Final Fantasy XIV: The main NPCs in Endwalker are based on the most popular Final Fantasy game

The MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV likes to use concepts and characters from other parts of the RPG series. For the most important NPCs in the new Endwalker add-on, however, they took the most popular FF game as a template.

This is Final Fantasy VII: The JRPG classic was originally released for PlayStation on January 31, 1997 and became an instant hit. As the first 3D part of the series, it shone with the then revolutionary graphics and a story that moved countless gamers to tears.

The player slips into the role of Cloud Strife, a super mercenary who once worked for the large company Shinra. Now part of the rebel group Avalanche, Cloud sabotages the Mako reactors of Shinra, which eat the life energy of the planet and slowly but steadily destroy it.

Since the release, FFVII has worldwide according to the Japanese magazine Famitsu sold over 18 million units. This makes it by far the best-selling FF game and is also considered to be the most popular. That’s why the first part of the great remake of the RPG was released in April 2020.

Attention: Serious spoilers follow the stories of FFVII and FFXIV. If you have not played the story quests to at least level 88 in XIV, then you will be spoiled in the following text.

Once upon a time a long time ago

For old Square Enix fans, the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV is a fungus of references, Easter eggs and allusions to the other parts of the RPG series. A FF fan will therefore discover something on every corner that he or she knows from before.

And the latest addition, Endwalker, has reached deep into the Easter egg box. Specifically, the most important characters from the story, the Ascians, are based on the Cetra people from FFVII.

These are the Cetra: Also known as “the Old Folk”, the Cetra traveled the world of FFVII 2,000 years ago. The members of this race had the special ability of hearing the voice of the planet and communicating with it.

Wise and selfless, they led a nomadic lifestyle, wandering from place to place to make them more fertile. They were also able to use the energy of the planet to cast powerful magic and summon creatures.

They lived in harmony with the planet and were its protectors, who cultivated and cared for it. At the end of their journey they returned to the planet, thus becoming part of the life stream again, which is the life energy of the planet.

These are the Ascians: As the Shadowbringers story progresses, players will learn that there is a similar race in FFXIV. Before the division by Hydaelyn, there was only one people on Etheirys who were fully committed to the service of the planet.

The Ascians used their creation magic to create new useful (and sometimes less useful) creatures and to keep perfecting life on the planet until they would create a perfect world.

One of the last real Ascians, Emet-Selch, calls the people the “servants of the planet”. When the great task that was assigned to them was accomplished, they too returned to the planet. They became part of the life-storm of the planet again.

Both the Cetra and the Ascians are referred to in the English version of the respective games as “the Ancients”, i.e. the old people.

And then everything went to the dogs

The Cetra and Ascians are not only similar in their lives, but also in their demise. While the details and the storyline differ naturally after the two races were annihilated, the essence of the disasters that struck them is the same: the causes of their demise came from outer space.

This is how the Cetra died: The Cetra’s extinction began when a meteorite struck the planet bearing the alien life form Jenova. The impact ripped open a deep crater that was like a severe wound to the planet. It was called “The Calamity from the Sky”.

Jenova spread like a virus and infected the Cetra with its cells. The fight against Jenova claimed innumerable deaths, but in the end she was defeated and sealed by the few survivors. The Cetra sacrificed themselves to save the planet, but they themselves could never recover.

This is how the Ascians died: The fall of the Ascians had its leap on their planet Etheirys, but disappeared into the depths of the universe to ring in the Last Days from there (called End of Days or simply The Calamity).

Meteion and her sisters, tainted by hopelessness and despair, built a nest on the edge of the world and began singing the song of doom. Little by little it has stagnated the protective etheric flow of the planet and destroyed its balance.

The laws of nature lost their effect and reality began to crumble. A meteor shower fell from the sky, earthquakes shook the world and the magic of creation got out of control.

Similar to the Cetra, in the end the Ascians sacrificed themselves to save the planet and their loved ones. They conjured up the Primae Zodiark so that it could get the stagnant ether moving again.

There is also this abnormality: The Ascians also have another noticeable feature that parallels FFVII: In Endwalker, they all have bright eyes. There are people with such bright eye colors in FFVII. It is then said that they have “mako eyes”. It is a sign that the person has been injected with the life energy of the planet: Mako.

This is what happens to the members of Shinra’s special mercenary unit: SOLDIER. People who have received mako treatments include the legendary Sephiroth, Zack Fair and also Cloud Strife (albeit not entirely voluntarily).

The Ascians are the only ones in FFXIV with such particularly bright eye colors. And they differ from other living beings primarily in that they have much more ether, i.e. life energy, at their disposal. This abundance of ether could be the reason for their bright eye colors, which in turn could be a nod to the Mako eyes from FFVII.

But there is still a big difference between the two races from FFXIV and VII. The Cetra were a nomadic people. They traveled to the different regions of the planet to make them fertile and more alive.

It was an integral part of their culture and, according to Sephiroth, also the reason why they could communicate with the planet in the first place. When the last surviving Cetra settled down and built settlements, they lost their abilities and connection to the planet.

In contrast, the Ascians even built huge cities like Amaurot, which, with its skyscrapers and cobbled streets, is in no way inferior to our modern cities. They had a government and various administrations that looked after the affairs of the world.

How do you find the parallels between the two peoples? Do you think that the Cetra served as a template for Ascians? What other parallels did you notice? Let us know in the comments.

More Endwalker Lore can be found here:

FFXIV: The most important item in Endwalker comes from an ancient legend that we all know