As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
Fridge Brilliance
- How does Kefka absorb the power of the Warring Triad, he's a mortal and they're gods. Well, consider what we know of Espers — Odin was petrified and dissolved into Magicite at a touch, Locke says legends tell of Phoenix turning to stone, and in general of course, Magicite is an Esper's crystallized stone remains. Kefka absorbs the power of the Triad the same way the party absorbs power from their Magicite shards. And to take it a step further, Gestahl simply commands the Triad's power to stun the party, Kefka, having been at the Magitek Research Facility and learned about Magicite directly, takes their power for himself. Gestahl warns Kefka about awakening the Triad, which could be compared to the party's summoning of Espers from their Magicite shards.
- During Sabin's scenario, no matter how things play out, Shadow insists on leaving the party before they reach the Veldt. The background of his third nightmare sequence shows that is where he abandoned Billy/Baram, the source of all his suicide-inducing guilt. And when you find him in the World of Ruin, he's laying injured in a cave on the Veldt.
- Also, his nightmares don’t become available until your second meeting, so clearly being near the Veldt shook him.
- The Tunnel Armor boss seems like a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, a boss thrown into the end of Locke's scenario just to have a boss... the hint is in the name. "Tunnel Armor," which seems to be an underground digging machine, and is encountered shortly after the Gesthalian Empire conquered South Figaro and Figaro Castle burrowed away. Later in the game you find a tunnel dug from the Figaro cave into Figaro Castle, dug by sandworms. Tunnel Armor was ostensibly the Gesthalian Empire trying the same thing; digging through the Figaro cave to the castle. Then Locke escapes town with Celes, the Empire almost certainly finds out quickly, and the Tunnel Armor is given new orders to stop them from reaching Narshe.
- Why is the Ice Dragon so small? Probably because in Dungeons & Dragons, white dragons are the smallest of the chromatic dragons, and they're ice-elemental.
- The massive screen-nuking terror that is Goner in the final battle seems a bit excessive for what it is, but then look at what Kefka hit the world with right before their fight: continent-searing magic beams of pure destruction. He's likely straight up hitting you head-on with one of these, and presumably the only reason the party isn't wiped out in an instant is thanks to the empowering of Esper abilities they're likely geared up on at this point. At least, so long as you had time to heal after Heartless Angel.
- You have to get liquor for an old man - and the English version changes it to "Cider". This works surprisingly well even in the US - because "Cider" can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic. The game never says what - meaning it's all up to you to imagine if you're getting him alcoholic or non-alcoholic cider.
- Vargas uses a seemingly magic-based attack called Gale Cut, which seems out of place for a martial artist - until you realize that the then-strongest damaging Blitz available (as Phantom Rush is implied to have been developed over the Time Skip) is Air Blade. Vargas is trying to jump ahead to the strongest Blitz without putting in the work, and he’s not able to get anywhere close to its potential - unlike Sabin, who by the point he learns it will have put in the work.
- In the Pixel Remaster version, the full-vocal performance of the opera segment has Celes singing differently than the rest of the actors, certainly less operatic than anyone else. This makes sense when one remembers that Celes is a soldier and "not some opera floozy", so she naturally wouldn't sound like a trained singer.
- Two things about Final Fantasy VI just occurred to me today. The first comes during the section where you, as Celes, have to give fish to Cid while he is sick. For some reason, whenever you walk in, he's out of bed, and just walking back into bed as Celes approaches. Only now does it occur to me that while Celes was out, he was down in the basement working on the raft for her to use to find dry land! That's why you can't find the raft before he gets better/dies, he hasn't built it yet!
- Then there's the whole thing about the Slave Crown the Gesthalian Empire put on Terra. If they were raising her as a Tyke Bomb, why would they need to use the crown to shut down her individuality? The answer comes in the World of Ruin. Espers are not naturally emotional creatures. Most of the Espers seen are eerily calm, even when the Gesthalian Empire invades or when they're sacrificing themselves. Emotions are alien to them, and to their powers. When Terra becomes an orphan mom and begins to learn about emotions like love, the emotional turmoil causes her powers to wane to the point that she can't fight at all. The Gesthalian Empire must have realized that emotions drain Terra's powers, and used the Slave Crown to keep their weapon in top form at all times by shutting down her emotions.
- That doesn't explain why there is only ONE Slave Crown in the entire game. For something so useful, you'd think the Gesthalian Empire, with all of its wealth and resources, would be able to make AT LEAST a few more of those damn things wouldn't they? Maybe it would be a better investment than producing powered armor which can be beaten with bare hands and simple bladed weapons.
- But it does. The Gesthalian Empire didn't NEED the Slave Crown before it got its hands on Terra. Prior to that, they could rely on more conventional control techniques like propaganda or outright brainwashing to control their soldiers. But Terra's Half-Esper nature made those techniques ineffective. So naturally, they came up with a new method. Why is there only ONE Slave Crown in the entire game? Because it's the First one.
- Actually if you listen to the guy at the beginning of the game who explains the crown to Terra, he implies the slave crown is very common in the empire.
- Actually the functions of the slave crown pretty much ensure why it isn't widely used by the emperor. While you would want to have a loyal soldier the thing is if you're fighting a war you certainly don't want a soldier who can't think for themselves. One of the functions of the slave crown is the prevention of free thought, which is why Terra was sent with Biggs and Wedge to order her what to do. Also when one is funding a war one needs soldiers and in order to get more soldiers from their country they need people to procreate but you can't force them to have sex, cause that will get you no where, especially because the slave crowns can be removed, then you'd have a bunch of unloyal soldiers on your hands who may want revenge on you for controlling them. In this case just rearing the people so that they're loyal to you is far more effective than mass use of the slave crowns. You'd have several Terras on your hand who want revenge on you.
- Interesting note, Arvis seems to be QUITE familiar with slave crowns. He explains to Terra why she can't remember anything and is feeling dizzy. Now, either Arvis was in fact the inventor of the Slave Crown aiding the Returners over the guilt of building the thing or the Empire has employed their use enough that the Returners know how they work. Given that they can cause severe amounts of amnesia if damaged, it is most likely that the Gesthalian Empire doesn't was a risk of mind wiping anyone useful. At the very least it explains why they didn't just Slave Crown Celes once she proved troublesome.
- There's a lot about Terra's backstory that isn't really fleshed out. She looks identical to her adult self in the scene where the slave crown is put on, and Kefka's dialogue in that scene implies that the slave crown is a new development. How did they keep control of her for all the years in between her infancy and the day they put on the slave crown?
- I always assumed the crown was because Terra refused to use her powers to kill people.
- But Espers did have feelings. They were angry at the Empire when they attacked Vector, and they were in a hurry (screaming "We're coming to help you!" and stuff). At the very least TWO Espers felt love (Maduin and Odin, both loved a human woman, but I think of it as just a coincidence). One angrily blamed Madeline for the stuff that was happening to them. Also, Terra was unable to use her powers due to the confusion that came with her new-found love for the children (probably in a similar way to Garnet in FFIX), and when she came to recognize and accept her love, her magic in fact became STRONGER.
- Then there's the whole thing about the Slave Crown the Gesthalian Empire put on Terra. If they were raising her as a Tyke Bomb, why would they need to use the crown to shut down her individuality? The answer comes in the World of Ruin. Espers are not naturally emotional creatures. Most of the Espers seen are eerily calm, even when the Gesthalian Empire invades or when they're sacrificing themselves. Emotions are alien to them, and to their powers. When Terra becomes an orphan mom and begins to learn about emotions like love, the emotional turmoil causes her powers to wane to the point that she can't fight at all. The Gesthalian Empire must have realized that emotions drain Terra's powers, and used the Slave Crown to keep their weapon in top form at all times by shutting down her emotions.
- Everyone remember Gau's kooky father? The guy who is always looking for repairmen? Wonder why he's so obsessed with them. When I recently watched the scene where the party introduces Gau to him, I realized he said that he routinely has nightmares about the "demon child". What he did to his son still haunts him. And it's clearly driven him mad and ruined his life. He's obsessed with fixing and repairing things because he's desperate for someone to fix and repair the mistake he made all those years ago, when he left his son to die.
- And after you take Gau to see him, the father says everything's fixed. You did good. Or Alternate Character Interpretation - He was always crazy, therefore never mentally fit to be a father to begin with.
- That, or his insanity makes him violent.
- I always took it to mean that Gau's father's house is a dilapidated hovel and that most of his possessions were broken junk. His stove, at least, seems defective, given how your character burns their hand if they touch it. It would make sense that he'd let everything fall apart, given how he's completely nuts. The programmers couldn't depict everything because of technical limitations, the same way they don't depict things like the prison in Doma Castle holding the Imperial soldiers the Domans captured.
- Celes' Tear Jerker moment mirrors almost exactly the movements she goes through during the opera scene. The part where she throws the flowers from the balcony takes on a whole new meaning once you compare it to her throwing herself from the high cliff.
- Setzer's scars seem random at first until you consider that he's a) a gambler and general high-risk guy, and b) an airship pilot. Between bar fights and crashes, it's no wonder! Although that one straight down the eye seems nasty.
- Did Kefka really want to destroy the world merely For the Evulz? Looking at his Motive Rant before the final battle from a certain perspective, it seems his main issue was that everything that is created will eventually be destroyed, and is therefore meaningless. That would mean he saw destruction as the only permanent, all-encompassing force in the universe and, following his logic, the only thing that had any meaning. His words about creating a monument to non-existence seem to confirm that.
- That just adds a whole other level to the fact that you can snap Strago out of it without retrieving the Soul of Thamasa. Or you can retrieve the Soul of Thamasa without ever getting Strago himself back.
- Intentional or not, the game makes great use of existentialist themes. Each character goes through an existentialist crisis and will only rejoin you or gain new strength once they have been resolved:
- Celes losing Cid made her fear that she will be alone forever until she learned that her friends are still alive.
- Assuming Cid actually does die. It's been a long time since I played, but she seems a lot better if you manage to keep Cid alive.
- Terra was initially afraid that someone unnatural like her would be unable to feel love. This changes when her love for the orphans in Mobliz is what's needed to protect them.
- Locke feels guilt over causing the death of Rachel. After he revived her only to watch her die again, he can finally move on after hearing her tell him that it's not his fault.
- Better than that, he kept her the entire game up to that point, and even before stuck in that not-dead-but-not-alive limbo. He was LITERALLY unable to let her go until she absolved him.
- Edgar feels insecure over having to take over his father's role after his untimely death. When he hears that Figaro castle is stuck underground, he knew that his people's well being is more valuable than the treasures he allowed to get stolen.
- Gau and Gogo? The lulz.
- Gau and Gogo have identity crises. Gau is torn between monster and human, and his friendship with the Returners gives him a third option, finalized by the re-introduction to his father: he is himself, and he is happy with that. Gogo has no identity of their own, and the identity the Returners give them simply by inviting them to join is "one of us, a hero".
- Celes losing Cid made her fear that she will be alone forever until she learned that her friends are still alive.
Fridge Horror
- One of the pieces of Magicite Terra can equip, learn spells from and summon is her father's. Magicite are the remains of a dead Esper. Terra can equip her father's corpse.
- I personally had her always equip him, because her summoning her own father in battle felt appropriate. Against Kefka, it even felt satisfying.
- One of the most prominent examples is the fate of the non-playable Returners. They are never seen again in the World of Ruin and the fates of the officials such as Banon are never revealed. Just what happened to them?
- In fact, they (Banon, Arvis, and the Mayor of Narshe, as well as the other Returners) go missing earlier than that - right after the Empire betrays you in Thamasa, to be exact, when your other party members show up, having escaped from Vector to relay Gestahl's treachery. You also meet Shadow on the Floating Continent, saying the Empire tried to kill him. Odds are good that Banon et al were captured and executed.
- The Gesthalian Empire spent a lot of time trying to harness magical power for humans. Eventually, it's revealed that they did this by experimenting on captured Espers — but Espers only pass along their magic when they die and turn into Magicite. The Empire did not know this until the events of the game. The last raid on their home was performed when Terra was just a baby. That means that for almost twenty years, those Espers were imprisoned and experimented upon, knowing that any time one of them died they were just one test away from ensuring a death sentence for all of the rest of them...
- Puts an entirely different spin on when you get all their Magicite in the facility. It's not that they killed themselves to give you their power, it's that after twenty years of hanging on so as to not let the Empire understand the true nature of their power, they finally just...let go.
- It could also be that the Espers, after being drained of their power, were disposed of in the same way as Shiva and Ifrit. The ones that then subsequently die in the garbage dump become the various bits of Magicite you randomly find throughout the game.
- Well, there's also the fresh crop of Espers Kefka slaughters during his rampage in Thamasa.
- Puts an entirely different spin on when you get all their Magicite in the facility. It's not that they killed themselves to give you their power, it's that after twenty years of hanging on so as to not let the Empire understand the true nature of their power, they finally just...let go.
- In Final Fantasy VI, when you find Mog in the World of Ruin, he's just staring at a spot in the wall of the (now empty) moogle's den. If you search that spot, you find the Moogle's charm... in the SNES and PS versions. In the retranslated GBA version, the name given is "Molulu's Charm". Molulu was one of the Ten Moogles who fight to protect Terra way back in the Mines fight. Specifically, Molulu fought right next to Mog during the battle. And supplementary materials reveal that Molulu was Mog's girlfriend, and gave him the charm as a present. Mog is very likely the only Moogle spared from the apocalypse. He probably spent the entire year just forlornly staring at that charm, because it's all that's left of Molulu, of his entire people. And... when Kefka asks the party what they could possibly have that gives them the strength to keep living... Mog's only answer is "New pals, Kupo!". Because all his old friends are... Oh Mog!
- And it gets even better! The charm is an equippable Relic. Remember what it does? It stops Random Encounters. Molulu gave that charm to Mog to protect Mog from monsters. That charm is WHY Mog was the only Moogle to survive the apocalypse. And why Mog is totally alone.
- It gets waaaay better than that! Molulu was also the weakest of the moogles, which means she gave up her only chance at survival so he could live in her stead.
- And it gets even better! The charm is an equippable Relic. Remember what it does? It stops Random Encounters. Molulu gave that charm to Mog to protect Mog from monsters. That charm is WHY Mog was the only Moogle to survive the apocalypse. And why Mog is totally alone.
- A bit of Fridge Horror that takes a while to click. Gau's father abandons him on the Veldt. He puts a new born baby in the place where every monster in the world migrates. Yes Gau's father was insane but that still doesn't make the action itself any less heinous.
- But since he saw Gau as a monster, it makes a certain twisted kind of sense to put a newborn baby "monster" in a place full of other monsters. He thought he was returning the "monster" to its own kind.
- Magicite is only created when an Esper dies, right? Ever since the GBA port, Gilgamesh's Magicite has been an obtainable item. The series has often implied that Gilgamesh is the same person in each of his various appearances, as opposed to being a series of different, indigenous incarnations (like Bahamut or Cid). Does this mean the world of FINAL FANTASY VI is where Gilgamesh canonically dies?
- In some versions of the game, Gestahl expresses a wish to see Celes and Kefka conceive children to populate his new empire. If Celes had taken him up up on his offer atop the Floating Continent, rejoined the Gesthalian Empire, and borne Kefka's children, the children could have inherited insanity from their damaged father. Imagine a vast empire with powerful magic and technology at its disposal, being led by hopelessly insane mages. Players see how much damage one insane mage causes; how much damage could an entire family of insane mages do?
- No wonder they needed a self-help booklet.
- One scene shown during the destruction of the world is of a massive chasm opening in the earth. Some people can be seen grasping onto the crags and attempting to climb out, only for the chasm to suddenly shut again. The people stuck in there are not seen again. You can thank the technical limitations of the Super Nintendo, and perhaps Nintendo's 90's-era censorship policies, for not showing the chasm stained with blood and crushed bodies!
- The fact that the Flan monsters found in the Magitek Research Facility garbage chute have "Magicite shards" that can be stolen. Since the garbage chute is shown to be where the Gesthalian Empire puts Espers after completely draining their powers, this suggests that the Flans may eat them alive after they are dumped there, too weak to move or fight back, absorbing some of their essence in the process. Its even possible that the Empire purposefully put the Flans down there as a sort of biological waste disposal agent. And then there's all those empty Esper tubes...
- In the second half of the game, Strago is found at the Cult of Kefka, worshiping Kefka. An NPC at the base of the tower informs you that all the worshipers have sold their souls to Kefka. In the GBA version, the relic found at the top of the tower is the Soul of Thamasa. Thamasa is Strago's hometown. He sold his soul to Kefka, and that's why you have to climb the tower-to get it back!
