Monoliths (Final Fantasy XV)

Monoliths is a Datalog section in the Windows and Royal Editions of Final Fantasy XV. It chronicles the monoliths the player has found in havens in the eight optional dungeons visited as part of the Menace Beneath Lucis post game sidequest. Ezma Auburnbrie gives the key to the sealed doors found within the dungeons in Lucis in Chapter 15 after the player has obtained the royal arms from Costlemark Tower, Crestholm Channels, Balouve Mines and completed the Daurell Caverns.
The monoliths' sides have blue glowing runes, possibly because they are located on havens, which have similar runes when encountered in the wild. The messages are engraved in white on black slabs under the text "Whence comes the Night, let shine the Light", alluding to how the message has been left for the True King. The bottom of each monolith depicts the coming of dawn.
==Story==
The author of the monoliths is not specified, nor whether all monoliths were erected by the same person, or if each menace dungeon's monoliths were put there by different kings. The author(s) are former monarchs who lived in a time daemons had emerged in Lucis. The Wall is mentioned, and if this refers to the "new Wall" rather than the Old Wall, it would give the time frame of 150 years ago at most, at least for that particular menace dungeon. The quest description for the Menace Beneath Lucis quest posits the dungeons seal ferocious fiends that "attacked the realm in ancient times."
The monoliths tell the story of a king and an Oracle sealing beasts dubbed "menaces"—beasts too strong for them to fell—underground for the True King to eventually deal with, believing their Chosen heir to be strong enough to take on the challenge. One monolith describes the menace dungeons a closely guarded secret of the royal bloodline. The key to the dungeons, said to have been forged by a king and an Oracle, eventually came to the possession of Ezma Auburnbrie, the leader of the Hunters who work to quell daemon outbreaks in Lucis.
The Steyliff Grove monoliths show the king and the Oracle were in love and how the Trident of the Oracle became a royal arm after the king inherited her position, whereas monoliths in some other dungeons don't mention an Oracle at all. The first monolith in Greyshire Glacial Grotto says the daemon was "laid to rest here by her hand", but the second monolith says the king himself sealed the dungeon. A monolith in Daurell says the Oracle "gives all her strength until her life is lost" to uphold the seals, and the final monolith in Costlemark says it was sealed with the king's own life. The different tone and style of the engravings in each dungeon gives the impression they were left by different authors, painting a picture of rulers of yore protecting their realm by personally slaying daemons and sealing away the ones they could not.
Whether the monoliths are related to the rulers whose royal tombs are found in some of these dungeons is unknown. The author of the Daurell Caverns monolith wants his name forgotten from history, and this dungeon doesn't have a royal tomb. The Costlemark Tower dungeon is said to have been sealed by the life of a king, but the tower doesn't have a royal tomb though it does have a royal arm, although a stolen one. What unites the engravings are the lingering feelings of regret and unworthiness for being unable to protect others—subjects, soldiers accompanying the ruler for their expedition, and the Oracle—and willingness to give one's own life to safeguard the future in wait for the fabled King of Light.
==Monoliths==
===Dormaneth Haven===
Keycatrich Trench Menace
:The daemon lurking deep within knows no single formBy neither blade of flame nor lance of frost can it be tornSuch menaces have terrified the kingdom throughout timeBut now they must be punished for committing wicked crimes
:Should we wish to vanquish these menaces once and for allThere is but one method by which our problem can be solvedWe must seal the daemons away far beneath the groundAnd await the day one who can dispel the darkness is found
===Heppletaph Haven===
Greyshire Glacial Grotto Menace
:O ye, devoid of virtue: o ye, impure of soulO ye, consumed by anger, who dost the death knell tollO ye, who throughout time has spread thy scourge across the landShall slumber 'neath the earth, laid to rest here by her hand
===Ravioth Haven===
Greyshire Glacial Grotto Menace
:Shadows meld into the darkness; all signs of thee are lostThy robes and blade of steel, sealed within the tomb of frost'Til the coming of the king whose aid we call uponI seal thee as a sign of hope—the light before the dawn
===Oxlareth Haven===
Fociaugh Hollow Menace
:One who led his men to glory on the field of warOne who led his clan to greatness, slashing to the foreOne who led his liege through troubled times with wit aloneYet by the burning giant all these men were overthrown
:My loneliness ineffable, my pain beyond compareYet I am not afforded time to wallow in despairFor a king must not avert his eyes from what lies aheadHe must continue walking down the path he's born to tread
===Gainough Haven===
Daurell Caverns Menace
:Would I could live a life of bliss and watch the flowers bloomListen to the children laugh and gaze upon the moonWould I could live in peaceful ignorance and never knowThe terrifying darkness that is lurking down below
===Pauperess Haven===
Daurell Caverns Menace
:These cages are a closely guarded secret of our lineKeeping wicked ones imprisoned by power divineYet the sealing of these tombs is not done without costThe Oracle gives all her strength until her life is lost
:Such sacrifices must be made to serve the greater goodAnd yet I wonder: have we done everything that we could?Should the symbol of our failures ever come to lightOur people would revolt, unsympathetic to our plightMay the future king complete the calling I could notAnd may my name be forgotten, forever left to rot
===Cobbitrice Haven===
Balouve Mines Menace
:Deep within the Daurell Caverns and the Greyshire GrottoThe ruins left by Solheim and inside Fociaugh HollowThe cages of the Oracle hold villains of the nightFar beneath the earth, out of mind and out of sight
:If we were to inside the mines another cage erectWe could avoid the peoples eyes, preserving their respectAnd should my well-intentioned deeds a new disaster bringI pray my faithful subjects will forgive their foolish king
===Intellune Haven===
Steyliff Grove Menace
:O she so wise will take her shining trident in her handThen she shall rise to spread the word of peace across the landAnd lest the world forget her efforts or the life she gaveUpon these monoliths her noble deeds I shall engrave
===Tunlough Haven===
Steyliff Grove Menace
:The gods are fickle entities, capricious through and throughThose among us who receive their grace are numbered fewAnd while I was not blest with acumen or power divineThe gods bequeathed to me a greater gift: her hand in mine
===Scorpure Haven===
Steyliff Grove Menace
:The harbingers of darkness have descended 'pon our realmYet much unlike the former king who the vanguard did helmI issue orders from the rear, a veritable "coward king"'Tis the Messengers who fight—their praises we ought sing
===Courcaive Haven===
Steyliff Grove Menace
:The greatness of the Oracle was heretofore untoldHer power was unparalleled, her heart was made of goldShe healed the masses, sending words of kindness from her lipsThe brilliant light with which she shone ne'er could be eclipsed
===Terrecephe Haven===
Steyliff Grove Menace
:Upon receiving tidings of the expedition's fallI realized our sole surviving bastion was the WallTo suppress the menace and dispel the disarrayWe set out for the shaded groves of Cleigne without delay
===Essofax Haven===
Steyliff Grove Menace
:Our path to Risorath was paved with troubles all the wayThe treacherous terrain beset the two of us by dayUpon the fall of night the lurking darkness showed its clawsYet staff in hand she saved us both from death's e'er-looming jaws
===Vanderport Haven===
Steyliff Grove Menace
:Like a ray of light piercing straight through darkness' heartThe trident that she wielded cut the daemon hordes apartNo matter what ferocious foe may wait within the gladesIt shall be rent asunder, powerless before her blades
===Sprannagh Haven===
Steyliff Grove Menace
:The waters of the Vesperpool had turned a sea of fireSmoky, swirling billows had enshrouded the mireSearing bolts of lightning cracked downward from the skiesYet 'twere not clouds but wings that soared before my very eyes
:Were our foe the Scourge of Stars, it could have be purifiedYet this menace was no daemon—that, we soon descriedThe Oracle I loved was slain and with our flags she burnedBeleaguered and bereft, to the forest I returned
===Hepplecamp Haven===
Steyliff Grove Menace
:With the rains that fall upon the earth and nurture lifeAlso come the bolts of lightning, couriers of strifeThough man can't curb the fearsome whims that rule the natural worldAgainst a beast, the white flag of defeat needn't be unfurled
:Looking to the Oracle for guidance in these trialsI realized we might defeat the menace with our wilesFirst we draw the devil down and seal it in a cageThen entrust its exorcism to the coming ageAnd 'til an heir arises to succeed the life she ledHer staff in hand, I shall become the Oracle in her stead
===Schoplary Haven===
Crestholm Channels Menace
:The walls that mankind may erect, however thick or highCannot keep out all invaders no matter how they trySo long as earth below and sky above remain as oneA battle with the forces of nature cannot be won
:The dreadvern slithered into the gorge, its presence unknownAnd with one gaze, it transformed all of Ostium to stoneIf we are unable to halt the wickedvern's advanceThe people of Insomnia shall stand nary a chance
===Doltham Haven===
Crestholm Channels Menace
:Until the menaces have all been banished from this earthOur people shall be shackled by fear, never knowing mirthIf the dreadvern cannot be dispelled by means we knowThen we are left with but one choice: seal it down below
:Permit me leave the King of Light a word of sound adviceAgainst our foes, a barrier of magic shan't sufficeMany men have lost their lives; they haunt me to this dayThat the king should never know this agony, I pray
===Dalperry Haven===
Costlemark Tower Menace
:The wisdom of mankind was by the warring gods laid lowYet not unlike the seeds of flowers buried 'neath the snowThe secrets of the ancients lie in waiting undergroundHidden blossoms of lost knowledge longing to be found
===Kerwicke Haven===
Costlemark Tower Menace
:The Fallgrove ruins in the southern reaches of DuscaeWere once a single fortress whose stone towers touched the skyThe wisdom of the ancients is within these walls enshrinedTheir pillars pierce the heavens, bridging mortal and divine
===Aechre Haven===
Costlemark Tower Menace
:The warring of the Astrals brought the walls and towers downYet we held onto hope the ancients' wisdom might be foundWe ventured through the woods, underneath the forest floorIn search of secrets left behind by those who came before
===Ingwen Haven===
Costlemark Tower Menace
:Deep beneath the earth where rays of sunlight cannot reachEncased in walls of stone the gods themselves could never breachLaid a trove of knowledge—so we thought, yet what we sawWas a terror out of time that left us all in awe
===Encefain Haven===
Costlemark Tower Menace
:The menaces that lurk beneath us musn't be releasedLest upon the innocents the beasts begin to feastOur forebears found the fiends below, and down here they must stayHidden from humanity and from the light of day
:My fool pursuit of knowledge has cost countless men their livesShould such a selfish ruler be permitted to survive?Nay, I say—and thus I humbly offer up my lifeTo forge another cage and save the future from more strifeHeed my words, O Future King, and follow not my pathWalk only in the light ye shall know the darkness' wrath.
==Etymology==
ru:Монолиты (Final Fantasy XV)
Category:Archives in Final Fantasy XV