I Want to Be Your Canary I Want to Be Your Canary is a theater play in " Final Fantasy IX " . It was written by Lord Avon hundreds of years ago , and tells the story of the romance between a noble and a peasant . Story . Princess Garnet , and her mother , Queen Brahne , love this play , and the Tantalus Theater Troupe from Lindblum arrives every year to perform it on the princess ' s birthday . On the day of Garnet ' s 16th birthday , Tantalus again arrives to Alexandria on their theater ship , the " Prima Vista " , but this time under a clandestine mission from Regent Cid Fabool IX to kidnap Garnet to get her to safety from her strangely behaving mother . As preparations for the play are underway , people line up to watch it . The young black mage , Vivi , has journeyed to Alexandria to see the play , but is refused entry as he did not realize he has a forged ticket that reads , " I Want to Be Your Crow . " He meets a youngster named Puck who helps him sneak in to watch the play by walking on the rooftops . The queen and the princess settle on the Alexandria Castle balcony to watch the play , but Garnet is uncharacteristically gloomy , yet Brahne decides to ignore it and enjoy the play . Unknown to everyone , Garnet has decided to flee Alexandria to Lindblum , and as the play starts she slips away . Baku , the leader of Tantalus dressed as King Leo , welcomes the audience and commences the play . During a fight scene two Tantalus members , Zidane and Blank , slip into the audience and into the castle itself where they run into Garnet in disguise under a red and white cloak . They follow her , but are spotted by Adelbert Steiner , the captain of the Knights of Pluto , who begins his pursuit . They distract him with oglop s Marcus brought with him , and sneak into " Prima Vista " . Steiner isn ' t one to give up so easily , and follows them onto the ship . They end up being taken to the stage while the play is still going , and the script is partially improvised with Garnet taking the role of Cornelia , initially to be played by Ruby , and Steiner " playing " the role of Prince Schneider , though he does not realize that he is in the play . As Garnet as Cornelia pretends to take her life , Steiner falls onto his knees in despair and Queen Brahne comments it is the best version of the play she has ever seen . Vivi is chased onto the stage because he had come into the show without a ticket , and when he defends himself with a fireball Garnet ' s cloak catches on fire and she tosses it aside . As the crowd and the queen recognize " Cornelia " as Princess Garnet , Brahne orders her detained . Steiner attacks Tantalus , but Vivi and Garnet aid them , and the Bomb the queen launched into the ship explodes as the " Prima Vista " takes off into the skies , and crashlands into the Evil Forest outside Alexandria , on the bottom of the Mist Continent . A year later , presumed to be Garnet ' s 17th birthday , Tantalus returns to Alexandria to perform " I Want to Be Your Canary " for her now that she is queen . Garnet is again in a gloomy mood , because she misses Zidane who went missing during their adventures . All of the friends she had met during their travels arrive to watch the play , with Steiner and Beatrix , the general of Alexandrian army , watching with her from the castle balcony . During the play ' s climax the actor supposed to be Marcus casts aside his cloak , revealing himself to be a returning Zidane , and Garnet rushes through the crowd to reunite with him on the stage . Quests . Sword fight . During the play at the beginning of the game , Zidane and Blank have a staged sword fight that plays like a minigame with the player having to follow with button combos . Depending on how well the player does , a number of nobles in the audience are impressed , as well as the queen . Later , when the player is in control of Steiner , the they will receive a reward if they talk to the queen . Button pressing accuracy alone is not enough to get 100 ; speedy button input is required as well . Failing to input the button in time will count as a missed action , as if the player had input the incorrect button . The player is also rewarded gil depending on the performance . With a perfect score , the player receives 10000 gil in the US and PAL versions . In the Japanese version , the reward varies even with a perfect score depending on the player ' s quickness . In the mobile / Steam version , getting the perfect score is easier due to a more lenient timing window . The color cues present with the buttons from the PlayStation controller are absent in the mobile version . In the Steam version , the color cues are absent if the game is played with a keyboard or mouse , but playing the game with an Xbox - compatible controller selected as the input device will re - enable color cues , albeit with the Xbox controller layout ( black button with green , red , blue and yellow respectively ) . Perfect button input is not required to impress all 100 nobles , although performances in which Zidane frequently performs the backflip action , or Zidane and Blank clank their swords , seem to provide better noble reactions . Queen Brahne will only be impressed by a perfect performance . Extra ending scene . The player can unlock an extra scene in the ending by having the Hammer in the inventory during the ending sequences . The Hammer can be obtained as the final prize from Queen Stella during the Stellazzio coins sidequest . The extra scene shows an additional part of the " I Want to Be Your Canary " play where King Leo " executes " Blank . Enemies . The player will have to fight a number of battles as part of the " play " . The battles on the stage have the SFX command available . The skills from this command are special effects that deal no damage , but Steiner will be annoyed if they are used against him . Musical themes . A number of themes play during " I Want to Be Your Canary " : " Tonight " plays when King Leo captures Marcus ; " Vamo Alla Flamenco " plays during Blank and Zidane ' s sword fight ; " Swords of Fury " ( also known as " Feel My Blade " ) plays during the battle versus King Leo ; " Thy Warmth " plays when Zidane , Garnet , and Steiner enter the stage by accident ; " Tragic Love " plays when Garnet , as Cornelia , jumps in front of Marcus ' blade and dies . During the performance at the end of the game , " I Want to Be Your Canary " plays . Other appearances . " Final Fantasy " . The play , as well as the " acting troupe " , Tantalus , is mentioned by dancers of the Lifespring Grotto in the " " and subsequent versions of the original " Final Fantasy " . Development . The play alludes to in numerous ways . The writer of " I Want to Be Your Canary " is Lord Avon , a reference to Shakespeare ' s birthplace . The play is similar to ' and ' , with the hero , Marcus , in love with Cornelia , the daughter of his enemy , King Leo . Leo wishes Cornelia to marry Prince Schneider , a man she does not love . Both Cornelia and Marcus end up dying for their love . In the original Japanese version , the king in " I Want to Be Your Canary " , played by Baku , is King Lear , a direct reference to Shakespeare ' s character . The name of the play ( " I Want to be Your Bird " in Japanese ) may be a reference to a line from " Romeo and Juliet " , in which Romeo says to Juliet , " I would I were thy bird " ( Act II , Scene 2 ) in response to Juliet comparing her love to him to a spoiled child with a pet bird who never lets the bird hop far from his hand . In an old development memo Hironobu Sakaguchi shared online , the play Tantalus performs at the beginning of the game is a " special play at night when two moons are full once a year " . This refers to the twin moons of Gaia . The initial idea for the play also appears to have been a different play altogether , as it is described as : " A theme of a play is ' Moon Light Love Romance ' which is very hot now . " In the final game , the play is being performed to honor Princess Garnet ' s birthday . The excerpts of the dialogue of the original play memo reveal that the play would start with the rescue of a princess confined in " Gulug castle " , and that with the " hostage exchange " the " Sassoon country " would be reconstructed . Mount Gulg is a recurring location in the " Final Fantasy " series , and also appears in the final version of " Final Fantasy IX " as the Mount Gulug volcano near Esto Gaza . " Sassoon country " refers to Sasune from " Final Fantasy III " . According to one of the Trivia Mognet Questions in the original " Dissidia Final Fantasy " , Sasune is the kingdom where Prince Schneider of the play hails from .