Characters of Final Fantasy IX

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This is a list of characters in the PlayStation role-playing game Final Fantasy IX. Filling four CD-ROMs,^[1] Final Fantasy IX featured a cast containing a variety of major and minor characters. Players could control a maximum of 4 characters for combat at once, with 8 main playable characters in the party and a few other, temporary characters.^[1]

[edit] Main playable characters

[edit] Zidane Tribal

Zidane Tribal (ジタン・トライバル, Jitan Toraibaru^?, IPA: [ziˈdan ˈtraɪbl]) is the Protagonist of Final Fantasy IX. Playful and flirtatious, Zidane displays little of the sullenness associated with previous Final Fantasy protagonists.^{[citation needed]} Zidane has shoulder-length blonde hair and a prehensile monkey-like tail, as witnessed in game when Zidane hangs from his tail to evade Steiner. In trance form Zidane's hair becomes longer, and his clothing is replaced with thick fur covering his body. It is not revealed whether or not he has fur under his clothing when not in trance form. Zidane is identified as a thief.^[2]

Zidane began his life as an "Angel of Death" under a man named Garland.^[3] Long ago, the people of a planet named Terra realized that their world would soon collapse on itself and they would be destroyed. As they had done several times before,^[4] they planned to save their civilization through the assimilation of another planet, Gaia.^[5] The people of Terra left their physical bodies and locked their souls in containers^[6] to be watched over by Garland,^[7] who was given the task of removing the souls of Gaia's "cycle of souls" and replacing them with Terra's. To do so, he created the Iifa Tree,^[8] which was to disrupt souls returning to Gaia (i.e. souls of people who had just died) to prevent them from returning to living bodies.^[9] Once the soul cycle of Gaia was empty, Terra would fill the void with its own souls. The Terran souls would then enter bodies called Genomes, who waited patiently on Terra until the time came for them to be the hosts of the Terran souls.^[10] To quickly disrupt Gaia's cycle of souls, Garland realized that a great catastrophe was needed to kill as many people as possible.^[11] To assist him in his endeavour, he gave a soul to a new Genome and named him Kuja. Kuja would be Garland's "Angel of Death", sent to Gaia to cause immense unrest and death.^[12] To induce an unnaturally chaotic flow. Kuja's will, however, was too much for Garland's tastes. A limit was placed on Kuja's life, and another, improved, Genome was created who would eventually replace him, named Zidane.^[13]

Kuja, infuriated by Garland's decision to create another, more powerful Genome, immediately deposits Zidane on Gaia.^[14] Four-year-old Zidane,^{[citation needed]} completely unaware of his mission, somehow ends up in Lindblum, where he is raised by Baku as a member of the Tantalus band of thieves.^[15] Despite his lack of knowledge of who he really is or where he came from, Zidane can remember one thing throughout his childhood years: a blue light. He searches far and wide for his homeland, but never finds it.^[16] Twelve years later,^[17] Tantalus visits Alexandria on a mission appointed by Lindblum's Regent Cid to kidnap Princess Garnet.^[18][19] Despite the mission's relative failure, Zidane, and the rest of Tantalus eventually make it to Lindblum, where they become embroiled in the warfare being waged by Queen Brahne with the aid of Kuja.^[20]

Zidane's adventure later brought him and the others to Terra; it was there Zidane met Garland and learned of his true origin & nature.^[21] He attempted to fight Garland, only for his Terran soul to be removed from his body to be less of a threat to Garland's plan.^[22] Zidane maintained his identity with anguish that everything he knew was a lie and his true purpose in life was to aid in Gaia's destruction.^[23] He ran off from his friends, angry and confused, until they came to his aid. It was from there, Zidane realized he did have a true purpose in life: protecting everyone he cares for.^[24]

Zidane has an appearance in the Playstation Portable Game "Itadaki Street Portable" as a playable character. His design in the game has been made to look more chibi-ish.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Garnet Til Alexandros XVII

Garnet Til Alexandros XVII (ガーネット・ティル・アレクサンドロス17世, Gānetto tiru Arekusandorosu Jūnanasei^?), is the heroine of Final Fantasy IX. Garnet is the Princess of Alexandria -- one of three major nations located on Gaia's Mist Continent. She is the only heir to the royal throne. A beautiful young woman, Garnet is well spoken and highly educated, but also possessed of a strong will and a stubborn streak. However, due to her sheltered upbringing she is also shy and slightly naive. In battle, she can cast white magic and summon eidolons.

Princess Garnet was born with the name Sarah in Madain Sari, the "Village of the Summoners" located on Outer Continent. Before the age of six, Madain Sari was attacked and destroyed by Garland with the Invincible, seen to Sarah as an eyeball in the sky. Sarah and her mother, Jane, fled from the village by a small boat and traveled to Mist Continent. Jane did not survive and died at some unknown point before the boat wrecked in Alexandria Harbor where they were found by Doctor Tot. Coincidentally, Sarah looked almost identical to Alexandria's former Princess Garnet, who had died shortly beforehand due to illness; there was only one exception: the child had a horn. As an alternative to publicly announcing the death of Alexandria's beloved Princess, the King of Alexandria ordered the child's horn be removed and transformed the child into a sort of "replacement" princess. Garnet has repressed her memories of her former life in Madain Sari, the only remaining memories she has of her former life are a recurring nightmare involving her escape from Madain Sari's destruction and "Melodies of Life", a song that only she knows.

The King of Alexandria died sometime before the beginning of the game, leaving Queen Brahne in complete control of Alexandria, and leaving Garnet as the single heir to the throne. At her 15th birthday, a year before the beginning of the game, a sinister man known as Kuja appeared in the Castle; ever since Kuja's initial arrival at Alexandria Castle, Queen Brahne's behavior began to shift from her normal, caring personality into a new, frightful attitude which persuades Garnet to develop a plan to run away and seek help outside of the Castle walls: Regent Cid Fabool IX in Lindblum.

The game begins on Garnet's sixteenth birthday, when Garnet plans to carry out her escape plan and flee Alexandria Castle by means of the Theatre Ship scheduled to perform the play Lord Avon's 'I Want To Be Your Canary' , Garnet's favorite play, at Garnet's birthday celebration. It is notable that during this escape she wears a robe based on the original White Mage design. Ironically, the "performers" on board the ship are actually a group known as Tantalus, an infamous band of thieves, who were hired by Regent Cid himself to abduct the Princess and bring her to Lindblum. Unfortunately, when Tantalus attempts to kidnap Garnet and Garnet attempts to be kidnapped at the same time, castle security discovers the intentions of both parties, and both plans for escape/abduction go less smoothly than expected. During the escape, Garnet assumes the alias Dagger to try and keep a low profile among the commoners, a name she continues to employ for the majority of the game.

After the forceful extraction of her eidolons by the twins Zorn and Thorn, Garnet admits that she had been afraid of her summoning powers. After hearing about what had happened in Cleyra with Odin and the orders to execute Garnet after the eidolons were extracted from her, Garnet resolves to utilize her special powers to help cure her mother of her endless greed. Soon after, the party encounters the thunder god Ramuh, who helps Garnet decide to release her true powers in order to summon her eidolons. After this point in the story, Garnet can learn to summon every eidolon extracted from her, and even some that she gains during the story, such as the water dragon god Leviathan.

[edit] Vivi Orunitia

Arguably the most distinctive member of the game's cast, Vivi Orunitia (ビビ・オルニティア, Bibi Orunitia^?) remains the most popular character from Final Fantasy IX. He appears as a typical Black Mage of the Final Fantasy series. His name appears as Vivi Ornitier in Latin letters in the Japanese artbook. His surname in English has lent to some confusion since it also appears as Ornitier in the original English instruction booklet included with the game, but was later changed to Orunitia in the Greatest Hits version and other English publications (this does not include the European Platinum versions).^[25] Vivi may come from the Italian Vivo meaning "I live." Alternately, his name may come from the Latin vivus meaning "to live". Vivi is also a female name derived from Vivian, which means "alive".

Vivi Orunitia first appears at the beginning of the game, and becomes embroiled in Tantalus's plan to kidnap Princess Garnet when he travels to Alexandria to attend a performance of the play I Want to be Your Canary. Being a Black Mage, he shares a similar appearance to humans but also differs in that he has a black skin-like outer surface of unknown material, no visible facial features beyond glowing yellow eyes, and the ability to cast magic without training. Despite being just nine years old, Vivi is incredibly powerful and mature for his age. With some encouragement from Zidane and Adelbert Steiner (who calls him 'Master Vivi' out of respect for his magical prowess), he joins the group and begins to search for the truth about his origins.

Black Mages are used in the Final Fantasy IX universe as "dummy" footsoldiers. They are mainly employed by Queen Brahne in her attempt to conquer Mist Continent. The other Black Mages in the game are somewhat larger than Vivi and wear purple jackets rather than blue. Vivi desperately wishes to find out if he was simply created in a machine as just another soldier, and sets out with Zidane to see if this is true or not. The truth is revealed to him by Kuja and the Black Mages in the Black Mage Village later on in his adventures. Vivi learns that the Black Mages "stop" after approximately one year, somewhat equivalent to death in humans. However, a conversation with the Black Mage leader suggests that Vivi was the black mage prototype, which may be why he has lived to be 9 years old. Though it is not explained how, Vivi manages to have a group of children in the time following Kuja's defeat.

Redesigned by Tetsuya Nomura, Vivi makes an appearance in the Disney/Square-Enix crossover Kingdom Hearts II. However, the Vivi in Kingdom Hearts II does not seem to show any of the magical abilities of his FFIX counterpart, nor is referred to as a Black Mage. Vivi is apparently a member of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee led by Seifer Almasy, though it is said that he is not so much a member as someone who ends up doing Seifer's biddings due to his meekness. The virtual simulation of Vivi's was briefly used on occasion by several Nobodies in order to do battle with Roxas.^[26] Vivi is voiced by Melissa Disney in the English version and by Ikue Otani in the Japanese version. He is also a notable playable character in Itadaki Street Special.

[edit] Adelbert Steiner

Known as the "dorky knight of Alexandria", Adelbert Steiner (アデルバート・スタイナー, Aderubāto Sutainā^?) is the Captain of the Knights of Pluto, and was also the First Knight of Pluto^{[citation needed]}, the only male troops in Alexandria's military force. Steiner usually has a massive frown to go with a grouchy disposition. Steiner is unusual amongst Final Fantasy characters, in that while the game allows the player to customise his name, the name the player chooses becomes his surname instead of his first name. The preset name is "Captain Adelbert..." followed by whatever name the player chooses. For instance, if the player entered the name "Stephen," the character would be called "Captain Adelbert Stephen." This also makes him one of the only Final Fantasy Characters to be called by both the first and last name given in the game's manual during actual gameplay.

Steiner meets Zidane and the Tantalus group during their performance of a popular play, "I Want To Be Your Canary." He follows the Tantalus group after their "kidnapping" of Princess Garnet because of his oath to protect the Princess from danger. He joins forces with Zidane, whom he hates because he's a thief, but is willing to put up with just about anything to ensure Princess Garnet's safety. When the party learns of the Queen's role in the attacks on Burmecia, Steiner finds himself torn up inside at the fact that such horrible deeds could be committed by the person he's dedicated his life to defending.

Despite his disdain for most of the members of the group, Steiner has a humble respect for Vivi Orunitia, admiring his magical abilities and referring to him as "Master Vivi". When both Steiner and Vivi are in the party, Steiner has access to the Magic Sword abilities, which allow Vivi to charge Steiner's sword with the power of any of his black magic abilities, dividing the MP cost between them.

Steiner's love interest is his ex-rival, General Beatrix, which occurs after the result of Eiko's failed love letter to Zidane, presented in a Comedy of errors fashion.

[edit] Freya Crescent

Freya Crescent (フライヤ・クレセント, Furaiya Kuresento^?, IPA: [ˈfraɪə ˈkrɛsnt]) is Burmecian, a race of anthropomorphic rats {according to many indications in the game, and by Squaresoft} who mainly live in two cities, Burmecia and Cleyra.

Freya's job (or class) is Dragon Knight. Unlike the Dragon Knights of other Final Fantasy games, Freya possesses a set of special skills in addition to her job's traditional ability — a common theme in Final Fantasy IX. These skills are known as "Dragon" skills and offer a range of attack, healing, and status-changing effects. Her ability "Reis' Wind" is a reference to a character in Final Fantasy Tactics.

Freya is originally from Burmecia, but when we meet her in the game, she has not been home for years; various points in the story say she was gone for three years, while others say it was five, leading to much confusion. When her lover, Sir Iron-Tail Fratley, left on a mission but never returned, she left home to find out what became of him, promising never to return until she found the truth. She moved to Lindblum and lived next to the Tantalus hideout for an unknown amount of time — Zidane, whom she met during this period, mentions this fact when the player encounters her in Lindblum, but does not exactly specify the timeframe. After this period in Lindblum, she headed out to wander the world. Freya returns to Lindblum to compete in the "Festival of the Hunt" around the same time that Zidane and Tantalus return from their mission to kidnap Princess Garnet.

Freya is reunited with Sir Fratley during Alexandria's attack on Cleyra. Her joy is cut short when he reveals that he has lost his memory and does not remember her at all. Freya is shattered, but when Fratley leaves again, she says nothing. During her search, she prepared herself for the worst; knowing that he's alive was relief enough, even if he had no memory of her. Freya subsequently takes on a secondary role in the story, and nothing more of significance happens to her.

During the ending scenes of the game, we see Freya reunited with Sir Fratley, having returned to Burmecia to help with the reconstruction. Sir Fratley has not yet regained (and may never regain — this is not clear) his lost memories, and finds himself falling in love all over again with the woman he left behind many years ago. Like much of the rest of the game's ending, however, there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding Freya and Fratley's reunion. The very last line of their scene together is Freya silently expressing her own doubts about their relationship's renewal.

[edit] Quina Quen

Quina Quen's (クイナ・クゥエン, Keena Kuen^?) actual gender is debatable and the character is consistently referred throughout the game as 's/he' or 'him', and is always referred to as 'ella' (she) in the game's Spanish release. It is a Qu whose master, Quale, wants it to travel the world so that it will learn that there's more to life than food. Like the rest of the Qu Tribe, Quina constantly speaks in broken English. Quina's unique ability is called Blue Magic (Blu Magic in the battle menu) which allows it to use enemy abilities acquired in battle by using the Eat command on certain enemies. It has a philosophy that in the universe, there are only two things, "things you can eat and things you no can eat." "Quina Quen" is a play on Japanese words, as Quina means 'eat', but Quen means 'cannot eat'. Its favorite food is frogs. Quina is separated from the rest of the party by massive explosions at several points in the game and becomes somewhat of a running joke. The Qu tribe's unusual method of speaking is in fact a form of Pidgin English.

The Qu tribe is first revealed in the Alexandria castle kitchen, as a Qu is telling the cooks what to do, while Adelbert Steiner (who is currently being controlled by the player at this point) is trying to find Princess Garnet. The status of this character and Quina as one and the same is referred to within dialogue, as Quina refers to its recent visit to Alexandria during the conversation resulting in its joining the party.

During Disc 1 of the game, Quina is an optional character. He/she joins the party in the first disc only if the player travels to Qu's Marsh (Quina's and Quale's home) near the Lindblum Dragon's Gate. If you do not recruit Quina then, he/she can be recruited in the same place during Disc 2, at which point having Quina join your party is a mandatory requirement of finding a way to get to the Outer Continent, and making progress through the game.

Quina's motive for joining the party is not out of a desire to save the world, but rather as an opportunity to taste different foods from all around Gaia. As a result he/she does not hold a particularly high interest in the dramatic events that unfold during the course of the story (unless food is involved somehow), but nonetheless fights hard alongside Zidane and the rest of the party.

Quina mainly serves as the comic relief of the game, his/her humorous perception of the events that occur providing some light relief. Quina has a tendency to act clumsily, rudely, and irrationally, which tends to land him/her in a lot of trouble. In Conde Petie, Quina faces several cultural rifts with the villagers. Before they can leave for the Iifa tree, Quina and Vivi have the option of undergoing the ceremony of marriage, as Dagger and Zidane did.

Later in the game, Zidane, Vivi and Quina can visit Quan's dwelling (near Treno, where Vivi grew up), and Quina will see a whole room of nonexistent food. Moving outside, the three of them (and the newly-arrived Quale) meet with Quan's ghost. Quan commends both Vivi and Quina for their vivid, valuable imaginations and reprimands Quale for seeing the world too literally. It is at this point that Quina fully understands what its gotten out of traveling with Zidane and decides that s/he wants to travel the world in taste of even more "yummy-yummies." Quinna's role in the rest of the game is limited to a secondary role and comic relief.

[edit] Eiko Carol

Eiko Carol (エーコ・キャルオル, Ēko Kyaruoru^?) is one of the playable characters that joins the party in the second disc of the game. She is the only person who appears in the game with a Summoner's Horn. While Eiko and Garnet both share White Magic and Summoner abilities, Eiko uses primarily white magic with her summoner powers taking a secondary role, indicated by the order of said skills on the battle menu. Her summon abilities are usually holy-based summons or summons that add supporting effects. Some examples are Phoenix, which randomly revives the player in battle, and Madeen, which causes light damage.

Eiko is one of the two last surviving Summoners of Madain Sari (the other being Garnet). Eiko's family was not in Madain Sari when it was destroyed by Garland. They returned to the ruins of the village four years later, when Eiko was very young. Eiko's parents died early, leaving her grandfather to raise her. However, he passed away as well when she was five. Fortunately for Eiko, the moogles in the area decided to take care of her. She became very mature for her age and helped them as well, stealing food from the nearby village of Conde Petie for them when it was needed. Zidane and the rest of the party found her caught in a tree after she fled the scene of one of her thefts. After they got her down, she decided to show them Madain Sari and then to join the party, despite the fact that her grandfather had told her not to leave until she was sixteen. Eiko developes a huge crush on Zidane, and considers Garnet to be her rival for his affections.

Eiko has a guardian female moogle who goes by the name of Mog. During an extraction of Eiko's eidolons (the same process Thorn and Zorn used on Garnet/Dagger in Alexandria) Mog goes into a trance to protect Eiko and transforms into Madeen. After the battle, she gives Eiko the ribbon she wore so that Eiko can summon her at will.

After defeating Kuja, one of the scenes in the game shows Eiko referring to Cid and Hilda as her parents. Although the Regent had never established an adoption, his wife, Hilda, acknowledges it.

[edit] Amarant Coral

Amarant Coral is the last character to join the party. His name in the Japanese version of the game is Salamander Coral (サラマンダー・コーラル, Saramandā Kōraru^?), a possible reference to the mythological fire creature Salamander as he is known as "The Flaming Amarant" ("The Flaming Salamander").^[27] In the game Amarant has also been called "Red"^[28] and in his introductory battle he's identified as "Scarlet Hair". He fights using various gloves or knuckles, much like the monk character class in other Final Fantasy games, but also possesses the "Throw" command, normally associated with the ninja class. His mind is filled with rules of fighting, the biggest of them being "The Victorious Live, and the Defeated Die". Amarant's combative nature and arrogant attitude often leads to conflict, but eventually his personality begins to change under Zidane's influence.^[29]

Amarant lives by a harsh code often compared to bushido, where "only the strong survive". Very little is revealed regarding Amarant's extended past; even he can only recall that his first real memory "is of the face of a guy I had to fight. I only found meaning in life through combat."^[30]The warrior he wanted to challenge was Zidane but he never got the chance to face him until he met him in Madain Sari, while tracking down Garnet alongside a bounty hunter named Lani, who seems to have a crush on him at the end of the game. Amarant loses the battle and wishes to die like the honorable fighter he is, but Zidane refuses.

Amarant's reputation as a fighter made him feared in Treno, so King, the owner of one of Treno's waterfront mansions and auction house, hired Amarant as a security guard. When the thief Zidane raids the mansion, he frames Amarant, who becomes a wanted man with a considerable bounty on his head. Afterwards, Amarant works as a mercenary for hire. He's summoned by Queen Brahne to retrieve Princess Garnet's pendant and assassinate Vivi, and he takes the job after learning that Zidane is traveling with the two. Another bounty hunter, Lani, arrives first and holds Eiko hostage, demanding that the princess relinquish the pendant. Compelled by a sense of fairness,^[31] Amarant drops in on the pair and saves Eiko. He challenges Lani, who gives up the pendant and retreats. He then turns to duel with Zidane. After losing the fight, Amarant returns the pendant and demands that Zidane deliver the finishing blow. Zidane refuses, and, confused by the thief's mercy,^[32] Amarant decides to follow Zidane in order to understand his power.^[33]

While with the party, Amarant remains an aloof and dismissive character. His "lone wolf" persona culminates during the raid on Ipsen's Castle, where Amarant seeks to prove that working alone "beats working in a team any day,"^[34] and sets off in search of a set of mirrors alone. However, after finding the mirrors Amarant falls and nearly dies; he is quickly saved by Zidane, who had re-entered the castle having already made it out with the party and noticed that Amarant hadn't. Amarant is again confused by Zidane's willingness to help him,^[35] and his personality gradually begins to change under Zidane's influence.^[29] On Terra, Amarant concludes that "Blind pursuit of power is a meaningless vice."^[36]

[edit] Other major characters

[edit] Kuja

Kuja (クジャ, Kuja^?) is the antagonist of Final Fantasy IX. A genome obsessed with power and its application, he is ambitious, cruel, narcissistic and ruthless. Well versed in the arts, Kuja has a great fondness for classical works such as Lord Avon's play "I Want To Be Your Canary". Kuja emulates the role of a traditional villian, including such elements as monologuing even when alone.

Garland's plan for increasing the cycle of souls (causing more frequent death) on Gaia required a so-called "Angel of Death" to descend on Gaia and incite warfare. Kuja, a superior Genome, was given a soul with the intention of fulfilling this role. However, Kuja's willful nature caused him to develope his own agenda that conflicted with Garland's plan. Kuja planned to follow Garland's design, until the moment was right to depose Garland and assume rulership himself. To resolve this Garland created Zidane Tribal, a second "Angel of Death" superior to Kuja, who could replace Kuja when he matured. Garland also placed a limit on Kuja's lifespan that coincided with a time when Zidane would be mature. Kuja became jealous of Zidane's greater power and kidnapped him when he was four years old. Kuja left him abandoned in Lindblum, then returned to fulfill his station as Gaia's "Angel of Death."

It was in Queen Brahne's greed that Kuja found the tool to spread world-wide warfare. Kuja used Mist (stagnant souls from the Iifa Tree) to create an army of Black Mages and Black Waltzs. Serving as an arms dealer, Kuja sold his mindless soldiers to Queen Brahne to support her campaign against the neighboring kingdoms, a campaign which was also born of Kuja's influence. It was also in Queen Brahne's daughter, Princess Garnet, that Kuja found the tool necessary to one day usurp Garland: Eidolons. Kuja influenced Queen Brahne to extract Garnet's Eidolons so that she could summon them herself. As he had anticipated, Queen Brahne betrayed Kuja after she had successfully conquered Mist Continent, and attempted to defeat him by summoning Bahamut. Prepared, Kuja summoned the Invincible to seize control of Bahamut, and used him to kill Queen Brahne and to destroy her army. Kuja then used Bahamut to attack Alexandria in the hopes of baiting out the legendary Eidolon Alexander, whom he had hoped to seize for himself to use against Garland. However, before Kuja could use the invincible to enslave Alexander, Garland took control of the Invincible, released Bahamut, and used the ship to destroy Alexander. Alexandria was nearly destroyed with collateral damage from this strike.

Retreating to his secret stronghold, the Desert Palace, Kuja was closely pursued by Zidane and his allies. Kuja used this opportunity to kidnap Zidane and his allies. Threatening them with death, Kuja blackmailed Zidane into retrieving the Gulug Stone from Oeilvert. After retrieving the Gulug stone from Zidane the party managed to escape and pursue Kuja, but not before he captured Eiko Carol. Kuja hoped to extract a powerful Eidolon from Eiko so as to be able to continue his plan of usurping Garland. Before he could complete the extraction, Eiko's guardian Moogle, Mog, entered Trance and revealed her true form as the Eidolon Maduin. No longer being able to obtain any Eidolons and realizing that even a weak Moogle could use trance to reach higher levels of power, Kuja resolved to achieve Trance himself so that he may still attain the power to defeat Garland. Kuja escaped being captured and closely followed Zidane and his allies to Terra. By observing them, Kuja determined that the power of Trance could be induced by an eruption of intense emotion within a soul. To strengthen this, Kuja absorbed all of the souls collected within the invincible, particularly that of Queen Brahne. Kuja then attacked Zidane and his allies. His defeat at the hands of Zidane fueled his emotional eruption and he attained Trance.

Showing his newfound powers with a single spell (Ultima, to be exact), he succeeded in bringing Zidane's entire party to its knees. Gloating over the power at his disposal, he then cast Garland from the top of a cliff. This sense of fulfilment was blighted when the disembodied voice of Garland informed Kuja of the deliberate time limit on his life. Kuja determined that he would not allow Terra to exist without him, and subseqently all of existence as well. In a fit of rage, he used his powers to destroy Terra.

On returning to Gaia, Kuja started a chain reaction within the Iifa Tree that would lead to the complete assimilation of Gaia by Terra; a reaction, according to Garland, that was part of his plan all along. He then used his power to create Memoria, which granted him passage to the Crystal World. He did this because the source of the universe and all of life itself, the Original Crystal, lay there. By destroying the Crystal the universe would return to nothingness. However, just before Kuja could execute his plans, Zidane and his allies stood against him. Even with all the power Kuja had acquired he could not withstand Zidane and his team's combined strength. On the verge of defeat, he unleashed Ultima to destroy the Original Crystal, stirring Necron to attempt to undo all of existence.

After Zidane defeated Necron, Kuja finally realized that the purpose of life was to help rather than destroy. So with the remainder of his magic he helped Zidane's party escape from Memoria as it exploded after Necron's demise. He did so by teleporting them out of danger as the Iifa Tree began to collapse and telepathically leading rescuers to their location. Despite this, Zidane refused to leave his brother alone to die, and so went back inside to find Kuja. Zidane, even after everything Kuja had done, sat with his brother and comforted him. Zidane knew that no matter how sinister and malicious his brother had become, Zidane may have done the same thing if circumstances were different. As Kuja’s life slowly came to an end, he spent his last few moments expressing regret to Zidane for not realizing the true purpose of life sooner. Mikoto, the prototypical third "Angel of Death" created by Garland, silently informed Kuja that though the actions he'd taken were wrong, he'd given all of the Genomes one thing: Hope.

[edit] Garland

Garland (ガーランド, Gārando^?) was made leader of Terra and the king of Castle Pandemonium when the original inhabitants of Terra went into their 'Deep Sleep'. He is responsible for creating the Genomes, including Kuja. However, Kuja was limited in power and lifespan, so Garland created Zidane Tribal, and Mikoto. Responsible for the destruction of Madain Sari, using the red globe that flashes a mysterious "eye" below the Invincible battleship to attack.

Garland was defeated at Pandemonium by Zidane and his party, only to be confronted by Kuja. Garland was too weak to fight back against the powerful Genome and Kuja threw Garland to his death. However Garland's spirit lived on and assisted the party during their journey through Memoria.

Final Fantasy I also featured a character named Garland, only he was a knight instead of a wizard and was the villain of the game instead of a misguided man trying to save his world at the expense of others.

[edit] Necron

Necron (Eternal Darkness in the Japanese version) is the game's final boss. A multi-dimensional being who is believed to have been manifested by Garland as the Iifa Tree, as part of his goal to replace Gaia's souls with those from Terra^{[citation needed]}. However, after overhearing Trance Kuja's intent, Necron decided to return all existence to a place called the "zero world" because he believed that all life desired destruction based on Kuja's actions to try and destroy the Crystal^{[citation needed]}. He is ultimately defeated by Zidane and company.

[edit] Tantalus

Baku, Blank, Cinna, Marcus, Ruby, and the Nero Brothers are Zidane's friends and fellow members of Tantalus. They pose as actors to steal various items. Although Ruby is a member, she prefers to overlook the group's less-than-honorable dealings as long she gets a chance to pursue her dream of being an actress. Blank, Cinna and Marcus join the party intermittently throughout Disc 1, making them technically player characters, but they do not have the extensive character development, skillsets and membership duration of the previous eight.

The petrification of Blank while escaping the Evil Forest early in the game compels Marcus to look for a potion called SuperSoft to undo the petrification. The duo go back to Alexandria Castle to assist Zidane in escaping from the clutches of Zorn and Thorn.

After the abduction of Princess Garnet from Alexandria, Ruby is accidentally left inside the town, where she can be found for the remainder of the game. Ruby decides to open up a miniature theater in one of the back alleys of Alexandria. Sometimes when speaking with Moogles, Zidane will hear that Ruby has sent him a letter. One notable letter requests actors for her theater, which Zidane helps by introducing the idea to the star Lowell in Lindblum, who rushes off to Alexandria at once (although when he gets there, he says the theater is much too small for a man of his talents). Ruby speaks in a southern accent in the American version of the game, and is referred to by Garnet as the "lady with the strange accent." It also appears that Ruby and Blank have feelings for one another, although tend to show it in a rather aggressive way.

The three Nero triplets, unique in appearance with dog-like heads and twin claws on each arm for hands, appear as comic relief, and often end their sentences with an exclamation mark. Unlike Zenero and Benero, Genero is not actually a member of Tantalus, instead re-uniting with his brothers in Alexandria in Disk 3 after returning from his 'training'. In Final Fantasy X-2, an Al Bhed Zenero appears on a Commsphere, being interviewed by Shelinda, but then the Commsphere cuts off. Cinna appears as comic relief as well, known for not willing to part with his favorite hammer.

Baku is the leader of the whole Tantalus troupe, and acts as a cruel King in the play, "I Want to Be Your Canary". He is the one who adopts a young Zidane after the genome first finds himself on a jetty at the Lindblum Grand Harbor without much knowledge of his origins. Often ends his conversations with a loud guffaw. His equally powerful sneeze unfortunately occurs at the most inopportune of times, most notably at the meeting between Captain Steiner and General Beatrix. Baku also has a tendecy to trip and fall flat on his face in combat, usually while sparring with his band. Baku is a strict leader, beating members who disobey him. When Cinna stayed at South Gate to feast on bundt cake instead of returning to Lindblum to update the rest of the band on the search for a cure for Blank as Baku ordered, Baku beat him with his "Super Tornado Tantalus Punch" for disobeying. Zidane also relates how Baku beat him for leaving the band to search for his birthplace.

[edit] Zorn and Thorn

Queen Brahne's court jesters perform all the dirty work for her and have the odd habit of speaking in constant antimetabole, with Zorn speaking the words in the proper order, and Thorn reversing them {this pattern, however, never occurs in the original Japanese release}. They also have the unique ability to extract Eidolons from summoners (although Eiko's White Magic "Jewel", used to extract Ore and other stones from monsters, is somewhat similar in nature), taking Garnet's Eidolons for Brahne to use in her conquests. The two later aligned themselves with Kuja after they lost face with Brahne. They kidnapped Eiko so Kuja can have access to her Eidolons. However, the two were knocked down by Eiko and her newly discovered Eidolon Madeen. However, Kuja revealed that Zorn & Thorn are actually two halves of a double headed monster named MeltiGemini, which Kuja uses to cover his escape as Zidane and company are forced to defeat the fused jesters once and for all.

It can easily be speculated that Zorn and Thorn helped mastermind the creation of the Black Waltzes, as they are seen in every situation involving them as overseers.

[edit] General Beatrix

Beatrix is a general as well as the head of the army of Alexandria, located in the fictional world of Gaia. Beatrix is famous for her sword, Save the Queen, and for her exagerratedly powerful ability, Seiken. Her Seiken abilities act as references to other Final Fantasy games, particlularly Climhazzard, which is similar to one of Cloud Strife's Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy VII. Meanwhile Stock Break and Shock are similar to Holy Knight abilities in Final Fantasy Tactics, while her other ability, Thunder Sword may also be a reference since it appears to be similar with Lightning Stab, another Holy Knight ability.

Little is known about Beatrix's past, only that she grew up in a middle class family in the city of Treno. Visits to Alexandria led to her to like the city. After her 16th birthday, she decided to move to Alexandria and join the all-female Alexandrian army.^{[citation needed]} This led to years of battle and intense training allowing her to become a captain and, eventually, general, heading the Alexandrian Army. During this, she got acquainted with the head of the Knights of Pluto, Captain Adelbert Steiner.^{[citation needed]}

Beatrix loyally served Queen Brahne as she waged war against the neighboring Kingdoms. It is not made clear whether Beatrix questioned the Queen or not until immediately after the attack on Cleyra. Beatrix was finally convinced to defy the Queen during Zidane and company's rescue of Princess Garnet in Alexandria. She, along with Freya and Steiner, remained behind to allow the party to escape. What happened to the three remains a mystery until late in the game.

After the Queen's death, Beatrix was again seen in Alexandria, this time serving under the newly coronated Garnet. Around this time, there was a complex miscommunication about a love letter made by Eiko to Zidane, presented in a comedy of errors style, which ultimately results in a romance between Steiner and Beatrix.

During Kuja's attack on Alexandria, she, along with Steiner, defended the city. She, however, went missing due to the chaos caused by the Eidolons, Bahamut and Alexander. Once again, the focus of the plot does not reveal the precise details of what happened to her. It is later revealed that she had survived, and remained in Alexandria to help rebuild the city.

General Beatrix later appears captaining the Red Rose as it flew with the airships of Lindblum in order to protect the Invincible as it entered Memoria. Following Necron's defeat, Beatrix appears to renounce her position as a knight and head of the Alexandrian army, until she is later confronted by Steiner, who begs her to stay so that they may "protect the queen together". She is shown in the last sequence of the game, holding the Save the Queen high in the air with Steiner.

In an early issue of Genshiken, Ohno attends an anime convention cosplaying as Beatrix.

[edit] Queen Brahne

Brahne (ブラネ, Burane^?) is the morbidly obese Queen of Alexandria and adoptive mother of Garnet/Dagger. As Princess Garnet testifies several times throughout the game's story, Queen Brahne was formerly a kind and well-liked ruler of the kingdom of Alexandria. Around the Princess's 15th birthday, however, the King passed on and a strange man known as Kuja began to show his face around the royal palace. Over the passing of the next year, the Princess begins to notice changes in her mother's behaviors. In actuality, Kuja had convinced Brahne to begin to create an army of Black Mages in order to wage war on the kingdoms of the Mist Continent, Lindblum, Burmecia, and Cleyra. Kuja told Brahne of the summoning powers that her adopted daughter possessed, which only acted to fuel her greed. The power to summon would surely bring the other kingdoms down to kneel before her.

Because of this revelation, Brahne orders Zorn and Thorn to extract the eidolons from Princess Garnet, then execute her for treason against Alexandria. The twins are able to successfully extract all the eidolons from the Princess, but are found by Zidane and the others and quickly run away. Intercepted by the Queen's most worthy knight Beatrix, the party explains the Queen's orders to execute the Princess. At this time, it dawns on Beatrix that it was the greed of Queen Brahne that utilized the Dark Matter to summon Odin upon Cleyra, killing hundreds of Cleyrans. Beatrix then vows to help bring the Queen around to her senses, in essence joining Zidane in his struggles against the Alexandrian military.

Later on at the Iifa Tree, Brahne summons Bahamut in the attempt to kill Kuja, but Garland's airship the Invincible appears and redirects the eidolon's attack on Brahne's armada, killing countless soldiers and forcing Brahne to escape in a hasty retreat. Queen Brahne, in the arms of her adopted daughter on a nearby beach, began to realize how foolish she had been under Kuja's control, and asked for forgiveness from her daughter. She died seconds later in Garnet's arms, and stirred anger within the entire party against Kuja for manipulating the kingdoms like he had.

Throughout the game, Kuja refers to Queen Brahne as the "Elephant Lady," an evident sign that he does not value her more than a pawn in his scheme to cause chaos between the kingdoms. Brahne is able to summon three different Eidolons at different times throughout the game: Odin was summoned from the Dark Matter to destroy the kingdom of Cleyra; Atomos was summoned to destroy Lindblum, although it only managed to critically injure the castle, not destroy it; and Bahamut was summoned from a Garnet at the Iifa Tree in order to kill Kuja. All of these eidolons originally belonged to Princess Garnet, but were forcefully extracted by Zorn and Thorn under the Queen's orders.

[edit] Regent Cid Fabool IX

Main article: Cid (Final Fantasy)

Cid Fabool (シド・ファブール9世, Shido Fabūru Kyūsei^?) is the present ruler of Lindblum. He was turned into an oglop by his wife, Hilda, because of his womanizing. Cid is a technology expert who is fond of creating new airships. He was best friends with Dagger's father and ordered Tantalus to kidnap Dagger because he was concerned for her safety, based on the erratic and abnormal tendencies of her mother as of late.

After Lindblum is destroyed, Zidane and his party attempt to turn him back into a human, but fail, and instead turn him into a frog. His restoration to human form was possible only after liberating the then imprisoned Lady Hilda from Mount Gulug, after it is realized only the one who casts the spell can be the one to reverse it.

At the end of the game, it seems that Cid and Hilda have adopted Eiko, because she calls them "father" and "mother".

[edit] Minor characters

[edit] Artemicion

A purple and black Moogle that is in charge of the Mognet mail delivery syndicate. He relies on Zidane and his friends to deliver mail after he uses Mognet Central's supply of Superslick to oil his fur, depleting it and causing the machinery to break down.

[edit] Stiltzkin

World-travelling Moogle who is dressed in tiger-striped clothing. On occasion appears throughout the game at various locations and asks Zidane and company to provide him with monetary backing to continue his journey. In return he bestows sometimes rare and useful items. He sends letters to other moogles to fill them in on recent events in the world.

[edit] Puck

Runaway prince of Burmecia. Puck prefers to keep a low profile, diguised as a meddling street urchin. Vivi becomes his friend (Although he tends to use the term "slave" early in the game) when they meet in Alexandria while trying to sneak into the play, "I Want to be Your Canary", which is where the main characters in the game meet. Later in the game, he discovers the amnesiac Sir Fratley and brings him to Cleyra, where the two of them help defend their people. He escapes with Fratley before Cleyra is destroyed and before his father can talk to him, however. Puck is also based on Huckleberry Finn and Puck from Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream"^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Sir Fratley

Freya's long-lost love. As a dragon knight, he went out on a journey to improve his combat skills and never returned. He appears later in Cleyra with no memory of his past, or the woman he left behind. In the end, he ends up finding Freya and falling in love with her all over again, though he never remembers their past.

[edit] Doctor Tot

Scholar from Alexandria who moved to Treno once Queen Brahne began acting strangely. He was Garnet's tutor when she was a little girl. The group often consults him on important matters because of his extensive knowledge of just about everything. He is the one who helps Eiko write a love letter to Zidane that eventually gets misplaced.

[edit] Lady Hilda

Cid's wife who turned him into an oglop for his womanizing. After transforming him, she escaped Lindblum on Cid's latest airship, which he named the "Hilda Garde." She is however captured by Kuja, who uses her airship for his own purposes and who ends up revealing his destructive plans for Gaia to her.

[edit] Lani

Bounty hunter that Queen Brahne hires to retrieve the Pendant worn by Princess Garnet and to kill the black mage travelling with her. She works initially with Amarant, whom she calls "Red", but later finds herself at odds with him when Amarant disapproves of her "unfair" methods of reaching her objective. Eventually she sees the error in her ways and can be found living in Madain Sari with Eiko's moogles by the end of the game. She wields a large bladed axe-like weapon and uses Black Magic. She also appeared in Lindblum, where she stayed at the Inn (leaving with several complaints to the owner) and participated in the Festival of the Hunt (as noted in the scorekeeping window at the top of the screen during the event).

[edit] Soulcage

The source of the mist which plagues Gaia, Soulcage oversees the physical manifestation of the Iifa Tree and its functions, utilizing the by-product of mist to incense the will to fight in civilization. An undead being who has existed for nearly a thousand years, his visage is a cruel mockery of a tree. Strangely, he "cannot lie," leading to some revelations in the plot. Being "undead", he is easily defeated with a "Life" spell, a Phoenix Down or an Elixir.

[edit] Mikoto

A female genome whom the heroes rescued from Terra and brought back to Gaia. By the end of the game, she becomes the interest of the Black Mage Village. Aside from Kuja and Zidane, she is the only other Genome imbued with a soul by Garland and is their sister of sorts. In the game it is said she was to be a third 'Angel of Death' if both Kuja and Zidane were to die before completing their tasks. At the end of the game, she tells Kuja that his actions were wrong but he would be remembered by the Genomes for giving them something important: hope.

[edit] The Black Mages

A hidden colony of Black Mages created by Kuja and living in a forest on the Outer Continent. Unlike the other, golem-like mages seen previously throughout the game, these Black Mages have gained sentient thought, heavily resembling Vivi in their uncertainty about the world. They are afraid of humans initially, believing that all humans want to use them for war. However, despite their rather traumatic origins, the Mages maintain a child-like wonder and optimism about the world and seek to discover the wonders of life through several projects, such as the raising of their town Chocobo egg which later hatches into a Chocobo they name Bobby Corwen. Later in the game, the colony comes to realize that their lives are limited (estimated to be roughly one year), and decide to help Kuja in exchange for an extension on their lives. Of course Kuja was lying, and Zidane, Vivi, and the rest of the party help the village to realize that what is important is how a person lives his or her life, not how long his or her life is. Throughout the game, Vivi takes on a big brother role to the Black Mages in the hidden village, as he has seen much more of the world than they, and he has the power to help Zidane stand up to Kuja. They do not identify each other by name, but rather by the number of their manufacture. Their leader is No. 288 (odd, considering this would make him the youngest Mage in the village).

[edit] Bobby Corwen

Bobby Corwen is the name of a chocobo found in the Black Mage Village. Bobby is originally shown as an egg being cared for by two Black Mages, as one of the signs that the Black Mages in the village are capable of emotion and independent thought. He is kept in a small hut in the northeast corner of the village. The name Bobby Corwen is a play on words and reference to Final Fantasy V, the first two letters of each word making Boco, the name of Bartz's Chocobo in the fifth installment. (Eiko jokes why the Black Mages always call Bobby Corwen by his full name.) Bobby Corwen grows an attachment to one of the Genomes when they come to live in the Black Mage Village.

[edit] The Genomes

A race of soulless beings on Terra, created by Garland to be the vessels for the sleeping souls of Terra after Gaia was assimilated. Kuja, Zidane, and Mikoto are technically Genomes, but Garland gave them souls, thus making them mortal. This one difference generates a wide gap between them and their emotionless brethren, one that Mikoto comes to find troubling as she involves herself with Zidane for a short period of time. When Kuja enters Trance and goes about destroying Terra, Zidane and the others selflessly risk their lives to transport the Genomes to Gaia, where they begin new lives with the hidden Black Mages. Mikoto stays with the Genomes as a kind of overseer to their new lives, although she is still unsure about how right Zidane was to take them from Terra to Gaia.

[edit] References

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