Sabin Rene Figaro

Sabin René Figaro is a playable character from Final Fantasy VI. He is the twin brother of Edgar Roni Figaro and thus is an apparent heir to the throne of Figaro Castle, despite being the younger twin. However, he fled his kingdom in search of a quiet life free of corruption, and lived as a student of the martial arts. His name is Mash in the Japanese version.

Character and Appearance
Sabin is usually seen wearing white pants and a blue tank top - though it isn't rare to see him without a shirt on - and wears his hair up in a small ponytail. Some concept art shows him with facial hair, but he is clean shaven in the CG cutscenes of the PlayStation remake.

Sabin's personality is one of a brash and straightforward fighter. Rarely ever the one to make decisions, he instead enjoys a background role. He is prone to bouts of booming laughter when amused, and takes jokes about his physical strength in stride, even cracking such jokes himself sometimes. Despite his giant size, he has a good heart, and will help out his friends whenever he can. As a child, he was furious over the reaction of the kingdom to his father's death, especially since he believed the Empire poisoned him, which likely played a role in his later decision to join the Returners. In the ending, Sabin tells Edgar he left Figaro because he knew his brother would make a better king, while he trained himself physically to one day return and look out for his brother.

Backstory
Sabin was born a prince to the throne of Figaro and shared inheritence for the throne with his twin brother, Edgar. When Sabin was only seventeen, the Gestahlian Empire poisoned his father. Their father died asking that both of his sons rule the kingdom together.

Sabin, becoming upset at how no one seemed to care about his father's death but only who would become the next king, urged Edgar to run away with him, far from the castle and corrupted politics. Edgar wanted to go with his brother, but he knew that abandoning the kingdom would go against his father's wishes, so he decided to give his brother his freedom in trade for his own. Edgar proposed a coin toss, picking "heads" for the Sabin. The coin he threw had his face on one side, and Sabin's on the other. Sabin left the kingdom unaware of the trick that had been played on him, and Edgar became the new king. Sabin tells Edgar later that he didn't want to leave him with so much responsibility, but knew that his brother would look out for Figaro the best.

Afterwards, Sabin fled the kingdom, and after some time, met the renowned martial arts teacher Duncan. Having trained before and wanting to be stronger to protect his brother, he asked Duncan to teach him, and Duncan agreed. He quickly became Duncan's best student, which made Vargas, Duncan's son, jealous, as Vargas thought that Sabin was going to be the next master. But Sabin knew otherwise, as Vargas was Duncan's only son and his heir. After apparently killing Duncan, Vargas fled into Mt. Kolts and Sabin angrily pursued him. It is to be noted that Sabin made no attempt to contact Edgar in the ten years that they were apart.

In the Game
When Sabin saw Vargas attack Edgar, along with Terra Branford and Locke Cole, he immediately jumped in to save them. After confronting Vargas about his deeds, Sabin revealed his mastery of Duncan's Blitz Techniques and defeated Vargas. Edgar recognized Sabin, and Sabin offered to help his brother after a short reunion. Together, they went to see Banon in the Returner Hideout. Banon decided to go to Narshe to get a look at the frozen Esper, and Terra, Edgar, and Sabin accompanied him. On the way down the Lethe River, however, they were attacked by Ultros. During the struggle, Ultros stuck a tentacle to Terra's leg, and Sabin acted quickly to save her. During the struggle, Sabin was thrown from the raft, and floated to the end of the Lete River.

Sabin washed ashore near a house, where he met Shadow, the lone wolf mercenary. Shadow agreed to help him find his way to Narshe, and led him south towards Doma. However, Doma was under siege by the Gestahlian Empire. Sabin and Shadow had to sneak through an Imperial Camp, where they overheard Kefka Palazzo's plan to dump poison into the river that ran through Doma, thus killing all of Doma's citizens. Sabin and Shadow tried to stop Kefka, but to no avail. This caused Cyan Garamonde, one of the finest soldiers in Doma, and one of the only people of Doma left alive, to go down to the camp and attack the Imperial soldiers. Sabin and Shadow helped him, and Cyan agreed to help them find Narshe. Together they escaped the camp in Magitek Armor, and headed south towards the Phantom Forest.

In the forest, the threesome boarded the Phantom Train, and learned that in order to get off, they had to make their way to the locomotive and shut it off. They enlisted the help of a ghost, and succeeded in stopping the train, after fighting it. Afterwards, they headed to Barren Falls, where Shadow left Sabin and Cyan by themselves. Sabin and Cyan jumped down the falls, fighting piranhas along the way. They floated down the river towards the Veldt, where they were rescued by a wild child named Gau. However, Gau refused to talk to them unless they fed him, so they went to the nearby hamlet of Mobliz and bought Dried Meat. They fed this to Gau, who agreed to show them his "shiny thing," a scuba-diving helmet which would take them through the Serpent Trench to Nikeah. From Nikeah they took a ferry to South Figaro where they could easily reach Narshe.

Sabin, Cyan and Gau arrived just in time. Kefka was planning a raid on Narshe to get the frozen Esper. The three met up with Banon, Terra, Locke, Edgar, and Celes Chere and successfully defended Narshe, but after the battle, Terra reacted with the Esper for the second time. She was turned into an Esper and flew away. A search party was sent to look for her. On the way, the party passed through Figaro again. Here, Sabin walked around the castle, and called back some old memories, including the coin toss with Edgar.

The party found Terra on top of the tallest tower in Zozo, where she was being cared for by Ramuh. Ramuh told them that they needed to go to Vector and free the imprisoned Espers. One of them was Terra's father Maduin. To get there, they had to meet up with Setzer Gabbiani, the infamous gambler. Setzer was not willing to help them, but Celes proposed a coin toss, which if she won, Setzer would offer help. Otherwise, Setzer and Celes would marry. Edgar provided a fixed coin to guarantee that Celes would win, much to Sabin's dismay. It is assumed that this was the coin that Edgar used when deciding which of the brothers should have to rule and which would be free, but despite a suprised look there is no ensuing conversation on this matter. Setzer agreed to help anyway. The group went to Vector, succeeded in recovering the Espers, and saved Terra.

Back in Narshe, the Elder decided to join with the Returners. An agreement was made that Terra would contact the Espers to attack Vector, after which a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards would storm from the north. The plan was a success, and Emperor Gestahl appeared to have surrendered. At a banquet, he asked Terra if she would try convince the Espers to negotiate peace. She and Locke would go to Crecent Island to parlay the Emperor's message. Edgar and Sabin were still very sketpical of the Emperor, and decided to stay in Vector to make sure the Emperor wasn't lying. However, Edgar seduced one of the Emperor's maids into revealing the Emperor's true plan: he wanted to lure out the Espers in hopes of capturing them. They flew to Thamasa to warn Terra and Locke, but they were too late. Kefka had acquired more magicite and used it to revive the Statues and turn the Land of Espers into the Floating Continent.

One year after the Apocalypse, Sabin made his way to the town of Tzen (and apparently passed through Albrook,) where he was just in time for Kefka to strike with his "Light of Judgment." When the tallest building in town began to collapse, Sabin quickly ran and used his training to hold the building up while he waited for someone to go in and save a child inside. That someone just happened to be Celes, and Sabin joined Celes after she saved the child.

Sabin and Celes made their way to Mobliz, which was found destroyed. Only the children survived, and they were being cared for by Terra, who was feeling things she never felt before, and as a result, could not fight. Sabin and Celes had to defend the town, instead of Terra, from a monster named Humbaba. They made their way to Nikeah, where they found Edgar disguised as a Thief named Gerad acting as a member of the Crimson Robbers.

They did not know what Edgar was up to, so they followed him to South Figaro and through South Figaro Cave with help from Siegfried. They cornered Edgar in the engine room of Figaro Castle, where Edgar revealed that he was just using the thieves to help him get into the submerged castle so he could resurface it again. They helped Edgar fight off the tentacles that were jamming up the engine, and Edgar rejoined them. They then headed to Kohlingen, where they met up with Setzer, who took them to Darryl's Tomb to find a new airship: the Falcon.

Afterwards, Sabin found out that Duncan was still alive, and was meditating north of Narshe. Sabin paid Duncan one final visit where Duncan helped him perfect his ultimate Blitz technique: the Phantom Rush (Bum Rush in the original SNES translation). In the ending, while fleeing Kefka's collapsing tower, Sabin saves Edgar from being crushed by a falling girder. He reveals to Edgar that he only left Figaro so he could become stronger, and defend the kingdom, and his brother, from an Imperial attack.

Equipment and Stats
Being a Monk, Sabin has naturally high HP and physical stats but low defense and magic stats. His weapons are limited to claws, his shield options are limited to those that are universally used, and he can equip lightweight vests and tunics.

Abilities
Sabin's special is called Blitz. Blitzes are used by entering a specific button pattern when the command is selected. Sabin learns more Blitzes as he levels up, but can also learn his final ability from his master, Duncan, in the World of Ruin.

Musical Themes
Sabin shares a theme with his brother, Edgar. The theme is aptly called "Edgar and Sabin." The theme is found in the "Coin Song" and the ending theme.

Trivia

 * Before Amano drew the final artwork, Sabin, Edgar and their backstory were designed by Kaori Tanaka (later nicknamed Soraya Saga), an artist who would go on to participate in the development of Xenogears. Two royal siblings named Rene and Roni appear in the later game. Soraya Saga also authored the doujinshi Figaro no Kekkon: Tales from Desert, which explores their backstory.
 * The Blitz "Aura Cannon" has the same button commands as the famous "Hadoken" from Street Fighter. They are both projectile attacks, as well.
 * For the instruction manual of Final Fantasy Origins, a Playstation remake of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II, Sabin is shown as an example name chosen for the Monk class of Final Fantasy.
 * Professional wrestler Joshua Harter, one half of the tag-team "The Motor City Machine Guns", wrestles under the ring name Chris Sabin, a direct reference to Sabin Figaro.