Description
“At the end of the dream... even chaos tears itself apart!”—Chaos
Chaos (カオス, Kaosu?) is the primary antagonist and the final boss of Dissidia Final Fantasyand Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. He is the god of discord that opposes Cosmos, the goddess of harmony, both being equal in power. During Dissidia Final Fantasy, Chaos and his forces tip the balance of power in their favor, setting the stage for their victory. Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy explores this shift in power in-depth, and the actions taken by hero and villain alike that set the stage for the thirteenth cycle. Chaos is voiced by Norio Wakamoto in the Japanese release, and Keith David in the English release.
As the final boss Chaos is unplayable unless one hacks the game. An alternate form of Chaos, a bestial monstrosity known as Feral Chaos, is playable in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, and serves as the game's superboss.
Appearance & Personality
Chaos's appearance is based on his original artwork by Yoshitaka Amano as a muscular dark red four-armed fiend with wings sprouting from his back and demonic faces on his knees. He has a long tail and several horns, the most prominent of which are two red horns that curve into the air. Chaos wears a loincloth with another face on it, and a red amulet. While using his Utter Chaos attack Chaos changes into an alternate form based on his original sprites in Final Fantasy, coloring his skin a pale yellow-green, and the demonic faces purple. In this form Chaos wields up to four large black and orange swords, initially appearing as spires stuck into the arena floor. In the opening FMV ofDissidia Final Fantasy, he takes the form of a creature made of magma emerging from the earth juxtaposing the cloudy form of Cosmos.
While his Final Fantasy counterpart shared Garland's personality, in Dissidia Chaos and Garland are entirely different. Despite his monstrous appearance and position as the God of Discord, Chaos demonstrates a calm, collected, and reasoned demeanor when not in combat, speaking in an even tone even to his enemies. He watches over his minions with a light hand, a trait influenced by his time with the Lufenian military when he was forced to fight against his will and came to hate his superiors. Even against traitors and those who neglect their duties to him, Chaos is hesitant to punish their disobedience. This attitude allows many of his warriors to turn their backs on him or plot against him, and only Garland is loyal to his god to the end.
Story
Chaos's history is revealed through the Cosmos and Chaos Reports, which are expanded on by thereports in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. Chaos was the first sentient manikin created 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. Chaos refused to fight, but complied when his 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, 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 initially was hesitant to fight Cosmos due to the memories of his mother, but Cid summoned Garland from World A to guide him to fulfil his purpose. Over time the cycles of war eroded Chaos's memories, and by the 12th cycle he has forgotten Cid and his past with Cosmos; he only knows Cid as "the Great Will", as referred to by Garland. Garland gave Chaos his name during the early cycles of the war, as Chaos reminded him of the demon "Chaos" he is destined to turn into in World A someday.
Twelfth Cycle
Wishing to end the cycle for Tifa's sake, Cloud approaches Chaos and attempts to slay the god himself, but Chaos 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 the Emperor, 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.
Thirteenth Cycle
After the ten Warriors of Cosmos retrieve the Crystals they return to Order's Sanctuary and Cosmos takes them to the Edge of Madness where Chaos incinerates the goddess before the heroes' eyes. 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, the cycle of conflict ending with his death.
Confessions of the Creator
Though the cycles of war had ended, on the brink of death, Chaos was contacted by Shinryu. Knowing that Cid had worked against him in this final cycle, Chaos accepted an offer from Shinryu to punish Cid. Chaos died then, his remaining strength absorbed by Shinryu, and Shinryu held up his end of the offer.
Cid's spirit was imprisoned in a nightmare world. In this nightmare, the cycles of war did not end with the 13th, and Chaos emerged victorious. Chaos and his warriors won every cycle, until during the 18th cycle, Chaos went berserk from the power he had acquired over the 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.
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KHAOS (or Chaos) was the first of the Protogenoi (primeval gods) to emerge at the creation of the universe. She was followed in quick succession by Gaia (Earth), Tartaros (the Underworld) and Eros (Love the life-bringer).
Khaos was the lower atmosphere which surrounded the earth - invisible air and gloomy mist. Her name khaos literally means the gap, the space between heaven and earth. Khaos was the mother or grandmother of the other substances of air: Nyx (Night), Erebos(Darkness), Aither (Light) and Hemera (Day), as well as the various emotion-affecting Daimones which drifted through it. She was also a goddess of fate like her daughter Nyx and grand-daughters the Moirai.
Later authors defined Khaos as the chaotic mix of elements that existed in the primeval universe, confusing it with the primeval Mud of the Orphic cosmogonies, but this was not the original meaning.
"[Eos the Dawn grieving her son Memnon says she will no longer rise:] `I will to blind night leave earth, sky, and sea, till Khaeos and formless darkness brood o'er all.'"
Seneca, Hercules Furens 1100 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
"Let the heavens hear his mighty groans, let the queen of the dark world [Persephone] hear . . . let Chaos re-echo the outcries of his grief."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 1 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Ere land and sea and the all-covering sky were made, in the whole world the countenance of nature was the same, all one, well named Chaos, a raw and undivided mass, naught but a lifeless bulk, with warring seeds of ill-joined elements compressed together. No Titan [Helios the Sun] as yet poured light upon the world, no waxing Phoebe [Selene the Moon] her crescent filled anew, nor in the ambient air yet hung the earth, self-balanced, equipoised, nor Amphitrite’s [the Sea’s] arms embraced the long far margin of the land. Though there were land and sea and air, the land no foot could tread, no creature swim the sea, the air was lightless; nothing kept its form, all objects were at odds, since in one mass cold essence fought with hot, and moist with dry, and hard with soft and light with things of weight. This strife a Deus (God) [Phanes or Thesis?], with nature’s blessing, solved; who severed land from sky and sea from land, and from the denser vapours set apart the ethereal sky; and, each from the blind heap resolved and freed, he fastened in its place appropriate in peace and harmony. The fiery weightless force of heaven’s vault flashed up and claimed the topmost citadel; next came the air in lightness and in place; the thicker earth with grosser elements sank burdened by its weight; lowest and last the girdling waters pent the solid globe. So into shape whatever god it was reduced the primal matter and prescribed its several parts. Then first, to make the earth even on every side, he rounded it into a mighty disc, then bade the sea extend and rise under the rushing winds, and gird the shores of the encircled earth."