Gaia (or Gaea)
[ Mythology : Greek ]
Gaia is the earth, who came out of Chaos. She gave birth to Ouranos the sky god who became her husband. Together they had a passionate relationship, but because of the strength of Ouranos' embrace, their children could not escape the earth womb until the youngest son, Cronos, freed them by emasculating his father. From Ouranous' blood, Gaia also gave birth to the Furies, goddesses who sought revenge on murderers.
Cronos turned out to be much like his father, and swallowed his own children. Gaia advised Rhea, Cronos' husband, to give Cronos a stone wrapped in linen instead of their youngest born, Zeus. Rhea did so and Cronos swallowed the rock without noticing. Zeus then overthrew Cronos, and freed his brothers and sisters from his stomach.
Gaia again helped Zeus, warning him that a child of his born from his lover Metis would take over. Zeus then swalloed Metis, and Athena sprang from his head. Zeus had been saved, by Gaia, from a fate similar to Cronos and Ouranos', holding his place as the supreme god.
In Final Fantasy, Gaia is usually associated with the Earth. In Final Fantasy IX, Gaia is the name of the world (opposite to the foreign land of Terra). The feature film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within also potrayed Gaia in a big way. In that movie, Gaia was essentially the life force of the planet, and was threatened by an invading force.
Learn more about mythology and ancient religions at Ancient-Mythology.com. Greek, Norse, Roman, Mesopotamian and more.