Light of Determination: Ingus

One of the four Warriors of Light; A soldier from Castle Sasune who had managed to dodge the curse of the Djinn. At a loss for what to do, he joins three couragous youths to enter the Sealed Cave to confront the Djinn, as well as find the missing Princess Sara.

Much like Arc, Ingus is based on an NPC from the Famicom game:

Although, unlike Arc, Ingus is met pretty much the same way.

Ingus' age is never directly given, although an unused interaction implies that he was four years old during Cid's flashback.

Ingus' personal sigil is his green tear-shaped pendant.

Of the four heroes, Ingus is the "calm and cool" one. The older figure mentor. The one with a perpetual resting bitch face. It's never explicitly stated why Ingus is so serious compared to the other three, though one could assume his upbringing as a soldier has something to do with it.

Ingus is the focused type. He has his eye on the ball at all times and this tends to inform his interactions with the rest of the party. This is most apparent in the unused text where the party will occasionally get caught up in squabbles and Ingus is the one to break it up and get them to focus. Likewise, when the party is faced with threats, Ingus is usually one to stand firm and encourage the others, such as when they travel through a storm that drains their energy or in an unused scene where the party has no clue what to do after Goldor seemingly shatters the crystal.

Ingus is also a supportive type. This is a detail more obvious in the unused text where he sticks up for Luneth after the events of Castle Hein or convinces Refia that a spoony bard wasn't just mocking her. This shows a bit in-game where after Luneth makes a crack about how short Arc and Alus are, Ingus warns him against mocking Arc, stating that what he's doing is noble.

However, Ingus isn't perfect. There's indications in-game that are stronger in the unused text that Ingus has self-esteem issues, primarily relating to the fact that he did nothing while the impulsive Sara immediately went out to save her kingdom. This, interestingly, is one of his recurring character traits in spinoffs, as his line in one of Sara's conversations is reused and paraphrased in his other appearances, such as Record Keeper or Brave Exvius.

Additionally, Ingus has issues of skepticism. This is kept to a brief implication in the remake (mentioning that Desch's "floating continent" theorem was hard to believe), but it is especially explicit in the unused text when the party meets Doga. Ingus continuously questions Doga, believing him to be working with, or possibly even being Xande.

Lastly, Ingus also has little tolerance for nonsense. Some of the humor from the early portions of the game comes from Ingus disapproving of the shenanigans that the party gets up to, such as chastising them for spooking each other out in unused text after defeating the giant rat and chastising Desch for lying to Arc to make him feel better in unused text for Tozus. This culminates in Amur, where it turns out that Ingus was to venture into the Amur Sewers by himself, annoyed at how naive the rest of the party are (ignoring or forgetting that they are in their early-mid teens) and sets out to make a point. Luckily, his interactions with the Four Old Men of Amur give him a new appreciation for the party and he acknowledges his arrogance.

Red Mage is Ingus' 'iconic' job, being the one he uses in the CGI intro. Ingus was raised in Castle Sasune, where Red Mages are revered, with one soldier mentioning that all of Sasune's soldiers strive to become one. The Red Mage is also a Jack of All Trades, Master of None; Which fits for someone like Ingus who acts as a support but doubts his own capabilities. Like Arc and unlike Luneth and Refia, Ingus retains the Red Mage job for his revised unit in Brave Exvius, in addition to taking on elements on its outfit in his standard unit progression.

In Final Fantasy Record Keeper, Luneth was the only member of the quartet to keep his "traditional" job, with the other three shifting. In Ingus' case, he became a Knight, playing off of his duty as a soldier to Castle Sasune. As a further result of this, due to the nature of FFRK's elemental system, Ingus became associated with the Earth element, though he also has access to Holy abilities due to the Knight job in general.

Ingus is notable for being the lone party member in the Memory of Heroes adaptation to not start with his traditional job. Instead, he has a preference for the Thief job.

The Memory of Heroes adaptation heavily implies that the parties across all three adaptations are reincarnations of each other or inherit the wills (or rather, Light) of their previous incarnations through the crystals. The Final Fantasy I party is more closely echoed with the Final Fantasy III cast and thus Ingus becomes a parallel to Zauver the Thief. Ingus defaults to this job until some point offscreen where he switches to the Dark Knight job.

Probably the most interesting of Ingus' scrapped plotlines is the one associated with Falgabard. Prior to actually reaching the place, amidst soothing his concerns, Doga mentions out of the blue that Ingus' eyes are like that of a Dark Blade user. Ad odd observation, especially as Dark Blades won't be available for quite some time, but the seed is planted here.

Later, the party actually reaches the town of Falgabard, and Ingus begins to feel a sense of familiarity with the village. Refia wonders if its déjà vu while Arc wonders if anyone would remember Ingus if he visited before. Ingus points out that his oldest memory was serving the king of Sasune since age four, and that he hasn't left the Floating Continent at that time. Luneth comes to a realization that if Ingus can only remember as far back as four years old, there exists the possibility that he was in the village prior to going to Castle Sasune. Ingus remains skeptical...

However, as time passes, Ingus seems to change his mind. He mentions that after the party's duties as Warriors of Light are finished, he intends to revist the village once more. Additionally, Ingus harbors a desire to learn the Dark Sword, initially framing it as a want, before deciding that it is a must. Arc points out that the Dark Knight job will allow him to do so easily, but Ingus elaborates: He feels that Falgabard was his home and wishes to return to the village to train and master the Dark Sword with a pure heart. Refia for her part is excited for Ingus, but also acknowledges that she's jealous that he found his path and believes that she should take lessons from him. This causes Arc to make a comment about imitation not being enough that he and Luneth chuckle over.

Sara is the character Ingus shares the most interactions with outside of the main 4. While the original game generally had Sara take an interest in the Warriors of the Light, in the remake, she and Ingus share a close relationship. During the Djinn's curse, one of the castle staff states that Sara wouldn't mind if Ingus went up to her room while she was gone and Sara is distraught when Ingus must leave to fulfill his duties as a Warrior of the Light. For his part, this is one of the few moments in the game where Ingus does not use her title when addressing her.

Interestingly, Ingus' Brave Exvius description suggests that he tempers her advances due to his self-consciousness regarding his station compared to hers. This isn't immediately obvious in the game itself, however.

Luneth and Ingus' dynamic is one of the more obvious and well-known in III. Even the CGI intro spells it out; One scene has Luneth chewing Ingus out only for Ingus to shove him back, and the very next has Luneth nearly falling into lava only for Ingus to save him (Ingus even smiles). So it's accurate to say that they're the type to butt heads, but also rely on each other when the chips are down, right?

Well, yes, but not quite.

Factoring in the unused text, Luneth and Ingus are a surprisingly functional duo. Occasionally they do argue (most notably in Amur when Ingus mutters about Luneth being light-hearted, prompting Luneth to try to fight him before Refia breaks it up) and Luneth does tease or annoy him, but for the most part, they get along well. In fact, some of Luneth's humbler and more introspective moments are specifically with Ingus alone, such as admitting his recklessness in Castle Hein or speaking privately with Ingus about whether he remembers the mountain range near the Cave of Shadows, giving them a more private or personal dynamic compared to the others.

Arc and Ingus' dynamic isn't very clear in the final game, despite being an interesting one. On Ingus' side, he's somewhat protective of Arc, not approving of Desch lying to him or Luneth teasing him. However, Arc is not appreciative of this. On the contrary, due to his issues of being ashamed of his cowardliness, Arc sometimes gets resentful of this, particularly in the unused text for Replito (where Ingus refuses to let him leave the party to learn how to Summon, a process hinted to take years) and especially in Saronia (where Arc hits his boiling point and leaves the party; while Refia is part of this, more emphasis is placed on Ingus). Ingus does show regret for it happening and, after spoting Arc during a situation where he didn't have enough money, the two don't butt heads after that. In fact, Arc is the one who first brings up the possibility of Ingus having been born in Falgabard.

Plus, they do a Twinstrike Fire spell in the intro. So there's that.

As the Team Dad to her Team Mom, Ingus gets along quite well with Refia. The two are generally more responisble than the two Ur boys, leading to a generally supportive dynamic, whether it be looking out for the boys or encouraging each other. Refia encourages Ingus to be more competent and see Sara off in unused text for Sasune and Ingus returns the favor when Refia has her doubts about the bard in the unused text for Duster.

There's not much to work with here.

In Final Fantasy Record Keeper, there is an event known as the X Records, originally part of a larger event known as the Hall of the Beyond. This event pits the party against Nemesis of Final Fantasy X fame. What makes this event unique is the dialogue: FFRK has dialogue play in stages, usually during story re-enactments. However, the X Records is the one of two instances where dialogue will play if characters from different realms are in the party, and the only one of those two where it will happen with very specific parties. Ingus, Y'shtola and Ramza are one of those specific parties.

Ingus' dialogue is taken from the scene where the party crashes in Saronia and his conversation with Sara (see above).

Ingus, like the rest of the DS Warriors of the Light, has a loose connection to the Onion Knight seen primarily in the Dissidia series as they rarely interact. In FFRK, Ingus is one of the Planeteers to Onion Knight's Captain Planet. However, interestingly, Ingus is the first (and as of the time of this writing, only from what I can tell) member of the four to have a soul break that flips the dynamic and has Onion Knight empower him.

Ingus also borrows a number of Onion Knight's moves in Airborne Brigade, but this isn't as strong of a point as Luneth also borrows moves from Onion Knight, and more often too.

Additionally, while Luneth borrows from Onion Knight, Onion Knight borrows from Ingus; Specifically his outfit. Onion Knight's DLC outfit for Dissidia 012, known in english as "Ingus" and in Japan as "Deformation Style", is evidentally based on the Light of Determination's job outfits. Unlike with Luneth-style, however, Onion retains his hair and facial features.

(While not visible in the above render, Onion Knight retains Ingus' pendant in the Ninja outfit).

Is there a deeper connection between the two magic swordsmen? Or is it just a nod to the fact that both wear red? Square-Enix are the only ones who can answer that question, but...