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Final Fantasy 16tells the story of Clive Rosfield on his quest to destroy the Mothercrystals, massive crystal formations that are slowly draining the life force of Valisthea. The gradual decay of Aether in the land eventually causes it to become barren and dead if nothing is done.
Related:Final Fantasy 16: What Are Bearers?
After destroying the Drake’s Head Mothercrystal in Sanbreque, Clive faces Ultima for the first time. From then on, Ultima remains the primary antagonist of the game, manipulating characters and empires for his plans. If you’re wondering who exactly Ultima is you’ve come to the right place. Below, we’ll take a look at everything we know about Ultima, including what his plan is.
Spoilers for the entire story of Final Fantasy 16 below!
Who Is Ultima?
Ultima is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy 16, and the veritabletrue god of Valisthea. Throughout mankind’s history on Valisthea, Ultima has existed, manipulating things from behind the scenes towards his ultimate plan of recreating the world.
Ultima was originallyfrom a different world, where he and others of his kindcreated and used magic. However, their continued use of magic eventually caused the Aether of the land to drain, forming theBlight. OnlyUltima and fifteen otherssurvived this apocalypse. They fled their home worldthrough the starsuntil they arrived at Valisthea.
On Valisthea, the Ultima collective realized thatif they continued to create and use magic, the Blight would occur again. To prevent this, Ultima formed a plan that would take centuries to unfold, starting with the creation of the Mothercrystals.
Ultima’s Personality
As a god-like being, Ultima is characterized ascold and uncaring. Ultima created humanity with the sole purpose of destroying it, so when they eventually rebel against him, he is confused but only slightly annoyed. He cares only for himself, willing to destroy an entire race and land so that he can have a world to himself.
While typically referred to in the singular, Ultima is actually a collective of 16 beings, known as the Ultima collective. Ultima can disperse and absorbs these other “selves” at will, but the Ultima being is the true form.
What Is Ultima’s Plan?
Ultima’s plan is kept secret for the majority of the game. As Clive works to destroy the Mothercrystals, intending to save Valisthea from the Blight, he is inadvertently doing exactly what Ultima wants. Let’s take a deeper look at exactly what Ultima is trying to do throughout Final Fantasy 16.
After arriving in Valisthea with the rest of the collective, Ultima formulates a plan tocreate a world in which they can freely use magic. To do this, he sends eight of the Ultima collective to transform into a Mothercrystal. The goal of these Crystals is to siphon Aether from the land, storing it for use later.
The eight Mothercrystals each represented one of the elements of Aether: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, and Dark. This would cause the eventual human race to slowlydevelop the power to harness individual elementsof Aether, leading to groups of people proficient in one type of Aether.
Eventually, Ultima intended for these powers to develop into the abilities ofDominants and Eikons, in which one individual in the “tribe” would have animmense affinity for their specific elementof Aether. Knowing that these abilities would take centuries to appear, Ultima began hishibernationto wait for that time.
What Ultima failed to plan for washumanity’s development of consciousness and will. Rather than obediently worshipping the Mothercrystals and protecting them, certain rebellious groups attempted to take the Mothercrystals for themselves. This led to thedestruction of the Mothercrystal in Dzemekys. Along with the Blight taking two other Mothercrystals in the north of Storm and south of Ash, a total ofthree Mothercrystals were lost or destroyedprematurely.
While the Mothercrystals would drain Aether from the land, making the Blight consume the land faster, this was all part of the plan. Centuries later, a certain individual would be born, dubbedMythos, who would be strong enough toabsorb the power of all eight Eikonsanddestroy each of the Mothercrystals, sending the Aether stored insideback to Ultima.
This Mythos would be the strongest person in Valisthea, capable of holding enough power for Ultima’s true goal of destroying the world. When the Mythos vessel was ready, Ultima wouldmerge with it, forcing out Mythos’s consciousness and replacing it with Ultima’s.
As we know, Clive is Mythos, and, without knowing, he follows Ultima’s plan exactly. After destroying each of the Motherycrystals and absorbing the power of the Eikons, Mythos’s growth is complete. Ultima raises his home of Origin into the air, preparing to merge with Mythos and cast “Raise”.
However, what Ultima once again fails to consider is the sheer determination of humanity. Instead of being a subservient pawn for Ultima to manipulate,Clive rebels against the god, using the power he has gained to defeat him in battle.
With the Mothercrystals gone and Ultima defeated,magic disappears from Valisthea, leaving a land where humanity must rely on its own strength to survive.
