Cid Highwind

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Template:FFVII character Cid Highwind (シド・ハイウィンド Shido Haiwindo) is a playable character in Final Fantasy VII. He is part of a long tradition of Final Fantasy Cids. He was voiced by Kazuyuki Yama for the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII as well as in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children in the Japanese version. However, he is voiced by Kazuhiro Yamaji in the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts II. In the English version of Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts II, Cid is voiced by Chris Edgerly.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

He is the most uncouth of the protagonists, constantly swearing, losing his temper and chain-smoking cigarettes. Despite this rough appearance, he has a good heart, and is even voted temporary leader of AVALANCHE at one point. The residents of Rocket Town all call him "the Captain," where he serves as something of an honorary mayor. Shin-Ra's airship maintenance crew considers him a legend and were easily convinced to mutiny in stealing the Highwind for him. He fits into the archetype of an oyaji.

Since childhood, Cid dreamed of becoming the first human in space. He almost achieved this goal through the Shin-Ra Space Program four years before the events of Final Fantasy VII. However, just as the rocket, Shin-Ra No. 26, was about to launch, Cid realized that an engineer named "Shera had defied orders and ran a last-minute double-check of the rocket's oxygen tanks. Continuing the launch on schedule would have resulted in her death, and so Cid scrapped the launch in order to save her life. In the wake of this disaster, Shin-Ra concluded that space exploration was not financially viable, and withdrew funding from the project altogether.<ref name="shera">Cid: "And finally we get to the day of the launch. Everything was goin' well... But, because of that dumb-ass Shera, the launch got messed up. That's why they became so anal! And so, Shinra nixed their outer space exploration plans. After they told me how the future was Space Exploration and got my damn hopes up... DAMN THEM! Then, it was all over once they found out Mako energy was profitable. They didn't even so much as look at space exploration. Money, moola, dinero! My dream was just a financial number for them!"(Final Fantasy VII)</ref><ref name="shera2">Shera: "He pushed the Emergency Engine Shut Down switch, aborting the mission, to save my life. After that, the Space Program was cut back and the launch was canceled."(Final Fantasy VII)</ref>

Image:CHighwind.jpg

The hot-tempered Cid blamed Shera for destroying his dream, and Shera, being extremely devoted to him and the achievement of his dream, accepted the blame completely. After the incident Shera devoted herself to doing whatever she could to atone for her "mistake," and Cid continued to treat her abominably.<ref name="shera3">Shera: "It's my fault his dream was destroyed... That's why... it's all right. I don't care what the Captain says, I'll live my life for him."(Final Fantasy VII)</ref> However, her concern over the oxygen tanks is eventually proven to have merit when an explosion of the oxygen tank she was checking during the original launch temporarily traps Cid in orbit during a later successful attempt to launch the rocket into space. After this, Cid finally forgives Shera, realizing that she probably saved his life.<ref name="shera4">Cid: "Tank Number 8 blew up...... So Tank Number 8... really was malfunctioning...... Shera... You were right."(Final Fantasy VII)</ref> As a result, he has a newfound respect for Shera and her work.

Aside from his ambitions as an astronaut, Cid designed a number of aircraft and was also a great pilot. Among his designs were the propellor plane, the Tiny Bronco, and the airships Highwind and Sierra (the successor to the Highwind seen in Advent Children, named in honor of Shera—in Japanese, they are spelled the same).

By the time of Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, one year after the events of Advent Children, he is a legendary airship pilot and became the leader of an airship division with support from the World Restoration Organization. He is also now married to Shera.

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Trivia

Image:Cid Highwind Kingdom Hearts.jpg

In terms of traditional character classes, Cid is a Dragoon. Final Fantasy Dragoons use spears and lances as their weapons, have special abilities that involve jumping into the air and coming down on an enemy, and are often associated with dragons. Cid himself wields spears and lances, and some of his Limit Breaks are Boost Jump, Dragon and Dragon Dive. Cid's surname also seems to be a reference to the characters Richard Highwind ("Ricard" in Dawn of Souls) from Final Fantasy II and Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV, who were both Dragoons as well.
Cid appears in Kingdom Hearts as a store attendant and, true to his profession, a Gummi ship expert. Oddly, Cid is the only Final Fantasy character in Kingdom Hearts not to have a voice. However, in Kingdom Hearts II, he was given a speaking role. There he works as a member of the Hollow Bastion Reconstruction Committee, and is usually at odds with the wizard Merlin, as Cid prefers science over magic.
His surname "Highwind" is used in Kingdom Hearts as Riku's suggestion for the name of the raft he built along with Sora and Kairi.