Who is Cecil?[]
Final Fantasy IV is a journey that mostly centers on the journey of Cecil Harvey, a Dark Knight under service of the kingdom of Baron. Cecil is clearly torn at the beginning of the game between his duties as a Dark Knight and fighting against the atrocities that are being committed around him, and FF4 as a whole is a story telling of Cecil's struggle with his inner demons.
After a mission in which Cecil is ordered to attack the peaceful town of Mysidia and capture their crystal, Cecil asks the King of Baron why he is pursuing the crystals so eagerly. Cecil is thanked for his efforts by being dismissed as captain of the Red Wings and is abolished from Baron. The only way Cecil can restore his position is to deliver a package to a nearby town. Cecil does so, and the package explodes and burns the town upon his arrival. Cecil decides then and there to forsake his duty for good and fight against the evils of the world, though given that he's alone the journey won't exactly be an easy one.
Watching Cecil grow from a torn Dark Knight to a righteous Paladin is a wonderful story to behold, and Final Fantasy 4 as a whole is an absolute masterpiece. The only downside to Cecil is that the girl he falls in love with is an absolute idiot, though the same can be said about a lot of guys.
"I guess it's my fate as a Dark Knight. Soon, I won't even feel remorse for my actions." - Cecil
Cecil's Contest History[]
Win-Loss Record: 0-5
Summer 2005 Contest - Dream Division - 8 Seed
- Dream Round 1 --- Lost to (1) Kirby, 22267 [24.79%] - 67556 [75.21%]
- Extrapolated Strength --- 57th Place [15.90%]
The lack of company caps in Summer 2005 allowed a lot of new Final Fantasy characters to get into the bracket, but most were given low seeds and zero chance of actually winning. Cecil was one such character, but very few people expected him to bomb this badly.
For reference's sake, the average Oracle Challenge pick for Kirby was about 10% lower than what he eventually wound up with. Many blame Cecil's horrid match pic for his performance (and sorry about using that art in his pic on this page, by the way; there are next to no non-sprite pics of him out there), though it may have been a combination of Nintendo's boost and Cecil not being very well-known.
Regardless of what it was, seeing Cecil return to the field after this performance is a longshot, and the odds of him actually winning a match are next to zero.
Summer 2008 Contest - Division 1 - First Group
- Division 1 Round 1 --- 3rd place, 22142 [16.35%] - Zack Fair, 60472 [44.64%] - Wario, 44824 [33.09] - Jade Curtiss, 8023 [5.92%]
Even with a pic completely different from his match with Kirby, Cecil completely folded against Zack and Wario. He managed to beat Jade Curtiss, but that really isn't hard to accomplish.
Winter 2010 Contest - Chaos Division - 8 Seed
- Chaos Round 1 --- lost to (9) Knuckles the Echidna, 34558 [48.00%] - 37437 [52.00%]
- Extrapolated Strength --- 99th Place [18.51%]
Cecil put up his best performance yet, hanging close with Knuckles for much of the day before folding late, but remains winless in character battles, a trend that doesn't look like it will change any time soon.
Summer 2013 Contest - Division 8 - 21 Seed
- Division 8 Round 1 --- 2nd place, 10864 [33.72%] - (12) Urdnot Wrex, 11842 [37.37%] - (7) Pit, 9162 [28.91%]
Cecil has to be one of the most unfortunate characters in contest history. While Pit was the initial guru favourite it was becoming quite clear that Pit was likely overrated by our standards and with the performances of Old Square Cecil was looking great with each passing match. Once the match begun and the board vote died Cecil took the lead from Pit and looked to be headed for his first ever win. The little supported Urdnot Wrex would have none of that and after weathering the traditionally terrible western gaming board vote went from third to first and took the match away from him.
Fall 2018 Contest - Division 3 - 12 Seed
- Division 3 Round 1 --- Lost to (5) Crash Bandicoot, 13629 [45.82%] - 16115 [54.18%]
Final Fantasy IV is popular, as three wins combining 2009 and 2015 and all the re-releases prove. But its characters never do anything in this contest. Kain Highwind once, Rydia twice, and now Cecil five times (six if you count Rivalry Rumble!). Gordon Freeman broke GFNW when he got his fifth chance. Cecil instead fell short against Crash, who could be considered a polar opposite of him: someone who through nostalgia\re-releases actually got contest strength. And for the third time in a row, it was a close bout. And that's in a site where its current admin loves FFIV.