Gau Gau is a playable character in " Final Fantasy VI " . He is a who grew up on the Veldt . Gau has the unique skill to leap into formations of monsters and learn their attack patterns . Gau is one of the few party members with no personal story tied to the central plot , and doesn ' t appear to have a reason to join the party beyond his attachment to Sabin and Cyan . Profile . Appearance . Gau is a teenager with wild hair ( blondish - brown on his sprite , but green in artwork ) . While he ' s of average height for his age , he walks with bad posture — occasionally on all fours — and wears tattered clothing fashioned from animal skins . His artworks by Yoshitaka Amano and his in - game sprite portray him as skinny . Personality . Having grown up alone in the wild , Gau has no concept for etiquette or grammar and often refers to himself in the third person . In some situations , he calls out " gau ! " even if the player doesn ' t name him this . Gau has a keen interest in shiny objects , hoarding them in a cave on the Veldt . He is afraid of heights . Story . Gau was born in a house north of the Veldt . During childbirth Gau ' s mother died and , as a result , his father went mad . He believed Gau was a demon and threw him out on the Veldt . As part of his delusion , Gau ' s father convinced himself it was all a dream and no longer remembers Gau or his wife . Gau survived on the Veldt on his own . Amid their escape from the Gestahlian Empire , Sabin and Cyan leap off Baren Falls and wash up on the northern shore of the Veldt where Gau finds them on the beach . Gau runs away as Sabin comes to , and the next time Sabin encounters Gau he demands food . Tossing Gau a Dried Meat earns the wild child ' s trust , and Gau starts following them around . Gau takes a liking to Cyan . The feeling is mutual , even though Gau makes fun of Cyan ' s overly formal and archaic speech ( and starts to use it on the perplexed Sabin , calling him " Mr . Thou " , despite Sabin ' s insistence that Cyan should be " Mr . Thou " ) . Gau agrees to show them his treasure , a diving helmet . Sabin , Cyan , and Gau use the diving helmet to travel through the Serpent Trench to Nikeah , where they take a ferry to South Figaro and make their way to Narshe where Cyan and Gau join the Returners , a rebel group that opposes the Empire . Gau helps the Returners fight the Empire , but during the end of the world he is separated from the others . A year later , Gau has returned to the Veldt . He rejoins the others when they visit the Veldt , but only if a group of three or fewer encounters him . After rejoining his companions , Sabin decides Gau should meet his father — but first , Gau is given a makeover . Sabin takes him to Jidoor and dresses him up . The armor salesman makes rude comments that anger Terra and Celes . Locke makes Gau wear a bandana just like his , and Edgar comments it would be hard to expect some class out of Locke , which infuriates him enough to beat up Edgar in the armor shop . When Gau meets his father , his father doesn ' t recognize him , and mentions having had a " dream " of throwing away a supposed demon child into the Veldt . He compliments Gau ' s " parents " for raising such a nice young man . Sabin threatens to beat up Gau ' s father , but Gau is happy to find out his father is still alive . As the party is escaping the crumbling Kefka ' s Tower , Gau finds several shortcuts to help the party get away . Gameplay . Gau ' s special ability is Rage , which allows him to imitate the elemental affinities , status effects and resistances and the abilities of enemies . This makes him uncontrollable for the duration , but depending on the situation , can make him more resistant to the damage of the enemies or more powerful against them . He can only imitate enemies fought in the Veldt , which must have been fought and defeated elsewhere before they will appear there , and he must Leap first . Unlike most characters , Gau has no normal attacks . His stats are all around high , though his defensive stats are low . While he cannot equip a weapon , he makes up for it in not only his Rages but his high natural attack power . Creation and development . After it was decided " Final Fantasy VI " would feature an ensemble cast with no clear main protagonist , everyone in the development team was encouraged to provide ideas for characters and their episodes . Gau ' s character and story were colored by influence from Yoshinori Kitase . The developers acknowledge that Gau doesn ' t have much to do with the game ' s plot , but is something of an extra character . Originally , the reunion with his father was supposed to take place in the World of Balance and was shorter . Sabin and Cyan were both involved with the reunion , so it may have been meant to occur during Sabin ' s split scenario after the Lethe River event . Musical themes . Gau has an eponymous theme heard when Gau finds Sabin and Cyan lying near a river after they dive into the Barren Falls , as well in the ending sequence . It was selected and rearranged for both the " " and " " albums . Other appearances . Gau has made appearances in the following games in the " Final Fantasy " series : Etymology . " Gau " is presumably a misspelling of " gao " .