Rubicante (Final Fantasy XIV)

Rubicante is a voidsent who serves as a character and boss in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker. Formerly an Au Ra Memoriate from the Thirteenth reflection of the Source, he, like all denizens of the star, was consumed by the Flood of Darkness which rendered him into an aether-starved beast known as a voidsent. As a voidsent, he served Golbez as his archfiend of fire.
==History==
===Before Final Fantasy XIV===
====Fighting for salvation====
Before being known as Rubicante, he was a solemn mage who trained in fire magic with his brother mage. Living in Mount Ordeals, they both honed their magical skills to be unbeatable. Due to the Contramemoria, fiends began to descend on nearby villages, which galvanized the mages into action, using their mastered flames for the salvation of the world.
Arriving at a nearby village, the pair vanquished many fiends until only one remained. The brother mage prepared to strike it down but hesitated because of the words of a little girl, whose mother had turned into the fiend. Due to his hesitation he was struck down. Unsure of what to do, the man who would be known as Rubicante hesitated as well until he saw the creature go after the little girl. Using his powers as a Memoriate, he flung his wand at the creature, turning it into a memoria crystal.
Frustrated at his inability to save a life, much less the world, his face turned red in both anger and from his flames, earning him the name Rubicante from the little girl. Taking his comrade to the mountain, he buried him and etched in his tombstone admonishments and returned to training in solitude. One day Rubicante discovered the memoria crystal placed on his comrade's tombstone by the little girl and he regained his resolve to attempt to save the world.
Like all inhabitants of the Thirteenth, Rubicante was swallowed by the Flood of Darkness and became a voidsent.
====Keeper of the flame====
After the Flood of Darkness, Rubicante used his power over flames to keep a beacon fire alive. Though he was ridiculed for it, he continued to do so, reigniting the fire if it ever went out. It was there, tending the flames, where Golbez found him, having followed the dancing light from afar. Golbez asked Rubicante what his fire was for, which Rubicante replied that it was neither to sate his hunger nor to defeat his enemies, but he had long forgotten what the actual purpose was, simply tending the flame as if by instinct.
At this, Golbez bestowed upon Rubicante aether, which suffused him with warmth, reminding him of the sun, which he realized he had tried to replicate with his beacon. Golbez promised him the chance to restore light to the world, which Rubicante accepted, knowing that by providing salvation to his world he'd doom another, resolute to bear this sin.
While in the service of Golbez, Rubicante was offered a fragment of the aether of the captured great wyrm Azdaja, which transformed him into the archfiend of fire.
===Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker===
Rubicante continues to serve Golbez within the Thirteenth, making plans to invade the Source so that they could die there and travel to the aetherical sea. The archfiends soon recieved word of an incursion by the dragon's brother, Vrtra, accompanied by the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, who had come to search for Azdaja. Their search resulted in the deaths of Scarmiglione and Barbariccia, leaving him and Cagnazzo as the only archfiends remaining. Needing to stop the intruders from reaching the void so that Golbez could enact his plan, Rubicante plotted to stop them, enlisting Cagnazzo's aid.
Cagnazzo staged a diversion that drew the Scions to him while Rubicante passed through the Source undetected. While the Scions slew Cagnazzo, Rubicante was successful in destroying the voidgate they had used to travel to the Thirteenth. His mission complete, Rubicante was confronted by the Warrior of Light, who had come to investigate the disturbance. Rubicnate challenged the Warrior to combat, and with the aid of allies summoned by Azem's crystal, the Warrior defeated the last of the archfiends.
As Rubicante slowly died, he explained to the Warrior that Golbez had learned of the exsistence of the other shards and plans to have the voidsent sent to the Source, so that they may die and be sent into the aetherial sea. Though he refused to betray Golbez, Rubicante informed the Warrior of his and Azdaja's location on the Thirteenth's moon, in hopes that they would draw out a desire beyond his quest to free them all from purgatory. Rubicante then passed away.
==Characteristics==
===Appearance===
Before the flood of Darkness, Rubicante was a medium height male au ra standing at around 82.7 ilms, with long, slicked back hair and grey eyes. As a mage, Rubicante wore a Dalamud red dyed Augmented Deepshadow casting set and used a wand.
As a voidsent, before absorbing aether from the great wyrm Azdaja, Rubicante was a large bipedal creature with glowing amber eyes and large protruding horns resembling an ogre.
After being imbued of Azdaja's aether, Rubicante became a large humanoid with white and red skin and purple highlights, wearing a red cloak with purple accents. His right side appears charred, with glowing purple vein-like fissures, which he covers with his cloak. Rubicante is also able to take on another form, turning his cloak into a wing with purple insides and covering the right side of his body with flames.
===Personality ===
Rubicante is stoic and resigned but was once a noble individual who took his charge seriously, referring himself as "a monster in flesh but in spirit I remain a man". He is strong-willed, having lost his purpose twice, but resolutely recovered it with the aid of others. However, following the Flood and becoming voidsent, Rubicante grew tired of the endless cycle of death and rebirth on the Thirteenth and agreed to Golbez's plans to invade the Source so that he can finally die free, thus making him the only Archfiend to serve Golbez of his own volition. Rubicante possesses some degree of cunning and tactical skill, having devised a plot that would render his enemies unable to reach Golbez, though it came at the cost of his and his fellow Archfiend Cagnazzo's lives.
His goal is to help bring about the salvation of his star, and he would do terrible things for it, accepting that he will have to commit "sin". Even after being defeated by the Warrior of Light, Rubicante accepts his end with grace and dignity, pleased that he may finally be reborn free but also with the knowledge that his efforts aided Golbez's goals. Rubicante also has a sense of honor and pride; in his final moments, it compelled him to reveal Golbez's and Azdaja's location to the Warrior of Light so that Rubicante may prove his virtue.
Rubicante idolizes the sun, believing his flames must burn like it, to keep people warm and light the way to the future. This leads to frustration for his inability to help people in need. Even as a voidsent, Rubicante endeavors to keep his flame alive, as it reminds him of the sun, despite the other voidsent mocking him for it.
=== Abilities===
As an au ra, Rubicante was a master mage, specializing in fire magic, capable of dealing with fiends with ease. As a Memoriate, he could trap beings in memoria crystals.
As a voidsent, Rubicante was still a mage specializing in fire, capable even of creating large torrents of fire and was able to destroy the safeguards set by alchemists of Radz-at-Han. He also had the ability to conjure illusions for his battle, transforming the summit of Khadga into mount ordeals where he trained and again into a hellish visage of his mind when in battle. When transformed, his power increases, and he's able to create tornadoes of purple flames and charred copies of himself.
==Gameplay==
Rubicante serves as the boss of the duty.
===Triple Triad===
==Musical themes==
When encountered in Mount Ordeals, an arrangement of the "Battle With the Four Fiends" theme, titled "Forged in Crimson" plays.
==Behind the scenes==
Rubicante is based on Rubicante from Final Fantasy IV, being the archfiend of fire serving under Golbez.
The theme that plays during the Trial fight was composed by Hyadain and based the remix off of his fan cover of the Four Fiends from 2008.
==Etymology==
==Citations==
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy XIV
Category:Antagonists
Category:Voidsents