Final Fantasy Character Assessments
Name: Cecil Harvey
Game: Final Fantasy IV
Job: Dark Knight/Paladin
Age: 20
And where we had thought to find an abomination
we shall find a God.
And where we had thought to slay another
we shall slay ourselves.
Where we had thought to travel outwards
we shall come to the center of our own existence.
And where we had thought to be alone
we shall be with all the world.
-Joseph Campbell “The Hero With a Thousand Faces”
Major Arcana: Temperance – Cecil (whom I’ve written a full character analysis on before) is the perfect balance of two distinct worlds.. This revelation is foreshadowed in how he manages to reconcile his dark side and become a paladin even before he discovers the full truth of his origins.
Zodiac: Virgo with a Libra moon – Virgos are typically analytical, hardworking, kind, and practical. They worry often, are shy, and don’t like being the center of attention. They’re also modest, faithful, quiet, and persuasive with a good sense of reasoning and memory.
This sign seems to be the perfect fit for Cecil. The eventual paladin is described as a quiet, young man of unsurpassed skill with the dark blade. He never comes off as a braggart or someone who desires attention just for attention’s sake. The opening FMV shows him in contemplation with Rosa, and we know from the game’s story that the Dark Knight feels unworthy of the White Mage’s love and worries he’ll never live up to what he thinks she deserves. However, he’s utterly devoted to her, nor does he ever give up on Kain even when the dragoon knight turns against his best friend. Cecil does break faith with the king of Baron, but only because he refuses to kill a child (Rydia of Mist) after (inadvertently) burning down her village and slaying her mother as the king’s pawn. His reasoning remains sound to the point of overriding orders he finds morally repugnant.
The Libra moon adds another layer of rationality. They tend to be peacemakers, and Cecil is literally the synthesis and the balance of two planets. He’s the light side of the moon who remains steadfast even in the face of earth shattering revelations that could easily cause an existential crisis.
Alignment: Lawful Good – Up until the events of the game, particularly his mission to Mist, Cecil had no major issues following this path, though we do see him questioning the king on the opening flight back to Baron. When his orders unequivocally demanded he kill a child, Cecil withstood the inner conflict to go against such an abhorrent act.
Myers-Briggs Personality Type: ISFJ (Introversion-Sensing-Feeling-Judging) – Cecil is definitely an introvert. Final Fantasy has the distinctive trend of main characters that fit this trait, which is pretty awesome. Since he’s captain of the Red Wing fleet, sensing seems more practical than intuition, and at one point he plans to go after the seven Crystals already stolen, while Golbez searches for the one he doesn’t yet have, a wholly sensible plan.
I went back and forth between F and T, but settled on the former, since Cecil’s first major decision was based on a personal value, the belief that killing children is wrong no matter what you’re ordered to do (take that “I was just following orders”). He also adds the destruction of Mist and the death of Rydia’s mother to his growing cache of guilt. His inability to give up on Kain showcases the trait of looking for the best in people, and he values forgiveness not only for his troubled adopted brother, but also seeks it himself.
Cecil isn’t wishy-washy, and being a captain/soldier, he’d have a sense of rules and deadlines with plans in place. After Kain returns to his rightful self, the paladin forgives him immediately with no grudge left to hold. This led me to pick judging for the final piece.
ISFJ is considered The Defender, which solidifies my decision to affix this personality type to Cecil . People like this rarely sit idle while a worthy cause remains unfinished. They don’t feel comfortable in the spotlight, but they’ll endure it to ensure what needs to be done is done.
Diagnosis: Cecil is pretty level headed, but it’s possible he’s dealing with some depression at the beginning of the game when he’s still a Dark Knight. There are also some self-esteem issues, too, since he believes he doesn’t deserve Rosa, a White Mage, for this very same reason even though she obviously loves him. He’s been forced to fit himself into the wrong role by his adopted father and king, and it’s causing a major identity crisis. He’s not sure what he’s supposed to be, but he knows it’s not supposed to be that. The majority of this is alleviated when he becomes a paladin and literally defeats his darker self. However the identity crisis gains a new facet due the mirror’s light at the top of Mt. Ordeals calling him “son.”
Despite all of this, Cecil is still probably one of the most balanced characters and/or balanced main characters in Final Fantasy. This could be due to the fact that he has an existential crisis to deal with from the get-go, so when the more prominent one occurs much later in the game, he’s better prepared. His identity didn’t so much change from Dark Knight to Paladin as be revealed for the latter after the forced and false one was literally slain.
What do you think of my assessments of this character? Do you agree? Disagree? Would you pick another Major Arcana, astrological sign, alignment, MBTI, and/or diagnosis? Let’s discuss in the comments and let me know whom you want me to do next!
The Shameful Narcissist Speaks 
Thanks for the information.
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Thanks for the information.
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Yo wassup dawg, why you so terse?! Cecil Harvey would kick yo’ ass for such a crime, boy!
Anyway, I think Cloud Strife (with a surname like that) would probably be described as the ideal, angst-ridden introvert. What about Link from the Legend of Link: A Link to the Past? Introvert. Samus? Psychopath. More importantly, Toad clearly labours under excessive compulsive sunny disposition disorder. The Toad clan is also rather analogous to the Minions, don’t you think? Crazed lunatics, the lot!
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I have been thinking of doing other non-FF characters. If only Link would speak! I could do Zelda (which is probably what Link is thinking omg I’m awful…) Toad and Minions o.O
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Thanks for the information.
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Sorry, I didn’t want to break the epic combo happening here, haha. I have nothing worth saying except amazing idea and fantastic post! A meager B.A. in Psychology sounds pretty damn impressive to me 🙂
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Yeah, but, I have an ABBA in Psychology (the worst possible score), which makes me a dancing queen.
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Good for you, Moron, but that’s not quite as impressive 🙂
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✋️ Talk to the hand, yo.
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I obviously need to see what ridiculous conversation is going on. Oh the shenanigans! *checking start of thread*
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But are you young and sweet only 17? Well, ARE YOU???!!!
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I had to check my records, but apparently I am 32 and about as sweet as a bucket of cement. I still claim, by rights, to be a dancing queen – it is my destiny. I have seen it in the stars.
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I think the Wise One has an M.A. or Ph. D in psych! I almost got an M.A. in English, but the pressure became too much for me. I wanted a Ph.D so I could be a Doctor The Shameful Narcissist 😀
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Most likely! Dr. Goddess of Wisdom sounds awesome too, haha. I can only imagine the pressure you must have felt. I’m impressed by anyone who has any fancy letters in their degree. I just have a lame certificate from my community college electronics course. I are not s-m-r-t 😦
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Nonsense, don’t sell yourself short! Tbh college is a bit of a racket anyway, at least the way it’s done in the US *shudders* The amount of debt they make you accrue is criminal. I also hate how trade and skill jobs are looked down upon, but are necessary. Like people will make disparaging remarks about garbage collectors, but without them, who would take the trash? You can’t deride the people who perform a function but then still use that function.
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Thanks! I appreciate the encouragement 🙂 It’s a bit of a debt racket here too, sadly.
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What gets me is I could go to college in Germany…in English…for free o.O Granted it’s not that easy to emigrate to Germany, don’t get me wrong, though my guess is if you’re going there for school, it might be a bit easier to get a student visa or something like that.
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What a great idea! I love character assessments, astrology, personality types, etc.! My Myers-Briggs type is INTJ so we are very similar 😉 Looking forward to other posts like this!! 🙂
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Thanks! I’ve done character analyses before, but it’s been a while since I’ve done one. This is supposed to be short lol. Well the character analyses are supposed to be short, too, but I looooove to talk about favorite characters :p I’m not going to do it every week. I’ll still have my questions, but I wanted to at least start what I promised.
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Thanks for the information.
But seriously, this is really cool! I love the depth that you took your analysis. I’m not familiar with Cecil, but he sounds like a wonderfully complex character, and from your description, I’d agree on the ISFJ designation.
…also, for the record, I’m not nearly as impressive as you and Lightning made me out to be. I have a master of music in music therapy, and my undergraduate work was also in music therapy, although I have a minor in psychology at that level, too. Not quite Ph.D., yet! Although Dr. Goddess of Wisdom would be quite something to ask people to call me, yeah? haha
Also also, I can’t reply to the thread between the two of you, but there is a difference between a formal education and being a smart person! I’ve met plenty of “highly educated” people who are absolute morons when you talked to them and have no work ethic, and plenty of people who never went to college yet are insightful, intelligent, and hardworking. Framed papers on the wall don’t determine how smart you are, nor are they the reason a person should respect you or your job.
So… yeah, nice analysis of Cecil (haha).
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That sounds much more impressive than I thought! Power to Almost-Dr. Athena, Goddess of Wisdom & Music Therapy!
Yeah… I’m going to flash off before the amazingly talented Shameful Not-Really-Narcissist moderates me for bothering her loyal commenters. She’s so awesome for putting up with me for this long! 😅
Addio!! ⚡⚡⚡
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You’re one of my loyal commenters, don’t be ridiculous :p
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Well if I’m going to use the power over-analysis, I might as well use it for good 😀
I think it sounds impressive. Music was one of the many things I thought about studying, but I was absolutely awful at theory. I think I missed a prerequisite. It was fascinating, but it was too advanced for me at the time. I’m also terrible at reading music. Anything I’ve learned to sing or play I just memorize the melody and in the latter case let my fingers do the talking.
That’s really weird…I wonder why that is. I don’t have a block on people replying to anything I don’t think. Hm, curiouser and curiouser.
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Aw, thanks. Hey, all you gotta do is carry a tune and fake an accompaniment and you’re golden in my book. Sounds like you can do more than that 😉
Yeah, it’s like that on mine, too. After a certain level of “nesting” comments, you can only comment through the little notification bar, so if you’re late to the commenting party you can’t jump in. I’m not sure how to change it or if there’s a way to change it.
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Lightning commented on either this or another post! You can change it in your settings. Of course now I can’t remember the steps how lol. I know it’s under “Discussion.” You can increase how many nesting comments there are.
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If I may flash back here again, I noticed you awesome people had a technical problem. I’m not so good at speaking da good English or fancy book learnin’, but electronics/technology bends to my will!! 😈 Hello confidence, my old friend!
So, the default comment Reply depth is 3. To change this, do the following: My Sites button in the top left corner > Settings > “Discussion” tab from the middle menu > Look under the Comments header and adjust “Enable threaded (nested) comments up to _ levels deep” as desired.
Lightning, AWAY!! *trips over a rock and staggers away while mumbling several obscenities*
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Aha! Thanks for that. I just updated it to 10 nested comments, and I highly doubt I’ll need that many lol. I just made it 3 because I didn’t think I’d ever need more than that. That saves me a google search :p
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Awesome! I’ll check out my settings! Thank you, Lightning Tech Guru!
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This was a great read. I really enjoyed the detail you included here and I agree with everything you mentioned! I’m definitely looking forward to more of these in the future. I challenge you to do the protagonist from Faxanadu who never utters a single word and just accepts a difficult quest with some monetary coercion from a man in a position of power. Or just do whatever you like. You seem to be good at choosing excellent characters 😀
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That sounds like an amazing challenge lol. I was thinking of doing Link from Legend of Zelda. Even though it’s “Final Fantasy Friday,” I’m going to branch out into other games’ territory. Not that I can’t talk about Final Fantasy all day every day, but I definitely want to apply this to more. I want to do Midna, my favorite Zelda character.
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Is Midna from Twilight Princess? That’s one Zelda game I haven’t played yet!
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Yup! I love her true form so much ♥
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I will keep that in mind! Part of me wants to do a Zelda-thon, but another part of me doesn’t want to get burned out on Zelda. That would be sacrilege.
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You could do a Zelda game then something else in between! That way you’re no just playing Zelda. Even though I’m doing my years long Final Fantasy play/replay project, I try to throw other games into the mix.
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I should totally intersperse these SMS games I’m playing with Zelda games! There are so many of them I haven’t played yet. I’ve always wanted to play Majora’s Mask. I will consider this!
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That would be amazing because you’d be going back and forth between Nintendo and Sega! I love Majora’s Mask.
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