Extraction and Destruction: Final Fantasy XVI Part 3

There will be a lot of spoilers for the plot of Final Fantasy XVI in this post. For previous entries in the Final Fantasy XVI series, please see:

Expectations, Adapatations, and Joy

https://www.phenomenagaming.com/blog/expectations-adaptations-and-joy-final-fantasy-xvi-part-1

Trauma and Character Growth

https://www.phenomenagaming.com/blog/trauma-and-character-growth-final-fantasy-xvi-part-2

In the past entries in this series, I focused on different characters’ trauma responses and how those responses led them to take leadership roles in trying to create a better world. In part 3, I want to focus on the blight and how its destruction limits the capacity for growth, as well as how the mothercrystals are actively destroying the world of Valisthea. Extraction and extractive attitudes are a key impetus in our own world and the comparisons are stark.

Screenshot taken from my PS5

Environmental Extraction and Destruction

The blight happens when aether is overextracted and the soil is not able to compensate for its energy loss. Blight is one of the biggest threats in Final Fantasy XVI because it forces large populations of people to move to smaller inhabitable areas. Blight makes it so people cannot farm, build, or sustain life. For a while in Final Fantasy XVI, it is not clear as to what is causing this loss of aether, but in the beginning it is a noticeable problem with an unclear solution.

The remains of Phoenix Gate

Environmental destruction also happens because of war. The opening battle between Phoenix and Ifrit in Rosaria left this behind. When Clive looks at this same area 13 years later, nothing has recovered. Natural disasters and human caused environmental destruction limit the amount of usable land in Valisthea. This increases the tension between already tense relationships among the nations of Valisthea.

When examining our own geopolitics, it is important to see that extraction of resources by colonial powers and proliferation of fossil fuels are causing similar destruction in our world and raising tensions as more nations become uninhabitable due to severe drought, flooding, and increasing heatwaves. When it becomes harder to live, people will get more desperate to survive, and this will increase the potential for violence as well as migration patterns to more temperate climates.

Cid’s Master Plan

It is important to see the reveal of Cid’s plan and the reasoning for it in the character’s own words. The next few images will show some of the reveal as it happens in game and I’ll provide some commentary below.

I’ve given the definitions of aether, deadlands, and the mothercrystals as those are important for the reveal as well. In essence, the creation of the mothercrystals trapped so much aether and did not return it back to the land that the land dried up and became blighted. This process will continue as long as aether is extracted and trapped by the mothercrystals. The nations and religions of Valisthea all discuss the importance and gift of the mothercrystals so very few people in their world know this is happening. It is also very technical so it is not an easy approach to teach because it requires knowledge about aether and its effects on the world. Very few people in a war-driven world with an intricate system of slavery for inherent magic users would have the time or capacity to research and learn the necessary knowledge. There are too many survival mechanisms people have to navigate just to eat and keep going from day-to-day. And if I had not given the definitions from the game journal screen, the words aether, deadlands, and mothercrystals would have no tangible meaning for our existence.

This is the difficulty for those who have space and dedication to think and reflect on practical consequences for personal and social action. Often, these people are innovators and catch problems before most people are aware of the knowledge needed to even begin to see the problem. Also, proposing any alternate way of seeing the world comes with consequences both for those who benefit from the status quo, and for those who are surviving their routine in the status quo and do not want to possibly make things worse by responding, even if they see an issue. Cid, Jill, and Clive are all pioneers for seeing these consequences and have every nation in Valisthea hunting for them because they are following a different path of evidence to make a better solution.

Petrification is a key status ailment to avoid in every FF game.

Individual Evidence to Support Cid

What Cid has given is a hypothesis but admittedly with minimal support. He has proposed a theory that if the mothercrystals were destroyed the land would stop blighting, but he does not have evidence of this phenomena in large. However, Cid does have evidence from individuals and their own use of aether. The Crystals’ Curse is an important concept because it shows what happens to individuals who have innate magic ability. People with innate magic ability will die from petrification because the aether is imbalanced in their bodies. While this is not given in Cid’s initial explanation, if petrification destroys individual magic users because as bearers and dominants, they eventually dry out, then there can be an extrapolation to say the same effect would happen on a larger scale with the land itself if mothercrystals extract their magic energy.

Building a case to make drastic change in the world is often based on hopes and dreams based on logic and pattern recognition. Cid, Clive, and Jill recognize the patterns and build their case for urgent and immediate action. They work together with the Bearers they have gathered at the Hideaway to imagine a different future. Clive builds his resolve with this quote below, an adaptation from Cid’s emphasis on Bearers being able to die on their own terms and not have to suffer petrification from excessive magic use. In order to have a world, where people can live and die on their own terms, it takes an integrated approach focusing on economics, social issues, and environmental improvements, because people cannot live and die on their own terms unless they are able to have easy access to essential needs. Living and dying on your own terms is freedom but it is a freedom grounded in communal life and ensuring both individual and communal welfare. A life isn’t living on one’s own terms if environmental, social, or economic factors force people to make capricious choices.

Conclusion

Clive’s principle for building a better world is inspiring because it provides an impetus for thinking about how to evaluate the challenges facing our world. I.e. what is needed for people to live and die on their own terms? This will be expanded in a future entry looking at how to build ethical actions and movements. Young activists are strong in developing intersectional campaigns which many accuse of conflating too many issues together but all under the impetus of people being able to live and die on their own terms.

The next post will look more at the dynamics of bearers as they are enslaved in many places of Valisthea. The crystal’s curse pushes many bearers to death because owners want magic done whenever they need something. Limiting bearers to a slave status hinders their ability to live and die on their own terms and is a good examination of what happens when beings are not held in reverence for their own goodness regardless of what they can do.