Fandaniel

Fandaniel is a non-player character in Final Fantasy XIV. Born as the Allagan Amon, he is a reincarnation of one of the Ancient Hermes' soul shards. He is introduced in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers as a rogue Ascian allied with Zenos Galvus, and the secondary antagonist in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker.
== History ==
===Early life===
The man known as Hermes filled the seat of "Fandaniel" for the Convocation of Fourteen, a group that served as guardians of the city of Amaurot and the world of Etheirys. Prior to his current position, Hermes was in charge of Elpis, a facility designed to create new life that would be introduced to Etheirys.
In his search for meaning in life, Hermes created the Meteia using his research on dynamis. The Meteia were to travel across the universe to find other civilizations. When Emet-Selch approached him to induct him into the Convocation, Hermes learned from Meteion that his creations have concluded that life is meaningless and had resolved to sing a song to wipe out everything. Hermes helped Meteion escape to test his race's right to exist while inflicting himself and those present, save Venat, with Kairos, a memory alteration device to remove all traces of what they had learned.
When the Final Days began due to the Meteia singing the song of oblivion, Hermes deduced the stagnation of the aether currents was creating the beasts that were wreaking havoc in the world. He devised that creating a primal out of the will of the planet itself, Zodiark, would forestall the calamity, but ended up in his enthrallment. Hermes was fragmented like mostly everything else when the newly-summoned Hydaelyn imprisoned Zodiark, with his being divided among the Source and its thirteen shards.
The fragment of Hermes that remained on the Source was reborn in the final years of the Third Astral Era as Amon, a skilled technologist and magician of the Allagan civilization, who sought to restore his nation to its former glory. He executed his vision by resurrecting the exhumed body of the first Allagan Emperor, Xande, to return the empire to prosperity and conquest. Amon did not see his actions had rendered the revived Xande nihilistic, as the emperor formed a pact with the Cloud of Darkness to destroy the world. Approached by Emet-Selch (who had escaped the sundering with his soul intact) and awakened to his past life memories, Amon bore witness to the Fourth Umbral Calamity while placing a clone of himself in the Crystal Tower before its collapse. The ordeal convinced Amon to embrace Xande's ideals, intending to exploit the Ascians agenda to restore Etheirys as "Fandaniel" until a chance to finish what Xande had begun would present itself.
=== Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers ===
Following the Warrior of Light's victory over Emet-Selch, Fandaniel briefly appeared before Zenos Galvus, whose act of patricide had thrown the Garlean Empire into civil war. Fandaniel offered his services while directing Zenos to an ideal prey in Zodiark, telling the prince the story behind his dreams of the end days of Amaurot. After Zenos killed his way back to the palace and destroyed most of the other contenders for the throne, Fandaniel formally introduced himself in his new body and expressed his intent to discredit any remaining Populares aware of Asahi sas Brutus's death, having taken on this identity. Upon discovering that Elidibus had perished, Fandaniel gleefully announced to Zenos he was no longer beholden to the Paragons' plans, and they were free to do as they pleased with the Source.
Fandaniel left to set up Zenos's "hunting ground" by recreating the conditions of the Final Days, first using the corpse of Varis zos Galvus as a medium to summon Anima through the Garleans' faith in their late emperor. Anima tempered most Garlean citizens under its control to reconstruct the wartorn capital into the Tower of Babil, Fandaniel using parts of Varis's body to create spires that served a similar effect. He used captive beastkin and the Meracydian dragons to summon altered versions of their primals and transmitted the siphoned aether to the tower to break the bounds of an incomplete Zodiark whose existence still prevented the Final Days from unfolding.
The Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn encountered Fandaniel in Ala Mhigo with the first of the tower's primals, Lunar Bahamut. He revealed his desire to destroy the Source and all life in it, including his own. Before departing, he delivered Zenos's demand to meet the Warrior of Light for a final confrontation, threatening to raze every Eorzean city with Lunar Bahamut should his patron be denied. While later reporting to Zenos of Lunar Bahamut's defeat and the unlikelihood of its recreation, Fandaniel revealed the other Lunar primals were on the move while impressed by Zenos's choice of weapon.
=== Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker ===
Fandaniel encountered the Warrior while observing events around the Tower of Zot, trapping one of the alchemists developing Warding Scales in it. He revealed his former life as the Allagan Amon while taking his leave. He later reported to Zenos the tower's destruction by the Scions' hands and instructed him to prep Garlemald for a potential invasion by the Grand Company. Fandaniel questioned Zenos's motivation while explaining his own reason of orchestrating the end days.
When the Warrior and their allies arrived to the Garlean capital, Fandaniel spirited the Warrior of Light away and used Aulus mal Asina's technology to temporarily place them in a soldier's body, while Zenos took the Warrior's body to kill their friends and motivate the Warrior into a rematch. However, the Warrior caught up in time and stopped Zenos, so Fandaniel switched their bodies back and left. The Scions launched an assault on the Tower of Babil and defeated Anima, confronting Fandaniel and Zenos. Using the tower's power, Fandaniel managed to break four of the five brands to Zodiark's seal.
Fandaniel and Zenos teleported to the moon to personally break the final seal, but were briefly delayed due to Hydaelyn altering their trajectory. Having intended for Zenos to take Elidibus's place as Zodiark's heart, Fandaniel decided to merge into the primal himself and subvert the collective will of the souls that formed him. Fandaniel used Zodiark's power to battle the Warrior of Light, but was defeated. Fandaniel revealed his true goal: using the Warrior to weaken Zodiark's body enough for Fandaniel to compel the elder primal to destroy itself. Zodiark ripped out its heart, killing itself and Fandaniel, making way for the Final Days to commence. In his final moments, Fandaniel took delight in fulfilling Xande's vision of the world's destruction.
The Warrior traveled to the past to learn the true cause of the Final Days, playing a role in the attempt to detain Hermes before he would cast his memory alteration spell. When the Warrior later ventured into the aetherial sea to find Hydaelyn, they encountered Amon's memories manifested as "Amon the Undying" in a final attempt to block them from reaching her. After being defeated, the Warrior reminded him of his regained memories as Hermes. Amon reflected on his original life while expressing doubt and regret over his actions. Asahi's revenge-driven spirit appeared, disgusted at Amon's lack of conviction, dragging both Amon and himself into oblivion as revenge for using his body to betray Zenos. Depending on how the Warrior of Light responds, Amon will either gloat over how the Warrior struggles in vain, or express shock that despite all the atrocities he had committed and unleashed, the Warrior is still offering a path of friendship.
==Characteristics==
In Amaurot's Convocation of Fourteen, the position of "Fandaniel" was given to the authority in the pursuit of extant phenomena.
===Appearance===
Possessing the body of Asahi sas Brutus, Fandaniel appears as a young pale Doman Hyur with short black hair. The white and red tattered robes he wears while assuming his host's identity are dyed versions of the healing set of Facet gear, which are alternate versions of the Diabolic gear available at Dun Scaith, uniquely wearing the Marid Hood of Scouting. Following Lunar Bahamut's appearance and demise, Fandaniel begins wearing the Cryptlurker's casting set dyed maroon, wearing a modified version of the Healing hood with the mask removed. Fandaniel initially spoke in Asahi's voice before revealing his history as Amon when his plans to restart the Final Days neared completion.
As is common with Ascians, Fandaniel can conjure a unique red emblem in front of his face, his own based on Hashmal's glyph from Final Fantasy XII. 
=== Personality ===
Fandaniel is a flamboyant, whimsical, and impulsive sadist with a flare for theatrics. He considers himself an artist in the horrors he creates via his mastery of aether manipulation. Unlike the other Ascians, whom he is in direct odds with, Fandaniel identifies more with his previous life as Amon than his original self, with no interest in restoring the world as it was before the sundering. Fandaniel even admitted that his previous self, Hermes, would weep at the man he would become. Despite appearing loyal to Zenos, he only sees the Garlean prince as a means to an end. However, Fandaniel is genuinely devoted to Xande and the Allagan Empire as he strove to save the latter during its decline. In the Aetherial Sea, Fandaniel took the appearance of Amon and attempted to stand resolute in his ideals, but found himself wondering if it was truly what he wanted. 
Much of Fandaniel's nihilism derives from witnessing the Fourth Umbral Calamity unfold, pushing him over the edge while embracing Xande's ideals. He desires to destroy himself and everything else out of sorrow and spite by killing an incomplete Zodiark, a stark contrast to how his fellow Ascians cling to life and intended to release their deity once made whole.
==Gameplay==
The current incarnation of Fandaniel is fought twice in the main scenario of Endwalker. The first battle is against him possessing the body of Zodiark during . The second battle is against Amon the Undying, the final boss of . Beyond these two encounters, Fandaniel's unsundered self Hermes is fought as the final boss of , while the clone Amon is fought as the third boss of .
== Musical themes ==
Like the other Ascians, Fandaniel's appearances are accompanied by "Without Shadow". "Imagination (Duality)" plays during appearances associated with Amon, while "Stars Long Dead" plays during Fandaniel's death and Amon the Undying's lament at the end of the Aitiascope.
==Voice==
Fandaniel, as Hermes and Amon, is voiced by Jeremy Ang Jones in English and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka in Japanese. While possessing Asahi's body in Shadowbringers, and before the revelation of his true identity in Endwalker, he is voiced by Matt McCooey in English and Junichi Yanagita in Japanese.
==Gallery==
FFXIV Fandaniel.png|Fandaniel possessing Asahi's body.
Amon XIV Artwork.png|Amon artwork.
FFXIV Endwalker trailer screenshot 7.png|Fandaniel in the Endwalker expansion trailer.
FFXIV Endwalker trailer screenshot 14.png|Fandaniel in the Endwalker expansion trailer.
FFXIV Amon the Undying.png|Amon the Undying.
==Etymology==
"Fandaniel" refers to the Scion of Light "Fandaniel, The Protector", mentioned in the profile of Hashmal in Final Fantasy XII.
The name "Fandaniel" comes from Hebrew, and does not correspond directly to any extant theophoric name, either given or angelic, and may be based on the root name "Daniel" (דניאל), which means "God (El) is my judge". There is no obvious Hebrew root word that makes up the p-n-d or p-d-n phonemes (Hebrew, as a Semitic language, does not write some of its vowels), which means that the name is a compound word. 
There are two likely spellings in Hebrew—either פהדניאל (Fadaniel, like the Japanese) or פנדניאל (Fandaniel, like the English). If the former, then the "Fa" would come from the Hebrew root p-n-h ("to turn") and the name would translate to mean something like "to turn from my God's judgement" in relation to his personality. If the latter, the "p-n" might come from the archaic Hebrew "פן" and then translate as "lest God be my judge" or "lest my God judge me".
 
 Besides Fandaniel's connection to the Greek god Hermes, using a caduceus as his weapon of choice, he also named after Hermes Trismegistus who was an expert in magic, alchemy, and astrology.
==Notes==
===Annotations===
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy XIV
Category:Ascians
Category:Antagonists
de:Fandaniel
ru:Фанданиэль