Chaos, God of Discord Tropes

The god of Discord and Big Bad of Final Fantasy I and, if this game is any indication, the whole series, born from the hatred and time traveling escapades of Garland, as well as the power of the four Fiends. He seeks to defeat Cosmos through the cycles of battle and become ruler of the world, relying on a plan set in place by the Emperor and Garland.

In Descent of Chaos, his backstory is revealed in full. He is a "perfect" Manikin created by Cid 2000 years in the past of Final Fantasy. When he, Cid, and a manikin of his mother named Cosmos, were drawn into the world the games take place in, they made a pact with Shinryu to have beings from other worlds fight to endow Shinryu and Chaos with more power until they can go home. As such, the Final Fantasy Chaos and this Chaos are apparently not the same being.

Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Keith David (English)

Artificial Human: Well, the "human" part is questionable. Point is, like Cosmos and the Warrior of Light, Chaos too is an advanced form of Manikin.

Badass: He fights 17 protagonists at the same time and they only win because of their crystals.

Big Bad
-Bigger Bad: Aside from when he kills Cosmos, Chaos is content to be an Orcus on His Throne for pretty much all of both games, and as a result it's the standard villains serving him who provide the central conflicts of the over-arcing story while Chaos lurks in the background as a looming threat.

Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive: Part of his Slouch of Villainy.

Curb-Stomp Battle: Dissidia 012 revealed Cloud tried fighting him in that 12th Cycle, ending in this.

Continuity Nod: His EX Burst colors him dominantly yellow and purple, like his original NES graphic.

Death Seeker: After Cosmos's death he sees no reason to live anymore.

Despair Event Horizon: He had been nearing this for quite a long time, since the war against Cosmos had taken its toll on him, but he teetered over the brink when he killed Cosmos.
-His museum profile states that Chaos fell into despair when he learned that the Great Will, aka his father Cid, wanted to end the cycle. Which was only possible by killing Chaos.

Evil Sounds Deep: Not surprisingly.

Hidden Depths: On the surface, evil Physical God who wants to rule existence and eventually decides to destroy it. But once you get into the Reports in 012? Psycho Prototype Manikin forced to fight a clone of his mother by his father so they can power him up to open a portal home, but the power he's been gaining has twisted his memories so he's forgotten all this, and now he fights Cosmos over and over because he doesn't know anything different.

Large Ham: Just listen to him in battle. And check out who's voicing him.
"VANISH!"
"TAKE THIS!"
"CEASE to EXIST!"
"FACE the ULTIMATE! On your knees! FEAR ME! THIS IS THE END!"
"SHIVER, at the POWER of a GOD!"
-Incoming Ham: He's mostly just mocking or condescending in Dissidia, but by 012...
"Do not atone! Just perish!"
"The world of nothingness needs no king!"
"You do not need power, for I am power!"

Knight of Cerebus: While he largely plays Orcus on His Throne, he causes a Wham Episode whenever he bothers to do anything.

Meaningful Name: The Cosmos Reports in the original game give Dissidia's Chaos a different backstory than FF1's Chaos, hinting that they were not one-and-the-same. Chaos Report 12 in Descent of Chaos reveals that Garland was brought in from World A by Shinryu to persuade Dissida's Chaos to fight Cosmos, and named him after his own One-Winged Angel form.

Names to Run Away From Really Fast: His name is Chaos. Even if he wasn't a massive four-armed demon, that's not a name friendly people use.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Chaos is very merciful to his minions, even having reluctance at punishing them for betraying him or making mistakes. Unfortunately, this results in all of the villains barring Garland abandoning him as soon as he offed Cosmos and doing their own thing, showing how unloyal they truly were.

Obviously Evil: He may as well be the poster boy for this trope — but despite his appearance, he was not evil before the cycle began.

Omnicidal Maniac: Becomes so at the end of the story. Having his memories return and with them the realization that he just killed his mother and his father is now rooting for his death drives him over the Despair Event Horizon to get to this point.

108: The most amount of AP that can be earned in one battle is that amount, earned by fighting Chaos with a specific equipment set-up.note  If you know how to beat him and have good supplies of Gil, weaponsnote , and accessories, he makes AP grinding easy.

One-Winged Angel: Sure, he's technically a two winged demon, but his design is based on Garland's OWA form from Final Fantasy.
-Strictly speaking, this Chaos himself is not Garland's OWA. Reports reveal that when Garland was brought in to coerce four-arms to battle, he didn't have a name yet. Garland called him "Chaos", because he reminded the Cornelian of his own OWA.

Orcus on His Throne: He doesn't actually actively do anything except for killing Cosmos. Justified in that he's just going along with the plan that Garland and the Emperor have laid out. Also, once Cosmos was dead, he didn't have to do anything anywhere, the world was busy destroying itself without his help.
-Dissidia 012 adds on the reason for this in other cycles is that Chaos just doesn't care about the cycle — in earlier cycles, he didn't want to fight Cosmos because she reminded him of his mother figure, and was just supposed to let their warriors fight to power up Shinryu and himself. By the time of the game, the cycles had been going on for so long that he's forgotten about this, but at this point, he's bored with the fighting and is just disinterested.
-And when he finally does get his rear end off of his throne to face you... let's just say you'll understand why he's the God of Discord.

Psycho Prototype: Surprisingly enough.

Order Versus Chaos: Has this dynamic going on with Cosmos.

Physical God

Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: "Tremble... in the presence of PURE CHAOS!!"

Psychic Dreams for Everyone: In Shade Impulse, Chaos tells Garland that he had a dream in which he was a good god, and ruled the world with Cosmos, but with his memories of the past lost to him, he doesn't understand the dream's significance.

Pyrrhic Victory: Once he kills Cosmos, Chaos remembers his past and realizes he just killed his mother (more or less).

Pun: His ultimate attack is "Utter Chaos", with the finishing blow "Brink of Delusion". Doesn't take a genius to figure out how that second one could be alternatively translated. Plus, his dialogue when the heroes confront him can be read in the above quote.
-The game is actually pretty good about avoiding puns like that — most of the time, when the word "chaos" is used, they mean the character. But, hey, the guy is named after the very force he's supposed to be the god of. Puns, deliberate or not, are inevitable.
-His customized equipment set — Chaosbringer, Havoc's Carapace, Bedlam's Crown, Entropy's Aegis. His fighting style in the menu is "Master of Bedlam." Not very subtle, is it?

Satan: Oh, let's count the symbolisms — he was born from Garland, a Fallen Hero, when he became corrupted by darkness though that one's not entirely true, he's a giant grotesque demon who rules over the forces of evil from a forbidden land covered in lava beneath a blood-red sky, and oh yes, he's the Arch-Enemy of the God of Good.

Self-Deprecation: While he tosses out the expected boasts and demoralizing taunts against most opponents, when facing him with Feral Chaos, Chaos just mutters "pathetic pawn".

Shout-Out: Chaos' ultimate attack is to summon four swords that stab the arena and make it explode. Though the appearance is of course different, this was also used as the final blow of the summon Chaos in Final Fantasy XII, who was directly based on the original Chaos from Final Fantasy I.

Slouch of Villainy: Pretty much how he appears the entire game. And it's a pretty nice one too, considering with four arms he can pull it off while clasping his hands. He also ends his Utter Chaos attack with this.

Story-Breaker Power: With Cosmos' to keep him in check he can kill her warriors with a thought.

Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum

Super Prototype: The cycles of war are meant to temper Chaos into the ultimate force of destruction.

Child Soldier/Tykebomb/Laser-Guided Tykebomb: According to the backstory given for both him and Cid of the Lufaine.

Timey-Wimey Ball: His very existence ties directly into the original Final Fantasy's ball, though conflicting information between Dissidia and Dissidia 012, general ambiguity with the clues, and the retcons needed for Final Fantasy needed to make it possible, make it tricky to figure out precisely how.

Title Drop: He refers to the ten warriors and Cosmos' journey as being the "final fantasy". His EX Burst would have been another had it not been changed into "Brink of Delusion".
-"Brink of Delusion" is also a synonym of "Edge of Madness", the stage where you fight him.

With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The cycles gave Chaos power but also corroded his mind, which is why he couldn't remember Cosmos or his past as the cycles continued.

Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Chaos never wanted any part in these wars, he was a Tykebomb used by others for war, and he pulled himself, Cid and Cosmos into World B by accident. The war was an elaborate plan to allow them to go home, but he never wanted to hurt Cosmos, because she was a manikin of his mother that he still loved. But the cycles of war whittled away his memories until he couldn't remember this anymore. When he regains his memories at the end of the 13th cycle, he's ready to destroy World B, the summoned warriors and himself, because the knowledge that he killed Cosmos and his father is now rooting for the heroes to destroy him has pushed him over the Despair Event Horizon.

Unwitting Pawn: Chaos was led to believe that the conflict was started so that they could open a portal to return home, but both Shinryu and Cid had different goals in store for him. Cid ordered Garland to convince Chaos into taking part in the conflict so that Cid and Shinryu could create the ultimate destructive weapon. Thanks to his loss of memories that came with the power he got with the conflict, he could never realize his role as a pawn in the conflict.

Villainous Breakdown: In Scenario 000, his power drives him insane and he ends up killing both his warriors and Cosmos's.

Villain Song: "God in Fire", which is sung from his perspective.