Final Fantasy XIV - Disciples of the Hand / Characters

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/FinalFantasyXIVDisciplesOfTheHand

This page covers the NPCs featured in the various Disciple of the Hand questlines. For the Disciple of the Hand classes themselves, see The Warrior of Light.

As the story has advanced beyond the point of hiding plot twists, there are unmarked spoilers below, you have been warned.

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Carpenter

Beatin

Race: Wildwood Elezen
Discipline: Carpenter

"You must be the wood."

An Elezen male who is the Guildmaster of the Carpenters' Guild in Gridania. Well respected, and friendly to most people.

Ambiguously Gay: Has a very strong emotional attachment to Gairhard, and has a minor breakdown when the two men argue.
The Cameo: He makes an appearance in the Level 50 Leatherworker quest as one of the attendees at the leatherworking exhibition.
Character Catchphrase: "Do not disappoint me."
Eccentric Artist: While he's known to be strict, he's also known to be quite weird, with his talks about being the wood. The Level 60 Questline was kickstarted due to Cemi seeing him trying to reconnect with wood by living as a tree would, attempting to survive only on sunlight and water.
Friend to All Children: He's particularly caring for the orphans who play in the area next to the guild, has the player help hand out toys to them, and check on how they are doing with their studies and practices in various guild and side quests.
Important Haircut: One of the Postman quests reveals that he had once lost faith in himself and his craft, and let his hair grow out obscuring his vision in despair. The famed barber restored his self confidence, and in a flash gave him a new haircut to let him see properly. He's worn his hair in that style ever since.
Innocent Innuendo: The manner in which Beatin speaks of his freshly cut wood can invoke this.
Beatin: The thrill of taking hardwood in hand, stroking it from end to end, feeling every knot and grain against your fingertips? No words could do such euphoria justice!
Multiple-Choice Past: During the side quest to gain the Harvest Dance emote, it's implied that he may have at one point been a ship builder in Limsa Lominsa, due to his singing of a builder's sea shanty during the quest.
Stealth Hi/Bye: Pulls this a few times during the Stormblood carpenter storyline, often startling everyone who was already there. Especially funny because he does this in the Far East, when he was believed to have stayed at the shop in Gridania.
Stern Teacher: He is described as being quite strict, threatening to saw off the hands of poor carpenters who waste materials if not for his distaste for the smell of blood. But unlike his leatherworking counterpart, Geva, he doesn't hesitate to commend his students when they do their work well.

Gairhard

Race: Hyur Highlander
Discipline: Archer

An intense and emotional captain in the Order of the Twin Adder who has a long history with Beatin.

#1 Dime: Gairhard treasures the first bow Beatin ever made him — but it's a maple longbow, one of the weakest weapons in the game and on its last legs to boot. It breaks in the middle of a battle with the Ixal, forcing him into hiding until the Warrior can arm him with a freshly-made Crab Bow in the Level 50 quest.
A Father to His Men:
- More than once, Beatin orders you to make expensive and high-quality equipment to fill an order for Gairhard. Each time, Gairhard states it's for his squad members to help keep them alive. No expense is too great. However, he does all this while neglecting his own equipment.
- The final mission of the Stormblood questline has him try to reconcile the arguing Gridanian and Ala Mhigan members of his squad. He declares them not only to be brothers-and-sisters-in-arms, but also a family.
Honor Before Reason: He refuses to use any other bow than the one Beatin made him back when they were comrades, considering it a reliable companion for all these years. Beatin didn't even realize he was still using the thing after all these years (as Beatin himself considers the bow an Old Shame) and spends the remainder of the Carpenter questline trying to convince Gairhard to let him make a new one. After Beatin gets a look at it himself and determines that the thing is going to break apart any moment, he becomes horribly depressed from the realization that one of his dearest friends is going to throw away his life for no good reason.
Poor Communication Kills: He perceives Beatin's concerns about his safety, and the condition of his equipment, to be overbearing and unwarranted. After Beatin actually gets a look at his bow and realizes it's about to break right before a mission, Gairhard is so fed up with him that he refuses to listen, even though this time Beatin's concerns are very much warranted. This nearly gets him killed in an Ixal ambush. Only the Warrior's timely arrival with a new bow saves him.
The Straight and Arrow Path: He's an archer by trade, using the same bow that Beatin made for him when they were young for years and years.
Willfully Weak: He certainly wouldn't be considered weak by any measure, but Gairhard's been insisting on using the same worn-down Maple Longbow for decades. In spite of this, he was able to raise himself up to Captain in the Twin Adder and after being given a much stronger replacement bow, he is able to quickly take down an Ixali ambush singlehandedly.

Barthovieu

Race: Wildwood Elezen
Discipline: Archer

An archer living in the Brume of Ishgard who wants the Warrior of Light to make a bow worthy of killing dragons to restore his family's honor.

Mark of Shame: Because his father was killed by beastkin instead of dragons, his family is considered shamed by Ishgardian standards.
When You Coming Home, Dad?: In his efforts to raise his social standing and secure a better life for his son, Barthovieu spends long periods of time away from his son, who is terrified that Barthovieu might not come home one day.

Cemi Jinjahl

Race: Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te
Discipline: Carpenter

"Live, love, and craft to fulfill the needs of others—That is the way of the carpenter."

A young carpenter who recruits the Warrior of Light to help save the Guild from financial ruin.

Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Her energetic personality means that she's easily sidetracked by new things. Beatin dispatches the Warrior of Light to help her as a Big Brother Mentor and keep her on track, as the letters she sent from Kugane show that she's quickly become a tourist rather than studying the architecture as planned.
Didn't Think This Through: Cemi has an unfortunate habit of only listening to the barest amount of information and jumping to her own conclusions. This severely hampers her work as a carpenter since she never takes the time to properly understand what her clients actually need her to create. Even her whole reason for going to the Far East was built on a misunderstanding, as the Carpenters' Guild's apparent lack of revenue is offset by the constant commissions they get from the Order of the Twin Adders, meaning that there were never any financial difficulties to begin with. Beatin supposedly starving himself to save money was also one of his rituals to improve his craft, as he figured he needed to live like a tree to better attune himself to the wood he's working with.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: She becomes increasingly critical of herself with every failure to please a client. By the end of her stay in the Far East, she's muttering that the difference between her and the Warrior of Light is that the latter is a master carpenter while she isn't.

Blacksmith

Brithael Spade

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brithael.jpg

Race: Midlander Hyur
Discipline: Blacksmith

"Friends'll betray ye, lovers'll leave ye, but yer hammer'll never do ye no wrong."

A Midlander Hyur male and guildmaster of the Blacksmiths' Guild. Skilled in his art, but unfortunately, known to be a heavy drinker and frequent visitor to Limsa Lominsa's Drowning Wench.

The Alcoholic: H'naanza is exasperated by how heavily Brithael hits the bottle, as he drinks all of his earnings away at the Drunken Wench. He repeatedly offers you a drink for your quality work too. He even refers to himself as a drunk upon completion of the Level 50 Blacksmith Quest. Only his skills as a blacksmith and your own intervention keep him from being an unemployed drunk.
Brithael: If ye hadn't come along when ye did an' helped us turn things around with yer quality smithin', I reckon I'd be another workless drunk drownin' me sorrows at the Wench. Instead, I'm a happily employed drunk celebratin' me successes at the Wench!
Brilliant, but Lazy: By all means, he's a good Guildmaster. Not overbearing and assigning jobs appropriately to members, so that newer and average skill members are given the common assignments (I.E. making knives, nails, ingots, and more basic weaponry and tools) to get training, while highly skilled members (read: the player character), get the VIP commissions. The problem is, Brithael counts success in bottles of ale from the Drowning Wench tavern, which leads to things such as drunken bets of the reputation of the guild and shop to make high-quality equipment, or find himself a bit too hungover to do his own work. As a result, the Blacksmiths' Guild is starting to bleed money until the Warrior of Light shows up and starts smithing, turning the guild's reputation and fortunes around in the process.
Doing It for the Art: In-universe. Brithael considers himself a "smitty" first and foremost, not caring much for the business side of things no matter how much his coworkers rake him over the coals for it.
Drowning His Sorrows: Judging by his passing comments about how a good hammer will never let you down, unlike a wife who ran off with a merchant, it's implied that Brithael's drinking habit began when his wife left him for a wealthier man.
Eccentric Artist: When he's not forging masterworks, he's often drinking until he's blackout drunk at the Drunken Wench, leaving his workers annoyed at his lack of attention to revenues and payment.
Emasculated Cuckold: Given his comments on how a hammer will never betray you, unlike a spouse, it's implied that his wife left him to elope with a wealthy merchant, contributing to his drinking habit.
Foil: To H'naanza. H'naanza and Bristael are the guildmasters and Reasonable Authority Figures of the Armorers' and Blacksmiths' Guilds. But while Bristael is an Eccentric Artist and The Alcoholic who doesn't care much for the business end of things, H'naanza is a Stern Teacher and focuses on running a tight ship financially.
Nice Guy: Brithael is an extremely friendly and welcoming person who opens the doors to the Blacksmith Guild to anyone who feels they have an interest. He delegates tasks fairly and is happy to praise fine work.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He finds Sekka's attitude at the beginning of the Stormblood Blacksmith questline frustrating (she refuses to help fill mundane orders and keeps chastising the other blacksmiths for filling orders instead of elevating themselves and their craft), and disruptive to the guild. When she finally challenges him to put her into a contest against another smith in the guild, he chooses the player character believing she would lose (and honestly hoping it would drive her away). When Sekka does inevitably lose, he gives a very valid criticism of where she went wrong, which gets in combination with the client's word, gets through to her and prompts a much more humble attitude. After that, there is no more talk of being rid of her, and he even supports her against her father's dismissal and even commissions a set of tools for her that will be easier for her to wield.
No Guy Wants to Be Chased: His reaction to frequent love-letters from Sekka after her stay with their guild is to drop to his knees in despair; utterly uninterested in her affections, but too fearful of her father's wrath should he either reject or reciprocate them. And here he'd been hoping his days would be peaceful after retiring from sailing...
Starving Artist: Zigzagged. On one hand, he's the forgemaster of the Blacksmiths' Guild, which would naturally make him a very wealthy man. The problem is that he has neither business acumen nor an interest in it, drinking his earnings away and leaving his own workers to pick up the slack.
Talk Like a Pirate: He speaks with a thick Lominsan brogue like many other natives of the city.

Faezahr

A Roegadyn merchant who buys the guild's goods, and sells them in the other city-states. He is most often known for frequenting Ul'dah, and showering gifts of fine weaponry to female gladiators.

All Love Is Unrequited: He's seriously attracted to a particular gladiator named Muriel, whom he calls an artisan who paints the bloodsands red. In fact, he gets the Warrior of Light to make her three, high-quality weapons in hopes of winning her affection, essentially making you his Romantic Wingman. Alas, she likes the gifts so much that she tries to cozy up to you rather than Faezahr in hopes of getting more weapons like them.
Amazon Chaser: Is infamously known to give gifts of finely made equipment to the female gladiators.
Slobs Versus Snobs: He thinks himself a more sophisticated counterpart to Brithael, owing to his more eloquent tongue and sharper business instincts. In reality, his vice (spending inordinate amounts of money on commissions he then gives away in an attempt to woo female gladiators) is simply less publicly embarrassing than Brithael's (spending those commissions getting sloshed at the tavern).
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He has a business deal with the Blacksmiths' Guild that has him buy its goods to sell (and give away) in Gridania and Ul'dah. While this is incredibly profitable for both ends of the deal, it's clear that Brithael and Faezahr dislike each other at best and hate each other at worst. Brithael constantly refers to Faezahr as a "whoreson", while Faezahr mocks Brithael's drinking problem and calls him an Anti-Mentor to the Warrior of Light.

Baroness Laurisse de Jervaint

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/laurisse_de_jervaint_ff14.png

Race: Wildwood Elezen
Discipline: Paladin

A young Elezen woman in Ishgard who is the last living member of a noble but impoverished bloodline. She seeks to become a Temple Knight in order to restore her family's fortunes and honor.

Ancestral Weapon: In order to help her finish her trials to become a Temple Knight, the Warrior reforges Integrity, a blade passed down her family line for generations.
Clothing Damage: The Level 53 Blacksmith quest, "Leave It to Fremondain," has this played innocently as the rivets holding her armor broke while she was fighting three bandits, leading the Warrior of Light to forge three HQ Mythrite Rivets to repair it.
Cool Sword: Her family's ancestral sword, Integrity, possesses a blade of adamantite forged with long-forgotten techniques and imbued with holy power thanks to having the bone of a saint within the hilt. But her family hasn't taken care of it at all over the years, leaving it a nicked, chipped, and useless mess. Laurisse tasks the Warrior of Light with restoring it, but it quickly becomes clear that the blade is too worn to be of any use even to an Ultimate Blacksmith. The Warrior of Light instead forges a new blade to replace Integrity's old one, the sight of which has onlookers in awe at what a masterpiece it is.
Honor Before Reason:
- Her desire to become a knight is so profound that she's fully willing to stride into battle with a rusty old sword and no armor despite how suicidal that is. Fremondain has to frantically ask you for the materials to repair her armor and make her a replacement sword in time for her fights so she doesn't get hurt or worse.
- She's outraged when she finds out that Fremondain has been making the Warrior help her free of charge, complaining that it simply isn't fair to the Warrior no matter how dire her finances are. So she gives the Warrior her cherished rosary as collateral while promising to use her prize money to buy it back from them.
Impoverished Patrician: By the time the Warrior meets her, her fortunes are so low that she has nothing but the clothes on her back, a single manservant who refuses to leave her service, and a few family heirlooms. Said manservant also secretly works multiple jobs to help her make ends meet.
Noblesse Oblige: She wants to become a knight not to clear her father's name or for her own personal gain, but because she wishes to use her restored privilege to help the unprivileged as her father did.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Her father chose to give his mens' rations to the starving poor. He was subsequently accused of pilfering and embezzlement, resulting in his family being strippled of its noble titles and reduced to poverty.
Pink Is Feminine: Her dress beneath her armor is a light pink, expressing her youthful, passionate femininity in contrast to seasoned and serious knights like Lucia.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's about the same age as Alphinaud and Alisaie, so she's quite tiny by Elezen standards, but she is able to fight on even footing with fully grown warriors. So much so that while she fails to defeat the other finalists seeking to become Temple Knights, she puts up such a fine showing despite her handicap that she is made a squire with high hopes for the future.
Reforged Blade: Subverted. Laurisse insists on using her family's ancestral sword, Integrity, in the last round of the tournament. Unfortunately, her family hasn't taken care of it at all, leaving it a nicked and scraped wreck beyond repair even for an Ultimate Blacksmith like Gerolt. But since the important part is the saint's bone housed within the hilt, the Warrior is able to instead forge a new blade out of adamantite to replace the worn and useless one.
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- She's a Pint-Sized Powerhouse whose sheer ferocity winds up making five other competitors forfeit rather than fight her. At the end of her questline, we see her courageously square up against her first opponent, a rather grizzled and tough-looking warrior twice her size, and after the scene cuts away, we learn she lost the battle decisively. After all, she is a young noble about the same age as Alphinaud and Alisaie, not a seasoned warrior like her opponent was. However, due to her unflinching courage in the face of such a foe, she is made a squire at Ser Aymeric's and Ser Handeloup's recommendation, giving her a path towards knighthood in the future.
- She and Fremondain task the Warrior of Light with reforging her family's ancestral sword in time for the tournament. But one look at the nicked, worn, and poorly-maintained blade makes it clear that it's virtually impossible to get back in fighting shape. Even an Ultimate Blacksmith like Gerolt who specializes in restoring forgotten weapons points out that it'd be far more practical to replace the blade rather than trying to restore the old one.

Fremondain

Laurisse de Jervaint's faithful manservant, refusing to leave her service despite their poverty.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He begs the Warrior's aid despite not having anything to pay them with.
Feeling Their Age: Fremondain commissions a lightweight sword for self-defense from the Warrior of Light during the Stormblood Blacksmith quests. While he has some skill with a blade, his age means that a heavier and sharper sword would only be an encumbrance should he be accosted on the street.
Undying Loyalty: He steadfastly supports Laurisse despite their poverty, going so far as to work multiple jobs to help her make ends meet.

Sekka Furukane

"In Hingashi, swordsmiths are taught to strive for excellence. To push boundaries. We dedicate our lives to seeing that each weapon we make surpasses the last."

A Midlander Hyur from Hingashi, who traveled to Limsa Lominsa to learn blacksmithing after constant rejection from her father Shinto, Kugane's greatest blacksmith.

All Love Is Unrequited: She falls deeply in love with Brithael after he defends her dream of becoming a swordsmith from her father's attempts to tear it down. She starts sending him love letters that are dozens of pages long, each one longer than the last. Unfortunately for her, Brithael isn't interested, but can't exactly tell her no thanks to her Boyfriend-Blocking Dad.
Awesome, but Impractical: The level 63 Blacksmith quest plays this straight where she makes a huge and heavy sword for Fremondain that would be worthy of a dark knight, though the Warrior of Light wins since they made a lightweight and simple sword for the old steward.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Her crush on Brithael first manifests after he defends her dream from her overbearing father.
Boring Yet Practical: The Level 70 Blacksmith quest is the inverse of the 63 quest as well as what the Warrior of Light makes. They make a sword worthy of a lord while she makes one for an untrained everyman.
Culture Clash: Sekka comes to Limsa Lominsa's Blacksmiths' Guild in hopes of learning how to forge the finest swords in the world. She's aghast when she finds that the guild is more focused on fulfilling orders and commissions than a goal or an ideal in their craft as smiths would in Hingashi. She soon tries to impose her beliefs on the rest of the guild, even challenging the Warrior of Light to a smithing contest to prove herself right. She winds up losing due to being overly focused on showcasing her skills rather than fitting the sword to the client, humbling her and making her more open to Brithael's gradual and laissez-faire style of learning.
Didn't Think This Through: Zigzagged in the final Stormblood Blacksmith quest. Her sword for the contest is so plain and simple that her father initially thinks it's a joke on her part. She explains that since the commission they are trying to win will be producing swords for the retainers of a samurai lord, she prepared an example sword of what they will be providing, weapons that even untrained servants can use. She instantly loses, as while that's the goal of the commission, the point of the contest was to produce a flashy, elaborate sword they can show off to the samurai lord. However, that she did put serious thought into what she's making and why is a sign she's not solely focused on pleasing her father which earns his respect enough to let her train under him.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Due to her father's verbal abuse of her, Sekka has a diminished opinion of her own skills as a swordsmith. She considers the katana she carries for self-defense as a "rubbish creation" when a local Yellowjacket calls it finer than any weapon he's ever had the chance to wield.
High Hopes, Zero Talent: Subverted. Sekka's father Shinto claims she has no future as a swordsmith and to give up while she's ahead, something that makes her desperate to please him and prove herself. But Brithael notes that she clearly has talent despite not being at the level of a master smith, calling Shinto's treatment of her unfair and criticizing him for tearing her down. Brithael then opts to create a set of custom tools for her to allow her to talents to blossom in full. While she still has a ways to go by the end of the quests, Shinto is impressed when she puts the needs of the clients ahead of trying to impress him, finally convincing him that she has what it takes to become a true Hingan swordsmith.
Hot-Blooded: She is extremely passionate about the art of swordsmithing and it drives everything she does. But this also makes her impulsive and gives her a short temper, going so far as to sail halfway around the world to try to apprentice herself at the Blacksmiths' Guild when her father barred her from every forge in Kugane. She also nearly kills a man with one of her katanas when he gets handsy with her.
Irony: At the start of the quest series she's involved in, she and the Warrior of Light have a contest over who can make the best sword for the retainer of a young Ishgardian noble that the WoL helped during the previous questline series. Sekka makes a large and very ornate sword, but loses to the WoL who made a simple and light sword due to said retainer being old and not needing anything fancy, just something to defend himself in case his charge wasn't around to protect him. At the end, when her father pits her against the WoL once again, she takes the lesson she learned from the previous contest and creates a simple and practical katana. Problem is, this time the contest was to make a weapon for a high-ranking samurai lord, so in this case an ornate and fancy katana was much more justified. Sekka loses again. However, her thoughtfulness about practicality and the needs of the client over just trying to create weapons for her father's approval convinces him that she does have what it takes to be a blacksmith, so she achieves her overall goal anyway.
Rescue Romance: She falls madly in love with Brithael after he defends her efforts to follow in her father's footsteps as a swordsmith despite having nothing to gain from it.
"Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: She is positively desperate for her father's approval that he might take her on as an apprentice. This is actually what's holding her back, as she's more focused on gaining his approval than actually being a good swordsmith.

Shinto Furukane

"The perfect blade can only be forged by those who have cleared their mind of all thoughts not related to the task at hand."

Sekka's father and the finest swordsmith in Kugane. He disparages his daughter's attempts to follow in his footstops, declaring that she fundamentally lacks something a smith needs and that she should give up her dreams.

Abusive Parents: Shinto's insistence on Tough Love and his exacting standards as a swordsmith have led him to constantly hurl insults at his daughter Sekka. He tells her she has High Hopes, Zero Talent and to give up her craft to do something else. This is despite her clear talents as a swordsmith that others can tell at a glance, with Brithael calling Shinto's treatment of her unfair.
Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: For all of his emphasis on Tough Love, Shinto cares about his daughter enough to react with murderous rage when she confesses her feelings to Brithael. He soon sends the Lominsan forgemaster packing by drawing Sekka's sword and giving a Death Glare combined with an ominous dark Battle Aura and Red Eyes, Take Warning.
Brutal Honesty: Zigzagged. Shinto doesn't sugarcoat his opinions of anyone, not even his own daughter. He calls her a mediocre and talentless swordsmith and tells her to hang up her hammer for good after watching her work. But these verbal tongue lashings do nothing to address what she's actually missing and he refuses to be frank with her about why he won't take her on as an apprentice.
Cryptically Unhelpful Answer: Shinto repeatedly tells Sekka that she lacks something fundamental to be a great swordsmith and that she'd be better off giving up and doing something else. But he refuses to tell her what exactly she is lacking no matter how much she pleads with him. This leaves her lost and confused enough to hop on a boat and sail around the world in hopes of discovering what Shinto means at the Blacksmiths' Guild.
Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Shinto believes that Sekka lacks something she needs to be a proper swordsmith and tells her to give up on her dreams. He goes so far as to bar her from every forge in Kugane to prevent her from honing her skills. This motivates her to run away to Limsa Lominsa in hopes of learning from the blacksmiths at the famed Blacksmiths' Guild. When he visit Limsa Lominsa to appraise her progress, he continues to be disappointed in her and threatens to disown her if she doesn't give up the trade.
Poor Communication Kills: The entire plot of the Stormblood Blacksmith questline could have been avoided had he simply told Sekka that what's holding her back is her desperation to prove herself to him rather than pursuing her craft for her own sake. But his stoicism and insistence on Tough Love meant that she was kept in the dark about this until she realized this herself.
Secret Test of Character: Upon arriving in Limsa Lominsa, he commissions the Warrior to create an uchigatana solely from a hunk of rusted iron. Sekka is aghast, as even the most seasoned swordsmiths would struggle to make anything usable from such awful materials. But the Warrior takes the challenge anyways and the sword, while rough-hewn, is usable in combat. This impresses Shinto, as this was a test to appraise the Warrior's skills as an artisan as well as their willingness to rise to such a challenge. He then uses the Warrior's performance to denigrate Sekka for being unable to do the same after a decade of practice.
Sensitive Artist: Inverted. Shinto is a swordsmith without peer in Kugane, but he's also The Stoic and extremely hard on his daughter. He disparages her for wanting to follow in his footsteps as a swordsmith and constantly calls her a talentless woman who would be better off doing something else.
Tough Love: Shinto is cynical and The Stoic to his daughter Sekka. Although she yearns to follow in his footsteps as a swordsmith, he constantly lambastes her as a mediocre craftswoman and tells her she has no future in the trade while negatively comparing her to the Warrior of Light. In his mind, his criticisms are nothing but the unvarnished truth that she needs to hear, but his unwillingness to simply tell Sekka what she's missing as a swordsmith drives the conflict of the story.
Ultimate Blacksmith: He's essentially Brithael's counterpart in Kugane as the finest swordsmith in Hingashi.

Armorer

H'naanza Esi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hnaanza.jpg

Race: Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te
Discipline: Armorer

"I see it as my Builder-given duty to not only pass on the techniques of the armorer to the next generation of artisans, but to improve on those processes as well."

A female Miqo'te and guildmaster of the Armorers' Guild. Cares a lot for her students and is willing to share everything about the trade.

The Blacksmith: She is the forgemaster of the Armorers' Guild, making her its best craftsman and representative in all things. While her skills are rivaled by Blanstyr (and later the Warrior of Light), she's also a capable leader and teacher who has charged herself with passing the guilds' teaching onto the next generation.
Brutal Honesty: She isn't afraid to call someone unreliable or irresponsible and is quick to call out shoddy work. But the inverse is also true, as she will lavish someone with praise when it's due and is always upfront with others about her intentions.
Compassionate Critic: She is quite stern when it comes to pointing out flaws in her workers' crafts, but she does it out of a genuine desire to help them improve, unlike Blanstyr who does it mainly to be an elitist asshole.
Cool Shades: Her eyes are always hidden behind a pair of shades.
Cool Teacher: She may be a Stern Teacher, but she will always stick up for her students and workers because of how important it is to pass down the guild's teachings so they aren't lost forever. This leads her to butt heads with the elitist Blanstyr, a rival to her position as forgemaster who scoffs at teaching anyone but the most talented armorers.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Her stern, all-business attitude makes her seem unapproachable at first. But she shows a more motherly and supportive side to her workers that do their best and strive to improve.
Foil:
- To Bristael. H'naanza and Bristael are the guildmasters and Reasonable Authority Figures of the armorers' and Blacksmiths' Guilds. But while Bristael is an Eccentric Artist and The Alcoholic who doesn't care much for the business end of things, H'naanza is a Stern Teacher who focuses on running a tight ship financially while passing her teachings down to the next generation of armorers.
- To Blanstyr. He thinks that H'naanza's students will never progress and is very cynical, only wanting the most experienced and talented armorers to do commissions, while H'naanza has faith in her students and states that if Blansytr had his way, the art will become esoteric and lost to history.
Non-Standard Character Design: She's a Seeker of the Sun, yet her pale skin makes her appear to be a Keeper of the Moon.
Only Sane Woman: She's the chief authority in the Armorers' Guild and far more responsible, attentive, and diligent then her most prominent co-workers at Naldiq & Vymelli's, Brithael and Blanstyr. She lacks Brithael's drinking problem and laziness, running a tight ship in the Armorers' Guild. She also doesn't have Blasntyr's elitism and inability to attend to his customer's needs, being both an excellent teacher and a more resilient and creative craftsman.
Passing the Torch: Invoked when she explains her ideology to you. H'naanza knows that the guilds' techniques will be lost if she were to cast out anyone who didn't provide immediate results.
H'naanza: [to the Warrior of Light] If we choose not to pass down our knowledge, all of our techniques and methods we've perfected over gods know how long are destined to perish along with us. Blanstyr bemoans the "dampening" of our forges' flames, while advocating a course that would extinguish them altogether! And that is why I will continue to expose as many initiates to as many facets of the craft as I can, until such time as I die or am replaced. I may add that your yourself stand as a shining example of how effective this approach can be.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Unlike Blanstyr, H'naanza understands that not everyone is innately gifted or talented, allowing her armorers to grow at their own pace so long as she sees that they're making an honest effort. While she chews out carelessness, she never bullies or demeans her workers, as she knows she needs every hand on deck to keep up with all the orders and maintain the prestige of the guild as well as preserve the guilds' techniques for posterity. Even when one of her workers takes on more than they can handle and nearly bungles a commission for the Maelstrom, she understands that he was just trying to improve and push past his limits, refusing to cast him out and instead asking you to help finish the commission in his place.
H'naanza: I could drop full responsibility for this failure on Swithin's unreliable shoulders, and cast him out of the guild. But what worth is a guild that does naught to support its members when they truly need it?
Stern Teacher: According to her students, her words could flay the scales off a fishback at forty paces. She expects nothing but the best efforts and the finest attention to detail from all her workers. She'll rake them over the coals for not bothering to master the fundamentals, but she's always fair and never bullies them either. Unlike Blanstyr, she's happy to coach even floundering armorers if she sees they're making an honest effort to grow and learn from their mistakes.
Training from Hell: One of her first tasks for you is to forge a mountain of bronze ingots until your thoughts and dreams are filled with them. Then continue doing it until you wake up and find that your pillow has become a bronze ingot.
You're Insane!: She's gawps at how Merlwyb tests Blanstyr and the Warrior of Light's armor in the Level 50 Armorer quest: by putting it through rigorous tests including having the test subjects wearing the armor beaten down with axes and shot at.

Blanstyr

Race: Seawolf Roegadyn
Discipline: Armorer

A Roegadyn and fellow Armorer, however his philosophy about armory and opinions about the guildmates put him at odds with H'naanza.

Awesome, but Impractical: In-Universe, in the first Heavensward Armorer quest, "The Breaking of Blanstyr," the armor he makes looks quite fine, but he could barely even move in it, never mind fight off a rat in Lower La Noscea, which is a Noob Cave. Arguably it's not just that his understanding of forging has slipped, but that he never bothered to learn how to wear armor.
- This is repeatedly shown to be a major flaw of Blanstyr's work during the level 50 and 60 questlines, focusing more on creating armor that is as tough as possible but without any other functional concerns, such as a breast plate that restricts a Gladiator's range of movement, helmets that restrict the wearers' vision, or even a Lancer's desire for armor that's both effective and good-looking (he's not exactly adept at the latter). The player's works by contrast are created after thoroughly investigating and understanding the clients' needs, resulting in armor that is Simple, yet Awesome.
Break the Haughty: The Heavensward 50+ Questline is one long Humiliation Conga designed to hammer his ego into oblivion.
Caustic Critic: While he has a point in saying that making shoddy armor could end up get someone else killed, unlike H'naanza, his criticisms are designed to destroy the self-esteem of those he deems unworthy of becoming armorers rather than being constructive in any way. It doesn't help that he sees workaday armor (i.e. normal quality) as unworthy of consideration...despite that if it's such a dependable sale, it probably does the job just fine without need for all-or-nothing criteria.
Character Development: He's given a heaping helping of Humble Pie in A Realm Reborn and Heavensward, and has mellowed out considerably as a result in the Stormblood questline, where he acts as a Friendly Rival at his very worst.
The Cynic: Has little faith in H'naanza's students (bar a certain and recent exception) and thinks that her idealism will ruin the guild's reputation and get someone killed.
In Another Man's Shoes: While he's always been quite proud of the armor he makes, he's never thought of how people fare once they put it on until he wore his own creations.
Jerkass Has a Point: H'naanza admits his brutally caustic form of instruction is the kind of swift boot to the rear that some students need and thrive on, it's just that Blanstyr is like that to everyone regardless of whether it helps them or makes things worse. He's also not wrong that armorers can't produce shoddy work because people's lives depend on their armor holding up, as Merlwyb reinforces when she tests the armor presented to her by having her men don it then endure attacks. It's just that it's his armor that Merlwyb's shots actually defeat.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though he takes a while to show the "heart of gold" part. He's almost completely lost all of his Jerkass traits by Stormblood.
Manchild:
- H'naanza labels him this for his obsession with being the best armorer and shunning anyone who fails to provide results. To him, all of his colleagues are rivals rather than coworkers, and his elitism means that he takes almost sadistic pleasure in destroying the self-esteem of those he deems unworthy.
  H'naanza: He is an overgrown, sulky child who sees his fellow colleagues as naught more than rivals. In his tiny world, all that matters is who is best, who is brightest, and who is most able to provide immediate value to the guild.
- In the Heavensward series of quests, Blanstyr is quick to toss in the towel when a customer orders a helmet that is both lightweight and extremely protective, dismissing the commission without even trying to think of a solution (suggesting that he hasn't been keeping up in his study of metallurgical innovation).
The Rival: He's H'naanza's equal in armorcraft and vies for her position as forgemaster so he can reshape the Armorers' Guild into one where only the best and brightest are allowed to join. When the Warrior of Light sides with her in this political conflict, he considers them this too for being an extremely talented armorer.
Worthy Opponent: Sees the player as this after they start making better armor than him.

Goldsmith

Serendipity

Race: Midlander Hyur
Discipline: Goldsmith

"Smelting, casting, cutting, polishing— we use all these techniques to craft beautiful baubles that delight the eyes."

The recently-appointed guildmaster of the Goldsmiths' Guild. She's a little eccentric, but nonetheless talented at her craft.

A-Cup Angst: Downplayed. She's actually quite busty (her slider there is as high as it goes, in fact), but she's self-conscious about her looks and Gigi constantly harasses her about them when she's busy daydreaming about Robert.
Baby Don't Got Back: She's ashamed of her lack of curves around her rear. Gigi always harasses about this along with her A-Cup Angst.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's spacey, air-headed, and often acts more like a lovestruck schoolgirl than an artisan. But as the guildmaster of the Goldsmith Guild she's one of the finest craftsmen in the world when it comes to jewelrymaking.
Comically Missing the Point: After you complete the Goldsmith questline, she will comment on how Gegeruju has been insisting that she visit him at his Palmtree Panic-esque coastal estate. Though the Player can easily imagine the many ways Gegeruju might wish to take advantage of her, Serendipity herself is not terribly worried about the prospect.
Genius Ditz: Seems a bit spacey, and not necessarily prepared for an administrative role, but clearly knows her trade.
Genki Girl: She's always peppy, energetic, and friendly.
Girlish Pigtails: She wears long pigtails, emphasizing her youthful and energetic femininity despite her austere position as guildmaster.

Gigi

"I sAy We gIvE hIm tHe gIfT tHaT kEePs oN gIvInG! i sAy wE gIvE hIm tHe gIfT oF fIrE!"

Serendipity's assistant. Having attended to the masters of the Goldsmiths' Guild for generations, this Mammet is not afraid to comment on a fledgling goldsmith's skills (or lack thereof).

Break the Haughty: He eats a little humble pie after the player supplies silver for his repair job.
Caustic Critic: His defining trait is that he endlessly compares current goldsmiths' works to his old masters' works. Unlike all of the other caustic critics in the crafter questlines however, Gigi's criticism is Played for Laughs because his inevitable insult often Crosses the Line Twice.
Damned by Faint Praise: Manages to Invert this. His initial criticism ("Not fit to make a chamberpot" "an affront to the gods themselves") is so ridiculously over-the-top that "I've seen worse" is treated as high praise.
Deadpan Snarker: All the time.
Eating Machine: Once ate a treat Serendipity had set aside for herself before telling her she needed to watch her figure. This despite being a mammet who can't even taste what he's eating and it being unclear if mammets even have a mouth.
Flawed Prototype: The Reveal at the end of the 2.0 questline is that Gigi is actually "Mnejing", the first Mammet ever made. While Serendipity naturally finds this amazing, she decides against informing Gigi himself so his ego doesn't inflate any further.
The Fog of Ages: Gigi has been around since the founding days of the Goldsmith's Guild and remembers the triumphs of every guildmaster that ran it. Unfortunately, his age has caused his systems and his sanity to break down.
Hidden Depths: He may be an insufferable smartass, but he has a strong sense of justice. He spots the questline's antagonist long before anyone else and readily tries to attack him when said antagonist holds someone at gunpoint.
Insufferable Genius: Gigi has been active since the founding of the Goldsmithing Guild; he is, at a minimum, several hundred years old. He has been the personal assistant of every Guildmaster the guild has ever had. His wealth of goldsmithing knowledge from previous guildmasters is absolutely indispensable, but it gave him an ego as big as all outdoors.
Insulted Awake: The level 50 quest tasks you with creating a high quality Black Pearl Ring for what turns out to be a thief. After some events, Gigi has been incapacitated, and your character gets the bright idea of using the ring to revive him. As Serendipity points out afterward, it makes absolutely no sense in terms of mammet construction, and your character doesn't actually know anything about how they work, but it revives him anyway because he couldn't bear having your creation in his body.
Serendipity: In spite of your reckless attempt to repair him, there was no permanent damage. Indeed, when you began fumbling around with his components and attempted to shove that ring inside him, I was absolutely terrified! Thankfully, through sheer strength of will, Gigi overcame his injuries. And it's all thanks to your ring. In Gigi's eyes, your ring was so poorly wrought that it filled him with an overwhelming disgust. You reminded him of his purpose by creating focus for his grand disdain, and in so doing you helped him to regain his senses! Isn't that wonderful? [...] Anyway, please accept my sincerest thanks. And though Gigi would be loath it admit it, I'm sure that deep down he's grateful to you as well. Oh, in the future, please don't attempt to repair a mammet until you have at least learned the basics of their construction!
Mechanical Lifeform: He's a mammet, a type of automation with its own soul provided through a special (and extremely expensive) core.
One-Steve Limit: Averted. Gigi shares his name with a mammet that appears in the Heavensward Hildibrand quests, though it both cases it isn't their original name—this Gigi's actual name is Mnejing, while the Hildibrand Gigi is actually Vivi.
Wanton Cruelty to the Common Comma: His dialogue is rendered in alternating caps with the spaces replaced by a symbol, emphasizing his robotic nature as well as how broken down he is.

Robert

Race: Midlander Hyur
Discipline: Paladin

A member of the Sultansworn who guard Ul'dah's sultana. He becomes a frequent customer of the Goldsmith Guild.

Chick Magnet: Serendipity is head-over-heels for him at first sight and has to stop herself from going on a tangent about him when he visits the guild to make an order.
Con Man: He's the infamous Jade Fox, conning Serendipity and the Goldsmiths' Guild out of their work before attempting to foist the blame onto Roroton.
Knight in Shining Armor: His dashing good looks and gleaming armor as a member of the Sultansworn give this impression. The problem is that he's anything but, attempting to murder Roroton and nearly breaking Gigi while trying to cover his tracks.

Roroton

Race: Dunesfolk Lalafell

A rising entrepreneur in Ul'dah, he starts striking it rich after starting a business relationship with the Goldsmiths' Guild, particularly with one new goldsmith.

Nice Guy: Even after being chased out of the Goldsmiths' Guild by Gigi's insults, he's quick to forgive and thankful to you and Serendipity for giving him a chance to make this business deal work despite his lack of prestige. He then becomes one of the Goldsmiths' Guild's most loyal customers, with both ends of the arrangement profiting handsomely from it.
Red Herring: His meteoric rise and seeming lack of connections besides his relationship to the Goldsmiths' Guild would have you believe that he is the infamous Jade Fox. This is further underscored by Gigi's rants about "secrets and lies" while Roroton is present in most of his interactions with you, and his dislike of works of art being kept out of sight of the public, suggesting a Just Like Robin Hood mentality. In fact, the one making the accusations against him is the true Jade Fox. Gigi's ranting is aimed at Robert.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He's outraged when Robert seemingly destroys Gigi beyond repair. Roroton then tackles Robert hard enough to knock him out cold.
Use Your Head: He defeats the Jade Fox with a headfirst tackle, completely knocking all the wind out of the thief despite Robert wearing armor.

Marcel

A goldsmith for Esthaime Aesthetics, one of the largest jewelry sellers in Ul'dah. After the incident with the Jade Fox, he comes forward to offer you a chance to contribute to the anniversary gift for an esteemed officer in the Immortal Flames, promising fame and fortune.

High-Class Glass: He wears a monocle not because he needs it, but because he feels it makes him more refined and presentable. Serendipity thinks it just makes him look pretentious.
True Craftsman: His condescending attitude and preening aside, Marcel is truly passionate about goldsmithing, believing that it's a goldsmith's job to breathe life into their work so that it can move hearts and change lives.
Underestimating Badassery: Er, goldsmithing. Despite making a black pearl ring intended to be given to the sultana herself, Marcel is dismissive of the Warrior of Light at first, stating that they would merely "contribute" to Jeweled Peak's gift to her husband. But the Warrior's repeated showings of their jewelrymaking prowess and passion for their craft quickly revise Marcel's opinion. By the end, he's entrusting the Warrior with the entire project to make a one-of-a-kind masterpiece while singing their praises as one of the greatest geniuses in Esthaime Aesthetics' history.

The Crown Gemworks

Race: Highlander Hyur (Emeloth, Wido, Hal),
Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te (J'khebica), Ananta (Kanchana)
Discipline: Goldsmith

The focus of the Stormblood questline, the Crown Gemworks is a newly-established artisans' school founded and funded by Sultana Nanamo in order to stimulate the newly-liberated Ala Mhigo's economy. The Gemworks consists of Emeloth, Kanchana, J'khebica, Wido, and Hal, with the Warrior of Light serving as a schoolmaster to teach the latter three.

Always Identical Twins: Wido and Hal. The two are only distinguishable by the color of their shirts and hair highlights, blue for Hal and red for Wido.
Blind Without 'Em: Emeloth and Kanchana are initially confused by J'khebica's lack of progress despite her firm grasp of the concepts of goldsmithing. After realizing that J'khebica's eyesight is the problem, everyone is alarmed to learn that she's blind with 'em, too, mistaking Emeloth's hand for Kanchana's. The level 65 quest is dedicated to making her a pair of glasses that actually work for her.
Didn't Think This Through: Emeloth and Kanchana commission the Warrior to make a new pair of glasses for J'khebica after realizing that her current pair isn't correcting her vision. After they finish, they realize that today's lesson would require her to take off her glasses to use them as a reference to make another pair. Unwilling to admit their mistake, the teachers try to pass this off as being part of the challenge to buy time for them to come up with the next lesson plan.
Karmic Jackpot: The end of the questline sees the students striving to create a miniaturized orchestrion solely out of a sincere desire to repay Nanamo for her generosity. However, the practicality of such a device along with craftsmanship worthy of the Sultana herself means that the Gemworks are flooded with orders to produce more within only hours of presenting it to her, firmly establishing a new economic foothold for Ala Mhigo.
Motor Mouth: While not voiced, J'khebica speaks in a lot of run-on sentences, which gives this impression.
Sibling Triangle: Soundly Averted between Wido, Hal, and J'khebica, much to the disappointment of Kanchana, who admits she finds such situations interesting.
Those Two Guys: Wido and Hal.

Colbernoux

Race: Wildwood Elezen
Discipline: Goldsmith

A longtime member of the Goldsmiths' Guild and minor aid in the Heavensward questline, where the player attempts to accomplish a very similar commission to what he had once theorized years prior.

Demoted to Extra: He only gets two appearances in A Realm Reborn, during the Heavensward Goldsmith questline and the Stormblood Alchemist questline. Compare that to his prevalent role in Legacy where he is the one who teaches goldsmithing to the Warrior of Light.
Family Business: He's the son of the former guildmaster of the Goldsmiths' Guild and an accomplished goldsmith in his own right.
Minor Major Character: Most players will only recognize him from two very minor appearances - the one in the Goldsmith questline, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo at the end of the Stormblood Alchemist questline. But he's actually the brother to one of the most important Ul'dah 1.0 storyline characters and was a major source of inspiration for his plans and actions, with almost no reference to him since the 2.0 relaunch due to the death of said character and the Calamity itself. He doesn't even naturally idle anywhere on the map - the only time to speak to him directly is one Goldsmith quest in particular.

Leatherworker

Geva Storke

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/geva.jpg

Race: Midlander Hyur
Discipline: Leatherworker

"The very thought of some two-gil hide mangler claiming to represent this guild makes me want to... Gaaah!"

The guildmaster of the Leatherworkers' Guild, and Fen-Yll Fineries. A strict, no-nonsense woman, famed for threatening to flay the skin of those who waste her time, and use it as leather.

Bad Boss: Hoo boy. She openly and bluntly mocks the Warrior of Light and deingrates their work constantly. She also demands they demean themselves before a customer for a perceived failure to live up to the Fen-Yll brand name, something even the "offended" customer finds completely unnecessary. Even in the later parts of the questline where she stops being so critical of the Warrior, it's only because she's come to acknowledge their skill and is still quite vocal about the failings of her other employees. Eventually most of her staff have had enough and jump ship to Angrbotha, which was itself started by another disgruntled employee.
Break the Haughty: The questline slowly has this happen to her. Geva's Bad Boss tendencies come back to bite her in the butt after her employees get fed up with her. Basically the entire Leatherworkers' Guild quits en masse at a certain point, forcing Geva to try and fulfill a massive amount of backlogged orders. And even though Geva is a master leatherworker, she's still only one person, and fulfilling that many orders (especially with her impossible standards) runs Geva ragged. It's only when Geva cools her jets, eats a big slice of Humble Pie, and stops being so mean all the time that everyone comes back.
Close to Home: She's initially dismissive of a man suffering from buyer's remorse after purchasing a jacket from a knockoff company rather than Fen-Yll. But after learning about how he'd planned to get a jacket that could be passed down to his son, an aspiring Wood Wailer, and eventual grandson, she asks who could say no to a story like that. Given her previous Jerkass behavior, this shocks the Warrior of Light. Geva scoffs at them, calling it a rhetorical question, but this makes much more sense after her official profile reveals that she's a mother of two.
Damned by Faint Praise: Tells the player that the order of Hard Leather she just demanded will see good use... as practice material for amateurs, and mocks them in a rather hilarious manner for thinking it could possibly be good enough to be sold. She points out that trusting the player to make practice material for amateurs shows that she no longer considers them an amateur, but even that is pretty faint praise.
Deadpan Snarker: Boy, is she ever. Geva takes no crap from anyone.
Good Parents: According to Encyclopedia Eorzea, Geva is a kind and loving mother of two at home; not that you'd ever see this side of her in game.
Jerkass Has a Point: She makes a good point that every scrap of leather requires the death of a living being. The misuse and waste of leather could lead to over-hunting and poaching, and risk enraging the elementals of the Black Shroud. And like Blanstyr from the Armorer quests, Geva recognizes that shoddy armor or weapons can get people killed. Indeed, many of the quests where she lectures most about the importance of good work involve combat gear.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Compared to the other guildmasters (who note that your work is simple, yet well-made at first), it takes a number of quests for her to even say the player's own work is good enough to be sold, criticizing you all the way. Asking her simple questions has her threatening to fire you from the guild altogether. She also isn't completely mean, as she recognizes from the start that the player does have the potential to be proficient in their work, and like all the other guildmasters, she starts warming up to you considerably after you start creating items of exceptional quality. She also happily agrees to accompany Mother Miounne to enjoy the Hatching-tide festivities, not to mention her being a very loving mother to two children.
Mistaken Identity: Famed for her Geva pattern leather. Unfamiliar customers think this means the leather has some fancy design or pattern stamped or cut into it. In reality, it's a cutting technique that Geva pioneered to reduce waste of leather without sacrificing quality.
My Greatest Failure: A toadskin bag of hers inspired numerous imitators to create knockoffs so wasteful, said toads were nearly hunted to extinction. It was this misstep that inspired the Geva pattern.
No Sympathy: The root of her Bad Boss tendencies is her complete lack of concern for her employees. One quest begins with her calling on the Warrior of Light to step in for another member of the guild who was to fill a customer's order. Because Geva berated him so harshly for his work not meeting her standards that he proceeded to flee the guild in tears. Geva's only concern? That they might not fill the customer's order in time due to the absence.
Sink or Swim Mentor: Implied to be this. Those who fail to meet her standards are kicked out or quit the guild. This comes back to bite her and the guild in the rear later on, when due to a large number of the members quitting, the guild falls severely behind on work orders. At the end of the level 50 quest, while she won't compromise on her standards, she does learn not to be so reckless with her workers.
So Proud of You: She gives the Warrior of Light her seal of approval at the end of the Level 50 Leatherworker quest, a testament to both her high standards and the Warrior's willingness to rise to the challenge.
Geva: With your triumph at the exhibition, your goods are sure to be in demand across Eorzea. But you must never forget how you achieved your success. Unflagging dedication to your craft, and a deep respect for the lives you must take to perform it. Remember always the values of Fen–Yll, and I have no doubt that you will do us proud wherever you go.
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Her Jerkass attitude comes back to bite her late in the A Realm Reborn Leatherworker storyline. Her zero-tolerance policy for subpar work and constant demeaning of her workers cause a mass walk out of guild members, as no one is willing to put up with her attitude anymore. Just about the only reason the questline doesn't end with the guild shutting down is because her rival is cartoonishly evil and terrible at hiding his tracks.
Took a Level in Kindness: By the end of the Level 50 Leatherworker quest, she learns to be kinder to her workers after she causes a mass walkout due to her constant browbeating. While her standards are unchanged, she learns to give second chances and not to so unnecessarily harsh. Following this, Geva is much more cordial to the Warrior of Light, with her constant criticism being downgraded to more playful ribbing.
True Craftsman: Deconstructed. Geva's harsh attitude ultimately stems from her genuine dedication to producing top-quality goods and avoiding unnecessary waste of resources. However, in practice this amounts to her being nasty to her employees, hyper-emphasizing every flaw or deficiency in their work and constantly criticizing everything short of perfection. And it doesn't matter that said criticism is coming from a completely sincere desire to make the best leather goods possible, people aren't going to put up with her relentless perfectionism and quit the guild en masse.

Dauid

Race: Midlander Hyur
Discipline: Leatherworker

The owner of Angrbotha Apparel and Accoutrements, Fen-Yll Fineries' competition.

Cool Shades: He wears a pair of red shades over his face.
Evil Poacher: Heavily implied to be one. His lack of concern with the quality of his work leads to a lot of wasted material which demands more animal hide to compensate. This is especially dangerous as he and his business are operating out of Gridania.
Hypocrite: Subtly. For someone who owns a leatherworking business, his attire is made of cloth. For all he claims his work is good enough, it doesn't seem it's good enough for him to wear.
Informed Flaw:
- He's wasteful of leather and his products require far more of it than Geva's pattern. Since the one example of us being shown examples of their work to compare use the same model for both items, that's not exactly readily apparent.
- An in-universe example, Geva repeatedly makes it clear the quality of his products is somewhere south of garbage, but that's Geva being Geva and the incredibly high standards of the Fen-Yll brand. The guildmasters judging the leatherworkers exhibition instead describe his showing as nothing awe-inspiring, but perfectly adequate.
Laser-Guided Karma: At the end of the ARR questline, Dauid is taken away by the Wood Wailers after a mountain of reports come in over all his shady business practices.
Quality vs. Quantity: He's the quantity to Geva's quality. He states that he sees no point in stitching the perfect seam where a serviceable one will suffice; accordingly, Angrbotha products are far cheaper and more quickly made than Fen-Yll's, but the craftsmanship doesn't compare.
Shoddy Knockoff Product: The bulk of Angrbotha's profits come from mass producing incredibly poor but cheaper imitations of Fen-Yll's works.
We Used to Be Friends: He used to work for Geva before the Warrior of Light joined the Leatherworkers' Guild. Geva effectively bullying him into quiting inspired him to start his own leatherworking business to get back at her.

Elde

"We all deserve well-made goods that are within our budgets. So I opened this shop for all Ishgard, from the Hoplon to the Brume. Not everyone shares my belief. But if you see the value in my ideas, I'd love to have your expert advice. I do hope we meet again, my friend."

An Ishgardian merchant who believes that quality goods should be sold to highborn and lowborn alike. She meets a certain member of Gridania's Leatherworkers' Guild while trying to build up stock, requesting that they act as her advisor.

Ambition Is Evil: Inverted. Elde's goal of breaking down social barriers in the marketplace is framed as nothing but a good thing given Ishgard's stagnant isolationism. Despite her struggles from going against the status quo, her business expands dramatically thanks to her business savvy and the Warrior's and Ortefauchel's aid. This culiminates in Elde scoring an enormous commission from the Temple Knights to produce leather armor for a new, more mobile unit. Her success forces the other merchants to reconsider their ways to compete with her.
Friendly Shopkeeper: Elde is the owner and manager of a small leather goods store in Ishgard. Unlike her fellow merchants, she does not discriminate on the basis of social status and strives to provide quality and affordable goods to all. She's always courteous to her patrons and quick to reconsider her actions when it's pointed out that ordering a thousand circles of leather from the Twelveswood would devastate the local wildlife. Even after her business becomes a runaway success with the Warrior's help, Elde continues to strive for better quality goods at the lowest prices.
Famous Ancestor: Her grandfather helped to develop the leatherworking technique that would be adopted by Gridania's Leatherworkers' Guild.
Like Father, Unlike Son: Downplayed. Elde and her grandsire shared the same passion for quality leather goods. But while she's a keen businesswoman with an eye for detail, he was an artisan with no eye for the business world. He died in obscurity despite developing the revolutionary techniques that would be adopted by the Leatherworkers' Guild in Gridania, the largest leatherworking industry in Eorzea.
The Pollyanna: Elde is unflagging in her belief that all Ishgardians should have access to quality leather goods. She refuses to budge on her principles no matter what obstacles are thrown her way, simply coming up with new marketing strategies and having the Warrior design her new goods to prove that her position has merit.
Tall Poppy Syndrome: Elde's progressive decision to sell her goods to anyone regardless of social status or birth quickly makes her enemies in the Jeweled Crozier. Gerhardt, who looks down upon foreigners and lowborn people, quickly moves to stifle her store's success by forcing her suppliers to stop selling to her. Elaisse even refers to him as "the hammer that pounds down any upstanding nails".

Gerhardt

An entrenched member of Ishgard's merchant elite. He refuses to sell his goods to foreigners and lowborn Ishgardians. Elde's new leather goods store quickly runs afoul of his sensibilities.

Buy or Get Lost: He has no patience for non-customers and tells you to scram when you speak to him. That said, he won't even offer his wares to people he doesn't approve of, which means any and all foreigners and lowborn Ishgardians.
Establishing Character Moment: He's introduced chastising a man for trying to buy a dress off him solely because the customer is a lowborn citizen. Gerhardt's prejudices are so profound that even when the man offers him the right amount of gil, the merchant would rather chase him off than make a sale.
Fanboy: Of the bard Aubrenard, to the point where he's ecstatic to recieve a new original poem from him despite being the piece's villain.
Jerkass: He's introduced as an intensely unlikable man who uses all of his clout to try and crush Elde's business solely for her willingness to sell to lowborn people. He even loudly shouts about buying up all the wyvern skin that Elde planned to buy for her business just to try and demoralize her.
Heel Realization: His crusade against Elde's store ends when he works up the gumption to actually try her products himself. He's stunned by their quality and realizes how his xenophobic and classist attitude has been limiting his business, leading him to apologize and instead work with Elde rather than against her.

Ortefauchel

A customer who frequents Elde's House of Excellence. He tries on many of the Warrior's designs for Elde's store.

Henpecked Husband: His marriage is on the rocks and he initially shows up to Elde's store to look for a gift to placate his wife. Unfortunately, even one of Fen–Yll's finest bags isn't enough to smooth things over with her and she tosses Ortefauchel out on the streets despite his status as a Temple Knight.
The Informant: Ortefauchel seems to do nothing but hang around Elde's store, keeping her abreast of the events cascading out of her burgeoning business. He later reveals that he's the one who suggesting Elde's goods to the Temple Knights as an alternative to plate armor for a new, mobile unit of knights.

Atelloune Mairlaid

Race: Wildwood Elezen

"In my research of the Calamity's effects on the environment, it has become clear that the abnormal rate at which the realm is changing far outstrips the pace of animal adaptation. Indeed, I fear certain species now face extinction. And what manner of naturalist would I be if I did not do all in my power to save them?"

A naturalist and co-author of many articles in New Eorzea Geographic, who has temporarily put aside her publications to share her knowledge via taxidermy and preservation. Mildly arrogant of her status, but nonetheless passionate to her field of study.

Bad Boss: Her status as an employer can be neatly summarized by the way she addresses you as "(Assistant) Number Seventy-Two." It shows that A. she can't be bothered to remember your name and B. she's gone through seventy other assistants because she is an absolute chore to work for. At the start of the questline, Enion is surprised the Warrior is voluntarily helping Atelloune.
Everyone Has Standards: As overbearing and demanding as she may be, she would never put her assistants in harm's way if she can help it nor is she anything less than respectful to those who clearly value nature and life itself.
In Harmony with Nature: Atelloune's passion for cateloguing and understanding nature means that she's as well-versed as any Gridanian at living in tandem with it. She approves of the Vanu Vanu's thorough use of every part of the dhalmel they hunt and refuses to kill a living creature just for the sake of taxidermy, instead going through channels to find recently deceased specimens to respect them and the rest of the ecosystem. Her skin crawls when she sees Hearers abusing their position, forcing herself to bite her tongue lest she go on an angry tirade about the value of life.
Insufferable Genius: Comes off as this, demanding that everything go her way and refusing to even call her assistants (whom she treats more like servants) by their names. But she is remarkably well-spoken and educated, being able to distinguish different species of dhalmel apart from minute details. She also cares deeply about the endangered species she requests you and Enion make mounts of for educational purposes. The same cannot be said for her (former) disciple Marcette, an incredibly self-centered would-be greatest naturalist in Eorzea who's far better at mean-spiritedness than actual research.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's not mean-spirited so much as entitled. Her desire to preserve the remains of endangered species for educational purposes is genuine, but she has an inflated opinion of herself that demands that everything go her way. She's driven away seventy assistants over the course of her career because of her attitude and treating them like manservants rather than coworkers or peers.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: At the level 70 quest, she gives a Hearer and Wood Wailer a piece of her mind after being told to cease her work for supposedly agitating the elementals. She fires back by scolding their ignorance and stating how leather goods have been taken for granted, especially considering wood wailers wear leather armor in their line of work.
Smart People Wear Glasses: She's a famous naturalist who runs one of the most popular and widely read publications in Eorzea on top of wearing glasses that emphasize her expertise.
You Are Number 6: The giver of such. She calls her assistant, Enion, "Number Seventy-One" and you, "Number Seventy-Two". It's her way of trying to stay as objective and goal-oriented as possible. At the very end of the questline, she drops this and refers to both the Warrior and Enion by name, indicating that they have her full respect and gratitude for aiding her with her project.

Enion Townes

"Oh! Are you the leatherworker miss Atelloune coerc— I mean, hired to help with the mounting?"

Atelloune's Assistant Number Seventy-One and a Gridanian youth with a taxidermy hobby. He is coer-hired by the naturalist to make mounts of endangered species in hopes of preserving knowledge of their existence for posterity.

Beleaguered Assistant: He's not ready for the cross-country trips that Atelloune drags him on and is huffing and puffing in his attempts to keep up with her.
Child Prodigy: Enion picked up taxidermy as a hobby, but is able to put together professional-looking mounts with little additional assistance aside from being given the materials. He's even able to incorporate the construction techniques the Zundu use their huts after seeing them once a scant few bells ago.
Failed a Spot Check: Despite his taxidermy hobby, Enion fails to recognize Geva as the guildmaster of the Leatherworkers' Guild, assuming that she's just a friend of the Warrior's until the end of the questline.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: He insists that his taxidermy skills are amateurish and nothing more than a hobby, but both of his mounts meet Atelloune's exacting standards, indicating that he's much better at it than he gives himself credit for when given the proper materials.
You Are Number 6: Assistant Number Seventy-One, according to Atelloune.

Weaver

Redolent Rose

Race: Hellsguard Roegadyn
Discipline: Weaver

"I shall be blunt— weaving is an art, and, like all true artists, we must make sacrifices and suffer for our craft."

A Hellsguard Roegadyn and guildmaster of the Weavers' Guild. A man of high fashion, his exacting standards ensure that the guild's customers receive only the finest clothing. Is totally not Masked Rose in the Gold Saucer. Nope.

Alliterative Name: Redolent Rose, which adds to his image as The Dandy.
Compassionate Critic: As "Masked Rose", he'll give you a verbal tongue-lashing if your outfit doesn't match the current theme of the Fashion Report. But he means the best and genuinely wishes for people to be able to express themselves as best they can through their choice of fashion.
The Dandy: He's a rugged-looking Rogaedyn built like a brickhouse, but also a Sharp-Dressed Man who obsesses over the fine details in clothing. He expects nothing but perfection from his workers and always meets the specifications of his clientele.
The Fashionista: As the head of the Weavers' Guild and the driving force behind Sunsilk Tapestries, it's only natural for him to keep up with the latest trends. He's exceptionally well-versed in both the design and production of clothing and even acts as a fashion critic in the Gold Saucer as part of his Fashion Report.
Friendly Shopkeeper: As the guildmaster of the Weavers' Guild, he always does his best to make sure his clients are happy with their orders, going the distance even when the customers just wants something cheap and easily replaced. While he does nudge them to try and wear something a little more fashionable, he's a perfect gentleman to his best clients and is happy to serve so long as the customer isn't a twat.
Living Legend: His expertise in the economic, theoretical, and practical fields of weaving have others calling him this by name in the fashion world.
Paper-Thin Disguise: No, Masked Rose in the Gold Saucer is totally not Redolent Rose in disguise, why would you ask that? He makes no attempt to change his outfit or voice other than wearing a Plague Bringer's Mask over his face. Serendipity even lampshades that she's seen him before.
Pose of Supplication: He does these when Wawarukka runs off without listening to his advice about fashion, especially when the Lalafell looks like a Rummage Sale Reject.
Serious Business:
- He demands that new recruits to the guild be prepared to suffer for their art. He also declares that they have no future in the Weaver's Guild if they struggle at all with making hempen thread from moko grass.
- After having you prepare some high-quality velveteen gaiters for Wawarukka, Rose is flabbergasted when he sees Wawarukka in a Rummage Sale Reject outfit. He tries to stop Wawarukka from running out the door, only to fall to his knees in anguish as the Lalafell giddily sprints off to his date.
  Rose: Confound it all...
Sharp-Dressed Man: He's always dressed in a dashing gibbus and blue suit that is also the Weavers' signature outfit.
Sophisticated as Hell: His diction is as impeccable as his weaving. So it's striking when he calls Mamajaru "a little turd" as the Lalafell saunters out of the guild without a word of thanks to the Warrior for weaving his order.
Stern Teacher: He's a highly demanding taskmaster, to the point that he'll kick any would-be recruits out of the guild if they struggle at all with making hempen yarn. But he's highly accommodating of those who meet these standards and isn't afraid to lavish praise when it's due.
Think Nothing of It: He goes above and beyond what his role as a weaver would qualify for to help Wawarukka earn his date with Kokomo, though Rose considers it nothing more than good customer service, telling the Warrior of Light to not mistake it for charity despite Wawarukka's friendship with Rose.
Younger Than They Look: As large and burly as any Roegadyn, Encyclopedia Eorzea reveals Big Rose is only twenty-six years old.

Wawarukka

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2022_06_27_19_45_05_410_witchsmoonforgameplayalt.png

Race: Dunesfolk Lalafell
Discipline: Miner

A Dunesfolk Lalafell and the de facto quartermaster of the Miners' Guild. He has his eyes set on Kokomo, the daughter of a rich merchant. However, his prominent quirks prove to be detrimental to his dating plans.

Affectionate Nickname: Wawarukka and Redolent Rose have been friends for some time, and Wawarukka refers to him as "Big Rose".
Happily Married: Should you revisit the Weaver's Guild after finishing Endwalker, Redolent Rose is happy to inform you that Wawarukka and Kokomo are happily married.
He Cleans Up Nicely: Though he doesn't agree at first. When Kokomo sees him in the Patrician's Attire you make for him at the end of the quest line, she doesn't even recognize him.
Informed Attribute: One of his Rummage Sale Reject outfits has him wearing a subligar to show off his "chiseled legs" at the recommendation of one of his fellow miners. But since Lalafell models have no visible muscle tone, Wawarukka's muscles are entirely up to the player's imagination.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He's resolves to let Kokomo marry a more fitting groom when he sees her with him. At first, but see Took a Level in Badass below.
Nice Guy: He's a sweet, warm-hearted man who just wants to make others happy. This is part of the reason why he's such good friends with Rose and also why Rose tries so hard to help him get a date.
Rummage Sale Reject: His choice in clothing tends to clash with whatever item the player makes for him, to Redolent Rose's dismay. His first suit looks like something straight out of a pirate movie and his second outfit (suggested by his friends) has him go without an undershirt, in short shorts hidden under his shirt, gauntlets from the armorers' shop, and a silly alchemist's hat and magnifiers. Seeing this seems to cause Rose physical pain.
Rose: [bent over in anguish] How can he be so blind!? It's absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable! He's hopeless! Utterly hopeless!
Slobs Versus Snobs: Of the two Lalafellin men vying for Kokomo's affections, Wawarukka is the sweet, bumbling, and dirty slob to Mamajaru's prim and proper Jerkass snob. Wawarukka is constantly dirty due to working as part of the Miner's Guild and is a Rummage Sale Reject who is head-over-heels for Kokomo. Meanwhile, Mamajaru sees her as a Trophy Wife and demands she obey him after her father arranges for their marriage to secure their finanical futures.
Took a Level in Badass dashes in the way of Mamajaru, the jerkass groom-to-be that was about to slap Kokomo, and even scares him off afterward.

Kokomo

A Jeweler's daughter and Lalafell, she is the girl that Wawarukka aims to impress. She has a strict father who is less than amused with Wawarukka's "style".

Damsel in Distress: At the end of her questline, the rich suitor her father wants her to marry turns out to be a Jerkass and tries to slap her before Wawarukka intervenes and chases him off.
Happily Married: Should you revisit the Weaver's Guild after finishing Endwalker, Redolent Rose is happy to inform you that Wawarukka and Kokomo are happily married.
My Beloved Smother: Kokomo's father is rather controlling of her and often has her in a new gown to show off for one event or another.
Satellite Love Interest: She's mostly there to add something resembling a constant story to the Weaver quest chain.
Shout-Out: Her name might possibly be derived from The Beach Boys song "Kokomo".
Uptown Girl: She's the daughter of a merchant so rich that he can afford to have Rose personally design and sow dresses for her. Meanwhile, Wawarukka is a working-class miner with no sense of fashion and is constantly covered in dirt.

Mamajaru

A Lalafell and one of Kokomo's suitors.

Jerkass: What little we see of him is his being a smug jerk. He doesn't even offer the Warrior a "thank you" for sewing the cotton acton he's going to wear into combat and treats Kokomo as a Trophy Wife.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Demands that Kokomo look at him when he gossips bad-naturedly to her, and prepares to slap her for not doing so.
Upper-Class Twit: He's the quintessential Ul'dahn noble, a wealthy, snobbish Lalafell who sneers at the poor and feels entitled to have everything he wants. He's also not the expert at combat armaments he thinks he is, as Redolent Rose correctly realizes he can't tell one materia from another.
Smug Snake: See Jerkass above. The smirk on his face is dropped maybe once.
Would Hit a Girl: Though Wawarukka stops him.

Averil

Race: Midlander Hyur
Discipline: Conjurer, Weaver

A noble girl who dreams of becoming a conjurer to fight alongside her friends, she's instead kept at home by her mother, who hires the Warrior of Light to act as Averil's weaving tutor during the events of Heavensward.

Dating What Daddy Hates: Gender-inverted. She's childhood sweethearts with a boy from the Brume, but her mother has never approved of their relationship due to their vastly differing social statuses.
Healing Hands: She's practicing to be a conjurer so she can protect her boyfriend and all of her comrades in battle.
Stay in the Kitchen: Gender-Inverted. It's her mother who would rather have her take up weaving, being stuck at home since her father died in the Dragonsong War. But this is largely out of Glenda's fear of losing Averil to the Dragonsong War.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She may enjoy a good dress, but she has no interests in the "maidenly" tasks of the house like weaving. She would much rather fight to defend her home and help others as a conjurer over her mother's complaints. One quest, "Tomboy Foolery", lampshades this.
Women Are Wiser: Her boyfriend is klutzy and a little slow-witted, compared to Averil's energy and ability to be quick on her feet. She's always looking after him and mending his wounds as a result, learning conjury so she can continue to help him on the frontlines.

Glenda

Race: Midlander Hyur

A noble woman still grieving the loss of her husband to the Dragonsong War. She hires the Warrior of Light as a Private Tutor to her daughter Averil in hopes that weaving will keep Averil out of trouble.

Hidden Depths: She reveals at the end of the questline that just like her daughter, she once set off as a chirurgeon to fight in the Dragonsong War alongside the man she loved, even wearing a doublet that would inspire the one her daughter would wear into battle. However, her lover died in battle never knowing that she was already pregnant with their child, and she blamed herself for his death. Glenda turned to Halone for solace and vowed to keep her daughter safe no matter what.
My Beloved Smother: She means well, but she's so terrified of losing her daughter the way she lost her husband that she refuses to let Averil leave the Spire, keeping her confined in the house most of the day and expecting her to take on the "maidenly" task of weaving. To this end, she throws out Averil's favorite gloves and hides her favorite dress to prevent Averil from sneaking out. She's well-aware of Averil studying conjury behind her back and recognizes what Averil is wearing on sight. All of her mindless, pointless tasks were meant to delay the inevitable. It takes seeing Averil in her new chivalric doublet of healing to remind Glenda of her own former passions and her deep love for her husband, seeing Averil off with pride.
So Proud of You: While she doesn't like it, Glenda realizes that the fire in Averil's eyes and earnest desire to do good are very much like her own once were, and she sees her daughter off with pride, only asking Averil to promise that she come back home safely.
You Remind Me of X: Much like Averil and her lover, Glenda was a Battle Couple with her husband, having worn an identical doublet during her time as a chihurgeon. Seeing Averil in a chivalric doublet of healing reminds Glenda of her own youth and finally convinces her that there's no value in stopping Averil, instead asking her to come home safely.

Keimei Daitenya

Race: Midlander Hyur

"When my butterfly makes her debut before the world, none but the finest of dresses will do!"

The heir to an illustrous tapestry company in Kugane and Kotocho's patron. He finds himself fascinated by Eorzean fashion after a trip to Ul'dah, commissioning the Warrior of Light to sow luxurious Eorzean dresses for Kotocho to dance in to enhance her fame as well as bring in new business.

Distracted by the Sexy: After the Warrior sews a Hannish-style belly dancer's dress for Kotocho, Keimei is flabbergasted by just how revealing it is, as Hingashi is rather conservative when it comes to women's fashion. He struggles to remain conscious and is unable to tear his eyes away from seeing so much of Kotocho's bare skin.

Kotocho

Race: Raen Au Ra

"A new wind blows in Kugane, and bold youth and individuality will win the day!"

A young, rising Hingan dancer under Keimei's wing. She's delighted to try on new Eorzean dresses as part of her dance routine.

Ascended Fangirl: When she was a girl, she looked up to one legendary geisha in particular, Kototsuru and aspired to be just like her. That's what she's given it her all to become a geisha as great as her idol. Getting a verbal lashing from Kototsuru stings Kotocho and drives her to Fury Induced Foolishness to prove Kototsuru wrong. But after a Heroic BSoD from a performance gone wrong, it takes the Warrior and Keimei convincing Kototsuru to have one last performance with Kotocho in traditional hagoromo for the girl to find her passion again.
Break the Haughty: Her wild success as a dancer quickly goes to her head even after Kototsuru warns her that she's largely coasting on the novelty of her patrons' dresses rather than her own skill. But Kotocho is so confident in herself that she wagers her career on it, promising to return to being a lowly apprentice should she fail to appeal a crowd of foreign emissaries as well as Kototsuru. To this end, she has Keimei commission a provocative Hannish belly dancer dress. Unfortunately, those same emissaries are from Radz-at-Han, meaning that they're used to seeing scantily-clad dancers, which makes Kotocho's lack of practice compared to Kototsuru's all the more apparent. Keimei and the Warrior find Kotocho despondent by the pier afterward, having realized that Kototsuru's constant nagging and criticism were all for Kotocho's own good.
Broken Pedestal: For all her antagonism with Kototsuru in the L65 and 68 quests, it's surprising to find in the L70 quest that Kototsuru was who inspired her to become a geiko. It light of this, it becomes clear that Kototsuru's (imperfect) attempts to be a Compassionate Critic stung Kotocho to the quick, causing her to become laser-focused on upstaging and refuting her.
Fury-Fueled Foolishness: She's so focused on not just exceeding Kototsuru but refuting her claims of her being less adept at dance than she should be (not realizing that Kototsuru is trying to be a Compassionate Critic) that she goes after every method she can think of to upstage her. It's suggested that her use of Eorzean attire rather than Hingashi or Doman is part of this, on account of Kototsuru adhering completely to hanamachi tradition; it's a way to clearly distinguish herself from her. That this is impulse-driven is made clear in the L68 quest, when Kotocho requests a Thavnairian bustier that she'd chanced to hear about...just not that closely, as she renders it as "Nav-thairian bust-year".
Heroic BSoD: Following her Break the Haughty moment, Kotocho is convinced that there's no future for her as a dancer and is ready to give up entirely after Kototsuru announces her retirement.
Stage Name: Kotocho is not her real name, but her stage name she adopted as a dancer. That said, her real name is never revealed.

Alchemist

Severian Lyctor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/severian.jpg

Race: Midlander Hyur
Discipline: Alchemist

"Remember: the world is our crucible, and an alchemist makes marvels of the mundane!"

Guildmaster of the Alchemists' Guild, he toils in his lab day and night, working towards a hidden goal...

Blatant Lies: It's quite common for him to be loudly complaining about some drudgery assigned to him only to turn around and tell you he has a most important task for you to accomplish.
Everyone Has Standards: Subverted. He notes that Waoud, like him, is trying to use alchemy to defy the natural order of life and death but he would never do as Waoud did and abduct people and subject them to horrific experiments... because he would never be that clumsy.
Evil Laugh: Yes, his laugh is the evil and stereotypical "Mwahahaha!".
Fell Asleep Standing Up: He spends so many days at work on his project that when he does fall asleep, it's standing up on his own feet. At the end of the Level 50 Alchemy quest, after finally getting to say goodbye to his dead wife, he says he may finally sleep in a bed that night.
Insufferable Genius: He's the Alchemist Guildmaster for a reason, no question, but he's a very abrasive person who'd rather not have to talk to anyone and focus solely on his work. His first few quests have him forgetting your name even after appointing you his personal assistant while shoving all of the tasks he should be doing onto you.
Interspecies Romance: He is a Hyur who was married to a Miqo'te woman.
I've Come Too Far: In the Level 45 Alchemy quest, even he realizes he's gone off the deep end of alchemy.
Severian: But I believe in alchemy's unlimited potential. It was the cause of my regret, and it shall be the source of my salvation. I have spent too long on this path to veer from it now.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- He's generally fretful and irritable, and frequently snaps at you for interrupting him. The heart of gold comes out when you finally find out what his end goal is ... it's not resurrecting W'nahja to resume life as before, it's bringing her back for just long enough to apologize to her for being so self-centered about his work and that he could have done so much more to make her happy.
- When you visit any guildmaster after finishing your level 50 quest (before the Heavensward expansion) you have an option to ask them how the guild fares. With Severian, you ask him how he fares instead. He laughs you off, but he's grown quite fond of you over the questline and you can tell he does appreciate you asking after him.
Mad Scientist: Right down to the Evil Laugh and Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness. He doesn't bother to consider a client's motivations for asking for a blinding potion and is fascinated by the thought of a sword of alchemical make that can resurrect the dead. Though he's ultimately much more careless and self-centered than malicious. He considers Heartstrike a horrible item that must be destroyed, even mocking the Warrior for thinking that he would ever want to perform true necromancy.
Necromantic: His goal is to revive W'nahja. A rare case of it actually working out fairly well.
Never Got to Say Goodbye: His motivation for reviving W'nahja is not to truly bring her back from the dead, but to get a few minutes with her so he can apologize for his failings as a husband and get some closure.
"Not So Different" Remark: He somewhat bitterly recognizes that much like himself, the antagonists of the Level 50 and 60 questlines are attempting to use alchemy to defy the natural order of life and death. However, he does also note that while he empathizes, that neither condones nor excuses their actions.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Insufferable Genius that he is, it says something about how desperate he's getting when in the wake of a failure in his research he cuts off his usual high handed order giving and stammers to you that he needs your help, even calling you his friend.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He uses more four-syllable words than the rest of the cast combined to underscore his overbearing Insufferable Genius tendencies.
Severian: [when complaining about being "distracted"] You can imagine my consternation at this continued effrontery! But when I consider the ease with which you performed my prior task and my desire to find a greater challenge to test your alchemical aptitude, the solution to this onerous situation becomes glaringly obvious.
Somebody Else's Problem: His attitude towards the requests that the guild receives. To the point where the guild gets so filled with unfinished requests that he tasks the player to fulfill them so that he wouldn't be bugged about them.
Tragic Keepsake: Averted. To anchor W'nahja's soul to her body, he needs something of hers she's intimately familiar with to attract her attention. Problem is, he doesn't have anything like that, so the Warrior of Light crafts for him a replica of her wand to use instead. When her body disappears as part of her brief revival, Severian passes the replica to W'bulea as an apology for effectively disintgrating her sister's remains.
Workaholic: He's so single-mindedly focused on his research that he falls asleep standing up at his desk in the middle of an experiment. To his guild members' dismay, this passion does not extend to actual guild tasks, resulting in him offloading all clients onto them rather than doing any himself.

W'bulea

Race: Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te
Discipline: Conjurer

A Sultansworn Miqo'te who knows Severian and thinks his quest futile.

The Infiltration: She infiltrated the Velvet Hands, a group of thieves, on behalf of the Sultansworn.
Secret Test of Character: She was the one who ordered Severian to make the Blinding Potions while masked as a bandit to see if he would actually do it despite it being clearly a dubious request. The fact that he actually took the commission despite it being so shady (or more accurately passing the job to you) makes it clear to her that his obsession with reviving her dead sister has gotten to the point of having no restraint or self-control, a far cry from how he used to be.

W'nahja

Race: Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te
Discipline: Conjurer

W'bulea's sister, who died on the night of the Calamity.

Back from the Dead: Just long enough to give Severian closure before she Disappears into Light. Which would make this a Shout-Out to Final Fantasy VI.
The Lost Lenore: She died in the Calamity, and Severian hasn't been the same since.
Posthumous Character: Already dead at the start of the questline, and she's the one driving Severian's motives.

Culinarian

Lyngsath Hyllbornsyn

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lyngsath_2.jpg

Race: Sea Wolf Roegadyn
Discipline: Culinarian

"Our trade's as tough as old mutton, an' passion's the only thing what gets us through the gristly bits."

A Roegadyn and guildmaster of the Culinarians' Guild. Head chef of Limsa Lominsa's famous Bismarck restaurant.

Benevolent Boss: He genuinely does want what's best for his cooks, even if the chefs themselves are more worried about getting orders completed. Several quests involve helping overworked staff get themselves a bite to eat.
Cool Teacher: He's a kind and doting teacher to all the members of the Culinarian's Guild. He's willing to risk his own reputation if it means preserving a culinarian's career and cooks pick-me-ups for his staff and students when they're feeling down.
Doing It for the Art: Invoked. When a customer threatens to spread word of Inghram's poor food in an attempt to get him fired in hopes of saving the Bismarck's reputation, Lyngsath tells you that he doesn't particularly care for the restaurant's good name. He's far more concerned with providing a place for culinarians to learn and develop new techniques for others to enjoy.
Gentle Giant: He's an imposing Roegadyn with unquestionable command of the Bismarck and the Culinarians' Guild, but also a kind and helpful fellow who cares deeply for all of his employees and students.
Gone Horribly Right: To him, the Bismarck and the Culinarians' Guild are a place for him to teach cooking to anyone who wants to learn. His kind but firm teaching stance helps develop some of the best culinarians in the realm and contributes to the Bismarck's reputation as the place to eat in Eorzea. When the Warrior of Light comes in to learn, Lyngsath does his best to teach them too. But the Warrior's skills grow so rapidly that they wind up stealing business from the Bismarck by the end of the Stormblood Culinarian questline after they help Raulf develop fine Far Eastern cuisine in Revenant's Toll. He admits that he's both proud and a little irked to have trained the best damned culinarian in Eorzea.
Inconsistent Spelling: Encyclopedia Eorzea lists his surname as "Hyllbornsyn", while in-game data lists his last name as "Doesfalksyn". The official cookbook also uses the latter name.
Meaningful Name: His name means "Long Knife" in the old Roegadyn tongue. A chef has many long knives for many purposes.
Nice Guy: He cares deeply for all of his employees and doesn't harangue them when they mess up an order. He'd much rather comfort them over a meal and gently tell them what they did wrong when he sees that they're clearly reeling over it. He also has the Bismarck sell ready-to-eat meals for people on the go, as not every Lominsan has the time or money to make a reservation to sit down and eat a five-course dinner even with the Bismarck's sterling reputation.
Supreme Chef: He's the head of the Bismarck, perhaps the finest restaurant in all of Eorzea. People book reservations months or years in advance to have a seat at one of his tables. He's noted for his open-mindedness and worldliness, incorporating techniques from multiple cultures around the world that he learned while peddling his trade aboard a merchant vessel in his youth. His skills are so profound that only he is allowed to cook for distinguished guests like Lolorito Nanarito. Lyngsath getting injured before such a wealthy client shows up to a table is a cause for emergency, forcing the Warrior of Light to step up to the plate and cook Lolorito's favorite dish to placate the business magnate.

Melkoko

Waitress of the Missing Member. She's none too fond of the tavern's head chef H'mhasi Tia, requesting the player to enter the upcoming Dellemont d'Or, a prestigious cooking competition, and put him in his place.

Accent Slip-Up: She speaks with perfectly unaccented dialogue when calm. But she lets loose a thick and colorful Lominsan accent when she's loses her cool, emphasizing her past as a would-be Sanguine Siren.
Cluster F-Bomb: She has quite the pirate mouth when she's angry.
Dream-Crushing Handicap: In her youth, she dreamed of joining the Sanguine Sirens as a fearsome pirate. Unfortunately, she gets terribly seasick and quickly had to give up on her dreams and settle for being a waitress.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Melkoko won the Dellemont D'Or while the Warrior is away in Endwalker, having trained relentless to beat her competition in H'mhasi and Raulf.
Pirate Girl: Well, a former one. She used to be a member of the Sanguine Sirens, but her propensity for seasickness cut her days on the sea short.
Sickeningly Sweethearts: What she and H'mhasi actually are, to Rhoswen's disgust. Melkoko is mostly frustrated with H'mhasi ignoring her in favor of the competition and his Jerkass Façade.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: She's a former sailor with the mouth to match.
Tsundere: She spends the entire level 60 questline trying to help the player humiliate H'mhasi, although it's clear to the player and her captain that she also has feelings for him.

H'mhasi Tia

Race: Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te
Discipline: Culinarian

The head chef at the Missing Member and reigning champion of the Dellemont d'Or, one of the most prestigious cooking competitions in Eorzea.

Insufferable Genius: He's a young chef and winner of the Dellemont d'Or, marking him as one of the greatest culinarians in Eorzea. Unfortunately, he's also let the fame go to his head, making him a preening, self-obsessed jerk. At least, that's what he'd want you to believe. He'd been projecting the image of an unassailable champion to scare off his rivals as he worked to win the Dellemont d'Or.
The One Guy: H'mhasi is the only prominently featured man in the employ of the Sanguine Sirens who run the Missing Member, with the Sirens being a notoriously misandrist pirate crew.
Sickeningly Sweethearts: He's actually this with Melkoko, calling her his "Melly-Belly". His Insuferrable Genius streak is actually a Jerkass Façade designed to scare off his rivals for the Dellemont d'Or. Once the touranment is over, they're back to flirting with each other nigh-constantly.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He was a humble, earnest guy who just wanted to pursue mastery of his craft in the past. But once he won the Dellemont d'Or, his fame got to his head, turning him into an insufferable braggart whose ego is only matched by his skill as a culinarian. Melkoko has you compete against him and serve him a heaping slice of Humble Pie to snap him out of it.
Walk the Earth: After losing to you in the Dellemont d'Or, he decides to travel the world and hone his skills in hopes of attaining what he lacked during the competition.

Raulf Redhill

Race: Highlander Hyur
Discipline: Culinarian

"The key to the dish is the broth, called dashi, which as far as I can decipher means 'exit juice.' I'm, er, sure it sounds more appetizing in the Doman tongue."

An adventurer and culinarian stationed in Revenant's Toll. He aims to cater to the remaining Doman refugees, but that requires learning a foreign cuisine that proves to be a bigger challenge than he expects.

Through His Stomach: Not to gain the affection, but the approval of Unzan, the father of his love interest. He's striving to master Far Eastern cuisine so he can get Unzan's blessing to marry Anzu.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: He's trying very hard to impress Unzan, but nearly every attempt to do so ends up giving him scathing criticism. He nearly puts up his apron to return to the adventuring life until he finds a cultural connection between sukiyaki, a meat and vegetable hot pot, and buckler stew, an Ala Mhigan dish from his childhood.

Facets of Crafting (Carpenter, Leatherworker, Weaver)

Thiuna

Race: Viis

Proprietor of Cherished Memories, specializing in restoring worn down and broken items of sentimental value.

Memento MacGuffin: An old doll she was gifted by her late mother. She was inspired to become a restorer like Harig after he repaired her doll when it broke apart.
Non-Indicative Name: Although she works as part of the Facets of Crafting, Thiuna is actually an alchemist by trade, meaning that she's not an expert in working with things like wood, fabric, and leather. She admits as much to the Warrior when they meet, asking that she be allowed to view their handiwork to learn the skills required to complete her restoration jobs.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: Thiuna is a kind woman who believes that helping to restore items of sentimental value can be invaluable even in the midst of the crisis and scarcity that followed the Flood.
We Used to Be Friends: With Owell. The two used to be friends learning under the same mentor but they're now at odds with each other because of the differences in their philosophy. Owell believes that times are too dire to worry about sentimentality and focuses on producing and repairing functional items. Meanwhile, Thiuna believes that certain objects hold immeasurable value to their owners even if they aren't strictly practical or necessary.
Workaholic: Her restoration jobs often require her to work several all-nighters in a row to get them finished in time. As a result, she's yawning and dazed when she meets with the Warrior again after the job is complete.

Noddy

Race: Allagan Node

Thiuna's personal Recording Node and assistant.

Been There, Shaped History: In the last quest of the Facet of Crafting questline, Noddy reveals that it once served the great Allagan archmagus Noah, the personal tutor to Doga and Unei. Not only that, but Harig's lute is one of Noah's creations.
Fish out of Temporal Water: Like most Allagan nodes, Noddy doesn't perceive that the Allagan Empire fell long ago (and never existed as such in the First), and continues to talk about the empire like it's still around.
Percussive Maintenance: Noddy frequently experiences errors and requests repairs in this fashion. This happens frequently enough that it begs Thiuna for more even after getting a sound beating, leaving Thiuna wondering if Noddy enjoys this.
Noddy: <beep> Error. Aether blockage detected. Firm blow required. <buzz> Hit me. Hit me.
Secret-Keeper: After the Facet of Crafting questline is finished, Noddy admits to knowing the Warrior of Darkness' true identity and origins, but encrypts that information out of respect for their privacy.

Owell

Race: Hume

Thiuna's former colleague under the tutelage of Master Harig. Often at odds with Thiuna, believing her to be wasting resources restoring useless trinkets.

It's All My Fault: He's the one who accidentally broke Master Harig's treasured lute, which resulted in the master setting off to get the materials to restore it and never returning. He blames himself for Harig's death, and projects that guilt into a distaste for the concept of restoring items.
Jerkass Has a Point: Repeatedly tells Thiuna that she's wasting precious time and resources restoring old items. However, he's not exactly wrong that the resources and labor put into restoration could be put toward projects with more immediate practical benefit. It's just that his personal issues blind him to the less tangible rewards of restoring old items.
We Used to Be Friends: Thiuna and Owell were once best friends learning under Master Harig. But after Harig's disappearance, Owell blamed the lute Harig tried to repair and devoted himself entirely to making and repairing items with practical value. Thiuna's desire to follow in Harig's footsteps put them at odds with each other. Their relationship is repaired once Thiuna restores the lute and Owell sees the impact it has on the people of the Crystarium. He then admits that he was the one who broke it by accident and blamed himself for Harig never coming home. This gives them both the catharsis they need to put the past behind them, with Noddy registering Owell as "family" to Thiuna.

Facets of Smithing (Armorer, Blacksmith, Goldsmith)

Iola

Race: Hume
Discipline: Blacksmith

Owner of the Iron Bellows forge, currently undergoing hard times from lack of clients. After trading her father's ring as collateral to a moneylender, her goal is to make enough money to buy it back.

Can't Take Criticism: She fears that one bad product would mean the end of the business, quickly losing nerve when the quality of the forge's products is brought up. Thankfully, the clients only have praise to bring about the forge's wares.
Determinator: Nervous moments aside, as the last member of Iron Bellows, she put in the most amount of work in reviving the forge. That motivation alone is what eventually brings back her old co-workers under her wing.
Putting the Band Back Together: One of her main goals is to convince Sue-Rend and Colana to return to work at her forge.

Nee Marn

Race: Nu Mou

Seeking out clients in Il Mheg, Iola and the Warrior of Light strike a deal with the Nu Mou,

Curse: Seeing as the money lender decided to extort more money out of Iron Bellows by springing interest rates for the ring, they enchanted the ring the player has crafted with an almost bewitching attraction to ensure the ring is rightfully traded off. That's what they wanted you to think. They knew the player's craftsmanship would draw the lender in anyway and actually placed a curse of misfortune to ensure the moneylender gets his just deserts.
Familiar: As Nu Mou are bound to Il Mheg, Nee Marn sends their Porxie familiar to the Crystarium whenever they have a need to visit, with Nee Marn able to experience everything the familiar experiences by proxy.

Facets of Nourishing (Alchemist and Culinarian)

Bethric

Race: Galdjent
Discipline: Alchemist

An amaro veterinarian and overseer of the Facet of Nourishing.

Animals Hate Him: Downplayed. The scars on his face aside, Bethric is good with amaros and adores them, being trusted with their veterinary care when their Zun handlers are stumped. But Bethric is dismayed to learn that the amaros are largely indifferent to him when Skip translates for them despite his constant care and attention.
Beware the Nice Ones: When he finally encounters the poachers who had poisoned Skip, he throws a powerful lightning bomb at them with a Slasher Smile on his face.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's a bit...enthusiastic when it comes to amaro handling. That said, he's good at what he does.
Cuteness Proximity: He adores amaros, considering them the finest beings in all of creation, to the point that he wishes he was reborn as an amaro when he dies. That said, he understands if others don't share his enthusiasm. When he learns of the existence of a settlement of talking amaros, Bethric begs the Warrior to take him to "amaro paradise"
Face of a Thug: Claims to be a "grisly monster of a man" when you first meet him, then clarifies the scars on his face are amaro scratches.
My Greatest Failure: When he used to do mercenary work, he had an amaro companion he fought alongside with. When his partner was wounded by sin eaters, he attempted to make medicine for it, as there weren't any amaro veterinarians at the time. Unfortunately, his attempts led to accidentally killing his amaro by overdose, which made him put up his axe to learn amaro care so it never happens again.

Skip

Race: Amaro

A wild amaro who was brought into the Crystarium after narrowly escaping a pair of poachers after being poisoned.

Elective Mute: He's actually a "Tupaq Amaro"; one who's lived long enough to regain the ability to speak, only speaking once Bethric and the Warrior of Light have gained his trust.
I Choose to Stay: After escorting Skip to Wolekdorf, it's discovered he was raised there but left to seek companionship after his previous master passed away, gravitating to the Warrior of Light in his search. Bethric agreed to let Skip stay back in his home after all that's happened...but Skip ultimately decides to come back to the Crystariuim.
Last of His Kind: Not for the amaro race as a whole, but for his specific species. He's one of the last Berube skippers that escaped the flood of light and rampant poaching to near extinction.
A Lizard Named "Liz": A Berube skipper amaro named "Skip".
Mayfly–December Friendship: Amaro are much longer lived than any of the mortal races, meaning that any friendships they do make are this. Skip has been grieving the loss of their first companion for a century and it's this desire to find new, like-minded companions that drove him to leave the safety of Il Mheg.
The Mourning After: Partway through the deliveries, you learn that Skip once had a companion long, long ago who traveled the world with him. Their love of adventure led them to Norvandt, which spared them from the Flood of Light. But time came for said companion, leaving Skip to grieve for them ever since.
Repetitive Name: His true, fae name is "Lugg Lugg".
Trauma Button: The poachers that tried to hunt Skip laced common amaro fodder with poison. Because of this, he has a strong distrust of mankind and refuses to touch his food unless someone tastes it first to know it's safe. At the end of the quests, he's paralyzed when he comes face to face with the poachers who nearly killed him again. It takes encouragement from Bethric and the Warrior to take to the skies again, allowing Bethric to assail Skip's tormentors with alchemical lightning bombs.

Faculty of Archaeology (Armorer, Blacksmith, Goldsmith)

Rurusha

"I'll grant you our results thus far are somewhat less than satisfactory, but this is not cause for panic. Archaeology is at its most interesting when you come up against a hurdle like this! Don't you just love being challenged to solve a good mystery?"

A professor of archeology at the Studium. She's an exuberant, optimistic woman who has a habit of relying on hunches when it comes to pursuing fields of study. She enlists the Warrior to help her restore a relic that the rest of her colleagues have written off as junk.

Cool Old Lady: Rurusha is an optimistic, friendly, and upbeat woman who trusts her Gut Feeling and never lets scoldings from her colleagues get her down. She's also the visibly oldest Lalafell in the story, as no other Lalafell is shown with wrinkles like her save for Tataru when the latter temporarily suffered Rapid Aging.
Gut Feeling: Proudly admits to relying on intuition just as much as study in her research which confounds some of her more practical colleagues, particularly since she's most often right. Indeed, the end of her questline proves her hypothesis that the relic she found was actually a small talking, flying mammet to be absolutely correct.
The Mentor: She took Boric under her wing in his earliest days as a researcher, helping him grow from a second-rate researcher to someone that other professors are actively trying to poach off her. She's not at all mad about this and encourages Boric to follow his heart, though she admits that it might get a bit lonely without him.
Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: The crux of the Archaeology Studium quests is the conflict between Professor Rurusha and her younger peer, Namono Tayamono. The latter considers her research into relics based on Gut Feelings to be a complete waste of time and resources, seeking to force her into retirement. For her part, Rurusha just keeps doing what she's doing, asking the Warrior to help her restore what she believes is an ancient mammet with special powers.
Translator Microbes: The relic that Rurusha and the Warrior have been restoring turns out to be a mammet that has the abiltiy to fly and translate ancient texts written in long forgotten languages.
Turn the Other Cheek: Not once does Rurusha ever seem to register Namono's taunting or insults, nor does she ever develop a grudge against him for trying to get her ousted from her position.She isn't even the slightest bit upset when Boric tries to get her to resign out of fear for her reputation.

Boric

Assistant to Professor Rurusha, currently working on restoring an ancient relic.

Heroic Self-Deprecation: He has the skills and knowledge for his field, enough for other professors wanting to poach him off Rurusha. However, he doesn't think too highly of his abilities, and claims that being called second-rate is a generous compliment considering he didn't do too well in his studies until Rurusha mentored him.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He's a burly Hrothgar acting as an assistant to a diminutive Lalafell professor.
Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: In contrast to his exuberant mentor, Boric is prone to expecting the worst and burying his face in his hands when things don't go according to plan.
Undying Loyalty: Despite the ridicule it gets him and his own misgivings about her hunches, Boric feels indebted to Rurusha for taking him under her wing and refuses to leave her side. And yet, when her research is seemingly going nowhere, Boric is so worried about her reputation that he signs a petition for her immediate resignation, believing it better that she resign gracefully than made a laughingstock.

Namono Tayamono

An archeology professor specializing in ancient linguistics. He has a long-held animosity for Rurusha's tendency to research subjects solely based on her hunches, calling her projects a waste of the Studium's resources.

Heel Realization: He realizes how awful he's been to Rurusha after the relic he dismissed as rubbish instantly translates a text he's been struggling to decipher for months.
Teen Genius: He became a tenured professor at the Studium, Sharlayan's most esteemed learning institute despite being younger than Boric, a student at the school, implying that he was this.
Smug Snake: He has a perpetual sneer on his face whenever he's talking down to Rurusha.

Faculty of Astronomy (Carpenter, Leatherworker, Weaver)

Jude

A shy and lonely student in the Faculty of Astronomy in need of an assistant to help him locate the Azure Star he saw in his childhood. He acts as the questgiver for Carpenters, Leatherworkers, and Weavers in Endwalker.

All for Nothing: All those deliveries and studies he's done to find the Azure Star come crashing down when Jeromere reveals that it doesn't exist. He suddenly finds himself not knowing what to do with himself after this revelation, the Warrior of Light's coaxing helping him get back on his feet again.
Determinator: For all his nervousness, pestering to end his search, and the truth of the Azure Star's existence, not once did he give up on his dreams. This all culminates in realizing that it was through aether and perfectly aligned conditions that allowed him to sight the Azure Star. With the construction of a starlens wand for aether-powered starlens, he finally reveals the Azure Star hidden in the fifth heaven's gate.
Grew a Spine: While trying to invite Jeromere to put the Azure Star search to rest, an obsequious student tells him he's an idiot for wasting all those years searching for something that doesn't exist. Jude, in turn, angrily snaps back and tells him he's not one to judge him for chasing his dreams, shocking Jeromere.
Just a Kid: In his youth, he and Jeromere spotted a brilliant "Azure Star" not recorded in any astronomy book. But all attempts to share their discovery with the adults led to the boys being rebuked, as no astronomer was able to locate what the boys saw.
Nervous Wreck: He's very easily startled and too timid to ever hold a conversation on his own. He compares his heart to that of a marmot and considers making himself as tough as pudding an improvement.
Older Is Better: Jude discovers designs for a "Starlens", an antiquated magical implement that uses aether passed through several wands to look deep into the heavens, while perusing the Noumenon. Given that it's the only thing in his budget, he commissions the Warrior to help him build one to help him look for the Azure Star. In fact, its aether-focused mechanism is what allows him to find it when Sharlayan's best telescopes could not.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the shy, reserved, and single-minded Blue Oni to Jeromere's outgoing and passionate Red Oni.
Shrinking Violet: Jude incredibly timid, which led to him not having many friends growing up. Just the thought of eating across from someone else sends shivers down his spine. His first, impromptu attempt at poetry is horribly depressing, to the point that Jeromere almost regrets asking Jude to try it. It's blatantly clear that his lack of confidence and s a support group is what's causing this, so his Studium Deliveries storyline is largely about giving him the support and encouragement he needs to chase his dreams.

Jeromere

Jude's Childhood Friend and Only Friend. He once shared a passion for astronomy with Jude, but has since turned his attentions to the Studium's poetry club and fraternizing with his fellow students.

Awful Truth: He learned the Azure Star the two have been trying to find doesn't exist. All the badgering to make Jude quit astronomy was to stop him from falling in the same pitfall he did. He also didn't tell him sooner because it would invariably crush his dreams.
Only Friend: Jeromere is the only person Jude is comfortable around. Due to Jeromere's naturally sociable personality, he didn't even realize how lonely Jude is until Jude flat out tells him.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the outgoing and passionate Red Oni to Jude's shy, reserved, and single-minded Blue Oni.
Tears of Joy: The sight of the Azure Star, what he gave up trying to find after ten long years, brings a tear to his eye when Jude proves its existence.
Trade Your Passion for Glory: He once shared Jude's passion for astronomy, but Jeromere's attention has since drifted to socializing with his peers (especially women) over poetry. He frequently invites Jude to join him, but Jude is far too socially awkward and disinterested to do so. After Jude proves the existence of the Azure Star with the starlens he built, Jeromere is convinced to return to the Faculty of Astronomy and chance his dreams once more.

Faculty of Medicine (Alchemist and Culinarian)

Debroye

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2021_12_24_18_00_32_458_witchsmoonforgameplayalt.png

Race: Veena Viera
Discipline: Culinarian

"As a lover of fine foods - nay, as a person with a functional tongue - I am compelled to prevent this crime against cuisine from entering society in its current form!"

A researcher under the supervision of Professor Galveroche, studying medicine and nutrition. She harbors a passion for cooking that puts her at odds with the professor's pragmatic approach to food. She acts as the questgiver for Culinarians and Alchemists in Endwalker.

Acquired Poison Immunity: The poor woman's forced down so much panaloaf in her research that she can shrug off even the most severe aether sickness like it's nothing.
Awesome, but Impractical: Her Mervynbread recipe ends up becoming this. Sure, it has all the nutritional requirements in the panaloaf and is unbelievably delicious, but the extra steps that makes it edible also make it inefficient to produce on a scale required for it to be useful as an emergency ration. This nearly costs her academic career until Flaugustert, a Last Stand patron who previously critiqued an early version of the recipe, happens to be a former Forum member and vouches for her on the importance of enjoying the food you eat.
Cordon Bleugh Chef: Adamantly trying to defy this, as Sharlayan cuisine is infamous for having nutritious foodstuffs with an inversely proportional level of deliciousness. She enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine so she could strike the perfect balance between nutrition and gourmet.
Delayed Diagnosis: Upon arriving in Thavnair via experimental aetheryte, Debroye feels nauseous and fatigued. The Warrior, having experienced it first hand, initially brushes it off as the intense aether sickness said aetheryte caused. But they get worried when her symptoms continue after they make it to Radz-at-Han. As it turns out, her weakness and dizziness were caused by a lack of ascorbic acid/Vitamin C due to eating nothing but modified panaloaf, which hadn't included ascorbic acid in the recipe. Luckily, this gets her noticed by Jalvaaz, the very same alchemist she's looking for.
Foreshadowing: At the start of the questline, she makes a comment that people could survive eating panaloaf, but the food is so terrible they would wish they couldn't. This is the same argument Flagustert makes that ultimately carries the day in her contest with Galveroche, that forcing people to live off something as foul tasting as panaloaf will lead to depression and panic in what's already an emergency situation.
Hot-Blooded: She's an extremely passionate cook, calling Galveroche's panaloaf a "crime against cuisine" and working tirelessly to try and improve it. She also sees the Warrior as a kindred spirit if they choose the more impassioned responses, such as swearing a vendetta against panaloaf.
Innocently Insensitive: Her finalized Mervynbread winds up looking virtually identical to the meol from Eulmore. The Warrior can understandably cringe at the sight of it, but the taste, aroma, and texture are enticing enough for the Warrior to look past it.
Lame Pun Reaction: Debroye cringes and immediately apologizes after she makes an Accidental Pun while asking the Warrior to "rise" to the occasion of making a yeast suited for their sweetened panaloaf. She then makes another intentional pun when she says that "Oil need" the Warrior's help in making a low-fat, aromatic oil additive to give her bread an enticing smell. She calls this one terrible too.
Motor Mouth: Her passion for cooking results in her rattling off how to prepare the dishes she plans to make out loud until someone stops her.
Serious Business: Frequenting and subsequently working at the Last Stand opened Debroye's eyes to the importance and joy of cooking and eating beyond nutrition alone. Her passion for food led her to join the Faculty of Medicine in the first place, only to be horrified at the faculty's purely utilitarian approach to cooking. Galveroche's disgusting panaloaf is an affront on her culinary sensibilities. She even calls an emergency where Sharlayan would have nothing to eat but panaloaf a Fate Worse than Death, as the poor people eating it would be alive, but not "living".
Supreme Chef: She learned everything she knows about cooking from Dickon, the finest chef in Sharlayan, cooking a lobster dinner that the Warrior, by this point an award-winning Supreme Chef themself, praises as heavenly. Even still, she consults the Warrior and Dickon as professionals in helping to make panaloaf palatable.
Surpassed the Teacher: Zigzagged. Dickon calls it unacceptable that the Warrior's and Debroye's Mervynbread is more delicious than Dickon's own bread. Despite this feat, Debroye struggles to extract ascorbic acid with Jalvaaz's instructions, asking the Warrior to do what she could not.
Sweet Baker: She's a fine cook who is also deeply worried about her fellow Sharlayans. She understands that while panaloaf is a nutritionally perfect meal, people would not be able to stand eating it day-in and day-out, hence her trying to improve the recipe so it's satisfying while remaining nutritionally viable.

Galveroche

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2021_12_25_11_25_13_083_witchsmoonforgameplayalt.png

Race: Wildwood Elezen
Discipline: Culinarian

"When it comes to the perfect meal, flavor is irrelevant!"

The inventor of the (in)famous archon loaf and the leading researcher in the field of nutritional science. He's disgusted with the nutritional excesses caused by "gourmet" cuisine, declaring that taste is irrelevant when it comes to nutrition.

Comfort Food: After Debroye's Mervynbread was chosen over his own panaloaf, Debroye makes him some of the same Sharlayan fishcakes he used to enjoy with Mervyn and Dickon. Eating them and having a heart-to-heart with Debroye about how much of Mervynbread's success can be tied to Galveroche's panaloaf gets him to realize that they needn't be opposed to each other. He then manages to bury the hatchet with Debroye and promises to help her develop a new version of Mervynbread that is delicious, nutritrious, and easy to prepare. Should you revisit him after finishing all of the deliveries, he'll propose creating additional flavors to keep people from getting tired of Mervynbread, such as curry or seafood.
Cordon Bleugh Chef: He champions the Sharlayan cooking philosophy of putting nutrition far above any kind of taste or digestibility. His signature creation is basically just a bunch of ground up vegetables and fish stuffed into bread dough, resulting in a highly nutritious and compact but awful-tasting foodstuff. His latest version of the loaf is so awful that the Warrior describes it as the worst thing they've ever eaten, while Galveroche's assistant Debroye is visibly trying not to hurl after sampling it. When Debroye takes the experimental aetherryte to Thavnair, she is able to push through the aethersickness that completely incapacitated the Scions because the nausea she feels is nothing compared to what the panaloaf did to her.
Didn't Think This Through: He gets this coming and going in the final quest. He initially sways the Forum panel by pointing out that panaloaf is much more efficient to produce than Mervynbread, which for an emergency foodstuff is a very important quality, flumoxing Debroye on how she had not considered how her improvements have made it harder to make and require more ingredients. He then has his own moment of this used against him by Flagustert, who makes a case to the Forum that since the emergency food is all they would be eating, it needs to be something people will like to eat in order to keep their morale up as opposed to something they hate which will lead to misery and depression in what will already be a trying time.
Disproportionate Retribution: While he did assign Debroye the assignment, he took great offense to her methodology in achieving results and promptly removed her from his project. When she decides to challenge his work, he opted to threaten her with expulsion should her recipe fail to surpass his.
High-Class Glass: He wears a monocle that emphasizes his Insufferable Genius image.
Hypocrite: While he definitely has a point regarding how unhealthy the lack of nutritional care in favor of flavor can be, his point that people are just having preferences reeks of this. His tirades and outright dismissal of flavor in food as a factor are highly biased and unprofessional at best, especially in light of the fact that, nutrition aside, his "food" doesn't work because people can't swallow it.
If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: Galveroche and the other senior members of the Faculty of Medicine espouse the policy that taste is utterly irrelevant when it comes to food, instead making experimental food that's as nutritious, compact, and convenient to eat as possible. His panaloaf, a successor to his already horrible-tasting archon loaf, is designed to be the pinnacle of this philosophy: a compact and easily kept emergency ration that contains all the nutrients required to sustain the body. The problem is that it's so awful-tasting that it induces nausea and retching in anyone who eats it. Rather than say anything is wrong with the taste, Galveroche instead tasks Debroye with improving the "digestibility" of it. This is then deconstructed when Flagustert's argument in favor of Debroye's Mervynbread makes the Forum panel realize that eating nothing but panaloaf would induce panic and misery, emotions not conducive to rational thinking during a crisis.
Insufferable Genius: He's at the head of his field in nutritional research and responsible for the welfare of Sharlayan in times of crisis. He's also incredibly brusque and completely indifferent to the taste of the food he's making.
It's Personal: He watched Mervyn's health decline over the course of his pursuits towards gourmet cooking, presumably due to malnutrition, and Galveroche worked on the recipe for his Archon loaf for Mervyn's sake, but Mervyn passed away before he could finish it. At the end of the storyline, Galveroche admits that Mervyn's death was due to his own self-neglect and that it's wrong for him to blame gourmet cooking as a whole for it.
Jerkass Has a Point: While he's obviously extreme about it, he isn't wrong in that people's fixation on enjoying food has led to nutritional imbalances that create conditions for disease. The problem is that he doesn't care if his nutritious food gives people nausea and makes them not want to eat at all. He also makes a valid point that Debroye's Mervynbread is inefficient to produce due to the extra steps utilized to make it palatable enough to eat.
Nondescript, Nasty, Nutritious: His panaloaf is packed with all the nutrients one could possibly need in a crisis, making it a theoretically perfect emergency ration. It also tastes revolting enough to instantly induce nausea in anyone who samples it. It's so bad that the game has multiple versions of the description detailing just how awful it is, one for each race. All of them agree that it's the worst thing the Warrior has ever eaten, even after they've consumed the Foreign Queasine of the Mords.
Hyur: The initial flavor is akin to chewing on rotten garbage, which gradually transitions into an overwhelming sensation of nausea. It is quite possibly the worst thing you've ever eaten.
Elezen: The initial flavor is one of otherworldly astringency, which gradually transitions into a feeling of intense regret. It is quite possibly the worst thing you've ever eaten.
Lalafell: The initial flavor is so complex as to be unidentifiable, which gradually transitions into a hauntingly unpleasant aftertaste. It is quite possibly the worst thing you've ever eaten.
Miqo'te: The initial flavor is like a numbness in the tip of your tongue, which gradually transitions into an overall sense of crushing emptiness. It is quite possibly the worst thing you have ever eaten.
Roegadyn: The initial flavor is akin to mushy grain filling your mouth, which gradually transitions into a disturbingly solid mass of congealed blandness. It is quite possibly the worst thing you've ever eaten.
Au Ra: The initial flavor is like a rush of indescribable hatred, which gradually transitions into a sense of deep and abiding despair. It is quite possibly the worst thing you've ever eaten.
Hrothgar: The initial flavor is like savoring the absurdity of mankind, which gradually transitions into an awareness of your own futility in the face of inexorable fate. It is quite possibly the worst thing you've ever eaten.
Viera: The initial taste is an affront to the gods themselves, which gradually transitions into a bleakly entropic aftertaste. It is quite possibly the worst thing you've ever eaten.
Old Friend: He was a close friend to the late Mervyn, whose life ended too soon due to malnutrition. His death is what drove him to invent archon loaf, but he forsook flavor out of misplaced anger against the Last Stand.
Portmanteau: His panaloaf is a combination of the word panacea (referring to a legendary cure-all medicine found throughout the franchise) and "loaf", as it's designed to provide all the nutrients one needs in a conveniently-sized loaf of bread. Unlike a panacea, however, panaloaf is just as likely to make you sick from how disgusting it tastes.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: His singleminded pursuit of nutrition at the expense of palatability began with his friend Mervyn's death after Mervyn threw away his academic career to found the Last Stand. Blaming Mervyn's early grave on his pursuit of the "trivial art" of gourmet cooking, Galveroche swore to forsake any notion of flavor in favor of ensuring that all Sharalyans are eating well.

Jalvaaz

Race: Midlander Hyur
Discipline: Alchemist

A master alchemist and a leading researcher in the field of nutritional science in Radz-at-Han. His propensity for practicing what he preaches has let him live to a hundred summers and remain spry and active. The Warrior and Debroye visit Thavnair to consult him on how to introduce ascorbic acid into their Mervynbread.

The Alcoholic: He apparently visits the bar at Mehryde's Meyhane constantly, yet it doesn't seem to impact his health one bit.
Long-Lived: After learning that he's a hundred years old, Debroye initially assumes that he's long gone. Jalvaaz's great-granddaughter, an alchemist herself, is happy to inform Debroye that he's hale and healthy thanks to his own research on healthy living.
Old Master: He's an extremely long-lived alchemist and nutritional researcher who has developed a method for extracting and synthesizing ascorbic acid and artifically infusing it into food. His skills surpass even the famed researchers of Sharlayan, resulting in Debroye seeking him out for advice. Galveroche also sought out his counsel for the same reason, using it to infuse ascorbic acid into his own archon loaf.
One-Note Cook: He's grown tired of eating Hannish cooking every day and is willing to trade his secret method for synthesizing ascorbic acid and introducing it into food for a fine Eorzean meal. Debroye is more than happy to oblige, tasking the Warrior with preparing the Last Stand's signature "golden spice" while she cooks the curry.

Characters / Final Fantasy XIV - Disciples of the Hand

Carpenter

Blacksmith

Armorer

Goldsmith

Leatherworker

Weaver

Alchemist

Culinarian

Facets of Crafting (Carpenter, Leatherworker, Weaver)

Facets of Smithing (Armorer, Blacksmith, Goldsmith)

Facets of Nourishing (Alchemist and Culinarian)

Faculty of Archaeology (Armorer, Blacksmith, Goldsmith)

Faculty of Astronomy (Carpenter, Leatherworker, Weaver)

Faculty of Medicine (Alchemist and Culinarian)

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Characters / Final Fantasy XIV - Disciples of the Hand

Edit Locked

Carpenter

Blacksmith

Armorer

Goldsmith

Leatherworker

Weaver

Alchemist

Culinarian

Facets of Crafting (Carpenter, Leatherworker, Weaver)

Facets of Smithing (Armorer, Blacksmith, Goldsmith)

Facets of Nourishing (Alchemist and Culinarian)

Faculty of Archaeology (Armorer, Blacksmith, Goldsmith)

Faculty of Astronomy (Carpenter, Leatherworker, Weaver)

Faculty of Medicine (Alchemist and Culinarian)

Previous

Index

Next