Ryu (Breath of Fire)

This article is about the Breath of Fire character. For the article about the Street Fighter character, click here.

BoF Ryu — Ryu in the original *Breath of Fire*

Ryu is a main character within the Breath of Fire series, and he is one of the two central protagonists of every game (with the exception of Breath of Fire 6), the other one being Nina. Ryu is often one of the last surviving members of an ancient dragon clan and wields a sword as his weapon.

Biography

Appearance

Ryu is always depicted with blue hair, though it is noticeably harder to tell this in Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter as the shade of blue is much darker. His age varies throughout the games between early adolescence and young adulthood. A common trait between each Ryu is a proficiency at fishing. In most of his appearances, Ryu never/rarely speaks; a joking reference is made to this in the original Breath of Fire, when Ryu answers "Well, there is one thing," to the King of Winlan question of Ryu's reward. Alternatively, the Ryu of Dragon Quarter is a talkative individual whose power to morph into dragons was granted to him by an outside source (as Dragon Quarter has no actual "dragon clan").

In the first game, Ryu wears a red cloak with a white tunic underneath and white bandages on his arms. He has a brown belt which he carries his sword on and brown boots. He has a red mark on his forehead.

In the second game, Ryu wears a white shirt with red trousers with knee pads and a belt that goes across his chest. He has brown gloves with bandages underneath separated by a gold band.

In the third game, Ryu wears a white jacket with a white and orange top underneath, beige trousers and brown boots.

In Breath of Fire IV, Ryu wears a white t-shirt with tattered sleeves and some gold trim, a green fang shaped necklace, purple trousers and shoes, a pair of gold bracers on his wrist and has hair in a small ponytail.

Dragon Quarter portrays a different Ryu. He looks much thinner and wears goggles on his head. He has a jacket with a beige top underneath, blue trousers and a belt with a star symbol on it.

Story

Breath of Fire

Ryu is the main protagonist and is a descendant of the Light Dragon Clan. He naturally possesses the ability to transform into elemental dragons, though his powers of transformation are sealed during the first part of the game. Further throughout the game he is able to fuse with his fellow party members to become the ultimate dragons: Rudra and Agni.

Losing his parents at an early age he lives with his sister Sara, a priestess of the clan. Ryu begins his journey to save his sister who was kidnapped during a brutal assault of his home town Drogen. After setting out to save his sister, Ryu soon discovers that his sisters disappearance plays a part in a larger scheme by the evil Dark Dragon emperor Zog. He ultimately sets out to prevent Zog from unleashing the goddess of desire, Tyr, using the 6 Goddess Keys.

Breath of Fire II

Ryu lived with his father Ganer Bateson and sister Yua Bateson until he was six years old, when a tragic event separated them. His skill is fighting with a sword and he can equip any heavy armor. His special ability, Dragon Transformation, is one of the most powerful abilities in the game. His field ability is fishing.

Breath of Fire III

Ryu is the main protagonist of the story. He is heralded as the Prince of Dragons by those in Dragnier, and by being one of the few remaining Brood left it's up to him to find out why God wanted his people destroyed in the Great War. Like the past Ryu's before him he is a sword user and can wear all heavy armor. He also has a plethora of healing and support magic at his disposal, and combined with his physical feats and the diversity and power his Brood powers grant him he's one of the strongest characters in the game.

Breath of Fire IV

Ryu was discovered by Nina, lying with no clothing and unconscious in the middle of a crater in the eastern continent. Ryu has lost his memories and has no idea of who he is or where he comes from. He decides to join Nina in her search for her sister, Elina. As their journey progresses, Ryu learns more and more about himself, including the fact he has a "Dragon's Eye", a gift considered to be extremely unusual.

Ryu eventually discovers that he is one of the endless, but that he is not whole and in time will need to join with his other half, who is the first emperor, Fou-Lu. As Ryu travels to the imperial capital of Chedo to face Fou-Lu, he calls upon the help of the various dragon gods that inhabit the earth to share their power with him so that he may become strong enough to defeat Fou-Lu, and become the dominant half of the Yorae Dragon. He eventually succeeds and decides that the world does no need gods. He uses his powers to send all the gods back to the worlds from which they came.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

Ryu is the main character in Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, he has been given the ability to transform into a dragon for a limited period of time. He travels along with Lin, Nina and Bosch.

Dragon Forms

Ryu has the power to transform into dragon forms.

In Breath of Fire, Ryu has to visit various dragon shrines across the overworld and defeat the test proctor alone to obtain their power.

Breath of Fire

In the original Breath of Fire, Ryu can change into a variety of dragons. Transforming increases Ryu's parameters (which can be seen using the Status option during battle) and he retains the form until the player chooses to make him revert (or he is KOed). AP is only subtracted for transforming. The forms he can obtain are:

The first three dragon forms the player can obtain are referred to as drakes: Flame Drake (FlmDr), Snow Drake (SnoDr), and Thunder Drake (ThrDr). These first forms are the weakest and can be obtained after completing the trial in the first dragon tower soon after the Stone Robot event.

The second set of Dragons obtained are more advanced versions of the drakes: Bolt Dragon (BltDgn), Fire Dragon (FirDgn), Ice Dragon (IceDgn), and a new addition Gold Dragon (GldDgn). These are obtained after completing the second trial at the Dragon Temple by Nabal castle.

The third dragon obtained is Rudra. This form is given after the third trial at the Dragon Temple on an island northeast of Gust.

The final form is known as Agni. This is obtained in a cave near Romero. It is the strongest form found in Breath of Fire I.

Breath of Fire II

In Breath of Fire II, the player obtains similar dragon forms to that of Breath of Fire I, but with some differences. Ryu does not retain the dragon form throughout battle when used. In Breath of Fire II, using a dragon form acts like the spells cast by his allies, in which he transforms, uses the appropriate breath attack and reverts. The major drawback is that any dragon form uses all of Ryu's current AP (the closer to max he is, the more damage it inflicts), preventing further transformation or magic use unless recovered (which is difficult to do in Breath of Fire II due to the small selection of AP restoration items in the game).

The first set is obtained after the well event in Capitan these Whelp forms are know as puppies and are small hatchling dragons. These include: Fire Puppy, Ice Puppy, and Thunder Puppy.

The second set obtained is in the waterfall by the Wildcat Cafe. These are larger stronger forms and look like typical Western depictions of dragons. They are: FireDrgn, IceDrgn and T.Drgn.

The last Dragon form obtained is during the Grand Church event while fighting Ray. After being hit by Ray's breath attack a few times, Ryu discovers the transformation on his own. G.Drgn is the strongest dragon form in Breath of Fire II and inflicts 999 damage at full AP.

Breath of Fire III

Ryu transforms into various Dragon forms by means of using the orbs called "Genes" which can be found throughout the world or provided in certain events and display any three combinations will effect the forms and attributes of each dragon forms. Ryu is charged an AP cost for each round the player chooses to keep him in dragon form. The more Genes used and the more powerful the form, the higher the cost to transform initially and the higher the form retention cost is per round.

Ryu's Dragon Forms

Common. (color, abilities, stats and resistances depends on gene combinations)
- Whelp: Most one gene selections or opposing gene combinations.
- Dragon: Most non-opposing gene combinations.
- Warrior: Most "Force" gene selections (takes priority over Dragon form).
- Behemoth: Most "Miracle" gene selections (takes priority over Warrior Form).
- Hybrid: Most "Fusion" gene selection (form depends of party selection. Also has a superior form depending both on party and gene selection).
- Kaiser (Berserker): Most "Infinity" gene selections. Take priority over other forms.

Unique.
- Wildfire (Golden Whelp): Miracle + Thorn + Reverse
- Trygon (Golden Dragon): Fire + Ice + Thunder
- Myrmidon (Golden Warrior): Trance + Warrior
- Mammoth (Golden Behemoth): ??? + Miracle + Force
- Pygmy: Mutant + ???
- Tiamat: Trance + Shadow + Gross
- Kaiser (Controlled & Weakened): Infinity + Failure
- Kaiser (Controlled): Infinite + Trance + Radiance

Breath of Fire IV

In this game, Ryu's dragon powers are present in two different ways, the classic Dragon Form and in the form of Summons. To gain the ability to transform into different kind of dragons, Ryu must find dragon Gems around the world. To be able to summon the powers from other dragons, Ryu must find them and ask for their help.

Dragon forms are not exclusive to Ryu. The main antagonist, the Emperor Fou-Lu, has access to dragon transformations also. Carrying over from Breath of Fire III, both characters are appropriately charged per round while transformed. The cost is one-fourth of what it costs to transform.

Six dragon forms are available to Ryu:

Aura
Kaiser
Wyvern
Myrmidon
Behemoth
Mutant

Only four forms are accessible to Fou-Lu:

Astral
Tyrant
Serpent
Behemoth

Dragon Summoning is only available to Ryu, seven abilities of which can be acquired:

Rainstorm
Mud Flow
Healing Wind
Onslaught
Holy Circle
Flood Tide
Fulguration

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

This Ryu has only one form in an appearance quite similar to the Breath of Fire IV form as a human with dragon-like features. He possess the "D-Counter", which keeps count of the usage of his power (in percent form), causing the dragon to erupt within him should he reach 100% before a certain event in the game; this results in a game over.

Trivia

Ryu's name (竜, ryū) is the Japanese word for dragon, and in relations to that meaning, Nina's name translates to fire (although there are also several meanings for her name, but each meaning fits her character), which ties in perfectly to the theme of the series; this also ties in as to why Ryu and Nina are always the recurring characters in each story.
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is the first game to have Ryu use only one dragon form.
Breath of Fire 6 is the first game in the series to not have a character named Ryu as the protagonist, instead featuring a nameless hero who can be customized according to one's own liking.