Setzer

"My life is a chip in your pile. Time to ante up."

—Setzer

Setzer is a character that appears in Kingdom Hearts II. He is originally from Final Fantasy VI. A top Struggle fighter, he is a flashy and arrogant ladies' man as well and enjoys taunting his opponents.

Story

Kingdom Hearts II

Setzer is the champion of the Struggle competition when the player is playing as Roxas in the Simulated Twilight Town. After Roxas defeats Hayner, and Vivi (and unofficially Axel), he duels Setzer. Setzer asks "rucksack" to throw the match for him, hinting that this is how Setzer became a champion, but Roxas refuses. If Roxas wins the Struggle, Setzer leaves the arena quietly, then joins in cheering Roxas as the new champion. If Roxas loses, Setzer gives him a medal as "thanks."

When Sora is in the real Twilight Town later in the game, Setzer is the second opponent to be fought, accessible after defeating Hayner ten times. Ten victories over Setzer earns the player the right to challenge Seifer. This implies that Seifer defeated Setzer, like Roxas in Data Twilight Town.

Appearance

Setzer is relatively unchanged from his appearance in Final Fantasy VI. He has long, silver hair and violet eyes, as well as a number of thin scars, one of which reaches from his hairline and over his left eye. He wears a loose shirt that is lilac in the front and violet in the back and black pants secured by a black belt with a silver skull belt buckle. The legs of his pants are tucked into knee-high lilac boots with swirling lavender designs on the back, and designs vaguely resembling parts of the Nobody sigil on the toes.

He also ties a han purple sash with swirling white patterns on it around his waist, covering half of his left leg. Setzer drapes a long black coat with yellow lining and a yellow triangle patter lining the high collar over his shoulders, kept in place by a short silver chain attached to two silver skull pins on either side of the coat.

Personality

Setzer's attempt to bribe Roxas to lose in the Struggle tournament is a discrepancy between his Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts incarnations. In Final Fantasy VI he was a true gambler, willing to stake anything on luck and skill, where as this moment is so far out of character that it is referenced in Dissidia Final Fantasy. In Shadow's and Setzer's conversation in the Duel Coliseum, Shadow says, "Don't even think of bribing your opponents to lose," and Setzer responds, "I'd never do a thing such as that!"

In Battle

As a Struggle fighter, Setzer has a very simple moveset. He moves quite nimbly and can leap back swiftly to dodge attacks. One of Setzer's three moves is a simple, short-range thrust that can easily be avoided. His other moves are much more powerful. In one, he jumps through the air spinning his bat, hitting a large area. In the other, he stops and kneels down - if attacked, he not only blocks the attack but uses a strong counterattack, knocking his opponent into the air and stealing many orbs from them.

Unlike the other Struggle fighters, Setzer is not at all aggressive in his fighting. Players can easily defeat him by keeping their distance and waiting for Setzer to use an attack, which they can dodge and attack while he is off his guard. Be sure not to attack while Setzer is kneeling to avoid his counterattack. If Roxas loses the match, as promised, Setzer makes it worth his while by giving him a medal.

Origin

Setzer Gabbiani debuted as one of the main protagonists of Final Fantasy VI. Setzer is a very lively gambler and the owner of the only airship in the entire world, the Blackjack.

His notorious gambling habits are to conceal the scars from sessions gone wrong as well as the loss of his lover, Darill. He ends up becoming one of Terra Branford's party members when her party encounters him during an opera play he planned to foil. Persuaded by another foiled gamble by Celes, Setzer allows the party on his vessel. Setzer wields an assortment of gambling equipment as his weapons such as cards, dice and darts and does well in all stats except magic.

Trivia

In the Twilight Town characters file, despite Setzer's role as a protagonist in his Final Fantasy counterpart, he is portrayed as an antagonist, due to his red square.
With the exception of Moogles, Setzer is the only character in Kingdom Hearts who originated from a Final Fantasy game before VII. Tetsuya Nomura has admitted that he originally intended to include only Final Fantasy characters who he himself had designed, but after receiving pressure from his staff, he included other characters, among them Setzer and Vivi.
When you begin a Struggle match with Setzer he will say "My life is a chip in your pile. Time to ante up." This is slightly misquoted from Final Fantasy VI, "My life is a chip in your pile! Ante up!"