Golbez

Golbez, also known as Golbeza in the mobile remake of The After Years party menu, real name Theodor, and called Man in Black before his identity is revealed in The After Years, is a non-player character in Final Fantasy IV and a playable character in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. In Final Fantasy IV, he is an antagonist, a powerful sorcerer who pursues the Crystals. In The After Years, Golbez returns as a playable character.

Golbez has also appeared as a playable character in the fighting games, Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, as the villain opposing Cecil.

Appearance and Personality
In Final Fantasy IV Golbez is a tall imposing man in dark blue and black armor with gold trimmings, and a helmet with tall horns. The lining of his cape has been both red and blue sometimes even in the same game—the 3D remake release shows Golbez's official render with a blue lining, but his in-game appearance has a red lining. The exact color of his armor has also varied between appearances, from light blue to dark blue to black. In The After Years, Golbez wears a black cloak and kilt with rings of prayer beads on his arm. He has a large, muscular figure and long silver-white hair like Cecil. His concept art depicts him carrying a large black sword on his back, possibly the Ebony Blade, an exclusive weapon for Golbez that can be acquired at the start of his tale.

His armored sprites and SD art depict Golbez with green eyes, while his PSP portrait in The Complete Collection gives him blue eyes. In both his Complete Collection sprite for The After Years and his appearance as a child in the 3D release of Final Fantasy IV, Golbez has violet eyes like Cecil.

Through the majority of Final Fantasy IV, Golbez is a cruel and heartless man who will stop at nothing to obtain the Crystals, destroying anyone and anything that stands in his way. He is a cunning manipulator, tricking Cecil and his allies into retrieving two Crystals for him, and otherwise luring them into traps. As Fusoya later reveals, Golbez is being manipulated by a powerful Lunarian named Zemus by bonding Golbez's thoughts with his. Awakened, Golbez's personality returns to his true self; Golbez is horrified by his actions and feelings of hatred. Golbez's true personality is that of a caring, self-sacrificing, and empathetic individual.

During The After Years, Golbez is stoic and silent. His focus is investigating the Mysterious Girl's actions and gaining entry to Baron to ensure Cecil is safe, and he only speaks on matters relevant to these goals. He occasionally demonstrates a dry, sardonic wit. While the other party members openly express their reactions to the bosses on the True Moon, Golbez keeps his thoughts to himself, and shows compassion and sympathy towards the Archfiends, wishing them peaceful rest when they are slain. When confronting the Dark Knight, he accuses Golbez of wanting to die at Cecil's hands to atone for both his actions under Zemus and abandoning Cecil as a child—Golbez neither confirms or denies this. If he survives, he later tells Cecil he can no longer hide from the world, and must live up to his crimes.

The Dissidia series merges these two aspects of Golbez's personality. Golbez wishes for Cecil and the other Warriors of Cosmos to prevail, and appears to Cecil and the other heroes to offer assistance at his own risk, as the other villains view his behavior as treachery. Golbez manipulates the heroes towards the ultimate goal of their victory, in particular, placing the Wild Rose for Firion to find to inspire his dream. Golbez has no qualms about attacking the heroes when called upon, including Cecil, but has good reason for this. His Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy museum profile states he was content to remain in the cycles of war as punishment for his sins, but Cecil's appearance, and the sacrifice of six of Cosmos's warriors at the end of the twelfth cycle, motivated him to help Cosmos end the cycles and free Cecil and the remaining Warriors.

Final Fantasy IV
Theodor was born to Kluya and Cecilia, making him a half-Lunarian. While growing up, he always wondered why his father was fascinated by the moon and was unaware of his father's origins as a Lunarian. His father would not tell him until he had mastered the arts of magic. Theodor boasted he can cast magic, but when his father asked if he has even mastered the Cure spell, he admitted he cannot. When Theodor returned home he saw his mother collapsed on the floor. She told him she was alright, and that she is just tired from carrying her next child. Excited about having a sibling, Theodor went to bed.

Later, Kluya was attacked by the very magic he had taught to humans. When Kluya wondered if it was right to teach the people of Earth magic, Theodor assured his father it was, comforting his him in his final moments. As Kluya passed on, Theodor tried to cast Cure on him, but was unable to. The villagers took care of Theodor and Cecilia and when Cecilia gave birth she died in labor. Shortly after the children were left alone in their house.

Theodor heard a voice telling him the baby was responsible for taking his mother and father away from him, and that he was worthless for letting it happen. The voice told him he was "an insect birthed from womb of dragon's corpse", and declared his new name was Golbez. Controlled by the voice and filled with hatred towards his brother, Golbez left him outside of town of Baron. The infant grew to become Golbez's brother, Cecil Harvey.

The voice was Zemus who taunted and shamed Golbez who fled civilization. Combined with Golbez's Lunarian blood and his hatred of his younger brother, Zemus influences his mind and take control of him. Golbez lost many of his memories and began to gather the Crystals to summon the Giant of Babil that would depopulate the planet so that the Lunarians, presumably under Zemus's control or command, could live there rather than stay in stasis inside the moon.



Taking control of the four Archfiends Zemus has sent to him, Golbez sends Cagnazzo to assassinate the King of Baron and impersonate him, using the Red Wings to steal the Crystal of Water from Mysidia. Cecil, Lord Captain of the Red Wings, hesitates over his orders, and is removed from duty when he returns and questions the King's actions.

Golbez succeeds him as commander and raids Damcyan, stealing the Crystal of Fire in an attack that kills a young woman named Anna, daughter of a powerful sage, Tellah. Tellah swears revenge against Golbez and sets out to kill him. Meanwhile, Cecil assembles a group of allies, including Yang Fang Leiden and Prince Edward Chris von Muir of Damcyan, and heads to Fabul where the third Crystal is kept.

With the warning from Cecil and Yang of the impending attack, the King of Fabul tightens the castle defenses and Golbez enters the castle himself with Cecil's friend, Kain Highwind, of whom he has taken control of telepathically. After Kain wounds Cecil, Golbez strikes down Yang and Edward, taking the Crystal of Air and abducts Rosa Joanna Farrell, the woman with whom Cecil and Kain are both in love.

Golbez takes the three Crystals to the Tower of Zot. Once he receives word Cecil attempts to climb Mount Ordeals and become a Paladin, he dispatches Scarmiglione to kill him. When this fails, Cecil returns to Baron and kills Cagnazzo, restoring Baron to the peaceful nation it once was. Golbez has stolen the air fleet and placed Kain in command, who rendezvouses with Cecil and offers to return Rosa if Cecil brings them the final Crystal from Troia. Cecil retrieves the Crystal of Earth from the Dark Elf and brings it to the Tower of Zot.

Climbing the tower, Cecil hands over the Crystal, but Golbez refuses to return Rosa. Enraged, Tellah pushes Cecil aside and confronts Golbez. After fruitlessly casting his best spells, Tellah sacrifices his life to cast the ultimate magic, Meteor. Although Tellah dies shortly after, Golbez is severely weakened and his control over Kain is broken. Golbez retreats, and strikes down Cecil when he attempts to follow. Golbez recognizes his brother, and hesitates to deliver the finishing blow. Although Cecil is confused, Golbez announces he will destroy him at another time and leaves the tower.

Cecil and his companions enter the Underworld where Golbez has already gone to find the next four Crystals, the Dark Crystals, of which he already has two. After defeating his minion, Calcabrina, in the Dwarven Castle, Golbez appears and tells Cecil his plan. Cecil and his friends attack Golbez who summons a Dragon to kill them. Rydia intervenes with her Mist Dragon, defeating Golbez's dragon, and with her assistance Golbez is defeated, but again only weakened, and takes the Crystal before escaping.

Golbez again takes control of Kain in the Sealed Cave and has him take the final Crystal, and activates the Tower of Babil to call the Giant of Babil. Cecil and his companions retrieve the airship Lunar Whale and venture to the Red Moon where they meet Fusoya who tells them Zemus is controlling Golbez and returns to Earth with them.

On Earth, the Giant begins its attack, and with the help of the combined forces of the Overworld and Underground, Cid Pollendina flies Cecil and his friends into the Giant. After destroying the Giant's core, Golbez emerges and Fusoya shatters Zemus's control of him. Golbez remembers who he is, surprising Cecil with the knowledge he has been fighting his own brother. Golbez and Fusoya climb the tower to go to the Red Moon and defeat Zemus.

Following them to the moon, Cecil and his companions find Golbez and Fusoya battling Zemus. Although they defeat him, Zemus is reborn as Zeromus, and their attacks fail. Golbez uses a Crystal to try and turn the tide, but as he has lived a life of darkness he fails and Zeromus strikes them both down. Golbez hands the Crystal to Cecil, and he and his companions use it to make Zeromus corporeal and defeat him.

After the battle, Golbez calls Cecil "brother" but Cecil does not respond. Realizing Cecil and the people of Earth can't forgive him for his crimes, Golbez decides to enter the Lunar Sleep with Fusoya. He leaves, but Cecil calls out to him and says goodbye indicating he may forgive him after all. In the 3D release, Golbez's armor vanishes as he walks away, showing how he looked before Zemus took control of him. Cecil ascends to Baron's throne and the Lunarians' moon leaves the Earth's orbit with Cecil receiving a final telepathic message from Golbez, saying good-bye.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Shortly after Ceodore departs on his journey to obtain his Proof of Knighthood, Golbez has a nightmare in which Cecil attacks and dispatches him. Awakening among the sleeping Lunarians, he feels uneasy, and senses a strange force emanating from the Crystal Palace. Journeying to the surface, he finds the Crystals glowing red. Joined by Fusoya, the two set out to investigate a mysterious meteor impact near Bahamut's lair. At the bottom of the crater, they meet the Mysterious Girl, who demands the Crystals and summons Asura to attack them.

When the Girl is defeated, Golbez and Fusoya enter Bahamut's lair and find him petrified. Returning to the Crystal Palace, the Crystals are without light in their altars. Mysterious Girl reappears and summons Leviathan. Dispatched again, the two begin to pray for the Lunar Whale to come to them, when one of the Crystals shatters.

Another Girl appears, and declares she no longer needs the Crystals. As Fusoya and Golbez rush to protect the Lunarians in the core, Kluya's spirit on Earth sends the Lunar Whale to the moon. Meanwhile, the Crystals continue to shatter, releasing Zeromus's Malice. Zeromus uses Big Bang, and Fusoya teleports Golbez aboard the Lunar Whale, who flies the craft to Earth.

Golbez disguises himself as the Man in Black and rescues Rydia and Luca by defeating Titan, which had been summoned by the Mysterious Girl. Though Rydia doesn't recognize him, Golbez urges them to travel to Babil where they unite with Edge and the Eblan Four in Edge's Chapter, and fly the Falcon out of the underground.

Golbez accompanies Rydia, Luca and Edge as they recruit the other party members from around the world and return to Baron to free Cecil from the Mysterious Girl's control. As the party ventures through the Subterrane they encounter the Elemental Archfiends. If Golbez is in the party, the Archfiends will recognize him. Scarmiglione thanks Golbez for accepting him, despite being hideous and unworthy. Cagnazzo is joyful in seeing Golbez again, claiming it to be an honor. Golbez wishes for Cagnazzo to rest in peace, proclaiming they may one day share the same fate. Barbariccia begs her former master's forgiveness for attacking him.

At the end of the Subterrane the party is attacked by Cecil's Dark Knight doppelganger. Golbez takes a mortal hit meant for his younger brother, giving Cecil the will to fight on. If Ceodore and Rosa are in the party with Golbez and Cecil, Golbez will survive, but if they are not present, he dies.

Upon the Creator's defeat, Cecil and his party return home. Should Golbez survive, he appears in a flashback in Mount Ordeals along with Cecil, Rosa, Kain and Ceodore where it is revealed he took the Lunar Whale and departed to the stars to find the Red Moon and discover the fate of Fusoya and the Lunarians. As he leaves, Ceodore hopes they may meet again and Golbez thanks him, the same line he said to Cecil years ago in a similar situation. If Golbez died, a scene is witnessed at his grave site.

Abilities
Golbez is a powerful mage capable of teleportation and telepathy, and can take control of minds, although his ability to do this seems limited to Zemus's influence. He can critically injure party members out of battle with electric shocks and resists physical or even fatal harm, as he shrugs off Tellah's spells until he unleashes Meteor. This is further demonstrated by his defeat at the Dwarven Castle by Cecil's party, where he says that death will not claim him and he seizes the crystal with his disembodied hand. This is subverted in the 3D release, where he simply teleports away with the Crystal.

Golbez can summon a Shadow Dragon, which is also featured in Dissidia. While in Final Fantasy IV Golbez's abilities are mostly magical, Dissidia expands further upon his powers, where he can summon dark energy and also the CPU's nodes to fire beams.

Final Fantasy IV
Golbez appears as a playable character during two AI-controlled fights at the end of the game, fighting Zemus and Zeromus alongside Fusoya. He knows the Black Magic spells Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Meteor and Twincasts Double Meteor with Fusoya. As a child, Golbez was attempting to learn Cure, but has no proficiency with White Magic as an adult.

Golbez's HP in his and Fusoya's battle against Zemus at the end of Final Fantasy IV (2,943) can alternatively be read in Japanese as 憎しみ nikushimi, which means "hatred", while his starting HP in The After Years (2,971) can be read as 償い tsugunai, meaning "atonement".

Boss


Golbez is fought once as a boss in Final Fantasy IV and knows several strong spells. In the SNES and Game Boy Advance releases, Golbez has a simple attack pattern, but in the 3D release, he acquires elemental weaknesses and resistances, casts stronger magic than before and is overall a much more difficult enemy.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Golbez can equip swords, axes, spears, hammers, rods, staves and daggers, as well as a combination of heavy armor and lightweight hats and robes. He has access to the Pressure ability, which paralyzes an enemy, Taunt, which draws enemy attacks toward him, and Black Magic. Golbez doesn't learn the status-type spells that Palom and Rydia can, but has the advantage of knowing Firaga, Blizzaga and Thundaga at a much earlier level.

Golbez's HP is initially 2,971, giving him a great deal of HP at first, but he will not gain more until Level 55, where he will be on par with other characters. Golbez's HP and Stamina are fairly high, and his MP, Strength and Intelligence are decent. These balanced stats, combined with his wide variety of equipment, allow Golbez to function as both a powerful attacker and an effective mage at once, though ultimately he is outclassed in both aspects by dedicated characters.

The Golbez who fights in the flashbacks of The After Years is an entirely different character in terms of game data, with slightly different stats from the normal Golbez. If hacked into the party he can grow to Level 45, the level cap of The Lunarian's Tale, and will keep the same HP while his other stats increase normally as the normal Golbez. However, the flashback Golbez will not learn any new spells, and does not have the real Golbez's Pressure and Taunt abilities.

Creation and Development
Golbez's character plays homage to Darth Vader from Star Wars, as stated by Takashi Tokita. Both wear imposing dark armor that conceals their faces, and a long cape. Both have a connection the main character and work as pawns for the true antagonist.

Voice
In Final Fantasy IV, Golbez is voiced by Peter Beckman under the pseudonym Anthony Landor. Beckman returned to voice Golbez using his actual name in Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. In the Japanese versions of all three games, he is voiced by Takeshi Kaga, famous for his role as the Chairman on the television program.

Musical Themes
Golbez is known for his dramatic and foreboding theme music, and is the first villain of the series to get his own theme. Golbez's music is titled "Golbez, Clad in Darkness" and plays often. It uses a pipe organ for its sound and is immediately recognizable in comparison to the other songs in the game. It incorporates a musical quotation from J.S. Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" in D Minor (BWV 565). A remix of the tune is used as the theme for the Tower of Zot. The theme's title has also been translated as "Golbez, Clad in the Dark" on official soundtracks.

A piano arrangement of the theme is included on the Piano Collections: Final Fantasy IV album.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Chaos has summoned a combined force of Final Fantasy's ultimate villains in an attempt to gain control of the Final Fantasy worlds. Golbez is one of these villains and stands as the villain representing Final Fantasy IV, opposing Cecil Harvey.

Possessing motivations and desires more complex than most of the other villains, Golbez helps the heroes in their struggles in his secretive fashion while pretending to follow the plan set down by the Emperor. In his heart, Golbez is on the side of light, and works to assist the heroes in the hopes they break the cycle of war.

His alternate outfit is a palette swap based on his Final Fantasy IV battle sprites and DS render, giving him black armor and a red lining on his cape.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Golbez reappears as a Warrior of Chaos in the prequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy alongside all the other characters from the original. He plays a brief but important role in the main story, enlightening Kain to the nature of the cycle of war, information which motivates Kain to strike down his allies so they will survive to the next cycle instead of being killed permanently by the manikins. He speaks to Cosmos at the beginning of the thirteenth cycle before the war begins, rekindling her memories of the previous cycle when she laid the foundation for her plan to manifest Crystals for her warriors.

Golbez's second alternate outfit is his appearance in The After Years as the Man in Black, removing his armor and leaving him clad in a black kilt and cloak.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Golbez briefly appears in the Event Music Stage "Theme of Love" which shows his boss battles from the original Final Fantasy IV.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Golbez appears as a boss in Final Fantasy IV Battle Music Stages.

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

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Golbez is a summonable Legend.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest
Golbez appears as a boss in Final Fantasy All the Bravest.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Golbez has many cards in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. Two depict his appearance as the Man in Black from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and go by this name, and are of the Shine and Ice element. The others feature his 3D remake render, Dissidia Final Fantasy art, and SD artwork appearances, are of the Dark element. The Lightning element cards feature another Amano art and Golbez's render in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

Referring to his control over the Archfiends, Golbez's Dissidia card has the effect that when moved to the Break Zone, the player can search their four cards of different elements and a cost of 2, and play them to the field for no cost, while his 3D render card lowers the cost to play it by 2 for each of the Archfiends the player controls, and allows the player to move an Archfiend they control to the Break Zone to Break a Forward of their choosing. His Amano art card references his control of Kain, allowing the player to select a Forward on the field and take control of it after Golbez attacks, if they control a Dark character. His Man in Black cards allude to his hidden identity, preventing them from being played while a Golbez card is in play, and the two each have an ability that mirror Golbez's Pressure and Taunt abilities, the former preventing a Forward from attacking and the latter redirecting damage to the player's Forwards to Golbez instead.

Virtual World
Users in Square Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Golbez.

Lord of Vermilion II
Golbez appears as a card and summonable creature in the sequel to Lord of Vermilion, along with other characters from Final Fantasy IV as part of a special cross promotion. His Shadow Dragon is also a card.

Guardian Cross


Golbez, along with Cagnazzo, Rubicante, Barbariccia and Scarmiglione are all promotional cards in the game Guardian Cross (the latter four being promotional for the release of Final Fantasy IV for the Apple iPad). Golbez himself was part of the "Grab-A-Golbez" campaign. All of them are Rank 5 (the rarest), with Golbez being a Giant-type Guardian that would have been found in the Deadmoon Desert.

Gunslinger Stratos 2
Golbez's costume is to be released in November 2014.

Etymology
"Theodore" is a common name of Greek origin, meaning "Gift from God".

"Golbeza" is a mistransliteration of Golubaeser (also known as Golubac Fly), a type of black fly named for the town of in Serbia, as Golubaeser and Golbez(a) are written the same way in katakana (ゴルベーザ). According to folk legends, the venomous flies were born from the body of a decomposing dragon, a metaphor for what became of Theodor. This is further emphasized during Golbez's flashback scene in the 2D version, where Zemus taunts Theodor by calling him an insect that was "birthed from womb of dragon's corpse", both a reference to the Golubac Fly and a corruption of the Mysidian Legend. Golubaeser is also the name of a demon in the book Devils by J. Charles Wall, from which several other names in Final Fantasy IV were drawn.

In the English localization of the 3D versions, Golbez is.

Trivia

 * Golbez is one of the few Final Fantasy characters who are half-breeds along with Cecil Harvey, Terra Branford, Aerith Gainsborough, Yuna and Seymour Guado.
 * During flashbacks of Cecil's battles with Golbez in the The After Years, Golbez comes equipped with a sword called the "Ebony Blade" in his left hand, despite him not been shown to use swords before. The sword can be unequipped during the battle and added to the player's inventory.
 * Golbez has a menu portrait in the Nintendo DS version, but it cannot be seen unless the player uses a cheat device to add him to their party. When the cheat is used, he shares some animations with Cid, and the game uses his child model in the field.
 * Golbez appears in the debug room in the North American and Australian Final Fantasy IV Advance version.