Chaos

Chaos is the antagonist and the final boss of the original Final Fantasy. He is a demonic monster who maintains a time loop. He is the quintessential Final Fantasy antagonist and final boss, many future villains paying homage to him. The elements of chaos and harmony, often represented by darkness and light, have become a recurring theme in the series.

Character design
Chaos is a horned demon with large wings, sharp claws and a tail. His kneecaps depict monster faces. Chaos's demonic appearance may have been based on Gustave Doré's illustrations of Satan (Devil or Lucifer) from John Milton's Paradise Lost. In Final Fantasy, a dragon's head emerges from his stomach, but in Dissidia this has been changed to a loincloth depicting a dragon, held with another monster face buckle. In Dissidia he has four arms and a darker coloration; he is more brown-toned in Final Fantasy, and more black and purple in Dissidia.

Final Fantasy
See also: Garland

Chaos is encountered in the Chaos Shrine in the past, which is visited by the Warriors of Light once they finished their mission of defeating the Four Fiends that were draining the Crystals of their power. The power of the Crystals the Fiends had drained was funneled into a Dark Crystal in the Chaos Shrine, opening a portal to the past. With the Crystals restored, the Warriors of Light are told the Fiends were sent from two thousand years ago, and their master is in that time. Using the Dark Crystal the Warriors travel to the past.

Upon fighting the Fiends a second time, the Warriors encounter Garland once again at the very bottom of the shrine. Garland tells the Warriors of Light that the power of the Four Fiends in the present sent him to the past when he was on the brink of death after his defeat. Garland then sent the Four Fiends in the past to the present. Doing this, Garland has created a time loop that will allow him to live forever. Following this exposition, Garland absorbs the powers of the Four Fiends and transforms into Chaos to do battle with the heroes. Chaos is defeated and the time loop is broken, restoring the land. Though Chaos is erased, Garland remains in the reformed present the Warriors of Light return to. In the official novelization, Final Fantasy: Memory of Heroes, Chaos is defeated by the Warrior alone.

Dissidia
Unlike in the original Final Fantasy where he is Garland's final form, Chaos is given a different backstory in Dissidia. He was created as the first sentient manikin by Cid of the Lufaine, crafting a child-like monster imbued with the memories of ten people. Placed in Cid's care for observation, Chaos was eventually taken away by the Onrac military to be used as a weapon of war to fight neighboring nations that wielded Omega and summoned monsters. Refusing to fight, Chaos was forced to comply when Cid's wife, Chaos' surrogate mother, was threatened. When she fled, the Onrac military used Cid's research to turn a manikin into a perfect clone of her to control Chaos. This manikin would come to be known as Cosmos.

Chaos was rescued by Cid and his wife, though he grew twisted and hateful due to his time with the Onrac military. When his mother was shot during the escape, Chaos's rage opened a portal to the Interdimensional Rift which swallowed him, Cid and the manikin of his mother. In a new dimension, known as World B, Cid makes his pact with Shinryu — Cosmos and Chaos agree to fight to open a door to the Rift again, allowing them to return home.

Chaos shows hesitance to fight Cosmos, due to the memories of his mother, but Cid summoned Garland from World A to guide him to fulfill his purpose. As the cycles of war went on, Chaos' memories began to erode, with his past with Cid and Cosmos being forgotten at the onset of the 12th cycle; he only knows of Cid as "The Great Will", as referred to by Garland. Despite the differences in his backstory, he still ends up connected to Garland, as the one who names him, taking the name from the incarnation that Garland transforms into, as he is destiend to in World A.

In the "Treachery of the Gods" scenario of Dissidia 012, Cloud approaches Chaos and attempts to slay the god himself, wishing to end the cycle for Tifa's sake. Chaos on the other hand is merely amused by his bravado and annihilates him, dismissing Cloud from his service. As Cloud lays fading, Cosmos senses his benevolent desire to end the cycles and protect Tifa, and saves his soul from darkness to be reborn in the next cycle as one of her warriors.

With Garland at his side, Chaos is approached by Emperor Mateus, who brings Jecht before him and asks Chaos to infuse Jecht with the power of discord, having given up the power given to him by Cosmos to save Tidus. Chaos agrees and makes Jecht one of his warriors for the next cycle.

During the "Destiny Oddysey" campaigns in the original Dissidia and "Light to All" scenario in Dissidia 012, Chaos is able to incinerate Cosmos before the eyes of her warriors, who had just finished their mission of retrieving their Crystals. Given tentative time by Cosmos's gambit, the warriors have a final chance to strike back at Chaos and end the war for good. As the heroes journey to Chaos and strike down the other villains who now act of their own volition, Chaos confides to Garland that he had a dream of a world where he suppressed disorder, and ruled the happy world alongside Cosmos, though he cannot understand its meaning and refers to it as "cruel".

Garland reveals his role as Chaos's guide to begin the war to perfect Chaos's power, and that he will send Garland into the past to become Chaos himself. Garland claims he did this to serve the purpose of the "Great Will", also known as Cid

After Garland is sent back in time to fulfill his fate, Chaos becomes overwhelmed as he regains his lost memories allowing him to understand the conflict and inciting a maddened urge to destroy everything to cope with Cosmos's destruction. Though having been a neutral figure in the conflicts before, Shinryu gives Chaos his power to purge all existence. The warriors of Cosmos arrive at Chaos's throne and defeat Chaos. The warriors return to their own worlds as the god is consumed in fire. This does not end the cycles of war as Chaos was given a successor, Spiritus.

The Confessions of the Creator scenario in Dissidia 012 reveals a different storyline following his defeat in Light to All. Here, Chaos is contacted by Shinryu, after the dragon found him on the brink of death. Knowing that Cid had worked against him in this final cycle, Chaos accepted an offer from Shinryu: Punish Cid. Chaos died then, his remaining strength absorbed by Shinryu, and Shinryu held up his end of the offer.

Cid's spirit was then sent to a nightmare world, where the cycles of war coninuted on past the 13th, where Chaos was the victor, winning every single cycle until the 18th, until he went berserk from the power he had acquired from the past 17 cycles. He transformed into Feral Chaos and slaughtered all other warriors including his own. In order to save Cosmos, Cid took on a physical form as a Moogle and sealed her in the Cavern of Earth. With Cosmos beyond his reach, Chaos turned his attention to Shinryu. Cid cleaved the northern continents from the southern region for safety, sealing the Southern Lufenia Gateway as the passage between the two. While the result of Chaos's battle with Shinryu is unknown, eventually they allied again, and Chaos went to sleep in the depths of the Edge of Discord gateway.

Eventually, five warriors entered the nightmare world through unknown means, and freed Cid. Cid guided them through World B to the Edge of Discord, and they defeated Chaos. With Chaos's defeat, the nightmare world was dispelled and Cid was freed. As he faded away, the nightmare world incarnation of Chaos regained his senses, and thanked the warriors for freeing his father.

Battle
Chaos is fought as the final boss. He is remembered for his noteworthy death animation, which shows him disintegrating, a somewhat innovative phenomenon in games for the NES. This style of death was repeated for final bosses of future games in the series.