Venat's History REVEALED! (FFXIV Side Stories Explained)

The Ancients are a fascinating piece of Final Fantasy XIV's history, and the "Tales from the Dawn" series is giving us more from the time. Let's dissect the first story, A Friendship of Record, that focuses on Venat during her time as Azem. And how a dear friend shaped the image of a being that helped save the star thousands of years later.
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[@acgearsandarms1343]

It seems totally in line for her character to me. She was many things in her life. A scholar, a mentor, a friend, a mother, a deity, a guide. It’s been a long life even for an Ancient and it’s always ever been her choice. It’s very much like her.

[@StoutHelm]

I agree, I think it added well to what we already knew. Her openness being a big one. It’s easy to see why people flocked to her in the Final Days and why people would give up their life for her cause.

[@acgearsandarms1343]

@@StoutHelm And she didn’t make these decisions lightly either.

[@kizuyakatogami528]

@@StoutHelm Openness? She kept the secret of the final days hidden from everyone and refused to tell them an apocalypse was coming. How is that open?

[@StoutHelm]

@@kizuyakatogami528 let me clarify - openness prior to her gaining knowledge of the final days. She absolutely kept information to herself after that. Before, she demonstrates transparency and a really down to Earth demeanor.

[@kizuyakatogami528]

@@StoutHelm Ah yes i agree. Honestly Venat before learning of it feels like a completely different character after learning about it and it’s incredibly jarring. The venat we’re shown beforehand would have absolutely told her people the truth and actively worked to help them solve the threat and the venat we get after is…a hollow shell.

[@thebluemarauder]

A couple minor corrections: First we visited the original Anamesis Anyder, not a recreation. Until recently the interior was sealed so it stayed in good condition. Second the watcher waited for about 12 millennia, not one. I can’t remember if we have a firm number for how long it’s been since the sundering, but at least 12,000 years

[@StoutHelm]

Correct on both points, no clue why I used a single millennia in my script there.

[@kaleajadesilver8918]

I've heard 12,000 as well, just not entirely sure where this bit came from info wise. As for Anamnesis Anyder, it's front door is covered in sea related things, but at least the second door stayed closed lols Although the story says it's a vault, I remember before 5.2 came out that people were guessing it was like apartments because the word residency was used to describe it in Japanese. Then actually seeing it it was like a library. I was so shocked that I didn't realize it was a vault on my own lols, but hey, I'd not be shocked if it was that and living space for those who worked there.

[@siyrean]

@@kaleajadesilver8918 so Anyder housing when

[@sijrichters]

I love how you connected this story with what we already know from the MSQ. I appreciate the insight!

[@StoutHelm]

Thanks man as always. Glad you liked it.

[@cocotaem5101]

My favourite character in FF14 and top 5 across the entire series.

[@MH4wheel]

Great rundown, loved the presentation. Hell, right down to picking music from ToAU in the background! FFXI has some awesome tracks.

[@StoutHelm]

I've been itching to use more XI music in these videos. The XIV music is stellar, I adore it, but I still get nostalgic for the old stuff sometimes.

[@kimaclaret]

Another great video! I love the depth these stories give these characters. The Watcher's words after 6.0 were very sweet, and they were updated again for 6.2, I believe.

[@StoutHelm]

Thank you homie. I love them too.

[@Elena_Smiles]

Oh my! What an inquisitive video! Well done! ☺️ I loved the bit about "Hearken. Feel. Understand"! Didn't catch it when I read it, it's genius. I cried to that story - they had a great respect and understanding of each other. I know Venat is not perfect, she's made some disturbing and controversial decisions. But I still see her as a loving, compassionate and determined mother figure who did everything in her power to save the world and all its creatures. I'd love to listen to more stories about her, empathize with her experiences and appreciate her journey. 😅

[@StoutHelm]

Thank you friend!!

[@Alpacalips]

Another awesome video! Venat is definitely my favorite character this far.

[@StoutHelm]

She’s a good one. The problem is that there’s so many good ones it’s hard to pick favorites!

[@CeresAzalia]

First, I just want to say that when I originally read this story, it broke me. Your careful portrayal of the researcher colors him as something like a dear friend. But I strongly disagree. If you read the story as-written, it's abundantly clear to me that he was in love with her. People don't talk about others the way he talks about Venat when they're just friends. He literally dedicates his existence to being of use to her, describes her as "perfect", "radiant" and "without flaw". He misses her deeply when she leaves and spends all his time preparing for her next visit. He changes his course of study to better be in line with what she studies so that he might be of use to her, and when he first hears she's retiring from the convocation, he assumes she plans to die and flies into a panic begging "Not yet, not yet". That's not a friend. He was in love with her. A deep, unrequited love, for sadly as we all already know, Venat had a different love. She confesses that she fell in love with the star itself and all it's people. So focused was she on this love for mankind and Etheirys, that she likely would not have been the type to notice simple romantic gestures. This is not to say she didn't value him. She did. Profoundly so. So much so that upon sundering all, one of her first acts was to create the Watcher in her dearest friends' likeness. We may not know the inner most workings of their relationship, but based on what is illuminated in this story, he was her closest and dearest friend. More so than any other member of the convocation, or in fact even "our" Azem, her successor. Realizing this broke my heart. For the reasearcher, and for Venat. It's so sad, and we don't even get to know his name! 😢 Secondly, I believe we do know what happened to that crystal the researcher gave Venat. As we know, by the time the Ancients had reached the final days, Venat was well aware of us...of our role, Meteion, and the task at hand. She likely would have been pushimg to get as much space travel, cosmological, and star data as possible in order to form her contingencies should all else fail, but also to chart a course to Meteion herself, who she have been tracking. I believe she would have asked her friend to assist in gathering this data, and I believe he did. That crystal which he gave to her stored all the data that would be needed to help chart a course to Meteion. I dont think he knew that's what he was doing, rather that he completed the task without question because Venat asked. That same crystal, she kept on her person, even after becoming Hydaelyn. Until we found and faced off against her in the Lifestream. There she gives the crystal to us, and tells us to give it to the Lopporits, who will use it to chart a path to Meteion. It's possible Venat/Hydaelyn added more info to it as time went on, or refined things as she pinpointed Meteion's location, but regardless. The crystal the researcher gave her, and the one she gives us to find our way, I believe, are one and the same.

[@vevi457]

amazing video as always

[@StoutHelm]

Thank you king.

[@dane.2294]

People that say Venat was wrong simply refuse to accept the flaws inherent in any immortal society that the game literally beats you over the head with time and time again, in favor a "We should be gods" mentality. Perfection leads to stagnation that leads to madness and extinction. Venat created a wave that rises, falls, and rises again to eventually renew a dead universe through Meteion's final song. It is a total and flawless victory on a cosmic scale.

[@vortex3833]

All the flaws of an immortal society present in this game are nothing compared to the flaws exhibited by mortals. Immortality leads to stagnation? Then mortality leads to war, genocide, slavery, rape, feuds, cataclysms and many more problems that did not occur in the Ancient world. I’d rather die peacefully of my own accord than of illness or the fires of war. Not to mention that “we should be gods” mentality was not something that the Ancients espoused. They are shown countless times to respect the life of their planet and work for the betterment of their star, first and foremost. Athena is criticized by all other Pandaemoium characters for her quest to ascend into godhood. Meanwhile there are plenty examples of people in the sundered world who do the same, Thordan would be an obvious one. Venat never told her people the truth, thus never giving them a fair chance to stand against Meteion. Even so, they succeeded, and she still chose to inflict genocide upon them. She is a maniac and a monster, undeserving of any sympathy.

[@kizuyakatogami528]

Please tell me what is stopping the sundered from reaching the same fate as this of the first two dead ends. The ancients lived for an incredibly long time and personally i’d rather live in their society than the sundered world full of mass murder rape and genocide.

[@lolcat5303]

@@kizuyakatogami528 They will even reach the third one potentially, because... 1) they share the same ideals as many of the "perfectionist" societies and 2) the denizens of that world were once, too, mortal beings, as per the data logs. To me the main comment just reads like it's trying to rationalise the destruction of societies of immortal beings based on their inherent traits, when Venat's decision to screw her own people over to favour the brave little spark is what doomed them for good (like Vortex says, she never told her people the truth.) Meanwhile, you had the dragons who also had a paradise, and it was not destroyed because of some inherent "flaw" in immortality but to do with the omicrons deciding to invade and destroy them. I think trying to justify the destruction of the societies of immortal beings based on their inherent traits has a pretty dark undertone to it. "Perfection leads to stagnation that leads to madness and extinction. " Yes, the story preaches this. Nowhere does it really make an argument to justify it. The Plenty is at best a strawman caricature.

[@JapanFreak2595]

Regardless of how prosperous and nigh perfect ancient society was, the cracks were bound to show eventually, Hermes being what would shatter that perception. Because their longevity and how easy it was to create from nothing but their aether, the ancients had developed a flippant and less mournful attitude toward death as a result. Coupled with the fact that ancient society was prospering, instilled an attitude that everyone was perfectly okay. All except Hermes, who became increasingly more concerned with this sentiment toward death, as his empathy toward his creations grew. No matter who Hermes spoke with, they just weren’t able to understand how he was feeling and why. The Meteion situation happened, understood life to meaningly, and brought upon the Final Days. A circumstance that nobody saw coming (say Venat), could not properly prepare for, to which many people reacted to in vastly different ways. Hermes brought upon the Final Days due to an existential depression that went unheard for so long by a society that thought very little of their own creations and lives. Emet-Selch birthed destructive empires, ruined shards, and wrought calamity upon calamity on to the Source, all because he wanted to go home. Venat sundered the world of Etheirys and its people making them go through more hardships in an imperfect world, but it allow them the ability to grow, change, better utilize dynamis, things that the ancients were incapable of doing. None of them were justified, their decisions were deeply personal and complicated while at the same time understandable. Good, bad, right, wrong, none of it mattered, it was an unfortunate set of circumstances that no one could foresee or handle in the “best” way they could. All of this to say that Hermes should’ve gotten therapy, but ancient society did not find such things necessary, leading to their own undoing.

[@acgearsandarms1343]

I see it as Venat being placed in a position to make an impossible choice. And as many might say otherwise, would they be put in her position, they can’t say they would make the most moral decision and would be disingenuous if they did. Easy to pin blame when you don’t have to do the hard choices. Then again, I don’t think she was right or wrong, just the impossible choice.

[@iamonthetube]

Love this video - so pumped for my copy of Tales of the Light coming in October. Hoping it will sell well and make a case for some novels.

[@StoutHelm]

I need to get myself a copy of that too$

[@madambutterfly1997]

Well come and Well met

[@Rhoen13]

My brave little spark

[@madambutterfly1997]

@@Rhoen13 how long you’ve wandered

[@mlemlemmlemmlem]

@@madambutterfly1997 burned bright as a star

[@madambutterfly1997]

@@mlemlemmlemmlem oh I have long awaited you patiently…all this time

[@bolladragon]

@@madambutterfly1997 Past every fate

[@kaleajadesilver8918]

I still wonder if we'll ever learn the Watcher's name. And I just side eye SE for his robe colors, like ok yeah slight FuSoYa reference cool, but why? I just wonder..... (And question the irony of him bearing said title/Hydaelyn being thought of as a Goddess. It's just interesting.)

[@StoutHelm]

The FuSoYa reference could run deeper in the next MSQ update. And I wish we knew his name too.

[@kaleajadesilver8918]

@@StoutHelm I'll laugh if his name was either Fu's or something. Given his love for knowledge it could have been some Greek/Latin name from like a myth or deity or something that was know to ve similar or so. But I hope we do learn more. It'd be interesting indeed.

[@Lyu-Phy]

The guy is a key character for sure imho. Whatever comes next he will play major role I hope.

[@LIJXFVKINBVY]

This might seem mad but could the warrior go back even further in time and was the one who found it or made the convocation?

[@kyrxon277]

Oh wow, what if that white robed ancient in a flashback in the 13th was that world's Watcher that was defeated? 👀

[@StoutHelm]

I think it happened. Go watch my Golbez video if you're up for it, I talk more about that theory there!

[@mlemlemmlemmlem]

Btw I've been wondering, are hydaelin and zodiark really primals? After thinking about it, aren't they just a transformation made by many ancients like with Gaia and that one other guy in Eden?

[@bolladragon]

I don’t think so. I think the ancient primals are more akin to what Ysayle does regarding Shiva. She still needed prayer and an enormous amount of energy to become Shiva. Also, we’ve seen Elidibus transform on his own, and he was nothing like Zodiark.

[@StoutHelm]

They're not quite the same as modern primals, eikons or eidolons. They are a manifestation of will from massive amounts of aether, but unlike modern primals, they needed someone at the help to basically steer it as the heart.

[@kaleajadesilver8918]

@@StoutHelm I personally feel like Hydaelyn's physical appearance was based on Venat's if she transformed and used said state as the base for her to be Hydaelyn's heart. Unless everyone drew out a design for that and especially Zodiark. Zodi's got like tentacles and such. Who among the Convocation thought of his looks? Cause he's ugly. He makes Chaos in Dissidia look handsome.

[@althelor]

I wouldn't quite think so. Mainly because of the massive amount of aether needed to create both of them requiring massive amounts of sacrifices far beyond anything that any one ancient was capable of producing. Plus each one had God-like powers that could reshape the entire planet, which I seriously doubt any transformed ancient would be capable of doing.

[@siyrean]

@@kaleajadesilver8918 Ancients don't look at dark = evil they also don't see predators the same why we do if Elpis side quests and fates are anything to go by.

[@kaleajadesilver8918]

Hmmm.... I wonder if we'll ever come across that crystal.....

[@StoutHelm]

I asked a few others to make sure I wasn't crazy, and we don't have a connection for that crystal yet. I suppose it could be the one we saw in the Aitascope that leads to Pandaemonium but I feel like that's too easy.

[@kaleajadesilver8918]

@@StoutHelm or even the one she gives us to get to Ultima Thule or somehow both, but perhaps we'll eventually see what that is referring too or if another entirely.

[@Lyu-Phy]

God I love Venat so much. She deserves all the love.

[@BlaxxShadow]

Their souls disappeared? Does that mean they didn't even go to the Aetherical Sea?

[@StoutHelm]

It’s like what happened with Zodiark, except those sacrificed souls remained imprisoned with him on the moon. The ones offered to Hydaelyn do not get that according to the story.

[@bolladragon]

@@StoutHelm Is that part of how they managed to make Hydaelyn stand a chance fighting Zodiark?

[@BlaxxShadow]

@@StoutHelm Wow...seems like a raw deal tbh...Venat got to move on to the afterlife...they didn't. T_T I think I can see why some argue with Venat's methods. I don't think they were good or bad, but just grey. They weren't forced to do it either, but such a heavy price...

[@jaypro6269]

@@BlaxxShadow Venat didn't get to move on to the afterlife, she is gone. Like gone gone. During the Q&A after Endwalker's release, it was confirmed that she used up her entire soul to fight us, and there is nothing left of her.

[@dafire9634]

@@StoutHelm this might squash the theory that "the twelve" are venats followers

[@TheAuron32]

being a Gunbreaker main... and the MT of the fight, REALLY hit me HARD... i really didnt want to fight her.

[@kaleajadesilver8918]

1:08 Actually it's not a recreation. It's the original. Left to basically be forgotten in the seas depths.

[@Beathemighty]

10:00 is the exact moment you lost me. It's this kind of selective phrasing that gets on my nerves. No they summoned Zordiark to fix the leyline corrupt that they THOUGHT was the cause of the final days. Using him as a means to restore the former state of the unsundered world came way after a period of healing. Which makes her choice to Genocide and sunder everyone even MORE bullshit because regardless of whether they choose to "suffer and grow" or use Zordiark THEY STILL DONT KNOW THE TRUE CAUSE BEHIND THE FINAL DAYS! But I imagine it's hard to justify Venats actions if you provide any context to why she refused to tell anyone EVEN HER OWN FOLLOWERS the true cause of the final days. Get off that Kool aid bro your non Ancient stuff is great but everytime you talk about Venat your bias shows true

[@StoutHelm]

I felt like I addressed the morality of Venat’s choices in the video I did about her originally, but I’m not sure what you mean by bias. Who am I discriminating against in favor of her?Yoshida himself stated that Venat’s actions were very much an ancient thing to do, a way of saying that her taking control of the situation and keeping secrets was on the same level as Team Zodiark.

[@Beathemighty]

@@StoutHelm Yes and I made a comment on that one too about how absolutely needless and selfish her "Difficult" choice was. But as far as bias is concerned it's against ancient civilization not once have you bothered to explain the full situation regarding the final days. You don't mention that Zordiark was made first and foremost as a means to Stop the leyline corruption that was wrongfully attributed as the cause of the final days. Which caused Emet Selch to lose his greatest and best friend which I have no doubt lead to Emet being a staunch advocate for using Zordiark to bring back those they lost. You don't mention the the world was in the process of healing and by all accounts things were looking up You don't mention that Venat full well knew she was going to fight Zordiark and sunder the world regardless of what ancient civilization did because of her meeting with the WoL. Also how are you gong to tell me Yoshida san says venat actions were in line with ancient civilization while ALSO saying she is clearly blatantly an outlier!?

[@StoutHelm]

@@Beathemighty ... Because that's what Yoshida said in a live letter? Those were his words. If you go back and watch the live letter after Endwalker's release that's where he talks about it.

[@Beathemighty]

@@StoutHelm I'll clarify Yoshida san says Venats actions were in line with ancient society. Yet in this video following the Tales short you paint Venat as someone outside the typical Ancient mindset. She chose to wear white robes. It's either she was like all other members of the convacation or she isn't you can't have it both ways!

[@lolas.7024]

@@Beathemighty babe calm down its a game its not real