Lunar Whale



The Lunar Whale, also known as the Big Whale and Magical Ship, is the ultimate airship in Final Fantasy IV, bestowed on the party with the aid of the elder of Mysidia.

Final Fantasy IV
The ship was constructed by the Lunarian Kluya to travel between the Red Moon and Earth. After using the Lunar Whale to travel to Earth, Kluya put it to rest in the sea near Mysidia, at a point where the continent's shape forms a jaws at the end of a dragon-like track of land. Thus the Mysidian Legend refers to the airship as "Birthed from womb of Dragon's maw, And borne unto the stars". The Mysidian Legend was passed down through the years in Mysidia. Giott is also somehow aware of the Legend and it's passing down in Mysidia, but refers to it as explicitly a legend about the Lunar Whale.

During the events of Final Fantasy IV, Golbez acquires the world's Crystals and activates the Tower of Babil to call the Giant of Babil from the Moon. The Elder of Mysidia and the mages of Mysidia pray and create a great whirlpool from which the Lunar Whale rises to ferry Cecil and his allies to the Red Moon. The airship then serves as transport for the rest of the game, and during the ending is returned to slumber within the waters near Mysidia.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
In The After Years, Porom and the Elder witness the Lunar Whale mysteriously rising from the ocean, and he sends her to Mount Ordeals to find Kain, fearful of what this means. In The Lunarian's Tale, it is revealed that Fusoya and Golbez called the Lunar Whale from the Red Moon, now adrift in space since leaving Earth's orbit. After the Mysterious Girl shatters their Crystals and declares her intent to travel to Earth, Fusoya and Golbez call the Lunar Whale, and Fusoya teleports Golbez aboard and sends him to Earth on it, staying behind to face Zeromus's Malice and his Big Bang attack.

During The Gathering Tale, the party reassembles and Golbez takes them to the Lunar Whale to travel to the True Moon and pursue the Mysterious Girl. In the ending, if Golbez survives the events of the game, he takes the Lunar Whale into space again to seek out the Red Moon and discover the fate of Fusoya and the Lunarians.

Layout
In terms of size, the Lunar Whale's sprite is three to four times the size of the other airships, but moves slower. Because of its size, the ship is incapable of landing in some places the Falcon and the Enterprise can. It is also unable to enter the crater to the underground - if the player attempts to land the airship and enter the crater, the airship will lower and then rise back into the air, showing it is too big to fit safely.

The ship's main chamber consists of an elevated deck hosting the Crystal of Flight that controls flight between the Earth and the Red Moon, with a control panel on the wall above the Crystal that allows the player to fly the ship manually. There are three staircases leading to a lower potion of the ship with a room containing healing beds shaped like pods, and a back chamber with a Fat Chocobo - in the DS release the Fat Chocobo uniquely is mechanical. Unlike the other airships in the game, the Lunar Whale seems to possess no weaponry.

Some versions of Final Fantasy IV have a glitch concerning the airship, where the player may accidentally lose the airship on the Red Moon.

In The After Years, the second room with beds contains one bed, and the Fat Chocobo's chamber is removed and replaced with a staircase to a lower decks. This lower deck is similar in layout to to the top deck, with a save point in the second room and in the large chamber hosting four hearing beds. As in other Final Fantasy games, the party members not currently in the party can be found wandering the decks and can be spoken to to prompt a change of party members. Unlike Final Fantasy IV, in The After Years the player is not free to return to Earth after travelling to the True Moon.

Musical Themes
The theme when the player is piloting or exploring the inside of the Lunar Whale is simply called "Lunar Whale", which can be found as track 39 on the original SNES version soundtrack. For the English Final Fantasy Chronicles version soundtrack, the title was changed to "The Big Whale", which is also track 39. An arranged version appears in the Nintendo DS remake, now called "Magic Ship", which appears as track 15 on the second disc of that version's album.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
The Lunar Whale can be seen in the far distance at the stage Lunar Subterrane as a background element next to the Crystal Palace. Its field icon is also used in the Duel Colosseum mode to represent higher level enemies.

Trivia

 * As Kluya is stated to be the one who taught humanity how to build airships, it is likely that all the airships of the Final Fantasy IV universe are based on the Lunar Whale's specifications.
 * On the North American website for the DS release of Final Fantasy IV, the Lunar Whale can be seen flying through the background of the menu backdrop.

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