Final Fantasy XVI: Who is Clive Rosfield?

Clive Rosfield is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy XVI. However, you might be interested to learn a bit about the backstory of the character and get some idea behind his motivations within the game.

The Final Fantasy XVI demo dropped on June 12, 2023. Even though the demo has barely a few hours worth of content, it does give knowledge regarding some of the key players of the game.

One such key player is Clive Rosfield, the main protagonist of Final Fantasy XVI. The opening mission of the demo provides quite a lot of backstory on Clive and develops his character.

This information is probably inconclusive as once the full game is out, we should get more on Clive. However, here is what we know about Clive Rosfield so far in Final Fantasy XVI.

Note: The following article contains full spoilers for the Final Fantasy XVI demo.

Who is Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy XVI?

Clive Rosfield is the firstborn son of the Archduke of Rosaria. In case you are wondering, Rosaria is a nation in Final Fantasy XVI and has the symbol of Phoenix with the Archduke being its Dominant.

In any case, despite being the first son, Clive did not inherit the power of the Phoenix from his father. This resulted in Clive never getting respect from his mother and being deemed worthless. The power was instead passed on to his brother Joshua. Hence, Clive decided to become the First Shield of Rosaria and the sworn protector of his brother Joshua.

He also received the blessing of the Phoenix and was partly able to use its power. Unfortunately, things did not work out. One night, tragedy ensued in the nation of Rosaria, and the Archduke was murdered. This led to Joshua losing control and the power of the Phoenix being released in full force.

Clive wanted to help Joshua, but he was stopped in his tracks by a sudden headache. He collapsed on the ground and out of nowhere arose the Second Eikon of Fire, Ifrit.

As it happens, Ifrit and Phoenix got engaged in a terrible fight and eventually, the latter was defeated. In the morning, the Captain of the Guards found Clive lying senselessly on the ground. He asked the Queen who happened to arrive at the scene of the disaster what to do with Clive.

In the beginning, the Queen asked the Captain to kill Clive but then changed her mind. She suggested that Clive would make an excellent soldier on the front lines.

After the events of that fateful night, 13 years pass by and the demo tells that Clive managed to earn his freedom in the hands of a man named Cid. Clive wanted revenge and thus he began his journey after escaping from the Imperial Guards to find the people responsible for the death of his father and his brother.

The demo seems to skip content from the time Clive gets captured all the way to his escape. We should get more context on the missing section post-release.

How old is Clive in Final Fantasy XVI?

Clive makes his appearance in two different parts within the Final Fantasy XVI demo. In the Prologue, Clive was 15 years old at the time when he was still the First Shield of Rosaria.

However, after the events of that fateful night and post-timeskip, Clive was 28 years old when he set out to seek vengeance for the death of his family.

This is all we know about Clive Rosfield as now in Final Fantasy XVI. However, we will update this article with further information once the full game is released. While you’re waiting for the game’s full release, check out our Final Fantasy page for the latest news.