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Crystal bearer... I am Hydaelyn, all made one.
Hydaelyn describing herself to the Adventurer.
Hydaelyn also referred to simply as The Crystal or The Mothercrystal, is a central character in the main storyline of Final Fantasy XIV. She shares her name with the world where the game takes place. Appearing as a sentient crystal, she is the one who sends the adventurer on their quest against the machinations of the Ascians.
Profile
Appearance
Hydaelyn takes the form of a gigantic sentient crystal, shaped roughly like a teardrop with several smaller crystals orbiting her in a ring.
Personality
Her personality is not greatly explored, but the few times she meets the adventurer, she shows kindness and care towards the world she created, feels threatened by the encroaching darkness, and sees the adventurer as her warrior who will return light to the world. She speaks in a soft, gentle voice, never giving vent any negative emotions.
Story
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Mark her words well, Adventurer, for it is Hydaelyn herself who speaks.
Hydaelyn speaks with the adventurer just before s/he receives a vision of the Ascian mage Lahabrea. After the adventurer gains the first crystal of light Hydaelyn appears to him/her in a vision with instructions to find the other crystals and banish the encroaching darkness from the world. During the final confrontation with Lahabrea, the adventurer and the Ascian appear before the goddess.
A dark crystal identical in shape to Hydaelyn is glimpsed by the adventurer in a vision. Whether the crystal is a vision of Hydaelyn being corrupted by darkness, or a different deity, remains unknown. Nevertheless, she no longer speaks with the adventurer as Midgardsormr canceled the Blessing of Light to test the adventurer's worth. This turn of events enabled Nabriales to attack the Scions directly. Later, while escaping through the Sil'dih Aqueducts, Minfilia claims to hear Hydaelyn and decides to stay behind.
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
Ysayle is another of Hydaelyn's chosen, and the adventurer gradually regains the Blessing of Light with Hydaelyn warning of a great darkness. Once the blessing is fully restored, Midgardsormr recognizes the adventurer as Hydaelyn's chosen one. Krile possesses the Echo, and mentions people with it are born around the time of Umbral Eras. Krile reveals Hydaelyn gives gifts in the form of Crystals of Light, whose potency depends on the time Hydaelyn created it prior to her waning strength. The crystal eye in Matoya's possession is one such Crystal of Light from an older era.
Hydaelyn had urged Minfilia to return to Y'shtola and Thancred's side following their attempt to escape. She was caught up in Y'shtola's Flow spell, which brought her into the Aetherial Sea to Hydaelyn herself. Minfilia offered her body to the weakened Mother Crystal, and became the "Word of the Mother," her avatar. When the adventurer enters the Aetherial Sea looking for Minfilia, Hydaelyn channels herself through the Word to speak with him/her.
Believing it to be of the utmost importance, she uses what little strength she has to reveal the complete truth of the Ascians: they are the servants to Zodiark, her opposite, who once existed in perfect harmony with her but began to thirst for more power and became corrupted. To protect the world, Hydaelyn fragmented him into twelve pieces, and worked throughout the ages to prevent him from becoming whole and reviving. She could not prevent the calamities that brought the Umbral Eras into being, which in turn meant one more fragment rejoining Zodiark. She urges the adventurer to stop the Ascians before it's too late, while warning that her strength is waning to nothing. She sends the adventurer back while Minfilia's form dissipates into aether.
Voice
Hydaelyn is voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in English from Heavensward onwards she is voiced by Joanna Roth, Masako Ikeda in Japanese, Véronique Augereau in French and Sonngard Dressler in German. She shares her English voice actress with Nora Estheim in Final Fantasy XIII and Rosso in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, and her Japanese voice actress, Masako Ikeda, with the Cloud of Darkness in Dissidia Final Fantasy and its sequel and the Cadetmaster in Final Fantasy Type-0.
Trivia
- At PAX East, it was revealed by Michael-Christopher Koji Fox that the songs "Answers" and "Dragonsong" are from Hydaelyn's perspective. The former is her explaining to the wandering tribes that hardship is how one understands their true self, while the latter is Hydaelyn struggling to understand why the Ishgardians and Dravanians created a nigh unbreakable cycle of bloodshed in the Dragonsong War.
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