This page deals with recurring monsters that can be called upon for help from the Final Fantasy series.
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Alexander
An ancient war machine imbued with Holy power to protect mannote by meting out its "Divine Judgment".
- Arch-Enemy: To Odin in Final Fantasy XI.
- Ascended Extra:
- In his first few appearances he was just another summon. Then IX made him the ultimate Eidolon capable of taking out Bahamut, and he's since been regarded alongside Odin and Bahamut as one of the most powerful summons.
- His appearance in Type 0 is also worthy of mention. He belongs to a special category of summons that take multiple people and a lot of time and preparation to summon successfully ( And the one time it is summoned it kills all of them from the strain, including a l'Cie), but once he does appear, he wipes out the entire enemy military in the spaces of about 10 seconds.
- Beam Spam: One of two ways his "Divine Judgment" is depicted (the other being a Wave-Motion Gun).
- Big Fancy Castle: Usually depicted as a mecha that is shaped like one.
- Big Good: In a few games.
- Black Knight: Alexander invokes an appearance of a giant knight in black armor.
- Energy Weapon: Alexander's light-based attacks are typically shown to be from the turret of the summon's parapets. Games switch between whether this is an overwhelming series of blasts, one giant blast from a laser cannon, or both.
- Final Boss: In of the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion in Final Fantasy XI, and in Final Fantasy XIV in his eponymous raid series.
- Foil: Ark/Cruise Chaser from IX was created to serve as this to Alexander. Both are incredibly powerful mechanical based summons. Alexander is a massive fortress with limited mobility while Ark is a transforming airship with high mobility. Alexander is heavily tied to the Holy element while Ark is tied to the Dark element.
- Genius Loci: He's generally depicted as a city-sized summon, and several of his incarnations (most famously, Final Fantasy IX) are used as a residence. While he's not one of the more talkative summons in any appearance, he's just as conscious in all of his appearances.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: A few games give him a massive set of angelic wings.
- Guardian Entity: Described as one to all mankind in some games.
- Holy Hand Grenade: It's usually of the Holy element, when that element appears in a game.
- Humongous Mecha: Is always one of the larger summons, taken to the most extreme degree in IX, Type 0, and XIV, where he's the size of a castle and takes more than one person to summon and in World of Final Fantasy where he's big enough to serve as a bridge that spans a massive desert between two countries. In all of these he's a story-line summon only, and can't be used in battle. In XIV, he's so massive that 3 entire raid series take place within it's body.
- Light 'em Up: There are several Holy elemental summons across the series like Maduin and Ultima, but Alexander is more recurring and famous.
- Mythology Gag: Alexander's first appearance in Final Fantasy VI is nearly identifical to Yoshitaka Amano's concept art of the Giant of Babil from Final Fantasy IV, though the Giant ultimately looks quite different in its on-screen appearances. The connection between the two is solidified by Proto-Babil's use of Divine Judgment in the 3D versions of IV.
- Pride: In games where he can talk, he's very boastful, calling himself the Hallowed King and demanding worship from all before him. He can, however, back up those boasts.
- Red Baron: The Creator in XIV
- Shoulder Cannon: VIII's incarnation, which unleashes Holy Macross Missile Massacre style!
- Signature Move: Divine Judgment.
- Sweeping Laser Explosion: Vast majority of Alexander's appearances has him having at least one version of this kind of move. Final Fantasy XIII has one of the more elaborate ones where it fires off multiple lasers to draw a magic circle on the ground which then explodes, while Final Fantasy Type-0 has one of most devastating ones where he finishes off the Militesi forces with a fiery explosion.
- Time Master: His Final Fantasy XIV incarnation is capable of reversing, freezing, and traveling back and forth through time.
- Walking Wasteland: His XIV appearance would be this if he was left alone without anyone to stop him, his mere existence drawing up aether across the world. After completing his raid series, he traps himself in a singularity so it can never happen.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Particularly in his first appearance, his Divine Judgment was simply one powerful blast from a cannon.
Bahamut
The lord of all dragons who will only grant his allegiance to those who best him in battle. He reduces enemies down to ash and beyond with his trademark "Mega Flare".
- Authority in Name Only: Despite often being called a king, he's typically never seen in any kind of position where he has any kind of authority, the title seeming to indicate his power more than anything else.
- Ax-Crazy: In Brave Exvius. His desire for battle trumped all alliances, and during the war between Aldore and Hess he ended up attacking all sides indiscriminately in his search for worthy opponents.
- Badass Armfold: His idle stance in Final Fantasy X is to glower dismissively at the enemy while folding his arms across his chest.
- Big Good: Whenever he isn't neutral, he's a very powerful benevolent force. This is especially seen in Final Fantasy X. Any of his acts of evil were either for the greater good or due to being controlled by a villain. XIV, however, completely averts this, as Bahamut causes an enormous calamity out of pure spite. And even then, everyone only thinks it's spite at first. As the player and a few others find out, it's actually still an attempt at finding justice... but Bahamut just isn't discriminating between his long-dead captors and other sentients after being forcibly imprisoned and tortured for millennia. The expansion reveals that that isn't even the real Bahamut, but a copy of him summoned as a primal to avenge the real one.
- Breath Weapon: He usually fires his Mega Flare out of his mouth.
- The Cameo: Appears as a monster in Super Mario RPG, except with an extra t in his name. In the Japanese version however, the monster's name is Dosshi (a Punny Name deriving from "Yoshi" and "Dragon"), meaning it wasn't meant to be Bahamut in the first place.
- Characterization Marches On: His debut in the original game just had him granting the class changenote , but moved into the role he was known for when summons were introduced in III
- Defeat Equals Friendship: Typically needs to be defeated before he can used.
- Fantastic Nuke: Mega Flare, along with its stronger variants Giga Flare and Tera Flare, often depicts a massive explosion, which starting in the 3D games tended to involve explosions similar to a nuclear bomb, or even bigger, large enough to be seen from space.
- Golden Super Mode: Battles against Bahamut in XIV, XV, and XVI all feature a final phase in which Bahamut turns gold. Bahamut Fury, the strongest known incarnation of Bahamut in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series, is always gold in color.
- I Have Many Names: Title variant, he is also known as The Hallowed Father, the First Sire, Dragon King, God of Eidolons, Conqueror of the Skies, the Dreadwyrm. Final Fantasy IV and Dissidia Final Fantasy almost invoke the first trope by name when describing him.
- Kill All Humans:
- As part of his deal with Selh'teus, he and his army will kill all of the Enlightened Races, thus preventing the Keeper of Apocalypse which would be born from them from awakening and stop the resurrection of Twilight God Promathia.
- His Eorzean incarnation was trapped inside an artificial moon for thousands of years before the end of FFXIV 1.0, and went on a devastating rampage when he was released, effectively terraforming parts of the land through the damage he caused. However, the "real" Bahamut died centuries ago and his lover Tiamat is the one who was manipulated into summoning a recreation of him as a Primal.
- Kill Sat: In FFVII as Bahamut ZERO, he's a living example of this as he fires a huge beam from space.
- Light 'em Up: On the rare occasions Bahamut has represented an elements, it usually ends up being light whenever Alexander's not around.
- Non-Elemental: His attacks are this in all but his earliest appearances.
- Noodle Incident: How he ended up inside Deathgaze's mouth is up to interpretation.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Typically depicted as a western-style dragon but with a more vaguely humanoid body shape.
- Physical God: Often described as divine. Looking at the sheer amounts of destruction he can cause in e.g. IV VII, IX, XIV, and XVI, one can imagine why.
- Power Floats: Generally depicted as being perpetually in flight, often without even needing to flap his wings. Bahamut landing for any reason is a rare sight.
- Pure Energy: Though Mega Flare began with a fire-elemental appearance, it was always Non-Elemental and has gradually evolved into just a blast of blue energy.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: As noted under Red Baron below, he's usually known as some sort of king or god of monsters. Hes also typically one of the most powerful summons in most games he shows up in, usually right up there alongside Alexander.
- Red Baron: Has various titles throughout the series. Examples include "King of Dragons" to "Dreadwyrm".
- Sequel Escalation: Initially, Mega Flare was Bahamut's ultimate attack and was one of the worst things a party could endure outside the final boss's attacks. Then came Giga Flare, Tera Flare, and Exa Flare. These days, Mega Flare is still Bahamut's signature move and very powerful, but there are far worse things he can do to you. Final Fantasy XVI finally adds Zettaflare to the series canon after only appearing in Kingdom Hearts and Bravely Default as abilities unrelated to Bahamut; like Bahamut ZERO it is portrayed as a Kill Sat but it now has the potential to destroy the whole world.
- Signature Move: Mega Flare, but this often gets improved. See Serial Escalation.
- SI Prefix Name: Bahamut has attacks based on the word "Flare" and some big SI prefix. The most common is Mega Flare, but some games have advanced versions of Bahamut capable of "Giga Flare", "Tera Flare" and so on.
- Turtle Island: A kind of variation, Bahamut in Final Fantasy V was a dragon-shaped peninsula that transformed to his more familiar appearance after he took off to the sky.
- Wave-Motion Gun: It generally attacks by firing one from its mouth.
- Younger Than They Look: Strongest storyline Aeon, this badass giant dragon, which not even Yuna has the guts to dote on like many of her other Aeons, was no older than a young boy whose voice hasn't even cracked yet.
Carbuncle
Sometimes translated as Carbunkl or Carbunkle, is a recurring Summon whose iconic appearance is easily recognized due to the gigantic Ruby that appears on its forehead from which it derives its name.
- Ambiguous Gender: It is never outright stated whether Carbuncle is male or female in any of the games. Though in Final Fantasy XI the player could get the distinct impression of a masculine nature to the creature.
- Asian Fox Spirit: Though there is some disagreement as to exactly what animal Carbuncle is supposed to be, it bears some resemblance to certain versions of the Kitsune of Japanese Mythology. Except unlike the Kitsune who have 9 tails, Carbuncle usually only has 2 tails.
- Attack Reflector: His primary power in the majority of Final Fantasy games is to cast Reflect on the entire party.
- Badass Adorable: Aside from the various Chocobo Summons, he is easily the most Kawaisa of all the Summons in the series.
- Beware the Nice Ones: In more recent editions, he is fully capable of dishing out a beating on the scale of any of the other summons, and in Final Fantasy XI he was the only summon who could be kept active 100% of the time with only one or two pieces of gear invested.
- Carbuncle Creature: As the name suggests.
- Cartoon Creature: It usually looks mammalian, but combines features of multiple species.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: Especially notable in Final Fantasy XI where the Summoner has to go on a quest with a ruby to collect the essence of all the elements in the world so that they can summon Carbuncle, who is their first Summon. But it also appears in other Final Fantasy games, such as Final Fantasy XIV, where there are actually different color Carbuncles depending on the type of role that the Carbuncle is to be fulfilling for the person summoning it.
- Gem Tissue: It has a red gem on its forehead, just like the folkloric creature it's based on.
- Growing Muscles Sequence: In Final Fantasy V, the party has to fight him to gain his summon. In the fight, the previously stereotypical cute Carbuncle we used to see turns into this gigantic muscular werewolf
. He only turns into this form in this fight, though Final Fantasy XIV references it with the Proto-Carbuncle fight. - Kamehame Hadoken: Some of his more powerful attacks in Final Fantasy XI are beams of light.
- Killer Rabbit: if anyone were to compare the image of this thing jumping out of a hole in the ground to cast Reflect on the party in Final Fantasy VIII to the Level 80 Super Boss in Final Fantasy XI, and not come to this conclusion, they should seriously re-evaluate the meaning of the words.
- Physical God: Though not technically the strongest summon in existence, in Final Fantasy XI, he does preside over a battlefield that proves quite challenging when compared to the other Summons' Battlefields. Especially prior to the level cap increase that brought the level cap to 80 since the Carbuncle in that fight was level 80.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: seriously, just look at her smile◊. And yes, that is Final Fantasy XIII's incarnation of Carbuncle.
- Signature Move: Ruby Light. Its Final Fantasy IX iteration also has multiple variations on it based on different gems.
- You Don't Look Like You:
- Carbuncles in the Crystal Chronicles games look immensely different - they're hulking, bipedal creatures covered in fur, with horns. The only similarity is the red gem. They're a race of wise, gentle creatures with a connection to magic and the afterlife.
- Carbuncle is also inexplicably reptilian in Tactics, and looks like an angelic hamster in the Tactics Advance games.
Chocobo
One of the two iconic races of the series, they're usually used as mounted steeds but are not to be underestimated in battle, where they use "Chocobo Kick" and "Choco Meteor" to great effect.
- Acrophobic Bird: Not all of them are flightless, but the ones you can summon in battle are.
- Colony Drop: Choco Meteor.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Chocobo's feather color differ their abilities.
- Goomba Stomp: The Chocobo's standard attack, Chocobo Kick, is actually this if its animation in Crisis Core is to be believed.
- Horse of a Different Color: Their main use in the series is as mounts.
- Series Mascot: Chocobos are a mainstay of the series, and have appeared in every game since they first appeared in II.
- Starter Mon: When Chocobo exists as a summon, it is typically the first one received and serves as an introduction to the mechanic before being quickly outclassed.
- Summon Bigger Fish: Chocobo summon has a small chance of summoning the Fat Chocobo, which is larger than most Mooks.
Diabolos
A giant winged demon that appears in the image of Satan, he is the Gravity summon that drains the energy of enemies with "Dark Messenger".
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: His battles apparently occur inside people's dreams. His Final Fantasy VIII incarnation dissolves the screen no matter where you decide to fight him and changes the battlefield into a pink-purple Amazing Technicolor Battlefield.
- Big Red Devil: His usual form.
- Bragging Rights Reward: In Final Fantasy VI, you find his magicite after beating Kaiser Dragon, but by that time you've done everything in the game except the Soul Shrine.
- Casting a Shadow: When his element isn't listed as "Gravity" he sometimes does dark-elemental damage instead, depending on the game.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Leans more to Knight Templar or Well-Intentioned Extremist than outright evil. Doesn't stop people from misunderstanding him because he is still rather manipulative in his actions.
- Dark World: His Dynamis, the alternate world of dreams that spans across Vana'diel he created to evacuate her people from mass murder of Bahamut and Promathia's suicidal crusade.
- Dream Weaver: Which puts him in Well-Intentioned Extremist territory because it doesn't end well.
- Fixed Damage Attack: As a result of this, due to Gravity's traits in the series. When used as a GF summon in FFVIII, his attacks are based on percentage of max HP instead of current, making him more useful. At max level, he does 9999 damage.
- Gravity Master: He usually does gravity based damage.
- Our Genies Are Different: In Final Fantasy VIII, he appeared from inside an Aladdin-esque lamp with warning written in bold. What makes him different from standard genies is that he looks more like Satan than anything else.
- Signature Move: Dark Messenger and, in the online games, Ruinous Omen.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Isn't it ironic that he's weak against gravity spells?
- You can fight him early on in Final Fantasy VIII. If you fight him then, and possibly even as you fight him later since he gets stronger with every step you've taken in the game, he's that one boss... except you can blind him, which means it's impossible for him to hit you physically. Sure, he can still hit you with the powerful Gravija, but Gravity is a percentage based attack, meaning it gets weaker the less Hit Points you have, to the point where you have one HP left and he'll just be doing 0 damage. This gives you a perfect opportunity to draw all the gravity spells you want.
Fenrir
A monstrous wolf with powers related to the moon. Doesn't always appear in every game, and sometimes when he isn't a Summon he is a regular boss monster or legendary being.
- Ascended Extra: His largest story role is in Final Fantasy XI, but otherwise he is sometimes associated with Eiko (as one of her default summons and her Mirage partner in World of Final Fantasy).
- Canis Major: He's a giant wolf in most of his appearances, but sometimes he appears close to normal wolf size.
- Casting a Shadow: Rarely, he is classified as this element.
- An Ice Person: In XIV he's not a summon, but he is given ice attacks as a Right-Hand Attack Dog to Lady Iceheart, though this version is explicitly named after a mythological wolf being. He's also an ice elemental Mirage in World of Final Fantasy and a historical Fenrir is associated with an ancient "queen of ice" in Final Fantasy XVI. Torgal is descended from that Fenrir and it turns out he is a being called a frost wolf, which gives him command of ice magic due to his connection with Jill Warrick, the Dominant of Shiva.
- Lunacy: Most often, his powers are derived from the moon and he specializes in magic and Non-Elemental damage. Notably, in Final Fantasy XIII-2 he is a fal'Cie serving as an artificial moon rather than a wolf.
- Noble Wolf: When he has characterization, he is normally this.
- Signature Move: Howling Moon.
Garuda
An avian creature that attacks using the power of the wind. In the single-player entries, Garuda is either male or genderless, and usually serves as either an unimportant boss or a regular enemy. The MMO entries, on the other hand, make use of a female incarnation as a major storyline boss and a summon, and Final Fantasy XV eventually adds her as a summon as well.
- Ascended Extra: Garuda started out as a minor recurring enemy or boss before becoming a summon in XI and returned to that territory in XII and XIII. But with XIV, XV, and XVI consecutively featuring her as a summon, she has become the most prominently featured wind elemental summon in the series, filling a long-vacant position as wind was the last major element to lock down an iconic summon.
- Ax-Crazy: Her Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XVI incarnations are by far the most bloodthirsty and least stable of their respective games' summons.
- Blow You Away: Makes heavy use of wind abilities both as a boss and a summon. In Final Fantasy XI, her abilities are split between offensive and defensive. Her Ax-Crazy incarnation in Final Fantasy XIV is strictly offensive.
- Fallen Angel: Much of the her imagery in Final Fantasy XIV is themed around this, and it's even the name of her theme song. In addition to her angelic appearance, legend has it that she was once a noble protector of birds before she developed a taste for flesh.
- Flunky Boss: In XIV and XVI, she is capable of summoning beings of her own: smaller harpy familiars named Chirada and Suparna, sometimes called her "sisters."
- Giant Flyer: Her less humanoid incarnations are generally enormous birds.
- Harping on About Harpies: She tends to have the appearance of a harpy.
- Red Baron: "The Queen of Storms." or "Lady of the Vortex".
- Signature Move: Aerial Blast.
- Slasher Smile: In XIV and XVI, Garuda often gives a broad, toothy smile as she tries to rip her victims to shreds with her winds.
- Winged Humanoid: In Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy XVI, she has human proportions, but is green with wings, feathers, and long birdlike legs.
Ifrit
A flaming beast with a fiery mane and long horns, it burns enemies with its signature "Inferno", also called "Hellfire".
- Art Evolution: Ifrit is gradually becoming more and more feral. In his debut, Final Fantasy III, Ifrit is a horned humanoid wearing a kilt, while in Final Fantasy X, he is a giant dog / wolf with a flaming mane. By Final Fantasy XIV, he resembles a giant lizard, walks on all fours, and has a tail. Final Fantasy XV's is a throwback to a humanoid form.
- Ascended Extra: While the series has shifted to portraying summons more equally in later entries, Ifrit deserves special mention for how high he climbed. While always decently powerful he has usually been one of the first summons available and hardly important or powerful to warrant much attention. However, in Final Fantasy XV he is one of the last bosses faced (outright the Pre-Final Boss in the original release) and proves powerful enough that taking him down requires intervention from both Bahamut and Shiva. And in Final Fantasy XVI, he is the Eikon of main protagonist Clive, being central to the story and even appearing as part of the logo.
- Big Red Devil: Usually interpreted in various ways depending on the game, but his general aesthetic brings this to mind. His appearances in Final Fantasy XI and the DS versions of Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV particularly emphasize the "devil" aspect of his design.
- Blood Knight: In Final Fantasy XI, leading to the death of his adoptive daughter Falbub at the hands of people he had wronged, his disfigurement, and finally his Redemption Equals Death.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: When he takes part in a battle, typical of fire type entities, he's weak against ice attacks.
- Face Framed in Shadow: His Final Fantasy V incarnation and the only time he's portrayed this way.
- Fauns and Satyrs: In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Final Fantasy Tactics A2, he looks like a satyr wearing a red, horned helmet.
- Fire/Ice Duo: The fire to Shiva's ice. No game has featured one without the othernote , and they are often paired up, be it as a Dual Boss, rivals, or lovers.
- Fire Is Masculine: Ifrit is usually the fire summon in any given game and is generally the most muscular and aggressive summon.
- Hellfire: It's the name of his signature move. The animations for it will also generally try to invoke the trope.
- Horned Humanoid: One thing that generally isn't changed across his incarnations, other than his ability to burn enemies to a crisp. The exception is his incarnation in Final Fantasy XIV, which makes him resemble a gigantic lizard more than a person.
- Lava Magic Is Fire: Often Ifrit's attacks involve lava, such as VIII, X and the DS remake of IV. As there often isn't a ultimate fire spell, Ifrit usually has the buck in portraying high power fire attacks.
- Monstrosity Equals Weakness: Ifrit is the most overtly monstrous of the Fire, Ice, Lightning summon trio and in games where the they have different power levels, Ifrit is usually the weakest of the three.
- Mr. Fanservice: Ifrit is usually just as scantily-clad as Shiva and very muscular, even in his more human-like appearances. The version in Final Fantasy XV is even a horned pretty boy.
- Our Genies Are Different: Ifrit (or efreeti) are a kind of genie allied with fire, as opposed to the better known djinn, which are allied with wind.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: In Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Ifrit takes the form of a bulky, red-furred minotaur with bird legs, making for a notably different design from other Ivalice games.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: In Final Fantasy X, he looks basically like his Final Fantasy VIII incarnation, but with more canine features and more animalistic movements. This design would often be elaborated upon by side games, adding armor or exaggerating his top-heavy build and animalistic features. This design would reappear in Mobius Final Fantasy and variations on the design would appear in Final Fantasy Explorers and World of Final Fantasy.
- Playing with Fire: Usually the fire summon in a given game.
- Red Baron: "Lord of the Inferno."
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: As the god of the Amalj'aa, Final Fantasy XIV's version of Ifrit was a lanky, burning lizard-creature that his worshipers summoned to brainwash captives into new cultists.
- Sexy Dimorphism: Some spin-off games have a female variant of Ifrit called Ifreeta, who typically has a far more human-looking design than any version of Ifrit save for XV's.
- Shout-Out: In the French localization, his Hellfire attack is most often called "Divine Comédie", a reference to Dante's The Divine Comedy.
- Signature Move: Hellfire.
- Stripperiffic: When Ifrit wears anything at all, he usually wears a loincloth with maybe some jewelry or scraps of armor added.
Leviathan
A giant sea serpent that commands the ocean, he drowns enemies using "Tsunami" or "Tidal Wave".
- Characterization Marches On: As far as role in the series goes, in his debut in II, he just served as a dungeon after swallowing the party's ship, but by IV, his role as a powerful summon was established.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: As Wutai's Guardian God.
- Defeat Means Friendship: He almost always has to be defeated before the party obtains his proper permission of his summon.
- Demoted to Extra: Leviathan was one of the most powerful summons in early installments, but became a mid-game summon VII, VIII, and IX, dropping off in prominence almost in sync with Alexander rising. Later entries started reversing this beginning with XI, as the series shifted to portraying summons on a more level playing field with each other.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Averted; despite being associated with water, he isn't weak against electricity like most water-based enemies are.
- Gender Flip: The Leviathans in both Final Fantasy XV and World of Final Fantasy are female.
- Kill Steal: In the tablet quest, Bartz and co. were ambushed by one of the Demons of the Rift. As the party prepared themselves, Leviathan suddenly appeared from behind a waterfall and one-shotted the demon. You are given an option to fight him instead for his summon ability.
- Kraken and Leviathan: Obviously given its name, but Leviathan takes the form of a giant sea beast and represents the element of water among the summons.
- Making a Splash: The most common of the water-elemental summons.
- Multiple Head Case: In XIV's "Shadowbringers", his Eden version is created with two heads.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Second strongest in Final Fantasy IV, where he's the King of Eidolons, and unlike Bahamut, he's actually in a position of authority.
- Red Baron: "Lord of All Waters", "Lord of the Whorl", "Heritor of the Whorl", "The Tidemother."
- Sea Serpents: Leviathan almost always looks like an enormous blue sea serpent. Any details beyond that vary wildly.
- Signature Move: Tidal Wave.
- Stock Ness Monster: Generally depicted as a truly massive sea serpent, although some versions (such as in IV) are capable of shapeshifting.
- Womb Level: His intestines are a dungeon in Final Fantasy II.
- Worthy Opponent: In Final Fantasy XI, he was an ordinary sea monster before his last fight against an old sea dog, Veydal. As Leviathan and Veydal struck each other, Veydal's cowardly first mate tried to claim the victory as his own. Leviathan swam from across the ocean before dying on a beach, Veydal's sword planted in his skull as a proof of his bravery and heroic deed. This also carries on to other Final Fantasy games as well; Leviathan generally is very respectful to the people who had defeated him fair and square.
Odin
A knight riding a horse and armed with a blue sword, he can slay enemies with a single slash using "Zantetsuken".
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The King of Baron in Final Fantasy IV became Odin after he was killed and replaced by Cagnazzo.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Being an instant-death summon, he's fantastic, but his success rate can be fairly miminal, and he's typically dismissed upon failure. A few games circumvent this by giving him a normal attack when summoned against OHKO-resistant enemies and bosses.
- BFS: His Zantetsuken. Notably the only Summon to have a recurring weapon.
- Bifurcated Weapon: In Final Fantasy XIII he wields a spear that can be split into two swords.
- Black Knight: It varies, but usually leans to the former.
- Casting a Shadow: Rarely, in some appearances, he takes the role of the dark-elemental summon if he isn't already Non-Elemental or lightning.
- Cool Horse: Sleipnir, his four/six legged steed.
- Dark Is Evil: Some games tend to have Odin taking on a more malevolent role, named with Final Fantasy IX having him be the Eidolon that is used to destroy Burmecia, Final Fantasy XI having him giving his power to villains who make deals with him, and Final Fantasy XVI having him be the Eikon of Ultima's second-in-command Barnabas Tharmr.
- Dark Is Not Evil: If he's not a malevolent summon, he's this. VIII has him falling in battle to The Dragon Seifer Almasy, while XIII has him as the summon of The Hero, Lightning.
- Deal with the Devil: Deals with him are how several villains in Final Fantasy XI gain their power.
- Double Weapon: In Final Fantasy XIII he uses a double edged spear with swords on either end.
- Flaming Sword: In Crisis Core.
- Hellish Horse: When Odin looks fiercer than normal, his steed usually follows suit.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- In Final Fantasy IV, it is mentioned he was beaten only once before when lightning struck his sword as he rose it in preparation to use Zantetsuken.
- In Final Fantasy VIII, Odin will have his Zantetsuken turned on him by Seifer Almasy, with his sword then being collected by Gilgamesh.
- Final Fantasy XVI sees Clive taking Odin's sword and slashing it with him while Barnabas is in his Eikon form.
- Interspecies Romance: In Final Fantasy VI, with the queen of the ancient castle.
- One-Hit Kill: Zantetsuken does this when it hits.
- Power Glows: The blade often has a blue aura, or is just plain blue.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Often appears as some sort of royal figure, or is found in a ruined castle to imply he used to be.
- Red Baron: "The Dark Divinity."
- Shock and Awe: In XIII he's associated with the lightning element, fittingly enough considering his summoner is Lightning.
- Sharpened to a Single Atom: FFVI translated his move as "Atom Edge", calling this trope to mind.
- Signature Move: Zantetsuken and/or Gungnir Lance.
- Single-Stroke Battle: His signature move usually consists of casting Death on all enemies and has him charge the enemies on his horse and teleport behind them. If successful they'll split in half after a second.
- Sinister Scimitar: Almost always is curved, though how curved depends on each game. This can be straight, like an oversized falchion in XII: Revenant Wings, or a weapon resembling a khopesh in XIV.
- Tears from a Stone: Not him, but his lover in Final Fantasy VI. If you found a secret chamber inside her room, you will see her petrified self crying. Splash Odin's Magicite with said tear, and he will transform into a better Esper, Raiden.
- Time-Limit Boss: Usually, Odin only gives one minute before he uses his Zantetsuken and One-Hit Kill your party.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Gungnir, his (infrequently appearing) other attack if One-Hit Kill Zantetsuken doesn't work.
- Too Long; Didn't Dub: "Zantetsuken" means "iron-cutting sword".
Phoenix
A legendary bird of flame. Summoning it in battle will bathe the battleground in its "Flames of Rebirth", damaging enemies with fire and revitalizing fallen allies.
- Ascended Extra: While it's always been one of the more useful summons in the series for its utility with some minor plot relevance, it was always optional and didn't quite reach the top tier of summons. In XVI it's a part of the main plot and a part of the logo this time. XI and XIV also tend to give Phoenix a larger role, sometimes with power on par with the likes of Bahamut, Alexander, and Odin.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Fittingly for The Phoenix, it is often obtained in an event that features a character or creature dying and you acquiring it in the aftermath. In its first appearance the dragon Hiryu straight up gave it's life as a wyvern to transform into the phoenix, bestowing its newfound power on the party.
- Combat Medic: Phoenix tends to be the only summon that both damages enemies and heals (or at least revives) party members at the same time.
- Feather Motif: Even if Phoenix itself isn't present, the series staple item Phoenix Down is. Phoenix feathers are capable of restoring characters to consciousness. Some games have the more powerful Phoenix Pinion item, which either restores allies to full HP or revives more than one person.
- Giant Flyer: Often at least the size of the human-sized characters.
- Heal It With Fire: Phoenix's flames are able to heal as well as harm.
- The Phoenix: Its name is always just "Phoenix" and it is portrayed as a standard one. Associated with rebirth and fire, Phoenix is capable of healing and doing fire damage, and its down can revive fallen allies even without being summoned.
- Playing with Fire: Its signature move isn't called Flames of Rebirth for nothing.
- Signature Move: Flames of Rebirth, which deals fire damage to all enemies while simultanously reviving all fallen party members.
Ramuh
An ancient wizard armed with a magic staff. Those who arouse his ire will be struck down by his "Judgment Bolt".
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Judgment Bolt is based on the idea.
- Cool Old Guy: If the game explores his personality, he generally is this, as he tends to be one of the nicest summons in the game. For example, IX has him willingly accept becoming Garnet's eidolon after a fairly easy test. XV sees him form a pact with Noctis after a similarly easy test, and he's the easiest to have his summoning requirements trigger in battle compared to the other Astrals.
- Japanese Ranguage: In all likelihood Ramuh is based upon Lahmu from Mesopotamian mythology, but due to the well known linguistical quirk of Japanese was subsequently spelled with an "R" instead of an "L".
- Mr. Exposition: His role in Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IX, where he was telling the story of the War of Magi and a Mythology Gag of Josef's sacrifice respectively.
- Put on a Bus: While most of the original summons (Ifrit, Shiva, Odin, Titan, Leviathan, and Bahamut) tend to come back every game (barring cases like Final Fantasy XII, where none of them do as summons), Ramuh is the one most likely to be replaced - he's completely absent in Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy XII, and only makes a cameo in Final Fantasy XIII. He's also mentioned in Final Fantasy Type-0, but he's a forbidden Eidolon in that game and never appears.
- Red Baron: "Lord of Levin", "The Stormbringer."
- Shock and Awe: Often appears as the lightning summon, but not as often as, say, Ifrit is for fire.
- Signature Move: Judgment Bolt.
- The Mentor: To Garnet in IX, and has shades towards Terra in VI. Fittingly, his Dominant in ''XVI" is that game's incarnation of Cid, Cidolfus Telamon.
- Wizard Classic: Ramuh's appearance always invokes this tropes. A Wizard Beard of varying length, a magic staff always on hand, and flowing clothing, most often robes, to give the image of an otherworldly spellcaster.
Shiva
The alluring Ice Queen, she freezes enemies solid with "Diamond Dust".
- Adrenaline Makeover: She's often depicted as magically-inclined and the epitome of feminine grace. However, Final Fantasy X gave Shiva a more primal appearance and boisterous demeanor. Her hair is done up in dreadlocks, she comes in with a cloak that she dramatically throws off like a wrestler, she unloads a spinning kick as her regular attack, and she punctuates her Overdrive with a cocky Badass Fingersnap.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: She's blue-skinned in all of her appearances.
- Ascended Extra: Narratively speaking, Shiva almost matches Ifrit is how much she's benefited from the series' shift to portraying summons on a more level playing field. As with Ifrit she was originally an early-game summon of little import, but nowadays she utterly curb stomps Ardyn and Ifrit during XV, and in VII Remake it’s revealed that she fought and defeated the planet-eating Greater-Scope Villain Jenova 2,000 years ago.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: She's one of the most conventionally attractive recurring summons, and an iconic Ms. Fanservice for the entire franchise. She's also one of the most reliably helpful and benevolent summons, and even when she's not on your side, she's usually an Anti-Villain or even a Hero Antagonist.
- Cute Monster Girl: She's usually among the most human-looking summons, with blue skin and (often, but not always) Pointy Ears as her only obviously inhuman characteristics.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Like Ifrit's weakness to ice, she's weak against fire.
- Fire/Ice Duo: The ice to Ifrit's fire. No game has featured one without the othernote , and they are often paired up, be it as a Dual Boss, rivals, or lovers.
- Gender-Blender Name: Named after a male god from Hindu mythology.
- An Ice Person: She's the ice summon.
- An Ice Suit: Ice-elemental lady in extremely revealing clothes.
- Lady of Black Magic: Shiva herself generally qualifies, as the cool Ice Queen dressed in revealing outfits and dealing ice damage to enemies.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's always a supernaturally beautiful woman who almost always wears very skimpy outfits, and her summon cutscenes tend to be particularly heavy on the Male Gaze.
- Punny Name: The ice-elemental summon, with a name that sounds like "shiver".
- Red Baron: "Lady of Frost."
- Signature Move: Diamond Dust.
- Stripperific: There's usually little more than ribbons concealing her chest and pelvis. Sometimes she dispenses with even that and simply covers herself up with growths of ice. Tactics Advance, A2 and XVI are the exceptions, wherein she wears full body armor or an elegant dress with a cape in the latter.
- The Tease: In Dissidia, with Firion of all people.
- Tsundere: Though her personality is never explored in depth, Dissidia describes her as standoffish and prone to anger, but very loyal to even novice summoners.
- Undying Loyalty: The backstory behind her ascension in Final Fantasy XI involved a lot of betrayal from her family and friends except for the select few that literally froze to death alongside her.
Siren
A woman of the sea who commands power over song, enticing enemies with her "Silent Voice."
- Blow You Away: Rarely has this element.
- Charm Person: Sometimes, to tie into her siren abilities, she has this ability as a Compelling Voice. More often, though, she uses her ability "Silent Voice" to inflict Silence on enemies, preventing them from using magic.
- Cute Monster Girl: Like Shiva, she has a mostly human appearance.
- Hair Wings: She has these and they help to give her a bit of a harpy appearance, though sometimes they take the form of Mercury's Wings instead.
- Mage Killer: Her primary purpose as an offensive summon, thanks to her ability to inflict Silence.
- Magic Music: Siren's abilities come from her harp, allowing her to silence or charm her enemies.
- Nature Spirit: Particularly in XI.
- Non-Elemental: Her usual element across the series; she isn't known for her high damage capabilities and is more often a support summon.
- Our Sirens Are Different: Her name is Siren, though in a variation she sometimes looks a little more bird-like, giving her a harpy appearance. Perhaps a Pun on her harp?
- Power Nullifier: In all of her appearances she specializes in inflicting Silence on foes, rendering them unable to use magic.
- Signature Attack: Silent Voice.
- Stripperiffic: Often wears less clothing than even Shiva.
- Support Party Member: Almost never does high damage with her attacks, and instead tends to deal Status Effects with her abilities. These range from Silence, to Charm, and sometimes beneficial party buffs.
Sylph
A faerie creature that appears throughout the series, typically as a lower-level summon who provides healing to the party with her ability "Whispering Wind."
- Blow You Away: Occasionally, Whispering Wind (or Whisperwind) deals wind-elemental damage along with healing, and in Revenant Wings they get the Aero spell.
- Healing Hands: Sylph tends to be a healing summon when she appears with her ability "Whispering Wind."
- Life Drain: In the few instances where she has offensive potential, she attacks enemies and restores allies for the amount of damage inflicted.
- Our Fairies Are Different: Typically feminine, small, and almost always benevolent with magical insect wings.
- Out of Focus:
- Sylph has appeared as a summon less often as the series goes on. Even in games where she does appear, she tends to be one of the earlier summons and gets outclassed by other healing summons later on, rending her largely useless.
- In terms of story, her largest role was in her debut, which was Final Fantasy IV. But even then, "Sylph" isn't an individual character and is instead a group of eidolons. Sylphs do have a larger role in XIV again, but here they aren't summons, and instead are a member of a (mostly friendly) beast tribe, and reimagined as Plant People. That said, they do worship Ramuh and a group of them summon him at one point in an attempt to violently protect their home.
- Signature Attack: Whispering Wind.
Titan
A gigas clad in a loincloth and bearing power over the earth, he rips apart fissures to bury enemies in with "Gaia's Wrath".
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Vana'diel always has that Fantastic Racism feel on him, making Titan's story a tragedy on its own. Titan was a Beastman, a collective of races that were viewed as Always Chaotic Evil by the Enlightened Races, even though Titan's race was a peaceful race of nature-loving giants. When he was captured and would be executed by a village of woodcutters, a girl that was treating his wounds tried to support his injured leg. He didn't want to crush the girl under his weight, so he kept his body straight before finally he Died Standing Up.
- Bigger Is Better: In more recent games his size has grown to titanic proportions. In Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XV, and Final Fantasy XVI Titan is the largest being in the setting.
- Dishing Out Dirt: His attack usually does Earth damage to the enemy.
- Earthquakes Cause Fissures: His signature move, regardless of name, usually cracks the ground open.
- Gentle Giant: Often he tends to be depicted as gentle, and at his worst he is usually a Papa Wolf unless someone is using him for nefarious intentions. One notable exception is XVI, where he ends up being the Eikon of The Heavy.
- Nature Spirit: Some games, like XI, tend to depict him this way, usually in the same games where he is depicted as a Gentle Giant.
- Red Baron: "Lord of Crags. Heritor of Crags."
- Sculpted Physique: Titan is oft depicted as being carved from stone.
- Signature Move: His tends to change across appearances. Most often it is Earthen Fury, but occasionally he gets Landslide or Gaia's Wrath instead.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The Red Rubies.
- Weaksauce Weakness: His earth-flipping, ground-shattering bravado means nothing against anything flying or otherwise levitating, which accounts for a good percentage of Final Fantasy enemies.
