Zidane Tribal - Final Fantasy
Zidane Tribal is the primary protagonist of the role-playing game Final Fantasy IX, developed by Square and released on the PlayStation in the year 2000. In the game, players follow Zidane Tribal, Garnet and a growing cast of characters as they try to defeat Queen Brahne of Alexandria, who began a war between the kingdoms.
Zidane Tribal was designed by Toshiyuki Itahana and Yoshitaka Amano. Since his appearance in Final Fantasy IX, Tribal has inspired fan art, made appearances in spinoff games, and gave rise to merchandise, including a silver Zidane pendant with a yellow gem marking the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary campaign. He has been recreated as a number of different figures. Since his first debut, Zidane has also played roles in Dissidia Final Fantasy, Opera Omnia, Theatrhythm, Record Keeper, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, and other titles.
Appearance and Personality
Zidane has blonde, layered hair that is tied into a short ponytail, he has teal colored eyes and has a prehensile tail that looks and acts just like a monkey’s tail. He is also short, but has a muscular build. Zidane wears a white shirt and a short, teal vest, along with blue pants and a tan belt. He is also often seen wearing green gloves with blue cuffs and boots with the same shade of green. On his hip, there is a brown sheath that contains a dagger. Zidane Tribal is quite the ladies’ man and seems to always be dreaming about women. However, he will get serious when duty calls. In general, he is a laid-back and relaxed sort of character. Though often confident and cheerful, he also has insecurities about his past and often tries to hide his loneliness and internal problems from others. He is usually motivated and positive but sometimes questions his existence when he gets in depressed, lonely states by himself.
Creation and Backstory
Zidane is capable of wielding two different kinds of weapons in Final Fantasy IX: daggers, which he is often seen dual-wielding, and thief swords -- larger, dual-bladed weapons that are also known as swallow blades. He is also a member of the thief class, an unusual characteristic for the protagonist of a story. This class lets him steal items that enemies carry in battle. This contrasts greatly with the protagonists of other recent Final Fantasy games, as characters like Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart are seen wielding giant swords. Zidane was first conceived by Hironobu Sakaguchi and was meant to be a largely carefree spirit whose most notable trait was that he liked girls.
Zidane fits into the complicated plot of Final Fantasy IX as follows. In the game, the Terrans (a race of beings) realized that their planet was on the verge of death, and they chose Garland to find a suitable replacement planet. The Terrans ended up fusing their planet with Gaia and left behind their bodies, transferring their souls to Garland’s castle, which is known as Pandemonium. Garland was to watch over Pandemonium until the fusion of planets was complete, however, it was a massive failure, leading to a complex series of events. Eventually, Garland designed Zidane Tribal as an “Angel of Death” and became a member of the Genome race to replace Kuja and save the souls of Pandemonium, Gaia, Terra, and the world at large. Kuja becomes extremely jealous of Zidane and ends up becoming the main antagonist of the game. He is a cruel, narcissistic, and overall despicable character. He eventually confronts Zidane and the rest of his party on Terra after they have already fought Garland. Zidane’s party is made up of a number of bandits and himself that call themselves Tantalus and pretend to be a traveling theater troupe.
Reception
Michel S. Beaulieu, a contributor to the book Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough described Zidane as a revolutionary that was fighting against the elite class of Queen Brahne. A book called The Video Game Theory Reader states that Tribal was rather feminized, citing his girly clothing, stature, hair, and other obvious feminine features as evidence. It has been thought that he may be harder to relate to for heterosexual players and easier to relate to for homosexual players. However, since Zidane develops feelings for the female protagonist Garnet, he is seen to be more normal and conventional.
GamesRadar has stated that the relationship between Zidane and Garnet was terrible, since their appearance and chemistry seemed to not fit together at all. Zidane Tribal has been listed as one of the best Final Fantasy heroes in the entire series, and that his personality was a great contrast to the "uptight anti-heroes" like Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII and Squall Leonhart in Final Fantasy VIII. GameZone listed him as the seventh best character from the franchise for his positive, outgoing personality that distanced him from previous moody Final Fantasy heroes.