INFORMATION;

This ice-elemental summon is usually portrayed as a scantily clad blue-skinned woman. Like series regular Ramuh, she is one of the most human-like of all the summons in appearence, yet not so human that she is a "human" summon; Ramuh is a fully human summon. In fact, she wavers on the human/non-human border from game to game. Final Fantasy VII saw the first truly detailed visage of Shiva, where the blue-skinned summon appears as a shapely woman, dressed in lavender-colored fabric draped over to style into a haltered midriff-baring top ensemble. Her long hair, which is a darker blue than her skin, is pulled back tightly into a trailing ponytail and her forehead is decorated with a Hindu bindi.

In FFVIII, she was purposedly made to look less human while the human summons were replaced with more animal-like beasts to stay within the ambience of the game. Ramuh, for example, was replaced by Quetzocatl. The clothing was replaced with natural dark-colored markings in strategic places while the hair was shortened and reduced to a few thick strands of bright-yellow. Garnet's eidolon Shiva returned to the basic style of FF7, the revealing bikini-like outfit in a darker icy blue decorated in shimmering designs, as well as her icy skin being marked in swirling patterns. Over her long ponytailed hair, she wore a three-tiered crown shaped to resemble snowflakes, as well as little snowflake earrings. The binidi returned, this time a diamond-shaped crystal instead of a simple round dot. Decorated bands ring the end of her ponytail as well as the tops of each of her fingers.

Shiva usually appears in a flurry of ice shards and then sprays the enemies with her attack, usually "Diamond Dust" (SnowStrm in FFIV). In FFIII, where two levels of Summoners exist, the lower-level Conjurers' attacks cast effects on the enemies other than "Diamond Dust." They can cast "Hypno Beam" which casts Sleep on all enemies or "Icy Glare," a pared-down ice elemental attack which only targets one enemy. Being an ice-elemental, Shiva is particularly strong against Fire-elemental enemies and attacks, while not as powerful against non-elemental attacks. Ice is usually strong against plant-type enemies as well as fire. Though not usually among ths hardest-hitters, her attacks are swift and consume a smaller portion of a caster's MP (magic points) which makes her a good option versus a group of lower-level enemies since her attacks affect all enemies.

The incarnation of Shiva seen is FFX is a very human-like, as well as the most detailed versions of the summon to date. She wears the same basic style of dress from FF7 and FF9, with an added piece of fabric swinging from one hip. Her hair is lush, pulled into dreadlocks and bound by golden rings, the ends looped through anchors. When she is summoned, she floats down from the sky into a shell of ice, initially a transparent form of herself. Then, she opens her eyes becomes is opaque, taking on her usual icy-blue colors. She wears a shimmery white cloak decorated with iridescent patterns which she tosses to Yuna before beginning the battle. In this game she fights like a regular party member; her physical attack is a spinning kick attack. She moves gracefully while battling, coolly tossing her head and runnning a hand through her heavy locks when the battle is done. If her HP reaches 0, she sinks to one knee as she dissolves away for the other warriors to resume the battle.

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