Locke Cole

Locke Cole, also known as Lock, is a playable character from Final Fantasy VI. He is a thief, but prefers to be called a "Treasure Hunter".

Appearance and Personality
Locke stands about average height, with a wiry build. He wears a blue vest and trousers with a white shirt, although concept art has his outer clothes as black. He has light brown hair and wears a bandanna, an accessory that becomes significant in the story. In-game, it is blue and rolled into a headband; in the Yoshitaka Amano artwork it covers his hair and is more colorful and patterned. His outfit is belted with a short sash. He wears brown gloves in-game and in some concept art.

Locke is introduced as a contact, spy, and saboteur for the Returners, the resistance group to the Gestahlian Empire. He is driven to protect women he meets, instantly promising to help Terra and Celes despite them being former Imperial soldiers. His want to protect women is due to unresolved guilt over a past incident which he struggles with. This incident was a key reason he joined the Returners, and although he blames himself, he is angry at the Empire for their involvement.

Despite his tragic past, Locke is often less than serious. He jokes around with and about the other party members, particularly teasing Edgar for his flirtatiousness. He is proud of his skills and insistent on being called a "treasure hunter" or "adventurer" rather than a thief. He is kindhearted and tries to prevent others from experiencing the sorrow he has.

Story
In his youth, Locke used to travel with his father, who was a treasure hunter. His father died and people in Kohlingen treated Locke like a common thief. Rachel was the only one not to consider him as such, and they fell in love, but her father detested him. To prove himself to Rachel's father, Locke explored a dangerous cave with her.

A bridge crumbled under Locke, and Rachel, out of love and devotion, rushed to save him. She fell and was almost killed; Locke rescued her and took her home and nursed Rachel back to health, but she developed a case of amnesia. Blaming Locke for her condition, Rachel's father threw him out and Rachel agreed, as she had lost her memory of their relationship. The village turned against Locke, who left Kohlingen. Locke felt guilty for Rachel's loss of memory, and tried to redeem himself by protecting every woman he came across. One day, Kohlingen was destroyed in an Imperial attack, and Rachel died, but not before recovering her memory and declaring her love for Locke, who joined the Returners to help the resistance against the Empire. Arvis calls Locke to Narshe to ask for assistance in helping Terra Branford. Locke is reluctant due to her former affiliation with the Empire, but agrees and finds Terra in the Narshe Mines ambushed by Narshe guardsmen and rescues her with the help of Ten Moogles. Terra cannot remember her past, but Locke promises to protect her and takes her to Figaro Castle as Narshe is no longer safe.

In Figaro, the king, Edgar Roni Figaro, offers her shelter. Imperial general Kefka Palazzo, hot on Terra's tail, inquires of her whereabouts. Edgar lies, and Kefka sets the castle aflame. Locke, Edgar and Terra escape, and the castle burrows underground. The trio go to the Returner Hideout in the Sabre Mountains, and meet up with Banon, the leader of the Returners, who has Terra join their cause.

The city of South Figaro is put under Imperial siege and Locke goes to investigate. He learns the Empire is planning another raid on Narshe and decides to go and warn the Elder, but cannot get out of South Figaro alone. He sneaks around houses and into the basement of the largest house in town, where an Imperial general, Celes Chere, is being interrogated. Locke rescues her, and vows to protect her.

Locke and Celes head to Narshe to warn the Elder. Cyan Garamonde and Celes get into a brief quarrel, but Locke breaks it up. Everyone gathers to defend Narshe against Kefka and his troops, but afterward Terra reacts with the frozen esper and turns into an esper herself and flies away. A search party is assembled and she is found in atop the tallest tower in Zozo being cared for by Ramuh. Ramuh asks the party to go to Vector, the Imperial capital, and rescue the other imprisoned espers, one of which, Maduin, is Terra's father. Celes agrees to lead the team, and Locke accompanies her.

To get to Vector the party needs an airship. In the town of Jidoor Celes learns a man named Setzer Gabbiani owns the only airship in the world: the Blackjack, and is in love with Maria, the star of the opera, and wills to kidnap her. Locke suggests dressing up Celes as Maria to get Setzer's attention. The plan works, and Setzer agrees, as the result of a coin toss, to take the party to Vector.

After arriving in Vector the party heads to the Magitek Research Facility where they free the espers but it turns them into magicite. Kefka discovers the magicite and orders Celes to come with him. Locke questions Celes's loyalty, but she casts a spell to teleport herself, Kefka, and the troops away to save the Returners. The Empire's main Magitek engineer, Cid, helps Locke and his friends escape via a mine cart. They meet up with Setzer who takes them back to Zozo to see Terra, who recovers upon receiving her father's magicite.

The party heads to Narshe for a strategy meeting with the Elder, Arvis, and Banon. The plan is for Terra to contact the espers and have them attack Vector from the east, while a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards strikes from the north. Terra leads a party through the Cave to the Sealed Gate to reach the Land of Espers where they are ambushed by Kefka, and have to escape. The espers destroy the airship and in Vector Gestahl seems to have surrendered. He asks Terra to negotiate peace with the espers, and she agrees. Locke accompanies her to Crescent Island.

In the port of Albrook Terra and Locke met up with General Leo Cristophe — the leader of the expedition — the mercenary Shadow, and Celes. Locke does not know what to say to Celes and the night before departure he attempts to apologize but she runs away. On the boat to Crescent Island Locke gets seasick and embarrasses himself in front of Shadow. Shortly before landing, Celes tries to say something to him, but Locke walks away.

Locke, Terra and Shadow enter the town of Thamasa where they meet up with Strago Magus, the elder of the town, who asks Terra and Locke help him rescue his granddaughter, Relm Arrowny, from a burning house. Afterward Strago agrees to help Terra and Locke look for the espers and they head for the Espers' Gathering Place with Relm in tow. Terra and Locke speak to the espers' leader, Yura, and take him to Thamasa for negotiations with Leo. At Thamasa, Locke and Celes reconcile.

Kefka interrupts the negotiations and wounds everyone but Leo, who tries to fight Kefka and is killed. Kefka reveals everything was a ploy to gather magicite, and kills Yura and the other espers. He heads for the Sealed Gate to collect more magicite and the Warring Triad are revived and the Land of Espers becomes the Floating Continent. Terra, Locke, Strago, Relm, and Celes meet up with the others and attack the Floating Continent, but as Kefka moves the Warring Triad out of alignment he destroys the world and the party is separated.

One year later, Locke hears a legend of the legendary esper Phoenix said to revive the dead. He wants to use it on Rachel and heads for the Phoenix Cave where the rest of the party locate him and invite him to Kohlingen. Locke uses the esper to revive Rachel who tells Locke to stop feeling guilty. She dies again, restoring Phoenix to life. Locke, exculpated, joins Celes and the others to fight Kefka. After Kefka has been killed and the party flees the crumbling Kefka's Tower, but Celes drops Locke's bandanna that she had been holding onto, and returns to retrieve it. Locke saves her, saying, "I won't let go, I promise".

Battle
Locke's ability is Steal, which allows him to attempt to steal an item from an enemy. Equipping Locke with the Brigand's Glove turns Steal into Mug, which allows Locke to attack an enemy while attempting to steal. Equipping Locke with a Genji Glove or the Master's Scroll allows him to attempt to steal multiple times in a turn. The Sneak Ring boosts the success rate of steal.

Locke's Desperation Attack is Mirage Dive that deals magical damage to one enemy.

Having Locke in the party allows the party to unlock the locked doors in Narshe in the World of Ruin.

Stats
Being a Thief, Locke has well rounded physical stats, high speed and evasion, good strength and decent defense, but low magic stats.

Equipment
Locke's equipment draw includes most daggers and swords, several Boomerangs, all shields except the Golden Shield, lightweight vests and hats, and most heavy armor.

Locke begins with a Dagger, Leather Hat and Leather Armor.

Creation and Development
Locke's design was originally that of a slightly older, dark and mysterious partner of the male protagonist that became Terra Branford. He was supposed to be a rival of sorts to the other characters and was the one with the Runic command. As development proceeded his personality was tweaked and eventually became the more 'regular' character Locke is in the final game. After it was decided Final Fantasy VI would feature an ensemble cast with no clear main protagonist, everyone in the development team were encouraged to provide ideas for characters and their episodes. Locke's character and story were colored by influence from Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Musical Themes
Locke's theme is a heroic introduction played during his and the moogles' mission to protect Terra. His leitmotif is reprised in "Forever Rachel" and the "Ending Theme", and in the latter his theme plays in counterpoint with Celes's theme.

Final Fantasy VI: The Interactive CG Game
Locke is a playable character in a demonstration produced by Square using characters and settings from Final Fantasy VI. The demo was Square's first foray into real time 3D graphics, and many assumed it was a precursor to a new Final Fantasy title for the Nintendo 64, but Square had not yet committed to Nintendo's console, and much of the technology demonstrated in the demo was later put to use in the rendering of full motion video sequences for Final Fantasy VII and subsequent games for the PlayStation. Locke uses a whip in the demo.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII


Toshiyuki Itahana, the costume designer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, said that the Heartstealer garb is based on Locke's Yoshitaka Amano artwork. It adds 20 ATB points and starts a battle with gauge filled at 50%. The Heartstealer comes with with two locked abilities: Leaping Rush Lv. 2 assigned to / by default and Evade Lv. 2 assigned to / by default. Its passive ability is Soul of the Thief which increases ATB speed by 35 and stagger capability by 5%. in the demo the Heartealer is given to the player after Lightning deems the area around the ice pillar safe and in the full version the garb appears in the cube treasure box in the Ark at the start of ninth day.

When Lightning shifts into a schema with the Heartstealer set as its garb, she will say various quotes relating to the origin of the garb, e.g. "What's your most valuable treasure?", "You're so eager to plunder?", and "I'm no thief".

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Locke was considered as a candidate but was left out in favor of Terra, who was considered the most prominent character of Final Fantasy VI and had a closer link to Kefka. Locke appears as a tutor from the in-game manuals and is indirectly alluded to in Destiny Odyssey VI by Kefka, where he rebukes Onion Knight as being an "imitation hero" shortly after Onion Knight interfers with Kefka's attempt at recruiting Terra back to Chaos.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Locke doesn't make a direct appearance, but is alluded to when Vaan (another thief-inspired character) rescues Terra from Kefka.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy


Locke is a sub-character obtained from Indigo Crystal Shards collected via Dark Note Bosses. To use Locke in the iOS port, the player needs to buy him at the online store.

Locke has overall mediocre stats, save for high Agility. He is best suited to gathering items, being the only character to learn both Treasure Hunter and Sight, greatly increasing the player's changes of obtaining rare items during Field Music Sequences and learning Vigilance to allow Locke to avoid having to switch out during FMS if he falls. Locke learns a handful of support skills for Battle Music Sequences, namely Counter and Steal. He also learns Libra Lv2, the only character to do so. As Cid Haze is the only character to learn Libra Lv3, Locke's abilities overall make him invaluable in the Chaos Shrine, able to identify the items bosses in new Dark Notes have to drop, and having abilities to allow the player to obtain those items easier.

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Locke appears in Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character. His initial weapon is the Baselard.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Locke appears as a Legend character, and uses the Mirage Dive ability to assist the player.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest


Locke is an exclusive character available from the Premium Character Shop as a random downloadable content. He uses the Mirage Dive ability during battle.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Locke makes an appearance in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game.

Secret of Evermore
In Secret of Evermore, Locke appears among the crowd of spectators that includes other Final Fantasy VI characters at the gladiator battle of Antiqua. He appears alongside Terra, Mog, Relm, Strago, and Umaro.

In Other Media
A concept image early in the development of Final Fantasy VII features an isometric view and Final Fantasy VI sprites, including Locke.

Namesakes of his have appeared in Secret of Evermore and in Final Fantasy IX as an NPC. Locke Cole is himself a namesake of a playable character in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (see Tristam).

Author makes a homage to Locke with the titular thief and con artist of his book .

In , dresses up as Locke when he tries to board the Blackjack with Thog dressed up as Mog. The wig and bandanna were discarded when he was discovered to be a fake, although he retains all other parts of Locke's clothing style.

The Magi-Nation Duel character is a direct reference to Locke Cole's portrayal in Final Fantasy VI.

In , two thieves by the name of Cid and Dune are view by the main characters as thieves and the party treats them as such. In these encounters, both thieves will repeatedly tell them that they are Treasure Hunters much in the same fashion to when it occured to Locke.

In a Famitsu character popularity poll, Locke was the only character from Final Fantasy VI listed.

Etymology
is a surname of Old English and Old German origin and contains the elements "woods", "pond", and "fortified place", indicating that the person lived near such a landmark. It was used as an occupational name for a locksmith, appropriate given Locke's status as a thief.

is an English name that comes from the Old English col, which can mean "charcoal" or "coal-black".

Trivia

 * Locke's Desperation Attack, Mirage Dive (or "Mirager" in the SNES version), is a Band ability in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years used by Edge and Kain.
 * Locke breaks the fourth wall when engaging Ultros for the third time in the Esper Caves. After Relm appears, he goes near the dialog box and says to himself while looking to the player, "A pint-sized virtuoso and an egotistical octopus, do I wanna know what's next?"