A winged Esper with a scaly body. Its attack combines fire, ice, and thunder.
Final Fantasy VI PlayStation esper section
Valigarmanda, also known as Tritoch, is an esper in Final Fantasy VI who can be acquired as a magicite.
Profile[]
Valigarmanda is a large avian creature covered with red scales, while its feathers are green and blue.
Story[]
The only thing that esper's brought us is trouble with the Empire. Curse the day they dug up that freakish thing!
Narshe resident
Terra meets Valigarmanda in Narshe Mines.
1000 years ago during the War of the Magi, Valigarmanda was frozen and ended up hidden in a mountain in the north of what would become the town of Narshe. While digging a new passage in the northern mines, the townspeople found the frozen Valigarmanda. Word spread of this discovery and the Empire sent a strike force to seize the esper, consisting of Biggs, Wedge, and Terra. The attack was a provocation, as Narshe had proclaimed itself neutral in the ongoing conflict between the Empire and the Returners, but the Empire did not care.
After their raid of the town, the three came upon the frozen esper. At that moment it began to glow and cast an eerie light around the cave, and Terra felt drawn to it. The creature obliterated Biggs and Wedge and magical energy conducted between it and Terra, destroying Terra's Magitek armor and the Slave Crown the Empire was using to control her. Terra fell unconscious and was rescued by Arvis. The townspeople later moved the esper to the cliffs above the town as a better defensive position if the Empire attacked again.
Terra came into the care of the Returners and they sought to explore what her connection to the creature was. The Returners' leader, Banon, returned to Narshe with Terra with a plan to speak to the esper and wake it up to enlist its aid in the war. Upon arrival he attempted to convince the Elder of Narshe to ally with the Returners for protection. The Elder had little choice - a guard soon reported that a large Imperial force was marching on the town, led by Kefka. The Returners stationed themselves on the cliffs and made their stand, and defeated Kefka's forces. After they went to see Valigarmanda, and it again reacted to Terra, flinging the Returners away when they stepped between the two of them. The two again conducted magic between them, which this time caused Terra to transform into an esper-like being and fly away from Narshe.
Valigarmanda is released from the seal of ice.
The Returners gave up intent to free or awaken Valigarmanda, as their war effort shifted to contacting the esper realm. After the cataclysm that created the World of Ruin, Narshe was abandoned and overrun with monsters, and Valigarmanda remained on the cliffs. When the party returned to Narshe and approached it, it began to glow and reactively attacked them. The party thawed it and the creature came to its senses. Sensing the destruction in the world and that they wished to put an end to it, Valigarmanda turned into magicite and entrusted itself to them.
Gameplay[]
Tri-Disaster (Pixel Remaster).
Valigarmanda costs 68 MP to summon and uses Tri-Disaster (Tri-Dazer in the Super NES and PlayStation versions), which is a tri-elemental fire, ice and lightning attack on all enemies with a spell power of 110. At level up, it provides a +2 boost to Magic.
As a summon, Valigarmanda is not very useful. The elemental spells it teaches are more powerful than Tri-Disaster, and its multi-elemental nature is a hindrance, as resistance, immunity, and absorption of one of those elements will overwrite the other two—for instance, if Tri-Disaster is used against an enemy that absorbs ice, the enemy will be healed, even if it is weak to fire and lightning. Its level up bonus is useful for training mages.
Spells[]
Valigarmanda is a critical esper, as it is the only way the party can learn two of the third tier elemental spells (Firaga is also taught by Phoenix). The enemies in Narshe in the World of Ruin are not terribly strong, so it is beneficial to explore the town and acquire Valigarmanda as soon as possible so the party can begin learning its spells.
Boss[]
In the World of Ruin, Valigarmanda attacks when approached. Defeating it earns it its magicite and opens a hole in the cliff to the Yeti's Cave.
Behind the scenes[]
Valigarmanda's tail is missing a small piece of graphic when summoned on the Super Nintendo, PlayStation, and the Game Boy Advance versions. This is because his frame data is missing a byte pair. This was fixed in the subsequent releases.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
The name "Valigarmanda" may be a combination of three mythological creatures: the ice serpent Vritra, the lightning bird Garuda, and the fire lizard Salamander.
Its original English localization is Tritoch. Tri- is a numerical prefix meaning three.