Warrior of Light (Dissidia)

The Warrior of Light is a recurring character in the Final Fantasy series, first appearing in Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. 
Though the Warrior of Light acts as a representative of the first Final Fantasy in the Dissidia series, he is an original character created for Dissidia with an origin that ties him closely to the game's lore. After the events of Dissidia, the Warrior travels to the world of Final Fantasy and becomes one of the Warriors of Light of that game. Since his debut, he has served as the primary representative for Final Fantasy in many other crossover titles.
==History==
===Dissidia Final Fantasy===
The Warrior of Light was created by Cid of the Lufaine, during the war between Cosmos and Chaos in World B. Cid wished to experiment on manikins to see if one could be imbued with sentience by infusing it with his own memories. After several failed attempts he succeeded; the manikin he created did not have its body crystalize like the others, but he saw no will in its eyes and attributed this to an incomplete memory infusion. To see how his creation fared, Cid placed it in World B for the summoned warriors to find.
The Warrior was found by Prishe and Garland, the latter of whom recognized the warrior. The two fought over him and Prishe prevailed, and took the Warrior to Cosmos where he was anointed as one of her champions. Over several cycles of battle, the Warrior developed his own will and personality, and became a stalwart defender of Cosmos.
When Cosmos and Chaos were destroyed, Cosmos' champions appeared in a field outside of Cornelia in World A, and while nine of them soon faded away to return to their own worlds, the Warrior remained and set off to Castle Cornelia in the distance.
===Final Fantasy===
The Warrior became one of four heroes that were known as the "Warriors of Light". They were tasked to rescue the Princess of Cornelia, Sarah, from the clutches of Garland in the Chaos Shrine; this was a past incarnation of the Garland the Warrior had fought in World B. Upon his death, the Four Fiends sent Garland into the past, and it was at this time that he was pulled into World B by Cid at the start of the cycles of war to become a confidante and champion to Chaos.
The Warrior and his companions set out on a quest to restore light to the four Crystal that governed the land by slaying the that were draining their powers. After their light was restored, they returned to the Chaos Shrine and shone the light of the Crystals onto the Black Crystal Garland had possessed - it shattered, creating a portal through time. The four stepped through and found themselves 2000 years in the past.
Here the four found Garland, who - due to the nature of how time worked in World B - was the Garland that had been defeated in World B and faded away at the end of the cycles of war, but neither he nor the Warrior remembered this. Garland explained that after being brought here, he sent the Four Fiends into the future, creating a time loop in which he would live forever. Garland transformed into a demon named Chaos and attacked the Warriors, but was destroyed. With his defeat the time loop was broken and the Warriors returned to a present in which Garland had never abducted Sarah or turned evil, and their deeds in the past had become legends and myths.
===Dissidia Final Fantasy NT===
When Materia and Spiritus manifested in World B and renewed the cycle of war, they put out a call for warriors from other worlds to fight for them. The Warrior remembered his time with Cosmos and answered Materia's call, feeling duty-bound to serve her as he had Cosmos. This time the summoned warriors put aside their differences to fight against Shinryu, the divine dragon that was attempting to devour World B. Through their combined efforts, Shinryu was defeated.
The summoned warriors departed back to their worlds, but in order for Materia and Spiritus to continue their war and generate the needed energy to sustain World B's existence, they left behind their memories of the cycles to be infused into manikins that could fight in their stead, creating a new generation of warriors for the gods.
==Characteristics==
===Appearance===
The Warrior of Light's design is based on Yoshitaka Amano's concept artwork of the Knight class from the original Final Fantasy. He wears pale blue armor with gold, yellow, and white details, a horned helmet, and a yellow cape. He has blue eyes and long, silver hair.
===Personality===
The Warrior of Light is calm, stoic, tactical, and focused, solemnly believing in the light and championing righteousness. Determined and confident in his abilities, he pays no heed to enemies who would attempt to manipulate or dissuade him and continues onward. This unflappable demeanor makes it difficult for his comrades to understand him, but the Warrior is kind and compassionate towards them. He acts as a leader among them, fighting in their stead when they cannot as a matter of honor, and trusting them to keep to their own paths as long as he is assured they are capable of success.
===Abilities===
The Warrior is an extremely capable swordsman, and uses both his sword and shield to fight. The Warrior's fighting style is primarily defensive, using his shield and barriers of energy to block attacks and then emit fields of light to strike enemies, or throwing his shield towards enemies to stun them before swooping in for a combo attack with his sword. He is able to infuse his sword and shield with holy light to augment his attacks with them, and can generate waves of light and swords made of light energy, and can do so either as an attack in themselves or when using his sword and shield to augment his strikes with them.
In his appearances outside the Dissidia series, the Warrior of Light keeps to these core traits. He is a melee-focused character who attacks with holy energy and is skilled at defending allies by granting them defensive buffs and barriers, and is able to force enemies to focus attacks on him.
==Gameplay==
The Warrior of Light is a playable character in Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, and Dissidia NT, serving as the primary hero representative of Final Fantasy.
== Other appearances ==
The Warrior of Light has appeared in the following games throughout the Final Fantasy series:
* Final Fantasy XIV as a trial boss and several cosmetic features.
* Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin as a cameo, DLC boss and playable character.
* 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 Legend and a playable character.
* Final Fantasy Artniks as a series of cards.
* Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
* Final Fantasy World Wide Words as a playable character.
*Final Fantasy Brave Exvius as a summonable vision.
* Mobius Final Fantasy as an ability card and the main character Wol can also wear his armor.
* World of Final Fantasy as a summonable Champion.
* Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
* Triple Triad as a series of cards.
== Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances ==
The Warrior of Light has made guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy games:
* Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 as a minor character.
* Kingdom Hearts Mobile as a costume.
* Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate as a costume.
* Monster Strike as a playable character.
==Behind the scenes==
The Warrior of Light was an original design for Dissidia based on Yoshitaka Amano's concept art for the Knight class in Final Fantasy and adapted into a new design by Tetsuya Nomura. The ending of Dissidia and Dissidia 012 mirrors the opening of Final Fantasy with a view of Castle Cornelia from across a lake, and the Warrior begins walking towards the castle as the credits roll, implying he went on to become one of the four Warriors of Light of Final Fantasy. Dissidia NT confirmed this with the Warrior saying "[his] quest first began" in Cornelia Field, and he makes explicit reference to rescuing Princess Sarah from Garland at the Chaos Shrine.
The Dissidia series is inconsistent on whether the Warrior of Light is one of four "Warriors of Light" in the original Final Fantasy that fought Garland and the Four Fiends, or if in the Dissidia continuity the Warrior did these things alone. The Reports in Dissidia 012 that mention Lukahn's prophecy refers to "the Warrior of Light" in the singular, but in Dissidia NT the Warrior says that Garland "awaited us" at the Chaos Shrine, indicating he was part of a group at the time. Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin reuses the Warrior of Light's design from Dissidia NT and depicts him as facing Garland in the Chaos Shrine as one of a group of four; his other party members are unnamed and do not have voice lines, and wear gear sets for a Dragoon, White Mage, and Ninja.
==Merchandise==
Hero of Light Variant Arts action figure includes extra hands, cloth cape with wire, attack effect parts and display stand. The Variant Arts figures display re-designed icons from the series in a form they haven't actually appeared in a game. Though the Hero of Light represents a quintessential Warrior of Light, he mostly resembles the Dissidia incarnation.
In May 2018 Square Enix releases a silver Warrior of Light pendant with a blue gem as part of the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary campaign. The reverse side of the pendant simply reads "Final Fantasy" with a carving of a crystal.
Variant Arts Hero of Light.jpg|Variant arts figure.
WoL-Pendant-Final-Fantasy-30th-Anniversary.png|Silver pendant.
ru:Воин Света/Dissidia
Category:Main characters
Category:Characters in Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008)
Category:Characters in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy