Cidolfas Orlandu

Story

Count Cidolfas Orlandu, known as Thunder God Cid on the battlefield due to his prowess with the sword, is a character in Final Fantasy Tactics and was a decorated general of the Fifty Years' War, which precedes the game's events by several years. Though a trusted vassal of Duke Goltana, Cid grows ever critical of his liege lord's actions during the War of the Lions. Eventually, the villainous Church of Glabados are able to convince Goltana that Cid is a traitor and a heretic and Goltana has the innocent general imprisoned awaiting execution.

However, Ramza Beoulve and his group are able to spring Cid from his jail cell. While this is happening, Delita Heiral assassinates Goltana and allows Cid to travel with Ramza upon discovering the jailbreak. Delita is aware of the machinations of the Lucavi and believes a powerful warrior like Cid will be vital to Ramza's success against the demonic cult. To ensure Cid's escape is clean (and also have a scapegoat to pin Goltana's assassination on), Delita drafts in and summarily executes a Cid lookalike to convince the world that Cid is dead.

Cid continues to travel with Ramza's group for the remainder of the game. It is unknown if he survives the events at Murond Death City (a.k.a. The Necrohol of Mullonde).

Cid is also the character who provides Ramza with the Libra Zodiac Stone. This hints that Cid was scouted by the Lucavi but did not become one of them.

Gameplay

Possesses the Holy Swordsman (or Sword Saint) job instead of the starting Squire job. This job possesses all the sword abilities of the Holy Knight, the Divine Knight and the Dark Knight jobs, effectively combining the abilities of Agrias Oaks, Meliadoul Tengille and Goffard Gaffgarion. He must have a sword equipped to be able to use them.

The presence of Cid in the player's party makes the game considerably easier, to a shocking extent. Whether this is intentional or not on the part of the developers is unknown, but it's possible they added this character to assist players who would otherwise have too much trouble with the final battles of the game. His legendary hero reputation in-game might also suggest why he is so powerful.

Appearances in Other Games

Though Cidolfas does not physically appear in any game outside of Final Fantasy Tactics and its enhanced port The War of the Lions, there are a few references to him in other Square-Enix games.

• Vagrant Story - The Orlandu Gem, held in Leá Monde, is said to contain fragments of his skeleton. Both Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics take place in the same world.
• Final Fantasy XIII-2 - One of the quizzes given to Noel and Serah during a side-mission in Academia 4XX AF includes "Orlandeau" as a possible answer.