Avan

Avan De Zinuar III is a recurring character from Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai. He is the legendary hero who alongside his party defeated the Dark Lord Hadlar, and saved the world 15 years ago.

He was the first teacher of the Disciples of Avan: Dai, Popp, Maam, Hyunckel and technically, princess Leona.

Personality

For the first few episodes that he appears in, Avan displays himself as very friendly type of mentor figure. However, during the reunion with Hadlar, he shows his true persona as a thoughtful and heroic individual. This same personality he had before as a knight of Carl, before Roka knew his true worth, an attribute he used to keep only to Princess Flora.

Appearance

Avan is a tall fair skinned man with black eyes and long periwinkle hair kept in barrel curls. When he was a young hero, he wears a Carl knight armor with under a long yellow sleeves and pants with brown gloves and boots. He also has a white cape although in the 1991 anime and the prequel manga, his cape was purple or red.

By the time when he became a hero tutor, his hair had two curls and he wears a red military-like uniform with epaulettes and large framed glasses, although he does not need them.

After Avan spent some time in the Cave of trials, he now wears a white suit with black gloves and boots with triangle and diamond red marketing, a blue cape with a golden armor plate with a red orb.

Biography

Avan the Hero and the Hellfire Dark Lord

He is a descendant of a family of scholars. He saved Princess Flora from a monster influenced by Hadlar. She then decided to recruit him as a knight, and he began wearing unnecessary glasses to hide his true potential.

Three years later, while living peacefully as a knight of the Kingdom of Carl, it was attacked by a group led by Hadlar who later came known as the Dark Lord. He did not yet master his Avan Strash technique.

He travelled with his knight friend Roka to overthrow the Dark Lord and gave his glasses to Flora, swearing to be a hero until Hadlar was defeated. He exchanged one pendant made of special stone that only Avan could make, similar to what would become the Insignia of Avan, with Princess Flora's Charm of Carl before setting off to defeat Hadlar.

The first destiny of the duo was Romos, as Avan wanted to train in martial arts with a master that lives there to help him master the technique that injured Hadlar. While looking through the forest near Romos, Avan and Roka were attacked by the monsters of the Kigiro's army. There they were saved by a thief woman that removed the poison from Roka's wounds.

Avan and Roka went to Nayle Village where they were healed at the church by the priestess Leira and her father. There they discovered that the thief they met is as dangerous as the monster, attacking the people of the village all the time, they call her the shadow girl.

At the next day, Avan goes around the village gathering information about the master of martial arts while Roka chatted with Leira. Avan confirmed that there's no other way to the mountains where the master lives and that he and Loca would need to go through the forest again if they wanted to find him. Avan asked the priest just for a map of the forest, but he answered that it would not suffice as the forest monster were growing stronger by the time. The priest would like to offer some man of the village as support, but all of them were already injured so he offered his daughter Leira to be a healer.

Through the path to the mountains Avan asked Leira about what weapons she uses. She answered that she could only use hammer lances because blades were forbidden at the village. Roka stated that if they were to be engaged both by the Shadow Girl and the monster they would be in trouble, but Avan says that she is not a thief and won't attack them, as the villagers had said to him during the previous day, that she only assaults outsiders. Avan guess that her intentions are only to protect Nayle Village. Reaching a certain point where some rocks were blocking the way, Leira advises them to return, as dusk was near.

This is when Kigiro appears disguised as a human and attacks Avan and his party. Kigiro can turn his body as hard as steel and is able to take down Roka. When Leira tries to heal him, Kigiro captures both of them with his roots. Avan seeing that his attacks would not work, tells Leira that he already knows about her secret, and that he trusts her and need her help to defeat the Tree faced general. Leira then pulls a dagger and cut her and Loca free of the roots and changes her outfit into the Shadow Girl. Loca is surprised to discover that the delicate priestess is the Shadow Girl, while Avan kept charging his aura into his sword. While Leira was fighting Kigiro, Avan leaped with his full power and was able to slash the general face in half. Kigiro runs away as Avan collapses and is carried by Roka.

Having no way to return to Nayle Village, Leira says that they need to keep going until finding the God of Martial Arts.

Roka keeps carrying Avan on his back until they found Brokeena, an old man that fed the monsters of the mountain. Avan was taken to the old man hut where his wounds were tended, and he could rest.

After getting out of the bed, Leira and Roka said that Old Man doesn't know the God of Martial Arts and said that there was a rumor of him living there before the old man moved to the mountains, but he isn't there anymore. Avan wonders where the God of Martial Arts might have moved to. Avan tries to help Brokeena with the wood cutting and ask about the God of Martial Arts to him again. Brokeena said that he doesn't help with the wood but also said that Avan wouldn't need to meet the God of Martial Arts, as his friends said that he was able to cut a monster stronger than steel.

Brokeena said that since Avan as exhausted from the battle, when he used his full power against the monster, he only used the necessary muscles to swing the sword, and through that he was already learning the technique he wishes to master, and then Brokeena shows a glimpse of it by cutting a piece of wood with a finger. Avan then discovers that Brokeena is the God of Marial Arts and Brokeena says to Avan to try to use that technique to cut the ground. Avan then receives a threatning message from Kirigo through a written leaf.

At night Avan goes alone to fight Kirigo that had regenerated by absorbing power from a giant Chewlip. Avan then wonders if the monsters from the forest were growing stronger because the Chewlip was giving them power. Avan uses Kaclang to defend himself from Kigiro attacks and then counter attacks with his new technique, slash Kigiro, the plant and the ground, and because of that he named this technique as Earth Slash.

17 years ago, he tried to stop Hadlar with the forgotten and available once in a millennia Time Freezing spell, helped by Brokeena and Matoriv but leaving Roka and a pregnant Leira behind. He did not master the spell but froze himself and Hadlar for over a year, creating a temporary peace in which Roka and Leira's daughter, Maam, was born.

At some point, he entered the Purification Cave and learned the Glimmer purification spell at floor 15.

15 years ago, he entered the Underground Palace with his party and defeated Bartos who guarded the Hell's Gate leading to Hadlar who he mortally struck down with the Avan Strash technique. Unbeknownst to him, Hadlar was saved by Vearn and entered a 13 yearlong coma.

He then became a tutor of heroes, training Hyunckel --the adoptive son of Bartos who he took from the Underground Palace under Bartos request-- into a Warrior as his first disciple, just to later discover that Hyunckel harbored misguided hatred towards him. on the day of his graduation, after receiving his Insignia of Avan, Hyunckel tried to murder him, and Avan had to push Hyunckel onto the river to avoid being killed. Avan immediately swimmed after Hyunckel trying to rescue him but couldn't find him, as the boy had been rescured by Mystvearn, who was planning to groom the young boy for his dark schemes.

4 to 5 years before the begining of the main series, he trained Maam who he created the Magic Bullet Gun for and gave her one of his Insignia (In the 2020 anime version, while on Carl he was already developing the gun, using it against Hadlar on their first battle, while in the manga the gun appeared only after Maam became his student).

While shopping in a weapon shop, the son of the owner decided to leave his home without permission to be trained by Avan, the boy's name being Popp.

The Adventure of Dai - Avan's Disciples

The following events are flashbacks from Popp and Maam of their time been trained by Avan in the second movie.

While training Maam, after he failed to bind to attack spells in a Magic Ritual, he brought her an injured fawn to teach her healing spells.

While training Popp, he noticed him stealing his Magical Booster during his nap. After Popp dangerously failed to cast a Frizzle spell with it while showing off, Avan came to save him and nonetheless gave him the Booster.

Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai

Birth Arc

With his current mage student Popp, Avan went to Dermline Island to train Dai at the request of Papnica royalty. During the seven days Special Hard Course, he managed to teach the Earth Slash and Wave Slash to Dai before the recently resurrected Hadlar attacked them on the third day, before he could teach Air Slash. Avan gave his graduation mark to Popp and Dai during the battle and used the life-costing spell Megante but failed to defeat him.

Halo Arc

Bloody Fight Arc

Flash of Light Arc

Abilities

As the former hero who defeated the Dark Lord Hadlar, Avan is an immensely powerful individual and can be considered the most powerful human in an official capacity; as he came from a noble scholar family, which makes him incredibly intelligent for a great talented man. Avan is an incredibly gifted swordsman, developing his own style aptly named the Avan Style Sword Techniques, which focuses on training power, speed, and aura control. The result of this are three techniques that focus on one aspect each, namely the Earth Slash, the Wave Slash and the Air Slash respectively. Combining all three principles at once results in the Avan Strash, Avan's signature technique in which he holds his sword with a reverse grip and behind his back before executing a full swing of incredibly destructive power which ultimately defeated Hadlar. This technique can be executed but as a close-quarter slash, or as a devastating shockwave, the former called the Avan Strash Break and the latter the Avan Strash Arrow.

Avan is also greatly skilled at magic spells and could employ high-level spells such as Puff!, an ancient spell that can turn himself into a powerful dragon and Kaclang, a spell that can turn an entire person's body into a steel-like metal state that can withstand any form of attacks or any spells but they cannot move and it only last for several hours. One of Avan's most impressive magical feats was being able to cast a giant-sized Glimmer spell which affected the entirety of Dermline Island, purging the territory from Hadlar's influence. Furthermore, the spell lasted for several days and was still fundamentally intact after Hadlar and Zaboera infiltrated the barrier and could be assumed that it could still last for an in-determined amount of time. If necessary and as a last resort, he could also cast Kamikazee to kill himself along his enemies. Also, during his youth, Avan has once cast The Secret Spell of Frozen Time that has the power to freeze someone in time, making them completely unable to move for the next one-thousand years but is caught in the crossfire and he was frozen over a year.

Avan also demonstrated incredible physical prowess, lifting giant rocks with incredible ease, running while marking a magic circle to cast Glimmer on Dermline Island which was done in a matter of seconds and with pinpoint geographical accuracy, and even resisting a severe beat down from Hadlar's infamous close quarter techniques and still manage to stand on his feet, despite the fact Avan had exhausted himself by training with Dai and Hadlar was stronger than he was defeated the first time. Most impressively he was able to train rigorously and leveled up so much he was able to match the power level of Dai's party by the time he rejoined, despite the latter being in absurdly dangerous situations that more than helped catapult their growth.

Avan also showed skill in different more miscellaneous arts. He was a notably skilled instructor being able to teach the grand total of four disciples all of which specialized in different aspects of their vocation, and which ultimately ended up as world saviors. Avan was capable of teaching in swordsmanship, spellcasting, martial arts and monster knowledge, develop an array of training regimes of varying degrees of intensity. His most infamous, the Special Hard Course was a frighteningly demanding program that Popp tried to avoid at any opportunity. Nonetheless, its effectiveness was demonstrated when Dai was able to level up so much and master only two of the Avan Style Sword Techniques (the Earth Slash and Wave Slash), with that Dai could competently fight the likes of the Dark Army's Legion Commanders despite barely being a match for the Fake Heroes before (all who were considerably weaker than any Legion Commander), all in a matter of 3 days of training which was only roughly half of what Avan had planned.

Even Popp who had taken only normal courses was sufficiently powerful to cast a Kafrizz spell that could kill a Gargoyle in a single hit. Avan was also a skilled craftsmanship, being able to craft Maam's signature Magic Bullet Gun along with its "bullets" purely through reading multiple books and applying different principles on it. Even Baduck, Papnica Kingdom's most skilled engineer was unable to either repair the gun when it was broken, much less comprehend the mechanism behind it. He was also shown to be a good cook.

Legacy

The Book of Avan

The Book of Avan is the only one he handwritten, for posterity's sake. It was kept in a treasure chest in a library in The Kingdom of Carl, Avan's native country, but was recovered by Matoriv after the kingdom of Carl was destroyed and passed to Dai.

• Chapter of the Earth (About Martial Arts), which contained his secret techniques for six weapon types: sword, spear, axe, bow, whip and claw. It would take 30 years to master them.
• Chapter of the Wave (about aura techniques and spells)
• Chapter of the Air (About the Heart)

Disciples of Avan

The Disciples of Avan are the successor to Avan's party.

Avan trained his students into teaching of swordsmanship, spellcasting, martial arts, and monster knowledge and more. His most infamous is the Special Hard Course: a frighteningly demanding one-week program but nonetheless its effectiveness was demonstrated to level up so much. He was a notably skilled instructor being able to teach at least four disciples all of which specialized in different aspects of their vocation, and which ultimately ended up as world saviors.

When the disciples are fully trained, they get an Insignia of Avan certificate of graduation, an accessory crafted by the hero Avan. The insignia carries significant weight due to its symbology which is recognized both by the disciples of Avan and also by other parties as Avan is a world-famous hero, and his legacy does instill its due respect. Despite its simplicity the insignia is fairly unique in nature, as other disciples of Avan are seemingly the only ones who can recognize it at plain sight, with any other bystander fundamentally unfazed by its significance.

Only five of these gems are known to have been created, one given to each graduate disciple.

Other Appearances

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius

Avan or Legendary Hero Avan appears in the World of Visions: The Adventure of Dai second event.

Dragon Quest of the Stars

Dragon Quest Walk

Dragon Quest Keshi Keshi!

Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai - A Hero's Bonds

Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest - The Adventure of Dai

Avan is the first of the bosses encountered during story mode, while transformed into a bespectacled Dragon by the spell Puff!.

Gallery

Main article: Avan/Image Gallery

Trivia

• His "Distinguished legendary sword" (由緒正しき勇者の剣, lit. Venerable Hero's Sword) technically was not a lie since it belonged to Avan who was a Venerable Hero. Also, no released games sell a sword for 10 Gold coins or had a second-hand shop when the chapters were pre-published, but in Dragon Quest IV, Torneko can be scammed in Ballymoral into buying a steel broadsword for 10 G which actually is a cypress stick worth less than that and the same game introduced thrift stores with Lakanaba and Torneko's shops
• When fighting the resurrected Hadlar on Dermline Island, he was at level 37.^[1]
• His first name is based on the French word "avant" --although it was officially romanized to "Avan"-- and his full name is based on the Avante Jr. (アバンテJr., Abante Junia) minicar.^[1]
• During Hadlar's flashback, in the manga, Avan's appearance is based on the Hero of the original Dragon Quest,^[1] even wearing the Tantegel Helm in one panel.
• In both anime series, his voice actor was also the narrator, replacing Yusaku YARA from the first film. In the 1991 anime series, he shares his voice with Killvearn.
• The full Special Hard Course is as such:^[2]
  1. Basic form training
  2. Earth Slash mastered
  3. Wave Slash mastered
  4. Aura basics, battle against multple foes, fist fight
  5. Aura usage, battle against distant foes
  6. Mental training, battle against invisible foes
  7. Air Slash mastered, Avan Strash completed (both Arrow and Break)

Other languages

Other languages
French	Avan
German	Avan
Spanish	Aván
Latin American Spanish	Unknown
Italian	Avan
Dutch	Unknown
Norwegian	Unknown
Greek	Unknown
Portuguese	Unknown
Russian	Unknown
Chinese	Unknown
Korean	Unknown

References