Gau can be considered an innocent, pure-hearted boy. He forms strong friendships with the party, sticking with them through the war with the Gestahlian Empire despite no reason for him to do so. He quickly bonds with Cyan and Sabin when they feed him, and even though Sabin dislikes him, Gau jokes around with him seemingly oblivious of his distaste. He is not to be thought of as stupid, however: he is capable of understanding complex concepts such as love, friendship, grief, and gratitude.
He mostly communicates in animalist howls and growls, or uses short sentence fragments with improper grammar, including referring to himself in the third person. Having grown up alone in the wild, Gau has little concept of civilized society and behavior. He wears no shoes, just red bands around his ankles and the middle of his feet, and he wears identical bands on his wrists. In some concept art Gau foregoes his shawl and wears only his shorts. He wears a yellow shawl with large orange dots over his shoulders and upper torso clasped with an emblem resembling a monster's head, and his shorts are green with yellow dots and held up with a red belt. His hair is dirty blond in his Super NES sprite, but his portrait and all other appearances depict him with green hair. Gau is a teenager with wild hair tied up in a ponytail and mis-matched clothes made of animal hide. The others followed him, and Gau repeated he had found a shortcut, and repeated the incident by forcing Celes to ride another rock across the tower. Gau shows Celes a "shortcut" during the game's ending.Īs the party escaped the crumbling Kefka's Tower, Gau called out that he found a "shortcut", and jumped on a pile of loose rocks that he rode down to a lower part of the tower. Outside Sabin apologized to Gau for what happened, but Gau seemed to recognize the old man as his father and was happy he was alive. The old man's rejection infuriated Sabin, but Gau stopped him from attacking the old man and left the house. While the man was terrified of the dreams, he complimented Gau and said his parents must be proud of him. The old man claimed to have no son, but recounted his dream of being married and his wife being killed by a demon child whom he abandoned on the Veldt. The party returned to the house with Gau now properly groomed and in a fine suit, and Sabin introduced the two and told the man Gau was his son. The party visited a house inhabited by a crazy old man, and Sabin theorized he could be Gau's father and took Gau to Jidoor to teach him etiquette and give him a makeover so they could show his father what a fine man Gau had become. The Returners, regrouping one by one, found Gau there. Gau told Cyan he was planning to get stronger to challenge Kefka, and Cyan presumed Gau intended to return to the Veldt to train. In the new world, Gau passed through Maranda at some point and met Cyan. Eventually, Kefka acquired the power of the Warring Triad, the gods of magic, and caused a cataclysm that reshaped the face of the planet and scattered the party. Gau continued to fight alongside the Returners in the war against the Empire. Gau rejoining the party during the World of Ruin. At Narshe, the Returners defended the town from an Imperial invasion led by the Imperial court mage Kefka. Cyan assured him they surely had made the journey safely and Gau echoed his hope they had. Gau's treasure was a diving helmet stolen from Mobliz, which the three used to swim through the Serpent Trench to Nikeah and then boarded a ferry to South Figaro, where Sabin was to meet the other Returners. Gau offered a gift in thanks for the food, something he claimed was a "shiny treasure", and took them to the Crescent Mountain Cave. After a tussle between the two, Cyan interrupted them and introduced themselves. Gau devoured the treat and demanded more, but Sabin refused. They purchased some and the next time they encountered Gau threw it to him. The two traveled to Mobliz and learned that Gau had a taste for dried meat. Gau found them and investigated, but grew frightened and fled when they awoke.
To escape the Empire that had taken over Doma Castle, Sabin and Cyan leapt off Baren Falls and washed up on the Veldt. Gau reveals his "shiny, shiny treasure" to Sabin and Cyan. The citizens of Mobliz knew of him but not where he came from, and Gau kept his distance from the town. Gau grew up among the monsters of the Veldt, learning to fend for himself. As part of his delusion, Gau's father convinced himself it was all a dream and he had never had a wife or son. He believed Gau was a demon and fled to the Veldt and abandoned him there. During childbirth Gau's mother died and his father went mad with grief. Gau was born in a house north of the Veldt.