This is Mysidia, land of magic and mages.
Most people are familiar with ‘ra’, ‘ga’, and even ‘ja’. But I think it would be fun (and informative) to draft up a selection of Final Fantasy spell naming etymology and differences throughout the series, for those as incurably curious as I am about translation and etymology (even on such a granular scale). Starting with the original Final Fantasy, let’s take a look at the translation differences and the abysmal four-character English limitations of the NES. It’s important to note that the development team likely pulled inspiration (or directly emulated) the various early physical English to Japanese translations of the Monster Manual and various Dungeons and Dragons manual sets in creating the spell sets for the original Final Fantasy. Some of these translations are shortened variants of D&D spell names translated from English, to Japanese, back to English – now with four-character limitations. There is a fairly wide degree of debate as to the specificity and nuance behind the naming conventions, likely to a degree which we as fanatics, on-lookers, and admirers will never fully grasp – but I’ve done my very best to approximate each entry here, with plenty of back and forth and feedback from various sources and research.
FIRE (Literally ‘Fire’ in Japanese)
ICE (Literally ‘Blizzard’ in Japanese)
LIT (Literally ‘Thunder’ in Japanese) – Likely changed from ‘Thunder’ to ‘LIT’ for ‘Lightning’ because Thunder is the general term for the sound that Lightning produces. Lightning technically makes more sense for a damage-based spell, but it’s quite popular in RPGs for ‘Thunder’ to be the damage dealing term for electric damage in favor of ‘Lightning’, likely partly for character limits, and likely because ‘Thunder’ does conjure to mind an intimidating storm more easily than ‘Lightning’ does. Also known as ‘Bolt’.
LOCK (Literally ‘Shape’ in Japanese) – More commonly known by future translations as ‘Focus’, LOCK attempts to lower enemy evasion. ‘Lock’ actually makes a lot of sense in this context, it’s an enemy-targeting spell, so you’re literally ‘Locking-on’ to a target, lowering it’s evasion, and increasing the likely hood of gaining multiple hits. Focus is a little less clear, since again – you’re targeting an enemy, but I understand that you are ‘focusing’ on the enemy, and achieving the same general effect. There is some debate as to the origin of the original name ‘Shape’ in Japanese, varying between bastardizations of D&D’s Reduce spell being misappropriated as ‘Reshape’, and thus ‘Shape’. This makes some sense, in that you are reconfiguring the enemy’s size and thus lowering their evasion from your attacks. But I’ve also read translations of it as ‘Shave’ or ‘Shear’, which also make some sense but judging by the kana are somewhat inaccurate. In future, spells like ‘Veil’ will succeed this spell in relative function, and ‘Focus’ will become the general ability name related to Monks that increases the power of their next physical attack.
LOK2 (Approximately ‘Sheara’ in Japanese) – A strange iteration of the ‘Shape’ spell in Japanese, perhaps impacted by character limitations to be ‘Sheara’ instead of ‘Shapera’ or ‘Shapra’. Also known as ‘Focara’, this upgraded version targets all enemies.
SLEP (Literally ‘Sleep’ in Japanese) – Attempts to cast sleep on the entire enemy party.
SLP2 (Approximately ‘Sleepra’ in Japanese) – An upgraded version of ‘SLEP’ with that sacrifices group-casting for increased single-target accuracy.
DARK (Literally ‘Darkness’ in Japanese) – The ‘Dark’ or more commonly known as ‘Blind’ status effect. Succeeded in future entries by ‘Blind’ as to clarify and differentiate itself from ‘Dark’ spells causing Dark-element damage. Also known as ‘Fog’. Used in some appearances in conjunction with elemental spells to convey that it will cause general status ailments, I.E. ‘Dark Fire’.
BLND (Literally ‘Blind’ in Japanese) – An upgraded version of ‘DARK’ that always effects if the enemies’ health is 300 or lower, and they don’t resist its element.
SLOW (Literally ‘Slow’ in Japanese)
SLO2 (Approximately ‘Slowra’ in Japanese) – An upgraded version of ‘SLOW’ that targets all on-screen enemies.
HOLD (Literally ‘Hold’ in Japanese) – One of the lesser used status ailments in the series, mainly featured in early titles such as I – VI. More usually known as ‘Bind’, this spell attempts to paralyze the enemy, rendering them unable to act for a few turns. It’s better known as an enemy spell more than a party spell, associated with the likes of Coeurls. Bind definitely has a more imaginative spell-like quality to its name than ‘Hold’ does.
STUN (Literally ‘Stun’ in Japanese) – An upgraded version of ‘HOLD’ that always effects if the enemies’ health is 300 or lower, and they don’t resist its element.
STOP (Literally ‘Stop’ in Japanese) – Attempts to cause paralysis to the entire enemy party. In this entry, there are hidden elemental affinities to the majority of magic spells, which the game checks against hidden enemy affinities for their success rates. Stop has the ‘Time’ elemental modifier, but is not considered a ‘Time Magic’ spell, grouped along with all the other magic in the game as either ‘Black’ or ‘White’. In future entries, ‘Stop’ will be categorized as a Time Magic, which literally ‘Stops’ time for a single enemy or ally for a period of time. It is essentially spiritually ‘Paralysis’, but always referred to as the status ‘Stop’ in games which it appears.
CONF (Literally ‘Confuse’ in Japanese) – Also known as ‘Muddle’.
FIR2 ((Approximately ‘Fira’ in Japanese) – More accurately known by future translations as ‘Fira’, this spell begins the tradition of tiered spells categorized etymologically by their base power. The ‘ra’ indicates it is the second of three (sometimes four) tiers of Fire-element damage. As for why? It seems a simple but effective (and now iconic) way of differentiating spells and their base power on a system with brutal (especially in the west) character limits. There are game-specific variants of Fira, usually conveying mass targeting, others are Boss and Enemy-specific variations such as ‘Multi-Fira’.
ICE2 (Approximately ‘Blizzara’ in Japanese)
LIT2 (Approximately ‘Thundara’ in Japanese) – Also known as ‘Bolt2’.
BANE (Literally ‘Cloud’ in Japanese) – More commonly known as ‘Poison’ or ‘Scourge’ (or various stages of ‘Bio’) in future entries, BANE in this title functions quite differently from later appearances in that it doesn’t actually attempt to inflict the poison status effect on enemies, but outright attempts to instantly KO the entire enemy party (with relatively low accuracy). It does use a modifier, checking enemies for the ‘Poison’ element before calculating the efficacy of the spell on them. ‘Bane’ is a germanic word meaning ‘Slay’ or ‘Killer’, which makes a lot of sense for this spell’s translation – ‘Cloud’ is likely meant to evoke the idea of a burst of miasma, but feels a little too non-literal for such a dangerous spell. Some later entries and spin offs play with this original idea of poison and instant death, such as Bravely Default and its Arcanist job.
RUB (Literally ‘Death’ in Japanese) – Almost exclusively known as ‘Death’ moving forward. A funny translation considering, ‘RUB’ comes from to ‘Rub Out’ a thinly veiled turn-of-phrase associated with mobsters in fiction, meaning to ‘Kill’ someone. ‘DETH’ might have worked better, but ‘RUB’ still feels sort of charming.
XXXX (Literally ‘Kill’ in Japanese) – An upgraded version of ‘RUB’ that always effects if the enemies’ health is 300 or lower, and they don’t resist its element. Early titles are somewhat infamous for avoiding anything deemed too ‘mature’ or ‘controversial’ with its translations, and the Death spells have always been one of the items most often affected. Humorously not even attempting to translate it to anything else, this version censors itself with four ‘X’s like a cartoon jug of liquor. To be fair, it is sort of intriguing, as if the spell is so powerful the name cannot even be displayed, but on the other hand it also feels like a mistake of some sort, an unintentional glitch perhaps. Enemies have always been quite fond of instant death spells, especially in early entries.
TMPR (Literally ‘Strike’ in Japanese) – Also known as ‘Temper’ this spell has since been replaced by other spells and abilities such as ‘Bravery’ and ‘Cheer’, in increasing the attack stat of the recipient. Strike sounds like an attack spell of some kind against the target, so to ‘temper’ or make stronger an armament or quality translates much better.
SABR (Literally ‘Saber’ in Japanese) – An upgraded version of ‘TMPR’ that increases the caster’s strength and accuracy. Less then useful on a Black Wizard, this spell seems to be emulating “Mordenkainen’s Sword” from D&D in that it attempts to allow a spellcaster to become a more functional melee unit, with similar levels of success. The best use of it is from using ‘Giant’s Gloves’ as a Knight, Ninja, or Black Belt (in versions where the item isn’t bugged, like the GBA or PSP).
FAST (Literally ‘Haste’ in Japanese) – Always known as ‘Haste’ moving forward, ‘FAST’ works a little different from its future appearances here, in that it increases the combo number of ally attacks, instead of increasing their agility and having them act faster in a turn. ‘FAST’ works well enough, ‘SPED’, ‘HAST’, or ‘QUIK’ perhaps don’t quite pass muster, but it’s still a bit literal.
FIR3 (Literally Figa or ‘Firaga’ in Japanese) – Here is the well known first appearance of the ‘ga’ suffix, indicating the final and strongest variation of the base elemental spells in the title. The ‘ja’ suffix, denoting a fourth level and a much stronger final variation of the elemental spells, won’t appear regularly across the series, only appearing in a handful of main titles and spinoffs, like IV, XII, and Bravely Default. In Japanese, the order is actually somewhat different than in English, the suffix ‘ga’ is actually used to denote the fourth level variation of the base elemental spells and ‘ja’ for the third. In some cases (which will be touched upon fuller in White Magic) a fifth tier appears between ‘ga’ and ‘ja’ known as ‘da’, and has had relatively limited appearances outside IV and Bravely Default. Since Final Fantasy only features three spell tiers, ‘ga’ is the same in both versions, as the strongest.
ICE3 (Literally ‘Blizzaga’ in Japanese)
LIT3 (Literally Thunga or ‘Thundaga’ in Japanese) – Also known as ‘Bolt3’.
QAKE (Approximately ‘Quake’ in Japanese) – QAKE like BANE functions differently than it’s subsequent appearances, instead of causing mass earth element damage to the enemy party, it too attempts to cause instant death – first by checking the enemy party for the ‘Earth’ elemental modifier before calculating success. Quake, also known sometimes as ‘Earth’ will also feature the ‘ra’, ‘ga’, and ‘ja’ suffixes occasionally in various titles. I can’t help but want to pronounce this version of Quake as ‘Cake’ with a hard ‘K’ sound at the beginning without a ‘u’ following it. Perhaps ‘ROCK’ might have made more sense? Many of these translations seem to waffle between a literal (and sometimes less clear) translation of the original Japanese, with more ‘creative’ (and strange) four-letter constructs. I wish they would have chosen a single spear of action for consistency and clarity’s sake.
BRAK (Approximately ‘Break’ in Japanese)- A unique onomatopoeia-based spell name, ‘BRAK’ or ‘Break’ attempts to instantly petrify an enemy, rendering them immobile and essentially KOing them for the rest of the battle. The word ‘Break’ is meant to evoke the sound of a statue cracking and breaking apart. The effect is a popular enemy spell, (often alternatively named such as ‘Gaze’ or ‘Squint’) often used by the likes of Cockatrice, Basilisks, and various enemy wizards.
WARP (Literally ‘Teleport’ in Japanese) – An interesting spell in that it’s name and function waffles pretty consistently in early titles. ‘Teleport’ typically transports the player party out of a dungeon. In some early titles, it only transports them back a single floor – this affect will be replaced with the spell ‘Warp’ moving forward in titles. Also known as ‘Exit’ in later titles.
ZAP! (Literally ‘Dejon’ in Japanese) – Known as ‘Warp’ in subsequent titles, this original appearance is an enemy-oriented spell like ‘BANE’ and QAKE’, in that it attempts to inflict instant death on all enemies based on the hidden ‘Time’ elemental modifier. Moving forward, ‘Teleport’ will be a spell that allows the party to completely leave a dungeon or area, and ‘Warp’ will be a spell that allows the player party to move backwards one floor in a dungeon. Also translated as ‘Banish’, ‘Banish’ will actually become its own spell in other titles that waffles between functioning how it does in this title with causing light or non-elemental damage to an enemy. ‘ZAP!’ does convey an attack of some sort, but definitely feels a little too Dragon Quest-like here. Perhaps this spell should have been named ‘WARP’ and the previous spell (Teleport) should have been named ‘MOVE’ or ‘EXIT’? The Japanese name has been up for debate, it seems to be a unique contraction of the word ‘Dungeon’ and ‘Leave’. Alternatively it could be a shortened version of ‘Degenerate’. When used as an enemy attack spell, it has also been known as ‘X-Zone’ or ‘Return’. WARP and ZAP! both have the special distinction of being two of few spells that are categorized as either Black or White, depending on the entry and tier.
NUKE (Literally ‘Flare’ in Japanese) – More accurately known by future translations as ‘Flare’, this long-running spell is typically the penultimate damage-dealing spell in any mages arsenal, right behind ‘Ultima’. Here it is actually the most powerful, but still non-elemental as it is in most appearances. ‘Nuke’ is fine as far as translations go, if not a tad tone-deaf considering the game’s country of origin. It’s more of an ugly word here than any variation of ‘Death’ or ‘Kill’, and would have perhaps been better digested as something like ‘BLAZ’, ‘FLSH’, ‘BURN’ or ‘BRST’.
Next time we’ll evaluate Final Fantasy’s White Magic conventions.