There seems to have been a lot of controversy over the whole 'Who Is Gogo' issue that's been floating around for years. I have a new, excitingly different (gasp) theory on the matter, that actually holds a bit more in-game weight than perhaps even Setzer's flashback.
In the World of Ruin, if you go and get Edgar, you find him as the thief leader Gerad. If you talk to his newly-acquired crew, they talk about their old leader being eaten by something that looked a lot like a Sandworm, which also allowed them to escape the submerged Figaro castle's dungeon. The Zone Eater that you fight to gain Gogo is basically a Sandworm with a different color palette. It makes sense, then, that Gogo could in fact be the old Thief leader. My only real question at this point is why nobody else thought of that.
That said, on to the main purpose of this, my take on the Gogo debate. Let me begin by pointing out that Gogo could not be an Esper, because Gogo still exists after the Statues are destroyed, and the Espers begin to fade from our world. Nor could Gogo be a Half Esper like Terra, because it was established that Terra was the first Half-Esper to exist, and there would have been no time for Gogo to mature after the Gate was Unsealed. Therefore, it seems most likely that Gogo is, in fact, Daryl, and that the reason she did not reveal herself to Setzer was...well, there are a variety of reasons. Amnesia comes to mind, as does the possibility of extreme scarring. That, however, isn't really the core of the theory. Also, someone mentioned that Gogo couldn't be Daryl, because Gogo also appeared in Final Fantasy Five. However, I point out that it is never stated it is the same Gogo. In fact, I believe that the Gogo in five was actually a far descendant of Daryl (possibly by Setzer) who had been trained throughout the years. And, yes, Gogo-V was descended from GoGo-V!/Daryl. It is my firm belief that each subsequent Final Fantasy (discounting, at the moment, X, and the named one (i.e. Mystical Quest, Legends)) has been a prequel to the one that came before. While I have no undeniable proof, it does seem to make sense, based on these bits of evidence.
P.S.: There is indeed a unique monster in FF V who looks almost identical to Gogo and gives you the ability to become a Mimic. It is probably not an Esper, or at least not intended to be one, because it has not been "canonized" into the other games as a summon or similar category of creature (as a Cactrot is, for example). There is also some evidence that points to the probability that it is not Daryl. If Setzer rebuit and buried the Falcon, it means that he found it, along with her remains, in order to call the burial site "Daryl's Tomb". If he had found the ship but not the body, then he probably would not have given that name to the place where he stored the Falcon, and might still hope that she lives. She would also probably have reacted to Setzer's presence when they met, or at least given a scene together at the end.
With the small amount of facts that are given, I hypothesize that Gogo, or the mimic creature, is a unique monster which the creators thought it would be cool to reuse but not just leave it as an encounter, as is the case of the Magic Pot. The same could also apply to Umaro. I could stand corrected on the creature type bit, for I have not played FF IX or X yet. Also, I have heard nothing of the governor theory further than what has been mentioned in your columns."
I’m partial the Kilik [Editor's Note: Really? It seemed to me you were partial to Eating Floor.] You raise an interesting fact about Daryl’s tomb and the airship. We’ll add Monster from FFV to the list as well.
On a more serious note, it is amazing that the question of Gogo's identity still remains a mystery to this day. However, it saddens me that none of your readers seems to know who this "retired governor" the clues point to seems to be. Well, that man is none other than Adlai Stevenson, former governor of Illinois and twice-failed presidential candidate. Here is some evidence to back up this theory. Keep in mind that I take no credit for finding this information. I'm just passing it along.
1.) "I am always amazed by the resistance offered to progress, even the most inocous progress. Imagine, if you will, jumping from one rickety bridge to another, with blind men running back and forth trying to push you off, and you will have some idea what legislating progress is like. The good news is that if you're pushed off, you can always climb back up and try again."
- from his book ''What I Think''
2.) "I suppose I could wear a hat, but them my teeth would fall out to spite me. I could get false ones, but doubtless then I would get fat just to prove my teeth work. The easiest course is to drape my whole body in robes and shawls and hope no one recognizes my eyes. "
- Commenting about his baldness to an NBC reporter in 1952.
3.) "President Eisenhower continues to amaze me. He appears to be an ungainly and graceless man, but when [senator Robert] Taft makes a move, no matter how ridiculous, Eisenhower copies it with the skill of [French mime] Marcel Merceau. I haven't achieved such levels of mimicry with my own party, but I'm working on it."
4.) "The legislature is a frightening thing. To this day the state capitol building seems to me a beast ready to swallow me up; the very walls and ceilings seem to crush you as you walk through it."
- from his book ''Friends and Enemies'
5.) "Today we are plunged into a battle that is familliar to us. the enemies and the problems are the same. But the terrain is different. The world around us has changed and shifted so much we no longer recognize it."
- Giving a speech at Charlottesville, 1960
6.)Stevenson's ex-wife once wrote a book about him called The Egghead and I. In 1952, one of his campaign slogans was "Stevenson - The Experienced Candidate."
7.)When you first meet Gogo, he says "I have been idle for too long." Possibly reffering to the fact that Stevenson had been dead for 30 years when FF6 came out.
8.) A number of years ago a bill was passed regarding the transfer of funds among government-owned, government-operated (GOGO) laboratories. What was the name of this bill? The STEVENSON-Wydler Act, of course.
Enjoy, Brian"
I probably have a stronger aversion to the idea that Gogo is Daryl than does any other person on this planet. In most cases, when somebody claims that this theory makes sense, I have a very strong urge to belabour them about the head with my louisville slugger.
Now... Onto the point... My first piece of evidence, I will admit, is rather abstract, but, I think it is still a good piece of evidence. If you look at the picture of Gogo in the player's guide put out by nintendo, you will see that Gogo's physical appearance is masculine in every way. Broad shoulders, a steely glare, and so on. So, unless Gogo is Daryl in drag, (by the way, nice dress, RM), then The second piece of evidence is this: if Gogo is Daryl, I would think they would have put in some more convincing hints. For instance, perhaps Gogo would have acted strangely around Setzer, because even through the amnesia which probably would have been caused by such a crash, I think there might at least be some sort of Deja vu feeling from Setzer, not to mention her Airship.
Another point is that not only do people in-game refer to Gogo as he, but the Nintendo Player's Guide does so as well. I think it can hopefully be agreed that Nintendo's Player's Guides are usually very accurate. I mean, they list the height, weight, and age of most of the characters, I think they'd probably know the genders as well. To further support Gogo's masculinity, I should like to make the point that he is unable to equip any of the armor in the game which is unequippable by males (dresses, veils, tiaras, etc.)
Another thing... If Daryl crashed on the island and then was swallowed by zone eater, where did she get those beautiful, elaborate, colorful clothes? I seriously doubt even the most skilled person would have been able to make those with no sewing equipment, not to mention that there's not likely to be a lot of fabric inside a zone eater's stomach.
Also, from whom would Daryl have learned the mimic skill? I don't recall it ever being mentioned that Daryl was a mimic, and once again, being on a deserted island, in the belly of a monster, one is not likely to have access to new knowledge.
Yet another thing... If Gogo is, in fact, Daryl, then who the hell's corpse is in Daryl's tomb? Now, if it were called "Daryl's Monument", I'd accept the idea that it had no corpse within it, but a tomb, by definition, is a place which houses a dead body.
My final point is this: in the World of Balance, there are no zone eaters on triangle island. Quite obviously, Daryl crashes in the world of balance. There is no way she could have been devoured by zone eater, because there weren't any. I'd assume that the zone eaters probably live underground most of the time, and that the shifting of the world's appearance either moved them nearer to the surface, or moved their underground home to reside directly beneath triangle island.
Now, it could be possible that she crashed in the WoB and was not devoured by the zone eater until the WoR, but this poses two questions:
1. How did she survive the intangirs?
2. If she was simply wandering triangle island in the WoB, then why are you unable to meet her on the surface there?
Many apologies for the rambling and mixed up writing style, and for the fact that this letter is probably much too long.
Respectfully yours,
The FR HRD"
Strong arguments against the Daryl theory. I’m starting to have doubts myself. But it still seems to be a pretty big coincidence that we see an important person in Setzer’s past crashes on the same island where you find a useful secret character. As for where did she find the clothes, well, the zone eater had bridges, goblins, and switches inside him, I would imagine that some fabrics got swallowed too. But perhaps not.
2) And Gogo could not have been an esper, as ass-parade suggested. The espers all died at the end, but in the last shot of the party on the airship, you see gogo standing at the aft for just an instant (the aft was off-screen until the ship zips off).
--Koji...and Durahan too."
OK, we’ve heard a lot of different theories and arguments against those theories. Let’s see what we’ve got.
Daryl: Is seen crashing on the island but we assume her body is found by Setzer though we never really see it and Setzer never comes right out and says something like “I can use playing cards against my enemies and here’s the corpse of my dead wife who is not Gogo.”
An Esper: It fits with the over all story of the game and Gogo has an amazing power that certainly seems esper-like. On the other hand he doesn’t blow up with the other espers at the end and Terra is the only half esper… that we know about!
A monster from FFV: Well, they share the same name and appearance, but FFV is conceivably a different, although similar, world. We could just chalk it up to coincidence unless Lorad Desmos’ claim about prequels is true.
The king of thieves: A sandworm would explain why he suddenly traveled hundreds of miles to the triangle island but I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why a king of thieves would be a master mime.
Adlai Stevenson: He does seem strangely connected… but he’s a retired governor and Gogo is a video game character. It’s a big gap to bridge but the man did run for president twice, which more than most of us have done. Who’s to say that he couldn’t posthumously become a video game character if he wanted?
Marcel Marceau: The master mime and thespian. Only he holds the talent to perfectly mimic spells and actions he’s never seen before. But he’s not one of the official suspects so we’ll skip him.
Conclusion: Well, unlike most TV shows dedicated to mysteries, I’m not going to leave you with that lame “We’ll never be sure but we know it probably wasn’t anyone we just mentioned” endings. God, I hate those. I’m going to say that I have a strong gut feeling about him being either a monster from FFV or Daryl. I’ve heard a lot of good arguments from people tonight about it not being Daryl but I’m maybe too set in my ways to change my opinion now and I like the monster theory because that means that Final Fantasy is operating on a really interesting timeline and I like having monster characters in the party.
ADDED: I think Gogo probably *is* Emperor Gestahl.
The Emporer was flung off the floating Island, but we never actually see him die.
It was the first thing I thought of, It seems quite logical stuff like this happens in games/movies.
Gestahl is betrayed by someone who he thought was his servant (Kefka)
We see that he also realises what madness the whole plan really was.
It's very possible that Gestahl was swallowed by Zone Eater and assumed the identity of Gogo because otherwise Terra, Celeste + Co. would never have picked him up.
When Kefka blew him off (hehe) it's possible that Gestahls magic power was removed by the power of the statues (Remeber how his magic did nothing? Maybe aswell the statues can permanently bind magic too).
It would make sense that Gogo would then want to join them and get his revenge once he was found, and maybe make upfor the wrong he did world.
The "Mimic" ability is propbably just something cool Square wanted to add. I don't have a good theory as to why he'd learn it, but there probably is one.
Maybe the statues/Kefka overload Gestahl with Magic so he became some his own magic was removed, but he became some kind of Magic/ability superconductor.
If you look at it, it fits quite perfectly. Gestahl and Gogo are even of similiar build and shape.
Or maybe Gogo is Shadows friend from his dreams? Then again I don't think I got all the dreams.
