"Damn idealism! Ya feed it blood and it howls for more!"

—Rygdea

Rygdea (リグディ, Rigudi^?) is a non-player character in Final Fantasy XIII, who works for the Sanctum. 180 cm tall (5' 10"), he is a captain working under the command of Cid Raines, and they both share the same view of the Sanctum. His Japanese seiyū is Yasuyuki Kase and his English voice actor is Josh Robert Thompson.

DatalogEdit

Final Fantasy XIIIEdit

See also: Datalog/People.

Rygdea is an officer in the Wide-area Response Brigade formerly led by Cid Raines.

Disgusted by the deception of the Sanctum, he thought to retire from the military, but instead joined Raines and the Cavalry in their efforts to bring down the government. Rygdea followed the general without question, unaware of his superior's status as a servant of the Sanctum fal'Cie.

Raines has now replaced Barthandelus in the position of Primarch, leaving Rygdea to lead the Cavalry in a charge to topple the Sanctum and destroy Orphan.

Final Fantasy XIII-2Edit

See also: Fragment/Quiz Mastery.

Figures of Note

Captain Rygdea is a former Cocoon soldier. Following the catastrophe, he played a central role in running the provisional government.

Rygdea crushed the budding resurgence of the former administration by revealing the Sanctum's manipulation by the fal'Cie, and their subsequent slaughter of innocent civilians during the Purge.

He lent his support to the Academy scientists who sought to promote 'human independence,' and encouraged the shift in authority from the government to this new institute.

StoryEdit

Final Fantasy XIIIEdit

Rygdea first appears with Oerba Yun Fang in Lake Bresha, where his troops apprehend Snow Villiers and take Serah Farron's crystallized form with them onto the airship Lindblum. Later, he helps the l'Cie in escaping from Rosch's forces in Palumpolum and also assists them in sneaking onboard the Palamecia.

Near the end of the game, he takes leadership of the Cavalry, unknowingly a tool of Galenth Dysley, and confronts the newly-made Primarch Raines as all hell breaks loose in Eden. After reluctantly killing his former leader at his request, Rygdea leads his forces against PSICOM in an all-out war in the city.

Final Fantasy XIII-2Edit

It was mentioned that Rygdea was the only member of Cavalry left as his group were turned into Cie'th by Barthandelus. Helping convince the new government to support the Academy's ideals, he exposes the Cocoon fal'Cie's manipulation of the Sanctum to the populace to end the anti-Academy insurgence.

Rygdea is never met in person by either Serah, Mog, or Noel.

Creation and DevelopmentEdit

Because Rygdea is a head swap, his body model being that of a standard Sanctum soldier and only his head has a unique model and texture, Nao Ikeda, who designed the Final Fantasy XIII support cast, only designed a face. The Ultimania Omega reveals the development team wanted a character who couldn't cost much as far as the polygon model or animation went, so Ikeda also drew a version with short hair.

However, the person in charge of modelling chose the long haired version out of enthusiasm for keeping with that design. Rygdea was designed with a sky theme in mind, with sky blue eyes and his hair color was influenced by black kite, a type of bird. Rygdea's profile described him as both lax and courageous, so to keep with that image Ikeda tried showing his chest and gave him a stubble.

Other appearancesEdit

Final Fantasy Trading Card GameEdit

Rygdea appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game.

GalleryEdit

Rygdea in Cid's office.

Rygdea on the Lindblum.

Rygdea on the Lindblum.

16-bit Sprite of Rygdea from Final Fantasy XIII online synopsis.

Concept art.

Rygdea and Fang capture Snow at Lake Bresha.

TriviaEdit

• His first name is unknown for it is never spoken in game.
• In "Final Fantasy XIII: The Lost Report", the story of Final Fantasy XIII is being told from the view of Yaag Rosch and Rygdea.

ReferencesEdit