Sazh Katzroy



Sazh Katzroy [sæz kætsrɔɪ] is a playable character in Final Fantasy XIII. He is a middle-aged black man with an afro, and is described as a sympathetic and kind man who is easily moved to tears. After his wife died three years prior to the events of the game, Sazh looked after their six-year old son, Dajh, before he became a l'Cie and was taken by PSICOM. Saving Dajh is Sazh's main motivation in the game.

Appearance and Personality
Sazh is a tall black man with a distinctive afro in which he keeps a baby Chocobo. He wears a long, olive coat over khaki trousers, a white button-down shirt, and black buckled engineer boots. His l'Cie mark is on his chest, and is half-hidden under his shirt. He keeps his two pistols in holsters strapped to his thighs. In an interview with the Shonen Jump magazine, Yoshinori Kitase stated that Sazh was modeled after the American singer Lionel Richie, whilst Motomu Toriyama claimed Sazh's inspiration was "a character that would appear in an American comedy - like Eddie Murphy" in OPM UK magazine. Despite being physically the eldest of the Final Fantasy XIII playable party - excluding Oerba Yun Fang and Oerba Dia Vanille, who are both over 500 years old chronologically - Sazh has a youthful, carefree, and lively personality.

Sazh is basically a good-hearted man. He is silly at times, mostly when he is in near death situations, but underneath his appearance, Sazh has a strong will of justice and is always willing to help his teammates. In OPM UK, Toriyama went on to say "as for Sazh, we wanted a character that was mature."

Story
Sazh is a civilian airship pilot from Cocoon. Prior to the game, Sazh bought a newly hatched baby Chocobo for his son Dajh as a gift, giving it to him at Bodhum eleven days before the story begins. Four days later, Sazh loses his son to Sanctum after Dajh becomes a l'Cie at Euride Gorge. Sanctum official Jihl Nabaat separates the two, and Sazh resolves to find a way to complete his son's Focus. This leads him to join with Lightning during the Purge, where he assists her in stranding a train of purgees and breaking into the Pulse Vestige, where the Pulse fal'Cie Anima sleeps. After Sazh and Lightning join with Vanille, Snow, and Hope, they confront Anima, who turns them all into l'Cie and casts them down into the crystallized Lake Bresha.

When they awaken, Sazh prompts the others to determine their Focus and tries to remain positive, as opposed to Lightning and Hope. After leaving Snow behind at Lake Bresha, the group of four heads to the Vile Peaks, where Lightning's impatience allows PSICOM to separate the group. Sazh and Vanille are left behind and choose to journey to Nautilus, passing through the Sunleth Waterscape. The two become close friends as they travel, and Sazh tells Vanille of his son's plight. Unbeknownst to him, Vanille had actually played a part in Dajh's becoming a l'Cie.

As Sazh talks to Vanille about Dajh at Nautilus' Chocobo Ranch, he realizes she is hiding something from him before they are ambushed by a PSICOM brigade led by Jihl Nabaat. They escape their pursuers, taking shelter in front of a large castle, when Dajh appears. Their reunion is shortlived, as Dajh is crystallized right before his father's eyes. Nabaat arrives, holding Sazh and Vanille captive, and shows Sazh a security recording from Euride Gorge. The tape reveals that Vanille and Fang disturbed the fal'Cie Kujata, who instinctively turned the lost Dajh into a l'Cie for its protection. Sobbing, Vanille flees deeper into Nautilus; Jihl prevents her soldiers from shooting and allows Sazh to pursue her. When he finds Vanille, he draws his pistols and aims at her in rage, and Vanille begs him to shoot her for the pain she has caused. Instead, Sazh lowers his weapons, furious that she thinks he will simply forgive her once she is dead. He drops to his knees, clutching his heart, as his Eidolon Brynhildr materializes from an orb of flame. Seeing that Vanille is willing to protect him from Brynhildr, Sazh rises, and they tame the Eidolon. However, after Brynhildr vanishes, Sazh is still distressed, and as Vanille cowers with the chocobo in her hands, Sazh places a pistol to his head and pulls the trigger.

The next scene shows Vanille, in chains and purgee attire, following Sazh's open-face casket as it is led into an airship by Jihl's regiment. However, upon the airship Palamecia, Sazh is shown to be alive, as he couldn't bear to even take his own life. Jihl had returned soon after and taunted Sazh with the prospect of putting Dajh's crystal up for display as a monument in Eden, then taken the two captive, rendering Sazh unconscious and then having him carried away in the coffin.

Sazh and Vanille break out of their cell on the Palamecia and reunite with the other four party members who have come for their rescue, and go on to confront Galenth Dysley and later Cid Raines in the Fifth Ark. When they discover a Pulse airship in the Fifth Ark, Sazh pilots it to the world below, though they are forced to ride Bahamut when a dragon destroys the ship. During the Eden Grand Prix, the protagonists return from Pulse with their Eidolons, and Sazh rides Brynhildr in her Gestalt Mode. He saves Vanille, who had been knocked off a platform by a missile while being protected by her Eidolon, Hecatoncheir.

As the party discovers Orphan's Cradle and reaches the pool deep inside, they confront Galenth for the last time. The Sanctum leader conjures Dajh's and Serah's crystals before their eyes, hoping to kill their morale, but Sazh, holding the baby chocobo, comforts Snow and presses on. After Orphan's defeat, Sazh finds himself on Pulse once more, and from the crystallized globe of Cocoon come Dajh and Serah. Father and son are truly reunited, and both of their l'Cie marks are wiped clean.

Abilities and Equipment
Being a l'Cie, Sazh's Eidolon is Brynhildr, a female, Fire-elemental knight, who can turn into a race car in her Gestalt Mode. On his own, Sazh uses a pair of pistols, that can transform into an assault rifle. He can shoot with his guns from a range, but also use them in melee combat. He also has access to Fire and Lightning-elemental attacks (magical and physical) as opposed to Snow, who specializes in the elements of Ice and Water. However, his true strength is in his role as a Synergist, giving boost and support to his allies. Sazh's full ATB skill, Cold Blood (Desperado in Japanese version), is a series of explosive shots that damage the target.



Musical Themes
"Sazh's Theme" is a funky number heavily featuring piano, percussion, brass, and acoustic guitar. Both the piano and the acoustic guitar have a jazz improvisational style that is quite unusual for the music of the Final Fantasy series.

Trivia

 * Sazh's crystal takes the shape of a chocobo feather.
 * Sazh has the most lines in the game, and is supposed to be different from any other character in the series.
 * Sazh main roles are Commando, Ravager and Synergist
 * The Japanese name of Sazh's ATB full skill, Desperado is named after Laguna Loire's Limit Break in Final Fantasy VIII.
 * Tetsuya Nomura has stated in an interview that he would choose Sazh over Lightning to appear in a sequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy representing Final Fantasy XIII.
 * Most of Sazh's guns are named after stars, similar to those of Final Fantasy XII.
 * Though the subject of naming it is frequently mentioned, Sazh's Chocobo remains unnamed during the course of the game.
 * Sazh's English voice actor, Reno Wilson, also voiced Decepticon Frenzy and Autobot Mudflap from the live-action Transformers movies directed by Michael Bay.