Character RETROspect

Cecil Harvey: Part Three

Last week we took a look at the “second” part of Cecil’s story in Final Fantasy IV, and this — the FINAL week — we will be wrapping it all up. Maybe one day I will write about Cecil and the continuation of Final Fantasy IV’s story with the Interlude and The After Years campaigns, but I think three weeks in a row is probably overkill as it is…

Anyways, let’s wrap this sucker up!

Chapter 14: To The Moon, Alice!

So A Crazy Doctor, A Robot, and a Guy With a Fire Cloak Walk into a Tower…

Golbez now has most of the crystals within his possession, which results in Cecil and the gang heading off to the Tower of Babel in order to reclaim the crystals (where Golbez is hiding them). The party comes across Dr. Lugae, a scientist working for Golbez, and Rubicante, the Archfiend of Fire, preparing for war with the overworld kingdom of Eblan. Dr. Lugae warps Rubicante to the overworld, and Cecil and the rest of the party launch an assault against the doctor and his robotic creation, Barnabas. The doctor/robot duo fall to the hands of Cecil and co., and they acquire the key to shutting down the Super Cannon, a weapon that would’ve been used to annihilate the Dwarves in the underworld. Yang is presumed dead after an explosion in the room with the Super Cannon.

During the escape from the tower, Golbez, being the bastard that he is, tries to take out the bridge that is connected to the tower, but Cecil and the gang are saved by Cid in his now fixed-up Enterprise airship. After a run-in once again with the Red Wings, Cid decides to save the party, but not before he tells Cecil to talk to his workers in Baron so they can attach a hook to the Enterprise to be able to lift the hovercraft that is needed to enter the Cave of Eblan in the overworld. Cid is presumed dead from his heroics… and another one bites the dust, eh?

When Cecil and the party enter the Cave of Eblan, they see Rubicante fighting the Prince of Eblan, Edge, and the subsequent beatdown that Rubicante puts on him. Edge joins forces with them after his defeat to Rubicante because he can’t let a pretty girl like Rydia cry (she’s reminiscing about Tellah, Yang, and Cid’s death), and Rosa cures the playboy. The party travels to the top of the Tower of Babel to find Edge’s parents, who he thought were slain by Rubicante, transforming into monsters. Edge’s parents eventually take their own lives right after saying their final goodbye to their son. Rubicante reappears and Cecil, along with his party, must now take on the strongest of the elemental Archfiends!

And of course they defeat him.

The Lunar Whale

After the defeat of the strongest Archfiend, Cecil and the party enter the Crystal Room, but they fall into the underground where they find an airship that Edge christens: “Falcon.” Cecil and his party travel to the Sealed Cave, with the help of Cid (who has survived), in an attempt to claim the last crystal before Golbez gets his grubby hands on it. In the Sealed Cave, Golbez uses his mind control over Kain (come on!) once more to help him steal the very last crystal needed to achieve his plan. Not willing to accept defeat just yet, Cecil and the party travel back up to the overworld and head back to Mysidia where the Elder prays for help. His prayers are answered with the mother of all airships, the LUNAR WHALE.

With the Lunar Whale at their disposal, the party can now travel to the Red Moon (Earth is the “Blue Moon”) where Golbez has skipped off to with the crystals. When they arrive on the Red Moon, the party is introduced to Fusoya, a Lunarian (the race of people on the moon), who in his short stint, gives away MAJOR plot details. Fusoya is in charge of watching over the Lunar Sleep — the idea of which is an interesting one: it is essentially the Lunarians plan to sleep until the people of Earth were an advanced enough civilization to coexist with the Lunarians. However, a Lunarian by the name of Zemus wants to completely wipe planet Earth of humans and make claim to the planet for Lunarians. Sensing that Zemus may be somewhat of a psychopath, the Lunarians seal him away in the core of the moon and make him sleep like everyone else.

Zemus, with his incredible psychic powers even during sleep, hatches a plan in which he manipulates Golbez into collecting the crystals for him so he could activate the Giant of Babel, an enormous machine built by Zemus, and designed specifically for the destruction of all humans on Earth.

So, after all that Cecil and his party have gone through dealing with Golbez and his shenanigans, the true villain of the game is Zemus, and not Golbez.

Fusoya joins the party as they travel back to the Tower of Babel to stop the Giant of Babel which has now been activated. With the help of Cid, who is leading a worldwide attack on the Giant, the party enters the machine and head for its main CPU, while fighting the reanimated Archfiends along the way. The party destroys the CPU which causes Golbez to stop by all angry-like, but Fusoya finally breaks Zemus’ control over his mind, and it is revealed that Golbez is actually Cecil’s freakin’ brother!

Knowing that he must now correct his mistakes, Golbez heads off to the Red Moon with Fusoya to destroy Zemus. The duo defeat Zemus by casting “Meteor” on Zemus, but… after his defeat, the hatred and spirit of Zemus brings forth the creature known as Zeromus, the final boss of the game. Cecil and the party have now arrived to witness Golbez attempting to use the power of a crystal to stop Zeromus, but since Golbez’s heart is tainted with darkness, the effect is null. Zeromus casts his own “Meteor” which defeats Golbez and Fusoya, leaving Cecil and the rest of the party to take on Zeromus.

With A Little Help From My Friends

Needing something other than strength and will alone to defeat Zeromus, the people of Earth pray for Cecil (another Dragon Ball Z nod — see Goku and the Spirit Bomb) and the party, and with the crystal that Golbez was trying to use before, they are able to defeat Zeromus and save the human race. After the fight, Fusoya decides to return to sleep with the rest of the Lunarians, and Golbez feeling like he cannot possibly go back to Earth, decides to join Uncle Fusoya (Fusoya is actually the brother to Golbez and Cecil’s father, Kluya). Cecil forgives Golbez and calls him “brother,” and the moon separates itself from Earth and floats off into space.

Cecil and the party return to their homes, but Kain decides that he must head off to Mount Ordeals and not return to Baron until he deems himself “worthy.” Back in Baron, Cecil and Rosa get married and take the throne as King and Queen of Baron.

Recap

I think after three articles on Cecil and Final Fantasy IV, we need a super-condensed list to end with. This will be a little bit more of an opinionated recap, rather than a strict storyline kind of deal.

• Cecil is a truly conflicted character; realizing that the pain and suffering he is causing as a Dark Knight is not for him, and knowing deep down he has more offer, he decides to become a Paladin to right his wrongs and defeat Golbez.
• Kain will ALWAYS be in love with Rosa, and this is why he was so easily manipulated by Golbez to begin with. It’s like in the movie Inception, the seed was there; all Golbez had to do was nurture that seed of bitterness that Kain held towards Cecil.
• Golbez… was he really manipulated by Zemus, or was it all HIS masterplan? Probably not.
• Cid will forever be a badass; the scene where he “sacrificed” himself is one of the greatest moments in the game.
• Fusoya, you old son-of-a-gun, you were such a major plot device that you pretty much slapped us all in the face with your revelations. Thank you.

Cecil will go down in Final Fantasy history as one of the greatest characters the series has produced. The game has been remade so many times that it’s obviously a clue to its quality… the game is truly phenomenal. If you are a fan of Final Fantasy IV and you haven’t played the Interlude and The After Years “sequels,” I strongly suggest you do; they are strong additions to an already epic adventure.

Until next time!