For the majority of the game, the main villain of Final Fantasy IV. Golbez was one of two twin brothers, both the offspring of a human woman and the Lunarian KluYa. For unknown reasons, Golbez was separarated from his brother either at birth or just after, and quickly fell under the influence of the evil Lunarian Zemus.

Believing his actions to be of his own accord, Golbez somehow (it's never explicitly stated how) attained immense magical skill and near-immortality, most likely secretly aided by Zemus. Golbez then used this power to manipulate the kingdom of Baron into using it's considerable military strength to retrieve the four crystals. The crystals, when gathered, will supposedly activate a device known as the Tower of Bab-il, which will then open a path to the moon and grant unimaginable power, partially in the form of a large mecha known as the Giant of Bab-il.

However, Golbez is in truth being manipulated by the dark power of Zemus, who wishes to escape his imprisonment in the moon. Zemus plans to use Golbez to unseal him, leading the path for Zemus to conquer the earth.

Golbez manages to gather the crystals (including four previously unknown "dark crystals" hidden under the earth) in between thwarting the heroics of his brother Cecil (who at one point Golbez refuses to kill for then-unknown reasons). Golbez uses all eight crystals to activate the Tower, summon the Giant and go to the moon. However, Cecil and his friends disable the Giant from the inside. When Golbez confronts Cecil, a third Lunarian known as FuSoYa breaks Zemus's hold over Golbez. Golbez regains his lost memories and sets off with FuSoYa to kill Zemus.

Although Zemus proves to be an easy kill for the combined power of FuSoYa and Golbez, death only increases the power of Zemus's hatred, which returns in the godlike form of Zeromus and thoroughly defeats Golbez and FuSoYa. Golbez wakens a brief time later to find that Cecil's band has destroyed Zeromus. Unable to forgive himself for his evil, Golbez resolves to seal himself in the moon with the Lunarians, to awaken at an unspecified point in the future. Cecil finally forgives Golbez and bids his brother farewell as he and FuSoYa leave to slumber with the Lunarians.

Golbez is still my favorite Final Fantasy character and probably my favorite villain of all time. In addition to his being a practical demigod, I liked the cool, understated malice of Golbez as opposed to the wacky goofiness of Kefka. Throughout the game, Golbez seems almost bored when he dispatches his opponents, and the steady march he affects when entering a room (accompanied by the game's best theme music, no less) is rather intimidating. In only a couple of scenes does the party actually have Golbez on the run, and he generally ends up making a bit of a turnaround. One of my favorite cutscenes in the game is where a supposedly defeated Golbez's disembodied hand crawls it's way across the floor, grabs the crystal and dissapears. Even though he's just gotten his ass kicked, he still manages to attain his overall goal. It's less impressive than when I was seven, but still downright cool.

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