Pharos ( Final Fantasy XII ) The Pharos of the Ridorana Cataract is a location in the land of Ivalice in " Final Fantasy XII " located on an island atop the Ridorana Cataract . Location . The Pharos is located in the far east of Ivalice , in the Jagd Naldoa region . Since it is located in Jagd territory , it is normally impossible to reach by airship , and the tides surrounding it make it impossible for normal ships to approach . Access can only be had via the Ridorana Cataract . The Pharos is an area of three ascents filled with creatures . The expansive tower consists of three upper and three lower levels where various puzzles and challenges need to be completed before access to the next level is granted . The Subterra is the underground areas of the Pharos . The only way to access it is by finishing the Pharos event first . To enter the Subterra , players have to use the Dais of Ascendance located at the center of the Pharos near the Gate Crystal . It will take players down to the first level , Penumbra . From there , players need to obtain Black Orb s to unlock the entrances to the other levels : Umbra and Abyssal . Treasures . The map urn for the Second Ascent is in the northwestern corner of the Station of Suffering zone . The map urn for the Third Ascent is in the 1st Flight zone . It is next to the door the player gets transported to after incorrectly choosing the glyphs twice . The Pharos doesn ' t have too many treasures , but the few treasures are good . With the Diamond Armlet equipped , usually the item treasures are either Knot of Rust ( common ) or Elixir . The first floor has a treasure in each western corner . The northern treasures can be a White Mask and Crystal Shield , and the southern treasures can be Gold Hairpin and Giant ' s Helmet . In the areas above the party must build bridges by killing Brainpans . Afterward they can kill Deidar s to build red blocks to build additional bridges to lead to treasures . Holy Rod can be found in the northwest of a map behind a red bridge . Behind the last red bridge the player may find two treasures . The other is a Dueling Mask no matter what , but the other one is Zeus Mace without the Diamond Armlet and Muramasa with Diamond Armlet equipped . In the first map of the Third Ascent , the player can open a fool ' s façade in the southeast to find Rubber Suit and Dragon Whisker . In the north and middle of the first map of the Third Ascent , also behind a fool ' s façade , there is a treasure that is a Circlet without the Diamond Armlet , but has a 90 % chance of being the Ring of Renewal with the Diamond Armlet equipped . The treasure in the northeast of the first map , in the corner of a large off - the - map hidden area , is always an Elixir if it is an item , but contains 9 , 999 gil with the Diamond Armlet as opposed to only 999 gil without it . First Ascent . Those Who Thirst Not . These chests only appear in the " International Zodiac Job System " version . The Wellspring . These chests only appear in the " International Zodiac Job System " version . Horizon ' s Cusp . These chests only appear in the " International Zodiac Job System " version . Second Ascent . Station of Suffering . These chests only appear in the " International Zodiac Job System " version . Station of Suffering . These chests only appear in the " International Zodiac Job System " version . The Bounds of Truth . These chests only appear in the " International Zodiac Job System " version . Cleft of Profaning Wind . These chests only appear in the " International Zodiac Job System " version . Third Ascent . Empyrean Ravel . These chests only appear in " International Zodiac Job System " version . Quests . First Ascent : Hall of First Light . Outside the Pharos , the player simply has to face Hydro to gain access to the entrance . Inside the player enters the Wellspring on the first floor ( the floor is indicated by a number below the map ) , which is surrounded by an area called the Wellspring Labyrinth . Inside the Labyrinth are Mistmare s , which often drop Black Orb s as loot . Claiming three of these orbs and using them on the Altars of Night , which are Way Stone - like devices in the Wellspring , will open up a door at the back of the Wellspring Labyrinth on the second floor ; opening it trigger a battle against Pandaemonium . Its defeat activates the Waystone in the entry hall of the Wellspring , which leads to the tenth floor . In this area , the player must kill Brainpans , which create green bridges to the next area . Deidars , which resemble Brainpans but are red , damage green bridges upon their death , and after all green bridges have been built , create red bridges to secret items . Upon reaching the fiftieth floor , this cycle will end , and the player will face a boss , Slyt . Past Slyt is a Way Stone leading to the Second Ascent . Second Ascent : Reach of Diamond Law . On the fifty - first floor are four Altars : the Altar of Knowledge , which prevents the party from using the on - screen map ; the Altar of Steel , which prevents the party from using physical attacks ; the Altar of Wealth , which prevents the characters from using items ; and the Altar of Magick , which prevents the casting of magick . Regardless of the player ' s choice , selecting an Altar will create a pathway ; the four pathways are identical labyrinths up stairs from the sixty - first floor , where the labyrinth starts , to the sixty - fourth floor . Along the way , there are several fool ' s façades hiding items . On the sixty - fifth floor , the party faces Fenrir , and then proceeds to the sixty - sixth floor , where they can recover their items , attacks , magick , or map , and ride the Dias of Ascendance to the sixty - seventh floor , which has a Way Stone leading to the Third Ascent . Third Ascent : Mete of Dynasty . In the final ascent , the party must enter different Way Stones ; the wrong Way Stone will return the party to the entrance , or , worse , force them to fight against an undead army before returning to the entrance . The first three correct Way Stones are : black , green , red ; and the fourth depends on which Altar was used in the Second Ascent . The Altar of Wealth requires the use of a yellow Way Stone ; Steel is green ; Knowledge is pink ; and Magick is purple . The final can only be passed by means of a fool ' s façade ; though the others can be skipped using fool ' s façades as well . In the sixth area , the party must take a Way Stone to the top and face Hashmal , Bringer of Order . Afterward they can enter a lift to the ninety - first floor , and ascend the final few floors to find the Sun - Cryst and encounter Judge Gabranth , Doctor Cid , and Famfrit , the Darkening Cloud . Subterra . Subterra is the underground area of the Pharos available to explore after the upper levels have been completed . Subterra is divided to four levels , they are : Penumbra , Umbra , Abyssal , and Unknown . Hunts . Pylraster is a Mark whose hunt becomes available after the events in the Pharos . The hunt is petitioned by Rikken in Balfonheim Port , but he is not sure where to find it . The player can find the Pylraster at the entrance to the Pharos in the section They Who Thirst Not . The player can use the Gate Crystal at the First Ascent , and go outside to find the Mark . Ixion is an Elite Mark found in the Penumbra - Interior area of Subterra . The hunt becomes available after the events in the Pharos . It is petitioned by Whitecap Wench at Balfonheim Port ( Quayside Court - The Whitecap ) . Ixion can be found at Pharos ' s Subterra , on any of the three floors . The lift must be coming down from the first floor and if there are other monsters around , the player should take the lift back up to the first floor and try again until there are no enemies around . After running around the circle for a while Ixion will show up . The Shadowseer is an Elite Mark found in the Unknown area of Subterra in the Pharos after placing all the black orbs in the Penumbra , Umbra and Abyssal areas . The hunt becomes available after the events in Pharos . After losing a certain amount of HP , Shadowseer will summon Pandaemonium and put up two palings , becoming invincible . Killing Pandaemonium will cause the palings to drop , allowing the party to injure it until it summons the Slyt . The Shadowseer will repeat this with the other Pharos bosses ( Fenrir and Phoenix ) , at which point it will lament that it is out of creatures to summon . The hunt is petitioned by Montblanc in Rabanastre . Rare Game . Vishno spawns on Floor 48 - First Ascent / Wellspring Ravel - 4th Flight , near the Aeronite at the very top when the player has killed at least ten Deidar while climbing . It is not necessary to create a chain . The Tower is found in the Third Ascent by using the colorless Waystone , and will appear as soon as the player is brought to the area with the Dais of Ascendance on 88F . There is only a 20 % chance of it appearing . If it does not spawn , the player should take the Waystone back to 79F and use it again to warp back to 88F , and it will eventually appear . The Grand Helm is obtainable as a very rare drop from it . Vagrant Soul has a 25 % chance of appearing in the Subterra , in the room behind the ancient door in the northwest section of the Abyssal , after the Shadowseer has been defeated . It can be found in the large chamber behind the ancient door at the end of the hallway behind the fool ' s facade in the eastern room of the northwest section . To spawn Diakon Entite in the Subterra , the player must kill the Vagrant Soul and then head to Umbra - South without saving or leaving the Subterra . Avenger is difficult during the first visit to the Pharos , as it has several dangerous moves , such as Anti - Magick , Ardor , and Renew . The Muramasa , the second strongest non - elemental katana , can be stolen from it . To find the Avenger , the player must have spoken to the " Huntmaster " in Phon Coast and defeated Thalassinon , which will trigger the start of the Rare Game quest . The Avenger then has a 40 % chance of appearing in the Station Of Ascension area of the Pharos : Second Ascent . Alternately , one can kill off all the monsters in the area and then zone out to the Reach of the Damned area ( 64F ) . When reentering Station of Ascension ( 63F ) , Avenger should be right at the bottom of the stairs . Story . The Pharos was built by the Occuria to house the power of all nethicite , the Occuria ' s creation , the Sun - Cryst . The Occuria gave the Sword of Kings to King Raithwall and told him to go to the Pharos and cut shards off the Cryst . During his visit , Raithwall engraved a message to the tower ' s entrance , warning all the future ' Dynast King s ' of the three guardians the Occuria had placed to guard the tower . Seven centuries later Princess Ashe is chosen as the new Dynast King and given the Treaty - Blade so she , too , could go the Pharos and cut shards off the Sun - Cryst . The ' tower of the distant shore ' is known , but no human has set his foot on the land after Raithwall , as the Ridorana Cataract the Pharos is located on is situated by a waterfall making access by sea impossible . The Pharos is located on the Jagd , forbidding travel by air — until skystones that can travel on Jagd were invented by the Draklor Laboratory in Archades . Reddas , who accompanies Ashe and the party to the Pharos , has stolen such skystones from the labs , and so the party can reach the Pharos . The party make their way to the top of the Pharos where they find the Sun - Cryst . Ashe intends to go against the Occuria ' s wishes and destroy the Sun - Cryst with the blade , but is met by a ghostly vision of her late husband Lord Rasler , who exhorts Ashe to follow the Occuria ' s wishes to destroy the Archadian Empire . Ashe is shocked , and yells out she can ' t follow through with the plan , and is interrupted by Judge Gabranth who urges Ashe to use the power she has to destroy the Empire that has stolen everything from her , and announces himself as the murderer of Ashe ' s father King Raminas . Reddas rushes to block Gabranth ' s attack and reveals himself to be Judge Zecht who destroyed Nabudis with the Midlight Shard two years previously under Dr . Cid ' s orders . He wishes such power would never be wielded again . Ashe realizes the Rasler she used to know would never ask her to destroy the Empire , and that the ghostly vision is nothing but Occurian mind - games . With the Treaty - Blade she strikes the ghostly vision and , having been revealed an illusion , the ghost speaks with an Occurian voice and urges Ashe to follow her path as the next Dynast King , but Ashe proclaims she is no false saint for them to use . She decides to destroy the Sun - Cryst . Gabranth , embittered by the princess ' s choice , strikes the party , but is defeated . Dr . Cid enters and dismisses Gabranth telling him he is no longer any use for the Empire . Gabranth tries to strike Cid down , but is blocked by the rogue Occuria Venat who is allied with Cid . Cid takes out the shards of deifacted nethicite he had in his possession and integrates them back into the Sun - Cryst , which starts to exude Mist . The party fight Cid and kill him . Cid ' s body turns into Mist that is absorbed into the Sun - Cryst that is about to burst . Vaan and Ashe try to destroy the Cryst with the Occurian swords , but Reddas stops them , grabs the Sword of Kings from Ashe , and destroys the Sun - Cryst at the cost of his own life . The Sun - Cryst explodes and destroys the upper levels of the Pharos , while the party escape on the " Strahl " . Musical themes . " Ashe ' s Theme " plays when reaching the Pharos as well as being the location theme for the Subterra . " The Beginning of the End " is the music for the First Ascent , " To the Peak " for the Second Ascent and " Clash of Swords " plays at the Third Ascent at the Pharos . Map . Subterra . It is recommended to have strong weapons , armor and accessories that guard against Confuse . It is also useful to stock up on items , especially Vaccines , Phoenix Downs , Antidotes and Eye Drops just in case a Ribbon is not available . Gambits for Arise , Steal and Curaja are also useful . Also , it is strongly advised not to equip the Diamond Armlet while searching treasures in Penumbra , as it will turn the treasures into a Knot of Rust . Many treasures can be only one item , however , where it doesn ' t matter if the Diamond Armlet is equipped or not , and there is a treasure in the middle of the southern portion of Umbra that is a Megalixir but only if the Diamond Armlet is equipped . The treasures that always contain good equipment have low spawn rates of 30 % per entry and will never respawn . If the treasure turns out to be gil it is only 1 gil , or 2 gil with the Diamond Armlet equipped . The player needs to collect Black Orbs and place them in the pedestals in rooms in every corner to make the next level available ( " see here for the number of orbs needed per pedestal " ) . The Phoenix can be fought at any time . It is not required to light up all the rooms already to fight Phoenix , but it is recommended . The Massive Black Orbs found in certain rooms make obtaining the required number of orbs easier . If a Black Orb is left alone it will join the Massive Black Orb , but adds to the Massive Black Orb threefold , thus quickly accumulating in number . In addition to this map , there is also a massive black orb in Umbra in the room with the magick pot . After lighting up the pedestals in the Abyssal floor , a new destination appears at the Dais of Ascendance . If the Phoenix has not yet been defeated , the player is prevented from reaching the final area by a " mysterious force " the unknown floor , and returned to the the First Ascent . If the Phoenix has been defeated , the mysterious force disappears and allows the player to access a new floor , which contains the Hunt mark Shadowseer , if the bill has already been accepted from Montblanc . This floor is only accessible preceding the Shadowseer Elite Mark . After the hunt is completed , the player cannot return to Hell ' s Challenge . Other appearances . " Theatrhythm Final Fantasy " . The Pharos appears as the Battle Music Sequence for " Clash of Swords " and " Esper Battle " , a dual reference to the Third Ascent and the battle with Hashmal . " Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call " . The Pharos returns as the BMS for both songs .