History Characters / FinalFantasyXIVEmetSelch

[[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVGarlondIronworks Garlond Ironworks]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVAllies Other Allies]] ([[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVGrahaTia G'raha Tia]])\\

[[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVAllies Other Allies]] ([[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVGrahaTia G'raha Tia]])\\

* TheWorfHadTheFlu: [[spoiler:He's one of the most powerful Ancient sorcerers to ever exist, if not THE strongest; however in ''Endwalker'', when the Ktisis Hyperborea power dampening field comes in effec, it puts him down several notches which prevents him from unleashing his true power and curbstomp every obstacle on his way up to Hermes.]]

''Nations of Hydaelyn'': [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVTheEorzeanAlliance The Eorzean Alliance]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVIshgardAndDravania Ishgard and Dravania]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVOthardAndHingashi Othard and Hingashi]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVSharlayanAndThavnair Sharlayan and Thavnair]]\\

** His plan to infuse the Warrior of Light with the light from all five Lightwardens in hopes they could contain it, and thus prove themselves "worthy" of allying with, backfires spectularly, as with Ardbert's help they ''do'' end up being able to contain it—but only after a point where Emet and the Warrior found themselves firmly at odds. The Warrior then used this excess light to form the blade with which they killed the Ascian.

* FutureMeScaresMe: [[spoiler: In ''Endwalker'', after the Warrior of Light tells him, Hythlodaeus and Venat everything about the Final Days and what follows, Emet-Selch takes particular exception to him being cast as a megalomaniac when dismissing their tale as fiction. In particular, he finds the concept of the phantom Amaurot to be a disgusting mockery of lives willingly given in honorable service of the star. Even after more or less agreeing that the Warrior came with a purpose, he continues to insist that he doesn't believe a word of their story right up to the point that he gets his memory wiped.]]

** [[spoiler: Try as he might, there was more to suggest he cared about the unsundered races than he cared to admit. Before the final dungeon of ''Endwalker'' if you talk to Y'shtola, she muses that on Elpis, all of the Ancients regarded the Warrior as a mere familiar. By comparison, the shades in the phantom Amaurot regarded the Scions as Ancient children, leading Y'shtola to muse that, even if not just subconsciously, Emet-Selch knew his "not a person" schtick was bunk and acknowledged the sundered Spoken as real- if not naive and juvenile - people.]]

* GrumpyBear: When he's not taunting others and rubbing their noses in his superiority, he's grumbling about how people ''won't leave him alone''.

* UnreliableNarrator: While his love for his people and anguish over their fates are very much real, ''Endwalker'' retroactively reveals [[spoiler:he was wearing ''quite'' a pair of rose-colored glasses about them: the Ancients, while not evil, had a different view the value of an individual's life (stemming from their very long lifetimes), were pretty intolerant of big flaws in their creations, sometimes more than they needed to be, and [[NotSoAboveItAll did not always use their creation magicks responsibly]]. They certainly ''would'' and ''did'' sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but they were not perfect. It's implied Emet was subconsciously aware of this but [[IveComeTooFar had been laboring too long and was too enslaved to duty]] to give up his course.]]

* IRegretNothing: [[spoiler:At the end of ''Endwalker'', Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus are summoned from the aetherial sea to aid the Warrior in breaching Meteion's nest. Even so, Emet-Selch makes it very clear that although he was beaten ''and'' has the benefit of hindsight now that his memories have been restored, he does ''not'' regret what he did as an Ascian, going so far as to call his ideals "inviolate" and "invincible".]]

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: {{Discussed}}: Because the races of the Source and its reflections have but a fraction of aether and lifespan as the Ascians, Emet-Selch considers them less than living beings. As he sees it, he wouldn't be committing murder if he killed one of them, because he hardly considers them to be ''alive'' at all.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: As an Ancient, Hades was originally a rather lethargic and surly individual who misliked being bothered and preferred being left to his own devices. Upon being left as one of the three last beings of his kind, he could have easily given in to his nature and given up on restoring his people without any consequence, but instead Emet-Selch decided to bear the brunt of the burden, working tirelessly in search of ways to bring about the Rejoining.

** Perhaps it wasn't the wisest idea for him to infuse the most powerful warrior on the entire star with the light from all five Lightwardens. Although, to his credit, he wasn't aware that Ardbert would be there to give the Warrior of Darkness a bit of extra help by combining their souls into one. In a dose of irony the merger even made the Warrior of Light strong enough to contain the light as Emet originally wanted, but at a point where they were decidedly set against one another allowing Warrior of Light to use the aether of the Lightwardens to forge the Blade of Light that kills him.

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: It's implied that "moral relativism and all that" is just what Emet tells himself to stay on his path, and that deep down he knows the ones he deems "broken" and "inferior" are very much alive. Hence, his desire for a path of lesser tragedy. Once it becomes clear that the Warrior of Light isn't backing down and is willing to force him to confront the truth, Emet's mask cracks and he starts having a VillainousBreakdown. This is implied more strongly by Y'shtola during ''Endwalker'', where she realizes that in contrast to [[spoiler:the Ancients who mistook the Warrior for a familiar face]], the shades from Amaurot mistook them for a child instead. From Emet-Selch's real point-of-view, he seemed to acknowledge the races of Eorzea as people, just immature ones.

* EvilOldFolks: As Solus, he taught Garlemald that ruthlessness and constant conquest was the best way forward for them and in reality, was manipulating the entire nation into becoming an instrument of chaos. To be fair, however, Emet-Selch clarifies that while he does believe in forceful conquest, he also believes that is only the first step, and it can only be complete when the conqueror and the conquered develop a mutual respect for one another. Besides Gaius and Gabranth, no Legati seemed to take this into consideration.

* MythologyGag: If his Solus Zos Galvus persona calls to mind [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV Ardyn Izunia]], then his Emet-Selch persona references Garland from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''. [[spoiler:Like Garland, Emet-Selch's primary goal is the revival of his advanced yet long extinct race, at the cost of the currently living species that inhabit the the Source and it's reflections. Both their plans rely on the merging of worlds, rely on pawns they create to get their plans moving, both turn out to be the man behind the man of the supposed antagonist that they have a familial connection to, (Varis for Emet-Selch, Kuja for Garland), and have a connection to the main hero that goes before the events of the game. The Warrior of Light is the reincarnation of Emet-Selch's close friend, while Zidane is Garland's perfected angel of death. Both their endgames rely on the hero's soul to some extent, (Emet-Selch hoped that the Lightwarden's corruption would break the Warrior of Light's soul to bring about a rejoining, while Garland rips out Zidane's soul in an attempt at forcing obedience.) Lastly their plans are ultimately ruined by another villain they assumed they had under control. (Emet-Selch's posthumous plans for black rose and thus the rejoining is ruined by Zenos overthrowing Varis, while Terra along with its inhabitant's souls are destroyed by Kuja in addition to Kuja killing Garland himself.]]

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: It's implied that "moral relativism and all that" is just what Emet tells himself to stay on his path, and that deep down he knows the ones he deems "broken" are very much alive. Hence, his desire for a path of lesser tragedy. Once it becomes clear that the Warrior of Light isn't backing down and is willing to force him to confront the truth, Emet's mask cracks and he starts having a VillainousBreakdown.
** This is pretty much confirmed thanks to a sideline of Y'Shtola during Enwalker, where she realizes that in contrast to [[spoiler:the Ancients who mistook the Warrior for a familiar]], the shades from Amaurot mistook them for a child instead. From Emet-Selch's deeply repressed real point-of-view, he seemed to aknowledge modern humans as people, but incredibly immature ones

** In ''Shadowbringers''. He spends most of the expansion ingratiating himself with the Scions, as it occurs to him that cooperation might reap better rewards than opposition. He tags along on a few excursions into Lightwarden territory, can be spoken to at length to get his unique perspective, and [[VillainRevealsTheSecret reveals some of the biggest twists in the story]]. He even steps in to save Y'shtola's life when she's lost in the lifestream. For all that, the party never lets their guard down around him, and he's bluntly honest about his goals as the conditions to realize them change. [[spoiler:However, see EvilPlan below...]]

* BigDamnHeroes: In 5.3, [[spoiler:his soul shows up to save your party from being banished to the Rift by Elidibus, before giving his usual cocky wave goodbye and disappearing into Aether again.]]
** [[spoiler: Does this again in the finale of Endwalker, alongside Hythlodaeus, using creation Magic’s to loosen Meteion’s grip over Ultima Thule and, by extension, freeing the Scions from their HeroicSacrifice.]]

* CynicismCatalyst: He remarks that mortals let him down time and again, and it is a culmination of these failures (in addition to his deep sense of grief and loss) that drives him to cause Rejoinings. The final straws were when his son, who had given him hope for the new world, [[YankTheDogsChain died young]] and then the Warrior of Light, who was a reincarnation of his old friend from the Original Star, [[YankTheDogsChain failed to contain the Flood of Light]].
** [[spoiler: The post-Elpis cutscene gives a good idea of what started him down his dark path in the first place: watching one of his closest friends, Hythlodaeus, march to his demise in the summoning of Zodiark, [[GoOutWithASmile with a smile on his face.]]]]

* DeterminedDefeatist: As revealed by the 7th Tale from the Shadows, after his stint as Solus, the emperor of Garlemald, he wonders to himself if there is really any point in continuing the plan they had been working towards for so long. He notes that the only thing really keeping him going is the determination of his fellow Unsundered. We see during Shadowbringers that he clearly does care about what he's lost, but perhaps it is his not total devotion to the cause that allows him to calmly accept his defeat at the end.

* UnreliableNarrator: While his love for his people and anguish over their fates are very much real, ''Endwalker'' retroactively reveals [[spoiler:he was wearing ''quite'' a pair of rose-colored glasses about them: the Ancients, while not evil, were quite apathetic to the value of an individual's life, intolerant of flaws, and [[NotSoAboveItAll did not always use their creation magicks responsibly]]. They certainly ''would'' and ''did'' sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but they were no wiser or more perfect than the current inhabitants of the star. It's implied Emet was subconsciously aware of this but [[IveComeTooFar had been laboring too long and was too enslaved to duty]] to give up his course.]]

* BeneathTheMask: Under Emet's flippant, cheerfully evil {{Troll}} nature lies literal ''eons'' of sorrow and pain over all he and his people have lost, and burning, bitter hatred for the goddess who damned his kingdom and all who fight in Her name. He is also painfully aware of the losses and tragedy his duty and empire-building has been incurring over the millennia. It's just that he either doesn't care, or considers this acceptable in the name of his goal.

** '''Vainglory.''' His SuperSupremacist and FantasticRacism attitude, BlueAndOrangeMorality, and inability to let go of the past costs him dearly when after the Warrior fails to contain the Lightwardens' Light, and his SecretTestOfCharacter, he betrays everyone by kidnapping the Crystal Exarch so that he can make sure that the Warrior causes the Eighth Rejoining. When Ardbert and the Warrior [[FusionDance Rejoin before the final battle]], and Emet sees a vision of the Ascain the Warrior once was, Emet [[IRejectYourReality rejects the possibility that the Warrior is becoming the person they once were before the Sundering]]. After losing the fight, Emet, [[VillainousBreakdown in both rage and despair]], lunges towards the hero, only to be kept in place long enough by everyone else for the Warrior to condense the Light into an axe to slay the Ascian. In the end, [[GracefulLoser Emet accepts his defeat]], and merely [[LastRequest asks that they remember that the Ascians once lived]].
** '''Sense of duty'''. [[spoiler:Upon hearing of the future the Warrior came from in ''Endwalker'', Emet furiously decries it as falsehood, not in the least because he would ''never'' squander his duty to his people. Thing is, future Emet's actions weren't the result of him squandering his duty, but the result of him carrying it for, bare minimum, twelve thousand years. His inability to let go of the past or what he felt he owed his people prevented him from ever [[GoingNative accepting the new world]] or coming to terms with his grief, because he was constantly driven by the sense that he ''had'' to bring them back. [[MilesToGoBeforeISleep Doing his duty consigned him to eons of misery, loneliness, and atrocities]], which eventually wore him down so much [[DeathSeeker it's implied he just stopped caring if he died]]]].
** '''LackOfEmpathy'''.[[spoiler: His unmerciful attitude regarding the Ancients’ low value of life. His inability to recognize Hermès pain over the beings he has to put down, or his despair over his nomination as Fandaniel being tantamount to signing his predecessor’s death warrant, ended up being another straw that led to Hermès snapping and setting the Final Days in motion. Had he simply taken a softer approach or shown more understanding of Hermès concerns, things might have gone very differently.]]

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: In his first meeting with the Scions, he plays himself off as not being particularly strong, implying that he might be concerned about facing Thancred in a one on one fight and noting that since Lahabrea was slain by the Warrior of Light, he likely wouldn't be able to do much better. This is completely an act. He is a powerful enough wizard that he is able to casually defeat all of the Scions single handedly without even drawing upon his full strength, and it takes the Warrior of Light empowered by Ardbert's soul PLUS 7 other Warriors of Light from other shards, AND all of the Light Aether the Warrior of Light had accumulated across the First to finally bring Emet-Selch down.

** '''Vainglory.''' His SuperSupremacist and FantasticRacism attitude, BlueAndOrangeMorality, and inability to let go from the past costs him dearly when after the Warrior fails to contain the Lightwardens' Light, and his SecretTestOfCharacter, he betrays everyone by kidnapping the Crystal Exarch so that he can make sure that the Warrior causes the Eighth Rejoining. When Ardbert and the Warrior [[FusionDance Rejoin before the final battle]], and Emet sees a vision of the Ascain the Warrior once was, Emet [[IRejectYourReality rejects the possibility that the Warrior is becoming the person they once were before the Sundering]]. After losing the fight, Emet, [[VillainousBreakdown in both rage and despair]], lunges towards the hero, only to be kept in place long enough by everyone else for the Warrior to condense the Light into an axe to slay the Ascian. In the end, [[GracefulLoser Emet accepts his defeat]], and merely [[LastRequest asks that they remember that the Ascians once lived]].
** ''Endwalker'' reveals another was [[spoiler:'''sense of duty'''. Upon hearing of the future the Warrior came from, Emet furiously decries it as falsehood, not in the least because he would ''never'' squander his duty to his people. Thing is, future Emet's actions weren't the result of him squandering his duty, but the result of him carrying it for '''12,000''' years. His inability to let go of the past or what he felt he owed his people prevented him from ever [[GoingNative accepting the new world]] or coming to terms with his grief, because he was constantly driven by the sense that he ''had'' to bring them back. [[MilesToGoBeforeISleep Doing his duty consigned him to eons of misery, loneliness, and atrocities]], which eventually wore him down so much [[DeathSeeker it's implied he just stopped caring if he died]]]].

** As the story goes on, it's clear that beneath the hamminess, Emet-Selch is a crushingly tired and lonely man who just wants to save his people and go back to the good old days. Indeed, his motives aren't villainous at all, it's his ''methods'' that cause the Scions to oppose him. In his final moments, he pleads with the Warrior of Light to not let the memory of Amaurot die. The Warrior of Light agrees to this with a nod, and Emet gives a small smile as he accepts his death.

* AmbiguousSituation: The nature of Emet-Selch's possession of Solus is something of a vague area. The game never really clarifies if Emet-Selch had been Solus from the very begining, or if Solus was just a person that Emet-Selch possessed at a certain point to direct the history of the nation. Some short stories released indicate that he had been Solus for long enough to have not only a grandson, but a great-grandson as well, suggesting that he had potentially been Solus since ''very'' early in the man's life, but it remains unclear. [[spoiler:His narration when the player at last arrives in Garlemald come ''Endwalker'' implies that there was an ordinary Garlean man named Solus once upon a time, before Emet-Selch took him over to kickstart an Empire.]]

* AwfulTruth: That the entire grand "civilizing mission" and "eikon-destroying crusade" that forms the core of Garleans' beliefs? It's a ''lie''. The Garlean Empire exists solely to serve as a gigantic engine of chaos and strife to induce Calamities, while also keeping light and dark in balance; it is the ultimate tool of the Ascians and its machinations have already brought about a Calamity.

** [[spoiler:The Warrior of Light, using Azem's crystal, also calls upon Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus at the climax of ''Endwalker''.]]

** [[spoiler:As a Trust, unlike other Black Mages who weave magic into the air, Emet snaps his fingers to cast his version of Xenoglossy.]]

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: It's heavily implied that "moral relativism and all that" is just what Emet tells himself to stay on his path, and that deep down he knows the ones he deems "broken" are very much alive. Hence, his desire for "a path of lesser tragedy".
* BeneathTheMask: Under Emet's flippant, cheerfully evil {{Troll}} nature lies literal ''eons'' of sorrow and pain over all he and his people have lost, and burning, bitter hatred for the goddess who damned his kingdom and all who fight in Her name. He is also painfully aware of the losses and tragedy his duty and empire building has been incurring over the millennia.

--->'''Emet-Selch''': ''[[GameFace (With red mask glowing)]]'' ''Do not presume to speak of '''my''' future!''

* BossBanter: As his fight as Hades in ''Shadowbringers,'' his banter is filled with either BadassBoast, [[SuperSupremacist his smug beliefs on the Star belongs only to them and the Warrior's insignificances]], or him calling out to the souls of the Ancients to help him in battle.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: He was considerably more zany and maniacal in ''Stormblood'' as opposed to in ''Shadowbringers''. However, it can be justified as his grandiose persona is indicated to be a mask to hide his inner sorrow as an Ascian. As he begins to warm up to the Warrior of Light, he begins to show more and more of his true self. [[spoiler: Given a deeply-tragic underpinning with the Elpis sequence in Endwalker, which retroactively suggests Emet is deliberately adopting the mannerisms of his fallen friends like Hythlodaeus and Azem as part of his masquerade; he even uses one of Hythlodaeus’s lines from Elpis word-for-word.]]

* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler: Implied, retroactively, by his past self's reaction to hearing about his actions in ''Shadowbringer''. As he says, if he truly wanted to beat the Warrior of Light and continue his plans, he could have just waited for the light corruption to destroy them. Instead, he invited them into the heart of his operation on The First and challenged them directly. Either he held the VillainBall at just the wrong moment for all his centuries-long plans to come crashing down, or on some level he wanted the Warrior to at least have a chance to prove him wrong and stop the ancient Ascian conspiracy.]]
* {{Dehumanization}}: Emet-Selch does a lot of this to the people of the world, considering them malformed creatures to broken and fractured by the sundering to be considered truly alive and human. It is implied he does this in order to keep the weight of the guilt of destroying countless lives through the Ascian's plans from wearing his concience down completely.
** A side-dialogue of Y'shtola in [[spoiler:Ultima Thule]] basically confirms that he wasn't so good at this: [[spoiler:Unlike the Ancients from Elpis who mistake the Warrior as a familiar, the shades from Emet-Selch's recreated Amaurot mistake them for children instead. As said by Y'shtola, it's extremely likely that he actually saw modern humanity as proper living beings, but very immature ones. In retrospective, it's made painfully clear that this failure at totally dehumanizing them only made his own actions break him further.]]

* {{Determinator}}: How determined is he? You have to beat him twice in his boss fight. And even then, through nothing but willpower, Emet rouses himself for a third round, which is stopped by the aid of the Scions.

** Despite being the finest schemer among the Ascians, his plans for the First fall apart as soon as the Warrior of Light appears in the First. Not that he can be faulted, as the Warrior only appeared because of the Crystal Exarch ''travelling back in time'' '''and between worlds''' specifically to make it happen. As far as the original timeline goes, Emet-Selch won by a landslide.

* DramaticIrony:
** [[spoiler: In ''Endwalker'', when you meet Emet-Selch in the past and reveal the truth of the future, he becomes very offended at the idea that he ever becomes a monomaniacal villain, saying he'd never go so far as to disrespect his loved ones by creating a phantom Amaurot with facsimiles within, let alone willingly invite his nemesis into his lair. Of course, he did in fact do all those things he said he'd never do, though he does admit he doesn't know what his future self had been through.]]
** [[spoiler:While confronting Hermes atop Ktisis Hyperboreia, Emet-Selch is outraged by Hermes' decision to use Meteion's SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum as a way to put HumanityOnTrial, asking Hermes, "Who are ''you'' to judge whether we live or die?" Thousands of years later, the Scions would throw this question back in Emet-Selch's face as he judges them inferior beings unworthy of inhabiting the star.]]
** [[spoiler: In addition, when he has his memory wiped and Hythlodeus suggests they'll learn the truth when they return to the aetheral sea, Emet-Selch dismisses his musing wholeheartedly, saying whatever revelations they had this day would not matter in the long run. In fact, ''everything'' he learnt that day was of extreme import, as they had in fact witnessed the birth of the creature that would eventually cause the calamity that would destroy the Ancient's civilization, and force Emet-Selch on his millennia-long vigil to restore his people. Had he remembered, he would have avoided many, many years of suffering for himself and his people. He himself points out the irony of asking the Warrior of Light to remember him, when ''all'' of his villainous deeds were the result of ''him'' forgetting about the Warrior of Light in the first place.]]
** [[spoiler: Another one from Elpis: a big part of Emet’s characterization in this section especially is his LackOfEmpathy regarding Hermès’ hang ups about death and the value of life; Emet considers “returning to the star” a noble and honorable task and states he holds those who sacrifice themselves for the greater good in the highest esteem. As the cutscene after leaving Elpis implies, it was Hythlodaeus, one of Emet’s dearest friends, choosing to do exactly that in order to summon Zodiark and forestall the Final Days that kickstarted his StartOfDarkness.]]

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: After you absorb the light of the final Lightwarden, and it begins to transform you ''into'' a Lightwarden, Emet-Selch proclaims that your friends will turn against you and try to strike you down, as clearly you've become an enemy to them, and tells you to come to Amaurot where he will let you live with dignity til you inevitably transform. It doesn't seem to even occur to him that your friends will stick by you til the bitter end, indeed he believes that the fragmented "lesser" souls of mortals are incapable of true self sacrifice, and he sounds genuinely offended that you rejected his offer when you and your friends show up to stop him.

* PhysicalGod: He's more powerful than almost any being the Warrior has faced up to that point[[note]]only Alexander and Omega can be said to rival or surpass him[[/note]], requiring the combined might of the Scions, the Warrior of Light and seven other heroes from other shards, and the light of all five Lightwardens concentrated into a single attack to be put down. Even Calamity-causing dreadwyrms like Bahamut and Shinryu were felled by the Warrior and a handful of their adventurer companions rather than an apocalyptic amount of power. As per Emet-Selch's own words, had he simply brought his full strength to bear from the start, the Scions would have been utterly crushed.

* StrawHypocrite: One of the founding tenets of his Empire was to prevent the summoning of Primals (or 'Eikons', as the Garleans call them) to make sure the world would not suffer from their reckless draining of aether and their destructive powers. Not only does Emet have no problem with Primal summoning, his plans actually ''encourage'' it. The more Primals that are summoned and the bigger they are, the more certain a Calamity is to happen, which is what he wants to happen to help bring back Zodiark.

* SympathyForTheHero: When the Warrior of Light seemingly starts transforming into a Sin Eater, Emet-Selch expresses genuine pity at their situation, and offer them to come to his hideout, the Tempest, so that they can complete their painful transformation in peace and dignity. He then tells them that he will "see them off", which takes a new meaning in light of the 4th "Tales from the Shadows", as Emet-Selch is able to see the souls of the dead departing and traveling, seemingly offering to guide them, in a way, when their time comes. Which makes his true name of Hades make more sense. The fact that the Warrior of Light's original self was a very close friend of his probably has a lot to do with it.

* VillainsNeverLie: He doesn't lie, unlike most others including his fellow Ascians. It fits his title of [[MeaningfulName Emet-Selch, the Angel of Truth]]. However, it doesn't stop him from skewing the truth at times, for omitting certain context. That and his own bias pertaining to Hydaelyn. When he betrays everyone and Alphinaud asks [[WasItAllALie what was Emet's true purpose in approaching them]], Emet is legitimately offended.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: He just wants to save his world and reclaim the future that was stolen from his race. Too bad that means slaughtering untold millions and millions more to do so.
-->'''Emet-Selch''': "I will bring back our brethren. Our friends. Our loved ones. The world belongs to us, and us alone."

* OneWingedAngel: In addition to the form he takes when he invokes his true name of Hades, he has a further one where he completely casts off his body, combines his essence with the lost souls of his Ascian brethren, and becomes a monstrosity littered with Ascian masks over its body. Taken UpToEleven in Hades's Elegy where instead of casting Dark Cauldron, he fuses with all of the Ascian souls to become even bigger, using only Dark Current, Gigantomany and Quadstrike to destroy you above the sky of the dying Star.

* IRejectYourReality: After the Warrior and Ardbert rejoin as one, Emet-Selch sees a vision of the Amaurotine they used to be, Azem. Enraged that the reincarnation of one of his dearest friends would turn against him, he brushes aside that vision and prepares to do battle with the Warrior.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Following the VillainousBreakdown below if one highlights the tooltip granted the player it reveals that you're ''using the very light threatening to consume you to empower yourself enough to finish Emet-Selch.'' By orchestrating Norvrandt to be flooded by light ever since the original flood ended and allowing you to absorb said light for his own plans, the single most powerful Ascian ever faced has unwittingly given the Warrior of Light a Blade of Light powerful enough to destroy him, even without his soul being entrapped in auracite.
** Even prior to that, he interrupts G'raha's attempted HeroicSacrifice by shooting him in the back. Had he let G'raha continue with his intended plan, the Scions would've been permanently stuck on the First and limited in their ability to counteract further plans by the Ascians.

* PragmaticVillainy: In ''Shadowbringers'', upon first revealing himself to the Scions, Emet mentions that he had considered simply trying to kill you. But, Emet saw how far that got Lahabrea, and decided that the direct approach simply wasn't an option. Besides that, Emet mentions that he hopes to find common ground with the Scions instead. [[spoiler:That, and the fact that the Warrior killing all of the Lightwardens factors into Emet's plan, so of course he wouldn't jeopardize his own schemes by doing that.]]

* SuperSupremacist: He refuses to accept the current races of the worlds as worthy stewards of the Ascians' legacy, believing them to be not even a fraction as strong or noble as the Ascians. Considering the Asicans were capable of creating ''anything'' out of thin air using only a sliver of their aether in the same way the current races must use a veritable reservoir to summon a Primal, and over 80% of them willingly sacrificed themselves in three different events for the sake of the world, he has a point. Of course, as with any supremacist, it comes with him treating the non-Ascian races as dirt, at best only useful to help further his own plans. Best shown when in "Hades's Elegy", upon achieving his final form:
-->'''Emet-Selch:''' ''We'' are the blessed. ''We are the chosen!''