Ultimecia - FF8

"Reflect on your...Childhood...Your sensation...Your words...Your emotions...Time...It will not wait...No matter...how hard you hold on. It escapes you...And...I...can't...disappear yet." —Ultimecia

Ultimecia (Arutimishia in Japanese, Artemisia in Italian, and Artemisa in Spanish) is the primary antagonist of Final Fantasy VIII. A Sorceress from a future many generations ahead of the game's time, Ultimecia intended to compress time into one single moment. She used the Junction Machine Ellone to transfer her mind into a Sorceress of the past--Edea Kramer--and controlled the said Sorceress to enact her plan. In the final battle, she is involved in phases one, three and four, in phase two Squall and the party fight her Guardian Force, Griever.

Ultimecia's history is not explicitly described throughout the course of the game, and her motivations are unclear, as are the reasons for her seemingly pathological hatred of all SeeDs. For this reason, many fans do not hold Ultimecia in high regard, seeing her as little more than a stereotypical foil for the main characters of the game. Many have also ridiculed her vocal mannerisms: in the English language localization of the game, Ultimecia speaks words normally spelled with a hard "C" with a "K," which seems to hint at an accent.

Story
Ultimecia spends the entirety of the first disk within Edea, manipulating her from the distant future to achieve her goal of Time Compression. Having possessed Edea at an uncertain date before the beginning of the game, Ultimecia then used Edea to infiltrate the Galbadian government, quickly rising through the bureaucracy until she was appointed Ambassador of Galbadia by President Vinzer Deling himself.

Once she became the Ambassador of Galbadia, Deling went to Timber to make a live broadcast across the globe announcing her appointment thereof. At Timber, however, Deling was taken hostage and nearly killed by Seifer Almasy, a renegade SeeD cadet. Due to a slip of the tongue by Zell Dincht, which revealed in front of the still-rolling cameras that Seifer was from Garden, Seifer was unable to finish off Deling, and was forced to make a break for it instead.

At this moment, however, Ultimecia (still in Edea's body) emerged from the shadows of the room due to a magical teleportation. Wearing a mask that concealed her face, she spoke to Seifer, using her powers to prevent first Quistis Trepe, then Squall and Zell from approaching them. She charmed Seifer, making the effort to win him over by offering him her assistance in saving him from the "predicament" he now found himself in; by the time she was done, Seifer was completely on her side, and willingly allowed her to teleport him away back to Galbadia.

Although it was publicly announced that Seifer would be executed for attempting to kill the President, this did not happen. Instead, Ultimecia made Seifer into her Sorceress Knight, making him into her personal guardian. It is unknown whether Deling knew about this, as he continued to publicize having Edea/Ultimecia as his ambassador, planning a glittering parade in Deling City in her honor not long after the attempt on his life.

Ultimecia had her own plans for the parade, however. Just before it began, Rinoa Heartilly attempted to trick Edea/Ultimecia into taking an Odine bangle that would seal away her Sorceress Power. Ultimecia, recognizing the bangle for what it was (and possibly even recognizing Rinoa as one of the people destined to defeat her), telekinetically beat Rinoa senseless and then took control of her body with her powers. Leading Rinoa behind her like a senseless marionette, Ultimecia ascended the podium to give her introductory speech to Galbadia--a speech of hatred for the people who would create the generations that in the future would condemn Ultimecia herself--and ended it by stabbing Vinzer Deling through the chest with her bare hand.

Throwing Deling's motionless corpse carelessly behind her, Edea/Ultimecia then brought two Iguion statues on the side of the Arch of Triumph to life and ordered them to devour Rinoa as a sacrifice for the celebration. Leaving Rinoa to her fate, Edea/Ultimecia then boarded her glowing parade float and glided out into the street parade.

As she passed beneath the Arch of Triumph, however, the Sorceress found herself in the middle of a second trick, this one not an attempt on her powers, but on her life. Only moments later, the sniper Irvine Kinneas shot a bullet at her from the top of the Galbadian clock tower. Ultimecia blocked the bullet with a kinetic forcefield, then confronted Squall, Irvine, and Rinoa--who had been rescued from her near-certain death by the other two--herself. When she found herself defeated, Ultimecia tapped into Edea's powers of ice and used her Ice Strike Limit Break to stab Squall through the chest, nearly killing him as well.

However, instead of finishing the job then and there, Ultimecia allowed Seifer to take Squall in for questioning about SeeD's goals and plans, and pronounced herself ruler of Galbadia. As Galbadia's new dictator, she declared Garden to be her enemy for their attempt on her life, and ordered that missiles be aimed at both Balamb and Trabia Garden. Although Balamb Garden was able to avoid the missiles thanks to Squall, who had managed to escape from imprisonment, Trabia Garden was not so lucky.

Because Balamb Garden still remained intact, Ultimecia took control of Galbadia Garden and attacked Balamb directly, resulting in the Battle of the Gardens. Unfortunately for her, Squall led his allies into Galbadia Garden and confronted Edea/Ultimecia in the Garden Auditorium. When Edea was defeated for a second time, she managed to fight free of Ultimecia's control and banish her from her body.

With Edea freed of her control, Ultimecia was forced to possess another Sorceress. She chose Rinoa, who had received Edea's powers following her defeat, and used her to revive Seifer; with this accomplished, Ultimecia then forced her new host into a coma. Her reasons for doing this are unclear, but most likely she wanted to ensure that she could remain in Rinoa until she could achieve her true goal: reaching the mysterious girl Ellone, who had the power to send another's consciousness back into the past. Ellone's power had been used to create the Junction Machine Ellone, which Ultimecia was using in her time in order to reach back to Squall and Edea's time, but the Junction Machine could only go back so far. Ultimecia needed Ellone in order to go back farther still and cast the spell that would cause Time Compression at last.

Ultimecia lay low in the comatose Rinoa until the opportunity came for her to release the Sorceress Adel from her prison up in space, at which point she abandoned Rinoa and possessed Adel instead. Her faithful confederate, Seifer, took control of the Lunatic Pandora and caused the Lunar Cry that brought Adel's Tomb down to earth, and then managed to find and capture Ellone and bring her to the Pandora for Ultimecia's use.
Squall and his teammates managed to defeat Adel, and, knowing that Ultimecia had Ellone within her grasp, quickly hatched a plan with the scientist Dr. Odine. Rinoa had just received Adel's Sorceress Power, leaving Rinoa as the only Sorceress of this era. Ultimecia would therefore be forced to repossess Rinoa in order to get at Ellone. Ellone could then send Rinoa/Ultimecia back into the past, allowing Ultimecia to cast Time Compression, and then bring their consciousnesses back immediately, halting the spell partway.

Although time would then begin to compress, Squall could use this partial compression to enter Ultimecia's future and defeat her once and for all.

The plan worked perfectly, and Squall and Rinoa managed to broach Ultimecia Castle and confront the evil Sorceress. Upon her defeat, time began to uncompress, and Ultimecia fell through the time warp she had created, reappearing in Edea's Orphanage thirteen years before Final Fantasy VIII had begun. She tried vainly to live, but she was too weak; all she could do was pass her Power to the Edea of the past, just before her death.

Ultimecia's Abilities
Ultimecia is one of the most powerful Sorceresses in the game. As possibly the last remaining Sorceress of her time, she bears the combined Sorceress Power of every Sorceress to ever exist, meaning that within her body she holds the entire half of the Great Hyne that he granted to mankind at the beginning of the universe. Because of this, she has an inconceivable amount of magical power.

Although Ultimecia has the Power of every Sorceress that has ever lived, her own personal Sorceress Power seems to focus on space and time. She is prone to casting spells that involve bending space, such as Bio, Quake, and Meteor; she can absorb fallen party members into time in the battle against her; and of course, her goal revolves around the casting of Time Compression, which naturally involves the bending of all time and space. She furthermore seems able to manipulate either time or space so that she can summon a Guardian Force permanently to the battlefield, as opposed to temporarily as every other character in Final Fantasy VIII must do. When she summons Griever at the end of the game, she is able to keep him there long enough for him to be fought like a normal boss, as opposed to just summoning him long enough for one Shockwave Pulsar (his ultimate attack).

Mentioning Griever also brings up another incredible power of Ultimecia's; she actually has the ability to create Guardian Forces. She pulled Griever from Squall's own mind, finding him to be Squall's conception of the most powerful force that could exist and thus bringing him to life to battle against Squall himself; Griever did not exist as a Guardian Force until that moment, when he was given life by Ultimecia's powers. This brings up the question as to whether or not all GFs were indeed created by Sorceresses at some point in time.

Ultimecia is also able to Junction people as if they were Guardian Forces, an ability she shares with no other character in the game. While possessing Adel, she Junctions Rinoa to Adel's body in order to use her as a human shield and a power source for Adel's spells; at the end of the game, after Griever has been defeated, she Junctions herself to him, instead of the other way around, resulting in a bizarre hybrid between the two. This presumably falls under the category of a spatial bending, which would certainly be within the scope of her powers if they do indeed involve space and time.

On top of all this, Ultimecia has the most sophisticated mind-reading ability of any Sorceress in the game. Presumably this also stems from her power over space, allowing her to "reach" inside another person's brain to steal thoughts, knowledge, and even magic. When battling Ultimecia, she has the ability to completely destroy one character's stock of magic; a further demonstration of her power.

Sephiroth - FF7

"I am the chosen one. I have been chosen to be the leader of this Planet." —Sephiroth

Sephiroth is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VII, and one of the major villains of it's extended universe. A prototype SOLDIER and the strongest alive, Sephiroth is initially feared and respected for his strength, until he learns and misinterprets his origins. Believing himself as the last of the Ancients, Sephiroth enacts a vendetta against mankind, with the ultimate goal of becoming a god and controlling the planet. Sephiroth's goal later turns to defeating Cloud Strife, who has bested him on numerous occassions.

Sephiroth is arguably the most popular villain of the Final Fantasy series - his appearance, name and musical theme are all highly praised among fans and he has appeared in many spin-off titles. He is also consistently voted as one of the top video game villains in polls and lists on video game websites, such as GameSpot and IGN.

In Japan, Sephiroth's voice was provided by seiyuu Shinichiro Miki in Ehrgeiz and Toshiyuki Morikawa in Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts II. In the English version of Kingdom Hearts, his voice was provided by Lance Bass of *NSYNC fame, a decision that was received negatively by some fans. In the English version of Advent Children, Crisis Core and Kingdom Hearts II, he is voiced by George Newbern.

Story
Sephiroth's early designs were done by Yoshitaka Amano and later refined by Tetsuya Nomura. Sephiroth, in all his appearances, wears a long black coat with silver pauldrons, black boots and black clothing underneath. The top of his clothing underneath his uniform is split to reveal his chest, covered by crossing leather straps. Beyond his clothing, Sephiroth is known for his green cat-like eyes, his long silver hair and the Masamune, his six-foot long katana that he is rarely seen without. Sephiroth's typical battle stance with the sword is to hold it over his left shoulder, curving downwards. He wields the Masamune two-handed, presumably to increase the force of his strikes, as he is perfectly capable of using it with one hand.

This appearance has been noted to parallel Satan - some texts describe Satan as a man in a dark cloak, which is also referenced in one of Sephiroth's musical themes, "Chasing the Man in the Black Cape". Sephiroth is left-handed, another attribute that has been associated with evil, the word "sinister" being derived from the Latin word sinistral, meaning "left-handed". Beginning with the Kingdom Hearts series and carrying over to Advent Children, Sephiroth bears a large, black feathered wing over his right shoulder, another allusion to Satan, who was a fallen angel. Although how Sephiroth manifests his wing is not explained, it is shown in Crisis Core that both Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos possess similar wings. Thus, Sephiroth's wing may just be a result of his high exposure to Mako or Jenova cells, although this does not explain why he does not have the wing when first shown in Final Fantasy VII.

In the "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII", Sephiroth's uniform basically remains the same as in Final Fantasy VII, but now his coat has several buckles instead of just one and the traditional "SOLDIER" symbol in his belt is replaced by the new one, which was redesigned for the Compilation. In Advent Children, Sephiroth's hair was animated by hand to make sure it looked as real as possible, and he was given an otherworldly appearance with, as Nomura stated, "an attractive nose and thin lips. It's a face you'd never see in real life". In the Kingdom Hearts series, Sephiroth retains his core design of silver hair and a black cloak, but his clothing is now given red linings, his cloak has changed shape slightly, and he bears his black wing over his right shoulder. In Dissidia, Sephiroth's design is identical to his Final Fantasy VII design, but his pauldrons are changed to resemble Amano's artwork and his coat is closed by a belt as in Nomura's design.

In the final battle with Sephiroth at the end of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth manifests as a bizarre angelic creature called Safer Sephiroth. Although the symbolism behind this is subject to interpretation, it has greatly influenced Sephiroth's appearance in later titles as noted above. Sephiroth in this form has a tanned humanoid torso atop a cloud-like platform with six large, luminescent white wings. Sephiroth's right arm has morphed into a dark violet wing, which he uses to attack, while his left arm remains human. Six golden rings, in the shape of the Celestial Rose, circle behind his head, giving the appearance of a halo. This design may have also been a factor in Sephiroth's iconic black wing due to this appearance as a "One-Winged Angel"(see below).

Battle
Main article: Sephiroth (Boss)
Sephiroth is fought in the original Final Fantasy VII in the Lifestream as a scripted Final Boss of the game. He fights a one on one duel with Cloud. Before those are two non-scripted battles against his "pupua" form, Bizarro Sephiroth and his "God" form Safer Sephiroth. He is fought as in Crisis Core twice and can be challenged again in Missions. Sephiroth's DMW is Octaslash.

Trivia

• Many aspects of the final battle with Sephiroth are reused from Final Fantasy VI for the battle with Kefka. Both bosses use Havoc Wing, Heartless Angel, and take on the appearance of angels with dark wings among a backdrop of clouds.

Cecil Harvey - FF4

"I'm a coward. A coward who cannot even defy orders he knows he ought not follow."—Cecil

Lord Captain Cecil Harvey is the protagonist of Final Fantasy IV. He is one of the few characters in the series that changes his job during the course of the game. He starts out as a Dark Knight, but at a certain point in the game, he transforms into a Paladin.

Story
Cecil was born to a Lunarian named Kluya and Cecilia from Earth. Cecil's father was killed before he was born, and his mother died in labor. His brother Theodor then ran away with him, but abandoned him outside Baron. The King eventually found him and named him Cecil, since he resembled his late mother.

Cecil was raised by the king, which initially caused some friction between him and the young Dragoon called Kain Highwind. Kain thought that Cecil got too much special treatment from the king, and wanted to fight him. However, a young girl called Rosa broke the two of them up. The three of them eventually grew up and became friends.

The story opens with Cecil commanding a raid on the city of Mysidia in order to steal the Crystal of Water for the king. He succeeds, but he and his crew become suspicious of the king. They wonder whether or not robbing national treasures from innocent people is right. However, Cecil reminds his crew that they are the Red Wings, and must represent Baron at all times. When Cecil returns to the castle, Baigan, the captain of the guards of Baron, notices something strange about Cecil, and takes Cecil to meet the king. Cecil hands over the crystal, and is appalled when the king does not even thank him. As a result, Cecil complains to the king that he and his crew do not understand the reasons for robbing crystals from innocent people. As a result, the king discharges him from the captainship of the Red Wings, and orders him to hunt Summoned Monsters in the Misty Valley, and to deliver a ring known as the Carnelian Signet to the village of Mist. Kain comes to Cecil's defense, but to no avail, as the king simply orders him to accompany Cecil. That night, Rosa comes to Cecil's room to show him her sympathy. However, Cecil is upset because he is torn between doing what he believes in and doing what the king orders. He swears that he will never perform another act of evil on behalf of Baron. He also states that despite the fact that he loves Rosa, he knows that they can ever be together because of his profession as a Dark Knight.

Equipment and Stats
As a Dark Knight, Cecil's stats are heavily weighted physically, and he has barely any Magic Defense. He can only equip special swords, shields, and armor designed specifically for Dark Knights. His weapons are ineffective against Zombies, Ghouls, Revenants, and Skullnants. His most powerful Dark Sword, the Deathbringer, inflicts instant death on his opponents.

Once Cecil becomes a Paladin, his stats increase, especially in Magic Defense. It should be noted that a level 1 Paladin Cecil has 600 HP, which is a lot more than a level 20 Dark Knight Cecil. He can now equip most any weapon that isn't a class-specific weapon, including swords, knives and axes. Cecil can also equip most shields, hats, helmets, armor, tunics, rings, and gloves, not to mention, if he proves himself worthy in his Lunar Trial, he can obtain the almighty Lightbringer.

Abilities
As a Dark Knight, Cecil uses the Darkness ability, which damages all opponents. Cecil takes a small amount of damage whenever he uses this attack. In the DS version, the "Darkness" ability is a positive status effect that increases the amount of damage caused by a regular attack.

Once Cecil becomes a Paladin, he can use the Cover ability, which allows him to take physical damage in the place of an ally. Cecil automatically uses this ability to protect any ally whose HP is low. He can also use some basic White Magic. The spells he can use are as follows.

• Cure
• Sight
• Libra
• Cura
• Teleport
• Esuna

In the DS version, Cecil learns the three following spells as well as those above.

• Raise
• Protect
• Shell

In either class Cecil's focus is dealing out physical damage. However, he becomes far more powerful when he becomes a paladin.

Vaan - FF XII

"One of these days I’ll fly an airship of my own. I’ll be a sky pirate, free to go where I will." —Vaan

Vaan is a player character in Final Fantasy XII. He's the protagonist, but unlike previous games, he is not the main focus of the story. Instead, the story is simply told from his point-of-view. He appears to be a young, well-built and muscled teenager.

Story
Vaan had a rough life. Growing up in Rabanastre, his parents were killed during a plague five years before the story's main events. Afterwards, his brother Reks took care of him, along with Penelo and her family.

Then, during the Archadian occupation, Reks signed up as a Light Infantry soldier, and was sent into Nalbina Fortress, during the counter-attack led by the Insurgency. His squadron was led by Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg. Reks was fatally wounded by Basch (or at least a Basch look-alike) during the counter-attack, forcing Vaan to take care of him in his final moments of life. All Reks could really say was how Basch betrayed them, causing Vaan to hate Basch.

Penelo's parents were also killed during a small scale raid of Rabanastre. As such, Vaan was forced to live in Lowtown with Penelo. He dreamed of being a sky pirate, slaying rats in the Garamsythe Waterway as training. Because of this, Vaan gained the nickname "Vaan Ratsbane" from Old Dalan.

When Vayne Solidor was given the title of consul of Dalmasca, Vaan decided that it was the best time to sneak into the palace during a fete and steal things that once belonged to Dalmasca. During his raid, he found the Goddess' Magicite, and ran into sky pirates Balthier and Fran, who demanded that he hand over the object. However, Vaan refused, and managed to run from them when the attack on the palace began. However, he was cornered by Balthier and Fran outside, and when the Ifrit showed up, Balthier threw him over a ledge onto Fran's hovercraft.

When the hover crashed into the Garamsythe Waterway, Vaan was forced to join up with Balthier and Fran to escape. Eventually, they encountered the Resistance fighter Amalia and joined up with her, too. However, upon reaching the exit of the Waterway, they were surrounded by Vayne and a battalion of Archadian soldiers.

Imprisoned in the Nalbina Dungeon, Vaan got into a fight with three Seeq dungeon masters, and with the help of Balthier and Fran, managed to find an exit. At the exit, they found Captain Basch chained up. Upon hearing that Basch wanted freedom "for Dalmasca", Vaan snapped and started to scream at the chained man. This attracted the guards, which in turn forced Fran to release Basch's cage. At the bottom of the pit, Vaan went insane with rage and attacked Basch, only to be stopped by Balthier.
Vaan as he appears in Revenant Wings.

Halfway through the Barheim Passage, Basch explained his story to the others, about how it was his twin brother, Noah fon Ronsenburg – better known as Judge Gabranth – who killed Reks and King Raminas.

Back in Dalmasca, Vaan parted with the others to report his adventure to Old Dalan. Dalan was impressed, and gave Vaan a sword to deliver to a Resistance member, Vossler Azelas. At the Resistance base in Lowtown, Vaan found Vossler disrespecting the people who were at the Nalbina counter-attack, including Reks. Angered by this, he yelled out that Reks was no liar, which Basch – who had just walked into the room – agreed with, stating that Reks was the witness needed to make it appear Basch turned traiter.

After the meeting, Basch asked if he could go with Vaan, since he needed to find Balthier. On their way, Basch apologizes to Vaan – but Vaan said that he didn't need to, having let go of his hatred for the disgraced soldier, after realizing Reks' story of Basch's betrayal was Vayne's intent. After finding Balthier in the Sand Sea, Migelo was demanding that he look for Penelo, who had been kidnapped. Balthier reluctantly agreed to take Vaan to Bhujerba to help find her, since the kidnapping was intended to bring him out.

At Bhujerba, the party meet Lamont, a well-spoken young Archadian boy, and went to the Lhusu Mines to free Penelo. Here, they fought the Bangaa bounty hunter Ba'Gamnan, who had already let Penelo free. They also found out that Lamont was really Larsa Solidor, brother of Vayne, who found Penelo outside the mines, and took her with him.

Onboard the Dreadnought Leviathan, they found Amalia – who is revealed to be Princess Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca – and Vaan finally reunited with Penelo. He then traveled with the party for the rest of the story, generally stayed in the background, gave advice and commented on the things they saw.

One thing of note was Vaan's shock when he discovered the longevity of the Viera, and he starts to stammer with surprise, ending with him ignoring etiquette to ask Fran her age.

After the fall of the Sky Fortress Bahamut, Vaan finally got his own airship and becomes a sky pirate with Penelo.

Tidus - FFX

"Listen to my story. This...may be our last chance."—Tidus

Tidus is the main character in Final Fantasy X. As the leading character, the player controls Tidus through the world based in the game (apart from one instance, in which Yuna is controlled), manipulating his actions through the unfolding storyline in true traditional Final Fantasy style.

Story
The storyline of Final Fantasy X revolves around Tidus, a rising blitzball star player from Zanarkand. After a mysterious creature attacked his hometown, Tidus was transported to the world of Spira. Lost, confused, and seemingly out of place, Tidus meets a newly-fledged summoner, Yuna, and her guardians. The summoner is soon to set out on a pilgrimage in an attempt to put an end to the very creature that destroyed Zanarkand, so by joining them Tidus hopes he will find his way home.

The game starts with an in-game cutscene showing the party around a campfire, backdropped by the wreckage of Zanarkand and Nobuo Uematsu's To Zanarkand playing in the background. Tidus climbs a small hill and looks out over the devastation.

The suggestion that Final Fantasy X is Tidus' story is further enforced by Tidus' first-person narration throughout the game, and is mentioned at various points.

At the beginning of the game, Tidus, an inhabitant of the city of Zanarkand, is about to play blitzball in the Jecht Memorial Cup - a tournament in honor of his lost father, Jecht. Ten years prior to the game Jecht mysteriously disappeared while on a blitzball training expedition out at sea. A successful blitzball player, people would talk about how his skills were unmatched, which left behind pressure on Tidus to match if not surpass his father's skill. Tidus clearly holds Jecht in disdain for this, and for his distance as a father.

During the tournament, Zanarkand is attacked by an immense creature shrouded in water. The city is destroyed in its path, and Tidus manages to escape a similar fate before the blitzball stadium collapses. After falling to the ground and while the destruction still occurs, Tidus sees Auron, an old friend of Jecht and mentor to Tidus. Auron claims he has been waiting for Tidus, and claims the creature is called "Sin". Auron and Tidus fight their way towards Sin, to much confusion on Tidus' part. Once there, Auron drags Tidus into the depths of Sin claiming his story begins here.

Tidus awakens to find himself in the world of Spira, where he quickly runs into the eccentric salvager race, the Al Bhed, and learns from a young Al Bhed girl named Rikku that 1000 years have passed since the destruction of Zanarkand. After another attack by the monstrous Sin (who Rikku says has been a plague on humanity ever since Zanarkand fell), Tidus arrives at Besaid Island. It is here he meets Yuna - a summoner who plans to embark on a pilgrimage to bring about the destruction of Sin. Along with her guardians Lulu, Wakka and Kimahri, Tidus navigates his way throughout Spira in hope of finding his way home. Along the way, Tidus reunites with Auron, who does little to help ease Tidus' confusion. Even Rikku, the Al Bhed who met Tidus previously, also joins the party as a guardian.

Tidus accompanies the party to Luca and the annual Blitzball World Championship. It is here he meets Auron, who offers his services to Yuna, who takes both Auron and Tidus as her guardians. Tidus, of course, has little idea of what is involved by the summoner's pilgrimage. He does know it involves customary visits to shrines, praying to the Fayth and gaining the allegiance of the Aeons under their control, and by eventually summoning the Final Aeon to ultimately defeat Sin. He also knows that Yuna's father, Lord Braska, achieved this ten years ago (with the help of Jecht and Auron), but for some reason Yuna must trace her father's footsteps. Other than that, he has only a cryptic warning from Lulu, who tells him not to fall in love with Yuna, but despite the warning, he does so anyway. Auron later confirms to him, something Tidus had not wanted to admit: that Sin is actually Jecht.

On the group's travels, Tidus gradually wins the respect and friendship of his companions, most notably Rikku and Wakka. However, there always lurks the knowledge that there is something still being held secret from Tidus. Why is Jecht Sin? Why is Sin able to return if it had been defeated ten years previous? Has Jecht been Sin all this time? Why is everyone so sad about the idea of Yuna defeating Sin?

Eventually the truth is revealed: If Yuna summons the Final Aeon, it will destroy Sin - and then the person who summoned it. Yuna will have to sacrifice her life to bring peace to the world - a period of time known as 'the Calm' - only to have Sin return ten years later. As the party approaches Zanarkand, another disquieting fact is revealed: neither Tidus nor Jecht are actually real. They, and the Zanarkand they hail from, are merely dreams of the Fayth, ordered into existence, after the destruction of the real Zanarkand with the formation of Sin. The Fayth want Tidus to defeat Sin permanently, so that they can finally rest. Unfortunately, if he does that, the dream will end and Tidus himself will disappear. However, all is not lost, as the player is left with these words, as said by Bahamut's Fayth: "You have been touched by Sin... you're more than just dreams now." When the party reaches Zanarkand, they are presented with yet another bizarre revelation by Lady Yunalesca, and the last questions are answered: Jecht is Sin because the Final Aeon is dead, and a guardian close to the summoner will have to sacrifice him or herself to become a new one, as Jecht did. Unfortunately, the question of how to defeat Sin/Jecht becomes murkier: he's an Aeon, and now he has become Sin, and Yuna doesn't wish to sacrifice any of her guardians.

Yunalesca becomes dismayed at the party's unwillingness to follow the rites of the pilgrimage and offers to end their suffering through death. A fierce battle ensues, and Yunalesca is defeated. Unfortunately, without Yunalesca, the Final Aeon cannot ever be attained. Summoners will never be able to temporarily defeat Sin again. The party leaves Zanarkand without the Final Aeon, but still determined that there is a way—another way, besides the Final Aeon—to defeat Sin.

The storyline unfolds further to reveal exactly how Jecht became Sin. Sin is actually the protective armor for an entity named Yu Yevon, the ruler of what was once Zanarkand, whose skill in summoning was so great that he could actually possess the aeons he called forth. Every time the current Sin is defeated by a Final Aeon, Yu Yevon simply possesses that Final Aeon, corrupting it, and making it into a new Sin. If Yuna can defeat the current Final Aeon, Yu Yevon will take whatever is nearest to hand—the normal Aeons; they can then be defeated and Yu Yevon left spiritually and ecumenically naked, which is when the party will destroy him.

To do this, they invade the gigantic hulk of Sin's body and encounter within it the man called Jecht, the man who was Braska's Final Aeon. He is defeated, and he urges Yuna to summon her remaining Aeons and defeat Yu Yevon once and for all. The Fayth depart, relieved and thankful... but so must Tidus meet the same fate. As he disincorporates, he apologizes to his friends, bids a tearful farewell to Yuna, and takes a running leap off the deck of the airship. But as he falls into the farplane, he sees the faces and forms of those who have also passed on, and he gives his father a high-five, showing that Tidus has forgiven his father.

Tidus in Battle
Tidus is the classical Warrior character of the party and uses basic Swords and Shields during battle. His stats are fairly normal for an allrounder: he lags behind Auron in terms of strength (explained in the game as being "inexperienced with the sword", if you cast Scan on him) and defense but makes up for it with high Agility and Evasion growth allowing him to easily dispatch the speedier fiends. Tidus begins the game with no commands but will quickly learn the abilities Cheer, Flee, Haste and Delay Attack, which are very helpful in the early battles.

Zidane Tribal - FF9

"You don't need a reason to help people."

Zidane Tribal is the main protagonist mof Final Fantasy IX. He is a thief who works for the Tantalus Theatre Troupe. His Japanese name can be transcribed as "Jitan", "Zitan" or "Yitán" (his Spanish name) depending on what system of transcription one uses to transcribe the katakana, though the pronunciation obviously remains the same.

Story
It is revealed that Zidane began his life as an "Angel of Death" created by Garland. 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, they planned to save their civilization through the assimilation of another planet, Gaia. The people of Terra left their physical bodies and locked their souls in containers to be watched over by Garland, who was given the task of removing the souls of Gaia's "cycle of souls" and replacing them with Terra's. To assist him in this endeavor, 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. 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. This Genome was Zidane.

Kuja, infuriated by Garland's decision to create another, more powerful Genome, immediately deposits Zidane on Gaia. Young Zidane, completely unaware of his mission, ends up in Lindblum where he is raised by Baku as a member of the Tantalus band of thieves and only remembering one thing of his childhood years: a blue light.

Twelve years later, Tantalus arrives at Alexandria on a mission appointed by Lindblum's Regent Cid to kidnap Princess Garnet. Although the mission was a success the Prima Vista had suffered major damage during the escape and, eventually, crashed into the Evil Forest. After rescuing Garnet from a monster and escaping the forest Zidane, Steiner, Vivi and Garnet made to escape the Mist by going through the Ice Cavern.

Escaping the Mist they settled in the Village of Dali, and, upon discovering that Dali was making Black Mage soldiers and delivering them to Alexandria, the group commandeered a supply ship and fled to Lindblum.

Arriving in Lindblum it is revealed that a great many concerns have been arising surrounding Alexandria and its Queen. Taking advantage of a mission completed, Zidane opted to to participate in the Festival of the Hunt, reuniting with Freya while doing so. Zidane wins the Festival, earning hiself an award in 5000 gil, but, as the participants settle to a complimentary feast, a messenger from Burmecia enters with a report of an army of Black Mages attacking Burmecia, requesting aid the messenger dies soon after. Freya insisted on going and Zidane and the others agreed that they would go along as well. Also, despite their attempts to stop her, Garnet decided to go, with Steiner by her side. Garnet dosed all of the feast portions, except her own and Steiner's, with a sleeping weed given to her by Zidane and left for Alexandria with Steiner shortly thereafter.

Following after her, Zidane, Freya and Vivi encountered Quina while traveling through Qu's Marsh and arrived at Gizamaluke's Grotto just as it lay under siege from the Alexandrian Black Mages, commanded by Zorn and Thorn. Fighting through the monsters the group figured that Garnet and Steiner had gone through the South Gate to Alexandria. Making it to Bermecia, Zidane attempts to help Freya find her king while battling Alexandria's army and evacuating the castle's citizens. They instead discover Queen Brahne, Beatrix and Kuja in the royal palace. They overhear that the King had escaped to Cleyra and end up challenging Beatrix to a duel. They lose and are left for dead as the villains move to attack Cleyra.

When the heroes come to they leave immediately for Cleyra finding, upon arrival, that they were expected. While Freya leaves to meet with the king, Zidane and the rest explore the settlement and end up saving Prince Puck in the process. When the sandstorm fell, the settlement Cleyra came under attack from the Alexandrian army, and Zidane, with the timely arrival of Sir Fratley, held off attack after attack, bringing the survivors to the cathedral for sanctuary. Although they survived the attacks, Beatrix stole the sacred jewel that powers the sandstorm, and the battle was lost. Brahne appeared, summoning the Eidolon Odin, destroying Cleyra with one attack, completely decimating the settlement and everyone in it. Zidane and Co. barely escaped as they sought to follow Beatrix's army through their own teleport spells.

Reappearing aboard Brahne's ship, the Red Rose, they overhear Beatrix voicing her doubts about her queen. They also overhear Brahne's plans to execute Garnet, who lay captive in Alexandria. Using the teleportation magic again they arrived in Alexandria ahead of Brahne and, with Steiner and Marcus's help, defeated Zorn and Thorn and found Garnet's sleeping form. As Freya and a reformed Beatrix hold off the guards Zidane, Garnet and Vivi escaped through the underground tunnels, reappearing in Pinnacle Rocks they watched as Brahne invaded and destroyed Lindblum with the eidolon Atomos, only relenting when Lindblum surrendered. Sneaking into the city the group reunites with Cid and discuss their options. Deciding to go after the source of the problems, Kuja, they use a tunnel called Fossil Roo to cross continents from their own to the Outer Continent.

Encountering the Black Mage Village on their travels through the continent they stay for a while for Vivi, while Zidane tells Garnet about what he knows about his past and where he came from. The following day they learn of a possible place where Kuja resides, the Iifa Tree, along the way Zidane and Garnet are involved in a marriage ceremony and they meet Eiko, a girl who can summon Eidolons, and she joins the group.

Arriving at the Iifa Tree they find Kuja and Brahne fighting each other, and, while Brahne summons him, Kuja uses Bahamut to destroy Brahne's own fleet and kills her. Zidane and the rest return to Alexandria where Garnet is to become the new queen.

Zidane, however, begins to miss her and heads to Treno to participate in a card tournament. Eventually castle Alexandria comes under attack from Kuja but is warded off when Garnet and Eiko summon Alexander. Kuja attempts to take Alexander but is prevented from doing so when Garland interferes. Zidane saves Garnet as Garland destroys both Alexander and Alexandria. Zidane wakes up later in Lindblum where repairs are still being done, and, as the party discusses their next strategy, they learn that Garnet has lost her voice in response to the tragic events that have happened. The party decide to once again go after Kuja.

Finding him the group is captured and imprisoned, and Zidane is momentarily blackmailed into helping Kuja but later helps to free his friends and chase Kuja to the Lost Continent. There they run across a dead end, but eventually they make it to Terra, where Zidane meets Garland and learns of his true origin & nature. He attempts to fight Garland, only to have his Terran soul removed from his body. 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. He ran off from his friends, 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.

While facing Garland one last time, however, Kuja reappears and uses them to ascend to Trance. He kills Garland but, after learning that he will indeed die soon, moves to destroy Terra along with everything in it. Zidane and Co. commandeer the Invincible just in time to evacuate Terra and reappear in Gaia. Summarizing that Kuja would soon destroy Gaia they made their way to the Iifa Tree to stop him but, upon his defeat, Zidane stayed behind to try to save him from dying and the tree consumed them both.

With the young hero thought dead time went by until, during another performance of "I want to be your Canary" by Tantalus in a rebuilt Alexandria, the character Marcus threw away his cloak to reveal himself as Zidane. Queen Garnet raced to his arms. The pair was thought to live happily ever after, till the end of their days.

Skills
Steal
Like the name suggests, the "Steal" ability allows players to steal items from an enemy. Some items can only be obtained by stealing, and sometimes, players only get one shot at stealing it. Steal can be augmented with the abilities Flee Gil, Steal Gil, Mug and Bandit. Also of note is that Zidane's Thievery skill is directly linked to the number of successful Steals he performs times half of his Speed rating. (i.e. if Zidane's speed is 28, he will need to steal successfully 715 times for Thievery to hit the maximum of 9999)

Skill
The "Skill" ability allows Zidane to use certain Skills in battle. When learning a skill, he also learns a Dyne attack (see further down), which can be used when in Trance. If equipping multiple items that teach you the same ability, the speed of which the ability is learned is multiplied by the amount of items. E.g. equipping Dagger and Germinas boots at the same time, teaches you the ability "Flee" at twice the speed, if trying to learn that ability.

Dyne
When in Trance, Zidane's "Skill" ability changes to Dyne. Dyne raises his physical attack power as well as having attacks that can damage all enemies. His Dyne and Skill abilities are connected, as he needs to learn a Skill to unlock the corresponding Dyne.

Squall Leonhart - FF8

"Right and wrong are not what separate us and our enemies. It's our different standpoints, our perspectives that separate us." —Squall Leonhart

Squall Leonhart is the main protagonist from Final Fantasy VIII. The etymology of his name, Leonhart, means "Heart of the lion", descriptive in that while he is cold and aloof, he is also a born hero. His weapon, the gunblade, is one of the most famous weapons of the Final Fantasy series.

Story
It is implied that Squall was born to Raine Loire in the village of Winhill, but she died shortly after his birth. His father, Laguna Loire, never knew that Raine was pregnant, as he was in Esthar saving his adopted daughter Ellone from the clutches of Sorceress Adel, a malevolent sorceress. After Raine passed away, both Squall and Ellone, who was sent back to Winhill by Laguna, were sent to an orphanage on the Centra continent.

This orphanage, run by Edea Kramer, was where Squall grew up, and despite the presence of other kids his age, Ellone was his closest friend, nicknaming her "Big Sis" although it is unknown whether he knew about their sibling bond. Due to Ellone's unique power to send a person's consciousness back in time, she was eventually sent away from the orphanage to be under the protection of a group of older orphans called the White SeeDs. No one told Squall why "Sis" left, and he assumed that she abandoned him. Due to the emotional pain of this assumption he developed a defensive mechanism that caused him to be an emotionally detached, highly cynical and introverted boy who wished to go through life without any emotional links or dependencies. This is the source of his lack of social skills.

Between age 5-10, Squall was admitted into Balamb Garden to train as a SeeD. He chose to train with the gunblade, which is a difficult weapon to master and takes years of training. This wasn't a factor as Squall kept to himself and trained whenever he could. He quickly became Seifer's rival, who is a mirror image of Squall in many ways.

Seven years later Squall has became known as a "lone wolf" to his peers. His superiors, such as his teacher, Quistis Trepe, regard him as difficult to deal with but greatly respect his natural talents. The rivalry between him and Seifer has grown to become common knowledge amongst the Balamb students. Also, due to his use of GFs Shiva and Quezacotl, his memory has weakened, remembering only the feelings of abandonment he felt when Ellone left. As the games starts Squall is near the end of his education and, after an eventful field exam, graduates along with Selphie, Zell and Nida.

It is during the inauguration ball that Squall meets Rinoa, when she forces him to dance with her. It is learned later that she would be his first employer, working as part of a hired group with Selphie and Zell to assist in the Forest Owls; freedom fighters devoted to freeing Timber from Galbadia's control.

His first mission with the Forest Owls ended in failure, when, in an attempt to kidnap the Galbadian President Vinzer Deling as he visited Timber, they instead captured a body double posing as the President. Having issues with the level of "professionalism" in the Forest Owls, Squall asked to see the terms of employment that the SeeD group were under. They were under the Owls' employment until "Timber gains it's independence". Far from satisfied the group nonetheless follows with the Forest Owls' plans to intercept the President's Timber based broadcast; the first world-wide broadcast for 17 years. Just short of invading the studio however Rinoa lets slip her views of the way SeeD live and Squall remarks about her groups' competence in turn. After the two exchange words Rinoa leaves.

A few minutes after the President begins broadcasting however Seifer, with Quistis in hot pursuit, takes the President hostage over the air. Under Quistis's request, Squall, Zell and Selphie rush to the studio to find Seifer backing away with the President into another room. However, at this point, the Sorceress appears, and convinces Seifer to come away with her. Seifer is announced executed.

With the Forest Owl's base destroyed, Squall and the others lie low for a while, contemplating Seifer's fate leads Squall and Rinoa into another argument over their views on life before they are given word that it was clear to leave town. On their way to Galbadia Garden the two argue again, this time about Squall's cold attitude towards his team mates. The group makes it to the Garden and receives new orders. They are to assassinate the Sorceress during her inauguration ceremony as the ambassador of Galbadia. A new SeeD member, Irvine Kinneas, is assigned to help them acheive this. With Squall as their leader the group takes a train to Deling City to meet with their contact, General Caraway, and run directly in the middle of a father-daughter feud between Caraway and Rinoa.

Later that night all hell breaks loose, as the ceremony begins Sorceress Edea kills the President and claims Galbadia as her own. Discovering Seifer alive and standing next to the Sorceress as her Knight, Squall takes his position with Irvine as the rest of the SeeD takes theirs. As leader of the assassination team, if the sniper should fail to hit his target, he must fight the Sorceress himself. Irvine seems to choke, however, but after some talking to Squall, he fires at the Sorceress. She is now aware of what is going on, and uses a magic field to stop the bullet from hitting her. Squall then goes down to the parade grounds, and fights his way through Seifer, and eventually reaches Edea. After the battle, Edea casts an ice spell, which hits Squall through the chest, rendering him unconscious.

Imprisoned and tortured by Seifer in the D-District Prison, Squall, with the help of his team-mates, escapes and immediately races to Balamb Garden to warn of the impending missile attack from the Galbadian forces as retaliation on the attempt on Sorceress Edea's life.

However, as he arrives, the Garden is in the midst of chaos, a mysterious faction with allegiance to NORG, Balamb Garden's funder, has staged the revolt against Headmaster Cid. While helping those he could Squall searched for the Headmaster to warn him of the missiles, finally finding him bunkered in his office, the Headmaster instructs Squall of the Garden's past status as a mobile bunker of Centra make. Upon the activation of the ancient system, the Garden transforms into a mobile fortress and narrowly avoids destruction by moving away from the location the missile's were programmed to target. Cleaning up loose ends due to the rebellion of the Master faction the Garden, now seaborne, is met by the White SeeD ship and are requested to hand Ellone (who was hiding in the Garden) over into their protection.

When the Garden crashes into Fisherman's Horizon, Squall and his group are ordered to act as ambassadors and enact a formal apology. Mayor Dobe, the leader of the pacifist city, tells them to leave immediately, as their presence can only cause destruction. Galbadian soldiers eventually invade the town, and Dobe heads off to discuss peacefully with the soldiers. However, the soldiers do not listen, and he is eventually rescued by Squall. Grudgingly, he accepts their apology, and orders the city's technicians to restore Balamb Garden to full functionality.

As his first command, Squall liberates Balamb from Galbadian occupation after defeating Fujin and Raijin. The next order is then to head to Trabia Garden, Selphie's original Garden. He offered the Trabia students Balamb Garden's support and, while waiting for Selphie return and due to a segment in Rinoa's conversation, remembers his past in the orphanage alongside his team, excluding Rinoa. Decisions were made and the Garden next embarks to the old orphanage, but is intercepted by similarly mobile Galbadia Garden. The Battle of the Gardens ensues, ending in Sorceress Edea's defeat and Rinoa becoming comatose.

Intensely concerned over Rinoa's state Squall nonetheless carries on with the mission, this time the search for Ellone by the behest of Edea Kramer who was now free from the tyrannical grip of an evil sorceress from the future named Ultimecia. Learning from the White SeeD that Ellone was now in Esthar, Squall opted to go alone, carrying Rinoa on his back, but his friends followed him and together they entered Esthar and from there to the Esthar spacestation. It was then discovered that Ultimecia had taken control of Rinoa and used her to free Sorceress Adel from her space-bound tomb. The station is evacuated as the Lunar Cry begins, but Squall instead goes after a re-awakened and free Rinoa as she is left in space. Coming across an abandoned spaceship called Ragnarok the couple use it to return to the planet. Here Squall, declares his intentions to protect the new Sorceress Rinoa and defends her from Esthar, and declares himself her Knight. They return to Esthar by request of Laguna to stop Ultimecia once and for all.

Using the Ragnarok they invade the Lunatic Pandora and fight through Seifer and Adel. Using Ellone's time powers, they were able to start a Time Compression, and enter Ultimecia Castle in the future, where Ultimecia awaited. Upon Ultimecia's demise, Squall was taken back in time to the orphanage where he not only witnessed his own self as a boy, but he implanted to Edea the ideas of SeeD and Garden before he fell back into compressed time where he nearly died but for Rinoa, and his team who believed in his existence enough to bring him back to his time and live. During the party at Balamb Garden to celebrate over SeeD's victory over Ultimecia, Squall smiled at Rinoa for the first time and kissed her at the balcony.

Weapons
Squall's own model gunblade is unique in it's appearance, featuring a stenciled image of the Guardian Force Griever on both sides of the blade as well as possessing a chained pendant of Griever's head attached to the base of the handle. The gunblade's casing itself seems also to be custom, featuring an enlarged image of Squall's Griever pendant on the lid.

There are seven gunblade types/models available for Squall to use throughout the game, they are: The Revolver, The Shear Trigger, The Cutting Trigger, The Flame Saber, The Twin Lance, The Punishment and The Lion Heart.

Limit Breaks
Renzokuken
In Final Fantasy VIII, the player performs Squall's Limit Breaks by hitting the R1 trigger button at the correct time, indicated by a bar on the bottom of the screen. The different levels of the limit breaks depend on what gunblade he is carrying and appear as finishing moves after his normal limit break, Renzokuken. The finishing move is then chosen randomly.

Limits

• Level 1: Rough Divide - Obtain Revolver or higher.
• Level 2: Fated Circle - Obtain Shear Trigger or higher.
• Level 3: Blasting Zone - Obtain Flame Saber or higher.
• Level 4: Lion Heart - Obtain Lion Heart.

Trivia

• A reference to Squall in Final Fantasy IX is discovered at the end when Zidane utters "No cloud, no squall shall hinder us." While he performs on stage in disguise before revealing his identity to Garnet. This is also a reference to the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud Strife.
• It has been said that Paine of Final Fantasy X-2 is based upon Squall's look and personality.
• Squall's Student ID is No. 41269.
• "Maybe I'm a Lion"'s title may be inspired by the English Hard Rock band Deep Purple's "Maybe I'm a Leo".
• A cosplaying pianist known as “Piano Squall" cosplays as Squall during his charity concerts.

Cloud Strife - FF7

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all...there's not a thing I don't cherish!"
—Cloud to Sephiroth from Advent Children

Cloud Strife is the main protagonist in both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. He also appears in the spin-off games Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. In addition, he makes an appearance in Final Fantasy Tactics as a playable character earned through completing a series of side quests.

Cloud is most identifiable by his large, spiky blond hair and medium stature. He has blue eyes that are particularly vibrant, which is the mark of SOLDIER, or rather, a mark of being submerged in mako. He wears a navy blue outfit with a metal pauldron on his left shoulder and wields a gigantic Buster Sword.

Throughout most of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud seems rather cocky and arrogant, though it was due to having the memories of Zack Fair. Deep inside, however, lies in his genuine compassion for those he holds dear and never hesitates to defend what he stands for, though it does take a while for him to determine what exactly it is.

Story
Cloud was born in the sleepy mountain village of Nibelheim, along with Tifa Lockhart. He grew up isolated from the rest of the village children, feeling himself somehow better than them, though it is implied that he longed for the friendship of the others. However, when Cloud was 9, Tifa and the others attempted to climb Mt. Nibel, Cloud followed them, Tifa fell from a bridge and her father blamed Cloud. He resolved to join Shin-Ra's elite SOLDIER force, feeling that he was "not good enough" for Tifa, whom he had admired from afar, and to prove to others (and most of all to himself) that he could be as strong as the legendary Sephiroth. At this point he made a promise to Tifa, vowing that he'd protect her when she's in need.

However, he was unable to make it into SOLDIER and became an ordinary Shin-Ra guard. In this role he meets a first-class SOLDIER named Zack Fair in Modeoheim, and the two become friends after learning they are both 'backwater experts'. He later returns to Nibelheim, along with Zack and a famed SOLDIER Sephiroth to investigate a damaged reactor in Mt. Nibel and Tifa was to act as their guide. Ashamed of his failure, he kept his identity from the townspeople. When they reached the reactor, Sephiroth discovered Professor Hojo's failed experiments with mako soldiers and what he mistakenly assumed to be his mother, Jenova.

Falling into madness, Sephiroth immersed himself in the writings of Professor Gast and discovered his own dark past. He then came out from the basement of the Shin-Ra Mansion and set about destroying the village. Cloud witnessed his mother's death in the ensuing fire and rushed to the reactor to confront Sephiroth. There he found both Tifa and Zack unconscious - both had tried to fight Sephiroth, but to no avail. A grief-stricken Cloud picked up Zack's Buster Sword, catching Sephiroth off guard, and impaled him. Sephiroth managed to impale Cloud with his own sword, but the fight ended with Cloud throwing Sephiroth off him using the sword lodged in his stomach as a lever and sending Sephiroth plunging, along with Jenova's head, into the Lifestream below. Shin-Ra, in an effort to cover-up the incident, rebuilt Nibelheim and replaced the townspeople with Shin-Ra employees and imprisoned both Zack and Cloud in the Shin-Ra Mansion (Tifa had been rescued and brought to Midgar by her trainer). There, Hojo experimented on Zack and Cloud, infusing them with mako and injecting them with Jenova cells.

Four years later, Zack broke out of his confinement and helped a comatose Cloud escape, giving him a SOLDIER uniform that was in Shin-Ra manor to wear. Due to the experiment Cloud was in a weak and delirious state as he had reacted more strongly to the experiments than Zack did. However Zack talks continuously to the unresponsive Cloud about his life and his plans for both of them to become mercenaries in Midgar. When they finally arrive outside of Midgar, the Shin-Ra army forces that have been searching for them finally caught up. Zack fights back to defend both Cloud and himself against overwhelming numbers. In the end, after single-handedly and heroically massacring the majority of the hundreds of Shin-Ra soldiers present, Zack is killed by the last few remaining soldiers and Cloud is left for dead after being seen in his vegetative state. However, having witnessed the whole chaos, Cloud manages to crawl over to where Zack layed. In his last few seconds, a blood-soaked Zack entrusts the Buster Sword to Cloud, and tells him that his legacy will live on inside Cloud, before finally passing away. After some time Cloud, deeply distressed, scrambles to his feet, Buster Sword in hand, and begins trudging off towards Midgar. His final words to Zack were, "Good-night, Zack".

Equipment and Stats
Cloud wields various broadswords and katana in battle, including the joke weapon Nail Bat and the iconic Buster Sword. His stats are well-balanced both physically and magically but is best put in the front row to ensure solid attack power.

In Final Fantasy Tactics, Cloud has similar stats to what he has in Final Fantasy VII, but in order for him to use his Limit command, he must be limited to his Materia Blade. He can still equip all other swords, but now knight swords.

Trivia

• In Final Fantasy IX, there's a reference to Cloud. In a weapon shop, Zidane talks about a man with a spiky hair who carried a rare sword.
• Another reference to Cloud in Final Fantasy IX is discovered at the end when Zidane utters "No cloud nor squall shall hinder us" while he performs on stage in disguise before revealing his identity to Garnet. This is also a reference to the protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII.
• In Final Fantasy VIII there is a item shop called Cloud's item shop. If you spend enough money there, your purchase will come wrapped in a ribbon. This can be seen as a reference to Cloud's relationship with Aeris Gainsborough.
• In Final Fantasy XII the enemy mark Gilgamesh uses Cloud's Buster Sword within his arsenal of weapons, however the sword contains Japanese Kanji characters which translate as "fake"/"replica".
• Just as Vincent's gun is named after Cerberus, Cloud's bike Fenrir is named after a mythological wolf from Norse mythology. He was the wolf son of Loki, in keeping with Cloud's wolf "theme" shown in his more recent appearances.