Chaos (Final Fantasy)

Chaos is the antagonist and the final boss of the original Final Fantasy. He is a demonic monster who maintains a time loop.

Story
Garland is a knight of the kingdom of Cornelia who gained much respect through his power and skill. He is known as the best of the knights of Cornelia, but he became corrupted by power. He abducted Princess Sarah and fled to the Chaos Shrine demanding the king hand control of the kingdom to him in exchange for her life.

The Warriors of Light defeat Garland and rescue Sarah. Afterward, the warriors travel the world to fight the Four Fiends of Chaos that had drained the Crystals of their power. The power of the Crystals the Fiends had drained was funneled into a Dark Crystal in the Chaos Shrine, opening a portal to the past.

With the Crystals restored, the Warriors of Light are told the Fiends were sent from two thousand years ago, and their master is in that time. Using the Dark Crystal the Warriors travel to the past and defeat the Fiends again, and find Garland alive. Garland tells the Warriors of Light that the power of the Four Fiends in the present sent him to the past when he was on the brink of death after his defeat, and Garland then sent the Four Fiends in the past to the present. Doing this, Garland has created a time loop that will allow him to live forever.

Garland absorbs the Fiends' power and transforms into Chaos to do battle with the heroes. Chaos is defeated and the time loop is broken, restoring the land. When the Warriors of Light return to their time, with the time loop, now broken, will never have existed.

Gameplay


Chaos is fought as the final boss.

Musical themes
While in the NES version Chaos used the standard battle theme, later editions gave him his own music, as well as increasing the difficulty of the fight.

In the NES version his battle's music is "Battle Scene", while in the WonderSwan Color version "Last Battle" plays.

In Theatrhythm Final Fantasy the theme used in the Battle Music Sequence (BMS) is an arranged version of the "Chaos Shrine" theme, which can also be heard in the menus for the Chaos Shrine section of the game.

Dissidia Final Fantasy / Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy


Chaos is the God of Discord and the main antagonist. He summons enemies from other universes to defeat Cosmos, the Goddess of Harmony, who has summoned heroes to fight Chaos's forces in an endless cycle of war. Dissidia and Dissidia 012 give conflicting explanations for Chaos and his relation to Garland, as the Cosmos Reports and Chaos Reports from Dissidia and the Reports in Dissidia 012 present a different origin.

Chaos is a manikin created by Onrac researchers and Cid of the Lufaine to be used as a weapon against other nations. Raised by Cid and his wife until he matured, Chaos was taken away by the Onrac military and a manikin of his mother, Cosmos, was used to coerce him into obeying. When Cid and his wife attempted to rescue Chaos, his mother was shot, and in his hatred Chaos opened a portal to the Interdimensional Rift, which drew him, Cid and Cosmos into World B, where the events of Dissidia and Dissidia 012 take place.

In this new world, the three were met by Garland who felt he and Chaos are linked. Cid made a deal with the holy dragon Shinryu for Chaos and Cosmos to war to perfect Chaos's power, at which point they will return home to seek revenge on Onrac. Chaos's memories faded over time, and by the time of Dissidia 012 his memories of his past with Cid and Cosmos are gone, the only fragments left coming to him in dreams. Garland tells Chaos that before Cid called him to World B to partake in the cycles and that Chaos is to send him back in time 2000 years to become Chaos himself.

As the cutscenes of the original Dissidia were unchanged for Dissidia 012, it may be that this cutscene's revelations were retconned by the Reports and are no longer canon, or that Garland's transformation into the Final Fantasy Chaos might have influenced the creation of the Dissidia Chaos via the memories used to create the deity. The truth of this relationship is left uncertain.

In Dissidia 012, Chaos returns as the God of Discord along with his previous warriors. A bestial form of Chaos, Feral Chaos, is introduced. This incarnation is the result of Chaos going berserk after winning too many times against Cosmos in a nightmare world Shinryu has imprisoned Cid in. When five warriors manifest in this nightmare world, they destroy Feral Chaos, shattering the nightmare and freeing Cid. As he dies, Feral Chaos regains his senses, and thanks the warriors for freeing his father.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy


Chaos appears as the "final boss", fought after accumulating 20,000 Rhythmia.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call
Chaos is a playable character. To unlock him, 20000 Rhythmia points must be collected, leading to an automatic encounter with Chaos. Defeating him will unlock him for play. As an enemy, he returns as a normal encounter, in addition to his Feral Chaos form, who is fought automatically after accumulating 40000 Rhythmia points.

He is an Overpowered character. His Limit, Utter Chaos, deals damage in proportion to his Strength and Magic.

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Chaos appears as an enemy in his original Final Fantasy and Dissidia Final Fantasy appearances.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Chaos appears in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade.

Mobius Final Fantasy
Chaos appears as an ability card in Mobius Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Chaos appears as a card depicted in his Dissidia Final Fantasy appearance, and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Yoshitaka Amano artworks.

Triple Triad
Chaos is mentioned in the introduction of the Final Fantasy Portal App's Triple Triad.

Puzzle & Dragons
Chaos appeared in Puzzle & Dragons as part of the Final Fantasy collaboration. He was first introduced in the collaboration event that happened in the North American version of the game from November 2, 2015 to November 15, 2015. When fought in the Netherworld, he uses the skills Cyclone, Blaze, Blizzaga, Flare, Curaga and Haste. After defeating him, he drops Cloud's Buster Sword.

He was obtainable as a 4-star ranked unit named "Chaos", with a devil type and dark and light elements.

As a 4-star ranked unit, Chaos appears in his standard form and emits a dark aura. His active skill is Soul of Oblivion and his leader skill is I will be reborn again here.

Trivia

 * Chaos is remembered for his noteworthy death animation, which showed him disintegrating, a somewhat innovative phenomenon in games for the NES. This style of death was repeated for final bosses of future games in the series, including Neo Exdeath in Final Fantasy V, Kefka in Final Fantasy VI, and Safer∙Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII. The pattern was discontinued in Final Fantasy VIII where Ultimecia convulsed in a circular fashion before vanishing in a form resembling static interference. It was revived as the death scene for Yu Yevon and the Weapon-type fiends in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, and as Ardyn Izunia's death scene in Final Fantasy XV.
 * Chaos's demonic appearance may have been based on Gustave Doré's illustrations of Satan (Devil or Lucifer) from John Milton's Paradise Lost.
 * The "copies" his CollectaCard mentions are likely the Four Fiends, since they were beings produced by Garland's hatred; it may be a mistranslation as well, since in Japan the Fiends are known as "Chaoses", which could lead to a misunderstanding by the translation team. This was changed to the Four Fiends in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call, supporting the theory that the original was a mistranslation.
 * In Final Fantasy: Memory of Heroes Chaos is defeated by the Warrior alone.
 * The throne that appears in Chapter 0 of Final Fantasy XV resembles the throne Chaos sits in in for the original Final Fantasy, likely being modeled after it.