Benjamin Golbez Ya, Master Wizard!

This is Ben. Benjamin Golbez Ya, formerly the Dark Lord Golbez. Half-Lunarian, Master Wizard at Baron Castle and older brother to Cecil Harvey Ya, King of Baron, giving him the title of Prince.

He is one of the main characters in Fantasy Online Manga Wayrift, an amazing manga made by authors Syntych and Aywren, the latter of whom is actually a user here on dA! I highly recommend checking out her art, and reading Wayrift, which has built up a significant amount of material. Based originally on the SNES release of Final Fantasy II (IV), it has created its own mythology and basically made an entire universe, packed to the brim with stellar writing, amazing characters, and why are you still reading this? Go read Wayrift, it's better than my description. Here, I'll even give you a link to the site.

[link]

There. If you must, then stick around and hear about the picture.

...Nah, I think I'll rant about Wayrift just a little more first.

It's been around for about ten years, and is STILL ONGOING. As a result, it does NOT take into account the changes made to FFIV continuity since, though there are some odd similarities, as if somebody at Square Enix is secretly a fan...? Hm. After all, Wayrift actually came FIRST. Strange, I know.

Wayrift happens one year after the conclusion of a novel-style story called "Coming of the Darkstar", which itself happens five years after the conclusion of the game, serving to introduce Ben as he is now, and a number of concepts used in Wayrift. Shimmer is a manga that is currently incomplete and on hiatus, detailing Ben's time in the Tower of Zot as a child, being raised to become the Dark Lord Golbez. And then there's Dreigiau and Runne, taking place LONG before everything else, giving us further background on the Lunarians, and how they came to live on the moon. Also, it introduces Zemi Dreigiau into the universe, the source of all awesome. Unfortunately, his contact with the universe also stirs up trouble... Dreigiau is a four-book series that is actually published. Runne is a work in progress, being written on its own site, taking place after Dreigiau.

Well, that's enough about Wayrift for now. I bet you're sick of my ranting by now, right?

I attempted to imitate the style of Wayrift while drawing Ben, but it's not perfect. I did the shading in my own style, but I'm afraid I still don't have a handle on GIMP, so even coloring things is beyond me. Digitally, anyway. In my most recent colored picture, you'll probably see a striking resemblance to a couple of Wayrift characters. I swear, it's having an affect on my style...

Wayrift is property of Aywren and Syntych. Final Fantasy is property of Square Enix. This piece of art, while property of me, is dedicated to all the amazing people at Wayrift - including the other readers and commenters, and the Figments - and I promise I'll do it better next time.