Palom

Palom is a playable character in Final Fantasy IV and its sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. He is a Black Mage from Mysidia who trains together with his twin sister, Porom.

Final Fantasy IV
Palom is a young boy wearing a striped green and white costume, with an orange cloak and green boots. His hair is pulled into a little ponytail in contrast with Porom, who has longer hair and wears the same outfit as her brother, but it is orange instead of green.

Palom is a casual show-off, even to adults, and refers to himself as "The Mysidian Genius" or "Prodigy". This, combined with his inflated ego, causes him to get a little out of hand, leading to Porom having to settle him down, either with words or by smacking him on the head.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Palom's hair has grown longer and he wears it in a braid with a hair ornament. He still has his costume, which worn under a blue coat with a shoulder pad and a white scarf with green stripes. Palom and Porom wear matching amulets with contrasting colors - Palom's is red and Porom's is green. They wear these amulets in their artwork and renders, and wear them in-game in some releases.

He has matured and at one point tells Leonora not to get too confident, as this is the point where people let their egos sink them. Palom teases Leonora after taking her under his wing, but reveals to have faith and fondness for her by referring to her as his partner. He is determined to find independence from Mysidia on his personal quest to become a Sage like Tellah.

Final Fantasy IV
According to the Final Fantasy IV Settei Shiryou Hen, Porom and her brother Palom were learning magic since early childhood, akin to the mages of old, and were sent to study under the Elder of Mysidia by their parents. Palom and Porom first meet Cecil when he visits Mysidia after being attacked by Leviathan. The Elder asks if they will accompany Cecil and help him on his quest to become a Paladin and orders them to spy on Cecil to ensure he stays true to his word. Palom and Porom accompany him to Mount Ordeals, where Palom uses magic to extinguish a fire blocking the route up the mountain.

While climbing the mountain, they meet Tellah the sage, who agrees to help them as he searches for the legendary magic Meteor to defeat Golbez. When they reach the summit they are attacked by Scarmiglione of Earth, one of Golbez's Elemental Archfiends, but defeat him. They arrive at a room full of mirrors, where Cecil overcomes the Dark Knight and becomes a Paladin.

Cecil, Tellah, Palom, and Porom return to Mysidia, where the Elder congratulates them. Palom and Porom reveal to Cecil they were spying on him, but he tells them they were well within their rights. The Elder opens up the Devil's Road that leads to Baron to stop Golbez. Palom and Porom, who are finished with their mission, ask if they can help Cecil and while the Elder is reluctant at first, he agrees to let them do so.

The party makes their way to Baron Castle via the Ancient Waterway after finding Yang. They meet up with Baigan who offers to help Cecil. Palom and Porom smell a monster revealing Baigan as the culprit. Once the party defeats the monster who has taken Baigan's likeness, Palom and Porom warn Cecil to tread lightly around Baron. Cecil meets the king, who is an impostor and is, in fact, Cagnazzo, the Archfiend of Water.

After defeating him, Cagnazzo has one last trick up his sleeve. When the party tries to escape, the walls cave in. Palom and Porom save Cecil's party by petrifying themselves. Tellah tries to heal them, but to no avail, as they have turned into stone of their own will. This act of sacrifice further strengthens the party's resolve to stop Golbez.

Palom and Porom are healed by the Elder, who takes them to the battle with the Giant of Babil and afterward Palom and Porom send their wishes at the Prayer Dais in Mysidia for Cecil. After Cecil's group defeats Zeromus and peace is restored to the world, Palom and Porom go back to their old routine in Mysidia. Palom cuts his magic classes to flirt with a girl boasting about his exploits, specifically, the time he extinguished the fire on Mount Ordeals. Porom finds Palom and brings him before the Elder, who scolds him and gives him extra homework.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
Palom and Porom are present at the celebration of Damcyan's reconstruction. They join Cid and Cecil to check on the strange occurrences at the Sealed Cave, where they find a seemingly amnesiac Rydia, who is revealed to be an imposter at the Tower of Babil until the real Rydia reunites with them.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Shortly after Final Fantasy IV ended, Palom sailed with Porom to travel the world like Tellah. They visited Tellah's and Anna's grave-sites, where he wondered if Anna is what their mother would have been like had they known her. In the Underground Waterway, the twins encountered the Cooler Mammoth and defeated it.

Since Tellah's passing, Palom aspired to follow in his footsteps. He is fed up with the Mysidian Elder treating him like a child in spite of being almost an adult causing a rift between him and Porom, as he intends to leave the rigid Mysidia to travel abroad to become a Great Sage.

Porom schedules a visit to see Rydia with Palom. Palom asks if Rydia can take them to the Feymarch for his training as a Sage. Rydia obliges, but after speaking with Asura and Leviathan, she cannot permit them to pass. Along the way, Palom ignores Luca's attention.

Palom takes an assignment from the Mysidian Elder to train Leonora as an Epopt at the Tower of Trials near Troia. Upon returning to Troia, Palom questions the Epopts over why Leonora had to learn Black Magic, finding it suspicious. Palom later discovers the Red Wings have begun stealing the Crystals again. After crossing through the castle of Troia's underground waterway, he flees with Leonora and the Earth Crystal. They mount a black chocobo and fly to the Lodestone Cavern, where the Red Wings are made to discard their metal weapons.

Within the cavern's Crystal Chamber, they are attacked by the Dark Elf's spirit. After it transforms into a dragon and gains the upper hand, the Dark Elf is destroyed by Shiva, who was summoned by the Mysterious Girl. Palom teleports Leonora away and petrifies both himself and the Crystal. Leonora goes against Palom's wishes and returns to his side before the Mysterious Girl breaks the stone to recover the Crystal.

Leonora heals Palom's petrification, and reveals to him she was the girl he was flirting with at Mysidia many years ago. While Palom acknowledges Leonora is not the best Epopt, he says she passes with flying colors as his partner. They band together to defeat the Mysterious Girl, but are frozen before losing possession of the Crystal.

Palom and Leonora are rescued from Shiva by Rydia's party after Troia is defrosted, and are sent to the Falcon to recover. After the Mysterious Girl flees to the True Moon with the Crystals, they join the party to put an end to the Creator's plans. In the True Moon's Subterrane, Palom eavesdrops on a conversation between Luca, Leonora and Porom. After Leonora admits she likes Palom, he remarks women can be dangerous.

Following the Creator's defeat the party escape the True Moon. The Elder of Mysidia passes on his leadership to both Palom and Porom. Leonora visits them, and abandons her Epopt position to spend more time with Palom to become a Sage.

Final Fantasy IV
Palom is a Black Mage, with his stats being weighted toward magic. He cannot equip bows in the DS/iOS/Android remake.

Abilities
Palom can learn every Black Magic spell in the game, and learns them at a faster rate than Rydia due to her focus on summon magic. In the DS/iOS/Android remakes, he learns a few of his spells at different levels but still learns them faster than Rydia. Bluff boosts his Intelligence and thus the damage done by his Black Magic. In Final Fantasy IV Advance and Final Fantasy IV The Complete Collection, the boost from Bluff stacks with several uses, increasing his Intelligence each time. In the DS/iOS/Android remakes, Bluff only lasts a short time, typically for a turn or two.

Palom can use Twincast, which allows him and Porom to cast spells together. They can cast Pyroblast, Comet, and in the Game Boy Advance and The Complete Collection releases, they will cast Twin Meteor if they are equipped with the Twin Stars.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
Palom returns with Black Magic, Bluff and Twincast, which function the same way as they do in Final Fantasy IV. He joins the party at Level 34 knowing all his spells up to that point from the previous game, and will continue to learn his spells at the same levels. He comes equipped with a Polymorph Rod, Wizard's Hat, Black Robe, and Rune Armlet.

Abilities
Palom retains his Black Magic and Bluff abilities, and learns his spells earlier than the other characters. He still has Twincast in a flashback, but it is a Band ability during regular gameplay relearned in the True Moon's Subterrane. In the Depths, it is possible to teach Dualcast to Palom, Porom, or Leonora, but only one of them can learn it.

Due to his stats, Palom is the best Black Mage, equal or better than Rydia and Leonora in most areas, the exceptions being their Spirit and Rydia's slightly higher Speed. Compared to Golbez he lacks in HP, Strength and Stamina, but has significantly higher MP and Intelligence.



Musical Themes
"Palom and Porom" is the twins' eponymous theme tune. An arrangement is on the Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon album.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord
Palom can be summoned by Mira when purchased as downloadable content. He takes on his appearance from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Any number of copies of Palom can be summoned at once. He is the most powerful magic summon. His speed is Normal, and he takes up one slot when summoned. His ability is the Slow spell.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Palom and Porom make a cameo in Dissidia Final Fantasy as tutors for the in-game manuals.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Palom is an ally and a summonable Legend in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. He is depicted in his default Final Fantasy IV outfit. His EX ability is Thundara.

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Palom appears in Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
A few cards depict Palom. The first depicts his SD art, and it has a cost of 1. It is of the Fire element and a Forward type, with the subtype listed as 'Black Mage Apprentice'. The card has a power of 1000, and if the player draws it they will deal 2000 damage to a target defending player controls.

The second card features his CG render from the DS remake. It has a cost of 3 and is also of the Fire element, with 'Black Mage' now listed as the subtype. If the player draws the card, they may deal 7000 damage to a Forward target if they played him through a Level Up ability.

The third card is the promotional artwork of his tale from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.

Virtual World
Users in Square Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Palom, as well as his sister Porom. His name is misspelled as "Parom".

Trivia

 * Palom is the first named Black Mage in the series.
 * In Final Fantasy IX, a vendor in Lindblum is called "Polom's Action Figures". This could be a combination of both the twins' names, or an alternate romanization of Porom, since L and R are interchangeable in Japanese.
 * In a developer's interview with Takashi Tokita about the The After Years, Tokita said that although he could not pick a favorite character, he was particularly fond of both Palom and Porom, with one of his reasons being that they have aged and evolved as characters since Final Fantasy IV.
 * Palom is officially the youngest playable human in the series, just beating out his elder twin sister Porom.
 * In Final Fantasy XIII one of the major cities is named "Palumpolum", a reference to the twins.