This article is from the Final-Fantasy and other Square Soft Games FAQ, by nickzman@eskimo.com (Nick Zitzmann) with numerous contributions by others.
In almost every Final Fantasy game, there is at least one character
central to the story who dies. While it's always possible to revive
fallen partners through Life spells or Fenix Downs or Life potions,
there are several characters which Square's writers killed off
purposely:
Most of the characters who die do so in order to advance/thicken the
game's story.
Here's a summary of the characters (playing & non-playing) who die:
FF I: N/A FF II: Cid, Richard, Minyuu, Josef FF III: N/A FF IV: Tellah, Anna, Edge's Parents, Baigan FF V: Galuf, Zeza, Kelgar FF VI: Vicks, Wedge, Leo, Banon (debatable), Shadow (debatable), Cid (optional), everyone in Mobliz except for the children FF VII: A bunch of characters, including: Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, Cait Sith*, Aeris, Tseng, Rufus, Hojo, everyone in the Sector 7 slums, President Shinra FF VIII: Reine FF Tactics: Algus, Bart, Malak*, Olan, Dycedarg, Teta, Gafgarion, Draclau, Wiegraf, Izlude, Miluda, Elmdor, Ovelia, Zalbag (who dies, is revived, and dies again), Larg, Goltana SaGa: Michelle, So-Cho, King Sword, King Shield SaGa II: Dad* SaGa III: Jupiah*, Dion* Frontier: White Rose* (Asellus's quest), Blue (Blue's quest - optional) CT: Crono* PE: Klamp Xenogears: Everyone in Lahan (except Dan, Citan, and the children) BF Musashi: Kojiro VS: Samantha, Grissom (who dies, is revived, and dies again), Sydney (debatable), Rosencrantz
 
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