Shining in the dark sea of Chaos, there is a faint glimmer of light. It is the stuff of creation: a sinister pulse that might just become a new monster, but that should rightly have been reborn as a human. That is what the soul seeds are. Each dying human is supposed to return to the Chaos and then be reborn again, but the cycle is broken. Nothing can be born here but darkness. I watch as the workings of the universe crumble before me and know that the unseen power grows stronger with each death...
Lightning, Seeds of Life Lost
Soul seeds (ソウルシード, Souru Shīdo?) are items which spawn monsters and are made up of the souls of the dead in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. They appear as shining purple lights on the ground within Chaos infusions, and remain for a time after the infusion has dissipated.
Collecting seeds earns achievements and trophies. The number of sold soul seeds does not carry over to a New Game+. Because they are key items, seeds in the inventory will also be lost.
Story[]
Baird's Tale[]
The Order of Salvation buys the soul seeds from Baird, and uses them for experiment and research. He tells Lightning that soul seeds are human souls, and monsters are humans that failed to be reborn. Both monsters and humans have the same origin: born from Chaos. Baird explains the soul seeds have an effect on souls, and that there was an alchemist who tried to infuse a soul seed to a machine but failed. Though Baird does not know where the alchemist resides these days, he says he has heard rumors that they still dabble in the dark arts.
Ramira's Tale[]
The population of Nova Chrysalia has lived for 500 years without aging, but rather than go mad with no end in sight, they continue their daily lives uncaringly. An alchemist hypothesized that people had lost something vital to their humanity when the Chaos was first released, and believed that the soul seeds were that missing component. To test this theory, he created a potion using the extracted essence of a soul seed and moments after consuming it, threw himself into the Chaos, never to be seen again. Ramira believed that the soul seed had mutated into a poison, causing the alchemist to lose his sanity, or that he was able to regain the missing component to his humanity and committed suicide, unable to accept the reality of the world's destruction.
Kaj's Tale[]
Kaj in Aryas Village.
Once a blacksmith forged a weapon with a soul seed that turned on its creator and killed him. The weapon vanished, and is known as the Ultima Weapon.
Mal's Tale[]
One of the two greatest curses placed on humanity when the Chaos was unleashed and distorted time and reality was that no new life could be born. Plants and animals could still age and reproduce—only humans were removed from the cycle of life. An alchemist couple decided to try and create a new human life by mixing a soul seed with amniotic fluid in the hopes of creating a baby, a homunculus. They had succeeded, but the new life was not anything close to human. The monstrosity killed the man while the woman, revealed to be Mal herself, barely escaped. She considers it their punishment for going against God's law of creation.
Ultimate Lair[]
In the Ultimate Lair, Lightning and Hope discuss rumors on the Order buying the soul seeds so Bhunivelze can use them to create increasingly powerful monsters and pit them against one another to create a powerful super-species to replace mankind with.
Gameplay[]
Soul seeds are found within Chaos infusions and are said to come from the souls of dead humans and be the eggs from which Chaos monsters are born. Anywhere from zero to four soul seeds may spawn within a Chaos infusion. The spawning of seeds is time-related, meaning the player must wait one in-game hour after collecting some for more to spawn; using Chronostasis will lengthen the respawning.
Since Chaos infusions appear randomly across Nova Chrysalia, the fastest place to farm soul seeds is during the "Death Game" quest in Yusnaan, which engulfs an area of the city in a permanent Chaos infusion until that quest is completed. If the player purposefully forgoes completing the quest until late in the game, they can keep going to the quest area to battle Chaos monsters and find soul seeds. Another good place with plenty of Chaos infusions is the Major Routes, but they are dangerous due to the toughest monsters of Nova Chrysalia residing on them. The Highroads are unlocked after Day 9 when the corresponding Canvas of Prayers quests become available.
For the "5-4 What Soul Seed Traders Want" main quest, Lightning must contact any of the traders and bring them a Moogle Fragment.
Merchants[]
Lightning meets Baird in Luxerion.
Soul seed merchants, also known as seedhunters, are the sole buyers. Before the player can sell them, they will need to complete the sidequest "Soul Seeds" in Luxerion given by Baird. It can be completed rapidly; the player simply needs to give him 2,000 gil and sell him a soul seed at any time. The merchants are easily recognizable by their Black Mage-type hats. The merchants get irritated if Lightning speaks to them without any soul seeds in the inventory, though there is no penalty for doing so.
The name and location of the merchants are:
- Baird in the Arcade area of Luxerion standing next to a pillar.
- Ramira in the staircase between Central Avenue and the Industrial Area in Yusnaan.
- Kaj next to the sheep pen in Aryas Village in the Wildlands.
- Mal inside the Ruffian's den in the Dead Dunes.
Soul seeds sell for 400 gil apiece, but the player will receive a special reward for every 20 soul seeds sold. These rewards are cumulative. The table below lists the rewards obtained the first time the player sells that amount of soul seeds, and the second (and following) time they do so. Using the Crystal of Atonement results in obtaining the New Game rewards rather than the New Game+.
| Number | Reward (New Game) |
Reward (New Game+) |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Hero's Potion | Refresher |
| 40 | Crusader's Potion | Ether |
| 60 | Ether | Phoenix Wing |
| 80 | Phoenix Wing | Elixir |
| 100 | Elixir | Turbo Ether |
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
The soul, in many religious, philosophical, psychological, and mythological traditions, is the incorporeal and, in many conceptions, immortal essence of a person, living thing, or object.