13B: The Cradle Will Fall Part II

13B: The Cradle Will Fall Part II

Frumious Bandersnatch Battle

-- Jabberwocky / Bandersnatch  Boss Fight --

One of the more endearing parts of the Final Fantasy Series is its inclusion of beasts and figures from the worlds fable and fairy tales, and these mobs are just such a thing.  While you may not know where they originated, certainly the names will be familiar to you!

The Bandersnatch is a fictional character that is mentioned in the the stories Jabberwocky and The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll.  The word "bandersnatch" is intended as a portmanteau that describes the two natures of the beast - its fuming and furious nature.  It may interest you to know that the word "Jabberwocky" does not (and never was intended to) represent a creature, dangerous or not, but is rather the name of the nonsense language invented by Carroll and used in many of his stories.

The stories were written in the 1870's, and have since served as influences, elements, and flavoring for a very large number of writers and stories.  In the world of science fiction they are perhaps as influential and as often used as elements of the characters and stories of L. Frank Baum and Edgar Rice Burroughs - and certainly their use here is both appropriate and amusing.

Their normal attacks do considerable damage, while their special attacks have the capacity to kill a character outright if they are even just a little damaged, so you will not only want to keep a careful eye upon your health bars, you will also want to be certain that you maintain your buffs for this battle!

Of the pair the Jabberwocky seems to be the easier to stagger and kill, so I suggest going for it first.  The Bandersnatch seems to have a much deeper HP pool and is a bit harder to stagger, so having the Jabberwocky out of the way when you settle down to taking out the Bandersnatch seems to make the most sense to me.

When you complete the battle you are teleported back to the previous zone.  You will of course see the save point ahead, and want to use it, but as you approach it you trigger a CS - pay attention to what the party is saying, as it explains the motives of the Big Guy and how he is trying to manipulate you.  Also note that Fang's tattoo appears to be more rapidly accelerating towards the end-point.  That is not good news...

After the CS ends use the nearby save point and then take a look at the map - we want to head down the long path to the marker on the map now, as our arrival there triggers a CS in which the statues appear and re-structure the zone again, adding new elements to it.

Follow the left hand path around fighting your way to the other side, where you should use the save point prior to heading to the statue and examining it.  That will teleport you to a new area in which you will fight Wladistaus - something of a tough fight...

Once you finish this fight hit the save point and then follow the path ahead to trigger a CS in which the zone is reconfigured.  A ramp is added on the right - head up that and grab 3,000 Gil from the Treasure Sphere.

At the next landing there is a pair of mobs that will likely give you a run for your money.  At the next landing up is another Sphere with 5,000 Gil, and then fight your way along.  At the top you will face a trio of Templar - this can be a tough fight if you do not stay ahead of the debuffs - but once you finish it hit the save point. 

Run ahead and examine the statue and you will be teleported and face the Tiamat Eliminator.  There is really nothing that I can say about this battle - it is long and arduous and requires you to keep careful track of your health.   I don't know how you felt about this fight but considering that it was a boss fight I was a little disappointed - it was a lot easier than I was expecting...