The Lion of Ivalice

The Lion of Ivalice is a Final Fantasy Tactics For Want of a Nail fanfiction that alters a key decision in Ramza Beoulve's life: after the events of Fort Ziekden and the deaths of Teta and (supposedly) Delita, he turns down the canon offer of becoming a mercenary and sneaks into the Bethla Garrison instead. Orlandu catches on quickly, and is rather skeptical as to why he wants to join the Southern Sky, suspecting him of being a spy of sorts. Ramza, however, makes it clear he holds more honor as a Beoulve than his brothers, and has no one else to turn to. Seeing Balbanes in him, Orlandu agrees to take him in as a soldier of the Southern Sky.

From there, the plot of the story takes a very different turn from the original game, but the verdict is still the same; Ramza uncovers the Lucavi plot and works to stop it. Things, however, aren't as easy as they seem, because the Lucavi quickly learn not to pull any punches when dealing with their enemies. The character dynamics and interactions are also noticeably different than in canon, yet still fit in with the characters as they were originally envisioned - and with how the storyline evolves - rather plausibly. The main pairing is Ramza/Meliadoul, with many other Beta Couple pairings by the side for measure.

The story is split into three arcs, which effectively comprise the traditional Three Act Structure:


 * Part One: The Southern Sky (Chapters 1-13)
 * Part Two: The Great Divide (Chapters 14-29)
 * Part Three: The Rising Abyss (Chapters 30-40)

This story is written by a very talented ObsidianDawn.

""Stop drowning in remorse. You're still alive, and you still have the chance to set things right. We both do." Delita said, sighing."
 * Adaptation Distillation: While certain story elements are expanded upon, the author doesn't go overboard in either description or character explanation, simply opting for the crucial storytelling elements. This is why the battles, conflicts and relationships are streamlined whilst still being plausible, making for a tight yet still-compelling read.
 * The battles are a load more streamlined than in canon. For instance, there's less overuse of magic by the Lucavi to focus instead on their individual skills and strengths and the unique strategies required to defeat them. And while the events of the plot follow elements of canon almost symmetrically, they're more compressed so that the repetitive re-matches against certain enemies and the pointless squabble fights either don't happen or are extremely brief rather than dragged out into genuine tactical conflicts.
 * Adaptation Expansion: The opening battle of the War of the Lions, the Siege of Lesalia, had a single paragraph written about it in the game. This story has an entire chapter devoted to it.
 * The Lucavi are given somewhat of a greater spotlight, letting their motives and individual traits develop a little more. See also Ascended Extra for the characters who recieve more development thanks to the plot.
 * Aloof Ally:.
 * An Arm and a Leg:.
 * Anticlimax Boss: Despite facing the heroes as a Dual Boss,  are taken down with almost pathetic ease.
 * Same deal with
 * Anti-Hero: Ramza has slight shades of this, leaning into Type II territory due to both his Dark Knight training and the massive breaking the story's putting him through. Gafgarion started as a Type IV but has since shifted to Type III (and may be heading towards Type II). Meanwhile,  &   start as a Type IV & III respectively, before sliding upwards by one level each.
 * Anti-Villain: Wiegraf, just like in canon although more emphasised, particularly when . Delita is more definitely this regarding his actions, as is  ..
 * Anyone Can Die
 * Apocalypse How:
 * Ascended Extra: Technically all those that weren't playable in the game: Izlude, Alma, Olan, Valmafra, Gafgarion, Celia and Lede & The Lionsguard, Zalbag,
 * Those are the good guys. Bad guys include Rudvich, Duke Barinten, and Balk & Rofel of the Templar Knights.
 * Kletian of the Templars as well.  And out of all the Lucavi,   manifests in the mortal realm without a host body.
 * Izlude especially counts. In the game, he was a minor supporting character who died in the same Chapter he was introduced; here, he's Ramza's most constant friend and companion, and the third most-important character after Ramza and Meliadoul.  Heck, the author hadn't even planned for him to be a permanent fixture of Ramza's Five-Man Band at first!
 * The Atoner:, after a Heel Face Turn; also  , even though   demeanour might suggest otherwise. Gafgarion's loyalty to Ramza is also all about this.
 * Back from the Dead:.
 * Badass Crew: The Knight Blades
 * : Chapter 13, where Ramza . It counts even more when you realise that
 * Bash Brothers: Ramza and Izlude
 * Battle Couple:.
 * Beta Couple: Izlude/Alma, Delita/Ovelia &
 * Berserk Button: If you so much threaten or endanger Ramza's sister and/or lover's life, lie or not, consider yourself an  dead man.
 * BFG: The Peacemaker
 * Bi the Way: Celia and Lede are heavily suggested to be this, as they both shared a past relationship with Valmafra.
 * Big Badass Battle Sequence: The Siege of Lesalia and all of Part 3, The Rising Abyss
 * Big Brother Mentor: Ramza, to Izlude.
 * Big Damn Heroes:
 * Bodyguard Babes: Celia and Lede take these roles for Mustadio
 * Boss Battle: All the Lucavi fit at least one video-game boss trope:
 * Climax Boss: Mateus
 * Damage Sponge Boss: Zodiark,
 * Dual Boss:
 * Duel Boss: Velius, ,
 * Final Boss: Altima
 * Flunky Boss:
 * Sequential Boss:
 * Teleport Spammer:
 * "Wake-Up Call" Boss: Zeromus
 * Warmup Boss: Chaos
 * Zero Effort Boss:  (no, I kid you not).
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: Happened to Rafa and Malak.
 * Break the Cutie:  What happens next leads to the Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds entry below.
 * Ramza himself counts; just think about it. His foster siblings (presumably) both die at Ziekden and it's his brothers' faults. He finds belonging and friends at the Southern Sky only to discover much later that not only is Delita alive, but he's become ruthless enough to  for his own ambitions. He  . Many people he's considered friends or allies are either against him or in danger because of him. He's in love with a woman who's psyche has become fragile due to her beliefs being tested, and  . To top all that off, his desire to learn Dark Knight training has twice pushed him to the brink of cold-blooded murder and yet it's a key element of his strength. I'd say all that definitely qualifies as somewhat 'broken'.
 * Came Back Wrong:  was revived, sure, and evidently gotten stronger too, but  An example of Type III of this trope, which would have led to
 * Cerebus Syndrome: The story gets gradually darker as the plot continues. The first two parts have major climaxes, but things generally cool off a little afterwards... until Part Three, that is.
 * Character Development: Protagonists aside - and they get plenty of growth, of course - a number of characters with rather predictable personalities were given more depth than they had in canon (see Alternate Character Interpretation). Ruvelia, for example, is a Broken Bird who ended up in a loveless marriage and grew resentful of both her position and of her former lover Cid, who refused to fight for their relationship. Gafgarion is a Death Seeker plagued by guilt for causing . Not to mention Olan, Valmafra, Mustadio's... the list goes on.
 * Chick Magnet: Mustadio. The twins ping on him a lot and Rafa also shows some 'interest', much to Malak's dismay.
 * Cool Airship: "Welcome to the Valefor."
 * Cool Sword: The Shadow Sword, last Touten blade in Ivalice. Other swords include TG Cid's Excalibur and Elmdore's Masamune.
 * Continuity Nod: All the new Lucavi not shown in the game? They are the Scions of Darkness from Final Fantasy XII.
 * Gafgarion's hometown is called Raithwall, named after the legendary Dynast-King in Final Fantasy XII. Word of God though states that it is not the same place as the Tomb of Raithwall dungeon in that game.
 * There have been several hints that the Lucavi's incredible magic and abilities are a result of them being able to manipulate and control the Dark.
 * Creepy Twins: Celia and Lede, from time to time.
 * Darker and Edgier: "Part Three: The Rising Abyss"
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Dark Knights. A whole town of them.
 * Ramza as well - despite coming close to snapping twice, he's so far managed to keep the darker urges that come with training in the class well-checked. For now, anyway...
 * A Day in the Limelight: Several "side quest chapters" in Part Two, which focus entirely on groups outside of the central characters but still serve to develop the plot: Chapter 19 focuses on Olan's group, but also on Mustadio; Chapter 20 focuses on Gafgarion and Cid; Chapter 21 focuses on Agrias and Zalbag.
 * Dead Little Sister: Besides the already-canon aspect of Teta and Miluda being this for Delita and Wiegraf respectively, we are also given . In a more roundabout sense,   Ouch.
 * And now we have . The author seems to be telling us something very strong about this trope.
 * Deal with the Devil: The Lucavi's modus operandi, of course. Also,.
 * Death by Adaptation: Read the Killed Off for Real entry for specifics.
 * Death Seeker: Gafgarion, for reasons connected to his past revealed in Chapter 20.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Having bested Gafgarion  in a one-on-one duel, Ramza instead forces the loser to help him. Gafgarion teaches him Dark Sword techniques and helps him rescue Mel,
 * Demoted to Extra: Rafa and Malak get relatively minor roles compared to the others, and Mustadio almost fell in with them. Beowulf and Reis also suffer, but they're secret characters anyway. Heresy Examiner Zalmour Rusnada (whom Ramza fought twice in the game) got mentioned in one sentence, and never appeared proper in the story. The non-FFT cameos, Cloud, Balthier and Luso, are COMPLETELY absent.
 * The monster guests-turned-party-members are also MIA: Boco the Chocobo was replaced by an original Black Chocobo named Atro. The Reaver Byblos doesn't show up either, but considering the fact that only TWO Tactics fanfics have ever remembered Byblos exists (which were back in 2002 and 2005), the odds of it appearing were never good in the first place.
 * On the villains' side, aside from Larg and Goltanna appearing less than in canon, Cardinal Draclau &   are even less important here.
 * In-universe when
 * Somewhat averted with Mustadio, however - he was intended to be this, but makes a few key appearances starting Chapter 19 which give him a significant role. So although he's... well, still Demoted to Extra compared to the original game, for the author he's... an Ascended Extra.
 * Damsel in Distress: Meliadoul for a while, not to mention Ovelia and Alma.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him:.
 * Dual Boss: Non-game example:.
 * Unfortunately, the fight was over rather quickly (narrative-wise) and as a result, it feels rather like an Anticlimax Boss.
 * Duel Boss: Gafgarion and . Also kind of seen in "Ramza versus  ".
 * Two others in Chapter 35:  and
 * Dying as Yourself:  in Chapter 37. See I Cannot Self-Terminate below.
 * Dying Moment of Awesome:
 * Easily Forgiven: Averted hard on two different accounts. The first count is with
 * The second is with Delita,
 * Concerning Delita, he (quite understandably) holds a grudge against Zalbag for the events at Ziekden.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
 * Evil Tower of Ominousness:
 * Face Heel Turn:  in part one,.
 * Failure Knight: Agrias, when
 * Five-Bad Band: The Lucavi involved in the final battle:
 * The Big Bad - Altima
 * The Dragon -
 * The Evil Genius -
 * The Brutes - Exodus and Famfrit
 * The Sixth Ranger -
 * Five-Man Band: In flux based on the characters' roles and actions...
 * Part One - The Southern Sky
 * The Hero - Ramza
 * Number Two - Izlude
 * The Lancer - Meliadoul
 * The Chick - Alma
 * The Smart Guy - Olan
 * The Mentor - Cid
 * The Sixth Ranger - Gafgarion and Valmafra
 * Guest Star Party Member - Mustadio, Delita and
 * Part Two - The Great Divide
 * The Hero - Ramza
 * The Lancer - Meliadoul
 * The Chick - Alma and Ovelia
 * Tagalong Kid - Izlude
 * The Big Guy - Cid
 * The Smart Guy - Olan & Valmafra
 * The Mentor - Gafgarion
 * Mission Control - Zalbag
 * The Sixth Ranger - Beowulf & Reis; Mustadio,
 * Guest Star Party Member - Celia & Lede; Lavian & Alicia;
 * Team Pet - Rattletrap
 * Part Three - The Rising Abyss
 * Big Good -
 * Mission Control -
 * The Hero -
 * The Lancer -
 * Supporting Leader - Zalbag, Beowulf,
 * The Big Guy - Rattletrap,
 * The Chick - Ovelia,
 * The Smart Girl - Valmafra, Celia & Lede
 * Neutral Female -
 * The Sixth Ranger - Rafa, Malak,
 * Flash Step: How Ramza, Celia and Lede used the Teleport skill when confronting Elmdore and his samurai.
 * Taken a step further.
 * Foreshadowing: Elmdore calls out Ramza for being the one to endanger Bervenia and Meliadoul, saying it was all his fault they got injured or killed.
 * Also related to  is Mel's threat in her first meeting with Ramza. "I just want you to know that if you endanger (Izlude) in any way, it will be me you have to answer to."
 * Genre Savvy:
 * Another example involving the Holy Stones is
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!!: Executed in a unique case by Delita; he drew his sword and tried to behead Ramza after he couldn't talk him out of his Heroic BSOD. When he questions his actions of this, Delita 'believed' he wanted to die, but merely proved he still has some fight in him left by parrying him.
 * Also related to  is Mel's threat in her first meeting with Ramza. "I just want you to know that if you endanger (Izlude) in any way, it will be me you have to answer to."
 * Genre Savvy:
 * Another example involving the Holy Stones is
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!!: Executed in a unique case by Delita; he drew his sword and tried to behead Ramza after he couldn't talk him out of his Heroic BSOD. When he questions his actions of this, Delita 'believed' he wanted to die, but merely proved he still has some fight in him left by parrying him.


 * Golem: Construct 8, renamed Rattletrap by Mustadio.
 * Gotta Catch Em All: The Zodiac Stones of course.
 * The Gunslinger / Guns Akimbo:
 * The Heavy: Vormav/Hashmal
 * Heel Face Turn: Rafa and Malak after being freed from the aforementioned Demonic Possession, but also.
 * Heroic BSOD: Meliadoul has one.
 * Ramza has a big one in Chapter 29,.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:, in Chapter 23.
 * Followed by, in Chapter 29.
 * And then  somewhere between Chapters 36 & 37.
 * Hero-Killer:  managed to literally pull this trope off by - to the shock of many readers - killing off   of all people. Wow!
 * Humble Hero: Ramza, of course, but ObsidianDawn makes it a clear point that he doesn't fight for himself and doesn't let his own pride of power get to him.
 * I Cannot Self-Terminate:, as seen in Chapter 37.
 * Invincible Hero: The author works really hard to avert this with Ramza, who everyone knows can be an unstoppable fighter, especially after  A few signs of this are when he blacks out after   and later is worn out in his fight against , but.
 * It Got Worse:
 * Kick the Dog: A rather brutal one by.
 * Bonus points qualify if you go by the theory that it was actually a Batman Gambit to
 * Killed Off for Real: .  looks to have also died, but.
 * Kill It with Fire: Celia and Lede's suggestion towards Construct 8/Rattletrap.
 * Knight of Cerebus: Zeromus, possessing, is the first Lucavi who in battle is shown to be a deadly-serious threat, almost killing   (who was being aided by  , another seasoned warrior). A more lasting example is  , who plunges the story - previously moderate in tone - into definite Darker and Edgier territory.
 * My God, What Have I Done?:
 * My Greatest Failure: Gafgarion is haunted by his failure to  Cid even notes this to be a key foundation of his Death Seeker nature.
 * Zalbag comes to see his actions at Ziekden as this, condemning himself for choosing the Beolve name and his pride over the life of his foster sister Teta.
 * My Nayme Is: Valmafra. Everyone else has their names faithful to the PlayStation version. ObsidianDawn made this change because he liked the War of the Lions port version of the name, as opposed to Balmafula.
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: Ramza notices that most Lucavi like to talk with an air of mystery, and the most evident of them is Elidibus/Zodiark. He was merely pondering on thoughts "humans wouldn't understand" until  talked him to fighting for the Lucavi.
 * No Name Given: Subverted: Chaos, the first Lucavi, never verbally introduced himself or was given a name other than his host, yet all the other Lucavi afterward were named and mentioned. Justified that this was when Obsidian was set on using original Lucavi for the other half of the Zodiac Stones (Chaos was aligned to Taurus, which had no Lucavi representative in the game) and eventually went with the suggestion to use the FFXII espers to fill in the blanks, and was eventually called Chaos by the fans. The fact that   and   were the last Lucavi seen until Part 2, and the author has taken some creative liberties with some of them, like Zodiark, doesn't hurt.
 * Double subverted when
 * Not Quite Dead:
 * Number Two:  becomes this to Delita.
 * Power Fist:
 * Private Military Contractors: The Glabados Church has shades of this in the story, as they hire out their Templar Knights to secular armies for additional training and experience. This is how Ramza gets to know Izlude.
 * Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Lucavi seem to be this at the start, since the first few who appear aren't too big of a challenge, and  dies ridiculously quickly at the hands of Rattletrap (though to be fair, the author considers him a weak Lucavi anyway). The ones that follow subvert this, however.
 * Redemption Earns Life: Pointed out concerning.
 * Relationship Upgrade: It is implied that Ramza and Mel had a LOT of alone time between Parts 1 and 2, and in "The Resistance", Ramza finds himself in bed with her after giving her a thoughtful birthday present.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: As the Queen of Ivalice, Ovelia ascends to this trope during the final battle by . Delita is only Regent of Ivalice - and not yet King - so he doesn't doesn't quite count, but he's getting there too.
 * Sacrificial Lion: By Word of God,  dying in Chapter 29 invokes this trope.
 * Self-Made Orphan:, though in this case it really wasn't his choice.
 * Sequence Breaking: Many of the events from Canon do take place, but in a very different order and context. Parts 1 & 2 are based on Chapters 2-4 from the game, with Part 3 diverging into a completely different plot.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Ramza's main motivation for joining the Southern Sky.
 * Shout-Out / Mythology Gag: The common name gag of Biggs and Wedge. Two of the knights were named as such in Chapter 7.
 * Also Cecil the Dark Knight in Chapter 20. Shadow, Ramza's sword, was also a weapon wielded by Cecil.
 * The airship which appears in Chapter 19 is dubbed "The Valefor".
 * Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness: Credible, at first. It starts to rise towards High in the second half of Part Two, and becomes firmly stuck there when  shows up.
 * Spared by the Fanfiction: A lot more than you would expect:
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: Cid and Ruvelia became this when Ruvelia became Queen, but were finally reunited after many years and, putting aside their old resentment, re-establish their old bonds.
 * Sure Why Not: The author had first been planning to use original Lucavi to fill in for the other Zodiac stone demons until a few readers reminded him about FFXII's Espers. Good thing too, as it turns out all of them, in particular  perfectly fit the roles that otherwise would have gone to OCs.
 * Regarding the above:
 * The same for the Three Act Structure - originally, Chapter 24 was the final segment of "Part Two", but after some recommendation and thought the author decided that Chapter 29 was a better cut-off point. Of course, it helps that "Part Three" in particular grew in the telling, battles being expanded on and divided into multiple chapters contrary to the author's initial intentions.
 * Take Up My Sword:
 * Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:  Justified on both sides:  . In the end,
 * Those Two Girls: Lavian & Alicia, as well as Celia & Lede.
 * Time Skip: A few months pass between Chapters 13 and 14 (or more appropriately, between the end of Part 1 and the start of Part 2). A good chunk of Ramza and Meliadoul's relationship development occurs during this "offscreen" period.
 * Another occurs between Chapter 29 and Chapter 30. Not as long as the aforementioned skip, but long enough for
 * A minor one also happens between Chapters 8 and 9, where Ramza has just bested Gafgarion and Mel is suddenly captured.
 * Tranquil Fury: Ramza towards
 * True Companions: Ramza and all his companions, made noted in Chapter 30.
 * Twin Threesome Fantasy: Valmafra heavily implied that she was in a past relationship with Celia and Lede.
 * Now it seems they're trying their luck on Mustadio.
 * Victorious Childhood Friend:
 * We Can Rule Together: Wiegraf gets an offer  to join the Lucavi: they would give him the satisfaction of crushing the nobles that denied his rights before, as well as
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Delita of course, except here he's also joined by ..
 * Western Zodiac: Like the game, but able to go above and beyond showing demons representing all 13 (including Serpentarius).
 * Wham Chapter: Rather fittingly, Chapter 29. To elaborate:
 * Also Chapter 24:
 * What Could Have Been: In the AN of Chapter 35, the author mentioned that among the plans which changed, he'd originally intended for Izlude to return to the Templars during Part 1 or 2, and end up paired with Wiegraf just like in canon (with unspecified plot differences as well). Instead, Izlude ended up being a key member of Ramza's Five-Man Band.
 * Word of Me: Here's a little more on that. After  at Bethla, Izlude and Ramza were both originally intended to go to the Templars for aid. This arc was changed early on due to it seeming out of character for the more independent Ramza of the story, though it would have been interesting to see how it played out, especially with Wiegraf within the ranks as well.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Mustadio reflects on this a couple of times regarding Rattletrap, being astonished at how sentient and independant-minded a human-made machine can be.
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue
 * Where It All Began: Igros Castle and Bethla Garrison. The former is where Ramza and Delita started their days as Hokuten soldiers before the fanfic starts,  Meanwhile, Bethla Garrison is where Ramza relocates after Ziekden and has plenty of fond memories of fighting with his men, his friends, and the people he grew to love and trust.
 * Woman in Black:  in the epilogue.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds:
 * The Worf Effect: How else can you view ?
 * Yin-Yang Bomb:.
 * You Shall Not Pass:.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * The Worf Effect: How else can you view ?
 * Yin-Yang Bomb:.
 * You Shall Not Pass:.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: