Top Ten Final Fantasy Deaths

Final Fantasy series had a lot of memorable deaths in many of its characters. Major spoilers for those who never played any of these games.
The Top Ten
1 Aerith Gainsborough

Even if she is my least favorite character in FF7, her plotline death proves incredibly memorable for shaking up the gamers who witnessed it. Sephiroth came from nowhere and just stabbed her in the back, and Aeris was surprisingly one of the few characters in FF7 to actually die from Sephiroth, most other characters are somehow lucky to survive getting killed by his massive blade (for example Cloud himself got stabbed and lifted in the air, but survived). There is often a lot of speculation on the use of reviving items and how it could've been used to get her back, but then again, due to storyline reasons, somehow Aeris's actions actually do take place after her death.

2 Galuf Halm Baldesion

This was the death that prompted me to make this list. In FF5, his death came in a one-on-one duel against main villain Exdeath, when the rest of his friends were incapacitated by magic. Even when fighting at ZERO hit points, Galuf still manages to resist death against his opponent, completely taking him by surprise. In fact, Galuf's death actually answers my question about how reviving items won't work, as Galuf's party actually tries reviving him with Phoenix Downs and Life spells when Exdeath leaves. It's very heartbreaking when it doesn't work.

3 Minwu

Although I haven't gone far through FF2 (the real FF2, by the way) Minwu was a remarkable character. A White mage who ensures survivability, he apparently leaves the player's party at some point, then comes back to unseal the ultimate spell, but this costs him his life. His death greatly helps the heroes of this quest from what I've heard.

4 Tellah

In FF4, Tellah was on a journey to find his daughter, but finds her dead. This old man swears revenge on Golbez and prepares to cast the ultimate Meteor spell on him, despite his old age being a major barrier. Eventually he does use it, but it costs him his life. Remarkably, FF4 was noticeable for having numerous plotline deaths, yet everyone apparently comes back alive after some point. Tellah is the exception to this.

5 General Leo (VI)

Leo is a fan-favorite, for his one battle against Kefka in FF6. The most respectable of the Empire's generals can win this battle easily, but plot happens and Leo ends up getting killed by Kefka anyways. This often sparked rumors on getting Leo back in, which mostly would involve hacking the game.

6 Zack Fair Zack Fair is a fictional character first introduced as a non-player character in the 1997 role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII by Square Enix, and subsequently expanded upon in the metaseries Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

Most people playing FF7 will only see traces of Zack, but his story is fully-fledged in Crisis Core, again I haven't played this, but from what I know in FF7, Zack basically got shot multiple times by Shinra soldiers. In Crisis Core, there were significantly more soldiers taking him down.

7 Emperor Gestahl (FF6)

Yes, even the main emperor of FF6 suffers a memorable death, also by the hands of Kefka. That guy sure loves betraying everyone for total destruction, and the worst thing is he succeeds. A cutscene battle pretty much shows just how Gestahl dies, and it's gruesome.

8 Vivi Ornitier

After having played FF9 apparently the black mages are a race with a very limited lifespan and death means they "expire". Vivi somehow manages to produce identical offspring at the end though, and it is a heartwarming goodbye for the character.

Although I haven't played FF9, I heard this was more of an offscreen death, one in which this particular character says goodbye in narration at the end where he leaves everything behind.

9 Shadow (FF6)

Two ways Shadow can die, one if you don't wait for him in the Floating Continent, and another happens anyways at the very end at the crumbling Kefka's tower, where he just stays behind. And he was another of my favorite characters too.

10 Auron

When I made this list long ago I haven't played FFX yet and he was a filler item. But now that I have played I am aware of what he and Tidus end up going through. Though I think the best ending of X-2 has Tidus return, so maybe he doesn't count as much. As for Auron, he's actually been dead all along, which is kind of interesting considering he will remain with your party the entire game once he joins for good. All the way to the end. And then Yuna sends him off as he should have apparently been. But before that he wandered the earth until the right decision was made.

The Contenders
11 Tidus Tidus is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy X, a role-playing video game developed by Square Enix.
12 Class Zero (Final Fantasy Type-0)
13 Queen Brahne (FF9)

This death sort of counts due to the character, despite being an ugly power-hungry despot, regretting what she did and being a bad mother to Dagger.

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