Statue of the Gods

The Statue of the Gods is a boss that acts are a series of bosses in Final Fantasy VI, whose name comes from the Final Fantasy 25th Memorial Ultimania. This boss is fought during the final battle in the form of a gauntlet where the party has to survive each battle sequence before they can face Kefka. Those who fail to survive after all enemies in a tier have been defeated are removed from the active party before facing the next tier, and are replaced by the next characters in sequence.

Symbolism
According to the Final Fantasy III Nintendo Player's Guide, the final battle sequence is supposed to be a rematch of the Warring Triad, the first tier being Demon, the second tier being against Goddess, and the third tier being against Fiend. No official material support this; the idea was created by Nintendo of America.

The artwork for the Statue of the Gods shows many of them wearing capes and sashes similar to Kefka, indicating symbolism to his ascension to godhood. The positioning of Rest and Lady is based on Michelangelo's Pietà, a sculpture of Jesus lying in Mary's lap after being crucified. Lady's Japanese name is Maria, another name for the Virgin Mother.

A common fan interpretation of the Statue of the Gods is that they symbolize the Divine Comedy, an epic poem in which the author Dante Alighieri travels through the stages of the afterlife, Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. In the Divine Comedy, Hell is where Satan is a demon entrapped up to the waist, Purgatory is a place of suffering and spiritual growth, and Heaven is where Dante meets famous saints. This is reflected by Visage in the first tier, Tiger, Magic, Power and Machine in the second tier, and Rest and Lady in the third tier. After traversing through Heaven Dante meets God, who explains to him the meaning of life. This is reflected in Kefka, who has become the God of Magic and tells the Returners that life is meaningless.