Cid Highwind

Cid Highwind is a playable character in Final Fantasy VII who also appears in other titles of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. He is part of a long tradition of Final Fantasy characters named Cid. He is the most uncouth of the protagonists: he swears, is short-tempered, and chain-smokes cigarettes. Despite this, he has a good heart, and is voted as a temporary party leader during Cloud and Tifa's absence.

Appearance and Personality
In Final Fantasy VII Cid wears a navy blue jacket over a dark shirt with dark green pants. He wears a white pilot's scarf that covers most of his shirt. Cid has blond hair and blue eyes and has facial stubble. He wears a pair of goggles with a packet of cigarettes strapped underneath the band. Cid is a chain-smoker, and ends each battle by lighting a new cigarette. He wears leather gloves and boots and his weapon of choice is a spear, although it is never explained how he came to wield one. Cid also has an affinity for firearms as noted by an AK-47 and two M-14s in his "engineering room". The AK is on the crate, and the M-14s are wall-mounted.

In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- Cid wears a light blue T-shirt with a sweater tied around his waist and his green pants. He still wears goggles, but his cigarettes and smoking habit are absent in Advent Children. In the ending for Dirge of Cerberus he lights a cigarette saying "All in a day's work". His face and chin look slightly thinner than in Final Fantasy VII. Tetsuya Nomura has said Cid's appearance was designed with working clothes, and he does not care about fashion, and Nozue said Cid's T-shirt was deceptively hard to render. In Kingdom Hearts Cid wears blue pants with a belly warmer and a white T-shirt. He does not smoke in the Kingdom Hearts series, likely due to its younger demographic, but chews a toothpick to give the same type of imagery. In the English versions of his appearances, Cid speaks with a North American southern accent.

Cid is known among fans for his foul mouth, as he curses a blue streak at several points in Final Fantasy VII. Several of his lines are "bleeped", appearing as a jumble of symbols. He does not bother about trivialities, and prefers going to the source of the problem, though sometimes seems wholly uncaring, such as during the party's visit to Gold Saucer to acquire the Keystone, where Cid sleeps while Cloud explains the mission to the Temple of the Ancients. He also sleeps on the Highwind during Cloud's breakdown, when Barret and the others discuss who should lead the group during Cloud and Tifa's absence.

Cid was always crude, but not to the same extent. His attitude and foul language are an effect of him losing his dream of spaceflight, but Cid does not always mean his insults in a negative way: he refers to Cloud and his allies as "numbskulls" for opposing Shinra Electric Power Company, but admits he likes the idea. His personality is the same throughout the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

Despite his attitude, Cid is not cruel and is actually kindhearted. He is angry over losing out on his dream, but he sacrificed it deliberately to save Shera's life. He becomes more responsible and caring during the events of Mideel, when he's appointed as a temporary leader. Cid eventually finds a new perspective towards the party's goal to save the Planet, something that he didn't care much for in the beginning, ruminating: "This planet is a little kid. A little kid sick and trembling in the middle of this huge universe. Someone's gotta protect it. Ya follow me? That someone is us!"

Story
Since childhood Cid dreamed of becoming the first man in space and almost achieves it through the Shinra Space Program. Aside from his ambitions as an astronaut, Cid designed a number of aircraft and is a great pilot. Among his designs are the propeller plane Tiny Bronco and the airship Highwind. Shinra later built a rocket, Shinra No. 26, intending to launch it into space with Cid at the helm.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
On the day Shinra No. 26 is to launch on April 11th, 2003, Vice President Rufus Shinra is overseeing the celebratory ceremony, although he finds the idea of space travel pointless. Cid accuses Rufus of being cynical compared to his father. AVALANCHE attempts to steal the Tiny Bronco, and Rufus's bodyguard, a member of the Turks, saves it.

AVALANCHE attacks the rocket, led by Shears. AVALANCHE steals an oxygen tank to stop the launch, but Cid tells Rufus and President Shinra to continue despite this. The President agrees, so AVALANCHE resorts to kidnapping Cid. Cid is rescued and the launch proceeds to countdown.

Shera, Cid's assistant, is still doing a safety check. Unwilling to let the rocket launch kill Shera in the blast, Cid halts it. Cid vows to take care of the rocket and wait for another chance to launch, but due to the prohibitive costs Shinra cuts funding to the space program, and the Shinra No. 26 is abandoned. The rocket becomes a tourist attraction, which spawns the village Rocket Town around the launch pad.

Final Fantasy VII
The hot-tempered Cid blames Shera for destroying his dream, and the insecure Shera accepts the blame. After the incident she devotes to doing whatever she can to atone for her mistake, although Cid continues to treat her abominably. Cid becomes bitter and irate over the years as his dream continues to grow more distant.

Cloud Strife and his party meet Cid in Rocket Town during their search for Sephiroth sometime in December 0007. Their visit coincides with a visit from Rufus Shinra, now president of the company, who Cid hopes is planning to restart the space program. Rufus is uninterested in the space program and merely wants the Tiny Bronco to track Sephiroth. Cid refuses to give up his plane, and Shera tells Cloud and the group she suspects Palmer is attempting to steal it. They fight Palmer and jump onto the plane as it takes off, pilotless. As they fly over the house Cid jumps aboard, but Rufus orders his soldiers to shoot it down. They crash into the sea. His hopes dashed anew and having no reason to return to the town, Cid joins Cloud and his allies.

Cid travels with the group until Cloud is separated at the North Crater, and Tifa and Barret are held captive in Junon. Cid persuades the Highwind's crew to join him, becoming the airship's captain, and commandeers the Highwind to save Barret and Tifa from execution. The Highwind becomes the group's airship and the party searches for Cloud. When he is found, Tifa stays to care for him, and Cid is appointed leader.

Shinra attempts to load Huge Materia onto Shinra No. 26 and launch it at the Meteor that Sephiroth summoned, hoping to destroy it. Cid spearheads an attack on two Mako Reactors to stop Shinra from collecting the Huge Materia because they want to make use of the Materia themselves. Cid returns to Mideel to see Cloud, but the town is attacked by Ultimate Weapon. Cid's party fights the Weapon that flees, but an earthquake swallows Mideel and Tifa and Cloud fall into the Lifestream. They wash ashore and the others take them to Highwind. Cloud has recovered, and Cid lets him take back the leader position.

Unwilling to let Shinra go ahead with the rocket launch that still houses some Huge Materia, Cid and the party attack the Shinra No. 26, but end up stuck aboard the rocket with Shera as Palmer launches it. Having realized his dream of space travel Cid and the party head for an escape pod when an oxygen tank explodes. Cid gets stuck under the rubble and tells the others to go without him, but with Shera's help they rescue him. Realizing Shera's fears from the original launch had been founded, Cid apologizes for his rude treatment of her, and the group returns to the Planet safely. Cid gives a heartened speech to the party about how he sees the Planet as "a sick little kid", and Sephiroth as a disease inside it, and it would be their job to protect it.

Cid joins with the party to finish Sephiroth off in the Northern Cave in late January 0008, and takes the Highwind's controls to escape Meteorfall. As the Highwind is damaged when Holy bursts from the North Crater, Cid pulls an emergency switch to modify the Highwind. They watch from the skies as the Lifestream and Holy concentrate on Midgar to destroy the Meteor.

Novellas
In On the Way to a Smile, Cid makes an appearance in "Case of Barret". He and Shera are working on his new airship at Rocket Town, and Shera is in charge of operating a refurbished oil drilling rig to provide fuel. Cid acts as Barret's confidante, helping him find a new purpose in life. Barret suggests Cid could use his new airship to help people with Geostigma reach medical attention, which Cid agrees to, but only if a suitable fuel for the ship could be found.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
One year later, in 0009, Cid uses his new airship and helps out Cloud and the others in the battle against Bahamut SIN and saves Tifa and Denzel from a group of Shadow Creepers. He carries the other AVALANCHE members into the Shera, and Barret orders him to land so they can help with the battle between Cloud and Kadaj. Cid tells Barret, "If you want off, then jump!"

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
The following year, 0010, Cid works as the leader of an airship division with support from the World Regenesis Organization and participates in the Battle of Midgar against Deepground and Omega while helping out his old friend, Vincent Valentine.

Battle


Cid roughly fits the description of a Dragoon, as he uses spears and lances in battle and can use jump attacks in his Limit Breaks. He also has high defensive stats, but low Magic stats and MP.

When he joins the party his starting level is decided by the following formula:
 * [average party level + 3]

Cid's spears have high power and many boast large amounts of slots coupled with Double Materia Growth, with one of them, the Scimitar, being one of mere two equipment pieces in the game to give Triple Materia Growth. His ultimate weapon, the Venus Gospel, grows stronger as his MP is closer to full.

Limit Breaks
Cid's Limit Breaks often hit multiple enemies or hit multiple times. Two of his Limit Breaks, Hyper Jump and Dragon Dive, have 20% and 28% chance to inflict instant death, respectively. His strongest Limit Break, Highwind, could potentially do 9999 x 18 damage, a feat only Barret's Ungarmax can match — even Cloud's infamous Omnislash cannot inflict so much damage. Cid also learns his Limit Breaks fairly quickly. All of Cid's Limit Breaks use his physical strength to determine their power.

Boss
Cid is fought as a boss in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-.

Creation and Development
According to the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega, Cid's role in the plot was largely the same during the game's early production phase, with his dream of going into space being ruined the same way it is in the final version. Shera was originally going to be an older woman, about 35. Cid would only have joined the party after Meteor was summoned, as he was to be the pilot of the rocket that would destroy Meteor with the Materia payload.

However, he would not have been aware the mission was a suicide mission but being tricked by Shinra into thinking it was a mission to the Moon. The party would have hopped on board with him to save his life, but they would be incapable of convincing Cid of the truth until it was too late. They would escape using an escape pod like in the final version.

Cid's job class was originally listed as "Pilot (Dragoon)".

Musical Themes
"Cid's Theme" plays when Cid first introduces himself in Rocket Town and during his realization of being the first man in space. "Cid's Theme" also plays in the world map after Diamond Weapon's defeat and will continue to play until the player enters Midgar.

Connected themes are "The Highwind Takes to the Skies", that plays during flights with the Highwind and after the player beats the Mog House game in Gold Saucer; "Countdown" that plays when the Shinra No. 26 is launched; and "Launching a Dream into Space" that plays while the party are in space. During the ending FMV "Planet's Crisis" plays and the melody from "Cid's Theme" is heard when the Highwind is ejected out of the North Crater and gets its final upgrade.

"Cid's Theme" is included on the third disc of Final Fantasy VII Vinyl Limited Edition compilation album.

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Cid appears in Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Cid is an ally and a summonable Legend in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. He is depicted in his default Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children outfits. His EX abilities are Big Brawl and Dragon Dive.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Cid appears in the Japanese Final Fantasy trading card game with wind-elemental cards. One of the cards is his Tetsuya Nomura artwork and the other is his official promo poster for Final Fantasy VII. His card featuring his promo poster image bears the Highwind ability, named for his ultimate Limit skill. Another card depicting Cid from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete also exists.

Kingdom Hearts series


Cid makes an appearance in Kingdom Hearts as a Gummi Ship expert, engineer and merchant. He is Aerith, Yuffie and Leon's ally, but takes a passive role helping Sora with Gummi engineering and construction. Cid is older in the series, being forty-two in the original Kingdom Hearts.

A memory-based version of Cid makes a cameo in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. In Kingdom Hearts II, Cid is in charge of the Hollow Bastion security systems and instrumental in restoring the world by creating a program to allow Tron to destroy the MCP controlling the world's computer systems. He retains his distaste of the supernatural, as he openly criticizes Merlin and his reliance on magic. Otherwise, his swearing is toned down, and while he does not smoke, he chews on a toothpick to provide the same sort of imagery.

Cid appears in the mobile phone game, Kingdom Hearts coded and its remake for the Nintendo DS, Kingdom Hearts Re:coded; in Re:coded, though Cid does not reprise his role as a salesman or a Gummi engineer, he instead appears as a guardian for the duck triplets Hewie, Dewie and Louie.

Cid is seen fighting in the manga version of Kingdom Hearts. Instead of using a spear, he uses a flamethrower type device to defeat the Heartless.

Kingdom Hearts χ [chi]
Cid makes an appearance in Kingdom Hearts χ [chi] as one of the obtainable character cards.

Trivia

 * If Cid is in the party in Gold Saucer, he sometimes requests to replace Cloud in the chocobo racing or snowboarding minigames. If Tifa is also in the party she takes precedence.
 * If Cloud goes to the Gold Saucer Round Square gondola with Cid, Cid will sleep the whole way through.
 * Cid is the only character in Final Fantasy history to have his full name made out of two recurring names, 'Cid' and 'Highwind', both alluding to him being a airship pilot and his battle role as a Dragoon.