A Poetic Tribute to Final Fantasy
Today is the thirtieth anniversary of Final Fantasy’s original Japanese release. To commemorate and celebrate, I wrote this series of poems looking back on each of the main, numbered, single-player entries.
In kingdom far and lands of old The world gems dark, their light gone dry Bold need be those who’ll save all life In strangers’ hands, Crystals raised high
From where they come None e'er will know Their strength and spirit They must now show
Across the bridge To lands anew To destroy the four So light shines through
A fallen knight, In time he waits For heroes four To meet their fates
Flames consume four warriors’ world Twas empire brought the storm Midst a field of wild roses Their resistance takes its form
Lost in the darkness A friend, a brother Not for kingdoms do they war But for him, and for each other
‘Cross fields of snow And through palaces of hell They fight for freedom, And for those who fell
The light and the shadow Though often opposed In a world of darkness Now no longer foes
New Heroes of Light Young, yes, though not weak Will cross between worlds Their dark shadows they seek
Those long vanished Who once fought the light Must shield the land From wizard’s mortal spite
The young woman grown Childhood left behind The monsters, her friends She calls with her mind
Far from his kingdom Wandering warrior foreign Pride-filled and boastful Yet loyal, always, to kin
The White Maiden walks On journeys anew To her knight in dark armor She is eternally true
A warrior of dragons His path shrouded, unclear Made to fight his blood brother With his strength and his fear
A bloodied, noble heart Behind walls of night To uphold his honor Must embrace the day’s light
To save their world They must leave it soon On a great ship to Fly them to the moon
Friends and adventurers Under shadow of death In their world now Evil draws a new breath
Two worlds traversed By four warriors brave Crystals in tow Their reality to save
In the deep and dark void Where no life or love is They fight one spawned of souls Who thinks all the worlds his
Out from sure doom They then make flight For friendship they ride And an end to the fight
The steam so warm, the streets all quiet Hide wakened power far down below Loosed, an empire rises forth to power Dark metal feet in white soft snow
A girl enslaved Since birth has known hell Before her unwitting power Many men fell
A thief, tho he doesn’t like to be called that A rapscallion, a bounder, a nomad, a hellion His great love long taken Steals he, now, for rebellion
A king, quite reluctant Of two minds he ponders He must keep safe his subjects Yet to war his thoughts wander
A brother removed From the crown’s cruel weight He knows naught of the coin Which decided his fate
The general, a cold one On Magitek raised Horrors she has witnessed Tis peace, she’s since praised
The waters spoiled Under a knight true and unbent He, to fight, must endure His own demons’ torment
Tossed out as a pup His own father hath damned him Though he’s since run with beasts He’ll fight evil yet more grim
A man, always moving Under dark shrouds he hides The life he’d have known Now tossed to the side
The old man, his youth gone An unspoken loss, tragic His mind stolen by dark curse And released by love’s magic
The young girl, always sunny She paints in many a hue Her past a blank slate Her future, shining through
A lone white-furred critter His song sounds out like a bugle His feet call forth power A slam-dancing Moogle!
The gambler, on winds Of fortune he whiles A heart moved only by passion A chip now in their pile
On stage in a play Or in charge of rebel men Bound they all are By Imperial sin
Though motley they be Seek they cure for Empire’s ills Together, they come Making plans in the hills
The mage, the general, the knight, the thief The king, his brother, the man who runs Their plans now ended in world’s grim ruin They battle for one another under maddened sun
Nihilism embodied, Their foe so great On a throne at the top Of the world, he waits
Though few their number In hope they fight To fell a tower And return the light
A train rolls through the city The night quiet and dark Within it holds rebels Ready to strike a spark
The engines of power grind Yet soon, one will fall As flames of vengeance leap high A message for one and all
Though most come for the cause One seeks other pay He awaits only his money Then he’ll be on his way
With the blade of a lost friend And the mind of one, too He knows not of the struggle He’s destined to go through
The Soldier, once high In the ranks he did rise Now returns from the dead And with him, hope dies
The young woman, she watches Her old friend with sadness Wondering would it be kinder To not reveal his madness?
The burly one, forceful ever The leader’s role he would carry Yet he lugs behind, always The ghosts of the buried
The world of profit, it grinds on Men’s lives its main meal Its fate, an avalanche Forever to seal
Through rockets in space And a mind so fractured They fight now to stop Apocalypse, manufactured
Yet greater, their fight is Than presidents and kings The dark cloud from the north Harks an end to all things
One light in the shadows Of slums long has grown From a ground blessed so holy Her pure resistance now sown
To the place of the ancients She goes to seek her fate There hope seems as though felled By the blade of one’s hate
Yet below it still shimmers The white, glowing pearl Which bears the last wish of The Ancients’ last girl
Remember me always But forward, now move Stop the world’s doom Your worth, now, you must prove
War brews between schools Tears and sweat in the mud Two students, they strive Rivalry marked with blood
Once they near held Youth that never existed By life’s turbulent waves Minds and souls, now, are twisted
Childhood held together By war’s cruel plight Memories now set to sea on A white ship in the night
The past or a dream? Like fading waves on a shore The faeries lap soft upon Hist'ry’s edges once more
The soldier with gun He longs to lay down The truth of his heart In pen will be found
The woman on stage Her dress red, soft her voice Her eyes fall on whom? The poet warrior, her choice
Across planet he travels For the girl who was caught Leaving wife far behind With the son he knows not
Through time swift and brutal Pain and loss they all knew Yet though past be unchanging Love lives, and shines through
A rumble on the balustrade A night lit up with cheers A wrench soon to be thrown in A grinding empire’s cruel gears
A tantalizing troupe of False actors, read from pages A trick for cruel queen’s pleasure A performance for the ages
From staged play to reality A royal one now flies Her aim to bring an end to A lost parent’s lies
The abductor or abductee? A man with no place his own Happy to escort The canary, now, who’s flown
To lands across all borders Their running feet do fly With mage and knight in tow, now One loud, the other shy
Mad'ning mist is issued forth War is brewed from deep tree’s roots The man who deals in nations Plans to harvest deadly fruits
The motley crew to stop him Is the last to which you’d turn Whether carefree, afraid or pompous The task before them, soon, they’ll learn
The woman watched her kingdom burn The youth is all alone The wanderer fights his nature The knight fights against his own
The bird lit from the palace Flies to sly eagle, who hides his claws Though it’s a perfect world she comes from She falls, despite his flaws
They look for all the things in life That anyone could hope to find Home, vengeance, family, lost love Or, perhaps, just peace of mind
The beasts who come from within Used to see a planet glow And the souls from war and discord Into empty vessels flow
Yet oblivion, one cannot bear So all memory he’ll erase And in his pain and power Leave void only in its place
But love will win the day still And though it take his last breath One built for war will prove a hero Ne'er an angel of death
Across worlds, times and dreams The wandering warrior arrives Though his master is gone Here his new student thrives
Though naive and childish Loved he is as a star Yet while blinded by fame He will never go far
To new world and new purpose From ease he’s now brought With a god of only cold death His new home has been fraught
Though beautiful their land Her people walk a dark mile For them the lord’s young daughter Stands strong the summoner’s trial
Tasked she with great purpose Weighed with all souls she’s sent Yet though she look frail Her will, always unbent
With guardians and friends To guide and protect her And most unlikely love To keep her feet sure
Face to face now at long last Father, adrift in the dark With son he’d forsaken His death, his freedom, his spark
Fate’s taken new course Yet bittersweet vict'ry chimes Love lost now, but not broken In a dream swept from time
High above my head In a sky so blue The airships soar ever I would have that life, too
I’m tired of being stuck Under empire’s guns I long to be up there Where the cool winds run
Down here on the streets Of a kingdom once defiant We can stand, no longer, for anything Every day, weak and pliant
The one with the ship He’s my ticket, my plan He strides long 'cross the world In his mirror, the lead man
The strange, tall warrior Quiet and wise, she roams Now exiled, walks a cold world So far from her home
My best friend keeps me straight Her outlook, so bright If attitudes could fell empires She would, with her light
The traitor, the framed one Cast deep into hell His mind ever on honor He thinks not of his cell
The princess, the rebel Love’s crown now lost Yet she sees it forever In the mist’s cruel gloss
I’m free now, as I move Across worlds of fire, and ice I see nowhere not touched By battle’s terrible price
Whether imperial rivals Or alluring power of Cryst It is innocents, always Most cursed by war’s kiss
I stand now, and wonder What good ever I did? I know now, and it hurts That I’m still just a kid
Those who walk with me Suffered also, have they It’s now for their sake, not mine That I’ll make Empire pay
My pain I must lay aside For I am not alone If this fight ever ends Maybe then, I’ll have grown
A sphere of metal Where the powerful feast A gods-crafted moon Above a planet of beasts
Those chosen by fate And by crystallic whim Must uncover a secret Where many plots brim
To escape a plan Upon them forced They follow their world Down to its source
If win they would Their world would fall Though human pillar Might then rise tall
Top down, wheels hot The highway before us Friends forever, though different A discordant chorus
Whether demons by night Or armies by day Four friends at the wheel Always find a way
Across world divided Whose art'ries of stone Pump with the doubts of A king for his throne
Far off lies the princess On altar yet to kneel And a king most insistent Her heart’s beat once more to feel
To fight an empire, then Though it may end in sorrow Along the way, we’ll make memories For every tomorrow
Good food that we’ve cooked up And the pictures we take A quiet night with the fish Spent out on the lake
Though we’ve long yet to go And hurts to unfold Our friendship lights for us The road long and cold
Wheels down, engine hot now The lights of the road Will see us through peril Will see our story told
Bonus, because I just couldn’t leave it out:
In dust-covered books, a story is held For ages untold, a hero is known To all the lands a beacon he be The common man who sat the throne
In no books, though, is the tale seen Of he who watched that man take crown Noble born and nobler heart Yet his deeds earned him no renown
A far off land in ancient time Warred between the houses three North and South, each lions true The third house sacred, the Holy See
Yet all the rulers And all their squads Were guided ever by hands Of fallen gods
Into their midst Many heroes he led Whence vict'ry across the land Was spread
Most thought them dead Though away they rode Heresy declared Other worlds they strode
Blades of steel or blades of grass Honor, family, freedom, light The pages of hist'ry may bury my name Yet I shall always do what’s right
Happy Birthday, FF.
So cool!
