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The mustached warrior monk of the military nation of Fabul.
Description
Yang Fang Leiden is a playable character in Final Fantasy IV and its sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. He is a Monk from the kingdom of Fabul, and is among the highest ranked and most respected of their number. Despite this, he is a humble man, and so does not bask in his glory, but rather tries his best to be respectful. Yang is generally well disciplined, but has trouble with sleeping in, requiring the intervention of his wife and her trusty frying pan to wake him up.
According to the Japanese spelling, Yang is pronounced [jɑːŋ], not [jæŋ] as is more common for the word yang as it is typically used in English. This is pronunciation is reconfirmed in the English localization of the 3D versions.
Profile
Appearance
In all his appearances and artwork Yang sports a blond mustache and bald head with braided ponytail. In Final Fantasy IV and his Amano artwork he is shirtless, with red bands on his wrists; red pants tied at the ankle; a yellow sash around his waist, and flat brown shoes. He also wears red earrings, and has a red tattoo on his left shoulder. In The After Years he retains the red pants, but now wears a red and purple sash over his left shoulder, and another tied to his left thigh. He wears white boots, and his hair and mustache are substantially longer.
Personality
Taciturn, humble and polite, yet fiercely protective, Yang has no wish to hurt others or involve them in situations where they could be in danger, but is always grateful for assistance. His high standing in Fabul means that he has garnered much respect, and the only person he appears to quail before the might of is his own wife. In both Interlude and The After Years, it is demonstrated that Yang copes with stressful situations where he is of no use by training himself and the other monks, though in the former he is unable to stop himself from rushing to Sheila's side as she gives birth. During The After Years he initially refuses to train Ursula, believing she has no need to train for war, but after witnessing her selfless protection of the monks accompanying her, he takes her on as a disciple. However he warns that now she is just another student, not a daughter or a princess, and demonstrates this when training her in the game's ending. According to Sheila, Yang admitted to her privately "how can I believe in my people's future if I cannot even believe in my own daughter?"
Story
Final Fantasy IV
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While training with fellow monks atop Mt. Hobs, Yang is suddenly attacked by a swarm of monsters. All of his men perish, leaving him to face the Mom Bomb alone. At this point, Cecil Harvey, Rosa Joanna Farrell, Rydia, and Edward Chris von Muir have arrived at the summit and help Yang in battle. Yang is grateful for their intervention, but Cecil and Rosa suspect that Golbez planned the assault so as to allow the Red Wings of Baron to seize the Wind Crystal from a defenseless Fabul. Although reluctant to drag these allies into the conflict, they testify the tragedies they witnessed and Yang decides to accept their help.
At Fabul, the party convinces the King to prepare for an imminent attack. Yang, Cecil, and Edward lead Fabul's monks at the front lines, but the enemies force them to retreat further and further into the castle, until finally, a last stand is made in the crystal room. Cecil is attacked by Kain Highwind and Yang and Edward are paralyzed by Golbez, allowing Rosa to be kidnapped and the Wind Crystal to be stolen.
Cecil, Rydia, Edward, and Yang plan their next course of action—to sail to Baron and acquire an airship from Cid Pollendina in order to find Rosa. The King of Fabul permits Yang's leave, but while en route, the ship is attacked by Leviathan. Rydia falls into the sea, and Yang dives in to save her. The party is separated.
Yang fails to save Rydia, and believes her to have perished. Washing ashore in Baron, a temporary case of amnesia leads Yang to becoming an officer ordered to find Cecil, the King of Baron's most wanted traitor. When Cecil arrives at the Inn with Palom, Porom, and Tellah, Yang attacks them, but they are able to return him to his senses. Yang rejoins the party, and finding that he was given the Baron Key, the party is able to enter Baron Castle via the Ancient Waterway. They reach the throne room and defeat Cagnazzo, the Baron King's impostor, when they are met by Cid. Following Palom and Porom's sacrifice to save the party from a trap, Cid leads the three men to his airship, the Enterprise.
The party acquires the Earth Crystal in order to free Rosa at the Tower of Zot, resulting in Tellah's sacrifice, Golbez's retreat, and Kain's freedom from mind control. Cecil, Rosa, Kain, Yang, and Cid then discover a way to the Underworld, where Cid leaves to repair a destroyed Enterprise and Rydia saves the party from nearly being defeated by Golbez. At this point, Golbez has acquired three of the four Dark Crystals, and has housed them with the four Light Crystals at the top of the Tower of Babil.
King Giott suggests that the party should retrieve the seven Crystals, but the plan is interrupted when the Dwarves face annihilation by the Super Cannon. Even though the monsters at the helm are dispatched, the cannon is already activated, and Yang sacrifices himself to take its force, locking out the party and refusing to move. Yang is presumed to be dead.
Fortunately, Yang survives, thanks to the Sylphs, but is severely wounded and remains unconscious during his rest in the Sylph Cave. Cecil's party has an option to explore the cave and find Yang, even though he does not respond. Later, should they inform his wife about his whereabouts, her solution lies with a frying pan. Despite the Sylphs' objections, Yang is whacked into consciousness, though the Sylphs insist he must continue to rest, offering their power to Rydia in his place. Yang recovers in time to join the attack against the Giant of Babil, during which he commands a tank with the Sylphs. Returning to the Tower of Wishes in Mysidia to pray for the party's final battle, Yang encourages them to maintain their focus.
With peace brought to the world, the King of Fabul abdicates his throne to Yang and becomes his Duke Consort. Yang is ready to lead his country, while still returning to his regular training.
Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
Template:Sideicon Yang attends the ceremony to celebrate the reconstruction of Damcyan, but he receives word from a guard that a some monks were brutally attacked at the summit of Mt. Hobs. Hearing this, Yang plans to leave, but Cecil and Rosa decide to go with him. Once they get to the summit of Mt. Hobbs, they find two injured monks, who Rosa heals. Soon after, they are attacked by Dad Bomb. When they defeat it, they head to Fabul where Yang's wife Sheila is about to give birth. Yang asks Cecil to be the godfather and to name her daughter, which he gladly accepts and calls her Ursula.
When Cecil and Rosa are about to leave they find Cid, Luca, Palom, and Porom, who tell Cecil that there is a swarm of monsters coming out of the Sealed Cave. As they are about to take off, Cecil tells Yang to stay with his family. Cid notices that Rosa looks pale, and Cecil asks Yang to take care of her while he is away.
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
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Taking his place as the king of Fabul, he upholds the teachings of the royal dynasty and leads the people of Fabul. His training as a monk remains unchanged, and he hasn't neglected his personal discipline. His greatest desire is to be able to gently raise his only daughter, Ursula.
Description
Though now King, Yang still trains as a monk and has a daughter training in the martial arts, Ursula. He is among the first to see what seems to be Kain working with the Mysterious Girl to gather the Crystals. After their ship is swallowed by the Leviathan, Yang and Ursula are found in Kaipo by Rydia's party, who wake Ursula with the ladle and knock Yang with the frying pan. They join them to help break a force field before confronting the Mysterious Girl in Baron.
After assisting in the battle with various bosses in which the Crystals hold, they face off with the girl and Bahamut. They confront the Creator, who pursued them through various battles before his ultimate defeat by Meteor. Yang is last seen back at Fabul, where he finally trains Ursula, reminding her that he is not going to go easy on her just because she is his daughter.
Gameplay
Final Fantasy IV
As a monk, Yang has high HP and physical stats, and his armor draw is limited to lightweight hats, tunics and rings. Yang's weapon draw is limited to claws, which have low battle power. However, as Yang maintains a high battle power even barehanded, his claws add elemental and status properties to his attacks rather than increase his strength. This allows Yang to switch his claws to change the properties of his attacks without sacrificing damage output.
Stats
There is a bug concerning Yang's HP growth which affects all SNES versions as well as the North American and first Japanese Advance versions, where Yang's HP growth stops at level 60 and he can never reach 9999 HP. The bug is fixed in the European GBA version and the re-released Japanese GBA version.
Abilities
Yang's primary ability is Kick, where he executes an attack on all enemies that does slightly less damage than a normal attack. Yang's other abilities are Focus and Brace. Focus has Yang skip his turn to charge up an attack twice as strong as normal. In the Advance and Complete Collection releases, Yang can equip the Discipline Armband to upgrade his Focus command into Deadly, which increases his damage multiplier to 3x instead of 2x.
Brace greatly reduces the damage Yang takes from enemies, more than the normal Defend command. In the DS release, Kick has higher power and takes on the elemental and status properties of Yang's claws. Focus functions entirely different: Yang charges up energy, enhancing the power of either his next normal attack or Kick. Focus can be stacked up to three times with consecutive uses. In the original North American release of the Super NES version, both Focus and Brace were removed.
Equipment
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Boss
Yang is fought in Baron after being separated from the party by Leviathan.
Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
Yang joins the party in Damcyan at Level 32 and retains his Kick, Focus and Brace abilities, which function as they do in the Final Fantasy IV. He comes equipped with a Hell Claws, Faerie Claws, Headband, Black Belt Gi, and Power Armlet.
Equipment
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Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Stats
Yang has the highest HP, Strength and Stamina of all party members at Level 99, but his other stats are low to mediocre.
Level | HP | MP | Strength | Speed | Stamina | Intelligence | Spirit |
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15 | 600 | 20 | 17 | 11 | 20 | 4 | 5 |
20 | 911 | 33 | 23 | 13 | 26 | 5 | 7 |
30 | 1757 | 59 | 36 | 18 | 36 | 7 | 11 |
40 | 2854 | 83 | 50 | 24 | 48 | 8 | 15 |
50 | 4015 | 111 | 65 | 27 | 57 | 10 | 22 |
60 | 5236 | 136 | 80 | 32 | 68 | 12 | 28 |
70 | 6468 | 171 | 90 | 36 | 78 | 14 | 35 |
80 | 7112 | 197 | 91 | 37 | 81 | 16 | 37 |
90 | 7742 | 220 | 93 | 39 | 83 | 18 | 39 |
99 | 8411 | 244 | 94 | 41 | 85 | 20 | 40 |
Abilities
Yang retains his Kick and Focus abilities, and has the new ability Cover Counter. As its name implies, the ability allows Yang to intercept attacks on an ally and attack the enemy that attacked them, but unlike Cecil he does not automatically defend weakened allies. Yang can use Cover Counter on himself, but it has no effect.
Ability | Members | MP | Effect |
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Five Star Crimson Palm |
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9 | A powerful, calculated strike against a single enemy. Inflicts Slow. |
Twin Wing Frenzy |
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6 | Strike at a single enemy with a pincer attack. |
Explosive Kick |
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14 | Flame damage to all enemies. |
Fist Dance |
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13 | Attack one enemy to the beat of the music. |
Sylph Protection |
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17 | Rydia calls Sylphs to drain enemies of strength and power up Yang. Casts Haste, Protect, and Shell on Yang, and heals HP equal to total damage done to enemies. |
Oboro Strike |
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25 | Combo strike on a single enemy. |
Twin Drive |
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15 | Sword and fist strike at a single enemy. |
Sword and Fist |
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30 | Combine the power of four to strike a single enemy. Can break damage limit. |
King's Quad |
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30 | Four kings join together for a combo attack. Can break damage limit. |
Equipment
Claws |
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Shields | Head | Body | Arms |
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Musical themes
Yang's theme is "Fabul", and plays in his hometown, which the track is named for.
Other appearances
Pictlogica Final Fantasy
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Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Template:Sideicon Yang appears as a Legend in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade.
Final Fantasy Artniks
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Final Fantasy Record Keeper
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Yang appears in Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
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Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Template:Sideicon Yang is featured in a few cards in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. One of his cards features his SD art, and the other displays his CG render.
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Triple Triad (Portal App)
Yang appears on Triple Triad cards. Template:Gallery
Gallery
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Etymology
Etymology:Yin and Yang
Yang's surname in katakana can also be read as Raiden. Raijin, also called Raiden, is a god of thunder and lightning in Japanese mythology. Written in hanzi, the same deity in Chinese is pronounced "Léidiàn".
Raiden is the Chinese/Japanese word for the physical phenomena thunder and lightning."Leiden" may be derived from German or Dutch, either meaning "to suffer" (German: leiden; Dutch: lijden), or "to lead" (German: leiten; Dutch: leiden). In Japanese, Yang's name is also pronounced identical to the name of the historical Jan van Leiden.
Leiden is also a city in The Netherlands.
Trivia
- Despite being a monk, he is drawn with swords hanging from the belt in his official artwork.
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