The Top Ten

Here we go, the final post. The top ten. The post where I have to draw out the introduction as much as possible to build the suspense. And what better way to do that than to do a recap of the honourable mentions, and numbers 100 to 11? Here’s the list so far:

Honourable mentions
Angeal Hewley (CC)	Paddra Nsu-Yeul (XIII-2)	Al-Cid Margrace (XII)
Tellah (IV)	Gippal (x-2)	Chocobo (Various)
Luneth (III)	Jenova (VII)	Barthandelus (XIII)
Brother (X)	Edward Chris Von Muir (IV)	Penelo (XII)
No. 100 to 71
100. Emperor Mateus (II)	90. Eiko Carol (IX)	80. Rufus Shinra (VII)
99. Agrias Oaks (Tactics)	89. Odin (Various)	79. Wakka (X)
98. Rosa Joanna Farrell (IV)	88. Selphie Tilmitt (VIII)	78. Shiva (Various)
97. Cait Sith (VII)	87. Cid (X)	77. Amarant Coral (IX)
96. Garland (IX)	86. Rude (VII)	76. Bartz Klauser (V)
95. Barthello (X)	85. Ultros (VI)	75. Sabin Rene Figaro (VI)
94. Hope Estheim (XIII)	84. Cid Fabool IX (IX)	74. Cidolfus Orlandeau (Tactics)
93. Ultimecia (VIII)	83. Cid Raines (XIII)	73. Genesis Rhapsodos (CC)
92. Anima (X)	82. Golbez (IV)	72. Caius Ballad (XIII-2)
91. Leo Cristophe (VI)	81. Mog (Various)	71. Garland (I)
No. 70 to 41
70. Firion (II)	60. Quina Quen (IX)	50. Yuffie Kisaragi (VII)
69. Adelbert Steiner (IX)	59. Delita Heiral (Tactics)	49. Galuf Halm Baldesion (V)
68. Bahamut (Various)	58. Seymour Guado (X)	48. Snow Villiers (XIII)
67. Cidolfus Demen Bunansa (XII)	57. Edea Kramer (VIII)	47. Paine (X-2)
66. Irvine Kinneas (VIII)	56. Gabranth (XII)	46. Noel Kreiss (XIII-2)
65. Faris Scherwiz (V)	55. Cid Pollendina (IV)	45. Freya Crescent (IX)
64. Vaan (XII)	54. Setzer Gabianni (VI	44. Zell Dincht (VIII)
63. Questis Trepe (VIII)	53. Reno (VII)	43. Basch Fon Ronsenburg (XII)
62. Edge Geraldine (IV)	52. Gilgamesh (V)	42. Serah Farron (XIII)
61. Cyan Garamonde (VI)	51. Edgar Roni Figaro (VI)	41. Kimahri Ronso (X)
No. 40 to 11
40. Oerba Dia Vanille (XIII)	30. Barret Wallace (VII)	20. Sephiroth (VII)
39. Kuja (IX)	29. Celes Chere (VI)	19. Kefka Palazzo (VI)
38. Seifer Almasy (VIII)	28. Rydia (IV)	18. Cecil Harvey (IV)
37. Ashelia B’nargin Dalmasca (XII)	27. Aerith Gainsborough (VII)	17. Cid Highwind (VII)
36. Jecht (X)	26. Oerba Yun Fang (XIII)	16. Laguna Loire (VIII)
35. Ramza Beoulve (Tactics)	25. Rinoa Heartilly (VIII)	15. Tifa Lockhart (VII)
34. Garnet Til Alexandros XVII (IX)	24. Sazh Katzroy (XIII)	14. Rikku (x)
33. Locke Cole (VI)	23. Fran (XII)	13. Zack Fair (VII)
32. Beatrix (IX)	22. Red XIII (VII)	12. Terra Branford (VI)
31. Shadow (VI)	21. Tidus (X)	11. Vincent Valentine (VII)

Now, with that outta the way, here’s the top ten.

10. Zidane Tribal (Final Fantasy IX)

Ooo, soft...

Hey look, a monkey. How could anyone seriously think this guy is an Angel of Death? Zidane was created by Garland (NOT “Knock You Down” guy) to cause unrest and death, after branding his brother Kuja a failure. This infuriated Kuja, who left him in Lindblum in hopes he would never know of or even complete his purpose. He was raised by Baku, a member of the Tantalus Theatre Group. Zidane thinks of himself as quite the ladies’ man, hitting on many of the women in the game, even conducting an experiment to find out how soft Garnet’s butt is.

9. Lulu (Final Fantasy X)

"No matter how dark the night, morning always comes, and our journey begins anew."

Wow lady, who died? Other than your parents. And your summoner. And your boyfriend. Lulu is one of Yuna’s original three guardians. Yuna is her third summoner, after Lady Ginnem (died getting Yojimbo) and Father Zuke (quit in the Calm Lands). When Yuna decided to be a summoner Lulu was against it, but changed her mind because Yuna chose this path knowing what would happen. Despite the fact Wakka says she has a short fuse, Lulu is actually fairly patient with Tidus (whom she acts as a mentor for). No-one knows how she controls the dolls she uses as weapons.

8. Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)

"Maybe Cocoon is past saving, but it's our home. And we'll protect it or die trying! We live to make the impossible possible! That is our Focus!"

Finally, a clear female protagonist. On Lightning’s 21st birthday, her sister Serah drops two bombshells on her: she’s fated to be a Pulse l’Cie and that she’s engaged to Snow (leader of NORA whom Lightning bitterly dislikes). Lightning refuses to believe either of these until she finds out there’s a Pulse fal’Cie in the Vestige. She tries to save Serah with the help of Sazh, but after attacking Anima everyone present was branded a l’Cie. Her real name is Claire Farron, but she changed it to Lightning because “it flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys”.

Please note: Of the ten characters from Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 to make the list, Lightning ranked the highest.

7. Balthier (Final Fantasy XII)

“Ah, the prison repository of wrested relics and raiments.” “So, our things are in here?” ”That's what I said.”

One of the perks of being the leading man is that you can never die. Ffamran mied Bunansa (or Balthier) is a sky pirate and ex-Archadian Judge (quite the career change). He is also the son of Dr. Cid, one of the game’s main antagonists. He speaks with a British accent, and has a tendency to be extremely calm in almost every situation (often making witty comments in the process). He is a kind-hearted person, though he tends to mostly be motivated by money or anything valuable. He is also “good friends” with Fran, despite the age and race difference.

Please note: Of the seven characters from Final Fantasy XII to make the list, Balthier ranked the highest.

6. Kain Highwind (Final Fantasy IV)

"I owe His Majesty much, but not so much I'd soil the Dragoons' name in his."

You know that fine line that separates good and evil? Well, this man plays jump rope with it. The first Dragoon of the series who can actually Jump, Kain is Cecil’s best frienemy. The two have been rivals since childhood, with Cecil usually winning (from the love of the king to the love of Rosa). At the start of the game when Cecil is being relieved of his duty as head of the Red Wings, Kain steps in to defend him, but gets demoted too. Throughout the game, Kain frequently gets possessed by Golbez, who is being possessed by Zemus.

Please note: Of the seven characters from Final Fantasy IV to make the list, Kain ranked the highest.

5. Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII)

“Someday you're bound to lose everything. Everybody around will be gone. Then what are you left with? Nothing. Nobody... It's so miserable. And inevitable. It's so hard to recover from something like that. I never want to deal with that again. I can't. Even if it means being alone.”

“Hey Squall, you’re on the list of the most popular Final Fantasy characters of all time”. “Whatever”. Maybe this is where nearly every teenager gets their standard response to everything from. The gunblade wielding emo from the eighth instalment has some serious abandonment issues, stemming from the unexplained disappearance of his sister Ellone. However, he does still have emotions; they’re just being very heavily suppressed. Squall is the SeeD commander, and also has a long standing rivalry with Seifer Almasy, another orphan who uses a gunblade. During a fight between the two, they gave each other almost identical facial scars.

Please note: Of the ten characters from Final Fantasy VIII to make the list, Squall ranked the highest.

4. Yuna (Final Fantasy X)

“My father... my father wanted... to make Spira's sorrow go away. Not just cover it up with lies!”

Sweet and innocent. Those are the first words that come to mind whenever someone mentions Yuna. She is extremely kind-hearted and strong willed, though these traits are actually faults because she can’t say no when someone asks for help. Despite the fact she is constantly surrounded by death (on many occasions of those she cares for) there is only one occasion when she has been reduced to tears, when the group had just fled Bevelle as traitors and Yuna had been forced to marry an unsent Seymour Guado (her clenched fist as she kissed him is something I’ll never forget).

3. Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all... there's not a thing I don't cherish!"

Wow, Cloud made the list? Who’d have thought that would happen? At the start of the game, Cloud is a mercenary for hire, who has been hired by anti-Shinra group AVALANCHE to help take them down. He doesn’t really care about their goals, as long as he gets paid. That is, until he finds out that Professor Hojo experimented on him, making him think he was Zack, an old friend of his. Cloud’s rivalry with Sephiroth is not only the series’ most famous and bitter rivalry, but one of the gaming world’s most famous rivalries (sorry Pokemon’s Red and Blue).

Please note: Of the fifteen characters from Final Fantasy VII and related games to make the list, Cloud ranked the highest.

2. Vivi Orunitier (Final Fantasy IX)

How do you prove that you exist...? Maybe we don't exist..."

Aren’t you a little young to be here? Vivi is a black mage (in case you couldn’t tell from his clothes) created by Kuja for Queen Brahne. However, he escaped by falling off the cargo ship. He is first seen after getting a ticket to see “I Want To Be Your Canary”, which unfortunately is a fake. Vivi sneaks in, but is discovered in the crowd. He is chased onto the stage where he casts a fire spell to defend himself. However, it misses and hits Garnet’s cloak. While often unconfident about his abilities, he’s actually a powerful black mage.

Please note: Of the twelve characters from Final Fantasy IX to make the list, Vivi ranked the highest.

And now, the number one spot goes to...

1. Auron (Final Fantasy X)

“Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain, or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!”

Why can I smell death? Oh, that’s right, because not even the Grim Reaper can stop this badass samurai. Auron is easily Spira’s most famous guardian, not only defending Braska ten years prior to the events of the game, but then defending his daughter Yuna, who brought the Eternal Calm (spoiler alert). He is the strong, silent character of the game, partly to keep some of the dark secrets of Yevon from the rest of the party. However, he has no problem with telling Tidus these secrets, including that his father Jecht is Sin. He’s this game’s oldest playable character.

Please note: Of the thirteen characters from Final Fantasy X and X-2 to make the list, Auron ranked the highest. In case you haven’t been paying attention to the numbers.

There you have it everyone. Auron took out the top spot. Now that's it's over, what did you think of the list? Did it seem right to you? Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think. To all of you I say: Merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) and a Happy New Year...assuming the Mayans don't kill us on Friday. I'll see you in 2037 for the top 200 characters of all time.

50 to 41.

Halfway there folks. Last week we saw the characters who just missed out on making the top half of the list, this week we check out the characters that just made it to the top half. Here we go.

                                        

50. Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII)

“Alright, who's been touching my materia?”

Where the hell is my Materia? Yuffie was born around the end of the Wutai War, and grew up while Wutai turned into a tourist attraction. Yuffie has an obsession with Materia, which stems from learning what it is in Before Crisis. In Crisis Core, she steals Zack’s Bahamut Fury Materia, but sends it back because she doesn’t know how to use it. In Final Fantasy VII, she steals the party’s Materia and she must be chased and saved before you get it back. She is one of the characters Cloud can date, and the only one to kiss him.

49. Galuf Halm Baldesion (Final Fantasy V)

“Whose idea was it to steal that pirate ship, anyway?”

Okay old man, remember, you’re a king. Galuf is Final Fantasy V’s oldest playable character (out aging any three of the others). Thirty years prior to the game, he and three other warriors sealed Exdeath in crystals on the First World. When he heard that the crystals were weakening, he returned in a meteor. Upon landing, his weapons and armour were destroyed and he had amnesia. His only memory is that he had to get to the Wind Shrine. Together with his new friends Bartz, Lenna and Faris, they become Warriors of Light and work together to stop Exdeath’s revival.

Please note: Of the four characters from Final Fantasy V to make the list, Galuf is the highest of them.

48. Snow Villiers (Final Fantasy XIII)

“"The heroes never die. Come on. We've got a world to save."”

He may not be the main character, but that doesn’t make him any less of a hero. Snow is the leader and founder of NORA, and SerahFarron’s fiancée. Lightning has a great dislike of Snow, which grows even more when Serah is crystallised. Despite how bleak any given gets, Snow always remains optimistic, sometimes to the point of obnoxiousness. He also has a tendency to “act first, think later” (Lightning even says his best quality is that he’s “too stubborn to die”). Hope blames him for the death of his mum, but forgives him when he saves his life.

47. Paine (Final Fantasy X-2)

"The hardest person to know is yourself."

This is what Lulu would look like if she used a sword. During the events of Final Fantasy X (though unknown to the player), Paine was a recorder for the Crimson Squad in the Den of Woe. No-one was meant to survive this; however she escaped alongside Baralai, Gippal and Nooj. When the group decided to split up, Nooj shot each of them (while being possessed by Shuyin), leaving the group for dead. Two years later Paine joined the Gullwings in hopes of finding out what happened two years ago, claiming that she “always wanted to fly on [the Celsius]”.

46. Noel Kreiss (Final Fantasy XIII-2)

"You want her? Then you're gonna have to go through me!"

Did nobody tell Noel screwing with time is a BAD idea? Noel was living in a world where there were three people left: himself, Yeul, and Caius. Noel was Caius’s student, and once Noel proved himself to be strong enough he was to become Yeul’s new guardian. However, this meant killing Caius, which Noel refused to do. Caius fights Noel and wins, before heading to Valhalla. Noel follows a while later, and teams up with Lightning to fight Caius. Lightning tells Noel to find her sister and bring her to Valhalla. As he escapes he loses most of his memory.

45. Freya Crescent (Final Fantasy IX)

"What irony. To find the man about whom I have dreamt endlessly... only to discover that he cannot even remember who I am!"

Stalking someone you like? Not creepy at all. Freya is a friend of Zidane’s who’s on a quest to find an old flame of hers, Sir Fratley. The party meets her in Lindblum where she joins the Festival of the Hunt, and encourages Zidane to do the same. When a Burmecian soldier tells them of a black mage attack, she travels with Zidane and Vivi (and later Quina) to help them. She does eventually find Sir Fratley, however he’s suffering from amnesia and doesn’t remember her. Regardless, the two grow close to each other at the end of the game.

44. Zell Dincht (Final Fantasy VIII)

"Why don't you try to show a little more passion...? You know, like me!"

“Hey Squall, want a hotdog?” “Whatever.” Before he was adopted, Zell was at the same orphanage as Squall and Selphie. Because his adoptive grandfather was a legendary soldier, Zell wanted to be like him. At the age of thirteen, he joined Balamb Garden to train. After passing the SeeD field exam, Zell, Squall and Selphie are made to assist the Forest Owls to liberate Timber, an order they reluctantly follow. Unlike the other members of the party, Zell doesn’t use a weapon, preferring to punch and kick his opponents. His personality is basically the exact opposite of that of Squall.

43. Basch Fon Ronsenburg (Final Fantasy XII)

"If I could protect but one person from war's horror... then I would bear any shame. I would bear it proudly."

Ondore, you said he was dead. Basch was born and grew up in Landis with his twin brother Noah. Seventeen years later, Archadia attacked and Basch fled to Dalmasca where he became a soldier. Basch loyally served Dalmasca (even foiled an Archadian assassination on King Raminas). Archadia soon launched a devastating attack on Dalmasca. Basch went to defend Raminas, but was attacked by Noah (thought to be dead). Noah told him he only answered to Gabranth, before defeating Basch and killing Raminas. Framed for the murder, Basch remained imprisoned for two years, before being broken out by the player’s party.

42. Serah Farron (Final Fantasy XIII)

"Running away and leaving behind the people you care about? That isn't love. Though you might just want to keep them safe, shutting them out of your life only hurts them more. The point is, I have people I can count on. I'll make it through."

Little sisters.Always trying to outdo their older siblings.SerahFarron is Lightning’s little sister and Snow’s fiancée. In Final Fantasy XIII she is a non-playable character, but still plays a major role in the plot. Serah is turned into al’Cie by Pulse fal’Cie Anima, and after she crystallises Lightning and Snow make it their mission to save her. In Final Fantasy XIII-2 she becomes the main character, travelling through time with Noel and Mog to correct many paradoxes and save Lightning. Despite having very little (if any) battle experience prior to the game, Serah is a competent fighter.

41. Kimahri Ronso (Final Fantasy X)

"Yuna needs Kimahri. Kimahri protect Yuna."

Wasn’t this guy in Avatar? The six and a half foot tall blue mage (get it, BLUE mage) is Yuna’s longest serving guardian, taking up the job after a dying Auron pleaded with him to take Yuna to Besaid and fulfil his promise to Braska. When his job was done, he tried to leave, but Yuna begged him to stay until he agreed. He initially takes a dislike to Tidus, after he burst into the temple without being a guardian. Kimahri is thought of as an inferior Ronso, due to being short (by Ronso standards) and having a broken horn.

Well, that’s it for this week. Stay tuned for next week, when I’ll reveal numbers 40 to 31 (couldn’t think of a better cliff-hanger than that). Until then, seeya.