Minwu (Final Fantasy II)

Minwu, known officially in Japan as Ming-Wu and Mindu in the Final Fantasy Origins version, is a temporary playable character from Final Fantasy II and the protagonist of Soul of Rebirth. A White Wizard from Mysidia, he works as Fynn's Royal Mage, and after Fynn's takeover by the Palamecian Empire, he becomes Princess Hilda's right-hand man who will do anything to help the Wild Rose Rebellion.
==Profile==
===Appearance===
Minwu wears a white turban with a white cloth covering his mouth, and wears a white robe with a gold pieces of plate in them. His turban and cloak are adorned with red gems and he is shown carrying a red and blue spiked shield. He has short hair, perhaps brown as shown by the sprites, dark brown skin, and blue eyes.
===Personality===
As a white mage, Minwu is naturally a person who takes care of the wounded, and is loyal to Hilda and acts like an adviser. He usually talks in a way that things "are by fate have to happen," so he may have an external locus of control. When he leaves to Mysidia, he acts like a person on a mission, because "his fate" is to obtain the Ultima Tome.
==Story==
===Final Fantasy II===
Minwu has long served the Fynn royal family as their personal mage and healer. Fleeing Fynn with Princess Hilda and the King of Fynn during the Palamecian Empire's attack, he helps set up the rebel base in Altair. When Hilda finds Firion and his friends badly beaten in the woods near Fynn, Minwu heals their wounds, sensing "a strong life force" within Firion.
After Hilda accepts Firion, Maria and Guy into the resistance, Minwu accompanies them to Salamand, and further to the Semitt Falls to find mythril for their cause. They fight their way through the falls, and rescue enslaved peasants from Salamand from the Empire and obtain the mythril. After returning to the Rebellion, Minwu joins the party into infiltrating the Empire's operations at Bafsk and sabotaging the Dreadnought. However, once they reach the behemoth airship, its construction has been already been concluded.
Once the party returns to Altair, they discover the King of Fynn's injuries have worsened, and Minwu stays in Altair to attend to the King. After the party destroys the Dreadnought and rescues Hilda alongside Gordon, the King of Fynn dies of his wounds, and with his final breath, tells Minwu to travel to Mysidia to find the Ultima Tome. Minwu agrees to his king's last request and sets out.
The party follows Minwu's quest after Fynn's liberation and hear he's departed for the Mysidian Tower. There, he finds a seal blocking the way to the Ultima Tome, and waits for the party to arrive. Minwu offers to break the seal, using all of his power, at the cost of his own life. Telling the rest of the party not to mourn, he perishes in the Chamber of the Seal.
Minwu awakes in a strange cave similar to the Jade Passage, and encounters the Prince of Kashuan, Scott, and together they descend the cave, finding Josef of Salamand and later the Dragoon Ricard Highwind. Due to these encounters Minwu realizes he is dead. He learns of recent events through Ricard Highwind, such as the Emperor's death and revival as the Lord of Hell. Together, the four fight their way through the path to hell and reach a settlement where they meet Cid, who together with Wild Rose soldiers, established and defend Machanon.
Minwu finds a portal to an area resembling the Chamber of the Seal at the Mysidian Tower, the place where he died. Inside they encounter the Ultima Weapon, who, once defeated, grants Minwu an Ultima Tome. Back in Machanon they find another portal leading to a strange palace, which Minwu deduces to be Pandaemonium, the palace of hell. At the top of the structure they find the Emperor's light side, who tells them they have been chosen into Heaven, not unlike him, whose soul has been split into Good and Evil, and sent to both Heaven and Hell.
Minwu learns that unlike what he thought, he has been traveling through the passage to Heaven, Raqia, and the palace of Heaven, Arubboth. The Emperor offers the party a heavenly afterlife, but a vision of Firion, Maria, Guy, and Leon fighting the Hell Emperor awakes Minwu. The party engages the Light Emperor so as to banish both Emperors. Upon his defeat, Minwu can rest in peace knowing that the future of the world is in good hands.
===Final Fantasy II Muma no Meikyū===
In the game's official novelization, Minwu's role is quite different. As the entire Ultima plot was cut, Minwu never dies in the novel. Instead, Minwu meets the Emperor's mother, Airu, whom the Emperor had banished to live on the Palamecian deserts after ascending the throne. Airu is looking for a way to save her son, and together with Minwu creates a crystal that has the power to purify the land of demonic influence. Even if it is too late to save the Emperor, Airu and Minwu's crystal is used to destroy the Stone of Iludia, which is revealed to be the resting place of Satan who keeps corrupting all of the Palamecian Emperors, making them evil.
===Final Fantasy II Hihō no Dragon===
An elderly Minwu appears.
==Gameplay==
Minwu joins the party knowing several high level White Magic spells, but without any experience with weapons or shields. He has high Spirit and Magic, so his magical proficiency will quickly grow. His ultimate weapon in the Arcane Labyrinth is the Staff of Light, while in Soul of Rebirth he acquires the Stardust Rod.
Depending on Minwu's stats, the Staff of Light may be preferable to the Stardust Rod, as it boosts Minwu's Agility while the Stardust Rod does not, but the Stardust Rod gives a greater boost to Magic, Spirit, and Intelligence than the Staff of Light. Minwu is the only character who can be taught the Ultima spell in Soul of Rebirth, which behaves differently from other characters' Ultima spells: Minwu's Ultima relies on Spirit instead of his weapon skill and spell levels, so it is much easier to do greater damage with it compared to the usual Ultima.
===Initial abilities===
;Stats
Stats 	Points
HP 	175
MP 	103
Strength 	10
Spirit 	48
Intelligence	16
Stamina 	20
Agility 	20
Magic 	40
;Proficiencies
Stats 	Points
Unarmed	1
Knives 	1
Swords 	1
Staves 	1
Axes 	1
Spears 	1
Bows 	1
Shields	1
;Spells
Stats 	Points
Barrier 	7
Basuna 	6
Blink 	5
Cure 	7
Dispel 	3
Esuna 	3
Fear 	3
Fog 	6
Life 	7
Protect 	5
Sap 	4
Shell 	6
Silence 	4
Swap 	3
Teleport	1
Wall 	5
===Optimal Key Terms for Arcane Labyrinth===
Good Fortune 	Promising 	Quite Well 	Auspicious 	Superb
WindCandelabraSunfire	MythrilTracking	AirshipDreadnoughtAquiferCave	Wild RoseMirror	Wizard
==Other appearances==
Minwu has made appearances in the following games in the Final Fantasy series:
*Dissidia Final Fantasy as a cameo.
*Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy as a cameo.
*Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia as a playable character.
*Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a playable character.
*Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call as a playable character.
*Theatrhythm Final Fantasy All-Star Carnival as a playable character.
*Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
*Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as a summonable Legend.
*Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
*Final Fantasy World Wide Words.
*Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
==Behind the scenes==
Minwu is the first playable mage in the series with a name and storyline, as well as the series' first temporary playable character. Minwu is the only playable male storyline White Mage in the series, as all others are female, though Hope Estheim takes a similarly supportive role in Final Fantasy XIII.
Minwu is alluded to in several other installments, always as a great mage of lore:
*Prior to the 3D release of Final Fantasy IV, the designers notes found in the Final Fantasy IV Settei Shiryou Hen outline that a sage named Minwu is the founder of Mysidia in Final Fantasy IV. This idea was seemingly discarded or retconned by remakes of the game.
*In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, the unnamed white mage who joins Ceodore states "Stand back please" before breaking the seal to Devil's Road, mirroring Minwu's act of breaking the Ultima Seal.
*The male costumes of the Mystic Knight job class in Final Fantasy V resemble Minwu's attire.
*In Final Fantasy IX, the comment viewable in the inventory on the Protection Bell is signed by "Philosopher Minu." This refers to Minwu, but the connection is lost in translation in the English localization.
*In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, the head accessory Soul of Thamasa is upgraded to the Soul of Minwu upon obtaining it for a third time through New Game+. The Soul of Minwu increases the number of magic attacks before a combo finale but reduces maximum HP by 50% for the schema it is equipped to.
*One of the business signs in Insomnia in Final Fantasy XV alludes to the character.
*One of the artefacts obtained from an Errand in Final Fantasy Tactics is the Orb of Minwu, which appears to be based on a magatama. The description of the Orb of Minwu is as follows: "The soul of Minwu, the First Mage, is said to be sealed within this stone. As such, it is sometimes called the Soul of Minwu. An orb only in name, it is in actuality comma-shaped".
*In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, there is an accessory called Mindu Gem that blocks a number of status ailments and halves lightning damage. The localization went with the Origins spelling of his name.
**Similarly, an item in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift is called Orb of Minwu. It is an equippable accessory, and makes the wearer immune to almost every debuff in the game. It is the closest thing the player can get to a Ribbon for some races who lack the means to equip one.
*Ming-Wu is the founder of Mysidia in Chocobo Racing, and is responsible for the division of the great Crystal.
*A young White Mage in War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius by the name Minwu makes her debut as a supporting character in Season 1, but can be obtained from a Selection Quest in Season 2 and following, where she is a UR-rarity Fire-innate unit
*The non-Square Enix game 3D Dot Game Heroes contains a reference to Minwu in the form of "Newmin" who sacrifices himself to allow the player to receive the Ultima Book, which is otherwise useless.
==Gallery==
FF2GBA Minwu Portrait 2.png|Sad portrait (GBA).
FFII Minwu by Toshitaka Matsuda.png|Artwork by Toshitaka Matsuda.
Ff2dragon-minwu.JPG|Minwu in Final Fantasy II Hihō no Dragon.
==Etymology==
The name "Minwu" bears a resemblance to Menw. 
He is called Minu in the Spanish versions and Min'U in German.
==References==
de:Min'U
es:Minu
fr:Minwu
it:Minwu
pt-br:Minwu
ru:Минву
Category:White Mages
Category:Guest characters
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy II