Since Final Fantasy 14 Shadowbringers, Emet-Selch has become one of the most popular characters. He is a well-loved villain, and some argue that he one of the best in the entire Final Fantasy series. Shadowbringers was a major hit, and Emet-Selch was a big reason why.

A well-liked villain often has a tragic backstory, and that is quite true of Final Fantasy 14's Emet-Selch. After Endwalker, fans have gotten a near complete picture of his life and why he does what he does. He is a man who has lost everything and is willing to sacrifice the present to rebuild the past.

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Emet-Selch In Ancient Times

Emet-Selch as ancient.

Emet-Selch was born special, as he had the gift of "soul sight." Once known as Hades, this gift put him on the seat of Emet-Selch in the Convocation of Fourteen, a position which was rejected by his close friend Hythlodaeus, who also had soul sight. The convocation worked as Etheirys' government. Emet-Selch was the Keeper of the aetherial realm, due to "soul sight" having a strong connection to aether.

With Hythlodaeus and Zem, he met Hermes to find a new Fandaniel for the Convocation. During that time, he actually met the Warrior of Light for the first time. The Warrior of Light time traveled, and this was revealed by Venat, who could sense her protection spell on them. Emet-Selch found out the cause of the Final Days with the Warrior of Light, Hermes, Hythlodaeus, and Venat. It was Meteion, Hermes' experimental creation, that would cause the Final Days. However, Hermes decided that the Final Days should happen and erased everyone's memory except for Venat and the Warrior of Light. Without remembering what happened, Emet-Selch put Hermes on the Convocation of Fourteen.

When the Final Days came, Emet-Selch and other members of the Convocation decided to summon a primal called Zodiark to save their people. This cost many lives, including the life of Hythlodaeus, who volunteered to be sacrificed. Once summoned, the primal enthralled others to become its followers, including Emet-Selch. They wished to sacrifice even more lives to restore their world. This disturbed people like Venat and Azem. They created an opposing group that summoned a primal named Hydaelyn.

Hydaelyn ruined all of Emet-Selch's plans. She shattered reality itself and made their world and souls split into the Source and thirteen shards. The only people whose souls were not split were Emet-Selch, Lahabrea, and Elidibus. To Emet-Selch, this meant all the sacrifices were for nothing. All that he knew and loved was sacrificed, and the split souls were like flawed fragments of what people once were.

Emet-Selch, Lahabrea, and Elidibus devised a plan to undo Hydaelyn's shattering to restore their world and Zodiark. Then called Ascians, they would do all in their power to rejoin the Source and its thirteen fragments. To do this, they had to make a Rejoining. This meant one of the shards had to be overwhelmed by one element/aether such as fire, light, or water. The Source would then have to experience a major event aspected to that kind of aether. Successfully doing this would cause a Rejoining, which they planned to do for as many shards as possible until their world and Zodiark was restored.

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Emet-Selch As An Ascian

Emet Selch.

Solus zos Galvus, the known founder of the Garlean Empire was a real man known for his military prowess. Emet-Selch took over his body and controlled it for the rest of Solus' life. As Solus, Emet-Selch guided the development of the Garlean Empire, their army, and weapons. He encouraged their culture's xenophobia and made sure they devastasted the Source with various wars and battles. This was all so Rejoinings could occur for Zodiark in the form of Calamities.

Emet-Selch also took some fragmented souls of the Convocation members under his wing. One example of this is Amon, who is a fragment of Fandaniel. In addition to their influence on the Garlean Empire, Emet-Selch and the rest of the Ascians also taught the Beast Tribes how to summon their own gods. After successfully causing a Calamity in which Dalamund fell, Emet-Selch let Solus' body die of old age.

Emet-Selch's next body was a Solus clone, which was made by Varis zos Galvus during a civil war in Garlemald. Varis learned the truth about Emet-Selch but was powerless to stop him, as killling him made just him take over a different clone body. With the clone body, he went to the First shard to watch over the Warrior of Light and Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Eventually, he joined them in hopes of getting them on the side of the Ascians.

Emet-Selch hoped that spending time with the Warrior of Light would get them to remember their former selves before the Shattering, but it did not. After he explained everything to the Scions, he was also disappointed to find their resolve still had not changed. They fought, and the Warrior of Light defeated Emet-Selch. He resigned himself to death, telling the Scions to not forget that the ancients once lived.

However, that is not the last time Emet-Selch is seen. A shade of him appears in the fight against Elidibus to help the Warrior of Light, and he returned at the end of Endwalker with all his memories back. He admits he was wrong and commends the Warrior of Light. After helping the Warrior of Light revive their friends, Emet-Selch fades back into aether. In his final moments, he tells the Warrior of Light to fully explore the Source and reflections.

Fans have noticed a difference in personality between Emet-Selch as an ancient and Ascian. As an Ascian, he has bouts of personality shifts, going from cold one moment to playful the next. In the past, his personality was far more stable. The most common theory for this is because of Zodiark's tempering and Emet-Selch's trauma in losing everyone he loved and knew. The etymology behind Emet-Selch's name is interesting as "emet" means "truth" in Hebrew. This could pertain to Emet-Selch being the one to reveal the truth of the Calamities and Final Days to the Scions.

Final Fantasy 14 is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.

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