Final Fantasy XIV allusions

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The following is a list of allusions present in Final Fantasy XIV.

Final Fantasy series

Main article: /Final Fantasy series

Final Fantasy XIV contains multiple references to other entries in the series. These references vary between allusions to story and character elements from other titles, enemies in the open world and instances, obtainable character items, and other miscellaneous features.

Allusions to the number fourteen

Being the fourteenth installment of the series, Final Fantasy XIV makes some references to the number itself. Although they are not necessarily deliberate allusions to the number 14 (whether they are or not is speculative), they are nonetheless present.

• There are fourteen warriors grouped together on the game's logo ().
• The Garlean Army is divided into fourteen legions.
  • Of these legions, Gaius van Baelsar is the Legatus of the XIVth Legion.
• At one point in the story, a guard in the Waking Sands will say, "My shift number? I don't know, fourteen?"
• Hydaelyn splintered the original world into fourteen parallel worlds, The Source and the thirteen "shards" along with fragmenting Zodiark.

Other video games

Main article: /Other video games

Final Fantasy XIV and its expansions include various references to other Square-Enix titles and other developer titles.

Other media

Main article: /Other media

Final Fantasy XIV and its expansions include various references to other media such as movies, television, books, and music. These references are usually only present in the English localization, which are commonly used for quest names and certain NPC dialogue.

Religion and Mythology

Christianity

The names of several White Mage abilities are Christianity-themed. Cleric Stance, which was originally a White Mage cross-class, is otherwised referred to as "Crusader Stance," referring to the Crusades. Other White Mage abilities include Benediction, referring to the invocation at the conclusion of a service, and Plenary Indulgence, a particularly strong form of indulgence, which nullifies all temporal punishment needed to purify the soul.

Christian imagery is especially common in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, as Ishgard is heavily influenced by medieval Christendom. The official name of Ishgard is even "the Holy See of Ishgard," just as the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome is called the Holy See of Rome. The power structure of the Ishgardian Orthodox Church is loosely based on the Roman Catholic Church, and punishments are similar to those administered by the Catholic Church. This is thematic: The concept of original sin is present throughout the story of Heavensward, wherein all Ishgardians are punished for the actions of their forebear. The allusion to original sin is made explicit by the second boss of The Aery, Gyascutus, uses attacks called "The Serpent's Apple", "Fall of Man", and "Original Sin", in reference to the concept of Adam's fall in the Book of Genesis. Moreover:

• A room within the Vault is called "Saint Thordan's Basilica", after St. Peter's Basilica; it is located within the Holy See and named for an important figure in the founding of the denomination that worships there: Saint Peter was the first Catholic Pope and "Saint Thordan" could refer to one of seven Ishgardian figures, but most likely Thordan I.
• The Heavens' Ward is associated with Ascalon: King Thordan casts spells such as Light of Ascalon and Ascalon's Mercy, and the title for defeating the Heavens' Ward is called "The End of Ascalon". Ascalon was the site of the final battle of the First Crusade, and, according to a myth popularized in the Crusades, the name of the lance of Saint George, who slew a dragon.

In addition to these two main examples:

• The titles of the two FATE's for the Behemoth battle, "Behold Now Behemoth" and "He Taketh It with His Eyes," are both quotes describing the behemoth from the Book of Job in the Bible: Job 40:15 and Job 40:24 respectively.
• A quest in Western La Noscea is titled "My Brother's Not a Keeper," in reference to the line Cain says of Abel.
• A quest in Outer La Noscea is called "Return to your Dust," which is similar to the phrase a priest says when giving ashes on Ash Wednesday.
• The field track of Alexander raid is titled "Sins of the Father, Sins of the Son". Sets of achievements related to the raid are also called "Sins of the Father" and "Sins of the Son".

Greek

The many snake-like monsters in the Binding Coil of Bahamut are named after Greek mythological snakes. The first boss is named after Hermes's staff, Caduceus. Hermes's Caduceus has two snakes wrapped around it, just as the boss splits into two snakes. The Twintania adds are are named after Asclepius, god of cure and son of Apollo, and Hygiea, one of Asclepius' daughters, goddess of hygiene.

In addition to this main example:

• The Artemis Bow is the relic weapon for Bards.
• The first boss of the Void Ark, Cetus, is the name of the sea monster slain by the hero Perseus.

Hinduism

• The primal Garuda is inspired by the god in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.
• The primal Ravana is inspired by the character in the Hindu epic Ramayana.

Irish

• The final boss of Amdapor Keep (Hard) is Ferdiad, a character from the Ulster Cycle.
• At the end of the Void Ark, Diabolos retrieves a coffin containing Scathach, the Shadow Queen. In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, Scáthach was a Scottish warrior woman and martial arts instructor who trained both Cú Chulainn and Ferdiad.

Japanese

The setting of the eastern half of the Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood draws inspiration from several Asian countries, but especially Japan. In particular, the mythology of the region involves worship of {[w|kami}} similar to Shinto mythology, including the following examples:

• The Primal Susano is based on Susano'o, the god of the sea and storms who slew the Yamata no Orochi, or Eight-headed Serpent, just as Susano faces the eight-player party. The Ama-no-Iwato referred to Susano'o's three ancient weapons, said to be the keys to open the stairway to heaven. In Final Fantasy XIV, Primal Susano was summoned by gathering three ancient weapons. There is a rare chance that Susano may drop an Amaterasu mount. Amaterasu is the goddess of the sun, and the sister of Susano'o.
• The Shisui of the Violet Tides dungeon referred to the Japanese folklore of Urashima Tarō, a fisher man who rescued a sea turtle and traveled to the underwater palace. When the party fights the Ruby Princess, the players can open trapped treasure boxes that transform the opener into an old man. Another trapped box appears again at the end of the dungeon.
• The Primal Tsukuyomi is based on Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the god of the moon in Shinto and Japanese mythology, although the Shinto deity is male. Tsukuyomi has a pair of bunny-like ears on her head, alluding to Lady Kaguya, the princess of the moon from another folklore and rabbits on the moon.
• Daidarabotchi appears as the second boss of Swallow's Compass, based on the gigantic yōkai in Japanese folklore.
• The Four Lords are based on the Four Symbols, four mythological creatures in the Chinese constellations; in Stormblood, the Four Lords are referred to by their Japanese names: Genbu, the Black Tortoise; Byakko, the White Tiger; Suzaku, the Vermilion Bird; and Seriyu, the Azure Dragon.

In addition:

• The Xaela Au Ras believe that they were created by the sun. This is similar to the old belief of the ancient Japanese.
• The special F.A.T.E. boss Tamamo-no-gozen is based on Tamamo-no-Mae, the legendary fox lady from Muromachi period.
• Ninja's ability Hellfrog Medium is a reference to Jiraiya, the ninja from a folklore who possessed the ability to ride on giant toads.
• Hanzo is likely inspired by Hattori Hanzō, the ninja from the Sengoku era. Another ninja character named Sasuke the Shamed was mentioned in the Ninja job quests, possibly based on Sarutobi Sasuke, a famous fictional ninja.

Norse

• While the Roegadyn's Sea Wolves and Hellsguard seem to correspond to the frost giants and fire giants, the Elezens' Wildwood and Duskwight branches are respectively based on the Light Elves (Ljosalfr) and the Dark Elves (Dókkalfr).
• Mjolnir is a giant hammer weapon wielded by Nero tol Scaeva.
• Midgardsormr, three of his children (Hraesvelgr, Nidhogg, and Ratatoskr), and two of Hresvelgr's own children (Vidofnir and Vedrfolnir), are named after creatures from Norse myth.
• The primal Odin was sealed in an area called "Urth's Gift," with a trial battle at "Urth's Fount." Urth, or Urðr, is the name of one of the three Norns that decide fate.

Real World

Alchemy

• A text known as the Emerald Tablet which was translated by Isaac Newton, purported to contain the secrets of alchemy and transmutation, begins with the line "'Tis true without lying." The alchemy achievements reference this.

Astronomy

• Multiple Astrologian weapons are named after stars: Altair, Capella, Vega, Aldebaran, Sirius, Deneb, and Canopus.
• In the FATE "It's Not Lupus", the boss crab Cancer is assisted by several aureliae minions called Acubens, the Alpha star of the Cancer constellation.
• The dragons serving Darkscale in various FATEs in the Churning Mists are named for stars from the Draco constellation: Thuban (Alpha Draconis), Etamin (Gamma Draconis) and Rastaban (Beta Draconis).
• Several diremites in Version 1.0 and A Realm Reborn are named after stars in the Scorpius constellation: Antares (Alpha Scorpii), Shaula (Gamma Scorpii), Graffias (Beta Scorpii), Dschubba (Delta Scorpii) and Girtab (Kappa Scorpii). The Anatares Dagger for rogues also also alludes to the first.
• Some bear and bear-related enemies are derived from stars of the Ursa Major constellation: Dubhe (Alpha) and Phecda (Gamma).
• The primal horse mount awarded from "The Striking Tree (Extreme)", Markab, a name given to various stars in the Pegasus constellation.

Computer software

• There's a sidequest called "It's Not a Bug, It's a Creature," a reference to "It's not a bug, It's a feature," the excuse made by Mozilla to try to convince the users that a bug in Firefox is actually what it's supposed to be doing.
• During the Anima Weapon quest "Some Assembly Required", the Processing Node confounds Ardashir when it states that "Version 10 of the operating system is required to proceed", and then asks him to "agree to the Terms and Conditions of Use" before it continues.
• The surname of Yugiri Mistwalker refers to Mistwalker Corporation, the video game development studio founded by Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Roman Empire

Garlemald is loosely based on ancient Rome. In particular, the ranking system of the Garlean army is similar to the Roman Empire's chain of command, including units such as optios and centaurios. The XIVth Imperial Legion is inspired by the Legio XIV Gemina, the legion of the Roman Empire levied by Gaius Julius Caesar in 57 B.C., its leader even being named Gaius van Baelsar. Other prominent Garleans are also named after Romans from Caesarian times: Livia sas Junius was named after Livia Drusilla, the wife of Emperor Augustus, because both Livias were adopted into noble families; Nero tol Scaeva was named after Emperor Nero and Marcus Cassius Scaeva, a centurion in Julius Caesar's army.

Others

• The Artifact equipment of Monks is a set of yellow Chinese-style clothes, refer to the martial artists of Shaolin Monastery.
• There's a FATE in Lower La Noscea titled "You Call That a Toad," the player has to kill a group of enemies called "Cane Toad" after local wheat farmers brought these toads from Cieldalaes to devour the locusts but the cane toads have no natural predators on Vylbrand and have taken over the region, leaving the farmers with no choice but to slay them all. This is an allusion to the similar situation in Australia where the government had to ask their citizens to eliminate cane toads to protect the environment and the food chain in Australia.
• A quest in Middle La Noscea is called "Orange Crush," like the soft drink of the same name.
• There's an achievement titled "Heaven Eleven", a pun on 7-Eleven convenience stores.
• The Vanu Vanu dance is based on the Haka tribal war dance of the Māori people in New Zealand.
• The Heavensturn 2016 event items "See No Helm", "Speak No Helm" and "Hear No Helm" are based on the proverbial principle "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" of the three wise monkeys.
• The term "Ijin" is used in Kugane to describe the foreigners. Most likely based on the term "Gaijin" used by Japanese to (impolitely) call foreigners living in Japan.