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 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.

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. He wears a pair of goggles with a packet of cigarettes strapped underneath the band. Cid is a chain-smoker, and ends each battle in Final Fantasy VII by lighting a new cigarette. He wears leather gloves and boots and his weapon of choice is a spear. Cid has blond hair and blue eyes and has facial stubble.

Despite his use of the spear, 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 - though in the ending for Dirge of Cerberus he is seen lighting a cigarette and 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 age bracket, but chews a toothpick to give the same type of imagery.

Cid is well-known among fans for his foul mouth, and he curses a blue streak at several points in Final Fantasy VII. Several of his lines are even "bleeped", appearing as a jumble of symbols like "#*$&amp;#!". As shown in a flashback, Cid was always crude, but not to the same extent. It seems 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, but admits he likes the idea. His personality is pretty much the same throughout the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. In the English versions of his appearances, Cid speaks with a North American southern accent.

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. Although he verbally abuses her afterwards, once her concerns about a faulty oxygen tank prove founded, he apologizes. Later on Cid names an airship after her and marries her. After finally going to space and returning, Cid gives a heartened speech to the party about how he saw the Planet as "a sick little kid," and Sephiroth as a disease inside it, and it would be their job to protect it.

Story
Since childhood Cid dreamed of becoming the first human in space. He almost achieves this goal through the Shinra Space Program sometime prior to the start of the game. Aside from his ambitions as an astronaut, Cid designs a number of aircraft and is a great pilot. Among his designs are the propeller plane Tiny Bronco and the airship Highwind, both constructed sometime before Final Fantasy VII. 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, 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. At this time, AVALANCHE attempts to steal the Tiny Bronco, and Rufus's bodyguard, a member of the Turks, saves it.

AVALANCHE moves on to attack the rocket, led by Shears. AVALANCHE steals an oxygen tank to stop the launch, and Cid tells Rufus and President Shinra to continue the launch even if it is not safe to do so. The President agrees, so AVALANCHE resorts to kidnapping Cid. Cid is rescued and the launch proceeds to countdown.

It is revealed Shera, Cid's assistant, is still doing a safety check. Unwilling to let the rocket launch and kill Shera in the blast Cid hits the emergency shut down and stops the launch. 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 would eventually become a tourist attraction, which spawns the village Rocket Town.

Final Fantasy VII


The hot-tempered Cid blames Shera for destroying his dream, and Shera, being an insecure person, accepts the blame completely. After the incident Shera devotes herself 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 with 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 Shinra, who Cid hopes is planning to restart the Space Program. Rufus is not interested in the Space Program at all, and merely wants the Tiny Bronco to track Sephiroth. Cid refuses to give up his airplane, 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 runs to jump onto it, but Rufus orders his soldiers to shoot it down. They manage to get as far as the sea, where they crash. His hopes dashed anew and having no reason to return to the town, Cid decides to join Cloud and his allies.

Cid continues to travel with Cloud until Cloud is separated from the group at the North Crater, and Tifa and Barret end up held captive in Junon. Cid persuades the Highwind's crew to join him becoming the airship's captain, and commandeers the Highwind saving Barret and Tifa from execution. The Highwind becomes the group's airship and the party start to look for Cloud. When he is found Tifa leaves the group to care for him, and Cid is appointed leader in her place.

Shinra attempts to load Huge Materia onto Shinra No. 26 and launch it at the Meteor, 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 instead. Cid returns to Mideel to see Cloud, but after Mideel is attacked by Ultimate Weapon Cloud recovers, 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. Finally having realized his dream of going to space 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 manage to rescue Cid in time. 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 joins with the party to finish Sephiroth off in the Northern Cave in late January 0008, and takes the Highwind's controls to escape the fall of 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 a confidante of sorts to Barret, 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. He carries the other AVALANCHE members into the Shera, and Barret later 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.

In Battle

 * List of Cid's Spears.

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.

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. 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 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 all escape using an escape pod just 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. Connected themes are "The Highwind Takes to the Skies" and "Launching a Dream into Space".

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 largely takes a passive role helping Sora with Gummi engineering and construction. Cid is considerably 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.

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 Cid never gets a go, however, because it will always be Tifa who will ask first.
 * 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.