Garland ( Final Fantasy ) / Dissidia Garland is one of the warriors fighting for the side of Chaos in " Dissidia Final Fantasy " and " Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy " . He is the antagonist representing the original " Final Fantasy " . Garland is a being consumed by battle and conflict , and is willing to accept his fate of eternal battle . He wields a large sword that can freely transform into various weapons , from a destructive axe to twin blades . Due to his connection to Chaos , Garland is one of the game ' s higher - ranked antagonists . His position as Chaos ' s right - hand warrior can be seen as analogous to the one his rival , Warrior of Light , has with Cosmos . While the Warrior of Light is his rival in the original " Dissidia " , his main rival in the 012 storyline is Lightning . This rivalry is even featured in the opening FMV . Profile . " Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy " . Garland ' s original outfit is based on his in - game sprite from the original release of " Final Fantasy " . Garland wears a dark blue cape with silver armor set with blue jewels , and wears his distinctive horned helmet , revealing yellow eyes , as opposed to red in the original . Tetsuya Nomura has stated that , because there were only in - game sprites to draw from , he had trouble designing Garland as a character , as in essence it was designing a new character rather than redesigning an old one , but he had to maintain the idea that it was still the original Garland fans would recognize from the original " Final Fantasy " . Garland ' s first alternate outfit , " Stalwart ' s Armor " , is an original palette swap , which colors his cape burgundy and his armor gold . The cape ' s coloring is reminiscent of of " Final Fantasy " . His EX Mode gives his cape a cream coloration with red runes . Garland ' s second alternate outfit , " Discord Incarnate , " gives him the appearance of Yoshitaka Amano ' s " , " Garland ' s original design . Garland wears no armor , revealing black skin with gray claws and blank white eyes . Instead of his distinctive helmet , he wears a headpiece with horns of various length and design . He also has long white hair and spikes emerging from his shoulders . In his EX Mode Garland turns a lighter shade of gray . Garland ' s sword in this outfit is a different shape from his other outfits , and is light gray and white with cracks along its length . It turns black with orange cracks in his EX Mode , appearing to be made out of rock and magma . In the " Battle Tips " menu , Penelo implies this is Garland ' s appearance underneath his armor . Garland ' s sword , called the " Rebellion " , is an entirely original design . It is a crushing weapon with seemingly no cutting ability like a proper sword . Garland drags the sword behind him and swings his entire body around to attack with it , likely due to the blade ' s massive size and weight . Its default form is a greatsword made up of several interlocking plates with a long handle . The sword can shift into an axe by folding the blade forward , a portion of the sword can separate on its own interior handle for Garland to dual - wield , the entire sword can extend on a chain from the handle and be flung about , and the plates can lengthen and extend to form a longer , lance - like weapon . Garland uses all five forms of the weapon in battle and shifts freely between them when attacking . In general , the axe form is used for slamming attacks , the twin swords for combo attacks , the flail form for long ranged attacks , and the lance form for charging attacks . Garland ' s manikin version , False Stalwart , is blue . " Dissidia Final Fantasy ( 2015 ) " . In the arcade reboot , Garland ' s default attire underwent a redesign . His horned helmet is redesigned with a more monstrous look ; his smaller horns are longer and pointed , and his longer horns have blue accents that replace the original silver base . The helmet features less covering of Garland ' s face and are more edged further in , with the helmet ' s eyes appearing more slit - shaped . Lastly , his cape no longer cover his shoulders , and his shoulder pauldrons are larger and more pointed . The official title of his attire is called " Knight of the Cycles " , and features two recolors . " Knight of the Cycles B " is identical to his " Stalwart ' s Armor " attire , while " Knight of the Cycles C " darkens his armour with a purple cape , based on Garland ' s 16 - bit sprite . Garland ' s first alternate costume is titled " Bloodlust Veteran " and is identical to his original outfit while in EX Mode . His default weapon , the Rebellion , underwent a redesign in the arcade reboot , appearing more purple with golden ornament designs . Garland ' s first alternate weapon is his second alt outfit EX Mode sword from " Dissidia 012 " , a black piece of rock and magma running along cracks in it . The game refers to this weapon as the Chaosbringer . His second weapon is the Balmung , a recurring sword in the series . Personality . Whereas in " Final Fantasy " Garland and Chaos are the same character , " Dissidia Final Fantasy " separates the two , although Garland implies that he would eventually become Chaos himself right before his and Chaos ' final battle against the Warriors of Cosmos . Garland has a proud , arrogant , and brutal personality , and enjoys combat more than any of the other Warriors of Chaos . His love of combat was such that when he and Emperor Mateus lost to Lightning and the Warrior of Light , he was only disappointed at how short the fight turned out to be . It has been hinted that this love for combat is Garland ' s method of enduring the endless cycles . Garland also is obsessed with the concept of endless cycles , and believes that it is the heroes ' and villains ' fate to fight one another eternally , and therefore attempts to test the resolves of those who wish to end the conflict , such as the Warrior of Light and Lightning . Despite this , Garland maintains a constant loyalty to Chaos , and to a greater extent Cid of the Lufaine ( though he only refers to the latter as the Great Will ) by maintaining his job of developing Chaos as the ultimate weapon . " Dissidia 012 " hints that Garland ' s motive for his actions are more for sympathy for Chaos , who is in similar circumstances as himself . In large part because of his constant loyalty to Chaos , he is the only one of the Warriors of Chaos who actually stays by Chaos ' side even after Cosmos was killed by the former , due to the other members during the cycle deciding to do their own thing ( and in the case of Emperor Mateus , had engineered Chaos ' demise as a means of ensuring he could take over the remains of existence ) . He also objected to Emperor Mateus ' suggestion of recruiting the disabled Jecht as a Warriors of Chaos for the next cycle , apparently anticipating that doing so would end up being against Chaos ' and the other Warriors of Chaos ' best interests ( with his hunch ultimately being proven correct ) . Story . Garland was a Knight of Cornelia that fell from grace and was trapped in an eternal time loop . He was eventually freed and summoned to World B by Shinryu . Encountering Cid of the Lufaine , Garland agreed to coerce Chaos into fighting against Cosmos due to the connection he felt with Chaos , and stood by the God of Discord throughout the Cycles . During a previous cycle , Garland and Prishe briefly encounter each other , and fought over the custody of the newly summoned Warrior of Light . Garland recognized the Warrior and warned Prishe she couldn ' t understand his true nature , but Prishe was victorious and the Warrior of Light was taken back to Order ' s Sanctuary to join Cosmos . Sometime after , Garland confronts Shantotto and was the last one to see her before she leaves World B via a doorway to the Rift . Twelfth cycle . In " Prologus " , Garland is the first Warrior of Chaos Lightning faces . He and the Emperor mock her and the Warrior of Light for waiting for them to make the next move . After the battle , Garland is disappointed about the short battle and tells Lightning and Warrior they will meet again , since the battle has just begun . Garland is later seen confronting Lightning , seeing no point in fighting her and leaves her for the manikins to hunt , while telling her most of her allies have already been dealt with by the strange beings . Before leaving , Garland explains the manikins bypass the gods ' power to revive the fallen , and thus they can end the existence of a warrior of either side for good . Later , Garland is seen with the Emperor , who is talking to Chaos , and suggesting Jecht should be converted into a Chaos warrior . Garland is taken aback by the idea , but Chaos eventually relents and channels his energy into the fallen Jecht . Finally , Garland serves as the final boss of the main story of " Dissidia 012 " . After Laguna leads the party to a portal to the Rift from which the manikins have been emerging , the Emperor , the Cloud of Darkness , Ultimecia , Garland and Kefka teleport in to stop the heroes from destroying the portal . Lightning battles Garland alone for the final match , after which the five villains teleport away so the manikins can finish the conflict for them . Thirteenth cycle . Early into the Warrior of Light ' s journey , Garland arrives and challenges him to battle . Garland is defeated , but he tells the Warrior that fighting back is pointless , and fades away . Believing Garland dead , the Warrior of Light journeys on , but Garland survives . Sephiroth questions Garland about the memories they have lost , and asks about a dragon with an unearthly glow he saw when he awoke , but Garland does not answer him . Garland confronts Ultimecia about her manipulations of Squall , and she reveals she has her own plans separate from the Emperor , and asks Garland to assist her . Later , when Cloud defeats Sephiroth and claims his Crystal , Garland speaks to the Emperor , and the two agree that Sephiroth may become a threat to the Emperor ' s plan . Later , the two meet again to discuss Terra ' s shaky alliance to Cosmos due to her lack of light , and Kefka ' s plans to bring her back into the fold . Squall arrives to battle Ultimecia and Garland approaches , intending for Squall to fight both of them . However , Zidane appears and fights Garland so that Squall may face Ultimecia alone . Squall defeats Ultimecia , but Garland only thanks Zidane for the battle and leaves after Ultimecia falls . After , the Warrior of Light defeats the Emperor and Garland appears before him , telling the shocked knight that he cannot be defeated , and invites the Warrior of Light to follow him to discover the war ' s true nature . Before their final battle , Garland lectures Kuja about fate , telling him they all share the same destiny , including Ultimecia . He also speaks to Sephiroth again , who questions Garland ' s ability to be revived despite numerous defeats . When the Warrior of Light arrives at the Chaos Shrine , Garland tells the Warrior the reason he came back to life was because of Chaos , and reveals the true nature of the gods ' conflict . Garland encourages the Warrior of Light to submit to the cycle of war , but he refuses and the two battle again . Garland is defeated and the Warrior of Light claims his Crystal , but Garland goads him , telling him the Crystals have the power to stop the cycle , and even the gods cannot foresee what would become of the world if the Crystals were brought together . Some time after this , it is revealed by the Emperor that he , Garland , and the other warriors of Chaos had allowed themselves to be defeated intentionally in order to ensure that the Warriors of Cosmos received the Crystals , as per their plan . After Cosmos ' s death at the hands of Chaos , Garland oversees his god ' s slumber . Sephiroth also questions Garland about the lost memories he has regained , asking what Garland ' s desire is once Chaos is destroyed . Garland rejects the idea , claiming he is a prisoner to the cycle of war and has no right to desire anything else . While with Golbez , Garland reveals the world to be a testing ground for Chaos and how he had arranged it under Cid ' s instructions , though telling Golbez he cannot leave the cycle even if he wanted to , he expresses an interest on its disbursal . When Chaos awakens and describes a peculiar dream in which he governed the world harmoniously with Cosmos , Garland reveals such was the way things were in World B before the conflict between harmony and disorder , and that he himself had instigated the conflict in accordance to the Great Will . Garland tells Chaos he is predestined to be sent 2 , 000 years into the past by God of Discord , becoming Chaos himself — their fates intertwined as Chaos would subconsciously convince Garland to take the path leading to his eventual change . As the Warriors of Cosmos approach Chaos ' s domain in the Land of Discord , Garland stands as the final villain alive before he is defeated and reveals how Chaos now plans to destroy World B with the cycle finally broken . Though the heroes question Garland ' s acceptance of this , Garland tells them his spirit will endure the world ' s destruction , and eventually he will find another cycle as he fades while vowing he and the heroes will meet again . Though revived by Shinryu , Garland learns too late that Shinryu is now involving itself in the conflict ' s final battle . Official Quests . In " Gabranth ' s Quest 000 : One Who Faces Hell " , during an unspecified earlier cycle , Gabranth becomes disillusioned with the cycle when he realizes the losers are purified of memories . Refusing to fight as there is no point to battling an endless battle , Garland attacks Gabranth when he threatens to kill Chaos if the god forces him to fight . Garland mocks Gabranth and encourages to use up all his strength in the fight so he will not be revived in the next cycle , and when Gabranth responds by attempting to kill himself , he is consumed by the Rift . Garland tells the Emperor that this is the fate of those who defy the will of the gods , to be cast into the Rift until they submit to the cycle and are willing to return to fight again . In " Shantotto ' s Quest 000 : The Seeker ' s Destination " , Garland encounters Shantotto after she destroys a gateway , seeking to create a temporal distortion with its destruction strong enough to open a portal to the Rift so she can escape the cycle . Garland battles her and claims there is no escape , but Shantotto ' s guess proves accurate when a portal opens and she enters the Rift . In " Prishe ' s Quest 000 : The Defeat of Cosmos " , Garland confronts Cosmos himself , seeking to discover if even a god will be purified and reborn if slain . Garland kills Cosmos , but true to his suspicions , she is purified and revived in the next cycle . During the 12th cycle in " Cloud ' s Quest 012 : You Should Have Disappeared " , Garland intervenes when Sephiroth challenges Cloud , telling the two conflict between allies will not be tolerated . Cloud follows Garland when he leaves and challenges him , but Garland holds back , refusing to go all - out as there is no point to them killing each other . He also warns Cloud his potentially traitorous actions during the 12th cycle have been noticed by the other Warriors of Chaos . In " Sephiroth ' s Quest 012 : The Hero ' s Memory " , the Emperor witnesses Sephiroth commit suicide as he seeks to uncover the truth of the cycle of war , and he and Garland reflect on possible reasons why Sephiroth was able to do this when Gabranth failed . Gameplay . " Dissidia Final Fantasy " and " Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy " . In battle Garland is described as a Nemesis , meaning he uses his huge sword to crush his opponents with powerful attacks . His sword automatically shifts into different forms while attacking , and some of his attacks vary depending on the timing of the button inputs , allowing Garland to alter the effects of his attacks quickly . Garland is most powerful in melee combat , but he has several charging attacks that allow him to attack opponents from a distance . A drawback is that Garland is a slow mover , and most of his melee attacks can be blocked . Boss . In " Dissidia " , Garland is fought in Destiny Odyssey I and IX , Shade Impulse , Distant Glory and Inward Chaos . In " Dissidia 012 " , he is fought in An Undocumented Battle , Trust , Champions of her Will ( twice ) , and Conclusion of the Cycle chapters of Story Mode , as well as during Report # 18 . EX Mode . Garland ' s EX Mode is Class change , where his cape turns white and gains arabesque patterns along the edges . While in EX Mode Garland gains the ability " Indomitable Resolve " preventing him from flinching or being knocked back by an opponent ' s attacks while executing an attack of his own . He still takes damage from the attack and is only immune to flinching when hit with a Brave attack . HP attacks will still knock him back , but only the HP - damaging part of the attack ; HP attacks that inflict Bravery damage will not stun him until the final hit . Garland ' s EX Burst is Soul of Chaos , where he knocks his foe back and raises his sword . The player must press repeatedly to fill a meter on the screen as Garland charges energy . If filled , Garland will repeatedly attack his opponent with twin swords , hits them several times with the chain , stabs them with the spear , then swings his axe downwards hitting the opponent multiple times . He ends the EX Burst by spinning to unleash two powerful sword blows . Equipment . Garland can equip Greatswords , Katanas , Spears , Axes , Shields , Gauntlets , Helms , Light Armor , and Heavy Armor . In " Dissidia 012 " , Garland can also equip Large Shields . Creation and Development . Voice . In the Japanese version of " Dissidia Final Fantasy " and " Dissidia 012 " , Garland is voiced by . In the Japanese arcade version , he is voiced by , owing to the former ' s death in 2013 , who also voiced Ba ' Gamnan in " Final Fantasy XII " and Oscha from " " . In the English version , he is voiced by . Both of Garland ' s English and first Japanese voice actors also voiced Alex Louis Armstrong from another Square Enix project : " Fullmetal Alchemist " and its reboot " Fullmetal Alchemist : Brotherhood " .