Josef (Final Fantasy II)

Josef is a playable character from Final Fantasy II. He joins the party soon after they arrive at Salamand, Firion's original home.

Story
Originally a soldier for the Palamecian Empire, he escaped during his youth to the town of Salamand with a nameless young woman who becomes his wife. There, he had a daughter named Nelly. Ever the explorer and the handyman, he built an ice sled to take advantage of the snow fields north of Salamand. Sometime later, Josef retired his sled in the nearby Semitt Falls. Though the reasons for his fleeing the empire are unknown, his view of it and its citizens are quite sour.

When Firion and his allies arrive, Josef is quite cold to them. It is not until Firion and the others rescue the men of Salamand and Nelly from slavery in the Semitt Falls that Josef becomes helpful. When Firion learns that the Goddess's Bell is in the snow cave north of Salamand, Josef tells him of his old ice sled. He accompanies them to recover the sled, to the ice fields, and finally to the ice cave, where they eventually recover the goddess bell. On their way out, they are attacked by Borghen. The heroes defeat him, but as he dies, he triggers a trap mechanism, causing a boulder to come falling toward the party. Josef blocks the boulder, but can't hold it for long. He tells Firion, Maria, and Guy to get out of the way, and as they get clear, Josef runs out of strength and is crushed by the boulder but he in the process he was able to save Firion, Maria and Guy.

In death, Josef found himself in the afterlife, confronted by a hideous zombie-version of Borghen. Scott and Minwu, who had also died, assisted him in defeating the zombie. Later, they find the spirit of Ricard, who also joins them. At the end of their journey through the afterlife they believe to be Hell, they are confronted by Emperor's light half, who informs them that they are actually in Heaven. The Light Emperor had brought them to him to ask for their forgiveness for his dark half's actions. However, the subconscious souls of our heroes's still-living friends and family appeared, and warned them not to be fooled, for the Light Emperor is just as evil as the Dark Emperor. Josef, along with Minwu, Ricard, and Scott, fought and defeated the Light Emperor. After the defeat of the Light Emperor, the fallen heroes can finally rest in peace.

Stats and Traits
Josef has high strength and vitality, which makes perfect turn him into a Monk. Being a Monk, Josef can become your strongest physical attacker, give him healing magic like cure and status effect magics like poison or silence are good ideas too.

Trivia

 * Josef's story is told to Princess Garnet til Alexandros XVII in Final Fantasy IX by the Eidolon Ramuh.
 * Josef has the distinctive honor of being the first playable character to die in the Final Fantasy series.
 * Josef's name comes from the eastern European version of the name and is pronounced "Yo-sef."