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This page deals with recurring monsters from the Final Fantasy series.


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    Adamantoise 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Adamantoise_269.png
Debut: Final Fantasy II
Common variants: Gil Turtle, Land Turtle

Turtle-type enemies with thick shells, they boast nigh-impenetrable physical defense, but are vulnerable to ice magic.


  • Boss in Mook Clothing: As normal enemies, they tend to be quite tough. They're occasionally boosted up to actually being bosses.
  • Giant Mook: Especially in XIII, where they tower over the party like buildings, and a stomp from their feet shakes the ground.
    • Even larger in XV where they can be mistaken for the landscape. That one looks like a small island.
  • Kill It with Ice: Ice is nearly always their elemental weakness, which makes a certain amount of sense for a reptile.
  • Made of Iron: It isn't called Adamantoise for nothing. Physical attacks usually do nothing but tickle them.
  • Mighty Glacier: They aren't too fast, but hit hard and have massive defense.
  • PiƱata Enemy: Their Gil Turtle variants are aptly named as they frequently drop large amounts of gil.
  • Sturdy and Steady Turtles: Usually slow, but very sturdy and strong.
  • Took a Level in Badass:

    Ahriman 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ahriman_398.png
Debut: Final Fantasy III
Common variants: Evil Eye, Floating Eye, Plague

Flying enemies that specialize in Death and Doom spells.


    Behemoth 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Behemoth_5637.png
Debut: Final Fantasy II
Common variants: Dark Behemoth, Kaiser Behemoth, King Behemoth

Some of the most powerful enemies in the game, they're huge monsters that have massive physical power and top-tier magic like Flare and Meteor.

Useless trivia: which side Square chose in the console wars ultimately hinged on which 5th-generation system could handle this enemy in its full 3D complexity.


    Bomb 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bomb_1193.png
Debut: Final Fantasy II
Common variants: Balloon, Grenade, King Bomb, Purobolos

Living balls of explosive flame, they react to being damaged by growing angry and inflating themselves larger until the pressure buildup causes them to explode.


    Cactuar 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FF_Cactuar_4581.png
Debut: Final Fantasy VI
Common variants: Gigantuar

Rare enemies, they leave a large amount of Exp, AP and/or gil. The catch is killing them, because they usually boast high defenses or high evade.


  • Armored But Frail: Cactuars don't tend to have much health, but their defenses are usually so high that any attackers will struggle to deal more than 1 damage. They also have a high dodge chance, making them even harder to beat.
  • Cactus Person: They are cactus creatures that look like people running.
  • The Cameo: Shows up in crossover events with the Dragon Quest series, note  and is a playable character in Mario Hoops 3 on 3 and Mario Sports Mix.
  • Death of a Thousand Cuts: Damage from "Thousand Needles" is sometimes applied one HP at a time. Blue Mages who can survive the attack can learn it for their own use.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: In games where they're a summon, you usually need to defeat their leader to do so.
  • Evolving Attack: Stronger versions of them have 10,000 Needles, and rarely, 100,000 Needles.
  • Fixed Damage Attack: Their trademark 1000 Needles always does 1000 damage; it's even the former Trope Namer.
  • Killer Rabbit: They're some of the cutest enemies ever... and they will end you if you underestimate them.
  • King Mook: Gigantuar/Jumbo Cactuar/Cactuar King
  • Last Ditch Move: Some games will have them counter with 1000 Needles on their killer when they die.
  • Mascot Mook: Along with the Tonberry, one of the iconic monsters of the series.
  • Metal Slime: They give a lot of AP, exp, and/or money, but are very rare and very hard to kill.
  • One-Hit Kill: Sometimes they use 10,000 Needles; in most games where they have this, the needles will do at least one point of damage each and your character's max health is 9,999. You do the math.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: Usually no taller than a foot.
  • Shout-Out: Based off the Japanese Haniwa figurines. Their Signature Move is a reference to a Japanese kid's poem, the fate of someone who breaks a promise on a "pinky swear" (a western counterpart would be "cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye").
  • Signature Move: 1000 Needles is often all they use, and though it predates their appearance by one game, it's now associated primarily with them.
  • Spike Shooter: Their Signature Move, 1000 Needles, has them launch a huge volley of spines at the target.
  • You Kill It, You Bought It: Usually you have to hunt down their leader to earn them as a summon.

    Cloud of Darkness 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cloud_of_darkness_artwork_ffiii_5196.jpg

The Anthropomorphic Personification of the void, seeking to return any worlds it manifests in to nothingness.


    Coeurl 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Coeurl_7732.png
Debut: Final Fantasy II
Common variants: Bandercoeurl, Coeurlregina

Feline enemies with long tentacles in place of whiskers, they often attack in packs.


    Death Claw 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deathclaw_ccvii_4.png
Debut: Final Fantasy III
Common variants: Iron Claw

Insectoid creatures that look like walking, clawed hands.


    Death Machine 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capture_290.PNG

Giant mechanical enemies that tend to be extremely powerful.


  • Boss in Mook Clothing: Most notable in their first appearance, where (as WarMECH) they're about as powerful as Chaos, essentially making them a superboss in mook clothing. In some games, they appear as actual bosses.
  • Chicken Walker: The joints on their mechanical legs appear to bend backwards.
  • Slap-on-the-Wrist Nuke: Their Nuke attack is undeniably deadly, but survivable ā€” something you wouldn't expect for an attack which consists of launching a nuclear missile at the party.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammerā€¦: They don't tend to have much variety to their attacks, but the moves they do have make them deadly. For example, the original WarMECH has two attacks: a strong physical attack... and nuking the entire party.
  • You Don't Look Like You: Some Death Machines in the franchise adopt their Final Fantasy I look, but others look quite different. For example, the one in Final Fantasy VI has two propellers and a human pilot in lieu of legs.

    Dragon 
Debut: Final Fantasy
Common variants: Bahamut, Black Dragon, Blue Dragon, Brachioraidos, Red Dragon, Tiamat, White Dragon, Yellow Dragon

Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Dragons appear through the series as powerful enemies and bosses. While dragon may also refer to larger categories of dragon-like creatures, straight-up western dragons tend to be their strongest representatives.


  • Boss in Mook Clothing: If they aren't a boss outright, dragons are often among the strongest enemies encountered.
  • Breath Weapon: Their most notable attacks usually involve breathing their element of choice on you.
  • Color-Coded Elements: A dragon's elemental affinity can often be identified via their colorationā€”red dragons for fire, yellow dragons for lightning, white dragons for ice, and so on.
  • King Mook: The recurring summon Bahamut, one of the strongest in the series, is oft stated to be the king of dragons, and frequently needs to be defeated in battle before becoming available as a summon.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Mostly stock western-style dragons, though eastern dragons, dinosaurs, and other more bizarre variations are not unheard of.
  • Playing with Fire: In games without a large array of dragons, what few dragons there are tend to be associated with fire, using it in their attacks and resisting or even absorbing it when used against them.
  • Superboss: Often a games' most powerful Optional Boss is a dragon. Shinryu was the first such boss and gained enough notoriety from that to have his own lore.

    Dragon Zombie 
Debut: Final Fantasy
Common variants: Bone Dragon, Skull Dragon

Even dragons die but that doesn't mean their strength goes with them. Brought back to life with undead might, dragon zombie's now add putrid powers to their already frightening repertoire.


  • Breath Weapon: Distinguishing from their living counterparts, the breath of dragon zombie's is acrid filth that poisons and debilitates those affected by it.
  • Deceased and Diseased: Most often have status inducing attacks to go along with their undead form.
  • Revive Kills Zombie: Their biggest weak point is that revival spells and items will instantly defeat them.
  • Undead Fossils: Often the representative variant doesn't look so much as an undead member of the local dragons but an ancient relative brought back to unlife, such as in III and V.

    Flan 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FF_Flan_6687.png
Debut: Final Fantasy II
Common variants: Black Flan, Flan Princess, Purple Bavarois, Red Marshmallow, White Mousse, Yellow Jelly

Slime monsters that come in a wide variety of colors, they have strong physical defenses but fall easily to elemental magic.


  • Blob Monster: They're rarely little more than globs of colored slime.
  • Color-Coded Elements: One can often figure out what elements they use, and what they are weak against, based on their color.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Flans have variable weaknesses to elemental magic.
  • Stone Wall: They are often highly resistant to physical attacks, but weak to magic.
  • Theme Naming: Flan-type monsters tend to be named after desserts; Pudding, Jelly, Mousse, Bavarois, and so on.
  • Underground Monkey: Comes in many variations.

    Gigas 
Debut: Final Fantasy
Common variants: Hill Gigas, Glasya Labolas

Powerful giants whose gargantuan blows are not to be underestimated.


  • Dishing Out Dirt: A recurring ability of theirs is to use Quake magic. Variants can change their magic preference for the element they want though.
  • Giant Mook: As Gigas translates to Giant, this is as literal as it gets.
  • Our Giants Are Bigger: Often one of the larger enemies to be encountered. The VII incarnation rivals the Kaijuesque Weapons in game size.
  • Smash Mook: Most often are physical beat sticks capable of hitting hard and not much else. Some however..
  • Strong and Skilled: Some incarnations add skilled attacks to their repertoire. VI in particular gave the later types moves like Uppercuts and Throat Chops.

    Goblin 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Goblin_7987.png
Debut: Final Fantasy
Common variants: Black Goblin, Goblin Mage, Goblin Prince, Hobgoblin

Basic enemies armed with daggers.


  • Devious Daggers: They usually wield daggers.
  • Fixed Damage Attack: Goblin Punch is sometimes depicted this way, especially if it can be learned by a Blue Mage. In these cases, it will always deal damage equivalent to a player's level, or sometimes it will deal more damage if the user and their opponent are the same level.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Tend to have a move called "Goblin Punch".
  • The Goomba: Usually the first monster you run into. (Though the later on the series you get the more likely this is to be subverted. See below.)
  • Our Goblins Are Different: Especially in XIII where they look vaguely mechanical, generally have wheels on the bottom of their feet and have a gaping hole in the middle of their torso instead of a mouth. XI has their own distinct take on Goblins which carried over to XIV.
  • Signature Move: Goblin Punch.
  • Underground Monkey: There are frequently multiple versions of them, some of which are found much later and with respectable stats.

    Hades 

A supremely powerful caster.


    Iron Giant 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Iron_Giant_5724.png
Debut: Final Fantasy II
Common variants: Red Giant

Massive iron golems armed with equally massive swords.


    Kraken 

One of the original Four Fiends, this tentacled monstrosity is sure to make life difficult for whoever crosses its multi-armed path.


  • Ice Magic Is Water: Often has a compliment of Blizzard spells at its disposal to go with its water theme.
  • Kraken and Leviathan: Is the Final Fantasy's variation on Kraken, which looks like a humanoid octopus in its first incarnation and either a squid or regular octopus in others.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: It's most distinguished feature in 1 is how many attacks it can do in one round, making it a horrifically powerful beatstick.

    Lich 

Once the Fiend of Earth, this undead menace has risen time and again to stalk the living.


  • Deceased and Diseased: Lich has the power of poison to go along with their decaying undead body.
  • Demoted to Extra: Got hit the hardest of all the Four Fiends. While the rest have been relegated to non-plot important bosses, Lich is the only one who has returned as a random encounter.
  • Our Liches Are Different: Lich has never had a soul stone and is pretty much shown to be an undead sorcerer most of the time.
  • Poisonous Person: Lich's most consistent ability is to attack with poison.

    Malboro 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Malboro_2311.png
Debut: Final Fantasy II
Common variants: Carrot, Great Malboro, Malboro Menace

Highly dangerous enemies made up of a giant mouth with a mass of tentacles, their Bad Breath inflicts a slew of status ailments.


  • Breath Weapon: Bad Breath.
  • Combat Tentacles: Their melee attacks are done with their tentacles.
  • Extra Eyes: Almost have more eyes than teeth.
  • Giant Mook: Again, depending on the game. In Final Fantasy X they're friggin' huge, whereas in Final Fantasy XII, most Malboros are half the height of the player characters.
  • King Mook: There are often more powerful Malboro Kings.
  • Man-Eating Plant: Malboros are plant-based and eager to devour your party members.
  • Mascot Mook: One of the more iconic monsters from the franchise.
  • Meaningful Name: Named after the Marlboro cigarette company (also a potential Take That! to Marlboro). Their Bad Breath attack references the fact that said cigarettes cause, well, bad breath. May or may not be an intentional, as their name may also be derived from the Japanese for "bad breath".
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Rows upon rows of razor-sharp choppers line their mouths.
  • Signature Move: Bad Breath, of course.
  • Status Infliction Attack: The biggest danger with these creatures is their attack "Bad Breath" which tends to inflict characters with a whole plethora of annoying status ailments.
  • Took a Level in Badass: They were just normal enemies initially, and fought in groups and alongside other foes. Since VII they've been upgraded to Elite Mook, fought one at a time, and Bad Breath usually affects the entire party now, enabling them to cripple the party in one attack. And heaven help you if you get ambushed by one...
  • Weaponized Stench: Their signature attack, Bad Breath, is this, exhaling a noxious gas that inflicts a plethora of status effects.

    Marilith 

The flaming serpent of the Four Fiends has returned to coil her snake tail around the unprepared.


  • Dual Wielding: More like sextuple wielding, every one of her six arms has a scimitar.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The human half has six arms, letting her wield six scimitars.
  • Snake People: Usually takes the form of a woman with a serpent lower half.
  • Snakes Are Sinister: Marilith's most common attribute is her snake features, which in XII go all the way and just have it being a giant snake.
  • Stripperific: The most any of the human half wears is a metal breastplate with some jewelry adornments.

    Midgardsormr 

A giant snake or serpentine dragon.


  • Ascended Extra: Midgardsormr is a powerful but mostly unremarkable enemy or summon in most of its appearances, but XIV has it as the Father of Dragons and one of the most important beings in the setting.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: While always depicted as a huge serpent, the XIV variation is truly massive, easily hundreds of feet long and able to coil around an imperial dreadnaught.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: The original version from VI used a powerful earth spell and taught the Quake spell.
  • Poisonous Person: After VII, a common ability among the variants is the ability to inflict poison.
  • Snakes Are Sinister: This giant snake is nothing to trifle with.

    Mover 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mover_2459.png

Small, unassuming spheres that attack in trios and combine power for their trademark Delta Attack.


    Mu 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mu_9953.png

Cute and adorable rabbits that burrow underground.


  • Cute Is Evil: They're adorable and look like something you might keep as a pet, but they're still enemies.
  • The Goomba: Usually one of the more basic enemies you find.
  • Killer Rabbit: Defied; they're usually about as harmless as they look.

    Ochu 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ochu_5384.png
Debut: Final Fantasy
Common variants: Microchu

Giant plant enemies with huge mouths and vine-tentacles.


  • Captain Ersatz: They're otyughs from Dungeons & Dragons, but plants.
  • Combat Tentacles: Attack with their vines.
  • Eyeless Face: In several games, it doesn't have eyes, unlike the Malboro.
  • Eyes Do Not Belong There: In a couple games where they do have eyes (most notably, their first appearance), the eyes will be on vines that, at first glance, resemble arms.
  • Giant Mook: They tend to tower over the party a bit.
  • Kill It with Fire: It takes more damage from fire, being a plant and all.
  • Man-Eating Plant: It's a plant and its preferred meal is your party members. Go figure.
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Not as many as the Malboro, but a lot.
  • Mother of a Thousand Young: Particularly in later appearances, Ochus will be towering boss-level foes and their offspring, Microchus, will infest the area. These Microchus are much weaker, generally innumerable in number, and can be indefinitely summoned during the boss fight against the adult Ochu.

    Omega 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FF_Omega_9880.png
Debut: Final Fantasy V
Common variants: Prototype

An infamous boss built by an ancient civilization for mass destruction, a job it is well-equipped to perform.


  • Arch-Enemy: It varies depending on the game, but it's heavily implied that it is hunting Shinryu in most of its appearances. Other games tend to have Omega matched against other draconic beings such as Yiazmat and Midgardsormr. In Final Fantasy XIV, Omega is actually attempting to create his own arch enemy to aid in its own evolution.
  • Boss in Mook Clothing: In its first appearance in V, you would undoubtedly think a roaming mech sprite from the Pyramid of Moore would be out of place. Of course, the real problem is that fact that since it's roaming, it'll be hard to avoid an encounter with in order to continue on through the Rift, and the game tends to glitch and make you encounter it even if you're a space away from it. Even worse, if you miss or ignore the nearby save point, you are VERY likely to end up unprepared to face a boss at least three times stronger than the Final Boss that cannot be avoided when engaged.
  • Cosmetic Award: After being defeated, Omega usually leaves behind some token of the feat that serves no purpose.
  • Degraded Boss: Omega Mk.II's room in V is populated by several copies of the original.
  • Dimensional Traveler: Omega Mk. XII, who might be the original. The contractor who built it was supposed to make a weapon to kill Yiazmat, note  but during development they programmed reproductive, adaptive, and dimension-hopping abilities into it. And then it escaped.
  • Giant Mecha: It's usually about the size of a car, but is sometimes much bigger.
  • Kill the God: A common motive behind the creation of Omega's myriad variants: they all seem to have the objective of hunting down and killing beings of divine power, be it its traditional Arch-Enemy of Shinryu, or substitutes such as Yiazmat, Midgardsormr, the Astrals, or Ultima.
  • No-Nonsense Nemesis:
    • Generally its style of combat. No flashy cinematic attacks (if it's not solely using Wave Cannon as often as it can), no Interface Screw, and it doesn't particularly rely on status ailments or debuffs to enfeeble the party. Omega just hits really hard and has a lot of HP and defense.
    • Omega enforces this on the player in most games. It doesn't have any elemental weaknesses or patterns to exploit and Contractual Boss Immunity is in full effect, and although the player can usually come up with creative ways to offset the damage from Wave Cannon, it's still a battle of attrition that depends on how well the player can balance healing, defense, and offense.
  • Optional Boss: Final Fantasy XI is the only entry to feature a fight with Omega as a main storyline encounter. In every other appearance it is purely optional.
  • Palette Swap: When they appear in the same game, they usually look very much the same as always, Final Fantasy XII being a notable exception. It was said that the Omegas that appeared in Final Fantasy series are from a same basic structure and merely improved themselves over time.
  • Roaming Enemy: In Final Fantasy V. Especially problematic in the Bonus Dungeon, where there are about a half dozen of them walking around the room. What a relief!
  • Signature Move: Surge Cannon/Wave Cannon.
  • Theme Naming: In the game where it has a variation beside the Mk. series, it usually has a name based on Greek alphabet like Alpha and Upsilon.
  • Underground Monkey: It uses the same frame as the Mimic Queen in XII and resembles a giant Mimic while it's dormant, but it's not as skinny as them and looks more man-made.
  • Walking The Multiverse: Much like Gilgamesh and Shinryu, it is implied that the various "Omegas" across the series are either the same entity, or copies of the original, and travel to the various worlds seeking Shinryu.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: Its signature attack is the Wave Cannon, a non-elemental energy beam that packs a wallop.

    Sahagin 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Sahagin_727.png
Debut: Final Fantasy
Common variants: Desert Sahagin, Sahagin Chief, Sahagin Prince

Aquatic enemies that act as basic water-elemental Mooks.


    Shinryu 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shinryu_Dissidia_4294.png

Along with Omega, one of the infamous Optional Bosses of the series.


    Tiamat 

Debuting in the original Final Fantasy as one of the Four Fiends, Tiamat has reappeared multiple times to face the player in assorted forms.


  • Elemental Powers: Fitting for their multiple heads, Tiamat often has access to a full compliment of Fire, Ice, Lightning attacks alongside Blow You Away spells.
  • Evil Counterpart: Often made a counterpart of Bahamut, as a nod to the Dungeons & Dragons shoutout permeating the original Final Fantasy. In VIII this goes farther as it is a Palette Swap that only uses a dark knockoff of Megaflare called Dark Flare.
  • Multiple Head Case: Her original incarnation is a six headed dragon and other incarnations have had variable numbers.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Tiamat has varied from a hydra-esque dragon, a thin eastern dragon, a stock western dragon, and even a magitek bioweapon in XIII.
  • Poisonous Person: The original Tiamat from I possessed poison attacks. Incarnations vary on retaining this ability.

    Tonberry 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tonberry_5777.png
Debut: Final Fantasy V
Common variants: Master Tonberry, Tonberry King

Small reptile-like creatures armed with butcher knives and lanterns, they're among the most dangerous foes in the series.


  • Boss in Mook Clothing: Tonberries usually have a good deal of health on them, can select someone to use Karma on every time that hapless character attacks, and wields a knife that can kill-stab a player in one hit.
  • Cute Is Evil: The Tonberry is creepy-cute, but one of the most dangerous enemies that can be fought in the games.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: As with the Cactuar, beating one occasionally lets you summon them.
  • The Dreaded: Is this to experienced Final Fantasy players all over the world.
  • Evil Chef: Wields a kitchen knife.
  • Finger Poke of Doom: Their Chef's Knife attack is usually depicted as them just jabbed the point of their knife into their target with a cute "Doink!" sound effect... and it does several thousand damage if not just an instant kill.
  • Fixed Damage Attack: Depending on the game, Karma either does damage proportional to the number of enemies the target character had killed, or the number of Tonberries the party has killed.
  • Increasingly Lethal Enemy: He will usually spend several turns approaching before using its signature "Everyone's Grudge" attack, which deals damage for every enemy defeated so far to one target.
  • Killer Rabbit: These guys may look cute, but they are also scary, and for good reason; they pack a giant punch.
  • King Mook: The Tonberry King and Master Tonberry.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Meant to be the incarnation of the concept, with a skill (usually even called Karma) that damages a foe proportional to the number of foes (or sometimes just number of Tonberries) killed.
  • Mascot Mook: One of the most recognizable creatures from the Final Fantasy series.
  • Mighty Glacier: Soaks up huge amounts of damage, slowly wanders up to the heroes, and One Hit Kills them.
  • Numerological Motif: The numbers four, six and nine are frequently reoccuring in its stats.
  • One-Hit Kill: The Tonberry always has a Michael Myers kitchen knife on them. If you let it get close enough to you, then... *Doink*. Get your Phoenix Down ready.
  • Revenge: The Tonberries are THE Moe Anthropomorphism of its concept.
  • Signature Move: Chef's Knife, as well as Karma.
  • Super-Persistent Predator: XIV has a Giant Mook variation, aptly named the Tonberry Stalker. These massive creatures are slow and invulnerable, but if they spot the party, they will hound them relentlessly until the party manages to reach the next section of the dungeon.
  • Took a Level in Badass: While they've always been very dangerous, in Final Fantasy XV they essentially become Jedi, surrounding their knives with large auras of dark energy and then performing brutal combos with them while leaping and spinning around.
  • Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Their Karma move makes a character take damage proportional to number of enemies he/she killed.
  • What Measure Is a Mook?: Tonberry will make you know this via Karma.

    Tyrannosaurus 
Debut: Final Fantasy
Common variants: Archaeosaur, Allosaurus, Earth Dragon

Garnishing the Story with Dinosaurs can always be a fun part of any story and that includes Final Fantasy, and the Terrifying Tyrannosaur is the nominal representee of the genus.


  • Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Tyrannosaurs and their kin are often labelled with the games' dragon types. V inverts this and makes it a Palette Swap of the local Draco Lich enemies.
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In the original Final Fantasy 1, they had the now outdated kangaroo look of almost walking upright. When they fully returned by VI they were given their correct posture, which was back ported into every rerelease of 1 until the Pixel Remaster returned them to the original style for authenticity.
  • PiƱata Enemy: Tyrannosaurs are often a massive boon to farm exp in the game they appear in. How easy to take down to get that boon varies.
  • Smash Mook: Most often have purely physical attack skills, but beware the Magic Knight variants who can use some of the strongest magic attacks around like Meteor.
  • Tail Slap: Often a part of their skills is to strike you with their tails.

    Ultima Weapon 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ultima_Weapon_5456.png
Debut: Final Fantasy VI
Common variants: Omega Weaponnote 

Completing the trinity of series-wide optional bosses with Omega and Shinryu, the Ultima Weapon is a biomechanical superweapon.


  • Badass Boast: It gets a quite impressive one in its debut:
    "My name is Ultima... I am power both ancient and unrivaled... I do not bleed, for I am but strength given form... Feeble creatures of flesh... Your time is nigh!"
  • Bioweapon Beast: Often, such as in its debut VI, Ultima Weapon is a biomechanical beast created for battle.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: Of Final Fantasy VI. He is the last boss fought in the World of Balance.
  • Energy Weapons: A common feature of Ultima Weapon is that they can utilize energy attacks, making the Pure Energy boast all the more weighty. Party wide Wave-Motion Gun attacks, Macross Missile Massacre of energy blasts, a Chest Blaster Pillar of Light or just a palm shaped energy ball are all within Ultima Weapons arsenal.
  • Fantastic Nuke: Appropriately, the Ultima Weapon is frequently capable of casting the dreaded Ultima.
  • Final Boss: Of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
  • MacGuffin Guardian: The Dawn of Souls release of Final Fantasy II makes it the guardian of the Ultima Tome in the Soul of Rebirth epilogue. Upon its defeat, it grants the tome to Minwu for proving his strength. Uniquely, this incarnation is a Palette Swap of the Behemoth.
  • Magitek: The Ultima Weapon is oft presented as a fusion of magic and technology. This allows is to serve as a middle ground between the mechanical Omega and the magical Shinryu.
  • Meaningful Name: Ultima is the latin word for both "farthest" and "last". Both of which gives the clear idea that this is the greatest weapon ever made and that this is the last thing you will see before you die. It also had a double meaning in VI, as it is the last being fought before the end of the current world.
  • Mythology Gag: The primary iteration in Final Fantasy XIV is based off the centaur-mech style design from Final Fantasy VII, but an earlier prototype encountered in the players' return to the Fractal Continuum uses the design from Final Fantasy VI, seen above. Additionally, its model is based on that of XIV's Behemoth, referencing II's Behemoth palette swap.
  • Optional Boss: In some of the games, such as VIII and X, Ultima Weapon is an optional boss encountered in that game's bonus dungeon.
  • Organic Technology: As its sprite should indicate.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Final Fantasy VIII introduced a stronger version of Ultima Weapon called "Omega Weapon." While not the same entity as Omega, they are similar in stature as Superbosses, with Omega Weapon eclipsing Ultima Weapon in power. Since then entries that feature both Weapons typically use Ultima Weapon as a Warm-Up Boss to get you ready for the much more dangerous Omega Weapon. However, even in games where it is considered weaker than Omega/Omega Weapon the Ultima Weapon still stands out as a deadly opponent in its own right.
  • Pure Energy: In VI, it declares itself raw power given physical form. It's not actually boasting, and it gives it one hell of a Weaksauce Weakness: since it's made of pure power it dies if it runs out of MP, and you very probably have Mana Drain spells on hand at that point.

    Worm 
Debut: Final Fantasy
Common variants: Abyss Worm, Gigas Worm, Sand Worm,

Giant worms with an all consuming maw.


  • Blow You Away: Fitting for their dessert origins, many can cast wind based spells like Sandstorm.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Their most common ability is to cast Earthquake.
  • Eating the Enemy: A common skill they have is to eat a party member.
  • Sand Worm: Variants change whether they are partially subterranean or fully out of the ground.

    Zu 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Zu_8412.png
Debut: Final Fantasy IV
Common variants: Bennu, Garuda, Rukh, Tot Aevis, Stratoavis

Giant bird enemies with massive wings.


  • Airborne Mook: A giant bird that flies.
  • Belly Flop Crushing: Zus often use belly flops as their main physical attack, simply using their weight as a weapon rather than their talons or beak.
  • Blow You Away: If they do have a special attack, it would be a gale-based one of some sort.
  • Giant Flyer: Again, giant bird.
  • Giant Mook: Large bird that's probably big as a tree.
  • Just Eat Him: In Final Fantasy IX, the Zu can swallow a party member whole, which counts as them being ejected from the battle and they won't earn any EXP or AP. It's possible to be defeated if a Zu manages to eat the entire party or the surviving ones.
  • Smash Mook: Generally don't have any kind of special attack, but they hit hard.
  • Toothy Bird: Has a lot of sharp teeth.

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