Karn

Karn ダンク Danku (Danc/Danq)
Portrait
Type												Playable Character Non-Playable Character
Home												Bleak (Breath of Fire) Island of Giants (Breath of Fire II)
Occupation												Thief
Height												154 cm (5'1")
Weight												48 kg (105.8 lbs)
Weapon												Knife
I				II				III				IV				V				VI

Karn (known as Danq in the original Japanese version) is a playable character in Breath of Fire. He is a member of the Thieves Guild, which is situated in Bleak. Thanks to his background as a thief, Karn is capable of unlocking doors, disarming trapped treasure chests, and detecting fake floors. Later in the game, he is able to use Fusion to combine with three of the party members (Bo, Gobi, and/or Ox) to become a more powerful character.

Role throughout the series

Prior to the events of Breath of Fire

As revealed in Breath of Fire: Official Complete Works, Karn is the descendant of a royal family, who all possess the power to use Fusion to merge with others. However, his kingdom was eventually destroyed by the Dark Dragon Clan, who likely feared them for this power alone. Luckily, he, along with a few other survivors, managed to escape the kingdom's destruction.

Eventually, whether by choice or by fate. the very young Karn was found by the leader of the Thieves Guild, who took him in and raised him as his son. Though Karn knows nothing about his parentage or original hometown, he doesn't particularly care as he is more dedicated to improving his craft then learning about his past. The guild leader wonders when he should tell Karn the truth about his origin.

During Breath of Fire

Karn is first met resting on a bed in Auria's prison after Ryu and his party immediately get arrested for a crime they didn't commit. Upon being spoken to, Karn breaks open the jail door's lock, allowing the heroes to escape before he heads back to bed to continue sleeping.

Much later on, Karn heads to Krypt to try and find a book that was written by the world's greatest thief. Around that time, Ryu and his friends also head to Krypt in search of Karn, hoping the young thief can open a safe in Auria to rescue Ross's daughter, who is trapped inside. During their search, the heroes end up activating a trap by opening up a blue treasure chest, but Karn disarms it, all the while playfully mocking the party for falling for an obvious trap. The party then tells them their plight, and he agrees to help if they assist him in finding the book.

As they travel deeper into Krypt, they eventually reach the bottom where eight caskets are kept. Karn and the party manage to find the correct one, and discover that the book Karn was looking for is the casket itself, as it has the master thief's writing inside of it. As Karn reads it, he finds out that he's already become a master thief by making it this far. Feeling confident, Karn decides to journey with the heroes to fulfill their request, as well as assist them in stopping the Dark Dragon Clan from awakening the Goddess Tyr.

After the heroes manage to defeat Tyr at the end of the game, Karn and his friends are flown back to Wyndia by the members of the Wing Clan. Afterwards, they revisit some previous locations they visited on their long journey. Karn is the fifth member to leave, returning back to his home in Bleak.

During Breath of Fire II

Karn and Bo in Breath of Fire II

Karn, along with Bo, makes an appearance in this game, inhabiting the sole house on the Island of Giants. When spoken too, Karn expresses surprise that this game's Ryu, as well as his party, apparently knows about him and Bo. Karn then responds that they must be mistaken since he doesn't know them. This conversation is most likely referring more to the player than the heroes, being an example of breaking the fourth wall.

Beyond that, Karn was also the one responsible for making the Thieves Tomb, which is located in the desert, though this info is only explicit in the original Japanese version.

Field Abilities

Thanks to his thief skills, Karn's main ability is being able to pick open locks, as well as disarm traps. He can even detect fake floors, preventing him and the party from falling in them if he's the one leading the group., which makes him handy when exploring new dungeons.

Once Karn is taught how to perform Fusion by one of the Fusion Masters, he can fuse with Bo, Gobi, and/or Ox to become a more powerful character with additional new abilities. Karn's Shin form has him fuse with Bo and Gobi, allowing him to walk through forests and fire arrows much farther than Bo can. Karn's Doof form has him fuse with Ox and Bo, allowing him to shove objects that are too heavy for even Ox to push. Karn's Puka form has him fuse with all three, who has the ability to open specific doors with his cry. The only exception is Karn's Debo form, which has him fuse with Gobi and Ox, as it not only lacks an ability, it can only be used underwater.

Combat

On his own, Karn is a well-rounded fighter with high growth in Agility, and respectable even growth in all of his other stats. This makes him one of the fastest characters in the game, and he is very capable of holding his own in combat. However, Karn's true strength lies in his Fusion ability, which allows him to combine with other party members, transforming them into extremely powerful forms. In fact, Karn's Fusions are capable of making him the best front-line fighter for most of the game, as they give him enormous stat boosts and pump up his HP to near-maxed out levels by endgame. These forms do take more damage than most party members, but their massive HP pool mitigates this.

That being said, Karn's Fusion forms are strictly optional. Their use is only necessary to obtain several of the game's hidden secrets, and are never required in the game's main story. Still, it's in the player's best interest to seek out the masters who teach Karn his Fusion forms.

Fusion Forms

Name	AP Cost	Location	Description
Shin	10 AP	Gant	Fusion with Bo and Gobi, Bo is dominant and can use his Forest Walk and an advanced Hunting field ability.
Debo	15 AP	Gust	Fusion with Ox and Gobi, Gobi is dominant. No field ability. Can only be used underwater.
Doof	25 AP	Camlon	Fusion with Bo and Ox, Ox is dominant, has enhanced strength to move even larger objects.
Puka	40 AP	Bleak	Fusion between, Bo, Gobi, and Ox, gains the unique field ability to cry, which opens special doors with the Dragon Seal on them.

Trivia

• Though never confirmed, Karn may be a Shaman, as his power to fuse with others is quite similar to their ability.
• According to Breath of Fire: Official Complete Works, his hobby is collecting shoes.
• In the American version of the game, his skin color was changed to a light tan, and his face was changed to make him look Caucasian. This change was probably made because his original character design is reminiscent of blackface, which is generally considered to be an offensive and disrespectful stereotype in the United States.
  • Despite this change, the same wasn't done for his appearance in Breath of Fire II, which kept his original skin tone. This may have been overlooked by Capcom, since he and Bo were simply cameo characters.
  • Incidentally, his American incarnation somewhat resembles Arsène Lupin III, another famous fictional thief.

Gallery

SNES artwork

Game Boy Advance artwork