Garland (Final Fantasy)/Dissidia (PSP)

Garland is one of the villains fighting for the side of Chaos in Dissidia Final Fantasy. He wields a large sword that can freely transform into various weapons, from destructive axes to twin blades. In the original title, he is the knight that stands between the Warriors of Light and their destiny. There was a time when he was a renowned hero, but one day suddenly kidnaps Princess Sarah and locks himself in the Chaos Shrine.

Garland is one of the highest ranked villains in the game, mostly due to his connection with Chaos, whose relation can be seen as analogous to the one his rival, Warrior of Light, and Cosmos have.

Attire
Garland's original outfit is based on his in-game sprite artwork from Final Fantasy, while his alternate outfit is a gold and red pallette swap, making him look similar to his GBA artwork. Garland's crystalized version is colored blue.

Garland's sword appears to be entirely original. It is a crushing weapon that is actually four different blades connected to one another. The complete sword can be split into two separate swords, each of which can break in half yet again, connected by a long chain with varying length.

Destiny Odyssey I
After the Warrior of Light promised Cosmos that he and the others would find the Crystals, Garland arrives suddenly and challenges him. After Garland was defeated, he tells the Warrior that the fight was pointless and fades away, leaving the Warrior confused. Believing that Garland was dead, the Warrior journeys on, then after a fight with The Emperor, Garland appears before the startled Warrior, alive and well, and tells the Warrior to follow him. At the Chaos Shrine of Time, Garland told the Warrior that the reason he came back to life was because of Chaos, and as long as Cosmos and Chaos are alive, the never-ending struggle with good and evil will be endless. Though the Warrior of Light bested Garland again, Garland laughed at the victor, claiming once again that the battle was worthless, and soon vanishes, saying that even after the Warrior's victory, the war will rage on.

Destiny Odyssey VIII
Ultimecia convinces Garland to ally with her against Squall, and the two eventually corner Squall and plan to attack him at once. However, Zidane appears and tackles Garland aside, leaving Squall to face Ultimecia.

Destiny Odyssey IX
Zidane's story follows the above scene from his perspective. After tackling Garland, the two do battle, after which Garland departs. Garland also relays to Kuja that the two of them, and all of them, are trapped within a cruel fate, spurring on Kuja's goal to prove himself superior to the other villains.

Shade Impulse
After Cosmos's death at the hands of Chaos, Garland appears once again to face the Warrior of Light, but was quickly dispatched. He then proceeded to brag at the triumphant Warrior by repeating what he said about the endless battle between Chaos and Cosmos before fading away into nothingness.

Battle
In battle, Garland is described as a "Nemesis", and uses his huge sword to crush opponents with powerful attacks, transforming the blade into various different forms as he fights. Some of his attacks vary depending on the timing of the button inputs, allowing Garland to chain his attacks together depending on when the button is pressed during his attack.

Boss
Garland is fought in Destiny Odyssey I and IX, Shade Impulse, and Distant Glory: Villains.

EX Mode
Garland's EX Mode consists of a color swap into silver armor with a white cape, and new helmet details. The overall appearance is meant to symbolize Garland's appearance as a heroic knight before he turned to evil. While in EX Mode, Garland's health will regenerate over time and won't be knocked back by enemy attacks while he's in the middle of executing attacks of his own.

His EX Burst, Soul of Chaos, causes Garland to empower himself with evil power, and to execute it perfectly, the player must mash the button repeatedly to charge a gauge up to its maximum within a time limit, allowing Garland to heavily flay the opponent with brutal attacks.

Equipment
Garland is able to equip Katanas, Great Swords, Axes, Spears, Shields, Gloves, Helmets, Light Armor, and Heavy Armor.

Allusions

 * At the start of Destiny Odyssey I-5, Garland's line is the same as the line spoken before the final battle in Final Fantasy: "So even as you die again and again, I shall return! Born again into this endless circle I have created!".
 * In his battle dialogue with Kuja, the two make reference to Kuja's antagonistic relationship with the Garland of Final Fantasy IX. Garland even states that he "feels a strong bond between them".
 * Garland's introduction to Tidus is "you would be better off submitting to the eternal spiral", referring to Sin's cycle of destruction and rebirth in Final Fantasy X - while Garland embraces the cycle he is trapped in, Tidus rejected his and found a way to end it and destroy Sin for good. His quote to Jecht, "a prisoner of the spiral of fate", likewise refers to how Jecht became trapped within the cycle as Garland did, when he transformed into Sin.
 * Garland's EX Burst is named after the Soul of Chaos dungeons in the Dawn of Souls and 20th Anniversary editions of Final Fantasy. His three exclusive weapons are all weapons found in the Whisperwind Cove, another bonus dungeon in the aforementioned releases.
 * Garland is the only villain fought twice in the same storyline - he is fought as a boss both at the beginning of Destiny Odyssey I, and at the end, reflecting his role as the first and, in essence, final boss of Final Fantasy.
 * When fighting Ultimecia, Garland references his crossing 2000 years into the past: “I will transcend even time!”.
 * In Garland's conversation with Chaos in Shade Impulse 3-4, he references their shared identity with the line: “You are me.”. If fighting against Chaos, he will utter: “You and I share the same fate…”.
 * When facing the Emperor he'll say. "A position of authority means nothing to me!" referencing that he was the most trusted knight but then betrayed the king. Golbez also references this when he faces Garland, he'll say "A pitiful knight who knows not of loyalty...".
 * When Cloud gets hit by Garland in the opening FMV, and when Zidane tackles Garland in Destiny Odyssey IX, could be references to Garland's infamous line, "I, Garland, will knock you down".
 * All of Garland's HP attacks are used by Chaos in the final battle of Final Fantasy.

Trivia

 * Tetsuya Nomura has stated that, because there were only in-game sprites to draw from, he had trouble designing Garland as a character, as in essence it was designing a new character rather than redesigning an old one. However, Nomura is still pleased with the result and is fond of Garland.
 * While Garland's movement is very slow when grounded, oddly he moves quicker on walls and other obstacles.
 * In the opening FMV, Garland fights more heroes than any other villain.
 * Garland might be the tallest character in the side of Chaos, probably even taller than Exdeath and Golbez themselves, although it cannot be determined so easily due to his fighting pose in the game, but in the opening FMV it is seen clearly that Garland is taller than any of them, although it's probably due to the distance between his allies.
 * Garland shares his Japanese and English voice actors with another Square Enix-created character, Alex Louis Armstrong of Fullmetal Alchemist.
 * His pose in his artwork and in the game is a reference to his pose from Final Fantasy.