This is a list of characters for the manga series Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai and its two anime adaptations. The manga ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1989 to 1996 and the first anime series aired from 1991 to 1992, covering the first 10 volumes of the manga, while the second one aired from 2020 to 2022 and covered the entire series, both produced by Toei Animation.
Main characters Dai
12-years old, grew up as the only human on Dermline island. He gains some fame after defeating a group of fake heroes who had kidnapped his friend Gome and protecting Princess Leona from some assassins. When the Dark Lord Hadlar is resurrected, the previous hero, Avan, comes to help train him to become the next hero. Dai possesses the ability to gain enhanced strength and a better control of magic when the emblem of the dragon appears on his body, which is a mark of the Dragon Knight's lineage, later discovering that his original name was Dino, son of the Dragon Knight Baran. Dai managed to learn the Earth and Wave Slashes with Avan, but had to acquire the Sky Slash on his own. Notably, Dai can infuse his weapon with elemental magic to create more powerful sword techniques. He can do the same thing with his Draconic Aura, but ordinary weapons cannot take the strain; Hyunckel's Demon Magic Sword breaks after Dai performs a crest-assisted Avan Strash. To suit this ability, Dai acquires an orichalcum sword from the legendary swordsmith Lon Berk, which can take the pressure. After Baran's death, Dai inherits his father's mark and all of his exclusive abilities, along the combat experience of all his Dragon Knight predecessors. He also learns to use the power of both crests together, doubling his attack power.
Popp
The son of the weapons merchant Junk, 15-year-old left his home in Lankarks village and decided to become an apprentice of Avan, training to become a magician. Coward and lazy at first, he slowly changes for the better after befriending Dai and the others. He is a specialist in fire spells, mainly those of the Sizz type, but as the story progresses he learns more powerful spells such as a gravity pressure attack. He can use Kamikazee and Crack type spells as well. Later on in the series, Popp becomes a Sage, one of the highest class of magicians who can use both attack and healing spells. Throughout the series, Popp uses various weapons, but later on in the series he acquires a staff from Lon Berk with the same power that rivals Vearn's staff, the ability to turn magic power into attack power, along with his signature spell, , after training with Matoriv. In addition to this, Pop's staff can transform to any shape.
Maam
16-years old, is the daughter of Leyra and Loca, the priestess and warrior who helped Avan in the original fight against Hadlar. Maam trained under Avan and is proficient with healing spells (such as Heal), but never could successfully learn any offensive ones. Avan gave her a magical gun that shoots magic spells, which helped her compensate for her lack of expertise with any of the other schools of magic. When the gun gets destroyed she decides to change to another class, fighter, and temporarily leaves the party to train under Brokeena, known as the God of Martial Arts. Under Brokeena, Maam learns her ultimate technique: the refractor fist, an attack that uses healing magic to break down the enemy's body by overloading their regeneration process. Later on in the series, Maam acquires a transforming armor weapon from Lon Berk, which allows her to increase the destructive power of her techniques.
Leona
14-years old, is the princess of Papnica. She is training to be a sage and is well-versed in the magic arts. Her country comes to near destruction after the return of Hadlar by the hands of Hyunckel, whom she forgives and sentences to become a "true disciple of Avan". Her father is missing and presumed dead, leaving her in control of rebuilding her kingdom and helping in the fight against the Ultimate Demon King. She is friends with Dai, although it is hinted Dai feels something more for her. Leona is proficient in both Sizz-type spells and Crack-type spells; however she is best at healing spells such as Fullheal, which she uses effectively in the fight against Baran. Despite she was never a student by Avan's, later on in the series, she becomes an official member of Avan's disciples when she inherits the 5th mark of Avan from the Queen of Carl, Flora.
Hyunckel
21-years old, was raised by monsters after his parents were killed in a monster attack. When Avan killed Hadlar and Hyunckel finds his adoptive father dead, he secretly holds a grudge against Avan, whom he believes killed his father. Hyunckel then becomes Avan's first pupil but, after graduating, unsuccessfully tried to kill his teacher with a technique he invented himself, Bloody Scraid. He was then taken in by Mystvearn who brought him up to become General of the Immortal Army, one of the six main armies under Hadlar and Vearn's control, known as "Leader of the Undead Knights Hyunckel". After discovering that Hadlar had killed his adopted father instead of Avan, he joins Dai's party. Hyunckel originally used a demon magic sword that could transform into armor (Amudo), but it is broken when Dai fought Baran. Thereafter, Hyunckel has been using a spear with the same properties and created by the same person. Hyunckel can use all the basic Avan techniques also in addition to Demon Puppet Grab. Due to changing his weapon from a sword to a spear, he had to learn Avan's elemental techniques for spears.
Supporting characters Avan De Zinuar III
31-years old, was the previous hero who defeated the Demon King Hadlar. When he was younger, he befriended princess Flora, the ruler of the kingdom of Carl, and Loca, the general of Carl's army. He usually spent time goofing around while wearing thick glasses to hide his true power from everyone. When Hadlar tried to murder Flora, Avan decided not to hide anymore and protected her and the whole kingdom from the Demon King. After temporarily defeating him, he embarks on a journey with Loca where he would meet with Leyra, Maam's mother, and Matoriv, a powerful magician to finish off Hadlar for good. After their victory, he decided to become a trainer for a future generation of heroes. When Hadlar is resurrected and comes to defeat him, Avan casts the self-sacrifice spell Kamikazee to protect Dai, Brass and Popp. It is later revealed that Avan had worn a protective talisman (given to him by Flora) that saved his life from the effects of Kamikazee by taking the damage on his behalf. Having survived, he then chose to level up to be of more use to Dai and his other students in their fight against Vearn. In the end of the series, Avan marries Flora and becomes the king of Carl.
Brass
is a Dai's adoptive grandfather. He is a monster that belonged to The Demon Lord's Army but, after Hadlar died, lived in peace along with the other surviving monsters on the Dermline island. He picked up Dai from a shipwreck that came to the island when he was a child and raised him. He is unable to leave the island due to the influence of The Dark King Vearn, as he would turn into an evil monster by leaving the magic barrier that Avan created. He participated against his will in Crocodine's fight against Dai. He would be rescued from this trap by Popp and return to the island.
Gome
, also known as "Gomechan", is a one-of-a-kind creature, a Golden Metal Slime. Dai's first friend, Gome is immune to the Dark Lord's influence unlike other monsters, thus he leaves the island with Dai to accompany him in his adventures. Capable of producing small miracles throughout the story that help Dai and his friends, in the end it is revealed that Gome is a wish-granting item created by God to help pure-hearted people.
Crocodine
30-years old, is a massive anthropomorphic crocodile who used to be the known as "Beast King Crocodine", general of the Hundred Beasts Army. After having been defeated by Dai and Popp's teamwork, he is inspired by Popp's courage and joins the party. He has many beasts still under his control, despite Hadlar's influence throughout the world. He has a powerful weapon called the "Void Axe", which allows him to cast Whoosh, one of the two wind spells available. He later acquires an even more powerful axe from the legendary swordsmith Lon Berk when the Void Axe is destroyed in the first fight with Vearn.
Matoriv
is a perverted old sorcerer who fought on Avan's side in the previous war. He later worked as an advisor to the king of Papnica, but found his time there unpleasant because his colleagues harassed him repeatedly, which he attributed to jealousy of his abilities. Becoming disillusioned with people for their selfishness, he left office and decided to live in isolation, before the heroes first met him in the main story. Reluctantly, he agrees to help the heroes again and trains Popp. He will be a great teacher for the latter, to whom he will transmit all his most powerful techniques and help him to bring out his potential, making him understand that if he can always fight with the concentration he shows in the most desperate cases, then he will become very powerful.
Baran
The commander of the Super Dragon Brigade and Dai's biological father, Baran (バラン) is a fierce fighter with strong morals. He is the true Dragon Knight of the era and in his youth he defeated Velther. After the fight he was mortally wounded and would have died if not for the help of Soara, the princess of Alkeed who nursed him back to health. The two fell in love, but when her father the king discovered that Baran was not human he was thrown out of the castle (after being accused of being a follower of a demon) only to be followed by Soara, who announced to him that she was pregnant. Some months later, Baran and Soara lived happy and without concerns, taking care of baby Dai (whom they named Dino). When the king found the two, Baran voluntarily gave himself up to protect his wife and child. He was brought back to Alkeed and sentenced to death. When Baran was to be executed with fire spells, Soara jumped in the way to protect him and was fatally wounded. Soara's father claimed her to be a disgrace, and in a rage Baran destroyed the entire kingdom of Alkeed. He then desperately tried to search for his son but was unable to find Dai. Having lost his wife and his child by the hands of humans, whom he was tasked to protect, he decided that all humans should be exterminated. He was later reunited with Dai as enemies. Upon seeing Dai's dragon knight symbol, he realized that he is his son and wipes Dai's memories. He tried to persuade Dai to join him but Dai refused to believe he is Baran's son. Popp sacrifices himself to return Dai's memories during the second time they fight, but fails to scratch Baran with Kamikazee. Later, Baran joins with Dai to fight against Vearn but is killed when he shields Dai from the explosion of a Black Core Crystal when fighting Hadlar. Baran has a high mastery of his crest and can transform into a Ryuumajin, the ultimate form of a Dragon Knight, which is a combination of a demon, human, and dragon. In this form, he is unable to discern between friend and foe until everything is dead. He also has Giga Break (a powerful move utilizing the ultimate electricity spell, Kazap ("Gigadein" in Japan), and his legendary sword, the Demon Dragon Blade), Zap-type magic, and Draconic Aura. Baran's ultimate spell is Draura (Dragon Touki Cannon). This spell channels Draconic Aura into a cannon blast that can annihilate a whole country, and can only be used in his Ryuumajin form.
Aimi
is a sage alongside her older twin sister, Marin and their leader, Apollo who serves under Leona as the three sages of Papnika kingdom.
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