Spoiler Warning: The below article features major spoilers for Final Fantasy 16 and Kingdom Hearts 3.
Donald Duck is no longer the most powerful mage in the history of Final Fantasy thanks to a new big bad taking the title in Final Fantasy 16.
The long awaited RPG is full of humongous, powerful monsters called Eikon that represent Summons from the series’ past — Ifrit, Shiva, Phoenix, and so on — and one of these beasties has now wielded the series’ most powerful spell.
That Eikon is, final spoiler warning, Bahamut, the legendary dragon king from all the way back in 1987’s original Final Fantasy. Bahamut has since appeared in most games in the franchise though, and is considered one of the most powerful magic users.
At a significant moment in Final Fantasy 16 Bahamut wields a spell called Zettaflare, which is an evolution of his previously most powerful spell Megaflare and its variations Gigaflare and Teraflare. This absolutely makes the dragon king the most powerful mage in Final Fantasy lore, with the small caveat that Donald Duck got there first.
In Kingdom Hearts 3, at what is now a heavily mocked moment, Donald Duck wields Zettaflare himself. The move defeats the big bad and knocks Donald unconscious, rightly so, because no character, not even Bahamut, had been capable of wielding Zettaflare previously.
Thanks to Final Fantasy 16, however, Bahamut has regained the most powerful mage title for himself.
Final Fantasy 16 launched June 22 to generally positive fan reception, with players obsessing over Cid’s voice actor and a new feature called Active Time Lore. Final Fantasy 16 also shows a lot of love for the franchise’s past, with its intro being directly inspired by the original 1987 game and a reference to a beloved character.
In our 9/10 review, IGN said: “Featuring fast, reflex driven, action heavy combat, Final Fantasy 16 is certainly a departure from what fans may expect out of a Final Fantasy game, but its excellent story, characters, and world building are right up there with the best the series has to offer, and the innovative Active Time Lore feature should set a new standard for how lengthy, story-heavy games keep players invested in its world.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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