Emperor Mateus



The Emperor of Palamecia (パラメキア皇帝, Paramekia Kōtei) is the primary antagonist and final boss of Final Fantasy II. He is the ruler of Palamecia who aims to conquer the world through demonic forces. Though known simply as the Emperor in Final Fantasy II, he is named Mateus (マティウス, Matiusu) in the Japan-exclusive novelization of the game: Final Fantasy II Nightmare's Labyrinth (ファイナルファンタジーII 夢魔の迷宮, Fainaru Fantajī Tsū Muma no Meikyū) by Kenji Terada.

Story
Summoning up creatures from Hell, the Emperor was able to build up a massive army of demons. With this army, he slowly started taking over the world. However, several cities like Fynn resisted, but they were no match for the Emperor's might. Kingdoms that did pose a threat, such as Deist, were conquered only after their wyverns' drinking water was poisoned. While it never explains how he summons demons from Hell, it shows just how powerful the Emperor is.

After Firion and the rest of the party gather several supplies to help aid the rebels and sink the Dreadnought, the Emperor kidnaps Princess Hilda of Fynn and makes her the prize in a tournament at his coliseum. Firion and his comrades attempted to rescue her. Of course, it is revealed to be a trap, and the Emperor unleashes the Behemoth on them. Locking the party away, the Emperor continues his assault on the land above. By the time the party escapes, the Emperor has summoned a giant Cyclone to destroy Fynn. The party makes their way inside, and makes another assassination attempt on the Emperor. He is defeated easily, but it is not over, as the Dark Knight has now taken over the Palamecian army. After getting into Palamecia's mountain-protected castle, the party confront the Dark Knight. Before they can do anything, the Emperor reappears, in a new demon body. By killing him, the party have only made him stronger, as he has now gained incredible strength and become Emperor of Hell. Ricard summons the Wind Drake to get the party out of Palamecia while he confronts the revived Emperor. The Emperor kills the Dragoon easily. While we will never know if the Emperor intentionally killed himself to gain the dark powers of Hell, given the fact he already had power over Hell-spawn, it is a good bet it was his true intentions all along. Summoning the castle of Hell, Pandaemonium, where Palamecia once stood, the Emperor intended to reign over both earth and Hell. However, the party traveled through the Jade Passage and confronted the Emperor head on. He is eventually defeated, and fades away.

In the Dawn of Souls and 20th Anniversary versions, something unforeseen happened when the Emperor was killed. While his dark side went to Hell and became the lord of Pandemonium, the light side went to Heaven and became the lord of Arubboth. With his new powers, he summoned the fallen souls of Minwu, Josef, Scott, and Ricard to him as representatives of those who fell in the wake of the Empire's conquests. After they traveled to his throne within the walls of Arubboth, he asked for their forgiveness and offered them eternal life. They are reluctant, and consider his offer. However, the souls of all the people they care about appear before them, and tell them to look past his charade. With their help, they realize they are being tricked, that this Emperor is no different from the other, and attack the Emperor's light side. They defeat him, but he tells them it does not matter. As long as people exist, they will continue their bloody struggles of violence and war. Minwu comments at the very end that if anyone can change man's violent legacy, it would be Firion and his friends.

Personality
Being the ruler of Palamecia, the Emperor is arrogant, but also is very intelligent and manipulative, like when it's thought that he kidnapped Hilda as a prize, but it was a setup to trap the heroes instead. Another case is when he almost tricked the spirits of Minwu, Josef, Scott, and Ricard, asking for their forgiveness and offering them eternal life.

In Dissidia Final Fantasy, he retains his personality from Final Fantasy II and some more is added. The Emperor is always calm and never seems to lose control of his emotions, he never seems to get worried because he believes that his plan will succeed without fail. His intelligence is also again demonstrated, as it is he who formulates the plan to kill Cosmos for good and end the war in Chaos' favor using the Crystals. This is also another example of when he tricks the heroes, as it is their quest for the Crystals that lets Chaos destroy Cosmos and nearly erase the heroes.

Strength
Before he became the Emperor of hell, he was already powerful. Being able to summon demons from hell, to create an invincible army, he was also able to cast very powerful Thunder spells, as well as creating a giant Cyclone. When he dies, his power increases, now he's able to summon the palace of hell, he can summon meteorites, as the Emperor's light side he had the power to summon the fallen allies of Firion.

Music
The original final battle theme of The Emperor was called "Sentō Shīn 2" ("Battle Scene 2"). A rearrangement of the theme by The Black Mages entitled "Battle Scene II" appears on their first studio album.

Battles
The Emperor is fought several times in the game. Twice by Firion's party in the main quest, whilst Minwu's party fights him once in Soul of Rebirth.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Chaos has summoned a combined force of Final Fantasy's ultimate villains in an attempt to gain control on a number of Crystals, resulting in total control of the Final Fantasy worlds. The Emperor of Palamecia is one of these villains and he stands as the villain representing Final Fantasy II, opposing Firion.

Ivalice Alliance
The Esper Mateus from Final Fantasy XII is named after and based on the Emperor, its appearance also bears similarities to the Emperor's armor. The Totema Mateus from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is also named after the Emperor, but that is where the similarities end.

Trivia

 * The Emperor was the first villain in the series to wipe out an entire kingdom by poisoning the water supply of their wyverns, an infamous act that would later be performed by Kefka Palazzo in Final Fantasy VI to an even grander scale where the water supply of people is poisoned.
 * It is told in the game that an Emperor of Palamecia once challenged the world to see who could reach his daughter on a high floor of his castle. Many men tried this challenge but they all failed until one man used a hot air balloon to reach her. The emperor was furious and embarrassed by this and swore revenge, from which the Emperors' desire for conquest was born. Whether or not this was about a previous emperor or the current one is unknown. This story can be read in the Mysidian library in Dawn of Souls. It is basically an adaptation of the traditional Rapunzel fairy tale.
 * Though the Emperor is arrogant, it is interesting to note that he addresses his enemies (particularly Firion) using their names, in a somewhat undistant manner.
 * The Emperor is well known in Japan for his cheesy deathcry of "Uboaaa!" and the romanized version, "Uboar!". "Uboar" is even the name of a popular Japanese fanclub of his. His deathcry also is used when he loses in Dissidia, and Tidus questions him about his scream. In the English version, his deathcry was changed to "Ungaahhhh!", which has also caught on in Japan, thanks to the English subtitle option of Final Fantasy II for the PSP.
 * His name, Mateus, is referenced in Dissidia, as the name of his best weapon, Mateus' Malevolence.
 * The Emperor is subtly referenced in the popular web comic 8-Bit Theater. Black Mage Evilwizardington is killed by Lich and sent to Hell. There, he overthrows the current rulers of Hell and takes over, absorbing the powers of Hell and returning to Earth. He kills Lich and announces his plan to conquer the world, but is stripped of his powers shortly after when Lich heals the overthrown demons and Black Mage is stripped of his powers.
 * Fans have commited on how the Emperor resembles David Bowies's character: King Jareth from the 1986 film Labyrinth.