< Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy IV/Characters


This is a trope sheet for the cast of Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.

Debuting in the original game

The Heroes

Cecil Harvey

"Stay back. This is a fight for me and me alone."

The main character of the game. Cecil is a dark knight of the Baron Empire, torn between his loyalty to his kingdom and feelings against having to commit atrocities against several nations. Eventually decides he's had enough and defects from Baron to try and stop them and later Golbez from gathering the Crystals. He and Golbez appear in the Dissidia series as representatives for Final Fantasy IV and will be returning for the Spin-Off Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.

Voiced by: Shizuma Hodoshima (Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal (English)

Kain Highwind

"Cecil, Rosa. I cannot bring myself to face you both, not yet. I must test myself as you did, Cecil, at Mt. Ordeals. I will train until I've surpassed my father as a Dragoon. When that time comes, then I shall return to Baron."

Cecil's long-time friend and ally, and commander of Baron's Dragoons. Involved in a Love Triangle with Cecil and Rosa. He appeared in the sequel to Dissidia as one of the main characters to the new plot.

Voiced by: Koichi Yamadera (Japanese), Liam O'Brien (English)

Rosa Farrell

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Kristy Pape (English)

Cecil's girlfriend and a White Mage of Baron, who has vowed to stay by his side even if he doubts his own motives.

Rydia

A young girl from the Mist Village, home to many a summoner. She will be appearing in the Dissidia Final Fantasy Spin-Off Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a playable sub-character.

Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya (Japanese), Daniella Macey (English)

Edward "Edge" Geraldine

Ninja prince of Eblan.

Voiced by: Hiroya Ishimaru (Japanese), Taliesin Jaffe (English)

Tellah

A wise old sage who has mastered both the arts of White and Black Magic. He meets Cecil at the Underground Waterway north of Kaipo to help him find a cure for Rosa's desert fever.

Voiced by: Goro Naya (Japanese), Lee Everest (English)

  • Badass Grandpa
  • Blessed with Suck: Tellah just learned nearly every spell in the game! Oh, but he only has 90 MP...
  • Cool Old Guy
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Storyline-wise, Tellah just doesn't have the strength to use Meteor without killing himself. Gameplay-wise, Tellah isn't able to cast Meteor due to it costing 99 MP, and he only has 90 max. The developers overlooked the idea that in some releases, players can use items on him to boost his max MP. Oops.
  • Grumpy Old Man
  • Large Ham:

"I am ready to face Golbez! I am DOOM ITSELF!"

  • Lennon Specs
  • Old Master: Tellah did know almost all the spells in existence, once. He's just forgotten most of them in his old age. He later gets his memory back.
  • Revenge: He wants to kill Golbez in retaliation for the death of his only daughter, Anna.
  • Revenge Before Reason: Crosses this line at times.
  • Senseless Sacrifice: His last stand against Golbez, the almighty Meteor spell, fails to kill him. Not Senseless actually, considering that Tellah temporarily freed Kain from Golbez's mind control and wounded Golbez enough to save Rosa, who was rescued right before the killing contraption would have killed her.
  • Squishy Wizard

Edward Chris von Muir

The lovestruck Prince of Damcyan.

Voiced by: Ryo Horikawa (Japanese), Sam Riegel (English)

Yang Fang Leiden

A hot-blooded fighting monk from the kingdom of Fabul.

Voiced by: Tessho Genda (Japanese), Jackson Daniels (English)

Palom and Porom

Twin mages from the town of Mysidia. The impulsive Palom is a student of Black Magic, while his much calmer sister Porom is a student of White Magic.

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (Japanese), Megan Harvey (Porom, English), Hunter MacKenzie Austin (Palom, English)

Cid Pollendina

Cid is one of Cecil's closest friends, and a master engineer. While he has helped build the airships that make up the Baron Air Force, he hates seeing them being used for war.

Voiced by: Ichiro Nagai (Japanese), John Snyder (credited as Stephen Martello; English)

FuSoYa

An old Lunarian sage and the brother of KluYa, Cecil and Golbez's father.

Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

  • Badass Beard
  • Badass Uncle
  • Blatant Lies: In the SNES/GBA version, his advice when facing the CPU proves very useful when put into effect. In the DS version, if you value your sanity, do NOT listen to him this time around unless you want to be brutally creamed by the Attack Node's new attack which can turn into a Total Party Kill if not leveled enough.
  • Crutch Character: He'll fall down with two strong hits. His faint animation in the DS version literally vaporizes him into his clothes.
  • Eleventh-Hour Ranger
  • Expy: Fits the same character mold as Tellah, joining the party with all the spells in the game but with mediocre HP and too low MP to get a lot of usage out of his abilities.
  • The Red Mage
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Is it FuSoYa, Fusoya or Fu-So-Ya? KluYa experiences a similar problem.


The Villains

Golbez/Theodor

A dark sorcerer who is believed to have taken over the kingdom of Baron from within. He seeks out the four Elemental Crystals in an effort to rule the world. ...supposedly. He plays a pivotal role in the plot of the Dissidia Final Fantasy where he appears as the villain representing Final Fantasy IV.

Voiced by: Takeshi Kaga (Japanese), Peter Beckman (credited as Anthony Landor; English)

  • The Atoner
  • Badass: He takes Meteor to the face and shakes it off like it was nothing (all it does is break his mind control spell on Kain). In the original versions of Final Fantasy IV, his defeat in the Dwarven Castle reduces him to no more than a single hand, and he comes back seconds later. Plus, if he too is bound by the fact that a summoner dies when their summon kicks the bucket, he doesn't succumb to the loss of his Shadow Dragon and survives for the entire game. Oh, and he's one awesome mage.
  • Badass Baritone: In both English and Japanese.
  • Badass Cape
  • Barbarian Hero: As the Man in Black. He even uses a BFS called the Ebony Blade.
  • Big Bad: Actually, he's the Brainwashed and Crazy Dragon.
  • Big Brother Instinct: In The After Years, it shows that he truly does care deeply for Cecil.
  • Black Knight
  • Brainwashed and Crazy
  • Crutch Character: In The After Years. When you first set out to the True Moon, he's just shy of 3,000 HP and probably has at least an extra thousand health on everyone else and has Firaga, Blizzaga and Thundaga. This, in tandem with Taunt to draw enemy attacks, makes him an excellent meat shield and Black Mage. As well, many monsters on the moon are plain immune to lower-level magic, and Palom and Rydia won't learn those "-aga" spells until Level 41, making Golbez pretty much the only offensive spellcaster you have until you level them up another ten-fifteen levels.
  • Darth Vader Clone: His Dissidia art provides the current page image. Besides his appearance as seen in his DS render, he's a Badass Baritone and is Cecil's brother and is brainwashed by Zemus, the true Big Bad.
  • Depending on the Artist: His armor is either bright blue, dark blue or black, and the lining of his cape is either blue or red. In the Super NES release, his boss sprite had blue armor with a blue cape, but his player character sprite had brighter blue armor with a red cape. In his DS render seen above, he has black armor and a blue cape, but his in-game model has black armor and a red cape. His Dissidia adapts this by presenting his dark blue and black armor with the blue cape for his default outfit while his gold and black armor with a red cape is his alternate outfit.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Intercepts a Black Fang intended for Cecil in The After Years, and may not survive it if you don't have the proper party set-up.
  • Hidden Depths: A meta example, remakes of the original game and his appearances in Dissidia and The After Years have turned him into one of the more complex characters in the Final Fantasy IV universe, while in the game's original release, he was little more than a generic Tin Tyrant Evil Overlord. Even after his stint of Brainwashed and Crazy ended, he didn't show much personality besides hints of The Atoner in the original Super NES release. The After Years takes this further during his final moments with his former henchmen, the Elemental Archfiends. In particular, Scarmiglione notes that even though he was hideous, Golbez looked past that and invited him into his ranks, hinting that even while brainwashed, Golbez still held some goodness in his heart.
  • Leitmotif: "Golbez, Clad in Darkness".
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Golbez is Cecil's older brother, Theodor.
  • Magic Knight: In The After Years, he arguably plays this straighter than any other cast member save for Ceodore. He has a huge equipment draw including most of the mage-type robes and rods along with the knight-type swords, shields and heavy armor. He also learns more Black Magic than Cecil, Ceodore or Kain learn White Magic, including Flare and Meteor, so Golbez is perfectly capable as an attacker or mage. The only disadvantage he has compared to other Black Mages like Rydia and Palom is that he doesn't learn the Standard Status Effect spells they do.
  • Master of None: Golbez is not as effective a physical fighter nor mage as the other more dedicated characters, but his high HP and his taunt ability make him an effective tank as well making him one of the most versatile characters in the game.
  • Meaningful Name: Golbeza (his name in Japanese) is a mistranslation of Golubaeser (also known as the Golubac Fly), a type of black fly named for the town of Golubac in Serbia. According to folk tales, the venomous flies were born from the body of a decomposing dragon, mirroring Theodor's eventual fate. In the DS remake, Zemus takes the symbolism further by calling him an insect that was "birthed from womb of dragon's corpse", referring to both the Golubac Fly and the Mysidian Legend.
  • My God, What Have I Done?
  • Ominous Pipe Organ: His Leitmotif, "Golbez, Clad in Dark(ness)". Notably, Golbez was the first villain to get his own, foreboding theme.
  • Purple Eyes: In the DS port of the original game and PSP port of The After Years. Other depictions show him with Green Eyes, but you could Hand Wave it as somehow being due to his armor, since the green eyes are never depicted when he isn't wearing it.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: Depending on the Artist. Subverted when he turns out to just be brainwashed.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Possible outcome of the battle against the Dark Knight Cecil doppelganger. The Japanese novelization for The After Years actually has Golbez dying during the Lunar Subterrane event.
  • Shoulders of Doom: You'll seriously wonder how he walks in those things.
  • A Sinister Clue: Like Kain, he's officially left-handed (thus, preceding Sephiroth), but this tends to most come across as an Informed Ability due to his status as a mage. Also, his status as such wasn't revealed until The After Years.
  • Spikes of Villainy
  • Squishy Wizard: A most notable inversion on the "squishy" part, which probably comes from his armour. It says a lot about how durable he is gameplay-wise that the team needed Meteor to beat him. And even then, it doesn't work! He could qualify as a magical Lightning Bruiser if he was a bit quicker.
  • The Stoic: In The After Years, unless the topic of discussion is Cecil, the Crystals or the Mysterious Girl, don't expect much more than the very occasional off-hand comment. He doesn't even soften up when dealing with the Elemental Archfiends (his loyal [former] subordinates), deaths included!
  • Summon Magic: His Shadow Dragon.
  • Taking the Bullet: In the battle with Cecil's Dark Knight side in The After Years, Golbez takes a fatal blow aimed for his brother, finally rousing Cecil out of his Heroic BSOD. If Rosa and Ceodore aren't also in the party, he won't survive the battle.
  • Tin Tyrant
  • Villainous BSOD: Implied to be the reason why he retreated after first fighting Cecil.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: As the Man in Black in The After Years.
  • Walking the Earth: More like Traveling the Galaxy: if he survives The After Years, he heads out in the Lunar Whale to search for the Red Moon and FuSoYa.

Scarmiglione/Milon

A zombie warrior, and one of Golbez's four Elemental Archfiends. He is dispatched to Mt. Ordeals to prevent Cecil from completing his trial to become a Paladin.

Voiced by: Konishi Oonishi (Japanese), Dameon Clarke (English)

Cagnazzo/Kainazzo

The second of Golbez's Archfiends, encountered when the party returns to Baron Castle.

Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

Barbariccia/Valvalis

Elemental Archfiend of the Air, and the only female member of the group. She first appears in the Tower of Zot, backed up by her Quirky Miniboss Squad, the Magus Sisters.

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Kirsty Pape (English)

Rubicante/Rubicant

The fourth and most powerful of the Archfiends, sent by Golbez to attack the kingdom of Eblan. He wears a special cape to compensate for his natural weakness to water-based attacks.

Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Lee Everest (English)

"The frozen winds of hell's ninth circle could not penetrate this cloak of flame I wear."

(to Edge) "I respect men like you. Men with... courage. But you are a slave to your emotions, and so will never know true strength. Such is the curse of men."

Dr. Lugae

A scientist who answers directly to Rubicante. Turned Edge's parents, the King and Queen of Eblan, into zombies.

Zemus/Zeromus

Voiced by: Ryo Horikawa (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)


Other Characters

Baigan

A knight in the service of King Baron. He is utterly devoted to the kingdom, even when Cecil is not, and remains so when it's revealed that the real King was killed and replaced with one of Golbez's servants.

Elder of Mysidia

The leader of the town of mages.

Giott

Leader of the Dwarves in the Underworld.

Sheila Leiden

Yang's wife, and the mother of Ursula in The After Years.

  • Chef of Iron: Is heavily implied to be one with her...
  • Frying Pan of Doom: One that can not only keep away a legion of monsters, but also wake up sleeping husbands!
  • Happily Married: Hints of frying-pan related violence aside, that is.
  • Mundane Utility: She gives the party the strongest thrown weapon in the game... a simple kitchen knife.
  • No Name Given: In the original game, she was just "Yang's Wife"; it wasn't until The After Years until she recieved a proper name.
  • Pregnant Badass: She may have already been pregnant with Ursula when she was smashing mooks with her frying pan during the invastion of Fabul.


Debuting in The After Years

Heroes

  • Optional Party Member: Notably, the only two characters in this section who must be recruited to complete the game are Ceodore and Luca.

Ceodore Harvey

The son of Cecil and Rosa, Ceodore is a new recruit into the Red Wings.

Luca

The princess of the Dwarf Kingdom, who greatly admires Cid.

The Eblan Four

Edge's four apprentices; Gekkou, Zangetsu, Izayoi and Tsukinowa.

Ursula Leiden

The daughter of Yang and Sheila. She wishes to be trained as a monk by her father, but needs to get past his overprotective streak first.

Leonora

An Epopt in training. Recent events have convinced the Epopts of the need for their members to be able to defend themselves, and so she begins her black magic training under Palom...

  • The Apprentice: To Palom.
  • Ascended Extra: She was the girl Palom tried to pick up in the ending of the original game.
  • Black and White Magic
  • Hair of Gold
  • Inept Mage: At first. Hell, her first Black Magic spells are even weaker than 1st tier Black Magic (Fire? Blizzard? Thunder?).
  • Magic Wand
  • Magikarp Power: Patience, you'll reach that high level someday.
  • Mentor Ship: With Palom.
  • Nice Hat
  • The Red Mage: She can learn both White Magic and Black Magic, but does not learn every spell. She gains her spells at much higher levels than other characters: she gains Holy at Level 70, the 3rd-tier elemental spells at Levels 78, 80 and 82, and Flare at Level 85.
  • Squishy Wizard: The squishiest: at Level 99, she's one of only three party members with less than 4,000 HP, and the other two are Calca and Brina. And then, if the random factor in HP gain doesn't like her, she can flat have the worst HP of all.
  • Took a Level in Badass: She stutters a lot and is respectful of Palom initially despite him being a Jerkass. Once he insults the Epopts though, she's had enough and tells him off, at which point for the rest of the game the stuttering stops. This event coincides with the completion of the Tower of Trials, and thus she begins to learn Black Magic as she levels up from now on.

Harley

Edward's assistant. She originally desired to be a scholar, but one day she heard his voice, and so abandoned her plans to become his secretary.

Calca and Brina

Mechanical dolls that assist Luca, they're bosses in the original game and join the party in The After Years.

Biggs and Wedge


Villains

Mysterious Girl/Maenad

The apparent main villain of The After Years, she shows up to steal the crystals. It turns out that there are multiple Maenads, and they were gathering the Crystals to take back to their master, the Creator, who also created the crystals.

  • The Battle Didn't Count: It's possible to win the battles that the party is supposed to lose to her, but the same result happens each time anyway. And in the storyline even when someone does kill her, another Maenad just takes her place.
  • Big Bad: She sets off the major events of The After Years as The Dragon of the true Big Bad, the Creator.
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: Badly, if she actually killed off the heroes when she had the chance only half of them would have survived to the final tale.
  • Boss Remix: Her character theme is the basis for her battle theme.
  • Catch Phrase: "Incomprehensible" whenever a party member invokes Honor Before Reason.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Her main method of collecting Crystals? Use the Red Wings to do it. After all King Cecil is The Hero, so few realize what's really going on when Baron starts going to war again.
    • During the boss battle with her and Bahamut, players may be tempted to use Reflect. Too bad that just as the Mega Flare countdown hits 1, she uses Black Hole to remove all your status buffs. Oh Crap...
  • The Dog Bites Back: A band of them finish off the Creator when he goes haywire.
  • Easily Forgiven: Considering that it is at least hinted at that the Maenad possess a Hive Mind, yet neither Leviathan nor Asura are shown to resent the child Maenad in the ending in any way.
  • Emotionless Girl: Mostly, arrogance and contempt are there but that's about it.
  • Evil Counterpart: Greatly resembles Rydia, and in The Complete Collection is able to successfully pose as her for a time. Interlude reveals it's because the Creator made the Maenads in Rydia's image after gathering data on her through a Crystal.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Justified as there's no way of knowing her real name until the last five minutes of the game. And even then, 'Maenad' is just the name given to her race as a whole.
  • Fantastic Racism: Frequently insults humans and Lunarians as "inferior species".
  • Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Her battle sprite.
  • Karmic Death: The ones that control Odin and Bahamut are killed by them once the Eidolons regain their senses.
  • The Man Behind the Monsters: She controls an army of monsters to take over Baron, and still uses them on occasion after switching over to relying on Baron's military instead.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: She's after the Crystals only. Unless one of the heroes is directly obstructing her, she doesn't care about them.
  • Recurring Boss
  • Redemption Equals Life: In the case of the one Maenad adopted by Rydia (Cuore), the only surviving member of her race.
    • Redemption Equals Death: In the case of the rest of the race. They go into near extinction by sacrificing themselves via attacking the Creator in order to allow the party to escape.
  • Summon Magic: As part of her status as an Evil Counterpart to Rydia.
  • Woman in White
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Although stated to be cloned from Rydia, her hair is a more aquamarine than Rydia's.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: She uses those very words before attempting to kill the party after Cecil returns to his senses.

Dark Kain

The embodiment of Kain's repressed hatred and jealousy for Cecil, he wishes to act out Kain's buried desires to kill Cecil and claim Rosa for himself. Masquerades as the real Kain during The After Years until the Hooded Man reveals himself as the true Kain and dispatches him.

Creator

The real Big Bad of The After Years, he is the sole surviving member of an alien race that prospered itself into extinction. He designed the crystals and sent them to various planets to test their evolutionary processes, and eventually declared them all unworthy of existence. He does this to the world of Final Fantasy IV as well, setting the plot.

  1. ↑ Fighting an evil empire (i.e. Richard's Heroic Sacrifice against Emperor Mateus in Final Fantasy II).
  2. ↑ None, actually. Unless you count Terra and Edea with the orphans.
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