Are There Vampires in Final Fantasy?
A few days ago I was watching Final Fantasy: Advent Children for, oh, the millionth time, and I wondered “Are there any vampires in any of the Final Fantasy games?” I mean, the Final Fantasy franchise has been going strong since the 80s with well over a dozen games, so there has got to be a vampire in there somewhere, right? Well, looking back on all of the games I have played and running a checklist of characters in my head – moogles, chocobos, sexy Viera, the cactuar – on and on, not one vampire came to mind. So I did what any person would, I hit up google and to my surprise I actually found a vampire in Final Fantasy, the very first game to be exact.
The first Final Fantasy game, often called “The Original Final Fantasy,” came out way back in 1987 in Japan and 1990 in the US and has been remade quite a few times since then for various consoles and handhelds. The story itself follows four youths called the Light Warriors, who each carry one of their world’s four elemental orbs which have been darkened by the four Elemental Fiends. Together, they go on a quest to defeat these big bad evil forces, restore light to the orbs, and save their world.
As for the vampire, he of course is one of the enemies the group has to defeat in the game. The Vampire, as he is so plainly called, can be found on the third floor of the Cavern of Earth. When the Light Warriors arrive to the disheveled town of Melmond, they find the earth decaying and the locals suffering, and they’re blaming everything on the Vampire. So our heroes travel to the Cavern of Earth to challenge him. After defeating him and gaining the Star Ruby, however, they find out that the land in Melmond continues to rot, and so they go to the Sage’s cave, where they find out that the Vampire was working for one of the Four Fiends, the Lich. And that’s the short-lived tale of Final Fantasy’s vampire. Although, you do come across similar vampires later in the game, in random encounters and in a secret room in the Whisperwind Cove.
Now while I have played quite a few Final Fantasy games and done some hardcore googling, I can’t seem to find any more vampires in the games. If your memory is better than mine, do you remember any others? Or even any vampiric characters?
– Moonlight
Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to vampires. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of vampire folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and she may bite you (and not in the fun way).
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FF Enthusiest February 17, 2011 - 1:44 pm
There is in fact a vampire like playable character in final fantasy 7. Vincent is part vampire/ who knows what else lol. You find him laying in a casket underneath shinra manner. But in the movie advent children he even has fangs, small ones but fangs none the less.
Moonlight February 17, 2011 - 1:52 pm
You’re right! I forgot about that. I should play Dirge of Cerberus and see just how vampiric he is.
Gaawa February 18, 2011 - 5:38 am
There are also vampire enemies in FFII. Vampire girls, I think they’re called.
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Vampire_Girl
In FFIV there are Vampiresses and vampire bats.
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Vampiress_%28Final_Fantasy_IV%29
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Vampire_Bat_%28Final_Fantasy_IV%29
Vincent Valentine from VII is NOT a vampire but he has some vampiric characteristics. He wears a red cape with black clothes underneath. He drinks red wine. You find him basically in a form of sleeping stasis in a coffin in a basement. He is immortal and even arguably undead. His Galian Beast form could be argued to represent the ‘wolf’ transformations in some vampire stories while his Chaos form gives him bat wings and makes him look demonic, and in Advent Children he appears to assume an incorporeal form, like in some vampire myths. He also has a dark and tragic history. He was also going to be depicted as something of a womanizer originally but they changed that in the script.
His claw and boots are arguably from Greek mythology, though. It’s worth noting that those items are NOT prostheses; upon closer examination you can see that the claw is part of a leather glove, for example.
abel February 27, 2011 - 11:12 am
Vincent is a combo of all monster movies and can turn into frankenstein
however he is more closely related to the devil and turn into a demonic creature called chaos in his own sequel game
abel February 27, 2011 - 12:59 pm
Vincetn character started out as a horror expert than chemist and then various others before settling on former shinra expert
abel February 27, 2011 - 1:01 pm
and his game designers treat people calling hima vampire as something of a joke