About

"You gotta understand somethin'...I don't got an answer. I wanna be with Marlene...but I gotta fight. 'Cause if I don't...the planet's gonna die. So I'm gonna keep fightin'!"
—Barret
Barret is characterized early in Final Fantasy VII as a brash, gruff man with a short temper and a tendency to curse, although his mouth is not as bad as Cid Highwind's. He is prone to firing his Gun-Arm into the air in fits of rage while roaring, particularly after the Sector 7 Slums are destroyed, and this always catches attention of everyone around him. However, Barret's rage is accompanied by a deeper, albeit rarely shown thoughtfulness. Barret later admits to Elmyra Gainsborough that he wants to be with his daughter Marlene and care for her, but at the same time he wants to fight and save the planet, the issue confusing him to the point he gives up trying to explain it.

Barret has a tendency to describe life with train metaphors, including one of his more well-known phrases, "there's no gettin' off this train we on 'till we reach the end of the line". Late in Final Fantasy VII, when Cloud and Tifa are both absent, he at first says he ought to be leader, but then says he's come to realize he's not suitable, and elects Cid in his place. In the novella On the Way to a Smile, Barret's character is examined on a deeper level, revealing his isolation due to his Gun-Arm from which he sees himself as a monster even around children, and his search for a new meaning to his life after his vendetta with Shinra is settled and the company destroyed. Still guilty over the chaos AVALANCHE caused, particularly the death of the group's members under his leadership, Barret seeks both a normal life and a way to atone for his 'minefield of mistakes' as the faction's leader.

Barret was born and grew up in the small, forested coal mining village of Corel. He was happily married to a woman named Myrna, but it was due to her suffering from an unspecified illness that Barret decided to advocate co-operation with Shinra in building a Mako Reactor north of Corel. His childhood friend Dyne disagreed at first, but Barret convinced him to agree.

In Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, the original, more violent incarnation of AVALANCHE has occupied the Corel reactor near Corel. Barret helped the Turks sneak into the reactor to take it back, and (as revealed in Final Fantasy VII) Shinra destroyed the reactor as well as Corel in retaliation, believing it was the people of Corel who helped AVALANCHE take the reactor. In the chaos, Barret and Dyne returned to the town and are gunned down by Shinra troops. Dyne fell off a cliff and Barret narrowly grabbed his hand. Scarlet fires on them, shooting their hands and causing Barret to drop Dyne to his apparent doom.

In the aftermath, Barret found Dyne's daughter Marlene and took her to raise her as his own, believing Dyne had perished. It was also at this time he acquired his prosthetic Gun-Arm, which was later revealed to made for him by Shalua Rui. Sometime after, Barret made his way to Cosmo Canyon and learned of AVALANCHE, becoming the leader of the organization's second incarnation, and went to Midgar to begin his campaign against Shinra.

Final Fantasy VIIIn Midgar, Barret led the reformed AVALANCHE against Shinra, its members including Biggs, Wedge, Jessie and Tifa Lockhart. As part of an attack on Shinra, Barret agrees to hire Tifa's childhood friend, the mercenary Cloud Strife. The attack on the Sector 1 Reactor is successful, and although Cloud's fee is steep and Barret doesn't like him, the need for help and his skill convinces Barret to continue to keep him with the group. At the next reactor bombing, Cloud is separated from the group.

Afterwards, Tifa allows herself to be kidnapped by Don Corneo when they find out that he is a Shinra informant. While Tifa and Cloud are gone, Shinra sends the Turks to destroy the pillar holding up the Sector 7 plate, crushing the slums. Barret and AVALANCHE fight to stop them, and Wedge, Biggs and Jessie are lost in the struggle. Eventually, the pillar is destroyed and Barret, Cloud and Tifa narrowly escape. Barret is enraged at the loss, but is consoled somewhat by Tifa's assurance that Aeris Gainsborough took Marlene to safety before the plate fell. When Cloud resolves to rescue Aeris from Shinra, Barret accompanies him to save her and pay her back for saving Marlene. Marlene and Elmyra later flee to Kalm sometime later in the game.

The foray into Shinra Headquarters is successful in rescuing Aeris, but the entire group is kidnapped and imprisoned. When the group escapes during an attack by Sephiroth, they flee Midgar to Kalm. There, Cloud is elected leader of the group of allies over Barret, and he grudgingly accepts the decision. After Kalm, the group continues to track Sephiroth and eventually crosses the sea at Junon to Costa del Sol.

The group eventually arrives at North Corel, a town built by the survivors of Corel near the ruins of the destroyed Mako reactor. The townspeople vilify Barret and curse him, and Barret reluctantly explains his past to the group. Riding to the Gold Saucer, an amusement park built towering over the ruins of Corel, Barret's frustrations increase and he runs off alone. After this, Cloud and the others find many people gunned down, and a survivor says it was a man with a Gun-Arm.


Barret in a FMVThrown into Corel Prison, Cloud and the others find Barret, further enraged and demanding to be allowed to settle his past alone. He allows them to accompany him as they confront the leader of the prison, Dyne, who has his own Gun-Arm on his mangled hand just like Barret. Traumatized by the loss of his family and home, Dyne is now murderous and wishes to destroy the world. When Barret tells Dyne that Marlene survived, Dyne attacks him, saying that he has to kill Marlene so his wife won't be lonely. Barret prevails, and Dyne, considering himself a lost cause, gives Barret and the others permission to leave the prison, then throws himself off a cliff to his death.

Barret continues to travel with the group, developing a profound respect for Cloud. Although it is highly unlikely, it is possible for the two to even spend a date together at the Gold Saucer. After betraying the party at the Temple of the Ancients, Cloud decided to quit the journey but Barret assured him that he was among friends and that he will look out for him. Barret has a small revelation at Gaea's Cliff, where he considers the frigid cold and barren land the exact opposite of the technological Midgar, yet is just as unappealing to him. When the Weapons awaken and the rebels are imprisoned at Junon, Barret leads the escapees and, with the help of Cait Sith and Yuffie Kisaragi, escapes to the Highwind airship to rendezvous with the rest of the group, minus Cloud.

While Barret was skeptical about Cloud's identity after Meteor is summoned, he realized that he wasn't fit to be leader of the group in Cloud's absence and hands control over to Cid. In the quest for the Huge Materia, North Corel once again was on the brink of destruction from Shinra. If it is saved, Barret becomes a local hero; if it is destroyed, further blame is put on Barret and AVALANCHE for their woes. Up until the last moments of the game, Barret still remained fuzzy about the plotline as do the rest of the characters having been following the assumptions of a mentally blighted Cloud, but satisfies himself knowing that he has done well.

NovellasIn On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa, Barret, along with Cloud and Tifa, travel to revisit the various locations they had seen in Final Fantasy VII, and in Kalm, Barret reunites with Marlene. They later return to Midgar, where they help construct a new city, Edge. It is Barret's idea for Tifa to open a bar to help the depressed cope with their losses, and Tifa, struggling with her own personal dilemmas, agrees to run it. Shortly after, Barret leaves on a journey to settle his past.

Barret is the focus of another novella, Case of Barret. After Barret leaves Marlene in the care of Tifa, he searches the world for an alternative energy source, and his peace of mind. Searching for a way to atone for the deaths of Jessie, Biggs and Wedge, Barret requisitions a new attachment for the Gun-Arm, and makes his way to Rocket Town, where, having seen the effects of Geostigma, he helps Cid with his new airship and decides to locate an oilfield to help fuel it, and the airship can then be used to help those with Geostigma get to aid.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Barret in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.In Advent Children's opening scenes, Barret leaves a message on Cloud's cell phone saying that he has found a large oil field. Barret later appears to help Cloud fight a battle against Bahamut SIN, and is shown to still uses his gun on his right hand as a weapon. He is seen using his Big Shot Limit Break during the fight, as well as Ungarmax, although he uses the latter as his most basic attack. Despite his time away from her, he still cares deeply for Marlene; his first words to Tifa are to tell her to make sure she's safe. After Bahamut SIN is defeated, he watches Cloud battle Kadaj from the Shera and orders Cid to land so they can help, but Cid tells him to jump off.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
Barret in Dirge of Cerberus"When I'm through, there won't be a single sucka standing!"
—Barret, on a phone with Vincent Valentine in Dirge of Cerberus
Barret, along with Cloud and Tifa, lead a ground assault on Midgar against Deepground and provide Vincent with a map via phone which leads the way to Deepground. The three then join Cid, Reeve, Yuffie, and a young defected Tsviet named Shelke to aid Vincent in Omega's destruction.