Kuja

Peace is but a shadow of death, desperate to forget its painful past... Though we hope for promising years after shedding a thousand tears, yesterday's sorrow constantly nears. And while the moon still shines blue, by dawn, it will turn to scarlet hue.

Kuja

Kuja is narcissistic in contrast to Zidane's humility. Kuja has an ego to match his power and he lets his pride rule his head. Kuja once chose to let Zidane live, even though he had a chance to kill him to prove himself superior. After discovering his destiny as a mortal, Kuja's cultured personality turns into insanity, believing that life should not be allowed to continue without him. His descent into insanity and rebellion against Garland stem from the fear of oblivion, as Garland intended to discard Kuja's soul in favor of a new Genome. He is unfazed by being wounded, which is shown when he is attacked by Bahamut. He is courteous to Hildagarde Fabool during her captivity, but she is a person who he does not consider to be a threat and uses her as a captive audience to boast at.

Kuja uses his elegance to hide his insecurities and, deep down, is conflicted over his existence. Kuja scorns the black mages that he helped create, but also finds himself identifying with them. As explained in Final Fantasy IX Ultimania,^[2] Kuja never experienced childhood and, thus, his emotional growth is stunted and he cannot use Trance. Kuja is initially unable to empathize with others or feel remorse for his actions. It appears that learning of his fate as a mortal and rebelling against this destiny allows Kuja to grow, as after losing his fight, he comes to see at least some of the repercussions of his actions and regret them. He acts kindly toward Zidane in their short exchange at the Iifa Tree, glad that Zidane's friends were able to escape.

In the Japanese versions of Final Fantasy IX and Dissidia, Kuja refers to himself with the boyish pronoun boku and addresses others with the familiar/informal kimi.

Abilities

Kuja is an exceptional mage. He knows the technology to manufacture black mages from Mist and, with no outside help, can summon Mistodons. He can control monsters as well as an army of Silver Dragons led by a Nova Dragon. He also commands the monster Deathguise that attacks Zidane's party in the Crystal World.

Kuja is largely immune to injury; even Bahamut's attack barely draws blood from him. Even when not in Trance, he can cast the powerful Flare Star. After entering Trance, Kuja's power increases dramatically. He knows the strongest spells, including Curaga, Holy, Flare, and Flare Star. He destroys Terra with Ultima and uses it as a final attack when on the verge of defeat.

Story

Creation

Kuja is a Genome created by the ruler of the dead planet of Terra, Garland, in 1776.^[1] Garland's ultimate plan was for Terra to assimilate the planet of Gaia via replacing the Gaian souls with Terran ones. To accelerate the process, Garland created Kuja and sent him to Gaia to incite war so that Gaian souls would be replaced faster. However, Garland initially deemed Kuja a failure. According to the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania,^[2] Kuja was created as he was and never experienced a childhood. Thus, he never developed full human emotions and would never be able to enter Trance, the world's ultimate power.

A strong mind of his own with no feelings of remorse or conscience was a dangerous mix, perfect for inciting war, but difficult for Garland to harness. Garland thus placed a limit on Kuja's lifespan and created another Genome who would be different from Kuja from the outset: Zidane was created as a child able to learn and grow and, thus, develop the ability for complex emotions needed to enter Trance, making him superior to Kuja.^[2]

While Garland never told him, Kuja was only a temporary Angel of Death meant to kill people on Gaia until Garland could perfect the true Angel of Death: Zidane. Kuja felt threatened by the new Genome, kidnapped him, and abandoned him on Gaia. Garland continued using Kuja while a third Angel of Death, Mikoto, was eventually created, but outraged at Kuja's behavior, Garland banished Kuja from ever returning to Terra.^[2] Kuja, defiant of his master, made his home in the Desert Palace instead, though he frequents Treno and is known there as a nobleman.

Scheming against Garland

According to the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania^[2] Kuja destroyed Madain Sari on Garland's orders. Garland, fearful that the summoners' power to call forth the magical eidolons would come between him and his plans, wanted to eradicate the practice from Gaia. Kuja grew curious about the mythical beasts that his master so feared and came to pursue them himself.

The strongest eidolon in human memory, Alexander, was summoned only once 500 years ago. After being deemed dangerous, its summoning gem was split up into four fragments so that it may never be summoned again and were distributed between the kingdoms of the Mist Continent.

It sounded perfect to Kuja, who was scheming towards his own goals and only appeared loyal to Garland on the surface. Kuja knows if Garland's plan to fuse the planets was to succeed, then his role as the Angel of Death would end and his soul would no longer be his own, as Garland would want to turn him into a regular Genome, a mere soul vessel. Kuja decided that he had found the perfect weapon to overthrow Garland and become the master of both Terra and Gaia. With this idea in mind, Kuja began to pursue Alexander's crystal shards.

Fostering war

Mwahaha... So the curtain rises! Perfect, my canary. Let me show you the truth about your mother! First Act: The End of Ugly Desire. It's showtime!

Kuja, to Garnet

In early 1799,^[1] Kuja becomes a weapons supplier to Queen Brahne so she can conquer the neighboring nations of Burmecia and Lindblum and capture their crystal shards. The weapons that Kuja supplies are the black mages, soulless golems who wield powerful magic. It is hinted that Kuja knows how Genomes are manufactured and used this knowledge in the production of the black mages.

Kuja kidnapped Hildagarde Fabool in July 1799,^[1] a noblewoman from the nation of Lindblum who had taken a prototype airship from Lindblum named after her that flies on advanced technology, the Hilda Garde. Kuja kept Hilda captive and, in need of an audience to fuel his narcissism, told her of his plans to conquer Terra and Gaia while taking the airship for himself.

Kuja later goes to the auction house in Treno, observing the auctions from a balcony, and, afterwards, speaks with the auctioneer of his plan to head to Burmecia. Burmecia is conquered and Zidane—now a thief living in Gaia with no knowledge of his origins—sets out on a quest to find out what is happening alongside his friend, a Burmecian named Freya Crescent, a sentient black mage named Vivi Ornitier, and possibly a Qu gourmand named Quina Quen. The four arrive too late to defend the kingdom and are defeated by General Beatrix of Alexandria. Kuja observes Zidane before boarding his dragon and departing from the site.

Brahne, under Kuja's advice, extracts her daughter's eidolons after he places Garnet under a sleeping spell. Brahne then summons Odin to kill the Burmecian survivors at Cleyra and capture Cleyra's crystal shard. Zidane and his allies sneak aboard Brahne's airship and teleport to Alexandria Castle.

Zidane and his friends rescue Garnet, who learns of her roots as a summoner. The group splits up, with Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi returning to Lindblum, only to witness Brahne conquer it with Atomos and her army of black mages. The surrendered Regent Cid tells Zidane's party about Kuja's role as Brahne's weapons supplier and the three turn their attention to defeating him and cutting off Brahne's supply of black mages. Armed with the knowledge that Kuja came from the north, they set out to the Outer Continent.

Zidane, Vivi, and Garnet track Kuja, following leads to the Black Mage Village and the summoners' ruined village of Madain Sari, recruiting Quina, Eiko Carol, and Amarant Coral along the journey. The group continues to the Iifa Tree, a gigantic tree that assists in filtering the Gaian and Terran souls—the Mist that Kuja uses to create the black mages is a by-product of this process. The party kills Soulcage, stopping the flow of Mist, but Kuja later arrives on his dragon and tells them that he no longer cares.^{[note 1]}

Brahne's fleet arrives and Brahne, deeming that she no longer needs him, attacks Kuja. Kuja survives Brahne's onslaught and she summons Bahamut. However, Kuja enslaves Bahamut by calling forth the Invincible, a Terran airship able to house souls, and kills the queen by destroying her fleet.

New power

Your former master is here, Bahamut. Play a requiem for her and all of Alexandria!

Kuja

Garnet is crowned the new queen and Kuja returns to Alexandria, intent on killing her with his new eidolon. Kuja summons Bahamut and commands it to destroy the kingdom. Garnet and Eiko rush to Alexandria Castle's turrets and call forth the eidolon guardian of Alexandria, Alexander, by bringing the four crystal fragments together.

Alexander destroys Bahamut and Kuja attempts to enslave the former by calling the Invincible. However, Garland has learned of Kuja's rebellion and commands the Invincible to destroy both Alexander and Alexandria, frustrating Kuja and leaving him without an eidolon to manipulate. Kuja vows that he will find an eidolon even stronger than Alexander and departs.

Zidane and his allies return to Lindblum, where Cid tells them that Kuja has been spotted in control of his Hilda Garde airship and has recruited the sentient black mages from the Black Mage Village, having promised to extend their life force if they served him. They use Cid's sailing ship, the Blue Narciss, to return to the Outer Continent and find Kuja's Desert Palace. Kuja captures the group and tells Zidane that he will release his friends if he retrieves an artifact for him, sending Zidane to Oeilvert with three friends of his choosing.

While Zidane is at Oeilvert, Kuja attempts to kill the four companions who were left behind. They narrowly escape with Cid's help, but Zidane returns before Kuja finds the escapees and hands over the Gulug Stone. Kuja escapes with Eiko and Zidane follows him to Mount Gulug where Kuja commands Zorn and Thorn, Brahne's jesters who now work for him, to extract Eiko's eidolons, but the attempt fails because she is too young.

Eiko's pet moogle, Mog, enters Trance, unleashing her true power as the eidolon Madeen. Kuja realizes that to enter Trance, one needs to experience a surge of powerful emotions and formulates a new plan. He decides that he doesn't need an eidolon to fight Garland after all; he simply needs to enter Trance.

Return to Terra

So, Master Garland. You are no longer needed. And after you've worked so hard...I shall rule Terra and Gaia with my unconditional love from now on...

Kuja

Kuja loses all of his allies when the black mages realize that he had tricked them and return to their village. Zorn and Thorn are killed by Zidane's party, who have rescued Hilda and taken back the airship Hilda Garde. With help from Hilda, Zidane and his companions open the path to Terra. Zidane meets Garland, who reveals his and Kuja's past, claiming that Kuja is in denial of his existence as a Genome.

Garland attempts to take Zidane's soul and turn him into an ordinary Genome when Zidane defies his plans. He survives and Zidane and his allies attack Garland. A weakened Garland is usurped by Kuja, who has returned to Terra on his Silver Dragon and taken control of the Invincible.

Kuja enters a Trance and crushes Zidane and his friends with Ultima. Perhaps because Kuja is a Genome, a being designed as a vessel for souls, he has been empowered by the captive souls on the Invincible, including the soul of Queen Brahne;^[3] her feelings of greed, hatred, and jealousy were the emotional surges that Kuja needed to enter such a powerful Trance. Kuja kicks Garland off of the precipice of Castle Pandemonium to his death and declares that he will rule both Gaia and Terra.

However, Garland's spirit lingers and speaks to Kuja, telling him that he was created to last only until the real Angel of Death, Zidane, reached maturity. Kuja realizes that he is but a temporary pawn, much like the black mages that he so despises. The revelation of his impending death drives Kuja mad and he declares that he won't let the world exist without him.

Mortality realized

A mortal...? ...I'm finished? I don't believe you! Why would I believe such a silly story! You're telling me that I'll die soon, now that I'm more powerful than anyone? I'm gonna...die!? Lose my soul...? Ha... HAHAHAHAHAHA! What comedy! Zidane, isn't it hilarious!? I'll die just like the black mages I so despise! I single-handedly brought chaos unto Gaia, but in the end, I'm nothing but a worthless doll!

...I won't let it happen. I won't... I won't let this world exist without me!

Kuja

Kuja destroys Terra with a barrage of Ultima spells and returns to Gaia. Zidane and his friends escape on the Invincible along with the other Genomes that they saved. They find Gaia covered in Mist and surmise that Kuja is at the Iifa Tree. With the help of Beatrix and Cid commanding an alliance of the survivors of the Mist Continent's kingdoms, Zidane and his friends penetrate the barrier into Memoria, a world made manifest of the planet's memories. Guided by Garland's spirit, they travel deeper into Memoria and travel back in time to the origin of the universe, the Crystal World.

In the Crystal World, they find Kuja at the Crystal, the source of all life. Kuja reveals to intentions to destroy the Crystal, then summons Deathguise, who is summarily destroyed. Kuja engages Zidane's party himself and, upon his defeat, casts Ultima, defeating them. Zidane and his friends appear at the Hill of Despair and encounter Necron, a being summoned by Kuja's fear of death to destroy all life and save it from the suffering of existence. Necron is defeated and life is allowed to continue.

After you guys beat me, I had nothing left...nothing more to lose. Then, I finally realized what it means to live... I guess I was too late.

Kuja

Kuja, who has lost his Trance, uses the last of his powers to teleport Zidane and his friends outside the Iifa Tree. Zidane stays behind to rescue him as the tree's trunk and roots start to collapse. A weakened Kuja is full of self-loathing and regret, but is glad to hear that Zidane's friends have escaped unharmed. As Kuja's body goes limp, the tree's interior collapses and Zidane protects the former as flailing roots converge on them. Mikoto, the third Angel of Death that Garland had created, later tells Kuja in spirit how he taught the Genomes that they can be more than mindless vessels and has given them hope for the future.

Gameplay

Kuja is fought as a boss in Pandemonium and in Trance form in Memoria. Both times, he casts Ultima upon his defeat, so although the party wins the battle, for storyline purposes, Kuja prevails. At the end of his fight in Pandemonium, Kuja morphs into Trance form, but cannot be fought, and casts Ultima ending the fight.

Kuja is the only main antagonist in the series who defeats the player party every time he is battled. His final form falls after he casts Ultima, ending the battle in a "double KO".