The Final Fantasy franchise is one of the longest-running in the gaming industry and has many titles to its name, including various spin-offs and remakes. The series features many recurring elements, such as themes, creatures, job classes, summons, and more. Some of these have gone on to become staple elements within the franchise, with some creatures even becoming mascots for the beloved series, such as Moogles and Chocobos.
Shiva is one of the recurring summonable creatures within the series, but even though she appears many times in multiple titles, her design does not stay the same. Some of Shiva's designs have been a little less loved than others, so check out some of the best and worst versions of this ice summon just below. Spoilers ahead!
10 BEST: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT
Shiva was given a kind of punky makeover for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, almost giving off some Mad Moxxi vibes from the Borderlands franchise. Shiva retains her trademark blue skin and also keeps her signature Diamond Dust move, but her usual muted blue color scheme gets some additional splashes of color.
She now features purple streaks through her hair, some bright purple clothing, a golden hair decoration, and a golden ornament behind her that is part of her elaborate, though usual scantily clad, outfit. Additionally, Shiva has a floating sphere within reach that she uses to perform special abilities.
9 WORST: Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIV is the second MMORPG in the franchise and it features many elements from past titles, including familiar summons, though in this title they are "primals" that must be defeated. The first iteration players see of Shiva is arguably not a great one; she is the epitome of bad hair day (left image).
Furthermore, her visual design aside, it is later discovered that this version of Shiva is not even the true Shiva, but is just a manifestation of Ysayle (the vessel of "Shiva") and the other Heretics' prayers. The true Shiva resides as a soul within the dragon Hraesvelgr. Shiva does make another appearance, with Ryne channeling her on the First world to restore life to the Empty (right image). This version of Shiva has an improved visual design.
8 BEST: Final Fantasy VII Remake
The Final Fantasy 7 Remake did a great job of re-envisioning Shiva with the help of modern graphics. While her Final Fantasy 7 version had purple clothing and green hair, Remake returns her to her now-signature form of blue hues, though in some lights her skin almost seems to have a human complexion.
Shiva's blue skin could allude to her namesake, Shiva the Destroyer of Hindu belief. Shiva once consumed the Halahala poison to stop its destructive powers, so Parvati squeezed Shiva's neck to stop the poison from reaching his stomach, where the universe was believed to be. Though the poison was stopped, it forever turned his neck blue.
7 WORST: Final Fantasy Type-0
Though Shiva was already scantily clad, Final Fantasy Type-0's representation appears to be even more sexualized and she even wears a G-string beneath her see-through mini-skirt. Perhaps she seems even more sexualized than her previous forms as she takes 0n a more human appearance, with a normal skin tone.
It's easy to see how someone jumped from the idea of ice summon to ice-skating to normal skating, but it just doesn't translate well on screen. Shiva skates through the battlefield dealing damage to enemies, but she doesn't seem to retain any other element of what makes her truly "Shiva" other than her Diamond Dust move.
6 BEST: Final Fantasy VIII
Though Final Fantasy VIII's Shiva makes a bolder appearance in this title, with blonde parts to her hair and practically no clothing, this design of hers created a fan-favorite element where Shiva clicks her fingers after casting Diamond Dust to shatter the ice that holds enemies to damage them.
This was such a memorable moment that it was later recreated in Final Fantasy XIV for that title's version of Shiva. Other than her blonde highlights, Shiva retains her typical blue hues in her skin, clothing, and the rest of her hair.
5 WORST: Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XI's Shiva appears to be a retro throwback to earlier game designs in some visual respects, but it just feels a little lacking in design quality. This less-detailed Shiva just isn't memorable in any way really.
Shiva's backstory in this game is more interesting than her visual design; she was a young ruler of a kingdom in Vana'diel but was ousted from her throne by her Uncle and banished to the cold northlands, where she froze to death. When her faithful men went to find her, they refused to leave her despite knowing she was dead. Moved by the situation, the goddess Altana turned Shiva into the avatar of ice.
4 BEST: Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X not only gave Shiva a rather awesome visual makeover while keeping in line with her signature blue looks (left image), it introduced a rather interesting back story too. All of the aeons within the game are created from the Fayth. The Fayth are people who willingly gave up their bodies and souls to be sealed within statues and put into a constant state of dreaming to help stop Sin.
Summoners can then use the power of pyreflies to give physical form to the dreams of the Fayth, creating aeons to help them in their pilgrimage. Shiva's fayth, in particular, was originally a Macalanian priestess; the image on the right is of Shiva's Fayth.
3 WORST: Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XIII remixed the designs of all of the summons by having them be almost Transformer-like in that they change into vehicles that the characters could ride upon. For some reason, Shiva was split into two different beings in this title– the Shiva sisters; Stiria and Nix, respectively.
Other than being reminiscent of the Diva from The Fifth Element film, these two aren't exactly in keeping with Shiva's staple visual design features, except that Nix has bluish skin. The Shiva Sisters turn into a motorbike for Snow.
2 BEST: Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy XV's Shiva is unique in that she is able to have multiple forms at any one time. The players find her frozen ice giantess form that the Niflheim Empire defeated (left image), but later learn that Gentiana, Lunafreya's High Messenger, is also Shiva who has been alive the whole time despite her defeat in goddess form (middle image). Additionally, Shiva can appear in multiple forms all at once, as shown by when she appears before Noctis (right image).
Interestingly, in the Chinese version of Final Fantasy XV, Shiva was given a more human-like skin tone and was textured as though she was wearing a bodysuit as a form of censorship.
1 WORST: Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XII didn't feature the normal summons that players were used to, at least not in the way that fans would expect. The summonable creatures in this title, or espers as they were called for this game, were not familiar summons at all, drawing inspiration from bosses of past titles instead.
However, the series' usual summons did appear in some way, in that all of the Archadian Imperial Fleet airships were named after them, including Shiva. That makes this the worst version of Shiva to be included in the franchise.