Cecil and Boromir: The link between FF4 and LotR

Its pretty excusable for Final Fantasy 4's story to be a bit sparse on detail. The limited ability to even spell White Dragon better than Wtdrgn shows us all that. The one thing many people ask is how could Cecil have been a Dark Knight yet still able to become a paladin later.

For better explanation I say look to Lord of the Rings. Boromir is told by his father that to save his kingdom they must get and bring back the weapon of the enemy. One of the most evil powers in the world is to be gotten by Boromir and be used by him for good.

In FF4 we learn that Cecil's "adoptive" father was the King of Baron. Its widely known the King changed and became obsessed with getting crystals. It was during this time that Cecil became leader of the Red Wings as a Dark Knight.



I posit the assumption that what happened to Boromir happened to Cecil. With no real proof, I say the King told Cecil that to protect the kingdom he would have to use the powers of the enemy. He did it out of duty.



That is how you get a mopey dark knight that feels bad about killing. We get a dark knight that almost goes insane with releasing a bomb on a village. We get a Dark Knight that can turn into a Paladin with no relapses into his former ways. We also get Rosa talking about the kindness of Cecil in past tense.

Would Boromir have been as redeemed? Probably not, but then again putting on black armor isn't nearly as tough as carrying a ring with almost limitless power.