Ghost (Final Fantasy VI character)

The Ghosts (ゆうれい, Yūrei?)^[2], known in-game only as ??????, are a pair of temporarily-playable characters in Final Fantasy VI. The Ghosts are never named in-game, but official guides refer to them as "Ghost"^[2].

There are two Ghosts with differing stats. The first ghost the party encounters is the stronger of the two. A Ghost can join the party briefly on the Phantom Train and helps Sabin, Cyan, and Shadow (if he is in the player's party) reach the locomotive. Any recruited ghost party members will leave the party shortly before the boss fight with the Phantom Train.

If Shadow leaves the party before boarding the Phantom Train, the player can recruit both ghosts into the party at once.

ProfileEdit

AppearanceEdit

Both ghosts wear a white shroud that covers whatever may remain of their appearances underneath. Their portraits depict them with glowing white eyes underneath the shroud, as well as with a faint blue skull-like visage.

PersonalityEdit

Nothing is known about either of the ghosts, and their pasts remain a mystery. All that is known is that they are willing to assist Sabin, Cyan, and Shadow when they try to reach the front of the train and help them fight their way through, and ask nothing in return. The ghosts' genders are never revealed, although both are considered male for the purposes of the unused shop price modifiers. In the SNES release Sabin and Cyan refer to the Ghosts as "it". In the Game Boy Advance and succeeding releases, they refer to the two as a "he".

The Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive guides humorously give the ghost characters "likes" (Hell), "dislikes" (Heaven) and "hobbies" (floating).^[1]

GameplayEdit

The Ghosts' jobs weren't listed within the Super Nintendo version of the North American game, as the original English translation removed the party members' job titles. Within the Final Fantasy III Nintendo Player's Guide, their job class is given as "Possessor". The English Game Boy Advance version retained the job titles, and they are both labeled "Ghost".

Both Ghosts are considered undead combatants, facilitated by affixing unremovable Lich Rings to both party members. As such, any attempts at healing either Ghost during battle will inflict damage instead, and if a Ghost is KO'd, they cannot be revived, because Phoenix Downs cannot be used to revive undead allies during combat. However, Ghosts can still be healed as normal from the party menu outside of battle. If a Ghost is knocked out when the battle ends, they will be removed from the party, making it impossible to see them on the Game Over screen. Besides the Lich Ring, the Ghost has access to no equipment or weapons. As such, they attack barehanded, instead.

The Ghosts only have three abilities: Attack, Possess, and Items. Possess instantly defeats a single target at the cost of permanently removing the user from the party. The command overrides Instant Death protection, and works on any boss, as they have no resistance checks for Possess. This allows a Ghost to hypothetically take down any enemy in the game instantly, though as it is only available on the Phantom Train, this cannot be used during a normal playthrough.

If the Possess command is hacked into one of the thirteen playable characters' command lists (except for Umaro's, as he cannot be manually controlled), the character that used the Possess command and killed an enemy will be removed from the player's current party and sent back to the airship. That character will be available to be placed back into the player's party when the player visits the airship to switch characters.

StatsEdit

Other appearancesEdit

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GalleryEdit

EtymologyEdit

[view · edit · purge]A ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Ghosts are generally described as solitary essences that haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life, though stories of phantom armies, ghost trains, phantom ships, and even ghost animals have also been recounted.

Its Japanese name is (ゆうれい, Yūrei?). According to traditional Japanese beliefs all humans have a soul, and upon a person's death the soul leaves the body and enters a form of purgatory where it waits for the funeral and post-funeral rites to be performed so that it may join its ancestors. If one dies in a sudden or violent manner, such as murder or suicide, if the proper rites have not been performed, or if they are influenced by powerful emotions—such as a desire for revenge, love, jealousy, hatred or sorrow—the soul transforms into a yūrei, which can bridge the gap back to the physical world. The yūrei exists on Earth until it can be laid to rest, either by performing the missing rituals, or resolving the emotional conflict that still ties it to the physical plane. If the rituals are not completed, or the conflict left unresolved, the yūrei will persist in its haunting. Yūrei are frequently depicted as being accompanied by a pair of floating flames or will o' the wisps that are separate parts of the ghost rather than independent spirits.

TriviaEdit

• In Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, the battlegen item associated with the Phantom Train stage is "Ghost".

• If, through use of the airship glitch or cheats, Ghost and Gogo are in the player's party at the same time, Gogo can equip and use Possess.^[3]
• In the original Super Famicom release of Romancing SaGa, the Red Mage (赤魔導士, Akamadōshi?) uses a sprite that would later serve as a base for the Ghosts' sprites in Final Fantasy VI.
• Ghost A has 6 more HP than Ghost B at any level. This could allude to the game's number.
• The overworld sprite for the Ghosts aboard the Phantom Train is also used by the Magic Master.

ReferencesEdit