Crystal (term)



Crystals (クリスタル, Kurisutaru), also known as Orbs, are legendary and often elemental stones and objects that have appeared in almost every game in the main Final Fantasy series. Even in games where they are not a central plot point, there has been at least some reference to them. Crystals have power over natural phenomena, and function as a powerful source of magical energy. Many antagonists focus their efforts on seizing the Crystals to gain power towards their goal.

In most games there are typically four Crystals: a Water Crystal, a Fire Crystal, a Wind Crystal, and an Earth Crystal. On occasion Crystals may be aligned with Darkness. Crystals may often be found in Crystal Rooms in early games. The Crystals are often treasured for their power and many myths and legends surround the true extent of their abilities. Uncovering the truth of these myths and their meaning is a typical part of any Final Fantasy game.

Final Fantasy
Crystals, called Orbs in the original North American localization, appear in the game. The Warriors of Light already possess the four elemental Crystals, but must journey through the world and defeat the fiend of each corresponding element in order to restore their power. Garland possesses a fifth "Dark Crystal" as well, though its significance is not elaborated upon. When the Warriors of Light restore the light to all four of their Crystals, they channel their energy into the fifth Crystal, allowing them to travel to the past in order to stop the time loop.

Final Fantasy II
A Crystal Rod acts as the key item for obtaining the ultimate spell in the story. In the Dawn of Souls remake's Soul of Rebirth part, the Crystals grant Minwu access to the Ultima Tome. There are also four crystals that represent each element on the top floor of the Mysidian Tower that increase the party's stats once each.

Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy III has eight Crystals. Xande is trying to drain the Crystals of their power in order to create an imbalance between light and darkness. He manages to drain the Crystals on the ground continent, covering it in darkness and freezing time. He is, however, unable to drain the ones on the floating continent. Eventually, the forces of darkness manage to drain the other two Crystals, creating an imbalance that summons the Cloud of Darkness. The Wind Crystal chooses four children to go out and restore the balance, and give the Crystals back their power. After the four youths find each Crystal, they are given new Job Classes. Once the youths are given the powers of the four Crystals of light, they enter the World of Darkness and must defeat the four guardians of the Dark Crystals to obtain the aid of the Warriors of the Dark. They then use the four Crystals of Darkness to make the Cloud of Darkness vulnerable.

Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy IV has eight primary Crystals. The four elemental Crystals form the "Light Crystals," and are kept in the Overworld. The Crystal of Water is in Mysidia, the Crystal of Fire is in Damcyan, the Crystal of Wind is in Fabul, and the Crystal of Earth is in Troia. However, there are also four "Dark Crystals" kept in the Underworld. The location of two of these Crystals is never revealed, but one is kept by the Dwarves in their castle, and one is found in the Sealed Cave. If all eight Crystals are gathered in the Tower of Babil, it has been told that the "way to the Moon" would open. However, gathering the Crystals would actually summon the Giant of Babil, a wish-granting giant. The Lunarian Zemus wanted to have the Giant destroy the Earth so the Lunarians could settle there, and he used Golbez to do so. Many more Crystals are revealed later in the game, such as the eight Crystals of the Moon and a Crystal that appears in the battle with Zeromus. The Crystals of the Moon are sentient and are responsible for sealing Zemus's power for the time being. The Crystal that appears in the battle against Zemus is an item said to make Zeromus vulnerable. Golbez tried to use it on Zeromus; however, only those born out of the Light can use the Crystal. When Cecil Harvey used it, Zeromus became vulnerable, and Cecil and his friends defeated it.

There is also the Crystal of Flight, which rests within the Lunar Whale, and is used to transport the heroes to the Moon and back. The Elder of Mysidia also implies that more Crystals power the Lunar Whale, and in the Nintendo DS release several Crystals can be seen embedded in parts of the great airship.

In the game's Nintendo DS release each of the eight Crystals are colored differently. In the SNES and Game Boy Advance releases, the Crystals were colored light blue or dark red/black, depending on their alignment to Light or Darkness.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
The Mysterious Girl and Kain? band together to collect the eight Crystals of the Blue Planet, all of which have returned to their original resting spots since the events of Final Fantasy IV. The girl also returns to the Red Moon and drains the power of their Crystals, shattering them.

In the depths of the True Moon, the eight Crystals stolen from the Earth are used to revive various bosses from Final Fantasy IV to attack the party as they travel deeper into the moon's surface. The Crystals are recovered after each attack, and in the final battle with the Creator, they are used to render him vulnerable to the party's attacks.

Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy V has four Crystals that control the elements in the First World, and without them, the wind would not blow, the oceans would dry, the fire would burn out, and the life of the earth would be destroyed. The Wind Crystal was kept in the Wind Shrine which was maintained by Tycoon, the Water Crystal was kept in the Walse Tower and maintained by Walse, the Fire Crystal was kept in Karnak, and the Earth Crystal was located in the Ronka Ruins. Long ago, the Warriors of Dawn used the power of the Crystals to seal Exdeath within the Earth.

At the dawn of the adventure, a man named Cid Previa invented a machine with the power to amplify the Crystals' output. However, if the Crystals were allowed to operate at this capacity, they would shatter. Cid deeply regretted creating the machine. At the same time, Exdeath was trying to shatter the Crystals himself so he could become free. However, the Crystals all eventually shatter, and each shard becomes the source for a new Job Class for the characters.

In the Second World, the Crystals are replaced by the Crystals who guard the Great Forest of Moore.

In the Third World, the party battles Exdeath inside the Void. After this, they are able to recreate the Crystals with the power of the two generations of Warriors of Dawn, thus regenerating the world.

Final Fantasy VI
When an Esper dies, their remains crystallize into Magicite, which appear as glowing shards of green crystal. In contrast to magic extracted from live Espers via Magitek, magic can be taught naturally and at a much higher potency using Magicite. Using Magicite, the protagonists are able to use magic and fight the Gestahlian Empire on its own terms for a time, before the Empire is decimated by Espers.

Final Fantasy VII
The crystallized form of Mako is known as Materia, and a subtle nod to the crystals of past. The Materia allow the user to control magic spells, summons, gives boosts to statistics and adds extra commands. Two exceptionally powerful Materia pieces are the White Materia and Black Materia. Sephiroth seeks the Black Materia to summon Meteor to strike the planet, while Aeris tries to stop him by using the White Materia to summon Holy, which is the only thing that can destroy Meteor.

There are also four extremely rare Materia found in caves: Knights of the Round, Mimic, HP <--> MP, and Quadra Magic, which are said to be so powerful due to being in secluded areas, and have been given a large amount of time to grow and collect. In addition, there are the four Huge Materia, colors red, blue, yellow, and green. Three of the four Huge Materia also correspond to matching color Materia: Master Summon, Master Command, and Master Magic can be acquired from the red, yellow, and green Huge Materia if the player has mastered all Materia shards of that type.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
During the first battle with him at the Nibelheim Mako Reactor, Sephiroth can summon four colored crystals to assist him in the battle. The crystals are identical in appearance to the four Huge Materia from Final Fantasy VII. In a locked chamber in the Banora Underground the player can enter battle with Green Materia, Red Materia, Yellow Materia, and Blue Materia. They cast elemental magic in battle and their coloring corresponds to four of the five typical Materia colors.

Final Fantasy VIII
The only prominent crystal is the Crystal Pillar, a gigantic crystal believed to have originated from the Moon. The monsters in the world come from the moon, and the crystal is responsible for summoning them to the planet by creating a strong energy field. It reacts to a certain location on the planet, and this reaction creates a signal that directs the Lunar Cry towards that location. Thus, in Final Fantasy VIII, the Crystal acts as a malevolent force.

Final Fantasy IX
In Final Fantasy IX Crystals are the source of all life; the Crystals residing at the center of planets circulate life, from which all life is born, and to which the souls return upon death, and as the memories of living beings accumulate inside the Crystals, the planets grow. Eidolons in Gaia are guardian spirits created by the Crystal in order to protect it. The people of Terra had mastered the art of fusing their Crystal with others, allowing them to assimilate other worlds and keep their race thriving even when their current Crystal weakened. As revealed in the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania, once a Crystal has aged, it returns to the cosmos and becomes the source of a new Crystal.

Crystals also appear in the game as a means of summoning Eidolons. The four "jewels" sought by Queen Brahne of Alexandria were in fact fragments of a Crystal broken apart 500 years prior to the game. If all four jewels would come together in Alexandria, Alexander would be summoned. This echoes Final Fantasy IV, as Alexander heavily resembles the Giant of Babil, which was also summoned by a gathering of Crystals.

Also, Crystals can be equipped as Add-ons, which grant the user special abilities, particularly for Garnet and Eiko, who can learn Summon Magic from them. Eiko can also alter her Summon Magic according to the gemstone she has equipped.

Final Fantasy X
Spheres are round crystalline objects used for various purposes in the world of Spira. While they are not like Materia or even Crystal shaped, they contain various magical energies possibly provided by the pyreflies embedded in them, allowing them to act as keys, contain memories, and even record events that can be viewed like a movie. They also, symbolically, represent the game's theme of cycles.

Just prior to the series of final boss fights, Tidus and company are warped to a bizarre spinning room called "Sin - The Nucleus." Within the Nucleus, Tidus must avoid crystal spikes while grabbing ten glowing, teleporting crystals, each of which bestows either powerful Spheres or weapons. Once all ten items are acquired, the player is teleported to Dream's End for the final battle.

A larger crystal also makes a cameo in Luca. There is a statue in the round square where a huge clear crystal is sitting. As the player walks closer, the camera focuses on the crystal. The Crystal cup can also be classified as a cameo for the crystal, and it can be seen handed to the Besaid Aurochs by Wakka if the player wins the first Blitzball tournament of the storyline.

Final Fantasy X-2
In Final Fantasy X-2, Dresspheres allow one to use the memories within the sphere to unleash associated powers.

Final Fantasy XI
Crystals are common and are used in item synthesis. There are many other types of crystals in the game, as well, a few of which being associated with teleportation (known as "Teleport Crystals") and Home Points. There are also six "Protocrystals" that serve as a gateway to combat the elemental prime avatars. Another type is Magicite, unusual crystal deposits found in beastmen strongholds near destroyed potions of the Crystal Lines, large conduits that connect the three main teleportation crystals of Holla, Mea, and Dem. Yet another type of crystal are the Mothercrystals; five shards of the original that is said to have created the gods, which was shattered into the five pieces to fend away the Emptiness.

Orbs also make an appearance in Final Fantasy XI, generally as rare, exotic items that grant access to particular battlefields associated with Burning Circle Notorious Monster fights.

An ancient Crystal plays a key plot role in Final Fantasy XI: A Crystalline Prophecy: Ode to Life Bestowing.

Final Fantasy XII
Crystals are commonly found in the form of magicite. One of their many functions is as a Save Point. These Crystals are divided into Save Crystals, which let the player save the game, and Gate Crystals, which also allow teleportation to other Gate Crystals. Many enemies later in the game also drop various elemental crystals, used for making items in the Bazaar. Espers are also bound to Crystals before they are defeated.

There is also an enemy that takes the form of a crystal, called a Crystalbug.

The game's story focuses on Nethicite, both manufacted and deifacted. Items such as the Dawn Shard are revealed to be related to the Sun-Cryst, which is essentially a crystal on its own. There is a location in the game that is a giant crystal known as the Great Crystal.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Crystals in Revenant Wings come in the form of Auracite, which people can use to summon Yarhi (the game's version of Espers). However, using the Auracite comes with the price: Each time someone uses it, their anima slowly drains away. This is the reason the Aegyl have been reduced to emotionless shells in the beginning of the game. There are also larger pieces of crystals called Auraliths from which all Auracite comes. Destroying the Auraliths releases the trapped anima they have absorbed. In addition, there is the Soul Crystal gameplay element that appears in certain battles and reincarnates its team's KOed members periodically.

Fortress
Crystal-like objects appear in Fortress concepts and come in eight different (apparently elemental) types. It is currently unknown whether these objects are Nethicite, Auracite, Auralith, or something else entirely.

Final Fantasy XIII
Crystals are central to the plot of Final Fantasy XIII, interacting in the world in the form of fal'Cie, god-like machines powered by the crystals. Their power seems limitless as they helped create Cocoon, which is essentially another moon of the world of Gran Pulse. Fal'Cie are capable of creating l'Cie by planting a crystal shard somewhere inside the human body; the l'Cie are to a degree their avatars in the world. L'Cie can use magic and summon Eidolons through the use of crystals in their possession. Furthermore, if the l'Cie fail in the task they are given, the power of the crystals will turn them into a monstrous crystallized Cie'th. If they manage to complete their Focus, l'Cie are rewarded with eternity by becoming lifeless crystals. Because both fates are considered to be a fate akin to (or even worse than) death, Cocoon citizens live in fear of the l'Cie and cast out those who become as such.

Humans, like the fal'Cie, also possess crystal power, though in a different manner. Like in many other games in the series, crystal seems to be the Final Fantasy XIII's universe's life substance. The crystals power the fal'Cie like a computer's processor, giving them amazing magical powers and making them immortal, incapable of ageing, yet the humans possess an even greater power; when a human dies, their "soul" turns into crystal energy and passes through the Door of Souls "to the other side", something akin to a concept of heaven. The fal'Cie envy this trait as they, too, would like to pass through the Door of Souls to the other side, to be reunited with their Maker. During the game's final chapters the party can observe the crystal energy in the air as tiny glimmering shards.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII
It is vaguely established that crystals act as a source of political and magical power to major nations in Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Several kingdoms used to have their own Crystals, but lost them through warfare. One Crystal remains in one kingdom, however, and Noctis is sent to protect it from other kingdoms' forces trying to obtain it.

Final Fantasy Agito XIII
A crystal is located in each Peristylium of Oriens. At the beginning of the game, High Commander Cid of Byakko sends his l'Cie army and airships to destroy the other countries' crystals.

Final Fantasy Tactics
Crystals may appear when a defeated unit remains unconscious for three rounds (300 CT). They represent the condensed soul energy of the defeated unit. Living units may pick up these crystals to fully restore their HP and MP. If a human unit picks up the crystal formed from another human's soul, the living unit may choose instead to learn the abilities that the defeated unit had learned, at no JP cost. Once a unit's soul condenses into a crystal, its body disappears, and it cannot be revived by any means, making the transformation into a crystal a form of PermaDeath.

Additionally, the twelve Zodiac Stones are crystalline stones of great power, fulfilling this game's role of Crystals. There is also a hidden thirteenth Zodiac Stone obtained from Elidibus on the tenth floor of Midlight's Deep. This stone represents Serpentarius the Serpent, but is simply an add on to the original twelve.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
The five crystals in Tactics Advance are the threads that bind together the dream Ivalice, made by the palace, and each one represents one of the races of Ivalice. Crystals exists in special folds in space, called "seams". As the crystal's magic is beneficial to all Ivalice, special means are being employed to protect them. This was once known in a theory, one of the believers are Montblanc. This was then confirmed when the clan had to fight with the first guardian of the crystals, also known as Totema, Famfrit.

Marche's quest in the game is to shatter the five crystals in order to return home. In order to do this, he must defeat the Totema that guards each crystal. A sixth crystal is actually Queen Remedi, the Li-Grim in her true form, and even when they are all destroyed it takes the will of all of those from the old world to allow them to return.

The classic four crystals of Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth appear in a group of optional subquests, known as "sigils". On these missions, each sigil must be obtained by defeating a "Falgabird" of the corresponding element: Marilith (Fire), Lich (Earth), Kraken (Water), and Tiamat (Wind). These Falgabirds are a reference to the original Four Fiends. Once the four sigils are obtained, two further missions can be completed to craft the Mind Ceffyl and the Body Ceffyl from them.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Crystals appear in certain quests/battles. When touched, the crystals allow the character to be transported to a different battle field. Touching the crystals is usually required to complete missions they appear in.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Large Crystals can be found in every town and village in the Crystal Chronicles world. They protect people from the poisonous mist known as Miasma, that plagues the entire world. The effect is only temporary, and after a year each town and village must send out Crystal Caravans to collect three drops of Myrrh. To collect the Myrrh, the Caravanners use a Crystal Chalice, which not only can hold the Myrrh but can protect the travelers from Miasma with its crystal for a short range. A Carbuncle in Mag Mell reveals that all the crystals protecting each village and city were originally part of a once Great Crystal that was shattered after being struck by a meteor that brought with it the Meteor Parasite which spread the Miasma.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Crystals in Ring of Fates are an item for everyday life. Chelinka was born with a special crystal in her hand that she can only use when her twin brother Yuri is around. The Great Crystal is also seen, and it holds the memories of the world. It is later revealed that use of the crystals alter the path of reality and destiny. When the crystals are used by the moontouched Lunites they turn crimson, whereas the crystals are normally blue.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
In Padarak, a Crystal that appears within the Kingdom, grants King Leo the power of Architek that allows him to rebuild his fathers Kingdom. To build new buildings, a type of crystals known as elementites must be collected by Adventures in dungeons. These elementite were once part of the main antagonist, the Dark Lord.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
Originally Crystals were used to keep the air clean and bestow prosperity on the land, like in Ring of Fates. When an inventor, Larkeicus, began to create machines that would allow the people to live a life of luxury (and for himself, immortality), Crystals began to be harvested as energy sources. As time passed, the crystals started disappearing. The people became desperate for more crystals, and dug large mines to uncover more of them.

One day, a large crystal, the world's last remaining Crystal Core, appeared in a small Village. Larkeicus was able to locate the last crystal using his ring, whilst also searching around the globe for a new source of crystals. The inventor found Sherlotta in the Forest after killing the rest of the villagers. When the crystal appeared in a small forest pond, it infused itself to Sherlotta's soul creating, presumably, a starsinger. Larkeicus was not able to take the crystal, even though there was no one to stop him. The crystal core was actually a sort of negative crystal, rendering Larkeicus' machines useless and sending his dynasty into ruins.

A thousand years later, Larkeicus realizes that the crystals disappeared because of the shock waves from the future, and prepares to stop the event from happening. Eventually, when he activates the ruins, the Crystal Core shatters and is later repaired by the hero. In the final events of the game, the Crystal Core is summoned to create the disturbance that made the crystals disappear two millenia ago. The hero is forced to shatter the crystal, and both Larkeicus and Sherlotta disappear in a blinding light. When arriving home, the hero throws the crystal shard received from Sherlotta on his/her sixteenth birthday into the crystal's pool. The very next day, the once tiny crystal begins to grow into one just like the Crystal Core that appeared 2000 years ago.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
There are four Tribal Crystals, each representing a race, that form the "Crystal Principle", a ideal form of balance in the world. However, during the Crystal War, the Lilty destroyed the Yuke's Tribal Crystal, dooming the race to a place between Existence and Oblivion. From the Yuke's Crystal the crystal shards where created and served as a power source. The Crystal Idols gather this shards to recreate the Yuke's Crystal.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
There are five Crystals in Mystic Quest, each having their power drained by one of the Vile Four. Flamerus Rex drains the Earth Crystal's power, rendering Level Forest and Foresta a decaying wasteland and turning most of the residents, including children, into old men and women. The Ice Golem's influence throws the Aquaria area into a permanent winter, the Dualhead Hydra causes earthquakes to become rampant around Fireburg using the Fire Crystal, and Pazuzu causes violent windstorms using the Wind Crystal.

In addition to these four crystals, the Crystal of Light appears to Benjamin as an old man offering cryptic advice. The Crystal of Light in turn may have been under the dark influences of the Dark King, as it later shines at his throne when he is killed.

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
Five Crystals appear in this game, connected to different elements and guarded by different Summon Creatures. The Red Crystal sitting atop the volcano Mt. Magma has power over Fire, and is protected by Phoenix. The Green Crystal of Earth rests in the forest, under Unicorn's watchful eye. The Blue Crystal hidden in the underwater shrine controls Water, and has Leviathan as its guardian. The Yellow Crystal stationed at the highest floor of the Technolith is aligned with the power of Light, and is under Ramuh's care. The final crystal, the Black Crystal, was created by Bebuzzu to bolster the powers of darkness and chaos by feeding off of the negativity within the hearts of living creatures. Irma uses this crystal to drain the others and then feeds the energy to Bebuzzu, who in turn is transformed by each power. At the end of the game, he uses the fully powered Black Crystal to travel to the world of darkness as he tries to revert the universe to its original form - The Void. A backstory for the Crystals is given in the story Legend of the Crystals.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
There are ten Crystals, each one representing one of the first ten games of the series. While the first five games and the ninth are each represented by their world's Crystals, Final Fantasy VI is represented by a Magicite shard, Final Fantasy VII is represented by a Materia, Final Fantasy VIII by a set of feathers and Final Fantasy X by a sphere. These Crystals, later revealed to hold a tenth of Cosmos's power, had to be obtained by its respective Warrior of Cosmos by confronting their corresponding antagonist in their storyline. When all ten Crystals have been recovered, the player can access the final stage and confront the final boss, Chaos. After he is defeated, the Warriors of Cosmos each depart back to their own world, taking their Crystal with them.

Also, the Crystal from Final Fantasy V makes a cameo as a tutor from the in-game manuals.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Jane Proudfoot possesses a green crystal as a pendant attached to the knife on her Anti SB Mechanized Infantry Protection System armor.

Crystal Defenders
In Crystal Defenders, the player defends crystals from numerous waves of enemies. In addition, there are Power Crystals, which raise the abilities of nearby units.

Kingdom Hearts II
The Struggle Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Struggle in Twilight Town features four unique crystals of red, blue, green, and yellow. Mickey Mouse gives Sora a bag containing a blue crystal that came from the Struggle Trophy in the data Twilight Town.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
The four Crystals make a cameo in this game as guardians of Culex. Each one knows high-powered elemental spells corresponding with their element - the Fire Crystal uses fire attacks, the Water crystal uses water and ice attacks, the Earth crystal uses ground attacks, and the Wind crystal uses air and electrical attacks. Culex is actually believed to have been based on bosses in the Final Fantasy series.