I've been doing a lot of drawing lately, and I did this drawing from an image of a Final Fantasy cos-player. He (or she) is dressed up as the Black Mage character that appears in several final fantasy games. I was inspired by playing Final Fantasy IX again, which I haven't played since it was released way back in the terrifyingly numbered year 2000.

In this particular Final Fantasy the Black Mage characters are artificially created, mindless, magical soldiers programmed to kill and destroy who or what ever their master wishes them to. The crazy thing is that, at one point in the game, you discover a village of Black Mages who have become self-aware and have run away from the war. One of the mages has discovered that after one year of awareness their kind dies. The other mages don't really understand death and have buried their dead companions under the ground only because they've seen humans do the same thing. In one conversation, a mage plans on cleaning up his dead friend in the pond when he "wakes up" from his sleep, while another asks whether you think that it is "warm or cold" living under the ground. The mage that knows about the lifespan stuggles with depression and finding meaning in his life knowing that he and all of his companions will soon die.

Pretty heady stuff for a PS1 RPG that looks like an anime for children. I was really impressed with this section of the game, and I can't believe that I didn't remember it from my first play-through. So, in honor of FFIX, I dub this picture "Is It Warm or Is It Cold (Under the Ground)."

P.S. I don't think I've ever drank Hennessy before.

That's awesome!

That's some seriously depressing stuff...

So much for "Final Fantasy is a game for teenagers, with teenager-style stories, and filled with teenage angst."

Cool, man. For some reason, after knowing very little about Vivi, I've heard about him and IX 4 times in the past day. Guess Theatrhythm has everyone with FF on the brain.

Thanks for the comments!