Emperor Mateus

The Emperor, also known as Emperor Mateus, is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy II. He rules the Palamecian Empire and aims to conquer the world through demonic forces.

The Emperor wears golden armor with purple and rose-colored robes that have four portions: two connected on each side, and a raised collar and extended striped epaulettes. His hair is blond (although the exact shade varies from golden blond to platinum) and spiked, with an extra-long ponytail, and purple ombre at the tip of the side bangs. His head is adorned with tiny colored jewels, along with four long golden purple-tipped spikes atop his head. Black and white stripes trace his ribs on his chestplate, and demonic looking faces embellish his waist and back. His gauntlets sport extended claws. The Emperor wears purple makeup and a purple and gold crown depicting a serpent. His boots have stiletto heels. He wears a transparent quartz-colored belt around his waist. His Amano artwork as well as his PSP and Dissidia depictions depict him with violet-colored eyes, while his portrait in the GBA version has white eyes and black scelara.

He has at times worn a darker outfit, consisting of navy blue robes with yellow octastar arrangements. It has curved spines near the shoulders and back, spined fasteners at the front, and four massive curved purple shoulder ornaments. He wears gauntlets resembling spiders, and his platinum-colored hair is styled to resemble a pair of demonic horns. This outfit exposes his hands, which have long fingernails painted black with golden lines, and rings on his middle and index fingers of his left hand. The pair of horns has golden ornaments and a crown with rubies. After his soul was split to dominate both sides of the afterlife, the Emperor has two appearances, each representing the spiritual element the form embodies. The Emperor of Hell is bestial with a skull-like face, razor-sharp teeth, and snakes on his head similar to a Medusa. He is covered with spines and wears a dark cape or cloak and has clawed hands.

In the former, he overall has a similar build to his human self, with his lower half having the armor appear darker than in the original human form, while his skin darkens.His field and battle sprites from the PlayStation version onward often depict him with a scepter, although the 20th Anniversary versions omit the staff in the battle sprite.

The Light Emperor has an otherworldly appearance and always has his eyes closed. He has six wings similar to a Seraph and a golden gate on his back. He appears to be made of clouds and wears a light-colored robe. His ears are long and pointed as well. The design may be based on Lucifer.

The Emperor of Palamecia is cunning, subtle, rude and arrogant. He calls Firion by name after he defeats the Emperor's Behemoth, but other times calls them insects or worms. Owing to his arrogant nature, the Emperor never fights unless he has to, and has his minions do the work for him. His actions are tyrannical and he abhors humanity. As the Emperor views humans as interchangeable, he sees himself as superior to them and thus views himself as the only one capable of ruling. Owing to his arrogance and subtlety, he told Firion's group that him personally dispatching them ought to be considered an honor.

The Emperor is implied to be skilled with developing advanced weaponry, as the Dreadnought airship was developed by him. He is skilled in strategy, as evidenced by how he left a decoy of the then-captured Princess Hilda aboard the Dreadnought, and used the real deal for the coliseum to draw out the Wild Rose rebels.

The Emperor is a heartless despot who cares for nothing but power and world domination, using cruel methods to achieve his ends. The Emperor generally looks down on everyone, especially his opponents. Upon being defied repeatedly with his army facing an array of setbacks, the Emperor employs even more inhuman methods: he creates a genocidal weapon, the Dreadnought, and uses his powerful magic to erect a Cyclone and directs it towards his enemies' main settlement to slaughter them once and for all.

Even in death, the Emperor is defiant, refusing to accept that he could be bested by the people he looked down upon. His obsessive ambitions are burned deep in his soul, to the point it split in two halves that became the regents of Hell and Heaven. The novelization states that the Emperor defeated and usurped Satan, the Lord of Hell, and it is implied that his light half did the same on his respective side. The Emperor's different incarnations have subtle personality differences in the mortal world and the afterlives.

The Emperor of Palamecia is cunning, subtle, rude and arrogant. He calls Firion by name after he defeats the Emperor's Behemoth, but other times calls them insects or worms. Owing to his arrogant nature, the Emperor never fights unless he has to, and has his minions do the work for him. His actions are tyrannical and he abhors humanity. As the Emperor views humans as interchangeable, he sees himself as superior to them and thus views himself as the only one capable of ruling. Owing to his arrogance and subtlety, he told Firion's group that him personally dispatching them ought to be considered an honor.

The Emperor is implied to be skilled with developing advanced weaponry, as the Dreadnought airship was developed by him. He is skilled in strategy, as evidenced by how he left a decoy of the then-captured Princess Hilda aboard the Dreadnought, and used the real deal for the coliseum to draw out the Wild Rose rebels.

The Emperor is a heartless despot who cares for nothing but power and world domination, using cruel methods to achieve his ends. The Emperor generally looks down on everyone, especially his opponents. Upon being defied repeatedly with his army facing an array of setbacks, the Emperor employs even more inhuman methods: he creates a genocidal weapon, the Dreadnought, and uses his powerful magic to erect a Cyclone and directs it towards his enemies' main settlement to slaughter them once and for all.

Even in death, the Emperor is defiant, refusing to accept that he could be bested by the people he looked down upon. His obsessive ambitions are burned deep in his soul, to the point it split in two halves that became the regents of Hell and Heaven. The novelization states that the Emperor defeated and usurped Satan, the Lord of Hell, and it is implied that his light half did the same on his respective side.The Emperor's different incarnations have subtle personality differences in the mortal world and the afterlives.

The Dark Half is arrogant and destructive to the point of no longer caring about merely ruling the Palamecian Empire, seeking to destroy the world with the powers he gained upon his return from Hell, yet at the same time admonishing Leon for taking the mantle of emperor. The Light Half initially comes off as courteous and apologetic, but is a hypocrite and a liar, containing the same misanthropic spirit as the Emperor.

Even before he crowns himself the Emperor of Hell, Mateus is incredibly powerful, able to create cyclones destructive enough to devastate entire towns and lift one of his castles to use as a mobile fortress. The opening FMV included in the PlayStation version of Final Fantasy II implies the Emperor can manipulate the tide of battle via energy from his fingertips even when not directly on the battlefield. He can teleport, or at least leave behind an illusion of himself, as evidenced by how he traps Firion and his party at the Coliseum. He employs strong elemental magicks in combat, while having a mass arsenal of support spells. He has access to a seemingly endless stock of Elixirs, allowing him to repeatedly restore himself to health.

Upon his death, and eventual rebirth, the Emperor gains the ability to summon Pandaemonium to the surface world, as well as a slew of new demonic powers. His dark half can generate purple flames, while also causing distortions within the area he is occupying. His light half is implied to have the power to return dead souls to their bodies, along with the ability to grant eternal life to people.

The Emperor begins his campaign for world domination by summoning an army of creatures from Hell. Several kingdoms, like Fynn, Kashuan and Deist, resist, but are subdued. In the case of Deist, the militarily-powerful homeland of the Dragoons, the Emperor orders the poisoning of their wyverns' water supplies, leaving the Dragoons powerless.

The royalty of Kashuan, which survived the Palamecian Empire's attack, founded the Wild Rose Rebellion alongside the kingdom of Fynn. The Empire attacks Fynn to destroy the resistance, and after capturing it, the Emperor begins the construction of the fearsome Dreadnought. The Emperor also subtly aids in the campaign via his powers from within his throne room. Ironically, his attack on Fynn ultimately helped bring about the people who would put an end to his reign of terror: Firion, Guy, Leon, and Maria. At some point, he had Leon captured, where he brainwashed him into becoming his Dark Knight. After Firion and his friends gather the Sunfire and Princess Hilda is captured by the Dreadnought while traveling to Kashuan on Cid's airship, the Emperor replaces the captive Hilda with a Lamia Queen. After the Dreadnought is destroyed, the Imperial Lamia is taken to Altair, and later felled. The Emperor announces a tournament at the Palamecian Coliseum, and makes Hilda the prize. Firion and his comrades attempt to rescue her alongside Prince Gordon of Kashuan.

After defeating a Behemoth pit against them, Firion and his friends attempt to kill the Emperor as they approach him to take the prize. It is a trap and the Emperor locks the party away via the Dark Knight. Meanwhile, the Emperor continues his assault on the land above. After the Liberation of Fynn, the Wild Rose Rebellion acquires the Ultima Tome, but by that time the Emperor has summoned a giant Cyclone and crushed the towns of Paloom, Altair, Gatrea and Poft, and is approaching Fynn.

The Emperor resides inside the Cyclone to personally oversee the destruction of Fynn and the party makes their way inside by summoning a wyvern. The Emperor initially assumes they are not important enough for him to fight despite acknowledging that they revived the Wyverns of Deist he had wiped out earlier, and thus deploys several of his royal guards against them. After two units are wiped out, the Emperor concludes he may have underestimated Firion's group, and decides to dispose of them personally, claiming such is to be considered an honor. The Emperor is killed in the fight, and the Dark Knight Leon proclaims himself the Emperor of Palamecia and takes over the army. After breaking into Castle Palamecia, Firion's party confronts the Dark Knight and the Emperor appears in a new demonic form. He had arrived in Hell and seizes the throne within Castle Pandemonium. After Leon protests that he has no intention of relinquishing the title, Mateus reveals he no longer cares about ruling the empire, but intends to destroy the world with his new powers, starting with the surviving members of the Wild Rose Rebellion. Ricard summons the wyvern to get the party out of Palamecia while he confronts the revived Emperor, who slaughters him with ease. While it is unknown if the Emperor intentionally allowed to be killed to arrive in Hell, as he already had power over Hell-spawn, it is likely it was his true intention all along. After killing Ricard, Mateus summons Pandaemonium to the mountains where Palamecia once stood and resumes his world-domination campaign. The party travels through the Jade Passage and breaks into Castle Pandemonium, and after defeating the Emperor's hellish generals, Firion and his friends confront the Emperor. The Emperor is defeated, and fades away, although not before expressing disbelief that he could lose against the same group twice.

In the Dawn of Souls, 20th Anniversary and mobile versions, something unforeseen happens when the Emperor is killed: his soul splits in two, one going to Hell to become the lord of Pandemonium, the other going to Heaven and becoming the lord of Arubboth. With his new powers the second Emperor summons the fallen souls of Minwu, Josef, Scott and Ricard as representatives of those who fell in the wake of the empire's conquests.

As they reach his throne within the walls of Arubboth, the Emperor asks for their forgiveness and offers them eternal life. They consider his offer, but the souls of the people they care about appear and tell them to look past the Emperor's charade.

The party realizes they are being tricked, and that this Emperor is no different from the other. They attack the Emperor's light side while Firion's group battles his dark counterpart. The Light Emperor vows to have them know eternal suffering due to their refusal to forgive him, and as he dies, tells them the struggles of violence and war will continue as long as humans exist. He fades away just as his dark counterpart. Minwu later comments that if anyone can change man's violent legacy, it would be Firion and his friends.