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This page deals with the characters from Final Fantasy IX.
Heroes[]
Zidane Tribal[]
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Virtue: You don't need a reason to help people. |
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The Hero of the game. A member of the Tantalus Theater Group, a group of entertainers-thieves. Also a bit of a playboy. At the beginning of the game, they were sent to Alexandria by Lindblum's Regent Cid Fabul IX on a mission to kidnap the princess, only to get entangled in the coming war. Zidane is aware of the fact that he's an orphan, and only remembers one thing about his past: a blue light. He's always wanted to find out where he came from, though it's not his all-consuming life goal. In contrast to his previous Final Fantasy heroes, he's quite carefree and cheerful, with very little angst or existential doubt.
- Abel to Kuja's Cain
- The Ace
- Animal Motifs: Monkeys Justified. Since it's a Lions and Tigers and Humans, Oh My! universe, you wouldn't know he wasn't a monkey person initially.
- Anti-Anti-Christ: Created for the sole reason to destroy all life, but was left as an infant on the very same world that he was meant to destroy. Upon learning this horrible truth from his creator, as well as having his "soul" ripped out of him, becomes a massive Heroic BSOD for our hero. Cue the Power of Friendship.
- Artificial Human
- BFS: His thief sword, particularly the Ultima Weapon, get quite big.
- Big Brother Mentor: To Vivi. Also Eiko to a lesser extent.
- Bishonen: He may look a bit young, but he's a Final Fantasy hero, after all.
- Boring but Practical: His general moveset in comparison to other party members but his role in high level play takes this to another level with him only existing to use steal at the start and then using thievery and only thievery for the guaranteed 9999 damage later on. This is to the point that having TRANCE is a hinderance for him.
- Break the Cutie: The end of Disk 3.
- Cannot Spit It Out: His true feelings, that is. By the time he's actually fallen for Garnet, he can't bring himself to tell her.
- Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Averted hard: he constantly flirts with Garnet throughout the game (even touching her butt in disc one seemingly on purpose). He backs off slightly after Disk 2, when he realizes he loves her.
- Chivalrous Pervert: His overworld sprites even has him turning his head in the direction of passing females!
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Somewhat deconstructed: he's so used to helping other people with their problems that he doesn't know how to accept help with his own, which is why after his Heroic BSOD, he brushes off his allies and tries to continue on alone.
- Cultured Warrior: Because he's not just a warrior, and no, he's not just a warrior and a thief either. He's a warrior, he's a thief, and he's quite a good actor! And possibly a musician as well, considering how much he knows about music.
- Dogged Nice Guy
- Doom Magnet: To the point that the Console RPG Cliche List named these tropes after him. Surprisingly, it all happens for plot reasons (at least in theory), and it's never commented by anyone in the game.
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Zidane's Curse: An unlucky condition in which every location in the game will coincidentally wind up being destroyed just after the hero arrives. |
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- Drowning My Sorrows: At the beginning of Disc 3. Well, it certainly looks like it.
- Dual-Wielding/Double Weapon: The latter of which his Infinity+1 Sword is classified under.
- The Dulcinea Effect:
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"Yeah. She's cute, and she's in trouble. What do I need to think about?" |
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- Establishing Character Moment: It doesn't happen until about an hour or two into the game, but one memorable moment (which, incidentally, took place during the first instance of Zidane's leitmotif playing in the BGM) firmly establishes that Zidane isn't just a Loveable Rogue, he's also something else as well...
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"Ooo, soft..." |
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- Expy: Cheerful personality? Monkey's tail? The Messiah? Was sent from another planet to destroy this one as a child, but never went through with it? Sometimes equips a Double Weapon that's really a bladed staff? Able to access a pretty rare and powerful transformation? Sounds similar to the protagonist of a certain series.
- Gentleman Thief
- Grim Reaper: This is what he's supposed to be, in relation to above.
- Handsome Lech: Though YMMV on how good looking Zidane is due to the art style of the game, he's this trope in-universe.
- Heroic BSOD: Gets struck with one at a critical point in the game.
- Just a Kid: Rather harshly dismisses Eiko and Vivi as this not listening to them when he was going through depression.
- Kidanova: Zidane being sixteen years old, his sex drive isn't out of place at all, but people not used to the Super-Deformed art style thought he was much younger.
- Kid Hero: Being sixteen years old, he's one of the youngest named heroes in Final Fantasy.
- Lightning Bruiser: Has the highest Agility among all the characters, and has the second highest Strength. Contrast with the Fragile Speedster status of Thieves in other Final Fantasy installments.
- Lovable Rogue
- The Messiah: "Do I need a reason to help people?" and variations thereof.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: He and Vivi have blue while Eiko has a good amount of pink.
- Shout-Out: His reaction to Eiko using an Eidolon for the first time is a shout out to Terra's party members reacting to her ability to use magic when they see it also for the first time in a previous game.
- Stepford Smiler: He's actually very insecure and lonely, having no memories of his past and no real family. The reason he's so friendly and outgoing is to conceal the fact.
- Trapped in Another World: And has been his entire life, leading to... Tomato in the Mirror.
- Weapon Twirling: When equipped with the double bladed spear... sword... things.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Despite being only 16 and younger than the majority of Final Fantasy heroes, he's very mature and intelligent. As well, while some of the other heroes are emotionally crippled due to their self-doubt and insecurities, Zidane copes with his by acting overly friendly and cheerful.
Vivi Orunitia/Ornitier[]
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Sorrow: How do you prove that you exist? Maybe we don't exist... |
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First seen going to Alexandria to see the play "I Want to be Your Canary", he soon was literally caught in with the Tantalus' escape. Vivi, like Zidane, has no memories of his past, except for being raised by a Qu (who initially wanted to make him into his meal, but fortunately changed his mind before such a thing happened). He later learns that he is one of the Black Mages, the new soldiers of the Alexandrian military.
- Artificial Human: Much to everyone's sorrow.
- Awesome but Impractical: His Doomsday spell has one of the most memorable animations (much of it taking place out of the planet) and is considered so strong by the developers that only SUPERBOSSES aside from Vivi have access to it with one even needing to charge for 10 seconds before using it, but using it could lead to a party wipe without the proper preparation and by the time Vivi gets access to it any enemy that matters by that point will absorb the shadow element that Doomsday utilizes.
- Though with THAT superboss with the proper set up...
- His Sword Magic with Steiner may be helpful very early on and Doomsday Sword gets a unique animation combined with the fact it only hits the enemy and unlike Steiner's own shadow damage ability dark side doesn't cause damage to Steiner himself may make it seem tempting to have both Vivi and Steiner in the party but Steiner's own Shock attack outclasses any sword magic and will do 9999 almost every hit by itself.
- Vivi himself is this, his abilities may be flashy but with the right setup others such as Steiner, Quina, Zidane and Fraiya could achieve guaranteed 9999 hits. Furthermore choosing Eiko over him grants the ability to be revivied at random times with Rebirth Flame.
- Badass Adorable
- Berserk Button: A Black Waltz was unfortunate enough to push Vivi's: a senseless slaughter of fellow Black Mages.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Innocent, shy and more than a little bit naive... and entirely capable of incinerating you with a thought.
- Black Mage: Quintessential example in looks and skills, much less in character: to put it lightly, he's not aggressive in the slightest, and has to be put under serious threat to even think of using his powers at first.
- Break the Cutie
- Child Mage: Is about nine years old physically anyway. Chronologically, he's six months old at the start of the game, making him the youngest ever playable character in any Final Fantasy game.
- Cutscene Power to the Max: What happens when the above Berserk Button gets pushed? Vivi lets off a fire spell much bigger than he has access to at that point in the game. This happens just after the battle with said button-pusher, in which he starts in Trance. This makes the battle very easy.
- Dark Is Not Evil
- The Faceless
- Glass Cannon
- Innocent Prodigy
- Just a Kid: Gets this rather harshly from Zidane when he is suffering from depression.
- Kid Appeal Character
- The Klutz: Falls flat on his face the first time we see him (and several times later, of course).
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Not so much in level progression, but the Assimilate skill means he can reach ridicolously high damage even with beginner spells.
- Nice Hat: Every Black Mage has one, but his is much cooler. Becomes even cooler in Trance. To the point the Italian official Playstation magazine that reviewed the game, back in the day it was released, introduced us to Vivi with the caption: "Nice hat".
- Parental Substitute: Vivi's adoption by Master Quan leads the Qu to become a surrogate grandfather to him. Quan teaches Vivi about how the world works, and Vivi in turn refers to him as his "Grandpa".
- Parting Words Regret: Inverted: Vivi is delivering the narration at the ending because he has finally expired. It's implied that he didn't live long enough to see Zidane come back.
- Perpetual Frowner: He doesn't really have a face to express himself with, but it's implied.
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Eiko: Why the long face?! |
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- Phlebotinum Rebel: Born as the prototype of a series of heartless, mindless slaughter machines, goes on to fight against his creators and enslavers, becoming a hero in the process.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The blue boy to Eiko's pink girl.
- Playing with Fire: His very first spell is "Fire", and he uses it quite often outside of battle... for trying to scare off Alexandrian Guards, frying Black Waltz 3 to a crisp, for melting ice walls, for cooking...
- The Smart Guy: He might not be very experienced, but Vivi is surprisingly knowledgable and eloquent for his age: apparently, Quan taught him much over the course of his education.
- Squishy Wizard
- Super Prototype
- Unstoppable Rage: His response to Black Waltz 3 obliterating a group of Black Mages. That was more of a Tranquil Fury, given his expressionless face... or lack thereof.
Adelbert Steiner[]
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Dilemma: Having sworn fealty, must I spend my life in servitude? |
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He is the captain of the only male ranks of Alexandria's army, the Knights of Pluto, and a bodyguard of the royal family. Loyal to a fault, he only reluctantly teamed up with Zidane to rescue Garnet from the Evil Forest. However, he remained hostile towards the thief and his allies (making an exception for Vivi), while refusing to believe that Queen Brahne has finally lost her mind. He later has to accept the truth, and has also learned to see Zidane as an actual comrade and (almost) friend. Has a rocky relationship with General Beatrix, although it's known that the latter may be harboring feelings for him...
- Awesome but Impractical: His tag ability with Vivi for magical sword damage increases his attack far beyond what it normally is and even has a rather cool unique animation for Doomsday. This variation also only hits the enemy. The two issues are that first aside from this Steiner and Vivi do not go well together in actual synergy and Steiner's Shock solo attack alone often reaches 9999 damage quite easily.
- Furthermore Vivi isn't considered a "professional" character with pro players being able to instead use others who guarantee 9999 each time or a white mage in place of Vivi.
- Badass Normal: He uses no magic naturally. When his Limit Break activates, instead of gaining new powers, he simply hits three times harder than normal.
- Battle Couple: With Beatrix in Disc 3.
- BFS: His swords get pretty damn big later on in the game.
- The Big Guy
- Black and White Morality: His worldview is all about this, especially before character development kicks in.
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Steiner: I am just trying to do what is right! |
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- Boring but Practical: When he learns Shock this is all he will be doing really.
- Butt Monkey: Until he shapes up, he's this.
- The Captain: Of the Knights of Pluto.
- Character Development: Out of the eight protagonists, Steiner is the one who is most changed by his experiences in the game.
- The Chew Toy: The game punishes him a lot. And it's hilarious!
- Conflicting Loyalty: The basis of his Character Development.
- Dumb Muscle: He's not too bright, and Yoshitaka Amano's original designs show that he's actually a pretty muscular guy. Keep in mind that he's strong enough to run around in that heavy armor (even running ahead of Zidane while carrying Garnet out of Evil Forest) and only be winded at one point early on in the game.
- Excalibur
- Expy: To Inspector Zenigata.
- Failure Knight: Literally. His platoon is the laughingstock of the Alexandrian military, his attempts to help or protect the Princess are undermined by everyone else in the cast (including the Princess herself), and he eventually watches his own beloved Queen die, hoist by her own power-hungry petard. Fortunately, once he's hit rock bottom, things start to get better.
- Honor Before Reason: He refuses to travel with thieves until ordered to by Garnet (despite the dangers of traveling alone), and he refuses to believe Brahne has turned evil until after even Beatrix has accepted it.
- I Gave My Word: His oath of fealty is the source of his inner conflict after Brahne turns evil.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: It's a Hero Antagonist in this case. At first, anyway.
- Inspector Javert: Has a reason why he couldn't trust Zidane, at first.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Subverted in that his armor's actually pretty cheap and rusty. Zidane repeatedly teases him about it early on in the game.
- The Lancer: To Zidane for the first half of the game, while Zidane is mature, laid back and open-minded, Steiner is loud, duty-driven and naive. Their relationships with Vivi and Garnet also contrast, Zidane being Vivi's Big Brother Mentor and flirting with Garnet while Steiner treats Vivi as his superior and Garnet as his charge. Ultimately, however, they both wish to protect Garnet, even if they have different ideas on how to do it, and of the first four party members Steiner is easily the most capable after Zidane, both in-battle and when it comes to thinking on his feet.
- Last-Name Basis: which is why he's the only character in the entire series that the player can ever change the surname. Also done in-universe, as Brahne needs a moment to remember his name when she orders him and Beatrix to find Garnet at the very start of the game.
- Lawful Stupid: Steiner believes in Black and White Morality, so he took any instance to thumb his nose upon any member of Tantalus (especially Zidane), and he remains bullheadedly determined to return Garnet to Alexandria despite the fact that this is not only against her wishes, but against overwhelming evidence that Queen Brahne has turned evil. However, it should be noted that during said time, nobody was 100% sure that Alexandria was behind everything. Most of his Character Development revolves around him getting over this
- Let's Get Dangerous: He's generally depicted as a buffoon early on in the game, but when he gets into a real fight, he's actually a pretty good swordsman. The Knights of Pluto get an Let's Get Dangerous moment as well during the attack on Alexandria, depending on how the player assigns them. With proper leadership and a knowledge of their strengths and traits, they can execute their duties quite well.
- Mighty Glacier: He's slow in both mind and body, but his swords actually hit pretty hard.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Eventually realizes he can still act on duty if he changes that duty to following the Princess' orders, not the Queen's.
- Nice Hat
- Overprotective Dad: Even though he's not actually Garnet's father, he still acts like the comedic version of this trope in regards to her. He even hates the bad boy she's fallen for.
- Papa Wolf: Used comedically in regards to Garnet in the first two disks. It's played much more seriously in Disk 3 when he teams up with Beatrix.
- Perpetual Frowner
- Pet the Dog: We know he's not such a total jerk when he treats Vivi nicely, even calling him "Master". "Master" being the old fashioned term of address used when addressing young men. It's the only time we see Steiner treat anyone aside from royalty with any respect for most of the first half of the game.
- The Rival: He sees Beatrix as one. It's mutual.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Don't tell me didn't you feel for him after he hooks up with Beatrix. Altogether now: Aww...
- To Be Lawful or Good: The crux of his Character Development.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?
Garnet Til Alexandros XVII[]
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Devotion: Someday I will be Queen, but I will always be myself. |
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The female lead of the story, and Zidane's (eventual) Love Interest. She has been aware of her mother's slow descent into madness, and seeks a way to escape her. By coincidence, the best opportunity for her to get out of Alexandria happens to be there just to kidnap her! While on the run, Zidane suggests that Garnet drop her royal bearing, and adopt an alias, to which she chose "Dagger", after Zidane's knife. As it turns out later in the game, Garnet was just an adopted child of the royal family, and is actually one of the last Summoners (along with Eiko).
- Anger Born of Worry: Again, it happens in the ending. Zidane's a lucky Son-of-a-**.
- Battle Couple: She and Zidane are like this at the end of the game.
- Blessed with Suck: Garnet's summoning powers were a serious liability in the first and second discs: not only did they result in Garnet being chased from one end of the Mist Continent to the other by Brahne's lackeys and almost being killed when her Ediolons were forcibly removed, but the MP costs were so intensive that she couldn't even use them.
- Break the Cutie
- Bridal Carry: She has been unconscious on the arms of Steiner and Zidane on different parts of the game, both notable for different reasons.
- When she was carried by Steiner a whole cutscene players with the party running from the Evil Forest while she is carried this way the entire time.
- While she was unconscious on Zidane's arms the player actually controls Zidane while he is carrying her this way the entire time until finding a suitable place to let her down.
- Brown Eyes
- Cassandra Truth: She'd spotted Kuja and suspected him of influencing Brahne's descent into madness well before the game's events... but nobody believed her.
- The Chick: She's initially afraid to use her political connections, but they're what eventually unite the entire Mist Continent against Kuja.
- Form-Fitting Wardrobe
- Girly Run: More likely girly prance, which she does while holding her hands out to the side. Come on...
- The Glomp: Sees usage during the Grand Finale when Garnet dives on Zidane. It's a Call Back to Zidane's Glomp Fail at the end of the Conde Petie wedding.
- Happily Adopted: Until Brahne lost the plot.
- Heroic BSOD: After Alexandria's destruction. It's so severe that it renders her completely mute, and even interferes with her ability to use magic in battle (see Temporary Scrappy below).
- The High Queen: Following Brahne's death.
- I Have Many Names: Goes by the nickname Dagger in an effort to keep a low profile. Her real name, as in the one she had before she was adopted into the Alexandria Royal Family, is Sarah.
- Important Haircut: After finally coming to terms with her grief, she cuts her hair to above shoulder-length, symbolically casting off her sorrow in the process.
- It's All My Fault: She blames herself for a lot of the destruction and suffering that occurs, even when no sane assessment of it would hold her responsible.
- Last of Her Kind
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Or is she? Well, considering the original Garnet looked just like her, yes, she is.
- Male Gaze: The game gives the player plenty of chances to see her butt. This becomes even more intense after she cuts her hair which covered her backside in some angles. Some cutscenes also show the top of her cleavage.
- The Prison Cage enemy has Garnet laying on her side while trapped inside of it and the camera is angled most of the time in a way to show Garnet's butt while in battle. Later when Vivi is trapped in another Prison Cage enemy the camera shows Vivi from in front compared to from behind like Garnet.
- Mysterious Waif
- Oblivious Adoption
- Painted-On Pants: That rear only gets more noticeable when she goes on trance where it is replaced with a thong. Her default outfit literally hugs the shape of the back end of her pelvis.
- Piggyback Cute: It is said Zidane gives her one to get past rugged Zidane while Amarant carries the children Vivi and Eiko under his arm for the same goal.
- Plucky Girl: A variant in that a lot of her pain is self-inflicted, and a large part of her character growth is realizing that not everything is her fault, and she shouldn't put so much pressure on herself.
- Power-Up Letdown: Her Trance is completely useless for the first half of the game (aside from the nice visuals from behind). It powers up her summons, but she doesn't have any yet (unless the player does an insane amount of level grinding).
- Rebellious Princess
- Replacement Goldfish: For the original Princess.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: A part of her Character Development is that as much as she wants to be this trope, most everything that she tries to do turns out badly or only succeeds due to the assistance of other characters. She learns to stop feeling guilty about it through and become determined to be a strong queen for her people.
- Samaritan Syndrome: Once again, she puts far more pressure and blame on herself than anyone would reasonably expect her to.
- The Smart Girl: She has all the benefits of a royal education, including knowledge about many of the locales the party visits.
- Someone's Touching My Butt: When the disc one party is in the airship though it isn't really that hard to figure out who did it.
- Thong of Shielding: Her regular outfit aside from appearing to have Painted-On Pants is quite covering aside from the very top of her torso but for whatever reason when she goes Trance she has a thong leotard and her royal cheeks are quite on display.
- Summon Magic
- Tall, Dark and Bishoujo
- Temporary Scrappy: During Disk 3, she loses her voice, meaning she has about a 50% chance of actually using her magic. However, if you equip her with the Healer skill, all her attacks will heal you for a decent amount of HP.
- They Call Him "Sword": She chooses the name "Dagger" for herself when Zidane tells her they can't go around calling her "Garnet" everywhere.
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Not! She is, however, identical to the Queen's real daughter.
- White Magician Girl: She starts as this, before she can use her summon magic. After that, she falls more under Red Mage. It's even Lampshaded with her White Mage outfit early in the game.
Freya Crescent[]
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Despair: To be forgotten is worse than death. |
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A dragon knight from Burmecia, the kingdom to the north of Lindblum and west of Alexandria. She left her hometown five years ago to search for her lost love Sir Fratley, who set out to hone his skills, but never returned. Moving to Lindblum, she befriended Zidane and lived in the city for several years while searching for Sir Fratley. When she learns that her kingdom is being invaded by an army of mysterious wizards wearing pointy hats, she returns to try and stop the invasion, with Zidane and Vivi (and possibly Quina) accompanying her. When she learns that the invasion is being orchestrated by Kuja through Alexandria, she joins Zidane's party to put a stop to his evil.
- Action Girl: Your second female party member, and one of your primary heavy-hitters.
- Badass
- Badass Longcoat
- Blade on a Stick
- Boring but Practical: Like Steiner and Zidane her only purpose in a professional game is to use Dragon's Crest once she defeats enough dragons to do 9999 every cast.
- Break the Cutie
- Bring My Red Jacket: Bear in mind that Freya does go through the most emotional injury...
- Cherry Blossoms: One of her attacks.
- Deadpan Snarker: To Zidane, mainly.
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Zidane: "Let me get the final kill! I have a date on the line here!" |
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- Death From Above: When Freya gets Trance, use her Jump and stand back and watch.
- Demoted to Extra: Poor Freya has next to no significance in the story after the party leaves Cleyra early on the second disk.
- The Faceless: Freya's face is mostly obscured by her hat.
- In a Single Bound: Freya can jump ridiculously high both in and out of combat.
- Lady of War
- Love Hurts: She has been searching for one Sir Fratley all her life, and what happens when she did find him? He doesn't even remember her!
- Nice Hat
- Petting Zoo People/Rodents of Unusual Size: Freya and her race are all anthropomorphic rats. Interestingly, they don't get the same treatment that giant rats get in other media, and are portrayed as quite noble.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: While Eiko is the proper pink girl Freya predominantly wears red while Vivi and Zidane wear blue.
- Shout-Out: Reis' Wind. Let's not forget Kain's Lance.
- The Southpaw
- Trauma Conga Line: She loses her kingdom, the peaceful country Cleyra she was determined to protect after the refugees escaped from the invasion, and when she finally finds her love after being gone for so long, he doesn't remember her. Ouch.
Quina Quen[]
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Indulgence: I do what I want! You have problem? |
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An apprentice gourmand and blue mage who dwells in the marshes north of Lindblum. S/he belongs to the Qu Clan, a race of chubby white-skinned beings with long pink tongues whose culture centers around cooking and eating, to the point where they almost ritualize it. Quina joins Zidane's party as a means of learning more about the different cuisines of the world and honing his/her culinary skills. S/he doesn't really seem to take much notice of the larger struggle going on, but proves a faithful and helpful ally... most of the time, anyway.
- Alliterative Name
- Ambiguous Gender: To such extent that the narration of the game itself refers to Quina as "him/her" and "s/he". If game mechanics are counted as Word of God though, gender-specific equipment leans toward male; on the other hand, certain translations use female pronouns.
- Boring but Practical: Not as quite as the other guaranteed 9999 damage dealers as Quina has more variety of good stuff aside from Frog Drop such as White Wind but most she will be doing is use Frog Drop once the player caught enough frogs.
- Cutscene Incompetence: Quina is at first presented as hopelessly inept in catching frogs. Of course, once the player takes over, that can change.
- Disc One Nuke:
- Literally, with Frog Drop. That is, if you have the patience to power it up...
- Also, Limit Glove. It can be gotten as soon as Quina enters your party on Disc 1, costs 10 MP to use, and does 9999 damage, every time. As long as Quina's HP is 1 when you use it; otherwise, it does nothing.
- Level 5 Death sorts out those otherwise pesky Grand Dragons rather efficiently.
- Early-Bird Cameo: You can spy Quina in the Alexandria Castle kitchens right at the beginning of the game if you know where to look when controlling Steiner.
- Extreme Omnivore: Defining character trait. It's even a gameplay mechanic, as the way s/he learns his/her Blue Magic spells is eating an opponent who knows the spell.
- Flat Character: Quina's master tried sending him/her on a quest for Character Development, with little success. Turns out Quina never needed it in the first place, and it was the master who needed developing.
- Genius Ditz: Quina is generally pretty clueless, but s/he is a master chef, like all Qus.
- Guide Dang It: Some of Quina's magic requires very specific conditions for them to work on enemies. While Garnet's scan helps some enemies can't be scanned thus the player will have to guess. LV 3 Def Less is probably the worst offender as it isn't guaranteed to work even on eligible enemies and the game doesn't give a clear indication the aforementioned magic genuinely missed the enemy or if the enemy it was tried on is immune to it.
- Kick the Dog: Though it could be argued s/he's just too dumb to realize what s/he's doing, Quina expresses interest in eating both chocobo eggs and moogles, which is pretty harsh consider they're the Series Mascots. The chocobo egg is particularly mean as it's being cared for by Black Mages who tell him/her its mother died, but Quina is undeterred and considers the idea ridiculous.
- Lethal Joke Character: When you first get Quina, s/he has no usable skills, a random attack damage variable, and almost no purchasable weapons. Take the time to use him/her properly, and you can kill almost any enemy (and some bosses) in one turn. In the Very Definitely Final Dungeon, as you would expect there's a lot of Demonic Spiders, but it turns out most of them are not immune to status ailments, so Quina's Mustard Bomb and Frost attacks become One Hit KO moves for as little as 8 MP.
- Let's Get Dangerous: Sure, Quina's a goof. But when s/he gets into an actual fight, s/he actually turns out to be pretty good at it. If you take the time to actually train him/her and learn his/her spells, s/he is just as effective in battle as any other party member... if not more so.
- Mega Manning: Via Blue Magic.
- Plucky Comic Relief
- Running Gag:
- Always on the lookout for new food to try.
- To the extent that even on Bran Bal, a village of Genomes on another planet, Quina's only interest is finding something to eat.
- Supreme Chef
- Too Dumb to Live: Quina is eternally clueless even when the towns around the party are being destroyed and the people are fleeing in terror, yet somehow s/he endures. Her/his ability to inexplicably survive any disaster and somehow turn up later is almost a Running Gag in and of itself.
- Trademark Favourite Food: Frogs. It's how Zidane gets him/her to join his cause.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Quina has a peculiar knack for vanishing and reappearing at the oddest times. About halfway through Disc 2, s/he takes off after Mog to try and eat her, briefly reappears to help Eiko cook, then vanishes again until Disk 3, where s/he somehow ends up in Treno for a brief run-in with Eiko, then ends up washing up on the shores of Lindblum where s/he rejoins the party. There's also no telling how s/he survived Cleyra being blown up, but a short time later, s/he's back in the marsh catching frogs.
Eiko Carol[]
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Solitude: I don't wanna be alone anymore... |
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A six-year old girl who lives in the ruins of the village of Madain Sari with a group of moogles. She is apparently the last human survivor of the village, with no one but the moogles for company since her grandfather died. She is forced to steal food from the dwarven village of Conde Petie to survive, and otherwise lives a lonely existence with her moogle friends. When Zidane and company pass through Conde Petie while searching for Kuja, they meet Eiko, who joins them on their quest. She develops a major crush on Zidane, and sees herself as Garnet's rival for his affections. Spunky and outgoing, Eiko is actually pretty lonely and is eager to make new friends, which leads her to join Zidane's party permanently.
- Badass Adorable
- Bratty Half-Pint
- Bridal Carry: Zidane catches her like this at one point which causes her to develop a crush for him. It isn't as notable or long as any of the ones Garnet receives though.
- The Chew Toy: Not as much as Vivi, but she does have a dangling-helplessly animation that gets reused quite a bit.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: To Zidane, in regards to his relationship with Garnet/Dagger.
- Competence Zone: Eiko is far more capable than a six-year-old has any right to be. She organizes a band of moogles, regularly raids food from a nearby village, regularly escapes from savage monsters on her own, is familiar enough with classic literature to quote it, is extremely versed in summoner history, customs and lore, is disciplined enough to maintain a daily religious ritual, and is a damned good summoner in her own right. And if she's one of the party members that stays behind in the Desert Palace during That One Level, she instantly takes control and leads them out of danger. Even more improbable, she's actually surprisingly knowledgeable about romance. Her attempts to woo Zidane include cooking him dinner, quoting literature, writing poetry, showing interest in his life, attempting to rescue him, outright asking him about his feelings for Garnet, and finally, attempting to hook Zidane up with his true love when all else fails. Let's face it, folks: if she were older, we'd be all looking at Zidane like he's crazy. Gets lampshaded in Disc 3, when Garnet and Steiner go into a combined Heroic BSOD and Zidane puts Eiko in charge.
- Cool Pet: Her pet moogle turns out to be more than just a standard moogle.
- Genki Girl
- Hair Decorations: Her signature yellow ribbon, which some people notice while disregarding the horn.
- Happily Adopted: By Cid and Hilda at the end of the game.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: By Disc 4, Eiko has given up on trying to wedge between Zidane and Garnet, and instead becomes fixed on getting them both past their Cannot Spit It Out stage.
- Improbable Age: Even from a series where the average age of the cast is fifteen, she's six!
- Improbable Weapon User: While the catapult rackets she shares with Garnet are believable enough (say what?), she also uses magic flutes in battle. She can actually whack the enemy with them, but she does better when she uses them to focus her magic.
- Just a Kid: Gets told and treated like this by Zidane when he is going through depression.
- Last of Her Kind
- Lethal Chef: Implied to be this if cooking unsupervised.
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Moogle: "The last one you made tasted so bad I thought my pompom would fall off." |
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- Little Miss Badass: She's six years old and adorable, but do not piss her off, or she will summon a giant monster to annihilate you.
- Magical Flutist
- Meaningful Name: In Japanese, her name means "prosperous child".
- Nude-Colored Clothes: Turns out it may not be a great idea to put a six-year-old girl in tight, flesh-colored pants.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The pink girl to Zidane and Vivi's blue boy.
- Plucky Girl
- Precocious Crush: On Zidane.
- Raised by Grandparents: Subverted. Eiko was raised by her grandfather until a year before the game's start, and she leads the Moogles by the time you meet her, not the other way around.
- Summon Magic: Though not as powerful as Garnet.
- Tagalong Kid
- White Mage: Although she is also a summoner, her White Magic is her specialty. An even better one than Garnet, as she's more of a White Mage while Garnet's more of a Summoner.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Still got some growth to go through, but overall? Ayup.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Amarant Coral[]
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Arrogance: The only dependable thing about the future is uncertainty. |
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A bounty hunter hired by Queen Brahne to assassinate Vivi and retrieve Garnet's pendant. Amarant has a strange code of honor, which manifests when his partner on the job takes Eiko hostage to try and get the pendant back. This prompts Amarant to betray his partner and force Zidane to fight him to get the pendant back. Amarant is shocked when Zidane wins and lets him live. Unable to comprehend Zidane's mentality, Amarant joins his quest in an attempt to understand him. At first, Amarant disdains Zidane's emphasis on teamwork, but later on comes to understand the benefits of cooperation.
- Awesome but Impractical: Similar to Vivi, Amarant's Return Magic ability is this the majority of the time. Many enemies use the magic they also absorb or are immune to. While the skill allows the user to return some magic the player can't acquire such as Waterga the user of these skills tend to also heal the caster. It can be very useful against the hardest enemy in the game with the right preparation however.
- Badass Beard
- Bounty Hunter: And then there's a bounty on his head in Treno.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He appears on a wanted poster in Treno.
- Combat Medic: Half of Amarant's special abilities center around hurting his enemies. The other half center around reviving his fallen allies, healing them, or allowing them to revive after they're knocked out.
- Comes Great Responsibility: When he confronts the Fire Guardian, Amarant realizes that he's been wasting his power by simply seeking out people to fight, instead of finding beneficial ways to use it.
- The Comically Serious: Eiko (unintentionally) uses him as her hired muscle when the gang travels to Treno. It's a pretty great sequence altogether.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!
- The Dreaded: Despite having a price on his head, Amarant is completely at ease walking through Treno. Judging by Alleyway Jack's reaction, this is probably because all of Treno's thieves, bounty hunters and lowlifes are too scared of him to try and claim the reward.
- Dub Name Change: He's called Salamander in the Japanese version.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even though he has been hired to defeat the party and get Dagger's pendant, he tells that he doesn't work together with "hostage-taking scumbags" when she kidnaps Eiko to get said pedant because that isn't a fair fight.
- Funny Afro: it's really a mass of dreads, but his in-game model looks more like this. The goatee and earrings don't really help.
- Heel Face Turn
- Hidden Eyes
- Honor Before Reason: He demands that Zidane kill him after losing a one-on-one duel. Not to mention that he probably would have won if only he hadn't sent Lani away and threw away their hostage.
- Ineffectual Loner
- Noble Demon: See his Even Evil Has Standards entry further up.
- Pet the Dog: Invoked and subverted.
- It's also played straight when Amarant turns on Lani at the end of Disk 2, claiming that he refuses to work with "hostage-taking scumbags".
- Don't forget his cute vignettes with Eiko in Treno and giving Vivi advice on how to avoid airsickness.
- At one point, a Bounty Hunter tries to capture Eiko, thinking she might serve as a weakness to Amarant, his target. Amarant wasn't even present when he attempts (and failed) the stunt, so we're not even sure of how Amarant would react.
- The Power of Friendship: When Zidane risks his life to save Amarant for no personal gain, Amarant gets a better understanding of what friendship actually means, to the point where he actually gets an entirely new victory pose.
- Rings of Death: Unlike most Final Fantasy ninjas, who throw shurikens at their enemies, Amarant throws chakrams instead.
- Static Character: He changes his way of life (working with friends and whatnot), but his personality stays the same through everything. Zidane lampshades it in the end: "That guy will never change."
- Too Many Belts
- Walking the Earth: This seems to be Amarant's fate at the end of the game, although he doesn't seem to mind.
- You Gotta Have Blue Skin: For some reason, Amarant's skin is blue. Yoshitaka Amano depicts him with a more conventional skin color.
Villains[]
Brahne Raza Alexandros XVI[]
A face only a mother could love. (Brahne is that mother.)
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"Bwahahaha! Kuja! So you finally decided to show your girly face here! You're all that stands between me and total domination! Gehehe!" |
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The queen of Alexandria, the greatest country of Gaia, and Garnet's mother. Soon after the game's beginning, she starts warring against her neighbors to take over all of the world, using powerful magic no one knew she had to accomplish her goals.
- Adipose Regina
- Brawn Hilda: Her character design was clearly inspired by this trope, even if she's not the physical type.
- Death Equals Redemption: When she's dying on the beaches of the Outer Continent, Brahne realizes that she is finally free of the terrible greed that was controlling her, and makes peace with Garnet before she dies.
- Fat Bitch
- God Save Us From the Queen
- Gonk
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Brahne deserves special mention for showing up in person every time her army conquers another country, and carrying out the eidolon summons herself. Unlike most other examples, this led to her death.
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Or so the story wants you to believe. Actually, her real daughter is stated to be identical to Garnet. And your mind breaks all over again.
- The Unfought
Beatrix[]
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"I once killed a hundred knights single-handedly... to me, you two are nothing more than insects." |
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The general of Alexandria's all-female armies, Beatrix is a fabled paladin who is feared and respected all throughout the continent. However, she has a honorable heart and dislikes her queen's violent conquests.
- Action Girl
- Amazon Brigade: Alexandria is a nation where women are dominant, and thus Beatrix is the general of her all-female army.
- Badass
- Badass Boast: "I once killed a hundred knights single-handedly. To me, you two are nothing more than insects."
- Battle Couple: With Steiner in Disc 3.
- Boobs of Steel: Exhibit 1.
- Distaff Counterpart: To Steiner, in many ways.
- The Dragon
- Eyepatch of Power
- Flower Motifs: Something About a Rose: her leitmotif is "Rose of May".
- Guest Star Party Member
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
- Heel Face Turn
- Heel Realization: When the Queen orders her to kill Garnet.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Every battle against her ends up this way.
- Hot Amazon
- Hot Chick with a Sword
- I Gave My Word: Her oath to protect Princess Garnet eventually helps prompt her Heel Realization and Heel Face Turn.
- The Juggernaut
- Karma Houdini: Takes part in various despicable actions throughout the first half of the game and doesn't even get a slap on the wrist for it. It could be easier to tolerate knowing that Queen Brahne was forcing her to behave this way in order to be her perfect general. Seeing just how evil the queen was and what lines she was willing to cross made Beatrix come back to being herself again, and she did quite alot afterwards to redeem herself.
- Knight in Shining Armor: At first.
- Lady of War
- Lawful Stupid: Initially, much like Steiner. She gets over it a lot quicker than he does.
- Mama Bear: To Garnet.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Shares this dilemma with Steiner. And, like Steiner, eventually realizes what Brahne has become.
- Noble Demon
- Not So Stoic: Thank YOU, misdirected love letter!
- Redemption Demotion: Mostly averted. She doesn't have nearly as much HP as a guest party member compared to when you fight her, but she is still monstrously powerful.
- Sarcastic Devotee: The first sign that she's not as bad as she seems is when she notices that the Queen shows her no gratitude and favors the Black Mages and Eidolons over her number one general.
- Timed Mission: She always has two good equipment pieces to steal, the catch is getting them before she decides to deal out a Total Party Kill to end the battle.
- Worthy Opponent: She's looking for one.
Kuja[]
This is the face of a man (citation needed) with a plan.
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"Peace is but a shadow of death, desperate to forget its painful past... Though we hope for promising years. After shedding a thousand tears, yesterday's sorrow constantly nears. And while the moon still shines blue, by dawn, it will turn to scarlet hue!" |
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An effeminate, vain sorcerer who supplies Queen Brahne with Black Mages and summon magic. When not advocating world conquest, he runs his auction house in Treno and watches opera. In truth, he's gathering power to usurp Garland and conquer both Gaia and Terra. He turns against Brahne the moment she loses her usefulness to him.
- Anti-Anti-Christ: Arguably became one in the ending of the game, as Mikoto stated that, although what Kuja did was wrong, he did nonetheless bring hope in trying to prevent people from controlling others, and hints that she's going to spread around what Kuja fought for to everyone.
- Anti-Villain: Type II. See Freudian Excuse and Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds below for the details.
- Bare Your Midriff: A rare male example.
- Big Bad: After spending most of the game in this role, it's revealed that he was just The Dragon to the real villain, Garland... right up until the end of disc three, when he backstabs Garland and becomes a real Big Bad.
- Bishonen: Doesn't even begin to describe him.
- Cain and Abel: Cain to Zidane's Abel.
- Camp Straight: Kuja has a lot of effeminate mannerisms, but the only character he actually flirts with is Garnet.
- Character Development: With the possible exception of Golbez, who was actually Brainwashed and Crazy, Kuja has the distinction of being the first and only Final Fantasy villain to develop throughout the course of his game. See Redemption Equals Death below for details. By that, it means he eventually underwent some personality changes and ended up redeeming himself. Some Final Fantasy villains, if they receive any development, usually grow worse as time passes, and in the case of Sephiroth, needed more than one game to develop.
- The Chessmaster
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
- Cool Silver Feathered Flying Dragon: Uses one of these as a mount. It actually belongs to Garland .
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Yes, he is in fact a he.
- Evil Counterpart: To Zidane.
- Faux Affably Evil: As poetic, sophisticated and well-groomed as he acts, he's very cruel, selfish and cunning, and starts to show his true colors on Disc 3 when things don't go just as he wanted.
- Flawed Prototype: Subverted. Garland ultimately admits that Kuja is vastly more effective than he'd ever thought possible.
- Freudian Excuse: So you're one of an entire race of mindless drones that were created for only one purpose and are easy to discard and replace. Oh, except you were given individuality by accident, which you're only allowed to keep based upon how useful you prove. Just keep in mind that even if you succeed at your job, you're going to be discarded and replaced while an even better version of you does what you couldn't. Oh, and when that happens, you won't get to have a soul anymore as it will be cleansed and recycled for someone else to have long after you're gone. Yeah, who can blame Kuja for being evil? Heck, in the ending, even Zidane felt sympathy for him for his reasons and says he might have done the same thing in his place.
- Hartman Hips: Not kidding.
- It's All About Me: His primary justification for his omnicidal tendencies from the end of Disc 3 onwards.
- Kick the Dog: Snapping at the sentient Black Mages he doesn't care what their numbers are, showing no regard for their individuality and treating them the same as the mindless ones. Later, when Mog tries to protect Eiko, Kuja snaps for Zorn and Thorn to kill her.
- Laughing Mad: His reaction immediately after Garland tells him beyond the grave that Kuja's time of living is short.
- Manipulative Bastard
- Meaningful Name: In Hindu cosmology, Kuja is the name of Mars, the red planet, and means "born of the earth": Terra, shown as a red planet, is Latin for earth. Mars is also the Roman god of war. All in all, Kuja's name reflects exactly what he is: a Genome created by Garland and Terra to create war and destruction on Gaia.
- Minor Injury Overreaction: But not for the typical reasons. After tanking a few blasts from Bahamut, Kuja smirks until he notices that he'd gotten a cut on his forehead... and then laughs, praising the dragon for actually managing to injure him slightly.
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Kuja: Blood? Ahahah! Bahamut... power, mobility... You are truly the best! You even hurt me... a little. |
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- Person of Mass Destruction: Especially when armed with the power of Trance.
- Psycho Prototype
- Redemption Equals Death: He saves the heroes from Necron, and Zidane later goes back to return the favor. When the Iifa Tree collapses around the two of them, Kuja pushes Zidane out of the way, presumably killing himself.
- Sissy Villain: Where do we start?
- Not really, especially as despite his appearance, he doesn't particularly act feminine or in a sissy manner.
- Sliding Scale of Anti-Villains: Type II, see Freudian Excuse above and Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds below.
- Smug Snake: While he is a very serious threat, his obscene arrogance and cruelty keeps him from achieving magnificence.
- The Starscream
- Stripperific: The guy wears a steel thong. Being related to Zidane and other Genomes, fans would often joke, "Where would he hide his tail?".
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum
- Terms of Endangerment: Is fond of this.
- That One Attack: Flare Star ignores reflect and will always do notable damage (scales with level of the hit victim). It also doesn't cost Kuja MP and especially in early battles it is the reward of a player who bothers to drain his HP.
- Villainous Breakdown: When he finds out that he has a limited lifespan.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
- Wicked Cultured: Lives in a beautifuly sculpted palace of marble and stained glass, and he's a fan of Lord Avon's plays to boot.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: See Freudian Excuse above.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Kuja is a master at this. A huge departure from other Final Fantasy villains is that he is not the Big Bad, nor is his betrayal of the real Big Bad sudden and unexpected. The truth is that Garland knew Kuja was going to betray him a long time ago, and took steps to prepare for it. This surprises and scares the hell out of Kuja when he realizes it, but he revises his scheme on the fly. He then revises it again when presented with knowledge he was unaware of.
- Zettai Ryouiki
Garland[]
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"To live is to give life meaning, yet one must take others' lives to survive... Terra's souls will sleep until they forget such nonsense. They will begin a new life in a new dimension. It's a world in which life and death become one... That is the dimension in which we are meant to live, as beings that transcend life and death!" |
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A powerful warlock ruling over the ancient planet of Terra from his research facility in Castle Pandemonium. He was left behind by the Terran civilization to guard their souls and seek out a vessel that could give them a chance at new life. He has been assimilating Gaia, the main planet of the game, for centuries (if not longer), and created Kuja, Zidane and Mikoto to serve as his primary agents for the task of wrapping the process up with a world war or two.
- Artificial Human: It's rather ambiguous, but it seems more probable that he's a construct created by the Terrans rather than one of the Terrans themselves.
- The Assimilator: Garland's entire goal is to assimilate the soul-cycle of Gaia to restore Terra and its people, and it's implied that this isn't the first planet he's attacked either...
- Badass Beard
- Badass Cape
- Badass Grandpa
- Bald of Evil
- Big Bad
- The Chessmaster: Like Kuja, he's a master strategist: much more impressively, he's behind the plot Kuja was operating in the first and second discs.
- Cool Airship: The Invincible, which Garland has used to destroy entire cities, and to convert Eidolons.
- Cool Pet: The Silver Dragon, which Kuja apparently borrowed for his work on Gaia, and was evidently taken back after Kuja's attempt to claim Alexander. The Dragon itself shows up in a boss fight just prior to Garland's.
- Curb Stomp Battle: When using The Invincible, Garland usually only needs to fire one shot to win a battle; in the Battle of Alexandria, he fired two: the first to kill Alexander, the second to destroy the entire city.
- Dead Person Conversation: Returns from the grave to hold one of these in the fourth disc.
- Death Equals Redemption: After being killed by Kuja, Garland returns as a spirit to assist Zidane through Memoria.
- Defiant to the End: With his last breath, Garland coldly informs Kuja that his power is meaningless... and for once, Kuja has nothing to say.
- Disc One Final Boss
- Disney Villain Death
- Emperor Scientist: He's the de facto King of Terra, and has successfully created an entire species of soulless vessels for the Terrans to inhabit, three soul-bearing operatives to do his bidding, and the Iifa tree.
- Evil Old Folks
- Face Death with Dignity: In his final words, he explains as much about the Crystal as he can, before calmly bidding farewell to Zidane.
- Graceful Loser: After being defeated, he gracefully acknowledges that Zidane has fought well. Also, after Kuja murders him and destroys Terra, Garland returns to assist Zidane on his journey through Memoria, even though Zidane's interference made said destruction possible. It's still a sensible move, considering that if Zidane had failed to make his way through Memoria, Kuja would have destroyed the entire universe.
- High Collar of Doom
- I Regret Nothing: Just before his spirit finally passes on, Garland announces that even though he was created with only one purpose in mind, he doesn't regret having lived his life in pursuit of this goal.
- Long Game: Garland's scheme has been in action for millennia, slowly assimilating the souls of Gaia without anyone ever noticing... up until Kuja got the attention of the heroes.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Technically speaking. He did create Zidane and Kuja after all. Plus, his dialogue indicates that he sees Zidane as something of a son, and not just a weapon... particularly when he's guiding them through Memoria.
- The Mentor: After his death, his spirit guides Zidane and company through most of Memoria, although only Zidane can hear him.
- Mind Over Matter: One of his magical specialities is to telekinetically lift an opponent into the air and slam them back into the ground: a spell almost no other enemy in the game possesses.
- Not My Driver: Garland pulls one of these on Kuja when he tries to summon the Invincible during the Battle of Alexandria. Cue massive Oh Crap moment as Kuja realises that the airship isn't on autopilot anymore.
- Obviously Evil: Just look at the damn picture.
- Power Floats: While taking Zidane on a tour of Pandemonium, he casually hovers across the banks of machinery that Zidane has to climb over.
- Prophet Eyes: A brief glimpse of his face during the boss fight shows that Garland has these kind of eyes.
- Shout-Out:
- A living shoutout to the character of the same name from Final Fantasy I. The offhand mention that he once tried "a more direct approach" to things makes it all the more obvious.
- His general look seems inspired by Darth Vader from Star Wars.
- Functionally, he's similar in respects to FuSoYa from Final Fantasy IV, only where FuSoYa's methods in the integration of his kind on another planet are peaceful, Garland's are aggressive.
- Shut Up, Kirk: Close to the end of the third disc, Zidane and the other three members of the group deliver a Patrick Stewart Speech to him; Garland then demands that they put their idealism to the test... and try to lecture him again when they're on the verge of death. He promptly sics the Silver Dragon on the four of them.
- Sliding Scale of Anti-Villains: See Well-Intentioned Extremist below.
- The Stoic: His dialogue is generally calm and unemotional for most of the game; in fact, it's not until the end of the third disc that we even see him use an exclamation mark in his speech.
- Time Abyss: Garland's true age is uncertain, but it's known that he's been alive for more than five thousand years.
- Villain Teleportation: Used throughout the initial tour of Pandemonium.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist
Zorn And Thorn[]
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"We are in trouble! |
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Brahne's twin clown assistants. They seem to be potent, if short, magicians. When they are defeated, Kuja reveals they were never even human to begin with, and that they aren't even really twins.
- Creepy Twins
- Fusion Dance: Technically, it's the inversion of this trope. Zorn and Thorn are two halves of the same being, and the boss Meltigemini is their true form.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: Until... ...they become Meltigemini.
- Recurring Bosses: Yes, even though the second time they're on the field, Eiko wipes the floor with them; followed by a Fusion Dance into their true form of Meltigemini.
- Strange Syntax Speaker: Like Yoda, Thorn speaks.
- Theme Twin Naming
- Those Two Bad Guys
- Villainous Harlequin
- Wonder Twin Powers: Presumably as a reference to how Porom and Palom of Final Fantasy IV worked together.
- Would Hit a Girl-Would Hurt a Child: While they show hesitancy to perform any action other than extract Garnet's eidolons they do not show the same restraint with Eiko despite her gender and younger age even attacking her when she wakes up.
The Black Waltzes[]
A trio of super powerful Black Mage golems. They are sent to retrieve Garnet after she escapes Alexandria.
- Ambiguous Gender: Black Waltz 2. It has womanly hips and something of a bust, and the robe does resemble a Pimped-Out Dress, but there's no evidence the Black Mages even have genders...
- An Ice Person: Black Waltz 1's main attack is Blizzard.
- Artificial Human: Like all Black Mages.
- The Brute: Black Waltz 1.
- Duel Boss: Black Waltz 1 is fought with Zidane only. But that doesn't stop him from summoning his "pet" to help.
- Elite Mooks
- Evil Counterpart: To Vivi.
- Exclusively Evil
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: Each of the Black Mages seem be more proficient with a different one of these: Black Waltz 1 with Ice, Black Waltz 2 with Fire, and Balck Waltz 3 with Lightning.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings
- Hypnotize the Princess: Black Waltz 2 doesn't target Garnet instead attacking all other members until they are taken out. If Garnet stays in battle without reviving one of her allies he will use Hypnotize on her then suggest they return to the castle and the player gets a game over.
- Implacable Man: Black Waltz 3 could be considered Final Fantasy's equivalent of the Nemesis.
- Improbable Power Discrepancy: While the Black Waltzes are canonically elite mooks, in battle, their stats are actually weaker than the Black Mage mooks you fight later on.
- Kick the Dog: Black Waltz 3 callously and casually slaughters a group of his fellow Black Mages to get to the party. Vivi was not pleased by this.
- Made of Iron: Black Waltz 3.
- Meaningful Name: Waltz indicated from the start how many of them there are.
- Mirror Boss: Black Waltz 2 copies Vivi's spells, taunting him beforehand each time.
- Not Quite Dead: Black Waltz 3 returns one more time in Disc 2.
- Obviously Evil
- Oh Crap: Black Waltz 3 gives a beautiful one in South gate. It has to be seen to be believed. And without having voice acting or, yes, a face.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Black Waltz 2, which not only hints at a gender but is so long that her feet are never seen.
- Playing with Fire: While not as noticable as the other Black Waltz's elemental prefernces, Black Waltz 2's most powerful and common attack is Fira, the first time you see that spell, and the only time for a while.
- Power Floats: Black Waltz 2 never touches down, ever. Unless you beat her, of course.
- Psycho Electro: Black Waltz 3 loves to kill things with lightning.
- Psycho Prototype
- Rasputinian Death: Black Waltz 3.
- Robo Speak: Black Waltz 3 after his breakdown.
- Rule of Three: Lampshaded after the first fight with No. 3: when Steiner wonders how many Waltzes there are, Zidane points out that because of Meaningful Name being in effect, there aren't any more.
- Starter Villains
- Unstoppable Rage: Another by-product of Black Waltz 3's breakdown.
- Villainous Breakdown: Black Waltz 3, and how.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: It's implied that one of the reasons behind Black Waltz 3's breakdown is that his magical power became too much for him to handle.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Specifically if her name is Garnet... though this doesn't begin to mean she is safe... The other ladies come after the Waltz enemies are sorted out.
- Played 100% straight with the second Black Waltz 3 fight, he won't attack Garnet similarly to 2 at all but this is to the point that if Garnet is the only opponent left the AI will literally start hitting itself with no special event like the 2 encounter. The only way the player could lose this battle is if THEY knock out Garnet first.
- Waltz 2 reveals if Garnet is the last one alive for an extended period that while he won't attack her that doesn't mean he won't exactly leave her alone...
- You Are Number Six
Lani[]
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"I'm sure you didn't hire me for my manners." |
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Hired by Queen Brahne at the same time as Amarant, Lani would end up walking a different path when she found her methods disagreeable.
- Ambiguously Brown
- An Axe to Grind
- Arrogant Kung Fu Chick
- Berserk Button: Lani starts out focusing her attacks on Dagger. If you physically attack her though, she'll fly into a rage and shift her attacks to whoever struck her.
- Boisterous Bruiser
- Boobs of Steel: She is more physically oriented than most of the girls the player could have in the party and her chest reflects this quite well. Even at higher levels most of the girls can't do the physical damage Lani can.
- Companion Cube: "My axe is pleased to hear this."
- Enemy Scan: Lani is one of the rare enemies in the Final Fantasy series where she will use Scan on your party. She changes her tactics a bit after seeing info on a party member she scanned.
- Fiery Redhead
- Foil: She is this to the Black Waltzes, specifically 3. Black Waltz 3 will not attack Garnet to the point he will literally kill himself in the final battle you fight him if Garnet is the final enemy. Lani not only can target Garnet but she specifically targets the princess until she is dead.
- Foreshadowing: You can spot her name in the Business District inn guestbook, and later on, the leaderboard during the Lindblum Hunting Festival in Disc 1.
- Hair Decorations: A bandana with a feather on it.
- Ms. Fanservice: With large breasts and obligatory Cleavage Window. And bonus of Bare Your Midriff.
- Redemption Earns Life
Necron[]
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"You stand before the final dimension, and I am the darkness of eternity..." |
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The final boss of the game, Necron is a dark being of immense power and symbolic (at best) relation to the plot.
- As Long as There Is Evil
- Bigger Bad
- Dub Name Change: His Japanese name was the Darkness of Eternity.
- Eldritch Abomination
- Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Hoo boy. This trope could easily have been called "The Necron", but that may have caused some confusion.
- Graceful Loser: Necron doesn't really mind his defeat. After all, he is eternal...
- That One Attack: Grand Cross doesn't do damage in the traditional sense but could inflict every status available to your party. This involves death and zombie which makes reviving the affected team mate not easy to revive.
Other Characters[]
Tantalus[]
A stage troupe on the surface, Tantalus is really a band of freelance mercenaries, hired to stage the daring kidnap of Princess Garnet during their feature presentation of the world famous play "I Want To Be Your Canary".
- And I Must Scream: Blank, along with the whole Evil Forest.
- The Artful Dodger: Blank and Zidane, at the very least, are implied to have been this in their younger days.
- Artificial Limbs: Benero and Zenero's robot hands.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Baku is big and loud, be it fighting or otherwise.
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: Baku's a Dragon Headed Drill Sergeant Nasty.
- Butt Monkey: Cinna exists to be humiliated.
- Cool Ship: The Prima Vista, which was Too Cool to Live.
- Cute Little Fangs: Marcus.
- Easily Forgiven: Zidane is technically kicked out of Tantalus in Disc 1, but later says "it isn't the first time I left" (we learn more about that in Disc 2).
- The Faceless: See Those Two Guys below.
- The Fagin: It's heavily implied that Baku is one of these. He is outright stated to have taken in Zidane and raised him to pickpocket, burgle and perform classical theater with the best of them.
- Five-Man Band:
- The Hero: Zidane, sometimes Blank.
- The Big Guy: Baku.
- The Lancer: Marcus and Blank.
- The Smart Guy: Blank and Cinna.
- The Chick: Ruby, maybe Zidane.
- Those Two Guys: Benero and Zenero, two gas-mask-wearing heavy-lifters for Tantalus.
- Gentleman Thieves: Except for Ruby, who is, in fact, a woman.
- Girly Run: Ruby beats out Garnet by a mile.
- Guest Star Party Member: Blank, Marcus and Cinna.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Blank.
- Hidden Depths
- Hidden Eyes: Blank and Marcus, and some of those musicians.
- Homage:
- Blank not only has Black Jack's scars, but even develops a cure for the seed-infection that hits Zidane and some others.
- Let's not forget the musicians. Someone at Square obviously watched that ship movie.
- Loveable Rogues: Every mother's son (and daughter) of 'em.
- My Hero Zero: Blank, in a way.
- Nakama
- Neighborhood Friendly Gangsters: They even help rebuild the Lindblum theater district after the blitz!
- No Name Given: The musicians (the box office guy in Alexandria does mention that Tantalus performs "with accompaniment by Lav Layderce", which could refer to the composer, the conductor, the whole band, anything).
- Petting Zoo People: Baku and some of the musicians. Benero and Zenero resemble the blue tapir civilians despite their masks.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Other than the swashbuckling kidnapping attempt that kicks off the game and the performance at the end, Tantalus doesn't really seem to do much in the way of thieving or performing. They mostly loiter around various towns and occasionally show up to be useful to their old buddy Zidane. To be fair, they spend the first half of the game trying to depetrify Blank, but still. Does stealing from monsters even count? What was a Mu going to do with 157 gil and a bottle of Eye Drops?
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits
- Real Men Wear Pink:
- Pay close attention, Baku has a bright red bow in his hair.
- Arguably the entire premise of Tantalus as a theater group.
- Running Gag: Baku sneezing loudly every time he appears. And not in the well-known anime context of someone talking behind his back, just... so he can sneeze loudly every time he appears, pretty much.
- Satisfied Street Rat: If any member of Tantalus starts telling you a fascinating sob story about their tragic childhood, stay alert and watch your wallet. These guys make no bones about loving their lifestyle.
- Scars Are Forever: Blank, and not just on his face.
- Shoo the Dog: See Easily Forgiven above: Baku turns Zidane away in Disc 3 because of his Heroic BSOD.
- Southern Belle: Ruby affects this in her accent and fashion sense despite there being no equivalent to the American Deep South in this game.
- Tattooed Crook: Marcus, with Tron Lines on his arms, either fancies himself as one or used to be one for real.
- Team Chef: Cinna.
- Team Dad: Baku is technically the father of the entire trope (sans blood) because he raised them.
- There Is Another: Played for laughs. Benero and Zenero meet up with a third twin Genero in Disc 3. Which would, y'know, make them triplets. And if you meet them as Zidane, you can challenge them to a Shell Game using themselves.
- Tough Love: Baku will beat you cross-eyed if you try to sass him. And then you'll have a good guffaw together and he'll tell you he likes your spirit.
- Vanity Licence Plate: Variant: the first FMV spends a lot of time around the Prima Vista's seated-mermaid bowsprit.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Keep up with Mognet, and you'll get letters from Ruby all the way back in Alexandria.
Regent Cid Fabul IX[]
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"No amount of hardship can tear our two countries apart." |
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The monarch of Lindblum, the only country anywhere near as powerful as Alexandria, Cid is a peaceful but proactive ruler. He hires the Tantalus bandits to kidnap Garnet, which leads directly to the beginning of the game.
- Badass Mustache: Immune to any amount of transformation magic (see below).
- Baleful Polymorph: Transformed into an oglop (by his wife Hilda), and later, after an unsuccessful attempt for a cure, a frog. Doesn't stop him from ruling his country though.
- Expy: The Cid of the game.
- Gadgeteer Genius: A trait common with most Cids of Final Fantasy. So, not surprising at all. Part of the plot involves getting him back into human form because being an oglop, and later a frog, messes with his mind and keeps him from exercising his full potential as an airship engineer/designer.
- Guest Star Party Member: At one point, you have to use him (briefly, fortunately enough...), but he won't fight in battle.
- Mythology Gag: He's the 9th Cid.
- Really Gets Around: It's hinted that he was always a womanizer, but his wife only found out of one of his mistresses.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: He accompanies Zidane and company for part of their journey, and he also designs the airship they travel on later in the game. In fact, he actually rescues half of the party from a deathtrap during their imprisonment in Kuja's desert castle. Personally. While still in frog-form. Later on, he helps lead the armada of airships—almost all of which he designed and his country built—against the horde of silver dragons that Kuja sent after the party en route to the final dungeon.
- Shout-Out: Fabul... What kingdom do we know by that name?
Dr. Tot[]
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Eiko: He looks pretty smart. Hey, you look like the bookish type! |
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A former loyal servant of Queen Brahne, Dr. Tot left Alexandria years ago to do research. The heroes meet up with him again in Treno, when they need a Supersoft and a way back to Alexandria.
- Eccentric Mentor: Tot's a smart guy, but get him started on a subject that interests him, and he'll fly off into his own little world.
- Intergenerational Friendship: With Eiko.
- The Last DJ: Chose to leave Alexandria when Kuja started influencing Brahne's rule.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: That hat makes up a quarter of his height.
- Mr. Exposition: He provides a lot of information on the backstory of the setting and some of the characters, including the the truth behind Garnet's adoption.
- Parental Substitute: Dr. Tot provides both emotional support and material aid to Garnet during Disks 2 and 3. He also helps Eiko write a love letter to Zidane.
- The Smart Guy: Dr. Tot tutored a young Garnet, and is also an accomplished writer, historian and astronomer. He also apparently has some medical training, given that he mixed a potion that was meant to cure Cid of his being turned into an oglop. In fact, all it did was turn him into a frog, but in Dr. Tot's defense he wasn't sure if the remedy was going to work anyway.
Puck[]
A bratty Burmecian kid who's known to pop up at the most random moments, his first act of significance was making Vivi his personal Butt Monkey. Secretly the prince of Burmecia.
- The Artful Dodger
- Bratty Half-Pint
- Chekhov's Gunman
- Keet
- Rebel Prince
- Running Gag: Runs over Vivi every time he shows up.
- Walking the Earth
Sir Fratley[]
A Dragon Knight of Burmecia and one of the few to match Freya's level, Fratley left Burmecia in search of greater challenges... but when Freya finally found him...
- Badass: Very quickly demonstrated when he makes his...
- Big Damn Heroes: His return to Cleyra.
- Blade on a Stick
- Laser-Guided Amnesia
- Nice Hat
Mikoto[]
The least apathetic of the Genomes of Bran Bal, Mikoto welcomes the heroes to Terra and shows them the way to Pandemonium, Garland's fortress. She was created to be a Grim Reaper replacement to Zidane, just as Zidane was made to replace Kuja. Thus, she's the third Genome to possess a soul, and the only one left at Bran Bal.
- Artificial Human: Like her whole race.
- Emotionless Girl: The reasons why are a bit ambiguous. Either Garland was going to give her a soul but never got around to it (he was waiting for Kuja to die), or he gave her a soul, and therefore she's capable of emotions, but because she grew up exclusively around other Genomes, she has no clue how to use them.
- Expy: She's pretty much Rei Ayanami with a dye job and a tail implant.
- Ms. Exposition: Her initial role when the gang first arrives in Bran Bal.
- Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Terrans as a whole.
- Sugar and Ice Personality: Her personality flares up however when Zidane refers to her as his little sister.
Stiltzkin[]
A minor celebrity of sorts among moogles, Stiltzkin is on a worldwide backpacking trip, bringing him conveniently to the same locations as your heroes on occasion.
- The Gump: The game seems to be setting him up as this.
- Perpetual Poverty: Hinted at: he'll offer you items for a price to fund his trip.
- Recurring Traveller
- Walking the Earth
Alleyway Jack[]
Little more than a small-time crook, Alleyway Jack relies on quick schemes and staying on the move for a living. There's more to him than that, of course...
- Foreshadowing: His multiple arms are a rather subtle example, given his true identity.
- Hidden Eyes
- I Have Many Names: His real name is Gilgamesh. Yes, we mean that Gilgamesh.
- Kick the Dog: Pickpockets your characters on at least one occasion.
- Leeroy Jenkins: His tough-guy act is a response to his being bullied for having four arms. But an act is all it is: he nearly craps himself with fear when he realizes that he's trying to pick a fight with Amarant. Steiner and Quina, the comic relief characters, also intimidate him at different points during the game.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Minus the dangerous part.
- Mythology Gag: A living, breathing one.
- Oh Crap: Nearly soils himself with fear when he realizes that he's trying to pick a fight with Amarant.
- Pet the Dog: Gotten out of the way early on, as he provides your first Tetra Master tutorial.
- Recurring Traveller
- Too Many Belts
- Walking the Earth
- Back to Final Fantasy IX