Eiko Carol

Eiko Carol, known as Little Girl for the short period before a name is selected, is a playable character in Final Fantasy IX. She hails from Madain Sari on the Outer Continent. She has a horn on her forehead and can summon eidolons.

Appearance
Eiko has green eyes, a small summoner's horn on her forehead, and blue hair cropped above her shoulders with a ribbon tied into a large bow on top. She wears a red turtleneck and pink bodysuit, loose yellow pants that gather at the ankles, a yellow chest plate connected to a belt around her waist as part of the ornamental wings she wears on her back, purple socks and white ankle boots. In Trance, Eiko's horn lengthens and turns sky-blue. Her hair and sleeves turn light green; her bow, chest plate, pants, and boots become white; and her turtleneck and bodysuit change to soft purple. Eiko's ornamental wings also grow in size.

Personality
Eiko is spunky and snobbish, yet desperately lonely, having lived alone in Madain Sari with only moogles as her friends for most of her life. She develops a crush on Zidane Tribal and goes as far as to write a love letter to him, but snaps out of it after a while as her infatuation has more to do with not wanting to be alone than grown-up feelings. Eiko knows the world is vast, but is afraid to leave what she knows out of uncertainty and reverence for a promise she had made to her grandfather to not leave Madain Sari until her sixteenth birthday. Meeting Zidane and his friends allows Eiko to connect with the outside world and sparks a longing in her to leave Madain Sari and meet new people.

Story


The village of Madain Sari was once a thriving town populated by summoners. The Terran airship Invincible destroyed the town for Garland to remove the possible threat of Gaia's eidolons, and most of the community perished. Eiko's parents and several brothers and sisters were some of the last survivors, and after her parents and siblings perished as well, Eiko was raised by her grandfather. When he died Eiko was left to live in Madain Sari with the company of moogles. One of them, Mog, always travels with her, and the two traded friendship ribbons. She and Mog frequently steal food from the dwarves' town of Conde Petie.

During a raid Eiko is caught and meets Zidane along with Vivi, Garnet, and Quina. Delighted at the prospect of having company, Eiko offers to take Zidane and his friends to Madain Sari where she cooks them a meal to impress Zidane. She senses Zidane is in love with Garnet, and tries her best to steal his heart in hopes he would stay with her. She accompanies Zidane and his friends to the Iifa Tree, which was sealed with the eidolon Carbuncle. She breaks the seal and Eiko, Zidane, and the others descend to the bottom of the tree and fight the Soulcage whose defeat clears up the Mist Continent of Mist.

Eiko takes Zidane back to Madain Sari when a moogle tells her the village's precious stone has been stolen. The thief turns out to be Lani, the bounty hunter working for Queen Brahne of Alexandria to steal back Garnet's pendant, really a shard of a powerful summoning gem. Lani exalts at having found a similar stone from Madain Sari and holds Eiko hostage, but is betrayed by her accomplice Amarant Coral and forced to flee.

After Zidane and Amarant duel, Eiko tells Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi about the precious stone and how her grandfather told her to keep it safe and to not leave Madain Sari until she is sixteen. Eiko decides to accompany Zidane anyway, taking the stone with her and wearing it as an earring.

The party returns to the Iifa Tree where they meet Kuja who battles Brahne's fleet. Eiko helps Garnet find another eidolon, Leviathan, the eidolon that had been sealed at the tree, so Garnet could summon it to help her mother, Queen Brahne. Garnet cannot save her and, in the wake of the queen's death, is crowned the queen herself. Thus the fragments of a summoning gem Brahne had collected earlier pass on to Garnet's possession.

A week later the party is back in Alexandria for Garnet's coronation. Having never been to a city before Eiko tours Alexandria Castle and meets Doctor Tot, Garnet's old tutor. She asks him to help her write a love letter for Zidane, but on the way out trips over a banister and gets her wing ornament stuck onto a chandelier. She meets Baku, and, unable to free herself, asks him to deliver the letter.

Baku loses the letter and it falls into numerous hands, including those of Beatrix, Marcus, Blank, and Steiner, but never reaches its intended recipient. Steiner frees Eiko from the chandelier and escorts her out of the castle. The party visits Garnet, now the queen of Alexandria. As a sign of their bond as the world's final summoners, Garnet and Eiko share the fragments of the old summoning gem with both keeping two. After the audience Eiko is heartbroken when Zidane does not show up at the docks, even though the real reason is that Zidane never saw the letter.

The next day, Zidane travels to Treno to participate in a Tetra Master tournament. Eiko joins as well and spends some time telling Doctor Tot, who resides in Treno, about Madain Sari. Mog tells her Alexandria is in danger and she summons Zidane to return there. They take Cid Fabool IX's Hilda Garde II, which is poorly designed due to Cid's mind not being the same as an oglop. While on the ship Eiko feels a sensation from atop Alexandria Castle, and flies to the roof to meet Garnet. They hold out the four jewels and summon Alexander who defeats Bahamut and forms a protective ring around Alexandria.

Kuja summons the Invincible to enslave Alexander, but Garland takes it over and destroys Alexander and Alexandria Castle. Zidane rescues Garnet and Eiko, though the latter is annoyed Zidane goes to Garnet first and that she is embracing him through her rescue. The party retreats to Lindblum where Eiko discovers Garnet lost her voice due to the shock of witnessing Alexandria's obliteration. She stays with Steiner to take care of Garnet while Zidane and the others look for a way to transform Cid back into a human. They fail, turning Cid into a frog. Eiko, Garnet, Steiner, Cid, and Quina join Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and Amarant in search of Kuja, Brahne's former weapons dealer who is on a quest to overtake Garland and take over the world.

They find him in his Desert Palace on the Outer Continent. Kuja traps everyone except Cid and threatened to kill them if Zidane does not bring him the Gulug Stone from Oeilvert. Zidane agrees, but Kuja would not keep his promise. Cid saves the others, and Eiko leads the escape to Kuja's room for revenge (unless Zidane chose to take Eiko to Oeilvert, in which case another party member becomes the leader). They meet up with Zidane outside, and Zidane discovers Kuja has tricked him. The party enters his room, but Eiko is trapped outside and Zorn and Thorn, Kuja's lackeys, abduct her.

Zidane and his friends follow Kuja's Hilda Garde I to Esto Gaza on the Lost Continent where they enter Mount Gulug and at its base discover Zorn and Thorn attempting to extract eidolons from Eiko even though she is too young to survive the ritual. Mog interferes and transforms into the eidolon Madeen, saving Eiko.

The jesters attack and Eiko fights them, using Madeen to annihilate the twins. The rest of the party arrives to confront Kuja, but he leaves and the jester twins' corpses transform into Meltigemini. After defeating Meltigemini, Eiko receives Mog's ribbon as a farewell gift. Mog was an eidolon who had taken the form of Mog to be with Eiko, but as Eiko is growing up Madeen deems Eiko no longer needs Mog, reminding her that they will always be together in spirit.

When the party splits to simultaneously attack the four elemental shrines protecting the entrance to Terra, Eiko insists on teaming up with Garnet and uses the opportunity to ask her if she is in love with Zidane, with awkward results.

In Terra, a mysterious ancient world that exists on the inside of Gaia, Eiko explores until Zidane goes missing and the party teams up to find him. Eiko and Vivi are at Zidane's side when he awakes in Pandemonium, having been banished there by Garland after telling Zidane the truth of his origins as Garland's pawn. In a depressive rage Zidane calls Vivi and Eiko "stupid brats" and locks them in the room.

Zidane comes to his senses and the reunited party witnesses Kuja enter Trance and kill Garland and decimate Terra, while the party returns to Gaia and finds it covered in Mist. The party travels to the beginning of all time in Crystal World to stop Kuja's evil schemes, and after returning they find the Iifa Tree writhing. Zidane chooses to stay in the collapsing Iifa Tree and save Kuja, while Eiko, showing concern for his safety, confesses her love for him before departing with the others.

Eiko is adopted by Cid and his wife Hilda, who has reverted him to human, becoming Lindblum's new princess. She is overjoyed at being a part of a family, calling her adoptive parents "Mother" and "Father." When Tantalus Theater Troupe returns to Alexandria to perform I Want To Be Your Canary for Queen Garnet Eiko is among the crowd to witness Zidane's return and reunion with Garnet.

Gameplay
Eiko is a White Mage, with a sub job as a Summoner. Her summons' attacks change depending on what add-on she has equipped. She is more of a supportive party member, although she learns the ultimate offensive White Magic spell late in the game.

Eiko has the lowest physical stats, but her initial stats will be the same as Marcus's when he leaves the party, meaning that if the player bothers to level up Marcus early on Eiko can potentially get the highest HP and MP of any character. This is known as the Marcus/Eiko stat bug.

Equipment
Eiko's equipment draw consists of female-exclusive equipment, mage robes, flutes, and rackets. When Eiko is equipped with a flute, her spellcasting sound effect is slightly different than the other characters'. As she appears to play the flute as her spellcasting animation, it appears she uses music to control her magic.

Support abilities
Eiko learns abilities that enhance her skills as a White Mage and Summoner; Boost powers up her eidolons, and Concentrate her magic, and Half MP halves the MP cost of her spells and eidolons. Eiko is the only character to learn both MP+10% and MP+20%. Eiko is the first of the party to learn Auto-Regen. Her unique ability is Guardian Mog, which heals her from status ailments that usually carry over from battles at the end of the battle.

White Magic


Being the designated White Mage, Eiko's stock of White Magic is larger than Dagger's. She can use unique spells like Jewel, which extracts an Ore from an enemy, and Might, which increases a unit's attack power. She is the only main character who can use the powerful Holy spell (a temporary playable character, Beatrix can also use the spell). She lacks the Scan and Berserk spells found in Dagger's arsenal.

Eiko's Trance ability is Double White that allows Eiko to cast two spells in succession.

Eidolons
Eiko can summon four eidolons: Fenrir, Phoenix, Carbuncle, and Madeen. Equipping various add-ons allows her to change the eidolons' summon abilities.

If Zidane and Dagger are in the party when Eiko summons an eidolon for the first time, they will exchange a dialogue mid-battle. Zidane will say "Dagger, was that an eidolon?", and Dagger will reply "I think so. Eiko can use magic too?" This resets everyone's turn regardless whether an action has been chosen or not.

Jump Rope
Eiko can play the jump rope minigame in a reconstructed Alexandria on disc 3 if she is in the party and the player visits the chapel. The minigame is identical whether the player uses Eiko or Vivi to play.

Musical themes
"Eiko's Theme" is a variation of "Melodies of Life" based on chord progressions (with no discernible melody) and set in the 6/8 time signature. A remix of the theme includes the song "Girl of Madain Sari," which plays while she wanders around Alexandria Castle at the beginning of disc 3, thinking of writing a love letter to Zidane.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call


Eiko is unlocked by collecting Silver Crystal Shards.

She is a Defense and Support oriented character.

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Eiko appears as a playable character.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Eiko is an ally and a summonable Legend. She is depicted in her Final Fantasy IX outfit. Her EX ability is Carbuncle (Meteorite).

Final Fantasy Artniks
Eiko appears in Final Fantasy Artniks.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest


Eiko is an exclusive character only available from the Premium Character Shop as a random downloadable content, she summons Madeen during battle.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper
Eiko is a playable character who could be recruited as a First Time Reward for completing Conde Piete Mountain Path - Road of Roots on the Classic difficulty in the Challenge Event To the Holy Land. She has also appeared in A Place to Call Home and A Summoner Reborn as a supporting character.

Eiko is a Summoner whose combat role is Healing Magic.
 * Assessment

For those players seeking a powerful White Mage/Summoner hybrid, Eiko should be more than up to the task. Picking up where her counterpart Garnet seemingly leaves off, Eiko has access to the full range of White Magic abilities and can act as a Bard, making her a top-class party support unit. She possesses solid scores in all three magic stats as well, so her Summoning skills can also be used with full effect. This potential, however, hits a wall as Eiko cannot yet break the second level cap.


 * Stats

Eiko can use White Magic up to rarity rank 5, Summoning up to rarity rank 5, Other/Bard up to rarity rank 4.
 * Abilities

Her initial Soul Break is Mass Shell, which at the expense of one Soul Gauge segment gives the party Shell. The hat Hypnocrown (IX) grants Eiko access to Withering Winds, which at the expense of one Soul Gauge segment deals magic wind damage to all targets and reduces their Magic. The instrument Fairy Flute (IX) grants Eiko access to her Super Soul Break, Flames of Rebirth, which for one Soul Gauge segment allows her to summon Phoenix, restoring all allies' HP by a moderate amount and granting Reraise status to all. Upon its mastery, Eiko's Mind is permanently augmented by 10 points.

Upon breaking Eiko's initial level cap, she acquires the Record Materia Impetuous Youth, which grants the wielder a boost to Magic at the expense of his/her Resistance.

Eiko can equip the following weapon types: daggers, rods, staves, and instruments. The instrument Fairy Flute (IX) allows access to Flames of Rebirth.
 * Equipment

She can equip the following armor types: hats, light armor, robes, and bracers. The hat Hypnocrown (IX) allows Eiko access to Withering Winds.

She can equip accessories.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Eiko is represented in numerous Earth-elemental cards. She is depicted in a Final Fantasy IX FMV screenshot as well as her render and Yoshitaka Amano artwork, and her Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call appearance. The cards are Earth-elemental alluding to Eiko starting with Fenrir as her eidolon.

Triple Triad
Eiko appears on a Triple Triad card in the version playable via Final Fantasy Portal App.

Itadaki Street
In Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable, Eiko appears alongside Zidane. She may be summoned with chance cards "91" or "94" (the latter summons her and other two characters), and gives away suits if the player lands or passes by the space where she is. Healie (a Heal Slime from Dragon Quest) replaces her in later Itadaki Street games.

In Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special, Eiko is one of the two Final Fantasy IX characters along with Vivi.

Lord of Vermilion
Eiko appears as a character in Lord of Vermilion II. She has the ability "W-White Magic", a reference to her Double White Trance. Eiko also appears in Lord of Vermilion III.

Games
In , a costume based on Eiko was released on November 6, 2014.

Etymology
Hironobu Sakaguchi's wife's name is Eiko.

Trivia

 * If Zidane is not in the party, Eiko assumes the role of party leader. Most notably if she is not chosen to go to Oeilvert, she will lead the party in the Desert Palace. If Zidane is not in the party chosen to fight Necron, Eiko will give the speech before the battle.
 * Eiko's jewel is called the Memory Earring.
 * Eiko and Garnet are the only characters in the game with audible voices, as they are heard singing in cutscenes.