The play

"I Want To Be Your Canary" is a very famous play in the Final Fantasy IX world. It's a tragic story, not unlike Romeo and Juliet, about a boy and a girl who have fallen in love, but can't be together because of their differences. In this particular play, replace Romeo with a man named Marcus and Juliet with a princess named Cornelia.

Marcus is nothing but a commoner and Princess Cornelia is of high royalty, but the two somehow meet and fall in love. Princess Cornelia's father, King Leo however, wanted to wed Cornelia to the prince of a neighbouring kingdom. Not only did he approve of a prince more than a common boy, but such a wedding to unite two kingdoms would cease the war between them. Marcus is most distraught by this fact, as is Cornelia, but the two attempt to run away together anyway. Marcus' friend Blank tries to stop him, telling him not to be selfish, that if Cornelia and the prince marry, all war will be over, but Marcus is far more concerned about the ache in his heart than anything else.

opening performance

This play is performed by Tantalus in the beginning of the game (as well as the end). It was performed inside the castle walls, and although they were entertaining a crowd of nobles including the Queen herself, their real intention was to kidnap the princess. The play was a perfect cover-up for going inside the castle. Queen Brahne and (supposedly) Princess Garnet were watching the play.

The irony about this play is that its plot is very similar to Zidane and Garnet's love story. After all, Zidane is nothing but a common thief, and Garnet is the princess of all of Alexandria. A romantic relationship between the two would be hard to maintain without the rest of the kingdom's approval. Garnet even takes on the role of Cornelia for a brief moment during her escape in the beginning of the game, but had to dash off when her cloak caught on fire.

As well, this play is performed once more at the end of the game. Instead of Marcus playing the role of Marcus, Zidane takes on the role of Marcus and at the very end, sends his message of love to Garnet who was watching the play from atop her throne.

end performance

The end of the play shows the character Marcus waiting patiently for his dear Cornelia to meet him. They had promised to run away together in order to live their lives with one another, but the girl was not showing up. Worried, and heartbroken, Marcus expresses the sadness within his heart and the play essentially ends with the line, "Bring back my Dagger to me!"

In the context of the play, the line probably meant that Marcus, the character, planned to commit suicide since Cornelia didn't come. However, in this particular performance of "I Want To Be Your Canary", the line means something different. Zidane, who had been playing Marcus, whips off the cloak that was covering his face and a surprised Princess Garnet immediately rushes down to the stage to be reunited with her true love. This story within a story draws its parallel with Garnet and Zidane's own life, but the funny thing is that nobody (at least not Garnet) realized how similar her situation was to Princess Cornelia's.

"I Want To Be Your Canary" also has its references to the original Final Fantasy -- the first one to be exact. In the original Final Fantasy, there was a kingdom named Corneria whose Princess Sara was kidnapped by a man named Garland. Interestingly enough, Garnet's true name happens to be Sarah with an 'h'. In FF9, Garnet was kidnapped from the kingdom of Alexandria while the play was in progress. And of course, though Garland was not a character in "I Want To Be Your Canary", he makes an appearance in Final Fantasy IX as well.