Noah Gabranth

Noah van Gabranth
(ノア・ファン・ガブラス, Noa fan Gaburasu?, lit. Noah van Gabrath)
Biographical information
Affiliation	Garlean Empire
Occupation	Legatus
Physical description
Gender	Male
Gameplay details
Type	Non-player character
Behind the scenes information
Original appearance	Gabranth

Noah van Gabranth is a non-player character from Final Fantasy XIV. He is a Legatus of the Garlean Empire's IVth Imperial Legion. Thirty years prior to the events of the game, he led the attack on the Kingdom of Dalmasca. Now he and the IVth Legion rule Dalmasca, Nagxia, and Bozja in the Empire's name.

Profile

Appearance

Noah is yet to be seen with his helmet off in the present, but artwork showing him with his father 30 years ago shows that he used to resemble his Final Fantasy XII counterpart Judge Gabranth with longer hair. His suit of armor is also the same as Final Fantasy XII's Gabranth's. He wields a pair of blades, specifically the Wootz Scimitars.

Personality

Noah van Gabranth is more open and humble in comparison to other Garlean Legati the Warrior of Light has encountered, as he rose to his position through hard work, skill and determination rather than through blood. Nonetheless, Noah is an effective and ruthless commander, his conquest of Dalmasca and the fervent loyalty of his legion standing as proof of this. He is not as prideful as most Garlean commanders as when the situation in Barheim became too difficult for him to control alone, he called in reinforcements in the XIVth Imperial Legion to reassert order. Noah is loyal to his own cause rather than that of the Empire or its policies. Having long foreseen the Empire's decline, he has taken steps to ensure the territories he has conquered become his own new kingdom once the Garlean Empire falls.

Story

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

Before Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood

Noah van Gabranth and his father Basch van Gabranth are not native Garleans, but hail from the Republic of Landis. Basch's fervent loyalty to the Empire allowed him to achieve the rank of Legatus, a position normally reserved to those of Garlean blood. Basch commanded the IVth, but when his health took a turn for the worse thirty years ago, Noah was given command of the Legion at only twenty years old, one of the youngest to ever do so. The IVth is set apart from the rest of the imperial legions by being comprised primarily of non-native Garleans, their preference to not use magitek, and their unwavering loyalty to Noah over the Empire.

As leader of the IVth Legion, Noah van Gabranth led his legion against the kingdom of Dalmasca with airships. After seizing many cities, only the Nalbina Fortress remained, halting the invaders with a magical barrier. For half a year the legion laid siege to the fortress, eventually conquering it at the cost of 70,000 Dalmascan soldiers. Two years after the fall of Rabanastre, Basch passed away and Noah was promoted to Legatus of the IVth Legion. Many believe it was the conquest of Dalmasca that earned him his position, but others argue that he was appointed at recommendation of Emperor Solus zos Galvus out of recognition for his father's service.

For thirty years the Empire struggled to contain violent uprisings, eventually culminating in the infamous Barheim Incident that claimed countless lives. Unable to reassert control, Noah turned to the XIVth legion for assistance. When Varis zos Galvus became the Emperor of Garlemald, he appointed Noah and the IVth to quell uprisings in remote provinces, as if to keep them at arm's length. Marsak believes Varis suspected ulterior motive from how the Gabranths sought to gain such fervent adoration of the IVth Imperial Legion.

Return to Ivalice

The IVth Legion and Constructs.

Noah and a group of scientists investigate the top of the Ridorana Lighthouse, built atop the ancestral Garlean city of Goug. He learns about the constructs his ancestors used and plans on sharing his findings to Emperor Varis.

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

In Valnain, the Dalmascan city that is the base of operations for the IVth Legion, Noah received word that the people of Bozja were beginning an uprising by crafting recreations of their people's ancient weapons. Noah ordered his second in command Menenius sas Lanatus to proceed as planned, as the weapons could not hold up to the "lady of blades" that the IVth possessed. Noah knew the Empire was fated to fall, but stated his intent to establish an even grander and mightier nation in its place, made possible by the very power Garlemald abhors.

Over the course of fighting on the Bozjan Southern Front, the Bozjan Resistance learns that Noah's goal is to create a new nation where people's race or social class mean nothing, a true land of equals, and he will use the power of the primal Queen Gunnhildr to do it. When the IVth was ordered to return to the Garlean capital after the death of Emperor Varis, Noah refused and publically declared his plans, officially making him a traitor to the Empire.

Spoilers end here.

Gallery

Gabranth as seen in one of Ba'Gamnan's hallucinations.

Basch and Noah.

Etymology

Noah van Gabranth is named after Judge Gabranth from Final Fantasy XII who went by "Noah" before joining the Archadian Empire.

[view · edit · purge]In Abrahamic religions, Noah was the tenth and last of the pre-flood Patriarchs famous for the story of Noah's Ark.