The Warring Triad

[Wolf Kanno]

Just some fun speculation, what do you think the Warring Triad are? Are they really gods? or are they more like the Occuria and Fal'Cie who are just extremely powerful and long lived that they might just be considered gods? Do you think there may be more of them in VI's universe?

[Spooniest]

I like to think of them as manifestations of the power of magic itself. They aren't corporeal beings in the way we think about them, but merely three divergent magical forces that have taken the shape of corporeal beings in order to be able to act in the physical plane.

Consider: There are three types of magic in Final Fantasy 6, being "Attack," "Healing," and "Indirect." In a way, the Triad can be seen as a manifestation of these three forces, with Demon/Poltergeist being the manifestation of attacking magic, Goddess being the manifestation of healing magic, and Fiend/Doom being the manifestation of indirect magic. You could switch them around too, as none of this is stated by the game itself, but that magic number, 3, is present in both ways.

I like the idea that they are the physical manifestations of magical force, because then it makes more sense that they could be "absorbed" by Kefka once he has taken control of their power. Though, now that I've typed this, it occurs to me that the game never did get specific about why the Triad granted Kefka, of all people, their power. Are they intelligent beings, or merely an ethereal force that can be manipulated by a person? Mysteries abound.

[VeloZer0]

or are they more like the Occuria and Fal'Cie who are just extremely powerful and long lived that they might just be considered gods?

Oh god, think of the FF cross-over theories you just started.

[espritduo]

Well, the three members of the Warring Triad represent Fire(Poltergeist/Demon), Ice(Doom/Fiend), and Lightning(Goddess), which are the three fundamental elements. Also, there are definitely more gods besides them, since there had to be someone to banish them to the mortal realm in the first place. The game says as much with the three small statues you find in the Crescent Mountains.

Now, whether they actually are "gods" or not is anyone's guess. They are the gods of magic, in the sense that they created magic, but whether their godly powers extend beyond that fact, who knows?

How do you even define a "god" as opposed to a "powerful godlike being" to begin with? Ignoring the traditional idea of "God with a capital G" as an absolutely all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present being, a god is what you make of it. The Greek gods certainly were limited in their powers and less than perfect in many ways, but they were still considered gods because that's what the Greek people believed. I guess as long as the people of the FFVI world believed the Warring Triad were gods, that's what they were.

[Flying Arrow]

I think the statues/Warring Triad are one of the coolest parts of the FFVI world. They don't really have any kind of overwhelming screen time and they're just kind of... present without becoming a huge player in the story. I like that VI's story sticks with the stuff that goes on with mortals. I always thought XII's story had a similar vibe until the Occuria got introduced and I ended up a little disappointed.

To answer the question: probably just very powerful beings but not necessarily completely almighty, like the Greek pantheon or something.

EDIT: Just read espritduo's post above mine. I agree with it.

[Mirage]

Having all-mighty powers isn't traditionally a requisite for being a god, anyway.

Avoiding to bring various definitions of "god" into it, I think of the Warring Triad as a physical (and sentinent) manifestation of the primordial magical forces that existed on the planet.

@spooniest
I guess it's possible that they were sentinent beings prior to turning themselves to stone, but after that they might have become easier to manipulate by other things. The level of magical infusion that kefka possessed might have been something they didn't prepare for before getting stoned .

[blackmage_nuke]

I dont understand why moving the statues caused all sorts of crazy trout to happen to the planet but once they and kefka were destroyed everything went back to normal, unless by killing Kefka (who held the statue's power at the time), the power of the statues was transfered onto Celes, Edgar and Setzer who are now the new warring triad holding the balance. (Edgar is Demon, Setzer is Fiend, Celes is Goddess)

[Wolf Kanno]

or are they more like the Occuria and Fal'Cie who are just extremely powerful and long lived that they might just be considered gods?

Oh god, think of the FF cross-over theories you just started.

Its not like it wasn't going to happen anyway, some people have been trying to link Espers and Guardian Forces for years. Technically the relationship between the Warring Triad and the Espers is not so different from the fal'Cie and l'Cie. Powerful godlike figure that imbues an unwilling human with magical power and forces them to do their bidding.

I dont understand why moving the statues caused all sorts of crazy tit to happen to the planet but once they and kefka were destroyed everything went back to normal

An NPC in Kohligen mentions that life won't grow on the planet because Kefka's Will is slowly killing the planet. Basically once Kefka himself is gone, the planet is able to finally recuperate.

My guess is that the Warring Triad are god-like beings on par with Asian cultures, though potent, they are not above the rules of nature itself (i.e. they can still be killed) but I would argue they are technically gods simply because they are the foundation of magic. Once their power is eliminated, magic simply ceases to exist in the VI world, so their existence in the VI world does have a far reaching impact. I can only imagine what the War of the Magi was like with the three of them running amok. They were potent bosses in VI, and they weren't even at full power by that point.

[espritduo]

The War of the Magi was separate from the the war of the Warring Triad. During the War of the Magi, Espers already had free will, and there was a known time of peace between Espers and humans before the War of the Magi, so the Warring Traid must have already been out of the picture by the time the War of the Magi rolled around. The timeline of the FFVI world goes something like this:

The Warring Triad is banished to the mortal realm. They begin quarreling with each other, and create Espers from humans to fight for them as living weapons.

The Warring Triad realizes they are being mocked/pitied by the other "gods" that banished them here, and stop fighting. They turn themselves to stone and give Espers their free will.

A time of peace follows between humans and Espers.

Humans eventually figure out the secrets of magicite and begin using Espers to gain magical powers for themselves. The War of the Magi eventually breaks out, and humans, Espers, and mages are involved on all sides.

The War of the Magi ends, Espers leave the mortal world for their own world and take the statues of the Warring Triad with them. The remaining mages are hunted down, and the survivors hide themselves away in Thamasa.

Without mages, Espers or the Warring Triad, magic ceases to be a major force in the world, and is forgotten.

Nothing happens for a long time. The Dark Ages.

Technology is rediscovered, and civilization begins to recover.

Empire seeks out Esper magic once again, and threatens to repeat the War of the Magi.

[Wolf Kanno]

My mistake with saying they are part of the War of the Magi, but I don't need the full timeline my friend, I already know the rest.

[VeloZer0]

There are other people interested in in this other than you.

[Wolf Kanno]

If you're talking about a timeline, you should just read espiritduo's translation of the timeline in this thread.

[Greatermaximus]

This easily fits into Fictions Upper Limit - Avoiding your common set-up.

The statues like in many games and real cultures are a physical representation of science. The real answer is that magic could be another law of science to the final fantasy universe as common as magic is there.

Like our real world and final fantasy, it's pretty typical for a civilizations lust for power to lead to all out war like the events you described. How many 'nouns' involved is up to the author with each of them having a specific relevance.