Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / Dissidia: Final Fantasy – Warriors of Chaos VII to XII

Go To

A character sheet for the Warriors of Chaos from Dissidia Final Fantasy and its prequel. Note that comments on a character's fighting style generally stay the same between games, except when otherwise mentioned.

See the Main Page here.

See also:

    open/close all folders 

    Sephiroth 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Sephiroth_Dissidia_Artwork_2688.jpg
"Accept it. I am the one who guides you — forever."
"The truth can be cruel at times, but whether they can accept that truth is up to them." — Life of the Planet

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), George Newbern (English)

—Fighting Style: Focused Blade

A powerful former member of SOLDIER from Final Fantasy VII. When he learned about his origins, as the result of an experiment called the Jenova Project, Sephiroth attempted to become a god by absorbing the world's life energy into himself.

Sephiroth wields a Focused Blade, striking only once with Masamune but sending out waves of energy to land multiple hits. Maximizing his damage potential requires timing the second button press to continue the attack once the first part has dealt maximum damage. He is mostly a swift close-ranged fighter but has Sword Beam attacks to pressure from range.

General Tropes

  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Given his amnesia making the strongest memories he retains those of having been a Fallen Hero, Sephiroth ends up being more of an Anti-Villain in his demeanor and actions in the Dissidia series, whereas he was straight-up evil in his original game.
  • Anti-Villain: While he's fighting for Chaos's side, he has no interest in the war and tells Emperor and Ultimecia that Even Evil Has Standards. That said, while he's willing to fight the Warriors of Cosmos to get what he wants, he doesn't go out of his way otherwise. It's also implied in his Dissidia 012 character bio that he might have also wanted to end the war as well.
  • Breaking Speech: To everyone, even those on his own side. It's what he does.
  • Dissonant Serenity: Nothing ever shocks this guy, not even being beaten, since he just turns it on his opponents with his words.
  • Fallen Hero: Lampshaded repeatedly by his opponents.
    Emperor: A "hero", toyed with by fate? / How the mighty have fallen.
    Kain: A fallen hero; how regrettable.
    Lightning: Something tells me you're not the heroic type.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Remember, he's actually a collection of Jenova cells made to resemble his human body.
    Firion: "You make me shiver. What are you?!"
  • Hypocritical Humor: In his lines against certain opponents.
    (to Shantotto): "A former hero? Please..."
    (to Cloud of Darkness): "Another washed-up monster..."
    • This is also noted by both his allies and enemies:
      Garland: "Show me what a 'hero' can do!"
      The Emperor: "A hero, toyed with by fate?"
      Squall: "No one needs a hero from the past..."
  • Lampshade Hanging: After the boss battle with him during Warrior's story mode, Sephiroth says that he is going to go do what he is obligated to do, i.e. torment and battle Cloud. He seems aware of the fact that most of his appearances since his original game more or less center around just that.note 
    Sephiroth: "The time has come. I must face him and fulfill my obligation."
  • Loners Are Freaks: He's sorta treated like this by The Emperor and Ultimecia, due to his refusal to join their alliance.
  • Manipulative Bastard: To Cloud, of course, whom he has a sadistic fondness for toying with.
  • Musical Spoiler: When fighting Sephiroth in Destiny Odyssey/Light to All Chapter 1, the battle theme J-E-N-O-V-A plays - which played during the Jenova fight immediately preceding the battles with Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII. This is your giveaway that Cloud and Sephiroth are going to get another match - when you fight him in Shade Impulse/Light to All Epilogue, One-Winged Angel kicks in like it should.
  • One-Winged Angel: Averted, surprisingly enough considering he's the Trope Namer. Sephiroth's One-Winged Angel form would require a completely different character model, due to how inhuman it is, rather than just a new skin, and that would have forced the game to stop and load every time he activated it (which is strange, considering how most of the other villains' EX forms were based on their legitimate One Winged Angel forms). He does have his one black wing from Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts, though, making the trope be applied literally.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: While all the other villains have some clear goal of domination, absolute destruction, or something alike, Sephiroth doesn't care at all for any of this, nor the outcome of the battle of the gods. His only shown interest is in fighting Cloud and Tifa to recover his lost memories, and once he has them, his focus turns to the nature of the cycle and his own existence within it. He barely tolerates most of his allies, with him outright disliking several including the Emperor and Kefka. Though he's also indifferent to Golbez' secret betrayal, and aside from taunting the warlock with that fact that he knows, does nothing else with it.
  • The Stoic: As usual for Sephiroth, he's perpetually calm and collected, with his voice not really showing much emotion when he speaks.
  • Worthy Opponent: Seems he reciprocates Jecht's opinion of him in this regard.
    "Seems I do not have to hold back."

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Awesome, but Impractical: Much like the Emperor's Starfall or Exdeath's Maelstrom, Black Materia is an unavoidable HP attack with a very long cast time. It varies from the aforementioned skills in that it can be cast early for a lesser and avoidable effect, but it can also only be used while on the ground. Ultimately, it is more of a pressure tool to force the enemy to attack Sephiroth and prevent a full casting than an actual weapon.
  • Beehive Barrier: When using Scintilla.
  • Casting a Shadow: Shadow Flare. Also gets a dark aura on his sword when using Octaslash.
  • Charged Attack: Black Materia.
  • Colony Drop: Same as above.
  • Cool Sword: His signature Masamune, with its Kingdom Hearts length.
    • BFS: Has the longest melee reach in the game.
  • Death from Above: Hell's Gate combines this with Impaled with Extreme Prejudice — Sephiroth drops onto opponents from above with his sword held down to stab them, just as he did when he killed Aerith.
    • Ground-Shattering Landing: If he's close enough to hit the floor when executing Hell's Gate, HP-damaging Materia rocks will shoot up where he lands, giving it much more ground potential than one may think. Basically, if he shouts "To the promised land!" while you're on the floor, it's a pretty good idea to just run, since one dodge might not be enough.
  • EX Mode: Reunion!
    "It's time..."
    • Just as he did in the climax of the original game and Advent Children, Sephiroth fuses with even more Jenova cells and increases his power, gaining a single black wing in the process. In addition to Regen, Sephiroth's EX Mode gives him the following abilities:
      • Glide: Seems one wing is almost as good as six. Sephiroth is able to fly around the stage.
      • Heartless Angel: Holding R+Square begins the charge for Sephiroth's signature move. When it goes off correctly, it causes an instant, unblockable attack which brings the opponent's Brave To One.
    • In addition, Reunion gives Sephiroth access to his EX Burst: Supernova.
      "I bring you despair!"
    • Sephiroth charges his own Limit Break meter after slashing his opponent and begins chanting the mathematic equation for his spell. On a perfect charge, Sephiroth smashes the opponent into a dying sun, which promptly goes nova as he stands in the foreground, exactly like he did after the Nibelheim Incident.
      "Ruination to all!"
  • Flash Step: Oblivion, Fervent Blow, Godspeed, and Heaven's Light.
  • Iaijutsu Practitioner: Oblivion.
  • Implausible Fencing Powers: Not that he's the only one, but he gets a special mention for his gratuitous use of the tropes list under the next one.
  • Jack of All Stats: He isn't a particularly bad character; he moves and attacks at a decent clip and packs a fair punch. He just lacks the pure power and/or speed of others, and has little combo potential.
  • Simultaneous Blade Spam: All of his melee attacks hit far more times than you actually see his sword swing. Oblivion is probably the best example, where he dashes past the opponent and only hits them with the Masamune once, but they get hit eleven times.
  • Sword Beam: The undisputed king. Fervent Blow and Godspeed fire several sword beams, while Reaper, Transience, and Sudden Cruelty leave bands of energy after the actual swings that hit more times.
  • Too Slow: When using Reaper and Godspeed, though as he's The Stoic, it's underplayed compared to other instances of the trope.

Design and Costume Tropes

In Dissidia

  • Alas, Poor Villain: Invoked in-universe by Cecil Harvey. See Tragic Monster.
  • Audience Surrogate: Similar to LOVELESS and his reaction to it in Crisis Core, Sephiroth basically speaks for all people who don't view Kefka favorably with his pre-battle quote to Kefka being a simple "You're annoying." Made even more poignant in the Japanese version, where Kefka, lacking the benefits of Woolseyism, is much less popular.
  • Blood Knight: Sephiroth implies when attempting to pull a "Not So Different" Remark on the Warrior of Light during the 13th Cycle that the closest thing to a "motivation" for Sephiroth to participate in the conflict is that he enjoys fighting. Kefka also claims that he pretty much was made for the battlefield during the 12th Cycle when trying to manipulate Sephiroth into luring Cloud to be killed by Sephiroth in addition to Sephiroth killing Tifa.
  • Borrowed Catch Phrase: When the Emperor asks Sephiroth to join himself and Ultimecia, Sephiroth borrows Cloud's "Not interested" line.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: When the Emperor attempted to recruit Sephiroth into his and Ultimecia's plot to rule existence, he refuses. Considering how their "plan" basically involved killing off every single one of their own allies as well as their enemies to ensure that the Emperor managed to rule existence in the place of Cosmos and Chaos, it almost seems like Sephiroth was subtly giving his displeasure in that sort of plan in retrospect.
  • Godhood Seeker: Lampshaded by Kefka. Like the other villains, Sephiroth decides to implement his plot from his original game in order to survive after Cosmos' death. It was cut out of Duodecium in favor of focusing on his rivalry with Cloud, but several of his quotes in both games allude to this.
  • Motive Misidentification: Bartz observes the Emperor, Ultimecia, and Sephiroth together, and wonders whether the Emperor and Sephiroth were fighting over Ultimecia. Actually, the Emperor and Ultimecia were attempting to recruit Sephiroth into their plan, but Sephiroth had evidently refused.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: How he tries to hammer home the fact that Cloud is his Unwitting Pawn. Cloud turns it around on him ("You're the one who won't let go!"), but Sephiroth doesn't seem to be fazed in the slightest. He also deals one to the Warrior of Light, though the Warrior being the Warrior, doesn't pay attention.
  • Tragic Monster: If playing as Sephiroth against Cecil Harvey, Harvey will say that there "is sorrow in (Sephiroth's) wintery eyes", indicating that, despite his statements, Sephiroth does actually feel some melancholy about something.
  • Warrior Poet: With his desire to become a god toned down, Sephiroth's main goal (besides messing with Cloud) seems to be to muse over the nature of life and his lost memories to himself and occasionally Garland.

In Dissidia 012

  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: While a few of the villains are insulting Feral Chaos, Sephiroth actually talks down to him.
    "Is that all? You can do better than that."
  • Hypocrite: Though unintended since the cutscene dialogue wasn't changed between the two games, he snarks that Cloud clings to old memories, when his entire motivation for fighting Cloud is so he can recover his own memories. Promptly lampshaded when Cloud quickly snaps back "You're the one that can't let go!"
  • Mirror Match: His suicide is represented by this in an official quest.
  • Not In This For The God's Dispute: Apparently, Sephiroth does not actually care about the actual outcome of the conflict between Cosmos and Chaos, and only participated in the conflict in the first place to regain his memories.
  • Properly Paranoid: Hinted at in the original game and confirmed in Dissidia 012, in the twelfth cycle he suspected that he might actually be an enhanced Manikin that was implanted with the real Sephiroth's memories. He killed himself to test this theory, and when he was resurrected in the thirteenth cycle, he knew that he was the real deal. However, it turns out that the Warrior of Light, Cosmos, and Chaos are precisely that themselves, so his suspicions were well-founded.
  • Warrior Therapist: Strangely enough, in the Prologus demo for Dissidia 012, he actually lectures the Warrior of Light and Lightning after they beat him about their holding back too much of their power, and even almost encourages them to go full out and actually kill him next time, namely because there wouldn't have been a point to them existing in the current state of the world if they didn't do that. Then again, Cloud does hint that most of the Warriors of Chaos were holding back their power.

    Ultimecia 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dissidia_Ultimecia_2283.jpg
"Foolish boy. Everything is an illusion. Your hopes, your friends — Your life itself — shall fade."
"Everyone wishes they could change the past." — Gears of Time

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese), Tasia Valenza (English)

Fighting Style: Sorceress Fusileer

An incredibly powerful sorceress who controls time and can attack with weapon-shaped long range energy attacks, aside from casting time-honored spells. In Final Fantasy VIII, she attempted to compress time, creating a world where past, present, and future would become one, and in Dissidia, she's plotting the same thing, although with a much more ambiguous view about it.

Ultimecia is a Sorceress Fusileer, embodying the very ideal of the Magic Missile Storm. Ultimecia's Bravery attacks send out flurries of magical projectiles, their exact properties depending on if the player taps or holds the attack button. Her attacks have very high Bravery damage, but she may struggle to land hits due to most of her Bravery attacks being easy to block or dodge. Her HP attacks also have a fair bit of start-up and need the opponent stunned if she expects to deal a killing blow.

General Tropes

  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: If you start a fight with her on low health, she may call this out onto her opponent.
  • Evil Genius: Shares this role with the Emperor.
  • Evil Laugh: Chuckles while executing Time Crush. And with good reason too, if she can get it off.
  • Femme Fatale: She carries this sort of vibe with the way she speaks and carries herself.
  • Funetik Aksent: Downplayed with this incarnation. Unlike Final Fantasy VIII, Ultimecia does not pronounce her hard "c"s as "k"s. Like many other things in this game, this has split some fans on whether or not this is a good thing.
    • What makes this hilarious is the fact that Ultimecia's English VA also voiced Sniper Wolf, who did speak with an accent similar to Ultimecia's verbal tic.
  • Lady of Black Magic: An elegant and malicious time sorceress.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Taking the concept of destroying everything and applying it to the entire spacetime continuum. Welcome to Time Compression.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Technically true for the Warriors of Chaos, since the Cloud of Darkness has No Biological Sex.
  • Vain Sorceress: Hinted at by Kefka Palazzo's pre-battle quote in Dissidia 012.
    Kefka Palazzo: Using time to get rid of those wrinkles?
  • The Vamp: That evening gown should have been your first clue.
  • World of Pun: Almost all of her Encounter phrases (as well as the other characters' when they face her) are some kind of pun on the concept of time.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Awesome, but Impractical: Unlike the likes of Sephy's Heartless Angel, Golbez's Black Fang, and the Emperor's Starfall, Ultimecia can't stop Time Crush once the player begins to charge it up, so she's completely helpless to dodge or block if the opponent gets to her. On the other hand, it's a lot of fun to trap your opponent by perfectly timing consecutive Time Crushes to keep them paralyzed indefinitely, preferably while a summon, like, say, Tiamat or Ultima Weapon, charges up its effect. This only applies to the original Dissidia, as Dissidia 012 allows Ultimecia to cancel out of Time Crush.
  • Charged Attack: All her Bravery attacks can be charged by holding the button instead of pressing or tapping it, changing their effects. She can also charge Shockwave Pulsar and Great Attractor.
  • Colony Drop: Fires a miniature version of the Final Fantasy VIII planet when using Great Attractor.
  • EX Mode: Junction Griever!
    "Come, Griever!"
    • Continuing to fly in the face of the Junction System's rules, Ultimecia merges with the "Ultimate GF", Griever. In addition to Regen, Ultimecia's EX Mode gives her access to the following ability:
      • Time Crush: Holding R+Square beings the charge for Ultimecia's special attack. If she is allowed to get it off, she freezes the enemy in place with a call of "Time!" This creates an irresistible opportunity for an HP Attack.
    • In addition, Junction Griever gives Ultimecia access to her EX Burst: Time Compression.
      "Time! Playtime is over!"
    • Ultimecia freezes the enemy in time (in fact, if the opponent was recovering from Bravery Break, their Bravery will stop regenerating) and walks toward their helpless, inverted body, summoning magic missiles as she does so. Eventually, she unfreezes everything and the missiles strike the enemy in rapid succession. Finally, she ends the attack with Sorceress Heart, a huge explosion.
      "Eternal sleep..." (Evil Laugh)
  • Femme Fatalons: When in Chase Mode, she'll use them.
  • Fusion Dance: Her combination with Griever, which is decidedly more human in appearance than it originally was, since instead of Junctioning herself onto Griever like in Final Fantasy VIII, she Junctions him onto her.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Knight's Spear.
  • Instant Runes: Apocalypse and Hell's Judgment.
  • Long-Range Fighter: Has the longest range attacks of any character.
  • Magic Missile Storm: She does with magical projectiles what Squall and Laguna do with their sword and guns.
  • Pillar of Light: Apocalypse.
  • Rain of Arrows: Knight's Arrow.
  • Roboteching: Knight's Arrow and the uncharged Knight's Axe.
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Her main schtick.
  • Squishy Wizard: She has very high Bravery damage output, but most of her Bravery attacks are blockable, and the ones that aren't can be avoided fairly easily.
  • Storm of Blades: Knight's Blade, especially the charged version.
  • Summon Magic: Fuses herself with Griever in EX Mode.
  • Time Master
  • Trap Master: Less so than the Emperor, but the wind-up time on Ultimecia's HP attacks means that often you'll have to come up with clever ways to maneuver your opponents into them. Most of this involves the charged-up version of Knight's Arrow, which emits up to four projectiles that stay stationary for five seconds before launching at the enemy; pinning them down with Knight's Arrow to properly land a follow-up attack is her bread-and-butter strategy.

Design and Costume Tropes

  • Adaptational Modesty: A very slight example of the trope. Her original design simply had her Navel-Deep Neckline cut, whereas this one has a thick fur lining that covers up her torso quite a bit.
  • Feather Motif: Black feathers, like Sephiroth. This was probably carried over from Edea's costume in Final Fantasy VIII.
  • Going Commando: If you look closely using the Battle Replay feature, she's not wearing any panties, even after she's Junctioned Griever! For better or for worse, there's nothing to see.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: Just like her original incarnation, her normal outfit has a neckline so deep that it goes past her navel.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: So she says about Squall and herself; after all, they are both trying to create a world according to their liking.
  • Older Than They Look: Possibly. When facing Kuja, he says, "Exit quietly, old crone".
    • Possibly further hinted at when she faces Warrior of Light in his Destiny Odyssey.
      "You are bold for one so young."
    • For a third example, one of her Encounter phrases is, "Poor child."
  • Statuesque Stunner: Not as much so as the Cloud of Darkness, but Ultimecia still qualifies: According to estimates from rips of the models, she falls but slightly short of six feet, not counting the hair-horns.
  • Stripperiffic: The only things holding her dress on her body are the sleeves and a single clasp near her crotch area, leaving surprisingly little to the imagination for such a large billowy costume.
  • Wicked Cultured: She certainly has her own sense of flair.
  • Winged Humanoid
    • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Definitely evil wings.
    • Wings Do Nothing: Unlike the other winged characters who can Glide in EX Mode, Ultimecia's wings provide no additional benefits other than aesthetics (aside from allowing her to hover while she's casting spells).

In Dissidia

  • Cry for the Devil: Many of Ultimecia's lines throughout the game imply that the real driving reason behind her wanting to compress time to a single point is her longing to return to the innocent days of her childhood, the last time she was truly happy.
  • Cutscene Power to the Max: One of very few uses of this trope in Dissidia. During the FMV in Squall's Destiny Odyssey, Ultimecia brings Squall's time to a halt mid-Blasting Zone and induces her Time Compression Limit Break, without Junctioning Griever...
    • Hoist By Her Own Petard ...only for Squall to unleash Blasting Zone the first set of shots, Heel-Crush the next few volleys, and then traps the next few in a Fated Circle and pulls the trigger with the blade pointed at her.
  • Manipulative Bitch: Disguises herself as Cosmos to convince Squall to travel on his own and leave Zidane and Bartz behind.
  • Motive Misidentification: Bartz observes the Emperor, Ultimecia, and Sephiroth together, and wonders whether the Emperor and Sephiroth were fighting over Ultimecia. Actually, the Emperor and Ultimecia were attempting to recruit Sephiroth into their plan, but Sephiroth had evidently refused.
  • Shout-Out: Ultimecia's exclusive weapons are named after some of Rinoa's weapons from Final Fantasy VIII. More than likely, this is a nod to the disproved (albeit still popular) theory that Ultimecia was a Bad Future incarnation of Rinoa. Likewise, her "Shall we dance?" line to Squall is a variation of what Rinoa said to Squall prior to their first meeting at a ballroom dance.
  • Take Your Time: Ultimecia tells Squall to do this when they meet face-to-face and he isn't ready to face her yet.

In Dissidia 012

  • Actually a Doombot: Tifa soundly kicks Ultimecia, only for Ultimecia to shatter into crystal — it was actually a Manikin.
  • Designated Girl Fight: She's Tifa's designated story mode rival, the only time in the story where two female warriors fight.
  • Flanderization: Subjected to a particularly extreme example of it in Dissidia 012 — every line she had in Dissidia regarding her deeper motivation to return to the innocence of her youth is removed in favor of making her focused solely on compressing time and becoming omnipotent in that way. It's also something of a Mythology Gag; the same thing happened in the Japanese to English port of FFVIII. Then again, if the nature of the cycles is any indication, her memories might not be complete enough for her to remember the exact motivation she had for it.
  • Pet the Dog: Her intro quote to Terra if the player is fighting as Terra, possibly:
    Ultimecia: It's okay to cry.

    Kuja 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dissidia_Kuja_1977.jpg
"Let me perform a piece for you. It's your requiem!"
"Everything must disappear to truly forget the truth. To do that, the world must disappear as well." — God of Destruction

Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), J.D. Cullum (English)

—Fighting Style: Graceful Glider

A confident and prideful mage who is quite jealous of Zidane for some reason. In Final Fantasy IX, he was quite a Manipulative Bastard and succeeded in attaining tremendous power.

Kuja is an aptly named Graceful Glider. Kuja sends out various forms of Holy and Flare magic to attack from close and mid-range, and can attack while moving. This is crucial to setting up his Bravery attacks, which change the second part of the combo depending on Kuja's range from the enemy; the player can land the first hit while positioning Kuja to get the follow-up they want. Kuja particularly excels at aerial combat, being the only hero able to Glide outside of EX Mode so he can more easily move about. As a downside at range Kuja's spells can be anticipated and avoided simply enough.

General Tropes

  • Affably Evil: Despite being quite a prick most of the time, he will actually compliment you (though somewhat sarcastically) on successfully pulling off an attack on him in battle ("That wasn't bad at all!") Possibly a reference to when Bahamut managed to give him a minor injury in Final Fantasy IX. He was surprised when he realized that he'd received a small cut and commended the dragon for actually managing to hurt him.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Kefka refers to him "Kuji-coo" or "Kuja-kun" in the Japanese version.
  • The Fighting Narcissist: Remember, his name is two letters away from kujaku, the Japanese word for "peacock", an animal noted for its flamboyant nature and beautiful appearance.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: His story revolves him trying to prove himself competent despite his age.
    • Another case in the 12th cycle, his tweaked storyline results in his 13th cycle behavior being this. All his efforts to prove how superior he is to the other villains are because he wants to prove that in spite of his fake memories and past manipulations by them, he's still just as effective as they are. When Garland consoles him that none of them have all their memories yet, Kuja just laughs and takes this as proof that he was right in his beliefs.
  • Large Ham: Perhaps the largest in the game. He's obsessed with theater and makes a habit out of weaving faux-Shakespearean speech into his sentences. Even the few sentences where he doesn't do that get pretty hammy.
    "As one who shares your fate, I simply had to see how your heart would break upon realizing how powerless you truly are."
    "Your friends will get hurt, and there is nothing you can do. Like a bird trapped in a cage, you can only listen as they scream in terror..."
  • Mood-Swinger: "You're not getting away! Come dance with me!"..."Just go AWAY!"
  • Mythology Gag: Most, if not all, of Kuja's battle quotes relate to his theatrical and dramatic nature (see Large Ham) from his respective game. For example, when battling Terra, Kuja refers to her as "a poor bird without wings," similar to how he refers to Garnet as a "canary".
  • No-Respect Guy: In-story and in combat quotes, absolutely no one treats Kuja with respect. Even Gilgamesh, resident Cosmic Plaything, gets to prod him with a metaphorical stick.
  • Sissy Villain: Being narcissistic and less experienced produces this trope.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: He considers himself superior to all of his allies, despite Garland telling him they are all slaves of the cycle of battle.
  • Sore Loser: Probably the sorest of them all due to his narcissism.
  • Spanner in the Works: The reason Cloud and Tidus have a Big Damn Hero moment is because Kuja told them Firion was about to fall into the Emperor's trap.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: He attempts to invoke this, considering himself the most intelligent, powerful, beautiful villain, and he goes out of his way to interfere with the others' plans and one-up them to no benefit but to prove himself superior. His battle quotes also reflect that in his opinion, he's the only one that matters.
    "Now for my one-man show!"

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Death from Above: Force Symphony.
  • EX Mode: Trance!
    "Here's your invitation!"
    • Yes, the third practitioner of Trance. Kuja uses his game's answer to the Limit Break and powers up, gaining a more bestial form covered in fur and feathers, as well as revealing his tail. In addition to Regen, Kuja's EX Mode gives him access to the following abilities:
      • Super Glide: Kuja is the only character who can Glide outside of EX Mode, so it would follow that his EX Mode gives him an even better Glide. Super Glide can keep him airborne pretty much indefinitely.
      • Auto Magic: The Holy/Flare spellballs that surround and follow him will automatically perform special attacks while he's gliding, jumping, or landing.
    • In addition, Trance gives Kuja access to his EX Burst: Final Requiem.
      "Curtain rise!"
    • Kuja sits back and conducts as the spell-balls he controls drop Flare Star spells on the enemy, followed by Seraphic Stars, as the image of the planet Terra overpowers the planet Gaia. For the final strike, Kuja commands the spell-balls to drop rapid-fire Ultima spells on the enemy, obliterating them with the ultimate magic.
      "Here comes the finale!"
  • Holy Hand Grenade: Seraphic Star. He also combines Holy and Flare for his Brave attacks.
  • Magic Missile Storm: Ultima.
  • Musical Assassin: He doesn't use any instruments, but much of his gameplay makes reference to music.
  • Non-Elemental: Ultima.
  • Playing with Fire: Flare Star.
  • Power Floats: He's not called the "Graceful Glider" for nothing — while the others disregard gravity, Kuja is actively giving it both middle fingers. The only time he ever physically touches anything, much less the ground, is if his opponent introduces him to it the hard way.
  • Squishy Wizard: He does a lot of damage and moves at a fair speed, but his Bravery attacks are easy to block.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: His EX Burst. His Flare attacks also manifest mostly as explosions.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Every attack he has is some variation of Flare, Holy, and/or Ultima.

Design and Costume Tropes

In Dissidia

Letting his arrogance lead him to believe himself superior to all of the other antagonists — which causes a degree of unrest among them — he targets Zidane both for the sake of revenge, and to demonstrate his power.

  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Subverted. Kefka tinkered with his memories after he was slain by Lightning back in the 12th cycle. This somehow resetted his mental state back to that before his original endgame character development.
  • Character Exaggeration: His narcissism and child-like selfishness were cranked up for Dissidia. However, see his Dissidia 012 section.
  • Death Equals Redemption: Upon facing his final demise, Zidane's kindness made him have a change of heart.
  • Despair Event Horizon: After being beaten in Shade Impulse, he feels the worlds themselves have disowned him.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He's enraged when Zidane asked if he has any friends. Part of the reason is because the other Warriors of Chaos doesn't think of him highly enough.
    • A more subtle one in Shade Impulse, in which he brushes Zidane's hand aside and struggled to stand on his own.
    "Off with you. Aren't there more important things for you to seize?"
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He mocked Zidane after he managed to separate Zidane from Squall and Bartz. He simply cannot understand why Zidane is so steadfast in his conviction regarding his friends.
    • In Shade Impulse, he asked what if he'll hurt Zidane after he helped him. Zidane simply replied he can take the beating, which further baffled him.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He managed to trap Zidane into fighting him once again by using Bartz as a bait.
  • Naïve Newcomer: Called this by Garland. Apparently, this is at least his second time participating in the Cycle. It doesn't help that Kuja is the youngest of the Warriors of Chaos, yet expects to be treated as if he's a pro.
  • Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: In Shade Impulse, this is his own conclusion for being an all-to-gain and nothing-to-lose villain against Zidane, who've beaten him twice.
    • His post-defeat quote in Shade Impulse, if player didn't use Zidane.
    "I had nothing more to lose... I only wish I could have realized what it truly means to live..."

In Dissidia 012

During the twelth cycle, Kuja was indecisive about his role in the conflict, believing his actions would have no consequences. Surprisingly enough, he considers assisting the Warriors of Cosmos... but some may not agree with this...

  • Anti-Villain: He just plain didn't want to take part in the war. Unfortunately for both him and Zidane, Kefka took care of that.
  • The Chew Toy: As described briefly in the above spoiler, the prequel may have developed his character better, but in-universe, things got worse than ever.
  • Evil Former Friend: Has this relationship with Zidane, having tried to ally with him and the two remembering they were on good terms. Then Kefka started tinkering with Kuja's memories...
    Zidane: "Kuja... don't you remember me at all? We weren't really enemies..."
  • Fake Memories: The reason he's so much more reserved and affable in the 12th cycle compared to the 13th is because Kefka arranged for him to die in the 12th, then tweaked his memories so that he hated Zidane and would willingly fight him in the next round. If Kefka's choice of words when gloating about planning to do this is any indication, this isn't even the first time it's happened.
    Kefka: "Should be the end of that rebellious phase of yours though! The next time you fight, it'll be study time! All over again! Oh, what kind of deliciously depraved memories should I fill you up with this time around?"
  • Heel–Face Turn: Tried to perform one, but was caught by the other villains in the act and had to fake like it was an act to trick Zidane in order to save all of them.
  • The Mole: For Chaos' team, no less. As he was actually planing to betray them, yet... Kefka's intervention cornered Kuja and forced him to betray Zidane.
  • Pet the Dog: Aside from his interactions with Zidane, Bartz, and Squall, Kuja is the one who breaks Kefka's spell on Terra, because her servitude to Kefka reminded him of himself.
    • This unfortunately ended up ironically leading to a Kick the Dog moment for Kuja when he attacks Terra in an official quest and denounces dreams as nothing more than being fake.
  • Reluctant Warrior: He is extremely reluctant in fighting his rival, Zidane, during the 12th cycle.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: Pretty much everything that happens to Kuja on the twelfth cycle is tragic.
  • Starter Villain: He is the first boss in the twelfth cycle, and is one of only two Chaos warriors to be killed by the warriors of Cosmos, the other being Exdeath.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: By the time the main events of the 12th cycle take place, this is his position with Kefka. It may have something to do with the fact that his faux-Shakespearean speech just comes off as pretentious without his allies putting on acts aside it. For better or for worse, it doesn't last long.
  • Trailers Always Lie: Twice over. The first trailers showed Kuja talking to Zidane and being referred to as a Cosmos warrior, and another scene showed him talking to Cloud, so at that time, it was easy to believe he was called by Cosmos in this game. Then later trailers revealed Cloud was on Chaos' side in Dissidia 012 and showed Zidane accusing Kuja of betraying him, making it seem Kuja was just tricking them by pretending to by a good guy. The truth is somewhere in the middle — he really did try to help Zidane and his friends, but was caught in the act, and he made out like betraying them was the plan all along to save his own skin and theirs.
  • Vocal Evolution: JD Cullum improved noticeably between Dissidia and Dissidia 012.

    Jecht 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dissidia_Jecht_1879.jpg
"Pesky little runt. Who do you take after?"
"Unrefined love can cause misunderstandings. It's okay... your love will shine through." — Medal of Honor

Voiced by: Masuo Amada (Japanese), Gregg Berger (English)

—Fighting Style: Brutal Blitzer

Tidus' father and a famed blitzball player, a sport which also becomes part of his fighting style. In Final Fantasy X, he became the Final Aeon that defeated Sin, but eventually became Sin because of that. In Dissidia, his reasons for siding with Chaos tend to express a more good attitude rather than evil intentions. Jecht is sided with Cosmos in Dissidia 012, the story mode revealing the reason why he switched sides.

Jecht is a Brutal Blitzer. He only has one Bravery attack for air and ground, but they're all he needs. Jecht's combos rely on precise button presses to properly execute the attack in three parts, variably leading to a Chase or Wall Rush depending on the player's actions, and the player can also tilt the control pad up or down to change where Jecht hits opponents. He can also chain his combos into HP attacks, depending on how the player executed his combos. Aside from being very Difficult, but Awesome, Jecht's primary weakness is his ranged attacks; rather, the fact that he has none whatsoever.

General Tropes

  • Abusive Parent: He hasn't had the best relations with his son and his harshness on Tidus gave him quite a few issues that drove a wedge between them. That said, he does care for Tidus, even if he wasn't able to show it very well, and the two of them manage to make amends when all is said and done.
  • Adaptational Badass: While Jecht wasn't weak by any means in X, his skill as a fighter was only hinted at, and his main impact on the story was as the Final Aeon, and later Sin. In this game, he's firmly established as a powerful warrior on his own merits.
  • Archnemesis Dad: Although it's not nearly as spiteful and hate-filled as the relationship was in X. In fact, his dynamic with Tidus in Dissidia more closely mirrors the climax and resolution of X, where the two finally part on more promising terms. Regardless, Tidus makes it clear that he does not enjoy his relationship with his dad during this little gem:
    Tidus (when facing Chaos): Forget you! I've got a bigger fish to fry!
  • Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Similar to how boastful and arrogant he was about his Blitzball skills in X, the same is true about his fighting skills in Dissidia, as well. Just look at his boasts below.
  • Badass Arm-Fold: After flinging the meteor in Ultimate Jecht Shot.
  • Badass Boast: Especially his victory quotes.
    "There's no shame in losin' to me."
    "I got no such thing as limits."
    "That's what they call skill!"
    "I'm outta your league, buddy!"
    (during his EX Burst) "This is ''my'' show!"
  • Jerk Jock: If his Ultimate Jecht Shot and Blitz King are any indication, he plays Blitzball. With meteors. And he is definitely going to let you know it.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Cocky and rough around the edges, as his son can attest to, but he's more caring than he seems. Terra even likens him to a "big teddy bear" in her pre-fight dialogue with him in 012.
  • Large Ham: He's definitely one boisterous man, and his battle cries are as hot-blooded as you'd expect.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Sure, his relations with Tidus are a bit strained, but it has to be said that he takes after Jecht when it comes to having a lively personality and excellent Blitzball skills.
  • Manly Facial Hair: His facial hair accentuates his rugged, manly look.
  • Manly Man: Have you seen this guy's fighting style? It consists of heavy hitting rushdown combos, a high priority block where he basically smacks attacks away with his forearm, not to mention catching a meteor with his bare hands and chucking it at his opponents. And he can charge up his attacks to make them more manl... err, powerful.
  • Recycled In Space: Some of his attacks can basically be called Blitzball WITH METEORS!
  • Shameless Self-Promoter: As in X, he loves attention and fame, and a few of his battle quotes allude to him wanting to put on a spectacle for whatever audience he thinks is watching. And again, his EX Burst call is to yell at his opponent "This is my show!"
  • Shout-Out: Triumphant Grasp is called Jecht Finger in the Japanese version.
  • Spirited Competitor: He loves a good brawl, and fights Firion simply to work out his stress and frustration when the Emperor stops him from fighting Tidus. While the player as Firion wins, the after-battle cutscene shows that Jecht is fine and tries to goad Firion into continuing.
  • Storyboard Body: His Zanarkand Abes chest tattoo, which also counts as a Chest Insignia.
  • Theme Naming: His attacks — Jecht Rush, Jecht Block, Jecht Stream, Jecht Blade, Ultimate Jecht Shot, and in Dissidia 012, we get Jecht Beam. The only attack of his that doesn't fit the theme is Triumphant Grasp, which was "Jecht Finger" in the Japanese release.
  • Worthy Opponent:
    • Seems to consider Sephiroth one, if his pre-battle quotes are any indication.
      "Let's show everyone else how it's done!"
      "A duel between legendary heroes, huh?"
    • And it's reciprocated, too, if Sephiroth's Duodecim quote with him is to be considered!
      "Seems I do not have to hold back."

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Barehanded Blade Block: His normal block uses his sword and is only good for normal-strength Bravery Attacks, but his Jecht Block uses the back of his hand and staggers enemies out of HP attacks (though he also staggers, preventing a counterattack).
  • BFS: Uses a human-sized variant of the sword he uses as the Final Aeon.
  • Boisterous Bruiser
  • Braggart Boss: His Mirror Match taunt says it all.
    "I get to fight the best fighter in the world!"
  • Charged Attack: All his offensive attacks except for Jecht Beam can be charged up for greater range, tracking, and/or power.
  • Close-Range Combatant: It's the main thing holding him back. Jecht has pretty much no ranged attacks, and the ones he does have, he has to charge them up, giving the opponent ample time to anticipate it coming. The only attack he has with any range is Jecht Beam, and that range is still only a few feet.
  • Colony Drop/Death from Above: Ultimate Jecht Shot has him jump up and catch a meteor, which he throws down on the opponent's head. His EX Burst is basically his version of Tidus' Blitz Ace, but with an even bigger meteor in place of a blitzball.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: His attacks require extremely precise timing of button presses to pull off properly, and without knowing how to do them, you have a fight with two weak melee Brave combos and slow HP attacks. But once you get the timing down, Jecht's Brave combos are long and powerful, and they can variably inflict Wall Rush, initiate a Chase, or link to his HP attacks while the opponent is reeling and can't dodge. Jecht is also pretty speedy in comparison to other heavy hitters, has Jecht Block which blocks almost any attack, and he has lots of CP for support abilities because he has a comparatively small moveset.
  • Elemental Punch/Spell Blade: Fire to be specific.
  • EX Mode: Final Aeon!
    "Let's do this!"
    • Jecht assumes the monstrous form he takes in his Final Boss fight in Final Fantasy X, that of Braska's Final Aeon, though he's human-sized as opposed to being a giant. In addition to Regen, Jecht's EX Mode gives him access to the following ability:
      • Full Combo: Even if Jecht misses on the first attack, he can continue to execute his combo-based attacks as if he had hit.
    • In addition, Final Aeon gives Jecht access to his EX Burst: Blitz King.
      "You were just out of luck! Come on, come on, come on, come on! This is my show!"
    • Jecht slams the opponent back with his sword, then kicks them twice before sticking them to the "ground" with his BFS and leaping off of it into the air. He then crushes a meteor with a timed kick, and then uses another timed kick to knock all the pieces into his helpless enemy.
      "One more! WHOOOAAAHH YEEAAHHH!"
  • Eye Beam: He gets one in the form of Jecht Beam in Dissidia 012. No kidding.
  • Facepalm of Doom: Triumphant Grasp.
  • Fire/Water Juxtaposition: The Fire to Tidus' Water.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Don't be fooled, that sword he carries usually takes a backseat to his punches.
  • I Know Madden Kombat: His profiles state his fighting style comes from full contact blitzball.
  • Lightning Bruiser: In the hands of a player who can time his combos correctly, Jecht moves fast and hits hard, and is difficult to hit back without getting Jecht Blocked.
  • Magically Inept Fighter: Jecht notably has no magical attacks at all in the original game, and only picks up Jecht Beam in the prequel. He relies solely on crushing physical melee combos, and his lack of ranged options is his main weakness.
  • Meteor Move: His ground combo to Ultimate Jecht Shot.
  • One-Handed Zweihänder: While his manual preference is to punch, kick, and tackle, he only ever uses both hands to swing his sword for one attack.
  • Playing with Fire: His stronger attacks create a fiery aura over his sword, probably meant to contrast the water theme in Tidus's attacks.
  • Punched Across the Room: He does it in a cutscene against Tidus, and in battle with "Triumphant Grasp".
  • Quit Your Whining:

Design and Costume Tropes

In Dissidia

As Tidus' opponent on the side of Chaos, Jecht has no interest in villainy and is implied to just be fighting so he and Tidus can go home when the war is over.

In Dissidia 012

This time, Jecht is one the side of good, and is Yuna's Guardian during their quest. His son, meanwhile, has been brainwashed to the side of Chaos, and the rivalry is alive and well.

  • Continuity Snarl:
    • During the 12th cycle, Jecht's portrait in dialogue boxes still shows his crest of spikes over the shoulder, which he doesn't have in the 12th cycle because he's in his third outfit, which has no spikes.
    • A meta example — in Dissidia, Jecht's original outfit was a red and orange palette swap, while in Dissidia 012, he swaps it out in favor of an outfit based on his original Final Fantasy X model. However, when you win Arcade mode as him, you're still treated to a "Congratulations" screen showing him in the red and orange outfit, despite the fact that it otherwise doesn't exist in the game anymore. Newer players will only be confused.
  • Dramatic Irony: It turns out that in Dissidia 012, Tidus has been brainwashed and Jecht calls his son out for being stupid enough to be manipulated. Of course, by the time the game ends...
  • Face–Heel Turn: He's revealed to have been one of Cosmos' Warriors during the previous clash between Cosmos and Chaos. The Dissidia 012 trailer implies that his Face–Heel Turn was not a willing one or even a knowing one (he was unconscious when the Emperor delivered him to Chaos).
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Jecht ended up using up most of his light energy to heal Tidus, who got in the way of the Emperor's attack on Yuna, in order to save Tidus.
  • Senseless Sacrifice: Unfortunately for Jecht, his attempt at a Heroic Sacrifice backfires, because shortly after losing consciousness, the Emperor ends up having Chaos brainwash Jecht into their ranks.

    Gabranth 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gabranthiddia_Art_1581.jpg
"There is no future for the bystander, as there is naught he can defend."
"Faithfully fulfill your role, even if mistaken. That is the definition of a professional." — Gates of Judgement

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Keith Ferguson (English)

Fighting Style: EXecutioner

Judge Magister Gabranth is one of five elite generals who command the armies of the Archadian Empire. As a military intelligence specialist, Gabranth is privy to information that could shake the land of Ivalice to its foundation. He shares a hidden, tragic past with one of the heroes, Basch fon Ronsenburg.

Gabranth is an EXecutioner. Normally, his Bravery attacks are slow and weak, while his HP attack charges his EX Gauge and does no damage. The player isn't supposed to fight in this mode, just avoid enemies until Gabranth's EX Gauge is charged. Once Gabranth is in EX Mode, he becomes a nigh-unstoppable force of destruction, with fast, powerful Bravery attacks, difficult to avoid HP attacks, and greatly increased movement speed. However, it only lasts while he's in EX Mode; when the gauge depletes, Gabranth loses his powers again.

General Tropes

  • Animal Motifs: The stray dog.
  • Evil Twin: Basch's twin brother who fights for the Empire (or did), and uses more violent versions of Basch's Quickenings. Also dons Basch's armor for his alt. costume in Dissidia 012, as he did when impersonating him in the original game.
  • Mythology Gag: Gabranth's pose at the end of his EX Burst is the exact same pose he appears in on the title screen of Final Fantasy XII. It's also used at battle start (though with helmet off), after using Hatred, and after winning a battle. His standing pose during EX Mode is the pose from his Bestiary entry.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Having lost contact with Michael Rogers (Gabranth's actual voice actor from Final Fantasy XII), Square-Enix settled for having him voiced by Keith Ferguson (the voice of Basch, Gabranth's twin brother, from the same game). Regrettably, this game suffers because of this. Keith seems to be trying his best to make Gabranth sound British, but can't seem to settle on what kind of British accent he should have.
    "HATRED IS WOT DROIVES ME!"
    • To clarify, Ferguson often slides between what sounds like "posh" British (the proper accent for the Arcadian Empire) and what sounds like Cockney.
    • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: In Dissidia 012, Ferguson heavily toned down the accent. The result is that when he does it right, he sounds much better, but sometimes it's too subtle, at which point Gabranth pretty much sounds exactly like Basch.
  • The Other Darrin: As said above, Gabranth's original VA (Michael Rogers) was replaced by Keith Ferguson (the voice of Gabranth's twin brother) due to Square Enix losing contact with Rogers.
  • The Power of Hate: One of his quotes is "Hatred is what drives me!"
  • Pun: His fighting style revolves entirely around his EX mode. And in Final Fantasy XII, it's noted that Archadian Judges are "more like executioners". So his fighting style is called EXecutioner, emphasis on the EX.
  • Shout-Out: Gabranth's Quickenings, as stated above, are all just replicas of his brother Basch's Quickenings, just with different names: Basch had Fulminating Darkness, Ruin Impendent, and Flame Purge. The animations also differ slightly — Fulminating Darkness is blue-green, Fulminating Oblivion is red-orange, etc.
  • Token Good Teammate: On the side of Chaos, but disliked by most of his comrades for his heroic qualities. Also, it's hinted that he desires to defeat Cosmos simply to end the war and has no ulterior motives in doing so.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Besides the obvious powering up in EX Mode, in Dissidia 012, the developers made his EX Charge build up his EX gauge insanely fast. Even though EX Mode lasts a lot shorter and is weaker in 012, the boosted EX Charge charge speed doesn't just make up for it, it still executes everything.
  • Unstoppable Rage: HATRED IS WHAT WOT DROIVES ME! Yup, that's right, if love and friendship aren't working for you, apparently hatred works just fine in their place.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Blown Across the Room: Most of his Brave attacks when he's not in EX Mode are designed to throw the opponent as far away as possible as fast as possible, so he has more time to charge himself up and get into EX Mode.
  • Cool Sword: The Chaos Blade and Highway Star, which can combine into one.
  • Death from Above: The aerial version of Innocence.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: The "Difficult" part is getting him into EX Mode. The "Awesome" part kicks in once you succeed.
  • Elemental Powers
  • EX Mode: Mist!
    "Hatred is what drives me!"
    • Gabranth places his helm on his head and separates his weapon into two swords. He also glows with a blood-red light: a sign of excessive mist exposure. In addition to Regen, Gabranth's EX Mode gives him the following ability:
      • Stray's Tenacity: Gabranth in EX Mode basically goes from "Nobody who can't even deal HP damage" to "absolute monster". He moves faster, he recovers HP, and he gains a completely new set of attacks. His Brave attacks are long, fast, and powerful, and his HP attacks are varied between the long and short-range, and either way are hard to avoid.
      • Jamming: In Dissidia 012, Gabranth also has the ability to prevent enemies from gaining the stage bravery pool when he suffers an EX Break.
    • In addition, Mist gives Gabranth access to his EX Burst: Quickening.
      "By my sword!"
    • Gabranth launches into a series of Quickenings based on those that his brother Basch has. First is Fulminating Oblivion, a continuous blast of dark energy. This is followed by Ruin Unflinching, remote punches that crack reality. Then he goes into Frost Purge, which stabs the enemy with flaming swords (because nothing purges frost like massive amounts of heat), and finally, a perfect string will result in Black Hole, a brutal blast of dark energy on the opponent.
      "Know this pain! Hnngh! Hnngh! Hrrrgghh! Take your last breath! Surrender now to oblivion!"
  • Lightning Bruiser: While in EX Mode, he's one of the fastest characters in the game, and his attacks are on-par with the heavy hitters like Garland and Cloud in terms of power, but they come out a lot faster. He also has the benefit of continuous HP recovery and a boost to the frequency of Critical Hits. His HP attacks are also versatile and decent, especially the aerial version of Innocence, which rains Sword Beams on opponents and is very spammable.
    • Glass Cannon: They may not get the Stage Bravery for it, but getting hit by an opponent's Assist still drains his EX Gauge to empty and knocks him out of EX Mode, where he's almost helpless. Thankfully, entering EX Mode drains the opponent's Assist bar, so you have something of a reprieve at the start.
  • Mechanically Unusual Fighter: The standout example among the roster. Normally, Gabranth can't deal HP damage outside of a Chase, which none of his Brave attacks can initiate, and his Brave attacks are slow and weak, as is Gabranth himself overall. Instead of dealing damage, his HP attacks charges his EX Gauge, and once he enters EX Mode, Gabranth gets a movement speed boost and an entirely different moveset of swift, powerful attacks, including proper HP attacks. While other characters treat EX Mode as a temporary power boost, Gabranth is designed as though his EX Mode is his "normal" state that he has to work towards getting into so he can fight properly.
  • Sphere of Destruction: Hatred.
  • Spin Attack: Circle of Judgment and Vortex of Judgment.
  • Spin to Deflect Stuff: Vortex of Judgment can deflect lesser magical Bravery attacks.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: Guilt.
  • Sword Beam: Innocence.
  • Turns Red: A literal invoking; he gains a red aura while in EX Mode.

Design and Costume Tropes

  • Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: No, he doesn't subvert this by being a villain. He does not wear a helmet... when he can get his ass kicked by anyone in the game. Since he's a Warrior of Chaos, getting his ass kicked can be seen as heroic. When that helmet goes on...
  • Mask of Power: See the description of his EX Mode above. Normally, Gabranth is pitiful. So pitiful, in fact, that he can't even whittle away your HP under normal circumstances. However, once he does power up... oh boy... Gabranth turns into a nigh-unstoppable force of nature. He gets so badass that he can out-muscle Chaos easily while in EX Mode — his combos are just as long and powerful as Chaos', he attacks just as quickly, and in the small arena, his HP attacks are just as difficult to avoid.
    • His character profile in Dissidia 012 states that Gabranth's true power is unlocked when he dons his helmet, confirming that the helmet isn't just an aesthetic change to show his EX Mode, it really is the source of his strength. Doubles as a Mythology Gag for players familiar with his characterization in Final Fantasy XII.

In Dissidia

  • The Atoner: Seems to regret his past failures and mistakes and wants to make up for them, but doesn't make much progress.
  • I Shall Taunt You: As part of making sure the player isn't about to give up so easily.
  • Threshold Guardians: He guards the place the losers of the war get tossed. Earning your way back to the battlefield (and thus life) means fighting your way past him.

In Dissidia 012

  • Advertised Extra: Featured just as prominently in promotional materials as any other character, but ended up taking on an even smaller role than before — Dissidia at least displayed his storyline in the menu, but in Dissidia 012, the Gateway that approximates it is optional and out of the way to find, and outside that, he just gets a single scene in the Reports.
    • Some official quests feature him, though. It turns out that he rebelled against his mission, when he fought Shantotto again and she couldn't remember him, and didn't want to fight anymore. He thus resolves to escape the cycles, and is even willing to fight Chaos if he must. After a fight with Garland, he tries to kill himself, but this coupled with his defiance gets him sent into the Rift until he once again submits to the will of the gods and wants to fight again. He also fights Vaan when the latter stumbles into the Rift during one of the cycles. His attempted suicide is reflected upon by The Emperor and Garland once the former witnesses Sephiroth's suicide, speculating why Gabranth's failed while Sephiroth's succeeded.
  • Anti-Villain: He's trying to end the cycles of war like so many others. It just so happens he prefers to take on Cosmos to do it instead.
    • Edges towards Designated Villain — attacking Cosmos is the only villainous action we see him do, and it's understandable why he goes after her when you think his alternative for ending the war was to challenge Chaos. And, considering his opponent guarding Cosmos is Shantotto...
  • Took a Level in Badass: In Dissidia, he wasn't too impressive in his storyline boss fight, having weak boosters and some accessories to improve his EX Mode duration, but he still had to charge up his gauge and could be killed before that happened. In Dissidia 012 he instead has the Puppeteer's Wheel that is otherwise exclusive to Terra when under Kefka's control, giving him a full EX Gauge at the start of battle, +500% EX Mode duration, and +2000% EX Force absorption, which means even just a few motes will fill his gauge. He also has five "EX Mode" boosters hooked up to a Hyper Ring and an Attractorb. This means Gabranth will enter EX Mode as soon as the fight starts, will constantly absorb most of the EX Force in the arena so you can't get it, and his EX Gauge will practically never deplete. Your only hope is to Assist Break him and knock him out of EX Mode — assuming that you didn't kill your Assist on the board to get access to the two chests they were guarding before facing Gabranth. Oops.
  • Vocal Evolution: Keith Ferguson's performance doesn't use the accent he had in the original, and his overall tone is a little more subdued this time around.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top