Amarant Coral

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Amarant Coral
(サラマンダー・コーラル, Saramandā Kōraru?) Alternate names: Salamander Coral, The Flaming Amarant, Red, Scarlet Hair, Red-headed Man
Portraits
Other appearances	Record Keeper Brave Exvius All other appearances
Biographical information
Age	26 (born November, 1773)
Occupation	Mercenary
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Height	226.3cm
Laterality	Right-handed
Gameplay details
Type	Player character
Job class	Monk/Ninja
Weapon	Claws
Armor	Hats, armlets, light armor
Behind the scenes information
Designer	Toshiyuki Itahana

Arrogance—The only dependable thing about the future is uncertainty.

Amarant's quote

Amarant Coral (known as Salamander Coral in the Japanese version) is a playable character from Final Fantasy IX. He is introduced to the player as Red-headed Man before his name can be chosen.

Although Amarant appears different from most human characters in the game, being much taller with blue-hued skin, the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania still lists his race as "human".

Profile

Appearance

Amarant appears in-game as a tall man with red dreadlocks, a red chinstrap beard and bluish skin. His outfit consists of a green vest and trousers, a red belt round his waist, red bands on his upper arms and green bands on his wrists, and brownish-red boots. He has salamander tattoos on his shoulders, but doesn't appear to have them when he enters Trance and his appearance changes. When in Trance, Amarant's clothes disappear (save for a fundoshi) and his skin turns dark with purple highlights. He looks more like an ape than usual. His facial hair and dreadlocks also turn black.

Personality

A rather arrogant man who fights with the honor of a warrior, Amarant also seems a little naive, confused at Zidane's actions throughout the game, and follows him to understand more. He is enigmatic and rarely opens up.

Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

When Amarant was 18 he started to make a name for himself in Treno. When he was 24 Amarant worked as a bodyguard for a noble, and one day, Zidane stole something from his post. Amarant tried to stop him, but Zidane framed him as the culprit. Amarant was intrigued by Zidane, and was confused by the thief’s attitude. Now a wanted man, Amarant soon fled Treno.

Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.

Queen Brahne hires Amarant and a woman named Lani to steal Princess Garnet's pendant and kill Vivi. Amarant asks if he can kill Zidane as well, and Brahne says he can after he deals with her requests. He passes through Fossil Roo and arrives in Madain Sari, where Lani takes Eiko hostage in return for Garnet's pendant. Amarant stops her, as he does not approve of hostage-taking, calls Lani a "scumbag" and tells her to get lost.

Amarant challenges Zidane to a fight and loses. He feels disgraced, and is confused by Zidane's mercy. The next day Amarant returns to the village, curious about what makes Zidane so powerful. Zidane accepts his help in accompanying the party, but they have plenty of disputes as they travel to the Iifa Tree and watch the battle between Kuja and Queen Brahne. Amarant accompanies Zidane down the roots of the tree to the shore, and returns to Alexandria with him.

In Alexandria, Amarant meets up with Freya, and challenges her to a fight. The guards break them up, and Zidane takes the blame. He accompanies Zidane, Freya, and Vivi to the castle where they meet up with Eiko and request a meeting with Garnet, now a queen. Amarant returns to Treno, reflecting on the events that happened in the city. Outside the auction house where Amarant formerly served as a guard he tells Freya about his past and his meeting with Zidane, much to her amusement.

Alexandria comes under attack by Kuja who has summoned Bahamut to attack the kingdom. Zidane and Eiko round up Freya, Vivi, and Amarant and return to Alexandria on the Hilda Garde II with Regent Cid and Erin. On the way, Eiko receives a mysterious distress call and jumps from the airship, meeting with Garnet and explains about Holy Judgment.

Amarant is among those who watch as the pair summons Alexander, defeating Bahamut. Amarant accompanies Zidane and his friends to the tower where Garnet and Eiko are found. He leaves with Freya, Vivi, and Cid just in time to see the Invincible destroy Alexandria and witnesses Zidane save Garnet and Eiko.

Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.

The party travels to Lindblum to recuperate, and Amarant accompanies Zidane wherever he goes for the rest of the journey. When they get to Ipsen's Castle to find a way to open the gate to Terra, Kuja's homeworld, Amarant attempts to find the clue alone to prove his method superior to teamwork. He beats Zidane to the clue, which turns out to be mirrors, dictating the location of four shrines.

Amarant falls into a trap on the way out, forcing Zidane to re-enter the castle to save him. Amarant accepts Zidane as an ally and visits the Fire Shrine with Freya to help break the seal on Terra. He accompanies Zidane to Terra and, along with the other party members, helps Zidane break from his daze when Garland almost steals his soul. Kuja goes into Trance and destroys Terra, and Amarant accompanies Zidane to Memoria where Kuja and Necron are finally defeated.

Some time later, Amarant walks along the Treno Gate where he stumbles upon Lani, and the two head for Alexandria to see Tantalus perform I Want to be Your Canary.

Spoilers end here.

Gameplay

Main article: Amarant Coral gameplay

Amarant wields claws in battle, and his special abilities are Throw and Flair. Throw allows him to throw weapons and throwable offensive items at enemies to deal heavy damage. Flair allows him to cast offensive or defensive abilities. In Trance, this becomes Elan, and hits all targets instead of one.

Amarant is also fought as a boss before being recruited.

Musical themes

"Amarant's Theme" from Final Fantasy IX

"Amarant's Theme" is named for himself, and plays during scenes in which Amarant questions Zidane's ways. It is a piece with a moderate tempo and changes from softer to louder constantly throughout the piece.

Other appearances

Main article: Amarant Coral other appearances

Amarant has made appearances in the following games in the Final Fantasy series:

• Dissidia Final Fantasy as a cameo.
• Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
• Final Fantasy Artniks as a series of cards.
• Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
• Final Fantasy Brave Exvius as a summonable vision.
• Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
• Tetra Master as an opponent and cards.
• Triple Triad as a series of cards.

Gallery

Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.

Concept artwork.

Concept artwork.

Trance concept artwork.

Arrogance artwork.

Arrogance.

Amarant's wanted poster in Treno pub.

Amarant using a Flair ability.

Victory pose.

Amarant's ready pose.

Etymology

[view · edit · purge]An amaranth is a genus of herbs recognizable for its vivid hue. There are several instances in which the game refers to Amarant's vivid hair color. It is likely his name would be spelled with the "h" on the end if the letter limitation for names were set at eight letters instead of seven. There are numerous mentions of the amaranth growing at the base of the tree of life in literature (Aesop and Milton come to mind). It's possible that Amarant, who joins the party to venture to the Iifa Tree, might have been chosen as the name for the English translation for this reason.

He is named Salamander in the Japanese version of the game. [view · edit · purge]Salamander is a mythological reptile believed to be able to breathe and resist fire. In legends, ancient alchemists are said to use Salamanders to determine the heat of the fire necessary to turn lead to gold.. Hence Amarant's moniker "Flaming Amarant" (or "Flaming Salamander").

He is known as Scarlet Hair in the boss battle against him before he is named. [view · edit · purge]Scarlet is a bright red with a slight orange tinge. Scarlet and other bright shades of red are associated with courage, force, passion, heat, and joy. In the Roman Catholic Church, scarlet is worn by a cardinal, and is associated with the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs, and with sacrifice. Scarlet is also often associated with immorality and sin, particularly prostitution or adultery, largely because of a passage referring to "The Great Harlot", "dressed in purple and scarlet", in the Bible.

The French translation of Amarant's name, "Tarask", could be a reference to the Tarasque, a dragon-like creature from French legend. [view · edit · purge]According to Christian legend, the Tarasque was a giant sea serpent with a lion's head, turtle shell, and scorpion tail that terrorized France. Saint Martha charmed the Tarasque and led it to a town, where the townspeople killed it. The Tarasque offered no resistance.

His German name, Mahagon, could be a variation on the word mahogany (Mahagoni in German), which is a reddish-brown hard wood.

[view · edit · purge]Precious coral is the common name given to Corallium rubrum and several related species of marine coral. The distinguishing characteristic of precious corals is their durable and intensely colored red or pink skeleton, which is used for making jewelry.

Trivia

• When Amarant joins the party at Madain Sari, it is the first time the player is prompted to choose between party members.
• When Amarant first joins the party, he refuses to do a victory pose. After being rescued in Ipsen's Castle, he will begin doing his victory pose after winning a battle. His pose consists of sitting down on the ground.
• Amarant and Steiner are the only humans of the eight main characters. Zidane is a Genome, Vivi is a black mage, Freya is a Burmecian, Quina is a Qu, and Garnet and Eiko are summoners.
• Amarant's Flair attack, No Mercy, originally appeared in Final Fantasy VIII as Seifer's Limit Break. It also appeared on the wall in the Sector 8 Slums of Final Fantasy VII.
• Amarant and Queen Brahne are the only humans shown in Final Fantasy IX that have blue skin.
• Amarant is the only permanent party member who does not, at some point, take a leadership role on the field.
• The only FMV Amarant appears in is at the game's finale.
• In the German version Amarant's No Mercy skill is called Mahagomeha, a word play with his German name (Mahagon) and the famous Kamehameha from Dragonball that was popular at that time Final Fantasy IX first came out.