Warriors of Light

The Warriors of Light, also called Light Warriors, Warriors of the Light, or Heroes of Light, is a recurring theme in the Final Fantasy series. Four heroes are chosen by the crystals—be it by a prophecy, a will, or by fate—to embark on the dangerous journey to fight evil or restore balance to the world. In the games they appear in, the Light Warriors are always the characters controlled by the player.
==Appearances==
===Final Fantasy===
The Warriors of Light are four youths spoken of in Lukahn's prophecy that appear in Cornelia to save the captured Princess Sarah from the clutches of the corrupted knight, Garland. Unlike in later appearances, these Warriors each hold the crystals themselves. Their mission is not to save the crystals, but to destroy the Four Fiends of each of the four elements and to save the world by restoring the light to the crystals they hold. After defeating the Four Fiends, the Light Warriors travel into the past to defeat the cause of all the evil, Chaos, who turns out to be their first foe, Garland. The evil force had created a cycle of destruction passing through time that the Warriors of Light end once and for all by destroying Chaos.
The Light Warriors are not given names and, instead, are named by the player. Their job classes are also assigned by the player at the start of the game. 
In the 1989 manga adaptation by Yuu Kaimeiji, the Warriors of Light differs vastly from the original game. The four warriors are all "from other dimensions" and include a female Elf named Puffy Tolte (presumably a Fighter, given her equipment and use of Excalibur), a male human named Flitz Stewart (a "Monk," though he uses a sword throughout the book), Matoya the Witch (visually a child, and not blind. She uses Black magic, but also the spell NulDeath only available Red Wizards and White Mage/Wizards), and Bahamut himself (who wears breastplate armor and wields a machine gun and a rocket launcher). They are accompanied by Princess Sarah, Bikke the pirate, Dr. Unne, and a robot named DB-6.
In the novelization Final Fantasy I * II * III: Memory of Heroes the warriors are named Setro for the Warrior, Zauver for the Thief, Flora for the White Mage, and Teol for the Black Mage. 
===Final Fantasy III===
The Warriors of the Light are four orphaned youths that live on the Floating Continent. In the original game, they are not given names, but the 3D version names them Luneth, Arc, Refia, and Ingus, and gives them a short backstory. They travel the world appearing at the four crystals of each element, gaining jobs at each one they find. Their goal is defeat the power of Darkness from destroying their world.
After traveling into the World of Darkness, the Warriors of the Light find their opposing Warriors of the Dark who once saved the world themselves from the destructive power of Light. The four Dark Warriors aid the four orphans during the final battle against the Cloud of Darkness.
===Final Fantasy V===
There are two groups of warriors. The four Warriors of Dawn—Galuf, Dorgann, Kelger, and Xezat—defeated the evil Exdeath and sealed him in a remote cavern, using the power of the four crystals of another world. Though three of the four return home to their world, Dorgann stays behind, feeling guilty for bringing a great evil to an innocent world. While there, he has a son, Bartz, but dies of grief after the passing of his wife, Stella.
Bartz becomes a wanderer and one day gathers a group of warriors in his own group, branded the Warriors of Light by the Wind Crystal. These four, who include the Dawn Warrior Galuf and the royal Tycoon sisters, Lenna and Faris, are chosen by the crystals to protect them and destroy evil. They fail each time, and each crystal is shattered by Exdeath's forces. When each crystal is broken, the shards become job classes for the Warriors.
After the four crystals are destroyed Exdeath returns. The Light Warriors travel to the Dawn Warriors' world and while there, each of the original Warriors of Dawn sacrifice themselves to try and defeat Exdeath, including Galuf, who is replaced by his granddaughter, Krile, who completes the second generation of warriors.
Exdeath fuses the two worlds together so as to gain more power from the Void. The Warriors of Light travel into the Interdimensional Rift, fighting through his horde of demons, and slay Exdeath with the aid of the spirits of the Dawn Warriors. It is revealed that whenever the world is on the brink of being consumed into the Void, four spirits will be born who will give birth to light, referring to the formation of the Warriors of Light.
====Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals====
200 years after the end of Final Fantasy V, the crystals again come under threat, now from the evil Ra Devil. A descendant of Bartz, Linaly, gathers her friend Prettz, the pirate Rouge, and the general Valkus to defeat this threat. The unlikely team is sent off to the Black Moon to save the world.
While the story focuses on Linaly and Prettz, and none save for Linaly possess any magical properties, the four band together to face the oncoming evil subtly mirroring the Warriors of Light from Final Fantasy V, although they are never officially referred to as the Warriors of Light.
===Final Fantasy XIV===
The Warriors of Light are stated to be the band of adventurers (i.e. player characters) that helped protect the city-states and form the Eorzean Alliance during the events leading up to the Seventh Umbral Era. They took to the field during the Battle of Carteneau on the plains of Mor Dhona and were lost during the unleashing of Bahamut. Their name derives from the fact that whenever people try to remember them, all they can remember is a silhouette surrounded by a blinding light.
Characters created for the original game have a special tattoo on their neck, indicating they are one of the Warriors of Light. It can be hidden (or unhidden) with command "/lmark". They have a different intro upon starting the game, appearing in a flash of light and walking to their chosen city state, and there are minor edits to the text of some quests. They receive a chocobo mount whose beak has been branded with the same mark, implying this was their original chocobo from the previous era.
Near completion of the main plot, all player characters (i.e. including those created in A Realm Reborn) are referred to as Warriors of Light by the leaders of the Grand Companies. The player character is referred to as a Warrior of Light specifically by Hydaelyn, and becomes widely known and referred to in-game as the Warrior of Light thereafter.
The concept of the Warrior of Light existed for eons in every world. Elidibus exploited this by becoming a Warrior of Light himself to aid in the Ascians' Ardor as his duty as Emissary. During the final battle of Norvrandt, Elidibus used the Crystal Tower to summon shades of heroes from other worlds, drawing upon their hopes to feed his power as a primal. He merges with them to become a version of the first Warrior of Light in a final bid to defeat the player character, but is defeated by the adventurer and the Exarch.
Ajora Glabados and Ramza Beoulve are known to be Warriors of Light from the ancient past. Ardbert was a Warrior of Light on the First.
Minion of Light is a minion the player can acquire. When summoned, it randomly appears as the Warrior, the Black Mage, or the White Mage from Final Fantasy I.
===Final Fantasy Mystic Quest===
When Benjamin and Phoebe approach the statue at the top of Doom Castle, the statue calls them the Knights of Light, and the Crystals entrust them with their power.
===Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light===
Brandt, Aire, Yunita, and Jusqua are chosen to be the Heroes of Light, also referred to as The Children of Hope, in the present by the Crystal to replace Rolan, the sole Hero of Light from the past. Rolan was chosen as a Hero of Light at an unknown point in the past by the Crystal to fight Dark Lord Chaos. Rolan sealed Chaos in the Star Chamber in the center of the planet. In the present Rolan's soul has been corrupted by Lucifer, one of Chaos's servants, and lost his powers as a Hero of Light.
The Heroes of Light do not have innate powers that set them apart from others. Instead, the Crystal simply chooses a person, or people, who have strong hearts filled with hope and other positive emotions, or who have hearts with the potential to be filled with hope, and grants them crowns, which function like jobs from other Final Fantasy games, allowing them to gain powers based on which crown they choose to wear.
===Final Fantasy Dimensions===
Four of the eight main characters of the game are the Warriors of Light: Sol, Aigis, Sarah, and Dusk.
At the beginning of their adventure, the Warriors of Light are chosen by the Crystal of Lux, and are blessed with its power. During their journey, they find five crystal shards which bless them with the Dragoon, Bard, Memorist, Paladin and Seer jobs.
===Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008)===
The Warrior of Light represents the original Final Fantasy, modeled after the Warrior class from said game. The Warriors of Cosmos, chosen representatives of the goddess, are also referred to as the "Warriors of Light". Each warrior is in search of a crystal, which holds a part of Cosmos's power.
Shantotto was once a member, having abandoned the war long ago for her own research.
====Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy====
Warrior of Light returns in the prequel to Dissidia along with the other Warriors of Cosmos whose membership during the previous 12th cycle included Kain Highwind, Tifa Lockhart, Laguna, Yuna, Vaan, and Lightning before the six sacrificed themselves to ensure their allies' survival in the next cycle.
Terra, Cloud, and Tidus appear in the cycle as the antagonistic Warriors of Chaos, but switched sides prior to the 13th cycle. Jecht was originally a member of the Warrior of Cosmos until he was captured and converted into a Warrior of Chaos.
Other than Shantotto's background story being revealed, the game reveals Prishe to also be a former member who brought the Warrior of Light to Cosmos.
====Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia====
When the battles fought on behalf of Materia and Spiritus begin to destroy their warriors, the two gods create a new world as a haven for recovery. This world is soon threatened by Torsions that warp its fabric. Individuals that fall through the Torsions from their own worlds are deemed to be Warriors of Light by Mog. Together, they journey across the landscape to battle the monster hordes that emerge from Torsions, which usually closes the rift. 
Later, Shantotto reveals that the "Light" which the warriors carry is not simply the ability to close Torsions but to open that as well, a fact that proves unsettling. Mog also begins to recruit less benevolent individuals (such as Seymour Guado because they carry this power in equal measure. This leads to speculation by some party members that there is an imbalance towards the light, which could be as harmful as darkness.
===Final Fantasy All the Bravest===
The Warriors of Light are mentioned in the epilogue, referring to them the player's entire party. They have restored the balance to the dimension, reclaiming it from the forces of darkness.
===Mobius Final Fantasy===
According to a long-dated prophecy, a Warrior of Light will appear in Palamecia, the land of hope unbound, to slay Chaos and save the world. Wol came to this world as one among many Blanks who share his name, lack of memories, and the possible fate of becoming the next Warrior of Light. He eventually discovers there were more Warriors of Light in the past.
Meia, a "heretic" witch, fell in love with one such Warrior of Light, but because this affair went against prophecy, he was executed and she was condemned to face similar trials to Wol's. While she begins as an adversary, in truth she fights to avenge the loss of her past love, entering into an uneasy pact with Wol.
Alongside Wol and Meia, Warriors of Light and other main characters from the Final Fantasy series appear as ability cards to use in battles, but few, if any, are involved in the main story.
===World of Final Fantasy===
The Captain of the Guard turning into the Champion Warrior of Light alludes to the original Final Fantasy whose main cast consists of a group of nameless people, but in the first Dissidia Final Fantasy one of them was redesigned into his own character.
===Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin===
As the kingdom of Cornelia is being ravaged by monsters and cataclysms, three powerful warriors rise up to prominence: Jack, Ash, and Jed. Each carries a dark oval crystal and is gifted with abilities beyond those of regular humans, but they lack any memories of who they were before coming to Cornelia and are only driven by the desire to destroy Chaos.
After slaying three powerful monsters and asking the king's permission to fight Chaos, they are sent to investigate the strange occurrences happening in the Chaos Shrine. They discover an armored figure sitting on the throne who claims to be Chaos. After defeating the knight, they discover their true identity: a young woman named Neon who prayed to someone to become the embodiment of darkness so that she would be the one slain by someone as Chaos. She, too, carries a black crystal and decides to join the three warriors, and the king rejoices, believing the four warriors to be the prophesied Warriors of Light.
Upon returning to the castle, the warriors are tasked with returning four elemental crystals, overtaken by the Four Fiends, to their former splendor, and the only one who possesses any information about them is a notorious Dark Elf king Astos. Jack and his party confront him, and the elf reveals the locations of the crystals, first of them being the Wind Crystal, kept at the orbital station known as the Flying Fortress.
In the Fortress, the Warriors confront the Fiend of Wind, Tiamat, and slay her, returning the crystal to its full strength. A young woman is left lying in Tiamat's place, Sophia, who also wishes to destroy Chaos, carrying a dark crystal. This confuses the others, who believed that the prophecy specified only four Warriors of Light, but regardless, Sophia joins Jack and his friends on their journey.
Over the course of their quest, the Warriors gradually recover their memories and realize that they are Lufenian, while Neon is the only Cornelian in the party. The four Lufenians are Strangers, special agents sent into Cornelia to play the roles of the Warriors of Light so that the world could remain in technological stasis and thus pose no threat to Lufenia, whose denizens wished to exert their control and dump most of their darkness into another world to live in "Paradise". Prior to losing his memories, Jack gained a romantic affection for Princess Sarah and became disgusted with how his people treated Cornelia as their plaything, deciding to rebel in secret and recruiting Astos and other Strangers to their cause. As the final component of the plan, Jack left his original crystal with Sarah so that he would be able to recover his memories at a later point and wrest control away from Lufenia.
After slaying the Four Fiends and returning to Cornelia, the Warriors protect the castle from Captain Bikke and his pirates who were possessed by darkness. They confront Astos who is forced to fight them and perishes, with Jack absorbing most of his darkness. Upon returning to the castle, Jack and his allies attempt to repel the monster invasion, but their efforts are in vain. The royal family, including Sarah, dies, and Jack's original crystal shatters, releasing his memories.
The rest of the party confronts Jack, forcing him to absorb more darkness and kill them in the struggle. Consumed by the dark energies, Jack ventures back to the Chaos Shrine, where the Lufenian extraction point is located. He invades their dimension and destroys the memory crystal that releases countless particles of darkness, which take shape of a being known as the Darkness Manifest. Jack defeats the being and absorbs its darkness before shattering the connection and departing back to Cornelia.
After the plan is complete, Jack retreats to the Chaos Shrine and starts using his surname, Garland. The Four Fiends are revealed to be Jack's friends, who counted on him to finish what they have started and free Cornelia. Garland sets the final part of his idea in motion and invades Cornelia, kidnapping Sarah and taking her to the Shrine where he awaits the Warriors of Light to confront him.
 During the "Trials of the Dragon King" DLC chapter, the true Warriors of Light challenge Jack, but are easily dispatched. Jack consults with Bahamut and, after Jack proves his worth by defeating him in combat, agrees to empower the true Warriors of Light in future cycles with the hope that they may one day best Jack.
Though Jack claims the true Warriors of Light are from Cornelia, NPC dialogue from allied monsters featured in the "Wanderer of the Rift" DLC chapter reveals that they are from another world. Further NPC dialogue reveals that Neon was experimented on while she was in her mother's womb to become an artificial Warrior of Light. Similarly, NPC dialogue suggests that Jack, Ash, Jed, and Sophia are not true Lufenians and also originated from another world.
===Final Fantasy Trading Card Game===
==Related content==
====Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII====
Lightning is called the "the knight of light", a synonym for "the warrior of light" by Zoe in the Yusnaan Slaughterhouse before the fight begins. Lightning has been chosen as the savior of souls by the god Bhunivelze.
===Final Fantasy XV===
Final Fantasy XV started as Final Fantasy Versus XIII and a part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series. As the project became a main series entry, its connection to Fabula Nova Crystallis was diminished, but various design elements of the latter remain.
In the opening loading screen of the game, there's a line that says.
:In a time unknown, only a prophecy keeps hope alive in people's hearts. "When darkness veils the world, the King of Light shall come."
This is similar to the opening lines of the first Final Fantasy:
:The world lies shrouded in darkness. The winds die... The seas rage... The earth decays... But the people believe in a prophecy, patiently waiting for its fulfillment. "When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come."
In the world of Final Fantasy XV, the kings of Lucis serve as the "Warriors of Light", being servants of the Crystal and thus bound to its will through their ancient pact with the Astrals and able to use a special kind of magic via the Crystal's power: this magic, and other magic related to the gods as wielded by the Oracle, comes at the cost of physically debilitating the wielder to a fatal degree if overused.
Noctis Lucis Caelum and his companions Gladiolus Amicitia, Ignis Scientia and Prompto Argentum serve as the Warriors of Light for Final Fantasy XV, with Noctis being chosen by the Crystal to perform a ceremony to cleanse the world of Eos of a scourge that generates monstrous daemons and lengthens the nights until all daylight vanishes. He is known as the King of Kings, or the True King.
===Final Fantasy XVI===
Mythos can be seen as analogous to the Warrior of Light from the Final Fantasy series, the crystals' champion set on a mission to save the world. The Mothercrystals in the world of Valisthea are parts of the Ultima collective, who want Clive Rosfield as their vessel, "Mythos", to cast a spell to remake the world: in their view to save it. However, Clive decides to save the world they already have, Valisthea, rather than pine for a paradise where only Ultima would exist.
==Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances==
===Bravely Default series===
In Bravely Default, a spiritual sequel of Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, Tiz Arrior, Agnès Oblige, Edea Lee, and Ringabel are chosen by a deceased alternate world version of Agnès to be the Warriors of Light: referring to them as the embodiment of her will to stop Ouroboros. This was hinted in the game's announcement trailer that addresses the player as a Warrior of Light. During the final chapter, Airy remarks that no other "Warriors of Light" have impressed her like the foursome.
In Bravely Default II, Gloria neu Musa, Seth, Elvis Lesley, and Adelle Ein are chosen by the Crystals as the current Heroes of Light to fight the Night’s Nexus, the four preceded by Gloria’s grandfather Godric, her protector Sir Sloan, Elvis’s mentor Emma Odilia, and the Fairy Queen Aileen. The term itself originated from someone who met Sir Sloan’s group and coined the term from feeling their inner radiance.
===In popular culture===
The four main characters from 8-Bit Theater refer to the Warriors of Light from the original Final Fantasy. Aside from the "Light Warriors" (Fighter, Thief, Black Mage, and Red Mage) there is also the "Real Light Warriors", who, thanks to a decision to grind before starting their adventure and very bad luck, end up falling far behind the first group on their travels.
==Citations==
de:Krieger des Lichts
es:Guerreros de la Luz
it:Guerrieri della luce
pl:Warriors of Light
pt-br:Guerreiros da Luz
ru:Воины Света
Category:Recurring characters
Category:Organizations