Vivi Orunitia is a character in Final Fantasy X. He is designed after a typical Black Mage of the Final Fantasy series. His name appears as Vivi Ornitier in Latin letters in the Japanese artbook. His surname in English has lent to some confusion since it also appears as Ornitier in the original English instruction booklet included with the game, but was later changed to Orunitia in the Greatest Hits version and other English publications (this does not include the European Platinum versions).
Vivi Orunitia first appears at the beginning of the game, and becomes embroiled in Tantalus's plan to kidnap Princess Garnet when he travels to Alexandria to attend a performance of the play I Want to be Your Canary. Being a Black Mage, he shares a similar appearance to humans but also differs in that he has a black skin-like outer surface of unknown material, no visible facial features beyond glowing yellow eyes, and the ability to cast magic without training. Despite being just nine years old, Vivi is incredibly powerful and mature for his age. With some encouragement from Zidane and Adelbert Steiner (who calls him 'Master Vivi' out of respect for his magical prowess), he joins the group and begins to search for the truth about his origins.
Black Mages are used in the Final Fantasy IX universe as "dummy" footsoldiers. They are mainly employed by Queen Brahne in her attempt to conquer the Mist Continent. The other Black Mages in the game are somewhat larger than Vivi and wear purple jackets rather than blue. Vivi desperately wishes to find out if he was simply created in a machine as just another soldier, and sets out with Zidane to see if this is true or not. The truth is revealed to him by Kuja and the Black Mages in the Black Mage Village later on in his adventures. Vivi learns that the Black Mages "stop" after approximately one year, somewhat equivalent to death in humans. However, a conversation with the Black Mage leader suggests that Vivi was the black mage prototype, which may be why he has lived to be 9 years old.
Redesigned by Tetsuya Nomura, Vivi makes an appearance in the Disney/Square-Enix crossover Kingdom Hearts II. However, the Vivi in Kingdom Hearts II does not seem to show any of the magical abilities of his FFIX counterpart, nor is referred to as a Black Mage. Vivi is apparently a member of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee led by Seifer Almasy, though it is said that he is not so much a member as someone who ends up doing Seifer's biddings due to his meekness. The virtual simulation of Vivi's was briefly used on occasion by several Nobodies in order to do battle with Roxas. Vivi is voiced by Melissa Disney in the English version and by Ikue Otani in the Japanese version. He is also a notable playable character in Itadaki Street Special.