On what SWANA reps get right (and wrong) about Final Fantasy Tactics

Final Fantasy Tactics returns after 28 years rave reviews In Chronicles of Ivalice, fans new and old alike reveled in improved gameplay and cast performances that would have been impossible to achieve in 1997. Twitter postTactics comes to players in a time very similar to when the original was released – a time rife with “inequality and division” that may leave many feeling “deprived of hope.” While Tactics is a fantasy story set in a fictional setting, the developers did draw a page or two from real historical events, such as the War of the Roses in England in the mid to late 1400s. It's bittersweet that history is repeating itself now, but it does emphasize the relevance of Tactic's evergreen themes and how important Rafa and Marah Galtina's involvement in the story is.

While the issue of Israel and Palestine also made headlines in 1997, the recent dramatic escalation has become an important global topic today. With this upgrade comes the Anti-Arab sentiment risingwhich makes Rapha and Marach's involvement in Chronicles of Ivalice even more special for Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) players like me. It's also refreshing to hear actors Elham Ehsas and Lara Sawalha portray these characters so authentically, because as we all know, SWANA-coded characters haven't historically been depicted in the most likeable or nuanced ways, especially in video games. From Metal Slug to Counter-Strike, SWANA-coded characters are one of three things: belly dancers, camel-riding snake charmers, or just plain evil terrorists. Rapha and Marach tell a very different story, one that allows for nuance and reflects many of the issues our communities face internationally that spoke volumes in 1997 and even more so in 2025.

Rafa and Malach are orphans and are soon adopted into the shelter of Duke Barrington, a powerful man who intends to exploit the siblings' rare spell powers. Duke Barrington not only recruited Rafa and Mallah as child soldiers to support his war effort, but he also indoctrinated and trained countless other children by opening orphanages filled with “a horde of willing young men.” This allows him to select the best talent to “mold and train,” as Ramza puts it. This may sound cartoonishly evil, but it's actually about Taliban recruits new troops today. To their credit, they didn't treat Malach and Rafa as obstacles in Ramza's journey, but gave them a humanizing backstory that explained why they ended up on the hubris' side of the war, rather than Ramza's. Rafa in particular plays a crucial role in emphasizing the extent to which she and her brother have been misled, and does her best to make him see this, despite his initial stubbornness.

Now, while the story of the Galtinas family is handled with great care, there is room for criticism. It's worth noting that the siblings are the only characters in the game with spell abilities; this plays into Orientalist tropes and is essentially an exotic take on the only SWANA-coded character in the game. Furthermore, the fact that Rapha and Marach are Not well optimized This makes them less popular with Tactics fans. While this is relatively easy to fix with some retweaking, it's still not entirely obvious how to best utilize both characters in combat, which may ultimately prevent players from incorporating Rapha and Marach into their squads, which is unfortunate and reflects some carelessness on Square's part.

My other major criticism is one narrative moment in particular that paints an unflattering picture of Malach. When Rafa and Malach first appear in The Chronicles of Ivalice, they are in the middle of a dispute. Malah was angry at Rafa for saying disparaging things about the man he believed saved them as children. When Rafa told him she knew Barrington was the one who orphaned them, Malach slapped her and said he “would not tolerate (her) disrespectful tongue.” This seems to indicate that Malachy was an avid supporter of the Duke of Barrington and was angry at anyone, let alone his own sister, saying anything negative about him. This moment also created negative stereotypes about SWANA men “More violent in nature”especially for women. The scene makes even less sense when Mallach actually wants to get rid of Barrington and has no intention of continuing to serve him.

With all the changes and improvements this version of Tactics has gone through, including a gorgeous script overhaul, I think there's room to eliminate Malach and Rafa's arguments to avoid inadvertently reinforcing negative stereotypes. This isn't the first time a character in the Final Fantasy series has been revisited. Cid in Final Fantasy 7 was initially hinted at abusive In the 1997 version of the game, he was later redesigned as a sweet, optimistic Southern gentleman in Final Fantasy 7 Reborn.

While the original FF7 Cid was a rather gloomy character overall, Marach on the other hand is a flawed character, but not a bad one. He genuinely cares for his sister, and even takes a shot for her when he finally hears Duke Barrington admit that he's been a villain all along. After Rafa used the Scorpio Stone to resurrect Malach, the siblings all joined Ramza's team. For the first time in their lives, they actively choose what to fight for and who to fight with. It's also revealed during the optional dialogue when fighting Hashmal/Folmarv that Rapha and Marach hope this encounter is the last time they have to kill anyone again, which was unheard of for SWANA-coded characters in the 90s and is still pretty rare now.

Even though Rafa and Malach's story is a bit short in Tactics' overall narrative, it's still impactful and continues to go against the grain, portraying the SWANA characters as good, imperfect people, like so many other characters. Would it be nice if their stats were better optimized? certainly. But in the long run, the Galthena siblings remain a prime example of a SWANA-coded character, and an example of what I'd like to see more of in future games.