bosch's boss.
- Stoic Spectacles: She stays composed, even when fighting one of her former subordinates.
Regents
Elyon
Elyon (1/4)
Voiced By: Kentarō Itō
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Elyon became head of what would become the Regents by kicking Deamoned's ass when he was still a Chosen of Odjn.
- The Chessmaster: Almost everything in Sheldar ultimately boils down to The Plan of some sort by Elyon. The entire establishment of the D-Ratio system and the Regents, the plan to have Ryu become a Chosen of Odjn, and the backup plan of the People Jars full of headless Nina clones...
- Deadly Upgrade: Linking with a D-Construct is pretty much inevitably fatal. Even the ultimately rejected link with Odjn is slowly killing Elyon. The scene revealing this even has half of Elyon's face show Glowing Eyelights of Undeath.
- Expy: According to an interview, he is a different take on Fou-Lu from the previous installment, specifically, a Fou-Lu expy who was not a God-Emperor.
- Horned Humanoid: As a result of being a former Chosen, Elyon sports a pair of red-and-black horns.
- Identical Stranger: Not so much his base appearance, as it's rather his resemblance to Ryu's Dragon form. That's because he was the previous Chosen of Odjn and thus is more akin to remnants of his link.
- Leitmotif: Calling from a Distance
, an oppressive song which features an Ethereal Choir and an Ominous Pipe Organ. - Me's a Crowd: He summons two clones of himself in his Boss Battle.
- My Greatest Failure: Elyon is ultimately rejected by Odjn when he refuses to open the sky — fearing it was not his decision and fearing that he would be placing all of Sheldar at risk.
- Precursor Heroes: Elyon is revealed to have been Odjn's previous Chosen, but became paranoid that his desire to reach the sky was a result of the D-Construct influencing him rather than his own will. He terminated his link with Odjn, killed him, and instigated a Secret Test of Character for future Chosen — all of whom except Ryu failed.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: His irises are red with slitted pupils, a permanent stigmata from when he was a Chosen.
- Really 700 Years Old: Well, closer to a thousand.
- Running Both Sides: It's implied that Mebeth is taking orders from him.
Cupid
Cupid
Voiced By: Kumiko Watanabe
- Dual Boss: Unlike the other Regents, Cupid fights with the help of a large Genic.
- Dude Looks Likea Lady: The outfit doesn't really help matters either.
- Really 700 Years Old: Cupid is just about as old as Elyon.
- She's a Man in Japan: Cupid was male in Japan, but was gender-bent for the US release because of his implied relationship with Elyon.
Vexacion
Vexacion
Bosch's father and a powerful warrior who is a member of the Regents.- Abusive Parents: An unlockable cutscene reveals he trained Bosch as a warrior by forcing him to fight powerful Genics from a young age, providing him with neither rest or assistance.
- Dragon Slayer: One of his titles, as he is indicated to have killed almost every Chosen to have arisen and sought the surface.
- Eyepatch of Power: He sports an eyepatch over his right eye, and that side of his face is scarred - indicating he lost his eye in combat. Being half-blind doesn't make him any less of a legendary swordsman, however.
- Knight Templar: He trains Bosch literally from toddlerhood in gladiatorial combat — because he feels it's a necessity to protect Sheldar from rogue Genics, including and especially the D-Constructs. It's also very strongly implied that he killed everyone who bonded with a D-Construct from the time Elyon bonded (and was rejected) by Odjn up to when Ryu became a Chosen.
- Last Disc Magic: One of Ryu's best Level 3 skills, Terabreak, is stolen from him.
- Master Swordsman: Vexacion doesn't bear the title of "Sword Saint" for nothing, as his skills with a blade are legendary.
- Really 700 Years Old: Along with practically all of the other Regents, he is ancient.
Hortensia
Hortensia
- Black Mage: When fought, she does damage only through spells or her traps on screen, which she summons with magic.
- Eyes Always Shut: She opens them very occasionally. This seems to invoke a Blind Seer archetype given her precognitive abilities but it's not made clear whether she's actually blind or not. She's perceptive enough to notice people, but she could easily be doing that by hearing.
- Fox Folk: She has fox ears and concept art shows that she was going to have a tail too, like Lin, but her final design doesn't have one.
- Lady of Black Magic: Elegant, regal, composed, and sporting a revealing dress that shows her underwear.
- Psychic Powers: Is skilled with magic, being able to repel Ryu and co. with the power of her mind during battle, and can see the future.
- Stationary Boss: She remains firmly rooted in place during her battle.
Jezuit
Jezuit
Voiced By: Kentarō Itō
- Anti-Villain: He's rooting for the heroes to succeed, even if he's still willing to fight them.
- Handsome Lech: Often at Hortensia's expense. And, during one minor scene, Lin's.
- Intangibility: His ability to turn intangible is the main gimmick of his boss fight, along with Visible Invisibility.
- So Proud of You: Secretly, he's happy that a Low-D bonded to a dragon. Jezuit is implied to have a much lower D-ratio than the other Regents.
- Wolverine Claws: He fights with a set of metal claws attached to his right hand.
Deamoned
Deamoned
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: An interesting subversion in Deamoned's case. It's implied that he was the original leader of the Regents... until an Odjn-possessed Elyon kicked his ass and took his eye.
- Eyepatch of Power: He lost his eye hundreds of years ago.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Deamoned fights using his fists, and being several centuries old doesn't slow him down a bit.
- Really 700 Years Old: He's almost 1000 years old.
- Scars Are Forever: He lost his left eye to an Odjn-ridden Elyon. He was so impressed by this that he stuck around.
Other Characters
Odjn
Odjn (1/2)
Voiced By: Unshō Ishizuka
- Bilingual Bonus: His name is Russian for "one".
- Body Horror: What his contracts tend to inflict on the Chosen. Odjn himself happens to be a rotting corpse crucified against a wall.
- Et Tu, Brute?: He was pinned to that wall due to Elyon's rejecting their link, and he is pissed.
- Gentle Giant: Particularly compared to Chetyre and Dva, who are both complete basket cases. He calls Ryu his "little friend" and breaks their link after the sky is finally opened to prevent Ryu's death.
- Grand Theft Me: A game over by maxing Ryu's D-Counter will show Odjn bursting out of his body.
- Leitmotif: Associated with the song "Origin", which features an Ethereal Choir and often accompanied by a Heart Beat Soundtrack.
- Non-Human Undead: Of the Dracolich variety. His bond with Ryu will cause him to be reborn if the D-Counter is maxed out.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Odjn is a D-Construct — a powerful Genic bioweapon based on the dragons that rendered the surface world uninhabitable — and as such possesses a D-Ratio of 1/2.
- Pet the Dog: He resurrects Ryu at the end of the game as a show of respect for Ryu's determination.
- Red Baron: "The Thousand-Year Destroyer".
Jaju, Cleo, and Arma
A trio of girls encountered throughout the Deep Earth. Jaju identifies found items and can store them for safekeeping, Cleo runs an item shop, and Arma sells weapons and armor.
- Intrepid Merchant: Cleo and Arma sell a wide assortment of items and weapons, though it's not revealed how they procure them. They're also found all over the Deep Earth.
- Knightly Sword and Shield: Arma wields a short sword and kite shield with heraldic colors.
- Offscreen Teleportation: They're found all throughout the Deep Earth, with no explanation given as to how they traverse the monster-infested passages.
- Punny Name: Arma — the girl wielding a sword and shield — sells a wide assortment of armaments.
Mebeth
Mebeth (1/4)
A former Regent and the leader of Trinity, the rebel group that Lin is a member of.
- Defector from Decadence: He helps out Ryu once his fake-rebels are defeated because he wants to see how Ryu will do.
- The Dragon: It's revealed he is this to Elyon, of all people. It's strongly implied that Trinity is in fact a faux La Résistance designed to allow Sheldar's inhabitants to rebel without threatening the Regents and Elyon's plan.
- La Résistance: Is the leader of the official resistance to the government.
- Really 700 Years Old: As one of the Regents, he is nearly a thousand years old.
Chetyre
Chetyre (1/2)
- Big Bad: Of the Hijacked by Ganon variety, taking over Bosch to restore his body.
- Body Horror: Until his regeneration, all we see of him is the arm of his previous Chosen in a test tube.
- Driven to Villainy: Or something. Whatever happened to him, he is not happy about it.
- Grand Theft Me: He takes over Bosch's body to resurrect himself.
- Hijacked by Ganon: Takes over Bosch and uses him to restore his body.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Gives one to Bosch before fully bonding to him.Chetyre: CAN IT HATE?
- Our Dragons Are Different: Chetyre is a D-Construct — a powerful Genic bioweapon based on the dragons that rendered the surface world uninhabitable — and as such possesses a D-Ratio of 1/2.
- Organ Autonomy: His former Chosen's arm twitches and flexes randomly after being grafted to Bosch, and seemingly tears his throat out when he loses against Ryu.
- Post-Final Boss: Chetyre is the last adversary of the story, but he is a Zero-Effort Boss.
- Red Baron: He is known as the "Old Deep".
- You Are Number 6: His name is Russian for four.
- Zero-Effort Boss: He is defeated by Ryu maxing out his counter using D-Breath on him.
Dover
Dover (1/2)
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: Dover's name should be Dva, in keeping with the other D-Constructs being named after Russian numbers, but was mistranslated.
- Handicapped Badass: He is impaled by numerous swords and his wings are hopelessly mutilated, but he's still an absurdly powerful monster.
- No-Sell: While other D-Constructs and their Chosen are invulnerable to everything except draconic attacks, Dover's moniker of the "Anti-Dragon" comes from his ability to change his defenses to become immune to other dragons.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Like Odjn and Chetyre, Dover is a D-Construct — a powerful Genic bioweapon based on the dragons that rendered the surface world uninhabitable — and as such possesses a D-Ratio of 1/2. However, he doesn't doesn't have a Chosen and is instead imprisoned in the depths of Kokon Horay. He also has four legs and two mangled wings, while Odjn and Chetyre are wyvern-type dragons.
- Sealed Badass in a Can: Despite having been sealed away for millennia and being impaled by numerous swords, Dover is by far the most-powerful monster in the game.
- Superboss: Dva can only be found and fought if Ryu and Co. manage to clear out the Kokon Horay Bonus Dungeon, and is by far the most powerful enemy in the game.
