Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin presents itself as more than just a reimagining of the original Final Fantasy. What began as a straightforward action RPG later revealed deeper connections to the first game, especially through its central character, Jack.
Jack’s hatred for Chaos masks a deeper identity—he is Garland, the original game’s main villain and the mastermind behind a time loop storyline. In the original Final Fantasy, Garland serves as the game’s first major boss.
The Warriors of Light battle fate across centuries (Photo: Final Fantasy I/Chris Lee Productions, a subsidiary of Sony/Columbia Pictures, and Square Pictures)Once a noble knight, he turns evil and kidnaps Princess Sarah of Cornelia, taking her to the Chaos Shrine. The heroes of the game, the Warriors of Light, are prophesied to restore the balance of the world’s four elements, each corrupted by elemental Fiends—Lich (earth), Marilith (fire), Kraken (water), and Tiamat (wind).
After defeating Garland, he is sent back in time by the Fiends and later transforms into Chaos. The Warriors of Light defeat the Fiends in their own time, travel to the past to battle them again, and finally defeat Garland in his Chaos form, ending the time loop.
This results in a peaceful new timeline where the world forgets the actions of the Warriors of Light, and there’s even a chance Garland is redeemed. Although the original game had an unusually deep plot for its time, Stranger of Paradise pushes the story beyond what Final Fantasy I ever attempted.
This 2022 prequel honors the franchise’s 35-year legacy in a creative way by presenting a new angle to the tale and offering possible reasons behind the time loop and Garland’s descent.
Jack & His Friends Are Part Of The Stranger Project
There’s a mysterious and advanced race called the Lufenians in Final Fantasy I, who live far away from the rest of the world. Originally based in the Flying Fortress, they were forced out by Tiamat. In Stranger of Paradise, the Lufenians are shown to possess powerful time-controlling technology.
After detecting an imbalance between light and darkness in Cornelia that could destroy it 2000 years into the future, they launched the Stranger Project to address this threat. This initiative involved sending human agents—called Strangers—through time to correct the imbalance.
With the help of a dimensional crystal matrix, the Lufenians could reset time repeatedly, allowing multiple attempts to fix events. Each time, the familiar characters from Final Fantasy I were reborn. The Strangers received dark crystals that enhanced their combat abilities but erased their memories during every reset.
The main characters of Stranger of Paradise are some of these Strangers. When light began to overpower darkness, the Lufenians introduced more darkness into the world, though this came with a risk. Doing so could cause a person to morph into Chaos.
One such case appears in the game—Sophia becomes Tiamat, likely during the tutorial mission. Her transformation had an unusual effect: she was able to retain fragments of her memory for the next timeline.
The Plot To Break The Cycle
Rather than starting as companions, Jack and the other Strangers find one another due to their shared connection to the dark crystals. These crystals fill them with a drive to eliminate Chaos, but as the story progresses, they encounter individuals who begin to question whether Chaos even exists.
People across the land believe in the tale of the Warriors of Light—four chosen heroes fated to save the world. Jack and his allies think they might be those heroes, but the crystals they carry do not match the legendary orbs of myth.
A character from the original game, Astos the Dark Elf, acts as a hidden agent for the Lufenians within this reality. During one of the previous timelines, Jack worked with Astos to try and recover his memories in a future version of events.
Their shared goal was to break free from Lufenian control, as they suspected that Cornelia would eventually be discarded in the Lufenians’ version of a perfect world. Astos worked behind the scenes to help Jack and the others remember their past cycles and guide them toward ending the repeating timeline.
Eventually, monsters overrun Cornelia, and the royal family is killed. This leaves Jack heartbroken and furious. Princess Sarah’s death carries a major consequence—she holds a sixth dark crystal that gathers all of Cornelia’s darkness.
Afterward, Jack’s companions challenge him in combat, and he absorbs their darkness once they fall.
Jack Embraces Chaos & The FF1 Time Loop Takes Place
The moment Jack fully gives in to Chaos’s power, Stranger of Paradise shows a version of Chaos so striking it quickly becomes a source for internet memes. He returns to the Chaos Shrine, which also functions as a link to the Station—a kind of staging ground used during each time reset.
Four elemental Fiends stand between peace and destruction (Photo: Final Fantasy I/Chris Lee Productions, a subsidiary of Sony/Columbia Pictures, and Square Pictures)Once the Lufenians realize Jack is using Chaos energy, they sever this timeline from their influence, locking themselves out and leaving their operatives behind. Before Jack disappears completely, his allies—now transformed into the Four Fiends—pull him back 2000 years into the past.
They had pieced together fragments of memory and taken cues from Astos, leading them to set the stage for Jack to become Chaos. Now stuck in a past where the Lufenians can no longer interfere, Jack begins to shape a new path.
He formulates a strategy to bring the Warriors of Light into existence, triggering the events that would eventually become Final Fantasy I. This new course of action starts with Jack’s kidnapping of Princess Sarah, meant to put everything in motion.
A key moment near the story’s close shows Jack in his iconic Garland armor, standing in the Chaos Shrine as the four Warriors of Light approach—setting into motion the events of the original game.
