Garnet Til Alexandros XVII

Garnet til Alexandros XVII is the female protagonist of Final Fantasy IX, and the heir of Alexandria. She is a very caring girl, often blaming herself for other's misfortunes.

She quickly recognizes the changes in her mother, Queen Brahne, and initially tries to escape the castle of Alexandria. Trying to hide her identity as a princess, Garnet gives herself the nickname Dagger (ダガー Dagā), taking the name from Zidane's weapon of choice.

Appearance and Personality
Garnet has long dark brown, blackish hair pulled back in a low ponytail with a clip. After she cuts her hair, it appears slightly above shoulder-length when compared to Zidane's. She has a heart-shaped face, brown eyes, and fair skin. Garnet appears in three different outfits during the course of the game. She first appears in her princess attire, made up of a long white strapless gown decorated with green vine-like leaves from chest to waist. She also wears a gold ornament in her hair, detached sleeves, a silver crown embedded with green jewels, and a green jeweled necklace. This outfit is seen at both the beginning and ending of the game.

Garnet's second outfit is her 'escape outfit,' which she uses to escape from the castle unrecognized. It is the simple hooded white and red robe worn by the classic White Mages of Final Fantasy.

Garnet's third and final outfit is her default peasant attire that is worn for the majority of the game. It is first briefly seen underneath her White Mage robe, but after the robe is burnt, the full outfit is revealed. It consists of a skin tight orange jumpsuit with large buckles on both legs at mid-thigh, and a white bell-sleeved peasant blouse underneath. In this outfit, Garnet wears a simple black choker, red gloves with buckles and red ankle boots. She wears a blue clip in her hair, and a long necklace with a crystal that she also wears with her princess gown at the end.

In Trance Form, Garnet has pinkish skin, light green hair, and a white unitard with light green sleeves and boots.

Garnet's personality is explored through the course of the story in many ways. Garnet appears to be quite self-deprecating and often blames herself for events beyond her control such as the destruction of Alexandria. Throughout the game Garnet does rely on others many times, as she seeks help from many people including, Doctor Tot, Steiner, Beatrix, Regent Cid and Zidane. She does state that she wants the power to summon Eidolons so she can better defend her kingdom and her companions, hence why she tries to obtain Ramuh at Pinnacle Rocks.

Being a princess, she does genuinely care about her kingdom. She is pleased to return to Alexandria in Disc Two and even loses her voice after Alexandria is attacked by the Invincible.

Through Zidane's influence, she learns to act in a more commonplace way and her endeavours to "blend in," as can be seen in the village of Dali in the beginning of the game. As Zidane teaches her more about the outside world, Garnet eventually falls in love with him. Garnet can be said to be a little naive at times; for example, she appears shocked at some of the more unwholesome sights at Treno, and perhaps this is an indication of a sheltered life within the castle. Despite this type of upbringing, Garnet is quick-thinking and finds ways to outwit others in order to pursue her goals. She innocently enough asks Zidane for Sleeping Weed under the guise of helping with insomnia, and later uses it against him and others in order to escape from Lindblum Castle. Garnet also conceived the idea of surrounding herself with Gyshal Pickles during her and Steiner's trip through South Gate, manipulating the smell of the pickles in order to ward away border guards.

Story
Garnet was born under the name of Sarah (セーラ Sēra) in Madain Sari, where she was part of a Summoner tribe. Like all Summoners, she had a horn in her forehead. However, she and her mother attempted to escape from Madain Sari by boat when Garland attacked the village with the airship Invincible. The boat was destroyed, and her mother was killed.

She washed ashore in Alexandria, where she was discovered by the King of Alexandria. She looked almost identical to the real Princess Garnet, who had died not long before from illness, with the exception of her horn. The King ordered that her horn be removed and that she become a "replacement" princess. She was then raised as the Princess of Alexandria, and always thought that Queen Brahne was her mother. Pluto Knight, Adelbert Steiner is ordered to protect her.

When Queen Brahne begins to change, the princess seeks to escape from Alexandria, only to find that the thief group Tantalus plans to kidnap her. She goes along with this plan, though at first she toys with Zidane while dressed as a White Mage. She eventually joins with Tantalus as they escape from Alexandria, and aids Zidane in fighting Steiner. In the middle of the escape, Steiner is taken along with her. The Tantalus Theater Ship is badly damaged by a Bomb and they fall into the Evil Forest. Steiner works with the Tantalus kidnappers to save her from the monsters inside the forest.

After escaping from the Evil Forest, Garnet struggles to hide her identity as the Princess of Alexandria. As a precautionary measure before entering the village of Dali, she adopts the alias of "Dagger", taking the name from Zidane's weapon. Upon entering the village, Zidane begins to tutor her in "common speak", a task Garnet has difficulty with, often addressing the townspeople in an overly formal manner.

Upon arriving in Lindblum, Garnet is eager to meet with her uncle, Regent Cid Fabool IX, insisting that they speak about Queen Brahne's new ambitions. Lindblum is the first location that Garnet sings the song Melodies of Life. Zidane hears Garnet singing the melody from the top of Lindblum Castle. When Zidane asks her where she learned the song, Garnet cannot give him a straight answer.

Cid refuses to take major action against the kingdom of Alexandria, and he and Zidane tell Garnet to remain in Lindblum for her own safety. Unhappy with this, Garnet resolves to visit her mother herself, using a feast to commemorate the Festival of the Hunt to her own means. Garnet poisons the food of everyone else at the table with Sleeping Weed, except for Steiner. She then drags Steiner along with her and leaves for the South Gate. Along the way, Steiner is forced to hide her in a burlap sack in order to avoid detection, and Garnet uses the nauseous odor of Gysahl Pickles to discourage others from opening the bag, as an extra precaution.

Though the princess and her knight reach Alexandria safely, Garnet is betrayed by Queen Brahne, who orders the jesters Zorn and Thorn to extract Eidolons from her. The summons Odin, Atomos, and Bahamut were later used by the Queen and Kuja as weapons.

After being rescued by Zidane, Garnet begins to have internal conflicts about the trustworthiness of her mother and the Eidolons within herself. When the party's Gargant crashes at Pinnacle Rocks, Garnet meets the Eidolon Ramuh. It is here that the princess casts aside her fear of the Eidolons, and Ramuh becomes the first Eidolon she is likely to summon (it should be noted Garnet can summon any of the Eidolons she begins the game with, but the spells require so much MP that her level would need to be substantially higher than it is likely to be at that point in the game).

Garnet's roots in the summoning arts are further explored when the party ventures to Madain Sari on the Outer Continent. Eiko Carol shows them the destroyed village, and Garnet discovers her true past and birthrights. Though the two have a sort of rivalry over Zidane's affections, they eventually become friends and learn that they are the last two summoners of Madain Sari. Garnet also finds out that Eiko knows the tune to Melodies of Life, so it may be said that the song had its origins in the summoning village.

At the Iifa Tree, Queen Brahne's attempts at dispatching Kuja with Bahamut backfire on her, and the Genome leaves her for dead on the beach. Garnet rushes down and attempts to comfort her adopted mother, but her efforts are in vain. Brahne dies on the shores of the Outer Continent, but not before she apologizes for her deeds and asks Garnet for forgiveness. Garnet then becomes the new Queen of Alexandria.

The festivities surrounding her coronation are short-lived; Kuja returns to Alexandria with the Eidolon Bahamut, who begins to destroy the city. Garnet joins with Eiko to summon the Eidolon Alexander, the protector of Alexandria, who defeats Bahamut. However, Garland uses the Invincible to obliterate Alexander and much of Alexandria; the resulting shock renders Garnet mute, and she is unable to speak for a large portion of the game, apparently guilt-ridden for failing to protect her kingdom. After escaping from Kuja's palace, Zidane finds Garnet in Alexandria, mourning at the grave of her adopted mother. Here, Garnet breaks her silence by resolutely telling Zidane she will fight for her country. She once again takes Zidane's dagger, and uses it to cut off her ponytail, perhaps seeing this as a way of moving on with her life.

Later in the game, the party may return to the ruins of Madain Sari to discover Garnet's true name to be Sarah.

After the defeat of Necron, Zidane apparently sacrifices himself to return to the body of Kuja. Garnet returns to Alexandria to rule, but she cannot forget Zidane's absence. Sometime later, Tantalus once again comes to the streets of Alexandria, performing I Want to be Your Canary in honor of the Queen. The character supposed to be Marcus throws off his cloak at the play's climax, revealing himself to be Zidane. Garnet runs out of the castle into the crowd attempting to reach him, losing her necklace in the process. However, she does not go back for it as she choses her love for Zidane. Garnet runs towards him, throws her crown aside, and leaps into his arms in tears. After Zidane smirks at her, she begins pounding his chest for doing so. The game ends with Garnet and Zidane embracing in front of the applauding Alexandrian crowd. She asks Zidane how he managed to return, and when he tells her that he sang her song, she corrects him by saying, "Our song."

Equipment and Stats
Garnet's class is Summoner with a secondary job as a White Mage. She uses rods and magical rackets as weapons.

Abilities


Garnet is able to summon Eidolons and use White Magic. Compared to Eiko, Garnet has a wider array of Eidolons, but in return, Eiko has more White Magic spells. Garnet's Eidolon pool is also more powerful, since she can summon both Bahamut and Ark.

While in Trance, the summoned Eidolon reappears randomly after being called, as well as acting as a counter attack. As long as Garnet has some trance bar remaining, the counter attack can potentially last until the end of the battle, as it won't use MP. When Garnet uses her Eidolon command during Trance there is higher chance of getting a full-animated summon, which inflicts more damage. The random summons thereafter, however, will always be weaker.

Musical Themes
"Garnet's Theme" is named for herself, and first plays during her and Doctor Tot's flashback to her younger days. A variant of the theme notably plays when she cuts her hair. Additionally, the theme is interwoven into the main melody of "Melodies of Life," the theme of her romance with Zidane.

Trivia

 * If using a "Max MP" cheat, e.g. through the use of a cheating device, or simply through excessive level gaining, Garnet will be able to summon Eidolons from the very beginning of the game. The reason for her not being able to do so normally isn't because she doesn't know how, but rather because she doesn't have enough MP.
 * In a cutscene of Dissidia Final Fantasy, Zidane briefly references Garnet when he talks with Firion, guessing the latter's purpose being to rescue his princess, but Firion instead says "The Wild Rose."
 * As one of the many references to earlier games in the series present in Final Fantasy IX, Garnet's real name "Sarah" is a reference to Princess Sarah.
 * After Garnet's uncle Cid and aunt Hilda adopt Eiko Carol, she becomes Garnet's adoptive cousin.
 * Garnet's Trance form, with green hair and a green unitard, bears a resemblance to Rydia from Final Fantasy IV.