Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn

Chief Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn is a non-player character in Final Fantasy XIV. She is a Roegadyn pirate who became leader of one of the three Grand Companies, Limsa Lominsa's Maelstrom. Ironically, she proceeded to impose strict regulations on piracy within Limsa Lominsa.
==History==
===Early life===
During her youth, Merlwyb was raised alongside her father. Bloefhis Bloefhisyn, the most feared pirate of La Noscea and the seas of Vylbrand. Eager to follow in his footsteps and prove her own mettle as leader of her own ship, Merlwyb confronted a fleet of Sahagin raiders who had been pillaging Lominsan merchant vessels without her father's knowledge or approval. Though at a disadvantage due to the Sahagin's aquatic affinity, Merlwyb's ship Lively tore through their frontlines and sought to escort the merchant vessel Orion to safety. A Sahagin priest utilizing the stolen aetheric crystalssummoned Leviathan with his dying breath, and the primal sought to destroy the Lominsan vessels. Bloefhis's own flotilla came to the rescue, leaving Merlwyb humbled and seeking to redeem herself.
Some time after, Bloefhis disappeared with a motley crew, and began pillaging alongside the Sahagin vessels under the flag "Serpent Reavers". Merlwyb departed at night to confront her father, alongside her father's long-time rival, Mistbeard. They confronted the Sahagin and her father's crew. With support from her first mate Lorens, Merlwyb found her father's emaciated form, discovering he had been tempered by Leviathan during the battle against the Sahagin when the Lively sank. Challenging him to a duel to the death, Merlwyb put to rest her tempered father, and Lorens sought to put together another crew for Merlwyb, to lead Limsa Lominsa in the wake of her father's death.
Thereafter, she sailed the high seas in the tradition of her people, the Sea Wolves, and discovered a safe route across the Indigo Deep, home of the Sahagin, to the recently-discovered western continent (known to most as the New World). She was known to have sunk an "invincible" fleet dispatched by the northern nations beyond the Bloodbrine Sea. With such accomplishments to her name, she entered the Lominsan governmental rade the Trident, and emerged the victor. She has stood at the helm of Limsa Lominsa as Admiral since.
===Final Fantasy XIV (version 1.0)===
===Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn===
An adventurer starting in Limsa Lominsa met Merlwyb when she arrived to personally commend them for thwarting a massive Sahagin and Serpent Reaver raid in Lower La Noscea. She invited the adventurer to a banquet in their honor and asked them to become her personal envoy to the other city-states, granting an airship pass. An adventurer that started in Gridania or Ul'dah met Merlwyb when delivering a letter from their respective city-state's leader. She later attended the memorial service for the five-year anniversary of the Battle of Carteneau.
Much later, when the Kobolds summoned Titan, Merlwyb met the adventurer and Y'shtola at Maelstrom Command. She admitted the crisis was her fault for violating Limsa Lominsa's treaty with the kobolds in the wake of the Calamity. She later gathered with the other leaders when they received Gaius van Baelsar's ultimatum to surrender. They discussed whether to capitulate or resist in the face of Gaius's ultimate weapon, until Minfilia convinced them to band against the Garlean threat. In the aftermath of the Praetorium's fall, Merlwyb and the other leaders celebrated in Lake Silvertear while renewing the Eorzean Alliance.
The Scions of the Seventh Dawn approach Merlwyb when the Sahagin had come dangerously close to summoning their primal, Leviathan. Merlwyb mobilized the Maelstrom for preemptive strike at the Sapsa Spawning Grounds. They discovered a Sahagin Priest praying before an Aetheryte crystal, attempting to summon Leviathan and claiming that he would achieve immortality. Merlwyb shot him only for the priest's soul to transfer into another Sahagin, altering them into his appearance. Though she killed the remaining Sahagin, Merlwyb and her group were forced to fall back as Leviathan emerged and consumed the priest's soul. Merlwyb, following a tactic once employed by the pirate Mistbeard, had her men jury-rig a barge loaded with corrupted crystals to neutralize Leviathan's defenses so the adventurer could defeat it. During a private conversation with Y'shtola, Merlwyb admitted that the beast-tribes summoned their primals out of desperation for survival due to the Limsa Lominsans encroaching their territory. Merlwyb added that her people in turn claimed territory and resources for survival. She grimly noted that in the end, with such mutually exclusive conditions, only the strongest would prevail.
===Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers===
Following the Garlean forces falling back and the death of emperor Varis zos Galvus, the Eorzean Alliance refocused its effort in bettering relations with the beastmen and to end the primal threat. Merlwyb initiated the process, inspired by the Scions' exploits to establish true peace with the Kobolds and the Sahagin. She had a few setbacks in the Bloody Executioners refusing to embrace peace since it would hinder them, though she resolved the issue and proceeded to meet with the Kobold patriarch, Za Da. After Alisaie Leveilleur cured Za Ba of his tempering, Merlwyb apologized for Limsa Lominsa violating the treaty, while offering to renew it along with an added condition to represent the Kobolds in the affairs of trading with other nations. Za Da accepted after seeing Merlwyb's resolve when she offered her life in exchange for the new arrangement.
She was later present during the meeting with the Eorzean Alliance and the newly-welcomed beast tribe leaders in Ala Mhigo, forming a new alliance involving both man and beastman: the Grand Company of Eorzea.
===Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker===
During the Final Days, Merlwyb requested the Warrior of Light's aid. Diplomacy efforts between Limsa Lominsa and the Sahagin had been interrupted by mysterious beasts attacking Sahagin and Maelstrom officials alike. Merlweb and the Warrior traveled to the South Tidegate to confirmed that the monsters were beasts of the Final Days led by a belligerent Sahagin who was refusing to make peace with the Limsa Lominsans and believed the transformation into a beast was a blessing of Leviathan.
To combat this threat, Merlwyb summoned several members of the old Company of Heroes and appointed the Warrior of Light as its leader. She accompanied the Company of Heroes on a mission to defend a small village, where they learned of the hideout of the blasphemy leading the beasts. They attempted to kill the blasphemy, but its powers proved too much and they were forced to retreat. Merlwyb suggested tracking and recruiting the previous leader of the Company and was pleased to hear the suggestion helped tip the scales in the Company of Heroes' favor, leading to the blasphemy's destruction.
Merlwyb's voice was one of the many memories of the Warrior of Light's comrades who encouraged them in Ultima Thule to walk forward and face the end.
==Characteristics==
===Appearance===
Merlwyb has pale bluish skin and short white hair swept backward. She wears a long, low-cut black coat and boots, and white cuffs and gloves. On each shoulder are red decorations resembling Limsa Lominsa's flag.
===Personality===
Merlwyb is a female Roegadyn of the Sea Wolf branch. She bears her race's physique and proud demeanor, honest and steadfast in her own way, while also stubborn and uncompromising, said to have a will of steel.
Unlike most of her fellow pirates in Limsa Lominsa, Merlwyb strongly believes that her nation can no longer sustain itself through piracy and in the wake of the Garlean Empire's efforts to conquer Eorzea, they can't afford to antagonize Limsa's allies because of her nation's piracy. As such, when she became Lord Admiral, she outlawed piracy in Eorzea, which quickly made her unpopular, though she allowed Garlean ships to be preyed upon. However, her foresight in preparing her nation to handle various primal threats, her people warmed up to her views and plans. Merlwyb firmly believes that once the Empire is no more and peace in the world is restored, trade would be allowed to flourish in all the lands the empire once ruled over, thereby creating a new future for her people and nation.
Merlywyb is significantly more politically savvy than many of the other pirates. She recognizes that she is being hypocritical and unreliable by trying to seek peaceful resolutions with the beast tribes while at the same time be perfectly willing to break those treaties and restart violent conflict. She defends her actions by stating that if two different factions are at a point of conflict, then she, as the leader of Limsa Lominsa, will always choose the side most beneficial to her nation. Eventually, however, for the greater good of all of Eorzea, Merlwyb concludes that Limsa Lominsa, and herself in particular, needs to be held accountable for violating the peace accords, having been the aggressor in nearly all the recent treaty violations.
==Gameplay==
===Minion===
A miniature doll in Merlwyb's likeness can be summoned as a minion through the "Wind-up Leader" item if the player is allied with the Maelstrom.
Merlwyb accompanies the Warrior of Light in combat against the tempered Kobolds during Patch 5.4's instanced duty in the quest The Great Ship Vylbrand. She provides her strength and eventually her aether's strength to assist Alisaie Leveilleur in powering her familiar to cleanse the Kobolds of their tempering.
===Triple Triad===
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Trading Card Game===
Merlwyb appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Water-elemental Backup cards.
Merlwyb TCG.png|Merlwyb [15-128R] Chapter series card.
Merlwyb 2-137H from FFTCG Opus.jpg|Merlwyb [2-137H] Opus series card.
Merlwyb 4-138R from FFTCG Opus.jpg|Merlwyb [4-138R] Opus series card.
===Final Fantasy Portal App===
Merlwyb appears as a Triple Triad card.
509a Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn.png|Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn.
509b Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn.png|Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn.
509c Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn.png|Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn.
==Behind the scenes==
Merlwyb was developed for the Seventh Umbral Era storyline, being the first female Roegadyn to be introduced into the game. The fan community often mistook Merlwyb for an Elezen for her height, build, and proud demeanor. Female Roegadyns had not been widely known to exist until they were announced as a playable Roegadyn gender in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
In 1.0, a quest sparked a rumor that Merlwyb and the pirate Rycharde Mistbeard were lovers. Merlwyb's father, Bloefhis, led the League of Lost Bastards in a war against Mistbeard (a battle that gave Bloodshore its name), which may be the reason she declined leadership of the Lost Bastards. Quests added in patches 2.2 & 2.3 strongly imply that her second-in-command, Eynzahr Slafyrsyn, is none other than Mistbeard himself. This was confirmed with the release of Patch 3.3. However, there has been no indication since then regarding them being lovers, and it seems the rumour has been long since abandoned.
Merlwyb's two muskets, Death Penalty and Annihilator, were rumored to have previously been owned by the pirate king, Mistbeard. They are maintained using a rare lubricant from an aggressive plant called Night Shade, which is also used by Limsa Lominsa's cannons. Annihilator and Death Penalty are named for the Relic and Mythic guns from Final Fantasy XI. A replica of Merlwyb's Death Penalty, called Death Sentence, appears in a sidequest. Merlwyb exists as the only Musketeer in game, as the job was eventually fashioned into the Machinist job released with Heavensward.
According to Tales from the Calamity, Merlwyb had a destrier named Vicky that perished during the retreat from Carteneau. She named the new flagship being built at Moraby Drydocks Victory after her fallen chocobo.
===Voice===
Merlwyb is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka in the Japanese version.
In the English version of A Realm Reborn, Merlwyb was voiced by Jean Gilpin. Since the release of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, she is voiced by Tracy Ann Oberman.
==Gallery==
;Artworks
14b-merlwyb bloefhiswyn.jpg|Artwork.
FFXIV company leaders artwork.jpg|The Company Leaders artwork.
Ff14-limsa-lominsa-promo.jpg|Merlwyb in artwork.
FFXIV Companies.jpg|Merlwyb in the Grand Companies artwork.
FFXIV 1st Anniversary Countdown 9 Days.jpg|Artwork for Final Fantasy XIV Online Anniversary.
FFXIV 1st Anniversary Countdown 1 Day.jpg|Artwork for Final Fantasy XIV Online Anniversary.
FFXIV Patch 5.5 Death Unto Dawn artwork.jpg|Merlwyb on the Death Unto Dawn patch artwork.
;Screenshots
FFXIV TFC Merlwyb 1x.png|Merlwyb at Carteneau, from Tales From the Calamity: Where Victory and Glory Lead.
FFXIV TFC Merlwyb Mistbeard.png|Merlwyb with Eynzahr Slafyrsyn from Tales From the Calamity: Where Victory and Glory Lead.
FFXIV TFT Merlwyb.jpg|Merlwyb in her office from Tales from the Twilight: Her Father's Daughter.
;Miscellaneous
FFXIV Limsa Diagram.png|Maelstrom political diagram.
==Etymology==
In the Roegadyn language, her name translates to "Sea Woman, daughter of Blue Fish". Her last name comes from her father, the pirate Bloefhis (Blue Fish), who led the League of Lost Bastards.
==Citations==
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy XIV
Category:Gunners
Category:Roegadyn