Balthier

Balthier, real name Ffamran mied Bunansa, is a playable character in Final Fantasy XII. He is a sky pirate who globetrots Ivalice on his airship, the Strahl, with his partner Fran. During an attempt to steal from the Royal Palace of Rabanastre, Balthier encounters Vaan robbing the palace treasury. When his plan goes awry Balthier finds himself a part of a conflict between political forces that could lead to war.

Appearance
Balthier is six feet tall and has short brown hair with blond highlights, sharply styled sideburns, and green eyes. He wears an embroidered golden and olive vest over a high-collared shirt and tight black leather trousers with leather shin pads, and steel, open-backed sandals. He wears two crossed, gold-buckled belts with two pouches attached to either side and a collection of brightly colored rings and bracelets on his left hand, and has a set of earrings in both ears. In his official render for Final Fantasy XII, Balthier holds the Betelgeuse. Artwork and renders of Balthier for several spin-off appearances depict him with this gun.

Personality
Balthier is charming, dashing, cunning and cynical. He comes across as cocky and self-centered but his trust in Fran is complete. While the story is told from Vaan's perspective, Balthier certainly seems to think it is his story, referring to himself as "the leading man." Despite this, he is far from selfish, proving himself in the events aboard the Sky Fortress Bahamut. After he joins Vaan and the others Balthier comes to realize he has been running away from his past, and it is implied his theatrical personality exists in part to mask his vulnerabilities and to cast aside the person he used to be.

Final Fantasy XII
Born in 684 Old Valendian, Ffamran mied Bunansa is the third son of Cidolfus Demen Bunansa, the head of House Bunansa and a scientist in employ of the Archadian Empire. He showed such promise at a young age he was made an Archadian Judge at only sixteen years old. In 700, after his father returned from Giruvegan, Ffamran noticed Cid's sanity fading: he talked to someone who wasn't there, raving on about "bringing the reins of history back to the hands of man." This strained their relationship until Ffamran could not stand the sight of his father.

Ffamran's falling out with his father, combined with Archadia's political maneuvers, made him decide to leave his post as Judge and flee Archades, stealing a new prototype fighter ship. Since going into hiding he has upgraded the ship (so much it no longer resembles the original design) and has named it the Strahl. Ffamran took on the name "Balthier" as an alias to help cast aside his ties with Archades. Partnering with a viera companion named Fran, he flew the skies of Ivalice searching for treasure, gaining notoriety as a sky pirate, and increasing the bounty on his head.

In 706 Old Valendian, Balthier and Fran head to the Royal Palace of Rabanastre's treasury where they find Vaan holding the Goddess's Magicite. Balthier demands he hand it over, but before he can retrieve the magicite the Ifrit attacks the palace. Vaan escapes and Balthier reluctantly follows him.

He chases Vaan out into the palace grounds, where amid the battle between the Resistance forces and the Imperials, Balthier throws Vaan onto his hovercraft, piloted by Fran. In the manga, Vaan is accosted by Vayne Carudas Solidor and Judge Magister Gabranth and is saved by Balthier. The Goddess's Magicite, really a piece of deifacted nethicite, renders the hovercraft unresponsive, and the trio crashes into the Garamsythe Waterway.

Balthier joins forces with Vaan to find a way out though Vaan is determined to keep the magicite. Balthier suspects the new consul, Vayne, deliberately lured the Resistance out of hiding to attack the palace. They encounter a Resistance fighter named Amalia who joins them despite her distaste of her "thieving" company.

After the party defeats the Firemane, Vayne (in the game) or Judge Ghis (in the manga) with a battalion of soldiers ambushes the party. Despite Amalia's insistence that her company is innocent, they are taken captive. As they are marched out onto the streets of Rabanastre Balthier meets Vaan's friend Penelo who weeps at the sight of Vaan be led away. To avoid a scene Balthier gives Penelo his handkerchief and assures her Vaan will be safe. Unknown to Balthier, the bounty hunter Ba'Gamnan watches the exchange from the shadows.

In the Nalbina Dungeons Balthier sends Fran to find an escape route. In the manga, Vaan intervenes on a seeq prisoner attacking a former Dalmascan soldier and has the Goddess's Magicite seized from him. Balthier attempts to teach Vaan why he lost by challenging him to a coin toss game where Vaan must guess which hand he holds it in. If Vaan fails he will turn over his chestpiece from his late brother Reks as a prize, but Vaan demands Balthier wager his airship. Vaan loses and Fran returns and reveals she has the coin and Balthier's hands are empty.

Balthier had won using the magick spells Decoy and Vanish to distract Vaan, tossing a fake coin while throwing the invisible real coin to Fran, and Vaan lost because he was too naive to think of sneakier tactics and didn't watch his surroundings. Fran has found an exit and Balthier decides to make their move in two hours after investigating the Resistance with Vaan declaring he will have recovered the Goddess's Magicite by that time. Vaan ignores Balthier's lesson and reclaims the Goddess's Magicite without dirty tricks, and flees to reconvene with Balthier.

In the game, Balthier finds Vaan in battle with three seeq dungeon masters and joins the fray. After their victory Balthier and Vaan hide within the dungeon arena where Balthier overhears Ba'Gamnan, who has followed him to Nalbina, along with Judge Gabranth. With Fran they follow Gabranth into an Oubliette where they find an emaciated Basch fon Ronsenburg imprisoned.

Following Gabranth's departure, Basch pleads with the party to set him free. Balthier is indifferent, but Vaan cannot control his rage at the King-Slayer said to have also killed Vaan's brother Reks and jumps atop Basch's cage, attracting the guards. Fran asks everyone to hold onto the cage and drops it to the Barheim Passage, inadvertently freeing Basch. Balthier allows him to join the party as another sword arm as they navigate their way to an exit. Basch explains it was his twin brother Gabranth who killed the king and Vaan's brother in his guise, and Balthier notes the two do have the same face.

Back in Rabanastre the party disperses. While Vaan and Basch go meet the Resistance, Balthier and Fran retire to the Sandsea tavern. Balthier is accosted by the bangaa Migelo, who claims Ba'Gamnan has kidnapped Penelo because he mistook her as someone close to Balthier. He is initially unwilling to go to Bhujerba to rescue her, but Basch asks him to fly him there so he can meet Marquis Ondore, and when Vaan promises Balthier the Goddess's Magicite in return, he agrees to fly them all to the sky city.

In Bhujerba the group meets a youth who introduces himself as Lamont. Balthier is suspicious, but allows the boy to accompany them to the Lhusu Mines where the Archadian Empire is mining magicite to be used in the Draklor Laboratory in Archades, and where Ba'Gamnan is said to be holding Penelo captive. Hearing about the magicite perks Balthier's interest and he attempts to force the boy to reveal his true identity as Larsa Solidor, but Ba'Gamnan interrupts the group and they escape. On their way out the party watches Larsa aid Penelo, who had been caught wandering the mines alone after being set free by Ba'Gamnan, and take her to Marquis Ondore's estate as his guest.

Balthier suggests they attract the Resistance's attention to gain entrance into the estate. After Vaan spreads rumors of the supposedly executed Basch still being alive, the Resistance grants them an audience. To reunite Basch with Amalia Ondore alerts Judge Ghis and has them arrested and taken aboard the Imperial flagship Dreadnought Leviathan.

Amalia's true identity is that of the reportedly dead Princess Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca. Judge Ghis takes the Goddess's Magicite from Vaan, and Amalia's accomplice in the Resistance, Vossler, helps the party escape on an Atomos Imperial carrier ship back to Bhujerba. After Ashe is advised to stay within Ondore's estate to bid out the Archadian Empire, Balthier finds her aboard the Strahl attempting to steal it.

She asks Balthier to "kidnap" her and take her to the Tomb of Raithwall where the proof of her royal lineage lies, hoping she could claim Dalmasca's throne. Balthier is reluctant yet tempted by Ashe's promise of King Raithwall's treasure, and so Balthier, Fran, Basch, Vaan and Penelo accompany her across the Ogir-Yensa and Nam-Yensa Sandseas to Raithwall's Tomb.

Vossler, who accompanies the party, voices his disdain of traveling with sky pirates. After fighting the Esper Belias, Ashe acquires a piece of deifacted nethicite, the Dawn Shard. Much to Balthier's disappointment the treasure of Raithwall's Tomb turns out to be control of the Esper, and naught of monetary value. Upon exiting the tomb Ghis's Imperial Fleet accosts them and it turns out Vossler has betrayed them.

Ghis takes the Dawn Shard and attempts to evaluate it but unleashes the nethicite's magick and destroys the entire 8th Archadian Fleet while Balthier and the others escape with Balthier piloting another carrier ship. Spotting the Dawn Shard glinting in the sky after the explosion he steers the ship to retrieve it before descending to Rabanastre. After witnessing the nethicite's power, Ashe decides to wield it as her weapon to restore Dalmasca, but does not know how to use it. She wants Balthier to accompany her to Jahara to ask the garif's help, but Balthier is skeptical. As collateral, Balthier requests a ring on Ashe's finger.

Due to the Strahl being damaged in the 8th Fleet's destruction, the group walks their way to Jahara, but the garif are no help to Ashe's plight. They meet up with Larsa who wishes for Ashe to become queen and ally with the Empire to quell the looming war. Basch questions Balthier's intentions, worried for Ashe's safety. Balthier accompanies the party through Golmore Jungle to Mt Bur-Omisace where they meet with Gran Kiltias Anastasis who reveals the Emperor Gramis Gana Solidor has been murdered with Vayne succeeding him, foiling their plan for a truce. Anastasis tells them of a sword that can cut through nethicite, and while Larsa remains behind, the rest of the group heads off to the Stilshrine of Miriam where Ashe retrieves the Sword of Kings.

With the sword she vows to destroy the Empire's nethicite and the party heads to Archadia with the intention of destroying the nethicite within Doctor Cid's possession. When they stop to rest in the Phon Coast's Hunters' Camp Balthier questions Ashe's intentions, comparing her drive to that of his father's. He reveals his Imperial past and his relation to Doctor Cid, as well as his suspicions of an unknown creature his father spoke of named Venat. He vows to persevere in their endeavor to cut the ties to his past, and implores Ashe to not allow the stone's power to consume her, as it did his father.

In Archades Balthier splits from the party who comes across Balthier's old "friend," Jules, who embezzles the chops Balthier gave him to give to Vaan and the others. They reconvene and head to the Draklor Laboratory in search of Cid, but find the lab suspiciously lacking in Imperial presence. On discovering Cid's ransacked office Balthier inspects some old papers and questions what madness found him six years ago in the Jagd Difohr.

In the 70th floor they find Reddas, a rogue sky pirate responsible for the lack of guards and soldiers. They follow him to Cid where Balthier demands he turn over the Dusk Shard, the very same Goddess's Magicite that Judge Ghis had taken from the party earlier. Balthier is forced to draw his weapon when Cid challenges the party, backed by the power of nethicite and his Occurian ally, Venat. Balthier realizes Cid was never mad, but when he appeared to be speaking to thin air he was actually conversing with Venat, a mysterious being who can make itself invisible to everyone but those it wishes to be seen by.

Cid retreats and claims to be heading out to the Ancient City of Giruvegan to gather more nethicite. The party heads for Balfonheim Port with their new ally, Reddas, where he explains the war is inevitable with the Marquis and the Resistance ready to engage Vayne and the Imperial Forces. As long as it is Cid and not Vayne who holds the nethicite the party sees a way to prevent the war and decides to follow him to Giruvegan. Balthier questions Reddas's intentions concerning the nethicite, inferring he knows of Reddas's true identity as Judge Zecht whose inadvertent use of the Midlight Shard in Nabudis two years ago destroyed the city.

In Giruvegan the party realizes Dr. Cid had tricked them and that he was never heading that way. In the heart of the Great Crystal the party meets the Occuria who name Ashe as the new Dynast King and grant her the Treaty-Blade to carve out new shards of deifacted nethicite from the motherlode, the Sun-Cryst.

The Strahl is finally fixed by Balthier's moogle mechanic Nono and Reddas gives them a manufacted skystone that allows it to fly over Jagd and accompanies them to the Ridorana Cataract. Balthier tells Vaan to take the Strahl should anything happen to him.

Atop the Pharos the party finds the Sun-Cryst, but instead of using it to obtain more nethicite Ashe attempts to destroy it. She is intercepted by Cid and Balthier again fights his father, this time fatally wounding him. Balthier watches his father fade into Mist, and up to his dying breath Cid believes what he was doing was best for mankind.

The Sun-Cryst has awakened the Empire's ultimate weapon, the battleship Sky Fortress Bahamut, and the Mist it seethes seems impossible to stop. Overwhelmed, Fran falls to the ground and insists they go without her, but Balthier vows to not leave her behind. Reddas sacrifices his life to destroy the Sun-Cryst while the others escape.

As Battle above Rabanastre is about to break out Balthier pilots the group to infiltrate the Sky Fortress Bahamut where they confront Vayne who merges with Venat to destroy them. Despite their allegiance Vayne and Venat are defeated, and while the others escape the Bahamut on the Strahl piloted by Vaan, Balthier and Fran remain behind to repair the damaged engines and stop Bahamut from falling on Rabanastre. Balthier fixes the Bahamut's glossair rings in time, but together with Fran they are stuck inside as the sky fortress crash-lands outside the city, with the two believed to have perished in the crash.

A year later, Balthier and Fran reclaim the Strahl from Vaan and Penelo, who had been looking after it, leaving behind a note and Ashe's ring, signifying Balthier has found the treasure he was looking for. Balthier explains he is going for the Cache of Glabados at Bervenia Palace, asking Vaan and Penelo to join in on the spoils.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings


Vaan and Penelo arrive at the Glabados Ruins to meet Balthier and Fran who have made their way to the Cache chamber and defeated the Ifrit guarding it. The foursome spy twin auracite crystals atop a pedestal and Balthier teases Vaan he's too young to partake in any treasure, and moves in to take both crystals. When Vaan protests, Balthier laughs and throws him the green crystal, taking the purple one for himself. The ruins begin to crumble and the sky pirates make their way to their respective airships, but the falling debris destroys Vaan's. Balthier returns Vaan and Penelo to Lowtown.

Soon after, Balthier makes his way to Lemurés to search for the auraliths and ends up confronting the Judge of Wings at the Fane of Tehp Qul. The Judge reveals what went on between her and Balthier by projecting her memories into Vaan and his allies' minds. In the flashback, Balthier is seen in the same Fane, with an unconscious Fran behind him. The Judge of Wings approaches him from the right, and the auralith is still intact between them. Balthier acknowledges the Judge's power, but says she has been holding on to her illusion of Eternity for too long. He throws the purple crystal he found in the Glabados Ruins in the air and shatters it with a gun blast before it reaches the Judge.

His auracite willingly destroyed, Balthier points his gun at the Judge, vowing to stop her from pursuing her goal of eternal life. Before he can fire, the Judge uses her own crystal to summon the Esper Shiva, who appears behind Balthier and uses Diamond Dust to render Balthier unconscious. He and Fran are left lying on the floor.

The two escape this encounter, as Fran meets Vaan on the island of Arda, Heaven's Pillar, and leads them to the Ymir Qul Underground, where Balthier waits. Ba'Gamnan interrupts the reunion and the party battles the group of bangaa before they reach Balthier. After Ba'Gamnan's defeat, Balthier shocks Vaan by moving to destroy the auralith. Fran defects to her partner's side, and the two summon a group of Yarhi for Vaan and his party to deal with. Though Balthier and Fran are defeated, Balthier starts up the machines flanking the second auralith, which is subsequently destroyed.

The auralith's demise frees a great deal of aegyl anima. Vaan, Penelo, Llyud, Filo, and Kytes are sent to Lesrekta, Isle of Illusions, while Balthier and Fran commandeer to Vaan's new airship, the Galbana. After Vaan's return, Balthier explains he destroyed the auralith to restore the aegyls' souls; by releasing the anima, Balthier prevented the Judge of Wings from getting to the crystal first and stealing the anima within. The motivation behind the Judge's actions and the aegyl god, Feolthanos, are finally understood, and Balthier and Fran join the allied party for good.

Final Fantasy XII
Balthier has high Strength and the highest Speed, but low MP and Magick Power. Due to this, he is best suited to equip weapons with damage reliant on Strength and Speed to deal damage, as opposed to guns, as his action time with guns is the slowest. Balthier's default licenses differ based on releases. In the original release, he has Guns 1 and 2, Steal, Shields 1, Light Armor 1 and 2 and Heavy Armor 1 learnt. In the Zodiac Job System releases, he has Steal, Guns 1, First Aid and Light Armor 1 learnt.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Balthier equips guns. His armor equips—sleeveless tops—all favor Defense over Magick Defense. His accessories are rings. He takes on the role of a ranged fighter. His Quickening, Element of Treachery, deals heavy damage to one foe, and is learned after defeating the Esper Shemhazai.

Balthier can also be fought as a boss along with Fran.

Creation and development
Final Fantasy XII Ultimania Omega details that a flashback scene to Balthier's younger days was planned for the game, and a character design was drawn for it. The render for young Balthier was finished, and Akihiko Yoshida especially noted that the glasses' texture was of good quality. The flashback scene was cut but his unused flashback attire resembles somewhat the one he wears in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.

Balthier has been called a "completely original character" by creator Akihiko Yoshida, having not used any previous Final Fantasy character as a reference. Balthier has been compared to other characters in fiction. Simon Wigham of Console Obsession called Balthier his "favorite by quite a wide margin", comparing him to James Bond due to his "humorous lines". RPGFan editor Stephen Harris compared his voice to that of Ian Fleming's depiction of Bond. 1UP.com editor Andrew Pfister compared the duo of Balthier and Fran to that of Han Solo and Chewbacca, two characters from the Star Wars franchise, adding that they are far more interesting than any other character in the "modern FF era".

Balthier was originally considered to appear in Dissidia Final Fantasy, but was left out as he had recently appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. Vaan was set to appear in his place, but was ultimately replaced by Judge Gabranth.

Voice
In the English version of Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, Balthier is voiced by Gideon Emery. In the Japanese version, he is voiced by Hiroaki Hirata.

Balthier, along with Basch and Ashe, speaks in formalized English in contrast to Vaan and Penelo's more casual style. In Japanese, Balthier, Ashe and Basch use an older, more formal form of Japanese than Vaan and Penelo. Both reflect his background of being Arcadian nobility and the son of a scholar. While the medieval tone comes from the original game, the localizers could decide on the specific accents the characters would use and voice models were used to guide the writing: Balthier was Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings.

When Gideon Emery came on the localization team's radar, the casting director Jack Fletcher thought he was perfect for the part. Emery wasn't previously familiar with the Final Fantasy series, which allowed him to escape any extra pressure. Back when the voices for Final Fantasy XII were recorded, the actor would go in to their voice agent's booth to record. Emery did a take or two with the in-house engineer and then forgot about it until he got the call. He got to use his own accent, a rarity then. Emery had around six recording sessions totaling around 24 hours of recording time. Up until that point he had never done more than one session for a specific game.

Other appearances
Balthier has made appearances in the following games in the Final Fantasy series:
 * Fortress as a cameo (cancelled).
 * Final Fantasy Tactics as a playable character.
 * Final Fantasy Tactics S as a playable character.
 * Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy as a cameo.
 * Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia as a playable character.
 * Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a playable character.
 * Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call as a playable character.
 * Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
 * Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as summonable Legend.
 * Final Fantasy Artniks as a series of cards.
 * Final Fantasy All the Bravest as a playable character.
 * Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
 * Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
 * Triple Triad as a card.
 * Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

Non-Final Fantasy appearances
Balthier has made key guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy games:
 * Itadaki Street as a playable character.

Games
Users in Square Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Balthier. Balthier's hair costs 100 crystals and his clothes cost 480 crystals.

Additionally, in Gunslinger Stratos 2, Balthier's costume was released on November 6, 2014.

Merchandise
Balthier has a Play Arts action figure released as part of the Final Fantasy XII set. Play Arts releases a new figure to commemorate the release of the Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age. Balthier also has a miniature figure in the Final Fantasy Trading Arts Mini Vol. 3. Balthier in his Final Fantasy Tactics appearance is part of the Final Fantasy Tactics Trading Arts set. He appears alongside Fran and their hoverbike in a polystone Sculpture Arts statue.

Etymology
Balthier's middle name "mied" is a recurring name of characters related to Cid.

Trivia

 * Attacking 300 times adds Balthier's sprite to Sky Pirate's Den of Final Fantasy XII and grants the player the title of Assault Striker.
 * Balthier shares his last name, Bunansa, with Mustadio and Besrudio Bunansa from Final Fantasy Tactics. It is unknown if there is any relation between the characters.
 * Only Balthier and Vaan retain their original Quickenings from Final Fantasy XII in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings: Element of Treachery for Balthier and Pyroclasm for Vaan.
 * Coincidentally, given Balthier's status as a sky pirate, his Japanese voice actor Hiroaki Hirata also provides the voice of the pirate Jack Sparrow in , and has also done Japanese dubbing of various other Johnny Depp roles. He is also the Japanese voice actor for Sanji, pirate chef of the Straw Hat crew in One Piece.
 * Much like the other cameo characters (Cloud and Luso), Balthier's age is not displayed when the player sees his profile.
 * Balthier shares a few similarities with Ignis Scientia from Final Fantasy XV:
 * Balthier and Ignis have similar facial structures.
 * Both men speak in a British accent.
 * Throughout their primary apearances in their main games, both share the same height and age.
 * Balthier's hair, sleeves, and earrings are static in the PlayStation 4 version of The Zodiac Age. This has been fixed for the PC version, where they move in the wind.