Eidolon (Final Fantasy IX)

Eidolon is the term referring to the summons in Final Fantasy IX. Under normal circumstances, only members of the summoner tribe of Madain Sari may call these mythical creatures. As the civilization's sole survivors, Princess Garnet and Eiko Carol posses the ability, though Queen Brahne and Kuja are able to attain the power through more unnatural methods. According to the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania Guide, Eidolons are born from Gaia's Crystal, converted from the accumulation of memories within, to serve as powerful guardians for the Crystal.

An eidolon's spell power is based on math, item stock and animation length, i.e. short versus full length. The full length animation can be regarded as a "powered up" version of the short animated version.

In total, fourteen eidolons are seen in the game. Alexander cannot be controlled by the player and is summoned only once during an FMV cut-scene, and Titan is not summoned directly, but appears as part of one of Fenrir's attacks. Of the remaining twelve, eight can be summoned by Garnet and the other four by Eiko.

Nature
Eidolons are powerful creatures born of the collective memories accumulated inside the planet's Crystal. The flow of souls in Final Fantasy IX is similar to the idea of Lifestream in Final Fantasy VII, and when the souls of the deceased return to the Crystal in the planet's core, they bring with them the memories and experiences of the life that was lived. This way, the Crystal will grow and the planet will develop.

Eidolons are born out of the legends and mythologies that numerous peoples have told since the beginning of time. The conjoined memories of said legends enter the Crystal as part of the peoples' heritage, and manifest into magical creatures, whom the Crystal creates as its protectors. An eidolon's appearance seems to differ depending on the time period it appears in; the old legends on the eidolon Shiva tell of it as a tiny pixie, whereas the Shiva summoned in the game is a grown woman. The phenomenon could also be seen in the case of Ozma; found in a so-called "Eidolon Cave," it can be speculated Ozma could be an ancient eidolon; however, it has no proper form and instead manifests as a swirling ball of pure energy. Since mythology is what gives form to eidolons, it may be that the legends of Ozma have long since been forgotten, and thus Ozma has lost its form.

The eidolons' nature as the Crystal's protectors is backed up by Terra's lack of eidolons, due to its weak Crystal.

Eidolons that summoners fail to harness are locked away, as seen in the case of Leviathan.

Eidolon and its Summoner
Eiko explains the summoner can communicate with his or her eidolon through the summoner's horn when she breaks the spell that protects the Iifa Tree from intruders. During the same scene Garnet is seen thinking that she can't hear anything, despite Eiko claiming she can hear the eidolon asking her to hurry it up. It might mean that Garnet, having lost her summoner's horn, is unable to communicate with eidolons the way Eiko can.

It is also possible that the summoner tribe isn't the only people who can call forth eidolons. Though little is known of the Mole People who used to inhabit Mount Gulug, the circumstances around their sealed village and their mysterious disappearance, as well as the fact their village remains contain an extraction circle, point toward the Mole People having been able to summon eidolons. This is backed by a an excerpt found on the Eidolon Wall in Madain Sari.

During the time of the game Mount Gulug has been sealed off, but Kuja wants to break the seal as he is looking for an eidolon even greater than Alexander. He has already exhausted Mist and Outer Continents, and next sets his eyes on Mount Gulug. Inside they find the ruined remains of the Mole People's civilization and an extraction circle used to extract eidolons from a summoner. It is possible that the Mole People faced the same fate as the summoner tribe in Madain Sari; destroyed by Garland in fears of the eidolons' power meddling with his plans.

Extraction
The eidolon extraction is a process in which the eidolons are forcefully extracted from a subject, apparently into certain gemstones. Even a person who wasn't originally a summoner can summon the extracted eidolons by the use of the gem. Zorn and Thorn attempt the extracting ceremony twice in the game: first from Garnet, so that Queen Brahne can make use of her daughter's eidolons to take over the nations of Cleyra and Lindblum; and later in the game they attempt to steal Eiko's eidolons for Kuja.

Garnet is captured and imprisoned by Zorn and Thorn when she returns to Alexandria to reason with her mother about her recent attack on Burmecia. After Garnet loses her eidolons she must reclaim them to be able to use them in battle. The first eidolon she acquires is Ramuh, whom she encounters at Pinnacle Rocks.

Later, Kuja intends to extract Eiko's eidolons at Mount Gulug, despite Eiko being considered too young to survive the extraction process, as Kuja says he needs an eidolon more powerful than Alexander. They fail to extract Eiko's eidolons and Zorn and Thorn state the ceremony can only work when the subject is sixteen years or older without the summoner dying in the process. The extraction is halted by Mog who attacks the twins going into a trance, and tells Eiko to summon Terra Homing. It is revealed Mog is in fact the eidolon Madeen who became Mog to protect Eiko.

Alexander

 * Main article: Alexander

Alexander is the most powerful eidolon seen in the game, but it cannot be summoned in battle and only appears in the storyline. It appears as Alexandria's guardian and 500 years prior to the game its crystal was divided in four fragments to make sure it would never be summoned again, due to being deemed too dangerous. One fragment was given to each of the kingdoms on Mist Continent, and the summoner tribe kept the last piece as they moved away to Madain Sari. During the game Queen Brahne hunts for the crystal fragments and all the pieces finally come together a-top Alexandria Castle during the time Kuja attacks the city with Bahamut. Eiko and Garnet join their powers and summon Alexander, which destroys Bahamut, but is in turn destroyed by Garland's airship, the Invincible.

Garnet's Summons
The attacks and spell power for Garnet's summons are pretty straight-forward: They are based on math, item stock and length of animation, the short version being weaker than the full length animation (FLA). When Garnet summons an eidolon during her Trance there is a random chance the summon will reappear during the battle for zero MP cost, but the animation will always be the short version, and item stock "bonuses" will be disregarded. The summon will reappear in intervals to repeatedly damage the enemy until a new eidolon is summoned or until Garnet exits Trance.

The formula used to determine the amount of damage an eidolon does during its full animation is as follows.


 * $$Base = Summon Power - Target's Magic Defence$$
 * $$Bonus = Mag ... [(Lv + Mag) / 8] + Mag$$
 * $$Damage = Base * Bonus$$

If the eidolon is summoned and does its half animation, the formula changes to as follows.


 * $$Damage = [((Base * Bonus) * 2) / 3]$$

Shiva
Shiva can be learned from an Opal. Its attack, Diamond Dust, deals ice-elemental damage to all opponents. It costs 24 MP to summon.
 * Spell power (FLA) equals 36+# of Opals in stock
 * Spell power (TM) equals 34

Ifrit
Ifrit can be learned from a Topaz. Its attack, Flames of Hell, deals fire-elemental damage to opponents. It costs 26 MP to summon.
 * Spell power (FLA) equals 42+# of Topaz in stock
 * Spell power (TM) equals 37

Ramuh
Ramuh can be learned from a Peridot. Its attack, Judgment Bolt, deals lightning-elemental damage to opponents. It costs 22 MP to summon.
 * Spell power (FLA) equals 32+# of Peridot in stock
 * Spell power (TM) equals 31

Atomos
Atomos can be learned from an Amethyst. Its attack, G-Force 199, damages an enemy equal to a certain percentage of their Max HP (total damage is capped at 9,999). It costs 32 MP to summon.
 * HP reduction (FLA) equals (30+# of Amethyst in stock)%
 * HP reduction (TM) equals 16%

Odin
Odin can be learned from a Dark Matter. Its attack, Zantetsuken, deals Instant Death. If Garnet equips the Odin's Sword ability, Odin will deal non-elemental damage to all surviving enemies as well. When randomly summoned in Trance Mode he does non-elemental damage, whether or not Odin's Sword is equipped. It costs 28 MP to summon.
 * Chance of Instant Death (FLA) equals (# of Ore in stock/2)%
 * Spell power of "Odin's sword"-attack (FLA) equals 145 - # of Ore in stock
 * Spell power (TM) equals 49

Garnet learns Odin's Sword from Ancient Aroma, which can be found from Ipsen's Castle.

Leviathan
Leviathan can be learned from an Aquamarine. Its attack, Tsunami, deals water-elemental damage to opponents. It costs 42 MP to summon.
 * Spell power (FLA) equals 59+# of Aquamarine in stock
 * Spell power (TM) equals 53

Bahamut
Bahamut can be learned from a Garnet. Its attack, Mega Flare, deals non-elemental damage to opponents. It costs 56 MP to summon.
 * Spell power (FLA) equals 88+# of Garnet in stock
 * Spell power (TM) equals 77

Ark
Ark can be learned from a Pumice. Its attack, Eternal Darkness, deals shadow-elemental damage to opponents. It costs 80 MP to summon.
 * Spell power (FLA) equals 106+# of Lapis Lazuli in stock
 * Spell power (TM) equals 87

Eiko's Summons
Eiko's summons, while fewer in number than Garnet's, are a little more complex, as the attacks/effects of her summons change according to different variables, such as the equipped add-on.

Fenrir
Fenrir can be learned from a Sapphire. Its attack is add-on dependent. When summoned normally its attack is called Terrestrial Rage and does earth-elemental damage by summoning Titan. If Eiko equips the Maiden Prayer, Fenrir attacks with Millennial Decay, dealing wind-elemental damage. It costs 30 MP to summon.
 * Spell power for Terrestrial Rage equals 42+# of Sapphires in stock
 * Spell power for Millennial Decay equals 44+# of Sapphires in stock

Phoenix
Phoenix can be learned from a Phoenix Pinion. Its attack, Rebirth Flame, is animation length and chance dependent, and deals light to moderate damage to enemies while reviving KO'd allies. If entire party is KO'd, there's a slight chance of auto-summoning that revives the party, but does no damage to enemies. It costs 32 MP to summon, apart from when it is automatically summoned to prevent Game Over, when it costs no MP at all. Phoenix revives the party with double the HP if the Concentrate ability is equipped.
 * Amount of Max HP regained on revive (FLA) equals 30+revived character's spirit stat
 * Chance of Auto-summon equals (# of Phoenix Pinions/256)*100

Carbuncle
Carbuncle can be learned from a Ruby. Its attack is add-on and animation length dependent. Unlike other summons, it does no damage to the enemy, it only casts helpful status effects on the party. The difference between short animation (SA) and full length animation (FLA) is that if the FLA is played, Protect will be cast in addition to the normal status effect. It costs 24 MP to summon.
 * Normal summon "attack" is called Ruby Light and casts Reflect on the party.
 * If Eiko equips Diamond, "attack" is called Diamond Light and casts Vanish on the party.
 * If Eiko equips Emerald, "attack" is called Emerald Light and casts Haste on the party.
 * If Eiko equips Moonstone, "attack" is called Pearl Light and casts Shell on the party.

Madeen
Madeen can be learned from the Ribbon. Its attack, Terra Homing, does holy-elemental damage. It costs 54 MP to summon.
 * Spell power equals 71+Eiko's level