The Complete Evolution of Dragoons 

Dragoons: Winning at "The Floor Is Lava" since FF2

Cid Highwind was a genius callback in an installment that really shifted the atmosphere and style of the game. Cid in previous installments is the mechanical type, the Highwinds were the dragoons. So to combine the two (by personality and name) was a great way to make them both fit in a less fantasy, more futurey environment.

Khimari's mixture of blue mage and dragoon will always stay with me. He's a character that grows on you through successive playthroughs.

14’s dragoon has a few points you neglected to mention. They have Life Surge which restores health when landing the next weapon skill. They also retain the “sole survivor” motif in the form of the Azure Dragoon Estinien, who is the only child surviving the onslaught of the dragon Nidhogg in his village. Your character’s shift into dragoon from A Realm Reborn into Heavensward is also the result of being one of the survivors from a purge aimed at you and your comrade.

Also, Final Fantasy Tactics features a character named Reis, who was turned into a dragon by a curse. She is referenced by Freya's ability Reis' Wind in IX

Fang's eidolon was Bahamut, the king of dragons.

Sadly I've been in love with Kain since I was eight when my brother first played the game. I'm 33 and his still my favorite character.

Ah yes, my favorite series of FF: Raid shadow legend

Actually, the azure dragoon from ff14 was the sole survivor of a dragon attack on his village.

I’d never thought about how so many Dragoons share a backstory about being one of the few survivors of their village, clan, order, or what have you. It’s pretty tragic, but I guess it makes sense thematically to give the Dragoon class a kind of uniqueness and prestige. Something like that anyway. Thanks for the cool video!

Regarding Cid in FFVII, I know this isn't 100% definite, but I always saw the connection between Cid and Dragons because of the love of flying . Cid wanted to go to space (kind of like flying) and owned the Tiny Bronco in his backyard. Whenever I think of dragons I think of powerful beasts that fly around. It's a bit of a stretch, but that's how I see it.

Kain is the best dragoon. Best story, best looking armor, first holy dragoon, my god what a character.

Kain was still able to Jump with a sword just didn't deal as much damage as with a spear.

You forgot to mention that Fang’s eidolon was a dragon, Bahamut

There’s something romantically alluring about Dragoons surviving a previous presence of dragons to use in mounted combat. Like a sword’s interest over firearms, there’s something of an impressive tradition that commands respect and thought. It’s a really good storytelling element.

My favourite FF class... I'm interested in this!

The only thing that call it is mistake is within this video you claimed that Fang does not have an illusion to dragons and yet her summon is Bahamut how is that not a illusion to fighting beside a dragon?

In FF XIII Fang fills the dragoon roll but has no links to dragons. Proceeds to ride Bahamut into battle.

As a dragoon/lancer main (fan), thank you. Love the extensive research and history you did. As well as, I commend you on your background music. It sets the mood of the dragoon class and thank you for not using meme dub-ish musics. More power to your channel.

The fact that the kid in FF2 was named Kain was a nice easter egg, though idk if it’s canon. Oh, and in FF6, there was an esper that makes your whole party jump when you use it. I think it was Quetzalcoatl.

in regards to the FFXIV entry, i have a few minor corrections to put forth: Estinien, the Azure Dragoon mentioned, is the sole survivor of an attack on his village by Nidhogg, and the Azure Dragoons are chosen by the Eye, not simply wielders of it. I feel it could also be relevant to mention that, at least in the context of Heavensward content and before, Dragoons are solely dragonslayers, in contrast to the prominent dragon riders of previous FF games. The video is fantastic, regardless! Very comprehensive, and I appreciate the amount of work that must have gone into researching all of these games! Well done!

The lore for dragoons is pretty extensive. Mirage dive isn't our jump upgrade, super jump is. Also, too bad you didn't talk about Estinien and his connection to Nidhogg or the jump called Star diver.

my personal favorite Dragoon is Freya. Shes just so cool and useful.

I always loved Freya. I was sorry to see she wasn't in most of ff9. I'd like to have seen more of her interactions with Zidane as they were always funny.

Oh ffs, in ff14 I’m a pink hrothgar dragoon...I’m just realizing all I did was make a pink kimarhi >.

Dragoons are not actually plentiful in Ishgard, being the elite of the knights there were maybe 10 at the start of Heavensward

You forgot to mention that another link to dragoons Fang has is that her Eidolon summon is Bahamut, so matches the trait of being tied to or working with a dragon. She's also shown multiple times that she's also very proficient in riding dragons and wyverns too.

I'm a big fan of the Dragoon crossover into Monster Hunter World, as the Insect Glaive in that game is a near-perfect fluid approximation of the Dragoon moveset!

I would just like to say that Dragoons in FFXI getting a pet dragon was the coolest thing.

The unlock Dragoon Job story in FFXI was the most heart felt defining moment for the class. Mind you, FFXI was the pinnacle for most classic jobs in any case. Freya is still my favourite from the single player games and I wish FFX-2 had included Dragoon.

I have always leaned toward using the Dragoon class in any final fantasy game I've played, it's always been my favorite ascetically and lore wise. nice video!

Interesting fact about FF IV: You mentioned about the Holy Dragoon from The After Years. There is an unused sprite in the memory of the original FF IV of Kain working a spell. It appears that getting the Holy Dragoon was an idea at some point in FF IV.

I think it's important to consider FFVII Cid's affinity for rockets (and Shinra's dismantling of the Space Program) in relation to the "sole survivor" trope here. In this sense Cid is indeed one of the last surviving "dragon riders", whose way of life was ended through the actions of an "evil empire".

Dragoon is far and away the coolest job. Edgy boy armor, taming/befriending a fierce dragon, protecting the city, access to ancient magic. Too bad I can't jump 😂😂😂

Dragoons: When everyday is leg day.

I want to argue that CId in FFVII fit many of the Dragoon motifs of the Final Fantasy mitos, not just the spear and jump, he also fit the "sole survivor of a devastated country/town/ village" motif. If we paralel the rocket as the dragon and rocket scientist as the dragoon, Shinra pulling funding on the Space Program practically "kill" the rocket AND destroyed the town economically. Making Cid and his assistant Shera, the only rocket scientist left in a decayed almost abandoned town. Now about the noble story relating to dragons, again, if we paralel the rockets as dragons, Cid had to "kill" his rocket launch so it's blast wouldn't literally kill Shera, there's a dragon and damsel in distress re threading in there if you think about it.

I *distinctly* remember equipping Kain with a sword, and he was able to jump just fine. At some points in the game, having him equip a sword is better than the currently available spear. This was in the USA/World "FF2."

I appreciate the depth and effort in your videos! Thank you for the content

18:24 she literally summons (rides on) Bahamut....

Hell yes! Been waiting for this evolution!

Hope you make more of these your evolution series is my favorite and is what got me into your channel

Dragoons also have some similarities to the actual historical troop type called a dragoon, which where traditionally mounted infantry: that is a soldier who rides on horse for mobility, but fights on foot in actual combat. this is kind of like the in game use of dragoon’s jump (high mobility infantry), but moreso, seems to relate to the og dragons no longer fighting on the backs of dragons (they are THEMATICALLY dismounted cavalry, bereft of their mounts, as well as practically), which I think is really poetic. as a sidenote, idk if i would classify most of the stuff you mentioned as subversions as subversions. they seem more like references or different takes rather than actively trying to undermine the concept of a dragoon itself. Unless you want to classify all the common elements of FF that have alterations in each take like chokobos and black mages and crystals and stuff. which seem more like loosely tied thematic elements.

Do a evolution of the chocobo please.

Kain was always a standout character in the main series for me, and that combined with Sony's alternate interpretation of Dragoons in The Legend of Dragoon game, and in general highly favouring lancer/spear wielding classes in games led me to always be excited when games included the class. I started playing FF XIV recently and so far have completed the Lancer/Dragoon storyquests up to the ARR finale, with the multiple jump abilities and general aesthetic I'm having a lot of fun.

Thanks Dragoon is one of my favorite classes up there with Paladin so nice to see the evolution.

The Dragoons are absolutely fascinating. Thanks for this video

Love this series and get so excited whenever I see a video uploaded. White mage next?

Such a unique and awesome video! =) i love dragoons!

This is an incredible video, are there anymore like it about job classes and such?

My coolest experience with this job was in ffta2, when I were in a very hard battle and there was a big threat on the field, who was a powerful dragon. I just moved my dragoon next to it and used "Dragontame" ability. As aresult, my dragoon convinced the threat to leave the battle making it much more easier to fight.

You guys are great at story telling and just... everything. Great work again, love this channel!

A few things you missed: FFV has King Alexander *Highwind* Tycoon, father of Lenna and Faris. Though not a playable dragoon, his design is dragon influenced and his kingdom has wind drakes, a clear relative of dragons. Also about in FFXIII Fang not having any association with dragons...bro her eidolon is *ahem* Bahamut.

The Highwind is Cid's dragon. Its all come together now.

Love these videos, would love to see a history of machinist/engineer video! ❤

I would like to see a evolutions video on the fighter class, because man that class goes through the most changes.

Well, to be honest, I'd like to see an episode about smaller jobs. Y'know, those that appear in few final fantasy games. Like dancer, mime, bard... machinist? Yeah, I think that's a good example. Y'know, like FFT Mustadio, and maybe Edgar from 6 or noctis/prompto from XV. Hell, if they don't show enough variations between iterations to make it interesting, you can do a "top 10" of the least used jobs in final fantasy series. Call it something positive, like jobs with more potential or something like that. I don't know, I just think that some of the weirdest jobs will never make it to this series on their own.

I know I'm late, but I have an idea: Evolution of Black Mages. They've changed more than most people realize.

Yay!! My tied favorite job in Final Fantasy!!! (Along side White Mage). Thank you for making this video. 😎

also interesting to note for Fang (FF13) is the fact that she is associated with bahamut (king of dragons)

Ffxiv DRG main here: thanks you for the awesome lore history dump. This was fun.

I love the work you do. Thank you! Its a nice way for me to get thru mundane tasks - brushing up on my FF lore 🙂

Please continue to do these for all jobs in the franchise 🤩❤

Very nicely done video! The only thing I think was missed was the Dragoon from Tactics Ogre. While not Final Fantasy per se, it's another Square Enix series that features Dragoons as a class, with a focus on jumping and monster/dragon hunting. The female Dragoon had the iconic Draconic look, while the Male dragoon had gold armor similar to Richard's armor in FF2. The big difference is they didn't use only Spears, but Greatswords as well.

One of my takeaways from this series of videos is that Kamari (not sure on the spelling, not really bothered about that) is FF 10’s representation of almost every class 😂. Fun video. I’ve never really thought about Dragoons, thanks.

You'll never be a dragoon if you skip leg day.

I really appreciate your perspective on Dragoons, I always thought that they was just Valkyries but dragon theme and non gender specific. I’m surprised you don’t have more FF job evolutions, but keep up the good work

Thank you a beautiful video, I don't know why, but I was smiling throughout. Oh tough.. obviously Cid is the best.. but Kain is the benchmark for all dragoons.

My first exposure to "Jump" skill was in FF6, and it was pretty fun. I think it was later that I learned it is related to the dragoon class, but that connection was easy to see because of using the dragoon boots in Ff6.

21:32 In FF4, Kain's father's name was stated to be Ricard as a nod to his predecessor. I'm not 100% certain on this part, but IIRC the above came first, and the FF2 change was to complete the shout-out.

oh that Dragon Heart sceane... My childhood... oh I love that

Drink every time he says the exact phrase "affinity for spears."

What music did you all use for this video? It's beautiful! I usually see a little banner up at the top left that says where the music is from, but did not notice one for this video. Please let me know what it is. Thank you! Love love love your videos (and your book)!

Side fun fact: According to google resources; There were a real life equivalent to Dragoons, being early 17th century British cavalry units, trained for combat with swords and firearms from horseback. Dubbed dragoons for their musket flashes, resembling dragon fire. Was mainly curious what might've inspired the class

The amount of dragoons I see around limsa with the last name Highwind is staggering.

Something you forgot to mention is that Fang does have Bahamut (a dragon) as her eidolon.

Ricard Highwind is the most underrated Dragoon ever, and my personal favorite. The Dragoons of FFXI sound pretty amazing, though. Great video again, guys!

I would like to add that the Valkyrie job from Bravely Default is inspired by the Dragoon. Having the jump abilities and using spears. But has more angelic armor than dragon

redmage/dragoon with 2x cast is my fav dragoon. the pesky fly that revives the whole party if they get wiped. an already clutch character made extra clutch.

I love your videos. Where did the screenshot used at 2:22 come from? It looks like someone edited Mystic Knight to be a Paladin and added in a Dark Knight. Is this a prototype of FFV or a fan made image?

Thank you so much for this video! Dragoons have always been my favorite class in the series, and I always use them as much as I can when possible! It's probably obvious, but my favorite Dragoon is Kain :D Paladins would be a cool class to do an evolution on!

I have an addition I would like to add as someone very into Brave Exvius, but it does have it's own stuff I believe is worth mentioning. First, as far as story goes, a dragoon is featured in the main story in both season 1 and 2, through Cid. He appears as a member of the Sworn Six of Paladia in the first season, under the title Veritas of the Wind, and while there isn't much connection to the cultural aspects of Dragoons with him, he has large call backs to Cid Highwind of 7, as he is the father of airships in the story. Mechanically, on the other hand, Dragoons and their associated abilities have gone through refinement over the years. Firstly, Jump abilities were given modifiers that greatly increased their damage in comparison to other attacks, and it can be furter boosted by a large margin with equipment and passives. A variety of different variations of Jump were added, but most notable was that, as of now, all jump abilities have been changed, and no longer automatically resolve after a turn. To synergize better with the chaining system within the game, all Jump abilities need the player to activate the descent. The chaining system involves having attacks go off within frames of each other, and the higher you chain, the more damage the next attack will do, up to a maximum of a 300% boost. This has created a need to units to have "finisher" moves, high damage, but only hitting once. With jump now being an active ability, you can time when the jump actually hits to be the finisher to a massive chain, stacking what can already be hefty damage boosters with the boost from the chain, to nuke a target in oblivion.

I could swear I remember Kain using jump even when equipped with swords back on the SNES FF IV.

Evolution of the Black Mage would be awesome!

18:30 Fangs Eidolon is Bahamut! I'd argue that's worth something Also AAAAAAH 14

Dragoon used to be my favorite class back in early high school.

Excellent video! I learned so much about dragoons that I didn’t know. I love these types of videos. I love how you really delve deep into the lore. Having said that, I’d LOVE for you to do a video on my favorite class/job which is the Summoner. Thanks again for the video! I hope you and your loved ones are safe.

Do you happen to know the particular origin of Valkyrie, the a parallel job to Dragoon in the Bravely games? I'm mostly curious if there's something in particular that had them change the name, since the armor is still somewhat draconic (just more... cyber-ish almost)

I am watching the evolutions and my brain keep saying, "Why isn't there a FF-TTRPG?"

Ricard's sprites in the original release of FF2 had winged helms as well, but it's a bit harder to make out due to graphical limitations. Also worth noting is that Kain, who you said was Ricard's adopted son, was actually the son of his close friend Philip. For obvious reasons, he never truly became a dragoon, but he would have been the first dragoon in the series to be named Kain in game had Deist not been wiped out nearly to a man. I never played 13 myself but I think other in the comments have covered Fang's abilities, and as far as FFXIV goes, Estinien, the Azure Dragoon before/alongside the player was actually the sole survivor of an attack by Nidhogg and his horde 20 years prior to the events of A Realm Reborn, which is sort of a reference to the sole survivor trait. Great video though and I hope to see more like it! Hoping for a Dark Knight vid as they are my second fav FF class ( assuming you haven't made it already, it's late and I'm a wee bit drunk so I might've missed it)

18:22 "Even though there was no association with dragons..." EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH DRAGONS??? Her summon was freaking Bahamut! That, and also there was that one time she rode a wyvern in chapter 9.

Completed FF9 over 5 times but 13:50 is the first time I've ever see Freya's face and it totally goes against the picture I had in my imagination

I wanted to watch but Raid... hope it’s a nice video. Like your work!

When it came to me being a DRG/SAM in FFXI so many years ago, I had one goal: Make DRG a respected job class. Before they gave it a makeover, I kept trying to fine detail how I played it despite how people viewed it. Yea I got overlooked a lot for other DPS jobs. But usually once I got in they seen the potential and I even convinced some to become a DRG! My best moment was when I was around low 60s looking for a party and an all Japanese party let me join. I think they picked me because I was the only looking for a party at that hour so it was kinda a pity recruit lol. But I was dishing out so much damage I kept taking hate from the tank but I knew how to control it with Super Jump and Third Eye. At the end they told me good job in the auto translate and the party disbanded. I was real proud then ☺

Ishgard's History was always muddled, as the first Dragoon of the Holy See actually knew the dangers of Dragon Eyes and hid one of Niidhog's eyes away with after died

May be Biased but Best Class. Tactics gave them great support abilities too.

Have you not played The Legend of Dragoon - the best rpg involving dragoons?

Oerba is a village, not a clan. Fang is from the Yun clan, and Vanille from the Dia clan.

Don't forget Palidor/Quetzalli, an esper in VI who causes the entire party to make a jump attack!

Although its not Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter World had a crossover collaboration with FF14 and brought over Behemoth. After defeating him you can craft the Dragoon armor and the Gae Bolg, which is an insect glaive. The IG is a weapon type in MH that acts sort of like a spear and can polevault you into the air. You also get a Jump emote that has implementation in the Behemoth fight, dodging his Ecliptic Meteor if timed right. Furthermore, in the Iceborne expansion, the Insect Glaive got a new move which, to me, is reminiscent of the Dragoon Dive by pressing the right trigger button plus the attack buttons simultaneously while in the air, although I believe that is only by coincidence. Just thought that would be something interesting to point out. (By the way i might of gotten some things wrong, its been awhile since i played MHW)