Bartz Klauser's History
Bartz was born in to his father Dorgann Klauser, a Dawn Warrior from Galuf's world, and his mother Stella Klauser of the village of Lix. After the Dawn Warriors defeated Exdeath, Dorgann volunteered to stay behind in Bartz's world to watch over the seal they had placed on him, as the warriors were unable to destroy Exdeath.
When Bartz was a child, Dorgann would often leave to travel the world and fight monsters, wishing to protect the crystals. Nonetheless, he wished that Stella never tell Bartz about the crystals, believing they were not "his burden to bear". Stella fell ill and died when Bartz was young, after which Bartz would travel with Dorgann. Bartz developed a fear of heights at a young age after an incident of playing hide-and-go-seek and almost falling from a roof of a two-story house.
Three years prior to the events of Final Fantasy V, Dorgann passed when Bartz was seventeen,[note 1] and his dying wish was for Bartz to travel the world. Along the way, Bartz found Boko, who became Bartz's steadfast companion, steed, and best friend.
While Bartz was exploring the Tycoon area, a meteorite fell from the sky. At the impact site he found Princess Lenna Charlotte Tycoon being attacked by goblins. After helping her, the two found an amnesiac old man named Galuf Halm Baldesion in the meteorite's wreckage. With both Lenna and Galuf headed for the Wind Shrine, Bartz declined to join at first, choosing to continue wandering. Boko prodded Bartz to help Galuf and Lenna, causing him to rescue them from goblins again after an earthquake. This time, he agreed to get them to the Wind Shrine safely, noting his father's dying wish that he travel and a subconscious feeling that "the wind is calling him", while Galuf teased that Bartz was simply attracted to Lenna.
The earthquake opened a cave, through which the party saw a ship sailing without sails and came across a pirate hideout. At Galuf's suggestion, Bartz attempted to commandeer the commandeer the pirate ship owned by the captain Faris Scherwiz, though they were caught and imprisoned. Faris, having noted Lenna's pendant, had a change of heart and joined their quest, letting them to take the ship to the Wind Shrine. When the four reached the Wind Shrine, the wind crystal had already shattered, and the party met King Alexander Highwind Tycoon. As the crystals imbued the four with their essence, Bartz imbued with the essence of the wind crystal, the king declared the four of them the new Light Warriors and implored them to save the other three crystals, after which they found the powers of legendary warriors stored within the wind crystal's fragments.
While staying at Zok's house in Tule in search of a key to the Torna Canal, Bartz awoke, wondering if his father would have wanted him on the quest involving the crystals, before Zok entrusted Bartz with the key. Bartz later discovered that Boko had tried to follow them, prompting him to follow and find Boko in the care of the pirates' doctor in their hideout. As their quest took them to the Ship Graveyard, Bartz and Galuf discovered that the pirate captain Faris was a woman in disguise, though Bartz shrugged at the discovery and did not think of her any differently. At the graveyard's coastline, Siren hypnotized Bartz with a figure of his mother, though Galuf saved them as he could remember the girl Siren used to try and ensnare him. The party then reached the North Mountain and saved Hiryu, Lenna's wind drake; Bartz galked due to his fear of heights, but Galuf forced him onto the dragon anyway.
When Bartz and the party arrive in Castle Walse, Lenna attempted to warn the king of the water crystal's impending destruction. Bartz attempted to resolve the debate before another meteorite fell near Walse Tower, and both the Walse soldiers and the Light Warriors headed there to investigate. The warriors failed to stop the water crystal from shattering and sinking the tower, but were rescued last minute by Syldra. After investigating the Walse Meteorite, Bartz found a warp point to Karnak, where the Light Warriors were imprisoned by the town guard. In prison, Bartz met Cid Previa, the inventor of the crystal amplification machines, who had been locked up for attempting to deactivate them upon realizing their damage to the crystals. The chancellor agreed to Cid's demand to release them to help him save Queen Karnak, trapped on the fire-powered ship, and while they saved the queen, they could not stop a possessed soldier from shattering the fire crystal.
Following this, Cid became depressed, leading Bartz to search for Cid's grandson Mid Previa in the Library of the Ancients to bring Cid to his senses. After Mid reunited with Cid, the two repaired the fire-powered ship and allowed the Light Warriors to use it. Galuf, meanwhile, regained some memory after seeing Mid and Cid's relationship, and informed them that he was a Dawn Warrior from another world who had arrived after sensing that Exdeath's seal was weakening. The fire-powered ship took the Light Warriors as far as Crescent before sinking to the Catapult below, leading them stranded on the island until they found a black chocobo, which Bartz could ride. The black chocobo allowed Bartz to visit his hometown of Lix, where he reminisced about his childhood, and met townspeople happy to see him and a bard who had taken residence in his old house.
Upon returning to the Library of the Ancients, Cid and Mid were unfazed about the sunken fire-powered ship, but directed the Light Warriors to follow King Tycoon. This led them to the underwater Catapult, where they found an airship which Cid and Mid retooled to follow the King Tycoon to the floating Ronka Ruins in the sky. The warriors unwittingly destroyed the crystal's guardian before learning the king was possessed and was attempting to destroy the crystal. Before they could do battle, Galuf's granddaughter Krile Mayer Baldesion, arrived on another meteorite, and cast a spell on King Tycoon, freeing him, but not before the crystal was destroyed and Exdeath was released. As the king passed, he asked that Bartz protect his daughters, Lenna and Faris.
Galuf, his memory fully restored, left for his own world with Krile on her meteorite; though Bartz insisted they join, Galuf forbade them as the meteorite would only allow a one-way trip. Nonetheless, after Lenna and Faris talked among themselves and decided to follow Galuf, Bartz instantly agreed and described Galuf as "one of us", after which the three worked with Cid and Mid to muster the adamantite allowing them to teleport to Galuf's world. The three arrived on a deserted island and were abducted by Exdeath, locked in Castle Exdeath until Galuf came to their rescue, halting his army's siege to do so.
After their escape, the four fought Exdeath's lackey Gilgamesh on the Big Bridge, before the castle's barrier threw them to the continent of Gloceana. Bartz apologized for failing to help, causing Galuf to jokingly berate them before expressing gratitude, later telling Bartz in Regole their actions had accidentally saved the army from the barrier. The Light Warriors roamed the continent until they reached a Moogle Village, where the moogles communicated to one in Krile's chamber in the Castle of Bal, causing Krile to pick them up on her wind drake.
The Light Warriors headed to Drakenvale in search of dragon grass to heal Krile's wind drake, Bartz confidently declaring they'd be the first to head to Drakenvale and survive. On the way, they passed through the town of Quelb and met Kelger Vlondette, another Dawn Warrior who challenged Bartz to a fight and used a lupine attack. Recalling a technique taught by his father Dorgann, Bartz intercepted it, impressing Kelger, as the ensuing discussion revealed that Dorgann was also one of the Dawn Warriors. The Light Warriors retrieved the dragon grass and were summoned by Sage Ghido, though Exdeath sunk Ghido's island, causing the party to instead travel to the fleet led by Xezat Matias Surgate, the final Dawn Warrior. There, they helped destroy one of the barrier towers, Xezat sacrificing himself to do so, forcing Bartz to knock Galuf unconscious to pull him away from the exploding tower.
Using Xezat's submarine, the party found Ghido's cave and met the sage. Finding a turtle inside, Bartz poked it until it spoke up, revealing itself to be Sage Ghido, as the sage mocked Bartz and directed them to the Great Forest of Moore. The Light Warriors entered the Guardian Tree within the cave, where Exdeath tricked the warriors into destroying the crystal seals by forcing them to attack the warriors. Exdeath took the crystal's power and attacked the warriors, Krile arriving to try to stop them, but she fell to her magic too. Galuf fought Exdeath with his full strength, surviving for a long time before eventually dying and passing his power onto Krile, making her a Light Warrior to take his place. The new Light Warriors rushed Castle Exdeath, fought Gilgamesh one more time only for Exdeath to banish him for incompetence. The Warriors confronted Exdeath, who taunted them for fighting him without even knowing his plans. After losing to the Light Warriors Exdeath shattered the crystals.
The crystals shattering merged Bartz's and Galuf's world into the complete world, and the warriors found themselves back at Castle Tycoon. The chancellor threw a grand ball for Lenna and Faris's return (whose true identity was that of the long-lost Princess Sarisa), and Krile and Bartz both ducked out. The two found Boko, who Krile could communicate with, learning that Boko had not only healed but found a wife, Koko, who had eggs on the way. Riding Boko, the two traveled west but fell into an antlion pit, where Faris rescued them, disgruntled they had left her behind. Upon finding Ghido in his cave, Ghido explained the worlds were split a thousand years ago to seal the power of the Void and that Exdeath had merged them to obtain the power once more. Exdeath emerged and fought them, Ghido holding Exdeath off for some time, before Exdeath used the power of the Void to consume Castle Tycoon.
Outside the cave, Ghido found the Library of the Ancients, where he saw scholars from the library and from Surgate Castle had the pages to complete the Sealed Tome, which described four tablets that could be used to unlock the twelve legendary weapons that had been used to defeat Enuo, the first wielder of the Void, a thousand years ago. Bartz, Krile, and Faris passed the Guardian Tree on their way to the first tablet, wherein Krile mourned Galuf and Faris mourned Lenna, and Bartz vowed to ensure there were no more sacrifices. After finding the first tablet in the Pyramid of Moore, they found Lenna possessed by Melusine, a demon from the Interdimensional Rift who was aligned with Exdeath. Lenna's wind drake Hiryu saved her, and after Melusine's defeat, the four Light Warriors were reunited. However, upon boarding their airship with the intent of finding the other tablets, Exdeath used the Void to consume Lix and many other towns, causing Bartz to fly into a rage and push the airship to its limits, until the others calmed him.
The Light Warriors collected the twelve legendary weapons, battling demons of the Rift sent to stop them on the way. Upon collecting them, they entered the Interdimensional Rift, fighting the remaining demons. Gilgamesh helped them defeat the final demon, Necrophobe, confessing he had wished to fight Bartz one more time mano-a-mano, before seemingly sacrificing himself against Necrophobe. Upon confronting Exdeath, Exdeath used the Void to consume the Light Warriors, though the spirits of the Dawn Warriors and King Tycoon aided them. Though the Void transformed Exdeath into Neo Exdeath, the Light Warriors prevailed.
The crystals reformed, and the places taken by the Void were restored. Bartz returned to Lix to visit his parents' grave and later resumed his wandering lifestyle. A year later, he reunited with the other Light Warriors at the Guardian Tree where they resolved to continue protecting the crystals as Light Warriors.
