Ending

[Garland]

From what I understand of the plot before the ending, from what the King and the locals say in Coneria, Garland was a good knight until he was tempted. Maybe by defeating the powers that gave him the ability to become a badass in the first place, he remains the paladin/knight champion he was before he went crazy, and life is, truly, happy ever after? After all, in most endings, the good guy wins, the bad guy loses, and the girl is auctioned off as a reward - "Do me a favor or two, hero, and you can have sex with my daughter, and she won't have much say in the matter," is the gist of most fairy tales. In the ending to FF1, the heroes win, the bad guy wins, and the girl is free. Garland will never have to be killed by heroes again. Sarah can marry who she falls in love with. What do you all think?

[VeloZer0]

Sarah can marry who she falls in love with.

Probably not, just forced on someone else
Interesting take on the ending.

[blackmage_nuke]

The Time-Loop is now broken! The 2000 year long battle is over. Peace
prevails.

Ok bear with me but in FF1 i believe there are 2 "time-loops". One for the light warriors and one for Chaos and the Fiends. The time loop that is broken refers to the one by Chaos and the Fiends whereby the Fiends send chaos back in time and Chaos sends the fiends foward in time (2000 years both ways).

Control of the four elements, the Earth, the Wind, the Fire, and the Water,
again belongs to the earth.

Obvious with the fiends destroyed the world reverts to normal for 2000 years until the fiends show up again (sent there by Garland)

Garland's hatred burned for 2000 years. That hatred led the Four Powers to
this world.

CHAOS was created from those Four.

Um i think this refers to the time loop that was broken

Evil dominated the world and covered it in darkness.

But, it is over now, wrong has been set right!!

Blah blah blah

The LIGHT WARRIORS are returning.. As they travel in time, the world returns
to normal.

Sara and Jane wait for them.. Of course, Garland does too.

But, when did it ever happen?..

Everything went mad in a day. The reason lies in the 2000 year Time-Loop.

The Four chose to become one force, and fight against the four evil forces
that set darkness upon the world.

When the Four return, it will be to their past. All signs of the battle with
the Forces will be erased.

Ok heres the important bit. I think happens is the light warriors travel foward 2000 years, but only thier minds travel through time but only to the begining of the game back in their initial bodies at the start of their adventure where "Sara and Jane wait for them.. Of course, Garland does too."

But the legend will live on. Passed down by the Dwarves, the Elves, and the
Dragons..

Passed on by peoples unsure where the story came from.

This refers to their heroics 2000 years in the past when they destroyed Chaos. Thats why everyone in the world knows about the light warriors.

The LIGHT WARRIORS return from their journey back in time 2000 years.

The memories stored deep in their hearts will protect the world.

Never forget the good and true..

Never turn the Four Powers to the dark side..

And truth will always live in the hearts of the people.

This supports what i said about them remembering every iteration of the time loop

The Warrior who broke the 2000 year Time-Loop is truly a LIGHT WARRIOR.. That
warrior was YOU!

That is the Chaos-Fiend time loop

May the ORBS always shine!!..

For eternity...

Before you fight chaos he says

Remember me, Garland? Your puny lot thought it had defeated me. But, the Four
FIENDS sent me back 2000 years into the past.

From here I sent the Four FIENDS to the future. The FIENDS will send me back
to here, and the Time-Loop will go on.

After 2000 years, I will be forgotten, and the Time-Loop will close. I will
live forever, and you shall meet doom!!

We can see from my theory that the light warriors indeed live forever, but choose to use their imortality in a way that keeps the balance of time. Chaos wanted the same time-loop as the light warriors however he would have used his ability to live forever in the time loop in ways that would disrupt the time stream. That is why the Light warriors broke his time loop. But Garland has already sent his fiends to the future, the light warriors must go foward and destroy them as they have already done thus when they destroyed chaos they were transported foward in time to the begining of the adventure. I dont think they themselves have any control over where they end up when they are transported foward in time (It's possible Without the blackorb they cannot transport their body or control when they end up). And now they must go through their adventure again and again for the rest of eternity or Chaos will be able to complete his time loop and live forever.

But they are happy to do it for the world so it's a bitter sweet ending.

However there is one awesome conotation if this theory is correct:
This could mean that every completed playthrough of the game by anyone ever would be canon. Whever you start up you're game you're Light warriors have just traveled foward through time and this is but another iteration of their journey with a few changes. Your playthrough is not in some alternate universe from the playthrough of a different player but another step in the same journey of their never ending quest.

Another possibility is that they dont remember everything but they "live on" deep down inside themselves.

edit: changed some things when I read all of Garland's final speech

[Wolf Kanno]

You know, when I first saw the ending, that was the impression I got as well blackmage_nuke. That the Light Warriors themselves were trapped in their own time loop and though Chaos is beaten, they themselves are forever trapped battling him to prevent Chaos' time loop. Someone on this forum told me I was wrong and since it had been so long since I saw the ending I believed them. Nice to see I was not alone.

[Elskidor]

Just beat the blasted game again and completely forgot how screwy the ending was. I'm under the impression the four light warriors are destined to repeat the cursed time loop forever, and that some how restores the balance for the rest of the world.

"The Warrior who broke the 2000 year Time-Loop is truly a LIGHT WARRIOR.. That
warrior was YOU!" But that makes things even more confusing. How is it broken if everything is the same?? And if things are altered a bit then how so and what caused it? This is one confusing game.