Blank (Final Fantasy IX)

Blank is a temporary player character in Final Fantasy IX. He is one of the members from Tantalus, and thus a Thief. He is Marcus's best friend, Marcus often calling him "Bro".
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
Blank is a young man with auburn hair and pale skin. He has unusual scars across his body where he's been seemingly patched up with darker skin tones, most notably over the left side of his face. Blank's red hair is spiked with a thick leather belt acting as a headband, which also covers the upper half of his face. He wears little clothing, with brown briefs, leather gloves with a fur trim, black boots, large leather belts around his torso and another slung across his body as a weapon holster, and a brown knee-pad on his right knee.
=== Personality ===
Blank is the brains of Tantalus. He is close to the other members, especially Marcus, his best friend. He's competitive towards Zidane and considers himself a "ladies' man". He is kind and quick to help out a person in need, selflessly rushing to rescue those in trouble, and patrolling the streets of Alexandria to make sure they are safe.
== Story ==
Blank and his fellow Tantalus members fight Baku as training for their mission to kidnap Princess Garnet during the play Tantalus is putting on in Alexandria, I Want to Be Your Canary. The play is to be a present for Princess Garnet's sixteenth birthday, but during the staged sword fight with Zidane, the two sneak into the Alexandria Castle where Blank disguises as a Knight of Pluto.
Steiner, the captain of the knights, finds him, and Blank leads him back to the M.S. Prima Vista where Zidane is hiding with Garnet, who ran away with Zidane willingly to escape the castle. Blank reveals himself when Steiner performs his Armor Break on him. Blank had stuffed oglops in his armor, which scatter around the room. Steiner panics at the sight, finding the insects repulsive. Blank pilots the Prima Vista airship out of Alexandria, but Queen Brahne orders the ship shot down and it crashlands in the Evil Forest.
thumb|left|Blank petrified.
Blank helps rescue the survivors and provides the black mage Vivi—who got caught up in the chaos—with some medicine after Zidane rescues him from the Prison Cage. After Zidane leaves with Vivi and Steiner to find Garnet, who is being held hostage by the beasts of the forest, Baku orders Blank to follow them. Blank arrives just in time to rescue Garnet, but the Evil Forest begins to petrify after she is released. During the escape, Blank is caught by a Plant Spider while trying to protect Zidane and is petrified along with the forest, but not before throwing Zidane a Continental Map.
Marcus returns to the Evil Forest with some Supersoft to rescue Blank. He takes him back to Alexandria where they save Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi from Zorn and Thorn, Brahne's lackeys. Blank participates in the struggle against Brahne, along with Marcus, Steiner, Beatrix, and Freya. Blank and Marcus had to carry out the the other three, who were injured. Eventually, Ruby, Cinna, and Baku from Tantalus show up as well.
After Brahne's death Ruby opens a mini theater in Alexandria, and Marcus, Blank, and Cinna help her. They decide to take Vivi to the first show and use him as a decoy so Ruby will not scold them (Blank in particular) for lateness. Blank and Marcus also help patrol the streets of Alexandria at night.
After the destruction of Alexandria, all of Tantalus except Ruby return to Lindblum to rebuild their headquarters. Cid Fabool IX asks Blank to accompany him, Zidane, and Zidane's friends on the Blue Narciss to find Kuja, Brahne's former weapons dealer who schemes to take over the world. Blank pilots the ship to the Desert Palace and then to Esto Gaza. After Cid builds the Hilda Garde III, Blank stays in Lindblum to help the rest of Tantalus rebuild their home.
After Kuja has been dealt with, Zidane goes missing and his friends return to their former lives. A year later for what is presumed to be Queen Garnet's 17th birthday, Tantalus returns to Alexandria to perform I Want to Be Your Canary with Blank participating with the rest.
== Gameplay ==
Blank is a thief and thus has speed and high physical attack power. He shares the same character slot as Amarant. His levels carry over, but his stats do not. A high level Blank would make Amarant weaker stats-wise, as he would lose levels where he could have gained stats with the right equipment. In his victory pose Blank slashes his sword once and holds it before him.
=== Equipment ===
Blank's main and only weapon of choice are swords, while his armor consist of hats, armlets, and light armor. Like Marcus and Cinna, he can also equip the otherwise female only Lamia's Tiara. Blank's equipment options cannot be fully viewed unless the player hacks all items into their inventory with a cheating device for the short duration Blank is in the player's party.
Weapon	Headgear	Arm Protection	Body Protection
* Broadsword
* Iron Sword
* Mythril Sword
* Blood Sword
* Ice Brand
* Coral Sword
* Diamond Sword
* Flame Saber
* Rune Blade
* Defender	
* Straw Hat
* Leather Hat
* Headgear
* Feather Hat
* Steepled Hat
* Magus Hat
* Bandana
* Ritual Hat
* Twist Headband
* Lamia's Tiara
* Mantra Band
* Dark Hat
* Green Beret
* Red Hat
* Black Hood
* Golden Hairpin
* Adaman Hat
* Coronet
* Flash Hat
* Thief Hat
* Golden Skullcap
* Circlet	
* Pearl Armlet
* Jade Armlet
* Wrist
* Leather Wrist
* Glass Armlet
* Bone Wrist
* Mythril Armlet
* Egoist's Armlet
* Chimera Armlet
* Thief Gloves
* N-Kai Armlet
* Dragon Wrist
* Power Wrist
* Bracer	
* Aloha T-shirt
* Leather Shirt
* Silk Shirt
* Leather Plate
* Bronze Vest
* Chain Plate
* Mythril Vest
* Adaman Vest
* Survival Vest
* Brigandine
* Judo Uniform
* Gaia Gear
* Power Vest
* Demon's Vest
* Ninja Gear
* Dark Gear
* Brave Suit
=== Abilities ===
Blank's battle commands consist of Attack, Steal, and Item. Since Blank is only a temporary party member, he has no Trance bar nor any support abilities. He also cannot learn any new abilities found on equipment. He can steal, similar to the other thieves. Any successful steals from Blank contribute to the attack power of Zidane's Thievery ability, even before this skill is acquired.
===Extra ending scene===
If the player has Hammer in their inventory during the ending, they get an extra scene where Baku as King Leo "executes" Blank.
==Other appearances==
===Pictlogica Final Fantasy===
===Other media===
In the Dawn of Souls and subsequent remakes of the original Final Fantasy, Blank is one of the automatic names the player can choose for the Thief job. This makes him the only member of the Tantalus three to have his name used for thieves (Marcus and Cinna are both names for Monks instead).
== Gallery ==
Blank-2.gif|Artwork by Toshiyuki Itahana.
Blank equipment.png|Blank's equipment.
Amano Blank.jpg|Artwork of Blank by Yoshitaka Amano.
Blank-ffix.png|Field model of Blank.
Blank-ffix-knight.png|Model of Blank in Knight attire.
Blank-FFIX.JPG|CG Model.
Blank CG Greyscale.jpg|CG Model.
Blank disguised as a Knight of Pluto from FFIX Remastered.png|Blank disguised as a Knight of Pluto.
==Etymology==
Blank is the only one of the temporary playable Tantalus members to not be named after a character in the William Shakespeare play Julius Caesar.
== References ==
de:Blank
es:Blank
fr:Frank
it:Blank
ru:Бланк (Final Fantasy IX)
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy IX
Category:Thieves
Category:Guest characters