Celes Chere

General Celes Chère, also given as Celes Chere, is a major character of Final Fantasy VI. Genetically enhanced and artificially infused with magic, she is the general of the Gestahlian Empire before she joins the party. She plays a pivotal role in the second half of the game and is the starting character in the World of Ruin. Celes has both contrasting and similar traits to Terra Branford, and both are able to learn magic spells naturally.

Character and Appearance
Celes is a young woman, eighteen at the beginning of the game. She has long, blonde hair, with a headband worn underneath. In her concept art, she is depicted in yellow and blue armor, with white thigh-high boots, whilst her sprite shows her wearing green and white armor, and blue boots.

Celes is a dynamic character whose personality changes in the story and these changes play a pivotal role in the story. At first when Locke Cole rescues Celes from an Imperial jail cell, she questions why he was helping her and his ability to protect her, even asking Locke to leave her and face execution. She is portrayed as hopeless, cold, and lonely at first, but soon develops a relationship with Locke. This relationship is put to the test when Locke doubts her loyalty, but Celes proves her allegiance to the party and the two make up. Her despair and loneliness can get the best of her and at one point (if certain conditions are met), she can attempt suicide. She finds hope soon aftterwards and uses her newfound hope to influence others, especially when she helps pull Setzer out of his despair. She also cares about others, showing support for her allies, especially Locke, and in the end, Terra.

Story
Little is known of Celes's early life, but we can determine that she was born and raised in Vector, and she was given to Cid Del Norte Marquez as a Magitek knight. She was one of the first to undergo the refined Magitek infusion. Kefka Palazzo was the first one to undergo the infusion, but the elementary infusion he went through caused him to become twisted. Celes, unlike Kefka, remains sane and is described as having "a spirit as pure as snow". Celes spent the rest of her childhood in the service of the Empire and was trained as a Magitek soldier. Celes seems to have progressed through the ranks quickly. Despite her essentially good nature, she considers herself a soldier first and foremost and committed some terrible atrocities as a Magitek Knight, such as torching Maranda.

Celes is first seen in-game in Terra's flashback along with her partners Kefka and Leo, but the player doesn't yet learn who she is.

Betrayal
The circumstances of her betrayal of the Empire are never made clear, but Kefka's poisoning of Doma is cited as a reason. It is reasonable to assume that it is Kefka whom she questioned, and was ultimately jailed by, but this is never officially revealed.

Eventually, Locke Cole rescues her from a basement under the rich man's house in South Figaro by picking the lock on her handcuffs, because she reminded him of his deceased girlfriend, Rachel. She has been imprisoned there for alleged treason against the Empire and was scheduled to be executed by the next day.

Celes and Locke headed to Narshe to warn the Elder. When they got there, Cyan Garamonde and she got into a small tussle, which Locke had to break up. Later, everyone gathered together to defend Narshe against Kefka and his troops, and they succeeded. However, after the battle, Terra reacted with the frozen Esper for the second time, and turned into an Esper before flying away. A search party had to be made for Terra's rescue. Terra was found in the city of Zozo, on top of the tallest tower. She was being cared for by Ramuh, who asked the party to go to Vector, the Imperial capital, and rescue the other imprisoned Espers, one of which, Maduin, was Terra's father. Celes agreed to lead the team, and Locke agreed to accompany her.

In order to get to Vector, the party needed an airship. In the town of Jidoor, Celes learned of a man named Setzer Gabbiani, who owned the only airship in the world: the Blackjack. She learned Setzer was in love with Maria, the star of the opera Maria and Draco, and that he would kidnap her. Locke had the idea of dressing up Celes as Maria in order to get Setzer's attention. As a result, Celes had to perform the part of Maria in the opera. The plan worked, despite Ultros's plans to ruin the opera. However, Setzer was upset when he found out that Celes was not Maria. He still found her attractive, though, which allowed Celes to make a deal. She would marry him if he won a coin toss, but if she won, Setzer would help her and her friends. She won the coin toss, with a little help from Edgar.

In the Magitek Research Facility, when Kefka attacks the players, he claims Celes infiltrated the Returners as a double-agent. She asks that Locke trust her, but he had doubts. Celes rescues them by warping Kefka, his soldiers, and herself to another location, commenting that maybe Locke would trust her if she protected him for once. The next time she is seen is in Albrook, where she is again an Imperial General. However, she still thinks Locke doubts her loyalty, even though Locke tried to apologize and persuade her that he was still her friend. As they are about to get off the ship, she tries to say something to Locke, but he turns and leaves.

However, in Thamasa, Celes makes up with Locke, and rejoins the party. She proves her loyalty on the Floating Continent when Kefka gives her a sword with which to attack the player characters and she instead attacks Kefka. She flees with the others when Kefka moves the Statues, bringing destruction to the world.

Searching For Friends
Celes is the starting character in the World of Ruin. She wakes up on an island with only Cid, who has been taking care of her for the last year. Depending on the player's actions, she can either succeed or fail in keeping him alive while he is ill. If she succeeds, Cid shows her a raft and urges her to leave to find her friends. If she fails, she attempts suicide by jumping off a cliff, then sees a seagull with Locke's bandanna (she believes that Locke used his bandanna to bandage the bird's wound), finds Cid's raft, and leaves.

Celes lands at Albrook, where she learns what happened to the world. She also learns that someone came by searching for his friends. She then headed to Tzen, where she found out that this person was in fact Sabin, who was holding up a house that was destroyed by Kefka's Light of Judgment so the child inside could be rescued. Celes rescued the child, and Sabin rejoined her.

Celes and Sabin made their way to Mobliz, which was found destroyed. Only the children survived, and they were being cared for by Terra, who was feeling things she never felt before, and as a result, could not fight. Celes and Sabin had to defend the town from a monster named Humbaba. They made their way to Nikeah, where they found Edgar disguised as a Thief named Gerad who was a member of the Crimson Robbers. They did not know what Edgar was up to, so they followed him to South Figaro and through South Figaro Cave with "help" from Ziegfried. They cornered Edgar in the engine room of Figaro Castle, where he revealed that he was using the thieves to find and enter the submerged castle so he could resurface it again. They helped Edgar fight off the tentacles that were jamming up the engine, and Edgar rejoined them. They headed to Kohlingen, where they met up with Setzer, who took them to Darill's Tomb to find a new airship: the Falcon.

When the party finds Locke in the Phoenix Cave, Celes accompanies him to Kohlingen.

Before entering Kefka's Tower, Celes voices her concern of the thought of Terra's disappearance once Kefka is destroyed. After the defeat of Kefka, Celes shows her concern and fear of Terra fading along with the Espers and magic. After escaping the towers collapse in the airship, Celes finds Terra unconscious and pulls her off the engine to safety. If the player finds Locke, he and Celes share an ending in the credits, during which Locke saves her from falling off a ledge as she grabbed his bandanna. Otherwise, Setzer takes Locke's place.

Equipment and Stats
Celes' stats are very well rounded. She has both excellent physical and magic stats. Her equipment draw is very similar to Terra's. She uses swords, maces, and some daggers as her weapons, and can equip heavy armors, female specifics, some mage equipment, and all shields. The only piece of equipment Terra can use that she can't is the Cotton Robe, and in the Advance port, Terra's Apocalypse weapon - Celes has her own unique weapon Save the Queen instead.

Abilities
Celes's unique ability, Runic, allows her to absorb the next casted spell, turning it into MP for her to use. However, if Celes would normally absorb the spell, she loses MP instead of gaining it. This ability works on the next spell that is cast, so it could absorb a friend or foe's spell. Furthermore, Celes must have a compatible sword equipped for this to work; the menu item for Runic is grayed out if a weapon that doesn't allow Runic is equipped.

Like Terra, Celes learns some magic naturally. Her spells include:

Music
Celes is the only character in the game other than Terra who is introduced without her theme music; instead, the song "Under Martial Law" is playing. It's not until after her performance in the Opera that Celes' theme makes an appearance.

In the Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version, Celes' theme is simply called "Celes" — disc 1, track 22. The theme is the central melody of the "Aria di Mezzo Carattere".

Etymology
Celes's name is probably derived from the Roman goddess of grain and harvests, Ceres ("Demeter" in Greek mythology).

As a point of interest, it is worth mentioning that the other heroine of Final Fantasy VI is a woman named Terra, whose original name in the Japanese version of the game was Tina. The English name may have been chosen to enhance the inherent contrast between the heroines, with Terra meaning earth, and Celes resembling the word celestial.

Her surname is derived from the French chère, the feminine form of cher, meaning "dear", "precious" or "treasured".