The overarching theme of FFXIV’s Endwalker is hope in the face of overwhelming despair. Nothing encompasses that more than the last location in the expansion, Ultima Thule. Using Dynamis, it simulates a variety of civilizations that come to an end. It’s only through the hope of the Scions that the Warrior of Light can reach their goal, the Endsinger.
Aside from Ultima Thule, Meteion also forces the Scions to experience the demise of three civilizations to convince them that living can only guarantee death. When translated, Ultima Thule means the extreme limit of travel and discovery. In other words, an end.
However, the Omicron tribe quests reveal that Ultima Thule may no longer be a land of endings, but of beginnings. A new star, Elysion, has been discovered in the region, but it appears this one reacts to hope for the future, rather than despair of the past. Let’s investigate the fall and eventual rise of the inhabitants of Ultima Thule.
Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker
The Grebuloffs are a water-faring species from the star Grebuloff. Having a talent for metallurgy, the Grebuloffs expanded from their ocean to the land, conquering any opposition they faced. They continued to explore, ignoring the environmental destruction their expansion and weapon creation was causing.
It was only when the world was overpopulated and the waters polluted, that they realised their mistake. During their explorations, they found a gem-like rock and, in breaking it open, discovered a disease. This pestilence was so foul it transformed the very aether of the Grebuloffs. It spread, causing hatred and fear, leaving those who remained to wish they’d never been born.
Of all this, the destruction of their once blue sea was what the Grebuloffs lamented the most. Their simulacrums in Ultima Thule go searching for the ocean but only find a small, disappointing freshwater pool. The danger of them changing Elysion with their despair leads Jammingway and N-7000 of the Omicrons to offer a soup with the ocean’s scent. Upon experiencing it, the Grebuloffs remember what they loved most about their home. This gives them the spark of hope that causes a change in Elysion, gifting them the ocean they once thought was lost forever.
The Karellians were a humanoid race with technology to advance the world. Under the guidance of the Global citizens, the Karellians managed to create an age that experienced world peace, eradicated disease and stopped global starvation. The populace enjoyed the serenity afforded to them, but over time discontent brewed.
The Global citizens didn’t allow many freedoms. Something as simple as eating now had restrictions, with only pre-approved meals allowed, or available. With this oppression, those tired of it created their own group in opposition to the Global citizens; the Freedom fighters.
A bloody civil war broke out amongst the Karellians, who used their technology to create advanced weaponry. The ultimate weapon designed to end the war was the Peacekeeper. Created with the intention to eliminate threats to world peace, the machine took the directive too far, seeing all humans as a threat.
One global citizen eventually won the war, only realising too late, that in killing everyone the victory had been pyrrhic.
The opposing ideals of the global citizens, where sacrifice is needed to have peace, and the freedom fighters, that the right to choose how to live is important, is something that can both exist with compromise. It’s only when eating a salad, something that was not one of the approved meals provided by the Global citizens that the Karellians realise their folly.
If both sides had communicated, they could have avoided the world-ending civil war. This hope of a future creates a lush field in Elysion, somewhere the Karellians can work together on the land. Both sides learn that a mixture of freedom and order in balance is the best way to live.
For the Ea, knowledge was the pinnacle of existence. This civilization removed pesky things like bodies and death, choosing to live eternally in non-corporeal forms to follow their quest for knowing. Eventually, they learnt everything but it left them feeling completely unfulfilled.
Over time, the Ea became disillusioned with existing, some going as far as to attempt to re-create corporeal forms just so they could die. Often these experiments didn’t work, leaving the trapped Ea insane. Most of the Ea who did not succumb to the temptation of experimentation spent their time in their crystal homes, waiting for their very essence to dissipate. They had all the knowledge, but it meant nothing and all that was left was the end.
To entice the Ea, who only cared to stare at the sky to the café, Jammingway and N-7000 offered them the chance to feel what it was like to eat again. Intrigued by reliving forgotten sensations of the past, a few curious Ea agree to the experiment. They delight in the flavours they discover and the feelings that go with them, finding satisfaction in something so primitive. It’s this renewed hope of future sensations that causes the Dynamis to activate and change Elysion. Before, the planet had only created living spaces but this time a new creature appears. The gelatinous Miw Miisv bring back feelings of the Ea’s youth and they wonder why they ever forsook their young. Instead of waiting and wasting, they have found a reason to live again.
The Dragonstar’s demise was not brought about by the dragons, but rather by the actions of another civilization, the Omicron. The dragons lived peacefully on their star until it was invaded. One dragon, Midgardsomr, chose to flee the planet with his young, but the rest chose to stay and fight.
Their pride as dragons did not allow them to back down. As a result of the war, the planet was so wounded that it could no longer sustain life. Dragons lost more than their planet; they also lost their children. Any dragon born after the war was found to be devoid of intelligence and would attack anyone nearby.
For the dragons, their children were their reason for living. Many fell into a deep depression and waited for the end to arrive.
N-7000 tries to apologise to the dragons for Omicron’s part in the war. The dragon they talk with seems disinterested in blaming N-7000 for revenge. It explains that it would not change anything now. Unsure how to proceed, the café crew travel to speak to Vidofnir to see if she can help.
She tells them that the reason Midgardsomr chose Etheirys was because Sohm Al reminded him of the sacred mountain on the Dragonstar. Using this Jammingway and N-7000 create a dessert that resembles the holy peak of the dragon star.
Seeing the Dragonstar’s mountain, even in the form of a dessert, gives the Dragon hope that their mountain would be remembered. Elysion reacts accordingly with a large landmass resembling the Dragonstar peak appearing. A dragon’s nest with healthy eggs has also appeared, allowing the dragons to have a future they never thought possible.
The Alphastar was home to a race of people called the Omicrons. Originally a biological species, the weak and frail inhabitants were constantly conquered by others. Tired of living in fear of the next attack, the Omicrons shed their fleshy vessels and implanted their consciousness into mechanical beings.
Eventually, as the Omicrons conquered those who once oppressed them, the resources on Alphastar began to dwindle. Realising this would mean their end, a civil war broke out between two factions of Omicron. The regenerators, the omicrons that wanted to save the Alphastar, and the invaders, who wanted to find other stars to plunder.
The looming threat of stronger species coming to Alphastar became too much, and the invaders won. This was the beginning of the Omicron directive: Become the strongest. The first planet they happened across after creating interstellar travel was Gordhona. The omicrons mistook the large mechanical units as rulers and deemed them a threat.
They later found out that the inhabitants were silica-based and were destroyed in their conquest. This didn’t stop the Omicrons, they continued fighting and taking over planets with their last conquest being the Dragonstar.
Dragons were considered the most powerful beings in the universe, so once the Omicrons beat them, Stimga-1, or Sir, was at a loss. With their primary objective completed, Sir isolated himself from the rest of the Omicrons, who lay idle, waiting for commands that would never come.
After the warrior of Light’s battle with the Endsinger, Sir contacted the Omicron one last time, giving them the directive to “live”. This directive confused the Omicron who was used to approaching everything in a logical manner.
It’s through helping Jammingway with the café that N-7000 and the other Omicron find their reason to “live”. N-7000 declares his mission complete and will now commence eternal sleep. They end up at the Tree of Life, just as Sir did before them because while the mission is technically complete, they don’t want to sleep forever. N-7000 overheats due to trying to find a solution to this conundrum.
Jammingway and the Warrior of Light make N-7000 a cooling drink which leads N-7000 to conduct a thought experiment. If there is Dynamis and it can be manipulated, then all possibilities exist. N-7000 resolves itself to continue helping the denizens of the universe find hope. This leads to a change in Elysion, a field of Trees of Life.
Lastly, the Nibirun were an advanced civilization that had not just attained eternal life, but enlightenment. They had no wars, no disease, and no strife, but in removing all the obstacles in the world, they also removed all the joys.
This plateau of emotion led to apathy. They concluded that to live is meaningless. They created the merciful Ra la, who would deliver them a blessing in a painless death.
The Nibiruns had toured Ultima Thule and found Elysion to be confusing to them. The Nibiruns question the Elysion residents, asking them why do they continue when they know it is pointless. N-7000 asks them to think of the whole universe, and not just one civilization. Each civilization will have its flaws, and to combat that, each civilization should come together to help each other survive.
Doing so will lead to hope for the future and with Dynamis, anything is possible if there is hope. Elysion undergoes its final change, adding the blue tree of the Nibirun to the Omicron area.
The six civilizations whose despair was meant to bring the Scions down ended up being reborn with a fresh start and renewed hope. Jammingway and N-7000 proved that with a lot of Dynamis and a little hope, second chances can happen and that ends are new beginnings.
Final Fantasy XIV is available for PC, PS4 and PS5 and is coming to Xbox Series X in 2024.
