The Binding Coils of Bahamut - Complete Story and Lore

We Warriors of Light have struggled against the Elder Primal Bahamut for years without reprieve and now we look back over the history, lore and battles that made up the grand epic of the Binding Coils.
This video extensively contains my own editing and commentary and is intended for educational purposes.

[@jeffwithrow6770]

A death star imprisoning thousands of screaming dragons, all for the purpose of regenerating a fallen elder god? Dude, Allagans were metal as hell.

[@jesus123lozano]

You have no idea.... You should check how they trap all 3 Metal God.. Sophia, Zurvan, Sephora....

[@cheeseguy3412]

Its a shame they died out - I would have loved to work to bring back their empire, all that tech, knowledge and magic... they should have had more backups, civilization seeds in orbit / on other planets, etc.

[@leafgreenbeast]

regenerating an elder god to use as a bigass fuckin battery. (presumably the repair function is to maintain him for his battery usage)

[@Michael-bb1cw]

CentrifugalFacewear I don’t care how many world destroying super weapons the Galactic Empire built, the Allagans building Dalamud to turn an elder god into a giant battery makes Palpatine look like an amateur.

[@funkyxii8496]

@@jesus123lozano how tf did they do that

[@TheComradeuri]

one small thing the encyclopedia Eorzea states is that Nael Van Darnus was actually a woman named Eula Darnus. pages 184 states her brother was mortally wounded on an ill conceived mission. said brother died and mad with grief she assassinated her sire and became legatus in his stead. so the white Ravin you see in all of 1.0 was a woman pretending to be her brother, what you see in the coil is who it really is, Not a man but a woman and no one knew this in the empire, one of the best kept secrets it seems of the Empire

[@ColorOfSakura]

It needs to be explained that this video was made prior to Encyclopedia Eorzea's release and the explanation of Eula Darnus - at the time the player base were made to believe that "Nael" was actually a male and the thrall was as Ethys explained.

[@mooncat429]

Yea every time he said "He" i was like wait isn't that a women >.> looks like one

[@Shadethewolfy]

well... one of them. Second only to the fact that... spoilers. :3

[@davekaye5483]

@@ColorOfSakura Actually in the Japanese version Nael was meant to be female all along, though there wasn't enough time to flesh that out before they decided to drop Dalamud in order to revamp the game with ARR. That's why they didn't use gender-based pronouns in the original Japanese version, usually code for "secretly a woman" in Japanese game development dating back to Samus Aran, Mach Rider and Toby Masuyo from Baraduke before them. It's only in the English language version where male pronouns were used.

[@JonHerzogArtist]

8:29 "And they napped for several minutes before cheesing the enrage in a display that they would forever be ashamed to admit." :P

[@sadi5713]

+Jonathan Herzog I dont get it please explain.

[@DarthNemesisX]

+Sadi The Turn 2 boss has a complicated mechanic where you have to carefully pass around a debuff right before it expires or it kills the whole group, but after a long time the boss "enrages" and just spams an AoE attack instead. Groups used to wait outside the boss room for like 10 minutes for the enrage timer to tick down since it was easier to just heal through the AoE damage than to do the intended mechanics.

[@sadi5713]

+Darth Nemesis thx

[@cyphi474]

0click was legit :P

[@medigoomnis]

Bahahaha I love how he rolled it off like actual lore. "Creative apathy." "Stripped naked."

[@EliyanBrize]

As Summoner I appreciate the passive aggressive mentioning of Phoenix-egi.

[@ReachStudioPro]

+Nia Tahl Considering the crazy stuff you find out in the Stormblood Summoner story, there is a chance Summoners will get a new egi even though Square Enix constantly says no. In the Summoner story of ARR I believe or early Heavensward you find out the reason why Summoners can't summon more than the three you gain but! Stormblood reveals ways how those limitations was bypassed and it is ways the player can definitely achieve.

[@noxerator1]

And now we got it. Phoenix summon is finally...summonable!

[@josesoria8335]

@@noxerator1 me coming into endwalker. Wtf is an egi?

[@Raoul9753]

As a newer player who couldnt get to the coils before endwalker, i thank you for this story summary

[@TheSeekingIsOver]

Well, listening to this again after some time, and just before the release of Endwalker, is certainly going to make the events in the preceding expansion that much harder and tragic to watch. Thank you for your well narrated, thoughtful, intelligent and engaging videos Ethys.

[@NBttlr]

I joined FFXIV:ARR late into the game before Heavensward... Never got past Turn 5 of the Binding Coil until just now, in fact. My friends kept screaming "Don't do T9. It's a nightmare.", but curious of the entire story, I stumbled upon your video. I can safely say you not only did a good job narrating the experiences and story of the epic's entirety, but it was with a gentle reassuring tone and a few laughs in the beginning that kept me intrigued and then expanding upon the story beyond that kept me engaged. And now, enlightened. Thank you for making this video. I may never get to experience the full story for myself, but I can at least say I know what happened now.

[@EthysAsher]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm really glad you enjoyed the video :)

[@xanderbriggs2794]

I know this comment is old but at this point you can do T9 unsynced with 2 people, pretty easily actually, and 3 people will definetly be able to do it.

[@mitchiruy]

At 80 480 T9 was solo doable for a dps. But required to know when to burst and couple tricks. With 6.0 can be solo very easily. Thou bosses of the coils, a few can't be killed fast. They have a lock where if quick hp fall, they lock you and Instakill you. Therefor slow pace but still quick easy battles.

[@blazesona12]

@@EthysAsher so... what was this cheese of coil 3 ya did?

[@edgarlarios4718]

HOLY CRAP! I knew all the information at the beginning of the video independently from the crystal tower storyline, but I never put it all together with the coils of bahamut storyline like this! It blew my mind!

[@Nikzzza]

I honestly don't see any way of SE coming up with such a good story for the end game raid. This is just one goddamn well written piece and the way you included the fights in the narration made it feel more nostalgic than I was anticipating. I'm ever so glad we've got people that are providing videos about the lore for this game we all like.

[@QuiteSpiffing]

This was such a treat, I've been carried through this series of dungeons and raids by a friend who told me this content is barely ever being played still, and while my undergeared lv 50 Dragoon didn't stand a chance against the majority of the bosses, the cutscenes in between with the epic showdown with Bahamut, and that bittersweet conclusion was the constant dying at boss encounters absolutely worth it.

[@Tenkuu-san]

Nice video, but just a note: the Bahamut Prime we faced in T13 was not Bahamut at his full strength, but rather at a fraction of it, which is why we were able to beat him.

[@megadong2398]

Damn girl, you single?

[@alberto5189]

@@megadong2398 lmao you're really asking that on a 5 year old comment. Shoot your shot I guess.

[@achorn316]

Thank you for posting this. Been looking for something like this for a while now.

[@Eliwood407]

It may have been years since last i've seen this video, and here I am once more after helping new players through all 3 coils. This video is perhaps the greatest and well written resource to share to any who wish to know exactly what they went through!

[@TatcheeClips]

This was absolutely what I had been waiting to see from you! The way you can weave an already intricate and engaging story to be something even more exciting is absolutely mind-blowing. I can't put into words how much fun I've had watching your videos, and how amazed I was by this one. I started playing the game after watching The End of an Era and reading some of the 1.0 and Coil lore so watching something like this was a huge deal for me! Thank you so much for all your hard work, I'll be looking forward to all of your content to come!

[@ThaRock09]

Thanks for this. My static fell apart one day after we got to T9 and I lost interest in the raid after that so I never got to see how it all turned out. The whole story, the song, all of it still sends chills down my spine. I still remember the night the servers went down for the last time and they showed us that first CG cinematic. Amazing story from amazing developers.

[@thebeattribe]

I really enjoy these types of stories that you do. They are well researched and intriguing. Your voice is very soothing as well. Cheers mate!

[@reebok810]

Please keep up the great work! Man, I've been looking for lore videos for a while!

[@najdkayali8579]

You have a FANTASTIC voice! Very professional and warm in tone like a true story teller! Please make more of these!

[@KenjiShiratsuki]

Can I just say I love this video and I'm going to forever call these long compilations "Storytime With Ethys"

[@Reycied]

I love these videos for shoring up my knowledge of the lore (I never was part of a raiding FC, so we never ran Binding Coil), but I also like how you do your videos mostly in-character. It feels less like I'm watching a video and more like I'm staring at a weathered dragoon over the rim of a mug of ale in a tavern while he regales me with the history of Eorzea.

[@AshTreeDweller]

Thank you for taking the time to do this.

[@spitefulhopes2937]

Glad you made this video, was definitely worth watching/listening too. =] Very thorough

[@missnuriko8118]

Thanks for the video. Even now in Stormblood the coils are too hard to completely finish with a full party of my friends, so I'm glad that you put this video together so that I could see all of the story behind it.

[@steelbreese72]

loved the bits on us cheesing turn two n running third naked and explaining final coil in full detail was apreciated. guna be awhile til i can try that stuff. great video (:

[@elixabethclairec]

I joined FFXIV quite late, so it was only after 3.0 that I was able to find parties to beat the final coil. As such, I skipped a lot of cutscenes to make up for being with experiences teammates - this video was an extraordinary catch-up. Thank you for making it!

[@GaMEChld]

Just fyi, there is a desk in game called the "unending journey" which is a housing item, but think also available in inn rooms. That desk let's you re-watch in game cut scenes.

[@KMFDM_Kid2000]

Masterfully done. I especially enjoyed the wink at Turn 2 enrage.

[@Darrel_B]

That was awesome. Been playing the game 4 years and I've never got through the Binding Coils with it being such old content no-one needs. What a story! Think I'll go in and solo it to experience it for myself. Thank you!

[@meruru_meru]

"before cheesing the enrage" ahh good times

[@evansims]

This is fantastic, thank you for sharing it

[@bryanpeters9872]

This story was great, and sad. What a peoples would do to another for their own gains. Thank you.

[@daeverion]

Thank you so much for putting this together. It's been ages since I completed the Bahamut raids, and i wanted a refresher before the release of Endwalkers.

[@sadi5713]

Nice video exactly what I wanted. A nice calm story recap :)

[@zorlac72]

Amazing video Ethys Thank you! Coil was so epic!!!!

[@mmafanirl]

Nice work man. Great to have this as an overview etc

[@neheobthe1st]

This was exactly what I was after - A concise recap of this saga. THANK YOU!

[@Dope6oyzInc]

(Other than the Game Developers themselves) No one and I mean "No one" has told this story greater than you! Youve captured a Great visual in its peak. And I for one greatly appreciate it.

[@Dope6oyzInc]

BTW #TEAMDRG

[@gallantblues5328]

As someone getting started during 4.0 this was very enlightening and enjoyable. Thank you for making it :)

[@ChrisJKop1]

That was awesome! Great job man

[@ericellertson555]

thank you for this. Ive been playing for a few years and skipped over this, only to learn that endwalker suggest we pay attention to this lore. SO THANK you so much for creating this. Its done very well.

[@Terracorrupt0]

Great video man, well explained and put together, hope to see more lore videos in the future :)

[@MrWooaa]

Thanks for making this, I dont have a high enough level or enough freinds to do this raid set, so I am glad I can get up to date.

[@Malmas001]

This is fantastic. Very detailed. As a Lore addict who wanted to check if you got your facts right, you were completely spot on.

[@Dreamlands15]

This is one of the best damn videos on KZbin. Well done!

[@MarikuJunrei]

Never have I been so captured by a video that I had to stop what I was doing and just watch everything about this was great

[@BroceedToCheckpoint]

As someone who hasn't been able to clear the Binding Coil and wanted to catch up on the story coming in to Heavensward this has been amazingly helpful. Not only do you cover the story but you do it in a very immersive way! Thank you.

[@KastPlays]

This is by far the greatest thing about FFXIV Content providers I have seen so far lol. I love how you can go from all this serious talk and then into "Cheesing the enrage" and "stripping naked and jumping down" You are clearly a master of your craft, my friend XD

[@KonDragon008]

With the new raid, nobody seems to do Coils anymore, so I want to thank you for putting this together so folks (like me) who can't seem to get in a group for an old raid can still enjoy the story/lore of it.

[@alexandergrey237]

I've got to admit, you have a fantastically captivating narrative voice. I haven't played FFXIV in quite some time but I intend to resub for Heavensward so I decided to watch this video to catch up. You've done an incredible job of telling a story that I otherwise would have been completely oblivious to.

[@EthysAsher]

***** that's very flattering, thank you!

[@imortal333]

Will this quest line disappear when Heavensward comes out?

[@Singularity2039]

imortal333 Nope

[@SlinkyKievo]

imortal333 no they are not removing any content for the expansion. It will also have an ilevel sync so you can experience it like we did.

[@imortal333]

oh cool. I was worried because I haven't had any time at all to play because of school and I had to cancel my sub until I get more spare cash so this is a huge relief!

[@topshiba3457]

AWESOME VIDEO DUDE!!!!

[@NeoTenshu]

Great video! I've always wanted to get into the end game raiding but that's a tale for a different day. Thank you!

[@hentainin87]

This...is beautiful... :") Thx for recapping

[@sangcreux167]

Hey Ethys I'm sure you get tons of comments like this but I just wanted to thank you so much for these very detailed videos. I watch all cutscenes, read all the quest text yet I can always learn so much more through your channel. Keep it up, please! You make the lore of this game so much more enjoyable for me.

[@EthysAsher]

+Sangcreux Noir I'm flattered, thank you!

[@keeperofwind6937]

Thanks for doing this, when playing this with my FC I was force to skip most of the story and felt awful for missing it. Sadly I never finish the coils so I'm glad to at least to finally watched it.

[@Pashtarot]

Such a cool video, well done!

[@ytshay8697]

u gave me goosebumps. amazingly done!

[@Croyles]

I've seen this video a while ago but just wanted to say: You have an excellent script and narration.

[@phillipcurtis699]

I am wondering who did not like this. Having played through it as a guy who skips cs I appreciate how well of a recap this was.

[@EthysAsher]

phillip curtis he probably didn't like some inflection in my voice, something I didn't say perfectly clearly, the fact that I couldn't do it in ten minutes, or maybe he thinks I'm just a narcissistic douchebag by a vague feeling he gets from me - It's the internet, you know what it's like. Negative comments and downvotes never bother me and it's not worth wondering about, but thanks so much for watching and I'm glad you personally found it useful :)

[@HawsDaBaws]

Amazing video dude! Keep it up!

[@warlockwarlord169]

Amazing video again :D can't wait for your 2.55 conclusion video on lore if you are doing one... it left me intrigued and with many questions and theories. Also Yoshida said we would find out more about Bahamut in the expansion...hopefully is new info about when he was a living dragon...how did he behave and what killed him....and how did Midgarsorm react to the loss of his first child

[@shenji06]

aswesome narration and explanation of the lore even after completing some of it il admit i missed some of the things you explained well done and looking forward to seeing how the castle will pan out

[@ffxivelitevault]

Your videos are great bro keep up the good work!

[@rtablada]

love your channel. FFXIV is the FF I will never play due to my busy career path but I'm glad there's a youtuber out there that do all of these vids, so that at least I don't miss out on a main FF game storyline. Cheers, bud!

[@scott_chocolate]

Most underviewed video ever.

[@acciuga89]

this is so great!!!thank you!

[@Edge2177]

Rewatched this since I was helping some new folks clear it, wish the channel was more active. I hope you have more free time in the future to keep up with it :)

[@Sensiav703]

All this epicness about the struggles of the Warriors of Light within the Coils, and now I'm looking at most if not all of them being done with only two people or even solo. XD

[@ZenoTasedro]

What a great video to watch while waiting for endwalker! I know it's 6 years late but great job on this

[@jaxs616]

I just watched this to prepare for Endwalker, as the writer says this story is important and I don't have time to do the entire raid series plus cutscenes before then. Thanks for making this, it was great!

[@Libscorsair]

Awesome job!

[@kennethdouglas21]

Always been interested in the lore of the MMOs but never wanted to play them in depth. So glad this account exists

[@randomkoreanguy]

Fantastic video. I've been wanting to know the story behind all of this, as I've been forced to skip it and it gets mentioned every now and again in the main story quest. Now that I know what all happened, I can rest easy. It's tough to get older content done, especially if it's time consuming and easily skipped (and there's little to no reward or incentive for doing it).

[@chocodysseus]

I'm watching this christmas eve of 2021 & I'm shocked this doesn't have 1 million views. great video **latom**

[@icarianmirror]

Just wanted to say thank you for this. I'm a pretty new player to FF14, and absolutely unlikely to clear any of coil before Heavensward hits. You presented this really well :-)

[@Arizen5]

Awesome dude!

[@sephiroth4465]

Great video! Liked and subscribed!

[@kevinwilson6419]

Lol you did an awesome job on the story telling part of it all budd need ta do that with all of the side quests or just most of the big ones like this one

[@Kitsune10060]

ya for learning the story to a chunk of content I'm never gonna be able to finish due to people just not doing it any more

[@fezzes304]

Its easy to find unsynched premades for it in party finder. you can do it easily with 4-6 200+ ilvl people and people still do it since they are still needed for tails

[@Kitsune10060]

Fez zes so it seems. how much of Second Coil actually has story and how much is 'filler' ?

[@fezzes304]

Lunar Templar Second coil is very important in terms that it weaves the 1.0 and 2.0 together, it's not mandatory but it tells the story of Louisoix and the late Nael Deus Darnusas this video tells.. but mainly if you want to do it, it's for completion achievement and to see a peek at what the fights had been although they are super easy now.

[@Kitsune10060]

@SoyBoyThoughts I actually finished Coil not long after my last post here. It was dope, even unsynced.

[@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind]

I love rewatching this

[@josephkalisz4502]

Great Video!

[@forner1900]

I cried , very powerful outstanding speaking voice and narration. It was a tail told very awesomely. Thank you, I hope you do or have more story tellings of Ffxiv I really enjoyed this. Here's hoping for more, cheers

[@kage8725]

You know I find myself coming back to this video despite having done the coils myself and also having seen it before. Ethys just has a very nice voice to be my background while I zone out level classes and other stuff in the game. On a side note I certainly wouldn't mind seeing another version of Bahamut before his insanity drove him mad and before he was warped into a primal. Imagine being able to talk to bahamut in the same way we spoke to nidhogg or midgarsormr or even hraesvelgr.

[@katiecampbell9823]

This is the perfect summary of the Bahamut Coils that I needed. I never was able to get my Free Company to take me through the coils like they promised me, so I'm glad to get some closure on this storyline that I probably would never have gotten otherwise, especially now that everyone is preoccupied with Heavensward.

[@helloSanders]

This was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@nekoloverforlife1748]

That was definitely worth the wait! Thanks for the story Ethys! I love your character btw. Ya look great in those selfie pics in coil. Sexy dragoon too btw.

[@MrJonnyTapas]

Enjoyable watch! Thanks for that!

[@amitamaru]

You make a fair bard good sir. Thank you for your rendition.

[@Offoda]

epic summary.. thank you

[@PiinkiePiee]

thank you for the video good work

[@TheRealLink]

Such a beautiful narration and explanation of everything. Thank you for taking the time to piece this fantastic raid history into novelistic lore. Hope you're enjoying Heavensward ;).

[@nakomat09]

nice to have the whole story told like this ^^

[@irabradlee7837]

Amazing video! Would love one for Alexander

[@benpescod5350]

Well done!!

[@abai7133]

Thanks for making this as requested :)

[@medigoomnis]

I think Kaliya is entirely synthetic, not an experiment, but maybe I'm wrong. Another lovely wonderful (and hilarious) video, sir!

[@Chrisboxify]

Seriously wouldn't be surprised if they hired you to do In game voicing one day.

[@EthysAsher]

***** I can dream...

[@shanegrayson7068]

Ethys Asher Well, don't dream about it, friend. Just by throwing a little emotion (if you were doing a voice over) your voice acting could be better than the guy who does Urianger. This is a complement by the way ;)

[@athest7]

Shane Grayson Urianger's voice actor is actually Gideon Emery, who's a renowned actor/voice actor. His performance (along with the rest of the VAs) in XIV is sub-par due to poor voice direction in the game.

[@shanegrayson7068]

athest7 Ya seem Ethys. All ya need is some voice direction, and we will hear your voice in the game in the future :D

[@athest7]

Shane Grayson Voice direction meaning that the voice director in charge of the recording for FF XIV did a poor job, not that Ethys needs "direction" himself lol.

[@mctrix1]

nicely done x

[@vikkil5510]

Excellent video. thank you /bow

[@gpyyy]

Hey, awesome vid and storyteling! :D

[@HarbourLightning]

Because I am a rare person whom absolutely loves and actively seeks out spoilers as motivation and interest holders, I am assuming this the ending of ARR? ...Roughly? I feel so bad for the dragons. I wish desperately to play a game where dragons are allies and friends and not monsters or tormented beasts or the victims of "with hunting" as is the (disturbing and discomfiting and too close to home) plot of the first Ishgard advance to get the Enterprise. Why is it always Dragons OR people? Again, beautifully edited, well narrated and excellently cut together

[@LinVGMPlaylists]

Fortunately HW's main story goes exactly in that direction. It's not about dragon or men, but whoever blocks the path to peace.

[@Residenteviladicted]

HarbourLightning well this isn't the ending of ARR, it's the summary + ending of the coil raids in ffxiv (aka hardest content when it came out), which focused on Alisae.

[@jonkieponkie]

For many players, The Final Coil of Bahamut represents the true ending of 1.0. It gave players redemption and resolved a story-thread that was only subtly hinted to throughout the lvl 1-lvl 50 quests. In 2.0/ARR, this was a Raid story line, so not a main story/Main Scenario Quest. It had great cut-scenes nevertheless, and it resolves what happened to Louisoux in the Answers opening movie with the Flames of Truth cutscene. [SPOILER ALERT: how cool is it that he comes back to resurrect you vs. Bahamut Ultimate?! SPOILER ALERT]

[@OnionBun]

Great job once again. I still have to beat T9, but it was good to get such a complete picture of what is beyond. I look forward to making Darnus kiss my boots.