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.

Appearance and Personality
Palom first appears as a young boy wearing a striped green and white costume, with an orange cloak and green boots. His hair is also pulled into a little ponytail. This is in contrast with Porom, who has longer hair and wears the same outfit as her brother, but it is orange instead of green. In 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 is 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 are shown wearing these amulets in their artwork and renders, and can be seen wearing them in-game in some releases.

When young, 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. He has matured in The After Years, and at one point tells Leonora not to "get too confident. This is usually the point where people let their egos sink them". Palom often teases the Leonora after taking her under his wing, but he eventually reveals to have faith and a certain 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 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. The Elder also orders them to spy on Cecil to make sure he stays true to his words. They accompany him to Mount Ordeals, where Palom uses his magic to extinguish some 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 top of the mountain, they are attacked by Scarmiglione of Earth, one of Golbez's Elemental Archfiends, but they are able to defeat him twice. After this, 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. It is here Palom and Porom reveal to Cecil they were spying 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 as well. While the Elder is reluctant at first, he agrees to let them do so.

In Baron, the party enters Baron Castle via the Ancient Waterway after finding Yang. They meet up with Baigan there, who offers to help Cecil. Palom and Porom smell a monster in the area, revealing that Baigan has now taken on the form of a monster. Once the party defeats Baigan, Palom and Porom warn Cecil to tread lightly around Baron. Cecil then proceeds to meet the king, who reveals himself to be 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 begin to cave in. Palom and Porom then save Cecil's party by casting Break on 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 later healed by the Elder, who takes them to the battle with the Giant of Babil. After the battle, they send their wishes at the Prayer Dais in Mysidia for Cecil. In the ending, Palom cuts his magic classes to flirt with a girl about his role in the story, 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 eventually 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


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. This causes a rift between him and Porom as he intends to leave the rigid Mysidia to travel abroad in order to become a Great Sage himself. In a flashback during Porom's Tale that takes place shortly after Final Fantasy IV's ending, Palom sails with Porom to travel the world like Tellah. They visit Tellah and Anna's grave-sites, where he wonders if Anna is what their mother would have been like if they knew her. In the Underground Lake, the twins encounter the Cooler Mammoth and defeat it, much to Palom's satisfaction.

Several years later, 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.

At the start of Palom's tale, he 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 suddenly destroyed by Shiva, who was summoned by the Mysterious Girl. Palom teleports Leonora away from them, and casts Break on both himself and the Crystal. Leonora goes against Palom's wishes and returns to his side before the Mysterious Girl decides to break 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 during Final Fantasy IV's ending. While Palom acknowledges Leonora is not the best Epopt, he says she still passes with flying colors as his partner. They band together in an effort to defeat the Mysterious Girl, but are frozen before losing possession of the Crystal.

Palom and Leonora are later 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 consequently 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 that women can be dangerous things.

Following the defeat of the Creator, the party escape the True Moon. Palom is last seen in Mysidia with Porom, where the Elder passes on his leadership to both of them. Leonora visits them, who decides to abandon her Epopt position in order to spend more time with Palom to become a Sage.

Equipment and Stats
Palom is a Black Mage, with his stats being weighted toward magic. He cannot equip bows in the DS remake.

Final Fantasy IV
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 remake, 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 Complete Collection, the boost from Bluff stacks with several uses, increasing his Intelligence each time. In the DS remake, Bluff only lasts a short time, typically for a turn or two.

Palom can also use Twincast, which allows him and Porom to cast spells together. They can cast Pyroblast, Comet, and in the Gameboy 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.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
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 that is 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 in the game, being 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 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 Trading Card Game
A few cards depict Palom in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. 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 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 and Porom are the youngest playable humans in the series.
 * In Final Fantasy XIII one of the major cities is named "Palumpolum", a reference to the twins.