- Because they both act the same.
- The Joker is a Laughing Mad Straw Nihilist. This frequently takes the form of Breaking the Fourth Wall, Medium Awareness and full enjoyment of Chaos. Who's to say he didn't just travel to the world of Square's latest Final Fantasy game? He also reprises the role in Dissidia, making almost no reference to being in a game as he just sees it as putting on a show, one that results in a LOT of death and destruction and also the only chance he'd ever get to become a Physical God and letting a world become his plaything.
- There is a comic saga called Emperor Joker, in which the Joker cheats Mister Mxyzptlk out of 99.99% of his power and using the power to mostly turn reality into warm taffy. So this does kind of fit.
Let me explain. At the game's halfway point, Kefka manages to achieve every Evil Overlord's dream. He plots to gain ultimate power, and actually gets it. He doesn't just dream about destroying the world, he actually does it! As the Cult of Kefka would say, he succeeded where Sephiroth failed. You are now his slave forever and ever. Kefka won. End of story. Game over.
Only it's not over. Having achieved everything he ever wanted, Kefka has nothing left to do that's worth doing, nothing left to gain that's worth gaining, and nothing even left to destroy that's worth destroying. Everything is pointless, and what's even worse is that there are still people out there that don't realize it! They have nothing left to live for, and they still fight! Kefka doesn't understand this, and that makes him angry. Killing their bodies would be an empty victory; only killing their spirit, killing their hope, and making them feel the same despair that he does would be enough to satisfy him. Hence why he didn't just blow up the Falcon with his all-powerful Light of Judgement despite having plenty of time to do so, or actually let Celes die of despair in Solitary Island, instead he allowed her to live and have a hope spot just for his plan to send her to Room 101 and stamp her face with a boot for ever. What would satisfy the God of Despair himself more than creating Despair Event Horizon right there in the heroes' highest hopes?
However, as the final cutscene makes clear, no matter how much power Kefka has, no matter what Kefka does, the party will never, ever give up their hope. Faced with something that can't be destroyed, Kefka's hatred turns inward; rather than live with the memory of something more powerful than he can ever be, he gives up and commits suicide by allowing the party to kill him.
- Suicide, you say? That is what you could expect from a massively nihilistic Nietzsche Wannabe.
- In this case, Kefka's tactic is just like the Anti-Spiral's: instead of outright obliterating them with divine power before the heroes get to take a level in badass, crush their hopes forever by beating them in their own game. And in both, this tactic will prove to be a Villain Ball.
- There might have been a bit of Taking You with Me, as well. Kefka probably knew that his death would mean the end of all magic (and possibly Terra's life), too. So from his perspective, even though he'd have technically lost, he would be destroying the party's leader and their greatest tool for healing the world, all in one swoop.
- Kefka proclaims that he will create a monument to non-existence. What's more destructive than self-destruction? From his own perspective, he destroyed all life, hope and dreams from the universe by dying.
- That makes a lot of sense; I can easily imagine that Kefka had simply become too damn crazy to fight properly, blowing up random parts of the landscape instead of focusing his power on the people trying to kill him.
- I can completely buy that he would decide to go for broke and do it all at once, rather than pacing himself.
- Alternatively, you had to wait for Shadow on the floating continent because he finished off Kefka's human body, and Kefka's spirit drained the Triad of their powers. What you see at the top of his tower is a physical manifestation of his godlike powers.
- I had a similar theory, 'cept the "Good Old Kefka" gotten eaten by a sand worm named Zone Eater. Knowing how Evil!Kefka would ruin fuck over everything, he donned a cowl and called himself Gogo. I thought of this cause they share almost the same sprite cept the face, and the art for Gogo could easily be Kefka's plus a hood. Fridge Brilliance sets in when you think about how one is an Monster Clown and the other is a Kind Mime...
- I actually saw a fanfiction about this theory!
- Any chance of linking us to said fanfiction?
- I actually saw a fanfiction about this theory!
The bust shot of Kefka that appears during dialog scenes shows him with white makeup on his face and neck. The makeup prevents heat from escaping from his head, so he overheats easily. For example, in Terra's flashback, Kefka is letting Terra handle all of the combat in her training exercise so that he doesn't have to exert himself in the fiery environment. When Kefka and his bodyguards arrive outside of Figaro Castle, Kefka crouches and complains about how hot he is. He flees from combat situations throughout the game because he's overheating from exertion.
At some point in the game, Kefka feels attraction toward Celes. He persuades Emperor Gestahl to forgive her treason (provided that she kills her teammates), allow her back into his inner circle, and arrange a breeding program between himself and Celes because he wants Celes for himself. Kefka completely loses his composure when Celes stabs him on the Floating Continent because he has been betrayed by the woman he desires.
Even after the events atop the Floating Continent, Kefka still harbors feelings for Celes. When Celes wanders into Tzen, the citizens are panicking over an impending Light of Judgment strike, but the strike never comes. Kefka refrains from striking the town when he sees that Celes has arrived there.
Even though Kefka is male, his appearance and mannerisms are feminine. For example, the bust shot of Kefka that appears during dialogue scenes shows him with earrings, makeup, and beads in his hair. Official art and his battle sprite both depict him prancing or striking a feminine pose. However, no one in the game comments on this or finds it unusual.
Kefka belongs to a traditional third-gender category that is specific to Vector, much like the Two-Spirits of many Native American cultures or the hijra of India. Members of the third-gender category historically served in ceremonial and leadership roles, which is why Kefka was chosen to be Emperor Gestahl's lieutenant.
- Essential craziness aside, and assuming Cid is alive, naming a kid Kefka after the World of Ruin would probably be like naming a kid Adolf after WWII. Times ten. You can't really Anakin Skywalker/Solo it, since the name was straight-up the one he used while he was a cackling god of unspeakable horror. Also, that really makes the emperor's 'I want you and Celes to have magi-babies' speech even worse...
- The theory presumes that no one really knew where Kefka originally came from, except that he came through the Void. And yes, Kefka+Celes magi-babies is Squicky, whether or not they were already related. That wasn't lost on me. And though Corrupted!Kefka was horrible, the fact that he became evil only after a Magitek accident makes him more of a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
- So Shadow tried to make amends by finishing Kefka/Baram off on the floating continent? Interesting theory.
- That... is disturbingly plausible.
- I have to admit, I don't favor this theory and even I have to say it's surprisingly plausible. Good job.
- This opens up a new perspective on everything Kefka does after the cataclysm. He does virtually nothing for that year but sit up in his tower, draining all of the magic from the Warring Triad. There's no reason why he lets life continue in the world of ruin, but Wrexsoul would need living bodies from which to farm despair. Assuming Cyan rejoins the party and faces Wrexsoul at Doma castle, that only leaves a used up, godlike Kefka by the endgame. Without Wrexsoul feeding from his own troubled past, Kefka decides to erase all existence in an extreme, opposite reaction to Wrexsoul's initial plot.
- Jossed. It is now 4/14/13 and there is no sign of any psycho clown.
- Hey, that's boring! You can stick this WMG literally anywhere and claim anything is someone's Dying Dream.
- ...Conceded.
- Obviously people draw the line at different points, but to be fair to the idea itself, there are some moments in the game that could believably lead to a Dying Dream; Terra's fall while escaping from the Narshe guards, the airship crashing near Maranda, the end of the world, Celes's suicide attempt potentially working. Heck, given how out there Sabin's scenario can be at times, it wouldn't surprise me if he drowned after falling from the raft or went splat after leaping off Baren Falls and everything afterward is a Dying LSD Dream. (Not that I believe any of these are the case to begin with.)
- Probably not. The reason why she's confused by Edgar's flirting is because she's just had the Slave Crown removed by Arvis. In the Japanese translation (not sure about the GBA because I haven't played in a while) Arvis says that the Crown dampens her emotions. In other words, it dulls any fear, empathy, or love that she might have otherwise felt while wearing it. Also, she's just escaped from the Empire: the only non-grunts she might have ran across were Gestahl, Kefka, Leo, and Cid. YMMV regarding Locke and the Les Yay with Celes; I saw waaay more tension with Leo, to be honest.
- Also, fan speculation is that Terra's Esper heritage made it hard for her to feel emotions like love. Example of this is when she asks Celes, the only other magic user she knows at the time "Can you love?" Not "have you?", but "can you?" She honestly wants to know if it has something to do with magic.
- Yeah I kinda doubt that theory is true. For one no actual woman would have found Edgar charming and the whole thing with Celes, as explained above makes sense in context.
- I agree, except I think she only got green hair after she transformed for the first time.
- Except the game still depicts her with green hair in the ending, after magic disappears. Dissidia depicts her both ways, with blonde hair as the default appearance, and she still has her magic there.
- Of course, FFVI's character sprites don't change appearance based on equipment, are the same size as towns on the world map, and use the same image for kneeling when wounded as for sitting on the toilet. It's an open question how much representational fidelity the graphics are meant to convey.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin
- She'd only have half of her mother's DNA. Even if that half was duplicated to "fill in the blanks", that wouldn't make her genetically identical to her mother, since the duplicate genes wouldn't all be the same alleles as the ones she didn't inherit.
- An Esper Did It. Well technically, A Human And An Esper Did It. Honestly though, this isn't the worst idea, but I think that Espers would have to have a physical portion including DNA — at least that can interact tangibly with non-magical DNA. See my WMG entry "The Magi are Half Human Hybrids." further up. This entry though (not the other one I just mentioned) raises some interesting concepts, which I might address in a future WMG entry.
- If you beat the Advance version, what happens? Beautiful ending sequence, in which the threat is extinguished and the world regains its lost vitality. The victorious friends zoom off into the sky. Fade to black. What happens next? Dumped right back outside Kefka's Tower, the party comes to, complete with all the weapons, items and experience you found within the tower, even items stolen from the final boss, so that even though they know they killed Kefka and saved the world, it doesn't matter. The world is still crapsack and Kefka will still be at the top of the tower to rule as God. Even if you repeat the process forever.
- Out of my head, boy!
- Strangely enough, she does have a secret teleport spell she doesn't tell people about: When Kefka catches up with the party under the magitek factory, she teleports away with him. Needless to say, she doesn't have this power when she's under your control, so she must be keeping it secret for some reason.
- So. . . Celes took Kefka to the opera?
Is Kouji Tsujitani a.k.a Miroku.Celes' voice actor is also Sango. Not to mention that Tsujitani also have to deal with Star-Crossed Lovers, as Mobile Suit Gundam can attest.
Another one could be Yuji Ueda a.k.a Akito Tenkawa from Nadesico. Celes is also Yurika.
- I second that theory, mainly cause he interpreted the dreams as Baram wanting Clyde to live. He took the name Shadow to hide from whoever was after him in that scene.
- I (this entry's author) always assumed that Clyde and Baram's heist was from Doma. But Doma's toast now. Though now I wonder — if Doma gave rise to the Returners (as the script seems to suggest), could the stolen money have been from the Returners' treasury? Maybe that's why Shadow says he's worn out his welcome and leaves if you try to take him to Narshe during the World of Balance (the second time you pick him up, from Kohlingen). Does anyone else have any particular other theory why Shadow was avoiding Narshe?
The third Memento Ring is stolen from Wrexsoul, in which case it could conceivably be taken to either belong to Cyan or his wife, given where Wrexsoul appears. Though if so, this does beg the question of why Cyan can't equip the Memento Ring.
- Alternatively, you fight Wrexsoul in a dream realm, and during so you battle through not just the Phantom Train, but also the caves of Narshe in Magitek, which story-wise, Cyan didn't go through(I might be wrong though). So while the dream area is mainly composed of Cyan's memories, they are most likely also formed in small part from the memories of the rest of the team that's there with him. This, along with Wrexsoul being a demon that feeds on negative emotions, depending on whether or not you have Shadow in the party would mean that the third Memento Ring is not what is but what could have been - it would have been Baram's ring.
- Wow. Relm's certainly got her father's pants.
- "Bodybuilder? I'll take that as a compliment." Yeah, he's gay.
- I played a bit of the fan-translation hack of Final Fantasy VI and I am pretty sure Terra called Sabin a Bear.
- That was also in the more literal GBA translation. Plus, bears are a subculture of gay men.
- Go and watch the "Licentious Howler" scene in the GBA version. Sabin writes off his suppressed sex drive as a perk of his years of ascetic training. So yeah, it's 'cause he's a monk.
- It should be noted that Sabin trained in the mountains with two other men (and perhaps more unnamed ones as well). Aesthetic means the study of beauty in nature/art/taste. It only stands to reason that when he says, 'Aesthetic training in the mountains' that Sabin is referring to the other men. To him, they may be beautiful, thus, the statement that would be allowed to slip past game ratings and the undiscerning eye unnoticed.
- Psst, psst... Sabin said "ascetic," not "aesthetic." Completely different words, completely different meanings.
- That said, it was very common in less accepting times for sexual minorities to join religious orders in an effort to supress their desires.
- I played a bit of the fan-translation hack of Final Fantasy VI and I am pretty sure Terra called Sabin a Bear.
- While I think it's unlikely that this would be true even though the game DOESN'T handle it like it does everything else (suicide, teen pregnancy, etc.), it might be worth mentioning that when visiting Duncan's house before Mt. Koltz, Edgar recognizes Sabin's favorite flowers, tea, and china set. Might just be a case of Real Men Wear Pink, though.
- Is there a reason that a heterosexual man can't be involved in wardrobe advice or have a favorite tea? Is there a reason a gay man *should* somehow be more so? Beyond unfair sexual stereotypes nothing listed is particularly more common in homosexual men then heterosexual men.
- Well the cutscene following the death of General Leo * did* have Edgar explaining that he and the others were tipped off to the Emperor's deception by a barmaid that he had gotten friendly with.
- ...At which point he loudly insists that he was a perfect gentleman. Maybe he keeps making a fuss over his sex drive to hide the fact that he's asexual.
- In the GBA translation, he also tells Relm to wait a eight years until she's legal, and then he'll get back to her.
- On medieval times?
- High Fantasy is pretty timeless. Besides, the setting seems more reminiscent of a cross between Italy (Figaro), Feudal Japan (Doma, yet it's mixed with Cyan's olde englishe), Darkest Africa (the Veldt, it even comes with African folk music, but thankfully avoiding that trope's more Unfortunate Implications), Urban Segregation (Jidoor vs. Zozo with surprisingly sturdy-looking skyscrapers), Steampunk (practically everywhere but especially Figaro, Vector and Narshe) and The Gay '90s (household technology), with lots of Schizo Tech to go around (Come on, the Empire has mecha and genetic engineering (Celes' implied origin) yet they still use carrier pigeons? Well if one has Magitek he can easily build an Internet for starters). Overall, the world feels less Middle Ages and more post-Renaissance, with sprinkled pieces of pure Anachronism Stew and that make the setting difficult to pin to any real world time period. Basically, the story can get away with anything it pleases, including certain modern-style laws like age of consent.
- He actually says "Here's hoping you're still around in eight years, kid." I think the dialogue was supposed to be suggesting that that Relm was hitting on him...
- That's not really what he says in the original version either. In the Japanese version is it's more like: "That's just criminal...... Don't even think of it." Because of what such a line implicates, none of the official translation and almost none of the fan re-translations will translate that line cleanly.
- On medieval times?
- Okay, granted, WMG is fun, but what's the point of this? Nobody ever says that Edgar doesn't look like the rest of his family, or that he looks like Cyan. Sure, Sabin is said to look like his father, but hey, I look more like my father than my brother does. He probably just takes after his mother or something.
- I always had my suspisions about old Adlai...
- Personally, I've always liked the Gogo is Banon theory, as its never explained what happens to him...
- I'm more partial to a recent theory that says that Go Go is the old leader of the bandits from Figaro jail. Not only does it make sense, but the person who made the theory even has in-game proof to back up his claim.
- Hold on a tic... that makes a lot of sense. Didn't the bandits say their leader was eaten by a sandworm? Well, what is Zone Eater?
- One theory I have is that Gogo is an amnesiac Gilgamesh in disguise. Why Gilgamesh? The outfit worn by Gogo is roughly like what Gilgamesh would wear fully covered up; Gilga's penchant for carrying multiple weapons of past (and future) Final Fantasy games' Heroes lends credit to the additional theory that he actually can use all these various different weapons, and can Mime other attacks, but chooses to focus on Weapons instead of everything on the table (Which neatly ties into why he took over for Odin in Final Fantasy VIII as the Guardian Force and was able to do the same job and attacks). Plus, he regularly travels between Dimensions (Showing up in IV, V, VIII, IX, XII canonically). Why is he Amnesiac? Dimension travelling probably took a toll on him after a while, or maybe he just hit his head. So, given his Amnesia, Gilgamesh took on the name Gogo, and now Mimics everything instead of just Weapons skills.
- How do you know the chronological order of the games if they're in different Dimensions? What's to say this isn't the end of Gilgamesh's story and he never remembered how to leave?
- This has been jossed in the GBA release: Gilgamesh is an esper.
- Exactly when does Gilgamesh appear in FFIV canonically?
- I'm of the opinion that it is the very same Gogo from FFV. After he Banished himself, he was thrown across the dimensional rift, and ended up in the FFVI dimension... where he was promptly eaten by Zone Eater.
- Given that's apparently what happened to Gilgamesh, it's as good a theory as any.
- Fridge Brilliance: Gogo was refining his art to the next level, and Mimiced Gilgamesh's crossover.
- Though I like the leader of the bandits as Gogo theory now, when I played through it the first time, I couldn't get it out of my head that Gogo was Baram, Shadow's old partner. Mostly because we never actually saw him die...
- 'Cause the empire probably got him. I say Gogo is the one from V, but also became the thief leader (the thieves tried to mimic him thieving), then he got eaten. Why was he thieving? Maybe he saw Locke from afar and tried to mimic him.
- I'm more partial to a recent theory that says that Go Go is the old leader of the bandits from Figaro jail. Not only does it make sense, but the person who made the theory even has in-game proof to back up his claim.
- I am a diehard Adlai Stevenson theorist, even though some of the evidence in favor was bogus. No reason why he couldn't also be the Gogo from FFV.
- Gogo isn't Daryl. Gogo is Clyde, and Shadow is Setzer's old flame. Interceptor just happens to like all little painter girls he meets.
- An aside: the Memento Ring item, which is full of "memories of [Relm's] departed mother," can only be equipped by Shadow, Relm... and Gogo. Make of that what you will.
- Actually, I tried that for the SNES, and it didn't let Gogo equip the memento ring.
- Gogo is Mario. You get him by going through a Zone Eater (WARP ZONE PIPE). Then you face enemies dressed in green suits (LUIGI). To get past them you have to jump from platform to platform. If you're hit you fall off the screen with your hands up and a look of extreme surprise (SUPER MARIO BROS). Then you have to move through an area with a falling ceiling, finding the holes in the ceiling to survive (SUPER MARIO BROS 3 SUBCASTLES). Items you receive while in this area include a red jacket (obvious), a fake mustache (obvious), a magical brush (MARIO PAINT), a cape (SUPER MARIO WORLD), and a tack STAR (obvious). The clincher? The Mario Theme's official name is "GO GO MARIO".
- On top of that, as far as I know, Mario has ALWAYS been a jack-of-all-trades, ideal for being a mimic. And I've always wondered why the item is called "Fake Mustache." It goes deeper. Gogo's only viable weapons are flails and rods, which are the closest FF6 gets to hammers, Mario's signature weapon. Not saying I believe the theory, but still.
Think about it, we get no backstory for Banon, none at all. And he and Duncan share the same sprite, Duncan just has a different color palette. Sure, you could chalk it up to being lazy, but remember that when Edgar was using the alias Gerad, he used the same sprite as normal with a different color palette. So why not pull the same trick with Duncan and Banon, use the same sprite but different palettes to hint they're the same guy? Furthermore, with how many other important characters in the game (Madeline, Lola, Cyan's family, Gungho) use generic sprites, and how many NPCs of minor importance get unique sprites (Katarin, Arvis, Darill, Rachel), why would the developers reuse Banon's sprite for Duncan? Why not give him a unique sprite or a generic sprite? No other character reuses a party member's sprite like this. It really only makes sense if one presumes there's something to this.
If they were the same person, then Duncan would easily be found by the Empire as a famous martial arts master. So he makes up an alias, and whenever the Returners refer to their leader, they use his alias "Banon" to keep his identity secret. When Vargas "killed" Duncan, he took the chance to drop out of sight and devote his full energy to the Returners - remember that the timeframe when Vargas killed Duncan more or less lines up with Locke rescuing Terra, so if we assume he sent word to Banon of this young woman who could use magic, it makes sense Duncan would use the "death" excuse to vanish and take on the Banon persona full-time. This is why Banon vanishes in Vector when the Floating Continent rises, he's going back to hide under the Duncan persona again. This is also why, despite the fact he's supposedly alive the whole time, we never see Duncan in the World of Balance - because we do see him, as Banon. This would also explain Banon's Pray/Health ability which seems to be magic; Duncan would naturally have the ability to harness the same type of energy that powers Sabin's Blitzes.
- But then why doesn't Sabin say anything?
- Simple - he knew, he was in on it. Being that Terra never knew who Duncan was it would make no sense to point it out to her. The people who ought to have been told Duncan was Banon knew, and the people who didn't need to know weren't told. Even Duncan's wife mentioning he's dead fits in with the idea, she either didn't know about his double life or did know and lied to people to keep up the charade.
- That's actually not a bad theory. When you meet Duncan in the World of Ruin, he doesn't say a word about Vargas, even though that was a far more obvious reason for him to be dead than the End of the World as We Know It.
- That also explains something that has always bugged me a bit, why Sabin was immediately accepted as part of the returners. Locke and Edgar had already been shown to be members, Terra being recruited is part of the story but Sabin just seems to be along for the ride for no real reason. If he was already secretly a member already then there would be no reason to try and recruit him.
- Sabin is probably along for the ride because he's a capable fighter, and Edgar's brother.
- That, or the fact that Sabin was the most distraught when his father died, poisoned by the Empire, so he'd probably be part of the Returners anyway if he knew about them. Assuming Duncan is Banon, if Sabin ever told Duncan why he ran away, then Duncan might recruit him into the Returners and make sure he knew about the Banon alias.
- This theory has a tangential yet interesting implication: Was Vargas really Duncan's son? An argument against this would be that Banon betrays no hint that his son just died; shouldn't he be in grief? Yes, but neither do his parents. You can speak to both his mother throughout the game and his father later in it, and neither of them have a single word to say about the death (or even the existence) of their child. The only way I can see to explain that are that Vargus, being an uncontrollably antagonistic psychopath who kills (or claims to kill) his own father over a snub, without any display of remorse or guilt, was so awful a person that even his own parents wouldn't acknowledge him (perhaps politely expressed by his father in the form of shunning Vargas in favor of Sabin). Which *whew* would explain why Banon expresses no reaction about the death of 'Duncan's' son. Maybe he even feels relief inside. Or, 2: There's some stupidly convoluted scenario involving Duncan lying to Vargas about being his father. I prefer the first idea.
- Simple - he knew, he was in on it. Being that Terra never knew who Duncan was it would make no sense to point it out to her. The people who ought to have been told Duncan was Banon knew, and the people who didn't need to know weren't told. Even Duncan's wife mentioning he's dead fits in with the idea, she either didn't know about his double life or did know and lied to people to keep up the charade.
- Sigfried is first encountered on the phantom train... with Baram being a dead train robber.
- Sigfried and Baram are similar in personality, both being very excitable and craving attention.
- Baram and Clyde parallel each other by hiding their true identities.
- Baram and Clyde both become notorious in their own right.
- Shadow refuses to jump from Barren Falls with Sabin and Cyan.
- Ultros (who acknowledges Sigfried as a great) also has a partner in crime (who, incidentally, also has a knack for distancing himself from others).
- Sigfried and Shadow both end up in the Colosseum.
- The times when Terra's power wells up are all times she's experiencing a personal breakthrough; when she confronts Valigarmanda for the first time, when she meets other Espers herself for the first time, and when she's fighting to protect the children of Mobliz.
- The Espers are said to have lost control of their powers in the human world when they learned the Empire had killed their friends and they flew into a rage. When you find them later, they've calmed down and regained control.
- Note that, while the characters speculate that Espers in the human world just can't control their powers because of some aspect of their realm that keeps their powers in check, that doesn't hold up to analysis: outside the mentioned instances, Terra never shows trouble controlling her powers, nor do any other Espers in the human world. Clearly something else is at play here.
- The Espers met are usually very calm and stoic, and are easily defeated shortly thereafter; they don't use their full power because they lack the moderation to let their emotional control slip even a little.
- Terra's powers are weakened when she's struggling to come to terms with her feelings for the children of Mobliz; as told above, her power returns in full when she resolves to protect them.
All in all, it seems that an Esper has to retain their emotional control to have control over their magic, as well. Loss of emotional control equals loss of your control over your powers. Emotional turmoil and angst means fluctuating power levels.
The argument against this is Kefka, who just grows stronger and stronger as he grows more and more insane and seems to have no trouble controlling his powers. However, much like The Joker he is often compared to, perhaps Kefka has a sort of "super sanity" where he's just so crazy and erratic that he retains full control of his powers in spite of or perhaps because of his insanity.
- Another thing many forget, is that the Espers where created by the energies of the Warring Triad changing animals and other things into powerful beings, they then began warring with each other under the guidance of the Triad. After the Triad became sealed, the espers no longer had a reason to fight. My theory is that Crusader wished to continue to fight, in fact if you noticed there are three of them that could easily be analogs for the Triad themselves. They could of been the champions of each faction who refuse to stop fighting, and were so powerful they wiped out those around them like their Gods. Thus the sealing.
- Crusader's Japanese name is Jihad. Oh, and there's Meltdown, the spell that only Crusader teaches...
It isn't that the operation was imperfect in Kefka's case, it's just that the Esper's personality affects the subject's. Therefore, Celes' decision to turn against the empire was fueled by a conscience given by her operation just like how Kefka's decision to destroy the world was fueled by madness gained from his.
- They actually said that he was driven mad by the infusion/operation due to the unperfected methods as he volunteered immediately after hearing about it.
- I know. That's why it's a WMG: I want to offer an alternate viewpoint to the canon.
- That makes a lot of sense.
- Celes was infused (at least in part) by the Esper Siren. This explains how she can match Maria's operatic singing.
- A deep-sea creature became Leviathan.
- A cactus in a small desert near Maranda became Gigantaur, Who then spawns smaller Cactaur.
- An Imperial soldier will a lesser rank became was turned into an esper. His name was still originally Gilgamesh, but he is an alternate version of of Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy V.
The Espers you find during the World Of Balance section of the game not only teach you rather weak magic, but also often look rather unspectacular and small (Siren and Ramuh are looking completely human, Cait Sith is a black cat in boots).In contrast to that the Espers you find in the World of Ruin are gigantic, powerful monsters and sometimes downright bizarre (Bahamut, Alexander, Phoenix, Ragnarok who is a sentient sword!)
That has the simple explanation that all the Espers you find in the World of Balance come from the single (and very recent) raid on the Esper World when Terra was a baby (for the sake of this WMG, Serraphim, Golem and Zone Seeker are also from this batch, but were drained by the Empire already and were dumped into the sewers like Ifrit and Shiva, where they died and were found by thieves/scavengers) Thus they are from a very late generation in the history of the Espers at which point the magic that had been infused into the first Espers by the Goddesses would have already been weakened to a very low level also causing less magical mutation/deformities in newly born Espers (less powerful spells, more human-like appearance)The Espers you find in the World of Ruin, however, all hark from earlier times, possibly the War of the Magi or earlier and show the Espers before their power had vanned over the generations. Their magicite had lain buried below the earth for generations and was unearthed by the turmoils during the Apocalypse. Thus their larger power and generally more bizarre/spectacular appearance.
Following this the Espers, had they not been exterminated by Kefka, would eventually have dwindled in power until they had become humans like those in Thamasa again and could have lived among humankind again.
- If you're going to start moralising about killing monsters, that imp you condemned to a horrible, frothing disease death by testing out Bio on him has a civil lawsuit for you. Heck, in Chrono Trigger you kill a LOT of enemies who'd likely leave you alone otherwise.
- It's mainly just the fact that Kaiser goes all What the Hell, Hero? on you that gets me thinking about the Dragons.
Terra, being half-esper/half-human, is sterile simply by being a hybrid, much like a mule. She also copes by insisting she cannot feel love. This slowly grows into her becoming a motherly figure to the orphaned children at Mobliz, til Duane and Katarin have their own child and assure her they can take care of the kids.
Kefka, on the other hand, does not take this as well. He copes by being a complete sociopath, hiding his misery with a facade of insanity and glee in causing pain. He kills others without mercy or honor, when he becomes a God-like being he does his best to leave children parent-less. Whereas the first two hid from their problem, Kefka embraces it as an excuse to hurt and kill.
To contrast, Relm and Strago are both Magic-users, and Strago obviously had kids who eventually had Relm.
- The fact that Terra and Celes don't have children doesn't mean they are sterile, and there is actually no logical reason to they they are. They are both 18 years old, so unless they wanted to be in "16 and pregnant" its obvious they don't have children. I got the age from the Final Fantasy wiki which DOES need citations and official info, so unless it's been wrong for several years, then that's their age (I think it was from a manual book or something).
- Unfortunately, the game contradicts this theory: Relm is Shadow's daughter and he is not related to Strago. There is no mention of Strago ever having kids of his own that I'm aware of.
- Strago could be Relm's maternal grandfather though (i.e. her mom was Strago's daughter.) The magic has to come from somewhere, and several people outright tell you that the reason people can do magic there is because of heredity.
- Yes, but a random woman in Thamasa tells you a secret - that Relm isn't actually Strago's granddaughter, but the granddaughter of a friend.
- BUT what a random woman in town tells you doesn't mean that a whole town full of magic users (a town founded after the war ended ONE THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE THE GAME) can't have children. They obviously can and no theory that says "What if they are immortal?" fits because Strago tells you very clear that the power of magic is WEAKENING in their blood with each generation, that's why Stragon can only naturally use Lores and Relm can only paint, because the magic is weaker. So it's obvious that the magic-using people of Thamasa can have children.
- Strago could be Relm's maternal grandfather though (i.e. her mom was Strago's daughter.) The magic has to come from somewhere, and several people outright tell you that the reason people can do magic there is because of heredity.
- Not having kids in-game doesn't exactly say much about whether the characters are sterile. We only ever see the birth of two people in game (Terra and Duane and Katarin's kid) and only three of the playable characters are parents (provided again that you buy that Strago really is Relm's grandfather.) It's not like the aforementioned characters are repeatedly getting it on with someone offscreen. The "Terra's a genetic hybrid and therefore sterile" argument makes sense though.
- Doesn't work the original Japanese (or at least the fan translation I read) has Emperor Gestahl say this on the Floating Continent: "My Celes. Come to my side. You alone are different. You and Kefka are to leave behind magical children that will sustain the Supreme Gestahl Empire!" It is likely that he would know.
- He wants them to make magibabies in the Advance script as well. That pretty much shoots this theory down, honestly.
- Does he want them to make magibabies separately, or rather does he...?
- Terra's a mule, and Celes and Kefka were artificially infused. The technique may not be completely understood, ergo, sterility is an unforseen side-effect. On the other hand, the people of Thamasa are natural born mages, albeit ones that are, at this point, highly diluted by non-magi bloodlines.
- Chalk that one up to the original War of the Magi. The world before that might well have been one prosperous continent that was subsequently split apart and reduced to a barren wasteland.
- (Fridge Brilliance moment...) I hadn't actually thought of the drift being that recent, but it makes perfect sense. That opens awesome possibilities for the layout of the pre-Magi world map.
- I believe one of the townspeople says flat-out that Narshe is kept warm by geothermal devices.
Expanding on the idea, some of the genes they were modified with were actually Terra's, as Terra, being a hybrid, provided the perfect example of a body capable of handling the Espers' magic.
Maybe Daryl was even part of the same project, before she made her own escape - it would explain why Setzer developed such a fast and hard fixation on Maria and Celes, and seemed rather fond of Terra, too. Though that could also just be Setzer.
It's just trapped in Development Hell. Everyone has idea's about it, and surely Square realizes it's one of (apart from VII) their most well-loved game. So why not?
Okay, first things first. It will be set eight-yrs-later, after the Party defeats Kefka (the eight years is mostly owning to Edgar's comment about Relm). It will start (and possibly stay) in Terra's POV. The world is being un-Crapsacked. Terra awakens in Mobliz one day, and has to save Duain and Katherine's child. However something weird happens in the battle. She can cast Fire! How? The Triad has been destroyed? Who knows where the other Espers have gone? And so, with Celes (the only other part of the main party that could use magic...until you get Strago) and the others, the Player sets out to find out why Magic has returned...
C'mon, Squeenix, give us a good sequel! (I'd like it to be for the PS3 or the Wii).
- Nope! My prediction: it'll be for the PSP and won't get an export. And the graphics will be like FFVII's out-of-battle characters.
Considering Espers only turn into Magicite upon death...
- Unless he's only BEHAVING like an Esper (he turned into Magicite for gameplay reasons, but not in the universe) and he's really just hanging around in the wings (maybe even on the ship and unseen for the earlier reasons), until the moment he's needed, attacks, then goes back to chilling. Or a less funny but more realistic theory could be that he leaves the VI universe at the right time and its rules no longer apply to him. Or something.
- His Magicite is really a FAKE Magicite and what it really does is act like magic Void-spanning radio.
- When you consider that in Duodecim, when Gilgamesh enters the Dissidia world, he is bound by the rules of the cycle, means that he probably had to obey the rules of the FF6 universe. When magic was gone, he reverted to normal, and left for the world of FF8.
- Which is not unlikely if Gilgamesh has to abide the current universe's laws, considering 1), how similar the FFVI Esper's creation is to how l'Cie are made in the Fabula Nova Crystallis games, meaning the Warring Triad are not so so much gods but the FFVI equivalent of fal'Cie, pretending to be actual gods for unknown purposes, 2) Type-0 gives us a formerly human Gilgamesh turned l'Cie, and 3) the possibility that with slightly tweaked rules l'Cie become Espers/Eidolons themselves in this world instead of being granted one as a separate entity and Crystal Stasis being somewhat different as well.
The first Returners were originally part of Maranda's military, and when their country was taken over by the Empire they fled to their ally, Doma. This first group managed to pool together refugees from Albrook and Tzen, and find supporters in other nations as well. The name obviously means that they shall "return" to their homeland and defeat the Empire. This is why Doma "gave rise to the Returners" because it gave the exiles a place to lick their wounds and gather strength, and why Cyan specifically points out that Celes lead the attack against Maranda. The base in the Sabil Mountains was meant as a secret fallback position, but it was found out when agents of the Empire tracked Terra, Edgar, Locke, and Sabin there.
After recruiting Strago and Relm, Terra and Locke find the Espers in the cave with the golden statues west of Thamasa. The Espers slowly close in, the screen fades to black... and then fades in on the exact same scene but with the characters standing in slightly different positions. What gives? The Espers killed them, is what. Everything that follows is some kind of purgatory or nightmare scenario. How else could Kefka, whose ass you've been handing to him throughout the World of Balance, suddenly be able to take on dozens of Espers single-handedly? Level grinding? Don't make me laugh.
- ...Is actually the background noise. Girders being slammed and bolted into position, and beeping computers.
The game says that Wrexsoul is a spirit formed from the vengeful souls of warriors slain in war. Naturally, there's the war with the Empire going on now, so it makes sense to make the connection that Wrexsoul is formed from those killed in the Imperial war.
However, take it a step further. Remember Sabin's scenario, aboard the Phantom Train? What do they do to escape the ghosts at once point? They detach the rear cars, causing them to stop on the tracks. If the Phantom Train is to pick up the souls of the dead and carry them to the afterlife, the obvious implication is that if you don't board the train, you don't go to the afterlife. Those evil ghosts left behind in the rear cars are stranded in the world of the living forever. What happened? Fueled by hate and vengeance, they combine into Wrexsoul.
And the killer point of it - Cyan was in the party when it happened, the Phantom Train runs near Doma, and it could be presumed at least some of the ghosts are Imperials or Doma soldiers killed in the siege prior to the final boarding seen later. Where does Wrexsoul attack Cyan? Doma Castle.