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{{work}}
A character sheet for ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', originally released for the SNES in North America as ''Final Fantasy III''. If you're looking for the characters from the actual ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'', see ''[[Final Fantasy III/Characters|Final Fantasy III]]''.
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* [[Adaptation Dye Job]]: Most notably Terra, from Amano-artwork blonde to in-game green (and back to blonde everywhere else). Other characters had their hair turned into warm grey color (amusingly, Relm's portrait shows her original blonde hair color).
* [[Desperation Attack]]: As a precursor to the [[Limit Break]] that made a proper debut as a battle mechanic in the [[Final Fantasy VII|next game]], everyone except <ref>(theyThey only execute when the Attack command is used, and Gau and Umaro don't have one).</ref> has one super-strong attack they may perform randomly while in critical health.
* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]/[[Patrick Stewart Speech]]/[[Kirk Summation]]: The Whole party minus the optional ones give one to Kefka when he tells the party that [[Nietzsche Wannabe|life is meaningless.]]. Suffice to say, He is not amused.▼
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: Kefka believes that life is meaningless because everything you create will eventually be destroyed and eventually you will die. Terra then states that the sum of one's life isn't what important; it's the day-to-day concerns, the personal triumphs, the celebration of life and love, and being able to experience the joy that every day of your life can bring.▼
{{quote|'''Kefka Palazzo:''' [[Shut Up, Kirk|Bleh! You people make me sick! You sound like the chapters from a self-help book!]]}}▼
▲* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: Kefka believes that life is meaningless because everything you create will eventually be destroyed, and eventually, you will die. Terra then states that the sum of one's life isn't what important;: it's the day-to-day concerns, the personal triumphs, the celebration of life and love, and being able to experience the joy that every day of your life can bring.
* [[Stone Wall]]:
** Terra and Celes have access to the best equipment in the game. When placed in the back row, both of them become nigh-unkillable.
** Gau and Mog have access to the Snow Muffler, which bar-none has the highest defense stats in the game. Their helmet and shield can be subpar and they'll still get the max defense stat allowed, at which point most normal attacks do only a single point of damage.
** Even without the Snow Muffler, Gau's Magic Pot Rage is this -: has a chance to cast Curaga on itself every turn, healing a lot of HP, and is immune to all status ailments and elemental attacks.
▲* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]/[[Patrick Stewart Speech]]/[[Kirk Summation]]: The Whole party minus the optional ones give one to Kefka when he tells the party that [[Nietzsche Wannabe|life is meaningless.]] Suffice to say, He is not amused.
▲{{quote|'''Kefka Palazzo:''' [[Shut Up, Kirk|Bleh! You people make me sick! You sound like the chapters from a self-help book!]]}}
 
== Heroes ==
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{{quote|"A [[Mysterious Waif|mysterious young woman]], controlled by [[The Empire]], and born with [[The Gift]] of magic..."}}
 
* [[Ace Pilot]]: Terra has access to more attacks in the Magitek Armor in addition of standard three elemental beams and one healing move. In the [[Updated Rerelease|Game Boy Advance version]], her class name is Magitek Elite.
* [[Action Girl]]
* [[Action Mom]]: {{spoiler|The children of Mobliz see her as their Mama after their real parents were killed by Kefka's Light of Judgment.}}.
* [[Audience Surrogate]]: For much of the first half of the game, barring her lengthy absence at one point.
* [[Badass Abnormal]]
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* [[Flashback Nightmare]]: When she falls down the cave and is knocked out, she undergoes a terrifying flashback revealing that she was placed under mind control via a hypno trinket by Kefka, forced against her will to burn fifty Imperial Troopers alive, and being present for Emperor Gestahl's war speech.
* [[Go Mad from the Revelation]]: Let's just say that she didn't take the revelation about her heritage very well. She gets better.
* [[Gorgeous Gorgon]]: While there are no otherwise repulsive features, in Amano's artwork, her Esper form is depicted as quite... feral. It makes sense, as she is only half-Esper, and her father [http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Maduin Maduin] resembles the [http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/9/9a/Final_Fantasy_V_-_Gigas.gif Gigas] monster from ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', which is very human-looking.
** It makes sense, as she is only half-Esper, and her father [http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Maduin Maduin] resembles the [http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/9/9a/Final_Fantasy_V_-_Gigas.gif Gigas] monster from ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', which is very human-looking.
* [[Green Eyes]]: Her sprite, though it's hard to tell. Her ''Final Fantasy Anthology'' renders show them in full.
* [[Hair of Gold]]: In Amano's artwork.
* {{spoiler|[[Half-Human Hybrid]]}}
* [[The Hero]]: According to [[Word of God]], the game wasn't meant to have a main character as the entire cast was given time to shine, but the plot revolves around her for the first half of the game. If you skip recruiting her in the World of Ruin, she still rushes to the final dungeon to take part in the ending sequence. She's effectively become the face of the game due to ''Dissidia''.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Early in Act 1, when it's brought up to her for the first time that she [[Oh Crap|may not be human.]].
* [[Hot Chick with a Sword]]
* [[How Do I Shot Web?]]: How do I controlled my Esper side?
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* [[Hypno Trinket]]: The specific method behind her initial [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] state.
* [[Impairment Shot]]: Gets quite a few of these in beginning due to amnesia, headache, exhaustion and blunt head trauma before she passes out.
* {{spoiler|[[Last of His Kind|Last Ofof herHer Kind]]: Kind of. After killing off Kefka, all of the Espers and magic disappeared from the world due to Kefka's death. The only reason Terra survived this was because she held onto something in the non-magic realm, thus technically making her the last Esper alive, due to being part Esper.}}.
* [[Magic Knight]]
* [[Mama Bear]]: Threaten her, enslave her, or try to kill her and she'll shrug it off. But if you have the bright idea to threaten her {{spoiler|adopted children}} and attack her [[True Companions]], [[Wreathed in Flames|well... I]] [[Unstoppable Rage|hope]] [[Transformation Sequence|you]] [[Super Mode|like]] [[Kill It with Fire|fire]].
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Her English name is Latin for "Earth"." Also, her Japanese name, Tina, was picked for more reasons than simply because it was an exotic name in Japan than in the West: Tina is the shortened version of Christiana, which is the feminine form of "Christian", and is also the name of an early saint who was tormented by her pagan father. Similar to that early saint, Terra was tormented by the Empire when they took her as a child.
* [[Mind Control Device]]: Forced to wear the Slave Crown.
* [[My Name Is ???]]: In the beginning.
* [[Mysterious Waif]]
** [[Mystical Waif]]
* [[Orphan's Plot Trinket]]: Terra has a pendant which only appears as a key item and is only mentioned once in the story.
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Her father is captured and her mother is killed.
* [[Phlebotinum Rebel]]
* [[Playing with Fire]]: Terra's default spells are fire element spells.
* [[Power Glows]]: Some [[Fanon]] holds that this is actually the explanation for the [[Barbie Doll Anatomy]]-: the glow is so bright, it obscures her clothes (thus, she's still clothed and wouldn't be showing ''that'' anatomy). Amano's artwork has it as a case of [[Fur Bikini]].
* [[The Power of Love]]: In the World of Ruin, {{spoiler|Terra stumbles upon a village of orphans whose parents were killed by Kefka and his [[Light Is Not Good|Light of Judgment]]. She starts looking after them, the children take to calling her "Mama", and these new feelings confuse Terra. She eventually realizes that it was love all along and that the future of these children is worth fighting for. It's this - and her love for her [[True Companions]] - that saves her from going *poof* like the rest of the Espers and the world's magic at the end.}}.
* [[Promotion to Parent]]
* [[Put on a Bus]]: After the battle in Narshe and her transformation into an Esper, Terra flies away as her powers go out of control. When her friends find her in Zozo, they discover that she still needs some time to get her head together. [[The Bus Came Back]] when the other Returners revisit Zozo after rescuing the Espers from Vector. Terra's regained her memories and made peace with who she is, and she rejoins the party.
* [[Reluctant Warrior]]: Isn't much up to fighting in the World of Ruin during her [[Character Development]]. Wasn't all that keen on the idea in the World of Balance, either.
* [[Required Party Member]]: For the Esper Gate.
* [[Sorry I'm Late]]: Terra {{spoiler|in the second fight with Humbaba}}.
* [[Super Mode]]: Morph/Trance: Itit ''doubles'' her magical and physical damage, doubles her heals, and ''halves'' all the magic damage she takes (unless they are barrier-piercing spells). This ability is called the Boss Killer with good reason.
* [[Sword Beam]]: Her Riot Blade [[Desperation Attack]].
* [[Team Mom]]: It doesn't quite show until later. This also naturally implies [[Mama Bear|another trope]] is waiting in the wings at any time.
* [[Ten-Minute Retirement]]: All characters experience this to some degree in the World of Ruin, but Terra's is the most prominent.
* [[Took a Level in Badass]]: After she returns in the World of Ruin, not only is she more confident in who she is, but her Morph meter depletes at a much slower rate.
* [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?]]: A big issue for Terra. Espers are not naturally emotional creatures, y'see; which leads to her powers being sapped to pretty much nothing while she struggles with learning how to love in the second half of the game. That, as well as the fact that her brief enslavement to the slave crown also rendered her temporarily incapable of feeling emotions after breaking free of it.
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|You Gotta Have Green Hair]]: Her in-game appearance has green hair.▼
** That, as well as the fact that her brief enslavement to the slave crown also rendered her temporarily incapable of feeling emotions after breaking free of it.
▲* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|You Gotta Have Green Hair]]: Her in-game appearance.
 
 
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* [[Berserk Button]]: Don't call him a thief!
* [[Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word]]
* [[Bodyguard Crush]]: Locke swears to protect Celes because she reminds him of Rachel;: he eventually falls in love with her.
* [[Changing Clothes Is a Free Action]]: All it takes is a spin (during battle).
* [[Chronic Hero Syndrome]]: See below.
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* [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma|Dude, She's Like, A CORPSE!]]: His fixation on {{spoiler|Rachel. Seems more emotional rather than sexual, but still not right}}.
* [[The Dulcinea Effect]]: The reason behind it is tragic.
* [[Failure Knight]]: Played straight with Rachel. He couldn't save her from her accident and he wasn't in Kohlingen when [[The Empire]] attacked and killed her. {{spoiler|Averted in the ending when Locke saves Celes.}}.
* [[Gentleman Thief|Gentleman Treasure Hunter]]: [[Blatant Lies|Locke is a]] '''[[Insistent Terminology|TREASURE HUNTER]]''', but I'll be damned if he isn't the nicest one you'll ever meet.
* [[I Let Gwen Stacy Die]]▼
* [[Iconic Item]]: His bandana.
▲* [[I Let Gwen Stacy Die]]
* [[Insistent Terminology|Semantic Nonsense]]: Locke doesn't call himself a "thief". He prefers (with threats of bodily harm) to be referred to as a "treasure hunter".▼
* [[Kleptomaniac Hero]]: He isn't fooling anybody with his Treasure Hunter speech.
* [[The Lancer]]: To Terra. He accompanies her during two fair stretches of the game, and when she's [[Put on a Bus]], Locke effectively takes over as the leader of the group until she comes back, one segment during that time revealing his backstory at last.
* [[Love Hurts]]: Locke can't forgive himself for what happened to Rachel {{spoiler|until after the Phoenix revives her and she convinces him otherwise}}.▼
* [[Loveable Rogue]]
▲* [[Love Hurts]]: Locke can't forgive himself for what happened to Rachel {{spoiler|until after the Phoenix revives her and she convinces him otherwise}}.
* [[Meaningful Name]]/[[Gratuitous German]]: Lock '''Cole''' comes from a town called '''Kohl'''ingen, which is roughly equivalent to a town name like "Coalton".
* [[Mugged for Disguise]]: When Locke is trapped in South Figaro after the Empire takes over, he can steal the clothes from merchants and imperial soldiers to disguise himself as one of them. [[Paper-Thin Disguise|Somehow, this works flawlessly.]].
* [[My Greatest Failure]]: Rachel's accident and death.
* [[My Greatest Second Chance]]: {{spoiler|As the party escapes Kefka's Tower, Celes drops the bandanna she found on Solitary Island and, as she runs back for it, the floor begins to collapse. Celes begins to hang onto an edge as Locke rushes to save her.}}.
* [[Required Party Member]]: With Celes after Zozo.
▲* [[Insistent Terminology|Semantic Nonsense]]: Locke doesn't call himself a "thief". He prefers (with threats of bodily harm) to be referred to as a "treasure hunter".
* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]
* [[Take My Hand]]: During the ending, Locke does this to Celes.
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* [[Anchors Away]]: His Air Anchor tool, which may insta-kill an enemy.
* [[Annoying Arrows]]: Averted; the auto-crossbow is a very good tool.
* [[As Many X as There Are Y]]: When Kefka inquires about Terra, Edgar responds, "There are more girls in here than grains of sand out there; I can't possibly keep track of them all!". His castle is in the middle of a desert.
* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]
* [[Automatic Crossbows]]: His first (and arguably his [[Disc One Nuke|most useful, before they become obsolete]]) tool.
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* [[Chivalrous Pervert]]: Or at least he tries to be...
* [[Cultured Badass]]
* [[Disc One Nuke]]: Edgar is easily the strongest member of your team when you get him, thanks to his Auto Crossbow ability which attacks all enemies for more damage than normal attacks will do, so no cost to MP or anything, However, once you get to Zozo and learn magic, its power wanes in comparison to the HP of enemies.▼
* [[Dirty Old Man]]: Kind of. He's not actually old, but he has some banter with Relm Arrowny (depending on the translation) to this effect. Relm is ten years old and probably young enough to be his daughter.
** It's worth noting that his actual dialogue is ''extremely'' cynical, as it's delivered just after a huge [[Player Punch]]. He more or less is saying that he hopes Relm ''isn't dead'' by the time she's of marriageable age, which is a distinct possibility:
{{quote|"Here's hoping you're still around in eight years, kid."}}
▲* [[Disc One Nuke]]: Edgar is easily the strongest member of your team when you get him, thanks to his Auto Crossbow ability which attacks all enemies for more damage than normal attacks will do, so no cost to MP or anything,. However, once you get to Zozo and learn magic, its power wanes in comparison to the HP of enemies.
* [[The Dutiful Son]]: Edgar willingly stayed behind to rule over Figaro when Sabin became so desperate to strike out on his own. Edgar eventually settled the matter with a rigged coin toss that allowed Sabin to leave with a clear conscience.
* [[Gadgeteer Genius]]
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{{quote|'''Edgar''' (regarding Relm): Not even a lady yet... Here's hoping you're still around in eight years, kid.}}
* [[King Incognito]]: Well, sort of. "Gerad", heh heh.
* [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask|The Man Wearing the Kingly Mask]]: It comes off when he talks to Sabin in the throne room.▼
* [[Mighty Glacier]]: He can give and take a lot of punishment, particularly since he tends to stay in the back row, but he's also very slow.
* [[Modest Royalty]]
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Appears to be his Modus Operandi for keeping the empire from getting suspicious about his activities.
* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: As Bandit Chief Gerad, who looks identical to Edgar but with a [[Palette Swap]]—How: how the hell didn't the thieves recognize him? Celes even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this, noting that Edgar was the one who threw most of them in jail in the first place.
* [[Rain of Arrows]]: It IS an automatic crossbow after all.
* [[Reluctant Ruler]]: He didn't particularly want to become the king.
* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: He is the king of Figaro, and one of your most versatile and most valuable party members.
* [[Significant Anagram]]: "Gerad" in the English version; his alias is "Geoff" in the Japanese version.
* [[Small Name, Big Ego]]: A possible [[Subverted Trope|subversion]]. He's known as a flirt to his subjects (and the children want to marry him), but his banter to Terra and Celes is not reciprocated. If one pays attention, though, he only attempts it once as a kind of greeting and treats them normally from then on.
* [[Something Only They Would Say]]: When in his "Gerad" disguise, he tries to get rid of Celes while saying "My Lady". Celes responds that only Edgar would address her that way, and after a moment of silence, he declares that "My Lady" is a fairly common way of addressing someone. In the GBA translation, he refers to Celes as a "beautiful lady", saying that it's common courtesy to be polite to ladies.
* [[Status Buff Dispel]]: Edgar's Debilitator tool adds an elemental weakness to an enemy. Being completely random, you could easily end up with a fire-spitting dragon that's suddenly weak to fire, and you could reuse it until an enemy was weak to every element.
* [[This Is a Drill]]: Edgar's toolset includes one massive power drill, complete with safety helmet.
* [[With This Herring]]: The King of Figaro has joined the party! That means lots of resources right? Wrong. At least the shops give you a discount. ''Somewhat'' justified in that he spends most of the game on the run, or with his kingdom in shambles.
▲* [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask|The Man Wearing the Kingly Mask]]: It comes off when he talks to Sabin in the throne room.
** ''Somewhat'' justified in that he spends most of the game on the run, or with his kingdom in shambles.
 
=== Sabin/Macías "Mash" Rene Figaro ===
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* [[Action Commands]]: His Blitz/Deathblow attacks require controller inputs, but you can't use them until you've actually learned them in-game.
* [[Animal Battle Aura]]: Tiger Break.
* [[Badass]]: As [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony]] put it: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u84cH_bmTA MOTHERFUCKER SUPLEXED A TRAIN!] [[Good Bad Bug|The programmers forgot to make Phantom Train immune to Suplexes...]] See [[Charles Atlas Superpower]] below.
** [[Good Bad Bug]]: The programmers forgot to make Phantom Train immune to Suplexes...
** See [[Charles Atlas Superpower]] below.
* [[Badass Beard]]: In some Amano artwork. He's clean-shaven in the in-game sprites, portraits and CG art though.
* [[Bare-Fisted Monk]]
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** At a high level with two high-end weapons and the Genji Glove and Master's Scroll and he becomes a borderline [[Game Breaker]] that can take down Kefka in a few turns.
* [[Load-Bearing Hero]]: Two examples: When he holds up the collapsing house so that Celes can save the child trapped inside, and during the ending, when he saves his brother from some collapsing junk.
* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]:
{{quote|'''Sabin:''' "I told you before... My name is NOT 'Mr. Thou'!"}}
* [[Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs]]
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* [[Action Girl]]: She was an Imperial General, you know.
* [[The Aloner]]: The possibility of being the last living person in the world after {{spoiler|Cid's death}} is not a pretty thought.
* [[An Ice Person]]: Her default spells are all ice-oriented.▼
* [[Anti-Magic]]: Her Runic/Seal ability.
* [[The Atoner]]: Joins the Returners partially out of a desire to atone for her crimes as a member of the Imperial army. Her most specific described war atrocity was the burning of Maranda.
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* [[Defector From Decadence]]: Committed treason when she realized that Kefka planned on poisoning Doma's water supply.
* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Joins the party with a very [[An Ice Person|cold attitude]], and then Locke gradually defrosts her. After the halfway point of the game, Celes becomes much more friendly towards the rest of the party and is altogether more optimistic and hopeful, to the point where she eventually becomes their unifying force.
* [[Detached Sleeves]]: The Amano artwork.▼
* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: After Celes wakes up from a year long coma to realize that the world really was destroyed, she's stranded on a deserted island with Cid, and everyone she knew is probably dead, the last event that completely destroys any lingering sense of hope is {{spoiler|Cid's death}} and leads to her {{spoiler|attempted suicide}}.
▲* [[Detached Sleeves]]: The Amano artwork.
* {{spoiler|[[Driven to Suicide]]:}} She survives it though. It can actually be avoided altogether.
* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: She appears in the background of one of Terra's flashbacks long before she appears in the main game.
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* [[High Heel Face Turn]]
* [[Hot Chick with a Sword]]: Her above-mentioned Runic ability even requires a sword to work (it's disabled with any other weapon).
▲* [[An Ice Person]]: Her default spells are all ice-oriented.
* [[Identical Stranger]]: Celes and Maria.
* [[I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder]]: Twice.
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* [[Required Party Member]]: With Locke after Zozo.
* [[Second Love]]: For Locke.
* [[She Cleans Up Nicely]]: When she poses as Maria. Leading to an amusing moment of Locke staring at her bosom. Particularly funny, consider that, as mentioned above, her normal in-game costume is a [[Leotard of Power]], and therefore not terribly modest.
** Particularly funny, consider that, as mentioned above, her normal in-game costume is a [[Leotard of Power]], and therefore not terribly modest.
* [[Sparkling Stream of Tears]]: Twice, after {{spoiler|Cid's death}}.
* [[Statuesque Stunner]]: Skirts the line at 5'8".
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* [[Badass]] [[Ninja]]: Including many of the abilities that usually come along with that class in the series, such as throwing weapons.
* [[A Boy and His X|A Man and His Dog]]: With Interceptor.▼
* [[Blood Knight]]: When you defeat him in the Colosseum, your party asks him what he's doing there, and he explains that fighting is the only thing he knows how to do. He eventually agrees to join the Returners, mostly so he can put his skills up to the ultimate challenge. The reason for this isn't revealed until much later, and then only to the player.
* [[Canine Companion]]: Interceptor.
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* [[Defeat Means Playable]]: In the World of Ruin.
* {{spoiler|[[Disappeared Dad]]: When the details of Shadow's five dreams and Relm's one dream are combined, it becomes certain that he is Relm's missing father.}}
* [[The Drifter]]: In the World of Balance, sans the Floating Continent, Shadow can leave the party at set points in the story, or after he's earned enough money to earn his hiring fee.▼
* {{spoiler|[[Driven to Suicide]]: It's implied in the ending that he deliberately stayed behind when Kefka's Tower was collapsing on top of him as a means to atone for failing to grant his partner-in-crime his mercy kill.}}
▲* [[The Drifter]]: In the World of Balance, sans the Floating Continent, Shadow can leave the party at set points in the story, or after he's earned enough money to earn his hiring fee.
* [[Flashback Nightmare]]: Shadow is haunted by his inability to put his friend, Baram, out of his misery.
* [[Game Breaking Bug]]: "Interceptor" is considered a permanent status effect for Shadow, and unfortunately, this makes it vulnerable to the infamous Rippler glitch. If an enemy snatches up Shadow's status and is then killed, kiss his beloved pooch good-bye outside of story sequences.
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* {{spoiler|[[Lost Forever]]: In conjunction with the previous trope.}}
* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: Not outright stated (at least until possibly a 1995 interview with Squaresoft), but his dreams heavily imply that {{spoiler|he is Relm's father}}.
▲* [[A Boy and His X|A Man and His Dog]]: With Interceptor.
* [[Mercy Kill]]: {{spoiler|Shadow, back when he was Clyde the train robber, chickened out of mercy killing a wounded comrade. He never forgives himself for it.}}
* [[Morality Pet]]: Shadow's devotion to his dog Interceptor is one of the chief things that humanizes him.
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{{quote|"Faithful retainer to his family's liege, with the courage and strength of a hundred men..."}}
 
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: Cyan's [[Sword Techs]] may seem impressive, but it takes so long for the gauge to fill up that it isn't really worth it; by the time the [[Sword Tech]] gauge fills up, your other three characters will likely have been standing around for a good 3–4 seconds when they could have been told to do something else. "[[Game Breaker|Psycho Cyan]]" on the other hand...
** "[[Game Breaker|Psycho Cyan]]" on the other hand...
* [[Badass Grandpa]] This man had the sheer balls to take on the whole Imperial Army at Doma... AND WAS WINNING!
* [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]]: {{spoiler|Spending a night at the abandoned Doma castle in the World of Ruin triggers this as a sidequest.}}
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* [[Single-Stroke Battle]]: His ultimate Sword Technique.
* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: Due to the [[Character Name Limits|character limit]].
* [[The Strength of Ten Men|The Strength of a Hundred Men]]
* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: About his aversion to machines.
* [[Walking Techbane]]: He is NOT good with machines. He ''tries'' to learn more about how to use them over the course of the game though.
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* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]
* [[Death by Childbirth]]: The reason his father went mad and abandoned him on the Veldt.
* [[Disc One Nuke]]: Several of Gau's rages use abilities for free that are ordinarily not available until later - for example, using Rhinox allows you to use Reraise, for no MP cost, in the World of Balance.▼
* [[Difficult but Awesome]]
▲* [[Disc One Nuke]]: Several of Gau's rages use abilities for free that are ordinarily not available until later - for example, using Rhinox allows you to use Reraise, for no MP cost, in the World of Balance.
* [[Ditto Fighter]]
* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: To tell the truth, he doesn't like civilized clothing in general as he finds it cumbersome and uncomfortable. Hence why his best "armor" is the Snow Scarf.
* [[Fairy Battle]]: This is how Sabin and Cyan recruit him.
* [[Hulk Speak]]
* [[Innocent Fanservice Girl|Innocent Fanservice Boy]]: Some Amano concept art showed him ''naked'' (but not showing parts). This would have been entirely logical for a [[Wild Child]] in [[Real Life]]. The in-game graphics and the more well-known art show Gau wearing his more familiar animal skin clothes.
* [[Insistent Terminology]]: MR. THOU!
* [[Lethal Joke Character]]: He's completely uncontrollable and all of the Rages he actually starts with suck, which makes many players dislike him. If you train and equip him correctly, though, he can be ''extremely'' effective.
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* [[Mega Manning]]: His Rages; one for almost every enemy in the game.
* [[Nature Hero]]
* [[Parental Abandonment]]▼
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: His father, went mad by grief of losing his wife, threw his own son to the Veldt.
▲* [[Parental Abandonment]]
* [[Raised by Wolves]]
* [[Twenty Bear Asses]]: His Rages. Collecting them all [[Guide Dang It|is no easy feat]].
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{{quote|"A blackjack-playing, world-traveling, casino-dwelling free spirit..."}}
 
* [[Cultured Badass]] [[Badass Longcoat]]▼
* [[Catch Phrase]]: "My life is a chip in your pile. Ante up!"
* [[Cool Airship]]: The Blackjack. {{spoiler|And later, The Falcon.}}
* [[Critical Failure]]: 7-7-Bar, you're dead.
▲* [[Cultured Badass]] [[Badass Longcoat]]
* [[The Dandy]]
* [[Death Dealer]]: Setzer can obtain a set of cards called "Trump Cards", which have a small chance of landing a [[One-Hit Kill]].
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* [[Art Attacker]]: Relm has the "Sketch" ability which lets her use the target monster's special abilities.
* [[Art Initiates Life]]: Her Sketch ability - she will draw the copy of the enemy to attack other enemies. She also frequently threatens to do the same to Strago if she doesn't get her way.
* [[Little Miss Badass]] [[Badass Adorable]]: She's a cute little girl who can paint a portrait of you that kicks your ass!
* [[The Beast Master]]
* [[Bratty Half-Pint]]
* {{spoiler|[[Canine Companion]]: If Shadow dies, Interceptor will protect Relm instead (In plot; [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|short of a bug, Interceptor only protects Shadow in battle]]).}}
* [[Everything's Louder with Bagpipes]]: Her theme has this in the official remakes.
* {{spoiler|[[Flashback Nightmare]]: If Shadow dies on the [[Floating Continent]], you will not find Shadow in the Cave on the Veldt, but instead Relm, who will have a dream of her own that ties in to Shadow's five [[Flashback Nightmare]] scenes, finally firmly establishing Clyde as her [[Disappeared Dad]]. But without [[Save Scumming]] (just before choosing whether to let Shadow live or die on the [[Floating Continent]]), Shadow's fifth dream and Relm's dream cannot both be viewed within the same playthrough of the game.}}
* [[Glass Cannon]]: Like her grandfather, Relm is a powerful magic-user. However, whereas Strago was so old he had a hard time taking blows, Relm is so young she has a hard time taking blows.
* [[Improbable Weapon User]]: Painting brushes.
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* [[Squishy Wizard]]
* [[Tagalong Kid]]
* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: The Sketch algorithm falls into this for two reasons: First, it has the monster's stats, rather than Relm's. Secondly, any elemental or status attack will be likely nullified or even absorbed. (There is one exception.) There's one very specific instance in which Sketch is useful. If used on the Wirey Dragons - tough, hard hitting monsters with good defense and no weaknesses to exploit - it casts Cyclonic and burns 90% of their health.
** There's one very specific instance in which Sketch is useful. If used on the Wirey Dragons - tough, hard hitting monsters with good defense and no weaknesses to exploit - it casts Cyclonic and burns 90% of their health.
* [[Whatevermancy]]: In the Japanese and GBA version, Relm is a "[[Art Initiates Life|Pictomancer]]".
 
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* [[Blade on a Stick]]: Mog primarily uses pikes, but his other Moogle companions use claws, swords, boomerangs, [[Rings of Death|chakrams]], etc.
* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Mog is your guide during an early part of the game where the main characters are [[Two Lines, No Waiting|separated into three groups]], and he explains that you must pick a group in order to progress the story.
* [[Chekhov's Gunman|Chekhov's Moogle]]: He's one of the Moogles who help Locke protect an unconscious Terra from the Imperial soldiers trying to capture her near the beginning of the game.
* [[Cute Bruiser]]: With proper Esper stat training and the right equipment, Mog can slaughter enemies.
* [[Dance Battler]]
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{{quote|"Admirer of bone-carvings, as strong as a gigas, a sasquatch pal with muscle!"}}
 
* [[An Ice Person]]: If Umaro has the Blizzard Orb equipped, he will sometimes attack the enemies with an ice storm.▼
* [[Badass]]
* [[The Berserker]]
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* [[Fastball Special]]: When Umaro has the Rage Ring equipped. Guess who plays the role of the fastball... Sometimes he'll even throw himself.<ref>Yeah, you could rationalize it as him ''charging'' the enemy, but where's the fun in that?</ref>
* [[Hulk Speak]]: He only has a couple lines of dialogue, but he speaks worse than Gau!
▲* [[An Ice Person]]: If Umaro has the Blizzard Orb equipped, he will sometimes attack the enemies with an ice storm.
* [[Lightning Bruiser]]: He's one of the physically strongest characters in the entire series, and he's surprisingly fast to boot.
* [[Not Completely Useless]]: His uncontrollable nature makes him a surprisingly good choice for the Coliseum, and he's completely unaffected by the Fanatics' Tower's restrictions on attacking.
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* [[Ambiguously Brown]]: He's actually supposed to be black. Although you can blame the sprites for making him look more caucasian and, in the status artwork, tan at best. (Plus, the fact that his hair is ''blonde'')
* [[Badass Normal]]: Unlike other generals, he doesn't have any magic powers. Why? Because he refused the magical infusion process when offered.▼
* [[Badass Longcoat]]
▲* [[Badass Normal]]: Unlike other generals, he doesn't have any magic powers. Why? Because he refused the magical infusion process when offered.
* [[Darkskinned Blonde]]: In the artwork.
* [[Defector From Decadence]]: Just before he dies.
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* [[The Faceless]]: In his sprite, his portrait has a face but not a very human one.
* [[Guest Star Party Member]]
** [[Loophole Abuse]]: Since you can only use the Ghost during a time when you don't fight any bosses, they didn't bother giving the bosses in the main game resistance to Possess, so even enemies immune to instant death will perish.▼
* [[No Name Given]]
* [[One Hit KO]]: Possess kills any enemy instantly.
** [[Taking You with Me]]: But kills the Ghost and removes it from the party.
▲** [[Loophole Abuse]]: Since you can only use the Ghost during a time when you don't fight any bosses, they didn't bother giving the bosses in the main game resistance to Possess, so even enemies immune to instant death will perish.
 
=== Biggs and Wedge ===
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* [[The Caretaker]]: Cid to Celes.
* [[Defector From Decadence]]: At the banquet, he counts himself as a Returner.
* [[Engineer Exploited For Evil]]▼
* [[Expy]]: There's ''always'' a Cid in a ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' game.
* {{spoiler|[[Plotline Death]]}}: {{spoiler|If Celes doesn't feed him fast-swimming fish, or just takes too long to feed him at all. [[Dissidia Final Fantasy]] actually implies that his death is ''canon''.}}
* [[Promotion to Parent]]: On Solitary Island, Celes says that Cid is her "granddad" and she his granddaughter.
▲* [[Engineer Exploited For Evil]]
 
=== Arvis/Jun ===
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* [[Guide Dang It]]: {{spoiler|In the World of Ruin, not only is his home in a completely different location relative to the rest of the world, but it's not even marked on the map, appearing as a formation of trees.}}
* [[The Mentor]]
** [[Mentor Occupational Hazard]]
* [[Old Master]]
* [[Palette Swap]]: Of Banon.
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{{quote|The main antagonist of the game who arguably steals the show, to the point that he's the only character in the game who has his own [[Wikipedia]] page.}}
 
* [[A God Am I]]: Notably the first ([[Follow the Leader|though hardly the last]]) ''Final Fantasy'' villain to seek out godhood, and one of the few to achieve it when he absorbs the power of the Warring Triad.▼
** [[Mad God]]: He seems a bit less insane than before when you confront him at the end of the game, but he's still way off the deep end.▼
* [[0% Approval Rating]]: All of the Imperial soldiers (or at least the ones in General Leo's camp near Doma) often complained about Kefka, with at least one soldier threatening to quit the military if Kefka was even allowed to become general in Leo's stead. And for good reason: He had fifty of their finest soldiers burned to a crisp via a mind-controlled Terra, and when poisoning Doma, he is also fully aware that any Imperial captives being held at Doma would die of the poison and does it anyways, stating that its their fault they got captured in the first place.
* [[Apocalypse How]]: Causes Class 1, and it is hinted that a year later its gotten up to Class 4 and is on the verge of Class 5 with animals dying out and humans struggling to survive. Then the party ticks him off and he decides to go for Class X, if not a Class Z, going by his statement of "I'm going to destroy ''everything!'' I'll create my own Empire of Death/I'll create a monument to non-existence!"
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{{quote|'''Kefka:''' The end draws near...}}
* [[Bad Boss]]: Especially when compared to [[A Father to His Men|General Leo.]]
* {{spoiler|[[The Bad Guy Wins]]: He actually manages to destroy the world and become a god, and he reigned over the ashes of the planet for a year with his new power. The second half of the game is [[After the End]] as the Returners [[My Greatest Second Chance|attempt to set things right.]]}}▼
* [[Beware the Silly Ones]]: Despite his clownish appearance and comical behavior, he is still a very dangerous character and a grave threat.
* [[Big Bad]]
▲* {{spoiler|[[The Bad Guy Wins]]: He actually manages to destroy the world and become a god, and he reigned over the ashes of the planet for a year with his new power. The second half of the game is [[After the End]] as the Returners [[My Greatest Second Chance|attempt to set things right.]]}}
* [[Blond Guys Are Evil]]: Sort of. Several of the main characters/NPCs have blonde hair (At least in the Amano artwork), just as Kefka does.
* [[Bright Is Not Good]]: Kefka wears an outfit with many vivid colors and different patterns on it.
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* [[The Dragon]]: Kefka fills this role before he murders Gestahl and becomes the [[Big Bad]].
** [[Dragon Ascendant]]
** [[Dragon-in-Chief]]: Even before he overthrows Gestahl, Kefka's the one who actually confronts the party most of the time, while Gestahl is more of a distant [[Evil Overlord]].
** [[Dragon with an Agenda]]: Gestahl wanted to ''rule'' the world. Kefka had a different idea.
** [[The Starscream]]: Careful reading of Kefka's lines during the game reveals that he has a major problem with being a servant, and by the time of Thamasa he's not even hiding that he's taking power for himself instead of Gestahl.▼
** [[Starter Villain]]: Serves this role before becoming a [[Dragon Ascendant]]. Kefka is the face of the Empire for the first quarter of the game or so, and the battle with him at Narshe is effectively the climax of that portion of the game. Afterwards Terra transforms, the party heads to Zozo, and attentions turn to the Empire and the Espers. Kefka is still prominent, but he doesn't take center stage again until the Floating Continent.▼
* [[Dramatic Irony]]: Kefka spends a full year causing destruction, but life continued and people still carried on hope for the future. In the end, while Kefka snaps at the party that their lives are meaningless and worthless, his life is the one that has truly become devoid of meaning and worth, because he cast off such things trying to deprive others of them.
* [[Drunk on the Dark Side]]: If you're not quite sure how strong Kefka is at any given point of the game, don't worry, he'll be happy to show you.
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* [[Evil Sorcerer]]
* [[Expy]]: Of [[The Joker]]. The English localizers of ''Dissidia'' apparently noticed this, seeing how they had Dave Wittenberg voice the character in a very similar manner to Mark Hamill's characterization of The Joker.
* [[Follow the Leader]]: Mimicking Mateus' methods of poisoning a kingdom aside, he himself started a trend of villains who desired to become gods in the series.
* [[For the Evulz]]: A good 90% or so of Kefka's actions throughout the game can only be explained as such.
* [[From Nobody to Nightmare]]: He starts the game as a court jester lackey of Gestahl and by the end of the game rules the world as a god.
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Kefka's very strong in magic, and is probably tall given his height in ''Dissidia'', yet he is also a pretty good manipulator as well as implied to be technologically skilled (piloting and maintaining [[Magitek]] armors, single-handedly manning two cranes in Vector to prevent the Returners' airship from escaping, and presumably inventing Terra's slave crown).
* [[Genocide Backfire]]: Poisoning of Doma, which resulted in very angry Cyan. In his case, it wasn't really out of fear or hatred of the Domians as much as feeling it is a good kick to do something like that.
▲* [[A God Am I]]: Notably the first ([[Follow the Leader|though hardly the last]]) ''Final Fantasy'' villain to seek out godhood, and one of the few to achieve it when he absorbs the power of the Warring Triad.
** [[Gone Horribly Right]]: Ultimately they ''did'' succeed in making Kefka a super-powered magic-user capable of destroying their enemies. He just decided to move on to everything else too.▼
* [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]: The Empire wanted to create a new breed of super-powered [[Magic Knight]]s, but with the process not yet perfected, it drove Kefka insane.
▲** [[Gone Horribly Right]]: Ultimately they ''did'' succeed in making Kefka a super-powered magic-user capable of destroying their enemies. He just decided to move on to everything else too.
* [[Good Wings, Evil Wings]]: Has four angelic wings and two demonic wings. However, they seem to be inconsistent on this—In his ''Anthology'' render Kefka has six angelic wings, and in ''Dissidia'' has two demonic wings, and his four angelic wings are treated more like they're fused together so he has just two large wings instead.
* [[The Hyena]]: His pre-recorded sound byte of a cackle is his calling card.
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* [[Impossibly Tacky Clothes]]: Kefka could be considered Square's [http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/3/31/DissidiaKefka_alts.png first shot across the bow] at cosplayers.
* [[It Got Worse]]: No matter how bad things are, he will always try to make it worse. Just take his destruction of the world—it wasn't enough for Kefka to murder countless innocents, rip apart the continents and unleash mutated monsters on the people, he had to spend his time afterwards blasting the ashes of civilization when he got bored.
* [[The Jester]]: Kefka's overall appearance is similar to that of a Tyrolean Jester, and similar to the trope, it also led to him not being suspected of being as much of a threat until it was far too late.▼
* [[Japanese Pronouns]]: Frequently used Boku/Bokuchin in reference to himself, which gives some significant hints at his [[Psychopathic Manchild|maturity level and mindset]].
▲* [[The Jester]]: Kefka's overall appearance is similar to that of a Tyrolean Jester, and similar to the trope, it also led to him not being suspected of being as much of a threat until it was far too late.
* [[Just Between You and Me]]: Kefka, while maniacally reveling about the power he gained in the Magitek Research Facility, is overheard by the Returners, where he also expresses his intent to revive the Warring Triad. It's subverted because despite being overheard by the heroes, he still succeeds in his plan anyways.
** [[Kick the Dog]]: To everyone else, such as his poisoning of Doma, his murder of General Leo (and his also casting an illusion of Gestahl "admitting" to Leo that he tricked him into having him collect more Espers and magicite for no reason outside of adding insult to injury), his attempted torchings of Figaro and Thamasa, his having Terra burn fifty soldiers under his employ alive, and finally his destruction of the world and his frequently using the light of judgment on the world.▼
* [[Kick the Son of a Bitch]]: Figuratively and literally, to Gestahl.
▲** [[Kick the Dog]]: To everyone else, such as his poisoning of Doma, his murder of General Leo (and his also casting an illusion of Gestahl "admitting" to Leo that he tricked him into having him collect more Espers and magicite for no reason outside of adding insult to injury), his attempted torchings of Figaro and Thamasa, his having Terra burn fifty soldiers under his employ alive, and finally his destruction of the world and his frequently using the light of judgment on the world.
* [[Knight of Cerebus]]: To the entire series. The villains of the first five games didn't have very deep characterizations or motivations beyond being [[Evil Overlord]]s who wanted to take over or destroy the world. Kefka had the same goal of world destruction/domination, but he was clearly having ''fun'' causing death and chaos along the way just because he could, and when it came time for him to make his plan to destroy the world, he ''succeeded'', and the game picked up [[After the End]] with the player exploring a dead husk of the world they once knew.
* [[Know When to Fold'Em]]: Variation. It's strongly implied that he was holding back his power significantly when confronted at the Imperial Camp by Sabin and Shadow, and was running away because he didn't want any distractions from dumping poison into Doma.
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* [[Leave No Survivors]]
* [[Leitmotif]]: Kefka's eponymous theme starts out light and bouncy with string and wind instruments, then descends into a loud flurry of drumbeats and cymbol clashes. Which is a good indication of [[Sanity Slippage|how Kefka himself goes as the game progresses]]. It's sampled twice in "Dancing Mad", the final boss theme.
* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Kefka has a weapon called the Light of Judgment that he uses to destroy towns that oppose him, and in the final battle, he turns into an angelic-looking creature. Also provides the trope image. Heck, even before becoming the God of Magic, he basically resembled a very colorful clown, was blond and blue/green eyed, and wore white makeup, and was also heavily implied to have pyromaniacal tendencies (eg, forcing Terra to torch his own soldiers alive, attempting to burn Figaro Castle, having his troops burn Thamasa, was implied to have caused a lot of fires when misaligning the Warring Triad, not to mention the whole Light of Judgment thing). His [[One-Winged Angel|God of Magic form]] also mixes this with [[Dark Is Evil]], as he possesses a pair of bat wings as well as looking more fierce and demonic overall in his god form.
** His [[One-Winged Angel|God of Magic form]] also mixes this with [[Dark Is Evil]], as he possesses a pair of bat wings as well as looking more fierce and demonic overall in his god form.
* [[Load-Bearing Boss]]: Defeating Kefka not only causes his tower to collapse, but seems to herald the rebirth of the planet's ecosystem.
* [[Loves the Sound of Screaming]]: When he poisons Doma. Also a ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Shout-Out]].
{{quote|'''Kefka:''' Hee-hee! Nothing beats the music of hundreds of voices screaming in unison! Uwee-hee-hee! ''(dumps poison in Doma's water supply)''}}
▲** [[Mad God]]: He seems a bit less insane than before when you confront him at the end of the game, but he's still way off the deep end.
* [[Mad Scientist]]: Probably, seeing how it was heavily implied that he was the one who invented Terra's Slave Crown.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Aside from his first name bearing similarity to [[Franz Kafka]], Kefka's last name, Palazzo, is Italian in origin that means palace, mansion, and/or castle, and also sounds very similar to Basque ''pailazo'', Catalan ''pallasso'', Greek ''paliatsos'', Italian ''pagliaccio'', Portuguese ''palhaço'', Spanish ''payaso'' and Turkish ''palyaço'', which all translate to "clown," and his appearance pretty much makes it clear that the similar names are very fitting.
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{{quote|'''Kefka Palazzo:''' Why do people insist on creating things that will inevitably be destroyed? Why do people cling to life knowing that they must someday die? Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once they do?}}
* [[Not So Harmless]]: Sort of.
* [[Orcus on His Throne]]: To his credit though, he probably doesn't even need to move from his chamber to destroy the party, but where's the fun in that?▼
* [[One-Winged Angel]]: Technically, ''six'' winged angel.▼
* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]
{{quote|'''Kefka:''' What's the fun in destruction if no precious lives are lost?}}
▲* [[One-Winged Angel]]: Technically, ''six'' winged angel.
▲* [[Orcus on His Throne]]: To his credit though, he probably doesn't even need to move from his chamber to destroy the party, but where's the fun in that?
* [[Phlebotinum Rebel]]
* [[Pietà Plagiarism]]: The third tier of the final battle... And when you see Kefka in place of Jesus on the pietà, you simply have to face the facts: The world is fucked, and if you want a savior, you'll have to be the one yourself.
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* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: The peaceful segment in the 4th part of "Dancing Mad".
* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: Lampshaded in the newer translation, which has one guard in Figaro Castle mention a fringe cult that spells his name with "C"s and not "K"s.
▲** [[The Starscream]]: Careful reading of Kefka's lines during the game reveals that he has a major problem with being a servant, and by the time of Thamasa he's not even hiding that he's taking power for himself instead of Gestahl.
▲** [[Starter Villain]]: Serves this role before becoming a [[Dragon Ascendant]]. Kefka is the face of the Empire for the first quarter of the game or so, and the battle with him at Narshe is effectively the climax of that portion of the game. Afterwards Terra transforms, the party heads to Zozo, and attentions turn to the Empire and the Espers. Kefka is still prominent, but he doesn't take center stage again until the Floating Continent.
* [[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum]]: With more emphasis on Temper Tantrum. When the party tells him that all his destruction and chaos has failed to wipe out life and people are rebuilding and still have hope, Kefka snaps and goes on a berserk rampage, deciding that he simply hasn't gone far enough yet.
* [[Super Move Portrait Attack]]: Pops up during the Goner/Forsaken move.
* [[Super Soldier]]: The prototype actually. [[Psycho Prototype|You know what that means.]]
* [[Team Rocket Wins]]: Kefka is a laughable threat until {{spoiler|he gets some major magical upgrades from the Espers and becomes a killing machine in Thamasa}}.
* [[Took a Level in Badass]]: It's jarring to see him go from running away from a lone Sabin (granted, Shadow could be there as well) through an entire camp full of his army and having to run away with his tail between his legs from the collective party, to kicking the party's collective asses ''twice'', then killing the best soldier in the Empire, ''without using any magic'', and a small ''army'' of Espers ''on his own'' that were able to thrash the Capital City of the Empire. [[It Got Worse|And that's just the start of the madness.]] It was strongly implied, however, that he was holding back his overall power when Sabin was fighting him, most likely because he wanted to poison Doma as soon as possible and didn't want any distractions from that goal.
** It was strongly implied, however, that he was holding back his overall power when Sabin was fighting him, most likely because he wanted to poison Doma as soon as possible and didn't want any distractions from that goal.
* [[Villain Exit Stage Left]]: Early in the story, he either runs away, is left in the dust, or is blown away.
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: The entire game follows Kefka slowly but surely sliding even deeper into complete madness than he already is. He's actually kinda normal, if still evil and cackling, when you first meet him in Figaro. But by the end of the game...
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* [[Villains Never Lie]]: After the party reaches the part of the Magitek Factory where espers are being held in captivity, Kefka enters and declares that Celes was a mole. Locke ''believes him'', forcing Celes to perform a non-lethal variant of a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save Locke.
* [[We Have Reserves]]: This is Kefka's general approach to warfare. He broke the siege of Doma Castle by poisoning the water supply, killing everyone inside - including women, children, and even some Imperial soldiers that were being kept as prisoners of war.
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]:
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]:* When you first sneak into Vector, if you can get all the way up to the Cafe where all the Imperial soldiers are hanging out, one man will tell you what he knows of Kefka's backstory. Oddly, just hearing the broad outline and filling in the rest with your imagination is almost scarier than knowing the details.
** In addition, it's only at the end of the game that Kefka's nihilism and contempt for life become apparent, possibly because becoming the God of Magic and spending a year burning the burnt husk of a dead world gave him time to reflect on things.
* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]: Perhaps one of the darkest interpretations of all, evidence in the original game and ''Dissidia'' suggests it isn't so much Kefka not seeing the value of love and hope as it is he actually can't understand them anymore, his mind is just too far gone, and destruction is all he has to bring meaning to his life with everything else stripped away from him.
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* [[Evil Old Folks]]
* [[Evil Overlord]]
* [[Go-Karting with Bowser]]/[[No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine|No, Returners, I Expect You to Dine]]: After the Espers razed Vector, Gestahl seemingly has a change of heart (or at least realizes that after the Esper attack he has no chance against the Returners), asks for the ceasefire, invites the party to the dinner party, blames everything on Kefka, asks the party to find the espers and negotiate with them to prevent another War of the Magi. The party doesn't fall for it, but they play along since they really need to convince the Espers not to destroy everything. And they leave behind lots of people to uncover the plans.▼
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: Gestahl meets his doom at the hands of his genetically altered [[Super Soldier]].
* [[Karmic Death]]: It's very fitting that Emperor Gestahl dies at the hands of Kefka after he was responsible for having Kefka infused with magical powers, and had him [[Promoted to Scapegoat]] when things started going wrong. Add additional karmic points for the fact that Kefka kills him using the power of the Warring Triad, the very things he has pursued all of this time.
* [[Military Brat]]: According to the ''Final Fantasy VI ''timeline, Gestahl was from a well-off military family. It's also strongly implied that his father was heavily involved in a large coup that resulted in Vector becoming an Empire.
* [[A Nazi by Any Other Name]]: Let's see... He's an amazingly charismatic dictator attempting to conquer the world, his troops are obliquely compared to Nazi stormtroopers in a reference to a scene from ''[[Star Wars]]'', his troops use the "Nazi arm-raise salute", he keeps Espers in a,<ref>concentration camp</ref> and... oh, he wanted to create a "master race" by [[Squick|breeding Celes and Kefka]]. His characterization is also quite similar to Mussolini and his Facism movement, especially when taking into account the fact that he was essentially trying to resurrect an old empire of Magic.
▲* [[Go-Karting with Bowser]]/[[No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine|No, Returners, I Expect You to Dine]]: After the Espers razed Vector, Gestahl seemingly has a change of heart (or at least realizes that after the Esper attack he has no chance against the Returners), asks for the ceasefire, invites the party to the dinner party, blames everything on Kefka, asks the party to find the espers and negotiate with them to prevent another War of the Magi. The party doesn't fall for it, but they play along since they really need to convince the Espers not to destroy everything. And they leave behind lots of people to uncover the plans.
* [[Obviously Evil]]
* [[Pragmatic Villainy]]: In the SNES version, at least, Emperor Gestahl tries to stop Kefka from doing something that will cause [[The End of the World as We Know It]], because he wants to rule the world, not blow it up. Kefka kills him. In the GBA version, his final words were "The world will now experience true fear..." before being kicked off by Kefka, implying that it was closer to [[Even Evil Has Standards]].
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* [[Dub Name Change]]: Demon and Fiend were renamed Poltrgeist and Doom in the Super NES release.
* [[Fire, Ice, Lightning]]: Demon, Fiend, Goddess
* [[God Is Evil]]: Though their backstory reveals they realized the havoc they were causing and stopped, by the time you find them in Kefka's Tower they're clearly on his side and fight you. Heck, thanks to {{spoiler|Kefka absorbing most of their energies}}, they barely even qualify as gods by that point.
** Heck, thanks to {{spoiler|Kefka absorbing most of their energies}}, they barely even qualify as gods by that point.
* [[Good Wings, Evil Wings]]: Demon has angel wings, Fiend has demon wings.
* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: Demon drops the Radiant Lance, Fiend drops the Mutsunokami, and Goddess drops the Excalibur. In the original Super NES release the former two were the strongest weapons of their kind. Excalibur was outclassed by the Ultima Weapon, Ragnarok and Illumina, but getting the latter two meant passing up the Ragnarok Magicite that taught [[Game Breaker|Ultima]].
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* [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous]]: Fiend.
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: This is the reason why they sealed themselves as statues in the first place.
* [[Signature Move]]: Tyrfing for Demon, Fiendish Rage and Force Field for Fiend, and Overcast for Goddess. Quasar is ''not'' exclusive to Goddess, but it is likely she'll be the first enemy you see using it.▼
* [[Shout-Out]]: The rest of the series contains subtle references to them, such as three statues in [[Final Fantasy IX|Kuja's]] palace resembling them, and [[Final Fantasy X|Yunalesca]] resembling Goddess in her second form.
▲* [[Signature Move]]: Tyrfing for Demon, Fiendish Rage and Force Field for Fiend, and Overcast for Goddess. Quasar is ''not'' exclusive to Goddess, but it is likely she'll be the first enemy you see using it.
* [[Stripperiffic]]: Goddess
* [[Taken for Granite]]
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** [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: The Gold Dragon may absorb all magic, but its weakness is water, and it turns out Flood is one of the few spells that can't be absorbed, not to mention Strago's water-elemental Lores.
* [[Dem Bones]]: The name "Skull Dragon" should be a clue.
** [[Dinosaurs Are Dragons]]: Gold, Earth and Ice Dragon are palette swaps of dinosaur-type enemies.▼
* [[Dummied Out]]: Kaiser Dragon is actually a reimagining of "CzarDragon", a [[Bonus Boss]] found in the coding of the original Super NES release but never implemented in the game. Various text in the Super NES release also alludes that a rematch with the Eight Dragons was also planned and would have used the gimmicks of their reborn selves.
* [[Elemental Powers]]:
** [[Playing with Fire]]: Red Dragon
** [[Making a Splash]]: Blue Dragon
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* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: They all guard powerful weapons in the original game, though usually not the strongest of their types. Their reborn incarnations however ''do'' drop the strongest weapons.
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: Red and Holy Dragon are the only ones to be a [[Palette Swap]] of another one of the Eight Dragons, the other six use their own sprites among the group and thus their appearance vary wildly.
* [[Power-Up Letdown]]:
▲** [[Dinosaurs Are Dragons]]: Gold, Earth and Ice Dragon are palette swaps of dinosaur-type enemies.
* [[Power-Up Letdown]]:* The reborn Blue Dragon is pretty much the same as the original, just higher stats. Its "gimmick" is just that it inflicts more status ailments on itself when using Rippler as described above, but it still only does that if you use your own status buffs.
** If you brought along Celes to fight Red Dragon, she can use Runic to absorb all of its spells.
* [[Signature Move]]: They all get one in the Dragons' Den, aside from Earth Dragon and Storm Dragon who had theirs originally.
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* [[Deceptive Disciple]]
* [[Evil Counterpart]]:To Sabin
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]
* [[A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil]]
* [[Rival Turned Evil]]
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* [[Good Wings, Evil Wings]]
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Casts a binding spell to sweep the Empire out of the Esper realm, but he's so old its implied he lost his life.
** [[Senseless Sacrifice]]: But by the time he does it the Empire has already captured enough Espers to begin their campaign and keep it going for 20 years.
 
=== Valigarmanda/Tritoch ===
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{{reflist}}
 
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Final Fantasy/Characters]]
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/1723177"
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