Dominant

Clive Rosfield, a Dominant, using an Eikon's powers (Rising Flames) in battle.

The Eikons are the most powerful and deadly creatures in Valisthea. Each resides within a Dominant—a single man or woman who is blessed with the ability to call upon their dread power. In some nations these Dominants are treated as royalty in admiration of this strength—in others they are bound in fear of it, and forced to serve as weapons of war. Those who are born as Dominants cannot escape their fate, however cruel it may be.

Official website description

Dominants (ドミナント, Dominanto?) are people in Final Fantasy XVI born with the ability to host Eikons, the most powerful and deadly creatures in Valisthea, inside of themselves.

Like the Summoners from past entries, Dominants can call upon their Eikon's power and summon the being into the material world, an act called "priming". By semi-priming, a Dominant can also take on some aspects of their Eikon without fully transforming and without requiring nearly as much aether. Most nations revere Dominants, but the Iron Kingdom citizens view Dominants as unholy abominations who are to be put to death or enslaved if discovered on their land, and in some countries, Dominants are bound and forced to serve as weapons of war.

Characteristics

The Dominants, like the Bearers, are victims of the crystals' curse, which causes their bodies to become petrified as they use more and more aether. Both are also resistant to turning Akashic from overexposure.

Dominants are treated differently depending on the country to which they belong, and several Dominants—Shiva, Titan, Bahamut and the Phoenix—hold high positions in their home nations. The Dominants of Shiva and the Phoenix always appear in the royal families of their countries of origin.

The ability awaken as a Dominant has to do with ancestry, being descendants of certain ancient tribes whose descendants have now dispersed. In the case of Phoenix, the tribe among which its Dominants appeared was preserved by becoming the ducal Rosfield family. Meanwhile, the tribe among whom Odin can awaken migrated from Valisthea and was unknown until Barnabas arrived. It appears that Bearers will not awaken as Dominants, only people thought to be unable to use magicks prior to their awakening.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Dominants' powers expression appears to be linked to a stress response. Joshua primes uncontrollably when witnessing his father being killed. Benedikta is known to have awakened when treated poorly by her master while a bought servant girl, though this is only revealed in Final Fantasy XVI Ultimania, and primed uncontrollably when she thought she was going to be forced into servitude again. Clive suddenly awakened at Phoenix Gate at the sight of his brother having gone on a rampage as Phoenix, but he appears also having been spurred by Ultima, seeing and hearing a vision just before going out of control. According to Final Fantasy XVI Ultimania, Jill awoke in the Iron Kingdom when Imreann tried to have her made a personal "night service" girl. Hugo and Dion also prime as a result of uncontrollable rage, Hugo after seeing a vision of his dead lover, and Dion after accidentally killing his father. Though Clive later theorizes that Dominants whose Eikons he has absorbed as Mythos cannot prime stably anymore, he is proved wrong when Dion can still become Bahamut and remain in control of his transformation.

Spoilers end here.

Known Dominants

Artwork of Dominants.

• Clive Rosfield of the Grand Duchy of Rosaria is the Dominant of Ifrit, a mysterious dark Eikon and a second Eikon of Fire.
• Joshua Rosfield of Rosaria is the Dominant of the Phoenix, Warden of Fire.
  • Joshua's paternal grandfather was the previous Dominant of the Phoenix.
• Jill Warrick of Rosaria is the Dominant of Shiva, Warden of Ice.
  • The character of an ancient fable of the Northern Territories, called the "Queen of the Snows" and who had as companion a Frost Wolf, was potentially a previous Dominant of Shiva and an ancestor of Jill, the Wolf accompanying him in the fable and baptized Fenrir being when has a potential ancestor of Torgal.
• Cidolfus Telamon is the Dominant of Ramuh, Warden of Thunder.
• Benedikta Harman of the Kingdom of Waloed is the Dominant of Garuda, Warden of Wind.
• Hugo Kupka of the Dhalmekian Republic is the Dominant of Titan, Warden of Earth.
• Dion Lesage of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque is the Dominant of Bahamut, Warden of Light.
• Barnabas Tharmr of Waloed is the Dominant of Odin, Warden of Darkness.
• Waljas of Mysidia is the Dominant of Leviathan, Warden of Water.

History

The first Dominants appeared a hundred years after the signing of the Continental Accord, which would make it around 770 years before the events in the game. How many Dominants have existed prior and whether they all awakened around the same time, is unknown.

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Musical themes

Main article: To Sail Forbidden Seas

"To Sail Forbidden Seas" plays as the boss theme against Dominants and occasionally their Eikons.

Gallery

Etymology

Dominant means "ruling, governing, commanding", and is borrowed from French dominant and from Latin domināns. It can also refer to multiple things in different subjects. In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale or the triad built on the dominant note. In genetics, dominance is the phenomenon of one variant (allele) of a gene on a chromosome masking or overriding the effect of a different variant of the same gene on the other copy of the chromosome. The first variant is termed dominant and the second is called recessive. In ecology, dominance is the degree to which one or several species have a major influence controlling the other species in their ecological community or make up more of the biomass.

In meteorology, the word is also used to refer to prevailing winds, also known as dominant winds, which are winds from the direction that is predominant or most usual at a particular place or season. This may be related to the lyrics in the Dominant battle theme "To Sail Forbidden Seas" which include the names of the classical compass winds used by the ancient Greeks.