Baran is a major character in Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai and its animated adaptations. He is the Dragon Knight of his era and the commander of the Dragon Legion in Vearn's Dark Army. He is also the biological father of Dai.
Appearance[]
Baran is a grown-up man with spiky short black hair. He has equally spike eyebrows and mustache which is rather long. He dons the dragon fang eyepiece on his left eye.
Baran wears red clothes with dragon scaled adornments on the sides of his torso, a belt with a golden attachment along golden decorations on the sides of his clothes. He wears a piece of large silver shoulder protectors with a joint protecting his chest, with two blue orbs on the ends with dragon claw-like attachments. He wears armored gloves with two spikes each near the wrists. His shoulder protectors also come along a short white cape.
Baran wears a pair of black pants and white boots with golden lining. For combat he uses a very long one-edged sword with a dragon-shaped hilt.
His chest armour piece was cracked by Dai's Avan Strash during their first fight but by the time he went back to him it was repaired and he wore a black cloak.
Personality[]
Baran is a very serious, ruthless and imposing figure. He has tremendous hatred towards humanity after the Kingdom of Alkeed ended up killing his wife and the kingdom's princess in an execution that was meant for him due to his race. In a fit of rage, he destroyed the entire kingdom, but also lost his son in a wreck. Believing him dead, Baran's hatred grew further and he was easily convinced to join Vearn's Dark Army as the Commander of its Dragon Legion.
Even amongst Legion Commanders, Baran is staggering and commands equal amounts of respect and fear. Hadlar himself handles Baran very carefully, being fully aware he's the closest to usurp his position as Commander of the Dark Army. In his duties he is merciless and completely no-nonsense, executing his attacks with precision and efficiency, earning great victories in a matter of days.
Baran still has attachment to his son Dai, but the latter's unyielding resolve to be an ally of humanity clashes with his own hatred for them and caused him to try take his son by force, turning a deaf ear to his insistence of humanity's goodness, for Baran is fully aware of their prejudice. If necessary, he will attack Dai with no holds barred and assault him brutally to the shock of Dai's friends, even going as far as wiping Dai's memories to "reset" him as nothing but his son, totally ignoring that Dai has his own identity and doesn't *belong* to Baran.
It should be noted that Baran is not malicious by nature, but the great pains suffered in his life along his status as the Dragon Knight make him believe he can deliver judgement on humanity. Although he is relentless towards his adversaries he also fights with honor.
Baran also shows some remorse in his life, after his first defeat at the hands of Dai he thinks that if his son defeats him and kills him he will obtain some kind of redemption for his sins.
Biography[]
Background[]
Baran is a Dragon Knight who fought against the Dark Dragon, Velzar, in the Underworld, while Hadlar assaulted the surface. He managed to defeat the immortal dragon who was turned to stone by the spirits of Zenithia.
Heavily wounded, Baran was rescued by Soala, the Princess of Alkeed with whom he conceived Dino. After the King's council conspired against him, he willingly accepted to be killed if their son were spared. At the final moment, Soara protected him and was killed by the executors spells. Enraged, Baran decided to throw away his dragon knight duty and destroyed the entire Alkeed continent with a Doru Aura attack and was convinced to join Vearn's Army.
At some point, he adopted Larhart, a human-darkling hybrid, as his own son who became one of his three Dragon Riders.
Gathering Arc[]
Leading the Dragon Legion, Baran conquered Ringaia Kingdom.
Clash Arc[]
While the rest of the Dark Army led an attack on Valge Island, Baran conquered Carl Kingdom. After hearing from Zaboera that Dai, the child that had been defeating the Dark Army has a mark in the shape of a dragon's head on his forehead, Baran departs to meet Dai. Baran guess that Hadlar didn't want two Dragon Knights joining forces, as it was later confirmed that he was afraid of Vearn giving his position of the Dark Army commander to Baran.
Destiny Arc[]
Baran meets Dai in Dragon Knight's temple in the bottom of the lake in Teran. There, the orb guarding the temple was telling Dai the history of the Dragon Knights and gets confused as to how two Dragon Knights exist at the same time. Baran reveals himself to be Dai's Father (whom he'd named Dino). Baran tries to persuade Dai to join the Dark Army, but his son refuses. This causes Baran to attack him and launch him out of the temple with brute force. Surprised to see Dai hurt, Popp and Leona wonder what is happening when Baran comes out of the lake. Popp uses his spells to attack the Dragon division leader while Leona supports the two boys with healing spells. Dai is defeated by Gigabreak and thrown into the lake when Crocodine arrives to help and tries to convince Baran that he is wrong. Getting tired of trying to take Dai away by force, Baran uses his dragon crest to resonate with his son's to erase the boy's memories. Baran, exhausted, then leaves saying that he will be back to take his son the next day. As soon Dai wake up, he's forgotten everything, his friends and all battles he faced, turning into a crying child.
Baran rests for a day and then summons the Three Dragon Masters, Galdandy the rider of the sky, Borahorn the rider of the sea and Larhart the rider of the land. Baran says that each of then is as powerful as the other five generals from the Dark Army, and that their assistant is necessary as Dai and his friends were resisting.
After getting ready for battle, the four members of the Dragon Division depart for Teran and on their way the are faced by Popp that appeared alone for battle. The three Dragon Riders stayed behind to face Popp and as soon as the mage dies they promise they would follow Baran to Teran.
Baran arrives at Teran demanding to receive Dino (Dai), but Crocodine refuses, as he says that if memory-less Dai saw someone from the same species claiming to be his father he would probably go with him. Baran reveals that Popp was facing Galdandy on the way back, and is now probably dead. Crocodine and Leona are surprised as they thought Popp had run away. Crocodine tries to battle Baran, but keeps getting injured while Leona keeps healing him. Crocodine's Vacuum Axe is destroyed and the general is almost killed before Popp and Hyunckel make a surprise appearance and save him. They are revealed to have killed the three Dragon Riders and Baran notices that Hyunckel is now a traitor to the Dark Army as well, and that he is using Larhalt's Dark Armour Spear. Hyunckel says that Larhalt told him Baran backstory to him and that he wanted someone to save his foster father from his hatred for humans.
Hyunckel and Popp face off against Baran, but they don't pose any challenge. Baran then transforms into his Dragonoid form and beats the entire party. Meanwhile, Dai senses his father's presence and escapes from his cell, and when Baran is about to the destroy the whole kingdom with DoruAura, Dai appears, prompting Baran to cancel the spell.
Popp tries to defeat Baran by mimicking Avan and casting Megante and sacrificing himself, but the spell fails. However it causes Dai recovers his memories and Dai gains control of his Draconic Aura. Baran attempts to erase Dai's memories again, and Dai manages to defend from Baran's Memory erasing attack by changing his crest to his hand. Dai's concentrated Dragonic Aura was so intense that he survives a full powered DoruAura attack and the Papnica Sun Knife is destroyed when he attempts to counter with Avan Strash. Hyunckel then throws Dai his Dark Armour Blade, saying that his next Avan Strash needed to be the decisive one as his sword would sustain only one Strash.
While dead, Popp hallucinates, with Gomechan calling him back to life, saying that he can't go to the other world yet, and that Dai needs him. The corpse of Popp is then able to cast a fire spell against Baran to distract him, allowing Dai to defeat him with a Zapple Avan Strash.
After Baran is defeated, he goes and gives his blood to Popp, stating that Popp could revive if his will were strong enough.
Baran then goes to the battlefield that the three Dragon Masters were fighting and gives his blood to try to revive them as well. None of them return however, so Baran places each of their bodies in coffins and leaves.
Baran refused to join the humans as he still hated them for killing his wife, and couldn't return to the Sovereign Rock Castle as he had been merciful with the enemy. He was hiding in a cave waiting for the Dragon Knight's Sword that was broken by Dai's Avan Strash to be repaired when Killvearn appears to kill him by Vearn's orders as the Dragon Knight could be a problem for him. Baran asks why, and Killvearn explains that Vearn's plan is not eradicate the humans from the World of Light as Baran thought it was but actually to eradicate the World of Light itself. Enraged by this Baran slices Killvearn in half with the now fixed Dragon Knight's Sword and departs saying that he cannot allow Vearn's plan to succeed.
Epic Challenge Arc[]
Baran meets with the human Alliance Army near the Field of Death where Vearn's Palace was hidden. Baran agrees to battle alongside Dai and his friends to face Hadlar and his Orichalcum guards. Baran says that Vearn's Palace is locked by a gate that is almost indestructable, and maybe if two Dragon Knights used their Power they could destroy it.
Maam, Popp, Crocodine and Hyunckel stayed on the surface facing Sigma, Block, Hym and Albinass while Dai and Baran faced Fenbren underwater in front of the gate. After Fenbren and the gate are destroyed Dai and Baran find Hadlar inside. Hadlar explains that he underwent the transformation to become a Superior Being to be able to realize his wish of defeating the Dragon Knights. Hadlar is stronger than Dai but weaker than Baran, and gets annoyed when he realizes that both father and the son weren't fighting him seriously. That is because when Dai Damaged Hadlar's chest Baran spotted a Black Core inside his body that had presumably been placed by Vearn after giving him his final chance after reviving him. Baran says that a black core would destroy the entire Field of Death and portions of the countries around it if it would to explode. Seeing that Hadlar's was getting even more upset with the battle, Baran used his Dragonoid form and went all-out against Hadlar, trying to kill him quickly without triggering the Core. Seeing that Hadlar had no more chances, Mystvearn teleported himself to the battlefield and, using Vearn's power, he trigged the Black Core's explosion. During his last moments Baran uses all his power to restrain the explosion and protect Dai. Baran dies as his son sees his dead body standing as a shield to protect him.
Flash of Light Arc[]
Before the final battle against Vearn, Dai discovers that he has inherited his father's Dragon Crest, and now has two crests. During the battle, when Vearn assumed his final form, similar to Sovereign Rock Castle, the spirit of Baran and Soala come to encourage him, and even the Demon Dragon Blade accept Dai as it's master and goes to him.
Abilities[]
As the fully mature true Dragon Knight of his era, Baran is one of the most powerful beings of the trio of worlds. His greatest feat of strength was being able to single-handedly defeat the Dark Dragon Velzar, the most powerful malevolent dragon in the whole Underworld who was the rival none other than Dark King Vearn himself. Although an impressive feat, it did not come cheaply for he was left grievously injured. Nonetheless his victory speaks volumes of his might.
Baran is a master swordsman and also a master spellcaster, his great power allows him to eviscerate foes with either method or even worse, both of them for near instant annihilation. Baran can combine sword and magic (especially Kazap) to unleash Gigabreak a devastating technique whose damage magnitude was such that Dai's armor was destroyed and Dai himself was sent flying straight to the bottom of a lake. In fact, in his initial appearance, Baran could very much be considered an improved version of Dai in every regard. The Avan Strash only caused Baran to suffer cracks on his chest plate and Popp's Donk that defeated three dragons instantly neither damaged Baran nor held him for long, as he was able to continue walking in the strong gravity field. When Dai attempted to use the Zap Strash, Baran not only blocked it, but used it to perform his own Gigabreak. He was also able to discern the principles behind the Avan Strash despite only seeing it once and could also levitate in the air.
The secret of Baran's strength comes from the Draconic Aura that manifests when he activates his crest, which gives him increased strength and defense to the point that spells are nearly useless, leaving only strong physical attacks as a viable alternative. Even then, Crocodine, who is infamous for his titanic physical strength, was no match for Baran. Baran could also weaponize his Dragonic Aura for other purposes, as he could use it to fire a Crest Beam, a laser-like beam of pure energy which burns with the shape of the crest of the Dragon Knight which he used to defeat Horkins, Carl Kingdom's strongest warrior in a single shot. He could also use it to resonate with Dai's own Crest and force a memory wipe, regressing him into a innocent crying child, He can also communicate telepathic and track down Dai with his Dragon crest and possible to brainwash him.
His most fearsome ability was the power to transform into his Dragonoid form, a being that was effectively Human, Demon and Dragon and transcending the boundaries between all of them. In this form his power increased along with his ruthlessness, with might more than capable of leveling an entire continent through a Doruora, an unfathomably powerful spell.
Baran can resurrect people back from the dead with his dragon blood that also increase their strength.
Other Appearances[]
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]
Baran appears in the World of Visions: The Adventure of Dai event.
Monster Strike[]
Baran appears in the Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai collab.
Dragon Quest of the Stars[]
Dragon Quest Tact[]
Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light[]
Dragon Quest Walk[]
Dragon Quest Keshi Keshi![]
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai - A Hero's Bonds[]
Appears in both forms as boss and playable character.
Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest - The Adventure of Dai[]
Baran is one of the bosses encountered both during story mode, as well as in the Temple of Recollection. He has two forms, one in his human-like appearance, and the other where he assumes his Dragonoid form.
Gallery[]
- Main article: Baran/Image Gallery
Trivia[]
- His dragonfang eyepiece appeared in Jump Force's 1.11 patch to Customize Avatar, as the "Mask 06" in the main lobby Shop Counter.
- In The Adventure of Dai (2020) version, during in his second battle against Dai, before and during his Dragonoid form, while his hair is shown with a silverish color palette, his mustache most of the time remained dark.
- When he fought against Dai's party with Hyunckel, he was at level 45 and when fighting the Superior Being Hadlar he was at 51.[1]
- His colour on Vearn's symbol is green in the 2020 series. (it's not shown in the manga)
Other languages[]
| Other languages | |
| French | Baran |
| German | Baran |
| Spanish | Baran |
| Italian | Baran |
| Dutch | Unknown |
| Norwegian | Unknown |
| Greek | Unknown |
| Portuguese | Baran |
| Russian | Unknown |
| Chinese | 巴蘭 |
| Korean | 바란 |
References[]
- ↑ Perfect Book, 1995-12-20 ISBN 978-4088588810