Blight (Final Fantasy XVI)

The Blight is the ever-advancing environmental disaster in Final Fantasy XVI that renders the land uninhabitable. The Blighted lands appear as endless swathes of rocky terrain, and become known as the deadlands because it is believed nothing can live there, though Cidolfus Telamon and his band of outlaws do try their hand at it. In recent years, the Blight has advanced ever faster bringing chaos to the realm. The Blight first appeared in Valisthea around 1500 years ago, in the wake of the War of the Magi over aether resources.Final Fantasy XVI Ultimania, Timeline
==Effects of the Blight==
The Blighted lands are sapped of aether, meaning no vegetation grows there, the waters turn black and acidic, and Bearers and Dominants cannot use magicks, though Dominants can still prime. Cid, and later on Clive, make their hideaways on the deadlands to hide from a society that tries to exploit them and Bearers. They find many ways to make do on lands considered uninhabitable, becoming able to grow some crops and flowers and to filter water to make it potable. This suggests that Blighted soil is not beyond saving, though it takes hard work. The deadlands can even be of some use: mythril is an inert substance refined from deadland soil. When burned at high enough temperatures, mythril releases copious energy.
As vegetation dies out, animal and human populations are displaced and driven to new regions in search of new habitats. Beastmen come into too close a contact with human civilizations, causing tension, and monsters that usually are known to live far away from settlements, suddenly become menaces. Entire regions become devastated when crops fail, setting in famines and wars over the ever-diminishing supply of arable land. Societies collapse when towns are left abandoned ahead of the ever-spreading Blight.
==The cause of the Blight==
Though the populace of the Twins does not realize it, the Blight on Valisthea is the result of human action. The original cause of the Blight is Ultima's creation magic, which the modern populace of Valistheans now rely on for their lifestyle. The Blight had already rendered Ultima's homeland uninhabitable, and his people want to create a new world to live in, settling on the heretofore unspoiled Valisthea as the breeding ground of their masterplan. Ultima created humans to eventually become a new body for himself to be able to cast a spell that would remake the world only for his people, but during his long slumber, mankind developed sentience and began to use magicks, setting in the Blight to Valisthea; the War of the Magi was a great conflict waged near the end of the age of the Fallen in which mankind fought for control of the Mothercrystals using magitek, draining aether from the land, and giving rise to the Blight. When Clive eventually confronts Barnabas at Reverie, Barnabas also says that humanity turning to avarice and greed "beckoned the Blight".
Cid becomes aware of the Mothercrystals' role in spreading the Blight by draining the land's aether for Ultima's ends and sets forth a campaign to destroy all Mothercrystals to stop the advancement of the Blight. His protege Clive continues his efforts after Cid passes, but eventually learns that the crystals' destruction was part of Ultima's plan all along. Clive uses his powers as Mythos to turn the tables on the gods and fell them. Ultima passes away implying that Valisthea is already doomed by the Blight to become a lifeless husk. Clive drains Ultima's powers and uses it to destroy the origin of magic and Eikons, the nexus on Origin, and with the Mothercrystals also now gone, it is implied the land will be able to recover. The final scene is of a lush world where magic is only known as a thing from fairy tales.
==Gameplay==
Clive cannot use the burning sword or the magic spells when on the deadlands, namely, the Dim area north of Eastpool. However, there are no enemies on the deadlands areas of the map and so this will never be a hindrance.
==Behind the scenes==
The Blight is similar to the corrosion of the land as seen in the Final Fantasy VII series resulting from the overuse of mako energy via mako reactors.
==Etymology==
==Notes==
===Annotations===
===Citations===
category:Final Fantasy XVI