Summary
With sixteen mainline games and a seemingly never-ending supply of spinoffs,Final Fantasyhas had a lot of characters over the years. Many of them are great, like Zidane fromFinal Fantasy 9. He shines as a protagonist thanks to his charm, and sky pirates are just a cool archetype in RPGs.
Sometimes even the best characters fall from grace though. They may betray the party because ofbrainwashing. They might have been evil the whole time, or there is a litany of other reasons why a character may suddenly change their motives. Let’s take a look at the fallenFinal Fantasyheroes who have suffered temporary or full twists to their character due to the influence of someone or something else.
Almais the sister of the main character, Ramza, inFinal Fantasy Tactics. She is an innocent who keeps getting kidnapped by a heretical church who thinks she is the second coming of their Saint, Ajora. Eventually, the Church goes through with their plan and gets Alma near the end of the game.
Once captured, her body is used as a host for Ajora or, as it is also known, Ultima. Alma technically isn’t in control here, but her soul is used for the final battle. It’s one of the toughest fights in the game and even in victory, there is some sadness in the outcome.
Cliveis the main character ofFinal Fantasy 16, and he suffers tragedy in the prologue. His kingdom falls to ashes, his father and brother die, and his mother sells him into slavery. The culprit behind his brother’s death is a man who took the form of Ifrit.
The twist is that the soul of Ifrit possesses Clive, but he has no memory of it. The experience was so traumatic that Clive had an out-of-body experience and tricked himself into believing that Ifrit was someone else. Eventually, Clive breaks through and harnesses Ifrit of his own free will. It’s a cool example of a character being able to overcome his darkness to use it for good.
Cloudhad a bit of brainwashing going on in the originalFinal Fantasy 7,but that was increased in the second remake,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Sephiroth appeared before Cloud to mess with his mind, making him primarily think that Tifa wasn’t real. This all came to a head in Chapter 9 when Cloud was fully possessed and tried to kill Tifa.
Thankfully, Tifa survived the assault, and Sephiroth’s spell on Cloud was vanquished. Unfortunately, Sephiroth goes after another girl, Aerith, and by the end of the game, Cloud still thinks she is alive, but it’s probably Sephiroth again.
Edeawas set up from the beginning as the main antagonist ofFinal Fantasy 8. She was an evil witch who was controlling a nation and the military school, Balamb Garden, was tasked with taking her down. Edea was being manipulated by another witch though, Ultimecia, who used time and mind control not just on Edea, but most main characters in the game.
Characters like Squall forgot Edea used to take care of him in an orphanage. Thankfully, Edea gets a second chance in the end after all the confusion has left her mind. To a lesser extent, Seifer fits in here as well, who Edea manipulated into being her bodyguard.
Golbezis another main villain who was set up by a higher power. He’s fromFinal Fantasy 4,and he was being controlled by an entity known as Zemus. Like Edea and Seifer, Golbez used his influence to control a party member, Kain, and make them betray the group.
Bigger than those twists is the fact that Golbez is Cecil’s brother, and that they are both moon children. Golbez does die in the end, but he can help Cecil one last time before moving on to the great beyond, thus redeeming his character a bit even after all of his atrocities.
Neonis fromStranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, andshe eventually becomes one of the party members. She’s the only female party member of the four Light Warriors. The game begins with Jack and his two comrades going after Garland, the fabled knight of the realm who went wild because of Chaos.
After the fight, it is revealed Neon was in Garland’s suit of armor the entire time and being controlled by Chaos. Chaos is the main villain of the game, or at least the concept of chaos is. Once Neon is freed from Chaos' influence, she is able to join the party and aid them in their fight.
Queen Brahneis fromFinal Fantasy 9and the Queen of Alexandria. She is introduced as a power-hungry dictator who keeps going after other kingdoms to feed her never-ending greed. This leads to the near extinction of a rat race of people, let alone the destruction and deaths of countless other lives, human or otherwise.
It’s a trope in the series, but Queen Brahne is being controlled by Kuja, who is Zidane’s brother. They both came from the same planet, but Kuja doesn’t want peace, unlike Zidane. Furthermore, Kuja is also being controlled, or at least influenced by, a being known as Necron. Queen Brahne, in death, sees the error of her ways and has a touching moment with her adopted daughter, Garnet, one last time, as does Zidane with Kuja in the final conflict.
