History Characters / FinalFantasyXIVPandaemonium

* SocialDarwinist: The core of Athena's thesis is that a god would very likely wipe out a civilization and replace it with an improved species.
* TheSociopath: 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 DarwinistDesire and while she apparently hoped he would share her interest in breaking their limits, their temporary MergerOfSouls 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.

* DemonicPossession: 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.

* OnlySaneWoman: [[AvertedTrope Absolutely not]]. 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.

* SignatureAttack: Ultima Sword. Athena summons an aethereal 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.

* OnlySaneWoman: [[AvertedTrope Absolutely not]]. 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 pittiable 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.

''Class and Job Questlines'': [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVDisciplesOfWar Disciples of War]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVDisciplesOfMagic Disciples of Magic]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVDisciplesOfTheHand Disciples of the Hand]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVDisciplesOfTheLand Disciples of the Land]]\\

* IRejectYourReality: In the Savage version of her fight, all her mechanics are [[https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/15019dv/interesting_tidbitstrivia_about_p12s_terms_and/ 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 VillainousBreakdown 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.

** 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. 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 BigBad seat.

''Antagonists'': [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVAscians Ascians]] ([[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVEmetSelch Emet-Selch]]) | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVGarleanEmpire Garlean Empire]] ([[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVZenosYaeGalvus Zenos yae Galvus]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXIVBozjanGarleans Bozjan Garleans]]) \\

* WomenAreWiser: [[AvertedTrope Absolutely not]]. 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 pittiable 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.

* AGodAmI: 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 Twelvth Circle, she's about as close as she's going to get to one, able to 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.

* CastingAShadow: 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-aspected (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.

* DemonicPossession: 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.

** Subverted once more at the end of ''Pandæmonium''. As she lies dying while her PocketDimension [[LoadBearingBoss 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 afterall.

* ItsAllAboutMe: 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 was Erichthonios's reincarnation.

* LikeFatherUnlikeSon: 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. 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.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: 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 EvilutionaryBiologist who only ever cared about herself, having modified Erichthonios' very soul to make him an IneptMage dependent on Athena for her plans. This reputation of hers was actually 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.

* HighHopesZeroTalent: Erichthonios yearns to be as adept a researcher and warden of Pandæmonium as his brilliant and esteemed parents. But Erichthonios is an IneptMage 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. [[spoiler:Subverted toward the end of the Pandæmonium raid series, as he succeeds in interning 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.]]

* MuggleBornOfMages: 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. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Athena ''engineered'' that ineptitude so he would be a helpless vessel that would cling onto her for safety.]]

* WarmUpBoss: 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 makes 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.