here, why don't i final fantasy 1 post
i'm not a final fantasy 1 expert and i have zero plans to come up with detailed headcanons about it, but i did roll some ideas around in my head and tried to come up with some fun ideas for garland
i think garland by necessity needs to be to some extent a loser
it's hard not to picture him as one, when his overworld sprite just looks like some guy with robes and a goofy hat (he doesn't even seem to have the 'cool' mask he has in his battle sprite or all other depictions of garland (minus that other one))
basically i think that he had an excellent reputation for all his feats as a knight, but in person he's a pompous jerk and the people of coneria let it slide, of course he can do what he wants he's the great knight garland because of his status, he's been promised the hand of princess sara (no input from her of course) and is set to inherit the kingdom
when things start going awry* however, the wedding is called off, and garland being a self-entitled wad throws a fit, kidnapping sara and holding her for ransom, demanding the marriage and the kingdom he was promised *this is where i'm a little shaky, i'm unclear what exactly the timeline of events in FF1 is? it's super hard to follow like garland sets off the timeloop leading to the awakening of the fiends and the oncoming destruction of the world after his defeat here, but the heroes of light showed up in coneria specifically because of the destruction of the world already in motion, so FF1's story is SUPER confusing and convoluted, i really cannot pretend i got it
i like to think here that his armor and robes were the ceremonial armor he was set to wear during the wedding
after the heroes beat him up (or kill him, i know this is unclear), his fury and hatred in such close proximity to the black crystal spreads across the world to the other four shrines, awakening the four fiends, who pull him back in time and kick off their grand plan to create the timeloop with the new role and power granted to him, garland/chaos goes mad with power, abandoning his petty goals of taking over coneria in favor of fulfilling his destiny of becoming the world's god
that's pretty much it, there's not much else to go on (and it's real tricky to untangle what the game gives to you), my ideas are mostly just about his personality and motivation prior to his involvement with the fiends i don't think he really needs to be a super complex character, he can just be gaston who gets humiliated in battle and then granted unfathomable power he should never have gotten his hands on
