FFXIV Lore- Nael van Darnus, the First Villain

I'm really proud of how this came out! This little to no 1.0 lore out there and I feel like Nael's story is far to important to be overlooked, so here it is. MASSIVE shout out to Abzug Boneforge (Goblin) who helped me collect the footage I'd need to make this video that much more impressive. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I had fun making it!
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Music: Zodiac Structures by NoMBe
Personal Music made by: Victor McKnight, / victormcknight
Disclaimer: The MMORPG known as FinalFantasy XIV Online as well as all its related publications and merchandise are owned by Square Enix. I have no claims to it.
Primary Sources:
Video Games-
FinalFantasy XIV Online
Publications-
Encyclopedia Eorzea Volume I
Encyclopedia Eorzea Volume II
Alternative Sources:
FinalFantasyXIV, The Lodestone/Sidestory
FFXIV, Letter from the Producer
Published FFXIV Brand Art Books
#ffxiv #endwalker #raid

[@ViralN9]

Nael’s always had this sort of mythical quality to her as someone who joined post-1.0. The one villain the *canonically* gave the WoL nightmares, something not even Zenos managed to achieve.

[@crazy13alex]

True but that was because the WoL was new to war and adventuring in general. Though Nael/Eula left a lasting impression, by the time they reach Shadowbringers, they've faced beings that they can't face alone.

[@BranBal]

@Russia Forever Nael = Eula by the point the point the Warrior of Light meet her

[@TheAzureGuardian]

@Russia Forever Eula took on Nael's identity in its entirety, referring to herself as Nael. As far as the world of Hydaelyn/Etheirys is concerned, Nael was the one responsible for everything leading up to the 7th Umbral Calamity. Only the very few who went through the trials of the Binding Coils learned the truth, but even in her final moments Eula would refer to herself as her brother, denying her identity in place of his. In the end, Eula and Nael were essentially one and the same. At least, the Nael that the world is familiar with. Did you not watch the video?

[@ulibarriL]

True, but as mentioned before, this was when the WoL was still pretty green in their adventuring boots. Still, even by current standards, Nael's primal influenced form is one the WoL recognizes as an abomination. Such encounters did not help when the WoL summoned primals in the Empty.

[@BranBal]

@Russia Forever She isn't trans, she's using her brother's name and identity.

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

Everyone: Well I'm glad we finally dealt with her, hopefully we won't find a threat like that again. Ruby Weapon: BONJOUR

[@FarelForever]

She wanted her brother's name to become one of the proud Warrior that he dreamed of becoming. In the end, it's likely, that she surpassed what he may have ever achieved tenfold...

[@acgearsandarms1343]

I’m more amazed how well a Garlean medic became a legatus. A well accomplished legatus.

[@TheEmperorHyperion]

Never screw with the White Mage.

[@acgearsandarms1343]

@@TheEmperorHyperion Garleans can’t do magic.

[@jacobsiron6929]

Insatiable desire for both vengeance and a legacy; either is sufficient motivation by itself- she had _both_ and acted with appropriate tenacity.

[@finn-frost]

@@jacobsiron6929 Yea, don't mess with crazy!

[@SniperKing-O]

Never underestimate the vengeful wrath of a healer.

[@PatCatzz]

For something so recent, it's surprisingly difficult to find records of the events before the 7th umbral calamity.

[@SynodicScribe]

That's what I'm here for!

[@mikoto7693]

@@SynodicScribe And it’s appreciated. I feel a profound sense of regret about 1.0. I was there, I had a character but never got far due to my computer not being strong enough to run it properly. If it had then there is a high chance I would have gotten to the end and the final event. My WoL would have been a legacy character. Oh how I wish things could have been just a bit different.

[@BrotherHood-xh9sg]

Having never played 1.0, this is a beautifull story. God that is amazing storytelling. Only played till ARR, but this is my favorite character from everything I have seen.

[@SynodicScribe]

Nael is definitely a great villain, and I hope everyone has a better appreciation for what they brought to the table before the rework.

[@UmatsuObossa]

It's crazy you didn't play further. The story is absolutely amazing

[@BrotherHood-xh9sg]

@@UmatsuObossa It's mostly the lack of time and the fact that in order to play at the start (due to long queues), I had to buy the game, so now it is fairly expensive to maintain a subscription. Then combine that with now being really interested in the lore and writing notes in my notebook, so I am trying to make time to start a new character and do that properly 😅

[@UmatsuObossa]

@@BrotherHood-xh9sg Well you can solo most dungeons now so queue times aren't a big deal. Hope you have fun, it's worth it

[@JackWolf1]

THANK YOU! Footage and story beats from 1.0 and the 1.X series is insanely hard to come by. While it’s doubtful anyone would want a 1.0 “Classic” server, there are a number of us that would love a video synopsis of the pre-calamity story and it’s associated lore.

[@SynodicScribe]

I want to make a video like that one day. I just need to be careful what I say since some lore was changed once 2.0's writers came in.

[@DatBastardOni]

@@SynodicScribe Speaking of 1.0, I would love it if you covered the fate of the vigil guards in heavensward's first dungeon. The wol met them in 1.0, back when ishgard was still green.

[@SynodicScribe]

@@DatBastardOni I actually was gonna reference them when I finally get to covering Ishgard's dungeons!

[@Syogren]

​@@SynodicScribe Something that might be helpful, which I'm sure you are already aware of, is the 10th anniversary of ARR event introducing a questline that goes over the events preceding the seventh umbral calamity. I don't know how much it answers, but maybe it'll be a good resource?

[@SynodicScribe]

@@Syogren I actually did that quest and I was really have that players who didn't play 1.0 got a glimpse into some of those quest chains!

[@dansong9161]

I feel Nael has a lot more importance to come, seeing House Darnus had/has control of Corvos- Which is where the G Tribe is located, and has a lot of access to Allagan technology.

[@kidneystone699]

Possibly the new relic storyline will be around House Darnus??? Tho i must say, i wonder what the new relic weapons "theme" will be, like Zodiac and Anima is basically legendary weapons from myth/legend, Eureka is basically Allag? (i never finished them) and Reistance weapon was based on Bozjan historical weapons

[@poisonerknight]

@@kidneystone699 I'd be up for magitek superweapons themed after the companions of Charlemagne

[@bakacdaz]

Also From the ending of Bozjan story IV still active maybe House Darnus might join them or against them in final fight of empire leftover.

[@Shamiynlover1]

"I know you, White Raven... and now, they will too, as I pull the blood-soaked mask from your crazed face." The opening lines of this lore were... chilling. Vindictive. I absolutely love it- a tone definer for the entire thing going forwards, explaining how all of this got kicked into motion... not just FFXIV, but what feels like the channel itself, in-universe. Whenever I think of your character, Scribe, this moment pulls into the forefront- for all you have seen, all you have taught us... you remember who started you down this path, and you will not stop until her lies are brought to light. The mask, torn from the face, to reveal who lurked beneath. You know her. And now, we do too.

[@LEGOBoy922]

God yeah, this was the first Sydonic Scribe video I saw, and that opening is EXACTLY what got me to subscribe, it's so good.

[@ekki6820]

Now this is a damn good villain origin story.

[@Karloss00]

As someone who started last year (July 2021) I do feel like there should be some way to experience the key points of FFXIV Legacy just to give new players an idea of what happened. After all I'm still confused to this day why the WoL gave Cid his goggles in some strange vision.

[@SynodicScribe]

That's what I'm here for. I want to cover all the 1.0 lore that wasn't changed or removed when 2.0 arrived. haha

[@SemekiIzuio]

And the budget for the 1.0 cutscenes was amazing compared to what we get now well recently ShB and EW have been good in its defense.

[@mistmonster]

@@SynodicScribe Thank you so much for doing this. I regret I didn't stick with 1.0 but I had a very active FFXI LS at the time and FFXI just seemed like a better game. It also didn't bring my computer to its knees while playing it, even with all the mods I used on FFXI. (Don't care, FFXI was and is hardly playable without them, which is probably why SE completely ignores/ignored them. I do not use mods on 14 , sure I see some QoL ones I'd like to see but it seems this team is working on stuff like that)

[@mikoto7693]

@@mistmonster I was in a similar position. I would have transitioned to FF14 had my computer been able to run it decently. I still vaguely remember being aboard a ship into Lominsa and fighting monsters on it’s deck but my computer just couldn’t handle it. Otherwise I would have been there at Dalamud’s fall. Oh but what could have been if the game had been easier to run.

[@Grimnoire]

@@SemekiIzuio I disagree? I mean, I'm sure for you 1.0 is nostalgic but... the ew content in general is just objectively better in every way. Especially considering you never could experience most of the content back then without heavy lag spikes... I think back to emet selch, the manderville quest line, every title screen trailer while reading your comment and just wonder what is it you're perceiving....

[@blackh9604]

Man Nael had some badass armor, that scene in the garlean fortress where she walks into the fire is so sick

[@Krescentwolf]

All of the Garlean Legatus/Judge Armors are badass. Shame we'll likely never get them. They're all custom models. XD

[@blackh9604]

@@Krescentwolf Lmao right The Delubrum reginae gear is likely the closest we'll get.

[@SemekiIzuio]

@@Krescentwolf yes! I liked Gaius Livia and Nero gear! Magitek armor is pretty cool when you look at the rest of the old timey world. I am happy we got GNB and wisher Hyur race had an option/feature to give us a 3rd eye on the forehead

[@HayTatsuko]

Setting this to the Terncliff/Tertium theme was such a nice touch. Hit exactly the right mood for this sordid, sad story. Your recounting of this story made me wish I'd been around in 1.x!

[@SynodicScribe]

1.0 was a trip... but some of its lore at least worth telling!

[@yuantheblue]

I have long been interested in the Coils raid lore, and this was a real treat. It threw me to see a woman when from all had heard before, Nael was was a man. So this helped clear things up immensely! This is definetely one to rewatch and pass on to friends :)

[@HouseOfAlastrian]

This makes me feel like I really missed out having never played 1.0. Would be great if we got the chance to play through the 1.0 story... so those of us who never got to play it can understand how it is that things are the way they are where we started in ARR.

[@TheBonkleFox]

I'd honestly like a game for PS5/PC where it's one of the modern FF games in terms of gameplay (real-time rpg combat, basically), but it's the story of 1.0.

[@KenjiShinomori]

GOD YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD STORY TELLER MY DUDE. Every single video has enraptured me. Thank you.

[@shingshongshamalama]

You know what's really neat? Archaeologists had to _figure out_ that Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut was a women because she's referred to in masculine terms in her official capacity by a lot of the surviving material despite being openly known as a woman in her time. So this weird ass plot twist translation error _has irl precedent._

[@Noelle-M4]

Honestly, that opening dialogue, oof. The pure emotion in that. Felt that.

[@sorrenraclaw9029]

So I happened to be watching this during my MSQ roulette, and I can't help but notice that the Ultimate Weapon bears a very strong resemblance to Nael's armor. That can't be a coincidence.

[@acgearsandarms1343]

I mean, it was restored with Magitek. The Garlean armor itself is Magitek as well, so it’s not unlikely.

[@imightbeaz]

To this day even if you unsync Nael in second coil she can still one shot you. However with good dps it's not as threatening.

[@mikoto7693]

Ah, that explains why the lvl 90 Reaper went down during our unsynched raid. Fortunately I was playing as rdm and got him back up on his feet and healed.

[@thewritegrump]

Thanks for making this video, my friend is trying to get me to learn more about FF and linked me to this so I could understand what they're talking about. You did a great job of keeping things straightforward and easily digestible, even for someone who's never played more than an hour or two of a FF game. :^)

[@TCMarik7]

Maybe you should do a video on Gaius van Baelsar so we understand his mindset in ARR and the other campaigns onward because I am fascinated by his attitude towards primals, Ascians and Eorzea at one point.

[@StainlessPot6]

I agree. The more I learn about Gaius the more I come to respect the man. Yes he was on the wrong side at the beginning but he never seems to do things that are overly cruel without purpose.

[@verdantmischief7092]

@@StainlessPot6 he subjected Ala Mihgans to horrible work conditions to build Baelsar's wall

[@SilverNightbane]

@@verdantmischief7092 It's because he believes in a might makes right philosophy, but he also believes in meritocracy, hence why he cares little if you're pure blooded Garlean or not, so long as you have ability and potential. It's why he was adamant in ARR to bring order to Eorzea by force, because he believes only the strong are fit to rule.

[@zjuraeventide8949]

Further on in the Stormblood storyline gives more context on his attitudes toward primals and his line of "bleeding the land dry".

[@kieranowens5346]

​@@StainlessPot6sociopathic mindset. He is objectively an evil man. I think even he acknowledges that.

[@gamma_draconis9905]

Highly worth one or multiple rewatches.

[@SynodicScribe]

Thank you for that!

[@rierku]

Things like these are why I regret that I stopped playing 1.0 shortly after release. Well, here's hoping that, since they already played around with time travel in FFXIV, they'll one day somehow introduce revised 1.x content somehow.

[@patsg1146]

Your videos are always a treat but having some footage of the mythical 1.0 to go with it push it past the epic threshold!

[@SynodicScribe]

I will always strive to bring FFXIV's lore to the surface!

[@dakotadoyle7573]

I came in at the tail end of Stormblood so all I knew about Nael in game was from NPCs so this was good to watch

[@rodimus580]

This was deep, I always look forward to your uploads and content. Lots of great story telling here, thank you!!

[@SynodicScribe]

I'm trying my best!

[@rodimus580]

@@SynodicScribe You are doing great!!

[@mikoto7693]

@@SynodicScribe You have my thanks now that I have returned to Eorzea.

[@nikodokars8315]

I am so happy to learn more about 1.0 story Thank you, Synodic Scribe

[@SynodicScribe]

You're welcome!

[@jakelawrence6618]

Funny how garlamold outside of house darness didn’t know dalamuds true nature even though they should have records in the imperial palace considering house darness. This is though one side affect of this tail I think we are all forgotten, the lambs of dalamud. Professor would it be possible that a future lecture could go over the cult and their machinations?

[@DeusGamez]

sorry for replying so late in the thread hope you found your answers tho? if not i'll do my best to explain here. the Garleans they did know that Dalamud wasn't actually a moon but that it was a satellite collecting aether from an unknown source being as how it was so far up in the atmosphere they couldnt go investigate inside of it to find that it was more than that but a prison for an elder primal and its kin. and the remained oblivious as those who ever investigated it either died or were killed off As for the lambs of Dalamud they were just a cult of crazies haha they believed it was a moon created by Menphina the Goddess of Love and meant to be her noble twin that would sometimes assume the form of a beast XD and the voidsent just took advantage of their delusional behavior as a means to break into the source world which is rich in aether for them to live off of

[@cogentsummoner3747]

iirc alisaie, urianger and the wol know that nael wasn't actually nael, but in the wake of the ruby weapon, do more people know? or was gaius & co just like "huh that big slime woman was weird. anyways,"? also, i GOTTA know. do we know if meteor is an allagan word or a garlean one in universe? if amon really called it the meteor project im gonna start screaming and crying ( meteion. meteor. both were sent into space )

[@TheEmperorHyperion]

About Eula. I feel like Emet-Selch would know if Nael was really Nael or Eula; he governs the dead. Gaius would be more focused on one of his adopted children being used as a bioweapon rather than this biomass saying she's Nael. Valens? He doesn't care at all.

[@tarastargaze3833]

Ahh, I love this video! I would love to see more videos on things from 1.0 and 1.x, even, and especially, things that didn't make the jump to 2.0

[@Sylentmana]

I really wish they would make the 1.0 storyline playable somehow. If you haven’t played 1.0 you really feel like you are missing out on key info.

[@HikingFeral]

When i first heared that eerie music over the radio in that poor girls house...mate, that's when the state of Garlemald hit me.

[@Axeken1996]

That intro gave me chills! Hopin for more 1.0 videos. I’m fascinated with it!

[@mlemlemmlemmlem]

I still remember when Nael Van Darnus said "It's morbin time"

[@NeroLucifarious]

Im surprised you didnt bring up the ruby weapon which used her combat data

[@TheGlamourNazi]

She would have eventually have been called Eula Jes Darnus as a chirurgeon.

[@TheEmperorHyperion]

I wonder... would she be Eula bas Darnus prior?

[@TheGlamourNazi]

@@TheEmperorHyperion yeah probably a Ban or something similar. We still don’t know what Fae or Eir mean so she could have been one of those.

[@SemekiIzuio]

Rip

[@maxkid6446]

the white raven herself whose actions nearly sent eorzea to its grave she who started it all

[@saltiestsiren]

I am glad she didn't completely get away with it. The secret may as well have died with "Nael".

[@wavypavy4059]

Thank you for making this, I only started playing after Endwalker's release and getting to see into some of the story of 1.0 really helps put things into context.

[@SynodicScribe]

glad you enjoyed ^^

[@Azenatrail]

One day I’d like to see the backstory of our beloved professor.

[@LinaPoe]

your channel is a a treasure for me^^

[@SynodicScribe]

I'm glad you enjoy it!

[@mikoto7693]

Likewise. I love learning the lore of games that I really enjoy and this is a very good and efficient method to do so.

[@ladytremere85]

Thank you so much for sharing this. I didn't start until a bit before Shadowbringers started, and I love seeing what came before.

[@temporalwolf7054]

So, I doubt there's a concrete answer to be had here as it's ultimately a tiny detail in the grander scheme of things but, do we have any idea where Nael - the true Nael - suffered his mortal wounds? Considering time frames I'm just wondering how likely a resistance group fleeing from Kaien's failed uprising might have found themselves in the crosshairs of the seventh legion. A detail that likely matters to me and me alone.

[@SynodicScribe]

Unfortunately I have no idea. All my source simply say, "He was mortally wounded on an ill-conceived mission." It doesn't say when or where. We just know this happened before the White Raven became famous. Not a lot to go off of.

[@gundampharmacist7348]

“From your CRAZED FACE.” Man, the venom from that line XD

[@syrendsong]

thank you for this video! i know basically nothing about 1.0 and it was wonderful to learn more about it =D

[@whydidntiriswin]

How dare you put the Answer lyrics into your lecture, it was very classy of you :D

[@SemekiIzuio]

Wow you're channel has grown. Anyways Nael is very tough even with 80 Neo gear unynced! Alas I was able to solo it once and it was very time constrictive and luck. I loved the challenge though and was never able to do it again thus I've always found Nael a rea villian hahah

[@SynodicScribe]

It has! But I still wish to reach as many people as I can! I feel like there's so much more to explore and understand, and I want to pull it all into the light for everyone.

[@mikoto7693]

@@SynodicScribe Now that I’m able to play again I fully intend to catch up on all that I have missed, barring the ones that bear serious spoilers beyond my point in Stormblood. I really enjoy watching your lore videos and learning about the sizeable amount of lore that I missed or can’t follow such as the job quests for jobs I’ll likely never do.

[@raseaces]

Curious, but was the backstory about Nael van Darnus ever featured/told in the game or was everything we got all from the Encyclopedia Eorzea volumes? Feels like something they wanted to tell eventually, but got cut short because of 1.0 being cut short

[@SynodicScribe]

It was briefly addressed in the binding coils of bahamut and 1.0, but the true origins of the story are in side content. Content that I had to thoroughly screen to make sure nothing was retconned between 1.0 and 2.0. lol

[@catrinastars]

@@SynodicScribe It would be interesting to see a video comparing what was reconned and what was kept into 2.0. If you haven't done so all ready of course. Why wast good research, right?

[@ulibarriL]

In my character's personal lore, she told the twins that Nael is just the name she dragged through the mud, while using her twisted obsession with her brother to spearhead her delusions of grandeur. Granted, everything she did after being enthralled by the elder primal isn't of her own will, but her sins need go no further than being the catalyst for the meteor project in the first place. It leads one to wonder if she ever had a will of her own. A pathetic creature of pure instinct is what Zenos would think of this woman, and I would be inclined to agree with him.

[@AlexanderPR2]

Zenos would be the last person I would want to hear criticizing someone for following their "instincts" and being pathetic about it.

[@vampireguy24]

No joke watched this video late at night, got a third of the way in, went to sleep and woke up an hour later from a nightmare (nothing happened in the nightmare, just darkness) with an inescapable feeling of impending doom and creeping dread. I guess that was how the Warrior of Light felt during the fall of Dalamud. Is something bad going to happen? Am I.. The Warrior of Light?

[@bunnydiamondweapon]

thank you so much for the good food, she's my favorite villain ever in ffxiv :3c

[@TheEmperorHyperion]

It all began with a bird, and it ended with a bird.

[@jedikitteh]

This was wonderful!

[@GarredHATES]

This was such a good story. Sadly a lot of FFXIV players likely don’t know this tale because “1.0 = bad.”

[@stephengrenleski1972]

My question is that all these bad guys that want to destroy everything, what would be the point? If they destroyed everything, they'd be left alone, all by themselves, unable to do anything. What's a King without a Kingdom?

[@jacobybarra907]

Goodness...watching this video makes me want to play 1.0..

[@SynodicScribe]

It was bad. I tried to spice up the story in this video but the game itself was awful. lol

[@PalmtopPanda]

yeah it was mostly just the stories during the 1.x patches that were good. the gameplay was super rough on top of really poor performance etc. I still have some fond memories from the 1.0 days but yeah it was overall an unpleasant experience lol. hope they maybe bring some of those storylines into ARR at least

[@rajabuta]

wonder if Nael being Eula was a retcon or always intended. And the confusion only came from the translation

[@illidarishinku2386]

wait... so that was her house?

[@SynodicScribe]

No, I just needed a garlean house that wasn't a steaming pile of rubble.

[@Luzz4136]

Thank you for your videos

[@FireTowerV]

If possible I would like you do a character video on Gaius Van Baelsar. Only if you want to i don’t want to stress or overwork you.

[@SynodicScribe]

I actually do wanna do an in depth profile on him one day. Seeing as he was the first major villain after the 2.0 launch. haha

[@ATWatkins]

Early morning lore?? Yes please

[@ffxfoerever]

I see the endwalker # Does this have endwalker spoilers or just 1.0 and binding coils info?

[@SynodicScribe]

I use some Garlean footage from Endwalker yes.

[@ffxfoerever]

@@SynodicScribe oh ok. Well I just started that section in msq so I guess I'll just listen but not watch the video. Thanks :)

[@Sussy_Bottom_Boys]

I WANT BRADAMANTE SO BAD!

[@WiemOcoChodzi]

This Evil Armies just love to change from republic's to empire's xD. Ayyy?

[@maxkid6446]

professor did you face the white raven herself?

[@sephirothcrescent5768]

I'm a new WoL but i never met that villain...I would have liked to know more about her though...Now that i think about it,is Our WoL the same WoL that fought this woman or a different WoL?...Cus since i,well My WoL has never met Eula,does that mean My WoL is different from the one that had fought Eula,My WoL who is the Reincarnation of Azem.

[@PalmtopPanda]

It changes based on if your char was around in 1.0, since canonically there are actually quite a lot of Warriors of Light, it was just another group of adventurers who defeated Nael back then. But if your char actually did get to that point during 1.0, they slightly change some dialogue in Coils and other quests to say you were the og WoL but nothing too crazy. I played during 1.0 but didnt get to the Nael fight either lol

[@ZoraKurosagi]

Great video

[@paz8723]

Naels a based dude, love how crazy he is

[@rajabuta]

he?

[@merouanebelaroussi9706]

YEEEEEEES !!!!! finaly !!

[@Madrock2429]

So the 7th calamity was caused by a woman with a brother complex 😂

[@veljkomarjanovic6155]

Sweat home Alabama