Setzer Gabbiani

Setzer Gabbiani is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is a Gambler who lives on the wild side. He is the owner of the world's only airship: the Blackjack. In the SNES version he is neutral at the beginning of the war, reluctant to openly oppose the Gestahlian Empire after having made profits from their work. In the GBA translation, which is more faithful to the original, he says the Empire has been bad for his business.

Appearance and Personality
Setzer is a man in his late twenties. He has long, silver hair, and wears several layers of clothing under a black trench coat with a gold lining, though the in-game sprite shows the lining as brown. He is roughly average height, and very thin. Setzer's face is scarred, but this is not visible in his game sprites.

Setzer cannot resist a gamble; he thrives on risks - such as his planned abduction of Maria - and will never pass up an opportunity to prove his skill. Most of his scars come from gambling sessions gone wrong, although some also come from airship accidents.

There are aspects of Setzer's character that fit the "ladies' man" archetype, such as his willingness to gamble his airship for Celes Chere's hand in marriage, which were exaggerated in his Kingdom Hearts appearance. Setzer acts like a happy and likeable person up front, but is still hurt by a great loss and distracts himself with gambling.

Story
Setzer was a gambler by nature and pilot by trade. When younger, he was involved with a girl named Darill who owned the airship Falcon. She was aware of her risk-taking nature as she casually mentioned to Setzer the Falcon was his if she ever was unable to fly. Setzer, mortified by the idea, said no such thing would ever happen, and that he would only take the Falcon after having won it fairly. After a day of flying Darill went out on her own and pushed the Falcon to its limits. The ship crashed in a distant valley, and when Setzer found the remains he entombed them beneath the sea.

Shell-shocked by the loss, Setzer ended up impressing his desires upon a wealthy opera star named Maria. The pinnacle of his infatuation comes when he threatens to kidnap her in the midst of a performance. He has a plan to disrupt the show of Opera "Maria and Draco" and kidnap her, but Locke Cole and his party are desperate for an airship, so he and the Impresario foil Setzer's plan by having Celes Chere star in the night's show. Setzer abducts Celes, Locke follows him back to the Blackjack, and the party seeks to negotiate for an airship.

Setzer is disappointed upon finding Celes is not Maria, but soon finds Celes to be much more attractive. Celes borrows Edgar's double-headed coin to broker a deal: if it landed on heads, Setzer would help the Returners reach the Southern Continent to rescue Maduin and the other espers; if it was tails, Celes would agree to be Setzer's "woman" (the Japanese term refers to a woman that receives gifts from her man in exchange for physical favors). More amused than anything else, Setzer agrees, but notices he has been duped. Setzer's inherent good nature, coupled by being impressed by the trick, makes him pliant to the idea and he helps the Returners.

While the others are infiltrating the Magitek Research Facility Setzer stays on the airship. When the others do not return, he goes to Vector to check on them and meets them as they are fleeing the city and rings them onto the Blackjack to escape. The ship is damaged in the attack and almost unusable. Later, he goes with them to Zozo to save Terra Branford.

Following the trip to Zozo Setzer accompanies the party to Narshe, where the Elder joins with the Returners. Terra agrees to ask the freed espers to limit their devastation to Vector, after which a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards would storm from the north. The plan is a success, and Emperor Gestahl appears to have surrendered. He asks Terra to convince the espers to negotiate peace, so she and Locke head to Crescent Island to convey the Emperor's message. Setzer and the others are skeptical of the Emperor and stay in Vector to judge his motives.

Setzer and Cid Del Norte Marquez rebuild the airship while Edgar uses his charms to learn the Emperor's true plans from a maidservant, who says the Emperor plans to capture the espers. The rest of the party flies to Thamasa to warn Terra and Locke, but they are too late. Kefka has acquired more magicite and used it to revive the Warring Triad and turn the Land of Espers into the Floating Continent.

One year after the end of the world, with no wings to fly and nowhere to go, Setzer is wasting his life away in a bar in Kohlingen. Celes, Edgar, and Sabin happen upon him and ask him to rejoin their fight against Kefka. Setzer is initially unwilling, having lost a sense of purpose for his life, but Celes's words convince him. Setzer takes them to Darill's Tomb to unearth the Falcon. He shares Darill's story with the party, and as the Falcon rises to the skies Setzer finally buries his grief. From then on he accompanies the party on their quest to save the world.

After Kefka has been felled and the party is fleeing the crumbling Kefka's Tower, Setzer saves two of his fellow Returners by telling them which of two doors is unsafe and about to explode. He initially tosses a coin which indicates one door, but tells them to take the other one instead. The door indicated by the coin explodes shortly thereafter. Setzer lingers for a moment, reminiscing about how Darill once told him that "whenever you think you're right, you're wrong", an instinct that made him decide to not trust the coin toss.

When Terra's esper power fades with magic disappearing from the world and she falls from the sky, Setzer pilots the Falcon to catch her proclaiming the Falcon is the fastest ship in the world.

In Battle
As a Gambler, Setzer has average Strength, Stamina, Magic Defense and Speed, but low Magic Power and high Defense. His wields cards, darts, and dice, and he can use several daggers. He can equip most heavy armor, helmets and shields. Setzer's special ability is Slots, which opens up a window with three spinning slot wheels. The player stops the wheels one by one, and depending on the result, Setzer uses a special attack. If Setzer equips the Heiji's Jitte Relic, Slots becomes Gil Toss, which allows Setzer to damage all enemies at the cost of gil.

There is a glitch in Final Fantasy VI in which when Setzer uses the Fixed Dice and Master's Scroll, his damage won't be halved, and thus can do up to four hits of 9,999 damage. This glitch is not in the PS remake, but is in the original version and the GBA remake.

Creation and Development
After it was decided Final Fantasy VI would feature an ensemble cast with no clear main protagonist, everyone in the development team was encouraged to provide ideas for characters and their episodes. Setzer's character and story were colored by influence from Tetsuya Nomura.

According to the "Chocobo's FF Laboratory" feature published in V Jump in 1993, the character of Faris Scherwiz from Final Fantasy V was originally a female gambler named Eva Scherwil. The developers encountered difficulties in making her fit in the game's world and atmosphere, and changed her into a pirate. In a later issue of V Jump, the developers noted Setzer evolved from this early Eva concept.

A rarely-noticed fact about Setzer is that in the Japanese version, he joins the party with a Bandana equipped although he cannot equip bandanas (if removed he cannot reequip it). This is not a bug, but was meant to be an inside joke showing Setzer's vanity does not allow him to wear the same things as Locke. In the GBA version Setzer does not come with a Bandana, as the porting team possibly thought it was a glitch.

Musical Themes
Setzer's theme is built off C major, a grand fanfare that plays as the background music for the cabins underneath both airships. His leitmotif is reprised in A major in "Epitaph", which plays during his reminiscence of Darill, and in C major again in the ending theme, "Balance is Restored". In addition to his character reprisal in the "Ending Theme", Setzer's theme is reprised during the first half of the ending credits.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
In the casino Serendipity, the player can exchange their winnings for a fragment called "Setzer's Dice". Its description says Setzer's "consummate skill once drove Serendipity to the brink of ruin". His surname, "Gabbiani", is used in a Brain Blast! question at Academia 4XX AF, stating he had "won the most number of coins at the slot machines in a single day" in Serendipity.

Final Fantasy Tactics
The name Setzer crops out in the "Storm of 777" errand. The errand is as follows:
 * The Blackjack, the casino ship is at the port. The slot machine at the left end of the ship is said to be loose. You should try it out!

The outcome is as follows:
 * The Casino ship Blackjack is at the port Limberry castle. The slot machine on the left hand side gave us 777, the jackpot. Nothing happened so we asked Setzer about this. He said he deliberately lowered the pay-off rate. "Gambling's not fun unless there's some risk."

Final Fantasy Type-0
The game has an airship named the Setzer the player can control.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
A set of equipment called "Gambler's Gear" and "Gambler's Hat" can be bought in Town, and makes the character look like Setzer. It is equippable by all Tribes.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Setzer makes a small appearance as one of the tutors of the in-game manuals.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest


Setzer is an exclusive character only available from the Premium Character Shop as a random downloadable content, he uses the Dive Bomb ability during battle.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Setzer appears in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game with wind-elemental cards.

Kingdom Hearts II


Setzer appears in Kingdom Hearts II, and is the only pre-Final Fantasy VII character to appear in the entire Kingdom Hearts series, meaning he is also the first to get a modernized three-dimensional re-designing. He is the champion of the Struggle competition when the player is playing as Roxas in Twilight Town. He asks Roxas to throw the match for him, leading to two different outcomes: if Roxas wins, Setzer surrenders his title as Struggle champion; if Roxas loses, Setzer gives him a medal as "thanks". While playing as Sora later in the game the player can fight Setzer in another, optional Struggle match. Setzer's personality is exaggerated depicting him as a flashy and arrogant ladies' man who often taunts the player.

Merchandise
Square released pencil toppers and key chains in 1994 with the cast of Final Fantasy VI. Among them was merchandise featuring Setzer. These products were available in vending machines. Setzer's key chain features his in-game sprite design.

Etymology
Setzer's surname, "Gabbiani", is the Italian word for "seagulls", but also is similar to the Italian verb "gabbare", meaning "to trick, to cheat". Setzer's first name might be the agent noun for the German word "setzen", meaning "to bet on something". Alternately, it may be a corruption of "César", a name whose variants are found throughout certain European countries, including Spain, Italy, and Portugal.

Trivia

 * The discrepancy between his original personality and his portrayal in the Kingdom Hearts series is referenced in Dissidia Final Fantasy. In Shadow and Setzer's conversation in the Duel Colosseum, Shadow says, "Don't even think of bribing your opponents to lose." Setzer indignantly replies, "What's that about? I would never stoop to that!" although Setzer may be saying this sarcastically.
 * Setzer is the first character of the series to bear visible physical disfigurements, having scars on his face. The extent of his scars vary - in Amano artwork and an FMV in Final Fantasy Anthology where his skin is shown to be very pale, they are white and noticeable. In chibi artwork and Kingdom Hearts II where his skin is similar to his in-game color, they are light and blend in with his skin.
 * It is possible to tackle Kefka's Tower before retrieving all the characters in the World of Ruin, but Setzer is one of three playable characters who are always available before it becomes accessible; the other two are Edgar and Celes. It is possible to complete Kefka's Tower and finish the game with only these three characters, but since the game forces a split into three separate parties for the three paths, each of the three must finish one of the paths by themselves.
 * During the character montage chronicling the party's escape from Kefka's Tower, if Locke was not recruited back into the player's party, the accompanying cutscene changes: Setzer saves Celes from the collapsing floor portion, telling her that he can't let her die because Celes promised to perform as Maria again. Celes then exclaims the item she dropped, Locke's bandanna, is a good luck charm that helped her find her resolve.