Who Is Meteion in FF14?

Final Fantasy 14 Meteion is introduced halfway through the main scenario, a humanoid/avian super-empath who was constructed during the time of the Ascians, and who would eventually become a key figure surrounding the events of the first and second Final Days. However, for a character with such a pivotal role in the events that shape the finale of the Hydalen/Zodiark arc in Final Fantasy 14, she is only introduced in this expansion.

For some players this might lead to some confusion or questions surrounding Meteion and her role in the story, which thankfully, can be broken down right here in this guide. Let’s fully dive into the story of Meteion, and why she’s so important to Endwalker’s story. Spoiler warning for Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker.

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Who Created Meteion?

Firstly, when it comes to Meteion, you have to understand the context behind her creation. In the days of the Ancients, there was a facility dedicated to creating creatures that would one day populate Etheryis, the world that would eventually become home to places like Eorzea. This facility, Elpis, was overseen by an Ancient named Hermes, a gentle and unboundedly curious man, who had a care for all living things, and a passion for science and understanding creation.

It was here at Elpis, that Hermes privately underwent the project of both satisfying his love of creation and his curiosity of the unknown. Essentially using his authority as Chief Overseer of Elpis, Hermes constructed the being, Meteion, with no oversight from anyone else in the facility and created a creature that was telepathic as well. Not only was she able to communicate with people through thoughts, but she was extremely sensitive to the emotions of other people, even going so far as to desire the same favourite foods of other people, simply because of how they felt about them. 

Hermes eventually constructed multiple sisters of Meteion and due to their ability to survive in extreme conditions and being self-sustainable, used them as probes or vessels for exploring life outside of Etheryis. He connected each sister to a single hive mind, and sent them out with two purposes; to find life outside of Etheryis, and to ask those civilizations, what do they live for? 

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Before The Final Days

By the time the Warrior of Light arrives in the past at Elpis, the Final Days are already a certainty for the Ancients, and really the only thing the WoL can do is to gather answers in hopes of finding something that can help prevent the second Final Days in the present. As the story goes on and you spend time with Meteion and begin to understand how she works, eventually, the story reaches a pivotal moment. At a certain point, Meteion reconnects to the hivemind of her sisters, and receives their reports on life found throughout the universe. 

Within a moment, Meteion is rushed with a surge of information and emotion. Within the blink of an eye she becomes overwhelmed with the knowledge and histories of countless civilizations and worlds that had perished or were soon-to-be extinct throughout the universe her sisters had explored.

In their search for essentially the meaning of life, they found nothing but death, disease, and disappointment, as each sister witnessed either the live destruction of worlds, or learned the histories of rotted and dusted civilizations. Meteion becomes overwhelmed with the weight of these discoveries, and decides that the answer to Hermes’ question is that life is suffering, to live is to suffer, and therefore, all life must be eradicated to prevent suffering.

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Final Days Explained

As you progress through Endwalker’s story, the game hints heavily at the presence of this unknown emotion-driven energy. It’s something akin to Aether, the magic and life driven energy that drives the world of FF14. However, in the lore of the world, this emotion-driven energy had gone completely unnoticed by even the most brilliant minds in the world of the Ancients, and so for centuries it went unnoticed until the investigations prompted by the Final Days in the present.

Eventually, this energy is identified as dynamis, an energy that allows you to break limits and physically affect reality through emotion. It’s what powers the Limit Break in the game, or how the Warrior of Light is sometimes able to solo bosses in some instances. It’s the energy that allows emotion to affect reality, and because Meteion is so tuned to emotion and such an empath, it’s these revelations for these civilizations that becomes the catalyst for the Final Days. 

With the weight of dozens of dying worlds, with the weight of cosmic despair and suffering, and with the coming to terms that all life must be eradicated to prevent these feelings from happening, Meteion uses dynamis to make these things a reality. She flies to the edge of the Universe to rejoin her sisters, and from there she initiates the end of the world on Eytheris. 

With this information in hand, the Warrior of Light returns to the present, where they make their plans to face Meteion at the edge of the universe, as the game’s final trial for them to overcome.

Now you know everything there is to know about Meteion in FFXIV, why not read up on how to complete the Final Fantasy 14 Secret in the Box quest?