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Kingdom of Waloed
General Tropes
"The Kingdom of Waloed, indomitable in its isolation."
Capital: Stonhyrr
Spanning the entirety of Ash, the eastern half of Valisthea's twin realms, the Kingdom of Waloed has often found its control over the land being tested by orcs and other beastmen, who in turn have had their attempts at rebellion quelled by the Kingdom's current ruler, the Dominant of Odin, Warden of Darkness. Having built up an army through the utilization of the power within Drake's Spine - the Mothercrystal of the realm - the Kingdom's ruler now seeks to test the borders of his Storm neighbors.- Animal Motifs: As seen on the game's official website, the kingdom's emblem depicts a six-legged horse and a shield, representing the Eikon Odin, the kingdom's ruler.
- Bigger Stick: They're not the largest and most powerful nation on Valisthea (that's Sanbreque), but they're the only one with two Dominants, offering them invaluable tactical and strategic advantages. They had a whopping three until Cid, the Dominant of Ramuh, defected, and Barnabas is particularly active in seeking out new Eikons to bring under his banner.
- Dark Is Evil: An imperialist nation created and ruled by the Omnicidal Maniac Dominant of Darkness that uses a lot of black in their wardrobes. They're a sinister, ominous presence across Valisthea throughout the game.
- Death World: Given that a lot of Ash has been taken by the Blight, much of the continent can best be described as "harsh" at best and "inhospitable" at worst. Much of the place is filled with rocky hills and swamps, punctuated by sparse and sparsely populated villages, and orcish tribes call the country home and aren't keen on peaceful co-existence. There is green space in the center of the country, but for the people in the southern side of it, there's not much topsoil or resources. By the time Clive and his entourage make it to the island, most of the population has gone Akashic, making the place even more hostile.
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: By the time Clive and his small party come to Ash, Barnabas has largely replaced his Royalist human forces with orcs and other beastmen, turning the humans Akashic. Barring animal noises, the entire continent is unnervingly quiet. Clive even has a brief exchange with Joshua about how unnerving it is that they have heard no human sounds for quite some time. The group meets one non-hostile survivor, Edda, who is all too keen to join with the group back to the Hideaway to protect her unborn child, with Edda horrified on realizing Barnabas killed her husband. A second one, a bearer child, can be found by Clive and Dorys in a side-quest. A third is a soldier who gives a sidequest, but passes away of his wounds immediately after.Clive: Does it bother you that we haven't heard a single human sound?
Joshua: Everything about this place bothers me. - Fully-Embraced Fiend: One village in Waloed is shown to be full of people who, like Barnabas, follow the Circle of Malius and go as far as to worship the Fallen ruins and Akashic out of their misguided beliefs. As one of the only surviving villages in Ash, Clive tries to stop it, but he is too late when an aetherflood appears and turns all of them into Akashic instead.
- Nothing Is Scarier: When the group navigates Waloed, everything is relatively quiet… to an unnerving degree. That is to say there is not a single human sound at all outside of Barnabas and a scant few other people on the entire continent. Clive eventually comments on how it bothers him.
- Power Crystal: As noted on the game's official website, the kingdom draws its aether from Drake's Spine, the Mothercrystal of the eastern half of Valisthea's twin realms.
Waloeder Royalty
Barnabas Tharmr
Voiced by: David Menkin (English), Gotaro Tsunashima (Japanese)Foreign VAs
"The dark swallows more of the realm with each passing day and as the fringes fade, the people flock to the Mothercrystals."
Dominant of Odin, the Warden of Darkness, and the king of Waloed. A wanderer who arrived on the shores of Ash with no lands or titles, he nonetheless managed to build a kingdom with his own skill.- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Odin's sword is said to be able to cut through anything. It's not hyberpole, either; Barnabas can slice through buildings like a hot knife through butter and, at one point, he parts the sea with a swing of his sword.
- The Ace: He's a contender for the title of World's Strongest Man in Valisthea alongside Dion and Clive. He's not only a skilled warrior who managed to single-handedly conquer all of Ash with nothing but pure strength, but also an equally powerful Dominant whose Eikon is able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Bahamut and Ifrit. It's telling that in Barnabas' confrontations with Clive and Dion, their battles either end in a draw or in his victory. Clive loses to him twice, finally beating him in the third when using all of his Eikon abilities. It's a shame he's also a crazy person subservient to an example of God Is Evil.
- All for Nothing: Barnabas believes that Ultima will lead humanity to a brighter future without conflict and war if they would simply submit their wills and identities to him. At the end, Ultima reveals that he never had any plans of taking an akashic humanity with him to the new world, once he took Clive as a vessel, he was going to abandon humanity to die, considering them to be impure failures.
- Always Someone Better: Barnabas proves to be the greatest obstacle to Clive's goals. Twice over he defeats Clive and even after all he has done, Clive wonders if he could ever defeat him. Clive beats him in the third fight, but he has to push Ifrit to his limit to do so.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: How he won the throne in the first place. Barnabas became the king of Waloed and the Warden of Ash through nothing but pure physical prowess and his power as Odin's Dominant.
- Bad Boss: Waloed being a nearly completely lifeless wasteland is almost entirely his own fault, due to sending Akashic to various locations, apparently sending his people into aetherfloods to "free" them of their will, and, most notably, personally killing some of the few remaining human soldiers he even had purely to feed Odin's sword. By the end, there are only a handful of living humans on the entire continent due to his nihilistic, and at times deliberately harmful leadership.
- Black Knight: An intimidating warrior clad in full black plate who uses dark magic as the Dominant of Odin.
- Blood Knight: Fittingly for the Dominant of Odin the man absolutely relishes any good fight and becomes completely unhinged to the point of maniac cackling laughter the moment Clive presents a suitable challenge. By his own admission, Barnabas lost his thirst for battle when he could find no one capable of giving him a battle that could get his blood pumping.
- Broken Ace: He's famous throughout the world as an immortal warlord who became a dominant as a child, conquered an entire continent as a teen, and hasn't aged a day in 40 years. But in the privacy of his bedchambers, he is a thoroughly deranged man who is completely subservient to a shadow tyrant and still pining for the 'love' of his mother.
- Casting a Shadow: He wields the power of darkness, even when not transformed into Odin.
- Cool Sword: His weapon of choice is Odin's sword, which he can manifest without needing to go semi-Prime. It's said Odin's sword can cut through anything, even creation. Clive finds out how sharp it is first-hand in his first confrontation with Barnabas.
- Corrupted Character Copy: Of Fray Myste. Barnabas' design and skill set invokes the image of the Dark Knight class, but he is the furthest thing from heroic. Although implied to have been an idealist in the past, Barnabas became disgusted with humanity to the point he felt Ultima's desire to render all mankind Akashic was far better than having free will. When facing Clive, Barnabas acts as a sort of "teacher" for him by demonstrating the power of Odin firsthand and what Clive can expect if he manages to overcome the king. When Clive does just that, Barnabas does not give Clive a choice in the matter and forcibly gives him Odin's powers and dies as a result. For bonus points, Barnabas isn't even technically alive anymore; just as "Fray Myste" is no more than a re-animated corpse possessed by the Warrior of Light's regrets and being sick and tired of being The Hero and receiving little in the way of thanks, Barnabas willingly made himself into a sentient Akashic to assist Ultima in destroying free will.
- The Corrupter: A great deal of both Benedikta and Hugo's villainy can be traced back to him. He drove a wedge between Benedikta and Cid by successfully seducing her even as Cid realized what an odious man he really was. He also delivered Benedikta's head in a box to Hugo and blamed her death on Cid, effectively instigating his years-long crusade wherein he became a major thorn on Clive's side and sank to incredible lows to get his revenge. It's strongly implied with Benedikta in particular that she may have not met such a tragic fate had it not been for Barnabas's corrosive influence.
- Dark Is Evil: He's almost always clad in dark clothing and armor, the Dominant of Odin, Warden of Darkness, and a madman who willingly throws his lot in with Ultima out of disgust for humanity.
- Dashing Hispanic: It's mentioned that he came from "southern lands", and he looks vaguely Spanish. However, his accent is Scandinavian, just like the rest of Waloed.
- Dead All Along: Barnabas voluntarily turned Akashic years ago, but as a Dominant retained his will and appearance, explaining his lack of aging.
- Desecrating the Dead: He's the one who butchered Benedkita's corpse and delivered her head to Hugo, successfully manipulating him into targeting Cid's forces.
- The Dragon: He's Ultima's main enforcer in Valisthea, willingly following his orders.
- Elite Mook: Revealed to be an Akashic who transformed of his own free will, retaining his consciousness.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Ultima uses his mother's appearance as one of his main looks, letting him rest his head on his lap while both are nude, indicating some sort of Oedipus complex.
- Evil Counterpart: Clive's most direct one. Both are dark-haired prodigious swordsmen who achieved renown at a young age and have awakened as Dominants. However, Clive was born into royalty but was passed over in the succession while Barnabas earned his throne purely through his skill. However, while Barnabas is implied to have been an idealist in the past, he has since become so desensitized by the cruelty of Valisthea that he willingly surrendered his will to Ultima, while Clive believes in the love between his fellow man and lives for the sake of humanity's free will.
- The Evils of Free Will: A believer of this, and perhaps why he's become so cynical of humanity in general. In the past forty years since becoming Waloed's monarch, Barnabas watched as Valisthea squabbled and waged wars over the Mothercrystals, betraying their fellow man and taking advantage of their plights. Unsurprisingly, Ultima wanting to make humanity Akashic resonated with Barnabas to the point of becoming Akashic himself, albeit one who managed to retain his senses.
- Evil Overlord: He fits nearly all the markings of this trope. Evil? Check. Frontline General who's also a Sorcerous Overlord? Check. Has powers over darkness? Check. Almost always seen in his big, black and intimidating suit of armor? Check. Owns a big, intimidating castle in the middle of a nearly-inhospitable wasteland? Check. Has hordes of beastmen, primarily orcs, at his beck and call? Check. Wants to conquer all of Valisthea? ...Not so much, as his own ambitions are second to fulfilling his true master Ultima's Evil Plan.
- Face Death with Dignity: After being bested by Clive, he forcefully transfers Odin to him and lies down on the ground, accepting his defeat and crumbling into aether.
- Fantasy Character Classes: While XVI lacks the classic Job System, in an interview with IGN the devs confirmed that Barnabas is meant to embody the Dark Knight archetype. He's even one of the living dead, much like the class motif in Final Fantasy XIV.
- Fights Like a Normal: While most Dominants are quite restrained in how they use their Eikons in combat, Barnabas is especially so thanks to Odin being an aether-hungry Glass Cannon. He mostly relies on the more aether-efficient semi-priming, fighting as a human with magically mighty weapons and armour rather than a towering kaiju, and saving a full prime for when he needs to quickly shut down a tough opponent with a flurry of attacks or rearrange the landscape with a single, massive blow.
- Freudian Excuse: It is heavily implied that Barnabas was separated from his mother as a young boy, and was forced to fend for himself in a foreign land since then. His motivation for serving Ultima is hinted to be in hopes of reuniting with her in the afterlife in exchange for enacting the will of Ultima, whom Barnabas believes is God. His last thoughts are also of his mother.
- Frontline General: Though he now possesses an army and navy strong enough to rival that of the other realms, Barnabas's character bio notes that he often prefers to ride into battle alongside his men and strike down his foes personally.
- The Fundamentalist: An eerily earnest and sincere example. Everything he does is based on the honest belief that humanity is where it is exclusively thanks to Ultima, and now it's time for him and the rest of his species to pay that debt. He gave the world everything, and now it's their duty and privilege to pay everything back.
- The Heavy: Toward the final act of the game, Barnabas acts as this for Ultima. While the latter can't physically intervene on account of being sealed, he's at least able to cause chaos by causing aetherfloods and creating Akashic. When it comes to antagonizing Clive, however, he leaves that particular task to Barnabas.
- Heel Realization: Downplayed, and ultimately subverted. After Clive defeats him, Barnabas realizes that Clive's words regarding strength of will might hold merit and wonders what he could have done if he hadn't submitted to Ultima. Clive rebukes him by saying he hadn't given up his will, he chose to follow Ultima of his own volition. Clive is proven correct when Barnabas forcibly transfers Odin's powers to him, thereby "completing" him as Ultima's vessel.
- Hellish Horse: Odin comes with an Eikonic horse, Sleipnir, which is just as large and capable of galloping in the air. Said steed has a human form who acts as his Lord Commander.
- Hidden Depths: Although Barnabas may act calm and composed, he's definitely worthy of being Odin's Dominant; when Clive manages to snap Odin's sword in half and destroy his steed, Barnabas becomes unhinged and can only laugh maddeningly and enthusiastically when he realizes that, in comparison to people who tried to claim his title and throne, Clive can give him the battle he's long craved for.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: The first playable fight against Barnabas ends with Clive's defeat after a DPS check that is too high to be cleared in time. It even has a variation of the "Enemy Defeated" message that says Clive has been defeated instead (complete with the victory jingle).
- Hope Spot: When the Free Cities are under siege from the Akashic, Barnabas arrives with his Lord Commander Harbard to meet with the guildmasters and leaders. The Kanver Guildmaster believes Barnabas is there to save them, calling him a gift from the heavens. Yeah, about that...
- Horrible Judge of Character: He faithfully serves Ultima under the belief that his "god" will create a new era of peace after rendering all of humanity Akashic and devoid of free will. He never once considered the idea that Ultima might actually despise humanity for being 'failures' and would much rather see them wiped out.
- Incest Subtext: To the extent that it might as well just be "text". Ultima appears to him in the form of his mother to manipulate him, he desperately craves her "love", and he's shown resting his head in Ultima-as-his-mother's lap while both are nude.
- Kneel Before Zod: He introduces himself like this to Clive when Joshua recognizes Barnabas as the king of Waloed.Barnabas: Indeed, you may kneel before Barnabas Tharmr… Warden of Ash and king of Waloed.
- Knight Templar: He's completely bought into Ultima's agenda and fully agrees with his contempt for humanity and the "salvation" that will come once Ultima terraforms the entire realm and takes it over.
- The Last Dance: Though it doesn't become clear to either Clive or the player that this is the case, Barnabas goes into his final battle with Clive expecting to die. In fact, his master's entire plan partially hinges on Clive taking Odin's power from Barnabas, something Barnabas is fully onboard with to the point of essentially forcing his powers upon Clive upon his final defeat.
- Laughing Mad: Upon seeing that Clive is finally able to put up a real fight against him, Barnabas's sanity seems to collapse as he bursts into insane laughter. He continues to do so throughout the rest of the fight.
- Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: In his Eikon form he battles with Dion's Eikon, whose status as the Warden of Light contrasts with Barnabas' Eikon's status as the Warden of Darkness.
- Master Swordsman: Is said to be the strongest swordsman in all of Valisthea, which can also be attributed to him being Odin's Dominant. He defeats Clive in a Curb-Stomp Battle the first time they clash without taking any damage.
- Misanthrope Supreme: He agrees with Ultima's contempt for all of humanity and works with him to exterminate them so that Ultima can terraform the realm, though it is Played With in that he believes Ultima will make a better version of humanity in the new world, not knowing that Ultima wants humans out of the picture entirely.
- Mysterious Past: While the backgrounds of other Dominants are known to an extent, Barnabas' origins are shrouded in mystery. He arrived in Ash from foreign southern lands as a mere wanderer with nothing but his name and the clothes on his back with no one certain as to where he came from, having become a Dominant at an exceedingly young age. He quickly built a reputation as a powerful warrior who eventually became the king of Waloed. While the circumstances of how he came to Ash remain a mystery, his mother's lore entry in Thousand Tomes reveals Barnabas grew up in the Circle of Malius with his mother before a rival cult came and wiped them out.
- Offscreen Teleportation: He somehow always seems to show up just out of Clive's sight wherever he goes. Part of it's because he has the Einherjar, the second-fastest ship in Valisthea, at his beck and call, and part of it is that teleportation does indeed turn out to be one of Odin's powers.
- Older Than They Look: He's been said to barely be a young man when he had taken control of Waloed, and forty years later he's mentioned to have hardly aged since his conquest. His final moments revealed that he became an Akashic able to pose as a human.
- Omnicidal Maniac: His main goal in life is to help God (Ultima) eat/enslave/slaughter his wayward creations, and while he refers to the Zombie Apocalypse he's creating as 'salvation', several throwaway lines during his speeches to Clive and his allies make it clear that he knows going Akashic is killing humanity, and he (at minimum) doesn't care in the slightest. It's the duty of servants of the divine to sacrifice themselves for its holy purpose, after all, and there's always the chance that the next life is better than this one.
- One-Man Army: As his character bio reveals, it is said that, by calling on the power of his Eikon, Barnabas managed to quell the rebellion initiated by the local beastmen nigh single-handedly, and in turn bring the entirety of the eastern continent of Valisthea under his command.
- Rags to Royalty: As noted in his character bio, he started as a mere wanderer with no land or title and managed to win a kingdom with his skill at arms.
- Red Baron: "The Last King". Fitting, as his realm is the last to fall.
- Religious Bruiser: He's a legendarily mighty warrior who was raised by the Circle of Malius, an ancient cult devoted to the worship of Ultima, and his devotion to his faith remains warped but deep and sincere. He's more or less the high priest of Ultima's new Akashic 'church', and a willing martyr to his god's cause.
- The Reveal: In his third and final fight with Clive, Barnabas reveals himself to be a sentient Akashic, something that should not be possible since A) he's a Dominant and they're immune to aetherfloods and B) all Akashic upon their transformation are mindless monstrosities who violently attack any living creature nearby.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Exaggerated - he's the apparently immortal warrior-king of an absolute monarchy, and pretty much every decision in Waloed goes through him. That's not even getting into the fact that he's the high priest of an Apocalypse Cult attempting to simultaneously bring about a Zombie Apocalypse and start multiple continent-spanning wars so that his god might reawaken and make humanity its lunch.
- Shout-Out:
- A painfully obvious one to Vergil from Devil May Cry (fitting as the maker of Devil May Cry 5's combat system had a hand in making XVI's). The color blue, the remote and ruthless personality, the Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas trope, serving as a tool of a dark god and several of his moves are based on Dante's elder twin. His climactic battle against Clive takes place atop a tower similar to the Temen-ni-gru, where Dante and Vergil had their first iconic duel, and it is even raining as well.
- His character shares many similarities with King Euron Greyjoy from A Song of Ice and Fire, from which XVI takes many influences from. They are both infamous warrior kings with uncanny youth that helm a signature flagship that strikes terror unto onlookers. They both surrender (or in Euron's case is planning to) themselves to the dark magicks of their world and plunge their entire world into oblivion. Also, Euron is known for helming a crew of obedient mutes that have their tongues cut out, while Barnabas has converted his entire kingdom into Akashics, zombies that are completely devoid of will but of their masters.
- Once he finally finds Clive to be a Worthy Opponent, he is overcome by genuine joy for the first time in generations, paralleling Zenos yae Galvus, a man who felt happiness for the first time in his life in a deathmatch against the protagonist. Unlike Zenos however, Barnabas is completely subservient to the will of another and genuinely did not expect to have so much fun in fighting Clive, where Zenos cares only for his "hunt" and actively seeks and engenders strong opponents. Like Zenos, he gleefully recognizes the impulse as self-destructive and does not expect to walk away from the fight alive.
- Tears from a Stone: As he dies, partially petrified after his battle with Clive, a single raindrop prominently runs down his face from his eye as he says he's returning home to his mother.
- Tin Tyrant: Fills the role of the Evil Overlord who's always wearing menacing black armor that Garland, Golbez, Gaius and many others filled in previous games in the franchise. He's able to summon his helmet using his powers of Darkness to complete the look, and his Limit Break Partial Transformation adds to it further by giving him Odin's signature horns. One major difference is that his armor isn't nearly as bulky or ornate as previous examples of this trope, likely due to this game's more realistic approach in character design — although he does gain those qualities when he's transformed as Odin.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Barnabas is implied to have been an idealist in the past. In the present day, however, he's turned into a Broken Ace because of the Crapsack World that is Valisthea, and all too happy to follow Ultima's plan to turn all of humanity into Akashic abominations.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Of The Evils of Free Will variety. After witnessing how bad of a Crapsack World Valisthea is for too long, Barnabas thinks humanity is better off stripped of their free will and made Akashic.
- Villainous Incest: Sports a very thinly veiled Oedipus Complex, and is completely and utterly insane.
- Villain Respect: Being aware of, complicit in, and actively working to further Ultima's Evil Plan, Barnabas freely acknowledges Clive as the Dominant whose potential exceeds his own. But he only develops a true respect for Clive as a warrior towards the end of their Final Battle.
- Villainous Valour: As Clive points out with frustration and grudging respect, he's astonishingly determined for a man who believes in the The Evils of Free Will. His sincere (if extremely unhealthy) love for his god is both his sharpest blade and toughest armour, letting him keep at his crusade for centuries and become the greatest mortal warrior on the planet. Unfortunately, Barnabas takes the most unhelpful possible lesson from this You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech and gains the determination to aid Ultima one last time by transferring Odin's power to Clive with his dying breath, completing him as a perfect vessel.
- Walking Spoiler: As all the white text might clue you in, Barnabas' true nature is a crucial twist to the game's larger story.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Clive acknowledges after his defeat that he was a true believer in his cause, although the cause itself was so batshit insane and so steeped in nihilistic despair that he verges on being a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist. He earnestly wanted to not only atone for humanity's sins in stealing its creator's power for its own selfish ends (translation:use their strength and intelligence for something other than Ultima's own self-serving whims), but to rescue them from the Vicious Cycle of war, resource depletion, and starvation by letting them die and be reborn in some better afterlife, either by becoming Akashic zombies or by being slaughtered by said Akashic zombies. When he dies, it's with delight that he'll be Together in Death with his mother.
- Wilfully Weak: He makes it clear from day one that he's trying to train Clive for his role, not kill him, and in their final battle, he expresses delight that his master's prize has grown strong enough to allow him to go all-out without compromising his mission. He also makes much shorter and more infrequent use of his Eikon during combat than the average Dominant, although as with Cid and Jill, this appears to be due to the more practical concern that he can't keep such a giant aether hog up and running for long (especially given how quickly and easily Ifrit knocks him out of his primes).
- World's Strongest Man: Tying in with his status as The Ace, Barnabas is one of the strongest characters in the setting. In his youth, he single-handedly conquered all of Ash and became the continent's ruler, and is one of the few people who can give Bahamut a run for his money. Even Clive struggles against him, losing twice and barely winning their third and final bout. To give you an idea as to how ludicrously powerful this man is, he can take on a Primed Jill all by himself without tapping into Odin's power once beyond summoning his sword. It takes Clive using six of the seven Eikonic powers he's gained including Ifrit's to finally beat Barnabas.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Near the end of the game, Barnabas accepts his master's orders to zombify his entire army with the Akashic illness, recycling their uselessness by turning them feral with aether.
Waloeder Military
Cidolfus Telamon
The previous Lord Commander of Waloed before his defection and subsequent disappearance. For more information regarding him, see his folder at the Protagonists page.
Sleipnir Harbard
Voiced by: Gunnar Cauthery (English), Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese)Foreign VAs
"One can no more command the power of aether by drowning in its flood than one can constrain the tides by standing in the sea."
Barnabas's new Lord Commander who seems to accompany him everywhere he goes.- Artificial Human: He's an Egi created by Odin. When Sleipnir is defeated and killed by Clive, Barnabas simply makes more clones of him.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: The first time he's fought, he's a powerful boss in his own right. When several clones of him appear at the Ironworks, they're weak enough that even Byron and Gav can fight them.
- The Dragon: He serves as this for Barnabas as the Lord Commander.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: The hair on one half of his hair is braided, while the other half is worn loose.
- Last-Name Basis: He only goes by Harbard until The Reveal that he is Sleipnir, an Artificial Human.
- Manipulative Bastard: He manipulates Kupka into entering the heart of Drake's Fang in order to stand a chance against Clive. This ultimately results in Hugo going berserk with the Mothercrystal's power, turning him into a purely feral monster.
- Meaningful Name: His surname Harbard (Hárbarðr, meaning "Hairy Beard") is one of Odin's epithets in Norse Mythology, signifying how in reality he and Odin (and by extension Barnabas) are one and the same. Not to mention that his given name, Sleipnir, is the same as Odin's horse in Norse Mythology, acting as further foreshadowing of him being an extension of Barnabas.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: After Hugo's defeat to Clive, Sleipnir punches Hugo out and carries him over his shoulder despite Hugo being a foot taller and weighing 200+ lbs more. Justified as he's not an actual human being but a Egi created by Odin.
- Pet the Dog: Allows a servant girl abused by Hugo to leave while he dealt with Hugo's Villainous Breakdown.
- Satellite Character: He doesn't receive much characterization beyond being Barnabas's Lord Commander and right-hand man. He's practically identical to his king in his motivations and mannerisms, with the only difference between the two characters being in their appearance and voice actor. Justified in that he's not even an actual person and never was one in the first place; for all intents and purposes, he's nothing more than an extension of Barnabas himself.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Sleipnir is the name of Odin's six-legged horse. Rather than a thematic coincidence, his name is actually Foreshadowing that he's more connected to Barnabas than a typical Master-Servant relationship.
- Touched by Vorlons: Much like Clive was gifted a sliver of power by the Dominant of the Phoenix, Sleipnir is able to use some of Odin's power gifted to him by Barnabas, including Teleport Spam or summoning Gungnir. At least that's what he claims to Clive, before he's revealed to have been created by Odin.
Waloeder Intelligence
Benedikta Harman
Voiced by: Nina Yndis (English), Akari Higuchi (Japanese)Foreign VAs
"What does it matter? It was the Dhalmeks who drove back the Crusaders in the battle of the Twin Realms, was it not?"
Dominant of Garuda, the Warden of the Wind. A spy in the service of the Kingdom, she is a woman noted to have a cold-hearted and ruthless disposition with a dark past. She shares Clive's goal in seeking out the second fire Eikon, Ifrit.- Alas, Poor Villain: Benedikta is no saint, but the game treats her descent into madness after believing Clive stole Garuda from her as rather tragic and pitiable, losing her sanity and awareness in the process of fully awakening her powers, which never actually left her. Later details reveal Barnabas seduced her away from Cid by appealing to her multiple insecurities and has been emotionally manipulating her ever since by subtly preying upon said insecurities, constantly making her question the stability of her life, status and position. In the aftermath of Clive butchering her as Ifrit, Cid lamentably wonders if the destruction and chaos was what she truly wanted or not.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Downplayed. Her character artwork and in-game sprite depict her with a feather-trimmed coat, a nod to her Eikon Garuda, a recurring summon of the Final Fantasy franchise with avian features. Her face is also curiously birdlike - delicate, but sharp and pointed.
- Bad Boss: She's not a very pleasant person to work for, to say the least. A merchant who provided her reliable information on the Fire Dominant gets beheaded for requesting a reward, and one of her own men is stabbed in the back for accidentally leading Clive and Cid right to her. The only underling who seems to be spared her callous disregard of life is Gerulf, whom she trusts unconditionally.
- Blood Knight: Not herself, exactly, but some of her facial animations show as Garuda positively giddy to engage in combat with Ifrit. Of course, by that point, Benedikta has officially crossed the Despair Event Horizon and blames Clive for him accidentally absorbing some of Garuda's powers from her, believing he'd cut her off entirely from them and rendered her 'useless' to Barnabas, meaning she's equally insane with vengeance against him, but more willing to play with her food when fighting him as a mortal human.
- Blow You Away: As the Dominant of Garuda, she can generate devastating gusts of wind.
- Character Tics: She tends to slouch at peculiar angles when standing, as if she's leaning on the air itself. Given her particular elemental affinity, she might be.
- Cute Monster Girl: When she channels Garuda.
- Dark Action Girl: She has a pretty good sword arm and as a Dominant of Garuda, she can channel upon Garuda’s powers and utilize them to her fullest capabilities against Clive and is the first major antagonist Clive faces off against.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The Ultimania reveals that she was born into a poor family in the countryside of Waloed. At the age of six she was sold to a wealthy family to be a servant girl and when she was fifteen she was almost killed by her Master for a theft she did even not commit, and it was on this occasion that Garuda awakened within her. After escaping she was attacked by bandits and she was saved by Cid, which started her love for him. She becomes a soldier of Waloed and because she is the Dominant of Garuda she is valued and manipulated by Barnabas, and due to wanting Never Be Hurt Again she accepts being used by him for years. After Cid discovers Barnabas' true nature and his plans, he leaves the kingdom and she comes to resent him, even though she remains in love with him. By the time the game's story begins, Benedikta has become a manipulative Femme Fatale who commits several reprehensible acts for the benefit of a genocidal king as a way to ensure she never becomes a victim again.
- Desecrating the Dead: While her body is left intact, if bloodied, following her battle with Ifrit, Barnabas has it decapitated, sending the head to Hugo with word that Cid was responsible to provoke him into going after the latter.
- Despair Event Horizon: She crosses it after Clive gets some of Garuda's powers, which she holds as both a core part of her identity, self-esteem and assurance of her status in Waloed to never fall back into the horrors she faced in her past, the source of her deep insecurities. Benedikta believes (incorrectly, as it turns out) that Clive has stolen all of Garuda's power from her. While this isn't true, it causes Benedikta to enter into a blind rage, attacking Clive. By that point, even Cid admits that Benedikta was too far gone to save, and that she had to be stopped for her own good.
- Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Rare female example, but she holds one even while in a diplomatic meeting, as she demonstrates in the first proper cutscene of the game.
- Dressed Like a Dominatrix: A form-fitting outfit that leaves little imagination to her body, in addition to feathers as a replacement for a furcoat and a tendency to step on people.
- Everyone Has Standards: She quotes that her kingdom values loyalty. So, it's not too surprising that when the fool brings up the topic, she "rewards" said traitorous villager with death rather than money after getting what she wants.
- Femme Fatale: A vicious deconstruction. Benedikta is a deadly and beautiful female spy who is shown sleeping around with several lovers to leverage their power for her own purposes. The deconstruction comes in the fact that she's doing this out of a very deep insecurity around never wanting to be a victim again, after a traumatizing and horrific past. As a result she constantly jumps from one powerful man to an even more powerful one. She goes from the noble Cid, to the more powerful but opportunistic Hugo, to the even more powerful but utterly insane Barnabas. The deconstruction is revealed in her scene in Barnabas' bedroom which may initially be seen as her manipulating him, but in hindsight is shown to be him gaslighting her and preying on her insecurities. These nurtured insecurities render her unable to accept Cid's offer as he is unwilling to appeal to her insecurities and as an outlaw hiding in a blighted region fighting an impossible uphill battle, he cannot offer her the stability and status she has been made to crave and is blind to the virtues of self-sacrifice, integrity, pursuing the greater good and prevailing over hardship that Cid enshrines. Ironically, if she had joined up with Cid, the combination of both their Dominant abilities could have made Cid's battle a lot less impossible, as later on Clive and Jill basically do this exact thing to great success.
- Foil: To Jill. Both spent time as slaves, fell in love with heroic men who saved them, but whereas Jill stayed with the one she loved until the end, through good times and bad times, Benedikta's insecurities prevented her from staying with Cid. Ironically, the woman who stayed despite the hardship ultimately ended up getting pretty much everything she wanted, whereas the one who kept pursuing power and safety ended up with nothing.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears what's essentially a leather catsuit that is also a Badass Longcoat.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Considering her lover Hugo is a giant to practically everyone, she'd be this with him by default.
- I Just Want to Be Free: Longing to not be persecuted for being a Dominant is what motivated Benedikta to move up in the ranks to a position where her power is valued. Unfortunately, there's nothing liberating about being someone's tool. A part of her realizes as much, but she clings to the station because the alternative would be going back to the bottom of the pecking order. Barnabas uses this to control her by making her constantly question the stability of her status in his kingdom.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: It's all but stated that Benedikta simply wants to run away from all the chaos of Valisthea with Cid. Her status as a Dominant gives her a hollow and fragile sense of fulfillment in place of this, one easily broken as seen upon being terrified what Barnabas would do to her upon thinking she'd lost her Eikon powers. It is implied that Barnabas managed to turn her away from Cid by appealing to her multiple insecurities in a manner Cid was unwilling to and then constantly making her question the security of her position to make her constantly prove herself to him, stoking her cruelty and selfishness, as well as making her deaf to Cid's logic and pleas. Tragically, her cruelty and selfishness sow the seeds for her own destruction with Cid unable to do anything except solemnly remark how she'd made it impossible to save her.
- Ice Queen: Puts on a cold, ruthless front around most people, and in many cases, she really can be a nasty piece of work. However, she is capable of being affectionate and loving, as shown in her interaction with Hugo, who was completely smitten by her, and both Cid and Barnabas have seen her at her most vulnerable, where it becomes clear that she's a fragile, traumatized girl who just wants to be loved.
- Ms. Fanservice: An attractive woman in a Spy Catsuit in a game that otherwise averts fanservice; she's also seen nude more often. (Albeit from the back).
- Power Loss Depression: Benedikta's arrogance is derived from her fighting skills and Dominant powers. Losing a fight to Clive, a man she considers beneath her, takes a huge blow to her ego but what really shatters her pride and mental state is when Clive seemingly absorbs her Eikon Garuda and leaves her powerless. Benedikta is so traumatized by this that she needs to be carried by her men and is utterly helpless when they are killed by bandits. As it turns out, Benedikta didn't actually lose Garuda and is able to transform into Garuda herself. Unfortunately, her unstable emotions transform her into a ferocious beast that acts only on destructive instinct and has to be put down by Clive.
- Rescue Romance: A flashback shows that Cid saved her from the men that abused her. They began a romantic relationship some time afterwards.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: She offs a villager who tries to sell out his village for money. Partially subverted as she was going to leave him alone, if only out of contemptious disregard, but then he opened his mouth about his confusion over her mistreatment of him when he had been "loyal".
- Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: She dresses fairly conservatively, but in contrast to Jill, the other female dominant, who dresses rather normally in comparison, Benedikta is Dressed Like a Dominatrix with a skin tight catsuit accentuating her figure.
- Sequential Boss: When fought as a boss, Clive has to first overcome her basic human form before facing the meat of the fight when she channels Garuda.
- The Spymaster: As her character bio on the game's official website notes, she acts as this for the Kingdom of Waloed.
- Starter Villain: While Final Fantasy XVI's first antagonists are technically Anabella and Emperor Lesage, Benedikta is the one who serves as the most prominent force of opposition in the game's opening chapters. She provides an overview of what Dominant bosses are like for the player as well as establishing how truly callous the story's primary antagonists are.
- Summon Magic: Much like her Final Fantasy XIV counterpart, Garuda is capable of calling Egis she refers to as her "sisters" to assist her in battle. When she loses control and transforms into Garuda proper, she summons dozens of such Egis over the Sanbrequois contryside. Notably, while Egis are supposedly meant to die with their summoner, two of her Egis persist for years after her death and appear as notorious marks, with Clive treating them as lingering remnants of Benedikta herself.
- Unholy Matrimony: She is Kupka's lover... as well as Barnabas', and an old flame of Cid's, her one true love.
- The Vamp:
- She is aware of her feminine charms and not afraid to use them as a weapon, like attempting to seduce Clive rather than fight him when he first confronts her, only turning hostile when he makes it clear he won't be so easily won over.
- It's implied her relationship with Hugo is her manipulating him. She's seen smirking to the camera when he hugs her in the prologue. Hugo mentions he and her were going to be king and queen of the world, but that runs counter to her servitude of Barnabas, and losing Barnabas' approval is clearly what she's worried about when she's defeated, indicating her loyalty to him is genuine.
- Ironically, attempting this with Barnabas is actually a form of control he holds her over. He uses it to emotionally manipulate her and stoke her insecurities while portraying himself as the escape from the sources of her insecurities, making her constantly seek his approval by having her question the stability of her status in his inner-circle and going to new heights of cruelty and desperation to prove herself to him. True enough, the Inner Voice feature shows that her thoughts of Barnabas in her later scenes are encapsulated with the words "He'll abandon me like all the rest."
- Villainous Breakdown: She has one after her loss to Clive, believing him to be another bog-standard Branded soldier, unaware he's the Dominant of Ifrit. It gets so bad she’s unable to defend herself in a fight due to her mental state and has to rely on Gerulf and her other soldiers to escort her away from Clive. It gets progressively worse as she’s cornered by bandits after they kill Gerulf and the others and reminded of her past vulnerabilities, transforming into a berserk Garuda as she succumbs to despair and rage.Benedikta: You are but a Branded… I— I— How!? How did you do it? How did you even survive!? HOW!?
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Benedikta is the first real boss that really tests how good you are at dodging, and the first to seriously punish you for mashing. She's also a lot sturdier than the previous bosses fought beforehand.
- What the Hell Are You?: Almost says this word for word following her defeat at Clive's hands.
- Winged Humanoid: Both as Garuda and in her Partial Transformation, she has wings.
Gerulf
Voiced by:
Benedikta's second in command of the intelligencers, and her loyal follower.
- Number Two: Gerulf is Benedikta's second, and perhaps her most loyal.
- Undying Loyalty: He shows nothing but care and concern for Benedikta, even when he has to drag her to safety after she's frozen in the midst of her Villainous Breakdown. For Benedikta's part, his death seems to shake her out of the initial shock of losing her Eikon.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He is introduced following Benedikta's orders and relaying information to her, but in the process of dragging Benedikta to safety he is unceremoniously and abruptly offed by bandits.
Eistla
Edda
Voiced by: Maya Lindh (English), Yuna Kamakura (Japanese)Foreign VAs
A woman from the Waloeder village of Eistla.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's never truly explained why she was unaffected by the Aetherfloods, only that it has something to do with her pregnancy. Clive and Gav surmise it's most likely due to her unborn child being a Bearer, and thus protecting her to an extent. Having said that, she most definitely needed to be evacuated to the Hideaway as only Dominants are truly immune, while she was on borrowed time at most.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: She is the last survivor of a village (or rather, a whole continent) that, as far as she knew, wasn't going to get any help. Roves of mindless Akashic and Orcs are outside her door and it is only a matter of time until she is found or starves to death. Thankfully, Clive and Gav rescue her and bring her to safety.
- Meaningful Name: Edda is the name of the two main sources of Norse mythology, Poetic Edda and Prose Edda. Edda is also the name of one of the women impregnated by the god Heimdall (also known as Rígr or Rig) in the Eddic poem Rígsþula, which describes Heimdall fathering the social classes of mankind. The poem states that she gave birth to a son who became the progenitor of the race of slaves. As for this game's Edda, her child would be the last Bearer to have been born as the source of all magic was destroyed on the same night.
- Sole Survivor: She is the only person who survived the aetherflood that swept through her village. Clive and Gav theorize it to be due to her unborn child, who may have been protecting her as a Bearer. She is also one of the last survivors in all of Ash, and the only one encountered throughout the main storyline (a sidequest reveals one other, a child). Thankfully, she is brought to live in the hideaway.
- Teen Pregnancy: Downplayed. According to the Ultimania book, she's only seventeen years old, though in a medieval fantasy setting, this is likely considered an adult age.
