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Strongest of the scions created by the gods, they feared his growth, and so kept him a child. So indomitable is his strength that all things are by him twisted and pressed into oblivion. He alone fashions the laws governing all things, and administers punishment in place of the gods. So is he Keeper of Precepts, and his authority is absolute.

Zodiark, Keeper of Precepts is an optional level three Esper in Final Fantasy XII. He dwells in the Henne Mines in the hidden Special Charter Dig area.

His license costs 200 LP, and he requires three Mist Charges to summon.

Zodiark is unlocked in the Sky Pirate's Den in the Clan Primer by defeating him, earning the title Zodiac Knight.


Profile[]

Winged Zodiark.

The Esper of Dark, Zodiark represents the zodiac sign of Ophiuchus, the Serpent Holder. Zodiark is indeed a serpent, in the form that Ophiuchus is most commonly associated with: a snake. From his power of Dark, his color sign is black. Zodiark is also referred to as the Ashlesha Ascendant, which is the Sanskrit name of its zodiac sign as used in Jyotish (Hindu) astrology.

Zodiark is based on a secret summon in Final Fantasy Tactics, associated with the thirteenth auralith. Zodiark returns in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings in its second form as a non-elemental ranged Rank III summon. His twelve wings may be a reference to the 12 Espers corresponding to the horoscope signs.

Obtained[]

Zodiark is located in the Henne Mines, in the Special Charter Dig area. To unlock the Special Dig site, the player must collect at least ten Espers, go to Jahara and speak to Geomancer Yugelu. He will unlock the gate to the Phase 2 Dig, which leads to the Special Charter Dig area. Zodiark is found at the very end. The path to Zodiark is littered with strong foes, but the player can use the Immobilize glitch to avoid them.

As the Immobilize glitch requires the party leader to be a decent distance away from the rest of the party, the trek will still be difficult. Fleeing is not suggested, as certain enemies can transport to the space in front of a character, and if there are many teleporting enemies the player's path may become blocked. Without a correctly trained party, the trek to Zodiark can be harder than the Esper itself.

When found, Zodiark is fought as a boss, and once defeated, his license can be purchased for 200 LP.

During the boss fight, among the items the player can steal from Zodiark is the rare Serpentarius gem needed in making the Tournesol weapon.

Unlocked abilities in Zodiac versions[]

Esper licenses sometimes unlock licenses that could not otherwise be reached. Zodiark's license will appear on all boards, but once chosen by a character, will disappear from the other boards. In The Zodiac Age version, the player can choose two license boards for each playable character, and activated licenses are activated on both boards if present.

Zodiark allows access to the following licenses on these boards:

  1. Also achieved with Ultima

Battle[]

Zodiark costs three Mist Charges to summon.

Abilities[]

Banish Ray

A Dark-elemental attack and Zodiark's basic offensive spell. Banish Ray is exceptionally powerful against any enemies that do not resist Dark-elemental attacks.

Final Eclipse

A non-elemental attack and Zodiark's ultimate attack. In an eclipse, Zodiark falls into a calm sea. An egg rises to the surface, and Zodiark hatches to reveal his second form, a serpent with vast, feathered wings. Folding his wings around his body, he draws energy from his surroundings and spreads his wings wide, filling them with power and obliterating his surroundings. As he flies off into space, with the energy of the eclipse charged in his body, Zodiark flies to the targeted enemy, and destroys the fabric of reality itself in a catastrophic explosion.

Final Eclipse deals 50,000 base damage (60,000 in the Zodiac versions), making it one of the most powerful attacks. Enemies with the Reduce Damage augment, such as Yiazmat, will instead take 35,000 damage (or 42,000 damage). Unlike most other Esper attacks, Final Eclipse is unaffected by Reverse.

Gambit information[]

Zodiac
Priority Condition Action
1 Summoner: status = Petrify Final Eclipse
2 Foe: Dark-vulnerable Banish Ray
3 Foe: nearest visible Attack
4 Ally: HP < 100% Renew
Original
Priority Condition Action
1 Summoner: status = Petrify Final Eclipse
2 Foe: more than one present Scathe
3 Foe: Dark-absorb Flare
4 Foe: Dark-weak Banish Ray
5 Foe: nearest visible Banish Ray


Stats[]

Stat FFXII Zodiac
Attack 201 201
Defense 61 67
Magick Defense 40 62


Zodiac

In The Zodiac Age, the HP values are tripled.

Level Max HP Max MP Strength Magic Vitality Speed
1 4,635-4,636 296-300 36 47 26 26
10 4,837-4,872 350-390 42 53 28 28
20 5,205-5,304 430-530 48 59 31 30
30 5,677-5,862 512-674 54 65 34 33
40 6,124-6,390 612-854 60 71 36 35
50 6,838-7,237 698-999 66 77 39 37
60 7,468-7,984 788-999 72 83 42 40
70 7,825-8,404 838-999 78 89 45 42
80 8,238-8,890 898-999 84 95 47 44
90 8,800-9,556 938-999 90 99 50 47
99 9,435-9,999 956-999 96 99 53 49
Original
Level Max HP Max MP Strength Magic Vitality Speed
1 3,090-3,091 23-25 60 45 26 26
10 3,225-3,248 50-70 66 51 28 28
20 3,470-3,536 90-140 72 57 30 30
30 3,785-3,908 131-212 78 63 33 33
40 4,083-4,260 181-302 84 69 35 35
50 4,559-4,825 224-378 90 75 37 37
60 4,979-5,323 264-448 94 81 40 40
70 5,217-5,603 294-498 99 87 42 42
80 5,492-5,927 324-548 99 93 44 44
90 5,867-6,371 344-578 99 99 47 47
99 6,290-6,873 353-587 99 99 49 49


Actions[]

Zodiac
Name Range Target CT(Charge Time) Type Element Power
Attack 2 Single 30 Physical None 201
Renew 10 Circle 10 23 Magick None
Scathe 10 Circle 8 23 Magick None 190
Hastega 10 Circle 10 23 Magick None
Banish Ray 12 Single 15 Magick Dark 240
Final Eclipse 12 Circle 10 0 Magick None
Original
Name Range Target CT(Charge Time) Type Element Power
Flare 10 Single 30 Magick None 163
Scathe 10 Circle 6 30 Magick None 190
Banish Ray 12 Single 16 Magick Dark 240
Final Eclipse 12 Circle 8 35 Magick None


Status effects[]

Augments[]

Boss[]

Zodiark is fought in the special dig site of the Henne Mines and also fought in Stage 97 of the Trial Mode in the Zodiac versions. His special move is Darkja, a powerful Dark-elemental cinematic attack that has a chance to instantly KO a target, and can inflict Blind on a character even if they are KO'd. He starts the battle with Reflect, Protect, Shell, and Haste. Zodiark's Banish Ray usually inflicts 9,999 damage. At half HP Zodiark erects a Magick Wall, making him immune to magick attacks for two minutes. At quarter health Zodiark begins using Shift to change his elemental weakness. When Zodiark's HP is HP Critical, his attacks grow stronger and faster and Darkja is used more often. When his HP is almost gone. Zodiark's Battle Cry will make his attack stronger. Once Zodiark puts up the physical paling, physical attacks will be useless from then on, as Zodiark will only erect it again as soon as it falls.

Glyph[]

Alternate glyph
Glyph in the game

Alternate glyph on the left, in-game glyph on the right

A different glyph is used for Zodiark in official publications than the one that appears inside his seal in the game itself.

In The Zodiac Age, the alternate glyph is used as icon for Zodiark's license on the License Board.

The alternate glyph appears in Final Fantasy XII Scenario Ultimania, and the BradyGames and Piggyback guides in English. This suggests that Zodiark's glyph was changed mid-development, and the guides use the original one, which ended up unused. The two versions are similar, but the alternate glyph is mirrored horizontally and flipped, whereas the glyph used in the game is mirrored vertically, the same the other Espers' glyphs.

Elidibus uses the middle part of Zodiark's glyph as his Ascian sigil in Final Fantasy XIV FFXIV Elidibus glyph. The "alternate glyph" appears in a texture on the moon's surface in a Final Fantasy XIV cutscene at the end of 3.0, but is obscure in the cutscene itself because it is viewed from ground level.

Gallery[]

Etymology and symbolism[]

Zodiark could be an amalgam of words zodiac and ark.

In both astrology and historical astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude that are centered upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year.

The term zodiac derives from Latin zōdiacus, which comes from the Greek ζῳδιακὸς κύκλος (zōdiakos kyklos), meaning "circle of animals", as half of the signs of the classical Greek zodiac are represented as animals (besides two mythological hybrids).

In the Bible, Noah carried seven pairs of each clean animal species and one pair of each unclean animal species, each pair a male and female, into a giant ship called the Ark. The Ark was built by God's command to survive the deluge He sent to purge the world from the sins committed by mankind.

Zodiark is also referred to as the Ashlesha Ascendant, which is the Sanskrit name of its zodiac sign as used in Jyotish (Hindu) astrology.

Zodiark was formerly known as Serpentarius. The rare gem, which can be stolen from Zodiark, refers to this.

Zodiark's second form—that of a snake with feathered wings—may be loosely based on the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, who is represented as a feathered snake. Also, in some legends, Quetzalcoatl is related to the Sun and is tasked with the creation of mankind. This seems to oppose Zodiark, who is adept at destruction.

Zodiark also resembles archaic depictions of Seraphim in that it is a serpent with many wings, although Seraphim conventionally only have six. Six-winged beings are prevalent throughout the series, including Kefka Palazzo's final form, and Garuda, and Siren from Final Fantasy XIV.

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