Diabolos

See Diablos' summon sequences here.

Diabolos (ディアボロス, Diaborosu?), also known as Diablos, is a recurring creature in the Final Fantasy series that has most often appeared as a summoned monster. He first appeared in Final Fantasy VIII and his trademark ability is Dark Messenger, which usually deals fractional damage based on the target's HP. Even though his nature and backstory change, Diabolos's appearance throughout the series is consistent.

Appearances Edit

Final Fantasy VIEdit

Diabolos appears in the Game Boy Advance and subsequent versions. His magicite is obtained by defeating the Kaiser Dragon in the Dragons' Den. Dark Messenger deals non-elemental fractional damage reducing opponents' HP to 1/16, ignoring protection to Death, and also inflicts Sap. He costs 100 MP to summon. Diabolos teaches Graviga (x5), Gravija (x3). At level up, Diabolos provides a +100% boost to HP.

Final Fantasy VIIIEdit

Diablos is an optional boss who becomes a Guardian Force upon defeat. He can be obtained when the party receives the Magical Lamp from Headmaster Cid. Upon using the lamp in the menu the screen will dissolve and the player will fight Diablos.

Diablos learns HP-J, Mag-J and Hit-J junctions, HP and Magic boosting support abilities, and Mug, which lets one steal items from opponents with the Attack command. Its unique abilities are ones that reduce the frequency of random encounters and refine abilities that let the player make time magic and status magic from items. Because Diablos's attack power is determined differently from most GFs', it doesn't learn SumMag+ abilities or Boost.

Diablos's summon attack is Dark Messenger that deals damage in relation to the enemies' maximum HP count via a percentage equal to Diablos's level range (with a damage cap of 9,999).

Its compatibility item is Steel Orb and it also gains compatibility when the person junctioning it uses Demi and forbidden magic. Diablos doesn't have an "opposite" GF whose summoning would deplete its compatibility the most. Its Triple Triad card is dropped by its boss form.

Final Fantasy XIEdit

Diabolos is one of the five terrestrial Avatars, alongside Carbuncle, Fenrir, Phoenix, and Bahamut. He is the ruler and creator of the dreamworld known as Dynamis, and appears as a character and boss in the Chains of Promathia storyline.

Players who have defeated Diabolos can optionally face a far more powerful version of him in the quest "Waking Dreams" to forge a pact with Diabolos, gaining the ability to summon him. As a summon associated with dreams and sleep, many of Diabolos's moves are magic-based and some gain bonuses from being used when it is nighttime or when the enemy is asleep.

Diabolos is also the name of a server.

Blood Pact abilitiesEdit

Name	Level	Pact Type	MP	Effect
Ruinous Omen	1	Rage	All	Deals damage equal to a random percentage of HP to enemies within area of effect. Only available during Astral Flow.
Camisado	1	Rage	20	Deals minor physical blunt damage and knocks back the target.
Somnolence	20	Ward	30	Deals minor dark magic damage and weighs the target down.
Nightmare	29	Ward	42	Gradually deals dark damage, weakens attacks, and inflicts sleep on enemies within area of effect. This special sleep status prevents gradual damage from waking the afflicted targets.
Ultimate Terror	37	Ward	27	Decreases attributes of enemies within Area of Effect.
Noctoshield	49	Ward	92	Gives all Party members in area of effect the effect of Phalanx.
Diabolos's Favor	55	Avatar's Favor	0	Causes MP to Refresh for all party members near Diabolos, but weakens Diabolos's offensive power.
Dream Shroud	56	Ward	121	Enhances magic attack and magic defense for party members within area of effect.
Nether Blast	65	Rage	109	Delivers a ranged magical attack dealing moderate dark damage. Damage is fairly consistent, ignoring many defensive stats.
Night Terror	80	Rage	177	Deals powerful dark magic damage to a target. Damage receives a significant bonus when used on a sleeping target.
Pavor Nocturnus	98	Ward	246	Inflicts Instant Death on the target. Target will be Dispelled if Death fails. Chance to inflict Death increases if target was already slept with Nightmare.

Final Fantasy XIIEdit

Diabolos is a Mark and an otherworldly demonic gargoyle with a spear and fiery wings. It is fought at the Lhusu Mines.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant WingsEdit

Diabolos appears as a rank 2 Non-Elemental Flying summon. His regular attack is called Nightmare, while his special attack, Gravity, causes the Sap status.

Final Fantasy XIIIEdit

Concept art for a Diabolos fal'Cie exists, but it never appears in the game. Many different forms and styles were considered from an organic-looking creature to a mechanical one.

Final Fantasy XIVEdit

Diabolos appears as the final boss in the level 50 dungeon, Lost City of Amdapor. He uses both gravity magic and the skills of the Final Fantasy XI incarnation. To evade his Ruinous Omen attack, the party must memorize and open the correct door to the void which will protect the party while traveling through it.

Though defeated, Diabolos managed to escape the lost city. He later appears in Heavensward as the one responsible for awakening the voidsent trapped in the Void Ark, and carried off the coffin containing the Shadow Queen Scathach into a voidgate.

He sought the queen's resurrection for his own gain. After the Adventurer defeated Scathach in Dun Scaith, Diabolos absorbed her essence and faced of Eorzea's defenders once last time, ending in his defeat and banishment from the realm.

Final Fantasy Type-0Edit

Diabolos is a Vermilion Bird Eidolon obtained by completing the Chapter 7 Expert Trial "Operation Dragon Slayer". His attacks are drain-based as his movement involves him dispersing into a cloud of bats and striking anything that he passes through while healing him. One of Diabolos's attacks is a combo ending with him dispersing into a mass of bats which regenerate his health upon hitting Dark Strike.

His signature technique is Gravitation Ball (Graviton in his Astaroth variation) where Diabolos drains the health of anything within the area into a large sphere which, upon release, drifts towards its target and explodes on contact. He comes in three variations; Diabolos, Baalberith and Astaroth.

Bravely DefaultEdit

Diabolos is a demonkind enemy that appears in the Dark Aurora.

Bravely ArchiveEdit

Bravely Second: End LayerEdit

Final Fantasy DimensionsEdit

Diabolos is gained during Chapter 4: The Darkness section, when the Warriors of Darkness traverse the Lufenian Ruins where they find a dark orb floating in the Demon Corridor.

After touching the orb, Diabolos engages the party in battle. Upon defeat, Diabolos allows the Warriors of Darkness to summon him, costing 64 MP to summon. Diabolos's attack Dark Messenger hits all enemies and deals Darkness-element damage.

Diabolos and the Monk ability Vacuum Wave are the necessary components to unlock the Dark Judgement Fusion Ability. Dark Judgement removes 1/4 of all enemies' HP, reducing them to 3/4 of their current HP.

Final Fantasy Dimensions IIEdit

Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera OmniaEdit

Pictlogica Final FantasyEdit

Pictlogica Final Fantasy ≒Edit

Final Fantasy Airborne BrigadeEdit

Final Fantasy Record KeeperEdit

Diablos is a boss in some Final Fantasy VIII dungeons and events.

Diabolos was also set to appear as a Summoning ability bearing his Final Fantasy VIII appearance, but doesn't appear in the final product. Its summon ability is called Breath, its animation mimics his Final Fantasy VIII summoning sequence and the ability would likely deal dark-elemental magic damage to all targets.^[1]

Final Fantasy ExplorersEdit

Final Fantasy Explorers-ForceEdit

Final Fantasy Brave ExviusEdit

Mobius Final FantasyEdit

World of Final FantasyEdit

Final Fantasy Trading Card GameEdit

Diabolos is represented by a card of the aqua element portraying his appearance in Final Fantasy Type-0. Another card depicts Diabolos from Final Fantasy XI with a dark-elemental card, and a wind-elemental card for Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.

Triple TriadEdit

Diabolos from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius appears on Triple Triad cards in the version available via Final Fantasy Portal App.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearancesEdit

Lord of VermilionEdit

Crystal ConquestEdit

Diabolos is one of three summons. It deals massive damage to other characters.

Monster Hunter 4 UltimateEdit

As part of a Collaboration between Capcom and Square Enix, Tetsuya Nomura was asked to design various new Armor types for the playable characters, and their feline companions.

For Male Hunters Nomura created the Rage Armor set, which is based on Diabolos.

EtymologyEdit

[view · edit · purge]Diabolos is the Greek word for "devil". It has entered many languages to mean devil, such as Diabolus (Latin), Diavolo (Italian), Diablo (Spanish), Diable (French), and Diabo (Portuguese). Diabolos actually means "accuser" or "slanderer" and could also be connected to the Greek word diabolous, which means "divider" (which fits given his affinity with gravity element), but eventually the general word Diabolos became the specific name of the entity. In the original Greek rendering, it was used to refer to the Christian Devil (The New Testament was written in Greek). Devil is the English translation of Diabolos and in Christian belief, this being is the embodiment of evil.

The concept of the Devil is believed to originate in Zoroastrianism with Angra Mainyu (also known as Ahriman) as well as from the Judaic Satan in the Book of Job in the Old Testament. However, their Satan was merely the "devil's advocate", an angel who acted as a skeptic and whom God allowed to afflict Job with suffering. Satan is Hebrew for "prosecutor/accuser" or "adversary".

The concept of the summon Diabolos may be connected to the Jinn in Islamic mythology, similar to Ifrit. The djinn were the origins of genie myths and were spirits or ghosts made of fire or smoke. They were said to grant wishes.

Diablos emerging from a magic lamp in Final Fantasy VIII may be a reference to the djinn.

The French localization of Final Fantasy VIII renamed Diabolos to "Nosferatu", a Romanian term meaning "Unclean One" that is sometimes synonymous with the Devil or vampires. In the Spanish localization it is called Diablo.

TriviaEdit

• The recurring summon from Ivalice, Adrammelech, resembles Diabolos, even having a promotional image () with a similar pose to Diabolos's Final Fantasy VIII appearance.
• Some concept art of Diabolos (Top right; central second row; central bottom) in Final Fantasy XIII look like the design has been subsequently modified to create the creatures Faeryl and Aeronite in the sequels.
• In World of Final Fantasy, Diabolos's English voice actor is Robin Atkin Downes, who also voiced Genesis Rhapsodos in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-.

ReferencesEdit