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Every story needs a conflict, and inFinal Fantasy 14, that conflict comes from the Ascians. These mysterious beings are the main antagonists throughout most of Final Fantasy 14’s story, from A Realm Reborn to Endwalker.
Several different Ascians pop up throughout the story, manipulating people behind the scenes toward their ultimate goal. Below, we’ll take a look at who the Ascians are, what their goal is, and some notable Ascians you’ll meet.
Who Are The Ascians?
The Ascians are themain antagonist of Final Fantasy 14. They are acult of individuals with mysterious powers that worship Zodiark. They teach the various Tribes of Eorzea how to summon their Primals, causing destruction across the land when one is summoned.
Physically, the Ascians look like Eorzean Hyru, often wearing black robes. They usually wear ahood and red maskto obscure their faces, leading to a homogenized appearance that can make it difficult to tell them apart.
The Ascians have mysterious unique powers, including teleportation, Black Magic, andAetherial Manipulation. They are typically beings made of Aether, but they canpossess a person’s bodytogain a physical form.
Below, you can find the key Ascians you meet in each part of Final Fantasy 14’s story, from A Realm Reborn to Endwalker.
Fandaniel
What Is Their Goal?
The Ascians' smaller goals change throughout each storyline they are a part of, but their ultimate goal remains the same. The Ascians are trying toRejoin all the Reflections back together, so that they can live in a pure and whole world.
They do this by wreaking havoc across the world, causing Aether to fluctuate. These periods, known asUmbral Calamities, meant chaos and extinction for the inhabitants of Eorzea. A total ofseven Umbral Calamitieshave successfully occurred throughout the game’s storyline and before.
Now, to understand this goal in its entirety, we’ll need to look to later parts of the story; Shadowbringers and Endwalker especially divulge everything you need to know about the Ascians' goal.
Spoilers for Shadowbringers and Endwalker below!
So, why do the Ascians want to Rejoin the Reflections? Why are there even Reflections in the first place? All of this is explained in these two expansions, but we’ll give a brief recap below.
Long ago, the Ascians were known asAncients, and lived on the planet in relative peace. However, inan event known asThe Final Days, this long peace came to a screeching halt, and drastic measures were taken. To stop the Final Days, some of the Ancients banded together andsummoned the Primal Zodiarkto save them.
When Zodiark became too powerful, a different group of individuals, led by the AncientVenat, summoned the PrimalHydaelynto trap Zodiark. She did this bySundering his bodyand the rest of the world, into14 Reflections.
The cultists of Zodiark, who would eventually call themselves Ascians, were diametrically opposed to this plan, and thus sought toreverse Hydaelyn’s Sundering. Essentially, the Ascians long for the ‘true’ world that they once lived in, and do everything in their considerable power to get it back.
The Ascians After Endwalker
Endwalker marked the end of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark storyline, and most of the key Ascians from earlier storylines have beendefeated. Because of this,it’s very unlikely that the Ascians will ever return as a major antagonistin further storylines in Final Fantasy 14.
However, that doesn’t rule out the Ascians returning inside storiesor asminor villains, as there are a few Ancient Ascians that currently have unknown whereabouts. Certain Ascians, like Emet-Selch, could also appear in flashbacks, as this character in particular made a lasting mark on the Warrior of Light.
