Zidane Tribal

"The sly eagle doesn't kill at whim."

- Zidane Tribal

Zidane Tribal is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy IX. He is a thief who works for the Tantalus Theater Troupe set to kidnap the princess of Alexandria, an event that eventually escalates to a quest to protect the planet of Gaia.

Zidane possesses little of the sullenness associated with previous Final Fantasy protagonists Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart; he enjoys making new friends and is always on a lookout to help those in need.

Appearance and Personality
Zidane has layered blond hair that frames his face and is tied back into a short ponytail. He has blue eyes and a prehensile monkey-like tail — a trademark of Genomes. He wears a white sleeveless shirt under a short teal vest, topped with brown leather accents at the shoulders and back; in the front, there is a lacy white jabot topped with a light green ribbon tied in a bow. He wears blue jodhpur pants, a tan belt, light green gloves with large blue cuffs, and a pair of light green and white cuffed ankle boots with a low heel. He sports a brown sheath on his left hip for his dagger. In Trance, Zidane's hair turns pink and becomes longer, and his clothing is replaced with pink fur.

Zidane's weaponry is atypical to the traditional thief class in the Final Fantasy series in that he dual-wields daggers or short swords, and a short double-bladed naginata, commonly referred to as a "swallow blade" or "thief sword." This type of weapon bears some resemblance to two short swords merged at the handle, though with the handle being an arm's length. He can combine his two blades into a "swallow blade" as well.

As shown in Dissidia Final Fantasy where Zidane is portrayed in realistic proportions, he is of small height even when compared to those close to his age, but he still maintains his lean yet muscular build.

He is shown to be a bit of a skirt-chaser, constantly flirting with Princess Garnet as well as other females. Despite accusations that all he ever thinks about is girls, Zidane is capable of being serious when the situation calls for it. He gives advice to the party members at multiple times on several aspects of life and is overall laid-back and casual in his actions and speech patterns. Though he is highly confident in his abilities, Zidane harbors some insecurities about his past and concealed loneliness, though he does not often express them. While usually cheerful, Zidane easily gets depressed, feels loneliness, and begins to question why he should exist. Though he values friendship, he tries to keep his problems to himself and tries to fight them alone. Usually, Zidane is laid-back but can lose his cool, as shown when after learning about his past, he becomes enraged and therefore is hostile to his friends, refusing to accept help from his team. Throughout the game, Zidane starts developing feelings for Garnet and acts like an older brother to Vivi. Towards other party members, even Steiner and Amarant who dislike him, Zidane is generally friendly.

Trivia

 * The only time Zidane uses his prehensile tail is when he evades Steiner on the cargo ship.
 * The Tantalus logo seems to symbolize Zidane—it is blue and bears a heart, a dagger, and a pair of angel wings.
 * Zidane's birthday is in September, the ninth month of the year, appropriate for the protagonist of the ninth installment of the Final Fantasy main series.
 * Despite being officially listed as 1.73 m tall (the same height as Cloud and a little shorter than Squall), in Dissidia, Zidane is much shorter than the other two, and is in fact one of the shortest fighters in the game.