Mist Dragon

The Mist Dragon (ミストドラゴン) is a summon that has only one relevant appearance in a main series installment, but has also appeared in spin-offs. Its trademark ability is the Radiant Breath, also known as Mist Breath.

Final Fantasy IV
The Mist Dragon's first appearance is small, but nonetheless vital. It guards the Mist Cave leading to Mist, and is summoned by Rydia's mother. When Cecil and Kain slay the Dragon, Rydia's mother dies as well. When they confront Rydia shortly after, it is this revelation, as well as the King's manipulations of them, that convinces them to rebel against the King's orders.

Later, when Golbez summons the Shadow Dragon to kill Cecil and his friends at the Dwarven Castle, Rydia, now matured to a young woman, intervenes, and summons the Mist Dragon, which uses Radiant Breath to kill the Shadow Dragon and leave Golbez open to the party's attacks. From that point on, Rydia can summon the Dragon freely in battle. It costs 20 MP to summon, and does damage based on Rydia's current HP - the more HP she has, the more damage it does.

The Advance release adds in Rydia's "lunar trial" based on her summons. Her trial within the Lunar Ruins involves her reverting to child form and having to fight four of her summons, then fighting the Lunar Dragon, a powered up Mist Dragon. Killing it earns the Mist Ring, increasing the damage done by the Mist Dragon summon and adding a Blink effect to the party when called.

In the Nintendo DS release, the Mist Dragon's design is that of a, rather than the appearance of a as in the original releases. Its non-elemental form was changed to the Holy element and its Mist Breath was renamed to Radiant Breath. In addition, its summoning cost was increased to 35 MP.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
During Kain's Tale, the Mist Dragon intervenes when Ceodore and the Hooded Man are escaping from Baron soldiers in the Mist Cave. If the player inspects the gravestone of Rydia's mother in the village of Mist, the Hooded Man will express his sincerest gratitude for saving their lives.

If the player visits Mist during the Gathering Tale, the party discovers the Mist Dragon has protected the village from the meteors. Rydia calls out to her mother, who tells her she cannot leave the village until the other Eidolons have been freed. When the task is completed and Rydia returns, she asks the villagers why the Mist Dragon was not mind-controlled, unlike the other Eidolons. They tell her it was the work of the children and the villagers, who only have a fraction of Rydia's power, and pooled it together to protect her mother's dragon. Rydia's mother tells her she will always be with her and the villagers. The Mist Dragon then returns to Rydia.

The Mist Dragon costs 35 MP to summon and deals holy-elemental damage to all enemies. Its spell power is 120.

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
The Mist Dragon appears in this Chocobo series installment as a water element card, and has six cards under its name.

Final Fantasy: Unlimited
The Mist Dragon also appears as a summon in the anime, Final Fantasy: Unlimited as Sword Dragon Makenshi's trademark summon. Makenshi has various methods of summoning the Sword Dragon to his aid, all involving him throwing a bottle of mist into the air and striking at it vertically with his sword. This summon is one of the few things that can battle Gun Dragon.


 * "Embraced by the magical tune played by mist. Now sleep! Silver Etude!": Sword Dragon charges a opponent, running him through.
 * "Pure White Requiem!": Makenshi assumes the Sword Dragon form to battle Madoushi in "Madoushi: The Battle of Kiri and Kumo." This form of the Sword Dragon is able to direct a burst of white energy at its opponent.
 * "Symphony of the White Cloud": The ultimate attack. Makenshi turns himself into mist to become Sword Dragon, he first used it to fight Chaos Gun Dragon/Kaze in the first episode. He used it in the finale to enter Chaos Tyrant's body, holding it at bay as it mutated into "Chaos Sword Dragon" so Kaze could kill the Earl.

Makenshi's brother, Madoushi, is also capable of assuming a Mist Dragon form and does so using "Pure Red Requiem!" Like Makenshi's Pure White Requiem form, this Mist Dragon produces a powerful burst of energy.

Trivia

 * Mist Dragon's attack, Radiant Breath, appears as a Blue Magic spell in Final Fantasy XI, used by wyverns.