text: Later in the game, it is discovered that the true reason for Zidane's existence is revealed: he is a Genome, an artificially constructed cloned life form doll-like humanoid. He was originally created by the wizard Garland on the planet Terra to replace his failed creation, the villain Kuja, as a more powerful "Angel of Death", whose purpose is to wipe out all life on the planet Gaia. As part of the Terran's original plan to save their dying civilization, the young planet of Gaia was selected for on assimilation. The Terrans left their physical bodies and locked their souls in Pandemonium to be watched over by Garland until the Fusion's completion. The Fusion was a disastrous failure, leaving Gaia's surface in ruin and ending up with Terra shifting inside the planet of Gaia. Garland was tasked with removing the souls of Gaia's "cycle of souls" and replacing them with Terra's. The Genomes are empty, soulless vessels synthesized by Garland to eventually host the Terran souls, and he planted the Iifa Tree, a gigantic brain-like tree filtering the souls of Gaia.
  Bitter and jealous of his successor, Kuja casts Zidane down to Gaia, where he is found and adopted by Baku. The revelation drives Zidane to despair and he briefly abandons the party, but later returns as the group managed to mollify him. After the party is rescued from the Iifa Tree by Kuja, Zidane choose to go back inside the collapsing structure to save Kuja. For nearly a year it is believed that he did not survive; however, he makes a dramatic reappearance on stage in Alexandria at the end of the game, reuniting with Garnet.