Rydia

"A young girl of blessed circumstance who places her trust in those not of this world."

Rydia, sometimes referred to as Rydia of Mist, is a playable character in Final Fantasy IV. She is a Summoner from the village of Mist and is one of the most powerful Summoners in the village. This is due to the fact that she is only seven years old, as summoned monsters from the Land of Summons tend to trust innocent, young girls more than they do adults.

Story
Rydia was born to one of the few remaining pure-blood Summoner families in Mist. Her mother was known as the protector of Mist, and she used the Mist Dragon summon to protect her village. However, one day, the Dark Knight Cecil Harvey and his best friend, Kain Highwind, were ordered by the King of Baron to deliver a Package to the village of Mist. On the way, however, they had to kill the Mist Dragon. As a rule, whenever a Summoned Monster dies, the Summoner who Summoned it dies as well. As a result, Rydia's mother died. Cecil and Kain came to Mist afterwards, and the package opened by itself, releasing Bombs all over the village, setting it on fire. Cecil and Kain found out the bad news about Rydia's mother from her, and offered to take her to safety. However, Rydia overheard that Cecil and Kain killed the Mist Dragon, and would not accept help. Instead, she summoned Titan to cause a massive earthquake which caused a landslide in the eastern mountains, separating Cecil from Kain.

Rydia was wounded in the earthquake, and Cecil took her to the desert oasis of Kaipo to let her rest. Cecil tried to ask her for her name, but Rydia was too wounded to speak. That night, soldiers from Baron came to Kaipo in search of Cecil, and Cecil learns that the King of Baron wanted all Summoners eliminated, saying that they were too dangerous to be left alive. Cecil fought off the soldiers because he was already questioning the King, and he did not want to cause anymore trouble. Rydia acknowledged this, and agreed to befriend Cecil. The next morning, Cecil and Rydia found Rosa Farrell, Cecil's girlfriend, wounded. The doctors said they had to search for the Sand Ruby in order to cure her. Rydia and Cecil went north through the Watery Pass to Damcyan, and met an old man, Tellah, on the way. Tellah helped them get through the cave and defeat Octomam at the end. However, the three arrived at Damcyan just in time to see the Red Wings attack and steal the Crystal of Fire. At the top of the castle, they found Anna, Tellah's daughter, wounded. Tellah blamed it on Edward Chris von Muir, the prince of the kingdom, and the two got into a fight which Anna broke up. This fight is the source of a rather commonly used quote from the badly translated super Nintendo game's scene - "You spoony bard!" Anna told Tellah the story of her and Edward, and Tellah decided to get a vengeance on Golbez for killing Anna.

After Anna died, Edward began to cry, but Rydia and Cecil had to snap him out of it. Edward then agreed to take them to the Antlion's Cave, where the Sand Ruby was. They used the Hovercraft to reach the cave. Inside the cave, they found out that the usually tame Antlion had become aggressive, and the three had to fight the Antlion for the Sand Ruby. They went back to Kaipo and used the Sand Ruby to cure Rosa. There, they decided that they needed to defend the remaining Crystals, and that the Crystal of Air in Fabul was the next target. However, they had to cross Mt. Hobs, a mountain blocked by a thick sheet of ice, in order to reach Fabul. Rydia was the only one who could melt the ice by casting the Fire spell, however, she could not do so as she was afraid of fire due to the memory of Mist being burned. However, with persuasion from Rosa, Rydia eventually mustered up the courage to cast the Fire spell and open the way. Rydia could now use Fire magic at this point. On top of the mountain, the party met a Monk named Yang Fang Leiden who was fighting off Golbez's troops. With help from Cecil and his friends, Yang was able to defeat them. Cecil warned Yang of the danger ahead, and joined Yang in the journey back to Fabul.

In Fabul, Yang warned the king of Baron's incoming attack, and Cecil and Edward helped back him up. The king was initially skeptical because he could not trust the Dark Knight Cecil. However, Yang convinced him of Cecil's loyalty, and Cecil, Yang, and Edward helped defend the castle. Rosa and Rydia were put on relief. However, after the fight against the Baronian army, Cecil was cornered by Kain, who had now turned against Cecil, in the Crystal room. The two dueled, and Cecil lost. Golbez then defeated Edward and Yang, and took Rosa as hostage. Kain took the Crystal and left. Rydia then cured the party. Cecil then decided to sneak into Baron by ship and get an airship from Cid Pollendina, who was also skeptical of what Baron was up to these days. The party boarded a ship provided by the king of Fabul and set sail towards Baron. However, on the way, the ship was attacked by Leviathan, the Terror of the Sea. Cecil, Rydia, Edward, and Yang were all blown off the ship. Rydia was sucked by Leviathan into the Land of Monsters in the Underground.

Although Edward and Yang show up soon after this event, Rydia does not make her return until much later in the game. Cecil, Kain, Rosa, and Yang are fighting Golbez in the Dwarves' Castle in the Underground. Golbez summons a Shadow Dragon which instantly kills all party members except Cecil. However, Rydia summons the Mist Dragon to defeat the Shadow Dragon, and rejoins the party in battle. Golbez is weakened,actually obliterated except for his hand, to the point at which he can only crawl, as in only his hand can crawl, but he has enough strength to steal the dwarves' Crystal by teleporting away after his remaining hand grabs it.

It is then decided that the party head for the Tower of Bab-il in order to get the other Crystals back. The party sneaks in, and finds Dr. Lugae, a scientist under Golbez working with Rubicante, the Fiend of Fire. Rubicante was teleported somewhere unknown, and Cecil's party disrupted and defeated Lugae. Afterwards, the party found the key to stopping the Super Cannon. When they reached the Super Cannon, however, its operators would not go down without a fight or making the cannon unstoppable. Yang had to stop the cannon himself, and he was left for dead.

Golbez catches the party escaping from the tower, and makes them fall off a bridge. Luckily, Cid catches them on the Enterprise before falling into the lava. When Cid is introduced to Rydia, he makes her call him "uncle." However, all is not well. The Red Wings are chasing the Enterprise, and Cid has to sacrifice himself to save the party and the airship, which escapes the Underground back into the Upper World. Before he jumps off the Enterprise, however, he asks Cecil to return to Baron and talk to his workers. Cecil does so, and the workers attach a hook to the airship which can be used to pick up and carry the Hovercraft which is used to enter Cave Eblana.

In the cave, the party finds Rubicante again fighting Edge Geraldine, the prince of Eblan and a Ninja. Edge is defeated by Rubicante. The party tries to convince him to join them. However, Edge does not want help. Still, this does not stop Rydia from crying when she reminisces upon the death of Tellah, and the assumed deaths of Yang and Cid. Edge, being a womanizer, then agrees to join because he doesn't like seeing Rydia, a "pretty girl," cry. Rydia is not impressed with Edge's flirting, though. Nevertheless, the party enters the upper half of the Tower of Bab-il and finds Edge's parents at the top. However, they were murdered by Rubicante and transformed into monsters by Lugae. They attack the party, but Edge brings them to their sense. Then, Rubicante appears and attacks the party. The party defeats him and enters the Crystal Room, where they fall back to the Underground and find a new airship: the Falcon.

The Falcon cannot fly over the lava, so the party heads back to the Dwarves' Castle and visits King Giott, who says that it's time to defend the last Crystal in the Sealed Cave. He gives Cecil's party the key to opening the cave, which is the necklace of his daughter Luca. In order to get the Falcon to fly over the lava, Cecil heads for the hospital to find Cid recovering. He remodels the airship for the party, so it can fly over the lava.

The party can head for the Sealed Cave and open it. They worked their way to the bottom where they found the Crystal. However, they could not escape without defeating a wall which tries to crush the party. Even still, Golbez calls out to Kain, who becomes possessed by Golbez again steals the Crystal and runs off. The party then heads back to the Upper World (after Cid attaches a drill to the head of the Falcon) and heads for Mysidia, where the Elder prays for something to help the party. That something is the Big Whale, the "Ship of Light from The Moon," which allows the party to fly to The Moon.



On The Moon, the party finds a palace where a man named FuSoYa sleeps. FuSoYa wakes up and explains that Golbez was being controlled by a Lunarian named Zemus the entire time. He then tells the real reason why Golbez is gathering the Crystals. The Crystals are the key to activating the Giant of Bab-il which can grant wishes. Zemus wishes for the Earth to be destroyed, and he used Golbez to do it. The party returns to Earth with FuSoYa. However, they are too late. The Giant of Bab-il has awakened, and began to go on its destructive spree. However, Cid, who was fully recovered, lead an army of leaders from all over the world, as well as friends of Cecil, to do battle with the Giant. They helped Cecil and his friends enter the Giant, and the party went towards the main computer, which, if destroyed, would stop the Giant. On the way, however, they had to do battle with the Four Fiends of Elements again. After winning that battle, the party headed for the CPU and defeated it. Afterwards, an angry Golbez appeared, who was mad that his plans were thwarted. FuSoYa knocked Golbez back to reality, and he learned that he was Cecil's brother. FuSoYa and Golbez then headed to The Moon to fight Zemus, and Kain rejoined the party.

On the Big Whale, Rydia was asked to leave the ship, and Edge egged her on about it. She was upset, but left anyway. However, she stowed away and headed to The Moon anyway, and convinced Cecil that she should join, as she believed that they were all fighting for a common cause, and that she was the only Summoner left. Cecil agreed to have her on the team again. They eventually headed to the Lunar Core and watched FuSoYa and Golbez defeat Zemus. However, the hatred that was possessing Zemus, Zeromus, jumped out and attacked the party. With help from old friends, they defeated Zeromus.

After the adventure, Rydia returned to the Land of Monsters, where she would live out the rest of her days. She would also attend Cecil and Rosa's wedding. Of course due to the rapid passing of time in the Land of Monsters the rest of her days would be very quickly reached in relation to the overworld.

Sidequests
Most of the sidequests in the game involve Rydia and her Summons to some degree. After the Falcon gains the ability to fly over lava, the party can head to the Land of Monsters, which is the plane on which all Summoned Monsters live. Rydia is welcomed back by the queen Asura, who offers her help if the party can defeat her. Also the king, Leviathan offers his help after being defeated. If Rydia has Asura and Leviathan, returning to Baron reveals that the King is actually Odin. In the Underworld, Sylphs live in a cave to the northwest. Yang is also in this cave. If the party meets him there, they can return to Fabul and talk to his wife. She gives the party a frying pan to hit Yang with. If this happens, Yang will offer his help. However, the Sylphs say that he must rest, and they offer to help Rydia instead. Finally, the king of all Summoned monsters, Bahamut, waits in a cave on The Moon for Rydia to come and challenge him.

Equipment and Stats
Rydia is a Summoner, and thus her stats are heavily weighted in the Magic department. As a child, she can equip Rods, Staves, and a Bow and Arrow. As an adult, however, she loses the ability to equip Staves and instead equips Whips and Daggers. Her armor is limited to universal equips and mage equips.

In the Gameboy Advance version of Final Fantasy IV, equipping Rydia with the Mist Ring allows summoning the Mist Dragon to grant an Image effect on the entire party.

Interestingly, Rydia is the only Summoner to focus on Black Magic other than her summons, since the Summoners after her (Princess Garnet and Eiko Carol of Final Fantasy IX and Yuna of Final Fantasy X) focus on White Magic.

Abilities
As a Summoner, Rydia naturally has the ability to Summon monsters. However, she can also use Black Magic. She learns every spell, up to and including Meteo at Level 60. As a child, she can also cast some elementary White Magic; however, she can only cast three spells: Cure 1, Sight, and Hold. When she returns to the party as an adult, she has forgotten these spells.

Music
Rydia's theme is simply called "Rydia."