Baron (Final Fantasy IV)

Baron (バロン) is a kingdom in Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. It is the homeland of Cecil Harvey, Kain Highwind, Rosa Joanna Farrell and her mother, and Cid Pollendina and his daughter. It is a powerful monarchy and one of the largest nations on the planet, ruled over from Baron Castle and the Town of Baron outside its walls. Baron is one of the only nations in the world with the technology to build airships, thanks to the research done by Cid, and has an elite squadron known as the Red Wings, initially commanded by Cecil.

History of Baron
Baron is a very old nation, and was founded 800 years before the events of Final Fantasy IV. The land Baron was established on was abundant in natural resources, and it quickly developed into a blossoming city-state. A parliamentary government was established, although only the state's most influential families were permitted to vote. and industry and agriculture became the chief Baronian exports.

The rule by the people lasted for some 300 years. However, internal strife began to form within factions of Parliament. At first, matters were only political, but civil war soon broke out. A conflict known as "The Blood Stained Three Days" lasted for several days. The violence was eventually settled by the ancestors of the current King of Baron, and the family was crowned as the first royal family of Baron. Baron officially became a nation-state. Fifty years after the crowning of the King of Baron, there were talks about establishing a much needed army. The King of Baron would install his Personal Guard Corps, whose sole duty was to protect him. It can be assumed that Baigan's ancestors were at its head.

300 years before the events of Final Fantasy IV, a merchant ship from the small nation of Mysidia arrived at Baron and soon discovered its new military power. As a result, Baron soon became a very feared nation. At this point the Dragoon corps were formed by Kain's ancestors. Baron's military came to consist of the Eight Corps of Baron, consisting of the King's personal guards, the standing army, the Dragoons, the Dark Knights, the Black Mages, the White Mages, the captains and crews of their naval and airship fleets. 150 years after the two nations made contact, a security treaty between Baron and Mysidia was established, allowing for the creation of the Devil's Road.

Final Fantasy IV
Baron was once ruled by a benevolent king, who took Cecil and Kain under his wing and raised them as his children. Cecil was trained as a Dark Knight, while Kain decided to become a Dragoon in the mold of his father. Cecil was eventually made captain of the Red Wings. One day, Cecil was asked to retrieve the Crystal of Water in Mysidia. He did so, but questioned why he had to rob from innocent people. As a result, he was dismissed from his post, and ordered to hunt Eidolons in the Misty Valley, and to deliver a Carnelian Signet to the village of Mist. Kain was instructed to accompany him. The package contained Bombs which would burn Mist down, and this treachery convinced Cecil that Baron was no longer the home he loved, and he resolved to fight against the corrupt king and stop his growing hunger for power.

Kain, agreeing with Cecil but separated from him in Mist's destruction, returned to Baron without Cecil. When he got there, he found out that the King of Baron appointed a man named Golbez to lead the Red Wings, and Kain was brought under his Golbez's mind control and made second in command. Rosa was worried about Cecil, and ran off to look for him. Cid had developed a new airship, the Enterprise, but would not allow the king to use it for malevolent purposes. As a result, Cid was arrested and imprisoned until he revealed where the Enterprise was hidden. Golbez and Kain led the Red Wings into wars with Damcyan and Fabul for the Crystals of Fire and Air, respectively. Despite the intervention of Cecil and his new allies at Fabul, their sieges were successful and the Crystals were acquired, Golbez personally seizing Rosa as prisoner in the siege.

Cecil, after becoming a Paladin at Mt. Ordeals, returned to Baron via the Devil's Road with Palom, Porom, and Tellah, hoping to find Cid and get an airship to challenge Baron on equal terms in the air. When they got there, they learned about what happened since Cecil last left, and Cecil was not allowed into the castle. They found Yang at the town's inn who had also been brainwashed by Golbez and was appointed a captain of the guards. He and his guards attacked Cecil's party, but Yang was brought to his senses. Using Yang's master key to the town the group infiltrated the Ancient Waterway that lead to the castle moat to sneak into the castle. There, they met Baigan, who was apparently not under Golbez's control. However, Palom and Porom discovered that he was deceiving them, and he revealed himself as a monster and attacked them.

After felling Baigan, Cecil confronted the King of Baron, who revealed he was actually Cagnazzo, one of the Archfiends that Golbez controls, and that some time ago he killed the true King of Baron and has been impersonating him to use Baron for Golbez's ambitions. The group killed Cagnazzo and were found by Cid, apparently escaped from jail. However, Cagnazzo attempted to pull one last trick in death. He made the walls in the antechamber of the throne room cave in, thus forcing Palom and Porom to petrify themselves to stop the walls and save the party. Cid then took the party to where he hid the Enterprise, and launched it. However, though the kingdom was free again, Golbez had taken the Red Wings for his own, crewing the fleet with his loyal monsters, and still had control of Kain.

After rescuing Rosa and Kain and defeating Barbariccia, she warped the party to Cecil's room in Baron Castle where Kain told the party that they needed to obtain the Dark Crystals from the Underworld. Kain showed them the Magma Stone, which could be used to find the entrance to the Underworld. Cid brought the Enterprise back to Baron via remote control. After escaping from the Underworld, Cecil flew back to Baron, where Cid's workers installed a hook on the Enterprise so the party could carry the Hovercraft to new locations such as the Cave of Eblan and the Adamant Isle Grotto. After visiting the Feymarch, the party can return to Baron and go to the basement to see the ghost of the real king of Baron. He was actually the legendary knight Odin, and he challenged the party to a battle, after which he offered his power to Rydia so she could summon him.

At the end of the game, Cecil and Rosa are married and take the throne of Baron as the new King and Queen. All the living characters in the game except Kain attend, as Kain is off training on Mount Ordeals.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Baron is invaded by monsters at the start of the game led by the Mysterious Girl while Cecil's son Ceodore and the Red Wings are away. Cecil, Rosa and Cid fight the monsters off, Cecil eventually staying behind to confront the Mysterious Girl while Cid and Rosa escape in the Enterprise. Cecil is defeated when the Mysterious Girl summons Bahamut to fight him. After Cecil is defeated the Mysterious Girl takes control of his mind and the guards, putting up a masquerade of Cecil still ruling Baron normally.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings are dispatched to seize the Crystals, Cecil's former allies being initially unsuspecting of what is going on. When Ceodore and the Hooded Man return, they sneak into the castle via the waterway. The Hooded Man realizing Cecil is being controlled, but keeps this from Ceodore and leave, Ceodore believing the castle has been abandoned to monsters.

Ceodore and the Hooded Man begin to look for the Enterprise, which has flown to Damcyan. Meanwhile Edward and Harley travel to Baron to speak to him about a meteor impact north of Damcyan. Suspecting something amiss with Cecil, Edward grants him a gift of Whisperweed in the guise of flowers - Cecil's ignorance of their true nature confirms Edward's suspicions, and allow him to eavesdrop on Cecil speaking to the Mysterious Girl on their plan to seize Damcyan's Crystal.

Returning to Damcyan, Edward is confronted by a Red Wings force lead by Kain, and though he and Rosa defend the Crystal, they fail and Rosa and the Crystal are seized. Ceodore, Edward, Cid and the Hooded Man pursue Kain back to Baron, where it is revealed the Hooded Man is actually Kain, and the Kain assisting the Mysterious Girl is Kain's dark side. Kain defeats his other half and becomes a Holy Dragoon, and the five confront Cecil. Cecil attacks them, assisted by Odin under the control of the Mysterious Girl, but Odin eventually comes to his senses, being the former King of Baron, and strikes down Cecil.

As this confrontation takes place, Rydia, Edge, Luca and the Man in Black arrive at Baron but find it protected by a barrier. Traveling the world to gather their allies and free Rydia's Eidolons, they eventually return to find the barrier dispersed. Entering the throne room after Cecil's defeat, the assembled party sees the Mysterious Girl, and Cecil recognizes the Man in Black as Golbez. The party fights the Mysterious Girl and defeats her, but discover that there are many copies of her. Declaring she has all the Crystals and the planet "serves no purpose", they depart, and Golbez calls the Lunar Whale to take the party to the True Moon.

In the game's end credits Cecil is King of Baron again and is seen sparring with Ceodore before Kain, now Captain of the Red Wings, calls to him for their next assignment, to assist in the rebuilding of the world.

DS Formations

 * Floating Eye x3
 * Floating Eye x2, Sword Rat
 * Helldiver x4
 * Goblin x4
 * Goblin x3, Sword Rat

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" width="440px"
 * valign="top" width="50%"|

Prologue

 * Bloodbones x2, Lilith
 * Bloodbones x2, Soul x2
 * Bomb x2, Gray Bomb x2
 * Cave Bat x3
 * Cockatrice x2, Gargoyle
 * Cockatrice x3
 * Domovoi x4, Goblin x2
 * Gargoyle x2
 * valign="top" width="50%"|

Ceodore's Tale
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" width="440px"
 * Bomb x2, Gray Bomb x2
 * Cockatrice x2, Gargoyle
 * Cockatrice x3
 * Cockatrice x3, Zu
 * Domovoi x4, Goblin x2
 * Gatlinghog x3, Sword Rat x2
 * Gargoyle x2
 * }
 * valign="top" width="50%"|

Kain's Tale

 * Fell Turtle x2, Ice Lizard x2
 * Frostbeast x2
 * Hellflapper x2
 * Naga x2
 * Goblin Captain x4
 * Flamehound x2
 * Gremlin x2, Goblin Captain x2
 * Goblin Captain x3, Black Lizard
 * valign="top" width="50%"|

The Crystals

 * Cait Sith, Needlehog x3
 * Needlehog x3, Treant x2
 * Zu, Cockatrice x3
 * Mortblossom x3, Treant x2
 * Ettin Snake, Needlehog x2
 * Lilith x2
 * Cait Sith x2
 * }

Music
The background music that plays inside Baron Castle is called "Kingdom Baron", while the track that plays in the town of Baron is Final Fantasy IV's "Town Theme".

Trivia

 * In the Dawn of Souls and 20th Anniversary remakes of the original Final Fantasy, Baron is one of the automatic names the player can choose for the Warrior job.
 * Baron is mentioned in Final Fantasy Tactics, in its history records.
 * One of the rooms from the Online Lobby in Dissidia Final Fantasy is named Baron.

Барон