Cid Raines

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Cid Raines
(シド・レインズ准将, Shido Reinzu Junshō?)
Enemy appearances	Boss
Other appearances	Main appearance Record Keeper All other appearances
Biographical information
Affiliation	Guardian Corps, Sanctum
Occupation	Cavalry commander
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Height	199cm (6'6")
Gameplay details
Type	Boss
Type	Non-player character
Behind the scenes information
Designer	Tetsuya Nomura
Japanese voice actor	Yuichi Nakamura
English voice actor	Erik Davies

My dream is but a fal'Cie's fancy now.

Cid to Rygdea

Brigadier General Cid Raines is a non-player character in Final Fantasy XIII and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, and one of the long line of characters named Cid in the series.

The characters named Cid usually have a science or engineering background, or something to do with airships. Cid Raines commands the colossal airship the Lindblum in Final Fantasy XIII, as he works for the Guardian Corps and is the commander of the Wide-area Response Brigade, a military unit otherwise known as the "Cavalry".

In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, he acts as a representative for the souls of the dead.

Datalog

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Final Fantasy XIII

See also: Datalog (Final Fantasy XIII)/People

Cid Raines is the commander of the Wide-area Response Brigade, a military unit otherwise known as the 'Cavalry.' His vaunted position in the army has afforded him an unobstructed view of the blind obedience the government shows to the fal'Cie. In order to free Cocoon from the tyranny of these powerful entities, Raines has begun enlisting the assistance of Fang and the other Pulse l'Cie.

Raines had been planning to overthrow fal'Cie rule, but was made into a l'Cie by Barthandelus before those plans could be put into action. Since then, he has been a part of the fal'Cie's scheme to guide Lightning and the others through their battles with the Sanctum, and along the path to Cocoon's destruction. However, Raines regains the will he once had as a human, and attempts to foil Barthandelus's plans by killing the l'Cie. Despite his eventual defeat, the Cavalry commander transforms into crystal.

During his failed attempt to overthrow fal'Cie rule, Cid Raines was cursed to become a pawn of Barthandelus. Concealing his l'Cie status as he continues to lead the Cavalry, Raines pursues his Focus of supporting and guiding Lightning and her companions along the path to Cocoon’s destruction.

After defying his Focus and falling in battle against the fugitive l'Cie, Raines turns to crystal. He is later revived by Barthandelus to serve as the new Primarch—a puppet with the sole purpose of inciting conflict among the people of Cocoon.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

See also: Datalog (Final Fantasy XIII)/Characters

A man who once defied the orders of the gods and hoped to set mankind free. He died an unnatural death while working towards this goal. General Raines was a military man, working for Cocoon's Guardian Corps. He wished to defeat the fal'Cie, powerful servants of the gods, and return to humanity control of its own fate. He lost that fight, and in the cruel irony that gods so love, he was turned into a puppet for the fal'Cie. He faced Lightning as an enemy, when they should have been allies.

He may have met a tragic end, but his wish to see the people free lived on in those who followed after him. For Lightning, Raines was both a bitter enemy and a comrade in the great fight against the gods.

Profile

Appearance

Cie'th form.

Raines is a young man with black hair and gray eyes. According to Tetsuya Nomura, male Sanctum officials have the sides of their heads shaved, but Cid wears his hair in a style that covers this feature. His clothing is close to PSICOM commander Yaag Rosch's with a lighter color scheme. He wears a large cape and blue-to-silver pauldrons with the left more ornate than the right. Raines's l'Cie mark is on his right hand, hidden by his glove. He sports this outfit in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

His boss form is his transformation into a Cie'th, and he keeps transforming as the battle progresses, sprouting more wings. His body turns to crystalline, his transformation advancing from the brand of Lindzei on the back of his right hand. His lower half remains human. When he loses health, he cannot control the brand's power and his transformation worsens, causing him to grow crystalline wings that yet have a bone structure similar to a bird's wings.

Personality

I'm here of my own accord, not by fal'Cie. Seeing you fight brought it all back. Brought back that future I once strove for. I, too, will challenge my fate.

Cid Raines

Similar to the other leaders of Cocoon's military forces, Raines is cultured and well-spoken, but also possesses a friendly disposition. He shows hospitality to Snow once he arrives on the Lindblum. His servitude is to the people of Cocoon, rather than to its fal'Cie. Even after becoming a servant of the fal'Cie, he retains this trait and defies his Focus to try and protect Cocoon's people. He is skilled in combat, as he easily parries Lightning's attacks and disarms her when the party encounters him in the Fifth Ark.

Story

Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-

Concept art for Final Fantasy XIII.

After the Pulse l'Cie Fang and Vanille awoke from crystal stasis inside the Pulse Vestige in Bodhum, they attacked the Euride Gorge power plant and separately went into hiding. Cid Raines and the Cavalry see this as a chance to usurp the fal'Cie of Cocoon. While feigning allegiance to PSICOM, Cocoon's anti-Pulse army, Cid has the Cavalry help the l'Cie hoping to gain their support for his cause.

Fang is captured by the Cavalry and brought onto the Lindblum where she meets Cid. He claims to not be Fang's enemy even if it is his job to help protect Cocoon. He lets Fang witness him lying to PSICOM Lieutenant Jihl Nabaat that their pursue of the l'Cie has been fruitless to gain her trust. Afterward, Raines tells Fang the Cavalry doesn't agree with PSICOM's actions. Fang remains unconvinced, believing the Cavalry captured her to get intel on Pulse.

She tells Raines that she has no information he could want because she's a broken l'Cie, and that she doesn't have time to help him since she's looking for a friend. Raines says it's up to Fang whether or not she'll help, but says she will be staying with them, and Fang is escorted to the residential area.

Later on Fang tries to escape, but Raines appears and says barriers were put up around the airship to restrict her movement. Raines offers his sword to Fang, saying she can take it and do whatever she wants to him when his men arrive. Fang takes the sword and follows him to a room.

Raines shows Fang an audio recording of a conversation between the PSICOM commanders Rosch and Nabaat and the head of the Sanctum, Primarch Galenth Dysley, concerning Euride and the fugitive Pulse l'Cie. Rosch and Dysley ponder whether it was too soon to remove the barricade around Euride, and about the rumors spreading that what happened wasn't an accident. Dysley claims the fal'Cie Eden reprimanded him for hiding the truth from the public, and wants to end the investigation so everyone's lives would return to normal. Rosch disagrees since the l'Cie remain on the loose, but as the fal'Cie spokesperson, Dysley can't defy their commands.

An inside man recorded the conversation, which Raines calls "the real Cocoon" where Dysley thinks of the citizens as sheep. As long as Cocoon remains under Sanctum rule the people remain tools of the fal'Cie. Raines believes Fang's Focus is to defeat the Cocoon fal'Cie, and possibly destroy Cocoon by extension. This makes Fang think her and Vanille's Focus may not be to destroy the structure of Cocoon itself, but its core. Raines claims that Fang has the power to destroy fal'Cie, and asks her to lend them that power because he wants to destroy the fal'Cie Eden and the Sanctum.

Fang asks if Raines is willing to betray Cocoon. Raines answers he will do anything to achieve his goal, but Fang says she will make her decision about helping him after Vanille is found. Raines tells her about Bodhum's fireworks festival and that PSICOM won't be able to make a move against her if she blends in with the tourists. Fang agrees to stay on the Lindblum until then, though she still hasn't decided on whether or not she will help Raines.

Final Fantasy XIII

Raines holding Lightning's Blazefire Saber.

The public fears what it doesn't know... Strike down the phantoms before their eyes, and they sleep like babes.

Cid, referring to the l'Cie

When Snow is captured in Lake Bresha by Fang and members of the Wide-area Response Brigade, he is taken aboard the Lindblum where he is introduced to Cid, who greets Snow with a friendly handshake. Cid explains the Sanctum intends to hold a public execution of the l'Cie to suppress the public's fear, and reveals he plans to overthrow the Sanctum's rule so he can hand control of Cocoon over to the people.

Snow, believing his Focus is to save Cocoon as Serah asked, agrees to help him track down the rest of the Pulse l'Cie, as after PSICOM moved the Vestige more people got inside it and were branded l'Cie. The l'Cie are on the run somewhere in Cocoon, and the Cavalry's plan is to help them bring down the fal'Cie. Cid drops Snow and Fang off in Palumpolum, where they rescue Lightning and Hope from a PSICOM assault. As the party rendezvouses at Estheim Residence, they are ambushed by PSICOM, but Cavalry forces disguised as PSICOM troops help the fugitive l'Cie board the Lindblum where they meet Cid again. Cid helps the party infiltrate the Sanctum Skyfleet's airship base, the Palamecia, after learning that Vanille and Sazh are being held captive on board.

Raines's Cie'th form.

After escaping the Palamecia to the Fifth Ark, the party finds Cid waiting for them. Cid reveals the truth behind their Focus; the fal'Cie plan to use them as tools to destroy Cocoon in hopes that the deaths of the Cocoon citizens will summon the Maker to reconstruct the world. He explains the fal'Cie have been watching over the party guiding their every step to turn them into the instruments of Cocoon's demise.

Cid had been planning to overthrow the fal'Cie, but was transformed into a l'Cie by Barthandelus—the true leader of Cocoon's fal'Cie—before his plans could be put into action. His Focus is to guide the party along the path to Cocoon's destruction as part of the fal'Cie's grand scheme, but after seeing the way Lightning and her companions fight their Focus, he decides to challenge his fate as they have. Cid's brand quickly accelerates, and be begins transforming into a Cie'th. He holds onto his humanity long enough to carry out his final plan: kill Lightning and her companions to "set [them] free" of their Focus and save Cocoon. After the party defeats him, Cid offers words of encouragement and advises them to choose their own fate as he did before turning into a crystal and disappearing.

Cid executed by Rygdea.

Cid was teleported to Barthandelus to be revived as Cocoon's new Primarch to sever Cid's ties with the Cavalry, who would see him as a traitor. No longer a Cie'th, Cid submits to his fate as a fal'Cie pawn and oversees a grand prix in the city of Eden organized to commemorate his ascension. Lightning and her friends return to Cocoon from Pulse and crash the race course. As Eden descends into chaos, Cid's former right-hand-man Rygdea and the rest of the Cavalry capture him. Cid requests to be killed and Rygdea reluctantly shoots his former superior to free him of the fal'Cie.

Final Fantasy XIII Gaiden Shōsetsu: Yumemiru Mayu, Akatsuki ni Otsu

After being forced to aid Barthandelus as a Sanctum l'Cie, Raines had defied his Focus and turned to crystal. He was revived as Barthandelus's puppet, unable to exercise the free will he still possesses. Raines uses his remaining l'Cie powers to copy the cerebral structure of his former crystallized self into cyberspace to remain witness to the world's final moments. Now existing as a metaphysical entity, an illusion, and a living shell maintaining a consciousness based on his memories, Raines no longer desires to save Cocoon.

A young university student called René who has discovered the fal'Cie's true motive in wiping out humanity plans to thwart the fal'Cie's plans. After the Cavalry's coup d'état and retreat the Primarch's office is left loosely guarded. René sneaks in and hacks the Primarch's personal terminal. From within the artificial brain, Raines observes René, and understands through her actions that she is trying to do what he had failed to accomplish. The high level of security on the terminal nearly sends René into a panic when the passcode she needs suddenly appears on the screen. René backs away from the terminal and a synthesized voice tells her to use the final code for access to all of the city's functions. Thinking a fal'Cie has discovered her, René asks for the voice's identity, and it reveals itself to be the remaining echoes of a man who shared her ambitions but failed.

Raines asks if she knows the fal'Cie's plan, and René responds with humanity's genocide by dropping the city of Eden. Raines tells her that she is half wrong, and reveals to her Barthandelus's plan to send all of Cocoon plummeting to Pulse upon the death of the fal'Cie Orphan, hidden in its cradle within the Edenhall Reliquary. René begs him to tell her a way to save Cocoon and Raines tells her that she will need to rely on others to make a miracle to save Cocoon possible and leave the world's fate in the hands of the Pulse l'Cie. When the l'Cie infiltrate the Reliquary, the fal'Cie will expend a lot of energy to build out the virtual space of Orphan's Cradle, presenting the chance to take control of Cocoon's gravity system and René can implement the automatic control system she designed to stabilize all areas and the evacuation points near the control facilities won't suffer from severe shaking once Cocoon begins falling. Raines alerts René about the footage being broadcast illegally throughout Cocoon, and she gets in touch with her old classmate, Maqui from NORA.

René and Maqui upload René's gravity control program into the system with Raines's support, but Bodhum has been removed from the network as the town was emptied in the Purge, and so René decides to head there in person to make sure its gravity control facility will operate and save the Purge survivors still hiding out there. Raines says it's all he can do and the rest is up to René. She assures that he can count on her and asks him to watch over her and the others like the Cavalry does. Raines says he is the one who should thank René and tells her to go save Cocoon. René speeds out of the office and doesn't look back. With his will now passed on to a new torchbearer, Raines smiles from within the artificial world.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Raines appears before Lightning as a spiritual essence.

The souls trapped within the Sea of Chaos assume the physical form of Cid Raines to communicate with Lightning. Raines, whose soul also remains in the Sea of Chaos, describes himself as the advocate for the souls of the dead. He tells Lightning that Vanille has the power to help the souls be reborn and explains the Order of Salvation plans to use Vanille to destroy the dead. Cid reveals the truth about the nature of Chaos, and warns Lightning that if she chooses to save the souls of the departed, she will defy Bhunivelze. With a final message of hope for Lightning, Cid fades away.

Gameplay

Cid transforms.

Main article: Cid Raines (boss)

Cid Raines is fought as a boss in the Fifth Ark. His battle style revolves around shifting through stances, similarly to the paradigm system available to the playable party. He has three stances, each relating to paradigm roles: Offensive stance which concentrates on Commando and Saboteur; Defensive stance which concentrates on Sentinel and Synergist; and Recovery stance, which concentrates on Medic. He lacks a stance for executing elemental spells. Cid can use Seraphic Ray, which deals large damage and removes all status enhancements from the party.

Spoilers end here.

Creation and development

Raines is one of few young Cid characters; usually a Cid is an older man. He is the first Cid to play the role of an anti-hero, following Dr. Cid from Final Fantasy XII being the first Cid antagonist.

Voice

Cid is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura in the Japanese version. He shares his Japanese voice actor with Trey from Type series, Thancred from Final Fantasy XIV, and Ravus Nox Fleuret from the Final Fantasy XV Universe.

He is voiced by Erik Davies in the English version. Coincidentally before a voice-recasting in English, this Japanese and English voice combo had previously voiced the BlazBlue characters Hazama Honoka and Yuuki Terumi.

Musical themes

Cid's appearances in Final Fantasy XIII are mostly accompanied by the "Cavalry Theme". "Setting You Free" plays during his appearance on the Fifth Ark, as well as during his appearance in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Other appearances

Main article: Cid Raines other appearances

Cid has appeared in the following games throughout the Final Fantasy series:

• Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
• Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
• Final Fantasy Artniks as a card.
• Mobius Final Fantasy as an ability card.
• Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
• Triple Triad as a series of cards.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances

Main article: Cid Raines non-Final Fantasy guest appearances

Cid has made key guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy games:

• Monster Strike as a playable character.

Gallery

Main article: Cid Raines gallery

Etymology

Cid is a recurring name in the Final Fantasy series. [view · edit · purge]Cid is derived from the dialectal Arabic word سيد (sîdi or sayyid), which means "lord" or "master".

Trivia

• A model for Cid Raines in crystal stasis exists in the game disc of Final Fantasy XIII-2 as dummied content. It is unknown why Raines's crystal model exists in Final Fantasy XIII-2.
• Raines's airship, the Lindblum, is named after the city of Lindblum in Final Fantasy IX. As Regent Cid Fabool IX was the leader of the nation of Lindblum, Cid Raines is the commander of the Lindblum airship.
• Ravus Nox Fleuret's boss form in Final Fantasy XV resembles Cid Raines's. Both characters have the same Japanese voice actor in Japanese.
• Cid's last name is misspelled as "Rains" in Famitsu's Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII review.