Balthier

Balthier, real name Ffamran mied Bunansa, is a playable character in Final Fantasy XII. He is a Sky Pirate who travels all over Ivalice with his partner Fran on his airship the Strahl. Balthier comes across as cocky and self-centered at times, but his trust in Fran is complete, and at times assures Vaan of his abilities. While the story is told from Vaan's perspective, Balthier certainly seems to think it is his story, going so far as to repeatedly refer to himself as "the leading man."

Final Fantasy XII
Born in 684 Old Valendian, Balthier is the third son of Dr. Cid. At the age of sixteen, he was made an Archadian Judge, though not a Judge Magister. Six years prior to the game's storyline, after his father returned from Giruvegan, he noticed that his father's sanity was slowly fading, as he was constantly talking to someone who wasn't there. This strained their relationship, and eventually Ffamran couldn't stand the sight of his father anymore. This, combined with the way Archadia was moving, made Balthier decide to leave his post as Judge and run away, stealing the new prototype fighter ship as a means of escape from Archades. Since then, having gone into hiding, he has heavily updated the ship, so much so that it no longer resembles the original design and named it the Strahl. During this time, he took on the name Balthier as an alias to help cast aside his ties with Archades. Also during this six year time period, he eventually partners up with Fran, though the game doesn't state specifically when, where or how.

Balthier comes into the main story while Vaan is stealing from the Royal Palace of Rabanastre. Seeing the young thief steal the Goddess' Magicite, Balthier demands that he hand it over. When Vaan asks who he is, Balthier responds with "I play the leading man, who else?" Before he can take it, the Ifrit attacks, causing him to reluctantly run away, with Vaan in tow. During their escape, Fran's hover crashes into the Garamsythe Waterway, and they are forced to work together.

While the game never tells how well Balthier got along with his father before he went to Giruvegan, Balthier can't stand the sight of him ever since. Thinking him to be insane, he ran away, unable to tolerate listening to his father talking about returning "The reigns of history back into the hands of Man." Eventually, with the help of the other main characters, Balthier finally realises that his father wasn't insane, but rather, he was talking to the Occurian Venat all this time. Wanting to confront his father, he travels with Ashe to Archades, his home. After getting into the Draklor Laboratory, they finally confront Dr Cid, where Balthier tries to convince his father that what he's doing is insane. Cid has none of it and runs away. Finally, they catch up to Dr. Cid at the Pharos at Ridorana. After a long fight with Cid, where he summons the Esper Famfrit, Balthier has to watch his father die, and up to his dying breath, he believes what he was doing was best for mankind, much to Balthier's disappointment.

After Vayne's defeat, while the others left, Balthier and Fran remained behind to start up the Bahamut and get it away from Rabanastre. Though he succeeded, he and Fran were believed to have died in the crash. It would only be a year later that Balthier took back the Strahl from Vaan and Penelo, leaving them a note and Ashe's ring, which he had loaned as payment for his services earlier in the story. On the note, Balthier explains that he is going for the Cache of Glabados at Bervenia Palace, wishing Vaan and Penelo to join in on the spoils. It's usually believed that the ring was Ashe's wedding ring, however, that is incorrect, as she is seen wearing her wedding ring after Balthier makes his loan (it notably serves as a trigger to a flashback about Rasler at the Phon Coast). It is likely that it was Rasler's wedding ring, explaining why Ashe wore it next to her own, matching wedding band and valued it so highly.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Balthier returns as a playable character in the sequel to Final Fantasy XII, taking place a year afterwards.

When Vaan and Penelo arrived at the Glabados to meet Balthier and Fran, who had made their way to the Cache chamber and defeated the Ifrit guarding it. Afterwards, the foursome spy twin auracite crystals atop a pedestal. Balthier teases Vaan that he's a bit too young to partake in any treasure, and moves in to take both crystals for himself. When Vaan protests, Balthier laughs and throws him the green crystal, taking the purple one for himself. Suddenly, the Ruins begin to crumble. The sky pirates made their way out to their respective airships. However Vaan's airship is destroyed by the falling debris. Balthier returns Vaan and Penelo to Lowtown.

Soon after, Balthier made his way to Lemurés to search for the auraliths, resulting with a confrontation with the Judge of Wings at the Fane of Tehp Qul. The Judge reveals what went on between her and Balthier by projecting her memories into Vaan and his allies' minds.

In the flashback, Balthier is seen in the same Fane, with an unconscious Fran behind him. The Judge of Wings approaches him from the right, and the auralith is still intact between them. Balthier acknowledges the Judges' power, but says that she has been holding on to her illusion of Eternity for too long. He then throws the purple crystal he found in the Glabados Ruins in the air, then shatters it with a gun blast before it reaches the Judge.

His auracite willingly destroyed, Balthier points his gun at the Judge, vowing to stop her from pursuing her goal of eternal life. Before he can fire, the Judge uses her own crystal to summon the Esper Shiva, who appears behind Balthier and uses her Diamond Dust attack to render Balthier unconscious. He and Fran are left lying on the stone floor.

Apparently, the two managed to escape this encounter, as Fran meets Vaan on the island of Arda, Heaven's Pillar, and leads them to the Ymir Qul Underground, where Balthier waits. Ba'Gamnan interrupts the reunion, and the party is forced to battle the group of Bangaa before they can reach the leading man. After Ba'Gamnan's defeat, Balthier shocks Vaan by moving to destroy the auralith deep within the Underground. Fran defects to her copilot's side, and the two summon another group of Yarhi for Vaan and his party to deal with. Though Balthier and Fran are defeated, Balthier still manages to start up the machines flanking the second auralith, which is subsequently destroyed.

The auralith's demise frees a great deal of aegyl anima. Vaan, Penelo, Llyud, Filo, and Kytes are sent to Lesrekta, Isle of Illusions, while Balthier and Fran commandeer to the Galbana. After Vaan's return, Balthier explains to him that he destroyed the auralith simply to restore the souls of the aegyl. By releasing the anima, Balthier prevented the Judge of Wings from getting to the crystal first and stealing the anima within. The motivation behind the Judge's actions and the aegyl god, Feolthanos, are finally understood, and Balthier and Fran join the allied party for good.

Balthier and Fran


The circumstances about how or when they met is never revealed, or if they even knew each other while Balthier was still a Judge. Their relationship is very professional, although, there are times when it appears that their feelings are more than just platonic. During the destruction of the Sun-Cryst, Balthier refuses to leave Fran behind, showing some compassion towards her. In Revenant Wings, Fran states that Balthier's ways of wooing her were different from Tomaj's.

In Revenant Wings, the business-like realtionship between Balthier and Fran is maintained, perhaps to a higher degree. Balthier even leaves Fran to her own devices in Heaven's Vigil while he goes to search for the Auralith in the Ymir Qul Underground.

Balthier then expresses his dissatisfaction when Fran brings Vaan and his group to the Auralith's Cradle, her reason being that she "got bored". Despite these disagreements, Balthier and Fran later join the player party together, and indeed are never seen apart for the rest of the journey.

Stats
Balthier's stats are average. He has fairly high HP growth, and his Strength and Speed are high as well. However, his MP and Magic growth are very low. He joins the party with the Licenses "Guns 1", "Guns 2", "Shields 1", "Light Armor 1", "Light Armor 2", "Heavy Armor 1", "Steal" and "First Aid". He is equipped with an Altair, Onion Shot, Headgear, and Chromed Leathers.

Voice
In the English version of Final Fantasy XII and War of the Lions, Balthier is voiced by Gideon Emery. In the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XII he is voiced by Hiroaki Hirata.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions


Balthier appears as a secret playable character in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.

After the first fight against Meliadoul at Free City of Bervenia in chapter 4, Ramza goes to the Mining Town of Gollund and checks the rumor "Rash of Thefts", about a godless thief stealing precious cargo from the church. Ramza then goes to the Merchant City of Dorter and checks the rumor "A Call For Guards", about some precious cargo from Bervenia that needs an escort to Dorter.

When Ramza arrives at the Dorter slums, he walks right into an ambush. The thieves attack Ramza, before realizing they've got the wrong man. Balthier then steps out the shadows and condemns the thieves' ability to set a trap. Teaming up with Ramza, Balthier manages to get rid of the thieves.

After the battle, Balthier explains that he is a Sky Pirate looking for the Cache of Glabados. Ramza thinks Balthier is referring to the Auracite, and when he asks Balthier what the Cache is exactly, Balthier only mentions it is the reason he is currently in Ivalice's future. When Ramza tells Balthier he thinks he knows what he's looking for, Balthier is more than keen to tag along, claiming the leading man never balks out of a little danger, even if he does feel more like a cameo role this time. Before they set off, Ramza comments that Balthier can't be a pirate of the skies if he has no wings, while Balthier complains that he is fed up of constantly following children, much to Ramza's annoyance. His Zodiac Sign is Leo.



Itadaki Street Portable
Balthier also appears as a character in Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable.

Trivia

 * Balthier shares his last name "Bunansa" with Mustadio and Besrudio Bunansa from Final Fantasy Tactics.
 * Balthier was originally considered to appear in Dissidia Final Fantasy, but was left out as he had recently appeared in War of the Lions. Judge Gabranth appeared in his place.
 * Ironically given Balthier's status as a sky pirate, his Japanese voice actor Hiroaki Hirata, also provides the voice of the pirate Jack Sparrow in Kingdom Hearts II, and has also done Japanese dubbing of various other Johnny Depp roles. He is also the Japanese voice actor for Sanji, pirate chef of the Straw Hat crew in One Piece.