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The weak lose their freedom to the strong. Such is the way of the strong. And it is the providence of nature that only the strong survive. That is why I needed strength.
~ Kuja
Ugh... I'm gonna die anyway... I won't have to be afraid anymore... But I'm not gonna die alone. You're all coming with me!
~ Kuja defeated in his Trance form; before he casts Ultima.
After you guys beat me, I had nothing left... nothing more to lose. Then, I finally realized what it means to live... I guess I was too late.
~ Kuja after Zidane returns to be with his brother's soul after Kuja himself teleports Zidane's party to safety.

Kuja is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy IX. He is a mysterious man who is revealed to be a Genome, one of the humanoid beings manufactured to provoke war between humans. He operates behind the scenes, at first working in Queen Brahne's shadow. He wishes to acquire the power of summoned monsters called the Eidolons to overthrow his creator, Garland, and rule both Terra and Gaia forever.

He has no voice actor in his original game, but in other Final Fantasy-related media such as the Dissidia games, he is voiced by JD Cullum in English and Akira Ishida in Japanese.

Origin[]

He was created on the planet Terra by the villainous Garland. Garland sought to destroy Gaia in order to save Terra, so he sent Kuja there to disrupt the cycle of souls. Kuja acted as an angel of death by encouraging warfare amongst the inhabitants of Gaia. This act claimed thousands of innocent lives, disrupting the cycle of souls like Garland wanted. However, Kuja desperately wanted to prove his individuality and superiority over other inhabitants of Terra. While on Gaia, he attempted to find a great power to destroy his creator, Garland.

Role In Final Fantasy IX[]

Kuja was a mysterious figure for much of the game and was manipulating Queen Brahne into waging war on neighboring kingdoms, plunging a once peaceful world into ever-increasing conflict: a conflict that escalated after Queen Brahne managed to get her hands on eidolons that could destroy entire kingdoms, thus fueling her quest for power even further.

Appearance and Personality[]

Peace is but a shadow of death, desperate to forget its painful past... Though we hope for promising years. After shedding a thousand tears, yesterday's sorrow constantly nears. And while the moon still shines blue, by dawn, it will turn to scarlet hue!
~ Kuja

Kuja has long silver hair that falls halfway down his back. In his hair, he wears a large feather of the same color. He has light blue eyes and is of medium height, light build, with a pale complexion. He wears white sleeves with a purple mantle around his shoulders. Kuja wears a white robe on the back of his legs that extends to his ankles. The robe is held up by four straps that act as a codpiece. His pants are a deeper purple than his shoulder-guards and his shoes are black with golden buckles. Kuja has a tail, but conceals it.

Kuja's speech patterns are metaphorical and jovial; for example he refers to Garnet as a "canary", and Brahne as "the elephant-lady". His refined nature juxtaposes his role as a sadistic war-bringer. Kuja has a love of luxury, as evidenced by his home at Desert Palace.

Kuja is conceited and narcissistic in contrast to Zidane's humility. Kuja has an ego to match his power and he lets his pride rule his head. While he had his chance to kill Zidane when he was still a baby, Kuja chose to let him live to prove himself superior to him. After discovering his destiny as a mortal, Kuja's cultured personality turns into insanity, believing life should not be allowed to continue without him.

Kuja uses his elegance to hide his insecurities and deep down he is conflicted by his existence, having been created as a tool for Garland. Kuja scorns the black mages, but also finds himself identifying with them. As explained in Final Fantasy IX Ultimania, Kuja never experienced childhood and thus his emotional growth is stunted, being unable to empathize with others or feel remorse for his actions. It appears that learning of his fate as a mortal and rebelling against this destiny allows Kuja to grow, and comes to see at least some of the repercussions of his actions.

In the Japanese versions of Final Fantasy IX and Dissidia, Kuja refers to himself with the boyish pronoun Boku and addresses others with the familiar/informal Kimi.

Powers and Abilities[]

Kuja is shown to be an exceptional mage. He can create Black Mages from mist using machinery and magic, and even with no outside help can summon Mistodons. He is capable of controlling monsters as well, and is shown to control an army of Silver Dragons led by the Nova Dragon, as well as the monster Deathguise that attacks Zidane's party in the Crystal World. Kuja is also largely immune to injury - even the Dragon King Bahamut's attack only barely succeeds in drawing blood from him. It is also shown that even when not in Trance, Kuja is capable of casting the extremely powerful Flare Star. This makes him one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, Black Magic practitioners in Final Fantasy IX, even before he gained the ultimate power of Trance.

After entering Trance, Kuja's power increases exponentially. He knows the strongest spells of the game, including Curaga, Meteor, Holy, and Flare, and his strongest spell, Flare Star, is potentially lethal to the entire party. He is able to completely destroy Terra with Ultima, and even defeats the party with it twice. When Kuja casts Ultima against the party, no damage is displayed as being taken, but the battle instantly ends, so it is physically impossible to survive the spell.

In Battle[]

Kuja is fought as a boss in Pandemonium and in Trance form in Memoria. Both times, he casts Ultima upon his defeat, so although the party technically wins the battle, for storyline purposes, Kuja prevails.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • In Hindi, kuj or kuja means "born of the earth", symbolizing Kuja's birth on Terra (terra is Latin for earth). In Hindu cosmogony, Kuja is the name of the planet Mars, which is also the name of the Roman god of war. This reflects Kuja's role to cause war and destruction on Gaia. Mars is known as the red planet, fitting with Terra being shown as a red planet to contrast Gaia's blue.
  • Kuja's name may also be derived from the Japanese word kujaku, which means "peacock", an animal befitting of Kuja's flamboyant and vain nature.
  • Kuja is one of the few Final Fantasy main villains to not serve as the final boss of his respective game, only serving as the penultimate boss instead. Other villains with this distinction include Xande, Seymour Guado, and Barthandelus.
  • After the first battle against him in Pandemonium, Kuja explains that he achieved Trance through the use of the souls absorbed by the Invincible, in which he says Queen Brahne's soul was among them. Even if Garnet is not in the party at the given moment, Kuja will still reference Brahne as "your mother." This is likely because the party members not in battle are "understood" to be present in addition to the party members who are in battle.
  • Kuja is the first primary antagonist in the main series Final Fantasy games:
    • To defeat the player party every time he is battled. His final form falls after he casts Ultima, ending the battle in a "double KO."
    • To show genuine regret and remorse for his own actions.
    • With an unknown status, as the other villains were killed at the end of their stories.

Navigation[]

           Final Fantasy logo Villains

Final Fantasy
Garland | Fiends of Chaos | Chaos | Astos

Final Fantasy II
Palamecian Empire
Emperor Mateus | Leon | Borghen | Dark Emperor | Light Emperor

Final Fantasy III
Xande | Djinn | Gigameth | Goldor | Gutsco | Hein | Cloud of Darkness

Final Fantasy IV
Baron Empire
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Others
Zemus | Maenad | The Creator

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Exdeath | Gilgamesh | Enkidu | Demons of the Rift | Void | Enuo | Shinryu

Final Fantasy VI
Gestahlian Empire
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Cult of Kefka
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Siegfried | Vargas

Final Fantasy VII
Shinra Inc.
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Final Fantasy VIII
Adel | Fujin | Griever | NORG | President Vinzer Deling | Raijin | Seifer Almasy | Ultimecia

Final Fantasy IX
Alexandrian Empire
Queen Brahne | Thorn and Zorn | Meltigemini | Kuja

Others
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Final Fantasy X
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Final Fantasy XV
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Others
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Final Fantasy XVI
Holy Empire of Sanbreque
Anabella Rosfield | Sylvestre Lesage | Olivier Lesage | Tiamat

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Barnabas Tharmr | Benedikta Harman | Sleipnir Harbard | Gerulf

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Imreann

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Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
Chaos
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Meteor Parasite | Raem

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
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Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
Dark Lord

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Cu Caspel | Galdes

Final Fantasy Dimensions
Elgo

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Dark King

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Algus | Delita Hyral | Gafgarion | Gerrith Barrington | St. Ajora | Wiegraf Folles

Final Fantasy Tactics A2
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Khamja
Ewen | Illua

Others
Klesta | Neukhia

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World of Final Fantasy
Bahamutian Foundation
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Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy
Shinra Inc.
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Others
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