Dissidia Final Fantasy/Characters/Warriors of Cosmos

A character sheet for the Warriors of Cosmos from Dissidia Final Fantasy and its prequel. Note that comments on a character's fighting style generally stay the same between games, except when otherwise mentioned.

See also:

• Warriors in Duodecim
• The Warriors of Chaos
• Other Characters

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Warrior of Light

"Though I once fought in the name of light, that honor may now be lost to me. However... The light I hold within my breast, never once has it flickered or faded. This I swear: I shall do my utmost to protect you until the very end."

"The nameless warrior shall transcend time & space, bringing light to the world." — Guiding Light.

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese), Grant George (English)

--Fighting Style: Paragon

A Composite Character of the entire party from Final Fantasy I. Since they were all backstory-less Heroic Mimes in that game, the Warrior of Light all but becomes an Original Character for the plot of Dissidia, one of a righteous person devoted to light's blessing. His design is based on Yoshitaka Amano's artwork for the original game, and his skills on the Fighter/Warrior class, making him a very balanced character.

General Tropes

• Adaptational Badass: To more or less the same degree as his rival, Garland. From Featureless Protagonist to a Badass Cape and Determinator? That's a level up.
• Artificial Human: Dissidia 012 Duodecim reveals he's a Manikin created by Cid using Cid's memories, but unlike the Mooks fought in the game, he's a "perfect" Manikin, able to have a sense of self and retain memories.
• Call Back: The final scene of 012 shows him about to awaken from his hibernation in Order's Sanctuary, which was the first scene of 013.
• The Cape: And does, in fact, come with a cape.
• The Champion: Fights directly to uphold Cosmos's honor. Taken further than in Dissidia 012 Duodecim, where he tells Cosmos that even if he lacks the light to fight as one of her chosen warriors, he'll always be there to protect her to the very end.
• Composite Character: The Warrior of Light apparently stands in for the entire party in the first game.
• Determinator: He's been doing this for a very long time.
• Everyone Calls Him Warrior of Light: At one point, he admits he doesn't know his own name — because in the original game, it's chosen by the player. He doesn't have a Canon Name.
  • In a scene during a previous war, Prishe gives him a name. Cosmos is hinted to know it too, but the player doesn't hear it. Later, Bartz suggests giving him a new name, but the Warrior rejects the idea as the vague memories of Prishe linger, and he doesn't want to lose the idea he already has a name to the idea of getting a new one.
• The Fettered: Holy crap, yes.
• Flame Sword: His Level-50 Exclusive Weapon, though it doesn't affect his appearance in battle.
• The Hero: Even moreso than all the other heroes.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: To the Manikins, not that he knows it.
• I Will Protect Her: Towards Cosmos, always.
  • In Dissidia 012 Duodecim, the alternate (dream) universe storyline "Confessions of the Creator" implies that on the 20th cycle, two cycles after Chaos completely went berserk, became Feral Chaos, and started indiscriminately destroying everything, including his own warriors, the Warrior of Light was the very last warrior left alive and died protecting Cosmos from him.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Lady and Knight: With Cosmos.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He's the only Manikin thus far that's not a mindless, Ax Crazy killing machine. Justified in that unlike Chaos' Manikins, WoL is a "Perfect" Manikin.
  • Well, he's one of three Manikins that aren't Ax Crazy killing machines, the other two being Chaos who, eventual insanity-induced One-Winged Angel form aside, is perfectly sane, and Cosmos.
• Mythology Gag: As a manikin based on the appearance of Cid of the Lufaine, the romantic feelings Princess Sarah has for him (who is nearly identical to Cid's late wife) becomes something of an example.
  • More so. Because he and Chaos were created in the same way, this makes him Chaos' younger brother in a way. Which fans will note gives the two much more in common with Kuja and Zidane...
• The Paladin: In all but the title.
• The Paragon
• Protagonist Without a Past: Justified and then subverted. The first game suggested a Mysterious Past that may or may not be dark and troubled, but the second reveals that he doesn't have a past, as he was created during the war. In a way however, some interpret the ending as him heading to start the journey of Final Fantasy I, so it could be argued that Dissidia gave a background to his character.
• Undying Loyalty: To Cosmos.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: In Dissidia, the last command for his EX Burst was always left; in Dissidia 012 Duodecim, it's random like the rest. It'll trip you up the first couple of times.
• EX Mode: Class Change!

"To shine brighter!"

• • In reference to the class-up given to the party by Bahamut in Final Fantasy I, Warrior of Light becomes a Knight. His armor changes entirely, making him look like he does in his game's logo. In addition to Regen, WoL's EX Mode gives him the following abilities:
    • Protect, which reduces all Brave damage he takes
    • Mirror Attack, which causes him to reflect projectiles sent his way whenever he is performing an attack
    • Light's Blessing, which adds to his physical combo attacks in the form of blades of light that pierce the enemy as he attacks.
  • Class Change also gives him access to his EX Burst: Oversoul:

"I give my all... to this sword! Prepare!"

• • Warrior of Light leaps at his opponent and, depending on whether the player inputs the proper D-pad input, runs them through with his sword up to six times, each time leaving a spear of light in them as he goes through, before finishing it up with a final slash, leaving the opponent in a magical explosion.

"You're finished!"

• • And if you want to read into it further, you'll note that there were only six possible character choices in the original Final Fantasy. Six possible Light Warriors, six slashes before the final strike.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Red/Blue/White Fang.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: If you look closely when he's using those attacks, he's not actually casting a spell himself — he's throwing an item into the air, a reference to the fact White Fang, Blue Fang, and Red Fang are items that use elemental magic in battle.
    • If you look even closer, you'll notice that he's pulling the item from the pouch at his left hip.
• Light'Em Up: With the exception of Bitter End and Ultimate Shield, all of his HP attacks are some form of weaponized light, and even those two have his sword/shield glow brightly when attacking.

Warrior of Light: "Come, light!"

• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Shield of Light.
  • Shield-Bash: All but one of his physical attacks begin with a shield throw to stun the opponent before he swoops in with his sword.
  • Throwing Your Shield Always Works
• Jack of All Stats
• Magic Knight
• Stab the Sky: His Rune Saber combo chain. Also does it at the beginning of his Victory Pose.
• Storm of Blades: In his EX Mode, physical strikes summon tiny beams of light in the shape of swords to damage opponents even further. His Radiant Sword summons six glowing swords that fire at the opponent.
• Sword Beam: Shining Wave, also Radiant Sword and Rune Saber to an extent.

Design and Costume Tropes

• Badass Cape
• Compressed Hair: While not entirely unlikely, it's still pretty surprising that he fits such a magnificent mane of locks under that helmet.
• Cool Helmet: It takes talent to be this heroically, nobly, magnificently, gloriously, unrepentantly, disgustingly good while wearing a helmet decorated with grasping talons and crowned by gigantic devil horns.
• Curtains Match the Window: Silver-blue hair and silver-blue eyes, Square-Enix's twin obsessions combined at last.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: The very tight black... whatever it is he wears under his armor... has intrigued many a fangirl.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: His 3P costume, modeled after the Fighter's sprites from the original game and thus has no helmet. His bonus DLC alt is his normal outfit, just without his helmet.
• High Collar Of... Righteousness?: Particularly notable because his high, stiff collar is part of his armor.
• Showgirl Skirt: A very impressive one.
• Spikes Of... Heroism?
• 24-Hour Armor: And it always looks so fine!
• White-Haired Pretty Boy

In Dissidia

The character is a noble and formal knight who's extremely loyal to Cosmos, determined to fulfill the task she has given to him and the other warriors.

• Big Damn Hero: Shows up to help Firion out against Sephiroth.
• I Gave My Word: To Cosmos in one cutscene.
• Save the Villain: In his Crowning Moment of Awesome, the Warrior of Light vows to break the neverending cycle of war. On top of that, he promises to save Garland from his fate too.

Warrior of Light: "Whatever destiny the world may hold for me, I will never give up. This battle shall come to an end, and I shall save you too!"

• Screw Destiny

Warrior of Light: "Destiny ends here!"

• • Or it might just be time for that destiny to be carried out, like a prophecy being fulfilled.

Warrior of Light: "We shall see the end to this."

• Shut UP, Hannibal: Throughout his storyline, the villains appear to the Warrior to taunt him, mock him, and generally try to demoralize him. With most of the other heroes, their attempts usually work. The Warrior, on the other hand, either knows they're evil and not worth listening to, or, depending on your interpretation, has dealt with them twelve times already and knows they're just going to lie and deceive him, so he mostly ignores them.

Ultimecia: "Why don't you just give up? The crystals are nothing more than the fabrication of a fallen goddess. To so willingly risk your life over such things is beyond ridiculous." Warrior of Light: "Are you finished talking?"

• Team Dad: The few times he interacts directly with his allies, he's shown being authoritative and strict, but still shows just enough concern about them.

In Dissidia 012

In Dissidia 012, however, he is suspected as a traitor by Lightning. While less confident in demeanor and more unsure of himself than in the original, the Warrior of Light retains his fierce resolve to dutifully serve Cosmos.

He also appears in Prologus as the "Leader by default", as agreed between Lightning, Jecht, and Kain. As such, he acts firm and strict towards Lightning.

• The Captain: In Prologus, which follows mostly Lightning's point of view.
• Dramatic Irony: In a very sharp contrast to his pledge to end the cycle in the first game, this time around he believes accepting the cycle as their way to "survive" to the next battle is the only option other than dying against the Manikins.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: While not even close to Kuja, an FMV shows him without his helmet... I mean, come on!
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His scene without a helmet from the trailer earned him many a fangirl's squees.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After Lightning tells the Warrior of Light and Kain off for their killing off their comrades, no matter what their reason, he starts to doubt that he even deserves his title.
• Redheaded Hero: His new alt is based on the Fighter/Warrior sprite rather than artwork. Let the Eight Bit Theater jokes commence!
• Sole Survivor: He's the only member of Team Cosmos (including Cosmos herself) that wasn't killed or otherwise "put to sleep" by the end of the 12th cycle. In fact, The Stinger of 012 shows him in the unconscious position he was in Destiny Odyssey's prologue.
• The Un-Reveal: This game reveals yes, he does have a name. Prishe gives it to him, and in the ending FMV, Cosmos calls it out to him and he hears it then (but we don't). However, then the next cycle comes and he forgets again, and one way or the other the player never finds out what this name is.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He and Kain conclude that the Warriors of Cosmos have no chance of winning the current cycle of the conflict due to the vast numbers of manikins. Since warriors killed by other warriors are revived at full strength for the next cycle, but warriors killed by manikins are Killed Off for Real, the two of them set out to kill their allies themselves in order to guarantee their survival into the next cycle.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Lightning calls him out for joining Kain in the plan to kill the other Warriors of Cosmos.
• You Shall Not Pass: Serving as the Warrior's Crowning Moment of Awesome in the 12th cycle. To defend Cosmos, all alone, the Warrior of Light engages an army seemingly as big as the one the six new characters are fighting at the Rift. All alone, he lasts just as long as they do.

Firion

"Believe in the future--And persist in the present. That's what I'll do!"

"The unwavering will of the youth will realize his dream. Eventually..." — The Youth's Dream.

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)

--Fighting Style: Weapons Specialist

A key member of the Fynn resistance against the Palamecian empire in Final Fantasy II, and capable of using a large variety of weapons. Firion's character is probably the most down-to-earth in Dissidia, adding contrast to those he travels with. Yet he's still passionately determined to fight for what he believes to be a right cause.

General Tropes

• Action Survivor: Firion has only recently learned how to fight, as mentioned to fellow newbie Tidus; at the start of his own game, he had no combat experience.
• Adorkable: Firion is extremely inept when dealing with women as seen from his encounter quotes, and his original game is particularly famous for a scene that earned him the Fan Nickname Virgin. In Dissidia 012 Duodecim, he even gets a Ship Tease with Lightning when she found his wild rose and he spends some time avoiding asking for it back from her because he is too shy.
• Crippling Overspecialization: His strength is incredible on the ground. Powerful Brave combos that can connect at close and long ranges, all of which link to HP attacks, and Shield-Bash for defense. But when it comes to fighting in the air, Firion is limited to three weak spell attacks, a weak and very short-ranged sword slash, and two slow HP attacks. Sure, every fighter has weaknesses, but Firion's poor air game is a problem because a lot of the stages are wide-open with little ground, and most of the fighting in Dissidia takes place in the air.
  • The developers realized this and overhauled this fighting style for Dissidia 012. Firion now chains his spells together, can change up the second part of his Brave combos, and with the new Ground Dash he can quickly close in and use said combos easier (in the original Dissidia, while dashing you were considered to be in the air). As well, his new HP attack Lord of Arms has a huge reach into the air, Straightarrow fires a lot faster, and Rope Knife has longer range and goes into the air as well. All this means he now has a lot more versatility when attacking, and has some effective anti-air moves.
• Dramatic Wind: His victory pose.
• Flower Motifs: The Wild Rose.
• Greater Need Than Mine: He gives Tidus his special potion for his fight against Jecht.
• Guttural Growler: Combines interestingly with his personality, which is surprisingly youthful, innocent, and simple. In a charming way.
• Heroic Resolve/Heroic Second Wind: During his confrontation against The Emperor.
• Hot-Blooded: He sounds pretty angry in most of his cutscenes and when he does his moves. Also an inversion, as his behavior in cutscenes shows him to be one of the most disciplined and calm of the heroes. Until you get him desperate, anyway...
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Averted: while everyone else summons their weapons when they need them, Firion is shown carrying his around all the time.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Given the source material, this could apply to most of (if not all) the Warriors of Cosmos. Firion, however, has this specific exchange with Tidus:

Tidus: "You're just gonna TAKE that?" Firion: "What? It's free!"

• La Résistance: In his original game, he and his small Band of Brothers resisted the hegemony of the Palamecian Empire. In Dissidia, considering that apparently all that's left of Cosmos' forces arrayed against Chaos are the ten heroes, and that over on the villains' side, good old Emperor Mateus of Palamecia is in fact plotting with remarkable success for a non-Big Bad to off the rest of the villains and even Chaos himself and rule over the remains of the world(s)... he's doing pretty much the same thing.
• Magikarp Power: Slow HP attacks and mid-powered Brave combos with a horrible air game. Then you begin to level up and master his Brave attacks. Believe us, Double Trouble is worth the grinding.
• My Name Is Firion: His speech when fighting against The Emperor.
• Not What It Looks Like: Claims this when Cecil tries to set him up with Lightning.
• Only One Name
• Out of Focus: Working as a meta-example and in-universe, it's more or less his source of angst, though it comes late into his story — while Cloud, Cecil, and Tidus abandoned him to pursue their own paths, Firion has just continued on with no real goal or personal stake in events, his only desire to end the war like everyone is trying to. However, Cosmos assures him that this is enough, that his desire to end the war for the sake of others is itself his personal goal, and there's no shame in lacking a more complex motivation like his friends.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Most notably his crystal, a huge chunk of blisteringly-pink shiny rock he carries around with pride.
• Rebellious Spirit
• Something About a Rose: Though he falls far from the Casanova type usually indicated by the trope (very, very far — one of his Fan Nicknames in Japan — "doutei", which rhymes with "koutei", as in The Emperor — basically translates to "virgin"), he does fulfill the baseline requirement of carrying a rose around.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

Firion uses eight types of weapons (if you include shields and bare-handed fighting), one for each fighting style in Final Fantasy II and each representing a party member.

• Aborted Arc: Something of a meta example. Seeing as the quest to obtain Ultima was touted as a crucial key to halting the advance of the Palamecian Empire (to the point that Minwu sacrificed his own life to break its seal), it's a bit odd that Firion doesn't have access to it in his (already impressive) arsenal.
• All Your Powers Combined: Firion's allies in his original game each specialized in one of the weapons he uses in Dissidia — Leila used daggers, Maria used a bow, Guy used an axe, etc.
  • His entire moveset is one big Mythology Gag. For example, his rope knives are electrified. Leila, who specialized in knives, joined the party with knowledge of the Thunder spell.
• An Axe to Grind: Representing Guy.
  • Precision-Guided Boomerang/Boomerang Comeback
• The Archer: Uses a bow, Maria's weapon of choice.
  • Arrows on Fire: An interesting variation when using Lance Combo and Fervid Blazer — if you look closely, Firion isn't firing a flaming arrow, he's firing an arrow of flame.
  • Abnormal Ammo: Besides the above, uses his bow to fire his other weapons in his EX Burst.
• Blade on a Stick: A spear, representing Ricard. His exclusive weapons are also implied to be spears.
• Blown Across the Room: His punch follow-up to his Bravery attacks knocks opponent way back.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Said punch is not only significantly stronger than his other two follow-ups which use his weapons, but at a base power of 45 it's stronger than a full combo from Jecht.
• Cool Sword: The Blood Sword, Firion's own weapon type.
  • Bow and Sword In Accord: The end of Lance Combo.
  • Iaijutsu Practitioner: With Swordslash.
• EX Mode: Blood Weapon Equipped!

"I feel it in my blood!"

• • Firion exchanges his weapons for a "blood" version of each, in reference to the Blood Sword from his own game, which was the best weapon to use against the Emperor. In addition to Regen, Firion's EX Mode gives him the following ability:
    • Blood Weapon: When Firion deals HP damage to the enemy, the blood weapons increase his HP by an equal amount (something that they didn't actually do in the original game, but did for all their other appearances throughout the series).
  • In addition, Blood Weapons Equipped give Firion access to his EX Burst: Fervid Blazer:

"This decides it!"

• • The player is given about two seconds to hit five inputs in order, as Firion concentrates for his attack, before he leaps at the enemy to attack with his various weapons: the full attack has him attack with his lance, daggers, axe, staff, and sword (in order) to attack, each enchanted with Elemental Powers, before using his bow to fire all his weapons at the enemy. Thanks to Firion's EX Mode ability, all the damage dealt by Fervid Blazer heals him in equal amount.

"Lance! Slash! Shatter! Shoot! Sword! It's the end!"

• Good Old Fisticuffs: Uses punches and kicks, representing Josef.
• Knife Nut: Representing Leila.
  • Flechette Storm: Throws them really quickly after countering with Shield-Bash at close-to-mid range.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: A small buckler on his wrist seen in Minwu's artwork.
  • Shield-Bash: He actually has an attack called "Shield Bash," but ironically he doesn't use the shield itself to attack.
  • Beehive Barrier: When using the aforementioned Shield-Bash.
• Magic Wand: Representing Minwu.
  • Fire, Ice, Lightning: Besides the base three spells individually, Firion casts higher-level versions of them in that exact sequence when countering with Shield-Bash at long range.
• Mighty Glacier: He hits hard and aside from Shield Bash his HP attacks all deal wall rush. The problem is that he attacks slowly and his attacks with the exception of Lord of Arms aren't very difficult to dodge.
• Mind Over Matter: Has a few attacks where he uses telekinesis to control his weapons.
• Multi Melee Master
• Tennis Boss: A reasonably effective way to use Firion is to play him like one — toss out Fire spells, then wait for the opponent to reflect the attack so you have something to Shield Bash against.
• Walking Armory: Which is probably why he's got the slowest running speed of all the Warriors of Cosmos.

Design and Costume Tropes

• Ambiguously Brown: Most noticeably in his character art.
• Badass Cape: It even billows dramatically!
• Badass Long Hair
  • Eighties Hair: He and the Onion Knight share the same rat tail mullet style.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy
  • Short Hair with Tail
• Brown Eyes: And what's more, he fits the "down to earth" and humble/simple persona associated with the trope, in addition to the sheer rarity of this trope for Square-Enix.
• Depending on the Artist: In a bizarre single artist example, his 3 costumes (which look almost nothing alike) are all based on differing Amano art.
• Every Bishonen Is Prettier With Hair Decs
• Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Wears a few rings, a pair of armbands, and possibly earrings as well.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: The "skirt", the scarf, and the uneven armor.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: If that is armor he's wearing, it's very... clingy.
• Guyliner: Makes him appear even more influenced by the Middle East.
• Nice Bandanna
• Scarf of Asskicking
• Short Hair with Tail
• Showgirl Skirt: Smaller than most characters', though.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps
• Spikes Of Heroism: Notably on his right shoulder.

Onion Knight

"Not even you can destroy this. What I've found is strength — Strength to protect everyone!"

"Look at yourself and discover your faults. That is true strength." — Onion.

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (Japanese), Aaron Spann (English)

--Fighting Style: Mystic Fencer

Despite what some fans would have liked, the character representing Final Fantasy III is not Luneth from the Nintendo DS remake, but instead, one of the Onion Knights from the original Famicom version. The Onion Knight is an inexperienced but intelligent young fighter, who is confident about finding his way through the obstacles and, while he doesn't believe himself too strong, knows that he is smart.

General Tropes

• Always Save the Girl: Determined to protect Terra.
• Badass Adorable: The youngest and second shortest of the Warriors of Cosmos, but don't think for a second he's weaker.
• Child Soldier: Although the only one who seems to be bothered that Cosmos would summon a child is Vaan.
• Composite Character: He takes cues from all six versions of Final Fantasy III's heroes. His default appearance is based on the unnamed orphans from the NES release, while the design of his weapons are taken from artwork of the unnamed warrior present in a lot of Final Fantasy III art, and his third outfit is based on artwork of the same. His personality as a coward who puts up a brave front most closely resembles Arc, and in his third outfit his EX Mode outfits are green, which was Arc's coloration. His second outfit is based on Luneth and has his eyes and hair, but the light blue coloration is closer to Refia's outfit. And finally, his fourth DLC outfit is based on Ingus, and he looks a bit like Ingus in his default outfit.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Not present in the main story, but his character file in Duodecim states that this is the reason he doesn't bring up the fact that, like Warrior of Light, he also can't remember his name, instead pretending to be cautious.
• Everyone Calls Him Onion Knight: Except for Terra, who just calls him "the kid/boy." The only person who actually refers to Onion Knight as Onion Knight is Cloud of Darkness before their final fight in Onion Knight's Destiny Odyssey. Vaan calls him "Onion" in one of the Reports of Duodecim, and his character file for the prequel says that, like Warrior of Light, he also can't remember his name.
• Fan Nickname: Some fans call him Luneth, for the first main character of the Final Fantasy III remake. Onion Knight's alternate outfit even makes him look like Luneth. Fan who don't try to insist he's Luneth generally call him OK or Onion. And since his hair and armor looks like Onion Knight Ingus, some fans call him that instead of Luneth.
• Honour Before Reason: Practically the Aesop he learns from his Destiny Odyssey section.
• In a World: In the beginning narration for his story path.
• I Will Protect Her: To Terra. Type 2 when he fails to protect her from getting captured by the Cloud of Darkness.
• Just a Kid: Averted, barring a few characters' taunts, in the original Dissidia, but present in Duodecim. Vaan is more concerned than dismissive of the Onion Knight, but the net effect is the same — particularly the frustration felt by the Onion Knight. Zidane also makes a similar remark which really annoys him because Zidane's not really that much older than him.
• Kid Hero: Youngest of the heroes' side by far. He has no canon age, he needs no canon age; "kid" is sufficient. To those who insist he is actually Luneth, he's 15, only a year behind Zidane but still the youngest. Those who don't estimate him at the ripe old age of 12.
• Magikarp Power: Essentially, this is a variation of how the Onion Knight class worked in III. He may start out with weak and hard-to-connect attacks, but once he starts learning his Brave to Brave and Brave to HP links, you'd better watch your back. And your front. And both sides. And below. And above. And he'll still get you.
• Meaningful Title: "Onion" is used in Japanese to describe someone that is inexperienced, and Onion Knight is the initial job of Final Fantasy III.
• No Name Given: As with the Warrior of Light, he has no name here because in his own game, the player chooses his name.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse
• Precocious Crush: His friendship with Terra seems really close. Can double as a Bodyguard Crush because of his promise to protect her.
  • In the Reports of 012, Cecil even asks if he's fallen for her, and he gets flustered when Zidane refers to her as his "big sister".
• Save the Princess: Save Terra.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Or so he likes to think.
• Stop Helping Me!: In Dissidia 012, Vaan is concerned for the Onion Knight's welfare, being that he's an (apparently) small child in a war. As a result, he checks up on the Onion Knight frequently and tells off other characters for treating him (as he perceives) too roughly. The Onion Knight is something other than pleased at this little development.
• Straw Vulcan: He starts off like this in Destiny Odyssey III; trusting only his head, with a perfectly justifiable policy of never trying to fight foes he can't beat. This leads to Terra's powers going nuts, and her getting mind-controlled, beat up by him, and captured by the Cloud of Darkness. He eventually realizes that sometimes he has to ignore what his head tells him in favor of what his heart says. He still has his policy of not fighting people he can't beat, though; he just resolves that he can beat the Cloud of Darkness, in spite of what everyone else and his own mind might tell him.
• Talking Your Way Out: From Exdeath.
• Too Clever by Half: Hoo boy; this is his big character issue. He gets over it, after he gets kicked down a serious peg when his "shallow cleverness" leads to Terra being brainwashed, beat up, and kidnapped.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When Terra gets captured, both Cloud of Darkness and Cosmos tell him it's his own fault for being so reckless. Then when he gets captured leaving Terra alone and unprotected, Golbez gives this to him.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• Artificial Brilliance: Word of God is that the Onion Knight was designed to have, on average, the most competent AI. It shows.
• Child Mage
• Crippling Overspecialization: Inverted, he's equal in all areas with a long-range spell attack and a close-range sword attack for both Bravery and HP, and in the air and on the ground. But this makes him incredibly predictable because at any one time he can only use one of four attacks, and his HP attacks have large start-up.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: His primary Brave and HP attacks involve rapidly stabbing the enemy; each stab does miniscule damage, but it stacks up quickly.
• Dual-Wielding: As a Ninja.
• Elemental Powers
  • Fire, Ice, Lightning
  • Dishing Out Dirt
  • Holy Hand Grenade
• EX Mode: Job Change!

"Let's end this!"

• • Onion Knight changes his job from Onion Knight to either Sage or Ninja, depending on what sort of attack he's using: Sage if using a magical attack, Ninja if using a physical attack. Sage and Ninja are unarguably the strongest classes in the NES version of Final Fantasy III, obtained at the end of the game (though Onion Knight could potentially surpass even them in terms of pure power and tanking ability). In addition to Regen, Onion Knight's EX Mode gives him the following abilities:
    • Sage's Wisdom: When in Sage mode, Onion Knight's magic attacks are improved, firing more projectiles over a larger area, meaning they do more damage and are easier to connect with.
    • DualWield: When in Ninja mode, Onion Knight holds a sword in each hand. When performing one of his combo-based physical attacks, the number of hits is doubled, dealing twice as much damage with each attack.
  • In addition, Job Change gives Onion Knight access to his EX Bursts: Spellbook and Ninjutsu

"Now it begins!"

• • Spellbook is the EX Burst he uses in Sage mode. The player is presented with a Final Fantasy-style command window; his task is to locate and cast the Holy spell from Onion Knight's Magic command. If Holy is chosen, Onion Knight will attack the enemy with a blast of sacred light before dropping a Meteor spell on them.

"The best is yet to come! Burn it up!"

• • Ninjutsu is the EX Burst he uses in Ninja mode. The player is presented with a Final Fantasy-style command window; his task is to locate and choose a Shuriken' from Onion Knight's Throw command. If Shuriken is chosen, Onion Knight will hit the enemy with several dozen shuriken before performing Back Attack!, running the enemy through (and appearing in a pose identical to the one on Final Fantasy IIIs logo).

"The best is yet to come! Here I come!"

• Fragile Speedster: Only Feral Chaos is narrowly faster than him normally, and it takes EX Mode for Prishe and Tidus to outspeed him. Unfortunately, Onion Knight tends to get sent flying into walls a whole lot since his attacks are predictable and leave him very vulnerable if he misses.
  • Glass Cannon: Edges up to this in EX Mode, as he's still predictable and easy to punish, but his attacks have a lot more punch to them, many almost doubling in power.
• Full-Contact Magic: In keeping with his Magic Knight tendencies, his magic attacks have him commanding his spells using physical movement, such as kicking the last meteorite when he casts Comet.
• Gradual Grinder
• Magic Knight: While nearly all the heroes have a combination of physical and magic attacks, Onion Knight is probably the purest form of the trope in the game, with exactly half his moves being magical and the other half physical. He's even called a Mystic Fencer by the game and has two EX Bursts, a physical one and a magic one.
• Magic Wand: When he's a Sage.
• Ninja
  • Highly-Visible Ninja: In EX Mode after a physical attack. Especially in his default costume, which makes his ninja garb bright red.
  • Ninja Brat
• Spin Attack: Wind Shear, and Comet and Quake to an extent.
• Status Buff: Has Magic Booster and Strength Booster in Dissidia 012, letting him get a temporary buff to his physical or magical critical hit rate, damage and defense.
• Storm of Blades: Swordshower and Guiding Swipe summon blades of energy to combat opponents.
• Sword Beam: See above entry.
• Sword Plant: Quake.

Design and Costume Tropes

• Badass Cape
  • Pimped-Out Cape
• Cool Helmet: Almost half again his size.
• Eighties Hair: He and the Firion share the same rat tail mullet style.
  • Rapunzel Hair: If only because of his small stature.
  • Short Hair with Tail
• Every Kid Is More Adorable With Hair Decs: Yet another one with beads in his hair.
• Green Eyes: The "spitfire" take on the trope — he's not exactly an Oranyan, but he's definitely got a smartass side to him.
• Hair of Gold
• Instant Costume Change: In Ex Mode.
• Nice Hat: In addition to his normal Cool Helmet, he has two impressive ones for his Ex Modes — one for Sage, one for Ninja.
• Ornamental Weapon: The dagger he carries is just decoration.
• Pre-Teens Are Short: He may be a Kid Hero, but he is absolutely tiny. Even Zidane, who is shorter than the other heroes by a good foot or two to keep in with Final Fantasy IX's art style, is bigger than him.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: When in his Sage Ex Mode, though he's swapped the pointy hat for something even nicer.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Most notably his shoe... boot... slipper... sock... things.
• Short Hair with Tail
• Showgirl Skirt: This one has tassels!

Dissidia

• Papa Wolf: When Kefka arrived and revealed to Terra that she beat up Onion Knight, he angrily attacked Kefka for revealing this information to Terra (he earlier kept it secret as he felt it was out of her best interest not to reveal it).

Dissidia 012

• Amazingly Embarrassing "Big Brother": Onion Knight felt somewhat ticked off by Vaan's attempts at trying to act like a big brother, but he pretty much decided to grudgingly put up with it, as he can't escape it anyways.
• Properly Paranoid: Although neither he nor Zidane went as far as to commit suicide (unlike, say, Sephiroth), the two of them started to speculate whether they were in fact enhanced manikins instead of the real deal. Most likely, they weren't. However, they were right in that some of the characters, namely Cosmos, Chaos, and the Warrior of Light are manikins.

Cecil Harvey

"It's because I have friends that I can fight! Both light and darkness give me the guidance I need. Thus--I can turn darkness--into hallowed light!"

"All possess good and evil in their hearts. Gain true power after overcoming darkness." — Twin Form.

Voiced by: Shizuma Hodoshima (Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal (English)

--Fighting Style: Split Soul

The former Commander of the Red Wings who, upon being confronted with orders that went against his beliefs, had to decide for himself what path to follow, and the power that came with it. Now, trapped within the conflict of the Gods, he wields both light and darkness for the Goddess of Harmony.

General Tropes

• Black Knight: Exactly half the time. The other half...
• Dark Is Not Evil: See profile quote.
• Humble Hero
• Large Ham: Cecil's whole Knight in Shining Armor motif makes his speech a bit flowery and bombastic compared to most of the other heroes. Look at their attack audio cues: Everyone else has things like "Ya!", "Take it!", and "Here we go!" as well as your standards kiais and grunts. Cecil, though? Cecil has stuff like "Beneath the light... comes judgment!" and "Drink of anguish!"
  • Purple Prose
• Lunacy: Many of Cecil's attacks quotes make reference to the moon; this is because in the original game, Cecil gained his holy powers from the spirit of his deceased father, who was a Lunarian.
• Paladin: Self explanatory, actually.
• Power Floats: Does so in the Paladin victory pose.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Automatically changes between Dark Knight and Paladin forms depending on what kind of attack he uses, and can change forms without attacking in EX Mode.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• Blade on a Stick: Normally, changes out for two Cool Swords in his EX Mode.
• Cool Sword: Two during his EX Mode, the Deathbringer (in his Dark Knight form) and Mythgraven Blade (in his Paladin form).
  • Ancestral Weapon: Mythgraven Blade
  • Evil Weapon: Deathbringer
  • Named Weapons
  • Sword of Plot Advancement: Mythgraven Blade, in the original game anyway.
• EX Mode: Job Augment!

"I know my course!"

• • Cecil switches his Blade on a Stick weapons for the Deathbringer and Mythgraven Blade, in addition to mastering his job-changing abilities. Calling it a job augment ("decant" in Japanese) is a reference to the Augment ("decant" in Japanese) system used in the DS version of IV. In addition to Regen, Cecil's EX Mode gives him the following abilities:
    • Inner Strength: In EX Mode, all of Cecil's attacks have their damage multiplied 1.5 times.
    • Proteus: Cecil can change his job at any moment by pressing R+Square, where before he would have to perform certain attacks to change job. This allows him to pull of better combos than he usually could (for example, smashing the enemy into the ground with the Paladin's Saint Cross, then sending them flying with the Dark Knight's Nightfall attack).
  • Job Augment also gives Cecil access to his EX Burst: Soul Shift

"This will seal it! The moon leads me!"

• • Cecil blasts the enemy with a wave of Darkness before shifting to Paladin to gather his concentration. If performed perfectly, Cecil will slash the enemy once, shift into Dark Knight and divebomb the enemy while simultaneously hitting them with a Dark Wave, and then shift into Paladin yet again to finish them off with a cross-slash.

"Light and darkness cast aloft!"

• Face Palm of Doom: The latter half of Soul Eater.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation with a touch of Irony: Of the main cast of the original Dissidia, Cecil is the only person to fight with a spear-like weapon. However... In the equipment setup screen, he can only equip sword, greatsword, and axe-type weapons. (Unless you use Dragoon Lore on him to grant him the ability to equip spears, but that's tangential).
• Goomba Stomp: Nightfall.
• Holy Hand Grenade/Casting a Shadow: Uses dark magic as a Dark Knight and holy magic as a Paladin.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb
• Magic Knight: Though all the heroes have at least minor proficiency with magic, Cecil is particularly notable for possessing Light and Darkness-based attacks unique to him.
• Mighty Glacier/Lightning Bruiser: His Dark Knight form is slower than the Paladin form, but both do a fair bit of damage. However, the Dark Knight's HP attacks are more versatile than the Paladin's and are easier to hit with outside the Searchlight-Paladin Force glitch.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Shadow Lance.
• Spell Blade: Enchants his sword with Holy and Dark powers for most of his HP Attacks.
• Sword Beam: Luminous Shard
• Spear/Sword Plant: Dark Flame

Design and Costume Tropes

• Bishonen: He wears lipstick for Cosmos' sake! His ingame and CG models border on Dude Looks Like a Lady territory.
• Badass Cape: As a paladin
  • Pimped-Out Cape
• Blank White Eyes: His helm in the Dark Knight form has these.
• Cool Mask: As a Dark Knight.
• Every Bishonen Is Prettier With Hair Decs
• Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Wears earrings.
• Evil Costume Switch and Good Costume Switch.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: In both forms, though the Paladin's shoulder armor is the most noticeable.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Subverted when a Dark Knight but played straight when Paladin.
• Instant Costume Change: When he switches between the Paladin and the Dark Knight.
• Knight in Shining Armor: When a Paladin, naturally.
• Nice Shoes: The Paladin's shoes have little crowns on them!
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy
• Ornamental Weapon: The sword he carries on his back and the dagger at his hip never see use.
• Real Men Wear Lipstick
• Sculpted Physique: The Dark Knight armor is ripped.
• Shoulders of Doom: He's not quite there yet, but the Dark Knight is certainly trying to emulate his big brother, bless him.
• Spikes Of Heroism: Both the Dark Knight and the Paladin.
• 24-Hour Armor
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: His DLC outfit.

In Dissidia

Teaming up with Cloud, Tidus, and Firion, the four of them set off to find their crystals. However, he encounters his own brother, Golbez, as a Warrior of Cosmos. Golbez promises to tell him the secret of the crystal if he follows him, leaving Cecil to decide whenever to stick with his friends or face his brother alone.

• Do You Trust Me?: Golbez asks him this sort of question (albeit not as a question) and that's how his story starts.
• Little Brother Complex: Complete with "Nii-san" calling in the Japanese script.
• The Power of Friendship: The main topic of his story, as it is what he values so much and wishes to share with his brother.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Golbez. Not as much literally as it was in IV, but definitely on an emotional scale.
• Strength Equals Worthiness: Put to test right before fighting Exdeath in front of Golbez.

Cecil: "I don't know if you'll deem me worthy. But... at least I can show you my strength!"

In Dissidia 012 Duodecim

Like many others of the original cast, Cecil's role in Duodecim's story is much smaller. He appears pretty much only in a Flash Back alongside Kain and Golbez, as well as in the Reports.

• Big Damn Hero: Subverted. He shows up and attacks Golbez to protect Kain, but unknown to him, Kain was never in danger to begin with.
• Flash Back: His only notable appearance during the twelfth cycle was during this. He does show up in the reports, but those tend to be comedic appearences. See below.
• Shipper on Deck: Thinks Firion has a thing for Lightning, and briefly plays matchmaker. Also initially takes Onion Knight's vow to protect Terra as a sign he's fallen for her.
• Team Mom: Some of the extra scenes in the Reports show him assuming this role for Firion, Onion Knight, and Terra.

Bartz Klauser

"No horsing around, though. This isn't the time for games. It's time for some serious fun."

"The pairing of worlds hides that power, and endless possibilities." — Splendor of the Wind.

Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi (Japanese), Jason Spisak (English)

--Fighting Style: Mimic

A cheerful adventurer blessed by the Wind Crystal. His job in this game is Mime, hence the cape and using the other heroes' weapons, all put for the sake of justice and helping his allies.

General Tropes

• Animal Motifs: Referred to as 'the mouse' by Kefka and Kuja, for whatever reason. It may have to do with the fact that he was prone to running away near the beginning, something mice do all the time.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
• Dramatic Wind: His victory pose.
• Flanderization: He was already a bit ditzy in his original game, but here, he's so dense he falls hook line and sinker for a painfully obvious trap that leads directly to Zidane getting captured and nearly murdered by Kuja.
• The Fool
• Fun Personified: Bartz is, hands down, the most easy-going member of the heroes. Zidane and Tidus are in the runnings, but even they have their moments. With the exception of his Crowning Moment of Awesome before fighting Exdeath (see "Obfuscating Stupidity" below), Bartz is as cheery as one can get. He can pretty much be summed up with these words: "Adventure? Cool beans."
• Irony: For his EX-Burst, Bartz's final strike is via the Brave Sword. In Final Fantasy V, this weapon loses its power as the player runs from battle. Bartz spends most of his Destiny Odyssey avoiding the villains to the point that you'd think he was trying to empower the Chicken Knife instead. Of course, this is all a part of his persona. And avoiding the villains means he never encountered them to begin with.
• Mix and Match: Of Nothing Up My Sleeve and Hammerspace taken to extremes!
• Shout-Out: In EX-Burst, Bartz can use the attack, Goblin Punch, which retains the exact same animation that it had in Final Fantasy V.
  • His alternate costume, which depicts how Amano colors Bartz in a few pieces of artwork.
    • It also bears an uncanny resemblance to Prince Frey.
• Man of a Thousand Voices: In-universe example. In keeping with his combat style, Bartz mimics the voices of the other characters, often in quick succession, as he performs his attacks, in addition to doing so in some of his taunts and in a couple storyline scenes. His imitation of Kain is particularly amusing. Furthermore, his imitations of Yuna and Tifa in Duodecim are so close that they've started debates on Game FAQs as to whether or not they're modified versions of the original voice clips. If it's really his voice, Jason Spisak himself makes a good case for this, as well.
  • He also imitates Gilgamesh before their battle in Gilgamesh's dream sequence.
• Idiot Hero: If you thought his original game was bad... (and it was). It's best illustrated in a few of his interactions with Zidane.

Bartz: "Eh, I don't mind a little aimless wandering. In fact, it's what I do best! Besides, since there're all these guys trying to stop us, we must be going the right way!" Zidane: "...Is this guy for real?"

• Spell My Name with an "S": And one remarkably few anglophone fans are willing to kick up a fuss about, considering the alternative.
• Super Sentai Stance: When preforming Goblin Punch.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• All Your Powers Combined: As a Mime, he combines the attack patterns of the other heroes to make his own unique attacks.
  • Casting a Shadow: Cecil's Soul Eater, and Dark Flame in Duodecim.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: Terra's Holy and Cecil's Paladin Force and Luminous Shard.
  • Laser Blade: In Duodecim, he borrows Laguna's Ragnarok Blade HP attack
  • Playing with Fire: Onion Knight's Flare and Yuna's Hellfire.
  • Spin Attack: Onion Knight's Wind Shear.
  • Summon Magic: In Duodecim, he borrows Yuna's Hellfire HP attack, which allows him to summon Ifrit for an attack.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Uses punches and kicks for Chase sequences. He also uses Tifa's punches for one of his attacks in Duodecim.
• Cool Sword: Many of them, all copied from the other heroes. From Firion he instead copies his axe, and uses no weapons from Terra; since she's a Squishy Wizard, he instead takes one or two of her spells. Gets his own sword for his EX Burst, the Brave Blade.
• Ditto Fighter
• Dual-Wielding: During his EX Burst.
• Elemental Powers/Spell Blade: When performing his EX Burst, he summons the eight aforementioned weapons, imbuing two each with one of the four base elements.
  • Water — Brotherhood (Tidus) and The Warrior of Light's sword.
  • Wind — Mage Masher (Zidane) and Cecil's dark blade.
  • Earth — Buster Sword (Cloud) and Firion's axe.
  • Fire — Onion Sword (Onion Knight) and Revolver (Squall).
• EX Mode: Job Mastered!

"The wind... is with me!"

• • Bartz's cape becomes red, the mark of a Mime, and he gains three stars that hover above his head, the sign that he has mastered his job class. Mastered mime is one of the most-used endgame classes in V, due to the extremely high potential power that they have. In addition to Regen, Bartz's EX Mode gives him the following ability:
    • Goblin Punch: Bartz gains access to one of the first Blue Magic spells, in the form of a fast, powerful, easily-connected HP attack. As is traditional for the spell, it is far more powerful if Bartz and his target have the same level (which makes it very strong for battles at max level). Even if it isn't fully powered though, it's quite possibly the most useful attack in the game; there's an entire strategy for Bartz that relies on abusing this move.
  • In addition, Job Mastered! gives Bartz access to his EX Burst: Spellblade-Dual Wield-Rapid Fire/Master Mime

"Here we go!" *WARK!* *KWEH!* "The four essences!"

• • A reference to Bartz's best ability set-up in Final Fantasy V, this EX Burst has Bartz produce eight weapons; one for every hero (save for Terra, who primarily uses magic): First Dual-Wielding The Warrior of Light's Sword and Tidus's Brotherhood charged with water, Wind with Zidane and Cecil's weapons, Earth with Firion and Cloud's, and finally fire with Squall and the Onion Knight's. After finishing his string of attacks, Bartz merges all eight weapons into one; his own Brave Blade, which he uses to deal the final strike.

"Let's go! For a shining world!"

• Game Breaker: His EX-Burst is a reference to one in his original game.
• Mega Manning: An Official Quest covers this is how Bartz learns to mimic attacks, he specifically challenges Laguna so he can learn to copy Ragnarok Blade, then challenges Jecht because he wants to learn his moves too. Jecht rejects him, which is why Bartz doesn't know how to use his attacks.
• Megaton Punch: Goblin Punch, his EX Mode special attack. It's so effective that there are character builds centered on abusing it.

Design and Costume Tropes

• Absolute Cleavage: In his Dancer outfit, he wears a bright red vest tied together in only one place, leaving a huge "V" of skin exposed, all the way down to his stomach.
• Badass Cape
• Curtains Match the Window: Which wouldn't that notable, given that Bartz is brown-haired and brown-eyed, except that this is Final Fantasy we're talking about here.
  • Blue Eyes: Unless it's his third outfit, where his eye color also changes to match the Super-Deformed artwork of Bartz.
• Gorgeous George: If you dislike Bartz, for whatever reason, his Dancer outfit definitely makes him this.
  • Dresses flamboyantly? Check. Mimes some actions of the female cast? You bet. A legitimate threat? Don't you forget it.
• Older Than He Looks: Somewhat. He actually looks his age, but since most of the other heroes are in their teens, it can come as a surprise that Bartz is one of the oldest, tied with Cecil at around 20 and just under the 21-year-old Cloud. That does not keep 17-year-old Squall from acting as Team Dad Mom towards him and Zidane.
• Ornamental Weapon: He doesn't use that knife he has, preferring his mimed weapons.
• Real Men Wear Pink: The flip side to Gorgeous George above, if you like Bartz and his Dancer costume, he dials this Up to Eleven.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Unless he's in his 3P alt, based on the in-game Freelancer look.

In Dissidia

Bartz teams up with Zidane and they race together in order to find their crystals. Their reckless attitudes, however, prove problematic once they fall into traps meant for another. How far will they be willing to go to save one another?

• It's All My Fault: Zidane's getting captured.
• Let's Get Dangerous: So he's a naive, good-natured simpleton, prone to running away and clearly not that bright. Easy target, right, Exdeath? WRONG.
• Magic Feather: Bartz's good luck charm is a literal example of this trope. Turns out it was the embodiment of this Crystal all along.
  • Shout-Out: The feather is a reference to one of Boco's feathers. Boco is the name of the chocobo who accompanied Bartz on his travels in the original game.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: It's mentioned in the manual that his attitude belies about his talent. Also, in the Japanese version, his quote right before facing Exdeath had been many times translated by fans as:

Butz: "I have been serious from the beginning!"

• Parrot Exposition: In the grand and glorious Final Fantasy V tradition.
• Those Two Guys: With Zidane.
• Tired of Running: When he does finally stop, expect your rear end to be handed to you on a silver platter.
• Walking the Earth: Unless you count his penchant for running from battle as this, not quite. However, when Exdeath tells him that he'll wander forever in the Void after being defeated, Bartz is perfectly accepting of the idea, regardless of the fact that he goes on to win. Either way, Bartz is the personification of the wind.

In Dissidia 012 Duodecim

Bartz' role in the main story of Duodecim is minimum, being one of the first Warriors of Cosmos getting put to sleep by Kain, and subsequently disappearing from any other scenes. He, however, stands relevant for any side-scene involving his Unknown Rival, Gilgamesh.

• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Bartz uses the same EX-burst in both games, which means that in the prequel he's wielding the enemy's weapons (Buster Sword and Brotherhood) for no apparent reason, while skipping over some of his allies.
  • In addition, in the retold story of the thirteenth cycle, Bartz is still using the attacks of the heroes not in the 13th war. Unlike the former, this one is actually lampshaded; apparently Bartz found the weapons besides him when the war began, and even he doesn't know how he knows these attacks.
• Vocal Evolution: Jason Spisak sounds a bit higher-pitched in Duodecim. The difference is pretty jarring when Bartz uses the same voice clips from the first game during Light to All cutscenes, but then goes back to a higher-pitched voice when using his new attacks. Not to mention his near-perfect mimicry of Lightning and Yuna's voices...
• Samus Is a Girl: A very funny example in one of the Reports, where Bartz tells Tidus about someone from his world and for the way he speaks, Tidus assumes it must be about a Love Interest, and then at the end Bartz reveals he's talking about a man, Galuf.

Terra Branford

"I've found a future that I want to protect. No matter how strong my powers become, I will never lose sight of my dream!"

"Even those who are not human are human if they possess the ability to love others." — Veiled Magic.

Voiced by: Yukari Fukui (Japanese), Natalie Lander (English)

--Fighting Style: Esperkin

A half-Esper girl that's way too innocent for the conflict she's brought in, despite the magic power she wields. She's the last standing female Warrior of Cosmos by the thirteen cycle.

General Tropes

• Action Girl: Of the magical variety.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Story wise, she's one of the most timid and kindest characters, but when she decides to go all out she's an incredibly powerful mage and is treated by Kefka as one of the strongest warriors in the war.
• Covert Pervert: In the original Dissidia, when entering a stage Onion Knight tells Terra to "check out an enemy's equipment" before fighting them — Terra giggles in response. The line was removed in 012 due to the tutorial-type dialogue being relocated to diffent storylines.
• Cute Monster Girl: Again, as an Esper.
• Distressed Damsel: In both games, she needs to be rescued. Only after that she starts kicking some ass.
• Girly Run: It's what happens when you have to fight in heels.
• Half-Human Hybrid
• Heel Face Turn: Although not on her own will, Terra was fighting for Chaos in Duodecim. By the thirteen cycle, she's on Cosmos' side.
• Hot Chick with a Sword: Although Terra uses it only in Chase sequences, the rest of her moveset focusing exclusively on magic.
• Plucky Girl
• Power Incontinence: Eventually.
• Power Floats: Though gravity as a whole takes a break in Dissidia, Terra was the only Cosmos warrior that floats along walls when using quickmove in the original game (though Yuna joins her in 012), and she's the only hero to gain the Glide ability in EX Mode.
• Power Glows: When Terra uses HP attacks, her hands glow with blue energy.
• Purple Prose: Many of her attack calls seem to invoke reverence to nature, or at least the elemental forces:

Graviga: "Darkness of gravity!" Flood: "Sorrowful waters!" Tornado: "Malevolent winds!" Meteor: "Heaven's lament!"

• Reluctant Warrior: When it comes down to it she's perfectly capable and willing to fight, but she's still not enthused about it.
• Shout-Out: Her quote to Jecht in 012: "You're like a big teddy bear", it's a reference to Sabin from her own game, in which she says the same thing to him.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• Black Mage: Technically speaking, given that, of the Cosmos warriors, she's the most proficient with offensive spells.
• Charged Attack: Meltdown has three stages of power, growing larger and more difficult to avoid the longer she charges up.
• Elemental Powers: She has almost all of them:
  • Blow You Away: Tornado
  • Playing with Fire: Fire, Firaga, Flare, Meteor, Meltdown
  • An Ice Person: Blizzard Combo, Blizzara
  • Shock and Awe: Thundara
  • Making a Splash: Flood
  • Casting a Shadow: Graviga
  • Holy Hand Grenade: Holy
  • Non-Elemental: Ultima
• EX Mode: Trance!

"If I have to fight...!"

• • Calling upon her Esper heritage, Terra uses her special ability from VI and transforms into a pink-furred Esper form. In addition to Regen, Terra's EX Mode gives her the following abilities:
    • Chainspell: In reference to the Soul of Thamasa relic ("Embraces the spirit of a magus"), Terra has the ability to cast spells twice in a row.
    • Glide: By holding the Jump button, Terra can hover and fly around the stage.
  • In additon to that, Trance gives Terra access to her EX Burst: Riot Blade.

"No more running! I can protect everything!"

• • Terra charges her hands with energy. Once the charge period is over, she spins and releases the energy in the form of flying blades that slice up her enemy.

"I won't be defeated!"

• Full-Contact Magic: Blizzard Combo.
• Magical Girl Warrior: Make the Esper form a little less monstrous and less naked, and she could have her own shoujo anime.
• Natural Weapon/Wolverine Claws: When she is in Trance, she uses her claws instead of her sword.
• Pinball Projectile: Fully charged Meltdown. In Dissidia it didn't even track the opponent like in 012, Terra just fired it and it bounced around the arena like mad.
• Spam Attack: Her EX Mode Holy Combo — fire two barrages of three orbs, then launch rapid-fire Flare attacks.
• Sphere of Destruction: Ultima
• Squishy Wizard: Her attacks hurt a lot, have a lot of tactical diversity, and in EX Mode her Holy Combo is one of the most powerful attacks in the game. However all of her attacks have Low priority meaning they can be blocked, and they're not too hard to anticipate.
• Sword Beam: Her Riot Blade is this, but with her claws instead.

Design and Costume Tropes

• Adaptation Dye Job: Of sorts. Terra has been depicted as having green hair within the game Final Fantasy VI, on her sprite and in her portrait, but her original character design by Yoshitaka Amano had her as a blonde and all promotional artwork for the game, as well as the CGI models for the PS1 version's cutscenes, showed her as a blonde. Dissidia is the first game to use the blonde design as her default, though her alternate costume is based on her sprite model and uses green hair.
  • And even her default in-model retains a noticeable green tint.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: As an Esper.
• Bare Your Midriff: DLC outfit.
• Combat Stilettos
• Detached Sleeves
• Hair Decorations
• Hair of Gold: In her original Dissidia costume.
• Hotter and Sexier: Her design is far more sexualized than her Final Fantasy VI artwork and sprites. Her four outfits seemed designed to bare progressively more of her skin, and her Esper form is much less feral and monstrous than Amano's art and the in-game reactions of the Final Fantasy VI cast implied, and she's a full-on Cute Monster Girl as opposed to just being a monster.
• Leotard of Power: Her 3P Costume in Duodecim.
• Mini-Dress of Power
• Ornamental Weapon: She has a knife she never uses and seldom uses her own sword, even ditching it for her Wolverine Claws in EX Mode.
• Panty Shot: In her alternate costume only, as she's wearing tights in her default.
  • Lampshaded by Penelo in the in-game help when discussing the new costumes. ("Guys, don't peek!")
• Pimped-Out Cape
• Purple Eyes: And the shade is close enough to blue that she gets the combination of Purple Eyes special-and-mysterious and Blue Eyes beautiful-pure-and-shining, all at once!
• She's Got Legs: Her alternate outfits rather pointedly remove her tights to showcase them in full.
• Woman in Black: Her DLC outfit, though it also has a lot of blue-gray colorings.
• You Gotta Have Green Hair: In her alternate Dissidia costume.
  • Her Esper form almost runs the spectrum since its coloring changes depending on the outfit — it's purple and pink with blue tints in her default outfit, and is blue in her third outfit, and green-yellow in her DLC outfit.

In Dissidia

Probably as a reference to her guarding orphans in her original game, Terra is teamed up with the youngest member of her team, Onion Knight. She follows him around keeping a serene, controlled, and cautious attitude to keep his Hot-Blooded impulses in check. When she's kidnapped, Onion Knight sets out to save her. When he's kidnapped, Terra teams up with Cloud to settle the debt.

• Brainwashed and Crazy: In combination with the Easy Amnesia trope.
• Break the Cutie: The Chaos side seems determined to do this.
• Designated Girl Fight: She and Ultimecia fight each other exclusively in the opening while the other characters have a free-for-all.
• Easy Amnesia: In the second half of her story, after being brainwashed by Cloud of Darkness.
• The Heart: Grows into this through her Character Development.
• Heroic BSOD: Suffers a major one when Kefka exposed that she beat Onion Knight to a bloody pulp earlier (she forgot about the encounter, presumably from the trauma of having to go through it).
• Mama Bear: Onion Knight being in potential danger is apparently what drives her to toughen up and force herself to control her powers.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Kefka reveals that she went crazy and attacked Onion Knight.
• Reluctant Warrior: Mostly because she's worried she'll lose control of her powers in the heat of battle. She gets over it.
• Shrinking Violet: At first.
• The Smurfette Principle: In the thirteenth cycle, she's the last woman still fighting for Cosmos. Lampshaded in game where instead of her occupation or a recurring motif, her manikin is instead called Phantasmal Girl for her gender.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Ends up feeling this for Kefka after defeating him for the final time.

"It was your broken heart. You were trying to fill it with destruction..."

• Tired of Running: Practically explicitly said as an in-battle quote. Unfortunately for her opponents, when she decides to stop, it's too late for them to start.
• World of Cardboard Speech: To Cloud, during her Destiny Odyssey.

In Dissidia 012 Duodecim

Playing off her early role in her source game, Terra starts off in Duodecim as a Warrior of Chaos, brainwashed by Kefka into becoming a mindless fighting machine; that is, until, in an odd moment of sympathy, Kuja hijacks the spell, allowing Terra to eventually regain her own free will. Before Kefka can re-manipulate her, Vaan comes to her aid, even if she's technically his enemy. He motivates her to fight not for the war, but for what she wishes, opening her eyes to new possibilities.

• Anti-Villain: Type IV, apparently the only reason she was still on the villain's side is because Kefka brainwashed her.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Due to a spell of Kefka. Her museum profile states that she was originally summoned as a Warrior of Chaos. Kefka then became interested in her powers and brainwashed her. She's on Chaos' side because she was working for the bad guys at the start of their original storylines. Because Kefka had brainwashed her, it's cyclical.
• Dating Catwoman: Vaan, who's in the opposite team, helps her out in a style rather similar to Locke, no less. She clearly grows fond of him, even vaguely recognising some of him in the Onion Knight after the purification of the 12th cycle (after which her memories of him should have been erased completely).
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: She asks Vaan to kill her so she won't hurt people again (possibly a parallel to Celes' suicide attempt after Cid's death in the original game). Vaan is surprised by this request, while Terra (only recently released from brainwashing) seems to be confused as to why Vaan would not do what he is "supposed" to do. Thankfully, Vaan talks her out of it.
• Informed Attribute: Kefka stated that she loved to cause carnage and destruction when confronting her about why she doesn't want to fight (before Vaan interfered when Kefka tortured her), but her prior appearances did not have her feeling any kind of apparent emotion when fighting, much less joy (she sounded robotic, if anything). Of course, seeing how this is Kefka we're talking about, its likely this wasn't true to begin with.
• Mama Bear: While you have to look for it in the original storyline, the 12th cycle really drives it home: Vaan tells her to stay hidden and leaves, she sees a group of manikins heading for Cosmos, who she thinks is unprotected. She hurls herself into the fight without even a second thought.
• Mind Control Eyes: Sports them.
• You Shall Not Pass: Fights to the end of her strength against some manikins that were after Cosmos.

Cloud Strife

"What I want most-- I'll find myself."

"There are no lies, what I believe, is the only truth." — True Past.

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Steve Burton (English)

--Fighting Style: Buster Basher

The famous protagonist from Final Fantasy VII, a former member of SOLDIER of glowing eyes who wields a sword as large as he is. While his comrades see him as cool headed and aloof, he actually questions himself a lot, yet is more concerned about his allies than what he seems.

General Tropes

• Catch Phrase: "Not interested." seems to have become one, thanks in part to Flanderization.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: He's voiced by that dude from General Hospital, like always.
• Heel Face Turn: Fights for Chaos in Duodecim, but for Cosmos in the thirteenth cycle.
• The Stoic: Almost gives Squall a run for his money. Almost.
  • He also rarely changes expression, but due to the graphic designs, few characters do in this game.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• Blade Beam: One of his bravery attacks. "You're gone!"
• Blown Across the Room: Most of Cloud's attacks can inflict Wall Rush, and knock the opponent far enough that they will.
• Cool Sword: The Buster Sword normally, the Ultima Weapon in EX Mode, or, with his alternative costume, the Fusion Swords and their completed assembly version.
  • BFS: Practically the champion of it.
  • Bifurcated Weapon: The Fusion Swords are technically six blades, although this doesn't really have any effect on gameplay.
  • Named Weapons
  • It Was a Gift: The Buster Sword.
• EX Mode: Ultima Weapon Equipped!/The Power of Mako!

"Give me strength..."

• • Cloud changes weapons to his version of the Ultima Weapon; or, if he is using his alternate Advent Children costume, he wields the fully-assembled Fusion Sword, and glows with green Mako energy. In addition to Regen, Cloud's EX Mode gives him the following abilities:
    • [Ultima Weapon] Attack: Much like the Ultima Weapon from his own game, Cloud's Ultima Weapon increases the damage his sword deals relative to the amount of health he has. The more health, the more damage he deals.
    • [Ultima Weapon] Guard Crush: While equipped with the Ultima Weapon, Cloud's attacks are unblockable. The only way to avoid getting hurt is to dodge his attacks.
  • In addition to those abilities, Ultima Weapon/Power of Mako gives Cloud access to his EX Burst: Omnislash.

"Breaking my limits!"

• • Cloud smashes the enemy away and then begins charging for his attack, as the background shifts through fire, wind, and light from above. Once he's done, he begins his attack; a perfectly executed Omnislash will have Cloud slashing the enemy fourteen times with increasing speed, before smiting them with one final overhead strike that hits them multiple times.

"This is it!"

• Limit Break: Half his movelist consists of his Limit Breaks from Final Fantasy VII.
• Mighty Glacier: He moves and attacks very slowly, and is just this side of Firion for being one of the slowest heroes. On the other hand, he hits like a semi truck, and in his EX Mode, his attacks are powered up to the point that he can deplete your Brave with just a few hits. And, assuming he has full HP, his EX Burst is the strongest in the game.
• Playing with Fire: He exclusively uses fire magic for his Brave Spell Attacks as well as his Meteorain HP Attack.
• Spin Attack: Finishing Touch.

Design and Costume Tropes

• Anime Hair: He of the mighty spiky hair!

Shantotto: Your hair...is a distraction.

• Badass Cape: In his Kingdom Hearts costume.
• Blue Eyes: Famous for them, in fact.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: His Kingdom Hearts costume comes with the single black bat-wing. It doesn't help any.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps

In Dissidia

Seeking for a reason to fight, Cloud finds himself confronting Sephiroth once again, who, like he did in their original game, tries to manipulate him, calling him "just a puppet" once more.

• Aloof Ally: How he comes off to some of his friends.
• Broken Aesop: Just what the hell was his story trying to express, anyway? That he should follow his destiny? Or make his own? He says he doesn't want to fight without having answers, but in the end, he says he'll accept it if that's his destiny, yet still claiming he'll walk his own chosen path. It... kinda makes it sound like Sephiroth was right about him all along.
  • Maybe the aesop was to decide your own fate and follow it.
    • Sephiroth's argument seems to be that Cloud is unwilling to take responsibility for his part in the war - he refuses to find his own reason to fight unless he's pushed into it, like when Sephiroth attacked Firion. Sephiroth's promise to 'give him a reason to fight' was a threat against the other Warriors of Cosmos - Sephiroth knows he can manipulate Cloud by targeting his friends. His accepting his crystal is all about accepting the fact that sometimes you have to make your own path, and that even if he doesn't know why he's fighting, he knows it's worth it now because he has something to protect. Even though it means still more fighting, he's chosen to do so out of his own free will rather than because Sephiroth pushed him into it.
• Dramatic Ellipsis: Quite a few times, most notably when reassuring himself that he's not Sephiroth's puppet.

Cloud: "My reality... is mine alone."

• • Which, as a Mythology Gag, echoes his line from Final Fantasy VII:

Cloud: "I am... Cloud. Master of my own illusionary world."

• I Know You Are in There Somewhere Fight: When he fights Terra.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!.
• Lampshade Hanging: Cloud initially doesn't want to fight Sephiroth because he doesn't see the point of it anymore. Seeing as how this is the seventh time or so they've done so...

Cloud: "Fighting you... would be meaningless. I'm tired of taking part in pointless battles."

• • In other words, Squeenix is having its characters exhibit Medium Awareness to take a shot at themselves.
• My Greatest Failure: It wouldn't be Cloud without him angsting over letting someone he cares die. See You Remind Me of X below.
  • Some of his dialogue in the 13th cycle seems to flirt with him remembering some events of the 12th cycle, and thus failing to save Tifa, his other Love Interest.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: He never got the answer he was looking for (a reason to fight), but he did get his crystal.
• Unwitting Pawn: Sephiroth treats him like this, and his story is about getting out of this position.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: No, his Alternative Costume isn't the one from his "Crossdressing Adventure", but did you know that the items you gotta collect for crossdressing Cloud can be found as pieces of equipment for him in Dissidia? So... make of that what you will.
  • The characters who can equip this set are all girls, Cloud, and Kefka.
• You Remind Me of X: Never quite stated, but Cloud's interaction with Firion and later Terra seem to remind him of his departed best buddy Zack and Love Interest Aerith. If anything, at least they are Shout Outs.

In Dissidia 012 Duodecim

In Duodecim, Cloud starts out fighting for the side of Chaos. However, his reluctance to fight due to his memories from before he was summoned to fight for the gods leads him to (once again) question what he's fighting for.

• Anti-Villain: Type IV. He shows concern toward his opponents in Prologus, warning Lightning not to underestimate the other Warriors of Chaos, and has no real motive (or incentive) to fight any of them, let alone Tifa.
  • Anti-Villain BSOD: It's implied that Cloud has been through several cycles already (and, more importantly, remembers them), leaving him burnt out and unmotivated.
• Dating Catwoman: His interaction with Tifa — who's technically his enemy — when he comes to save her borderlines this.
• Defiant to the End: After rescuing Tifa, he decides he has to stop the war before anything happens to her. How does he go about this? He fights Chaos all by himself. It... doesn't go well.
• Faking Amnesia: After Cloud rescues Tifa, he claims to not know who she is. But his thoughts following this scene indicates that he refrained from telling her because he knew that she would definitely refuse to fight him if she remembered him.
• Minion with an F In Evil
• Mysterious Protector: For Tifa, who even lampshades it.

Tifa: "So you just save one of your enemies when the mood strikes?" Cloud: "Something like that."

• Star-Crossed Lovers: To Tifa, who is a Warrior of Cosmos. It is also heavily implied that this is the reason for his sympathizing with the Cosmos side despite being on Chaos' side, and thus his Anti-Villain status.

Squall Leonhart

"I only came to fulfill my promise. It's because of them that I can't allow myself to stop. I know that I'm not alone."

"Of course I care what others think! I could love others if I was true to myself." — Unshelled Bullet.

Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa (Japanese), Doug Erholtz (English)

--Fighting Style: Relentless Revolver

A young mercenary soldier of cold and reserved personality that wields his trademark weapon, the infamous Gunblade, part gun and part blade.

General Tropes

• Animal Motifs: His unmissable lion motif. Many of the quotes people give to him before battle are about this.

Firion: "Let me hear you roar!" Shantotto: "To me, even lions are little more than kittens." Garland: "Come to me with the heart of a lion!" Jecht: "If you're a lion, what the heck am I?"

• Anti-Hero: Stuck somewhere between Type II and Type III.
• Badass: Fearlessly daring to fight both Ultimecia and Garland after they ambush him, to the point of...
  • Badass Boast: ... claiming that this situation is actually better for him, since killing them both would make things easier for everyone else.
  • Badass Long Hair: Thanks to his Kingdom Hearts outfit.
• Blade Across the Shoulder: Notably for both his fighting pose and victory pose.
• Deadpan Snarker: In his inner monologues. And as with all characters, his opening battle quotes tend to be rather pithy.
• Determinator: It's mentioned that his stubborn pride is what let him master the gunblade. It's also a theme in his Destiny Odyssey storyline.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Renzokuken means repeating sword.
• Finger Gun: He shoots his magic from his hands like this. Appropriately the spells are theme named bullets (Although mistranslated as barret).
• Good Is Not Nice: Or at least, he doesn't like to seem nice.
• Grumpy Lion
• Irony: Two examples:
  • A small case with his character design. In Dissidia, Squall's costume was given a small half-cape/skirt on the right side of his waist. Its purpose is clearly, like some old age costumes, to hide the holder of one's weapon (in this case, the Gunblade), but this is the game where almost everyone was given an evident Hammerspace power that allows them to summon their weapons out of nowhere in a fashion similar to the weapons in Kingdom Hearts.
  • In Duodecim, the fact that Squall's gameplay makes him one of the best (if not the best) suited ones for relying on the Assist Feature makes quite a contrast with his "I Work Alone" attitude.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Rebellious Spirit: In his own, silent way.
• The Stoic
• Sugar and Ice Personality
• Troubled but Cute: Currently the poster boy of the trope.
• Younger Than He Looks Sounds: Don't let the Kingdom Hearts voice fool you; here, he's in his 17-year-old FFVIII self.
  • In Duodecim, Doug Erholtz does make an effort to sound younger, however.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• Boring but Practical: Aside from his spell attacks, which aren't really his intended niche, he only has two melee Bravery attacks for each air and ground. However, they're so effective they're all he needs.
• Cool Sword: His Gunblade, be it Revolver or Lionheart. And they cover...
  • BFS: Revolver doesn't quite cut it, but Lionheart sure does.
  • Blade Spam: Most of Squall's attacks work this way. He isn't called "Relentless" for nothing. This is actually lampshaded by the name of his Limit Break: if The Other Wiki is correct, "Renzokuken" roughly translates to "Continual Sword" or "Serial Sword".
  • Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age
  • Diagonal Cut: Rough Divide has him jump up before charging at an angle, and his EX Burst ends with one.
  • Full-Contact Magic: Blasting Zone and Revolver Drive.
  • Improbable Weapon User
  • Impossibly Cool Weapon: Just look how many tropes it has! It's even lampshaded by the other warriors!

Onion Knight: "That's a really neat weapon." Zidane: "If I win, that sword's mine!" Gilgamesh: Whoa, you've got a gunblade! You must be a connoisseur!

• • Named Weapons
  • Mix-and-Match Weapon: Gunblades are his Weapon of Choice. Subverted or averted in that they don't work as firearms.
  • Revolvers Are Just Better: As you may guess by the weapon's name, but he opts for an Assault Rifle handle for EX Mode.
  • Vibroweapon: The official explanation for how his gunblade works.
  • Wave Motion Sword: Blasting Zone
• EX Mode: Lion Heart Equipped!

"Lion's Heart!"

• • Squall exchanges his Revolver for the Lion Heart weapon. In addition to Regen, the weapon gives him the following abilities:
    • Lion Heart (Range): The Lion Heart has a longer range than the Revolver, giving him a larger Instant Death Radius.
    • Lion Heart (Hit): Squall activates the trigger function on his gunblade, adding an extra hit to every attack, doubling the number of hits he lands with each combo.
  • In addition, Lion Heart gives Squall access to his EX Burst: Renzokuken.

"Don't make me laugh!"

• • Squall smashes the enemy over and over and over again in a vicious Blade Spam that requires precise timing to land all the hits with. Once he runs out of attacks, he backs up and deals the final blow with the Lion Heart attack, in which he runs the enemy through and catches them in a huge explosion.

"Here goes! Mission accomplished..."

• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Blizzard Barret and Thunder Barret, but he doesn't get Fire Barret until 012. Fusillade and Mystic Flurry combine the three to string together projectile attacks
• Implausible Fencing Powers: Gets a special mention because the gunblade's intense recoil makes it such a Difficult but Awesome weapon that it requires them to use properly, but Squall takes it to the next level by using the recoil as a part of his fighting style. He manages to turn the momentum of the recoil around into further slashes. Hence the very deliberate, staccato nature of his strikes.
• Lightning Bruiser: His melee attacks pack a punch and execute pretty quick aside from Heel Crush. His HP attacks are a bit slow, but he has variety with them and can use Thunder Barret and Fire Barret to set up for them.
• Magic Knight: Compared to most of the other heroes, Squall has a larger variety of spells; in fact, by 012, he has more magical Bravery Attacks than sword ones.
• Recoil Boost: Uses it in most of his attacks, but most prominently in Heel Crush where he uses the recoil to power a kick to the point where it can break guards.

Design and Costume Tropes

• Bandage Babe: For some reason, his 3P Costume puts some bandages over his left shoulder.
• Bling of War: In his 2P Costume.
• Blue Eyes: Icy variant this time... or at least, that's what he'd like you to think.
• Chained by Fashion: In his 3P Costume.
• Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Wears a silver Griever pendant and silver stud earrings.
• Fingerless Gloves: In his 3P Costume.
• Hell-Bent for Leather
• Pretty in Mink: Now with extra fur!
• Scars Are Forever: Though like in Final Fantasy VIII, we actually know Squall got his scar recently enough that it's justified to still be showing.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: In his 3P Costume, based on Amano's original artwork. Time to show off those muscular arms at last!
• Too Many Belts
• Zipperiffic: His Leon Costume.

In Dissidia

From Final Fantasy VIII to Dissidia, Squall is more of a loner than in his game (at least when it comes to fighting), but more secure of his intentions and of the fact that he cares for his allies. Ultimecia, showing a curious interest in him, questions all this, becoming a much more personal foe for Squall.

• Big Brother Mentor: For Bartz, who's older than him!
• Cannot Stand Them Cannot Live Without Them: Seems to deal with a bit of this.
• Defrosting Ice King: One could argue that he only gives the illusion of this, and is pretty defrosted on the inside. A lot of characters think he's pretty chilly, though.

Tidus: "What's on your mind? Spill it!" The Emperor: "Such a lofty ego." Kuja: "I'll crush your confidence."

• Feather Motif: His MacGuffin takes the form of a feather.
• Five-Man Band: He can fit all the spots in some way to some people; The Hero in his story, The Lancer to Warrior of Light, The Big Guy and The Chick to Bartz and Zidane, and The Smart Guy to pretty much everyone.
• A Friend in Need: What drives him to stop being a loner.
• Inner Monologue: Just as in his own game, he makes up for not having a lot of spoken dialog by going on long inner monologues instead. It adds quite a bit to scenes that he shares with other characters.
• I'm Your Worst Nightmare: A subtle yet still clear variation before facing Ultimecia during Shade Impulse. Doubles as yet another Badass Boast:

Squall: "Then I suppose your misfortune was in being my enemy."

• I Work Alone: And he actually has some valid reasons for it, too.
• Power of Trust: Although he'd rather fight alone, he believes in his allies and that they are still fighting together even if separated.
• The Promise: Mentions his iconic promise to Rinoa that he would meet with her in the flower field.
• Shut UP, Hannibal

Squall: "What is it that you want?" Ultimecia: "A world of compressed time, where you will worship me, the eternal and solitary being." Squall: "Get over yourself."

• Talk To The Gunblade: After defeating Ultimecia in Shade Impulse, she tries to make a speech about her Freudian Excuse for wanting to compress time. Squall responds by finishing her off with another slash mid-speech.
  • Keep in mind that Squall is the only character to silence his foe in the middle of their speech. Everyone else either gloats or gets a touching send-off.
  • This is also a reference to the final battle of Final Fantasy VIII, where Ultimecia begins a speech during the last few rounds of the battle but is unable to finish before she is defeated. The same lines appear at the end of her Shade Impulse boss fight.
• Team Mom: Squall sort of has to babysit look after Zidane and Bartz during parts their journey. A rather aloof one, but it's there.
• World of Cardboard Speech: He makes one while preparing to take on Garland and Ultimecia at the same time... only to be humorously interrupted by Zidane.
• When He Smiles: As in the original game, he only smiles once at the ending. Damn worth it.
• You Are Not Alone: What the Warrior of Light reminds him.

In Dissidia 012 Duodecim

Squall doesn't have much of a role in the main storyline (like the other Warriors who make it to the 13th cycle), but is shown interacting with Laguna and the others in the Reports.

• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: His new quote when reaching the final stage of fighting Chaos just screams this.

Squall: "No need to throw a fit."

• First-Person Smartass: If he wasn't one of these before...

Kefka: You sure are talkative... in your HEAD!

• Genre Savvy: See "Properly Paranoid" below.
• I Work Alone: His motives aren't quite as developed yet: he doesn't see the point of getting close to the others when they're (supposedly) headed back to their own worlds anyway. Laguna doesn't buy it, arguing — from personal experience — that there's no way of knowing when you'll see someone for the last time even if you live in the same world and all you can do is live for the moment.
• Properly Paranoid: Out of the group following Kuja, he is the only one suspicious of Kuja's trustworthiness, feeling that he'll betray them to the Warriors of Chaos. He ends up being right, sort of. Although Kuja does genuinely intend to help the Warriors of Cosmos defeat Chaos, he betrays them in the end, albeit mostly due to Kefka's interference - he attacks them when Kefka reveals his deception so he can save them from the other villains and the mannikins - and an apparent compulsion to play out the part he seemed to have been given (when he faces Lightning, later on).
• Surrounded by Idiots: More specifically, surrounded by the most cheerful characters, as by Duodecim, it seems the writers have made it a point to almost always team him up with those around cut-scenes. It's even mentioned in his profile of the game that, "Whether out of personal charm that attracts others, or just a coincidence, a lively crowd is often seen by his side." And ultimately lampshaded by Cloud's duel quote:

Cloud: "You sure have a lively lot with you."

• • To elaborate further, not only Squall gets a lot of scenes with the cheerful Laguna (in which, ironically, they don't remember they come from the same world or that they're blood relatives), but, also, in the original game he travelled with Bartz and Zidane. By happy coincidence, all three happen to be characters who know Gilgamesh. So, in Gilgamesh's scenes in 012, the three are joined by the other warrior who knows Gilgamesh, Vaan, who happens to be the most happy-go-lucky of the 012 new characters, thus both tropes reinforce one another.

Zidane Tribal

"Do you need a reason to help someone?"

"The ability to accept fate and shoulder that burden alone attracts others" — Theater Ticket.

Voiced by: Romi Paku (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English)

--Fighting Style: Aerial Ace

The ever courageous thief and lover of women from Final Fantasy IX, comes to Dissidia to embrace the adventure like a challenge. Wielding two daggers that he can combine into a double-blade and having his Trance abilities constantly available, he dominates air combat with speed and diversity.

General Tropes

• A Little Bit Beastly: But when in Trance he is more along the lines of a Petting Zoo Person.
• Animal Motifs: Not nearly as prominent as Squall's Lion, but it is common for his enemies to call him "monkey" and "baboon" to insult him, even though he just brushes it off.
• Badass: Comes with being a Warrior of Cosmos.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Not even Cloud of Darkness and Cosmos are above his flirtations.

(Cosmos appears) "Today's not a good day for a date." (to Terra) "I hate to see a pretty lady lose her smile."

• • And then for his battle quotes:

(vs Cloud of Darkness) "You sure are impressive, in more ways than one." (vs Tifa) "Headstrong and skimpy, I like it!" (vs Shantotto) "If I win, you owe me a date!" (vs Prishe) "A foul mouth's a part of the charm."

• Cultured Warrior: He's the only one among Cosmos's Warriors who's not just a warrior, but also an actor and has a fair knowledge of music, which he sometimes references.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Implied with Tifa's encounter quote with him, "What are you staring at? Focus!"
• Gentleman Thief
• Kidanova: He's sixteen. For all the flirting he does with the women, he couldn't legally do anything with them in some parts of the world.
• Likes Older Women: In so much that it doesn't seem to faze him that all the females are older than him — Yuna is 17/19 (depending on if she's from the X or X-2 timeframe), and everyone else is 20 years or older.
• Loveable Rogue: The characterization remains, though he's not stealing anything in Dissidia — except possibly the show.
• The Messiah:

Zidane: "Do I need a reason to help someone?"

• • Said while extending a helping hand to Kuja.
• Petting Zoo People: Most notably in Trance, he looks like a pink monkey man.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He tackles Garland off his feet, when Garland is about three times his size, wearing a full suit of armor, and carrying his BFS.
• This Cannot Be!: A rare heroic version of the trope — when defeated, during the final blow he says "What? This can't be...!".
• Too Slow: His dodge quote.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Says so himself. Doesn't stop him from beating up the females just as hard as the males in battle, though he doesn't really like doing it.

(fighting Terra) "Fight a girl? This'll be tricky..."

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• Air Jousting
• Cool Sword Daggers: His two Mage Mashers, which can combine into "The Ogre" during some attacks.
  • Bifurcated Weapon
  • Double Weapon: When connected.
  • Dual-Wielding and Reverse Grip: When apart.
• EX Mode: Trance!

"Time to get serious!"

• • Much like Terra, Zidane uses Trance to transform into a semi-monstrous form to improve his power. In addition to Regen, Zidane's EX Mode gives him the following abilities:
    • Aerial Jump: Far beyond a mere Double Jump, Zidane's EX Mode gives him ten consecutive jumps; fifteen with the proper abilities equipped.
    • Dodge Jump: Zidane becomes immune to certain attacks while jumping, justifying the excessive number of jumps he has. In Dissidia 012 it also "resets" his jumps after he dodges, letting him dodge and keep jumping which other characters can no longer do.
  • In addition, Trance gives Zidane access to his EX Burst: Reverse Gaia.

"It's not over yet!"

• • Zidane charges out of nowhere at various angles at rapid-fire speed, slashing through his target on each pass, while the image of his planet Gaia merges over the image of Kuja's planet of Terra. Once the fusion is done, he finishes the Burst with a spinning flurry of strikes.

"And for the final touch, fly awaaaaaaaay!"

• Fragile Speedster/Lightning Bruiser: He's quick and agile with versatile HP attacks and a lot of HP links, but doesn't do a lot of Bravery damage.
• Frickin' Laser Beams: Meo Twister.
• Gradual Grinder: With his HP Links.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: Aside from Sephiroth, Zidane may be the single character in the game to abuse this trope. He controls his daggers with such skill, separating and connecting them in the blink of an eye and throwing them through the air in fantastic but impossible ways, that it would take telekinesis to make them behave the way they do. Take his Tempest-Meo Twister combo — Zidane throws his daggers down at the opponent, dives to take hold of them again and deliver a combo that knocks the opponent away, separates his daggers and throws them forward where they hover in the air to fire lasers at the opponent for several seconds, then they float right back into his hands.
• Instant Runes: Present in many of his magic-based attacks, though his aren't as impressive as the Emperor's. "Free Energy" takes this to the logical extreme — it creates a rune of energy that explodes, and is almost literally instantaneous in execution.
• Magic Knight: While all but two of his Bravery attacks are physical, Zidane's HP attacks all deal magical damage, save for Grand Lethal which is Full-Contact Magic.
• Magikarp Power: Much as with Firion and Onion Knight, he starts out with a handful of weak Bravery attacks, then you begin to master his attacks and get his HP links.
• Playing with Fire: Tidal Flame.
• Rolling Attack: Vortex.
• Shock and Awe/Making a Splash: Shift Break.
• Spin Attack: Storm Impulse.
• Status Buff: With jumping nerfed to no longer "reset" after dodging, Zidane's EX Mode now grants that skill.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works

Design and Costume Tropes

• Armor Is Useless: His new outfit in Dissidia 012, his Knight of Pluto armor.
• Black Cloak: Gets one for his DLC outfit, the costume of the character he played in the ending of Final Fantasy IX.
  • Badass Cape
  • In the Hood
• Blue Eyes: Likely meant to show that despite his profession, he's really a decent guy.
• Fur Bikini: A rare male example.
• Hair of Gold: Youthful goodness, yup.
• Ornamental Weapon: In his normal and 2P costume, his Orichalcum dagger merely sits in its holster, and in his 3P costume he has a sword on his back that won't see any use.
• Real Men Have Pink Fur: While in his Trance state.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps
• Teens Are Short
• Too Many Belts

In Dissidia

Teaming up with Bartz, he raced in search for his crystal. However, as Kefka, Kuja, and Exdeath team up to separate them (and Squall), his faith in their success slowly starts to weaken, and so his confidence must be restored to confront the growing adversity.

• Divine Date: Not even Cosmos is above his flirtations. To be fair to the kid, it's kind of his schtick.
• Dynamic Entry: On Garland, looks like he was the one to get knocked down.
  • And likely the thief's both Crowning Moment of Awesome and Crowning Moment of Funny.

Zidane: "Trying to take the spotlight, eh, Squall?"

• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: From Cosmos.
• Lampshade Hanging: His in-game profile notes how even his relatively few angst moments attract the ladies:

"While usually cheerful and waggish, he does have bouts of despair. However, this may be another part of his charm."

• • And he, himself, often mocks other characters for their most prominent traits.

(to Cloud) "You should try smiling more, you know?" (to the Emperor) "A royal pain is what you are."

• Save the Villain: Well, he tried to help Kuja.... Though considering he went from almost being Driven to Suicide to having the resolve to return to, in his own words, where he must, Zidane did pretty good.
• Those Two Guys: With Bartz.

In Dissidia 012 Duodecim

Again, Zidane barely has any role in Duodecim, appearing primarily in scenes with Kuja before being defeated by Kain.

• Big Brother Mentor: One scene in the Reports has him acting like this towards Onion Knight in a clear reference to how he acted towards Vivi.
• Properly Paranoid: Although neither he nor Onion Knight went as far as to commit suicide (unlike, say, Sephiroth), the two of them started to speculate whether they were in fact enhanced manikins instead of the real deal in one of the reports. Most likely, they weren't. However, they were right in that some of the characters, namely Cosmos, Chaos, and the Warrior of Light are manikins.

Tidus

"This isn't over yet. There's no tomorrow for me... unless I beat you today!"

"I'll see my will through and continue on my story, no matter what awaits." — Fayth's Dream.

Voiced by: Masakazu Morita (Japanese), James Arnold Taylor (English)

--Fighting Style: Spry Striker

A light-hearted, cheerful youth able to calm others even through the most trying situations. The star player of the Zanarkand Abes comes with his usual light-hearted cheerfulness. While most of his conflicts resolve around issues with his father, he's always perfectly willing to help those who need it.

General Tropes

• Action Survivor: Tidus lampshades in quite a few quotes that he is new to this whole fighting thing; still, that doesn't mean he isn't any bit as powerful as his comrades.
• Badass Normal: Unlike the other heroes, Tidus does not use any magic outside Energy Rain (Which itself is more like a Ki Attack).
• Calling the Old Man Out: What he's fighting for a chance to do... regardless of whether he's on Cosmos' or Chaos' side.
• Heel Face Turn: Fought for Chaos in the 12th Cycle, but for Cosmos on the 13th. One way or another, it's always for fighting Jecht.
• Hot-Blooded: Not as bad as Firion, but definitely loud and passionate.
• Keet: Definitely so in comparison to most of the other Warriors of Cosmos.
  • Bartz and Zidane are pretty upbeat too, making this trifecta shine among their more serious/moody/withdrawn comrades.
• Like Father, Like Son: Ironic, considering his opinion of Jecht. And in light of 012, it's Harsher in Hindsight Dramatic Irony. Tidus, when fighting Jecht, calls him a "selfish, ungrateful old bastard!" Jecht's final actions as a Warrior of Cosmos, unbeknownst to Tidus, was to save Tidus's life after he had saved Yuna's.
• No Pronunciation Guide: Apparently finally settled down to "Tee-Dus".
• Only One Name
• Primal Stance: He's hunched over a lot.
• Repeat Cut: Doing his Limit Break Action Command perfectly results in one of these and a lot of damage.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• Cool Sword: Brotherhood to Caladbolg.
  • BFS
  • Hooks and Crooks: Brotherhood has a notable hook on the end of the blade.
  • It Was a Gift
  • Making a Splash: You can see the bubbles rising from Brotherhood from its innate Waterstrike Ability.
  • Named Weapons
  • One-Handed Zweihander
• Counter Attack: Tidus specializes in the dodge and counter style rather then the block and return version that Exdeath has.
• Deadly Dodging
• EX Mode: Caladbolg Equipped!

"Ready... GO!"

• • Tidus switches his Brotherhood sword for his strongest weapon, the Caladbolg. In addition to Regen, Tidus's EX Mode gives him the following abilities:
    • Caladbolg (ATK): Caldabolg's attack power increases depending on how much HP Tidus has remaining.
    • Caladbolg (Dodge): Tidus is invincible for longer while dodging.
    • Mirror Dash: While running on the ground, Tidus reflects certain projectile attacks. In addition to that, his running speed goes up considerably, to the point where he's approaching teleportation faster than even Onion Knight or Shantotto. This skill is a throwback to Tidus's Time Magic from Final Fantasy X.
  • In addition, Caladbolg gives Tidus access to his EX Burst: Blitz Ace.

"You ready for this?!"

• • Tidus slashes his opponent several times and knocks them down before producing a Blitzball and throwing it at them. As the ball bounces back up, Tidus has to time a kick to knock back the ball into the enemy again. The closer the timing, the more of a Repeat Cut is placed on the kick; perfect execution results in a triple cut. As the ball hits, it explodes in a burst of blue energy.

"Game set!"

• Hurricane Kick: During his Quick Hit HP attack.
• Glass Cannon/Lightning Bruiser: He's fast, does a lot of damage, and has one of the strongest EX Bursts in the game. However his attacks have a long high recovery time, tend to have a "dodge" effect built into the start of the animation, and leave him very vulnerable if they miss. The dodge-attacks are also the only ones that chain into the HP combo Quick Hit.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Tidus mixes a lot of tackles and kicks with his swordplay.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Mixes blitzball shots in with his swordplay.
• Pure Energy: Notably, his only magical attack is Energy Rain.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works
• She Fu: A rare male example of this combat type, Tidus is easily the most acrobatic fighter in the game and his fighting style is based around avoiding enemies with graceful flips and counter attacking from them.

Design and Costume Tropes

• Blue Eyes: Squeenix loves these for their heroes, he's no exception.
• Clothing Damage/Rip Tailoring
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Wins this trope by a mile, though since his outfit was toned down it's not as bad as it normally is.
• Hair of Gold: Subverted in that he dyed it. His hair in this game is actually slightly darker than in his original appearance.
• High Collar of Doom
• Nonuniform Uniform
• Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: His Evil Costume Switch is mostly just taking of his shirt.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Tidus has apparently taken on his father's style, and while he may or may not pull it off as successfully as his dad, it still got some Fan Girls drooling.

In Dissidia

• The Ace: Fits this to a point during the story, and is constantly referred as such.
• Easter Egg: Obtaining the Moogle Summon with Tidus during the final Odyssey will make it so he starts throwing Moogle Heads instead of Blitzballs in his attacks at random.
• Heroic Resolve: Just before his Crystal fight, Jecht punches him across the room, into a wall. While Tidus lies limp against the wall, Jecht assures Tidus that he'll be up on his feet "by tomorrow". In response? Tidus calls him to come back, pushes himself onto his feet, and keeps fighting!
• Honor Before Reason: He heals Jecht - his father, his enemy - so they can fight in equal conditions. Though considering his reason, it's rather justified.
• Lampshade Hanging: When facing the Emperor:

Tidus: "What's this 'UNGAAAAHHH' business?"

• Manly Tears: Something characteristic of him, so it was always going to appear in Dissidia as well.
• Mix and Match of Kid Hero and Idiot Hero.
• Narrator All Along: Just like in his own game, Tidus acts like narrator of his own story from time to time.
• This Is My Story
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: His one goal is to beat his father and prove himself stronger. Though he claims throughout the campaign that he hates Jecht, Tidus admits to him after their battle that he'd always wanted his approval.
• Younger and Hipper: Tidus seems a bit more of a child here than he is in Final Fantasy X, and his new styling may have quelled some Internet Backdraft that his original appearance was too Keet for comfort. This and the Primal Stance make him look rather small, but if they followed his FFX profile to the letter, he'd be one of the taller heroes.

In Dissidia 012 Duodecim

During this cycle, he's summoned by Chaos for a chance to fight against Jecht, who's on Cosmos' side. However, meeting with Yuna, who remembers their journey together, will take that into another direction...

• Amnesiac Lover: Towards Yuna.
• Brainwashed/BrainwashedAndCrazy: Outright stated by Jecht, who would later follow the same fate.
• Deal with the Devil: Basically the reason he's fighting for Chaos.
• Last Request: When he's dying, when it all comes down to what matters most to him, and his father is the only one to listen to him, it all comes down to one thing.

Tidus: "Please... take care of Yuna..."

• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Yuna.
• Taking the Bullet: For Yuna.
• Token Good Teammate: He even warns Yuna of the dangers of Castle Pandemonium.

Shantotto

"Of course! The future is for one to take by brute force!"

"The most feared and renowned of fame, how splendid!" — Boiling Blood.

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Candi Milo (English)

--Fighting Style: Chainspeller

A war hero with immeasurable magical power. Shantotto's a Tarutaru (an FFXI original species) Black Mage and a hero from the Great Crystal War. She's (in)famous for her rhyming speech and iconic laugh. She doesn't take an important role in the main storyline, but has a separate episode that must be played in order to unlock her.

General Tropes

• Badass
  • Badass Adorable.
• Blood Knight
• Breakout Character: How she got this far, that and developers liked her. Her appearance in Dissidia in turn has drastically increased her popularity.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Due to her new status as a villain in her new expansion pack, most of the villains praise her when they encounter while the heroes instead fear her.

Warrior of Light: "This woman is out for blood..." Squall: "Never thought I'd meet another witch." Kefka: "Now you've got what it takes to destroy the world!" Terra: "I've never seen such mystic power!" Cloud of Darkness: "An equal? No... you surpass...!" Garland: "Ah, a lady worthy of the highest praise!" The Emperor: "It is an honor, milady."

• Idle Animation: Leave her idle long enough, and she'll yawn and remark "Oh, how dull."
• Killer Rabbit: You know what they say about judging by appearances.
• Laughing Mad: Her reaction when performing her EX-Burst is somewhat... too exhilarated when defeating her enemy.
• Little Miss Snarker: "Little" being just her physical appearence, but damn if she doesn't have some of the best quotes of the game.

(vs Cloud): "Your hair... is a distraction!" (vs Exdeath): "Inside your head is the void!" (vs Bartz): "Stupidity? Impossible to gauge."

• Mythology Gag: Notice how, when Shantotto is defeated, she turns into a doll? That's a reference to how you meet the real Shantotto after fighting a doll controlled by her.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: A trademark of hers.
  • She even uses it as one of her rhymes.
• Older Than They Look: She's a Tarutaru. Comes with the territory.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Garland, Exdeath, and Golbez are each about five times her size and covered in armor, but her staff attacks will still knock them across the arena. Same for Chaos, who is a bit closer to ten times her size.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Her iconic trait is doing this, a chance to rhyme she'll never miss. However to the writers's shame, many of them are rather lame.

Shantotto: I don't make threats! If there's no result by the time I'm done researching the ultimate spell, it's too late for regrets!

• Rule of Three: Her HP Attacks have three versions (see Evolving Attack), they can chain into each other in sequences of up to three (but only the last will inflict HP damage), and she learns exactly three other spells besides the ones she starts with (well, a ground and midair version of each).
• Small Body Big Ego: In-universe, though she lives up to that ego, especially in her home game.
  • Insufferable Genius
• The Battle Didn't Count: Much like a certain mission in XI, if Shantotto is defeated, her defeated pose reveals that "Shantotto" was actually a magically controlled doll under Shantotto's control.
• The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: When Shantotto casts magic, the jewel on the top of her staff will change colors to match the spell. This is a throwback to a strategy mages used in Final Fantasy XI in which you would equip different staves each time you cast a spell to power up the element you where casting.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

• Black Mage: Shantotto thinks White Mages are pansies and Red Mages barbarians.
• Boss Banter: While all characters Call Their Attacks, Shantotto's quotes for her full-powered HP attacks deserve special notice for being condescending and mocking.

"Why, is something burning?" "I'll slice you thin!" "You'll look better on ice!" "I'll shake you to the core!" "Ashes to ashes!" "How about a swim?"

• Elemental Powers
  • Spirit Magic: Fire: Fire --> Firaga --> Flare
  • Spirit Magic: Ice: Blizzard --> Blizzaga --> Freeze
  • Spirit Magic: Air: Aero --> Aeroga --> Tornado
  • Spirit Magic: Earth: Stone --> Stonega --> Quake
  • Spirit Magic: Thunder: Thunder --> Thundaga --> Burst
  • Spirit Magic: Water: Water --> Waterga --> Flood
  • Universal Poison: Bio.
  • Razor Wind: "I'll slice you thin!"
• Evolving Attack: If her Brave is high enough, all of her HP attacks are upgraded to superior forms. There are three versions of each.
• EX Mode: Two-Hour Ability!:

"Fine!"

• • Shantotto activates her Black Mage's Two-Hour ability, represented by her being clothed in either the Cobra Cloche armor set, or the Black Mage Relic Armor, depending on her outfit. In addition to Regen, Shantotto's EX Mode gives her the following ability:
    • Manafont: The aforementioned Two-Hour Ability. In EX Mode, Shantotto's Brave does not go down when she lands an HP Attack, giving her free reign to spam them as much as she wants.
  • In addition, Two-Hour Ability gives Shantotto access to her EX Burst: Play Rough.

"Now, I'm MAD!"

• • Shantotto blasts the enemy with magic and prepares a Skillchain. She is given a list with the six Ancient Magic spells. When cast in the proper order (Flare, Flood, Burst, Quake, Tornado, Freeze), she deals maximum damage before finishing with a blast of Non-Elemental magic. Of note is that Shantotto's Manafont ability applies to this attack, so if the EX Burst doesn't outright kill the enemy, she will keep all the Brave she acquires from executing it.

"I'm driven to destroy!"

• Magic Wand/Simple Staff: Though she specializes in magic, she does have two physical attacks.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: Retribution
  • Boomerang Comeback: Miss the throw and it'll likely swing to hit you from behind.
• Squishy Wizard: Her HP attacks hit hard, and her EX Mode makes her quite the force to be reckoned with since she can use her EX Burst on you and retain all the Brave she racks up using it afterwards. However, the start-up lag to her HP attacks as well as the fact she has to hold still while using them means that dodging and counterattacking is something that will happen to her a lot.
• Standard Status Effects: Notably the only Dissidia character to use them. Bio drains your Brave, Stun interrupts your actions, and Bind holds you in place for a short period of time (you can still attack though).

Design and Costume Tropes

• Badass Longcoat: Her DLC Ex Mode, based on the Goetia Armor Set.
• Black Cloak: Her third outfit
• Brown Eyes: Likely more for the contrast with the light hair than any of the down-to-earth (ha!) connotations.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: Her EX Mode
• Fairytale Wedding Dress: Her DLC costume.
  • Woman in White
• Girlish Pigtails: Considering her implicit age, it's slightly disturbing...
• Hair of Gold
• Meganekko: Her third outfit EX Mode.
• Pointy Ears
• Take That: An in-universe example, her museum profile mentions Shantotto's one regret is having never married. That her DLC outfit is XI's Wedding Dress Set cannot be an idle choice.
• Waistcoat of Style: Her DLC Ex Mode, underneath the Badass Longcoat. Shantotto has style.

In Dissidia

By the thirteenth cycle, Shantotto has retired from the War, though she hasn't actually escaped the cycle — instead, she resides at a sanctuary for the victors of previous wars. Her only appearance in the main storyline is a flashback, but she appears in a mini-story where she meets the player's selected character, dismisses it, then has it get rid of the manikins she inadvertantly let loose, and finally offers a chance to fight her as reward.

• But Thou Must!: And then she lampshades it.

Shantotto: That illusion of choice was a mere formality. Your task has already been decided, you see.

• Christmas Cake: Interestingly enough, in the game's Character Files, it states that Shantotto's one and only regret in life is that she never married.
• Regional Bonus: In the American release, she has more voiced cutscenes than in the original version.
• Retired Badass: She's a previous Warrior of Cosmos, echoing her status in her original game — a retired minister of the Orastery (Windurst's military in FFXI).
• Secret Character: Slightly less secret than many other such characters, but still qualifies.
  • Eleventh Ranger: See above trope. Hard to make much of an impact when the story is written to allow for your absence.

In Dissidia 012 Duodecim

As expected thanks to the first game, Shantotto now stands on the front line along with the other warriors, finally getting a starring role... technically. We get an expansion on her fight with Gabranth, and a mention of her researching "the ultimate spell."

• Advertised Extra
• Crazy Enough to Work: Official quests reveal her plan to escape the cycles of war was to outright destroy gateways to de-stabalize the portals to other worlds inside them until a portal to the Rift was created from the dimensional distortions she was creating in her wake.
• Nerf: Her EX Mode's Manafont ability now just instantly recharges her bravery after a HP attack.
• Punch Clock Hero: Shantotto sees the cycles as chance to experiment with magic. Once she decides the cycles are limiting further progress, she tells Cosmos "good luck" and goes off to find a way escape the cycles without caring about her duties to the goddess.
• Really 700 Years Old: Implied with Kefka Palazzo's intro line to her in 012:

Kefka Palazzo: You're older than me?!

• Status Buff: Bind tracks longer before snaring the opponent, Stun can combo and has greater range, and her HP attacks go off faster and upgrade earlier, to name a few.
• Token Evil Teammate: Or at least, the most Anti Heroic.
• The Mentor: Seems to be something like this for Prishe. Although their relationship isn't exactly ideal at times.