They call him Bahamut. King of the Dragons. Sometimes, he plays a vital role in a Final Fantasy game’s proceedings. Sometimes, he’s barely a blip on the narrative radar. Always, he has presence. Even as Ifrit’s prominence seems to rise with each modern entry, Bahamut casts a fierce, arguably unrivaled, shadow.
Related
10 Best Espers In Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster, Ranked
Some summons in FF6 Pixel Remaster are just stronger than others. Here’s the best espers you can find.
Is there, in truth, an objective best Bahamut? Of course not. Everybody has their favorites, either for a laundry list of reasons or just because they look cool. All valid. Will that stop us from searching for our own answer to a question 35 years and counting? Of course not.
What about Final Fantasy 13-2? Where’s World of Final Fantasy? Won’t anyone please think of poor Final Fantasy: All the Bravest? We readily admit this list is far from exhaustive, as a full accounting of every Bahamut in the Final Fantasy franchise would clock in at nearly 60. It’s far more realistic – and frankly, far less mind-numbing to get through as a reader, we bet! – to stick to the core mainline entries here!
17
Final Fantasy 13
If you’ve followed some of our other Final Fantasy summon rankings, you may note we’ve not been especially kind towards Final Fantasy 13’s Eidolon representatives. With all due respect to the game’s fans, we feel like the game tried something bold in radically transforming their signature looks, and mostly missed the mark. FF13 Bahamut looks a bit like someone merged a Mass Effect 3 monster with a collection of antique shields, gave it claws, and called it a dragon.
This purple fellow certainly has more lore to him than some, but it’s far from the most compelling in the batch. We’d be remiss in skipping over those cool parts when the entire party hitches a ride on him, though. That was pretty cool.
16
Final Fantasy 3
The best thing about Final Fantasy 3’s Bahamut isn’t even about him, but the temporary guest character Desch, whose intro involves the sickest burn in the game when he laughs at the party for getting caught by the fierce dragon alongside him. It’s such a goofy thing, this guy who’s also about to be eaten, ridiculing the other four people who are also about to be eaten.
There’s no such thing as a bad Bahamut, but between his somewhat primitive design, relatively little impact on the story, and downright oddly long neck after he becomes a summonable monster, we’re not exactly in awe.
15
Final Fantasy
We don’t really subscribe to the ranking theory of ‘the original gets a ton of sway because it’s the original’ or else we might have placed the first Final Fantasy’s Bahamut higher on the internet totem pole. To be sure, he plays a vital role in the game, being the means through which to upgrade the party’s job classes the one and only time that’s possible.
Related
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Every Main Character’s Outfits And Costumes
Yes, you can dress Tifa and Aerith as you already know, but luckily there are more costumes for them and the rest of the party.
Only ever seeing the guy in sprite form rather diminishes the power of his design. Plus, he’ll only upgrade your classes when you give him a Rat Tail. A Rat Tail. That’s a proper noun, so we’re capitalizing it, but it shouldn’t be, you know? It’s the tail of a rat. This isn’t some fetish, is it?
14
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
We’re keeping the Remake trilogy as ‘mainline entries’ in our rankings, and if you disagree, we understand, but it certainly feels big enough.
The original Final Fantasy 7 famously has three obtainable Bahamuts, albeit with a complete lack of story presence. The expanded universe of FF7 piles on plenty more. These are all good things… with mixed results. Of all Remake’s summoned monster reimaginings, Bahamut is oddly the biggest miss. He’s wicked-strong and dominates his battlefield, and it’ll take careful planning to bring him down.
It’s just. Look. At. Those. Wings. They are so veiny. The veins are practically bursting out. It’s hideous. Thank goodness it’s only a virtual reality representation of the big guy. Chadley, what were you thinking?
13
Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy 6 is a fabulous game with an underwhelming Bahamut. This is his first appearance in the series to lack any form of story beat; instead, his Magicite is a reward for defeating Deathgaze, an optional boss creature who roams the skies in the World of Ruin. It’s a neat fight with a good reward, but that reward feels almost like an afterthought, all things considered.
FF6 Bahamut has striking red eyes and icy-blue wings, a strong design that remains impressive to this day. On plenty of other summon-ranking lists, he’d go farther for it. Alas, here we are.
12
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
The FF7 Remake trilogy’s second (and most recent) entry, Rebirth, takes a swing in the right direction for our favourite dragon. Bahamut Arisen is menacing, with twisted, branch-like protrusions and a clear sense of power in its every motion. Battling Bahamut Arisen is thrilling, and summoning it, even more so.
It’s telling, then, that we’d still look at Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s rendition and consider it decidedly “average” in the grand scheme of things. Arisen isn’t mediocre, it’s just outflanked by so many even better Bahamuts. Maybe Remake Part 3 will settle the score!
11
Final Fantasy 12
Final Fantasy 12’s Sky Fortress Bahamut, the last destination in the storyline, is a spectacular warship with an almost corkscrew-like design capable of unleashing unthinkable carnage upon the enemies of the villainous Vayne Solidor. And when Vayne is battled, he even takes on various attributes of the fabled dragon. It’s rad.
But also, uh, it’s a dungeon, not a dragon. FF12’s spin on traditional summons involves naming the Archadian Empire’s fleet of flying vessels after them, favoring instead the distinctly Ivalician Espers like Belias and Famfrit. It’s hard to rank a big piece of metal that fires torpedoes on a list about a dragon, but we think this is about as far as it can go, nifty though it may be.
10
Final Fantasy 11
Final Fantasy 11’s Bahamut totes some of the richest lore in the series, as befits a Bahamut who factors heavily in the events of Vana’diel. He’s one of the high marks of the excellent Chains of Promathia expansion. These are all good things.
We can’t get past his head. We’re deeply sorry. We just cannot. Get past. His head. It’s so small. It’s so much smaller than it should be. It’s… why is it so small? And it doesn’t work on any level, because this is one of the most big-headed Bahamuts around from a narrative perspective. Please just fix your head!
9
Final Fantasy 5
By the time Final Fantasy 5 rolled around, Bahamut’s dominance as an exceptional summoned monster was well established. Introducing this iteration as a mighty menace unleashed upon the Merged World as a consequence of the heroes’ actions, he then awaits their arrival atop a mountain – kind of like in FF3, except, you know, cooler.
The return trip to North Mountain feels appropriately momentous. Bartz and the others are en route to prove their worth to the King of Dragons, and it’s one of the tougher fights in the game.
8
Final Fantasy 15
FF15’s Ifrit is savvy, its Shiva suitably melancholy, its Titan and Ramuh bombastic. Its Bahamut is… weird. His wings are swords, his form is humanoid, he’s garbed in armor. It’s a rather love-or-hate design, and truth be told, we’ve not met many who love it. We don’t get to fight it, even when it feels like perhaps we should – alas, the alternate-future planned DLC was canned and given book form instead – and really, he’s just a very mean guy.
But he’s also got some hefty-good lore to him. FF15 Bahamut’s the God of War, and he’s the one who gifted the Ring of the Lucii to the Lucis kings and gave the Oracles their powers. Without a shred of remorse, he breaks the news to Noctis Lucis Caelum that the poor boy’s got to give his life to save the world. This is a classic example of personality trumping design, and it’s a questionably moral personality at best, but that’s what makes him memorable.
