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[sharpeyes]

Player Information

Name: Kiki
Age: 41
Contact details: kikibug13
Other characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Hythlodaeus
Canon: Final Fantasy XIV
Canon Point: Post level 83 trial of Endwalker
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: OU
Age: ... it's complicated but technically more than 12 000 years, possibly closer to at least half a millennium over that.

World Information: Eorzea wiki

Personal History: Character wiki Spoilers for FFXIV: Endwalker

Personality:
In supplementary materials, mostly the short story where he appears, he has been described as friendly but incurably smug, which is Emet-Selch's irritated take on him. However, on closer look we see him as rather humble, from his evaluation of his weaknesses which led him to decline one of the most prestigious positions in their world in favor of the one he deemed better qualified, to his self-admitted purpose, which is to support his two most important people, help them realize their dreams.

As a note, in their society, where people were practically immortal, each person would choose or find a purpose, in broad strokes to improve the world, and once they believed they had completed their purpose, they would choose to pass on. His wording is that when his friends have completed their respective purposes, so too shall he have completed his, and together they may return to the star, completely dedicated.

The above defines one of the biggest things that makes him tick - he is committed to those two, Emet-Selch and the original soul shards of which later became the Warrior of Light. Under normal circumstances, he would do all that he can to provide what they need, in the ways that he can, be it a translator for Emet-Selch, who often needs it with his grumpy attitude over his mellow heart, or aiding and abetting Azem's wild schemes by providing them with concepts they would not ordinarily have access to. And, in the time of ultimate crisis when lacking the memory/knowledge of what caused it, he gives his life so the other two can live, that they may get a chance to solve the impending doom and save the planet.

Another important aspect of his personality is the discrepancy between the immense degree to which he is gifted with aether sight, and his poor skills at aether manipulation. 'What good is the ability to perceive a problem if one cannot act to address it' seems rather central to how he views himself. This bleeds into a habit where he justifies and has excuses for every single thing he asks for or wishes for himself, needing to prove that even if he is worthless, what he's asking for has a different reason than his wishes so perhaps maybe do it, anyway?

Despite how that may sound, Hythlodaeus is bright and sunny, always finding reasons to smile and laugh. He is mischievous and unpredictable, although all of his unexpected actions are always directed towards what he perceives his two people need, even if it goes against their expressed wishes. He will manipulate at the very least Emet-Selch, implied... others that may be susceptible to it, but never in a way that will harm them - the scheme he directs at Emet-Selch, despite the latter's many and loud refusals, leaves Emet-Selch serene and smiling when his task is accomplished, and Emet-Selch later explicitly says that he didn't do it against his will.

All in all, Hythlodaeus is charming and friendly, sees more than most, and does his best with what he has for those around him.

CRAU developments: N/A

Key themes:
His main theme is self-sacrifice, be it in normal life wherein he considers helping his friends fulfill their purpose to be what takes to fulfill his, to the actual self-sacrifice where when half the population needed to lay down their lives so the rest could live, he chose to be of the half sacrificed willingly.
Other themes include struggling with his own insufficiency, and facing whatever happens with a smile and hope.

Main Motivation:
Helping others, where the person whom Warrior of Light (Pahja, to match with Emet-Selch) is a fraction of, and Emet-Selch, are his top priority, and improving the star aka everyone's lot.

Skills:
Aether sight Akin to Emet-Selch's, except even keener, to an exceptional level.

Creation magic While Hythlodaeus is abysmal when it comes to aether manipulation (his own words which may be relative to the abilities of his contemporaries, which were bountiful, and especially his closest two, who were better than most), he does have creation magic, which in his society tends to be used on the basis of concepts, predefined ideas which are then brought into existence. Concepts are created, evaluated (by the organization he has been in charge with for centuries), and used as needed.
However, there are two limitations to this seemingly world-breaking power that he arrives with:
before his sacrifice creation magics were warped by an external force into monsters, so he will be wary of using them in the first place
his reserve of aether doesn't tend to be very great, and without ambient aether to draw from, he's unlikely to try anything much.

Archery
He is a fairly skilled archer, using his keen sight to his best advantage.

Extremely good memory
It's demonstrated that he can identify concepts created into life quickly and efficiently, and can recognize that a concept was approved before his time, where later another character mentions that he hasn't heard talk about it in centuries, confirming Hythlodaeus's claim.

Item: A pet - a slightly flying axolotl, the small thing here.

Sample:

There is ... a jolt, and fuller awareness floods Hythlodaeus's senses, stirring him from the state of not-quite-wakefulness that has been fate for a long, long time. Slowly, he opens his eyes, to see the brands that confined them and the God they were nourishing mostly broken, a single one remaining. Another is getting attention to mend, but the immense energy of Zodiark spills out across the surface of their prison, the shades that all of them are able to move and wander and wonder.

Hythlodaeus does not trouble to waste his time so. The state of the brands suggests that something is very wrong - had the time for their freedom arrived, then the work would be not half-botched, and they would be awakening to elation and strength and life, not this confusion. So he knows to expect that all is not well.

Then he turns his eyes to the heavens, and it takes him a long, long moment before he can orient himself by the stars. But he does. A long, long time has passed since he last could see them, he judges. Millennia. That matches the volatile emptiness inside, stretching on and on, stretching what is lef of him thin and wavering.

His shadowy form unfolds, and he moves to take further estimation of the situation. His brethren, even freed of the confines of the brands, are still shackled by what once was. Even not alive, Hythlodaeus suspects that whatever happened may have completely erased the chance that they may return to how the star once was.

So he sees no use in rehashing what was. He is far, far too curious to find out what is. In all likelihood he won't be able to do anything about it, but that is nothing new.

The star itself is too far to make much on, but here on this prison, on this moon, he can see creatures. Another shade, though different from them, aglow with purpose and agitation, and also, creatures.

Ah.

He recognizes one of them, and the rest bear similar aetheric composition. Venat's creation, he is certain. Except even the one he knows, he long-time familiar, is far too thin in the aether. No, if the desire to restore Etheiryis to how it was has faded - it couldn't have. Hythlodaeus knows those of the Convocation far too well. Then something indeed has gone wrong.

The aether over a spot off a ways wavers, and a soul appears, and Hythlodaeus's efforts to calm down the fellow shade nearest to him pauses for a moment, the intense, dear familiarity of that soul setting his mind at ease.

Where she walks, excitement is sure to follow, but also - there is a reason Azem was ever a shepherd to the stars, a guide to the people. She would not lead them astray, no matter how thin she may be spread.

So he focuses on those around him, keeping in mind the position of that soul, so he may make his way to her once she is near enough. Little though he may be able to help, all that he can do will be hers, and the millennia of the state he had been in just no longer matter. His smile has returned to his face, for he has hope. Emet-Selch and Azem, his two guiding stars, and one of them is here. What has been broken, he thinks, will this time be mended.

Notes: N/a