With more than a decade on the books, FINAL FANTASY XIV certainly has a substantial amount of lore behind it. Though an impressive feat, having such a weighty chunk of lore embedded into FINAL FANTASY XIV can make acclimating to the latest expansions quite tricky for those who aren’t intimately familiar with the story. So with FINAL FANTASY XIV: Dawntrail now upon us, we’ve crafted this handy, albeit somewhat abridged primer to bring you up to date with the main narrative beats ahead of your adventures in the new lands of Tural.
NOTE: It goes without saying there are heavy spoilers for all the FINAL FANTASY XIV expansions below. If you aren’t fully up to date, we recommend bookmarking this page and coming back to it once you are ready.
FINAL FANTASY XIV – Pre-Realms Reborn Story Overview
Prior to the Realms Reborn story, which kicked off the current era of FINAL FANTASY XIV as we know it, the curtain rises on the fantasy realm of Eorzea, a land that was once ruled by the technologically advanced civilisation of Allagan, whose powerful creations include an enigmatic celestial body by the name of Dalamud. Craving all that power for their own ends, the ruthless Garlean Empire invades Eorzea and manages to take over Ala Mhigo, a key city state in far eastern Eorzea which it then uses as a temporary seat of power within the realm. Soon, however, the surrounding townships, enclaves and city-states join forces to begin to fight back in a bid to restore peace to Eorzea once more.
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Realms Reborn Story Overview
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Realms Reborn ushered in a whole new era for the world of Eoreza and takes place some five years after the Galean invasion, casting players as the Warrior of Light, a holy champion of sorts that has been blessed by Hydaelyn, one of Eoreza’s most benevolent gods. After being awoken by a mysterious masked cultist and having carved a path through Eorzea with a group of companions, the Warrior of Light soon joins the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, a mysterious conclave of fighters whose sole goal is to vanquish the Primals, a horde of monsters that have found themselves manifested into existence by those with a heart of darkness.
After laying waste to a fair share of Primals and uncovering a range of Garlean plans to take over the continent, it is discovered that the masked cultist who woke up our protagonist, in the beginning, goes by the name of Lahabrea and is an Ascian, the remnant of an ancient race. Worse still, it appears that not only has Lahabrea been pulling the strings behind the Garlean Empire to invade Eoreza, but he’s been doing so to weaken the realm so that Dalamud – which isn’t actually a moon but a massive suspended prison for the dragon deity Bahamut – can be broken open, allowing Bahamut to purge the entire world. As Realms Reborn heads into its endgame, the player and their group eventually defeat Lahabrea and the Ultima Weapon that he had at his disposal. Meanwhile, the Dalamud tumbles from the heavens, resulting in Bahamut freeing himself and preparing to unleash a devastating attack upon the realm. Luckily, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn intervene and together with the divine power of Hydaelyn, the group manages to protect Eoreza from most of the blast – though not quite all of it – resulting in an event known as the ‘Calamity’ and a realm that is now irrevocably changed.
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward Story Overview
With the Calamity now in the history books, the people of Eorzea start to rebuild the land in earnest, though there is seemingly no part of the realm that does not tell the tale of the events chronicled in Realms Reborn. Amidst this, the player comes across the Holy See of Ishgard, a city-state that serves as the primary setting for FINAL FANTASY XIV’s Heavensward expansion. Soon enough, the player not only discovers that Ishgard has been locked in an ongoing conflict with a race of dragons, but within Ishgard itself a conspiracy has been forming to ensure that the war continues to endure indefinitely. After uncovering the conspiracy and ensuring the beginnings of a peaceful co-existence between Ishgard and the dragons, it becomes known that the Warriors of Darkness have entered Eoreza and mirror the skills, abilities and powers of the player character and their group.
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Stormblood Story Overview
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Stormblood opens with the player and their group travelling to Doma, a nation composed of Ninja and Samurai that was invaded by the Garlean Empire twenty-five years prior. Forming the crux of the Stormblood expansion, the Warriors of Light side with resistance forces in Doma in order to overthrow their imperial oppressors, uncovering not just remarkable acts of cruelty by the brutal Garlean forces, but also a number of struggles within Doma itself which threaten the rebellion at large. Soon after the Doman rebellion casts out the Garlean regime, the Warriors of Light come into contact with the Warriors of Darkness, with the latter revealing that they come from a world that is threatened by an all-consuming evil and implores the player and their group to aid them in fighting back, thus taking us into the Shadowbringers era of FINAL FANTASY XIV.
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Shadowbringers Story Overview
In FINAL FANTASY XIV’s third expansion, the Warriors of Light embark on a journey to the First, a mirror-realm of Eoreza that is not only eternally shrouded in darkness, but is also a world where Light is an evil force that destroys everything in its path. On the First, the player and their group acquaint themselves with Ardbert, a former Warrior of Darkness who failed in his bid to prevent the Flood of Light and the devastation that followed in the First. Ardbert reveals that the reason for the light’s encroaching dominance in the First is due to the presence of the Lightwardens, once noble heroes who were manipulated by the Ascians. Forced to fight back, the player and their group ally with the Cystarium, a conclave constructed by rebellious elements on the First that do everything in their power to fight the Light. Chief among their responsibilities is to banish the Sin-Eaters, grotesque monsters that have come into existence as the result of individuals who suffer overexposure to the Light.
After battling through and reaching Vauthry, the leader of the Lightwardens, the player and their group defeat him, but realise that in doing so the additional Light from the conflict could transform the player into a supreme Lightwarden in the process. Struggling to fight the transformation, Graha Tia – a longtime ally of the group that is revealed to be the Crystal Exarch – sacrifices himself to stave off the Light’s influence, allowing the player and their group to devise a plan to nullify the Flood of Light and bring stability to the First. Though this results in the defeat of the final Lightwarden, it also leaves the realm’s fate unclear as the Light’s influence still remains.
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Endwalker Story Overview
After the events chronicled in the Shadowbringers expansion, the Scions return from the First to continue their war against the Garlean Empire and reveal that the Final Days – an apocalyptic event that occurred in the past – is now set to repeat once more on Eoreza. Through the story of the Endwalker expansion it is revealed that the Ascians aren’t villains at all, but rather tragic beings that have been forced into a never-ending cycle of death and rebirth and look to the player and their group to finally break that cycle and end the Final Days once and for all.
Seeking to maintain this cycle is Zodiark, a physical manifestation of the Final Days whose sole cause is to ensure that the world is ended and once more born anew. As the player and the Scions fight Zodiark and grapple with the notion of defying destiny, Zodiark is eventually defeated, though many heroes fall in battle in the process. With both Eoreza and the First seemingly saved for now, the story which began with Realms Reborn is essentially concluded, though the scars of all the wars that have been fought upon the world remain and provide a haunting reminder of the sacrifices that were made.
Now you are all up to date on the decades worth of story underpinning FINAL FANTASY XIV, why not prepare for your adventure into the lands of Tural when you purchase FINAL FANTASY XIV: Dawntrail from the Green Man Gaming store.
