Shiva (Final Fantasy XVI)

Shiva, the Warden of Ice, is the Eikon of Jill Warrick in Final Fantasy XVI. Shiva awoke in a young Jill after she was captured by the Ironbloods, and was subsequently used by them to wage war against their enemies before she was rescued by Cidolfus Telamon. Jill then used Shiva to aid Cid and her childhood friend, Clive Rosfield, in their quest to liberate Bearers and halt the spread of the Blight.
Shiva is a recurring Ice-elemental summon in the Final Fantasy series, and the most recurring summon in the series.
== Active Time Lore ==
== History ==
Shiva awakens in the descendants of the "Motes of Ice" people, who inhabited the region of Valisthea now known as the Northern Territories. Shiva is one of the Eikons who holds a part of creator god Ultima's power to one day be absorbed by Mythos in Ultima's bid to build a body strong enough to cast Raise, a spell to create a new world. Only those who practice the Circle of Malius faith knew of this, however, a faith system that has since disappeared from the Twins; the people of modern day Valisthea simply revered Eikons as powerful protectors of their land.
Between the years of the realm 170–250, small countries around Drake's Eye were in disarray, and Shiva's Dominant was born in this region.
Shiva once fought the Phoenix of the Grand Duchy of Rosaria in a war over resources as the Blight was consuming the Northern Territories. Rosaria eventually won the wars and came to host Silvermane's daughter, Jill Warrick, as their ward.
Following the Night of Flames, Rosaria was invaded by the Iron Kingdom in an event known as the Iron Crusade, during which many Rosarian Bearers and women were taken captive, including a young Jill Warrick, who awakened as Shiva's Dominant sometime after. Rather than kill her, the Ironbloods decided she would serve them as a weapon of war to give them an advantage in future raids.
In the Year of the Realm 873, Shiva appeared at the Battle of Nysa and battled Titan, who fought for the Dhalmekian Republic. A team of Sanbrequois Branded soldiers called the Bastards (comprised of Tiamat, Aevis, Biast, and Clive Rosfield (going by Wyvern)) had been sent to assassinate Shiva's Dominant. Shiva and Titan's fight wreaked destruction across the Nysa Defile and indirectly caused the death of Biast, who was crushed by a boulder. Some time afterwards, Shiva was seemingly defeated and the Ironbloods were made to retreat. As the Sanbrequois assassins caught her, Clive recognized Jill as his childhood friend and fought Tiamat to rescue her, and Cidolfus Telamon, Dominant of Ramuh, arrived to assist, and they all retreated to his hideaway in the deadlands. Jill spent a while recovering but eventually became one of Clive's most avid supporters.
On their way to Drake's Breath, Jill semi-primed to protect them from lava flows, and fully primed to fight Liquid Flame, who was summoned from the lava by the Mothercrystal's heart. Priming Shiva advances her crystals' curse and she stayed at the hideaway for a while afterwards, eventually joining Clive and the Cursebreakers after the awakened Ultima enacted Primogenesis to turn the people and beasts of Valisthea into mindless roving Akashic. Shiva fought Barnabas Tharmr and his Odin in Old Kanver to rescue Clive, and was taken captive on the Einherjar.
Clive and the Cursebreakers followed on their newly constricted Enterprise and rescued her, but during Clive and Joshua's battle against Odin, the Warden of Darkness's Zantetsuken created a chasm onto the sea itself and Jill and Clive fell to the sea floor. To escape, Jill semi-primed to freeze a tunnel through the waves.
After making their way to the Shadow Coast of Ash, Jill agreed to pass Shiva onto Clive, the Mythos whose body Ultima wants to claim, so he could become strong enough to finally best Barnabas, and because Clive wanted to spare her from the ever-advancing crystals' curse. After giving Shiva's power to Clive Jill was not seen priming or semi-priming again, but did still use ice magicks when fighting the hordes of Akashic in Stonhyrr.
When Clive made his way to Ultima's abode in Origin, Ultima's final form, Ultimalius, used some ice powers to battle Clive in the vein of Shiva's power. After Clive killed Ultima and destroyed the nexus, the wellspring of magic, it was implied Eikons would no longer awaken in people, and the Eikons would eventually fall into legend.
== Characteristics ==
Shiva appears as a woman with pale white skin, pointed ears, and long, platinum-blonde hair. Her hair is adorned with gold ornaments, and she wears a three-point crown. She wears a white dress with dark-blue ornaments, and a massive, flowing mantle. Her concept art depicts her dual-wielding a pair of large ice blades or spears, but she does not use these in the game. Shiva is the smallest Eikon of the nine witnessed in Final Fantasy XVI, only slightly larger than an average human.
When semi-primed, Shiva's mantle appears on Jill Warrick's body.
Shiva's power is to create ice out of thin air, and freeze anything in sight. She can even freeze lava or a part of a sea.
== Gameplay ==
Unlike the other Eikons, Shiva is never fought as a boss, so her sole gameplay element is the abilities Clive can learn and use when equipping her: Cold Snap, Mesmerize, Ice Age, Rime, and Diamond Dust.
Shiva excels at staggering and stalling/interrupting enemies with her ice skills. Her Eikonic Feat, Cold Snap, is similar to Phoenix Shift in the sense that it allows Clive to quickly move about the battlefield: Clive will slide on ice to the player's chosen direction or simply straight forward if the is not being engaged. Cold Snap's special feature is that it can be used to briefly freeze enemies, and no enemy is immune to this effect. Pressing again while Clive is sliding casts Frostbite that very briefly freezes Clive's target, but the best use of Cold Snap is to use it to precision-dodge an enemy's attack, casting Permafrost on all enemies in radius that delivers a longer-lasting freeze effect, allowing Clive ample time to counterattack or use an ability that might otherwise be easily interrupted.
Shiva's default Eikonic Abilities are Mesmerize and Ice Age. Mesmerize launches shards of ice that damage enemies and pull small enemies toward Clive and it has an especially short cooldown. If the player gets all ice shards to hit an enemy the damage and will damage are fairly good and its short cooldown means the damage can stack up fast. Its pulling effect can be good against flying enemies that are otherwise outside Clive's reach when grounded. Upgrading the ability adds even more ice projectiles to the execution.
Ice Age, meanwhile, is Shiva's chargeable ability where the player holds the execution button and releases on the red part of the gauge to improve the attack's knockback force, throwing all small enemies back; in this sense, it is the opposite of Mesmerize.
Rime conjures a persistent repositionable ice crystal on the battlefield that traps any small enemies that are in contact with it, and deals minor passive damage to all targets in its vicinity. It could be placed next to a frozen or staggered foe, and has some synergy when placed next to Ramuh's Lightning Rod, continually triggering lightning strikes from it. The downside is that Rime's damage is minor and it can be tricky to aim as it does not simply appear where Clive is when used like the Lightning Rod, but Clive shoots it out a small way from him.
Shiva's most expensive Eikonic Ability is Diamond Dust, a powerful area attack that has excellent staggering power; after being upgraded, and when using it from a perfect distance from the target so as many hits land as possible, it can do 40–60% damage to a formidable foe's or boss's stagger gauge, and when used on a currently staggered foe, will max out the damage multiplier. It is a good follow up from Deadly Embrace's Takedown. Diamond Dust also has a short cooldown for an ultimate ability.
Ice Age from FFXVI.jpg|Ice Age.
Clive using Diamond Dust Pt 1 from FFXVI.jpg|Diamond Dust (cast).
Clive using Diamond Dust Pt 2 from FFXVI.jpg|Diamond Dust (effect).
== Gallery ==
Shiva Eikon from FFXVI artwork.png|Shiva vs. Titan concept art .
Shiva in Active Time Lore from FFXVI.png|Active Time Lore background.
== Etymology ==
==Citations==
Category:Eikons in Final Fantasy XVI