WMG / Final Fantasy XVI

Pre-release Theories

Joshua will die before the timeskip.

It's the most obvious trigger to send Clive on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, and the official website notes that Joshua is caught up in the tragic events that change his brother's life.

• Confirmed. Joshua is killed by Ifrit at the end of the prologue.

... but come back to life before the end of the game.

It's significant that the "usual" Eikon of Fire in this universe is The Phoenix instead of series staple Ifrit. Aside from both being fire elementals and Ifrit typically being portrayed as one of the weaker/early game summons versus Phoenix as one further in the story, there is one notable difference in their powersets: Phoenix's Resurrective Immortality.

If Joshua is killed, it's possible it will be part of an in-universe reveal about the true nature of Phoenix as an Eikon linked to life itself, with a story reveal that Joshua was either Faking the Dead throughout the timeskip as a safety measure, or had his resurrection indefinitely impeded by his assailant.

• While we do see Ifrit brutalize Phoenix in the demo, and Annabella claims he's "gone", the two Eikons disappeared in an explosion...
• Confirmed, the Phoenix revived Joshua who has been living in secret under the name "Margrace".

Clive is actually a dominant himself.

More specifically, he's the dominant of the Dark Eikon of Fire Ifrit. This is hinted at in both trailers and the released information, which states that Clive was originally thought to have inherited his father's role as Phoenix's dominant, but that it passed to Joshua instead. If nothing else, Clive is part of a family that has an affinity with fire, thus it wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

The Dominance trailer adds more fuel to this by featuring many Eikons, but the only one that is directly shown as playable is Ifrit, much like how only Clive has so far been shown as playable. Additionally, at the Eikons and their (so far revealed) Dominants are featured in something of a roll call at the end of the trailer, with Ifrit being the last shown without his Dominant... seemingly, as after the logo is shown, we're treated to a scene of Clive surrounded by flames as a voice says "Awaken, child of fate. Awaken, Ifrit." as a final shot of two Ifrit's are seen battling each other.

At the least, there's a clear connection being drawn between Clive and Ifrit beyond the latter being the subject of Clive's revenge. What exactly it is remains to be seen.

• Partly confirmed; Clive's Eikon form is a blue-eyed version of Ifrit, in contrast to the red-eyed version he hates.
  • Entirely confirmed; the red-eyed version is just a manifestation of Clive's lack of control over Ifrit.

Clive is the Ifrit that we see fighting Phoenix, and couldn't control himself at the time.

As a person of the same bloodline as the Fire Dominant, Clive may have his own latent Fire Dominant powers that he's unaware of. He may be chasing after an enemy who was able to not only forcefully awaken his powers, but bait Ifrit into battling Phoenix when Clive was not in control of its instincts or his own body, causing him to bear the guilt of possibly killing his own brother while still giving him an enemy to chase down for his Roaring Rampage of Revenge.

The "Dark" Ifrit seen in the second trailer then could be either a case of Enemy Without, a Battle in the Center of the Mind for dominance over his instincts, or someone else Power Copying him for once.

• Entirely confirmed. The hooded man seen in the prologue is a hallucination that forced his first transformation, and the "Dark" Ifrit fight is an internal struggle for Clive to accept his powers.

Clive isn't from the line of Phoenix Dominants at all.

If Eikonic powers are passed down through bloodlines, then it's possible Phoenix's powers "skipped" Clive because one of his parents had an affair with someone from the unknown Ifrit Dominant bloodline, or the archduke's family secretly adopted him unaware of his Dominant heritage. One of the Ifrits we see, and whoever he is trying to take revenge upon, may be a long-lost relative of Clive.

• To add to this, the Iron Kingdom shares the Mothercrystal Drake's Breath, aka the Fire Crystal, with the Grand Duchy of Rosaria. And while in Rosaria the Dominants are instated as its Archdukes, in the Iron Kingdom, they are seen as abominations and immediately executed. So it is possible that Clive is actually a Dominant from the Iron Kingdom who somehow managed to escape, or was rescued and then adopted into the Rosfield family.
• Annabella is from a noble family known for producing Dominants, which means that true to European monarchy (and Rosaria's "traditionalist" nature), the line of the Archduke is uniquely comprised of generations of inbreeding as Annabella's family tree wraps back in on itself. Joshua is shown to be a frail and sickly child, with Clive showing concern that Joshua's use of magic makes his condition worse, which could be a product of such inbreeding weakening the heirs to the bloodline. If that's true, then Clive's able-bodied nature would be a big hint that he doesn't share that lineage.
• In the end, we never learn. Annabella claims that Clive is her failure of a son, and yet, Elwin was really good at finding and bringing Dominants and Bearers under his wing. One of the rumors Annabella fended off was that Clive was actually the son of a concubine rather than her own. For all we know, the real Clive may have had even worse medical problems and their corpse was discretely swapped with baby Clive.

Clive is the true Dominant of Ifrit, but whoever fought Phoenix isn't.

The "Dark" Ifrit will be someone wielding a copy of the Dominant of Ifrit's powers through some older sorcery, specifically to provoke Clive and force him to awaken to his own Eikon powers.

• There's enough of the opening sequence from the demo to make it a truly Ambiguous Situation. Clive sees a figure made of fire right before the explosion that manifests Ifrit, but we don't know if Murdoch saw it too before Ifrit appeared — only that the pyre was large enough it should have consumed Clive like it did Murdoch. Ifrit takes the fight with Phoenix outside the keep; Clive is stirred by Torgal and able to witness Ifrit battling Phoenix from a distance, before both are consumed in an explosion in the forest outside. Clive is then found unconscious back inside the courtyard, where he was when Ifrit first manifested; the soldiers think the rubble may have shielded him from the explosion. This leaves several questions:
  • How did Clive witness the battle if he had been unconscious the whole time? Alternately, if Clive was the wild Ifrit, how did he witness the battle from a distance? Was he somehow seeing through someone else's eyes?
  • How was Clive found back inside the courtyard? If he wasn't the one using Ifrit, why wasn't he obliterated? If he was the wild Ifrit, why was he found unconscious in the same spot where Ifrit manifested, rather than outside the keep where it vanished? Did someone move him while he was unconscious?
• Jossed. The hooded figure is a hallucination Clive sees that pushes him to transform into Ifrit for the first time.

Alternatively, Clive is something else entirely from outside the Dominant system.

The Awakening trailer showed Clive using attacks that slashed at opponents with fiery wings, likely related to his role as the Phoenix Dominant's protector and possibly a dormant power of his bloodline, not unlike Noctis' ability to grant his guardians a sliver of his royal power. However, the Dominance trailer expands Clive's arsenal, showing him casting Diamond Dust and summoning Garuda's talons, Titan's fist, Odin's spear and Ramuh's scepter.If having a second Eikon of the same element is supposed to be impossible, then having someone wielding the power of multiple Dominants simultaneously should be further still. With the revelation of there being two Ifrits and one of them implied to be Clive, it's possible that Clive's yet-to-be-explained All Your Powers Combined ability goes beyond just Power Copying from Eikons he has fought or been blessed by, and all the way to mimicking an Eikon's form whether or not he is a Dominant for that Eikon.

• Confirmed. Ultima calls Clive "Mythos", a vessel cultivated for their return to the world, and part of Ifrit's role to prepare him for this is stealing the powers of Dominants.

Jill will be behind Joshua's death and be the one Clive swears revenge on

The combat shown so far involves switching between the Eikon powers of your allies, but Jill is the only one of the main characters revealed on the main site who has no Eikon and thus doesn't fit into this system. Whatever role gives her her top billing, it doesn't seem to be as a party member. Meanwhile, the person Clive swears to kill is not yet revealed, even though you'd expect them to be a major player in the story. Jill's backstory involves her homeland fighting against Rosaria, losing, and her becoming a political hostage, so it would make sense for her to secretly be antagonistic against the princes. Maybe she even kills Joshua and steals the power of the Phoenix, since the logo is of the Phoenix and Ifrit battling each other. Alternatively she could be behind the second Ifrit seen in the second trailer.

• Jossed; Jill is confirmed to be the Eikon of Shiva, and is shown to be still a trusted ally of Clive after whatever tragedy happened.
  • Definitely jossed, as we see Ifrit and Phoenix fight in the demo and Jill is not part of it. A blink-and-miss-it line even says she's back in Rosalith during the Phoenix Gate attack.

Clive's battle companions throughout the game:

Considering a Manual Leader, A.I. Party was confirmed, throughout the game he will have Benedikta, Hugo, Jill, and even Joshua joining him at different times (perhaps not all at once). He may come to blows with Benedikta and Hugo but it will lead to Defeat Means Friendship. One constant he will have is Torgal, who will be with him through most (if not all) of the story.

• Joshua is confirmed to be playable while Jill is shown to be a party member in the State of Play.
• Benedikta and Hugo are Clive's enemies for their entire presence in the game, and die after they're confronted by Ifrit. Joshua does however return as a party member.

FF16 will have its graphics working upwards by console release.

It will first be released on the Switch where it'll have okay-above average graphics compensated by good gameplay, then the latest X-box and PS5 with improved graphics and finally, PC for a HD release.

• Jossed. FF16 was announced only for the PlayStation 5.

The guy who says "our kind do not question orders" in the [FF16] trailer will be a major villain, though probably not the Big Bad

Because he's shouting down a troop of his in response to a worry that they're getting into a pointless battle. That's got Colonel Kilgore or My Master, Right or Wrong all over it. I'm betting he's worst version of whoever the tattooed people are, presumably Super Soldiers given how the main character didn't always have that mark on his face.

• Jossed. Despite shades of being a Drill Sergeant Nasty, he and Clive have a Mentor-Student relationship. Clive isn't thrilled about killing him, but does so early on to protect Jill, making a case of We Hardly Knew Ye.

This game will still be a Science Fantasy, but only during the second half.

In the same vein as 9, the first half of the game will be a throwback to Classic High Fantasy; Game-Of-Thrones like European Medieval Fantasy with gameplay as a cross between The Witcher and Bloodborne. The game will be suspiciously short, and depressingly bleak, as the protagonist dies and is disintegrated to save the world from the Blight.And then a giant "Press A To Insert Disc 2" screen will show up.The second half of the game reveals the protagonist survived, only to end up in another world entirely. In their efforts to discover a way home, they also discover the benefits of science, the freedom of 'degenerate' expression, and the injustices of caste inequality. They also discover some horrifying things about their supposed medieval paradise. Rather than save the world as they did in 'Disc 1', they return to their world as a conqueror, to destroy the Mother Crystals and bring true freedom to the enslaved peasants of their Crapsaccharine World.

• With the Dominance trailer out, I will add to the theory that the Blight is actually Hostile Terraforming by Abusive Precursors who view Valisthea as a resource, with them orchestrating wars to exploit its people - the reason Ifrit is an "impossible Eikon" was that they attempted to control Phoenix, only for its wrath at being forced into becoming a weapon against life and desire to be free to manifest as Ifrit - he is a destructive Eikon, because he's effectively an immune response by the world to being exploited.
• Final verdict: this WMG cast so wide of a net in a left-field direction that some parts ended up touching the truth but most of it is jossed. XVI blends in Science Fantasy elements in true Final Fantasy fashion, and the "Hostile Terraforming by Abusive Precursors who view Valisthea as a resource" bit is partly correct (the Blight largely being a side-effect of this). However, Clive's adventures remain entirely within Valisthea, the wars were started by humans squabbling over diminished resources, said precursors have no interest in humanity or its wars (except to motivate and manipulate key figures towards their goals), and their ultimate goal was centered around controlling the Dominant of Ifrit all along.

The bearded man seen in the "meeting" between Benedikta and Hugo, and also seen naked in bed with Benedikta is an older Clive

He is a recurring character in both trailers, but so far he is the most mysterious; there isn't much to glean about who he is from the trailers, unlike basically every other major character who has been seen. He sort of looks like Clive too, with his short wavy hair. However, the biggest evidence is that in the press release following the second trailer, it was stated that the story will take place over three segments:during Clive's teens, his 20s, and then his 30s. We have clearly seen Clive in his teens and 20s, but nothing explicitly during his 30s yet. So the bearded man could very well be Clive during the final segment of the game.

• Seemingly jossed by the release of the "Ambition" trailer which seems to confirm that the bearded man is actually Barnabas Tharmr, Dominant of Odin and King of Waloed.

The red-eyed Dark Ifrit is an Evil Knockoff of the true, Dark Is Not Evil Ifrit.

It will turn out that the "Dark Eikon" is just a magically produced clone created from an Eikon who, while not friendly, personifies both fire's ability to destroy and purify, and possibly innovate - because he was already terrifying, the Big Bad created Dark Ifrit to turn the real one into The Scapegoat.

• Jossed. The red-eyed Ifrit is Clive without any control over the transformation.

The sheer scale of the war will warp the nations into twisted ironies of their former ideologies.

An Aesop that nothing will stay the same forever, especially if it lives longer and experiences more horror than you.

• The 'traditionalist' Rosarians will, influenced by Clive's growing corruption and ruthlessness, become The Unfettered and willing to do anything to win. While this ensures their prosperity as free enterprise flourishes, any dignity or respect for history is thrown out the window and the whole countryside becomes violent hicks.
• The 'ambitious' Sanbrequians will, broken by their emperor's Ambition Is Evil, become insular and depopulated, desperate for immigrants, and shall wallow in their self-pity as the last dregs of class give way to interracial marriages.
• The 'mercantile' Dhalmekians will, destroyed by the Wild Chaos brought about by the Blight, transition from a merchant empire to a Might Makes Right anarchy just to survive the constant monster attacks.
• The 'isolationist' Waloedians will, with the loss of their self-made king, be forced to open up their borders and give rights to orcs and other metahumans.
• The 'religious' Irons will, after learning of the deception and hypocrisy of the theocracy, turn completely to science and technology, now obsessed and fascinated with the Dominants instead of hostile and violent - which will be even worse, as the Dominants will instead be experimented on for decades.
• And of course, all of the above's fortunes will shift in the opposite direction to what they believe it has become. The 'broken' Sanbrequians will build the foundations of a new Federation, while the 'ascendant' Rosarians will become proto-Fascists doomed to eventual monstrosity.
  • The demo does appear to joss all this, given that Rosaria seems to cease to exist by the end of the prologue; it appears to have been wholly conquered by Sanbreque.
  • Fully jossed by the end of the game, as the leadership structures of all of these empires (except possibly Rosaria) are dead and their capitals are entirely in ruins.

Agni will be in this game.

Somehow.

• There is a Notorious Monster hunt mark named Agni, but otherwise it has no relation to the Agni from Agni's Philosophy.

The game will be best described as God of War meets Game of Thrones

Most of the setting is about a war of bloodthirsty armies controlled by sociopathic backstabbing aristocrats in an ever-shifting dance of death that happens to use giant, fire(-and-ice-and-lightning-and-wind-and-earth-and-blade-and-eldritch)-breathing giant monsters as champions.

And then some upstart mortal with an excessive glut of pure raging power comes in and smashes all the power players, one by one, until he's inadvertently doomed the world to a slow chaotic death.

• This article confirms they definitely used Game of Thrones as a Whole-Plot Reference.
• Confirmed. Though Asura's Wrath might fit better.

There is a secret "king" Eikon with All Your Powers Combined. Clive is its Dominant.

The final shot of the "Ambition" trailer is an illustration of several of the Eikons at war, with one in silhouette above all — a humanoid figure with four wings and elaborate horns. Looking closely, many of this figure's features can be traced to other Eikons already seen, possibly an amalgam or progenitor of them with status over all of the others seen.The game will set this figure up as an elder god and potential final boss, possibly with a cult devoted to it, only to reveal that it's the source of Clive's Power Copying abilities.

• Ifrit might be its incomplete or sealed form, and it's using Clive to try and reclaim its power by absorbing bits of every other Eikon.
• Confirmed. Said King Eikon Ultima created Ifrit, whose true form is a being called Mythos, to act as a base for their new physical vessel.

Leviathan will appear in a DLC expansion.

Water is the only core element of the franchise that isn't represented among the known Eikons, despite two Eikons of Fire. Of course, with most of the story taking place inland, it's probably inconvenient to have a Dominant of Water appear in the main story. A DLC episode could be added later with a side-story to explore off the coast of Valisthea, where the Dominant of Leviathan has been living in secret to avoid being tangled up in the war between kingdoms, using their powers to turn ships away; said episode would be a side-quest to unlock Leviathan's powers, but would not impact the events of the core story.

• Early on Cid confirms that there are only eight Eikons — one for each element — when he's casting his doubts on the existence of a second Eikon of Fire. Without Ifrit, that only leaves 7 from the other confirmed pre-release Eikons. This confirms the existence of one other Eikon, and leaves only Water unrepresented of the elemental magics seen.
• The mural depicting all of the Eikons appears to have the image of Leviathan on the right-hand side, just above Bahamut and to the right of Shiva. Joshua refers to it as the 'Lost' Eikon.
• Confirmed with The Rising Tide DLC.

Leviathan hasn't appeared yet because the Iron Kingdom people murder their Dominants

We know that the rulers of the Iron Kingdom kill any Dominants they find. Leviathan just doesn't have any Dominants to manifest through.

• Leviathan was 'lost.' The Rising Tide reveals that the Dominant of Leviathan was a baby boy who was frozen in time to prevent the Eikon's powers from annihilating all of Mysidia.

Alternatively, Leviathan's Dominant is hidden away and eventually becomes a major player in the war

Leviathan put up with the Iron Kingdom murdering all its Dominants until the conflict over Drake's Breath with Rosaria - noted to be "long a source of contention" between the two - escalated. Leviathan didn't want a Dominant-to-Dominant conflict, as Archdukes presumably get trained in combat and would steamroll whoever Leviathan's untrained and possibly unknowing Dominant turned out to be, so influenced their Dominant to hide out on some island somewhere, making them aware of their power and influencing them to train but otherwise keeping them out of the way.

Enter Clive and Jill, who encounter Leviathan's Dominant somehow and are compelled to throw hands. Leviathan's Dominant gets stomped and decides that this is the perfect opportunity to use their skills against a kingdom that would see them all dead and, on a larger scale, an empire who seems to be starting all this war stuff in the first place.

• Jossed, Leviathan doesn't make a physical appearance in the base story whatsoever, only being mentioned as 'lost,' and its status is eventually cleared up in The Rising Tide DLC which does not affect the game's ending.

Gilgamesh will get involved somehow.

Whether it's in the base game or DLC as the dimension hopping warrior, or this world's own version like XV's is anyone's guess.

• Jossed in the main game. Most likely DLC, if at all.

Clive will become the Dominant of Phoenix, in addition to Ifrit.

The State of Play trailer shows that Phoenix will be doing battle with Bahamut, most likely very late in the story. Clive (in his 20s-30s) is shown reuniting with Joshua, who somehow hasn't aged a day since the fall of Rosaria. This will turn out to be the spirit of a deceased Joshua (or some collective of past Phoenix users with Joshua's form as their interface), who will posthumously entrust the last of his power to Clive late in the story, giving him the unique power to switch between Eikon forms so he can do battle in the skies.

• Semi-Confirmed: Clive gains wings in his Ifrit form and eventually inherits all of Joshua's power. (He does not, however, gain the ability to turn into Phoenix itself, nor was Joshua actually dead at the time of that vision.)

Bahamut is strongly connected to the Mothercrystals

All of the Mothercrystals that have been revealed share a similar naming convention: Drake's Breath, Drake's Tail, etc. It's possible that Bahamut might have something to do with their creation. The fact that Dion's empire is situated around Drake's Head in particular lends some credence to this theory.

• The launch trailer showing Ifrit fighting Bahamut to a backdrop of lots of crystals would seem to support this.
• Semi-confirmed; Bahamut draws on enough power from Drake's Tail that he reshapes it (something no other Eikon is shown to do). He even eats the heart of a Mothercrystal in order to attain a new form, though this feat was pulled off by Titan before him.
• Mostly jossed though: Bahamut has less to do with the existence of the Mothercrystals than Ifrit does.

Ifrit doesn't draw power from the Mothercrystals, but from the Blight

That might explain why there can be two Dominants of Ifrit: as the Blight grows stronger, it is able to root itself in more hosts. It's also subtly influencing them to kill other Eikons in order to weaken the Mothercrystals somehow.

• Jossed; Ifrit draws power from all the other Eikons.

The Blight is a result of humans overusing the Mothercrystals' power, particularly Dominants

Just as Primals in Final Fantasy XIV consume massive amounts of aether to sustain themselves, Eikons draw huge amounts of aether from the Mothercrystals. The Blight is what happens when all the aether in an area is consumed, leaving the land unable to sustain life.

• Jossed; while the Blight is the result of overuse of magic, it predates the Mothercrystals even existing. Even if humans didn't use the Mothercrystals, they were programmed to overuse themselves, and then give that aether to the Big Bad.

Bearers will be subjected to a form of Fantastic Racism from nearly every kingdom that will grow over the course of the game

As the Blight grows, humans will start looking to point fingers wherever they can. They'll start accusing Bearers of using magic for "selfish" purposes or blaming them for "stealing" magic from the Mothercrystals. There already appears to be some discrimination against them shown in the trailers - they seem to all be branded very visibly on the face and are often referred to as "Branded" instead of Bearers.

• Confirmed. At its worst, a mother casually insults her newborn son for being Branded, gives him to government slavers, and plans on conceiving another. When her older son asks about the baby, she claims it wasn't his brother.

Clive will lose his arm while in human form

That's why it looks like Ifrit's arm after the timeskip. Eikons can regenerate their limbs, but doing so while human doesn't entirely work.

• Confirmed, Clive has a replacement arm granted by Ifrit.
  • Not really, this is jossed. Clive does lose his arm, but only in Ifrit form, and like all Eikons his limb regenerates. His human arm looks normal for the entirety of the game... until the very end when it turns to stone, but that is unrelated.

Hildibrand Manderville will somehow make an appearance.

Or at least an Expy of him. Considering that this game is developed by the same people behind Final Fantasy XIV, it wouldn’t be too unexpected to see the gentleman inspector show up giving the game some needed comedic relief.

• Jossed. No such character appears in the main game.

Torgal will become the dominant to Fenrir.

• Think about it, sole doggo companion in a game about people being able to transform into the iconic summons of the final fantasy series. Add to that its one more place for Torgal to aid Clive.
  • Semi-confirmed. Torgal is the descendant of a rare breed of wolves, the Fenrirs, who can become Bearers by bonding with Dominants - particularly, the Dominants of Shiva. Fenrir is not an Eikon, however.

The Fallen, or the Sole Survivor of their civilization, will be the Big Bad, and the creators of the Mothercrystals

From the demo, we know that at some point Clive becomes suspicious of the Mothercrystals, as his narration says that the light of the crystals also contains temptation that keeps luring humanity back into the darkness. Since we already know the Fallen died in an apocalypse that left only their Constructs and what little can be reverse-engineered, my theory is that they created the crystals to harness aether but their reckless use of it resulted in a resource shortage and from there, war. In the modern day, what is left of them want to prevent the destruction of the world, but don't want to give up the influence the Mothercrystals allow them to have on modern humans, and have been using the Blight to crush any modern civilization that looks dangerously close to breaking free of their dependency on the crystals. As part of the theme that "Ifrit is more terrifying than actually malevolent", they've given him and his Dominants a bad name because he instinctively understands the Mothercrystals are not natural and his rampages are trying to remove the infection slowly killing the world, with his dislike of Phoenix due to Phoenix being aligned with the Fallen.

• Confirmed. Said sole survivor is Ultima, the former god of The Fallen. Ultima's Evil Plan is to absorb the world's aether to re-attain their godhood, grooming Clive to become their physical vessel.
  • Er, not quite. Ultima was not one of the Fallen, who were normal humans who existed centuries ago. Many of them did worship Ultima, however. Some of their people tried to rebel against their gods and destroy the Dzemekys Mothercrystal, leading to Ultima's retaliation in the form of the Sins of Dzemekys. Remnants of this religion formed the Circle of Malius, which is still followed somewhat to this day, most prominently by Barnabas. So this is jossed.

Clive isn't related by blood to the Rosfields.

This would explain not only why he is not the Dominant of Phoenix, but why he can become the Dominant of Ifrit (which wasn't known to be a thing, let alone run in the Rosfield's bloodline) as well as exhibiting powers of several other Eikons, which almost certainly isn't normal for anybody. Also, Elwin seems to have a habit of returning from war campaigns with orphans.

• Seemingly jossed. Clive is said to be Elwin's son throughout the game and even resembles him, and he and Joshua are full brothers. Anabella also mentions giving birth to him.

Dark Ifrit is a Disc-One Final Boss

Through Clive's pursuit and his own eventual awakening as Ifrit's Dominant, he and the others will discover that there are 'dark' versions of every Eikon and his journey will end with defeating most to all of them (save a few that might be held back as Superbosses) and whoever or whatever created them and/or the Blight.

• Jossed. There are only eight Eikons, nine if Leviathan the Lost is included.

Anabella is the Dominant of Bahamut

She wears purple, which is the color Bahamut is often portrayed with.

• Jossed, the Dominant of Bahamut is Dion, and Bahamut is associated with blue and white in this entry.

Ifrit's beatdown of Joshua's Phoenix was fueled by Clive's buried resentment

It's clear Clive loves his brother and father, but he isn't treated as part of their family because of stuff beyond his control due to his mother. Deep down he resents his father and brother for not standing up to his mother for how he is treated, and when Ifrit awoke it latched on to that buried frustration and took it out on Joshua even as Clive's conscious self was begging him to stop.

• Jossed, Clive had absolutely no envy or resentment towards his younger brother, a sickly child, and became a Shield of Rosaria to be the strength he knew Joshua needed. Elwin stood up to Anabella all the time, a factor in why she had him killed.

Every element, with the possible exception of Light and Darkness, is meant to have two Eikons.

Much like Final Fantasy III, Darkness is just as important to the world's wellbeing as Light. However, the in-universe belief that Dark Is Evil has led to the Dark Eikons and their dominants erased from official records with the exception of their leader, Odin, who only remains known because Darkness is its own element. The officially known Eikons, Phoenix, Shiva, Ramuh, Garuda, and Titan answer to Bahamut, while the five corresponding forgotten Eikons answer to Odin. In addition to Ifrit, candidates for the Dark Eikons include Fenrir for Ice, Quetzalcoatl or Ixion for Lightning, Midgarsormr or Hecatoncheir for Earth, and Pandemona for wind. At the time of this writing, it is unknown if Water exists as its own element or if it has been lumped in with Ice. If Water is its own element, then Leviathan and Bismarck will be its Eikons; there is no telling which one will be Light and which one will be Dark. If Water and Ice are one element, then Leviathan will be Shiva's dark counterpart.

• Jossed.

Dion is actually a good guy

Or Affably Evil, or a Well-Intentioned Extremist, et cetera. In the Salvation trailer, he asks somebody if they believe what he is about to do is wrong, and he even says "tell me true" like he cares about their opinion. Later in the trailer, he says "The darkness has taken hold of you. It has made you forget yourself" over footage of Ifrit and Bahamut fighting, sounding concerned - and who else could he be addressing but Clive?

• Confirmed. He's actually only reluctantly obeying his father's orders ever since Anabella became his wife, and his words of "The darkness has taken hold of you. It has made you forget yourself" were actually directed at his father when he finally decided enough was enough, and his questioning about the rightness of what he is about to do is directed about his having finally chosen to rebel and force his father to see reason and that Anabella is just using him.

The Crystalline Dominion has an Eikon, Alexander

Things being combined to make a greater whole is a theme with the Dominion - both with the warring nations agreeing to form the Dominion and the ruling council having representatives specifically from multiple nations, and in Final Fantasy XIV Alexander was made of the namesake primal and several component parts. Alexander didn't bother choosing Dominants out of a desire to not cause unnecessary conflict or to encourage the country to remain stationary... that is, until the game. Alexander sees something as a threat - maybe other Dominants, maybe just imperial expansion - and chooses a Dominant itself, making the Dominion a surprise player in the war.

Bonus points if it turns out that the above WMG about every element having two Eikon is true, since Alexander could be the second light Eikon. From what little we know about the Dominion, it seems to be a contrast to the Empire - countries who stopped fighting over a Mothercrystal and collectively got representative democracy, as opposed to Sanbreque enforcing imperial will on lesser states and expanding to seemingly grab Mothercrystals.

• Nope.

Phoenix doesn't pass down Dominance through blood

Odin, Ramuh and Titan picked their Dominants seemingly without regard for blood - the website makes reference to Barnabas and Hugo being "titleless" and "nameless" respectively, and Cid apparently became Ramuh's Dominant soon after he came to Valisthea. We don't know a lot about how Garuda, Shiva, or Bahamut choose their Dominants, since Benedikta and Jill's pasts are deliberately obtuse so far, but since Sanbreque separates the posts of Holy Emperor and "the empire's champion" we can guess they've been two different people in the past.

Barring further info, we don't know of any Eikons who pass Dominance through blood, and we know of several who explicitly don't. Rosaria just elevated a few Dominants to royalty and has since been trying to create a pattern that doesn't exist.

This sheds new light on why Clive and Joshua look so different - they're not actually related, the Archduke just went out and picked up another fire-Eikon-aspected kid when the first one (seemingly) didn't pan out. The Archduke also insisting on adopting Jill even though her homeland is probably politically irrelevant by the time of the game is so everyone gets used to him adopting kids.

• Jossed. Annabella actually mentions giving birth to both Clive and Joshua, but Phoenix's power may skip a generation or two, since Elwin isn't a Dominant while his father was. As for blood inheritance, Dominants are chosen among the descendants of certain tribes where the Eikon has first manifested, such as Barnabas being a descendant of the Motes of Darkness, who were connected to Odin.

The Eikons choose their Dominants based on how well the person can fulfill the Eikon's goals

For example, Ramuh is traditionally associated with wisdom, sometimes even wiser than fellow summons. Isn't it interesting that Ramuh's Dominant is Cid, who arrived to Valisthea relatively recently (thus allowing for a fresh perspective on the continent), has interacted with fellow Dominant Benedikta (and possibly Barnabas) and is a scientist investigating the Deadlands? That's pretty thematically appropriate.

Alternatively, the Eikons shape their Dominants to be more like them. So Cid is compelled to focus on science and investigation, Benedikta shouts a lot instead of being calm and composed, Joshua is frailer than Clive so Phoenix can do the death-rebirth thing, and so on.

• Jossed. Eikons choose their Dominants among the descendants of certain tribes, like the Rosfield family ancestors belonging to the tribe known as the Motes of Fire who have been connected to the Phoenix.

Waloed as a country is focused on the attainment of personal strength

Barnabas certainly fits the bill, having seemingly created the kingdom by beating up everyone who disagreed with him. He also trash-talks Clive and says he doesn't have enough resolve in their fight in the Salvation trailer. Cid was in the army long enough to meet Benedikta but is presently chilling with "heretics" and investigating the blight, suggesting that he either quit or doesn't care about the army anymore, fitting as he's the Dominant of Ramuh and probably saw the wisdom in leaving such a figurehead-reliant apparatus. Benedikta holds a high position in the army and as semi-Garuda says that Clive is just a Branded, seemingly related to the discrimination against Bearers and their ability to cast magic freely.

• Jossed. By the time of the game, Waloed has been dedicated to serving Ultima first and foremost.

The Bearers are chosen by the Mothercrystals as an indication of Dominance by a "dark" Eikon

Going with the above WMG about there being a second set of elemental Eikons that have been erased from history, the forgotten Eikons are suppressed by a combination of the Blight corrupting places and the more well-known Eikons hogging all the aether. Their power is dispersed, so their blessing is to make multiple people Bearers instead of concentrating themselves into manifesting - Ifrit just saw Clive get a fraction of Phoenix's power and piggybacked off of that to make him its Dominant thanks to the efforts of mysterious robes guy. The dark Eikons resent the other set because of the suppression, and it goes both ways, explaining why Ifrit absolutely mauls Phoenix and why the Bearers are so hated - Benedikta calls Clive "just a Branded" while she's semi-transformed, so it's possible the other Eikons feel the same way about Bearers.

• This is Jossed.

The entire continent of Valisthea is a former generation starship.

Long story short, Valisthea was literally a magic-centered continent-sized colony spaceship with advanced terraforming that crash landed and grew a new civilization on the planet.

• Partially confirmed. Oriflamme was built on a city-sized floating platform that serves as the Big Bad's mobile base. The Fallen are revealed to be a former spacefaring race, but the relationship between the continent and the fleet is still a mystery.
  • It was Twinside in the Crystalline Dominion that was above Origin, not Oriflamme (which has long been abandoned by that point). The Fallen are not from space, just from continents outside Valisthea. It was Ultima itself that may be from space (which isn't outright said; Ultima also claims to be from lands "beyond Valisthea").

Potential Eikon battles

Whether or not we see them in game or perhaps they might appear as DLC. Does not necessarily have to be actual Eikons.

• Leviathan: Can be seen in an artwork yet not associated with any known Dominant.
  • Confirmed with The Rising Tide DLC.
• Alexander and Ark: Giant artificial constructs aligned with Light and Dark elements.
• The Weapons: Can be used as "artificial Eikons".
• Shinryu and Omega: Both are recurring Superbosses in the series.
  • Only the latter was confirmed with the Echoes of the Fallen DLC.

Post-release Theories (unmarked spoilers)

Benedikta is Mid's mother.

It's clear from the context of the game that Benedikta and Cid were once very close to each other, so it's not implausible that they had a child together. And given that certain Dominants age very slowly, like Barnabas, Benedikta may appear much younger than she actually is. The rift that has grown between Cid and Benedikta due to Barnabas may be the reason Cid never talks about Mid's mother, trying to keep it to himself and not stir up hurtful emotions.

• It's possible, but not for the reason you may think. Mid's final Active Time Lore entry states that she is the adopted daughter of Cid. So unless Cid adopted her from Benedikta this is unlikely.

Benedikta and Midadol are distantly related

While there is no confirmation in-game that could verify this, there is the possibility of these two blondes being distantly related with the traits they possess being hints and with the knowledge that CBU III is the one involved with the development of the game.

• Benedikta is the Dominant of Garuda. Garuda in FFXIV was worshipped by a wingless bird-like race, with them wanting to fly to skies with airships. Mid has aspirations of one day taking flight to the skies.

Bearers are the one bit of magic that didn't vanish.

Their powers are inborn, after all, and fundamentally weaker than crystal magic. As a result, with the primary tool of control over them lost, the Bearers gleefully flipped off the rest of humanity and left them to their fates, becoming their own people. This forced the development of life skills in the rest of humanity and the Bearers themselves, as the weaker magic of Bearers is something that can't replace mundane technology like crystals could, and besides, one now has to convince a Bearer to work for you willingly now. The mother in the ending was displaying a distaste for Bearers who think their powers give them a right to be snobbish to the rest of humanity and separate from the rest of the planet, rather than saying magic didn't exist - it belongs in fairy tales, not in the world of practical concerns, when it doesn't even do much.

• While retaining their powers is possible, flipping them into the new world rulers seems unlikely. The use of a Bearer's powers causes them to be petrified over time, and Clive is shown to have a petrified arm in the ending, meaning this penalty is still around.

What "Logos" is.

During Drake's Spine and the final battle against Ultima, they consider Clive to be tainted by Logos. Logos would have been the game's roundabout way of saying YOU the player are the one helping Clive defy and punch out his god figuratively and literally.

• My understanding is that Ultima says "Mythos" to refer specifically to an empty vessel tailored for him to inhabit — Clive isn't quite "empty", but Ultima doesn't recognize human autonomy so that's a technicality to him, hence working to clean the vessel out for his own use. "Logos" by extension could be a term for a level of autonomy Ultima does recognize, meaning that he thinks Mythos is inhabited by another being rivaling Ultima himself which he doesn't have the authority to remove — in this case Clive's own resolve, but Ultima at that time still derisively refuses to believe such strength could be born of a human.

Larger cities will be added in future updates

You only briefly visit cities like Ran'dellah, Twinside or Kanver in main story setpieces. Whether they come in paid or free DLC, it would allow the player to fully explore the world and truly expand the legend of Cid the Outlaw.

DLC will cover parts of the five year Time Skip

The Executors are the in-universe equivalent to the SCP Foundation

Besides keeping forbidden histories locked away from prying eyes, they're likely making sure Valisthea is unaware of other horrific events outside of their borders, like the Final Days.

A part of the DLC will feature a boss fight with someone called the Man in Red.

He will be taking weapons from warriors on all sides after defeating them. He is searching for a legendary blade called excalibur. He will use blue magic and a spear. After defeating once he will show his true form and call for his friend to join the battle as will Clive, leading to a two vs two battle.

The game is a distant prequel to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

In the beginning of FFTA it is established that in St. Ivalice there is a video game called Final Fantasy, which is the basis for the fantasy Ivalice that Marche and his friends accidentally create. If St. Ivalice is set in a modern-day Valisthea, it would explain the presence of a Final Fantasy game in a Final Fantasy game: The in-universe series is a loose adaptation of Joshua’s book called Final Fantasy. All of the differences between Tactics Advance and XVI can be justified as a result of Adaptation Deviation and/or Future Imperfect.

Annabella murdered Elwin's father

The game demonstrates amply that men in power have an unfortunate habit of dying around her. Considering how power-hungry she was even from a young age, it's quite possible that Elwin's father passed on "before his time" thanks to a young scheming Annabella having easy access to him due to being part of the Rosfield family even before marrying Elwin, and setting up a way to kill him discreetly as a way to ensure Elwin took the throne as soon as possible so she could enjoy the benefits of being an archduke's wife.

Kihel is Leviathan's Dominant

Some fans have noted that "Kihel" seems to be a form of the German "Kiehl/Kiel." This means “born of a land of the waters/flood” and has deep symbolic ties to boats (as in the keel of a ship) in German. At the same time, the positioning of the Eikons in the mural seems to depict their relationships in the game and Leviathan looks to be protecting Bahamut, something that Kihel does by helping Dion's recovery in the game. Finally, it's been established that Dominants can sense each other and that the four characters that Kihel somehow randomly has contact with are not just Dion, but Joshua, Jill, and Clive as well, all Dominants.

• Debunked by The Rising Tide which tells us early on that Leviathan's Dominant is an infant boy named Waljas from the land of Mysidia.

Leviathan is absent because Dzemekys was destroyed

The reason Leviathan is absent is that each Dominant is tied to a Mothercrystal. As Dzemekys was obliterated by Ultima 1500 ago, and Dominants only started appearing roughly 700 years ago, it can be surmised that Leviathan was tied to Dzemekys and thus never had the opportunity to awake, or perhaps the presumed Motes of Water tribe that would host its Dominant was wiped out with Dzemekys.

• Debatable whether this holds ground, considering the existence of a tribe called the Children of Dzemekys which Barnabas belongs to. Yes, the Dominant of Odin might have come from outside Valisthea but his tribe has history with Valisthea. This is the counterargument I would like to offer that the Dzemekys Mothercrystal could not be associated with Leviathan.
• There's also the question of why Leviathan would be called "Lost" if it never awakened in the first place, especially when special note is made that Barnabas was the first manifestation of Odin in Valisthea.
  • The Rising Tide shows Dzemekys has nothing to do with Leviathan.

Dzemekys' destruction actually wiped out Odin's line of Dominants.

The Motes of Darkness were a tribe surrounding Dzemekys, before Ultima destroyed the Mothercrystal after their attempt to storm it. The Circle of Malius was then formed from survivors of Dzemekys, as a religion worshipping Ultima. Assuming each Mothercrystal is actually tied to an element and an Eikon's ability to manifest as a Dominant, this would explain why Barnabas is seemingly the first manifestation of Odin in recorded Valisthean history: Dzemekys was the Mothercrystal of Darkness and any chance of Odin was removed from the board centuries ago, but the Circle's loyalty to Ultima inspired the god to rekindle the power of Odin within one of their number (without need for a Mothercrystal) in order to create an Eikon entirely under his thumb as a more effective puppet for his plans.

• The Ultimania throws a snag in this: Dzemekys wasn't completely destroyed. Ultima made a show of leaving a crater where the mountain used to be, but the heart of its Mothercrystal is preserved within Origin, so Odin is not an exception. However, it could still have contributed to Odin's manifestation being paused for so long, since the destruction of Dzemekys led to most of the Motes of Darkness leaving Valisthea.

Barnabas was not born a Dominant.

Nor was his manifestation dormant like Cid's. Following the above, Ultima blessed him with the power of Odin after he fell to cynicism and became more fanatically devoted to the Circle of Malius. Being imbued with an Eikon later in life — as well as enough aether to supplant the need for a Mothercrystal — caused him to become an Akashic at the same time, with Odin being the only thing allowing him to retain his will.

• Jossed by the Ultimania: Barnabas awoke as a Dominant after witnessing his mother's death, decades before meeting Ultima. Additionally, the Dzemekys Mothercrystal still exists within Origin.

Leviathan is absent because Drake's Horn fell to the Blight

This piggybacks off the above WMG chain: Each Mothercrystal is associated with a specific element and Eikon, and was the center of a tribal civilization where each Eikon first manifested. The main assumption is that in order for a Dominant to manifest normally, they must both be a descendant of the Motes who originally manifested each Eikon, and the Mothercrystal of their respective element must still be active at the time of their birth to "choose" them.

We know Valisthea was originally home to 8 Mothercrystals, three of which have fallen before the story begins:

• Drake's Breath is the Fire Crystal, home to Phoenix; Drake's Fang is the Earth Crystal, home to Titan; Drake's Head is the Light Crystal, home to Bahamut
• Drake's Eye is the Ice Crystal, former home to Shiva before it fell to Blight shortly before the story, most likely early within Jill's lifetime
• Ramuh's lore entry notes the Motes of Thunder were originally at home in central Ash in the area now occupied by Waloed, which would imply Drake's Spine is the Thunder Crystal
• Garuda's entry reveals the Motes of Wind, likewise, were originally at home in what is now the Crystalline Dominion, making Drake's Tail the Wind Crystal
• As stated above, Dzemekys was the Mothercrystal of Darkness, with Odin as the exception to the rules thanks to Ultima
• Which leaves the Motes of Water unaccounted for, and no claim on Drake's Horn, the Mothercrystal in southern Ash which was the first to fall to Blight.

Drake's Horn fell decades prior to the establishment of Stonhyrr around Drake's Spine; it's probable Leviathan used to manifest within recorded Valisthean history, but that Dominants of Leviathan stopped being born after Drake's Horn flickered out, and the citizens caught on that the loss of the Mothercrystal means Leviathan is gone forever, hence "the Lost."

• The Ultimania confirms that Drake's Horn was in fact the water-aspected Mothercrystal, which fell to Blight over 500 years before the story began.
• The Rising Tide ultimately shows that Drake's Horn is only tangentially related to Leviathan's absence, as it reveals that the Motes of Water were indeed originally from southern Ash but ended up migrating to northern Storm after its collapse. But other than that, the Horn itself is not the cause of its absence.

Leviathan's absence screwed Ultima's plan.

It's noted elsewhere here that, as evidenced by Clive's petrification taking hold post Final Boss fight, Ultima's plan to make Clive his new host ultimately turned out to be doomed to failure from the very start due to Clive being incompatible. Said plan of course revolved around Ifrit absorbing the powers of all the other Eikons to make Clive Ultima's ideal host. And there's the catch; All the Eikons, which would include Leviathan The Lost. Others here assume Ultima had planned around Levi's absence but it would appear he had badly miscalculated. More to the point, if Clive ever had find Levi and absorbed it too, Ultima's plan would have worked as intended, or conversely Clive would have been okay after the fight and he, Jill, Joshua and Torgal would have unequivocally gotten their happily ever after.

• Outright defied in The Rising Tide. Ultima himself says Leviathan is a profaned fragment, and Joshua further speculates in the DLC's ending that Leviathan was never necessary for his plan..

Ifrit Risen was the original form of the Eikon of Fire, but was split at some point in history

The ease with which they can combine late in the game despite their respective Dominants never having fought together like that before, and them being the only case of two Eikons with the same aspect when all legends and mythology in Valisthea suggest one Eikon for each element, suggest this to be the case. This could add an extra element to the tragedy at Phoenix Gate. Ifrit awakening within Clive was possibly not only born of Clive's desire to help Joshua but Ifrit's own desire to be reunited with its other half. Of course, this goes horribly wrong because of course it does, it's two kids experiencing a Traumatic Superpower Awakening and the 'superpowers' in question are literal giant fire monsters with their own separate wills. But perhaps Ifrit ending up fighting Phoenix was the berserk Eikon trying to combine the two again and not knowing how. Ifrit behaves at points like he's trying to eat Phoenix - which probably makes sense to a mind in a primal state for how to absorb another creature's energy into yourself.

DLC Theories (more unmarked spoilers)

With the reveal that Final Fantasy XVI is set to receive not one, but two full DLC expansions that will explore further tales from Valisthea, this folder is ripe for all manner of speculation and guessing, from the totally baseless to the...not-baseless.

"Episode Cid"

One of the first things Yoshi-P revealed before even officially announcing the DLC episodes is that the developers are looking into specifically what the players want to see. Considering the fact that demands for more Cid were apparent on the day of the game's release...needless to say, we're probably getting a playable Cid campaign that will further explore his character, backstory, motivations, etc. From his past relationship with Benedikta (and more), to the rift that formed between him and Barnabas.

• We also might be seeing Cid and Mid on-screen together for the first time, seeing as Cid dies before she makes her proper debut in the game, potentially exploring how he adopted her. While the planet could possibly crumble from the sheer pressure of their combined snark, this troper would be a-okay with it.
• While Cid wears a pair of swords, he never actually dual wields them, perhaps on account of the crystal's curse hampering one of his hands. If this expansion follows a younger Cid, we may see this after all. A dual-wielding, lightning fast combat style could be a nice contrast to Clive's more harder-hitting technique.

"Leviathan the Lost"

The revelation of "Leviathan the Lost" might as well be screaming "SEQUEL HOOK!!!" at you. The game explores two timeskips, with two protagonists each doing their own thing. Whether we may be playing as Clive again, or finally take control of an adult Joshua, this story is ripe for exploration either way.

• If Joshua (or someone else) is the playable character for this one, clearing the expansion will unlock Leviathan as a usable Eikon style for Clive in the main game.
  • ...Which could lead to an alternate happier ending (not confirmed as canon, as most multiple-ending-games are), thanks to a fully-powered Clive.
    • The Rising Tide covers the story of Leviathan but sets its events shortly before the end of the game after the Akashic have begun overrunning the land but before the final battle in Origin.

"The Ballad of Barnabas"

No character in the story is more mysterious than King Barnabas. From his insane power, to devotion to Ultima, to utterly enigmatic origins, to....even his...weird mommy issues, Barnabas is terrifying, yet equally captivating enough that he warrants his own tale. Final Fantasy XV's "Episode Ardyn" proved that a fleshed-out-enough villain can make for a magnetic protagonist when done right.