WMG / Final Fantasy IV

Wild Mass Guessing for Final Fantasy IV.

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X-ingway is an Eidolon.

He's able to go anywhere, with no indication of how he does it. He is seemingly immune to attack by regular monsters. He talks to Whyt, an Eidolon, and Fat Chocobo, who might be one. Finally, he gives you Augment abilities that are related to Eidolons (????'s Love, related to Whyt; and Safe Travel, an ability normally the province of Chocobos, one of which is an early Eidolon for Rydia). To finish the quest for above, you must fight him, just like Bahamut. Essentially, he is a bridge between the summon realm and the world of Final Fantasy 4. That's why he can't be summoned.

• He has the No Encounters Augment, that's how he goes everywhere. Notice the last time you see him is when he gives the no encounters to you.
  • ...Although you can run into him again in the locations he could have given it to you in after you get it, sometimes even inside dungeons. And he still stays safe without the augment.

The Rabbit Hummingways replaced the Gnome Hummingways through Time Travel

Observe Exhibit #1◊ and Exhibit #2.◊ The Rabbit Hummingways were a species of Time Traveling Cuckoos. They replaced the "Turbaned Gnome" Hummingways; and nobody "remembers" the original.

• Exhibit #3: The so-called Rabbit "Namingway" cannot name people. This was only an ability that the Turban Gnomes had.

Everybody is an orphan/ Only orphans can save the world

Come on:Name the characters in this game, who have parents on screen! And now, count, how many of this parents actually SURVIVE the game.Not many left, hm?

• Palom and Porom's parents are never shown. It seems, like they were raised by the Elder. Probably Death by Childbirth (giving birth to twins is not a piece of cake) combined with their father probably leaving them behind
• Edge's parents are killed, revived and commit suicide.
• Edward's parents are killed.
• Cecil was an Orphan from the start.
• Kain's father did apparently die some time before the game's start, his mom is never mentioned.
• Rydia's mom was indirectly killed by Kain and Cecil, her father probably died some time before that.

Therefor, I declare Final Fantasy IV as the orphaniest-game ever made.

• Even match with Final Fantasy VIII, which also has no less than seven named, important characters who are orphans.

• I'd call into question also whether you're an "orphan" if your parents die when you're in your 20s, as is the case with both Edward and Edge. I can't be arsed to look it up now, but I've a feeling it only really counts as being an "orphan" if you were dependent on the parent(s) up to then.
  • You may not technically be an orphan by legal definition if your parents die when you're in your 20's, but you can still feel like an orphan. Especially if you have no other family or don't get along with the rest of your family. So maybe it's more important that they feel like they have no other family in the world.
• Remember that Rosa's mom didn't die, and her father is either alive and works somewhere, or dead.

Turning yourself into a monster made of evil actually makes you weaker.

Think about it. Back as Zemus, the villain effortlessly shrugged off some of the most powerful moves in the game, being killed by an attack that does 99,999 damage. As evil, he was a tornado, a hairball, and a bug, each time being vulnerable to things like Meteor or Firaga.

• This troper didn't even have Meteor learned before fighting Zeromus.
  • However, this can be justified by the fact that Golbez and Fusoya couldn't even kill Zeromus when both of them used Meteor again. Cecil had to use a Crystal to weaken Zeromus.

The Darkness used by the Dark Knight is not evil

But rather, the use of the equipment and the dark power makes one more susceptible to Zemus's control. Note that, as a Dark Knight, Cecil's MP, Spirit, and Magic Defense are all abysmal. His Spirit stat will never increase past 1. Note also that all of those stats shoot up when he accepts the light given to him by Klu Ya. The Darkness isn't a corruptive force that leads to inevitable evil; it and the tainted equipment (which, might I add, is the only equipment available to Dark Knights and is only available to Dark Knights) combined drop a persons mental defenses to almost nothing, allowing Zemus to take control far more easily. This also gives a possible explanation as to why Cecil is so comfortable with using the Darkness again in Dissidia Final Fantasy; his time as a paladin has bolstered his mind a lot, so he can safely wield the Darkness again.

• The Village of Dark Knights in Final Fantasy III was pretty good.
  • And in the backstory, the world was threatened by the Flood of Light and the four Dark Warriors had to defeat it in order to save the world.
• I'm not sure if this is a WMG or me just not remembering from having played in a long time, but I was thinking that the DS version kind of implied that Cecil was ordered to take up the armor of the Dark Knight by the King, presumably after he'd been replaced by Caignazzo, in order to make him more manipulable mentally. Does this mean the armor was made of IdiotBallium?
  • Considering that you steal the Darkness augment from Odin in the DS version, I'm thinking that the Darkness is still non-evil, but a sword technique that was passed through Odin's heritage, training those who use it to channel their very souls into their blade, hurting themselves, but hurting their enemies even more. The swords and armor used by Dark Knights allows them to utilize the ability easier, but is mentally taxing, having been infused with darkness, to those who are not incredibly strong of will. Take into account that Cecil's true inner strength didn't show until he was a Paladin, and it could all just be that he was still too green and unenlightened when he took up the mantle of the Dark Knight, and was nearly consumed by it.

Leviathan sank the ship specifically to grab Rydia

Rydia appears to be the last summoner, and we've seen a demonstrated link between summoners and the summoned. Leviathan was afraid that, or foresaw that, she was too young to survive the fighting she'd have to endure, and 'ate' her specifically so she could get her Plot-Relevant Age-Up. Stranding Cecil so close to Mysidia as to get Paladin'd was either part of the plan or a happy bonus, and the other casualties were...well, he's the king of the Fey, so he doesn't have to be nice about this sort of thing.

Relatedly, he wants Rydia to rejoin the human world more in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years so that she can have children, and prolong the summoner bloodline.

• This was disputed?

Cecil and Rosa were adopted by Firion and Maria, just as Cain was.

With all the hints that Cain from II is the same guy here grown up, this makes sense.

• Then, what happened to Fynn? There's no sign of the Wild Rose in the entire game. Besides, would people forget the threat of the Emperor in the span of less than a lifetime? That brings out some Nightmare Fuel this way. It's almost like those memories were erased from existence by Zemus.
  • Fynn is Troia, Baron is Palamecia, Mysidia is Mysidia and Eidolons & Elemental Lords reshaped the land after Emperor Mateus brought Hell on Earth, but before Zemus-Golbez's campaign. Emperor Mateus is Lunarian, who decided to, at first, accelerate the development of humans (by conquering other nations and creating a new civilization) to bring Lunarians to the planet faster, and later, after dividing his soul in two halves, kill all humans (as the Dark Emperor) and take over the whole celestial chain (as the Light Emperor). Lunarian origins explain why he didn't just die like a normal human being, transforming into new entity(s) instead (like Zemus->Zeromus; Kluya->The redeeming spirit). After his death the world was in a big mess and Eidolons together with Elemental Lords had to reshape the land and seas. However, under Zemus' corruption, the Elemental Lords also brought new monsters into the reshapen world.
• Jossed Revealed in Dissidia the only two worlds that are connected are Seven and Ten.
  • Hardly. Dissidia (as far as I can see) does nothing to solidify a connection between VII and X. If there was a connection then it would only further prove that other worlds can be connected. I mean if Cloud and Tidus were both summoned for the same place at different time periods it makes it fully possible that Firion and Cecil are both from the same place at different time periods. There's also the whole deal of whether or not Dissidia should be considered canon to the the other games.
    • Dissidia doesn't solidify a thing, but X-2 does, implying that the character Shinra's ancestors will eventually colonize a new world. This was confirmed by Word of God.

Emperor Mateus was brainwashed by Zemus.

He was Zemus' first attempt at getting someone to gather the crystals. Unfortunately, he didn't count on Mateus' thirst for power. Then he heard about KluYa's sons, and decided to try and brainwash one of them, figuring they'd be easier to control being half-Lunarian.

Cid is the same person in both II and IV.

Continuing the chain of II and IV connections... this one is a bit more wild mass guessery. As Cid died in II, he couldn't be the same Cid in IV... but then you consider the fact that Cid /should/ have died in IV on more then one occasion... So perhaps he found a way to cheat death and escape the afterlife? Then he really /did/ die when he fell... and just reentered his broken body again.

• Cid is a cyborg?

Golbez's dual heritage served as an advantage to Zemus.

It is stated that Golbez's Lunarian blood made him more vulnerable to Zemus' control. Thus, it seems the similarity of heritage factors into the effectiveness of mind control. Why couldn't this apply to humans who use mind control? Maybe humans with mind control abilities find it easier to control other humans. So by taking control of Golbez, Zemus would both have someone that he could easily control while enhancing his ability to control humans through Golbez (i.e. Kain).

All the characters in the Tower of Prayers at the end are Dead.

All of them, every one, suffered life-threatening situations that they somehow miraculously "recovered" from and subsequently "reappeared": Cid, Yang, Edward, Palom, Porom, etc. The Troian Clerics could have perished due to prolonged separation from their Earth Crystal, while Giott could have perished in the battle with the Babil Giant. The Master/Elder could be channeling them somehow and sending their spirit's wishes to the Moon...which would explain why Tellah appears to give support in the final battle as well(though doesn't explain why he isn't in the spectral assembly at the Tower of Prayers). Even the Elder himself could have perished by the crushing wall while trying to cure Palom and Porom of their petrification.

• Jossed by Interlude, After Years, and the absence of the Palom and Porom statues in the hallway of doom.

Leviathan is a Chessmaster.

When he sank the ship, he didn't do so just to grab Rydia and everyone else survived by sheer luck. Instead, everyone ended up exactly where he wanted them to, where they needed to be. Cecil ended up near Mysidia, where he could atone for his earlier misdeeds and gain the power of the light. Edward ended up in Troia, where he could be close enough to the Dark Elf for his song to be effective across Whisperweed. Yang ended up amnesiac at Baron, where his strength would let him earn their trust and thus provide a way into the castle.

Leviathan used his control of currents and the seas to make sure they all drifted where they did, because he knew this is where they needed to be, acting either on information from Bahamut or that the waters of the world brought to him. (The crew of the ship, possibly, he just let wash up somewhere safe and we just never see them.)

Dark Bahamut is Tiamat.

As opossed to Dark Bahamut's apperance in Final Fantasy X, this one seems fully independent from the normal one, and is very similar to Tiamat's apperance from Final Fantasy VIII. It's acting as one of the games last bosses, and serving the big bad, also reflects Tiamat's role in Final Fantasy.

Kluya is the literal father of all mages

Or ancestor at least. Lunarians live a long time, and there's nothing stating that Cecilia was his first wife. Several oddities with Mysidia's legend and Mysidia itself work better if one assumes that Kluya has been on the blue planet for more than a few decades. Relatedly...

The Mysidian Legend originally referred to Kluya's plans to arrange a peaceful coexistance between the Lunarians and races of Earth

"One born of a dragon" could have been Kluya himself, or a planned child, as it ended up being. (Kluya himself probably knew both White and Black magic, in order to teach it to others.) "The moon's light eternal" might have also been a reference to Lunarians' long lifespans, in addition to the literal meaning.Unfortunately, this meaning was lost when he was killed and Zemus gained the power to affect his plans. Afterwards, the prophesy was reinterpreted to refer to Cecil going to the moon to stop Zemus' manipulations.

Dark Bahamut and Shinryu are the same dragon.

Both are mighty dragons, who guard the powerfull Ragnarok sword. Both are also Superbosses that dwell in the final area of the game. And Shinryu himself has shown himself in the Dissidia games to be quite malevolent, so he could be another Evil Counterpart to Bahamut.

The Tower of Zot is being levitated by Barbariccia.

The Tower of Zot is an big oddity in this game as it's never really shown or given a location. All we know is that it's really high up as the airships must ascend higher than usual. Barbariccia, the fiend of wind, just so happens to be stationed there. She must be keeping the whole place afloat with her powers. The reason it gets destroyed is because once Barbariccia is killed there's nothing to keep if from falling. Thankfully it must have fallen into the ocean, leaving no remains behind.

Cecilia was a Summoner.

In all honesty, this is little more than a headcanon with only two points of evidence, the first being that Golbez had left Cecil in the middle of the woods where he was found by Odin/King Baron, and so it's not likely that he would have traveled far to do so (Mist being a neighboring village to the kingdom, perhaps even being part of its territory). The second bit is that Golbez has summoning powers of his own; the Elemental Archfiends, as well as the Shadow Dragon, are all at his disposal. About the only other way I can think of that he got such abilities is through some kind of teachings, but that doesn't exactly seem likely, what with the only folks who aren't Summoners of Mist that can call Eidolons being monsters.

Zeromus was Zemus's attempt at creating an Eidolon.

Through the King of Baron, it is shown that people can become Eidolons after death. There's also a few hints (namely Golbez summoning the Shadow Dragon and Bahamut living on the moon) that the Lunarians and Eidolons are connected in some fashion. Finally, Zeromus has a signature attack, Big Bang, much like how each Eidolon has their own signature move.