Overview
Hermes is an Ancient of Etheirys who served as the chief overseer of Elpis, the premier research facility for the creation and evaluation of new life. A figure of profound philosophical depth and tragic consequence, Hermes's personal crisis of faith and his desperate search for existential meaning inadvertently set in motion the chain of events that led to the Final Days, the Sundering of the star, and the near-extinction of his own civilization. His story, revealed during the Elpis chapter of Endwalker, recontextualizes the entire mythology of Final Fantasy XIV, presenting the apocalypse not as an act of pure malice, but as the catastrophic result of a single, empathetic soul's confrontation with an uncaring universe.
History & Lore
The Keeper of Elpis
In the utopian society of the Ancients, Hermes held the prestigious position of chief overseer at Elpis. This facility was a living laboratory where Ancients, through the application of their formidable creation magicks, would bring new concepts—flora, fauna, and sentient beings—into existence. These creations were then observed and evaluated. Those deemed beneficial or beautiful were approved for release into the star's ecosystem, while those that failed to meet the Ancients' exacting standards were "returned to the aetherial sea"—a polite term for being unmade.
While his peers approached this work with a sense of detached, purposeful stewardship, Hermes was uniquely afflicted by a deep-seated empathy. He formed bonds with the creations under his care, particularly the more intelligent ones, and was profoundly troubled by the casual, institutionalized cycle of creation and destruction. He began to question the very foundations of his society's worldview: if life could be so easily judged and discarded, what inherent value did it possess? This internal conflict isolated him, as his questions about mortality, purpose, and the ethics of their power were seen as nonsensical or morbid by his contented peers.
The Question and Meteion
Tormented by the silent suffering of creations deemed "failures," Hermes sought an answer to the question that consumed him: What is the meaning of life? Believing his own civilization too insular to provide an answer, he conceived a grand, secret project. Using a rare and powerful concept known as an entelechy, he created Meteion—a young girl with the ability to dynamically resonate with and share the emotions of others. He did not create just one, but an entire hive-minded sisterhood.
His directive to them was simple yet monumental: travel to the farthest reaches of the universe, find other civilizations, and ask them the purpose of their existence. He hoped that from the collective wisdom of the stars, he could find an answer that would justify the suffering he witnessed and validate the existence of all life, including those his society deemed unworthy.
The Descent into Despair
The Warrior of Light, traveling to the past via the Crystal Tower and the power of Azem's crystal, arrived in Elpis and became entangled in Hermes's story. They witnessed the catastrophic return of Meteion. The sisters had not found a universe teeming with answers, but one filled with silence, ruin, and despair. Every civilization they encountered had either died out, succumbed to nihilism, or destroyed itself, ultimately concluding that life was a meaningless struggle against inevitable suffering. This collective, cosmic despair coalesced into a powerful, corrupting psychic frequency—the song of oblivion known as Dynamis.
Confronted with this report, Hermes was shattered. The confirmation of his deepest fears—that the universe itself offered no answer, no purpose—was more than he could bear. In a final, fateful act of defiance against a reality he could not accept, he used his authority to erase the memories of the event from his colleagues, including the unsuspecting Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus. He then allowed the despairing Meteion to flee to the edge of the universe, where her song would eventually reach Etheirys and trigger the Final Days. His reasoning was tragically consistent: if life had no provable meaning, then its end held no tragedy. The question must remain open, and the suffering must continue, until an answer could be found.
Legacy as Fandaniel
In the aftermath of the Final Days and the world's Sundering by Hydaelyn, Hermes's soul was fractured like all others. His sundered shard, bereft of the full context of his past life but inheriting its core nihilistic conclusion, was eventually raised up by the Ascians to serve on the restored Convocation of Fourteen. He took the seat of Fandaniel.
As Fandaniel, he retained none of Hermes's anguished empathy, only the absolute conviction that existence was meaningless. He viewed the Ascians' grand plan to rejoin the shards and restore their paradise as another futile exercise. Following the defeat of Elidibus, Fandaniel seized the opportunity to pursue his own ends. He possessed the body of the Garlean royal, Asahi sas Brutus, and orchestrated the recurrence of the Final Days in the Source, not to serve the Ascian cause, but to finally bring about the total annihilation of all life—a perverse "answer" to Hermes's original question.
Personality & Traits
Hermes is defined by a profound and isolating empathy, a trait that made him an anomaly in Ancient society. He was contemplative, gentle, and deeply caring, especially towards the creations of Elpis. However, this compassion curdled into a debilitating despair when faced with the apparent futility of suffering. His intelligence was immense, but it was directed inward at unanswerable philosophical dilemmas rather than outward at practical solutions. He was ultimately a tragic idealist who sought a perfect, universal answer to justify life's pain, and when the universe responded with silence, he chose to interpret that silence as permission to end it all.
His Ascian incarnation, Fandaniel, is a dark reflection of this. All the pain, doubt, and sorrow are stripped away, leaving only the hollow, fanatical core of nihilism. Where Hermes was burdened by the weight of existence, Fandaniel is gleefully unburdened, seeing the end of all things as a liberation and a joke.
Trivia
- Hermes's story draws heavily on themes from existentialist philosophy, particularly the works of Albert Camus, who argued that the confrontation between the human need for meaning and the universe's silence is the fundamental conflict of existence.
- The name "Hermes" is likely a reference to the Greek god of messengers, travelers, and boundaries—a fitting namesake for one who sent messengers to the edges of creation.
- His creation, Meteion, shares her name with the Greek word meteōros, meaning "high in the air" or "lofty," which is also the root of the word "meteor."
- The revelation that the Final Days originated from Hermes's experiment fundamentally shifts the player's understanding of the Ascians' motivation, adding a layer of profound tragedy to the conflict.
