Emet-Selch

About

Emet-Selch (エメトセルク) is a non-playable character from MMORPG video game Final Fantasy XIV designed by Natsuko Ishikawa with René Zagger as the English voice actor while Hiroki Takahashi is the Japanese voice actor. Emet-Selch plays a major role as companion and main antagonist for Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers. During his storyline and appearance, Emet-Selch's popularity greatly rose along with a few memes and ranked as #1 Final Fantasy antagonist.

Origin

Emet-Selch is a alternate younger clone of his former self Solus zos Galvus^[2], the founder and the first emperor of the Garlean Empire. He is the grandfather of second emperor Varis zos Galvus and great-grandfather of major Final Fantasy XIV antagonist Zenos yae Galvus. His original self Solus zos Galvus was only mentioned several times in the 1.0 Legacy storyline of Final Fantasy XIV and then mentions of his death in the re-release of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn as he didn't made any appearances in the game except several artworks of the character. During a patch release for Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, in a cutscene, Emet-Selch makes his first appearance to reveal that he is a clone of his former self Solus zos Galvus and he's an Ascian that built the Garlean Empire for the purpose of creating chaos and to ultimately invoke another Calamity.

Shadowbringers Role

In Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Emet-Selch plays both roles as a supportive character and the main antagonist, starting with Emet-Selch introducing himself as his Ascian title, Emet-Selch. He accompanies the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn around The First until later the Warrior of Light is unable to contain the amassed light from the Lightwardens, revealing Emet-Selch has been testing the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn to see if the former would regain enough of their former selves to be considered a potential ally. When later confronting Emet-Selch near the end of the Shadowbringers storyline and last trial, Emet-Selch decide to face the Warriors of Light in a final test, revealing his true form as Hades (similar to the summon materia Hades from Final Fantasy VII). After the battle concludes against Hades, Emet-Selch accepts his death, asking the Warrior of Light to remember that their people once lived, as he fades away with a smile.

Emet-Selch made his final appearance as an masked ancient during a climatic trial battle with Elidibus' form as the original Warrior of Light, freeing the party from the void with his iconic finger snap, and vanishes while he walks away waving one final time.

Spread

Emet-Selch's character and storyline written by Natsuko Ishikawa has gained a massive popularity from the fans, and later found its way to meme-related images. A Japanese ranking website NHK^[1] shows a ranking of top Final Fantasy Series, Characters, Boss & Summons, and Music. Under the Characters section, Emet-Selch is ranked #6 while Final Fantasy VII's Sephiroth is ranked #11 under the top 10, making Emet-Selch #1 Final Fantasy antagonist and dethroning Sephiroth^[3] from the top-ranked Final Fantasy antagonists.

Related Memes

Behold The Sky

Behold The Sky is a exploitable meme involving a cutscene of Emet-Selch looking up at the restored skies at The Crystarium.

Behold, The Coming Oblivion

Behold, The Coming Oblivion is another exploitable meme involving a cutscene of Emet-Selch opening the gates to the past Amaurot, a recreation of the calamity that befell his world.

Search Interest

External References