War of the Lions (term)

War of the Lions
(獅子戦争, Shishi Sensō?)
Chocobo Knights at the Battle of Groffovia.
Location	Ivalice
Result	Delita Heiral ascends the throne of all Ivalice. Both Orders greatly weakened, with their leaders assassinated. Ultima nearly resurrected. Creation of the Durai Papers.
Combatants
Order of the Northern Sky
Order of the Northern Sky
Order of the Southern Sky
Order of the Southern Sky
Commanders
Duke Larg Dycedarg Beoulve Zalbaag Beoulve
Duke Larg Dycedarg Beoulve Zalbaag Beoulve
Duke Goltanna Delita Heiral Cidolfus Orlandeau Marquis Messam Elmdore
Duke Goltanna Delita Heiral Cidolfus Orlandeau Marquis Messam Elmdore
Strength
Armies of the Northern Sky
Armies of the Northern Sky
Armies of the Southern Sky
Armies of the Southern Sky
Casualties
20,000+ killed Duke Larg Dycedarg Beoulve Zalbaag Beoulve 160,000+ wounded
20,000+ killed Duke Larg Dycedarg Beoulve Zalbaag Beoulve 160,000+ wounded
20,000+ killed Duke Goltanna Marquis Messam Elmdore (later possessed) 200,000+ wounded
20,000+ killed Duke Goltanna Marquis Messam Elmdore (later possessed) 200,000+ wounded
100,000+ civilians displaced

The War of the Lions, also known as the Lion War, is a civil war in Final Fantasy Tactics over the throne of Ivalice. The war, which follows the Fifty Years' War, forms the backdrop of the events of Final Fantasy Tactics.

After the king of Ivalice, King Ondoria III, passed away, a regent was needed to rule in place of the heir, Prince Orinus, who was only two years old. The kingdom was split between two candidates: Duke Larg, under the banner of the White Lion and allied with knights of the Order of the Northern Sky, and Duke Goltanna, under the banner of the Black Lion and allied with the knights of the Order of the Southern Sky. Duke Larg insisted Prince Orinus was the true and rightful heir, while Duke Goltanna declared the heir to be Princess Ovelia, the adopted daughter of Ondoria III.

History

Background

King Ondoria III passed away after contracting Black Death, and his only living heir, Prince Orinus, was only an infant. Consequently, Queen Louveria sought to seize total control of government. She stripped all those who opposed her, including members of the Council of Nobles, of their rank, and banished the queen mother. This led to a rift between Duke Larg, the trueborn brother of Queen Louveria and with her backing, and Duke Goltanna, cousin of the late king, both vying to be appointed regent and guardian of Prince Orinus.

In reality, the war had been engineered and manipulated by the Church of Glabados. High Confessor Marcel hoped to regain the Church's lost influence, and take center stage as the supreme power in Ivalice once both sides had been weakened to exhaustion, taking the auracite from the land to strengthen the Church's military power. Little did he know, he himself was being manipulated by the Church's armed brand, the Knights Templar, under Folmarv Tengille, who were carrying out the will of the Lucavi to collect the auracite to grant them immense strength and resurrect their leader, Ultima.

Kidnapping

Tensions boiled when Princess Ovelia (who was adopted by King Ondoria III after he lost his second son, but in reality was only his half-sister and was the trueborn daughter of former King Denamda IV) was kidnapped during chapter 2, "The Manipulative and the Subservient" (with the kidnapping also depicted in the game's prologue). The plot to kidnap and kill the princess was carried out by Northern Sky knights disguised as Southern Sky knights in the hopes to sully Duke Goltanna's name and deny him the regency, while simultaneously removing Princess Ovelia as a potential heir and thus obstacle to the throne for Duke Larg.

The war began when Duke Goltanna learned of this from Delita and a prisoner involved in the kidnapping plot, crowning Princess Ovelia queen and leading the Order of the Southern Sky to the royal city of Lesalia, while Duke Larg insisted that Prince Orinus was the true and rightful heir and led the Order of the Northern Sky in his name.

Events of the war

Battle of Groffovia

The Battle of Groffovia was the war's first full-scale battle, taking place before chapter 3, "The Valiant". It was fought between the forces of Lesalia and Limberry. Duke Goltanna took the royal capital of Lesalia and banished Queen Louveria to Fort Besselat, sending the Order of the Southern Sky to march in Princess Ovelia's name. Duke Larg meanwhile crowned Prince Orinus as the rightful heir and declared himself regent, sending the Order of the Northern Sky to march in his name.

This resulted in the Battle of Groffovia, fought between the forces of Lesalia and Limberry on the plains that then defined the border of the two lands. It comprised skirmishes that resulted in close to 400,000 casualties. After the Battle of Groffovia, the Southern Sky withdrew to Fort Besselat, allowing the Northern Sky to seize control of Lesalia.

Conditions worsen

In the three months that passed, the sides appeared to reach a stalemate. Around this time, rumors spread of Queen Louveria and Chancellor Glevanne's abduction of Princess Ovelia. Meanwhile, a drought reduced the harvest to half a normal year, causing a severe famine in the eastern lands of Zeltennia and Limberry. Simultaneously, widespread flooding in the western lands of Gallione and Fovoham that destroyed the crops. The capital of Lesalia became overrun with refugees who lost homes in the war or were searching for food. All of this led to little public sentiment for the war.

The "Thunder God", Cidolfus Orlandeau, one of Duke Goltanna's generals, broke through the Northern Sky's lines at Dugeura Pass; later in the war, the Southern Sky continued to hold the pass.

Meanwhile, Marquis Elmdore, a popular figure amongst common people, devout member of the Church of Glabados, and steadfast general of Duke Goltanna's, was was killed in the Battle of the Fusse Plains by a stray arrow.

When frustrations with the stalemate grew, the Order of the Northern Sky recalled its full force to march on Fort Besselat to turn the tide of war, as capturing it would give Duke Larg's forces access to Limberry's abundant food supply.

Battle of Fort Besselat

Sluice gates opened by Ramza

The War's decisive battle was at Fort Besselat, taking place in chapter 4, "In the Name of Love". Before the Northern Sky could breach the defenses of Fort Besselat, however, Barich Fendsor of the Knights Templar released mossfungus into the air, weakening the Northern soldiers so that they could not fight. Meanwhile, Ramza Beoulve intervened by opening the garrison's sluice, flooding the battlefield and bringing the battle to an indecisive halt. In the confusion, both Dukes were murdered on the orders of the Knight Templar by their respective traitors: Larg by Dycedarg Beoulve and Goltanna by Delita Heiral.

Ramza Beoulve traveled with his companions to Orbonne Monastery to stop the Knights Templar and the Lucavi's plot for Ultima's resurrection. Defeating the Church's forces on the way, they were teleported to the Airship Graveyard beneath the Necrohol of Mullonde.

Conclusion

Following the death of both dukes, High Confessor Funebris, Dycedarg, the imprisonment of Queen Louveria in Fort Besselat, and Cidolfus Orlandeau missing, Delita Heiral, who had been known to have rescued Princess Ovelia, married her and became king, restoring peace to Ivalice.

Ramza successfully defeated Ultima and the Lucavi, and had uncovered the Church of Glabados' manipulation behind the war, which Orran Durai wrote in the Durai Papers. However, the church declared Orran a heretic and burnt him at the stake in a bid to conceal their corruption, until the Durai Papers were discovered centuries later.

Behind the scenes

The War of the Lions may allude to the Wars of the Roses, a civil war between the supporters of the noble houses of York and Lancaster for possession of the English crown. The name refers to the heraldic badges associated with the two rival branches: the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster. In the War of the Lions, the badges are the white lion of the Order of the Northern Sky (who side with Duke Larg to get Prince Orinus on the throne) and the black lion of the Order of the Southern Sky (who side with Duke Goltanna to get Princess Ovelia on the throne).

The war may also be an allusion to the Battle of Sekigahara in Japan's Sengoku period in the year 1600, which was a wide-reaching conflict between two leading regents, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari, for effective control of the land shortly after the death of the previous unifier, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and also split the land briefly between the "Eastern Army" (led by Ieyasu) and the "Western Army" (led by Mitsunari). Similarly, Queen Louveria and Prince Orinus may also be allusions to Hideyoshi's infant heir, Toyotomi Hideyori, and his mother, Lady Yodo, who 'officially' inherited the Toyotomi Clan after Hideyoshi's death.