Tragic Monster / Final Fantasy

• In Final Fantasy IV, Edge's parents are transformed into monsters controlled by one of Rubicante's minions. They eventually recover their minds and commit suicide. Rubicante does express sorrow for this and apologizes to Edge. The minion did this against the orders of Rubicante's, who implies he would have killed the minion for this were he still alive.
• In Crisis Core, Zack has to kill his mentor, Angeal, who actually makes himself monstrous to make it easier for Zack to kill him.
• Final Fantasy X:
  • The whale-like destroyer Sin is the shell around the Final Aeon that defeated it last; in this case, Tidus's father Jecht.
  • The summoner that died under Lulu's protection.
  • Yu Yevon may have been responsible for all the death and destruction for the past 1000 years, but that's probably because his mind died and mutated into something alien and unknowable a long time ago. That... thing that is left of Yu Yevon shows just how much he sacrificed to keep Zanarkand alive.
• In Final Fantasy Adventure, Amanda gets bitten by Medusa and begins turning into a Medusa herself.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy:
  • It's hinted that Sephiroth is one, as Cecil, in a pre-battle quote against Sephiroth, mentions that there's "sorrow in (Sephiroth's) wintery eyes."
  • Kefka also gets this treatment in his final moments. Lamenting the pointlessness of life and how even destruction — his entire reason for being — is senseless.
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles:
  • The player gets the option to become friends with De Nam, a selkie you meet in the Shella. He's a scholar and wishes to find a way for humans to live alongside the miasma, so he heads to the swamp areas of Conall Curach and starts drinking the miasma infested waters. He sends you letters, telling you how his research is going, being overall hopeful about the whole thing. His very last letter is written in a broken manner for you to come to Conall Curach. You can't find him there, but you can run around and beat the monsters as per normal. Eventually you come across a monster who, after you beat it, drops a "Worn Bandanna". Inscribed on the bandanna is De Nam's name. Guess who you just slaughtered?
  • Adding to the De Nam thing, it's heavily implied that the humanoid enemies, such as Skeletons and Sahagins, a fair bit of them are mutated humans, driven insane by miasma and hopelessness. Have fun playing through Tida and Conall Curach now!
• In Final Fantasy Tactics, the protagonist's brother Zalbag is teleported to a place of unknown horror by a Zodiac Demon. He reappears a few battles later and is forced by the Big Bad to fight his brother. Zalbag cannot control his body, but is still self-aware, and begs Ramza to kill him. Wiegraf could also qualify as one, although his status as That One Boss may garner a little less sympathy for him...

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