Baku (Final Fantasy IX)



Baku (Kalò in Italian) is the leader of the group of thieves, masquerading as actors, called Tantalus in Final Fantasy IX. He was born in 1755.

He is stocky, but strong and is very close to his Tantalus "family". However, this does not prevent him from being their boss and sometimes giving them a sound beating to keep them in line. Tantalus' home base is in Lindblum, in the Theater District.

Story
Years ago, Baku found a young baby with a tail. Not knowing what to do with it, he named him Zidane Tribal and he raised the boy as his own, and later accepted him into his group, Tantalus.

While a vital member of the group, after the plot to rescue the princess goes wrong, Zidane wants to go out and rescue the princess. Baku won't allow it, unless he leaves the group. So reluctantly, Zidane has to leave the only family he ever knew. It is later explained that Zidane left Tantalus one other time, in order to find the homeland of his origins, though all he could remember of it was a blue light from his dreams. Eventually, Baku forgives his adopted son.

At the start of the game, under orders by the regent of Lindblum, Cid Fabool IX, Baku and his crew set out to capture Princess Garnet and protect her from Queen Brahne. They capture Princess Garnet on her 16th birthday, while they perform I Want to be Your Canary as their cover. While the abduction is successful, Queen Brahne shoots down their theater ship, the Prima Vista, and she gets separated from the group. They crash in the Evil Forest. When Zidane wants to leave Tantalus to rescue Garnet, Baku fights Zidane. Baku held back though, as noticed by Zidane. Baku and the rest of Tantalus manage to escape the Evil Forest before it became petrified. However, after Zidane left, Baku gave a Mist Continent map to Blank to give to Zidane. Blank catches up with Zidane's party just before they make their escape. When the forest comes after Zidane's party, Blank pushes Zidane out of the way and gets caught himself and eventually petrified, though not before he was able to throw Zidane the Mist Continent map.

After crashing the Theater Ship into Evil Forest, he continually sneezes throughout the rest of the story. He makes appearances throughout the story as comic relief. He refers to Doctor Tot as Toot or Tootsie. He meets Doctor Tot through Garnet. This happens in Treno while Tantalus is looking for the Supersoft to cure Blank's petrification in the Evil Forest.

During the Second Battle of the Iifa Tree, Zidane implies that Lindblum and Alexandria discovered the party's plan to storm Memoria because of Baku, who is said to love big showdowns. It is unknown, however, how Baku was able to figure out his former protege's plan, considering that Zidane and Garnet agreed that no one be told of the danger.

Battle


In the first battle of the game, Baku, dressed in a dragon mask fights Zidane, Cinna, Marcus and Blank.

During the I Want to be Your Canary performance, Baku playing King Leo is fought.

Zidane fights Baku alone on the crashed Prima Vista in the Evil Forest. After being defeated, Baku allows Zidane to leave Tantalus in order to find Princess Garnet.

Trivia

 * His name, appearance, and personality are all related. In Japanese, Baku has several meanings. One of them is "tapir," an animal which he physically resembles. Another is "burst of laughter", which is a thing he is prone to do, even for no apparent reason at all.
 * In Japanese folklore, baku are supernatural beings that devour dreams and nightmares.
 * In the Italian translation of the game, his name is Kalò, nicknamed "Boss" by the others, and speaks Sicilian dialect, like a mafia boss.
 * In the Dawn of Souls and 20th Anniversary remakes of the original Final Fantasy, Baku is one of the automatic names the player can choose for the Thief job.

Bark Bakú