Final Fantasy: Who Is The Best Character From Each Game?
11. IV - Cecil
Leading characters are often somewhat dull, particularly in the fantasy genre, where they are all too frequently flawless 'good guys' driven solely by doing the right thing. Final Fantasy IV's hero was the opposite, beginning the game on the side of darkness, conflicted about the role he plays in the Kingdom of Baron's increasingly oppressive attitude towards its fellow crystal-bearing nations.
His transition from 'dark knight' to 'paladin' is what drives the first third of the game and the moment of transformation is brilliantly depicted. From there, it is Cecil's relationships with Kain and Golbez that dominate proceedings, though every character has an arc (many of them ending in death given how brutally dark the game was in that regard) in what is an excellently written narrative.
The second and third acts of this unravel the contrasts between Cecil and his onetime brother-in-arms (Kain) and his actual blood brother (Golbez). The revelation of his relationship with the latter is one of the series' more disappointing moments given that it wasn't built to at all, but it contributed to make Final Fantasy IV emerge as the first truly great entry in the franchise.
Recent re-releases have expanded on IV's story and showcased Cecil as a father to Ceodore, a nice touch to round him off as one of the series' best protagonists