Greetings! We return to our game-by-game look of Cids in mainline Final Fantasy games with Cid Garlond from FFXIV. Seeing as I’m the person who loves (aka won’t shut up about it) FFXIV the most here at The Avocado, I suggested that I should write this open thread. And here we are now.

First, an in-game description of Cid, followed by a good summary from one of the many FFXIV wikis online.

“Technology should never be allowed to imprison people. That’s a hard lesson I learned from watching Gaius…and my father.”

A brilliant magitek engineer, Cid nan Garlond defected from his native Garlemald and came to Eorzea [PT note: Eorzea is the region where FFXIV takes place, within a world named Hydaelyn.] where he founded the ironworks of his namesake. He now shares his knowledge with the people of his adoptive homeland, that they might defy the imperial menace he once served.

—

Cid was born the heir to Midas nan Garlond, chief imperial magitek engineer of the Garlean Empire. Following in his father’s footsteps, the young pure-blooded Garlean studied magitek technology intently, and secured entry to the prestigious Magitek Academy. During his tenure there, he devised countless inventions, his rivalry with Nero tol Scaeva accelerating his overall development. However, all was not well at home. Buried in his own research, Midas grew increasingly distant from his son. Cid became a ward of Gaius van Baelsar, a friend of his father’s, and when Midas perished suddenly during an experiment gone awry, Cid was named Primus Architectus Magiteci. Yet he could not agree with Garlemald’s indescretionary use of warmachina, and fled to Eorzea rather than accept the assignment. Now aged thirty-four, he works to ensure freedom through technology.

—

And with that, this brings us to the real reason I wanted to write about Cid today. (This should start around 12:18.)

Cid’s original voice acting is something else, right? Thankfully that got changed real quick. And feel free to stick around, grab a drink, and listen to one of the most infamous memes in the game as Gaius rambles and rambles and rambles forever about how you are all very glib and that to believe in Eorzea is to believe in nothing. (Now imagine having to hear this over and over again if you dare run this content again for currency/XP, as these cutscenes are unskippable.)

During your adventures in The Praetorium, which is the climax for FFXIV’s original (A Realm Reborn) content, you also encounter Cid’s longtime rival in Nero tol Scaeva – arguably someone just as brilliant as Cid but one allegedly forever in Cid’s shadow due to favoritism/Cid’s father running the place. So he might have a deeply petty grudge.

Cid and Nero team up several times later, both in required and optional content. And their relationship could be described as….well, personally I think Cid unleashes some real divorced dad energy next to Nero. Portions of the FFXIV fandom agree, as Cid x Nero is a pretty popular pairing.

The internet is weird. Take care of yourself and enjoy the night thread, everyone.