Ricard Highwind

Ricard Highwind, also known as Gareth, is a character from Final Fantasy II. He is the last surviving dragoon from Deist, and prefers wielding a spear in battle.

Story
Ricard was ordered to find the Ultima tome, but his ship was swallowed up by the Leviathan. He first meets Firion inside the Leviathan where he tells Firion the idea of the dragoons being extinct is preposterous since he's a dragoon himself. He then joins forces with Firion, Maria and Guy. They use his ship to get out of the Leviathan and sail to the Mysidian Tower. After entering and climbing to the top of the tower, they reach the sealed door leading to the Ultima tome. Minwu is already there and tells them to stand back while he focuses all of his remaining energy on opening the door. Minwu succeeds, but he dies immediately afterward as a result of his over-exertion. Finally, one member of Firion's party learns the Ultima spell.

The group travels to Fynn where they are informed of the Emperor's Cyclone. They use a pendant found on another dragoon's corpse in front of a large mirror in Fynn Castle to summon the Wyvern whose egg they had protected by transporting it to Deist's cavern's spring. Ricard and the wyvern form a connection. If the party travels to Deist, Ricard learns from Elina, the widow of his dragoon friend Phillip, and her son, Kain, that the dragoons and their wyverns were massacred by the Palamecian empire's army, leaving them as the only survivors. Ricard promises them he will return after he defeats the Emperor and they will be a family. Ricard, accompanied by Firion and his party, flies on the wyvern into the Cyclone and together they defeat the Emperor for the first time.

When Leon attempts to assume the throne of Palamecia, the heroes travel to confront him. When the Emperor suddenly returns from the dead as the Dark Emperor, Ricard attacks the Emperor to create a diversion while the other three heroes, accompanied by Leon, get picked up by the Wyvern and escape. Ricard is no match for the undead Emperor and is easily slain. If Firion returns to Deist to break the news to Ricard's adoptive family, they will tell him they are leaving Deist because there are too many painful memories there. In parting, they also give Firion the Excalibur sword.

In the Dawn of Souls remake, Ricard is seen in Heaven fighting a worm-like creature (similar to the one that he fights with Firion's party inside the Leviathan) when Minwu and the others join him. After they defeat it, they travel to figure out where they are. They later confront the Light Emperor who asks for their forgiveness, but images of Elina and Kain tell Ricard not to be fooled by the Light Emperor, because in reality the Light Emperor is as evil as his dark side. Ricard summons the will to fight the Light Emperor and defeats him. Ricard can finally rest in peace knowing that the future of the world is in good hands.

Stats and Traits
Ricard is a Dragoon, and as such in the GBA and PSP versions of the game, he starts with a high skill level with spears. However, in the original NES and PS versions, he is more skilled with swords than with spears when he joins Firion's group. Ricard also has high Strength and mediocre Stamina, Spirit and Agility. He is most suited to being an attacker, as he has low MP when he joins and his low Magic stat means his MP will be slow to level up.

If planning to play through Soul of Rebirth, the player should give careful consideration to what skills Ricard will carry over to the other quest. Equipping him with high-level magic like Holy and Flare and powerful weapons is desirable, as he will inevitably be at a much higher skill level than the player's other three characters in Soul of Rebirth and will do much of the fighting until they level up. The player may also wish to equip Ricard with the Blood Sword so he can carry it over to Soul of Rebirth, where it is very effective against Ultima Weapon and the Light Emperor.

Trivia

 * Ricard is the first Dragoon in the series, and the first character to have the surname Highwind in a Final Fantasy title, followed by Kain Highwind in Final Fantasy IV and Cid Highwind in Final Fantasy VII, both Dragoons. Alexander Highwind Tycoon of Final Fantasy V also uses the name.
 * In the Dawn of Souls and 20th Anniversary Edition remakes, the son of a fellow dragoon was named Kain. When Ricard returned to Deist, the boy and his mother were the only ones left, and Ricard's eventual death prompts Kain to follow in the Dragoon legacy. This is referenced in Final Fantasy IV, where there is a Dragoon named Kain Highwind. The Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy IV also makes a reference to this Easter egg, as Kain states his father died while fighting an empire, and even mentions that his father's name was Richard.
 * In Dissidia Final Fantasy, his Player Icons give his name as "Richard".
 * Ricard's name in the Spanish version of Final Fantasy II is Arturo. However, the translation team did not change Kain's father's name in Final Fantasy IV.
 * The English prototype of Final Fantasy II, Dark Shadow Over Palakia, had Ricard's name as 'Edward'.
 * In Final Fantasy Dimensions, there is a dragoon called Richard, who is a friend of the deceased dragoon Abel.
 * Curiously, Ricard was completely cut from the novel Final Fantasy II Muma no Meikyū.