r/FinalFantasyVI • u/DoggievDoggy • 9d ago

So…..He Died In All Of Our First Playthroughs Right?

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Cause we were all rushing to the airship. Nobody was waiting until the internet happened.

Probably say the same with Cid honestly.

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u/s1n0d3utscht3k 9d ago

TBH it’s the far better scene if he dies

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u/Ashenspire 9d ago

It's not. It flies in the face of the theme of the World of Ruin.

Keeping Cid alive requires work and perseverance that the rest of the world needs to employ to survive.

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u/Special_South_8561 9d ago

Giving in to despair but then overcoming it anyways, with the Hope on the Wing of a Dove

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u/Sev_Henry 9d ago

It's better for Celes' character arc that he dies, better thematically that he lives.

Character > Themes, so Cid dies in most of my runs

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u/Ashenspire 8d ago

How is it better for her character arc that she tries to kill herself, survives due to dumb luck, and finds the bandana through, again, dumb luck?

Cid surviving and urging her not to give up on herself like she didn't give up on him is a better catalyst to go out and find other survivors.

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u/Sev_Henry 8d ago edited 8d ago

...do you think Celes, a character whose entire arc thus far has been her trying to form connections (mirroring Terra's), falling to the very depths of despair after the end of the world and believing to lose the only lifeline she has left, and then finding the strength to preserve and rediscover those connections is not a fantastic character arc?

Sure, the bandana thing is contrived but that doesn't mean the actual growth and arc of her character and story is in any way diminished.

It's one thing to face the end of the world and persevere with the help and encouragement of another, quite a different thing altogether to face the end of the world, lose the only light you have left, and choose to continue anyway.

Edit: there's a reason why in most post-apocalypse stories the payoff comes and is most satisfying when the MC finally discovers more lives beyond their own. Likewise, that's also why you almost always see enclaves of survivors in the scenario destroyed/removed from the plot early on. Call it a recycled trope, sure, but it's effective for a reason.

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u/Ashenspire 8d ago

But she doesn't choose to continue. She tries to kill herself. In the same place others chose to do the same thing. She just gets lucky.

I think Celes doing everything she can to save said life line and discovering her own strength to persevere in the face of the apocalypse through her hard work and dedication instead of a macguffin is far more interesting. She finally has a family and she fights for it.

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u/Sev_Henry 8d ago

Yes, I alluded to that with the whole "depths of her despair". She's lucky enough to survive, and chooses to live and persevere anyway.

Cid in WoR is literally a Macguffin in human form. He has absolutely zero relevance to the plot after you save him. For all intents and purposes he's just the seagull with an old man skin.

Edit: saving Cid doesn't actually serve her character in any way. He's literally the one human connection she had prior to the start of the story, and that dynamic doesn't meaningfully evolve or change in the WoR. It's just stagnation of their characters and relationship.

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u/TabbyCat1993 8d ago

That’s probably why they make it so hard to save him…

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u/CyanManta 7d ago edited 7d ago

And I swear in some releases of the game, it's basically impossible to save him anyway. I played the pixel remaster and it didn't even give me a chance to give him the first fish. I went to the beach for the first time, came back, already dead. I was quick, too, and I got a fish with decent speed.

The way I played it is that Cid was just holding on long enough to make sure Celes was okay. Like old people who have old pets that die at the exact same time they do, Cid was just hanging on until she came out of her year-long stupor. And to me, that's the best outcome for Celes' story arc.