Maria (Final Fantasy II)

Maria is one of Firion's two permanent allies and is a playable character in Final Fantasy II. She is Leon's sister, but the two are separated at the very beginning of the game. Maria's vocal sounds in the PlayStation remake Final Fantasy Origins was provided by Noriko Shitaya, who later on provided the voice of Rydia in the Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy IV.

Story


Maria's parents were killed during the empire's strike against Fynn. This gave her a good reason for not being able to go home after being taken in by the princess of Altair, Hilda. Firion asked if the three of them (Firion, Maria, and Guy) could join the rebel army. After they were refused, Maria made the statement that they could not go home because Fynn had been taken over by the empire and that their parents had been killed. After that, Hilda gave them the rebel password Wild Rose and allowed them to stay in Altair. Maria throughout the game wants to defeat the empire but also find her lost brother, Leon, that has been separate from her because of the attack of the empire against Fynn.

She is later shocked to learn that one of the Emperor's servants, the Dark Knight, is actually Leon. When Leon attempts to crown himself Emperor after the original Emperor's first death, Maria accompanies Firion to confront him. However, the original Emperor returns from the dead, and Leon is forced to give up all dreams of ruling. After the return of the Dark Emperor, Maria, Firion, Guy and now Leon head to Pandaemonium, the fortress of the Lord of Hell that had come to surface from Hell thanks to the powers of the Dark Emperor to stop him. When the party face the Dark Emperor, he is finally defeated. After that, Leon separates from the party, Maria doesn't want to separate from him again and tries to stop him from leaving but Firion stop her, saying that when Leon is ready to come back he will be welcome.

Stats and Traits
Maria's starting equipment is a bow and her clothes. As with every playable character in the game, she can become proficient with any weapon she wields. Out of the three starting characters in the beginning of the game, Maria has the most Intelligence, making her suited to be a Black Mage. Since she is usually trained as such, the bow, which allows normal damage from the back row, is usually her weapon of choice as well, that way she can be a powerful Black Mage and a decent physical attacker. She has the least Attack and HP of three starting characters.

Trivia

 * Maria is the first obviously female playable character in the series (playable characters from the first Final Fantasy had indefinite genders).
 * Maria is the first archer in the series.
 * Maria is the first playable character in the series that is related with an antagonist.