Alexandria Castle

Alexandria Castle is a location in Final Fantasy IX. The castle is situated within the city of Alexandria and is the most prominent landmark of the area. It is the home of the royal family.

The castle is surrounded by a deep water moat and is reached from the town by a gondola. Alexandria Castle is an expansive palace containing kitchens, libraries, and a special balcony from which royalty observe performances such as I Want to be Your Canary. Rising from its center is a gargantuan crystalline sword. Compared to the modern machinery and engine-driven transport available in Lindblum, Alexandria's style is of medieval decorations, replete with spiral staircases and lofty stone towers. The castle is also connected to the ocean by a little underground waterway, where boats can come in.

The castle has a vast dungeon, containing many old defense mechanisms, such as a hidden passage and revolving platforms. The deepest room of the catacombs contains links to both an ancient ritualistic room and a connection to Gargan Roo.

Story
Tantalus Theater Troupe comes to Alexandria to perform I Want to be Your Canary for Princess Garnet's sixteenth birthday. As the princess and the queen, Brahne, watch the play from the castle balcony, two members of Tantalus, Blank and Zidane, sneak into the castle in the aftermath of a sword fight that is part of the play. The two plan to kidnap the princess as per orders from Regent Cid Fabool IX of Lindblum, who wants to ask Garnet about her mother's recent and strange behavior.

Unbeknownst to them, Garnet plans to escape to Lindblum herself and puts her plan to motion to sneak aboard Tantalus's Theater Ship. She runs into Blank and Zidane in the castle hallway and runs off. Adelbert Steiner, the captain of the royal guard called the Knights of Pluto, pursues Blank and Zidane to "save" the princess from them. When Garnet is caught by Zidane, she asks him to kidnap her, a request he gladly accepts. They escape the castle on the Prima Vista but crash into the Evil Forest. They accidentally take both Steiner and the young black mage Vivi with them.

Later on, Garnet decides to come back to the castle to speak with her mother, after finding out that Alexandria is producing black mage soldiers in Dali. Brahne orders Garnet detained and Zorn and Thorn to extract her eidolons, while Steiner and Marcus, who accompanied Garnet's return to the castle, are thrown in the dungeon. Steiner and Marcus escape and go their separate ways -- Marcus leaves for the Evil Forest, while Steiner meets up with Zidane, Freya, and Vivi, who have come to rescue Garnet.

They make their way to the castle dungeons where they find Garnet in deep sleep from a spell, her eidolons having been extracted by Zorn and Thorn. Zidane takes a soporose Garnet with him, and the party begins to escape the castle but run into General Beatrix who fights and defeats them. Upon seeing Garnet's condition, Beatrix realizes the extent of the queen's insanity and vows to protect the princess and wakes Garnet from her sleeping spell. Garnet, Zidane, and Vivi escape the castle via a hidden underground passage known as Gargan Roo, while Beatrix, Steiner, and Freya stay behind to secure this getaway.

Queen Brahne uses the eidolons she extracted from Garnet to attack the other nations on the Mist Continent and then travels to the Outer Continent where she is struck down by Kuja and Bahamut. After Brahne's death, Garnet is crowned the new queen and once again takes residence in Alexandria Castle. While the others travel to Treno to take part in the Tetra Master card tournament, Alexandria is attacked by Kuja, who summons Bahamut on the city, while Garnet watches in horror from the castle balcony. After giving out orders to the Knights of Pluto, Garnet is left alone in the castle and hears the summoner's call from the eidolon Alexander.

Not knowing what it is, Garnet follows the voice to the top of the castle where she is joined by Eiko Carol, a young summoner girl who joined the party on the Outer Continent. They join hands and summon Alexander, which emerges and shields the castle in angel wings, then proceeds to destroy Bahamut. Garland arrives on the Invincible and destroys Alexander, shattering the crystal sword in the center of Alexandria Castle and leaving the building in ruins.

Reconstruction work begins straight away, and by the end of the game when Tantalus returns to Alexandria to perform I Want to be Your Canary, the castle appears to have been restored to its former glory.

Locations
The guardhouse is the dressing room for the Knights of Pluto. A poster on the wall lists each knight's proficiency; memorizing the list comes to use when giving the knights their battle orders in Disc 3. The room has a moogle to save the player's game.
 * Guardhouse

The castle balcony overlooks the city of Alexandria. This is where the monarch sits when watching plays performed by Tantalus. The player can obtain an item here from the queen in the beginning of the game if they speak to her as Steiner.
 * Balcony

The castle kitchen is occupied by many chefs, among them, Quina Quen, who can be spotted working in the kitchen near the beginning of the game.
 * Kitchen

The castle library holds one of the most ancient collections of books in the world, including an original Lord Avon script for I Want to be Your Canary. When she was young, Princess Garnet was schooled here by Doctor Tot. One of the books in the library is cursed, and summons the boss Tantarian.
 * Library

This is where visitors arriving from the town come to the castle, by crossing the water moat with a gondola operated by a castle guard. The Knights of Pluto patrol the courtyard.
 * Courtyard

The western tower from the courtyard holds the floating statue of Neptune that can be used as an elevator to enter the port beneath it, by draining the water from the "well" it floats on. A Stellazzio coin, Leo, can be found in this room.
 * Neptune

The port located under the castle has ships come in from the sea. The way to the castle is by an elevator.
 * Port

The underground chapel has an extraction circle on the floor, which can be used as a place to extract eidolons from a summoner. This is likely a relic from the time the summoners' tribe used to inhabit Alexandria. The way to the underground section is through a secret passage behind a fireplace in a room in the castle.
 * Chapel

The castle dungeon is located underneath the castle. It houses numerous cells and a single cell hanging from the ceiling.
 * Dungeon

Princess Garnet's room is found within the castle. She is seen preparing herself before appearing in public numerous times in the game, and at the end, Beatrix laments her future here.
 * Princess Garnet's Room

Treasures
Disc 1
 * The queen gives an item if spoken to as Steiner, but the item received depends on the score the player attained in the sword fighting minigame (see below).
 * Elixir (round up all Pluto Knights as Steiner)

Disc 2
 * Ice Brand
 * Tent

Disc 3
 * Phoenix Down x2
 * Phoenix Pinion
 * While Garnet is giving orders to the Knights of Pluto in Disc 3, depending on the accuracy of orders an item is received (see below).

Obtaining an item from the queen
(Disc 1)
 * Ether
 * Elixir
 * Silk Shirt
 * Moonstone
 * ??? Gil

Only one of the above can be obtained. To get the Moonstone, Zidane and Blank must impress 100 Nobles during the swordfight scene. The gil varies depending on how well the fight went.

Rounding up the Knights of Pluto
Early in the game during the performance of I Want To Be Your Canary, the player has the option to find all the Knights of Pluto as Steiner. Locating them all and reporting to Brereicht in the left tower will earn an Elixir.


 * Blutzen, Pluto Knight II - The first super sleuth, was ambushed by Blank and Zidane, and his armor was stolen.
 * Kohel, Pluto Knight III - The second super sleuth, was ambushed by Blank and Zidane, and his armor was stolen.
 * Laudo, Pluto Knight IV - The Writer, found in the library.
 * Dojebon, Pluto Knight V - The Artilleryman, a bit of a klutz, he runs straight into Steiner at one point.
 * Brereicht, Pluto Knight VI - The knight who is exercising in the left tower, he knows all the knights and what they do best.
 * Weimar, Pluto Knight VII - The knight who knows the names of all the girls in town. He also appears as a boss with Haagen and Steiner.
 * Haagen, Pluto Knight VIII - The Navigator, found dipping his feet in the canal in the courtyard. He also appears as a boss with Weimar and Steiner.
 * Mullenkedheim, Pluto Knight IX - The Cannonball expert, found hungry in the banquet hall.
 * Unnamed Ninth Pluto Knight (Blank) - Found near the right-hand gate.

Tantarian
Tantarian is an optional boss found in Alexandria Castle's library by examining a book on a top shelf, but there are only two chances to fight it: during disc 2 when the party is rescuing Garnet, and on disc 3 when the party arrives to save Garnet and Eiko. If the player misses out on these two opportunities, Tantarian cannot be encountered again.

Stellazzio Coin
One Stellazzio coin is found in the castle; the Leo by the right wall, near the Neptune Statue, at the underground harbor. The player gets there by going through the side door of the west tower of Alexandria Castle.

Giving orders to the Knights of Pluto
When Bahamut attacks Alexandria on disc 3 Garnet gives orders to the Knights of Pluto. If the player assigns all the jobs correctly, they will receive Angel Earrings. Otherwise the reward is just either an Ether, Hi-Potion or Elixir.


 * Weimar and Haagen are more suited for the Protect the Townspeople task.
 * Brereicht and Laudo should be the ones for the Contact Lindblum task.
 * Blutzen and Kohel are the simple choices for the Gather Information task.
 * Mullenkedheim and Dojebon have the skills needed for the Fire the cannons task.

During Garnet's Rescue

 * Alexandrian Soldier X2
 * Alexandrian Soldier X3
 * Bandersnatch
 * Bandersnatch X2
 * Type C X3
 * Type C, Type B X2
 * Bandersnatch, Type C X2
 * Zorn and Thorn (boss)
 * Beatrix (boss)
 * Tantarian (boss)

Musical Themes
Alexandria Castle does not have a musical theme of its own; however, when controlling Zidane in his search for Princess Garnet in the beginning of the game, the song "Find the Princess" plays in the background. Later, when Steiner searches for her, the background song is "Steiner's Theme."

During Zidane's rescue of Garnet on Disc 2 and the escape from the castle on Disc 3, the musical theme played in the castle is "City Under Siege," also known as, "Ambush Attack."

Trivia

 * Alexandria Castle looks similar to Castle Cornelia from the original Final Fantasy, especially in Dissidia Final Fantasy.

Burgstadt Alexandria