Ghost (Final Fantasy VI character)

The Ghost, known in-game only as ??????, is a temporarily playable character in Final Fantasy VI. There are two Ghosts, which differ only in their starting level. As many Ghosts may join the party as there are empty spaces in it - if Shadow leaves the party before boarding the Phantom Train, the player may choose to recruit two Ghosts, but if he is in the party only one Ghost can join.

A Ghost can join the party briefly on the Phantom Train and helps Sabin, Cyan, and Shadow (if available) reach the locomotive. Depending on where on the Phantom Train the player recruits a Ghost, it will be at one of two levels. All Ghosts leave the party shortly before the boss fight with the Phantom Train.

Battle
The Ghost is an undead character. Thus, he is only equipped with a Lich Ring. By the effect of the ring, all healing items will damage the Ghost in battle, and if he is KO'd he cannot be revived; Phoenix Downs will have no effect. To keep the ghost alive, so to speak, he must be healed outside of battle. If a Ghost is KO'd when the battle ends, it will automatically vanish from the party. Besides the Lich Ring, the Ghost has no equipment.

The Ghost only has three abilities: Attack, Possess and Items. Possess permanently removes the Ghost from the party and causes instant death to a single target, and the command is not meant to check the target if it's immune to death. This allows the Ghost to hypothetically kill any boss in the game instantly, though as it only joins on the Phantom Train, this cannot be utilized.

If the Possess command is hacked into one of the thirteen playable character's command list, except for Umaro, the character that used the Possess command and successfully killed an enemy will be removed from the player's current roster and will be loitering on board the airship. That character will be available to be put back into the player's party when the player visits the airship to switch characters.

Trivia

 * In Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, the battlegen item associated with the Phantom Train stage is "Ghost".
 * In the SNES release of Final Fantasy VI, Sabin and Cyan refer to the Ghosts as "it". In the Game Boy Advance release, they refer to it as a "he".
 * The Ghost is never named in-game, and simply is titled ?????? on the game menu, like Terra before she is named. However, official guides, such as the 20th Anniversary Ultimania and the Bradygames Anthology guide, refer to the character as "Ghost".
 * If, through use of a glitch or cheats, Ghost and Gogo are in the player's party at the same time, Gogo is capable of equipping and using Possess.
 * In the original SNES release of Romancing SaGa, Red Mage had the same sprite as the Ghost. This is because the Final Fantasy VI ghost was recycled and recolored red for the Red Mage sprite.