Name (English) Ryu
Name (Japanese) Ryu

リュウ (Ryuu)
In-Game Portrait (SNES/GBA)
In-Game Sprite (SNES/GBA)

Hometown Drogen (Dragnier)
Tribe Light Dragon Clan
Height 160cm / 5'3"
Weight 52kg / 114.64 lbs.
Weapons Swords, Boomerangs
Hobby & Ability (Field) Fishing
Ability (Combat) Dragon Transformation

This member of the Light Dragon Clan will be with you from the beginning. Use the power of Light Dragons to overcome the forces of evil. By succeeding in test of strength and courage, he will learn to transform into 9 different dragon types.1

English Translation

The White Dragon Warrior (Main Character)

The main character is a descendant of the Dragon Clan and can transform into a dragon. For thousands of years, since the “Goddess War” almost destroyed the planet, his family has sealed away this great power. But, when the world fell into crisis, that seal was broken so that this power could be used to save the world. He lost his parents at a young age and lives with his older sister. His sister serves as a shrine maiden for the Dragon God and can use powerful magic spells. His hobby is fishing.

Translation provided by @rrriches.

Original Japanese

白龍族の戦士(主人公)

主人公は竜に変身する事ができる竜一族の末裔です。主人公の一族は数千年前の「女神戦争」において世界を滅ぼしそうになって以来、その強大な力を封印しています。が、世界が危機に陥った時はその封印を解き、今度は世界を救う為に力を使ってよい事になっています。両親を早くに失い、姉と二人で暮らしています。姉は竜の神に仕える巫女で、強力な魔法を使う事ができます。趣味は魚釣りです。2

Warrior of the Light Dragon Tribe

Ryu is a descendant of the Light Dragon Tribe and has the ability to transform into a dragon. The tribe has sealed its power after almost destroying the world in the Goddess War of several thousand years ago. However, it is allowed to use it when the world — is in danger in order to save it. Ryu lost his parents when he was young and now lives with his sister, a shaman who can summon powerful magic. Ryu’s hobby is fishing.3

Pending Text.

Ryu was born into a Light Dragon Clan family who had consciously been suppressing their special abilities. The village elder worked hard to teach Ryu the virtues of swordsmanship, but Ryu instead spent his days dreaming of ways to escape training and sneak away to fish up the lord of the lake. Ryu lost his parents at a young age, and when the Dark Dragon Clan abducts his sister Sara, he makes the choice to depart on a quest to rescue her.4

In-Game Sprite Dragon Form AP Cost Description
SnoDr (Snow Dragon) 7 AP Attack with a Frost spell.
FlmDr (Flame Dragon) 10 AP Attack with a Flame spell.
ThrDr (Thunder Dragon) 12 AP Attack with a Fry spell.
IceDgn (Ice Dragon) 20 AP Attack with an IceX spell.
FirDgn (Fire Dragon) 27 AP Attack with a Char spell.
BltDgn (Bolt Dragon) 30 AP Attack with a Gale spell.
GldDgn (Gold Dragon) 40 AP Attack with a ZomX spell.
Rudra 50 AP Attack with a swarm of miniature dragons.
Agni 60 AP Attack with an Earthquake and Lightning spell.
Revert 0 AP Transform back into a human form.
  • While not referred to as “Ryu” directly in the original Super Famicom version of the game, his name does appear as such in screenshots within the instruction manual.
  • Ryu is only referred to as “The Hero” in the game’s Super Nintendo instruction booklet. Screenshots within the SNES instruction manual display Ryu’s name as “JEFF”.
  • While Ryu remains a silent protagonist for the complete duration of the Japanese version of the game, he is given a few rare, minor lines of dialogue in the English version.
  • When pressing “Start” during Ryu’s Name Entry screen in the North American/European GBA version of Breath of Fire, his name will inexplicably default to “Zack”.

  1. Breath of Fire Instruction Booklet. SquareSoft. 1994. p. 14. SNS-BF-USA. ↩︎
  2. Breath of Fire: Ryuu no Senshi Instruction Manual. Capcom. 1993. p. 18. SHVC-BF. ↩︎
  3. Breath of Fire Instruction BookletCapcom. 2001. p. 6. AGB-ABFE-USA. ↩︎
  4. Breath of Fire Official Complete Works. Capcom. Udon. 2014. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-927925-20-1. ↩︎