Eiko Carol

Eiko Carol is a playable character in Final Fantasy IX. She is the youngest character in the game, and she hails from Madain Sari on the Outer Continent. Being from Madain Sari, she has a horn in her forehead and is able to summon Eidolons. Her personality is described as spunky and snobbish, however, she is also very desperate, as she lived alone with Moogles for most of her life. She developes a crush on Zidane Tribal over the course of the journey, and even goes as far as to write a love letter to him, but snaps out of it after a while, seeing that Zidane is in love with Princess Garnet.

Story
The village of Madain Sari was once a thriving town populated by Summoners. However, the Invincible destroyed the town in order for Garland and Kuja remove the possible threat of Gaia's Eidolons. As a result, most of the community died out. Eiko's parents were some of the survivors, however, they are almost never mentioned, and it is known that Eiko was raised by her grandfather. However, he eventually died, and Eiko was left to live in Madain Sari with the company of Moogles. One of them, Mog, always traveled with her wherever she went, and the two even traded friendship ribbons. She and Mog would frequently steal food from the Dwarves' town of Conde Petie.

It was during one of these raids that she got caught on a stick and met Zidane, along with Vivi Orunitia, Princess Garnet, and Quina Quen. Mog ran away and Quina chased after her. Eiko offered to take Zidane and his friends back to Madain Sari, where she cooked them a meal in order to impress Zidane. However, she could sense that Zidane was in love with Garnet, and Eiko tried her very best to steal his heart. She then revealed that she had to accompany Zidane and his friends to the Iifa Tree, which was sealed with the Eidolon Carbuncle, because of the fact that Summoners have a tradition of sealing Eidolons they fail to summon where they first summon them. She broke the seal. Eiko, Zidane, and the others went through the Iifa Tree and fought the SoulCage, whose defeat cleared up the Mist Continent.

Eiko took Zidane back to Madain Sari when a moogle from the village came in a panic and told her that the village's precious stone was stolen. The thief turned out to be Lani, the bounty hunter working for Queen Brahne of Alexandria in order to steal back Garnet's pendant. Lani held Eiko prisoner, however, she was betrayed by her accomplice Amarant Coral and forced to flee. After Zidane and Amarant duelled, Eiko told Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi about the importance of the precious stone and how her grandfather told her to keep it safe and to never leave Madain Sari until she was sixteen. However, she decided to go with Zidane anyway, taking the stone with her and wearing it as an earring. Amarant joined as well in order to learn more about Zidane.

The party went back to the Iifa Tree, where they met Kuja. Kuja became involved in a battle with Brahne, and Eiko helped Garnet find another Eidolon, Leviathan, the Eidolon that had been sealed at the tree, which Garnet could use to help her mother. However, as Leviathan attacks using a giant tidal wave it would be utterly useless to fight Kuja, as it would wind up taking out half of Brahne's ships in the process. Brahne summoned Bahamut, however, Kuja used the Invincible to take control of Bahamut and kill Brahne.

One week later, the party was back in Alexandria. Having never been to a city as large as Alexandria, Eiko began to tour the castle on her own. It was there that she met Doctor Tot. She asked him to help her write a love letter for Zidane, and he did so. However, on the way out, she tripped over a banister and got her wing ornament onto a chandelier. She met Baku there, and, unable to free herself, asked him to deliver the letter when she dropped it and could not reach it. However, he lost it and it fell into numerous hands, including those of Beatrix, Marcus, Blank, and Steiner. It was Steiner who rescued Eiko and took her down from the chandelier, and escorted her out of the castle due to her not being of royal heritage. However, Zidane, Vivi, Amarant, and Freya showed up just in time and asked Steiner to free Eiko. The party then went to visit with Garnet, who was now the queen of Alexandria. After the audience, Eiko was heartbroken when Zidane didn't show up at the docks, even though the real reason was that Zidane never saw the letter.

The next day, Zidane decided to travel to Treno to participate in a Tetra Master tournament. Eiko came as well, and spent some time telling Doctor Tot about Madain Sari. There, she learned that Alexandria was in danger from Mog, who sensed danger, and summoned Zidane back there. They took Cid Fabool IX's Hilda Garde 2, which was very poorly designed due to Cid's mind just not being the same as an Oglop. While on the ship, Eiko felt a sensation from the top of Alexandria Castle, and flew to the roof to meet Garnet there. They held out the four jewels and they were able to summon Alexander who defeated Bahamut and formed a protective ring around Alexandria. However, this was exactly what Kuja wanted, and he summoned the Invincible to take control of Alexander. However, Garland was furious at Kuja, and took over the Invincible and used it to destroy Alexandria and the castle. Zidane arrived just in time to rescue Garnet and Eiko, though the latter was visibly annoyed that Zidane went to Garnet first, not to mention she was embracing him all through her rescue.

In Lindblum, Eiko was the first to discover that Garnet lost her voice due to Alexandria's obliteration. She stayed with Steiner to take care of Garnet while Zidane and the others looked for a way to transform Cid back into a human. They failed, Cid became a frog, and Eiko, Garnet, Steiner, Cid, and Quina joined Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and Amarant in search of Kuja. They found him in his Desert Palace on the Outer Continent, and he trapped all the party members except Cid in prisons and threatened to kill them if Zidane didn't bring him the Gulug Stone from Oeilvert. Zidane agreed to do this, but Kuja wouldn't keep his promise. Cid had to save the others, and Eiko led the escape team to Kuja's room for revenge (unless you chose to take Eiko with you, in which another party member becomes the leader). They met up with Zidane outside, and Zidane found out he was tricked by Kuja. The party entered his room, but Eiko was trapped outside. Zorn and Thorn subsequently abducted her.

Zidane and his friends set out in search of Eiko. They followed the Hilda Garde 1 to Esto Gaza on the Lost Continent, where they entered Mount Gulug and travelled to the base, where they discovered Zorn and Thorn extracting Eidolons from Eiko. However, Mog began to interfere, and eventually revealed herself and transformed into Madeen, an Eidolon herself, saving Eiko. The jesters then attacked and Eiko had to fight them, using Madeen to annihilate the twins in one hit. The rest of the party then arrives to confront Kuja, but he leaves and the corpses of the jester twins transform into Meltigemini, which the party must then fight. After the fight, Eiko received Mog's old ribbon as a farewell gift. She then rejoined Zidane for the rest of the journey.

Eiko does not play a significant roll in the story again until the party splits up to attack the four elemental shrines protecting the entrance to Terra simultaneously. She insists on teaming up with Dagger and uses the opportunity to ask Dagger if she is in love with Zidane, with rather akward results.

In Terra, Eiko wanders around exploring until Zidane goes missing and the party teams up to find him. Eiko and Vivi are at Zidane's side when he wakes up, but in an emotionally depressive rage he calls them both stupid brats and locks them in the room.

In the ending, Eiko was adopted by Cid and Hilda. She is visibly overjoyed at being a part of a family, going out of the way to calling her adoptive parents "Mother" and "Father".

Equipment and Stats
Eiko has the lowest physical stats in the game. Her equipment draw consists of female specifics, mage robes, Summoner's Flutes, and Rackets.

Abilities
Eiko is a White Mage, with a sub job as a Summoner, and can summon four Eidolons: Fenrir, Phoenix, Carbuncle, and Madeen. Equipping various Add-ons allow her Eidolon's abilities to change. Being the designated White Mage, her stock of white magic is much larger than Garnet's. She can use unique spells that weren't previously seen before in any other Final Fantasy like Jewel which extracts an Ore from an enemy, and Might, which increases attack power. She is the only main character that can use the powerful Holy attack, although she lacks the Scan spell found in Garnet's arsenal.

Eiko's Trance mode ability is Double White. Acting in the same manner as Vivi's Double Black, it allows two successive White Magic spells to be used.

Music
Eiko's theme is named for herself, and is an arrangement of Melodies of Life. A remix of the theme includes the song "Daughter of Madain Sari," played while she wanders around Alexandria Castle at the beginning of Disc 3, thinking of writing a love letter to Zidane.

Itadaki Street series
In Itadaki Street Special, Eiko is one of the two Final Fantasy IX characters along with Vivi. In Itadaki Street Portable, she appears alongside Zidane.

Etymology
Eiko is a common Japanese female name meaning "prosperous child". Hironobu Sakaguchi's wife is named Eiko.

Eiko Carol