Kain Highwind

"The solitary, gentle-souled dragon knight whose heart lies with the dragons."

Kain Highwind is a playable character in Final Fantasy IV. He is a Dragoon from the kingdom of Baron, and is Cecil Harvey's childhood friend. He also has a crush on Rosa Farrell, Cecil's girlfriend.

Final Fantasy IV


Kain was born in Baron and is the son of the previous captain of the Dragoons, Richard Highwind. His father was particularly active but died suddenly one day while Kain was still young, sprouting rumours that he may have been assassinated. Kain was then raised with Cecil by the King of Baron. Kain wasn't to fond of Cecil at first, since Cecil was treated like a son by the king. It was often Rosa who would stop the two of them from fighting.

The king wanted Kain to become a Dark Knight like Cecil was, but Kain wanted to follow in his father's footsteps of being a Dragoon and defending the castle. He cared for his father's dragon, who grew weak but still faithfully awaited his master's return. The Dragoons were on the verge of disbanding after Kain's father's death but reformed when they saw the devotion of both the dragon and Kain. Kain was eventually appointed the new captain of the Dragoons. As the adventure opens, Kain tries to defend Cecil after Cecil was discharged from the command of the Red Wings. Cecil was ordered to deliver a Package to the village of Mist, and hunt Summoned Monsters in the Misty Valley. Kain is ordered to accompany him.

The next morning, Cecil and Kain left for Mist. They passed through the Misty Cave, a cave shrouded in mist. A voice ordered them to return to Baron, however, when Cecil and Kain refused, the mist gathered and the pair had to fight the Mist Dragon. When they won, they headed towards Mist. When they arrived, the package they were supposed to deliver opened automatically, and bombs flew out and burned the village. Cecil and Kain saw a little girl and her dead mother. The girl explained that due to the death of the Mist Dragon, her mother died. This is because whenever a summoned monster dies, the Summoner who summoned it dies as well. When Cecil and Kain were discussing the fact that they must have defeated the Mist Dragon and thus accidentally killed her mother, the girl blamed them for the death of her mother. Cecil and Kain offered to take her to safety after pledging not to follow anymore orders from the king, but she wouldn't listen. She summoned Titan and caused an earthquake making an avalanche separate Mist from the rest of the valley.

After this event, Kain's whereabouts are unknown. It is assumed that he returns to Baron, and finds a new commander of the Red Wings--Golbez. Kain is then placed second in command to Golbez. It is unknown whether or not he decides to do this of his own free will, or whether he is forced to by Golbez and the king. However, it is known that he falls under Golbez's control. He is next seen in Fabul during the war for the Crystal of Air, where he duels with Cecil and wins. Golbez then enters and steals the Crystal, and takes Rosa as a hostage. Kain is then ordered to guard Rosa.

After this point, Kain is assigned to guard Rosa in the Tower of Zot, a task he does faithfully because he wants to be near Rosa. He also gives the idea of exchanging the Crystal of Earth for Rosa's freedom. He issues an ultimatum to Cecil: Bring Golbez the Crystal of Earth or Rosa dies. Cecil obliges and brings Golbez the Crystal of Earth, and Kain guides him to the Tower of Zot. However, Golbez decides not to exchange the Crystal for Rosa. As a result, Tellah attacks Golbez out of vengeance for his daughter Anna, and casts Meteo on him. This Meteo not only weakens Golbez, but also releases Kain from Golbez's control. Kain then rejoins Cecil's party, and accompanies him to rescue Rosa. He reveals his secret love for Rosa here, and apologizes. However, Rosa forgives him and invites him to fight alongside them. Kain agrees. However, they could not escape the tower without fighting Valvalvis, the Fiend of Air. Rosa then cast the Exit spell and the party was warped to Cecil's room in Baron.

Cecil's party was now worried, as Golbez now possessed all four Crystals. However, Kain spoke of the Dark Crystals, which were in the hidden in the Underworld. These Crystals had only been rumored to exist, but Golbez knew they existed. Kain then explained that Golbez needed the Crystals to open "the way to The Moon." Cecil then decided that his party had to head underground to protect the remaining Crystals. Kain then showed Cecil the Key of Magma, which could be used to enter the Underworld. Cid told the party that the Enterprise was back in Baron due to a remote control feature it had. The party then headed for the town of Agart and threw the Key of Magma in the well, which opened the way to the Underworld. The party entered the Underworld via the Enterprise, however, they were too late. The Red Wings had already begun battling with the tanks that the Dwarves used for war. The Enterprise was damaged in this battle, and Cecil's party had to seek help from the Dwarves in their castle. There, they met King Giott, the ruler of the Dwarves. He asked the party for help, and they agreed. However, Cid had to take a leave of absence in order to repair the Enterprise and wrap its body in Mystic Silver, which could be used to help the Enterprise withstand the intense heat. Yang Fang Leiden sensed something in the Crystal Room behind the throne, and Giott opened it up for Cecil's party to check out. There, they found Luca's dolls, together known as the Calbrena, under Golbez's control. Cecil's party defeated them. Afterwards, Golbez himself showed up. He put the party in a magical hold in which they could not move. He then Summoned a monster, the Shadow Dragon, which proceeded to eliminate each party member one by one except Cecil. However, the Mist Dragon appeared and defeated the Shadow Dragon. Cecil was then able to move, and Rydia, the girl Cecil and Kain found in Mist, suddenly appeared and defeated Golbez. The party, Cecil and Rosa in particular, were happy to see Rydia, and she offered her help, which Cecil accepted. Golbez, now weakened to the form of a hand, was able to steal the Crystal and escape.

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. 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. Rosa cures Edge, and Edge flirts with her as well. 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 senses. 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, and steals the Crystal and runs off. He is not seen again until after the party destroys the Giant of Bab-il and Golbez realizes that he is Cecil's brother, and that Golbez was being controlled by Zemus. The party headed back to The Moon, and headed to the Lunar Subterrane to find FuSoYa and Golbez fighting Zemus. They defeat him, however, they cannot defeat the manifestation of Zemus's hatred, Zeromus. Cecil, Kain, Rydia, Rosa, and Edge had to defeat Zeromus, with some help from their friends in Mysidia.

Kain is one of the only characters not to attend Cecil and Rosa's wedding. He feels tremendous guilt about his unintentional acts of trechery and blames his own weakness. So instead of going to the wedding, he climbs Mt. Ordeals to undergo a spiritual trial similar to that which Cecil went through when he became a Paladin with the hope of becoming a great Dragoon worthy of his father's legacy.

Equipment and Stats
Kain's stats are heavily weighted physically. He can equip all spears, axes, shields, helmets, armor, gloves, and most swords, tunics, and rings. He is unable to use any kind of magic, and has 0 MP.

Abilities
Kain's special ability is Jump, which allows him to deal extra damage via an aerial attack. While Kain is airborne, he avoids attacks.

In the Game Boy Advance version of the game, by performing Kain's Lunar Trail and defeating lunar Bahamut, Kain receives the Dragoon Gauntlets which gives him Double Jump. This allows him to do double damage and also come back down in 1/4 the normal time.

Trivia

 * Highwind became a sort of common name for dragoons in later installments, being the middle name of King Tycoon from Final Fantasy V and the last name of Cid Highwind from Final Fantasy VII.
 * Kain's Lance, a common spear in later installments of the series, is named after him.
 * In Final Fantasy II, there is a boy named Kain, whose father was also a Dragoon.
 * In Final Fantasy IX, there is a character also named Kain Highwind.
 * His ultimate weapon in the Game Boy Advance version is called Abel's Lance, possibly a reference to Abel, the brother of Cain in the Torah and the Bible's book of Genesis. Cain became the first murderer by killing his brother out of jealousy stemming from the fact that God chose Abel's gift over that of Cain and from the fact that Abel was favored more by their parents, Adam and Eve.