Wikia

Palamecia (パラメキア, Paramekia^?), also known as Palakia in the unreleased English version on the Nintendo Entertainment System, is the name of a brutal and war-hungry empire from Final Fantasy II. It is ruled by the dictatorial Emperor Mateus for most of the game.

HistoryEdit

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

A story found in the Mysidian library in Dawn of Souls and later remakes imply that Palamecia was once a kingdom before it became an empire. A previous king of Palamecia had once challenged the world to see who could reach his daughter on a high floor of his castle. Many men tried this challenge, but they all failed, until one man used a hot air balloon to reach her. The king was furious and attempted to seize him, but the man escaped into the skies with the king's daughter. The story is basically an adaptation of the traditional Rapunzel fairy tale.

At the time of Final Fantasy II the Emperor is able to build himself an unstoppable army by raising demons from the depths of hell. Using this army, he quickly conquers the kingdoms of Deist and Kashuan. Progressing slowly, the army eventually reaches the kingdom of Fynn. Despite the people of Fynn's resistance, they are easily overrun due to Borghen's defection to the Empire.

The Emperor creates the weapons of his demise when taking over Fynn as four youths Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon are left for dead after being attacked by his Black Knights. While Firion, Maria and Guy are saved by the Wild Rose Rebellion and join it, soon after being struck down Leon is captured and becomes the Emperor's right hand as the Dark Knight.

While the rebels build their forces, the Empire constructed a giant airship, the Dreadnought. Using this giant ship, the Empire easily crushes every town that gets in their way, as well as capturing Princess Hilda and striking Cid and his airship. However, the Dreadnought is struck down by the rebels, causing the Empire to rethink their plans, though it still has one trump.

Although the Dreadnought has fallen, the Empire still holds Princess Hilda as captive and uses her as bait to lure the Wild Rose's attention to the Coliseum at Palamecia, where Hilda is the prize for the arena champion. The rebels succeed in rescuing the princess nonetheless, with the help of Paul and Gordon.

Later, while rebels' key members seeks out the ultimate magic spell Ultima, the Emperor summons a Cyclone to attack the towns and kingdoms again. The Emperor is killed by Firion's party and the last surviving Dragoon, Ricard Highwind.

The Dark Knight takes his place as Emperor. Firion, Maria, Guy and Ricard travel to Castle Palamecia in order to stop this new ruler. Just as the party confronts the Dark Knight, the Emperor returns from Hell to reclaim his throne. Ricard stays behind to stall the Emperor while a Wyvern saves the other four, but the Dragoon is ultimately killed by the Emperor's hellish new powers. Destroying Castle Palamecia, the Emperor raises the castle of Hell, Pandaemonium, to earth, to start a new reign.

However, the Palamecian army never has the chance to rebuild itself. Firion and his allies, now including Leon, travel through the Jade Passage to confront the Emperor in Pandaemonium. Despite the Emperor's immense power, he is killed again, and the Palamecian Empire dies with him.

Spoilers end here.

GeographyEdit

The Empire of Palamecia is located on a fertile haven surrounded by a mountainous, arid desert. The castle is located on the mountain ranges nearby, which makes it a natural, impenetrable fortress.

TriviaEdit

One of the Sanctum Skyfleet's airships in Final Fantasy XIII is called Palamecia.
In the Final Fantasy II novelization Final Fantasy II Muma no Meikyū it is stated that Palamecia is cursed with demonic influences that corrupt its emperors. The demon, desiring to rule the world by human proxy, turns men into malicious masterminds by using everything at its disposal to pollute their thoughts with its malice. The demon originates all the way from the beginning of the world when it became trapped within the indestructible "Stone of Iludia" and swore revenge by any means. After ascending to the throne, Mateus exiles his mother Airu to the deserts of Palamecia and yet she still spends her life trying to find a way to save him. During the novel, Airu and Minwu team up to find a crystal, which can purify the land. It ends up being too late to save Mateus, but it helps to bring peace to the world.