Look, sometimes you just want to do some lore stuff for Final Fantasy XIV, and this is one of those times. Especially since… well, there’s a paucity of stuff to talk about right now otherwise. Not that it’s anyone’s fault or a problem, but it’s a good time to take stock of the Ascians we absolutely know about and how many of them are pretty decidedly dead right now. This is actually a large number, to be fair!
Obviously, for this particular column we’re focusing on the members of the Convocation, the “named” Ascians most people think of when they think of this particular villain group. Among this group were three unsundered Ascians (who survived from the original Final Days of Amaurot) and another 10 sundered Ascians raised up from fragments of their souls that are the root of the Echo. It took unsundered Ascians to make new ones, though, so at this point it’s safe to assume any Ascians who are gone will remain gone for good.
Also, you know… spoilers for the story herein.
Emmeroloth
Chronologically, this is the Ascian that’s been dead in the grave the longest… maybe. It’s a little bit unclear because what we do know is that Emmeroloth was supposedly killed when the Isle of Val disappeared, leading to the whole to-do that ultimately led to Eureka and all of that nonsense. You don’t need to feel bad if you don’t remember most of that, it involved doing Eureka, you probably didn’t care for it all that much.
However, chronologically this happened before Emmeroloth had a speaking role at the end of patch 2.3, which means one of three things happened. One, a new Emmeroloth was found and raised up after his previous demise. Two, the patch 2.3 ending was shown slightly out of sequence. Three… well, someone made a minor goof and forgot that he had a couple speaking lines that technically he should have been too dead to deliver. It’s probably that one.
Nabriales
Nabriales was a big stupid jerk who showed up and tried to abduct Minfilia, only to get introduced to the Scion’s new ability to actually permanently dispatch Ascians. Of course, it would have been possible at this point for one of the Unsundered to bring him back, but there’s no reason to believe that happened. Alas, poor Nabriales, you were pretty easy to get rid of.
Igeyorhm
There was a lot of cut content around Igeyorhm in Heavensward, but none of it ultimately changes that her role was palling around with Lahabrea and Thordan during the ending arc, fighting you in a couple of boss fights, and then getting eaten by the Eye of Nidhogg. Alas, poor Igeyrohm, some of your cut content sounds cool.
Lahabrea
Look, Lahabrea’s method of death is just hilarious. This guy was an unsundered Ascian, meaning he was one of the three most powerful examples of his people. He was a master manipulator who possessed people and made everyone dance to his tune. He was a major antagonist! And he went out in exactly the same punk fashion as Igeyorhm.
Unlike Iggy, though… like, Emet-Selch could have taken the time to bring Igeyorhm and Nabriales back. Lahabrea was unsundered. He was just gone. It couldn’t have happened more hilariously to a bigger jerk.
Emet-Selch
Emet-Selch, meanwhile, went out in a properly drawn-out fashion as arguably the last entirely pure unsundered Ascian in existence. It’s actually kind of sad, when you think about it. He was terrible, but he also was the last person clinging to the memory of a society that was gone.
It’s especially interesting because he seemed to be hoping that the player character would unlock a new means of awakening from the Echo over the course of the Shadowbringers story, and you can sort of feel his frustration when that doesn’t happen. He was always fighting against the tides of change and was finally pulled under.
Elidibus
Elidibus is an odd example. He’s an Unsundered, but he’s also something of a primal, and sort of occupies a lot of contradictory positions as a result of that fact. Indeed, even he doesn’t seem to be entirely clear on what he’s supposed to do at the end other than stop you for good… something he ultimately fails at in what winds up being a heartbreaking moment.
There’s a lot of sympathy for villains here, let’s be real.
Mitron
Better known as Eden, Mitron was one of the two Ascians that primarily fought back against Arbdert’s group on the First, ultimately responsible for starting the Flood of Light that nearly destroyed the world. Unfortunately for Mitron, he wound up stuck in Eden and able to do nothing but think about Loghrif for a really long time, which meant that he had some pretty strong feelings when he got back out of Eden’s little bubble.
Ultimately, Mitron was defeated and burnt away thanks to Gaia, Ryne, and the player character. It’s kind of a sad ending for him, since he had been Loghrif’s protector the whole time, and she is… well, still around.
Loghrif
Better known as Gaia, Loghrif was a long-time partner to Mitron, but when the Flood of Light was unleashed she was displaced and ultimately found her way intoGaia as a much-weakened fragment of herself. Arguably, that means Gaia still is an Ascian now, since the end of that story doesn’t really get rid of Loghrif so much as Gaia asserts her fundamental will over the person she gets to be.
This is probably fine.
Fandaniel
Who’s been messing up everything?
It’s been Fandaniel all along!
Seriously, we don’t know much about this guy other than the fact that he’s palling around with Zenos, he’s a completely awful monster, and he claims to want to just burn everything down to the ground without caring what’s involved along the way. Presumably we’ll be killing him super dead in the next expansion.
Pashtarot & Altima
These two get lumped together because they’ve both appeared precisely once (in that same 2.3 cutscene with Emmeroloth) with a speaking line and have subsequently done nothing else. We don’t know what they’re up to or where they’ve been. Don’t be surprised if they show up in Endwalker, though.
Halmarut & Deudalaphon
These two are implied by the pattern of names and identities, but they haven’t even had a speaking line… and we don’t know if something happened to them. There was some speculation that Deudalaphon was one of the two Ascian masks on Gaius’ belt from the masks he had claimed, but of course it’s unlikely that Gaius alone could permanently kill an Ascian, even an Unsundered. He might have disrupted their bodies, but considering that the other mask was speculated to belong to Fandaniel, even that’s a bit up in the air at the moment.
Regardless, these are the two most unknown members of the group. Maybe they’ll be hanging around in Pandaemonium?
As always, feedback is welcome down in the comments or via mail to eliot@massivelyop.com. Next week, I want to talk a little bit about Blue Mage and the potentials of the limited job setup. Will we ever get another? Is that even in the plans now? Or is this a failed experiment?
The Nymian civilization hosted an immense amount of knowledge and learning, but so much of it has been lost to the people of Eorzea. That doesn’t stop Eliot Lefebvre from scrutinizing Final Fantasy XIV each week in Wisdom of Nym, hosting guides, discussion, and opinions without so much as a trace of rancor.
