Amarant Coral

Arrogance - "The only dependable thing about the future is uncertainty."

Amarant Coral is a playable character from Final Fantasy IX. He is also known as Salamander Coral in the Japanese version, as The Flaming Amarant, and as Tarask Coral in the French translation. His temporary partner, Lani calls him Red.

Story
Amarant was a guard in Treno. One day, Zidane stole something from his post. Amarant tried to stop him, but Zidane successfully framed him. This made Amarant bitter towards Zidane, and he swore revenge.

Amarant is first seen as a guest to Queen Brahne. Brahne hires him, as well as a woman named Lani, to steal Princess Garnet's pendant and kill Vivi. Amarant asks if he can kill Zidane as well, and Brahne says he can after he deals with her requests. He is next seen in Madain Sari, where Lani is holding Eiko hostage in return for Garnet's pendant. Amarant stops her, as he does not approve of hostage taking. He then challenges Zidane to a fight and loses. He feels disgraced, and is curious about what makes Zidane so powerful and starts following him around. Zidane eventually accepts his help in accompanying him. They have plenty of disputes as they travel to the Iifa Tree and watch the battle between Kuja and Queen Brahne. Amarant accompanies Zidane down the roots of the tree to the shore, and returns to Alexandria with him.

In Alexandria, Amarant meets up with Freya, and challenges her to a fight. The guards break them up, and Zidane takes the blame for the fight. He accompanies Zidane, Freya, and Vivi to the castle where they meet up with Eiko and meet Garnet, now a queen. Amarant then returns to Treno, and does some things that embarrass him. It is outside the house where Amarant formerly served as a guard that he tells Freya, whom he seems to have developed a respect for, all about his past. However, Alexandria was under attack by Kuja and Bahamut, and Zidane and Eiko had to round up Freya, Vivi, and Amarant and return to Alexandria on the Hilda Garde II with Cid Fabool IX and Erin. On the way, Eiko received a mysterious distress call and jumped from the airship and summoned Alexander with Garnet, killing Bahamut. Amarant then accompanied Zidane and his friends to the rooftop where Garnet and Eiko were waiting. They were just in time to see the Invincible destroy Alexandria and to save Garnet and Eiko.

The party then traveled to Lindblum to recuperate, and Amarant accompanied Zidane wherever he went for the rest of the journey. Steiner, Quina, and Garnet rejoined the party there, and they traveled on the Blue Narciss to the Black Mage Village, where they learned that the Black Mages were in the service of Kuja. Black Mage No. 288 directed them to the Desert Palace where Kuja had his headquarters. However, the party was held prisoner in exchange for the Gulug Stone. Zidane went to get it for Kuja in Oeilvert on the Forgotten Continent. However, Kuja decided to set up a trap and kill Zidane's friends anyway, but Eiko managed to save them. During the reunion, Eiko was captured by Zorn & Thorn and was taken to Mount Gulug. Zidane's group followed and rescued Hilda and her. After this, Hilda told the team that Kuja was really from the world of Terra, and in order to get there, they had to find a clue at Ipsen's Castle. By this point, Cid finished building the Hilda Garde III, and the party was able to take it to Ipsen's Castle. When they got there, Amarant decided to attempt to find the clue by himself and prove that working alone is better than teamwork. He beat Zidane to the clue, which turned out to be mirrors. However, he got stuck on the way out, forcing Zidane to save him. Amarant then decided to accept Zidane. He then went to the Fire Shrine with Freya to help break the seal on Terra. He accompanied Zidane to Terra and defeated Garland there, forcing Kuja into a trance which gave him massive power. Amarant then accompanied Zidane to Memoria, where Kuja and Necron were finally defeated.

Equipment and Stats
Amarant's job (or class) seems to be a combination of Monk and Ninja, since he uses hand to hand close combat skills like monks, but utilizes the throw ability like ninjas.

In battle he uses various knuckles, claws and fist weaponry combined with lethal martial arts.

Abilities
Amarant's skillset is Flair which can be used for offense or defense. He also has the ability to Throw various items.

In Trance, Flair becomes Elan and affects all targets.

Battle
The party fights Amarant as a boss under the name Scarlet Hair in Madain Sari. After being defeated, he decides to join the party.

Trivia

 * When Amarant first joins the party, he refuses to do a victory pose. After being rescued in Ispen's Castle, he will begin doing his victory pose after winning a battle.
 * Amarant's No Mercy attack appeared in Final Fantasy VIII as Seifer's limit break and as well in Kingdom Hearts as Jack Sparrow's sword attack.

Mahagon Coral