What is it that makes theFinal Fantasyseries so renowned? There arefew older or more acclaimed examples of the JRPG/RPG series, and this must be largely to do with the fact that they perfectly incorporate all the crucial elements of the genre(s): Worlds in peril, troubled protagonists, wide arrays of weapons and armor to select from, party customization, engaging battle systems and, maybe more importantly than all of this, deep plots and close character relationships to explore at length.
The sibling relationship is perhaps one of the closest of all. With fierce rivalries, silly in-jokes and an undercurrent of pure love underpinning it all, there’s just something about having or being a brother (or both) that hits right at the emotional core. In the world of Final Fantasy, some brothers fight together. Some on opposite sides. Some are biologically related, others are not. Some are main party members, while others are secondary characters, or even summon monsters. All of the brothers explored here are worthy of the name, however.
Final Fantasy 8’s summon monsters, or Guardian Forces, are quite an eclectic bunch. Quezacotl is the game’s Thunder GF in place of series stalwart Ramuh, for one thing. For another, the Earth GF is a pair of minotaur siblings: Sacred is the youngest and Minotaur is the eldest. They appear in the Tomb of the Unknown King, should the player choose to venture further inside after finding the student ID they need to proceed in the story.
Sacred is encountered first in the Tomb, battled individually. He then reports to his elder brother, and the pair are very impressed when Squall’s team bests them both. So much so, in fact, that they join as a Guardian Force. Their attack when summoned, Brotherly Love, boasts an animation that demonstrates their fist-bumping bond. The abilities they learn, too, focus on increasing the equipped character’s HP and defensive capabilities (via the Junction system,one of the games' most intriguing systems), further emphasizing the Brothers’ theme of support for each other. Ultimately, though, they’re very plot-insignificant, and can be completely skipped.
Final Fantasy 9’s plot does take the title to some dark places indeed, but the game has an overall whimsical, storybook quality that endears it to players. The good-natured thieves of Tantalus are testament to this. There’s a huge bond of brotherhood that exists among the group, though they are not biologically related to each other (with the exception of the Nero brothers). There’s no closer pair among them than Marcus and Blank, both of whom are pivotal to the game’s earlier events and join the player’s party temporarily as it goes on.
Marcus considers Blank his “Bro” and refers to him as such, risking his own life to acquire the Supersoft to cure Blank after his petrification in Evil Forest. The pair are a sort of double act who are often seen together, both in moments of comic relief and more poignant and heroic ones. This is true of Tantalus in a wider sense, too. Watching them band together to rebuild their home after the attack on Lindblum, and watching the complex relationship between Zidane and Baku develop, makes it clear that they’re much more than secondary characters. They’re brothers. It’s just a shame that we seem to see less and less of them later asthe long and involved story unfolds.
5Lann: World Of Final Fantasy
This Twin Fought To Save The World With His Sister And Sacrificed Himself In The Attempt
In World of Final Fantasy, Lann seems to adopt the traditional roles of both a younger and elder brother. He is at once excitable, enthusiastic, and exasperating, but also protective of his sister. The pair uses their unique position as Mirage Keepers to collect and battle alongside Mirages, “stacking” with them in battle to make unique loadouts and selections of abilities.
There’s something truly real about the siblings’ relationship, as fantastical as the game’s setting is. They squabble but they truly care for each other above all else. Everything comes to a head at the end of what appears to be the final battle: Lann, wracked with guilt about their parents’ death and the fate of Grimoire, is lost as he mounts one final attack, locking both himself and Brandelis away. Tama is able to reverse his fate, at great cost, but this scene has a lot to say about the strength of a brother’s love.
Often, the Final Fantasy series makes it quite clear who the villain is. Dark-hued armor, glowing eyes, a general air of malevolence, perhaps a horn or two … this isn’t always a lot of room in such character designs for misinterpretation. Nonetheless, there are those who surprise you. Between Final Fantasy 4 and follow-up Final Fantasy 4: The After Years, we learn that there’s so much more to Golbez than meets the eye.
This formidable warrior was effectively forced into his role as the party’s antagonist against his will. It isn’t until the battle against the Babil Giant that Golbez is restored to himself, and when he is, his true allegiance is revealed. Supporting Cecil, Golbez joins the party in The After Years, a magical and physically powerful teammate who protects his brother from attack and can get himself killed in the process at one point depending on the player’s party makeup.
The siblings’ tale is a tragic one, but Golbez overcoming his enforced vendetta against his brother and ultimately laying down his life for him is indicative of his pure love.
When Final Fantasy 10-2 was created, it was an opportunity for the developers to further explore the characters, world, and overarching lore ofFinal Fantasy 10’s popular story. With each mainline Final Fantasy entry being so distinct and disconnected from each other, this opportunity hasn’t typically presented itself as sequels have gone by. This has left a lot of intriguing side-characters without much backstory. Rikku’s brother, Brother, was one such character, though he proves himself through the course of the main game to be a bold leader and fighter.
In 10-2, he joins the core trio as the Celsius’ pilot, an essential part of the operation and a trusted ally. In the original game, he is a formidable ally too, though of a very different kind: He makes a valuable member of the player’s Blitzball squad if they can recruit him.
Brother is determined to support and protect his sister and his cousin, fearing the danger that Rikku puts herself in by opting to be one of Yuna’s Guardians. Feeling great affection for both of them, but not wanting to intrude too much on their lives, he’s another good example of what it means to be a big brother.
Brotherhood is a powerful and fascinating bond. In the case of Final Fantasy 15’s Somnus Lucis Caelum and his brother Ardyn, affection between the pair was thin on the ground, owing to the circumstances into which they were born and their attitudes toward each other. It would be Somnus’ kingdom in the end, though each resented the other’s claim to it.
The sibling conflict may have been long played out by the time of Noctis and his allies in the main game, but in the wider universe of the title, we get to see more of how it played out. Ardyn may have risen to be a main antagonist of Final Fantasy 15, but he was far more multi-faceted. He was a Starscourge-afflicted would-be hero cast aside and deceived by his brother Somnus, who himself was ruthless but fought for a better world. The complex bond between them, though wrought, reflects how very binding family ties can be, with each sibling ultimately lamenting the path trodden by the other.
Though they could be easily dismissed as mere villains for their individual actions, there’s a lot more to the tragic story of these two brothers.
Final Fantasy 16 is anything but a bright and positive tale.The world itself is beset by a growing affliction, tyrants use their political and military influence to brutally oppress those who would resist them, and the player must endure some set pieces that are truly horrific to behold. One example is Ifrit’s ruthless pummeling of Phoenix at the culmination of the assault on Phoenix Gate.
In the aftermath of this tragedy,famed swordsman Cliveslowly arrives at the realization that he killed his brother. Joshua, we learn, survived this shocking event, unbeknownst to the then-vengeful Clive. In the guise of Margrace, he later sets out on his own journey with the fate of the world at stake. Only during a battle against Ultima, during which the remnants of the party are almost destroyed, does a wounded Clive get a glimpse of his brother, whose timely intervention saved him.
Early in the game, Joshua (aside from Phoenix) appears as something of an innocuous young boy, ill-suited for combat and the scale of the disaster he would face. As such, his loving shield, Clive, feels all the more responsible for and protective of him. The weight of the game’s grim events weighs heavy on them both, but they never lose sight of their bond.
