Crystals' curse

The crystals' curse , also known as lithification, is an affliction in Final Fantasy XVI where channeling aether through one's body eventually petrifies it, leading to certain death. There is no known cure.
The malady affects those who channel aether through their body rather than via a crystal shard: Bearers and Dominants. Animals who channel aether are not known to suffer the same fate, including monsters and frost wolves.
==Symptoms==
Symptoms include stiffness and pain in the extremities, and eventually, limbs are rendered immobile and the pain the curse brings forth is described as unbearable. Dominants afflicted with the curse commonly cough blood after priming and exerting their powers, implying internal damage. The body begins to petrify, typically beginning at the extremities, such as arms, and the afflicted experiences chronic pain that intensifies the more of their flesh turns to stone.
Eventually, the entire body turns to stone in one go, and soon crumbles into dust. Casting the dust into a body of water is considered a customary respectable burial, but in case of Bearers, this is rarely done, as Bearers are considered tools and typically simply discarded when they become unable to work due to the advancement of the curse.
The curse could be seen as analogous to the Blight of the land, a corrosion where the soil and water themselves are drained of aether and turn black, leaving only rock and dust in the blighted areas where no one can live or use magicks. The curse is thus implied to be the result of over-spending one's own aether. Bearers whose powers have been "spent" are discarded as useless; in one known case, a nobleman gives "spent" Bearers to his daughter as "pets". A Dominant, meanwhile, primes by constantly channeling the aether imbued within their own body, and thus can prime even at the aetherless deadlands.
==Persons known to suffer from the curse==
Many unnamed Bearers are shown suffering from the curse, such as at the Glaidemond Abbey in Rosaria where the abbot looks after Bearers in advanced stages of the curse on Martha's behalf to grant them a peaceful passing. Others of Cid's allies (alliants) also look after Bearers, and Quinten of Lostwing also has Bearers suffering from the curse under his wing.
Whether Ultima's species ever suffered from the crystals' curse is unknown. They cast aside their corporeal bodies to exist as aetherial beings, so the curse should no longer affect them in their current state, if it ever did. Ultimania mentions the Ultima collective's bodies had started to "rot away", but if this is a type of curse or simply ageing, is unknown.
Named characters known to suffer from the crystals' curse:
;Cidolfus Telamon 
Though not directly said to be suffering from the curse, Clive Rosfield at one point glimpses Cid's arm, which is ashen and stiff. When Cid notices Clive looking, he explains it away as an injury from using his powers. Cid's behavior suggests he believes he does not have too long left to live, wanting to expedite his plans for taking down the Mothercrystals. He commonly holds his arm after exerting his powers and coughs blood after priming. After battling Typhon as Ramuh, he accepts that the damage to his body is too great to survive, and passes on his Eikonic powers to Clive before perishing. His body does not turn to stone.
;Jill Warrick
The hideout's resident physicker, Tarja, oversees Jill's health, noting that the curse is spreading through her body. She orders Jill to rest and to avoid taxing herself. Jill suffers from chronic pain as a consequence, but hides it. No petrification is shown on her character model.
;Hugo Kupka
Kupka does not show outward signs of the curse, but after exerting all of his powers in his showdown as Titan against Ifrit, his petrified remains are all that are left of him.
;Joshua Rosfield
The hideout's physicker, Tarja, notes that Joshua has a stony growth on his chest that Clive assumes to be a symptom of the curse. Like Cid and Jill, Joshua coughs up blood after he primes. After Joshua passes away, Clive heals his bodily injuries with magick.
;Dion Lesage
After priming Bahamut, damage to Dion's body is implied by him needing to wear bandages. His arm is always bandaged, possibly covering signs of petrification.
;Clive Rosfield
Clive does not show any symptoms of the curse while priming Ifrit or using magic during battle. However, his left hand, and the left sides of his face and neck, are petrified after he defeats Ultima and uses his powers to destroy the nexus on Origin. The curse started on his fingertips, but when Clive used the spell, it spread through his hand, and in the final scene also appears on his face and neck. It is not known if the curse spread throughout his entire body.
==End of the curse==
When Clive destroyed the nexus on Origin, he removed mankind's ability to channel ambient aether through flesh, and thus ended the crystals' curse as well.Final Fantasy XVI Ultimania, Kazutoyo Maehiro interview
==Behind the scenes==
The Cursebreakers have a name origin similar to the crystals' curse in the English version of Final Fantasy XVI, as their motto seems to be "may the crystals' curse be broken", in reference to their mission of ending enslavement across Valisthea.
Magic-use taxing the body is also a theme in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV where King Regis's use of the Ring of the Lucii to uphold the Wall ages him prematurely, and is implied to eventually lead to his death. In Final Fantasy XV however, Noctis Lucis Caelum does not seem to suffer ill consequences from using the ring.
In the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy series, l'Cie are humans who can use magic, a feat usually only reserved to gods. As a price, l'Cie will eventually turn to crystal entirely, though this is not explicitly stated to be the result of using magic.
==Etymology==
In-universe, the English name of the curse may be named after the folklore of angered gods granting mankind two curses: Bearers and Dominants. The Mothercrystals used to be worshipped as deities across the realm, but in the modern era, it is mainly the Crystalline Orthodox of the Iron Kingdom who still practice it. However, in Japanese the malady is simply known as "petrification".
==Notes==
===Annotations===
===Citations===
ru:Кристальное проклятие
category:Final Fantasy XVI