Palom

Palom is a playable character in Final Fantasy IV. He is a Black Mage from Mysidia, and trains together with his twin sister, Porom. Palom is casual and a show-off, even to adults, and refers to himself as "The Mysidian Genius." This, combined with his inflated ego, causes him to get a little out of hand, leading to Porom having to settle him down, either using words or by smacking him on the head.

Final Fantasy IV
Palom and Porom first meet Cecil Harvey when he visits Mysidia after being attacked by Leviathan. The Elder asks if they will accompany Cecil and help him on his quest to become a Paladin. However, the Elder also orders them to spy on Cecil to make sure he stays true to his word. They accompany him to Mount Ordeals. There, they meet Tellah the sage, who is searching for the legendary magic Meteor, which will help him defeat Golbez. Tellah agrees to help them as well. Palom uses his magic to extinguish some fire blocking the route up the mountain. When they reach the top of the mountain, however, they meet Scarmiglione of Earth, one of Golbez's Elemental Archfiends. Scarmiglione attacks them, but they are able to defeat him twice. After this, they arrive at a room full of mirrors. A mysterious light, who refers to Cecil as "my son," commands him to take a sword, which transforms him into a Paladin. However, Cecil has to overcome his former feelings of hatred by battling himself. He succeeds, and becomes a full fledged Paladin. Tellah also learns Meteor at this time.

Cecil, Tellah, Palom, and Porom return to Mysidia, where the Elder congratulates them. He also speaks of the Mysidian Legend of the sword Cecil now wields, and how only a Chosen One could use it. Cecil then agrees to stop Golbez. He then asks the Elder to open the Devil's Road that leads to Baron, and the Elder obliges. Palom and Porom, who are finished with their mission, ask to help Cecil as well. While the Elder was reluctant at first, he agrees to let them do so.

In Baron, Cecil and his friends learn that Cid Pollendina had created a new airship, but was arrested when he refused to let the king see it. Cecil tries to enter the castle, however, the guards will not let him. He overhears that a Karate Man was invited to be an officer in Baron, and that he was hanging out at the inn. Cecil goes there, and discovers that it is, in fact, Yang Fang Leiden. Yang orders the guards to attack Cecil, and then attacks him himself. However, Cecil is able to snap Yang back to reality, and Yang realizes that he was under the control of the king of Baron the whole time. Yang then rejoins the party, and finds the Key of Baron in his pocket, which the party then uses to enter Baron Castle via the Ancient Waterway.

Cecil's party reaches the castle, and meet up with Baigan there. Baigan tells Cecil that he is not under Golbez's control, and that he is loyal only to the King of Baron. He offers to help Cecil, and Cecil accepts the help. However, Palom and Porom smell a monster in the area, and point Baigan out as the monster. Cecil's party then fights Baigan, and Palom and Porom warn Cecil to tread lightly around Baron. Cecil then proceeds to meet the king, who is upset that Cecil became a Paladin. However, when Cecil mentions the king of Baron's true name, the king lets out that he killed the real king, and Cecil then demands that the king reveal himself. It turns out that the king was in fact Cagnazzo, the Archfiend of Water. Cecil's party then fight Cagnazzo and win. Cid escapes prison after this, and greets Cecil enthusiastically. Cid then joins Cecil's party. However, Cagnazzo has one last trick up his sleeve. When Cecil tries to escape, the walls begin to cave in. Palom and Porom then save Cecil's party by petrifying themselves. Tellah tries to heal them, but to no avail.

Palom and Porom are later healed by the Elder, who takes them to the battle with the Giant of Babil. After the battle, they pray in the Tower of Wishes in Mysidia for Cecil. In the ending, Palom cuts his magic classes to flirt with a girl about his role in the story, specifically, the time he extinguished the fire on Mount Ordeals. Porom finds him and yells at him. When she brings him before the Elder, the Elder scolds him and gives him extra homework.

Final Fantasy IV Interlude
Palom, along with Porom, are present at the celebration of Damcyan's reconstruction. Eventually, they join Cid and Cecil when they go to check on the strange occurrences at the Sealed Cave, where they find a seemingly amnesiac Rydia, who is revealed to be an Imposter at the Tower of Babil until the real Rydia reunites with them.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years


Since Tellah's passing, Palom aspired to follow in Tellah's footsteps. However, he is fed up with Mysidian Elder's treating him like a child in spite of being almost an adult, causing a rift between him and Porom as he intends to leave the rigid Mysidia in order to travel abroad and become a Great Sage himself. Following the Mysidian Elder's orders, he takes an assignment to train Leonora as an Epopt at the Tower of Trials near Troia. Palom later discovers the Red Wings have begun stealing the Crystals again, and flees with Leonora and the Earth Crystal to the Lodestone Cavern. The Red Wings are made to discard their weapons. Within the cavern's Crystal Chamber, they are attacked by the Dark Elf. The Dark Elf is suddenly destroyed by Shiva, who was summoned by the Mysterious Girl. Palom teleports Leonora away from them, and casts Break on both himself and the Crystal. Leonora goes against Palom's wishes and returns to his side before the Mysterious Girl decides to break the stone and recover the Crystal. Leonora heals Palom's petrification, and reveals to him she was the girl he was flirting with at Mysidia many years ago, as seen during the ending to Final Fantasy IV. While Palom acknowledges Leonora is not the best Epopt, he says she still passes with flying colors as his partner. They band together in an effort to defeat the Mysterious Girl, but are subsequently turned to ice before losing the Crystal.

Palom and Leonora are later rescued from Shiva by Rydia's party after Troia is defrosted, and are sent to the Falcon to recover. After the Mysterious Girl flees to the True Moon with the Crystals, they consequently join the party to put an end to the Creator's plans. In the True Moon's Subterrane, Palom eavesdrops on a conversation between Luca, Leonora and Porom. After Leonora admits she likes Palom, he remarks that women can be dangerous things. Following the defeat of the Creator, the party escape the True Moon. Palom is last seen in Mysidia with Porom, where the Elder grants them joint position as new leaders. Leonora visits them, who decides to abandon her Epopt position in order to spend more time with Palom to become a Sage.

Equipment and Stats
Palom is a Black Mage, and thus his stats are weighted toward magic. He can equip rods, daggers, bows, and arrows, as well as hats, tunics, hoods, and robes.

Final Fantasy IV
Palom can use Black Magic, and learns his spells at a faster rate than Rydia due to her focus on Summon magic. He learns every Black Magic spell in the game. In the DS release, he learns a few of his spells at different levels but stills learns his spells faster than Rydia. Palom ability Bluff boosts his Intelligence and thus the damage done by his Black Magic. In the Game Boy Advance release, the boost from Bluff stacks with several uses, increasing Intelligence each time. In the DS release, Bluff only lasts a short time, typically only a turn or two. Palom can also use Twincast, which allows him to cast spells with his sister Porom. The two can cast Pyroblast, Comet, and in the Game Boy Advance and PSP releases, they will cast Double Meteor if they are equipped with the Twin Stars.

The After Years
In The After Years, Palom retains the ability to learn Black Magic, and as in Final Fantasy IV he learns his later spells faster than Rydia. He also retains his Bluff ability. In the Depths, it is possible to teach Dualcast to Palom, Porom, or Leonora, but only one of them can learn it. In a flashback both Palom and Porom retain their Twincast ability, but during normal gameplay it is treated as a Band ability and is learned from an event in the True Moon Subterrane in the Final Tale. Palom can use the following Band abilities:
 * A Little Black Magic: Palom (Black Magic) + Leonora (Black Magic)
 * Particle Bomb: Palom + Leonora (Event)
 * Twincast: Palom + Porom (Event)
 * Thunderstorm: Palom (Black Magic) + Rydia (Black Magic)
 * Makeshift Cannon: Palom (Black Magic) + Luca (Big Throw) + Ursula (Kick) + Ceodore (Attack) + Porom (White Magic)
 * Infinity: Palom (Black Magic) + Rydia (Black Magic) + Porom (White Magic) + Rosa (White Magic) + Leonora (White Magic)
 * Rapid Fire: Palom (Black Magic) + Ceodore (Attack) + Tsukinowa (Attack)
 * Tri-Disaster: Palom (Black Magic) + Rydia (Black Magic) + Leonora (Black Magic)
 * Break Breaker: Palom (Black Magic) + Porom (White Magic) + Cecil (Attack)
 * Palom in the Sky: Palom (Bluff) + Leonora (Black Magic) + Porom (White Magic) + Luca (Big Throw)
 * Ice Crush: Palom + Leonora + Luca (Event)

Musical Themes
Palom and Porom share a theme, which is simply called "Palom and Porom".

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord
Paloms can be summoned by Mira when purchased as downloadable content. He takes on his appearance from The After Years. Any number of copies of Palom can be summoned at once. He is the most powerful magic summon. His speed is Normal, and he takes up one slot when summoned. His ability is the Slow spell.



Virtual World
Users in Square-Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Palom, as well as his sister Porom. However, his name is misspelled as "Parom."

Trivia

 * Palom and Porom make a small cameo in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals.
 * In Final Fantasy IX, a vendor in Lindblum is called "Polom's Action Figures". This could be a combination of both the twins' names, or an alternate romanization of Porom, since L and R are interchangeable in Japanese.
 * It is interesting to note that both Palom and Porom are seen wearing an identical amulet in their artwork, except that Palom's is red and Porom's is green. They still wear these in their art for The After Years.
 * In a developer's interview with Takashi Tokita about the The After Years, Tokita said that although he could not pick a favorite character, he was particularly fond of both Palom and Porom, with one of the reasons being that they have aged and evolved as characters since Final Fantasy IV.
 * Palom and Porom are the youngest playable Humans in the series.
 * In Final Fantasy XIII one of the major cities is named "Palumpolum", a reference to the twins.