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* {{Revenge}}: Subverted at every turn. Begins the story by pledging this against his brother's killer, [[spoiler:before discovering only is ''he'' the Dominant of Ifrit who attacked Joshua, but Joshua actually survived their battle thanks to Phoenix's healing powers (and has no ill will against him since Clive had no control at the time).]] He turns his vengeance against the Empire of Sanbreque for their treatment of Bearers like himself, and specifically [[spoiler:his mother who has ordered mass killings of Bearers, but by the time the brothers catch up with the Empress, her life has already fallen apart by dint of their survival and the Empire has been ''obliterated'' from within, so Clive considers her [[NotWorthKilling not worth]] taking revenge on.]] Even postponing his crusade against the Mothercrystals to go after Hugo Kupka isn't personal, but the need to deal with a threat that's become too big to ignore. Letting go of his personal vengeance to fight for a cause and protect those he loves is what gradually turns Clive from bitter AntiHero to genuine hero.
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* {{Revenge}}: Subverted at every turn. Begins the story by pledging this against his brother's killer, [[spoiler:before discovering that not only is ''he'' the Dominant of Ifrit who attacked Joshua, but Joshua actually survived their battle thanks to Phoenix's healing powers (and has no ill will against him since Clive had no control at the time).]] He turns his vengeance against the Empire of Sanbreque for their treatment of Bearers like himself, and specifically [[spoiler:his mother who has ordered mass killings of Bearers, but by the time the brothers catch up with the Empress, her life has already fallen apart by dint of their survival and the Empire has been ''obliterated'' from within, so Clive considers her [[NotWorthKilling not worth]] taking revenge on.]] Even postponing his crusade against the Mothercrystals to go after Hugo Kupka isn't personal, but the need to deal with a threat that's become too big to ignore. Letting go of his personal vengeance to fight for a cause and protect those he loves is what gradually turns Clive from bitter AntiHero to genuine hero.
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* PhysicalGod: [[spoiler:Becomes this by the end of the game. With the power of all the Eikons and his body "perfect" to be a vessel for Ultima, Clive turns that power against him and manages to kill him, and then absorbs ''his'' power, too. Ultima also names him "Logos" at this point, in his eyes a false god that would usurp his domain, recognizing Clive as a rival and equal.]]
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* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: When he channels the power of the Eikons he can conjure their {{Natural Weapon}}s like Titan's [[GiantHandsOfDoom fists]], Garuda's [[WolverineClaws talons]], Bahamut and Phoenix's [[PowerGivesYouWings wings]] as well as actual weapons like Ramuh's MagicStaff, Odin's [[OneHandedZweihander sword]] or spear, and Shiva's [[ClothingCombat cape]].
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* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: When he channels the power of the Eikons he can conjure their {{Natural Weapon}}s like Titan's [[GiantHandsOfDoom fists]], Garuda's [[WolverineClaws talons]], Leviathan's [[ArmCannon waterspewing]] [[BreathWeapon maw]], Bahamut and Phoenix's [[PowerGivesYouWings wings]] as well as actual weapons like Ramuh's MagicStaff, Odin's [[OneHandedZweihander sword]] swords]] or spear, DoubleWeapon, and Shiva's [[ClothingCombat cape]].
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxvi_clive_rosfield.png]]
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxvi_clive_rosfield.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff16_clive.png]]
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[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Clive at 15 years old]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxvi_clive_rosfield_illustration.png[softreturn]''"I was born to be your Shield."'']]
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[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Clive at 15 years old]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxvi_clive_rosfield_illustration.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff16_clive_young.png[softreturn]''"I was born to be your Shield."'']]
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* HorseOfADifferentColor: Clive had a rare white chocobo named Ambrosia before the fall of Rosaria. He loved and cared for her deeply, feeding her the finest greens and brushing her twice a day with a coeurl-hair brush. She saves Clive from a lethal blow by grabbing him and throwing him to the side during the fall of Phoenix Gate, losing her eye in the process. She is presumed to have been killed during the battle between Ifrit and Phoenix, but can be encountered again twenty years later defending a flock of yellow chocobos during a sidequest. Ambrosia may then be called upon as a mount when asked.
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* MundaneUtility: Uses a fireball he conjures as a flashlight in dark areas.
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* MundaneUtility: Uses While he primarily uses his magic as a means of attack and defense in combat, he's able to conjure a fireball he conjures to use as a flashlight in dark areas.
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* BewareTheNiceOnes: Clive is a painfully sweet ExtremeDoormat, front to back, but he is absolutely ruthless to enemies who have truly earned his ire. ''Especially'' when his above BerserkButton is pressed, he tends to completely lose his shit.
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* HeroesPreferFire: Clive is the main hero of the game and the Dominant of the Fire Eikon, Ifrit.
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* HeroesPreferFire: Clive is the main hero of the game and the Dominant of the Fire Eikon, Ifrit.
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** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV Noctis]]. Both him and Clive are scions of reigning families who lose their fathers and kingdoms to invading empires, whom they seek revenge on. Noctis was the sole heir to the throne and the Chosen King destined from birth to stop the Starscourge, while Clive has no claim to the throne due to not possessing the Phoenix's powers and initially has no higher purpose other than to protect Joshua. Clive is a well-traveled ExperiencedProtagonist by the time of the main game with years of combat under his belt, while Noctis was a much younger man that had never been in a real fight and was implicitly IncompletelyTrained, to boot. In addition, Noctis travels around with a group of trusted friends, while Clive mostly has Torgal for company. Both of them have a StanceSystem of sorts, but Noctis' is a HyperspaceArsenal while Clive's powers are based on magic.
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** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV Noctis]]. Both him and Clive are scions of reigning families who lose their fathers and kingdoms to invading empires, whom they seek revenge on. Noctis was the sole heir to the throne and the Chosen King destined from birth to stop the Starscourge, while Clive has no claim to the throne due to not possessing the Phoenix's powers and powers, initially has no higher purpose other than to protect Joshua.Joshua, and [[spoiler:wasn't properly "chosen" as Ultima's vessel until Ultima discovered his potential during the sacking of Phoenix Gate]]. Clive is a well-traveled ExperiencedProtagonist by the time of the main game with years of combat under his belt, while Noctis was a much younger man that had never been in a real fight and was implicitly IncompletelyTrained, to boot. In addition, Noctis travels around with a group of trusted friends, while Clive mostly has Torgal for company. Both of them have a StanceSystem of sorts, but Noctis' is a HyperspaceArsenal while Clive's powers are based on magic.
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* TheAnticrist: [[spoiler:To Ultima, Clive is "Mythos", the human raised to be the ideal vessel for his power. But by asserting his own free will, Ultima believes he's become "Logos", a 'false god' who would attempt to usurp Ultima's claim to the world.]]
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* TheAnticrist: TheAntiChrist: [[spoiler:To Ultima, Clive is "Mythos", the human raised to be the ideal vessel for his power. But by asserting his own free will, Ultima believes he's become "Logos", a 'false god' who would attempt to usurp Ultima's claim to the world.]]
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* TheAnticrist: [[spoiler:To Ultima, Clive is "Mythos", the human raised to be the ideal vessel for his power. But by asserting his own free will, Ultima believes he's become "Logos", a 'false god' who would attempt to usurp Ultima's claim to the world.]]
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** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX Zidane Tribal]]. Both are outlaws in a medieval fantasy world, and both are [[spoiler:harbingers of a higher power who wishes to restore his previous world.]] That being said, Zidane is a GentlemanThief and [[spoiler:ArtificialHuman]] who usually lets [[TheSmartGuy Garnet]] take the lead in determining the party's course of action, whereas Clive is a [[SlaveLiberation slave abolitionist]] and PersonOfMassDestruction who [[spoiler:becomes the eventual TheLeader of the Hideaway]]. Their games also clash in terms of artstyle and more specific setting details, with ''IX'' being SuperDeformed and set in a colorful medieval world where {{Steampunk}} technology is in widespread use, while ''XVI'' is photorealistic and set in a dreary medieval world that lacks technological advancements. Finally, [[spoiler:Zidane was actually created by the sympathetic higher power of his world, Garland; Clive is pursued by Ultima to become his vessel, with the latter being a thoroughly despicable piece of work.]]
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Tidus]]. Both of their tales revolve around dismantling the systems of oppression that exist in Spira and Valisthea, both have parental issues regarding one of their parents (Jecht and Annabella), and both taken under the wing of an older mentor (Auron and Cidolfus Telamon). However, Tidus is a sporty {{Keet}} and a NaiveNewcomer to Spira who doesn't fully understand how dire things are until later on, while Clive is much less excitable than Tidus and was a victim of Valisthea's oppression. In addition, Tidus' parental issues are a focal point of his character arc, to the point where [[spoiler:the FinalBoss of ''X'' even being his father in a BrainwashedAndCrazy form and the actual [[DemiurgeArchetype false God]] BigBad is a PostFinalBoss]], while Clive's issues with his mother [[spoiler:ultimately never become a key part of his own arc and he gets a proper fight against ''XVI''[='=]s BigBad and DemiurgeArchetype]]. Their mentors are also both very different, with Auron being TheStoic and an old friend of Tidus' dad [[spoiler:who doesn't die until the end of ''X'']], while Cidolfus Telamon is a BoisterousBruiser with no relation to Clive's family [[spoiler:who dies halfway through ''XVI''.]]
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Tidus]]. Both of their tales revolve around dismantling the systems of oppression that exist in Spira and Valisthea, both have parental issues regarding one of their parents (Jecht and Annabella), and both taken under the wing of an older mentor (Auron and Cidolfus Telamon). However, Tidus is a sporty {{Keet}} and a NaiveNewcomer to Spira who doesn't fully understand how dire things are until later on, while Clive is much less excitable than Tidus and was a victim of Valisthea's oppression. In addition, Tidus' parental issues are a focal point of his character arc, to the point where [[spoiler:the FinalBoss of ''X'' even being his father in a BrainwashedAndCrazy form and the actual [[DemiurgeArchetype false God]] BigBad is a PostFinalBoss]], while Clive's issues with his mother [[spoiler:ultimately never become a key part of his own arc and he gets a proper fight against ''XVI''[='=]s BigBad and DemiurgeArchetype]]. Their mentors are also both very different, with Auron being TheStoic and an old friend of Tidus' dad [[spoiler:who doesn't die until the end of ''X'']], while Cidolfus Telamon is a BoisterousBruiser with no relation to Clive's family [[spoiler:who dies halfway through ''XVI''.]]
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** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]]. Both are mercenaries with enhanced powers who wield [[{{BFS}} giant swords]] and initially join a rebellion group as an AloofAlly. However, Cloud's enhancements come from being experimented upon as a SOLDIER in a modern world, while Clive wields the power of Ifrit as a Dominantin a medieval world; Cloud's weapon is inherited from his best friend while Clive's is an AncestralWeapon; Cloud's aloofness while first joining Avalanche comes from his cockiness, whereas Clive's comes from his bitterness at being a slave and his desire for revenge on his brother's killer. They both also destroy structures that are sucking their worlds dry of its natural resources, but Cloud attacks man-made Mako Reactors while Clive destroys the Mothercrystals which predate mankind. Finally, both suffer from psychological problems that involve a TomatoSurprise, but for Cloud [[spoiler:it's the fact he was merely pretending to have been a SOLDIER]], while for Clive it's [[spoiler:the fact that he was Joshua's killer all along.]]
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** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Terra Branford]]. Both were enslaved to serve the respective [[TheEmpire empires]] of their game (the Gestahlian Empire for Terra and the Sanbreque Empire for Clive), and both have inherited [[SummonMagic summon powers]] through their bloodline that allows them to transform into a non-human form. However, Terra was enslaved because of her value to the Gestahlian Empire as the daughter of an Esper, while Clive being a Dominant was unknown to all and caused him to become enslaved because he was seen as being nothing more than a Bearer. Furthermore, Terra is the child of an Esper while Clive's was the child of two normal humans. Additionally, while both are part of a rebellion and have a TimeSkip in the middle of their respective games, Terra leaves the Returners during the TimeSkip, while Clive [[spoiler:becomes the leader of the Hideaway.]] Terra is a GirlyGirl who can transform into a unique Esper form, while Clive is a ManlyMan who outright becomes Ifrit when transforming. Finally, Terra is one character out of an ensemble of fourteen, while Clive is the central character of ''XVI'' from start to finish.
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]]. Both are mercenaries with enhanced powers who wield [[{{BFS}} giant swords]] and initially join a rebellion group as an AloofAlly. However, Cloud's enhancements come from being experimented upon as a SOLDIER in a modern world, while Clive wields the power of Ifrit as aDominantin Dominant in a medieval world; Cloud's weapon is inherited from his best friend while Clive's is an AncestralWeapon; Cloud's aloofness while first joining Avalanche comes from his cockiness, whereas Clive's comes from his bitterness at being a slave and his desire for revenge on his brother's killer. They both also destroy structures that are sucking their worlds dry of its natural resources, but Cloud attacks man-made Mako Reactors while Clive destroys the Mothercrystals which predate mankind. Finally, both suffer from psychological problems that involve a TomatoSurprise, but for Cloud [[spoiler:it's the fact he was merely pretending to have been a SOLDIER]], while for Clive it's [[spoiler:the fact that he was Joshua's killer all along.]]]]
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]]. Both are mercenaries with enhanced powers who wield [[{{BFS}} giant swords]] and initially join a rebellion group as an AloofAlly. However, Cloud's enhancements come from being experimented upon as a SOLDIER in a modern world, while Clive wields the power of Ifrit as a
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* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: [[AvertedTrope]] in regards to [[spoiler:Hugo Kupka. Clive is dead-set on killing him even after becoming more of an IdealHero, and specifically focuses on hunting Hugo down after the first Hideaway was destroyed.]]
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* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: [[AvertedTrope]] [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in regards to [[spoiler:Hugo Kupka. Clive is dead-set on killing him even after becoming more of an IdealHero, and specifically focuses on hunting Hugo down after the first Hideaway was destroyed.]]
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** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]]. Both are mercenaries with enhanced powers who wield [[{{BFS}} giant swords]] and initially join a rebellion group as an AloofAlly. However, Cloud's enhancements come from being experimented upon as a SOLDIER in a modern world, while Clive wields the power of Ifrit as a Dominantin a medieval world; Cloud's weapon is inherited from his best friend while Clive's is an AncestralWeapon; Cloud's aloofness while first joining Avalanche comes from his cockiness, whereas Clive's comes from his bitterness at being a slave and his desire for revenge on his brother's killer. They both also destroy structures that are sucking their worlds dry of its natural resources, but Cloud attacks man-made Mako Reactors while Clive destroys the Mothercrystals which predate mankind. Finally, both suffer from psychological problems that involve a TomatoReveal, but for Cloud [[spoiler:it's the fact he was merely pretending to have been a SOLDIER]], while for Clive it's [[spoiler:the fact that he was Joshua's killer all along.]]
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall]]. Both are seemingly-cold people who served as soldiers from a young age and have been separated from their remaining living parents since then. However, Squall and [[spoiler:Laguna genuinely don't realize their true relation as father and son]], while Anabella actively ignores and disowns Clive from early on. In addition, Squall is a SeeD by choice, whereas Clive was forced into becoming a soldier for Sanbreque by way of slavery. Both have a LoveInterest with a TeamPet, but Rinoa is a GenkiGirl who is the sole owner of Angelo, while Jill Warrick is a LadyOfWar and merely one of Torgal's masters (the others being Clive and Joshua).
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall]]. Both are seemingly-cold people who served as soldiers from a young age and have been separated from their remaining living parents since then. However, Squall and [[spoiler:Laguna genuinely don't realize their true relation as father and son]], while Anabella actively ignores and disowns Clive from early on. In addition, Squall is a SeeD by choice, whereas Clive was forced into becoming a soldier for Sanbreque by way of slavery. Both have a LoveInterest with a TeamPet, but Rinoa is a GenkiGirl who is the sole owner of Angelo, while Jill Warrick is a LadyOfWar and merely one of Torgal's masters (the others being Clive and Joshua).
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** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]]. Both are mercenaries with enhanced powers who wield [[{{BFS}} giant swords]] and initially join a rebellion group as an AloofAlly. However, Cloud's enhancements come from being experimented upon as a SOLDIER in a modern world, while Clive wields the power of Ifrit as a Dominantin a medieval world; Cloud's weapon is inherited from his best friend while Clive's is an AncestralWeapon; Cloud's aloofness while first joining Avalanche comes from his cockiness, whereas Clive's comes from his bitterness at being a slave and his desire for revenge on his brother's killer. They both also destroy structures that are sucking their worlds dry of its natural resources, but Cloud attacks man-made Mako Reactors while Clive destroys the Mothercrystals which predate mankind. Finally, both suffer from psychological problems that involve a TomatoReveal, TomatoSurprise, but for Cloud [[spoiler:it's the fact he was merely pretending to have been a SOLDIER]], while for Clive it's [[spoiler:the fact that he was Joshua's killer all along.]]
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall]]. Both are seemingly-cold people who served as soldiers from a young age and have been separated from their remaining living parents since then. However, Squall and [[spoiler:Laguna genuinely don't realize their true relation as father and son]], while Anabella actively ignores and disowns Clive from early on. In addition, Squall is aSeeD [=SeeD=] by choice, whereas Clive was forced into becoming a soldier for Sanbreque by way of slavery. Both have a LoveInterest with a TeamPet, but Rinoa is a GenkiGirl who is the sole owner of Angelo, while Jill Warrick is a LadyOfWar and merely one of Torgal's masters (the others being Clive and Joshua).
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall]]. Both are seemingly-cold people who served as soldiers from a young age and have been separated from their remaining living parents since then. However, Squall and [[spoiler:Laguna genuinely don't realize their true relation as father and son]], while Anabella actively ignores and disowns Clive from early on. In addition, Squall is a
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* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: He's not too trilled, to say the least, when he discovers he's the Dominant of Ifrit.]]
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* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: He's not too trilled, thrilled, to say the least, when he discovers he's the Dominant of Ifrit.]]
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* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Both [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV Noctis]] and Clive are scions of reigning families who lose their fathers and kingdoms to invading empires, whom they seek revenge on. Noctis was the sole heir to the throne and the Chosen King destined from birth to stop the Starscourge, while Clive has no claim to the throne due to not possessing the Phoenix's powers and initially has no higher purpose other than to protect Joshua. Clive is a well-traveled ExperiencedProtagonist by the time of the main game with years of combat under his belt, while Noctis was a much younger man that had never been in a real fight and was implicitly IncompletelyTrained, to boot. In addition, Noctis travels around with a group of trusted friends, while Clive mostly has Torgal for company. Both of them have a StanceSystem of sorts, but Noctis' is a HyperspaceArsenal while Clive's powers are based on magic.
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* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: ContrastingSequelMainCharacter:
** In general, he contrasts all prior ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' protagonists in one big way; [[spoiler:[[BreakingOldTrends He is the first to be known by the name of "Cid"]], taking up the moniker "Cid the Outlaw" after Cidolfus Telamon dies at Drake's Head.]]
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]]. Both are mercenaries with enhanced powers who wield [[{{BFS}} giant swords]] and initially join a rebellion group as an AloofAlly. However, Cloud's enhancements come from being experimented upon as a SOLDIER in a modern world, while Clive wields the power of Ifrit as a Dominantin a medieval world; Cloud's weapon is inherited from his best friend while Clive's is an AncestralWeapon; Cloud's aloofness while first joining Avalanche comes from his cockiness, whereas Clive's comes from his bitterness at being a slave and his desire for revenge on his brother's killer. They both also destroy structures that are sucking their worlds dry of its natural resources, but Cloud attacks man-made Mako Reactors while Clive destroys the Mothercrystals which predate mankind. Finally, both suffer from psychological problems that involve a TomatoReveal, but for Cloud [[spoiler:it's the fact he was merely pretending to have been a SOLDIER]], while for Clive it's [[spoiler:the fact that he was Joshua's killer all along.]]
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall]]. Both are seemingly-cold people who served as soldiers from a young age and have been separated from their remaining living parents since then. However, Squall and [[spoiler:Laguna genuinely don't realize their true relation as father and son]], while Anabella actively ignores and disowns Clive from early on. In addition, Squall is a SeeD by choice, whereas Clive was forced into becoming a soldier for Sanbreque by way of slavery. Both have a LoveInterest with a TeamPet, but Rinoa is a GenkiGirl who is the sole owner of Angelo, while Jill Warrick is a LadyOfWar and merely one of Torgal's masters (the others being Clive and Joshua).
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lightning]]. She and Clive are mainly driven by their [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sibling Instinct]] for their younger siblings (Serah and Joshua respectively), but otherwise parallel each other in every other way. Lightning is an IceQueen with a more strained relationship with her sister, is a female protagonist, has pink hair that would be out of place anywhere else, and comes from a futuristic world and setting. Meanwhile, Clive is a male protagonist more associated with [[FireIsMasculine fire]], has a healthy relationship with his younger brother, normal black hair, and lives in a medieval fantasy world that lacks many technological advancements.
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVNoctis]] Noctis]]. Both him and Clive are scions of reigning families who lose their fathers and kingdoms to invading empires, whom they seek revenge on. Noctis was the sole heir to the throne and the Chosen King destined from birth to stop the Starscourge, while Clive has no claim to the throne due to not possessing the Phoenix's powers and initially has no higher purpose other than to protect Joshua. Clive is a well-traveled ExperiencedProtagonist by the time of the main game with years of combat under his belt, while Noctis was a much younger man that had never been in a real fight and was implicitly IncompletelyTrained, to boot. In addition, Noctis travels around with a group of trusted friends, while Clive mostly has Torgal for company. Both of them have a StanceSystem of sorts, but Noctis' is a HyperspaceArsenal while Clive's powers are based on magic.
** In general, he contrasts all prior ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' protagonists in one big way; [[spoiler:[[BreakingOldTrends He is the first to be known by the name of "Cid"]], taking up the moniker "Cid the Outlaw" after Cidolfus Telamon dies at Drake's Head.]]
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]]. Both are mercenaries with enhanced powers who wield [[{{BFS}} giant swords]] and initially join a rebellion group as an AloofAlly. However, Cloud's enhancements come from being experimented upon as a SOLDIER in a modern world, while Clive wields the power of Ifrit as a Dominantin a medieval world; Cloud's weapon is inherited from his best friend while Clive's is an AncestralWeapon; Cloud's aloofness while first joining Avalanche comes from his cockiness, whereas Clive's comes from his bitterness at being a slave and his desire for revenge on his brother's killer. They both also destroy structures that are sucking their worlds dry of its natural resources, but Cloud attacks man-made Mako Reactors while Clive destroys the Mothercrystals which predate mankind. Finally, both suffer from psychological problems that involve a TomatoReveal, but for Cloud [[spoiler:it's the fact he was merely pretending to have been a SOLDIER]], while for Clive it's [[spoiler:the fact that he was Joshua's killer all along.]]
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall]]. Both are seemingly-cold people who served as soldiers from a young age and have been separated from their remaining living parents since then. However, Squall and [[spoiler:Laguna genuinely don't realize their true relation as father and son]], while Anabella actively ignores and disowns Clive from early on. In addition, Squall is a SeeD by choice, whereas Clive was forced into becoming a soldier for Sanbreque by way of slavery. Both have a LoveInterest with a TeamPet, but Rinoa is a GenkiGirl who is the sole owner of Angelo, while Jill Warrick is a LadyOfWar and merely one of Torgal's masters (the others being Clive and Joshua).
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lightning]]. She and Clive are mainly driven by their [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sibling Instinct]] for their younger siblings (Serah and Joshua respectively), but otherwise parallel each other in every other way. Lightning is an IceQueen with a more strained relationship with her sister, is a female protagonist, has pink hair that would be out of place anywhere else, and comes from a futuristic world and setting. Meanwhile, Clive is a male protagonist more associated with [[FireIsMasculine fire]], has a healthy relationship with his younger brother, normal black hair, and lives in a medieval fantasy world that lacks many technological advancements.
** To [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV
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* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Clive eventually becomes more of an IdealHero as he [[spoiler:grows into being the leader of the Hideaway]], doesn't even bear his mother any ill will despite her [[AbusiveParents abusiveness]], and even his interactions with [[spoiler:[[TheDragon Barnabas]] or [[BigBad Ultima]]]] has more to do with their hold on the world rather than any personal animosity. However, [[TheBrute Hugo Kupka]] is a giant exception to this, as Clive spends [[spoiler:five years tracking him down and takes great pleasure in letting Hugo know that Clive, not Cid, killed Benedikta and that he was going to do the same to Hugo. Even the destruction of Drake's Fang only happened because Clive was specifically going to assassinate Hugo rather than destroying the Mothercrystal.]]
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* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: [[AvertedTrope]] in regards to [[spoiler:Hugo Kupka. Clive is dead-set on killing him even after becoming more of an IdealHero, and specifically focuses on hunting Hugo down after the first Hideaway was destroyed.]]
* IfYouTauntHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in his interactions with Hugo Kupka, as [[spoiler:when Clive realizes Hugo thinks Cidolfus Telamon was the one who killed Benedikta, Clive gleefully corrects Hugo by revealing that he had been the one to kill her all along.]]
* IfYouTauntHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in his interactions with Hugo Kupka, as [[spoiler:when Clive realizes Hugo thinks Cidolfus Telamon was the one who killed Benedikta, Clive gleefully corrects Hugo by revealing that he had been the one to kill her all along.]]
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* NiceToTheWaiter: The prologue makes it clear that the Bearers are not well-treated in Valisthea, which makes it noticable when 15-year-old Clive is polite and kind to one.
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* NiceToTheWaiter: The prologue makes it clear that the Bearers are not well-treated in Valisthea, which makes it noticable noticeable when 15-year-old Clive is polite and kind to one.
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* OneHandedZweihander: Actually his preferred fighting style, which is why he wears such an unusual sheath - it's designed to be a relatively light, unobtrusive way to carry what would normally be a two-handed blade at an angle that allows it to easily be drawn one-handed. His specific reasons for fighting like this are left unsaid, but it's certainly a practical way for an Eikon-blessed warrior like the First Shield of Rosaria to keep one hand free for magic while still wielding a weapon large enough to give him the reach and leverage necessary when duelling giant monsters.
to:
* OneHandedZweihander: Actually his preferred fighting style, which is why he wears such an unusual sheath - it's designed to be a relatively light, unobtrusive way to carry what would normally be a two-handed blade at an angle that allows it to easily be drawn one-handed. His specific reasons for fighting like this are left unsaid, but it's certainly a practical way for an Eikon-blessed warrior like the First Shield of Rosaria to keep one hand free for magic while still wielding a weapon large enough to give him the reach and leverage necessary when duelling dueling giant monsters.
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* TraumaCongaLine: The attack on Phoenix Gate would probably have been the worst day of his life already for many reasons. By the end of it, his father is dead, he is ForcedToWatch his younger brother get savaged to death, his country is vassalized by an expansionist empire, his hometown has been destroyed, he's discovered his ''own mother'' is a traitor, and he is sold into slavery ''by'' said mother when she decides he's NotWorthKilling. Small wonder he becomes so bitter.
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* TraumaCongaLine: The attack on Phoenix Gate would probably have been the worst day of his life already for many reasons. By the end of it, his father is dead, he is ForcedToWatch his younger brother get savaged to death, his country is vassalized conquered by an expansionist empire, his hometown has been destroyed, he's discovered his ''own mother'' is a traitor, and he is sold into slavery ''by'' said mother when she decides he's NotWorthKilling. Small wonder he becomes so bitter.
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* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Jill. While they had been seperated for 13 years, after their reunion they immediately hit it off again, and EveryoneCanSeeIt. However, neither acts on their feelings, both choosing instead to focus on the tasks at hand. [[spoiler:Even after the 5-year time skip during which they were closely working together they still haven't hooked up, and it isn't until near the end of the game before they act on it.]]
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* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Jill. While they had been seperated separated for 13 years, after their reunion they immediately hit it off again, and EveryoneCanSeeIt. However, neither acts on their feelings, both choosing instead to focus on the tasks at hand. [[spoiler:Even after the 5-year time skip during which they were closely working together they still haven't hooked up, and it isn't until near the end of the game before they act on it.]]
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* UsedToBeASweetKid: When he dreams of the past after being knocked-out during the Bastards' mission to find and kill Shiva's Dominant he's shown to be an upstanding, idealistic young lad. The events that unfold during the attack on Rosaria leave him a far grimmer, hardened man in adulthood who is hell-bent on revenge to the point that he openly worries bout te cost it will have on him (but he [[IveComeTooFar can't abandon it]]).
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* UsedToBeASweetKid: When he dreams of the past after being knocked-out during the Bastards' mission to find and kill Shiva's Dominant he's shown to be an upstanding, idealistic young lad. The events that unfold during the attack on Rosaria leave him a far grimmer, hardened man in adulthood who is hell-bent on revenge to the point that he openly worries bout te the cost it will have on him (but he [[IveComeTooFar can't abandon it]]).
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[[center: [-[[Characters/FinalFantasyXVI Main Index]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVIProtagonists Protagonists]] ('''Clive Rosfield''') | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheHideaway The Hideaway]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheGrandDuchyOfRosaria The Grand Duchy of Rosaria]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheDhalmekianRepublic The Dhalmekian Republic]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheHolyEmpireOfSanbreque The Holy Empire of Sanbreque]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheKingdomOfWaloed The Kingdom of Waloed]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVIEikonsAndNotableBeings Eikons and Notable Creatures/Beings]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVIOtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]
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!! Clive Rosfield
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Ben Starr (English); Creator/YuyaUchida, Creator/YuumaUchida [young] (Japanese)[[labelnote:Foreign [=VA=]s]]Marc Arnaud (French), Alessandro Capra (Italian), Vincent Fallow (German), Creator/JoseAngelTorres (LA Spanish)[[/labelnote]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxvi_clive_rosfield.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I'll kill you... if it's the last thing I do."'']]
[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Clive at 15 years old]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxvi_clive_rosfield_illustration.png[softreturn]''"I was born to be your Shield."'']]
[[/labelnote]]
\\
->''"The legacy of the crystals has shaped our history for long enough."''\\\
The first-born son of Rosaria's ruling archduke who sought to prove himself as the First Shield of Rosaria. But after a tragic night that culminated in his brother Joshua’s brutal death at the hands of the Dark Eikon Ifrit, he abandons all he once knew to instead set off on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against all those responsible. Though initially unaware of it, Clive eventually awakens as a Dominant himself... [[YouAreWhatYouHate the Dominant of Ifrit]].
----
[[folder:A-M]]
* TheAce: As his title as Rosaria's First Shield can clarify, Clive is one of -- if not ''the'' -- most powerful warriors in all of Rosaria, tasked with protecting the Phoenix himself. Although becoming a SlaveMook does turn him into a BrokenAce, he eventually returns to being a straight example after recovering and accepting himself, [[spoiler:leading the Hideaway as its single most powerful warrior to victory and eventually killing ''the'' GodOfGods in a direct fight]].
* AllYourPowersCombined: Thanks to being Ifrit's Dominant, Clive has the rare, solely unique ability to absorb the powers of his fellow Dominants and use them himself.
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:Whether he died or not at the end of the game. He's shown lying on a beach and barely alive with the curse slowly calcifying him, indicating that he is on the verge of death. However, sidequest material implies that he could've ended up surviving in the very end.]]
* AncestralWeapon: Invictus, a legendary sword passed down through the archduke's family and his most trusted guards. Lady Hanna gives it to Clive after they meet in Eastpool.
* AndThenWhat: Subverted. By his own admission, Clive doesn't know what he will do when he kills Ifrit and completes his revenge, nor does he care what happens to him afterward. Cid comments on this, stating he's more or less leaving everything up to fate.
* AntiAntichrist: It turns out that [[spoiler:he was hand-picked to become the vessel of [[GodIsEvil Ultima]] so that the latter can possess him and remake the world in his own image, wiping out humanity in the process]]. Clive's response can be paraphrased as "nuts to that", and he spends most of the back third of the game trying to defy this fate.
* AntiHero: At first, Clive's personal mission isn't rebellion against authority, for personal betterment, or protecting others, but genuine, personal revenge, making him far more cynical and selfish than previous ''Final Fantasy'' heroes. However, he is loyal to [[RebelLeader Cid]] and his dreams of freeing Dominants from use as weapons of war, and is disgusted with the way Waloed treats [[OurMagesAreDifferent Bearers]] like him. Over the course of the game, however, he begins to accept the events of his past for what they were, and slowly begins to transition into being a proper hero.
* AscendedExtra: In a roundabout sense, [[spoiler:he's the first iteration of Cid in the ''Final Fantasy'' series to be the main protagonist, as the name "Cid the Outlaw" in this universe is an inherited title that ends up getting passed to him.]]
* AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:This seems to be the general implication by Ultima calling Clive "Logos"; unlike the other Eikons, Ifrit is meant to serve as the ideal vessel for Ultima and his kind. When Clive absorbs the power of six Dominants (Leviathan's Dominant is unaccounted for and he was blessed by Joshua with a portion of the Phoenix's powers) and he's able to fight on par with Ultima after receiving the Phoenix's powers in full, Ultima realizes what's happening and angrily denounces Clive as "not one of [us]", implying Clive as a baseline human is becoming a being on par with Ultima. The Ultimania book expands on this as it reveals that Ifrit is a ''proto''-Ultima and the foundation of his kind, making Clive the human-equivalent to Ultima's race.]]
* AttackAttackAttack: Ironically for the 'First Shield', his fighting style is extremely aggressive. It centers around slicing/pummelling/blasting the enemy into submission while offering them as few opportunities as possible to get an attack in, and then turning up the ferocity even ''harder'' once they're stunned on the ground. It's very telling that even his various defensive abilities are geared around setting his foe up for an immediate CounterAttack, and one defensive mechanic (parrying) is simply a case of him cancelling out an enemy's attack by shoving a sword in their face halfway through and then following up with a flurry of ultra-fast attacks.
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:After realizing he is the Dominant of Ifrit, and finally accepting his involvement in the massacre at Phoenix Gate thirteen years ago, he from then on vows to atone for what he did, even if he wasn't really in control of himself at the time.]]
* BadassBookworm: On top of being downright gifted in warfare ''and'' a supremely powerful Dominant to boot, he's also very well read. As a child, his father Elwin encouraged him to read as many books as he could get his hands on, and as a result Clive developed a fondness for tales and histories of ancient legends, as well as theater.
* BadLiar:
** According to Byron, only a fool would believe a thing about Clive's and Jill's story. But at the same time, he has it on good authority that Clive is telling the truth, because Clive has always been an awful liar. Clive himself seemed unaware of this, but Jill simply says it's not ''untrue''.
** As part of L'ubor's ploy to unite the people of Dalimil, he has Clive act as a "Lord Underhill of Ran'dellah." Of the two people he has to fool, one of them doesn't buy it for a second but continues to humor Clive and L'ubor.
** When he aids Goetz in helping clear Charon's name, he at first tries to hide the fact that it was Goetz who passed word of the nasty rumors being spread about her. His attempts to come off as just a concerned friend are so bad that he gives up after about 30 seconds, when all he accomplishes is just piss her off.
* BattleCouple: Downplayed. [[spoiler:By the time he and Jill act on their feelings for each other, Jill only joins the party again after the completion of an optional sidequest, and she does not accompany him for any important story battles]].
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: After discovering a broken mural in a Fallen ruin at Phoenix Gate, [[spoiler:Clive is drawn into ''somewhere'', implied to be his own mind and soul, and is forced to confront the AwfulTruth that he murdered Joshua as Ifrit in a panicked rage after awakening as a Dominant. Initially distraught and reduced to a sobbing mess, Clive resolves to face the truth and atone for what he did. Afterward, he's confronted by an imitation of Ifrit and a PaletteSwap version of himself representing his fears, both of which he cuts down.]]
* BaritoneOfStrength: Clive has a deep, commanding voice befitting his status as a strong warrior.
* BerserkButton: The entire existence of [[BlackKnight the Black Shields]] is his biggest one. Not only are they a twisted parody of Rosarian Shields, but they answer entirely to Anabella and only carry out the cruelest of her commands with a sadistic glee. To add insult to injury, she has them recite the very same creed of the Rosarian Shields before carrying out their evil deeds. That last bit in particular ''really'' [[RageBreakingPoint makes Clive lose his shit]], and instantly puts him in a murderous mood. And while not quite ''as'' bad as the Black Shields, general mistreatment of Bearers is another button for him that should not be pressed.
* {{BFS}}: While not nearly to the level of ridiculousness as [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud's arsenal]][[note]]until the Buster Sword was added via DownloadableContent, anyway[[/note]], Clive's weapons of choice are greatswords of varying size. He, of course, [[OneHandedZweihander swings them one-handed.]]
* BigBrotherInstinct: Protecting his younger brother Joshua is at the core of his motivations, and he goes as far as to become the First Shield of Rosaria in order to do so. [[spoiler:When he thinks Joshua died fighting Ifrit, he swears to kill the latter, unaware and misremembering due to his panicked rage that ''he was Ifrit''.]]
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Jill. Both of them are reserved, powerful warriors who care for the wellbeing of those around them and have hearts of gold. Both have a history of suffering from Anabella's derision and both of them were MadeASlave for thirteen years before reuniting. Both also seek closure from their traumas by wishing to take revenge and support each other through it. They also both have a tendency to push themselves too hard, refusing to rest or seek treatment for their wounds.
* BladeSpam: [[spoiler:After defeating Barnabas and gaining his Eikon]], he can copy Odin's [[CoolSword Zantetsuken]] through the "Arm of Darkness" skill. Just one swing causes all enemies in range to be hit multiple times.
* BlueBlood: Along with being the son of the Archduke, Clive's official noble title in Rosaria is that of a marquess.
* BrokenAce: The fall of Rosaria and being MadeASlave has very clearly hardened and embittered Clive. Although he's a pretty cynical SlaveMook, he's specifically stated by WordofGod to still have quickly risen up the ranks due to his excellent combat skills as Rosaria's First Shield and the magical might given by Joshua's Blessing of the Phoenix and proves to be perhaps ''the'' strongest member of the Bastards, as Tiamat repeatedly stating the mission of killing Shiva's Dominant hinges on Clive, [[spoiler:and then Clive cutting down Tiamat, who was his superior and sergeant, without much issue, can attest. Even escaping from Sanbreque doesn't do much to cure his cynicism and anguish just as much as he quickly proves Tiamat's words to be true by taking on Benedikta, a ''much'' more experienced Dominant compared to Jill, and winning in a fair sword fight before triumphing over even her semi-prime form with some help from Torgal, and even cuts off Garuda's arm before ultimately having to become Ifrit again.]] Ultimately, though, once [[spoiler:he finally comes to terms that he has to move on with his life and that there are other much greater purposes beyond simple revenge]], he overcomes this and returns to being a straight Ace.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Clive literally punches Ultima in the face for the final blow. After taking his power and using it to end the Crystal Curse, he's last seen on an island succumbing to the Curse with his left arm becoming petrified.]]
* ChargedAttack:
** In addition to being able to rapid-fire spells to maintain a combo at a distance, Clive can unlock upgrades to his spells, allowing him to charge up Fire into Fira and so on.
** The abilities he gets from Titan also use a charge meter, shown on-screen as a yellow gauge with a red sweet spot that you want to stop charging at for maximum range and damage. Upgrading them makes the red area wider and thus easier/faster to hit reliably.
** Bahamut's Eikonic Feat "Wings of Light" functions as this, gradually building a gauge of Megaflare levels while Clive has it toggled active, then firing off all of the stored-up gauge upon release as a MacrossMissileMassacre over the area that lasts longer based on the number of levels built. Clive cannot use any other attacks while Wings of Light is active, regular movement will slow down the gauge, and getting hit will cause the gauge to decrease, but precision dodges in this time will generate an additional Megaflare level.
** Odin's Eikonic Feat "Arm of Darkness" is a 'Collect' type, temporarily replacing Clive's weapon with a OneHandedZweihander and building charge levels for a [[BladeSpam Zantetsuken]] finisher as he uses it. Unlike the above, Arm of Darkness emphasizes an AttackAttackAttack style, gradually building levels via combos and ''rapidly'' building them off of counterattacks and Odin's unique Eikonic Strikes.
* CodeName: He is given the name "Wyvern" as a Branded soldier of Sanbreque. Later, he uses it occasionally as an alias.
** Ultima[=/=]his servants also call him "Mythos".
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Both [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV Noctis]] and Clive are scions of reigning families who lose their fathers and kingdoms to invading empires, whom they seek revenge on. Noctis was the sole heir to the throne and the Chosen King destined from birth to stop the Starscourge, while Clive has no claim to the throne due to not possessing the Phoenix's powers and initially has no higher purpose other than to protect Joshua. Clive is a well-traveled ExperiencedProtagonist by the time of the main game with years of combat under his belt, while Noctis was a much younger man that had never been in a real fight and was implicitly IncompletelyTrained, to boot. In addition, Noctis travels around with a group of trusted friends, while Clive mostly has Torgal for company. Both of them have a StanceSystem of sorts, but Noctis' is a HyperspaceArsenal while Clive's powers are based on magic.
* CoolBigBro: He has a very close relationship with his younger brother Joshua, who adores him and worships the ground he walks on. He also has a very warm relationship with Mid, Cid's daughter. [[spoiler:After his passing]], Clive becomes something of a big-brother-slash-father figure for her, looking out for her while also indulging her near endless flights of fancy.
* CynicismCatalyst: The night the Eikon Ifrit awakens and kills Joshua and his mother having him enslaved sends him down a path of vengeance, leaving him a bitter individual.
* DarkMessiah: [[spoiler:Played with. Clive himself is a heroic character who inherits Cid's desire to free the world from the Mothercrystals in the hopes it will stop the Blight, but this is how he is viewed by the Circle of Malius and Barnabas. They've been waiting for "Mythos", Ultima's vessel, to be born and gather the powers of the other Eikons, making them strong enough to where Ultima could possess them and carry out his primogenesis. Naturally, Clive rejects this and actively resists Ultima at every turn.]]
* DavidVersusGoliath: Part of his inherited job description as the First Shield of Rosaria, who's supposed to be an EmpoweredBadassNormal protecting their Dominant (or fighting on his behalf) against superhuman enemies like giant monsters and other Dominants. It's the source of his highly unusual OneHandedZweihander fighting style, which lets him use magic alongside a weapon suitable for engaging enemies much bigger and stronger than he is. While he's swiftly retired from his job as First Shield, he carries this philosophy with him throughout his life, right up to the point where he [[spoiler:punches out God.]]
* DeathSeeker: After learning that he is the Dominant of Fire that killed Joshua, Clive begs Cid to kill him to punish him for it. He's only convinced to keep living to honor the efforts of Gav, who has been tracking another Dominant of Fire on his behalf.
* {{Determinator}}: And how. The guy does ''not'' give up once he sets his mind to something. By the time the prologue ends, he's been on a single-bloody-minded quest for revenge for well over a decade. And when that ends and he meets his new purpose, he launches himself into it just as fiercely. By the story's end he is nothing less than the literal personification of human willpower, which complicates things massively for the [[JerkassGods jerkass god]] that happens to want to eliminate ''all'' willpower from Valisthea.
* DisownedParent: Somewhat complex and subverted, [[spoiler:throughout the story it becomes increasingly clear Clive has completely accepted his mother Anabella just doesn’t care about him in the slightest, and he doesn’t hope she ever changes her mind about that; however, it is of note Clive never stops addressing Anabella as "mother" even in their heated reunion years later, unlike the woman in question who never addresses Clive by "son" or anything else that implies the tiniest of proximity. In the end Clive doesn’t outright disown her, he just sees his mother as someone that just is the way she is, and he won’t concern himself with anything beyond just recognizing her existence. Notably, while Joshua is shown to genuinely grieve and regret Anabella's suicide, Clive does pity his mother for her fate, but only closes his eyes without reacting too much]].
* DoomMagnet: A lot of people close to Clive end up meeting grim fates. His dad gets beheaded, his brother gets flambéed by Ifrit and his teacher Murdoch dies as well.
* DrivenToSuicide: He implied to be considering it while he is a DeathSeeker, as he pauses and stares over the side of a bridge for a good long while until Torgal whimpers out of concern for him.
* ElementalPunch: When he is in LimitBreak Clive will go into a more SwordAndFist style and punch with his fire wreathed left hand along with swinging his FlamingSword.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Despite his brand, Clive isn't actually a Bearer--he's the First Shield of Rosaria, a talented human knight rewarded for their skill and courage with magic loaned by the Phoenix that basically turns them into a baby Dominant (or an unusually powerful Bearer) without the terrible CastFromLifespan price. Ultimately subverted however when Clive is revealed to be the Dominant of Ifrit and [[spoiler:a chosen potential host for the resident GodOfGods]], meaning he's been special from day one.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The fight with Jill takes place after the TimeSkip where he has been an enslaved soldier of Sanbreque for over a decade; while he initially seems like a cold, ruthless, and efficient assassin, the moment he realizes Shiva's Dominant is his childhood friend he promptly turns on the Empire despite his ingrained fear of retaliation, showing he hasn't lost his courage or compassion [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold even if he's buried his positive qualities deep.]]
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** For all his desire of revenge, Clive isn't so blinded by it to the point where he has complete tunnel vision and has disregard for anyone but himself, as shown when he displays great concern for Cid after he was knocked around by Benedikta. He even hesitated to go after her after Garuda's appearance until Cid gave him the go-ahead, which shows that he's still willing to be considerate of others.
** He is also in no mood to punish Anabella severely for all of her crimes against humanity when he confronts her for the last time, if only because there's currently a far greater threat that has to be dealt with at the moment (namely Dion laying waste to the kingdom in berserk rage). At most, he simply chews out his mother for betraying her own family to further her ambitions, even though most of his words fall on deaf ears as they do nothing to make her have an epiphany about what she's done. Likewise, he doesn't [[spoiler:express any delight when Anabella has a VillainousBreakdown and kills herself shortly after, and only shows a bit of pity at most]]. That being said, it's notable that he doesn't bother to [[spoiler:give her a proper burial]] -- something he has done for almost everyone else, be they friend or stranger -- and just [[spoiler:leaves her dead body to be crushed in the rubble of the crumbling empire of Sanbreque]].
* ExtremeDoormat: Whether it's a character flaw, or a strength, is ultimately up to the eye of the beholder, but the fact remains that Clive ''cannot'', almost under ''any'' circumstance, say no to someone in need. This wins him a lot of friends and followers, but it's also PlayedForLaughs in that he finds himself in all sorts of weird and awkward situations.
* FacialMarkings: After the TimeSkip he has a sigil tattooed on his cheek, which marks Clive as a Bearer - one of the few people in Valisthea born with the ability to cast magicks at will without the use of the Mothercrystals. In his case, it's used as a slave brand given his ability to cast Phoenix's fire was granted to him, not born with. During the second time skip, he has it removed, having a faded scar in its place.
* FallenPrincess: Gender-inverted. He starts off as the firstborn son of the Archduke of Rosaria, and by the end of the prologue has been reduced to a slave conscripted into a foreign army.
* FireIceDuo: With Jill [[spoiler:and even Torgal]], his most frequent party members. Clive wields fire and they wield ice.
* FireIsMasculine: The dominant of Ifrit, a Fire Eikon, is a well-built man of decent physical strength, especially when compared to Jill, [[AnIcePerson a womanly ice user]].
* FlamingSword: He's a trained MagicKnight who's the Dominant of one Eikon of Fire and is blessed by the other. It should come as no surprise that a significant amount of his moveset involves setting his sword on fire (even when he's channeling the powers of Eikons with different elements), or that it's constantly ablaze when he enters his semi-primed SuperMode.
* ForcedToWatch: While Ifrit killed his hometown and brother. [[spoiler:Then it turns out his "front-row seat" was far more literal than he realized when he learns ''he'' was Ifrit at that moment.]]
* FriendToAllChildren: He's rather well liked by the children of the Hideaway, and he in turn is quite sweet towards them. And even though he's a crummy engineer who can't even put together a scale, he's a surprisingly good teacher who encourages the children to solve problems one step at a time.
* GoodIsNotSoft: [[spoiler:Even after becoming more genuinely heroic following his CharacterDevelopment, Clive harbors no illusions about how dangerous the world is, and is just as willing to get his hands dirty and kill his enemies as he was earlier. This is most apparent in his treatment of Hugo Kupka, who he considers a genuine threat to the Hideaway, and so goes out of his way to kill him. He even goes as far as mocking Hugo's own grief over Benedikta's death because for one thing, [[NoSympathy Hugo doesn't really deserve any sympathy]] after the lows he's sunk to for the sake his revenge, and secondly, Clive knows that agitating Hugo even further will just make him more reckless, [[CombatPragmatist and he is willing to take advantage of that.]]]]
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:He does ''not'' take it well to discover he is the Dominant of Ifrit and possibly killed his brother in a blind rage, begging Cid to kill him. He only regains his self-will when Cid points out Margrace is ''also'' a Dominant of Fire, and thus, likely to have killed Joshua since, as far as they know, there are two Ifrits.]]
* HeroicBuild: Post-timeskip, his chest is nearly twice the width of his hips.
* HeroesLoveDogs: The story's main hero is often accompanied by his ever-faithful dog companion Torgal, and the bond between the two is unshakable.
* HeroesPreferSwords: Like many other ''Final Fantasy'' protagonists, he wields a sword as his weapon, and in fact trained with one as a First Shield.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:In the end, Clive channels Ultima's immense power to destroy Origin and remove the source of all magic from the world to save the world from the Blight. The last we see of him, he's washed up on a beach with his left hand petrifying as the Crystals' Curse finally takes hold but [[UncertainDoom it's left ambiguous]] if he ultimately survived.]]
* HiddenDepths:
** He might not seem to be type to have interests in private, but Clive has more than a passing interest in theater. In particular, he's so fond of ''[[ShowWithinAShow The Saint and the Sectary]]'' that he's able to perfectly recall lines from the play despite it having been decades since his last viewing. [[spoiler:It's how he manages to convince his uncle Byron that he's the real Clive and not just someone using his name, as he and Byron always played as Sir Crandall and the evil sorcerer Madu when Clive was little.]]
** He has a surprising fondness for wine. In one sidequest, Clive is asked to round up a man's friends so they can share a bottle and he can identify from the name alone the wine on offer is an exceptional vintage and hopes that he can snag a cup for himself. In another, after aiding people who own a vineyard Clive asks to be paid in a cask of their finest.
* {{Hunk}}: What he transitions to post-timeskip, with coarser facial features and some slight stubble, if still leaning to the ''biseinen'' side.
* IdealHero: Grows into one. Clive was raised by a father who loved him and ruled as a wise and kind leader, and being passed up as the Dominant of Phoenix for Joshua prompted Clive to join the Shields of Rosaria and become a warrior to protect his little brother. Becoming a Branded and forced to serve in the imperial military for thirteen years hardened him a bit as he was treated like a slave and saw the plight of Bearers around the world, but he never lost sight of who he was or where he came from. When he deserts the empire and begins working with Cid, Clive sees the hope that the world could change for the better and there are people with power trying to make it happen, and the massacre of Eastpool galvanizes him to join Cid and share his vision. The result of all this is a hero with compassion, honor, integrity, humility, determination, a strong sense of morals, and the strength and skill to fight for those who can't fight for themselves.
* {{I Have Many Names}}: Clive goes by his name, Wyvern, Ifrit, Mythos, and [[spoiler:Cid the Outlaw]].
* IllKillYou: His response to [[spoiler:Ifrit killing Joshua at Phoenix Gate in a fiery explosion]]; a mix of rage and agonizing sorrow.
-->'''Clive''': Murderer... I'll kill you... '''I'll [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] kill you!!!'''
* InadequateInheritor: Despite being firstborn heir to the Rosfield dukedom, Clive was seemingly rejected by Phoenix. When his younger brother Joshua was discovered to be Phoenix's Dominant, Joshua was named the next heir. Unlike other examples, Clive is actually fine with this and instead strives to become Joshua's protector.
* {{Irony}}: He was passed over in favor of Joshua when the latter became the Dominant for Phoenix, only to later discover he's the Dominant of another Fire-related Eikon.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: For a while after the first timeskip, he is this. While his time as a slave has made him more bitter and cold he hasn’t lost his caring nature nor his willingness to help people. After he learns to accept himself and what happened, however, he becomes more like a traditional NiceGuy.
* KamehameHadoken: In lieu of having a dragon's face, he executes Bahamut's BreathWeapon abilities in the kamehameha stance.
* KidHero: A notable aversion. Most previous main protagonists in ''Final Fantasy'' have been teenagers or young adults, and at a measly 21 [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lightning]] were the oldest to have a confirmed age. Clive is 15 in the prologue, but the bulk of the main plotline picks up after a TimeSkip that sees him aged up to 28. [[spoiler:The second TimeSkip adds another five years, putting him in his thirties.]]
* {{Knighting}}: His official bio reveals that he won the title of First Shield of Rosaria after an archducal tournament and the title is straight up called a knighthood in the Japanese description.
* LegacyCharacter: [[spoiler:After Cid's death, he takes on the identity of "Cid the Outlaw" to wreak terror on his enemies and travel incognito.]]
* LikeBrotherAndSister: Due to being raised alongside her, he and Joshua grew to view Jill as a sister. [[spoiler: He sheds this view of her when they’re adults, and the two of them fall in love]].
* LimitBreak: He gains a Limit Break gauge after fully mastering Ifrit, providing him with access to semi-priming, the signature PartialTransformation SuperMode of Dominants. It increases his damage and durability, makes him ImmuneToFlinching (within certain limits), regenerates his health, makes all his attacks armour-piercing, and lengthens his melee combos for as long as it takes the filled gauge to drain.
* LiteralMinded: He occassionally misunderstands others' metaphorical statements as literal, such as pulling his own blade when Cid jokes that they're gonna need a bigger sword to [[spoiler:break the Mothercrystal]], or standing motionlessly right behind Vivian's back when she tells him to wait for her to finish her research.
* MadeASlave: The prologue ends with a barely-conscious Clive being apprehended by Sanbreque soldiers. They ask his mother, who's cooperating with them, whether they should take him prisoner, and [[OffingTheOffspring she initially asks them to kill him]], but relents. This causes him to be forcibly conscripted instead.
* MagicAIsMagicA: Defied. Clive breaks the rules when it comes to Valisthean magic in several ways. For starters, he can wield magic despite being neither a Bearer or a Dominant but rather from being given powers by a Dominant, which is unusual enough that the Empire simply brands him as a Bearer. He is also revealed to be the Dominant of a second Eikon of Fire, when the lore on Eikons is clear that there is only one Eikon for each element. [[spoiler:Clive is especially unique by being Ultima's Mythos, which lets him absorb Eikons from other Dominants and grants him almost complete immunity from the corrupting effects of channeling aether.]]
* MagicKnight: This is what it means to be Eikon-blessed -- he was trained from day one to use the power of the Phoenix and his sword interchangeably as a supernaturally mighty warrior. Magic Burst even allows him to follow up melee strikes with quick magical attacks without interrupting his combo.
* MasterSwordsman: According to his bio, Clive is a master of swordfighting and won his title as First Shield in a swordfighting tournament despite only being fifteen at the time.
* MegatonPunch: "Windup" creates a copy of Titan's left arm to deliver a massive haymaker into Clive's target.
* MundaneUtility: Uses a fireball he conjures as a flashlight in dark areas.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N-Z]]
* NiceGuy: By default, he's humble, polite, kind, and willing to fight for what's right. Granted, due to the ''frequent'' traumas he endures, he tends to zigzag between this and KnightInSourArmor. On his best days, he's one of the best people to have around in a CrapsackWorld, while on his worst days, he'll grumble and quip but will still help everyone he can.
* NiceToTheWaiter: The prologue makes it clear that the Bearers are not well-treated in Valisthea, which makes it noticable when 15-year-old Clive is polite and kind to one.
* NoSympathy: Manages to pull off an anti-heroic example of this before his first fight with Hugo Kupka. By that point, Kupka [[spoiler:is boiling over with rage after discovering that Clive is Benedikta's real killer and the real target of his vengeance. Clive doesn't even try to justify his own actions to Kupka, instead saying that he feels no guilt over killing Benedikta nor any sympathy for Kupka's sorrow, while even going so far to rub it into Kupka's face that it was ''him'' who'd killed Benedikta. Considering that Kupka had just ransacked his hometown, kidnapped and tried to execute Jill and destroyed the Rosarian throne just a minute prior -- not to mention the list of aggrievances he had committed against Clive and company for the past five years -- it's more than [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] on Clive's part that he'd feel nothing towards that bastard.]]
* OneHandedZweihander: Actually his preferred fighting style, which is why he wears such an unusual sheath - it's designed to be a relatively light, unobtrusive way to carry what would normally be a two-handed blade at an angle that allows it to easily be drawn one-handed. His specific reasons for fighting like this are left unsaid, but it's certainly a practical way for an Eikon-blessed warrior like the First Shield of Rosaria to keep one hand free for magic while still wielding a weapon large enough to give him the reach and leverage necessary when duelling giant monsters.
* OurMagesAreDifferent: Having received the Blessing of the Phoenix from his brother Joshua, the Dominant of the Phoenix, Clive is capable of fire magic without having to use a [[PowerCrutch crystal]]. He's later revealed to be a Dominant himself, capable of summoning the Eikon Ifrit.
* OneManArmy: Once he realizes he's a Dominant (including absorbing seven powers from other Dominants), Clive becomes capable of cleaving through swaths of enemies.
* PermaStubble: Gains one after the first timeskip. Especially ridiculous considering he was a slave for 13 years, yet somehow was able to keep a beard that short, but it definitely looks good on him.
* PhlebotinumOverload: [[spoiler:After defeating Ultima, he absorbs his power as he did the Dominants in order to destroy Origin and reverse Primogenesis, but it ends up being too much for him to contain and he ends up succumbing to the crystal's curse where he was unaffected before. Ironically, this indicates [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Ultima's plan was doomed to fail from the start]], as Clive was meant to be Ultima's perfect host.]]
* PlayingWithFire: While he eventually unlocks all elements, Clive has a natural affinity for fire magic in particular, able to use skills like [[FlamingSword Burning Blade]] regardless of the Eikon equipped. Initially this is attributed to him being blessed with a portion of Phoenix's powers... until he becomes Ifrit's Dominant, granting access to his [[WreathedInFlames Limit Break]], [[OrbitingParticleShield Will-o'-the-Wykes]] and [[FoeTossingCharge Ignition]].
* PowerCopying: For reasons unknown until late in the game, he has the ability to not only use magic inherently as a "Bearer," but the power of an unexpected Dominant to ''absorb'' power from other Dominants, both fatally and non-fatally, to be able to use their abilities in turn. While it means he isn't going to be transforming into the other Eikons, it does mean his natural Ifrit abilities can be bolstered by their powers.
* PowerGivesYouWings: Phoenix's powers manifest one disembodied fiery wing Clive can slash with, while Bahamut's powers manifest two wings fixed to Clive's back with which he can hover or silo projectiles.
* PrettyBoy: While he's muscular and rugged post-time skip, others comment that Clive is still very "pretty". Cid even remarks that as pretty as Clive is, he's "not [Cid's] type". Meanwhile, several guards think that Cid and Clive were actually doing the deed because [[spoiler:Clive had to be stripped down to prevent him from acting on his DeathSeeker desires and being DrivenToSuicide after learning that he killed Joshua.]]
* {{Pun}}: In his battle against Titan, Clive shouts, "Heads up, Hugo!" before [[spoiler:throwing one of Titan Lost's severed CombatTentacles into his head, splitting the body in two]].
* RapidFireFisticuffs: "Raging Fists" summons one of Titan's arms to punch a single target at blinding speed. If the attack is used to block another attack first, two arms are summoned to mercilessly pummel the target as a CounterAttack.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: His descent into an AntiHero RoaringRampageOfRevenge and awakening as the Dominant of the Dark Eikon Ifrit is reflected by his initial white, brown and black outfit and intermediate gray and black equipment then switching to an almost entirely black and red costume as a Branded mercenary. Subverted in that the red costume is his late father's armor and Clive himself is a gruff AntiHero rather than evil, and working to free Bearers from being treated like slaves.
* RefusalOfTheCall: Cid offers Clive a place with him and his outlaws, partly because his skills would greatly benefit them and mostly because Clive is a Bearer ''and'' a Dominant; the two kinds of people he wants to help. Initially, Clive only agrees to work with Cid because they have information about Ifrit's Dominant. When he and Jill decide to return to Phoenix Gate and get answers about the Night of Flames, [[spoiler:Clive's HeroicBSOD and experiences nearly convince him to leave his life of conflict behind and start over with Jill. That plan immediately goes out the window when they return to Eastpool and find the villagers slaughtered by imperial soldiers by order of Anabella. It's after seeing this and learning the full extent of how horribly the Branded are treated in Sanbreque that Clive and Jill decide to join Cid]].
* {{Revenge}}: Subverted at every turn. Begins the story by pledging this against his brother's killer, [[spoiler:before discovering only is ''he'' the Dominant of Ifrit who attacked Joshua, but Joshua actually survived their battle thanks to Phoenix's healing powers (and has no ill will against him since Clive had no control at the time).]] He turns his vengeance against the Empire of Sanbreque for their treatment of Bearers like himself, and specifically [[spoiler:his mother who has ordered mass killings of Bearers, but by the time the brothers catch up with the Empress, her life has already fallen apart by dint of their survival and the Empire has been ''obliterated'' from within, so Clive considers her [[NotWorthKilling not worth]] taking revenge on.]] Even postponing his crusade against the Mothercrystals to go after Hugo Kupka isn't personal, but the need to deal with a threat that's become too big to ignore. Letting go of his personal vengeance to fight for a cause and protect those he loves is what gradually turns Clive from bitter AntiHero to genuine hero.
* RichesToRags: Following the events of the Night of Flames, Clive is captured and enslaved by Sanbreque, becoming a Branded and one of their slaves. Worse, his home of Rosaria is sacked by the Iron Kingdom and later annexed by the Empire.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: His main goal seems to be to get revenge against the monster that was responsible for the events of the night the dark Eikon Ifrit awakened. This is shown at the end of the prologue in the game's demo, as once Joshua is reduced to a red mist by Ifrit, Clive vows {{revenge}} on the spot through his rage and his sorrow.
-->'''Clive:''' Murderer... I'll kill you! ''I'll fucking kill you!''
* RunningGag: He's a ''terrible'' [[BadLiar liar]] and an even more dreadful actor, two traits the game repeatedly milks for comedy.
* SatanicArchetype: A heroic variant. As seen in the prologue released in the game's demo, he is TheUnfavorite first-born of a ruling family of one of the realms enslaved by his mother to an empire of light that he now seeks to destroy, along with the entire system of the holy mothercrystals that make the world what it is today. Furthermore, his Eikon form is Ifrit, a BigRedDevil made of hellfire and brimstone. [[spoiler:His final enemy is [[GodOfGods Ultima]], making the parallels even more clear - [[SatanIsGood thankfully for humanity]].]]
* ScarsAreForever: After having his Brand surgically removed, Clive is left with a scar that eventually fades but never truly recovers.
* SelfServingMemory: A tragic example. When Clive recounts the Night of Fire, he remembers how he could only stand by and helplessly watch as Ifrit ripped Joshua apart and swore he would kill him. [[spoiler:The truth of that night is far worse; Clive ''was'' Ifrit at that moment, having awakened as the Eikon's Dominant at the worst possible time and did not realize what he had done, and even when he did, he had no power over Ifrit. He's made to confront this truth during his BattleAtTheCenterOfTheMind, where he battles an imitation of Ifrit and the Infernal Shadow taking on his appearance. It's only by accepting his status as Ifrit's Dominant and accepting the truth that Clive's able to put both to rest.]]
* ShipTease: The adolescent Clive and Jill are said to be LikeBrotherAndSister, but a handmaiden in Rosalith remarks that they make a "handsome pair" and that the castle will be having a "feast" (read: a ''wedding celebration'') for them in due time. This comes to a head when they reunite as adults and [[spoiler:Jill makes it clear she's interested in a relationship with Clive, but he's still dead set on vengeance instead of romance. However, after some awkward tension, the two go from going on lakeside picnics to making love.]]
* SiblingYinYang: The official website describes Clive as a brave man who gladly throws himself into danger while his younger brother Joshua is frail and bookish.
* SlaveMook: After the disastrous events at Phoenix Gate, Clive was found by imperial soldiers and his mother. The latter initially opts to have him killed, but changes her mind as a way to spite her husband since he talked about how much of a good soldier Clive would make. He's later seen as a Branded of the Bastards, a group of slave soldiers "loyal" to Sanbreque.
* SoleSurvivor: Subverted. Clive is apparently the only member of the Rosarian party to survive the Night of Flames, but as the game progresses more and more apparent casualties turn up alive and well, until by the end the only confirmed named casualties are Elwin, [[spoiler:Murdoch, and Tyler]].
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: When seeking help from his uncle Lord Byron, he first assumes Clive to be an imposter due to his assumed death at the Phoenix Gate. To prove who he is, Clive acts out a scene from the fable "The Saint and the Sectary", his favorite story.
* SoulJar: [[spoiler:Ultima's main goal is to use his body as a vessel to enact his plans against humanity.]]
* SpannerInTheWorks: Not only does he awaken as the Dominant of Ifrit, which effectively becomes a left-field twist even to himself that he had no way of foreseeing and doesn't learn for quite a while, but his being MadeASlave under Sanbreque unwittingly puts him into the position to fight other Dominants and become one of the most able Eikon-slaying entities in the world, causing a massive upset to the global war's balance. [[spoiler:He's also this for Ultima's plans; Clive becoming Ifrit's Dominant is a happenstance candidate rather than fated, and he would've served as the next ultimate vessel for the being had Clive not eventually undergone his CharacterDevelopment and learned to ''care about other people again'', which causes him to be able to resist Ultima and KillTheGod once push comes to shove.]]
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Neither Nektar nor Clive himself can make much sense of it, but he's the only person in the Hideaway who can understand Nektar. The little furball is ''delighted'' at this revelation, and the two converse every now and again.
* SpellBlade: His ability to [[FlamingSword imbue his sword with fire magic]] is reminiscent of the [[TropeNamer Spellblade]] ability used throughout the series.
* SpoiledSweet: While lacking the treatment Joshua got (which, for the record, he's [[BlessedWithSuck uncomfortable with]]) after he was discovered to be Phoenix's Dominant, Clive was still the son of a lord and raised with a good upbringing. This is best showcased by his relationship with his brother and how he views the Bearers: he became Joshua's guardian and protector and views being a Bearer as a worthwhile calling, even though the rest of the world enslaves them and views them as little more than tools.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: When he channels the power of the Eikons he can conjure their {{Natural Weapon}}s like Titan's [[GiantHandsOfDoom fists]], Garuda's [[WolverineClaws talons]], Bahamut and Phoenix's [[PowerGivesYouWings wings]] as well as actual weapons like Ramuh's MagicStaff, Odin's [[OneHandedZweihander sword]] or spear, and Shiva's [[ClothingCombat cape]].
* StanceSystem: Thanks to Ifrit's ability to absorb the power of other Dominants and Eikons, Clive can learn and use their abilities for himself, which in gameplay translates to him being able to use the powers of three Eikons at a time.
** Each stance can be equipped with two "Eikonic Strike" special attacks. The cooldown of each Strike recharges separately, allowing Clive to deplete all of one Eikon's Strikes and swap to another Eikon while they recharge. Ifrit's Eikonic Strikes can initially be equipped on the Phoenix stance, and mastered Eikonic Strikes can also be equipped in ''other'' stances to add more customization. Phoenix's Strikes offer versatility while Ifrit's emphasize aggressive close-quarters combat; Garuda's set up an air combo playstyle; Titan's feature [[ChargedAttack heavy windups]]; Ramuh's amplify a ranged playstyle and can deal [[ChainLightning chaining]] damage at any range; Shiva's control an enemy's movement, setting up a StunLock; Bahamut's focus on continuous damage effects over an area; and Odin's deal multihitting attacks meant to charge up his Eikonic Feat.
** The equipped Eikon not only changes his elemental attacks, but swaps his "Eikonic Feat", an ability that is locked into and unique to each Eikon. Eikonic Feats can be either defensive, offensive or tactical, each significantly changing the playstyle: Phoenix allows Clive to FlashStep to enemies; Garuda features an [[YouShallNotEvadeMe enemy grab]] (or in the case of large foes, knockdown); Titan grants a directional barrier and powerful CounterAttack on a precision block; Ramuh provides a [[MagicMissileStorm lock-on projectile swarm]] that is efficient on crowds; Shiva has an [[AirDashing omnidirectional dash]] that can leave [[SchmuckBait freezing mines behind]] or freeze the arena on a precision dodge; Bahamut allows Clive to charge up [[MacrossMissileMassacre Megaflare]] over time with faster charging on precision dodges; and Odin allows Clive to replace his weapon and build up [[BladeSpam Zantetsuken]] through combos and counterattacks.
** Finally, each stance also comes with different [[ElementalPowers spells]] for Clive to quick-fire, appropriate to the Eikon's element. However, the spells aren't functionally different.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Upon arriving in Eastpool, several of the villagers realize who Clive is purely because of his resemblance to his father. The Mayor of Eastpool even comments on how Clive looks like a younger version of Elwin; a comparison made even stronger by the fact he's wearing his father's old clothes.
* TermOfEndangerment: He's referred to as "Mythos" by multiple characters, [[spoiler:particularly Ultima and his agents. The title refers to his status as Ifrit's Dominant, and the ideal vessel for Ultima]].
* TimeShiftedActor: In Japanese, he's voiced by Creator/YuumaUchida at age 15 and Creator/YuyaUchida at ages 28 and 33.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: He's not too trilled, to say the least, when he discovers he's the Dominant of Ifrit.]]
* TooAwesomeToUse: More like "too awesome to ''continually'' use". Unlike other Dominants, Clive's [[SuperMode Semi-prime mode]] (used in gameplay as his LimitBreak) can only be maintained for a short while, and he has to transition back to normal before he can accumulate enough energy through combat to enact it again. Accordingly, unlike other Dominants who can spend entire boss fights in their Semi-Prime modes against him, Clive often fights them in the form of a normal man. It's implied this is because the strain of his Semi-Prime form is too much for even his body to stably maintain, given his unique ability to absorb and utilize the powers of other Eikons in addition to his natural one.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In comparison to how he was before Phoenix's gate, Clive is much more broody and colder as a result of spending years as a slave in service to the empire. Not that you can blame him, given the TraumaCongaLine he went through. That said, he's very much a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
* TookALevelInKindness: Technically ''retook'' a level in kindness, as once he's faced with the harsh reality Bearers have to deal with with heartbreaking regularity, he at long last finds his purpose: To help Cid build his better world. At that point, he's finally back to his old self: Selfless, kind, and just a decent chap altogether.
* TraumaCongaLine: The attack on Phoenix Gate would probably have been the worst day of his life already for many reasons. By the end of it, his father is dead, he is ForcedToWatch his younger brother get savaged to death, his country is vassalized by an expansionist empire, his hometown has been destroyed, he's discovered his ''own mother'' is a traitor, and he is sold into slavery ''by'' said mother when she decides he's NotWorthKilling. Small wonder he becomes so bitter.
* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:At the end of the game, his powers are gone and his left hand has petrified, but he's still intact and on solid ground. We never learn for sure if he made it, but Jill and Torgal seem to feel that he's gone when they see the red star Metia lose its light. But then the sun comes up and Jill smiles, which could suggest that she holds on to hope that Clive survived.]]
* TheUnchosenOne: Zig-zagged. He's the eldest son of his parents, but it is his younger brother Joshua who inherits the familial Eikon Phoenix. Despite that, Clive eventually awakens as another Dominant of Fire, bearing Ifrit as his Eikon. [[spoiler:He also becomes the target of Ultima's manipulations, as the latter sees him, or rather Ifrit, as the perfect vessel to inhabit and arranges events in such a way that Clive gets the powers of the other Eikons in the hopes of eventually leaving himself open to possession.]]
* TheUnfavorite: His brother was chosen to be the Phoenix and he wasn't, leading [[AbusiveParents his mother]] to look down on him and nearly conspire to murder him, though she instead settles for enslaving him. Downplayed as Clive has been chosen to be Joshua's shield/protector and his father and fellow soldiers have a lot of respect for him.
* UnflinchingWalk: [[spoiler:At Drake's Tail, Clive marches towards Bahamut's Gigaflare cast and primes into Ifrit in time for his flames to shield Jill and Joshua from it.]]
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Jill. While they had been seperated for 13 years, after their reunion they immediately hit it off again, and EveryoneCanSeeIt. However, neither acts on their feelings, both choosing instead to focus on the tasks at hand. [[spoiler:Even after the 5-year time skip during which they were closely working together they still haven't hooked up, and it isn't until near the end of the game before they act on it.]]
* UnusualWeaponMounting: As his profile pic shows, he carries his sword in a small leather part-scabbard that lets it hang vertically over his shoulder. It's not that unusual in game, since other characters are shown to do the same.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: When he dreams of the past after being knocked-out during the Bastards' mission to find and kill Shiva's Dominant he's shown to be an upstanding, idealistic young lad. The events that unfold during the attack on Rosaria leave him a far grimmer, hardened man in adulthood who is hell-bent on revenge to the point that he openly worries bout te cost it will have on him (but he [[IveComeTooFar can't abandon it]]).
* VitriolicBestBuds: Clive's serious nature clashes with Cid's more jovial one and constantly snark at each other. Yet it's made clear that Cid has a lot of faith in Clive and Clive respects the man. [[spoiler:Clive even takes on leadership of Cid's group after the original Cid dies becoming the new "Cid".]]
* WarriorPrince: Though he doesn't bear the title, Clive is still of RoyalBlood as a son of the archduke, and a preternaturally gifted swordsman capable of besting anyone besides the Lord Commander -- and even that lasts all of the first ten minutes of the prologue.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: After the Night of Flames, Clive swears revenge on the Dark Eikon Ifrit, only to then awake[n] as the Dominant of Ifrit himself, meaning he at least channels the power of his ArchEnemy. [[spoiler:He actually realizes ''he'' was the one who had turned into Ifrit and killed Joshua while going berserk, leading to him accepting the truth and gaining the ability to prime.]]
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Garuda's Deadly Embrace creates a large talon that Clive can use to grab smaller enemies and drag them into melee range.
[[/folder]]
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-->''The only fantasy here is yours. And we shall be its final witness!''
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!!!'''Voiced by:''' Ben Starr (English); Creator/YuyaUchida, Creator/YuumaUchida [young] (Japanese)[[labelnote:Foreign [=VA=]s]]Marc Arnaud (French), Alessandro Capra (Italian), Vincent Fallow (German), Creator/JoseAngelTorres (LA Spanish)[[/labelnote]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxvi_clive_rosfield.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I'll kill you... if it's the last thing I do."'']]
[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Clive at 15 years old]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxvi_clive_rosfield_illustration.png[softreturn]''"I was born to be your Shield."'']]
[[/labelnote]]
\\
->''"The legacy of the crystals has shaped our history for long enough."''\\\
The first-born son of Rosaria's ruling archduke who sought to prove himself as the First Shield of Rosaria. But after a tragic night that culminated in his brother Joshua’s brutal death at the hands of the Dark Eikon Ifrit, he abandons all he once knew to instead set off on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against all those responsible. Though initially unaware of it, Clive eventually awakens as a Dominant himself... [[YouAreWhatYouHate the Dominant of Ifrit]].
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[[folder:A-M]]
* TheAce: As his title as Rosaria's First Shield can clarify, Clive is one of -- if not ''the'' -- most powerful warriors in all of Rosaria, tasked with protecting the Phoenix himself. Although becoming a SlaveMook does turn him into a BrokenAce, he eventually returns to being a straight example after recovering and accepting himself, [[spoiler:leading the Hideaway as its single most powerful warrior to victory and eventually killing ''the'' GodOfGods in a direct fight]].
* AllYourPowersCombined: Thanks to being Ifrit's Dominant, Clive has the rare, solely unique ability to absorb the powers of his fellow Dominants and use them himself.
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:Whether he died or not at the end of the game. He's shown lying on a beach and barely alive with the curse slowly calcifying him, indicating that he is on the verge of death. However, sidequest material implies that he could've ended up surviving in the very end.]]
* AncestralWeapon: Invictus, a legendary sword passed down through the archduke's family and his most trusted guards. Lady Hanna gives it to Clive after they meet in Eastpool.
* AndThenWhat: Subverted. By his own admission, Clive doesn't know what he will do when he kills Ifrit and completes his revenge, nor does he care what happens to him afterward. Cid comments on this, stating he's more or less leaving everything up to fate.
* AntiAntichrist: It turns out that [[spoiler:he was hand-picked to become the vessel of [[GodIsEvil Ultima]] so that the latter can possess him and remake the world in his own image, wiping out humanity in the process]]. Clive's response can be paraphrased as "nuts to that", and he spends most of the back third of the game trying to defy this fate.
* AntiHero: At first, Clive's personal mission isn't rebellion against authority, for personal betterment, or protecting others, but genuine, personal revenge, making him far more cynical and selfish than previous ''Final Fantasy'' heroes. However, he is loyal to [[RebelLeader Cid]] and his dreams of freeing Dominants from use as weapons of war, and is disgusted with the way Waloed treats [[OurMagesAreDifferent Bearers]] like him. Over the course of the game, however, he begins to accept the events of his past for what they were, and slowly begins to transition into being a proper hero.
* AscendedExtra: In a roundabout sense, [[spoiler:he's the first iteration of Cid in the ''Final Fantasy'' series to be the main protagonist, as the name "Cid the Outlaw" in this universe is an inherited title that ends up getting passed to him.]]
* AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:This seems to be the general implication by Ultima calling Clive "Logos"; unlike the other Eikons, Ifrit is meant to serve as the ideal vessel for Ultima and his kind. When Clive absorbs the power of six Dominants (Leviathan's Dominant is unaccounted for and he was blessed by Joshua with a portion of the Phoenix's powers) and he's able to fight on par with Ultima after receiving the Phoenix's powers in full, Ultima realizes what's happening and angrily denounces Clive as "not one of [us]", implying Clive as a baseline human is becoming a being on par with Ultima. The Ultimania book expands on this as it reveals that Ifrit is a ''proto''-Ultima and the foundation of his kind, making Clive the human-equivalent to Ultima's race.]]
* AttackAttackAttack: Ironically for the 'First Shield', his fighting style is extremely aggressive. It centers around slicing/pummelling/blasting the enemy into submission while offering them as few opportunities as possible to get an attack in, and then turning up the ferocity even ''harder'' once they're stunned on the ground. It's very telling that even his various defensive abilities are geared around setting his foe up for an immediate CounterAttack, and one defensive mechanic (parrying) is simply a case of him cancelling out an enemy's attack by shoving a sword in their face halfway through and then following up with a flurry of ultra-fast attacks.
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:After realizing he is the Dominant of Ifrit, and finally accepting his involvement in the massacre at Phoenix Gate thirteen years ago, he from then on vows to atone for what he did, even if he wasn't really in control of himself at the time.]]
* BadassBookworm: On top of being downright gifted in warfare ''and'' a supremely powerful Dominant to boot, he's also very well read. As a child, his father Elwin encouraged him to read as many books as he could get his hands on, and as a result Clive developed a fondness for tales and histories of ancient legends, as well as theater.
* BadLiar:
** According to Byron, only a fool would believe a thing about Clive's and Jill's story. But at the same time, he has it on good authority that Clive is telling the truth, because Clive has always been an awful liar. Clive himself seemed unaware of this, but Jill simply says it's not ''untrue''.
** As part of L'ubor's ploy to unite the people of Dalimil, he has Clive act as a "Lord Underhill of Ran'dellah." Of the two people he has to fool, one of them doesn't buy it for a second but continues to humor Clive and L'ubor.
** When he aids Goetz in helping clear Charon's name, he at first tries to hide the fact that it was Goetz who passed word of the nasty rumors being spread about her. His attempts to come off as just a concerned friend are so bad that he gives up after about 30 seconds, when all he accomplishes is just piss her off.
* BattleCouple: Downplayed. [[spoiler:By the time he and Jill act on their feelings for each other, Jill only joins the party again after the completion of an optional sidequest, and she does not accompany him for any important story battles]].
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: After discovering a broken mural in a Fallen ruin at Phoenix Gate, [[spoiler:Clive is drawn into ''somewhere'', implied to be his own mind and soul, and is forced to confront the AwfulTruth that he murdered Joshua as Ifrit in a panicked rage after awakening as a Dominant. Initially distraught and reduced to a sobbing mess, Clive resolves to face the truth and atone for what he did. Afterward, he's confronted by an imitation of Ifrit and a PaletteSwap version of himself representing his fears, both of which he cuts down.]]
* BaritoneOfStrength: Clive has a deep, commanding voice befitting his status as a strong warrior.
* BerserkButton: The entire existence of [[BlackKnight the Black Shields]] is his biggest one. Not only are they a twisted parody of Rosarian Shields, but they answer entirely to Anabella and only carry out the cruelest of her commands with a sadistic glee. To add insult to injury, she has them recite the very same creed of the Rosarian Shields before carrying out their evil deeds. That last bit in particular ''really'' [[RageBreakingPoint makes Clive lose his shit]], and instantly puts him in a murderous mood. And while not quite ''as'' bad as the Black Shields, general mistreatment of Bearers is another button for him that should not be pressed.
* {{BFS}}: While not nearly to the level of ridiculousness as [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud's arsenal]][[note]]until the Buster Sword was added via DownloadableContent, anyway[[/note]], Clive's weapons of choice are greatswords of varying size. He, of course, [[OneHandedZweihander swings them one-handed.]]
* BigBrotherInstinct: Protecting his younger brother Joshua is at the core of his motivations, and he goes as far as to become the First Shield of Rosaria in order to do so. [[spoiler:When he thinks Joshua died fighting Ifrit, he swears to kill the latter, unaware and misremembering due to his panicked rage that ''he was Ifrit''.]]
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Jill. Both of them are reserved, powerful warriors who care for the wellbeing of those around them and have hearts of gold. Both have a history of suffering from Anabella's derision and both of them were MadeASlave for thirteen years before reuniting. Both also seek closure from their traumas by wishing to take revenge and support each other through it. They also both have a tendency to push themselves too hard, refusing to rest or seek treatment for their wounds.
* BladeSpam: [[spoiler:After defeating Barnabas and gaining his Eikon]], he can copy Odin's [[CoolSword Zantetsuken]] through the "Arm of Darkness" skill. Just one swing causes all enemies in range to be hit multiple times.
* BlueBlood: Along with being the son of the Archduke, Clive's official noble title in Rosaria is that of a marquess.
* BrokenAce: The fall of Rosaria and being MadeASlave has very clearly hardened and embittered Clive. Although he's a pretty cynical SlaveMook, he's specifically stated by WordofGod to still have quickly risen up the ranks due to his excellent combat skills as Rosaria's First Shield and the magical might given by Joshua's Blessing of the Phoenix and proves to be perhaps ''the'' strongest member of the Bastards, as Tiamat repeatedly stating the mission of killing Shiva's Dominant hinges on Clive, [[spoiler:and then Clive cutting down Tiamat, who was his superior and sergeant, without much issue, can attest. Even escaping from Sanbreque doesn't do much to cure his cynicism and anguish just as much as he quickly proves Tiamat's words to be true by taking on Benedikta, a ''much'' more experienced Dominant compared to Jill, and winning in a fair sword fight before triumphing over even her semi-prime form with some help from Torgal, and even cuts off Garuda's arm before ultimately having to become Ifrit again.]] Ultimately, though, once [[spoiler:he finally comes to terms that he has to move on with his life and that there are other much greater purposes beyond simple revenge]], he overcomes this and returns to being a straight Ace.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Clive literally punches Ultima in the face for the final blow. After taking his power and using it to end the Crystal Curse, he's last seen on an island succumbing to the Curse with his left arm becoming petrified.]]
* ChargedAttack:
** In addition to being able to rapid-fire spells to maintain a combo at a distance, Clive can unlock upgrades to his spells, allowing him to charge up Fire into Fira and so on.
** The abilities he gets from Titan also use a charge meter, shown on-screen as a yellow gauge with a red sweet spot that you want to stop charging at for maximum range and damage. Upgrading them makes the red area wider and thus easier/faster to hit reliably.
** Bahamut's Eikonic Feat "Wings of Light" functions as this, gradually building a gauge of Megaflare levels while Clive has it toggled active, then firing off all of the stored-up gauge upon release as a MacrossMissileMassacre over the area that lasts longer based on the number of levels built. Clive cannot use any other attacks while Wings of Light is active, regular movement will slow down the gauge, and getting hit will cause the gauge to decrease, but precision dodges in this time will generate an additional Megaflare level.
** Odin's Eikonic Feat "Arm of Darkness" is a 'Collect' type, temporarily replacing Clive's weapon with a OneHandedZweihander and building charge levels for a [[BladeSpam Zantetsuken]] finisher as he uses it. Unlike the above, Arm of Darkness emphasizes an AttackAttackAttack style, gradually building levels via combos and ''rapidly'' building them off of counterattacks and Odin's unique Eikonic Strikes.
* CodeName: He is given the name "Wyvern" as a Branded soldier of Sanbreque. Later, he uses it occasionally as an alias.
** Ultima[=/=]his servants also call him "Mythos".
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Both [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV Noctis]] and Clive are scions of reigning families who lose their fathers and kingdoms to invading empires, whom they seek revenge on. Noctis was the sole heir to the throne and the Chosen King destined from birth to stop the Starscourge, while Clive has no claim to the throne due to not possessing the Phoenix's powers and initially has no higher purpose other than to protect Joshua. Clive is a well-traveled ExperiencedProtagonist by the time of the main game with years of combat under his belt, while Noctis was a much younger man that had never been in a real fight and was implicitly IncompletelyTrained, to boot. In addition, Noctis travels around with a group of trusted friends, while Clive mostly has Torgal for company. Both of them have a StanceSystem of sorts, but Noctis' is a HyperspaceArsenal while Clive's powers are based on magic.
* CoolBigBro: He has a very close relationship with his younger brother Joshua, who adores him and worships the ground he walks on. He also has a very warm relationship with Mid, Cid's daughter. [[spoiler:After his passing]], Clive becomes something of a big-brother-slash-father figure for her, looking out for her while also indulging her near endless flights of fancy.
* CynicismCatalyst: The night the Eikon Ifrit awakens and kills Joshua and his mother having him enslaved sends him down a path of vengeance, leaving him a bitter individual.
* DarkMessiah: [[spoiler:Played with. Clive himself is a heroic character who inherits Cid's desire to free the world from the Mothercrystals in the hopes it will stop the Blight, but this is how he is viewed by the Circle of Malius and Barnabas. They've been waiting for "Mythos", Ultima's vessel, to be born and gather the powers of the other Eikons, making them strong enough to where Ultima could possess them and carry out his primogenesis. Naturally, Clive rejects this and actively resists Ultima at every turn.]]
* DavidVersusGoliath: Part of his inherited job description as the First Shield of Rosaria, who's supposed to be an EmpoweredBadassNormal protecting their Dominant (or fighting on his behalf) against superhuman enemies like giant monsters and other Dominants. It's the source of his highly unusual OneHandedZweihander fighting style, which lets him use magic alongside a weapon suitable for engaging enemies much bigger and stronger than he is. While he's swiftly retired from his job as First Shield, he carries this philosophy with him throughout his life, right up to the point where he [[spoiler:punches out God.]]
* DeathSeeker: After learning that he is the Dominant of Fire that killed Joshua, Clive begs Cid to kill him to punish him for it. He's only convinced to keep living to honor the efforts of Gav, who has been tracking another Dominant of Fire on his behalf.
* {{Determinator}}: And how. The guy does ''not'' give up once he sets his mind to something. By the time the prologue ends, he's been on a single-bloody-minded quest for revenge for well over a decade. And when that ends and he meets his new purpose, he launches himself into it just as fiercely. By the story's end he is nothing less than the literal personification of human willpower, which complicates things massively for the [[JerkassGods jerkass god]] that happens to want to eliminate ''all'' willpower from Valisthea.
* DisownedParent: Somewhat complex and subverted, [[spoiler:throughout the story it becomes increasingly clear Clive has completely accepted his mother Anabella just doesn’t care about him in the slightest, and he doesn’t hope she ever changes her mind about that; however, it is of note Clive never stops addressing Anabella as "mother" even in their heated reunion years later, unlike the woman in question who never addresses Clive by "son" or anything else that implies the tiniest of proximity. In the end Clive doesn’t outright disown her, he just sees his mother as someone that just is the way she is, and he won’t concern himself with anything beyond just recognizing her existence. Notably, while Joshua is shown to genuinely grieve and regret Anabella's suicide, Clive does pity his mother for her fate, but only closes his eyes without reacting too much]].
* DoomMagnet: A lot of people close to Clive end up meeting grim fates. His dad gets beheaded, his brother gets flambéed by Ifrit and his teacher Murdoch dies as well.
* DrivenToSuicide: He implied to be considering it while he is a DeathSeeker, as he pauses and stares over the side of a bridge for a good long while until Torgal whimpers out of concern for him.
* ElementalPunch: When he is in LimitBreak Clive will go into a more SwordAndFist style and punch with his fire wreathed left hand along with swinging his FlamingSword.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Despite his brand, Clive isn't actually a Bearer--he's the First Shield of Rosaria, a talented human knight rewarded for their skill and courage with magic loaned by the Phoenix that basically turns them into a baby Dominant (or an unusually powerful Bearer) without the terrible CastFromLifespan price. Ultimately subverted however when Clive is revealed to be the Dominant of Ifrit and [[spoiler:a chosen potential host for the resident GodOfGods]], meaning he's been special from day one.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The fight with Jill takes place after the TimeSkip where he has been an enslaved soldier of Sanbreque for over a decade; while he initially seems like a cold, ruthless, and efficient assassin, the moment he realizes Shiva's Dominant is his childhood friend he promptly turns on the Empire despite his ingrained fear of retaliation, showing he hasn't lost his courage or compassion [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold even if he's buried his positive qualities deep.]]
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** For all his desire of revenge, Clive isn't so blinded by it to the point where he has complete tunnel vision and has disregard for anyone but himself, as shown when he displays great concern for Cid after he was knocked around by Benedikta. He even hesitated to go after her after Garuda's appearance until Cid gave him the go-ahead, which shows that he's still willing to be considerate of others.
** He is also in no mood to punish Anabella severely for all of her crimes against humanity when he confronts her for the last time, if only because there's currently a far greater threat that has to be dealt with at the moment (namely Dion laying waste to the kingdom in berserk rage). At most, he simply chews out his mother for betraying her own family to further her ambitions, even though most of his words fall on deaf ears as they do nothing to make her have an epiphany about what she's done. Likewise, he doesn't [[spoiler:express any delight when Anabella has a VillainousBreakdown and kills herself shortly after, and only shows a bit of pity at most]]. That being said, it's notable that he doesn't bother to [[spoiler:give her a proper burial]] -- something he has done for almost everyone else, be they friend or stranger -- and just [[spoiler:leaves her dead body to be crushed in the rubble of the crumbling empire of Sanbreque]].
* ExtremeDoormat: Whether it's a character flaw, or a strength, is ultimately up to the eye of the beholder, but the fact remains that Clive ''cannot'', almost under ''any'' circumstance, say no to someone in need. This wins him a lot of friends and followers, but it's also PlayedForLaughs in that he finds himself in all sorts of weird and awkward situations.
* FacialMarkings: After the TimeSkip he has a sigil tattooed on his cheek, which marks Clive as a Bearer - one of the few people in Valisthea born with the ability to cast magicks at will without the use of the Mothercrystals. In his case, it's used as a slave brand given his ability to cast Phoenix's fire was granted to him, not born with. During the second time skip, he has it removed, having a faded scar in its place.
* FallenPrincess: Gender-inverted. He starts off as the firstborn son of the Archduke of Rosaria, and by the end of the prologue has been reduced to a slave conscripted into a foreign army.
* FireIceDuo: With Jill [[spoiler:and even Torgal]], his most frequent party members. Clive wields fire and they wield ice.
* FireIsMasculine: The dominant of Ifrit, a Fire Eikon, is a well-built man of decent physical strength, especially when compared to Jill, [[AnIcePerson a womanly ice user]].
* FlamingSword: He's a trained MagicKnight who's the Dominant of one Eikon of Fire and is blessed by the other. It should come as no surprise that a significant amount of his moveset involves setting his sword on fire (even when he's channeling the powers of Eikons with different elements), or that it's constantly ablaze when he enters his semi-primed SuperMode.
* ForcedToWatch: While Ifrit killed his hometown and brother. [[spoiler:Then it turns out his "front-row seat" was far more literal than he realized when he learns ''he'' was Ifrit at that moment.]]
* FriendToAllChildren: He's rather well liked by the children of the Hideaway, and he in turn is quite sweet towards them. And even though he's a crummy engineer who can't even put together a scale, he's a surprisingly good teacher who encourages the children to solve problems one step at a time.
* GoodIsNotSoft: [[spoiler:Even after becoming more genuinely heroic following his CharacterDevelopment, Clive harbors no illusions about how dangerous the world is, and is just as willing to get his hands dirty and kill his enemies as he was earlier. This is most apparent in his treatment of Hugo Kupka, who he considers a genuine threat to the Hideaway, and so goes out of his way to kill him. He even goes as far as mocking Hugo's own grief over Benedikta's death because for one thing, [[NoSympathy Hugo doesn't really deserve any sympathy]] after the lows he's sunk to for the sake his revenge, and secondly, Clive knows that agitating Hugo even further will just make him more reckless, [[CombatPragmatist and he is willing to take advantage of that.]]]]
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:He does ''not'' take it well to discover he is the Dominant of Ifrit and possibly killed his brother in a blind rage, begging Cid to kill him. He only regains his self-will when Cid points out Margrace is ''also'' a Dominant of Fire, and thus, likely to have killed Joshua since, as far as they know, there are two Ifrits.]]
* HeroicBuild: Post-timeskip, his chest is nearly twice the width of his hips.
* HeroesLoveDogs: The story's main hero is often accompanied by his ever-faithful dog companion Torgal, and the bond between the two is unshakable.
* HeroesPreferSwords: Like many other ''Final Fantasy'' protagonists, he wields a sword as his weapon, and in fact trained with one as a First Shield.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:In the end, Clive channels Ultima's immense power to destroy Origin and remove the source of all magic from the world to save the world from the Blight. The last we see of him, he's washed up on a beach with his left hand petrifying as the Crystals' Curse finally takes hold but [[UncertainDoom it's left ambiguous]] if he ultimately survived.]]
* HiddenDepths:
** He might not seem to be type to have interests in private, but Clive has more than a passing interest in theater. In particular, he's so fond of ''[[ShowWithinAShow The Saint and the Sectary]]'' that he's able to perfectly recall lines from the play despite it having been decades since his last viewing. [[spoiler:It's how he manages to convince his uncle Byron that he's the real Clive and not just someone using his name, as he and Byron always played as Sir Crandall and the evil sorcerer Madu when Clive was little.]]
** He has a surprising fondness for wine. In one sidequest, Clive is asked to round up a man's friends so they can share a bottle and he can identify from the name alone the wine on offer is an exceptional vintage and hopes that he can snag a cup for himself. In another, after aiding people who own a vineyard Clive asks to be paid in a cask of their finest.
* {{Hunk}}: What he transitions to post-timeskip, with coarser facial features and some slight stubble, if still leaning to the ''biseinen'' side.
* IdealHero: Grows into one. Clive was raised by a father who loved him and ruled as a wise and kind leader, and being passed up as the Dominant of Phoenix for Joshua prompted Clive to join the Shields of Rosaria and become a warrior to protect his little brother. Becoming a Branded and forced to serve in the imperial military for thirteen years hardened him a bit as he was treated like a slave and saw the plight of Bearers around the world, but he never lost sight of who he was or where he came from. When he deserts the empire and begins working with Cid, Clive sees the hope that the world could change for the better and there are people with power trying to make it happen, and the massacre of Eastpool galvanizes him to join Cid and share his vision. The result of all this is a hero with compassion, honor, integrity, humility, determination, a strong sense of morals, and the strength and skill to fight for those who can't fight for themselves.
* {{I Have Many Names}}: Clive goes by his name, Wyvern, Ifrit, Mythos, and [[spoiler:Cid the Outlaw]].
* IllKillYou: His response to [[spoiler:Ifrit killing Joshua at Phoenix Gate in a fiery explosion]]; a mix of rage and agonizing sorrow.
-->'''Clive''': Murderer... I'll kill you... '''I'll [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] kill you!!!'''
* InadequateInheritor: Despite being firstborn heir to the Rosfield dukedom, Clive was seemingly rejected by Phoenix. When his younger brother Joshua was discovered to be Phoenix's Dominant, Joshua was named the next heir. Unlike other examples, Clive is actually fine with this and instead strives to become Joshua's protector.
* {{Irony}}: He was passed over in favor of Joshua when the latter became the Dominant for Phoenix, only to later discover he's the Dominant of another Fire-related Eikon.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: For a while after the first timeskip, he is this. While his time as a slave has made him more bitter and cold he hasn’t lost his caring nature nor his willingness to help people. After he learns to accept himself and what happened, however, he becomes more like a traditional NiceGuy.
* KamehameHadoken: In lieu of having a dragon's face, he executes Bahamut's BreathWeapon abilities in the kamehameha stance.
* KidHero: A notable aversion. Most previous main protagonists in ''Final Fantasy'' have been teenagers or young adults, and at a measly 21 [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lightning]] were the oldest to have a confirmed age. Clive is 15 in the prologue, but the bulk of the main plotline picks up after a TimeSkip that sees him aged up to 28. [[spoiler:The second TimeSkip adds another five years, putting him in his thirties.]]
* {{Knighting}}: His official bio reveals that he won the title of First Shield of Rosaria after an archducal tournament and the title is straight up called a knighthood in the Japanese description.
* LegacyCharacter: [[spoiler:After Cid's death, he takes on the identity of "Cid the Outlaw" to wreak terror on his enemies and travel incognito.]]
* LikeBrotherAndSister: Due to being raised alongside her, he and Joshua grew to view Jill as a sister. [[spoiler: He sheds this view of her when they’re adults, and the two of them fall in love]].
* LimitBreak: He gains a Limit Break gauge after fully mastering Ifrit, providing him with access to semi-priming, the signature PartialTransformation SuperMode of Dominants. It increases his damage and durability, makes him ImmuneToFlinching (within certain limits), regenerates his health, makes all his attacks armour-piercing, and lengthens his melee combos for as long as it takes the filled gauge to drain.
* LiteralMinded: He occassionally misunderstands others' metaphorical statements as literal, such as pulling his own blade when Cid jokes that they're gonna need a bigger sword to [[spoiler:break the Mothercrystal]], or standing motionlessly right behind Vivian's back when she tells him to wait for her to finish her research.
* MadeASlave: The prologue ends with a barely-conscious Clive being apprehended by Sanbreque soldiers. They ask his mother, who's cooperating with them, whether they should take him prisoner, and [[OffingTheOffspring she initially asks them to kill him]], but relents. This causes him to be forcibly conscripted instead.
* MagicAIsMagicA: Defied. Clive breaks the rules when it comes to Valisthean magic in several ways. For starters, he can wield magic despite being neither a Bearer or a Dominant but rather from being given powers by a Dominant, which is unusual enough that the Empire simply brands him as a Bearer. He is also revealed to be the Dominant of a second Eikon of Fire, when the lore on Eikons is clear that there is only one Eikon for each element. [[spoiler:Clive is especially unique by being Ultima's Mythos, which lets him absorb Eikons from other Dominants and grants him almost complete immunity from the corrupting effects of channeling aether.]]
* MagicKnight: This is what it means to be Eikon-blessed -- he was trained from day one to use the power of the Phoenix and his sword interchangeably as a supernaturally mighty warrior. Magic Burst even allows him to follow up melee strikes with quick magical attacks without interrupting his combo.
* MasterSwordsman: According to his bio, Clive is a master of swordfighting and won his title as First Shield in a swordfighting tournament despite only being fifteen at the time.
* MegatonPunch: "Windup" creates a copy of Titan's left arm to deliver a massive haymaker into Clive's target.
* MundaneUtility: Uses a fireball he conjures as a flashlight in dark areas.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N-Z]]
* NiceGuy: By default, he's humble, polite, kind, and willing to fight for what's right. Granted, due to the ''frequent'' traumas he endures, he tends to zigzag between this and KnightInSourArmor. On his best days, he's one of the best people to have around in a CrapsackWorld, while on his worst days, he'll grumble and quip but will still help everyone he can.
* NiceToTheWaiter: The prologue makes it clear that the Bearers are not well-treated in Valisthea, which makes it noticable when 15-year-old Clive is polite and kind to one.
* NoSympathy: Manages to pull off an anti-heroic example of this before his first fight with Hugo Kupka. By that point, Kupka [[spoiler:is boiling over with rage after discovering that Clive is Benedikta's real killer and the real target of his vengeance. Clive doesn't even try to justify his own actions to Kupka, instead saying that he feels no guilt over killing Benedikta nor any sympathy for Kupka's sorrow, while even going so far to rub it into Kupka's face that it was ''him'' who'd killed Benedikta. Considering that Kupka had just ransacked his hometown, kidnapped and tried to execute Jill and destroyed the Rosarian throne just a minute prior -- not to mention the list of aggrievances he had committed against Clive and company for the past five years -- it's more than [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] on Clive's part that he'd feel nothing towards that bastard.]]
* OneHandedZweihander: Actually his preferred fighting style, which is why he wears such an unusual sheath - it's designed to be a relatively light, unobtrusive way to carry what would normally be a two-handed blade at an angle that allows it to easily be drawn one-handed. His specific reasons for fighting like this are left unsaid, but it's certainly a practical way for an Eikon-blessed warrior like the First Shield of Rosaria to keep one hand free for magic while still wielding a weapon large enough to give him the reach and leverage necessary when duelling giant monsters.
* OurMagesAreDifferent: Having received the Blessing of the Phoenix from his brother Joshua, the Dominant of the Phoenix, Clive is capable of fire magic without having to use a [[PowerCrutch crystal]]. He's later revealed to be a Dominant himself, capable of summoning the Eikon Ifrit.
* OneManArmy: Once he realizes he's a Dominant (including absorbing seven powers from other Dominants), Clive becomes capable of cleaving through swaths of enemies.
* PermaStubble: Gains one after the first timeskip. Especially ridiculous considering he was a slave for 13 years, yet somehow was able to keep a beard that short, but it definitely looks good on him.
* PhlebotinumOverload: [[spoiler:After defeating Ultima, he absorbs his power as he did the Dominants in order to destroy Origin and reverse Primogenesis, but it ends up being too much for him to contain and he ends up succumbing to the crystal's curse where he was unaffected before. Ironically, this indicates [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Ultima's plan was doomed to fail from the start]], as Clive was meant to be Ultima's perfect host.]]
* PlayingWithFire: While he eventually unlocks all elements, Clive has a natural affinity for fire magic in particular, able to use skills like [[FlamingSword Burning Blade]] regardless of the Eikon equipped. Initially this is attributed to him being blessed with a portion of Phoenix's powers... until he becomes Ifrit's Dominant, granting access to his [[WreathedInFlames Limit Break]], [[OrbitingParticleShield Will-o'-the-Wykes]] and [[FoeTossingCharge Ignition]].
* PowerCopying: For reasons unknown until late in the game, he has the ability to not only use magic inherently as a "Bearer," but the power of an unexpected Dominant to ''absorb'' power from other Dominants, both fatally and non-fatally, to be able to use their abilities in turn. While it means he isn't going to be transforming into the other Eikons, it does mean his natural Ifrit abilities can be bolstered by their powers.
* PowerGivesYouWings: Phoenix's powers manifest one disembodied fiery wing Clive can slash with, while Bahamut's powers manifest two wings fixed to Clive's back with which he can hover or silo projectiles.
* PrettyBoy: While he's muscular and rugged post-time skip, others comment that Clive is still very "pretty". Cid even remarks that as pretty as Clive is, he's "not [Cid's] type". Meanwhile, several guards think that Cid and Clive were actually doing the deed because [[spoiler:Clive had to be stripped down to prevent him from acting on his DeathSeeker desires and being DrivenToSuicide after learning that he killed Joshua.]]
* {{Pun}}: In his battle against Titan, Clive shouts, "Heads up, Hugo!" before [[spoiler:throwing one of Titan Lost's severed CombatTentacles into his head, splitting the body in two]].
* RapidFireFisticuffs: "Raging Fists" summons one of Titan's arms to punch a single target at blinding speed. If the attack is used to block another attack first, two arms are summoned to mercilessly pummel the target as a CounterAttack.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: His descent into an AntiHero RoaringRampageOfRevenge and awakening as the Dominant of the Dark Eikon Ifrit is reflected by his initial white, brown and black outfit and intermediate gray and black equipment then switching to an almost entirely black and red costume as a Branded mercenary. Subverted in that the red costume is his late father's armor and Clive himself is a gruff AntiHero rather than evil, and working to free Bearers from being treated like slaves.
* RefusalOfTheCall: Cid offers Clive a place with him and his outlaws, partly because his skills would greatly benefit them and mostly because Clive is a Bearer ''and'' a Dominant; the two kinds of people he wants to help. Initially, Clive only agrees to work with Cid because they have information about Ifrit's Dominant. When he and Jill decide to return to Phoenix Gate and get answers about the Night of Flames, [[spoiler:Clive's HeroicBSOD and experiences nearly convince him to leave his life of conflict behind and start over with Jill. That plan immediately goes out the window when they return to Eastpool and find the villagers slaughtered by imperial soldiers by order of Anabella. It's after seeing this and learning the full extent of how horribly the Branded are treated in Sanbreque that Clive and Jill decide to join Cid]].
* {{Revenge}}: Subverted at every turn. Begins the story by pledging this against his brother's killer, [[spoiler:before discovering only is ''he'' the Dominant of Ifrit who attacked Joshua, but Joshua actually survived their battle thanks to Phoenix's healing powers (and has no ill will against him since Clive had no control at the time).]] He turns his vengeance against the Empire of Sanbreque for their treatment of Bearers like himself, and specifically [[spoiler:his mother who has ordered mass killings of Bearers, but by the time the brothers catch up with the Empress, her life has already fallen apart by dint of their survival and the Empire has been ''obliterated'' from within, so Clive considers her [[NotWorthKilling not worth]] taking revenge on.]] Even postponing his crusade against the Mothercrystals to go after Hugo Kupka isn't personal, but the need to deal with a threat that's become too big to ignore. Letting go of his personal vengeance to fight for a cause and protect those he loves is what gradually turns Clive from bitter AntiHero to genuine hero.
* RichesToRags: Following the events of the Night of Flames, Clive is captured and enslaved by Sanbreque, becoming a Branded and one of their slaves. Worse, his home of Rosaria is sacked by the Iron Kingdom and later annexed by the Empire.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: His main goal seems to be to get revenge against the monster that was responsible for the events of the night the dark Eikon Ifrit awakened. This is shown at the end of the prologue in the game's demo, as once Joshua is reduced to a red mist by Ifrit, Clive vows {{revenge}} on the spot through his rage and his sorrow.
-->'''Clive:''' Murderer... I'll kill you! ''I'll fucking kill you!''
* RunningGag: He's a ''terrible'' [[BadLiar liar]] and an even more dreadful actor, two traits the game repeatedly milks for comedy.
* SatanicArchetype: A heroic variant. As seen in the prologue released in the game's demo, he is TheUnfavorite first-born of a ruling family of one of the realms enslaved by his mother to an empire of light that he now seeks to destroy, along with the entire system of the holy mothercrystals that make the world what it is today. Furthermore, his Eikon form is Ifrit, a BigRedDevil made of hellfire and brimstone. [[spoiler:His final enemy is [[GodOfGods Ultima]], making the parallels even more clear - [[SatanIsGood thankfully for humanity]].]]
* ScarsAreForever: After having his Brand surgically removed, Clive is left with a scar that eventually fades but never truly recovers.
* SelfServingMemory: A tragic example. When Clive recounts the Night of Fire, he remembers how he could only stand by and helplessly watch as Ifrit ripped Joshua apart and swore he would kill him. [[spoiler:The truth of that night is far worse; Clive ''was'' Ifrit at that moment, having awakened as the Eikon's Dominant at the worst possible time and did not realize what he had done, and even when he did, he had no power over Ifrit. He's made to confront this truth during his BattleAtTheCenterOfTheMind, where he battles an imitation of Ifrit and the Infernal Shadow taking on his appearance. It's only by accepting his status as Ifrit's Dominant and accepting the truth that Clive's able to put both to rest.]]
* ShipTease: The adolescent Clive and Jill are said to be LikeBrotherAndSister, but a handmaiden in Rosalith remarks that they make a "handsome pair" and that the castle will be having a "feast" (read: a ''wedding celebration'') for them in due time. This comes to a head when they reunite as adults and [[spoiler:Jill makes it clear she's interested in a relationship with Clive, but he's still dead set on vengeance instead of romance. However, after some awkward tension, the two go from going on lakeside picnics to making love.]]
* SiblingYinYang: The official website describes Clive as a brave man who gladly throws himself into danger while his younger brother Joshua is frail and bookish.
* SlaveMook: After the disastrous events at Phoenix Gate, Clive was found by imperial soldiers and his mother. The latter initially opts to have him killed, but changes her mind as a way to spite her husband since he talked about how much of a good soldier Clive would make. He's later seen as a Branded of the Bastards, a group of slave soldiers "loyal" to Sanbreque.
* SoleSurvivor: Subverted. Clive is apparently the only member of the Rosarian party to survive the Night of Flames, but as the game progresses more and more apparent casualties turn up alive and well, until by the end the only confirmed named casualties are Elwin, [[spoiler:Murdoch, and Tyler]].
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: When seeking help from his uncle Lord Byron, he first assumes Clive to be an imposter due to his assumed death at the Phoenix Gate. To prove who he is, Clive acts out a scene from the fable "The Saint and the Sectary", his favorite story.
* SoulJar: [[spoiler:Ultima's main goal is to use his body as a vessel to enact his plans against humanity.]]
* SpannerInTheWorks: Not only does he awaken as the Dominant of Ifrit, which effectively becomes a left-field twist even to himself that he had no way of foreseeing and doesn't learn for quite a while, but his being MadeASlave under Sanbreque unwittingly puts him into the position to fight other Dominants and become one of the most able Eikon-slaying entities in the world, causing a massive upset to the global war's balance. [[spoiler:He's also this for Ultima's plans; Clive becoming Ifrit's Dominant is a happenstance candidate rather than fated, and he would've served as the next ultimate vessel for the being had Clive not eventually undergone his CharacterDevelopment and learned to ''care about other people again'', which causes him to be able to resist Ultima and KillTheGod once push comes to shove.]]
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Neither Nektar nor Clive himself can make much sense of it, but he's the only person in the Hideaway who can understand Nektar. The little furball is ''delighted'' at this revelation, and the two converse every now and again.
* SpellBlade: His ability to [[FlamingSword imbue his sword with fire magic]] is reminiscent of the [[TropeNamer Spellblade]] ability used throughout the series.
* SpoiledSweet: While lacking the treatment Joshua got (which, for the record, he's [[BlessedWithSuck uncomfortable with]]) after he was discovered to be Phoenix's Dominant, Clive was still the son of a lord and raised with a good upbringing. This is best showcased by his relationship with his brother and how he views the Bearers: he became Joshua's guardian and protector and views being a Bearer as a worthwhile calling, even though the rest of the world enslaves them and views them as little more than tools.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: When he channels the power of the Eikons he can conjure their {{Natural Weapon}}s like Titan's [[GiantHandsOfDoom fists]], Garuda's [[WolverineClaws talons]], Bahamut and Phoenix's [[PowerGivesYouWings wings]] as well as actual weapons like Ramuh's MagicStaff, Odin's [[OneHandedZweihander sword]] or spear, and Shiva's [[ClothingCombat cape]].
* StanceSystem: Thanks to Ifrit's ability to absorb the power of other Dominants and Eikons, Clive can learn and use their abilities for himself, which in gameplay translates to him being able to use the powers of three Eikons at a time.
** Each stance can be equipped with two "Eikonic Strike" special attacks. The cooldown of each Strike recharges separately, allowing Clive to deplete all of one Eikon's Strikes and swap to another Eikon while they recharge. Ifrit's Eikonic Strikes can initially be equipped on the Phoenix stance, and mastered Eikonic Strikes can also be equipped in ''other'' stances to add more customization. Phoenix's Strikes offer versatility while Ifrit's emphasize aggressive close-quarters combat; Garuda's set up an air combo playstyle; Titan's feature [[ChargedAttack heavy windups]]; Ramuh's amplify a ranged playstyle and can deal [[ChainLightning chaining]] damage at any range; Shiva's control an enemy's movement, setting up a StunLock; Bahamut's focus on continuous damage effects over an area; and Odin's deal multihitting attacks meant to charge up his Eikonic Feat.
** The equipped Eikon not only changes his elemental attacks, but swaps his "Eikonic Feat", an ability that is locked into and unique to each Eikon. Eikonic Feats can be either defensive, offensive or tactical, each significantly changing the playstyle: Phoenix allows Clive to FlashStep to enemies; Garuda features an [[YouShallNotEvadeMe enemy grab]] (or in the case of large foes, knockdown); Titan grants a directional barrier and powerful CounterAttack on a precision block; Ramuh provides a [[MagicMissileStorm lock-on projectile swarm]] that is efficient on crowds; Shiva has an [[AirDashing omnidirectional dash]] that can leave [[SchmuckBait freezing mines behind]] or freeze the arena on a precision dodge; Bahamut allows Clive to charge up [[MacrossMissileMassacre Megaflare]] over time with faster charging on precision dodges; and Odin allows Clive to replace his weapon and build up [[BladeSpam Zantetsuken]] through combos and counterattacks.
** Finally, each stance also comes with different [[ElementalPowers spells]] for Clive to quick-fire, appropriate to the Eikon's element. However, the spells aren't functionally different.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Upon arriving in Eastpool, several of the villagers realize who Clive is purely because of his resemblance to his father. The Mayor of Eastpool even comments on how Clive looks like a younger version of Elwin; a comparison made even stronger by the fact he's wearing his father's old clothes.
* TermOfEndangerment: He's referred to as "Mythos" by multiple characters, [[spoiler:particularly Ultima and his agents. The title refers to his status as Ifrit's Dominant, and the ideal vessel for Ultima]].
* TimeShiftedActor: In Japanese, he's voiced by Creator/YuumaUchida at age 15 and Creator/YuyaUchida at ages 28 and 33.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: He's not too trilled, to say the least, when he discovers he's the Dominant of Ifrit.]]
* TooAwesomeToUse: More like "too awesome to ''continually'' use". Unlike other Dominants, Clive's [[SuperMode Semi-prime mode]] (used in gameplay as his LimitBreak) can only be maintained for a short while, and he has to transition back to normal before he can accumulate enough energy through combat to enact it again. Accordingly, unlike other Dominants who can spend entire boss fights in their Semi-Prime modes against him, Clive often fights them in the form of a normal man. It's implied this is because the strain of his Semi-Prime form is too much for even his body to stably maintain, given his unique ability to absorb and utilize the powers of other Eikons in addition to his natural one.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In comparison to how he was before Phoenix's gate, Clive is much more broody and colder as a result of spending years as a slave in service to the empire. Not that you can blame him, given the TraumaCongaLine he went through. That said, he's very much a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
* TookALevelInKindness: Technically ''retook'' a level in kindness, as once he's faced with the harsh reality Bearers have to deal with with heartbreaking regularity, he at long last finds his purpose: To help Cid build his better world. At that point, he's finally back to his old self: Selfless, kind, and just a decent chap altogether.
* TraumaCongaLine: The attack on Phoenix Gate would probably have been the worst day of his life already for many reasons. By the end of it, his father is dead, he is ForcedToWatch his younger brother get savaged to death, his country is vassalized by an expansionist empire, his hometown has been destroyed, he's discovered his ''own mother'' is a traitor, and he is sold into slavery ''by'' said mother when she decides he's NotWorthKilling. Small wonder he becomes so bitter.
* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:At the end of the game, his powers are gone and his left hand has petrified, but he's still intact and on solid ground. We never learn for sure if he made it, but Jill and Torgal seem to feel that he's gone when they see the red star Metia lose its light. But then the sun comes up and Jill smiles, which could suggest that she holds on to hope that Clive survived.]]
* TheUnchosenOne: Zig-zagged. He's the eldest son of his parents, but it is his younger brother Joshua who inherits the familial Eikon Phoenix. Despite that, Clive eventually awakens as another Dominant of Fire, bearing Ifrit as his Eikon. [[spoiler:He also becomes the target of Ultima's manipulations, as the latter sees him, or rather Ifrit, as the perfect vessel to inhabit and arranges events in such a way that Clive gets the powers of the other Eikons in the hopes of eventually leaving himself open to possession.]]
* TheUnfavorite: His brother was chosen to be the Phoenix and he wasn't, leading [[AbusiveParents his mother]] to look down on him and nearly conspire to murder him, though she instead settles for enslaving him. Downplayed as Clive has been chosen to be Joshua's shield/protector and his father and fellow soldiers have a lot of respect for him.
* UnflinchingWalk: [[spoiler:At Drake's Tail, Clive marches towards Bahamut's Gigaflare cast and primes into Ifrit in time for his flames to shield Jill and Joshua from it.]]
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Jill. While they had been seperated for 13 years, after their reunion they immediately hit it off again, and EveryoneCanSeeIt. However, neither acts on their feelings, both choosing instead to focus on the tasks at hand. [[spoiler:Even after the 5-year time skip during which they were closely working together they still haven't hooked up, and it isn't until near the end of the game before they act on it.]]
* UnusualWeaponMounting: As his profile pic shows, he carries his sword in a small leather part-scabbard that lets it hang vertically over his shoulder. It's not that unusual in game, since other characters are shown to do the same.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: When he dreams of the past after being knocked-out during the Bastards' mission to find and kill Shiva's Dominant he's shown to be an upstanding, idealistic young lad. The events that unfold during the attack on Rosaria leave him a far grimmer, hardened man in adulthood who is hell-bent on revenge to the point that he openly worries bout te cost it will have on him (but he [[IveComeTooFar can't abandon it]]).
* VitriolicBestBuds: Clive's serious nature clashes with Cid's more jovial one and constantly snark at each other. Yet it's made clear that Cid has a lot of faith in Clive and Clive respects the man. [[spoiler:Clive even takes on leadership of Cid's group after the original Cid dies becoming the new "Cid".]]
* WarriorPrince: Though he doesn't bear the title, Clive is still of RoyalBlood as a son of the archduke, and a preternaturally gifted swordsman capable of besting anyone besides the Lord Commander -- and even that lasts all of the first ten minutes of the prologue.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: After the Night of Flames, Clive swears revenge on the Dark Eikon Ifrit, only to then awake[n] as the Dominant of Ifrit himself, meaning he at least channels the power of his ArchEnemy. [[spoiler:He actually realizes ''he'' was the one who had turned into Ifrit and killed Joshua while going berserk, leading to him accepting the truth and gaining the ability to prime.]]
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Garuda's Deadly Embrace creates a large talon that Clive can use to grab smaller enemies and drag them into melee range.
[[/folder]]
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-->''The only fantasy here is yours. And we shall be its final witness!''
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