Shiva



Shiva (シヴァ, Shiva) is a frequently recurring summoned monster that usually takes the shape of a blue-skinned woman with clothing of the same color. Her signature attack, Diamond Dust (sometimes called Gem Dust), deals Ice-elemental damage. Along with Ifrit and Bahamut, she is one of the only summons to appear in every main series game from Final Fantasy III through Final Fantasy XIII (although in Final Fantasy XII she appeared as an airship instead of a summon). She also appears in every main series side-story and sequel that features summons, with the only exception being Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-.

Biography
Although enjoying regular appearances throughout the series, Shiva, like most of the popular summonable entities, has never been given any significant back story, being simply described as the "Ice Queen." She is, however, shown to have a lover named Shivar and a daughter named Shivan in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, although this is the only appearance that either of them have made in the entire series. In Final Fantasy XIII, Shiva is embodied in a pair of sisters called Nix and Stiria.

Shiva has occasionally been shown as one of the more "friendly" summonable entities, only requiring being fought to gain her services in a few Final Fantasy games, and she usually does not display malicious intent when doing so.

Physical Appearance
Shiva's basic physical characteristics are that of a willowy human female with pale skin and long, blue hair so to invoke an image of ice and cold. This image is reinforced in later summon sequences by the addition of arctic winds, freezing temperatures and large ice crystal formations. Despite the cold, Shiva invariably wears only enough clothing to retain her modesty, along with boots and other minor aesthetic pieces. She carries no weapon, and implements her main Diamond Dust attack with arm gestures, a snap of the fingers, and/or force of will. Later games in the series allow Shiva to carry out physical attacks in the form of kicks and punches.

Final Fantasy III
The first Final Fantasy to introduce Shiva and the ability to summon. She can be acquired by purchase of the Level 2 Summon Magic spell Icen.
 * Mesmerize: casts Sleep on all enemies
 * Icy Stare: deals Ice damage to one enemy
 * Diamond Dust: deals Ice damage to all enemies

Final Fantasy IV


Shiva appears as Rydia's summon after she rejoins the group in the Underworld. She is also a boss in Rydia's trial in the Lunar Ruins in the Advance release. She costs 30 MP to summon, has a power of 120, and attacks all enemies for ice-elemental damage. In the DS release the charge time to summon her is six seconds.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Shiva returns in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years as one of the Eidolons being controlled by the Mysterious Girl. She is first fought in Palom's chapter, then later can be faced in The Gather. If Rydia is in the party and the player stops attacking Shiva after she stops attacking herself, she will be acquired as a summon. She costs 30 MP to summon.

Final Fantasy V

 * For the enemy page, see Shiva (Final Fantasy V).

The Summoner job class has ability to call her. Shiva is obtained in a tower behind Walse Castle. This was the first time in the series Shiva appeared as a boss. Along with her are three Ice Commanders who also must be defeated. Shiva costs 10 MP to summon and deals low-level Ice damage to all enemies.

Final Fantasy VI

 * See the Summon sequence here
 * For the enemy information, see: Shiva (Final Fantasy VI)

Shiva appears as an Esper, first encountered by the Returners in the Magitek Factory of Vector. After being drained of her power, Kefka disposes of her and Ifrit in a waste chute. Believing they mean the two Espers harm, Ifrit attacks the party. Shiva soon senses Ramuh's power within them, and halts the battle. They then grant their abilities to the Returners. Shiva's Spell Power is 52, and she costs 27 MP to summon. She is unblockable. She teaches the following spells:
 * Blizzard x10
 * Blizzara x5
 * Osmose x4
 * Rasp x4
 * Cure x3

Final Fantasy VII

 * See the Summon sequence here

The Shiva Materia is obtained from Priscilla of lower Junon after Cloud and company defeat the boss Bottomswell. She can then be assigned to a weapon or armor and called upon in combat. Shiva's spell power is equal to 1.5x the base magic damage.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
Shiva can be summoned in battle using the appropriate Materia.

Final Fantasy VIII

 * See the Summon sequence here

Guardian Forces (GF) are the summonable creatures of Final Fantasy VIII, used by junctioning them to a character. The GF govern major stat growth, elemental/status offense and defense, and the commands a character may use during battle. Each GF has a preset list of abilities they can learn, but through the use of certain items, the GF can learn additional abilities and forget those that were previously learned.

Shiva is available as one of two default Guardian Forces assigned to protagonist Squall Leonhart at the start of the story. It is implied that she knows Ifrit, as he will comment on her if the player summons her in the battle against him. Shiva may be assigned to any party member throughout the game. If Squall attempts to exit Balamb Garden before accessing the tutorial where he obtains her, Quistis will present both Shiva and Quezacotl to him before reaching the world map.

Abilities learned from Shiva listed below:

Final Fantasy IX
Shiva is an Eidolon that can only be summoned by Princess Garnet. Shiva is learned from Opal. According to notes left on the Eidolon Wall at Madain Sari, the summoners first discovered Shiva in the form of a small child. As years passed she eventually grew into her more familiar adult appearance. Her spell power is equal to 36 plus the total number of Opals in the party's inventory, and the cost of summoning her is 24 MP.

Final Fantasy X

 * See the Summon and Overdrive sequence here

The Aeon Shiva is obtained after Yuna visits the Fayth in the Macalania Temple. Shiva's Fayth appears as a Macalanian priestess. She is unique in that Yuna can summon her before the player has named her. Shiva also possesses the highest initial Agility and Evasion of her counterparts.

Summonable entities in Final Fantasy X can be controlled by the player, and have their own special attacks, spells, and Overdrives. Shiva's new attack is called Heavenly Strike, and does ice damage and delays the enemy's turn. Though she starts out knowing only ice magic, she can be taught any ability provided the player has enough items. Ice magic heals her.

After Lulu receives and charges her Celestial Weapon, Onion Knight, Shiva will be able to break the damage limit of 9,999 HP.

In the International and PAL versions of the game, Dark Shiva will appear as an exceptionally hard optional boss when the party attempts to re-enter Macalania Temple after escaping from Bevelle.

Final Fantasy X-2
Shiva makes her return in Final Fantasy X-2 as a boss under Shuyin's control. She is fought in the Farplane, as the Temple sank to the bottom of the lake two years prior, during Final Fantasy X.

Final Fantasy XI
Shiva appears in Final Fantasy XI as one of the 6 celestial avatars. She represents the ice element. The job class summoner can unlock the "spell" Shiva upon completion of the quest "Trial By Ice." Alternatively, a brave low-level summoner may go on the quest "Trial Size Trial By Ice" and defeat Shiva in a battle alone rather than in a group. She has the highest magic attack of the game's six celestial avatars thus far, making her merited blood pact "Heavenly Strike" a popular choice. Shiva is also the name of one of the game's servers.

Final Fantasy XII
Although not appearing in the game as a summon, the blue-skinned figure bound to the Esper Mateus closely resembles Shiva. Fran's level 3 quickening Shatterheart resembles Shiva's special attack Diamond Dust. There is also an airship named Shiva.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings


Shiva is the rank 3 Water Ranged summon, and costs 20 affinity points to summon. Her normal attack, Triple Slap, deals water damage to one foe with three successive hits. Her special, Diamond Dust, deals heavy water damage to all enemies in range, and inflicts Stop. She is one of the unique water types in that she is really an ice-type. Therefore, she is weak to fire instead of thunder. There are two other weaker Yarhi which are also named after Shiva, Shivan and Shivar, which are stated to be her child and lover respectively.

Final Fantasy XIII



 * See the Gestalt Mode And Summoning sequence here.

In Final Fantasy XIII Snow Villiers' Eidolon is the Shiva Sisters, also referred to as the Twin Sisters of Shiva. The sisters are composed of Stiria (スティリア, Sutiria), the dark-skinned elder sister with a light patch around her right eye, and younger, lighter-skinned Nix (ニクス, Nikusu), who has a dark patch around one eye. Snow first faces the sisters as bosses at Lake Bresha, as a test to prove his strength to them.

While summoned, the sisters have their own separate ATB Gauge, but both will be dismissed if their shared SP Gauge falls to zero. This is compensated by Stiria not being able to be directly targeted. In normal mode, Stiria focuses on the Medic and Ravager roles, healing Snow and dealing ice-elemental damage to enemies. Nix focuses on a Commando role, although she does have one spell at her disposal. While Stiria cannot be targeted by enemies, she can still be damaged by area-of-effect attacks.

Snow's Gestalt Gauge increases by driving up enemy chain gauges and by defending against enemy attacks as a Sentinel. In Gestalt Mode, the Shiva Sisters transform into a motorcycle Snow can ride.

Final Fantasy Type-0
Shiva will be summonable in the upcoming Final Fantasy Type-0.

Final Fantasy Tactics
The job class Summoner earns this ability over time. Her Glacial Shards attack is a large ice-elemental attack that spreads over a portion of the battlefield. Shiva costs 24 MP, has a speed of 25, and needs 200 JP to learn.

In the PlayStation version, when summoned, the summoner will sometimes say, "Wind, fade to silence and light, give us power! Shiva!"

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
The Summoner job class learns the ability to summon her through the Snake Staff. Unlike in her other appearances where she appears with a revealing outfit, this incarnation of Shiva is shown in full armor with only the bottom of her face revealed. Although Shiva wields a sword and shield she does not use them to attack. Instead, she holds the sword vertically above her head, and casts an ice spell.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
When wearing the Mythic Beast Sallet and Mythic Beast Plate a female Selkie resembles Shiva.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Shiva appears as a summon in Dissidia. When used, Shiva "freezes" the opponent's Bravery Points, preventing them from increasing. Like many summons in Dissidia, Shiva can be summoned in two distinct ways: automatically, which summons her immediately when the user is attacked by an HP attack and her Final Fantasy VIII artwork appears, and manually, where her Final Fantasy IV artwork appears. Shiva's auto version can be obtained in the third stage of the Destiny Odyssey II storyline, and the manual version can be obtained in the same odyssey's second stage.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Shiva's Final Fantasy X incarnation will be summonable by Yuna in-battle to perform ice-based attacks.

Final Fantasy: Unlimited
In the anime, Final Fantasy: Unlimited, Shiva makes two appearances as a summon. The Soil Charge Triad (Soil is like the colored bullet of a Magun, used to summon creatures) needed to summon Shiva is: Followed by saying: "Shine! Summoned Creature! Shiva!"
 * The cry of the dark spirit, Dark Green!
 * The one that does not forgive creation, Virgin White!
 * The one that freezes everything, Ice Blue!

In the English audio version, the Soil Charge Triad was changed to: Followed by saying: "Shine! I summon you! Shiva!"
 * The cry of a soul without light, Forest Green! (or Moss Green)
 * The soil that forbids the birth of life, Maiden White!
 * To freeze all things, Ice Blue!

At the second summoning Shiva seems to be destroyed by the Makenshi's brother, Madoushi, with a swipe of his sword.

Chocobo series
Shiva appears in Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, and Chocobo Racing. She appears also as cards in Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales and Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon.

Itadaki Street series
Shiva has appeared in Itadaki Street Special and Itadaki Street Portable.

The World Ends With You


Shiva appears as a pin called Tin Pin Shiva in The World Ends with You. Her psych calls up massive icicles from the ground, dealing considerable damage to the enemy.

Kingdom Hearts
While not making a physical appearance in the series, Shiva's trademark attack, Diamond Dust, appears as a usable command style for all three protagonists in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, by filling up the Command Gauge with Ice-type attacks. A Keyblade Sora can obtain in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories bears this name, and it is lastly the name of a Sleight and Limit Break Vexen from Organization XIII can use in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, respectively.

Blood of Bahamut
Shiva appears as one of the giant monsters in Blood of Bahamut.

Lord of Vermilion II
Shiva appears as a card in Lord of Vermilion II.

Knights of the Crystals
Shiva is a monster summoned by the summoner Stein at the Ice Fortress. Defeating them both will reward the player with the Quest Achievement "Blizzard Master".

Shiva Shiva (Invocación)