Final Fantasy 16doesn’t shy away from death. Much like one ofits main inspirations, there are times in the game when no one feels safe - not even Clive. Counting every death in the game would be next to impossible.
Still, when a game is so liberal with character death, it can make you wonder exactly who dies and when. So, we’ve cataloged all the significant plot deaths in the game, including the mission they occur in, for your needs.
Updated July 03, 2025 by Quinton O’Connor:Final Fantasy 16’s finale is kind of vague about the fates of a couple of characters. Whether you find that fascinating, frustrating, or someplace in-between is a matter of personal taste, but we’ve dutifully added a bit more context on that front.
Elwin Rosfield
Elwin, by all accounts, seems like a decent father to both of his sons. While Anabella shuns her firstborn, Clive, Elwin is very fond of his first son and treats him respectfully.
Joshua, likewise, has a warm relationship with his father - andhis father’s death in the mission “Flight of the Fledgling"is the tipping point that forces Joshua to prime into the Phoenix at the aptly named Phoenix Gate, reducing the place to cinders.
Rodney Murdoch
Lord Commander Murdoch is something of another father figure to Clive - through him, you figure out the basics of combat in the flashback and tutorial.His death in the prologue quest, “Flight of the Fledging,”hits hard.
He doesn’t even get to go down swinging - he’s collateral damage, lost in the chaos of Phoenix Gate. There one moment, and ash the next.
Hanna Murdoch
This one is a gut punch. You meet Hanna, Rodney’s widow, during your first outing with Jill, in a small village of Eastpool, a little ways from Martha’s Rest. She’s overjoyed to see Clive and Jill alive and kicking, inviting them into her home for the night. It’s her that provides Clive with his signature red and black outfit.
When you return to Eastpool in the mission “The Meaning of Life,”you find the village sacked; the entire population decimated in a purge ordered by Clive’s mother, Anabella.
Joshua Rosfield (Seemingly)
Fitting for the Dominant of the Phoenix, Joshua ‘dies’ more than once in the main campaign of Final Fantasy 16. The first time, he’sdefeated by a mysterious second Eikon of fire during the “Flight of the Fledgling"mission in the prologue.
Thirteen years elapse, with Clive alternating between the desire for revenge and guilt for allowing his brother to die. But it’s okay because an adult Joshua resurfaces at the end of Act 1, not too much worse for wear. It’s a while before the brothers reunite, but Joshua joins your party when they do.
Benedikta Harmon
Benedikta, the Dominant of Garuda, is an antagonist to Clive and Cid throughout the early stages of the first act. She hints at some past relationship with Cid and ultimately loses herself in a rage as Garuda after Clive unwillingly takes a piece of her Eikon abilities.
The tempest she creates in the mission “Awakening” must be stopped, as it threatens to swallow up nearby settlements, harming countless civilians if left unchecked.She dies at Clive’s hands at the end of the mission. The aftershocks of her death ripple throughout the first two acts.
Cidolfus Telamon
It’s a damn shame that Cid leaves us so early in the game, especially considering Ralph Ineson’s impeccable performance.In “The Crystal’s Curse,” the climactic mission of Act 1, Cid meets his doomin a bid to protect his newfound friends, Jill, Clive, and Torgal, from Ultima.
It’s not all bad, though - Cid lives to see the beginning of his plans come to fruition with the destruction of the Drake’s Head Mothercrystal. And he gets to pass on his cause and name to Clive, all while smoking one last cigarette. As far as deaths go in Final Fantasy 16, this is the kindest.
Hugo Kupka
There’s something about two guys who just want to kill each other. Hugo has a grudge against Clive for killing Benedikta and has pursued him throughout the game’s second act in the name of revenge. As the Dominant of Titan, Hugo is an imposing figure - somehow making even Clive seem small in comparison.
The two duke it out a few times throughout the second act, culminating in a final battle so outrageously extra that it will have you hooting and hollering at your screen.It’s in this battle, during the “Into the Darkness” mission, that Hugo, well, bites it.But not after you two pummel each other into the dust. Hey, that’s how he would have wanted to go.
Sylvestre Lesage
The Emperor of Sanbreque is Dion’s father, though he seems to have forgotten what that means. Throughout the game, Sylvestre slowly loses his grip, becoming a more authoritarian leader as Mothercrystals fall.
His death at the hands of his own son in the chapter “Fire in the Sky” in Act 2is as shocking to you as it is to Dion. Dion and his dragoons stage a coup, and Sylvestre accidentally ends up on the wrong end of Dion’s spear.
Anabella Rosfield/Lesage
Of all the characters in Final Fantasy 16, Anabella is the cruelest. She shuns her firstborn son for things beyond his control, is disdainful of non-aristocrats, and antagonizes her stepson, Dion, who was born outside wedlock but has proven to be a beloved and effective leader all on his own. As empress, she orders the mass murder of Bearers - for no reason other than hate.
She dies by her own hand in “Fire in the Sky”after learning that her third son, Olivier, is nothing but a puppet of Ultima. And, perhaps more than that, that both of her other sons live - and that Clive proved to be a Dominant after all. No one, except perhaps Joshua, seems especially sad to see her go.
Barnabas Tharmr
The Dominant of Odin and King of Waloed haunts your every move throughout the third act of Final Fantasy 16. Wreathed in terrible shadow and sending Odin’s horse, Slepnir, in human form to do his bidding, you will fight Barnanas more than once.
And you will lose more than once. This man has fully bought into Ultima’s grand vision and is willing to do anything to achieve it.
You never learn how old Barnabas is or more than a handful of key aspects of who he was before he fell under Ultima’s thrall.All you know is that he is a danger to the entire continent and must be eliminated. And, in “The Last King,” you do just that.
Unlike other Dominant battles, Barnabas’ boss fight takes the form of a duel more than a grand spectacle. Despite the difficulty, Clive emerges victorious - though the threat of Ultima looms ever closer.
Dion Lesage
Dion’s gone through a lot during the story of Final Fantasy 16. After temporarily losing control of Bahamut after the accidental murder of his father and laying waste to an entire city, Dion is eager to redeem himself.
So, he does. Acting as your ally, Dion enters the final battle against Ultima in the final mission of the game,“Back to their Origin,” and it’s here where he loses his life protecting Joshua and Clive from Ultima’s blows.
Joshua Rosfield (Probably?)
As we’ll mention shortly, Joshua isn’t the only one whose fate is left up to interpretation.Clive’s attempt to revive Joshuahas been interpreted by many as a failure, given the limitation of the Phoenix’s true powers, coupled with the all-the-more-convincing fact that we don’t see Joshua get back up afterward.
Nevertheless,some remain convinced the younger Rosfield lived, partly out of hope, perhaps; but more pragmatically, becauseJoshua Rosfield is the supposed authorof the book seen in Final Fantasy 16’s post-credits scene. In truth, weliketo believe he lived, or at least that his brother lived, as it makes Dion’s sacrifice all the more meaningful if so.
Ultima
Like many games of its genre, Final Fantasy 16 ultimately ends with you fighting god in the flesh.In “Back to their Origin,” you defeat Ultima,the otherworldly entity pulling the strings in Valisthea for eons.
Of course, it’s not without its price, costing Joshua and Clive their lives - but humanity is freed from Ultima’s influence, and the future seems much brighter. Plus, it’s one hell of a boss battle.
Clive Rosfield (…Probably?)
Whether Clive truly died is ambiguous- he appears to give his life for his brother, Joshua. Yet, the game is just unclear enough to get everybody theorizing. Like many of the other major players,Clive (maybe) dies in the final mission, “Back to their Origin.”
Some believe it is Clive who finishes Joshua’s book, ‘Final Fantasy’, which is seen generations later in the post-credits sequence. Joshua is cited as the author, but then, Joshua likely wrote the bulk of it regardless. Turns out,this ambiguity is 100 percent the point.
When asked about Clive’s fate during promotional interviews for FF16’s second DLC, The Rising Tide,Naoki Yoshida told TheGamerit’s very much left open for the player’s interpretation. He wants us to land onthe answer we prefer.
In other words, Clive totally lived on my file. What about yours?
