FFXIV Shadowbringers Story Summary
Chapter 6: Shadowbringers
You awake to learn that Ryne, now imbued with the power of the Oracle of Light, was able to use her ability to temporarily slow down the process of the hero turning into a Warden of Light.
However, because the light is centered on you, anywhere you go brings back the Everlasting Light that plagued Norvandt before the Scions all arrived and began defeating the Wardens of Light. Time is now ticking and the group doesn’t have any clue what to do now or how to get to The Tempest. Disheartened the hero feels lost and adrift.
The Tempest
The hero decides to learn more about the Crystal Exarch, AKA G’raha Tia, since they last met long ago. By exploring the private chambers of G’raha Tia, the hero learns that he pressure Urianger into keeping their plan secret as only if it was a surprise would it work as if the group knew that G’raha Tia planned to sacrifice himself, they would not allow it to take place.
G’raha Tia also was able to transcend time due to the mysterious power of the Crystal Tower and saw with his own eyes the calamity that took place after the use of Black Rose. He saw a timeline that led to the death of all heroes, including yes the player character, and devised this plan to go back in time at this pivotal moment in The First, bringing the Scions along with him, to prevent the calamity from ever happening.
Emboldened by what he had learned along with a pep talk from Feo Ul and Ardbert, the hero decides to try and pursue Emet-Selch at The Tempest himself. However, the group doesn’t allow him/her to go at it alone and although they still don’t have a clear plan, they are with he/she until the end.
The group could swim/ride mounts down to the bottom; but, considering the ticking time bomb that is the light inside the hero, they are concerned that they won’t make it.
They eventually find a lead though. A small island off of the coast of the Lakeland isn’t actually an island at all but The First’s version of the whale primal Bismarck. Although on this world Bismarck is a fae.
Feo Ul helps the group convince Bismarck to aid in transporting them all to the bottom of the ocean to where the The Tempest is located along with clearing the water from the area so they can more easily breathe and travel.
Upon their arrival, the group learns earns the trust of a local group of Sahagin, known as the Ondo on this world, and they assist the Scions with locating a massive city that had recently appeared from nowhere on the bottom of the ocean floor.
Amaurot
The group explore this extremely impressive city and realize this is a recreation of the Ascian city of Amaurot that Emet-Selch described. Although it’s not literally the city brought to life, it’s a very lifelike recreation complete with citizens meant to resemble the real thing. Emet-Selch is once again trying to show the group that from his point of view, he is the hero and we are the villains trying to stop him.
After exploring the city, the group is able to discern the location of Emet-Selch in the capital building of Amaurot and are able to gain permission to see him.
Before meeting him, though, the hero is able to speak to one citizen of Amaurot known as Hythlodaeus that has somehow retained its true personality, unlike the lifeless shades that populate the city and has a candid conversation with the entity.
Hythlodaeus confirms that the story that Emet-Selch has been telling is true. He explains that the destruction of the Ascian civilization was violent, deadly, and they did all they could, even going as far as sacrificing half of the population each time they summoned Zodiark in an attempt to save everyone else.
Those tired of this plan of constantly sacrificing people to bring Zodiark to life came up with a new plan. They plot a new will to summon their own god, Hydaelyn, to chart a new course for life which would eventually lead to the world as it is now.
Hydaelyn emerged victoriously and the plan that was followed from that point led to the splitting of the Star into various shards and the end of life as the Ascians knew it. From that point on the remaining leaders of the Ascians that still held onto their former form have worked tirelessly to rejoin the shards and undo Hydaelyn’s will. They use the death that the ensuing calamities would bring to once again summon a powerful version of Zodiark so he can return life to the way it was before Hydaelyn.
Emet-Selch, according to Hythlodaeus, is wholly dedicated to this plan. Although Emet-Selch has an easy-going personality compared to the other Ascians we have encountered, he bears the burden and sadness as much as anyone else.
In spite of this knowledge, the hero is determined still to save The First, and hopefully he/herself too.
The group arrives at the capitol to confront Emet-Selch. He puts them through a trial that shows them in vivid detail exactly how the end of Amaurot looked.
The Final Battle
The group triumphs but Emet-Selch is still unimpressed. Mentioning that even still, he is still far more powerful than all of the Scion’s combined powers, including the hero, and this disparity only makes it more obvious to him that he is doing the right thing. Saying: “The gulf between us is a reflection of the disparity between the world as it was… and what it has become.”
The group tries to attack Emet-Selch but he is too powerful, easily swatting away the various Scion’s attempts to attack him.
The hero gathers all his/her strength to reach Emet-Selch with the support of the remaining Scions that have yet to be incapacitated.
The light inside the hero is too much to bear though. He/she passes out and sees Ardbert in a vision. Ardbert finally realizing his purpose helps the hero, providing him with his strength so they can fight as one.
When Emet-Selch looks at the hero now, he sees another being like him, and realizes the he/she is becoming whole. Ardbert is just another version of the hero of The Source, and the Crystal Exarch AKA G’raha Tia appears and summons even more heroes from other worlds to join with the player character giving him/her the strength to challenge Emet-Selch’s true form, Hades.
Emet-Selch agrees to settle this once and for all and they fight an epic battle for the fate of all of the worlds. In spite of Hades’ overwhelming power and control over darkness, the hero prevails.
While weakened, the hero uses Ardbert’s light infused axe to mortally wound Hades while the scions channel their power to seal the bind and destroy Emet-Selch’s soul using the same method they used on Lahabrea.
A vision of Emet-Selch appears before the player right before Emet-Selch dies for good. He simply asks the player character to: “Remember… remember us. Remember that we once lived.” The hero nods and Emet-Selch gives a small smile before disappearing.
In the course of the fight, the hero needed and used, all of the light he/she was filled with to survive and defeat Hades. As a result, after the battle, the player character is back to normal and is no longer suffering from their affliction.
Ardbert’s axe disappears and it appears that he can now finally rest and he can return to his loyal party. The Crystal Exarch, battered and bruised begs forgiveness for his deception, but the group seems to understand that it was born out of good intentions.
The End, For Now
The group returns back to land from The Tempest as heroes as the sky has once again returned for all of Novrandt. Surprisingly, the Crystal Exarch remains. This was in doubt since he’s technically from a future that no longer exists after their actions, but it appears he has done enough to remain an inseparable part of this timeline.
However, his death was supposed to allow the Scions to return home, and because he still stands they (except the hero) are still trapped on The First. They are fine with development since they want to find a way to return that doesn’t involve sacrificing the Exarch.
The group splits up again for the time to wrap up their matters here on The First before figuring out how to leave.
The hero returns home to The Source to update everyone back home on just went down. Thancred and Ryne leave to explore the wastelands brought on by the Flood of Light for reasons that are unknown to us at the time.
Meanwhile back on The Source, Estinien and Gaius find themselves into the throne room of Emperor Varis zos Galvus where they witness Zenos, back in his body, striking down his father.
Zenos, now infused with more strength than before, was able to pose enough of a threat to Elidibus that he was able to rejoin his body and soul. With his father and now Elidibus out of the way, and back to his old self, Zenos can resume his “hunt” properly now.
Elidibus has fled to the moon overlooking The Source and as the last remaining Ascian leader, is carefully plotting his next move. He knows now that he can’t underestimate the “tattered souls” any longer, seeing what both Zenos and the hero are now capable of.
Even Elidibus doesn’t know how the story will play out anymore as he has lost control of the situation. However, he remains resolved to remove the heroes from the equation saying that if the player character claims to be a Warrior of Darkness, then he will ensure they meet the same end as those that came before, death at the hands of the Warriors of Light.
That does it for our story summary of FFXIV Shadowbringers. It was a lot and still, this story summary does not include all of the details of the FFXIV Shadowbringers plot. This is basically the cliffnotes version, so we still suggest playing through the expansion yourself if you have the ability to do so still.
If you want a bit more detail, and speculation, on what the ending of the FFXIV Shadowbringers story means, beyond what this story summary was able to provide you can check out our ending explained guide here.
