Lindblum (Final Fantasy IX)

Lindblum is a regency located on the southernmost part of the Mist Continent in Final Fantasy IX. It shares a border with both Alexandria and Burmecia. It is the largest city in the game and is divided into four areas: the Business District, the Industrial District, the Theater District, and the Grand Castle. People transport from district to district via the Air Cabs. The regency itself is protected by the Lindblum Airfleet and lives under the rule of Regent Cid Fabool IX.

Lindblum is the largest community in Gaia as well as the most technologically advanced. Recently, ground-breaking technological discoveries in steam power have allowed Lindblum's engineers to forge Mist-free transportation vehicles, such as Air Cabs, and even steam-fueled airships.

Story
Zidane and his group arrive at Lindblum after narrowly escaping from Alexandria. Thanks to Garnet's relations with the Lindblum royalty, they are welcomed inside the castle where they learn Regent Cid has transformed into an Oglop.

Zidane heads back into town while Vivi and Steiner explore the city districts. Wandering into a bar, Zidane reunites with Freya Crescent, an old friend he hasn't seen in three years. Later, Zidane returns to the castle to check up on Garnet, who is becoming depressed over her inability to act upon the rising problems facing the kingdoms of Alexandria and Lindblum.

In an effort to cheer her up, Zidane promises her a date if he wins the Festival of the Hunt. The festival's award ceremony is interrupted as a messenger arrives from Burmecia, informing the Regent that the country is under attack from a black mage army. The messenger dies soon after, succumbing to his wounds.

Immediately setting out to assist the Burmecians, Freya, along with Zidane and Vivi, travel by foot through the Dragon's Gate to Gizamaluke's Grotto. Garnet, without the blessing of her teammates or uncle, but nonetheless with Steiner following behind, returns to Alexandria to talk her mother out of attacking the other countries.

Both groups fail in their quests, and after the destruction of both Burmecia and Cleyra, Queen Brahne turns her sights on Lindblum Castle, hammering it with a barrage from her seafaring fleet hidden beneath the Mist. She teleports armies of black mages into the city before finally ending the battle with summoning Atomos's vortex winds to rip the castle apart. Not long after, having witnessed the attack, Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi return to the stricken city to regroup and plan their counter attack. They devise a plan to defeat Kuja, Brahne's weapon supplier, in the Outer Continent.

Near the end of the game Lindblum's airfleet joins the Second Battle of the Iifa Tree, led by Regent Cid.

Locations
Lindblum is situated atop a mountain peak far above the Mist-covered plains. Fortified from every side by the castle's grand walls and towers, the city is currently, due to the Mist, only safely accessible via airship through the Falcon's Gate. The city is divided into four districts.

Moving from one district to another requires the service of an air taxi.

Overlooking the Falcon's Gate from a lofty height, the Theater District is home to Lindblum's famous theater. This has been the venue for many famous plays, including Moogle Wannabe 2 starring Lowell Bridges. It is also where the Aspiring Artist Michael's workshop is located. The Theater District is the home of Tantalus Theater Troupe, Baku's band of thieves. Time is marked by a bell that sounds at the end of each play performed in the theater.
 * Theater District

The Industrial District is where the engineers work and live. Upon exiting the Air Cab station, a giant statue of Cid Fabool VIII can be viewed, built to honor the father of Cid IX. One of the most exciting projects going on in the Industrial District is the development of the steam engine, which works without the use of Mist. The Doom Pub, run by the barkeeper Bobo, is where Zidane reunites with his old friend, the Burmecian Dragoon; Freya Crescent. The district is destroyed during the Siege of Lindblum.
 * Industrial District

The Business District is one of the largest commercial areas in Gaia. Among its many shops is the synthesis shop. The vast array of shops include Alice's Item Shop, a weapon shop, Polom's Action Figures, Pepe's Milk Shop, Ivan's Fish Stack, Milla's Oil Shop and Grandma Pickle's corner stand, which sells Gysahl Pickles, a Lindblum delicacy.
 * Business District

Along with shops, it is also home to Lindblum's inn, which holds a Bobo Bird Statue that has been handed down from generation to generation between innkeepers. At the inn visitors can read comments left by previous patrons. If the player inspects the book on Disc 3 or 4, they can prompt Zidane to leave a comment as well.

Down the main street is the Hunter's Gate, the exit that leads to Pinnacle Rocks; on the other end is a church currently undergoing a renovation.

The Lindblum Grand Castle
Regarded as the fourth district, Lindblum Grand Castle is an impressive structure with walls surrounding the entire city. It is home to Regent Cid, the ruler of Lindblum. It has a large airship dock, which houses the Lindblum air force. The castle is located in central Lindblum and consists of three levels.

Treasure
Disc 1= ''Note: For the Theater Ship card, Coral Ring, and 5000 Gil, only one can be obtained, depending on who wins the Festival of the Hunt. For the card, Vivi must win, Freya for the Coral Ring, and Zidane for the 5000 gil.''
 * Kupo Nut
 * Mini-Burmecia
 * Autograph
 * Moogle Suit
 * Hi-Potion
 * Echo Screen
 * Tent x2
 * Leather Plate
 * Silver Gloves
 * Bronze Vest
 * Steepled Hat
 * Leather Wrist
 * Ore
 * 68 gil
 * 97 gil
 * 282 gil
 * 127 gil
 * 163 gil
 * Wyerd Card
 * Mimic Card
 * Coral Ring*
 * 5000 gil*
 * Theater Ship card*
 * Master Hunter
 * -|Disc 2=
 * World Map
 * Ether
 * Phoenix Pinion
 * Lindblum card
 * 163 gil
 * 3000 gil
 * 340 gil
 * 993 gil
 * 262 gil
 * -|Disc 3=
 * Strange Potion
 * Unusual Potion
 * Beautiful Potion
 * Sagittarius
 * Egoist's Armlet
 * Elixir x2
 * Chimera Armlet
 * Lapis Lazuli
 * Remedy x2
 * 4826 gil
 * 970 gil
 * 1273 gil
 * -|Disc 4=
 * Protect Ring

Mognet
When the party first meets Moodon in the Inn at Lindblum, he has a letter for Zidane:

When the party first meets Moonte at Lindblum, Dragon's Gate, he has received a letter:

When the party meets Serino on the Red Rose, she has a letter for Moodon at the Lindblum Inn.

Moodon also has a letter for Zidane:

The letter the party delivers from Moodon to Monte at the Dragon's Gate entrance to Lindblum:

After the party returns from the Outer Continent Mogki from the Lindblum Castle has a letter to Moodon:

Autograph and Moogle Suit
During the first visit to Lindblum, Zidane can go to the Theater District to find Lowell, surrounded by his fans. He leaves, a man in a moogle costume appears, and then exits the area. Zidane can follow him to the artist's house, get an Autograph from Lowell, and find another key item, Moogle Suit, inside the house. These items serve no purpose other than raising the Treasure Hunter Rank.

Festival of the Hunt
The player must defeat enemies within a time limit to amass points. Depending on who wins the hunt a different reward is given.

Finding potions for Cid
On disc 3 after the party has arrived in Lindblum after Kuja's attack on Alexandria and after Garnet has lost her voice, Cid wishes to find a way to turn back into human. The party plans to make a potion for him, but must find the ingredients from the citizens of Lindblum.


 * The "Beautiful Potion" is held by Alice outside the weapon shop in the Business District.
 * The "Strange Potion" is in Artist Michael's studio, found in the left corner of house.
 * The "Unusual Potion" is received from Cinna at Tantalus's hideout at Theater District.

After returning to the castle Zidane will give Cid the newly-mixed potion, but the potion fails to turn him into a human, turning him into a frog instead.

Lost Family Sidequest
During disc 4, a new sidequest becomes accessible where Zidane must repeatedly visit the Tantalus hideout in Lindblum's Theater District and talk to the various Nero family members. Starting with Benero and Zenero, a member of the Nero family will appear, saying the others are missing, then go and look for them. Each time Zidane returns to the hideout after a major event or battle in Memoria, a new member will be there, saying all the previous members are missing. This can be done repeatedly until Deathguise is defeated—the last major event that will trigger a new scene at the hideout.

After the scene with Penera, the final Nero family member, Zidane will comment on the huge family, and a treasure chest will appear inside the hideout with a Protect Ring inside.

The sidequest can be moved forward with every major event and battle in Memoria, and there are more Memoria events than necessary to perform the entire quest. This means the player can still complete the quest even if they do not go back to the hideout after every event. If the player completes the sidequest and continues to trigger more events in Memoria, the sidequest will seemingly start over again, but it cannot be completed again since there are not enough events to do so. Whether this was intended or a glitch is unknown.

The Nero family members as they appear are:
 * Benero and Zenero > Genero > Denero > Penero > Benera > Zenera > Genera > Denera > Penera

The events in Memoria that move the sidequest forward are:
 * 1) The beginning of disc 4.
 * 2) The battle with Nova Dragon.
 * 3) The battle with Maliris.
 * 4) The flashback of Alexander.
 * 5) The scene where Zidane talks to himself.
 * 6) The flashback of Dagger on the boat.
 * 7) The scene with the giant eye in the sky.
 * 8) The battle with Tiamat.
 * 9) The scene with the two planets colliding.
 * 10) The scene where Quina thinks s/he is drowning.
 * 11) The scene where Garland talks about memories.
 * 12) The battle with Kraken.
 * 13) The scene about Gaia's birth.
 * 14) The battle with Lich.
 * 15) The scene where Garland talks about the beginning and the Crystal.
 * 16) The scene where the party enters the Crystal World.
 * 17) The battle with Deathguise.

Shops
{|class="full-width"
 * width="50%" valign="top"|

Torres' Synthesis Shop (Disc 1)

 * width="50%" valign="top"|

Torres' Synthesis Shop (Disc 2)

 * }

Wayne's Synthesis Shop (Disc 3/4)
{|class="full-width"
 * width="50%" valign="top"|

Alice's Item Shop

 * width="50%" valign="top"|

Dragoos' Armory

 * }

{|class="full-width"
 * width="50%" valign="top"|

Dragoos' Weapon Shop (Disc 2)

 * width="50%" valign="top"|

Dragoos' Weapon/Medicine Shop (Disc 3/4)

 * }

Creation and development
In 1999, Squaresoft subcontracted a French company, Ex Machina, to create three FMVs including Lindblum. In turn, the company asked a sculptor, Charles-Éric Gogny, to create a model of Lindblum which the company would use in creating the FMVs which would serve as the basis for the 3D work in Maya and compositing work in Adobe AfterEffect and Avid Media Illusion.

Musical themes
The theme that plays in Lindblum is called "Lindblum".

Final Fantasy XIV
One of the original servers was named Lindblum. It was merged with the Saronia server into the Sargatanas server.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Lindblum is present as a room for preset characters of the game's Multiplayer Mode Online Lobby.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call
Lindblum appears as the Battle Music Sequence for "Festival of the Hunt".

Trivia

 * A man near the air cab station will say, "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker!", a quote from Star Trek, when asked about the location of the potions for Cid.
 * Lindblum soldiers wield a pole-arm with a hammer-like head, perhaps fitting for a city built on industry.
 * On the map in the opening video, and on the sign in the bottom left of the Rest Stop screen in Summit Station, and on the maps dotted around South Gate stations, the city is spelled as "Lindbulm". These graphics also appear in the original Japanese version of the game, and the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania uses the term "Lindbulm", so it is likely this is the Japanese English name for the region and the graphics were not updated for the English version.
 * Given that these mistakes appear out of dialogue and instead on maps and pre-rendered backgrounds, it could also mean that the dialogue "Lindblum" is instead a mistake.
 * Just outside the transport station in the Industrial District, there is a statue of Cid VIII, who built the first Mist-powered airship in 1762. Nine years later, he led a battle. Nine years after that, he died. It is engraved by Cid IX. The number nine is a recurring theme of this particular Final Fantasy title.
 * In Final Fantasy XIII, Cid Raines is the commander of an enormous airship named the Lindblum, referencing Cid Fabool IX and the city of Lindblum.
 * If the player looks closely enough, when in the Business District after the Siege of Lindblum, an out-of-place chocobo can be seen partially hovering above the ground, serving no actual purpose. It can be seen in the distance on the right hand side of the split junction area. Heading to the next camera angle (the fountain) will cause the chocobo to disappear. The chocobo is not actually a model, but instead a layer of the background. It is not known whether this was intentional or something left in the game and forgotten about prior to its release.