History Characters / FinalFantasyIX

* CannotSpitItOut: His ''true'' feelings, that is. He flirts with Dagger the entire game, but by the time he's actually in love with her, he can't bring himself to actually say it.

* OverprotectiveDad: Even though he's not actually Dagger's father, he still acts like the comedic version of this trope in regards to her.
* PapaWolf: Used comedically in regards to Dagger in the first two disks. It's played much more seriously in Disk 3 when he teams up with Beatrix.

A six-year old girl who lives in the ruins of the village of Madain Sari with a group of moogles. She is apparently the last human survivor of the village, with no one but the moogles for company since her grandfather died. She is forced to steal food from the dwarven village of Conde Petie to survive, and otherwise lives a lonely existence with her moogle friends. When Zidane and company pass through Conde Petie while searching for Kuja, they meet Eiko, who joins them on their quest. She develops a major crush on Zidane, and sees herself as Dagger's rival for his affections. Spunky and outgoing, Eiko is actually pretty lonely and is eager to make new friends, which leads her to join Zidane's party permanently.

* CompetenceZone: Eiko is far more capable than a six-year-old has any right to be. She organizes a band of moogles, regularly raids food from a nearby village, regularly escapes from savage monsters on her own, is familiar enough with classic literature to quote it, is extremely versed in summoner history, customs and lore, is disciplined enough to maintain a daily religious ritual, is a damned good summoner in her own right. And if she's one of the party members that stays behind in the Desert Palace during ThatOneLevel, she instantly takes control and leads them out of danger. Even more improbable, she's actually surprisingly knowledgeable about romance. Her attempts to woo Zidane include cooking him dinner, quoting literature, writing poetry, showing interest in his life, attempting to rescue him, outright asking him about his feelings for Dagger, and finally, attempting to hook Zidane up with his true love when all else fails. Let's face it folks--if she were older, we'd be all looking at Zidane like he's crazy.

* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: By Disc 4, Eiko has given up on trying to wedge between Zidane and Dagger, and instead becomes fixed on getting them both past their CannotSpitItOut stage.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: While the catapult rackets she shares with Dagger are believable enough (''say what?''), she also uses magic flutes in battle. She can actually whack the enemy with them, but she does better when she uses them to focus her magic.

A bounty hunter hired by Queen Brahne to assassinate Vivi and retrieve Dagger's pendant. Amarant has a strange code of honor, which manifests when his partner on the job takes Eiko hostage to try and get the pendant back. This prompts Amarant to betray his partner and force Zidane to fight him to get the pendant back. Amarant is shocked when Zidane wins and lets him live. Unable to comprehend Zidane's mentality, Amarant joins his quest in an attempt to understand him. At first Amarant disdains Zidane's emphasis on teamwork, but later on comes to understand the benefits of cooperation.

* CompleteMonster: Sure, Brahne perpetrates a lot of massacres and death. Still, this trope is arguably subverted when [[spoiler:Kuja talks about how he gave Brahne a "little push" to motivate her war of conquest. It's implied that Kuja exploited Brahne's grief over her husband's death to manipulate her into trying to conquer the world, which played right into his own plan to cause death and mayhem on Gaia. At one point, Dagger notes how Kuja started visiting Brahne after the King's death, which prompted her sudden personality change, and wonders exactly what happened that day...]]
* [[spoiler:DeathEqualsRedemption: When she's dying on the beaches of the Outer Continent, Brahne realizes that she is finally free of the terrible greed that was controlling her, and makes peace with Dagger before she dies.]]

* MrExposition: He provides a lot of information on the backstory of the setting and some of the characters, including the [[spoiler:the truth behind Dagger's adoption.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Dr. Tot provides both emotional support and material aid to Dagger during Disks 2 and 3. He also helps Eiko write a love letter to Zidane.

* ItsAllMyFault: She blames herself for a lot of the destruction and suffering that occurs, even when no sane assessment of it would hold her responsible.

** [[spoiler: Well considering the original Garnet looked just like her, yes she is]].

* PettingZooPeople / RodentsOfUnusualSize: Freya and her race are all anthropomorphic rats. Interestingly, they don't get [[YouDirtyRat the same treatment that giant rats get in other media]], and are portrayed as quite noble.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Her subplot with Sir Fratley is ''completely forgotten'' after Fratley's first and only appearance in the story.

* ExtremeOmnivore: DefiningCharacterTrait

* TheUnfunny: Eiko (unintentionally) uses him as her hired muscle when the gang travels to Treno. It's a pretty great sequence altogether.

A feminine, vain sorcerer who supplies Queen Brahne with Black Mages and summon magic. When not advocating world conquest, he runs his auction house in Treno and watches opera. [[spoiler:In truth, he's gathering power to usurp Garland and conquer both Gaia and Terra. He turns against Brahne the moment she loses her usefulness to him.]]

* BigBad: After spending most of the game as this, he then gets setup as TheDragon to the ''real'' villain, Garland... [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder only for Kuja to go right back to being the triumphant Big Bad he always was]].
* {{Bishonen}}: Doesn't even begin to describe him.

* TheChessMaster

* EvilCounterpart:[[spoiler:to Zidane]]

* [[spoiler:FlawedPrototype:]] [[spoiler:Subverted. Garland ultimately admits that Kuja is vastly more effective than he'd ever thought possible.]]

* LargeHam taken to its horrifying extreme. See above.

* [[spoiler: PsychoPrototype]]
* [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath: He saves the heroes from Necron, and Zidane later goes back to return the favor. When the Iifa Tree collapses around the two of them, Kuja pushes Zidane out of the way, presumably killing himself]].

* [[spoiler: TheStarscream]]

* [[spoiler: SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum]]

* ShoutOut: Fabul... [[FinalFantasyIV What kingdom do we know by that name?]]

* MrExposition: He provides a lot of information on the backstory of the setting and some of the characters, including the [[spoiler:the truth behind Dagger's adoption]].

* EmotionlessGirl: The reasons why are a bit ambiguous. Either Garland was going to give her a soul but never got around to it [[spoiler: (he was waiting for Kuja to die)]]; or he gave her a soul, and therefore she's ''capable'' of emotions, but because she grew up exclusively around other Genomes she has no clue how to use them.

* FlowerMotifs: SomethingAboutARose to the point that her theme song can either be translated as "Loss of Me" or "Rose of May."

** [[VomitDiscretionShot Excuse me for a minute...]]

* FetishFuel: She's a [[FurryFandom rat lady]] with a desperate need for affection, a [[LastOfHisKind thoroughly genocided species that needs repopulating]], and with how high she can jump she undoubtedly has some incredibly nice legs under that coat of arms...
** [[VomitDiscretionShot Excuse me...]]

A great warlock who lives in Castle Pandemonium, the greatest building of the planet Terra. He was left behind by the Terran civilisation to guard their souls and seek for a vessel to give them a chance at new life. [[spoilers:He has been assimilating Gaia, the main planet of the game, for decades, and created Kuja, Zidane and Mikoto to serve as his primary agents for the task.]]

Brahne's twin clown assistants. They seem to be potent, if short, magicians. [[spoilers:When they are defeated, Kuja reveals they were never even human to begin with.]]

The monarch of Lindblum, the only country anywhere near as powerful as Alexandria, Cid is a peaceful but proactive ruler. [[spoiler:He orders the Tantalus bandits to kidnap Garnet, which leads directly to the beginning of the game.]]

* BigBad: After spending most of the game as this, he then gets setup as TheDragon to the ''real'' villain, Garland...[[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder only for Kuja to go right back to being the triumphant Big Bad he always was]].

* ShoutOut: A living shoutout to the character of the same name from ''FinalFantasyI''. Many an epileptic tree was planted by this statement:
-->"I tried taking over the world once..."

--->'''Eiko''': Where should I start...? First, your beard! Second, your nerdy hat! Third, your thick eyeglasses! All signs of a nerdy philosopher!

* EmotionlessGirl
* [[MrExposition Ms Exposition]]: Her role in the story is largely just to explain the heroes about Terra before they go fight Garland.

* PettingZooPeople / RodentsOfUnusualSize: Freya and her race are all anthropomorphic rats.

* CutscenePowerToTheMax

* CutsceneIncompetence: Brutally subverted. What does Vivi do on an early cutscene? [[spoiler:No less than taking down a boss!]]

* {{Expy}}: Cheerful personality? Monkey's tail? [[spoiler: Was sent from another planet to destroy this one as a child, but never went through with it?]] Sounds similar to the protagonist of [[DragonBall a certain manga series.]]

* [[spoiler: SuperPrototype]]

** That was more of a TranquilFury, given his expressionless face... or lack thereof.

*** All there in the [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] :When she was much younger,he'd beaten her in a duel.

* FearLeadsToAnger: Again, it happens [[spoiler:in the ending. Zidane's a lucky [[CurseCutShort Son-of-a-** ]].]]

* TheGlomp: Sees usage during the GrandFinale when Garnet ''dives'' on [[spoiler: Zidane]].

* TrueFinalBoss

* StaffChick: Well, actually she uses rods in combat, but that's splitting hairs.

* [[spoiler: LukeIAmYourFather: Technically speaking. He ''did'' create Zidane and Kuja after all. Plus, he also sees Zidane as something of a son, aside from being just a weapon.]]

** Theories vary from him being Death itself, the "soul divider" from the Iifa Tree, to more goofy stuff like Necrophobe from FinalFantasyV to Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen!

* PettingZooPeople: Freya and her race are all anthropomorphic rats.

* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Inverted, as she basically tells you that you suck after beating your ass and letting you live.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Mostly due to his [[TheWoobie Woobie]] status

* TheFettered: See the quote under his name.

* HonorBeforeReason: He refuses to travel with thieves until ordered to by his liege (despite the dangers of traveling alone) and he refuses to believe Brahne has turned evil until after even Beatrix has accepted it.

* {{Expy}}: Cheerful personality? Monkey's tail? [[spoiler: Was sent from another planet to destroy this one as a child, but never went through with it?]] Sounds similar to the protagonist of [[DragonBall a certain anime series.]]

* AngstWhatAngst: A refreshing change from his immediate predecessors, Zidane spends most of the game either chasing skirts or being Garnet's knight in shining armor and not much time being moody and depressing, with the notable (and brief) exception of his HeroicBSOD.

* GeniusDitz: Quina is generally pretty clueless, but s/he is a master chef, like all Qus. SoYeah.

***All there in the [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] :When she was much younger,he'd beaten her in a duel.