Azdaja (Final Fantasy XIV)

Azdaja is a dragon in Final Fantasy XIV, one of the first brood. Her whereabouts are the focus of the post-Endwalker main scenario quests.
== History ==
===Before Final Fantasy XIV===
Azdaja is a great wyrm born from one of the seven eggs of Midgardsormr. She was the one who looked after the egg of her youngest brother, Vrtra, after Midgardsormr entered dormancy. Azdaja and Vrtra became inseparable.
During the Third Astral Era, the resurrected Allagan Emperor Xande formed a pact with the Cloud of Darkness from the void, allowing Xande to use voidsent as part of his armies to invade the southern continent of Meracydia. In the chaos Azdaja's eldest brother, Bahamut, fell to Allagans. Tiamat, Azdaja's sister, called out to her kin for assistance, and both Azdaja and Vrtra answered. No matter how many voidsent the dragons took out, more would emerge from a voidrift. In a desperate attempt to deprive the Allagans from reinforcements, Azdaja flew directly into a voidrift to seal it. The rift closed up behind her, leaving her trapped within the void, the remains of what used to be the thirteenth reflection of the Source. Vrtra was the only one with knowledge of his sister's noble sacrifice as the Allagans would not record the event in their archives, as to their eyes, it appeared that a dragon beset by madness plunged into the void with no thought of self-preservation. Losing Azdaja weighed heavily upon Vrtra, who kept hoping that she survived.
Azdaja did survive, but she was captured by Golbez, a black knight residing within the Thirteenth. He had four of his Archfiends feast upon Azdaja so that they would grow strong enough to help him conquer the void. Golbez gave his Archfiends only a fraction of Azdaja's aether, allowing her to live, as believing the dragon could aid in his plans.
Vrtra eventually discovered a planar fissure leading to the void beneath the waters of the The Bounty. He took the island of Thavnair as his abode to study the fissure and find a way to save Azdaja. After the founding of Radz-at-Han, Vrtra employed its alchemists to study the fissure, who expanded it wide enough for a child to walk through. Using one of his eyes by placing it in a simulacrum of such child, Vrtra attempted to enter the fissure only to be overwhelmed by voidsent. Vrtra, understanding that any opening to the void was too dangerous, sealed the fissure and abandoned his efforts to find Azdaja, focusing on governing Thavnair as its shadowy satrap. Yet, the sorrow of losing his brood-sister weighed upon him for years to come.
===Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker===
When the Scions of the Seventh Dawn began their preparation to travel to Ultima Thule to forestall the Final Days, Vrtra called out to his siblings to convince their sire to aid the Scions. Tiamat and Hraesvelgr agreed, but as Vrtra expected, Azdaja's response was silence. 
After ending the Final Days, the fissure to the void was rediscovered by the Warrior of Light, Y'shtola Rhul, Estinien Varlineau, Urianger Augurelt, and G'raha Tia. Y'shtola was particularly interested, since she believed that by studying the fissure, she might discover the means of traveling between the Source and its reflections. Vrtra told them the story of Azdaja's sacrifice, understanding that her silence to Vrtra's call was never out of spite but because she was lost to a place no roar could reach. Y'shtola offered to help Vrtra search for his sister, which he agreed to after his people encouraged their beloved satrap to save his sister.
During their journey in the void, the Warrior of Light and their companions learned that Azdaja was captured by Golbez, with some of her aether being consumed for the creation of his four Archfiends. Golbez notes that, at the time of inducting the Archfiends into his service, they would be unable to consume all of her aether. Golbez has since kept Azdaja alive for other purposes, one of which Barbariccia theorizes is to be bait to lure additional prey into the void.
Though Vrtra was heartened to know that Azdaja was alive, it pained to know that she had been made to suffer. After the Scions slayed two of Golbez's archfiends, Rubicante developed a plan to deal with the Scions by denying them entry into the void. By stealing one of Azdaja's eyes to draw the Scions away from Thavnair, and having Cagnazzo face them to further sell the deception, Rubicante was free to destroy the voidgate beneath the Bounty. Though the Warrior of Light felled Rubicante, they and the Scions now had to find another way to enter the void.
Azdaja would later hang over Golbez's throne as he accepted the loss of his Archfiends, thrashing at her chains and roaring before the seal was strengthened, revealing that Golbez's personal domain was the Thirteenth's moon. 
Y'shtola came up with a plan to open a new voidgate directly to the Thirteenth's moon: by sending a massive wave of aether from the Tower of Babil to Zodiark's former prison on Mare Lamentorum, she and Urianger would perform a ritual to open the gate. The Warrior, Zero, Urianger, and Thancred collected the necessary aether from the Island of Haam and sent it to the Tower of Babil, where Alphinaud and Alisaie sent it to the moon. By restoring Zodiark's bindings, they also created a barrier to deny the voidsent a direct access to the Source.
Vrtra took the Warrior, Zero, Y'shtola, and Estinien through the gate to the Thirteenth's red moon. When they got close to a chasm, where Y'shtola could detect remnants of Zodiark's aether, Vrtra sensed Azdaja down there. They found Azdaja bound over Golbez's throne, and when the Warrior returned Azdaja her eye, she regained consciousness. While glad to see her brother again, Azdaja lamented her predicament: her bindings were bound to Golbez's will and were also the only things protecting her from the influence of the Darkness of the Thirteenth. Golbez gave her a chance to survive, but she would be powerless to against any voidsent who would feast upon her aether. 
The Allagan invasion of Meracydia had made her distrusting of mortals, but Vrtra assured that things had changed, and that mortals and dragons in the Source now lived in harmony. Azdaja compared Estinien's bluntness of being similar to that of Nidhogg. Nevertheless, the heroes believed they could free her, if they defeated Golbez. Azdaja directed them to the south of the crater, as she believed Golbez was not far to maintain her prison. 
At the site, the Warrior discovered a memoria crystal that contained the essence of a friend to Golbez. Golbez himself appeared, along with Azdaja. Declaring his intent on opening the way to the Source, he shattered Azdaja's prison and allowed the Darkness to consume her, turning her into his Shadow Dragon. Vrtra was forced to fight her sister and he was defeated. As Golbez summoned his minions to keep Y'shtola, Zero, and Estinien occupied, the Warrior challenged him directly. The Warrior defeated him and Azdaja fell unconscious. Golbez declared the Warrior had defeated him too late; using his powers, he threw Azdaja's unconscious body into the chasm, where her aether was joined with Zodiark's remaining aether, giving birth to a massive voidsent Golbez named Zeromus. Zero attempted to seal Zeromus away, but her attacks had no effect. Vrtra declared they must retreat, and the heroes fled back to Mare Lamentorum. 
Back at Radz-at-Han, Zero encouraged Vrtra to save Azdaja by calling to her when they fought Zeromus. Y'shtola claimed that to save Azdaja now, Zeromus must be defeated within the Thirteenth, as defeating it within the Source would cause Azdaja's soul to be lost within the aetherial sea. She claimed Zeromus could be made vulnerable with sufficient quantity of Light aether, and they already knew a world abundant with such Light: the First. 
Using aether transmitters to channel Light from the First via Crystal Tower to the Thirteenth, the heroes pierced the veil of Darkness surrounding Golbez's domain. They fought their way to Golbez, where Y'shtola, Estinien, Varshahn, and Zero held him off while the Warrior descended into the heart of the domain to face Zeromus. Through Azdaja's desire to return home, Zeromus began to break the veil between worlds, forcing the Warrior to stop it. The Warrior defeated Zeromus, but like all the voidsent, it could not be killed. Warrior's allies and Golbez arrived to help them, with Golbez claiming that sealing Zeromus in memoria was the only way to stop it. Zero struck at Zeromus to disperse its aether, but the amount of Darkness overwhelmed her. Through her friends encouragement and the Light Zero had acquired from the First, Zero transformed from her Reaper-like Darkness-aspected memoriate into a Paladin-like Light-aspected memoriate, and with Golbez's assistance, Zeromus was dispersed, allowing Vrtra to call out to Azdaja. Azdaja heard her brother and her soul returned to him after Zero sealed Zeromus into memoria. Vrtra gave Azdaja his other eye, allowing her to attain a corporeal form as a small dragonet. 
The heroes returned to the Source while Zero remained on Thirteenth to help restore it. Vrtra threw a homecoming party for Azdaja in Radz-at-Han. While on top of Meghaduta, Vrtra made a call with Azdaja following suit, receiving an answer from Tiamat and Hraesvelgr, that their sister has returned home. 
===Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail===
Azdaja accompanies Vrtra to Tuliyollal when he and his dragon horde go to defend their new allies from Alexandria. As she is still a dragonet, Azdaja does not participate in the fighting herself.
== Characteristics ==
=== Appearance ===
Azdaja has a long serpentine body like her other siblings, dotted with feathers similarly to Hraesvelgr. She possesses two sets of wings, one larger primary pair and a smaller secondary pair characteristic to several of her brood-siblings. Her body is silvery in color with a reddish hue, with two long horns curled upwards and back on the sides of her head. Unlike her brood-siblings, Azdaja appears more avian with a beak full of gnarled fangs, raptor-like talons as opposed to draconic ones, and claws on the tips of her wings.
When she is consumed by Darkness and transforms into the Shadow Dragon, her physical appearance remains mostly the same, but a more serpentine body, her coloring changes into silvery black and she no longer has wings.
After being released from Zeromus, Vrtra gave her one of his eyes so that she could maintain corporeal form as a dragonet. In this form, she has reddish scales with some silvery tips.
=== Personality ===
Azdaja is a loving sister to her brother Vrtra, having cared for him as an egg and hatchling as their father entered dormancy. She can be described as bold and selfless, as she sacrificed herself to stop the voidsent invasion against her kin. Like many of her siblings, she became distrusting of mortals due to the Allagan invasion but was willing to hear how things had changed after seeing Vrtra again.
When Golbez turned her into his Shadow Dragon, her original personality was suppressed and she became totally obedient to him. Azdaja's longing to return home to the Source was then used to fuel Zeromus's desire to break the barrier between worlds, in accordance with voidsent nature to absorb the characteristics of those they were fused with.
== Gameplay ==
Azdaja is an untargettable enemy during , where Golbez frequently has her unleash mechanics against the party. In , Zeromus speaks with Azdaja's voice due to their voidsent fusion.
== Behind the scenes ==
Azdaja was a dark-elemental Wyrm boss in Abyssea in Final Fantasy XI.
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy XIV
Category:Dragons