C H A R A C T E R
Name: Locke Cole
Fandom: Final Fantasy VI
Canon Point: World of Ruin, Phoenix Cave, but before reuniting with the party.
Age: 25
Appearance Locke is definitely not a big guy. He's 5'9", a little short for a stormtrooper, and firmly on the wiry side. His hair is a sort of pale ash brown or a warm grey, (going off of his in-game sprite, here because no one can really make up their minds.) While he dresses largely in dark and practical clothes, he also has a fondness for bright colors and patterns, wearing a multitude of layers and scarves around his waist and over his hair, as well as an odd assortment of jewelry. He likes shiny things.
Background: At the Final Fantasy Wiki
Personality:

When Locke is introduced, his in-game description is as follows: "A treasure hunter and trail-worn traveler, searching the world over for relics of the past..." Locke is classed as an "adventurer," and for good reason. He loves a challenge, loves a good story, and has a pair of perpetually itchy feet. He is, as he claims, a treasure hunter by trade. He's got a fondness and a good ear for legends, and he's good at tracking them down despite tall odds. Most people don't see much of a difference between what he does and outright theft, but as far as he's concerned, he's not taking anything that isn't already abandoned. He's saving the things he finds from being lost in memory. He's not necessarily in it for the money, he's in it for the romance. He likes the adventure.

He is, generally, your archetypal loveable rogue. He's laid back, brash, and friendly. Energetic and a little loud, with a habit of good-natured teasing. He's got an easy smile and a quick tongue, even when he really should think twice before he opens his mouth. He's a bit of a daredevil and somewhat reckless, prone to following his heart and his instincts before his head, occasionally leaping before he looks and talking before he thinks. He could often benefit by having someone around to reign in his more dramatic impulses, but his intentions are usually good. Because at his core, Locke is a good guy. He's somewhat of a scoundrel and a little crass, but he also manages to be undeniably dashing and chivalrous to a fault at the same time. He'll stick his foot in his mouth while talking to you, but he'll also turn around and take a bullet for you in a heartbeat.

Although he's a skilled thief, Locke hates to be thought of as one. Call him one and he'll get dramatically offended. Indignant if you're teasing, outright angry if you're not. (Friends like Edgar can get away with it while strangers get threatened.) No doubt he has resorted to theft numerous times when hard-pressed or desperate. Probably more often than he'd like to admit. But he isn't proud of the associations it brings. When it comes down to it he doesn't want to be seen as a criminal. He wants to play the hero. He may have carried out some less-than-scrupulous acts, especially against the Empire, but rarely does he ever steal for inherently selfish reasons.

Adaptable and a survivor, he's tenacious, sometimes to an extreme degree. When strange things happen, he'll react with surprise, sure, but he'll soon take them in stride. (After seeing Terra use magic for the first time with Edgar, he soon gets over his shock. "It doesn't matter, does it, Edgar? Terra can use magic and we can't. That's all there is to it.") He's brave, and he's stubborn. Even to the point of idiocy. If he's set his mind on something, he won't take no for an answer. Backing down or giving up are rarely options for him. Obviously, this doesn't always work out in his favor, and he has an unfortunate tendency to take it too far.

One can't talk about Locke without talking about Rachel. Locke was, and still is, deeply in love with her. But Rachel's family disapproved of him, no doubt in large part because they saw him as little more than a petty thief. While accompanying Locke on a trip, she suffered an injury after saving him from falling off a collapsing bridge. She survived, but lost her memory as a result. Her family blamed Locke for the accident. Rachel, now unaware of just who Locke was beyond the fact that it only upset her family to see him, eventually asked him to leave. So he left. Some time later, the Empire invaded her hometown, Kohlingen, in Locke's absence, and Rachel died in the attack.

Locke harbors a deep grudge against the Empire ever since the Imperial attack that ended in Rachel's death. It's because of this he joins the Returners, an underground group dedicated to fighting the Empire. There is little need, in such a battle, for treasure hunters. So instead, Locke uses his skills to work for the resistance as a messenger and a spy and a saboteur...and a thief. It goes without saying that this is dangerous work. A misstep would get him captured and killed, but he throws himself into it without hesitation. Because he's willing to fight to his last breath for what he believes in, because he hates the Empire for the things they've done, and because doesn't want others to suffer as he did. Rachel died because of an Imperial attack, but Locke blames himself for her death because he abandoned her after she lost her memory. As much as he hates the Empire for it, he assigns himself equal shame. If he had been there, he could have protected her. But he wasn't, and she died with his name on her lips. Thus his over-the-top chivalry and protective impulses are rooted in a very selfish foundation: guilt.

She became his motivating force ever since he lost her. Rachel died because of him and he needs to make it right. Locke makes a point of going out of his way to help people and protect them, particularly women. In searching for a way to bring Rachel back, and in striving to protect the people he comes in contact with, he is groping blindly for a way to make up for what happened. It's not just a quest for atonement. He's essentially unable to do anything but try to make up for it, because he is unable to move on with his life until he does. ("Rachel... I failed her. I broke my promise and lost the only thing that was real to me. So until I do what I said I'd do. Until I restore my honor... I'm nothing but a no-good liar.") In truth, it's less selfless in motivation than it is an act of desperation disguised as heroism. In his mind, if he can save Terra, save Celes, save everyone he can from the Empire, maybe it will make up for letting Rachel down. Maybe he'll finally redeem himself enough to find what he's searching for. A way to bring Rachel back to life.

Kind, giving, and generous with his attention, he can get attached to people pretty easily. He swore never to lose anyone he cared about again, and is thus very protective of the people close to him, (Edgar, Terra, and Celes, chiefly, along with the rest of the Returners.) He's very loyal but he takes betrayal very hard, to the point of jumping to conclusions a little too quickly when he fears that he has been betrayed. (See doubting Celes in Vector.) He's ruled by his emotions. However, when things go wrong, he tries to bounce back fairly quickly. He's not above dwelling on his sorrows, in fact, he's terribly guilty of hanging onto his sorrow and guilt for a long time, but he tends to show the world at large a brave face and a cheery disposition. When he falls, he falls hard, but he has promises to keep, and he's not going to let anything stop him from doing so, no matter how he feels about it.

He trusts and forgives a little too easily, saving and protecting two of the Empire's most dangerous soldiers at the risk of his own life, even though he has just met them. His biggest and most obvious weakness is women, particularly damsels in distress, but there are also several men he would give his life for as well. While a compulsive need to save people (especially women) may been seen as admirable, this is also his biggest flaw. He's very bad at letting go of the past, and he's legitimately crippled by his guilt and his inability to move on. Everything he does for most of the game is motivated by his guilt over what happened to Rachel. When he meets Terra and Celes, they are both women in need of rescue, and in the beginning it is hard for him to see past that. Celes even asks him outright if he only sees her as a replacement, and Locke is unable to bring himself to answer the question.

On the surface it makes him look every bit the proverbial knight in shining armor, but it's also self-destructive. He does not allow himself to mourn Rachel properly because he is certain he will save her, and it takes its toll on him. (Consider that he has to keep her body preserved in a basement for years as he searches for a way to call her spirit back. While the dedication is a testament to how much he loved her, it's also far past the point of obsession and it's pretty weird and kind of creepy.) It's fair to say he's been traumatized by what happened to her, and he's certainly not dealing with it in a way that is remotely healthy. He still won't be able to move on until he frees himself from the cycle he has set himself in, and he just isn't capable of doing that on his own. He still believes he needs to save Rachel before he can save himself, and she is the only person who can convince him otherwise.


ABILITIES:

Locke is a talented thief. He may not like the title, but he is very good at it. He's been shown canonically to be capable of literally stealing the clothing right off an opponent's back when he puts his mind to it. (More than once!) His hands are quick and clever, and in battle his speed and skill are his biggest strengths.

He's got a good head for maps, and he's an exceptionally skilled lockpick, unlocking doors in Narshe that were impenetrable to another famed thief, and he's able to get in and out of places that he really has no business being able to infiltrate. (Starting with a city under Imperial occupation and coming to a head with the Phoenix Cave, a monstrosity in the middle of the mountains that the rest of the party has to rappel down from the airship to access, and which takes at least two people to cross due to a network of switches. And yet you find him in the middle of it, alone.)

He's most handy with a knife (or a pair of them,) but he has skill with a few throwing weapons as well (boomerangs and the like.) And unlike most standard Final Fantasy thieves, Locke can also use swords and most heavier armor (likely due to him technically being classed as an "adventurer" and a treasure hunter by trade, not a thief. This distinction is important to him!) Speaking of adventuring, Locke's lived on the road as a treasure hunter and adventurer for much of his life, and he's come out of it with an assortment of various survival skills.

Due to the magicite gathered by the party, Locke has been able to learn a variety of magic. Most of what he knows leans in the direction of healing and status inducing, as he's more of a physical fighter, but he knows a few lower level offensive spells as well. As an arbitrary (but amusing to me) nod to his association with the Phoenix Esper, he'll have stronger skills in fire than the other elements.

Handy list (using the names from the retranslation because I'm a noob like that)

White
Cure
Cura
Poisona

Black
Fire
Fira
Thunder
Blizzard
Poison

Grey
Confuse
Sleep
Silence
Reflect
Protect
Slow
Float

POSSESSIONS:

Locke spent the year following the cataclysm alone and tracking down a certain treasure in a ruined world overrun by monsters, so he's decently, if lightly, equipped. Notably, he's got the clothes on his back and some standard traveler's equipment, as well as a pair of long, sharp knives, and a set of lockpicks. And, of course, the Phoenix Magicite that he'd spent so long searching for.