Characters of the Final Fantasy IV series
Final Fantasy IV, a role-playing video game released by Square in 1991, revolves around Cecil Harvey, a knight of Baron who embarks on a quest to defeat Golbez, a man that is controlling the king of Baron. During Cecil's quest, he is joined by his childhood friends Kain Highwind and Rosa Farrell, as well as other warriors from around the world who also seek to stop Golbez. The visuals of the characters were designed by Yoshitaka Amano. After its initial release, Final Fantasy IV was later ported to multiple consoles. In 2007, Square Enix released an enhanced remake for the Nintendo DS that added voice acting to both the Japanese and English versions.
The game's 2008 sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is set seventeen years after Final Fantasy IV and includes most of the characters from the original game as well as introducing several new characters. The story of The After Years primarily revolves around [|Ceodore Harvey], the son of Cecil and Rosa. In 2011, a third game in the series was released. Set one year after Final Fantasy IV and sixteen years prior to The After Years, Final Fantasy IV Interlude, was released for the PlayStation Portable, and featured several of the original Final Fantasy IV protagonists.
As Final Fantasy IV was the first game in the series on the Super Famicom, character designer Yoshitaka Amano took advantage of the console's graphical capabilities, designing much more elaborate characters than prior entries. Lead designer Takashi Tokita noted how he and the staff worked in making all of the game's cast fit into the story. The characters were well received by video game publications with several of them finding the cast innovative thanks to their characterization.
Concept and creation
According to Final Fantasy IV lead designer Takashi Tokita, Final Fantasy IV was the first Japanese role-playing game to feature such "deep characters". The graphical capabilities of the Super Famicom allowed character designer Yoshitaka Amano to create more elaborate designs than he had done for previous games released for the Famicom. Tokita stated that although his inexperience may have hurt the story, the characters' personalities and roles made the story more appealing. Tokita also pointed out the variety of characters helped to appeal to a wider demographic, stating that the team worked hard to make all side characters fit into the story, something that, at the time, was difficult to do in Japanese media. For the Nintendo DS remake, the characters were handled by Airi Yoshioka. In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, the characters were designed by Akira Oguro.Tokita stated that the inclusion of voice actors in the DS remake was pleasing for him, claiming that the voice-overs "allowed for a much more dramatic localization". The Japanese voice actors reflected Tokita's vision of the characters, but he noted that others did not feel the same way. English translator Tom Slattery had to change various parts of the original script for the voiced scenes in order for the characters' mouth movements to match the words they were speaking.
Playable characters
Cecil Harvey
Cecil Harvey is the protagonist of Final Fantasy IV and Interlude and a major character in The After Years. He was raised by the King of Baron to become a Dark Knight. Although Cecil is reluctant to master the Dark Sword, he excels as a Dark Knight and is eventually promoted to the command of Baron's airship fleet, the "Red Wings". When the King orders Cecil to rob the magical town of Mysidia of its Water Crystal at the cost of killing innocent people, Cecil begins to question the king's morality. After the King tricks him into bombing the village of Mist, Cecil openly rebels and forms an alliance of warriors to oppose Baron. His first recruit is Rydia, a child he rescues from Mist. During his quest, he becomes a Paladin by climbing Mt. Ordeals and overcoming the darkness in his heart. This represents one of the game's themes; "brute strength alone isn't power", as when he becomes a Paladin, Cecil's power actually decreases, although he gradually becomes more powerful than he ever was as a Dark Knight. Cecil reaches Baron and learns that the new leader of the Red Wings is a man named Golbez, and that Golbez's minion, Cagnazzo, had killed and impersonated the king. With his companions, Cecil is able to defeat Cagnazzo but Golbez continues to hunt for the Crystals and Cecil must continue his quest. He ultimately learns that he is the son of a Lunarian, Kluya, and that Golbez is his brother. Golbez himself is not evil, but is being controlled by Zemus, a Lunarian who wants to wipe out all life on the Blue Planet. Although Cecil initially cannot accept that Golbez is innocent, he later forgives him, acknowledging him as his brother after Zemus' defeat. Cecil then returns to Baron, marries with Rosa, and becomes the new King of Baron.Interlude depicts Cecil investigating the unexplained appearance of multiple monsters one year after the events of Final Fantasy IV. The game ends with Cecil discovering that Rosa is pregnant. Sixteen years later, in The After Years, Cecil and Rosa have a son named Ceodore. During an invasion of Baron, Cecil is defeated and possessed by the summoner Maenad, and his friends are forced to fight him to free him from the Maenad's control, though Cecil is left weakened afterwards. After he joins them, they travel to the True Moon and encounter the incarnation of Cecil's negative emotions, the Dark Knight, who seeks to become the real Cecil and take revenge against Golbez for abandoning him when they were young. With the help of his family Golbez, Rosa, and Ceodore, Cecil is able to make peace with his dark half and regain his full strength.
Cecil has also been featured in the fighting games Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 and Dissidia NT where he uses both his Dark Knight and Paladin forms. He also appears in the rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and its sequel, Curtain Call, as the main character representing Final Fantasy IV. He is voiced by Shizuma Hodoshima in Japanese and Yuri Lowenthal in English. Cecil also appears in Secret of Evermore as a weapons dealer and makes several references to Final Fantasy IV, including being king of Baron Castle, his wife Rosa, his battle with Zeromus, his being a paladin, and his adventures on the moon.
Kain Highwind
Kain Highwind is the leader of the Dragoon Knights of Baron as well as childhood friend of both Cecil and Rosa. He claims that being a dragoon makes him feel closer to his father, who died when he was very young. Although best friends with Cecil, Kain is in love with Rosa and must deal with his jealousy throughout the story. Like Cecil, Kain notices the King of Baron's unusually harsh behavior, but he is under the mind-control of Golbez, and thus becomes Cecil's enemy. Kain eventually breaks free of Golbez's control after Tellah weakens Golbez. At this point, Kain joins Cecil's group in their efforts to defeat Golbez. However, after Cecil claims the last Dark Crystal, Golbez resumes his control of Kain. When Zemus' mind-control of Golbez breaks, Kain is released and helps Cecil's group destroy Zemus. After the final battle Kain is overcome with remorse for his actions, and decides that he must atone on Mt. Ordeals before he can rejoin his friends permanently.At the end of Interlude, Kain, who is still living on Mt. Ordeals hears a mysterious voice calling to him. He reappears in The After Years as the "Hooded Man", assisting Ceodore while hiding his real identity. He is impersonated by the incarnation of his negative emotions, Dark Kain, who wishes to kill Cecil and have Rosa for himself. Kain defeats his dark alter-ego and merges with him, causing Kain to become a Holy Dragoon. After helping his friends to destroy the True Moon, Kain returns to Baron to assume command of the Red Wings.
Kain has also been featured in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy and Dissidia Final Fantasy NT as a playable character, as producer Tetsuya Nomura wished to add him to the fighting game. He is voiced by Kōichi Yamadera in Japanese and Liam O'Brien in English.
Rosa Farrell
In Final Fantasy IV, Rosa Farrell is the childhood friend of and love interest for Cecil. She is a white mage and archer. Experienced in healing magic, Rosa is often busy attending to Baronian soldiers who have been wounded in battle. When Rosa learns that Cecil was sent to Mist with a bomb ring, she immediately leaves Baron in search of him, but contracts desert fever. Cecil cures her, and she joins his party. During the battle of Fabul, she attempts to save Cecil from Kain, but Golbez kidnaps her and demands the Earth Crystal for her safe return. Cecil brings the Crystal but when the party meets Golbez a fight erupts. Tellah wounds Golbez with the forbidden spell Meteor, but dies in the process and the party is left at the mercy of a wounded Golbez. He is about to slay Cecil but stops and flees. Afterwards, Cecil saves Rosa, and she helps them defeat the Lord of Wind, Barbariccia. Immediately after this, Rosa uses her magic to teleport them out of the unstable tower and she remains in the party for the rest of the game. At the end of the game, she marries Cecil and becomes the Queen of Baron.After marrying Cecil, Rosa has a son named Ceodore; her pregnancy causes her absence from most of Interlude. In The After Years, she is kidnapped by Kain's dark self. Once back to safety, Rosa joins her old friends as they fight to save their world from the threat of the True Moon. During the encounter with the Dark Knight, Rosa intervenes when he attempts to murder Golbez, and the two of them battle the Dark Knight by themselves and later with Ceodore until Cecil is able to end the battle himself.
She is voiced by Yuhko Kaida in Japanese and Karen Strassman in English.