Step out the front door like a ghost into a fog
Where no one notices the contrast of white on white
In between the moon and you, the angels get a better view
Of the crumbling difference between wrong and right
(I freely acknowledge that this is technically a spoiler for something I'm writing, but it'll probably take me ages to get to that point at my current rate, so here)
Final Fantasy Memory of Heroes implies that the Warriors of Light reincarnate or otherwise are connected through the crystals. Due to the adaptation, FF2 and 3's parties are implicitly connected, but one could extend this to other games.
The FF1 Souls of Chaos Campaign involves fighting bosses from other FF games.
So my idea, inspired by Stranger of Paradise and Memory of Heroes is that Garland and Setro become the new gods of discord and harmony respectively (whether it be of World B or some other world is up to you): Garland absorbing the four guardians of the crystals (i.e. the Four Fiends) while Setro's allies sacrifice their physical forms to empower him (much like how their crystals' light empowered him at the climax of the adaptation). The two use their respective sources - Garland and the Dark Crystal, Setro and a Light Crystal - to create manikins imbued with the memories of their respective connections. Setro recreates his party as well as Firion's, Luneth's etc. Garland recreates the Fiends, The Emperor and the archdemons, Xande and the Dark Crystal bosses (maybe CoD too?), etc.
Shenanigans (and angst, and otherwise chaos) ensues.
“Know that you stand before the ruler of countless ages- the Lord of Time! Across the eons, several mighty warriors have stood before me as you do now, all wanting to acquire my powers. And in my labyrinth I test their minds, weeding the weak out from the strong. Kneel before me, brave souls! I bestow upon you an honor reserved only for the wisest of sages, I offer you the power of time!
Final Fantasy I: Memory of Heroes: FF1 Adaptation (Part 1)
It occurs to me that, as one of the probably 5 people who own the english translation of this light novel, I should probably make note of some of the changes/unique lore within. And with SoP’s new DLC, the timing is ripe.
So, here we go
- The book opens with a one page musing on how Light and Darkness came from the Void, the balance of Light and Dark, etc etc. While the Void being a concept in every FF world is implied in the games, it seems more explicit here.
- The main party of the FFI adaptation is a Warrior (Setro), a Thief (Zauver), a Black Mage (Teol), and a White Mage (Flora). This is the standard party comp since the PS1 version, but that’s a topic for another day.
- The character designs are all over the place: Setro is implied to be based on the Warrior’s famicom appearance (”...red hair like burning fire”) while Zauver is described as blonde. Flora and Teol are not described physically enough to tell which version they’re based on, and due to character/story descriptions using images of the CGI scenes/renders, pretty much none of them have images (WoL makes an appearance above the story summary, as a result).
- The Warriors lack their memories, though it’s implied that they have been traveling together for a while prior to their arrival in Cornelia. This is the running theme of the story, as I’ll describe later.
- The crystals take the form of crystal pendants that the Warriors wear, much like WoL in the CGI scenes for FFI. The crystals are as follows:
Setro: Fire
Zauver: Wind
Flora: Water
Teol: Earth
- When the king sends the Warriors out to rescue the princess, the Warriors are stopped by some knights who ask them to spare Garland. The knights note that Garland used to be a paragon, but after leading a squad into the Chaos Shrine to stop a surge of monsters, he suddenly abducted the princess. While we don’t get to see “pre-madness” Garland, his description in the summary calls him “...an exemplary knight, full of love for his country and protective of the weak.”
- Garland is portrayed as being arrogant and having a sense of entitlement. He believes the logic that it is “right” for the strongest knight to marry the princess, although he claims that Sarah “does not understand my love”, which fits SE’s statements that Garland kidnapped Sarah because he was in love with her.
- The fight with Garland is mostly between him, Zauver and Setro. Teol manages to distract him at a critical moment, saving Setro from being killed, and Flora heals him after Garland’s sword nicks a bit of his flesh, causing Garland to target her. Zauver saves Flora and distracts Garland, allowing Setro to kill him.
- Setro feels guilty about having to kill Garland and has to convince himself that it had to be done.
- Sara doesn’t give the Warriors the lute in this version, but she does tell them of what is happening in Melmond, which is their next destination.
- Everything from Pravoka/the Western Keep to Melmond is skipped over; This means that Bikke, Astos, Matoya and Elfland are all encountered offscreen.
Part 2: Melmond
- Zauver pilots the boat, and later the airship.
- Melmond plays out about the same as the game: The Warriors arrive, go and slay the vampire, are told by Sadda to relight the crystal and defeat the Lich.
- How the Dia spell works is elaborated upon: The undead can only consume life energy via bodily fluids such as blood. Dia is basically a weaponized version of Cure, as undead can’t handle direct life energy.
- The discrepancies between the elements and Magic is also explained: Thunder = Wind, Blizzard = Water, Fire = er, Fire, and Earth is technically not counted in the sense of the ground, but in the sense of the earth’s life energy (i.e. Cure = Earth). Setro speculates that this is why the earth fiend is undead. This could also be a nod to the fact that there are only two earth-related spells in FFI (Quake and Stone), so the author chose to tie into the x, x-ara, x-aga spells instead.
- The Warriors of Light nearly die in their battle against the Lich, only prevailing when a paralyzed Setro throws himself on top of the Lich, leaving an opening for Flora to kill the Lich with Diara.
- All of the fiends have pretty metal deaths, all things considered. It’s not Stranger of Paradise but still surprisingly brutal.
- Teol uses his pendant to relight the crystal. It speaks, telling the Warriors of Light that they’ve restored one crystal, but there’s more work to do. Zauver asks it questions relating to the warriors’ missing memories (getting louder as he does until he’s practically shouting), but the crystal doesn’t answer. Setro is confident that the answers lay ahead, though.
Part 2: Crescent Lake/Mt. Gulg
- At Sadda’s advice, the Warriors head for Crescent Lake, where they meet Lukahn and the Twelve Sages.
- The Sages explain the backstory, with the notable difference being that it is specifically said that Kraken and Tiamat laid waste to “the civilization in the north”. The Warriors are then pointed in the direction of Mt. Glug because Marilith woke up due to Lich dying and if she absorbs the Fire Crystal’s light, either the world will freeze or Marilith will set it on fire.
- Setro locks blades with Marilith, proving her to be stronger, and Marilith’s flame is able to dissolve Teol’s Blizzara spell; Due to the FFI world working on Rock-Paper-Scissors logic, this means that she’s stronger magically too.
- Teol, for his part, does blind Marilith later (allowing Setro to strike a blow) and uses another Blizzara to help Setro weather Marilith’s flame.
- Setro, while ready to die if it meant saving the crystal, is given a golden opportunity after Zauver throws a dagger at Marilith’s eye. Setro promptly deals the finishing blow.
- The Fire Crystal is relit by Setro’s pendant. Very slightly beforehand, Zauver notices a floating rock and nicks it. This will be important in the very next chapter.
This is getting pretty long, so I’ll split this into two parts.
Final Fantasy I: Memory of Heroes: FF1 Adaptation (Part 2)
The second part of the FFI adaptation in the Light Novel.
The Cardia Isles/Citadel of Trials
- Lukahn directs the Warriors to the desert to use the Levitstone that Zauver found in Mt. Gulg to find a new form of transportation.
- Said new form of transportation turns out to be an airship, complete with a manual left by a man named Cid.
- Shortly afterwards, a dragon begins approaching the airship. Zauver wants to fly away from it while Setro wants to fight it, much to the former’s horror. The dragon reaches the airship but Teol convinces the party to hold off, believing that it won’t attack.
-Said dragon is none other than Bahamut, the King of Dragons. He critiques Setro’s eagerness to battle and issues a trial to the Warriors of Light: Go to the Citadel of Trials and bring back proof of their courage. Setro accepts the challenge.
- The Citadel is described loosely, with the Warriors having zero faith in the rat tail they find there. They’re shocked when Bahamut tells them they’ve passed and he basically says that it’s about the expression of bravery, know when to pick your battles, etc.
- The process of powering up the Warriors is depicted by Bahamut gripping them on the head. The transformations themselves are more akin to the Famicom version with Setro and Zauver getting new physiques while the mages feel more magical potential. Zauver also flaunts both his new speed and the fact that he can use swords now.
Onrac/Sunken Shrine
- The legwork for reaching the Sunken Shrine is greatly shortened: The girl that talks with the Warriors of Light about the Oxyake already provides it for them. The book also plays a bit into the absurdity of trusting her and the barrel tht the Warriors end up using, but Setro decides to trust her. The scenario plays out similarly otherwise.
- Poor Kraken. Kraken has the shortest fiend fight, with his magic not even comparing to Teol’s and Zauver cutting off most of his legs. The book even notes that Kraken and Maralith aren’t that different in power, it’s just that Bahamut’s gift is just that great.
- The girl at the dock never reveals herself as a mermaid in this version, but it’s all but stated given her distress. The mermaids do give the Warriors a message to tell her, but when Flora relays the message (wishing her happiness as a human) the girl tries and fails to act uncaring and feign ignorance.
The Flying Fortress
- Probably the longest stretch in the story.
- The Warriors of Light meet with the Lufenians (no Rosetta Stone needed), are directed towards the great desert and are given a bell to break the illusion around the Mirage Tower.
-At the top of the Tower, the Warriors find the device to warp up to the Flying Fortress, along with a room full of robots (The narration calls them “monsters covered in steel armor”, as the Warriors don’t know what robots are. This is a recurring theme for pretty much all of the technology that the Warriors see in this section).
- A very notable thing happens: The robots show the Warriors of Light two videos: One of Professor Cid (i.e. Cid of Lufenia) aiding his fellow Lufenians in escaping the Flying Fortress using the very same airship the Warriors are using, and one of Cid leaving a Warp Cube with the robots, intending to seal off the Flying Fortress and trap Tiamat until the ones who can defeat her arrive (with Cid then leaving, presumably to bury the airship). The robots give the Warriors the Warp Cube and ask them to fulfill Cid’s last wish before shutting down
-The Flying Fortress is based on the later versions aestheticwise, but the final area’s description, noting that the windows show a view of the planet (again, the Warriors are unsure if it actually is or if it’s just an illusion), suggests that it is a space station like in the Famicom game.
- Zauver reflects on how the Warriors never regained their memories or even knew why they lost them in the first place, but quickly recovers and apologizes, agreeing with Setro’s sentiment that they’ll protect the world.
- In sharp contrast with Kraken, Tiamat has the longest fight scene in the FFI adaptation (maybe even the whole book?) at four pages. The general gist is that the first half of the fight, Setro and Zauver can’t do much to Tiamat due to her scales functioning akin to armor, with the first major blow going to Flora and Teol who cast their respective most powerful spells (Holy and Flare).
- When Tiamat breathes lightning, however, Zauver makes a realization: Tiamat’s scales may be protected, but her flesh isn’t. Zauver, already more reckless due to believing it to be the final battle, pulls risky maneuvers that result in two of Tiamat’s heads getting cut off at the cost of Zauver himself being brutalized. Teol blows up one of the remaining heads with Flare while Setro finishes off the last one through sheer strength.
- The four crystals are restored, but rather than the world being saved, the Warriors of Light are told to banish the darkness that still covers the world.
Chaos
- At a loss for what to do now, the party goes back to Lukahn and the Twelve Sages
- The Sages reveal that the Fiends had taken the stolen crystal energy and sent it back to the past, to the Chaos Shrine. This disrupted the flow of time, to such a degree that the Warriors of Light were caught up in it, resulting in them losing their memories. Zauver, who had come to terms with the fact that their memories were permanently gone during the Tiamat fight, immediately becomes enraged and is the most eager to pay back the true mastermind.
- The Warriors arrive at the Chaos Shrine and, after some musing on where their journey has taken them, step into the portal (Garland’s Dark Crystal seemingly doesn’t exist in this version).
- The past turns out to be really, really bright, much to the Warriors’ confusion. The Warriors are further confused when the Four Fiends appear; Not only do the fiends’ demeanor suggests them to be benevolent, but Tiamat accuses the Warriors of Light of arriving to destroy the world due to them showing up in a world where light already reigns (foreshadowing for FFIII’s chapter?).
- Garland arrives, revealing that fiends are not yet fiends, that he rescued himself from death and that he intends to set up the time loop. Garland absorbs the not yet fiends and transforms into Chaos a monster (the name “Chaos” is only alluded to by Garland calling himself ‘Chaos Incarnate’).
- Garland’s entitlement has reached godhood status, claiming that when he touched the darkness that day, he knew his destiny to rule all of creation. His initial burst of darkness weakens the warriors and destroys the shrine, and he uses his powers to finish them off, each falling to their respective element (Zauver is tossed by a tornado, Teol is impaled with sharp rocks, Flora is chilled by a blizzard and Setro attacked with fire. Garland brags about how he turn the wheel of time until “the course of history is set right”.
- Setro, still awake, tries to get up. His own crystal empowers him and the light from his friends’ crystals combine into his sword, giving him the strength needed to defeat Garland and return light to the world.
- As he falls asleep alongside his friends, Setro tells them that they shall return to their world, and to a new one, and that they shall journey together once more. Given the FFII and especially FFIII adaptations, he’s not wrong...
“The Illusion is over! We will end it, here and now!”
I guess you could say it was... *puts on shades* Garland’s Final Fantasy.
So, the “Final Fantasy I II III: Memory of Heroes” novel finally came out in english today/yesterday.
I do not have a copy of the book at this point in time and it’ll be a while before I do get it. However I have read Japanese spoilers on the changes, and there’s one “change” in particular that might be of interest. I’ll put it under a read more for those who intend to grab the book.
Apparently, it’s implied that the parties across all three games are reincarnations of the same people:
Setro/Zest = Firion = Luneth
Teol/Daewoo = Guy = Arc
Flora/Floe = Maria = Refia
Zauver/Sauber = Leonhart = Ingus
Now I doubt that it’s hard canon, but it could be fun to think about or play with.
