Summary
TheFinal Fantasyfranchise has a reputation for featuring games that tell well-written and compelling stories. They nearly always have casts of playable main characters that are easy to root for and even easier to become attached to. Unfortunately for fans, some ofthe bestFinal Fantasygameshave a habit of killing off these characters.
Thankfully, these big character deaths are usually well done. When the franchise kills off a playable character, it’s normally done to further the story, not for cheap shock value. These deaths hit hard because the characters are so well-realized, and the fates of the characters below left many fans reaching for the tissues.
Let’s start with one of the most infamous deaths in all of gaming - Aerith being murdered by Sephiroth. Aerith is arguably one ofthe best female characters in the franchiseand no one was expecting her to get taken out just as she was reaching out to the planet to gain the Holy materia.
Her death isn’t foreshadowed and everything that comes before indicates that Aerith is going to stick around until the end. She’s even one of Cloud’s two romance options. Her death puts everything that came before it in a new light and makes the Golden Saucer section particularly bittersweet. Her death hangs over both the player and the characters for the rest of the game and gives the game’s already excellent story some real “oomph.” Aerith’s death was also somewhat of a turning point in gaming history, helping prove that games were an art form that could tell heartfelt, meaningful stories.
Auron’s death at the end ofFinal Fantasy 10is proof that not all character deaths have to be sad. It’s revealed toward the game’s end that Auron is an unsent, meaning he’s been dead for the entire game. Several years before the game’s events, Auron saw his best friends Braska and Jecht sacrifice themselves in the battle against Sin. Seeing their sacrifice as pointless, he went and confronted the game’s big bad, Yunalesca.
Yunalesca easily put the aging warrior down, but Auron was just too stubborn to die. He continues to cling to the world of Spira, refusing to pass on until his mission is complete. When that finally happens, he’s able to return to the Farplane in peace, and one ofFinal Fantasy’s most cynical charactersgets a well-deserved rest.
EarlyFinal Fantasygames had a bad habit of making characters sacrifice themselves only to bring them back a little later. Much like in comic books, it got to the point that when an important character died, fans just expected them to pop back up, right as rain. However, withFinal Fantasy 4’s Tellah, they pulled an Uncle Ben.
For the most part, temporary party members have been avoided but Tellah was around long enough to be included. This aging mage could be a bit of a jerk, but he redeemed himself in his final moments. In his climactic battle against Golbez, he uses up his life force to cast the powerful Meteor spell. The effort costs him his life and the game’s writers made the brave decision to keep him dead.
EarlierFinal Fantasygames featured their fair share of character deaths, but Galuf’s was the first one that hit hard. Around halfway through the game, the party is fighting Exdeath (a constant thorn in their side) when the boss traps the party in crystals and begins taunting them. It looks like game over until Galuf manages to break free and starts a 1v1 fight with the boss.
The hero is hopelessly outmatched but manages to survive some of Exdeath’s most deadly attacks. Even after his HP hits zero, Galuf continues fighting, forcing Exdeath to flee. Only then does he succumb to his many injuries, passing on his powers to his granddaughter, Krile. This noble sacrifice cemented Galuf as one ofFinal Fantasy’s most selfless characters. His death was an emotional gut punch in a game mostly remembered for its upbeat, light-hearted storytelling.
Final Fantasy 6is one of the most beloved of all theFinal Fantasygames. That’s largely thanks to its brilliant storytelling and cast of well-written, fleshed-out characters. Whether they behard-to-unlock secret characters, or mandatory characters available from the start, none of the game’s characters are duds. Surprisingly, one of the game’s most iconic characters, Shadow, can die twice. Kind of.
Shadow’s first death can come at the hands of the player. Rather comically, if the player decides to escape the Floating Continent before Shadow can arrive, he’s presumed dead. Of course, everyone loves Shadow, so only a heartless monster would do that. His second death is a bit more ambiguous and comes at the end of the game. As Kefka’s tower is about to explode, players see Shadow stop running and seemingly embrace his fate. His body is never seen, but Shadow hints throughout the game that he’s acquainted with death, so his ending isn’t too surprising.
Final Fantasy 15’s story had so much potential. One ofthe best RPGs where the main character is royalty, it has Prince Noctis setting off on an epic road trip with his bros so that he can marry his childhood sweetheart and put an end to a dreadful war. Then the evil Ardyn turns up and throws a massive spanner in the works.
Unfortunately, the creators ofFinal Fantasy 15wasted a lot of its plot’s potential with wobbly storytelling, poor pacing, and a reliance on fans being willing to consume extra media. The game’s ending does stick the landing, though. To beat Ardyn, Noctis discovers he must sacrifice himself by ascending to the Throne of Crystal and using the power of the Crystal and the Ring of the Lucii to annihilate Ardyn in the afterlife. The game’s ending sequence sees Noctis reunited with his fiancé Luafreya in the afterlife. Just before, fans see his final night reuniting with his three companions. It’s a real tear-jerker of an ending that highlights the best aspects of the game’s otherwise messy story.
Vivi’s death shouldn’t hit as hard as it does since it’s so heavily foreshadowed. The adorable Vivi, one ofFinal Fantasy’s most iconic characters, is a Black Mage. That means he’s a man-made creature formed from mist, designed to be a soul-less killing machine.
InFinal Fantasy 9, Black Mages are meant to be disposable soldiers, and as such, they have finite lifespans. During the game, fans learn that poor Vivi has a year max before his time runs out. Tragically, that means that at some point between the game’s final boss and Zidane’s return during the game’s final cutscene, Vivi passed away. That might come as a shock to some, even all these years later. It’s not immediately clear that Vivi is one of the ending’s two narrators during the ending montage, since some of the narration’s nuance was lost during the translation from Japanese to English.
8Tidus - Final Fantasy 10
A Dream That Fades
Tidus might not beFinal Fantasy’s most popular protagonist, but it’s hard to deny just how good his ending is. Technically, Tidus doesn’t die exactly. Instead, as a Fayth from Dream Zanarkand, he simply fades away after the game’s heroes finally manage to defeat Sin.
That’s being a bit pedantic though. For all intents and purposes, Tidus helps save the day and then dies, fading away as his true love, Yuna, tries to embrace him one final time. It’s one of the most heart-breaking endings in the entire series, making the game’s otherwise happy ending bittersweet. On the bright side, it’s possible to bring Tidus back at the end ofFinal Fantasy 10-2, but the player has to jump through so many hoops to do so that for most fans, Tidus stays dead.
It’s hard to put into words just how upsetting Zack’s death is inFinal Fantasy 7: Crisis Core. Fans knew going in that Zack didn’t get a happy ending since his story was briefly told during the main events ofFinal Fantasy 7. That doesn’t mean fans were prepared. The game did an epic job of fleshing out Zack’s character and making him one ofFinal Fantasy’smost lovable protagonists. He’s loyal, brave, funny, innocent, and obsessed with being a hero - traits that ultimately get him killed.
Toward the game’s end, Zack is forced to fight off an entire army of Shinra troops to protect Cloud. He fights valiantly, but no matter what the player does, Zack is doomed. Eventually, the injuries mount, and Zack succumbs, executed by Shinra’s grunts. What makes the ending hit so hard is that the player controls Zack throughout his final moments, watching as he becomes increasingly exhausted and his DMW glitches with memories of those he loves. The real kicker is that he almost made it home to Midgar, where a young Aerith was waiting for him.
