Garnet Til Alexandros XVII

Garnet til Alexandros XVII, alias Dagger (ダガー Dagā) and real name Sarah, is the deuteragonist of Final Fantasy IX, and the heir of Alexandria. Garnet notices a change in her mother, Queen Brahne, and tries to escape Alexandria castle. Trying to hide her identity as a princess while traveling with Zidane, Garnet takes the alias Dagger, inspired by Zidane's weapon. Initially a polite and soft-spoken young woman, Garnet becomes wiser and matures as she travels with Zidane, eventually resolving to use her powers as a summoner to protect her kingdom.

Appearance and Personality
Garnet has long dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail with a blue clip. After she cuts her hair, it becomes above shoulder-length. She has brown eyes and fair skin. Garnet appears for most of the game in her peasant attire, a skin-tight orange jumpsuit with large buckles on the thighs and a white bell-sleeved blouse. She wears a black choker and red gloves and boots. She wears a long pendant with a jewel set in it. When escaping from Alexandria castle, Garnet wears a white robe identical to the iconic White Mage robe, with a large hood, red triangles along the hood and waist, and red cuffs. While appearing in her more formal attire, Garnet wears a long white strapless gown decorated with green vine-like leaves from chest to waist. She also wears a gold ornament in her hair, detached sleeves, a silver crown embedded with green jewels, and a green jeweled necklace. When Garnet enters Trance, her skin turns pink with white glyph-like symbols along her legs, and her outfit transforms into a white unitard with a low neckline and light green sleeves and boots. Garnet's personality changes over the course of the game. Garnet is self-deprecating and often blames herself for events beyond her control. Throughout the game Garnet relies on others many times, as she seeks help from many people including Doctor Tot, Steiner, Beatrix, Regent Cid and Zidane. She states she wants the power to summon eidolons so she can better defend her kingdom and her companions.

Through Zidane's influence, Garnet learns to act in a more commonplace way, and she endeavors to "blend in," as can be seen in the village of Dali in the beginning of the game, changing her speech patterns over time from overly formal to more casual and natural. As Zidane teaches her more about the outside world, Garnet eventually falls in love with him. Garnet can be a little naive at times, perhaps due to her sheltered life within Alexandria; for example, she appears shocked at some of the more unwholesome sights at Treno. Despite this type of upbringing, Garnet is quick-thinking and finds ways to outwit others in order to pursue her goals. She innocently asks Zidane for sleeping weed under the guise of helping with insomnia, and later uses it against him and others in order to escape from Lindblum castle. Garnet also conceives the idea of surrounding herself with Gyshal Pickles during her and Steiner's trip through South Gate, relying the smell of the pickles in order to ward away border guards so Steiner could sneak her inside.

Story
Garnet was born under the name of Sarah (セーラ Sēra) in Madain Sari, where she was part of a summoner tribe. Like all summoners, she had a horn in her forehead. Garnet and her mother escaped Madain Sari by boat when the Invincible attacked the town. The boat was destroyed, and her mother was killed.

Garnet washed ashore in Alexandria where she was discovered by the King. She looked almost identical to the real Princess Garnet, who had died not long before from illness, with the exception of the horn. The King ordered her horn removed and that she become a "replacement" princess. She was then raised as the Princess of Alexandria, and always thought Queen Brahne was her mother.

After the King's death Queen Brahne begins to change. Garnet is worried about her mother and wants to seek aid from her "uncle Cid," the regent of Lindblum, but knows her mother would never let her leave the castle alone. Her chance comes on her 16th birthday when the theater troupe Tantalus comes to Alexandria to perform I Want to Be Your Canary. Unbeknown to her, Cid has already asked Tantalus to kidnap her. She goes along with this plan and joins with Tantalus as they escape Alexandria. In the middle of the escape, Steiner is taken along with her. The Tantalus Theater Ship is badly damaged by a Bomb and they crashland into the Evil Forest. Steiner works with the Tantalus kidnappers to save Garnet from the monsters within the forest.

After escaping the Evil Forest, Garnet struggles to hide her identity as the Princess of Alexandria. As a precautionary measure before entering the village of Dali, she adopts the alias of "Dagger," taking the name from Zidane's weapon. Upon entering the village, Zidane begins to tutor her in "common speak," a task Garnet has difficulty with, often addressing the townspeople in an overly formal manner.

Upon arriving in Lindblum, Garnet is eager to meet with her uncle, Regent Cid Fabool IX, insisting that they speak about Queen Brahne's new ambitions. While there, Garnet sings the song "Melodies of Life" and Zidane hears Garnet singing the melody from the top of Lindblum Castle. When Zidane asks her where she learned the song, Garnet cannot give him a straight answer.

Cid refuses to take major action against the kingdom of Alexandria, and he and Zidane tell Garnet to remain in Lindblum for her own safety. Unhappy, Garnet resolves to visit her mother herself, using a feast to commemorate the Festival of the Hunt to her own means. Garnet poisons the food of everyone else at the table with Sleeping Weed, except for Steiner. She drags Steiner along with her, and leaves for the South Gate. Along the way, Steiner is forced to hide her in a burlap sack in order to avoid detection, and Garnet uses the nauseous odor of Gysahl Pickles to discourage others from opening the bag, as an extra precaution.

Though the princess and her knight reach Alexandria safely, Garnet is betrayed by Queen Brahne, who orders the jesters Zorn and Thorn to extract eidolons from her. The summons Odin, Atomos and Bahamut are later used by the Queen and Kuja as weapons.

After being rescued by Zidane, Garnet begins to have internal conflicts about her mother's trustworthiness and the eidolons within herself. When the party's Gargant crashes at Pinnacle Rocks, Garnet meets the eidolon Ramuh. She casts aside her fear of the eidolons, and Ramuh becomes the first eidolon she is likely to summon (it should be noted Garnet can summon any of the eidolons she begins the game with, but the spells require so much MP her level would need to be substantially higher than it is likely to be at that point in the game).

Garnet's roots in the summoning arts are further explored when the party ventures to Madain Sari on the Outer Continent. Eiko Carol shows them the destroyed village, and Garnet discovers her true past and birthrights. Though the two have a sort of rivalry over Zidane's affections, they eventually become friends and learn they are the last two summoners left. Garnet finds Eiko also knows the tune to "Melodies of Life", so it may be said the song has its origins in the summoning village.

At the Iifa Tree, Queen Brahne's attempts at dispatching Kuja with Bahamut backfire and he leaves her for dead on the beach. Garnet rushes down and attempts to comfort her adopted mother, but her efforts are in vain. Brahne dies on the shores of the Outer Continent, but not before she apologizes for her deeds and asks Garnet for forgiveness. Garnet then becomes the new Queen of Alexandria.

The festivities surrounding her coronation are short-lived; Kuja returns to Alexandria with Bahamut, who begins to destroy the city. Garnet joins with Eiko to summon the eidolon Alexander, the protector of Alexandria, who defeats Bahamut, but Garland uses the Invincible to obliterate Alexander and much of Alexandria; the resulting shock renders Garnet mute, and she is unable to speak for a large portion of the game, guilt-ridden for failing to protect her kingdom. After escaping from Kuja's palace, Zidane finds Garnet in Alexandria, mourning at the grave of her adopted mother. Garnet breaks her silence by resolutely telling Zidane she will fight for her country. She once again takes Zidane's dagger, and uses it to cut off her ponytail, perhaps seeing this as a way of moving on with her life.

Later in the game, the party may return to the ruins of Madain Sari to read the message on the Eidolon Wall and discover Garnet's true name to be Sarah.

After Necron's defeat Zidane apparently sacrifices himself to return to Kuja's body. Garnet returns to Alexandria to rule, but she cannot forget Zidane. Sometime later, Tantalus once again comes to the streets of Alexandria, performing I Want to be Your Canary in honor of the Queen. The character supposed to be Marcus throws off his cloak at the play's climax, revealing himself to be Zidane. Garnet runs out of the castle into the crowd, losing her necklace in the process. Garnet runs towards him, throws her crown aside, and leaps into his arms in tears. The game ends with Garnet and Zidane embracing in front of the applauding Alexandrian crowd. She asks Zidane how he managed to return, and when he tells her he sang her song, she corrects him by saying, "Our song."

Equipment and Stats

 * List of Garnet's Rods
 * List of Garnet's Rackets

Garnet's class is summoner with a secondary job as a White Mage. She uses rods and magical rackets as weapons. Stat-wise, she's only second to Vivi regarding magic and MP, while being stronger physically and having more HP. Garnet also has one of the best speed of all characters, coming just after Zidane and Amarant.

Abilities

 * List of White Magic
 * List of Garnet's Eidolons
 * List of Garnet's Abilities

Garnet is able to summon eidolons and use White Magic. Compared to Eiko, Garnet has a wider array of eidolons, but in return, Eiko has more White Magic spells. Garnet's eidolon pool is more powerful, since she can summon both Bahamut and Ark.

While Garnet is in Trance, the summoned eidolon reappears randomly after being called, as well as acting as a counter attack. As long as Garnet has some trance bar remaining, the counter attack can potentially last until the end of the battle, as it won't use MP. When Garnet uses her Eidolon command during Trance, there is a higher chance of getting a full-animation of a summon, which will inflict more damage. The random summons thereafter, however, will always be the short summon animation and thus weaker.

Musical Themes
"Garnet's Theme" first plays during her and Doctor Tot's flashback to her younger days. A variant of the theme notably plays when she cuts her hair. Additionally, the theme is interwoven into the main melody of "Melodies of Life," the theme of her romance with Zidane.

Etymology
"Garnet" is the name of a gemstone, commonly found in dark red to purplish-red colors, although it is available in other hues.

"Sarah" is a Hebrew name which means "Princess".

Trivia

 * If using a "Max MP" cheat, e.g. through the use of a cheating device, or simply through excessive level gaining, Garnet will be able to summon eidolons from the very beginning of the game. The reason for her not being able to do so normally is not because she does not know how, but rather, because she does not have enough MP. It can also be explained as Garnet fearing about using the power of the eidolons, thus, her MP cost to summon one when she first joins the party is high.
 * In a cutscene of Dissidia Final Fantasy, Zidane briefly references Garnet when he talks with Firion, guessing the latter's purpose being to rescue his princess, after Firion says "The Wild Rose."
 * As one of the many references to earlier games in the series present in Final Fantasy IX, Garnet's real name "Sarah" is a reference to Princess Sarah.
 * Garnet's Trance form, with blonde hair and a yellow unitard, bears a resemblance to Rydia from Final Fantasy IV.
 * In the FMV where Eiko jumps from the Hilda Garde II to join Garnet and summon Alexander, Garnet's eyes are miscoloured blue.
 * Garnet makes a cameo in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals, explaining Equipment alongside Steiner.