Final Fantasy/Characters/Recurring Summons
This page deals with recurring summons/eidolons/espers/guardian forces/aeons from the Final Fantasy series.
Alexander
An ancient war machine infused with holy power to protect man with it's signature move, the Holy-elemental "Divine Judgment".
- Arch Enemy: To Odin in Final Fantasy XI.
- Big Fancy Castle
- Beam Spam
- Final Boss: In of the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion in Final Fantasy XI.
- Frickin' Laser Beams
- Guardian Entity: Described as one to all mankind in some games.
- Holy Hand Grenade
- Humongous Mecha
- Light'Em Up: There are several Holy elemental summon across the series like Maduin and Ultima, but Alexander is more recurring and famous.
- Pride: In games where he can talk, he's very boastful, calling himself the Hallowed King and demanding worship from everyone to the point of Smug Snake. He can, however, back up those boasts.
- Shoulder Cannon: VIII's incarnation.
- Wave Motion Gun
Bahamut
The lord of all dragons who will only grant his alliegance to those who best him in battle. He burns enemies to ash and beyond with his trademark "Mega Flare".
- Authority Equals Asskicking: As noted under Red Baron below, he's usually known as some sort of king or god of monsters.
- The Cameo: Appears as a monster in Super Mario RPG
- I Have Many Names / Red Baron: The Hallowed Father, the First Sire, Dragon King, God of Eidolons, Conqueror of the Skies. Final Fantasy IV and Dissidia Final Fantasy almost invoke this trope by name when describing him.
- Kill All Humans: As part of his deal with Selh'teus, he and his army will kill all the Enlightened Races, thus prevent the Keeper of Apocalypse which born from them from awaking and stop the resurrection of Twilight God Promathia.
- Non-Elemental
- Noodle Incident: How he ended up inside Deathgaze's mouth is up to interpretation.
- The Obi-Wan: His role in Final Fantasy X.
- Our Dragons Are Different: To the point he can no longer to be considered dragon anymore.
- Pure Energy: Though Mega Flare began with a fire-elemental appearance, it was always Non-Elemental and has gradually evolved into just a blast of blue energy.
- Turtle Island: A kind of variation, Bahamut in Final Fantasy V was a dragon-shaped peninsula that transformed to his more familiar appearance after he took off to sky.
- Wave Motion Gun
- Younger Than They Look: Strongest storyline Aeon, this Badass giant dragon, not even Yuna has guts to dote on like many of her other Aeons, was no older than a young boy whose voice hasn't even cracked yet.
Chocobo
One of the two iconic races of the series, they're usually used as mounted steeds but are not to be underestimated in battle, where they use "Chocobo Kick" and "Choco Meteor" to great effect.
- Acrophobic Bird: Not all of them are flightless, but the ones you can summon in battle are.
- Colony Drop: Choco Meteor.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Chocobo's feather color differ their abilities.
- Goomba Stomp: The Chocobo's standard attack, Chocobo Kick, is actually this if its animation in Crisis Core is to be believed.
- Horse of a Different Color: Their main use in the series is as mounts.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter
- Series Mascot
- Summon Bigger Fish: Chocobo summon has a small chance of summoning the Fat Chocobo, which is larger than most Mook.
Diabolos
A giant winged demon that appears in the image of Satan, he is the Gravity summon that drains the energy of enemies with "Dark Messenger".
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: His battles apparently occurr inside people's dream. His Final Fantasy VIII incarnation dissolves the screen no matter where you decide to fight him and changes the battlefield into a pink-purple Amazing Technicolor Battlefield.
- Big Red Devil
- Bragging Rights Reward: In Final Fantasy VI you find his magicite after beating Kaiser Dragon, but by that time you've done everything in the game except the Soul Shrine.
- Casting a Shadow
- Dark Is Not Evil: Leans more to Knight Templar or Well-Intentioned Extremist than outright evil. Doesn't stop people from misunderstanding him because he is still rather manipulative in his actions.
- Dark World: His Dynamis, the alternate world of dream that span across Vana'diel he created to evacuate her people from mass murder of Bahamut and Promathia's suicidal crusade.
- Dream Weaver: Which put him in Well-Intentioned Extremist territory because it doesn't end well.
- Gravity Master
- Our Genies Are Different: In Final Fantasy VIII, he appeared from inside an Aladdin-esque lamp with warning written in bold. What makes him different from standard genies is that he looks more like Satan than anything else.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Isn't it ironic that he weak against gravity spells?
Ifrit
A flaming beast with a fiery man and long horns, it burns enemies with its signature "Inferno", also called "Hellfire".
- Art Evolution: Ifrit is gradually becoming more and more feral. In his debut, Final Fantasy III Ifrit is a horned humanoid wearing a kilt while in Final Fantasy X he is a giant dog / wolf with a flaming mane.
- Blood Knight: In Final Fantasy XI, leading to the death of his adoptive daughter Falbub at hands of people he had wronged, his disfigurement, and finally his Redemption Equals Death.
- Face Framed in Shadow: His Final Fantasy V incarnation and the only time he's portrayed this way.
- Hellfire
- Horned Humanoid: One thing that generally isn't changed across his incarnation, other than his ability to burn enemy to crisp.
- Kill It with Fire
- Our Genies Are Different: Ifrit (or efreeti) are a kind of genie allied with fire, as opposed to the better known djinn, which are allied with wind.
- Playing with Fire
Leviathan
A giant sea serpent that commands the ocean, he drowns enemies using "Tsunami" or "Tidal Wave".
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Second strongest in Final Fantasy IV, where he's the King of Eidolons.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: As Wutai's Guardian God.
- Defeat Means Friendship: He almost always has to be defeated before the party obtains his proper permission of his summon.
- Kill It with Water
- Kill Steal: In the tablet quest, Bartz and co. were ambushed by one of the Demons of the Rift. As the party prepared themselves, Leviathan suddenly appeared from behind a waterfall and one-shotted the demon. You are given an option to fight him instead for his summon ability.
- Making a Splash
- Kraken and Leviathan
- Red Baron: "Lord of All Waters".
- Stock Ness Monster
- Womb Level: His intestines are a dungeon in Final Fantasy II.
- Worthy Opponent: In Final Fantasy XI, he was an ordinary sea monster before his last fight against an old sea dog Veydal. As Leviathan and Veydal struck each other, Veydal's cowardly first mate tried to claim the victory as his own. Leviathan swam from across the ocean before dying on a beach, Veydal's sword planted in his skull as a proof of his bravery and heroic deed. This also carries on to other Final Fantasy games as well; Leviathan generally is very respectful to the people who had defeated him fair and square.
Odin
A knight riding a horse and armed with a blue sword, he can slay enemies with a single slash using "Zantetsuken".
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The King of Baron in Final Fantasy IV became Odin after he was killed and replaced by Cagnazzo.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Often appears as some sort of royal figure, or is found in a ruined castle to imply he used to be.
- BFS: His Zantetsuken. Notably the only Summon to have a recurring weapon.
- Bifurcated Weapon: In Final Fantasy XIII.
- Double Weapon: As above.
- Flaming Sword: In Crisis Core.
- Power Glows: The blade often has a blue aura, or is just plain blue.
- Sinister Scimitar: Almost always is curved, though how curved depends on each game.
- Black Knight/Knight in Shining Armor: It varies, but usually leans to the former.
- Cool Horse: Sleipnir, his four/six legged steed.
- Hellish Horse: When Odin looks fiercer than normal, it usually follows suit.
- Deal with the Devil: Deals with him is how several villains in Final Fantasy XI gain their power.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In Final Fantasy IV, it is mentioned he was beaten only once before when lightning struck his sword as he rose it in preparation to use Zantetsuken.
- Interspecies Romance: In Final Fantasy VI, with the queen of the ancient castle.
- One Hit KO
- Single-Stroke Battle
- Shock and Awe: In XIII
- Tears From a Stone: Not him, but his lover in Final Fantasy VI. If you found a secret chamber inside her room, you will see her petrified self crying. Splashing Odin's Magicite with said tear, and he will transform into a better Esper, Raiden.
- Time Limit Boss: Usually, Odin only gives one minute before he uses his Zantetsuken and Instant Kill your party.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Gungnir, his other attack if One-Hit Kill Zantetsuken doesn't work.
Ramuh
An ancient wizard armed with a magic staff, he isn't slow to anger, but when he is he strikes down enemies with "Judgment Bolt".
- Badass Beard
- Badass Grandpa
- Bolt of Divine Retribution
- Cool Old Guy: If the game explores his personality, he generally is this.
- Mr. Exposition: His role in Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IX, where he was telling the story of the War of Magi and a Mythology Gag of Josef's sacrifice respectively.
- Simple Staff: Ramuh and his omnipresent staff.
- Shock and Awe
- The Mentor: To Garnet in IX, and has shades towards Terra in VI.
- Wizard Beard.
Shiva
The Queen of Ice, she freezes enemies solid with "Diamond Dust".
- An Ice Person
- Cute Monster Girl
- Gender Blender Name: Named after a male god from Hindu mythology.
- Kill It with Ice
- Ms. Fanservice
- Stripperific: Never wears anything more than ribbons to conceal her breasts and pelvis. Sometimes the game disposes of even that and just covers her up with growths of ice.
- Tsundere: Standoff-ish and prone to anger, but never goes against her summoners' wishes and very loyal even to the most novice summoners.
- Informed Attribute: That's how Dissidia describes her, but her personality is never explored in-depth. And of course, it's not like a Summon can defy a Summoner anyway.
- Undying Loyalty: Her backstory behind her ascension in Final Fantasy XI involved a lot of betrayal from her family and friends except for the select few that literally froze to death alongside of her.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Titan
A gigas clad in a loincloth and bearing power over the earth, he rips apart fissures to bury enemies in with "Gaia's Wrath".
- Bald of Awesome: For some reason, tends to be depicted with a receding hairline.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Vana'diel always has that Fantastic Racism feel on him, making Titan's story a Tear Jerker on its own. Titan was a Beastman, a collective of races that were viewed as Exclusively Evil by the Enlightened Races, even though Titan's race was a peaceful race of nature loving giants. When he was captured and would be executed by a village of woodcutters, a girl that was treating his wounds tried to support his injured leg. He didn't want to crush the girl under his weight, so he kept his body straight before finally he Died Standing Up.
- Dishing Out Dirt
- Gentle Giant
- Nature Spirit
- Trademark Favorite Food: The Red Rubies.
- Weaksauce Weakness: His earth-flipping, ground-shattering bravado means nothing against anything flying or otherwise levitating, which accounts for a good percentage of Final Fantasy enemies.