Aria Benett

Assists party with curative sp✱ells (3D remake only); simply follows you around in 2D vಞersions.

Killed by Kraken, but helps to♏ restore t🐻he flow of time in the world again.

Three. She's got barely any lines, but we'll award her this much: despite her illness, she gives her all for the mission.

Tellah

Temporary controllable party member

Uses his life force to cast Meteor on Golbez.

Six. Tellah is, frankly, kind of a jerk. But at least he r☂ealizes it.

Galuf

Full-time party member

Breaks free from within a Crystal, holds his own against an ancient and all-powerful evil, and then🙈 succumbs to his wounds when hi🤪s loved ones are freed.

Nine. Galuf rules. His death is a jaw-dropping moment for a game that's so typically lighthearted, and it's the first time in the Final Fantasy series that a tragic fate is fully felt.

Leo Cristophe

(Extremely) temporary controllable party member

Mercilessly murdered by Kefka.

Eight. Leo is a respectable fellow who clings to h🅰is convictions. Just an admirable chap all-around.

Banon (potentially)

Temporary controllable party member

Disappears after the💞 World of Balance, which is really weird, so a lot of fans sort of assume he kicked the bucket.

Two. He's hardly a major character, and we don't even know if he's dead and dusted or simply in hiding, so...

Shadow (potentially)

Full-time party member

This one's... fun. Shadow is presumed dead if the player decides to escape the Floating Continent before he can arrive. Also, Shadow stops running in the game's ending sequence when Kefka's Tower is about to explode, seemingly ready to embrace death.

Eight. Shadow is a fantastic character, but you'd have to be rather rude, indeed, to intentionally let him die on the Floating Continent. As for his possible death in the ending, it's just too ambiguous to say much either way.

Aerith Gainsborough

Full-time party member

Murdered by Sephiroth while praying.

Ten. Um, yeah.

Sephiroth

Temporary uncontrollable party member

Explodes after being on the receiving end of Cloud's Omnislash.

Nine. It's hardly sad, of course, but Sephiroth's one of the best antagonists in gaming.

Vivi Ornitier

Full-time party member

Passes away during the unknown number of days between the bulk of Final Fantasy 9's ending and Zidane's triumphant return to Alexandria.

Nine. Vivi is a spectacular character - one of Final Fantasy's finest. The problem is, so many players' tears are weirdly belated, because it isn't quite clear enough for many of us that Vivi even died the first time we watch FF9's otherwise-excellent ending.

Tidus

Full-time party member

Well, he's not quite alive to begin with, but fading away with the conclusion of the Dream of 🎃the Fayth still counts in ꦜour book.

Ten for Final Fantasy 10. Not everyone is going to love Tidus when they play this game, but it's hard to deny his exit stage-right is incredibly effective.

Auron

Full-time party member

Sent to the Farplane alongside Tidus.

Another ten. There's a reason Auron's inspired so much cosplay for decades. His gruff, no-nonsense demeanor, his meaningful wisdom, his tragic secrets, he's got it all.

Seymour Guado

(Extremely) temporary controllable party member

Sent by Yuna just hours before the story's end.

Three. Seymour is a decent villain, so it's a little sad to see him go? At the same time, good gosh, just die already, for real this time, you know?

Reks

Temporary controllable party member

F♔atally wounded by Gabranth masquerading as his twin brother Basch, though he lives long enough to play hi🧔s role in this political charade in the several days thereafter.

Five. We don't get to know Reks well in the prologue, and then bam, he's gone. We know that's the idea, of course. Vaan carrying the pain, and falling for the ruse until he learns the truth, makes this matter more in hindsight than in the moment.

Vossler York Azelas

Te♚mporary controllable✤ party member (Uncontrollable in the original version)

Heavily injured by Basch, Fran,🦹 and the🍨 rest of the party, and then perishes when the warship Leviathan explodes.

Seven. Vossler leaves a decently strong impression on players for the stretch of the game in whi♐ch he teams up, and his suspicious nature is justifiable. Working with the🐷 Empire is tough to forgive, though.

Reddas (Foris Zecht)

(Extremely) temporary controll𓃲able party member (Unc🦩ontrollable in the original version)

Wielding Ashelia's Sword of Kings, he sacrifices himself to destroy the Sun-Cryst inside the Pharos of Ridorana.

Eight. Reddas, or rather,𒁃 Judge Magister Zecht, is an intriguing character whose haunted past bears narrative fr👍uit when he atones for it at the cost of his tormented life.

Gabranth (Noah fon Ronsenburg)

(Extremely) temporary uncontrollable party member

Fatally wounded by Vayne, dying aboard the Strahl as the party escapes the Sky Fortress Bahamut's destruction.

Eight. Noah is yet another example of an effective character in Final Fantasy 12's extensive cast (sure, the story drops the ball sometimes, but the people who populate it seldom do). We love that he was given the chance to redeem himself this way.

Noctis Lucis Caelum

Full-time playable party member

Sacrifices himself to save the world

Ten. Final Fantasy 15's story is infamously wobbly, its genuinely neat plot too poorly-told too frequently. Even Royal Edition can only give it so many bandaids. But FF15 absolutely nails the ending, and Noctis' epic heroic tearjerker moment is a big part of why.

Ravus Nox Fleuret

Temporary controllable party member

Murdered by Ardyn, and then revived by him as a daemon, put tꩲo rest for good by Noctis, Ignis, Prompto, and Gladiolus.

Six. Ravus' characterization is one of the biggest casualties of Final Fantasy 15's shoddy storytelling quality at launch, and we'd have given him a four (he's still cool, you know!) if we'd written this prior to Episode Ignis. We get enough Ravus during his appearance in that DLC to crank things up a couple of notches.

Ifrit

Temporary uncontrollable party member

Shattered inside a prison of ice by Shiva.

One. Ifrit just barely qualifies for this list courtesy of the Episode Ardyn DLC, and while, yeah, his past is sad and all, we can't be expected to even consider shedding a tear when he dies in the main game.