"We shall devour your light, and use it to return this world to the Void!"

—Cloud of Darkness

The Cloud of Darkness (暗闇の雲, Kurayami no Kumo^?, lit. "The Dark Cloud") is the primary antagonist and final boss of Final Fantasy III. It appears to be a semi-naked, humanoid female with a heart-shaped red marking on its forehead, accompanied by sentient tentacles. Although it is the final boss, it does not appear in the game until the very end. The Cloud of Darkness refers to itself in the plural form; using "We" instead of "I". Dissidia Final Fantasy explains this as its two tentacles having minds of their own, and the humanoid body speaks for all three of them. In the Nintendo DS translation, however, it is more apparent that "We" refers to the idea that the Cloud of Darkness is a collective entity born of darkness.

In the NES version, the snake-like tentacles nearby the Cloud of Darkness were simply for decoration. In the Nintendo DS version the tentacles' numbers were reduced to two and were given attacks. The one to the right of the Cloud of Darkness has abilities such as Haste and Esuna, while the one to the left uses Lightning whenever possible.

PersonalityEdit

The Cloud of Darkness's personalty is not really explored in Final Fantasy III, as it is more of a monster rather than a character, though in Dissidia Final Fantasy it is given more depth. Cruel and belittling towards others, the Cloud of Darkness has no care for human life, though is fascinated by living things' attempt to live in spite of knowing they would eventually die.

In league with Kefka, Kuja and Exdeath, the Cloud of Darkness also desires to destroy everything. It is also implied that Cloud of Darkness thinks the manikins are abominations, and for that reason it aided Laguna in sealing the door to the rift that they came through.

StoryEdit

The Cloud of Darkness reveals itself after the death of Xande, due to the imbalance between light and dark caused by him, and reveals its intention of returning the world to a state of nothingness. A battle ensues in which the Cloud of Darkness defeats the Warriors of Light without difficulty, seemingly ending any resistance to its plan.

However, the Warriors of Light are revived by their former allies and return to the World of Darkness to confront Cloud of Darkness. The Cloud of Darkness sent out it's Guardians of the Dark Crystals to guard the Dark Crystal and kill the Warriors of Light. However one by one the guardians fell and the Warriors of Darkness appear to help Warriors of Light to weaken it. In the game's DS remake it is revealed by one of the Warriors of Darkness that Xande was being used by the Cloud of Darkness the entire time, and that Cloud of Darkness was the one responsible for the earthquake that almost drew the floating continent to the surface world.

At first the Cloud of Darkness is too powerful for the Warriors of Light, but the Warriors of the Dark sacrifice themselves to weaken it, thus making it vulnerable. The Cloud of Darkness unleashes its full power onto the Warriors of Light, but in the end, it is defeated and its plan to extinguish all life is unfulfilled.

BattleEdit

Main article: Cloud of Darkness (Boss)

The Cloud of Darkness is fought twice in Final Fantasy III. The first time it is invincible and, after a few turns, it will use Particle Beam and defeat the party. Now the player must make sure to rescue the four Warriors of the Dark in the World of Darkness located in each of the four corners of the dungeon before facing it again in the center area. This time it uses a wider range of attacks including its signature Particle Beam. But since the Warriors of the Dark have weakened it, this is a battle that must be won.

Musical ThemesEdit

"Battle to the Death"
Trouble with the audio sample?

The original battle theme for the Cloud of Darkness is called "Saigo no shitou" ("Final Battle to the Death"). The track is split into three parts, each successive part faster than the last. The Black Mages included a rearrangement of the theme in their third studio album. The theme was retitled "Kurayaminokumo" ("The Cloud of Darkness"). The song also appears, albeit in a slightly different version, in the Fantasia stage of Chocobo Racing, where Bahamut is the opponent.

Other AppearancesEdit

Dissidia Final FantasyEdit

Main article: Cloud of Darkness/Dissidia

Chaos has summoned a combined force of Final Fantasy's ultimate villains attempting to gain total control of the Final Fantasy worlds. Cloud of Darkness is one of these villains a stands as the villain representing Final Fantasy III, opposing Onion Knight.

Among the villains, the Cloud of Darkness plays a small role in the storyline. Along with Kefka, Kuja, and Exdeath, it desires to plunge the world into the Void and destroy everything. Under Kefka's instruction, it kidnaps Terra to use as a tool for their plan, and confronts the Onion Knight with his childish fears and bravado. After Terra is rescued and the Onion Knight claims his Crystal, the Cloud of Darkness takes a minor role in the game.

The Cloud of Darkness's alternate outfit colors its cape blue, while its EX Mode is colored a mixture of light green and dark green with a dull red for the legs.

Dissidia 012 Final FantasyEdit

The Cloud of Darkness reappears as a Warrior of Chaos in the prequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy alongside all the other characters from the original. It attacks Laguna, but is intrigued by his behavior and attitude towards serving Cosmos and fighting the Warriors of Chaos. Cloud of Darkness tells Laguna about the portal the manikins are using to cross over into World B from the Void in order to see what he does with this information, as seeking out the portal would be a suicide mission. The Cloud of Darkness's actions result in Laguna and other Warriors of Cosmos finding and closing the portal, and as punishment for its treachery Kefka kills the Cloud of Darkness in the twelfth cycle, costing it its memories in the thirteenth.

The Cloud of Darkness's second alternate outfit gives it a white cape with white, blue and lavender body coverings. Its EX Mode in her original alternate outfit is changed to an orange and blue form resembling its NES battle sprite.

Theatrhythm Final FantasyEdit

Cloud of Darkness appears in this game.

GalleryEdit

Cloud of Darkness sprite from the Nintendo release of Final Fantasy III (Unbeatable encounter).

Cloud of Darkness sprite from the Nintendo release of Final Fantasy III (Final battle).

Cloud of Darkness' EX Mode appearance from Dissidia Final Fantasy.

Cloud of Darkness's alternate EX Mode appearance in Dissidia.

Cloud of Darkness's orange appearance's render from Dissidia 012.

Cloud of Darkness in Dissidia Final Fantasy.

Cloud of Darkness in a CG render from Dissidia Final Fantasy.

EtymologyEdit

In traditional Chinese culture, qì (also chi or ch'i) is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. The literal translation of "qi" is breath, air, or gas. Not only human beings and animals were believed to have qi, as Zhuangzi indicated that wind is the qi of the Earth. The philosopher Mo Di recorded how some people performed a kind of prognostication by observing the qi (clouds) in the sky. In conclusion, the Cloud of Darkness is the bad energy of the planet, the dark wind, the largest evil life force that can exist on the planet, it is the planet's evil qi.

TriviaEdit

• The Totema, Famfrit, from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and the Esper, Famfrit, in Final Fantasy XII are loosely based on the Cloud of Darkness.
• Of the first ten Final Fantasy games, Cloud of Darkness and Ultimecia are the only females to be main antagonists. This is debatable, as it has been stated that the Cloud of Darkness is genderless. Despite this, some characters refer to it as a her in Dissidia.
• A spoof of the final battle of Final Fantasy III appears in the credits roll for DynamiTracer, a Japan-exclusive Squaresoft game for the Super Famicom SatellaView addon. Four characters from the cast substitute for the Warriors of Light while another parodies the Cloud of Darkness.