Banon

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Banon
(バナン, Banan?, lit. Bannan)
Portraits
Sprites
Biographical information
Home	South Figaro
Age	54 (born October 23)
Affiliation	Returners
Occupation	Returner leader
Hobby	Reading
Loves	Peace
Hates	Chaos
Zodiac sign	Libra
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Height	172 cm (172 cm) 5' 8"
Weight	70 kg 154 lbs.
Blood type	A
Gameplay details
Type	Guest character
Job class	Oracle
Unique abilities	Pray
Weapon	Punisher
Armor	Magus Hat and Silk Robe
Behind the scenes information
Designer	Yoshitaka Amano

Your power is a gift, not a curse. No matter what happens, you must remember that. You are this world's last ray of light...our final hope.

Banon, to Terra

Banon is a temporary playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is the leader of the Returners, a secret resistance movement formed against the Gestahlian Empire.

Profile

Appearance

Banon has large, bushy brown hair with a beard and mustache. He wears a brown cloak with layered green, orange, and yellow linings, and green robes with black pauldrons, red bracers, brown boots, and a belt with a zebra-striped sash. His in-game sprites simplify this to an orange cloak with a large collar that covers his upper chest, a green tunic, red bracers, red pants, and brown boots. Banon's hair is long and straight rather than messy, but he retains his beard and mustache.

Personality

Banon is pragmatic and straightforward. He is forthcoming to Terra about her being the Returners' only hope to turn the tide of the war and speaks openly of rumors that she killed fifty Imperial soldiers; when Locke protests that she has no memory of doing this, Banon replies "hiding from the truth won't change it!" However, he is not harsh, and coaxes Terra to see her magical abilities as a gift, not a curse, that can be used to help defeat the Empire.

Banon is quick to remind others of the near-destruction of the world during the War of the Magi and fears that the Gestahlian Empire's pursuit of Magitek power will result in history repeating itself. Instead of using Magitek machinery to combat the Empire, Banon believes the best course is to get the aid of the espers directly, and believes the war can be brought to an end swiftly if they can earn their trust. When the espers decimate the Empire, Banon can barely believe they could be capable of wreaking such destruction.

Abilities

Banon's unique ability is Pray that restores HP to his allies. Because magic is thought to be a myth and normal humans cannot cast it, it is unknown how Banon has this power.

Story

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

File:Banon-FFVI-iOS.png

Banon meets Terra.

Edgar, Locke and Terra escaped Figaro Castle after Kefka's attack, and Edgar asked Terra to come with them to the Returners' Hideout and meet Banon if she wanted to be protected from the Empire and learn more about her powers. At the hideout Banon told them a story about a man who opened a box that unleashed the evils of humanity on the world, leaving only a ray of light: hope. Banon believed Terra is that light, their last hope to repel the Empire. He besought her to speak to her allies and hear their reasons for fighting the Empire and see if it convinced her to aid them.

While the Returners were meeting, the Empire conquered South Figaro to use as a staging ground for further northern invasions, and a force began to make its way over Mt. Kolts to the Returners' base. When one of their agents brought warning of this, Banon elected to flee down the Lethe River with Terra, Edgar, and Sabin, and go to Narshe to investigate the frozen esper there that first brought Terra to the Returners' attention; Locke would go to South Figaro to sabotage the Empire's advance. On the river the four were attacked by Ultros and Sabin was washed away, but the remaining three made it to Narshe safely.

At Narshe the local guards refused the three entry, as they recognized Terra from when she had attacked the town with the Empire. The guards knocked Banon back when he tried to explain the situation. Terra remembered a secret entrance into the mines that Locke had used to get her out of town, and they used this entrance to sneak into town and meet with Arvis, a secret supporter of the Returners. Arvis warned Banon that the townsfolk were adamant about remaining neutral in the Imperial war, and Banon met with the Elder of Narshe to try and convince him of the need to act against the Empire, but the elder was unmoved.

During the negotiations Sabin and Locke arrived with new allies: Cyan, Gau, and Celes, a former Imperial general. Celes knew the Empire was planning to attack Narshe with a larger force, and when a guard reported that force approaching, the elder agreed to at least allow the Returners to protect the town. At the cliffs above the town where the frozen esper had been moved, the Returners made their stand; with Banon guarding the passage to the esper, the other Returners fought off the Imperials and faced Kefka commanding the attack and sent him into retreat.

After the battle, Terra confronted the esper and transformed into an esper-like being that flew away. Banon remained in Narshe while the party searched for Terra. When they found her and discovered her origins—that she was the child of an esper and a human—they returned to Narshe. Banon informed them the city had agreed to support the Returners, and they had been coming up with a plan to attack the Empire with a combination of Figaro's machinery and Narshe's resources, but they lacked the manpower. Banon suggested Terra go to the Sealed Gate to the esper world and ask the espers for aid, and they could storm the Empire from the east while the Returners invaded from the west.

Banon's plan worked better than he expected: a group of espers rushed out of the Sealed Gate and laid waste to the imperial capital Vector, causing massive destruction and casualties. When the coalition of Returner forces reached the city, the Imperials put up no resistance and surrendered. The party arrived at Vector and had a banquet with Emperor Gestahl, and he told them the war was over and asked them to help the Empire locate the espers before they attacked again. Banon was dubious of the idea of teaming up with the Empire to look for espers, but the party went along with it.

Banon's fate after this point is unclear; he is never seen again once the party departs Vector to go on the Imperial expedition.

Spoilers end here.

Gameplay

Banon is an Oracle (神官, Shinkan?, lit. Shinto Priest). His four primary stats are very low, with his Magic being mediocre. However, his defensive stats—Defense, Magic Defense, Evasion, and Magic Evasion—are higher than any of the playable cast save for Umaro. His equipment is permanently set to a Punisher, Magus Hat, and Silk Robe. Because Banon has no MP, the Punisher's effect to deal a critical hit at the cost of MP will not trigger. Though the Punisher has high attack power for the point in the game he is playable, Banon's extremely low Strength makes him an ineffective attacker.

Banon's ability is Pray, which casts the equivalent of a Cura spell on the party. Pray is considered a spell, which means it is affected by Runic and Reflect, and Banon is unable to use Pray if he is affected by Silence or Imp. With Pray Banon is a very effective support character; Terra, Edgar, and Sabin can focus on attacking while Banon spends every turn using Pray to top up the party's HP. A level grinding spot on the Lethe River allows the player to battle enemies over and over, using Banon's Pray to sustain the party.

While Banon is in the party, if he is KO'd it is an instant Game Over. Through the player is not informed of this until boarding the raft on the Lethe River, this condition is in effect the entire time Banon is in the party, including the Three Scenarios. For this reason it is best to keep Banon in the back row. Because his level is much lower than the party's (he is the average of the party's levels minus three), it is beneficial to level up Banon a bit outside the Returner Hideout before boarding the raft.

Stats

Name Initial Stats Strength 10 Speed 24 Stamina 11 Magic 32 Attack 6 Defense 56 Evasion 36% Magic Defense 51 Magic Evasion 32% Escape Success 2 HP Gain 46 MP Gain 16 Level Averaging -3

Level HP MP EXP + 1 46 16 0 2 57 20 32 3 69 24 96 4 83 29 208 5 100 34 400 6 120 40 672 7 142 46 1056 8 166 53 1552 9 192 61 2184 10 219 69 2976 11 247 78 3936 12 277 87 5080 13 312 97 6432 14 351 107 7992 15 395 117 9784 16 445 127 11840 17 499 137 14152 18 556 148 16736 19 617 159 19616 20 682 170 22832 21 749 181 26360 22 818 192 30232 23 890 204 34456 24 966 216 39056 25 1045 228 44072 26 1127 240 49464 27 1213 252 55288 28 1303 265 61568 29 1398 278 68304 30 1497 291 75496 31 1597 304 83184 32 1698 317 91384 33 1800 331 100088 34 1902 345 109344 35 2005 359 119136 36 2109 373 129504 37 2215 387 140464 38 2322 402 152008 39 2430 417 164184 40 2540 432 176976 41 2651 447 190416 42 2764 462 204520 43 2878 478 219320 44 2994 494 234808 45 3111 510 251000 46 3230 526 267936 47 3350 542 285600 48 3472 559 304040 49 3597 576 323248 50 3725 593 343248 51 3855 609 364064 52 3986 624 385696 53 4119 638 408160 54 4253 651 431488 55 4389 663 455680 56 4526 674 480776 57 4665 684 506760 58 4807 693 533680 59 4951 701 561528 60 5096 708 590320 61 5243 714 620096 62 5391 719 650840 63 5541 724 682600 64 5693 730 715368 65 5846 736 749160 66 6001 743 784016 67 6157 750 819920 68 6315 757 856920 69 6475 765 895016 70 6637 773 934208 71 6797 781 974536 72 6952 789 1016000 73 7103 797 1058640 74 7248 804 1102456 75 7388 811 1147456 76 7524 818 1193648 77 7656 824 1241080 78 7782 830 1289744 79 7902 836 1339672 80 8019 842 1390872 81 8132 847 1443368 82 8242 852 1497160 83 8350 857 1552264 84 8455 862 1608712 85 8557 867 1666512 86 8657 872 1725688 87 8755 877 1786240 88 8850 883 1848184 89 8942 889 1911552 90 9032 895 1976352 91 9120 901 2042608 92 9207 907 2110320 93 9292 914 2179504 94 9375 922 2250192 95 9457 931 2322392 96 9537 941 2396128 97 9620 952 2471400 98 9706 964 2548224 99 9794 977 2637112

Other appearances

Final Fantasy

In the Dawn of Souls and subsequent remakes of the original Final Fantasy, Banon is one of the automatic names the player can choose for the Warrior job.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game

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Behind the scenes

In the Super NES and PlayStation Anthology versions, when Edgar suggests using Magitek weapons of their own to combat the Empire, Banon's refusal to resort to such a tactic is disabled due to an oversight in the dialogue coding, and the conversation skips to him suggesting they have Terra speak to the frozen esper to wake it up. This has the effect of giving the impression Banon concurs with Edgar's idea instead of opposing it. This glitch is fixed in the Game Boy Advance version, making it clear that Banon's intent from the beginning was to combat the Empire with the aid of espers, either the frozen esper or the espers beyond the Sealed Gate.

Banon's fate is unknown. Given that Gestahl's alliance with the Returners was revealed to be a trick, they may have had him killed when the deception was revealed. Otherwise it would seem that Banon perished in the cataclysm. When Hironobu Sakaguchi was asked what happened to Banon and Arvis (whose fate is also ambiguous), Sakaguchi replied "use your imagination".

Banon's sprite with a different palette is reused for Duncan.

Gallery

Banon's sprites (SNES).

Etymology

[view · edit · purge]Banon is a Welsh female name meaning "Queen". An alternate spelling (Bannon) is a family name of Anglo-Saxon origin that translates to "warrior" or "soldier".