Vivi Ornitier

Class/Classes: Black Mage - Abilities

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Vivi is a black mage created in Dali by Alexandria after Queen Brahne learns of this technology from Kuja. Vivi is a prototype black mage who fell out of the cargo ship into a forest near Treno. Two months later he was found by a qu named Quan who raised Vivi out of the hope he would grow big enough for him to eat, but after six months Vivi was still as short as before.

Vivi was oblivious to Quan's intentions with him and lived happily with his "grandpa" in Quan's Dwelling. During this time Quan named Vivi, and taught him many things about the world, sparking a curiosity in him to see the world for himself. When Quan died, Vivi was left alone. A week later he headed to the nearby town of Treno and got a ticket for I Want to be Your Canary. The next day he hitched a ride on a nobleman's airship to Alexandria.

In Alexandria, Vivi has a ticket for the Tantalus Theater Troupe's performance of Lord Avon's play, I Want to be Your Canary, but when he shows his ticket at the booth he is told it is a fake. A sad Vivi stumbles upon a street-smart rat, Puck, who helps him sneak over the rooftops into the show.

Vivi and Puck are caught watching the show without tickets and are chased through the crowd by guards. Puck deserts Vivi who is chased onto the stage amid the show where he casts a fire spell to defend himself. He accidentally sets ablaze Princess Garnet's cloak, revealing her identity to the crowd and chaos ensues.

The Theater Ship takes off and crashes in the Evil Forest. A member of Tantalus, Zidane, tries to convince the confused Vivi to help him find the princess who fell out of the ship during the commotion, but Vivi is unsure if he wants to use his magic. Steiner, Garnet's bodyguard, convinces him, as he has taken a liking to the mage and calls him "Master Vivi".

Although Vivi is first hesitant, he tags along and helps the others defeat a carnivorous plant keeping Princess Garnet hostage. After escaping the forest, the party travels through the Ice Cavern to get above the Mist, where Vivi casts Fire spells to melt the ice to reveal hidden treasures.


When the group reaches the village of Dali Vivi is captivated by the windmills. A villager captures him and brings him to the underground black mage production plant, thinking he got away by accident. Zidane and Garnet rescue Vivi and discover the Dali villagers are manufacturing black mage drones for Alexandria.

Boarding a cargo ship, Vivi tries to converse with the black mage pilots, but is unable to elicit a response from any of them. Vivi's anxiety about his race is deepened when the evil Black Waltz 3 razes the ship, killing the black mages who attempt to defend Vivi. Vivi begins to question his identity and similarity to the mindless foot soldiers Queen Brahne manipulates.

Upon reaching Lindblum Vivi learns of the Festival of the Hunt from a shop owner and is persuaded to join in along with Zidane and his friend, Freya Crescent. Vivi asks for a Tetra Master card for a prize, and wins the Theater Ship card if he succeeds. After the festival, a dying Burmecian soldier informs the leader of Lindblum, Cid Fabool IX, of the attack on the kingdom of Burmecia by the army of mages wearing pointy hats.

Vivi, determined to find out more, travels with Zidane's group to Burmecia only to discover the kingdom in ruins. The party travels to the Cleyra settlement, the sister kingdom to Burmecia, and witnesses it fall to the hands of Brahne and her army of mages. After saving Princess Garnet from the queen's clutches in Alexandria Castle, the party deduces Kuja's role in the black mage production and sets out to hunt him down, following rumors he hails from the north.


After crossing Fossil Roo to the Outer Continent, the party visits the dwarven town of Conde Petie. The dwarves express a familiarity toward Vivi and the group discovers a black mage in the town's shop. After questioning the locals, they discover the "pyntie-hets" live in a village deep in a southern forest and the party follows the black mage to the Black Mage Village where many "awakened" black mages live, having defected Alexandria to live a life of peace. The black mages regard Vivi with suspicion at first, associating him with the humans.

Vivi is frustrated by their way of thinking and stops by the town's cemetery, and comes to learn that black mages have a finite life span of around one year. He talks with a wise black mage, Black Mage No. 288, who explains the nature of death to Vivi, who is, at first, distressed. It is suggested Vivi is a prototype build, and 288 tries to console him in saying Vivi may last longer than the one year afforded for the other black mages.

After meeting with an orphan summoner girl Eiko Carol she leads them to the ruins of Madain Sari where Vivi ponders over his existence and is comforted by Zidane. They find Kuja at the Iifa Tree and witness him kill Brahne during his quest to overthrow his master, Garland, to become the master of Gaia and Terra both. He enlists the sentient black mages from the Black Mage Village promising to prolong their lifespan if they follow him and when Vivi learns of this he is upset, knowing Kuja is a liar. The black mages are abandoned by Kuja when he learns of the power of Trance and return to their village.

The party learns of the mysterious world of Terra and after obtaining the elemental mirrors from Ipsen's Castle set out to place them in the four elemental shrines. Vivi and Steiner join forces to visit the Wind Shrine where Steiner shields Vivi from the blustering wind with his body, and the two defeat the shrine guardian, Tiamat. After opening the portal to Terra and traveling there Zidane becomes troubled after learning he was created by Garland. Vivi empathizes with him, having gone through a similar identity crisis himself, and with his friends' help Zidane snaps out of his depression. They confront Garland who is killed by Kuja who uses his new-found power of Trance to annihilate Terra.


The party ventures into Memoria where Vivi helps the party defeat Trance Kuja and the mysterious Necron. Some time later everyone gathers in Alexandria for another showing of I Want To Be Your Canary by Tantalus. Vivi is the only one absent, instead being represented by several children, each of whom looks like Vivi. It is uncertain how Vivi's "sons" came about as the Iifa Tree has collapsed, and the source of Mist, an ingredient used in black mage production, is gone.

The monologue during the ending is spoken by Vivi, indicating he has expired by the time the ending takes place, as he is saying goodbye to his friends and the final words of his monologue are "Farewell. My memories will be part of the sky", an allusion to death in the world of Final Fantasy IX. Because the speaker of the lines is not specified it has incited speculation among fans on Vivi's fate and who is the speaker of the monologue. The game's Japanese version is more explicit on the issue, as the speaker uses a speech pattern and pronouns that only Vivi used throughout the game

A good deal of time after Vivi had "stopped" a tear in the void opened up in Alexandria. Maybe it was due to the place having fond memories for him, but his soul was pulled through the tear along with a carpenter. While the carpenter died during the trip, Vivi's soul did in fact make it through to the other side. Waking up with an actual physical form in Oephus, Vivi was very confused. Vivi was sure that he had "stopped", but couldn't remember much or even the significance of why "stopping" scares him. Vaguely the black mage remembered the names of all his friends, but things like their faces and his whole life for that matter. Now Vivi has started a search for his grandfather Quan, who he can't put a face to the name, not realizing that his grandfather was dead.

Slowly his glowing yellow orbs that he called his eyes opened. Blinking away the feeling of fatigue that crawled up and down his body, Vivi tried to push himself up to get a better view of his surrounding. It appeared as if he was laying down on a dry patch of grass with a river next to it, but that wasn't the most important part. The most important part was that the black mage was certain of the fact that he had "stopped" a while back. Trying to remember what the term actually meant was harder than the boy have thought. He knew that "stopping" had some sort of negative connotation to it, but aside from that there was nothing on the subject in his memories.

Memories? Trying to think back on anything in his life was next to impossible now that he was making the attempt. All he could remember were the names of the people important to him and his own name. Panic gripping at him, Vivi quickly pushed himself up to his feet. Why couldn't he remember anything? Just where was he? Questions like those and more ran through the boy's mind as he attempted to calm himself. Vivi wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but blind panic was never a good option. Almost instantly Vivi began to walk along the side of the river after picking the staff that was beside him on the ground. Something about the river reminded him of comfort or rather the grandfather he couldn't put a face to the name he could remember. It almost stopped him from asking the most important, and scariest, question of them all. Almost.

"What am I?"