Locke Cole Locke Cole ( written Lock in Japanese ) is a playable character from " Final Fantasy VI " . He is a thief , but prefers to be called a " treasure hunter " . Locke is introduced as a contact , spy , and saboteur for the Returners , the resistance group to the Gestahlian Empire . Profile . Appearance . Locke is of average height with a wiry build . He wears a blue vest and trousers with a white shirt , although concept art has his outer clothes as black . He has light brown hair and wears a bandanna . In - game , it is blue and rolled into a headband ; in the Yoshitaka Amano artwork it covers his hair and is more colorful and patterned . His outfit is belted with a short sash . He wears brown gloves in - game and in some concept art . Personality . Locke is driven to protect women he meets , instantly promising to help Terra and Celes despite them being former imperial soldiers . His want to protect women is due to unresolved guilt over a past incident which he struggles with . The incident was a key reason he joined the Returners , and although he blames himself , he is angry at the empire for their involvement . Despite his tragic past , Locke is often less than serious . He jokes around with and about the other party members , particularly teasing Edgar for his flirtatiousness . He is proud of his skills and insistent on being called a " treasure hunter " or " adventurer " rather than a thief . Locke is kindhearted and tries to prevent others from experiencing the sorrow he has . Story . In his youth , Locke used to travel with his father , who was a treasure hunter . His father died and people in Kohlingen treated Locke like a common thief . Rachel was the only one not to consider him as such , and they fell in love , but her father detested him . To prove himself to Rachel ' s father Locke explored a dangerous cave with her . A bridge crumbled under Locke , and Rachel , out of love and devotion , rushed to save him . She fell and was almost killed . Locke rescued her and took her home and nursed Rachel back to health , but she developed a case of amnesia . Blaming Locke for her condition , Rachel ' s father threw him out and Rachel agreed , as she had lost her memory of their relationship . The village turned against Locke , who left Kohlingen . Locke felt guilty for Rachel ' s loss of memory , and tried to redeem himself by protecting every woman he came across . One day , Kohlingen was destroyed in an imperial attack , and Rachel died , but not before recovering her memory and declaring her love for Locke , who joined the Returners to help the resistance against the empire . Arvis calls Locke to Narshe to ask for assistance in helping Terra Branford . Locke is reluctant due to her affiliation with the empire , but agrees and finds Terra in the Narshe Mines ambushed by Narshe guardsmen and rescues her with the help of Ten Moogles . Terra cannot remember her past , but Locke promises to protect her and takes her to Figaro Castle as Narshe is no longer safe . In Figaro , King Edgar Roni Figaro offers her shelter . Imperial general Kefka Palazzo , hot on Terra ' s tail , inquires of her whereabouts . Edgar lies , and Kefka sets the castle aflame . Locke , Edgar and Terra escape , and the castle burrows underground . The trio meet up with Banon , the leader of the Returners , at the Returner Hideout , who has Terra join their cause . The city of South Figaro is put under imperial siege and Locke goes to investigate . He learns the empire is planning another raid on Narshe and sets out to warn the elder . He sneaks into the basement of the largest house in town where an imperial general , Celes Chere , is being interrogated . Locke rescues her , and vows to protect her and the two escape the town together . Locke and Celes head to Narshe to warn the elder . Cyan Garamonde and Celes get into a brief quarrel , but Locke breaks it up . Everyone gathers to defend Narshe against Kefka and his troops , but afterward Terra reacts with the frozen esper , an ancient magical being of legend the empire wants to capture , and turns into an esper herself and flies away . A search party is assembled and she is found in atop the tallest tower in Zozo being cared for by the esper Ramuh . Ramuh asks the party to go to Vector , the Imperial capital , and rescue the other imprisoned espers , one of which — Maduin — is Terra ' s father . Celes agrees to lead the team , and Locke accompanies her . To get to Vector the party needs an airship . In the town of Jidoor Celes learns a man named Setzer Gabbiani owns the only private airship in the world : the " Blackjack " , and is in love with Maria , the star of " Maria and Draco " opera , and wills to kidnap her . Locke suggests dressing up Celes as Maria to get Setzer ' s attention . The plan works , and Setzer agrees , as the result of a coin toss , to take the party to Vector . After arriving in Vector the party heads to the Magitek Research Facility where they free the espers , but it turns them into magicite . Kefka discovers the magicite and orders Celes to come with him . Locke questions Celes ' s loyalty , but she casts a spell to teleport herself , Kefka , and the troops away to save the Returners . The empire ' s main Magitek engineer , Cid , helps Locke and his friends escape via a mine cart . They meet up with Setzer who takes them back to Zozo to see Terra , who recovers upon receiving her father ' s magicite . The party heads to Narshe for a strategy meeting with the elder , Arvis , and Banon . The plan is for Terra to contact the espers and have them attack Vector from the east , while a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards strikes from the north . Terra leads a party through the Cave to the Sealed Gate to reach the Esper World where they are ambushed by Kefka , and have to escape . The espers destroy the airship , and in Vector Gestahl seems to have surrendered . He asks Terra to negotiate peace with the espers , and she agrees . Locke accompanies her to Crescent Island . In the port of Albrook , Terra and Locke met up with General Leo Cristophe — the leader of the expedition — the mercenary Shadow , and Celes . Locke does not know what to say to Celes and the night before departure he attempts to apologize , but she runs away . On the boat to Crescent Island Locke gets seasick and embarrasses himself in front of Shadow . Shortly before landing , Celes tries to say something to him , but Locke walks away . Locke , Terra and Shadow enter the town of Thamasa where they meet up with Strago Magus , the elder of the town , who asks Terra and Locke help him rescue his granddaughter , Relm Arrowny , from a burning house . Afterward Strago agrees to help Terra and Locke look for the espers and they head for the Espers ' Gathering Place with Relm in tow . Terra and Locke speak to the espers ' leader , Yura , and take him to Thamasa for negotiations with Leo . At Thamasa , Locke and Celes reconcile . Kefka interrupts the negotiations and wounds everyone but Leo , who tries to fight Kefka and is killed . Kefka reveals everything was a ploy to gather magicite , and kills Yura and the other espers . He heads for the Sealed Gate to collect more magicite and the Warring Triad , a trio of deities who brought magic to the world the espers had been protecting in their realm , are revived , and the Esper World becomes the Floating Continent . Terra , Locke , Strago , Relm , and Celes meet up with the others and attack the Floating Continent , but as Kefka moves the Warring Triad out of alignment he destroys the world and the party is separated . In the World of Ruin , Locke finds an injured seagull and bandages it with his bandanna . Celes finds the bandanna on the seagull and the discovery rejuvenates her hope of finding her estranged friends and she sets out to gather everyone up to face Kefka , now the world ' s ruler . The estranged Locke hears a legend of the legendary esper Phoenix said to revive the dead . He wants to use it on Rachel and heads for the Phoenix Cave where the rest of the party locates him and invites him to Kohlingen . Locke uses the esper to revive Rachel who tells Locke to stop feeling guilty . She dies again , restoring Phoenix to life . Locke , exculpated , joins Celes and the others to fight Kefka . After Kefka has been killed the party flees the crumbling Kefka ' s Tower and Celes drops Locke ' s bandanna that she had been holding onto . She returns to retrieve it and Locke saves her , saying , " I won ' t let go , I promise " . They make it to Setzer ' s new airship in time and from high above watch the citizens of the world rebuilding their homes . Gameplay . Locke has the traits of a Thief , his ability is Steal , which allows him to attempt to steal an item from an enemy . Relic s can improve his ability to Steal , with Sneak Ring increasing the success rate and Brigand ' s Glove turning Steal into Mug and allowing it to damage enemies . His stats are well rounded , with high speed and evasion , and good physical stats , but low magical stats . For weaponry , he can equip most swords ( including Ultima Weapon and Lightbringer ) , boomerangs and daggers , for armor , he can equip most Shields and heavy armor . His Desperation Attack is Mirage Dive that deals magical damage to one enemy . Creation and development . Locke ' s design was originally that of a slightly older , dark and mysterious partner of the male protagonist that became Terra Branford . He was supposed to be a rival of sorts to the other characters and was the one with the Runic command . As development proceeded his personality was tweaked and eventually became the more ' regular ' character Locke is in the final game . After it was decided " Final Fantasy VI " would feature an ensemble cast with no clear main protagonist , everyone in the development team were encouraged to provide ideas for characters and their episodes . Locke ' s character and story were colored by influence from Hironobu Sakaguchi . Musical themes . Locke ' s theme is a heroic introduction played during his and the moogles ' mission to protect Terra . His leitmotif is reprised in " Forever Rachel " and the " Ending Theme " , and in the latter his theme plays in counterpoint with Celes ' s theme . Other appearances . Locke has made appearances in the following games in the " Final Fantasy " series : Other media . Impact . In a ' character popularity poll , Locke was the only character from " Final Fantasy VI " listed . Author makes an homage to Locke with the titular thief and con artist of his book ' . Games . A concept image early in the development of " Final Fantasy VII " features an isometric view and " Final Fantasy VI " sprites , including Locke . In " Secret of Evermore " , Locke appears among the crowd of spectators that includes other " Final Fantasy VI " characters at the gladiator battle of Antiqua . He appears alongside Terra , Mog , Relm , Strago , and Umaro . Additionally , namesakes of his have appeared in " Secret of Evermore " and in " Final Fantasy IX " as an NPC . Locke Cole is himself a namesake of a playable character in " Final Fantasy Mystic Quest " ( see Tristam ) . In " " , two thieves by the name of Cid and Dune are view by the main characters as thieves and the party treats them as such . In these encounters , both thieves will repeatedly tell them that they are Treasure Hunters much in the same fashion to when it occurred to Locke . Fandom . In " " , dresses up as Locke when he tries to board the " Blackjack " with dressed up as Mog . The wig and bandanna were discarded when he was discovered to be a fake , although he retains all other parts of Locke ' s clothing style .