Chaos (Final Fantasy)

"“But I will be reborn once more. So even as you die, again and again, I shall return. Born again in this endless cycle I have created!"

- Chaos

Chaos (カオス, Kaosu) is the main antagonist and final boss of Final Fantasy I for the NES, the first in a series of RPG videogames. But as revealed Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Dissidia Duodecim, the Chaos that Garland became is modeled after the original Chaos, the God of Discord who is speculated to lead the series' main antagonists since his re-appearance in Theatrhythm for the 3DS. Many similar beings share his name, like the main villain of Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light, but are presumed to be different entities.

History
Much of Chaos's history is revealed extensively through Dissidia 012. Chaos was actually a Manikin, an artificial life form made of an organic crystal. He was the first Manikin to be given a sense of self by Cid of the Lufaine, creating a child-like monster imbued with the memories of multiple people. Due to his power, Chaos was taken from Cid to be used a weapon with Cid's wife, whom he saw as a mother, to make Chaos comply. When she escaped, the Lufenians military used Cid's research to turn a Manikin into her a clone of the woman: Cosmos.

By the time Cid and wife rescued him, Chaos grew twisted and hateful from his time with the military. But when Cid's wife was shot during the escape, Chaos's rage caused him to open portal to the Rift that sent him, Cid, and Cosmos to World B. There, the three meet Garland and Shinryu, whom Cid forges a pact with to have Cosmos and Chaos fight each other in order to eventually open a door to the Rift again, allowing them to return home. But Chaos's memories faded overtime, losing all memory of Cid and his ties to Cosmos.

Final Fantasy l
At the end of the game in the 5th basement of the past-time Chaos Shrine, Garland reveals his plot to the Warriors of Light: Creating a time loop by sending the Four Elemental Fiends two thousand years into the future, to the Warriors' time, for them to use the Four Great Forces to send him back into the past so that he may live eternally. He absorbs the power of the Fiends of Chaos and becomes Chaos, leading to the final battle of the game. Once he is defeated, the time loop is broken and part of time is erased, so that Chaos would never exist.

Boss
Like many (if not all) other Final Fantasy final bosses, Chaos masters Firaga, Blizzaga and Thundaga, the highest forms of the Fire, Ice and Lightning spells. Worse, he can cast the Fiends of Chaos' strongest attacks: Blaze, (Fire) Tsunami, (Water) Tornado (Wind) and the one-hit-kill Quake, (Earth) as well as Haste and Slowra to improve his hit rate and decrease the Warriors of Light's own. Even worse, he can cast Curaga to heal himself and use Flare, his most devastating attack.

It is highly advised to protect the party with Ribbons and Protect Rings,as well as favouring physical attacks, as spells do little damage. Don't forget to heal every turn and to cast Haste.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy
In the Dissidia game series, other than Garland, Chaos employed The Emperor, Cloud of Darkness, Golbez, Exdeath, Kefka Palazzo, Terra Branford, Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, Ultimecia, Kuja, Tidus, and Gabranth. Despite losing Gabranth while Terra, Cloud, and Tidus became warriors of Cosmos, Chaos manages to corrupt Jecht at the suggestion of the Emperor (unaware that the Emperor intended to backstab Chaos with this attempt). During the conflict's final cycle, Chaos destroys Cosmos and begins to regain his memories as his minions are eventually defeated, deciding to destroy reality to cope with the loss of Cosmos. Fighting the warriors of Cosmos in a final battle, Chaos is consumed in the inferno upon his defeat.

Trivia

 * Chaos' name refers to the force that was formless or void state preceding the universe or cosmos in the Greek creation myths, more specifically the initial "gap" created by the original separation of heaven and earth.
 * Chaos is often remembered for his noteworthy death animation, which showed him being disintegrated after he is beaten, a somewhat innovative phenomenon in games for the NES. This style of death was repeated for final bosses of future games in the series, including Neo Exdeath in Final Fantasy V, Kefka in Final Fantasy VI, and Safer∙Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII. However, this pattern was discontinued in Final Fantasy VIII where Sorceress Ultimecia was shown convulsing in a circular fashion and then vanishing in a form resembling static interference. It was revived as the death scene for Yu Yevon and the Weapon-type fiends in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2.
 * Chaos' Japanese voice actor in the Dissidia series, Norio Wakamoto, had voiced Cell in Dragon Ball Z. Coincidentally, both Cell and Chaos were created to be the ultimate weapon by an implied evil military group (Cell for the Red Ribbon Army/Dr. Gero, and Chaos for the Onrac military), and both were also effectively embued with the essences of multiple people (Chaos harbored the memories of multiple people, while Cell featured the DNA of the Z-Fighters and their enemies up to Frieza and King Cold). Both even participated in conflicts that gradually made them stronger, although the main difference is that Cell actually wanted to test his power, while Chaos was forced into doing so against his will. Similarly, both also received a massive powerup upon being nearly killed, but lost a lot of their sanity in the process, although the means was different: Cell was revived from a single cell after a failed attempt at destroying Earth, and Chaos ended up destroyed, only to create with Shinryu in his dying breaths a nightmarish reality where Chaos won the 13th cycle and ended up losing all his memories and being devolved into a berserking monster called Feral Chaos.
 * His English voice actor, Keith David, also voiced Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog and Goliath/Thailog from the Disney series Gargoyles, with Chaos coincidentally resembling the titular species of the latter franchise.
 * ◾The "copies" his CollectaCard mentions are likely the Four Fiends, since they were beings produced by Garland's spite; it may be a mistranslation as well, since in Japan the Fiends were known as "Chaoses", which could lead to a misunderstanding by the translation team. This was changed to the Four Fiends in Curtain Call, supporting the theory that the original was a mistranslation.
 * Chaos' devilish appearance may have been based on Gustave Doré's illustrations of The Devil (also known as Satan or Lucifer) from Sir John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost.