Characters / Final Fantasy XIV - The First

Final Fantasy XIV | Main Character Index
The Warrior of Light (Tank Classes | Ranged DPS Classes | Melee DPS Classes | Caster Classes | Healer Classes | Limited Jobs)
Scions of the Seventh Dawn
Nations of Hydaelyn: The Eorzean Alliance | Ishgard | Dragon Hordes | Othard and Hingashi | Sharlayan and Thavnair | Tural
Other Realms: The Void | The First | The World Unsundered (Pandæmonium) | Ultima Thule
Garlond Ironworks | Hildibrand Allies | Other Allies (Hydaelyn | G'raha Tia)
Antagonists: Ascians (Emet-Selch) | Garlean Empire (Gaius van Baelsar | Zenos yae Galvus | Bozjan Garleans)
Primals | Raid Antagonists (Omega | The Twelve) | Other Antagonists
Class and Job Questlines: Disciples of War (Tank | Melee | Ranged) | Disciples of Magic | Disciples of the Hand | Disciples of the Land
Races: Playable Races | Beast Tribes
Seasonal Event NPCs

Due to the story's advancement and the fact some articles would otherwise be all white, there are unmarked spoilers below for Shadowbringers, you have been warned.

The First is one of the thirteen worlds created by the split between Hydaelyn and Zodiark. Much like the world of Hydaelyn, the First was a world where the Warriors of Light were tasked with dispelling the forces of darkness. They had largely succeeded, but at a terrible cost: the balance between Light and Darkness has become so badly disrupted that the world is being ravaged by a Flood of Light. Here, the night has been extinguished, the skies blanketed in eternal radiant light that causes those overexposed to its glow to mutate into "sin eaters". Much of the world has been washed away in this light, with only a few scant areas remaining...

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In General

• After the End: By the time the Warrior of Light shows up, the entire planet save for the region of Norvrandt has been consumed by the Flood of Light. The inhabitants live in constant fear of the violent sin eaters and the inevitability that the Light will eventually consume them as well.
• Alternate Universe: Norvrandt is more or less a version of Eorzea that went through drastically different cultural evolution in the ten-thousand or so years since Hydaelyn shattered Zodiark, with each of the areas roughly being equivalent to a region in Eorzea.^note Lakeland is a Mor Dhona that hasn't been blasted to pieces multiple times over, Il Mheg is a pixie-fied pre-7th-Umbral Coerthas, Ahm Araeng is pretty much Thanalan, Rak'tika is the Shroud without Elementals and much more dangerous wildlife, and Kholusia is pretty much Vylbrand almost beat for beat, with Eulmore even built into the same primary stone spire that forms the heart of Limsa Lominsa on the Source.
  • Nearly all of Eorzea's "beast tribes" have a counterpart on the First that have societies completely opposite of the Source.^note The Amalj'aa, the most far gone of the Beastmen due to Ifrit's tempering are the Zun, who have become one of the most well-integrated "beast" races in the Crystarium's society. The Kobolds with their turf gradually being overtaken by Limsa Lominsa have the Mord, who more or less run over half of Amh Araeng and are willing to share with anyone. The confrontational Sahagin are contrasted by the Ondo, who more or less just want to be left alone. The Goblins, the technologically-advanced synonym-spouting geniuses who generally are on good enough terms with the City States to be able to peddle their wares have the most significant contrast, to the Hobgoblins, who are essentially an Always Chaotic Evil race of stupid, terse murderers that terrorizes Kholusia. Finally, the Dwarves are the First equivalent of... the Lalafells, a Spoken race. Patch 5.2 gives us the mirror of the Proud Merchant Race Guy Qiqirns: the Qitari, an even shorter-lived Proud Scholar Race who live hidden and have no use for wealth while Qiqirns are traders and found pretty much everywhere.
  • While not identical, the Ixal and Amaro share quite a few similarities:^note Both are a bird-like race artificially created by an ancient empire (and thus cannot exist on the other shards), for the purpose of conveniencing citizens (the Ixal's ancestors were designed to be soldiers, while the Amaro are beasts of burden), and have greater intelligence in comparison to the creatures they were derived from (Iksalions for the Ixal and Cama for the Amaro). Ixal were flying beings that eventually lost the ability to fly, while Amaro were flightless creatures given the ability to fly.
  • There are beings in the First that have existence and power that defy all logic and reason, but unlike in the Source where such beings are pretty much only ever Primals, these sorts beings in the First are very real. Titania, the Pixie King, and Bismark, a gigantic flying whale, are just a couple of examples.
  • The landscape of the surviving parts of the First is much closer to the planet's original landscape, as unlike the Source its geography hasn't been blasted by seven Umbral Calamities.
• Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Very light shades of it, due to several misunderstandings on both the Source and the First.
  • The sin eaters were named such when they first arrived because they were interpreted as heavenly avengers by the Light worshippers predominant in Norvrant. Although it became clear that they were in fact just mindless, aether-starved beasts, the name had already stuck; rather than trying to give them a different moniker, the people started calling themselves "sinners" to identify as enemies of the creatures. Flipping terms denoting vice and virtue seem to be a quirk of the culture that has arisen as a result, and when called "villains" by their adversaries, the Crystal Exarch is quick to take up this title in stride and the Scions play along with it as well.
  • Because of the sin eaters' aspect to Light and the eternal daytime that shrouds the skies up until Shadowbringers, Novrandt idolizes the darkness and night, which comes across as this trope to natives of the Source. The Night's Blessed, as explicit Darkness worshippers, are the most obvious, but people all throughout Norvrandt grow up on tales of "the Sunless Sea". When Urianger reveals that Astral/Active and Umbral/Passive on the elemental balance is actually the opposite of what their names suggest, being Dark(Astral) and Light(Umbral) respectively, it reveals that Darkness is actually a positive force for creation, subverting the long held beliefs about the inherent natures of Light/Dark that the Source believes.
• But Thou Must!: The player isn't given much choice in the matter. In order to continue being the hero and using their gifts to save the various worlds including their own from ruination, the Warrior of Light must become the Warrior of Darkness. Although unconfirmed who it is, the singing voice commonly associated with Hydaelyn sings "And fall my friend" in one of the Crystarium's themes. If this were her, it would confirm that even she is okay with saving a world from an imbalance of light.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The Warrior of Light from the Source takes up the role of Warrior of Darkness in Norvrandt to save the First from being consumed by the primordial Light and the sin eaters spawned by them.
• Darker and Edgier: Irony of the trope name not intended. The themes of tragedy and suffering are used heavily in The First as the people are plagued by the sin eaters and all the other complications arising by an overabundance of primordial light.
• Endless Daytime: The First is blanketed in eternal daylight, the sky a perpetual radiant pale pink. This isn't to say there is no "night" — environmental factors like heat and cold still cycle, for instance — only that the sky is completely blotted out. One of the first conversations you have on arriving in Norvrandt is that there hasn't been a dark night in a century.
• Fantastic Racism: Before the Flood, the elves of Lakeland hated the other spoken races and saw them as invaders who took their nation from them, even the humes who they were allied with. The Shadowkeeper, who was also an elf, spurred Lakeland into declaring war on the other nations as a crusade to take back what was once theirs. Though most of the racism is gone in the present day, a band of elves called the Nightshade still hold to their bigoted beliefs and prey on the other races as bandits.
• Five Stages of Grief: All of the major locations save the Tempest demonstrate one of these stages as part of their general narratives in the expansion.
  • Il Mheg is Denial. The Fairies and other creatures of the land simply do not care about the sin eaters and basically ignore them unless they cause them trouble. Their all more interested in living their lives as they did before and don't want to involve themselves in the affairs of men. In order for them to move past this, they have to have a new king who actively cares for those outside of Il Mheg.
  • The Rak'tika Greatwood is Anger. The main tribes of the forest clash with each other frequently over their different religious views, and the remains of the ancient empire are hostile to most all save those who manage to gain permission. The various tribes also are hostile to outsiders. Returning night to the woods eases the tension and allows everyone to begin making a new life without worry of violence.
  • Lakeland is a variation of Bargaining. The people of Lakeland are desperate to find some way of saving the world, and the Crystal Exarch is willing to do whatever it takes to stop the sin eaters. The result is that they actively fight to stop it. Unlike most examples of Bargaining, this makes them heroic since they are willing to do whatever it takes to save the world. Lakeland's determination is rewarded through their efforts in the end.
  • Ahm Araeng is Depression. Being where the Flood of Light was stopped, the people of the land are downtrodden and living without any care to work or do much. Those on the eastern side live as much as they can by hoping traders come by, with a camp set up for those infected by sin eaters where they wait to die, while those living on the western side have given up their mining trade and just live day to day. The Warrior of Light and the Scions help inspire hope in the people of Ahm Araeng, and motivate them to resume work and find purpose.
  • Kholusia and Eulmore is Acceptance. They've given up trying to fight the sin eaters and simply coexist with them, waiting for the end of the world as they live a life of luxury. Unlike most portrayals of this trope where Acceptance is framed as a good stage, here it's evil because of their methods and ways they live. Once Vauthry is ousted from power, the people of Eulmore decide to actually try and improve things instead of accepting the end of the world.
• Foil: Each of the various regions, being alternate realities of regions of Eorzea on The Source, have a certain ironic twist to them due to the Death World aspect of The First:
  • Lakeland and The Crystarium, being parallels of Mor Dhona and the surrounding region, are inverted in that the Crystarium wasn't devastated by the last Calamity, and is a bustling metropolis surrounded by lush forestry.
  • Il Mheg, as the parallel to Coerthas, is a region entirely populated by fae — similarly to what could have been had dragons won the war in Ishgard.
  • Kholusia and Eulmore, being the counterparts of Vylbrand and Limsa Lominsa, are completely opposite their Source parallels: while Vylbrand and Limsa are populated by industrious, hardworking folks who generally look out for one another under Merlwyb's eye, the people of Kholusia are left to fend for themselves while Vauthry and his privileged few live in excess.
  • Amh Araeng, as Thanalan's parallel, is financially not well-off and generally destitute, contrasting with the incredibly wealthy leadership and patronage of Ul'dah.
  • Rak'tika is probably the closest to its Source parallel, The Black Shroud, although its main settlement, Stillbough, pales in comparison to the size of Gridania.
• Light Is Good: Hydaelyn's light seems to be, anyway. The Oracle of Light staved off the Flood with it, and by possessing her gift, Minfillia/Ryne is able to fix most the imbalances of those afflicted by primordial light. Her gift also serves the Warrior of Light well in fighting sin eaters. Though, if someone has absorbed too much primordial light, their soul will begin to falter under the pressure in spite of her gift. It is also revealed that Hydaelyn's might be an eldritch light processed by her influence and The First shows the nature of this multiverse's light further away from her grace, considering she is a greater primal.
• Light Is Not Good: Nowhere is this more apparent than the First. The Flood of Light has nearly destroyed the world in its entirety and monstrous angelic entities known as sin eaters are preying upon its remaining inhabitants. Due to The First being essentially locked in a permanent state of daylight, the sin eater attacks and their victims are on full display without any shadows or darkness to obscure them. The Flood itself is essentially a crystalized mass of Light aether that forms the border of what is still left of the world, with everything beyond it being just a barren white void that can't sustain any life at all.
• Looped Lyrics: The generic boss theme has the phrase "We fall" looped continuously for dramatic effect, accented by the same two piano keys in the background.
  • Notably, the phrase "We fall" loops seven times whenever the theme plays. By the time you hear the boss theme the first time, you've already learned about the thirteen shards of the Source and how seven of them have fallen; rejoined with the Source through an apocalyptic aetheric imbalance not unlike the Flood of Light in the First, and causing each of the Seven Umbral Calamities on the Source itself. The loop, as a result, is a haunting reminder to the player of what is at stake.
• Mythology Gag: Hyurs and Hrothgars on the Source are called Humes and Ronso on the First, a nod to Final Fantasy XI and the Ivalice Alliance games for the former and Final Fantasy X for the latter.
• Narnia Time: Time flows differently compared to the Source. While the Warriors of Darkness arrived on and left the Source only a short time ago, their return to the First was over a century ago. For those on the Source, only a few days have passed since the Scions started getting Called to the First. In the First however, a year has passed at least for each of them; Thancred, being the first one Called, has been around for five years for example. The Exarch also mentions this disalignment can be a bit erratic, sometimes it can work in the reverse order where barely a day can pass on The First and a decade will go by on the Source; this oddity resulted in Alisaie being older than Alphinaud in The First, even though they're twins (with Alphinaud actually being the firstborn) and Alphinaud arrived on the First days before Alisaie was Called. Though for gameplay and story convenience's sake, the time dilation is nearly 1:1 by the time of Shadowbringers, and Tataru is surprised by how quickly you returned after defeating Emet-Selch.

Lakeland - The Crystarium

In General

"Each stone was laid with hope; the town itself a symbol, a monument to defiance in the face of death."

"When All Falls Down Around You, Rise Up"

A town situated at the base of a Crystal Tower, the Crystarium is a hub for adventurers and others who have banded together to fight back against the Flood of Light and deliver the First from the brink of annihilation.

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• Alternate Universe: To Mor Dhona and Revenant's Toll in the First. Both regions suffer under an extreme ecological change and constant threat of danger. Nethertheless, both have industrious and hard working people working to make the region a better place and is the central hub for the Scions.
• The Anti-Nihilist: Despite numerous mentions of supply shortages, sin eater attacks, and other struggles, the people of the Crystarium are almost universally industrious and upbeat. Although the world around them is crumbling, they continue to try to live each day to the fullest thanks to the kindness shown to them by the Crystal Exarch. Their hope for a better tomorrow only swells once the Warrior arrives on the First and begins returning the night to Norvandt. This is in stark contrast to the people of Eulmore, who either languish in squalor or are decadent to the point of sloth while forsaking everything about themselves to maintain Vauthry's favor.
• Foil: The Crystarium and its people are the polar opposites of Eulmore and its citizens. Whereas the Crystarium is an enormous, sprawling city that welcomes anyone who is willing to do their share of work, Eulmore is built inside a single, spiraling tower and caters to decadent nobles and the highly skilled artisans. The Crystarium is also the Scions' hub for the fight agaisnt the sin eaters, while Eulmoran society is built around the submission to and veneration of the sin eaters through Vauthry.
• Foreshadowing: Sharp-eyed players may notice that the stonework and rounded dome architecture of the Crystarium is strikingly similar to that of the former Sharlayan colony in what is now Idyllshire. This, in combination with the presence of the Crystal Tower, is a dead giveaway to the Exarch's true identity. G'raha Tia mentions this in Endwalker, as he modeled the Crystarium after the greatest city he knew.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Lakeland was once the heart of the Church of the Light, the dominant religion of the First. Once the Flood began and the sin eaters arose, the religion fell into ruin as sin eaters were seen as divine retribution for the people's sins and the religion collapsed.
• Hub City: It's the largest city that had been introduced in Final Fantasy XIV so far, and serves as your base of operations as you try to clear the First of it's excessive Light.
• Mythology Gag: To the earliest iterations of FFXIV from well before the game actually released. Architecturally, it's a recreation of the city shown as a tech demo when the game was still in the conceptual stage in 2005. A number of the NPCs, meanwhile, are drawn from the original cinematic trailer/intro for the game from 2009, with the barkeep looking identical to the man who handed out leves in the trailer, while various NPCs say things that were said in the trailer.
• Our Werebeasts Are Different: One of the threats stalking the ruins of Lakeland are gnolls, humanoid hyena-like monsters. They were once elves who willingly became monsters with the Shadowkeeper's power in their war against the other nations before the Flood of Light.

The Crystal Exarch

See his page here

Lyna

Lyna

Voiced by: Yoshino Nanjo (JP), Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (EN), Camille Lamache (FR), Ruth Macke (DE)

Race: Viis
Discipline: Captain of the Guard (Dancer)

"Injuries are part and parcel of battle. While there's breath in my lungs, I shall see my duties done."

Captain of the Crystarium's guard and the right hand of the Exarch.

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• The Chains of Commanding: Experiences this after the sin eater attack on Lakeland the Crystarium. She feels she failed her men with how many died during the battle while they were so close to finally being rid of the sin eaters. The Warrior of Light has to step in when she collapses from pain and starts blaming herself for the fallout of the attack.
• Establishing Character Moment: Her introduction involves her grilling the Warrior of Light about where they're from, before casually one-shotting a sin eater that snuck up on them. This establishes herself as a seriously loyal and skilled combatant who won't abide the sin eaters attacking innocents.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Can be chosen as a DPS (specifically a variation of Dancer) for Holminster Switch. Healer Warriors will absolutely need her help.
• Happily Adopted: She's been raised by the Exarch ever since she lost her family as a child, and the two share a strong grandparent/grandchild relationship.
• Not So Stoic: She's a stern, no-nonsense woman who rakes her soldiers over the coals and wants them to be prepared for anything. She tries to put on a strong front after witnessing her men getting massacred by sin eaters, but she can't hold it and ends up breaking down crying to the Warrior about how she's alive when the people relying on her to lead them aren't.
• Scarf of Asskicking: She's the Captain of the Crystarium Guard able to kill lesser sin eaters with a single hit and wears a bright red scarf. The obtainable Crystarium set shows that this is standard issue among Crystarium recruits.
• The Stoic: She keeps up a stern, composed front most of the time, rarely betraying anything but minor contentment.
• Number Two: She's the Exarch's main confidant and his right hand.
• Undying Loyalty: She is very loyal to the Exarch and does what he requests without issue.

Katliss

Race: Elf

""We have always taken pride in our ability to sustain ourselves—not just to endure, but to thrive!"

The head of the Crystalline Mean, the crafting and gathering division of the Crystarium. She oversees many of the Crystarium's needs, from ensuring that every guard is well-armed to maintaining to the availability of food and medicine. She enlists the Warrior's help in lending the Facets a hand to get them through some trying times.

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• The Leader: She's the primary overseer of the Crystaline Mean, ensuring that all of the Crystarium's material needs are addressed. From weapons to fight off sin eaters to food to keep people's bellies full, Katliss' leadership is what keeps the Mean running smoothly.
• Sole Survivor: In the quest, "For Every Child a Star", she reveals that she lost her daughter and husband to disease and sin eaters years ago. She became a Workaholic to fill the void in her heart and cope with her Survivor's Guilt. But it's not until the Warrior restores the night to Lakeland and allows the children of Norvandt to marvel at the stars for the first time that she can finally feel that her efforts are worth it.
• Workaholic: After the deaths of her husband and daughter, Katliss threw herself into her work of managing the Crystalline Mean to fill the void in her heart and prevent others from experiencing the same tragedy she did.

Bragi

Race: Ronso

The master of the Musica Universalis Markets and the Crystarium's foremost merchant. He is responsible for fostering trade between the Crystarium and the surviving settlements of Norvandt to bring in goods and promote prosperity among the people.

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• Dramatic Irony: Bragi is among the Crystarium citizens in awe of Ardbert's apparent return from the dead, believing it to be a sign that the world is truly changing for the better. Unfortunately, he couldn't possibly know that "Ardbert" is actually Elidibus puppeting the hero's body.
• Informed Attribute: His official profile describes him as soft-spoken and a man of few words. But in-game he's no less chatty than anyone else and has dialogue that changes as the Shadowbringers story continues.
• Intrepid Merchant: Bragi is responsible for keeping the Crystarium's economy running in an After the End setting, a task he goes above and beyond in performing. After the Warrior's identity as the Warrior of Darkness is made public, Bragi is interested in the goods that the Warrior brings back from Eorzea and promises to bring up any goods that might be of interest to the Warrior in exchange for said goods.

"Minfilia" (spoilers)

Minfilia, Ryne Waters

Voiced by: Kana Ichinose (JP), Emma Ballantine (EN), Julie Costanza (FR), Anne Düe (DE)

^{Click here for her appearance later in the story}

Race: Hume
Epithet: Oracle of Light
Discipline: Oracle of Light (Rogue)

"However much it hurts, and however hard it gets, it's my life, and I want to live it on my terms!"

A mysterious girl that has been cared for by Thancred. She is the Oracle of Light, a force that can stand against the forces of light that blight the First and has powers around their energies, having been chosen by Minfilia.

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• Action Girl: Despite her age, she's a good fighter in her own right, being able to keep up combat wise with the Scions through a mix of knife combat and Light magic.
• Badass Adorable: A sweet-natured teen girl who shanks monstrous angels with twin daggers.
• Character Development: She starts off the story being a near Empty Shell, merely following her vague goals as the Oracle of Light, and doing whatever Thancred tells her to. Over the course of the story, she begins to open up and gain more confidence in herself, a desire to do what she can to help others, and even becomes more interactive with the others. By the time she goes to accept Minfilia into herself, she tells off Ranjit, and is perfectly willing to go down fighting for the friends she has made, and the goals she has formed. Thancred outright mentions her new found resolve after this and gives her a new name after to prove how far she has come.
• Character Select Forcing: In a case of Gameplay and Story Integration, if you use Thancred as your tank in the Trust system, he won't use his cartridge-based abilities unless you also bring Minfilia — who is responsible for charging said cartridges for him to begin with. Gameplay-wise, however, he'll do just as much damage either way.
• Damage-Increasing Debuff: One of Minfilia's specialties as a Trust party member is that she can use Trick Attack and inflict enemies with a powerful one.
• Death of Personality: As a result of being Minfilia's host, she has to accept her into herself to truely awaken as the Oracle of Light in order to detect the hidden lightwardens but as a result this will give the original Minfilia control over her body, effectively erasing her from existence as she is now. Fortunately, when meeting the original they give her a choice between either allowing this to happen or taking on the responsibility of the role themselves. In the case of all the previous incarnations however, this trope was fully enforced and due to Ryne having the confidence to become the oracle of light herself, Minfilia is effectively erased in turn. As of Endwalker, it is revealed that rather than being erased, they were considered as having properly passed away and do enter the aetherial sea as souls, waiting to be reincarnated.
• Demoted to Extra: As a native of the First, and being unable to travel between shards, once the Scion's return to the Source in patch 5.3, outside of the Eden raid, Ryne's role in the story is reduced significantly, and only becomes relevant whenever the Warrior of Light heads back to the First.
• Didn't Think This Through: Despite Thancred and Urianger's warnings, Ryne insists on taking on the power of Shiva in order to make her summoning as accurate as possible for the sake of restoring life to The Empty. While she is adamant that she can control it, her powers as the Oracle of Light interact poorly (or rather too well) with the ice-elemental primal, resulting in her going berserk as the primals personality insinuates itself, nearly reenacting the Flood of Light twice.
• Disney Death: At the climax of Shadowbringers Emet-Selch shoots Ryne clean through in the stomach with a bolt of darkness and the moment she's hit the music stops clean in its tracks as she falls to her knees. She pleads for the Warrior of Light to resist the Lightwarden's aether, arm outstretched, and falls to the ground in a way that very much suggests she's dead. She's up no worse for wear just in time to help the Scions pump the white auracite lodged in Emet-Selch's body full of aether.
• Dual Wielding: She favors a pair of Air Knives in battle as she was taught by Thancred. When her first teacher Ran'jit sees this he scoffs at the vulgarity of her weapon of choice and demands to know who taught it to her.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": "Minfilia" is just a title in honor of, and because of the similarities to, the original Minfilia who halted the Flood of Light. Whatever name she may have been given at birth has long since been forgotten.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: The original Minfilia changes the girl's hair to a bright orange and her eyes to a more normal appearance when freeing her from the role of "Minfilia".
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: This look is enforced as one of the things that mark her as the Oracle of Light. When she becomes the true Oracle, her hair reverts to her natural ginger.
• Happily Adopted: Whlie their relationship is rocky at first, Ryne gradually comes to see Thancred as a father figure of sorts, with the official lorebook revealing that she's taken on his surname.
• Gone Horribly Right: During the Eden raids of Shadowbringers, Ryne believes that her power as the Oracle of Light will let her absorb Shiva's essence into herself. It does let Ryne absorb the Primal's essence, but Shiva ends up overtaking Ryne's mind and nearly causing another Flood of Light because of how much power she's trying to control.
• Guest-Star Party Member: While she is available to use in all Shadowbringers Dungeons, she is unable to be used as a Trust in Endwalker even in Avatar Mode.
• It Was a Gift: Thancred gives her his gunblade as a goodbye present when he and the rest of the Scions return to Eorzea in 5.3. She later uses it to cut through the darkness Gaia is lost in to save her when the crystal necklace gives her a path with which to do so.
• Legacy Character: She's the latest in a long line of Minfilia reincarnations, all of which were trained from an early age to fight the sin eaters and all of which, understandably, quickly died off.
• Light 'em Up: She can cast the light elemental Banish III on enemies. This spell is her equivalent to a ninja's Suiton; it hides her from the target, which allows her to use Trick Attack.
• Locked into Strangeness: Inverted. When she awakens as the Oracle, the original Minfilia removes the strangeness, and she looks like a normal girl.
• Magic Knight: Unlike player rogues she can cast attack magic of the light element. This allows her to use skills that Ninjas can use that she otherwise couldn't due to not being a Ninja in lore.
• Meaningful Rename: She's given the name Ryne by Thancred after the original Minfilia grants her her powers and allows the girl to choose her own path in life. The name means "blessing" in the Fae language.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Due to her connection to Hydaelyn, as soon as the Final Days begins on the Source later in Endwalker, she, like the Warrior of Light, feels a connection and starts seeing visions of it. Due to being unable to traverse between worlds, she is upset at her inability to help but uses the information given to her by the Warrior of Light to prepare the First in the event that the Final Days comes to them as well.
• Named Weapons: Her daggers are known as the "Fatebreakers", gifted by Thancred in hopes she could break her own fate and live by her own terms. The daggers have crystals embedded in them that amplify their strikes thanks to her powers of light.
• Occult Blue Eyes: Minfilia's eyes are a clouded over blue with no visible pupils, which help mark her as the Oracle of Light. When she becomes the true Oracle, her eyes revert to a more natural look as a gift from the original Minfilia.
• Older Than She Looks: Her official age is 17, older than Alphinaud and Alisaie, but her short height and mannerisms make her seem younger.
• Primal Fear: She is so petrified of heights that she will never cross the chasm in time to destroy the Liar's Lyre in the Trust version of Dohn Mheg.
• Reincarnation-Identifying Trait: Every Minfilia has blonde hair and the Word of the Mother's glowing sapphire eyes. When the original Minfilia gives this last reincarnation" her power, she "removes these traits as a sign she is no longer a Legacy Character and is free to decide her own destiny. As the Oracle of Light, she also has an immunity to sin eater corruption and the ability to sense their Light. This is Played With in the sense that the Minfilias' aren't truly the original's reincarnations, but act out as hosts for her soul instead. The traits are what indicate the presence of her soul alongside their own.
• Replacement Goldfish: To Thancred for his own Minfilia, which fills her with sadness seeing his pain. Much of the Shadowbringers story has other characters (especially Y'shtola) call Thancred out on this, while she herself believes he hates her for not being his Minfilia. Averted later as he lets go of this and names her, giving her her own identity.
• Super-Empowering: As Thancred can no longer manipulate aether himself, she is the one who charges the cartridges for his gunblade; appropriately, if Thancred is in a party without her he cannot use skills that require aether charges.
• Trademark Favorite Food: In the post-story for Shadowbringers, Ryne develops a taste for the coffee biscuits served at the Crystarium, endlessly chattering away about them with Gaia and pestering her until they can go and eat them together.
• Walking Spoiler: It's rather difficult to say too much about her without spoiling later parts of Shadowbringers.
• Willing Channeler: In an attempt to recreate Shiva's memory, she decides to become the vessel to take on Shiva's form much like Ysale before her, hoping to persuade Eden to follow through by example. Unfortunately, due to inexperience, she loses control of herself, prompting the Warrior of Light to quell a rampaging Eden Shiva.

Feo Ul

Feo Ul

Voiced by: Minami Takahashi (JP), Olivia Morgan (EN), Clara Quilichini (FR), Nora Jokhosha (DE)

Race: Pixie

"Like the branch which sprouts from the sapling, our bond will flow unbroken from one to the other!"

A mischievous pixie who has made the Crystarium their home. Incredibly curious even by pixie standards, Feo Ul quickly bonds and makes a pact with the Warrior of Light when they arrive in the First.

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• Abdicate the Throne: Feo Ul offers the Warrior to take their place as King of the Faeries after the Warrior learns that they're on the verge of becoming the ultimate Lightwarden. They even offer to have all of Il Mheg rise up in the Warrior's defense should people try to hunt them down. The Warrior predictably refuses, and Feo Ul admits that they expected their sapling to respond that way.
• Allergic to Routine: Part of the reason why they became a regular visitor to the Crystarium in the first place is how they got bored of the pixies reusing the same pranks and games over and over. Watching the mortals change, struggle, and thrive is far more interesting by comparison. They also jump at the opportunity to form a pact with the Warrior of Light, a traveler from another world, but grows irate when the Warrior doesn't think to call upon them for much beyond interacting with their retainers and Delivery Moogles. After that, they demand the Warrior call upon them in a flowery fashion before forgiving them.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: After the Warrior of Light defeats Titania, Feo Ul takes the fae relics and becomes the new Titania, King of the Fairies, before calling upon all of Il Mheg to chase out the Eulmoran invaders.
• Beware the Silly Ones: They're a lot more dangerous than their lack of size and eccentric attitude might suggest:
  • Pixies are tiny, childlike pranksters with frighteningly effective magic, capable of driving people mad with illusions or simply permanently and irreversibly turning them into topiary. Feo Ul is nicer and more moral than most pixies, but is also unusually powerful and widely feared by their own kind.
  • After becoming Titania, they take this to an extreme. They're still your quirky, clingy little friend who helps you sell things at the market, but they're also a mid-tier Physical God and Reality Warper with an army of deadly fae at their beck and call, and your most powerful ally on Norvrandt.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • In a level 79 quest, they show up in their Titania form with a flock of fae to help protect the colossal Talos from sin eaters and allow the Warrior of Light to reach and defeat Vauthry.
  • A similar event occurs again during The Heroes' Gauntlet when the party winds up in Il Mheg, with Titania calling upon previous bosses from Dohn Mheg to aid in your fight before warping the party to Lakeland to help them skip past many of Elidibus' minions.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Clingy Jealous Genderless Pixie, but same idea. Feo Ul is very insistent that the Warrior is theirs alone, growing irate when the other pixies talk about claiming the Warrior for their own. Even the thought of "sharing" the Warrior grates on their nerves. This is later discussed by Eo Tyr, who notes that Feo Ul would get mad at them if they hung around the Warrior too much. Not that Eo Tyr is interested in the Warrior given the pixie's love of Anden.
  Feo Ul: Oh, good grief, when will everybody learn!? This mortal is mine, do you hear me!? Mine, mine, mine!
• The Dreaded: Though not evil by any means, after Feo Ul becomes the new Titania and thus the King of the Fairies, the mere thought of annoying Feo Ul fills their fellow pixies with dread, enough so to cause one pixie seriously warn another pixie who had previously been separate from the rest to NEVER try to claim the Warrior of Light in any way.
• Enlightened Self-Interest: Feo Ul is kind and doting to the Warrior, but they're motivated entirely by how interesting it is to watch the Warrior's adventures and see how they change and grow. Feo Ul makes it clear that the Warrior and their friends are for their amusement alone.
• Everyone Has Standards: When dealing with their fellow pixies, Feo Ul makes clear how boring the games the fellow pixies play are as they tend to do the same "game" over and over.
• Fanservice Pack: Feo Ul the pixie is, like most pixies, a cute little kid (or, at least, a magical being that closely resembles a cute little kid). Titania the king of Il Mheg is a supernaturally lovely adult in a flattering, form-fitting dress.
• Fiery Redhead: Red-haired and passionate about everything. This has earned them the nickname "Madbloom" by their fellow fae.
• Food as Bribe: In the 2022 Valentione's Day event, Feo Ul sends the Warrior a very angry letter complaining about how the Warrior has seemingly forgotten all about Feo Ul after the events of Shadowbringers. It takes a flowery letter packaged with chocolates and flowers for Feo Ul to forgive them.
• Forgot About His Powers:
  • Despite being a particularly powerful pixie, the Warrior doesn't think to call upon Feo Ul for much of Shadowbringers aside from accessing their retainers and Delivery Moogles, much to the pixie's consternation. They decry the Warrior as "cold and cruel and heartless" for only calling upon them when absolutely necessary. Feo Ul complains again when the fae aren't called upon to help with the Talos bringing down Mt. Gulg, only showing up in time because of Feo Ul deciding to leave of their own accord. That said, they do admit that they are partially to blame for saying that the fae aren't interested in the affairs of men, but they also said that they'd come flying over should the Warrior ever give the word.
  • Feo Ul is ecstatic when the Warrior finally beseeches them for aid without being prompted in order to use their authority as Faerie King to order Bismarck to ferry the Scions to the Tempest and create an air bubble large enough for them to explore in and hunt down Emet-Selch.
• Hand Wave: Initially, their purpose is to serve as a justification for how the player is able to access services that would otherwise be exclusive to the Source, like Retainers and the Delivery Moogle. When wondering about how they could still continue as companions, the new King Feo Ul happily says a "branch" of themself will still travel with them. Upon which a smaller Feo Ul continues journeying with the Warrior of Light.
• Humans Are Special: Part of the reason why Feo Ul offers to have you take their places as King of the Faeries is because they hold that mortals are special in their very transience, and that special trait would be lost in you should you become an immortal fae.
  Feo Ul: To strive for a dream you will never see — to plant seeds that others might one day taste the fruits of your garden — that is the beauty of your kind.
• Jumped at the Call: The thought of being able to visit another world had Feo Ul jumping at the chance to make a pact with the Warrior of Light.
• Large Ham: They like to exaggerate their own feelings, which usually results in them pretending to be angry and yelling.
• Loophole Abuse: Since the Warrior of Light is not interested in being the Faerie King after defeating the previous one, they take their place as King due to the pact they share.
• Meaningful Name: "Feo" is the fae rune for treasure or wealth and "Ul" is the rune for the moon or darkness. Considering how fond and possessive Feo Ul becomes of their sapling, the Warrior of Darkness, you could say that they are someone who treasures darkness.
• Mini-Me: Following their ascension to Faerie King, Feo Ul assures the Warrior that they will always be with them, as it's a trifling thing for Titania to create a small "branch" of themselves to accompany the Warrior on their travels. This branch takes the form of Feo Ul's original appearance.
• Mundane Utility: Feo Ul is one of the rare beings who can travel back and forth from the Source and one of its reflections on their own power. What this means is that they can deliver the Warrior's mail to the local moogles, enter the dreams of the Warrior's retainers to collect or deposit goods and money, or plant suggestions to sell such goods on the marketboard.
• No Biological Sex: Like all pixies, Feo Ul is genderless and uses they/them pronouns. They briefly referred to themself as "she" when interacting with the summoning bell, but this turned out to be an error that was swiftly patched out by the localisation team.
• Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous: All of the pixies are androgynous in appearance, and all use they/them pronouns. Feo Ul is referred to only in this manner for the entire game as a result.
• Red Is Heroic: They're the only red pixie (most of the rest are green), and are the most straightforwardly heroic by far. This is emphasised when they become Titania and keep their colour scheme, as a visual indicator that the King of the Fairies is now sane (by pixie standards) and firmly on your side.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: After being crowned King of the Fairies, they still serve as your link between the First and the Source for your retainers. They also get involved against the sin eaters and the Ascians on your behalf, despite Feo Ul insisting that the affairs of mortals do not concern their people.
• Statuesque Stunner: Feo Ul as Titania is, much like their predecessor, an ethereal beauty who's more primal-sized than human-sized.
• Suddenly Shouting: Their dialogue mostly consists of cooing over the Warrior of Light like an affectionate parent and then quickly shifting into angrily shouting at them as a scolding one.
• The High Queen: They may still be a genderless Tsundere, but the new Titania fits this trope very well in most other regards. They're wise, powerful, glamorous and beautiful, and one of your most important allies.
• Token Heroic Orc:
  • Downplayed. Pixies aren't evil, per se, but they're amoral, hostile to outsiders, and dangerously unpredictable. For all their quirks, Feo Ul is a lot more friendly, helpful, and mature than most of their race, and a lot less casually murderous. That being said, they also get very upset at the thought of even sharing the Warrior of Darkness with anyone.
  • Feo Ul notably lacks the pixies' trademark Lack of Empathy, understanding when the Warrior is hurting and trying to cheer them up when they're down.
• Tsundere:
  • They get angry quite easily with their sapling not calling them, but quickly shows their affection for the WoL not long afterwards.
  • As much as Feo Ul tries to pretend to be angry with the Warrior at times, any other pixie so much as looking at the Warrior the wrong way will cause Feo Ul to declare that the Warrior only belongs to them.
• Undying Loyalty: Due to their magical pact, Feo Ul will always be on the Warrior's side no matter what happens to them. When the Warrior is on the verge of becoming a Lightwarden, Feo Ul swears that should they choose to abandon the world and run away to become the Faerie King, all of Il Mheg would rise up in their defense.
• Walking Spoiler: They undergo a major change in role partway through the story that is very difficult to talk about without spoilers.

The Zun

A race of large, muscular reptilian humanoids living within the Crystarium. Originally a nomadic people, they were forced to settle down when the Flood came, and have become the Crystarium's livestock keepers. They are the First's equivalent to the Amalj'aa.

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• The Beastmaster: Valued in the Crystarium's society for their skill in raising and caring for livestock and mounts, especially Amaro and Chocobos. They also serve as amaro porters throughout Norvrandt.
• Composite Character: They were nomads like the Amalj'aa on the Source and their friendly demeanor is more based on the Brotherhood of Ash Amalj'aa that are more friendly to people than their Ifrit-worshiping counterparts. Likewise, the Zun decorate their bodies with hide and bone from amaro that passed on and feel that things like steel gauntlets is unnecessary (at first) and too flashy. The Amalj'aa wear various steel accessories since they're a more of a warrior tribe and they raise drakes for battle.
• Face of a Thug: The Zun are intimidating to behold due to possessing the same powerful physique and reptilian features as their Amal'jaa counterparts on the Source. Despite this, the Zun possess none of the Amal'jaa's Proud Warrior Race Guy mannerisms and are quite friendly and kind. In fact, they're most renowned for their amaro and chocobo husbandry rather than any sort of combat skill.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Their homeland was wiped out by the Flood of Light, thus they migrated to the Crystarium.

Cyella (Unmarked Spoilers)

Cyella Valthane

Race: Elf
Epithet: The Shadowkeeper
Discipline: Gladiator

"What is that look for? I'm still a tavern wench, aren't I? We all have our parts to play."

A waitress at the Crystarium's local pub working under Glynard. She tells visitors various tales from the past as a means of entertainment.

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• The Atoner:
  • When the Warrior of Darkness refuses to kill her after she revealed her sins, she decides she can atone by telling others the tales of the Warriors of Light that made great sacrifices to become heroes that they were.
  • She also arranged for the destruction of the Cardinal Virtues behind the scenes to atone for betraying them in life.
• Big Bad Friend: She was actually Ardbert's enemy due to her enacting the Ascians' plans on sowing chaos on the First. Once Ardbert and his group became Warriors of Light, she turns on them. She actually was friends with them, but much like when Ardbert and his friends allied with the Ascians as "Warriors of Darkness" to save the First, Cylvia was desperately trying to save her homeworld that was the Thirteenth Shard, which had been turned to the Void of Darkness due to the Ascians' screw up at trying to force a Rejoining without fully understanding the mechanics of it at the time. The way the Ascians framed it to her was that by having both a Calamity on the First as well as the defeat of five Warriors of Light, the Light Aether released in the process could reverse the Flood of Darkness.
• Brought Down to Normal: A century after her last encounter with Ardbert, Cyella is a Retired Badass who expects to be easily beaten by any of Lyna's freshest recruits. In addition, some dialogue after completing the 6.2 MSQ reveals she used to be a memoriate like Zero, but lost her powers when she got spirited away to the First. She would have been down to Badass if she were in fighting shape.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • She's hanging around at the Stairs in the Crystarium from the moment the player arrives.
  • Likewise, she appears in several of the Virtues' memories of the past, but her role is not elaborated upon until all the quests are complete.
• The Chessmaster: She arranged for all the Virtue Hunters to hang out in one place so the Warrior of Darkness could help them put her former companions to rest.
• Create Your Own Hero: Invoked. Remember all the hardships that made Ardbert and his friends Warriors of Light? She was behind them all and did so in the hopes of killing them afterward to help the Ascians with the Rejoining.
• Dark Is Evil: When revealed as the "Shadowkeeper", she wears dark armor, also symbolizing her origin from the Thirteenth shard.
• Death Seeker: She seeks to be killed as atonement for her betrayal to Ardbert and his companions. Despite everything, Ardbert refuses to kill her. The Warrior of Darkness does the same a hundred years later.
• Divided We Fall: She admits that it may have been possible to save the Thirteenth from falling to the Flood of Darkness had she and the others of Hydaelyn's chosen simply sought each other out and banded together against the coming darkness. When the Warrior brings this conclusion to Unukalhai, another Warrior of Light from the Thirteenth, he decided to travel to the First and meet with Cylva again to determine if there's any way to salvage the World of Darkness.
• Doomed Hometown: Like Unukalhai before her, she hails from the thirteenth shard, which was consumed by a flood of darkness.
• Due to the Dead: She came out of hiding once she learned Vauthry twisted the Warriors of Light into the Cardinal Virtues, determined to put her former comrades to rest once and for all.
• Fallen Hero: She makes it clear that she too was one of Hydaelyn's chosen by calling the Echo "Mother's blessing" and was one of the desperate final chosen ones on the Thirteenth along with Unukalhai. But where as Unukalhai was taken under the wing of Elidibus and eventually rebelled upon realizing that it was Ascian machinations that had doomed the Thirteenth in the first place, Cylva joined forces with the original pair of Ascians in charge of preparing the First for a Rejoining in a desperate bid to possibly restore and save the souls of the Thirteenth.
• Identical Stranger: Though the Echo flashbacks you initially see Cylva in are Deliberately Monochrome which helps hide the similarities a little bit, she looks nigh-identical to Cyella in the present besides a change of hair style. This would be Foreshadowing if the average player even bothers to realize that random waitress may be the same person or related.
• The Man Behind the Man: As the Shadowkeeper, she orchestrated the various threats that Ardbert and his companions would overcome.
• Manipulative Bitch: She is the one who pushed for Ardbert's party to make their sacrifices so that they could become Warriors of Light and further the Ascians' plans of a rejoining.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Her role as the unknown sixth member of Ardbert's party. In the original 1.0 trailer, there were six characters, the Hyur archer, his Miqo'te and male Elezen partners, then the "alternate" party that also included a Lalafell healer, a Roegadyn maurader, and a female Elezen gladiator. In the End of an Era cinematic and the A Realm Reborn cinematic, all of the characters from the 1.0 trailer return except for the female Elezen, and the Warriors of Darkness in patch 3.4 are based off those characters. So naturally the sixth member who disappeared from the legend of the First's Warriors of Light is based off the character who disappeared from the trailers.
  • Her story bears a close resemblance to Raogrimm from Final Fantasy XI, both formerly normal humans who where used by a dark higher power (Odin for Raogrimm, the Ascians for Cyella) and transformed into a darkness-focused Evil Overlord. Even her One-Winged Angel form as the Shadowkeeper, fought as a recreation in the Eden Raids, is pretty much a more bestial version of the Shadow Lord.
• Remember the New Guy?: A plot point used on the player; to the Warriors of Darkness, Cylva was their Sixth Ranger and always there for their adventures, but gets no elaboration on who or where she came from compared to the main group. The first time the game even hints at her existence is in the playable Echo flashbacks of Shadowbringers' Role Quests. Despite being a central aid and the group's Tank until Branden, however, the player has to piece together her involvement and her Obviously Evil smirks in some of the flashbacks before The Reveal after all the Role Quests are done.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: She wears a set of red-and-black Deepshadow Fending gear as the villainous Shadowkeeper.
• Retired Badass: After being spared by the Warrior of Darkness, she returns to the Crystarium and remarks that her days of combat and adventuring are long behind her. Just putting on her old armor again after all this time almost wore her out and she expects any of Lyna's fresh recruits to be able to knock her flat.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: She is the sixth member of Ardbert's party and reveals herself as the Shadowkeeper. Naturally, Ardbert isn't too happy to see someone he considered a friend to turn against him.
• Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: She wanted Ardbert to strike her down when she lost and was devastated when he refused to. Later, she demands the Warrior of Darkness finish the job. They also refuse to kill her.
• Walking Spoiler: Her true identity and motives blow a lot of things wide open. Hell, her being mentioned in the character list here even outright implies there's more to the otherwise-innocuous waitress at the Wandering Stairs than one would normally realize.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She was on board with the Ascians' plans in the hopes of having her homeworld restored.

Beq Lugg

Beq Lugg, the Seeker of Solitude

Voiced by: Mariya Ise (JP), Jaimi Barbakoff (EN), Perrine Megret (FR), Jan Uplegger (DE)

Race: Nu Mou

"Prepare as we might, we cannot account for all possibilities, and it is in such circumstances that accidents are wont to occur..."

A reclusive Nu Mou with unparalleled knowledge of the workings of the soul, Beq Lugg has lived in isolation since the coming of the Flood. The Warrior of Light seeks them out at the Grand Cosmos in the hopes that Beq Lugg can return the Scions' souls to the Source.

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• The Aloner: Beq Lugg retreated from the world following the fall of Voeburt, as their willingness to teach soulcraft to the nation's court mage led to the kingdom's fall and its princesses to be turned into horrible monsters. The Exarch has tried reaching out to Beq Lugg repeatedly in the following years, but is repelled by the Nu Mou's army of familiars until the Warrior arrives to clear a path.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Beq Lugg has the power to bring inanimate objects to life. Every single enemy in the Grand Cosmos is animated in this fashion, from suits of armour and statues, to potted plants, to self-sweeping brooms.
• The Archmage: They're considered the foremost authority on matters of the soul on the First and a powerful mage besides. Their familiars are strong enough to repel any and all of the Exarch's attempts to reach them, and it takes the Warrior of Light showing up to clear a path to Beq Lugg's chambers. Their aid is essential to getting the Scions back home in one piece as well as developing a cure for tempering.
• Art Initiates Life: In the last leg of the Grand Cosmos, Beq Lugg conjures phantasms from the portraits of elven knights to attack the Warrior of Light.
• Casting a Shadow: Beq Lugg wields dark-aspected magic in their Seeker of Solitude form.
• Cthulhumanoid: As the Seeker of Solitude, Beq Lugg takes the form of a squid-faced, tentacle-fingered sorcerer. They ditch this form after the Warrior of Light overcomes the last of Beq Lugg's familiars.
• Elderly Immortal: Beq Lugg is one of the fae, making them virtually immortal. But unlike the pixies, Nu Mou don't have eternal youth. This is why they task the Warrior and the twins to gather materials for a porxie capable of reversing the corruption of sin eaters.
• Expy: To Matoya in the same game. Both are reclusive hermits with great magical powers that don't want anything to do with people in general. Matoya just wants to be left alone for some peace and quiet while Beq Lugg wants to isolate themselves out of guilt. Y'shtola also lampshades the similarities. It's plausible that Matoya and Beq Lugg are shards of the same original sundered soul.
• Feeling Their Age: They may be an immortal fae, but Beq Lugg is feeling the effects of centuries of living, asking the Warrior and the Leveilleur twins to gather the materials required to make a porxie to treat Halric and the others at the Inn at Journey's End.
• Improbable Weapon User: Beq Lugg enchants numerous brooms to both sweep the Grand Cosmos and to ward off intruders. During their initial boss fight, they will summon brooms to wipe away the "stains" defiling their domain — dealing heavy damage around those stains, knocking back any enemies, and inflicting a damage vulnerability debuff. A particularly unlucky victim could get ping-ponged between them, decimating their HP in the process.
• My Greatest Failure: Before the Flood, Beq Lugg taught soulcraft to the court mage of Voeburt — the very same court mage seen in the tank role questline, who brought about the fall of Voeburt by mutating its citizens and killing its princess. Beq Lugg went into self-imposed exile out of guilt for the role they indirectly played in this tragedy.
  • Tales From the Shadows goes even further into this: Beq Lugg's only actual friend was Pauldia, the younger princess of the kingdom. When Sauldia ascended to the throne, Pauldia was to be wed into another royal family elsewhere. Not wanting their best friend to leave, Beq Lugg performed a volatile procedure on Pauldia to greatly boost her magic potential. It was then copied by Tadric and used to turn the citizens of Voeburt into monsters. When the Warriors of Light revealed him as the perpetrator, he brainwashed Pauldia and turned her into a monster out of spite, and Cylva and Beq Lugg were forced to lock her in the castle's dungeon forever.
• Mythology Gag: Beq Lugg's Seeker of Solitude form uses the model of a Final Fantasy XII Mindflayer or Piscodaemon. In that game, the Piscodaemon was a Nu Mou whose lust for power and mastery of dark magic corrupted him into a monstrous form. Fortunately, Beq Lugg's appearance is just an illusion and they aren't evil.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the Tales of the Shadows story "Small Mercies", Beq Lugg is a scholar, not a fighter, and cowers before the slavering monsters chasing them. By the time you meet them in the Grand Cosmos, they've assembled a small army of highly dangerous familiars that have kept out all of the Exarch's attempts to reach them. They're also more than capable of wielding hard-hitting dark magic themself.
• Trigger Phrase: Like other Nu Mou, they can't resist helping others if certain dog-like commands are said in their presence. Beq Lugg breaks down after Alphinaud and the Crystal Exarch uses said words on them; they aren't happy about it, but offer to at least listen to their plea.

Chora-Zoi

A Mystel smith of great promise but poor self-esteem, Mowen recommends her to Grenoldt, who packs up his tools and returns to the Crystarium to act as her mentor in the forging of a new line of Splendorous tools.

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• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Chora-Zoi's work is acclaimed by craftsmen all over Norvandt once Mowen helps get her ideas off the ground. But Chora still can't imagine herself being worthy of all the praise.
• Named After Someone Famous: Inverted and invoked. After the Splendorous Tools are completed, Mowen proposes that the next line of improved tools be named after Chora-Zoi. While Chora is aghast at this because she doesn't feel she's worthy of such an honor, Mowen privately confides in the Warrior that she made the proposal specifically to help Chora recognize the value of her own work.

The Tycoon (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

The Tycoon

Artificial Engima

A mechanical being that resembles a mix of both Alexander and Omega. Once created by the Disciples of Cid, it served as the engine that would send the Exarch and the Crystal Tower through time and space and into the First in order to prevent the Eighth Umbral Calamity and save the Warrior of Light. It is fought in The Twinning.

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• All Your Powers Combined: Combines Alexander's control over time with Omega's ability to manipulate space and vast quantities of aether, and also has access to the Crystal Tower's immense aether hoard and portal to the Rift.
• Blue Is Heroic: A hint towards its origins, the Tycoon maintains the blue and white color scheme of Garlond Ironworks.
• Boss Remix: Its Battle Theme Music is an arrangement of "Locus" as covered by The Primals.
• Boss Subtitles: "Artificial Enigma".
• Call-Back: It's fought in a room full of monitors that display images from the Crystal Tower on the Source, Alexander, and the Interdimensional Rift. It also uses a remix of "Locus", one of the boss themes from the Alexander raids, as its battle music.
• Deus est Machina: The Tycoon is essentially a magitek recreation of the primal Alexander equipped with Omega's ability to cross the Interdimensional Rift.
• Foreshadowing:
  • It's foreshadowed during Emet-Selch and the Exarch's chat, specifically, "The great work of those [Disciples of Cid] who tamed the wings of time [Alexander], and grasped the nature of the rift [Omega]".
  • The Twinning's theme song, "A Long Fall", mixes the lyrics and melody of "eScape" (Omega's Battle Theme Music), with "Shattered" (the battle theme of the Crystal Tower), and the bass line of "Rise" (Alexander Prime's Battle Theme Music), alluding to how The Tycoon was constructed from research into all three technological marvels.
• Magnum Opus: The greatest work of the Disciples of Cid from the Bad Future of the Source. By the time the Exarch was sent to the First, Biggs the Third is the eighteenth president of Garlond Ironworks, implying that it took more than a eighteen generations of workers to complete it.
• Mythology Gag: Its name may be a reference to the Tycoon family from Final Fantasy V; more specifically Lenna's father, whose name is "Alexander Highwind Tycoon". Final Fantasy V also served as the debut of Omega.
• Outside-Context Problem: For the Ascians. A time, space and rift traveling machine is unheard of even for them.
• Space and Time Master: Based on Garlond Ironworks' research into Space Master Omega and Time Master Alexander, the Tycoon combines both entities' abilities with the immense power source of the Crystal Tower to travel across time and space.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Gameplay-wise, the Tycoon only appears as the final boss of the Twinning dungeon, which can only be accessed after finishing the 5.0 storyline of Shadowbringers; story-wise, its existence is what allowed the plot of Shadowbringers to happen at all.
• Story-Breaker Power: Its ability to combine the powers of Alexander and Omega to cross the boundaries of time and space makes it one of the most powerful creations in the entire story, enabling the Exarch to transport himself and the Crystal Tower to the First to avert the Bad Future in a way that not even the Ascians could account for. Its subsequent destruction after the events of Shadowbringers prevents the heroes from ever using it again to change events in their favor. Though in Endwalker Elidibus was able to study its concepts enough to create a time gate to the pre-Sundering era.
• Temporal Paradox: Attempting to set foot in a time-stopped laser invokes this, causing an explosion that inflicts damage and a debuff to the whole party.
  • Incidentally, this was the reason why the Tycoon malfunctioned in the first place.
• Time Stands Still: Does it to its own attacks to create less room for the Warriors to dodge.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Its eventual fate. After it went haywire due to the events of Shadowbringers, the player's team have to fight and dismantle it, thereby keeping the Crystal Tower locked squarely in the First Shard. Coincidentally, this occurs just as Elidibus becomes active with plans to take over the tower, which would have been devestating had it retained its full functionality, leading to speculation that true to its ancestry, Tycoon purposefully engineered its own demise to ensure the best timeline.

Kholusia - Eulmore

In General

"Once, they held fast against the madness, only to embrace the coming cataclysm and delight in the end of days."

A city where social divides are at their most egregious, the rich and influential citizens of Eulmore live a life of luxury in a massive opulent castle, whiling away their days as they await the end of the world. Those unfortunate enough to be denied entry live in ramshackle shantytowns surrounding the castle.

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• All Crimes Are Equal: And are met with either death, exile from the city off the top floor balconies (which likely ends in death), or as food for the sin eaters.
• Alternate Universe: To Limsa Lominsa and Vylbrand. Like Limsa Lominsa, it is a major military power within the region. The land is hardy though not without some notable exports and there is a band of reclusive miners up within the mountains. Eulmore could even be compared to Costa Del Sol, where the wealthy and powerful can come to rest and relax in decadence.
• Bread and Circuses: The people of Gatetown and the surrounding shantytowns are kept docile with regular provisions of "meol" (a foodstuff that vaguely resembles bread rolls), while the free citizens within Eulmore proper have their every needs tended to and want for nothing as Vauthry works hard to ensure the end of the world.
• The Dictatorship: Eulmore formed a cult of personality around its psychotic despot Vauthry due to his ability to control sin eaters. A highly class-segregated society, the upper crust of Eulmore is made up of decadent nobles that don't care at all that the world is slowly crumbling around them, while at the bottom there are commoners whose only hope of getting to the upper parts of Eulmore is by becoming an indentured servant of a noble. Vauthry himself is a narcissist who only desires to be worshipped, even if that means allowing The End of the World as We Know It to happen. Eulmore wasn't always like this though, and was actually a democratic city-state at the forefront in the fight against the sin eaters, though this means that by the time Shadowbringers starts, Eulmore's army is completely under Vauthry's control. Once Vauthry is dead, the city as a whole returns to its senses and reinstates a democratically-elected mayor.
• Dungeon Town: The quest "A Feast of Lies" has you attacking Eulmore's forces head on. The citizens are mind controlled into attacking you as well as the soldiers. You have two major boss battles inside the city itself with the second one taking place inside the aetheryte plaza. Everything returns to normal once Vauthry flees.
• Expy: Eulmore is pretty much a fantasy version of Solaris from Xenogears, both are cities with a rigourous caste system which has the poor living in slums working as slaves for the rich for a chance to be accepted into the higher class, anyone who breaks the rules or rebels are literally thrown out, people from both sides of the caste unknowingly eat mutated human. There's even a reincarnated girl who retains her name and appearance across their lives, pilots a mech thing, locked into a romance via reincarnation by an ambigously divine being trapped in a machine and eventually merges with the soul of the machines for a little bit. And for bonus points there's a Man Behind the Man playing the long game for thousands and thousands of years with the goal sacrificing the entirety of humanity into to repair their god.
• Face–Heel Turn: Eulmore was originally the leading force in the fight against the sin eaters. When Lord Vauthry took control and seemed able to command the sin eaters, Eulmore turned to aiding the sin eaters. When the Crystarium started making real progress against the sin eaters, Eulmore's army was sent to war against them.
• Fat Bastard: The nobles of Eulmore have become morbidly obese as a result of their hedonistic lifestyle. Meanwhile, those not considered nobility are forced to live in a run-down slum at the foot of the noble district, scavenging through the garbage from the upper city and at the mercy of any sin eaters that wander in.
• The Fatalist: While the citizens of Crystarium fortified their city against the light and sin eaters and are trying to find a way to fight back, the citizens of Eulmore believe death from the Light will get everyone sooner or later, so they decide to give in and spend the rest of their days in excess luxury.
• Happiness in Slavery: Many of the "Bonded Citizens", those who serve the more privileged in Eulmore, adore their masters and being allowed in their "paradise". Their jobs tend to be entertaining the masters and enabling the hedonism, which they generally get to partake in, so it is justified they'd be comfortable. That is, unless they bore the masters, after which they are expelled from Eulmoran society in some way or another. The lucky ones get thrown out the highest window. Those who are "luckier" that their masters come to genuinely care for them end up offering them to Vauthry for ascension, becoming sin eaters, and later, food.
• The Hedonist: Knowing their city could be consumed by Light at any moment, the nobles of Eulmore overindulge in luxury.
• Human Resources: sin eaters exist as part of Eulmore society and are given people to feed on. Those who defy the laws of Eulmore specifically. Also done indirectly by "ascending" people into sin eaters then turning any unwanted sin eaters into meol, which is a nourishing food but is full of primordial light which over time makes the populous more susceptible to Vauthry's mind control magic.
• Impossibly Delicious Food: As Word of God in a live letter, meol is universally delicious and tastes like a bakery smells, that great scent that makes you want to try everything in the store. It is subverted as a Poverty Food due to everyone eating it and like it and is even used for bartering by the lower class. Though, its later shown that consuming the stuff isn't such a good idea, as it's made of sin eater and corrupts the consumer with light, making them susceptible to brainwashing over the years, and potentially transforming one into a sin eater much farther down the line.
• Innocently Insensitive: This is the general state of Eulmore's citizens. They aren't really bad people by and large, they've just accepted the grossly unfair social order of their city and don't see anything wrong with it. Add in Vauthry's mind control magic to grease the wheels and you're left with a society of generally decent people who still don't bat an eye at, say, a disobedient slave being thrown to his death.
• Purple Is Powerful: Eulmore's royal purple colour scheme reflects both its military might and Vauthry's claim to divine authority as an ally [and leader of the sin eaters.
• Upper-Class Twit: They may be rich and living in luxury, but they sure as hell aren't too bright.
• While Rome Burns: Rather than spearheading the fight against the sin eaters as they once did, the people of Eulmore gave up fighting all together when Vauthry took power. Now with his power over sin eaters protecting them, the citizens of Eulmore are content to indulge in vice and pleasure while waiting for the world to finally end, chosing to enjoy the now rather than futilly fight for tomorrow.

Vauthry

Vauthry

Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya (JP), Edward Dogliani (EN), Philippe Pasquini (FR), Tino Kießling (DE)

Race: Hume

"There is no justice but mine. No future but mine. No will but mine."

The horrendously obese Lord of Eulmore, a man with the power to control the sin eaters.

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• A Child Shall Lead Them: Vauthry ascended the throne of Eulmore at the age of 9 after murdering both of his parents.
• Abusive Parents: His father emotionally abused him into developing a god complex and with his own goals of Take Over the World from the moment he was born. This caused him to grow up into the Psychopathic Manchild seen in the story.
• Alas, Poor Villain: He's left crying and whimpering as the Warrior of Darkness stands above him, unable to understand why they look down on him with pity or how everything his father taught him could be wrong.
• Arc Villain: Of the entire "sin eater" arc of Shadowbringers. While its clear in a normal story he'd be the Big Bad, his protecting the sin eaters and wish to ensure his rule over the ruined world as a god, Emet-Selch's self-inclusion and the ultimate reveal of the Ascians' true motives, along with Emet masterminding Vauthry's birth to hasten the Eight Umbral Calamity, ultimately turns him into this.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: He is said to "ascend" the nobility and any peasant that said noble asks him to. It is described as taking one to a paradise after a rapture-like event is invoked on them. It's later revealed ascension is him turning people into sin eaters, with even him undergoing the process when his mortal form tastes defeat.
• The Beastmaster: He has complete control over the sin eaters in his city, for he is the Lightwarden known as Innocence.
• Bishounen Line: He may start off as a grossly overweight Gonk, but for the second phase of his boss fight he transforms into a handsome angelic being.
• Body Horror: Certain camera angles show that he appears to have a baby-like face growing under his left arm, an early hint towards his inhuman nature.
• Cult of Personality: He runs Eulmore with an iron fist while considering himself a god to rule over what's left of Norvandt. He maintains his control by offering safety and plenty to those allowed into Eulmore, which glorifies him as a savior and a great man destined to deliver salvation to the people.
• Disproportionate Retribution: When a man is found to have committed "fraud", he orders the man to throw himself off a balcony. When the man refuses, he instead orders the man to cut out a chunk of his own flesh with a knife.
• Establishing Character Moment: His very first cutscene tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about Vauthry; he ordered Kai-Shirr, whom he accused of fraud, to cut a chunk of flesh out of his own arm when he refused to throw himself off the balcony, talks at length about his Tautological Templar worldview, and after he realizes Alphinaud insulted him, he throws a very undignified tantrum in full view of his subjects, ranting and raving about how horribly Alphinaud will die (after taking so long to realize he was insulted that Alphinaud, Kai-Shirr and the Warrior of Light are already halfway out of Eulmore).
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: His Fatal Flaw. Vauthry was raised from birth to believe he could become Norvrandt's salvation, and views himself as a Well-Intentioned Extremist who is the only hope for the First. When the Warrior of Darkness arrives and starts to show they can stop the sin eaters and Lightwardens, he is unable to understand why they would do so, and diverts time and resources to try and stop them. This is demonstrated when he is introduced, as he fails to understand why Alphinaud was so angry about Kai-Shirr hurting himself by his commands. In the end, he simply can't understand how he can be wrong, and as he lays dying, he can only question why everything he knew lead to his defeat.
• Evil Gloating: After the sin eater attack on Lakeland, he personally leads an airship delegation over the survivors purely so he can gloat that the people of Lakeland have no one but themselves to blame for "defying" the sin eaters and that they should have joined Eulmore when they had the chance.
• Exorcist Head: Played for Drama when Ryne realizes that Vauthry is the final Lightwarden, he turns his obese head a full 180 degrees to rant that he is "perfect".
• Eye Beams: His auto-attack is to fire them.
• Fat Bastard: He is the fattest man in Eulmore, so much so that he can barely stand, and he is determined to live his life of luxury, no matter the cost. Him being part sin eater very likely made him be able to grow extremely fat without the complications.
• Foreshadowing: Upon realizing that Alphinaud and the Warrior of Light insulted him, Vauthry rants that he'll "enslave their minds". You might think that he's just being hyperbolic in his anger, but as the Scions later learn, Vauthry really does have mind control powers.
• Growing Wings: He painfully grows a comically tiny pair after overeating some meol when the party raids his palace, and then again grows several more prior to his transformation in his boss fight.
• A God Am I: He likens himself to a god during the parley with the Crystal Exarch. Given what he really is, this opinion's not unjustified.
• Half-Human Hybrid: He was conceived with the Light of a sin eater placed in him as he resided in his mothers womb, and his docile presence was strong enough to pacify sin eaters with his presence alone.
• Hate Sink: He's arrogant to the point of a god complex, spiteful, vain, and prone to throwing temper tantrums. He's even willing to have people killed if it means that his twisted whims are satisfied. All of this is done with the intention of making the audience want to see him fail. The nicest thing one can say about Vauthry is that he gets an Alas, Poor Villain moment by the time he dies since he can't understand why the Warrior is opposing him, but that's about as far as sympathy for Vauthry can go.
• He Was Right There All Along: The party assumes that Vauthry is hiding the Lightwarden of Kholusia so he can use it to control the sin eaters. In fact, Vauthry is the Lightwarden, Innocence, and controls the sin eaters directly.
• I Am a Humanitarian: His actions as a sin eater-Human hybrid mark him as a two-fold cannibal since he regularly gorges himself on Meol, which is made from ground-up sin eater flesh and sin eaters are created from various citizens in his domain including humans being transformed into sin eaters by his command.
• The Immune: Due to being born half-sin eater, Vauthry resists the dangerous effects of light imbalance. Even after becoming a proper sin eater, he still retains his self and soul until he dies.
• It's All About Me: The reason the sin eaters, monsters that have been plaguing Norvrant for over a hundred years - far longer than Vauthry has been alive - exist? So that everyone will flock to his "sanctuary" and kneel under what he allows his subjects... or at least, that's what he thinks.
• Late to the Punchline: Played for drama. When Vauthry tells Alphinaud to paint his picture, Alphinaud suggests that Vauthry pick up a mirror, because nothing Alphinaud could paint could ever capture how ugly he is. Vauthry only realizes that Alphinaud's parting line to him was an insult after Alphinaud and the Warrior of Light are halfway out of Eulmore, at which point Vauthry throws a child-like temper tantrum about how he'll kill Alphinaud and the Warrior of Light.
• Madness-Induced Omnivore: Already a despotic Manchild obsessed with hedonism, he shows he's gone off the deep end for sure when the Warrior of Light and companions walk into his chambers to witness him eating his pet sin eaters and massive amounts of meol, including a shot where he swallows his food whole, fork and all.
• Magical Eyes: In the first leg of his boss fight, he uses a searing glare as his auto-attack (though not one that deals enough damage to be a Deadly Gaze.) It lets him consistently attack the tank at any range, making up for his slow movement speed.
• The Man Behind the Man: He was the one who had the graves of the First's Warriors of Light exhumed and summoned sin eaters into their corpses, creating the Cardinal Virtues. This is only revealed after all four role quests are done, and likely long after Vauthry's been killed, to the point the reveal is treated as a minor afterthought.
• Manchild: Even a relatively mild insult causes him to throw a screaming, flailing tantrum like a toddler.
• Mayor Pain: Is technically the mayor of Eulmore, and is very much evil. His Establishing Character Moment even shows that he made Kai-Shirr cut off a chunk of his own flesh just to appease him.
• Mind Control: He has charisma that makes everyone in Eulmore practically bend to his will. This is because as the most powerful Lightwarden, he can control sin eaters, and the people of Eulmore are fed a diet of Meol, a bread made from sin eater flesh.
• Misanthrope Supreme: He holds a deeply cynical view of mankind, claiming that the people of Norvrandt are short-sighted fools who would destroy themselves in pointless resource wars without the threat of sin eaters to keep them in line. He uses this point to justify his rule in a conversation with the Exarch.
  "Men are fickle creatures who entertain vague ideals without the faintest notion what they cost. But a little fear can go a long way towards helping them realize what it is they truly need. Sanctuary. And they shall find none in this world, save that which I afford them. That is why the sin eaters exist. To unite the world under my dominion!"
• Mythology Gag:
  • His face and hair bears a striking resemblance to Don Corneo from Final Fantasy VII and he too was a fat guy that enjoyed a luxurious life and ran a brothel. Vauthry is even called "Don Vauthry" in Japanese, rather than "Lord Vauthry".
  • Additionally, he bears some similarities to Queen Brahne from Final Fantasy IX. Both are morbidly obese tyrants who appear to be the Big Bad. Their plans for conquest rely on supernatural creatures: sin eaters for Vauthry, and Black Mages for Brahne. Both have a pair of twin jesters as minions, along with a nigh-invincible general who subjects the party to a Hopeless Boss Fight, and spend a fair amount of the story attempting to recapture a fleeing teenage girl in possession of tremendous power. And finally, both turn out to be pawns for the real Big Bad.
  • Vauthry's own backstory of him being infused with the essence of an Eldritch Abomination while in his mother's womb (and with his parents' consent no less), as well as his delusions of godhood and his transformation into an angelic being during your battle with him shows some parallels to Sephiroth of all people.
• Obviously Evil: If you lined up every main character in Shadowbringers and asked your grandmother to pick out a villain, chances are she'd land on Vauthry. One conversation with the guy is enough to tell you he's very bad news, if one look didn't do it already.
  Alphinaud: What you need is a mirror, not a painting. It will capture the horror I see before me far better than I ever could.
• One-Winged Angel: He has yet to properly transition into a proper Lightwarden until he's defeated in his Hume form. Only then does the Light overwhelm him and he "ascends" into Innocence.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Vauthry believes himself to be the undisputed master of Eulmore for his power over the sin eaters and behaves like a spoiled brat. He makes childish demands of everyone around him, and when he finds out he's been denied and insulted, he throws an undignified tantrum. As if he didn't look like a big baby before.
• Pure Is Not Good: Thanks to his origin and upbringing, he's incapable of understanding the difference between "right" and "wrong" - there is only "what Vauthry wants and deserves" and "everyone else's desires, which are wrong at best and evil at worst".
• Red Right Hand: It's subtle, but he has a literal baby face on the left side of his body, over his left breast. When he sprouts his first set of wings, the eyes open, proving that the cherubic face is in fact part of him, not merely part of his clothing.
• Right Makes Might: Vauthry believes that he is a perfect being and the First's only hope. As a result, he will always succeed because righteousness always prevails. His actions, on the other hand, tell a completely different story. Upon his final defeat, he can't fathom how the heroes managed to overcome him.
• Satanic Archetype: Fulfills all of the criteria. He commands the sin eaters to his will, checks out on all Seven Deadly Sins, and lures innocents to his false utopia. He is also revealed to be half-sin eater with Innocence, his Lightwarden form, resembling Lucifer before his fall.
• Self-Made Orphan: The spoiled Vauthry killed both his parents in a temper tantrum when he was just 9 years old, but by this point the people of Eulmore had already been so indoctrinated by his Lightwarden powers that no one cared.
• Top-Heavy Guy: He has comically tiny legs while the rest of him is massive.
• Tragic Villain: From the moment he was conceived, he was groomed to be a decadent world conqueror with an uncontrollable ego, just as his father and Solus schemed. Unable to understand why anything he does isn't truly righteous.
• Unwitting Pawn: It becomes clear during the Exarch's parley with him that Vauthry is nothing but a pawn to help usher in the Eight Calamity by him being himself.
• Villainous Breakdown: During his final battle, he keeps ranting about how much he's going to make you suffer since you won't acknowledge him for the god he is, and right before he transforms into Innocence, he's reduced to asking again and again how the hell you're still standing despite everything he's throwing at you. After he's finally defeated, his final moments are spent sobbing about how it doesn't make any sense since he's supposed to be the hero.
• Villainous Glutton: A grossly obese, hedonistic villain. Illustrated best just before his flight from Eulmore, in which he's stuffing his face with meol and possibly his sin eater attendees.
• Villain Has a Point: During his parley with the Exarch, Vauthry mocks the Exarch's hope that Norvrandt can be saved, and believes that even should the Flood be stopped, humanity would destroy itself over what little resources remain. He's not wrong when he says that people yearn for happiness and safety now, not later. Plus, until the Warrior of Darkness arrived in the First, no options remained to actually stop the sin eaters and the Lightwardens, so his outlook on the world had some basis in reality.
  Vauthry: You poor, deluded fool. These people care not for the morrow. They care only for the now, and the contentment that they lack. What good is a paradise to them if it is a thousand years in the making? Or even a hundred!?
• Would Hurt a Child: The third volume of Encyclopedia Eorzea reveals that he beat the previous Minfilia to death with his bare hands after he had a nightmare where she killed him.
• You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: Alphinaud remarks several times how Vauthry could have used his power over the sin eaters to make Norvrandt a better place, and even quotes this trope nearly word for word when he's finally defeated.

Ran'jit

Ran'jit

Voiced by: Akio Nojima (JP), David Rintoul (EN), Patrice Melennec (FR), Klaus Lochtlove (DE)

Race: Hume
Discipline: Monk/Pteroslaver(Reaper)

"The world is dead, and writhe as we might, like maggots in its rotting corse, it will not be reborn. Only by my master's grace may we live out our days in peace."

The General of the Eulmoran Army, and Vauthry's right-hand man.

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• Abusive Parents: It has been his duty to raise and train the Oracle of Light but after losing as many foster daughters, he decided to lock the current Minfilia away where she would be safe and where she would not learn to challenge Vauthry's status quo.
• The Ace: He's able to defeat a squad of five including the Warrior of Light by himself, and is capable of seeing through invisibility magic seemingly through sheer training and instinct.
• Alas, Poor Villain: It becomes clear that Ran'jit has been broken by a lifetime of fighting sin eaters and watching all the Minfillias he has raised as surrogates die at their hands. All this after we consider he is the last Gukumatz master with his nation and its culture erased by the flood of light. That Vauthry offers any alternative to the violence has him support the man wholeheartedly. His last thoughts and words are of his "daughters".
  Ran'jit: Ah...there you are...my precious girls...
• Badass Abnormal: He was a supremely skilled martial artist even before he inherited his familiar Gukumatz. Now, he's one of the deadliest living beings in the First.
• Bad Boss: Kicks one of his subordinates off a cliff for attempting to strike a deal with the enemy that would have ensured mutual survival, mainly because being trapped on a narrow ledge with the single biggest threat to the sin eaters in punching distance is exactly where he wants to be.
• Barefisted Monk: He normally fights using magically-enhanced kung fu like an ordinary FFXIV Monk, although the presence of Gukumatz more properly makes him a strange sort of Monk/Summoner hybrid, and lets him wield an impressively large scythe if he so chooses.
• Barehanded Blade Block: He makes a habit of blocking people's weapons with his bare hands (and occasionally, his foot) throughout the main story quest. Thancred is usually on the receiving end.
• Climax Boss: After more than half of the story being spent doing everything they can to avoid him, the player finally has a proper and final confrontation with Ran'jit in a one-on-one battle when the Scions storm Eulmore to put an end to Vauthry once and for all. This fight kicks off the beginning of the last act of the 5.0 story.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Up until the Climax Boss mentioned above, every single encounter with Ran'jit prior is this, in his favor; not only does he take the Scions down with barely a scratch, but he also easily bests the Warrior of Light themselves.
• Despair Event Horizon: After already being the last of his kind, seeing multiple generations of Minfilias, who he has raised as both The Mentor and Parental Substitute, die pointlessly against the sin eaters just to give the people hope eventually broke him, and he came to serve Vauthry and keep the current Minfilia locked up to protect her no matter what.
• Determinator: No matter what is thrown his way, he'll always come back and will go to the ends of the world to get Minfilia back. Falling into a Bottomless Pit didn't stop him and being beaten by Thancred only forced him to retreat. It isn't until his final fight against the Warrior Of Darkness that he actually stays down for good.
• I Did What I Had to Do: He sees serving Vauthry, keeping Mifillia locked away against her will, and harshly-punishing those who disobey as this. This goes so far as attempting to kill the Scions and the Warrior of Darkness once it becomes clear they're a threat to Vauthry's status quo.
• The Dragon: To Vauthry.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Vauthry is an unfit, unstable leader who's given to psychotic breakdowns. His broad commands are implemented by Ran'jit in a more orderly and effective way than Vauthry himself can manage.
• Dragons Are Demonic: Despite being allied with the angelic sin eaters (and quite likely being fairly far along the path to becoming one himself), he also has a Familiar in the form of a fire-breathing serpent named Gukumatz. He can turn it into armor on himself, as well as a scythe.
• The Dreaded: His strength is on a hitherto-unseen level, possibly even greater than that of Zenos. It's no small wonder then that everyone opposed to Vauthry fears him, and that the first leg of Shadowbringers is spent desperately trying to stay out of his reach. When he does manage to catch up and engage the Scions in battle, he's more than capable of single-handedly taking them all down - and yes, that includes the Warrior of Light.
• Evil Counterpart: To Thancred. Both being a father figure to Minfilia that end up mistreating the young girl. Thancred in his obsession with the original and Ran'jit locking her away after seeing the other Minfilia's he raised die. Eventually Thancred realizes she is her own person, while Ran'jit continues to believe he knows best for her until his defeat, where he remembers the girls he raised and loved.
• Evil Old Folks: Bringer of Shadow, Bringer of Light reveals that he is eighty-eight years old. He is mentioned to have been serving in his position well before Vauthry came into power.
• Familiar: Gukumatz, the badge of Eulmore's generals since time immemorial. It's a small, serpent-like dragon that can fight alongside him by spitting fire and lightning, turn itself into a weapon and armour for him, or even become a personal teleporter.
• Fallen Hero: He was previously one of the greatest champions against the sin eaters, both for his sheer martial skill and his superior leadership. However, a long career of seemingly hopeless fighting, combined with watching his surrogate daughters die in those same hopeless battles again and again, wore him down. Now, he willingly acts as the depraved Vauthry's enforcer solely with the goal of keeping Minfillia safe, no matter the cost.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has several scars across his face.
• The Heavy: While Vauthry is unquestionably the Big Bad of the Kholusia storyline (and of the extant Lightwardens in Norvrandt one as well) in Shadowbringers, Ran'jit serves as the most pressing and persistent physical threat to the Scions. Thancred and Y'shtola can only slow him down with their skills, he beats the Warrior of Darkness in their first fight, and it takes until the climax of Eulmore to finally kill him for good. Compared to that, Vauthry falls rather easily.
• Implacable Man: Invisibility glamours? Pixie tricks? A legion of amazons? A pyramid full of death traps? Ran'jit can not only No-Sell all of it, but he even beats the Warrior of Light in their first bout, and will ruthlessly chase them to every corner of Norvrandt until he has killed them and taken Minfilia back.
• In a Single Bound: Ran'jit looks to be preparing to leap a distance of several hundred meters in pursuit of the Scions after the battle in Laxan Loft. While the Exarch intervenes before he can launch, his other exploits leave little room to doubt he could have pulled it off.
• I Reject Your Reality: He continues to insist that the world cannot be saved, and that there is no path to salvation save that offered by Vauthry. Even as the shroud of Light continues to be peeled away from the skies of Norvrandt, the various peoples of the First show that they are more than capable of saving themselves, and Vauthry throws his "subjects" at the Scions to be slain, he still makes his last stand while stalwart in his belief that there is no better option.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: He for the most part fights with Super-Strength and advanced martial arts, but will also use fire and lightning magic through his dragon familiar.
• Last of His Kind: Ran'jit's Gukumatz martial arts order, home and culture were completely wiped out by the flood. He's also the last of the Sinbound, pre-Vauthry Eulmore's elite anti-sin eater force.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Like Caius Ballad of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Ran'jit was responsible for raising the reincarnation of a powerful young woman (Minfilia for Ran'jit, Yuel for Caius) to help fulfill her duty. Generations of watching their surrogate daughters die well before their time drove both men mad, leading to their antagonism with the party. Where Caius Ballad took up arms against time itself to save Yuel from her fate, Ran'jit chose to side with Vauthry and deny the most recent Minfilia the option to even have a life to lose.
  • His character as a top general, recurring hopeless boss fights where he defeats the player's party with a powerful attack, and loyalty to an evil obese member of royalty, references General Beatrix from Final Fantasy IX. He is, however, vastly more cynical than Beatrix ever was, even at her absolute lowest.
• Noble Top Enforcer: Subverted. He's introduced as a more reasonable figure than his mad lord, and he possesses some of the common qualities associated with this trope (sympathetic backstory, a firm belief that his cause is the righteous one, etc.), but by the time the story rolls around he's become a cold and cruel man enacting the will of a tyrant, having crossed the Despair Event Horizon a long time ago.
• Odd Name Out: Ran'jit's Indian name doesn't match the European theme naming of the Humes in Norvrandt, this is because he is the survivor of a culture and region that was wiped out by the Flood of Light.
• Old Master: An evil version of this trope. He is an 88-year-old master of martial arts who had fought against the sin eaters in an endless war for decades, indeed being trained before he could form complete sentences consistently. His mastery of Gukumatz, a dragon familiar made out of his own aether, gives him a powerful living weapon to aid him.
• Old Soldier: The elderly general Ran'jit has served in his position for decades and there are few who can match his martial prowess even in his advanced years.
• Secret Art: The method by which he created his familiar, Gukumatz, is described as "forbidden foreign magic, passed down from general to general."
  • The name Gukumatz comes from a Mayan god. His father, a previous Eulmoran general, also had a familiar made by the same technique that was also named after another Mayan god, Huracan (a storm god who was also the namesake for hurricanes), indicating the technique is probably Ronkan in origin.
• Sinister Scythe: Gukumatz can turn into one of these (along with a partial suit of armour), removing his ranged options but making him even more dangerous up close.
• Super-Strength: Ran'jit is incredibly strong. This is best shown when he intercepts the Scions in Amh Araeng: while the Scions are riding on a mine trolley so heavy that only a Talos (a big worker golem) can push it, Ran'jit sends both the trolley and the Talos flying with a single kick.
• Training from Hell: The training he endured under his father to gain his masterful skill in combat is said to be tantamount to torture.
• True Sight: He is able to see the Warrior of Light, Alphinaud, and Alisaie during his meeting with the Crystal Exarch, despite the trio being cloaked with invisibility magic. Later on, he arrives in Il Mheg and is able to see right through the pixies's illusions, allowing him to advance onto their land. It's not clear if it's a result of Gukumatz, his sin eater mutations, or just decades of combat experience.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: In his first appearance Ran'jit takes on the hero and their allies and almost defeats them until Thancred jumps in and distracts him long enough for everyone to get away. Later he fights again and Thancred manages to eke out a win. Finally when Ran'jit takes on the Warrior of Darkness in the siege of Eulmore he uses his full powers and is defeated by the WoD without fanfare and left to his fate.
  • Downplayed in the sense that the WoD isn't just anybody, as they have an uncanny ability to rise up, even in a short amount of time. Ran'jit is an extremely skilled individual, but he doesn't have the sheer adaptability and growth potential the WoD has.
• Villain Teleportation: One of Gukumatz's many useful abilities, demonstrated at the end of his fight with Thancred. Ran'jit implies it was how he got out of the Bottomless Pit he fell into in Rak'tika.
• White Hair, Black Heart: He's the aged and ruthless general of Les Collaborateurs, which would be enough to qualify him for this trope.

Blue and Red Jongleur

The Jongleurs

Voiced by: Aiko Ninomiya (Red, JP), Yuka Keicho (Blue, JP), Beatriz Romilly (Red, EN), Rosie Jones (Blue, EN)

Race: Hume
Discipline: Red Mage (Red Jongleur),
Ninja (Blue Jongleur)

A pair of "jesters" who serve as Lord Vauthry's chamberlains, never seen apart from one another. They also take to the streets to distribute meol among the commoners and seek out talent worthy of joining them in the paradise of Eulmore.

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• The Brute: They seem to share the role of this between them. They're not involved in Ran'jit's military matters and spend their time doing grunt work for Vauthry, but are trained for battle nonetheless.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Their hedonistic motivation belies their competence; when fought they are reasonably dangerous opponents.
• Dual Boss: They take you and Alphinaud on in a two on two battle when the Scions assault Eulmore.
• Flat Character: Neither one has anything in the way of a character arc or much of a personality.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: They have a peculiar air about them and it's implied that they know more than they let on, but nothing comes of it.
• Mouth of Sauron: They spread Vauthry's word to the people.
• Mythology Gag: A Gender Flip version of Zorn and Thorn from Final Fantasy IX, who were also red and blue jesters that served their ruler
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Averted. Despite having the colour scheme down, they seem to be of one mind and temperament.
• Tyke Bomb: According to Encyclopedia Eorzea Volume III, the Jongleurs were children of bonded citizens, thereby making them the legal property of Eulmore. They were taken from a young age and given a grueling education to determine their worth and instill Undying Loyalty to Eulmore so that they could grow into assets and serve the city's hedonism.
• You Shall Not Pass!: They make a futile attempt to bar your way to their lord.

Chai-Nuzz

Chai-Nuzz Mewlah

Voiced by: Riki Kitazawa (JP), Bruce Mackinnon (EN), Stéphane Ronchewski (FR), Mirko Böttcher (DE)

Race: Mystel

"We must accept the reality of our circumstances. We must move forward."

A free citizen living the good life in Eulmore. He used to run a mining business, the Daedalus Stoneworks, before retiring to a life of luxury in Eulmore with his wife, Dulia-Chai.

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• Benevolent Boss: His impromptu election as mayor of Eulmore in 5.1 leads him to assess the state of Eulmore and its neighbors, ask an old advisor for help, and even risk his own life to build a better future for all of Kholusia.
• Dare to Be Badass: On the receiving end of this in patch 5.1, when he is tasked to prove his commitment to leading Eulmore to prosperity by neutralizing several wandering Talos on his own (though, admittedly, with a little scouting from the Warrior of Darkness).
• Everyone Has Standards: Though he fired the previous painter he had hired to paint him and his wife and didn't make any efforts to learn of what had become of the man, he is genuinely sorry later to learn that the man had been thrown from the top of Eulmore into the ocean where he very nearly died when he was unable to secure another position and wished to leave Eulmore.
• Fat and Skinny: The skinny to his wife's fat.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He is able to very easily rig up dilapidated Talos's into working condition to say nothing of the one he creates to hold down Mount Gulg.
• Happily Married: He and Dulia constantly show their love, concern, and understanding of each other.
• Henpecked Husband: He's always bowing to his wife's whims, though he goes with whatever she wants out of love for her and she's never malicious.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: While he talks down to Alphinaud and the Warrior at first the way the other free citizens do to the bonded, Chai-Nuzz suffers from a lack of self-esteem despite being a technical whiz with a Talos. When the Scions prove that they can gather the people and materials needed to build the giant Talos to reach Mt. Gulg, he feels like he can't measure up to them and thinks his plan won't ever work. It becomes a critical part of the plot later on where you have to raise his spirits up so he gains enough confidence in himself to go on with the plan.
• Logical Latecomer: When the suggestion is made to create a Talos large enough to grasp Mt. Gulg, Chai-Nuzz lists off a series of reasons it's impossible, such as manpower and materials. He is dumbfounded when the party then suggests calling upon the aid of every single group they've met on The First, of course, shedding light on just how incredible the party's feats have been.
  Chai-Nuzz: I'm sorry—you mean to tell me that you can call on not only the people of Eulmore and the Crystarium, but the Night's Blessed, and the Mord, and even those miners!? But that's just about everyone in bally Norvrandt! Who are you people? And how did you come to have so many friends!?
  Warrior of Darkness: (optional) The saviors of the world.
  Chai-Nuzz: Saviors of the world? Are you being serious? Oh gods, you are...
• My God, What Have I Done?: When he and the other citizens are told of Vauthry's true nature and the lies he fed everyone, he realizes how terrible he acted towards his fellow man and vows to try and make things right again.
• Tough Love: When you have to psyche him up, his wife says he responds better to criticism and problem solving rather than praise.
• The Power of Love: When it comes time to rally him (though a series of branching dialogue choices), choosing any option that reminds him of his love for his wife, or that he has to protect her, will raise his spirits so high that it immediately completes.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: When he becomes Mayor of Eulmore, he does his best to re-foster friendly relations with other nations and regions in Norvrandt and is overall very approachable by the people. He also implies that his position is only going to be an interim role until Eulmore can sustain itself more than it did under Vauthry's false pretences.
• You Are in Command Now: After Vauthry does, he takes over as mayor of Eulmore — and by extension, Kholusia — with Dulia and Wrenden as his advisors.

Dulia-Chai

Dulia-Chai Mewlah

Voiced by: Yuka Keicho (JP), Rachel Atkins (EN), Nathalie Homs (FR), Monika Oschek (DE)

Race: Mystel

"I approve of this one, dearest! I am positive he will paint us the most delightful pictures."

A free citizen of Eulmore and wife to Chai-Nuzz.

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• Bear Hug: She gives a spine-crushing hug to her husband after he returns from assessing the issues Eulmore will have to face in the future in his capacity as mayor. Alphinaud has to heal him to get him back on his feet.
• Big Beautiful Woman: She's a heavyset lady, but has a cute face and a just as cute demeanor.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Played for Laughs. When Chai-Nuzz returned after she thought he was missing, Dulia lifted him off his feet and broke his back wth the force of her hug. Luckily Alphinaud was there to heal him.
• Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: She has a necklace and a ring on every finger.
• Fat and Skinny: The fat to her husband's skinny.
• Happily Married: She and Chai-Nuzz constantly show their love, concern, and understanding of each other. She's despondent when he seemingly vanishes without a word after he's elected mayor of Eulmore, though he did write her a letter assuring him of his swift return that she missed during her emotional outpouring.
• Hidden Depths: Has enough strength to nearly crush Chai with a hug, and when Chai-Nuzz decides to reopen Daedalus Stoneworks she talks about readying the ledgers and states that while she knows nothing of Talos or their inner workings, numbers are where she can play her part, implying she used to be the head accountant of a major company.
• I'm Taking Him Home with Me!: She finds Alphinaud adorable and spends much of his short time in her employ dressing him up and doting on him rather than allowing him to do his job as a painter.
• Like a Son to Me: She grows to look at Alphinaud as the son she never had, and is absolutely devastated when he has to leave The First.
• Nice Girl: Despite her fairly lavish manner of dress, Dulia-Chai is a genuinely kind and friendly woman. She dotes on the Warrior and Alphinaud to the point that the latter doesn't do much of the job he was allegedly hired for, offers constant words of encouragement to her loved ones, and is very concerned for her fellow Eulmorans.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Her character model is based on a Lalafell model skeleton rather than the Mystel/Miqo'te one, to better fit her size and demeanor.
• Pretty in Mink: Wears a fancy fur coat.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Her Establishing Character Moment shows that she's Spoiled Sweet, genuinely complimenting Alphinaud and the Warrior of Light, albeit with some minor moments of making Chai-Nuzz into a Henpecked Husband. One would think that this is all a setup for her to turn out to be a Rich Bitch, given how Vauthry is shown to act not much later. But the other shoe never drops; as shown by Dulia's Team Mom moments later in the story, her sweetness isn't an act. She really is that nice. At her worst, she was Innocently Insensitive to Kai-Shirr after he got kicked out of Eulmore, but that's because she didn't know what would happen to him when he went to Vauthry.
• So Proud of You: She thinks very highly of Alphinaud and tells him that no matter where he goes, she and Nuzz will always love and be proud of him. Alphinaud is deeply moved by this.
• Team Mom: She becomes this during the segment where everyone is building the giant Talos to help the Scions reach Mt. Gulg. She encourages everyone, comes up with an idea or two, and is overall motherly to the Warrior of Light and Alphinaud.
• Tender Tears: Dulia wears her heart on her sleeve and is prone to bursting into tears from worry over Alphinaud and his friends as well as Tears of Joy when great things happen.
• Women Prefer Strong Men: Strong-willed, in this case; she mentions the fire in Chai-Nuzz's eyes when he sets his mind to something is why she fell in love with him in the first place.

Mowen Freepurse

Race: Hume
Discipline: Merchant

"As chiarwoman of the Boutique of Splendors, I consider it my duty to nurture the artisans of today and tomorrow."

The proprietor of the Boutique of Splendors, Eulmore's finest purveyor of equipment and crafting materials.

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• Alternate Self: To Rowena. Mowen is downright identical to Rowena in terms of appearance and shares her counterparts work as a trader of higher-quality equipment and crafting materials. Unlike Rowena, Mowen is much kinder and more generous, having never undergone the Cynicism Catalyst that turned Rowena into such a miserly, shrewd woman.
• Everyone Can See It: Grenoldt and Mowen clearly have a thing for each other, but both of them are too shy to take their relationship beyond friendly professionalism. Everyone nearby wears awkward smiles when the two of them are together because of how both of them Cannot Spit It Out.
• Gold Makes Everything Shiny: She wears a golden version of the Ishgardian Bustle that shows off Mowen's fabulous wealth as a free citizen of Eulmore and the head of the Boutique of Splendors.
• Happily Married: At the end of the Splendorous Tools questline, Grenoldt finally works up the courage to propose to Mowen, which she joyfully accepts. They then get married on the shores of the Source in Lakeland, dressed in the same attire that Gerolt and Rowena wore on their wedding day after Grenoldt saw them in a dream. While their work may bring them apart, it's clear that they're happy to be wed.
• Honest Corporate Executive: She runs the Boutique of Splendors, an alternate counterpart to Rowena's House of Splendors. Unlike Rowena, Mowen never underwent the Cynicism Catalyst that turned her into a miserly woman. As a result, her employees are as well-dressed as she is and she's happy to invest in Kai-Shirr's ideas to revitalize the Beehive, implying that she pays much better wages than Rowena.
• Mirror Self: While she and Rowena are both entrepeneurs who use a scrip system, Mowen is an Honest Corporate Executive who genuinely wants the best for everyone she works with, compared to Rowena who is a loanshark who even the Warrior of Light is terrified to get involved with, and is generally a rather self-serving bitter woman. And compared to Rowena, who previously was previously married but divorced Gerolt and treats him with disdain, Mowen has a very mutual attraction with Grenoldt, and at the end of the Splendorous Tools questline, the two become happily married.
• Uncle Pennybags: When she gets the news that Grenoldt is returning to the Crystarium, she rushes over and gladly offers the services of the Boutique to aid in Grenoldt's endeavors to tutor Chora-Zoi. According to her, it's her duty to nurture the artisans of today and tomorrow. Her epithet, "Freepurse", reflects this. This is in stark contrast to her Alternate Self, the notoriously miserly Rowena.

Wrenden

Wrenden

Race: Galdjent

A former advisor to Vauthry's father, he quit and left Eulmore when Vauthry took power.

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• Defector from Decadence: Fled Eulmore and lived in a refugee town rather than tolerate Vauthry's tyrannical rule.
• Foil:
  • To Ran'jit. Both are extremely competent, but while Ran'jit supported Vauthry out of grief of the countless Minfilias he sacrificed to the war against the sin eaters, Wrenden fled Eulmore rather than support his tyranny.
  • Also to Vauthry. Vauthry is a spoiled manchild and tyrant who refuses to believe he's wrong and demands complete obedience from those under him; Wrenden cares about the people under his ruler, is very knowledgeable about the problems facing them, and demands commitment from anyone he would serve.
• The Good Chancellor: Cares deeply about Eulmore and Kholusia, grills Chai-Nuzz on his plans and commitment to his cause before agreeing to aid him, and points out many of the problems that need to be solved to create a better future for everyone.

Kai-Shirr

Kai-Shirr Olkoh

Race: Mystel

"No, no, it has to be Eulmore! That's where all my friends are. We made a promise that we'd live together in paradise..."

A young Mystel desperate to find his way into Eulmore despite lacking any notable talents.

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• Book Dumb: He lacks any particular intellectual talents that would get him into Eulmore as a bonded citizen. But his entrepreneurial spirit and people skills allow him to notice the issues with the Beehive's business model and make changes that bring it back from the brink.
• Costume Evolution: When he's put in charge of the Beehive, he goes from wearing a pauper's tunic to a much more stylish set of suspenders and black slacks to look more presentable in Eulmore's high-class environment.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: He spent so much time trying to get to Eulmore to reunite with his friends that he doesn't know what to do once he actually gets there. Speaking to Kai-Shirr during Chai-Nuzz's efforts to figure out the most pressing issues of Eulmore as its new mayor show that he's wracking his brain for ideas on how to meaningfully contribute to society. He eventually finds it when he impulsively declares that he'd be able to rescue the Beehive and make it successful again, getting hired on the spot and soon making good on his word with the Warrior's help.
• Honest Corporate Executive: As a Custom Delivery client, he grows into this through honest business PR and marketing to bring tourism into the Beehive, to his employer's pleasant surprise.
• Hypocrisy Nod: When the Chai's apologize for the terrible way they and Eulmore in general treated him, Kai-Shirr admits that he wanted to be a free citizen too and that he wasn't concerned about what happened to anyone other than himself and his friends, so he can't take it too personally that others in Eulmore weren't concerned about him.
• I Owe You My Life: He feels eternally indebted to Alphinaud and the Warrior for saving him from Vauthry and struggles to find a way to repay their kindness. This motivates him to funnel any information he could garner from the people of Gatetown about the state of Eulmore to the Crystarium while the Scions are out defeating the Lightwardens.
• Irony: He was punished by Vauthry for being unable to show business acumen while under pressure after stealing Alphinaud's idea to get into Eulmore. But his down-to-earth people skills, energy, and willingness to learn all help him turn the Beehive's fortunes around when he's hired to help drive up business following Vauthry's defeat.
• Oblivious to Love: He's utterly clueless to how smitten the Drahn singer is towards him for hiring her. When his friends point it out, he can only focus on her singing skills.
• Up Marketing: Inverted. Kai-Shirr turns the Beehive's fortunes around by having it cater more toward working-class visitors following Vauthry's fall and Eulmore's return to its roots as a city led by an elected head of state. His changes include providing more affordable dining options, expanding the variety of songs, and convincing the Eulmoran army to convert its military airships into commercial airships to bring in customers from Lakeland.

The Ondo

A race of aquatic humanoids which spend their days living in isolation at the bottom of the sea in everlasting abodes, keeping little contact with the surface. They are the First's variation of the Sahagin. Due to the darkness of the sea they have been left relatively untouched by the sin eaters.

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• Alternate Self: They are physically identical to the Sahagin on the Source save for their coloration and their reproduction habits. Whereas the Sahagin lay eggs on the shore, the Ondo normally lay while submerged; afterwards, eggs are entrusted to each of the most trustworthy males of a clan rather than a single clutchfather.
• Fish People: As to be expected from the Sahagin's counterpart; the Ondo are noted to be the swiftest swimmers in the Tempest.
• Hidden Elf Village: The Ondo Cups are nestled at the bottom of the Tempest, the churning waters off the coast of Kholusia. Due to the lack of light on the sea floor, it's practically untouched by sin eaters and landdwellers alike. As such, the Ondo are alarmed when Bismarck displaces the water for the heroes to breathe in when they come in search of Emet-Selch. But although the Ondo are secretive, they harbor no real ill will toward surface dwellers and will simply ask them to leave if possible or at least behave themselves.
• Mother of a Thousand Young: The Ondo reproduce through the efforts of a single clutchmother, as female Ondo are rare. This Ondo will lay countless eggs over time, entrusting them to the most responsible and capable male Ondo, who are titled "ooan", to fertilize with their seed. Being entrusted with an egg is considered the highest honor an Ondo can receive. After the Warrior helps the current broodmother survive her first egg laying, the broodmother offers them one of her eggs, though she quickly reconsiders after realizing they lack the means the fertilize the egg and the time to care for it.
• Snake Talk: They tend to stretch their "s" on some words, though not for all of them.
• Trademark Favorite Food: They love fruits. It's one of the few things that will get them to interact and trade with people on the surface.
• Underwater City: Their everlasting abodes are the ruins of the ancients that once presided over the land.
• What the Hell, Hero?: They aren't exactly pleased with the heroes removing the water in their home, endangering their pregnant clutch mother and removing a natural advantage against their would-be predators, but quickly forgive them once they start offering help and wanting to learn about their culture. It helped matters that their arrival coincided with the ruins of Amaurot "lighting up", taking it as a sign that the heroes' coming was ordained by the ancients the Ondo worshipped.

The Dwarves

A beastman race introduced in Shadowbringers. Short humanoid creatures who are almost never seen without their face-concealing helmets and beards, they are native to the Kholusia region of Norvrandt.

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• Ambiguous Gender: It's impossible to tell the gender of a dwarf just by looking at them, due to them all having the same body type, giant beards, and face concealing headgear. Presumably their voices can give it away, but as so far all dwarven dialogue has been unvoiced, the player just has to go by what is said in dialogue. This makes it a surprise for instance when Giott's helmet comes off at the end of the Healer questline to reveal a woman, as up to that point she had been foul mouthed and alcoholic enough to make one assume she was a stereotypical male dwarf. It also didn't help that she had the male "Play Dead" animation of being face down with butt sticking up in the air in her first quest (Interestingly, to facilitate this, she actually is a male in the game files, but with a more clearly female head).
• Character Catchphrase: "Lali-ho!", the proper Dwarven greeting.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • The biggest demonstration of the point that the term "beast tribe" is really nothing more than thinly veiled racism used to justify colonialism, dwarves are considered to be such by the residents of the First, yet are nothing more than a reflection of a race that in the Source wields significant power as a Spoken race. Even more notably, the "beast tribe" idea has largely lost teeth in modern Norvrandt, and the dwarves largely go about their dwarfy business as they wish.
  • There's a further bit of aversion which gets revealed in the healer role quest: on the Source, there's something of a divide between the Plainsfolk and the Dunesfolk, due in significant part to the conflicts between Nym and Mhach in the Fifth Astral Era, and all of the many centuries of fallout from that. Dwarven "families" on the First, meanwhile, are made up of what Eorzeans would identify as both Plainsfolk and Dunesfolk, and the dwarves seem to make absolutely no distinction between the two.
• Girls with Moustaches: As you might surmise on first meeting dwarves, and as your adventures with Giott show, beards are a unisex feature of dwarves, sported by men and women alike. They also happen to all be wholly artificial and essentially part of the customary helmet; like Lalafells of the Source, dwarves au naturale have difficulty growing any substantial amount of facial hair, and helmless, the women are as fresh-faced as any lalafell.
• Hidden Elf Village: Dwarven villages are built specifically to accommodate Dwarves. As such, the only way to enter Dwarven buildings is to either be a dwarf yourself, or a similarly-sized Lalafell. The larger races will have to settle for peeking through the windows, or using a Fantasia potion...
• Mythology Gag:
  • The dwarves' appearance is a direct callback to earlier entries in the series, particularly Final Fantasy IV. The town of Tomra is also named after a dwarven town from IV.
  • The name of the legendary smith Watts comes from Final Fantasy Adventure.
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Very classically dwarfy, if a bit short, and particularly based on the Dwarves found in Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy IV. The twist comes from whom the player, and people native to Hydaelyn, would compare them to — they are the same people that the Source calls Lalafell, and their beards that they are so proud of are fake.
• Serious Business: The horned helmets and beards they wear are part of their honor and tradition. A Dwarf must never show their face to anyone but close family members. Doing so is a heinous cultural taboo and will lead to the immediate and permanent exile of the Dwarf from their village. According to Ronitt, being seen without one's helmet is indecent (akin to dropping your pants in public) and he's horribly embarrassed when the Warrior suggests he takes his helmet off to feel some fresh air on his face. The biggest fault they have with one of the Warriors of Light having been a Dwarf was that she brazenly showed her face to everybody. At least, that's the official line. While nobody comes out and says it, the healer role quest provides a different perspective on her exile, though one that was no less serious business.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: The Tholl and Gogg dwarves have a mutual animosity toward each other which plays out like this. Whatever drove the two tribes to hate each other is a Noodle Incident implied to be trivial. Until the Dwarf beast tribe quests reveal that the two were driven apart over how they thought automatons should be used: The Tholls wanted them to be used for manual labor, but the Goggs wished to use them to defend themselves.
• Theme Naming: All dwarven names end with a vowel followed by a double consonant, namely T's for the dwarves of Tomra and G's for the dwarves of Komra.
• Written by the Winners: "Winners" being "those who survived by default", but it's still effectively in play. Dwarven history says that Lamitt, the Dwarven Warrior of Light, was exiled for being a dangerous radical who went around helmless all the time. During the healer role quest, you discover this is not the case (as Lamitt was behelmed for much of her early career with Ardbert & co.), and while it is not directly stated aloud, it is heavily, heavily implied to the player through Echo flashbacks that Lamitt's real "sin" was going to find a cure for stoneblight... and succeeding, thereby putting the Tomran elders in a real jam concerning dozens to hundreds of now-saved dwarves who were understandably cross at having been abandoned when it turns out a cure was achievable. Lamitt more or less accidentally sparked an exile dissident movement, and was essentially forced to join them in a nasty case of Dwarven Realpolitik... and then virtually all of the exiles were lost to the Flood, Lamitt included, leaving the Tomran elders to record and promulgate their own version of events with no contesting voices. It didn't help matters that the Warriors of Light were already universally reviled for their part in unleashing the Flood, making accounts of their inherent evil quite easy for modern denizens of Norvrandt to accept offhand.

Anogg and Konogg (Unmarked spoilers for YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse)

Anogg and Konogg

Race: Dwarf

A pair of young dwarf siblings with a shared love of machina. Their interest in a recently-discovered "machina graveyard" leads the Warrior of Darkness into the events of YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse.

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• Ambiguous Situation: In the story's epilogue, the Warrior of Light learns that Konogg ran away to the shanty town beneath Eulmore. We see that Konogg was desperately trying to find a way to bring his sister back after his research into the white orbs, but to his agony found nothing. However, mysteriously, his sister does reappear when he's at his lowest, and more mysteriously she states that his work brought her back, despite his earlier proclamation that he failed. Hand in hand, they leave the shack behind. By the time the Warrior of Light arrives, they find an empty shack with books and liqour bottles scattered everywhere. The end.
• Brother–Sister Team: The two of them are inseparable and do their best work together.
• Break the Cutie: Konogg does not have it easy. After the Machines attack the town, he and Anogg get blamed for it all, and he ends up shouldering all the blame after she disappears, forcing him to go into hiding. Then it turns out the Anogg he's been with is not at all a dwarf, and his real sister was apparently dead. He even runs himself ragged trying to find her, only to lose her again at the Tower at Paradigm's Breach. Then when all is said and done, it did nothing to cool off the angry mob after him, leaving him with no choice but to leave town because there is no where else he can go.
• But Now I Must Go: With Anogg gone and all of Komra still against him after the Tower at Paradigm's Breach collapses, Konogg disappears from town, feeling it's the only choice he can take now that he has nobody else to lean on without the Warrior of Darkness.
• But Thou Must!: The two of them love to exploit the fact that your Chronic Hero Syndrome means that the only way to proceed in any storyline they're involved with is to fulfil their requests. The way they practically gloat about it, it borders right between either being a Batman Gambit or Leaning on the Fourth Wall.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Anogg is dressed all in white, while Konogg dresses exclusively in black. This foreshadows some of their later opinions - Anogg is more inclined to work with the white-clad 2P, while Konogg is leery of the prospect of trusting the strange android. Becomes even bigger foreshadowing when it turns out that Anogg has apparently been an android - or at least "artificial but organic" - the entire time we have known her, while Konogg is a true dwarf.
• Dead All Along: As of the 5.4 quest, Anogg has apparently been dead for a while after she pushed Konogg out of the way of a cave in. Shortly after, Konogg found a mysterious white orb, and next to it something that looks exactly like Anogg. Konogg knew, but has apparently been in denial the entire time because the Anogg replica was what kept his drive going.
• Despair Event Horizon: By the epilogue, Konogg crossed full into this trying to find any way at all to bring his sister back to life as well as becoming a bigger alcoholic by dwarven standards, even forsaking his beard.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: The two of them are decidedly unimpressed with the Warrior of Darkness, and largely treat them as a blunt instrument to get what they want. This is frequently lampshaded in the player's dialogue choices during their quests.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Under his helm, Konogg has these. It's a standard trait of Dunesfolk Lalafell, but it helps showcase how he's hit the Despair Event Horizon.
• Expy: They are a fairly blatant counterpart to Devola and Popola; Red-headed twins who unintentionally bring disaster to their people and get unfairly ostracised for it, up to and including the survivor reaching their breaking point from grief.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Downplayed. Anogg generally favors pursuing leads with the gleeful, reckless abandon of a mad scientist, while Konogg prefers a more cautious and thoughtful approach. Despite their differences, however, siding with either of the twins inevitably ends with the same results. In Konogg's memory, however, it was Konogg who was the foolish one, running on ahead to explore with glee, and Anogg who was cautioning him to be more careful and to let her take the lead. Him not listening to her led to her demise, which likely also explains the personality flip in Konogg's case.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Though they share this quality with the dwarves at large, they are exceptionally good with machina. Even the dig site chief, despite his frustration with the two, admits that there are probably no better dwarves to take on the task of investigating the Copied Factory and fixing 2P.
• Heroic BSoD: Anogg almost completely shuts down after 2P is repaired and betrays the group after the attack of the Machine Lifeforms' YoRHa. Konogg himself becomes downright depressed and despondant to the point of a maddened fever when Anogg disappears and the guilt of what happened to their home weights too heavily on him.
• Half-Identical Twins: Though it's hard to tell through their clothes, Anogg is referred to as female while Konogg is referred to as male.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Subverted, Defied and Played for Drama. Anogg and Konogg are obnoxious, arrogant, reckless, they keep poking their noses in incredibly dangerous business and are thoroughly undeserving of the sheer hell they are put through in the YoRHa storyline. The story is not shy in pointing out that they did a stupid mistake and had no way of knowing what was coming but, in typical Yoko Taro fashion, they are punished just as cruelly as they would have been if they knew, leaving the Dig Site Chief aghast at Komra's dwarves for what they are willing to do to two poor kids.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Anogg blames herself for the attack on Komra by the Machine Lifeforms' duplicate of YoRHa after 2P's manipulation, believing her impulsive nature to have finally cost her.
• The Scapegoat: After the attack on Komra by the androids and 2P, the entire town blames the event on the twins, causing them to completely shutdown and admit it was their fault for going too far. Konogg takes it doubly hard due to Anogg going missing and another dwarf blaming him for his wife's near fatal injuries that she may never recover from.
• Token Heroic Orc: Whatever Anogg is after having been "brought back" by a Seed of Destruction, she's probably the only good-willed entity to ever come from one without needing special means or external aid like Dragon's blood, like in Drakengard 2. If she's instead a Machine Lifeform, she's also a good enough one that 2B and 9S don't even attempt to personally kill her.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Their apparent specialty. In the quest to open the Copied Factory, the two use dozens of bombs to open two doors and fend off a few hostile Machines.

Dig Site Chief

Dig Site Chief

Race: Dwarf

• Bring News Back: After finishing the Tower at Paradigm's Breach, he gives letters from Konogg who's gone out to look for his sister after clearing the weekly quest to help rebuild Komra.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": His name hasn't been revealed yet, only called Dig Site Chief in all appearances.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: Lali-(insert whatever the situation calls for)-ho.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's been this for the YoRHa story, especially after the White Android attack and everyone is calling for Anogg and Konogg's blood.
• Shaming the Mob: Even after the Warrior of Darkness has finished clearing out the Tower at Paradigm's Breach and said every last android is gone, the other Dwarves still want to blame and punish someone for it with their lives. He calls out the mob by saying nobody could have predicted an invasion from another dimension.

Ahm Araeng

In General

"When I journeyed here, long ago, I spoke with a sun-weathered elder. He told me Ahm Araeng meant "majestic land" in the language of his people."

A desert region in the south of Norvrandt, Ahm Areang once served as the fringes of the kingdom of Nabaath Areng, before much of the kingdom was consumed by the Flood of Light. Now a mostly barren desert, Ahm Araeng plays host to the remaining citizens of Nabaath, as well as other denizens, like the mercantile and generous Mord.

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• Alternate Universe: Due to being a desert region, Ahm Areang is basically Norvrandt's version of Thanalan. Furthermore, with the Mord being merchants and masters of one of the few cities and centers of trade, they fill the same role as the Dunesfolk Lalafell. Meanwhile, having lost their kingdom (albeit to the Flood of Light rather than war), the Nabaath serve as the counterparts to the people of Ala Mhigho.

Mord Souq

Mord Souq

One of the few remaining and active centers of Ahm Araeng, Mord Souq is the home of the Mord, the Norvrandt counterparts to Eorzea's Kobolds, as well as anyone seeking refuge or to do trade there. They have a local tradition called the "cracking of the coinpurse", in which a new arrival gains admittance in the city by spending money at one of the local merchants', and have a saying, "there is no such thing as a thing no one needs."

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• Alliterative Name: Most Mord are named this way; ex. "Ghun Gun".
• Composite Character: The Mord physically resemble and share the mining talent of the Kobolds, have a place in society roughly equivalent to the Dunesfolk Lalafell, have the overall character of the more mercantile Qiqirn and similar to the Goblins, colonized a former Spoken settlement.
• Entertainingly Wrong: After Jamial pulls a Stealth Hi/Bye on Ghun Gun, the Mord comes to the conclusion that the local historian Jamial is the ghost of the lask malik of Nabaath Areng. Jamial soon shows up hale and healthy at Mord Souq, as he's the previous Jamial's grandson.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: "Souq" is Mordish for "city", so Mord Souq is literally "Mord City".
• Foreign Queasine: Among the many "delicacies" on offer from the Mord are cactus-filled bread, super-spicy lizard meat, frog skewers, and honey-dipped worms. They're apparently popular with the locals, but the Warrior winds up eating so many of them on the Exarch's tab that they feel sick afterward.
• For Want Of A Nail: Presumably due to not being driven to desperation by the Lominsans, the Mord are incredibly friendly and generous in the sharing of their treasures (albeit with some unsavory characters among them). In fact, the same tragedy befalling everyone else in Norvrandt has only served to give them more opportunities for prosperity due to their unique position in the region.
• Nightmare Face: Averted. Unlike the Kobolds of Eorzea, the Mord keep their faces exposed, showing their beady red eyes and mouths full of rounded teeth.
• One Man's Trash Is Another's Treasure: The Mord believe that everything is useful to someone, hence their motto of "there's no such thing as a thing no one needs".
• Proud Merchant Race: The Mord pride themselves on being fair and honest merchants, though there are a few bad eggs among them.
• Workaholic: Ghen Gen's son Ghun Gun is a hardworker who rarely knows when to stop working. One questline has Ghen Gen ask the Warrior to order Ghun Gun to stop, lest he work himself to death first. Even then, Ghun Gun refuses to go home without bringing home a shiny first.

Tesleen

Tesleen Stoneplowe

Voiced by: Asumi Yoneyama (JP), Rosie Jones (EN), Emma Darmon (FR), Tanja Schmitz (DE)

Race: Hume

"It's never easy, ending a life you've cared for. Even when you believe they go on to a better place."

A kind-hearted caretaker working at the Inn at Journey's Head, a small sanctuary dedicated to caring for exiles whose essence is being corrupted by an abundance of Light as a result of surviving the attack of a powerful sin eater. Known simply as "the afflicted", these survivors are nevertheless doomed to eventually transform into sin eaters themselves.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: Despite her kind demeanor she's no coward and knows how to use a blade, demonstrated when she rushes and slices the wing off of a powerful sin eater threatening Halric. Unfortunately this is not enough to actually kill the monster, and saying that she pays for her bravery with her life would be putting it lightly.
• Body Horror: The Warrior and Alisae gets a front row seat to her transformation into a sin eater, and it is not pretty; her jaw distends to a horrific degree, her eyes go completely blank white, and she both vomits and weeps a substance that more or less has the consistency of wax before it fully covers her body and transforms her into a sin eater egg, from which she hatches as a warped, hollow eyed, dubiously angelic version of her old self complete with her recognizable face plastered onto her monstrous new form.
• Fighting from the Inside: She tries to resist her sin eater transformation and communicate with you and Alisaie. Tesleen gets as far as "Forgive me, Alisaie..." before losing herself to the transformation. During the boss battle with her in Holminster Switch, Tesleen shows none of her previous traits; she's just another sin eater now, with no helping her beyond a Mercy Kill.
• Mercy Kill: It's mentioned she usually delivers these to the afflicted under her care by feeding them their favorite foods laced with poison before they turn into sin eaters so they do not die in pain. You also give this to her as the second boss of Holminster Switch, putting Tesleen out of her misery before she can turn anyone else into a sin eater.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Tesleen's death and subsequent horrific transformation into a sin eater is what truly establishes how terrifying the sin eaters are.
• Small Role, Big Impact: She's only in the game for a few quests at the beginning of Shadowbringers before she's removed from the story. However, Tesleen's ultimate fate is what sets things up for how bad things are in the First by showing what the sin eaters are capable of.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She's the kindest and sweetest character you can imagine when you first meet her. Even in a hellish world where sin eaters kill anyone they spot and infect survivors, she does her best to maintain a positive outlook and help those who are suffering. Naturally, she dies in the most painful way possible when she was turning into a sin eater.
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about Tesleen without revealing what happens to her, or what her relationship ends up becoming to the sin eaters.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: You only get to see and learn about her for a good thirty minutes or so before she transforms into a sin eater and later on is slain in the upcoming dungeon.

Halric

Halric of the Gold House of Aldermere

Race: Drahn

One of the afflicted, a young Drahn child whose condition has rendered him all but entirely unresponsive.

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• Creepy Child: He never says a word, and reacts to everything around him with a flat, emotionless stare due to the late stages of primordial light afflicting him. Even Tesleen's horrifying transformation into a sin eater right in front of him fails to provoke a reaction.
• Death Seeker: Tesleen implies that he left the camp and headed directly for a Forgiven Hypocrisy/Dissonance to end his pain and just transition fully. Tesleens' final words are implied to get through to him, as he doesn't try it again.
• Tears from a Stone: After the world is saved from the Light, Alisaie tries to heal him with the help of Beq Lugg. Although his soul will take some time to heal, her efforts pay off, as Halric manages to regain some of his sense of self. Overhelmed by emotions, he shed a single tear, calling out for his mother.
  • Meaningful Echo: Of note is is that the words he chooses - "Mother... Mother, I..." - are the exact same that Tesleen uttered in front of him before she turned into a sin eater. So it's also possible that he's lamenting her sacrifice.
• When She Smiles: Of a sort. Once the Light is fully extinguished from the First at the end of the story, he stares into the night sky with a subtle hint of awe on his face.

Magnus

Magnus

Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya (JP), David Menkin (EN), Nicolas Justamon (FR), Mario Klischies (DE)

Race: Ronso
Discipline: Miner/Blacksmith

"I thought to try and drown my sorrows... but somehow... the bottle's never deep enough."

An engineer living in the small laborer community of Twine in the Hills of Amber of western Ahm Araeng, and the only person with full knowledge of the workings of the trolley the party needs to access the ruins of Nabaath Areng where the onslaught of Light was originally halted a century ago. However, the tragedies that befell his family have left him a broken man, and he now spends his days in drunken apathy.

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• Drowning Their Sorrows: Spends most of his time drinking and depressed either at the local tavern or at his family's grave.
• Outliving One's Offspring: When his child died, his wife was all he had left. And then she died in a mining accident, which completely broke him.

Gaia

Voiced by: Yuna Kamakura (JP), Anna Rust (EN), Youna Noiret (FR), Melinda Rachdal (DE)

Race: Hume
Epithet: Oracle of Darkness

A mysterious girl clad in dark armor seemingly sent from the void that attacked Eden in the embrace of a voidsent. Though Gaia remembers being a free citizen of Eulmore, her memories are fragmented and hazy. At the guidance of a "faerie" who's been with her since childhood, Gaia invites herself to the efforts with Eden in the hopes of regaining her lost memory.

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• All There in the Manual: Her name and appearance under her armor was revealed at a Fanfest long before being unmasked and introduced formally in-game.
• Battle Theme Music: She shares Force Your Way from Final Fantasy VIII when in her Voidwalker form. As the Oracle of Darkness in Eden's Promise Savage, she does her inspiration justice by using a remix of The Extreme, Ultimecia's boss theme from FF8.
• Beast with a Human Face: Her dragon has an entire human face above its actual mouth.
• BFS: As the Voidwalker, she uses a Dark Knight's greatsword, and appropriately dark magic to go with it.
• Bait-and-Switch: Despite all the Foreshadowing and implications, she's not XIV's incarnation of Ultimecia. Though she IS heavily-inspired by the character, Gaia is her own person.
• Boss Subtitles: As the Voidwalker, she has the grandiose subtitle of "Antithesis Manifest". Her "Faerie" holds the subtitle "Antithesis Conscient."
• Big Damn Heroes: When Ryne suffers from Power Incontinence and transforms into Eden Shiva, she teleports in before summoning a mallet to free the Warriors from their ice prisons, and then keeps Eden Shiva at bay with her powers of darkness so that the Warriors can finish the job.
• Canon Character All Along: Played with. Despite being introduced in optional content, players that complete the Eden series of raids will later see Gaia appear in a story cutscene during the post-Endwalker storyline.
• Casting a Shadow: She wields dark magic from the void. This is first shown after Ryne and the Warrior of Light chase after her. Gaia uses a shadow ball on a giant crab, which causes a clock to start ticking. A few moments later, the beast explodes from within, erupted by an enormous shadow orb.
• Combat Stilettos: She wears platform shoes with stiletto heels, and has no trouble jumping around in them while swinging a large hammer around. Thancred lampshades the impracticality:
  Gaia: If you insist on standing around talking, might I suggest finding a place to sit down first? My feet are killing me.
  Thancred: Then perhaps you should've chosen more sensible footwear.
• Delayed Explosion: Her "Spell in Waiting" mechanic will set a timer on the targets, setting up the spell to finish casting after the clock runs out. It's later revealed this effect is actually a byproduct of a lack of control over her own powers.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She's introduced as being quite rude and haughty while also being annoyed at Ryne's attempt to befriend her. Over time, Gaia does warm up to Ryne and the two eventually become friends.
• Draconic Abomination: As the Voidwalker raid boss, she is carried by a vaguely dragon-like voidsent that aids her in battle as both a pair of wings and an extra hand at magic.
• Expy: What she is revealed to be to Ultimecia, rather than Canon Character All Along. Although Gaia has a great deal in common with Ultimecia - visual design, power set, some personality traits, and backstory beats - Gaia is ultimately a distinct character all her own, though she does wear her influence on her sleeve. Made most explicit in Eden Savage, where she acts as the True Final Boss with a moveset explicitly-reminiscent of Ultimecia, and uses a remix of her boss theme "The Extreme" to boot.
• Evil Counterpart: Urianger theorizes that she is the Oracle of Darkness, counterpart to Ryne as the Oracle of Light; none of the characters are sure on Gaia's morals, but Ryne firmly states that while Gaia is associated with Darkness, she still is her own person. The Eden's Promise raid reveals that Gaia is an Asican, but is still a good person and is willing to go against Mitron, a fellow Ascian.
• Foil:
  • To Ryne. While Ryne wears white and is The Ingenue whose fate and place on The First was effectively written in stone who slowly learns to put her foot down and control her own destiny, the black-wearing Gaia is a bit of a haughty brat who has effectively no idea why she's around, and scarcely anybody in Eulmore seems to know who she is. Further, she's much more pro-active about figuring out her place in things.
  • Like Ryne, she is also the reincarnation of an elevated servant of an Elder Primal, and struggles as a result of interference from a protector figure who treats her as nothing more than a Replacement Goldfish for her previous incarnation.
• Girl with Psycho Weapon: She lampshades that a hammer is far from a characteristic weapon for a noblewoman such as herself to wield, Ryne points out that at least it matches her dress.
• Hearing Voices: All her life, she's heard the voice of a "faerie" which tells her how to use her power, and is the only reason she even remembers her own name. This "faerie" turns out to be the will of Eden itself, or more accurately, the Ascian Mitron who is sealed within Eden, calling out to his partner Loghrif.
• HP to One: As the Oracle of Darkness, her Hell's Judgment attack drops the entire party to 1 hit point.
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: Gaia's weapon of choice when she's not casting magic. She puts it to good use breaking out the Warrior of Darkness and their allies from their ice prisons, then attempts to break Ryne free from hers. When Gaia was revealed in pre-release material, much ado was made by game staff about how a hammer isn't a weapon used by any player Class/Job (barring crafters), although the Marauder/Warrior does have a dwarven war hammer for their Lv 78 weapon. When her outfit was added to the Online Store, there were also several hammers added based on her weapon so that multiple disciplines^note Gladiator/Paladin, Marauder/Warrior, Dark Knight, Lancer/Dragoon, Reaper, Conjurer/White Mage, and Thaumaturge/Black Mage could complete the look.
• I Choose to Stay: After learning her true identity of being an Ascian, Gaia could have easily went with Mitron and joined him in his planned paradise. Gaia instead chooses to stay with Ryne and make a new future for herself.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's haughty and blunt to the point of rudeness, but Ryne is able to coax her into being more friendly and open to her and the Warrior of Darkness through their interactions. As a result, she is still rather blunt, but more approachable. It's to the point that the gold part truly shines at the end, where she decides to keep a diary in the hopes that when Mitron returns she or her future reincarnation will remember him and they can be friends once again.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: After waking from the battle on Eden's Gate: Descent, she barely remembers a thing about it. Ryne theorizes someone else took hold of her via possession. Throughout Eden's Promise, Mitron continuously inflicts this upon her in order to kill the influence of her current incarnation and elevate her Ascian identity.
• Mythology Gag: She has many to Final Fantasy VIII.
  • She calls the mysterious voice that gives her power a "faerie", this is what Laguna called Squall's presence junctioned to him when he felt Ellone "connect" him to the past.
  • The nature of her powers is very close to how the Sorceress power is said to work. She is also the successor to a powerful natural-born mage — an Ascian — and suffers Grand Theft Me just as Ultimecia did to many Sorceresses.
  • She quotes Ultimecia's final speech, stating "Time will not wait for her." As an Ascian, she and Mitron wish to create a world "where time has no meaning, where there is no beginning and no end".
  • She is given an inner monologue the same way Squall is, down to the dialogue box.
  • Her Laser-Guided Amnesia calls to mind the drawback of junctioning a Guardian Force.
  • In her Oracle of Darkness fight in Eden's Promise: Eternity Savage, her Leitmotif is The Extreme, the final boss theme for Ultimecia. Her Spell-In-Waiting attacks also return, and she gains a barrage of new spells, most notably Hell's Jugement and Apocalypse; the final form of Ultimecia's strongest attacks.
• Reincarnation: She is the reincarnation of Loghrif from the Convocation of Fourteen, just like the Warrior of Light/Darkness is the reincarnation of Azem. She and Mitron had a strong bond which they hoped to persist past the sundering, however Mitron remained trapped in Eden while Loghrif was reborn physically with his intervention. 'Gaia' was her true name as an Ascian, as whispered to her by Mitron, rather than her birth name given by her Eulmoran parents.
• The Ojou: She is a free citizen from Eulmore, and has the prissy attitude to match.
• True Final Boss: In the Savage version of Eden's Promise, she takes her place once more as the Oracle of Darkness to cap off the Eden raid series.
• Suddenly Voiced: She gains a voice actress in Patch 5.2, though only for certain scenes.
• Ship Tease: She has a lot with Ryne. As a homage to the ending of Final Fantasy VIII she and Ryne take the place of a famously romantic scene between Squall and Rinoa. After delivering the progress report on the Empty following Mitron's defeat, Ryne invites the Warrior of Light and one of the scholars in Mord Souq to join them in a ride in the Skyslipper... only for Gaia to rescind the offer, wanting just herself and Ryne to spend time together alone.
• Summon Magic: Some of her attacks like Doomvoid Cleaver and Doomvoid Guillotine will summon Nyx voidsent which will damage and debuff the players when touched, and Empty Hate will summon a portal from which a Hand of Erebos can attack and knock you off the stage if your not careful.
• Sword Beam: Her "Doomvoid" attacks fire waves of darkness from her sword in various patterns.
• That Man Is Dead: At the end of the Eden raid series, while she accepts both her past existence as Loghrif and her present identity, she rejects her former hume identity from when she was reborn on the First. As far as she's concerned, she's just Gaia. She starts writing a diary in the hopes of keeping her identity, and so that she won't forget Mitron, Ryne, or anyone else.
• Theme Naming: Her name hints toward her true identity. She's an Ascian, who all have Greek names. Specifically, she's the reincarnation of one of the Convocation of Fourteen, who are all named after deities from Greek Mythology.
• Time Master: As the Voidwalker, she can use "Spell in Waiting" to delay the activation of her abilities. Even after she returns to her human form, she can use destructive Delayed Explosion effects and slows down Shiva's Endless Ice-Age long enough for the Warrior of Darkness to defeat her.
• Tsundere: Justified. She's roughly the same age as Ryne and had a similar experience of having to fight at a young age, but unlike Ryne who had friends to interact with, Gaia, even with her amnesia, distinctly remembers feeling alone quite often. As a result, she isn't used to socializing with people and acts very typical for the trope since she doesn't know how else to act.
• The Unreveal: One of the Empty researchers in Mord Souq offers to investigate Gaia's original identity in Eulmore. He finally has the answer after the raid series is over, but Gaia refuses to be informed of her past, leaving her original identity unknown.
• Wrong Context Magic: In a world plagued by everlasting light and angelic sin eaters, the Voidwalker surprises by using exclusively dark-based attacks and tearing open gates to summon Voidsent; the equal and opposite of sin eaters. While Voidsent and dark magic are a common-enough threat on the Source, the overwhelming dominance of Light on the First combined with the greater metaphysical distance from the Void to the First means that no Voidsent are ever seen as enemies prior to the fight with the Voidwalker. This is the first major hint to her true nature.
• You Are Too Late: It is setup this way when Gaia writes a scenario for the research group which explores how things could have gone differently for the finale of Eden's Promise Savage. She imagines a dramatic situation where though the party succeeds in defeating Eden's Promise, they are too late to help Gaia gain her memories back. She instead chooses to fully awaken as Lohgrif just in time to watch Mitron perish, engaging her old friends in battle to avenge him and perishing in the process.

Il Mheg

In General

"Since that time, these lands have become a haven for fae folk. Dreamers frolicking amidst the ruins of a forgotten realm."

Once the prosperous mortal kingdom Voeburt, the land of the north was claimed and reshaped by the different fae Beastmen into their new home Il Mheg after the Flood of Light claimed their forest home and the inhabitants of the territory were taken out by the sin eaters or worse.

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• Age Without Youth: While the fae all have lifespans far exceeding humans, Nu Mou and amaros still feel the effects of old age in time.
• Alternate Universe: To Ishgard, with this one being driven home to the Warrior of Light by Ardbert. Though this is mostly in regards to the ruined civilization that was lost before the Pixies made their home here. There is a comparsion to be made with the Fae taking up stewardship of the land after the King died.
• Conlang: The fae typically speak the common tongue when conversing with mortals, but they have their own langauge consisting of special fae runes that each represent an idea or concept. Some known phrases include:
  • Il Mheg: The Kingdom of Rainbows. The name of the fae's lands after they took over the former kingdom of Voeburt.
  • Snae ling: Jumpingly cute, a strong compliment for the vain pixies.
  • Acht-la Ormh Inn: "Make ready the feast", used metaphorically when all of Il Mheg unites under the new Titania, Feo Ul, as they prepare to drive out the Eulmoran army.
• The Dreaded: The fae as a whole are widely feared among the mortal races of Norvrandt for their capricious nature and the unfortunate fates of many who encounter them. As such, most give Il Mheg a wide berth. Even Eulmore, the nation with the most powerful army in the world, is hesitant to keep chase when the heroes take refuge in Il Mheg. And that wariness is warranted by the events following Feo Ul's crowning. The combined power of a united Il Mheg quickly makes fools of the Eulmoran Army, with only Ran'jit, his adjutant, and a few remaining men getting away unscathed.
• Equivalent Exchange: The one true law among the fae is to adhere to a balance. As such they will always try to repay a debt and make recompense for a slight when mentioned.
  Titania: To take back as much as is taken. To create as much as is destroyed. To give as much as is received. Such is the way of Il Mheg.
• The Fair Folk: They come in many different races with their own unique alien perspective, from the child-like Pixies, the amphibian Fuath, the dog-like Nu Mou, the flying whale Bismarck, etc., all of whom are immortal or extremely long-lived in the Amaro's case, and are united under their king, Titania.
• It Amused Me: One thing common to all the fae is that they hate being bored and will always try to find something to do. Because of this, one of the easiest ways to get on their good side is to go along with their games (while taking care not to become a bushman or step too close to the water). The Nu Mous' find pleasure in receiving patronage from others for services, whereas the Amaro just seek company with each other (but they enjoy being pet all the same).
• Land of Faerie: Ruled over by faerie royalty and populated with the fae? You bet. It isn't its own world though, merely an area of The First populated by various kinds of magical beings.
• Meaningful Name: The name Il Mheg translates to "Kingdom of Rainbows", for if you saw it from high above, you'd see a land bathed in vibrant colors. After the Lightwarden is slain and the sky restored, numerous places around Il Mheg have rainbows stretching across them.

The Pixies

A beastman race introduced in Shadowbringers. Diminutive fae with powerful magic who reside in the region of Il Mheg... which is located not on Hydaelyn, but Norvrandt, the First Shard of Hydaelyn which was created twelve thousand years ago.

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• Blue-and-Orange Morality: The pixies are rarely malicious about their "games", but their need to find amusement means that they'll casually cross lines that non-fae would find abhorrent. Their Lack of Empathy means that they don't understand when others don't want to play with them, nor do they care when mortals suffer because of them. They will never do something just because it's "good" or "bad", but they take repaying debts seriously and they stringently abide by the law of the fae.
• Enlightened Self-Interest: When a pixie tries to genuinely help someone, odds are good that they're motivated by their own enjoyment.
  • A pixie near the Bookman's Shelves offers a series of quests revolving around helping improve Urianger's abode. Decorating to brighten up the house will, in theory, make it more appealing for Urianger to live there. They also have you try to enchant his favourite books so they fly to his hand at a word, saving him the time of searching for them, and allowing him more time to play with the pixies.
  • One pixie transformed a mortal into a leafman. Said mortal had been attacked by one of the nastier sin eaters - the ones whose touch causes a Painful Transformation into a sin eater. For the mortal, it was a Mercy Kill; for the pixie, it was a way to stop a nasty, boring sin eater from causing everyone trouble.
• The Fair Folk: While normally keen on just playing pranks on mortals that pass through Il Mheg, the pixies can be quite vicious when they want to be. They range from wanting to play with strangers to deciding to turn them into shrubs out of spite.
• Forced Transformation: They love transforming hapless mortals into leafmen, immobile shrubbery trimmed in a cartoonish approximation of a person, for their own amusement or to "keep" a mortal they favor forever.
• Green Thumb: They love flowers and plants, and as such even turn mortals they like or ones that anger them into shrubs for fun. Though they have on occasion did so because they were turning into a boring sin eater.
• Immortality Immorality: Zig-zagged with the Pixies. Due to living for possibly eternity, they exist only for the present to subside their own boredom with their lives by engaging in hedonistic and sometimes dangerous fun and are quite capricious, self-centered, and unpredictable in their actions as such. They don't fight for causes nor are they driven to fight for anything. However, they all abide by three sacred honorable rules of Equivalent Exchange and will do whatever they can to repay a debt.
• Lack of Empathy: It's specifically noted in their tribe quests that pixies, by nature, tend to be unempathetic, concerned only with their own whims. As a result, many of their crueler acts don't even stem from active malice as much as them not bothering to consider that maybe the mortal they're 'playing' with doesn't want to become topiary. Even when it comes to fellow pixies, the typical reaction to someone they know dying doesn't go much further than, "Oh, that sucks. Well, moving on..." That said, a handful of pixies, namely Feo Ul and Tyr Beq, are able to show genuine compassion and worry for others, even if they are still primarily motivated by looking for things to have fun with.
• Meaningful Name: Their settlement, Lydha Lran, means "flower house" in their language. It was once a Voeburt settlement that was abandoned when the sin eaters attacked. The pixies cover the existing houses with flowers to better suit their tastes.
• Mythology Gag: They're based on the more traditional depiction of sylphs in the Final Fantasy series, as well as the creatures of the same name from Final Fantasy XI.
• No Biological Sex: All pixies use singular they/them pronouns, and likely don't have a concept of gender at all.
• Reincarnation: Pixies are believed to be the reborn souls of dead children whose love of fun was so strong that it imprinted on them.
• Passed in Their Sleep: Pixies can "die" this way, believed to return to Glorianda when they do. They don't know for certain when their time will come either, as they could fall into a deep sleep and fade away into a dream that never ends.
• Poirot Speak: They occasionally lapse into their own tongue for certain words and phrases, though it's less frequent than most examples of the trope, and the Warrior of Light has no trouble understanding them regardless thanks to The Echo.
• Super Gullible: Urianger has since learned to trick the pixies into doing what he wants by pretending it would be a horrible experience for him if they did, goading them to "prank" him by doing errands for him. This results in them doing things like "Boiling water with withered leaves to make a foul liquid Urianger absolutely loathes", as in making tea. He even goes so far as pretending to gag as he consumes it to complete the ruse.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They seem to be a far more dangerous stand in for the sylphs who are conspicuously missing in the First.

The Fuath

A beastman race introduced in Shadowbringers. Frog-like fae who live in the waters around Il Mheg.

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• Anthropomorphic Personification: Of death by drowning. It's why they're the cruellest and most dangerous of the fae - they aren't the only ones created from the souls of the dead, but they're the only ones specifically associated with a specific kind of death, giving them a compulsion to grow their ranks by bringing it about.
• Beware the Silly Ones: They're treacherous killers with incredibly powerful water and illusion magic... who look like tiny frogs in fancy pseudo-Victorian outfits.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Like the pixies, their lack of mortal perspective can make them dangerous even when they don't mean to be. After they pass their challenge in Dohn Mheg, the Fuath decide they like the Warrior of Light so much that they attempt to keep them around by drowning them so that they too become a Fuath.
• The Dreaded: The first rule of dealing with the Fuath is do not deal with the Fuath. They are dreaded even among the fae. While the pixies may harm mortals on a whim, the Fuath are casually murderous and actively try to turn mortals they like into more Fuath by drowning them.
• The Fair Folk: The Fuath are the most malicious of the fae. Their brand of "fun" comes near exclusively at the expense of mortals' and even other fae folk's lives.
• Frog Men: They're short, anthropomorphic frog people.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The last thing many mortals see upon treading too close to the water is the gleam of the Fuaths' eyes as they drag their victims into the deep.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: They wear shirts, vests, and in the case of their chieftain a hat, but no pants.
• Making a Splash: Water-elemental frog-like beings. Most of their magic involves drowning people, as they are born from the souls of people who died of drowning. They can also appear from practically any body of water in Il Mheg, even in pools as shallow as a puddle, and drag their hapless victims into it as though it were a bottomless pit. The leader of the Fuath, Aenc Thon, will pummel the party by conjuring geysers to toss them into the air repeatedly.
• Master of Illusion: The Fuath have an unrivaled command over glamours. The entire dungeon of Dohn Mheg is an elaborate illusion of their weaving.
• Moving the Goalposts: While they will hold up their end of a bargain - when given no loopholes - they're also not above tacking on extras at the last minute, with malicious intent. They also do this literally, with an illusion of the relic the Warrior of Light came to claim.
• Reincarnation: Like the Pixies, they are believed to be souls of the dead given form. In the case of the Fuath, it's people who died by drowning.
• Token Evil Teammate: They're the most treacherous, sadistic, and murderous of the fae, and nobody in Il Mheg likes or trusts them. The best that can be said of them is that they are still loyal to King Titania, and will defend their homeland if called, but otherwise, they're best avoided.

Aenc Thon

Lord of the Lengthsome Gait

"Give me a crescendo! Give me a fortissimo!"

The chieftain of the Fuath, Aenc Thon confronts the Warrior of Light twice during their excursion to Dohn Mheg.

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• The Battle Didn't Count: They burst into a puddle of water after being defeated the second time, only to reappear no worse for wear a minute later.
• Boss Subtitles: "Lakelord".
• Clipped-Wing Angel: If the battle against then in Dohn Mheg goes on long enough for them to use Changeling's Fantasia twice, the second one will be far less impressive, as they accidentally turn themself into a helpless toad.
• Forced Transformation: They can transform players into harmless imps and toads during their second fight. If they're low on HP when they try to cast Changeling's Fantasia, they'll accidentally transform themself into a toad instead.
• Guest-Star Party Member: They'll fight alongside you during the Il Mheg portion of The Heroes' Gauntlet.
• Hat of Authority: They're the chieftain of the fuath, and their feathered top hat sets them apart from their hatless kin.
• Improbable Weapon User: They attack by whacking people with a candy cane or a violin bow, depending on which form they're in.
• Magic Music: For their second fight, they cast most of their spells by playing a lyre. They even lampshades it at the start of the battle:
  Aenc Thon: Time for a musical interlude!
• Master of Illusion: Their "transformations" are actually glamours, as is the bottomless pit they seemingly create.
• One-Winged Angel: During the second fight, they'll use "Changeling's Fantasia" to temporarily transform themself into a monstrous Shade of Fear. If the fight takes long enough, they'll attempt it a second time... with less than impressive results.
• Recurring Boss: They're fought as both the first and last boss of Dohn Mheg.
• Red Baron: They have a few grandiose titles for themself, such as "Lord of the Lingering Gaze" and "Lord of the Lengthsome Gait".
• Sizeshifter: In the first battle with them they grow to several times their normal size, while in the second they take on a form with humanoid proportions that towers over the party.

The Nu Mou

A beastman race introduced for Shadowbringers. A canine-like race of fae who live in Il Mheg and had close ties with the Kingdom of Voeburt before its inhabitants fled the Flood of Light.

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• Berserk Button: Always abide by Equivalent Exchange when dealing with the Nu Mou. Offer no more and no less than what is requested, otherwise you'll have a very angry, spell-slinging Nu Mou on your hands.
• Beware the Nice Ones: As friendly as they are, the Nu Mou are no slouches in combat and sling a variety of highly dangerous spells. And as shown after Feo Ul's crowning, they take delight in dangling invaders of Il Mheg from deadly heights with levitation magic. The Facet of Forging quests also involve a Nu Mou named Nee Marn, who is more than happy to punish a Loan Shark by cursing him with constant financial misfortune.
• Blow You Away: Ancient Aero is the unfriendly Nu Mou's spell.
• Closer to Earth: Unlike their fae brethren, Nu Mou lived alongside mortals in Il Mheg before the Flood, and as such understand mortal concepts a lot better than their more whimsical fellows.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The way they behave when they meet a group of mortals for the first time in years is eerily reminiscent of a group of recovering alcoholics being gifted a year's supply of beer.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Friendly Nu Mou wear green robes while the hostile ones wear red robes.
• Equivalent Exchange: Even among the fae, they pride themselves on this. They want services done for them in exchange for a reward that is fitting for the task and won't skimp on the reward nor give more than what is needed. Giving more or less payment than requested is seen as a grievous insult that will turn even the gentlest Nu Mou irate. One sidequest has a Nu Mou that is angry at an Amaro that ate his familiar and feels the guilty Amaro should die since a life was taken. It turns out later that the familiar is just some mundane objects given life with magic and the angered Nu Mou was treating it like family.
• Extreme Doormat: The Nu Mou are pushovers whenever confronted by mortals who know how exploit their eagerness to help and dog-like tendencies, specifically through the use of a Trigger Phrase like 'sit' or 'beg'.
• Furry Reminder: They look like dogs and have some dog-like tendencies as well such as being eager to please their masters and getting excited when hearing anything about "rolling over" and "fetching". The Nu Mou are still very intelligent and are always looking to barter.
• Kill It with Fire: The hostile Nu Mou can cast Fire II.
• Mushroom House: The primary Nu Mou settlement in Il Mheg, Pla Enni, consists of houses made of hollowed out, magically grown mushrooms inside a cave.
• Mythology Gag/Canon Immigrant: They're the same Nu Mou race found in the Ivalice Alliance games, with their designs taken from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and its sequel.
• Proud Merchant Race: While they live fairly modestly, the Nu Mou's entire culture is built around providing goods and services for fair payment. They're so obsessed with receiving patronage that they suffer depression and display symptoms of withdrawal when deprived of the opportunity to make a transaction. Equivalent Exchange is also Serious Business for them. Skirting on payment is a Berserk Button for them, while tipping them extra is seen as an enormous insult to their integrity. Those who forsake these principles are cast out and referred to as the "lawless ones".
• Throw the Book at Them: Some hostile Nu Mou will whack you with their books.
• Trigger Phrase: Because the Nu Mou have dog-like traits, they absolutely can't resist doing what someone wants them to do if they hear words like "fetch", "roll over", and "heel". They balk when Urianger uses these "words of power" to expedite their deliberations on whether or not to entrust the relic sealing away Titania to the heroes.

The Amaro

A race of winged steed used as mounts across Norvrandt. Amongst their number some have awakened the dormant magic that gives them sentience, and some of this sentient flock now live alongside the fae in their kingdom.

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• Aura Vision: One of the abilities they were bestowed with their intelligence was the ability to sense souls, though it remains mostly dormant, some can still detect abstract things about a person's soul without knowing what it means.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Friendly Amaro are colored blue/green. The wild cama from which they are descended are colored red.
• Furry Reminder: While the ones that have sentience are intelligent, they can't help but wiggle and chrr in delight when they are petted.
• The Mourning After: The amaros of Il Mheg have all lost their masters and places of being before or after the Flood. They fled to the faerie kingdom to mourn their loss and find comfort in each others' company.
• Nice Guy: Due to being bred to serve men, the amaros of Il Mheg are friendly and compassionate to any mortals who happen to visit and pet them. They're reluctant to offer up the crystal shoes to unseal Titania not out of a desire for a sadistic game like the Pixies or the Fuath but out of heartfelt concern for the heroes given Titania's power. It takes a long conversation and the Warrior slaughtering a group of sin eaters with ease for Seto to be convinced that entrusting Titania's defeat to them is a good idea.
• Praetorian Guard: Titania is always accompanied by a number of Amaro that serve as their guard when going to battle.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They share quite a number of elements with the Ixal. Both are bird-like Uplifted Animal races brought into being by an ancient empire that no longer exists in the current day, were uplifted for the purpose of convenience (the Iksalion were made to be Dumb Muscle soldiers, while Amaro are mounts and beasts of burden), and eventually gained human-level intelligence. Due to the circumstances of their existence, Ixal do not exist on the First, and Amaro do not exist on the Source.
• Uplifted Animal: Their ancestors were intentionally made sentient by ancient mages. Though the magic has become dormant for many and left many Amaro as mere animals, every so often some are born with their sentience intact.
• We Are as Mayflies: They live far longer than mortals do, and some of the sentient ones have had countless riders across the ages as a result.

Seto

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Kanuka (JP), Brian Protheroe (EN), Michel Raimbault (FR), Lutz-Michael Ranz (DE)

The elderly leader of the amaro in Il Mheg. He lost his previous master a short while before the Flood of Light a hundred years ago, retreating to the kingdom of faeries to find comfort and solace.

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• Action Pet: According to Seto, his master was a traveler and a fighter not unlike the Warrior. He'd fight alongside them as they traveled to the ends of the earth together.
• Affectionate Nickname: His former master used to fondly call him "[his] partner in crime".
• Cool Old Guy: Er, lizard bird. Even among the amaro, Seto is nothing but kind and friendly to the heroes. He also acts as a guardian of the other amaros, fending off sin eater attacks when he's not resting in his nest.
• Heal the Cutie: When he was young, he was starved and beaten by one of his former masters. The experience scarred him so badly that he full expected his new master to use him as living bait for a monster and abandon him at the earliest opportunity. To his shock, his new master cares deeply about him as his "partner-in-crime" and shows him nothing but affection, restoring Seto's faith in humanity.
• Horse of a Different Color: As an amaro, he served as a beast of burden who could both pull carriages and fly his masters where they needed to go.
• Large and in Charge: He's far larger than any of the other amaro in Wolekdorf and acts as their leader in important matters.
• The Mourning After: Seto is particularly heartbroken over losing his master, asking the Warrior to retrieve a medallion that was given to him by his former owner from the bottom of Handmirror Lake. Seto then thanks the Warrior and wishes his owner knew just how much he cared for him. Unbeknownst to Seto, Ardbert hears the entire conversation and is struggling not to cry before disappearing once again.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: One of his biggest regrets is not developing full sapience sooner so he could tell his master how much he cared and how he always appreciated their time together. At the end of the Shadowbringers post-story, he finally gets to pour out all his feelings when the Warrior acts as a proxy for Ardbert to communicate with him.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He does not force the heroes to do chores like the pixies, attack them like the Fuath, or insist on making transactions like the Nu Mou. His reluctance to hand over the relic sealing Titania inside Lyhe Mheg is solely out of concern for the heroes given his knowledge of Titania's frightening power. But he soon entrusts the relic to the Warrior after he sees them effortlessly dispatch a large group of sin eaters, confirming that they are strong enough to take on Titania and live to tell of it.
• Restored My Faith in Humanity:
  • Seto was terrified of humans when he was younger because of his horribly abusive former master, Lamunth, who whipped and starved Seto into submission. It's not until he's rescued by the person who would become his new master that his faith would be gradually restored.
  • In the present, Seto retreated to Il Mheg because he couldn't bear to hear all the people who slandered and disparaged his late master's name. But meeting the Warrior reminds Seto of the good times he shared with his former master and he entrusts the glass slippers to the Warrior to finally end the faerie king's torment.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: His former master taught Seto to make calls to lure out whatever monster or animal they were hunting. A feeble cry for the ravenous and a mighty roar for the territorial.

Bismarck

Voiced by: Toshitugu Takashina (JP), Brian Protheroe (EN), Marc Bretonnière (FR), Thomas Dehler (DE)

"This world is in twilight. I wait for the sun to set. I wish only to sleep."

An ancient fae residing within the waters of the First.

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• Dark Is Not Evil: Contrasting his Primal counterpart, Fae Bismarck is a black whale and longs for the darkness. Though out of a desire to slumber.
• Flying Seafood Special: Like its Primal counterpart on the Source, the fae Bismarck is able to fly.
• Gentle Giant: An island-sized whale with the personality of a polite, friendly old man.
• The Insomniac: He has been unable to sleep for over a hundred years since the world has been perpetually under "Twilight" since the Flood of Light.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Excluding being whales, the Primal and Fae Bismarck have little similarity between each other. Fae Bismarck has an island of flora upon his back, is black with glowing markings, and normal fins, while the Primal is angelic, white with feathery wings, and no island upon it. It is never explained how two similar-yet-different god-like whale creatures with the same name came about on the two worlds.
• Turtle Island: Or rather, Whale Island. Bismarck's back is covered in trees and rock formations, making it resemble an island while at rest.

Anden

^{Click here to see his true appearance.}

A shepherd of the former kingdom of Voeburt. His love for his flock of sheep was so profound that he stayed to fight and defend them from the oncoming sin eaters as the Flood washed over Norvandt. In an act of kindness and amusement, the pixies turned him into a leafman before he could be corrupted into another sin eater. A century later, a new bundle of leaves retaining his consciousness and personality suddenly manifests from the roots of his leafman. Confused and shaken, he hopes to regain his original form.

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• Artificial Human: The present Anden is technically not the original Anden, as his body is still a leafman. The bundle of leaves with his consciousness, memories, and personality is an offshoot of his leafman body, making him a clone of sorts (though one that is, for all intents and purposes, the one and only Anden). Eo Tyr creates a new leafman in the shape of Anden's leaf bundle form that they christen "Anden III". Unlike "Anden II", Anden III is unable to speak but clearly possesses some kind of consciousness.
• Ascended Extra: Only mentioned in a throwaway line about the Woolen Way and the remains of his cabin, Anden becomes a Custom Deliveries giver as he tries to reclaim his memories and original form.
• Chick Magnet: Anden is a rare male Viis. As such, his sister Tellina points out that if any female Viis were to find him, he'd be a prize catch largely because there are so few male Viis to go around after the Flood of Light.
• Cuteness Proximity: He's constantly cooing over his sheep, whose descendants populate the now flowery fields of Il Mheg.
• Doomed Hometown: Anden was a member of a Viis settlement even deeper in the Rak'tika Greatwood than Fanow. Said settlement was completely consumed by the Flood of Light, with the only survivors being those who fled and fought off the oncoming sin eaters. His sister, Tellina, is among the survivors and breaks the news to him when he returns to the Greatwood.
• Emergency Transformation: Eo Tyr is the pixie who transformed him into a leafman when he was on the verge of becoming a sin eater, preventing him from suffering a Fate Worse than Death and making it possible for him to be revived in the present. They did this out of love and affection for Anden rather than whimsy, as he'd left milk and treats for them before the Flood of Light.
• Endearingly Dorky: It's easy to make Anden feel flustered and embarrassed, which is why the pixies love teasing him so much while he tries to recover his memories. At the same time, the pixies make it very clear that his kind, dorky personality is part of the reason why they favor him so much. Eo Tyr in particular has Undying Loyalty to Anden for all the milk and treats he left for them before the Flood. This is why they turned him into a leafman to protect him from transforming into a sin eater. Feo Ul admits that the pixies like being around Anden so much that they'd keep him here forever if it weren't for Feo Ul's royal decree as king. Luckily for the pixies, Anden chooses to remain in Il Mheg even after remembering who he was.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: The last time he was conscious was during the abandoning of Voeburt in the wake of the Flood of Light. He's understandably confused to find that Voeburt is now Il Mheg and that the chilly climes he was used to have become warm, flowery fields. He was also an acquaintance of Ardbert's party, having housed them for a winter and broken bread with them. Him remembering this is what lets Anden recall who and what he was, as Ardbert was shocked to meet one of the few male Viis.
• The Fog of Ages: While his personality seems largely intact, Anden is confused and bewildered by the loss of his memories caused by a century of existing as a dormant leafman. He can't remember what he originally looked like even though he needs to remember to get back to normal. His Custom Deliveries questline involves bringing him items that can jog his memory so he can hopefully get his life back.
• I Choose to Stay: After recovering his original identity as Gilltet, a Viis from the Rak'tika Greatwood, he has the option of returning to the Greatwood to live with his sister and the other survivors of the Flood of Light. But he instead chooses to stay in Il Mheg because he feels freer among the fae and out of gratitude toward Eo Tyr.
• Meaningful Rename: Prior to leaving the Rak'tika Greatwood, Anden was known as "Gilltet". Changing his name to that of a Voeburtite indicated his leaving the wood behind for good because of his love for his flock.
• Skewed Priorities: His sister Tellina points out that Anden stayed to defend his sheep rather than flee from an inimitable disaster in the Flood of Light that killed almost everyone in the world.
• Tastes Like Friendship: Anden's friendship with Eo Tyr began a century ago when he made a habit of leaving milk and sweets for the pixies when few Voeburtites believed in their existence at the time. Eo Tyr was the beneficiary of Anden's kindness and rushed to his side to transform him into a leafman when he was on the cusp of turning into a sin eater.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Downplayed. Anden realizes that he does have another home to go back to in the Rak'tika Greatwood, as his sister and the survivors of his settlement have moved to Fanow. But after being in Voeburt (now Il Mheg) for so long, he feels much more comfortable around the fae and mutters that he probably can't live comfortably around mortals anymore given how he hates haggling with merchants.

The Rak'tika Greatwood

In General

"No matter how far he goes, man cannot resist looking back on the path he has walked. The untold stories and secrets of the past can be more alluring than the promise of tomorrow. And so he braves the forests of Rak'tika in search of mystery and wonder... Of Ronka, to which all seekers of hidden truths are inevitably drawn."

The Greatwood that those who worship the dark and seeking the secrets of the past hidden within the ruins of the ancient Ronka empire.

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• Alternate Universe: To the Black Shroud and Gridania. Once there was a great civilization in the region, mirroring Amdapor in the Source. A lot of the secrecy and hiding and shadows that the Night's Blessed and the Children of the Dark do can be compared to the Gelmorrans, with the Viis settlement mirroring Gridania's desire to protect and defend the region, albeit with different focuses.
• Casting a Shadow: Dark magic is used for religious purposes by the Night's Blessed, such as adding a mix of it with the water before people drink it. Enough that ones overflowing with light like the WoL and Minfilia have an unexpected reaction to it due to their light.
• Dark Is Evil: The Children of the Everlasting Dark in comparison to the Night's Blessed. The Children are zealous murderers who kill with powerful poisons in the name of their worship.
• Dark Is Not Evil: As opposed to the Children, the Night's Blessed are probably some of the friendliest and most altruistic people in The First, and are led by Y'shtola and Runar, who both are paragons.
• The Fundamentalist: The members of the Children of the Everlasting Dark, an opposing sect of Dark worshipers to the Night's Blessed. They have a more Holier Than Thou attitude in regards of worship to Darkness and even failed to see the irony of siding with decadent light worshippers like Eulmore. Until night returns by the Warrior of Darkness, humbling them to the point they choose to retreat to their homes after seeing they were wrong.
• Good Counterpart: Ronka seems to be one for Allag as vast, high-tech ancient empires that have been defunct for millennia. While precisely how benevolent they were is up to debate, they certainly weren't as horrifically abusive as the Allagans.
• Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: The ancient Ronka made sure to pass down knowledge lost even to the rest of history, whether it be the Source or those who reside in the First. The Viis making sure to safeguard such knowledge even after the empire's fall or the Flood. Even preserving the historical drawings that predate the very empire of how Zodiark and Hydaelyn came to be.
• Mayincatec: The ancient Ronkans seem to have been a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Pre-Columbian Mesoamericans. The Rak'tika Greatwood is littered with locations and enemies named after Nahuatl terms like Tomatl, or names roughly based on the language, such as Lozatl. The Ronkans themselves they are unequivocally based on Mayan culture—they built step pyramids, their sacred animals include snakes, jaguars, monkeys, and birds, their terminology and the various points of interest across the eastern Greatwood are derived from Mayan language, and both the depths of the Greatwood and the Quitana Ravel that surround their structures are highly reminiscent of the Lacandon Jungle.
• Mythology Gag: The Ronka Empire shares its name with an ancient civilization in Final Fantasy V that’s similarly found in ruins.
• The Sacred Darkness: The Night's Blessed were a secretive religion born in the shadow of the Church of Light in the very heart of Lakeland itself, where the Church ruled. The worshippers of the dark would head deep into the great forest after the Flood, hiding themselves within the shade of the trees from the light to continue seeking salvation in the dark.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Batsquatch encountered in the Qitana Ravel is set up to be like this, as it makes its appearance imprisoned within an elaborate force field in the caves deep below the main part of the ruins, breaking free just as the Warrior of Light reaches it. Ultimately Subverted in that the description of its Triple Triad reveals that it's merely a wild animal that wandered into the Ravel and ended up being stuck in a trap laid by the Ronkans to ward off looters.
• Undying Loyalty: The Viis continue to protect the secrets of the fallen Ronka Empire three thousand years after the empires fall, all done in honor of the emperor their ancestors served.

Runar

Voiced by: Itaru Yamamoto (JP), Joe Tandberg (EN), Emmanuel Gradi (FR), Tino Kießling (DE)

Race: Ronso

"Until we return to the sunless sea, we shall endeavor to live our lives to the fullest."

A kindly Ronso who leads the Night's Blessed of Slitherbough.

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• Allegorical Character: As the sole Night's Blessed character in the main story quests, Runar both represents and speaks for his people as a whole.
• Bridal Carry: He does this to Y'shtola after Emet-selch saves her from the lifestream leading to a tender moment from the two of them.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He is a worshiper of darkness and the night, but in a world threatened by Primordial light this is hardly a worrisome religious view.
• High Priest: Although his actual position is not revealed he seems to be the religious leader of the Night's Blessed, and leads them in funerary ceremonies and governing, although he defers to the more powerful Y'shtola while she deigns to live among them.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Y'shtola is unquestionably the one in charge of the Night's Blessed and Runar is equally obviously the one who actually governs their community.
• Like Brother and Sister: His relationship with Y'shtola according to the 73rd Live Letter.
• Locked Out of the Loop: He's kept in the dark about the true nature of the Scions and how and why they came to the First beyond that they are heroes from far away here to fight the sin eaters. This lead to an awkward moment when he pleads with Y'shtola to stay with the Night's Blessed because he's completely unaware she will die if she stays, leaving her struggling to find a way to let him down gently.
• Manchild: Not usually, he acts perfectly mature and responsible most of the time. But when it comes to Y'shtola and his overtures towards her, he comes off as exceptionally immature. Not in a bad way, mind, he's plenty respectful and polite to her, but he's obviously very inexperienced in romance. After one gesture, he tries to get her to stay on the First by offering her a flower Y'shtola will remark that he's like a child in a man's body.
• Nice Guy: Tense first meeting aside, Runar is friendly and approachable and rarely has an unkind word for anyone. There's even a Running Gag of him trying to treat you to a nice meal before something inevitably intervenes.
• Non-Action Guy: He doesn't bear a weapon unlike most other members of his tribe and he is injured by the Children of the Everlasting Dark without much resistance on his half.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: He becomes distraught when he learns of Y'shtola's departure and begs her to stay with him and the Night's Blessed.
• Running Gag: He has repeatedly attempted to get the Warrior of Light and any other present companions to sit down and try out his famous stew. Unfortunately circumstances keep arising preventing anyone from actually eating it.
• Ship Tease: Runar’s reverence for Y’shtola is nearly indistinguishable from romantic attraction in the English version.
• You Are in Command Now: The head priests of the Night's Blessed were slain by sin eaters two years from when the Warror of Light entered the First. Runar was one of those who had to take up the mantle of leadership in their absense.
• Young and in Charge: He is quite young despite his position of Blessed Leader, being refered to as Priestly Youth before his name is given in Japanese.

The Qitari

A race of rat beastmen. When the Flood of Light threatened the world, the Qitari went into hiding for safety. They start to emerge again after the Warrior of Darkness fully extinguishes the corruptive light from the First. The Quitari have a long history with the ancient Ronkan empire.

• Composite Character: They are basically a near identical copy of the Qiqirn from the Source. Unlike the Qiqirn that focus on shiny trinkets, money, and speaking in somewhat simplified/broken English, the Quitari are scholars that can speak as well as the Spoken races and are looking for a way to find their true history.

The Tempest

Grenoldt Freethane

Race: Hume
Discipline: Blacksmith

"A craftsman what can't craft is more pointless than a sea slug with a domin' hammer. An' that's an insult to the bloody sea slugs..."

A hume who's isolated himself at the bottom of the Tempest just outside the Ondo Cups. Though he's a master craftsman, he lacks the motivation to continue his work.

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• Alternate Self: He's the First's version of Gerolt, which catches the Warrior of Darkness by surprise as well as them saying "I knew this was coming." Having never undergone the circumstances that turned Gerolt into a bitter alcoholic, Grenoldt is much humbler, kinder, and friendlier than his Source counterpart. He sometimes has nightmares of his counterpart's experiences, such as losing all his hair while toiling over kettles or being slathered in Salamanderville.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Grenoldt doesn't like drinking liquor, believing it will dull his craft and make him prone to foolishness. Someone swapping his carrot juice for a single mug of ale is enough to make him drunkenly propose to Mowen before falling fast asleep. After the fact, he declares that he doesn't want any more liquor should the Warrior propose using it as Liquid Courage to help Grenoldt propose to Mowen.
• Cool Teacher: He returns from his years-long hermitage in the Tempest in response to an offer to mentor an aspiring smith at the Crystalline Mean. Grenoldt, who always wanted to be a teacher, packs his tools and heads home. He proves a kind and encouraging teacher invested in Chora-Zoi's growth as an artisan, giving her equal say in the direction of the Splendorous Tools project and encouraging her to implement her ideas while offering his famed work as a reference.
• Everyone Can See It: It's obvious that he and Mowen have a thing for each other, but both of them are too shy to move beyond friendly professionalism.
• Famed In-Story: His weapons and tools are famous across all of Norvandt, with his return to the Crystarium being treated as a celebrity homecoming.
• Happily Married: At the end of the Splendorous Tools questline, Grenoldt finally works up the courage to propose to Mowen, which she joyfully accepts. They then get married on the shores of the Source in Lakeland, dressed in the same attire that Gerolt and Rowena wore on their wedding day after Grenoldt saw them in a dream. While their work may bring them apart, it's clear that they're happy to be wed.
• Heroic BSoD: When the Warrior of Darkness meets him, he's in such an utter creative funk that he feels like giving up on the trade. It's only when you give him a crystal from the Cardinal Virtues you've slain that he comes out of it, allowing him to make a monument worthy of the Ondo.
• Mirror Self: With Gerolt, even more so than Mowen is with Rowena. Both are the greatest smiths in the world who tried to live in isolation at some point in their lives. But while Gerolt is a very foul-mouthed and caustic man, Grenoldt is calm and generally pleasant to be around. While Gerolt is a raging alcoholic, Grenoldt is a teetotaler. While Gerolt is completely bald after all his hair fell out, Grenoldt has long flowing hair. While Gerolt has a rather rough relationship with Rowena (whom he still secretly holds a torch for) after their divorce years in the past, Grenoldt and Mowena are very clearly attracted to each other and get married at the end of the Splendorous Tools questline. Gerolt would prefer to stay in solitude but keeps being dragged into work while Grenoldt chooses to break his isolation to see how he can help the First recover. And finally, while Gerolt helps the Warrior of Light create powerful weapons for combat, Grenoldt spends the majority of his time onscreen helping the Warrior of Light create gathering and crafting tools, tools meant for creation rather than destruction.
• Renaissance Man: Grenoldt is as master of every crafting discipline, forging weapons and armor for you just in time for the final boss of the Shadowbringers main story. He's also shown to be a talented dancer and a fine teacher to other craftsmen.
• The Teetotaler: In stark contrast to Gerolt, Grenoldt declares that no brew has ever passed his lips.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: Just like his Source version, he's the best blacksmith in the world. He's able to forge you a set of gear suitable for taking on Emet-Selch, the most powerful of the Ascians in record time after just getting over a creative funk.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Like Gerolt, Grenoldt doesn't wear anything but a harness on his upper body, leaving him perpetually shirtless.
• Weapons of Their Trade: From his dreams of Gerolt, Grenoldt sees one of Godbert's attacks with a goldsmith's hammer. When an out-of-control dwarven automaton is about to rush at Mowen, Grenoldt jumps at the robot and buries it in the floor with a single strike.

The Benthos

A cult of extremist Ondo lead by Rukshs Dheem who blame the surface dwellers for the Flood of Light. They have taken up attacking Kholusian settlements both in misguided vengeance and to appease their new god.

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• Evil Counterpart: Of the Sahagin of the Source. Both are in a war over territorial disputes, but while the Sahagin have justification for their actions, the Benthos blame all of Norvrandt for the Flood of Light for what is essentially a freak accident. The two groups both worship a primal being as a deity, but whereas Leviathan is a wrathful sea god who does have the Sahagins' best interests at heart, the Benthos worship Archaeotania, a Terminus beast that cares for nothing but absolute destruction and would gladly destroy them along with everything else.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: They're going to wipe out the surface dwellers for reasons! Bonus points for actually worshipping a beast spawned from a previous doomsday.
• Lazy Bum: Other Ondo describe them as "bottom-feeders" who resort to thievery and murder instead of putting in hard work to rebuild what they lost.
• Villain Ball: After years of indiscriminately stealing from and kidnapping both Kholusian fishermen and other Ondo to sacrifice to Archaeotania, the Benthos are genuinely surprised when the Ondo don't want to help them and respond by stealing more of their stuff.
• With Us or Against Us: The Ondo want to stay out of their pointless rage against the surface. The Benthos in turn attack the Ondo as well.

The Warriors of Darkness

In General

Warriors of Darkness

Blaenherz/Branden voiced by: Takaya Nakashima (JP), James Goode (EN), Frederic Souterelle (FR), Heiko Gaurel (DE)

Lamimi/Lamitt voiced by: Runa Onodera (JP), Carina Reeves (EN), Jessica Monceau (FR), Ann Vielhaben (DE)

J'rhoomale/Renda-Rae voiced by: Rina Satoh (JP), Eleanor Matsura (EN), Marie Zidi (FR), Marianne Graffam (DE)

Naillebert/Nyelbert voiced by: Atsushi Taniguchi (JP), Nick Boultan (EN), Lionel Tua (FR), Achim Barrenstein (DE)

"Mark well our faces, Warrior of Light, for we are the Warriors of Darkness. Walkers of a different path. And we shall meet again."

A mysterious group of individuals holding the power of Echo summoned by the Ascian Elidibus and led by the warrior Arbert, a dark counterpart of some nature to the Warrior of Light. The rest of the group consists of the knight Branden, the devout Lamitt, the ranger Renda-Rae, and the magus Nyelbert. Though they are first encountered striking down the primal Ravana much like the Warrior of Light and their companions once did, they soon make it very clear that their goals are far from aligned...

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• The Alcoholic: Branden loves a strong drink. He eventually developed a taste for more expensive liquors and would drink away his party's profits were it not for Lamitt's interference.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Lamitt actually has desires for Arbert, but refuses to act on them to keep from damaging the team.
• Alternate Self: Aside from Ardbert, which is explained in his own entry, it's heavily implied that Nyelbert's soul is shared with Unukalhai from the Thirteenth.
• Alternate Universe: Early on, it's merely implied this is their origin. After witnessing their defeat of Ravana, and battling them themselves, Alphinaud and Y'shtola both comment on how practiced the group seemed; and how unlikely it is that they wouldn't have heard of and recruited such a mighty and skilled team of God-Slayers before. 3.4 is the first reveal of there being fourteen parallel Hydaelyns (the "Source" and thirteen reflections "shards"), and the Warriors of Darkness being from the "First", or the first shard. They started out as random adventurers just like the protagonist before becoming Warriors of Light themselves, but upon destroying all Darkness in their world, it began to be devoured by uncontested Light, destroying everything. As such, they renounced Hydaelyn and became the Warriors of Darkness, desperate to restore the balance to the First to save their home. The promo material for Shadowbringers makes this all explicit. It's later revealed that Sixth Ranger Traitor Cylva in fact hails from another alternate dimension on top of this. While she fought with the others on The First, she came from The Thirteenth, otherwise known as The Void.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: The Warriors of Darkness become playable during certain duties in the Shadowbringers role quests, thanks to the power of the Echo.
• The Atoner: Cylva, as revealed in the role quest obtainable after completing every other role quest.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: Light and Darkness in this case. The Ascians make it sound like too much light will disrupt the world and their cause, as a result, they seek out the Warrior in order to have him bring balance. Turns out they're absolutely right, if the balance between Light and Dark gets too bad then the dominant force will destroy the world, as the Light did to their home.
• Berserk Button: When Lamitt first saved Ardbert's life, he mistook her for a man because of the Dwarven helm and beard. She was so insulted that he thought her a man that she threatened to kill him herself.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Renda-Rae went to hunt Balam-Quitz alone to avenge her fallen partners, it nearly killed her too until Ardbert and the others arrived to save her and finish the job.
• Characterization Marches On: When first introduced in Heavensward they're all rather cruel and wicked, such as Renda-Rae's words toward Alphinaud in Xelphatol as an example. When they return in Shadowbringers the flashbacks and way other characters speak of them show that they actually had much kinder personalities, with the assumed explanation for how they acted in Heavensward being that they had to harden themselves in order to perform their grim task of causing a Calamity in the Source.
• Culture Clash: There's some implication, both in Encyclopedia Eorzea 1 and in some game cutscenes, that part of their evident sourness (aside from all the other stuff) is that they're experiencing some culture shock compared to where they're from. Lamitt would almost certainly be getting the worst of it, since the Lalafells of the Source live nothing like the Dwarves of the First; among many other things, Lamitt has to forego her traditional helmet entirely in order to even blend in.
  • In addition, each of the Warriors of Darkness had to use aliases in Eorzea, as their real names don't fit Eorzean naming customs. Arbert's true name is Ardbert, Lamimi's is Lamitt, Blaenherz's is Branden, Naillebert's is Nyelbert, and J'rhoomale's is Renda-Rae.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: 3.1 shows the Warrior of Darkness single-handedly taking down Ravana with little effort. 3.4 has this happen in the fight against them where they always get revived because of the Echo and the Warrior eventually uses Holmgang on the Warrior of Light and their companions, effectively having them trapped and would have killed them if it wasn't for Urianger stepping in at the last minute to save the day. The tables are then flipped with Alisaie using her blade of light to completely wreck the Warrior of Darkness and his party, though they survive anyway.
• Dark Is Evil: Among their ranks is a magus and the whole group is decked out in black. Though they're not as evil as they first appear.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Even before they accidentally caused the end of their world through a Flood of Light, each and everyone of them and a difficult past that they had to overcome.
  • Lamitt tried to, and succeeded in, saving the stone-blighted Dwarfs, only to be banished along with the cured Dwarfs out of political convenience than any taboo she broke. The cured becoming sin eaters only made things worse.
  • Branden was a loyal knight, only to be banished. It's then revealed that he was framed by the castle's court wizard, who later turned the princess he was in love with into a monster he had to put down.
  • Nyelbert was a part of a Super Breeding Program, and lost his friend Taynor to a black hole the latter created. He spent years trying to find a way to save him, only to be forced to abandon him to do the right thing.
  • Renda-Rae lost her friends to a fearsome monster, and nearly lost her only life while trying to track it down, only being saved by the help of the other Warriors.
    • Its latter revealed that the mastermind behind their woes was in fact their sixth member, Cyella AKA Cylva the Shadowbringer, having done so by order of the Ascians to turn them into heroes to manipulate. However, even she had her own troubled past, her world, the Thirteenth, turned into the Void, and was convinced by creating and sacrificing Warriors of Light, that her world would be restored. She's spared, but watched as the friends she made sacrifice themselves to save the First from the Flood, and has lived in shame since.
• Deader than Dead: To make their way to the Source, they had to sacrifice their bodies to do so. The result is that while they are "alive" in the Source, they are essentially ghosts. When they return to the First with Minfilia, all but Ardbert then offer up their souls so she can halt the Flood, which then in turn forces their souls back to the aetherial sea after their aether has been used. Ardbert persists for another century before joining his soul with the WoL. The Role Quests introduced in Shadowbringers are you essentially following in their footsteps a bit by interacting with either people who might have known them, or were investigating them, with the player even temporarily playing as them thanks to an Echo induced flashback. Each questline also happens to involve putting down a sin eater born from each of their corpses, adding another layer of this trope.
• Deconstruction: Of the traditional heroes in Final Fantasy and even of your Warrior of Light in terms of their adventure's outcome. Sure, they traveled the lands, killed many monsters, and fought the Ascians tooth-and-nail, and even won against them. Except by doing too well and vanquishing the Darkness too thoroughly, everyone was completely taken off-guard by the Flood of Light that ensued thereafter; by doing what protagonists of any of these games would do, especially the early entries, and what the player themselves had been subconsciously doing to the fullest of their ability, they doomed their world to demonstrate that this story won't be so simple.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Lamitt will use Stone III against you.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Very early, and even before they were used as the Warriors of Darkness. Each of them is based on the characters that were used for the art for their classes (Warrior for Ardbert, Paladin for Branden, Bard for Renda-Rae, White Mage for Lamitt and Black Mage for Nyelbert) and appeared fighting in the final battle as Legacy came to an end. However, since the Warriors of Darkness are from an alternate world, and the Warrior of Light that Ardbert is based on is used as the player stand-in in the promotional material for the game and it's expansions, it's more likely that they're the First's versions of those characters.
• Evil Counterpart: To the Warrior of Light through Ardbert, the Hyur/Hume Warrior. Subverted since they aren't actually evil, just desperate and willing to do whatever it takes to save their world.
• Evil Costume Switch: In an echo flashback, they were shown in the normal color scheme of their artifact gear slaying an Ascian. In the present, not only are they are working with the Ascians, they are wearing a version of their gear that is as black as night.
• Evil Wears Black: The whole group has their gear dyed in black.
• The Exile: Because Lamitt's quest to cure her sister and others of the stoneblight broke so many dwarven traditions, the elders ordered her exiled from her people. Lamitt faced the punishment with dignity, casting aside her helmet and beard for the first time.
• Faith–Heel Turn: After Hydaelyn had seemingly forsaken them after destroying all Darkness, causing all light to consume their world, they denounced her and joined up with Ascians in a desperate attempt to restore their world.
• Fallen Hero: An echo flashback you share upon meeting him shows that he and his group were also once Warriors of Light, and seemingly even used the Blade of Light to slay an Ascian. Their gear are also shown in their default color palettes while their present selves are decked out in black.
• Famed In-Story: Even before becoming a true Warrior of Light, Renda-Rae was celebrated as the greatest hunter of her time, inspiring generations of bounty hunters to follow in her footsteps.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Ardbert and Naillebert started out as rivals who took the same mercenary contract or so the latter claimed, in truth seeking an aether-consuming crystal held by the monster they were hunting. Circumstances forced the two to fight for their lives by working together, which caused them to come to respect one another and Naillebert becoming one of Ardbert's companions.
• Five-Token Band: They represent each of the five launch races, each member mirroring a character who showed up in the original 1.0 cinematic intro.
• Foreshadowing: The quest "Shadows of the First" is ostensibly named for Xelphatol, the "First Mountain" of the Ixal that is unlocked as a dungeon during the quest, but it carries a double meaning, as the Warriors of Darkness are featured in the banner for the quest and are encountered at the end of it, where we would learn they hail from the world of the First.
• Gone Horribly Right: They were led to believe that the Ascians and the darkness they brought were pure evil and had to be stopped at all costs. Beating the darkness completely meant light was unopposed and thus it flooded the world with pure light that is destroying the world anyway.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: Every single member wears a replica of the first artifact gear set, but dyed pitch black.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Even with Minfilia's help, the Warriors of Darkness had to give what was left of their aether to stem the Flood of Light. They dissipated to nothing, leaving only Ardbert behind as a spirit to wander the First. Their spirits are briefly shown reuniting with Ardbert at the end of 5.0.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: They are well known to be the ones who caused the world to flood with light by slaying their shards Ascians and those who spread any darkness. As a result they are vilified for what they did, known as the villainous Warriors of Light. Seems they cannot catch a break no matter what. Thankfully, after the Warrior of Light/Darkness and the Scions saved the First, they were able the reverse this by telling the people of the First what really happened.
• Interspecies Romance: It doesn't come out in their appearance during Heavensward itself (Lamitt's actual speaking role is incredibly brief), but the first lore book states that Lamitt has intensely romantic feelings for Ardbert, but hasn't expressed them in full because this is hardly the time for romantic distractions, especially with them being technically dead. A bit of later hindsight makes this even more surprising: on the First, "Dwarves" (aka Lalafells to us) are actually considered a beast tribe, not Spoken, and even their falling-in together for adventure was a bit remarkable (it hinged on Lamitt having left Tomra, without permission, in search of a cure for stoneblight to help her sister, and even behelmed, this was still itself breaking a taboo); while it's never directly addressed, from what we see of the Dwarven elders, a full-blown romance between Ardbert and Lamiit would almost certainly be so taboo as to collectively blow off the elders' whiskers, and despite having accepted her new reality as a non-conformist dwarf, it does seem like just admitting her feelings was a step slightly too far even for Lamitt. All this said, at the end of the healer role quest, Lamitt does at last openly admit her feelings for Ardbert before departing for the hereafter.
• Kick the Dog: The Ranger Renda-Rae nearly killed Alisaie with a poisoned arrow. She regularly brings up this fact to her twin with a cruel smile on her face.
• Know When to Fold Them: Lamitt gives Ardbert a look, wordlessly telling him they need to leave once Thancred joins the fight.
• Light Is Not Good: Being fallen Warriors of Light aside, the Lalafell and the Roegadyn Warriors of Darkness are respectively a White Mage and a Paladin, two classes typically associated with Light (and both jobs having access to Light spells, such as Holy and Flash).
• Legendary Weapon: All of them wield Relic Atma weapons.
• Meaningful Name: The Cardinal Virtues all have Greek names that loosely translate to a trait each of the respective Warriors represents: Dikaiosyne is "Righteousness", Sophrosyne is "Temperance", Andreia is "Bravery" and Phronesis is "Practical Wisdom".
• Memory Jar: At the finale of each role quest, their sin eater counterparts drop a crystal, which reveals the character's memories via a ghostly shade. It acts like a recorded message, thus no one can interact with them.
• The Mentor: Blranden was already a seasoned adventurer when Ardbert was first getting his start. Branden gave Ardbert counsel, and eventually, the two became inseparable.
• Mercy Kill: The Warriors of Darkness are trying to trigger a Rejoining, an event that would cause their world to be consumed as aether by the Source world. The Warriors see this as preferable to the Flood of Light, because at least then the souls of everyone in their world would continue the cycle of life, rather than be trapped in purgatory. In Shadowbringers, Ardbert bitterly regrets this, because he realized he was playing right into the Ascians' hands and that they'd arranged the entire thing.
• Mirror Boss: The whole group fights exactly the same way the player does in 3.4 if they're a Warrior, Paladin, White Mage, Black Mage, or Bard. Even defeating them is only temporary since the power of the Echo revives them and grants them higher strength and HP just like the player does if they suffer a defeat.
• My Greatest Failure: Nyelbert blamed himself for what happened to his friend Taynor when they were children, and spent the rest of his life trying to free Taynor from the void. Failing to do so was his greatest regret.
• Mythology Gag: Notable separate from the big ol' page because it's a gag internal to XIV itself - at one point during the stint as Warriors of Darkness on the Source, Lamitt inbues one of Renda-Rae's arrows with fire. This is something the Lamitt-equivalent character in the 1.0 intro cinematic did for the PC stand-in, and that happened because one of the big features of Conjurer in its original design was going to be granting elemental imbues to fellow party members. This survived in development for a long time but didn't make it into the game as it launched and was never a true player ability; Lamitt using it is the first time it's actually been seen.
• The Needs of the Many: Nyelbert had a chance to save his friend Taynor from the interdimensional rift, but gave it up when he realized that the method involved would have doomed countless innocent lives. This personal sacrifice set him on the path to becoming a Warrior of Light.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: 3.4 reveals that the warriors, like the Warrior of Light, had fought against every form of darkness that appeared and fought the evil back again and again until nothing else remained. Their victory caused light to flood the world and is slowly destroying it. Turns out that every world needs a balance of light and dark in order to exist. Whoops.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • Despite defeating all of Hydaelyn's enemies in their world and claiming peace, the First was then ravaged by a Flood of Light that threatened a Fate Worse than Death. As Ardbert says, they did everything right, and still lost.
  • Lamitt faced numerous trials to search the world for a way to cure her sister and many other dwarves of a terrible sickness called stoneblight and succeeded. But to do so, she had to willingly commit many dwarven taboos, which resulted in the village elders scorning and exiling her.
• Playing with Fire: Naillebert is very fond of using Flare. In the cut scene before the battle begins, Lamitt uses a spell to enhance the Bard's arrows with fire (itself a very deft Mythology Gag to the 1.0 cinematic intro).
• The Psycho Rangers: An Alternate Universe counterpart to the Warrior of Light and the Scions.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Unlike the other Ascians, the Warrior of Darkness does not personally get involved with conflicts or schemes, and is joining the conflict as the balance of Light and Dark is being thrown out of whack, they're even introduced meddling with the Ascians' plans by striking down Ravana. Despite this, the Warrior is later seen together with Elidibus, chatting with Urianger in the Great Gubal Library. As it turns out, the defeating the primals is part of the Ascians' plans to drive the beastmen tribes ever further into desperation and despair, until eventually broken, the tribes turn to worshiping a new god. The Warriors of Darkness however, are doing it solely in desperation of saving their world, The First, from becoming a Void of Light, much like how the Thirteenth world become the Void of Darkness.
• The Quiet One: Naillebert is described in Encyclopedia Eorzea as a man of few words. In Heavensward, he only speaks twice, and one of them is a curt "Understood" before he starts charging up an Instant-Win Condition. In a flashback during the caster role quests, Nyelbert actively walks away from Ardbert's party when they start bantering with each other. His younger self is more talkative, which implies he withdrew into himself after losing Taynor.
• Regenerating Mana: In the role quests, Nyelbert's version of "Blizzard III" restores half his maximum MP whenever he casts it.
• Remember the New Guy?: The Echo flashbacks in Shadowbringers reveals there was a sixth member of the Warriors of Light. A female elf gladiator named Cylva. No explanation was given as to what befell her before the Warriors of Light defeated the Ascian and unintentionally triggered the Flood of Light. Her circumstances are revealed in the combined role quest obtained after clearing all the other role quests.
• Rescue Romance: Lamitt and Ardbert first met when Lamitt found Ardbert wounded from battle. She healed him and quickly fell in love with him, though she keeps her feelings to herself to avoid potential awkwardness, especially considering in the First, she is technically from a beast tribe.
• Retired Badass: Spared by Ardbert after revealing her betrayal, Cylva spent the next century doing very little in the wake of the Flood of Light. By the time you meet her as the barmaid Cyella, the one-time Warrior of Darkness remarks it's exhausting to wear her old armor or lift her sword, and is certain any 'recruit' to the Crystarium Guard could lay her out flat.
• Rogue Protagonist: An Echo flashback reveals that the Warrior of Darkness and his party used to be on the side of the light, but why they switched sides remained a mystery until 3.4 where they reveal that they came from another world that was destroyed when it was flooded with light.
• Secret Identity: Near the beginning of Shadowbringers, the Warrior of Darkness reveals they all went by pseudonyms while in the Source. On the First, Arbert was originally named Ardbert, Blaenherz was Branden, Naillebert was Nyelbert, Lamimi was Lamitt, and J'rhoomale was Renda-Rae. Ardbert admits the use of a pseudonym in his case seemed foolish in hindsight.
• Sensory Overload: Renda-Rae's hypersensitive hearing became her failing when hunting the terrible monster Balam-Quitz. As her friends moved to corner the beast for her, it let out an ear-piercing cry that left her completely paralyzed and helpless as Balam-Quitz killed her friends.
• Sixth Ranger: The Lorebooks reveals Renda-Rae as this. Unlike Lamitt, Branden and Nyelbert, she was encountered by chance. Shadowbringers reveals that there was an actual Sixth Ranger, Cylva. She was also a Sixth Ranger Traitor, as revealed in the combined role quests.
• Slasher Smile: Branden is fond of this expression. He grins as he tries to kill Y'shtola and again when reporting to the Warrior after witnessing the death of Nidhogg.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: They act, on the Source, like complete psychotic jerks that try to kill the Warrior of Light and their companions several times for reasons only known to them. When said reasons come pouring out after Alphinaud figures out how they sacrificed their bodies to break boundaries and travel between worlds (thanks to the Echo), the Warrior becomes angered and upset at how he and his friends did everything that was asked of them to be a hero and they still failed, having nothing to show for it other than their world being consumed by excess light. The other companions can only shed a few tears as their leader reveals the group's story, feeling completely sad that the world they once loved would soon be no more. Only after Hydaelyn regains her strength and has Minfilia save the world consumed by light does the Warrior of Darkness drops his jerkass attitude and warns the Warrior of Light to not make the same mistakes as he had done.
• Staking the Loved One: Branden was forced to kill Princess Sauldia, whom he'd grown close to, after her treacherous court mage transformed her into a Voidsent in a final act of spite. In doing so, Branden obtained his Crystal of Light.
• Stepford Smiler: Renda-Rae was considered a breath of fresh air to the others, someone who knew to enjoy the moment and liven up the room. She always kept to herself the pain of losing those closest to her on that disastrous hunt.
• Super Breeding Program: Nyelbert is the result of several generations of selective breeding by a convocation of mages, with the goal of creating a mage that can open gates to the Void. His friend Taynor is from this program as well.
• Super-Hearing: Renda-Rae was a famed hunter known for her incredible hearing that could detect prey from miles away. This backfired when a mark's roar caused her to suffer Sensory Overload and resulted in the partners she hunted the beast with being killed. In her rematch, she armed herself with arrows that would prevent the monster's roar.
• Team Mom: The Lorebook reveals that Lamitt is this to the group.
• Tragic Hero: As it turns out, they never were villains. They gave everything to help protect their world, did everything right. And in the end their world is still facing destruction, because their actions brought the Flood of Light upon the First. In a desperate attempt to save their world they even sacrificed themselves, using their Crystals of Light much like the Ascians' Crystals of Darkness. Dying to transcend their mortal flesh so that they might travel to the Source, the world of the Player Character. And that they joined the Ascians in some hope they could save their world. As Ardbert the Warrior explains all they have done and all they are willing to do, even dying again, just to save their home, his voice is trembling while his fellow friends and adventurers are visibly crying.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As Ardbert states, they only ever wanted to save people. Instead, their actions were so effective, they eliminated ALL darkness in the First, and let the light run rampant unchecked. Not only that, but they had a direct hand in instigating the Flood, as it was Ardbert's Blade of Light he used to destroy the Ascians that manifested into Eden and triggered the cosumption of the world.
• What You Are in the Dark: When Ardbert first teamed up with him, Nyelbert was after an aether-leeching crystal possessed by the monster they were hunting. He'd intended to use the power it had absorbed to open a voidgate and free his childhood friend Taynor from the interdimensional rift, but doing so would have collapsed the mountain and doomed everyone in the region. Ultimately, Nyelbert couldn't bring himself to condemn innocent people for the sake of his friend, and he shattered the crystal, returning its stolen aether to the land.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: They know well and good that worlds consumed by Darkness turn into a hostile nightmare realm that births monsters and is inhabitable to mortal life. However, they've seen first hand that at least an afterlife continues to exist in Darkness-scourged worlds, whereas the destruction caused by the Flood of Light leaves nothing, not even a lifestream for the souls it destroys, it's complete Cessation of Existence. Hence their mentality; drown the other worlds in Darkness so Zodiark wins, at least that way they'll be able to live happily in the afterlife instead of lose everything they are including their very souls.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Lamitt willingly broke her village's taboo by revealing her face in order to help cure her friends of their disease. She was then exiled for her disregard of her village's traditions. At the final healer role quest, her memory reveals that she does not regret leaving her home behind in order to protect her world, but it still hurt her a lot knowing that she can no longer return home.

Ardbert Hylfyst

Ardbert Hylfyst

Voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe (JP), Joe Dempsie (EN), Mathias Kozlowski (FR), Tobias Schulze (DE)

Race: Hume
Discipline: Warrior

"Me, I'm no saint or savior—just another sinner."

The leader of the Warriors of Darkness. Upon traveling to the Source, he took the alias Arbert to better blend in with Eorzea.

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• A Boy and His X: He had an Amaro mount he once rode across the First. Said mount, Seto, awakened to his sentience and fondly recalls Ardbert, even separating from Spoken society because of how they continued to insult Ardbert and ignore all the good deeds he had done.
• Alternate Self: Shadowbringers reveals that he has the same soul as the Warrior of Light, Ardbert being the shard of their soul living in the First, which is also why the Warrior of Light is the only one who can see him as a ghost. Before the split of the world, they were one entity, who also happened to be a very important Ancient. At the end of the Shadowbringers MSQ, Ardbert willingly merges with the Warrior of Light, rejoining another part of their soul together with them. In doing so he repairs the damage to the Warrior of Light's soul and grants them the fortitude to not only contain the excess Light of the Wardens but burn it off by shaping it into a blade of light powerful enough to destroy Emet-Selch.
• And I Must Scream: After returning to the First with Minfilia, most of the Warriors of Darkness were absorbed by the light in their attempts to help Minfilia stem the tide of light. Ardbert alone was left. And as a spirit, he found himself unable to interact with anything or be seen or heard by anyone. Over the course of a century, he slowly lost his sanity until he was little more than a mindless revenant. However, somehow the Warrior of Light's arrival within the First restored Ardbert's mind, helped by the fact that the Warrior of Light is the first person who has been able to see and hear Ardbert since his return. Ardbert is confused by this but simply chalks it up to the fact that since you both have the Echo, it must be some sort of link. The late reveal that he is an Alternate Self to the Warrior of Light implies this occurred because he technically had a physical form, so his Alternate Self arriving in the First linked them together.
• All There in the Manual: Ardbert's backstory is only alluded to in flashbacks and his surname is never given in-game. It's not until the release of the third volume of the Eorzea Encyclopedia that players learned of his last name, Hylfyst, and how he came to be an adventurer in the first place.
• Beard of Evil: Ardbert, unlike his cutscene counterpart, has a Mirror Spock-esque goatee. Crosses into Beard of Sorrow upon learning his true motivations; flashbacks to his time as a Warrior of Light show him to have been clean-shaven.
• By the Eyes of the Blind: The only person who can see him or hear him on the First is the Warrior of Light. Turns out Ardbert is quite grateful for the company, as it's been over a hundred years since anybody else could see him, hear him, or talk to him. It's later revealed that this is because the Warrior of Light and Ardbert are both reflections of one another. The two of them eventually perform a Fusion Dance to join as one again.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: An old friend of Ardbert described him as a trusting soul, constantly being drawn into the troubles of others. He never thought twice when he saw someone in need and always tried to help.
• Cosmic Plaything: Shadowbringers really piles on that he was one. The Shadowkeeper from his tale was actually a member of his own party, who was trying to turn his party all into Warriors of Light so they could slay her in an effort to cause an overflow of Light. In an effort to circumvent this, he fought the Ascians in the same way the hero of the Source had, and even won... but in doing so, created the first sin eater and caused a Flood of Light anyway. In his efforts to fix his mistake, he's forced to wander the world as a ghost for a hundred years while he and his friends are demonized and desecrated, because No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. And of course, even after he plays a vital role in saving Norvrandt, his spirit is allowed to rest, and his story is corrected in the public record, Elidibus then steals his body to exploit his restored reputation to drum up the peoples' hope, and use it to turn himself into the Warrior of Light Incarnate.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Zig-Zagged. For the sheer amount of crap thrown his way over the centuries, his reunion and eventual Fusion Dance with the Warrior of Light in Shadowbringers sees him play a key role in finally getting the Flood stopped, the sin eaters and Ascians defeated, and his and his friends' good names restored across the First. However, the end of 5.3 shows that Ardbert continues to exist independently within the Warrior of Light's soul, and they and Seto happily acknowledge that so long as the Warrior of Light's journey continues, then so will his.
• Farm Boy: Ardbert was an orphan raised by his grandfather on a small island off the coast of Kholusia. Having grown up with only amaro for company, Ardbert was inspired by tales of heroism told to him by the Church of First Light to see and explore the outside world. So when he came of age, Ardbert left home to become an adventurer, setting him on a path to becoming a hero (and villain) to the First.
• From Zero to Hero: Ardbert's adventures get off to a rough start when he's nearly killed by hobgoblins and is only saved by Lamitt's timely intervention. But he becomes one of Norvandt's mightiest heroes by the end of it, leading his friends to take down the nefarious Shadowkeeper and even two Ascians in Mitron and Loghrif. Unfortunately, he had no idea that this would tip the balance of Light in his world too far, nearly resulting in the First's destruction. Then he travels to the Source in an attempt to save his people's souls, with his party disposing of Ravana with almost contemptuous ease.
• Fusion Dance: Just before the collective Light of the Lightwardens turns the Warrior into a monster, Ardbert allows himself to fuse with them to contain it for the final fight against Emet-Selch/Hades. This allows them to channel all the Light into an axe to slay Emet-Selch with, thus curing the Warrior of the Light.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Ardbert has been alone for a hundred years after his comrades sacrificed themselves to aid Minfilia in stopping the Flood. While he could still see and hear people as a ghost, he couldn't interact with any of them. Heartbreakingly, this included being Forced to Watch as innocents begged for their lives while being devoured by sin eaters, no matter how hard he tried to intervene, and spending over a century overhearing vicious lies being spread about his party by the very populace they sacrificed their lives trying to save. He basically went numb and lost all sense of self until the Warrior of Light arrived on the First and was able to see and hear him, bringing him to his senses..
• Heel–Face Turn: He initially acts as the antagonist towards the Warrior of Light during Heavensward, under the belief that killing them would restore balance to the First. After everyone meets with Hydaelyn, they agree that there is another way to save the First and Ardbert warns the Warrior of Light to not make the same mistakes like he had. By Shadowbringers, he's fully on the Warrior of Light's side and acts as their confidant in between major quests. At the very end of the story, he merges his soul with the Warrior of Light's to help them gain control over their excess light and give them power to defeat Hades.
• Hidden Depths: The short story A Dream Partnership, which details his first meeting with his Amaro companion Seto, reveals that he had a history of animal husbandry when he was growing up, learning about all the skills of raising animals from his father. Ardbert's knowledge of Amaro habits was what allowed him to infer the manner of Seto's behavior under the care of his previous owner.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: Unintentionally causing the Flood of Light and wandering the world as a spirit left Ardbert a broken man. He sees no hope for the First, claiming that the world has grown weary of "heroes".
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Eden quests reveal it was actually Ardbert who created Eden and thus brought about the Flood of Light. When he struck down Mitron and Loghrif, the Blade of Light he used to do so was manifested by a will that wanted to eliminate the Darkness so strongly, that it instead turned Mitron into the first sin eater.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: In an Echo flashback, we see Ardbert preparing a Blade of Light to slay an Ascian, presumably Mitron, and the foes have words for each other.
  Black-robed Ascian: Fools playing at heroes, all of you. Is this how you believe you can save your world?
  Ardbert: We can and we will, Ascian! You shall see—or perhaps you will not!
• Rage Against the Heavens: When Hydaelyn offers to stem the Flood of Light destroying the Warriors of Darkness' world, Ardbert snaps at her for only now answering their prayers and attacks Minfilia. Ardbert only stops when Minfilia reveals that much like Zodiark; Hydaelyn needs someone to act in her stead in order for her to do anything about the rampant light.
• Reincarnation: As the Warrior of Light's Alternate Self, Ardbert is also a reincarnation of Azem from the Convocation of Fourteen.
• Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex: If the player character is a female then Azem will also be referred to as a woman, but Ardbert stays a man regardless. Averted if the player character is a male, in which case Azem is also referred to as a man.
• Self-Deprecation: When you see him again in the First, he admits his alias of "Arbert" in Eorzea was a pretty daft one, all things considered.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: In the ending sequence, when Ardbert's spirit meets up with his companions again he has switched his Fighter's set to its usual colors rather then the black version that he had been sporting and has cleaned the blood off of his axe for good measure.
• Spanner in the Works: A lot of Evil Plans are thwarted in Shadowbringers thnks to Ardbert just trying to do what he felt was the right thing, even if he didn't know anything about the larger machinations going on around him.
  • Ardbert ends up complicating the plans of the Big Bad of Shadowbringers, completely by accident. Emet-Selch's Evil Plan of having the Warrior of Light become the Prime Lightwarden of all of Norvrandt, which will cause the Eight Umbral Calamity, is stopped thanks to Ardbert. As Ardbert was the Alternate Self of the Warrior, his Fusion Dance with them stops the Light from corrupting them long enough for the fight against Hades to restore them to before. Which might be why Minfilia told Ardbert to stay as a ghost, in the end — she was playing the long game, and knew Ardbert was ultimately necessary for that.
  • He also was this for the Ascians' initial plans for the First. The rest of his companions were meant to be recognized as Warriors of Light, but he was not. The Ascians expected him to kill Cylva in anger over her betrayal, but he ultimately spared her, which caused him to be judged a worthy Warrior of Light and recieve a crystal for it. This combined with him slaying Loghrif and Mitron with a blade of light ended up tipping the First too far in the direction of light, which nearly caused it to be flooded in the same way the Thirteenth was flooded with darkness. If not for Minfillia's intercession, the First would have been completely lost to Light.
• Trauma Conga Line: And how. He and his friends accidentally caused the Flood of Light that nearly destroyed the First, in the midst of slaying Ascians. One of his closest allies was a pawn of the Ascians, "the Shadowkeeper", who buttered-up the party in the hopes of creating heroes who could slay her and cause the Flood. After sacrificing his life to travel to the Source and eventually treating with Minfilia to save the First, he was forced to remain while his friends gave their souls to bolster Minfilia, and wandered for a hundred years as an invisible ghost, unable to interact with the world around him, while the people his party tried to save instead cursed their memory, vilified them in retelling their story, and even defiled their graves.
• We Will Meet Again: After being driven off by Thancred, the group decides to retreat for now and Ardbert vows that they will face off against the Warrior of Light again in the future.

Sin Eaters

In General

When the Flood of Light nearly consumed the First, every mortal life that the Flood claimed was reborn as a sin eater that now plagues the world in the Flood's absence.

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• Angelic Abomination: They have an overtly angelic motif, especially with the ones that bear white feathery wings, but can be as monstrous as the Voidsent.
• Animalistic Abomination: Animals that become sin eaters usually look like white versions of their normal selves with no other angelic traits, but they are no less monstrous or unnatural than any other sin eater. The Lightwarden Eros takes the cake, being a Cerberus with the head of a mandrill for its middle head.
• Body Surf: If a Lightwarden sin eater is slain, its primordial Light will immediately jump to the nearest creature and transform it into a new Lightwarden. The Warrior of Light is the only person who can absorb a Lightwarden's aether without being corrupted this way. Well... kinda, at least.
• Body Horror: The sin eaters made from the spoken races typically wind up horrifically twisted in one way or another. Only the Cardinal Virtues seem to avert this trend, and that might be because the Virtues were dead when their bodies were infused with sin eaters. Even Vauthry's transformation into an angelically beautiful being is horrifying to watch. Of note, during Tesleen's transformation, while you can't see much of it, the sounds coming out of her "cocoon" are sickening.
• Breath Weapon: Some sin eaters, like the Forgiven Violence type, can attack by spitting or exhaling Light energy at their enemies. The Lightwarden Eros can breathe fire from its middle head and lightning from its left and right heads.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To the voidsent. Both are the unfortunate souls twisted by the Floods that claimed their worlds, who become aether starved and attack others to feed. While Voidsent are aspected to Darkness, are demonic in nature, and originated from the Thirteenth, the sin eaters are Light-aspected, angelic in nature, and hail from the First . Voidsent retain their personalities and humanity, but are taken to extremes as they satisfy all their desires, while sin eaters suffer Death of Personality and act on the most primitive of instincts. Voidsent scheme to get more power and move up the hierarchy, while sin eaters are content serving their superiors even if it doesn't satisfy their base urges.
• The Corruption:
  • Sin eaters with the "Touch" infect their victims with a primordial Light that disrupts the aetheric balance of the soul. Even if a person survives being attacked, that Light will slowly eat away at them from the inside and they will eventually turn into a new sin eater.
  • Prolonged exposure to the Empty and its nothingness will slowly turn individuals into sin eaters. Though it takes days of exposure before such light begins to slowly imbalance one's aether.
  • Even with the Echo and the Blessing of Light, the Warrior of Light is slowly changed by the Light they consume from the Wardens. After consuming Innocence, they are at risk of becoming the Lightwarden for all of Norvrandt.
• Dark Mistress: The Forgiven Obscenity, said to be Vauthry's 'favorite', is given the title "Consort of Sin", implying that she was his personal mistress.
• Death of Personality: Why the Warriors of Darkness view corruption into a voidsent better - voidsent, while selfish and extreme versions of what they used to be, are still people, and some show the capacity for honor and standards, if not morality. sin eaters are little more than mindless eating machines who exist only to spread and destroy anything not of Umbral Light.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The Winged Lion and the Kuribu in The Lost City of Amdapor (Hard), introduced in Heavensward, are retroactively implied to have modeled after sin eaters. In the Encyclopedia Eorzea, it's mentioned that both magicked statues were modeled after "transcendent beings from another plane". Given Amdapor's mastery of white magic, it stands to reason that these beings would be sin eaters, beings infected by primordial light, to counter voidsent, who are infected with primordial darkness.
• Elite Mook: The Forgiven Dissonance/Hypocrisy sin eaters that the Kuribu is based on act as officers commanding the lower ranks for their Lightwarden, leading organized assaults on enemies and even targeting populations for a mass burst in sin eater numbers via their preferred method of transforming people.
• Fighting from the Inside: Tesleen barely seems to retain some of her personality immediately after turning, and when fought as a mini-boss, she likewise tries to speak. This indicates that when someone first turns, somewhere deep inside, the person they once were is struggling to remain. However, it's only a matter of time before even that faint light is extinguished.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Most sin eaters are some variant of white. Higher ranked ones like the Lightwardens may also include some other colors, gold specifically, to reflect their even more holy nature.
• Light 'em Up: Naturally the sin eaters can weaponize light-aspected magic in various ways.
• Light Is Not Good: The sin eaters are angelic monsters aspected to Light, killing anyone not of their number.
• Magic Eater: Like the Primals and Voidsent, sin eaters are starved of aether and consume it to sustain themselves, primarily targeting the aether of living beings.
• Mascot Mook: Downplayed with the Forgiven Dissonance, who prominently appears in the Shadowbringers trailer to showcase the expansion's Light Is Not Good themes.
• Our Angels Are Different: They are angels in all but name. Even then, some like Kuribu (Cherub) are named directly after angels. A number of the lyrics for boss songs directly call them as such.
• Painful Transformation: Those who are quickly overtaken tend to scream in agony before the Light fully overtakes them. The ones that don't have already suffered Death of Personality or don't talk much to begin with - and even then, the Warrior of Light's facial expressions clearly show their immense pain.
• Resurrective Immortality: When a Lightwarden dies, its aether doesn't return to the land as it should. Instead, the aether moves to the nearest host and corrupts them into a replacement.
• Sin Eater: Invoked in the concept of the Sin Eaters. They are typically mindless monsters who seek to kill other beings for their aether. The more powerful sin eaters can "forgive" the creatures they attack, gruesomely and permanently mutating them into newborn sin eaters. Most of these creatures tend to be named as "forgiven" sins (Forgiven Ambition, Forgiven Hypocrisy, Forgiven Deceit, etc). The most powerful sin-eaters are the Lighwardens, who draw massive numbers of lesser sin-eaters to follow them, and whose aether radiates into the surrounding area, creating the unnatural everlasting light that Norvrandt is bathed in. Killing a Lightwarden only turns you into its replacement. It's not until the Warrior of Darkness comes around that the Lightwardens can be permanently killed. The name sin eater was born from a misconception when the survivors of the Flood of Light first encountered them. Worship of light itself had been the dominant religion in Norvrandt, and the light-aspected monsters were thought to be the light's judgment, come to consume the sinful on judgment day. Though now people know that sin eaters only hunger for aether, the name stuck.
• Spear Counterpart: The helmeted version of Forgiven Hypocrisy is suggested to be former men, contrasting the helmetless females that serve as midbosses.
• Theme Naming: Lesser sin eaters are usually named after sins, vices, and other negative character traits for which they've supposedly been forgiven. This results in names like "Forgiven Contrition" and "Forgiven Hypocrisy". Several Lightwardens, meanwhile, take their names from The Four Loves: Philia, Eros, and Storge. ^note Presumably the Lightwarden defeated by Titania before being corrupted by it or the one combined with Vauthry was Agape.
  • Many of the larger sin eaters fought as dungeon bosses use spells that are named after various devices of torture. Thumbscrew, The Tickler, Head Crusher, Intestenal Crank, Heretic's Fork... Thankfully, the name of the spell usually has nothing to do with what the spell actually does.
• Transformation Horror: The transformation from human to sin eater is a horrific process, as poor Tesleen could attest.
• The Virus: sin eaters don't take prisoners. If they don't kill and/or eat their victim, they convert them into more of their kind by means of wounding them. The more lethal the wound, the quicker the change as poor Tesleen, who took a sin eater sword through her chest, showed.
• Was Once a Man: Every sin eater was a person or animal that was either caught up in the Flood of Light before it was halted, or was corrupted by another sin eater.
• Zombie Apocalypse: What they essentially are; those infected with the rampant Light of sin eaters, likely because sin eaters attacked them, become gradually overwhelmed and killed by it. Upon their death by Light or sin eater, the Light becomes a cocoon which remakes them as a mindless sin eater version of themselves to continue the cycle.

Philia

Philia

The Lightwarden of Lakeland. The manacles which encircle its four limbs were whispered to be remnants of its mortal life—an elf, once held prisoner within the Hour of Certain Durance. Meaning "Brotherly love," Philia was the name bitterly bestowed upon the eater after it descended upon its home village and devoured its former neighbors.

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• Chain Pain: It uses its chains to whip half the battlefield for its Left and Right Knout attacks.
• Chained by Fashion: Chains levitate from its four limbs, a remnant of its previous life as a prisoner.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Its "Fierce Beating" attack makes rows of stalagmites erupt from the ground.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: In place of legs, Philia has two additional massive arms which it uses to crawl around and crush anything before it.
• Overly-Long Tongue: Its blue tongue waves in the air past its jagged maw.
• Warm-Up Boss: Downplayed. While Philia is still a very threatening monster, it's the first Lightwarden in the story that the heroes slay.

Titania

Voiced by: Yuna Kamakura (JP), Robyn Addison (EN), Jessica Barrier (FR), Tanja Schmitz (DE)

King of the Faeries

"Come and play! For the night is bright, and you can sleep when you're dead!"

The King of the Faeries, Titania was a living being that ruled over the various fae tribes of Il Mheg and fought against the sin eaters in the past. Unfortunately, in striking down the resident Lightwarden, they were left at the mercy of its aether and became a Lightwarden themselves, and thus had to be sealed away until the day someone could slay them.

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• Battle Theme Music: "What Angel Wakes Me", a dissonantly chipper tune reflecting Titania's elation to be able to "play" once more.
• Came Back Wrong:
  • Unlike most sin eaters, Titania's will was so strong that they retained their appearance and some figments of personality after their transformation. Sadly, that's all they retained; their mind and soul are long gone, and they are otherwise the same as any other sin eater.
  • Happens again in the Pixie Beast Tribe quests, where Titania is reborn as An Lad, a pixie who spreads nightmares around to children in a desperate attempt to make friends.
• Green Thumb: They can make spiked roots sprout from the ground, and make plant monsters grow to gigantic size.
• King Mook: Resembles a larger, more extravagant Pixie. Since they're named after the fairy queen from A Midsummer Night's Dream, this isn't too surprising.
• Large and in Charge: Titania is many times larger than any of the pixies in their kingdom with a wingspan to match. This seems to be a trait of the Faerie King in general, as Feo Ul grows to a similar size once they take on the mantle.
• Make My Monster Grow: After the party kills them, Titania will resurrect their tree minions and make them grow to gigantic size. They even quote the Trope Namer when they do so.
• Mind Rape: Their introduction has them hit everyone in Il Mheg with a static vision, ranting about how unfair their imprisonment is and how bored they are, and asks to play with them. It's... quite unsettling.
• No Biological Sex: Like all Pixies, they are referred to with singular they/them pronouns, and likely have no gender at all.
• Odd Name Out: The only Lightwarden not named for something virtuous like The Four Loves — while they fell to The Corruption the same as anyone else who slays one, they were powerful enough that instead of being overtaken entirely, they turned into a sin eater while retaining their sense of self. Given the blatant gap in the Theme Naming, one can presume that until then, the Lightwarden had been known as Agape.
• Physical God: Feo Ul warns the Warrior that the title of Faerie King comes with full command of the elements through the combined powers of the fae enriching the land. In battle, Titania casts Runic Magic with larger and more powerful effects than a Black Mage's spells, transforms the interior of the castle into a massive forest, and spontaneously creates life before turning it titanic. It's blatantly clear that these primal-esque abilities are what allowed Titania to slay the Lightwarden in the first place before becoming one themselves. Titania's presence also acted as a nuclear deterrent, preventing even Eulmore from attempting to invade and annex Il Mheg.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Titania still desires to "play" like other pixies like them, but their definition of "playing" involves massive displays of magic as they attempt to murder you. They giggle while conjuring enormous fireballs or pillars of ice, remark about how much "fun" it is to fight, all while complaining that the Warrior has the audacity to "play rough".
• Royal "We": Being the ruling monarch of Il Mheg, Titania addresses themself as "we". Feo Ul takes up the habit after becoming the next Titania.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: They are sealed in the castle of Il Mheg. Curiously it's the player who has to open the can in this case: their seal is working perfectly fine aside from the occasional psychic rant, but they are still a Lightwarden and upset the aetherial balance just by existing, and so the Warrior of Light has to destroy them anyway.
• She Is the King: Titania's voice and mannerisms are decidedly feminine, though they are referred to as a king. It is later revealed when Feo Ul takes on the mantle that "king" and "Titania" are titles given to the fae ruler of Il Mheg, rather than being indicative of gender. It turns out that the fae of the area looked up to the Voeburite king who used to reside in the castle before the Flood of Light, so they took on his title after he died and the castle was abandoned.
• Shout-Out: To A Midsummer Night's Dream. Not only are they based on the fairy queen from that play, but the minions they summon—Puck, Peaseblossom and Mustardseed—take their names from other fairies in the play. Even their Battle Theme Music is named after one of Titania's lines from the play.^{In case you're curious}Titania's first line in the third act of the play is, "What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?"
• Signature Move: "Being Mortal". After summoning, and later enlarging, their plant familiars, Titania dances through the air releasing all of the power of nature.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: In terms of gameplay, Titania is pretty much a substitute for a pixie Primal. They have their own Trial (The Dancing Plague) and theme instead of sharing "Insatiable" with the other bosses, and are a important figure from the Pixies' culture.
• Universally Beloved Leader: During the Pixie Beast Tribe quests, you go around Il Mheg to ask about Titania. The universal response is that Titania was beloved by nature and their people. Titania is mourned by all the fae folk following their demise, both for their sacrifice in slaying the Lightwarden and the loneliness and sorrow they felt after being sealed away.
• Vocal Dissonance: Titania's voice is flighty and high-pitched throughout the fight with them. But when they resurrect their minions as part of a Make My Monster Grow sequence, their voice becomes guttural as they shout, "Bigger is better!" in a manner akin to Rita Repulsa.
• When Trees Attack: They summon three tree monsters to back them up during their add phase.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: It is the duty and honor of the one who relieves the king from their throne to take their place as the new Titania. Through your pact, Feo Ul takes the Warrior of Light's intended place and becomes King.

Eros

Eros

The Lightwarden of the Rak'tika Greatwood. A chimeric monstrosity, Eros was thought to be the amalgamation of several unfortunate creatures that were caught up and fused together by the Flood of Light. The meaning of its name—"romantic love"—is a mocking play upon the intimate and uncontrolled embrace which resulted in its present appearance.

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• Breath Weapon: The center head can breathe a gout of fire, the two side heads can breathe lightning, and the snake head on its tail spits poison.
• Fusion Dance: Eros was created when the primordial light of the previous Lightwarden infected dozens of animals within the Greatwood, and forced all of them together into one abomination. Eros shows physical traits of wolves, apes, snakes, and even birds.
• Multiple Head Case: Eros has four heads. Two like dogs, a live snake for a tail, and a central head like a mandrill.
• Mythology Gag: It's basically the light version of Cerebus, who was a creature of darkness fought in the World of Darkness raid. Eros also bears similar attacks, with its charge attack "Hound out of Heaven" being a contrast to its dark counterpart's "Hound out of Hell" attack.

Storge

Storge

The Lightwarden of Amh Araeng. Believed to have arisen from the corrupted essence of a sprite or faerie, the entity named for "familial love" made its lair in Malikah's Well. Legends tell that Storge feasted upon the memories infused within its domain—upon a queen's adulation for her departed king.

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• Angelic Abomination: One of the more alien of the sin eaters, Storge's "body" is a disk carved with a face on either side and a collection of wings that float and rearrange themselves at its whim.
• Beam Spam: Storge wings are used to shoot beams of light.
• Flat Character: Among the Lightwardens, it's this. Not playful like Titania, not unnerving like Philia, not a wild beast like Eros, and not a person like Innocence. It also has zero build-up compared to the others, who were all feared across their respective regions. Storge, on the other hand, is just a creature waiting at the bottom of the local dungeon. This is actually a plot point, as the complete lack of context anyone has about it means no one knows where in the hells it is, which drives Ryne's decision to seek out the original Minfilia, hoping to use her powers to find the Lightwarden of Amh Araeng.
• Razor Wings: Storge wields its wings like sharp blades, slicing and stabbing with them.

Innocence

Innocence

"I see now... This is the passion of my ascension... Very well, I shall embrace this trial!"

Innocence sits at the top of the hierarchy of sin eaters—the beings that emerged from the Flood to plague what remains of mankind. Beyond that, its nature and purpose remain shrouded in mystery.

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• Ambiguous Innocence: It literally embodies this trope, by way of a Meaningful Name — unlike most of the other sin eaters, which have "Forgiven" in their names, Vauthry was born as a human/sin eater hybrid, and in the twisted terminology of the sin eaters, he has no sins to be forgiven of, therefore he is innocent. He was raised from birth to believe that he was special and justified, and thus that any act or decision he made was correct. To his dying breath, he never understands why these "villains" are against him, why his "goodness" can't thwart them, or where he went wrong in any capacity. None of this is his "fault", but that doesn't make him any less culpable.
• The Antichrist: Though its association with light is more Christ-like, Vauthry is born half-man, half angel being, whose seed was planted into its mother by killing an angelic being by one who spreads darkness. Despite its otherworldly charisma, it is wrathful and unbecoming towards anyone who would oppose it or its order.
• Archangel Michael: Innocence borrows heavily from depictions of Michael, as a beautiful angel armed with weapons. Even its signature attack, "Flaming Sword", comes from Michael's association with divine fire. There are also similarities, thematically and morally, to Lucifer, as Innocence is corrupt and self-righteous being of light, and is ultimately challenged by a champion representing the will of the deity of light.
• Battle Theme Music: "Insanity", a sweeping, almost tyrannical orchestral piece symbolizing its desire to smother the world with Light, punctuated by the chorus from Shadowbringers to symbolize the Warrior of Darkness railing against that tyranny. However, it's repeated so much that it's less like the Warrior of Darkness's theme, and more like the sin eaters and the very Light itself's Madness Mantra.
• Bishōnen Line: Innocence's angelic and handsome appearance comes after it bursts out Vauthry's grostesquely obese body.
• Body Horror: Vauthry's transformation involves the angelically beautiful body of Innocence ripping a hole in Vauthry's back, wings poking through, before bursting out of Vauthry's contorting and rippling obese body.
• Bolt of Divine Retribution: Its tankbuster, "Righteous Bolt", strikes its target with a bolt of holy lightning for massive damage.
• Damage-Increasing Debuff: Some of its attacks can inflict Physical Vulnerability Up. The add phase that occurs while Innocence charges up "Flaming Sword" is very dangerous in this regard, as the adds, if not killed quickly enough, will inflict a stacking Slashing Vulnerability Up debuff to the whole party. If the stacks get too high, "Flaming Sword" will kill everyone but the party Tanks even if its gauge wasn't full.
• The Evils of Free Will: One of its lines says that it will strip the heroes of "the illusion of will", implying that it sees any kind of free thought as something to be stamped out. This is a telegraph for a gaze attack that will inflict anyone facing Innocence with Confusion, causing them to attack their fellow party members at random. This is also reflective of Vauthry's plan to feed everyone meol to control them and eventually turn them all into sin eaters.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Innocence has the beauty of an archangel, but retains Vauthry's selfishness and self-righteousness.
• Flunky Boss: In its first phase, Innocence will summon numerous sin eaters to aid them as its "Heavenly Host". The second time it does this, it will bless the Mooks to make them harder to take down.
• A God Am I: Innocence flat-out states that because he is both man and sin eater that it is a god, who is "supposed" to look down on everyone else.
• Hand Blast: Its basic auto-attack is a blast of light fired from its palm.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Wields an arsenal of Light-elemental attacks with holy-sounding names like "Righteous Bolt", "Beatific Vision", "Soul and Body", and "God Ray".
• Light Is Not Good: Personified. As leader of the sin eaters, Innocence thinks itself above all others and that it is their right to enforce their will. Its tyrannical nature is bellied by its glorious, angelic appearance.
• Limit Break: Shadowreaver, an attack where Innocence has swords float in the background and charges while summoning five sin eaters to protect him. Once time is up, it'll summon even more swords before having all of the crash into the ground and explode.
• Large Ham: Several of its battle lines taunt the Warrior in a grandiose fashion befitting its station as the most powerful of the Lightwardens.
  "Bow down and acknowledge your king! Your god."
  "I shall EXCISE the SIN of your existence!"
• Painful Transformation: Vauthry is in apparent agony in the moments leading up to his transformation, but unsure why until after the fact.
• Power Gives You Wings: Innocence gains its Razor Wings following its Painful Transformation, showing how it has transformed from a chimera of man and sin eater into a fully-fledged sin eater.
• Power Echoes: Innocence speech echoes like metal, denoting its otherworldly form and power.
• Razor Wings: Its wings are swords. They can also be crafted to be hung up in a house or an apartment as a trophy.
• Ridiculously Small Wings: It first appears with a pair of tiny wings that allow it to fly despite being too small to reasonably support its size. But rather than comedy, this is Played for Horror, as it emphasizes just how inherently wrong and inhuman it is as a Hume-sin eater hybrid. This is then subverted later on, when Innocence undergoes a Bishōnen Line transformation and gains far more appropriately sized Razor Wings.
• Sequential Boss: It starts the fight in Vauthry's form and remains that way until its health gets low, at which point Vauthry undergoes a Painful Transformation into its true form. The transformation fully replenishes Innocence's health and gives it a completely different set of attacks. Averted in the Extreme version of the fight where it starts right up at the Innocence form.
• Signature Move: "Flaming Sword", where it stabs dozens of energy swords into the platform, all of which explode.
• Storm of Blades: It can fire the swords that make up its wings like projectiles in various spreads and patterns. "Flaming Sword" rains several dozen of them down on the battlefield.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Pretty much this version of a Primal, in this case for the sin eaters themselves. It has its own Trial (the Crown of the Immaculate) and theme, and serves as the "God King" that his kingdom of Eaters and people adore, sitting on top of the Eater hierarchy. He even has his own version of "Tempering".
• This Cannot Be!: Downplayed. It reacts with subdued disbelief when the party defeats it:
  "But… I am all-powerful…"
• Vocal Dissonance: It has a rather pretty face and appearance but retains Vauthry's deep booming voice which is actually amplified in this form.
• Why Won't You Die?: Before his transformation, he shouts this at the Warrior of Darkness.
  "Damn you... Why do you not fall? Why? WHYYY?!"

Eden

^{Keeper of Knowledge}

Eden Prime

The first sin eater, Eden is pure light made manifest and led the Flood of Light as it covered the First. Only by Minfilia's arrival and halting the Flood was Eden stopped, where it has now resided in isolation in the vast Empty.

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• Almighty Idiot: It has no rhyme or reason for seemingly causing the Flood of Light. It was only acting on the one thing it knew: spreading light. It is Ryne's hope to teach Eden to foster life and balance rather than only cause an imbalance of light, revealed through the course of Eden's Gate. She is very successful at stabilizing The Empty using Eden's terraforming over the course of Eden's Verse.
  • It's later shown that this is the result of the consciousness that once controlled the body that became Eden was effectively imprisoned by the overwhelming light. When the party attempts to bring out darkness-aspected aether to try to counter to overwhelming light the original being's consciousness starts to break free.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Eden is a manifestation of the pure Light itself, making it and the Flood one and the same in function as the source of the Flood's Light.
  • After the reveal that Eden is a sin eater born from the corrupted body of an Ascian, it is revealed that that the creature's birth was tied to Ardbert's desire to banish darkness from the First, twisting Mitron's body into a personification of this wish and unwittingly unleashing the Flood.
• Badass Cape: Has one in both Prime and actual forms.
• Beam Spam: "Pure Beam" has Eden Prime fire several waves of laser beams from eight wormholes scattered around the arena, with each beam being aimed at a different party member.
• Boss Subtitles: Eden Prime bears the moniker Keeper of Knowledge.
• Colony Drop: "Paradise Lost" has Eden Prime drop several waves of meteors on the arena, which it always uses at the same time as "Pure Beam" above.
• Final Boss: Inverted at first, since you actually fight Eden Prime in the very first part of the raid, in stark contrast of Bahamut and Alexander whose Prime versions are fought in the last part of the raid. Ultimately become Book Ends as Ryne lost control over Eden and it spawned Eden's Promise as the final boss.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: After defeating Eden Prime, Ryne uses her power to force control over Eden, the first step in the plan to restore the Empty to life. Ryne has plans to eventually train Eden to take care of The Empty by itself.
• Hostile Terraforming: It converted the First into a dominion of pure light via the Flood.
• Humanoid Abomination: Its humanoid form as Eden Prime serves to contrast how alien it is even compared to other sin eaters, as it is the manifestation of pure Light and is able to survive even in the aether-starved Empty, unlike all other sin eaters that have to feed on living aether to even survive. The fact that it's so different from "other sin eaters", however, is the first big clue that not all may be as it seems.
• Meaningful Name: Ryne names it Eden, the fae word for "utopia", because of the group's hope of using Eden to restore life to the Empty.
• Mythology Gag: Its name, appearance, and Signature Attack are all taken straight from the Guardian Force Eden in Final Fantasy VIII.
• Not Quite Dead: Eden went dormant after being "silenced" by Minfilia during the Flood. The Scion crew initially think it's dead, but it becomes clear it isn't. The bigger question that players will note as time goes on is how alive it is in the first place.
  • After summoning a dark aspected Primal, the consciousness of the original being that became Eden begins to awaken as well.
• Overly Long Fighting Animation: Eternal Breath's animation takes about forty-five seconds to play out from start to finish.
• Signature Attack: Eternal Breath. After trapping the party in a magic circle and covering a nearby planet with Instant Runes, Eden shoots the party out of that planet and into the heart of another galaxy, destroying it. At which point... you are deposited back on the boss platform, in classic PS1-era FF style.
• Sword Beam: "Pure Light" has Eden Prime warp to a corner and swing its spear to unleash a deadly shockwave, striking everything except a small safe spot right behind the boss. It will charge up this attack at the same time that "Pure Beam" and "Paradise Lost" are going off.

Cardinal Virtues

In General

When the Warriors of Darkness forsake their bodies to travel across the Shards to the Source, their empty husks became filled with Light, and gave way to powerful sin eaters known as the Cardinal Virtues. They travel across the land and collectively serve as the main antagonists of the Role Quests within the First.

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• Battle Aura: An off white cloud of power burns from the Virtues' bodies.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: The red of their eyes and the white of their flesh is broken up by pure black, a reflection of their dangerous behavior.
• The Cardinal Virtues: Four sin eaters that represent the pinnacle of Light's "salvation", they're named for the virtues in the original Greek — Phronesis, prudence; Andreia, courage; Dikaiosyne, justice; and Sophrosyne, temperance.
• Dying as Yourself: After a Cardinal Virtue is slain, the soul of who they once were appears to recount their final thoughts before disappearing for good.
• Ghost Memory: Although they are now sin eaters, some remnant of their past lives influences the Virtue's behavior which drives them to take actions that deviate from the base instincts of other sin eaters.
• Humanoid Abomination: They're powerful sin eaters wearing the skin of the Warriors of Darkness, with only unnaturally pale skin, snow-white hair, black irises with red eyes, and constantly gives of an aura of light to showoff their unnaturalness.
• Idiosyncrazy: Due to acting upon the Warriors of Darkness's memories, they all have a single minded obsession.
  • Andreia: Obsession with hunting the most dangerous and power monsters, to the point that she tries to remake her old team through corpses.
  • Phronesis: Creating "hollows" in the deserts of Amh Araeng so to find a friend who fell into one of their own creation.
  • Dikaiosyne: Hunting down the Orthus treasures across all of Norvrandt because they all belong to a princess he served, and is honoring his duty by reclaiming and guarding them.
  • Sophrosyne: Reviving specific slain sin eaters because they were originally sick but no one wanted to deal with them.
• My Rules Are Not Your Rules: As Granson puts its, despite all the Lightwardens being dead, the Virtues still live, showing that they are something much worse than regular sin eaters, as well as the fact they all have actual classes and will use them in battle.
• Psycho Rangers: Even worse than their alive counterparts, as they are literal monsters wearing skin.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Unlike other sin eaters who usually have Blank White Eyes, the Virtues have blood-red eyes akin to Voidsent.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The Cardinal Virtues take their names from the four cardinal virtues of Christian theology.
• Theme Naming: The Cardinal Virtues are named after Plato's cardinal virtues: Andreia (Manly spirit/Courage), Dikaiosyne (Sense of Justice), Phronesis (Prudence and practical wisdom), Sophrosyne (Temperance and sense of restraint)
• Tragic Monster: All of them are acting on the final regrets of the Warrior of Darkness they were born from, which always come off as being sympathetic, but warped by their madness.
• The Unfought: Only Ardbert's corpse isn't fought. Because its currently being used by someone else. Namely, Elidibus.
• Villain Teleportation: One of the main reasons nobody's killed them yet is that they're capable of teleporting, and will disappear whenever they've completed whatever their goal is. This may or may not be related to the fact that all of them were created from people with the Echo.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Their hair's all blank white, only to showcase their inhuman nature.

Andreia

The twisted version of the Ranger of Darkness Renda-Rae. Everything she "hunts" rises from the dead and becomes sin eaters.

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• Arc Villain: For the Physical DPS role questline in Shadowbringers.
• Putting the Band Back Together: A rather dark take, as Renda-Rae's memories causes her to seek out and "hunt" people to remake her old team.
• From Bad to Worse: The wild animals Andreia hunts were already a serious danger to the inhabitants of the First, but Andreia's hunting of the beasts turns an already powerful animal into a powerful sin eater actively out to end all life on the First.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Ends up "hunting" a jerk bounty hunter who was an ex-associate of Lue-Reeq, who only used him for his money. When he tries to kill Andreia for the bounty, he and his cohorts are "hunted," so that she could use their corpses to remake her team.
• Rain of Arrows: Arrow of Fortitude, which is the same attack as the Bard's Sagittarius Arrow. She can also use a weaker version that targets you directly.
• Sensory Overload: Lue-Reeq devises a plan to exploit Andreia's hypersensitive hearing the way Balam-Quitz did to Renda-Rae. He built custom arrows that create a loud noise to temporarily disable Andreia during the final battle with her.

Phronesis

The twisted version of the Magus of Darkness Nyelbert. It wanders the deserts of Amh Araeng, endlessly conjuring "hollows" that suck in anything which draws near.

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• Almighty Idiot: Phronesis commands incredibly powerful black magic and can instinctively conjure black holes to defend itself from attack, but it acts purely on instinct and is otherwise just as mindless as any other sin eater. It turns out, it's been trying to rescue his friend Taynor from Nyelbert's past, but as a sin eater, it doesn't even realize that he's already been saved, even when Taynor is speaking and pleading directly to him.
• Arc Villain: For the Magical DPS role questline in Shadowbringers.
• Black Mage: What his former self was.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Can use Sanctified Fire, Sanctified Fire III, Sanctified Fire IV, Sanctified Flare, Sanctified Blizzard III, Sanctified Blizzard IV, and Sanctified Thunder III.
• Space Master: It has the power to conjure small black holes, which the locals have dubbed "hollows". This is an ability Nyelbert was selectively bred and trained from birth to do, as was his friend Taynor.
• Tragic Monster: It walks around creating black holes because his former self's biggest wish was to rescue his childhood friend, Taynor, who got sucked into one. However since Phronesis is a mindless beast it can't recognize Taynor when he reappears and it has to be put down to stop spreading more black holes all over the land.

Dikaiosyne

The twisted version of the Knight of Darkness Branden. A year ago, it attacked a town by the name of Wright, earning the hatred of a hunter named Granson, turning his lover into a sin eater while taking a bracelet called the "Fangs of Orthus".

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• Arc Villain: For the Tank Role questline in Shadowbringers.
• Duty That Transcends Death: Dikaiosyne's reason for wandering across Norvrandt is to reclaim and protect the sacred artifacts that belong to Sauldia's royal family, which were stolen by an expatriation team a year ago, causing him to go on a rampage. After slaying him, the Warrior of Light and Granson decide to hide the Orthus treasures somewhere no one will find them, to honor Branden's wish and duty.
• Light 'em Up: Sanctified Holy, Sanctified Holy II, and Brand of Sin. He can also summon Brightspheres that can shoot beams of light.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: Out of all the Cardinal Virtues, he has the most HP. Justified since he is a tank class.

Sophrosyne

The twisted version of the Devout of Darkness Lamitt. It goes around and revives specific slain sin eaters.

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• Arc Villain: For the Healer role questline in Shadowbringers.
• Blow You Away: Is capable of casting Sanctified Aero II. She can also cast a stronger version that blasts wind in every direction.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Sanctified Stone III is her main attack spell. She also can use a stronger version that deals massive damage unless the damage can be shared with others.
• Faceless Goons: Turns out to be key to its reasoning, and its defeat. Sophrosyne is attempting to heal the helmetless Dwarves that Lamitt cured, even now as sin eaters. However, her disappointment towards the Dwarven elders who cast them out prevents her sin eater from healing any sin eaters who wear a Dwarven helmet — even herself.
• Healing Hands: Will heal herself and her fellow sin eaters with Sanctified Cure II.
• Light 'em Up: Sanctified Holy.
• No Cure for Evil: Sophrosyne is dangerous because she averts this rule among the sin eaters. She is traveling Norvrandt, raising slain sin eaters back to life when healing magic shouldn't be able to affect them at all. In battle, she can also heal and revive herself.
• White Mage: What her class is.