The One Summoning Skill That Powers Final Fantasy’s Wildest Story Twists
Summoning magic has been a clear through-line in the Final Fantasy series for decades, and it often links gameplay mechanics to major story moments. In some entries, summons are flashy combat tools; in others, they drive key plot beats and character arcs.
Sick Tech
Summoners and summoned creatures appear across Final Fantasy games under different names, such as Espers, Materia, Eikons, or simply Summons. These terms have appeared in various entries and localizations over the series’ history. Moreover, summons usually have distinct elemental identities — for example, Shiva commonly represents ice and Ramuh represents lightning.
Good Gamefeel
Summons also change how combat feels. For instance, in Final Fantasy XV, summoned beings are presented as large, cinematic entities that enter the battlefield through a mix of gameplay and scripted sequences. Consequently, summoning in that game affects pacing, difficulty, and how players approach fights.
Final Fantasy XV: Altissia and consequences
In Final Fantasy XV, the city of Altissia is the site of a major sequence involving the summon Leviathan. During that sequence, Leviathan attacks the city and its summoning is tied to several story events, including the death of Lunafreya. After the Altissia events, the party member Ignis is permanently blinded, which changes his role in combat. As a result, Noctis relies more on summoning in later parts of the game.
Skills as Stories
Summoning has also been used to justify big narrative turns in earlier games. For example, Final Fantasy IV (released for the Super Nintendo in 1991) features a character named Rydia whose story is directly tied to summons and the world of summoned beings.
Final Fantasy IV: Rydia and the Land of Summons
Early in Final Fantasy IV, a fire-related incident destroys the village Mist. A young girl named Rydia survives and briefly fights for the party, but she starts at a low level and is later swallowed by the summon Leviathan during an ocean voyage. She is then presumed dead.
Later in the game, Rydia returns as an adult. The game explains that she spent time in the Land of Summons, where time passes differently, and she returns with access to powerful summons such as Titan, Bahamut, and Odin. Her return changes her combat effectiveness and opens optional content tied to summoning.
Why this connection matters
Across the series, summons have been used both as combat mechanics and as narrative devices. Therefore, they often serve a dual purpose: enabling large-scale attacks in gameplay, and justifying dramatic plot developments in the story. This dual role appears in multiple Final Fantasy titles from the 1990s through the modern era.
