Setzer Gabbiani

Setzer Gabbiani is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is a Gambler who lives on the wild side. He is the owner of the world's only airship: the Blackjack. In the SNES version he is neutral at the beginning of the war, reluctant to openly oppose the Gestahlian Empire after having made profits from their work. In the GBA translation, which is more faithful to the original, he says the Empire has been bad for his business.

Character and Appearance
Setzer is a young man in his late twenties. He has long, silver hair, and wears several layers of clothing under a black trench coat with a gold lining, though the in-game sprite shows the lining as brown. In the Anthology port Setzer's face is shown in an FMV to be badly scarred, and his skin to be very pale.

True to his notorious hobby, Setzer cannot resist a gamble; he thrives on risks - such as his planned abduction of Maria - and will never pass up an opportunity to prove his skill. Most of his scars actually come from gambling sessions gone wrong, although some also come from airship accidents.

There are also aspects of Setzer's character that fit the "ladies' man" archetype (such as his willingness to gamble his airship for Celes Chere's hand in marriage), which were exaggerated in his Kingdom Hearts appearance. Setzer acts like a happy and likeable person up front, but in reality he is still hurt by a great loss and distracts himself with gambling.

Story
Setzer was a gambler by nature and pilot by trade. When he was younger, he was involved with a girl named Darill who owned the airship Falcon. She knew her risk-taking nature would eventually take its toll, because she casually mentioned to Setzer the Falcon was his if she ever was unable to fly. Setzer, mortified by the idea, promised her that no such thing would ever happen, and that he would only take the Falcon after having won it fairly. After a day of flying Darill decided to go out on her own and push the Falcon to its limits. The ship crashed in a distant valley, and when Setzer found the remains he entombed them beneath the sea.

Shell-shocked by the loss, he ended up impressing his desires upon a wealthy opera star named Maria. The pinnacle of his infatuation comes when he threatens to kidnap her in the midst of a performance. He has a plan to disrupt the show and kidnap her. However, Locke Cole and his party are desperate for an airship, so he and the Impresario decide to foil Setzer's plan by having Celes Chere star in the night's show. Setzer abducts Celes, Locke follows him back to the Blackjack, and the party seeks to negotiate for an airship.

Setzer is disappointed upon finding Celes is not Maria, but he soon finds the intelligent Celes to be much more attractive. Celes borrows Edgar Roni Figaro's double-headed coin to broker a deal: if it landed on heads, Setzer would help the Returners reach the Southern Continent so they could rescue Maduin and the other Espers. If it was tails, Celes would agree to be Setzer's "woman" (the Japanese term refers to a woman that receives gifts from her man in exchange for physical "favors"). More amused than anything else, Setzer agrees, but quickly notices he has been duped. Setzer's inherent good nature, coupled by the fact he seems impressed by the trick, makes him pliant to the idea and he helps the Returners.

While the others are infiltrating the Magitek Research Facility in the north, Setzer stays on the airship. When the others do not return, he goes to Vector to check on them. He meets them as they are fleeing the city and rings them onto the Blackjack to escape. The ship is badly damaged in the attack and almost unusable. Later, he goes with them to Zozo to save Terra Branford.

Following the trip to Zozo Setzer accompanies the party to Narshe, where the Elder decides to join with the Returners. Terra agrees to ask the freed Espers to limit their devastation to Vector, after which a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards would storm from the north. The plan is a success, and Emperor Gestahl appears to have surrendered. He asks Terra if she would try to convince the Espers to negotiate peace, so she and Locke head to Crescent Island to convey the Emperor's message. Setzer and the others are still skeptical of the Emperor and decide to stay in Vector to judge his motives.

Setzer and Cid Del Norte Marquez begin to rebuild the airship while Edgar uses his charms to learn the Emperor's true plans from a maidservant, who says the Emperor plans to capture the Espers. The rest of the party flies to Thamasa to warn Terra and Locke, but they are too late. Kefka has acquired more magicite and used it to revive the Warring Triad and turn the Land of Espers into the Floating Continent.

One year after the apocalypse, with no wings to fly and nowhere to go, Setzer is wasting his life away in a bar in Kohlingen. Celes, Edgar, and Sabin Rene Figaro happen upon him and ask if he would rejoin their fight against Kefka. Setzer is initially unwilling, having lost any sense of purpose for his life, but again Celes's words convince him. Setzer takes them to Darill's Tomb to unearth the Falcon. He shares Darill's story (and his pain) with the party, and as the Falcon rises to the skies Setzer finally buries his grief. From then on he accompanies the party on their quest to save the world.

In the ending, Setzer manages to save two of his fellow Returners by telling them which of two doors was unsafe, and about to explode.

Battle
As a Gambler, Setzer has high strength, good stamina and speed, but low magic. His weapons consist of cards, darts, and dice, and he can use several daggers. He can also equip most heavy armor, helmets and shields. Setzer's special ability is Slots, which opens up a window with three spinning slot wheels. The player stops the wheels one by one, and depending on the result, Setzer uses a special attack. If Setzer equips the Heiji's Jitte Relic, Slots becomes Gil Toss, which allows Setzer to do damage to all enemies at the cost of some gil.

Development
According to the "Chocobo's FF Laboratory" feature published in V Jump in 1993, the character of Faris Scherwiz from Final Fantasy V was originally a female gambler named Eva Scherwil. The developers encountered difficulties in making her fit in the game's world and atmosphere, and eventually changed her into a pirate. In a later issue of V Jump, the developers noted Setzer evolved from this early Eva concept.

A rarely-noticed fact about Setzer is that he joins the party with a Bandana equipped on him, although he cannot actually equip bandanas (if removed he cannot reequip it). This is not a bug, but was actually meant to be an inside joke showing that Setzer's vanity does not allow him to wear the same things as Locke. In the GBA version, Setzer does not come with a Bandana, as the porting team possibly thought it was a glitch.

Musical Themes
Setzer's theme is built off C major, a grand fanfare that plays as the background music for the cabins underneath both airships. His leitmotif is reprised in A major in "Epitaph", which plays during his reminiscence of Darill, and in C major again in the ending theme, "Balance is Restored". In addition to his character reprisal in the Ending Theme, Setzer's theme is reprised during the first half of the ending credits.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
In the casino Serendipity, the player can exchange their winnings for a Fragment called "Setzer's Dice". Its description says Setzer's "consummate skill once drove Serendipity to the brink of ruin". His surname, "Gabbiani", is used in a 'Brain Blast!' question at Academia -4XX- AF, stating he had "won the most number of coins at the slot machines in a single day" in Serendipity.

Final Fantasy Tactics
The name Setzer crops out in the "Storm of 777" errand. The errand is as follows:
 * The Blackjack, the casino ship is at the port. The slot machine at the left end of the ship is said to be loose. You should try it out!

The outcome is as follows:
 * The Casino ship Blackjack is at the port Limberry castle. The slot machine on the left hand side gave us 777, the jackpot. Nothing happened so we asked Setzer about this. He said he deliberately lowered the pay-off rate. "Gambling's not fun unless there's some risk."

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
A set of equipment called "Gambler's Gear" and "Gambler's Hat" can be bought in Town, and makes the character appear to look like Setzer. It is equippable by all Tribes.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Setzer makes a small appearance as one of the tutors of the in-game manuals.

Kingdom Hearts II


Setzer makes an appearance in Kingdom Hearts II, and is the only pre-Final Fantasy VII character to appear in the entire Kingdom Hearts series, meaning he is also the first to get a modernized three-dimensional re-designing. He is the champion of the Struggle competition when the player is playing as Roxas in Twilight Town. He asks Roxas to throw the match for him, leading to two different outcomes: if Roxas wins, Setzer quietly surrenders his title as Struggle champion; if Roxas loses, Setzer gives him a medal as "thanks". While playing as Sora later in the game, the player can fight Setzer in another, optional Struggle match. Setzer's personality is heavily exaggerated in this game, which depicts him as a flashy and arrogant ladies' man who often taunts the player.

Nomura was hesitant to include Setzer in Kingdom Hearts because he was not his original designer. After some coaxing from the development team, he decided to include him.

Merchandise
Square released pencil toppers and key chains in 1994 with the cast of Final Fantasy VI. Among them was merchandise featuring Setzer. These products were available in vending machines. Setzer's key chain features his in-game sprite design.

Etymology
Setzer's surname, "Gabbiani", is the Italian word for "seagulls", but also is similar to the Italian verb "gabbare", meaning "to trick, to cheat". Setzer's first name might be the agent noun for the German word "setzen", meaning to bet on something. Alternately, it may be a corruption of "César", a name whose variants are found throughout certain European countries, including Spain, Italy, and Portugal.

Trivia

 * There is a glitch in Final Fantasy VI in which when Setzer uses the Fixed Dice and Offering, his damage won't be halved, and thus can do up to four hits of 9,999 damage. This glitch is not in the PS remake, but is in the original version and the GBA remake.
 * The great discrepancy between his original personality and his portrayal in the Kingdom Hearts series is referenced in Dissidia Final Fantasy. In Shadow and Setzer's conversation in the Duel Colosseum, Shadow says, "Don't even think of bribing your opponents to lose". Setzer indignantly replies, "What's that about? I would never stoop that!", although Setzer may be saying this sarcastically.
 * Setzer is the first character of the series to bear visible physical disfigurements, having many scars on his face.
 * In Final Fantasy Type-0, there is an airship named the Setzer that the player can control.