Four Fiends

The Four Fiends are a group of recurring enemies and characters in the Final Fantasy series. They are associated with the four elemental forces - fire, water, wind and earth. They can be seen as counterbalances to the four Crystals, as the Four Fiends often seek to subvert the influence the Crystals have on the world.

Final Fantasy
The Four Fiends are demons that serve Chaos. They sequester themselves in caverns around the world to drain the Crystals of their energy. Each are defeated by the Warriors of Light, only to be fought again in the final dungeon, the Chaos Shrine, before the final battle with Chaos. In the Dawn of Souls and the 20th Anniversary version, the Four Fiends of Final Fantasy IV can be fought in the extra Soul of Chaos dungeon, Hellfire Chasm.

Final Fantasy IV
The Four Archfiends or Four Fiends of the Elements play a major role in this game, as they act as go-betweens between Golbez and Zemus, keeping tabs on Zemus' control of Golbez while serving the latter as minions. They are Scarmiglione of Earth, Cagnazzo of Water, Barbariccia of the Wind, and Rubicante of Fire. Cecil's group has to fight each one once, and then he must fight all four together near the end of the game inside the Giant of Babil. They can also be fought as a single entity called Geryon in the DS remake.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
The Four Archfiends of Final Fantasy IV return in the sequel, as do the original Four Fiends from the original Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy IX
Referred to as "The Chaos Guardians," they are based on and directly named after the original Four Fiends of Final Fantasy: Maliris, Tiamat, Kraken, and Lich. Similar to the Chaos Guardians are the four guardians of the elemental shrines on Gaia that seal the entrance to Terra. The four of them appear very similar to the Chaos Guardians and bear the same elemental affinities. Only the Earth Guardian is fought, the other three are killed off-screen.

Kuja later creates the four of them from the memories of the Crystal in Memoria to try and kill Zidane and his friends as they track down Kuja within Memoria. Crystal palette swaps of the four are fought in the Crystal World, the final areas of the game.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
The Vile Four are the servants of the Dark King and attack the resting place of the Crystals to drain their energy. They are named Flamerus Rex, Ice Golem, Dualhead Hydra, and Pazuzu. Although they are called the Vile Four in the original English version, the Japanese version calls them the Shitennō ("Four Heavenly Kings"), which is the same as the Japanese name of the Final Fantasy IV Archfiends.

As in Final Fantasy, stronger versions of these foes are fought in the final dungeon, though they are not named the same, but are actually pallete swaps of the Vile Four.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
The demons are fiends who play a major role in this game, terrorizing the world in the past before the story began: The fire demon Belphegor possessing Arbraroc, Asmodeus posing as the king of Guera and manipulating Araidne to achieve his goals, Beelzebub extorting the people of Urbeth with the cure to a plague he caused, and Mammon freezing the hearts of the residents of Invidia in ice. However, the heroes end up being sent back in time to stop the demons' evil.

Final Fantasy Legends: Hikari to Yami no Senshi
The Four Generals are the commanders of the military of the Avalon Empire. Baugauven, who controls fire, is a shrewd man who invents his own powerful techniques. Asmodia, who controls earth, is able to exude a miasma that renders him invincible. Styx, who controls water, is also a witch with knowledge of powerful curses. Vata, who controls wind, is the youngest of the four, and accidentally gains the power of the Dragoon.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Both the Four Fiends from the original game and the Archfiends from Final Fantasy IV appear in Dissidia as summons. The Four Fiends all have effects involving timers, and their effects occur when these reach zero, while the Archfiends' effects involve the opponent's summon, and they will act when the opponent summons his summon. Both groups share effects, which are Bravery value exchange, Bravery value reset, triple current Bravery and fix Bravery value.

The Four Fiends are also shown in portraits in the corners of the Chaos Shrine arena. The Archfiends have an equipment set named for them that gives the "Elemental Archfiend" combination.

Garland's four HP Attacks (Earthquake, Blaze, Tsunami and Cyclone), as well as the forms his sword takes, are based on the Four Fiends. The bonus sample voices that the player can unlock for Garland in the PP Catalog are of him speaking the names of the Four Fiends, as well as Chaos.