Final Fantasy XIV - Garlean Empire / Characters

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

Nos sumus manus, Nos sumus deus
(We are the Hand, We are the God)

—Garlean Motto

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garlemald_flag_6.jpg

The ivory standard of Garlemald

An expansionist superpower originating in the northern parts of Ilsabard. Garlemald first began as a republic and then turned into an empire with its first Emperor, Solus zos Galvus, a Garlean general with high acclaim, decades prior to the start of the story. As one could see from the name of their country, the Garlean Empire has the Garlean race as the core members of their society. Their race are genetically unable to cast the simplest spells and compensated by becoming the creators and masters of Magitek technology, which they have used to conquer over a third of the known world. The nations that they conquer are assimilated into the Empire and their citizens drafted into the army, ensuring a consistently large (and loyal) military force.

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General Tropes

Airborne Mook: A big part of Garlemald's dominance is their near exclusive access to an air force. Airships are still a fairly new development among the Eorzean nations, and only Ishgard is shown to have one that is equipped for combat (against dragons, not other airships). The Eorzean siege of Ala Mhigo would have been undone by airborne magitek were it not for the timely arrival of the Yol-riding Doman reinforcements. It's telling that the only known Garlean invasion to fail was when their fleet ran afoul of a horde of dragons who could meet and match their air superiority.
All the Other Reindeer: Some 850 years ago, the early Garleans inhabited Corvos alongside its other races, but their inability to use aether led to them getting pushed around, mistreated, and ultimately ostracized entirely from the lands as they were pushed further up north, to the frozen and inhospitable Ilsabard. 800 years later, they came back with a vengeance as the Garlean Empire, a new ideology that everyone that once pushed them around are nothing more than underdeveloped savages, and that they must save the world by conquering all of it; many Garleans hold onto the stories of their unfair abuse as the perfect justification of turning the persecution right back around on everyone else.
Alphabetical Theme Naming: All Garleans sport a middle name denoting their rank in Garlean society, whose first letter represent every letter in the alphabet except "u" and "x"; the later the letter occurs in the alphabet, the higher the person is on the hierarchy. Non-citizens (e.g., slaves and peoples of subjugated territories) are assigned "aan"; citizens "bas" and "cen"; public officials "dus," "eir," "fae," "goe," "het," and "iyl"; specialists (e.g., engineers or doctors) "jen," "kir," "lux," "mal," and "nan"; military personnel "oen," "pyr," "quo," "rem," "sas," "tol," and "van"; the royal "wir" for those with no claim to the throne and "yae" for those in the line of succession plus the Emperor's wife and his mother, with "zos" solely reserved for the Emperor.
- There's also a special "viator" middle name that is forced upon those who the Empire has deemed to be traitors, regardless of their previous rank.
Awful Truth: The entire grand "civilising 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.
Battle Theme Music: "Bite of the Black Wolf" for Legati (except for Nael - "Bite of the Black Wolf is an instrumental version of her own theme, "Rise of the White Raven"). "Steel Reason" for other high-ranking officers.
Badass Normal: Any pure-blooded Garlean possesses absolutely zero aether control and thus no ability for magic. However, to make up for that Garlean purebloods are implied to have extremely sharp intellect and the second lorebook says outright their bodies are capable of enough physical durability and feats of strength and speed - which they combine with power armor - to make them extremely dangerous fighters in spite of their inability to use magic. Zenos in particular drives this home, before being made a Resonant he has enough raw physical power and speed to overwhelm multiple aether-capable combatants and easily beats the Warrior of Light back, and Gaius as Shadowhunter can kill Ascians with no signs of anything other than his power and skill letting him do such. When Elidibus-as-Zenos shows up to Ghimlyt Dark, Hien notes after he defeats him, Yugiri and Lyse, that a Garlean body capable of using high-level magic is flat out unfair.
Beast of Battle: Their canis pugnaces are hulking armored war dogs.
Civil War: Twice.
- Between the destruction of the Ultima Weapon at the end of the A Realm Reborn MSQ and the beginning of that of Heavensward, the death of Emperor Solus, with no designated heir, resulted in a power vacuum and brief civil war that ended with his grandson Varis prevailing over his own uncle Titus.
- During the Shadowbringers MSQ, Varis in turn is assassinated by his own son Zenos, who then inexplicably declined the throne, resulting in another round of hostilities, this time pitting Varis's loyalists in the Ist legion against the IIIrd, which backed Titus's son Nerva.
Condescending Compassion: Subverted. The Garleans justify their conquests by claiming that they're out to uplift their conquered territories and save the world from the eikons that threaten to suck the land dry. While a few high-ranking Garleans genuinely believe this, the majority of Garleans still brand other people as "savages" to abuse as they see fit.
Conscription: The vast majority of Garlean enemies encountered early in the game are actually conscripted Eorzeans, particularly Ala Mhigans. Later, a good number of them are Doman or other Othardian conscripts; only when we begin fighting the VIth and XIIth Legions and their officers do we begin to run into a number of Ilsabardian volunteers and a greater number of "pure" Garleans. Conscription is an important tool for how the Empire maintains power. Not only do they conscript those likely to rebel and send them to the other end of the Empire to remove them from anything that might inspire them to rebel, those left behind know that if they rebel, their conscripted loved ones will be executed.
Creative Sterility: Amusingly, despite their Ceruleum engineering and powerful Magitek weaponry, much of the empire's designs and ideas seem to have been stolen from other nations and the Allagan Empire. The supposed signature Gunblade, for example, is actually a Bozjan creation that Garlemald proceeded to take over and then rework into actual guns on their blades. About the only people that seemed to try to bring innovation were Cid nan Garlond and his father Midas who will be remembered as excellent engineers both and massively bolstered their aerial supremacy, and Aulus mal Asina trying to solve the Garlean's inherent inability to use aether with his Resonant program; once their best scientists either defected or died, Garlemald notably starts trying to abuse the hell out of their repurposed copies of Allagan superweapons and shifting to Attack! Attack! Attack! before they run out of troops and Magitek, because they've completely run out of any better ideas besides the Black Rose.
Culture Chop Suey: The Garleans have three major real life inspirations: The Roman Empire in its political and naming system, being a former republic-turned-empire headed by a for-life Dictator, Nazi Germany due to their foreign policy and ideas of racial superiority, and Russia due to their history of being driven into a borderline unliveable frozen land and only managing to rise up thanks to extensive industrialization and technologic strides, and the resulting all-consuming xenophobic paranoia and need to conquer in order to secure themselves.
Dark Is Evil: The majority of all metal worked by the Garlean Empire is black, from their armor to their structures.
Dark Is Not Evil: Garlean citizens are all too aware of their reputation and how the Empire conducts itself in the outside world. A majority of citizens believe that the Garlean military is going too far in how they act. However what separates them from Apathetic Citizens is the fact that to question the Empire likely means getting jailed or worse, and how many family members are often serving in the military. A Garlean citizen even tells that while territories are conquered some provinces are treated rather well and have a stable leadership in place (with the lorebooks later clarifying that these tend to be the older conquests or integrations in the Ilsabardian heartland south of Garlemald proper), and how Doma and Ala Mhigo were brutal exceptions to what is the norm due to Zenos's influence. Another citizen also states that while he understands the Warrior of Light's reasoning for liberating Doma and Ala Mhigo from the Empire, they still killed a bunch of soldiers who had no choice but to obey their orders. While the citizen also understands how flawed the Empire is, he believes that they are ultimately doing the right thing and he has pride in his people and country.
Does Not Like Magic: The citizens you help out in Endwalker are very distrustful of people who can cast magic. And given the Garleans' history of being hounded by everyone else who can use magic, it's not hard to see why they don't like seeing magic around their country. It takes a lot of convincing for some of the civilians in need to let them be subjected to healing magic.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: By the time the player sets foot on Garlemald, Zenos's actions have brought the entire empire to the brink of oblivion. Most Garleans, however, are extremely loathe to accept aid from Eorzeans, due to a combination of Fantastic Racism, stubborn pride, and fear: at best, they regard the Eorzeans' offer of aid to be an insult after both nations had been at war for years; and at worst, they see the offer of aid as a preamble to the crippled nation being conquered by the perceived victors of said war. While most citizens and leaders come around to accepting aid as an alternative to death by starvation and exposure to the elements, it isn't until Thavnair makes a proposal for a mutually-beneficial trade agreement that the Garleans set aside their fears and begin to truly heal.
The Empire: They're an expansionist empire which desires to put the entire world under its heel. How big is said Empire? Before the start of the story, and excluding their home of Garlemald, it spans at least two continents, having conquered Ala Mhigo, which is at the far north in the continent of Eorzea, and conquered and colonized a fair chunk of the Far East, including Doma, along with countless other smaller countries like Rabanastre and Bozja. And that's only the named ones.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: In theory the Garleans are this as they will let anyone they have conquered work in their military and gain citizenship eventually. However, in practice they are a subversion as pure Garleans tend to look down upon those who are not pure Garlean (such as the Garlean soldier who casually watched as Fordola's father was stoned to death, even though he had willingly joined the Garlean Empire), and even if you gain citizenship, there is a limit to how high you can rise in rank compared to pure Garleans. And to even gain citizenship, you must serve in the military for twenty years. This has still resulted in a lot of non-Garlean Ilsabardians gaining citizenship (many of these territories having been in Garlean hands for upwards of forty years or more), but Doma and Ala Mhigo are still mostly a shambles due to how their populations haven't been integrated for long enough. As we later find out, the inconsistency is likely by design.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- For as crazy and depraved as some of the higher echelon are, and how certain soldiers buy into the Patriotic Fervor for Garlemald so hard that they can tip over into being Ax-Crazy towards the Eorzean forces, many of them are just as much a Punch-Clock Villain serving their country for a better life or other such intentions. Come Endwalker, what's left of Garlemald's forces have eschewed "evil" in favor of "preservation", simply trying to keep their nation alive no matter the cost. Once the Eorzean Alliance manages to finally win their graces and start helping them, it's a full Heel–Face Turn towards recovery and stopping The End of the World as We Know It.
- The Big Bad of the Gunbreaker storyline was demoted to the rank of Quo for being a bloodthirsty Sadist and having a village full of innocents slaughtered after conquering it for no other reason than he wanted to cause suffering, showing that even the bloodshed they're willing to commit for their global conquest has hard limits they won't cross.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: While "evil" might be an exaggeration, a number of the displaced Garlean populace (notably, Licinia and her group of refugees) are completely unable to even consider the Eorzean Alliance's help at face value, partly due to how their lesser status and "savagery" had been drilled into them, and partly due to being totally at a loss to how they would have any interest in aiding the people of an empire who had spent decades either brutally oppressing them, or attempting to brutally oppress them. The distrust goes so far that Licinia would rather brave the vicious cold and wild beasts of Ilsabard - with a deathly ill child in tow - than accept their former enemies' charity as true. Similarly, the Ist Legion's Quintus van Cinna holds Alphinaud and Alisaie hostage in exchange for supplies that they would have been given anyway, and ultimately chooses first to order his troops to conduct a Self-Destructive Charge on Camp Broken Glass, before commiting suicide himself, rather than bearing the perceived shame of accepting Eorzean assistance.
Evil Is Petty: Little known is that their alleged ancestral homelands of Corvos, practically across the ocean strait from the island of Thavnair, were not their original lands. They originated from the Clockwork City of Goug, part of the lost and mythical lands of Ivalice before everything went to hell, and migrated to Corvos which was already inhabited by Miqo'te that were left over from the Allagan Empire's rule of the lands, never mind other races. When other races eventually bullied and removed them from the lands all the way to Ilsabard in the freezing north solely because they couldn't use magic, they came back some 800 years later as the Garlean Empire, violently oppressed everyone in Corvos out of pure vengeance, and tried their absolute damnedest to erase Corvos' name from the history books entirely in favor of the original Latin name they had given it from their migration, "Locus Amoenus" (meaning "pleasant place"). While they didn't deserve their initial treatment, it's the perfect demonstration that the Garlean Empire is all but founded on twisted resentment and hatred as well as misinformation just to help rally that hatred towards the Ascian's goals, seeing as every modern Garlean refers to Corvos as their native lands.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Garlean castra tend to be named very on-the-nose based on where they're located. Castrum Centri ("central castle") is in Mor Dhona, Castrum Meridianum ("southern castle") is in Thanalan, Castrum Marinum ("sea castle") is on the waters around La Noscea. Castrum Fluminus ("castle by the river") is on the One River that runs through Yanxia. Castrum Abania is smack in the middle of Gyr Abania, and Castellum Velodyna is on the bridge that extends across the Velodyna River.
Expy: Pretty much the Gestahlian Empire writ in 1080p.
Failure Is the Only Option: Either gradually lose to the Warrior of Light and the Eorzean Alliance as their war escalates, collapse internally from ruthless politicking and the conflict over the throne, or succeed in taking over Eorzea and then get wiped out anyway by either being used for yet another Ascian-made Calamity, or meet the next Final Days. For extra insult to injury, Varis' ace in the hole of the Black Rose backfires in the Bad Future and wipes out Garlemald too, meaning they're fated to fall like Allag and the rest of the Ascian-designed empires before them.
- In a condensed manner, regardless of whether the Resistance or Noah van Gabranth's rogue IVth Legion wins the three-way battle for Bozja, the Empire will inevitably come out the loser.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of the Roman Empire, an expansionist superpower with a Latin-inspired language contending with both the peoples they subjugated, or at least threatening to do so, and political strife from within. The location of Garlemald itself and its people's consumption of foods like bean soup and borscht appears to be based on Russia.
Fascist, but Inefficient:
- A subtle example. Despite its military might and seemingly endless reserves of Magitek weaponry, the very autocratic, cult-of-personality-driven Empire means it is very susceptible to internal conflict in the event of a transition, which is exactly what happens when Solus dies of old age in the middle of the A Realm Reborn storyline, sparking a civil war in the home regions of Garlemald. It happens again when Varis, his grandson and successor, is assassinated by his own son Zenos at the end of the Shadowbringers storyline, before declining the position, causing another, even more devastating civil war.
- Many Garleans will argue that their conquest is justified because of the superiority of Garlean technology and having supposedly better leadership. Even Ala Mhigo, ruled by the comparatively moderate Gaius van Baelsar, is pillaged of its natural resources and is suffering from an undead infestation due to funeral services becoming forbidden under the religion ban. The only named territory noted to be to have a major boost to quality of life under Garlean occupation is Bozja. But that's only because Bozja's caste system was so severe that 70% of people lived under the poverty line.
Fantastic Naming Convention: Garlean names borrow their nomenclature heavily from the Roman language. All Garlean names also have a middle name that denotes their station in the empire's culture, ranging in ascending alphabetical order from "aan" for slaves from annexed territories to "zos" for the Emperor. Gaius provides a subversion of the naming convention with his reintroduction in Stormblood: after discovering that the Empire he served was being manipulated by the Ascians, he officially cut ties with the Empire in order to hunt them down, discarding his middle name of van to simply become "Gaius Baelsar", and as such essentially divorcing himself from Garlean culture. There is also an additional middle name that is reserved specifically for Garleans that are considered enemies of the state, as revealed in Endwalker with the former crown prince being officially rechristened as Zenos viator Galvus.
Fantastic Racism: Barring the comparatively weak moderate factions, most "pure" Garleans see others as "savages" to either be enslaved or eradicated.
Fighting for a Homeland: Following Garlemald's magitek revolution, its people sought to take back their homeland, Locus Amoenus, from the people who forced them into the northern wastes. The imperial legions quickly overtook the unprepared nation of modern day Corvos, reclaiming what the Garlean people believe is rightfully theirs. With this success, Solus zos Galvus easily convinced the Garlean people to conquer more and more to secure their future, leading to Garlemald's dream of global conquest. However, in-universe historians dispute this view, as Locus Amoenus, as with much of Ilsabard, has always been inhabited by myriad races and cultures. Garlemald's claim to complete sovereignty of Locus Amoenus is thus misleading at best and a complete fabrication at worst, showing the impact of decades of propaganda and Solus' Cult of Personality.
Follow the Leader: In-Universe. Ultimately quite a lot about Garlemald is an imitation of the Allagan Empire, who ruled most if not all of Hydaelyn five thousand years ago. Given that Emet-Selch had a hand in the rise of both empires, this is likely intentional.
Freudian Excuse: From what little is known about Garlemald prior to its rise to power, rival nations and beast tribes took advantage of the Garleans' lack of ability to tap into aether and push them to the icy wastelands of northern Ilsabard. According to Zenos, these experiences instilled in succeeding generations of Garleans a sense of resentment and vindictiveness, especially after a primal has been sicced onto them.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Because Garleans are biologically incapable of using magic, their people were hounded by the other races and driven into the harsh north. This even forced them into doing things strictly forbidden by most other cultures just in the attempt to keep themselves protected, inventing the Reaper class, which involves making a pact with aether hungry creatures. The Reapers were originally just Garlean farmers trying to protect their homes!. It was there that they discovered vast ceruleum deposits that lead to their industrialization and nigh-unstoppable magitek weaponry. And of course, thanks to their previous treatment, they culturally felt like they had an axe to grind with everyone...
The Giant: Pureblood Garleans are very tall. Even the shortest among them still pass as above-average height among the other civilized races, while the tallest will dwarf even Roegadyn or male Au Ra. One of the biggest hints towards Lucia's true nature before she revealed her secret was how absurdly tall she is for an apparent Hyur.
Gratuitous Latin: Garlean buildings, military ranks, and numerous combat techniques are all named in Latin, often quoting famous Latin phrases in the process. For instance, Terminus Est, the signature Sword Beam attack pioneered by Gaius van Baelsar, is Latin for "It is the end". Gaius's primary fortresses, Castrum Meridianum and the Praetorium, are Latin for "Southern Fortress" and "General's Tent" respectively.
Gunblade: The standard issue weapon for Garlean officers. Having your gunblade taken away by a superior officer appears, from certain scenes in Stormblood, to be an enormous disgrace, while conversely being granted one is a huge honor. Gun-whatever variants of other weapons are also seen, such as Gunhalberds, Gunshields, Gunbaghnakhs, and Gunhammers. The type and function of the "gun" can vary between weapons, from simple pistols to shotguns to rocket launchers. Of note, Gunhammers don't fire projectiles at all, instead being a Rocket-Powered Weapon.
Heel–Face Turn: A very, very difficult one. The citizens and soldiers alike are so broken by the aftermath of Shadowbringers in their attempts to survive and persevere, combined with the years of self-taught superiority and pride as well as realizing now that their crippled nation is still public enemy number one in the middle of a war against all of Eorzea, that they outright act hostile towards the Eorzean Alliance that came to help them, preferring to die horrifically than accept their aid which they even refuse to accept as anything more than attempted (yet justified) vengeful subjugation of them. It takes Quintus killing himself and the utter and complete destruction of their pride to be able to hold out for themselves to finally turn, slowly but surely.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Due to being almost indistinguishable from Hyurs, Garleans can easily disguise themselves by merely wearing something over their third eye, as seen with Cid and Lucia.
History Repeats: Numerous elements of the Garlean Empire straight up compares itself to the Allagan Empire, who had managed extraordinary technological leaps and took over the world. And just like the Allagan Empire, Garlemald as a nation was not only doomed to fall one way or another regardless of whether their conquests were successful, but they were played up this way by the Ascians who created both empires specifically to create the conditions for their Calamities and then be disposed of in the aftermath.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Come the Endwalker main story quest. Thanks to Zenos murdering his father without taking over the throne and Fandaniel playing both sides of the resulting civil war against each other, Garlemald has become a complete shadow of its former self. It's reduced to bombed-out ruins as silent as a tomb, with whatever buildings that weren't outright destroyed stripped bare to build the Tower of Babil, and the only beings walking around other than wandering warmachina are tempered and/or mutated Imperials. The only holdouts are Quintus van Cinna and his Ist Legion, who took refuge in an abandoned subway station and are slowly freezing to death while holding out hope for reinforcements. When Quintus finds out they aren't coming and realizes that the Empire as he knew it is well and truly gone, he doesn't take it well. All in all, a far cry from the military juggernaut players have spent the base game and past three expansions fighting.
Hypocrite: A noted trend of the Empire, to sweep under the rug a great number of their similar tendencies to the "Savages" they seek to conquer.
- The Empire bans all religous practices, but also builds a cult of personality around its Emperor to the point he is a de facto god to his people. In Endwalker, their prayers to Varis for deliverance following the Empire's downfall is enough to summon a primal.
- The Empire justifies its conquests as curbing the dangers of worshiping and summoning of gods and Eikons as being destructive to the planet while they pursue and utilize Weapons of Mass Destruction like Meteor and Black Rose.
- The Garleans highly prize their unity as a people, to the point that their national emblem is the chain that symbolically binds the Garlean people together. Yet Garleans are constantly at each others throats, from the small scale like Nero's animosity towards Cid, to the large like the Succession Crisis fought after Solus died.
- Soul crystals are treated with fear and suspicion by Garlean intelligence and propaganda exagerating and lying about soul crystals as effectively being a sort of necromancy that traps part of the bearer's soul and memories, and then overwrites the next bearer's personality and soul. So of course the Empire's scientists quietly added a "Synthetic Auricite" system to the back collar of Legatus armor that collects combat and personality data of the wearer, which can be latter recovered and used in the newest series of Imperial Anti-Eikon Warmachina Weapon mechs to perform Oversoul, under the excuse that the pilots are expendable but not the skills of Empire's greatest generals. Even when the data of Nael van Darnus effectively acts like a primal with reality warping powers and goes berserk, its treated as a minor inconvenient glitch by the Garleans rather than the horrifying disregard for the pilot's life and safety of everyone it truly is.
Irony: Throughout the story, Garlean forces will say that the "savages" they are conquering would be better off under their rule, as true peace can only be achieved when all are united under one banner. And yet, Garlemald is destroyed not by an enemy invasion but an internal civil war wrought by Garlemald's own Might Makes Right ideology and a Succession Crisis created when the crown prince killed his own father at the end of Shadowbringers.
- For all their hatred of eikons, to the point of banning all religious practices, Garlemald's own reverence for their Emperor ends up summoning the "Eikon of Eikons" Anima.
Kick the Dog: Notably, leaders like Gaius are a straight up better proposition over a number of other leading forces. Zenos and Yotsuyu help terrorize Ala Mhigo and Doma for petty reasons and no oversight, murdering and suppressing entire villages time and again to browbeat both nations into despondency. Various more nationalistic individuals from the top to the bottom are willing to murder Eorzeans with a laugh and a giggle, even those formerly Eorzean themselves. They're also full intent on genociding all the beast tribes to prevent them from summoning primals. And the Black Rose is singlehandedly one of the worst creations anyone has made on the face of the Star as a nigh-fatal chemical weapon of extermination. It's easier to argue where most of Garlemald's military hasn't kicked the dog, to the point that its own citizens are immensely troubled by these crimes.
Leitmotif: "Imperial Will", a booming, ominous tune designed to inspire fear at the Empire's approach.
Magitek: The key to the Empire's strength; they are the most technologically advanced civilization in the present day thanks to magitek. This is in spite of the fact that Garleans themselves cannot use magic.
Meaningful Rename: The Garlean name for Corvos, Locus Amoenus ("pleasant place"), is actually lampshaded as this by a Sharlayan researcher in Endwalker; the climate is so perfect as to allow for a massive variety of flora and fauna to flourish, which is why Sharlayan used it as a basis for Labyrinthos. The researcher admits that the name certainly does the climate justice, regardless of what imperial rule is like for the people.
Might Makes Right: The fact that Garlemald was effectively bullied into becoming a superpower heavily colored the nation's worldview, to the point where they believe that only the strongest can rule.
Moral Myopia: On a national level, Garleans have a chip on their shoulders from being chased from their ancestral homeland by other races. But once they started a war to take it back, they quickly began taking other people's homelands away after reclaiming their own.
Muggles Do It Better: Garlemald stands as the world's sole superpower, despite being incapable of using most magic.
National Anthem:
- In Stormblood, Zenos is first seen walking to his throne while the troops sing the first half of Garlemald's anthem for the region; The Garlean Territorial Anthem for Gyr Abania and Surrounding States or simply "The Measure of Our Reach". In reality, it's the Ala Mhigan anthem, "The Measure of His Reach", that they stole and repurposed to crush their spirits.
- In Endwalker, we hear the national anthem of Garlemald itself playing over the radio, "Home Beyond the Horizon", a melancholy remix of "Imperial Will" that sings about the Garleans' stolen homeland and their hope of one day reclaiming it and everything else stolen from their ancestors.
Nay-Theist: They show no deference to and would stamp out worship of gods of any kind, whether it be the Twelve or a primal. One of their biggest goals is to wipe out all the primal-worshipping beast tribes so that no more primals would be summoned, and anyone else that is conquered by them is forced to renounce the Twelve, such as with the Ala Mhigans and their patron god Rhalgr. This has been pointed out in-universe as a hypocritical position, as Garleans revere their current Emperor with almost religious fervor.
"Not So Different" Remark: Played with. There's multiple times where both the Garleans and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn note that their goals of stopping the primals to protect the world are similar enough, and a couple cases outright inspire what the Scions work towards. In cases of the less crazy leaders, they're also similar in trying to help lead a united Eorzea. Where the differences apply are scale, obviously, and intent; the Scions want a peaceful outcome and try to take down the primals with small-scale operations (and eventually diplomacy with beast tribes), whereas the Garlean Empire is straight up attempting genocide on them and trying to take over the continent in its entirety to suppress further primal summonings with an iron fist.
Numerological Motif: All of the Garlean legati encountered pre-Endwalker are connected to a specific entry in the Final Fantasy series by the number of their legion.
Out of Focus:
- The Garleans take a back seat throughout Heavensward, only showing up to deal with the whole Azys Lla problem. Once Nidhogg is taken care of, they come roaring back in 3.5.
- After being essentially the Big Bad for Stormblood, they fall into this for Shadowbringers. Justified, as the Warrior of Light leaves to go to the First — a whole other dimension — so there's little room for the Empire to appear beyond "meanwhile, back in the Source" scenes and the post-MSQ Weapon questline.
Patriotic Fervor: After Solus zos Galvus instituted decades of propaganda and started a Cult of Personality around himself, the vast majority of Garleans espouse intense nationalistic pride. Many Garleans see non-Garleans as naught more than savages to be brought to heel and believe their empire is destined to bring the entire world to heel. The more moderate Garleans still express intense love for their country even while showing dismay at the militaristic tyranny it seeks to spread.
Powered Armor: Garleans are naturally strong and tough, but can't use magic to augment their fighting abilities, placing them at a disadvantage against trained soldiers from other races - even a lala who knows how to empower themselves with magic can overwhelm a pureblood Garlean. As a result, their officers use suits of armour powered by magitek to level the playing field. Not only are these suits immensely powerful in their own right, but they're also often loaded with advanced weaponry, making them more than a match for the realm's most talented warriors.
Pride Before a Fall: This happens to Garlemald during Endwalker. By this point, the Warrior of Light has beaten back everything the Empire has thrown at them, and they've gotten truly desperate. Even so, the Garleans refuse to accept the help of the Eorzean Alliance who land at Camp Broken Glass. Their Patriotic Fervor and propaganda has convinced them that the Eorzeans really are "savages" who need to be conquered, or they can't believe that the Eorzeans would really want to help them, even though that really was why they showed up. It's so bad that Quintus kidnaps Alisaie and Alphinaud in exchange for supplies, despite the fact that the twins were going to just hand over the supplies without asking for anything in return from him. Because the few surviving Garleans insist on doing everything the hard way, it takes a Self-Destructive Charge, Quintus being Driven to Suicide, and told that no one's coming to help them before the nationalism and pride finally breaks and the Garleans are forced to accept Eorzea's help.
Red and Black Totalitarianism: Their flag is predominantly white, but the chain symbol is red and black, designating them as the imperalistic threat for most of the story. Their rank-and-file likewise wear red and black, as do their emperors, though officers can vary more in their color schemes.
The Reveal: Shadowbringers reveals that the Empire's public justification for its crusade against the "eikons" and the beast tribes that worship them—that the Burn was drained of all aether due to all the summoning—was a complete lie; in truth, the Burn was what it was due to Allagan technology cutting off the circulation of aether. Furthermore, Emperor Solus is revealed to be none other than Emet-Selch, one of the Ascians, who for all intents and purposes sought to sow chaos throughout Hydaelyn. Needless to say, the Garlean Empire is little more than useful catspaws to the Ascians, much like the Allagan Empire which it sought to emulate (and which was also a creation of Emet-Selch), preying on their culturally-ingrained animosity towards the rest of the world for the discrimination they faced for their inability to tap into aether. When it comes to job quests however, it turns out that Garleans aren't responsible for the Gunbreaker class as one might expect but the pact-making class of Reapers.
Robot Soldier: In addition to flesh-and-blood troops, the Empire has no shortage of autonomous magitek robots to throw at its enemies. They come in many different variations, from simple magitek bits and Nimrods to fearsome magitek colossi.
Succession Crisis: Solus died without naming a successor, leading to an offscreen civil war where his grandson Varis eventually came out on top. It happens again at the end of Shadowbringers, when Zenos murders Varis without ascending to the throne.
Third Eye: Garleans are born with a third eye that looks like a glass orb protruding from their forehead, theorized to give them greater spatial recognition that makes them particularly adept at operating the guns and war machines they built their empire with. The helms of the higher ranking Garleans are modeled to emulate their third eyes.
Un-Sorcerer: Pureblood Garleans as a whole are biologically incapable of using magic. They were forced to compensate for this weakness by developing Magitek. Their non-Garlean conscripts don't have this handicap and sorcerers among them are highly valued, while some mixed-race Garleans lose the handicap at the cost of their third eye. Then you find out that some pure-blooded Garleans can use magic... at the cost of making pacts with what are basically the FFXIV equivalent of soul-eating demons.
Vestigial Empire: Though Garlemald started out as invincible juggernauts in A Realm Reborn, the Empire slowly loses power as the story goes along.
- By the end of A Realm Reborn, they definitively fail their invasion of Eorzea and lose an entire Legion to the combined forces of the Alliance, as well as one of their most powerful and feared conquerors in the form of Gaius. On top of that, the sudden death of Emperor Solus with no appointed successor throws the mainland into a civil war of succession, though it's resolved too quickly for it to cause lasting damage with the ascension of his grandson Varis. The Empire still comes out of it looking as powerful as ever, albeit no longer as invincible as they seemed.
- By the end of Stormblood, the Empire lost two major provinces, Ala Mhigo and Doma, to local resistance groups, and with them their major footholds in Eorzea and the Far East, respectively. Furthermore, these setbacks inspired the birth and/or resurgence of resistance groups in other occupied provinces, which then began coordinating with each other, making them much harder to stamp out and dividing the Empire's forces to try and get everything under control. Ala Mhigo and Doma both throwing their lot in with the Eorzean Alliance would be bad enough for Garlemald, but it's even worse for them than it first appears because of the Warrior of Light's actions in Heavensward, where Ishgard became another staunch ally of Eorzea, further increasing the Alliance's size and resources. Those at the top (on each side of the war) realize that Garlemald is going to having to start fighting with their backs against the wall, a position they are not comfortable in. As a result of all these losses on their part and gains on their enemies' part, the Empire starts getting desperate, becoming brazen enough to start developing biochemical weapons like the Deadly Gas called Black Rose, further besmirching their reputation even among neutral nations.
- It all comes crashing down in Shadowbringers. With Varis's assassination at the hands of his son Zenos, who then inexplicably declined the throne, Garlemald is thrown into a civil war as the Ist and IIIrd Legions come to blows to install their successors of choice. This plays right into the hands of Fandaniel, who is operating under the guise of Asahi sas Brutus, secretly bankrolling both sides and thus causing enough suffering amongst the citizenry to drive them into praying for salvation. This, in turn, creates the primal Anima out of the corpse of Varis, which Fandaniel uses to temper the Garleans. Elsewhere, the other Legions aren't doing any better, struggling against resistance groups whose morale is sky-high over the news of domestic unrest in Garlemald. Furthermore, the Empire loses the provinces of Werlyt and Bozja, the former despite having some of their most powerful warmachina, and the latter due to Noah van Gabranth and his IVth Legion going rogue. And all of this is happening while the threat of the Eorzean Alliance is closing in on Garlemald from all sides. What few sane voices remain in Garlemald are in a full-blown panic, trying in desperation to get everything under control enough to at least start assessing the situation, but the Fog of War and constant losses are stretching the Empire to its breaking point.
- By the time the Eorzean Alliance makes an inroad into Garlemald during Endwalker, things in the Empire have gone From Bad to Worse. The Warrior of Light and Eorzea have beaten everything the Empire can throw at them, and Garlemald has dwindled down to its last legs. The entire country is a pile of rubble, with the remnants having joined up under the banner of the Telophoroi either willingly or through tempering by Anima. The ordinary people caught in the middle have little chance for rescue besides running for their lives, braving the land's freezing cold, and hoping that the horrific monsters that roam the ice don't find them. The moment in which the Garlean soldiers mutter a pitiful surrender to the Warrior of Light and their allies is generally agreed in-universe to be the de facto end of Garlemald's dream of conquest, with everyone only able to look back in both awe and pity at how far the Garleans have fallen.
Weak, but Skilled: Unlike most examples of this trope, pureblooded Garleans are actually pretty big and powerful, but being unable to use magic makes them one of the weakest sapient races by default (since Muscles Are Meaningless when you can use magic to give you strength instead). They make up the difference with their massive pile of salvaged Allagan magitek and with the knowledge necessary both to use it and to build more.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: At their very best the Garlean Empire and their officers can be summed up as this, a main point being how they are not fighting merely to conquer but to track down and destroy primals and their worshipers. The Empire rightly believes that primal summoning is a danger to their world, since to summon one uses up the world's aether. The Emperor even makes it clear that he opposes the Ascians and their plans since he believes mortals like himself will not belong in whatever end they bring.
Win Your Freedom: Anyone from a conquered territory can earn full Garlean citizenship if they provide twenty years of service as a soldier in the Garlean army.

Emperors

First Emperor Solus zos Galvus (Unmarked Stormblood spoilers)

The founder of the Garlean Empire. Solus zos Galvus was a brilliant tactician and statesman who attained the rank of Legatus by his twenty-fourth nameday. He single-handedly sparked the magitek revolution and restructured the Garlean military around it, converting a humble republic into a mighty empire. His subsequent elevation to republican dictator and then emperor for life was only natural following his enormous accomplishments.

In truth, Solus was possessed by the Paragon known as Emet-Selch to turn Garlemald into a tool for the Ascians to continue the Rejoinings.

To read more, see his page here.

Second Emperor Varis zos Galvus

Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), Michael Maloney (EN), Philippe Valmont (FR), Romanus Fuhrmann (DE)

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

Race: Garlean
Discipline: Gladiator

"'Tis my solemn charge as Emperor to bring the eikons to heel. If this requires the extermination of certain elements, then so be it."

The new Emperor who succeeded his grandfather after a violent Succession Crisis. As the son of Solus's firstborn, he wrested the position by force from the expected heir, the Emperor's second son and his uncle. He seeks to finish where his grandfather and Gaius had left off and finish the invasion of Eorzea. He has a fairly significant presence in Heavensward, appearing during the main storyline to briefly confront the Warrior of Light alongside his trusted general Regula Van Hydrus.

A God I Am Not:
- Varis doesn't have any delusions of grandeur nor does he believe himself anything more than a mortal, which is pretty different from regular Final Fantasy villains and Emperors in particular. He makes this clear during the Stormblood stinger where he fully admits he is but a mortal man who will oppose the Ascians, on the basis of not wanting the world to end. This turns out to be extra notable because his grandfather has entirely different ideas... what with being an Ascian and all. And Varis still protests that man should be master of his own destiny, which Solus finds rather droll, considering the circumstances.
- Ironically, during the negotiations in 4.5, Amyeric and Hien point out that while the Garleans refuse to kneel to gods, they venerate the Emperor as absolute in a way that most religious zealots wouldn't even for their own deities. So even if Varis doesn't see himself as a god, his people worship him with a fervor akin to one. This ends up being Foreshadowing to Varis' eventual fate, used by Fandaniel as a means to turn the emperor's dead corpse into a primal fuelled by the Garleans' faith in him.
A Nazi by Any Other Name: On top of sharing the 'Garleans should rule the savages' mindset, the negotiations in 4.5 reveals that he's willingly cooperating with Ascians to cause Calamities, in the hope that all sentient beings will be unified in one 'master race' with no racial differences or conflicts; to this end, he's even willing to use weapons of mass destructions like chemical weapons.
Awful Truth: He has been made privy to dark secrets of history that Hydaelyn and her followers have kept secret from the world. Thanks to the Ascians. As much as he loathes them upon learning the truth about the "true gods" of the setting being nothing more than the most powerful of primals and the true nature of the original world he has gone along with their plans to restore the original world, though with plans of turning on the Ascians afterwards.
The Bad Guy Wins: In the bad future the Exarch is from, Varis manages to release Black Rose upon the world and decimates the population of all nations; on top of bringing the world on the brink of destruction, this also causes the death of the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. While no mention is made of his fate in that future, the most likely options are that he either got killed by his own alchemical weapon, or managed to get away with everything till his natural death.
Black Eyes of Crazy: His sclerae are dark gray; while not quite black, the effect is similar, especially combined with his golden irises.
Blade Spam: The memory Varis’s "Alea Iacta Est" attack is four rapid slashes that strike everything in a 180-degree arc in front of him, followed by a fifth slash aimed at the area behind him.
Boss Subtitles: "The Last Word" during the the Memoria Misera (Extreme) trial.
Break Them by Talking: The first half the negotiations in 4.5 part 1 has Varis completely catch every Alliance leader off-balance and he calmly pokes holes in every point they try to make. Ranging from pointing out that Ishgard ended the Dragonsong War by killing both of the major leaders on both sides of the conflict, to calling out the Lominsans for similarly kicking out the Kobolds from their land. The only ones he conceded had any legitimacy to their grip was Hien and Raubahn for the brutality that happened in Ala Mhigo and Doma, but all involved are startled and have to have a break to calm down.
Broken Pedestal: He once greatly respected his grandfather in his youth, and was eager to please him. Learning the truth of his grandfather, combined with the contempt Solus gave him for always unknowingly reminding him of his dead son, shattered any respect he had.
Confusion Fu: Varis's three Gunshield attacks don't go off when their cast bars indicate they should. When he finishes casting them he instead gains a Charge gauge which starts filling up. When this gauge is full, the attack will go off, often during or right after one of his other abilities.
Cool Crown: He wears the same massive crown as his grandfather.
Culture Police: Following his ascension to emperor, Varis put strict regulations and censorships onto all forms of theatre and art in Garlemald so that only imperial approved works would be shown to the public. It's implied he's trying to clamp down on the subtle chaos his grandfather was actually trying to sow, but he's got no choice but to be an ass about it, which isn't endearing him to people.
Death by Irony: Not only is he killed by his own son, which he openly despised and called a monster, but is also used as a vessel to generate the primal Anima. The character who hated primals/Eikons above any other, and valued the Garlean Empire above all else, ultimately became an 'Eikon of Eikons' and ended up destroying his own Empire.
Defiant to the End: He demonstrates this attitude at the end of Shadowbringers. Having just been stabbed by the resurrected Zenos, Varis responds by pulling the blade out of his gut, snapping it in half, and scornfully telling his murderous son that he is unfit to rule the Empire. However, that defiance gives way to horror when he realizes that Zenos is not killing him to usurp the throne, but to remove an obstacle in his hunt for the Warrior of Light.
Didn't Think This Through: Used Solus DNA for his scientists to perfect the Allagan cloning technology, which gave his grandfather an inexhaustable supply of bodies ready to possess. Solus even mocks him for using his family's DNA for the experiments, giving him all the fresh copies of his favored body he could ever need.
Disappointed by the Motive: He is completely flabbergasted that Zenos assassinates him simply because Varis's use of the Black Rose would have spoiled his "hunt" for the Warrior of Light.
The Emperor: The Second Emperor of Garlemald after the death of his grandfather, and he runs it with an iron fist that makes Solus look benevolent by comparison. Of course, Solus was an act from the start, and Varis's situation is profoundly more complicated than it appears from the outside...
Establishing Character Moment: Varis has two.
- The first is during the 2.x patch cycle, where we first learn of him. He's shown spitting on what appears to the coffin of his recently-deceased grandfather, showing that he's probably going to take Garlemald in a very different direction that his elderly grandfather was taking it in the early days; he's also shown doing a cape swish of villainy as he acknowledges his senior officers and begins his reign, looking much younger and more dynamic than the pictures we had of his ancient grandfather.
- The second, in 4.4, re-establishes his character and puts the previous scene in an entirely new context: it's first a scene of him being admonished by Elidibus and then his immortal, secretly-an-Ascian grandfather, with Varis taking it all in silence (though with ever-mounting frustration as Solus speaks). Finally, at the climax of Solus' monologue, he smoothly pulls out a long-pistol and blasts Solus dead in the heart, while simply saying, "you fiends are overfond of your own voices." He then asserts that man is the master of his own destiny... which earns some tutting from the immediately remanifested Solus. All at once, we find that Varis is not nearly as powerful as we thought, that he really is a fervent believer in the Garlean cause, and is struggling with the fact that originally that cause was nothing more than a lie to inspire the masses. That spit was a "disrespectful grandson"... but it was from one who knew the awful truth about his grandfather.
Evil Sounds Deep: When we finally hear him speak in Heavensward, he has a very deep voice.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- After hearing about the death of his son, he declares that Zenos was a madman, and that he had no intention of allowing him to be anywhere near the throne (a statement that no one would be likely to argue with).
- His reaction to Elidibus revealing his face to him at the end of 4.0 could also count as this, as while Varis may have despised his own son Zenos, not even he can tolerate the Ascian using his body to further their own agenda. Especially not when it seems that he knew beforehand that his grandfather had also been one from the start.
- He's livid when he learns that Elidibus-as-Zenos manipulated Asahi into summoning a primal for the sake of destroying the fragile peace treaty between the Empire and Doma. Even if he wants a conquest of the world, he wants it to create a world without primals, not one with every nobody summoning one because of their tragic pasts.
- And, needless to say: he takes the knowledge that his grandfather was an Ascian from the start about as well as an airship to the face, and has no time for Solus's prattle and deadpanning, and he reveals he really does believe man should govern their own destiny, away from greater forces.
- When Varis comes to the realization that Solus "dying" was a completely intentional act to ignite the bloody war of succession that ended up killing a lot of Garlean citizens, Varis visibly looks like he's reached his Rage Breaking Point, as it's made clear he genuinely wants the best for his subjects, and learning that Solus intentionally threw away so many lives is antithetical to all he believes.
- As much as he loathes his son, he expected if Zenos intended on killing him at the end of Shadowbringers, it was to gain the crown and rule the empire. When Zenos reveals it was because it would instead get in the way of his hunt and that he doesn't care if the entire empire collapses into civil war, he is enraged at the realization of his selfishness.
Fate Worse than Death: Not only does he die at the hands of his son, who tells him he plans to throw the Empire into chaos not for ruling it, but because it was "in his way", said son then uses his corpse as the source of a powerful primal to Temper many Garlean people, turning him into Anima. Even though he was an enemy to the Scion's, Alphinaud can only express horror at such a fate, even wishing Varis rest when Anima is slain.
Faux Affably Evil: During the negotiations with the Eorzean Alliance, he's calm and civil, despite being in the midst of an active war with them. The second he's questioned, he drops the nice act and begins to calmly but brutally calls out the hypocrisy within the Alliance.
Final Solution: Barring finding a way to capture primals, he finds that murdering the entirety of the Beast Tribes, including the non-worshiping sects, to stop them from summoning Eikons would do just as well. This is probably the only way he can see of stopping the Ascians outright, including the ones at his very shoulder. Unlike Gaius, he's also more than willing to engage in chemical warfare for mass killing.
Four-Star Badass: He got his position by being a general of even higher rank than Gaius was; his uncle who was the first in line to the throne had no such accomplishments and lost the support of the people because of it.
Freudian Excuse: He was once an idealistic Garlean prince who lost his father at an early age, but was nevertheless eager to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. However, Solus would never give him the warmth Varis craved no matter his accomplishments, and once asked about it, Solus merely replied that the sole reason was that Varis resembled his father too much. This incidence, combined with at some point learning that his grandfather was an Ascian and the truths that came with it, is implied to be what hardened Varis into what he is today.
From a Certain Point of View: His arguments against the Eorzean leaders in 4.5 are full of twisted statements that conveniently ignore the facts that contradict his philosophy:
- When speaking to Aymeric he conveniently forgets that Nidhogg was raving mad by the point in which they were willing to speak for peace, was attacking other Dragons, and other Dragon leaders, such as Midgardsormr and Hraesvelg, were willing to speak for peace without being threatened or coerced into doing so. He also flat out ignores that Thordan was the one who made the choice to do what he did, and Aymeric was merely trying to question him about why he hid the truth.
- Mixes this with Hypocrite when speaking to Kan-E-Senna, conveniently ignoring that one of his own Legates was trying to summon Bahamut, and just focusing on how the people of the Twelveswood were trying to summon the Twelve in order to combat a situation the Garleans created.
- And finally he has the gall to claim that the Ala Mhigans and Domans were the ones to blame for their own wars, despite the fact that he knew plentifully well just how much of an evil monster his son was, and how it was well-established that his provinces were known for how brutally they treated their residents.
Greater-Scope Villain: As with his grandfather, Varis has not yet had a large hand in the plot, with his subordinates driving the plot, although he is more visible and has met the Warrior of Light once. This looks set to change at the end of Stormblood, as he becomes involved with Elidibus's schemes, before finally being Subverted in 4.4, with the relevation with the revelation that Solus is still alive, an Ascian, and the true power behind the throne, leaving Varis as little more than a puppet.
Hypocrite: Lambastes Solus for intentionally starting a war of succession that lead to hundreds of Garlean deaths, but has no problem causing a number of Calamities to Eorzea to bring about his end goal of a perfect, united master race...which is exactly what the Ascians were aiming for to begin with.
I Have No Son!: Sheds absolutely no tears for his son's death, who he never intended to let on the throne anyways.
Irony: Seeks to help trigger calamities to reunite souls and thereby strengthen people, believing that mortals will be "lambs to the slaughter" before the Ascians without the extra strength reunification can bring. The Ascians are in fact trying to do the same thing, reunify souls... so they can use the reunified souls as human sacrifices to bring their own nation back. Like lambs to the slaughter.
Knightly Sword and Shield: When fought in Cid's memories he wields a Garlean Gunblade and Gunshield.
Large and in Charge: The Emperor of Garlemald, and he stands at least a full head over anyone he shares a scene with, including his own massive son, his massive crown and Shoulders of Doom only emphasizing it. The short story "Through His Eyes" states that his father reached unprecedented height among Garleans, a trait Varis and his son obviously inherited, and it is implied that this is due to their Ascian heritage via Solus/Emet-Selch.
- To emphasize this, when he's fought in Cid's memories, he wields both the same type of two-handed greatsword-style gunblade that Regula used in one hand and a gunshield like Rhitahtyn and Grynewaht in the other, scaled up to match his taller height.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: When fought in Cid’s memories, his “Reinforced Gunshield” ability will make him counter all attacks coming from either the front and back or the sides. At one point he will also put up his Gunshield, becoming invincible while charging up a lethal "Altius" attack: the party must break through his guard before the attack goes off to prevent a wipe. In the Extreme version of the fight, it can also launch explosives onto every player and knock everyone back with an energy blast.
Might Makes Right: While not as Axe-Crazy as his son is about it, Varis says as much when negotiating with the Alliance leaders. He brings up how Garlemald had to fight to reclaim their home when it was lost, and shuts down Merlwyb and Aymeric by pointing out how their nations' problems were only solved with brute force.
Moral Myopia: Almost to the point of being his Fatal Flaw. If Garlemald does it, it's justified because they're trustworthy and only want to bring lasting peace. If anyone else does it, it's because they're savages who can't be trusted and will lead to the world's destruction. Beast tribes summoning Eikons? Barbaric. Intentionally causing a summoning to frame another nation and justify Garlean incursion? Fair game, because the Garleans are the only ones who can be trusted to rule the savage nations; the Garleans are just bringing them in line. Solus starting a civil war that leads to the deaths of hundreds of Garleans? Unforgivable. Wanting to cause multiple Calamaties that would kill thousands and destroy other entire realities all to justify a united master race? The ends justify the means.
My Country, Right or Wrong: Zig-zagged like everything about his motives in patch 4.5. He legitimately seems to care for Garlemald, as shown in his private discussions with Solus, but his willingness to toe the line with the Ascians and cause Calamaties that could harm and impact even the Garleans themselves implies he may be more willing to let his own people suffer for the greater goal of uniting Eorzea under the Garlean banner.
Not So Stoic:
- In The Stinger of Stormblood, he's visibly shaken by Elidibus's having taken over Zenos's corpse.
- Solus is also an absolute master of pushing every single one of his buttons. Varis, for his part, is unafraid to express what he thinks of Solus in short, pointed terms. Not that it slows Solus down much.
Numerological Motif: He is the Second Emperor and commands a campaign from a massive airship called the dreadnaught. This is something of a bait and switch, however, as it's Solus who is much more in line with Mateus in personality and goals. He actually has a bit more in common with Leon of all people. Both crown themselves successors to the title of Emperor after the original dies, both spout a Might Makes Right belief, both are ultimately upstaged when the thought to be dead Emperor comes back and mocks them for their attempts at power,and lastly both attempt an Enemy Mine with the heroes to combat the new threat, albeit Varis is more unsuccessful than Leon.
Optional Boss: A memory of Varis can be fought in an instance during Save the Queen: Blades of Gunnhildr, the first step in the Shadowbringers relic weapon questline. This encounter subsequently serves as the basis for the Memoria Misera (Extreme) trial.
Puppet Emperor: Once Solus returns from his retirement, he reclaims his role as the Emperor. Seeing as the public believes that Solus is dead, however, this leaves Varis acting as a figurehead for him.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: Before he was emperor, Varis was the High Legatus of the imperial legions and no less cruel or feared. His Optional Boss fight in Cid's memories demonstrate that he is incredibly skillful and powerful fighter with both a gunblade and a gunshield, demonstrating attacks that dwarf even Gaius van Baelsar's in scope.
Redemption Rejection: The Alliance offers for him to make peace with them and build a future together. Varis rejects the offer, explains his mad goals, and calls the parlay over, declaring that the next time the Alliance meets him will be in war.
Shoulders of Doom: Like his grandfather before him, he seems to take fashion advice from Golbez.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The reason why there hasn't been any form of Garlean reprisal for the loss of Ala Mhigo or Doma is because he hasn't ordered any. Despite being in the position to do so and with Elidibus wanting to crush Ala Mhigo, Varis ignored him and essentially allowed both Ala Mhigo and Doma to fortify their positions. This inaction drew the ire of Solus, his secretly-Ascian grandfather who tried to order him to do so. Once negotiations with the Eorzean Alliance fall through, he does plot to unleash untold carnage by deploying Black Rose, but the Crystal Exarch and Zenos's machinations put an end to that.
Slasher Smile: He gives an absolutely horrifying one in the closing Stinger of 4.5's story, after being told by a scientist that Black Rose production is ready.
Sphere of Destruction: The memory Varis has his own version of Zenos’s Concentrativity attack, called "Altius".
Spiteful Spit: Varis's Establishing Character Moment is to spit on the coffin of his grandfather before taking his place as the new Emperor. In 4.4, however, this takes on entirely new meaning.
Start X to Stop X: His plan to defeat the Ascians involves causing Calamities and initiating Rejoinings, the very things that the Ascians are trying to do. By causing them on his own terms, he believes that he can unite all mankind into a single race with the power to defeat the Ascians.
- Towards the end of Shadowbringers, it's revealed that not only does this plan require performing the Rejoinings the Ascians want, but that the unification of all souls into one race is exactly what the Ascians want to happen. The Ascians are that ancient race of men, and the Rejoinings are an attempt to restore their fallen kinsmen to life. The resurrection of Zodiark is only a step towards that goal. Varis's grand plan to wrest the world away from the Ascians never stood a chance to begin with.
Sword Beam: The memory of Varis can use fire- and wind-aspected versions of "Terminus Est", summon mirages that fire off their own Terminus Est attacks, and launch horizontal waves of darkness that strike a large area in front of him. His ultimate attack, "Vivere Militare Est", is a supercharged Terminus Est which the tanks must intercept and the party must destroy before it kills them.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As Shadowbringers reveals, in the Bad Future he successfully unleashes the Black Rose, which does manage to wipe out all of Eorzea and any other opposition to Garlemald — but it also backfires immensely by indiscriminately wiping his nation out, crippling his ambitions to rule the aftermath in his "master race" plans when there's barely enough life to even try to rule over and rebuild from. Notably, he disappeared in the aftermath, meaning he either was killed by his own weapon or hid away for his remaining days and never tried to take over.
Unwitting Pawn: Is revealed to be this to the Ascians, specifically Solus. Zig-zagged in that while he resents his position, he tells the Alliance leaders he believes the Asicans' methods are legitimate, and that the only way to bring peace is to follow their goals. Sure, he hopes that this will destroy the Ascians in lieu of that and win Garlemald its freedom, but it throws into question just how 'unwitting' he truly is. Shadowbringers reveals that his agenda for rejoining the worlds to reclaim the original, whole race of of people is exactly what the Ascians have been wanting all along, since they are the remnants of that race, making Varis a straight example by the end.
Utopia Justifies the Means: He wants to bring balance to the Source so that all the disparate races of Hydalen become united once again. How does Varis plan on doing this? Causing multiple Calamaties that will lead to countless of deaths, as well as the destruction of the other mirrored versions of the world.
Villain Has a Point: When meeting with the various leaders he points out that the pirates of Limsa Lominsa forcibly took the kobolds' land without asking them. While Merlwyb still opposes Varis, she's forced to admit that on this point he's entirely right.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: He once held his grandfather in high esteem and was eager for his approval; approval that Solus denied for resembling Varis's father. This coldness is implied to have played a large part in turning Varis into the man he is today.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Considering the sheer damage and suffering caused by the primals, wanting to rid the world of their existence doesn't sound like an unreasonable plan in the slightest, and his concern for the damage they'd cause to the world's life force seems entirely genuine. His methods, however... It also doesn't help that his empire was founded on a lie, but one he believes should be true.
- Patch 4.5 really emphasizes the extremist part when it's revealed his plan to create a peaceful united world involves deliberately causing multiple Calamities, which on top of causing untold destruction to our world would destroy each of the other mirrored worlds one by one. He believes this would cause all of mankind to turn into a single master race without any racial differences. The Eorzean Alliance leaders are so horrified that they immediately call an end to the negotiation.
The Unfought: He is ultimately assassinated by a newly revived Zenos before the Warrior of Light can ever confront him. However, at the start of the Shadowbringers artifact weapons questline, he's fought as a memory in Cid's mind. And later available as an extreme trial as a tale told to the Dramaturge. It's still a memory, and it's noted to be possibly inaccurate to his prowess by others.
Villainous Legacy: He's an unwilling one to his grandfather and the fellow Ascians as an agent meant to spread chaos across the world. When Aymeric mentions Thordan being an Unwitting Pawn to Lahabrea Varis finds the idea of being a pawn to be better since it takes the choice out of ones hands, whereas he has to effectively serve the Ascians to make his own personal ideals a reality.
You're Insane!: His reaction to Zenos, when he realises Zenos is willing to plunge the Empire into anarchy just to get another chance to fight the Warrior of Light.
Varis: You would kill me just for that?

Legati

Gaius van Baelsar

See his page here

Nael van Darnus

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

^{Click here for Darnus' face}

Race: Garlean
Epithet: The White Raven
Discipline: Lancer

"Opposition must needs be put down with fire and steel."

Legate of the VIIth Imperial Legion, and also known as "The White Raven". Nael (or rather his sister, Eula) is assigned the task of dealing with the primals that have been judged a grave threat to the Garlean Empire. However, believing that Eorzea is beyond saving, Nael plots to use the power of "Project Meteor" to bring Dalamud down upon the continent, wiping out everyone and everything upon it.

As her plan continues, Nael's madness is catalysed by the dark presence lurking within Dalamud: the sealed primal Bahamut. Though Nael is defeated by the Warriors of Light, the victory comes too late: Dalamud is unleashed upon the world, heralding the Seventh Umbral Era.

All There in the Manual: The 2016 Art and Lore book finally addressed and cleared up the confusion related to Nael's Gender Reveal and the ensuing localization nightmare, by stating that the real Nael van Darnus was dead long before the events of even Legacy. The person you have encountered was actually his sister Eula, who was disguising herself as her brother to carry on his legacy.
Ambiguous Gender Identity: Resulting from the absolute Translation Train Wreck that hit the localization due to communication issues with the Japanese character design team - Nael Deus Darnus uses "he" pronouns when talking about their previous life as Nael van Darnus, and both Ruby Oversoul and Deus Darnus identify themselves specifically as Nael, the male name. But there's also a reasonable interpretation where Eula is simply a very dedicated Sweet Polly Oliver. (Both Ruby Oversoul and Deus Darnus also have very feminine appearances, but after Kuja, that doesn't mean much.)
Arc Villain: Of the Seventh Umbral Era Storyline.
Aristocrats Are Evil: Being of said heritage and triggering genocide doesn't paint her as a nice figure.
Avenging the Villain: Eula's clone which encountered within the Ruby Weapon has a Madness Mantra which implies that she murdered her father because she blamed him for Nael's death, matching what was stated in the lore book.
Bad Moon Rising: Used the Lunar Transmitter to bring down Dalamud, and then latter with Bahamut Tempering her, acted as a Lunar Transmitter herself, which granted her the ability to also call down fragments to perform Kill Sat attacks.
Big Bad: Of the Legacy storyline.
Blue Blood: From both Garlean and Allagan heritage.
Brainwashed and Crazy: She already was pretty nuts, but Dalamud's influence seemed to make it even worse. When (s)he's finally defeated for good in A Realm Reborn, she returns to normal.
Bright Is Not Good: Her armor color scheme in contrast to her counterpart Gaius.
Colony Drop: The mastermind of the Meteor spell that brings the moon Dalamund down on Eorzea. She also can summon down Lunar Debris on the player in her boss fight.
Dead Person Impersonation: The official lorebook states that the real Nael was dead long before even Legacy. The person under that armor every time you encountered them was always his sister Eula, who kept her brother's death a secret even from the Garleans, using his name to earn renown for and honor him posthumously.
Disappears into Light: Nael suffers this fate after being defeated by the Warrior of Light in the Binding Coils.
Dual Boss: Near the end of The Unending Coil of Bahamut (Ultimate), Nael and Twintania fight together to protect their master as he's charging Teraflare, combining the attacks they did in their individual fights to do so.
Dying as Yourself: Once Nael deus Darnus is defeated in The Second Coil of Bahamut, Eula regains her sanity. While utterly insulted at the idea that she succumbed to Bahamut's influence, she ultimately accepts that Alisaie is correct. She curses her own weakness and once she learns of Alisaie's bloodline, she warns Alisaie to steel herself and her resolve for the harsh truth that came next, lest Alisaie lose herself in her misery like Eula herself did as a child. The lore book would later reveal it was the death of the real Nael that caused said misery.
Empowered Badass Normal: Nael was originally incapable of using magic like any other Garlean. After his tempering, Bahamut would empower the White Raven with magic to better serve his release.
Energy Absorption: Her weapon is able to drain an Aetherial Node's energy and shoot it as a high energy beam.
Expy: Of Sephiroth. Both are high-ranking imperial warriors that go insane from an external influence (Jenova for Sephiroth, Bahamut for Nael), and both cast Meteor to unleash havoc on their respective worlds as a result. Both also had a traumatic past that made them vulnerable to the Sanity Slippage they undergo. Eula couldn't cope with the death of her brother and had taken on his identity of Nael in a twisted effort to carry out his legacy, while Sephiroth never knew his parents and did not take it well upon learning that he may have been a Shinra experiment all along. Bahamut and Jenova simply accentuated their madness.
- Furthered in Shadowbringer's Weapon storyline, being the intended end goal of a Clone by Conversion program.
- In a meta example of this, Darnus has an annoying way of cropping up over and over in the storyline surrounding the Garlean Empire, just like Sephiroth does in FFVII-adjacent games.
Fantastic Nuke: Project: Meteor is treated as such in-story.
Fake Difficulty: In the Legacy Nael fight, to have a decent chance of surviving the hard version of Megaflare without resorting to crazy buff stacking, players had to use the Lunar Curtain item, which could only be crafted by farming materials obtainable during the fight... after the party already survived Megaflare.
- Part of Nael's difficulty in Turn 9 is based on the fact each phase is completely separate from the prior, with virtually no carryover in mechanics. And the fact so many of those mechanics are insta-wipe upon failure.
Final Boss:
- Of the Seventh Umbra Storyline.
- Nael deus Darnus once again serves as a final boss in the Second Coil of Bahamut, complete with an arena very similar to the one used in Legacy and playing Rise of the White Raven.
Final Solution: Considering the primal threat of Eorzea too great, the White Raven felt the best course of action was to destroy all of Eorzea and be done with it.
Four-Star Badass: Legatus of the VIIth Legion.
Gender Reveal: Alisaie knocks off Nael deus Darnus's helmet, revealing a very female face underneath. Nael deus Darnus refers to Nael as a man and talks of herself like she's a separate entity entirely from Nael himself. Ultimately, Nael regains her sanity once defeated and seems briefly confused about her new body, but this is more that Eula is now something closer to a primal than her original self as a Garlean.
- A official Lore Book first released at Las Vegas Fanfest '16 reveals Nael really was a man, but he was long dead by the time we met "Nael". Who we met was actually his sister, Eula, posing as him. She killed her father and his inner circle after her Brother's death and took on his identity.
General Ripper: Didn't care if Dalamud would cause a major catastrophe, and likely kill many of her own soldiers as well as devastate Eorzea, so long as she won.
Gunblade: Well, a Gunhalberd.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Bahamut may have bumped her madness up a bit for his own devices, but Eula clearly already went far off the deep end beforehand after trying to process the death of her brother and his fiance's resulting suicide.
Hidden Agenda Villain: Not only is Eula tempered to Bahamut, but Eula's other goals are obscure even to the Garleans. It's possible to back-interpret some of Gaius' lines during Legacy as him having some idea of who's actually under that helmet, though.
I Call It "Vera":
- The gunhalberd Bradamante, which in turn was named after a warrior maiden that he killed using that spear. It is all that remained of him after his death and it has since fallen into the hands of Gilgamesh. Though a "demon bird" (possibly Nael him/herself) had stolen it from Gilgamesh at some point before the Hildibrand storyline and the weapon he found afterwards was merely a cheap replica called Pradamante in typical Gilgamesh fashion. The REAL Bradamante is still in possession of Nael deus Darnus in the Second Coil of Bahamut.
- The Lore book reveals the real Nael's fiancee was Bradamante and she killed herself on the spear after he died. Eula, the Nael we know, renamed it after her in her honor after taking over her late brother's life.
Impersonation-Exclusive Character: With the revelations in the lorebook, it's established that the real Nael van Darnus never actually made an appearance in the game.
Leitmotif: "Meteor". "His" battle theme is "Rise of the White Raven".
Lunacy: Nael can even call on power from Dalamud during her boss battle.
Magic Knight: Because she is Garlean, she was originally incapable of wielding the power of magic, but she gains it through his tempering by Bahamut.
Not Quite Dead: While Eula's body dissolved into aether at the end of Legacy, her essence survived the battle. Bahamut remedied this by creating a new body for her before making her the guardian of the Second Coil of Bahamut. She's Killed Off for Real by Bahamut after losing to the Warrior of Light.
Numerological Motif: Legatus of the VIIth Legion, responsible for Project Meteor, which ushered in the Seventh Umbral Era, and recreates an iconic scene from the game she represents, Final Fantasy VII.
One-Hit Kill: Eula just loooooooves instant kills.
- During her Legacy fight, she'd start using the instant killing "Fierce Ravensbeak" move if anyone was on the stairs while she teleported. Megaflare also one hit killed the entire party if 3 or more lunar fragments hit the ground.
- During Turn 9, hoo boy, let's count: standing under a golem-meteor when it falls is instant death for anyone at-level for the fight, not killing every golem before Gigaflare is instant death, standing right under the Dalamud fragment is instant death, not cleansing your chain in time is instant death, getting hit with a fire or frost dragon's ability twice in a row is instant death, and oh, the walls are also death and there are multiple ways to get knocked into them. Needless to say, during Nael's tenure as ARR's top end boss, Nael was considered an absolute pain of a fight.
One-Winged Angel: As a boss in the Binding Coil of Bahamut, turning into a Draconic Humanoid.
Patricide: According to Encyclopedia Eorzea, Eula Darnus murdered her father for leading the failed campaign that got her brother Nael killed. This also allowed "Nael" to take his place as Legatus of the VIIth Imperial Legion.
Playing with Fire: Has the Megaflare ability which is called down from Dalamund, as it turns out this is because Bahamut is sealed inside Dalamund.
Rage Against the Heavens: As seen in the lyrics of his battle theme.
"A revolution is upon us. All the gods are dead. Machines will rule the heavens. Reason will rule the land."
Red Baron: The White Raven.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Nael didn't really need Dalamud's power to kick the player party's ass after the destruction of the lunar transmitter, but he used it anyways, complete with red aura and eyes. Cue Cutscene Power to the Max and Curb-Stomp Battle.
Royal Blood: She is a descendant from nobility from the Allagan Empire.
Samus Is a Girl: An extraordinarily convoluted example. The art team always intended Nael to be a woman, and in the Japanese version, it was easy to leave it ambiguous as the Seventh Umbral patches didn't have voice acting due to the limited budget of the time, alongside the Japanese language's general lack of gendered pronouns. However, for whatever reason, these plans evidently weren't conveyed properly to the game's writers—Gaius explicitly refers to her as a man on at least one occasion in the Japanese version, while the English localization got it particularly muddled. Since they absolutely needed gendered pronouns (or at least needed significant advance warning of the planned reveal so that the extra linguistic footwork to keep it ambiguous could be done in English), they ended up believing that Nael was a man and used male pronouns for "him" (and the mistake went to such lengths that the lyrics for Rise of the White Raven, which were largely handled by the localization staff, were commissioned as if Nael were a man). Once 2.2 entered development and the depth of the mistake was made clear, the English version had to go with the decidedly more bizarre story that he was a man, but Bahamut rebuilt his body as a woman for reasons unknown and much to Nael's confusion. The lore book later attempted to clarify further, leaving us with the Eula Darnus situation.
Shout-Out:
- See Numerological Motif. Specifically recalls Sephiroth, summoning Meteor, recreating his iconic scene from the Nibelheim Incident, and even having a Ominous Latin Chanting boss theme and later going One-Winged Angel in A Realm Reborn.
- Nael's armor is very reminiscent of Judge Zargabaath.
Superboss: Finishing the storyline unlocks the hard version of the fight, designed to be the "most punishing battle in Final Fantasy XIV before A Realm Reborn" which rewards the player with a Cosmetic Award unique earring (that, admittedly, can be useful for some gear setups). Said battle starts with a 7500 damage Megaflare, and only gets worse after that.
Sweet Polly Oliver: After her brother's death and her sister-in-law's suicide, Eula Darnus disguised herself as her brother, killed her father and anyone who knew of Nael's death, and took over the VIIth Legion to build a legacy to her late brother that would last throughout history.
Talkative Loon: Becomes one during the final battle. His lines serve as a cue to which move he will use next.
The Bad Guy Wins: As seen in the ''A Realm Reborn'' trailer, even though the Warriors of Light defeated and slew her, the damage was done, Dalamud could not be stopped, and Bahamut broke free at the climax of the Battle of Carteneau.
Touched by Vorlons: When Nael was tempered by Bahamut, he was empowered with magical ability, and his similarly tempered Legion considered this to be a sign that their mission was righteous.
Unwitting Pawn: To Bahamut, though she makes it clear that Project: Meteor had been her idea and her idea alone.
The Usurper: Strongly implied to have killed his own father for more power and authority. It was actually a hell of a lot more personal than just a power grab, and he isn't actually a "he"...
Villain Teleportation: Once Nael becomes a full thrall of Bahamut, he has a tendency to do this.
The Von Trope Family: Just read the name again. Though it gets played with as Nael Deus Darnus.
Tin Tyrant: Standard issue for high-ranking Garleans.
Whole-Plot Reference:
- Nael and the Seventh Umbral Era storyline is an intentional Shout-Out to Final Fantasy VII. Nael even gets a shot while walking in fire◊ like Sephiroth at Nibelheim.
You Are Too Late The White Raven just shrugs off the destruction of the lunar transmitter as a minor delay then claims he can and will still cast Meteor anyways, and the companies are too late to stop it. He wasn't lying about that.

Regula van Hydrus

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

Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi (JP), Stephen Campbell Moore (EN)

Race: Garlean

"Loyalty—to the bitter end."

The Legate of the VIth Imperial Legion, the primary imperial force encountered throughout Heavensward.

Animal Motifs: His Limit Break in the Warring Triad questline takes on the form of a giant panther.
Animal Battle Aura: His most powerful attack is to summon a giant panther made from Cereleum.
Anti-Villain: Of the Noble Demon variant. Whilst not to the same extent of Gaius, Regula is ultimately an honorable soldier, and something of a Noble Bigot. He ultimately shows his true colors, and dies a heroes death.
Arc Villain: Of the Warring Triad storyline.
Arm Cannon: Like Gaius his armor is equipped with a Magitek cannon.
BFS: Wields a custom gunblade named The Bastard, which is more like a two-handed greatsword than the standard model.
Childhood Friends: He and Varis are childhood friends and the two of them are very loyal to one another with Regula aiding in his friend's rise to the throne by personally sabotaging the claim Varis's uncle had to the throne.
The Dragon: He acts as one to Emperor Varis, leading the campaign into Azys Lla.
Expy: Of General Leo Christophe. Both are notably honorable high-ranking soldiers of the antagonistic empire who are old comrades of the sitting Emperor, both form an uneasy alliance with the protagonists of their respective games, both die heroically due to the events surrounding the Warring Triad, and their deaths in hindsight become even greater losses because they would have been strong allies against the real threat the heroes face. Almost counts as a subverted trope, as the expectation was that he would take after Kefka.
Enemy Mine: Allies with the Scions to destroy Zurvan once he determines that the Allagan method of containing the Triad was flawed and thus useless, and Zurvan was too dangerous to let live.
Faux Affably Evil: He has a polite facade with impeccable manners, but when the chips come down, he can get rather catty, resorting to petty and somewhat racist insults like calling Eorzeans savages.
The Faceless: His face is never revealed, as he is only ever encountered while wearing his helmet.
Four-Star Badass: Of equal rank to Gaius and Nael, the two previous main antagonists, and the Empire's Legate through Heavensward.
Gunblade: Uses two different gunblades, a standard blade in his first appearance with Emperor Varis and his first fight in Azys Lla, and his custom greatsword in all other appearances.
The Gunslinger: Compared to Gaius who had more sword-based attacks, Regula instead focuses on firing Magitek ammo.
Heroic Sacrifice: During the battle to subdue Zurvan from pre-maturely awakening, he defends Unukalhai from one of Zurvan's thralls, leaving him wide open for Zurvan to strike. Even though Regula blocks the attack, his gunblade can't handle the strain and shatters, allowing Zurvan's halberd to tear through his side. He dies telling Unukalhai that he saved him because was gifted with the echo and that it's far too grand a gift to waste, saying that Emperor Varis may very well need people with gifts like that if there's ever a chance of ending the primal threat once and for all.
Master Swordsman: He's got a number of sword moves that are both shared with Gaius and other gunblade users, and also some unique to him. And in general, his lore and gameplay show that he's an absolute master of the gunblade, and doesn't rely on much else. This is an early hint to him being an Expy of General Leo, as Leo similarly did not rely on magic infusion or magitek much, and was simply an utterly peerless swordsman.
Moveset Clone: In his first battle, he borrows some of Gaius's attacks, but in his second and third battles, he uses attacks unique to him.
Named Weapons: Averted, his gunblade The Bastard isn't a crude name or meant to sound scary; it's just a gunblade whose "blade" is a bastard sword.
Numerological Motif: Legatus of the VIth Legion, encountered on a Floating Continent and within a Magitek Research Facility, thus representing Final Fantasy VI.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Thinks of Eorzeans as savages.
Recurring Boss: He's fought twice in the main scenario and a third time in the Warring Triad storyline. He flees each time.
Redemption Equals Death: By the time Zurvan awakens, Regula has realized that Allagan's contaimment methods aren't foolproof and thus unfit to be presented to Emperor Varis. He strikes an alliance with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn to stop Zurvan's pre-mature awakening, but dies defending Unukalhai from Zurvan, and with his dying words expresses realization that the Echo is a gift that cannot be wasted if there's ever a hope of purging the primals from the world for good. That's a massive deal, considering the Garleans consider people with the Echo to be no different than the beastmen.
Social Climber: He has shades of this, wishing to advance the station of his legion by doing what Gaius and Nael failed and conquering Eorzea. Likewise, he is not popular among his troops for being seen as a general who earned his position through his friendship with the Emperor rather than his actual qualifications.
Swiss-Army Weapon: Like Gaius, he wields a gunblade, his called The Bastard.
The Turret Master: He summons Magitek Turrets to aid him in his battle.
Undying Loyalty: Regula himself has this for Varis because of their relationship as childhood friends. But after defeating Sophia, you learn that this is averted by his men. Likely due to his position being rewarded through his friendship with the Emperor, he fails to gather the support of his men like Gaius had. Sophia managed to temper several Garlean soldiers because they were attempting to sabotage his conquest. This changes after he sacrifices himself to save them, as the remaining Garlean soldiers ensure that his body is given a proper burial back home afterwards.
Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Flees upon defeat in the Aetherochemical Research Facility.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Like Gaius, he just wants to help Eorzea destroy the primal threat. Though, also like Gaius, he wishes to use an ancient Allagan device to bring their power to heel. He even questions the heroes why they won't just let him help them in a moment of frustration at being defeated again.
What the Hell, Hero?: When Zurvan begins to awaken he deploys his unit in an attempt to stop Zurvan before he can escape, realizing the severity of the situation he puts aside his grudges and asks the Scions to help him. When the Scions hesitate and look like they are about to decline working together, he calls them out on living up to the savage moniker that Eorzeans have acquired. Reasoning that if they are unwilling to do the same and fight against a greater threat alongside an old enemy then they really are savages in his eyes, and tells them that he is putting aside his own grudges by asking them and the Warrior of Light for help, knowing they are responsible for the deaths of his own comrades.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: When confronted by Unukalhai after Sephirot's defeat, he chooses to leave, stating he'll only fight him after he's become an adult and has no intention for fighting kids. It even extends to when Unukalhai (and Krile) are the only ones standing between him and his objective. He chose to flee instead of harming them.
Regula: I have no interest in crossing blades with children. Live, grow strong, and mayhap one day you will warrant my attention.

Zenos yae Galvus

See his page here

Noah van Gabranth

Legatus of the renegade IVth Legion, which seeks to build a new nation in occupied Bozja. See their page for more details.

Valens van Varro

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valens.png

Race: Garlean

"For that is their lot in life... to be discarded once they have served their purpose."

Legate of the new VIIth Legion, and the commander of the Werlyt's Weapons Project in The Sorrow of Werlyt.

Alliterative Name: Valens van Varro.
Awesomeness by Analysis: During his fight with Gaius, he fights with a sword in one and a tablet in the other, which has all of his combat data and allows Valen to No-Sell his Sword Beam. Unfortunately, the moment Gaius throws an attack that he has no data on, he's knocked flat in his ass in record time.
Beyond Redemption: Gaius outright calls Valens this for both the cruelty of his actions being a stain not only on the ideals Gaius once thought the Empire was founded on and mankind in general, but because he can't even remember the names of his victims which included his own soldiers and Alfonse himself as Valens begs to Alfonse for his life.
Cold-Blooded Torture: His preferred method of instilling discipline and obedience. One of these torture sessions is shown after the defeat of the Emerald Weapon.
Conditioned to Accept Horror: Those kids in his room? He wants them to grow up to be just as unthinkingly cruel as him.
Cruel and Unusual Death: After getting humiliated by Gaius one last time, Alfonse, now controlling the Diamond Weapon, picks him up and very slowly crushes Valens to death as the souls of everyone who died as a result of the Weapon program stare him down while he screams in terror. The almost comedic popping sound followed by flowing liquid made when Alfonse does the final clench (and not showing the remains) heavily implies he was squeezed so hard his head popped open/off. And he deserved every second of it.
Deliberately Bad Example: By being an extremely hatable foil to Gaius, Valens showcases Gaius' virtures before he defected, and fighting Valens made his Heel–Face Turn more acceptable.
Didn't Think This Through: Gloats to Gaius, widely known as one of the best swordsmen in the Empire that he had all his combat data and could counter everything his opponent could throw at him. It clearly didn't occur to Valens that maybe, just maybe, his opponent had some extra tricks up his sleeve he'd recently developed, never felt like using before, or that no one had survived seeing...
Does This Remind You of Anything?: His tendency to be around children even in his private quarters, while shirtless nonetheless, along with his fondness for 'correcting' bad behavior give off the very uncomfortable vibe of a grooming sexual predator. And that's not even getting into him ordering a child recruit into his office and giving her a speech about "the power of love" which the scene thankfully ends before the interaction goes much further, though she is visibly uncomfortable around him.
Drink-Based Characterization: In an unusual twist, he enjoys some hearty, premium milk... to characterize him as an absolute asshole. It shows him as a person who believes everything only deserves to live as long as it's useful to him (whether it's a cow's ability to produce milk or a subordinate's ability to get results) and not one second longer.
Driven by Envy: Practically everything he does or has done over the course of his life up to this point has been because Gaius was named the Legatus of the XIVth legion, and he was stuck playing support by reverse engineering the Ultima Weapon. It becomes even more apparent in retrospect; from his "adoptions", to his open distaste and abuse for the Weapon pilots later revealed to be Gaius' children, to his belligerantly racist ideology, to even the vague look of his armor, he has effectively been driven mad by the need to prove that he was always the better man.
Evil Mentor: The children accompanying him are his "students". And he's teaching them ruthlessness whether they want him to or not.
Evil Old Folks: When we finally see his face, he is clearly aged to some extent, though physically he is still in peak condition. And he is probably the most cruel Garlean we have met thus far. The after action reports reveal that he's 56.
Expy: Like other Legatus before him, Valens's character has shades of a villain from the game his legion is numbered after. In this case, his sociopathic behavior, unsettling demeanor, and his penchant for human experimentation take after Hojo from Final Fantasy VII.
Face Framed in Shadow: His first appearance takes place in a dimly lit office, causing his face to be hidden in shadow. Subsequent scenes which feature him have better illumination, allowing us to see his unhinged facial expressions clearly.
Fantastic Racism: He takes Garlean racism to the extreme, considering any non-Garleans "savages" cannon fodder at best and experimental meat at worst.
Foil: To Gaius van Baelsar. While Gaius is a Noble Demon and A Father to His Men who adopted several orphans he has genuine affection for, his men have undying loyalty to him, and his Might Makes Right philosophy motivating him to promote those outside of the Garlean race within his ranks, Valens is a completely unhinged true-believer in the Garlean Master Race, is downright abusive to his underlings, and gets his loyalty through intimidation, torture, and fear. Valens also "adopts" children, who also follow him around, but it's very clear he has no real love for them and there's an underlying vibe that implies he is a true creep.
- He can also be seen as one to Nero Scaeva. Both are men who hated living in the shadow of others and both are skilled machinists. The two even worked together to reverse engineer the Ultima Weapon. But whereas Nero eventually realized sticking with Garlemald wouldn't help him surpass his rival and eventually made peace with Cid, Valens doubled down on his patriotism purely out of spite and hatred for Gaius. Nero plays up a villainous persona to hide the fact that he actually cares about other people, while Valens transparently pretends to be a loving father to hide the fact that he's a despicable villain.
Greater-Scope Villain: As the Legate of the VIIth Legion and the force behind the Weapons and their pilots, he's this for The Sorrow of Werlyt questline.
- The Save the Queen questline implies that Valens was behind the Hypertuned project as well.
Hate Sink: We only need a single scene with him to be sure that he is not a character that the audience is intended to like. He's dismissive of his soldiers, physically abuses them (throws a cup at Alfonse's head when he disliked the report he gave), makes death threats of them, and there's an overall creepy vibe with him that is not helped at all by the presence of children in his room that implies he may be a sexual predator.
- In 5.4, he ups the physical abuse to torture... and he forces his wards to administer it. He wants every last one of them to become like him, despite how terrified they are. To top it all off, he threatens to commit genocide against the Au Ra if Alfonse fails him.
- He twists the knife even deeper in the next scene by forcing an Ala Mhigan mother and child to watch the father die from a fatal Oversoul test. Even the otherwise stoic senior engineer is disturbed when Valens refuses to spare the rest of the family in exchange for the Highlander man's "help" with the experiment.
Hoist by His Own Petard: He is killed by his own top-of-the-line warmachina. Even better, the Overmind function he used to punish Alphonse and spite Allie is the reason the Diamond Weapon recognized and attacked him in the first place.
- Moments before that when confronted by Gaius his over-reliance on combat data from other Garlean Legati only serves to protect him from the most basic form of Terminus Est before Gaius loads a gold bullet into Heirsbane and shows Valens that he'd not stopped improving Terminus Est following his defeat at the Praetorium.
I Lied: One of his human test subjects for the Oversoul trials was coerced into the test in exchange for the empire freeing his family. After the man is tested on and dies, Valens orders the wife to be used as the next test subject. When the engineer reminds him that he would free them, Valens' response is to laugh hysterically and call the idea of "bartering with savages" a great joke.
Implied Death Threat: While listening to Alfonse's report on the loss of the Sapphire Weapon, Valens goes on to talk about a brand of premium milk he's taken to, from a group of 100 cows pampered their whole lives. Once the milk runs out of them, they are taken to the slaughterhouse since they've lost their purpose. He makes the allusion clear that the failures of the Weapon Pilots put them at risk of being "discarded" as well.
Karmic Death: He's killed, rather gruesomely, by his own Diamond Weapon project, with Alfonse who he forced to be its core, while facing the shades of all war orphans he abused, all staring at him menacingly while he screams helplessly.
Last-Second Word Swap: Upon learning that Allie was now in the hands of Gaius, he's outraged that she was gone, after everything he did t—for her to make her his ideal pilot.
"Not So Different" Remark: Tries to pull this off on Gaius in response to the former legate telling Valens he's Beyond Redemption, asking if Gaius got any better chance at redemption than he does and if he can remember all the names of those who died in Gaius's conquests. Subverted in that Gaius already accepts the responsibility for his actions, and that regardless if he can ever be fully redeemed, he'll keep pushing forward to make amends for them.
Mask of Sanity: He's only barely holding it together, using the Weapon pilots as punching bags for his barely restrained rage.
Mood-Swinger: He goes from calm and collected to having sudden, violent fits of rage in the span of a second.
Not Quite Dead: When Alphonse takes over the Diamond Weapon, he fires its laser straight at Valens, seemingly obliterating him and destroying the rest of the facility. Later on, after the Warrior of Light disables the Diamond Weapon, Valens shows up alive and unharmed, but not for long.
Numerological Motif: As Nael's successor to the VIIth legion, he represents Final Fantasy VII, but where Nael was representative of Sephiroth and Meteor, Valens is more representative of Hojo, Shinra, and the Weapons, being in charge of the Weapon Project, which involves some VERY mad science elements.
Passed-Over Promotion: He was in line to be the Legatus of the XIVth Legion until it went to Gaius, leaving him to be working on the sidelines on the Ultima Weapon project under Nero tol Scaeva.
Pragmatic Villainy: Valens was horrified of the idea of one of his Weapon's cores to be based on Zenos, but only because he couldn't possibly control it.
Psycho Pink: He wears dark magenta armour and is one of the most deranged and depraved out of all the Legates.
Real Men Wear Pink: His armor is dark pink, and fitting his role as a Legate, is very muscular.
Slasher Smile: Sports a truly deranged one when he Announces that Alfonse will be piloting the Diamond Weapon with an Oversoul remotely controlled.
Smug Snake: While he clearly believes himself to be a brilliant schemer and unstoppable general, whose Weapon project will easily carry him to the seat of Emperor, his Hate Sink nature and Suicidal Overconfidence when up against his hated rival - not to mention rousing the ire of the WoL - meant that his planning was doomed from the start.
Undignified Death: His last moments are to be crushed to death by his own creation, fueled by the countless lives he sacrificed, and pathetically begging them to stop.
The Unfought: Is disposed by Gaius and the Diamond Weapon in a cutscene, and never fought against.
Villain Ball: Defied in 5.5. The story tried to foreshadow that he may use Zenos' combat data for the Diamond Weapon, but he ultimately picks Alfonse as a physical pilot instead because Zenos was an uncontrollable madman — putting anything like his data into the machine would've likely gotten everyone killed indiscriminately.
Would Hurt a Child: He apparently physically abuses the children under his "care"; Alfonse's sister's back still had wounds from the abuse Valens inflicted upon her when she was found by the Eorzean Alliance after the Emerald Weapon's destruction.
- When he is testing the Diamond Weapon's oversoul, he uses an Ala Mhigan conscript and promises that if he sacrifices his life for the test, his wife and daughter will be spared. After said conscript dies, he tells his scientists to use the wife and daughter next. Mercifully, we don't see it happen but their souls are seen among the number that witness Valen's death.
Your Head Asplode: It isn't seen, but it's implied from the sound that he was squeezed so hard that his head exploded. You hear a popping sound then a sound of flowing liquid before the Alphonse controlled Diamond Weapon throws his corpse away.

Quintus van Cinna

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

Voiced by: Hiroya Egashita (JP), Allan Corduner (EN)

Race: Garlean

"Disparity is the root of discord, and peace built on compromise is flawed and fleeting."

Legate of the 1st Legion, the main Imperial Legion the heroes interact with in Endwalker.

A Father to His Men: Downplayed. He initially comes across as overly strict and selfish, but it becomes clear over the course of his interactions with the Warrior of Light that Quintus is doing his best to take care of his men with the extremely limited supplies he has in a truly desperate and hopeless situation. The issue is he sees preserving their national pride as Garleans as more important than their survival. This makes him willing to use vital ceruleum to fuel a risky attack against the Ilsabard Contingent to seize supplies the Contingent was offering to give them, throwing his men's lives away purely to preserve the perception that the Garlean Empire is still in power. Ultimately, when he realizes that the legions he was expecting for backup aren't coming and that they have already entered into talks with the Eorzean Alliance, he releases his men from their service, allowing them to choose their own path before he shoots himself in the head. While his priorities are certainly questionable, he's sincerely trying to do what he believes is best for the men under his command.
All for Nothing: He uses what little supplies he had on a last desperate gamble, despite the Eorzeans not only being willing to give the Garleans supplies, but outright telling him so. Instead, it's revealed that the reinforcements he wants simply aren't coming, his troops have been basically wiped out, and he turned down a lucrative offer out of misplaced pride. The guilt and anguish over this decision causes Quintus to be Driven to Suicide.
Alternate Character Interpretation: In-universe, the Ilsabardian contingent is unsure what to make of Quintus' final orders before his suicide. On one hand, he could have been trying to give his soldiers a clean slate and force them to seek aid from the Eorzeans when their Patriotic Fervor would say otherwise. On the other, it could have been a last attempt to salvage what little pride he had left even at the cost of a suicidal charge that would have almost certainly killed everyone under his care. But given that the man is dead, no one can know for sure.
Ate His Gun: Upon learning that the other Legions he had been hoping to reunite with and storm the Tower of Babil had been basically either wiped out or were no longer able to arrive and join him, on top of being told to stand down, he commits suicide via a self-inflicted gunshot out of broken pride. The Garlean banner in his makeshift "office" remains stained with the blood spray to remove any ambiguity.
Break the Haughty: Played with. Quintus is a very prideful and patriotic soldier, fiercely loyal to his country. However, by the time Endwalker starts, Garlemald has been reduced to a shell of its former self, and the Eorzean Alliance showing up is basically the last hope that the Garleans have to make it out of this alive. However, Quintus just has to do things the hard way, including capturing Alphinaud and Alisaie (who were just going to give him the supplies his people needed). Alphinaud and Alisaie understand that Quintus has every right to be upset at the idea of getting help from his enemies, also admitting that Quintus harsh but correct in the assumption that Garlemald would be paying reparations for years to come if he agreed to surrender. But with all of that said, Alphinaud and Alisaie also call out Quintus on his stubborn refusal to accept help when his people are on the brink of death. This gets drilled into his head when he makes one last desperate attack on the Eorzeans, only to be told right as the attack starts that the other legions he was hoping for are all wiped out, meaning he has nothing to hope for and no chance of success. After releasing his men from their duty, the old soldier loads a single bullet into a pistol, puts the gun to his chin, and pulls the trigger. It's all played with because it shows that Quintus and his pride are clearly faults that will be broken with time, but in the context of a military occupation.
Career-Ending Injury: His clash with the 3rd Legion left him with a wound so severe that he's unfit to ever take the field again.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He refuses to take "charity" from the Eorzeans, attempting to instead force them to leave their supplies and retreat from Garlemald by holding Alphinaud and Alisaie hostage. He even gives a speech to this effect when Alphinaud and Alisaie offer aid to the Garleans, saying that their pride and honor would not let them accept such charity from the "savages" who are occupying their land.
Driven to Suicide: After the Warrior of Light, Alisaie, and Alphinaud are strongarmed into getting more ceruleum for the surviving Garleans, Quintus uses it all on a desperate gambit to force the Eorzean Alliance to leave their supplies behind and flee the country. Too bad for him that Estinien rescued the twins, rendering the bargaining chip gone. Quintus then learns that the other Legions that he'd been hoping to reunite with to storm the Tower of Babil had either been wiped out, or were so close to being depleted that they might as well have been wiped out. After giving the order to stand down and releasing his men from their service, Quintus loads a single bullet into a pistol, puts the gun to his chin, and pulls the trigger. The final shot of Quintus shows his blood covering the banner of Garlemald in his office, panning down to his crumpled body next to a literal smoking gun. Later conversations confirm that Quintus shot himself, making it very clear that the old soldier took his own life.
Et Tu, Brute?: Vergilia van Corculum, the boss who battles the Eorzean Alliance after their incursion into war-torn Garlemald, was his counterpart in the IIIrd legion. She was tempered by Anima and compelled to slay Quintus; she succeeded in crippling him.
The Farmer and the Viper: Despite just how much of the Ilsabard Contingent has had personal experiences with Garlean oppression, they're nevertheless willing to offer humanitarian aid to the 1st Legion and the civilians taking shelter with them in Tertius. Quintus' response is to take the twins hostage and use them as leverage to get the Contingent to leave behind their supplies and an airship. And when that doesn't work, he orders his men to launch a Self-Destructive Charge on Camp Broken Glass. Even that is basically over before it starts, as it's revealed that help just isn't coming for the Garleans due to their other legions being wiped out.
Fatal Flaw: Pride. His overwhelming nationalistic pride causes him to make many questionable decisions. First, he refuses any help from the Ilsabard Contingent on principle, because doesn't want to "bow down to invaders", despite the fact that his people are on the brink of starvation and freezing to death. Instead, he takes Alisaie and Alphinaud hostage demanding that the Ilsabard Contingent hand them over the supplies and leave in exchange for the twins' lives. Alphinaud and Alisaie were offering to just give Quintus all the supplies he needed, no questions asked, but Quintus had to do it the hard way to satisfy his own ego. This is also despite the fact that Garlemald is crawling with Tempered soldiers and Telophoroi Warmachina they have no hope of defeating. When that fails, he uses the last bit of ceruleum, which is vital for heating, as fuel for Magitek armor and tries to assault the Ilsabard contingent, which is stopped at the last second. When it becomes apparent that reinforcements aren't coming and that the Empire has been completely wiped out, he's filled with so much shame at the thought of bowing down to savages that he points a gun to his head and pulls the trigger.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Alphinaud and Alisaie understand that Quintus has every right to be upset at the idea of getting help from one's enemies, especially after past misdeeds on the Garlean people years ago. The twins also admit that he's harsh but correct in the assumption that Garlemald would be paying reparations for years to come if he agreed to surrender. But with all of that said, Alphinaud and Alisaie also call out Quintus on his stubborn refusal to accept help when his people are on the brink of death, and that he's making things worse for those he swore to protect out of misplaced pride and nationalism.
Honor Before Reason: Despite the situation in Garlemald, he refuses to entertain the thought of getting help from "savages", telling the Warrior of Light, Alisaie, and Alphinaud that he will not treat with them. The only leniency he offers is for the Grand Company to leave their belongings and get the hell out of Garlemald without a fight. As it becomes increasingly clear that the Ist Legion won't last much longer, he instead orders a nigh-suicidal attack on the Alliance forces stationed at the foot of Garlemald once Alphinaud and Alisaie are freed, using the last of the fuel his civilians needed to survive the cold.
I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: After putting shock collars on Alphinaud and Alisaie, he declines to put one on the Warrior of Light, knowing full well that they'd be able to shrug off the shock like it was "barely an itch." Instead, he threatens to punish the Twins if the WoL steps out of line.
Jerkass Has a Point: Quintus notes that even if the soldiers and civilians under his care did accept humanitarian aid from the Eorzeans, the blame for all of the destruction wrought in the war with Garlemald would fall onto the shattered remains of the nation, and its survivors would be forced into paying reparations for generations to come (which has a basis in reality, as this is exactly what happened to Germany after World War I). His refusal to see the remainder of the Garlean race be subjected to that paints his actions in a very prideful but intelligent light. When Quintus brings all of this up, Alphinaud and Alisaie can't provide any sort of counterargument to how Quintus believes things will go, even if they do call him out on how it won't mean very much when all of his people have frozen to death in the name of patriotism.
Old Soldier: Not only does he look older then most of the other Legati seen, some of his comments imply he lived during the early foundation of the Empire.
Skewed Priorities: After the Warrior, Alisaie, and Alphinaud help Jullus scavenge some ceruleum from the nearby ruins, Quintus uses it to fill the tanks of his magitek armor rather than heaters to keep the people under his care alive.
Underestimating Badassery: Defied. He knows full well just how powerful the Warrior of Light is and treats them as the serious threat that they are. He doesn't put a shock collar on them because he knows that, even were they to crank the voltage up to max, it would be "barely an itch" for them. Instead, he threatens Alphinaud and Alisaie with punishment should the Warrior of Light step out of bounds, while simultaneously making it abundantly clear that he won't harm them as long as they all behave. He also makes no efforts to restrict the Warrior of Light's movements and even allows them to come and go from the camp as they please because he knows full well that his men would be powerless to stop them if they truly wanted to leave.
Undying Loyalty: He is fiercely loyal to the Empire, and in particular Varis. So much so that when Varis was killed, Quintus refused to allow any of the other remaining Legati to steal the throne, and spent most of the time before the Grand Company of Eorzea battling the various people trying to claim ownership.

Vergilia van Corculum

Race: Garlean
Disciplin: Lancer

Legate of the IIIrd Imperial Legion.

Battle Theme Music: Her instance boss fight is set to "Faith In Her Fury", the theme of The Steps of Faith.
Brainwashed and Crazy: She, like many others, is tempered by Zenos and Fandaniel to serve their own goals.
Bright Is Not Good: She's dressed in all white, and is, even before being Tempered, a ruthless and power-seeking individual.
Flunky Boss: She calls in waves of troops and magitek to support her at several points.
Heel–Face Turn: Upon being cured of her tempering, she (admittedly begrudgingly) allies with the Ilsabard Contingent to help end Nerva's suffering and support her people.
Moveset Clone: Her fighting style is nearly identical to that used by Menenius sas Lanatus in his optional Duel Boss fight in Zadnor.
One-Woman Army: When she takes to the battle against the Grand Company of Eorzea, she easily overpowers the combined might of Magnai, Cirina, and Sadu, then proceeds to fight those three, the Warrior of Light, Lyse, Pipin, and Lucia at the same time with little issue (albeit, while they were trying to subdue her non-lethally). It takes Magnai and Sadu using their strongest moves together to even defeat her.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Unlike the jingoistic militancy of people like Quintus, she realizes that the best course of action is to make peace with the Eorzean Alliance and work with them for the good of Garlemald.
Sole Survivor: As of 6.1, she is the only still loyal Legate alive.
Undying Loyalty: Surprisingly, she really did believe in Nerva, hence why she threw her Legion behind him when Zenos killed Varis. Upon learning he very likely became a Terminus monster, she is very saddened by the idea, and requests he be killed to put him out of his misery.
The Usurper: Her Legion threw their lot in with Nerva yae Galvus when Zenos killed Varis, aiming to take the throne and rule over the Empire.
What Happened to the Mouse?: She and her forces are explicitly not killed by the Grand Company of Eorzea. But while it is implied that she and her forces were captured so they could be cured of their tempering, she vanishes from the plot after her defeat. 6.1 brings her back in the post role quests story where the Alliance asks her about the whereabouts of Nerva.

Nerva yae Galvus (Unmarked Spoilers)

"For glory, everlasting."

A member of the royal family and Varis' cousin, as well as one of his main rivals for the imperial throne. Known as a glory hound who wanted what was best only for himself, his confrontation with the Warrior of Light marks one of the last remnants of the Final Days.

Character Catchphrase: "For glory, everlasting" is a phrase Nerva was well known to use. Recognition of this phrase in the new messages being broadcast from the Tower of Babil are the first clue in deducing that Nerva is the true identity of the blasphemy.
Final Boss: Of the Endwalker Role Quests. Confronting him means completing all five of the other Role Quest storylines, meaning he's the last opponent you'll face to wrap everything up.
The Ghost: Mentioned several times throughout the post-Shadowbringers story and in Endwalker during and after the Garlean civil war, but never makes a physical appearance. By the time you finally do see him, he's already long gone as a blasphemy.
Glory Hound: So says Nero, anyways. Nero mentions that Nerva didn't ever make anything easier, even when he wasn't a blasphemy.
It's All About Me: By the time the Warrior of Light and company confront him, Nerva's descent into madness has made him think that the Empire will never rise again from the ashes, and that he should rule over whatever is left. He has a Villainous Breakdown at low health where he screams that "the Empire is mine... MINE!" as a last desperate gasp.
Walking Spoiler: It's all but impossible to talk about Nerva without also talking about his role in the story, when he's confronted, and what his ultimate fate is.
Was Once a Man: By the time the Warrior of Light confronts him, he's nothing but a blasphemy.
Wave-Motion Gun: His strongest attacks all involve using large beams of energy, which fire at Forchenault, Nero, and the Warrior of Light. The strongest of these beams requires that Forchenault uses his nouliths to create a large shield, which the Warrior and Nero have to push back before the shield is wiped out.

Tribuni

Asahi sas Brutus

Voiced by: Junichi Yanagita (JP), Matt McCooey (EN), Laurent Gris (FR), Simon Derksen (DE)

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

Race: Eastern Hyur
Discipline:Samurai

"Eikons are a blight upon this star. In his wisdom Emperor Varis wishes to explore the possibility of an alliance, to combat this common threat."

An imperial ambassador from Garlemald, he initially appears in the end of the 4.1 story eavesdropping on two Garleans. Asahi makes his proper appearance in patch 4.2 Rise of a New Sun, acting on Varis's orders to determine if an alliance against primals is possible with outside forces.

All for Nothing: Everything he did, he did to both appease who he thought was Zenos, and to spite his sister who seemed favored by Zenos. Turns out Elidibus was just inhabiting Zenos' body and rused him into the whole plan, and he would've been killed if Yotsuyu didn't finish the job for them, allowing her one last opportunity to show him up much to his dying hatred. And for extra pointlessness in his attempts to get Doma crushed and subjugated again, the events of Shadowbringers render so much carnage internally upon Garlemald that even if he won his goals, they never come to fruition anyway.
Altar Diplomacy: He arranged the marriage of his sister to a cruel and abusive drunk to advance the station of his family.
Ambadassador: Alisaie notes its a bit strange for a diplomat to be such a skilled swordsman which tips off that he is not exactly what he seems.
Ambiguously Gay: His first meeting with Zenos is framed like a Rescue Romance and his devotion to Zenos could easily be seen as romantic, albeit one-sided.
- No longer ambiguous as of 4.3. He outright states he loves Zenos while also revealing his jealousy over the supposed favouritism Zenos showed Yotsuyu.
Arc Villain: Of the 4.2 and 4.3 storylines.
"Ass" in Ambassador: He is an ambassador... and a complete Jerkass, especially to Yotsuyu.
Ax-Crazy: Good god, his true nature makes Livia look sane and reasonable.
Back for the Finale: In Endwalker, after you defeat Amon, Asahi's soul makes a sudden appearance, not too happy about Amon hijacking his body earlier in the story, though the one thing that makes him seethe with rage is that Amon went against Zenos' wishes.
The Bad Guy Wins: Even though he didn't get to see the results of his plan, word of Tsukuyomi's summoning still reached the ears of Garlemald with Alphinaud and Maxima unable to get there and tell the truth thanks to Elidibus' assassination attempt, drowning out the reasonable voices of the Populares and making the pro-conquest citizens call for the blood and total subjugation of Doma and Eorzea. Of course, given that Eldibus masterminded the whole affair with the full knowledge of the Emperor, he was nonetheless little more than a pawn.
Bait the Dog: He appears to be friendly and truthful in wanting peace with Doma, even going as far as helping Yugiri and the Warrior of Light defend the village of Namai from a band of murderous Kojin. He also seemingly puts suspicions of an ulterior motive to rest by agreeing to let Yostuyuu remain in Doma unless she regains her memories. But before he leaves, he gives a scathing look at the Warrior of Light and calls them a savage beast while swearing revenge on them for killing Zenos when the time comes. Later cutscenes show he wasn't even being all that honest with his negotiations with Hien, noting that the plan to exchange the prisoners was too easy, and that he'd been manipulating Yotsuyu all along.
Barred from the Afterlife: Endwalker reveals that his spite and negative emotions prevent him from rejoining back to the Lifestream post-mortem, allowing him to remain in his humanoid form in the Aetherial Plane and dragging Fandaniel down to the abyss with him.
Big Bad Wannabe: After 4.2's story presents him as a threat, he's killed off in the middle of 4.3 by Yotsuyu, using the last of her strength as Tsukuyomi to impale him with her swords.
- To add insult to injury, it's later revealed that the "Zenos" who gave him the plan in the first place wasn't even the real one. Meaning his one victory of Zenos supposedly acknowledging him over anyone else was a lie, not that he ever learns of this.
Big Damn Heroes: He saves a pair of Domans from a gang of Red Kojin. It's implied he arranged the attack in the first place to curry some good favor by saving them.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Boy howdy, is he ever. He comes off at first as friendly and helpful, a far cry from a lot of other Garleans of status. Then he reveals himself to be a complete and utter psychopath who would throw his own sister and his country of birth to the wolves just for the chance to curry favour with Zenos.
Bullying a Dragon: After showing his true colors to the Warrior of Light, he tries to provoke them into attacking him knowing that it would endanger the peace proceedings between the empire and Doma. At the end of 4.3 where the Warrior of Light defeats Yotsuyu's primal form, Asahi not only shoots and kicks his dying sister, he still tries to goad the Warrior of Light into attacking him. Yotsuyu kills him instead, as though she lay dying she was yet another dragon with her remaining primal powers.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: In 5.3, it's shown that Zenos has absolutely no idea who Asahi is, thus Asahi's admiration for Zenos was truly one-sided.
Cain and Abel: There is no love lost between him and Yotsuyu after he sold her to an abusive husband and then to a brothel.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: When he shows up in the Aetherial Sea in Endwalker, he very quickly dispels any illusions that he wants pity from the Warrior of Light and the Scions, spelling out that he didn't much mind Amon using his corpse to sow mayhem across the star. But daring to trick and betray Zenos? That he can't forgive.
Dragged Off to Hell: Is the one doing the dragging to the soul of Amon. He doesn't especially care that doing so condemns him as well; all he wants by that point is for Amon to burn for betraying Zenos.
Engineered Heroics: He arranged the Kojin ambush on some Doman citizens so that he could dispatch them and appear "legitimate" to everyone about his noble goals. Naturally, it's all an act.
Even Evil Has Standards: Zigzagged. He fully understands the depraved and monstrous roles that Yotsuyu's parents had in ruining her life, and directly uses them to trigger the resurgence of her memories... and then praises his sister for the clean murder of both of them. It implies that he himself never really liked either of them and sent them to their deaths intentionally. However, this was still part of his insane goals to cause his sister to die out of spite as well, so it's hardly for moral reasons.
Evil Gloating: After Tsukuyomi's defeat, Asahi goads the Warrior of Light into striking him down, as such a blatant attack on a diplomat would destroy any peace between Doma and Garlemald. Then he goes on to gloat that the peace is already ruined because of his machinations leading to a Doman summoning a primal, just as he'd planned. Then he begins insulting his dying sister and gloating about how he was the one who deserved Zenos's favor, before she skewers him and shuts him up.
Evil Virtues: Loyalty. For as much of an unrepentant slimeball as he is, Asahi is genuinely loyal to Zenos. To the point that Amon using his body to betray Zenos enrages him enough to personally send the Ascian to oblivion after his final defeat.
Faux Affably Evil: Polite, patient, humble, and happy to fight on behalf of those in need. But not a shred of it's genuine.
Frameup: His ultimate plan for the Domans. He goaded Yotsuyu into becoming evil again whilst giving her a kojin artefact that she could use to become a primal, which Asahi himself staged during the prisoner exchange by bringing along a hoard of crystals. In doing so, he would make the Domans look complicit in the summoning of a primal and justify continued Garlean aggression against them, ultimately leading to an eventual reclamation of Doma from its natives.
Going Native: He is a Doman who adopted the Garlean way of life. Notably, his title of "sas" is the highest a non-native Garlean can achieve.
Green-Eyed Monster: The spoiled rotten Asahi was livid with jealousy that his sister was handpicked by Zenos himself to be the viceroy of Doma over him.
Hate Sink: Despite acting like a kind and friendly man in the beginning of 4.2, with the reveal of his true nature at the end and his downright despicable actions in 4.3, Asahi has zero redeeming qualities whatsoever. This is to the point that when he shows up again in the Aetherial Sea in Endwalker, he comes back in the form of an angry, spiteful wraith who refuses to show even the slightest bit of guilt. Even Fandaniel, who kickstarted the apocalypse, has a significantly more sympathetic sendoff than Asahi does.
Hero-Worshipper: He became a devoted disciple to Zenos after the Garlean saved his life from Doman insurgents during the rebellion.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he's killed in the middle of 4.3's story. Even being lifted into the air by two swords piercing him diagonally from below, making it more excruciating and prolonged for added measure.
Interim Villain: Serves as the effective Big Bad for 4.2 and 4.3, filling just enough time to reintroduce Zenos (or possibly an Ascian posing as him) as the Big Bad for the future storyline.
I Take Offense to That Last One: In Endwalker, he only takes minor offense at Fandaniel stealing his identity, he's glad that the world is on the brink of total annihilation and that he was able to contribute to it as an Unwitting Pawn of Elidibus, but Fandaniel tricking Zenos while wearing his face is enough to warrant rendering Fandaniel Deader than Dead when the two meet again.
It's Personal: His grudge with the Warrior of Light is because Zenos saved him during the rebellion and the Warrior supposedly killed Zenos.
- This trope can apply to any person that Zenos has shown interest in. Not only is Asahi venomous toward the Warrior of Light, but in 4.3 it's revealed he also despised Yotsuyu for Zenos picking her to be acting viceroy of Doma over him. This was so personal to him, his already-lost composure worsened as he shot at and kicked Yotsuyu while she was down. And in Endwalker he briefly shows up in the Aetherial Sea for the sole purpose of taking vengeance upon Amon for bodyjacking him and making a fool of Zenos - and it's the second reason that has him oh-so-completely livid.
Karmic Death: He's killed in the middle of 4.3 by the sister whom he sold into slavery and held a petty jealousy for.
Kick the Dog: Yotsuyu was hardly kickable before her memory loss, but the moment he finds out about it he plots to force her to remember them, even if it means bringing back her Abusive Parents that sold her off to cover their debts and treated her like human garbage. Plus he entrapped the entire prisoner exchange just to spite her and the Warrior of Light over Zenos preferring and dying to them, respectively.
Kick Them While They Are Down: He shoots Yotsuyu—who is already mortally wounded after being defeated by the Warrior of Light—twice, and then starts viciously kicking her while ranting and raving about how she never deserved Zenos’s favor. It does not end well for him.
Kubrick Stare: Gives a rather chilling one to the Warrior of Light, vowing to get revenge on them for killing Zenos.
Large Ham: After the fight with Tsukuyomi!Yotsuyu, Asahi drops all pretenses and, along with shooting at Yotsuyu's body, his body gestures and expressions become much more noticeably hammy with him believing that, no matter what may happen next, he holds a political advantage over the Warrior of Light if they act against him.
Mad Love: Outright declares that nobody loves Zenos more than him. He had fallen in love with Zenos after the latter rescued him entirely incidentally. Elidibus exploits this trope while disguised as Zenos and manipulates Asahi into being his pawn in a plot against the Warrior of Light and Doma. In 5.3, it's shown that Zenos doesn't remember him at all despite Fandaniel using his corpse, something that Fandaniel takes great joy in when mocking his late host.
Older Than They Look: Despite his rather baby-faced appearance, at the age of 27 he is actually one year older than Zenos, the man he idolizes so much.
Parental Favoritism: Because he was his parent's trueborn son he was greatly favored by his parents over Yotsuyu (Who was taken in by her aunt after the death of her birth mother) and was granted an extensive education in Garlemald while she toiled in the rice paddies.
Psychopathic Manchild: While he doesn't normally act this way, as far as his jealousy against Yotsuyu is concerned, it really shows.
The Quisling: Asahi is a Doman man who was born and raised during the occupation with Garlean values. He now stands with a Garlean name in a position of power as an imperial ambassador.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He stands out as a friendly and open commander who represents the working class and provincial citizens of Garlemald, arguing for mediation and reason to stop the primal threat as opposed to the nobility's views that the best way to stop them is through conquering and subjugation. Naturally none of that is true, he's just as black-hearted and vile as any other pro-conquest Garlean, but far more manipulative and subtle about his true feelings.
Samurai: Wields a Katana in battle and like Zenos combines aspects of Garlean and Doman features in his armor.
Self-Made Orphan: And he doesn't even do the deed himself, which makes it even worse, he had absolutely no hesitation in putting his own parents into a position where he knew there was a high chance of being murdered in cold-blood by Yotsuyu, even congratulating her on the clean kills.
Straw Hypocrite: Claims to be against the summoning of Eikons and wishes to make peace with Doma to prevent further incidents. He then contrives a situation that leads to a summoning, purely to make the Domans look guilty and justify continued aggression against them.
The Unfought: Yotsuyu kills him before you get a chance to.
Too Dumb to Live: Kicks and shoots the dying Yotsuyu after her fatal battle against the Warrior of Light while also taunting both of them. Yotsuyu, who still has her primal powers and is very much wanting to kill her brother, uses it to impale him. Had he simply kept his stint brief or just walked away during the fight, he'd still be alive.
Undignified Death: He dies after lashing out like a mad child, impaled on two swords, his teeth clattering pathetically.
Unwitting Pawn: Asahi spent all of patch 4.2 and 4.3 assuming he was working on behalf of his idol Zenos, then it turns out he was working for Elidibus impersonating Zenos.
Villainous Breakdown: While Tsukuyomi being defeated was part of the plan, Asahi's jealousy for his sister rises to the surface again in Yotsuyu's final moments, as he screams that her power as viceroy should have been his while brutally beating her to death. When she uses the last of her power to slowly kill him, he's far too injured to continue ranting, but the furious, agonised expression on his face before she finishes him off makes it clear her triumphing over him again has only twisted the knife.
Walking Spoiler: He is not quite what he appears to be when you first meet him to say the least.
Wham Line: Delivers one right before leaving at the 4.2 story's climax, delivered with a chilling stare and monstrous scowl that shows his true personality.
"Mark me, Savior of Savages. There. Will be. A reckoning."
Yandere: In a fit of madness he declares that there is none alive that loves Zenos more then he.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Even had Asahi survived his ordeal with Yotsuyu and Tsukuyomi it turns out that Elidibus had ordered the personal guard of the Emperor to destroy his ship and kill any who survive the crash. Considering the scandal that would entail having people be aware that the crown prince of Garlemald was personally responsible for a primal summoning, it's pretty clear that having anyone involved in Asahi's mission survive would present real problems for the Emperor.

Livia sas Junius

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (JP), Alison Lees-Taylor (EN), Karine Foviau (FR), Monica Muller (DE)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/livia_4.jpg

Race: Garlean
Discipline: Pugilist

"His dreams and ambitions, his body and soul—they are mine, do you hear me!? All mine!"

A commander of the XIVth Imperial Legion. Livia is a war orphan who was adopted and raised by Gaius, later joining the military to repay him. She is a capable and efficient soldier who will push herself past any limit if it will serve the needs of her beloved adoptive father.

Alas, Poor Villain: Once defeated she collapses to the ground sobbing and begging the player to not take Gaius from her just as she dies. Once he arrives on scene, Cid can't help but feel pity for her.
Arm Cannon: Since her gunbaghnakhs are welded to her gauntlets, the gun functions in this manner.
Ax-Crazy: She is likely the most vicious of Gaius's subordinates.
Bad Boss: Much like Nero, Livia is not above the casual slaughter of disobedient soldiers under her command - though it's somewhat justified in at least one case, as the soldier in question was being disobedient by Pummeling the Corpse.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Her gunbaghnakhs, the Algea, are extremely large butterfly shaped blades welded to her gauntlets designed to punch people with.
Broken Bird: Livia is deeply broken from her past as a war orphan, citing that only Gaius gives her a reason to live.
Call-Forward: As 6.1 was released years after 4.5, Livia's new reformed boss fight ends up becoming something like this to Annia and Julia's battle in the Ghimlyt Dark, using a simplified set of somewhat-similar attacks, and even using artifical boosts for brief desperation moves.
Cold-Blooded Torture: Subjects Minfilia to this in the form of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
Dark Action Girl: She fits all the criteria of a cruel, vicious and brutal female villain and even gets her Designated Girl Fight with Yda.
Daddy's Little Villain: Joined the army specifically to repay her adopted father Gaius.
Dark Mistress: What she wants to be to Gaius- though it's mentioned in the Sorrows of Werlyt questline that this desire was one-sided, and Gaius found her obsession with him disturbing.
Eyepatch of Power: The faceplate of her helmet has one.
The Faceless: Unlike Nero, and eventually Gaius and Rhitahtyn, we never get to see Livia unmasked. However, Lucia being her sister may give some hints as to what Livia might have looked like.
Flunky Boss: Calls Garlean infantry and magitek weaponry to help her in the second stage of her boss battle.
Ground-Shattering Landing: Her Angry Salamander attack causes a fissure with a jump kick causing a burning shockwave.
Mini-Mecha: Pilots a special Ace Custom Magitek Armor in the first stage of her boss battle.
Power Fist: Wields a pair of gunbaghnakhs called Algea. Unlike Rhitahtyn's more brute force style, she uses acrobatics and martial arts.
Insane Admiral: She isn't at all subtle about what she expects from subordinates and what she will do to to the ones who fail her.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: One of her more dangerous attacks in her original encounter was Delta Trance, which struck you five times in a row so fast the damage numbers for each of them come on screen at the same time. Its damage will easily reach upwards of one thousand, a very dangerous amount of damage to take in a short amount of time for a tank with the expected gear level. In the latter stages of the fight she would also start busting out an even stronger version called Aglaea Climb. Downplayed in her 6.1 encounter; only Aglaea Climb survived the transition, and while the animation still has this in play it only registers as a single (hard) hit.
Rerouted from Heaven: She is among the souls rerouted to the Palace of the Dead instead of The Lifestream by Nybeth Obdilord, where she can be fought again as an undead. She is freed to move on after her or Obdilord's defeat, as her soul later reappears in the Lifestream proper in the Aitiascope dungeon.
Roundhouse Kick: She has one as an attack though in practice it may be closer to Hurricane Kick.
She-Fu: Lots of her attacks have theatrical acrobatics to them.
The Smurfette Principle: She is the only female in Gaius's circle.
Tin Tyrant: Unusually for a fist fighter, but she is always seen in white and black armour that covers her from head to toe.
Took a Level in Badass: In 2.0, she mainly attacked in a Magitek Armor that was impervious to everything but her base's own mortar cannons, and then just brawled and assailed the players while reinforcements swarmed in until she was beat down thoroughly. In 6.1, her armor is gone, but in exchange she actually starts flipping around the arena, dropping explosives everywhere, and even using artificial blood to briefly empower herself for short bursts of time. All without calling for help whatsoever.
Undying Loyalty: To Gaius who is her Living Emotional Crutch.
Villainous Breakdown: Rhitahtyn's death at the hands of the player sets her on a spiral of starting to relive her past as a war orphan. After defeating her as she dies sobbing that it's happening all over again.
Why Won't You Die?: In her revamped boss battle in Patch 6.1, she shouts this at the Warrior of Light as the fight nears its end.
"Die, damn you!"
Wife Husbandry: She is in love with Gaius, who adopted and raised her, and it is implied that the two are lovers. At the same time, Gaius was later said to have been wary of her obsession with him and tried to keep her at arm's length.

Rhitahtyn sas Arvina

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

Race: Roegadyn

"I am not wont to bare my steel needlessly. But if you are deaf to reason..."

A commander of the XIVth Imperial Legion. As a former mercenary whose homeland was subjugated by the Empire, Rhitahtyn serves as a shining example of how Garlean meritocracy can promote anyone with appropriate skill to a high-ranking and respectable position. As Gaius was the one who recognized his ability and appointed him to his current position in spite of his race, Rhitahtyn is very loyal to both his commanding Legate and the ideals of the Garlean Empire.

A Father to His Men: When he realises you could probably kill any number of his men in a fight, he tells them to stay out of it rather than throwing their lives away. A few of them actually are loyal enough to come to his aid regardless.
- In 6.1, his allies come when he is too injured to continue fighting, with Rhitahtyn trying to discourage them from coming to their deaths and shooting at the Warrior of Light to give them a chance to escape. Their deaths leads to him becoming furious enough to gain a second wind.
Alas, Poor Villain: His death scene is played tragically. He truly believes in the Garlean Empire, and especially in Van Baelsar. When the Warrior confronts him, he tells his men to retreat and warn the rest of the Garlean garrison in Eorzea, correctly judging them to be no match for the Eikon-slayer. It isn't until they come back to try and rescue him, and are subsequently slaughtered by the Warrior, that he Turns Red. After all of that effort, though, he ultimately fails, and dies realizing he's failed Gaius. Even the Warrior closes their eyes in a moment of respectful silence after he goes down for the first time.
Affably Evil: Rhitahtyn is well mannered, humble and believes violence should be avoided if it can be helped... unfortunately, "can't be helped" includes opposing Van Baelsar's ideals after being given a chance to surrender, so he inevitably opposes the Warrior of Light.
Arm Cannon: The gun part of his gunshield? Its a BFG that can launch missiles.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: How he got his position despite the Fantastic Racism of many of his soldiers.
Blade Below the Shoulder: His Gunshields have blades mounted on them for that extra punch; appropriately his standard attack is known as Shield Skewer.
The Brute: He's far from unintelligent, but nonetheless fulfills this role among the XIVth Legion's commanders.
Cavalry Betrayal: Gaius immediately assumes that this was what took place upon hearing of Rhitahtyn's death, though in truth his soldiers only left him because he specifically told them to run knowing they would have died fighting the Warriors of Light, with some still returning to aid him and dying by his side.
Fantastic Racism: He is the victim of this due to his nationality. Gaius refuses to partake in it, which earns him Rhitatyn's loyalty and admiration, and while some of his own men give him this, others are loyal enough to help during his boss fight even when he orders them off.
Good Old Fisticuffs: Most of his attacks are to punch, slash and kick you.
Genius Bruiser: Rhitahtyn is loyal, well spoken, a brilliant tactician, and wont to question things he finds amiss among his comrades.
The Giant: As a Roegadyn, he's far taller and wider than his colleagues.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Wields a pair of gunshields called Tartarus.
Macross Missile Massacre: When he is sufficiently wounded in his boss battle he starts firing several missiles into the air that come down moments later in a MASSIVE area of effect attack.
Man on Fire: A direct result of his attempt at Taking You with Me, once defeated Rhitahtyn stumbles backwards, still ablaze from his own inferno. When he finally collapses, his armor is visibly charred.
Meaningful Name: His name means "Right Judge" in Roegadyn language, fitting with his Villainous Valor.
Mix-and-Match Weapon: Essentially, a pair of shields with rocket launchers and blades attached.
Named Weapons: His gunshield is called Tartarus.
Rerouted from Heaven: He is among the souls rerouted to the Palace of the Dead instead of The Lifestream by Nybeth Obdilord, where he can be fought again as an undead. He is freed to move on after his or Obdilord's defeat, as his soul later reappears in the Lifestream proper in the Aitiascope dungeon.
Sacrificial Lion: A villainous example, Rhitahtyn's death serves to show Gaius and the other Tribunus that the forces of Eorzea are serious about this battle.
Shield Bash: Rhitahtyn dual wields a pair of gunshields with sharpened edges and uses them to bash and slash at you.
Spin Attack: His Winds of Tartarus attack.
Taking You with Me: Attempts this in the revised 6.1 battle with him, Holmganging the player to him and firing a magitek missile at his own position, leaving behind a pool of fire from which neither can leave until one of them dies.
Tin Tyrant: He's covered from head to toe in full metal armor with an intimidating horned helmet, like many other tribuni.
Took a Level in Badass: In Patch 6.1, his original 8-man Trial that had long been power crept into a joke fight is changed into a solo duty that is significantly more complicated, has three phases where he keeps getting back up after being beaten, and ends with a DPS race in a pool of flames to see whether he or the Warrior of Light will drop first.
Turns Red: In the 6.1 update. After being defeated for the first time, his troops come in to try and save him, but the Warrior of Light cuts them down. Rhitahtyn then stands back up, enters Unstoppable Rage, and fights again, this time with all of this Area of Effect attacks much bigger and much more deadly. And that still doesn't kill him, as Rhitahtyn binds the Warrior to him and sets the ground aflame in an attempt at Taking You with Me. Only after beating him for the third time does Rhitahtyn finally go down and stay down.
Undying Loyalty: He is fiercely loyal to Gaius, who gave him his current station despite not being Garlean by birth.
Villainous Valor: Rhitahtyn is a courageous and loyal soldier of the empire and fights you alone in his reworked solo duty, knowing his soldiers won't stand a chance against you. As he keeps getting beaten down into the dirt, he gets back up and refuses to surrender, finally attempting to take you down with him by bombarding the area with flames and rockets while keeping you chained to him.
Wake-Up Call Boss: In contrast to his joke of a Trial fight before, Rhitahtyn's reworked solo duty in 6.1 is significantly more mechanically complex than anything in A Realm Reborn before it, featuring several phases and many Area of Effect explosions the player has to guess from the cues, before ending in a DPS race as he chains you to him in an attempt to take you down with him.
Warm-Up Boss: Rhitahtyn was the first proper 8-man Trial boss in the game, and very easy to beat. He didn't have any tankbuster attacks to watch out for, he didn't have any mechanics that would result in a Total Party Kill if you screw them up, and his area-of-effect attacks dealt so little damage that the healers would barely need to do any healing. The average party could steamroll him in less than a minute. As of 6.1, however, he Took a Level in Badass, suddenly becoming a heavily mechanics-driven boss fight the player has to fight solo, changing him drastically enough to actually become a test of the player's skills to prep for the content that starts dropping in the endgame and the patches for A Realm Reborn.
Worthy Opponent: He immediately treats the Warrior as the enormous threat they are, and orders his men to not throw their lives away against an enemy they have no chance of beating. When some of them try anyways out of loyalty and valor, he takes it poorly. Going by the way the Warrior closes their eyes and bows their head respectfully after his second phase, when he seems to be dead, the sentiment is mutual.

Fordola rem Lupus

For more on Fordola see Final Fantasy XIV - The Eorzean Alliance.

Lower-ranked Garleans

Annia and Julia quo Soranus

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

Race: Garlean
Discipline: Pugilist (Annia), Gladiator (Julia)

Emperor Varis's bodyguards. They cross blades with the Warrior of Light in the Ghimlyt Dark.

Battle Aura: They sport ones matching the colour of their armour throughout their boss fight.
Bodyguard Babes: A pair of fierce female warriors, together they serve as the elite bodyguards of Emperor Varis.
Combat Compliment: Julia will compliment the party for forcing her and Annia to use their Combination Attack a second time.
Julia: You should feel honored, savages. Few are they who have witnessed this twice.
Combination Attack: Crosshatch. Julia charges up a Sword Beam and fires it at Annia, who bats it back at her. The two of them then move rapidly around the edge of the battlefield as they bat the Sword Beam back and forth like a shuttlecock, trying to hit the party as many times as possible.
Dragon Their Feet: They're not attending Varis when the emperor is slain by Zenos, and arrive moments too late.
Dual Boss: One of them will attack the party directly while the other one hangs back beyond the edge of the battlefield and provides fire support. When the active one’s health is depleted, they’ll perform a Combination Attack before the healthy one takes the weakened one’s place.
Early-Bird Cameo: They were briefly glimpsed standing guard in Emperor Varis’s throne room during the final cutscene of Patch 4.4, before being properly introduced as characters (and as a dungeon boss) in Patch 4.5.
Know When to Fold 'Em: They decide to cut their losses and run once it becomes clear that they can’t defeat the Warrior of Light.
Last Ditch Move: Imperial Authority. After both are defeated, they'll regain a bit of health and begin casting. That's the party's cue to unleash everything they have into both of them.
Praetorian Guard: They’re the Emperor’s personal guards, and they’re powerful enough to give the Warrior of Light a run for their money.
Shock and Awe: Their shared Artificial Plasma attack blasts the whole battlefield with purple lightning.
Smoke Out: After being defeated, they escape from the Warrior of Light using a flashbang.
Stuff Blowing Up: Commence Air Strike drops eight ceruleum tanks on the battlefield. Julia will then shoot one of the tanks, blowing it up and making the others explode in a chain reaction.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Julia to Gaius van Baelsar. Julia's attack Heirsbane shares its name with Gaius's weapon, while Crossbones is nearly identical to Terminus Est, Gaius's Signature Attack. Annia's use of gun-gauntlets and closeness to Julia makes her one to Livia sas Junius.
The Worf Effect: They put up a good fight against the Warrior of Light, serving as the Final Boss of the Ghimlyt Dark, but are easily defeated by Gaius during his and Estinien's escape from the empire's palace.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Neither hide nor hair of them is seen or mentioned in Endwalker, leaving their final fates a mystery.

Maxima quo Priscus

Voiced by: Ryota Takeuchi (JP), Gunnar Cauthery (EN), Pierre Tessier (FR), Adam Nümm (DE)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxima_1.jpg

Race: Garlean
Epithet: Maxima the Neoteric
Discipline: Gladiator

"The Empire works for the betterment of all. But I see the fear in these peoples' eyes... Mistakes have been made."

A Garlean pilus who is part of the Populares faction, Garleans who oppose the warmongering ways of their nation.

Advertised Extra: Despite being on the cover illustration for Prelude in Violet, he does not actually appear in the patch.
Ascended Extra: At first he appears to be just one of the two Spear Carriers who follow Asahi around, but as patch 4.3 goes on it reveals while Asahi is insincere, Maxima truly believes in the cause.
Defector from Decadence: Witnessing Asahi put "Zenos"'s plan into motion, surviving the attempt by The Conspiracy to silence him and the Populares, and the news of the Imperials' use of Black Rose all convinces him and his fellow survivors to defect to the Eorzean Alliance to do what they can to help keep the number of casualties down for both sides.
I Choose to Stay: He ends up moving to Ala Mhigo after surviving his assassination and acts as an adjunct diplomat for Raubahn and Lyse, especially in matters concerning Garlemald.
Meaningful Name: His name in battle is given as Maxima the Neoteric; 'Neoteric' means someone with new or modern ideas, or something that itself is new/modern. The Populares' political stance — turning the Empire away from its imperialist, conquering, subjugating ways — certainly fits the bill.
Nice Guy: He's never anything but polite and respectful, and is a good man and worthy ally to the heroes all around.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Unlike Asahi, Maxima genuinely believes in their cause, and is willing to continue on from where they left off after Asahi is removed from the picture. Though hesitant, he ensures that the planned prisoner exchange still goes through, though the Garlean prisoners of war that Doma released to his care likely did not fare too well in the subsequent interception and crash.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Ultimately agrees to act against his home nation after seeing how corrupt it truly is, and throws his lot in with the heroes. He even plans on invoking this on the Populares to get them to help stop The Conspiracy.
Stealth Expert: Despite not seeming like one, he is shown to be a competent scout and espionage agent, to the point that in Endwalker, he joins Thancred and various other scouts in sabotaging the tempered Garlean's resources and shows no issues or signs of being out of place.
Token Good Teammate: Maxima is a member of the Populares, members of the Garlean government appalled by the Empire's treatment of its provinces. He advocates for measures to improve the quality of life for people in Garlemald's territories.
Tragic Keepsake: Encyclopedia Eorzea II reveals that his glasses are a memento from his late father, who died alongside Maxima's mother under "mysterious circumstances".
You Are in Command Now: He becomes the speaker of the Emperor when Asahi is killed by his sister, something he planned on using to his advantage until the Emperor's men try to assassinate him.

Grynewaht pyr Arvina

Voiced by: Itaru Yamamoto (JP), James Goode (EN), David Krüger (FR), Sebastian Kuschmann (DE)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grynewaht_ffxiv_5.jpg

Race: Hellsguard Roegadyn

"Bwahahahaha! It's like all my namedays have come at once!"

A field captain who appeared at the Carteneau Flats in 3.56 to stop the Scions from accessing Omega Weapon. He also knows about Cid Garlond who had defected from the empire.

Alas, Poor Villain: After defeating him for good in Doma Palace, the Warrior of Light seems to express sympathy for what he had become.
Bad Boss: Possibly the worst yet, mostly in terms of incompetence rather than sheer evilness. He's a total pushover in front of Yotsuyu, and makes up for it by being loud and arrogant towards his subordinates, with zero regard for their lives. They ultimately abandon him between his own fratricidal flailing (see Friendly Fire below) and the Warrior getting to use Nero's Ace Custom Magitek Armor.
The Berserker: His Hypertuned form. Barely able to string together a full sentence, and consumed only with rage and revenge.
BFS: The chainsaw “bayonet” of his Hypertuned form’s gunsaw is longer than he is tall, and he wields the gunsaw like a zweihander when using melee attacks.
Body Horror: Whatever treatments his Hypertuned form went through, they've caused his right arm to become swollen with unnatural muscle compared to his left arm. And we can't see his face under that weird helmet, but it's implied to not be particularly good...
The Brute: Big, dumb, and very, very strong. Yotsuyu even calls him “[her] brute”.
Chainsaw-Grip BFG: Hypertuned Grynewaht’s gunsaw is a very literal example of this trope. Not only is it a BFG held like a chainsaw, it is a chainsaw.
Character Catchphrase: His above quote is used twice, both times when Grynewaht feels like fortune is smiling on him. Both times things go south for him pretty quickly.
Climax Boss: Hypertuned Grynewaht is the last major obstacle standing in the way of Doma's liberation. Yotsuyu is taken care of afterwards in a cutscene, allowing the Scions to return to Ala Mhigo and focus entirely on Zenos.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As Alisaie points out, Grynewaht may be an idiot but he's strong enough to go toe to toe with Raubahn.
Dumb Muscle: Despite being an officer, Grynewaht is neither very competent or particularly smart. He is however very strong and swings around a massive gunhammer with impressive force.
Everyone Has Standards: He was bothered by Zenos painfully clutching Yotsuyu's hair as she's being reprimanded.
Expy: Fulfills a similar narrative role to Gilgamesh's original appearance, despite Greg being in the game himself. He's a powerful yet stupid brute who gets beaten down by the main characters every time he shows up, and generally serves as a one-man Goldfish Poop Gang with his humorous dialogue and interactions, and is forgiven for his failures despite his bosses (Zenos and Yotsuyu) being otherwise cruel and merciless and prone to You Have Failed Me. Also, like Gilgamesh, Grynewaht undergoes a transformation during the fourth and final time that you fight him when he's much more dangerous than he's ever been, and dies at the end of it.
Four Is Death: He’s killed at the end of his fourth battle with you.
Goldfish Poop Gang: The WoL's second and third encounters with the captain have smackings of this, until Yotsuyu tires of his natural incompetence and has him Hypertuned before the final encounter.
Improbable Weapon User: As Hypertuned Grynewaht, he ditches his hammer and shield in favor of a gunsaw, which can best be described as the lovechild of a chainsaw and a Gatling gun.
Large Ham: Part of his smarmy personality. It only becomes more exaggerated as you confront him more and more. Taken to its logical extreme when you fight his Hypertuned form, who is only capable of speaking by Chewing the Scenery
Laughably Evil: While still a genuinely threatening antagonist, his hammy, idiotic personality provides a source of levity throughout the 4.0 storyline.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Wears a Tartarus shield on his left arm, which also handily functions as an Arm Cannon.
Madness Mantra: During his final fight when he's hyper-tuned, he shouts things like "WE GO TOGETHER!" and "DIE! DIE! DIE!" and "RIP AND TEAR!" while fighting the Warrior of Light.
Meaningful Name: Grynewaht's name means "green guard". He wears green armor and has a shield.
The Neidermeyer: While he is strong, his answer towards the brick wall that is the Scions and the Warrior of Light is to throw more troops at them, even as they are slaughtered by the dozens. After the Warrior of Light boards Nero's magitek armor mount, he still demands that his troops fight harder since he is in "danger". His troops eventually decide that retreating is a better tactic and promptly ditch him. They even claim that his attacks struck them as much as they struck the enemy. He tries to order his men to come back, but with no success. Even the Scions find this extremely pathetic.
Grynewaht: Hey! You just can't run off! Deserting a battle is punishable by death! I order you to stand your ground! Come back now! ...Please?
Oh, Crap!:
- His reaction after seeing the Warrior of Light piloting a magitek armor.
  Grynewaht: What the—? No one told me they'd have magitek armor! Er...forward! For the Empire!
- Again when he attacks the Warrior of Light at the Azim Steppe with a large detachment thinking he'll win through numbers, only to arrive just as they win the Nadaam and become leader of the Xaela. Suddenly Grynewaht isn't getting the one-sided battle he was hoping for, and all he can do is scream "Bugger! Bugger! Bugger!" in frustration.
Playing with Fire: Several of his attacks are fire based and one of them can cause the Burns debuff.
Pointless Band-Aid: He sports one on his left cheek.
Post-Final Boss: He's the final enemy faced in Heavensward 's story. His fight is very scripted so he and his men pose very little threat to the party.
Psycho Serum: Whatever was done to him in his Hypertuned form basically destroyed any of his higher brain functions that don't involve hatred or revenge
Psycho Prototype: It's not made clear how many Hypertuned came before him, but all of them seem to retain more of their brain function, suggesting Grynewaht was the first subject of at least some capacity of the experiment, or possibly that's Yotsuyu may have intentionally had him undergo a flawed Hypertuning process.
Rage Helm: In his Hypertuned form, he wears a helmet carved in the image of a snarling demon.
Reassigned to Antarctica: After his second failure, Zenos barely decides to spare his life and instead reassigns him to Doma under Yotsuyu.
Recurring Boss: He’s fought a grand total of four times: once at the end of Heavensward, and three times in Stormblood.
Revenge Before Reason: His single-minded obsession with the Warrior of Light does piss off his superiors multiple times. In the final battle against him in Doma Castle, he makes no attempt to stop Hien's party from running right past him, as he is focused solely on the Warrior of Light.
Same Surname Means Related: Averted. The Encyclopedia Eorzea states that though he has the same surname as Rhitalyn, they are not related. "Arvina" is a common name among Imperial Roegadyn.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After having his troops ditch him and being beaten by the Scions and Warrior of Light, he flees the battlefield and claims he'll have his revenge soon.
Taking You with Me: Despite the fact that his sanity is almost completely eroded by his hypertuning when you encounter him in Doma Castle he seems lucid enough to know that the process has left him with little time left which is indicated by constant screams of "WE GO TOGETHER!"
Team Killer: It is possible to maneuver his troops into range of his numerous area of effect attacks and defeat them that way, which is one of the few aversions of Friendly Fireproof in this game. All of them express shock and outrage at being killed by their own captain.
Terms of Endangerment: With the constant defeats he has against the Warrior of Light, he calls them "Dearest of all my enemies."
Too Dumb to Live:
- Despite his forces being absolutely crushed, he still insists on fighting the Warrior of Light and their allies, even if he is the only one who did not run away. He does eventually retreat himself when defeated.
- After his reassignment and after witnessing multiple instances of Yotsuyu's cruelty firsthand, he openly asks when she thinks he'll be relieved of serving her so that he can return to Eorzea.
Villainous Valor: Zigzags this. When he seems outmatched and his troops abandon him, he pitifully pleads with them to come back, but then has a Let's Get Dangerous! moment and starts fighting even harder. But when this is not enough to ensure victory, he turns and flees himself.
We Have Reserves: Seems to use this as his battle tactic against the Warrior of Light, even after Nero lends the Warrior of Light his personal magitek armor to crush the opposition.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: In his Hypertuned form.
Younger Than They Look: He's only 20 years old.

Aulus mal Asina

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

Voiced by: Riki Kagami (JP), Robert Vernon (EN)

Race: Garlean

"It was with magitek that we grew strong ─ that our nation became an empire. Yet ultimately, this was an extrinsic solution to an intrinsic problem."

A Garlean scientist working for Zenos. He is researching ways to imbue his people with the ability to cast magic, and more.

Cool Chair: He fights the party while riding in a hovering magitek throne.
Drone Deployer: Aulus does not attack players directly during his boss fight, instead deploying invincible magitek bits to do the fighting for him.
Evilutionary Biologist: He views the Garlean people’s inability to cast magic as an innate “deficiency” in a race that’s otherwise superior to all others in every respect, and considers the Empire’s reliance on Magitek to be “an external solution to an intrinsic problem”. All of his experiments are meant to correct this deficiency.
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Well, "Five Eyes", but Aulus is as cruel and uncaring as most Garleans, freely experimenting on people while wearing glasses with additional lenses attached for magnification.
Pre-Final Boss: Of Stormblood. As the second boss of the final dungeon, he's the last boss that isn't Zenos.
Small Role, Big Impact: Aulus only appears for one scene and a brief boss fight, but as the inventor of the process that turns people into Resonants and gives them an artificial version of the Echo, he’s the one who makes Zenos’s entire scheme to hijack Shinryu possible. Zenos' Resonant powers end up allowing him to cheat death, which leads not only to the Empire's collapse but the near destruction and ultimate salvation of the world, showing just how far-reaching the ripples of Aulus' mad science reached, even though the man himself is long-dead by the point the rest of the world has to deal with the consequences of his action.
Super-Empowering: He has created a process that can give Garleans the ability to cast magic by altering their genes, as well as turn individuals of any race into a Resonant.
They Called Me Mad!: Implied. Aulus mentions that no one in Garlemald would provide funding for his radical theories and research, and that Zenos was the only one who took him seriously.
Transhuman: His belief for the future of Garleans is to become this. He seeks to correct the one key deficiency that Garleans have that prevents them from becoming the ultimate race, their inability to control aether. He views magitek equipment to be only a temporary measure and instead opts for genetic engineering to innately grant such abilities to Garleans. Under Zenos's supervision, he copies the powers of the Echo, re-dubbed as the "Resonant", to Zenos himself and Fordola. Not only is his process completely successful, Zenos's Resonant is even more potent than the Warrior of Light's and even grants him many of the powers of the Ascians.
Your Soul Is Mine!: His Mindjack ability forcibly separates the party’s souls from their bodies. The souls then need to make their way back to their comatose bodies while avoiding attacks from Aulus’s magitek bits and deathclaws.

Yotsuyu goe Brutus

For more on Yotsuyu see Final Fantasy XIV - Othard and Hingashi

Jenomis cen Lexentale

For more on Jenomis and his children see Final Fantasy XIV - Allies.

The Werlyt Children (Unmarked Spoilers)

Race: Raen Au Ra

Long ago, Gaius van Baelsar adopted five auri orphans, who joined the Imperial army to follow in their surrogate father's example. Many years later, these same orphans — now grown men and women — are the chosen pilots for the new Weapon Project. In 5.2, Milisandia, one of the children Gaius raised, manned the experimental Ruby Weapon to lay siege to the Alliance army in Gyr Abania.

Ace Pilot: The group of them are the chosen pilots of the experimental Weapons, which are enormous experimental warmachina.
All There in the Manual: Well, lorebook, but Encyclopedia Eorzea III confirms all of them to have taken on Gaius's surname, and all of them have the lowest possible Garlean rank of aan. Thus, their full names are Alfonse aan Baelsar, Allie aan Baelsar, Rex aan Baelsar, Ricon aan Baelsar and Milisandia aan Baelsar.
And I Must Scream: Alfonse isn't ploting the Diamond Weapon, he is the weapon by way of lobotomy and transplantation. And he's still conscious all the while.
All for Nothing: Allie fakes a Face–Heel Turn to convince Valens to let her pilot the Diamond Weapon, ostensibly because she can protect Alfonse that way. Too bad for her that Alfonse's mind was uploaded into the Diamond Weapon, which pulls her into a Heroic BSoD.
Big Brother Instinct: Alfonse's desire to protect Allie is what causes the Overmind function to trigger on the Diamond Weapon and defy the shut down signal.
Bittersweet Ending: The Au Ra successfully manage to wipe out the VIIth Legion and free Werlyt, but all but one of them meet horrific ends, and the sole survivor is left traumatized, which only starts to heal right at the end.
Break the Cutie: Allie gets hit with this hard during the Diamond Weapon arc of the storyline, ultimately leaving her unresponsive and essentially dead to the world. Thankfully, with the assistance of the memories and spirits of her fallen siblings, she gets a little better.
Brain Uploading: Alfonse's mind is uploaded by Valens into the Diamond Weapon once he's decided that Alfonse isn't useful anymore. When Allie finds out, she has a Heroic BSoD, as she realizes that her Heroic Sacrifice will be All for Nothing.
Body Horror: Milisandia's body was fused with the core of the Ruby Weapon when she activated its Oversoul ability. Cid's analysis confirms that her last moments were spent in excruciating pain. Ricon and Rex died in the same way when they activated Oversouls in the Sapphire and Emerald Weapons respectively. We later get to see the physical results of the Oversoul system on a poor Ala Mhigan man whose family is being held hostage by Valens. It isn't pretty.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: If Rex and Milisandia are any indication, the orphans have the same hair color as the Weapon they were chosen to pilot. The only mystery is that two of them have white hair while those familiar with Final Fantasy VII would know there's only one white Weapon - Diamond. Subverted in 5.3, when it is revealed that green-haired Ricon took blue-haired Rex's place as the Sapphire Weapon's pilot, giving Rex the Emerald Weapon. It was also strongly implied Alfonse will be piloting the Diamond Weapon, but he becomes the weapon by the time Allie attempts to hijack it.
The Dog Bites Back: In 5.4, after being freed, Allie reveals that she and her adoptive siblings were planning this since the Weapon Project started. Once one of the children were put in command of the most powerful of the warmachina, the Diamond Weapon, the unlucky pilot would immediately use it to lay waste to Valens and the Empire — but the other warmachina needed to be taken off the board first, and they had to make it convincing so Valens wouldn't pull the plug. Milisandia, Ricon and Rex were thus forced to pull a Suicide by Cop with their warmachina, leaving only Diamond left for Allie or Alfonse to exact their revenge.
Dwindling Party: They're a group of five siblings united to a single cause, and every arc of their storyline kills one of them, until ultimately only one survives the story.
Go Out with a Smile: Rex does this while activating Oversoul during the Emerald Weapon fight, fufilling a promise he's revealed to have made in an echo flashback following the fight.
Rex: Don't you worry about me. If this is where I meet my end, I'll do it with a smile on my face.
Happily Adopted: They idolize Gaius and joined the Imperial army to follow in his footsteps. Allie still cares for Gaius, but his sons have a much chillier reception to him now that he has defected.
Heroic Sacrifice: Alphonse allows himself to become the core of the Diamond Weapon so that, when Allie hijacks it, he can protect her. His sacrifice ultimately saves her and allows him to put an end to Valens and the Weapon project for good and all.
It's Personal: Rex makes it clear that he intends to make the Warrior of Light pay in blood for Milisandia's death after Ruby Weapon's defeat. Subverted when he actually does face the Warrior of Light; the battle is largely a ruse to make Valens think they are still loyal even though Alphonse is planning to turn the Diamond Weapon on both Valens and the Empire at large. Unfortunately to make it look realistic, Rex has to activate the Emerald Weapon's Oversoul so that it doesn't appear that he went down too easily. Later on, Allie tells the Warrior of Light that she doesn't blame them at all for her siblings' deaths, they were simply protecting their homeland.
Locked Out of the Loop: It's revealed they DID know that Oversoul causes the death of the pilot, and that they use data of select and influencial Garleans to turn them into a Clone by Conversion. But they're not really all that bothered by it. What they didn't know was the horrible mutation suffered by Milisandia when she did it.
Mercy Kill: Alfonse ends up requesting one of these at the hands of Gaius once Valens and the Weapon Project are dealt with. It's granted.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Weapons normally don't do anything to their pilots until they activate Oversoul. This overwrites the pilot's ability with someone else's, but doing this for too long will kill the user. So naturally, it's used every time one of the children get into the cursed things. Allie only survives because Alfonse was protecting her, but that's a different dose of this trope, as his mind was uploaded into the Diamond Weapon.
Sole Survivor: By the end of the Weapon storyline of Shadowbringers, Allie is the only surviving one of her siblings.
Villainous Legacy: They’re trying to finish what their adoptive father started: conquering Eorzea with the power of the Ultima Weapon. Ironically this puts them into conflict with Gaius, who has given up on those ambitions. Subverted with the later reveal that it's Valens who's actually trying to continue Gaius's legacy of conquest as a means to upstage him, and they have been plotting against him the entire time.
Walking Spoiler: It's all but impossible to talk about these kids without revealing their purpose in the Weapon questline, the fates that befall them, and their relationship to Gaius.

Midas nan Garlond

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

Race: Garlean

Father of Cid Garlond, Midas nan Garlod was a brilliant magitek engineer whose weapons revolutionised the Garlean war machine, leading to him being appointed chief engineer. However, he is most often known as the man who spearheaded the original attempt at the Meteor project, and became associated with the situation that lead to his death, the Bozja Incident. Attempting to commune with the moon Dalamud, Midas summoned a spectacular overload of energy, destroying both the transmission tower he was using, and the surrounding city of Bozja. Much like Nael van Darnus later who attempted the same course with greater success, this incident tainted the memory of Midas as a genocidal lunatic who was toying with powers far beyond his understanding.

Brainwashed and Crazy: Associates of Midas such as Gaius had long believed him to have been tempered by Bahamut after the reveal that Dalamud was a prison for the dreadwyrm, though Cid seemed to ignore this possibility until it was confirmed by his own Repressed Memories.
Flawed Prototype: What the more charitable interpretations of the Bozja incident described the initial Meteor Project as, whilst headed by Midas. However, as revealed in Cid's recollection during the Gunnhildr's Blades questline, this was less the case and more the prototype was sabotaged.
Ignorance Is Bliss: Owing to the trauma and Repressed Memories surrounding his father, Cid seemed to ignore the possibility that Midas had been tempered, despite it being speculated in-universe and Gaius directly bringing it up with him in the Praetorium. It took a deep dive into Cid's memories for him to finally learn and acknowledge what had long been known by others.
Posthumous Character: Midas is long since dead by the start of the game's timeline.
Small Role, Big Impact: He's a Posthumous Character who's only mentioned a fleeting few times throughout the game, and isn't seen until Shadowbringers, done so via flashback, but his role in shaping events on Hydaelyn cannot be understated. He single-handedly progressed Garlean magitek to a point where they could become a world superpower, spearheaded the research that became the Meteor Project, and the events that lead to his death had terrible consequences for the city-state of Bozja. And of course, he sired Cid, who is arguably one of the most important people in the realm's history by virtue of inheriting his father's natural genius and talent for magitek.
Vindicated by History: Invoked; or rather, Vindicated by Memory-Diving. During the Gunnhildr's Blades quest, you unlock Cid's repressed memories and confirm that Midas' attempts to commune with Dalamud left him tempered by Bahamut, and that Bozja was not an accident, but a sabotage under the dreadwyrm's auspices. While it's still questionable as to whether Midas was actually a good man - considering the Meteor Project was still intended to be used to wipe out enemies of the Garlean Empire - it proves to everyone (especially Cid) that his supposed insanity and ignorance to reason was not of his own doing.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: His dismissal of Cid's pleas about the danger of the Meteor project fell on deaf ears, and lead to a rift between the two. It was so bad, Midas shot Cid, a memory that was so traumatizing to Cid he repressed it for years. Though as found out at the same time as the memory was confronted, Midas wasn't exactly himself at that moment.

Jullus pyr Norbanus

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

Voiced by: Ryota Suzuki (JP), Nigel Pilkington (EN)

Race: Garlean
Discipline: Gladiator

"We'll rebuild Garlemald into a nation that all can be proud of. For those who are still here as well as those who couldn't be."

A centurion of the Ist Legion serving under Quintus van Cinna. He's first encountered attempting to steal supplies from the Eorzean Alliance's Ilsabard contingent. Although he's let go on account of the dire situation the Garleans are in during the events of Endwalker, he refuses to treat with the "savages" that he blames for the misfortune of his people.

Achievements in Ignorance: In the Endwalker postgame, Jullus shares some food with Zero, the last memoriate of the Thirteenth. His decision to open up about his experiences with the Eorzeans and finding a Commonality Connection with her helps convince her to put aside her transactional mindset and reclaim her original heroic values. All of this happened while he had no idea she was a voidsent warrior.
All for Nothing:
- Discussed. Jullus' fear of this trope is one of the reasons why he refuses to believe that the Scions have a cure for tempering. Because if that's true, then it would mean that his murder of his own family in self-defense was for naught, and that they could have been saved.
- During a later mission in Garlemald during Endwalker, this is played straight. The gamble of Quintus, Jullus, and the remaining non-tempered Garleans is to try an ambush on the Eorzean Alliance to force them to leave. It fails because the legions they were hoping to get for reinforcements are basically gone. Jullus just sadly accepts the decision to stand down.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Near the end of the Garlemald arc, he and the other Garlean refugees who aren't protected by Warding Scales are tempered en masse when Fandaniel uses Anima to send out a massive tempering wave. Thankfully, the Ist Legion is able to be subdued and later cured of their affliction by the Ilsabard contingent.
The Cavalry: When Sharlaryan attempts to transport Thavnair's refugees to the moon teleporter in Garlemald after Anima's destruction, they are beset by a massive hoard of blasphemies that push the Radiant, Ilsabard contingent remnants, and assembled Scions to the brink. When things look lost, Jullus and the Ist show up with what remains of their men and warmachina to help stem the tide until the Warrior of Light comes. Jullus then swears himself to helping the Scions cause in protecting the people and stopping the Final Days.
Heel–Face Turn: He turns from a fervently loyal soldier into a staunch ally and friend for the Scions, the twins and the Warrior especially.
Hot-Blooded: His first act is to try and attack Lucia and Maxima for siding with Eorzea. He later tries to pick a fight with Zenos for ruining his life and his country, and is only called off by Alisaie.
I Reject Your Reality: Played for drama. It's clear from early interactions with Jullus that he's a good man in a bad situation. But he keeps deluding himself into believing that Garlemald will be restored like a miracle any day now. Over the course of Endwalker, it gets repeatedly hammered into his head that no help is coming from Garlemald, that everything he's done has been All for Nothing, and that he has no choice but to accept the help of the Eorzeans if he wants to survive. As time goes on, and the Eorzeans continue to treat him and his countrymen nicely without a complaint or any strings attached, Jullus is forced to confront his reality-rejecting belief, and eventually forced to admit that he's reached Implausible Deniability about the Eorzeans.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He spouts much of the same rhetoric as the other Garleans, calling the Eorzeans "savages" and refusing to cooperate with them, blaming their magicks for the tempering phenomenon. But as the Warrior and the Levellieur twins continue to help him as part of a parley agreement, it becomes clear that Jullus is a man of honor and compassion who cares deeply about his fellows and the civilians relying on him. Seeing the "savages" constantly help him with nary a complaint leaves him torn between clinging to the beliefs ingrained in him and accepting what his heart knows to be true.
Oh, Crap!: Jullus is stunned when he realizes that he led Eorzea's champion into his camp after writing them off as a mere sellsword working for Alphinaud and Alisaie.
Patriotic Fervor: Like many of his fellow Garleans, Jullus is fiercely loyal to his country and continues to hold out hope that the other legions will arrive to both chase out the Ilsabard contingent and help them retake their city. But this same loyalty is what makes it difficult for him to find common ground with his nation's sworn enemies, the Eorzeans. He's even willing to lead a nigh-suicidal charge against the Ilsabard contingent on Quintus' orders despite knowing that Quintus is spending their precious ceruleum fuel to power their weapons rather than the heaters keeping the soldiers and civilians alive in Garlemald's frigid climate. When the Final Days come to Garlemald, he shouts that Garlemald has her pride while leading the Ist Legion to intercept the blasphemies threatening the refugees who wanted to escape to the moon.
Self-Made Orphan: But not by choice. When Fandaniel and Zenos had all of Garlemald tempered, Jullus escaped due to being huddled around a radio made from the same ore that the alchemists of the Great Work used to make their Warding Scales. When he rushed home to find his family before Civil War erupted, he found them all tempered and trying to kill him as per the orders of the primal that tempered them. He was forced to kill his parents and younger siblings to protect himself, which continues to haunt him by the time the Ilsabard contingent shows up.
Ship Tease: He gets a bit of it with Zero, as he sees her confusion at the notion of altruism as similar to his own early mistrust of the Ilsabard contingent's offer of help. He even gets a chance to do a Desperate Object Catch when Zero blacks out from her injuries.
Sole Survivor: He's the sole surviving member of his family after he was forced to kill his tempered parents and siblings in self-defense.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: He's brash and fiery to hide the fact that he's the lone survivor of his family after he had to kill them in self-defense after they were tempered.
To Be Lawful or Good: As Endwalker goes on, he has to choose between the lawful following of orders from his commanding officers and his Empire, or the good acceptance of the help from Eorzea to save his people's lives. He plays with this, because he chooses "lawful" for the first part of his story arc, following orders that he knows aren't helpful in a desperate attempt to drive the Eorzeans out. When that fails, Jullus pulls a Heel–Face Turn and chooses "good", accepting the help from the Scions and saving Garlean lives.
Underestimating Badassery: He initially writes off the Warrior of Light as a "sellsword" when they are chosen as part of the ambassadorial group. When Quintus identifies the "Champion of Eorzea" at Tertium, Jullus' face makes it clear that he knows he fricked up in his initial judgement.
You Are in Command Now: When Quintus commits suicide, he takes command of his legion and almost immediately allies with Lucia and the Ilsabard contingent, thus giving his cold and hungry soldiers and civilian charges a chance. Later gets a chance to prove his mettle as a commander during the Final Days.

Doctor Lugae

Race: Garlean Cyborg

A scientist of loose morals found guarding the Tower of Babil with his creation Barnabas and using the chaos of the Telophoroi's civil war to conduct strange experiments.

Adaptational Attractiveness: In Final Fantasy IV, Dr. Lugae is a scrawny, hunched old man with disheveled hair and a hooked nose. Here, he's a more realistically-proportioned Garlean until he roboticizes himself.
For Science!: Even the defeat of Zenos and the Telophoroi doesn't deter him from continuing his scientific pursuits, and seems to be willing to work with anyone capable of furthering his research.
Full-Conversion Cyborg: By the time the Warrior of Light is able to confront Lugae directly, he's already converted himself into a heavily-armed robot.
Fusion Dance: During the Hildibrand questline, he mounts his robot head on Barnabas's body and starts calling himself Suprae-Lugae.
Mythology Gag: Lugae and Barnabas are references to the bosses of the same name from Final Fantasy IV.
Who Needs Their Whole Body?: After every defeat in the Hildibrand questline, he's reduced to just his head.
Zero-Effort Boss: You cannot lose to Suprae-Lugae. Godbert's innate regen is so powerful nothing in the fight can surpass it, and the more complicated mechanics are rigged so that they cannot be failed even if you try to. Even his final attack, where you end the fight with a Limit Break, will never finish casting.

Warmachina

The Ultima Weapon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ultima_weapon_xiv.png

An ancient Allagan superweapon that was unearthed by the Garlean Empire and piloted by Gaius van Baelsar.

All Your Powers Combined: Absorbs Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda, uses their powers in the penultimate battle.
Attack Drone: Summons laser-shooting Magitek Bits in the final battle. This is taken to Beam Spam levels in Ultima's Bane.
Cannibalism Superpower: The Ultima Weapon can absorb the powers of any primal it defeats. In Garuda's case, it gains her powers by eating her alive.
Elemental Powers: Can wield fire magic courtesy of Ifrit, earth magic courtesy of Titan, and wind magic courtesy of Garuda.
Energy Weapon: The Ultima Weapon can shoot energy balls from its palms for its basic attack, and its drones can fire lasers of both the homing and non-homing varieties.
Facepalm of Doom: When Gaius unleashes the Ultima Weapon against the primals, it kills Ifrit by grabbing him by the face and crushing his skull.
Fantastic Nuke:
- The Ultima Weapon's core is an ancient relic called the Heart of Sabik, and is capable of casting the spell Ultima. A single casting of Ultima completely destroyed the Praetorium, and the act of protecting the heroes from it was able to completely drain Hydaelyn.
- The Woken Ultima Weapon in Weapon's Refrain casts it twice, and you need a Level 3 tank limit break to avoid a Total Party Kill on both occasion^note.
Final Boss: In A Realm Reborn, for the 2.0 storyline quests.
Homing Lasers: Literally the name of one of the Ultima Weapon's attacks. It's a powerful tank buster that hits the player with the second highest emnity, forcing the off tank to out-aggro the DPS/healers and use their invulnerability buff to mitigate it.
Humongous Mecha: Roughly the size of a house.
Light Is Not Good: In The Weapon's Refrain, the Ultima Weapon turns white and gains wings of shining blue energy after it absorbs the primals. Despite its angelic new appearance, it remains a dangerous god-eating weapon of mass destruction.
Lost Technology: An ancient Allagan Weapon of Mass Destruction designed with the purpose of subduing primals, refurbished by Garlean machinists. The Heart of Sabik that powers it goes back even further, to at least the time of the Ancients.
One-Hit Kill: In The Weapon's Refrain, the Ultima Weapon will start using an attack called Citadel Siege once it becomes enraged. This attack immobilizes and instantly kills the players^noteit inflicts 999,999 damage per person one at a time, all but guaranteeing a wipe if the party can't kill the Ultima Weapon fast enough.
Perfect Run Final Boss: Enforced for The Weapon's Refrain. The non-"Woken" primals are quite a bit easier to defeat, but they also don't drop the power-ups you need - specifically, the power-up gives the user a free Level 3 Limit Break. There's one for each Woken primal, and you need all of them plus the Limit Break generated naturally over the fight to stop Lahabrea. Only then will you reach the Ultima Weapon, which then chows down on the Woken primals to begin the real fight.
Power Crystal: The Ultima Weapon is powered by an ancient relic called the Heart of Sabik. Little is known about it when it is encountered in the Praetorium, aside from predating Allag and the Ultima Weapon itself, and allowing it to cast Ultima, the most destructive magic known to exist. It is eventually revealed to be an augmented auracite from the time of the Ancients themselves, and potentially having been created by the extraterrestrial Ultima the High Seraph as with other auracites.
Power Gives You Wings: Absorbing Garuda causes the Ultima Weapon to grow wings.
Power Palms: The main method of nearly all of the Ultima Weapon's attacks in a Hand Blast way.
Ramming Always Works: During both the Praetorium version, and the Ultima's Bane Optional Boss battle, damaged airships crash right into the ground, inflicting damage based on how close you are to their impact.
Shoot the Medic First: The Weapon's Refrain is a case where the computer uses this tactic against the player. When the Ultima Weapon hits enrage and starts insta-killing the players one at a time, it almost always targets the healers first, since they dealt the least amount of damage against the Ultima Weapon.
Spell My Name with a "The": Even its name tag in battle lists it as "The Ultima Weapon".
Summon Magic: The Ultima Weapon can summon Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda after absorbing them.
Superboss: You can fight stronger versions of it in The Minstrel's Ballad: Ultima’s Bane and in The Weapon's Refrain.
Took a Level in Badass: In the Wandering Ministrel's ballads, he intentionally plays up the sheer threat of the Ultima Weapon as part of the extra challenge of the new Trials. Meanwhile, 6.1 does this to its base boss fight now that it's a separate battle as the Porta Decumana Trial; not only are you down to 4 players instead of 8, but it actually gets to abuse more of its absorbed primal powers and throw in a lot more threats with its patterns overall.
Total Party Kill: Letting it cast Ultima will result in this, even though Gaius has no control over it and is reasonably horrified when he realizes Lahabrea is forcing the Ultima Weapon to cast it again.
Tron Lines: Absorbing Ifrit and Titan grants the Ultima Weapon red and yellow Tron Lines, respectively.
Villain Override: Lahabrea wrests control of the Ultima Weapon from Gaius to cast Ultima. Gaius is horrified at the devastation caused by the first casting, and likewise when Lahabrea attempts to invoke it again.
Gaius: U-Ultima?! Curse you, Ascian! How much destruction must be wreaked before you are sated?!

Arch Ultima

A new, protype version of the Ultima Weapon, fought by Estinien Wyrmblood in the 5.1 patch.

Black Eyes of Evil: The poor soul who's fused into Arch Ultima has completely black eyes, with no pupils.
Boss Subtitles: "Volatitle Prototype".
Final Boss: The last boss faced in 5.1.
Flawed Prototype: As its Boss Subtitle implies, Arch Ultima suffers from some serious drawbacks. Its synthetic auracite system lets it duplicate the abilities of other creatures, but only if there are technicians on hand to manually load the relevant combat data from a nearby console. Subsequent warmachina like the Ruby Weapon don’t have this problem.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Estinien was only shown to have disabled Arch Ultima rather than destroying it, but it has yet to reappear, even after the MSQ returned to Garlemald and the imperial palace.

The Ruby Weapon (unmarked spoilers)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rubyweaponffxiv.png

Mark III Anti-Eikon Warmachina

A prototype anti-Eikon warmachina reverse-engineered from the Ultima Weapon by the remnants of the VIIth Imperial Legion. It is the first of several such prototypes to be deployed against the Eorzean Alliance, serving as the boss of the Cinder Drift trial, and the first of Shadowbringers's Sorrow of Werlyt storyline.

Autobots, Rock Out!: The battle theme for the first half is an incredible remix of "Ultima".
Avenging the Villain: When the the fight enters it's final phase, the clone shouts "Oh Brother... Nael! Your name shall live on for eternity." And later begins chanting her Madness Mantra listed below confirming that the clone is of Eula still intent on honoring and avenging her brother's death. Interestingly this marks the first direct reference to Eula in the game itself.
Bait-and-Switch Boss: While the first phase is nothing to sneeze at, once its hp is brought down to zero, the driver is forced to use Oversoul, and out of the Ruby Weapon's back arises Nael van Darnus.
Body Horror: Activating Oversoul causes the pilot's body to physically fuse with the Ruby Weapon's core, causing her to transform into a biomechanical clone of Nael van Darnus, who erupts from within the Ruby Weapon like a giant Chest Burster.
Boss Subtitles: "Mark III Anti-Eikon Warmachina".
Call-Back: The Ruby Weapon’s codename is “Darnus”, named after the VIIth’s former Legatus, and some of its attacks—namely, Ravensclaw and Ravensflight—follow a similar naming scheme to Nael’s own abilities. The clone of Nael Deus Darnus that bursts out of the Ruby Weapon during the second phase is a callback to the Binding Coil raids.
Cargo Cult: The Nael clone seems to worship Dalamud itself, rather than the primal who was sealed within it.
Clone by Conversion: Oversoul overwrites the Weapon’s pilot with the data of whichever person was stored in the synthetic Auracite system. In this case, it physically and mentally transforms them into a monstrous clone of Nael van Darnus (Or rather Eula).
Colony Drop: During the second phase, as Nael, she will summon copies of Dalamud that can cause a Total Party Kill.
Combat Tentacles: The Ruby Weapon’s claws can extend into flexible tentacles. It can drive these tentacles into the ground to have them erupt from beneath the party’s feet, and it can also use them to slash at a large chunk of the battlefield.
Dash Attack: "Ravensflight" has the Ruby Weapon zip across the battlefield at high speed multiple times in a row, damaging anyone caught in its path.
Dishing Out Dirt: It can transform solid ground into quicksand when it drives its tentacles into the ground. Players will sink into the quicksand and die unless they stand atop the broken earth left in the tentacles’ wake.
Giant Foot of Stomping: Its tankbuster, "Stamp", involves stomping on its target with its massive feet.
Humongous Mecha: It’s a Magitek war machine operated by a Garlean pilot sitting in a cockpit within its torso.
Organic Technology: After defeating its initial form, Oversoul is activated and the machine then assimilates the pilot, transfiguring her into a biomechanical copy of Nael van Darnus that hatches out of the back of the Ruby Weapon.
Madness Mantra: As Nael in Extreme, she'll summon two floating head, White Agony and White Fury, to chase after the players. They'll keep repeating the same lines over and over.
White Fury: Curse you father! You sent him to his death!/Savages! You stole him from, me!
White Agony: Bradamante... First Brother, then you.../Brother, do not leave me, I beg you!
Mechanical Abomination: Definitely this in its second phase. Out of the back of the Weapon emerges a biomechanical copy of Nael van Darnus in her Deus form from the Binding Coils.
Mind Rape: When the Oversoul is activated, the pilot's mind is overwritten with that of Nael. Though the process takes only a few seconds, Milisandia is nonetheless heard in panicked protest as her identity is stripped away.
Mythology Gag: It’s based on the superboss from Final Fantasy VII. Its second phase is to both Legacy and the Binding Coils.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: Quite literally. Once Oversoul is activated, the pilot is fused to the weapon's core and their life force is drained to power the weapon.
The Power of Hate: Along with despair, as Nael, she'll use her negativity to create a barrier to surround herself until her Raven's Image minions are defeated. In Extreme, she'll also summon two floating head, a red one of rage and hate called White Fury, and blue one of despair and sorrow called White Agony, to chase after the Warriors.
Quicksand Sucks: Just like the original version, Ruby Weapon can turn the ground into quicksand. Anyone who stays in it too long sinks beneath the surface and is instantly killed.
Slasher Smile: The Ruby Weapon’s pilot gives a deranged grin after transforming into a clone of Nael Deus Darnus and declaring her intent to purify Eorzea. Ruby itself sports one as well.
Sphere of Destruction: Its "Optimized Ultima" attack blasts the whole battlefield with a crackling sphere of green energy.
Stationary Boss: As Nael van Darnus, the Weapon remains stuck in place, with Nael summoning minions, meteors, and Dalamud itself to destroy you.
This Cannot Be!: Thrice.
- First is when the Ruby Weapon is beaten in its first phase, causing its pilot to quote Gaius's own defeat
  This can't be! The Ruby Weapon is unstoppable!
- The second and third times are as Nael, when the memory of Dalamud comes crashing down, yet falls to destroy the world.
  How can this be!? O mighty Dalamud, am I not Thy loyal servant!?
  No... Dalamud did fall... I know it to be true!
Time-Limit Boss: Ruby Weapon is notable in that it's one of the few bosses to have an enrage even on normal mode, with both forms unleashing a party-wide one shot if they take too long to deplete its HP.
Wave-Motion Gun: "Ruby Ray" fires a big red laser in the direction that the Ruby Weapon is facing.

The Sapphire Weapon

An incomplete prototype anti-Eikon warmachina reverse-engineered from the Ultima Weapon. It's the second type fought and acts as the boss of the 5.3 Sorrow of Werlyt storyline.

Autobots, Rock Out!: "Ultima (The primals)", same as the Ruby Weapon.
Boss Subtitles: "Mark IV Anti-Eikon Warmachina".
Clone by Conversion: While Sapphire Weapon doesn't take it to the sheer extremes Ruby Weapon did due to being incomplete, Oversoul DOES still overwrite Ricon's mind after fusing him with the weapon's core. This time around, Regula van Hydrus was the data stored within the Synthetic Auracite.
Duel Boss: Sapphire Weapon has no actual Trial around itself. Instead, the Warrior of Light fights it 1v1 during the story while they're piloting G-Warrior.
Flunky Boss: Throughout the fight, it summons dozens of Magitek Turrets to fire lasers at the G-Warrior. It also summons four Ceruleum Beasts to act as shields as it charges up its Last Ditch Move.
Making a Splash: He's fought over the water, and itself displays many water-type attacks. Gaius theorizes it may have absorbed a water Eikon.
One-Winged Angel: Subverted. The pilot goes into Oversoul immediately as the fight starts, though unlike the Ruby Weapon, it doesn't physically change. It's later revealed in an Echo that Sapphire Weapon was so incomplete, that activating Oversoul was the only way it could actually fight.
Humongous Mecha: It's even bigger than Ruby Weapon, and actively dwarfs G-Warrior during the fight, despite G-Warrior itself being quite huge.
Tentacled Terror: It vaguely resembles a robotic, blue octopus.
Worf Had the Flu: An Echo flashback and Cid's examination of Garlean records reveals that the Sapphire Weapon was incomplete, barely able to function at a fraction of its full potential. This is why it's pilot activated Oversoul at the beginning of the conflict, to compensate for the technological limitations.

The Emerald Weapon

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

Mark V Anti-Eikon Warmachina

An amphibious anti-Eikon warmachina reversed-engineered from the Ultima Weapon. It is fought in the 5.4 Sorrows of Werlyt storyline, serving as the boss of the Castrum Marinum Trial.

Autobots, Rock Out!: "Ultima (The primals)" once again, as awesome as ever. In phase 2, it has "The Black Wolf Stalks Again" as its battle theme, a heavy acoustic rock remix of Imperial Will with lots of shredding.
Beam Spam: Most of the Emerald Weapon’s attacks involve blasting the party with multiple lasers. Upon activating Oversoul, it ditches the lasers in favor of Blade Spam and Sword Beam attacks.
Boss Subtitles: "Mark V Anti-Eikon Warmachina"
Clone by Conversion: Same as the other two, this time it's Rex being turned into Gaius van Baelsar. Much to the horror of the actual Gaius.
Death from Above: In the first phase, it has an attack where its legs will detach from the rest of its body and fly upward out of sight. They will then come crashing down a short while later, creating a shockwave with tremendous Knockback that can easily sweep the whole party off the platform.
- Extreme adds a variant where its the upper half that flies away, causing an AoE Circle to appear, then rapidly expand before virtually oneshotting anyone caught in it. Observant victims will notice that this is where Aire Tam Storm is hiding.
Detachment Combat: It can separate itself to attack.
Floating Limbs: It has six arms, none of which are physically connected to the rest of its body. Its legs aren't attached to the torso either, and can separate from it to attack independently.
Golden Super Mode: Goes into one of these when Oversoul is triggered. Appropriate since Gaius himself had one.
Magnetism Manipulation: Its "Magitek Magnetism" ability deploys three mines. Two of these mines are magnetically charged and will repel each other right before they all explode.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: It has six arms that wield swords in its second phase.
Ring Out: There are no walls in the first phase, and the Emerald Weapon has an attack which can push players off the platform to their doom. Its "Emerald Beam" attack can destroy the outer portion of the platform, leaving players with far less room for error when handling the knockback.
Spontaneous Weapon Creation: It manifests half a dozen gunblades upon activating Oversoul.
Summon Magic: In the second phase, "Legio Phantasmatis" conjures spectral apparitions of a few dozen Garlean soldiers, who will form ranks and open fire on the party at the Emerald Weapon's command.
Sword Beam: Upon activating Oversoul, it starts using many variations of the Terminus Est attack.
Sword Plant: "Secundus Terminus Est" and "Tertius Terminus Est" both involve the Emerald Weapon stabbing its swords into the ground, creating X-shaped explosions at the points of impact after a short delay.

The Diamond Weapon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffxiv_diamond_weapon.png

Mark I Anti-Eikon Warmachina

The final and most powerful anti-Eikon warmachina reversed-engineered from the Ultima Weapon as part of Valens' Weapon Project. As of the end of Patch 5.4, little is know about the weapon beyond it's name and Valens' intention to link the Oversoul system to battle memories of Zenos Yae Galvus modified to be a more obedient soldier rather than the rabid attack dog that the actual viceroy was. It serves as the boss of the Cloud Deck trial.

All Your Powers Combined: Is able to use Ruby Weapon's claws, Sapphire Weapon's Chest Blaster, and Emerald Weapon's disembodied hand blasters. Justified, as all of the previous Weapons were created for the purpose of perfecting Diamond Weapon.
Boss Subtitles: "Mark I Anti-Eikon Warmachina"
Chest Blaster: Its chest houses a powerful laser cannon.
Combat Tentacles: It can duplicate the Ruby Weapon's tentacles, using them for a lethal swipe attack that covers half the arena.
Final Boss: Of the "Sorrow of Werlyt" storyline.
Red Herring: The Patch 5.4 cutscenes involving the Diamond Weapon strongly imply that Valens is going to load it up with Zenos's combat data. Come Patch 5.5, this turns out not to be the case: Valens has realized that a copy of Zenos would be impossible to control, so he wires Alfonse into the Diamond Weapon's core instead.
Shed Armor, Gain Speed: It can jettison its bulky shoulder pods and armor plating to become a lean, skeletal dragon-like monster. In this state it loses the ability to fly but becomes incredibly fast, unleashing deadly lunging attacks. It cannot stay in this form indefinitely, however, and eventually regenerates the armor and pods.
Shockwave Stomp: In its unarmored form, the Diamond Weapon has several attacks where it jumps to a specific part of the battlefield and produces a powerful shockwave upon landing. Some of these shockwaves inflict knockback, while others are point-blank explosions.
Shoulder Cannon: Its shoulder pods house batteries of lasers, which it uses for point-defense against the G-Warrior's missiles and when running the Emerald Weapon's combat data.

Characters / Final Fantasy XIV - Garlean Empire

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

Emperors

Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), Michael Maloney (EN), Philippe Valmont (FR), Romanus Fuhrmann (DE)

Legati

Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi (JP), Stephen Campbell Moore (EN)

Voiced by: Hiroya Egashita (JP), Allan Corduner (EN)

Tribuni

Voiced by: Junichi Yanagita (JP), Matt McCooey (EN), Laurent Gris (FR), Simon Derksen (DE)

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (JP), Alison Lees-Taylor (EN), Karine Foviau (FR), Monica Muller (DE)

Lower-ranked Garleans

Voiced by: Ryota Takeuchi (JP), Gunnar Cauthery (EN), Pierre Tessier (FR), Adam Nümm (DE)

Voiced by: Itaru Yamamoto (JP), James Goode (EN), David Krüger (FR), Sebastian Kuschmann (DE)

Voiced by: Riki Kagami (JP), Robert Vernon (EN)

Voiced by: Ryota Suzuki (JP), Nigel Pilkington (EN)

Warmachina

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Characters / Final Fantasy XIV - Garlean Empire

Edit Locked

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

Emperors

Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), Michael Maloney (EN), Philippe Valmont (FR), Romanus Fuhrmann (DE)

Legati

Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi (JP), Stephen Campbell Moore (EN)

Voiced by: Hiroya Egashita (JP), Allan Corduner (EN)

Tribuni

Voiced by: Junichi Yanagita (JP), Matt McCooey (EN), Laurent Gris (FR), Simon Derksen (DE)

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (JP), Alison Lees-Taylor (EN), Karine Foviau (FR), Monica Muller (DE)

Lower-ranked Garleans

Voiced by: Ryota Takeuchi (JP), Gunnar Cauthery (EN), Pierre Tessier (FR), Adam Nümm (DE)

Voiced by: Itaru Yamamoto (JP), James Goode (EN), David Krüger (FR), Sebastian Kuschmann (DE)

Voiced by: Riki Kagami (JP), Robert Vernon (EN)

Voiced by: Ryota Suzuki (JP), Nigel Pilkington (EN)

Warmachina

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Index

Next