50. The Wedding (X)
'You would play at marriage just for a chance to send me? Your resolve is admirable. All the more fitting to be my lovely wife'
It could be argued that Final Fantasy X has a strong anti-religious subtext, given how the Yevon faith is portrayed as being corrupt and built on false pretences. The concept of forced marriage also plays a part in the plot, as the summoner Yuna is kidnapped by the Guado following their attack on the Al Bhed Home and made to partake in a wedding ceremony with their leader Seymour, who wishes to use her as his Final Aeon in his quest to become Sin. Having escaped from Home's destruction on Cid's airship, the rest of the party plan a rescue attempt, arriving at the ceremony in an excellent sequence that includes some rail grinding that Tony Hawk would be proud of. Despite fighting their way through several waves of enemy soldiers, the party is thwarted and threatened with execution, something that is stopped only by Yuna's intervention. This is as it becomes apparent that she has gone along with the marriage without resisting thus far in an attempt to get close to Seymour, seeking an opportunity to send his unsent soul to the Farplane and stop his plot. The ceremony resumes and the party is forced to watch as Seymour kisses his new bride before reneging on his promise not to kill her friends, ordering their deaths. This prompts Yuna to threaten suicide, falling from the temple rooftop to the shock of everybody present. Summoning Valefor, one of her Aeons, in freefall saves her life and gives the party enough of a distraction to fight their way free, allowing their quest to continue.
49. Laguna Rescues Ellone (VIII)
'I told ya I'd come save you... Sorry I'm a little late'
Laguna Loire's story runs parallel to Squall Leonheart's during Final Fantasy VIII, though their two quests are separated in time by a number of years. Though it isn't initially clear why Squall is bearing witness to Laguna's life through dreams, a constant becomes apparent in the form of Ellone. A young woman in Squall's timeline, Ellone possesses a supernatural power that allows her to send people's consciousness to different points in time. As a result, she is responsible for having Squall view a number of events from Laguna's life. One such event sees Laguna acting as a surrogate father to Ellone's childhood self, before she was taken by soldiers from the nation of Esthar, then ruled by the villainous Sorceress Adel, in order to be experimented on. This prompts Laguna reunite with his former comrades-in-arms Kiros and Ward to infiltrate the secretive Estharian nation and rescue her, becoming part of a resistance movement that ultimately topples Adel's tyrannical rule and entombs her in space. As a result of his heroics, Laguna is elected President of the now free country, but the most heart-warming consequence of his success is his reunion with Ellone, who he proceeds to see comparatively little of for the next seventeen years due to the seclusion and politics of his new nation, as well as the need to keep her safe from the game's primary antagonist Ultimecia, who requires her power to complete her goal of suppressing time, remotely possessing Edea and manipulating Seifer in an attempt to locate her.
48. Kain Breaks Free Of Mind Control (IV)
'My mind...is my own again. I cannot expect forgiveness'
Mind control plays a big part in Final Fantasy IV, as the villainous Lunarian Zemus manages to control the actions of Golbez, who in turn is able to manipulate people such as Cecil's allies Baigan and Yang at different points throughout the game. Of particular note is the character of Kain, a dragoon who is Cecil's best friend at the start of the game but vanishes after an earthquake in the village of Mist. Returning to Baron, he too becomes a puppet of Golbez and is appointed as his second-in-command. Appearing in an antagonistic capacity on several occasions after this, he breaks free of Golbez's spell to help Cecil rescue Rosa (despite being the one responsible for her kidnapping) and joins the party about a third of the way through the game, only to have his mind manipulated once again later on. This results in Golbez taking possession of all eight of the Crystals that will allow him to call forth the destructive Giant of Babil from the moon. Kain comes good once and for all in the game's final confrontation, however, finally managing to maintain control of himself by resisting Zemus' attempts to manipulate him and fighting alongside the man he once considered a brother to decide the fate of the world.
47. Kain's Redemption (TAY)
'I've been held back all this time by the past. I thought those days had been buried for good... But things didn't work that way. My past is as much a part of me as any part of my body. The happiness, the sadness... And all the hatred...'
At the end of Final Fantasy IV, Kain is the only main character not to receive a 'happy ending' of sorts, as he feels great guilt over his past treachery and its consequences, isolating himself from his friends as a result. He neglects to attend the wedding of Cecil and Rosa that takes place during the game's conclusion, instead seeking to banish the darkness from his soul as Cecil did during the game's events. He disappears during this quest, and it is later revealed that the dragoon was overcome by his dark side, which manifests into a separate being and assists the Maenads in doing the bidding of the villainous Creator during The After Years some seventeen years later. The original Kain opts to provide assistance to Ceodore, Cecil and Rosa's son, appearing as the 'hooded man' and opposing his other self. This culminates in a final showdown, where at the second time of asking, Kain is able to conquer the darkness within him and become a holy dragoon complete with a new look (though at the risk of sounding like Gok Wan, I must say that it's a step down from his previous one, given the resemblance to Edward). His redemption complete, Kain finally becomes able to fight on the side of light, removing Cecil from Maenad mind control and rekindling his friendship with the man to bring an end to a character arc spanning seventeen years of time both in game and in the real world.
46. Love Immortalised In Crystal (XIII)
'When prayers turn into promises, not even fate can stand in their way'
After being turned into l'Cie at the beginning of Final Fantasy XIII, it is initially unclear as to whether their focus of the player's party is meant to be the destruction or the preservation of the world of Cocoon, though it involves the summoning of a legendary (and supposedly destructive) being known as Ragnarok. After learning from Cid that their path has been manipulated by Cocoon's fal'Cie overseers, who wish for Cocoon's destruction in the belief that it will bring about the return of their creator from the afterlife, they are understandably unwilling to obliterate the world despite the prospect of turning into undead Ci'eth. They nevertheless oppose the self-proclaimed fal'Cie leader, Barthandelus, over his actions, only for him to trick them into fighting and defeating Orphan, the being that keeps Cocoon afloat. With Cocoon's support destroyed, it seems inevitable that it will fall from the sky, fulfilling Barthandelus' wishes. This prompts Vanille and Fang, two enigmatic members of the party from the distant past who have recently awoken from crystal statis, to join hands and summon Ragnarok in the belief that their true focus is the world's preservation. Seemingly adhering to its destructive legend, Ragnarok engulfs the falling Cocoon in a pillar of lava, only to crystallise it and form a pillar that keeps it safe and securely supported. Lives are saved, but Fang and Vanille's are seemingly ended (for the considerable future, at least) by the fact that they too are crystallised once again. The moment is made all the more poignant by the fact that, throughout the game, the two are heavily implied to be gay lovers, perfectly willing to remain in stasis for all eternity as long as it means that can be entwined together. Final Fantasy XIII wasn't a great game, nor was it a terrible one (a bit like Tottenham, really), but this was a fantastic way to bring things to a climax.