I don't want you all to become machines. I want you all to be able to think and act for yourselves.
Headmaster Cid
Cid Kramer, more commonly known as Headmaster Cid (シド学園長, Shido Gakuenchō?), is the founder of SeeD and headmaster of Balamb Garden in Final Fantasy VIII. He is the overseer of both school operations and SeeD operations in general, meaning he has little time for other endeavors despite his wish to the contrary.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Cid wears a burgundy vest over a long-sleeved white collared shirt and green tie, brown trousers and black shoes. He has blue eyes, floppy brown hair, and wears round glasses.
Personality[]
Cid is a cheerful man full of hope, being the man who founded SeeD. He is caring and nurturing, wishing his SeeDs to think for themselves rather than become mindless machines. Cid can be disheartened at times, particularly when the Garden Faculty talk over him and order him about. When he doesn't know what to do, Cid prefers to hide from the situation.
Story[]
Squall informing Edea of the concepts of SeeD and Garden.
Cid married a young sorceress named Edea, becoming her sorceress' knight. Edea was a caring woman who raised children in an orphanage in Centra. On a fateful night a dying Sorceress Ultimecia appeared from the future attempting to pass on her sorceress power, which Edea accepted so none of the orphans would become a sorceress. Ultimecia was accompanied by a teenaged Squall Leonhart, who also came from the future.
Squall told Edea he was a SeeD, an organization apparently founded by her, and then disappeared back into the time portal. Edea was bewildered by these events, but concluded that in the future Squall, a boy currently living in the orphanage, would kill a powerful sorceress, and to help him accomplish the feat she and Cid would need to found an organization called the SeeD to train Squall to one day face this destiny. Cid was thus tasked with the creation of Balamb Garden, while Edea, along with Squall's "Sis" Ellone and some other children from the orphanage, went into hiding on the White SeeD Ship; Cid and Edea felt they could no longer stay together, after all, Cid was founding an anti-sorceress task force.
Cid set about generating the funds required to start the SeeD. He found a business partner in the Shumi NORG and together they set about establishing Balamb Garden to train SeeD members. Other Gardens were established later, and while they are not under Cid's jurisdiction, close diplomatic ties are held, with Trabia Garden students enrolled in an exchange program to become SeeD, and Cid being friends with the Master of Galbadia Garden, Martine. The Gardens were built from the shelters used by those from Centra who had escaped the Lunar Cry decades ago.
The SeeD were not originally intended to work as mercenaries, and were created as a force that would one day face Ultimecia, but to generate the funds needed to run Balamb Garden till that day would come, NORG came up with the idea to send SeeDs out to do mercenary work. During the years NORG and Cid drifted apart as NORG's goal was to earn money while Cid still waited for the day the SeeD would fight the powerful sorceress.
The rift is seen with Cid's communication with the Garden Faculty, who work for NORG: the Faculty members belittle Cid and talk over him, whereas the SeeD members and Garden instructors, such as Xu and Quistis, are respectful toward him. It can be concluded the Garden has divided in half, with NORG running the day-to-day operations and taking care of the Garden funds, whereas Cid is in charge of the SeeD training aspect.
Years later, Sorceress Ultimecia from the future, using Junction Machine Ellone to go back in time, possesses Edea, and uses her body as a vessel. Within Edea's body Ultimecia embarks into political plans in Galbadia. Ellone and some of the White SeeD come to Balamb Garden at this time, likely to warn Cid that something is wrong with Edea, and that she has abandoned her old life to become a Galbadian ambassador, working for Vinzer Deling.
Cid graduating new SeeD recruits.
Squall graduates after an eventful field exam, and Cid promotes him to SeeD, praising his gunblade skills. During the SeeD graduation ball Cid is approached by Rinoa Heartilly of the Forest Owls resistance movement in Timber, who insists on hiring a SeeD party despite her lack of funds. All of her previous requests had been turned down, so she had come to the Garden to personally talk to Cid and persuade him. Cid overrules the Garden Faculty's decision and hires out Squall's SeeD party, drawing up the contract personally. The next day he attends the briefing and gives Squall the Magic Lamp to lend him a new Guardian Force for the mission.
Squall and his party are tasked with kidnapping Vinzer Deling, but the mission fails and Seifer Almasy, a rogue SeeD cadet, breaks out of Garden and travels to Timber and takes the president hostage live on air. He is rescued by Edea, who spirits Seifer away. Now that Edea has been publicly made Vinzer Deling's ambassador despite there being no real peace talks in progress, Cid comes to believe Edea is the sorceress they need to defeat. NORG, however, is not in the same boat. Making the sorceress their enemy has no monetary benefit for the Garden, and NORG doesn't want to take a chance against her.
Cid has Fujin and Raijin deliver a message to Master Martine of Galbadia Garden, who asks Squall's SeeD group—that has taken refuge at G-Garden—to take part in an assassination mission on Edea, apparently on Cid's orders. The assassination mission fails, and Edea exiles Martine and takes over G-Garden, destroys Trabia Garden via a missile attack, and targets Balamb Garden for the next attack. When NORG hears of the failed assassination attempt on Edea he tries to take over Balamb Garden to get rid of Cid, but his takeover fails as the SeeDs side with the Headmaster.
Cid plans to save the Garden.
Cid hides in his office during the Balamb Garden Revolt, and during this time Squall and his party return to the Garden to bring news of the impending missile attack. As the Garden is in lock-down due to the riot and thus evacuating it would be difficult, Cid decides to try and activate the ancient mechanism the Garden was built upon. Squall volunteers to do the deed instead and Cid lends him the activation key. Squall and his party travel to the depths of the Garden's basement and activate its mobile functions, moving the Garden away from the spot the missiles were programmed to target. The riot subsides as the Garden flies into the ocean and becomes seaborne.
NORG has a meeting with Cid that ends in a shouting match, Cid accusing NORG of money-grubbing and not respecting the Garden's foundations. NORG summons Squall and his party, who were part of a failed assassination attempt on Edea, to his chambers. NORG is furious the other Garden leaders were scheming behind his back to organize the assassination, and to undo the damage incurred on Balamb Garden by making the Garden the sorceress's enemy, NORG wants to hand over Squall and his friends to her. Squall's party defeats NORG, after which he disappears and is never heard of again, him and the Garden Faculty disappearing altogether from the Garden.
After the encounter with NORG Squall seeks Cid out, finding him from the infirmary. Cid tells Squall the truth of the Garden's origins, but doesn't reveal Squall's part in it: Cid and Edea are married, and the Garden was founded as an anti-sorceress army. Now that a sorceress is taking over the world, SeeD can finally be used for its true purpose, although Cid is conflicted over the sorceress being his wife.
The now mobile Balamb Garden is intercepted by the White SeeD Ship who take Ellone away to keep her safe, as Edea is looking for her. The Garden crashes in Fishermans Horizon, and Cid tasks Squall with making a formal apology to the mayor. After a conflict with the G-Army—now under Edea's command—that tried to raid FH in their search for Ellone, Cid steps down and hands over the Garden's leadership to Squall, the one he believes is destined to defeat the sorceress as per told to him by Edea herself. Although it is made sound as if Cid is merely stepping aside, in truth Cid leaves the Garden and returns to Centra and Edea's old orphanage.
The SeeD confront Edea in the Battle of the Gardens, and in a near-death experience Edea's sorceress power passes on to Rinoa, breaking Ultimecia's spell on Edea. Edea returns to her old self, and everyone retreats to the old orphanage to talk things over, where they find Cid, overjoyed to have his wife back. Edea tells everyone how she was possessed by an evil sorceress from the future called Ultimecia who wants to destroy the world via a time compression spell. Edea soon embarks along with the SeeD to Esthar, but Cid stays behind in Edea's house.
Cid talking to Quistis during the final celebrations.
After Edea talks with Dr. Odine and learns she is no longer a sorceress, she returns to Cid, and the two welcome Squall and his friends as they return to Edea's house after a trip to the Estharian space station. The SeeD get a message from the president of Esthar who wants to hire them to a mission to vanquish Ultimecia once and for all, and Cid and Edea wish them good luck on their mission. Squall and his friends travel to the future and defeat Ultimecia, and with the threat to the world removed, the SeeD organize a party at the Garden with Cid and Edea also attending.
Gameplay[]
Battle Meter[]
Cid gives the party the Battle Meter in his office if the player talks to him after Squall receives his graduation diploma. If the player leaves without talking to Cid, the meter will be permanently missed. Battle Meter records the party's kills and escapes, and has two enhancements the player can obtain later: Character Report for the party members' kill and KO stats (from floor 10 of D-District Prison) and GF Report for the same stats for the party's GFs (from CC Joker in Balamb Garden training center).
Triple Triad[]
Cid holds Seifer's card for Triple Triad. He can be challenged for it in Balamb Garden's headmaster office after Squall's team has been assigned the mission to Timber. The next time the player can play him is at Fishermans Horizon right before going ashore. Cid will next reside in Edea's House. It is preferable to win Seifer's card from Cid when he is in Balamb Garden, because Edea's House uses Centra's card rules, which makes the game more challenging.
Cid also plays Level 6 boss cards. Winning games against Cid in Balamb Garden counts toward the 15 wins needed to start the Card Club quest after talking to Jack in the lobby.
Other appearances[]
PocketStation memorycard icons[]
An icon sprite of Cid Kramer appears in the PocketStation memorycard file manager.
Final Fantasy Trading Card Game[]
Cid appears in a trading card in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. His card is Thunder-elemental.
Final Fantasy Portal App[]
Cid appears as a Triple Triad card.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
Cid is a recurring name in the Final Fantasy series. Cid is derived from the dialectal Arabic word سيد (sîdi or sayyid), which means "lord" or "master".
Kramer is a Dutch and Low German word for a small merchant, hawker, or retailer and is a common occupational surname. It can also be an Anglicized version of the High German surname Krämer.
Cid's surname might be taken from Heinrich Kramer, the writer of Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witch), which lead to Witch Hunt Incident in medieval age.