Maenad

Maenad (マイナス, Mainasu ?) refers collectively to a group of villains from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. During most of the game their identities are unknown, and they go by the name of Mysterious Girl (謎の少女, Nazo no Shojō ?). They have come to Earth from the True Moon to seize the Crystals, and move swiftly in gathering them. The Maenads resemble the Summoner Rydia, and share her power to summon Eidolons.

Appearance and Personality
The Maenads are said to physically resemble Rydia, and in Final Fantasy IV -Interlude- a Maenad disguises herself as Rydia, but Edge can see through her guise, so the resemblance is not exact. Unlike Rydia, their hair is teal rather than green and they wear full-length featureless white dresses with a red necklace, and walk barefoot.

The Maenads are detached and cold and have a habit of remarking how they find things "incomprehensible". They are candid and rude, referring to other party members as inferior species who do not deserve to have powers such as the Eidolons or the Crystals, and often claiming they have no need to answer their questions. Many of them show a robotic personality, as they talk about their mission and how they allow no obstacles. The Maenads do not recognize the party as a serious threat for much of the game, incapacitating them only to seize a Crystal and leaving them alive. They warn the party and instruct them to hand over the Crystal(s) they have or otherwise to not obstruct them, only resorting to violence when the party does not listen — in Edge's Tale, the Maenad Gekkou spies on is aware of his presence, but mentions waiting to see if he would confront her before acknowledging him, and leaves without harming him if he does not.

While most of them are hostile to the main characters, the Maenads are pragmatic when it comes to achieving their goals: they recognize Cecil's use as a specimen to aid in their gathering of the Crystals, and agree to allow Kain to duel with Cecil on the condition he retrieve the remaining Crystals for them. In the Depths, while some Maenads are fought as random encounters, others speak to the party without hostility, showing they only attack when ordered.

Etymology
In Greek mythology, the maenads were female nymphs who followed the god Dionysus, and were known to go into frenzies from losing self-control. The name maenad has come to be associated with women both supernatural and historical that followed him.