Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl (,, 🇰🇵) is a recurring summon in the Final Fantasy series. Its appearance has changed greatly since its first appearance in Final Fantasy VIII as Quezacotl. Quetzalcoatl always appears as a Lightning-based summon, and as a winged creature of some sort.

Final Fantasy VIII
Quezacotl is one of the first two Guardian Forces available in Final Fantasy VIII. It is obtained by entering the tutorials from Squall's desk in the classroom at the very beginning of the game. If Squall does not access the tutorial before leaving Balamb Garden for the first time, Quistis will give both Quezacotl and Shiva to Squall before reaching the world map (in the Japanese version, Squall and Quistis will leave without any GF if Squall did not access the tutorial before). Obtaining Quezacotl in the Steam version earns the player the achievement Quezacotl.

Quezacotl's attack, Thunder Storm, is a Lightning-elemental attack that damages all enemies. Quezacotl's summon time is 13.3s, which, according to the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania, allows the player to boost its damage to around 180% of normal damage using a regular PlayStation controller.

Its damage is calculated as follows:
 * $$Damage = 60 * Level / 10 + 44 $$
 * $$Damage = Damage * (265 - TargetSpr) / 8 $$
 * $$Damage = Damage * 44 / 256 $$
 * $$Damage = Damage * Boost / 100 $$
 * $$Damage = Damage * (100 + SummonMagBonus) / 100 $$
 * $$Damage = Damage * (900 - ElemDef) / 100:$$

Elemental Defense starts at 800 (0%), 900 nullifies damage and 1000 absorbs it. If an enemy is shown to be weak against an element, its Elemental Defense is below 800. If damage becomes negative (due to high Elemental Defense), the target is healed by that amount.

Stats
The following table represents the base stats:

Abilities
Abilities learned naturally by Quezacotl are listed below:

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings


Quetzalcoatl resembles a small bird wearing armor in Revenant Wings. He is the rank 1 Thunder Magical summon, and only casts Thunder.

His helmet is made from leather and steel (apparently together with iron). He looks like a chick, yellow in color, a pale gaze, and a small 'blunt' beak. He wears a leather helmet with three spikes on it. The helmet is stylized in a Japanese feudal/warlord-style helmet. It is attached with some plates of metals. From his breast, his wing is outstretched like a large mantle, white with fluffy feathers. His legs, however, have digits but lacks back digits.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Quezacotl from Final Fantasy VIII appears as a lightning-elemental card.

Etymology
Quezacotl's name in Final Fantasy VIII was shortened from Quetzalcoatl due to name size constraints. It is known as "Golgotha" in the French translation and "Quetzal" in the Spanish and Italian translations.

Trivia

 * Quetzalcoatl is the name of a server in Final Fantasy XI.
 * Quetzalcoatl's appearance is similar to the, the final boss in the Square developed and published game, .