Cid Highwind

"Cid is a tough talking, warm-hearted old pilot who hasn't forgotten his dreams..."

Cid Highwind is a playable character in 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 constantly swears and loses his temper, and chain-smokes cigarettes. Despite this, he has a good heart, and is even voted temporary leader of the party at one point. He fits into the archetype of an Oyaji. He is also famous for cursing a blue streak at varying points in the game.

Final Fantasy VII'
Since childhood, Cid dreamed of becoming the first human in space. He almost achieved this goal through the Shin-Ra Space Program sometime prior to the start of the game. However, just as the rocket Shin-Ra No. 26 was about to launch, Cid realized that an engineer named Shera had defied orders and ran a last-minute recheck of the oxygen tanks. Continuing the launch on schedule would have killed her. Cid scrapped the launch in order to save Shera's life. In the wake of this disaster, Shin-Ra concluded that space exploration was not financially viable, and withdrew funding from the project altogether.

The hot-tempered Cid blamed Shera for destroying his dream, and Shera, being an extremely insecure person, accepted the blame completely. After the incident Shera devoted herself to doing whatever she could to atone for her mistake, although Cid continued to treat her abominably. However, her concern over the oxygen tanks is eventually proven to have merit when an explosion temporarily traps Cid in orbit during a later successful attempt to go into space. After this, Cid finally forgives Shera.

Aside from his ambitions as an astronaut, Cid designed a number of aircrafts and was also a great pilot. Among his designs were the propeller plane Tiny Bronco, the airship Highwind, and the airship Shera, the successor to the Highwind named in honor of the woman(seen in Advent Children).

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Cid makes a minor appearance. He pilots his new airship Shera, and helps out Cloud in the battle against Bahamut SIN.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
One year after the events of Advent Children, he is a legendary airship pilot, and one of the allies who Vincent worked with 3 years ago. He now pilots the Shera airship, and works as the leader of an airship division with support from the World Regenesis Organization.

Limit Breaks

 * See videos of the various Limit Breaks here

Kingdom Hearts
Cid Highwind makes an appearance in Kingdom Hearts as a Gummi Ship expert. His first appearance is in Traverse Town when he meets Sora in his accessory shop after Sora lands in the town after the destruction of Destiny Islands. He owns a accessory shop in the first few parts of the game and turns into a gummi block shop for Sora to purchase new parts. In Kingdom Hearts Cid's story was changed as a savior to Squall (Leon), Yuffie, and Aerith when Hallow Bastion was taken over by Heartless, although he still remained a pilot and appears to have toned down on his infamous swearing. His cigarettes are also replaced with a toothpick.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Cid returns in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories in the memory of Traverse Town. Although it's just a memory of Cid he still is savior to Leon and friends. He doesn't remember Sora at first, but in some segments he remembers Sora and friends from their adventures from the first game.

Kingdom Hearts II
Cid returned in Kingdom Hearts II again as a savior to Leon and the gang. For the most part, he is seen working on a computer in Merlin's House, which Merlin criticized as "ruining the atmosphere" of his humble abode. When Sora and friends came back to Hollow Bastion in the later part of the game to fight the MCP, who had taken over the town with the aid of the Heartless from Space Paranoids, Cid was working on an "MCP eradication program" which would've been done sooner if it "weren't for the old loon's magic," which greatly offended Merlin so bad that he apparently damaged Cid's computer with a spell just a split second after the eradication program was finished and given to Leon to aid Sora. After the MCP was defeated by Sora and co., he, along with the rest of the gang, remembered the town's true name of Radiant Garden.

Cid Highwind