Maduin (Final Fantasy VI)

Maduin is Terra's father, an esper, and temporary playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is the guardian of the Esper World, overseeing the gateway between the esper realm and the realm of humans. The party acquires his magicite to learn spells from.

Appearance
Maduin is a humanoid esper with long sea-greenish-gray hair on his field sprite, though on his summon sprite it's grayish-violet. Both field and summon sprites depict him with his hair tied up in a ponytail, and tufts of fur the same color as his hair on his shoulders. He has a muscular figure, with his summon sprite depicts him with a grayish-tangelo skin tone, and his field sprite with light gamboge skin. His summon sprite shows him with clawed fingers and digigrade legs with long talons on his toes. Maduin wears a dark vermilion loincloth with an amber sash in his summon sprite, and wears a pendant he gives to Madeline when they meet. On his field sprite his eyes are moderate indigo. His summon sprite resembles that of the Gigas from Final Fantasy V, and may be a heavily modified Gigas sprite.

Personality
Maduin doesn't harbor as much suspicion and fear of humans as the other espers, accepting Madeline into the esper world and acting protective of her. As with other espers, Maduin is shown to be patient and wise.

Story
He is one of the higher-ranking espers in their society, being approached by other espers in concern when Madeline arrives, and being allowed to stay with her in the Elder's home. Twenty years before the start of Final Fantasy VI, a human girl named Madeline crossed into the esper realm and was found by Maduin. When she recovered he gave her his pendant and told her she was in the esper world. Madeline claimed she fled the human world due to the people's greed and hate, but when Maduin told her the espers believe human and esper cannot co-exist, she agreed to return the next day. In the morning Maduin followed her to the gate and told her she can stay if she wishes. When Madeline repeated the concern that their races cannot co-exist, Maduin asked her how they could be sure unless they tried. The two conceived a child, whom Maduin named Terra.

Two years later, the sealed gate opened and Gestahl invaded the esper realm with the Gestahlian Empire and set about capturing the espers. Maduin stayed with Madeline as the Esper Elder prepared to sacrifice his life to sweep the Empire out of their realm and seal the gate. When the other espers accused Madeline of leading the Empire to their realm, she grabbed Terra and ran to the entrance. Maduin followed as the Elder's spell took effect, sweeping Gestahl and his troops out of the gate. The collapsed Madeline tried to return with Maduin, but Terra flew from her grasp and out of the gate, and the two followed. Gestahl struck down the weakened Madeline and took Terra from her, while Maduin was one of several espers imprisoned by the Empire in the Magitek Research Facility.

When the Returners raid the facility 18 years later, Maduin and the other espers that have been drained of their power transform into magicite and grant the party their powers. In Zozo, Maduin's magicite reacts to Terra, awakening her memories of the esper realm and revealing her origins to the party. Maduin remains in the party's inventory for the rest of the game, able to be equipped by anyone as a magicite.

Maduin fades from the world with the Warring Triad and Kefka gone, and magic vanishing from the world. He tells Terra she may fade away with the espers as well, but if the human side of her is strongly attached to something in the world, she may survive as a full human. Maduin's magicite vanishes in a puff of smoke and dust.

Abilities


Maduin's attack when summoned is Chaos Wave, also known as Chaos Wing. It deals non-elemental magic damage to all opponents with a Spell Power of 55, and the attack is unblockable. Maduin costs 44 MP to summon.

Maduin teaches the spells Fira, Blizzara, and Thundara at a rate of x3 each. He teaches Thundara faster than Ramuh, but Fira and Blizzara slower than Ifrit or Shiva. He has the advantage of teaching all three spells at once. His level up bonus is to increase the equipped character's Magic Power by 1.

Stats
Maduin from Terra's flashback has some raw stats, and a pair of Sprint Shoes permanently equipped. He has no battle commands, not even the basic Attack or Items command. The menu is disabled during the flashback sequence so the player cannot view his stats or equipped items.

Creation and Development
In early drafts of Final Fantasy VI, Maduin was the esper meant to be found at Narshe's caves.

Final Fantasy Legends: Toki no Suishō
Maduin appears as a light-elemental summon in Final Fantasy Legends: Toki no Suishō.

Maduin teaches the following abilities:

Dissidia Final Fantasy
While Maduin does not appear in person, Terra's level 100 exclusive weapon is named after him, being called "Maduin's Horn".

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Maduin appears in a set of Legend Cards for his daughter Terra to use in battle.

Trivia

 * The pendant Maduin gives to Madeline may have been passed to Terra, as the key item "Pendant" says it is worn by Terra and its origins are not revealed. In the SNES release Maduin claims the pendant protects the esper world, but he merely refers to it as a "charm from the esper world" in the GBA release.

Мадуин (Final Fantasy VI)