Summary
Though theFinal Fantasyseries obviously leans heavily into the fantasy genre, the games do still tend to be somewhat rooted in reality. This means that, aside from the quirky hairstyles, a lot of the characters look like average everyday people who wouldn’t look too out of the place if they appeared in the real world, but this still hasn’t stopped Square Enix from getting creative with a few of their designs from time to time.
Of course, everyone knows about some of the smaller characters, such as Vivi or Cait Sith, but theFinal Fantasygames have also featured some incredibly tall individuals who are easily able to tower over their friends and foes thanks to their large stature. Thankfully, Square Enix have provided plenty of data for their characters over the years, and as a result, it’s time to deduce who really stands as the tallest of them all.
After the world is decimated by Kefkaand turned into ruin by the mid-point ofFinal Fantasy 6’sstory, players will be able to meet new characters as they go along their journey, one of these being the mysterious yeti known only as Umaro. Considering Umaro can barely speak, there’s not much known about him, aside from the fact he possesses an unwavering loyalty to Mog, who must be present in the party for Umaro to be recruited.
What’s also made crystal clear from the moment he shows up is that Umaro is not someone to be messed with, given the fact that his mere footsteps are able to shake the earth beneath him. This gives a good indication of just how large and powerful this yeti really is. In fact, he’s even able to smash a hole through a wall in Kefka’s tower in order to help the party escape, proving him to be a huge valuable asset to the team thanks to his size and strength.
Fran is one of the many party members who helps Vaan along his journey inFinal Fantasy 12,becoming the long-ranged archer of the teamwho’s able to pick off enemies from afar without putting herself in danger. Although she has fallen out with her people by the start ofFinal Fantasy 12’sstory, Fran is still a Viera who hails from a small village hidden away in the woods. After leaving her hometown to pursue a life of freedom, Fran ended up losing a lot of the Viera’s natural talents, which resulted in her own people seeing her as an outcast.
Despite this, it’s clear from her appearance alone that Fran isn’t a human, especially when taking into consideration her giant rabbit-like ears, which add a few extra inches to her overall height. Even without the ears though, Fran still towers over the rest of the party, and will often use her size to her advantage in combat.
Final Fantasy 8fans might remember Ward as being a temporary playable character who shows up during the dream sequences of the Galbadian Army. Though he can initially seem like somewhat of a throwaway character, Ward actually plays quite an important role in the wider plot, and was even familiar withSquall’s parents. Ward has a very recognizable appearance, with his traditional blue beanie and large scar running across his face giving the impression of a grizzled warrior who’s seen his fair share of battles.
Another aspect of Ward’s design which allows him to stand out from the crowd is his height. At over 7 feet tall, Ward looks like a literal giant compared to the likes of Squall and Rinoa, and he uses his massive body and muscle mass to propel harpoons at his enemies when engaging in combat.
There have been several iterations of Gilgameshwhich have appeared throughout theFinal Fantasyseries, and though many of them share similar characteristics, they do tend to differ in their designs. Gilgamesh Ashur fromFinal Fantasy Type-0is by far the tallest out of the bunch, though this isn’t always easy to notice since the colossal behemoth can usually be seen slouching down due to the weight of his gigantic sword.
When he does decide to stand up-right though, it’s truly a terrifying sight as he could easily flatten the entire party if he really wanted to. His size is also a good indication of his actual strength, since Gilgamesh inFinal Fantasy Type-0is a brutally difficult boss who requires a lot of patience and determination to overcome, which isn’t too out of the ordinary for a boss in this particular series of games.
Another recurring character who is at his biggest inFinal Fantasy Type-0, Enkidu Uruk acted as the advisor to Gilgamesh, and while he’s only a little taller than his close friend, he’s far bigger then the humans that occupy the world. Despite being taller than Gilgamesh, Uruk was unable to live anywhere near as long as him due to sacrificing himself to save Gilgamesh many years ago.
The truth is, Uruk put his life on the line to protect Gilgamesh during a bloody coup d’etat, which goes to show how impenetrable their bond really was.This has inspired a popular theory among the fanbasewhich claims that after this incident, Gilgamesh would hop between worlds to acquire new sidekicks who he would then call “Enkidu Uruk” in memory of his friend. If this theory is true, then none of these companions have ever managed to rival the original sidekick in size, but then again, finding someone this tall in the first place would be a challenge in and of itself.
Biran is one of the Ronso warriors who can be seen constantly picking on Kimahri throughout much ofFinal Fantasy 10. This dynamic between the two isn’t only demonstrated through their horns, with Biran’s being large and Kimahri’s being broken, but also their height, as Biran easily stands head and shoulder over Kimahri when coming face to face with him. This allows Biran to intimidate the “weakling” without even needing to say a word, but when he does decide to open up his mouth, he never has anything nice to say anyway.
Thankfully, Kimahri does eventually get the opportunity to take on Biran and Yenke once the Guardians reach Mt Gagazet, but this is far from an easy battle. Biran’s stature makes him incredibly durable, while also allowing him to pack one hell of a punch every time he attacks, but nothing less could be expected from the second-tallest character in the entire series.
1Azul
Height: 9' 5"
Azul is a character who only makes an appearance in theFinal Fantasy 7spin-off game,Dirge of Cerberus, and though he only makes a few brief appearances, Tetsuya Nomura still went all out to make this guy as terrifying as possible. Azul’s enormous size allows him to occasionally carry around a similarly gigantic rail-gun with a single hand, which immediately showcases his goliath-like strength, while also indicating he’s not afraid to decimate anyone who gets on his bad side.
This almost happened to Vincent during his several encounters with Azul, where he barely manages to escape being crushed by his much larger opponent. Even when Vincent finally managed to subdue Azul by using a lazer cannon, he still managed to break out of prison without breaking a sweat. Azul’s size does make a lot more sense when it’s revealed he’s actually a genetically enhanced human, but rather than deciding to use his large stature for the sake of protecting people, he instead chose to commit as much chaos as possible.
