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

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

"We shall descend to the depths, you and I, to confront the dread beast Pandæmonium."

Sometimes the ancients of the World Unsundered underestimated or were overzealous in the use of their creation magicks and would produce truly dangerous concepts that could threaten the star itself. But even such monsters as these could have something valuable to teach the world. To safely contain and study such concepts, the research facility Pandæmonium was created.

A memory crystal discovered in the present day carries with it an urgent message: find Pandæmonium. The Warrior of Light travels back through time to Elpis to learn of the great prison and of the terrible unrest inside.

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Pandæmonium

Themis

A young Ancient tasked by Azem to investigate Pandæmonium, whom the Warrior of Light happens to run into. They, along with Erichthonios shortly after, delve deep into Pandæmonium's depths and uncover what went wrong.

Oh, and he also happens to be the Elidibus we're familiar with in the present, prior to becoming Zodiark's heart. See his full folder here.

The Mastermind (Unmarked Spoilers)

Athena

Voiced by: Mariya Ise (JP), Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (EN), Perrine Megret (FR), Moira May (DE)

^{Click here to see her Theos form}

Theos

"Having struck upon a hypothesis, there is but one thing the wise woman desires. Irrefutable proof."

The mother of Lahabrea's son and the former chief keyward of Pandæmonium. Although she's long dead since before the Warrior of Light arrived in Elpis, Lahabrea reveals that the present incidents in Pandæmonium are far more involved with her than it seems.

Abusive Parent: Though Erichthonios grew far more attached to her than his father, Athena secrely bore no love for him and fully intended to use him as the perfect lab rat to her experiments. Anabaseios elaborates on the extent of the abuse: she essentially tempered his soul so that he would be more inclined to love her and follow her orders, and his lack of magical talents were also her doing to make him less dangerous and more dependent on her.
A God Am I: Her ultimate goal is to become a god. All of her experiements with Pandæmonium, Themis, Lahabrea, and the Warrior of Light were a means to this end. Once she's faced in the Twelfth Circle, she's about as close as she's going to get to one, able to (seemingly) create life from nothing. And she very clearly sees herself as divine once the player reaches the Twelfth Circle, boasting about how she can form life from her will.
Ambition Is Evil: Athena sought to elevate the ancients above their already impressive status in life to true godhood, compelling her to unethical experiments for the sake of that goal, even seeing her own son as nothing more than a test subject.
Angelic Abomination: Her Theos form is seraphic in appearance, bearing six wings, a halo, and winged ears. All of this undercut by the Hearts of Sabik in her Unusual Halo and in her exposed breast along with her wiry feet and skinless arms that expose the bone beneath. She commands incredible power over darkness and summons monsters that devour the very ground the party is standing on in an attempt to drop them into the bottomless pit below.
Ascended Meme: At one point in Savage, she reduces the arena to a very small platform and changes the surroundings to space while having players bait blue lasers in a pattern, while shrinking down the players to give off the illusion of the camera being zoomed out far more than it's possible to do normally. The entire thing is an official in-game recreation of the infamous cheating from The Omega Protocol (Ultimate), in which a team had extra players use zoom hacks to view mechanics from a distance, most iconically one involving said blue lasers, which after being exposed saw players meme it to death, most notably based on the idea the extra members were astronauts watching from space or the moon.
Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: In her Theos form, her ears are replaced with wing-like appendages, and her eyes are constantly closed. Fitting for someone who's blind and deaf towards everything else aside from her thoughts.
Bad Powers, Bad People: Athena created the process to develop Hemitheos, nightmarish fusions of man and monster, in her pursuit of godhood. Her plans also involved brainwashing the warders of Pandæmonium into becoming slavishly devoted thralls in a manner eerily similar to tempering. When she finally makes a physical appearance in Anabaseios, she turns Pandæmonium itself into a hideously mutated Genius Loci and mangles the souls in the Lifestream into angelic minions under her control.
Beauty Is Bad: She's quite pretty underneath her mask and charming enough that Lahabrea fell in love with her. But she's one of the vilest characters in the game.
Beyond Redemption: Erichthonios wonders if Athena could have been a truly loving mother to him and wife to Lahabrea if she'd never discovered the Heart of Sabik. But as the raid series goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that she was always a monster manipulating people for her own ends and that the Heart of Sabik simply stripped away any inhibitions she had left. Themis declares that he will cast judgment on her as Elidibus the Emissary and she's treated with complete contempt from the penultimate fight of the raid onward.
Bifurcated Weapon: Her Ultima Blade is a BFS that splits into two smaller swords she dual wields while Flash Stepping repeatedly around the arena.
Big Bad: Of the Pandæmonium Raid storyline as a whole, taking over from Hephaistos after her rebirth in the present.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Erichthonios remembers her as a loving, caring mother who supported him when Lahabrea kept him at arm's length. In truth, Athena was playing the perfect mother on purpose to lure Erichthonios into becoming one of her experiments. Lahabrea discovering this was the last straw and he killed her to protect Erichthonios and the rest of the warders of Pandæmonium. Lahabrea allows his son to hate him rather than reveal this Awful Truth because of how happy she made Erichthonios.
Black Eyes of Crazy: Her Theos form's eyes have white pupils and black sclera, illustrating her insanity and selfish ambition to become more than what she already is.
Blue Is Calm: Under her mask, Athena's eyes are the same blue-green as Themis and Venat. When speaking to the Warrior of Light, Athena keeps a measured, almost motherly tone even as she discusses how she kidnapped Claudien as a "tool" for her ascension to godhood. But as the raid series goes on, the extent of her insanity and megalomania make it clear that she's a subversion, as she's unhinged enough to try to render Etheirys a barren wasteland out of spite when her plans are foiled.
Brain Uploading: She essentially does a magical version of this. She implants her personality within the Heart of Sabik. This personality takes over the reincarnation of her son for the final tier of the raid series.
Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Her Theos form has multiple butterfly-like wings. It symbolizes that she intends to create life as the new god of the world, since her ultimate goal is in sight.
Call-Back:
- Theos's Ultima has the same animation and invocation as the version of Ultima that Lahabrea cast during the battle against the Ultima Weapon at the end of A Realm Reborn.
  Athena: From the deepest pit of the seven hells to the very pinnacle of the heavens, the world shall tremble!
- Once Athena hits her second phase in the Savage version of the fight, she begins quoting or paraphrasing various lines from the Orbonne Monastery raid, including the Magical Incantation spoken by Ultima, the High Seraph. The battle music during this second form of the Savage fight is also a remix of the High Seraph's boss theme, "Ultima's Perfection".
  "Denizens of the Abyss! From ink of blackest night, I summon you!"
  "Misfortune hangs heavy on the prideful. Poor cover for when the heavens fall."
Casting a Shadow: While she may appear to be attacking with light, her green and black energy beams all bear the same colors as the Ultima spell cast by the Ultima Weapon as well as the High Seraph. This means that she's using intense astral (aka Darkness-aspected) energy. She will also shower the field with shadowy energy with her "On the Soul" attack, inflicting high damage on the entire party.
Combat Tentacles: Pallas Athena has enormous tentacles which she uses to smash large chunks of the arena.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Athena provides a stark contrast to the villains of all four previous raid series:
- Nael had genuine loved ones, was maddened by Bahamut, and ascended to pseudo-godhood after being tempered. Athena never loved anyone, was insane even before finding the Heart of Sabik, and came closer to genuine godhood than Nael.
- Quickthinx was a mechanical genius who augmented himself into a cyborg, sought to annihilate all life for his Illuminati, and had a love for his cat Shanoa which was not reciprocated. Athena is a brilliant biologist who sought to turn into a god, wanted to wipe out her own species to create a new one, and did not reciprocate her family's love.
- Omega sought strength because it was programmed to and so it could leave the star, eventually making a Heel–Face Turn and befriending Alpha. Athena sought godhood for her own selfish reasons and so she could conquer the star, and shuts down any offer of love or redemption to her death.
- Mitron is a sundered Ascian who wanted Gaia because he genuinely loved her and wanted to restore her as Loghrif, with her understanding him by the end. Athena is an Ancient who wanted Erichthonios as a vessel and bore no love for him, with his love for her being manufactured.
Control Freak: Athena is obsessed with ascending to godhood and changing the course of mankind's evolution according to her will. To this end, she brainwashes the warders of Pandaemonium into following her orders and uses them as prototypes for her goal to become a goddess. Her desire for control is so profound that she's willing to kill anyone who isn't useful to her research and attempts to destroy all life on the star once her plans are foiled. The lyrics of her battle music reference this.
Writhe, bleed, resist me no more.
Twisted and broken, farewells left unspoken
Journey's end
As I ascend
Demonic Possession: She shaped her son Erichthonios into the ideal vessel to handle immense power so she could possess him to prepare herself for godhood. In the present day, she succeeds in possessing her son's reincarnation Claudien to continue her efforts. Though in a slight variation, she possesses Claudien not with a Merger of Souls but with a Brain Upload, essentially hiding a copy of her personality within the Heart of Sabik to have it take over her son's reincarnation when he takes hold of it for the first time. The "real" Athena's soul has been reincarnated elsewhere.
The Determinator: A villainous example - she never gave up on her plan to attain godhood, not even dying could stop her schemes and she extensively planned for the eventuality. Even when her plans come crashing down courtesy of the Warrior of Light and their allies, she refuses to accept her fate and is Defiant to the End. Even her battle music is called "Athena, the Tireless One", reflecting her relentless pursuit to claim what she thinks is rightfully hers.
Dissonant Serenity: When she first speaks to the Warrior of Light, her tone is motherly, like a schoolteacher or someone lecturing a child about her great plans for them. But as the discussion goes on, her complete Lack of Empathy and dehumanization of others as "tools" for her research becomes clear. While she makes overtures of getting the heroes to see things her way, it's clear that she doesn't actually care whether or not they believe her and is just as happy to kill them.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: The Missing Mom of Erichthonios mentioned once in the Asphodelos raid? Turns out she's the one behind the incidents of Pandæmonium.
Dramatic Irony: Athena's entire modus operandi is to become a god, ascending beyond mortality and the boundaries of morality to be the apex of creation. From her depravity in the depths of Pandæmonium, she is one of the antagonists that comes the downright closest if not effectively having achieved it. As the Myths of the Realm Alliance Raids show, Hydaelyn had seemingly managed a similar feat with her greatest followers in their own produced heavens above without any of the malevolence and insanity involved. The result makes Athena more akin to a proverbial and utterly amoral Satan, in a polar opposite to Venat's Well-Intentioned Extremist work that left protectors for the sake of everyone else in her absence.
Dual Wielding: During her DPS check phase, she wields two Ultima Blades and will Flash Step at the party in regular intervals to deal heavy damage to them while they try to burn down her minions.
Dying Declaration of Hate: As her plan lies in shambles and the pocket dimension she created collapses around her and her son, she uses her final words to call Erichthonios useless. He responds in kind.
Athena: How disappointing...truly, useless to the last.
Erichthonios: And who made me that way?
Eldritch Abomination: Her second phase in the Savage version of her fight has her use the Heart of Sabik to take on an even more monstrous form called Pallas Athena. She remains at the heart of it, but her arms are replaced with tentacles that twist around her like a throne, grasping at reality and crushing it like a marble to remake the arena.
Evilutionary Biologist: Her goal is to find a way to break the limits of the ancients, or at least her own, and ascend to a new plane of existence, uncaring of the consequences her actions would have on the world as a whole.
Evil Gloating: She continually taunts the party about her godlike powers and how they will never come close to what she has attained.
"You cannot escape my eternal gaze."
"Behold such power as you will never wield!"
"This is but a glimpse of a god's strength!"
Expy:
- As one might expect from the true villain behind Pandaemonium, she shares a lot of traits with Emperor Mateus of Palamecia of Final Fantasy II:
  - Both are driven by an insatiable desire to ascend to a state of godhood, at the expense of everyone around them, with a firm belief that the world exists for them to rule.
  - Both are sociopathic chessmasters, who are utterly without redeeming positive characteristics or Freudian Excuse for their behavior, a rarity for Final Fantasy villains.
  - Both pull off a successful Xanatos Gambit, which allows them to dramatically further their goals.
  - Both return from the dead, having wrested some measure of control over each setting's afterlife and used it to reach near-godhood.
- Fitting with the many other references to the game in Endwalker, she's also very reminiscent of Zemus from Final Fantasy IV:
  - Both are powerful and intelligent members of an already highly advanced society who become vile sociopaths who view everyone else as sub-human.
  - Said societies are seemingly successful at stopping them, only for it to turn out they can still twist the desires of others to brainwash them into becoming their pawns, including turning family members against each other.
  - They succeed at becoming active again and are prepared to wipe out all life to become the rulers of a new world. When defeated, they attempt to destroy everything instead as punishment for not being allowed to rule.
Eyes Always Shut: Athena keeps her eyes closed for most of the battle, giving her a serene appearance in stark contrast to her monstrous actions.
Face Death with Dignity:
- Subverted. In the memory Lahabrea projects, Athena doesn't look at all bothered that Lahabrea has discovered her secret laboratory, or that he's going to execute her, and even says she would have no other person end her life. Instead, she smiles and offers for them to fuse their souls so that Lahabrea will at least understand her... And then after the fact, she openly gloats that thanks to her "infection", he will become just as consumed by obsession as she was, and actively planned for this eventuality so that she could continue her experiments post-mortem.
- Subverted once more at the end of Pandæmonium. As she lies dying while her Pocket Dimension collapses around her, she is presented with a memory vision of Erichthonios in her final moments. She initially asks if he was a "good boy" and brought Claudien back to her. When it's clear that he didn't and has nothing but contempt for her, she uses her last words to call him useless to the last, to which he responds that she made him that way.
Fantastic Nuke: Due to her possession of the Heart of Sabik, Athena is able to cast the enormously destructive Ultima spell at will, using the same invocation that Lahabrea used at the Praetorium. She will attempt a Total Party Kill during the DPS check of her fight. Following her initial defeat, she attempts to use it again as a spiteful Taking You with Me for having her plans foiied, only to be forced out of Claudien's body by Erichthonios before she can finish casting it.
Faux Affably Evil: Athena presents an affable front when she meets the Warrior in the aetherial sea, claiming that they wouldn't need to fight if the Warrior just saw things her way. But it's immediately clear that she sees Claudien as nothing more than a tool for her desires and thinks absolutely nothing of killing others to get her way. The sheer disconnect between her motherly tone and the callousness of her actions underscores her insanity and sociopathy.
Females Are More Innocent: Nope! Erichthonios initially frames her as a loving, warm mother to him in contrast to his cold, distant father, Lahabrea. But not only is Athena the Big Bad of the the third tier of Pandæmonium known as Anabaseios, and of the Endwalker raid storyline as a whole, but she is intentionally written as a loathsome and vile villain. Even the one redeeming quality she seems to have of being a good mother is revealed to be a manipulation for her Godhood Seeker experiments, and Athena doesn't truly care about anybody but herself. The heroes even declare that they're done trying to save Athena and that she has to die just before the final confrontation with her. The whole time, Athena is not portrayed as at all innocent or well-meaning, nor is anyone manipulating Athena or pulling her strings to make her evil; she's presented as a self-serving heartless monster who is acting completely of her own free will.
Final Boss: Of the third tier of Pandæmonium known as Anabaseios, and of the Endwalker raid storyline as a whole.
Floorboard Failure: One of her attacks will cause mouths to devour the floor on which the party is fighting, instantly killing anyone standing on top of them and causing the floor to give way, greatly reducing the amount of space the party has to fight and dodge her attacks on. She will also slash through the entirety of the middle of the arena with her Ultima Blades before casting Theos's Ultima, forcing the party onto opposite sides of the platform.
Foil: Athena acts as one to her ex-husband, Lahabrea. Both of them are brilliant researchers respected for their mastery of creation magicks who became the warders of Pandæmonium. But that's where the similarities end:
- Lahabrea is stoic, responsible, and sworn to duty above all. His fiery temper and burning red eyes make it easy to distrust him, but prior to the Sundering he's ultimately a Reasonable Authority Figure. Athena is sweet and kind on the surface, with serene blue eyes and a much gentler tone to her voice. But she is in fact a selfish, egotistic Evilutionary Biologist who wants to ascend to godhood solely so she can remake the world in her own image. While Lahabrea descends into cackling insanity over thousands of years of trying to uphold his duty, Athena acts like a loving mother and a kind warder before revealing her true colors as a purely self-centered villain 12,000 years later.
- Lahabrea loves his son and is a severe Papa Wolf willing to kill those who put Erichthonios in danger. However, Lahabrea's pride and exacting standards along with his unwillingness to divulge the Awful Truth about Athena renders him distant to his son at best and verbally abusive at worst. By contrast, Athena plays the part of the perfect, loving mother to Erichthonios to drive him into her arms. But she harbors no affection for him beyond his ability to serve as the perfect vessel for her planned ascension to godhood. She purposefully modified Erichthonios' soul to render him an Inept Mage and make him love her more to render him helpless and susceptible to manipulation.
- Lahabrea is heavily associated with black and red, alluding to his future role as one of the leaders of the Ascians. He specializes in the use of fire magic in battle and is heavily associated with his personal facility, Pandæmonium, which references the circles of the Greek underworld. Athena is associated with white and blue-green in her Theos form and is fought against the blue backdrop of the aetherial sea. Her transformation into a pseudo-god makes her seem angelic in contrast to Lahabrea's hellish motifs and she blasts her foes with beams of astral energy.
- While Lahabrea's Enemy Without, Hephaistos, is able to weave beautiful creatures out of fire, Athena's creations are born from a squelching white goo to emphasize the unnatural creepiness of her actions.
Godhood Seeker: Athena's Goal in Life is to elevate herself to the status of a god, which she defines as being able to create life with a proper soul from nothing at will. To that end, she performed many unethical experiments on her fellow man and their creation magicks, up to and including manipulating the souls of the dead, to find the means to become almighty.
Greater-Scope Villain: Massively!
- She's the mind behind the Hemitheos experiments, and the temporary fusing of her soul with Lahabrea caused her to "infect" him with her desires, causing the creation of Hephaistos. Lahabrea even theorizes she predicted he would willingly split his soul after the fusion, and created a vessel for Hephaistos to inhabit. The only reason she isn't the actual villain in the first two raid tiers is because she's already dead, so Hephaistos is carrying out her will.
- With the introduction of the third raid tier supplying the revelations that 1) Lahabrea eventually re-fused with his corrupted half, and 2) that she encountered the very first traces of auracite as what would become the Heart of Sabik, Athena's actions end up being the catalyst of at least four different questlines, including a main one (whilst also making Ultima the High Seraph this trope to Athena herself). This doesn't even include Pandæmonium itself, and that's only because come the third tier, she actually shows up and takes a much deserved squat in the Big Bad seat.
Hate Sink: Once the player meets Athena face-to-face in the third part of the Pandæmonium raid series, she's treated as a character with no redeeming qualities that the player should want to take down. It's not enough that she's an Immortality Seeker with delusions of godhood. It's also that this would cause The End of the World as We Know It, yet Athena is so self-absorbed that she feels that the world doesn't deserve to exist if she's not in charge. The one redeeming feature for Athena seems to be her being a loving mother to Erichthonios, but even that's revealed to be a lie; she was manipulating Erichthonios to make him more willing to go along with her experiments, and she never truly cared a whit about him. All of this is done to make Athena intentionally loathsome.
Hoist by Her Own Petard: If she didn't make memory recreations of Lahabrea and Erichthonios in the present, her plans would have likely succeeded even with the Warrior of Light's meddling - her belief that Erichthonios is incompetent and useless in particular severely bit her in the ass.
Hypocrite: Even her own Evilutionary Biologist goals she'll happily set aside if it furthers her long term plans. For proof, look no further than her son Erichthonios, as she happily boasts of her desires to make "better" lifeforms, while having directly meddled with her own child's biology to cripple his magic potential and instill borderline crippling attachment to his mother. The fact she can't even stick to her own guns in this respect if it servers her just helps to make her all the more detestable.
Icy Blue Eyes: As the raid progresses, it turns out she has these, showing her complete Lack of Empathy towards anyone.
Ignored Epiphany: In the Savage version of the fight, Athena starts to wonder if her theories were incorrect after the party defeats her first form. Then she declares that no, the problem isn't with her or her theories; it's the whole world that's wrong, not her. To that end, she changes her original goal and decides to rewrite reality so she literally can't be wrong.
In Their Own Image: Once she becomes a god, she plans to kill everyone and create a new species that meets her standards of perfection.
Innocent Blue Eyes: Subverted. While her husband Lahabrea has burning red eyes and is merciless to those who threaten the sanctity of the star, Athena has serene blue eyes not unlike the outgoing and friendly Venat and Themis. This belies Athena's monstrous nature as the single most wicked known member of the ancient mankind whose selfishness and ambition to become a god threatened to end all life on the star.
I Reject Your Reality: In the Savage version of her fight, all her mechanics are named after disproven or currently-untestable scientific theories. Her sole desire was to create souls from nothing, but even a hair's breadth from divinity she found she still could not do so. The names of her attacks reinforce that her goals, methods, and objectives are all flawed, yet she refuses to change any of them because that would mean she is wrong... and since she is so brilliant, she cannot be. The contradiction leads directly into her Villainous Breakdown when she finds herself unable to reject the facts any longer, yet she has to do so because otherwise all her work has been meaningless. Her Total Party Kill attack at the end of the fight, "Ignorabimus", sees this breakdown end when she's forced to accept that she's wrong; the fact that the Warrior of Light is still standing in spite of everything Athena is throwing at them means Athena isn't divine.
Pallas Athena: Yes... The flaws are not mine... This misbegotten world is to blame... Only the hands of a god can fix it—my hands!
It's All About Me: She tries to sway the heroes to her side in Anabaseios by claiming her research will allow her to create perfect stewards of the star. After Lahabrea and Erichthonios call this out as a transparent lie, she freely admits that she sees her actions as no different than the researchers of Elpis casting judgment on their own creations. Following her defeat, she tries to destroy the aetherial sea and render the planet a barren wasteland solely because she wouldn't be the one to steer its course. Even as she lies "dying" for a second time, she asks the memory replica of her son if he brought her body back to her - not "Claudien's" or "yours", given Claudien is Erichthonios's reincarnation.
Kick the Dog: Given that her goal is to keep Claudien's body, Athena has no reason to mock her son for not realizing that she had tampered with his soul to make him an Inept Mage and amenable to her desires. But she does so anyways just to spite him for going against her.
Light Is Not Good: Her battle form may be an angelic figure that glows with a soft white light, but she is indisputably a villain.
Like Father, Unlike Son: Erichthonios and Athena could not be more different. Erichthonios is a kind, empathetic man constantly worrying about the fate of the other warders of Pandæmonium. He's often bitter and irritable because he lives in the shadow of his parents, but is uplifted by the Themis' and the Warrior's support. He spent his last moments defending the star by keeping Pandæmonium shut during the Final Days, preventing the creatures within from wreaking havoc until the Sundering split the world. Athena is serene and collected on the surface, but this hides her true personality as an egotistic monster completely lacking in empathy. Everyone else is a tool for her to exploit or an obstacle to destroy at her whim. She spends her final moments calling Erichthonios worthless for rebelling against her and foiling her plans by usurping her control over Claudien.
Lightning Bruiser: Athena is a very beefy boss to tackle at the minimum item level, easily taking ten or more minutes when most other fights of her level take less than that. She will also Flash Step around the battlefield during her DPS check while blasting the party with powerful magic.
Malevolent Masked Man: As Pandæmonium is within the borders of Elpis, the warders are asked to keep their masks off per Elpis protocol. That Athena still wears her own mask regardless is a mark of how she cares nothing for the rules or desires of others.
Merger of Souls: She tempts Lahabrea into performing one with her (similar to how a few Ascians do in the future), under the pretense of letting him know her motives. This turns out to be a ruse, however, as she ends up "infecting" Lahabrea's mind and soul with her own desires; forcing him to split away his emotional half that would eventually become Hephaistos.
More than Mind Control: Exposure to the Heart of Sabik amplified her own emotions and desires until they became all-consuming, but auracite cannot create desire. Athena had always speculated about the existence of an almighty god and how they might judge Eitherys and pondered how she herself might fill that role, the auracite simply made her The Unfettered Godhood Seeker. The brainwashing spell she created also magnifies the desires of others and makes the victims more amenable to helping her to achieve those desires. Hephaistos was able to use this spell to bring Hesperos and Adgistis under his control through their admiration for Lahabrea.
Mythology Gag: There are parallels with her and the Final Fantasy Tactics version of Ultima. Both have been resurrected using a compatible host and are eventually forced out of them in their final moments. The minions Pallas Athena summons in the Savage version of her fight also bear a resemblance to this version of Ultima.
Not Brainwashed: Played with. Lahabrea notes that her possession of the Heart of Sabik may have exacerbated her personal desires to experiment and play God to the point of megalomania, those desires were always within her. The Heart of Sabik at most just made them more extreme. She very well could have ended up in the same spot she did without it.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Upon being confronted on her motivations, she claims that all she wanted was to create the 'perfect stewards' of the Star so that it could be protected and 'perfected'. But after she's defeated and spitefully tries to destroy the Aetherial Sea, she reveals her true intentions and says that if she can't be the god of this world, then the world shouldn't exist.
Only Sane Woman: Inverted. Much of the Elpis storyline is dedicated to humanize the Ascians by letting the players see what they were like without milennia of trauma. This naturally makes characters like Lahabrea or Elidibus, who had previously pitiable justifications at best, come across as more likeable and complex. Athena however serves as the natural conclusion of this humanization, just like there were very good people in the Unsundered World like Emet-Selch, Venat and Hythlodaeus, there were also people just as vile as there are in the present, just with more power than they should have.
Personality Powers: Athena sees everyone else as nothing more than tools to be used and thrown away for her ambitions. Her "Unnatural Enchantment" attack has her bring the floor panels to life to devour anyone standing on top of them before dropping into the yawning chasm below, showing how she creates life solely to use it as a weapon before promptly discarding it.
Physical God: She comes extremely close to becoming the closest thing to a 'true god' that can exist in the setting, and fully succeeds in it in the non-canonical Savage version of the fight, where she turns into an Eldritch Abomination who can reshape reality itself to her whims. Doesn't make her any less killable.
Posthumous Character: Lahabrea killed her long before the story starts. However, she preserved a copy of her memories within the Heart of Sabik to beckon Claudien, Erichthonios' reincarnation, to Azys Lla so she could continue her plans more than twelve thousand years later.
Power Gives You Wings: In her Theos form, she gains three pairs of wings: two like a bird's and four like a butterfly's, giving her a seraphic appearance that belies her insanity and evil.
The Power of Creation: Athena's goal is to go one step further than the creation magicks of the unsundered world by creating souls from nothing and imbuing them into objects to give them life. She turns Pandæmonium itself into a loyal minion of hers in an attempt to crush the Warrior of Light and, failing that, let her watch the Warrior and see how she can imitate their power to perfect her deific vessel. However, it's implied that she failed to truly create new souls, instead taking existing souls and imprinting her desires onto them. In the second phase of her non-canon Savage fight, she refuses to believe that she could possibly be wrong and is willing to reshape reality to "prove" her theories correct.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Athena is named after the Greek goddess of wisdom, warfare, and the arts as well as the mythological mother of Erichthonios, who was a Child by Rape via Hephaestus. Unlike the mythological Athena, the Athena of the unsundered world is an Evilutionary Biologist to the extreme, seeking to become a god to let herself steer the course of the world. On top of that, her name in the second phase of her Savage fight is "Pallas Athena". Pallas was a epithet associated with Athena, but it's even more meaningful here as the word 'Pallas' means 'to brandish', just as Athena in that form brandishes and reshapes reality itself.
Ring Out: In addition to her Floorboard Failure attack, Athena will try to use enormous line AOEs to shove the party off the platform.
Shout-Out:
- Following the trend of Hesperos and Hephaistos being based on villains from other games, Athena ends up as a composite of Father Balder and Jubileus from Bayonetta. She inherits the awful parenthood, enslavement of a Recurring Boss, and fast, graceful attacks from the former, while from the latter she gets her godhood and association with creation. Her butterfly motif is also evocative of Bayonetta herself.
- Her second phase form in the Savage version of her fight, Pallas Athena, is surrounded by suckered tentacles that grasp at reality and remake it by crushing it like a marble. This is a clear allusion to the tentacled gods of the Cthulhu Mythos, who can manipulate or even embody reality itself.
Signature Attack: Ultima Sword. Athena summons an aetherial greatsword which she uses to shatter reality, pulling the party into a pocket dimension where they must fend off several of her Anthropos minions and further attacks from Athena herself. All the while she charges up to cast her real signature move, Theos's Ultima.
Small Role, Big Impact: Despite being contained to Pandæmonium, Anabaseios reveals she was the one who discovered the Heart of Sabik, which also turned out to be the first auracite. In other words, A Realm Reborn, Return to Ivalice, Bozja, and Sorrow of Werlyt can all be traced back to her quest for godhood.
Spin Attack: During the DPS check, she attacks by Flash Stepping to a player's position and spinning in place with both swords outstretched.
Start of Darkness: Subverted. Being the one to discover auracite, Athena was exposed to its influence, amplifying her own desires to the point of obsession and turning her towards her quest for godhood. However, it's also made clear that, unlike Hephaistos's victims, very little would have changed if she never found the auracite and she would've eventually sought after godhood anyway.
Social Darwinist: The core of Athena's thesis is that a god would very likely wipe out a civilization and replace it with an improved species.
The Sociopath: Her attachment to other people as people was essentially nil; either you were of use to her testing and schemes, or you were not. If you fit into the second category, she would discard you without a second thought, and this even extended to her partner Lahabrea and their son, Erichthonios. The former fit her Darwinist Desire and while she apparently hoped he would share her interest in breaking their limits, their temporary Merger of Souls ended with her openly musing about her disappointment that he did so "merely" to see if she loved him. As for the latter, she presented the image of a caring mother so as to more easily manipulate him into being her perfect test subject.
Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: After being defeated for the final time, Athena rants about how if the world can't exist for her, then it doesn't deserve to exist, and charges up a Ultima bigger than any we've seen with intention of destroying the Aetherial Sea itself and ending the cycle of rebirth, though is thankfully stopped in time.
Tailor-Made Prison: After the events of Pandæmonium, Claudien speculates that Pandæmonium itself was this for Athena, a place where Lahabrea could keep her isolated from the rest of mankind to mitigate her potential for harm. Claudien then says that Lahabrea likely did not keep a tighter grip on her because of his love for her, only moving to kill her when her experiments became too heinous to ignore.
Taking You with Me: At the end of Anabaseios, she attempts to destroy the Aetherial Sea itself out of spite after her plans of ascension are foiled - but she is stopped by Erichthonios who forces her out of Cloudien's body.
Thanatos Gambit: Athena imbued the Heart of Sabik itself with her memories and personality so she could continue her work long after her death, but not before tempting Lahabrea to perform a Merger of Souls with her, creating Hephaistos in hopes of capturing Erichthonios to use as her vessel.
Theme Naming: Many of her major attacks, especially in the Savage version, are based on unproven or disproven theories.
- Superchain Theory: Also known as the "superstring theory", is the unproven concept that the fundamental forces of nature are are modeled into countless, tiny supersymmetric strings.
- Gaiaochos: Better known as "geocentrism", the idea that Earth is the center of the solar system, discarded in favor of heliocentrism.
- Caloric Theory: The idea that there's a substance that makes heat and cold flow, disproven by thermodynamics.
- Classical Concepts: Complex thoughts and concepts are given classical analysis, a proposition for forming metaphysically necessary and sufficient conditions for extending its existence across worlds. In practice, it's fundamentally flawed, playing part in the Ultraviolet catastrophe.
- Ekpyrosis: The unproven idea that the universe doesn't have a beginning or end, it undergoes cyclical rebirth.
- Pangenesis: Disproven hypothesis of heredity that cells can be manipulated into inheriting properties from their parents, disproven when blood transfusions between rabbits didn't affect the resulting offspring.
Underestimating Badassery: She's so egotistic that she can't imagine Erichthonios ever rebelling against her even with full knowledge of the events of Asphodelos and Abyssos. While she made sure that the memory copies of Erichthonios and Lahabrea were stripped of their magical and physical abilities, she did not expect Erichthonios to force her out of Claudien's body by stirring the memories buried deep in Claudien's soul. When she realizes what's about to happen, she can barely sputter out her disbelief as Erichthonios looks down upon her with disdain.
Unusual Halo: Like Hydaelyn and Zodiark, the two eldest and most powerful primals who are the closest the setting has to true "gods", Athena's Theos form possesses a halo. Unlike theirs, hers is a ring of spikes centered around an orb of darkness resembling the Heart of Sabik, illustrating her cruelty and obsession with power.
Villainous Breakdown:
- Just before her final attack in her Savage fight, Athena will start to question if she's truly divine, since she's throwing everything she can at the Warrior of Light, and it's still not enough. This is despite Athena coming as close as she can to becoming a god, or at least a very powerful Eldritch Abomination.
  Athena: Why do you suffer this pathetic existence!? I... I am infallible... Why... does this world persist? Why... do I persist?
- Her final attack, where she wraps her tentacles around the platform the party is standing on while reciting the above, is "Ignorabimus", a Latin word meaning either "I do not know" (verb) or "a statement that is impossible to determine the truth of" (noun). Both definitions fit; despite her endless and megalomaniacal search for knowledge, she is left unable to understand why the Warrior of Light can not only stand toe-to-toe with her, but is on the verge of defeating her. Alternatively, Athena is questioning her infallibility after declaring the rest of the world must be wrong instead of her. Athena's only option to assure her continued existence is to kill the Warrior without giving them another chance.
Villain Has a Point: She points out her theory and methods of obtaining godhood are no different to how Elpis, Pandæmonium, and even natural selection all function in creating new life that replaces obsolete lifeforms. She believes she is taking the ancients' practices to improve the star to their logical conclusion.
Villain Song: Her battle theme, "Athena, the Tireless One", is a pounding electro mix of all the Pandæmonium teams - Ancient Shackles, Hic Svnt Leones, Scream and One Amongst the Weary, sung from the perspective of Athena herself as she openly gloats about her plans for ascension and using other people as tools to be discarded.
Villain Takes an Interest: The first three fights of Anabaseios are tests for Athena to gauge the Warrior of Light's strength. Like Omega, she seeks to improve herself by understanding how someone as aetherically thin as the sundered people could face off against the incredible power of the Unsundered and come out on top. With this knowledge, she hopes to perfect her vessel, Claudien, and become unstoppable.
Athena: [after the party survives her Ultima Blade and Theos's Ultima attacks] Such a singularly resolute soul...
Villain with Good Publicity: Within Pandæmonium, Athena was beloved as a brilliant researcher and colleague as well as an intellectual equal to the esteemed Lahabrea. Erichthonios loved her more than life itself and is embittered by her death and Lahabrea's coldness toward her. Then it's revealed that she's a morally bankrupt Evilutionary Biologist who only ever cared about herself, having modified Erichthonios' very soul to make him an Inept Mage dependent on Athena for her plans. This reputation of hers was also part of her design, as Hegemone's admiration for Athena's work allowed Athena to enthrall her to set Hephaistos free in the event of Athena's death.
Visual Pun: It's not a stretch to say Athena is black hearted for her immoral experimentation for the selfish goal of becoming a god. When transformed as Theos, Athena's chest cavity is filled with a black sphere containing the Heart of Sabik, meaning her "heart" is literally black. In addition, the Heart of Sabik's nature as a type of auracite means that it's also a type of rock, meaning that she's also "stone-hearted".
Was It All a Lie?: Both Lahabrea before killing her and Erichthonios after her final defeat want to know if she ever truly loved them and if the auracite made her this way. Athena, for her part, is disappointed they actually thought the sweet wife and mother they thought she was ever existed and that even without the auracite, nothing would have changed.
Wicked Pretentious: Athena's attacks in Savage are named after disproven and unproven scientific theories, implying she's not as intelligent as she thinks for all of her deprivity. At best, she's ignorant to the truth in front of her, and refuses to accept it as fact.

Asphodelos

Erichthonios

Warder of the Condemned

^{Click here to see him transformed}

Race: Ancient

The first encounter of Pandæmonium, a distressed warder who transforms and attacks Themis and the Warrior of Light on sight. After getting his senses beat back into him, he joins the two in their quest to uncover the truth behind Pandæmonium's chaos.

Book Ends: Both the first and last fights of the storyline are against a corrupted version of him, first brainwashed by Hephaistos and later his reincarnation possessed by Athena.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Themis and the Warrior meet Erichthonios in a state of confusion, mistaking the two new arrivals for escaped subjects from Pandæmonium and attempting to put them in cells. It takes a sound beating from the Warrior and the seven phantoms conjured by Themis to snap Erichthonios out of it. His mind is once again warped by Hephaistos when Lahabrea's scorn for Erichthonios lowers his resistance to Hephaistos' brainwashing spell. But following Hephaistos' defeat, the Warrior's and Themis' encouragement and support allow Erichthonios to free himself of his own accord and seal Hephaistos away.
Chain Pain: He uses the chains decorating his armor for several attacks. One has him throw a chain at a player, damaging and pushing everyone in the chain's path, while another has him lash everything in a 180-degree arc on his left or right side. The Savage version has him dual-wielding chains, upgrading the base chain lash into a 270-degree arc, and throws in a flail and a chakram into his arsenal.
Chained by Fashion: His battle form has two chains wrapped around each arm, and half a dozen more anchored to his back. They all float.
Deuteragonist: His character arc is the main focus of the raid series and he's ultimately the one to stop both Hephaistos and Athena for good.
Dying Declaration of Hate: Though both he and Athena at this point are just artificial constructs created from her memories, as Athena's plan lies in shambles and her godly pocket dimension prepares to collapse on the two of them, Athena uses her final words to insult her son one last time. Erichthonios coldly turns it back on her.
Athena: How disappointing...truly, useless to the last.
Erichthonios: And who made me that way?
Epic Flail: He adds a spiked flail to his arsenal in the Savage version of his boss fight.
Et Tu, Brute?: He's astonished to learn that Hesperos is behind the chaos in Asphodelos, as the man was a dear mentor and friend to Erichthonios. It's even more shocking when Hesperos treats Erichthonios with nothing but contempt and mocks him for being an Inept Mage despite being the son of Lahabrea.
Fiery Redhead: Erichthonios shares the same flaming red hair that his father Lahabrea had in his youth. He also proves to be just as fiery as Lahabrea when angered, angrily lambasting his father over his failings and for not showing any grief over Athena's death.
Fling a Light into the Future: The memory crystal that started this venture turned out to be his making, hoping that someone in the far distant future will retrieve it. He made it so it would react to his soul and reach his future self, should he die the Final Days and reincarnate, or the Warrior of Light, beckoning them to Pandæmonium to help him keep the beasts in their prisons. Until then, he stayed behind so that in the scenario the Final Days was averted, there was at someone keeping the beasts at bay to prevent them from ending the star instead.
Gameplay and Story Integration: Erichtonios is an Inept Mage who is only good at one specific type of magic and not much else - it stands to reason that he's also, by far, the easiest boss in the entire Pandaemonium raid series, both in normal and Savage.
Grand Theft Me: How he manages to stop Athena from unleashing Ultima. He manages to use the aetherial memories of himself to force her out of Claudien's body, as it's revealed Claudien is his sundered reincarnation.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: He has poor self-confidence due to living in the shadow of his esteemed and talented parents, especially since he's an Inept Mage who struggles to do anything but create aetherial chains on his own. But Themis and the Warrior note that he put up a very good fight in his transformed state, meaning that he's a better fighter than he gives himself credit for.
High Hopes, Zero Talent: Erichthonios yearns to be as adept a researcher and warden of Pandæmonium as his brilliant and esteemed parents. But Erichthonios is an Inept Mage compared to them and suffers scorn from his father and mockery from the brainwashed Hesperos over his struggles to use creation and internment magic effectively. Despite this, he hasn't given up and has committed all of Pandæmonium's spells and features to heart, teaching the internment spell to Themis to help capture Pandæmonium's rampaging inmates. Subverted toward the end of the Pandæmonium raid series, as he succeeds in interring Hephaistos, Lahabrea's corrupted half, almost entirely on his own. A recording left by Erichthonios confirms that he singlehandedly kept Pandæmonium locked shut during the Final Days, preventing any of its prisoners from wreaking havoc during an already trying time for the ancients.
Inept Mage:
- His mother was the chief keywarder of Pandæmonium and his father is Lahabrea, a member of the Convocation of Fourteen. Despite this, Erichthonios isn't nearly as gifted as either of his parents, struggling to use any spells beyond creating aetherial chains without Themis' assistance. He sadly admits that he has neither his parents' magical affinity nor their brilliant minds.
- Despite his apparent struggles to use magic, he's so devoted a warder that he has committed the processes of Pandaemonium's spells and rituals to heart, enabling Themis to use them as effectively as a veteran warder. Themis gives Hesperos a Shut Up, Hannibal! speech over this, calling Erichthonios more capable than Hesperos could ever know. After constant practice and encouragement from Themis and the Warrior of Light, Erichthonios demonstrates the fruits of his labors by successfully interring Hephaistos, finally earning him the recognition of Lahabrea.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Lahabrea's Parental Neglect and the pressure of being an Inept Mage born to two peerless researchers and users of creation magic has left Erichthionios with a hot temper and a fervent desire to prove himself. He's often bitter and irritable, especially toward his father. But beneath it all is a deeply compassionate man who constantly frets over the fate of his fellow warders.
Light 'em Up: His "Shining Cages" attack has him divide the battlefield into sections of fire and light, blasting the corresponding cages with fire and light magic when orbs of fire or light surround him during his next attack.
Meaningful Name: He's named after a mythological Greek king and the son of Athena and Hephaestus. This Erichthonios is also the son of Athena, altough he calls his father by his Convocation title of Lahabrea. Lahabrea's Enemy Without takes on his discarded name of Hephaistos, embodying Lahabrea's wanton curiosity as a resarcher and Athena's dark desires as an Evilutionary Biologist.
Momma's Boy: Due to his father's indifferent and aloof attitude, Erichthonios was especially close to his mother, Athena, the former chief keywarder of Pandæmonium. She was the one who invited Erichthonios to become a warder in the first place. Erichthonios is also bitter that Lahabrea took Athena's place as chief keywarder after her death without so much as a word of grief. Unbeknownst to him, his mother purposely played the part of the perfect parent to drive him into her arms and make him the perfect test subject for her hemitheos experiments. Hephaistos preys on Erichthonios' love for her to twist his mind as Lahabrea never revealed the Awful Truth to him. It's later revealed that Athena invoked those by modifying Erichthonios' soul so that he'd be inclined to love and listen to her, ensuring that he'd wind up under her thumb had he not learned the truth about her.
Muggle Born of Mages: Downplayed. While Erichthonios can use magic, he's not nearly as gifted as either his mother, the former chief keyward of Pandæmonium, or Lahabrea, a member of the Convocation and the chief authority on creation magicks. It's also extremely easy to infer from the wider context in Elpis and from Shadowbringers that he struggles a bit in ancient society at large. As it turns out, Athena engineered that ineptitude so he would be a helpless vessel that would cling onto her for safety.
Raised as a Host: In Anabaseios, it's revealed that Athena tampered with Erichthonios's very soul to stunt his magical abilities and make him unnaturally dependent on her, all for the purpose of molding him into the perfect vessel for her own soul.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Owing to the mythological and Greek naming scheme of the ancients, Erichthonios shares his name with a legendary founder king of Athens concieved when Hephaestus attempted to assault Athena. Like the mythological Erichthonios, the warden of Pandæmonium is the son of Hephaistos and Athena and has a form of disability (being an Inept Mage compared to the mythological Erichthonios struggling to walk due to having snake-like legs or a serpent's lower half). Unlike the myth, Athena was the one who violated Lahabrea's soul and instilled in him the madness he would exhibit in the future. The mythological Athena was a decent mother figure despite the circumstances of Erichthonios' birth, while the Athena seen in the game is a self-serving monster who concieved Erichthonios for the sake of her plans to ascend to godhood.
Reincarnation: He ended up reincarnating as Claudien, having refused to sacrifice himself to Zodiark, so that his future self would still be around to keep Pandæmonium in check.
Super Breeding Program: A rare Inverted case. Athena intentionally stunted his aptitude just so she could exploit his helplessness.
True Companions: Erichthonios becomes fast friends with both Themis and the Warrior of Light, who both provide him with the support and validation he's craved his whole life. His final memory crystal, recorded during the Final Days, refers to the Warrior as a dear friend he wishes he could have seen again.
Unreliable Narrator: Downplayed. His description of Lahabrea characterizes him as a horrible father, a Bad Boss, and a Mad Scientist who would do anything and hurt anyone to advance his research. Themis is troubled by this, as the Lahabrea he knows is stern and calculating, but also just and utterly devoted to protecting the star and the people upon it. While Erichthonios' accusations of Lahabrea being an awful father are almost entirely true, Themis' impressions of Lahabrea turn out to be correct as well, as Lahabrea acts as a Reasonable Authority Figure opposing his Enemy Without, Hephaistos.
Warm-Up Boss: Compared to the other circles in Asphodelos and the other Normal Raids in general, Erichthonios is considered relatively easy. His lack of DPS checks, clear tells, and the infrequency with which he doles out damage make him relatively simple to handle. Some players have even managed to solo him as a Warrior, though it takes a long time due to having a health pool comparable to the other raid bosses.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Lahabrea has never praised Erichthonios' efforts as a mage or a warder, leaving Erichthonios with a fervent desire to prove himself. He's stunned when Lahabrea says how proud he is of him. Erichthonios later ponders if the reason his transformation possesses Lahabrea's mask is because he wanted to prove himself to him or because of some buried admiration for Lahabrea and his work.

Hippokampos

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/segfpf2scz0bbd36yer_fd2rz4_3.jpg

Mythic Creation

The first escaped beast fought within Asphodelos and the second encounter of Pandæmonium; a massive sea monster in the vague shape of a horse with a detached, floating head.

Animalistic Abomination: This thing isn't stuck in Pandæmonium for nothing. It can at best be described as a giant, vaguely horse-like beast with a detached floating head, shrimp and fish-like features, and whose power allows it to manipulate water to its will.
Just Think of the Potential!: Normally extremely violent and dangerous concepts are summarily destroyed and undone, however if they pique the interest of the Words of Lahabrea they can overide their unmaking and instead seal the creatures away for further research, which was the case for the Hippokampos. Presumably this has to do with it's ability to warp the environment around it, and it's ability to manipulate water.
Losing Your Head: Its head is permanently detached, which allows it to attack in different directions at once, or removing its head entirely to and launch it on the other side of the arena, while growing a new one in seconds.
Making a Splash: Most of its attacks are focused on manipulating the waterways it stays in and its water.

Phoinix

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fuo9ywn94enactye23ekrvyoz0.jpg

Mythic Creation

The second escaped beast fought within Asphodelos and the third encounter of Pandæmonium. One of the many prototypes for the spirit, this Phoinix lacks the healing capabilities and is only a creature of destruction.

Came Back Wrong: The Phoinix can resurrect its adds; unfortunately it brings them back as one-eyed, tentacled things instead of the firebirds they started as.
Flawed Prototype: It's one of many failed attempts at creating a true immortal Phoenix. While Lahabrea eventually succeeded in his efforts, this failed specimen's destructive nature caused it to be sealed away.
Just Think of the Potential!: Like most creatures in Pandæmonium the reason that this beast is sealed away instead of being destroyed like regular violent concepts, is due to it's value as a research subject to the Words of Lahabrea. Lahabrea's research into a true Phoenix bore this concept, which while a failure was part of the research that led into the true Phoenix's completion.
Mythology Gag: Its design is reminiscent of the Nox Suzaku from Final Fantasy Type-0 — a twisted, monstrous firebird with a deep red and black color scheme and multiple heads and wings.
Necromancer: Its resurrective abilities are more akin to necromancy than true restoration of life, using "Flames of Undeath" to bring back its adds as deformed things that only vaguely resemble their original selves.
The Phoenix: As its name implies, the Phoinix is a fiery bird with the power to resurrect the dead. Its appearance is markedly different from the Primal Phoenix however, having four wings, three heads, a dragon-like tail, an eye in its chest, and a pair of antlers growing out of its back like a third pair of wings.
Playing with Fire: All of its moves are forms of fire, including light and dark-aspected flames.
Spell My Name With An S: It uses an archaic spelling of the name more in line with the Greek one than what is more commonly used in modern times, including other instances of the word Phoenix within Final Fantasy XIV.

Hesperos

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8grsftfe1kblojxycawvjem4ja.jpg

Hemitheos

"Beyond your shallow reckoning, I have slipped the surly bonds of mortality! I have become one with our mythic creations, and rid myself of imperfections. I stand upon the threshold of godhood!"

An Ancient researcher of Pandæmonium and keyward of the Aspohdelos sector who had a sudden change in personality, fusing himself with a vampiric creature and unleashing the beasts of Pandæmonium. He is the final encounter of Asphodelos.

Acid Attack: Acid Mekhane drops a glob of acid on each player, forcing them to spread out to avoid overlapping damage.
A God Am I: He claims to be on the 'precipice of godhood', and calls himself a hemitheos, which translates to Demigod.
Badass Cape: He wears a stylish black cape befitting of a powerful vampire. He'll take it off—and in one case, weaponize it—for certain attacks.
Hesperos: This chlamys is no mere affectation, I assure you!
Battle Theme Music: "Hic Svnt Leones", a metal remix of the standard Asphodelos boss theme.
Better to Die than Be Killed: Before he can be captured with internment magick and interrogated, he gloats that the heroes will never get information out of him, before telekinetically summoning his sword and impaling himself.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Themis comments on Hesperos' sudden shift in attitude and personality. While originally a calm and caring man according to Erichthonios, Themis theorizes that Hesperos' sudden fanaticism of Lahabrea was caused by an outside force, comparing it to Erichthonios' own rampage while under extreme duress.
Deal with the Devil: Themis theorizes that someone or something was the cause of Hesperos' sudden change in personality, and then 'made a deal he couldn't refuse' and turned him into an hemitheos.
Domain Holder: As the keyward of Asphodelos, Hesperos has complete control over the sector and can reshape it to his liking. The fiery hellscape where the party fights the Phoinix was originally a normal corridor before Hesperos decided to make things interesting. During his fight, he can turn parts of the battlefield into lava and poison pits that rain fire and grime upon the party and geysers to fling them into the instant-death spikes he creates around the arena. He can also bring down an enormously damaging lightning bolt that is almost certain to kill players unless they run to the edges of the arena to mitigate it.
Evil Mentor: According to Erichthonios, Hesperos was a kind and patient mentor who coached Erichthonios into becoming the warder he is now. In the present, Hesperos is a cruel man who mocks Erichthonios for being an Inept Mage and a disgrace to Lahabrea's name before trying to kill him, Themis, and the Warrior.
Fusion Dance: Hesperos's vampiric abilities are the result of him fusing with a vrykolakas, a creature capable of draining aether from its victims. Themis also guesses that this is the fate that's awaiting the other wardens of Pandæmonium if they don't stop the source of the breakout.
The Glasses Come Off: He removes his glasses before the fight begins, his eyes glowing purple after he pulls them off.
One-Winged Angel: In Savage, he transforms into a shirtless demon with four wings in his second phase.
Our Vampires Are Different: He has many of the traditional traits, but gained through a unique medium - fusing himself with an aether-draining creation held within Pandæmonium.
Power Floats: He hovers off the ground with no obvious means of propulsion, indicating that he's using levitation magic of some sort to suspend himself off the ground. Even so, Themis is wary of facing him right after the Warrior dispatched the Phoinix, calling for a Tactical Withdrawal to plan for their inevitable confrontation with him.
Reality Warper: Being both an ancient and the Keyward of Asphodelos, he can shift and change the sector to his will.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives a big one to Erichtonius as the group encounters him for the first time, claiming he's a disgrace compared to Lahabrea, and that he's unfit to call him by his name.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: He is named for Hesperus, the personification of the evening star in Classical Mythology.
Ring Out: His arena is surrounded by spikes that will kill any player instantly, and he has a few attacks which can push players into them.
Shout-Out: His form as a hemitheos is a dead ringer for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night's Dracula, including the white hair, general style and color scheme of his clothes and even the pointy ears. His attack involving his cape is also reminiscent of Alucard's special attack when wielding the Alucard Sword from the same game. His Savage exclusive form, a four-winged shirtless demon, also references the many, many demonic One-Winged Angel forms of Dracula from the same franchise.
Smug Snake: Every word that falls out of his mouth oozes with contempt and condescension, sneering at Erichthonios for his struggles with magic and calling the warder not worthy of uttering Master Lahabrea's name. He dismisses the heroes as "weaklings" even after noticing that the "familiar" dispatched the Phoinix with surprising quickness. He continues to speak condescendingly to the heroes until he's beaten by the Warrior ahd Themis' phantom adventurers.
Starter Villain: As the Arc Villain of Asphodelos, he serves as this for the raid series as a whole.
Sword Beam: Hell Skewer is a slash which produces a line-shaped shockwave, and he has another attack where he swings his sword to produce an enormous cone of energy.
Underestimating Badassery: Although he acknowledges that the Warrior is an unusually powerful "familiar" who felled the Phoinix far quicker than he anticipated, he still dismisses them as a "weakling" and returns to his previous activities rather than trying to beat them after they've already exerted themselves. He pays for it when the heroes return and defeat him in his fight.
Undying Loyalty: His reverence for "Master Lahabrea" borders on infatuation, considering an Inept Mage like Erichthonios not even worthy of uttering Lahabrea's name.
Hesperos: As a hemitheos shall I serve Master Lahabrea, ever faithful, unto the end of days...
Vampiric Draining: One of his attacks allows him to absorb the Aether from the entire party, channeling it into his sword and making it glow blood red, allowing him to cast special attacks.

Abyssos

Proto-Carbuncle

A primordial Carbuncle imprisoned within Abyssos, and the first threat the Warrior of Light has to fight in that tier of Pandæmonium.

Attack Reflector: Its Ruby Glow attack creates energy barriers that reflect its other attacks, turning smaller, localized points of damage into contained AoEs.
Battle Theme Music: "Silent Scream", a heavy metal theme taking cues from Pandæmonium's main theme "Where Dæmon's Abide".
Barrier Warrior: Its main gimmick is using barriers not for protection, but to redirect its attacks.
Carbuncle Creature: A hideously monstrous one, in contrast to the Carbuncles of modern-day. Not only does it have a ruby for a horn, it also has some spikes as rubies too.
Do Well, But Not Perfect: One of its Savage mechanics involves positioning over puddles to avoid allowing Baits to spawn, which then cause massive raid-wide damage that can easily cause a Total Party Kill; however, the second time they start to spawn, right after Devour, players have to plug every puddle except one so that Proto-Carbuncle can eat the Bait and refill its satiety bar. If the players prevent every Bait mob from spawning at that specific point, then Proto-Carbuncle will wipe everyone out.
Gemstone Assault: It can create magical Topaz Stones that will explode after a short delay.
Gem Tissue: It has a ruby horn on its head, its eartips become ruby, and a pair of small ruby spikes on each shoulder.
It Can Think: The fact that it is capable of speech implies that it’s far more intelligent than its feral appearance suggests, and its actions in its fight support this - namely, noticing that spewing acid on the cage containing it damaged the bars, and then proceeding to attack the damaged portions to break the cage.
Mythology Gag: Of the much more bestial Carbuncle found in Final Fantasy V, right down to the barrier mechanic.
One-Hit Kill: If you get hit by its pouncing attack, it will devour and spit you back out, instantly killing you, and no amount of damage prevention will avoid it.
Overly-Long Tongue: It has a long, prehensile tongue which it will use to snatch up any players stunned by its pouncing attack and devour them.
Poisonous Person: It devours a poisonous slime during the transition to its second phase. From that point onward, it gains several poison-based attacks, and some of its previous attacks gain poisonous attributes: its Topaz Stones may create expanding pools of poison instead of exploding, and its Crunch tankbuster will poison the tank.
Psycho Prototype: It's a gigantic and monstrously violent carbuncle.

Hegemone

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rmbp78d9wcibz2n7ygh7rxvi4.jpg

Hemitheos

"You cannot measure against a Keyward!"

The keyward of Abyssos, turned into a Hemitheos and fused with two different mythic creations.

Battle Theme Music: "Scream", a vocal version of "Silent Scream". The song as a whole is a Gender Flipped version of Hesperos' "Hic Svnt Leones" (down to having 'here be lions' in the lyrics), and Hegemone shares this theme with fellow female keyward Agdistis.
Beneath Notice: The reason she was brainwashed by Athena. By all accounts, she is just a normal member of Abyssos who held a moderately important role within the prison, and isn't treated as all that important by the rest of the cast. This made her the perfect target for Athena to use as a sleeper agent for her plans, since her unassuming nature meant few would have guessed she was being controlled.
Body Horror: Her body is infested with a parasitic plant. From what little skin she has exposed, it appears her entire body from the neck down is wrapped in slime and vines.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Like the other Keywards, she's been brainwashed to serve Hephaistos. Unlike Hesperos and Agdistis, she was brainwashed much earlier by Athena to ensure her plans would continue after Lahabrea killed her.
Breath Weapon: Her parasitic plant can exhale toxic gas from its maw.
Casting a Shadow: Several of her attacks blast the party with torrents of darkness, such as Choros Ixou or Hemitheos's Dark IV.
Chekhov's Gunman: She was brainwashed by Athena long before the events of the raids and was the one who set Hephaistos free in the first place.
Duality Motif: She's fused with two different creations, with a "chelic" claw and a "glossal" worm protruding from her back; attacks from both have different properties. Many of her other attacks are duality themed as well; such as Choros Ixou blasting two sides of the arena, hitting both tanks with tankbusters, and swapping two mechanics with Aetherial exchange.
Irony: Lahabrea praises Hegemone's logical and calculating mind prior to her boss fight. Yet, it's her very much emotional and human admiration for Athena that enabled Athena to control her.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: She's named after a Greek goddess of plants.
We Hardly Knew Ye: She only appears for her boss fight as the 2nd floor of Pandæmonium, and is quickly imprisoned after being defeated. She doesn't appear again after. This turns out to be a plot point. The fact that she's so barebones of a character means she doesn't have a clear desire that Hephaistos could twist. Lahabrea noticing this led to his discovery that she was particularly close to Athena, making her the most likely suspect for the one who set Hephaistos free in the first place. She returns in your revisit to Pandæmonium in the past as an NPC, restored to her normal self.
You Are in Command Now: With the other Keywards dead and Lahabrea stepping down from the position, he names Hegemone his successor as the Chief Keyward despite her betrayal due to Athena's influence.

Agdistis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/i_ttqf6j87tcpf1kn_5_35oejo.jpg

Hemitheos

"No! Do not look upon me! Leave now or... or... DIE."

The Tartaros layer's keyward. Unable to break her will, Hephaistos forcefully fused her with a mythic creation to break her mind.

Battle Theme Music: "Scream", a vocal version of "Silent Scream". The song as a whole is a Gender Flipped version of Hesperos' "Hic Svnt Leones" (down to having 'here be lions' in the lyrics), and Agdistis shares this theme with fellow female keyward Hegemone.
Blow You Away: "Hemitheos' Aero IV" is a massive wind spell that will attempt to blow the party off the platform for a Ring Out.
Body Horror: All that's left of her by the time you fight her is her dead-eyed head and torso fused into the bark of a monstrous tree.
Botanical Abomination: Even without Agdistis's body, the tree creature she's fused to is pretty horrifying to look at: It has several randomly placed eyes and two mouths, some of its seedpods have disturbingly human mouths themselves, and the seeds themselves "hatch" into creatures from Elpis that melt into mud after using their attack.
Dying as Yourself: After defeating her Hemitheos form, her soul lingers just long enough to call Lahabrea out on hiding the truth from Erichthonios.
Evil Is Bigger: The creature that Agdistis was fused to is comparable in size to the colossal Sephirot and housed in a chamber with no clear floor. Its size lets it smash players with its fist-like branches for enormous damage and leave them unable to move if they get struck.
Fighting from the Inside: She managed to keep a small part of her logical mind isolated from the madness that Hephaistos infected her with. This part of herself sent out a false report about things being fine in Pandæmonium, knowing that Themis would get wind of this, recognize it for what it was, and come investigate. She also speaks to the Warrior of Light as a disembodied voice several times, urging them to protect Erichthonios from Hephaistos's machinations.
Light 'em Up: Hemitheos' Glare III, Hemitheos' Holy, and Spark of Life all blast the party with light.
Light Is Not Good: Her Hemitheos form is a twisted take on a dryad, and uses many classic White Mage spells such as Glare, Aero and Holy. She's anything but holy, however.
Petal Power: Blades of Attis makes razor-sharp leaves fall from the sky like hailstones, dealing massive damage to anyone in their path as they creep across the arena.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Agdistis is named after an androgynous botanical god who was castrated and whose blood caused almond trees to sprout. Throughout the fight, Agdistis will drop "Forbidden Fruit" onto the stage, from which life hatches to attack before melting away.
Ring Out: One of the two versions of "Boughs of Attis" has the monster drag its branches along the stage in an attempt to fling the party off the platform. "Hemitheos' Aero IV" attempts to blow the party off with a burst of wind.

Hephaistos

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kqxmobi7bgrmpos5jhgtbswhzk.jpg

Perfect Imperfection

Voiced by: Shūichi Ikeda (JP), Alec Newman (EN), Gabriel le Doze (FR), Michael-Che Koch (DE)

"Rest eternal in the dark depths of this prison."

Presenting himself as Lahabrea to Erichthonios, Hephaistos is the source of the woes of Pandæmonium. A splintered half of Lahabrea's soul that looks exactly like him in his younger years, Hephaistos will stop at nothing to achieve his goals of reviving Athena.

Abusive Parent: He believes himself to be the true father of Erichthonios; doesn't stop him from manipulating him, brainwashing him, and using him as a Human Shield. He treats him more like a personal possession than a human being.
Hephaistos: Erichthonios is mine! Heart and soul!
Ambiguous Situation: It's not explained or explicitly even discussed how Hephaistos managed to free himself from his confines. His Triple Triad card confirms that he was freed by an 'unknown force', but there's still no indication has of yet on who or what this force is. 6.4 confirms that the "unknown force" was Hegemone, after being brainwashed by Athena.
Arc Villain: He's The Man Behind the Man for Asphodelos and the direct antagonist of Abyssos, making him the Big Bad for the first two-thirds of Pandæmonium.
The Archmage: Hephaistos has all of the original Lahabrea's knowledge and abilities, assailing the party with a furious array of fire spells, creation magicks, and the powers of the creatures he's assimilated within Pandæmonium.
The Assimilator: His body in the fight against him implies he has fused with a lot of creatures in Pandæmonium, from Medusa-like snakes to centaur-like beasts.
Battle Theme Music: "Embers", a rock medley of "Without Shadow", "Thunderer", and, "Shadows Withal", three themes strongly associated with Lahabrea. The "Without Shadow" and "Thunderer" sections represent Lahabrea's future role as one of the leaders of the Ascians, where as the "Shadows Withal" section is representative of the Lahabrea of the unsundered past. As half of Lahabrea's soul with all of his knowledge and abilities and none of his moral compunctions, Hephaistos represents Lahabrea at his peak while also showing facets of his eventual Card-Carrying Villain state after millenia of degradation.
Boss Subtitles: "Perfect Imperfection"
Didn't See That Coming: While Hephaistos anticipated the intervention of the Convocation, particularly that of Lahabrea himself, he could not account for a "familiar" coming from the future to wreck his plans. Moreover, "Azem's familiar" can simply bypass all of Hephaistos' traps and defenses by being aetherically thin enough to not trigger them, enabling Themis, Erichthonios, and Lahabrea to simply cut to the heart of the facility unimpeded.
Disc-One Final Boss: His defeat and imprisonment at the end of the Abyssos tier seems to tie up every loose end nicely: Erichthonios starts to at least somewhat reconcile with his father, the truth about Athena and the source of the Hemitheos is revealed, and there are no more deeper tiers of Pandæmonium to explore. It all seems safe for the Warrior of Light to conclude their job and return to the present... And then Pandæmonium appears within the Lifestream in the present, setting up the hook for the third and final tier.
Enemy Without: Lahabrea's emotional yet malevolent side, which he tore away long ago and given a vessel by Athena to enact her will.
Evil Is Hammy: He screams out the majority of his lines in combat with what sounds like pure, seething rage. Justified, as he represnts Lahabrea's repressed emotions.
"OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
"I TIRE OF THIS FARCE!"
"You will know my rage!"
"Fools, braying before a GOD!"
The Heartless: He's the half of Lahabrea made up of the memories he wanted to forget, such as his affection towards Athena and how she infected him with a 'desire' to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence regardless of the cost to human life.
Imposter Forgot One Detail: He makes a convincing disguise as (old) Lahabrea to Erichthonios, mostly because he in part IS him, and almost convinces the group that Lahabrea was behind everything all along - until Themis asks him to say his name. Hephaistos, not knowing he's Elidibus due to only sharing the memories of when Lahabrea was younger, calls him Themis, making the bluff fail.
Love Makes You Evil: He inherited Lahabrea's lingering love for Athena... which combined with the worst part of his personality and Athena's obsession with knowledge, turned him into a psychopath whose sole reason to turn people into Hemitheos and attempting to break open the seals of Pandæmonium is so that he can revive his lost love and accelerate her plans. By contrast, he inherited none of Lahabrea's love for Erichthonios save an abusive, possessive attitude.
Mad Scientist: He's the one turning people into Hemitheoi, with all that entails. This even reflects on himself, as when he's fought he's fused with so many creatures that he can shapeshift with them at will.
Mythology Gag: He bears thematic similarities to the Hell Emperor of Final Fantasy II. Being an ambitious man who conquers Pandæmonium and commands its monsters, himself becoming a terrifying monster in the process. His existence as a splintered piece of Lahabrea's soul is reminiscent of the Emperor splitting into the Hell Emperor and Heaven Emperor in the Soul of Rebirth story added in Final Fantasy II's remakes. Notably, the name Lahabrea comes from a lore entry regarding the Esper Mateus in Final Fantasy XII, and the name Mateus comes from a novelization of Final Fantasy II as a name for the Emperor.
One-Winged Angel: In the Savage mode of the fight, he takes off the shackles on his body and unleashes the full extent of his power... which mutates him beyond recognition, making one arm grow unfathomably huge and ridden with eyes, the other arm turns creepily skinny and bent, grows several wings and his upper torso is completely destroyed in the process, replaced by a double helix and a long black cloak similiar to the ones of Ascian Primes. He doesn't even have a face anymore, the only thing recognizable as one being the Lahabrea mask, with an absolute void behind it.
Playing with Fire: True to the original Lahabrea's associations with fire, Hephaistos bombards the battlefield with streams of flame, fiery creations, and enormous explosions.
Power Limiter: The chains covering his body keep all his fusion mutations in check, certain segments coming off when he wants to utilize that form in battle. In Savage, he rips all those chains off to unleash his full power, causing him to mutate into a grotesque Ascian Prime-esque beast.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: "Hephaistos" is an as-close-to-the-original-Greek-as-possible (Ἥφαιστος) spelling of Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire and the forge. In the myths, Hephaestus is the father of Erichthonios by way of the earth itself, as the result of a failed attempt to assault the goddess Athena. As in the mythology, Hephaistos (and by extension the true Lahabrea) is a nearly unparalleled master of creating things. This association with a god of fire fits well, as Lahabrea in all forms favors fire in battle.
Shout-Out: If Hesperos was a reference to Castlevania's Dracula, then Hephaistos is one to William Birkin from Resident Evil 2: a mad scientist who turned himself into a horrendous Humanoid Abomination that grows more and more mutated as the fight goes on, with the consistent design of eyes on where they definitely shouldn't be. Some of the spell names in his Savage phase have "Tyrant's X" in them, like "Tyrant's Unholy Darkness" or "Tyrant's Flare", likely a reference of the Tyrant-series bioweapons from the same franchise.
Split-Personality Merge: Lahabrea ultimately decides to merge back with Hephaistos at the end of the Raid storyline - which in the long term, will turn Lahabrea into the unhinged and mentally unstable Paragon of the Ascians responsible for many atrocities.
Taken for Granite: He can spawn snakelike gorgons that will petrify anyone who meets their gaze.
Total Party Kill: In Savage, his second form's Ego Death attack will kill the entire party when it goes off. He casts it twice, and while it's possible to survive the first casting if the players know what they're doing, the second casting has no such safety net: either you kill Hephaistos, or you're all dead.

Anabaseios

Kokytos

Mythic Creation

"My feast... must not end... My feast... must not be interrupted!"

A monstrous humanoid creation that appears within the Aetherial Sea. It is devouring the souls of the dead at such speed that it threatens the cycle of rebirth, forcing the Warrior of Light to deal with it before venturing into Pandæmonium for the final time.

The Archmage: The mage soul makes numerous boasts about its magical might, claiming that its strength is without equal and that few can wield power such as its own. Its abilities seem to back this up: outside the high-level Paradox spell, a player Black Mage can't attack with fire and ice magic at the same time the way Kokytos does.
Bare-Fisted Monk: It uses a variety of martial arts moves in its martialist stance, including various kicks and an aether-infused uppercut.
Blood Knight: The Martialist soul is extremely boisterous and battle-crazed.
Call-Back: The beast stance uses the same Charybdis and meteor-summoning mechanics as the King Behemoth from Labyrinth Of The Ancients.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each of the souls Kokytos uses to empower itself are a specific color: Blue for the mage, red for the martialist, and green for the beast.
Damage Over Time: The mage soul's Global Spell attack inflicts a strong Bleeding debuff which can't be cleansed.
Dishing Out Dirt: The Martialist soul gives Kokytos physical strength great enough to shatter and manipulate stone.
Elemental Powers: The mage personality can cast fire and ice magic. The Savage version of the fight adds wind and lightning spells to its arsenal.
Eyeless Face: It has no eyes upon its face, making it look like its covered in wax
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: It shows up as the first boss of the final tier for the Endwalker raids but overall has no bearing on the ongoing plot aside from being evidence of the dangers of Pandæmonium. It's never referenced again after its defeat and destruction. The fact that Athena shows up just as it's destroyed helps a lot.
Good Lips, Evil Jaws: It's a soul-eating monster with no lips, leaving its many sharp teeth on full display.
Large Ham: The mage personality shrieks its lines at the top of its lungs in the English dub.
"FLAMES TAKE YOU!"
"CRUMBLE AND DIE!"
"ENTERTAIN ME, MY DARLINGS!"
Meteor-Summoning Attack: It can call down comets and cast Ecliptic Meteor while in its beast stance.
Primal Stance: It gets down on all fours and crawls around like an animal while in its beast stance.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: It is named after one of the five rivers that encircle the underworld in Greek myth, which is also the namesake of the deepest circle of Hell in The Divine Comedy.
Mythology Gag: Its ability to channel souls functions similarly to Gau's rages from Final Fantasy VI, particularly the beast mode and its apparent channeling of a Behemoth.
Shout-Out: While named after the river in Greek mythology and The Divine Comedy, it shares a few aspects with Satan from the latter. Both are powerful, imprisoned beings located in a place referred to as the Ninth Circle that constantly devour three souls, but despite their power are minor nuisances at best that serve as a mere appetizer to eventually meeting someone who either is or claiming to be God.
Soul Eating: It can ingest souls to gain their powers, regurgitating them when it wants to change stances.
Stance System: It has three modes: a 'mage' mode in which it cast spells of ice and fire, a 'martialist' mode where it uses its hands and feet to fight, and a 'beast' mode in which it goes on all fours and begins pouncing around the arena and summoning meteors. Savage adds a 'chimera' mode, which is a combination of 'mage' and 'martialist'
Villainous Glutton: Gorging itself on souls is the only thing its default personality seems to care about. Fittingly, its raidwide damage attack is called Gluttony's Augur.
Voices Are Mental: Its voice changes based on which soul it is currently gnoshing. The mage's soul gives it a shrill woman's voice like a Wicked Witch, the martialist’s soul gives it the nasally voice of an old man, and the beast's soul has it make inhuman roars and snarls.
Volcanic Veins: When empowered by the martialist's soul, Kokytos's body lights up with red veins.
Yin-Yang Bomb: Its mage form is able to cast both Blizzard III and Fire III. As the fight goes on, Kokytos will start casting both at once before either a fire or an ice sigil flashes on screen to tell the party which mechanic is actually going off.
Your Soul Is Mine!: Its ravenously hungry for souls - which can be cataclysmic due to being in the source of all souls, the Aetherial sea itself.

Pandæmonium

Voiced by: Yuya Murakami (JP), Jeremy Ang Jones (EN), Emmanuel Bonami (FR), Adam Numm (DE)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/qq7qgxgric7uetovr_359d8qum_9.jpg

Dæmoniac Dungeon

"I am... Pandæmonium. From countless failures have I wrought miracles. Into soulless vessels, I breathe life!"'

The prison of Pandæmonium itself, given life and a soul by Athena.

Animal Motifs: It resembles a gigantic twisted spider, and one of its main mechanics is it shooting out webs to trap its enemies
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Befitting being a literal building, its absolutely gigantic and the biggest enemy fought in the entire Raid.
Belly Flop Crushing: Touchdown has it leap onto the central platform to crush the party under its massive bulk. The only way to avoid this is by crossing over to one of the side platforms using the webs created by Pandæmonium's other attacks.
Breaking Old Trends: Pandæmonium is the first raid series in which the titular character (or in this case, location-made-character) is not the final boss. Pandæmonium is not even the penultimate boss.
Call-Back: As a castle given life, its singular wing and halo above its body remind it of a more twisted, demonic version of Alexander.
Daddy's Little Villain: Gender-inverted. Pandæmonium is completely devoted to Athena, whom it treats as its mother, while declaring that it is fighting in Athena's name.
Pandæmonium: For Athena... For Mother!
Evil Is Bigger: As the prison of Pandæmonium given life, the monster Pandæmonium is as large as an entire fortress. It tries to make use of its mass by jumping on the platform to crush the party. This can only be avoided by walking across the web tightrope it accidentally creates as a side effect of its attacks to a safe spot on either the left or right side of the arena.
Evil Is Visceral: Its body is a mass of exposed sinews, and it has a mound of pulsating, glowing tumours on its back.
Eye Beams: "Pandæmoniac Ray" involves it twisting its head around to one half of the arena, and shooting out a wide conal beam from its red eye.
Light 'em Up: Its magical attacks are mostly aspected to light. Its basic attack is to spit light at its target, its tankbuster is a Pillar of Light, and its Parted Plumes attack sprays Feather Flechettes made of light in all directions.
Living Structure Monster: It's a building brought to monstrous life.
Mythology Gag: Its version of the Ultima spell is based on the animations for Final Fantasy II's version: a column of orange light surrounded by a double helix of descending fireballs strikes the platform, producing a fiery explosion.
Pillar of Light: Its Soul Grasp attack repeatedly blasts the main tank with a column of orange energy.
Projectile Webbing: One of its attacks has it spew webs at the party. Targeted players must avoid standing next to one of the posts or another player, lest they be bound to the spot and take heavy damage.
Ring Out: In Savage, the final hit of Harrowing Hell knocks players back further than the arena allows. The first time comes after a mechanic that allows you to create a makeshift wall to save the party from dying. The second time, there's no way around it; you either kill it before the final hit or you're starting over.
Signature Move: Harrowing Hell. Pandæmonium rams the platform the party is standing on repeatedly, inflicting raidwide damage with each hit. The last hit knocks back the entire party, ignoring knockback immunity. On Normal, it knocks back the party just short the length of the arena, meaning that the players have to stand near the very front of the arena of suffer death by Ring Out. On Savage, it's a guaranteed Ring Out. The first time it uses the attack, the party must bait its webs to the back of the platform in order to form a makeshift wall to prevent the party from falling off. The second time signals its Total Party Kill move, and the party must either kill it before the final hit or start over.
Skull for a Head: Its 'head' resembles a gigantic skull with a singular red eye.
Supernatural Fear Inducer: Pandæmoniac Ray inflicts the Hysteria debuff, making afflicted players run uncontrollably in a random direction—likely off the platform to their doom.
Tactical Suicide Boss: A variation. Pandæmonium's Touchdown is a One-Hit Kill attack that covers the entire central platform. In the Normal version, it will always spray webs in a way that creates a bridge between the central platform and one of the side platforms before using Touchdown, giving the party a means to avoid this otherwise inescapable attack without forcing them to run through the poisonous goop that separates the platforms. It pointedly does not do this in Savage, where players must bait Pandæmonium into spraying webs at the correct spots to create a bridge instead.
Use Your Head: Its Harrowing Hell attack has Pandæmonium repeatedly slam its head into the edge of the platform to produce damaging shockwaves.
Your Size May Vary: Yes, Pandæmonium is huge, but it is still scaled down from the actual fortress it was created from.

Characters / Final Fantasy XIV - Pandæmonium

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

Pandæmonium

Athena