History Characters / FinalFantasyIV

* InASingleBound: [[DeathFromAbove Jump]], a powerful physical attack causes Kain to leap so high into the air that it takes a few turns for him to come down.
* InconsistentSpelling: Was written as "Cain" in the Japanese manual, but the SNES translation changed it to "Kain." For some reason it stuck ever since (as least in English regions).

* MagicallyIneptFighter: Never learns magic but makes up for it with high physical stats and the powerful Jump ability. ''The After Years'' rectifies this upon [[spoiler:his promotion to Holy Dragoon]], though his White Magic is less effective compared to more specialized casters/healers such as Rosa or Porom, much like Cecil.

* LadyOfWar: She eventually grows into this. She's gentle and graceful, and after getting rescued she serves as the {{archer|Archetype}} to the team when she's not healing allies.

* DropTheHammer: His default equip are hammers, and his ultimate weapon is Thor's Hammer.

* ATasteOfPower: Once he gets his spells back, he'll have access to almost every spell in the game(balanced by his MP pool never growing past 90), making him invaluable for the next few dungeons. His magic comes in handy in the first dungeon you meet him in, as well.

* CrutchCharacter: Of a sort; Tellah can easily solo the dungeon you initially find him in, and it's easy to start relying on him without preparing for his inevitable departure right after. Later, when he regains his memory, Tellah can easily [[OneHitKill two shot]] [[AntiClimaxBoss major boss characters]], provided only you get him there at full MP... which makes it awfully painful when you're suddenly thrust into a [[WakeUpCallBoss major boss fight]] after he leaves the second time.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegation: Storyline-wise, Tellah just doesn't have the strength to use Meteor without killing himself. Gameplay-wise, Tellah isn't able to cast Meteor due to it costing 99 MP, and he only has 90 max. Before casting Meteor against Golbez, Tellah also casts four spells with a total cost of 110 MP. Unless you obtained an obscene amount of MP-boosting items and gave them all to Tellah, he will ''always'' expend more MP than he has in this cutscene. It's technically possible in some releases to boost Tellah's MP high enough that this shouldn't result in a CastFromLifespan scenario, but you'd have to know what's coming and be actively trying to subvert it. And even then, the cutscene which follows the Meteor cast plays out the same no matter what you do.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Storyline-wise, Tellah just doesn't have the strength to use Meteor without killing himself. Gameplay-wise, Tellah isn't able to cast Meteor due to it costing 99 MP, and he only has 90 max. The developers overlooked the idea that in some releases, players can use items on him to boost his max MP. Oops.
** It does, however, bounce back into {{Gameplay And Story Integration}} (at least somewhat) when one remembers that before casting Meteor, he also casts four spells with a total cost of 110 MP, meaning that unless you somehow obtained an obscene amount of MP-boosting items and gave them all to Tellah, he will ''always'' expend more MP than he has.

** It does, however, bounce back into {{Gameplay And Story Integration}} (at least somewhat) when one remembers that before casting Meteor, he also casts four spells with a total cost of 110 MP, meaning that unlike you somehow obtained an obscene amount of MP-boosting items and gave them all to Tellah, he will expend more MP than he has.

* LightIsGood[=/=]DarkIsNotEvil: Before the king turned evil [[spoiler:or, rather, before Cagnazzo began to impersonate him]], it's very strongly implied that Dark Knight!Cecil was actually a just and noble warrior. However, it still sometimes makes him a HeroWithBadPublicity; even at the start of the game, some of the people in Baron seemed freaked that the king is having his knights learn dark sword techniques and generally bothered by the fact that he's a Dark Knight.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Was written as "Cain" in the Japanese manual, but the SNES translation changed it to "Kain." For some reason it stuck ever since (as least in English regions).

* HairColorDissonance: Sometimes portrayed as more of a [[HeroesWantRedheads strawberry-blonde]].

* RandomEffectSpell: Summoning Asura is a bit of a gamble, as she'll cast either Curaga, Raise, or Protect (Cura in the Easy Type) on the whole party, with no way to influence which effect you receive.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The Japanese instruction manual gives his name, in English, as "Tella" (which also appeared in other material).

* LoveTriangle: Gets in one with Luca and Leonora in ''The After Years'', much to his chagrin.

* {{Mentor|s}}: In ''The After Years''. And a surprisingly good one. How many other ''Final Fantasy'' characters have explained so clearly to anyone how mages work, and used that knowledge to tutor a novice on how to use a new school of magic?

* EveryProperLadyShouldCurtsy: While introducing herself to Cecil in the DS remake. As with many things, the differences in temperament between the twins are easily distinguishable.

* BadassCape[=/=]ScarfOfAsskicking: Cape in ''IV'', more a scarf in ''The After Years''. His artwork for the latter implies he's wearing Rubicante's Cloak of Flame, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration which can be obtained as equipment for him in the game]].

* SelfMadeOrphan: Subverted. [[spoiler:When Dr. Lugae turns his parents into fiends, [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight Edge tries to reach out to them]]. [[FightingFromTheInside They regain their lucidity]], but knowing it is only a matter of time before they succumb to [[AlwaysChaoticEvil their maladies]], [[PlayerPunch the king and queen then decide to]] ''[[HeroicSuicide kill themselves]]''. Being the monarchs of a country full of ninja, Edge's parents essentially committed ''{{seppuku}}''.]]

* UnstoppableRage: It gives him the power to create one ''epic'' [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: [[spoiler: He’s briefly playable during his flashback sequence in the remake.]]

** [[spoiler:In ''The After Years'', even more so, as Golbez' abilities (warrior-level fighting power, BlackMage spells, a Taunt mechanism that forces enemies to attack him and Pressure, which functions like the Hold spell) are collectively a mirror of Cecil's Paladin powers. And while Cecil is right-handed, Golbez isn't.]]

* MeaningfulName[=/=]MeaningfulRename: His original Japanese name "Gorubeeza" is the Japanese transliteration of Golubaeser, also known as the Golubac Fly, a black fly named for a town in Serbia. According to the legends, the flies were born from the body of a decomposing dragon, [[spoiler:reflecting his fate]] and likely tying into Golbez's pet Shadow Dragon. In the DS remake and ''The After Years'', [[spoiler:Zemus]] takes the symbolism further by calling him "an insect birthed from womb of dragon's corpse," twisting the Mysidian Legend to refer to the Golubac Fly.

* SiblingYinYang: Golbez and his brother could not be more different in personality or fighting style.

* AntiClimaxBoss: The party fights him when Tellah who's remembered all his spells is in the party, meaning he can be one shotted with a single Blizzaga.

* ElementalEmbodiment of [[PlayingWithFire Fire]]

* EvilCounterpart[=/=]EvilKnockoff: The name should be a clue.

* BunglingInventor: Lugae's "prized" creation Barnabas isn't exactly a model of engineering. When Lugae orders Barnabas to attack, the thing [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments clobbers Lugae himself]] before Lugae clarifies that he's supposed to attack Cecil and company. Barnabas also requires a constant supply of oil, or he'll blow up. Not to mention Lugae's bright idea to [[spoiler:[[SelfDestructMechanism install a self-destruct function]]]]...

* AscendedExtra: From [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment BLAM]] Boss to party members.

* {{Oni}}: His initial Zeromus form is a ghostly entity with a demonic visage, long horn-like appendages and a mane of wild hair which resembles a classical Oni representation. Furthermore, it is fueled by hatred and grudge, feelings usually associated to Oni in folklore.

* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife: Commented on by Fusoya; if Zemus had used his incredible powers for good, he could have been a great man.

* WhatTheHellHero: As mentioned above, they are the formerly-unnamed soldiers who objected to taking Mysidia's crystal.

* CatchPhrase: "Huh?"

** AnIcePerson[=/=]MakingASplash: Izayoi.

* CatchPhrase: "Incomprehensible."

* DeathEqualsRedemption[=/=]MyGodWhatHaveIDone: It seems to regret its actions in its final moments and thanks the party and the Maenads who attacked it with its last words.

* MrExposition: It's a good thing it’s so talkative during its succesive fights with the party, because otherwise you'd know nothing about who and what it is, or why it does what it does.

* OneWingedAngel: As the battle against it progresses, it turns into increasingly bizarre forms, with the last vaguely resembling Neo Exdeath from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The Creator is a more literal example than most; although it's responsible for attempting to destroy the Blue Planet and [[FridgeHorror may have successfully annihilated other worlds it helped evolve]], it's also the [[LastOfHisKind Last of Its Kind]] and a case can be made that [[GoMadFromTheIsolation the loneliness drove it mad]].

* MultiEthnicName: Ursula is a latin name, her surname, Fang Leiden, is Chinese.

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: To Edward, giving him a wallop before telling him to quit crying over his dead fiancee and DareToBeBadass.

* HeroicBSOD: Suffers from this in ''The After Years'' due to [[spoiler:the Mysterious Girl's prolonged control of him. Although you can use him during his BSOD, his stats are absolutely pathetic and he's a blubbering, incoherent mess. It's not until he sees his dark side [[RelativeButton about to kill Ceodore]] [[PapaWolf that he snaps out of it]] and [[HesBack returns to being the ass-kicker we all know]]]].

* MultiMeleeMaster: Once he becomes a Paladin Cecil gets a surprisingly wide equipment draw, not just swords, but also daggers, staves, axes and the bow and arrow. However this mostly will be overlooked because swords are his best weapons in almost all situations. This does come in handy in the Lodestone Cave however, as the magnetic field will make it so using a sword will paralyze him. In this case giving Cecil a staff or bow is the only way he'll be able to put up any fight.

* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear: Pulls off the rare feat of doing this despite being A) the main character and B) not leaving the party -- when the Dark Knight class is removed, all of the gear Cecil was wearing disappears. Nobody else can equip it, but you can get extra cash by removing it and selling it when you get back to a town.