Gau

Gau
Artwork of Gau for Final Fantasy VI
ガウ Gau
Date of birth	April 5
Hometown	Veldt
Age	13
Job class	Feral Youth
Gender	Male
Height	5'3" (160 cm)
Weight	169 lb (77 kg)
Species	Human
Affiliation	Cyan, Returners

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Gau is a feral child who lives among the animals on the Veldt in Final Fantasy VI. He is one of the game's main characters and party members. Because he lived in the wilderness for most of his life, Gau can hardly communicate to others and often grows frustrated with complex sentences.

Gau is the son of the "aged man" who lives in the house near where Sabin ends up after falling in Lete River. Gau's mother died in childbirth and his father, believing him to be a "demon child," abandoned the then infant Gau in the Veldt.

History

Final Fantasy VI

In Final Fantasy VI, Gau is first encountered by Sabin and Cyan after they wash up onto the Veldt after a plunge from Baron Falls. After being randomly encountered, Gau joins the party when he is fed Dried Meat. Later, Gau manages to find diving helmets, allowing the three of them to survive the underwater current of the Serpent Trench as they continue on their journey back to Narshe. Gau grows close to Cyan very quickly, whom he called "Mr. Thou" in their first meeting.

In the World of Ruin he can once again be found on the Veldt, but only if the player brings three or fewer characters there to obtain him. In the lone house west of the Veldt, the party can visit a crazy old man who is revealed to be Gau's father. He reveals some background information on Gau — he tossed Gau into the wilds shortly after his wife died in childbirth, so he consequently labeled Gau a "demon child".

Gau's father is still forever waiting for a handyman, just as he was in the World of Balance. Sabin decides to knock some sense into him by taking Gau shopping so he can groom himself to look like a proper son. Gau goes with his friends willingly (even going so far as to put on a dress suit), but when he confronts his father, the deluded man tells them they are mistaken, that he believes Gau's birth to have been a nightmare. Ignoring Sabin's attempts to convince him it wasn't a dream, the man tells Gau he's a "fine young man", and that his true parents would be proud. When Sabin attempts to comfort Gau afterwards, Gau tells him that he is happy to have seen his father, even if he has no memory of him.

Abilities

Earlier on, Gau is one of the most powerful player characters in the game thanks in part to his Rages, though saddled with the handicap of uncontrollability, similar to Umaro, and Mog during his dances. When he encounters monsters on the Veldt (who must have been encountered elsewhere previously to appear there), he can use Leap to jump out of the party into the monster formation and end the battle without any experience or items. The next time he is encountered (normally after a couple battles) on the Veldt, he will rejoin the party with the ability to use the Rages corresponding to the monsters encountered when he used Leap and when he returned. When he uses a monster's rage, he will use either a regular attack, or a special attack that is usually related with the monster (It's not necessarily the case though: Marshal Rage uses Wind Slash when Marshal can only damage you physically; Retainer Rage uses Shock when it is Leo's special skill; Outsider uses Pearl when Outsider is a ninja that only throws weapons) every turn automatically. A rage ends when is he knocked out, petrified, or at the end of a battle. Gau will automatically gain the elemental attributes (though it can be overridden by equipment), innate statuses (like Haste, Reflect), and status protections. Gau's level will not be averaged with everyone else's to determine a new character's level if he Leaps to the Veldt before the character joins.

Trivia

• According to Yoshinori Kitase, stories like Flowers for Algernon as well as tales about children raised by wolves were the inspiration and origin of Gau.

References

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