Rydia

Rydia, sometimes referred to as Rydia of Mist, is a playable character in Final Fantasy IV. She is a Summoner from the village of Mist and is one of the most powerful Summoners in the village due to the fact she is only seven years old, as the Eidolons from the Feymarch tend to trust innocent young girls more than adults.

Childhood


Rydia was born to one of the few remaining pure-blood Summoner families in Mist. Her mother was known to protect the remote village with the Eidolon Mist Dragon, isolated from the outside world but for the Mist Cave. However, one day, the Dark Knight Cecil Harvey and his best friend, Kain Highwind, are ordered by the King of Baron to deliver a ring to the Mist Village and slay the Mist Dragon barring their way. As a rule, whenever an Eidolon dies, the Summoner who summoned it dies as well and Rydia's mother dies. Cecil and Kain come to Mist afterward, and the ring releases Bombs all over the village, setting it on fire. Cecil and Kain find out the bad news about Rydia's mother and offer to take her to safety. However, Rydia overhears Cecil and Kain killed the Mist Dragon, and would not accept help. Instead, she summons Titan to cause a massive earthquake which causes a landslide in the eastern mountains, separating Cecil from Kain.

Cecil's Ally
Rydia is wounded in the earthquake, and Cecil takes her to the desert oasis of Kaipo to let her rest. Cecil tries to ask her for her name, but Rydia refuses to speak to him. That night, soldiers from Baron come to Kaipo in search of Cecil, and Cecil learns the King of Baron wants all Summoners eliminated, saying they are too dangerous to be left alive. Cecil fights off the soldiers and Rydia acknowledges Cecil's sincerity, and tells him her name.

The next day, the two discover Cecil's childhood friend Rosa Joanna Farrell is in Kaipo stricken with fever. The doctor says they have to search for the Sand Pearl in order to cure her. After many events on the way, during which Golbez the new Red Wings commander steals the Crystal of Fire, Rydia and Cecil retrieve the pearl from the Antlion and cure Rosa, who decides they need to defend the remaining Crystals, and that the Crystal of Air in Fabul is the next target. They have to cross Mt. Hobs, a mountain blocked by a thick sheet of ice, and Rydia is the only one who can melt the ice by casting the Fire spell, however, she claims she cannot cast the spell. This confuses Rosa, as Fire is one of the most basic Black Magic spells there is. Rydia reveals her hatred of fire and refuses to cast the spell, as fire had destroyed her village. With the group's encouragement Rydia overcomes her fear and casts Fire, and the group are able to save the Monk Yang Fang Leiden on the mountain from Golbez's monsters. In Fabul, Yang warns the King of Baron's incoming attack, and Cecil and Edward help defend the castle while Rosa and Rydia are put on relief. After the fight the Crystal is stolen and Rosa taken hostage and it's left for Rydia to cure the party.

Separation
The party boards a ship provided by the king of Fabul and set sail towards Baron. On the way the ship is attacked by Leviathan, the Lord of All Waters. Rydia is blown off the ship, and Yang dives in to save her. The attack scatters the four, and the fates of Edward, Yang, and Rydia are unknown. When Cecil reunites with Yang, Yang says Rydia was swallowed by Leviathan, and the group assumes she perished.

In reality, Leviathan took Rydia to the Feymarch, the home of all Eidolons. Time moves faster in the Feymarch, so while Cecil and his allies were separated from Rydia for only a short period of time, years went past in the Feymarch, and Rydia grows into a young woman at an accelerated rate. She hones her skills as a Summoner and develops her powers with Black Magic, although she loses the ability to perform White Magic. The queen of the Feymarch, Asura, tells Rydia about the danger Golbez is placing the world in, and eventually Rydia decides to leave the Feymarch and return to Cecil to help him.

Return
Cecil and his allies had entered the underground world where the Dark Crystals lay, and are attempting to protect the Crystal in the Dwarven Castle from Golbez. Golbez summons a Shadow Dragon which instantly defeats all party members except Cecil. However, Rydia arrives and summons the Mist Dragon to defeat the Shadow Dragon, and rejoins the party in battle. Golbez is defeated, but he has enough strength to steal the dwarves' Crystal. Rydia explains to Cecil and his allies about what happened to her, and rejoins them as they attack the Tower of Babil in order to get the other Crystals back.

When the attack on the tower fails, the group returns to the surface and enters a hidden passage to the upper levels of the tower through the Eblan Cave. At the entrance to the tower, they find one of Golbez's Archfiends, Rubicante, battling the Eblan prince Edge. Edge attacks him, but his attack was Fire-based - therefore he healed him. Rubicante wounds Edge and retreats, and the group proposes they work together to defeat him. Although Edge initially rejects the idea, his injuries prompt Rydia to cry, as Yang and Cid seemingly died before they returned to the surface. Edge says he cannot stand to see a pretty girl cry, and after Rosa heals him, he joins the group.

Atop the tower, the group battles Edge's mutated parents, and eventually dispatch Rubicante. The party enters the Crystal Room, where they fall into a booby trap and fall to the Underground and find a new airship: the Falcon. With Cid's help, who survived his supposed demise, the airship is remodeled to fly over magma and reach the cave where the final Crystal lies. The player also has the option at this point to enter the Feymarch and battle Asura and Leviathan to gain their help as summons for Rydia.

To the Moon
The party heads for the Sealed Cave and open it, but once the Crystal is retrieved Golbez takes control of Kain, who steals the Crystal and runs off. The party then heads back to the Upper World (after Cid attaches a drill to the head of the Falcon) and heads for Mysidia, where the Elder prays for something to help the party. That something is the Lunar Whale, the "Ship of Light from The Moon," which allows the party to fly to the Red Moon. Here, the player can enter the Lair of the Father and battle Bahamut for Rydia to earn him as a summon. The other characters' thoughts in the Nintendo DS release indicate Rydia is the first human ever to earn Bahamut's help.

The party eventually finds out Golbez is being controlled by a Lunarian named Zemus who wishes for the Earth to be destroyed, and he is using Golbez to do it. At the game's end the party use the Lunar Whale to reach Zemus, and Rydia is asked to leave the ship, Edge especially egging her on about it. She is upset, but leaves anyway. However, she stows away and heads to The Moon anyway, and convinces Cecil she should join, as she believes they are all fighting for a common cause, and that she is the only Summoner left. Cecil agrees to have her on the team.

Aftermath


After Zemus and Zeromus are defeated, Rydia returns to the Feymarch, where she is more comfortable as her home. She also attends Cecil and Rosa's wedding. However, feeling that Rydia should be with her kind, Asura has Rydia be unable to return to their domain and remain with her human friends. In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Rydia is busy helping rebuild the village of Mist seventeen years later. A grave stone has been placed for her mother, which reads "Here lies the motherly summoner who protected our village." Rydia pays a visit to the Feymarch one day, only to find that all the Eidolons have been petrified. Upon returning, she finds one of the Dark Crystals has been stolen and sets out with Luca into a cave to protect the remaining Crystal from the Mysterious Girl, who easily defeats them using Titan. The Mysterious Girl is later defeated by a man cloaked in black who rescues Rydia and Luca, taking them to the Tower of Babil and telling them the events are being repeated. On board the Falcon, Edge and the Eblan Four land on the ship and tell Rydia of the events that have happened recently, and Edge instantly recognizes the Man in Black as Golbez. Together they round up other party members to confront the Mysterious Girl.

After defeating the Mysterious Girl, it is revealed that she was but a puppet for the Creator, the true source of evil. The Mysterious Girl's real name is Maenad, and she fights with the party to defeat the Creator. In the end, Maenad is killed with her former master. Back on Earth, Maenad is given a second chance at life as the little girl Cuore, whom Rydia trains as a Summoner.

Sidequests
Most of the sidequests in the game involve Rydia and her Summons to some degree. After the Falcon gains the ability to fly over lava, the party can head to the Feymarch, which is the plane on which all Eidolons live. The queen Asura welcomes Rydia back and offers her help if the party can defeat her. Also the king, Leviathan, offers his help after being defeated. If the party visits the Feymarch at least once, returning to Baron reveals the King is actually Odin. In the Underworld, Sylphs live in a cave to the northwest. Yang is also in this cave. If the party meets him there, they can return to Fabul and talk to his wife. She gives the party a frying pan to hit Yang with. If this happens, Yang will offer his help. However, the Sylphs say that he must rest, and they offer to help Rydia instead. Finally, the god of all Eidolons, Bahamut, waits in a cave on The Moon for Rydia to come and challenge him.

Equipment and Stats
Rydia is a Summoner, and thus her stats are heavily weighted in the magic department. As a child, she can equip rods, staves, bows and knives. As an adult she loses the ability to equip staves and instead equips whips. In the Nintendo DS version, she cannot equip bows anymore. Her armor is limited to universal equips and mage equips. In the Advance version of Final Fantasy IV, equipping Rydia with the Mist Ring allows summoning the Mist Dragon to grant a Blink effect on the entire party.

Final Fantasy IV
As a Summoner, Rydia naturally has the ability to summon monsters. However, she can also use Black Magic. She learns every spell, up to and including Meteor, but she learns them later than Palom because of her emphasis on Summon Magic. As a child, she can also cast some basic White Magic. When she returns to the party as an adult, she has forgotten these spells. In the Nintendo DS version, Rydia is able to learn more White Magic as a child, and learns her later Black Magic at different levels. Rydia also joins the party at Level 7, while she joins at only Level 1 in all other releases, and thus knows several spells already. When she is transformed back into a child during her Lunar Trial in the Advance release, she is able to cast her White Magic while retaining all her Black Magic. In all releases, Rydia learns her summons the same way.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Rydia can still use Black Magic and summon Eidolons, but at the beginning of her chapter Rydia's summon abilities are lost with the exception of four summons she can learn from enemy drops. In The Gathering, the player must defeat the Eidolons in battle around the world, re-acquiring them for Rydia to the summon with the exceptions of Leviathan, Asura and Bahamut. These three appear as bosses on the True Moon and will be made available for Rydia to summon if they are defeated while she is in the party. After defeating Leviathan and Asura, Rydia will also gain the Mystic Whip and Minerva Bustier from them respectively.

Rydia can use the following Band abilities:
 * Lightning Brain Buster: Rydia (Black Magic) + Luca (Fight)
 * Thunderstorm: Rydia (Black Magic or Summon) + Palom (Black Magic)
 * Broken Heart: Rydia (Attack, Bow) + Edge (Attack)
 * Inferno: Rydia + Edge (Event)
 * Thunder Wave: Rydia (Black Magic) + Ceodore (Attack)
 * Iron Flash: Rydia (Summon) + Cecil (Attack)
 * Holy Burst: Rydia (Black Magic) + Rosa (White Magic)
 * Mirage Song: Rydia (Summon) + Edward (Bardsong)
 * Sylph Protection: Rydia (Summon) + Yang (Attack)
 * Tri-disaster: Rydia (Black Magic) + Palom (Black Magic) + Leonora (Black Magic)
 * Flare Tornado: Rydia (Black Magic) + Edge (Ninjutsu) + Luca (Big Throw)
 * Wild Whip: Rydia (Attack, Whip) + Harley (Attack, Whip) + Izayoi (Attack, Whip)
 * Call Me Queen: Rydia (Attack, Whip) + Leonora (Attack, Whip) + Harley (Attack, Whip) + Izayoi (Attack, Whip)
 * Final Fantasy: Cecil (Fight) + Rosa (White Magic) + Kain (Jump) + Rydia (Black Magic) + Edge (Throw)
 * Infinity: Rydia (Black Magic) + Palom (Black Magic) + Porom (White Magic) + Rosa (White Magic) + Leonora (White Magic)

Musical Themes
Rydia's theme is simply called "Rydia."

Etymology
"Rydia" could be an "" translation of , a much more common western name. Lydia refers to a region in western, from which the common name is derived.

In the English localization of the Nintendo DS version, Rydia is [ˈɹɪ.di.ə.]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord
A downloadable costume for the main character, Mira, is based directly upon Rydia's appearance from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, including green hair and outfit. It is listed as "Mystic" in the game itself, though.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Rydia makes a small cameo in her child form in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals. She exchanges information on Summoning and Summonstones with Edward.

Lord of Vermilion II
Rydia appears as a card and summonable creature in the sequel to Lord of Vermilion, along with other characters from Final Fantasy IV as part of a special cross promotion. Her card is marked as Super Rare, and has an Attack and Defense of 35.

Virtual World
Users in Square Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Rydia.

Trivia

 * Rydia is one of a small handful of characters to undergo a permanent physical change during their respective game, with her sprite and unit portrait changing as well.
 * Rydia is the only Summoner to focus on Black Magic other than her summons, as the Summoners after her (Princess Garnet and Eiko Carol of Final Fantasy IX and Yuna of Final Fantasy X) focus on White Magic.
 * There are some ambiguities regarding Rydia's age. In all versions of Final Fantasy IV it is specified that in the Feymarch, time moves faster. Rydia's ageing is also made apparent in her change of speech and thought patterns, shown most clearly in the Nintendo DS release. Thus, chronologically only seven real years have passed since Rydia was born, but due to the advanced passage of time in the Feymarch, she is physically and mentally an adult. Much ado has been made of her nearly identical appearance 17 years later in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, but as other characters of similar age are largely unchanged save for their clothing, it is unlikely there is a deep reason behind her appearance. However, it is possible that the reason for Rydia's apparent lack of ageing in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is because she was away from the Feymarch, helping rebuild Mist for a large part of the time between Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.
 * Young Rydia is used in the icon for Final Fantasy IV for the Nintendo DS when the player opens the game on their menu. A tiny Bomb is seen beside her.
 * Rydia had a different menu portrait in the mobile phone release of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, which seems to be based directly on her official artwork.
 * Rydia has a grand total of six different menu portraits across all the releases of Final Fantasy IV and a seventh in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, tying her with Cecil for the largest number in the series.
 * When Cecil and Kain inadvertently destroy the village of Mist, Rydia summons Titan even though when the player gains her as a playable character, she can only summon Chocobo and Whyt (in the Nintendo DS remake). However, this may be due to her anger over Cecil and Kain's actions.
 * Many pieces of artwork featuring Rydia were altered to be less revealing in the American version, as was done with Porom & Ursula.

Rydia