During the initial launch of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker the bulk of the new content is provided through the Main Scenario Quests or MSQ, and one character, in particular, makes a surprising return. Each expansion and every major patch in between these expansions provides new and exciting stories, but this time around the developers have gone the extra mile. In usual expansion releases, the story typically doesn’t resolve itself until the release of the 3rd major patch, about 9 months after the expansion’s initial launch. But with Endwalker’s launch, the MSQ concludes the overarching narrative revolving around two major entities, Hydaelyn and Zodiark, and the looming threat of the Final Days. Characters and storylines building up over the past decade come together in the largest MSQ on-launch to date to create a spectacle of a finale.
[Warning: Spoilers for FFXIV: Endwalker below.]
FFXIV: Endwalker starts players off immediately sending them along with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn toward one of the new playable cities, Old Sharlayan. The goal of this journey is to find more information on how to prevent the Final Days, an apocalyptic event that threatened the world once already. The previous Final Days threatened the Ancients, a societal paradise that knew no strife and possessed creation magicks, the ability to create anything from clothes and tools, to even living and breathing creatures. About halfway through the MSQ, players will encounter Emet-Selch, Shadowbringers‘ main villain, who died at the end of that expansion. To understand this surprising return, it’s important to have context related to the Convocation and the Final Days.
The solution was to create Zodiark as an entity to spur life on the star, hence forestalling the Final Days. Creation magicks of this scale came at a cost of, however, requiring the sacrifice of half the remaining population. The doom was gone, but some feared even Zodiark’s power and created Hydaelyn to keep him at bay. They clashed, and Hydaelyn came out victorious, sealing Zodiark but also sundering the one world into 14 shards of its former self. Unlike the societal paradise of the Ancients, these worlds had no creation magicks and suffered through war, sickness, and strife. In FFXIV: Endwalker, The Convocation seeks to restore power to Zodiark to rejoin the shards and bring back their home and work as the Ascians as an antagonist force against players. The only remaining Ascian, Fandaniel, opposes the ideals of his brethren, seeking to recreate the Final Days in the present day.
How Emet-Selch Comes Back In FFXIV: Endwalker
Going back to the start of FFXIV: Endwalker, the journey to Old Sharlayan starts with a narration by Emet-Selch, a previous member of the Convocation and an antagonist defeated in the events of Shadowbringers. On the boat to Old Sharlayan, the player is greeted by the Lady of Light, a mysterious woman in a white robe similar to what the Ancients wore, and reveals herself to be Hydaelyn giving forewarning of the journey ahead. While in Old Sharlayan, players learn that Forum, the group that leads the city-state, knows the truth of the Final Days and has a means of escape, but can’t speak of it due to an enchantment on their memory.
It’s explained this enchantment prevents one from accessing certain memories, but upon death, the memories are revealed before the soul returns to the sea of aether to be reborn. Hydaelyn also gives the player a “Heartbloom,” a rare flower with no discernible origin that responds to emotion, as a guide for their journey ahead. In later events on the moon, the flower is revealed to be the “Elpis,” a flower dating back to the time of the Ancients.
With the knowledge that the flower is from the past, and that Hydaelyn gave it as a guide, players find themselves back at the Crystal Tower from FFXIV: Shadowbringers. Elidibus, another member of the Convocation who was used as the heart of Zodiark, remains trapped there from the events of 5.3. There, he reveals that he knew “Elpis” not as a flower, but rather as a place. Using his remaining lifeforce and the power of the Crystal Tower, he sends the player back through time and space to the very Elpis of which he spoke.
Upon arrival, players are greeted by none other than Emet-Selch along with Hythlodaeus, whose simulacrum helped players in the events of FFXIV: Shadowbringers. Elpis is revealed to be a research facility for studying living creatures brought forth by creation magicks headed by Hermes, the man who would later take the seat of Fandaniel. Hermes is troubled by the living conditions of the creatures created in his society, and how their lives are easily discarded if they’re deemed unfit for the star. Seeking to find more meaning in his life, he looks to the stars.
FFXIV: Endwalker – Emet-Selch’s Return & Meteion In Elpis
Using the Elpis flower as a basis in FFXIV: Endwalker, Hermes creates Meteion, a creature resembling a small girl with blue feathers and wings adorning her body. Creating a large group of Meteions, all able to communicate telepathically with each other, and sends them to the stars with the question of what others live for and what gives their life meaning. The answer that Meteion finds, however, is not what Hermes was looking for. Everywhere the Meteions went, they found only husks of civilization, lives that were either long gone or sought their demise. This despair, taken in by all the Meteions, brought them to the answer that there was no meaning, and the only peace in life came in death.
While Emet-Selch looked to bring Meteion back to the Convocation for study to prevent this threat, Hermes sided with her and issued humanity a challenge. He would let Meteion escape and see if man was capable of defeating the threat, and would use the powers of his facility to wipe the memories of the group, to keep it fair. While the player manages to escape and keep their memories intact, Hermes’ was wiped along with Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus. Brought back to the present, players look for a way to reach and defeat the Meteions that await.
The return of Emet-Selch in FFXIV: Endwalker is a symbol of the culmination of this storyline a decade in the making. He was initially revealed as one of the leading Ascians, and the architect behind the Allagan and Garlean empires who’ve played a major role throughout the story. In the events of Shadowbringers, he not only played a major role as an antagonist but as a gateway to the story of the Ancients. Even after his death, he remained a driving force, helping players defeat Elidibus in the 5.3 MSQ and narrating the journey through Endwalker.
The Emet-Selch of the past assisted players with finding out the truth of the Final Days, and the Emet-Selch of the present entrusted the future of the star to the mankind of the present. Everywhere the player went, Emet-Selch was there, watching and telling the story on the world stage. And in a true theatric fashion, as fitting his personality, he helps players out one final time in Ultima Thule before bowing out for good. The MSQ of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker uses the story of Emet-Selch, along with so many others, to create a truly memorable finale.
