Porom

Porom is a playable character in Final Fantasy IV and its sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. She is a White Mage from Mysidia who trains together with her twin brother, Palom.

Appearance and Personality
Porom first appears as a young girl wearing an orange and white striped costume, which is worn with a green cloak and orange boots. She has brown hair worn in a high ponytail. Her brother Palom wears the same outfit, except it is green.

In The After Years Porom has pink hair, along with an ensemble of a mini-dress, striped stockings and a cloak. Many pieces of artwork featuring Porom were altered to be less revealing in the overseas versions, as was done with Rydia and Ursula. Porom's top was altered to cover her chest, which was visible from the side. The material for her outfit was also changed so it was less transparent. Porom and Palom wear matching amulets with contrasting colors - Porom's is green and Palom's is red. They are shown wearing these amulets in their artwork and renders, and can be seen wearing them in-game in some releases.

Porom is respectful and polite, and she often has to keep Palom in line with both words and discipline, often whacking him on the head when he steps over the line. However, she truly does love her brother and supports his quest to become a Sage, but believes he lacks the discipline. In a flashback in The After Years, Porom stresses her belief to Palom that mastery of both White and Black Magic alone does not make a Sage, it is why they pursue such mastery and what they do with it, as Tellah traveled the world helping people for decades to achieve his status. As an adult in The After Years, much like Palom is doing, Porom wishes to travel to see the world and hone her skills as a mage, but she places her duties to Mysidia first, especially with the Elder taken ill and the events of the game occurring around her.

Final Fantasy IV
According to the Final Fantasy IV Settei Shiryou Hen, Porom and her brother Palom were learning magic since early childhood, akin to the mages of old, and were sent to study under the Elder by their parents. Palom and Porom first meet Cecil when he visits Mysidia after being attacked by Leviathan. Their Elder asks if they would 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 his intentions are pure. Palom and Porom accompany Cecil to Mount Ordeals where they meet Tellah the sage, who has been searching for the legendary magic Meteor, which he believes would help him defeat Golbez. Tellah agrees to help Cecil's party as well. When they reach the top of the mountain, however, they are attacked by Scarmiglione of Earth, one of Golbez's Archfiends, they are able to defeat him twice.

After, 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, while Tellah also learns Meteor.

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 the Chosen One could wield it. Cecil agrees to defeat Golbez and asks the Elder to open the Devil's Road to Baron, and the Elder obliges. Palom and Porom, who are finished with their mission, wish to help Cecil as well. While the Elder is reluctant at first, he agrees to let them do so.

In Baron, Cecil and his friends learn that Cid has 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 would not let him enter. He overhears that a monk was invited to be an officer in Baron, and that he is hanging out at the inn. Cecil finds out that it is, in fact, Yang. Yang orders the guards to attack Cecil, and then attacks him himself. However, Cecil is able to snap Yang back to his senses, and Yang realizes he was under the control of the king of Baron the whole time. Yang rejoins the party, and find the Key of Baron in his pocket, which the party use to enter Baron Castle through the Ancient Waterway.

Cecil's party reach the castle, and meet up with Baigan. Baigan tells Cecil 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. Baigan turns into a hideous monster, and Cecil's party fights Baigan. After the fight, Palom and Porom warn Cecil to tread lightly around Baron. Cecil 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 demands that the king reveal himself. It turns out that the king was in fact Cagnazzo, the Archfiend of Water. Cecil's party defeats Cagnazzo and Cid escapes prison and greets Cecil enthusiastically and 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 save Cecil's party by holding off the walls and petrifying themselves. Tellah tries to heal them, but to no avail, as they have turned to stone of their own will and cannot be healed by normal means.

Palom and Porom are later healed by the Elder, who takes them to the battle with the Giant of Babil. After the battle, they send their wishes on the Prayer Dais in Mysidia for Cecil. In the ending, Porom arrives at her magic class without Palom, and is forced to go off and look for him. She finds him flirting with a girl, and she scolds him and brings him back to the Elder, who gives Palom twice as much homework to do.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
Palom and Porom are present at the celebration of Damcyan's reconstruction. They eventually join Cid and Cecil 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
At an unspecified time between games, Palom begins his quest to become a sage and begins regularly travels around the world with Porom often accompanying him. Their travels take them to Kaipo and the Underground Waterway to fight the Octokraken, and in later years to the Passage of the Eidolons with Rydia, though they are denied entry to the Feymarch. It is implied that between games Porom began to regularly travel to Troia to train new Epopts in White Magic.

During the main game, Porom has taken over active leadership of Mysidia, as the aging Elder has fallen ill and Palom is in Troia training Leonora. Ceodore and a Hooded Man visit her seeking passage through the Devil's Road to Baron, and Porom sends a White Mage and Black Mage to accompany them.

When the Lunar Whale is seen rising from the ocean, the Elder fears what it means and Porom volunteers to travel to Mount Ordeals to find Kain, desiring his aid in protecting the village and the Water Crystal with Palom absent. Porom is accompanied to the mountain by a White Mage and Black Mage. Though the three find Kain and convince him to aid them, they return to Mysidia to find it under attack by the Mysterious Girl. Porom and the Elder attempt to protect the Crystal from her as she summons Ramuh to attack, but Kain betrays them and delivers the Crystal to her, leaving Porom and the Elder to fall unconscious from their wounds.

When Rydia, Luca, Edge and the Man in Black arrive at Mysidia, they defeat Ramuh and restore him to his senses, freeing the town and recovering Porom to rest in the Falcon. At Agart the four attempt to fight Titan, and Porom rushes to their aid to cast Float on them, allowing them to avoid Titan's earthquakes, but the strain prevents her from helping further and she is taken back to the Falcon. Porom then accompanies the party to the True Moon to help them fight The Creator.

At the end of the game, the Elder of Mysidia appoints Palom and Porom as joint rulers of Mysidia, feeling that their conflicting powers and personalities will balance perfectly to give Mysidia the leadership it needs.

Battle
Porom is a White Mage. She can equip staves, Bows, and arrows, as well as hats, tunics, hoods, and robes. She has high magic stats but low physical stats.

Final Fantasy IV
Porom uses White Magic. She learns every White Magic spell in the game, although some at different levels than Rosa. Porom learns her spells in the DS remake at the same levels as prior releases, with the exception of Mini. Porom's Cry ability makes it easier for the party to flee from battle. In the DS remake, Cry instead lowers all enemies' defense by half. In Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection, Cry may inflict Confuse on all foes.

Porom also can use the Twincast attack, which allows her to cast spells with her brother Palom. The two can cast Pyroblast and Comet. In the GBA and PSP versions, it will also cast Twin Meteor if they equip the Twin Stars.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
Porom returns with White Magic, Cry and Twincast, which function the same way as they do in Final Fantasy IV. She joins the party at Level 34 knowing all her spells up to that point from the previous game, and will continue to learn her spells at the same levels. She comes equipped with a Mythril Staff, Sage's Miter, Sage's Surplice, and Rune Armlet.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
In addition to her White Magic, Porom can use Pray, a former ability of Rosa's which heals the party for a moderate amount of HP. In the Depths, it is possible to teach Dualcast to Palom, Porom, or Leonora, but only one of the three can learn it. In a flashback, both Porom and Palom retain Twincast, but during normal gameplay it is a Band ability relearned from an event in the True Moon's Subterrane. Compared to Rosa, the game's only other dedicated White Mage, Porom has higher MP and Spirit, but her other stats are inferior. Porom also learns her White Magic at different levels than Rosa, learning some earlier than her and others later. Porom's higher Spirit and her potential to learn Dualcast make her a superior White Mage to Rosa, exchanging Rosa's offensive prowess with her bows for superior healing. However, Porom can still use Holy to function as an attacker.



Musical Themes
"Palom and Porom" is the twins' eponymous theme tune. An arrangement is on the Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon album.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord
A downloadable outfit, the "Puffy Costume", can change Mira's appearance to Porom's design from The After Years.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Palom and Porom both make cameos in Dissidia Final Fantasy as tutors for the in-game manuals.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Porom is an ally and a summonable Legend in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. She is depicted in her default Final Fantasy IV outfit. Her EX ability is Berserk.

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Porom appears in Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
A few cards in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game depict Porom. One has her CG render while the other is of her SD art.

Another features her promotional artwork for her chapter from the The After Years. Its cost is 4, and is of the Water element. The card type is Forward, and its subtype is 'White Mage'. When the player draws the card, they can set all all the Forward cards they control to active. The card's special ability is Curaga, and has 7000 power.

Virtual World
Users in Square Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Porom, as well as her brother Palom.

Etymology
Porom may be named after, a binary star system in the Virgo constellation.

Trivia

 * Like Rydia and Ursula, Porom's official character art for The After Years was altered for the North American release to be less revealing.
 * 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.
 * Porom is occasionally referred to as "Polom" in the Super Nintendo manual for the US release of Final Fantasy IV (then known as Final Fantasy II).
 * 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 his reasons being that they have aged and evolved as characters since their appearance in Final Fantasy IV.
 * In Final Fantasy XIII, one of the major cities is named "Palumpolum", as a reference to the twins.