Sabin Rene Figaro

Sabin René Figaro is a playable character from Final Fantasy VI. He is Edgar Roni Figaro's twin brother and thus an heir to the throne of Figaro Castle. He fled his kingdom in search of a quiet life free of corruption, and lived as a student of the martial arts. His name is Mash in the Japanese version.

During the flashback when he is first seen, his dialogue is credited to Youth.

Appearance and personality
Sabin wears white pants and a blue tank top - though it is not rare to see him without a shirt on. He wears his hair up in a small ponytail. Some concept art shows him with facial hair, but he is clean shaven in the PlayStation remake's CG cutscenes, as well as in his menu screen portrait across all versions.

Sabin's personality is one of a brash and straightforward fighter. Rarely ever the one to make decisions, he enjoys a background role. He is prone to bouts of booming laughter when amused, and takes jokes about his physical strength in stride, even cracking such jokes himself. Sabin has a good heart, and will help out his friends whenever he can. As a child, he was furious over the kingdom's reaction to his father's death, especially since he believed the Empire poisoned him, which likely played a role in his later decision to join the Returners. In the ending, Sabin tells Edgar he left Figaro because he knew his brother would make a better king, while he trained himself physically to one day return and look out for his brother.

Story
Sabin was born a prince to the throne of Figaro and shared inheritance for the throne with his twin brother, Edgar. As a child, Sabin was considered the smaller and weaker of the two brothers. When Sabin was seventeen the Gestahlian Empire poisoned his father. Their father died asking both of his sons rule the kingdom together.

Sabin, upset at how no one seemed to care about his father's death but only who would become the next king, urged Edgar to run away with him, far from the castle and corrupted politics. Edgar wanted to go with his brother, but knew abandoning the kingdom would go against his father's wishes, so he decided to give his brother his freedom in trade for his own. Edgar proposed a coin toss, picking "heads" for the Sabin. The coin he threw had his face on one side, and Sabin's on the other. Sabin left the kingdom unaware of the trick that had been played on him, and Edgar became the new king. Sabin tells Edgar later he did not want to leave him with so much responsibility, but knew his brother would look out for Figaro the best.

Sabin fled the kingdom, and after some time met the renowned martial arts teacher Duncan Harcourt. Having trained before and wanting to be stronger to protect his brother, Sabin asked Duncan to teach him, and Duncan agreed. He became Duncan's best student, which made Vargas, Duncan's son, jealous, as Vargas thought Sabin was going to be the next master. Sabin knew otherwise, as Vargas was Duncan's only son and his heir. After apparently killing Duncan, Vargas fled into Mt. Kolts and Sabin pursued him. Sabin made no attempt to contact Edgar in the ten years they were apart.

When Sabin sees Vargas attack Edgar, along with Terra Branford and Locke Cole, he jumps in to save them. After confronting Vargas about his deeds, Sabin reveals his mastery of Duncan's Blitz techniques and defeats Vargas. Edgar recognizes Sabin, and Sabin offers to help his brother after a short reunion. Together, they see Banon in the Returner Hideout.

Banon decides to go to Narshe to get a look at the frozen esper, and Terra, Edgar, and Sabin accompany him. On the way down the Lethe River they are attacked by Ultros. During the struggle, Ultros sticks a tentacle to Terra's leg, and Sabin acts quickly to save her. During the struggle, Sabin is thrown from the raft, and floats to the end of the river.

Sabin washes ashore near a house, where he meets Shadow, the lone wolf mercenary. Shadow agrees to help him find his way to Narshe, and leads him south towards Doma, a kingdom under siege by the Gestahlian Empire. Sabin and Shadow sneak through an Imperial Camp where they overhear Kefka Palazzo's plan to dump poison into the river that runs through Doma, killing Doma's citizens. Sabin and Shadow try to stop Kefka, but to no avail. Cyan Garamonde, one of the finest soldiers in Doma and one of the only people of Doma left alive, goes down to the camp and attacks the Imperial soldiers. Sabin and Shadow help him, and Cyan agrees to help them find Narshe. Together they escape the camp in Magitek Armor, and head south towards the Phantom Forest.

In the forest, the trio board the Phantom Train and learn that to get off they have to make their way to the locomotive and shut it off. They enlist the help of a ghost, and succeed in stopping the train. They head to the Baren Falls where Shadow leaves Sabin and Cyan. Sabin and Cyan jump down the falls and float down the river towards the Veldt, where they are rescued by a wild child named Gau, who refuses to talk to them unless they feed him. They go to the nearby hamlet of Mobliz and buy Dried Meat and feed this to Gau, who agrees to show them his "shiny thing", a scuba-diving helmet which would take them through the Serpent Trench to Nikeah. From Nikeah they take a ferry to South Figaro where they can easily reach Narshe.

Sabin, Cyan and Gau arrive just in time. Kefka is planning a raid on Narshe to get the frozen esper. The three meet up with Banon, Terra, Locke, Edgar, and Celes Chere and successfully defend Narshe, but after the battle Terra reacts with the esper and is turned into one herself, flying away. A search party is sent to look for her. On the way the party passes through Figaro and Sabin walks around the castle, and calls back some old memories, including the coin toss with Edgar.

The party finds Terra atop the tallest tower in Zozo where she is being cared for by Ramuh. Ramuh tells them they need to go to Vector and free the imprisoned espers, one of them Terra's father, Maduin. To get there, they have to meet up with Setzer Gabbiani, the infamous gambler. Setzer was not willing to help them, but Celes proposes a coin toss, which if she won, Setzer would offer help. Otherwise, Setzer and Celes would marry. Edgar provides a fixed coin to guarantee Celes's victory, much to Sabin's dismay. It is assumed this was the coin Edgar used when deciding which of the brothers would rule but there is no ensuing conversation on this matter. Setzer agrees to help anyway and the group succeeds in recovering the espers and saving Terra.

Back in Narshe, the Elder decides to join with the Returners. An agreement is made Terra would contact the espers to attack Vector, after which a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards would storm from the north. The plan is a success, and Emperor Gestahl appears to have surrendered. At a banquet he asks Terra to convince the espers to negotiate peace. She and Locke go to Crescent Island to parlay the Emperor's message, but Edgar and Sabin are skeptical of the Emperor, and stay in Vector to make sure the Emperor wasn't lying.

Edgar seduces one of the Emperor's maids into revealing the Emperor's true plan: he wants to lure out the espers in hopes of capturing them. They fly to Thamasa to warn Terra and Locke, but are too late. Kefka has acquired more magicite and uses it to revive the Warring Triad and turn the Land of Espers into the Floating Continent.

One year after the Apocalypse Sabin makes his way to the town of Tzen (and apparently passes through Albrook on the way) that Kefka strikes with his "Light of Judgment". When the tallest building in town begins to collapse, Sabin uses his strength to hold the building up while he waits for someone to go in and save a child inside. That someone happens to be Celes, and Sabin joins Celes after she saves the child.

Sabin and Celes make their way to Mobliz, which is found destroyed. Only the children have survived, and they are being cared for by Terra, who is feeling things she never felt before, and as a result can no longer fight. Sabin and Celes defend the town from a monster named Humbaba. They make their way to Nikeah, where they find Edgar disguised as a thief named Gerad acting as a member of the Crimson Robbers.

They don't know what Edgar is up to, so they follow him to South Figaro and through South Figaro Cave with help from Siegfried. They corner Edgar in the Figaro Castle engine room where Edgar reveals he was using the thieves to get into the submerged castle so he could resurface it. They help Edgar fight off the tentacles jamming up the engine, and Edgar rejoins them. They head to Kohlingen where they meet up with Setzer, who takes them to Darryl's Tomb to find a new airship: the Falcon.

Sabin finds out Duncan is still alive, and is meditating in his house north of Narshe. Sabin pays Duncan one final visit where Duncan helps him perfect his ultimate Blitz technique: the Phantom Rush (Bum Rush in the original SNES translation). After defeating Kefka and while fleeing Kefka's collapsing tower, Sabin saves Edgar from being crushed by a falling girder. He reveals to Edgar he only left Figaro so he could become stronger, and defend the kingdom, and his brother, from an Imperial attack.

Battle
Being a Monk, Sabin has naturally high physical stats, but low Defense and magic stats. His weapons are limited to claws, his shield options are limited to those universally used, and he can equip lightweight vests and tunics. Sabin's ability is Blitz, which lets him perform special attacks if the player inputs the proper button commands.

Sabin learns more Blitzes as he levels up, but can learn his final ability from his master Duncan in the World of Ruin at any level. Sabin begins with a Metal Knuckle, Leather Cap and Leather Armor.

Musical Themes
Sabin shares his theme with Edgar, and it is the background music for Figaro Castle, as well as when either character is the focus of a scene. This leitmotif has a more sentimental reprise in "Coin Song", played during flashbacks of the two, and is reprised again in the "Ending Theme".

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Sabin makes a cameo in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy during the data install sequence. If the player repeatedly presses the button during the install, eventually Sabin and Edgar will drop down from the top of the screen.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Sabin makes an appearance in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game.

Etymology
"Sabin" is a unisex Italian name that means "From The Sabines". Rene is an alternate spelling of the French name René, which is derived from the Latin renatus, or "reborn". His last name, Figaro, is a French and Italian word for "barber", as well as the name of the central character from Pierre Beaumarchais's 1775 play The Barber of Seville.

Trivia

 * Before Yoshitaka Amano drew the final artwork, Sabin, Edgar and their backstory were designed by Kaori Tanaka (later nicknamed Soraya Saga), an artist who would go on to participate in the development of Xenogears. Two royal siblings named Rene and Roni appear in the latter game. Soraya Saga also authored the doujinshi Figaro no Kekkon: Tales from Desert, which explores Sabin and Edgar's backstory.
 * The Blitz "Aura Cannon" ("AuraBolt") has the same button commands as the famous "Hadouken" from Street Fighter. They are both ranged attacks. However, Aura Cannon's appearance more closely resembles the more powerful "Shinkuu Hadouken" from the later X-men vs Street Fighter and VS series games.
 * In the same vein, the "Raging Fist" ("Pummel") shares the button command and name of a special move in the Art of Fighting series, and is one of the signature moves of the Kyokugenryu style of karate, practiced by protagonist Ryo Sakazaki.
 * For the instruction manual of Final Fantasy Origins, the PlayStation remake of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II, Sabin is shown as an example name chosen for the Monk class of Final Fantasy.
 * Professional wrestler Joshua Harter, one half of the tag-team "The Motor City Machine Guns", wrestles under the ring name "Chris Sabin", a direct reference to Sabin Figaro. One of is Signature Moves is also the Bum Rush, further referencing Sabin Figaro.