Sky Fortress Bahamut



The Sky Fortress Bahamut (空中要塞バハムート) is a massive airship in Ivalice, the world of Final Fantasy XII. Designed by Doctor Cid to be Archadia's ultimate airship, the structure is so large that normal power supplies are insufficient to fuel it. It serves as the game's Final Dungeon.

Location
Hovering over Rabanastre, the Bahamut can only be reached by the Strahl. Once entered the party cannot leave and there also are no save crystals.

Structure
The Bahamut serves as a capital ship, aircraft carrier, and superweapon for the Arcadian armies. It carries a large complement of fighters and has rapid-firing cannons placed on the hull, and utilizes a multitude of glossair rings to support its massive structure.

It is so large it is capable of generating a whirlwind when flying. However, Bahamut's most prominent feature is the Cannon Superstructure placed near the top, a powerful cannon powered by Mist that can destroy enemy airships in a single blast.

Armaments
The Bahamut weaponry are deadly enough to take out one airship armada. One of the those are the mist cannon, which fires a large amount of Sun-Cryst's energy which can destroy an airship in a single blast causing it to explode into mist, resulting in an area effect attack. However, it takes a long time to recharge after it fires.

The cannon beam itself is fast, making any heavy airship such as carrier and frigate unable to avoid it. Beside the mist cannon, the Bahamut also has a lot of anti air guns surrounding its body. These anti air cannons are possibly operated both manually and automatically. Some of the anti air guns are seen operated manually by the Imperial Pilots.

Battle above Rabanastre
The Bahamut is the Archadian Fleet's flagship involved with crushing the Resistance. It can only fly when a large quantity of mist is supplied. Such energy is obtained once Reddas destroys the Sun-Cryst, allowing Vayne Solidor to pilot the craft into battle with the Resistance over Rabanastre.

Though the two fleets were otherwise a match for each other, the Bahamut turns the tide and decimates the Resistance airships. The party, piloting the Strahl, dock at the Bahamut, and Ashe and her allies lead a force up the airship to find Vayne. Along the way Gabranth arrives, still alive and driven to kill Basch. The Judge Magister is defeated, but Basch spares him.

At the Bahamut's bridge Vayne greets the party with Larsa, who turns on Vayne. The party apparently kill Vayne, but he rises again as Vayne Novus using the power of nethicite. Gabranth stumbles to the scene and assists the party in battling Vayne, ensuring Larsa's safety. After a fierce battle Gabranth attacks Vayne but is struck down.

Vaan picks up Gabranth's fallen sword and impales Vayne, forcing him to retreat to the top of the Bahamut's cannon while Venat momentarily prevents the party from following. Having achieved its goal, Venat breaks up into wisps of energy that bestow a dying Vayne the power of an Occuria, grafting pieces of the Bahamut unto himself to become The Undying, a mechanical monstrosity in the image of the Bahamut's namesake summon and the game's final boss.

When The Undying is destroyed, the party flees to the Strahl as the Bahamut begins to descend on a crash course with Rabanastre below. Balthier and Fran stay behind to repair its glossair wings and fly it to safety, and the Bahamut crashes just outside the city. In the epilogue, it is shown to have been covered with plant life, and a small lake surrounds the base.

Enemies

 * Imperial Swordsman
 * Imperial Gunner
 * Imperial Hoplite
 * Imperial Magus
 * Mastiff
 * Sphere-Rook
 * Spinner-Rook
 * Helm-Rook
 * Gabranth (Boss)
 * Vayne (Boss)
 * Vayne Novus (Boss)
 * The Undying (Final Boss)

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
The Sky Fortress's Cannon Superstructure area, where the party fights The Undying, appears in Dissidia 012 as an arena. It is here that Vaan witnesses Kefka arguing with Terra and torturing her when she refuses to fight, and Vaan eventually battles Kefka and flees with Terra. Kain begins his storyline here.

The stage consists mostly of a large bridge over a Banish Trap with several breakable pillars, leading to a circular central area with a small rectangular area that slopes downwards. The doorway to the inside of the Bahamut can be seen on the other end of the bridge. Grind bars ringing the outside of the stage lead from the end of the rectangular arena to the other end.

In the Omega version of the stage, the sky glows orange with Mist as the fortress speeds forward, the wind blowing characters back towards the edge of the arena when dodging or jumping - characters moves normally when attacking in the air, including Chase Sequences. Characters hit by wind lose a percentage of their Bravery which is added to the Bravery Pool as though they were caught in a Banish Trap.

The far end of the stage becomes a Banish Trap that teleports the characters back to the central area, which characters can be blown into if they are in the air long enough. The Bravery Pool rises quickly when both characters are on the ground, and rises at a slower pace when only one character is on the ground - it does not increase at all when both are in the air.

The Sephira is the battlegen item obtained through stage destruction in this area.

Music
"The Sky Fortress Bahamut" (空中要塞バハムート) is a location theme from Final Fantasy XII. It is written by Hitoshi Sakimoto and is the fourteenth track on disc 4 on the original soundtrack. It plays as soon as the player enters the Bahamut. The track starts off with percussion and violin before giving away to a militaristic march.

A rendition of "The Sky Fortress Bahamut" appears in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift as "Finale" (終局). It is the nineteenth track of disc 2 in the original soundtrack, also written by Hitoshi Sakimoto.