What Bout Amarant?

**tre skills** · 07-02-2009, 11:03 PM

okay ive seen some threads and all they talk bout is vivi, dagger and Zidane and dont really tlk bout other characters.

I liked him how he wanted to compete with zidane in stuff. So its bringing in a rivalry which i think is great.

I Havent seen anyone at all say anything bout Amarant so im asking why?
so did you guys like him?

**Xanatos** · 07-03-2009, 01:10 AM

If you are asking why are there no threads about Amarant well then the only reason I could think of is that he isn't a popular character. I mean he barely has some sort of story and he looks kinda bizarre.
Don't get me wrong personally I find him useful in the game and I like that he's quiet. At least he's not annoying like Eiko. But I have a felling that SquareEnix has devoted much more time to the other characters and that's one of reasons he isn't much popular.

**coombsy1989** · 07-03-2009, 03:20 AM

He's just not a major player in the plot. You can almost take Amarant out and the story of the game would still run the same. Plus he's introduced to the party reasonably late on so he's just not as popular.

**Freya** · 07-03-2009, 06:43 AM

I didn't really like him. But I didn't hate him either. >3
As coombsy said, he wasn't an important character. Moreover, he just appeared when Zidane took responsibility and let himself lead by his heart. Then Amarant suddenly appears and says: "Hey, Zidane, I don't understand you. I'll go with you to find out why you do things the way you do." And I thought: Okay. O.o" If you are satisfied then...
Don't get me wrong, this might sound very ironic. He was an interesting character. I liked the story of him being a criminal although he wasn't one. x3" But he was just a side character for me. Perhaps that's because I didn't really use him. He was very quiet in my game - he didn't even get the chance to say something. x3"

**Fate** · 07-03-2009, 12:42 PM

I didn't like Amarant. In fact, unlike Freya (the member who posted above me, not the character in the game, the goddess in Valkyrie Profile, or the one in Norse mythology), I actually hated him. Sure, he had some useful abilities and all, but I just hated his personality. He's always so rude, reckless, and so sure of his abilities, but apparently, he got his ass kicked by Zidane!^^ And more times than not, I pick characters based on how I think of them and their character, not because of their abilities. Hell, Eiko was about the best healer in the game, but she annoyed me, so I refused to use her at all!

**scifi1980** · 07-04-2009, 03:17 PM

Im have always been kinda suprised that the majority dislike Amarant. You'd think standard fanism would latch onto the quite badass. I didn't care for him because of his personality and he's almost always standing with his back to the camera and he's got hair covering his damn face. I like Freya alot more and think she gets dumped on a little too much, but again, we never do get a good CGI clear shot of her face, it's always kinda hidden. Well, the story is all about Zidane, Vivi, Steiner and Garnet, with the rest standing in the backround mostly.

**Lavos** · 07-04-2009, 03:33 PM

Armarant is just there. that is it. If you used him, great. If not, so what.

Something else that bugs me. Why is it when u see the FMV shots of the characters and a saying or whatever, what FMV is Armarant's from?!

**tre skills** · 07-04-2009, 05:36 PM

i know he isnt important i was bored so i made a thread hahaha

flaming ranga rok ur not making sence....

**Zargabaath** · 07-19-2009, 04:22 PM

I always found Amarant interesting, he is the "badass" but one thing I've always dislike about his character is his weak magic defense for me in both of my playthroughs. This led me to using other characters, like Freya who is a favourite character story and battle wise. One character in FF IX I would have loved to learn more about is Sir Fratley, now he was ultimate "badass", unfortunately he didn't know it. lol

**Dodie16** · 08-12-2009, 10:15 AM

He is a pretty good character to have in your party, but as far as an actual character, I think he's pretty average. The chip on his shoulder that he has towards Zidane seems to me like a pretty weird excuse to join the adventure. Other than that, I really didn't see why he wanted to help out in the first place. Granted it has been a while since I've sat down and played IX, so I may be missing some information. However, since I can't remember it, then he probably didn't have that big of an impact anyway.

I thought he was cool in the scene at the Iifa tree when Brahne and Kuja were having thier fight. He tells the party to wait until one finished off the other, and then go ahead and take out the survivor. I thought that was pretty reasonable thinking.

**loaf** · 08-12-2009, 10:41 AM

The thing with Amarant is he is a wanted criminal who is sent out to get the pendent from Garnet and Vivi with Lani but he only agreed to go because he heard Zidane was with her. Now the problem I always saw was that, you never really know who Amarant is until you meet him. SE failed to make any notice of his wanted posters early on in the game when you reach Treno, unless you noticed it but even then you never see him till the scene of Brahne, Lani and him.

Now with Rags statement about his quote at the beginning. I don't think he says it in the game, but the represents him. His way of life was fighting, fighting and fighting. "The only dependable thing about the future is uncertainly," which is mainly saying, you don't know what lies ahead, what the future will bring. You are uncertain at what lies ahead. So his life was just, survive until I can't survive anymore. That is what I think.

**ForeverZero89** · 08-25-2009, 08:50 PM

im a physical fighter so i use him, i like his abilities too, the part i hate most about the story is that you have to use your magical chars.

**Locke4God** · 08-26-2009, 07:20 AM

Agreed with most, he just comes in so late in the game, and there is almost zero reason for him doing so. He was powerful and fun to use, but he's a toss in character, which is fine. Every game has a couple.

As you said most people talk about Zidane, Garnett, & Vivi, and for obvious reasons. They drive the story. Even Steiner is a bit of an afterthought. He's clearly 4th behind the others.

Then the Rat lady and Eiko are next, and they add a little, but not a ton to story.

Quina was also a toss in like Amarant. Not much going on there.

Che · 08-26-2009, 12:07 PM

Quina was waaaaaaaay more of a character than Amarant. The visiting of Qu's Marsh throughout the game, and etc. She actually had a story and background.

Amarant was just..there. And bleh.

Eiko seemed too young to have any sort of personality at all, and Freiya's story was baller. The part about Sir Fratley got me all emotional.

**Locke4God** · 08-26-2009, 01:56 PM

You know Che I agree about Quiena and Freya having some story, but when you look at it, it didn't really have much to do with why they were in the party. I mean a game like VII or X, or VI, those characters were all realated to the main issue at hand. All of them. Quina really didn't have anything to do with the main story, but hey, she was fun to use. I liked she ate everything. But yeah, Amarant I think could have had more potential. It just always felt like if they had focussed on him a little more, they could have made his importance a lot bigger.

**Darkdragoon** · 08-26-2009, 07:57 PM

Freya and quina had a storyline while they were in your party.
Freya had a great storyline, so did quina.
But Garnet had the best storyline of all.
I also liked eiko's storyline to.
Most of them had good storyline's.... Not amarant tho...
He was plain, and boring.
When i got him i was like: Yay! A ninja!
But then... I wanted to choke myself...
Lol not really but... yea

**loaf** · 08-27-2009, 12:50 AM

Well you look at it this way.

Freya's story was, Burmecia and Sir Fratley.
Quina, go eat everything.
Armarant, mainly had a backstory with Zidane that ended up intertwining with mainly Zidane again.

They all have about the same length of a story line in the game. The game is about Zidane and Garnet, all else just have their little parts.

**GypsyElder** · 10-17-2009, 02:00 AM

Amamrant was one of those random "filler" characters. He wasn't a bad character or anything, but I don't think there's much to discuss about him. He didn't do all that much throughout the game. Also there's not that much back story on him either. Not the first time that's happened though. Freya didn't have all that much either, but you go through the whole Burmecia, Cleyra thing with her, also Sir Fratley. Amamrant is just a bounty hunter,who is associated with Lani, and had an incident with Zidaine in Treno. That's pretty much it.

**Maciariello** · 10-19-2009, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by Flaming Ragnarok

Armarant is just there. that is it. If you used him, great. If not, so what.

Something else that bugs me. Why is it when u see the FMV shots of the characters and a saying or whatever, what FMV is Armarant's from?!

That's the same question I had. The image of Amarant with the explosion behind him that's rendered in high-res. Is that an FMV somewhere that I missed or is it purely a still shot to fit with all the others?

**GypsyElder** · 10-19-2009, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by Maciariello

Is that an FMV somewhere that I missed or is it purely a still shot to fit with all the others?

The same can be said about Quina's, you don't see his/ hers in the game either. Everyone else's I think is a screen shot from an event in the game.

could be in another verson or something. I have US version.

**chrono** · 10-22-2009, 09:39 AM

it is because he is black!!!!! hahahah just kidding

but like the others have stated he is not really an important character when compared to the others. i guess square just did not have much in mind when they made him.

**Pete** · 10-22-2009, 10:28 AM

Amarant is meant to be a foil for the other characters, much like Steiner is to Zidane. With Steiner being all uptight and bound by duty, Zidane appears THAT much more free spirited and shifty, like a thief. At the same time Steiner appears THAT much more uptight because of Zidane's chill nature.

Amarant is largely there to show how much the rest of the gang cares about their goals and missions. In scenes, Amarant is never facing the speakers and always seems to be slinking away in a corner, not giving a shit. On one hand it makes him look badass, but on the other hand, it makes the rest of the team look like they really truly care about whatever events are unfolding.

At the same time, him and Zidane are foils as well, since Zidane is largely portrayed as caring and compassionate, Amarant makes him look that much more, and Zidane makes him look like that much more of a rogue and a douche. Plus, Zidane also makes him a victim of circumstance on numerous occasions, and then spares his life when he beats him. It further goes to show the differences in their attitudes, since if Amarant won, he would've killed Zidane on the spot. He also shows the whole idea of sometimes you can't do things alone.

Fun fact: he's the only party member in the game that doesn't assume a leadership position (ie, you control him in a party)

He was a pretty good character, and I was a fan. He always kicked some ass for me, and in the end, I got the impression that he wasn't really all that bad. He was a monk and had mostly support skills. What kind of douche is a monk and a healer?

**ViveLaVive** · 10-25-2009, 05:28 PM

I agree 100%. I partly think the devs could have expanded on his character a little bit. He came in late, an he could have had more a back story, but the idea of a tough, strong-headed man against a runty, spunky teenageer.

**scorptatious** · 08-02-2010, 07:56 PM

Amarant wasn't a bad party member per say. In fact his Chakra and Aura abilities were kind of useful.

Character wise, I didn't find him too appealing. I was hoping for him to have a deeper back story like everyone else did in the game. Hell, even Quina had a bigger part in the story through bieng the student of a student of Vivi's grandfather.

**Xithor** · 08-03-2010, 10:15 AM

I actually liked Amarant for the short time that he was in the game really. Plus recently through my last play through I found it interesting when you return to Treno for the card tournament an ATB reveals an interesting facet about his past.

SPOILER!!:

**NeoAquarius12** · 08-03-2010, 11:48 PM

I always keep him in my final party because of his high attack and support abilities. Chakra anyone? He's sweet. But story wise, he could've been more involved. But for being half ginger, he's pretty useful.

**Zidane77** · 08-04-2010, 04:32 AM

I didn't like that much, i wanted Lani or Beatrix instead of him and he could've been a temp character instead

But yeah he didn't have much story except one connection to Zidane's past.
I didn't use that much either, he's not a bad fighter and has good support abilities but his trance sucks and i prefer using Steiner or Freya.

**loaf** · 08-04-2010, 04:47 AM

Originally Posted by Zidane77

I didn't like that much, i wanted Lani or Beatrix instead of him and he could've been a temp character instead

But yeah he didn't have much story except one connection to Zidane's past.
I didn't use that much either, he's not a bad fighter and has good support abilities but his trance sucks and i prefer using Steiner or Freya.

His trance is one of the best. Chakra used on everyone in one turn? Same with ALL his other spells? Amarant is insane in trance mode. No Mercy in Trance just destroys everything.

**Zidane77** · 08-04-2010, 05:21 AM

Well ok it's good but only for 2 turns wasn't it?
But you're right, i take back the trance thing

**markandrewkinzett** · 03-22-2011, 07:06 AM

Amarant is a pretty cool character I like his bitchin around with Freya that is pretty funny and his abilitie like throw are cool too. Not my fave character but a good one none the less!!!