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I'll help. No machine can stump me!
Cid del Norte Marquez
Cid Del Norte Marquez is a non-player character from Final Fantasy VI. He is the chief genetic engineer of the Gestahlian Empire who invented the Magitek process. Born in the fifth year of the nation of Vector, Cid is a member of the Marquez bloodline of patriotic scientists of the northern state of which became Vector in the war of fifty years before the game's beginning. His Japanese surname is alternately spelled as Del Norte Marguez or Marguz.
Aside from working in the Magitek Research Facility, Cid cultivated a veritable collection of exotic flowers in a greenhouse, his favorite being roses. As Celes Chere grew, she would help him in the greenhouse, where Cid named his favorite flower after her and eventually gave it to her to adorn her quarters.
Profile
Appearance
Cid's birthday and other info.
Cid wears a yellow coat with red decorations, though his artwork shows that underneath it he wears a black and white outfit that appears medieval, with black shoes with red decorations on them. Cid has a red mustache (gray in the SNES sprite).
Personality
Though Cid is devoted to his research, he is not strongly loyal to the Empire. Cid has selfless motives, and though he is unwilling to fight, he attempts to solve problems through diplomacy, and believes that the espers should not be killed solely to further his research. Cid is also close to Celes, and acts as a father figure for her.
Story
Cid decides to help the Returners.
Cid invented the process of Magitek, which involves the extraction of magic from espers and the infusion of the power into humans. Magitek was used to create the army the Empire is known for. Cid's first guinea pig, Kefka Palazzo, underwent the process as a young man, and the rudimentary experiment twisted his mind, and Kefka became unpopular. Cid refined the process and used it on a two-year-old child named Celes. The experiment was a success, and Cid raised Celes like his own daughter. Cid had always been against the war and resented his discoveries and inventions being used in it. Unknown to Emperor Gestahl, Cid had delayed his findings by at least a decade.
Cid did not discover the true secret of extracting magic from espers was to reduce them to magicite, their remains after they die. It took Locke Cole and several of the Returners to show him this and as a result, Cid joins the Returners and petitions Gestahl to stop the war after helping Locke and his friends escape the Magitek Research Facility. He helps represent the Returners in a banquet with Gestahl and afterward, he follows Setzer Gabbiani to try to rebuild the Blackjack. His suggestion is to remove the Blackjack's casino so as to increase the speed, but Setzer does not want his help and so Cid leaves in a huff.
Cid telling Celes to leave the island and find her friends.
Cid's death.
Gestahl only uses the peace offering as a set up for him to obtain more espers and he no longer needs Cid. Kefka uses the powers he has obtained to defeat Gestahl and destroy the world by shifting the face of the planet by moving the Warring Triad out of alignment. One year later in the World of Ruin, Cid lives on the Solitary Island with Celes. He spends the year taking care of her, but becomes ill. Celes feeds him and depending on the quality of the fish she catches Cid either lives or dies. If he dies, Celes attempts suicide by jumping off a cliff, but falls into the water and splashes on shore, still alive. When she comes across Locke's bandanna her hope for her old friends to have survived is renewed. She finds a note left by Cid showing her the location of a raft he made to use to go search for others. If he lives, Cid shows Celes the raft personally and stays behind on the Solitary Island while she departs.
Gameplay
The player must catch fish for Cid on the Solitary Island as part of the story. Fast moving, healthy fish improve Cid's condition, whereas the slow moving rotten/foul-tasting fish deteriorate his health. The game keeps track of a counter for Cid's health, which starts at 120 and decreases by 1 every passing second, unless the player is in the menu screen or in a battle.
Feeding Cid fish lowers or raises the counter depending on the type of fish:
| Speed | SNES/PSX | GBA/iOS | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slow | Fish | A fish | -16 |
| Medium | A rotten fish | A foul-tasting fish | -4 |
| Medium | Just a Fish | An ordinary fish | +16 |
| Fast | A yummy fish | A delicious fish | +32 |
If the player feeds him multiple fish at a time, the effects of all of the fish count. The type(s) of fish in the water is reset every time the player talks to Cid.
If the player doesn't save Cid, there's no way to make the fish reset because one needs to talk to Cid to do that. So the player will not be able to collect all four fish under the Rare Items within the Items menu.
What Cid says spoken to depends on his "health" counter. If the player enters the cabin when the counter is below 30, Cid is dead when spoken to, but if the counter is over 30 when the player enters, but drops below 30 while they're in the room, Cid won't die until the player leaves and returns. If the player feeds Cid fish which increases the counter to 256 or more, Cid will be saved.
| Health counter | Cid's dialogue |
|---|---|
| 255*Cid is saved | I feel much better! Thanks, Celes! |
| 231-254 | My dear, I...feel I'm not going to be around much longer... |
| 201-230 | Celes, thanks for all you've done for me! |
| 161-200 | Hackack!! I feel a little better! |
| 121-160 | Cough...wheeze... I can't bear this any longer... |
| 91-120 | I...I'm not long for this cruel new world... |
| 61-90 | My worst nightmare is to think of you alone here on this wretched island...hack...wheeze! |
| 31-60 | Cough...hack...ACK!! While I can still talk, I...wheeze...pant...want to thank you...cough! |
| 0-30 | Good-bye... |
Behind the scenes
Yoshinori Kitase was the one who programmed the scenario where Celes nurses Cid back to health. His original intent was for Cid to die, but he decided it was better to allow players the chance to save him. He made this purposefully difficult by not giving any hints as to what kind of fish is needed to do this.[3]
Other appearances
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Etymology
Cid's first name seems to be taken from Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar's title, El Cid Campeador. Cid is derived from the dialectal Arabic word سيد (sîdi or sayyid), which means "lord" or "master".
Continuing with the Spanish references, 'Del Norte Marquez' may be a reference to "Del Norte Márquez", a composite Spanish surname.
Del Norte means "from the North".
"Márquez" means "Son of a Marquis", a noble Spanish last name. "Marquez" is also a French second-personal plural that refers to marking or writing something down, or to remember something by using a mark.
Trivia
- When Cid nan Garlond is suffering from amnesia in Final Fantasy XIV, he goes by the name Marques, referencing Cid from Final Fantasy VI.
- Yoshinori Kitase made the fish-catching game and designed it to be difficult by giving no hints as to which fish to give Cid, because he wanted the route where Cid dies to be the canon one. He yet thought it would be better to have a way of saving him.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Final Fantasy VI The Complete, p.182
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume 1, p.307
- ↑ http://www.onemillionpower.com/25-years-since-the-release-of-final-fantasy-vi-looking-back-at-the-passion/
- ↑ 25 Years Since The Release Of Final Fantasy VI – Looking Back At The Passion (Accessed: April 09, 2019) at One Million Power