Final Fantasy XIV - Emet-Selch / Characters

Voiced by: Hiroki Takahashi (JP), René Zagger (EN), Eilias Changuel (FR), Andreas Hofer (DE)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxiv_sh_solus_zos_galvus_2.png

^{Click here to see him as Hades}

^{Click here to see him as an Ancient, pre-Final Days}

^{Click here to see him as Emperor Solus zos Galvus}

Race: Ascian
Epithet: The Redeemer
Discipline: The Third Seat (Dark Knight, Black Mage)

"Ours is a struggle to restore both mankind and the world to their rightful state."

A highly mysterious Ascian, and the third and final of their number to be native to the Source, according to Shadowhunter. Absolutely nothing is known of this individual save the name until Shadowbringers made him an important character.

He's the true identity of the founder of the Garlean Empire Solus zos Galvus, and the enigmatic unseen mastermind for many of the Calamities that befell the world across the millenias.

Due to his extensive role in the story, all Shadowbringers spoilers are unmarked, and major Endwalker spoilers are ahead.

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A-D

Abusive Parents: Zigzagged. What little we know of Solus's relationship with his son implies some amount of pride and love... only for his son to die young from disease, reinforcing his belief mortals are feeble & frail creatures. Emet winds up despising his grandson Varis for reminding him of his dead son.
Alas, Poor Villain:
- As the story goes on, it's clear that beneath the hamminess, Emet-Selch is a crushingly tired and lonely man who just wants to go back to the good old days. Indeed, his motives aren't villainous at all; it's his methods that cause the Scions to oppose him. In his final moments, he pleads with the Warrior of Light to not let the memory of Amaurot die. The Warrior of Light agrees to this with a nod, and Emet gives a small smile as he accepts his death.
- What little we glimpse of his mortal lives doesn't look bright, either. As Solus, he shows some pride in his son, only for it to be crushed when he dies young from disease. It ends up reinforcing his belief that mortals are feeble and frail and souring his relationship with his grandson Varis.
The Aloner: He often works alone and keeps his intentions a secret, even from his fellow Ascians. Unlike Lahabrea though, he tends to get the job done and so Elidibus lets him do as he wishes without questioning him to his face.
Ambiguous Situation: The nature of Emet-Selch's possession of Solus is something of a vague area. The game never really clarifies if Emet-Selch had been Solus from the very beginning, or if Solus was just a person that Emet-Selch possessed at a certain point to direct the history of the nation. Some short stories released indicate that he had been Solus for long enough to have not only a grandson, but a great-grandson as well, suggesting that he had potentially been Solus since very early in the man's life, but it remains unclear. His narration when the player at last arrives in Garlemald come Endwalker implies that there was an ordinary Garlean man named Solus once upon a time, before Emet-Selch took him over to kickstart an Empire.
Anti-Villain: To the extent the game itself calls him a hero in the text for Hades (Extreme). Emet-Selch's goals are ultimately very relatable and sympathetic—the salvation of his loved ones and his people—and he's so broken it's impossible not to feel for him. It's the lengths he's willing to go to accomplish his goals that make him an antagonist, alongside his staunch refusal to acknowledge the living races as worth keeping around.
The Archmage: Even among Ascians, Emet-Selch possesses incredible talent for magic and aetherweaving rivaling that of Omega. Even in a society where creating almost anything out of thin air was common practice, the disparity becomes clear when it's explained that old-world Ascians would have to work together and sometimes even die to create a large-scale project, while Emet can magick an entire city complete with inhabitants into existence all by himself and appear no worse for wear. Granted, it's stated that the massive glamour will fade with time and it's both stated and observable by the player that the "inhabitants" are fairly limited in what they can actually do or think, but it's still staggering in scope, even in-universe. Other Ascians' discussion of him and his power tend to pretty much agree he was among the greatest and most powerful members of their race. Hythlodaeus, whom Emet-Selch himself saw as Always Someone Better, says that he knows of no mage more powerful than Emet-Selch.
Armor-Piercing Question: Before the final fight when Alphinaud tries once more to reason with him, Emet-Selch asks one thing: half the Ascian population willingly and gracefully sacrificed themselves to save the other half from certain death. Could any of the Scions claim that the current inhabitants of the Source would do the same? The Scions can only look to the ground defeated for a moment, well aware what the answer is.
Assassin Outclassin': The Reaper questline reveals that Drusilla's grandfather attempted to assassinate Solus zos Galvus to end the furious conquest of the Garlean Empire before it began. But this being Emet-Selch, Drusilla's grandfather didn't stand a chance. The reaper hobbled home with his hair bleached white from overuse of his voidsent powers as he told his granddaughter that the most powerful man in Garlemald was no man at all, implying he was at least able to put up enough of a fight to force Emet-Selch to use his Ascian powers.
At the Opera Tonight: As Solus, he was a very passionate patron of the arts. So much so that he personally saw to the construction of a massive airship for the Majestic Imperial Theater Company to serve as both their stage and the vessel with which they could take their performances to all corners of Garlemald. This fact becomes unsurprising given Emet's genuine love for theatrics.
Awful Truth: That the entire grand "civilizing mission" and "eikon-destroying crusade" that forms the core of Garleans' beliefs? It's a lie. The Garlean Empire exists solely to serve as a gigantic engine of chaos and strife to induce Calamities, while also keeping Light and Dark in balance; it is the ultimate tool of the Ascians and its machinations have already brought about a Calamity.
Backup from Otherworld:
- In 5.3, the Warrior calls him out of the Lifestream for aid, and he saves them from the void Elidibus banished them to. If it wasn't clear it was him (as he's wearing generic Amaurotine garb), Emet-Selch does his flippant hand wave as he walks away.
- At the climax of Endwalker, The Warrior of Light, using Azem's crystal, also calls upon Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus.
Badass Boast: Upon going One-Winged Angel in the final battle:
Hades: Behold, a sorcerer of eld! Tremble before my glory!
Badass Finger Snap:
- Being a man of flair, Emet-Selch often works his magic with a solid snap of his fingers, audible even through his gloves. This is a clue that the Amaurotine who saves you is him, as it summons you back with the same solid snap, and takes his leave with the same languid wave of a hand.
- As a Trust, unlike other Black Mages who weave magic into the air, Emet snaps his fingers to cast his version of Xenoglossy.
Bad Boss:
- Zigzagged as Solus. He was publically A Father to His Men, but he also deliberately set his men against each other in a bloody war of succession. In general, his go-to method for causing Rejoinings appeared to be building a great empire, then arranging matters so it would fall to ruin, with little to no regard for his subjects.
- When Mitron was trapped inside Eden, he remarks that Emet-Selch likely could have rescued him, but found it easier to simply replace him with another fragment.
Battle Theme Music: His fight begins with "Who Brings Shadow", a reprise of "Shadowbringers" that acts as a Rage Against the Heavens against Hydaelyn and the Warrior for opposing his efforts to restore his people. It's replaced with "Invincible", a booming orchestral arrangement of "Shadowbringers", as Hades brings all he has to bear against you to secure the ancients' future.
Been There, Shaped History: He reveals to the Crystal Exarch that he was likewise behind the Allagan Empire's creation just as he was for the Garlean Empire's. Elidibus comments that Emet has a remarkable talent for nation building and has made many great empires across the worlds.
Believing Their Own Lies: While acknowledging "moral relativism and all that", Emet-Selch says that he doesn't consider the races of the star to be truly alive, at least not in the way that the ancients were. But it's implied that this is just what Emet tells himself to stay on his path, and that deep down he knows the ones he deems broken and inferior are very much alive. Hence, his desire for a path of lesser tragedy. Once it becomes clear that the Warrior of Light isn't backing down and is willing to force him to confront the truth, Emet's mask cracks and he starts having a Villainous Breakdown. This is implied more strongly by Y'shtola during Endwalker, where she realizes that in contrast to the ancients who mistook the Warrior for a mere Familiar, the shades from Amaurot mistook them for a child instead. From Emet-Selch's real point-of-view, he seemed to acknowledge the races of Eorzea as people, just immature ones.
Beneath the Mask: Under Emet's flippant, cheerfully evil Troll nature lies literal eons of sorrow and pain over all he and his people have lost, and burning, bitter hatred for the goddess who damned his kingdom and all who fight in Her name. He is also painfully aware of the losses and tragedy his duty and empire-building has been incurring over the millennia. It's just that he convinced himself that this was acceptable in the name of his goal.
Berserk Button: "Heroes", being considered the same, and the future are some of the only things that will get him to drop the mask and show genuine fury.
- For heroes, while in Amaurot, if you say you came to "stop him," Emet notes how cliche it is... before going into a rant about claiming that there were many "heroes" who thought just like the Warrior does, and angrily states how not only were the Ascians villainized into monsters for wanting to save their world, the "heroes" all thought the current, broken world should be preserved, not at all caring about the world before and those lost in the Final Days and the Sundering.
- When Alphinaud claims that just like him, they too share his conviction in protecting their world from the threat of the Calamities, Emet-Selch goes Tranquil Fury and venomously asks if he thinks them the same.
  Emet-Selch: (venomously) You think us the same? You think your tattered soul of equal worth to those I lost?
- For the future, he responds by knocking both Y'shtola and Urianger out cold just before the fight with Hades.
  Emet-Selch: (venomously, with red mask glowing) Do not presume to speak of my future!
Beware the Silly Ones: When he is first introduced, he seems to be rather comical. He is even shot dead by Emperor Varis with a goofy look on his face, only to reappear shortly in another body taunting Varis. And throughout Shadowbringers, he lightly taunts the Scions and is rather flamboyant. But when he gets serious, all of that drops and his voice drops to a low pitch. And he puts up a much bigger fight than Lahabrea did.
Big Bad: Of Shadowbringers. Emet-Selch is The Man Behind the Man to Vauthry and the architect of a plot to rejoin the First with the Source, which would kick off the Eighth Umbral Calamity.
Big Bad Friend:
- Of Shadowbringers. He spends most of the expansion ingratiating himself with the Scions, as it occurs to him that cooperation might reap better rewards than opposition. He tags along on a few excursions into Lightwarden territory, can be spoken to at length to get his unique perspective, and reveals some of the biggest twists in the story. He even steps in to save Y'shtola's life when she's lost in the lifestream. For all that, the party never lets their guard down around him, and he's bluntly honest about his goals as the conditions to realize them change. However, his ultimate endgame, aside from reviving Zodiark and restoring Amaurot, was for the First to be brought to the tipping point of elemental imbalance toward Light. This would then cause the First's excessive Light to "seep" into the Source, empowering the Black Rose to the point where he could use it to effortlessly kill the Warrior of Light and the Scions and lay waste to Eorzea, which would in turn cause enough death and destruction to trigger a new Rejoining. So really, what he wants more than anything else is to just go home.
- He's so this that in Patch 5.3, Urianger says the scene of the Scions' departure would only be complete if the Exarch were there "with Emet-Selch smirking in the wings".
Big Damn Heroes:
- In 5.3, his soul shows up to save your party from being banished to the Rift by Elidibus, before giving his usual cocky wave goodbye and disappearing into Aether again.
- In Endwalker, he does this again in the finale alongside Hythlodaeus, using creation magics to loosen Meteion’s grip over Ultima Thule and, by extension, freeing the Scions from their Heroic Sacrifice.
Black Humor: He has, at the very least, shades of this. When Varis shoots him and he tumbles from the throne dais, he lands with a macabre smile on his face and reconstitutes seconds later, giving the impression it may have been on purpose - or that the entire fall may have been deliberately over-acted histrionics to remind Varis of a point.
Bling of War: As the first Emperor, he presumably established the ornate uniform the he and his successor wear, enormous shoulderpads and all. Upon his return in ''Stormblood', Emet-Selch instead wears a medal-bedecked long coat with a fancy undershirt.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Being one of the three "unbroken" Ascians, he has existed since before the Great Sundering and lived in a time where civilization and peace were on levels unimaginable by mortal men, and thus has very high standards of what people should accomplish. As a result he views "broken" beings as not being truly alive, and murdering them is more like stepping on ants. He even mentions moral relativism for why his morals and the Warriors' simply don't connect to the other, and it isn't until his defeat that he accepts their viewpoint and asks for them to remember the ancients in return.
Emet-Selch: But yes, moral relativism and all that. Case in point—I do not consider you to be truly alive. Ergo, I will not be guilty of murder if I kill you.
Body Backup Drive:There is at least one laboratory in the Garlean Empire dedicated to cultivating youthful clones of Solus and keeping them in stasis. Whenever Emet-Selch’s current host body dies, he simply possesses a fresh one from the lab. Shadowbringers elaborates on this process a bit more: he avoided jumping from body to body, but since he was technically just using the same body each time, he avoided exhausting himself. The best part for him is that he didn't even set up the cloning facility himself, his grandson Varis did, which proved incredibly convenient to Emet when he had to come back out of "retirement."
Boss Banter: As his fight as Hades in Shadowbringers, his banter is filled with either Badass Boast, his smug beliefs on the Star belongs only to them and the Warrior's insignificance, or him calling out to the souls of the ancients to help him in battle.
But Now I Must Go: Although his resurrection in Ultima Thule appears to be a proper one, he and Hythlodaeus still voluntarily choose to return to the aetherial sea after their Big Damn Heroes is complete; as Emet himself puts it, though the Warrior of Light’s world has proven its right to exist, it is still not HIS world, and he does not belong in it.
The Cameo: He appears in a flashback during the Reaper Job questline.
Character Tic: He has a unique way of waving goodbye—flipping his hand as if saying "shoo" while walking away. This is the big give-away that the Ancient who rescues the Warrior of Darkness in 5.3 is really him.
Characterization Marches On: He was considerably more zany and maniacal in Stormblood as opposed to in Shadowbringers. However, it can be justified as his grandiose persona is indicated to be a mask to hide his inner sorrow as an Ascian. As he begins to warm up to the Warrior of Light, and as the Scions "ask the right questions" pertaining to the Ascians, Emet-Selch begins to show more and more of his true self. Given a deeply-tragic underpinning with the Elpis sequence in Endwalker, which retroactively suggests Emet is deliberately adopting the mannerisms of his fallen friends like Hythlodaeus and Azem as part of his masquerade; he even uses one of Hythlodaeus’s lines from Elpis word-for-word.
Cool Crown: It's subtle, but his garb as Hades includes a regal-looking crown, befitting his namesake's title of king of the underworld. It makes a second appearance as a magic circle around his feet when his shade rescues the party later on.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: In many ways, Emet-Selch is the opposite of his great-grandson Zenos. Where Zenos is a vicious Blood Knight who relies on physical force, Emet-Selch is a manipulative sorcerer who prefers to act from behind the scenes. Where Zenos puts up a Mask of Sanity to conceal his bloodlust, Emet-Selch projects an eccentric Affably Evil persona to hide his inner pain. Zenos has no loyalty to the Empire and will burn the world for a chance to relive the greatest battle of his life, whereas Emet-Selch is defined by his love for his lost people and will commit atrocities to bring them back to life.
Costume Inertia: He continues to wear his extravagant emperor's clothing in the First for some reason, despite Garlemald not even existing said world. It makes him look extremely out of place whenever he appears. Averted in Endwalker; when revived in Ultima Thule, he appears in his Elpis-era Ancient form rather than his Solus form, despite the latter being the most recent physical form he took.
Custom Uniform: Unlike the plain robes of his Ascian compatriots, Emet-Selch's robes as emperor of Garlemald are of similar form but highly lavish, mirroring Emet-Selch's eccentricity. Also, unlike his comrades, he elects not to wear a hood and a mask, demonstrating how he is the only Ascian willing to reach out to the Scions. Only in his final scene and appearance during the Seat of Sacrifice is he seen wearing his Ascian and Ancient robes respectively.
Cynicism Catalyst: He remarks that mortals let him down time and again, and it is a culmination of these failures (in addition to his deep sense of grief and loss) that drives him to cause Rejoinings. The final straws were when his son, who had given him hope for the new world, died young and then the Warrior of Light, who was a reincarnation of his old friend from the Original Star, failed to contain the Flood of Light. The post-Elpis cutscene gives a good idea of what started him down his dark path in the first place: watching one of his closest friends, Hythlodaeus, march to his demise in the summoning of Zodiark, with a smile on his face.
Death Equals Redemption: He concedes defeat at the very end and goes out quite somberly, merely asking that you remember him and his people. Reinforced in the Final Battle against Elidibus: Emet's shade rescues the party, preferring to see the Paragons' long road end with dignity than to watch his last living comrade lose himself in his lonely quest.
Death Seeker: Implied, retroactively, by his past self's reaction to hearing about his actions in Shadowbringers. As he says, if he truly wanted to beat the Warrior of Light and continue his plans, he could have just waited for the light corruption to destroy them. Instead, he invited them into the heart of his operation on The First and challenged them directly. Either he held the Villain Ball at just the wrong moment for all his centuries-long plans to come crashing down, or on some level he wanted the Warrior to at least have a chance to prove him wrong and stop the ancient Ascian conspiracy.
Defeat Equals Friendship: A firm, if not pragmatic, believer of this. He explains to the Warrior of Light that as a conqueror, toppling an enemy through might is only the first step of true subjugation. He states that it is crucial to treat the defeated with dignity and respect, that they might "let bygones be bygones" and win their hearts over. He is genuinely impressed that the Warrior of Light has successfully accomplished this with Eulmore and gives them a heartfelt compliment.
Dehumanization:
- Emet-Selch does a lot of this to the people of the world, considering them malformed creatures too broken and fractured by the sundering to be considered truly alive and human. It is implied he does this in order to keep the weight of the guilt of destroying countless lives through the Ascian's plans from wearing his conscience down completely. He even acknowledges "moral relativism and all that" while he lays this out for the Scions.
- A side-dialogue of Y'shtola basically confirms that he wasn't very good at this. Unlike the ancients from Elpis who mistake the Warrior as a familiar, the shades from Emet-Selch's recreated Amaurot mistake them for children instead. As said by Y'shtola, it's extremely likely that he actually saw modern humanity as proper living beings, but very immature ones. In retrospective, it's made painfully clear that this failure at totally dehumanizing them only made his own actions break him further.
Determinator: How determined is he? You have to beat him twice in his boss fight. And even then, through nothing but willpower, Emet rouses himself for a third round, which is stopped by the aid of the Scions, white auracite, and the Light of every sin eater on the First as the only way to actually put him down.
Hades: I... will... not.. yield...
Should I surrender this fight, what will become of it all..?
What will become of our triumphs? Our hopes? Our... our despair?
What of this anguish which yet burns in my breast even after the passing of eons?
No, no, no! I will not let it all be for naught!
Determined Defeatist: As revealed by the 7th Tale from the Shadows, after his stint as Solus, the emperor of Garlemald, he wonders to himself if there is really any point in continuing the plan they had been working towards for so long. He notes that the only thing really keeping him going is the determination of his fellow Unsundered. We see during Shadowbringers that he clearly does care about what he's lost, but perhaps it is his not total devotion to the cause that allows him to calmly accept his defeat at the end.
Detrimental Determination: This is also the crux of Emet-Selch's motivations and his opposition to the heroes in Shadowbringers. Despite his rhetoric about the sundered people not being truly alive, he at least subconsciously acknowledged that they're people who have a right to live as much as his own. But his irrepressible feelings of duty to his people and his sorrow over his failure to save them from their fate means that he cannot be swayed from his decision to continue the Rejoinings in search of the faintest hope of restoring his people and world, forcing the heroes to fight him to the death. Even after his death and reclaiming his lost memories in Endwalker, he continues to call his ideals "inviolate" and "invincible", implying that if he had a chance, he'd do it all over again.
Didn't See That Coming:
- Despite being the finest schemer among the Ascians, his plans for the First fall apart as soon as the Warrior of Light appears in the First. Not that he can be faulted, as the Warrior only appeared because of the Crystal Exarch traveling back in time and between worlds specifically to make it happen. As far as the original timeline goes, Emet-Selch won by a landslide.
- A smaller example is when while traveling in through the Rak'tika Greatwood, he's taken aback by "Minfilia" asking him to join them in fighting. It's only for a split second though, and immediately says no before explaining why he can't help fight.
- His final defeat is another prime example. Disappointed by the Warrior of Light's inability to contain the Light, Emet-Selch wrote them off as a failure ready to expire, and indeed, when it's time to fight him, they can barely stand. ...Until Ardbert, an Alternate Self of the Warrior and a fragment of their soul, performs a Heroic Sacrifice to merge with the Warrior, giving them the strength to not just contain the corrupted aether, but control it. Emet is absolutely shocked, especially when he catches a glimpse of the person they used to be.
Disappears into Light: His body glows and breaks into seven fragments of light when he dies; notable because how he's the only Ascian to die this way. This becomes relevant in Endwalker when you recall his soul from the Aetherial Sea to assist you near the end of the story.
Disproportionate Retribution: Emet-Selch attempted to live alongside the modern mankind, both normally and eventually at the head of his empires once the other Ascian plans needed a mortal frontend. But between seeing humanity as "wanting", and his inability to meld with their newfound mortality to the point that his first son's death under his Solus identity seemingly broke him, he ultimately decided on his final plan in the First: should the Warrior of Light fail to contain the Flood of Light to save the Shard, he'll wipe all of mankind out personally to continue Zodiark's revival and try to bring back Amaurot. It all ends up as justifying genocide out of spite for man not meeting the heights and standards of his former civilization.
Dramatic Irony: Quite a bit of it in Endwalker.
- First off, when you see a vision of Emet-Selch before he went insane, or rather when you meet Emet-Selch in the past and reveal the truth of the future, he becomes very offended at the idea that he ever becomes a monomaniacal villain, saying he'd never go so far as to disrespect his loved ones by creating a phantom Amaurot with facsimiles within, let alone willingly invite his nemesis into his lair. Of course, he did in fact do all those things he said he'd never do, though he does admit he doesn't know what his future self had been through.
- There's some ironic dialogue from Emet when you remember that he's an Ex-Big Bad. While confronting Hermes atop Ktisis Hyperboreia, Emet-Selch is outraged by Hermes' decision to use Meteion's Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum as a way to put Humanity on Trial, asking Hermes, "Who are you to judge whether we live or die?" Thousands of years later, the Scions would throw this question back in Emet-Selch's face as he judges them inferior beings unworthy of inhabiting the star.
- A variation occurs with this via Self-Serving Memory and Easy Amnesia. In addition, when he has his memory wiped and Hythlodeus suggests they'll learn the truth when they return to the aetheral sea, Emet-Selch dismisses his musing wholeheartedly, saying whatever revelations they had this day would not matter in the long run. In fact, everything he learnt that day was of extreme import, as they had in fact witnessed the birth of the creature that would eventually cause the calamity that would destroy the Ancient's civilization, and force Emet-Selch on his millennia-long vigil to restore his people. Had he remembered, he would have avoided many, many years of suffering for himself and his people. He himself points out the irony of asking the Warrior of Light to remember him, when all of his villainous deeds were the result of him forgetting about the Warrior of Light in the first place.
- Another one from Elpis: a big part of Emet’s characterization in this section especially is his Lack of Empathy regarding Hermès’ hang ups about death and the value of life; Emet considers “returning to the star” a noble and honorable task and states he holds those who sacrifice themselves for the greater good in the highest esteem. As the cutscene after leaving Elpis implies, it was Hythlodaeus, one of Emet’s dearest friends, choosing to do exactly that in order to summon Zodiark and forestall the Final Days that kickstarted his Start of Darkness.

E-J

The Emperor: Quite literally. He is the one who turned Garlemald into an empire, beginning with his expansion of power 50 years before A Realm Reborn.
Establishing Character Moment: Once Elidibus leaves Varis to consider "his own doubt", Emet-Selch steps out from behind the Garlean throne, recounts his true backstory, and promptly reminds Varis exactly what Varis's real place in the grand scheme of things is, all while being as hammy and theatrical as possible. He then also gets shot dead by Varis... before returning and sighing about the futility of it a good ten seconds later.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Emet-Selch's actions show that the Ascians are not motivated by sheer malice or fanaticism, but out of love for their own people. Emet-Selch in particular seemed to have experienced love more readily than the other Ascians, fondly remembering his loved ones from Amaurot. He even truly loved his son of mortal origin, despite seeing them as woefully inadequate as an Ascian; his son's death is what finally made Emet lose hope in humanity. Hythlodaeus even calls him "a slave to sentiment", as shown by his decision to recreate Amaurot in the depths of the Tempest for no reason but nostalgia.
Even Evil Has Standards: Involving Lahabrea and Igeyorhm on opposite sides of the scale. Towards Lahabrea, the sheer heavy-handedness and insanity that the Overlord underwent was something that disgusted Emet, never mind whatever acts he had done that Emet proclaims was the "crowning moment of stupidity" that forced him into activity after Lahabrea's demise; he is always openly loathing of Lahabrea's actions because of how much Villain Decay the man suffered through. Igeyorhm on the other hand, was supposedly responsible for the Flood of Darkness that created the Void out of the Thirteenth Shard — to which Emet-Selch admits it was everyone's collective fault within the Ascians for allowing things to get as bad as they did, rather than inherently blame her for it; given both Unukalhai and Zero report that it was mankind's doing with the Ascian's proffered gifts of creation and dark magics, and 6.5 clarified that Igeyorhm did everything right except account for having a conduit for where all the darkness would go, which none of the Ascians had realized was necessary just yet, Emet's sympathy for the plight is entirely warranted as an unexpected setback.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: After you absorb the light of the final Lightwarden, and it begins to transform you into a Lightwarden, Emet-Selch proclaims that your friends will turn against you and try to strike you down, as clearly you've become an enemy to them, and tells you to come to Amaurot where he will let you live with dignity until you inevitably transform. It doesn't seem to even occur to him that your friends will stick by you until the bitter end, indeed he believes that the fragmented "lesser" souls of mortals are incapable of true self sacrifice, and he sounds genuinely offended that you rejected his offer when you and your friends show up to stop him.
Evil Is Hammy: Emet-Selch is highly theatrical in his speech and mannerisms, often speaking as though he were reciting lines from a play and using grand gestures while lecturing the Scions. This is especially noticeable in the Japanese dub where he starts Suddenly Shouting certain words for emphasis. While he's long been a patron of the arts even in his Solus zos Galvus persona, it's implied that his more playful exterior is modeled after his dear friend Hythlodaeus, who offered himself up to Zodiark in hopes of saving the star from the Final Days. Before his final bow in Endwalker, he uses numerous theatrical terms to describe how he and Hythlodaeus are returning to the Lifestream to be reincarnated.
Evil Is Petty: In Garlemald, an empire that Emet Selch founded, traitors are given the title of "Viator" between their first and last name to replace whatever social rank they previously had. In Latin, "Viator" means "Traveler". So it would seem that even thousands of years later, Emet Selch never quite got over his friend Azem's defection from the Convocation of Fourteen considering he turned their title into one treated scornfully by Garlemald's people.
Evil Learns of Outside Context: As part of the Ascians' plan to rejoin The Multiverse, they caused an apocalypse on a world called The First which then caused another apocalyptic event on The Source (the game's main setting). Centuries into the future, a group of survivors led by the Crystal Exarch figured out how to send The Crystal Tower back in time to the First, and then summoned the Player Character and their allies to Save Both Worlds. As the Ascian in charge of their plans on The First, Emet Selch was initially confused where this second Crystal Tower came from, but quickly pieced together the truth. However, though he knew what had been done, he still needed to know how it was done, and thus captures the Exarch at the end of the game planning to torture and experiment on him to learn the secrets of Time Travel for the Ascians' own purposes.
Emet-Selch: The wisdom that man possesses may open up new worlds of possibilities. He has unlocked the secrets of travel across the rift — and through time as well, it would seem. Quite an accomplishment for one of his 'incomplete' nature. I must explore the limit of his capabilities, and harness that power for the Ardor.
Evil Old Folks: As Solus, he taught Garlemald that ruthlessness and constant conquest was the best way forward for them and in reality, was manipulating the entire nation into becoming an instrument of chaos.
Evil Plan: His ultimate endgame, aside from reviving Zodiark and restoring Amaurot, was for the First to be brought to the tipping point of elemental imbalance toward Light. This would then cause the First's excessive Light to "seep" into the Source, empowering the Black Rose to the point where he could use it to effortlessly kill the Warrior of Light and the Scions and lay waste to Eorzea, which would in turn cause enough death and destruction to trigger a new Rejoining.
Exhausted Eye Bags: Closeups on Emet-Selch's face reveal dark circles around his eyes. They serve as a hint to the exhaustion from eons of trying to restore his people that he usually keeps hidden behind his mocking demeanor. This is especially noticeable when compared to his original body in Elpis. Emet-Selch may still be a grouch, but he has no eyebags, showing that this is him at his happiest and most idealistic.
Expy:
- His initial portrayal as Solus Zos Galvus is one of Emperor Gestahl, as the elderly old Emperor who rose to power from a militaristic nation and dies during the course of the game.
- In addition, he also calls to mind to Emperor Mateus. Both are emperors who are skilled in magical arts far beyond anything regular magic users are capable off, both die during the game and are replaced as an Emperor by their subordinate, and then both come back from the dead. Visually, both Mateus and Solus's return have similarities. Both appear from the throne sporting a vastly different appearance than before, both berate and mock their supposed successor for their incompetence and remind them of their place.(Even causing the successor to attempt an Enemy Mine with the heroes, albeit unsuccessfully in Varis's case.) And lastly both look down on mankind and believe them to be guided by their selfish desires. The difference is, Mateus was a mortal who usurped the powers of hell for his own selfish desire for domination of the world, while Emet-Selch was an Ascian who possessed a random Garlean to become Solus zos Galvus as part of his plan to bring about the rejoinings to revive Zodiark and his race.
Face Death with Dignity: When the final blow is dealt and its damage clearly fatal, Emet does not rage against the end. He simply asks that the Warrior of Light remembers the Ascians as they once lived. Once he knows that his people will be remembered he gives the Warrior of Light one final, sad smile before he disperses into aether. It happens again in Ultima Thule after his Big Damn Heroes moment, however this time it’s voluntary, and comes after acknowledging the Warrior of Light’s people have earned their right to existence where his people failed and succumbed to despair; he even parts with a smile again, except this time it’s warm and genuine.
Fantastic Racism:
- His inability to reconcile with the Scions on their points of view stems from this. He sees any of the races created after the world was shattered as 'lesser' due to them being far less powerful; as he explains it, Hydaelyn's powers essentially split people in half with the shards, dividing their aether and essence in half with it. Divide that by thirteen (as there are thirteen shards), and the races of the Source and the Shards are barely a shadow of what the Ascians were. To him, their condition is akin to a gross deformity or even being lobotomized, and it disgusts him.
- He absolutely despises Hydaelyn and her Light after what she did to his civilization. This hatred extends to anyone who has received the Blessing of Light, with him repeatedly calling the Warrior of Light a "monster" and an "abomination" throughout the final battle. A part of this hatred however, might also be due to the fact that the Warrior of Light is the source's reincarnation of one of his closest friends, and Hydaelyn is Venat, one of his other closest friends. To him, it probably is hell to find himself in that situation, with his friend on the other side of the balance spurred on by his other former friend, which makes him go full denial about it.
- Happens in Elpis as well, as Emet has trouble understanding Hermès’ pain over the deaths of “simple creations.” Though while it can seem to border Lack of Empathy, it is more linked to ignorance. When he sees Hermes' pain over the death of a creation, Emet-Selch himself insists on him accepting the seat of Fandaniel, as it could bring him a different perspective and perhaps help him change things for the better according to the way he feels things. This, unfortunately, is just one of many catalysts that lead to Hermès’ Despair Event Horizon and, by extension, the Final Days.
Fatal Flaw:
- Vainglory. His Super Supremacist and Fantastic Racism attitude, Blue-and-Orange Morality, and inability to let go of the past costs him dearly when after the Warrior fails to contain the Lightwardens' Light, and his Secret Test of Character, he betrays everyone by kidnapping the Crystal Exarch so that he can make sure that the Warrior causes the Eighth Rejoining. When Ardbert and the Warrior Rejoin before the final battle, and Emet sees a vision of the ancient the Warrior once was, Emet rejects the possibility that the Warrior is becoming the person they once were before the Sundering. After losing the fight, Emet, in both rage and despair, lunges towards the hero, only to be kept in place long enough by everyone else for the Warrior to condense the Light into an axe to slay the Ascian. In the end, Emet accepts his defeat, and merely asks that they remember that the Ascians once lived.
- Sense of duty. Upon hearing of the future the Warrior came from in Endwalker, Emet furiously decries it as falsehood, not in the least because he would never squander his duty to his people. Thing is, future Emet's actions weren't the result of him squandering his duty, but the result of him carrying it for, at the bare minimum, twelve thousand years. His inability to let go of the past or what he felt he owed his people prevented him from ever accepting the new world or coming to terms with his grief, because he was constantly driven by the sense that he had to bring them back. Doing his duty consigned him to eons of misery, loneliness, and atrocities, which eventually wore him down so much it's implied he just stopped caring if he died.
- Lack of Empathy. His unmerciful attitude regarding the ancients’ low value of life. His inability to recognize Hermès pain over the beings he has to put down, or his despair over his nomination as Fandaniel being tantamount to signing his predecessor’s death warrant, ended up being another straw that led to Hermès snapping and setting the Final Days in motion. Had he simply taken a softer approach or shown more understanding of Hermès concerns, things might have gone very differently.
A Father to His Men: In Endwalker, the Glory Be Soup derives its name from the Garlean soldiers praising Solus' name after he sat down to share dinner with them after some chilly evening training exercises, implying that for all his cruelty, he was popular with the men under his command.
Final Boss: After being outed as the mastermind behind Vauthry's creation and his kidnapping the Crystal Exarch to ensure the Warrior's transformation into a Lightwarden fails, he invokes his true name of Hades to fight the party at the end of Shadowbringers.
Final-Exam Boss: His Extreme version has him summon up the shades of previous Ascians that have been killed over the story as well as using their attacks. Nabriales' meteor drop, Lahabrea and Igeyorhm's fire and ice as well as their Fusion Dance into Ascian Prime.
Foil:
- To the Crystal Exarch. Both are mysterious men with color schemes of predominantly black and red, with a little white. Both have ultimate goals revolving around the salvation of people important to them. Both are a long-lost friend of the Warrior of Light in some capacity. Both present themselves as your allies, but whereas the Exarch is secretive and hides his face, Emet is straightforward and shows his. Both carry deep inner sorrow, but the Exarch deals with it by being quiet and withdrawn, while Emet is a Sad Clown. And finally, while both were watching to see how the Warrior would deal with the surplus of Light, the Exarch steps in to save them when they fail to contain it, while Emet grows bitter over their failure and becomes the Final Boss.
- He is also one to Elidibus. Both are the final two unsundered Ascians left after the end of Heavensward. Emet-Selch is rather laid back and snarky most of the time while Elidibus is always very business-like and professional. Emet-Selch was contemplating simply giving up the cause as pointless (as seen in the 7th Tale from the Shadows) while Elidibus is constantly determined to complete his task. Emet-Selch attempted to sway and bring the Warrior of Light to the Ascians' side (assuming they were physically capable of holding all of the First's light) while Elidibus deliberately avoids trying to find common ground with his enemy. Emet-Selch is burdened by the memories of everything he has lost, both as an Ancient of Aumarot and as Emperor Solus, the father whose son died of illness at an early age; Elidibus, due to his nature as a primal, has forgotten nearly everything from his past except for his duty. And finally, Emet-Selch dies gracefully, entrusting the memory of his people to the Warrior of Light while Elidibus dies crying in sadness as he remembers what exactly what he was fighting for in his final moments.
- Also to Venat/Hydaelyn, though Emet would probably hate to hear you say it. Both were close associates with Azem/the Warrior of Light, Venat being their mentor and Emet being a True Companion. Both were prodigiously powerful and well-respected ancients, with Venat being The Ace and Emet being The Archmage. Both love their people dearly and undergo 12,000 years of extreme personal suffering for their sakes. Both were willing to make harsh sacrifices for the sake of those they loved, and both had even expressed aversion to hearing about those future actions. The major difference between them, and what sets them at odds, is what they view as the best course for those they love: Emet wants to sacrifice the current inhabitants of the star to bring back the dead ancients, while Venat feels that they must mourn those they lost while moving forward into the future.
Foreshadowing: Quite a few that foreshadows Emet-Selch's big reveals of the game.
- In patch 4.4, Emet-Selch states "Ours is a struggle to restore both mankind and the world to their rightful state." He means his "struggle" against Hydaelyn to bring back the Ancient's Star and restore the fractured souls of those lost in the Sundering.
- When Alphinaud question's Emet's decision to team up with the Warrior and friends, Emet's response ends with "You do not know our motive."
- During the same scene, he also says with "So come, shed your preconceptions. See beyond the scrupulous villains you take us for. When all is said and done, we may find ourselves pleasantly surprised," which foreshadows his reveal of the true nature of the world, the gods, and the Ascians, as well as his desire to legitimately turn over a new leaf should the Warrior of Light succeed in containing the Flood of Light.
- While in the Rak'tika Greatwood, he gives his sympathies over the apparent death of Y'shtola, saying "tis never easy to lose the ones we love", foreshadowing the reveal that he mourns the people lost during the Sundering.
- He's far more friendly toward the Warrior at first compared to the "tattered" other beings he looks down upon, reminiscing fondly about Amaurot and telling the Warrior that they'd like it. He then mutters that it's not like they would remember it, to the Warrior's confusion. These stray bits of dialogue foreshadow the Warrior's origins as the reincarnation of Azem, one of Emet-Selch's closest companions before the sundering.
Forgotten Friend, New Foe: A lot of his bitterness towards the Warrior of Light comes from the fact that they are the reincarnation of one of his closest friends, Azem, adding a whole new layer to his attitude. They were so close that Emet defied the ruling of the rest of the Convocation to unperson them and secretly made a memory stone for them after they defected, and now not only do they not remember him, not only are they sundered, they're on the other side. He goes full denial when he sees Azem's appearance take over the Warrior of Light's for a split second, unable to get over the fact that despite not being fully merged with their other shards yet, they ultimately are still the same person.
Founder of the Kingdom: He's the First Emperor of the Garlean Empire.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: During the final confrontation of Shadowbringers, he rants at length about how all he wants is to restore his people's world and kingdom that Hydaelyn "robbed" them of and expose the hypocrisy of the Light to the Shards and the Source. As the Scions point out, while he has every right to be angry about his own losses, that doesn't give him the right to murder millions of people just to get his own back and even if those living within the Source and the Shards are "lesser", they still have a right to live.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Solus zos Galvus was originally a member of a noble family during the days of the then-weak Garlemald Republic. Sometime in his youth, he is presumably possessed by Emet-Selch and becomes the most influential figure in the history of Garlemald, if not of modern Hydaelyn.
Future Me Scares Me: In Endwalker, after the Warrior of Light tells him, Hythlodaeus and Venat everything about the Final Days and what follows, Emet-Selch takes particular exception to him being cast as a megalomaniac when dismissing their tale as fiction. He finds the concept of the phantom Amaurot to be a disgusting mockery of lives willingly given in honorable service of the star. Even after more or less agreeing that the Warrior came with a purpose, he continues to insist that he doesn't believe a word of their story right up to the point that he gets his memory wiped.
Gameplay and Story Integration: Notably, he's the only boss in Shadowbringers to lack Boss Subtitles, tying into his proclamation before the trial that he and the Warrior of Light shall "cast aside titles and pretense".
The Ghost: We at first only see the barest suggestion of their form and, when the idea of them is first introduced, no living man the story has seen or encountered them, on camera or off. At least, under this name. When he effectively "joins" you in Shadowbringers, he drops the Solus alias and just goes by Emet-Selch.
Given Name Reveal: Solus is an assumed name he used when he created the Garlean Empire. And Emet-Selch is the title of his position in the Ascians' ruling council. It's only right before your Final Battle with him in Shadowbringers that he finally reveals his actual name is Hades, the recurring most powerful dark magic user in the Final Fantasy series.
Emet-Selch: But come! Let us cast aside titles and pretense, and reveal our true faces to one another! I am Hades! He who shall awaken our brethen from their dark slumber!
Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing:
- Emet-Selch is a perpetual grouch on his best days, but his closest friend Hythlodaeus is comparatively whimsical and enjoys making Emet-Selch's life that much harder.
- He was also this with Azem, who consistently drove Emet-Selch up the wall with their tendency to go against the Convocation to perform some crazy stunt for the sake of others. Emet-Selch's brow threatened to be pulled over his eyes when he heard that Azem was going to stop a volcanic eruption from Elidibus.
Going Native:
- Defied. He tried to do so in the past. Emet did everything from making friends, getting lovers, having children, even choosing to die with the bodies he resided in. He bitterly responds to the Scions that despite it all he still found himself unable to accept the world as it currently is and found people to be grossly wanting. This presumably includes his own current grandson and great-grandson, who would definitely be... rather unimpressive, by his standards.
- Tales from the Shadows implies he was closer to going native than he admits. As Emperor Solus, he had to remind himself his grandson was just his body's grandson. He also shows a flicker of pride in his son... only to have it dashed when he dies young from an illness. His previous examples of Fantastic Racism and claims that the current inhabitants are found wanting is a result of him trying to deal with the endless grief of an immortal being who lost mortal loved ones from going native and reconcile the multiple acts of genocide against mortals he has to commit to perform his duty and cause the rejoining.
Go Out with a Smile: When he dies, he gives a genuine smile to the Warrior of Light, which has a lot of implications between them.
Graceful Loser:
- While the process of losing itself is not taken with grace, once truly defeated he calmly accepts it and simply requests that you remember him, his city, and his people as he fades away.
- He's such a good sport that his spirit even helps the Warrior of Light defeat Elidibus later on, though Y'shtola speculates that it may have been as much for Elidibus's sake as the Warrior of Light, as the former at that point was little more than a primal stuck blindly carrying out an order for people he couldn't even remember anymore.
- When temporarily revived in the final section of Ultima Thule, he proves to be not just a graceful loser, but a thoughtful one as well, conceding that the Warrior of Light was fighting for something real, not trying to bring back some lost glory days, and is the reason they won in their fight.
Emet-Selch: But more than that, the future you seek is not the past we loved. That is why we fought. And why I lost.
Greater-Scope Villain: Fourfold, having a hand in every conflict in the story since even before 1.0:
- Of the Garlean Empire and their efforts to sow unrest across The Source, given he is Solus zos Galvus.
- Of the Allagan Empire, as he confides to the Crystal Exarch in private, toward the same end as he founded the Garlean Empire: bringing about Calamities and causing Rejoinings.
- Of the Eulmore arc; it was he who proposed the idea of infusing the mayor's unborn child with the power of the sin eaters, creating the abomination that is Vauthry.
- Of the unsundered Ascians, he was the only one of sound mind: Lahabrea hopped bodies too often and Elidibus had lost most of his memories and identity. As soon as he is out of the picture, the original machinations of the Ascians begin to fall apart, with renegades like Fandaniel acting in open defiance of the still-present Elidibus.
Guest-Star Party Member: He, along with Venat and Hythlodaeus, can join the Warrior of Light as a Trust party member in Ktisis Hyperboreia, his job being listed as "The Third Seat" and functioning as either a Dark Knight or Black Mage.
I Have Many Names: "Emet-Selch" is just a title, and Solus zos Galvus was a pseudonym he used in the Source. As we learn at the end of Shadowbringers, his true name is in fact Hades.
Heel–Face Turn: After being defeated and returning to aetherial sea, he loses his traumatic Villainous Breakdown qualities, going so far as to carry out a Big Damn Heroes moment during the Warrior of Light's final confrontation with Elidibus. Endwalker reveals that he had already joined forces with the Warrior of Light in the past, and has firmly been an ally upon regaining those memories after being defeated in Shadowbringers. With help from Azem's summoning powers, he arrives with Hythlodaeus in Ultima Thule to rescue the Scions from their own individual Heroic Sacrifice so they can face down Meteion in the Final Battle to put a permanent end to the Final Days that destroyed the ancients and triggered the entire Ascian conflict from the beginning.
Hidden Depths:
- We learn at the start of the Return to Ivalice quests to unlock the Raid, he was a great admirer of theater and was a patron of the arts. He even commissioned a very elegant airship for one of his favorite playwrights and his troupe, to allow them to bring theater to all corners of the Garlean Empire. And he did so freely, unlike Varis, who actively censored works, there is no hint that Emet-Selch attempted to stifle any creativity.
- Even before the sundering he was abrasive and to-the-point at the best of times, but there is a gentle and caring soul under all of that. It also turns out it's almost comically easy to break down said abrasiveness to get him to do things by asking really nicely in a way that would make him feel guilty to refuse multiple times, something Hythelodeus exploits often - and once he's actually doing it, he's having as much fun doing it as everyone else has watching him do it.
- Try as he might, there was more to suggest he cared more about the sundered races than he cared to admit. Before the final dungeon of Endwalker if you talk to Y'shtola, she muses that on Elpis, all of the ancients regarded the Warrior as a mere familiar. By comparison, the shades in the phantom Amaurot regarded the Scions as children, leading Y'shtola to muse that, even if not just subconsciously, Emet-Selch knew his "not a person" schtick was bunk and acknowledged the sundered Spoken as real - if not naïve and juvenile - people. Also note that before the final battle of Shadowbringers, he could have wiped out the Scions with the ease of swatting a gnat to deny the Warrior of Light their support and hurt them personally, but he only nonlethally (or at least, not so severely Urianger and Alphinaud couldn't patch them up offscreen) takes the Scions out of the fight. Either because the Warrior cares about them or because his statement about not considering them real people was a total lie and he hesitated to go all out.
- Before passing on to the lifestream once more, Emet-Selch lays out multiple destinations the Warrior of Light could go to and recommends going and expanding their horizons as a bearer of Azem's crystal before adding "I certainly did", all but saying that while he carried Azem's crystal on his person, he spent at least some period of time living as Azem did; a world-wandering adventurer, learning what all wonders and secrets the world could hold, possibly even helping people as Azem would despite his belief the sundered races were "lesser".
Hoist by His Own Petard:
- He was the one who created the Allagan Empire, who in turn created the Crystal Tower under his influence, which was used by the survivors of the Black Rose and G'raha Tia to send both himself and the Tower to the past of the First, that in turn was used by the Crystal Exarch to bring the Warrior of Light to the First which ended in his defeat.
- His plan to infuse the Warrior of Light with the light from all five Lightwardens in hopes they could contain it, and thus prove themselves "worthy" of allying with, backfires spectacularly, as with Ardbert's help they do end up being able to contain it—but only after a point where Emet and the Warrior found themselves firmly at odds. The Warrior then used this excess light to form the blade with which they killed the Ascian.
- There's also something to be said for him producing children as being a huge oversight on his part: his great-grandson Zenos becomes a Spanner in the Works in The Source and stops a Calamity by killing Varis, thereby ruining decades of plans from the Ascians towards the Rejoining.
Humans Are the Real Monsters:
- He confesses if questioned after saving Y'shtola that all he does is plant the seeds for chaos to happen in most situations. Instead it is man who quickly begins to grow the seeds and harvest them to spread ruin. He merely watches as things tend to go as planned from afar.
- Part of his justification for the ancients being superior to the modern races of the world is because they're not just biologically superior, but morally superior. He taunts the Scions asking if the inhabitants of the modern world would willingly sacrifice themselves to save half their people, as the Ascians did when summoning Zodiark. The Scions^note are silent, implying he may be right.
Humble Hero: In Endwalker, Hythlodaeus reveals that Hades always came rushing to Azem's aid whenever the latter requested his help. Regardless of Hades' efforts in helping to change the lives of people around the world, he always considered his feats to be nothing remarkable. And yet, his constant acts of heroism for the people of the unsundered star alongside Azem led to him being overwhelmingly recommended for the seat of Emet-Selch after Hythlodaeus refused the position.
Hypocrite: Despite being willing to consider the possibility of allowing the modern day races to continue their survival, Emet-Selch exhibits shades of this when discussing how he intends to bring an end to the sundered worlds in service of bringing back his world while at the same time decrying those who stand against the Ascians.
Emet-Selch: Always the same arrogance, the same insistence that the world belongs to them. As if theirs were the only rightful claim, theirs the only existence worthy of preservation!
Insult Backfire: After bemoaning the follies of men and their endless cycle of conflict, the Warrior can retort about how rich that is coming from one of greatest Bringers of Chaos stoking that conflict. Rather than take offense, Emet-Selch regards it as flattery and tells the Warrior to keep it coming.
I Regret Nothing: When briefly revived in Endwalker, Emet-Selch declares that, in the final accounting when he finally remembers everything about the Final Days, he accepts that he was defeated but regrets none of his actions and would do them all over again given the chance.
I Reject Your Reality: After the Warrior and Ardbert rejoin as one, Emet-Selch sees a vision of the Amaurotine they used to be, Azem. Enraged that the reincarnation of one of his dearest friends would turn against him, he brushes aside that vision as "a trick of the light" and prepares to do battle with the Warrior.
Ironic Echo:
- His mocking words that describe The First's despair at the sight of the Warrior of Light becoming the Prime Lightwarden of Norvrandt are repeated by the Crystal Exarch, described by the Future Source's despair as the Light-infused Black Rose causes the Eight Umbral Calamity.
  Emet-Selch/Crystal Exarch: There is no hope. Our world is finished. Mankind is finished.
- His mocking "Reason You Suck" Speech to the Warrior before their final battle can be repeated by the Warrior themselves to give Elidibus a "Reason You Suck" Speech just before their final battle.
  Emet-Selch/Warrior: You've no fight left to fight.
- Does this to himself, unknowingly. Before his boss fight as Hades, he spits that the current inhabitants of the star cannot be entrusted with his people's legacy. In Ktisis Hyperboreia, as the Warrior flees with Venat, Emet tells them not to squander the legacy he's entrusting to them. Adding to the irony, chronologically that occurred first, but due to the Warrior not traveling back in time yet and Emet's memory wipe, at the time of the fight neither of them was aware that he had already deemed the Warrior fit to carry his legacy. The first thing he even does during his 'encore' in Ultima Thule is point out the black comedy of the whole situation.
Ironic Name: Despite his title meaning "Your Truth/Your Reality", while fitting for a "perfect being" and never really lying, as Amaurot shows, he's willing to reject several world's right to exist for his to come back, refusing to believe that they should exist in the first place. Even more so when he rejects the sight of the Ancient the Warrior of Light once was, calling it "a trick of the light".
Irony:
- Emet-Selch's final plea towards the Warrior of Light to remember their people's legacy is turned on its head when it is revealed that he is the one who has forgotten their first encounter thanks to being memory-wiped by Kairos. Emet-Selch being Emet-Selch, points out the irony as soon as he is summoned by the Warrior of Light to Ultima Thule, having his memory restored in the Underworld.
- Futhermore, despite evaluating that Hermes was insane for his improvised trial inflicted upon all of Man out of a misguided attempt to see if they were worthy to live, Emet-Selch would not only go on to inflict his own version of such a test upon the Sundered and especially the Warrior of Light, but much like Hermes' more sympathetic side towards his creations, Emet himself would have his sympathy towards lives close to him interfere with his work which caused him to make Azem's crystal and the shade of Hythlodaeus, both of which proceed to undermine his own plans. When told about this directly in the far past, he straight up is in disbelief and refuses to acknowledge that not only would he become such an megalomaniacal villain, but that he would plant the seeds to his own defeat... and then the memory loss ends up, whether subconsciously or not, causing him to do exactly that unawares.
Jerkass: For all his sympathetic history, Emet-Selch is kind of a prick who generally treats people with a snide and condescending air. His Establishing Character Moment involves him annoying and antagonizing Varis to the extent that his own grandson shoots him just to get him to shut up. Even when he's ostensibly on the Scions' side, he's such a hassle to deal with Thancred grouses he preferred Lahabrea, the Ascian that possessed him and used him as a People Puppet.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In Elpis, Hythlodeus recounts that Hades was not particularly liked amongst their people despite all his positive qualities due to his abrasive demeanor. However, with the help of more sociable comrades such as himself and Azem, others began to see Hades for the noble man he was and eventually led to him becoming a member of the Convocation.

K-S

Killed Off for Real: A lot more of an important distinction from most, because most Ascians aren't "killed", per se, instead being drawn into a nearby aether battery and deconstructed into regular aether (see: Lahabrea and the Eyes of Nidhogg, several previous Ascians and White Auracite). Emet-Selch, however, is struck by such a massive concentration of Light that he ends up dying legitimately, as he just can't keep going after having the entirety of all five Lightwardens flung straight into his chest. This is important, as his whole, unsundered soul is out wandering the Lifestream, and answers the Warrior of Light's call for aid with Azem's crystal on two separate occasions.
Last of His Kind: Emet-Selch was the last true Ancient left among the Ascians, even among the Unsundered, emphasized further in Ere Our Curtain Falls where he laments that the present Lahabrea and Elidibus are no longer who they once were. Lahabrea grew bolder and more zealous on ushering and prolonging the Umbral Calamities even when it ceased to serve their purposes. Elidibus, on the other hand, began to grow more and more autonomous due to his vanishing memories, indicated to have been worsened by the fact that he became a primal. Only Emet-Selch retained his sense of self, and even he was tempted to give in but refrained only from a sentiment of hope. Once he is defeated, Emet-Selch quietly accepts that there is no hope of restoring his people, in spite of Elidibus being still alive.
Last Request: After being defeated and fatally wounded, he asks the Warrior (who's a reincarnation of his close friend), to remember him, his city, and his people as he fades away. Later patches show that honoring this request is much easier said than done, as the Warrior has never lived through the Sundering themselves, thus having an unintentional bias on that "memory", as Elidibus puts it; the fact that the Source and Shards have never learned from their history also makes Elidibus doubt that they could even change, let alone uphold that promise.
Laughably Evil: He may be a Sad Clown, but he's still a clown; his Large Ham mannerisms when under his Stepford Smiler facade are a joy to watch.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- In the lead up to the final battle with Emet-Selch, he tells the Warrior of Light that they should both cast aside titles and reveal their true selves to one another. At the start of the trial, Emet-Selch's name is listed as just "Hades" with no subtitle unlike every other boss in the expansion.
- Before he returns to the Underworld, he tries to cheer up the Warrior of Light by bringing up that they still have so much left to see and explore back on Etheirys, and encourages them to see it all for themself when it's all over. It's pretty much acknowledging the player's concerns about where the story might go from here now that the current Myth Arc is about to end.
Leitmotif: Bedlam's Brink, for his Solus zos Galvus persona. It noticeably stops playing upon the reveal of his true identity.
- In Endwalker, Neath Dark Waters tends to play upon his presence.
Lemony Narrator: His narration for each new location introduced in Endwalker is generally snarkier than the ones from expansions before it.
Living Lie Detector: He claims that members of the Convocation are trained in spotting deception and they would immediately know it if someone lied to them, which carries heavy implications in the context of when he tells you this. It means that the Emet-Selch of the past knows that the Warrior of Light isn't lying about their story of the Final Days of Amaurot and everything that happened between them and the Ascians of the present, giving him an entirely different reason to deny the story and angrily storm off. And because Hermes is aware that he couldn't get away with hiding the truth from them, he wipes his own memories along with the others when he decides to let Meteion sing her song of oblivion and enact the Final Days, creating a Stable Time Loop.
Magic Staff: While Emet-Selch is so powerful and skilled as a mage that he doesn't need a Power Crutch to cast magic on a grand scale, he brandishes a scepter forged in the image of Zodiark during his final battle with the Warrior of Light. He then impales himself upon it to destroy his physical vessel and unleash his full power. In Elpis, he conjures a staff to focus his energies while fighting his way up Ktisis Hyperboreia.
The Man Behind the Man: The biggest example in the game. Allag, Garlemald, and Vauthry all owe their existence to Emet-Selch, who created them purely to be tools for advancing the Ascian agenda.
Master of Illusion: Arguably his magnum opus as an Ascian is his recreation of Amaurot on the First. While a magical construct made up entirely of aether, it is solid, massive, and accurate to his memory, and contains illusions of its inhabitants going about basic routines, with at least one of them being more complex with memories of their past life and a seeming will of their own. And the illusion continues to persist long after his death, though the Exarch's narration states that it will eventually fade without someone to maintain it.
Meaningful Echo: Emet’s original creed to the Garleans was to go forth and conquer new lands. As a means to comfort the warrior of light before he passes in Ultima Thule, he gently encourages the Warrior to go forth and discover instead. To see new lands and experience new things, with all the good and bad it entails.
Meaningful Name:
- His real name is Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld. As the "Through His Eyes" short story reveals, the ancients actually called the Lifestream the Underworld, and Emet-Selch has always had a very close connection to it. This connection even allows him to locate souls and pull them out, as he does with Y'shtola. Emet-Selch also uses his powers to recreate a city of the dead, filled with shades of Amaurotians who perished in the Final Days, and the apocalypse that destroyed their world. During the fight against him, several times he calls out to the souls of the ancients, even recreating shades of fallen Ascians.
- In the mythology of Ivalice, Emet-Selch was the Scion opposite to Zalera, the Death-elemental Esper. Emet in this case is Hebrew for Truth^note. True to his name, he has never lied to you once throughout Shadowbringers and even revealed grand revelations.
Miles to Go Before I Sleep: Once the proverbial mask falls and the "real" Emet-Selch is revealed, he comes across as impossibly, unspeakably tired. It's all but stated that he's only half-heartedly going along with the plan of performing Rejoinings to summon Zodiark because he knows that Elidibus will never give up on it and he still cares enough about Elidibus to stick with him so that the latter will never be alone. Once he's struck down by the Warrior of Light, he seems almost happy to be put out of his immortal misery, especially after the Warrior of Light promises to remember the ancients.
Moral Myopia: The destruction of his world and people was, to Emet-Selch, the greatest tragedy that has ever occurred. But if you think that will stop him from destroying other worlds and wiping out other peoples, think again. He even gives his justification for this as "moral relativism," that since he doesn't (or based on certain hints in Endwalker, refuses to) see those people as living beings, he's not doing anything wrong.
More than Mind Control: He overtly states he is tempered by Zodiark and is well aware of the implications surrounding that, but to him it doesn't matter because summoning Zodiark and using his power to resurrect the ancients is the only way he can see bringing them all back.
Moving the Goalposts: Due to his pride and refusal to acknowledge the living races as worthy of living, he gradually begins doing this later in the expansion. The Warrior of Light shows they don't have enough power to control the Lightwarden's Aether? Useless to him and he won't change his mind. Warrior of Light and friends show up and try to convince him otherwise? Test them again and then promptly say they failed anyway. The Warrior actually figures out how to contain the light by fusing with Ardbert thus proving to Emet-Selch that they were indeed Azem all along? That's just a trick of the light, nothing more. The story makes it clear this is partially because he doesn't want to acknowledge that the heroes have valid points, so he'd rather set goals and then deem them failures. It may also be that his tempering by Zodiark makes it impossible to see any worth in the sundered world, as that might lead him to give up on Zodiark's goals.
Mr. Exposition: He reveals many hidden truths about the world over the course of Shadowbringers, including the true nature of the Ascians, their relation to both Hydaelyn and Zodiark, and how the world was split into the Source and its thirteen Shards.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: In his One-Winged Angel form, his skinny, long, pale arms are supplemented by two MASSIVE clawed arms around his shoulders.
My God, What Have I Done?: Subverted. While summoned with his memories fully restored in the climax of Endwalker he's furious at himself for being fooled by Hermes and being forced to play along in Venat's millenia-long gambit. However, unlike his past self, he does not regret the atrocities he committed in his quest to save his people, asserting that he was simply fighting to restore his own world, which isn't the sundered one the Scions are fighting to defend. He then tells Alisaie to spare him her pity and to save the star if she still feels bad for him.
My Greatest Failure: His phantom Hythlodaeus reveals he blames himself for failing the Ascians when they needed him. Despite how he might present himself, his guilt at failing all those who died only continues to weigh heavy on him, and with each passing century the burden he carries only grows as he tries to save them.
Mystical White Hair: In "Through His Eyes", his original body as an Amaurotine is mentioned to have white locks of hair. He's also renowned as The Archmage and possessed the ability to see souls to a level rivaled by few and only surpassed by his friend Hythlodaeus.
Mythology Gag:
- If his Solus Zos Galvus persona calls to mind Ardyn Izunia, then his Emet-Selch persona references Garland from Final Fantasy IX. Like Garland, Emet-Selch's primary goal is the revival of his advanced yet long extinct race, at the cost of the currently living species that inhabit the the Source and it's reflections. Both their plans rely on the merging of worlds, rely on pawns they create to get their plans moving, both turn out to be the man behind the man of the supposed antagonist that they have a familial connection to, (Varis for Emet-Selch, Kuja for Garland), and have a connection to the main hero that goes before the events of the game. The Warrior of Light is the reincarnation of Emet-Selch's close friend, while Zidane is Garland's perfected angel of death. Both their endgames rely on the hero's soul to some extent, (Emet-Selch hoped that the Lightwarden's corruption would break the Warrior of Light's soul to bring about a rejoining, while Garland rips out Zidane's soul in an attempt at forcing obedience.) Lastly their plans are ultimately ruined by another villain they assumed they had under control. (Emet-Selch's posthumous plans for black rose and thus the rejoining is ruined by Zenos overthrowing Varis, while Terra along with its inhabitant's souls are destroyed by Kuja in addition to Kuja killing Garland himself.)
- He also bears more than a passing resemblance to Eald'narche from Final Fantasy XI: both are powerful mages and the remnants of an advanced ancient society that was wiped out by a cataclysm that also sundered manking into different imperfect races, both show open disdain and contempt for modern living beings, and both have plans that would bring destruction and ruin to the world. Where they differ is their main motivation: Eald'narche wants to open the gates of paradise out of selfish curiosity and the possibility of becoming like a god, while Emet-Selch wants the Rejoinings to happen out of a selfless desire to bring back everyone who was lost during the Final Days.
Name To Run Away From Really Fast: His real name is Hades, for crying out loud.
Necromancer: Hades calls forth the souls of deceased Ascians for aid, even merging them in the second half of the battle with his own as they unite to battle the Warrior of Light. The Minstrel’s Ballad: Hades’ Elegy takes this up a notch, with him summoning shades of Nabriales, Lahabrea, Igeyhorm and an Ascian Prime during the fight.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Meteion explains her plans to end all life, Emet-Selch indignantly refutes asking who she thinks she is to determine what is best for mankind. It's this moment the hypocrisy of the ancients becomes solidified in Hermes' mind, as he sees this as no different to the them deciding which of their creations gets to live or die by what they seem fair and just. This leads to his decision to let Meteion's plans continue, and have it be a determination on mankind's worth.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Following the Villainous Breakdown, you're using the very light threatening to consume you to empower yourself enough to finish Emet-Selch. By orchestrating Norvrandt to be flooded by light ever since the original Flood ended and allowing you to absorb said light for his own plans, the single most powerful Ascian has unwittingly given the Warrior of Light a Blade of Light powerful enough to destroy him, even without his soul being entrapped in auracite.
- Simply presenting the final trial and judgment to the Scions and toying with them to show just how utterly out of their depth they were against him, instead of killing them outright, allows enough time for Ardbert to realize there is something he can do for the extensive Light overwhelming his Source counterpart. Even pointing them towards the Tempest with his illusory copy of Amaurot to set up their final battle bought extra time for Ardbert to ruminate all along the way. As a result, even if he didn't know the cause, Emet-Selch unwittingly is responsible for the Warrior of Light's Heroic Second Wind as a result of dillydallying, something he himself points out afterwards.
- Emet interrupts G'raha's attempted Heroic Sacrifice by shooting him in the back. Had he let G'raha continue with his intended plan, the Scions would've been permanently stuck on the First and limited in their ability to counteract further plans by the Ascians.
No Place for Me There: When Emet-Selch returns from the Lifestream seemingly with no strings attached at the Ultima Thule, he is quick to mention to the others that he is still just a half faded phantom willing to play a bit part and is more than content to fade back into the afterlife. Despite his resurrection he does not allow himself to remain partly because he can't stand the idea of being alive thanks to Venat's magic, but mostly because he cannot find it in himself to co-exist with mankind as he claims he still holds strong to his beliefs. That being said Emet-Selch's willingness to reincarnate and enter the lifestream shows that he could very well be lying, and in his own way admit that there is a future where he belongs to, just not as he currently is as an unsundered.
No-Sell: Does this to white auracite of all things. In the cutscene after his boss fight, the Scions rally themselves enough to impale him with white auracite, only for Hades to shatter it. It only holds him in place for a moment; he has to be flat-out Killed Off for Real to be stopped, unlike every other Ascian. In Elpis, Hythlodaeus mentions that Hades has a "near-bottomless" well of aether, which is implied to be why he could pull this off; the white auracite simply couldn't hold all his aether, allowing him to maintain his body and crush it.
Not Afraid to Die: Despite all of his planning and willingness to fight to the end, Emet-Selch was prepared for either eventuality that he would win or die against the Warrior of Light. He gave his convocation crystals which allowed him to raise up other Ascians to the shade of Hythlodaeus, in the hopes that it would reach the Warrior of Light in the event of his death. Tales of Shadow showed that he was already on the verge of giving up on the entire plan, if it weren't for Elidibus' determination and the fact he would be alone if he did truly give up. Notably he was resting in oblivion after his body's death and only woke when Lahabrea was killed off. And finally, he left behind Azem's crystal, which allowed the Warrior of Light to properly use their power of Azem to gather allies, including the shade of Emet-Selch himself if s/he needed his assistance.
"Not So Different" Remark: Emet-Selch says the easiest way to sway people to one's side is to conquer them, as he did in his years as Solus zos Galvus. After the Scions depose Vauthry and force him to flee, Emet-Selch congratulates the Warrior on doing just that to Eulmore, saying that it's no small feat to have won the people's favor so quickly after forcing them to surrender. The Warrior is clearly unnerved by the implication that their actions are not so different from the Garlean Empire's.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: In his first meeting with the Scions, he plays himself off as not being particularly strong, implying that he might be concerned about facing Thancred in a one on one fight and noting that since Lahabrea was slain by the Warrior of Light, he likely wouldn't be able to do much better. This is completely an act. He is a powerful enough wizard that he is able to casually defeat all of the Scions single handedly without even drawing upon his full strength, and it takes the Warrior of Light empowered by Ardbert's soul PLUS 7 other Warriors of Light from other shards, AND all of the Light aether the Warrior of Light had accumulated across the First to finally bring Emet-Selch down.
Obviously Evil: In Shadowbringers, Emet-Selch makes no bones about the fact that he has different goals in mind than the Scions do, and that this will inevitably bring them into opposition. When Y'shtola accuses him of plotting something, Emet replies "every minute of every day", showing that he has no intention of pretending otherwise. That said, Emet is very up-front about his goals, his motives, and his history, even if he acknowledges "moral relativism and all that" in terms of the Scions.
Odd Friendship: Hades' closest friends before the star was sundered were Hythlodaeus and Azem, both of whom were far more outgoing, eccentric, and liable to bend if not break the rules if given the chance. He complains about Azem in particular, as Azem's tendency to openly defy the Convocation chiseled wrinkles into Hades' forehead. Despite this, the narration of the sidestories in "Tales from the Shadows" as well as when the Warrior meets him in Elpis show that he enjoys their company and has a hard time saying no to them.
Older Than They Look: Naturally, being an Ascian, but perhaps even more notable here. While previously Solus clearly showed his advanced age, on his return, he regains the appearance of a man somewhere between his late twenties or his thirties, looking notably younger than his own grandson.
One-Winged Angel: In addition to the form he takes when he invokes his true name of Hades, he has a further one where he completely casts off his body, combines his essence with the lost souls of his Ascian brethren, and becomes a monstrosity littered with Ascian masks over its body. In Hades's Elegy, instead of casting Dark Cauldron, he fuses with all of the Ascian souls to become even bigger, using only Dark Current, Gigantomany and Quadstrike to destroy you above the sky of the dying Star.
Pet the Dog: As he travels with the Scions through the First, he repeatedly makes light of their conflicts and journey, and tends to disparage them rather openly despite supposedly calling a truce. But when Y'shtola ends up in the Lifestream again thanks to another attempted Heroic Sacrifice with Flow, the heroes are racked with the lack of options they have after initially considering her dead for good — and he simply summons her back and fully intact with a snap of the fingers, despite having every reason to leave her for dead and ignore their pleas instead of trying for an "act of trust" to get in their good graces. While it does demonstrate a case of Pragmatic Villainy, as this only would've "paid off" if his plans for the Warrior succeeded in containing the Light, he's the one that comes up with the idea first and he makes nothing of it besides requesting earnest thanks for once.
Physical God: He's more powerful than almost any being the Warrior has faced up to that point^note, requiring the combined might of the Scions, the Warrior of Light and seven other heroes from other shards, and the light of all five Lightwardens concentrated into a single attack to be put down. Even primals said to be capable of causing a Calamity like Shinryu were felled by the Warrior and a handful of their adventurer companions rather than an apocalyptic amount of power. As per Emet-Selch's own words, had he simply brought his full strength to bear from the start, the Scions would have been utterly crushed.
Posthumous Narration: The Endwalker trailers are narrated by him, despite the fact you killed him in Shadowbringers and all that remains of him is his shade. He also provides narration for each new location you enter for the first time in Endwalker.
Pragmatic Villainy: In Shadowbringers, upon first revealing himself to the Scions, Emet mentions that he had considered simply trying to kill the Warrior of Light, or at least helping someone else do it. But Emet saw how far that got Lahabrea, and decided that the direct approach simply wasn't an option. Besides that, Emet mentions that he hopes to find common ground with the Scions instead. That, and the fact that the Warrior killing all of the Lightwardens factors into Emet's plan, so of course he wouldn't jeopardize his own scheme by trying to kill a key lynchpin of his plan.
Reincarnation Friendship: A strange variant of this appears in Endwalker, as he and Hythlodaeus bond with the Warrior of Light, who traveled to the past and is the future reincarnation of their other very close friend Azem. Despite the Warrior's troubling news about their future and Emet-Selch's reaction, the three of them are shown to naturally build up a friendship with similar dynamics to the ones they had when the Warrior was still Azem. Their bond stays so strong that it culminates with Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch making a Reunion Vow with the Warrior, as they leave to be reincarnated, hoping to invoke this trope between the three of them once more. It's arguably played up even more in the japanese version, where Hythlodaeus insists that their trio should reunite happily, no matter how many times they reincarnate.
- There are even hints of this during Shadowbringers, despite Emet-Selch being an antagonist. He is shown to be speaking very honestly to the Warrior, and clearly has a fondness for them. In return, while being wary at first, the Warrior doesn't hesitate to talk with him, possibly ask him honest questions and being open about trying to at least listen to what he has to offer. This is more evident in the Japanese version, where instead of the usual "Ascian XXX" name floating above an Ascian, Emet-Selch is simply "Emet-Selch", showing a more personal relationship between himself and the Warrior of Light. It leads to the conclusion where Emet-Selch gives a sincere and honest smile to the Warrior before disappearing, while the Warrior is shown to be affected heavily by his death, despite having ended up in different sides over the years. Naturally, Emet-Selch ends up following the adventures of his and Hythlodaeus' "New old friend" from the Aetherial Sea, and becomes Endwalker's narrator.
Perpetual Frowner: He's always seen scowling or pouting and whenever he does smile, it's always subdued. Given how much shit he went through post sundering, it's not a big surprise. He was also a frowner in his pre sundered days due to the wacky antics from Hythlodaeus and Azim while Venat even outright states that Emet-Selch should learn to smile more.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Emet-Selch dons his imperial robes from his time as Solus zos Galvus when he first appears. These black and red garments underscore his leadership of the Ascians and role in building the Garlean Empire, clearly marking him as an antagonist to the Scions and all life on the reflections.
Retired Badass: His age prevented him from taking to the front lines during the early parts of the story. Subverted once he returns in Stormblood, where he even laments having been pulled out of retirement.
Reunion Vow: In Endwalker, when his and Hythlodaeus's real farewell time finally come, Hythlodaeus tells the Warrior of Light that he will pray so that they, himself and Emet-Selch reunite in their future lives, to be together again, just at they wished in the past. Emet-Selch, as a fine tsundere, first denies the claim, but the look and smile he gives to the Warrior of Light makes clear that he is not against the three of them reuniting in their next lives.
Rooting for the Empire: Inverted in-universe. Emet-Selch genuinely hoped that the Warrior of Light would be able to contain the power of all five Lightwardens within them, as it would have, to him at least, meant that the people of the thirteen shards may actually be worthy to carry on the legacy of the Ascians after all. It was a test that was ultimately failed.
Emet-Selch: What a disappointment you turned out to be. I placed my faith in you. Let myself believe that you could contain the Light. But look at you now, halfway to becoming a monster. You are unworthy of my patronage.
[...]
Alphinaud: What was your true purpose in approaching us?
Emet-Selch: By your Twelve, boy, have I not told you before that everything I said was the truth? You were specimens by which I might gauge man's potential as it stands. I genuinely had an interest in you. Genuinely considered taking you on as allies. Provided he/she could contain and control the Light. If not he/she—and by extension you—would be no use to me. 'Twas as simple as that.
Sad Clown: One would be forgiven for initially thinking that Emet-Selch is having the time of his life, enjoying every second of plunging the Source and the other worlds into chaos. However, it becomes apparent later on that his cheerful and mocking attitude is merely a mask that conceals a crushingly tired and guilt-ridden man. Even sadder is that it is implied this persona was based off of his colleague Hythlodaeus, who had a rather jovial disposition with a tendency to tease others, whereas Hades was originally much more melancholy in comparison.
Schemer: Emet-Selch's role is to conspire, plot and scheme new ways to ensure Calamities. It's even lampshaded in one scene:
Y'shtola: You're plotting something.
Emet-Selch: Every hour of every day. But never you mind about that.
The Scrooge: When the Warrior visits the unsundered past in Endwalker, Emet-Selch lends the Warrior some of his aether to render the Warrior tangible and intelligible. When Hythlodaeus later asks if Emet-Selch could lend some more, Emet-Selch refuses to waste anymore of his own aether. Hythlodaeus then jokingly complains that Emet-Selch scrimps and saves his aether so much that you'd think Emet-Selch didn't have a nigh-bottomless well of it at his disposal.
Secret Test of Character: His interest in cooperating with the Warrior of Light stems from their ability to contain the Lightwardens' aether without transforming. This is implied to be a feat that an "unbroken" being from the old world would be able to do with ease, and if the Warrior can rise to the challenge, Emet-Selch is willing to abandon the Rejoining and accept that the Source and the Thirteen have the potential to attain the old world's glory. Unfortunately, the Warrior fails, and Emet wastes no time resuming hostilities. Ironically, when the Warrior and Ardbert Rejoin to contain the light before the final fight, the Warrior had essentially "passed" Emet's test, but by then, the line was already drawn in the sand, and the ensuring fight ends with Emet getting blown though by the concentrated Light from the Flood.
Shadow Archetype: To the Warrior of Light. Like them, Emet-Selch carries the expectations of an entire people on his shoulders and fights to save his loved ones and world. Like Emet, the Warrior of Light carries their share of trauma, pent-up anger, and guilt for what they've experienced and done, as the Dark Knight questlines reveal. Emet is basically them after eons upon eons of fighting. It's quite telling that the Warrior of Light's creed, "For those we have lost. For those we can yet save" can apply equally well to Emet-Selch.
Signature Move: He has two of these in the final boss fight:
- In his first form he has "Ancient Dark IV", a powerful blast of dark magic charged up by the fervor of the Shadows of the Ancients.
- In his second form he has "The Dark Devours", repeated blasts of dark magic which he uses in an attempt to snuff out the player’s light. Once the light has been smothered he’ll begin casting his true signature move, "Black Cauldron", which is an instant kill if allowed to go off.
Slouch of Villainy: He has a very distinctive posture and walk, condescending and eccentric but later described as "as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders".
Sour Supporter: When you go back in time to Elpis, the first thing you'd notice about Emet is that he complains about everything. Everything. To the point where you may wonder why he still has friends. But according to Hythlodaeus, Emet never refuses an opportunity to help his friends or to aid people in need, and as a result of that, he is deeply respected the world over.
Speak Ill of the Dead: He blames Lahabrea for commiting a "crowning act of idiocy" (either the Ultima incident, or being killed by Thordan) as being the reason behind his premature exit from Ascian-style rest.
Stepford Smiler: On two levels. On the one hand, his dutiful, focused personality as Solus is an act to hide his outright crazed personality as Emet-Selch... but even that is a happy face on a very depressed man.
Straight Man: The short stories reveal that Emet-Selch used to consider himself to be one to his more zany fellow Amaurotians. To the trollish Hythlodaeus to the painfully earnest Eldibus, alongside the recklessly adventurous Azem, Emet-Selch considered himself to be sanest of the bunch but it is made clear that he still loved all of them dearly.
Straw Hypocrite: One of the founding tenets of his Empire was to prevent the summoning of Primals (or 'Eikons', as the Garleans call them) to make sure the world would not suffer from their reckless draining of aether and their destructive powers. Not only does Emet have no problem with primal summoning, his plans actually encourage it. The more primals that are summoned and the bigger they are, the more certain a Calamity is to happen, which is what he wants to happen to help bring back Zodiark.
Super Supremacist: He refuses to accept the current races of the worlds as worthy stewards of the Ascians' legacy, believing them to be not even a fraction as strong or noble as the Ascians. Considering the Asicans were capable of creating anything out of thin air using only a sliver of their aether in the same way the current races must use a veritable reservoir to summon a Primal, and over 80% of them willingly sacrificed themselves in three different events for the sake of the world, he has a point. Of course, as with any supremacist, it comes with him treating the non-Ascian races as dirt, at best only useful to help further his own plans. Even when Emet acknowledges "moral relativism and all that", he still admits that he doesn't think killing people of the Source or the First is murder, since he considers them to be inferior. Best shown when in "Hades's Elegy", upon achieving his final form:
Emet-Selch: We are the blessed. We are the chosen!
Superweapon Surprise: During his first meeting with the Scions, Emet-Selch says that he is talking with them instead of attacking them because he knows how strong the Warrior of Light is, and he's certain that if he came after them, he'd end up dead just like Lahabrea. This is a complete and total lie, he is much more powerful than all of them and casually wipes the floor with the rest of the Scions without breaking a sweat. It takes the combined power of the Warrior of Light freshly fused with Ardbert (something that Emet-Selch couldn't have seen coming), seven other heroes from other shards summoned by G'raha Tia, and the combined efforts of the rest of the Scions to stun Emet-Selch with the white Auracite for him to finally be taken down with a Blade of Light made from the Flood that threatened to consume the First.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: As Hades, he serves this as a primal for the ancients, in a vein similar to Louisoix becoming Phoenix, due to him being "raised up by the souls of [his] fallen brethren," even fusing with all of them in the extreme version of his trial. Ironically enough, the Ascians do have a Primal in the form of Elidibus, who instead takes the form of the original Warrior of Light.
Sympathy for the Hero: When the Warrior of Light seemingly starts transforming into a sin eater, Emet-Selch expresses genuine pity at their situation, and offer them to come to his hideout, the Tempest, so that they can complete their painful transformation in peace and dignity. He then tells them that he will "see them off", which takes a new meaning in light of the 4th "Tales from the Shadows", as Emet-Selch is able to see the souls of the dead departing and traveling, seemingly offering to guide them, in a way, when their time comes. Which makes his true name of Hades make more sense. The fact that the Warrior of Light's original self was a very close friend of his probably has a lot to do with it.

T-X

Teleport Spam: As a Trust party member, he and Hythlodaeus don't bother to run out of the way off large AOE attacks, simply teleporting to a safe spot as necessary.
Thanatos Gambit: Emet-Selch, for good reason, believed he wouldn't be beaten. This did not stop him leaving one last scheme behind. Fortunately for everyone, it's a benevolent scheme: Emet passed on the memory crystals of the Convocation of the Fourteen to the shade of Hythlodeus so that they would reach the Warrior of Light, along with imparting some helpful magic in Azem's crystal specifically. Emet knew the Warrior of Light's next opponent would be Elidibus, and so gave them the tools to end Elidibus' tragic crusade.
This Cannot Be!: He has that reaction when a glimpse of the Warrior of Light's original self appears instead of their current appearance to him. He immediately goes in denial about it, unable to face the fact that the person in front of him is so much like their original self despite not being "complete".
Time Abyss: Emet-Selch claims that he has lived a "thousand thousand of (the player character's) lives", and it likely is not a hyperbole. He states that he does not like to think about how much time has passed since the days of Amaurot, and considers a century in the rift to be enough for a good nap. While we don't know for how long he was alive pre-Sundering he's, at the absolute minimum, around 12,000 years old, which is more than twice as long as real life's span of recorded history.
Token Evil Teammate: Mid-way through Shadowbringers, he strongarms his way into the Scions' circle after realizing that the Warrior of Light being in the First irreparably jeopardizes his endgame plan for Black Rose, instead offering his services and trying to find a common ground. Despite still being transparently evil and reveling in it, he offers great insight into many of the story's mysteries, and even saves the life of one the Scions.
Torso with a View: The Warrior finishes him off by concentrating the entire Flood of Light into an axe made in the shape of Ardbert's Bravura before thrusting it through him. When he returns to his Garlean form, a hole has been sheared straight through him with the axe resting on the ground behind him.
Tragic Keepsake: Azem's memory crystal. Normally someone who left the Convocation of the Fourteen would not have a memory crystal made, but Emet-Selch made one in secret for his dear friend. He makes sure it finds its way back to its owner (the Warrior of Light, a fragment of Azem) after his defeat.
Tragic Villain: Emet-Selch is ultimately a man who survived the complete destruction of his home and race, emerged into a world that had forgotten all about them, and just could not adjust to his new reality no matter how he tried. ...So he decided to try and bring back the old, at the expense of everyone else.
Trauma Conga Line: Despite how he looks and acts, his life has not been an easy one.
- First his world faced the apocalypse, and he had to watch half the surviving population sacrifice themselves, twice, to save it by summoning Zodiark and then fix the damage. Then a group of dissidents created Hydaelyn to keep Zodiark in check and protect the new life from being sacrificed...except in doing so, Hydaelyn shattered everything into 14 shards that Emet considers barely alive. This put him at the Despair Event Horizon, yet he spent literal eons working away tirelessly to save their world, only to accidentally turn the 13th Shard into the Void.
- He tried to adjust to his new reality, doing everything he could from getting friends, having a family, fighting alongside mankind, and even letting himself die in his bodies, but was continuously disgusted by the new worlds for their ignorance, weakness and wanting, as well how his people were labeled as monsters and erased from history. Then, as Solus zos Galvus, he had one son who actually gave him hope for humanity... before dying young, enforcing his belief that Humans Are Flawed and everything must be restored to the way they were before. Then when he "died" and entered "retirement", his grandson would do everything in his power to erase him from history, starting with his love of theater. And because of Lahabrea's failures with the Ultima Weapon and The Warring Triad, he is then forced out of his "retirement", but his plans for the Eighth Umbral Calamity are immediately foiled by the Warrior being summoned to the First.
- Emet gets one last glimmer of hope by the fact that the Warrior is a reincarnation of one of his closest friends who, if capable of containing the Flood of Light, can prove that there is hope for mankind. They fail, so Emet kidnaps the Exarch to force the Warrior to become a Lightwarden, which fails as well when Ardbert sacrifices himself to allow the Warrior to contain the Light. This gives Emet a glimpse of his old friend, but he rejects it, and they battle, during which he snaps hard and is ultimately run through with a Blade of Light. In the end, the only ray of hope is that Emet asks them to remember the ancients, which they agree to, and he accepts his death with peace. In short: the only happy parts of his eons-long life were before the Final Days, and the very end.
True Companions: He used to be this with Azem and Hythlodaeus. As Endwalker reveals, despite not wanting to believe what the Warrior of Light told him about the future, he was still on his way to become this with the Warrior themselves, Azem's current incarnation, until he and Hythlodaeus' memories got erased. The way the three interact when they finally reunite in present time indicates this bond still survived, despite its complexity and Azem being reincarnated into the Warrior. This culminates in a Reunion Vow between the three, as Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus leave to be reincarnated.
Tsundere: Very much. Tales From the Shadows and Elpis show that he was prone to griping about his True Companions, particularly Azem's, antics and scolding them for their blithe mannerisms. However, he cared for them deeply and never failed to rush to Azem's aid if s/he needed him. It's perhaps best shown during his, Hythlodaeus, and the Warrior of Light's (Azem's reincarnation) Reunion Vow: Emet scoffs that he's not looking forward to it, then gives the Warrior a sincere smile.
Two Aliases, One Character: Shadowbringers reveals that the Large Ham, newly revived Solus zos Galvus and the mysterious Emet-Selch are one and the same.
The Unapologetic: Emet-Selch is flippant about the chaos, mayhem, and death he's caused in his quest to undo the Sundering. Should the Warrior call him out on this, he takes it as flattery. At the end of Endwalker, Emet-Selch makes it very clear that although he was beaten and has the benefit of hindsight now that his memories have been restored, he does not regret what he did as an Ascian. He goes so far as to call his ideals "inviolate" and "invincible".
The Unfought: Only as Solus; the emperor dies off-screen, purportedly due to his advanced age, before he is ever seen in-game. Indeed, the main characters don't even hear of his death and the ensuing war of succession until weeks after the fact. His true self, however, is the Final Boss of Shadowbringers.
Universally Beloved Leader: As Emperor Solus, he became a Legatus in the Garlean military at age 24, pushed reforms that allowed magitek into the military, and by age 28 was so loved by Garlemald's people he was unanimously named Dictator.
Unreliable Narrator: While his love for his people and anguish over their fates are very much real, Endwalker retroactively reveals he was wearing quite a pair of rose-colored glasses about them: the ancients, while not evil, had a different view on the value of an individual's life (stemming from their very long lifetimes), were pretty intolerant of big flaws in their creations, sometimes more than they needed to be, and did not always use their creation magicks responsibly. They certainly would and did sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but they were not perfect. It's implied Emet was subconsciously aware of this but had been laboring too long and was too enslaved to duty to give up his course. Taken a step further with the events of the Pandaemonium Raid series; not only were the ancients not perfect, but Athena proves there were those among them which could match evil lunatics like Amon and then some.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Endwalker: When Meteion's report on the civilizations of outer space starts going horribly wrong, Emet-Selch declares that he will be taking Meteion into custody, given that Hermes had just deduced that the direct cause of the Final Days must exist in outer space. Hermes, scared that Meteion would be euthenized, takes Meteion and flees to Ktisis Hyperboreia. When the party catches up to him, further antagonism from Emet-Selch causes Hermes to snap and wipe everyone's memories with Kairos, sealing the world's fate.
Villain Has a Point: In a roundabout, zigzagged fashion. When the Warrior of Light fails their test to contain the First's immense Light, it was part of a genuine final effort to see if the Sundered had the ability to inherit the star in place of his ancient kind, and it demonstrated to him that they simply couldn't and would never fulfill that goal. Then the Warrior of Light commits a surprise upset thanks to a Fusion Dance with Ardbert, making the Warrior of Light one step closer to their original, unsundered self. The hero of the world ends up being someone that can't quite be considered the same as the rest of their kind at that point, though simultaneously it's only via the sacrifices individuals like Ardbert and the Scions were willing to take that such a circumstance could occur in the first place, both vindicating and countering Emet-Selch's opinion at the same time.
Villains Never Lie: Unlike most of his fellow Ascians, Emet-Selch is completely straightforward about who he is and what he wants. It fits his title of Emet-Selch, the Angel of Truth. However, it doesn't stop him from skewing the truth at times, for omitting certain context. That and his own bias pertaining to Hydaelyn. When he betrays everyone and Alphinaud asks what was Emet's true purpose in approaching them, Emet is legitimately offended.
Emet-Selch: By your Twelve, boy, have I not told you that everything I said was the truth? You were specimens by which I would gauge man's potential as it stands. I genuinely had an interest in you. Genuinely considered taking you on as allies. Provide that he/she could contain the light. If not then he/she — and by extension you — would be of no use to me. 'Twas as simple as that.
Villainous Breakdown: His starts right before his boss fight and extends all the way until his final defeat. When the Warrior of Darkness gets a Heroic Second Wind thanks to Ardbert Rejoining his fragment to the Warrior's original soul, Emet is shocked. Then he briefly sees the image of the Ancient that the Warrior used to be, goes into denial, and becomes absolutely furious when the Crystal Exarch summons backup from other worlds.
Ardbert, speaking through the Warrior of Darkness: This world is not yours to end. This our future. Our story.
Emet-Selch: [briefly sees the Ancient the Warrior once was] No... It can't be...Bah, a trick of the light. You are a broken husk, nothing more. How can you hope to stand against me alone?
Crystal Exarch: We stand together!
Emet-Selch: How did─!? ...I'm surprised you can stand at all.
Crystal Exarch: I could not well leave matters half-finished. Let expanse contract, eon become instant! Champions from beyond the rift, heed my call! (summons seven pillars of light, each containing a champion from another world to aid the Warrior of Darkness)
Emet-Selch: (gritting his teeth) Damn you! Damn you all!
Villain Song: "Who Brings Shadow", a reprise of "Shadowbringers", which in the context of your fight with Emet-Selch becomes a Light Is Not Good Rage Against the Heavens against both Hydaelyn and the Warrior of Light for constantly fighting against his and the other Ascians' attempts to, from their point of view, make the world and everyone in it whole again, while also lamenting how the two of you aren't so different, how We Used to Be Friends, and the fact the Ascians still can't go home again.
Villain Takes an Interest: He became interested in all the Scions and sought to make them genuine allies if they agreed to his alliance. Unfortunately The Warrior of Light failed his Secret Test of Character by being unable to sustain the combined Light of the Lightwardens within, dashing his hopes and him expressing disappointment as a result.
Villainous Rescue: His soul saves the party from Elidibus. Y'shtola speculates that he did this because he could no longer bear to see his old friend, the last of the unsundered, champion the cause alone.
Vitriolic Best Buds: In Tales from the Shadows, he constantly complains about, insults, and snaps at Hythlodaeus, who he privately calls a close friend. Hythlodaeus isn't fazed one bit by it. The tales from the shadows also implies his friendship with Azem was akin this.
Walking Spoiler: His very existence would have redacted his entire folder. Even in his first appearance at the end of Stormblood he drops one of the biggest lore bombs in the story, and continues to do so throughout all of Shadowbringers, revealing a lot of the world's biggest mysteries.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He just wants to save his world and reclaim the future that was stolen from his race. Too bad that means slaughtering untold millions of innocent people to do so. Indeed, the Hades EX description straight-up calls Emet-Selch a hero; it's just his methods that causes the Scions to oppose him. That, and the fact that Emet doesn't consider any race but an Ascian to be worthy of living.
Emet-Selch: I will bring back our brethren. Our friends. Our loved ones. The world belongs to us, and us alone.
Western Zodiac: His title as the opposite the the Death-elemental esper Zalera from Final Fantasy XII has him represent Gemini.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Discussed: Because the races of the Source and its reflections have but a fraction of aether and lifespan as the Ascians, Emet-Selch considers them less than living beings. As he sees it, he wouldn't be committing murder if he killed one of them, because he hardly considers them to be alive at all. In Endwalker, Y'shtola realizes that Emet-Selch subverted this in his phantom Amaurot, as his simulacrums of the ancients treated the Scions as children when the Warrior was treated as a mere familiar in Elpis. Thus, at least subconsiously, Emet-Selch was lying to himself and did see the sundered races as people.
Emet-Selch: But yes, moral relativism and all that. Case in point - I do not consider you to be truly alive. Ergo, I will not be guilty of murder if I kill you.
What You Are in the Dark: As an ancient, Hades was originally a rather lethargic and surly individual who misliked being bothered and preferred being left to his own devices. Upon being left as one of the three last beings of his kind, he could have easily given in to his nature and given up on restoring his people without any consequence, but instead Emet-Selch decided to bear the brunt of the burden, working tirelessly in search of ways to bring about the Rejoining.
Wham Line:
- He reveals some major truths in Shadowbringers, and delivers one of the biggest twists in the story in regards to Hydaelyn and Zodiark, a bombshell that changes the scope of the entire story and casts the player's role and relation to it in a very different light.
  Emet-Selch: They are gods after a fashion, yes. The eldest and most powerful... of primals.
- Another one is during his talk alone with the Exarch, and blatantly admits to having a hand in Allag's rise.
  Emet-Selch: The once great nation whose ingenuity gave birth to this tower was shaped by my hands. As such I know full well the wonders it can facilitate... and those it cannot.
Wham Shot: The Amaurotine shade who saves the PC from Elidibus is revealed to be none other than Emet, when he departs the battle with his trademark flamboyant waving gesture.
White Hair, Black Heart: Downplayed, he has a streak of white hair on an otherwise head of black hair. The Tales From The Shadows story "Through His Eyes" describe his hair before the fall of Amaurot as fully silver-colored, though at that point he was by no means evil.
Whole-Plot Reference: His backstory has very strong parallels to the rise of power of Julius Caesar, which is fitting since the Garlean Empire has strong resemblance to the Roman Empire. The biggest contrast is that he then went on to reign for decades, and said reign is more in line with that of Emperor Augustus.
Worf Had the Flu: He's one of the most powerful sorcerers to ever exist, with Hythlodaeus calling his power exemplary even among the ancients; however in Endwalker, when the Ktisis Hyperboreia power dampening field comes in effect, it puts him down several notches which prevents him from unleashing his true power and curbstomping every obstacle on his way up to Hermes.
Written by the Winners: He views the Ascians as victims of this. All they want is to restore the world to its original state and bring back everyone they lost, but the champions of Hydaelyn have thwarted them time after time and demonized them as Card Carrying Villains who want to destroy the world for kicks. When you confront him before the final boss fight, he makes it clear that he intends to return the favor:
Emet-Selch: The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain!
Xanatos Speed Chess: He shows quite the aptitude for it in Shadowbringers. The Warrior of Light ruins his plans for the First just by showing up? He recognizes the futility of fighting them and, recognizing the soul of his old friend in them, offers himself as an ally. The Exarch tries to save them when they fail to contain the Light? Emet shoots him, leaving the Warrior with the inevitable fate of becoming a Lightwarden who will help carry out the First's Rejoining, and kidnaps the Exarch to gain his knowledge for use in future Rejoinings. The Warrior shows up in Amaurot with allies instead of alone as he requested? Alright, time to get his hands dirty.

Characters / Final Fantasy XIV - Emet-Selch

Voiced by: Hiroki Takahashi (JP), René Zagger (EN), Eilias Changuel (FR), Andreas Hofer (DE)

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Characters / Final Fantasy XIV - Emet-Selch

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Voiced by: Hiroki Takahashi (JP), René Zagger (EN), Eilias Changuel (FR), Andreas Hofer (DE)

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