Mythology - Bahamut

Bahamut is certainly one of, if not the most frequently reoccurring “characters” in the Final Fantasy series. I put characters in quotation marks because his appearance takes different forms throughout the series and the word does not always apply, but in the large majority of the games he is depicted as the king of dragons or as a heavenly body that takes the form of a dragon.

It might surprise you, then, to learn that the original Bahamut was depicted as an immense fish with a head that resembled that of an elephant. The mythological origins of Bahamut are about as old as mythology gets, which makes it difficult to translate and to sort through the many references that could or do mention him, but it's generally accepted that he first appeared in ancient Arabic stories about the nature of the universe. The stories suggest that Bahamut was a massive fish swimming through an endless sea. Atop Bahamut’s back was a massive bull, and atop the bull’s head was a mountain on which rested the Earth and a varying number of heavens and hells.

Today’s impression of Bahamut as a dragon has been attributed to Wizards of the Coast, who gave the name to one of the dragon deities from their popular Dungeons and Dragons game series.

Bahamut in FF1

I was thoroughly pleased to see that Bahamut, who I’ve adored in so many other games, is in fact present in the very first Final Fantasy that Square ever produced. True, you can’t harness his power the way that you will in later games, but his role is far from negligible.

Bahamut is the king of the dragons that inhabit the island caves to the north and in him resides the power to recognize your true potential as a warrior. Bring him a token of your courage from the Citadel of Trials and he’ll reward you by upgrading your character classes.