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Square Enix clarifies pronunciation of Cait Sith in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Fans say decision erases Gaelic origins.

Close up of Cait Sith in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Image credit: Square Enix

Square Enix has clarified the correct pronunciation of Final Fantasy 7 character Cait Sith.

Revealed as playable in the latest trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, players have been debating how to say the name correctly for years.

Wonder no more: it's officially "Kate Sihth".

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth release date announce trailerWatch on YouTube

Based on the spelling, that may already be obvious to you. I'll admit that for years I've pronounced it "Kate Sith", like the evil Jedi.

Some players, though, have pronounced it "Ket Shee". The character design originates from the Gaelic Cat-sìth, a spectral cat in folklore that haunts the Scottish Highlands.

As a result, some players believe this official pronunciation is erasing the origins of the character. Square Enix's announcement is perhaps causing more confusion than intended. I also feel silly for mispronouncing it for all these years, though it turns out I wasn't.

And this is always a problem with remakes, especially when they go from text only to voices. Cait Sith is just the latest.

Remake had fans debating if Mako was "Mah-ko" or "May-ko". I've always been a "May-ko" guy (even if it's wrong) and it's hard to hear differently. For the record, I originally pronounced Yuffie as "Yuff-ie" rather than "Yoo-fie".

Maybe for you Tidus is "Tee-dus", or maybe it's "Tie-dus". And when Clive shouts "Come to me Ifrit!" in Final Fantasy 16, maybe you expected "If-rit" or "Eef-rit" rather than "If-reet".

Regardless of how you pronounce the name, Cait Sith will be playable in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth with moves like Kitty Wallop and Lucky Roll. However, everyone's favourite vampire Vincent won't be playable - instead he'll be an accompanying character like Red XIII in Remake, as reported by IGN.

I got to play Rebirth a couple of weeks back and described it as "Remake supercharged".

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