Setzer Gabbiani

"A blackjack-playing, world-traveling, casino-dwelling free spirit..."

Setzer Gabbiani is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is a Gambler who lives on the wild side. He also is the owner of the world's only airship: the Blackjack. He was neutral at the beginning of the war, but reluctant to openly oppose the Empire after having made profits from their work.

Story


Setzer was a gambler by nature and pilot by trade. When he was younger, he was involved with a girl named Darryl. She owned an airship called the Falcon. She obviously knew her risk-taking nature would have take its toll, because she casually mentioned to Setzer that the Falcon was his if she ever was unable to fly. Setzer, mortified by the idea, promised her that no such thing would ever happen and that he would only take the Falcon after having won it fairly. After a day of flying Daryl decided to go out on her own and push the Falcon to its limits. The ship crashed on Triangle Island, and when Setzer found the remains he entombed them beneath the sea.

Shellshocked by the loss, he ended up impressing his desires upon a wealthy opera star named Maria. The pinnacle of his infatuation came when he threatened to kidnap her in the midst of a performance. He had a plan to disrupt a show and kidnap her. However, Locke Cole and his party were desperate for an airship, so he and the Impressario decided to foil his plan by having Celes Chere star in that night's show. Setzer abducted Celes, Locke followed him back to the Blackjack, and the party sought to negotiate for an airship.

Setzer was disappointed when he found out that Celes wasn't Maria, but he soon found the intelligent Celes to be much more attractive. Celes borrowed Edgar Roni Figaro's double-headed coin to broker a deal: if it landed on heads, Setzer would help the Returners reach the Southern Continent so they could rescue Maduin and the other Espers. If it was tails, Celes would agree to be Setzer's "woman" (the Japanese term refers to a woman that receives gifts from her man in exchange for physical favors). More amused than anything else, Setzer agreed, and he quickly noticed he'd been duped. But Setzer's inherent good nature made him pliant to the whole idea and he helped the Returners.

While the others were infiltrating the Magitek Research Facility in the north, Setzer stayed on the airship. When the others did not return, he went to Vector to check on them. He met them as they were fleeing the city and brought them onto the Blackjack to escape. The ship was badly damaged in the attack and almost unusable. Later, he went with them to Zozo to save Terra Branford.

Following the trip to Zozo he accompanied went to Narshe, where the Elder decided to join with the Returners. Terra agreed to ask the freed Espers to limit their devastation to Vector, after which a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards would storm from the north. The plan was a success, and Emperor Gestahl appeared to have surrendered. He asked Terra if she would try convince the Espers to negotiate peace, so she and Locke went to Crecent Island to convey the Emperor's message. Setzer and the others were still sketpical of the Emperor and decided to stay in Vector to judge his motives. Setzer and Cid Del Norte Marquez began to rebuild the airship while Edgar used his charms to learn the Emperor's true plans from a maidservant, who said the Emperor planned to capture the Espers. The rest of the party flew to Thamasa to warn Terra and Locke, but they were too late. Kefka had acquired more magicite and used it to revive the Statues and turn the Land of Espers into the Floating Continent.

One year after the Apocalypse, with no wings to fly and nowhere to go, Setzer was wasting his life away in a bar in Kohlingen. Celes, Edgar, and Sabin Rene Figaro happened upon him in the bar and asked if he would rejoin their fight against Kefka. Setzer was initially unwilling, having lost any sense of purpose for his life, but again Celes's words convinced him. Setzer then took them to Darryl's Tomb to unearth the Falcon. He shared Darryl's story (and his pain) with the party, and as the Falcon went to the skies Setzer finally buried his grief.

Equipment and Stats
Setzer is the most customizable character of the party. As a Gambler, his weapons consist of cards, darts, and dice, but he can also equip several daggers.

Abilities
Setzer's special ability is Slots. Slots work similar to a slot machine, except that they can be stopped manually by pressing the A button. The result that shows up will have various effects on allies or opponents. If Setzer equips the Coin Toss Relic, Slots becomes GP Rain, which allows Setzer to do damage at the cost of some GP.

In the SNES version of the game there is a useful bug involving Setzer and the damage counter. The Genji Glove increases damage by permitting a user to wield two weapons, but does not take into account Setzer's randomly generated damage algorithim. If Setzer is equipped with the Genji Glove, which doubles damage, and then two sets of dice, he will roll for nearly 9000 damage with each hit. The Bug is even more noticeable with the Offering and Fixed Dice, as the Fixed Dice ignore the Offering's half-damage penalty. This and the majority of SNES bugs were fixed in the release of Final Fantasy Anthology.

Music
Setzer's theme is built off C major. The relative D minor that comprises his melody appears as a leitmotif in "Epitaph" and (like all the other characters) the "Ending Theme". It is notably absent in the "Blackjack" and the World of Ruin airship theme "Searching Friends".

Appearances in other Games
Setzer makes an appearance in the game Kingdom Hearts II.