Absolute Zero Shiva (Final Fantasy)

[TartaChocholate]

Shiva, a notable Final Fantasy regular, empress of Ice, this Summoned Beast is easily the most recognizable ice user in the franchise. While many descriptions have been made of how extreme her cold is, at first glance it seems there has never been a proper description to make it fit with Absolute Zero, be it saying that she's using Absolute Zero temperatures or that her powers can affect her enemies at an atomic level. This may have to do that Final Fantasy in general don't bring up real world phyisics that much for their lore in general.

However, there is some evidence for Shiva having Absolute Zero. First of all we have this statement from her profile in the official Final Fantasy Explorers website (Japanese only), which states as follows:

Original Japanese:

• ÕåÀµ░ùÒéÆÒüñÒüïÒüòÒü®ÒéïÕżÕûÜþìúÒÇéÒéÀÒâ¬Òâ╝Òé║ÒüºÒü»FFÔàóÒüîÕêØþÖ╗Õá┤Òü¿Òü¬ÒéïÒéÀÒâ┤ÒéíÒÇéþÁÂÕ»¥ÚøÂÕ║ªÒü«ÕåÀµ░ùÒü½ÒéêÒéèÒÇüÒé¿Òé»Òé╣ÒâùÒâ¡Òâ╝Òâ®Òâ╝ÒüƒÒüíÒéÆÞïªÒüùÒéüÒéïÒÇéÒéÀÒâ┤Òéíµ£ÇÕñºÒü«þë╣Õ¥┤Òü»ÒÇüÕ©©Òü½ÕåÀµ░ùÒü«Òé¬Òâ╝Òâ®ÒéÆÒü¥Òü¿ÒüäÒÇüÞ┐æÒüÑÒüÅÒüáÒüæÒüºþø©µëïÒéÆÒÇîÕçìþÁÉÒÇìþèµàïÒü½ÒüÖÒéï

• Reiki o tsukasadoru shōkankemono. Shir─½zude wa FF Ôàó ga hatsu tōjō to naru shivu~a. Zettaireido no reiki ni yori, ekusupurōr─ü-tachi o kurushimeru. Shivu~a saidai no tokuchō wa, tsuneni reiki no ōra o matoi, chikadzuku dake de aite o `tōketsu' jōtai ni suru.

Rough English Translation:

• Summoned beast that controls cold. Shiva is the first appearance of FF III in the series. The chills of absolute zero cause the Explorers to suffer. Shiva's biggest feature is always wearing a cold aura, and just approaching it will freeze it

Final Fantasy Explorers openly states Shiva can use Absolute Zero cold. However, we can go a bit further, and a particular display in Final Fantasy XV that may backup this claim.

But first of all, how the feat ties with Absolute Zero. The page about this particular power states the following:

• Absolute Zero is the point of cold at which enthalpy and entropy hit their minimum level. It is the ultimate form of freezing and in the theoretical situation that someone is exposed to it, their body will be frozen at the atomic level before collapsing under their own mass since the loss of energy causes the atoms to lose their cohesiveness.

More or less a consensus of what could be a display of Absolute Zero, given that actual proof in real life of its effects have never been achieved.

And this is precisely what ties with what happens with Shiva in Final Fantasy XV:

Shiva stops Ifrit's rampage.

Here we see that Shiva's cold extinguishes Ifrit's flames, but not only that, she also completely freezes the Astral who then completely shatters when all that Shiva does is give him a light kiss. While, true, Ifrit was already weakened by Noct, it must be remembered Ifrit is a Summoned Beast of fire. As his profile in the Final Fantasy XIV website states:

• The incarnation of fire and fury, worshiped by the lizard-like Amalj'aa tribe. Even amongst the primals, Ifrit is highly given to savagery, his temper quick to erupt in a conflagration of death. His breath ignites the very air, his claws melt the strongest steel, and his twisted horns scorch the heavens. Those who would face him must be prepared to withstand the fires of hell.

Even if Ifrit was weakened, freezing him to the point his flames extinguished and his body would shatter is much more noteworthy than freezing any normal structure or normal person, which is why this display is so relevant for Shiva.

So I think this makes a strong enough case to believe Shiva can reach Absolute Zero temperatures; she is stated to use the temperatures regularly in her profile of Final Fantasy Explorers and in Final Fantasy XV we can see the effects of her cold that align with one of the possible effects we consider to be caused by Absolute Zero.

This in general also ties well with Shiva's position and lore as a very powerful entity of cold and the displays she makes of her master over it. Which can be appreciated here.

Why would particular incarnation of Shiva count for her overall appearances?

The Final Fantasy franchise has many recurring and common elements among the different installments, with Summons being Summons quite prominent in this regard. As seen in the quote above from Final Fantasy Explorers, Shiva is actually treated, while not exactly as the very same character (like Gilgamesh, Shinryu or Omega who are openly the same person travelling between Dimensions), like different incarnations of the very same being with the very same principle. Some descriptions on her (and Summons in general) can give credence to this:

• The empress of ice, wreathed in frost.
• She is known for her signature move, "Diamond Dust," which freezes everything in an instant. According to one source, she is moody and temperamental. However, she has never gone against her summoner's wishes, making her easy to use for beginners.

—Shiva (AUTO)'s Entry in the Dissidia Final Fantasy Summon Compendium

• The empress of ice, wreathed in frost.
• Throughout the series shes has worn everything from dresses to capes, but her graceful stance has remained unchanged. Depending on the world, she is known as a snow or ice spirit.

—Shiva's Entry in the Dissidia Final Fantasy Summon Compendium

• The summon Shiva wields ice and snow to send all that live into eternal sleep. The Ice Queen's frosty breath instantaneously freezes enemies, before a graceful snap of her fingers shatters the ice forever...

—Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Shiva's CollectaCard Descriptio

• An esper with punishingly frigid breath.

—Final Fantasy Tactics Description

• Shiva, the Ice Queen... To incur her wrath is to feel your very heart freeze in your chest, for cold is her anger and swift her vengeance.

—Final Fantasy IV Eidolon Library's Description of Shiva


And perhaps most noticeably:

• Who's Who
• Shiva
• CV: Adrienne Wilkinson / Takako Honda
• Notes: One of the Pleiad / Nether Nebula guardian / Queen of ice / One eye not like the other / Doesn't keep her cool as well as you'd think

*A Series Regular:

• Shiva has been diamond-dusting ever since the summoning system made its debut. And like Ifrit and Ramuh, she's a core member of the FF lineup who has shown up in almost every FINAL FANTASY since. Shiva's gone through a lot of changes over the years. She's turned up as a motorcycle and a kind of super ice skater, had a family and not had a family... Icy as she is, she's never let her image freeze up.

• [...]

• First World of Origin
• FINAL FANTASY III

—World of Final Fantasy fragment of Shiva's description


Though, amusingly, the Shiva sisters do appear as a different character from Shiva in World of Final Fantasy, though it's likely to not cut down Snow's powerset.

What I am trying to get with this? That Shiva may have differences in her story role, details in her design and her overall situation; but otherwise, the core and essence of her character is always the same: she's always an ice Summon with extremely potent control of cold, her powerset is almost always the same (with Diamond Dust always being her ultimate move, save one exception in type 0 where Crystal Dust is an upgraded version, I believe).

While an argument could be made that maybe XV's incarnation of Shiva may be stronger or have more powerful cold than other incarnations. I don't think that's the case, though. As of now there are other casts of FF that should scale much higher than XV, making their incarnation of Shiva much stronger power wise if we classify her that way; for example, compare Noct's High 6-A with other Shiva Summoners such as Yuna's Low 5-B, Rydia's 5-A, FFVII's cast's 4-B or Squall's very high 4-A. In Yuna and Rydia's case, Shiva actually fought their Summoners and kept up not only served them. Taking this in count, it would be rather contradictory that stronger incarnations of Shiva had weaker control of cold than XV's Shiva.


Who should get Absolute Zero, then?

Well, aside Shiva herself who uses her cold, obviously, her role in Final Fantasy is her support to different parties through the games.

I do believe that if this is considered acceptable, the following characters should get use of Absolute Zero:

• Anyone who can summon Shiva, obviously. Since the esper herself would be called to use her cold to take down enemies. Could go from specialized Summoners such as Rydia or Yuna, to entire parties with the ability such as the cast of V, VI VII, VIII, etc.
• Characters who can grasp her powers via other means aside Summoning. Good examples of this could be Materia combinations from FFVII which uses Support Materia explicitily extract properties from Magic or Summon Materia or Junctioning in FFVIII, which is quite literally equipping a Summon to gain new abilities. There is a catch with this one, however: due to the recent revision of Absolute Zero, this no longer would mean the character automatically gets an instant kill, durability negating attack, now it must be really analyzed case by case.

And also, worth consideration are the following for resisting Absolute Zero:

• Anyone who has fought Shiva directly and has survived, or received her attacks. Examples include: the Final Fantasy IV cast who fights Maenad disguised as Rydia in Interlude (where she summons Shiva), the Final Fantasy X cast who fought Shiva, along with the rest of Yuna's Aeons, at the end of the game, the FFV cast who can challenge Shiva, FFVI who has to beat her to get the Magicite and the party who fought her in Revenant Wings, etc. If she has been fought by a character in a cutscene or lore, that could count as well.
• Similarly to Absolute Zero users, anyone who can channel her powers defensively to resist cold in one way or another should get resistance to Absolute Zero. For example: the FFVII party using Materia, or the FFVIII cast via Junction.

Does this mean any ice user who is stronger than Shiva gets Absolute Zero?

I'd say no. While many characters are capable of beating the Shiva they fight, that doesn't really translate into a superior Ice Manipulation. It can be simply by defeating Shiva by exploiting Shiva's weakness to fire, beating her with different types of attacks and magic, but otherwise, it's never by overpowering her cold with superior cold. If the party attempts to use Ice moves on Shiva she will just laugh them off, regardless of how stronger the party is. So I don't think that being capable of Ice Manipulation and being stronger than Shiva are enough to guarantee Absolute Zero. If another case is to be made, then it should be analyzed by itself by feats or statements that particular character may have.


So to summarize: Shiva has a statement and a feat that give credence that she can use Absolute Zero cold, given the Summons' abilities are constant over the franchise these can be applied to all of Shiva's incarnations and given Shiva's role as a Support to main teams and how her powers can be accessed playable characters could get Absolute Zero as well.

Thanks for your patience for sticking through all this. Let me know what you think

 

[Sixo_Bullets]

Looks good to me, this is cool.

 

[PaChi2]

Its cool. Pun intended. Also agreed.

 

[PaChi2]

Also, if this gets approved we need to add resistance to AZ to my dear Caius and some of the TAY cast who tank Diamond Dust.

 

[TartaChocholate]

It is a big change for many characters, actually. It's a reason I wanted to bring it up in the first place.

Well, let's see how it goes.

 

[Sixo_Bullets]

Does Shiva have a page yet btw? If not, that should probably be a thing seeing as Bahamut does, along with Ifrit needing one too.

 

[TartaChocholate]

She doesn't, which is why this CRT may seem odd at first glance. Many important characters of FF are lacking pages, actually.

It's important to see if this revision is acceptable or not, of course. I'd try to do it myself, but still pretty busy with a proposal CRT for the FFVII cast.

 

[Sixo_Bullets]

Ah, I see. This discussion is probably better for the Discussion Thread tho, as we can talk about stuff that the pages may need and all that.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

I generally prefer to have a proper translator look at it from the Multilingual Members List. But assuming the translation is good, this sounds good.

 

[PaChi2]

I generally prefer to have a proper translator look at it from the Multilingual Members List. But assuming the translation is good, this sounds good.

I mean, Zettareido is the literal Japanese term for Absolute Zero and I dont think you can miss it.

 

[Antvasima]

I suppose that this seems fairly uncontroversial to add.

 

[TartaChocholate]

I generally prefer to have a proper translator look at it from the Multilingual Members List. But assuming the translation is good, this sounds good.

As PaChi mentions Zettaireido is the literal term for Absolute Zero. But, I agree. I'll ask multilingual members for their input before going further.

@Ant: Thanks! Though I'll follow Medeus' advice and check the translation first with other members.

 

[TartaChocholate]

I asked ShiroyashaGinSa for input and the translation was confirmed, it's correct.

Also double checked with other online translators and most say more or less the same with small differences how they elaborate it, but they all always mention Absolute Zero and how its cold makes the explorers suffer.

So I guess this is acceptable, then.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

I see, then Absolute Zero is legit

 

[Antvasima]

Yes, this should be fine to add then.

 

[TartaChocholate]

All right, thanks for your help!

 

[Antvasima]

No problem.

 

[TartaChocholate]

This can be closed then, if there's no proble,

Once again, thanks for all the help.

 

[Antvasima]

Okay. Again, no problem.