Garland (Final Fantasy)



Garland (ガーランド Gārando) is the primary antagonist in the original Final Fantasy. A former knight of Cornelia who has fallen from grace, the Warriors of Light fight him near the beginning of the game. Although dispatched, it is discovered that Garland has enacted a plan to create a time loop, allowing him to exist forever and eventually become the demon Chaos.

Story
The exact backstory of Garland seems to be unexplored. One man in Castle Cornelia mentions that Garland "Didn't used to be bad...", as Garland was once one of the king's top knights. His horned helmet, while human, is a subtle hint to the monster he becomes.

Prior to the events of the game, Garland kidnaps Princess Sarah and flees to the Temple of Chaos, demanding the king hand control of the kingdom to him in exchange for her life. The Warriors of Light travel to the Temple and battle Garland, and easily kill him and rescue Sarah. Afterward, the warriors traveled the world to fight the Four Fiends of Chaos that had drained the Crystals of their power. However, the power of the Crystals that the Fiends had drained were funneled into a Dark Crystal in the Temple of Chaos, opening a portal to the past.

With the Crystals restored, the Warriors of Light are told that the Fiends were originally sent from two thousand years in the past, and their master is in that time. Using the Dark Crystal, the Warriors travel to the past and defeat the fiends again, and eventually find Garland alive. Garland tells the Warriors of Light that the power of the Four Fiends in the present sent him to the past when he was on the brink of death after his defeat, and Garland then sent the Four Fiends in the past to the present. By this, Garland has created a time loop that will allow him to live forever.

Garland absorbs the power of the Fiends and transforms into Chaos to do battle with the heroes. However, Chaos is defeated and the time loop is broken, restoring the land. The epilogue states that when the Warriors of Light return to the future, Garland will be among those waiting and the time loop, now broken, will have never existed. This suggests that Garland may have remained the benevolent knight of Cornelia he once was, but it is not directly stated.

Backstory
Dissidia Final Fantasy adds to Garland's history extensively through the Cosmos Reports.

Garland was created in Lufenia by Cid to utilize the "power of discord," in order to fight the Lufenians' enemies. He and his wife saw Garland as their own child, rather than just an experiment. As such, he was raised as their own, until he was taken away to a research laboratory. Experiments were performed upon him to enhance his abilities, and he was used to defeat Omega and the Summoned Beasts of this world being used by the enemies of his captors to wage war on them, ultimately destroying the enemy civilization. Garland then became non-responsive, so his captors cloned his foster mother to attempt to regain control of his powers.

Garland was eventually rescued by his true foster mother, though he was twisted and thin from the experiments and warfare. On their way out, his mother was severely injured by a soldier who caught them escaping, which eventually led to Garland unconsciously summoning The Void which swallowed him into nothingness, leaving his adoptive mother alone in the decimated facility. What happens next is unclear, but Garland's fate becomes intertwined with Chaos and he is eventually summoned by the god as one of the villains to fight the Warriors of Cosmos

Near the end of the game, Garland speaks to Chaos and tells him that Chaos will send him two thousand years into the past to become Chaos himself. This, plus the Cosmos Reports, seem to suggest that the Garland of Dissidia is the same entity as the Garland of Final Fantasy, or it may simply be another of Dissidia's many allusions to previous games.

Personality
In the original Final Fantasy, Garland's personality receives little in the way of development. In Dissidia Final Fantasy, however, he seems to have a direct and brutal personality with a love of war and conflict, which the other characters reference in their battle quotes. He also has an obsession with the concept of endless cycles, alluding to the Time Loop in the original game and a strong connection to Chaos.

Battle


Being the first boss, Garland has only physical attacks. As such, the battle against him will be rather simple and straightforward. The player's physical attackers, if any, should attack each round, with their healer using their spells only when needed and their offensive mage attacking each round with whatever spells they have.

Dissidia Final Fantasy


Chaos has summoned a combined force of Final Fantasy's ultimate villains in an attempt to gain control of a number of Crystals, resulting in total control of the Final Fantasy worlds. Garland is one of these villains, representing the original Final Fantasy and opposing Warrior of Light.

As Chaos' right-hand warrior, Garland knows above the other villains the true nature of the war and its endless cycle. Confident he will be reborn no matter how often he is struck down, he enjoys the battles of the war and appears to attack the heroes several times, and acts as counsel to the villains. However, Garland's true connection to Chaos and the cycle of war is not revealed until the game's final storyline, when the villains act of their own volition and desert Chaos. This leaves Garland as the only villain standing alongside the god of discord, when he reveals the truth to him.

Kingdom Hearts Mobile
A costume of Garland in his Dissidia Final Fantasy attire appears in Kingdom Hearts Mobile.

8-Bit Theater
Garland is a primary villain in the webcomic 8-Bit Theater, where he is actually a good person, and serves the Light Warriors refreshments when they attack his lair. As the leader of the Dark Warriors, Garland is the longest-running enemy the Light Warriors have faced, although what few evil deeds he attempts usually do not pan out.

Trivia

 * Garland is Hironobu Sakaguchi's favorite villain in the Final Fantasy series.

Garland (FFI) Gárland (Final Fantasy)