Garland (Final Fantasy IX)

Garland is the secondary antagonist of Final Fantasy IX. He works behind the shadows and is first confronted in Terra's Pandemonium, although he is first seen earlier in the game piloting the airship Invincible over Alexandria during its destruction. Before Garland reveals his identity, he is known to the player as Old Man.

History
Garland is an android created by the Terrans to accomplish their plans of "survival" five thousand years ago. Terra had always assimilated other planets to survive, and when the world was dying, the Terrans desperately sought for a newborn planet to merge with. No such planet was found in time, and the Terrans made the risky decision to fuse with the young planet of Gaia. The Terrans entrusted Garland with their plans and slept, their souls placed in dormant bodiless state.

Garland attempted to fuse Terra's crystal with Gaia's, but Gaia's crystal rejected the process, and the fusion failed with disastrous results, leaving Gaia's surface in ruin and shifting the world of Terra inside the world of Gaia. Garland transplanted the magical Iifa Tree from Terra onto Gaia's surface to oversee the planet's recovery, but it would take thousands of years for Gaia to recover from the disaster.

According to the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania[1], Garland started creating Genomes around 3000 years prior to the events of Final Fantasy IX. The Genomes were to be vessels for the Terran souls to live again, once the fusion would be complete. To control the cycle of souls in Gaia, Garland used the Iifa Tree to prevent the Gaian souls from returning to the planet, trapping them within Iifa's roots. Later, Garland constructed the Soul Divider at the Iifa Tree's base that allowed the souls of Terra to flow into Gaia instead.

The rejected Gaian souls were expelled through the Iifa Tree's roots to the continent where civilization had taken root, and the anguished souls manifested as Mist, leading to the continent being known as the Mist Continent. The presence of Mist had a hardening effect on the people who had to live among it, and though the people of the Mist Continent chose to migrate to higher ground to escape the Mist, its presence still brought forth many wars and conflicts. This was all according to Garland's plan, who wanted to speed up the rate in which Gaian souls would attempt to return to the planet.

After the advent of airships that could fly using the power of the Mist, the wars that had plagued the Mist Continent came to a stop, and the planet's soul cycle returned to normal. Garland's plan was to construct a Genome with a mind of its own whom he could send to Gaia to incite war and destruction. He named this Genome Kuja and sent him to hasten the Iifa Tree's soul dividing process by killing more Gaians.

Kuja's role as the Angel of Death was not meant to last, due to Garland initially viewing him a failure; therefore, Garland created another Genome, Zidane, to eventually replace him. Kuja, jealous of Zidane but unaware of his own mortality, kidnapped Zidane and abandoned him in Gaia. As punishment, Garland banished him from returning to Terra.

The summoners' tribe living in the town of Madain Sari on Gaia had mastered the art of summoning eidolons. Garland, fearing their power, ordered Kuja to destroy the summoners' village. Garland created another Genome, Mikoto, to replace Zidane, whom he thought was lost. When Kuja begins his plan to control the eidolons, beginning with Bahamut and Alexander, Garland can no longer tolerate Kuja's rebellion and travels to Gaia to stop his subject's schemes. Garland wrests control of the Invincible from Kuja and destroys both Alexander and the town of Alexandria, leaving Kuja to formulate a new plan involving the power of Trance.

When Zidane arrives in Terra, Garland reveals everything about the purpose of his existence. Zidane refuses to accept his destiny as an Angel of Death, so Garland imprisons him within Pandemonium. Zidane's friends convince him that he has control of his own life and together they confront Garland on the highest ledge of his fortress. As Zidane presses him for more answers, Kuja arrives on the Invincible, touting his new soul-driven powers.

Rendering the party unconscious with a blast of Ultima, Kuja turns on Garland, intending to gain total control of Terra and Gaia. Garland wearily informs Kuja that his powers would come to nothing, and in a fit of rage Kuja kicks Garland to his death off Pandemonium's ledge.

Garland retains his presence as a formless, omniscient voice, and reveals Kuja's mortality, pushing him over the edge. In Memoria, Garland assists Zidane, the only one who can hear him, with advice about the origins and nature of Gaia, Terra, and the crystal: that which is the source of all life. In the void of space, before the entrance to the crystal's inner sanctums, Garland's presence fades away, asking Zidane to take care of Kuja and protect the crystal. In his last words, Garland expresses no regrets for being created as a savior to a world which would perish by his creation's hands.